Year Three
Rule #2: Do not question your superiors
As stupid as it sounded, Dr. Schreyer often thought of her charge as something of an E.T. The girl was similar in many ways to the fictional alien - she was curious, deliberate, clever, not especially verbal, and would occasionally make odd humming noises to herself until Lisa had to remind her to use her words. Stormkrigeren knew how to talk perfectly well - she just preferred to watch and listen instead, which was fine by her caretaker.
The combination of unusual, or even extraterrestrial traits meant that the subject was a very good student, if a little strange in her ways. She enjoyed learning as far as Lisa could tell, poring over her workbooks at an incredible pace, memorizing every word and chart shown to her, and brightening up every time her caretaker brought more material for her to study. Today was no different, so when Lisa brought a stack of new text- and workbooks, and a recent edition of the Daily Planet with her into the Rooms that morning, Stormkrigeren was instantly at her side, watching curiously as her teacher set the learning material down on the desk.
"Доброе утро, Stormkrigeren," Lisa greeted the subject, enunciating the foreign words slowly to ensure that she understood.
"Доброе утро, Доктор Schreyer," the little girl replied in perfect Russian, looking inquisitively across the desk at the stack of new books, then back up at her caretaker with a shy smile.
"Ты выглядишь очень счастливым сегодня," Dr. Schreyer smiled back, taking a seat at the desk and opening one of the curricula, "Вы рады новым учебникам?"
"Yчe… учебниками? Like учебники?" her student asked and Lisa chuckled at the question. The girl had a good conversational grasp of the language already, but like many children still struggled a bit with conjugation.
"Yes, учебники - it means textbooks. Did you finish all of yesterday's?"
Stormkrigeren nodded, "Да, мэм."
"Good job! Okay, let's start with Algebra then and continue through the usual schedule. If you finish early, we might be able to look through the newspaper I brought too."
Her charge fidgeted in her seat, expressing her excitement with a soft humming and eager kick at the legs of her chair before earning a calming hand of mild disapproval on her shoulder. Sometimes Lisa forgot Stormkrigeren was only three years old and still had the energy of a small child - she seemed so mature, not to mention the fact that the girl could easily pass as twice her age. She made up for her impulsive energy by being a very attentive listener and quick to obey, though her roaming nature occasionally distracted her from her studies. In fact, her urge to explore had been part of the reason Herr Luthor had her confined to a series of Rooms beneath one of his research laboratories, the entire space perfectly tailored to her needs and training. Schreyer wouldn't have minded living down there, if only to get away from all the bustle of city living - though personally, she hated the idea of Stormkrigeren spending the next seventeen years of her life locked in here. But when Herr Luthor gave the orders, she didn't dare disobey.
Stormkrigeren had already flipped open the nearest Algebra workbook and was contentedly reading through the instructions before silently filling out the quiz. She was a smart, if quiet girl, and had long ago learned how to quickly figure things out on her own without the help of an adult or teacher or caretaker, but she still occasionally cane to Lisa for small assistance.
"Paar-ah-boo-lah." she muttered slowly under her breath, sounding out the word as she read it before glancing up at her caretaker, "Pa-ra-bola or Pair-uh-boola?"
"Parabola," Dr. Schreyer replied simply, "Do you need help understanding it?"
Stormkrigeren thoughtfully drummed her fingers on the book and only shook her head in reply, already moving on to solving the problem now that her pronunciation issue was resolved. Seeing that her student was managing just fine, Lisa turned to the other books to begin marking out her student's schedule - though before she had even opened the first one, the steel door leading out of the Rooms opened with a low hiss.
"Doctor Schreyer," Herr Luthor barked in what could barely be recognized as a greeting as the tall man marched into the room, followed by his son - a near carbon-copy of his father with his bright russet hair and sharp features - trailing reluctantly behind.
"Good morning, Herr Luthor," Lisa replied automatically, standing up to welcome her employer. Stormkrigeren kept silent, but obediently climbed out of her chair as the father and son approached them.
Despite addressing her, the man shot only a brief glance in Lisa's direction and instead turned his hard gaze on the small Stormkrigeren, who was quietly standing to attention while he inspected her. Herr Luthor always inspected her when he came to visit the Rooms, which was about once every week, and Stormkrigeren had to stand very still while he looked at her and asked Dr. Schreyer all sorts of questions about the subject's health and progress.
This time, however, Herr Luthor didn't ask any questions and simply waved Lisa towards the door with a dismissive nod. "You can leave, Schreyer. I'll summon you when we're finished."
She hesitated, her gaze shifting from Herr Luthor to the tiny girl at her side, and considered suggesting that it might be better if they came back later as Stormkrigeren still had some schoolwork left. But the silencing glare her boss shot in her direction made her rethink protesting, so Lisa obediently gathered up her work and left without another word.
Stormkrigeren silently watched her caretaker exit the Room, shifting nervously on her feet now that she had been left alone with the man and his son. She really wanted to go with Lisa and not have to stay here by herself with Herr Luthor who yelled a lot and could get very mad sometimes, but she knew that running after her teacher would be punished as dis-oh-beed-ee-ens. Stormkrigeren knew what was expected of her, so she obediently folded her hands behind her back and stood very still as Herr Luthor moved a few steps closer, looking her over scornfully.
"Arbeiten sie hart an ihrem Deutsch?" he asked sharply, inquiring as to whether she was working hard on her German studies. Even at such a young age, she had already shown a good proficiency for languages, but Stormkrigeren's voice still trembled a little as she replied.
"Ja… jawohl," she said quietly, staring up at the tall man towering over her.
Herr Luthor only nodded and moved past her to sit down at the nearby desk in the chair Dr. Schreyer had recently vacated, disinterestedly flicking through a nearby workbook. Stormkrigeren warily kept her distance and kept her eyes on him, preparing herself to receive an order of some sort, when the taut silence permeating her Room was suddenly broken by a sneeze.
Herr Luthor's head snapped up, instantly finding the source of the disturbance still standing near the door, and Stormkrigeren followed his hard gaze to his son, Alexander.
The boy was standing awkwardly near the entrance to her Rooms, rubbing his left arm and staring at the floor in an attempt to hide the flush on his place - probably a combination of embarrassment and irritated sinuses. Stormkrigeren knew that he was much older than her by about eleven years (Dr. Schreyer had told her informed her of this after the little girl had pointed out that she never saw anyone else her own age, to which her caretaker agreed that Alexander was probably the closest in age of all of her visitors), but the boy was admittedly a bit on the small side for his age. He had his father's russet mop of hair and natural leanness, but the sharp hawk-like features so prominent in his sire's face were rounded and boyish on his own - and though they shared the same blood, in no way did the younger Alexander share his father's boldness as he avoided the man's gaze.
Herr Luthor snorted in annoyance at that and signaled for his son to come closer, pointing at the floor next to Stormkrigeren in a clear order as to where the junior Alexander should stand. The boy obeyed (though he dragged his feet a bit as he did) while the senior continued to apathetically page through one of Stormkrigeren's workbooks for her physics class for a few moments longer. Both children knew better than to speak without permission, so instead of asking Herr Luthor what they should do next, they both stood there quietly - Stormkrigeren picked at the hem of her shirt, while Lex continued to rub his arm and stare at the floor.
Nearly a minute had passed before Herr Luthor finally dropped the book back on the desk with a resounding thud, and turned to eye the two children with a frown. "Talk."
"Wh… what should we talk about?" Stormkrigeren asked slowly and politely, tripping over the words. Her hands felt shaky and her tummy felt nervous, and she didn't know why or how to stop it, but it must not have mattered because Herr Luthor simply shrugged and ignored her trembling.
"Anything: taxes, politics - the damn weather if you like."
Alexander Junior straightened at that, looking up from the floor long enough to shoot a glare in his father's direction, huffing, "I'm not talking to her - she's an infant-"
"And already it has a brighter future than you - the future of mankind, of war!" Herr Luthor fumed, nearly rising out of his chair in fury, "It's going to change this world in impossible ways while you have your nose stuck in a book, so you'd better straighten up and bloody talk!"
Both children flinched at the raised voice and involuntarily took a step back. Stormkrigeren noticed that her legs were feeling a bit shaky now too, but she quickly tried to keep them still and not let herself fall as Alexander reluctantly turned to her, nervously running a hand through his russet locks. "So… what do you want to talk about?"
"I-I'm not sure," she answered quietly, still picking at the hem of her shirt which was beginning to wear thin beneath her fingers.
"Well, we have to choose something," Alexander pointed out, glancing apprehensively at his father and noticing the books on her desk, "What are you learning?"
Stormkrigeren knew the answer to that - she did a lot of studying and was very good at keeping track of all of her classes and workbooks.
"Al-geh-brah, world history, bye-ol-oh-gee, physics, lan-goo-idge arts, German literature - oh, and Russian literature too - and some Mandarin and Hindi and, um, domestic housekeeping. And ek-con-nom-iks and Arabic every other day."
"That's a lot of languages," Alexander commented, catching her off guard. Stormkrigeren had never really thought of it as a lot - it was just something she did and it was normal and okay for her.
"I-I guess it is," she answered, wondering how many were considered 'a lot' before she remembered that she was probably supposed to ask him a question now.
"How many are you learning?" Stormkrigeren asked, looking up at the older boy who was still staring at the floor and stealing the occasional uneasy glance at their audience of one. Herr Luthor's frown was still etched on his face, but he didn't speak up and let the children continue their conversation as Alexander answered.
"Just German - and Spanish too," he replied before perking up a little, "After Spanish class, I get to play basketball with my friends and it's pretty fun. I'm one of the wings, though it's a little hard to score three-pointers because I'm so short."
Stormkrigeren, who knew next to nothing about basketball, just nodded sagely and pointed at his face, "Is that how you hurt your cheek?"
Alexander tensed, frozen to the spot as he gingerly touched his left cheekbone, shaking his head as he did, "No… no, I'm fine. There's no bruise or anything-"
"It's covered with makeup," the little girl pointed out, "There's another one on your arm beneath your shirt - it might hurt more if you keep rubbing it-"
A hard slap across her mouth silenced her as Stormkrigeren stumbled back, licking a drop of blood from her lips as she stared up at Herr Luthor towering over her, rage shining in his eyes. Without warning, he grabbed her by the wrist and roughly yanked her to her feet, painfully twisting her arm as he did.
"HOW DID YOU SEE IT!?" the man roared, and Stormkrigeren cried out from the agony of her shoulder nearly popping out of its socket.
"I'm sorry - I don't know!"
"LIES! Tell me, unvernünftige schlampe! Tell me now!"
"I don't know!" Stormkrigeren cried again, tears streaming down her face and her arm feeling as if it were about to split in half. She was barely thinking now, desperately trying to make him stop, desperately trying to get away, and she kicked out at him in an attempt to free herself. Her heel hit his leg, and Stormkrigeren managed to wriggle free of his grip as he pressed a hand against his bruised shin, glaring at her demonically. "You hurt me!"
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" she apologized quickly, wiping tears and blood from her face as she backed away from him. She was not quick enough, and a moment later his fist made contact with her temple a second time, throwing her to the floor.
"Shut up! Just shut up, you bitch!" Luthor bellowed, giving her prone form a hard kick before he moved to grab his son from where the boy had been cowering nearby, "On your feet, Alexander! Stupid - both of you!"
The older man forced Alexander towards the door, practically dragging the boy out with him as Stormkrigeren watched with wet eyes, struggling to hold back another flood of tears. The steel door slammed shut behind them, leaving her in almost blissful silence now that they were gone, and for a few long moments, she sat quietly on the floor and stared at the drops of blood - her blood - glistening on the concrete. Finally, she stood up and took a deep breath before returning to the desk to continue her work.