Hydra Base
Washington D.C.
2005

"Where are we going Ms. Coleman?" asked Yelena as she watched her handler stuff her clothes into a little travel case.
"Mr. Pierce is arranging for you to get new handlers," she said zipping up the bag; quite annoyed at the questions that the child was asking.
"But why?" asked the confused child.

"I don't know!" she said raising her voice at the child, "stop asking me questions I don't know!" she said grabbing the child roughly by the arm and pulling her up to her feet. She grabbed the carrying case with one hand and Yelena's hand with her other before leading her out of her former quarters.
The child, who was quite used to Ms. Coleman's temper, stayed silent as she was led out of the building and into a black SUV that was waiting for them on the tarmac.

Ms. Coleman shoved her bag into the back of the car and forced Yelena into the car before strapping her down to the car seat.
"You see this man?" she said pointing to a rather young man wearing a black suit sitting in the front of the car, "this is Rumlow, he's been assigned to be your temporary handler. You will do as he tells you, yes?"

"Yes Ms. Coleman," whispered the little girl as she stared up at the woman with wide and confused eyes.
"Good," she said patting her head awkwardly before closing the car door and walking away.
Yelena only watched as the woman she had known since birth walked away from her; leaving her at the mercy of these strangers.

"Will I ever see her again?" she asked directing the question to the man known as Rumlow.
"No," he said looking at her in the rear view mirror briefly.

Yelena hugged her stuffed bear closer to her little body and stared out at the passing scenery from the little window. She had never really been let out of the building complex where she used live, so everything she saw was practically new and strange to her. She could see tall white buildings and lots of people walking around idly pointing and looking at maps.

Mr. Rumlow came to a stop in front of a nice looking building that sat on a street corner, but Yelena felt uneasy as she stared up at the domed building. The feeling did not go away and only seemed to intensify when Rumlow opened the car door and undid her seatbelt.

Mr. Rumlow lifted her up out of her car seat and lowered her to the ground. He knelt down and smoothed the wrinkles on her soft yellow shirt and combed her hair back off her face, making her somewhat presentable for the Director. He grabbed her hand, his grip much softer than Ms. Coleman's, and led her to the back of the car where he unloaded her suitcase before closing the trunk and leading her across the street and into the pretty building.

Yelena gaped at the pretty chandelier that hung down from the ceiling and lit up the polished marble floor beneath them. There were nicely dressed people sitting behind counters attending to those who were waiting in line.

She noticed Mr. Rumlow look over to a far desk where a man wearing a blue uniform and a badge sat. The man glanced at Rumlow and nodded at him before returning to the newspaper that he was reading. Mr. Rumlow led her out the main room and into a dimly lit hallway and from there into an elevator. She watched as he pulled out a key and inserted it into a lock and turned it, making all the buttons that were not previously lit up light up.

He reached over and hit the one with the Hydra emblem before leaning against the railing as the car started to move down. Yelena glanced around the small room as she felt the elevator lowering them beneath her feet.

Once the doors where open she was led into a well-lit vault type room that was surprisingly busy with people in suits and lab coats.
Yelena felt her heart rate quicken at the sight of them and she let out a small whimper as the memories flooded back into her mind.

"Keep walking," said Rumlow as he gently nudged her forward and into Pierce's office.

"Yelena!" said Pierce standing up and straightening his shirt before walking over to her and kneeling down in front of her, "how is my favorite little girl today?" he said producing a red sucker from his pocket and presenting it to her.
She tenderly reached out and grabbed it, but stared back up at the Director with confusion. She had never received candy and therefor had no idea what she had just been given.

"It's for you," said Pierce as he grabbed the candy back and took the wrapping off of it before giving it back to her, "you suck on the red part."

"Oh," she said before gingerly sticking it into her mouth, reveling in the cherry flavor that exploded in her mouth.
Pierce smiled at her, the wrinkles around his eyes crinkling up.
"You're probably wondering why I have brought you here?" he asked motioning for her to take a seat on the chair in front of his desk.

"You see Yelena," he said taking a seat and pointing at her, "I see your potential to be a great asset to Hydra one day, and I'm going to unlock that potential. How would you like that? To help us make the world peaceful?"

Of course Yelena being a child meant she didn't understand a word he said, but she had no intention of angering the man so she. nodded her head. Ms. Coleman had said that Hydra was good and that to serve them would be an honor

Yelena, having grown up surrounded by Hydra, had been fed their indoctrination since the day she was born. She knew nothing of the world or what they had done in the past, she only knew what she had been taught. To her, Hydra was good because it was the only thing she had been taught from day one.

"Sir," came a man's voice from the doorway, "the Asset is back."
"Thank you Collins," he said dismissing the young man before turning back to face Yelena.
"Mr. Rumlow and I have business to attend to, I'm sure you will not leave this room in the meantime?"
"Yes Mr. Pierce," she said watching as he and Rumlow exited the room and returned to swinging her tiny little legs and sucking her sucker.

She didn't suck on it much longer before she finally bit into it and ate it, leaving her with a sucker stick that she knew she needed to throw away. She climbed down off the chair and walked around Mr. Pierce's desk in search of a trashcan but didn't find one.
She searched the rest of his office but not finding one. Surely there had to be one in the other room? She was sure that Pierce wouldn't mind if she left for just a second to find one. She would only be gone a few seconds and then she would be back here like she promised him, she wouldn't wonder off to where she wasn't supposed to be.

She peeked her head out of the room to find it practically empty than just a few minutes before. She walked around the room and searched vigorously for a trashcan but again didn't find one. Why didn't they have one? Did they not clean up their garbage? Ms. Coleman would not approve of these people if that was the case.

She was about to walk back to the office when she turned her head and found a trashcan sitting at the end of the hallway. She quickly ran to it and threw the stick away; happy that she had finally found one.

She was about to walk back when she heard Mr. Pierce's voice coming from the door next to the trashcan. She couldn't hear what he was talking about, but grew curious about the business that she was not invited to see.

She peeked her little head through the door to see Mr. Pierce standing in front of a weird looking chair, Mr. Rumlow was standing next to him while various men in white coats walked around checking strange looking monitors.

No one saw the little girl peeking in on them so Yelena quietly walked into the room and came to stand in the corner in front of a metal door with square holes big enough for her to peak through.

She watched as Mr. Pierce suddenly moved away from the chair exposing the man who was sitting in it. Yelena only backed away further away into the shadows, hoping the man wouldn't see her and tell Mr. Pierce. Thankfully, he hadn't bothered to look her way, his eyes were solely trained on Mr. Pierce.

All that Yelena could make out of the man was that the arm facing her was made completely of metal with a bright red star painted on it. She was both curious and fascinated by this man's arm, she wondered what it would feel like to touch it.

Yelena couldn't quite hear what was being said, but she didn't dare move from her spot in case she was spotted. She didn't want Mr. Pierce think she wasn't trustworthy, she just wanted to know what was going on with the man sitting in the chair. He seemed familiar with his long brown hair, but Yelena couldn't see his face from the angle she was standing and his hair helped cover it from her. He sat rigidly on the chair, his bare chest rising and falling with every deep breath he took and his metal arm twitching ever so slightly.

Rumlow, who was currently standing off to her right, said something to the man causing him to turn his head to face him, giving Yelena a good look at his face.

She bit her lip as she realized that she had seen his face before. It was Zima, the man who had been sleeping in the large metal box that Mr. Pierce had shown her only a few days prior.

She found herself being drawn forward and came out of the shadows so she could see the man better, but still cautious as she did not want to be caught.
She could see the man say something but it was so soft she could barely hear the sound that came out of his mouth, but whatever he had said seemed to make Mr. Pierce angry because the next moment the older man had walked up to him and slapped him hard across the face. The man's head fell to the side before lifting it up shamefully, not meeting Mr. Pierce's gaze.

Yelena was confused at his action.
Didn't Pierce say that Zima was his friend? But this wasn't how friends were supposed to treat each other, right?

Then Mr. Pierce turned toward the other men in the room wearing white coats and said something to them before backing away from the seated man.
Yelena turned to look at the man and gasped when she realized that his cold gaze was fixed directly on her. She was frozen with fear as she stared at him, unable to move under his watch.

The more she stared the more she realized that his eyes looked sadder than they were cold. He continued to stare at her as something was forced into his mouth and he was roughly pushed back into the chair. Metal restraints came out of the chair and fastened around both of his arms, effectively holding him in place. She could see a metal round thing being lowered down and two panels that sparked with electricity enclose on either side of his head.

He gave her one final look before the machine was turned on.
And then the screaming started.