New Mexico
Hydra Base
2006
"Again," said the instructor calmly as she observed the exhausted six year old girl finish the routine without a single mistake, a feat that had taken Yelena months of practicing to accomplish.
Yelena said nothing as she planted her aching feet back into the starting position and started the routine again and again did it without any mistakes. She had learned the hard way that there was no room for mistakes within Hydra, even when it came to her ballet lessons.
She had been taking lessons for almost a year now and her dancing skills had improved much since having started. She could now exercise almost every routine perfectly without a single mistake, something Baron Fleischer praised her for immensely. Very soon she would be able to start actual combat training now that she had learned good posture and footing, something that was important to learning how to fight.
"Again," said the instructor once Yelena had finished the routine again, her feet screaming in pain and agony. The pink slippers dug tightly into her skin and she could feel huge blisters forming, some of them having already popped as blood and ooze poured out of them. But Yelena said nothing nor did she show the pain on her face as she yet again planted her feet into the starting position and began the routine again.
She twirled around the floor as she had done many times before, but this time her feet got tangled up and she fell onto the hard floor with a soft grunt.
Before she even had time to try and get up, her instructor had already marched over to her and yanked her up by her shoulder and delivered a hard slap across the girls face.
Yelena bit back her tears as she lowered her head in shame so as to not show the instructor her glossy eyes. She had learned a long time ago that her ballet instructor did not take kindly to mistakes and was far less forgiving than any of her other handlers. She was the epitome of harshness and cruelty, but she had been handpicked by Fleischer to teach her so she dared not complain to anybody about her sadistic methods.
"Pathetic," she sneered down at a silent Yelena, "can't do anything right, can you?"
Yelena said nothing as she bit her tongue and refused to meet the older woman's cold stare, her head still lowered in shame and remorse.
"Hmmm?" jeered the woman as she placed her hands on her hips and stared down expectantly at the child. Once upon a time, she would've stood up for herself, but she knew that bad behavior always warranted punishment. She already had nightmares every night about the horrible things that Fleischer would do to punish her, and she wasn't keen to add anymore to the list.
"Are you going to answer me or what?" she asked impatiently.
"No ma'am," said Yelena quietly.
"No ma'am what?" she said as her tone dipped dangerously low.
"No ma'am, I can't do anything right," said Yelena as she hesitantly looked up into the instructors harsh expression, "I'm weak and pathetic and I'll never be anything more than that."
"That's what I thought," she said coldly as she took a step back and motioned for Yelena to start again, her hands poised behind her back and her posture rigid as she watched the girl do the routine yet again.
"I think that's quite enough for one day," came Fleischer's voice as he meandered over to the training mat, his hands held behind his back as he inspected the dancing girl before him.
"Yelena," he said stiffly, "go get changed."
"Yes Sir," said Yelena as she grabbed her bag and stalked into the changing room before yanking the shoes off her feet, a sigh of relief flooding her as soon as they were off.
She grabbed a wash cloth and dampened it before applying the cool moist towel to her blistered and bloodied feet. She wiped the blood and ooze away before slapping Band-Aids over the painful protuberances before changing into her normal attire.
She walked out to see Baron Fleischer still waiting patiently for her, his posture rigid and his head held high as he stared down at her blankly.
"Come with me," he said as he stalked out of the room.
"May I ask where we are going?" asked Yelena as she quickly tied her hair into a loose bun at the top of her head.
"The girls I told you would be joining the program," he said looking back at her briefly, "I want you to meet them."
"How many of them are there?" asked Yelena curiously.
"Three."
"I thought Director Pierce approved more than that," commented Yelena as she begun to realize why the Baron seemed to be in a bad mood. He had been under the impression that there would be more than three girls joining the program, but it seemed as though Director Pierce had other plans.
"So did I," he remarked with contemptuousness as he led her into one of the previously empty bunkers that had been turned into a dormitory for the girls. The place had been cleared and beds had been placed along the far wall, where three girls sat with despondent expressions gracing their young and innocent faces.
Yelena could tell that two of the girls were about five while the youngest was no older than four by the looks of it, making all of them younger than her. In only a few short weeks, Yelena would be seven years old, meaning that it had almost been two years since she first arrived.
It was obvious by their teary gazes and sad expressions that they had never been subjected to Hydra training before or any sort of training before. They all looked young and naïve, just like Yelena had when she had first come here.
"Girls," said Fleischer as he guided Yelena further into the room, "how are we settling in?"
All three girls looked up to meet the Baron's eyes before turning their curious gazes to Yelena, who stared at them with a blank and unreadable expressions. Yelena could tell that the girls had been crying from the glassy looks in their eyes as well as their red and blotchy skin.
"I want to go home," said the youngest one as a new string of tears poured down her rosy and plump cheeks, turning them even redder than before.
Yelena glanced over to the Baron, her eyebrows raised in question as she placed her hands behind her back. Just where did the Baron get these girls from?
"Well that's not going to happen," said Fleischer rather harshly as he glared at the girls, "none of you will ever be going home ever again so you had better all get used to it."
All the girls looked to each other before turning their gaze on their laps; silent tears pouring down all of their faces.
"This is your home now," said Fleischer looking back towards Yelena and nodding for her to step forward, "you will train here until you are the best that Hydra has to offer."
"What's Hydra?" asked the blond girl as she wiped the tears away from her eyes.
Fleischer looked over to Yelena expectantly as he waited for her explanation.
"We are a secret organization working from the shadows," began Yelena as she took a step closer to the girls, "we work to protect and better humanity from corrupt people and governments," said Yelena as she paused to take in the confused expressions of the group. They were just children who had not grown up within Hydra, so to them all of this was new information.
"We're the good guys," she said as she tried to find a way to better explain it to children, "we want to protect people."
"Don't you guys want to help protect people?" asked Fleischer as he added onto what Yelena had just said.
The girls said nothing as they stole unsure glances at each other, their expressions conflicted and confused as they looked back the Yelena and Fleischer.
"How?" asked the girl with light brown hair as she looked up at the Baron for an explanation.
"By training," said Fleischer, "by working hard and by being the very best that you can be."
"I want my mommy," mumbled the youngest as she buried her head in the blond girl's arms, "I don't want to train or work hard."
"Well I'm afraid you don't have much of an option," said Fleischer as stood up, "so you're going to have to learn to live with it," he said as he stalked out of the room with Yelena.
Yelena remained quiet as she followed him out of the room, but stopped briefly to look back at the group, her eyes meeting the sad blue ones of one of the girls before she followed the Baron out of the room.
Yelena could already tell that the girls would have a hard time adjusting to their new lives here, not because she was being mean but because these girls seemed to be very attached to their former life. They had had homes before coming here, a luxury that Yelena had never had as well as having families who had loved and cared for them.
Yelena didn't have a family or a home. Nobody loved her and nobody cared about her, so letting go of that life hadn't been all that hard. The only thing she had had a hard time adjusting to was the physical abuse, but she learned to adjust over time.
But would these girls be able too?
Yelena had a sick feeling that she would find that out for herself soon, and it left her feeling worried.
She could only hope that they would adjust, or else she didn't know what Fleischer would do to them if they didn't.
New Mexico
Hydra Base
2007
Yelena sucked in her breath as she used her weight to step back before quickly twisting her head out of the instructors choke hold. She grabbed his arms and twisted it behind his back before kicking the back of his leg, causing him to fall forward onto the mat.
She had been combat training for over a year now and she seemed to only be getting better as time went on. She could now exercise almost every move perfectly without a single mistake, something Baron Fleischer praised her for immensely.
Yelena stepped off the mat and grabbed her water bottle and began chugging the cold and refreshing liquid down her parched throat. Her eyes traveling across the gym over to where the three girls were busy practicing their ballet, their little figures twirling gracefully across the gym.
Yelena could tell that girls were already tired as their movements had started to get slower and slower and their feet started trembling from the constant dancing.
Yelena was about to set her bottle down before she noticed Anna, the blond one, looking over in her direction with a slight look of jealously and disdain.
Anna was probably just jealous that she was not as advanced in her training as Yelena was, which was understandable. While they were just beginning the basics of ballet, Yelena had already graduated to actual combat training as well as weapons training.
But Yelena knew she had a slight advantage over these girls considering she was more dedicated to Hydra as well as having more ties to the organization than they did. None of them had a legacy to live up to like Yelena did.
Their fathers weren't deadly assassins who had made Hydra what it today.
It was who her father was that had encouraged her to through herself into her training and to work harder than ever before. And because of this, Yelena had improved considerably within the last few months much to the delight of Fleischer and the irritation of the girls.
She had already set the bar high for the other girls and Yelena knew Fleischer would expect only the best of them, but she couldn't bring herself to feel bad about that.
"Well done!" clapped Fleischer from where he stood, "that was beautiful, Lena."
Yelena nodded as she stepped off the mat and looked over to the girls, who were all glaring at Yelena with annoyance and disdain. The Baron never praised them for their accomplishments like he did Yelena, and that was something that made them jealous.
"Yelena," said Fleischer as he nodded towards the exit, "you may head to your next class."
Yelena nodded as she walked over to the changing room and changed into her normal attire before making her way over to the shooting range where her weapons instructor would be waiting to begin their daily training.
"You're late," he said gruffly as he watched her stalk into the room.
"Sorry," said Yelena as she grabbed a pair of ear plugs and goggles and put them on, "won't happen again."
"Better not," said the instructor as he handed her an unloaded handgun, "just do target practice for today."
Yelena nodded as she loaded the cartridge and turned the safety off before taking aim and firing. She let off a few more rounds before the instructor motioned for her to stop before taking the gun out of her hands. He walked over to the paper and pulled it down before holding it up in front of her so she could see how she did.
"You're getting better," he said as he threw the paper away and replaced it, "but you're aim is still a little off."
"I know," Yelena grumbled as she shook her head.
"Ease up on the trigger a little bit," said the instructor as he watched her reload the cartridge, "press the trigger smoothly with your finger, not your whole hand."
"I'm trying," grumbled Yelena as she aimed the gun again, "but I just can't seem to hit the target."
"You will," he said as he wrote something down on his clipboard, "with practice."
Yelena didn't say anything as she shot off a couple of rounds, her finger lightly pressing the trigger as she tried not to move her entire hand. She breathed in deeply in-between every shot and kept her eyes solely trained on the target.
"Now that's what I'm talking about," said the Instructor as he took the gun from her and unloaded it before walking out to grab the paper before holding It up for her to see.
Yelena remained quiet as she looked at the holes that littered the paper; the bulk of them located on the chest of the silhouette.
"Keep this up and we can move onto rifles soon," he said folding up the paper and set it aside instead of throwing it in the trash like he had the other ones.
Yelena continued her target practicing for the next few hours until it was time for dinner, but before that she headed back to her quarters to change out of her sweaty clothes and into something that didn't wreak of sweat.
She grabbed a hair tie off her dresser and pulled her long brown hair back into a ponytail, her eyes lingering over the black and white polaroid that stared up at her innocently.
It had been a few months since Fleischer had told her about her connection to the Winter Soldier, and ever since then the picture had been sitting on her dresser to serve as a reminder of her purpose.
She would serve Hydra just like her father was and together they would help bring about world peace and security. They would help bring down corrupt organizations like Shield and no one would stand in their way.
Yelena briefly wondered if her father would be proud of her if he knew how much she had improved in these last few months. She wasn't that same weak little girl who had arrived here a year and half ago, she had changed for the better and she had become someone new.
And she owed it all to Hydra.