Chapter 3

The room is dark except for the faint light from the street coming around the edges of the blackout curtains and the blue glow reflecting from the tactical lens over her right eye. Continuous information scrolled around the central, highlighting the heat signature before her. The target is sleeping, sprawled across the bed with unconcerned ease perfect.

Bringing up her gun, she moves silently forward and aiming at her target. A hard intentional nudge against one of the feet of the bed, sends her victim rolling out of the covers in surprise, hitting the floor with a yelp.

Narrowing her focus, she concentrates the stream of data solidifying it around the faint outline of the subject. The transparent screen scans and filters everything she sees; sending commands and confirmation from her handler. A few breaths worth of time pass as the startled figure scrambles back up against the wall of their bedroom, shouts of alarm and unanswered cries for help, totally ignored by the intruder.

Sensors scan the features before her, then glow a faint green as the target is identified and approved. He is a dead man.

The pistol bucks three times in her hand; blinding white flashes of light counteracted by the prosthetic over the one eye. In reflex, she closes both against the flash.

The last thing she remembers just before she jerks them open again is the bright flash of light highlighting the color red. Her mind seems clearer but argues with her in confusion. The color... It's the wrong shade. It should be shinier, richer, more... Silky?

Not the deep, dark mess of red and fleshy bits that litters the wall in her mind. Not the red of a blown out head dripping down the once pristine white drywall in front of her. Her right hand cradles a pistol in her hand; trigger finger still tensing but not as much as when she had pulled the trigger and fired the shots.

She pulled the trigger this time. She had shot her target. Did she pass? Fail? Would the pain come again? The pain always came if she fails.

Rapidly blinking her eyes, the thought of the differences in cool all faded as she looked at the vision of bits of what used to be a person's head in front of her.

"Good. You're taking the programmed simulation much better now. Isn't it easier to not fight it? Less pain? Less confusion?" A voice spoke softly near her. Comforting yet controlled.

Easier. Less pain. Was the mission a success? Had she killed someone? Murdered someone?

She flinches internally at the thought. It's wrong... all wrong...

Someone... Why? Someone would be disappointed... Sad... No. No! Please don't be sad.

"Well done, Asset. Simulation disengaging. Gamma Beta Nine," the voice ordered. "Comply."

"Nnnn..." The sound sticks in her mouth as she attempts to un-tighten her jaw to talk. A growl starts low and from deep with her.

Wrong... Compromised... I'm compromised!

White, hot fury blossoms within her as the world of blood and the image of her hand holding a gun bleds away to reveal a huge room of gray hewn stone, filled with banks of computers and medical equipment.

"Nnnn...Nnnno! Maria Hill. Uni... United States. ID D4528C37." The words ripped out of her with snarled force and she locks her gaze on the handful of men and women in lab coats in the room.

This is wrong... All wrong. Where was her team? Where was, Nnn.. No. No. Don't! I want to remember... remember...

She tries to fight off the blackness but it's futile and she falls back into the dark and her dreams as one of the people plunges a sedative into her system.

"The simulation lasted longer that time at least," an attendant notes. "Asset 33 completed the primary objective but didn't recover well from the framework. We'll have to go over the footage and find what triggered her out of the programming, " he concludes as his fingers fly over the keyboard in front of him. "Program 32-b. Partial success

"Re-setting the system to 33-a," another states and heads over to a medical tray.

She begins measuring a dosage in a syringe and then picks up a bottle filled with a deep blue fluid. "Doubling the dosage this time and including the scheduled first dosage of XT-7 as well."

"Noted. Proceed."

The first dose was meet with barely a flinch as the contents were injected into the IV line in the subject's right arm and hits her system.

The second dose brings blue eyes flashing open and moans of discomfort.

If anyone in the room actually cared, the figure would have been pitiable.

Physically retrained by numerous reinforced straps from head to toe, with an attendant quickly muzzling the Asset with a buckled bit in her mouth to quiet the noise. There was almost no way to tell race or sex with all the bruising. The most obvious identifying marker was that the person's left arm wasn't there; only a well bandaged stump at the shoulder joint. Her blue eyes were open and staring through what looked like a transparent virtual reality visor.

Pale skin. Mid-length dark hair; greasy and damp from hours and hours of stress and pain. Long, slim feminine fingers were the only part of the body that could move besides the eyes. The flesh marred by numerous scratches and almost sunken in, due to the rigid clenching and un-clenching of the fingers. All of the fingernails were broken, torn, and bleeding - evidence of the only physical distress the person could express being so restrained - and they seemed to almost glow white from the pressure of repeatably digging into the wood of the chair arm.

One of three people around the prisoner, all dressed in clean, pressed clothes and pristine white lab coats, hovered around the figure hooking medical leads up to various parts of their captive's body. He moved with professionalism and took no liberties as they moved edges of clothing out of the way to attach the adhesive ends to the skin undernewth; going right back to the bank of computer systems when he was finished.

For a time the only sound in the room was the low hum of the machines, the tic-tap of keys on keyboards as a command was entered, the soft slap of shoes as the two men and one woman went back and forth, and the strongly muffled sounds of distress coming from the figure in the chair.

Then, as if rehearsed, they all completeedy their preparations and took seats in front of control stations.

The thick armored door suddenly opened into the room and then closed behind a man who strode into the room as if he owned it. He was a good looking man, with blond hair and chiseled features. Piercing blue eyes gazed unwavering at his captured prize as he strode forward through the room. Tall and well built, he had a military bearing but wore unremarkable clothing. He smiled thinly and looked over the seated figure closely.

Finding everything in order, he stood at ease in front of her and began speaking, his thick, cultured German accent sending a jerk of surprise through the prisoner at his first words. Blue eyes met blue, the caprice's stopping their frantic swiveling around the room. With a source to focus on, even the pained sounds lowered in volume; just soft moans as a particular wave of pain went through her. They were low enough that he could be heard easily over them.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Agent Maria Hill. I do hope you'll forgive the reception and your current circumstances, but you've brought us a unique opportunity which we just cannot pass up." He paused and seemed to be listening to the agent's muffled sounds as if he could understand them.

"Ah, yes. Please forgive my manners..."

He stepped back and gestured to the the men and woman at the desks behind him.

"These good people have been working diligently since you were handed to them. Weeks of dedication. They're to be commended. I know you can't appreciate that, but HYDRA does." He grinned as Hill's eyes narrowed and her moans of pain became a growl.

His smile broadened and he stepped closer again, leaning forward for a moment. "This is the part where the evil genius does his monologue. I just can't resist. Fury's newest second in command? I'm enough of a narcissist that I'll readily admit to enjoy telling you about what you're in for... while you can remember it."

The man started to pace around the room, his arms waving dramatically as he talked.

"Yes, HYDRA. I know, I know. HYDRA was destroyed," his fingers did little quotes in the air and he gave a little chuckle.

"But it does exist, Agent Hill... or should I say Asset 33. You're our property and our mission now; part of a very special program with a long, proud history. The reports have told me that your programming is progressing nicely. Luckily for you, it's much easier than it used to be and the drugs have advanced exponentially since Asset 1."

The man stopped his pacing a moment and looked at Maria with almost a sorrowful expression.

"But alas no less painful than back then. There is a part of me that regrets that. However, the technology has improved so much! Virtual reality... such a dream to use. Tests are all virtual along with technologies developed over the decades, encoded to the human brain. HYDRA has gotten very good at wiping an asset's mind and re-creating reality. You'll be even more fortunate than all of the prior generations of assets. I almost envy you."

Spotting the tray with the blue vial, he went over to pick up the small bottle. Holding it so she could see it, he continued. "Captain America was not the first Super Soldier you know. HYDRA's Johann Schmidt was - now there was a soldier. The serum has evolved and progressed along with our programming techniques since it was recreated by our scientists back then; and it's running through your veins."

"Of course, it does have it's drawbacks depending on the individual, but the positives outweigh the negatives to us," he stopped and picked up a syringe. Filling it midway with the serum from the vial, he put the vial back down and stepped to the IV shunted in her remaining arm.

It took only a moment to release the fluid into her veins and the screams to start again. He ignored them and spoke to her one last time, even if it was only to himself since his audience was no longer listening.

"But then you won't remember the negatives. Or even care."