This chapter I would really, really like feedback on. I want to know what people think of Fitz's reaction. What you think of the villain. I need to know what the audience likes so I can give it to them. :-D Please drop me a line and let me know if a review what you think!
Fitz felt sick. Seasick, to be exact. Like he was in constant motion even though he was positive he was lying perfectly flat and perfectly still.
Wherever he was, it was absurdly bright, even through closed eyelids. It was also oddly silent, and neither hot nor cold, which surprised him. He was expecting torture already with fluctuations in temperature. Maybe a rude awakening with some early morning waterboarding.
Fitz tried to fake unconsciousness as long as possible, keeping his breathing even while straining to hear anything out of the ordinary.
There was nothing.
After what felt like hours, he gave up on the pretense. He cracked his eyes open, shielding them from the glare with his hand as he struggled to sit up and look around.
The room was much larger than he was expecting – almost the size of the conference room on the Bus, and everything was smooth, blinding white. The entire ceiling was one massive overhead light, giving the room the appearance of the surface of the sun. But where Fitz expected horrible torture equipment like surgical tables and things that only made sense in his terrified imagination, there was absolutely nothing except the bed he was currently on. Even the term bed was a little bit of a stretch. Cot might be more accurate – just a thin piece of white canvas stretched between a metal frame about a foot off the floor. His clothes and backpack were gone. He was now barefoot in hospital scrubs.
He tried not to think about the fact someone had stripped him when he was unconscious.
The fact that there was nothing to be afraid of made it worse. Now he wondered what he could be missing. Were there hidden traps? An entire hidden goon squad, courtesy of that chameleon cloaking technology they'd surprised them with? Was the floor electrified? Poison gas ready to descend from the vents?
Fitz closed his eyes and took a steadying breath, willing his heart to go back to a normal level instead of nearing tachycardia. He was alive. He was alive, unhurt, and alone. At least for now, he seemed to be perfectly fine. He could panic when there was a reason to.
Hopefully the team came and got him before there was a reason, but he allowed for a margin of error.
Until then, he would be calm, and cool, and rational. He was a scientist, and an engineer. He could, and would, get through this. It certainly wasn't as bad as being locked in an escape pod, thrown out of a plane and sunk to the shallow part of the ocean to slowly asphyxiate and die.
Happy thoughts, Fitz, he thought to himself, gritting his teeth. It was times like these he missed his imaginary stand in for Jemma. She was always helpful in a crisis.
As he let his mind drift for a moment, there was a faint hiss and the pressure in the room dropped, which he hadn't even noticed was present until it was gone. A panel of the wall, roughly large enough for two people shoulder to shoulder to step through, sunk down, and slid to the side.
The man from earlier, the posh CEO soldier, stepped through and the door slid shut almost immediately behind him.
Instead of dressed in combat gear that put Talbot's soldiers to shame, the man was dressed simply in a pale blue work shirt and slacks with a white doctor's jacket, stethoscope around his neck and clipboard in hand. Thin, wire framed glasses perched on the bridge of his nose as he studied the paper on the clipboard.
He would've looked like a harmless general practitioner if it weren't for the few flecks of bright red blood on the sleeves of the coat.
They looked fresh – vivid crimson instead of darkened maroon.
Fitz fought the urge to recoil, and remained what he hoped appeared indifferent on the cot.
"Mr. Fitz," the man greeted cheerfully, just as any doctor would. "Glad to see you finally up. I was beginning to worry your previous brain damage was causing complications. Any dizziness, nausea, problems with your vision?"
Fitz didn't answer.
It hardly seemed to bother the doctor. "I ask for your benefit, not mine, Mr. Fitz. Or perhaps you would prefer I call you Leo? Intel says you prefer Fitz, but I'm willing to allow for a margin of error. People are so unreliable. I prefer Magnus, personally, over Doctor. Much less formal, don't you agree?"
Again, Fitz remained silent.
The doctor, Magnus for now, scribbled something on the clipboard. "Perhaps you're wondering why you're here. We were so hoping that you would come instead of Skye. True, she is an enhanced person and they are always fascinating, but they're so hard to contain. Especially ones like her. But you, Leo, are much more interesting to me."
"There's nothing interesting about me," Fitz said. He blurted it out without even really thinking about it. The thought was just too absurd to ignore.
The doctor smiled. "Ah, there's that accent I've heard so much about. The ladies are already quite fond of you, you know. I believe the term they used was 'adorable'."
Fitz felt his ears turn pink in embarrassment.
Magnus pressed on, scribbling something else on the clipboard as he talked. "You shouldn't discredit yourself, Leo. For one thing, your engineering creations are bordering on the same level as Mr. Stark. I hear you reverse engineered the cloaking device to use on your Bus and the quinjets, and that was after your TBI. One of your inventions, the Mouse Hole I believe, even saved Director Fury's life when under attack by the Winter Soldier. Very impressive, Leo. Very impressive."
Fitz wasn't sure how he felt being complimented by a HYDRA scientist. He cleared his throat. "And the second thing?"
The doctor glanced up. "Second thing?"
Fitz shrugged, keeping his face neutral. "You said 'for one thing'. That implies that there is more than one thing."
Magnus beamed. "Quite right, Leo. Yes, the second thing – you've managed to overcome your disability almost entirely on your own. You have minor speech aphasia and lingering muscle weakness in your right hand, but you're steadily improving, notably on your own. However, what I am most curious about is the change in your personality."
That was not what Fitz was expecting. "Pardon?"
Magnus couldn't keep his smile off his face, and instead of looking pleasant and friendly, it made him appear manic and off balance – the very definition of a mad scientist. "You were quite the pacifist, weren't you, Leo? Until Agent Ward left you to die and robbed you of your magnificent mind. I hear you turned off the oxygen to his cell to show him what it was like for you, is that true? And now you've attacked him at least once, even though you were supposed to be working together and he is at least half a foot taller than you."
"He did try to kill me and my best friend, murdered several agents in cold blood and killed his brother and his parents by setting their house on fire. And that's only the recent things he's done," Fitz pointed out.
"And yet when you ran into him in this facility, you followed him as if it were the most natural thing in the world," Magnus countered. He again scribbled something on the piece of paper.
"Ward is a survivor," Fitz said. "I don't trust him to save me, but I trust him to keep himself alive."
"So nothing to do with that big brother relationship you used to have?" Magnus asked.
Fitz's reaction was instantaneous and without thought as his face screwed up in disgust.
The doctor chuckled. "Probably a good thing you don't consider him a brother anymore, considering how he treats his biological brothers. His sister on the other hand…" he scribbled another note and Fitz wondered if he was going to run out of paper shortly. "I almost wish we'd gotten her instead, but hindsight is always 20/20."
"Speaking of 20/20, what's with the twenty questions? This feels like my interview for SHIELD."
Magnus chuckled, and Fitz wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad one. "Well, Leo, it is almost an interview. You are a fascinating person. You're an engineering genius, which is why we wanted to recruit you in the first place. But until recently, your behavior had no flags to indicate you could be a part of the program. With your TBI and hypoxia, normal methods of changing your mind were unavailable to us."
There was a coldness spreading across Fitz's skin, like something oily trying to smother him, and he fought the urge to fidget and shudder. The doctor's cold, predatory gaze studied every reaction like he was an insect being catalogued for study, and no matter affable his tone was, Fitz was very, very aware he was addressing a wolf in human skin.
"I'm not joining HYDRA," Fitz said.
Magnus outright laughed at that. "Dear boy, you already worked for HYDRA once, and you didn't even notice. How bad could we be? How different from SHIELD if you couldn't tell the difference?"
Fitz felt his temper rise. "I work for Coulson, and Coulson only. If you think you're going to convince me otherwise, you might as well just kill me now."
Magnus sighed, and scratched something out. "You and Ward. I will never understand your allegiance to people instead of ideas. This is about science, Leo. It's about the very future of our race. With your mind, you can help shape that future – and what could be better for a scientist like yourself than to be one of the founders of the new world?"
"A world shaped by the ideals of a long dead, insane Nazi scientist who believed in magic and the occult and called it progress isn't a world I want any part of."
"HYDRA is more than the ideals of the Red Skull, Leo," Magnus said, pointedly glaring over the top of his glasses. "Just the same as the United States have changed since the founding fathers, HYDRA has changed since the Red Skull."
Fitz glared right back. "Not from where I'm sitting."
"You could be sitting where Ward is." Magnus tapped the clipboard against his open palm. "We're not monsters, Leo. We would prefer that you help us willingly. Your compliance will be rewarded."
"I am not happy to comply," Fitz snarled.
The doctor sighed. "Perhaps you need a demonstration of what non-compliance achieves. Belligerence will not be tolerated, Leo. Not at all."
"Torture me all you want, I'm still not going to help you. I would rather die. Are you willing to lose me after all the hassle of kidnapping me in the first place?" Fitz already knew the answer, and it was a desperate gamble on his part. He knew it, and worse, most likely so did Magnus.
"Honestly, Leo?" Magnus said. "Yes. You may be the preferred candidate, but you are certainly not the only candidate."
Fitz felt his heart sink. So his options so far were to join HYDRA's engineering division willingly, or be tortured until he either gave in or died as a result.
He really, really hoped that the team was looking for him, wherever he was.
Instead of answering, he jumped tracks. "Why was Ward trying to kidnap a little girl?"
If Magnus was at all bothered by the jump in conversation topics, he didn't show it. "Ward is a particularly challenging individual. Garrett may have caused more problems than he solved by bringing him in and taking over his training and not using the Faustus Device. Without an owed debt or alliance to anyone in specific, he's unstable, irrational and unpredictable. Without the trigger code to activate him, Ward must have a preexisting relationship with whoever gives him a directive. Garrett's methods were messy, but they were effective. Unfortunately, it means Ward is very aware of what happened to him, unlike the Faustus recipients, and he now feels it's his obligation to make sure that there is no one else subjected like he was. If it wasn't so annoyingly counter-productive, it would be a fascinating case study."
Fitz's mouth went dry. "But instead…?"
Magnus waved his hand dismissively. "The Faustus Device won't work on him now. They're trying alternative methods. We might be able to start from scratch and hopefully salvage some of our investment, but it's unlikely. And right now, I think our agents are a little upset at him for all the trouble he's caused in the last few months. Notably the hand he had in the death of Whitehall, and the escape of the two enhanced people we captured out our southern base."
Fitz swallowed, trying to get any moisture he could back in his mouth. "So that…that blood is…?"
Magnus looked at his sleeve where the splatters were beginning to dry and turn rusty brown. "His, yes." The doctor glanced back at Fitz to gauge his reaction. "Does that bother you? That we're hurting him?"
Fitz couldn't breathe. "No," he whispered.
Magnus shrugged. "It seemed to bother him when he thought we were doing something to you. Strange. I would've bet money it would be the other way around. Oh well." He shrugged again, and turned to leave, tapping his clipboard, covered in scribbles now, tapping against his open palm. "Think on our offer, Leo. It's an invitation only so long before it becomes mandatory."
The invisible door opened, allowing Magnus to step out. Before they could close again, the doctor called over his shoulder, his voice an almost sing song: "Your compliance will be rewarded."
The door slid shut with a hiss, leaving Fitz very, very alone.
He let out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding, and sagged forwards, forehead against his drawn up knees. His hands shook, worse than they ever did after his accident.
Magnus didn't sound like he was lying, but it would make sense if he was, trying to manipulate Fitz's feelings. Ward wouldn't be concerned about him. It didn't make sense. None of this made sense.
Ward was HYDRA. He'd allied with HYDRA when they tried to overthrow SHIELD. He tried to kill him and Simmons. He killed Hand and countless others during the takeover.
And yet, more recently, reunited Skye and her father. Helped save Agent 33. Used his own twisted sense of right and wrong to get Bakshi to help them save Skye's friend and Mike Peterson from HYDRA's base. And even now, when Fitz saw him last, he was trying to save a little girl from HYDRA's labs.
He scrubbed a shaking hand over his face, trying to keep his breathing even. Who did he believe? Magnus? Ward? Right now he didn't even know if he could count on the team to find him before he was killed, given the situation between Gonzalez and Coulson fighting for director position of SHIELD.
He started to rock back and forth without realizing it, trying to muddle through his own thoughts. He needed Jemma. He needed someone to talk to. He wasn't Skye, he wasn't May or Bobbie or Mack– he couldn't go through this alone.
The faint hiss of the door reopening had Fitz jumping to his feet, hands behind his back as he tried to hide their uncontrollable shaking.
Four HYDRA soldiers stood in the middle of the opening, the ones on either end with assault rifles at the ready, while the other two held another person between them, dressed in the same hospital scrubs as Fitz. Another 'doctor' stepped in front of them, wearing a similar jacket as Magnus, except this one had more red than white. He stood silently for a moment, surveying the room, gaze settling on Fitz.
"It won't work if he's unconscious. Keep him alive, or you'll be the one who takes his place," the doctor said, German accent thick and choppy. English clearly was not a first language for him.
He snapped his fingers, and the two support guards dragged their prisoner forwards just far enough his feet were inside the door and dropped him bonelessly in a heap on the floor. Another snap of the doctor's fingers, and the five of them retreated back into the hall, the door sliding shut behind them.
The body didn't move.
Neither did Fitz.
In the silence, Fitz could hear its ragged breathing as it hitched and rasped, painful sounding even to him. And he could smell copper and burnt hair.
It still didn't move.
And neither did he.
Not until the body began to shake, uncontrollably as it flopped and flailed about like a fish out of water, gagging on its own tongue. Not even Fitz could ignore that, and without thinking about it, he rushed to their side, dropping to his knees even as he skidded on the growing pool of blood and turning them sideways in case they threw up.
Grant Ward was almost unrecognizable. One entire side of his face was a violent shade of purple, most of the bruising centered around his eye, which was swollen shut. There was blood everywhere – Fitz wasn't even sure where all of it was coming from.
The part he was more concerned with was the shaved part of Ward's skull that now sported an external cranial electrode like the ones found on lab rats. Blood matted the hair around it, almost invisible against the black. It was recent, and it was not gentle.
As soon as Ward's seizure ended, he crawled just far enough away to throw up everything he'd eaten in the last several days, continuing to dry heave for several minutes when there was nothing left to throw up.
He didn't care what Ward had done. No one, no one deserved to have their skull drilled into just so that some deranged scientists could torture them more efficiently.
Magnus's words came back to him – "Perhaps you need a demonstration."
Message received. And it was loud and clear:
Non-compliance will not be tolerated.
So. Is Magnus creepy enough? Even the other 'doctor' is going to play a large part in this. But I need to know if he's creepy, or believable, etc. Read and review! they are like oxygen!