Project Vita Nova || Yelena x oc

Prologue

*Possible Trigger Warning: kidnapping*

A line of two dozen kids filed into the room, with Valary at the very end of the line. She looks around at the twenty three other kids, all boys and girls. They were all around the same age, eleven or twelve years old, Valary herself being eleven. The room all twenty four of them were crammed into was dark and musty, with a moldy smell of something lingering in the air. An older man, tall and deathly skinny, was standing off at a distance, conversing with a smaller man dressed in a white lab coat. The coat had a logo of a large octopus with a skull, painted on his sleeve.

Valary instantly recognized it as the Hydra symbol. She could remember her parents talking about the ghostly organization.

There was a loud thump off to Valary's side, as a guard had just pulled the heavy door shut. The skinny man finished up his conversation, then walked to the center of the room, approaching the line of kids.

"My children, welcome to your redemption. Welcome to project Vita Nova." the man's voice is cold, and quiet. "You all will be granted with a new purpose, a new life."

Uneasiness filled Vallary's veins with what the man was saying.

What's happening? Where am I? Valary's thoughts grew loud in her head. All she wanted to do was wake up from this disorienting nightmare, but she had a feeling that wouldn't be happening anytime soon.

"I am Dr. Spencer Delick." the man said, giving a wide smile. "Consider me your new den mother."

Vallary glanced down the line of kids, each one either looking terrified, confused, or a mixture of both.

One of the guards approached the first kid in line, holding some sort of machine in his hand. He grabbed the first kid's wrist and placed the machine on the child's forearm. The machine made some sort of whirring noise, and then the guard let go of the kid. Vallary couldn't make out what the machine had done to the kid's arm.

"Each one of you will be receiving a tag. This is your name, your place in line." Delick commented as the guard continued down the line of kids, placing the machine on their arms.

The guard finally reached Valary at the end of the line. He grabbed her left wrist and placed the machine on her forearm. There was the same whirring and a slight tingling. The guard removed the machine, revealing the number 24, printed in black ink. Valary examined it, trying to rub the ink off her arm, but with no success.

"Each one of you has been selected because you all possess a genetic potential to change, to be the next super powered human." Delick shakes his fist in the air, possibly for dramatic effect. Recomposing himself, he continues, "You all will be staying here, in a sterile...compartment. You will be tested, examined, and believe me, you will want to try and impress us."

Tested? Examined? What's happening?

Delick turned to the guard who had issued the numbers. "Commander Tren, if you and your men could escort the kids to their accommodations?"

A dozen soldiers stepped out of the shadows and started grabbing the kids and pushing them to the other end of the room. The lights at the end of the room came on to reveal a row of twenty four plexiglass containers, about five or six feet long and reaching up to the ceiling. The kids were thrown into the compartments, one kid per container, with the door promptly closed behind them.

It was from that moment on that Valary lost her sense of time. She could have been there days, weeks, or months and not know it. But what she quickly learned was to do as she was told, and maybe she would live to see tomorrow.