"Dr. Zola, do you think--?"
"What about this, Dr. Zola?"
"Dr. Zola, where--?"
"Who was in charge of that project, Dr. Zola--?"
"Dr. Zola?"
Everyone was always calling his name. Asking questions. Listening to hear, not understand. Until she came along. A little ghost.
*****
Dr. Zola scribbled notes with messy handwriting. The durability of this gun was proving better than the last one. The heat didn't melt the barrel, and therefore it could operate longer than the last model. Creating weapons to harness the Tesseract's energy was a feat in and of itself, but for them to actually work... that was amazing. Schmidt would be happy.
He swept the journals and loose papers into his briefcase, exhaling the musty air of the underground HYDRA base in Switzerland. Barely anything worked down here, even the walls seemed to groan under their burden, threatening to collapse.
He shut the briefcase and sat to tie his shoes. His shoes were no cause for speculation. Just simple charcoal leather dress shoes. His mother had taught him how to tie his shoes, showing him a certain knot that she'd lovingly referred to as the 'Zola knot'.
"Show me how to do that," a soft voice spoke hard Russian in his ear, and he jumped, almost falling off of the bench. He hadn't heard her approach, but he saw her now. A tiny slip of a girl, maybe eleven at the most, sitting beside him. Her skin was pale, and her face... her face. Scars stretched out from the corners of her mouth like hands, covering the entirety of her cheeks. A white curl hung into her eyes, which were looking at his shoes. She was Item 9856. Transferred from an abandoned LAZARUS facility to here. Zola remembered signing off on something to do with that.
"Do what, child?"
"Tie my shoes. You have a pretty tie." She swung her foot up, "They gave me shoes when I came here. I've never had shoes before." Her shoes were tiny brown lace-up boots.
"Of course," Zola showed her how to tie the Zola knot.
When they were done the girl looked at him. Observing him. "What is your name?" She asked, standing up.
"Arnim Zola," he answered without a second thought. "What is yours?"
The girl smiled sadly at him, the scars on her face twisting, "I don't know." Her dark eyes seemed to stare through him. She shook her head, "Well, Arnim, you are a very nice man. It was nice to meet you."
Then she was gone. Arnim smiled for the first time in months.
YOU ARE READING
III: The Soldier and the Fairy Queen: Red Eve
Fanfiction(Previously titled 'LAZARUS') ______ Hopefully her heart would give out soon. That would be wonderful. To finally catch a break from this thing called life........ What is worth living for, anyway? ______ 'HYDRA is dead. Long live LAZARUS!' Who...
