Aberration | Bucky Barnes

ix. syringe

CHAPTER FIVE

Eloise desperately wanted to respond. To ask who he was and why she was there, or maybe just to spit in his face, but she bit her tongue. Speaking would almost certainly make things worse, if that was even possible. 

"I'm sure you have many questions, unfortunately we are on a very tight schedule. All you need to know at this point is that you have been chosen by the Gods, and we are here to help you fulfill your destiny."

Eloise swallowed her terror and forced the tears burning at the back of her eyes to stay where they were. The man before her had clearly lost his mind, but she had already established that there was no way for her to escape whatever he had planned for her. If she was going to die, she was at least going to try to die with a sliver of her dignity still intact. 

When she held her silence the man nodded curtly and backed away, letting the one she presumed was the lead scientist step forward. His cruel eyes were brimming with excitement as he carefully lifted one of the syringes off the table. He turned to the rest of the men and spoke again in the language she now associated with fear. 

One of them hit the panel on the wall near the door and the lights dimmed drastically. Another raced across the room to grab a bright red box. He dumped the contents and came back with a swatch of cloth about the size of a paper napkin. His skin was pale and practically dripping with nervous sweat as he rubbed the disinfectant along the length of Eloise's arm. 

She hissed as the cold, wet material hit her skin, then bit back a bitter laugh. Whatever was coming next would undoubtedly make the unforgiving cold she was encased in seem like a blessing.

"Doctor Zola, are we ready to begin the procedure?" The man in black asked impatiently.

Doctor Zola eyed the room cautiously, making sure everything was in order before he nodded. "Yes Herr Shmidt, I believe we are."

The white coats backed away slowly, settling into a cluster by one of the far walls. Their hearts drumming furiously in their chests and their eyes wide with wonder and fright. If their calculations were correct, and everything went according to plan, they would go down as legends in Hydra. They would be the men that changed the war. They would be the men that completely changed the world. 

Eloise gritted her teeth as Zola pushed his glasses up on his nose. His hands were overcome by minuscule tremors as the syringe grew closer to the woman's exposed skin. 

Though she was overcome by terror, she didn't want her final thoughts to be of the disgusting men around her, or the torture chamber she was trapped in. She wanted to remember her friends, so in the seconds before the needle pierced her skin she played through a montage of happy memories with Steve and Bucky. 

The stray dog that kept Steve in the park long enough for her to stumble upon him. Their trip to the river in the outskirts of town when he had fallen in so she'd jumped in to make him feel better. Him introducing her to Bucky. Skipping the school dance with them because Steve was too shy to go, and getting Bucky to teach her how to punch so she didn't have to worry about bullies. 

All of those memories flew through her mind in the few moments she clung to before Zola finally injected her with the swirling blue liquid. 

The sharp tip of the cruel metal made contact with the sensitive skin of her arm and all her thoughts scattered. As soon as it broke through the surface of her flesh she slammed her eyes shut so the tears in them wouldn't escape. 

The flaming tendrils of luminescent energy seeped slowly through her blood, bringing with them a pain so intense, her broken wrist seemed like a minor scrape in comparison. The formula crawled through her arteries, distributing it's burning wrath across her entire body. Screams she had tried to hold in finally tore from her lungs as if the wretched claw of Death itself was snatching them up. 

Zola wasn't done though; the procedure wasn't quite complete. He pulled another vile off the counter. More icy energy flooded her veins as she continued to scream. The doctor was preparing to unleash the final injection on her when he noticed his subject wasn't just screaming and writhing anymore, she was starting to glow with the same blue light that he had just shot into her. 

He nearly dropped the last vial as he backed away in surprise, his palms growing slick with nervous sweat. This hadn't been one of the side effects he had planned for.

The scientist began to murmur to each other, a few of them slowly inching towards the door. Shmidt barked an order at them to stay where they were, and they froze. 

Suddenly Eloise's eyes shot open, and the glow increased by tenfold. Her beautiful irises were no longer the dark, mahogany brown she was born with. They were a brilliant blue, and they shined with as much fury and power as the serum that was now swirling around inside of her.

Her screams reached a new, deafening volume and the glasses on Zola's nose shattered. He cried out as the splinters embedded themselves in his skin. He and Shmidt spun on their heels at the exact moment one of the youngest scientists raced for the door. The three of them yanked the door open and fled through it not a moment too soon. They pulled the heavy barricade shut just in time to trap the rest of the men inside. 

Through the cracks under the door they watched as the light escaping under it grew to be so bright they had to shield their eyes. Then in one explosive instant, the door shook against the force of something undeniably powerful slamming into it. 

Complete and utter silence followed, Eloise's screams and the trapped mens' cries for help cut off the second the door stopped shaking. 

The light disappeared as well, leaving the hallway and the men occupying it bathed in darkness.