Trapped in the Shadows

Chapter 21 - The Fall

3 years later:

"Beziehung, Verdorben,  Null, Dämmerung, Schlange, Sechs, Ruhezustand, Endspiel, Sieben, Opfergabe," Carson spoke and I could feel my mind giving into the control. I tried to fight it with every fiber of my being, but it was a pointless endeavor. I could feel my restrain diminishing until gone completely and all that remained was my complete compliance to my superiors.

"What is my mission?" I spoke, bringing my gaze up to meet Carson's.

He broke out into a smile, "so are you finally ours? Boys, please be so kind as to unstrap her, we have some place that we have to be."

Two agents freed me from my table and I swung my legs over the side so that I could get up. The agents bound my wrists together and Carson apologized, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but we must do this for our own safety."

I gave no verbal response, but did not fight the binds on my wrists. I followed obediently through the halls of the base, not caring about anything else besides the mission. There were people in rooms that we passed who were peering out of the small rectangle of bullet proof glass on each door, desperate to get a glimpse of me, but I paid them no mind as Carson led me to my target.

Warning: the following portion contains animal cruelty. It's not incredibly graphic, but I wanted to warn you in advance regardless and if you would rather not read it skip to where you see ***

Carson opened a door for me and I stepped inside, finding a dog sitting inside. It was a young golden retriever, probably around one year old. He was tied to a post with a length of rope, but that was all that was in the room.

"What is my mission?" I asked, noticing how repetitive my requests had become.

Carson smiled and nodded towards the dog, "kill him."

I nodded and approached the dog, who wagged his tail in anticipation that I would give it attention. However he soon seemed to register that I was a threat because the tail went between his and he began to back away from me. But there was no where to go and I wrapped my arms around it's neck, strangling the dog with the binds around my wrist. The dog fought against me, managing to let out a welp as he thrashed his head back and forth. Thankfully I had been injected with a serum that would retain my muscle mass while cooped up on the table and the young dog was no match against my strength.

He went limp in my arms and I confirmed his death before picking up the corpse and dropping it at the feet of Carson, "mission completed."

***

"Well, either you have an immoral hatred of dogs or you are indeed finally ours. I think I am going to go with the latter as it makes my job easier. I believe then that it is time that you begin your training. However before you do, I should probably brief you on your fail safe."

"My fail safe? You really think that I would fail?" I questioned, giving him a deathly glare.

"I know, but the boss said it was necessary, just to cover all of our bases. While asleep, we gave you a monitor in your eye so that we can see everything that you do. It is based off of technology used by the Centipede Group, however you will be glad to hear that what we gave you is a bit more humane. As opposed to removing your eye to implant the camera and fuse, the scientists here created something akin to a contact lens that will allow Hydra to see everything that you do. As for the fail safe, they've implanted that in your brain. Therefore if you disobey orders, we can easily knock you out or even kill you," Carson explained, causing me to become hyper-aware of every action I made.

He pulled out a device and clicked the center button, causing waves of pain to rip through my head. I let out a cry of pain, but try to keep my composure, needing to remain the strong soldier that I was ordered to be. The pain dissipated and Carson nodded, storing the device back inside his suit jacket pocket.

"That was only an inkling of the full power that that device stores. I thought it only wise to inform you of this so that you are aware of the consequences of betraying the organization."

"I would never betray Hydra," I replied, offended that they felt the need to hold my life in their hands to make sure that I did their bidding.

"Good, but we're still not removing the implant as it is an extremely tricky procedure, which botched would cost you your life. Now, please come this way and you will begin your training," Carson spoke, leading me deeper into the base, into territory I had never been before.

I began a series of trials, having to kill innocents connected to Shield who they brought in as a way to express my loyalty. They also pitted me against some of their more trained soldiers, having me prove my strength against them. Eventually, they removed the magical restraints and that weapon was returned to me. It felt exhilarating to use my magic again and with it I easily took down any opponent that Hydra placed in front of me.

Due to good behavior, I was soon released from the lab and granted my own cell. Every now and then I was brought back to the lab and forced to watch the repetitive footage that they played for me to understand the mission and why supporting Hydra was so important. It reminded me to stay in line and do as I told, no matter what they asked me. The cell that I spent most of my time in wasn't much, but it provided me with my own space to experiment with my magic outside of the training room.

I had even been gifted with a combat suit, designed specially by our leader, Edgar Lascombe. It was a black leather sleeveless bodysuit that zipped up in the front with low waisted black leather pants to match. The knees were padded and there were two small, and essentially useless, pockets in the bodice. The tactical belt was much more practical, allowing me to store a variety of weapons as well as anything else I may need in battle. I also had a gun holster on either leg which housed two different pistols and fingerless leather gloves that I felt was more of a fashion statement as opposed to providing any real protection.

It didn't seem the most practical in battle, but as Lascombe had created it specifically for me, I knew that it would be seen as a personal affront if I were to design a new suit. Besides, it wasn't entirely useless and allowed movement, so it was certainly something I could work with. And I didn't need to rely on a protective suit with how much of a weapon I, myself, was.

-

(A/N): it actually pained me to write this chapter (because obviously I love dogs), but I felt it would be the best way to show the loss of humanity so you can all cry with me. Plus I apologize for kind skipping through the degradation of your mind, but it happens incredibly slowly and would have been really repetitive so I decided a time skip would be best so that this book doesn't end up being like 100 chapters. I hope you enjoyed!