Stars ☆ PARKER

four : the dream

The small form curled in on itself even more as it made no move to prevent the pain the would be caused by the lashes inflicted by the guards.

The child had simply wanted something to eat. She saw no harm in taking a piece of bread offered by one of the kind female prisoners in the room next to hers. The bars separating them left gaps large enough for her to stick her hand into their room and take the bread she had offered.

The two guards who watched the exchange happen were not pleased, as they had stopped it immediately, stepped on her hand, and dragged her small body into a different cage, where they were taking turns beating the small girl.

"пожалуйста остановись, please stop," the girl cried out as she was hit again, and again.

The guards merely hit her harder. "начальник не любит воров, the superior does not like thieves," one of the guards spit out as he kicked her in the ribs yet again.

She merely whimpered in response, the guards were right, the superior hated people who stole. She saw it time and time again as thieves of Hydra were dragged through the halls and past her cell towards their punishment.

"Вы не достаточно достойны, чтобы поесть. Если бы ты был, мы бы покормили тебя.You are not worthy enough to eat. If you were, we would have fed you."

'If that's how it worked,' she thought, 'I'm not worthy of much.'

However, that was not true, and she should have known that, that she was worth far more than they were telling her. She was an innocent child! She didn't deserve what she had suffered through so far in the short life she had lived. No child deserved to be beaten and kept nameless.

Yet, she was young, and she had grown up there, she had been taught nothing other than the lies they had told her. That Hydra was the good guys. That compared to the people outside the walls of the compound she had it good.

The child laid on the floor, doing nothing to stop the guards from hurting her, from insulting her. She wasn't sure how much longer it lasted, but when the two guards finally stopped, she did not move until they asked her, "что ты говоришь, what do you say?"

"я прошу прощения. I am sorry," she replied in a small and defeated voice.

"что еще? what else?" The other guard demanded.

"я заслужил, I deserve this." A tear leaked from the child's eye.

"да, вы делаете, yes you do." The guard called out as he walked out of the cage area. He then closed and locked the door, and turned off the door. 

She may have been young, but she had a creeping suspicion that the place you call 'home' was not supposed to hurt you.

She was five years old when she started to hate Hydra.

—

When she was thirteen, she failed to comply for the first time.

They had given her a simple mission, really. They had sent her out with one of the experienced girls from the Red Room with the job to kill the family's only child.

They had been training her for years to do more complex tasks than killing a 4 year old boy.

"соловей, давай, Nightingale, come," the other girl barked towards her.

Before she had been sent to the van and transported to the future crime scene, they had given her the standard tactical uniform she had been given on the previous missions.