Winter Phoenix: HYDRA Is Your Place (A 2008-2012 Marvel Fanfiction)

XX: The Laboratory

January 2011. Arlington, Virginia. 

Winter Phoenix's POV

I sat on the infirmary table, barely making a face when they put the needle in to draw blood. I stared straight ahead at the bleak white wall. I looked over at the doctors, putting samples of my blood into a machine. A nurse came over and dabbed my arm with a cotton ball, then put a small band-aid over it.

'How are you feeling?' she asked, sealing the band-aid over my arm.

'I'm fine.' I hardly made eye contact, but managed a small smile, though I thought it must have looked more like a grimace.

'Let me know if you're getting dizzy or lightheaded. We took blood from you earlier on, just for simple bloodwork, but this is for the serum in your blood.' I nodded and she walked away. Turning my attention back to the wall, I kept staring.

Third Person POV

Outside the room, Agents Barton and Coulson were speaking to the head doctor, watching the Winter Phoenix getting blood drawn from her arm.

'She is remarkable,' Agent Coulson remarked, his arms crossed from where he was standing. 'Fury's thinking of making an ally out of her.' 

'Do you think she would submit?' 

'No, I don't think so. She's something else entirely. Fury sorely underestimated her skill and cunning. Her strength, speed, size, everything's been factored in.'

'What did we find? About her, I mean,' Clint asked the doctor next to them. 

'She's lost a lot of weight. She's about 10 to 15 kilos underweight, for her age. She hasn't had a shower in God knows how long, hasn't been properly taken care of. More of her is muscle than anything else, very slender muscle. She's strong, but hasn't been fed properly enough. She's constantly cold to touch, but because of the serum inside of her she doesn't feel it. CAT scans gave us an image of her brain. It's too fried for her to really think about anything in her old life. She remembers nothing. The hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memories, is there, but her memories have completely gone via a form of ECT,' the doctor said. 

'ECT?' 

'Electro-convulsive therapy. Or electro-shock therapy. Only in this case, it's not therapeutic. It's a strong shock, so much that it's cancelled out all memories from her past life. It's scrambled them, broken them up and left her with only fragments, of which she barely remembers. She's likely to get headaches, muscle aches, to not know where she is or why she's there at times, and other such symptoms.' 

'Was she scared, going into the lab?' Coulson asked. 

'A little. She panicked, but one of the nurses managed to bring her back down. She also has an irregular, fast heart rate. Her metabolism just got up-jumped due to the serum. How long she's had that in her body I don't know.' 

'What about her powers?' 

'The rest of her brain is strong, if that's what you're asking. Almost too strong. Her telepathy - it has no bounds when she sleeps. Taking CAT scans with a telepathic, unconscious patient is harder than you think, Agent Barton. The brain waves that she emits can be deadly. The electric shocks don't just wipe her memories, they absorb into her brain. Somehow, some way, it makes her telepathy deadly. She's incredibly powerful, more than we or Director Fury imagined.' Just then several SHIELD agents came into the laboratory, holding guns. They placed a power-dampening collar around her neck, then moved her out of the lab and down towards the cells. 

'Is anyone else going to interrogate her?' Agent Barton asked Coulson. 

'No. Not today. We're going to keep her under close surveillance. No one goes into her cell without authorisation from the Director.' 

Winter Phoenix's POV 

I heard the swish of the trench coat long before he arrived. The singular-eyed man sat in front of me, on a chair. I sat on the bed, an arm resting over my knee, staring at him with a cold eye. 

'I could fucking break your neck, Director,' I said, scoffing the last part. 

'You could try. I have a proposition for you.' 

'What do you want? I told your agent, of whom I sent to kill, everything you need to know. What more do you want from me?' 

'You have, but I think you want a little something more.' I glared at him. 

'What more could I possibly want?'

'HYDRA's done a lot to you, I understand. We want you to join SHIELD. And in exchange, you take us to Siberia so we can take down the base - for good.' I shook my head vigorously. 

'No. No. I can't. They'll take me back, they'll make me the Winter Phoenix again - please don't. Don't take me.'

'Then help me take down HYDRA.' 

'You can't take them down. They're everywhere. I can't tell you things - but if I go, they'll just hurt me again. They'll give me the words, the orders, and I won't have control.' The room was quiet. 'Did I hurt anyone on the way in?' 

'No,' he said. 

'Don't lie.'

'I'm not lying. You were unconscious the entire time. We put you on powerful drugs the moment we had you on the jet bound for here.' I noticed the Director looking at me, but I was staring at the wall. 

'Where is here?'

'Arlington, Virginia. You were out for about two days.' 

'I was in Brooklyn, right?'

'Yes. You were on a mission to eliminate Thomas and Mary Pearson - your grandparents.' 

'I don't know them.' 

'Do you know your name?'

'It's Phoenix. At least - that's what the Soldier called me,' I replied, my voice breaking up slightly. I cleared my throat. 

'Your real name.' 

'I - I don't know.'

'Do you know how long you've been alive?'

'Alive? No. They said I died... and they brought me back.'

'Do you know your parents? Think about it really hard.'

'I - I can't. It gives me a headache. I don't know. Where are my parents... are they still alive?'

'Very much alive. Do you know you had a past life before this?'

'No. I've always been in HYDRA. Always.' 

'How long?' 

'As far back as I can remember. They said that I was always there. They said I was -'

'Who said?' 

'HYDRA. They said I was supposed to be their newest weapon, a partner to the Asset. To the Winter Soldier. They said I was supposed to be a step in a new direction, a new player in the game, a -' I let out a breath of air. 'A new stage in human evolution.' The Director got up.

'That's enough for today. I'll have someone bring you food.' He stood up and left, his trench coat swishing behind him as he walked out of the cell block.