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MARVEL
──── ❝ his little girl ❞

CHAPTER THREE
.ೃ࿐, marvel
*ೃ༄ ﹌﹌﹌ღ ‗ ❍ . . . . 🥀⚔️
•◦• ACT ONE, the awakening
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I hate myself.

   Those three words were repeating themselves, over and over again in the child's head, acting as if a broken record player. Her ears were ringing, and the sound of her pained sobs echoed throughout the halls. The three year old female was on her knees, her eyes squeezed shut as her body shook with each slash they took at her. Each punch, each stab. "Пожалуйста!" Please, She pleaded, begged for them to stop, but she only received laughter and taunting in response to her struggles. Her tan skin was textured with bloody cuts that dripped down her shins, arms, and face, appearing as a second skin to the girl.

   I hate myself.

   She often wondered, why? What did she do to end up here? Why do they treat her like she is nothing, when in reality, they are all the same. They are all human, so why are they treating her less? She let out a whimper as they kicked her stomach, leaving her hunched over on the floor as she curled into herself. Her skin felt like it was on fire, setting flame, it was an ungodly, hot sensation and her skin layers were torn. She couldn't see anything, her vision was blurred and distorted. Not that she even wanted to see all the damage they've done to her. The child's throat was dry, and she was very winded, her head was pounding against her skull, she couldn't hear anything else.

   She felt a hand imbed itself in her greasy, dark cherry tinted hair and drag her throughout the facility. She made no attempt to fight back, or to stand. She simply gave up.

   These people don't care for her, they would never. Why would they? In their eyes, she is nothing. Perhaps they think of it as toughening her up, or maybe just for entertainment. Another possibility, maybe both.

It has been three weeks since Zinoviya has met the soldier, and since then, he has been taking care of her, quite well too. She felt extremely safe With him, and when he came back from missions, she would let out a cry of relief, having not enjoying being without him for so long.

So, when the soldier saw the condition that his little girl was in, he grew angry. So angry that he made an attempt to run for the man who did this to her, but she needed him more. She was laying on the floor, whimpering as her body shook with agony. The soldier knelt down at her side once the man left, he tried so hard not to panic, but he couldn't help it.

She was coated in blood.

She was breathing unevenly, and she yelled in pain when he quickly picked her up and brought her over to the bucket of water. He began to pour it on her wounds, her cries getting louder and louder. She could feel the throbbing pain of her flesh, from the top of her scalp to the tips of her toes. The water that was covering her cuts made it even worse, the burning sensation multiplied, and when she attempted to yell out once more, the soldier placed a hand over her mouth as he shushed her softly. His lips twisted into a grimace and he scrunched his nose up as his eyes widened.

He was filled with guilt. This was his fault, he failed to complete his mission, and now she is getting punishments. She didn't deserve this, none of It. He inhaled a sharp breath as she dug her hands in her scalp and began to pull, her face twisting into a grimace as tears stained her bloody cheeks. Zinoviya let out a groan as she yanked harder, causing the soldier to grab her hands with his flesh and continue to clean her up with his metal. Her body was hiccuping, and tears continued to pour out, that is until she let her mind wonder.

Why am I the only one who gets hurt? She thought to herself.

Everyone else hurts me, but who hurts them, it's not fair. Not fair at all.

Of course, she couldn't do anything to fix their actions, and that made her angry. It made her so angry, that she clenched her little fists and cocked her head to the side, and with one last sniffle, she stopped sobbing, there were now silent tears strolling down her face, but she made no noise. She froze, causing the soldier to freeze too. He frowned as he looked up at her, the soon to be four year old, had an unreadable expression on her face as she looked back at him. Even though her body was shaking with dry sobs, he couldn't help but wonder, why isn't she crying anymore?

"Что, Вия?" What, Viya? His voice was deep as he questioned her, his eyebrows pulling together slightly.

"Почему?" Why? Zinoviya asked, her small jaw ticking with question.

He knew what she meant.

"я не знаю." I don't know. He spoke with a small sigh, he couldn't even find it in him to be proud of his daughter for her use of words, he had been teaching Zinoviya how to speak, English as well, even though it felt odd on his tongue, since she obviously hadn't been taught before. She was a very fast learner when it came down to it, which is what made it tolerable for her. Though, she would only exchange words with him, no one else took the time to hear what she had learned, and they didn't care. When he finished cleansing her of the blood, the soldier gathered his child in his arms and sat down on his cot, rocking her back and forth as he shushed her softly, her eyes fluttering shut with exhaustion, absentmindedly tracing the red star on his metal arm.

Though, ten minutes later, just as she was beginning to sleep, the door boomed open, causing them both to tense up.

"солдат." Soldier, The superior spoke, his hands clasped behind his back as he wore a menacing grin whilst glancing down at his subjects, the soldier placed the young girl on the cot, ignoring the way she desperately held onto him tighter, silently pleading for him to stay with her, and he followed the man out of the room. It wasn't until they reached the hallway that he realized where they were going. They walked through the door and the soldier immediately tensed up, his eyes widening as he contemplated making his way back to the door, only to be blocked by a guard who was grinning at him. He reluctantly sat in his usual seat that was placed In the center of the room, his heart beating rapidly as he got the feeling of dread. The doctors hands placed themselves on his shoulders and pushed him back into the seat, his chest heaving as he was getting strapped down.

They were going to make him forget.

But he didn't want that.

He didn't want to forget her.

He began to jerk against the restraints and raise his pleading, resulting in them tightening the binds against his wrists.

They forcefully put a mouth piece down his throat, leaving him no choice but to clamp down on the device. A large, circular machine lowered itself over his head, like a crown.

For he was simply a king with a crown, and a throne, that he certainly did not want.

He began to cry out as his body shook in pain, feeling the machine clamp over his eyes as he clenched his fists.

On the other side of the facility, Zinoviya was curled up in the corner, her knees to her chest as she bit down hard on her bicep, her other hand tugging at her hair, trying not hear the screams of the only man who was kind to her. She did not like when people were in pain, even though it was usually herself, when it was someone else, she hated it so much. After a while, she began to think it was normal. That everyone around the world was locked up in facilities like these, and beaten,  just like her.

Of course, she wouldn't know any different, she's never seen the world. This is all she's ever known, and she was starting to think that's all that she ever would know.

She could barely move her body, and if she did, she would wince loudly, which was the last thing the wanted. She was so afraid, so terrified, that if she would make a noise, they would come and collect her too, force her to go through what her soldier was going through.

Zinoviya didn't want that, not at all.

Sure, she didn't know what went on in that room, but all she knew was that it wasn't good, hinting from the screams.

She flinched while listening to his agonizing cries, her eyes watering once more, almost as if she could feel the pain herself.

Zinoviya was sure that days had gone by, though, it had only been hours since she last saw the soldier. So, when she saw him, she grinned at him as looked down at her. But, when he saw her, she didn't see the familiar, kind glint in his eyes, instead, she saw an unreadable one. He wore a guarded expression as he glared at the wall, his movements were sharp, scaring the girl. But, alas, she didn't say anything about it, she didn't recognize this man.

So, when she placed a small hand on his, he jumped in surprise, quickly grabbing her small wrist with his metal one and squeezed, stopping her from doing anything else. The girl let out an audible gasp, her eyes widening in fear when he acted as everyone else did. Was he tricking her all this time? What did she do wrong?

She winced, having still been in pain from her previous beatings, she wanted so bad to be held by him and comforted, but he wasn't the same.

How was he to comfort her when he didn't even remember who she was to him? And how was she to know he had no memory of her?

Tears sprung to her eyes once more as she exhaled a shaky breath when he released her, and she backed herself into the corner. She always referred the corner, she could see everything around her, she had sight of any movements and could see something sneaking up on her. At night, they would take her back to her cell, where she was raised. It was in the basement, which made her feel even more excluded and unsafe, though, she learned to like it. They told her to be thankful that she was even alive, which resulted In her not crying every time she saw the horrors of her basement. And instead, silently thank them.

The soldier continued to glare at her, her wide, green eyes staring back into his, full of fear, though soon, she got annoyed. With him, and herself and she glared back at him.

Why was he pretending? And how could she let her guard down? Of course, he would be just like the others. The soldier seemed to come to a realization, because when her eyes filled with tears, and he truly saw her fear stricken face, he let out a shaky breath of sorrow, and shut his eyes, having been disappointed in himself. The girl froze, was he not going to hurt her? Why is he sad now?

She slowly made her way over to him and placed a hand on his metal one, even though she knew he couldn't feel it, he had informed her plenty before when she poked at him countless of times.

She cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes with confusion, then brought her index finger to her own chest and spoke, her slight Russian accent was prominent in her words, "Zinoviya," She declared, her eyebrows raising with a head nod, "Zinoviya, Nadia," She said the second name that he gave her. He furrowed his eyebrows as he lifted his blue irises to meet hers, she offered a small smile, and nodded her head.

He began to think. Hard. This little girl was so familiar, who is she to him.

Hazel.

That color.

The color, a dusted blue with a coat of green seemingly struck a cord in him, because memories of her all came rushing back to him.

Zinoviya.

His little girl.

How could he forget?

He mentally scolded himself as he brought his flesh hand up to her cheek, which had still been tinted with the remains of blood that he wasn't able to remove. His thumb caressed her cheek, and she leaned into his large palm with a grin, "Да уж?" Yeah? She questioned, silently praying that he was okay.

"Мне жаль, Zinoviya" Im sorry, Zinoviya. He apologized with a frown. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of fear, what if he hadn't remembered her? His mind began to wonder, if they order him to harm his child, he has no control over his violent actions, he would never forgive himself, she is the only thing that he has to fight for.

He jerked back into reality when he felt a small hand poke at his cheek, he fought back an amused smirk as he scooped her up and placed her on his lap, giggles erupting from her throat and filling the eery silence of the room. The girl had ignored the pain she felt when he picked her up, and didn't say anything, because even though she was three years old, she knew he would feel guilty. So, instead, she snuggled into his chest, a soft smile on her face as she grew tired.

As long as they were together, they were happy.

But, they were not ready for what was to come.

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