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MARVEL
──── ❝ in their blood ❞

CHAPTER FIVE
.ೃ࿐, marvel
*ೃ༄ ﹌﹌﹌ღ ‗ ❍ . . . . 🥀⚔️
•◦• ACT ONE, the awakening
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✧.*

Some people were born with
tragedy in their blood.

   It was round-the-clock. The constant injections, being hidden in the basement, not being able to see her father, they were driving her insane. Quite literally, at that. They hadn't moved the two bodies much either, not even bothering to worry about the girl. There was a four -- soon to be five -- year old girl, stuck in a basement with decomposing bodies. She was sick of it, she would see them with tears in their stomach, their bones very visible against their dry skin.

   By now, Zinoviya was savoring every moment she had outside of her basement, due to the fact that it was no longer comforting to her. She didn't like the darkness, not when she couldn't see if there was a dead body with her or not.

   "Пожалуйста, выпустите меня." Please, let me out. The girl sobbed loudly, her shoulders shaking with each cry. She was absolutely exhausted, her eye bags were prominent once more, and her hair was still braided, from the style her father did weeks ago, only now it was frizzed over and matted.

   She had cuts that were beginning to scab over, and yet, her dusted blue eyes were still bright, because she held hope that someone would come and save her.

  The girl brought her hands up to her head, combing them through her scalp before she tugged down, letting out a cry as she squeezed her eyes shut hard, so hard she swore she saw stars on the inside of her eyelids.

   She wondered how her papa was doing, where was he? Did he forget about her? She frowned at the thought, he would never forget about her. Of course he couldn't. Not when he told her how much she means to him, the soldier made sure that since she wasn't being treated well by their superiors, he would treat her like a queen. He wanted Zinoviya to know it felt to be loved, to be cared for, not to be tossed around like a rag doll.

   Zinoviya let out a whimper, rolling her neck to lean against the cell wall, letting out a sniffle as her eyes shifted to the stairs that led to the heavy door, hearing it creak open with a loud screech.

   She let out an exasperated sigh as she muttered repeatedly, "No," She began shaking her head as her eyebrows scrunched up and her chest began heaving. Thuds sounded as the figure stepped closer to her, leaning over and flickering on the light as they opened up the cell door, however, when they leaned over, she could see that it was not one, but two guards. That only worried her more.

They took a step towards her, the girl having been too tired to fight against them, and grabbed a hold of the child, she stumbled to stand as they dragged her up the steps.

Her eyes were struggling to open, her vision distorted as a strand of matted hair fell in front of her face.

When they turned the corner, she looked through the glass window that was on the door and saw a chair with a familiar man sat in it. His hands were rested on his knees as he stared at the wall in front of him, greasy hair falling over his eyes like a curtain.

"Подожди, папа, помоги!" Wait, daddy, help! Zinoviya banged on the glass and dug her bare feet into the floor, making an attempt to capture her soldiers attention. She felt a lump in her throat and swallowed as she tried not to cry. Just as the said man snapped his head towards her direction, she was tugged away harshly, a grunt leaving her lips.

The soldier on the other side of the glass frowned, his eyes narrowing and his eyebrows pulling together into a hardened expression, who was she? And why was she so familiar?

The guards opened up a door that had become too familiar to Zinoviya, she glanced over to the wall that held a large window, it was where the staff would watch and take notes on her behavior, and she noticed that only the superior stood there, his arms crossed over his chest as he brought his left hand to stroke his chin.

The way his eyebrows pulled together while watching Zinoviya with an unreadable glint caused her to frown, what is he doing? The girl knew not to fight against them, so she pulled her small body up onto the metal table, a grunt escaping her lips as she sniffled.

He motioned for the guards to leave, which they did so, but not before chuckling at the fearful expression that Zinoviya wore, the higher-ranked man had never asked to speak to her, one- on- one before, so why now?

He entered the lab and leaned against a table that was across from the metal one that she sat on, his eyes narrowed in concentration before he spoke. His voice held an odd tone laced underneath it, one that Zinoviya did not recognize.

"I think it's time that i formally introduced myself," He began, "I'm Mr. Pierce,"

Pierce? Why is he introducing himself. . . he hadn't cared about it before.

Zinoviya didn't reply.

"How would you like to help me out," The man mused, his eyebrows lifted as he awaited a response, his voice was unusually kind, though, the child didn't trust him. Not one bit. Also, she was confused, were they not going to test on her today?

She raised an eyebrow, her lips pulling into a frown as she tilted her head absentmindedly, what could he possibly need her help with? She couldn't be of any use to him, right? English felt odd on her tongue, the only person she spoke to was her father and herself, to which they did so in Russian. So she didn't respond.

She then began to think, maybe if I help him, I can see papa.

"These guys don't treat you nicely, do they?" He decided to change the subject, to try a different approach. The man faked a pout as he scrunched his face up in fake sympathy, to which the girl narrowed her eyes at, why is he being so nice? Was he lying again?

She hesitated before replying, "No."

Before the superior could speak, she cut him off.

"Where's papa?" The girls voice was unusually demanding, catching even her off guard, considering she was absolutely terrified and visibly shaking.

The superiors small smirk faltered slightly, he made a disapproving face at her as he shook his head while pursing his lips. The girl sucked in a breath as she tensed and tears pricked at her eyes, she couldn't go back into the basement, she just ruined her free time.

She shouldn't of said anything in the first place.

He reached out with his hand, the girl visibly flinched, quite harshly too, as he tucked a strand of matted hair behind her ear, "Tsk, Tsk. . . Come with me, Fallback." She felt chills roll down her spine. She hated that name.

His original plan was to convince her into assisting him, though, with the girls sudden confidence and determination to see her father, he would have to go with the second option, unfortunately for her.

This is what he feared, that she would refuse to comply to their orders. And he couldn't let that happen.

They couldn't risk a liability within their walls that they had worked so, incredibly hard to build.

He led her to a side of the facility that she had never seen before, it scared her. She absentmindedly leaned closer to the man, oddly enough, to which he smirked at.

She didn't know why she leaned towards him, but she figured that since he was there, he could protect her against whatever was on the other side of the facility.

They turned the corner and were greeted with a large open area that had an open floor, in the middle, dried blood dyed the floor, causing Zinoviya to let out an involuntary whimper. She shrunk back and her eyes widened at the sight that was surrounding her, there was a large table in the corner that held weapons, such as Knives, katanas, and a variety of guns.

In a chair, sat the familiar metal armed man, he was already glaring at the child. Once she spotted him, her eyes immediately brightened and she grinned, but her expression faltered when his glare hadn't moved.

Now she understands.

It's not her papa.

It's the Winter Soldier.

Mister Pierce kicked her into the middle of the floor, her petite body colliding with the blood stained concrete, causing her too shudder.

"Get up," One of the security guards in the room spat, though, not the same one that led Zinoviya to the soldier. She grunted as she shakily stood up, her cautious movements didn't go unnoticed by the Winter Soldier. The soldier frowned at the small girl, his jaw clenching as he waited for his orders.

"Папа" Papa, The girl whispered, the soldier furrowed his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes, was she talking to him? "Помогите, пожалуйста" Please, help me. The child whimpered.

The soldier wanted to speak, but that was against his orders.

With just a nod of the superiors head, Winter understood the message, and he held his fists up before throwing a punch with his right hand, the girl grunted as her head flew back and she stumbled, rubbing her nose with her palm as she squeezed her eyes shut.  She wanted to cry. But she didn't. She was so tired of crying.

She stood up straight again, a puzzled expression written on her face. The soldier scowled before grabbing the girls wrist and holding them out in a defensive stance, as an example for what she was meant to do, she then stood tall, her chest heaving as she blinked away her tears that threatened to fall for what seemed like the tenth time that day.

He threw another punch at the girl, this time, with his metal arm, causing her to fly back onto her behind. The soldier huffed as he watch the girl stumble to stand, holding her fists back out in front of her.

He then attacked her once more, her small and bruised arm moving against his, blocking his fists that attempted to come into contact with her.

"Faster," A voice demanded. The soldier hesitated, but he picked up his speed, the girl blocking his fists that were flying at her face. Faster and harder. She was breathing heavily her eyes wide. She was doing quite decent. That is, until, she was swiftly hit in the nose once more, a loud crack filled the air, crimson blood dripping down into her lip, a metallic taste pooling in her mouth.

The Winter soldier and The Fallback froze, the superiors faces that once held amusement, were now hardened into an irritated expression. Even though she was only four, they didn't care.

Not at all.

If she couldn't please them, how could she possibly help?

The girl suddenly felt embarrassed, she felt weak. How could she ever compare to them? A wave of fear washed over her, she was never going to be allowed to stay with papa if she doesn't fix herself. But how?

Mister Pierce let out a sigh after about ten more minutes of them going back and forth, the girl repeatedly failing at her instructions, by now the girl could barely stand, having not been fed enough food, and having no strength in general to hold herself up. What could they expect?

One of the guards were ordered to take Zinoviya away, which caused the soldier to frown. Why is a child here? What is she doing with them, she can't even defend herself.

The guard nodded in response, grabbing the girl by her wrist and tugging her along, causing her to wince in response.

The superior rolled his eyes in annoyance, removing his hands from his pockets as he adjusted his tie and smoothed out his suit, "Now, if you'll excuse me," He began, a smirk tugging on his chapped lips as he fought back a full grin, "I need to make a phone call."

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