Chapter Three
Julian

"Dr. Remington. What an honor it is to finally meet Dr. Becker's former assistant."

Dr. Erica Oxton shakes my hand, her voice stiff and insincere despite her admiring words. She's white, small, blonde, with a cold expression and even colder blue eyes. I've heard many stories about her throughout my time in HYDRA. She came from Poland, graduated from university at age eighteen with a PHD in biomedical sciences, and was recruited into HYDRA soon after. Up until now she's worked on enhancements for HYDRA agents, such as the metal arm the Winter Soldier wears.

And now she's going to help turn Soroya into a cold blooded killer.

I force a stiff smile her way. "The honor is mine, Dr. Oxton. I look forward to working with you on Soroya."

Oxton, who up until now has been standing behind the desk in my office, picks up a file that's been resting on it's surface and begins reading through it. I've never used this office before, never felt a need to. It's day one of her being here and she's already made herself comfortable in here. That doesn't surprise me. She strikes me as the kind of person that takes what she wants and doesn't wait around to ask for anyone else's opinions or permission.

"Soroya Magdalena Roberts, born April 20th, 1988, subject number four and only survivor of PROJECT SHIFTER, has the ability to shift into any animal at will," Oxton reads aloud, her thin eyebrows creasing together. "It's odd that a project meant to cause one to transform into other human forms created a creature who can only transform into animals."

I try to make my curiosity believable as I say: "Dr. Becker and I had wondered that ourselves."

"You have been with subject four for nearly four years now, correct?"

"Yes."

"And in that time she has mastered her shifting and control in other forms, but not when it comes to kill orders. I have multiple notes here from Agent Barnes that subject four refuses to kill on command and tends to shift soon after given such commands."

"Yes, that's the situation."

"I also have notes here not just from Agent Barnes, but others as well, that you don't have a strict authority over subject four."

"Soroya," I reply curtly. "Her name is Soroya."

She stares at me for a moment before adding: "I also have notes claiming you have grown attached to her. I see now that these claims are true. No wonder I was called in. Subject four will never become what HYDRA needs her to be with you guiding her."

I say nothing, just clench my jaw and watch her shut Soroya's file. She stalks past me and opens her door, saying to me over her shoulder as she walks into the hallway: "It's time to wake subject four up."

I follow her out of the office and all the way to Soroya's cell. Soroya is still sleeping when we walk inside, and just as I begin to approach her, Oxton brings out a small device and places it on Soroya's arm. She pressed a button and sparks fly from it. Soroya immediately jolts awake, a scream of pain erupting from her mouth. She falls off the bed onto the floor, tears welling in her eyes as she rubs her now injured arm.

The sight makes Oxton smile. "You will be awake everyday by six o'clock. If you aren't, you will be punished. Am I clear?"

Soroya gapes up at Oxton in horror, but nods. "Yes."

"Get dressed. You have ninety seconds before I come in here and use this again." And with that, Erica Oxton stalks out, gesturing for me to do the same.

Soroya opens her mouth to speak but says nothing, her whole body beginning to shake as she gathers up clothes to change into. I follow Oxton out to give her privacy, and about forty seconds later, Soroya appears fully dressed, her mouth pressed in a thin line, her eyes filled with terror as they lock onto her new trainer.

"Come. He's waiting for us." Oxton says, and then walks back down the hall. Soroya and I follow, and as soon as Oxton's back is towards us, she slips her hand into mine, squeezing it so tightly I have to hold back a wince. She's terrified. She should be.

The Winter Soldier is waiting for us in the training room like he always is, a prisoner already strapped to the chair. It's a young boy, probably Soroya's age, short in height, piercing green eyes and of Italian descent. I glance down at her and find her staring directly at the boy, looking on the verge of crying or throwing up. I slip my hand out of hers just before Oxton turns back around, her expression unreadable, her cold eyes glancing between Soroya and the Winter Soldier.

"Subject four is ready." She says.

The Winter Soldier's eyes fall onto Soroya. He stalks forward and places a gun in her hands, not a single emotion registering in his face as he does so. He steps away, Oxton and I along with him. We watch Soroya step towards the boy, the shaking, sobbing, innocent boy. She brings her gun up and waits for orders, but the Winter Soldier isn't the one to give them.

"Get closer to him. Press your gun against his temple and shoot him."

I turn towards Oxton. "What?"

"I read in my notes that subject four has no problems with finding her target and meeting her mark. Her problem is killing her target. That is what we will work on. Shoot him, subject four. I will not ask again."

Soroya approaches the boy, peers into his green eyes, so filled with terror and pain, and tears of her own spring into her eyes. The boy may be in chains, but Soroya is just as trapped as him, and in her eyes I see that understanding, that shared pain between them. I think the boy does too, I think he sees her own imprisonment, that she doesn't have a choice. The boy doesn't say anything. He presses his wobbling lips together and shuts his eyes, accepting his fate, preparing for what's about to happen with a shaking breath.

It's no surprise to me when she lowers the gun, now preparing herself for what's about to happen, though neither of us know what that will be. I glance at the Winter Soldier but he just stands there. Oxton on the other hand, marches up to Soroya and takes the gun from her hand, shooting the young boy herself, like it was nothing. She then shoves the gun into the pocket of her lab coat and grabs onto Soroya's arm, shoving her forward.

"Hold her." She orders the Winter Soldier.

A flicker of confusion appears in his features, but he nods, grabbing onto her arms in a tight grip, his expression resuming to it's usual stone.

"What are you doing?" I ask Oxton as she takes her coat off and drops it to the floor, making a clanking sound because of the gun. With her coat gone, now I see that she's wearing a belt with two things attached to it: the taser and a metal baton. She takes the baton out and extends it to it's full length, approaching Soroya with a near predatory glance, like she's the true animal here. I start forward, but hands wrap around my shoulders and arms; guards, heavily armed ones who hold me in a tight grip, preventing me from stopping this no matter how hard I struggle.

"No, no, Oxton don't do this." I beg, pulling against the iron grip of the guards, watching in horror as Oxton grabs onto Soroya's shirt and rips it, revealing her back. The Winter Soldier holds her tightly as Oxton prepares for the first blow, and all I can focus on is Soroya's tensed up face as the baton meets her back.

The scream that erupts from her mouth makes me struggle even harder. "No! Please, no! Stop!" I yell, but my voice is drowned out by Soroya's screams, by the words that leave Oxton's poisonous mouth:

"If you insist on behaving like a wild dog, then you will be punished like one."

Soroya screams again as Oxton brings the baton down again, harder this time, drawing blood. I watch it trickle down her back and splash onto the floor. Oxton hits her again and again, only pausing when she sees Soroya jerk in the Winter Soldier's grip, her pants of pain turning into growls. Soroya rips her arms out of his grip and falls to the ground, her clothes tearing further as she shifts into a tiger. I'm not sure if this shift was involuntary from the pain or she's doing it on purpose, it seems like the former. If she had done the shift on purpose, I suspect she would be doing something right now to defend herself, but she isn't. Soroya is lying on the floor, her back still bleeding, her breaths coming out uneven.

"Please," I whisper, my voice hoarse from my screams. "She's had enough."

"She's had enough when I say she's had enough." Oxton replies, raising her arm again, but before she can deliver the blow, a metal hand wraps around her arm, stopping her. Shock and disbelief cover mine and Oxton's faces as the Winter Soldier holds onto her arm, saying in a low voice: "Stop."

No one moves, no one says anything, we all just stare at him. Even Soroya picks her head up and stares at the Winter Soldier in disbelief. When someone does finally speak it's Oxton, and her voice is less than pleased: "I think you and I need to pay a visit to the lower levels, Agent Barnes."

He flinches, actually flinches. He drops Oxton's arm and steps back, something like fear dancing across his features. Oxton glances down at Soroya then to me, nodding her head once. The guards let me go, and I don't waste a second before dropping down onto my knees next to her body, inspecting her back, which has eight bleeding marks across it.

"Soroya, I'm going to need you to shift back," I tell her, to which she shakes her head. "I know it hurts, but I can't fix it while you're in this form and it won't heal properly. Shift back."

Soroya takes in a few deep breaths and then does as asked. Her tiger form fades and her human one returns. Soroya tucks her knees against her chest, wrapping her arms around herself, shielding her naked body from us. I strip off my jacket and wrap it around her, trying to cover her up the best I can.

"Get her out of my sight," Oxton orders, then turns her eyes onto the Winter Soldier, who stiffens when their gazes lock. "I have some business to take care of."

I wrap an arm around Soroya's waist and the other I wrap around her legs, picking her up off the ground and tucking her against my chest. Soroya leans her head against my shoulder, keeping silent as I bring her back to her room. She's still silent when I set her down on her bed, when I shut the door behind us, when I find her new clothes, and when I begin cleaning and bandaging her wounds.

It feels like an eternity before she speaks again. And when she does, her voice is cracked, broken. "I'm going to die."

I smooth the final bandage on her back and lower her shirt, forcing her around to face me. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I won't kill for them. I won't take an innocent person's life," Soroya whispers. "Oxton won't stand for that. She'll kill me."

"I won't let her." I say in a firm voice.

"There's nothing you can do." She says, so much hopelessness and sorrow in her eyes.

"Soroya—"

"Will you do me a favor? Whenever Oxton finishes me off, will you find my family? If they're still alive, will you find them and keep them safe, like you've always kept me safe?"

Those words are like a punch to the gut. I haven't kept her safe. She's never safe. I could do nothing when Oxton beat her, when the Winter Soldier punishes her, when scientists like Bauer ogle at her like she's a shiny new toy. I've never been able to protect her or keep her safe. Hell, I'm the reason she's in this position in the first place. She wouldn't have shapeshifting powers if it weren't for me putting Ana's blood in her serum. She wouldn't be HYDRA's prized possession, a weapon for their use only, a prisoner in every way a person can be imprisoned. Yes, she'd be dead if it weren't for my intervention, but I'm starting to wonder if that's worse than this fate I've forced upon her. God, the fact she would trust me with the lives of her brother and parents...I don't deserve that level of trust, that level of faith. I find myself nodding, then I find my hands slipping into hers, my voice unsteady as I say: "You aren't going to die. I'll make sure of it."

"Julian—"

"No," I say firmly, squeezing her hands. "Soroya, you aren't going to die. You're going to make it through this, you're going to survive and one day you'll live the life you deserve. I promise you that."

And I mean that promise.