#it was either sit in anxiety wondering if the whole class can hear my tummy grumbling or popping in some snacks

[ayoyoungg]

What’d you learn in school?

How to secretly eat snacks

[aka-willow]

Hydra

gif

Words: 1559

Characters: Willow Wren, Dr. Dawn Turner, Laura Grace Ferguson

Prompt/Tag:

“We have to look out for each other.”

“quiet. they can hear us.”

Summary: Dr. Dawn Turner runs tests on Willow to figure out her progress since the Facility

Timeline: March 2016

Song: Hydra - Henry Jackman

A/N: thanks for reading - as always! ily guys

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Back in the cell. Couldn’t think properly. It was like I was processing everything through a wave of television static. I watched the scientists through the window, but nothing made sense to me. I paced, until I was too tired and hungry to pace, and sat up against the wall near the door. I knocked on the concrete wall and wondered what was on the other side as I shut my eyes.

“Hello? Are you awake?”

I opened my eyes again and looked around the cell. There was no one else there and I put my ear against the wall to see if I could hear the voice again. It sounded tiny. “Who’s there? Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m Laura Ferguson,” said the voice on the other side of the wall. “Who are you? And quiet. They can hear us.”

I’m October. No, that’s not right. I’m… “Willow,” I said slowly, the name sounding so unfamiliar in this space. “Wren.”

“What’s your middle name? Mine’s Grace.”

“I don’t have one,” I said, wishing I could see who this was. It sounded like a child.

“You can share mine if you’d like,” Laura said. “So, you can be Willow Grace Wren.”

I nodded my head, even though she couldn’t see me. Yeah, if I remember that when I get out of here. If I get out of here. “How old are you?” I asked. “How did you end up here?”

“I’m seven and a half,” she said, and I felt a new level of despair I didn’t know was there. “My parents said it’s for work. My dad says that if I do good, he’ll let me get an Xbox. Did your parents send you here too?”

“No.”

“Oh. Why are you here?”

“It’s a long story. Are you okay? Are you hurt?” God, this poor kid. She’s not going to get out of here. That’s not how HYDRA works. Neither of us are getting out of here unless we have some miracle.

“My tummy hurts,” Laura said. “And my head. I threw up earlier.”

Not good. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you okay?” she asked, and I heard the genuine concern in her voice. “We have to look out for each other.”

“Yeah I’m fine.” I struggled to concentrate. What are they doing with Laura here? Is she like me? Like my siblings? Or just some kid with really sucky parents? “Um Laura, do you have powers? I mean, can you do things other people can’t do?”

“I can fold my tongue up into a taco,” she bragged. “I’m the only person in my class who can do that.”

“That’s neat. Uh… I meant more like… you know Captain America? Like him.”

“Oh. No. But I want to.”

Esh. No you don’t, Laura. Please… just leave her alone.

I heard motion outside the door, and I stopped talking as I moved away from the wall and back towards the cot, as far away from the door as possible. One of the guards, armed, entered, and motioned for me to stand up. I couldn’t use my powers, I didn’t have the energy to fight back, and the effect of the words they continued to repeat to me was really starting to take hold now. I felt like I did back at the Facility, like a robot, just going through the motions until the next assignment.

He walked me down a series of halls before we stopped in front of the door and he opened it with a keycard before pushing me inside. Dr. Turner was already in there, sitting at the table inside, and I was handcuffed to the chair across from her. I didn’t resist the restraints this time and she smiled as she opened up her laptop. “How are you adjusting to being home?” she asked.

“I’m hungry,” I whispered, one of the only things I could concretely think about.

“You can eat when we say so. You don’t need to eat now.”

“But I’m hungry.”

“You’re fine, October,” she said, and that ended that conversation. “Otherwise, how are you feeling? Any anxiety… stress?”

“What do you think?”

She paused before making a note. “You know what I’m going to tell you, don’t you?” Don’t say it. “Take a deep breath,” she said, and she took one herself to demonstrate. “Clear your mind.” She clicked her tongue. “Still, I’ll have them give you something for that.”

I looked away from her and back at the door, trying desperately to imagine myself anywhere but here.

“Look at me,” Dr. Turner said, and I turned back. “I want to ask about the others. After a period of… chaos… we are finally equipped to bring the rest of you back in. You’re going to help us do that. Do you know where any of them went?”

I didn’t answer and tried to stare at the wall behind her instead.

“Do you know where any of them went?” she repeated, louder this time.

I knew that if I talked, I would tell her. I couldn’t help it. It was like I wanted to—like with Kilgrave and the Facility before that all over again. It’s like I’m back to where I started.

When I didn’t answer again, she stood and hit me across the face. Hard. I didn’t react to that either.

“The only reason we haven’t reset you is because you may have valuable information,” said Dr. Turner, pacing. “If you don’t give us that, then we’ll just go ahead with the reset.” Reset. The Faustus stuff only worked a little on enhanced individuals—we still had some sense of self. A reset was the total wipe. There was no coming back from that, and if the Monster book were used as well, that would be it. I would lose whatever bit of me was still left.

“I don’t know about the others,” I whispered. “Maybe if you just give me time to think…”

“We’ll reset tomorrow night.” I stared at the floor and I heard her shoes click across the floor as she walked towards the door, knocking on it. When I peered out, I saw several more armed guards waiting outside. “You can take her to the lab now,” she said. “I’m interested to see how she reacts to some of the new stuff we have in development.” She let one of the other scientists in past her and I watched as he uncapped a needle.

“We need to update our other samples,” she said to him, speaking over her shoulder. “Now that she’s in better shape, I have a list of biopsies I want done.”

He prepped my arm for the needle. “And that’s being done right now too?”

“Yes,” she said, just as I felt the pinprick and my eyelids began to shut again. “Let me know if there are any problems.”

I didn’t wake up until hours later, back in the cell, lying on the cot. My whole body was sore and went I sit up, I find various bandages taped down over my body. Even my wings hurt, and I lifted up the back of my shirt to let them out, even though the space was too small for them to fully expand. They were fine, but I noticed a neat line of stitches on my right one, and the ligaments themselves seem to ache. What time is it? How much time has passed? I looked up at the camera in the corner of the cell and watched the red light blink on and off. In the other corner, I saw a tray with remnants of food on it. Oh. So, I did eat at some point between the lab and waking up now. How much have I already forgotten?

I dragged myself over to the wall I shared with Laura. “Hi Laura. You awake?”

It took a moment, but she responded. “Yeah.”

“Doing okay?”

“I’m okay. Just tired. They’re doing a test soon I think. In the morning.”

I didn’t have anything else to say to her and I watched as the scientists in the lab began to clear out for the night. It had to be late, possibly even early morning at this point. How did I escape last time? It was luck, really.

The lights were dimmed, and I brought myself back over to the cot, wondering if I should try and sleep, if I could ever bring myself to sleep. Back when I was sleeping on the rooftop, so long ago, I had always been afraid to sleep, always half-dozing off, my ears always listening for trouble.

But now, I couldn’t even bring myself to do that, not unless they made me.

I laid my hand over the side and my finger caught something underneath it. I peered underneath and saw a wire poking out from the thin mattress. I looked back up at the camera and then slowly extended my hand towards the wire and let it cut into the palm of my hand. Methodically, I scratched in the one word I could remember, still at the forefront of my mind. Sumerkey.

Willow. I’m fourteen years old. I’ve been here… for three days. Maybe four. Laura is the girl next door to me and her middle name is Grace. I used to sleep with a stuffed elephant. I had two rats named Nedward and… Boxer Joe.

When I finished, I pulled my hand out and saw the word in bloody lettering across my palm. I used the scratchy blanket on the cot to stop the bleeding and I hoped that I’d remember tomorrow.