He named him Klaus, which was what he was addressed by in the base... The man who he'd grown fond of called himself Herr in front of Kasey, but it wasn't until after his first 'therapy session' that he descovered who he was. The man was called johanan schtimmt. And why did they kidnap a little child- one may wonder? Well, the child wasn't human. An easily manipulated non-human creature was exactly the puppet he needed to get hold of the powers that a human could not dare lay his eyes on. Of course, being a child, he didn't understand much, but he knew that he was disposable, and the one thing a child fears more than the monsters under his bed is the idea that his loved ones would abandon him. A common practice is to tell your child that if they don't stop playing in the park, they would be left there. It was the same principle. If Kasey wasn't useful to hydra, he'd be disposed of.
But his awareness of bad and good had developed. Despite only being eight years old now, he'd come to learn that hydra wasn't a good place. They were bad people. Despite all the special treatment he had and the kindness they showed him, it was all an act. He could hear the soldier's screams in the hallways and he'd have nightmares about it frequently. His ninth birthday was nearing but he could hardly bring himself to care. The guilt was gnawing at his bones and making him sick. He wanted to stop their hurting. He'd been practicing his abilities for a while and it wasn't anything remarkable but he was able to shut down the electric supply for five minutes. He'd done it accidentally a few years ago when he had a nightmare. His ability would usually be used to power the main systems and they were trying to manipulate it so that they could find the link between the power source -the tesseract- and his abilities, but had yet to break through. During the nightmares, he would often hear another voice in his head, yelling at him to stand up and do what he had to do. He was scared, he didn't want to be discarded, but he wanted to be good.
He'd heard his papa talk about it on the phone. A man should always do the right thing. Especially when it comes to his country. He should do the right thing too, but those words had begun to get hazy. He couldn't remember his parent's voices anymore. He couldn't remember their faces. How did Mickey look like now? Did she get taller? Is she prettier? She told him that she'd be six foot by the time he came back from Germany. He was looking forward to piggyback rides with her. But he couldn't even remember her. If they passed on the street, he wasn't sure if he could recognise her at all. He wanted to see Mickey. How was Oma and Opa? His parents had told him to take care of them if they got sick.
He heard a shrill cry from the hallways.
Didn't they have families too? They also want to go back to their mama and papa. They probably also had a Frau (lady) waiting for them. If he were strapped to the chair and hurt every night, he would be very sad. They probably missed their family too. If he were sitting in those chairs, he would pray for a saviour. For a hero. His hands balled into fists around his lucky charm. It was a plastic star that would open up to a picture of him and his family. It also had some old breath mints and a little good luck letter to keep the luck inside his star. Mickey had wrote it for him because he couldn't write yet. It was a letter to himself in the future. He told himself that he'd be like papa. That he'd be a hero.
His fists relaxed. He knew he would do it. He had to, or else he'd feel bad for the rest of his life. God would be mad at him too. God would never abandon him if he's good, even if hydra does.
Sneakily, he slipped out of the room. It was the first time he did anything like this. his heart was hammering against his ribcage but the voice in his head was telling him that he did well. He was doing well. As he approached the more heavily guarded area, he peeked at the men in their uniforms, strapped onto the chairs. They looked miserable.
He tapped his fingers against the metal walls, allowing the kinetic energy to amplify. His eyes followed the tremors to the lightbulbs hanging sickly from the ceilings. One lightbulb began to vibrate, then another. It was too small for them to notice. Then the zap of electrical energy made the glass bulbs shatter. The lights went out.
He could hear the clicking as the chair's cuffs began to unlock. The rustling of fabric and gunfire erupted.
"Stay still! Don't move or else I'll shoot!" The gaurds were trying to stop them.
He couldn't see but he ran with all his might, towards wherever he could. He ran foreward without thinking, pushing open doors from hallway to hallway until he finally felt the fresh air. The night was cold and dark, just like when he'd arrived here. Thoughtlessly, he hurled towards the wired fence, overheating the fuse enough to cut off the electric supply. Now the soldier's could climb over. And so could he.
His hands began to bleed as he climbed further up, dark figures easily hauling themselves over while he was sluggishly slow.
"They're here!" A voice cried, and the movement got faster. Someone grabbed onto his shirt and threw him back on the floor. Cold metal pressed against his head but a zap of electricity knocked the gun out of his hands.
"Klaus?" The moment his given name left the agent's lips, he was surrounded. They pinned him down, no longer focusing on the soldier's running away.
"We got a hold of Klaus. It seems he started the power outage." A woman spoke into a black box in her hand.
"What will you do to me now?" He asked quietly, unsure of how to behave. The adrenaline had not yet left his system and his head was spinning like crazy.
"The boss will decide. He did say that you'd have a tantrum about to at some point. We thought to give it a few more years. Why did you act out now?" She spoke calmly, as if nothing was wrong.
"They sounded like they were being hurt." He replied simply.
"But now you might get hurt. Tch. He should've sent you to school if he was going to train you to be a loyal soldier." The woman muttered as reinforcements appeared. "Check him for wounds. He tried to climb a wired fence."
They took him back to his room and cleaned him up. Nobody came by but his door was now locked. Dinner passed and so did breakfast the morning after. Then lunch, and dinner. Did they plan to starve him to death or was this a punishment? He couldn't tell, but he was grateful he didn't have to face schtimmt. Otherwise he wouldn't know wether to beg for forgiveness or express his dissatisfaction with the soldier's treatment. He felt like he could trust him but he didn't know if it was just an act.
"He should've sent you to school if he planned on making you a loyal soldier."
He planned to make him a soldier. Did that mean he was supposed to hurt other people? Was he even capable of that? He didn't know, but not knowing was making him nervous. The voice in his head was warning him that if he didn't bite first, they'd bite him.
