Science and Magick (LokixOC)

Chapter Two

"Dr. Erskine-Knelbeg report for debriefing" the authoritative voice echoed throughout Zoë's head. Her head that was pounding as if she had been struck with a freight train.

Slowly, her crystal blue eyes opened to see Commander Luvich staring down at her. As her sight cleared Zoë was able to see she was tied to a metal medical table, she was home? How had she gotten here? When she tried to remember, the ache in her head spiked causing her to wince.

"I repeat, Dr. Zoë Erskine-Knelbeg report" Luvich instructed once more, his tone was a little less aggressive now. He had been one of her father's closest friends and had always been like an uncle to Zoë.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes once more "Erskine-Knelbeg reporting" she said "I was working in New York, there was a commotion that I followed. The tesseract was being used at Stark tower to open a portal in the sky. There were alien forces spilling from this portal. My intent was to ascend the tower and take the tesseract" she began reporting.

Luvich nodded as he wrote down her words "What happened then?" He asked, as per usual giving no indication of how much of this information they already knew. Hydra almost always knew more than they seemed to.

"The last thing I remember was reaching out and touching the tesseract, I was about to grasp it when something happened. I don't know what. Everything is there, but in the wrong order" Zoë finished. There was so much that the tesseract had shown her, had given her, but she couldn't make sense of any of it.

Luvich nodded once more and closed the file he was holding "Did your mother ever tell you that your grandmother volunteered as a child to be one of the test subjects with the tesseract before it was lost?" He asked.

Zoë opened her eyes and looked at her uncle with surprise "No, she didn't" she replied. Why wouldn't her mother tell her this?

"She may never have been told either, the test didn't show any results besides making your grandmother sick for a few days so it was written off as failed and forgotten" he explained. Luvich took off his glasses and sat on the chair beside the table Zoë was strapped to "Do you remember how you got here? How you somehow travelled from America to Germany without setting foot on a plane?" He asked.

Zoë shook her head "I thought maybe I had fainted at the tower and had been brought home" she said. Well she had hoped, hoped that she had only dreamed being at her father's grave.

Luvich assessed the look on his niece's face and nodded "You know where you were found, Zoë. We received your morning report and then within five hours the guards were carrying you into medical" he filled her in.

"My report" she whispered "was my phone found? I made a report of the situation on it" panic forming in her chest at the thought of losing all that irreplaceable information.

Luvich nodded and placed a large warm hand on her arm, it was a surprise. Whilst Karl Luvich had always been a warm man behind closed doors, in the safety of their home, he had never once shown an emotion at work. Not even when his best friend died. This was not a good sign.

The panic only built now, however Zoë still attempted to hold it within herself. "What is it?" She asked, voice hard. Preparing herself for the bad news that was coming.

The man closed his eyes tightly "I'm so sorry Zoë" he whispered.

It was then that the purest form of terror raced through her veins, her eyes widened as a force of nameless brutes walked in along with a man that she had only seen in files she had read without permission in Luvich's home.

Alexander Pierce.

They weren't in Germany anymore, Pierce didn't work in Germany, she must have been out for longer than a few hours. They had taken her somewhere else. What about her mother? Her resolve finally broke when Zoë realised what was happening. She had read about this in the Winter Soldier files, she was strapped to the same table he had been, there were a handful of doctors following Pierce and the more she looked around the room the more equipment she recognised. She looked back over at her uncle with tear filled eyes and gave a rueful smile "Protect mother" she begged.

He nodded "I swear" he whispered before being ushered out of the room.

"So, Zoë" Pierce began, the sound of his false diplomacy and thick American accent made her stomach turn. "Congratulations, you're being promoted! You have just become Hydra's greatest secret weapon" he stated gleefully.

"Don't you mean SHIELD's secret weapon?" She spat. Never had she disrespected anyone of authority before, but she had read all about Alexander Pierce. The slimy American scum that was Hydra's arm in SHIELD. To the extent of her knowledge, he was to blame for tainting her beloved home with US dogs.

The man glanced at her with surprise, no not quite surprise, something much more condescending than that. "I'm not shocked you did your homework, always been such the studious girl haven't you?" He asked rhetorically as he stepped closer to Zoë. She recoiled from his outstretched hand as much as she could but the table stopped her from going too far. He grinned at this reaction "What's wrong? Don't you like being touched?" He taunted.

Her stomach churned once again and she felt a familiar buzzing building in her body "Don't" she said firmly, staring him down.

As he moved closer the buzzing built until the equipment in the room began to shake. Pierce grinned as he looked around at the moving inanimate objects. This was what he wanted, Zoë had unwittingly just proved his theory right.

"It would seem you were correct" he observed, pleased, as he looked back at the woman before him "Tell me, do you remember the last thing you wrote in your report?" He asked.

The room fell silent as the realisation hit Zoë, she had written if she were able to take the tesseract then she could use it to perfect her serum and perfect molecular manipulation. That it could hold the source to everything. It had changed her when she touched it.

"Hmmm more awakened what had already been there, what my former colleagues had failed to realise was that the experiment on your grandmother hadn't failed, in fact it worked very well. Their idiocy is the only reason we didn't realise it" he said, irritation oozing from his words. "All that untapped potential, forgotten, left dormant" he added with a sigh.

Zoë looked around the room and recognised one of the doctors that had followed Pierce into the room earlier. He had been the doctor that worked with her on the Winter Soldier project. He looked away from her gaze, shame and regret tainting his features. They were going to 'strengthen' her.

"Don't worry though little Zoë, we're going to make up for all of that wasted time. You see, with the incredible mind you inherited from your great grandfather not only are you the most valuable scientist we have, you will now be our most powerful weapon. We were so proud of you for helping us with Mr. Barnes but that project will be nothing compared to this" he praised. "Thank you in advance for your service to our cause" he added.

"Hail Hydra!" Zoë spat as the man grinned at her. She wouldn't let him see her fear. She wouldn't let them break her. This was, after all, her purpose. This was her duty. It's what her great grandfather would have wanted. Right? She looked back at the team of doctors "Do it" she commanded.

The man she had worked with was the first to step forward, rubber mouth guard in hand "Nur die Harten kommen in den Garten" he said softly. Zoë smiled warmly and nodded, he was a good man and even if she did hold resentment to any of them for what was about to happen she wouldn't have blamed this man. In Hydra you followed orders, there was no alternative.

She opened her mouth and he placed the guard in, Pierce smiled "This is all your research little one, so you should have nothing to worry about" he stated smugly. He was right, it was her research, so she knew exactly how much pain to expect and she knew the likelihood of her survival was slim. "Oh and before I forget, I took the liberty of bringing some Chopin for you. I know how much you like music while you work" he added, pressing a button on the remote in his hand.

Zoë's favourite concerto began to play as the doctors started injecting her with the bright blue serum. From that moment on all she felt was pure, unending agony.