Love Like Ghost

happier than ever

Don't say it isn't fair
You clearly weren't aware that you made me miserable

~

I groaned my head bobbing from side to side trying to make out the blurry figures in front of me. Someone was yelling. I squinted. Zemo was yelling. I groaned again. Nik was yelling back.

Zemo looked at me, or maybe he didn't. Then he left. My chest flattened as the door closed behind him.

Nik came forward hand coming under my chin forcing me to look at him. "This should look familiar." He turned my head sideways. I blinked the object going in and out of focus. But then it became clear. A bag of blue liquid hanging from the IV pole.

I shook my head. "That-That's not possible." Every trace of it was lost to the fire at my home and then killed in a Siberian bunker.

"Isn't it?" He smirked. "What do you think I've been making you do all this time? Take out Hydra goons from your past?" He tsked at me, "No that's too easy. I needed you for something else, something bigger. You were too blinded by revenge to bother asking." His hand ran down the length of the tubing tracing it back to my arm, "And now you are going to get me what I want." His eyes met mine, "Moy malen'kiy kotenok."

He dropped my face letting my eyes watch as the blue liquid began moving through the tube. "Nik...no. Please!" I didn't want this. I had never wanted this. "Please Nik!" I tried to pull away, but my body stayed restrained down. "I can get you what you want without this Nik!" It was getting too close.

"I know you can." He watched me panic, beg. "But this will be more fun. Besides I needed a test subject." He turned from me walking away.

It hit my vein igniting my body in pure agony.

I remember screaming, but nothing more beyond that.

~

When I came around Nik was standing in front of me. "She doesn't look much different."

"Nagel's serum was far more advanced sir." He was staring at a monitor, then to me, then back to the monitor. He wrote something down, "It has more optimized cell density augmentation."

Nik turned to him, "I don't know what the hell that means."

He cleared his throat. "Enhanced physiology without physical change."

"How do we know it worked?" Nik turned back to me. "Nagel got dusted before he synthesized it thats why I paid you to come finish the job." Before he could answer I grunted yanking the restraint off the bed I was laying on. Nik chuckled, "That's one way to find out." He walked over to me, "Congratulations Kotenok...you're officially a super solider."

I felt like crying, like throwing up. I yanked my other arm up going for his throat before something sharp stabbed my neck. "There, there..." He stroked my head. "It will all be over soon." I felt his head turn my world going fuzzy. "Fetch Dreykov's drug." His hands were on either side of my face as I looked back at him with hooded eyelids. I felt them rolling backwards every other second. "Got to keep this one under control."

Then there was nothing.

~

I opened my eyes lights glaring down at me as my hand went up to shield my face. Again a low exhausted groan escaped my mouth as I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand. I knew I should have felt worse, after it all, but I felt fine. Better even. I could only blame the serum for that. I tried to suppress how good it made me feel, tried to curse away the sense of euphoria that seemed to steep within me. I glanced above me, around me looking for any inclination of where I was. They had freed me from my restraints leaving me on the soft medical bed still inside the lab wearing what seemed to be a hospital gown. I heard a noise from the right of me seeing the statue of a man sifting through the room.