BOOK 4 of the ORPHIC Series
DISENTHRALL
/ˌdisənˈTHrôl/
set free.
~~~~~
When Lucille 'Lucy' Opal Baker starts adjusting to a world without Captain America and more government therapy sessions...
T H E F A L C O N A N D T H E W I N T E R S O L D I E R
28
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"How strange it is to live."
Riga, Latvia July, 2024
TECHNICALLY, SHE WAS DEAD.
She knew that, distantly.
And it sucked.
Dying sucked. It hurt a lot. But she was in this place, and she needed to find a way out.
Her eyes darted around the vast expanse of the blank area. Dark crystals were jutting out from the ground, flat on either side and displaying images Lucy found familiar. Slowly, she drew closer, feeling like she was wading through mud.
Her hand pressed on one of the crystals, and she gasped as her arm was pulled in. She felt cold as her body was taken into the crystal. She cringed at the bright light beaming in her eyes. Hesitantly, she let herself examine her surroundings.
She was in a cell.
Standing over her father's body, and her past self.
Lucy turned around, finding herself face to face with the same crystal she'd entered through. Her eyes darted to her past self, before she walked right back through that crystal. She appeared on the other side, and was relieved to find herself in the same area.
She knew now that these crystals all held her memories.
And as she passed them, she realized all the thoughts and things she tried to suppress were before her. To her left, Agent Marks was whipping her past self– to here right, Dr. Schaffer was beating her with a belt. Lucy was numb to it all as she continued walking forwards.
The memories were replaced by Pierce scowling down at her; Winter breaking her nose. She tilted her head as the largest crystals of them all formed in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. She blinked as she stared at herself. Her hair was blonde, her eyes were bright and blue. She looked. . .she looked like herself.
The version before HYDRA.
Before everything that took her life away.
She pressed her hand against the black crystal, leaning against the mirror-like object as she observed herself. She pulled back in surprise when the woman in the mirror pulled back, turning her head to look behind her. Lucy watched as the Field of Reeds came into view. The woman in the mirror looked back at her.
She beckoned her forwards, asking for her to follow.
Lucy let her hand brush against the glass. It was liquidy, soft like she could travel through it just as she had with the other crystal. The woman in the mirror smiled, nodding at her.
