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━━━━━━━━☆★☆━━━━━━━━
When Hedeon wakes up, his entire body arches. He twists his head from side to side to try and determine where he is.
"Welcome back to the land of conscious."
Hedeon turns immediately, but has to glance around a few seconds before he spots a woman with his blurry eyesight. "Excuse me. Have I been kidnapped?"
"Sort of, yes." The woman in white replies.
"That is pitiful." He squints, as though he thought his eyes might be tricking him. "Mom?"
Alina looks at him with a motherly smile. "Hello, Hedeon."
After running a few tests on Hedeon, the former Destroyer saunters into the bathroom. Cold water blasts into the basin as he turns on the faucet. He bends over and puts his hands on the sides of the sink. His head is pounding, and legs feel like they will buckle under him at any moment.
He cups his hands under the tap, filling them. The shock of the icy water on his face begins to calm him after the third handful before straightening and looking at his reflection in the mirror. He notices something. His eyes are no longer blue. They're back to whiskey brown. To test his strength, he clutches the ceramic sink basin with all the strength he can muster and waits for it to crack, but no, all his supersoldier strength is gone as it never existed in the first place.
Taking a bath, he changes into the provided fresh clothes, which includes a black t-shirt, dark trousers and a pair of boots as he remembers his last memories at the Artie Villa. Katie and Noah are gone. He just hopes Yelena is somewhere safe. If he's not wrong, he is in the lion's den. He needs to plan his next moves before he acts out. When he returns to the bedroom, he sees various Russian dishes laying on the table, awaiting his arrival.
"You must be hungry." Alina walks in with two plates and places them on the table.
"Starving actually." Hedeon tells and the older woman invites him to join the table which he gladly accepts without any hesitation.
"Ask away the questions." Alina speaks out as they both dig into the feast. "I will help you out with all I can."
"Where am I?"
"Belarus, 2R headquarters."
"You work for the Red King?"
"Not by choice." Alina replies with a sigh. "Nadia Tsar. Do you remember her?"
Hedeon shakes his head in denial. "No."
"Nadia is the Red King. Her father was the Red King before her." Alina clarifies, loading more food into her son's plate. "Nadia's father faked my death after I gave birth to you. It was the perfect time and Ivan was occupied by you."
