Marvel's The Avengers: Hydra's Little Spider

Chapter 2: More Soldiers

Peter was enjoying his lunch with Pietro and Wanda when one of their handlers appeared in the room. They were never told the names of anybody here, besides Strucker himself. Peter figured it was to protect themselves should he ever be captured and interrogated. That way even if his formidable training failed him he could never give his captors too much valuable information. It was very unusual that somebody interrupted their meal, but Peter noticed that quite a few things changes in the last two weeks. The guards were constantly on the edge and scientists rushed around the facility with way more urge than ever before. He wondered what could be the reason for such a sudden change in the climate around the facility.

"Spider, come with me. Baron Strucker wants to speak to you," the handler ordered before he turned his attention to Pietro and Wanda. "You two return to your rooms and stay there. You will not leave your rooms unless specifically ordered to do so. Food will be brought to you. Leave now."

Confused the twins stood up and were led out of the room by two guards who were waiting outside. An uneasy feeling overcame Peter. The last time they treated him how they treated Pietro and Wanda now was when he attempted to flee, but he was sure that neither of the two tried to do something like that. After all, they came here as volunteers.

"Follow me Spider, I don't have all day," came the harsh order from the handler. Two more guards flanked him as soon as they exited the room and made their way to the usual briefing room. When the door was opened and Peter was shoved inside, he was surprised to see Strucker already waiting for him.

'Well that's a first,' Peter thought. Strucker was never waiting for him, it was always Peter who had to wait, sometimes for hours. He was convinced that it was some weird plot to assert dominance over him, but he never let that get to his head. He knew Hydra too well for their own liking.

Peter took the chair in front of him and waited for Strucker to start talking. He noticed that even the head of the facility seemed much more stressed out than usual.

"You are a smart man Spider. I am sure you noticed that things have been a little bit different for a while now. A recent operation of us was sadly stopped by unforeseen circumstances. We also lost the Winter Soldier in the process."

That surprised Peter. He was always told that the Winter Soldier was the best of the best and that his own purpose was only to surpass the Winter Soldier. They always talked about him as if he were an unstoppable force that could fulfil every mission you could think of. To learn from his apparent death was therefore shocking for Peter to say the least. He started to wonder what kind of operation that could have been that the Winter Soldier was even required and how he could fail in such a monumental way that even Strucker was shaken by it.

"Sadly that means you are now the only enhanced and trained assassin we have available and since we lost many agents in this operation only one of you won't cut it. We will resume the testing of your DNA and your abilities to try to recreate your powers that way. From now until we speak again, you will not be assigned any more missions and you are to do nothing but comply with our scientists and doctors. Do you understand?"

Peter slowly took the words in and then nodded once.

"Good," Strucker continued. "For today there will be no tests. You will be returned to your room and are not allowed to wander around the facility on your own anymore. Your two 'friends' will receive the same treatment. Hell maybe we can finally find out why they survived the experiment."

Again, an uneasy feeling crept over Peter after hearing that. He sounded desperate and if the leader of an organisation started to show desperation, it was usually a very bad sign. From his experience, it meant that the organisation was attempting some last-ditch effort to turn the ruder around and more often than not that lead to some questionable decisions. But then again, if Hydra collapsed and he could get out of it in one piece, he could maybe start a new life with Pietro and Wanda, assuming they make it out as well.