MANIPULATING THE MANIPULATOR

CHAPTER SEVEN

"What?"
I asked like I simply didn't hear his question, when I was hanging off his every word. He didn't reply, but he stood up, his heavy footsteps making the quick course in front of me before he kneels down directly in front of my shins, making me able to look down at him.
Involuntarily, a soft gasp leaves me and his smirk widens, and I wished mental slapping yourself was a thing. He reaches for one of the shoelace ties on my tactical boots and grabs the black plastic aglet of the lace and feeds it through the locks on his shackles, making sure to catch them when they fall so the sound isn't loud with impact.
He gently places them on the ground with no trace of impact, it was scary and somewhat impressive.
"Give me your wrists."
He asks simply and I don't bother to protest. I flick my wrists out and he takes the left one gently in his hand, too gently, like I was a fragile diamond in threat to shatter. He does the same thing to my shackles with his tactical boots shoelace aglet.
If I had known it was that easy, my ass would have been on the opposite side of the world.
"Do you trust me?"
He asks the day-old question and I almost want to roll my eyes. I mean, I just properly met him not longer than an hour ago, who would ask that? After my recent events, I wasn't sure I wanted to trust anyone or anything, really. However, he did just free us both from the shackles and seems to be the only person who actually gives a damn about me.
"Yes."
My answer is quiet, not much above a whisper. He moved his hand to mould with mine and interlaced our fingers. My hand surged itself with heat at the touch. He helped me up off the bed, I almost stumbled, he didn't let go of my hand. Instead, he closes his eyes in a tight shut.
My nerves are sent alive with a satisfying tingle, the feeling is abnormal and it makes me gasp. He opens his eyes and chuckles lightly at my expression.
"Now, don't talk, okay?"
Firm words, gentle tone. I clamp my mouth tight shut, not trusting myself not to talk. It wasn't long until we weren't walking to the door, he doesn't move to attempt to unlock it, he just walks forwards and forwards.
Our bodies become something not of matter and we're out of the cell, out into the hallway. Soldiers walk past us, or walk through us, they don't notice us.
My eyes widen, but I don't let myself speak. Kage continues his walk, we're walking down halls, most I don't realise until we're back in the large cafeteria room - the first thing I saw being here. Realisation strikes me down when I notice his foot path to Alexander's office.
We walked inside, or should I say walked through the door, and it was completely dark. It looked almost the exact same to what it was before. Kage moved in front of me, giving me a look that asked me to speak.
"You have powers?"
My voice was hushed, I was terrified of being heard by anyone in Alexander's office of all places.
"Task Force 121 is a unit based on enhanced soldiers, we all had abilities. Mine; invisibility."
His voice matched my hushed tone.
"We just walked through closed doors."
I stated bluntly, trying to hide the fact that I was near mesmerised by his powers.
"Yeah, that's an element of the power, you can walk through basic matter."
He shrugs. For a good second I feel stunned, then the next I remember how our reality really was, and just how messed up it was with superhumans running around on a daily basis. He lifts up our intertwined hands.
"As long as we keep doing this, you stay invisible too."
He tightened his grip on my hand to make a point, it was more a squeeze than anything. I nodded, my gaze toppling over to our hands as I noticed the difference in them.
His are larger, tanner and looked like they have actually lived and hard hard times. Mine are smaller, paler and look like they haven't even glanced at a single 'hard time'. I forced my gaze back onto his eyes.
"Why did you bring us here?"
I asked, my eyes training on the room's surface for a second before flickering back.
"You said you wanted to know if you were here because of your Mother, I'm sure Pierce would keep her file here."
I mean, it made sense. HYDRA seemed to have files on every living species out there. Why not have one of my Mum? Before I can speak, he is directing me over to a large black file vertical cupboard with twenty six draws, every one labelled in order with one letter of the alphabet.
He opens the 'A' drawer as quietly as possible as starts looking. I guess he was going off mine and her last name. Without unlinking our hands, I stepped the half step over to the side and opened the 'S' drawer for Sharon, my Mums name.
My available hand that wasn't holding his was quickly skimming every file in the box, finding many Sharon's but not any Sharon Alistair's. I soon realised it was going off last names and I was about to close the drawer before Kage handed me a file. I took it, it was labelled Sharon Alistair.
"This her?"
He asked quietly, moving to close both the 'A' and 'S' drawers.
"Maybe."
I opened the file. It was like the one Alexander showed of me, but of my Mum instead. It had all her basic information about herself. My eyes sent out a course to the paper, till a specific line caught my eye.
Residency: HYDRA Asset - The Necromancer
My eyes widened slightly. Of course she was once involved with HYDRA. And as The Necromancer? The name I myself was meant to now have in HYDRA?
"You will be the first of the subjects of The Necromancer Project."
I call Alexander's bullshit. Honestly, I had a feeling he had something under his sleeves, waiting to be revealed. However, I don't think I was meant to find out what that was just yet. Too bad, I just did. Was I meant to be a replica in place for my Mum?
I should have known, and I was frustrated at myself for being blind. She was the original project, and because I was her daughter, they found me best to be her stand in once she died. I almost wanted to implode due to the gush of emotions pulsating me, but I remained calm and composed. I wasn't broken yet and I couldn't let them break me now.
"And they'll kill you too."
No matter what anyone else said.
Kage followed my line of sight, but his face stayed neutral.
"She was a HYDRA Asset too?"
He asks simply, as if it was basic knowledge between liking chocolate or vanilla ice cream more.
No, I'm not adding strawberries. If you like strawberry ice cream, don't read this book.
"Apparently so."
I said, my eyes scanning the information once more, only to be shocked...again.
D.O.B: 1477
D.O.D: 1994
She died this year, I knew that. That wasn't the thing that surprised me. What did take me off guard is the fact she was supposedly born in 1477. When she died, she was 43. Gorgeous for 43, might I add.
If she was born when this said she was, she would have been 500 something when she died. Was she immortal or something? Everything just kept piling on and on and I couldn't understand it. Until a fire lit my brain to what Zola had said after I had passed out of The Chair.
"Vampirism."
Vampire. Was I a vampire? Was my Mum once a vampire? Did I get it off of her somehow? Did they inject me with something I didn't know about and did the same to my Mum? Was my Mum immortal?
Yes, she must have been. I didn't know a lot about vampires, really. I always thought they were just a simple myth, and that they sucked blood. Maybe immortality was an unknown factor.
"She gives in to HYDRA."
Kage spoke up, my eyebrows furrowed. I looked over to see he was holding a post-it note, reading off it.
"What?"
I was blunt. I took the note from his hand and read it internally to myself.
"She GIVES IN to HYDRA."
Want the fuck was that supposed to mean? My brain sailed with unknown forces of emotions. Who was 'she'? My Mum? I was going off the largest whim, like a reckless guessing game that I wished I wasn't playing.
"Where did you find this?"
I finally asked Kage, he pointed to the back of the folder that I was still holding in my hand. My eyes narrowed, trying to figure out the meaning as if I was trying to figure out a puzzle. I inspected the post-it note, my eyes widening as I noticed there were periods between every letter of the capital 'GIVES IN'.
It was an acronym.
An acronym for what? That I didn't know. It only had to get more complex by the given second, didn't it? It was almost like the unravel of a knot, all different routes led to all different turns, all leading to the major point. Don't break it, or else you're lost.
"It's an acronym."
I finally spoke my thoughts aloud, my hand starting to clench the file so much it was creasing the edge. I loosened my grip when I realised I was also clenching Kage's hand just as hard. No like it mattered, he barely flinched.
"For what?"
"I don't know."
I said, I repositioned my hold on the post-it note, my eyes zeroing in on the very small font hieroglyphics my thumb was covering before. It was a different language. A human one, of course, but not something I knew of. I felt dumb, even when I wasn't. I felt too innocent to be here, even when I wasn't. Everything was too out of place for me to understand. My eyes narrowed to get a better look at the hieroglyphics properly.
Russian.
Of-fucking-course.
"It's Russian."
I stated, I wasn't sure if it was to myself or to Kage, but I said it all the same.
"This whole place is Russian."
Kage also states, his tone much more bitter than mine, almost engulfed by it. His eyebrows knitted themselves together in a messy line.
"Do you know any Russian?"
His voice took a turn for the softer, gentler. Almost like he was trying to soothe an anxious baby on the threat of a wailing fit.
"Nope."
My lips pursed inwards for a second in thought. I knew a lot of languages, but not Russian. Now I was wishing I had learnt it, it would have made this situation less of a major shithole.
Flick
An idea lit the space on my brain, my eyes widening at the thought, hope seeping into all ounces of my body.
I didn't have to know Russian if I knew someone who already knew it as a first language.
Now was just the matter of seeing if I could get his stoical ass on my side to solve what I had been left to explore.