Rip My Heart Out (Avengers Age of Ultron)

Chapter 7

Another man entered the room. He was wearing a lab coat and surgical gloves. He walked over to the man with the scalpel and nodded his head. "Dr. List. I'm glad you could join us." The man handed Dr. List the scalpel and walked towards the door.

"Pietro, Wanda, it's time for you to leave now." The man said with a sinister grin on his face. "Wanda, I'll send for you when I need you to come back."

"Strucker, What are you going to do to her?" Pietro asked from the corner.

"What I do is of no concern of yours. You did your part, and you're no longer needed." The man looked annoyed that he was being interrupted. He shot Pietro a look that said, "Don't test me."

"Brother-" Wanda began.

Pietro cut her off with a look. I didn't know how it happened, but it seemed with one look, Pietro told Wanda everything she needed to know.

But Wanda wasn't about to risk being so blatantly disobedient. She nodded to Pietro ever so slightly and then reached out and put a hand on his arm, as if to calm him. Then, they both left, Strucker following shortly behind them.

And I was alone with Dr. List. I felt chilled to the bone. Dr. List's face was the most terrifying thing I ever could have imagined. He wasn't sinister and cruel like the man who'd broken into my apartment had been. Instead, he was plainly curious. What made him terrifying though was something else entirely.

He had an air about him that gave me the impression he didn't hold my life in any regard. In fact, I would wager anything that he didn't even see me as a human being. I was simply an experiment to him. I wasn't a living being. I was a puzzle to be solved.

"Let's get started, shall we?" He said, walking to the side of the bed. I tried to free myself from my binds, but my struggles did nothing. The metal was tight on my arms and there was no escape. "The first step in the scientific process, collect samples."

The next few hours of my life were pure hell. I couldn't tell you what all happened, and I wouldn't want to even if I could. List hurt me in ways I never would have imagined in my wildest, most violent dreams. He poked and prodded and sliced away at me until I felt like I would pass out.

I was never so lucky though. Even when I felt the world slipping away around me, something inside of me would give my heart and my head a jolt of energy and I would be more awake than before. List would mutter something along the lines of "Facinating." and then continue to cut and prod.

My voice was raspy and nearly gone from the screaming and my arms and wrists were bleeding from my struggling against the binds holding them in place. Sweat dripped from all over my body to the point of being soaked.

Never in my life had I wished I would die until then. I couldn't stop myself from thinking it would be better for all of this to stop no matter how that happened. I cursed my parents for letting me move to New York on my own. I cursed Steve for not saving me. I cursed Pietro's name for bringing me here and I cursed myself for not dying sooner.

I couldn't stand to look at List's face, knowing that he was enjoying this. He was finding answers and loving every minute of it. This is the moment that he had been waiting months for and apparently, it was worth the wait.

When it finally ended, I couldn't bring myself to move. If I even flinched, pain shot through my entire body. I stared ahead, just looking at the ceiling. My ears rang and my mind buzzed with adrenaline. I couldn't fuel a full thought. My mind and my body were exhausted.

List left the room and I was left with only silence. Tears streamed down my face without my consent. My mind wandered to Steve. Surely he was looking for me, right? But how long would it take him to find me, if he was looking. Would he drop everything and search relentlessly or would I just be another item on his list of things to do and friends to find?

As my thoughts got more and more cynical, I heard the door open again. Strucker walked in, followed by Dr. List.

"You did so well. Dr. List tells me he learned a lot from you." Strucker said, walking to the side of my bed. "But we only have theories. We need to test them."

The door opened again and a familiar face walked in.

"Wanda! Glad you could make it." Strucker's voice rang through the room. "I've got a job for you."

"O Bože..."Wanda muttered, slowly walking to the edge of my bed. I dared to roll my head to the side in order to see her. I winced and tears continued to flow down my cheeks as I did. "What have you done?"

"I've done what needed to be done." Strucker came around to stand behind Wanda. He rested his hands on either of her shoulders and looked over the left one to see me. " I want you to look into her mind."

I didn't have the strength to protest anymore. And frankly, I couldn't bring myself to care if she was in my mind. I didn't care about much at that very moment.

"I couldn't do it. I tried earlier, remember?" Wanda said. I sensed the hint of irritation in her voice and I wasn't sure if it was directed at me or at Strucker.

"Try again." A smile returned to his face. "We have a theory. There are parts of her that will kick you out if you get too close, but the rest of her is vulnerable. Her abilities don't run through her whole body. Not yet, at least. I don't know to what extent this is true yet, but that is what we are here to figure out.

"Start with her earlier memories. The earliest you can find and start picking away at them. Cut off her access to them. And keep doing that until you can't anymore. Then we will know when her transformation began. We still have so much to learn."

"You want me to take everything? All of her memories?" She asked Strucker.

He nodded his head. A dangerous look was slowly seeping into his expression. I realized that he was warning her not to defy him. This was a look of a man that held her fate in his hand. It was a look that said, "If you don't do what I want, I will destroy you."

Wanda seemed to understand, but she had something on her mind. She paused briefly, taking a moment to think something over before speaking.

"Okay." She said, taking a deep breath. "I'll do it, but I have to warn you. I don't know what will happen if I take these things from her."

"That is the whole point, dear Wanda." Strucker said with impatience.

Wanda rolled her eyes, so he couldn't see, then turned to him. "I mean taking all this from her, I will have to go deep into her mind and change things there and I'm not sure what kind of effects that might have on her mind. If I do this, you might lose her. She could become just a shell of a person."

Strucker pondered this for a short moment, before shrugging. "If that happens, then she wasn't as special as we thought. Proceed."

The brunette turned back to me and looked in my eyes. I had no energy to protest. Instead, I embraced what was about to happen. I turned my head slowly back towards the ceiling and closed my eyes, letting one more tear run slowly down my cheek.

I pictured my mom and my dad, knowing that this could be the last time I see their faces with recognition. I thought of my mom with her glasses and her curly hair. I thought about her beauty and her warmth. I remembered how my dad was always there with advice and jokes to make me feel better.

I thought about the last time I hugged them. I tried to remember everything, how it felt, how warm it was, how comforting. I tried to hold onto that memory with everything I could. I wouldn't let her take it from me.

Slowly, I felt Wanda's influence creep into my mind and everything began to slip away from me. Soon there was no warmth, only empty space.

A/N: No! Why am I only making things worse for her?!? I am a cruel, cruel person. 

What are your thoughts? Comment and vote to let me know!

Thanks for reading!