Red Star

Chapter 4

Laurie skidded around the corner. Dammit! Such a beginner's mistake, with the oven. Hadn't her dad warned her to always, always turn off the heat? She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that when she came face to face with the busker, she nearly head butted him in the neck, due to his significant height. "Sorry, dude, gotta run!" She said hastily.

He grabbed her tightly by the shoulders and shoved a needle into her neck. "AH-uhh..." Laurie's voice trailed off as the drug took effect, knocking her unconscious. The busker's arms picked her up over his shoulder, and that was the last thing she felt before her mind was overcome with a sense of unnatural sleep.

|•v•|

Bucky froze. There were no signs of a scuffle, but he immediately swapped to high alert. Maybe she had just run quicker than he thought...?

Still looking around like a hunted animal, he stalked back the way Laurie had led him, retracing their steps to her house. Praying that she would be there, he carefully opened the door.

"Laurie?"

Silence answered his query.

"Laurie?" he called again, slightly louder.

Flicking his eyes across the surface of the kitchen counter, they halted on a white note on red-edged paper sitting on top of the blondies. He reached out with his left hand and plucked it from the treats, noticing it was written in Russian. Translating as he went, it came out like:

You thought you could escape your destiny? Your purpose to life? Lies! Hydra needs you, Soldier. Without you, we cannot give humanity the freedom it deserves and craves. To prompt you, we have taken your shelterer into custody. We are certain this incentive will not be needed, but we are prepared folk.

It was unsigned and had no address, but the typewritten letter didn't need either. Bucky knew exactly who it came from. The blood red insignia in the bottom left corner told him enough.

He thought back. Where had Laurie stashed his armour? He was certainly going to need it.

|•v•|

When Laurie regained consciousness, it was like swimming through tar; slow, and with the feeling of pressure leaving her. She blinked, and tried to make a noise. She couldn't move her lips, and they stung like a bitch when she tried.

Her throat was parched, though she didn't feel particularly thirsty. More like it just dry from her breathing. Moving her head slightly, she realized he was strapped to an uncomfortable hospital gurney, still wearing her street clothes.

Her heart monitor began beeping much quicker, and the door directly in front of her in the small, plain room opened with a mechanical groan. "Ah! Our newest patient!"

The doctor grinned, feral, at her. Laurie pushed her head back into the barely-there pillow to try and get away, though she knew it was useless.

"Hmm, a mirror would be sufficient." He muttered, and picked up a small circular mirror like a dentist would use. In the tiny surface, Laurie caught sight of her mouth. Her lips were stitched together with thin, bloodied black thread.

She made a noise in her throat that would've been a scream if she could open her mouth. Tears dripped from the corners of her eyes towards her temples, and the doctor patted her hand like it was supposed to make her feel better. "Now, now, don't be too upset. We'll take good care of you, we already have you hooked up to the necessary supplements."

The pain in Laurie's eyes turned to hatred, and she balled her fists. The doctor noticed this, and hastily retreated. "I'll just let my superiors know you're ready to begin, yes?" he laughed a little nervously as he growled at him.

The door slid shut again and Laurie closed her eyes. She took inventory. Her neck ached where she had been injected, and she felt a needle in her left arm. Another ache around her abdomen made her realize that that was why she didn't feel empty, they were putting food directly into her stomach.

The door opened again, and she turned a venomous glare to the team of surgeons surrounding her. They all had a red emblem on their shoulders, a skull surrounded by tentacles. "We begin, now. The anaesthetic, nurse." One said in a cold voice.

"Sir, perhaps that isn't wise...there could be complications due to shock-"

"We start. NOW."

Laurie felt a mask placed over her mouth and nose, and everything went dark. Again.

She felt like she had blinked when she went under, and now that she had reopened her eyes she was somewhere completely different. The same low-stature doctor she had first met looked down on her again. "Good evening! You're undoubtedly confused. Let me explain: we are Hydra, and we wish to bring control and peace to the world. We want you to help us in our just endeavour. Unfortunately, this means that you will work until you die, and since you have no need for a personal life we have performed the surgery to sterilize you. I understand this may be hard for you to understand, so in layman's terms, you are no longer able to bear children."

Laurie would've gasped if she could have opened her mouth. More tears blurred her vision than when she had been in physical pain. This was so much worse.

A distant patting of her hand brought her back. This doctor seemed to have a thing for patting hands. "We still have much to do," he said, getting up and walking to the door, "so try to get some sleep." He departed to who knows where.

Laurie struggled to lift her head enough to see what damage had been done, but all she saw was a hospital gown instead of her normal clothing. She put her head back and let a few more tears escape before crying herself to sleep. How was she going to get out of here? Where even was 'here'? And, what happened to Bucky?

She was awoken by a slap to the face. Her lips protested when she tried to open her mouth, so she tried to regain her breath by breathing through her nose.

"We have work to do. Cut the thread." The same voice of the harsh surgeon ordered a nurse.

Laurie felt something cold on her mouth, then a sharp snip. She moaned in protest ad the thread was pulled out. The nurse held a wad of gauze to her mouth until she patted it dry of blood and Laurie could part her lips. "Ah, ah! No talking now." The nurse scolded.

Laurie grumbled anyway. The doctor had a mask on, but she could still hear his voice through it quite clearly. "We are now going to inject this-" he gestured to a large syringe filled with glowing blue liquid-"into you."

Laurie's eyes widened drastically as he turned to an orderly with a clipboard. "Test number 18. Subject name: NG27."

Laurie weakly opened her mouth to protest, but the nurse shushed her again.

"Injecting at 10:35pm..."

Laurie don't hear the rest, she was too busy trying not to hyperventilate.

"Three...two..." before he even got to one, he shoved the needle into her arm with all the delicacy of a train ramming into a mountain. Laurie screamed, not caring about her lips any more. The last thing she felt and saw before she blacked out yet again was a pounding in her head and the veins in her arm turning bright blue.