The Crimson Ghost (Steve x Reader)

Chapter 31. Punish yourself

You wake up feeling unsafe. Figuring you current situation, you quickly pack your gear down, put on the suit and slide the katanas into the sheaths on your back and walk toward the door when you hear the elevator open outside, in the hallway.

You walk over to the fireplace and slide it open and slip through a secret passage. It's dark but your eyes adjust to the light pretty quick. You walk towards the hole on the floor and slide down the rope, it's a couple of floors till you reach solid ground. You find yourself at a set of stairs. You run down to you get to a door.

You're in the garage. You quickly remove the tarp off your motorcycle and spin off.

You're headed for Hydra. You made damn sure to leave clues about you going shopping so it would put them off your tail and keeping then distracted.

You park your bike outside the secret base. You didn't include it on the flash drive, just in case, unfortunately you had not been here before. You didn't know if you ever needed to go back, so you hadn't memorized the floor plan.

You walked into the vacant building and you were met with guns to your head. You put your arms on your head and went down on your knees. A guard lowered his gun and took out a pair of hand cuffs out and walked towards you. You spat him in the face, and that was met with a kick in your stomach.

You were dragged by two guards while six others pointed guns at you. You put up a small fight, but you saved your strength. They took you to a room and threw on a cold metal table, restrains were placed over your hands, feet, stomach and throat. The guards left.

You waited for 15 maybe 20 minutes before the door opened. Elmer comes in with a smile on his face. "So, did you come here to take us down? Because you're not doing a good job." He asks. You just look at him with a stone cold stare. "I asked you a question!" He hiss as he slap your cheek. "No sir. I did not come here to take you down."

"Then tell me, Crimson, why are you here?" "I made a mistake leaving sir, I have betrayed Hydra." "Oh, you most certainly did. You know you will be punished for this, yes?" "Affirmative sir. I will take my punishment for my betrayal against Hydra, but most because I betrayed you sir." "Well, since you apologize, you might not get a too hard punishment." "I believe that is unfair. I deserve the punishment that I have earned myself." You say.

Elmer clenches his jaw and strokes his chin. Before he looks at me. "Why are you so eager to be Punished Y/N?" He asks you. You freeze, he hadn't used your name since you were 12, when you had killed that guard, he named you Crimson Ghost. You fight the tears and force yourself to look at him.

"My name is no longer Y/N, I am Crimson Ghost." "Ok, look. I was a bit surprised that you showed up here Y/N... Especially without your new friends and that you didn't even try to attack the guards, you know you could've killed them all, I know for sure that you came with the guards willingly, you didn't even put up a good fight. I was afraid I had lost the greatest warrior when you went into the desert." Elmer paused for a minute, looked to the floor.

Was he sad? Did he really care about you, care about you as a person, a human being? No, he couldn't. You can't fall for that, it will only hurt you more. You didn't want them to care about you as a person, you were a monster. If they cared about you... You would start to care about them. He looks back up at you, his eyes filled with sadness and anger.

"Why did you come back to us? I am sure the Avengers treated you good." "I..." You hesitated about telling him, but if he got mad, you could get more punishment. "I let my guard down. I let myself believe that they cared about me, I let myself fall in love, with Rogers." "Oh, sweetheart, did you fall in love with Captain America?" You nodded as tears run down your face.

"He hurt you, didn't he? He hurt you more than we ever have, he broke your heart?" You nodded again. "And you came here for a punishment? Hoping it would hurt less? Punishing yourself for falling in love?" "Yes." "Good, because we have a new machine, this one wipes better, and it hurts even more." "I would like the torture first, if that's ok with you?" "I would normally hit you for demanding anything from me, but this time, you will be the one in charge."