Buzzkill [Winter Soldier]

Chapter 15

Ruth didn't sleep at all that night. Through the early hours she sat up on the stiff bed staring at the door waiting for someone to come in. The cold, rough concrete wall was harsh against her skin, even through a t-shirt. In the morning, she heard footsteps coming down the hall and her heart began to race. Suddenly, being alone didn't seem so bad.

The cell door opened, and strong restraints were once again placed on her hands. Standing to her sides and behind her were heavily armed and tall guards. Ahead of her, there was no one, only her view of the halls and the rooms around her. It was eerily silent, she wondered if it was very early morning judging by the lack of activity.

The sound of all of their footsteps walking down the echoing hallways sounded as loud as drums while Ruth's heart pounded in her chest. Turning the last corner before the designated room, down the hall, Ruth saw a large logo plastered on the wall. At first, in the dim light, she thought it was the SHIELD logo. But a couple steps closer revealed it to be something else. Hydra.

Fear and panic immediately gripped Ruth's entire body, stopping dead in her tracks only to be forcefully pushed farther. Hydra was the group to never get close to, to never interact with. She and everyone at her facility in Sweden knew what Hydra did. They all knew their affiliation with Nazis.

    "I don't understand. What the hell is going on?" Ruth demanded from Dr. Mage as she was pushed into the injection room.

    "Ah, Miss Rogers, good morning. Did you sleep well?" Dr. Mage asked, looking back down at his clipboard.

    Ruth looked around the crowded room to see four guards, one at each corner. There were also the guards that came in with her, two other men in lab coats, and a large mirror on the wall to her left that was no doubt a two-way. Who knew how many people were watching from there. Ruth knew she couldn't fight. There was no way out, she was trapped. Is this what SHIELD is? Why would a director of SHIELD do this? Would he lie?

She didn't struggle anymore, she only darted her eyes around the room, examining every inch. They sat her in a chair in the middle of the room that stood parallel to the two-way mirror. Strong restraints attached to the chair clasped firmly around her ankles and forearms that kept the veins on the inside of her arm exposed.

Ruth's head laid back on a rest that would turn into a restraint if needed, and the thought made her hands begin to sweat. This was all happening so fast.

Next to her, Dr. Mage was filling two syringes to the brim with the serum, the liquid looking alive. Above the tray he was working at stood an awfully-bright medical lamp that glared light in her eyes.

    "I'll tell you what is going to happen," Dr. Mage started. "First, the restraints are merely for your own safety so you don't accidentally hurt yourself," he lied. "What's going to happen is I will insert this needle into your vein on your right arm, which will be virtually painless. Then, the panel attached to that arm will send steady, electric pulses through the injection site and to the rest of your body to activate the serum. Is this clear?" Dr. Mage asked, looking into Ruth's eyes.

    "You're using electric shock on me?" Ruth questioned.

    "Yes. But not enough to kill you, obviously. It will be over before you know it." Dr. Mage walked over to grab the tray of supplies.

    "What else are you lying to me about?" Ruth's voice cut through the silence. "Were you going to tell me that you were Hydra, or were you going to be cowards about it and hide behind the identity of SHIELD?"

    Dr. Mage sent the back of his hand across Ruth's face, sending a sting throughout the right side.

Dr. Mage leaned closer to Ruth's face. "You're a smart girl, Miss Rogers. We knew you could figure that out on your own. All of us are happy to carry on the Hydra legacy, we embrace it proudly." For the first time, his smile turned into anger, then back to the grin.

    Ruth's breathing quickened as the needle got closer to her arm, the eyes of everyone around the room watching her intently. As the needle went in, and the serum crawled into her bloodstream. Her muscles immediately tensed and strained, the pain in the areas it traveled becoming overwhelming. She could feel the serum traveling and scraping its way through her blood, feeling exactly when it made its way to her heart. Her chest tightened, her heart beating even faster than it was before, pulsing as if it were about to burst. Ruth gritted her teeth and closed her eyes tight as if to try and take her mind to another place, her mind swelling with white noise. She didn't even feel the needle come out of her arm.

    "Prepare the panel." Ruth heard Dr. Mage's voice say.

    The restraint at her head clasped firmly around her skull, the padding not aiding in any sort of comfort. The serum was still pulsing in her muscles, sweat formed around her forehead, fatigue creeping in.

Two clicks were all Ruth heard before the panel on her arm fired up, the electricity gripping onto her, making her whole body try with all its effort to pull out of the restraints and get away. The electricity was digging into her arm as if it were tearing her skin away, her body desperate to escape. Ruth screamed with the amount of intensity that the electricity brought upon her. The steady electric shock didn't seem like it would cease.

The world began to black out around her.

Ruth was frantic. She was clinging with all her strength to stay awake, to stay alive. Ruth had a moment, a split second where she sat silent before she thought she would die, she thought her body would give out; then it ended.

Trying to regain her consciousness, Ruth's breathing became sporadic. The intensity of the serum surging through her body increased, she felt it travel like needles through every vein. When it made it's way to her brain, her mind strained. The severe pain was all she could focus on.

Her brain rattled within her skull, the pulsing sending daggers throughout her head. Immediately, voices danced around her mind that Ruth had thought she had long forgotten. The noise was escalating and consuming every thought. All she could see was a fog, the voices burning within her head with loud chatter and screams. Ryker's voice stood out and grew loud, "I'm going to miss you.''

Then it stopped.

The pain ceased.

    Ruth had no idea how long that had gone on for, but sweat now covered her body. Looking down at her arm, she saw that it seemed to still pulse from the serum.

Ruth was completely exhausted to the point where when restraints came off, she couldn't stand. Her mind was in a daze as she looked at the faces of the people around her, they were excited and full of joy.

Two guards picked her up by each arm after her hands were put in handcuffs once more. Ruth continuously tried to put her feet beneath her body to hold herself up, but she couldn't. As she was being helped up by the guards and walked out of the room, Alexander Pierce appeared again with a wide smile.

    "Congratulations, you made it through the first dose," Pierce spoke clearly to Ruth so that she would hear.

    "First...dose?" Ruth managed to mumble out, not even able to have a thought of doing that again.

The guards moved on and continued to walk her out. And just behind Pierce, seemingly standing in his shadow, was the Winter Soldier.

Ruth blatantly stared to make sure she was seeing clearly. It could be her imagination, it could be a ghost. The metal arm stood out clearly through the dim-light, and fear took over once more. Never once had she run into the Winter Soldier before on a mission, but she knew he existed. Now it all began to make sense, he worked for Hydra.

It felt like a dream, a disorienting fog that seemed to make her skip through reality. Suddenly, she was on the bed in her cell, laying down on the scratchy blankets with a glass of water on the table next to her. Ruth tried to prop herself up, but pain shot through her right arm like a bullet, making her fall back on the bed. Wincing, she held herself up for just a moment with her left arm, seeing the ghost again standing and looking at her through the cell door. His eyes looked lifeless, and still. Ruth couldn't see any emotion behind them. Her arm then gave away, her mind drifted, and she was asleep.