fix you

chapter nine

Waking was not pleasant.

Ropes bound her to a chair, which was never a good thing. Even her head was securely fastened to the chair, making her unable to move her head. A blank screen hung from the wall in front of her, and the rest of the room, from what she could see, was completely empty.

Shit.

The events about to unfold were going to be bad.

Closing her eyes, she recalled all the trainings she'd been through. This wasn't the first precarious situation she'd been in, but the set up in front of her indicated she was about to be in for some Hydra recruiting. Nothing like good, old-fashioned, brainwashing to get someone on your team. Her blood chilled a little, however. How many agents had suffered through this when Shield had initially fallen? She knew of at least ten. Only a few had been able to get their mind back.

Well, she always did like a challenge. And at least she knew what Hydra wanted her for. It would be a rather large kick to Fury's ego to have his second in command under their control.

Not that she had any inclination of indulging them.

The door creaked open behind her. Great. Time to get started. When Sin walked into her sight, Maria sent a baleful expression her way.

"This place could use a little hospitality upgrade."

Sin rolled her eyes. "Yes, keep telling yourself sarcasm equals bravery. Do I need to explain to you what's about to happen?"

"You're trying to win friends and influence people?"

Sin smacked her. Though there was force in it, Maria's head stayed firmly in place. Dammit. She'd been hoping to find it had a little give. So much for that idea.

She decided to focus on more important matters.

"Gonna try and brainwash Cap, too? Good luck with that. The man is obnoxiously stubborn."

"Why? Worried about him, Hill?" Sin asked, beginning to tape Maria's eyelids open. Fuck. She couldn't keep her skin from crawling. This was going to be seriously unpleasant.

"Just seeing if I'm the only one getting the Hydra recruitment speech."

"We have other plans for Captain Rogers."

She wanted to ask what, but that would give her feelings away and aaaaaah both her eyes were taped open now and all she wanted was to just friggin blink.

"Comfy?" Sin asked.

"Could use a better chair," Maria retorted.

Sin chuckled. "Goodbye, Maria. Enjoy your viewing."

The light clicked off and the reel started.

She didn't know how long it lasted.

It hadn't been too bad, at first. Other than the mind-numbingly horrible need to close her eyes. There were lots of voices telling her for two hours why Hydra was the best, and how they needed to be rulers of the world, blah, blah, blah.

The stupid Hydra sigil kept popping up, glowing and obvious and ridiculous. The film clicked off, then started again.

And again.

And again.

Around the seventh time she viewed it, her fingers began to claw at the chair. Someone had to be coming to check on her soon. Hunger rumbled through her stomach, she had to desperately pee, and her eyes had long ago started twitching.

The 20th - 30th? She had no idea, time had lost all meaning-- time she viewed it her fingers were bloodied stumps and every part of her bound by the ropes was chafed and raw and oozing something. She wasn't sure when she'd started screaming, but now her voice was gone, and she still couldn't close her eyes. God, Jesus, please, she needed to close her eyes, it wasn't right, this was biologically wrong, and her body was twitching, it wouldn't stop twitching over and over and over and...

Her sanity was unraveling, she could feel it slowly slipping away like water down a drain. Her bladder had long since emptied itself, her stomach cramped and contracted painfully from hunger, and her lips, her lips were dry and cracked and bleeding. And her eyes, what was wrong with her eyes, why wouldn't they shut?

All she could hear, as steady and constant as the beat of her heart, were the words "Hail Hydra."

Until another scream tore through the room.

She flinched, but of course she couldn't fucking move. She'd tried, hadn't she tried to break the bonds, to get away? To make that fucking movie end. To get free and help someone---who was she supposed to be helping, oh, God, there was someone, somewhere --but another twitch rocketed through her and why, WHY couldn't her eyes close?

Another scream, and when had she started screaming again? Wasn't her voice gone? Was that even her? It couldn't be her. It was too deep to be hers, was someone else here?

Who was here, who was here, who was-

A longer scream this time, an anguished one. It tore through her, sent her already breaking mind shattering close to the edge. She didn't want that person screaming, it was worse than her own, she'd rather yank her own heart out then hear that suffering but why, WHY, who was---

Steve.

The word snapped through, calming her hysteria. Steve. Steve was here, Steve was screaming, what the hell had they done to make the super solider scream like that?

Goddammit she was going to get free, she was going to help him. Thrashing instantly, she kept trying to break her chair, though she'd discovered long ago it was steel, and bolted to the floor.

That didn't stop her.

Her name was Maria Hill.

She was an Agent of Shield.

She was Fury's second-in-command.

She liked jogging in the mornings, Thai food for dinner, and watching baking shows with Pepper Potts.

And she was going to annihilate that Red Skull bitch and anyone who helped her.

Something shattered behind her, and light flooded the room.

"----need to get her stop, hold her still, I can't get the syringe in."

"Ow, shit, she bit me!"

"Stop whining---"

A sharp prick stung at her neck, and then all went blessedly dark.