Outsider

Fourteen

Meet me at the big chair at 9:00 
-L

Staring at the piece of paper that I had found inside my cell that morning, I asked Oliver confusedly, "What does this mean?"

"I think it's Lara, she's trying to talk to us." Oliver replied.

"But what does the 'big chair' mean?" I questioned.

Oliver scrunched his eyebrows together in concentration.  He admitted, "I'm not sure,"

We sat down along the wall of the training room, and I gazed at the messy handwriting of Lara.  She probably wants her boarding pass, I thought.  A feeling of guilt came over me, for I knew we couldn't retrieve her one.  However, we still needed to talk to Lara.  Perhaps there is another way for her to come with us!

"Who told you to sit down?  Get back up, you scrawny brats!" ordered a Hydra officer, whacking us with the butt of his gun.  Before he could notice, I folded the piece of paper and slid it inside my boot.  Once again, I climbed the all too familiar rock wall, blisters reopening on my worn down hands.  Luckily, Oliver and I were allowed to finally train together.  My friend's smiles of encouragement made the days more bearable as we worked vigorously in vain in an attempt to please Hydra.  However, I barely acknowledged Oliver's little squeeze of my hand, or the diamond-like smile he gave whilst on the rock wall.  My mind strayed elsewhere, all I could think about was Lara.  But, 'big chair' connected to nothing in my mind.

Even so, it crossed Oliver's mind when we had a break.

"Lara's talking about that big torture chair in the centre of this place," Oliver told me, gnawing on a piece of stale bread.

With my mouth full, I said, "Huh?"

"C'mon Liss, you have to know what I'm talking about.  You probably saw it when you first came here."

"Oh, that torture chair!"  The one that I prayed that I would not have to go into.  I wondered what you had to do that would make Hydra put you in there, what barriers and boundaries you would have to cross.  "We need a way to sneak over to her," I said to Oliver.

Grinning, he replied, "I have a way,"  I met his gaze to a vent above our heads, and my throat dropped to my stomach.  

"No no no,"  Shaking my head, I grabbed Ollie by the shoulders and said, "That is a bad idea.  Remember what happened at the hotel?"

"You know what they say, second time's a charm!" Ollie teased in his optimistic way.

I shook my head again and said flatly, "That's not the saying at all."

A Hydra soldier then broke us apart, signalling the start of more training.  Quickly, Oliver whispered, "Do you trust me?"

I opened my mouth to say yes, but I was shoved in the opposite direction.  I guess I had to trust him.

Training commenced again, and for the next few hours I was shooting guns and throwing knives at targets.  I even did a sparring session, but I wasn't allowed to do it with the Winter Soldier for obvious reasons, so I instead did it with a Hydra soldier.  I managed to pickpocket the knife from the gala, as Hydra now wanted me to become accustomed to it in my training.  Despite the Hydra crest branded on its hilt, I liked the knife and kept it protected and concealed within my boot.

When the sun set and the facility returned to its state of gloominess, Oliver snuck into my cell, and under my cot we found a vent.  Using the blade, I unscrewed every corkscrew until the vent came clean off.  Swiftly and quietly, as not to make a sound which would alert the Hydra soldiers on guard, Oliver and I placed the heavy vent door onto the ground beside us, and we crawled inside.  

The ventilation system in Hydra was ten times worse than the one at the hotel.  It reeked of a dead animal odour, mildew and mould clung to every corner.  Darkness slowly covered my vision, and I felt afraid.  Hearing my rapid breaths, Oliver whispered, "It will all be over soon, Liss."

"We don't even know where we're going," I murmured.

"I do," Oliver contradicted.

"How?" 

My friend replied, "How do you think I went to see you all those times?  Hydra does give me privileges, yes, but I was never actually allowed to go see you most nights."

"Why?"

Oliver reached back and touched my hand.  "Because they were afraid of this.  What we're doing right now."

I smiled and said, "Oh, I get it."  Hydra knew by circumstance that we would become friends, they didn't try and stop that.  But, they tried to keep us separated in order to prevent us from plotting out an escape plan.  That's why they bugged us!  However, despite their efforts, Oliver and I- and maybe even Lara- were going to fool them.  We would run away.  All of a sudden, Oliver paused.  "What is it?" I asked.  

Ollie replied, "We're here."

Using my knife, I pulled off the screws of the vent.  Stealthily we landed on the ground, right in front of the torture chair.  I gulped- I had never seen it up close.  With this new view, the chair looked even more petrifying.  Large crane-like structures rose over the chair, what their purpose was I knew not.  My eyes moved to a cotrol panel on the right, and I guessed that its purpose was to control the chair.  Tracing the arm-rests of the chair with my finger, I whispered the question that had been on my mind for a long time.  "Who's bad enough to go here?"  Even Oliver didn't know.

What felt like forever passed.  I was worried that the sun would rise, Hydra would realize we weren't where we were supposed to be, and we would get punished.  Then, I heard soft footsteps pitter-patter up behind me.  Whirling around, I started to say her name, but she clamped her hand over my mouth.  Oliver ran over and Lara thrust a piece of paper into his hands.  Her messy handwriting scrawled all over the page, and it read:

Quiet.  I am bugged.

Moving her hand off my mouth, Lara then pulled a pen and paper out of her pocket.  We watched intently as Lara wrote:  

Boarding pass.  

Guiltily, I looked at Oliver.  His face went grim and dark as he took the pen and paper and wrote words that would split Lara's soul.

We couldn't get you one.

Her almond-shaped eyes brimmed with tears, her hands shook and her feet trembled and gave out, bringing her to her knees.  Lara stared at the piece of paper, then at us, then back at the paper.  The silence was too overbearing, I wanted to scream and shout at how sorry I was that I couldn't get her a pass, but it would alert all of Hydra about our secret meeting.  After many dreadful minutes, Lara grabbed the pen and paper.  

Why?

This time, I wrote down words.  They came tumbling out of me like a raging storm with tossing waves.

They refused, they told us that if we fought none of us would get on the ship.  What happened was our fault, or my fault since

Oliver touched my hand, indicating for me to stop.  I watched Lara's face, saw her wipe tears away and dust herself off.  She then pushed through Oliver and I, disappearing into one of Hydra's many corridors.  Lara had left us without a word.  Morning came, and I was back in my cell pretending like nothing had ever happened.  I changed into my training uniform, a guard unlocked the door, and I headed out ready to start the day.  Soldiers were strangely not at their posts, and no one was running any training.  I headed over to the rock wall and began to mindlessly climb.  Over and over again.  Yet, my heart was still heavy with the guilt of not being able to help another victim of Hydra.  Papa would have expected more from me.

"Elissa!" 

Oliver sounded frantic and out of breath when he bounded up to me.  He panted, "We have to get to the torture chair, there's something you gotta see!"

Confused, I followed my friend into the main hallway where the torture chair stood as a centrepiece.  Gathered around it were a mass of Hydra soldiers and officers.  I recognized Rumlow among them.  Alexander Pierce stood pompously in front, still clad in his suit, as if he were hosting a business meeting.  But, what attracted my eye was the gleaming silver arm belonging to the Winter Soldier- and who he was grasping with it.

His hand held tightly around her neck, her legs flailing piteously, Lara was fighting for her life.