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Post by Madame HYDRA on Jun 2, 2017 13:10:05 GMT -5
There was a sigh of relief as Kroenen agreed to her orders and began to examine Madame HYDRA. She did trust him, though she never let any other man lay hands on her like he was. She didn't like to be examined, but Kroenen was a man of science and she needed a second pair of eyes to confirm or deny her findings. That was more important than her comfort.
And besides, if she could replicate what happened to Jessica through less barbaric measures, so much the better.
She needed at least a platoon it not more of super soldiers in the meantime while Kroenen worked on his army, and she needed it for two reasons.
One: She needed soldiers that could stand a chance against Doom and his army. Her soldiers as they were, were barely enough to take a town.
Two: They could serve as a bargaining chip for Doom. If all else failed and she was faced with losing her daughter again, she could offer him an army of soldiers nearly exactly like her.
When asked, she pulled her hair out of her face to show Kroenen her scars. There were bandages in place, soaked through with blood that she removed to expose what was underneath. They had gotten far worse through the failed experiments. Necrosis had taken the surface tissue and it was flaking away to show exposed muscle, which appeared white with infection. She had clearly done all she could, but experiment after experiment had done its damage to her body. Because of the infection, the scars had spread down the side of her face to her jaw.
"Despite appearances, my body has healed wounds more quickly than average." She stayed where she was, letting him examine her, but her eyes went to a stain on the floor that she hadn't quite been able to clean all the way. "I shattered a flask in my hand when I was still learning to control my strength. The glass got everywhere, but once all of it was removed from my hand, I healed within a day."
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Post by Kroenen on Jun 2, 2017 16:44:16 GMT -5
As Kroenen moved around to face Madame HYDRA to take in her scarring, he gingerly held her hair back to look closer at it. It was...quite bad. Infected. Stretched further.
It could be remedied, and he had notions just how to do it, but she would likely not enjoy the process.
Setting his hands back at his sides, Kroenen looked back into his mistress's eyes.
"The scarring," he rasped, "Your muscular tension is far greater than it was. It has pulled at the scar. It requires treatment."
He began to peruse the laboratory, taking inventory of the things he had noticed earlier and snatching up four vials of liquid, labeled appropriately: acids and one was a numbing agent.
"The experiments have been successful from my gathering," he continued as he attended to a set of beakers and began to measure out the vials, "You are in perfect health. The previous condition of your scars only heightened because of the adjustment to the muscle mass. It can be remedied if you will leave it to me. Otherwise I see no problem with your condition. Success I would say."
He retrieved a jug of water from the floor and poured it carefully, in a perfect small stream, into the concoction he was mixing before he turned to face her again.
"If the inflamed tissue is not too deeply set," he said as he held up the beaker, "Then I will clear it away. To do so the scarring will be burned away by this acid. Diluted for less effect. Otherwise it may have burned through your skull. In theory, if you do have a smaller time frame to heal, then this becoming worse but devoid of infection will revert back to its initial state quickly."
Kroenen moved back over to her with the beaker and led her to the single slab in the small room, assisting her to lie down steadily.
"In future," he mentioned, "You must take rest. I do not require this. You must trust later evening operations to me, or you will be inoperable as a leader."
When she had moved according to his gestures, Kroenen retrieved the vial of the numbing agent and padded it onto a clean gauze cloth from the kit on the table. He patted it gingerly onto her scars, to keep the pain from being too intense. It would hurt, but it would not cause her to pass out. That would have been inconvenient.
And then...he placed the gauze over her eye on the side of the scars, neatly to be certain nothing would spill in it. As if that were possible. There was not a steadier hand than his. Taking a small sponge in his hand from the kit, he dabbed carefully into the concoction he had made and began to hold it in small bouts of time onto the edges of the scars, where the infections were most prominent.
Steadily, steadily he moved. A burning, crackling sound came from the wounds as he tended to them but the infection rose in small steam curls into the air. The scars did extend ever so slightly but stopped without spreading too far. He kept calm as he did so, steadily...steadily...onto the infected areas....
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Post by Madame HYDRA on Jun 2, 2017 17:05:12 GMT -5
Viper had been expecting the acid to hurt far more than it did. She laid where she was, fully entrusting her care to the former Nazi surgeon, and let him do his work.
It would have been a lie, though, to say she did not tense in anticipation of the pain. Her hands gripped the side of the slab she laid on, crinkling the metal underneath.
At first, it wasn't so bad. There was a burning sensation, but it wasn't much greater than that of a sunburn. Then, he lifted the sponge.
When the cold air hit it, the pain really began to see in. She managed to hold her head still, not jerking away from the pain, but her teeth were grit in an effort to stop herself from screaming.
But then it was too much.
Kroenen's skilled hands pressed the sponge against the infected skin, and soon the pain overwhelmed her.
She roared out a cry of agony, legs twitching in a desire to escape. Still, she remained where she was, face burning with acid.
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Arachne
Neutral 
I didn't think I'd make it... And I was right. Again.
Posts: 41 
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Post by Arachne on Jun 2, 2017 18:47:14 GMT -5
The screams were faint, but they were enough to make Jessica pause in her reading. Noises like that weren’t entirely unheard of in a HYDRA base; usually they were caused by prisoners being interrogated or the wounded being brought in. But these? They were different. Normally, the screams would stop after a while, either due to sedation or the subject simply losing consciousness. However, these screams did not stop, and, as they began to build in pain and volume, it became clear that they were feminine in nature.
Blood drained from Jessica’s face as it pooled in a sickeningly heavy and vile lump in her stomach; along with fear, dread, and worry. As her brain registered just who was screaming, Jessica was leaping towards the door to her room. Concern for her mother’s well-being mixed with the fear of not getting there in time meant that she wasn’t putting any attention towards controlling her strength and other abilities. She vaguely was aware of the doorknob crumpling under her grip as she yanked the door open, ripping it from its hinges. Running at a full sprint, she dodged and leapt over the few agents that were walking down the hall or standing there dumbfounded as they tried to figure out just who was screaming. One was unlucky enough to be shoved out of the way. As she did, Jessica felt his chest give a little more than it should have, but that didn’t matter. Her mother was screaming.
Even with the door to her mother’s office being closed, Jessica barely slowed down. Her shoulder fully impacted the steel door, severely denting it as she fell with it onto the ground. She rolled upon landing, springing to her feet and looking around, confused. The office was larger, with a doorway behind the desk leading to a larger laboratory of some sort. That shouldn’t have been there. Panic flooded Jessica as her mother screamed again, her voice emanating from that hidden room. The desk was barely a hurdle to overcome and, within a moment, she was inside the lab.
Had she entered with a clear head, Jessica likely would have noticed the beakers, test tubes, and various containers of blood and other liquids, but she currently was blinded by fear. Fear that became rage once she saw Kroenen looming over her mother who was currently laying on a table, being subjected to the torture of having a caustic liquid poured on her face. That was why she screamed. Jessica’s own roar joined her mother’s, but hers was out of anger and betrayal. Dashing towards the leather clad monstrosity, she pulled him back and away from Viper, grabbing the beaker from his hand and hurling it at an opposite wall. Then she did the same to Kroenen before glancing at her mother.
What she saw of Viper’s face was enough for her to lose it utterly; raw flesh exposing itself from cracked and bleeding skin, her mother’s visage contorted in agony. Tears briefly stung her eyes before they were burned away by the intense hatred Jessica felt towards Kroenen. Her hands blazed a sickly yellow-green light as she leapt onto the figure, delivering venom filled blow after blow, all the while cursing at him in a mixture of Mandarin, Hungarian, and German. She should have killed him when she first saw him. She should never have trusted him. Lifting him up by the throat, Jessica slammed him back almost immediately, only to crouch over his torso and begin to choke the life out of this miserable excuse of a man. He would never hurt her mother again. She'd make sure of it.
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Post by Kroenen on Jun 2, 2017 19:05:50 GMT -5
His task at last being complete, and being incredibly impressed by the minimal thrashing and restraint of his patient, Kroenen held the sponge in his hand carefully as the residual acid finished burning away the last of the infection and ceased its roiling and crackling.
Though Viper's pained cries did not cease, he waited and began to look for what to utilize to relieve the pain...
...until he was summarily interrupted by the door.
Not a knock at the door, but the door itself being tumbled in.
There stood Madame HYDRA's daughter. She undoubtedly sought an explanation to the cacophany, but he was unable to provide one before the beaker was dashed out of his hands and into the wall. He had had only a moment to prepare for her leaping attack, holding the beaker further from Madame HYDRA so that in the eventuality he had supposed, it would not splatter on her.
Or indeed on her daughter, whom he was tasked with protected.
Anger was a curious form of channeling one's emotions. It was an imbalance. So was joy. Anger and even hatred were compounds not to be mixed. As Kroenen was thrown about like a hollow puppet, he idly wondered what he had done to earn this girl's ire. He had vague recollections of her presence during his inspections, including the very fateful one which resulted in the scars on her mother's face.
Nothing readily came to mind in terms of reason for this anger toward him other than her own confusion and minimal data absorption of the event.
Kroenen supposed that it was a fair assessment: if she hated him, regardless of reason, or found his presence suspect then of course betrayal might spring first to mind. It was difficult to contemplate these things as his gas mask was dented in from her blows, the springs holding the shell together clattering onto the floor as they were burst loose.
His mechanical breathing became weak and hoarse through the mask as one of the small hoses burst from its containment and began to hiss and let out a faint trail of pressurized steam.
The girl began to choke him, her hands around his throat with force he could not contend with. Still, his natural inclination was to grip her wrists with his own and attempt to pry himself free, moving to and fro as best he could like a fish under the boot of a sailor. It wasn't of much use. He did not have reason to breathe, really, but it was a necessary function to move the cogs filling his body. With his free hand he tried to reach for the key device on his chest but could not reach it with Arachne's hands in the way.
Kroenen began to twitch violently, only a growl escaping his throat as best it could.
He was winding down.
His limbs were giving way.
He required that-
He required-
He required-
He-
Kroenen's endless ticking ceased as his movement stopped entirely.
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Post by Madame HYDRA on Jun 2, 2017 23:14:55 GMT -5
Viper could hear the stampede caused by her daughter, and she prayed through her screams that she wouldn't make it into the office. The doors were steel for a reason, after all. But the door gave way, and Arachne was soon attacking Kroenen.
As soon as she was able, Viper sat up and rifled around on the nearest table for a stronger numbing agent to get rid of the pain that still lingered, and finally concocted a salve for herself. She brushed it onto a cloth and pressed the cloth to her face, letting it stick before rushing over and using her strength to pull Arachne off of Kroenen.
"OPERATIVE," she shouted, something she only did when she was angry. "STAND DOWN. THAT IS AN ORDER." She hissed, and turned her back on her daughter to kneel down and examine Kroenen. Everything looked like it was in working order, but she couldn't tell what was underneath his skin. As far as she could tell, it was just his mask that was damaged. She didn't want to rely on her own observations, though.
She opened his uniform jacket and gave his key a few turns to wind him up.
While he was coming back, she stood and glared at her daughter.
"You have no right to attack my scientists," she snarled. "You have no permission to be in my office. If you would have controlled your temper the way I told you to, perhaps you would have understood that he was helping me." She ripped her fresh bandages off to show her the exposed muscle underneath. "Necrotizing Fasciitis. My scars were taken by infection. He was burning it away. You could have done a lot of damage to ME with your actions."
She walked toward Jessica, fury burning in her eyes. "Once again, you have put others in danger with your impulsiveness."
She backhanded her daughter. Hard. Harder than Arachne might have expected from her mother.
"You will return to your room. Now. Is that understood?"
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Arachne
Neutral
I didn't think I'd make it... And I was right. Again.
Posts: 41
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Post by Arachne on Jun 3, 2017 10:44:20 GMT -5
Kroenen began to twitch and his movements became desperate and erratic as he tried to free himself. She was doing it. Jessica was killing the monster. Of course she had no idea that the key in his chest was what literally made him tick, otherwise she would have ripped it from his chest, broken it, and set about destroying the gears inside him. As far as she knew, the man behind that mask was dying, and a small portion of her was enjoying it. She could imagine that this was Doom. She could imagine herself doing this to him, feeling the life drain from his body.
Suddenly, either without warning or due tot he fact that she was so engrossed in her current action, Jessica was pulled away, and not just yanked back, no, she was forcibly and physically removed from being on top of Kroenen. At the same time, orders were barked into her ear, loud and forceful enough that she obeyed without question, her grip and body going limp as she was tossed backwards. She was confused. Why would her mother order her to stand down? It made no sense. Why was she helping him? In a daze, Jessica looked around, trying to make sense of all this, but unable to. Why would her mother have a secret lab? Why wouldn’t she tell her about this? Jessica had been in her office before and had no idea such a place existed. When was this built? The vials were what the scientists took from her on a monthly basis, but why did her mother have them in a secret room? Perhaps it was naivety towards her mother, not thinking she could work against her own child, that kept Jessica from thinking that worst. Either way, her train of thought was broken once Viper began speaking to her again.
“I heard you screaming,” she explained, still dumbfounded by all of this. “You were in pain. I thought the worst, so I came running. I… I acted as any good soldier would to protect their leader.” Perhaps saying that would lessen the fast approaching punishment she knew was coming. She flinched upon seeing Viper expose her scar once more. It looked worse than the original injury that caused it. But it had been fine months ago, hadn’t it? Viper was never one to show that side of her face to anyone, so it was a bit hard to judge when she had last seen it. “Who did that? Was it Doom?” That was the only logical solution, so surely her mother wouldn’t do such a thing to herself.
“I didn’t…. I wasn’t impulsive, ma-ma-…” The word stuck in her throat and she wasn’t sure if it was ‘mama’ or ‘madame’ that she was trying to say. She never wanted to hurt her mother, so for that thought to enter Viper’s head? It was devastating. “I only became angry when I saw you there on the table. In pain. I thought…. Why didn’t you tell me this was happening? Why didn’t yo-“ The blow to her face came suddenly and unexpectedly. Even more surprising was the fact that her head snapped violently to the side as pain blossomed and burned upon her cheek. Jessica managed to catch herself on a table, to keep herself from falling completely to the floor, but she was in shock. This was the first time her mother had hit her in the four years since she received her powers. They were both aware that a normal human hitting Jessica would result in more damage to the person doing the striking than the other way around. Yet here Viper was, backhanding her with hesitation.
And it hurt.
High calibre rounds and grenades hurt, but never punches. Not anymore, really. Jessica looked up at her mother, refusing to cry and rub her cheek, but she now saw with clearer eyes the differences in the woman’s physical body. “What did you do to yourself, mama?” she whispered, not really acknowledging the order to return to her room.
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Post by Kroenen on Jun 3, 2017 11:19:43 GMT -5
Space was infinite.
Time was a human construct. Mankind's greatest folly in the measurement of it.
It was quiet again. His ancient masters spoke to him. Their perfect soldier had been made imperfect.
It was unacceptable.
They tore at his mind. They pulled him apart. There was suffering, there was a great rush of noise.
He had failed them, even for an instant. His masters.
And then in a steady rush, his mind's eye faded into the present as the sun peeks over the horizon. Steadily his vision regained and he sat up in shaking motions as the cogs and gears with in him began to whir to life and tick once more.
His hand instantly touched his gas mask, the broken shell and stoved in metal caused many leaks. One of the lenses had been broken, exposing his lidless eye.
With a roaring wail like a hellhound, Kroenen shot to his feet and began to rifle through the room in search of a mask to replace the one he wore. In his frustration he tore off the halves of his mask and flung them clattering onto the floor.
His face was a mask in itself, no lips nor eyelids and certainly no hair to speak of. The stitching scars all around his gaunt features like a twisted road map.
He turned to Arachne and roared at her before finally discovering a gas mask in one of Madame HYDRA's cabinets. It was crude but it would do. He swiftly affixed it to his head and began to slow his frantic vibrating.
The contaminants had been shut out again.
His mind was quiet as he slowly stood at attention behind his mistress.
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Post by Madame HYDRA on Jun 5, 2017 11:41:15 GMT -5
Viper's attention was drawn away from her daughter when Kroenen roared. She watched him vibrate violently in his search for a gas mask and she cursed herself for not thinking to offer one for him. She kept one in her lab for the purposes of testing gasses from her mother's formula book, and she knew he needed a mask to keep contaminants out. Why had she let herself be distracted?
She turned her attention back to Jessica, frowning.
"I have improved myself," she said, bluntly. "I couldn't protect my own daughter before, so I made some improvements." As she spoke, she released a pheromone that induced fear. She didn't mean to. She hardly even knew she had the ability to release pheromones. When she realized it, she took a step back, curious if it would affect her daughter.
"The change in my scars are a ... side effect of the less successful tests. Kroenen was helping to encourage healing." And already the edges of the fresh burn were starting to heal, but it didn't look like her skin was starting to grow back. She would give it a day before she decided it was a failure.
"Now, I believe I gave you an order to return to your room, Operative." She turned away and returned to one of her tables of chemicals and notes, taking a seat at it. "It was an order. I shouldn't have to explain myself to you."
Her heart did ache that she spoke to her daughter like this, but it was necessary. Everything in this room was secret because she didn't want Jessica to worry for her sake. And now it wasn't secret anymore. She was going to lose her sanctuary from the stresses of leading.
Because it wasn't just Jessica that made her want to keep this room secret. It was her escape. She could retreat to her sanctum and do what she loved. She loved chemistry. She could just escape with her original love: creation.
And besides, her mother's notes didn't just decode themselves.
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Arachne
Neutral
I didn't think I'd make it... And I was right. Again.
Posts: 41
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Post by Arachne on Jun 12, 2017 23:07:15 GMT -5
“Improved yourself?” Jessica couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It was a horrible realization that dawned upon her as she looked about the laboratory as Kroenen ransacked it, looking for god knew what. There were vials of blood, microscope slides smeared with then, notes on the properties of what had been examined; and it was all hers. “Using my blood on yourself is not an improvement, mama!” she yelled, not believing what she was hearing. “I can protect myself just fine! I’m stronger than anyone on this base! I can do things other people can’t! You don’t even know what is in my blood! It could have killed you!” Any anger inside suddenly changed to fear. What if she had died? What if she had been in this secret room and something had happened that caused her mother to pass away? Jessica would never have known her fate. She would have just… vanished. That thought scared her more than the notion of her mother experimenting on herself. Although, perhaps the fear pheromones added just a bit of emphasis to those thoughts. Not enough to incapacitate her, but enough so she was visibly uncomfortable.
“You could have told me, mama. You could have told me all of this. Or just that Kroenen would help your injuries. I would have understood, mama.” It hurt that her mother didn’t trust her enough to let her in on such secrets. Jessica thought that they were close enough to avoid such things. But then again, Viper had lied to her about her name, about being with HYDRA, about what she did when Jessica was little, and probably about so many other things. What was one more lie to this woman?
The dismissal was abruptly, unexpected, and unprecedentedly cold. Jessica wanted to speak out, to say something and object to this treatment, but instead, she just turned and walked away. Upon exiting the office, her walk turned into a run once more and she was off. She kept going past the chaos she had created in the hallway, pasted her room, and into the deeper labyrinthian workings of the base. She kept going until she reached one of the larger rooms, one that contained a multitude of nooks and alcoves high up. The climb up the wall was quick and effortless, and Jessica quietly tucked herself away in a particularly dark nook; a place where she could watch without being seen, and cry without being bothered. She thought herself a freak, and here her mother was, wanting to be exactly like her. It made no sense, none at all.
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Post by Kroenen on Jun 15, 2017 2:32:47 GMT -5
Kroenen watched the girl flee, tilting the temporary gas mask he wore as he observed her.
He had his orders.
She was under his protection.
He had his orders.
But no one had yet dared, had they even had the power, to attack Doktor Karl Ruprecht Kroenen in such a manner. Nor indeed in any manner at all. Clearly this girl had to be reminded of what he required of her. Not obedience, necessarily. He would force her to be still with any manner of methods or chemicals. But cooperation. Yielding to his methods.
He felt...not anger...but resentment toward this task. He looked down at Madame HYDRA for a moment.
"If I may, Madame..." he rasped, this gas mask giving his horrific voice much less cover than his own he would make himself, "I would like to discuss something with your daughter."
Most uncharacteristically, Kroenen strode from the room without awaiting dismissal. In his mind, I he was tasked with tending to this girl, then laying out what he expected of her fell into his primary order. Thus, he had to find her immediately to spell that out. Even without the formality of waiting for his mistress's bidding.
He followed the clattering footfalls of the girl. Moved over the wreckage she had left in her wake before her arrival, stepping around panicked soldiers as he moved.
When he got to the larger room he had sensed her presence in, he looked around. Clasping his hands behind his back, he spoke to the far wall, certain she must be hiding.
"Agent..." his voice came out as a calm but poisonous hiss from the mask, "Your rash behavior will not be tolerated under my care and protection."
He paused and looked around slowly, unable to see her.
"It is not my place to offer you orders," he continued, "But rather to advise you: do not waste your time and mine attempting to undo me. You will find it quite impossible. Further, allow me to explain something of myself. I am not your feared Lord Doom, with whom you are so embroiled in conflict."
Another pause.
"I can without hesitation promise you that I can prove to be far worse for you. You would not wish me to be. I can in the some breath promise you that if you cooperate with me and my methods of care and improvement, that you will destroy Doom and HYDRA will overrun his empire."
Kroenen looked slowly up into the rafter corner, darker than the others. It must have been her shadow.
"Consider this but a friendly warning, little one," he rasped, "Cross me and you will find yourself in far worse confinements than you might prefer. Work with me and you shall take vengeance and indeed the future itself into your hands. That is all."
He continued to keep his eyes on the girl's position. If she had anything to say further he would permit it.
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Arachne
Neutral
I didn't think I'd make it... And I was right. Again.
Posts: 41
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Post by Arachne on Jun 19, 2017 22:58:31 GMT -5
Footsteps entering the room were to be expected. It was a common room after all, one used for activities and for passing through to other parts of the base. But when Jessica noticed who the footsteps belonged to, she froze. He had followed her. Kroenen had followed her. Almost immediately, fear crept into her mind, possibly as an after effect of her mother’s pheromones, but if it was, Jessica was unaware of that fact. All she knew was that Kroenen had followed her and she was scared. He wasn’t Doom, but he was something close enough. He was the boogeyman, a freak that enjoyed doing unspeakable things to people. She could have run, she could have screamed and fired another venom blast at him, but instead she kept quiet and hidden, being a good little secretive spider.
She listened to his words, mentally replying back to him as he spoke. Under his care and protection? Hardly. Her mother had only asked that she be tested by him, nothing more. She was his lab rat, not his ward. She wondered if Kroenen actually gave a damn about her, outside of what information he could gleam about her powers, or add to the information her mother already had about her. How could she do that? The amount of blood taken on a regular basis now made sense, but how could her own mother use her as a means to make herself better? Due to her actions, Jessica knew that she would never be able to ask her any further details about the secret lab. She wasn’t even sure if she would ever be able to talk to her normally again. Trust was the one thing they had had between the two of them. Viper had broken it when she revealed her affiliation with HYDRA to Jessica, and now she in turn had broken whatever trust they had been able to mend.
What Kroenen said next broke Jessica from her thoughts. How had he known that Doom did this to her? She hadn’t spoken about him during their conversation. What had her mother told him? As Kroenen went further, stating that he was worse than anything that was Doom, Jessica shrank further back into the alcove. She wanted him gone. She wanted to be able to run to her mother, a little girl once more and bury herself in her arms, crying that the monsters would get her and only she could keep her safe. But here her mother was, working with one of those monsters. It didn’t make any sense.
When he looked up at her hiding place, she nearly cried out, hoping to whatever god that existed he wouldn’t skitter up the wall to her like that cockroach he was. He could do that; stories from agents said so. A sickening feeling of dread suddenly weighed heavily in her stomach. Jessica wasn’t special anymore. Kroenen was here, and her mother had almost some of her powers. She was expendable. They could use her blood to make more people like her. If Doom ever grabbed her once more, would her mother even bat an eye? “Go away,” she whispered, barely a squeak, though the room probably amplified it enough to carry it. “Just go away, please.”
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Post by Madame HYDRA on Jun 26, 2017 13:00:37 GMT -5
"Karl. Enough." Viper's voice was stern, as though she were speaking to an unruly child. And she may as well have been. She understood well why Kroenen spoke the way he did to her daughter, and she understood it well enough not to reprimand him too readily, but she needed to make a show of doing something about it if she was going to keep her daughter's trust.
"This is not the time or the place to assert your standing over her. She is terrified. Can you not tell? Stand down."
She walked over to her daughter's hiding place, though she couldn't immediately see her. When she did, her heart broke. She wanted to touch her daughter's head, to promise that everything was alright. But deep down, she knew he was the cause of all this. It was her and her desire for power that was causing her daughter to quake with fear. Her own fear pheromones had gotten to Jessica, and there was nothing she could really do or say to comfort her.
Against her better instincts, she decided not to reach out and pet Jessica's hair, deciding instead to step back and let Jessica have the space to breathe. She didn't want to cause a further panic, but it was hard for the mother to agree to step away from her panicking daughter.
"Jessica, I promise, everything will be alright," she said in her most comforting voice. "Doktor Kroenen is here to help us. I know how you feel about him, but I can assure you, you don't need to feel that way. He means the best." It might have been true. Honestly, she wasn't sure. Kroenen was driven by science. His intentions were as such. It just so happened that their goals, Viper's and his, matched up.
"I'm not asking you to trust him. I'm just asking you to give him a chance to prove his usefulness. And, as a favor to me, follow his orders. I will not expect you to follow orders that make you do things you would not otherwise do, but it would make everything easier on everyone if you would."
Her peace spoken, she lingered a moment to see if Jessica's head would poke out before turning her attention on Kroenen. She was disappointed in the day's events so far. Very disappointed. She frowned and made her way back to her lab, beginning to pack everything up. It would have to be moved. She needed a purely secret location to work alone. Now her daughter knew about this place. It would never be secret again. She didn't trust her daughter to leave her be, so of course this meant she needed a new lab.
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Post by Kroenen on Jun 29, 2017 23:33:50 GMT -5
Kroenen stood down as instructed. He always followed orders....well, unless no orders were given. On rare occasions such as this he could act on his own accord to achieve a larger goal.
And yet, this was insufficient.
Imperfect.
From Arachne's request that he leave, he was prepared to, but Madame HYDRA had to add her words to the subject.
Fear was useful. Important in a soldier. A pistol did not fire unless the trigger had been pulled under proper tension. So too any soldier. Humans were made up of fear. With a healthy dose they would not act unless ordered to.
He did not approve of this doting mother version of Madame HYDRA.
But Kroenen's approval did not matter. He was given orders. It was implied by Madame HYDRA's body language that he had failed. Done...poorly.
This would not do. He did not fail. He never failed.
This induced a panic within his mind.
Kroenen's head ticked unnaturally to the side as he cranked the key under his tunic a few more times to maintain himself. He would require an inspection. Yes. That would keep his mind alert.
He spoke in a garbled, mumbling reply to both in the room. An almost other worldly voice, a language that didn't form real sentences the untrained ear could recognize.
After a moment, he looked back up to Arachne's hiding place.
"Forgive my frankness." he growled hurriedly, twitching like a broken clock.
In his frustration he stalked out of the room and after Madame HYDRA.
"Madame," he rasped as he entered the secret laboratory of hers, "I take full responsibility for my actions. I shall readily subject myself to any punishment you deem fit."
He stood at attention, his peripheral vision eyeing his broken gas mask on the floor.
That would take quite a long time to repair.
But at the moment he anticipated torture.
It would only be fitting. Though what manner of torture any mortal could concoct that would be effective against him he could not guess.
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Arachne
Neutral
I didn't think I'd make it... And I was right. Again.
Posts: 41
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Post by Arachne on Jul 1, 2017 9:14:36 GMT -5
Hearing Viper’s voice had a calming effect, particularly since she told Kroenen to stand down. Immediately Jessica’s worries dropped to a more manageable level than what she was experiencing a few minutes before. Her actions had been foolish, Jessica knew that. She had been rash and reckless, but she had always tried to be her mother’s protector ever since she was little. It had just the two of them against the world, no one else. But things had changed over the years. Jessica had started to creep out from her place of seclusion, stopping when she saw her mother take a step back. That was unusual. She had never retreated from her before, even when she had been struggling with her new powers.
Jessica listened quietly to her mother’s words, taking them in and actually believing her with the tone she used. But, before she could exit her hiding spot, Viper was gone, with Kroenen disappearing as well a short time afterwards. His apology had been less sincere. The frustration in his voice, even through the garbledness of his mask, had been clear. He was not happy with this outcome. Whether it was due to Jessica getting favor and protection from her mother or due to the way her mother acted, she wasn’t sure, but at that moment, Jessica had sure that she would deflect any attention he had on his mother away from her. Kroenen wanted a subject to study? Jessica would make sure she was the only one he paid attention to.
She hated the idea of waiting, but that was what Jessica had to do. She gave them ten minutes before she exited the alcove along the ceiling and made her way as quickly and quietly back to her room, avoiding the stares and comments from the agents as she walked past them. The damage she had done was comparatively minor to other attacks they had suffered, but internal breaches and disasters were few and far between, They were also apparently aware of both Madame HYDRA’s and Kroenen’s moods, a feeling that electrified the air. All the more reason to wait and stay out of the way.
Her door had been ruined in her efforts to leave quickly. Torn from its hinges, the frame was damaged and the knob was utterly destroyed. Fortunately, or perhaps not so fortunately, Jessica was well versed in repairing such things. When she was learning the limits of her abilities, she had unwittingly caused quite the collateral damage to doors. Spare handles, knobs, and hinges were in her closet. The frame was special though; a piece of metal that she had to physically reshape to conform with the wall once more. She took her time rehanging the door and replacing the handle. It might not have been perfect, but by the time she was finished, it closed and opened with little problem. It was one less thing her mother would have to worry about. Jessica also made a mental note about offering to fix the main office door of her mother’s, but that would be a subject matter to be approached later.
The hours ticked by as she stayed in her room until, by some reasoning, Jessica had guessed enough time had passed that she began getting ready to see her mother. Most times she would simply venture down the hallway, but today had clearly been different. In order to respect and acknowledge both that difference and her mistake, Jessica prepped her combat uniform, making sure that everything was perfect and ready for inspection, should Madame HYDRA feel the need to take such actions.
It was easier for Jessica to see Viper as Madame HYDRA right now, rather than seeing her as her mother. She had severely messed up and trust had been broken because of her actions. Trust and secrecy. By operating in this manner, orders would be obeyed and emotions would be more detached and distant. Once dressed, Jessica marched towards the Madame’s office and stood at attention in the location that all officers and agents stood in until they were called inside. She would wait as long as she needed to for Madame HYDRA to call her in.
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