The ghosts we hide (Winter Soldier x OC)

Thirty two

The room is silent for exactly seventeen seconds - but in those seventeen seconds, an age passes.

I study the weathered face of Maurice Mengele with blazing eyes, barely containing my repulsion. His sharp brown gaze stares right back, a sickening pride shining in it. While his figure is more gaunt than ten years ago - cheeks set deeper and skin sagging under the weight of his mounting sins - that same look of malicious self-regard remains just the same.

He stands tall at the head of the table, shoulders pulled back despite his apparent frailty. It's a soldier's stance, the posture ingrained into his bones.

Those haunting brown eyes never leave my face, and for a second I'm sure I can see him scribbling down notes on a clipboard, mentally cataloging my evolution in the ten years it's been since he last saw me. In his gaze swim the images I'd do anything to forget; his evils smile as he forces the mouth guard between my teeth; the orange liquid racing sluggishly towards my trembling arm; his collected pleasure as my body lights on fire.

Somehow my veins are ablaze again, the scorching orange substance flowing through my body with every beat of a racing heart. The dark force makes its presence known, slipping in and out of the shadows with glee.

I want to scream and cry and fight all at the same time.

And suddenly Tony's voice cuts through the air like an alarm, signalling the end of those seventeen infinite seconds.

"As I'm sure you're all already aware, I called this meeting because we finally have a development in the Hydra case." He starts, glancing discretely in my direction. His words cut through the palpable tension in the room, thankfully commanding the attention that was previously set on me. "Dr. Maurice Mengele here was Hydra's leading scientist for twenty years. He currently resides in Arizona state maximum security prison where he trades secrets for the basic human rights he deprived hundreds others of in his extensive career. He is here with his government handler, Agent Garcia, who will not hesitate to 'deal' with him, should any misconduct arise."

The words are a thinly veiled warning, and one I hope has sunk in.

I glance quickly at the government agent who leans back in his chair, apparently quite at ease in this overly tense atmosphere. While the introductions account for one of the strange faces in the room, I still have no idea who the other two men are.

Tony regards the scientist with a cold glare, stepping casually to the side to perch on the end of the table. Mengele watches with steely indifference, unaffected by the biting introduction.

"So, Angel of death 2.0, what have you got for us?"

Maurice Mengele lets out a humourless chuckle, disregarding the insult with perfect indifference.

"Hello everyone. A couple of weeks ago, Mr Stark approached me with the names and faces of multiple Hydra agents, as well as an email address he required tracing. While the agents' profiles were fabricated and unable to be reached, I have managed to find out a great deal about the person connected to the email address."

My gaze remains determinedly in the table, the hairs on my arms acutely aware of the brown eyes that seem never to leave my face.

The scientist pauses in his speech for a moment as he brings up a holographic personal file, enlarged for us all to read.

The file is almost completely empty, lacking most basic information including the profile picture. The name at the top of the page reads Pavel Smirnov.

"What use is this?" Clint asks from across the table, his usually cheerful features now hard with hostility.

"Patience, my friend."