shield | b. barnes

"Shut up."

[Corinna]

I struggle to keep my eyes open as the hypnotizing neon colored swirls continue to move slowly in circular motions.

"Take a deep breath. Calm your mind. You know what is best. What is best is you comply. Compliance will be rewarded."

Gritting my teeth together, I try to block out the repetitive words playing through the speakers. I know that HYDRA is trying to "break me," but they're going to have to try harder than hypnosis if they want me to become their next prized weapon.

I straighten up when I hear the door open. Slowly turning my face to see who it is, I notice a tall, broad shouldered man enter the dull room. He flips the switch, which illuminates the room in bright white lights. After my eyes adjust to the sudden brightness, I see Rumlow standing near the door, smirking at me.

"Can't say I don't enjoy this view." He says, as he slowly walks towards me.

I glare at him, not having the energy to think of an offensive comeback.

"What? No snappy comeback?" Rumlow asks, raising a brow. He stands in front of me, blocking the horrendous hypnotic swirls from burning into the back of my mind. At least there's one good thing coming from his visit. "Don't tell me that HYDRA already got to you. It's only been a week since you've been here. Even Agent 33 lasted longer."

I perk up at the mention of Agent 33. I heard she'd been taken from one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s safe houses and was never found. What if she's kept in the same facility as me?

"Where's Agent 33?" I ask weakly, glancing up at Rumlow.

"That's what you want to know? You don't want to know about the endless torture your precious little Mark went through to become one of HYDRA's commanders?" Rumlow asks, feigning mock surprise as he leans down to my eye level.

"Now why would I wanna know that?" I ask sarcastically.

"So you can appreciate all that he is. I have to admit, when HYDRA uncovered his dead body under the rubble, I didn't think they would bother reviving him. But he's the one who designed some of HYDRA's greatest weapons. He even upgraded The Winter Soldier's arm before the fall." Rumlow explains, observing me closely.

I keep my face devoid of any emotion as I look at Rumlow. He's trying to make me crack. He wants me to unravel like I did the first night I was here, but I'm better than that. I'm not going to give him what he wants, no matter how badly I want to tell him to go to hell.

Rumlow looks around the room until his eyes fall on the wooden chair. He walks towards it and drags it across the room until it's placed in front of me. He sits down, his hands clasped together as his legs are lazily sprawled out in front of him, one on each side of my feet.

"Well, we have some time to kill, so I'm going to tell you a story. A story about how Mark Sanders came back from the dead." Rumlow announces.

I look at him in disgust, clenching my teeth together as I try to suppress the urge to curse him out. I would rather listen to the stupid monotonous chant of HYDRA trying to make me comply than Rumlow's bullshit story.

"It all started with me and some men dragging his lifeless body from under the remnants of a fallen building. The good news was that all of his limbs were still intact, so we didn't have to worry about giving him a bionic arm or anything." He pauses to look at me before continuing, "We had to open his chest up and...reconfigure his heart. Whitehall was able to bring him back to consciousness for that part. The poor guy, he was awake during it all. He would scream your name, you know? Corinna, Corinna!" Rumlow says, mimicking Mark's pained calls.