2010
Canada, Appalachian Mountains
HYDRA Preparatory Academy
Two Years Later
"Hail, Hydra! Immortal Hydra! We shall never be destroyed! Cut off one head, two more shall take its place! We serve none but the Master—as the world shall soon serve us! Hail Hydra! " As the students finished the chant, Madame Contessa took the podium.
"I am extremely proud to welcome you all into the new guard of HYDRA, and I cannot wait to see all your accomplishments in this next chapter of your journey." Madame Contessa addressed the hundreds of students seated in the large auditorium.
"Congratulations to our three leadership graduates." She gestured toward Me, Ruby, and Werner who were standing on the stage beside her.
We each wore a black militaristic jumpsuit with a familiar red emblem emblazoned over our hearts.
"All of your hard work and perseverance have led you to this proud moment in your lives. Best wishes on your next adventure! Hail Hydra!!"
"Hail Hydra!!!"
**********
After the ceremony, each student shuffled to a different path as we were told to see our homeroom teachers for our new assignments.
Moving to the side of the stage, I was stopped by Ruby who placed a hand on my shoulder.
I glanced back as she signaled me to follow her.
Moving out of the auditorium, we made our way into an empty classroom as Ruby shut the door behind us.
She turned towards me, her sad green eyes looking to mine with a hint of longing
After the first bet, Ruby and I got a lot closer over the last two years. We would often make similar bets on the other exams, some the other would win some they lost. They became less serious contests of pride and more friendly games of competition as we stopped caring who won.
Ruby even started to visit my dorm room a couple of times late at night to blow off some stress.
"So...this is it? We might never see each other after today." She said, moving closer to softly grab my hand.
I nodded, wondering where she was going with this.
"M-Maybe we could still keep in touch?" Ruby asked, looking up at me like a scared puppy.
Sigh, I knew the girl saw me as more than just a friend with benefits. Don't get me wrong I liked Ruby, she's a lot of fun when she's not sucking up to her Mom. But that was it, she was nothing more to me than a nice distraction.
"Sure," I said, putting on a smile for her.
"I'll try and find out where you are when I make it to my new post."
Ruby smiled at my lie and pushed her full lips against mine.
I may not have had feelings for the girl, but she was still a valuable connection I would be stupid to throw away.
**********
I walked through the hallways towards my homeroom teacher's, Dr. Whitehall, office door and was met by Werner leaving. The boy was holding a black folder, but what caught my attention were the small red scratches on his hands.
He nodded, then kept walking past me down the hallway.
Shrugging I raised my hand to knock on the door.
"Come in." Dr. Whitehall's cold voice sounded from inside.
{A/N: Trigger warning if you don't like seeing/reading animals get hurt, skip to the next scene*}
I walked through the door to see Dr. Whitehall seated at a large oak desk. His hands were clasped and two black folders lay in front of him.
" Ah, Cadet Rumlow, please take a seat." he gestured to the chair in front of the desk.
Sitting down, I noticed two small cages with a black tarp placed over them behind Dr. Whitehall's desk.
"I must congratulate you again on the outstanding performance you showed over the years. I know it must have been hard keeping up with your peers, what with you being of clear lower birth, but I'm happy you persevered."
Dr. Whitehall gave me a pleasant smile, not matching the cold contempt that was in the man's eyes.
"I'm sorry to tell you, but there is one last test you have to complete in order to get your next assignment."
He reached down and grabbed one of the tarp cover cages and placed it on his desk near me.
I could hear a familiar soft whimper coming from the cage and frowned at the smiling man.
Dr. Whitehall removed the tarp and I saw Max, my brown labrador retriever, huddled in the back of the cage.
"We gave you this creature on your first day, in order to teach you a lesson. You will be leading a hard life. That will only get harder as you'll be asked to do things no man should have to do."
Dr. Whitehall got up and placed a small knife on his desk in front of me.
"If you're going to work within for HYDRA, you can't ever get attached to anyone or anything. You have to fight that weakness in you."
He moved back and stared at me while I tried to process his words, hoping that he didn't want me to do what i think he does.
But looking over at the man's knowing smile, I paled in recognition.
It may be hypocritical of me to say, but killing a dog is super fucked up. I mean Hydra has made me do some pretty fucked up stuff but this... this was Max.
I tried to wreck my brain for a way to save the small pup. But in the end, I just let out a defeated sigh. Knowing I had little choice in the matter, I picked up the knife and looked into the cage at the small pup's brown eyes, trying to tell him how sorry I was, and how I would get revenge for him someday.
Opening the cage, I reached in for the small dog who was trying to avoid my hand, sensing what was coming.
Grabbing it by the neck, tears threatened my eyes as I drove the knife into it's heart.
Max let out one last whimper before falling limply in my hands.
Dr. Whitehall let out a small amused chuckle before placing his fucking hand on my shoulder.
"Marvelously done Agent Rumlow. Marvelously done."
*******
Sitting on the bare mattress in my empty dorm room, I tried to pull myself together and push Max's wrongful death to the back of my mind.
Wiping the tears from my eyes I opened the black folder containing my new post, and read the info in the file.
***
Operation Type: Sleeper Cell
Operation Bio: The Agent will be dispatched undercover as a fresh eighteen-year-old recruit for a Special Ops task force serving directly under veteran General Thaddeus E. Ross.
Operation Goal: The Agent will distinguish themself amongst their peers and move up to a higher position within their assigned post. The Agent will then wait for further instructions from his superiors.
***
Reading the file the first thought to come to my head was, "What kind of name is Thaddeus?"
**************
A/N: That wraps up the Academy arc!!! The MC will now be off into the world and start interacting with more MCU characters. What did you think? Was the dog death too much? Where do you think the story is going? Let me know in the comments!!
I recall a similar method of torture with chickens where they get given a chick or something while in near isolation and once its old enough it gets turned into a meal for either them or the person in charge who eats it in front of them.
Humans as social creatures really do get affected by this sort of thing. Chickens work a bit better since its got a shorter growth period and at the same time considered a 'normal' animal to eat so it doesn't even really require the people on the 'bad' side having to be deranged or anything.
Doing good so far with the story I think, I hope there is some double agent stuff that goes on since the MC seems to keep holding different values even after being raised' in indoctrination. Cults can change how people think even if they are oppose to it, the natural inclination to 'fit in' even if they don't intend to.
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On a negative note about writing in that dog; honestly you put no actual value on that scene. The dog got mentioned twice by name in previous chapters with no attempt to develop audience familiarity or even recognition. I've got to say I didn't even realise he had a dog up till this point. It could have just as easily been a random grunt for the audience.
A few more descriptions and interactions to make the audience get to know the dog and how the main character relies on them instead of a single pat the dog got, and a single bark that got mentioned last chapter that I had to search for.
Otherwise this dog scene feels about as emotional as the grunt who didn't listen during a mission. People might hold feelings for animals in general, but for a lot of people those aren't extreme enough to find deeper meaning in some novels.
To add a footnote; it isn't to say the scene is bad, just that you have started pushing faster towards finishing the Arc, the MC locked himself up in his room for what might be a decade at this point, never played any sport, game or even spend time at the gym and saw people. There was no talking to the dog, if there was conflict for getting the dog food and having to share his own meal or many other additional parts.
We just assume he is a trained hydra agent with very little conflict and struggle, like it was 'meant to' happen. While there could have been a few situations where he struggled to act as intended and that gets used against him because he hesitated on an order and got punished.
That rush I feel made a few of the things from an audience perspective, hold a lot less meaning compared to what you had the option of doing. At the same time though story pacing is up to each person, so some might be happy we are moving away from what might feel like a very linear and 'boring' arc and now getting to experience the outside world.
My friend
The blood of this Dogo call's for revenge
It ok to kill people, but not a dog. People who think like that are really weird
Me neither
I agree
NOT THE DOG that's it you HAVE just HAVE to make sure this man survives so mc can give him the most imhuman torture
Hope bastards get put down like they did dog.
@DemeanCosmos ps im dog and cat lover who values family and loyalty over everything else. Maybe force whitehall to be dog slave for his crimes! Any ways love story cant wait to see next chapters
{A/N: Trigger warning if you don't like seeing/reading animals get hurt, skip to the next scene*}
Knew this was coming when the dog was mentioned for the 1st time few chapters ago
a fresh eighteen-year-old recruit for a Special Ops task force
Special forces recruit 18 yo freshers? What kind of special forces is this
What happened to his adopted brother
I think this scene was good, shows that the MC does have compassion for others
Dogs are too pure for this world.
So graduation pass test was generic pet killing test and author made it irritating and long even in this small chapter. Like they will let him keep his pet on missions in shield and what not.
MC was into dogs , that's why he didn't have any feelings for girl.
He was given a grown pet and lived with him for 4-5 years. Labrador retriever live for 10 years only. So stupid.
When you mentioned the dog I already knew what would happen. I already read some novel that did the same same (Dungeon Defense is one)