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.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"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!!