Chapter Text
Therese Belivet is a 24-year-old woman whose life has been very difficult. She lived in the Czech Republic since she was born and unfortunately, she also experienced the civil war that happened there. That was the cause of her parent's death. She was just 11 when they were killed by a bunch of soldiers who didn't even take two seconds to acknowledge that they were civilians and not the enemy. That broke her. She was put into an orphanage where everybody messed up with her. The older boys tried to force themselves into her, but she was having none of it, until one night, the older boy in the whole orphanage was able to do it. She wasn't the same after that. She promised herself that she would seek revenge for this.
Once she got out of the orphanage, she couldn't afford an apartment, so she had to live in an abandoned car outside the city. She lived this way for 2 years. Fortunately, she got a job as a waitress in a very well-known restaurant and another job as a secretary in a dentist's office. She worked on those two places for four years and finally with a lot of hard work she was able to rent her first apartment. It was much, just a small space with one small bedroom, a tiny kitchen, and an even smaller bathroom. She didn't like it much but was all she could afford at this moment. Unfortunately, life had a funny way of making her life miserable. She lost her job as a secretary and had to do more hours in the restaurant. Even though she worked more, the salary of a waitress didn't get enough to pay the bills and buy food. In a desperate attempt to earn some money, she went to the Computer house, which was a mix of library and store with computers that the customers could use. When she arrived there, she started looking for jobs on the internet, she kept scrolling for what felt like hours, until something caught her eyes. A laboratory was offering a huge sum of money for volunteers for an experiment. She didn't think twice and started to fill the questionnaire with her information.
Two weeks later, she got a letter from the company that was in charge of the research. HYDRA she read out loud. She was due to be in their installations in 4 days. Grabbing her few belongings she packed and headed to Sokovia.
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Once she arrived, a black van was waiting for her outside the airport.
"Are you Miss Belivet?" Asked the tall dark-haired man.
"Yes Sir."
The man opened the back doors of the van, and he let her get in first, as he then sat in front of her. The ride was spent in silence. The man was looking through some files while the brunette looked through the windows in each door. Twenty minutes later, they got to their destination.
"Right this way Miss." Said the man as he opened the door. Once she stepped outside, she saw a lot of men with guns around her. They were all wearing military clothes and the logo of the organization. Once they were inside, she was led to a small room.
"This will be your room from now on."
The walls were a dark gray kind of color, the floor was a mix between gray and white. A bed could be seen in a corner of the bedroom and a small wardrobe was on the left corner of the room. There were no windows. The only light was from a small lamp that was hanging in the ceiling. This is worse than my room at the orphanage . She mused.
"Here, change into these. The doctor will be with you shortly." Said the man and then left. He gave her some gray pants and a white shirt along with a pair of gray shoes. She changed her clothes and as she was putting on her shoes, a tall man with a white coat approached her.
"Miss Belivet, I'm doctor Bloodworth, we need to run a few tests before we step on anything major." The brunette just nodded.
They went to a room full of lights, there was a dentist bed in the middle with some cables and stuff she didn't know.
"Lay on the bed." Ordered the doctor as he grabbed a folder. Doctor Bloodworth ran a few blood tests and did a TC of Therese's head. About an hour and a half went by when the doctor finished.
"We're done. Tomorrow we will know the results, and we will be able to know if we can continue with the procedure."
Therese was led back to her room but while she was in the hall, she passed by a room with a blonde woman reading a book. They locked eyes. Blue met green, and it sent a shiver down their spines. Before looking away, Therese saw something flashing through the woman's eyes. Was it fear? Angst? She didn't know. Her eyes drifted to a piece of metal with the number 378-A that was next to the door. Must be her number of identification. Therese thought. Once she arrived at her room, she noticed that hers also had a plaque with three numbers on it. 645-A.
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Days passed, different doctors came and went from her room. Asking her to do this or to do that. Her mind kept thinking of that blonde woman she saw almost five days ago.
The night of the 24th of June, she woke up abruptly because someone was yelling at the end of the hall. Could it be? No, it can't be, can it? Therese mused. She tried to open the door, but it was locked. She couldn't see anything, she was just able to hear the woman screaming in pain and hitting the walls, every time with more force. A few guards came to the older woman's room carrying something big. A cage maybe? The brunette mused. Then, she heard doctor Bloodworth talking to her.
"This won't hurt. I promise." Then, everything went silent. She no longer heard the woman, neither the guards nor the doctor. After a few excruciating moments, she heard a loud BANG. They have taken her away.
"Take her to the laboratory. We need to examine her. I think it finally worked." Said the doctor.
Therese's mind was racing. Where is the blonde woman? Where are they doing to her?! She didn't sleep at all for the rest of the night.
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The next morning came and went. At 4 pm an old woman along with two guards came to her room.
"Doctor Bloodworth got the results of all the tests. You're viable for the experiment." Therese couldn't believe it. The older woman also told her that she needed to go now to the laboratory. So she did. The guards were on each side of hers all the time until they reached their destination.
"Good afternoon Miss Belivet." The doctor said as he shook her hand.
"Hello." She responded shyly.
"Alright Miss Belivet, go there and once the doors open, you come in. Don't be scared." The doctor said, pointing to another room. Don't be scared? What does he mean by that? The younger woman did as she was told. Everyone went to their positions.
"Let's get started." Whispered the doctor to his workmate next to him. They went to a room with a huge window that was able to see the other room, the one that Therese would be in less than a minute. Inside the room, there was Loki's Scepter.
Therese was waiting nervously behind the closed doors. She had the feeling that something wrong was going to happen to her. Truth be told, she didn't even know why she applied to be here. She just wanted to get some money to survive and since she didn't have anyone, this was her only escape, but, at what cost? Will she die? What were they going to do to her? Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doors opening. She entered with all her body sweating and trembling.
"Say your name, please." Another doctor said through a microphone.
"My name is Therese Belivet."
"Are you a volunteer or a terminal ill?"
"Volunteer."
The scepter started to come alive. Therese got closer to it, trying to touch it, then, it broke, letting pass to a gold stone. That stone started to get brighter and brighter. Therese could barely see anything, then, a female figure appeared and touched her forehead. She felt like the time stopped, everything stopped. Her brain was overwhelmed with power and information. She felt her blood boil and rush up and down to her body. Then, everything went black. The guards ran to her and soon doctor Bloodworth was there too.
"She's alive." He said, touching her pulse points.
"Put her in observation for the next few days." He instructed the guards and the nurses.
"I need to make a call." He said, and then left.
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"Strucker, I have great news."
"Tell me, now."
"No one has made it past this stage of our experiments with alien enhancement. Well, no one other than the twins, of course. And now them. Carol Aird and Therese Belivet." The doctor said
"Perfect. Those Avengers don't know what it's coming to them." He said and hung up.