Chapter Text
Jemma Simmons tapped her foot as she waited for the office coffee pot to finish up. It was a bit of a waste of time, but she had seen photos of a failed experiment. It had been horrific. She had needed to take a moment so she didn’t lose the contents of her stomach on her Hydra supervisor and blow her cover. The familiar sounds of coffee perking were comforting.
“Oh good more coffee.” Kenneth exclaimed in a quiet victory while setting his Hydra branded coffee mug down on the counter.
She sighed, she missed having mugs that didn’t have the stupid skull with tentacles. Or clothing without it branded on it. Just not having to be surrounded by the icon of the organization that represented actual evil. “It’s not quite done Sir.”
“Oh none of that Sir stuff.” He waved off. “How’s the hemoglobin tests going?”
She forced a smile on her face. “Quiet well. I’ve managed to increase the hemoblobin’s effectiveness at oxygen transference by 3%. Early results, but they look encouraging. We might be able to begin testing on rats soon.”
“Push it further. They’re not interested in increases that small.” He waved off. “You can think big now.”
Jemma opened her mouth to explain a 3% increase was ambitious, only to fall silent. They went straight from rats to humans here. “Of course Sir. Bad habits.”
“I hear you. So many ethics slowing down progress. It’s a prison of our intellects.” He pulled the creamer out of the fridge. “Creamer?”
She forced her smile not to drop. “Of course, thank you.” Jemma reminded herself of Coulson’s advice, she needed to make friends. “Are we allowed to know what the new lab space being cleaned out is for?”
“New project. They might pull some of us for it.” He pulled the coffee pot out and filled his mug and then her’s. “Just don’t go poking your nose in if you don’t want to lose it.”
Jemma poured some cream into her coffee. “Well I need to see if I can push the hemoglobins some more.”
“Let’s hope you impress me with it.” He gave her a look before taking the creamer from her.
She swallowed. “Of course.” Jemma ducked her head slightly and bustled out of the kitchen. It was time to retreat to the science. Keeping her eyes down she avoided Kenneth, so much for making friends. Then walked straight into a very solid body.
“Oh my god, I am so sorry.” Jemma jumped backwards cringing as she saw the coffee, still steaming, soaking the woman’s jacket. “Oh gosh.”
The woman raised a single eyebrow, her lips quirked up in an amused smile as she unbuttoned her thick red Hydra jacket, pulling the fabric from her skin. “Well hello to you too.”
“I’m so sorry! Are you ok? Oh gosh.” Jemma grabbed the woman’s arm and pulled her into the lab kitchen. “We need to get some cold water on that!”
She dropped her coffee mug on the counter while grabbing a hand towel and holding it in the sink and turning on the water. With quick motions she wrung it out and turned back to the poor woman she’d just dumped scalding coffee on. Jemma pressed the towel to the woman’s thin tank top. “I’m sorry, your jacket’s just ruined isn’t it?”
“I’m sure I can find a new one.” The woman replied, the slightest tinge of laughter to her voice. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced, Doctor?”
Jemma’s eyes widened as she realized the jacket the woman was wearing was a very specific jacket. The type of jacket only high level Hydra agents, the ones that everyone scurried out of the way of, wore. Her mouth suddenly felt incredibly dry as she looked at the woman properly for the first time. “Simmons.”
The Hydra officer smiled, looking like she wanted to laugh. She was the youngest high level operative that Jemma had seen. “Agent Johnson, nice to meet you Doctor Simmons.” Johnson took the cold towel from her hand. “So do you make a habit of spilling coffee on people Doctor Simmons?”
“Oh no.” Jemma waved her hand, god was her heart going to beat out of her chest? She wouldn’t murder her for spilling coffee right? “Was just going back to keep working on my hemoglobins.” She saw the blank look on Agent Johnson’s face. “Hemoglobins are a protein in blood that transports oxygen and iron. I’m trying to increase the oxygen to increase muscle stamina when in an anaerobic state.” She bit her lower lip. “Again I’m so sorry for spilling coffee on you. I should have been watching where I was going.”
Johnson tilted her head to the side. “How would you increase the rate of bone healing?”
“Theoretically? Well you’d want to increase clotting to increase the inflammation and callousing stage of bone healing. Then increase the proteins and necessary vitamins with some steroid dosage to increase the speed of internal functions.” Jemma considered that. “There’s also been some exciting new progress with coral to replace bone. Really there’s so many options.” Jemma smiled properly as she looked at the Hydra officer.
Johnson rocked back on her heels. “Well isn’t that interesting. Have a good day Doctor Simmons.” She turned and walked off.
Jemma blinked and then breathed out. “Huh.” She hadn’t died. And the bone question was interesting. Realistically, it was even something she could probably get more progress on than her hemoglobin project.
Wanding back to her lab, Jemma considered it. She’d have to use anabolic androgenic steroids for the type of bone growth she’d be looking for. Hemoglobins would help with early clotting, so her current research could justifiably be introduced and worked into a bone growth study. It certainly would have wide applications and the implications of Hydra having it weren’t even that horrifying.
As soon as she got back to her lab station, she set her hemoglobin research aside and pulled up the breakdowns of Hydras most effective steroid cocktails.
Jemma sighed as she collapsed face first into her bed. It had been a week since the new project had started and she still didn’t have the faintest clue what it was. Instead, she had made a bone growth steroid that cut down the recovery time for a broken bone from over a month to a week. It would probably get canned by Kenneth and she would be doomed to entry level information forever.
Because Hydra wanted to kill people, not heal them. Her groan was muffled by the pillow. She shouldn't even be here. Prove herself? She'd accomplished nothing, left Fitz and….
She pressed her eyes closed so tight it hurt. No, she was going to go back and get access to valuable Intel for SHIELD. Even if it meant sucking up to Kenneth. Stupid, ethicless, Hydra goon that he was.
////
Jemma sipped at her latest mug of coffee. Maybe if she increased the vitamin D recommendation for daily intake it would help… Honestly making a health plan for whoever ended up the human test subject for her new bone growing steroids was probably pointless. Still, she could at least try. It was the ethical thing to do. Well as ethical as she could afford to be once the tests in her rats came back positive. Even so, she had another hour before she needed to cut open another of her rats to check how the bone growth had been developing. A rat a day kept Hydra away.
“Dr. Simmons!” Kenneth bustled over to her.
She looked up from her x-rays of the last batch of rats. “Did you need something Sir?”
“They want you, upstairs.” His eyes were darting and rattish.
Jemma froze. “What? Did something happen? I thought my last round of rodent tests was deemed promising? Right sorry, that’s probably classified...right. Shall we?”
“Come on. Just don’t…” He winced and then turned, leading the way towards the elevator.
She straightened her black lab coat and followed him. This was good. She was completely not about to be shot and buried in a shallow grave for being a spy. Oh, she wanted to hyperventilate. Jemma swallowed as the elevator doors closed. Her eyes widened as she saw they were going to the second to the highest floor. “Have you ever been to this high of a floor?”
“No.” Kenneth looked rather pale.
Jemma gave a jerky nod. “Oh.” She was wide eyed as the door opened, and standing there was Bakshi.
Bakshi’s pressed suit, and smarmy face was painfully polite as he stood there. “Oh good, this is the scientist with the bone regrowth project then?”
“Yes Sir, this is Dr. Simmons.” Kenneth stepped ever so slightly to the side so that Jemma wasn’t behind him.
Bakshi gave the slightest look down his nose at Jemma. “Well, you better follow me Dr. Simmons.”
Jemma and Kenneth stepped forward only to halt in their tracks as Bakshi stopped. “I said Dr. Simmons.”
“Sorry, I just assumed as her supervisor...I’ll just leave now.” Kenneth patted Jemma’s shoulder awkwardly before scurrying into the elevator.
Jemma forced the fakest smile on her face as she looked at Bakshi.
He sniffed and then continued walking down the hall.
She followed at a quick clip, his longer legs making his pace slightly awkward for her, but she followed along. The hallways were open, lots of WWII photos framed and placed on the walls. The trim was real oak though. She could tell these were mostly offices, but at least one of the rooms they passed was a private lab.
Bakshi opened a door and held it open. “After you Dr. Simmons.”
“Thank you.” Jemma forced a smile at the second in command under Whitehall. She realized she’d just been brought into a conference room.
Looking around, she saw at one side towards the head of the oval table was Agent Johnson from a couple weeks ago with the coffee. There were six other lab coat wearing scientists, sitting around the table.
Johnson looked up. “Coffee girl?” Her lips twitched, but her eyes were cold as she looked over at Bakshi. "And Whitehall's pet."
"A pleasure as always, Agent Johnson. I brought up the scientist who made the bone steroids. Now I believe you have some people to kill?" He sneered at Johnson.
The woman unfolded from her position, somehow making her around five foot six frame look intimidating and waved him off. “There’s always people for me to kill. I’m guessing you have a target? Or am I supposed to just start with you?”
Jemma shrank back as she saw Bakshi’s face twist with something ugly.
He finally twitched, face going back to his typical polite smarminess. “The file in my office, unless that’s too far a walk for one of your illustrious skills.”
Johnson loped towards the exit of the room. She paused slightly, eyes flicking to Jemma, and then her concentration was back on Bakshi, a certain smugness to her. “Well after you, Sir.”
It was horrifying, Jemma didn’t breathe properly till the door shut behind them. She sighed, turning her attention to the room. It struck her that she still wasn’t sure what on earth she was doing in this room. Other than the obvious fact that it had something to do with her bone steroids.
A scientist with a bushy grey mustache stood up. “Just ignore Bakshi and Johnson, we answer to Johnson. But the two of them have hated each other for years. Just stay out of the way of their sniping and you’ll be fine.”
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t told what I’m here for exactly?” Jemma smiled nervously.
He chuckled. “My name is Dr. Kargaroff and I’m the head scientist on project World Killer, welcome to the team Dr. Simmons. We were very interested in the healing factor you were able to synthesize with steroids. Have to grab talent like that when it comes.”
Jemma swallowed. “It’s an honor to be pulled for a specific project.” She felt her face doing something… hopefully it wasn’t suspicious. “What is project World Killer?”
“Oh, come see the files you’ve been given clearance to see.” Kargaroff waddled a bit as he waved her over to a seat.
She sat down carefully and raised a hand in greeting. “Hello.”
A slightly greasy, narrowly built scientist grinned at her.
Kargaroff cleared his throat as he took his seat again. “So, the subject shows and has reported accelerated bone growth after being provided with the new steroid cocktail.”
“Wait, human subject?” Jemma froze as she opened her file. “But it wasn’t even close to ready for human testing.”
The slightly greasy scientist scoffed. “It didn’t kill the rats, that’s plenty good enough for a human subject.”
“Right…” She stared at the test results.
Jemma sighed in relief as she saw Coulson in her apartment. “Hydra has a super weapon program and I don’t know how far they are on it, but it’s called World Killer and I got pulled for the team. Which is insane because the steroid project wasn’t ready for human testing! It’s not even just a matter of ethics! It’s a waste of resources to go straight to human trials.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound good.” He set a plate of cooked food on the table. “Really do you eat anything that’s not take-out? How do you even afford that?”
“Hydra pays better than SHIELD.” Jemma sighed pulling two beers out of the fridge. “They pulled me for a specific experiment.”
Coulson nodded. “What’s the experiment?”
“I think they have an enhanced, whose powers break their bones.” Jemma sighed as she sat down at her table. “They’re trying to find a way to fix the issue so the enhanced can be weaponized fully.”
Coulson sipped from his beer. “Do you know any specifics of this enhanced individual’s powers?”
“Strength to a degree their tendons are ripping the bones to pieces maybe?” She winced. “I’ll let pass everything I can, but the Hydra officer in charge of the project is Agent Johnson. I’m not sure, but I think she’s of the same rank as Bakshi. They were antagonistic towards each other.”
Coulson hummed as he set a plate for himself and picked up a fork. “Keep your head down, they’ll pay more attention to you now that you’re on a special project. This sounds big. Good work.”
“I’ll keep eating fish tacos for lunch.” She tipped her chin up in determination as she mentioned how she was passing information most days. “I can do this sir.”
////
Jemma stopped at the lab and cleared her throat. “Dr. Kargaroff, I had an idea. You wanted to make the bone steroid internal. What about a gel inside the bone? We could use agar hydrocolloids to form a gelatin. It's organic and won’t interfere with the steroids. I mean the polysaccharides unique structural make-up, especially the anhydro-bridges, would be less damaging to the homeostasis of the subject.”
“You want to make the steroid a hydrocolloid gel?” He nodded slowly. “It could be injected into the bones themselves.”
She blanched. “What? No, that would be horrific. The trauma from a procedure like that would be catastrophic. You could end up permanently disabling them. The anesthesia with that mix of chemicals could be fatal.”
“That’s why we’re a team. You just make the gel, we’ll worry about getting it into the subject.” He patted her shoulder.
Jemma breathed in. Hydra, no ethics. She was going to assist in getting a person killed. Plus, she was going to have to stop showing it.
She carefully brought her gel compound to a simmer over the bunsen burner. Jemma leaned back with a satisfied sigh. “Excellent.”
“Excellent? And here I heard you were having ethical concerns.” A light female voice interrupted her.
Jemma spun around on her stool. “Wha-Ma’am.” She cleared her throat. “Sorry, you startled me.”
“Hmm.” Agent Johnson smirked as she looked at her. “So what’s this about ethical concerns. Doctor Burns was worried you might even lack the stomach to stay with our organization.”
Her eyes widened. “No ethical concerns here. Just worried about wasting human test subjects by rushing the process.”
“It’s alright, you’ve only been with us for what two months now?” Johnson pushed her hands into the pockets of a leather jacket she was wearing. Which what? “You’ll get used to being able to just do the science without worrying about things like responsible timelines. Besides on this project in particular, we don’t have to worry about finding volunteers for those tests.”
Jemma forced a smile on her face. “Of course, it’s all just very new. You know how it is, ethics classes in college, and then medical school, then at work. It’s just a lot to take in being able to just do the science you know?”
“Wouldn’t know, never graduated high school myself.” Johnson shrugged. “Still, this is my project, what is your recommendation for it?”
Jemma’s eyes widened, her fingers tightening, but she breathed out slowly. “I think it’s very promising though I hardly know enough to make a recommendation. I’m not even aware of the enhanced abilities of the subject.”
“You were able to judge that they were enhanced from what little you have access to?” The Hydra officer’s face was so disarmingly non-threatening.
She felt herself blink. “I… well it’s obvious isn't it? The white blood cells in the sample I was given have a different molecular structure. It’s slight but significant. Not to mention, the nature of the bone damage described in the files was incongruent with what I know of physical trauma. So either you’re trying to heal someone who's been tortured by unknown means or you’re trying to develop an enhanced individual into a more effective weapon. Or at least that was what I assumed?”
“Well, aren’t you surprisingly smart and cute.” Johnson chuckled. “Your work has even been useful. I think you’re going to fit right in here given enough time.”
Jemma forced her smile to stay in place. “Of course, I couldn’t hope for anything else.”
“Isn’t that fortunate.” Johnson took a step back. “Do be careful with those ethical concerns of yours. I would hate to lose someone as bright as you from the team.”
She laughed. “We wouldn’t want that.”
“Not after you added so much already.” Johnson chuckled. “Good talk Doctor.”
Jemma was going to die, she was just so fucked.
////
Jemma watched as a group of five Hydra goons in tactical gear walked past their lab. They all paused to salute Agent Johnson, before falling into step with her. It had taken two weeks on the thirty ninth floor to put together, but she had put it together. The Hydra goons with guns answered to Johnson, while the suits answered to Bakshi. It was terrifying. Also, the gel program was horrifyingly making progress.
“Your gel can be inserted if heated to an even 98 degrees.” Dr Pratt made a check mark on his clipboard. “
Jemma sighed, pushing some of her hair behind one ear. “Have you made any progress on the anesthesia issue?”
“Oh, didn’t you hear, Johnson ordered that scrapped. The subject can go through the procedure without it.” Pratt shrugged.
She paused. “Why? That doesn’t even seem practical? The subconscious muscle twitches from the pain would be… the needles would have to be reinforced to keep from breaking and the damage could be catastrophic to surrounding muscle tissue.”
Prat looked around the lab before leaning in. “Subject has enhanced healing. They’ll heal from the damage. Makes it all easier on us though.” He elbowed her and laughed like that was supposed to be a funny in joke.
Jemma forced herself to smile and let out the ghost of a laugh. “Yes that would allow for a faster timeline.”
“And if this procedure is successful you might even be brought onto the team full time. Bump you up from a level 1 to a level 3 agent. We get to do the cool stuff here. Not your waste of time hemoglobin production tests.” He scoffed, while writing on his clipboard. “At this rate we should be able to run the procedure in a week.” The overpowering smell of Pratt’s cologne wafted over to her as he winked at her.
Jemma bit her lip, but then asked the question that had been bugging her. “Why do we answer to Agent Johnson? If I’m allowed to know of course.”
“Huh? Oh, she’s in charge of the biology and security departments here. Bakshi runs mind control and the weapons. Johnson is the real deal though.” He lowered his voice. “We stick with her and our ticket is written ya know?”
“Yes, I know what you mean.” Jemma straightened. “Well, I should get back to my gelatin.”
He nodded, easily swanning over to the next team member's station for the daily report. Jemma was going to be sick. No anesthesia. Johnson was a monster. The pain of literally drilling hundreds of holes into every single bone in the subject’s body before forcing the liquid gel into the bone could kill a man. If the subject didn’t go into shock and die it would be a miracle.
Jemma turned back to her bunsen burner swallowing back bile. She needed the access she would get by being assigned to this project completely. Project World Killer was something she needed to find out about so it could be stopped. A person… possibly several people would die for this and there was nothing she could do.
Jemma paused as she saw the machine Richards and Smith had built for the procedure. It had 2,065 needles. There was a ‘thoughtfully’ placed leather strap for the subject to bite down on. There were dozens of thin metal straps to immobilize the subject.
It was barbaric, Johnson had to be a psychopath to have pushed the test forward when this was the result. Jemma was finding the more they smiled, the more horrifying they were.
"Magnificent isn't it?" Pratt said from next to her. "They really outdid themselves with this design. The procedure should take twenty minutes with this puppy."
Jemma nodded, her face felt strained. "It's truly something alright. Will we have a medical doctor on standby in case the subject crashes?"
"That's your job. Last medical doctor before you was one of Bakshi's spies. He was the subject for one of our more experimental procedures. His screams were fantastic. And Burns may be a surgan but he’s better with the dead." Pratt's eyes turned dreamy.
The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. "I'm a biochemist not a medical doctor."
"Close enough. Not like the subject needs a human doctor anyways." He chuckled.
"Simmons." Johnson's voice called from across the room.
Jemma’s spine straightened as she turned and walked towards her boss. "Yes ma'am?"
"You wrote up a recommendation for post procedure care for the subject?" Johnson had a raised brow.
She tipped her chin up. "This is a lot of effort for the subject to just die on us from a preventable infection. A shot of penicillin before and after the procedure, and morphine once the temperature spike lowers so they're less likely to go into shock. I don't think any of us want to be wasting our time after all this effort."
"No morphine but I'll allow the penicillin." Johnson set aside the recommendations.
Jemma's jaw clenched. "I'm sorry I don't think you understand how much pain the subject will be in."
"Pain is irrelevant to progress." Johnson waved her off.
She couldn't let it lie though. "The subject is going to go into shock and likely seize out from this procedure already because of the decision not to sedate them. Should the subject survive this, it is vital they don't fall into shock or a dissociative state. It could cause their body to reject the injection. If you want a successful test, these steps are necessary. Ma'am."
"I said no Doctor Simmons. That’s final." Johnson eyed her, and then left the room.
Jemma ground her teeth. This was such a disgusting waste. She turned in her heel, ignoring Kargaroff who was gaping at her and marched back to her station.
////
Jemma smiled slightly at the sight of Keneth walking towards her. She raised her hand in greeting. "How's the lab been?"
"Nothing interesting. How's working upstairs?"
She let her shoulders slump. "The science is amazing, but the test today is going to fail and if we just spent another week working through a new anesthesia cocktail it might have a chance."
"Non-science upper management forcing the deadline?" He asked sympathetically.
Jemma nodded. "It's just so frustrating that she won't listen."
"Maybe you're just not cleared for information that changes the viability?" He offered. "Besides, if the science is good there will be more tests. Precautions can be taken if needed. And it sounds like you're only losing one test subject. And dissecting them could be useful for the next round of testing."
She suddenly wasn't hungry for her lunch anymore. "Thank you for trying to cheer me up Kenneth."
“If you get permanently assigned to the team you’re my ticket up.” He chuckled. “Just don’t mention me till you’re on Johnson’s good side. You’re a jumpy thing. I have no idea how you’ve survived Johnson so far.”
Jemma paused. “Survived?”
“Well yeah.” He shivered. “Last time she came into the level one lab she shot Doctor Jenson in the head. It took hours to get the blood off the walls.”
She swallowed. “I probably shouldn’t have yelled at her should I?”
Kenneth froze. He got up and took a step back. “I uh...I have some paperwork I need to get to.”
Jemma just waved as he booked it. If she was smart, she would go straight to the nearest train station and get out of this cursed place. She was going to be made. No, she straightened her slacks, this was her mission.
Jemma jumped as a file was dropped on her lab station. Her head snapped up to Johnson. “Yes?”
“The files you’re allowed on the subject. Read up, test is in an hour.” Johnson strode off, to speak with Dr Kargaroff.
She gingerly picked it up and flipped it open. It was a good thing she hadn’t eaten lunch. As she paged through the photos and redacted notes she felt sick.
The subject was classified as Inhuman, a human with Kree ancestry. By injecting Kree blood into the subject they could be brought back from near death. This led to the subject being without a heartbeat for eight minutes at age of nineteen. After this incident, another Inhuman with healing abilities was involved in a heart transplant. With the healing factor of the other Inhuman somehow transferred to a degree, there hadn’t been another near death incident.
Actually, she was going to be sick. The subject controlled vibrations but the powers shattered their bones when used on a large scale. It was horrific. Based off the dates, and blacked out sections this was at least the minimum of the hundredth procedure the individual was going under. It did make the stupidity and lack of concern Johnson had been showing make more sense.
Of course, it didn’t matter if they’d tested it properly. The subject would almost certainly survive. It wasn’t a stupid risk. It was a ruthless disregard for the pain of the subject. Why use anesthesia if the risk of shock was negligible after how much Kree blood had been injected into the subject over the years and their heart could regenerate. It was cruelty on a level Jemma was incapable of putting into words.
The subject wasn’t human, so Hydra treated them worse than Jemma treated her lab rats. It was horrific, unethical, and cruel. Plus, she wasn’t getting this file so she could keep the subject alive. It was so she’d shut up. Hydra thought her concern was irritating and unfounded based on the science and that there was no need for pain medication, the subject wasn’t human.
Jemma barely kept from running to the bathroom to puke. Her knuckles turned white as she forced herself to hold still. It was barbaric. She wanted to scream at them, but it would get her killed. Her safety, SHIELD’s ability to fight evil had to be put first. This was why Coulson hadn’t wanted her to go undercover. She understood.
Jemma was quiet as she confirmed that the steroid gel was simmering at 98 degrees. The others were excitedly talking as they prepped the lab for the test. She was just trying not to think about how she was going to have to look one of the most horrifically tortured Hydra test subjects she’d heard of in the eye. Not only that, but after looking that person in the eye, she was going to have to watch and help torture them.
“Exciting isn’t it!” Prat nudged her, his greasy hair slicked back extra neatly.
She forced a pained smile. “Yes, very exciting.”
“This is always the best part.” He looked her up and down, it felt slimy. “You should put on a new lab coat. You’ve got something on the hem.”
Jemma glanced down. “I’ll just go do that.” She forced her smile not to drop. “I’ll be right back.”
She made quick steps to the coat rack, grabbed a fresh lab coat, and B-lined herself to the bathroom. Breathing deeply, she braced herself against the counter. She looked in the mirror. Keep it together.
Jemma ripped her black Hydra lab coat off and pulled back on the fresh one. Straightening the sleeves, she took a moment to fix her collar. She looked back up at the mirror. She gave herself a sharp nod.
As she re-entered the lab, she smiled tightly as she moved back to her station. She carefully adjusted the dials. “Smith, did you check the tubes yet?”
“Just did.” The tight laced man replied. He glanced at the vat of simmering gel. “Temperature stable?”
Jemma nodded. “It’s holding at exactly 98.” She glanced around the lab. “When do we start?”
“As soon as Johnson gets here.” His eyes were sharp, and slightly glinting as he looked away from the machine.
Dr. Richards cleared his throat, his New York accent as irritating as always. “Smith recheck the electrical connections.”
Smith’s eye twitched slightly, but then he went to work double checking the machine’s electrical systems.
Then the door opened, and Johnson came striding in, in full Hydra uniform. She looked around then nodded. “It’s your lab Kargaroff.”
“You all know your jobs,” Kargaroff ordered before pulling out the IV and uncoiling the tubing.
Jemma frowned. She started to open her mouth to ask where the test subject was when her words died in her throat. Johnson, Hydra high ranked officer, awful person, was stripping in the middle of the lab.
Johnson hung up her jacket on the rack. Then was unbuttoning her pants and dropping them like there weren’t scientists just… standing around. The woman seemed completely without a care about the whole thing. Jemma tried not to look at all the skin that was on display as Johnson shucked her tank top off, leaving her in a simple sports bra and underwear.
Then Jemma saw it. Sure, her eyes were first drawn to the eye catching tattoo of asian influence covering her heart and spreading out over Johnson’s left shoulder and upper bicep. She had several other geometric designs that were strong and eye catching, but Jemma was a doctor, and she spotted the scarring before her eyes could look away.
Johnson was covered in surgical scarring. There was a particularly horrifying Y incision scarring down the woman’s front, but it was hardly alone. It looked like most of her body had been cut open surgically. The scars were thin, white things that were barely noticeable, likely from the healing ability and Kree blood.
Once undressed, Johnson moved to the machine without flinching.
“Right, right.” Kargaroff shuffled over and started guiding Johnson into the contraption. He looked over at Jemma. “My fingers can’t quite get these latches. Dr. Simmons if you would.”
Jemma walked over and carefully began to lock the metal restraints around Johnson. “If it’s too tight, let me know so we can adjust it.”
“That’s cute.” Johnson just straightened her head as the band for around the skull was snapped into place. She didn’t even flinch.
Jemma felt sick as she continued to snap the restraints down. Finally, she pulled back and triple checked the temperature on the simmering concoction they were about to inject into a fully conscious woman.
Pulling on a pair of latex gloves, she picked up the penicillin syringe. She carefully checked it, and then stepped back. With a quick wipe, she disinfected Johnson’s shoulder. “This may sting a bit.”
Johnson just stared at her in amused disbelief.
Her cheeks flushed at the stupidity of that. The woman was about to have over two thousand needles injected into her bones. A penicillin shot was nothing.
Jemma quickly injected the antibiotic into the woman’s shoulder and stepped back.
Prat finished his fiddling with the dials and then all of them were waiting.
Kargaroff stepped forward and snapped the leather bite pieces into Johnson’s mouth. “If this works we’re one step closer to achieving our perfect weapon.” He hit the switch.
Jemma startled as the needles plunged in, but she kept track on the monitors on the woman. Her reaction to the pain wasn’t… it wasn’t normal. Then the room started to shake.
“Easy, control.” Kargaroff snapped, he looked at Jemma. “Begin introducing the compound.”
She twitched slightly, but she carefully began the injection. The muffled screams began then.
Jemma watched as Kargaroff, Pratt, Richards, and Smith huddled around the holographic results arguing over theoretical possibilities. However, she moved to the machine and hit the release switch, the restraints all unlatching.
She barely was able to catch Johnson before her limp body hit the floor. Jemma grunted, but managed to waddle and drag Johnson, who was built like a rock. She dropped Johnson down on a glass coffee table with a final grunt.
Closing her eyes, she caught her breath, and then took off her black lab coat and laid it over Johnson’s shoulders.
Johnson rocked slightly, she was vaguely conscious still, at least able to keep herself somewhat upright.
Jemma grabbed a water bottle and twisted the lid off, dropping it somewhere. She gently took the back of Johnson’s head, and pressed the bottle to her mouth. “Just sip.”
Surprisingly, Johnson agreeably did as told, and sipped obediently. Her eyes had cracked open at some point.
Jemma sighed in relief at Johnson showing signs of consciousness. “You’re doing good.” She got up and grabbed a clean paper towel and wetted it before whipping the smeared blood from the needles being pulled out and whipped off the woman’s face. “You’re doing really good.”
She picked up the second penicillin shot and quickly injected it into the woman’s other shoulder. “See, you’re doing great.”
Johnson blinked slowly, but still remained silent.
Jemma pulled a sucker out of one pocket and pulled the wrapper off and stuck it in Johnson’s mouth. “You’ll need the sugar. I have a meal plan written up for you. You’re going to need sugar, protein, and a lot of vitamins in the coming days.”
It was slow, but Johnson reached up touching the lab coat. Her brow furrowed slightly. “Why?”
“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up and in something warm and comfortable. If you won’t take morphine, we can at least get you as comfortable as possible.” Jemma carefully pulled Johnson’s sweaty hair back into a sloppy ponytail.
Johnson’s eyes closed again. “You can go look at the science. I’m not going to die.” Her voice was hoarse and rough.
“That’s got to be painful.” Jemma brought the water bottle back to Johnson’s mouth. “Here you go ma’am. I can go look at the readings after we’ve got you taken care of.”
Johnson blinked but sipped obediently. She pulled the sucker from her mouth once Jemma had taken the water bottle away. “I’m in my underwear, you can skip calling me ma’am.”
Jemma’s shoulders loosened for the first time in hours, only for her eyes to settle on the Hydra brand on Johnson’s right clavicle.