This...was impossible.
The woman who stood n her chambers was dressed in green from the six-inch heels of her her leather hipboots to the tips of her opera-length gloves. Green leather bodysuit...green hair styled in a wave that covered the scared side of her face. Her room was green...the tentacled-skull over her desk...the words 'HYDRA' below it. Yes, it all seemed very normal...
"Madame Hydra?" asked the terrified subordinate who cowered before her. "Madame? Uh...Viper, are you..."
She flicked her head dismissively, drew in a lung-full of rich, dark smoke from her cigarette holder, and said in husky, Eastern-European accent (Hungarian. I am a Hungarian woman, and THAT is the language I speak.) "Do not prattle so, fool. Continue your briefing."
She thought she'd have the chance to clear her head...to sort out the confusion in her mind and get to the bottom of this lunacy while this buffoon rambled on...but instead...she found herself drawn to his words. He told of global terrorist actions and random violence. He told of Islamic puppet agents and corrupted politicians. He told of her secret alliances with H.A.M.M.E.R, A.I.M, The Hand, The Hellfire Club and the Secret Empire...and of how her HYDRA was now the greatest threat to global peace. She stood calmly smoking during all of this, her cruel-looking mouth showing no emotion.
"And...when did our plots and schemes begin to go so well, fool?" she asked.
The Hydra drone smiled, then dropped to his knees and said with gasping joy "Since you returned to us, Madame Hydra! Since the Viper returned to us! Six-months ago, we were on the brink of collapse. Our leadership split and our influence shattered. Then...six-months ago you returned to us. Your masterful leadership and tactical skills - though always great, have grown to God-like..."
"Goddess-like." she corrected him.
"...yes, Madame Hydra...to Goddess-like proportions. Your skill in combat is now second to none. We have lost no battle in which you have fought, and our elite attack force - hand trained by you - have become the terror of the world. ALL HAIL HYDRA! ALL HAIL MADAME HYDRA!"
At that, she smiled - though it was a cruel and sinister smile - and said "On your feet, fool. Back to your duties. Your loyalty is to be commended."
The Hydra drone was all bet weeping in gratitude as he backed from the chamber, leaving Madame Hydra to sit in the dark, smoking and puzzling over the strange turn of events. Some things were clear to her though.
She was Ophelia Sarkissian. The Viper. Madame Hydra. She was a cold, cruel woman without a drop of genuine compassion or mercy in her heart. She was a Hungarian terrorist who took over HYDRA after the death of Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. She was a committed Nihilist philosopher who rejected all the foolish claptrap about 'Good' or 'Evil', understanding the pure pointlessness of existence. She was the lover (NO!) of the Red Skull. She was the great foe of America - responsible in only the last six-months for the deaths of tens of thousands of American soldiers and civilians, in acts that seemed like common terrorist acts or simple random violence...but which were keyed to drive the blighted United States to the brink of collapse. She smiled at the thought of the destruction of the States. America was a vast, stinking graveyard anyway...
But...she was also Steve Rogers. Captain America. Leader of the Avengers. A son of hated America. She KNEW she had been that man, and that six-months ago...she had been...
"You were injected into us, by the American government..." said her beloved Johann Schmidt - the masterful Red Skull, and the only man to look at the world in the same way as she did. She looked at him, and though a portion of her wanted to hate him...most of her loved him. "...and the fools at SHIELD. They took you, Captain America, and gave you the form of the dead Madame Hydra...then sent you to us to 'lead us' into a trap that should have resulted in the destruction of HYDRA. Little did they dream that my spies within SHIELD would have told me what was planned...or that Arnim Zola would have the capacity to finish what SHIELD had started. Tell me, my dear...who are you?"
She tensed, and for a moment...her eyes flashed with desperation...before she sneered and said in Hungarian "I am Ophelia Sarkissian. I am Viper. I am Madame Hydra. I am the greatest foe that the criminal, hypocritical United States has ever had. I shall be the death of all Americas' dreams, and shall tear down their petty Republic and remake it in MY IMAGE!" she roared this last, her aspect slipping from cold control to positively Hitlerian bombast. "ALL THE AMERICANS' WILL DIE...OR ACCEPT MY RULE, AS I TEAR DOWN THEIR LIES AND LEAD THEM INTO THE SOOTHING CHILL OF A NEW 'DARK AGE' OF NIHILIST PERFECTION! HAIL HYDRA!!! IMMORTAL HYDRA!!! CUT OFF A LIMB, AND TWO MORE SHALL TAKE IT'S PLACE!!!"
The Red Skull smiled at her with paternal pride, and though she wanted to flee...she undulated towards him, and gasped "Oh, Johann...what have you done to me? I w-w-want you inside me! Take me, Johann! Take me!"
"As you wish, Madame Hydra."
Inside, Steve Rogers tried to struggle, but his transformed body embraced the Red Skull, allowing him to slip into her moist loins like a knife into its sheath. He thrust into her and she laughed in wanton delight, tossing her head and sending her dark green hair tumbling like waves. She hated him...she loved him more than life itself. She wanted to flee...she wanted to lead HYDRA into battle against the criminal tyrants of the USA. She knew her philosophy was flawed and cruel...and she wanted to force it on the whole world. She had a sudden image of herself in a year...sitting beside the Red Skull on a throne in the former White House. The flag of HYDRA was flying overhead, and her loyal soldiers stood about her. In the schools, all children were raised to think like she did...to reject all the false 'goods' of the old society and accept that only through the embrace of a cold, logical nothingness could the world survive. All the world either served her or bowed to her. She looked over at her husband...the only being she followed without question...then down at the tiny babe in her arms. The child of Johann and Ophelia Schmidt...
Again, Steve Rogers tried to stop himself, but his/her body was responding just as it had been programmed. She worshiped her beloved Red Skull, and she used all the skills she'd acquired during half a century as Captain America to destroy all she'd once held sacred. She kissed the withered flesh of his red, skull-like face, and she wanted more. He thrust into her, and her moist places craved more. She wanted to flee...to warn her country...people...her Avengers...but instead she continued to meet the Red Skulls' thrusts with her own gasping cried. When he finished, she lay atop her desk and lit another cigarette. She smoked and thought, as the Red Skull said "You can never be who you once were, my dear. You will be Ophelia Sarkissian for the rest of your life. Only through accepting this can you find happiness. Captain America is dead and gone, and you have taken his place. Cease your struggles and embrace your destiny as Madame Hydra."
He left the room, and she thought. Little did the Red Skull dream that Ophelia Sarkissians' hatred of being manipulated AND her utter rejection of ALL foolish old-world ideologies (such as dusty, creaking Nazi-ism) might work to Steve Rogers advantage. Perhaps...if he accepts some of her into his soul...he and she could fuse into one, somewhat less evil entity? Perhaps is they could fuse his basic decency with her Nihilist rejection of the empty platitudes of society, they might somehow become...a complete whole? He was worried of corrupting himself...just as SHE was worried of weakening herself...but they were both caught in the same trap.
She stood, looked up at the shield and scimitar on the wall. The curved blade was Madame Hydras' weapon, but once the shield had belonged to Captain America. Now it's paint had been stripped away, then covered in a layer of black, over which was the tentacled skull of HYDRA. She took the shield - so familiar and known - and sat in her chair with it by her side. She meditated on her problems...and Steve Rogers tried to influence her...