2016 | HYDRA BASE — "Are you awake Siren?" Strucker asked, an exhausted Ariel, trying to get her to consciousness. In vain she tried with all her might to open her tired eyes. "How are you feeling?" the old man asked curiously. "It hurts..." it hurts so much.The girl breathed out painfully, because every little breath was difficult and unsettling. It all felt so different. It all felt so painful. How much suffering, did she have to endure until it's finally over? How much suffering until she can't feel anything anymore?

Is James, okay? she still thought of him...

"What is that?" With blurred vision, she stared at Strucker, who was next to her. She felt dull, almost numb. "Some salt water, some seaweed extract... just the usual. We injected you with some more Siren serum." He explained proudly. How much more, and she will be dead?

"They thought I was crazy to inject you again with it, but I think you can do more than you pretend... You may look like an innocent little flower, my dear Siren. But you're the serpent under it!" Ariel slowly tried to raise her hand and noticed two ice-cold metal plates on both her temples, which were connected with thin cables. "Leave it on!" Right now it was difficult for her to stay awake, let alone move. The lab was dark and suffocating. Her breathing very weak, as was her body. There was a tight harness around her waist that kept her from running but also cut off her oxygen. "These ones show me your brain activity." He explained and prepared everything at another table. "First we have to get your mind racing. We have to get from a theta wave to a gamma wave."

"Please..." she begged him not to do it. But without even batting an eye, the scientist turned to her and started his plan. He turned to a device that was on the table that stood next to him and flipped the switch slightly to the right. "Feel something already?" He asked. She nodded as best as she could and felt a small tingling, which spread more and more in her head.

Next he pressed a second button that played a low but shrill sound coming from the metal plates. However, Ariel was the only one who could hear it. Strucker turned the two knobs again, increasing her brain activity. He looked proudly at the monitor and saw the drastic changes in the brainwaves. "AHHHH." Ariel squealed through her teeth, in pain. She wanted to scream but it hurt her too much. "Stop!" she cried, but Strucker continued to push the buttons and waited tensely.

By now the tingling was a sharp pain and it felt so cruel. The shrill noise grew louder and louder until it even made blood spurt out of her ears. She gritted her teeth as hard as she could, trying somehow to endure the excruciating pain.

In that moment of weakness, she took back everything she had said before, she had never experienced so much pain in her own body. It was pure torture. But she had to stay strong if she was going to make it out of here. She couldn't break. She won't.

"It's still not enough." Strucker murmured with concern, staring at the monitor showing Ariel's brainwaves. A weak sigh escaped his mouth before he flipped the switches again and waited tensely. It was a dangerous game, that Strucker played ... even the other Hydra scientists and doctors wanted to stop him.It was clear that if the brain activity was too high or superhuman, the girl's brain could burst. But Strucker was blinded by his arrogance willing to risk it.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" she squealed hissing again, maybe even a tad louder than last time. As her brain activity increased, so did her heartbeat. So hard, she thought it was about to jump out of her chest. "It works!" Strucker exhaled proudly, his gaze at the perfect brainwaves. He had made it, he had actually come this far. The Siren's senses and abilities are at their highest level. At the same moment, however, a loud alarm echoed through the halls of the base and a red light flickered on for a few seconds. "AHHHH!!!!" She bit through her teeth and smacked her eyes shut in pain. The sounds became more and more unbearable...

"ARIEL!!!!!" A voice yelled, but only Strucker could hear it. All she heard was this shrill noise coming from the machine. From the alarm and the red light, Strucker knew something was wrong, something was very wrong, so he acted quickly. He opened a drawer attached to his desk and pulled out a blue book. "I'm sorry Siren!" She didn't hear a single word that came out of his mouth and instead held onto the experimental chair with her hands as tightly as she could from the pain until her knuckles turned white. She thought her skull would burst at any moment.  And she would be dead. And it would all be over. The shrill noises were like sharp knife wounds in her ears.

"Longing ... Ocean ... Beauty ..." Strucker read out loud, while Ariel shook her head hastily. She now took in every single word he said against her will, falling deeper and deeper into the Mind control. Sinking. Drowning. "Morning hour..."

"Stop!!!!" she cried out pleadingly as more and more tears rolled down her cheeks. The pain in that moment growing stronger. " Nine ... Family ... Anchor-"

"ARIEL!!!" the voice screamed again as something slammed and banged against the door several times. The voice's final call brought her out of her state, if only for a brief second, before Strucker even had a chance to speak to finish.

As if by instinct, she sat up, closing her eyes and screaming for her life. She screamed as loud as she could, as much as it hurt her, and as loud as she had ever screamed. So painfully loud, that she was tasting blood again, feeling the terrible burn in her throat.

And as soon as she opened her eyes again, she almost froze in shock. Her scream had shattered his skull, the upper left half gone completely. There was a thud as the blue book in his hands fell to the ground, pulling him to the ground shortly thereafter. She did it. Ariel was able to prevent Strucker's plan. However, her previous action only exhausted her further and she lost all hope. How was she supposed to make it out of here on her own when she could barely move? She wasn't even fully conscious... And what would the other Hydra agents do to her when they saw what she had done to Strucker?

But just when Ariel thought it was over for her, she heard a loud bang. It was the lab's heavy gates that were broken open. She stared in disbelief in the direction of the gate and fell back exhausted when she finally realized who was running towards her at that moment.

"Ariel." She heard his worried voice say as he approached her. Steve. She had been waiting for this moment for so long. He was here. He was really here with her. To see him and to finally hear her name out of his mouth again, made a tiny tear trickle down her cheek. "You came back..." she whispered in disbelief, as he carefully held her face in his hands, wiping the tear away with his thumb, carefully removing the metal plates on her temples. "Of course... I promised you, Ariel." He smiled softly at her. He would've always come back for her. Did she believe anything else?

"I won't lose you again, you hear me?" Steve told her, meaning every word, looking deeply into her eyes, her beautiful ocean eyes. She was feeling safe again, at ease, just by having him by her side. The pain left her thoughts and were replaced with relief. Ariel nodded at him as his words unconsciously brought a smile to her face...

AUTHORS NOTE! — Yayyyyyy they're reunited!! I hope you guys liked this chapter! #Sirencap wohooo! I finally found a lot of motivation lately translating my story, although my life is still kind crazy and depressing lately BUT idk your comments on my chapters make me so happy (Even though most of them are CLEOOOORRR NAAAURR jokes but I love them so much Hahahahhaha)

DID YALL KNOW TAYLOR SWIFT IS A DOCTOR NOW?!? IM SO PROUD OF HER OH MY GOD!!!

Anyways Love you all, Nini💕