Chapter Text
The Asset was in his wolf form, characterized by a completely snow-white coat stained with a few patches of blood or areas devoid of fur due to the mistreatment. The thing that stood out the most were his blue eyes, so expressive and empty at the same time. He was held still by a leash tied to the wall that, with every movement, tightened painfully around his neck, preventing him from moving too much and leaving red marks on the affected area.
The Asset was confined inside a small, cold cell with only a light hanging from the ceiling and a small grate through which air passed. There was not the slightest comfort, let alone any color, so much so that the light seemed only to make everything look even gloomier.
The Asset never left the cell except to go to the laboratory. He was not allowed to go out, and his masters made sure of that after many escape attempts, first by reinforcing the door and then with the choke collar.
His masters were required to punish him every time the Asset acted outside his protocol; they were required to shock him with batons, and then they were required to take him to the training room where a machine discharged even more current onto the wolf's body.
The Asset, however, had plenty of time to himself, and he often spent it detaching from reality to imagine a new life or creating scenarios inside the den to keep himself company.
He especially liked to imagine being able to run free one day, perhaps near a water source, to then plunge inside and feel the coolness of the water, before warming up in the sun and dozing off.
This fantasy was his favorite; he loved running so much that he would wag his tail just at the thought of a chance to make his greatest desire come true.
The Asset remembers nothing before the den, his current location. Perhaps there never was anything, but he knows that no one is born already this big; however, since his masters forbid him from using his other form, he cannot physically ask questions.
He doesn't really know why he cannot use it; only occasionally do they give him permission to transform, but even then, they do not allow him to use his voice.
In both forms, he must remain absolutely silent, and for this very reason, they often make him wear a muzzle to prevent any possibility of disobedience.
The muzzle is comforting in the end; he feels anchored to his body and feels safer hidden behind a durable fabric.
He continued, however, to imagine new scenarios while staring at the door in front of him, until he saw it open and immediately composed himself, straightening up even more and bringing his gaze straight into the eyes of his masters.
Two guards armed to the teeth approached the Asset, dragging him away by the leash. They dragged him all the way to the training room where Master Lukin was patiently waiting for his animal to arrive.
Lukin scanned the Asset and said, "Today I will grant you a gift; you have earned a new paw, but remember that from now on you must always be ready to fight. Your training will intensify, and I need your full attention and obedience..." He stepped aside slightly, leaving space for his wolf to look at the torture machine he feared so much.
"Exactly, if you do not respect the protocol, I will make sure you do, even at the cost of making you a complete zombie." Lukin smiled at the sight of the Asset's tail between his legs.
The door on the right side of the training room opened and a nurse came out, which caused the wolf a pang of pain at the memory of his amputated paw.
"Mr. Lukin, the operating room is ready. We can start with the surgery whenever you want."
Master Lukin nodded and gestured to the guards to take him inside the room, and from there, his mind detached from reality, leaving only his body to suffer.
His trainers said that 6 months had passed since the paw surgery with huge success; the Asset was a natural talent for combat and managed to get by even with only three paws, and now, with a fourth metal paw, he was unstoppable.
He was doing his absolute best to prove his worth and not to suffer the electric shock of the machine.
By now, he was used to being shocked by his masters' batons, but they were nothing compared to the machine.
It turned him into a tabula rasa and made him easily manipulable; he felt all his defenses drop to zero and he felt... scared.
His first mission had been a success: five wolves killed thanks to his metal paw that crushed their fragile skulls, staining the green ground with dark red blood and pieces of brain.
Another mission accomplished; he killed a politician, a man of strong influence.
He doesn't know why he had to kill him, but a guard said something about werewolves and about helping these creatures.
He was sent to the machine when they realized what the Asset had heard, and right after the machine, he was ordered to kill the guard who had spoken.
No one spoke in his presence anymore, except about missions and orders.
The Asset was punished because he wanted to run one extra lap around the den; he was happy, but it cost him dearly.
Another mission accomplished; the Asset is realizing that there is something in his mind telling him he is wrong to kill people, but he hasn't controlled his body for too long now and can only closely observe what he is ordered to do.
The Asset hates washing; the water is cold and sharp, and it reminds him of bad times inside the den, but he cannot complain, so he endures, feeling the pressure on his sore body.
He failed a mission; Master Lukin did not feed him for a week, nor did he even let him out of his cell.
Lukin took him to the machine even though he had been good.
The Asset managed to steal a tiny piece of chicken found on the ground, and as he devoured it, he immediately felt bile on his tongue.
He vomited for a few hours and was taken to the operating room, and then subsequently punished for eating without the master's permission, and especially food that was not intended for a dog like him.
The Asset wanted chicken, but he always ate a damp brown mush full of nutrients but tasteless.
The Asset was tasked with killing a couple consisting of a normal woman and a werewolf. He caused the car to crash by throwing himself into the middle of the road so that the driver would swerve toward a pole, crashing with the woman who flew out of the car.
The Asset broke the man's head when he got out of the car to rescue the woman, and suffocated her by pressing a paw against the neck of the latter, who cried and whispered, "I'm sorry, Anthony."
The Asset had the privilege of being able to transform into his other form for a few hours, but his metal paw fell to the ground, causing severe discomfort to his left shoulder.
The Asset carried out a mission near the sea; he was so happy that he wagged his tail imperceptibly.
The Asset failed a mission due to unfavorable weather; he did not eat for a week and was left alone until, on the last day of his punishment, he was forcefully shoved into the machine, being electrocuted instantly.
The Asset was supposed to leave for a new mission this weekend, and Master Lukin made sure he was ready by electrocuting him a few days before in order to have absolute obedience from his dog.
While he waited in his cell, dazed by the previous electric shocks, the wolf heard the den's alarm and heard screams and profuse gunfire.
He curled up in the corner of his cell, overloaded by the external noises. Unable to act or understand what it was about, he whimpered weakly, letting out whines.
The noises grew louder and louder, so much so that they forced him to flatten his ears and place his paws over them to try to muffle the sounds, but it was useless; the noises kept getting closer and closer.
More and more gunshots.
More and more screams.
More and more footsteps.
Then everything stopped abruptly, just as it had started.
No more gunshots.
No more screams.
No more footsteps.
The wolf fell silent.
The footsteps returned—many footsteps toward his cell, many voices he didn't know.
"Cap, Nat and I will check the cells, you and Tony go ahead," a male voice said; from his tone, it was clear he was frustrated.
"Alright Sam, see you at the entrance be carefull."
Two people walked away and their footsteps were lost in the den; the other two who remained began opening one cell at a time in the hope of finding some laboratory guinea pigs.
The Asset would have almost laughed at them if he weren't frozen with fear; no one had ever been inside those cells except the Asset.
He heard every cell opening, and slowly there were fewer and fewer left before his own cell. Panic got the better of him; he squeezed himself against the corner and put himself in an attack position, ready to fight to defend himself.
Only one cell left.
Silence.
The mechanism was moving, the door was about to be opened, and the Asset began to growl silently, showing his teeth through the muzzle.
The door flew open and two figures blocked the light coming from the corridor. A woman with wavy red hair down to below her shoulders had a harsh look that hid a strong emotional distress.
She was a reasonably muscular woman and had a gun in her hand, but it was not aimed at the Asset.
The other figure was a Black man with a tormented look, whose heart skipped a few beats at the sight of the Asset, and the wolf saw the man's immediate change.
From a slight disturbance due to an uncomfortable situation to a heartache at the sight of the cell.
The Asset did not growl yet; he remained still, staring straight into the eyes of the two, who exchanged a glance filled with a thousand unspoken words.
"Damn it, Nat, we need to call the others," said the man, who jumped in place when the Asset let out a deafening bark and began to growl savagely.
No one was going to call anyone; the Asset had to eliminate the intruders as soon as possible, the den was compromised.
He continued to growl and squeezed himself even harder against the wall, feeling the collar tighten painfully around his neck.
The woman stepped back slightly and began talking to the empty air, but the Asset was too caught up in growling to distinguish the words; he had to make the two back away and wait for the guards.
The man lowered himself until his knees touched the floor and began to speak, "Hey, I don't want to hurt you. I can smell that you're a werewolf, and if it makes you feel any better, my friends are too." He smiled at the wolf in front of him.
"We want to help you, let us in."
The wolf stopped growling savagely but never lowered his guard. Something about that man conveyed... peace to him.
He had a sort of warm presence around him, just like a sun that dries you off after a nice cool bath, but the Asset was still extremely afraid.
His masters taught him to doubt everyone except his masters; he was taught not to show any emotion and not to feel them.
The man slowly placed his hands in plain sight in front of the wolf with his palms facing upward, relaxed his shoulders and the rest of his body, and said in a gentle tone, "See? I don't have anything with me, you can trust me."
The wolf stopped showing his teeth but did not leave the wall; he felt his skin tearing from how hard he was pulling against the choke leash.
The man smiled and the wolf heard more footsteps, many footsteps, and he stiffened immediately, starting to growl again.
The man in front of him slowly backed away, and behind him appeared a blonde, muscular man and a shorter, dark-haired man. Then the redhead returned, and he also felt other people nearby, but for now, he had to focus only on those in front of him.
He began to thrash violently, growling and barking like a wild dog, also trying to swipe his paws at the bravest ones who wanted to extend themselves in front of him. He didn't care if he was choking himself; he would fight to the end.
"Cap, Christ, take it easy. You can't just run into the face of a traumatized wolf, let me handle this, okay?" The kind man spoke.
"Sam, be careful—" the blonde man was interrupted by the dark-haired one, "let Wilson work, come sit with me for a second," and the two walked away.
The redhead patted Sam on the back and left as well, leaving only the kind man and the wolf, who calmed down slightly more.
"Hey, I'm sorry, I messed up, we should have given you some space." The man brought his hands back into plain sight and spoke again, "Alright, see, if you let me, I'll take you out of this cell and get you some water, okay?"
The wolf cried silently because he knew he would be punished if he ran away, and he decided to lie down on the ground with his snout on the floor.
"Hey, no, no, take it easy buddy, you're safe now, I promise." The man smiled.
The wolf stared at him intensely, huffing sadly.
"Can I try to take you out, buddy? What do you say, huh?" the human said cautiously.
The wolf slowly closed his eyes as if to say yes and began to tremble slightly from fear.
"Alright, thank you... hey, really, everything is going to be fine, no one wants to hurt you." He slowly approached the leash tied to the wall and ripped it away, then, always with extreme calmness, he reached down and removed the wolf's collar.
"There we go, now you can move... we'll take the muzzle off when you're ready." He stepped back, returning to the door and sitting down.
The wolf had mixed feelings about this situation; he liked the man's warmth, but he had an immense fear that at any moment something horrible would happen.
A voice outside the cell said, "Sam, are you crazy? He could—" The man turned his head and looked at that person with a serious and threatening glare, "He won't, and if you're that scared, get out of the way. I'm not bringing this wolf out with a fucking choke leash... we're better than that."
The wolf whimpered and moved imperceptibly toward the man in front of him. He wanted to hope for once; he wanted to feel the hope on his skin conveyed by the good soul who was speaking to him.
"You don't have to push yourself, buddy, we'll get out of here at your own pace, okay? Now I'm going to stand up and we'll move forward." And the man stood up slowly, leaving the open doorway free for the passage of the wolf, who approached slowly until only his snout was outside.
He sniffed and memorized the scents around him: blood, gunpowder, sweat, and a scent that was almost wild and magical at the same time—these were the scents they all had in common.
In addition to the first four people, he could distinguish another woman and two other men.
There was no smell of anger or defiance, only a stench of genuine worry, but he didn't understand who it was directed toward.
The wolf came out slowly and scanned all the people in front of him in a matter of seconds, feeling the hair on his back stand up from the tension, but fortunately, the kind man said, "Come with us, I promise you we only want to save you, and they are my friends and are ready to defend you at any cost." The wolf whimpered and backed up against the kind man, looked him straight in the eyes, and hid behind him, gently nudging him forward with his snout.
"Alright buddy, I'll go first, you stay behind me." The man nodded to the others and together they all advanced slowly toward the outside, toward a new life.
They crossed the corridor of the cells, and from then on, the metallic smell of blood and gunpowder filled the Asset's nose. He stopped dead in his tracks and whimpered in fear, making everyone turn toward him.
The kind man slowly knelt down and said in a reassuring tone, "I'm sorry about all this, but we had no other choice. Take your time and we'll move forward calmly, okay?" The wolf lowered his head and whined.
It took nearly half an hour before he moved again to continue; no one batted an eye, however, understanding the wolf's distress.
They arrived toward the exit very calmly, and the wolf saw how many documents had been brought out of the archive near Lukin's office...
The wolf stopped, smelling the unmistakable scent of his master and other guards, and gripped by total panic, he began to howl in fear and hid behind the kind man, seeking an anchor to reality and trying to warn everyone, but shots rang out in rapid succession from multiple directions, hitting three of them: the young girl, the dark-haired man, and the kind guy, who fell to the ground groaning in pain.
Driven by adrenaline, the wolf dragged the man behind a column without difficulty and gave him a brief look before growling and lunging at the enemies, crushing the skull of the guard who had shot the kind man with the weight of his metal paw. The guard next to him screamed in fear and tried to shoot the wolf, who moved just enough to let his muzzle be severed, and then broke the neck of the second guard with a single bite.
A gunshot, however, hit the wolf squarely in the right thigh of his front leg, and the wolf howled in pain, falling to the ground. But fortunately for him, the blonde man knocked out the last guard and ran to the wolf to assess the wound; however, the Asset was too frightened to let himself be touched and jumped up to run to the other man.
Sam saw the wolf coming back to him, limping and bleeding, "Woah, woah, hold on buddy, you're okay, alright? Sit down for a second and let us help you," the man said, a bit panicked.
The wolf looked at him and whimpered in confusion, no longer knowing what to do. His panic was then interrupted by another gunshot that missed him by a hair, hitting the floor between him and the kind man.
"ASSET, COME HERE IMMEDIATELY!" Lukin shouted, deeply enraged, ready to kill everyone present inside the room.
Natasha prepared to shoot but was hit in the shoulder by Lukin before she could even do anything, and she stumbled back, losing her balance.
Cap went to her and helped her hide; Tony was hidden with the other injured girl and another man.
Sam was frozen in place while looking at the harrowing scene in front of him. The wolf was trembling deeply with his tail between his legs, and a shot echoed through the room again. A chilling, wild sound came out of the wolf, who positioned himself in front of Sam, wanting to protect him.
He began to growl savagely, and Sam saw saliva dripping onto the floor along with the blood dripping from a new bullet hole.
"HOW DARE YOU GROWL AT YOUR MASTER, I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU WHEN YOU WERE JUST A USELESS BOY!" As Lukin shouted this, he abruptly raised his gun, pointing it at the wolf, who in a second lunged at Lukin, transforming into a man for exactly five seconds during which he had time to grab Lukin's gun and shoot him in the head.
The body fell with a sickening sound and a pool of blood expanded under the paws of the wolf, who had just transformed back. Sam didn't even have time to discern the color of his hair due to the speed of the action.
The wolf then began to whimper louder and moved away from the corpse at his feet; he limped over to Sam and hid near his side, panting heavily from exhaustion and from the pain of his wounds.
"You were incredible, now you can rest," Sam said without touching him, not wanting to subject him to further stress. The wolf replied with a painful huff and let himself drift into unconsciousness, hearing from Sam:
"You can rest easy, we're taking you home."
The wolf smiled in his mind. He had never had a home; who knows, maybe there he would be able to run freely for once.