Avengers Architects of Our Own Destruction

AN: Hello! This is a rewrite of my story Architects of Our Own Destruction. I didn't particularly like were the story was going & decided to start over. This Prologue is longer than the first, offering a little more background to the story. I hope that you all enjoy the revision of these next few chapters as well as the rest of this story as it develops.

Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Prologue

Vienna, Austria - June 9th, 1988

The sun has just began to peak up from underneath the horizon, basking the city of Vienna in an early morning glow. The city has just begun to wake up to face the new day. Towards the middle of the city lies a hospital that's bustling with activity. Some patients are sleeping soundly in their beds while the nurses make their rounds.

On the third floor, room 308, it's anything but quiet.

A woman, no older than nineteen years old, lies with her back against the hospital bed. Her legs are propped up and a doctor waits at the foot of her bed, instructing her that it's nearly time for her baby to be delivered. Nurses hustle about, checking her vitals and making sure she's as comfortable as possible.

The woman is anything but comfortable as another contraction hits, a scream erupting from the back of her throat. She clutches desperately to a nurse's hand, her grip tight and unmerciful as she tries to breathe through the pain. The doctor instructs the nurses that it's time to deliver the baby. The mother does as she told, pushing at the right moments, panting heavily as she continues to clutch the nurse's hand.

It's no wonder how she hasn't broken it by now.

Sweat lines her forehead, hair sticking to her forehand in small strands. The woman gives one final push, another cry escaping past her chapped lips. Soon, the sound of a crying child mingles with her own and she slumps back against the bed's mattress. Her chest rises and falls rapidly, a tired smile tugging at her lips as she sees her wailing child. The umbilical cord is cut and the child is cleaned, but as the mother reaches for her child, the baby is placed in the gloved hands of the doctor and whisked away.

No, no, that's not right, the woman wants her baby. She wants her baby.

She'll begin to try and sit up, arms reaching out, her hoarse voice calling out in her native tongue. "Bring me my child, bring her to me! I want my baby!"

The mother is growing hysterical, the nurse has no choice but to inject a sedative into her bloodstream. She collapsed against the nurse, limbs feeling heavy, and the nurse places her back in her bed. The woman continues to mutter, "I want my baby, please, please …." until sleep finally overcomes her.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

About twelve hours later, her eyes begin to flutter open, her body struggling to fight against the grogginess that's clinging to her being. The harsh overhead lights cause pain to sting behind her eyes, pupils constricting in size. The sound of the heart monitor beeping lulled her out of her tired state, along with the thoughts racing through her mind. It was the same mantra over and over, '_Where is my child, where is my daughter_?'

The sound of the door opening caught her attention, her head snapping toward the direction of the noise. A doctor, clad in a white lab coat, came toward her, expression looking something like sympathy; or was it pity?

"Ms. Bauer. I'm sorry to tell you that your daughter did not last the night. There were complications with the child birth and she died while you were sedated."

The woman felt her chest constrict painfully, as though the wind had been knocked out of her. All she could think was that her baby was dead, her child was no longer with her in this world. For a moment, she felt nothing, a pulsing numbness washed over her. Then, she felt pure agony, the kind only a mother could feel after losing a child. Her eyes filled with tears as she brought her hands to cover her mouth, her eyes squeezing shut as a gut-wrenching sob wracked her body.

"I'm going to need a name, ma'am, to put on the death certificate." The doctor spoke, lips pressing into a thin line.

"Emma. Emma Lillian Bauer." She struggled to speak as another sob shook her shoulders, her chest tightening and making it hard to breathe.

The doctor nodded once before turning silently on his heel, to let the woman grieve over her lost child. As soon as the door closed behind him, the doctor shrugged off the lab coat and tossed it unceremoniously in an empty corner. His expression was void of emotion as he took the staircase down to the ground floor, exiting the hospital in the early hours of the morning. Waiting for him was a car with blocked license plates and tinted windows. As soon as he got inside and closed the door, the car drove off, driving out of the city limits and into the countryside.

About twenty minutes later, the car passed a sign that said 'Vienna's Juvenile Penitentiary'. The car pulled to a stop as they reached a security gate, waiting about five seconds until the guards let them through. The car then pulled around to the front entrance, the man getting out and heading inside the building.

He was greeted by a few people in the facility, mostly guards patrolling the floors. Pulling a key-card out of his pocket, he swiped against the keypad as he reached a restricted area of the building. Tucking the key-card back into his pocket, he walked the length of the hallway before turning a corner, entering the first door on the right. Inside was a small room and to the west was a large bay window. On the other side was a large room, full of doctors in scrubs and surgery masks. There was a man in front of the window already stood another figure; another man dressing in a sharp tailored suit, his arms crossed over his chest.

The man who entered the room approached the window, standing to the right of the other.

"How is the progress, sir?"

"We are progressing rather quickly, just as we hoped, Nikolai." He hummed, his eyes seeming to brighten in the slightest.

"How many children have we taken so far?"

"Over a hundred would be my estimate. Whether or not they will survive the testing, that it the ultimate question."

"So Operation Genesis is in effect?"

This time, the man's face broke out into a large grin. "Oh, yes, it has only just begun."


End file.

Avengers, Adventure, Drama