8 Chapter 07: Broken

(Disclaimer: Well, read at your own discretion. If you're a beta, a snowflake, or someone who can't see MC taking shit for a bit, click out of it. While Alex will be going through this only once, I wanted to stick true to what would happen. There's no plot armor, no bullshit way he can save himself. Not this early on. But by the end of this chapter, he will be back to himself, and by the end of this arc, justice shall be served.)

[Third Person POV]

Selene Gallio stood in front of the cell, watching as Alex lay on the floor, broken and defeated. It was a beautiful sight, she would admit. She couldn't really help but chuckle, remembering how he used to make jokes, thinking he could outsmart her. But he was just a pathetic little toy, a plaything for her to break and mold into the perfect soldier, a perfect plaything, a perfect asset.

Later, when she'd given him enough time to process, she opened the cell door and stepped inside, heels clicking on the cold concrete floor. Alex didn't even look up. He just lay there, silent. It was pure bliss for her.

"Get up," she said, voice cold and hard. "It's time to begin your training."

Alex slowly got to his feet, his eyes hollow and lifeless. He was nothing now, just a shell of the person he used to be. And she loved it. She loved breaking people, tearing them down until they were nothing but a puppet in her hands.

She grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the cell, leading him down the dark, damp hallway to the training room. It was a place of horrors, a place where she could push people to their limits and beyond.

"Strip," she commanded, and Alex obeyed, standing there naked and vulnerable. She smiled wickedly as she watched him, enjoying the power she held over him.

Selene stripped Alex to assert her dominance and control over him. She enjoyed causing pain and suffering to those who resisted her, and stripping him was another way to break his will and make him feel vulnerable and exposed.

"Get on there," she said, pointing to the floor. "It's time for your first lesson."

So began his training.

Selene relished the opportunity to mold Alex into her perfect toy, her perfect soldier, her perfect asset. She knew exactly how to break him, and now she would begin the process of rebuilding him in her image.

First, she had to strip him of his identity. Selene shaved his head, took away his clothes, and gave him a plain jumpsuit to wear. He was no longer Alex; he was a blank slate for her to work with.

The training began immediately. Selene pushed him to his physical limits, making him run endless laps around the small cell she kept him in. When he collapsed from exhaustion, she would shock him with a cattle prod until he got up and continued running.

She didn't stop at physical torture, though. Selene also subjected him to mental and emotional abuse, using her telepathic abilities to delve into his deepest fears and insecurities. She manipulated him, making him doubt his own sanity and question reality itself.

But Selene was not without her softer side. She would offer him small rewards for good behavior, like a sip of water or a few minutes of rest. These moments of kindness were all the more effective because they were so rare. She was being 'kind', how wonderful for little Alex. He would love her for it.

Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. Alex's body became stronger, his mind more resilient, but his spirit remained broken. He had accepted his fate, that he was nothing more than Selene's plaything.

Selene's training methods became more extreme as time went on. She made him fight against other prisoners, sometimes to the death. She would put him in solitary confinement for days at a time, depriving him of human contact and driving him to the brink of madness.

Through it all, Selene watched with satisfaction as Alex became a machine, following her every command without hesitation. He was her creation now, her perfect tool for whatever purpose she saw fit.

And yet, despite everything she had done to him, Selene knew there was still a spark of resistance within Alex. She could see it in his eyes, the flicker of defiance that refused to be extinguished.

It thrilled her to no end. Selene enjoyed nothing more than a challenge, and Alex was proving to be her greatest one yet. She would continue to push him to his limits, to see just how far she could bend him before he finally broke for good.

But for now, Selene was content to sit back and watch her creation grow. Alex was her masterpiece, and she would make sure he was ready for whatever task she had in store for him next.

He had awakened his mutant gene when she'd broken him. It wasn't meant anything special, just super strength, but she was content.

Selene was a patient manipulator who knew she would win in the end. She is a woman who sets her goals and will do anything to accomplish them. Selene is not only a manipulative figure, but she also has a silent way of doing things. She was a person who had waited over a decade for this little toy to become even somewhat useful.

That he already had after the few missions she sent him on.

Even if he were to die, she wouldn't care. She felt very little loyalty to those who served her without hesitation or regret. In the past, almost without thought, she'd slaughtered a dozen of her cultists to restore her own youth.

Alex was just another playthind she'd picked up as an infant.

He wouldn't hide anything from her, he COULDN'T hide anything from her; as she could read his mind.

(No, she can't read his past life memories. Only memories he has in this world. If he thought about anything related to his past life; such as memories of canon knowledge, she wouldn't even pick it up. Not only she, but anyone from Marvel. Except for a few individuals.)

Selene had always known that her perfect toy, Alex, suffered from the memories of his "fake" mother. He still didn't believe it. It had been a constant source of pain and emotional instability for him. So, she decided to delve deeper into his past, to unravel the secrets buried deep within his mind.

Using her telepathic abilities, Selene delved into Alex's memories, pulling out one by one, each thought and emotion that he had ever experienced. As she shifted through his memories, she began to feel a deep sense of amusement at the discovery of one particular thing.

His denial to believe that his mother was "fake" was not baseless. That woman had loved him in spite of her orders to treat him as nothing more than a tool and condition him into a perfect plaything, it seemed.

'As expected,' Selene chuckled to herself, finding the irony of the situation amusing.

How laughable and pathetic for that bitch to not do what she was ordered to and fall in love with this little soldier of hers?

As she continued to sift through Alex's memories, she began to feel a deep sense of satisfaction at the thought of destroying the last shred of hope that he had held onto. Memories of his mother's love would be the perfect tool to shatter his fragile psyche, to break him down until he was nothing more than a shell of his former self.

With a wicked grin on her face, Selene began formulating a little thing.

Selene's reason for choosing his 'mother' was simple; she'd just given birth to a stillborn, and Selene knew well that giving a child to her would be best. She knew that the woman would end up loving the kid, since, well, human nature.

It was all the more interesting now.

***

[Alex POV]

Selene's sadistic nature knew no bounds as she sought to break me and mold me into the perfect soldier. I had no idea what was in store for me at first, but I soon learned the depth of her depravity.

It started with simple gaslighting and manipulation. She would say things about my mother, my only source of solace and comfort, that made me doubt my own memories and feelings. She twisted my thoughts and emotions until I was no longer sure what was real and what was not.

As time went on, she became more and more sadistic in her methods. She would torture me physically and mentally, pushing me to the brink of insanity. I would try to resist, to push back against her relentless assault, but she was always one step ahead of me.

Then, one day, she went too far.

That was the day I snapped out of it.

Selene began to speak in a soft, almost soothing voice as she circled around my chained form. "You want to know what happened to your mother, don't you, little toy? I suppose I owe you an explanation for her death." Her eyes twinkled as she spoke, and her voice was almost hypnotic. "You see, your mother was a problem for me. She was always so kind to you, and she kept you away from me. I couldn't have that, you know. I needed to get to you, to make you understand what I am trying to accomplish. To make you mine."

"So I had to remove her from the picture. It was easy enough to mold her brain into developing disease in her, one that would take hold quickly and end her life. It was a tragic loss, I know. But I had to do it, for your own good, of course." She spoke with such sadness that I would've rolled my eyes if my lifeless eyes allowed me to.

What she said, however, shook my pupils as my eyes widened, my mind struggling to comprehend what she was saying.

"You… you killed my mother?"

Selene laughed, a cold, cruel sound that sent shivers down my spine. "Oh, my dear boy, you make it sound so barbaric. I prefer to think of it as… a necessary sacrifice. And look at the result! Your mutant gene has finally awakened. You are so much more powerful now, thanks to me." she said; she believed that my mutant gene had awakened, which was super strength to a level.

I believed it too.

Until now.

A sick, dark, and twisted feeling rose in my stomach as she continued to speak, her words like poison in my mind. I could feel the anger building inside me, a fiery rage that threatened to consume everything.

"You're lying," I growled. "You couldn't have… you wouldn't..."

She merely smiled, her eyes glinting with sadistic pleasure. "Oh, but I did, my dear boy. I did it all for you. And now, you are mine."

I felt the darkness closing in around me, the weight of her words pressing down on me. "What… What do you want from me?" I whispered, barely containing my composure.

Selene leaned in close, her breath hot against my ear. "Everything," she murmured. "I want your mind, your body, your soul. I want you to be my perfect soldier, my perfect toy. And you will be, Alex. You will be."

For weeks, months, maybe even years, she had tortured me, punished me to the limits of my endurance. But this, this was a whole new level, when she pushed me beyond anything I had ever experienced before.

Something inside me finally snapped. Broken.

All I know is that I was consumed by a rage, unlike anything I had ever felt before. My body convulsed as the mutant gene within me finally awakened, granting me powers beyond my wildest dreams.

"Haha…"

A nervous, chilling chuckle echoed inside my cell, starting as a nervous chuckle before transforming into a full-blown cackle that sounded like it came straight from the depths of darkness as something inside of me stirred, my eyes on the woman in front of me.

"Everything?" I smiled, my eyes crinkling into a crescent moon along with my curling lips, a crazed glint flashing in my eyes. "Take it then."

***