You stagger away from the overturned van, a slight limp slowing your pace. The van had flipped twice after you shot the driver, you were probably lucky you hadn't broken anything in the impact. Still, it had worked to disorientate your fellow HYDRA agents. In the confusion it had been almost comically easy to kill them; your training allowing you to deliver steady headshots to several of them before the others even realized what was happening. The rest had fallen soon after, although you had taken several tranquilizer darts in the process. They were unwilling to kill you and that had been their downfall. You can feel the drug coursing through your system, and you try and fight through the grogginess it imposes on you, but you can feel yourself losing. No-you try and blink away the blurriness that settles in your vision-you're not far enough away-they'll find you. You stumble and fall forward, wincing as your cheek scrapes against the pavement. You make it back up to your knees before you collapse again, your limbs heavy with exhaustion. It was over.
The first thing you notice is bright light shining above your closed eyelids, then the unfamiliar voices speaking above you. Everything sounds muffled, and you try to concentrate, focusing in on the voices until they became legible. English-they were speaking English. You weren't back in Russia then, you reason, had you managed to escape after all? You stayed perfectly still, controlling your breathing and your heart rate giving no indication that you were no longer unconscious.
"Sam found her about a mile down the road from the dead HYDRA agents," One of the voices said, definitely American, male. "There were twenty of them. She was passed out in the road with about six tranquiliser darts stuck in her-I mean that's enough to take down an elephant for a couple hours and somehow she still managed to fight her way out and get almost a mile away?" He sounded incredulous; whoever these people were they had no idea what you were capable of. That was good.
"I'm pretty sure I can explain that," The second voice said, "I took a blood test, and it's like nothing I've ever seen-besides in your and Bucky's blood. She had to have been enhanced with something similar to the serum used on you and Bucky." Or not. At least one of the people in the room with you was enhanced, that would make it harder to fight your way out. Definitely not impossible then. Bucky. Something about the name sounded familiar, but you couldn't place it. You hoped it was nothing, if anyone here managed to ID you it would just make it that much more difficult for you to disappear. And disappearing was the only way that you could survive.
You open your eyes and immediately choose your target before they can even register the change, in one fluid motion you lunge forward, looping your arm around the blonde man's neck and using the momentum to fling yourself behind him, tightening your grip on him while you stare down the other one. Using your teeth you rip out the IV and let it fall to the ground, using your now freed hand to grip your hostage's jaw.
"We're not going to hurt you," The man you were holding said slowly while the other eyed you warily, "Just calm down."
"I want transport," Your fingers tighten against his jaw in warning, "And a weapon. If you try anything I'll snap his neck." You tense as you hear footsteps echoing down the hallway. One of them must have done something to call back up. There were three of them-two men, one woman. The first of them burst into the room and your eyes widen as you recognize him-the Winter Soldier-and caught off guard you were unable to stop the man you were holding from ripping himself away from you. The moment you separated the Soldier's cold metal hand met your throat and shoved you roughly against the wall behind you.
"What the hell is she doing here?" The Soldier hisses, his grip tightening on your throat, cutting off your air supply, "I know her, she's one of them." Just as you decide it's time to remove the Asset's favorite metal asset, you're distracted by metal parts flying into the room and cloaking the second man in a metal suit. As he grabs the Soldier by the shoulders and rips him away from you, flinging him across the room where he hits a metal table that gives under the impact-you realize that you know him-in fact, you know all of them. Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, Steve Rogers-Captain America, the slight nervous looking man was Dr. Banner, and the petite redhead was Natasha Romanov, The Black Widow. You weren't sure why it'd taken you so long to place their names-maybe you were getting sloppy-the amount of times you had read over their files. They were the Avengers-HYDRA's number one enemies. Rogers is on you the moment the Soldier isn't, forcing your head down onto the hospital bed with one hand while the other pins one of your arms behind your back.
"Nat, get him out of here!" Rogers shouts as the Soldier climbs to his feet, his rage apparent even from across the room. Romanov steps forward, pulling her handgun and aiming it steadily at the Soldier who's now glaring at her.
"Come on Barnes, time to go," She says evenly. He throws you a vicious look before he shoves past her and out the door. You listen to their footsteps retreat, and once they're out of your (abnormally good) hearing range, Rogers relaxes, letting you stand up.
"Now, are you ready to talk?" His tone is friendly, but his eyes are calculating, watching your every move. You shift your weight to your right foot, and his body instinctively does the same. He doesn't want to fight you, but he will. He sighs, and your eyes move back up to his face, "Let me put it this way, you can either calm down, come into another room, and talk to me, or we calm you down, and you end up in the kind of prison cell that you never get out of."
"Steve, are you sure that's a good idea?" Banner asks gently, "We have no idea who she is or what's she's capable of." Too true.
The helmet of the Iron Man suit pops open, revealing Tony Stark's smug face, "Yeah, maybe running off with homicide Barbie isn't exactly the best idea," he shoots a wink in your direction, "No offence gorgeous."
"It's fine," Rogers looks down at you, "You're not going to attack me again are you?"
"Not right now," You say after a moment, relaxing your stance.
"Well that's reassuring," Stark balks, but Rogers ignores him, instead gesturing towards the door. You leave the room and allow him to lead you down the hall while you memorize the route he takes you. Any information you had on the building you were in would definitely come in handy during your inevitable escape. You had to play this the right way though, you couldn't recall how many members their organization had but you knew it was more than just the handful you had already encountered. You were pretty sure they had a sharpshooter too-and maybe the enhanced witch twins that had previously escaped from HYDRA. It was times like this that you wished your memory was fully intact. No matter what it wasn't going to be easy to get away.
He stops at a small glass conference room and steps inside, taking a seat at one side of the table. You pull out the chair and sit across from him. "My name is Steve Rogers," He says gently, "Will you tell me your name?"
You settle back into the chair, relief flooding your body as you let some of the weight off your ankle. "They call me…" You pause, translating from Russian to English, "Nightingale. I can't remember my real name."
"Nightingale," Roger's repeats, "I'm part of a group of individuals called the Avengers."
"I know who you are and who you're with Rogers," You lean forward, crossing your arms on the table.
"And now I know who you are and who you're with," Rogers responds, his posture relaxed. He must really trust that you're not going to pull anything-or he thinks that you wouldn't pose a threat. Well, he was right on one of those ideas at least.
"Was with," You clarify, "I'm sure that my previous actions will have made my resignation quite clear to my superiors. I'm sure if they're not searching for me already they will be soon."
"And that's exactly why we've brought you back to our compound instead of to a government prison. As you've seen, we have members here with pasts similar to yours. We're willing to offer you asylum here and eventually a place within our organization-if of course you can guarantee you don't pose a threat to our organization and in return you give us any and all information you have on HYDRA."
"And if I refuse?"
"Well, then you get to see that prison we've been talking about," Rogers leans forward, elbows coming to rest on the table, "I strongly suggest you take the offer. You'll be safe here." Like you needed their protection. Still, it would be nice to have somewhere to lay low for awhile, keep off HYDRA's radar.
"It doesn't sound like I have much of a choice."
Your words hang poignantly in the air for a moment before Rogers gives you a tight smile and rises to his feet. "I'll show you to your room then."
Steve lets out a breath as he locks the door to your room behind him, leaning against the wall outside. He was not looking forward to the upcoming days whatsoever. Steeling himself, he heads down to the kitchen; Bucky has his back to the door, his hands clenched on the counter. "Buck," Steve says softly and his best friend whirls around to face him, his expression livid.
"Are you fucking kidding me Rogers? Have you lost your mind? You're walking all of us right into a fucking trap. We'll be lucky if she doesn't slaughter us all in our sleep. Not everyone is a good person deep down Steve."
"Bucky, come on. She'll be confined to her room, she's not going anywhere-"
"If you think a locked door is going to stop her," Bucky snorts angrily, "You're smarter than this Steve- this is a mistake. If something seems even a little off I'm putting her down myself." Bucky shoves past Steve, storming out of the kitchen and down the hall. Steve sighs, leaning back against the counter. This was not going to be fun.
The room was nice, you had to admit. Much better than the cold metal cell you slept in back home. You heard the click of a lock when Rogers closed the door behind him, but you tried it anyway. You bent down to inspect the handle, but found no locking mechanism. Without knowing how it locked you wouldn't be able to get out, short of just breaking it down of course. But that could be loud-things could get messy. You straighten up, and walk the perimeter of the room. The windows were all bullet proof and locked as well so you weren't getting through those anytime soon. Too bad you didn't have a fancy metal arm like the Soldier. A large bed sat against the center of the far wall, with a nightstand and lamp on the left-hand side. You opened the drawer of the nightstand and found it empty. Two doors were set into the wall next to the bed; the first led to an empty closet, and the second to an in-suite bathroom. Inside the cupboards were towels, washcloths, toilet paper; standard toiletries. The medicine cabinet contained bottles of shampoo and soap, along with a plastic wrapped toothbrush.
The shower looked sinfully appetising-how long had it been since you had the luxury of a hot shower? You honestly couldn't remember. After a moment of hesitation you slowly stripped off the black kevlar body suit you wore. Blood streaked your bare flesh underneath where it had soaked through the fabric. You stepped into the shower, barely containing a moan as the hot water poured over you, washing the blood, sweat, and grime out of your hair. Despite the fact that it felt like pure ecstacy you kept it short and reluctantly stepped out, re-dressing in your uniform. Your hands felt bare without your customary gloves, but the doctor must have taken them off when he started the IV.
You sat on the bed, your back straight against the headboard. You were exhausted, the tranquilisers along with the days events had taken their toll; but still, it was more than that. For the first time since you were a child you were out from HYDRA's thumb. Your escape hadn't been as clean as you wanted it to be but things could definitely be worse. You were probably even safe to close your eyes for a little while, to drift off to sleep, maybe get a few hours of uninterrupted rest before the sun rose. But maybe not-your eyes snap open as you hear heavy footsteps outside your door. A second later the door burst open, the Soldier flying through it. He grabs your injured ankle and yanks you off the bed where you hit the ground hard.
You hop nimbly back to your feet and face him, your expression blank as you try to ignore the searing pain shooting up your leg. "Soldat," You say quietly, "It's been a long time."
"Fuck you," He spits, towering over you, "Why are you here?"
"I'd gladly leave, but your Captain made it quite clear that if I try, it's maximum security for me."
"Why not fight your way out? Door's open Nightingale, don't think you can get past me?" He's clearly taunting you, but you're not rising to his bait. For once in your life fighting is not the way out of this situation. At least not as it stands now.
"Wouldn't that be something?" You murmur, shifting your weight slightly to alleviate some of the pain in your ankle. The Soldier tenses and then he's on you, slamming you against the wall, your head bouncing off dizzily as his metal arm forms a bar across your throat.
"You're not going anywhere because you're exactly where you want to be," He snarls in your face, "What does HYDRA want?"
"What doesn't HYDRA want?" You laugh, "You, me, your Avenger's heads on a plate, world domination, take your pick," he presses harder on your throat, silencing you.
"I don't know what your plan is," The Soldier hisses, his voice low in your ear, "But it's not going to work. I'm watching you, you piece of shit. Thy might not know who you are and what you're capable of, but I do. If you make a move on one of them, if you even look at someone here wrong, I will rip you apart and I will enjoy doing it."
You're officially out of air so you reach up and grab his metal arm, using all of your strength to push it away from you. "I'm sure you will." He takes a step back, his eyes cool and filled with hatred. He slams the door behind him when he leaves, and you relax your stance, rubbing at your throat. You felt like you were one chokeslam away from a broken neck. You really couldn't blame him for his attitude however, in fact, you weren't too fond at being in the same place as him either. Two high profile ex-HYDRA agents in the same place was just asking for trouble; if HYDRA found out you were positive they would find it to be worth the risk to infiltrate the Avenger's compound if it meant re-capturing the pair of you. As for his alliance with HYDRA, you would struggle to believe he had severed it if you hadn't been there to see the broken expression on his face after he had started to remember Steve Rogers. You had watched as they put him in the chair, his confusion and pain as they wiped him again.
You limp over to the bed, if your ankle hadn't been fractured before it sure as hell was now. This time you just collapse into the mattress-now that the Soldier had gotten some of his frustration out, he probably wouldn't try to murder you in your sleep. Probably. The first rays of light filter in the widow as you close your eyes hoping that your do-gooder prison guards would let you rest for a few hours.