Yo girl, keep it together

I knew you would come far
Now you're truly a Heather;
Smell how gansta you are!

-Yo Girl; from the Off-Broadway performance, Heathers: the Musical

1933

Melanie Lexington kept her eyes straight and her shoulders squared. She walked with a purpose, holding herself with an air of confidence and ensuring those around her felt it as well. After having spent fifteen years growing up in the deep South, Melanie witnessed firsthand just how out of control people could get when it came to differences. Especially racial differences. Growing up in Georgia, in the deepest parts of it, Melanie had to become hardened at a young age when it came to her white peers. She wasn't seen as an equal in their eyes, just because of the color of her skin. Her light brown skin made her an easy target; and while Melanie wanted to retaliate for every bad thing that had been done to her and her family, she'd been told not to. Any trouble she got in would be blown out of proportion, and she'd receive a bigger punishment in return.

The fifteen year old's mother would tell her that not letting people's words or attacks get to her was better than any form of retaliation. Melanie couldn't let people control her emotions, because once they had that control, they could do whatever they wanted. So she'd listen to her mother's advice, and it worked. But once the racial violence started to escalate, that meant drastic changes had to be done. Melanie's mother, Zoë, chose to send her only daughter up to New York to live with a relative. It was the safest place either of them could think of. Melanie tried convincing Zoë to come with her, but there had only been enough money for one person to go. And despite Melanie's best efforts, there was nothing she could've done to bring her mother to the North. That was why, with the remaining money the family had, Melanie Lexington was sent on a journey to the North to live with a cousin she'd never met.

It took some time to grow accustomed to the adjustments, and it took time for the fifteen year old to trust her cousin. Having to grow up depending on survival instincts wasn't an easy trait to leave behind, but it was something Melanie had to do if she wanted to become part of her new environment. Bits and pieces of her old traits never did leave, but Melanie learned how to hide those from those around her. Some attributes were harder to get rid of than others. But, overall, she learned to adjust to her new home. When it came to her cousin, Melanie needed a longer period of time. She wasn't really familiar with some of her mother's extended family, only the small amounts who lived in Georgia with them.* So having to live with an older woman and her small son was definitely something Melanie wasn't expecting. It took a couple months, however, for Melanie to become comfortable and trusting with the small family, and it eased a lot of the tension they were feeling.

But on one particular day, Melanie's cousin, Tricia, asked the fifteen year old to run to the nearest market to get medicine for her son, Daniel. Daniel had gotten a bad fever, and none of the home remedies Tricia made seemed to be working, so medicine was the last resort for making him feel better. For Melanie, when she did manage to make it to the nearest store — a white store at that — she spent a lot of time arguing with store workers over allowing her to get in before they finally caved. Much to her frustration, the workers and customers kept a very close eye on her. Melanie, for the duration of her shopping trip, fought back the frustration and anger bubbling in the pit of her stomach. Had it been anyone else, preferably a white person, they'd be let in without so much as a second glance. For Melanie, for any person of color, they wouldn't be allowed to even look inside the store. That was why she was walking back to her cousin's in such a way, her eyes forward and her shoulders squared. It was Melanie's attempt to keep herself as calm as possible until she closed Tricia's door behind her.

-O-

"How'd it go?" Once Melanie made it safely back to Tricia's apartment, she let out a long sigh. Without so much as a glance the older woman's way, Melanie handed over the medicine and went in the direction of her room. She needed to figure out a way to calm down without disrupting Daniel. "Was it that bad?" Tricia called.

"Next time you ask me to go to the nearest market, go yourself," Melanie said, her voice straining against the emotions swirling inside her. "I could take care of Daniel while you're gone." With that, the fifteen year old went into her room and carefully closed the door. In that moment, the second the door was closed, Melanie kicked off her shoes and threw them against the wall. Her desire to be considerate for Daniel went out the window in that second. All that mattered was releasing all that pent up frustrating. Zoë wanted her daughter to believe she could rise above all the torment people would give her; and Melanie tried, she really did. But the world didn't care how much she tried to be better than the words and actions people threw at her, Melanie would never be better than anyone else. She'd still be the social outcast simply because of her skin. People didn't care about Melanie's hopes or ambitions; they looked at her and saw someone who shouldn't be in their society. In their world. When people took note of Melanie's family, they didn't see caring parents taking care of their young child, they saw an unholy union and an abomination of a child.

Zoë Lexington had been born and raised in an impoverished African-American community in the deepest parts of Georgia. Zoë's community was under constant attack by neighboring whites, who thought people of color had no place in their proximity. As dangerous as it was, that was her home. There were no options on other locations to live in, so Zoë and her family were stuck there, living in fear for their lives every single day. Then came Nicolae Klein. Nicolae had come to America from Romania, hailing from a small Jewish community. He'd immigrated with the hopes of starting a new life. Being unaware of American customs, he did fall in love with Zoë, and not even a year after they formed a relationship, Melanie had been born. When news hit that a mixed-race child had been born, there was an uproar. The neighboring white communities had stormed in with the plan of killing the family and burning down the community. Nicolae fought a lot of the men off, but was killed from a gunshot to the chest. Zoë's community fought back; using everything they had to get the intruders out of Zoë's home. After that day, there was a tension between the communities and everyone inside.

Melanie was thankful for her mother, having been forced to raise a child out of wedlock. Having to face the taboo of raising a white man's child. It wasn't easy to have to do that without any support, knowing that at any moment something could go horribly wrong. And understanding that some people could get so violent so easily over race and interracial couples, it made Melanie wonder why she was even born. In the extreme cases where her frustrations and anger would get the better of her, she'd wonder why Nicolae moved to Georgia of all places. Why couldn't he have gone North instead? Why couldn't he have married a pretty white girl and started a family with her? Why did he have to meet Zoë and get killed? What was so appealing about Georgia, anyway? All of that, plus everything she'd endure in the public eye, would build up over a period of time and cause emotional explosions for Melanie. That incident with the store was the cherry on top for another outburst.

The quickness of Melanie's breathing filled the otherwise quiet room, once the sounds of her shoes hitting the wall dwindled off. Tears prickled along the edge of her eyes, threatening to fall at any given moment. Melanie hated when her emotions got the better of her, when she found herself incapable of properly sorting out how she was feeling and handling it in a calm manner. All she wanted was to be able to live as normally as possible, but how was she supposed to when it felt like the whole world was against her?

2014

H.Y.D.R.A. found itself struggling to remain afloat after the incident at the Triskelion incident. Project Insight was supposed to be H.Y.D.R.A.'s greatest achievement in decades; their biggest move since World War II. It took countless sleeper agents to exploit S.H.I.E.L.D.'s forces, hours upon hours of data and work. Sleepless nights and fear of being found out. All of that loomed over H.Y.D.R.A.'s head, and all it took was Captain America's interference, with the assistance of his two friends, to make all those efforts come crashing down. Now whatever remained of the criminal organization was barely enough to even hope to rebuild anything. Natasha Romanoff had released all the identities of every S.H.I.E.L.D. and H.Y.D.R.A. agent, every plan both groups had in store. While they were heavily encrypted, that didn't mean they couldn't be broken. Loyal followers went into hiding, not wanting to face charges for any crimes they committed. Not wanting to be hunted down by those they wronged.

S.H.I.E.L.D. could still be partially rebuilt, not in the same way it originally had been, but somewhat. H.Y.D.R.A. was something else. They couldn't rebuild effectively enough; no one wanted to risk their lives again, throw themselves at a cause that could fail again. But those loyal few, living under the radar in the most extreme ways possible, found themselves at a crossroad. Upon Project Insight's failure, Alexander Pierce's death was quickly spread among those who knew of him. Pierce had been one of H.Y.D.R.A.'s most important sleeper agent. He'd given information he gathered as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Councilman and whatever information he could get from the government to his underlings in hopes of quickly progressing Insight. With Pierce's death, H.Y.D.R.A. fell more and more into chaos, ironically. The real icing on that cake, though, was when the underground community, especially those responsible for his outcome, found out about the Winter Soldier's abandonment. The last known location of the Winter Soldier was in Washington, D.C., during the Triskelion fight. After the Helicarriers crashed, the Asset's whereabouts couldn't be detected. No one had the slightest clue on where he might be, which instilled fear in the underground community. What if he decided to enact vengeance against all the people responsible for making him? It seemed like a plausible idea, but his head was so scrambled from the mind sweeps that it seemed impossible he'd remember them all.

Then again, the most important piece of information was the he was the Winter Soldier. The most notorious assassin in all history. Most of the community didn't believe in him, but with H.Y.D.R.A.'s records on the internet, anyone with the ability to crack encrypted code could verify his existence. If the remaining H.Y.D.R.A. agents allowed him to remain on the run, he'd eventually be hunted down by other countries. The Winter Soldier was famous for his killing of important individuals. Certainly there had to be someone in the world who had it out to get him.

But there was also the other downside of leaving the Winter Soldier on the run. If he didn't come back to slaughter the people who created him, he'd let out whatever information he could remember on H.Y.D.R.A. That could ruin whatever remained of H.Y.D.R.A.'s reputation. They couldn't afford to have something like that happen. Which is why they decided to hunt down the Winter Soldier in hopes of keeping him under their control.

With no agent feeling as if they could take the Asset on by themselves, it was decided that they'd send in their back up. The one other person who could physically handle the Asset's enhancements.

(A/N):

A bit of a wait for this chapter, but I hope you guys at least tolerate it. Let me know what you think, OK? I'd like to know whatever constructive criticism you think of.

Nothing in the MCU belongs to me. All I own are my OCs and the subplots I put in.

Hopefully you guys had a nice New Year! I am hoping 2018 is your year.

On that note, I'll wrap this up.

Thanks a bunch.

AJ Menendez