AN- I will be switching from first person to third so that I can write about the other characters. My first person writing isn't as strong so I hope you were able to bear through the first chapter and enjoy the rest of the story.

Natasha Romanoff was no stranger to the world of espionage, but she did struggle living without a codename or a target. Domestic life was definitely not her strong suit. She kept herself busy, tracking down the girls she remembered from her days in the red room. There was one girl in particular that she remembered, the girl they did genetic experimentation on. She had joined SHIELD, which was the first surprise, and the second was that she was not only Alexander Pierce's daughter put a pivotal piece in Hydra's downfall. She kept digging until all of the information she could find disappeared, leaving no trace of the girl's existence.

"Tony." Natasha yelled, running down into his lab. "I think something's wrong with your network."

Tony, being Tony, couldn't possibly believe that there was anything wrong with something he'd built. "Hand it over." He demanded, snagging the tablet from her hands before she could respond. After many minutes of him staring at the device he came to a different conclusion.

"Something's wrong." He announced, handing the tablet back to red haired assassin.

"Can you make it work?" She asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I'll put JARVIS on it, I'm busy doing important science things." He ordered, handing the tablet back to Natasha and attempting to ferry her out of the space, which he quickly stopped after a well aimed glare.

"Director Coulson, I would like to work on a project of my own for the time being." Olivia requested, standing in front of the Director's desk. He clearly didn't like the idea of an agent going off on their own but she couldn't sit behind a desk any more, she'd chased her leads as far as she could from America, she needed to be in Europe.

"Why?" Coulson asked, leaning back in his chair. He had most likely already made up his mind and simply wanted her to humour him.

"I've been following leads to the red room and I need to do more than sit in a room while you wait to clear me for field work." She spoke, trying to convince him to let her leave. He'd been chasing personal missions for months, surely he would understand why she needed to track down the red room. "Let me go as a private citizen and let me do this. I can't take down the red room behind a computer screen."

"I'll send one of my agents with you." Coulson announced far too nonchalantly as he opened up a random file on his desk. "Gather everything you need and head to the hangar in three hours."

"If I may, sir" Olivia asked, stopping before she left the room. "Why are you letting me do this?"

Coulson looked up from his work, a serious look in his eyes. "I spent months chasing the clairvoyant, because it was personal; discovering how I'm alive, because it's personal. I understand that you need to do this, but you shouldn't go alone."

"Thank you sir." She nodded, leaving the room.

She was quick to pack, having almost nothing on base with her, and she spent several minutes signing off on weapons, which she did wonder where they came from, and was ready to leave before her first hour was up.

So she sat in the kitchen, sipping on a cup of tea, reaching out to one of her Hydra contacts to arrange a meeting. The easiest way to infiltrate the red room would be to reach out as the Hydra supporter they believed her to be.

"What's your name?" A voice asked, drawing Olivia's attention from her email.

"Olivia." She answered, turning to look at the girl approaching her, mug of coffee in hand.

"Skye." The girl smiled, sitting down across from Olivia. "Are you another mercenary?" She asked.

Olivia observed the girl, noting the heart rate monitor on her wrist and the slightly bruised knuckles and arms. She was far too relaxed to be a specialist, but clearly wasn't a scientist either. She must be a comms agent, or used to be. The girl screamed computers, though it was mostly the way she tapped on the table with her fingers as if it were a keyboard. But the bruises meant she was training. Was Coulson that desperate that he'd teach a hacker to fight?

"No, I used to be an agent." Olivia replied, looking back down at the tablet in front of her.

"Where were you when Hydra hit?" She asked, causing Olivia to release an exasperated sigh.

"I was in Italy." She replied, noting the unsatisfied look on Skye's face. "I had been associated with Hydra for a while so I barely got affected. They didn't know that I'd been reporting to Fury behind their backs."

"You were Hydra?" Skye asked, her posture locking defensively, a hand reaching to her thigh.

"I was forced into Hydra and conditioned to believe in the cause, though it didn't work very well." Olivia shrugged. She noted Skye relaxing. They sat in silence for a few moments before Olivia finally decided whether the girl in front of her was trustworthy. "Can I ask you to look into something for me?" She asked, knowing it could be a risky move.

"Sure." Skye smiled, taking a long gulp of coffee.

"Could you look into Agent Linda Avery for me?" She asked, trying not to grow concerned at the sudden drop in Skye's expression. Olivia knew her mother was dead, but Skye probably wasn't aware of that fact. "I know she's dead, I just want to know how." She clarified, though Skye's expression still didn't brighten.

"She died after a mission in the Hunan Province in China." Skye spoke, though her voice was far too nervous. "There was a baby girl that someone was looking for and she died because she took the child and made sure that she was protected. She made sure that I couldn't be found by the man that had slaughtered a village trying to find me." Skye was silent for a few moments but quickly shook herself from her stupor, a smile returning to her face. "How did you know her?" She asked. "You barely look older than me."

Olivia nodded, keeping her expression blank. "I don't remember her much." She shrugged, trying not to mourn her mother again. "I was a kid when she died."

"Oh god." Skye breathed. "Avery was a mom." She whispered, a hand clamping over her mouth.

"She did something good before she died." Olivia shrugged, a smile tugging at her lips. "She saved a little girl's life." Olivia didn't pay too much attention to Skye's apologies, instead focussing on the fact that Skye might not be sat in front of her without her mother's sacrafice.

Natasha had finally found a lead, though it was a single email to a known Hydra sympathiser. She was arranging a meeting with Madame B the red room's director. Natasha wasn't too sure how successful reaching out to Olivia would be, but if it went badly, she would have no problem shooting her.