Chapter Two:

Enhanced's POV:

"Damn it," I cursed in Russian as I peeled my shirt off my ribs where the agent's gunshot had hit me.

The shirt had stuck to my flesh because of the dried blood, making removing it very painful. Why couldn't they just leave me the hell alone? I wasn't coming for them, at least I hadn't until they came for me. I just wanted to be left alone to deal with the people who took the only family I had ever had in my life from me. Why couldn't they understand that?

I finally got my shirt off and saw that the bullet wound, which was a graze, was already almost fully healed. It was one of the side effects of the experiments that had been done on my mother when she was pregnant with me. I took the alcohol and cleaned what was left of the wound before getting in the shower. My muscles were tense from using my abilities, from the fight with those agents. And I knew this was far from over.

When I got out of the shower, I sat down to watch t.v. with a sandwich. Thankfully, the firefight between me and those agents was nowhere on any of the news stations. The last thing I wanted was more intelligence agencies coming to look for me. Pulling a blanket over me, I started to fall asleep.

I didn't know what time it was when I heard the noise in the safehouse I was staying in. I got up as quietly as I could and grabbed the gun I had under my couch. It didn't matter. Just as quickly as I had it, it was knocked out of my hand to the floor and I was pinned back to the couch.

"What were you thinking, Sophie?" he snarled in my face in Russian.

Most people would have needed time to adjust their vision in the dark, but I didn't. I could see his features clearly. His dark hair was falling in his dark eyes. He was wearing all black, but I could see traces of the metal left arm that was pinning me to my couch.

"Which part, Sergeant Barnes?" I replied.

He pushed down further on my shoulder with his metal arm. I refused to wince.

"Starting with S.H.I.E.L.D.? What is wrong with you?"

S.H.I.E.L.D.? I had heard of them.

"You mean the ones that put the Avengers together?" I asked him, still speaking Russian.

"Yes. Why were you starting with them?"

"That's who came after me?"

He eased up his grip on me.

"You didn't know?"

I shook my head.

"That was a S.H.I.E.L.D. team, Sophie. Given how badly they handled trying to get to you, chances are the next step is they will send the Avengers after you."

I must have faltered in keeping my façade up. Sergeant Barnes changed back to a gentler part of him. He still wasn't who he was before he became the Winter Soldier, but he had a softer side. Finally, he started speaking to me in English.

"What were you doing, Soph?" he asked me, letting go of my shoulder and pulling me into a sitting position next to him.

"The researchers, I went to take them out, Bucky. That team of agents showed up while I was leaving, Bucky. I had no intent on engaging them until they started firing at me."

"You've been going around the world stealing and assassinating. You knew you'd get on someone's watch list eventually."

"I didn't think it would be S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers."

"You have enhanced abilities. Why wouldn't they want to get to you?"

"What do I do, Bucky?"

"You need to get out of here. If I could find you, I'm sure they could."

"But you know me. Nobody else really does."

"They'll find a way to find out about you, Soph. Go pack. We need to move you to a new location."

"Why are you doing this, Bucky?"

"You remind me of someone. I'm not sure who."

I got up and packed the essentials. Bucky and I left under the cover of night.

Barton's POV:

I got to the new Avengers' base and immediately Nat came to me.

"Good to have you back, Barton."

"It's temporary, Tasha."

"Still good to have you here. I miss how well we work together."

"You guys haven't been doing that bad without me."

"It's still not the same."

I hugged her, knowing what we meant to each other. The two of us were closer than either of us were to any of the other Avengers.

"I miss you too, Tasha."

Everyone but Banner and Thor were gathered in the new facility. They still hadn't found Banner and Thor was back on Asgard. We were taken to a conference room, where Fury was waiting for us. When we sat down, he started talking to us.

"Now, I assume everyone in here is up to speed on the enhanced we're trying to track. But before I let you debrief Agent May's team, there is something all of you need to know," he started. "A call was made, three years ago, that affected everyone in this room. Loki killed Phil Coulson and that is what brought this team together. However, the call that affected everyone, was the one not to tell you that Phil Coulson is alive again. We had developed a program, that was still in its test-stages, to resurrect someone in case of a fallen Avenger. When Loki killed Coulson, I made the call to have the protocol used on him and not tell anyone."

Every one of us was in an uproar. Coulson was mine and Natasha's handler. He was a good man. Stark had taken his death hard because he wasn't like the rest of us, a fighter, and he was killed in the line of action. It was the same for Captain America. And Fury just admitted he used Coulson's death to pull us together as a team. I smirked, and Fury caught it.

"What are you smiling about, Barton?"

"Well, no offense, Director Fury, but all of us here are infuriated by this news. What do you think is going to happen to you when say Thor returns from Asgard and finds out that you lied about the death of Son of Coul to manipulate us? I can't imagine he's going to be very happy with you."

Stark and Natasha started laughing, knowing I was right.

"Enough of this. We don't have time for this. We need to debrief that team so we can prepare to find that enhanced. She's dangerous," Rogers said, obviously putting aside his anger for the greater good, as usual.

"Fine. Bring them in," Fury said.

The door opened, and at the front of the team was none other than Phil Coulson.

"Good to see something good came out of that," Coulson said. "Avengers, this is my team, Agents May, Sky, Fitz, Simmons, and Hunter. We're here to tell you about the enhanced you'll be looking for."

Sky walked over to the computer and pulled up some information. It was a profile.

"Our best guess is that she's in her late teens to early twenties," Sky said. "She took three warning shots at us, literally hitting points inches away from us before we knew that she was on to us, so we know that she's an excellent marksman. She's committed ten assassinations in the last six weeks in as many countries. All marks seem to be scientists."

Agents Simmons came forward and started explaining who the marks were and their work. All were into human experimentation, so the running theory was the enhanced was somehow involved in their work and now out for blood. They were trying to track anyone who was connected to any project any of the marks had been on so they could try to catch her going for them. Agent May came forward at that point, all business as usual.

"The enhanced doesn't seem to be unorganized. So far, there have been no civilian casualties at any of her hits. She's efficient, she gets in, she hits her mark, she gets out. Nobody but her mark is hurt. Not even when we engaged her, no civilians were hurt in the crossfire. She's skilled and organized, which makes her more dangerous."

"Is there any physical description you can give us? Any information about weapons of choice or her abilities?" Rogers asked.

"From what we've seen, she uses various weapons. She's used guns and a bow and arrow as well as more close-range weapons, such as knives and daggers. As for her abilities, Captain America, Sir, we know she is pyrokinetic, and seems to have some kind of teleportation ability, but beyond that, we haven't been able to get a comprehensive list of what she can do," Fitz said.

"And she's not too tall, sandy blonde hair, not too thin. With the distance she kept us at, that's the best I can give ya," said Hunter.

It was more than the team had earlier in the day. We'd have to go with it.

"We'll need that list of scientists that may have worked with her kills," Tasha said.

"Of course, Agent Romanoff," Simmons replied.

Coulson's team was dismissed and we stayed to go over what intel they'd gathered. It was time to get ready to hunt this girl down.