A/N- THIS IS THE REWRITTEN VERSION OF CHAPTER NINE. I AM SOOOO MUCH HAPPIER WITH THIS VERSION, AND IT IS FAIRLY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT I HAD POSTED BEFORE. EVEN IF YOU READ IT THE FIRST TIME, YOU NEED TO READ IT AGAIN.

Opening your door and walking into your own house shouldn't feel wrong. It should be something you don't even have to think about. A reflex. Coming home should feel like, well, coming home. And yet it took Riley 10 minutes just to will herself to unlock the door.

she wasn't even sure why she came here in the first place. She wanted answers, and if her parents were really part of Hydra, they sure as hell wouldn't keep anything that could trace them back to the organization in the house. Not with a snoopy teenager around, anyway.

Everything in the living room and kitchen was just as broken as she left it. Glass was still everywhere, the wall was still charred, and the tequila was still sitting next to the melted remains of her cell phone.

Riley picked up the bottle. "You, my friend, have gotten so much more attractive since the last time I saw you." She uncapped it and took a long sip. It tasted terrible, as usual, but she didn't care.

Bottle in hand and taking sips every now and then, Riley continued on to her old bedroom. Old bedroom? Since when did I start thinking of it as my 'old bedroom?' Technically, she still lived in this house. Even though she knew that, she also knew this would never be her home again. The realization hurt. Another sip of tequila made it hurt a little less.

From her room, she grabbed most of her clothes and jewelry, her old teddy bear, her camera, some school things, and a framed photograph taken during family outing from a few years ago. She shoved it all into a large duffle bag.

Riley plopped onto her bed, and looked around her room. "Hey, Riley, let's play a game!" She said to herself. "Every time you see something or think something that makes you sad, take a sip. Oh wait, that's everything!" She choked down as much alcohol as she could in one breath. When she was done, the bottle was about half empty. It was almost full when she first got to it. Riley set the remainder down on her dresser.

"Time to do what I came here to do… Let the snooping begin! Oh! but first…" Riley took out a long sleeved black T-shirt and black jean shorts from the duffle bag and put them on. If she was going to act like a spy, she had to look like one. And this was as close as she could get. She was pretty drunk by this point, so it made perfect sense to her. She would have put on black shoes too, but her combat boots weren't sneaky enough.

She went into her parent's old office next. They had always been fairly secretive about their work, so Riley had never been allowed to spend much time in there. Now she knew why. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about the room. There was bookshelves lining the walls, a desk with a computer on top, and a couple file cabinets. She didn't know what she expected, but a normal home office wasn't it.

Riley started her search with papers on the desk, but they were all bills or something equally as boring. The same went for everything she could find in the file cabinet. She opened drawers, looked in books, searched the computer, checked under carpets… There was nothing that pointed to her being Hydra.

Since there was nothing in the office, she decided her next best shot was their bedroom. The only thing she found in there, however, was her dad's keys. They were on a lanyard with a needles and stethoscopes pattern Riley had gotten him a few years ago. Of course, that was when she had thought her dad was just a regular doctor. Along with their house keys were the keys to her dad's car, his work access badge, and a mail key. "Ew, now I'm sad again…"

Riley slid the lanyard around her neck and stood in front of the mirror. She held up the badge, pretending she was her father and her reflection was someone else. "Heeellloo, I'm Mr. McLiarpants from Liars incorporated. I would loooovvveeeee to chat some more, but I haven't met my betrayl quota for the day yet, so I will see you lateeerr." She laughed at herself so hard, she had to sit on the ground to keep from falling over.

She sat on the floor, twirling the badge around in her hands. "Hold on...if the hospital was shut down years ago, and the jobs were a cover all along...then what the hell is the access badge for? " Her brows came together as her mind worked out every possible reason. The answer was relatively obvious, but it took her longer to arrive at a conclusion than usual due to the alcohol inhibiting her thought process. Dr. David Marlowe was printed on the front, under his picture. And underneath that was the name of the hospital where he supposedly worked. "Oh oh oh oh oh, the hospital, the hospital! Everything's at the hospital!"

Riley jumped up and down, overjoyed that she had figured it out. Of course everything was at the hospital! She bet it was a secret base or something like that. The idea thrilled her. She had to go there as soon as possible so she could see for herself.

Ring...Ring...Ring. In the living room, the home phone was ringing. The repeated sound was like a drill forcing its way through Riley head. "Shut up! you're so loud!" She yelled at it. the phone refused to stop ringing until she finally gave in and went to answer the phone. She picked it up and took it with her back into her own bedroom.

"Hellooo?" Riley was back to being excited again now that the phone stopped being annoying, and the tone of her voice showed it.

"Oh my God, Riley!? You finally answered!" The person who called was Noelle, Riley's best friend since second grade. With everything going on, she almost forgot about her. "I heard what happened, are you ok? nevermind, of course you aren't okay. Listen, I'm here for you all right? Oh God, Riley, I was so scared you had…" Noelle's voice cracked. "That you had...Anyway, are you coming back to school soon?"

"Noelle! I'm sooo sorry. I meant to call you, but I kinda melted my phone and I haven't been home for a while. Oh! I have so much to tell you. You are gonna freeeaaak. But first i have to do a, um, a thing. It's a really important thing. I can't remember what it was, but I really have to go do it."

"What? This is the first time I've talked to you in three days, and you already want to hang up? Come on Riley, you know it's not gonna be that easy. You haven't been in school for like forever, and I have sooo much to tell you. You know our history teacher? Yeah, he's totally sleeping with a student, and-"

"Wait, ssshhh." Riley hushed her friend. She thought she heard something by the front door.

"What? Why?"

"I think someone's in my house." she whispered.

"Oh my god, that's so scary...are you ok? Get like, uh, a baseball bat or something. Or a knife! yeah, get a knife!" Now Noelle was whispering too. Riley smiled, realizing that if there was someone in the house, she wouldn't need a knife or a baseball bat to take them down. She had a built in weapon of her own.

"I'm gonna hang up, I'll call you later." Now she could definitely hear footsteps.

"Wait wait wait! You're at least coming to graduation, right?! It's in 2 weeks now!" Noelle always did have a problem with her priorities.

"Seriously? You want to talk about graduation now? I have to go. Bye." She hung up, and set the phone down on her bed. Slowly, she grabbed the duffle bag, and slid out of her bedroom door. If she was quiet enough, she could sneak out through the back door. And if she wasn't, she could always knock em down with her light.

She made it to the back door, but before she could make it all the way out, the footsteps stopped right behind her. Whoever it was tried to grab her arm. Riley formed a mass of light around her fist and punched them. With the other arm, she swung the duffle bag at them to knock them down. It seemed to do the trick.

With a grunt, the figure tumbled to the ground. The only problem was, they took Riley down with them.

So who do you think the person in Riley's house was? Was it Hydra? An Avenger? Or someone we don't even know yet? Let me know your theories in the comments/reviews! Whoever guesses right by the time I update the next chapter will get a special shout-out in the author's notes next chapter!

As always, thanks for reading!

Love,

Paprika-chan