Broken. Bloody. Battered.

That's how the five of them walked up to Fury's Globemaster, smiles stitched on to their faces. Iris held Bucky's human hand in her metal one, and they smiled as Ben awkwardly talked to Natasha. Steve was on Bucky's other side, sighing as they began talking about 1939 again, a heavy metal arm drawing him in closer.

"SHIELD isn't reformed." The Director told them from across the table. "Officially we are a terrorist organisation. Few remain loyal, and those who do so do it at the risk of their lives. I wouldn't hold it against you if you left now. I would do the same, if I had anywhere else to run. But if you stay..." Fury paused, dipping his head. A shadow formed around his jaw from where he hadn't been shaving. "I swear that you will be treated just like any SHIELD agent would. You won't be level 1's or 5's, you will be my right hand men...and women. But you have to make your choice now; are you part of this team or not?"

"SHIELD without the badge." Steve stated in the silence. "I think I can live with that."

Iris had to wear an arm sleeve. Bucky wouldn't stop laughing at her.

"You're no better! They have to cut off the whole arm of any suit you get!"

"But look at it! It looks like a legwarmer!" He giggled. She scowled back, scratching the bandage wrapped above her elbow absentmindedly. Since their metal bodyparts were bulletproof, and looked slightly ridiculous with the skin-tight suit pulled over the top, their armour had to be cut accordingly. For Bucky, that was simple; remove the left arm and you're done. But since Iris still had exposed flesh in the middle section of her arm, her suit had to be cut up a little more...inventively.

"Stop laughing. It's not very nice." Steve tutted, the amusement on his face apparent. Through the glass Rickon was welcoming Ben back with open arms, laughing about an old joke. Iris averted her eyes.

"You'll have to talk to him sooner or later." Bucky whispered. She just nodded, laughing as Steve tried on her arm sleeve and failed to get it past his wrist.

Though later seemed like the better option, the way her brother kept on glancing through the glass at them, she knew that sooner was her only option.

"First things first. You didn't leave me. You didn't know. So don't beat yourself up. You suffered more when I didn't save you, and I knew you were gone. Okay?"

Iris nodded. Ben seemed so much older than the 27 he was. His blue eyes were dull and tired, his skin weary from the weight it had been forced to hold. He was a scientist, not a spy. He shouldn't have had to gone through that.

"What did they do to you?" She whispered. Everyone else was back in the main room, talking about next steps and where to's. They were alone, locked together in a twisted reunion.

"You first." He shot back. When she rose her eyebrow, he sighed and said, "I heard you screaming. I need to know why."

What she wanted to do was cry. He'd heard her screaming. He'd been forced to listen to her torture, never knowing exactly what was happening. A year ago Pierce had forced her to watch Bucky have his memories removed once more, but at least then she'd known what was happening. Known that it was repairable.

"They drowned me. Whether with a cloth over my face or my head thrown in to a bucket I don't know, I don't know the technique they chose. All I know is that they knocked me out, took me to the building, drowned me, and then woke me up."

"The screaming part Iris. You weren't screaming when they were drowning you." Ben pointed out, his eyes hard. She focused back to when she was telling Bucky about her mission, about her time in HYDRA, and tried to adapt the same cold expression she had then.

"They tortured me. Shoved nails through my arms and feet, stuck knives in me, tore some of my nails off. A lot of head banging and hair ripping too. They didn't rape me, if that's what you're worried about. HYDRA doesn't work like that. Instead they told me that I'd been under their command ever since I released Bucky. For the past three years, they've been inside of my head, and there was nothing I could do."

"Are they..." He trailed off, motioning towards her head. Iris smiled faintly.

"No. They tasered me, with my own taser, and then gave me this." She rose the metal hand into the air, turning it around elegantly. "Told me I was their little toy soldier. A perfect canditate for what Zola and Pierce were never able to finish."

"Winter Soldier 2.0." Ben breathed with realisation. She nodded, not catching his eyes for a few moments. When she did, she motioned for him to talk.

"They drowned me. But they didn't torture me. They just forced me to listen...that was enough, in a way. The silence was overpowering; I thought I was going insane. When you escaped...I heard you leave. My ears were used to listening out for small noises, and I heard you. It took them 114 minutes to discover what I had."

They both breathed in slowly. "What then? Why use you as bait?"

"They asked me if I wanted to follow my sister's footsteps." He smiled. "I said no."

"They asked you to become their next...experiment?" Iris finished, her face showing her horror and disgust. Ben's head flashed up, barely glancing at the way she was scratching the metal like it would stop them from going near him. Using him next in their ever growing line of lab rats.

"When they asked me if I wanted to follow in my sister's footsteps..." He leaned in, the hurt obvious in his eyes, "You weren't the sister they were talking about."

"She was a good soldier. HYDRA or not, she will always be one of us." Fury sighed. The two Williams children stood before him, Iris' eyes stained red and Ben's hands shaking.

"That was why they'd let me kill Rowell, wasn't it?" She choked. "He'd broken the rules and killed one of his own."

"He probably didn't know she was one of them-"

"He told me that she squealed. Begged for mercy. She was trying to tell him that she was one of them, and he didn't listen. He killed my sister. My sister was HYDRA."

The words were like vomit, refusing to stop pouring out of her head and on to her tongue.

"She's probably how they found me! She knew where I'd run to, and as soon as she got my coordinates she sent HYDRA in. Evening the playing field of Williams."

"Ben..." Fury motioned, allowing him to exit. Iris remained where she was, breathing in shudders as the hysteria left her.

"I'm sorry for your loss. What do you want me to tell your parents?"

In, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four. In, two, three, four. "Nothing. To them she can always be the perfect daughter, the perfect soldier. There's no point in ruining that vision now."

There was more silence, each waiting for the other to collect their thoughts. Tilly's secret would die between the three of them, just like it should have died with the captor.

"Fury." She raised her head, pulling her shoulder back into the appropriate stance.

"Agent Williams." He retorted. By the look in his eye, he already knew what she was going to ask, but both of them needed to hear it.

"It's just Williams, sir. No badge, no title. Just like you said."

Breathe. "I think I know what you want."

"Are you going to refuse me of it?"

A tilted eyebrow. A slow smirk. "Only if you don't let me fire the first shots."

Two smirks. A small plan. "Deal."

Author's Note

Thanks for your loveliness. It's nice-ish weather over here in England, and I've finally caught up with both Agents of SHIELD and Game of Thrones. A good day all around (I also boshed out the last few chapters of this story. Still trying to figure out whether that's a good thing or a bad thing) Anyway, hope you like this chapter, and maybe leave a little review?

Next Chapter-Protective

"Are you sure about this?"