A/N: *finger guns*
Natalee's grey eyes blinked open. She was standing in a dirty, rundown apartment. A chain was linked to the middle of the floor. "Oh fuck" She whispered to herself, recognizing where she was.
"Oh, not happy to see me?" A smooth voice asked. Natalee turned, eyes narrowing, arms crossing over her chest. In front of her, with her wrist shackled to the chain, was a girl that looked identical to Natalee, except for her hair and her eyes. The girl's hair was darker than Natalee's, not as curly. And the whites of her eyes were solid black, the iris a luminous blue.
"What do you want, Archer?" Natalee growled. Archer was the name Natalee had started calling the artificial personality. It was like Bruce Banner and the Hulk.
Archer mocked a pout as she took a few steps towards Natalee. "Can't I say hi? I haven't seen you in, what?, six years? You're not exactly easy to contact" She paused, tracing the pad of her finger along Natalee's jaw. "Well, not anymore now that you've stopped taking those pills. You're running out, aren't you? Not enough to keep me quiet"
"Doesn't answer my question" Natalee stepped away from her, closer to the wall.
The darker red head narrowed her eyes and Natalee was shoved against the wall with a grunt. Archer's nails dug into her throat and her lips hovered by her ear. Her voice was dark, smooth, and threatening. "I hope you enjoy being in control, Natalee, because when I'm done with you, you'll be begging for me to run the show" She whispered.
Natalee gasped as she woke, sitting up. She was shaking, a few rebel tears escaping and falling down her face. She felt blood below her nose. "Shit" She whispered and got out of bed.
*SCENE BREAK*
Cole had gotten up to get a drink, barefoot in sweatpants and a black tanktop. He noticed the door to the balcony was open, his eyebrows furrowing, the hair on the back of his neck rising. Natalee was leaning against the railing, her fingers tangled in her hair. "Natalee" He said softly. "Hey, what's going on, sestrenka?" He asked, gently rubbing her back.
Natalee sniffed and looked at him. "Don't freak out" She said quietly and pulled her bottom eyelid down and looked up. The whites of her eyes were turning black.
"Archer?" Cole's emerald eyes widened and darkened. "She's back?" He growled.
"I think she's planning something. I'm running low on those pills Cross made to keep her quiet" She sighed, leaning against the railing and crossing her arms over her chest. "You're the only one that knows about her. If I can't find a way to get more of those pills-"
"No" Cole shook his head. "I won't do it"
"Cole. If Archer takes control, she'll kill everyone. You know that" Natalee's voice was starting to shake.
"We're not going to let that happen. And I mean we, Natalee. No secrets between us, that's the rule, remember? Shadows don't do that to eachother. And for all we know, we're the only active Shadows left" He said.
Natalee shrugged. "I'm not too sure about that" She sighed.
Cole's eyebrow lifted. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked.
"A while ago, I was on a mission with the Defenders, the Avengers' kids. It was supposed to be easy, just an intel mission. But there were Renegade soldiers, talking about something that went down in Serbia. I slipped, gave away my position, and I was about to be shot when the guy holding the gun was hit by this bullet. An acid bullet" She said. Her eyes narrowed. "How many snipers do you know use acid bullets?"
Her tall friend nodded. "You think Nessa's alive" He swallowed hard. "Have you looked into this yet?"
"No, I haven't gotten the chance. Between my knee injury and the assassin parents, I don't really have alot of time to go sneaking around" She shrugged. "Are you offering?" She added with a smirk.
Cole chuckled, flipping his hair from his face. "If you're sure Nessa's alive, I'll be your errand boy. Tell me what you find, I'll see what I can do" He reached out to ruffle her hair. "Go to bed, shorty"
Natalee snorted as he walked away. "That was just rude and uncalled for and you know it" She called after him.
*SCENE BREAK*
Clint yawned as he wandered into the kitchen, his nose wrinkling at the delicious smell that floated through their home. "Hey" Natalee greeted with a smile. "Cole made breakfast" She nodded to the red headed boy.
"No big deal" The corner of Cole's lips curled in a smile. "After all, Natalee made you keep me" He chuckled. "Least I could" He placed a plate in front of Clint. There were scrambled eggs with pieces of ham and spinach mixed in, bacon, and little chocolate chip pancakes.
Clint inhaled deeply. "Letting you live here was a good decision after all" He said to himself and grabbed a fork.
*SCENE BREAK*
D.J. yawned and rubbed his eyes, staring at the screen. He turned his head, jumping in surprise when he saw someone standing next to him. "Jesus, Nat!" He exclaimed. "Can you stop being a ninja for like two minutes? I am not awake enough for this"
Natalee laughed lightly and put a small plate of chocolate chip pancakes in front of him. "A little spasibo for helping me and Cole" She shrugged, leaning against the desk.
"What happened to your crutches?" His eyebrows furrowed.
The red headed girl grinned. "Perks of my own mutated DNA. Faster healing rate. As long as I wear the brace, no crutches" She paused, tilting her head at the way D.J.'s hair was flattened at an odd angle. "Were you up all night?" She asked.
"You're looking for your missing assassin friend. I just got lost in a research loop" D.J. waved dismissively and popped a bit of pancake in his mouth. "I have a question. And I totally understand if you don't want to answer" He said. Natalee raised an eyebrow. "So the only link with Serbia is traces of this suborganization" He pulled up a window on his computer. "The name of it was here a second ago" He mumbled.
"The Renegade" Natalee said.
"Yeah-okay, that kind of sets up another question" D.J. said. "You were part of the Renegade? That's where you came from before S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
Natalee sighed, sucking her bottom lip under her teeth. "I was. But it got too dangerous and my team was snuck out. Our friend that was in Serbia was sent there about a year and a half before we escaped. They told us she died but...I'm not too sure" She sniffed and brushed her hair away from her face. "Wait a minute" Her head raised as an idea struck her. "Can you scan something?"
D.J. blinked her. "Uh, y-yeah. I can take a picture with my phone-" He stopped, eyes wide, when Natalee unclipped her watch from around her wrist, revealing a red scope tattoo on the inside of her wrist. "No way. Is that real?" He asked. "Wait, does Cole have this tattoo too? Is that why you two always had something on your wrist-? God, that was so obviously suspicious!" He smacked himself in the face.
"Less...whatever this is-" Natalee gestured to his face. "-and more helping me find my friend"
D.J. picked up his phone. "Right, right, sorry. But I better get some tattoo buddy stories" He said, grabbing Natalee's wrist to take a picture of it. It appeared on the computer screen and the boy genius ran it through a recognition software. Natalee laughed, rolling her eyes, as she clipped her watch back on. The boy sat back in his chair, sighing quietly.
"What is it?" She asked softly, eyebrow twitching.
D.J. met her grey eyes. "We need to talk about Nikki"
A/N: Ahaha cliff hanger. Sorry not sorry :D