Ava knew that, from all the experiments, she was the only one to have made a deal pardoning her for all the crimes she committed before leading the Avengers to the Maternity. And so far, no one was talking about pressing charges about the ones she killed during the taking of the base.

The others didn't have the luxury. So it was no surprise when Steve called Ava, Nine and Marina to talk.

" NATO and the agencies that were looking over the files of the other kids, they finished listing the victims of the Maternity. " He said, sitting on the armchair, Ava and Nine sitting in one couch, Marina spread on another armchair, the girl had been relaxed, but sat up straighter as he started. " Now, they are interviewing the kids who... "

" Killed them. " Completed Nine.

" Yes. " Said Steve. " But, don't worry, I don't think they'll press any charges. "

They doubted that very much. People never just let things go. If they did, there was always a hold they wanted to keep.

" They'll be coming here in two days to talk to the three of you. " Continued Steve. " I managed to convince them to make it all one day, make sure that you go through this just once. "

" They already know who killed who. " Said Ava. " And I can't be charged, so why would I need to waste my time? "

" They just want to close the cases properly. " Said Steve. " To give families closure. "

" And talking to us will give them closure? " Asked Marina. " I doubt they'll show the video of us describing how we killed their loved ones. "

" Agreed. " Said Nine. " Do you know who they interviewed already? "

" They are starting with you. " Answered Steve.

" Strange. " Said Ava. " Would be more logical to start with the larger group that is contained. Makes you wonder why. "

" You and me are the best experiments. " Said Nine. " Equals to a higher number of kills. More trained targets too. "

" Guess they want to solve the kills of military first. More important people. " Said Marina.

" Look, you can figure out why when they get here. " Said Steve. " I just wanted to warn you that they were coming, is probably going to take a while and that it doesn't mean that they are ' out to get you '. "

" Consider us warned. " Said Ava, standing up from the couch, the other two following her as they walked away.

" Marina. " Said Nine, as they were far enough not to get heard by anyone. " It would be useful for you to give us an overview of how it is that base the others are in. "

" After we are interviewed, it might be useful to give them warning. Depending on how it goes. " Said Ava, it never hurt to have people owing you favors.

In the middle of the night Nine knocked on Ava's door, dressed for a run. She changed clothes and followed him. Passing Vision on the living room, floating as if sleeping.

" Is late for a run. " He said, seeing them pass.

" For most people. " Said Ava. " That's why they are not in as good shape as we are. " He looked confused by her statement, but not suspicious. So he didn't follow as they left the HQ, running until they reached an area that had no surveillance.

" I got at least as many kills as you. " He said. " If they decide to arrest me, it's more than enough to life in prison. Death penalty depending on where the trial is. "

" If they were going to arrest you, they won't do it in the base. " She said. " It gives time for us to disappear if need be. "

He looked at her, as if searching for something. She raised her eyebrow questioningly.

" Is strange. " He said. " I wonder when our first impulse changed to include the other. "

True, she wondered the same thing herself. Before while they were on the run was one thing, it was strategy. This wasn't. Ava had nothing to worry about, she was covered.

" Strange indeed. " She agreed.

" It would be preferable if they don't want to arrest me. " He said. " This place is working better than expected. "

" It is. " She said. " It is nice... having opinions respected. "

After a moment of quiet, he looked at the road in front of them.

" Want to continue our exercise, since we are already up? "

" Why not? " She said. " Never too early to beat you in something. " With that she started to run, continuing on the way that led away from the HQ, he followed.

" Good luck with these shorter legs. " He said, reaching her speed. Then they both speeding up.

Hours later, Ava and Nine were in the kitchen, making breakfast for themselves. The pile of perfectly circular pancakes growing near Nine. Ava's hand barely visible as she cut a pile of fruits faster than most people could see.

" Morning. " Said Steve, in his running gear. " You two were up early. Or too late depending on how you see it. "

Ava glanced at him, he stifling a yawn.

" Apparently you see it as the latter. " She said. " You were up waiting for us all night or you decided to sleep eventually? "

" I didn't. " He said, moving to the fridge and getting milk. " We need to talk. " He added as he went to the cabinet getting a box of cereals.

Ava and Nine looked up at him, curious.

Steve served himself a bowl of cereal and poured the milk before looking at them. Nine managing not to burn the pancakes as he watched the man.

" You can't go out in the middle of the night and don't come back until the morning. " He said, looking between them, but mainly at Ava. " You can't go out without telling me or Natasha, someone, where you're going. "

Ava and Nine hid their surprise at the statement. Then quickly chastising themselves in their minds for not predicting the move on Steve's part.

" And why? " Asked Ava, keeping her impassive expression and voice.

" I was worried! " He answered. " You two took off, without telling where you were going while we were all asleep. You didn't come back for hours. "

" You were worried about us or what we were going to do? " Asked Ava, looking into his eyes.

The hesitation in the answer was an answer in itself.

" I was worried that you two had run again. " He said. " That and the Avengers have no shortage of enemies. Something could have happened and I wouldn't have been able to help! "

" Is that an order? " She asked.

He sighed, rubbing his eyes.

" If it needs to be, yes, it is. " He said. " Does it need to be? "

Ava and Nine didn't answer just got their attention back to their food.

It was around 9 am when agents arrived at the compound. Several of them, from the amount of agents and files, they were going to be wasting their entire day on this.

The three experiments always had weapons on them. Nine and Marina discarded of most of them, keeping only fiberglass knifes hidden, they wanted the agents to be on their side after all. Ava had nothing to worry about and didn't bother.

Steve and Natasha met the agents on the entrance, leading them to a waiting area that led to a hall that had meeting rooms.

The agents were all near forty or reaching fifty. Experienced ones, some were younger, but were there to accompany the others, or to carry the boxes.

Ava did a quick assessment of them as she passed by the door of the waiting room. Their weapons had been left in the entrance, an attempt of showing courtesy and to appear that they meant no harm. But she could see the edge on the faces of the ones who saw her by the door. How they wished they had their weapons. Those were the ones to analyze her file, she concluded.

She was already inside the meeting room, standing by a chair that allowed her to see the door, when the NATO employee and the first agent walked in. French Intelligence. Two boxes on the hand of the younger agent who followed the first one. Natasha entered last and moved to stand next to Ava. The spy hadn't said anything about accompanying the meetings, but the experiment wasn't going to question on it now.

" Miss Rogers. " Greeted the NATO man, short, bald and with a fake smile. Though to his credit, it was a good fake smile. " My name is George Newton, I'll be accompanying all the meetings. "

" Then I'll tell you this once and you do your best that the directions are followed. " Said the girl. " I don't want to waste my entire day here. They are to go straight to the point, ask what they need to know and leave to allow others to do the same. Understood? " She said it in an impassive tone, but it left no room for the man to question.

" Believe me, we don't want to be working for too long either. " Said Newton. For him, it was all good, after all, he was going to have to sit through all the meetings. They were going to take a long time, the girl had killed more than groups of assassins together, and she was only training. Good thing he wasn't doing the same for Nine and Marina, the guy was in for a long day already.

The French agents introduced themselves, then approached the table, greeting her and Natasha, they all sitting at their respective places and the younger agent opening the first box and passing a few files to the older one.

" We have seen your file and are here just for confirmation on what we saw there. " Said the agent, fortunately sticking to the ' to the point ' rule. He opened the first file. " Do you remember this man? " He said, passing a picture to her side of the table. A mug shot.

It showed a Caucasian male, tattoo on his neck, shaved head. Younger than she remembered him being when she saw him on the Maternity.

" Yes. " She said, surprising the man who was about to continued speaking, sure she wouldn't remember one random guy. " I have perfect recall, just assume that if I seen it, I remember. " She had to be specific, after all, she had killed in rooms that were completely dark and never seen the faces of the kills.

" Alright. " Said the man, looking at Natasha for a moment.

" Don't look at me. " Said the woman. " You're here to talk to her. "

" Well, can you please describe how you killed him? "

" He was with other three men. " She said. " I killed all of them with a 15 inch hunting knife, steel. I cut his carotid artery, he bled out. That was after I knocked him to his feet with a kick to the left upper thigh. " She pushed the photo back to his side of the table. " Next one? "

If it was the impassive and almost bored tone she used or how she could remember so fast how she killed him, the three men looked very uncomfortable.

The agent took the picture back and took another from another file.

File after file, she explained how she killed the men and women. The french agents eventually left, only asking about the reasons she killed them. ' I was ordered to. '

The next ones entered, and so it went.

Natasha knew how many kills Ava had on her ledger. She had read her file. It was amazing the huge amount, it went to three digits. How the Maternity had gone unnoticed so long with that amount of people going in and never coming out, it was something to admire.

But sitting there and listening to her talk, in that impassive tone, it was hard keeping her mask on. She could see the expression of the agents as they came and went, of the NATO employee, the fear. How they got on edge. She could see it on their minds. They thought she was a monster.

Natasha glanced at Ava, as she described how she killed a woman in an interrogation. The torture, the killing and the dismembering of the body and dissolving it in acid.

The girl didn't bat an eye, didn't hesitate. It was like she was talking about the weather.

Natasha felt ice on her veins. She had done and was capable of most, if not everything, Ava had done. She had been trained to do it. But she cared, she didn't like it, she hated it. She was trained to bury any emotional response, but she hated doing it. She felt every single one of her kills weighing her down, every day, all day.

But now, she wondered if Ava did. Everything on her file and that she had seen showed that the girl didn't feel anything for her kills.

She didn't like the way the agents looked at Ava, but she could completely understand.

The agent from the US Army agency of investigation pulled back the picture of the soldier. The woman was the last of their list. They packed their things back on the boxes and stood up. Ava looking bored with the endless interviews.

" Just a question. " Asked the man, looking at her. He was former military, it was written in every line of him that he was taking personally the kills of the ' brothers in arms '. He had a glare that was supposed to be intimidating. Of course it does nothing to Natasha and Ava. " Do you even feel something about their deaths? About what you did? Regret? Shame? "

Ava didn't hesitate.

" No. " She said, nothing more.

The man's hands closed in fists, he was not leaving at that.

" You are already done. " Said Natasha, before Ava had the chance. " You can already leave. "

The man looked between her and Ava, before leaving with the other agent. The guy from NATO looked extremely uncomfortable now.

" Need a break Mr Newton? " Asked Natasha.

" No, it's okay. " Said the man. " We have only two more to go. "

Ava was ready to kill someone by the time she finally finished with the interviews, they had taken just too much of her time. So obviously, the first person she meets is Wanda in the hall. The sight of the woman making her blood boil.

" Yours took so much too? " Asked Nine, coming from the meeting room he had beeninterviewed as well. If it was intentional that he interrupted her murderous thoughts or not, she didn know, but it was good for her not to kill anyone with so many agents in the compound.

" Yes. " She answered, finally stopping staring Wanda and walking around her and continuing on the way to the living quarters of the compound, he followed. " I'm ready for a race in the pool. Up for it? "

" God yes. " He said, sounding just as annoyed.