I walk up in my bed, the sunlight is streaming through the blinds and directly into my eyes. I begin to roll onto my back, the pain that shoots through me serves as a reminder about the bandages covering the wounds on my back. I sit upon my bed and stretch my limbs above my bed, my joints cracking and popping as I am finally able to stretch properly. I sigh, and I look over to the right side of my bed and see that Clint isn't lying there next to me.

I hear sounds coming from my kitchen; it sounds like pans clanging together. I get out of my bed and walk downstairs, tiptoeing into my kitchen, I see Clint moving about with a spatula in his left hand. A large stack of chocolate chip waffles sits proudly on the counter, the steam coming off of them, causing my stomach to growl.

"Hey, Nikki," Clint is pouring a cup of coffee and looking at me, "how are you feeling?" He holds the mug out to me, shaking it lightly when I don't move right away to take the cup

I gingerly grab the coffee mug, my fingers wrapping around the ceramic base, "Hey Clint, I'm fine. Kind of sore. You know the usual."

He scoffs and says, "Yeah, the usual. Your usual is a normal person's extreme. Come on; I made you your favorite food."

"You didn't have to. I could have just eaten cereal or fruit." He looks at me with his mouth wide open, slightly offended

"There is no way that I am going to let you eat cereal or fruit after you just escaped by HYDRA. Besides, they probably didn't feed you when you were there." Right, I hardly got any food.

"Thanks, Clint. I appreciate it." I grab my fork and grab the syrup and pour it all over my waffles.

"No problem, Nik. You know you are like my little sister."

I smile at him and continue eating my food; I moan lightly when the food touches my tongue. It tastes like Heaven; I make quick work of my meal, and I grab one more waffle. I chug my coffee, letting the liquid warm me from the inside out. I am thinking about the events that recently have taken place in my life, the flashbacks causing my body to go stiff. When I snap back to consciousness, I grab my dishes and walk to the sink, washing them before I put them away.

"Hey Nik, what are you going to do now? You know, now that you are free."

"I guess I am going back to America, and I am going to have to answer Fury's questions."

"What after that?" He cocks his head at me.

"I guess I will go back to work right away. It's all I have ever done."

Clint sighs at me; he lightly shakes his head at me before looking out the window. I follow his gaze, and I see a Quinjet resting in the middle of my lawn. I sigh before getting up and head over to the window, I lean against the wall and look at the Quinjet. I stare at nothing for a long minute, contemplating whether I should go home or not. Clint walks over to me and rests his hand on my shoulder, and it provides me some comfort but not enough.

"Come on; I'll take you home."

As Clint says this to me, I feel lost for a moment. I have a family now, but no one knows who I really am and what I went through. I grab the two pups and walk up the stairs and into my bedroom. I grab some comfy clothes and throw them on, and I snatch a ponytail and throw my hair up in a messy bun. I grab another bag and shove some sweats into it and grab my gun and knives. I walk down the stairs, grabbed the pups, locked my house, and got into the Quinjet.

I sit down on the row of chairs; I hold the pups on my lap until we take off. I find some rope and create some makeshift harnesses, at least, until I can get them a real leash and collar. Clint sits down in the pilot seat and starts up the jet, I hear the hum of the engine, and I lean back against the chairs.

Clint turns around, "It's going to be a couple of hours until we get back, rest. You are going to have a rough couple of hours at S.H.I.E.L.D."

I close my eyes, and I feel myself lull off to sleep. When I re-open my eyes, it is night time, and we have been flying all day. I see that Clint is struggling not to fall asleep, so I stand up and walk over to him,

"Clint," he jolts his body," come on, you are falling asleep. I can take over for a while."

"No, I'm fine. I can continue; you go back to sleep."

"Clint, shut up. Go lay down."

He turns on autopilot and stands up and stretches. I grab his arm and help lead him to the chairs, I convert them into a bed and place a blanket on Clint. I strap him in and give him a pillow; I make sure that he has fallen asleep before I stand up again. I walk toward the pilot seat and sit down, I take the jet off of autopilot and grab the steering wheel. I see the flight map that Clint set out for us, and I adjust the wings so that we tilt.

After about four more hours of flying, I see the sun starting to peek through the crowds. I grab some sunglasses and put them on; I watch the sunrise over the rolling clouds. The sunrays are filling me with a warmth that I am so desperately missing. I know that we are approaching D.C., and I feel a sense of dread come over me. I start to plan in my mind, how I am going to answer these questions: What happened, how did you get away, are you okay, what did they do to you. I place the headset over my ears and speak into it,

"This is jet NF24973, requesting clearance to S.H.I.E.L.D.I.E.L.D. landing Pad 1. I repeat this is jet NF24973, requesting clearance to S.H.I.E.L.D. landing Pad 1."

"Who is requesting, and what level?"

"Agent Nikolina Volkov, level 9."

"You are cleared for landing on Pad 1."

I pull up to the landing pad and lower the jet, I shut off the engine and tuck the wings in. I walk over to Clint and walk him up; I ask him to take care of the pups until I am done here. He complies, and I lead the way out of the jet, I see Nat, Fury, and Steve all waiting for me.

I walk up to them, and I look over at Fury, he nods his head at me before allowing Nat and Steve through. Nat comes up to me and hugs me while whispering that she was glad that I was okay. Steve is after Nat, he grabs me with his large, muscular arms and holds me against his firm chest. I allow myself to relax in his hold and relish in the comfort Steve admits. When he finally places me down, I see Fury standing by the door, and I realize that I have to go to his office.

After a short walk down a long hall, we all arrive at Fury's office. I sigh before I walk in and I go and sit on the couch he has in there, Nat and Steve place themselves around Fury and across from me. I notice that Clint is standing in the corner holding the pups, I brace myself and set an emotionless look on my face before I look at Fury.

"Tell me what happened, Nikolina." The command is coming out of Fury's mouth.

"You sent me to France to intercept a French arms deal, Pierre DeBois, and his buyer, Mateo Lopez, I made contact and was able to take them out without a problem. As I was finishing Mateo, Pierre started talking to me. He told me that HYDRA wanted me back and would stop at nothing to get me. I was attacked by a HYDRA assassin and was captured. They took me to a remote location in Russia, close to Siberia. I was kept in a dark cell chained until they started to experiment on me, they injected me with wolf blood, hence why Clint is holding wolf pups, and they trained me to control my new abilities. I was tortured, and I was able to break free and kill everyone there. No S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets were revealed, and nothing valuable of the U.S. government."

I say this all in one breath; I keep my eyes cold and distant. I see Steve has a horrified look on his face, his body tense and ready to strike. Natasha is slightly better at hiding her emotions, but I can still tell that she is deeply disturbed. Fury, however, looks at me with a critical gaze, his eyes trying to pierce my armor, but he can't. He slowly nods his head and leans his elbows on his knees.

"How do you feel?" I look over at him and say,

"Fine. I want my next mission."

Natasha, Clint, and Steve start to protest right away, but with the look I give them, they immediately quiet. I look over at Fury and wait for him to decide, he gets up from his chair and walks over to his desk. Fury grabs a folder and walks back over to me, holding it out in his hand. I reach my hand out, grasping the envelope, I look into Fury's eyes before he lets go and nods. I stand up and walk out of the room, I hear rapid footsteps chasing after me, and I slow my stride. Steve, Natasha, and Clint stop right before they crash into me,

"Nikki, you can't just go on a mission. You just got back from being captured!" Clint yells at me.

"I'm fine. I am alive; I am walking, breathing, talking. I am fine."

"Barely! When I found you, you looked like you were on death's door. You looked like shit!" I shoot Clint an unimpressed glare. I turn around and continue my stride.

"Where are you even going, anyway?"

"London."