"Some things are instinctual. As children we played a game called tag without being taught. I guess you could say it prepared us for haunting our prey."

Chapter one

I never question the way things are. They are just meant to be. Regardless if they're right or wrong. It's easier to accept what you're given than to question the way of the world. You're only hurting yourself. Everyone wants to be the hero of their story but if you were in their shoes wouldf you do the right thing. I don't think so because life is messy and hard but of all things it's complicated. You can't always be perfect or do the right thing. I mean your only human. There are three rules I live by: don't question your superiors, never hesitate and don't get attached. I always abide by my rules. They ground me. Keep me sane. When I don't follow them everything turns into chaos. Maybe in another life I wouldn't need rules. But sadly this is the reality I'm in. I might as well make the best of it.

HYDRA base (December, 2011)

I remember that morning crystal clear. It was gloomy and the clouds had just risen above the horizon. Tiny imprints were left by my boats as I walked in the snow. I heard the soft crunch beam off the ground with every step. I loved the snow. With a world so loud and distracting the white powder acted as a blanket muffling everything out. The smell of moist salt. It was perfect. The cold fresh air filled my lungs. I could stay out here forever.

Our supervisor Mrs. Hart decided to take us out to practice our knife throwing. It was one of the many skills needed to become a HYDRA agent. We all got in a line and started throwing our knives at the boards ahead. I looked down at the loop on my belt holding my knife. There were many places one could conceal a weapon and mine happened to be out in the open. But for now it didn't matter. I was in training, not officially an agent but that was soon to change. I picked up the knife by the tip of the blade. My hand pulled back and with a quiet flick of the wrist it was in the air. The knife flowed smoothly until it hit the top of the target. Flawless execution. Not that I wasn't used to it by now. I was the best in my age division. Perfection wasn't a coincidence, it was my life. It had to be when lives were on the line.

I looked over at my best friend Cassidy. Her stance was weak and her hand shook when she tried to throw her knife. The blade always landed off the target. If she was throwing it at a person it would have gone through thin air. Mrs. Hart seemed to notice this as well.

"Cassidy," she let out in a calm manner.

"Come over here. Talia why don't you show everyone how it's done. "

She motioned Cassidy in front of me. Mrs. Hart really knew what she was doing. She knew that I had excellent control of where I wanted the blade to go. I just couldn't guess her motives. Was this a test of whether I would crack under press or was she testing Cassidy. I looked at Mrs. Hart, straight into her blue eyes for confirmation. She nodded and motioned for me to get on with it in a tacit way. I steadied my stance and drew back my hand throwing the blade toward my target. It pierced through the air like a bullet and landed right into Cassidy's skull. She screamed and blood spat out of the wound everywhere. She was running around like a maniac. Going left and right. Until her body collapsed and her chest stopped moving up and down.

Everyone was in complete shock. We just stood there not making a sound. Mrs. Hart looked as if nothing had happened. Her face bore a calm demeanor, maybe even a playful smile. It was as if this was an everyday thing. Maybe it was for her. I wanted to scream. I wanted the tears I was holding back to roll down my cheek. But I couldn't. All I could do was stand still and not make a sound. Emotion was seen as weakness and weakness wasn't allowed. It felt like my world was crumbling. Not just any Cassidy but my Cassidy was dead. My best friend. The girl who took me in at the mere age of four. I was alone and scared, my parents were gone and she came along with a big smile and told me everything was going to be okay. I wish I could say the same for her.

Mrs. Hart tilted her head down at her wrist looking at the time on her watch.

"Can anyone tell what went wrong," she asked?

Everyone was terrified to raise their hand.

"I'm waiting," she said clearly frustrated by the amount of time it was taking.

A little boy shot his hand up at the sky and Mrs. Hart pointed at him.

"The knife should have been thrown 15 centimeters to the right." He said out loud.

"Shall we test that." Mrs. Hart replied.

The boy stood in the same spot Cassidy previously acquired. He's stance was strong and he was quite confident in his answer. He could have never suspected what would happen next. Mrs. Hart reached into the concealed pocket and grabbed her knife. A much better place to hide a weapon if you ask me. She got it out and threw it at the boy. It made perfect contact with his shoulder. He winced in pain trying to hide his emotions. He stumbled on his feet until taking a few deep breaths.

"Anyone else," she asked?

No one raised their hand.

"Talia, why don't you tell us we're the fault was?"

Of course I knew what happened. I was the one that threw the blade after all. But there was still this doubt in my head I couldn't seem to vanquish.

"It was never the position of the blade; rather it was an error made by the target. My execution was perfect. The knife would have not hit Cassidy if she had not hesitated and moved." I replied trying to seem unbothered by the recent events.

"Very well my dear. Children I do hope you have learned a lesson today. It is vital to not hesitate. Even the slightest movement could cause major consequences. Class dismissed." Mrs. Hart said

And With that everyone filed back into the building. Mrs. Hart told the boy to get medical attention and pushed him in front of everyone. She waited for the mass of kids to get inside before locking the doors behind her leaving Cassidy's dead body in the snow.

Later I thought about what happened. I still do sometimes. If only she had trusted me maybe she would still be alive. Maybe it's better this way. Cassidy wasn't strong enough for this kind of life, maybe it was better for her to die now instead of later. She wasn't strong. Cassidy was the type of person that would never hurt a fly. I have a hard time imagining her trying to hurt another human being. She often went to the wards with the younger children and sang them to sleep when their nightmares got the better of them. I loved that about her. Dispute everything she always puts others before herself. I promised to live on for both of us.

That night I got in bed and let the tears flow. There was no one else in the room except me So there was no reason to suppress my emotions. With each sniffle a faint scream was heard down the hall. The boy from earlier was probably being treated for his wounds. Hydra didn't believe in pain killers unless the injury was extreme. Their philosophy was that any injury you got was your fault and in a sense it was. Any possible injury was an account of your own human error. If you got stabbed in the leg it could have been prevented with simply moving your leg out of the way. If you got hurt mentally because of someone's death it was on you for getting too attached. It was important to feel the pain to remind oneself of the error they made. My head sank into the pillow and I let myself drift off to sleep

Authors notes

That's it for chapter one. I hope you guess enjoyed it. Chapter two is in the works already. It should be out soon. Peter and other avengers might not come until chapter three but we will see. I'm trying to wright them in right now and give some background on Talia as well as her everyday life. If it helps imagine Talia as yourself. If your into that. Girl characters in books are always so weak and annoying. They always are so emotional and need a guy to save them that's way I prefer male characters. So I tried to make Talia the opposite of that. I also wanted to make her very flawed on the perception of the world to show how really brainwashed she is. The line it the beginning "Regardless if they're right or wrong. It's easier to accept what you're given than to question the way of the world." Show that Talia sort of knows what she's doing is wrong but if she admits it everything in her life would be a lie. Which would leave her with noting and she's not ready for that. At least not now.