DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything you recognize. The only things I own is Tara, Amber and some of the plot changes I made. Everything else belongs to Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, Disney and Marvel Studios.
I moved silently in the shadows. My target had just said goodnight to his daughter and son on the phone and had headed to his room. I knew his children were at a relatives house so they wouldn't be home. Once he was settled in and asleep, I walked over to him and held the gun to his head. I hesitated for a moment, though I don't know why. He wasn't the first person I've killed and he surely won't be the last.
Before I could pull the trigger, a shot went off and I watched, surprised, as blood seeped from his chest. I looked at the person next to me and glared.
"I had it, Soldier." I said, angrily. He didn't say anything from behind his mask, he just looked at me and then left. I cursed and followed behind him. A part of me hated working with this man but another part of me liked being around him. I'm such a screwed up person.
Suddenly, the Soldier turned around and a bang resounded...
I sat up and screamed out. I looked around me in a panic and realized where I was. I eventually slowed my breathing and was able to think. I remembered that mission from years ago, but of course the ending was wrong. That was just my mind playing tricks with me.
I got up and went into the kitchen to get me some water and calm myself down. After drinking some water, I heard footsteps approaching. I watched as Sam walked into the kitchen, giving me a worried look.
"Are you okay? I heard you scream." Sam asked worried.
"Yeah." I said lowly. "Just remembering something from my past that became a nightmare." I answered.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" He asked.
"No, not really. It's not something I wanna dwell on." I shrugged. There was no point in going back to sleep, it was already 7 in the morning and Sam would be getting ready to go jogging. "So, have you seen Cap in a while?" I asked, changing the topic. It had been about a week since we last saw Steve.
"No, I haven't." Sam replied. "Could be on a mission."
"Probably." I said while shrugging.
"I'll see you later." Sam said after drinking water and heading out. I waved and went to change clothes and retrieve my laptop. I signed on and checked things out with S.H.I.E.L.D. My eyes widened when I read that Steve Rogers was a fugitive and Nick Fury was dead. What the hell happened? Unfortunately, they were keeping things quiet and secret so I couldn't find anything.
After about an hour and a half, Sam came back home and I logged off my laptop. "I'm gonna start breakfast." I said while heading to the kitchen to begin making breakfast. Before I could officially start, we heard knocking at the door. Sam beat me to the door and answered it, seeing Steve standing there with a woman with red hair standing next to him. I knew who she was. Her name was Natasha Romanoff or Black Widow.
"Hey, man." Sam greeted and I stood next to him.
"I'm sorry about this. We need a place to lay low." Steve said.
"Everyone we know is trying to kill us." Natasha said right after. Sam and I looked at each other and I nodded.
"Not everyone." Sam said, letting them in. Sam lead them to my room since the bathroom was closer. I went back into the kitchen and made breakfast for everyone. I was originally gonna cook for two but now I'm cooking for four.
I soon finished and Sam went to get Natasha and Steve. I just finished setting up the table with the food when the others came in. We ate in silence and then began talking about the situation. "So, the question is: who in S.H.I.E.L.D. could launch a domestic missile strike?"
"Pierce." Steve and I answered quickly. Steve and Sam looked at me in shock and Natasha looked at me with suspicion. I sighed and explained, "I've been monitoring S.H.I.E.L.D. movement and watching for Hydra."
"You knew that S.H.I.E.L.D. was infiltrated?" Steve asked. I nodded.
"I did. Ever since S.H.I.E.L.D. hired Zola back in the 40's after the Nazi's lost, Hydra had been growing like a parasite in S.H.I.E.L.D." I explained.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Steve asked, aggravated. I glared.
"I had my reasons, Rogers." I seethed. I suddenly heard a gun cock and I quickly went into action, fighting the gun out of Natasha's hand and kicked her away from me. I pointed the gun at her and she froze. Sam and Steve too shocked to move. "You're not the only one trained to be an assassin."
"What do you mean?" Natasha asked, curious and still suspicious. I sighed and lowered the gun and threw it back at her. She caught it and gave me a confused look.
"If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already." I said. "I'm gonna tell you right now, this is past tense. Most likely, Stark already knows from Amber." I said sitting down. "If you don't trust me afterwards, that's fine. I don't expect you too." The others looked at me, curious. It was so quiet, you could hear a pen drop. "I'm a former member of Hydra."
Suddenly, I felt guns pointed at me from Natasha and Steve. "Woah, hey! No shooting in our house." Sam said.
"You better start explaining." Steve said. I sighed.
"20 years ago, I joined up with Hydra because they wanted my computer skills. I was one of the best Hackers Hydra had. They soon began training me as an assassin. After my training, they partnered me up with another Soldier. You know him as the Winter Soldier. Of course, I had different views. They soon learned of my sister, well they didn't know she was my sister since I went by the name of Clarissa Davis. They wanted her powers and I had to defect so I could protect her and we went off grid. Of course, I didn't get away scot free, they sent the Winter Soldier to kill me but I managed to elude him. No doubt, I'm still a target but not a priority. Since I left, I've been keeping tabs on Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. movement." I finished explaining.
"So, you're as much an enemy as we are." Steve said.
"That would have been nice to know after we met." Sam said.
"I'm sorry, Sam. I thought it was all behind me but apparently I'm right back in." I explained, feeling guilty for bringing Sam into this whole mess, although it wasn't just me. Steve and Natasha brought him into it the moment they knocked on our door. I was the one brought back into this whole mess. "But back on topic, Pierce isn't working alone, Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star." I explained.
"So was Jasper Sitwell." Natasha said as she lowered her weapon and sat back down, Steve as well.
"So, the real question is: how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer in broad daylight?" Steve asked.
"The answer is: you don't." Sam said, dropping a file in front of Steve. I didn't even notice he was holding a file. Damn, I'm losing my touch.
"What's this?" Steve asked, opening the file up.
"Call it a resume." Sam said and I looked at him with shock. He was still gonna help despite what I used to be? Sam gave me a trusting look and I nodded and smiled a little. Good to know I still had my best friend. Natasha then picked up a photo that Sam was on.
"Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you?" Natasha said, shocked and impressed. She then looked at Steve and said, "You didn't say he was a para-rescue." Steve took the photo and looked at it.
"Is this Riley?" Steve asked.
"Yeah." Sam answered.
"I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use, a stealth chute?" Natasha asked curious. I knew some of that mission after Sam and I started talking but not all the details since they were classified, which I understood completely.
"No. These." He answered as he gave Steve another file. I took a curious look myself and I was impressed with what I saw. It was a suit.
"I thought you said you were a pilot." Steve said amused and impressed.
"I never said pilot." Sam said back, amused himself.
"I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason." Steve said.
"Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in." Sam said, not backing down.
"Where can we get our hands on one of these things?" Steve asked.
"The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall." Sam explained. Steve looked at Natasha and she shrugged her shoulders.
"Shouldn't be a problem." Steve said as he dropped the file. He then looked at me, "Are you helping us as well, Tara? You have valid reasons not to." I could hear the understanding in his question.
I was quiet for a moment. Did I want to get back into this mess? I knew my answer. It didn't matter if I did or didn't, I was dead either way, plus I made a promise to myself years ago and this was as good as any to start fulfilling it. I summoned ice in my hand and made it into a ball and I answered, "Might as well help. I'm dead either way. Might as well go out helping the right people." Steve and Natasha looked at my hand, surprised. The only one who wasn't shocked was Sam since he knew about my powers. I couldn't really keep it a secret considering who my sister was.
"I figured you would have fire powers like Amber." Natasha said and I shrugged.
"Where I'm from, people are born with certain elemental powers. Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Lightning, Light, Dark, and mine, Ice. I'm the only one in my family who uses Ice." I explained, the ice disappearing. "Now I do believe there's a suit we need to acquire." I said with a smirk and we all headed out.