She could still see the fear etched in his face. The glaze of horror in his eyes. She approached, energy in her hands ablaze. "No!" he pleaded, crying out again and again, but she wouldn't stop. Another step forward, and she launched a blast at his chest, causing him to collapse to the ground, unresponsive.
Her headset crackled. "Soldier, do you comply?"
"The job is finished."
"Excellent work Soldier."
Skylar woke up panting. Another nightmare. Another death that she couldn't remember committing. Although she somewhat had her mind back, it didn't always feel that way, especially with weekly nightmares serving as a constant reminder. Grave after grave, she became tired of being the one putting these innocent people in the ground.
Skylar should have guessed by Peter's excessive chatting and nervous energy that he was up to something. She felt it in the air all day. So when he approached her at her locker during passing period, she was filled with anticipation.
"H-hey, Skye," Peter hesitantly croaked.
"Oh, hey Peter." Skye smiled.
"So…. tonight there's this dinner. At the Avengers Tower. And I was wondering… if uh, maybe you would want to come and meet everyone?"
"Tonight?" She asked.
"Y-yes, and it's okay if you can't make it-"
"Peter?"
"Yes?"
"I would love to go."
The doors slid open and Skye briskly made her way down the hallway, stopping at the door just at the end. She laid a hand on the handle, but held her breath; she was intimidated by the people standing in the room before her. Finally mustering up the courage, she pulled back on the door and stepped inside, only to be greeted by Peter at the door.
He motioned for her to come in, and the chattering room fell silent. All eyes were fixed on Skylar. "Everyone, this is Skylar Quinn."
She gave a nervous wave. "Hi."
The whole room greeted her, and Peter began walking her around to meet everyone.
As she and Peter began making their rounds, Skylar overheard a snippet of a conversation between Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, whom Peter later introduced as the Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
"You still having those nightmares?" Sam questioned.
This made Skye stop for a moment. "All the time," she and Bucky replied in unison.
They both locked eyes with one another for a minute.
Skye extended her hand. "Skylar Quinn, but you can call me Skye."
"What did you say? About nightmares?"
"My parents died when I was 11; and a few years later I was kidnapped by HYDRA and experimented on with the Mind Stone. I was the only experiment along with one more to survive. For a little over a year, I was sent on countless missions to pinpoint and kill any target assigned to me." She shook her head. "Now I regret every waking second of it."
"I was the same way; for decades I served HYDRA under mind control. I regret it all too." Bucky admitted. "What did they call you?"
"Me?"
All the painstaking memories flooded her brain at once. The missions. The helpless victims. The golden blasts taking them in one fatal blow.
"They called me the Ember Assassin."
Tony walked over. "Ember Assassin? Welcome to the Avengers."
AuthorsNote:
Sorry this chapter was kinda short, I wasn't really sure where I wanted to go with the second chapter; but the next few are going to be very exciting and I can't wait to share them! Once again, if you have any ideas, I am open to suggestions!