Alright, here's chapter 2, let me know what you think. Things are finally heating up and taking shape and in a couple chapters things will really get moving.

Something was happening. Rory can hear the guards running up and down the hall. There had been something in the works, something HYDRA was planning. She had been able to sense it for the past few weeks. She didn't know any details, but she knew it was something big. She was low on their pecking order, oftentimes she didn't know anything was happening until after it happened. If it didn't directly affect her, she didn't get told any details.

The sound of gunshots has her sitting up on her bed. She had been tracing the mark on her arm. It had gotten bigger in the two years since it had first appeared, the first time she'd met her soulmate. The vines now wrapped around her arm, snaking up towards her bicep and down towards her wrist. She took it as a good sign, that maybe HYDRA's efforts to wipe the soldier's memories hadn't completely worked. Maybe you couldn't erase soulmates, no matter how hard you tried. Rory didn't want to think about it though. The pain he would have gone through.

Rory's door opens, a guard appearing. She'd never seen him before, his bulk taking up the entire doorway. She pushes herself back against the wall, spotting the gun in his hand. The gunshots were getting louder, making Rory's heart race. Had they been found? Was someone attacking and they were losing so they were taking the ultimatum? Die with HYDRA's secrets instead of spilling them to their enemies? It must have been the case as the guard raises the gun towards her. She feels her natural survival instincts kicking in, her hands starting to burn, her body warming.

She jumps when the gun goes off, but she quickly realizes she wasn't the one who was shot. A gaping hole appears in the guard's forehead, his eyes going empty as he falls forward. Blood had splattered all over the room, some of it getting on her. Her gaze quickly snaps back to the doorway, her heart still pounding.

It quickly starts pounding for a different reason. Standing in the doorway, gun still raised, is the soldier. A quiet whimper leaves her lips as she sees him. She had thought she'd never get to see him again. She had thought it was over for them, just as quickly as it began. But he was there, slightly hunched in her doorway, having just killed the man sent to kill her. He looks rough like he had just been in a fight. He was favoring his right arm, a slight limp to his walk as he approaches her. She stays still, unsure of what to do. Unsure of what's going to happen.

The soldier reaches for her, gripping her right arm with his metal hand. The metal is cold against her heated skin, but his grip is light. He stares down at the mark on his arm for a few moments before gently pulling her to her feet.

"We need to leave." She had never heard him speak before. His voice is rough like he hadn't used it in a while. He hadn't said a word to her when they first met, and she figured he didn't do much talking with HYDRA. He was an assassin, not a spokesperson.

"What's happening?"

He doesn't answer, pulling her from her room. He puts a gun in her hands, not that it would have done much good. She had only used one once, and she'd been so nervous she'd melted it before even firing her first shot. HYDRA had given up trying to teach her to use weapons, instead focusing on her natural weapons. She follows him, staying behind him as they make their way past body after body on their way out of the compound. It should have shocked her, made her sick. But she knew what they were capable of. Blindly following orders for what they thought was going to be a better future. The kinds of things they had done to her, done to him. They deserved it. Every last one of them.

The soldier leads her outside, the sun momentarily blinding her. It was evening, the sun close to setting. The air was chilly, but Rory wasn't going to complain. It had been a long time since she'd breathed in fresh air. She wants to stop and take it in, but she knows she has to keep moving. They have to keep moving. If someone came back and noticed them out, it would surely be a quick death for both of them. They were finally escaping and she wasn't about to put that in jeopardy.

The soldier hands her a set of keys, leading her over to a car. It's small and discreet and no doubt stolen. She pauses, looking at the keys, the soldier pausing as well.

"I don't know how to drive."

He opens the passenger door, staring at her. "You'll have to figure it out."

Rory pushes aside the desire to throw a tantrum. Most 16-year-olds were getting cars and their licenses and already knew how to drive. She, on the other hand, knew how to light people on fire and occasionally teleport herself. She had learned that trick not long after she met the soldier the first time. But she was scared to try it too much out of fear of sending herself between a wall or somewhere out in the middle of the ocean. It would have been easier to teleport them somewhere than get in the car and drive it, but with her luck, she would send them right back into HYDRA's hands.

Rory climbs into the driver's seat, sticking the key in the ignition. She had only driven once, back a year ago when she had been left under the care of Rollins for a few days. He had let her drive one of the tactical vehicles around the parking lot. If she could drive one of those tanks, then driving a car should be easy.

Well, sort of.

It took a few tries before Rory started to get the hang of it, the soldier bracing himself with his metal arm on the dashboard. Thankfully, as far out of the city as they were, there wasn't much traffic she had to combat. Neither of them had licenses, and she was sure her driving looked erratic. As long as she didn't crash into anything or anyone, they would be okay.

"Where are we going?" She asks after they've been driving for a while. She had been going in no particular direction, having only the occasional direction from the soldier.

"Away from the city."

She nods. "Okay. Won't they be on our tail?"

He shakes his head. "Not right away."

"What do you mean?"

He says silent again, making her want to scream. She wanted to know what was happening, and she wanted to know why it had been so easy for them to get away. Maybe it was a test. Maybe they were tracking them, seeing if she was willing to leave that easily. Of course she was. The last six years of her life had been a living hell. She wanted to find her parents and let them know she was okay, that she was still alive and mostly unharmed. She wanted to go back to her normal life and live it again. But deep down she knows that won't be a possibility. Too much had changed. She had met one of her soulmates, not to mention being kidnapped by an organization hellbent on taking over the world.

They drive well into the night, keeping to back roads. Quickly they left the city behind, trading it for small towns and then densely wooded areas. Rory can feel herself getting tired as they pushed towards midnight, her eyes threatening to drift closed.

"Pull over here."

Rory almost slams on the breaks, gently pulling the car to the side of the road. They were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded on all sides by trees. The soldier opens the car door, climbing out.

"Stay here. If I'm not back in fifteen minutes, keep driving."

Rory can't even acknowledge she heard him before he's closing the car door and trekking into the woods. She leans back in her seat, tapping the steering wheel. They were low on gas, and there was not a building or car in sight. Dark woods surrounded her. Maybe this was part of the test. Maybe he was going into the woods to tell them she left and they'd be here in ten minutes to kill her for running or worse, take her back. Or maybe he wasn't testing her, and they really were running from HYDRA. Regardless, something had happened, and he wasn't telling her everything. Not that he was telling her much at all.

Twelve minutes go by before the back door of the car opens. Rory had nearly fallen asleep and almost had a heart attack when it opened. She looked around, seeing no one but the shadowy figure of the soldier sliding a big black box into the back seat of the car. He climbs back into the passenger seat, not bothering with a seatbelt as he instructs her to drive further. She thinks about mentioning their gas situation, but then again, he had probably figured that out already.

It's another hour before the gas gauge is in the red and the soldier finally tells her to pull off on a dirt road. He tells her to turn the headlights off, but he must have been able to see better in the dark than she could because she almost ran them off the dirt road more than once. The road ends abruptly, showing no sign of going anywhere else. Rory glances at the soldier, but he's already climbing out of the car. She shuts it off, climbing out as well. The soldier doesn't speak to her as he unloads the black box, grabbing a few things out of the trunk before shoving the car off the road and into the trees. He made it look so seamless, and part of her is concerned. If he shoved her like that, her skeleton would probably burst right out of her skin and hit a tree behind her.

The soldier tosses a sweatshirt at her. It smells weird, but she doesn't complain. It was colder out in the woods than it had been in the city. He picks up the box again, before starting out into the trees. He doesn't say anything to her, but she assumes he wants her to follow. His pace is quick and silent and she nearly has to jog to keep up with him. She tries to stay silent, but she's not as good at it as him.

She's not sure how long they walk, but it had to be getting very late, or early depending on the point of view. She's nearly dead on her feet when he motions her to stop. Up ahead there's a cabin in the trees, the lights off and no car they can see. He sets the box down behind a tree, positioning her next to it.

"Don't move. If you hear anything, run."

She's not sure she could run even if something happened, but she nods. He leaves her there, silently creeping up to the cabin. She wants to sit on the box, but she's not sure what's inside it and she doesn't think it's worth the risk. The soldier disappears into the cabin, the woods silent around them. It's a few tense minutes of silence before he appears again, leaving the cabin. He comes back over to her, grabbing the box.

"Come."

She gets nothing else out of him, having no choice but to follow him into the cabin. It's empty, so far as she can see, but it's stocked full of items. Must be something like a hunting cabin, only used during hunting season. The soldier closes the door, locking us in. Rory jumps a little at the sound, her body reacting on memory alone of all the times she'd heard that sound while her back was turned. Rory watches the soldier move around, setting the box near the bed in the corner. She can feel the adrenaline starting to wear off again, threatening to close her eyes for her. She catches herself before she falls, stumbling a bit. The soldier has his eyes on her from where he's closing the blinds.

"Get some rest."

All she can do is nod, not even bothering to take off her boots before she curls up on the bed, falling asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow.