Chapter 6

Frankie spun away from the window to face Rory.

"No, I cannot believe you are part of this. For God's sake, Rory, these people are evil! They're terrorists."

"Are they really?" Rory asked her. "Think about it. Where does all the information about Hydra come from?"

"Everywhere. They're always in the news."

"You're smarter than that, Frankie," Rory turned and strode back to his desk, leaving her to follow him back across the room.

"Okay," Frankie started ticking off fingers. "They infiltrated SHIELD, crashed a helicarrier, unleashed a super soldier on the world to tear apart the Avengers, and…," her voice tapered off.

"Go ahead, keep going," he urged her with a smirk.

"I'm sure there's a lot more I can't think of right now."

"Are you sure?" He leaned back against his desk to wait.

Frankie flushed as she searched furiously through her memories and came up blank. She was sure there was a lot out there about the organization, though.

"Oh, and they shot the jet out of the sky that I was on. Which is how I ended up here in the first place." She shot him a triumphant look.

"So," he drug the word out, "all you can come up with is," he mockingly held up fingers to count off, "infiltrating a secret organization with no government oversight and exposing them to the public; destroying a secret war machine built by said organization; duplicating a serum used by them; and shooting a jet out of the sky in an attempt to rescue you from the Avenger who's actions five years ago almost killed me and who has been stalking you for six months?"

Frankie crossed her arms across her chest and reluctantly conceded, "well, when you put it like that, it does sound pretty weak."

He chuckled, "why don't you sit back down and let me tell you about the history between Hydra and SHIELD."

She nodded and returned to her chair, "this better be good."

"I'll let you be the judge of that," he also returned to his chair. "I don't know if you were aware, but the roots of Hydra date back centuries to a group that worshipped an extraterrestrial being."

She frowned, "that isn't reassuring, Rory."

He laughed, "no, but I'm going to be completely honest with you. Just like you always were with me."

His reminder of their life together was like a knife through her heart. After everything that happened, she owed it to him to hear him out. But she swore to herself that she would do everything in her power to get him out of whatever mess he was in with Hydra. No matter what.

She nodded, "go on, then."

"I know it sounds bad but think about the world at that time. The most powerful civilizations believed in gods that were blue with multiple arms, had the head of a jackal or ibis, turned into swans to seduce women, or threw lightning bolts. Was worship of an advanced being so far-fetched? When other cultures were burning women at the stake for being witches, members of this group were sending people through a wormhole to the other side of the universe in order to commune with their deity."

"When you put it like that, no, it doesn't sound so crazy," she cautiously agreed. "But there's still the Nazi business and the terrorism. You can't explain that away, Rory."

"No, I can't," he sighed heavily. "But what long-lived organizations do not have unsavory incidents in their history? The United States has many. Genocide of the native population, slavery, racism, and persecution of minorities are all part of its history. Even some of the Avengers aren't as pure as they would lead the public to believe. Bucky Barnes…,"

"Wait," Frankie held up a hand to stop him, "you can't hold his past against him because Hydra brainwashed or programed or whatever the hell it did to him in order to make him follow orders." She leaned back and leveled a triumphant look across the desk at Rory. Above and to the left of him, she noticed a camera mounted to the wall; one of those discrete bubble cameras that department stores like to use. So, someone was watching and pulling his strings. Interesting.

"I was going to say," he continued, drawing her attention back to him, "that Bucky Barnes isn't the only Avenger with a less than pristine past. Tony Start was a megalomaniac whose company sold arms to the highest bidders. Natasha Romanoff was a spy and assassin for Russia. Our least favorite one, Clint Barton…,"

"Who?"

Rory frowned at her interruption. "Hawkeye."

"Oh, so that's his name. I didn't know."

"Well, I made an effort to learn the name of the man that almost killed me, Frankie," a not so gentle rebuff that stung. "Anyway, he was a circus performer then a thief before SHIELD recruited him. And that was much more recent than World War II."

Frankie raised an eyebrow, "surely you aren't comparing being a thief to working with Nazi Germany?"

"No," he said impatiently. "I am just pointing out that people, countries, and organizations can learn from their mistakes and grow; become better, something to be proud of."

"How has Hydra become better?"

"One thing that was learned during its time with the Nazis was the price of unchecked power. And it recognized the beginning of that kind of power in the organization that created a serum for super soldiers and tested it on a human being in secret. Then, when it succeeded, did they share it with the US or any of its allies? No, they fought tooth and nail to keep the secret for themselves."

"When Germany fell, Hydra turned its eyes towards that secretive organization. Over the next decades it watched as SHIELD spread its tentacles out into governments and organizations all over the world. Drawing top scientists into its ranks. Gaining power as it grew. Hydra grew with it, planting eyes and ears everywhere, just like SHIELD. Then when extraordinary individuals became known to it, SHIELD formed the Avengers, a group of the most powerful beings on the planet. A group not answerable to any government." Rory rose, placed his hands on the desk, and leaned forward. "What would happen if these individuals were allowed to run rampant?"

Her lips thinned into a scowl at yet another dig on his part, it was starting to get under her skin. "You know as well as I do what happened."

"Besides an unhinged Clint Barton on a vigilante killing spree? How about a rampaging Hulk destroying a large swath of a city? A psychotic AI created by Start and Banner ripping an entire city out of the ground? A mythical god leading an alien invasion because he was jealous of his brother? And finally, luring a being bent on killing half of every living thing in the universe to earth because they were hoarding alien artifacts."

He straightened and walked around the desk to stand in front of Frankie, making her crane her neck to look up at him. "Think about it. Every major disaster that has happened over the last decade has the same common denominator: The Avengers. Not Hydra."

He had a point, although it was an overly simplified one. She nodded, encouraging him to continue.

"Someone or something has to be the watchdog, has to be the counterweight to such vast power. Something has to hold them accountable for their actions, wouldn't you agree?"

He leaned down, putting his eyes level with hers and his face mere inches away, "Tell me, Frankie, who will demand justice for the boy who had his future taken away by their careless disregard for the rest of humanity?" His voice dropped to an intimate whisper, "Did it feel good when you stabbed Barton?"

Frankie shoved him out of her way and jumped out of the chair, crossing to the wall opposite the window to put distance between them. She leaned her forehead against its cool surface and closed her eyes, struggling to control her breathing.

"What do you want from me?"

"Help us hold them accountable, Frankie. Help me find justice."

She knew he was pulling her strings now, playing with the guilt and anger that had plagued her for the last five years. Yet, he was right. Hawkeye -Clint Barton, she corrected herself- had brought the side of a building down on a teenage boy that everyone presumed died and had not been held accountable. Instead he had been welcomed back into the Avengers with open arms, like nothing had happened. Like Rory didn't matter. And when she had extracted revenge, no different that was he had been on the streets doing at that time, she had to abandon her life and go into hiding in a different city. And Barton had hunted her down there, like a criminal. And abducted her. Yet there was nothing about it in the news.

Life wasn't fair to begin with, but it seemed overly skewed in favor of the Avengers. Maybe someone did need to tip the scales in the other direction.

She turned and leaned against the wall, appraising him. "How?"

"The branch of Hydra in North America is an independent entity. Nobody controls us. Our only focus is finding a way to limit the power that the Avengers wield. 'The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.' That is our goal. Information is our currency."

Rory crossed the room to her but kept a comfortable distance between them this time. "Dear Friend, you are an expert at reading people and putting them at ease. You are the perfect person for intelligence gathering. I'm asking you to put your skills to use once more, like when you helped me turn my life around. Do it this time for a greater cause."

He held out his hand and waited quietly.

Frankie chewed her lip, thinking. She didn't buy into the benevolence line he was giving her about Hydra. True, it might be his truth, but she was good at reading people and she sensed that he was withholding something. Her eyes flickered to the camera behind him again. She had to buy some time to find out what hold Hydra had on him.

Pushing away from the wall, she grasped his hand with hers, "I'll give you a chance to prove what you say is true. Then I'll decide whether or not I will help."

The smile that lit up his face was one hundred percent the boy she had loved, "Deal."