A/N: So this one's a little longer to make up for my equally as long absence. Keep those reviews coming, beloved readers! All input is valued!
"Though my soul may set in darkness,
It will rise in perfect light,
I have loved the stars too fondly
To be fearful of the night"
~Sarah Williams
The world stopped.
The rustling leaves went limp.
The noise from the cars below vanished.
The tickle of the wind was gone.
Avery couldn't breathe.
She stumbled back as their eyes locked. The back of her legs hit the short wall that traced the perimeter of the roof.
He made no move to advance on her, but the nearness of his lithe, lethal frame terrified her anyway.
He wore no mask. The bags under his eyes were darker than they had been before, like he hadn't slept for years. His arm reflected the fading sunlight. His expression was neutral- except for his eyebrows, slightly knitted, as if he was in deep thought.
Every muscle in her body was taut as she readied to flee or fight- though she knew she stood absolutely no realistic chance against him.
It seemed her life wouldn't go back to normal, after all. He would kill her, and her entire future would be stifled in a few short seconds. Who knew how long it would take for her parents to find her body on the roof, their little girl, lying bloated and lifeless in the heat of the summer sun?
Avery straightened at the visual. If she was going to die, she may as well go down kicking.
She never broke the stare as she cleared her dry throat. With anger evident in her voice, she said, "So, you're gonna kill me after all?"
She was faintly aware that she was shaking.
He made no hurried attempt to answer. Giving her the once-over, he noted her defensive stance. Avery watched him like a hawk, and his eyes flitted back up to hers.
After an eternity, he gave a curt, militant shake of the head.
She raised an eyebrow.
This had to be some kind of trap. He was trying to make her let her guard down so she would be an easy kill. As soon as she turned her back, Avery figured, he would be there to snap her neck. Assassins didn't just let you go scott-free, especially not twice.
And especially not when they sought you ought like this.
Not believing him for a second, Avery managed, "Then what do you want?"
Her glare held him in place. She waited to see anything in his dead, ice blue eyes that would warn her of an impending attack, and gripped the wall behind her with sweaty palms. If he moved toward her, she would jump. The fall might not kill her, and she would have a better chance of getting away from him if someone on the street saw her.
The silence was deafening while she waited for an answer. The Soldier was so still that, had he not flexed his left hand, she would have thought he was a statue. The quiet mechanical hum the hand made as it twitched diverted his attention to his arm. He lifted it, and Avery felt a scream rising in her throat-
-But he didn't move to attack her. Instead, he raised it to get a better look at it, as if remembering for the first time that it was there. He opened and closed his fist a few more times, listening to the clicks and whirrs of the joints.
He stopped and frowned again, going completely still. He just...stared at his arm. Saying nothing.
Avery would have picked that moment to slip quietly off the roof, but she realized that the fire escape was behind him. She would have to get closer to him to get by, which was not going to happen. And she didn't feel like risking a jump just yet. So that wasn't going to happen either.
Her options were limited.
Avery wasn't sure how much time passed while she waited for him to answer, but at this point, the sun had almost completely disappeared.
"Why are you here?" she repeated after hesitating a moment, noting how gingerly he moved the metal arm. "Are you...hurt?"
He visibly jolted and snapped back to attention, his eyes again meeting hers. Avery shivered at the emptiness of his glare and shrunk back.
Finally, he spoke.
"Why do you care?" he spoke. The inquiry was a command for information. His voice was monotone. Mechanical. Just like everything else about him.
"Um- I'm sorry?" she squeaked, unnerved.
"Why did you warn me about the car? Why did you help me in the alley?" he continued unflinchingly, in a subdued tone. His eyes bored into her. The inhuman lack of curiosity in his questions was unsettling.
She felt like a cornered animal. The onslaught continued.
"Do you work for S.H.I.E.L.D.? Did they send you to track me?"
Avery broke in, "No, no! I'm in high school, of course I don't work for S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
She barely finished before he demanded, "Then why?"
Avery opened her mouth, closed it, and frowned. "I don't know—that's—that's just what people do for each other."
It was clear her words didn't compute. He waited for her to elaborate.
She gave a helpless scoff at his incomprehension, trying to overcome her body's trembling.
"Well, if you saw someone about to, I don't know, jump off a bridge, wouldn't you try to stop them?!" she asked.
His face was unreadable as he replied without hesitation, "Not unless I was ordered to."
Avery's chest surged with disbelief, and she attempted not to show how indignant she felt. Would he really be so callous as to stand by and watch a death he could prevent, without even blinking an eye? Did he get some kind of sick satisfaction in playing God, in being in control of whether someone lived or died?
As she looked at him again, somehow she doubted that this was the case. Someone as cold as the man before her couldn't conceal such a sadistically bloodthirsty streak. She did not detect any flicker of perverted pleasure when he had given his answer.
He had simply stated a fact. No deceptions. No double-talk.
They both knew he was being completely truthful. He would do whatever he was ordered, whenever he was told.
An icy trickle of fear slid into her stomach.
"Did they order you to come here, then?" she asked, dreading the answer. Had they somehow found out about her surprise run-in with the Captain?
Once again, he looked at her like what she said didn't compute. His pause gave her a small ounce of relief—if he was going to kidnap her for interrogation, he probably would have done so already.
The puzzled look remained inexplicably plastered on his face. She wasn't sure why, as it was a pretty straightforward question. She was beginning to get the impression that even he didn't truly know why he was there.
He was an odd mix of stereotypes, this man, who moved with the fluidity of a jungle predator, yet thought and acted like a piece of faulty equipment.
He opted to completely ignore her question and continue ruminating on his own hidden thoughts. Avery felt more than a little uncomfortable pinned under his inscrutable gaze. Eventually, she summoned up all the bravery she had left to break the silence.
"What was that in the alley, anyway?"
His nostrils flared, and he faltered, gritting his teeth.
"It seemed like you were remembering something," she continued, not really sure where she was going with this. "Were you?" Avery pressed.
"No," he cut her off, closing his eyes, head twitching from side to side, "No. It's not my job to remember." He kept his eyes shut as his head turned away. Unconsciously, his good hand drifted up to his temple. He looked like someone trying to stop a migraine.
"Does this happen a lot?" she asked quietly, gesturing to his pained expression.
He opened his eyes, and his hand dropped. His startled stare was full of fear, but whether it was of Avery's last question or the impending threat of another episode, she wasn't sure. Everything in his face told her that it did, in fact, happen a lot.
And it terrified him.
She could faintly hear sounds of his suddenly labored breathing.
She panicked. What would she do with him if he had another episode here?! Maybe if she could distract him long enough, he wouldn't start seizing again-
Her eyes darted back and forth for a second before she took a breath and began to babble.
"Look at the sky tonight! It hasn't been this clear in a while. Usually there's too much pollution to see much of anything, but I guess that's the price you pay for living in the city. Wow, look over there," she strolled over to the far side of the roof and pointed vaguely in that direction. "You can see the Little Dipper if you squint."
She risked a glance over at him. He was staring at her like she had some kind of mental disability, but she noted with a flicker of triumph that he was no longer breathing heavily.
"Come. Here," she demanded with nerve that shocked her as much as it did him.
A few beats of silence passed. Either he realized that she was trying to help, or he was so used to following orders that it was second nature, but, one hesitant step at a time, he shuffled over to her vicinity.
As soon as he began to move, Avery quickly averted her gaze to the stars again. Her heart was pounding, and a little voice inside her head was still yelling that his whole act could just be a way of distracting her before he went in for the kill-
She was aware of his presence a couple feet behind her. His stare was burning a hole in her back. She continued to ramble.
"Just think— there's millions of galaxies out there that we can't even begin to imagine, different planets and stars and solar systems..."
The breeze started up again and tousled her hair. He stood soundlessly, listening to her.
"I used to want to be an astronaut," she continued. "I wanted to go up there and see what it was like to be surrounded by nothing. No noise, no other people, not even gravity- just calm. Silence."
After a breath, she went on, "I bet actually being up there is more stressful than that, but I've heard that seeing the Earth from another vantage point really makes you re-evaluate stuff. How big the world is. How many other people on Earth have dreams and hopes and fears just like you. You could see one of them in a crowd and they wouldn't be more than a passing face. But really, you'd be the same to them."
She knew she wasn't making much sense. She stole another glance at him, and was surprised to find his eyes not on her, but turned upward, regarding the stars with faint suspicion.
Some of the tension had left his shoulders while she monologued. She kept going.
"I did this project on supernovas when I was in Eighth grade. Apparently, when a star explodes, it puts off this unbelievable blast of light. Sometimes, scientists glimpse these explosions, right? But because the light takes so long to travel through space, most of the ones they do see have actually been over for millions of years. It's crazy."
She was met by silence. Suppressing a bitter smirk, she said, "Wow, this is the first time I've been able to talk about science this long without getting called a nerd. You're a good listener."
She turned her head to give him a sly smile. When he looked at her, his mouth didn't move, but a dim spark of amusement flashed in his eyes.
She was shocked when she received even this little response. It seemed that he was, too. His eyes glazed over for a minute. He looked away. Both fell silent.
Attempting to appear at ease, Avery took a few steps toward the ledge and leaned on the wall, staring up at the broad expanse of night sky, peppered with pinpricks of light.
She heard faint whirring behind her, and assumed he was clenching and unclenching his fist again.
She bit her lip to force herself to hold still.
"Do you spend a lot of time up here?" he asked suddenly, making her jolt a little.
Avery absentmindedly realized that the mechanical tone with which he spoke was partly due to traces of some kind of accent. It took her a minute to place it, but she realized it sounded something akin to Russian.
She pushed this out of her mind as she debated whether to tell a professional killer exactly where he could find her every night without fail.
Then again, he had already found her once, and had done so without her help. Plus, so far, he hadn't done anything.
"Yeah. A lot," she stated simply. "I'd ask why you care, but you probably wouldn't answer."
She heard the wry smile in her own voice, and knew that he heard it, too.
They both started at the slide and bump of her room's window being opened.
"Avery? You okay up there?" her mom's voice drifted up.
"Yeah, mom, fine," she said quickly, praying that her mom would shut it again and stay far away from the potentially still dangerous situation on the roof. Avery looked nervously back at him. He watched her closely.
"Do you need anything?" her mom asked.
"No, mom, I'm fine," Avery replied, somewhat forcefully.
A muffled "Okay," was heard, followed by another roll and thud.
Avery breathed a sigh of relief.
She turned again, expecting to find his ever-observant stare trained on her, but the roof was empty. He had slipped away again without a word.
She sagged heavily on the wall, knowing that she would be out there for quite some time before she could process what just happened.
This was becoming a pattern. How much longer would she have to walk on eggshells because a legendary murderer seemed to turn up wherever she went?
As her knees gave out and she collapsed on the ground in sudden relief, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was still being watched.