Mallory was riding a dragon, with Jon Snow clutching her waist. As the dragon swooped to the ground and landed with a thump, the Soldier dived in front of her and sucked the air in deeply, before blowing fire over the dragon and Jon. He dived off the dragon in time but Mallory didn't; the red hot burn passed over her body in a flash of white light and she opened her mouth to scream but the only sound that came out was the song 'Stupid Hoe' by Nicki Minaj.
She woke in the pitch blackness of apartment, slightly confused and convinced she was on fire, with the song playing in the background. It had been Sunday when she'd gone to bed, after sharing a bottle of wine with her giddy mother and her distant father over their Sunday pot roast. When she came home, she'd tried to relax with a nice hot shower and another glass of wine but she'd gone to bed drunk, dizzy and nauseous. She'd also been extremely hot so currently she was naked apart from a pair of cute pink underwear with cupcakes decorating her crotch and ass.
Groaning, Mallory sat up in her bed and rubbed at her eyes, It clicked that the song was her ring tone and she pulled the phone to her ear, pressing the green button on the screen.
She didn't get time to ask who the hell this person thought they were to wake her up at this delicate hour.
"Dr. Smith we need you to come in right away." It was Pierce, sounding snappy and awake and scary like he always did. Mallory flinched and pulled the phone from her ear and checked the clock in the upper left hand corner – three thirty six am. You're kidding me.
"What for?" Her voice was thick with sleep, her brain sluggish.
He ignored that, in that way of his that suggested he hadn't even heard her speak. "The car is outside right now. Just put some clothes on and be in it right away."
Her mouth tasted filmy from the wine and Pierce wanted her to jump into the car right away and do technological things that required logistical thought? Mallory's eyes were crusted with sleep but were gradually adjusting to the artificial light of her phone screen.
"Dr. Smith my men say you haven't left your apartment yet. What is the delay?"
Even over the phone, Pierce could inspire sudden soberness in sleepy and still half-drunk people. Mallory jumped out of the bed and tried to control her yelp when she stumbled over the sheets that had tangled themselves around her ankles and landed in a heap on the floor.
"No delay sir. I'm coming right now." She threw the phone on the bed.
Frowning, Mallory stumbled towards her bathroom and switched the light on. A wild eyed, mad-haired and frowning naked woman stared back at her. Mallory blinked twice and tried to focus, working extra hard to make herself look semi-presentable and to be out the door before she was sure the HYDRA agents were going to kick down the door. How embarrassing it would be if they crashed open her bathroom door whilst she was in this state, a literal tits-out look that was not going to be on any catwalk. She swished her mouth with Listerine, and restrained her hair with a ponytail. Next she raced back into the darkness of her bedroom and found the nearest things to wear; a pair of boyfriend jeans, ballet flats and a stripy jumper. Mismatched and uncoordinated, she was busy slicking on some moisturizer to soothe her savaged skin when Pierce called again.
She couldn't ignore him. "Hello, sir?"
He sounded pissed. "Get in the damn car, Mallory otherwise I'll have the HYDRA agents carry you out of there no matter what you're wearing."
"Yes sir." She was a mouse, squeaking with mercy at a large and angry predator. Gulping, Mallory grabbed her keys and phone and ran out of the apartment, pausing only to lock the door. She was glad she only lived on the fourth floor, as if she'd been near the top she was sure by the time she had ran down the stairs, Pierce would've fired her. It was like something he would do.
Mallory raced out of the warmth into the cold Monday early morning. A group of HYDRA agents stood near the car. She recognized the man standing in front of them all as the de facto leader; an arrogant but most certainly attractive brown haired gentlemen who introduced himself as such as Brock Rumlow. He had escorted her to work and from work since last week, and was a lot chattier then the rest of them. Immediate schoolgirl crush when she'd met him. He had nice eyes, a sweet hazel colour that were sweeter still when he smiled, which was often and usually at her.
"Pierce is gonna kick your ass." He said, smirking at her as she panted and scrambled into the car. The other men loaded up quickly and the car began to roll through the streets at a speed that was both frightening and totally illegal.
"I know, I know." Out of breath, Mallory hunched in the seat and prayed she had been quick enough for Pierce. Rumlow grinned, and smiled at her reassuringly.
"You made it in time, don't worry. He isn't gonna fire you."
Relieved, Mallory sat back on the seat and bounced with nervousness. "Thanks. You're looking remarkably awake at this time."
Rumlow smiled, sending her cheeks colouring stupidly. "I can't help it; I'm jacked up so much coffee I'm pretty sure my heart has stopped beating."
"I could check you over, if you want. I am a doctor."
"I may have to take you up on the offer."
The flirting was a nice antidote to the strange situation. She wondered why they had called her at this time but really it was obvious; the Soldier was back and he needed some sort of life threatening diagnosis to go into surgery or something. Either way, the Soldier was back from his mission. She'd heard he'd left with a bunch of HYDRA agents to go to Kuwait. Whoever had been the victim of the Soldier's infamous ruthless aggression and secretive work was a poor man indeed. Mallory felt itchy, sweating with nerves and feeling stupid in front of Rumlow.
As they pulled up outside the Bunker, Mallory was out the car first and sprinting across the desert that was bathed in darkness. The agents followed her and watched as she pulled up the access panel and opened the lift with her voice.
"Well?" She asked impatiently as they stared. "Are you coming?"
Rumlow laughed and stepped into the lift with her. Usually it went at breakneck speed but somehow it seemed slower than a snail. Mallory bounced on the soft underfoot of her ballet flats, trying to act as if the sheen of sweat that covered her makeup free face was intentional. As the doors slid open, Mallory raced past all of the night techs and went straight to the corridor where she completed her voice recognition and retina scan with a record time.
"Retina scan complete. Hello, Dr. Smith."
Mallory ran in. The scene she was greeted with was one of chaos. Various doctors she had never seen before were swarming over the examination table where she'd performed the Soldier's first examination before the mission; on it lay the Soldier himself, screaming with pain as the bed turned red with blood. His howls echoed horribly around the lab. Pierce was at the head of the table, yelling at Mr Reznak who was yelling back, his English being aggressively punctuated by words she assumed were harsh in his tongue. And in the midst of this, Mallory was thrown into the deep end when a young, bright eyed nurse ran up to her and said, "What do we do, Dr. Smith?"
Mallory was working on autopilot; no longer Mallory Smith, daughter of Sampson and Julie, the sweet young girl who happened to be single and obsessed with Game of Thrones. Now she was Dr. Smith, the steadfast doctor who had served so many late night shifts in A&E that even the most horrific of injuries could not stir bile in her stomach. An empowering shift into her doctor persona, who she had so missed in her time away from the hospital.
She darted forwards. "Clear the table!" The command was sharp and abrupt and Mallory began tuning whoever wasn't important out of her vision and hearing.
"What happened?" She asked the nurse, as the girl handed her some vinyl gloves so she could begin.
One of Mr Reznak's men answered. "One of the guys fucking goons got the drop on your precious soldier; stabbed him clean through."
Mallory pushed past the nurses and assessed the wound; it was small but deep. Fatal if left unchecked. They'd just been in the process of cutting his clothes off when she'd entered and now he was facing her, naked, face drained and screwed up with pain.
"Any poison?"
"What?"
Her voice raised to a shout. "Was there any poison on the blade?"
"No." He spat something at her in that language of his. Mallory glared at the soldier.
Pierce began to move behind her, clearing the room of all doctors and nurses. She didn't notice until she called out for an IV drip and nobody was there to answer. Pierce stood grinning at her. Mallory could've hit him.
"What are you doing? He could die-"
"Dress his wounds and put him into cryo-sleep, he'll eventually stabilize."
Mallory felt uneasy following Pierce's orders but she did, dressing the groaning Soldier's wounds and coaxing him with kind words to walk from the bed to the glass coffin; he collapsed onto the bed and groaned.
"Doctor... Mallory..." He sounded so young when he spoke that it tugged on her heartstrings. Then the Soldier blacked out, his body weight becoming unbearable against her that she staggered. Pierce helped her get him into the bed.
"Shit. Computer!" The whirr sprang to life. "Run protocol 270."
The glass doors of the coffin swung shut and clicked. The protocol would reactivate the cryo-sleep and send a gas that would sedate the Soldier. The mist sprayed him and Mallory swiped his vitals on the big screen; his heart was racing but as the sedation worked and the cryo-sleep did its magic, the number dropped to a reasonable rate. Mallory breathed steady.
"Good work, Dr. Smith." He clapped Mallory on the back; she flinched and tried to smile.
"Thank you, sir." Her heartbeat was deafening over the dim whirring of machinery. Pierce nodded at her and left to go and tend to Mr Reznak, whom she heard yelling in his language all the way down the hall. Mallory rubbed her forehead and turned back to the table where the Soldier had been bleeding on and began to clean it up to give her something to do. All the while, her eyes were peeled on the vital screen to see if the Soldier had any change.
When she was certain he'd be fine and she'd dumped all of the unsanitary blood-stained bandages, Mallory found herself walking over to the computer and accessing the S.H.I.E.L.D database from the generic public website; she frowned at the monitor. Surely the information she was after wasn't available to the public? Aha!, she thought as she spotted the login box available only to the employees. After typing in her password and pressing enter, the screen loaded a new, more personalized screen complete with Mallory's name stamped above a search box complete with Mallory's I.D picture, where she was staring into the camera with a glazed over expression.
Type your search phrase here the box encouraged. Who would she search first? Her fingers typed before she had a chance to think. Mr Reznak...
The clearance brought up a thousand and one possible articles related to Mr Reznak, but the second most option seemed the most likely as it had I.D picture of the man who had entered the Bunker, alongside other aliases. She clicked it.
It was created like a Wikipedia page, only black background with white text and the S.H.I.E.L.D logo stamped everywhere.
Mikhal Rashad Reznak, also known as Mr Reznak is the face of American-based oil manufacturers Reznak & Co. Reznak is known internationally for his ruthless aggression towards his competitors, and is even accused of having a personal involvement in the death of James Klattenhof, owner of the German-based oil company Wir lieben Öl.
This only led her to be more confused; what was the owner of an oil company doing in a sub-department of S.H.I.E.L.D? It made no sense. What would Mr Reznak want with the Winter Soldier?
Then it hit her. Reznak was said to have ruthless aggression. Was it possible that Reznak had heard of the Winter Soldier's former exploits and asked to hire him to kill another competitor in the oil business? Surely Pierce wouldn't sell government owned expenditure like that? The Winter Soldier programme was supposed to be used as a last resort to assassinate government leaders not eliminate an angry oil baron's competition.
She was going to go to Pierce. Surely he'd understand her confusion? Spurred on by this sudden feeling of invincibility, Mallory stormed through the darkness of the corridor and into the main building area and ran up the steps towards Pierce's office. It was empty save for the man himself, drinking coffee and looking smug as usual. She knocked twice on the door.
"Come in."
Mallory entered, her invincibility falling short when she met the gaze of her shark-like boss. She sat down out of respect in the chair and found her throat suddenly dry.
"I wanted to ask a question... about Reznak."
Pierce seemed to freeze in the chair but Mallory continued as if she hadn't heard him much like Pierce did all the time to her. "I looked him up on the S.H.I.E.L.D database and it turns out he's an oil baron. Did he hire the Winter Soldier to take out his competition? And did you let him-"
Pierce raised his hand and Mallory silenced automatically, feeling suddenly as if she had stepped onto a minefield in broaching this subject with the boss.
"Dr. Smith... may I remind you that you signed an injunction-"
Her words came surprisingly confident."That injunction prevents me from speaking to my work to the public. This-" She gestured around the office. "-isn't the public."
Pierce's shark-like look turned into a full scathing, molten hot disaster-at-Pompeii type glare and Mallory's throat went dryer than a desert. Where had that sudden spark come from? Usually she was so meek, so silent.
"What I do with my Winter Soldier is absolutely no concern of yours, Miss Smith." Why had so suddenly reverted to calling her Miss? And since when was the Winter Soldier 'his'? Pierce then smiled but it was a tight smile, as if he trying not to lift the table and throw it off her head. "No need to worry your pretty little head about it."
This admission left her feeling violated and awkward. Mallory rose from the chair, a blush rising over her cheeks from shame and embarrassment.
"I-I'm sorry sir. Please forgive me." Nervousness caused her to stutter pathetically and she practically stumbled out of the office. She passed Rumlow walking up the stairs, and he placed his hand on her shoulder as she passed.
The touch would've normally set every sense on fire but here, it just sent a mild buzz through her system. "Hey, you okay?"
Mallory managed a weak smile. "Yeah Rumlow. I'm fine."
Fatigued, from lack of sleep and sweating from embarrassment and shame, Mallory walked back to the Soldier's lab with her head metaphorically in her hands. The subtext messages from Pierce had been received loud and clear; don't ask awkward questions and don't ask Pierce. Hopefully the mistakes she had made today would be ignored in future. She walked over to the Soldier's glass coffin and laid her head and hands across the top where the Soldier's chest lay.
"Maybe I can forget like you did." She murmured quietly, unable to break the habit of talking to him as if he could hear her.
Mallory must've fallen asleep because the next thing she knew, Rumlow was carrying her to the backseat of an SUV. She woke being transported from his strong arms to the leather clad seat and he climbed in next to her.
"How's..." A little disorientated, Mallory sat up in the car with her back to the window wiping her mouth with her sleeve and praying she looked decent. "How is... our soldier?"
"He's doing fine, Mal." Rumlow smiled patiently and Mallory flushed slightly, hoping it was too dark in the back seat of the SUV for him to see.
Without his normal S.H.I.E.L.D fatigues, Rumlow seemed naked. Of course this thought conjured up an image of Rumlow naked in her mind and Mallory went even redder. He caught her staring and shot her a little side grin as if he knew what she was thinking and Mallory averted her eyes, fixating her gaze on her fingernails and wondering whether or not she should bother with nail varnish in the future.
As they sat in a comfortable silence as the car rolled from the top secret location back to her home, Mallory found her thoughts on the Soldier, Reznak and his problem and Pierce's strangeness in their meeting. The "pretty little head" statement rattled around her skull horribly and she shook it firmly, attempting to get rid of it before it became a dance remix in her mind. Although she knew that HYDRA was the sub-division of S.H.I.E.L.D then even they weren't aware of, did that mean that they were keeping secrets from the employees? All of them didn't even know where they worked. Why had the Soldier been hired to execute a man who had connections with an oil baron? It just didn't make sense. She opened her mouth to ask Rumlow but she found herself hesitating; why? It was obvious. Rumlow was one of Pierce's top lieutenants. If she was questioning Rumlow about Pierce, he'd tell Pierce then she'd get fired. And this job was too good to lose.
Just keep your mouth shut, Mal. She advised herself, folding her arms and settling into her seat as the streaks of a grey dawn settled over the world. Forget about it.
An hour later, they pulled up outside of her apartment. The sky was brighter and Mallory was resigning herself to flop on her bed fully clothed when Rumlow escorted her up the front steps.
"Hey I was wondering... after work do you wanna get a drink or something?"
All of her previous sleights were lifted and she grinned happily at Rumlow, suddenly feeling awake and energetic.
"Yeah. Course. I'd loved too."
Rumlow smiled at her; it was getting embarrassing what that smile did to her "Great. So tomorrow straight after work? I'll get off early and we can go somewhere nice?"
Mallory was nodding. "Yep. Sounds great."
Rumlow gave her a thumbs up before jumping back into the car. As she entered her apartment building, draining the last of this new found energy by smiling and walking up four flights of stairs, Mallory unlocked her front door and relocked it once she had entered. I'm actually going on a date with Rumlow, she thought, as she forced herself to undress and get back into bed.
The thought kept her warm and were in the process of sending her to sleep until her half awake-dreams were disturbed by images of the man with the metal arm, the cool stare and the way he had said her name.
"Doctor... Mallory..." He sounded so young when he spoke that it tugged on her heartstrings. Then the Soldier blacked out.
She was sure she'd never said her name was Mallory.