It was the Russian jail cell corridor only things had changed.
The ice of the jail was warm now, heat like the infernos of Hell blazing the floors the colour of leaves in the Fall. Hot to the touch, she walked barefoot and gasped in pain with each step she took, heat flaring her heels and toes. It was a dream where she observed but somebody else controlled her actions rendering incapable of running from the scene. Only she was curious at the change.
Her mother and father occupied the first cell; they paid no mind to her and argued amongst themselves. Between the crackle of flame and the tortured screams of Ariadne as she birthed her child on that cold dark night, she could hear her mother calling her father a traitor, a liar, a disgrace. He bowed his head in shame and offered no resistance. She moved past.
The second cell was Fury; he lay on the ground writhing with pain in a pool of blood.
The third cell was Captain America, in his old battle uniform torn with bullet holes with his ruined shield by his side. He sat on the bed and raised his head to glare at her, his eyes growing red like molten lava filled with hatred. She was pierced with fear but moved past all the same.
The fourth cell was Romanoff crouching on the ground with a bow lying at her feet, wearing a white dress that ran red with blood. She raised her head and tossed her suddenly long red hair behind her, singing a lullaby in Russian. Mallory moved past.
The fifth cell was with Rumlow. A shadow covered his face and she smelt burning flesh. She ran out of the cell and it clicked shut on it's own, and she found herself calmly moving past as if nothing had happened.
The last cell held the Soldier sitting on the ground with Pierce above him. The door was open and Mallory stepped through. The Soldier wore nothing, a naked baby below her and Pierce was above dressed in white, dangling a marionette which she realized was attached to the Soldier. Pierce laughed, looking more shark-like than ever and Mallory watched as he raised the Soldier's wrist to dangle helplessly in front of her, the string stretching to accommodate the weight.
She held a pair of scissors in her hand but the dream would not allow her to strike the string through. So she stood and watched, as the master played with his puppet-
The opening lines to Stupid Hoe began to sing, and Mallory jerked awake in cold sweat and fear. The dream lingered for a moment in her mind – the panic in the Soldier's eyes, the crisp whiteness of Pierce's suit, the glinting scissor blades - then disappeared, beginning to fade as the conscious world drifted in. The bedroom was dark, silent and serene, punctured only by her gasping and the sound of Nicki Minaj beginning to rap. Beside her, Rumlow stirred at the movement but didn't wake, burrowing his face deeper into the pillow to ignore the noise.
Groping in the dark, Mallory's hand hit the beside table hard and she yelped, knocking over a plant pot with a plastic lily on it and smashing the vase. I can't deal with this right now. Sighing, she switched the light on. Rumlow groaned as light filled the dark room.
"Babe..." He said vaguely, patting the space beside him and finding Mallory's damp body. "What time is it?"
She ignored him, finding the phone and sliding the green button across the screen. The name announced it was Pierce and a cold fear struck her much like it had in the dream.
"Sir?" She dared not sound like she hadn't been asleep moments earlier.
"The Soldier is back and the car is waiting. Put Rumlow on the phone."
How did Pierce know Rumlow was with her? She ignored it and filed away the suspicions for a later date. "Yes, sir."
She shook Rumlow awake and handed the phone over. "It's Pierce." She whispered helpfully, as he took it in confusion. The change over him was immediate; he rubbed his eyes and ran a hand through his wild hair and sat up. He began answering Pierce's questions with a rapid fire attentiveness, his throat a little thick with sleep. Mallory left him on the bed to make herself look semi-presentable for the car.
She dressed in leggings and a white shirt, brushing her teeth. She scraped her slightly greasy hair back in an unflattering bun and spat the rest of her minty toothpaste into the sink, watching as the foam swirled down into the plughole. As she reentered the bedroom, Rumlow had vacated the bed and was putting a pair of pants on one handed, still talking to Pierce. She waited for him to hang up, and he put the phone back on the bedside table with a face graver then if he'd found out his mother had died.
"Something wrong?"
He looked at her, confusion in his expression then padded toward her barefoot. "Babe I'm gonna have to go on an assignment."
She took his hands and rubbed her thumbs over the back of his knuckles. "How long we talking here?"
"I'm not sure."
She nodded. "Am I allowed to know what for?"
He shook his head; she was used to operating in secrecy but he attempted a smile. "I will tell you it's a manhunt."
Mallory nodded, remembered the sheet labeling Rogers a threat and said jokingly. "For Steve Rogers?" Her smile faded.
He recoiled from her slightly, and she noticed how he had tensed his forearms. Was she actually right? "What makes you say that?"
"I was just kidding- wait it's not actually a manhunt for Steve Rogers is it?" His face coloured red and it was so obvious. How on earth was this man a spy? "Oh my God, it is, isn't it?"
She had caught him off guard. "I can't tell you." He was panicking, talking fast.
Images of the file conjured up in her head and she remembered the Soldier. His mission had been fulfilled; priority target was eliminated."Rumlow!"
"It's classified!" He laughed once in an attempt to stay light but there was a certain unnerving hardness in his face indicating he wanted her to stop.
"Look I wish I could tell you but I can't." He lent in to kiss her but as he did, it felt more like he was silencing her. She felt uneasy as they left the apartment together, Mallory's hand clamped tightly around the phone she had grabbed from the bedside table.
Two cars waited on the sidewalk for them both in the brisk early morning, Rumlow explaining he was needed at the Triskelion instead of Bunker. They parted for what felt like the foreseeable future on the doorstep, Mallory breathing in his scent and trying to remember it so her nights would feel less lonely.
"I'll miss you." She murmured into the fabric-softened scent of his shirt. He didn't reply, kissing the top of her head and moving into the car without a backward glance. She heard him sniff and wipe at his face as he moved away. Mallory lingered upon the pavement to watch his car drive away, waving at the blacked out windows. Mallory then got into her own car and toyed with the recent discoveries in her world.
Steve Rogers and possibly Natasha were being hunted. Fury, after Pierce's admission that the Soldier was back from his mission, was most likely dead. She doubted Pierce would take failure, especially after he had seemed so angry. So what had they done? HYDRA had evaluated all three of them as threats; had they actively put their threatening status into practice and done something? Had it been like Kohl, they'd blackmailed somebody in a high position? Had they sabotaged a mission and released some information to the public? She hadn't seen anything to do with S.H.I.E.L.D or HYDRA trending on Twitter since the Chitauri invasion. It must've been something terrible because Captain America surely wouldn't go against his country. There had to be a proper reason. Captain America and manhunt didn't really gel together in the same sentence.
She thought about all as the guards escorted her from the top to the lift through the cold tiled halls of the Bunker and into the lab. She spotted her father, looking more stressed then ever, roaming the halls and stepping up and down off the steps that lead to Pierce's office looking agitated. She approached him nervously.
"Hey, sweetie." Even his voice sounded nervous. "What's up?"
"Nothing I'm just... just confused to why you're here. I thought you were at the Triskelion with Pierce?"
He laughed nervously at the mention of his bosses name and ran a hand through his hair; although old, her father still possessed a full head of hair.
"No. No, no. He wants me here." His small eyes narrowed on her nervously. "Did you hear about Fury?"
"No?" Although she had never met the man, the presence of the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D was everywhere. Her father shifted nervously, rolling on the balls of his feet and his mouth curled into an unpleasant smile.
"He's dead."
He's done it again. Mallory's face tightened to a mask of nothing, a trick she had learnt from the man himself, and she coolly observed her father.
"Why are you smiling?" She asked him, feeling her voice hardened and her father grow more nervous. He looked at her up and down before answering.
"Isn't it obvious?" Mallory shook her head and indicated for him to continue. "Fury got a little restless, asking questions about INS-"
He stopped himself but Mallory saw the small slip of paper in her head. "INSIGHT. Yeah what is that? I saw it on a file in Pierce's office when I went to see him." Half-truths don't count as lies, do they?
"Nothing for you to know." He was about to say something else when his phone buzzed in his pocket – her father actually jumped, scrambling to find the phone before the ring tone stopped. A little alarmed, Mallory backed away and muttered something about finding the lab.
"Yeah, yeah." He said distractedly, wiping a wet-with-sweat hand on his pants whilst trying to untangle the phone of his pocket. "See you soon..."
The strange expression stayed with her until she entered the lab to the sight of the Soldier who sat calmly on the examination table, staring ahead into space. He seemed lost in his own drama and for a second she found herself imagining him thinking about all of things a normal man thinks about; work, food, sex, money troubles, philosophy on life, politics, his girlfriend. She could see the images in her head, pizza swirling with a beautiful blonde haired girl who flipped her hair and smiled. His face was so neutral, so relaxed then normal that for a moment it seemed possible for her to believe that he was just a normal guy who needed a haircut.
Then he stiffened and his head snapped towards her; his face hardened almost immediately but softened a little when he realized it was her.
Mallory approached, and began her usual examination. She noted his weight loss – he had gone from 210 pounds to 197 and it was worrying. Did he feel sick? Was he clammy, cold, feverish? She rattled the questions off in a quick fire manner and he answered everyone with a no, staring ahead once more. She updated the computer and her notes with his progress, and felt his eyes on her as she moved around the lab.
"Fury's dead."
She stiffened and felt the hairs on her entire body stand up as goosebumps prickled her skin. The chill was sent through her spin, shuddering her nervous system so much that she slowly pivoted to face him. Part of her wanted to fly at him with questions and demand to hear answers fiercely as neither Pierce nor Rumlow had been forthcoming with them. Part of her wanted to nod and quietly ask him if he was okay, because even though he had shot Kohl in cold blood he had said that for a time he had wrestled with himself not wanting to disappoint his doctor. A childish part of her just wanted to cry and start running out of the Bunker and never stop.
"I know." She breathed softly, slowly walking towards him. "Did he... did he die quickly?"
The Soldier nodded then pressed his fingers to the left side of his chest. "Bullet in the heart... I never miss."
Mallory's throat had tightened. She swallowed uneasily, trying to get rid of the lump that felt like it was blocking her degulition system.
"Are you... are you okay?" It seemed like a silly question to ask once it was out in the open. He'd been staring at the floor but when she'd asked it he raised his eyes to meet. Normally so cool and calm and collected, a small sliver of fear was showing through the cracks. It broke her heart to be honest. As turbulent and confusing as their relationship had been, she was mad at him because she cared. Sometimes it felt like she was being angry with a robot, a perfect but lifeless robot who responded to orders but couldn't think or feel for himself. It was frustrating, like she was beating down her entire emotions on a brick wall and asking if anybody could hear her. Sometimes he could, responding with allowing her to touch him as he had back in the prison, or comforting her after she had realized her own guilt had made her so angry with him. Sometimes he couldn't, the cool eyed stare he had given her before shooting Kohl in the back. It was fifty fifty with the Soldier.
"There was a man there. With a shield, painted with the American flag." Captain America, the next target. The Soldier lifted himself from the table, interested. "He was almost as fast as me, and as strong. Do you know who he is?"
Mallory nodded and opened her mouth to answer. Before she could however, the A.I startled her.
"Incoming call from Pierce. Accept?"
Mallory glanced at the Soldier but he had sat back down and had bowed his head towards the floor. "Accept."
"Miss Smith." He was calling her Miss again. His background was different; instead of the stationary glass office, he was moving in a black tinted car through the streets of Washington. Mallory tilted her head sideways and watched as the camera rocked with each movement of the vehicle. "I'm afraid I've got some bad news."
Her heart rate quickened, and she found the lump coming back stronger then ever, so hard that she could barely speak. She tilted her head and nodded, in a way of asking him to continue.
"The Bunker is under threat. We're moving you to a safehouse for the foreseeable future."
"Why?"
Pierce's entire face tightened when she said that. His eyes hardened in a beady shark-like glare, his jaw tightened under the wrinkled skin and even his lips stretched into a thin line almost as if he was trying to control his temper. He didn't like questions, she knew that but to look murderous when she asked one?
"The Bunker is under threat." He merely repeated in an even tighter, strained voice. "A guard will be coming to pack up the machines then Level 3 will be activated."
It took a moment but memories of her and David's conversation about the Bunker's fail safes slowly dribbled into her mind; Level 3 was a warhead aimed at the lab to destroy anything related to the Winter Soldier.
"I didn't realize he was under threat, sir." Mallory amended, realizing that Fury had discovered something to do with HYDRA and had either discovered, or was close to discovering anything about the Soldier when he died.
About twenty HYDRA agents entered the room and began packing up the big jagged black machine that vaguely resembled a tarantula. It broke off in all different parts and they piled it up in huge bags, eventually disassembling it in front of her. They left the coffin however and Mallory turned back to the screen.
"Sir, are we not putting him back into cryo-sleep?"
Pierce sighed, tired and annoyed with her questions. "No. For the time being, the Soldier will be activated permanently."
He clicked off without so much as a goodbye. The Soldier jumped down from the table and began dressing in his armour. Mallory averted her eyes and began taking things with her that she most certainly needed; the fancy A.I screen would be blown to smithereens. It was like leaving an old house behind, the walls filled with memories of days gone by. She had worked here for five months. Or was it six? She had lost count. Slowly, methodically, she packed up the tablet she'd been using and some files and piled them into a large bag that one of the agents had left her.
"Hey, are you taking me to my apartment? I need to get some clothes" She asked the agent, who hovered around her with a steely glare. He stifled a sigh then nodded once as she gathered her things.
The walkie-talkie strapped to his shirt suddenly buzzed and the disoriented voice saying something crackled. He smiled awkwardly and excused himself out of the room. The database was going to be destroyed so no one will know. Mallory found herself in the silent room drifting over to the computer. Her fingers flew across the keyboard and her skin prickled with that feeling of someone watching her; the Soldier's curiousity. A quick search found Romanoff's entry on the S.H.I.E.L.D database and another quick one found her phone number. Heart thudding, Mallory wasn't why she was scribbling it down on a spare piece of paper amongst her notes and ripped it free, putting it into her jeans pocket.
"Could you do me a favour?" She asked the Soldier, coming close, swinging the bag around her shoulder. The Soldier nodded, glancing at her coolly.
"Yes."
"Don't tell anyone what I just did."
Mallory opened the shutters to her apartment and peeked out of the window; the black SUV outside that held the Soldier and some HYDRA goons still stood on the road next to the sidewalk. A guard patrolling the SUV noticed her peering out obviously onto them onto the street and glared at her. Hiding a sigh, she moved away from the window and walked to the bed where blue suitcase lay open filled with neatly folded clothes and books to keep her occupied.
The temptation to call her mother or the Widow was overwhelming so she had placed her phone on the bedside table on charge to try and stop the urge. She had packed clothes, pajamas, her Kindle... the only things left were her toothbrushes and her iPod. She went into the bathroom and gathered her things in a small zip-lock bag.
"Smile, Mallory." She told her macabre-looking reflection. "Someone could be falling in love with you."
"Miss Smith?" Shit. She had forgotten about the guard standing waiting for her. "Are you almost done?"
"Yeah yeah. Could you get my case and take it down? I just need to find something then I'll be down."
She unlocked the door and smiled at the guard, who smiled back and zipped up the case for her. She pretended to be busying herself with looking for something, but really she was listening as the thumps of his steel-toed boots echoed down the steps. She moved back towards the shutters to watch as the guard lugged her case towards the pavement.
Moving fast, she grabbed her phone off charge and without really thinking clearly, grabbed the paper from her pocket and typed the number in. A second later, she was being connected.
Something in her desired to disobey Pierce. The Widow, despite her past filled with treason, seemed far too nice to do something to against the agency that had taken her in and forgiven her. And judging from how the Widow and the Captain had fought together in the Battle of New York, she assumed that more than likely the Captain would be with her. As the number rang she wasn't sure if Natasha would pick up, as she calling her S.H.I.E.L.D issued cellphone from an unknown number but with almost three rings and before Mallory realized how bad of an idea this was – she was talking to a woman who was hunted by her agency for Chrissake! - the Widow's deep voice answered.
"Who is this?" She merely sounded curious.
Mallory paused for a moment to listen to the background noises – she could hear the thrum of an engine but not much else.
"Nat? It's me, Mallory?"
The woman sighed in relief, remembering her instantly. "Jesus you almost scared the shit out of me. Wait, how did you get my number?"
"It was on the S.H.I.E.L.D database." Mallory dismissed this as irrelevant. "Look I shouldn't be calling you right now but I just wanted to ask... why are you being hunted?"
She sounded amused. "Oh probably my association with the marvelous Captain." Her tone was laced with sarcasm and she heard someone tut loudly beside her, and Natasha laughing over the phone.
"Who is it?" The other voice asked, sounding distant. Natasha replied to them over the phone.
"Her name is Mallory Smith. A doctor. I met her a couple of days ago. Nice girl. A little too cutesy and country to be working at S.H.I.E.L.D but whatever. She has direct contact with Pierce."
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Natasha just seemed amused. Mallory cleared her throat.
"Cutesy and country? I've never lived in the country."
"I know." Natasha didn't sound too bothered. "Did Pierce put you up to this? Ask you to call me and pretend to be a friend? If he's there, tell him it won't work this phone is going straight out of the window."
"No. How could you think that?" She's a spy you idiot. "They're keeping us in the dark here! I'm risking everything just calling you! I just thought if both you and the Captain are being hunted and they weren't telling us anything then it would've been something dangerous."
Natasha was listening and once Mallory had finished, she stayed silent for a couple of seconds. Then she heard her take a deep breath and begin to relay something down the phone.
"Look you better listen and maybe kill the phone after this because they're probably listening right now. I like to think of myself as a good judge of character-"
The other voice interrupted. "Fury said we shouldn't trust anyone-"
"Steve, please, I'm talking. Anyway, I like to think of myself as a good judge of character and from what I know and read, you seem like a nice and honest girl. So listen because I'm only going to say this once." Mallory waited, with a sense of impending doom. "Get out. Leave S.H.I.E.L.D immediately and go upstate somewhere. Get away. We think S.H.I.E.L.D has been compromised."
The revelation shocked her to her core, and she had to sit down on the bed in fear of her legs giving way beneath her. "How?"
Natasha sighed and carried on grimly. "Fury was investigating before his death. We don't how, or why or who has done it. We're tracking down a lead at the moment but I'm not going to say where in case someone is listening. Your boyfriend Rumlow almost had us today. He's a real charmer that one."
"He's been issued orders for arrest, I think. He wouldn't kill you." At least she thought he wouldn't. The patience of the guards below, she knew, was fading fast and soon they'd be investigating on why she hadn't returned. They had to wind this conversation up quickly.
Natasha shrugged. "He couldn't kill us, we were in a public place. Anyway he didn't see us." She sighed. "And if Pierce is listening, I want him to know we will find out what he has done and we will exterminate the threat."
Mallory swallowed. "There's no one here. Natasha?"
"Hm?"
"Stay safe."
"You too." The line went dead. Mallory locked the screen as her stomach roiled a little, her brain coping a little too slowly with the new influx of information. So Fury had discovered some information that said S.H.I.E.L.D was compromised... he had obviously passed this information to Cap and the Widow before he had died. Of course Rumlow had been sent to deal with it because although he was STIRKE agent, his team also reported to S.H.I.E.L.D. Pierce had been the one who had issued orders to exterminate the Fury's threat but surely if something had compromised S.H.I.E.L.D it had also compromised HYDRA? Unless... unless Fury had discovered HYDRA and deemed it a threat? Perhaps he had come across some Winter Soldier files by accident and met his death by irony to the charge he had discovered. David had told her on her very first day that S.H.I.E.L.D had no idea of HYDRA's existence so maybe Fury had accidentally discovered the files and misinterpreted them? The fact that HYDRA employed a brainwashed assassin would seem a little evil but as Pierce had assured her, the Soldier was only exterminating people who compromised the peace.
But then again the death of Oswick had thrown that into doubt. Pierce had all but admitted they had hired the Soldier out to Reznak and had him kill a man to exterminate the competition. It had been a one off, her father said, using the money from the sale to fund new weaponry for the Soldier. Fury could have come across these files and seen HYDRA as using their connections with S.H.I.E.L.D to create a business that made money through blood. Obviously, Pierce was under legal jurisdiction not to calmly explain to Fury what HYDRA was about like reasonable adults would but ordering his death was a little extreme. This entire situation, seemed to Mallory, like a huge misunderstanding.
She stood up again, Natasha's advice ringing in her ears, to grab her phone from the bedside table to call Natasha and explain illegally what had gone on. Although it was illegal surely her morals could justify doing it. She reached for the phone.
But her reach fell short as her eyes fell upon the broken plant plot. Frowning, she remembered knocking it over this morning when she'd gone into work. The plastic lily stood on it's side, and a leaf had snapped off. But that wasn't what had drawn her attention.
Lying on its side, a splintered black box stared up at her. The only reason it had stood out was the fact that a small LED light was flashing red in a warning. She picked it up. The underside was covered in a sticky resin, and when she checked the broken leaf it was also covered in the same sticky liquid. Her deduction was immediate; the box had been glued away, hidden from view. She turned the box over in her hands.
She recognized it instantly. David had been telling her about new spy-ware, and his latest invention was a small black transmitter that could be placed anyway and hacked all devices within a mile radius connected to the internet and relayed them to any other PC, laptop, cellphone, tablet or anything other device that had computing power; it sent information, incoming and out coming calls, emails, websites accessed, passwords used. He had nicknamed it the Spymaster 3000 and boasted that however was spying could switch devices on and off that it could see meaning it could focus on one mobile phone in an area of a mile or twenty in an area of a meter. He had even told her how it worked, and in between the snoozing she had registered that green light meant it was working, red light meant it was off.
It was obvious why it was in her home. They'd been spying on her and once she'd knocked it over this morning, she had broken the delicate thing. The only thing that boggled her mind was the fact that Rumlow had given her that lily.
"And this is the living room."
Mallory looked around with next to none enthusiasm, her skull rattling with soundbites of Rumlow's sweet nothings. It was a simple apartment, roughly the same size as hers but sleeker; the walls were white, floors tiled with light brown wood and the furniture was simple. Everything about it screamed minimalism, from the small wooden coffee table in front of the antique-like stereo, to the absence of a TV and a computer. Mallory managed a weak smile when she thought about how her mother would love the simplistic effect of the apartment, but also found herself sad that she had wasted her phone call to a headache-inducing call to Natasha instead of her.
She touched the petals; instead of the waxy texture she expected her fingertips were met by plastic. "Plastic?"
"Yeah. So it'll never die." Rumlow looked a little abashed at his next statement. "Like us hopefully."
The only thing that ruined the simplistic effect was the big metal shutters that obscured the big bay windows and the glass doors. The apartment would've been in darkness save for the floor lamps that cast a harsh white light across the room.
"No TV, and all of the metal keeps out the Wi-Fi signals." The agent said. His boots clunked against the floor as he gestured to the shutters.
"Can I call my mother?" Mallory asked lifeless, spying the wooden phone topping the small wooden table next to the white sofa. The agent shrugged.
"The landline is on and it works but it's monitored by us so we'll know if you call anyone. So even though you can, we advise that you don't." A veiled order. She decided she didn't like the agent one bit.
Neither did the Soldier. He stood beside her, looking as uninterested as one could when he glanced over the room. He had not spoken nor even looked at her properly since they'd left the lab. The agent had made a lurid joke about bringing a girl back here and the Soldier had narrowed his eyes- ever so subtly, ever so slightly but it was enough to indicate to everyone else in the car that given the chance, the Soldier would beat the living shit out of him. The agent had also informed her that since the Soldier would be out of cryo-sleep Pierce had ordered the agents to put them both in an apartment together.
"Yeah. So it'll never die." Rumlow looked a little abashed at his next statement. "Like us hopefully."
"And my bedroom?" Mallory asked, tired of taking the agent's wonder tour through the house and wanting to get into a bed to cry over Rumlow and that stupid lily and that stupid sentence that wouldn't stop playing in her head.
"There's only one bedroom I'm afraid, but there's two beds." So it would be impossible for her to be alone, unless she went to the bathroom. "Bathrooms ensuite and kitchen is through there. There's a kit in the room to help you tend to him medically. Pierce will call you on the landline if he needs you. You will have to stay inside all day; we'll provide food and refresh anything that runs out. Would you like me to show you how to use the landline?"
She narrowed her eyes at him and snapped, "I know how to use a fucking landline." Curtly spoke, she turned her back as the agent left the room and slammed the front door. The Soldier glanced at her, probably due to her outburst but she didn't care, walking into the bedroom to avoid him.
Two single beds occupied the space, with merely a sliver of floor between them and a beside table with a lamp and clock with a digital face. Mallory looked between the beds and chose the one nearest to the bathroom in case she needed to be alone during the night. Forgetting the door was wide open, she slid her leggings off and was beginning to undo the shirt and wriggle under the covers when the Soldier walked in.
"Sorry!" She said a little lifelessly, hurrying to cover the open shirt and panty clad ass from his view. "I forgot the door was open."
He didn't seem bothered, nodding once and walking onto the other bed where he slowly kicked off his shoes and began taking off his jacket. He seemed to have the same idea as her, deciding to go to bed straight away. Mallory smiled at him but he didn't notice, so she lent forwards, edging closer and closer to the light without exposing herself and clicked it off. She rolled over and listened as he continued undressing in the dark and a tear rolled down her cheek.
Rumlow had given her that lily with the bug. Not only had he hacked into her phone conversations and emails, he had also earned her trust and her love. Everything that had felt so real, so intimate now made her skin crawl. She had eaten with him, kissed him, had sex with him. He had been inside her heart, in her head... influencing her life and decisions. She was in love with him. Even now, thinking about much she wanted him dead, she still loved him. She felt violated, betrayed, even more then she had when she had discovered Liam was cheating on her. At least Liam had betrayed her to his emotions... Rumlow had sold her out in the name of a corporation. The more she thought about it, the more upset she was getting. She was beginning to cry properly now, but she muffled her sobs into the pillow in the hope that the Soldier wouldn't hear her. Rumlow had been the one who said he loved her, Rumlow had moved in with her, Rumlow had tricked her into loving him.
Her plan hadn't worked. "Are you crying?" The Soldier asked her, sounding both disgusted and concerned.
Mallory shook her head. "No." Her voice betrayed her, wobbling all over the place. In a fluid movement he had switched the light on.
"Why are you crying?" He wasn't demanding to know, just asking quietly. She sat up on the bed, no longer caring whether or not he saw her in a bra. He himself wasn't wearing much, just those black sweatpants he always wore and no shirt. Mallory looked towards the wall, and found herself unable to look back at him.
"I hate this job." She confessed quietly. "I hate what I've done, I hate hearing about those missions. I hate Pierce, Rumlow, you. I hate what you've done." It came out of her in a vitriolic rage. She was consumed with hatred. She was so tired of this job. Looking after the Soldier as if he was her child, pleading with him not to kill people as if common human decency was so strange with him. She just wanted to go home and sleep.
"I thought you were dating Rumlow?"
Mallory laughed bitterly. "Nope. He's been spying on me. Did you know?"
The Soldier shook his head and despite her hatred, she believed it. He was a spy, an assassin, a despicable excuse for a human who had volunteered for this miserable existence yet she believed him.
"Well he planted a super-bug in my house. Listened to all of my conversations. And he's been more than likely getting me to love him so fucking Pierce could spy on me." You don't know that for sure. But it was obvious. It made sense. It also explained how he had known her favourite flower was a lily – her father had known, told Pierce who in turn told Rumlow to use the flower to hid the bug. That explained why her father had been so weird on that night at their parents dinner. He had known. And he never said a word.
Her vision blurred with hot salty tears. Her stomach roiled and twisted, visions of Rumlow naked and Rumlow coming and Rumlow screaming her name dancing in her head. His hands felt like they were everywhere, submerging her skin into his flesh. She jumped out of the bed and into the bathroom, vomiting into the toilet in disgust. She felt violated, wanting to pour herself in bleach to scrub the stain he had left on her skin. She felt as if she had been marked by him, with teeth and saliva and semen and skin. Her body was racked with violent contortions and she couldn't breathe. Her sick was watery and when she had finally stopped vomiting, she spat the contents of her mouth into the sink.
She turned to see the Soldier kneeling beside her. He wasn't touching her but there was concern in his eyes amongst the vacant look.
"Could you get me some water?" She asked hollowly, ashamed that he had witnessed such an un-dignifying experience. He nodded once, and disappeared.
She lay on the cool tiled floor, the cold seeping into her bare back and thighs. Luckily her hair had been scraped back otherwise it would also be dripping vomit. She struggled to get her breath back. Her body was wrecked, along with her mind. There was weakness in her legs, her eyes, her head, her stomach.
"Mallory! Oh God, baby… I was so worried about you." Rumlow smelt like Rumlow, wood and musk and soap and just that clean smell she hadn't realized she had missed until it was right under her nose. "I missed you. I love you." All lies.
The Soldier returned. She took a mouthful and swished it around her mouth, then spat the contents into the bowl before flushing. As the vomit swirled down the drain, she sipped the rest of her water.
"You can't let them know that you know."
The amendment was so sudden that Mallory would've choked on her water if she hadn't already swallowed her. She remembered she was in a bra and panties and self-consciously folded her legs into herself as a chill settled into her bones.
"Why?" Her voice was cracked hoarse, with rage and tears.
"They were spying on you for a reason. If they know that you're aware, they might kill you." It was straight and too the point; so stereotypically Soldier that she couldn't help but smile.
"I need to talk to my dad." She said vaguely. "He must've known. He couldn't not know."
"Did you hear what I said?" Steel flitted into his tone and she deepened her gaze into a glare. "You can't let them know."
"My dad kept this from me... he'll tell me the truth."
"He might not." The Soldier spoke warningly. Mallory shrugged and stared forwards.
"I have to know." She practically moaned. "I have to know."
She sank backwards onto the cold tub behind her, tears falling down her cheeks but making so sound. The Soldier looked at her a moment, then sat down beside her.
And the two of them, the heartbroken doctor and the master assassin sat side by side as the dark light of the night turned into the gray stare of the morning, with Mallory finally falling asleep dreaming of the past.
A/N: I am halfway through exams and I had a week off to chill so you guys get a new chapter. It's great how life works out isn't it? I hope you've all had a wonderful day and thank you for your continuing patience and support