SOFIA KNEW THAT EVERYTHING she did in the past was for a reason. She always had a motivation, something to keep her going. Whenever she felt like giving up, she'd always think of why she was doing it in the first place. It was like a never-ending fire, always ablaze.

And there she was, standing just a few meters away from the man who started it all. The man who gave her a reason to keep going. 

She was so close to having everything she dreamed about. 

"What's the status?" Black Cat asked from beside her. The two of them were standing on the rooftop directly next to where Barnes and Wilson were staying. Felicia had brought all sorts of fun toys with her since Sofia couldn't exactly sneak that out of the compound undetected. All she could bring was her handgun. Felicia, however, brought snipers, shotguns, rifles, grenades, smoke bombs, etc.

"Quiet. Barnes is in his room laying on the floor, watching TV," Sofia looked through the sniper's scope, inspecting his every action. There was no sign of Wilson through the windows, but he didn't matter right now. 

She stared at the Winter Soldier in disgust. There he was, on the floor enjoying some late-night tv shows. There was a nice and warm blanket on him as well as he leaned his back on his bed frame. He looked so comfortable and did not deserve to be. He had no right. 

This man was a murderer and got away with it. He had no consequences at all. 

Shaking the distracting thoughts out of her head, Sofia lowered the scope from her view line, "How did you even get these weapons?"

"How else? I borrowed them from very nice people," Felicia smiled proudly. Sofia knew that she probably just seduced someone into doing everything she asks. Felicia's Black Cat outfit was smartly made. It highlighted every part of Felicia's body in a way that made her seem irresistible. Her blonde wig and 'hard to get' personality are only the cherries on top.

"If anything happens, I'll watch the fire escapes and the rooftop and you watch the entrances," Sofia told Felicia. She gave herself the more tricky parts as she doesn't trust Felicia enough to get the job done right.

Black Cat nodded in agreement. "I'll take the little birdy out while you take care of Mr. Snow."

Sofia sighed heavily, "Mr. Snow? Shut the hell up Fel." She was not in the mood for her games. "Now if anything happens and the police are alerted, we'll have about one minute before any cop can make it here. That'll give us fifty-nine seconds to get away from here. There's no use in hunting someone if I'm in jail."

Not like I'd let the cops lay a finger on me, though. Sofia thought.

Suddenly, Sofia felt a small drop of water fall on top of her hood. Then another, and another. "It's raining, damn it. Don't let anything get wet!" Guns don't work well when wet so this only added another complication to Sofia's list.

She felt like ripping her hair out.

This was her chance, and she only had one shot at it. If she missed, it's game over. Barnes would surely be moved to another location and it could take her months to find him again.

Sofia calmed her mind down and took a deep breath. For a split moment, everything around her slowed down. As her breath exhaled, she saw the wisp of condensation in the cold air. She put her finger on the trigger and pressed it down. 

The shot fired.

She didn't miss. She never does.

The bullet flew through the window and hit Barnes directly in his human arm. He jumped immediately and braced his arm. Sofia watched as his face contorted into all sorts of emotions. Confusion, anger, fear.

Sofia's eyebrows raised. Never in a thousand years did she think she'd see the Winter Soldier be scared from a small bullet wound. No, there was something she didn't know. Something she was missing. 

He stood up now, looking out the window trying to identify who shot him. He shouted something that Sofia could not hear but guessed he was summoning Sam. 

She had a clear shot of his chest. Sofia aimed her gun once more and fired. The shot didn't hit his heart, but it went right into his stomach. Soon, he'd lose enough blood that he wouldn't even be able to stand. 

Funny, she shot him exactly where he had shot her. They will have twinning scars now. 

Barnes finally caught her stare. Sofia knew that she had to get out of there. He wasn't physically phased, just emotionally. Her bullets did not affect him, he was just heavily disturbed. 

Sofia got on her feet, grabbed her sniper, and began running towards the building's fire escape. Without saying anything, Felicia followed after her, knowing exactly what to do.

They were not going to let them escape. 

The buildings were close enough together that with a large amount of force, Sofia could jump from one to the other. She stuffed the gun somewhere only she'd know and continued her way to Barnes' apartment. 

She jumped onto the fire escape just a few floors below him and began climbing her way up. There was a lot of yelling and shuffling around in his apartment, which Sofia could clearly hear (even if she was a few feet away).

She finally got to his window, and since it was already partially shattered, she finished the job. Sofia crawled inside, not caring if she was being too noisy. She shook her hands, warming them up a bit. 

"Sam, there's someone in here," Barnes warned as if sensing Sofia's presence. 

Creating a small ball of fire in her hands, Sofia lunged forward and sent it flying his way. Because he was a quick reaction time, Barnes was able to dodge it easily. 

"What the hell?" he mumbled to himself. 

Sofia went again, this time running at him in the narrow hallway. She slid, gaining speed from the slick wooden floors. She reached for his legs and wrapped hers around them. With a strong twist, she had made him lose his balance. It was like her signature move.

She knew that her advantages were going to be cut short now. Her element of surprise was gone and Barnes would begin to fight back. And so he did.

Using his metal arm, Barnes pulled the girl off his legs and pulled her into a headlock. "What do you want?!"

Sofia gave no response. She moved her hips to one side and struck backward toward his wounded gut. That would surely hurt like a bitch. Once the grip was loosened on her, she turned toward him and punched into his nose with the heel of her hand.

Barnes did not know what was going on so all he did was try to disarm the attacker. He kept blocking punches and kicks all while trying not to bleed to death. 

He dodged another hit and lunged. Barnes got a good hold on Sofia and shoved her against the wall, dragging her up until her feet dangled six inches off the ground. It was the best way he could disarm her.

"Who are you?" he growled. "What do you want?"

Sofia shook her head. She was breathing hard through the mask but didn't even look like she was in pain. She's felt worse pains. Sofia brought her leg up, remembering the spare army knife she had put in her boot. Reaching down for it, she tried her best not to draw Barnes' attention to it. 

Twirling it around in her hand where he couldn't see, she finally spoke, "I know who you are, James Buchanan Barnes; a killer." Sofia's eyes narrowed and she smiled underneath her face covering. It was a cold and empty smile, no tracing of happiness to be found. 

She threw her head back, then slammed her forehead into Barnes' nose. Sofia heard a satisfying crack of cartilage and Barnes' grip loosed. She landed on the floor with a thump and drove the army knife into his side. 

He groaned in discomfort but didn't give up yet. He watched as the girl prepared for a roundhouse kick, but he stopped her leg in midair. Barnes jabbed his elbow into her knee and she gasped in pain. 

"Cap's on his way!" Sam Wilson came running into the room, stopping momentarily when seeing the situation in front of him. Sofia guessed he had been sent to call for help. What a bunch of pussies.

With Captain America coming, Sofia would not stand much of a chance in a 3v1. She's now regretting having told Felicia to stay on the ground. As much as she hated it, she was going to need a quick escape. Cap would surely blow her cover and her days at the Avengers Campus will be over. 

With her hand on his arm, Sofia quickly lit it up on fire. This was the distraction needed for her exit. Without a second thought, the girl jumped out of the fire escape and threw herself down to the floor. 

She softened the landing with a roll and met with Felicia. 

"Now what the hell is he doing here?!" Sofia frustratedly groaned and pointed to the kid in blue and red. Spider-Man was the least of her problems but he was annoying as fuck.

The whites of his mask widened, "You have friends?" he asked Black Cat.

"He heard two gunshots coming from here," Felicia explained, "But I was just going to get rid of him." 

"Or..." Spider-Man drawled on, "You could turn yourselves in?"

Sofia scoffed, she was so done with the day already and just needed a good night's sleep. "Absolutely not." She formed fire in her hand and wasted no time in sending it his way. 

As if it were nothing, Spider-Man easily dodged it. "Woah! You have fire powers? That's awesome!" And then he paused, "Wait. You were the one on the news from the museum fire. You killed two people!" 

Sofia rolled her eyes with a sigh, "Yes we know, can we move on now?"

"No, I've got to turn you in!" Spider-Man shot a web toward her and another at Felicia. Black Cat summoned her suit's claws and began scraping herself out of the knot. She goes through this every single day so she knew exactly how to get out.

This was Sofia's first time being webbed up and she admits it's a weird experience. However, she didn't have time to toy around with Spider-Man's feelings today. Sofia began heating up her body to high enough temperatures to burn through the web. 

"I would love to chit-chat with you, but I've got someplace to be," Sofia told the hero. She doesn't have any smoke bombs for distraction, but she did have fire. If she created a big enough flame, she could use that to leave the premises unnoticed. 

With the 'smoke bomb' in act, Sofia ran over to Felicia, and together the two of them got away. Spider-Man was left coughing away from the smoke and leftover residue from the fire. Oh, he had a lot to tell Mr. Stark.

-♕-

Five hours later, Sofia woke up from a night of much-needed sleep. Last night had been partially a bust, but she at least wounded Barnes. She disabled the content block Felicia had put on her security cameras and went on with her day. 

Since all of her money was stolen, that gave her an endless supply of designer and expensive clothes. Sofia wouldn't settle for less. 

It was nearing winter so she wanted to dress comfortably and fashionably. She put on a black skirt and a white top, keeping a black blazer at hand in case it gets too cold. She accompanied the outfit with golden earrings and ankle boots. 

Today was officially her first day of 'work' and she wanted to leave a good impression. 

Besides, she was most likely going to meet Captain America and Black Widow today, so there was no room for slacking. 

She grabbed her phone from the counter and stuffed it into a pocket. Waking still hurt a bit since Barnes slammed his elbow against her knee, but she had to act as if she were fine. 

She opened the door and trod down the hallway and into one of the many kitchens. The entire room was empty which served to her benefit. It meant that she could have breakfast in peace.

She opened a drawer and immediately found tortillas. She knew exactly what to make for breakfast. Her mom used to make the best quesadillas when she was younger and hasn't had one since. 

She was going to attempt to make one.

Key word: attempt.

Sofia rarely cooks for herself, she always orders door dash or Uber eats. But she couldn't exactly order Uber eats to the Avengers Compound, could she?

Once it was ready to be cooked, she had no idea where Stark places his pans, so she was left with only one option. She had to heat them up herself. 

Sofia scanned the room for any security cameras but was confused when she didn't find any. 

Why are there cameras in my room then?  she asked mentally. Probably a matter of security. They don't trust me yet.

Holding the quesadilla in both of her hands, she began to heat it. After a few seconds, it was ready to be eaten. She got a plate, a cup of water, and sat down not the kitchen island. 

"Is that a quesadilla?" 

Sofia almost visibly jumped at the sudden voice. She turned her head to face the door and nearly dropped everything in her hands once she realized it was the Captain America standing in front of her. 

It was like a switch in her brain that went off and Valentina resurfaced. "Oh- I wasn't- yes it's a-" she added a little stutter into the act, "Hi, I'm Valentina." She stuck out her hand to him to shake. He gladly did.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Steve," he wore a smile that felt so genuine, it was sickening. "I've heard all about you from Tony."

Usually, Sofia would take that as a bad thing, but in this case, it was quite the opposite. "Good things I hope?" Sofia knew that adding a small sense of humor makes a character more realistic, so she's doing it with herself.

Steve chuckled. "You don't have anything to worry about." 

Sofia took a sip of water from her cup, "Where are the others? Is it usually this quiet in the morning?"

"Something happened last night and we're patching it up right now," he informed. Steve didn't elaborate which gave Sofia the sign to not talk about it.

But she hated not being filled in but she'll have to suck it up for now. 

He noticed the awkward ambiance now. "Sorry," he apologized with a light laugh, "I'm not used to having kids part of the team. One of my friends got attacked last night so now they're figuring out what to do now."

Yes I know, I was the one who attacked him, Sofia almost said, just to see his reaction. But she didn't. "Oh."

"Yeah, they should be back at any minute now. I was actually on my way to wake you up but you already were," he added in another smile. Sofia didn't know how he could smile as if it were easy and normal. It was not.

Sofia liked how they were already talking as if they'd known each other for longer than a few minutes. He's a very trusting person, but then again if she got THE Tony Stark to recruit her, she could fool anyone. 

"We're back, Cap," Tony Stark called out from the hallway. 

Steve shared a glance with Sofia and gestured toward the door. Like a true gentleman, he held the door open and allowed her to pass before him. 

"So what's the plan?" Steve asked immediately when he entered the room.

Sofia looked at the person standing next to Tony. It was Black Widow. Natasha Romanoff. World's greatest spy. 

But her face ran cold as she caught the gaze of the figure behind Natasha. Her breath hitched, she couldn't breathe. 

"He's going to stay with us for now."

James Buchanan Barnes stepped forward and embraced Steve in a hug. 

Sofia didn't know if she was having a panic attack or something else. She was completely frozen in place. She was not prepared for this at all. She was going to live in the same place as her parent's killer. She was going to live with a HYDRA agent. 

And the Avengers were okay with it. 

A/N:

and so the plot thickens ;)