6 - Superhero Squad (AKA Hell's Angel's Detain Team)

If anyone were to pass by me and get a good look at me, they'd assume I'd gotten into a fight with a spouse or got jumped on the streets. Well, their guesses wouldn't be too far off. I just failed yet again to kill the Winter Soldier. I've had two attempts now. Third times the charm, maybe?

I pull out the earpiece I used to communicate with Tessa, only to find it crushed. I curse under my breath. I can still find my way back. It's hard to say though, since my brain is a bit disoriented.

I keep the scarf tight around my face. I could've used this to strangle either one of those two idiots during the attack. Why was I so concerned about an identity slip? Wisconsin knows to look out for the psycho blonde chick who attacked a guy and survived a hit-and-run in broad daylight.

My ribs hurt, and it hurts to breathe deeply. My left arm is burning dully from the fall earlier. Logically, I should have broken bones from that fall. This is by far the worst I've felt in a while. Then again, my target isn't human. He's got enhanced blood running through his veins, just as I do. I'm going to get him. I don't care if it takes weeks, months, or years. I'm going to kill him. I'll make it seem like he gave me no other options but to put him down. Ward won't really care in the end. One Asset is good enough for HYDRA.

My brain is able to remember some landmarks, allowing me to find my way back to the motel with some difficulty. A few times I've gotten myself lost and down wrong turns. One wrong turn leads me to a pervert trying to get me alone to try and rape me. I quickly shut him down by rendering him unconscious in an alleyway. If I was healthier, he wouldn't be breathing. The police would have a dead body on their hands.

I can hear Tessa's nagging voice in my head once the motel room is in sight. All her fretting and worrying. I'm sure I freaked her out when I couldn't reach her. She's such a worrywart, how is she HYDRA? Most HYDRA I've seen don't seem to fear much or worry about the worst things possible.

I gasp in pain as my head starts to hurt. I have to lean against a lamppost and close my eyes. Something's poking around in it, a memory trying to escape. Not again. The last one...I don't know what that was. It couldn't be real. This won't be real, either.

As much as I try and battle the memory, it seeps through and pulls me out of reality.

~*~

"You sure she's stable?" Ward asks one of the scientists. He's looking me over as though I'm a prized horse. I stand tall in silence.

"If by stable you mean she's completely ours now, then, yes, sir," says the scientist. "It wasn't easy, she fought us a lot."

"I'll bet." Ward approaches me, taking my chin in his hand. "Beautiful. Strong. No metal arm, but she'll do well. She might even do better. Now, we just need a name for you. Something that works."

"A name shouldn't be priority at the moment, sir. We need to see how well she adapts to her new skill set."

"More like you need to see how well she responds first." His brown eyes look deep into mine. "She seems attentive. Wait! I've got it. Hell's Angel." He smiles devilishly. "A lethal beauty. The ultimate assassin in disguise."

But don't I have an actual name? I wonder. Hell's Angel is just an alias. For some unknown reason, a name escapes me.

Something in the back of my mind is telling me that this is wrong. That Ward, these scientists, aren't good company. These men are HYDRA. No. This is wrong.

"What are you going to do with me?" I murmur.

"You're going to help us, Angel," Ward says to me. "You're going to do great things."

"Oh, like kill people?" I growl, feeling anger rage inside of me. "Follow HYDRA's orders like a dog?"

At this, Ward frowns. "Take her back. Wipe her better this time."

I'm grabbed by my arms, and I fight tooth and nail. But when I feel a prick in my neck, the world goes black.

~*~

I feel like the air has been knocked from my lungs.

Is that real? Is my mind going and I don't realize it? This is the second memory—whatever you want to call it. This scares me, I don't like it. I don't know what this means.

I do know that I can't let these things get to me. I have a job to finish still. I have a duty to do on behalf of HYDRA.

I feel slightly haunted by what came to me as I find the motel room I'm sharing with Tessa.

My breath catches. I notice it, the door is open just a smidge. To normal eyes, it would be easily overlooked. Something's happened here.

Preparing for battle, knife in hand, I slink towards the door, giving it a gentle nudge. I keep against the wall, waiting for someone to walk out so I can slaughter them on sight. After ten minutes of waiting in silence, I cautiously make my way in, my ribs and head still pounding in-sync.

The room's empty, but the lights are still on. I don't hear running water, so Tessa isn't in the bathroom. Her stuff is here, but she isn't. I lick my lips. Okay, what game did I enter now? I'm really not in the mood. I'm in pain, I'm angry. If this is a trap, they're all going to die.

I feel it, the prickle on the back of my neck. Like a whip, I spin around and fling the knife towards the door. Instead of hitting her, a red glow encases the knife, stops it in mid-air and forces it to clatter to the floor. It's not Tessa, but I know this girl, and right now, I'm mighty pissed.

Wanda Maximoff, aka Scarlet Witch.

"Did he take a squad with him?" I hiss at her. She's dressed in dark clothing, her nails coated in dark polish. Talk about a theme. "First you, then bird brain. I'm waiting for the ancient one to show up next. Where'd you put Tessa at?"

"Somewhere safe and far away from this," Maximoff says in her thick accent. "She seemed very happy to comply."

The word makes me cringe. Comply. I remember saying that countless times, back when I first started being Hell's Angel. Ready to comply. It sounded robotic coming out of my mouth. I've grown a dislike towards the word.

"We can do this in the nice way," she says softly. "You surrender. Or I force you to."

"Where're your pals at? You don't seem all that intimidating, Maximoff." I wheeze. Damn rib injury.

She smirks. "Then you clearly need to be educated on what I can do."

"I didn't realize he had a protection detail."

"Oh, I'm not part of the detail, I'm part of the team that detains you."

I cry out as I feel a weight anchor me to where I stand. None of my muscles move at my own will. I snarl at Wanda Maximoff. She's not wrong, I haven't done research on what she can do. She would've been an eventual target, I know. Any superhero is automatic enemy to HYDRA.

"Good work," comes a voice from the bathroom. I turn my head—surprisingly I'm allowed that—to find Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, coming to me with a pair of handcuffs. She and I exchange cold, deadly stares as she wrenches my arms behind my back, cuffing them together. "I was kind of hoping I got to fight her."

"Oh, at some point, you and I will," I growl at Romanoff. I wince as I feel a pinch on my wrists. I know that's intentional.

"Come on." She pushes me forward.

"You're part of the protection squad, or my detail?" I stumble forward out of the door.

"Your detail, unfortunately. We got called in because you were being a nuisance." We're heading towards a black car. "We've been looking for you for some time now."

They've been looking for me? And here I thought it was just me looking for all of them. "Aw, I'm a celebrity," I say sarcastically. "So nice to meet fans."

"Can I shut her up?" says Maximoff.

"Did you clean out the room?" Romanoff asks.

"What did you do to Tessa?" I demand.

"We're not you, we didn't kill her." Romanoff opens the door and shoves me in. Maximoff is loading the trunk of the car and then gets in the backseat with me. It's just us three, with Romanoff as our driver.

"Then why isn't she here?"

"We got her out beforehand in case things got messy."

I roll my eyes. "Whatever you want from us, we won't give it to you."

"We can get it from you, one way or another," Maximoff says lowly. "It depends on if you want to cooperate."

"You know that's not gonna happen."

"Can I please shut her up now?"

Romanoff looks at us through the mirror of the car. "If you want, but be careful. We want her in one piece, not a loose bag of marbles."

I look at Maximoff, whose eyes are glowing red. She waggles her fingers, and I see streams of red fly towards my face. I try to shrink away and resist what's coming at me, but the fight doesn't last long. I may be resistant to most things, but magic of her kind is something I've never prepared myself to fight against.

Romanoff and Maximoff get their wish, for now. But I'm gonna stir shit up when I wake.

**Oh you can be sure things will be very interesting from this point forward.**