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Kara was in the basement of the Triskellion, where they kept all of the hard copies of files. She was walking up and down the aisles of filing cabinets until she got to the letter D files. She opened the first drawer and scanned through, eyes landing on the file with her name.
She pulled the file out and opened it, flipping through pages. Most of the information in the file was basic information like birthday, hair color, eye color. There was something that stood out to her. When she got to the "Known Family" section she noticed a small family photo. She'd never even seen this photo, which made her wonder why it was there.
There were two girls, both around the age of seven, and a toddler, no older than two years of age. She only recognized one of the older girls, but the second one Kara barely recognized. She looked familiar in a way Kara couldn't explain. There was something about her, but Kara couldn't figure it out. She put the picture in her pocket and placed the file back in the drawer.
Kara's phone buzzed and she saw a text from Steve, telling her to meet him at the hospital. He didn't have time to explain, but it was urgent.
~~~
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Harley woke up, head throbbing. She sat up slowly, taking in her surroundings. She was in a hospital room. Judging by the faint pain in her arm, she hadn't been there that long. She pulled the IV out of her arm and put her feet on the floor. She heard the door open and her head whipped around.
She saw Steve, holding clothes in her hands. He was dressed in a hoodie and sweatpants to disguise his uniform. "Hi," he greeted.
"What happened?" Harley asked.
"I don't know. You knocked out Rumlow," Steve said.
"Really? I don't remember that."
"I brought you some clothes from your house. Sam told me where you lived. I figured you would rather walk around in normal clothes."
"What do you mean?"
Steve gestured over to her Arkham suit. Harley looked at the suit and froze. "Did I kill anyone?" she asked, afraid of the answer.
"No."
Harley sighed in relief. "How did they find it?" Harley said, putting her head in her hands.
"Find what?" Steve asked.
"The Joker serum. It was given to people that were a part of Project Arkham. Made them hysterical, finding joy in killing. I was the only woman they gave it to, the rest were men."
"What's in it?"
"No one knows. I just know it boosts serotonin levels to an all time high. Kind of like laughing gas, but worse. I don't need the serum to be cynical, but the serum makes the process faster."
"Is that why you were laughing when we were here earlier?"
Harley shook her head. "I don't cry. If I cry, it comes out as a laugh. If I laugh too much, I go back to my Arkham self."
"How long did it go on for?"
"Project Arkham or the Red Room?"
"Both."
"I don't like to talk about it when people are watching."
"We can go somewhere else if you want," Steve suggested.
"You're very interested in this, aren't you?"
"I find most things interesting, yours is more intriguing."
Harley looked at the door and saw Natasha walk past quickly. "Was that?"
"What?" Steve asked, looking at the door.
"I think I just saw Nat," Harley said.
Steves jaw clenched as he stood. "Excuse me. I'll be back," he said before leaving the room. He made sure to close the door so Harley could change.
~~~
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Kara walked into the hospital, looking for Steve. She walked past a room, hearing someone talking. "I know who killed Fury," the woman said. Kara stopped walking and stepped back. She looked into the room, seeing Steve holding Natasha against a wall.
"Who?" Kara asked, walking into the room.
"Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists. The ones that do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last 50 years."
"So he's a ghost story," Steve said.
"Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out. But the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer so he shot him straight through me." Natasha lifted her shirt revealing a scar. "Soviet slug. No rifling. Bye-bye, bikinis."
"Yeah, I bet you look terrible in them now."
"Going after him is a dead end. I know, I've tried. Like you said, he's a ghost story." Natasha held up the flashdrive.
Steve took the flashdrive and handed it to Kara. Well, let's find out what the ghost wants."
