Aim: Hydra | Y/N Story | Sequel to "Aim: Avenger"

11. Gummy Worms and Plans

After our first patrol together was a success, we stuck together. I would continue my search for the General while Peter had school, and when he was done we would zoom through the city together, helping whoever we could. Odd as it sounds, I was having fun. We would often get snacks together, always trying new foods. Well, most of the time it was Peter showing me new foods, since Hydra didn't exactly provide meal variations. My favorite thing he had shown me so far was a small deli store, where he would order a sandwich with pickles, squashed flat. It was so strange, yet so simple and delicious at the same time. Peter loved how even the smallest things could make me so happy. 

"Hey Y/N, have you ever had a sour gummy worm?" A familiar red-and-blue figure asked me.

"Why would I want to eat a worm, that's just gross and weird. Why is it sour? Is it coated in lemon juice?" I asked. Peter usually had good taste in food, and I trusted him, but there was no way I was going to eat a worm.

"You're kidding! Oh my gosh, I'll be right back, don't go anywhere." He swung away, and I stayed put, swinging my feet back and forth over the ledge of the building I was sitting on top of. After a few minutes, I heard him land softly behind me. "Okay, these are gummy worms." He held out a brightly covered bag filled with pastel-colored . . . noodles?

"Are these a cat toy or food?" I asked, only half-joking.

"Eat it. It's candy." He answered. I cautiously took one out of the package, and was surprised by the sand-like coating on the candy.

"Is this edible sand?"

Laughing, he replied, "No, it's called malic acid."

"Oh, the chemical that makes fruit tart." 

"Exactly! And now we put in in sweets to make them sour."

"People are so strange." I took a bite of the worm, and felt the slight tanginess of the candy wash over my tastebuds. "Oh my gosh these are so good." He laughed again as I took another one, devouring it in seconds.

"Did I do good?" He said, smiling.

"Like always. Hydra's meals are constructed to keep you alive, not really focusing on flavor. Your food is so different to what I'm used to." I answered, munching on the gummy worms.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Mr. Barnes has nightmares a lot about what happened to him. About what he . . . did. Do you?" He asked hesitantly.

"Sometimes. I try to keep them away." I admitted, looking down.

"Why?" His voice was soft and gentle. He didn't want to hurt me, I understood.

"As you probably know, our dreams are influenced by our memories, and my memories have certain . . . harmful influences."

"Like the glass."

"Yeah. And V shot me before, and then tried to drown me."

His eyes widened. "What?"

"She wasn't going to actually kill me, she used it as a tactic to make me accept the Avengers as my family." I added, shrugging.

"Only you could shrug at a little girl trying to kill you." He said, laughing with me. We'd spent so many days like this, at varying hours, and I liked it. I couldn't explain why I liked hanging around the nerdy boy all the time; all I knew was that when I was with him, all the voices claging around in my head stopped. It was peaceful; he made me feel peaceful. He suddenly gasped, pulling me out of my momentary reverie. "Wait a second, V was the little girl that hugged me."

I laughed again. "It was so hard not to laugh at her acting like a normal girl. She could've snapped your neck with one gesture."

"That's not funny!"

"Yes it is." V chimed in, and we all laughed together.

"Oh, the web we weave." Peter chuckled, shaking his head as he looked down at his hands.

"Made from memories." I took one of his hands, and V took my other one.

"You guys are so cheesy." Ben grumbled, but placed one hand on my shoulder and the other on Peter's. 

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"There's four Gifted at this base. No way the General isn't there." I argued.

"But this file says she's here." Ben jabbed the map on my board with his finger.

"That was dated three days ago, and before that, she was here. Obviously she stopped there, on her way to this base." I traced the path with my finger.

"Or, she's still there. It was only three days ago, she's probably still there."

"Why don't we just go to both?" V interjected.

"Because we only have one shot at this. If we mess up, they know who we're after and they'll hide her, somewhere completely undocumented." I explained. Again. Lord, how many times will I have to explain this to them?

"Well we were going to take down more bases anyway, right? So why does it matter?"

"We find the General, then we rip apart Hydra. That way, revenge doesn't cloud the rest of the mission."

"Okay, fine. The General, then Hydra." She held up her hands in surrender.

"And then retirement." I added.

"I still think we should bring Pete into this." Ben mumbled.

"And I think no. I'm not going to even risk him getting hurt."

"I'm going to have to side with Y/N on this one, Ben. He's a kid, and while we are too, he wasn't trained like us. And I hope he never will be."

"Thank you, V. Now, we already have our plan for the General, but what about the kids we save? We can't just turn them loose." I ran through a million options in my head, but they were all flimsy and unreliable. "I was thinking maybe recruit some, help those that might've been wiped, and give them to Bucky. He'd know what to do."

"Good idea, but what about the violent ones?"

"Worst case scenario I lock all their memories away, but I'd really not like to."

"You're relying too much on your abilities. You'd pass out before you could change that many people."

"Okay. So . . . what if we bring them here, and help them that way? Slowly introduce them to the real world, get them accustomed to it. It was jarring for me, and I knew that I would be taken. They'll try to use their training and instincts, which is not ideal."

"We need to give them a purpose." Ben finished.

"Exactly. So, we need to hack into their files, and figure out their abilities so we're prepared."

"Okay, as great as this all is, and while I agree that Peter can't help, there's no way we can house all of these people. You need to bring someone in, Y/N." V pointed out. 

"Who do you propose? No one remembers me."

"Not quite . . ." Ben trailed off, raising his eyebrows in suggestion.

"Not happening. He would never let me go through with it."

"It's the only option."

I groaned, flopping onto the couch, thinking through it. "I'm going to regret this, but fine. How do we get in touch with Bucky?"

"Breaking into the tower wasn't hard the first time, was it?"

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