Special Agent 2: The Dark Soldier

Chapter 44

The cabin was quiet as morning approached, the sky beginning to lighten. McGee was sleeping in the corner, curled around his closed laptop. Torres slumped against the wall across from him, his chest rising and falling slowly. Rogers lay on the ground by the fireplace, resting on his back, his eyes closed. Gibbs didn't know if he was sleeping or merely mulling over what Kate had said earlier, about her partner being his former best friend.

Gibbs stood by the side of the window, watching the darkness slowly drain out of the sky while being careful not to move before the glass, in case the cabin was being watched. Kate sat by the door, her sniper rifle resting across her knees as she ran her fingers over the smooth surface.

Looking at her, sitting there, Gibbs could still barely believe she was alive. For almost ten years, he had thought Kate was dead, only to learn that she had never truly died, that day. Instead, she had been working for HYDRA as Agent Sniper, working as an assassin and as a tracker.

"What is it, Gibbs?" Kate said quietly, her eyes flickering up to him. "I can tell you want to ask me something."

"Did you know?" Gibbs asked. "Did you know what had happened to you?"

Kate grimaced. "Not in the beginning. Everything was hazy then, during the enhancement process. When my brain cleared, I was no longer Kate Todd. She was someone I knew, but not someone I was. I knew I used to work for NCIS, but my knowledge was clinical, and there was a wall between me and the memories. I knew about them, but I didn't know them."

Kate sighed, glancing down at the rough floorboards. "I was one of the first super-agents, but I wasn't fit for infiltration, due to the fact that Kate Todd was reported dead. So I worked as a tracker and as an assassin where needed. Dr. Aadland, the scientist behind INTEL's programs, used a memory blocker during enhancement, which produced the distance between me and my past life. It made Kate Todd and Agent Sniper two different people. I knew I had been Kate, but then, I was Sniper – a better, stronger version of Kate Todd." She glanced up at Gibbs, her expression solemn. "And I was Sniper up until you pulled my mask off."

"Why were you working with Leopard and Sharpe?" Gibbs asked.

"It was a test," Kate said quietly. "Aadland wanted Kate Todd to die, so only Sniper would remain. I almost did it, too, but...Loki took the bullet for you and all of a sudden, I was Kate again, jumping in front of you on that rooftop. And that rattled me, to the point where, when you pulled off my mask and recognized me and I was prevented from shooting you again – I couldn't finish the job. Aadland determined that completely eliminating Kate Todd was impossible, so he kept me working other jobs. I was never to be concerned with NCIS again – until I shot Captain Morris."

"Why did you work for them?" Gibbs asked.

"At first, I was told what I was doing would save people," Kate said softly, her gaze growing distant. "Then I realized it wasn't, but it was too late. I was...a monster. I was their monster. I was stuck. At one point...I returned to NCIS, looked down on the squad room through the skylight. And I saw Ziva David, sitting in my desk, taking my place. There was no going back. My former life was gone. All I had left was Barnes."

"What happened to Barnes?" Rogers' voice came quietly from the empty fireplace, the super soldier sitting up and looking over at them.

"I don't know much," Kate admitted. "I don't know his file or anything, but I do know him. At least, the version of himself INTEL allowed. We worked together as partners for years." She rubbed her finger over the vibranium coating the stock of her rifle. "He was all I had. And I was all he remembered."

Rogers furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

"Barnes was memory-wiped, in between missions," Kate told him. "He doesn't remember the past, or much of his various missions. The memory blocker used on me simply disassociated myself from the past, made me view it like it belonged to someone else, but in Barnes, they erased his past. The only thing he was allowed to remember was...me."