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

32. Finale - Part 1

She whirled around with a gun pressed into her hand, pointed right at me. Before she could get a shot off I jumped off of the roof, quickly summoning my jetpack and flying over the alleyways. The lift off was a little rough as my shoulder crashed into the corner of a building, causing me to stumble in the air. I'd just barely managed to avoid hitting another wall when something crashed on top of me, pulling me down to the ground. I felt myself falling for a frightening second before a sharp pain shot through the same shoulder as before, and I hit the concrete. Looking around, dazed, I saw I'd fallen through the crumbling roof of a long-since abandoned building. It seemed like an old parking lot, completely void of life and light. The darkness made it difficult to see, but I heard movement to my left. I rolled quickly away, hearing metal collide into stone as a knife dug into the ground where my throat had been. My heart was pounding out of my chest as I quickly scampered behind a half-wall, trying to assess the area around me.

"Hiding, are we? I never taught you to be a coward," she taunted, "you wanted a fight, didn't you? Well,  now you've got it." Her stupid voice was echoing in my head, so I couldn't tell where she was. And even if I could, it's not like I could kill her again. She'd just come back, like she always does. Like she always will. I don't know what I'm doing.

I'm scared.

The only way this cycle of pain would end was if I died.

But I didn't want to die, because that would mean I'd leave my family behind for good. I'd never get history lessons from Steve and Bucky, or play pranks on the others with Tony, or build LEGOs with Clint. Nat would never teach me how to talk to boys, and I'd never learn to cook with Wanda, or listen to music with Bruce. I would never spend evenings with Peter at Delmar's, eating weird new foods and learning about pop culture. I'd never get to be kid.

No, I was a kid before. I'd never get to be happy, truly happy.

I thought back to where all of this began, that one fateful day with my parents. I started to wonder what might have happened if they'd brought me to a different hospital. Or maybe what would've happened if I'd stayed with the Avengers, if I'd just trusted them enough to let them help me figure all this out. Maybe I would be able to live in peace without the General, but I realised that all of this was wishful thinking. All the 'what ifs' don't matter, because that's not what happened. What happened was that I grew up in Hydra, being trained to be a weapon, and in a place of death and destruction I found friendship. Which I then destroyed, all for the validation of an organization that couldn't give two shits about me beyond what I could do for them. I realized that I had been the same when I first met the Avengers.

"'Right now Mr. Rogers is currently praying for the patience to not hit Mr. Stark. Mr. Stark is thinking he's being smart."

'And what about me?" He asked.

'You're thinking you can help me. You're thinking of the first time you saw Mr. Rogers, how you remembered your best friend. How you almost killed him.' I snidely replied."

God, I don't miss who I used to be. I'd grown into a considerably more stable person. Well, minus the ghost thing. The ghost thing that I have no idea how to control.

Or could I?

I'd learned, on my own, how to summon objects from my past. If I could bring things back, who's to say I can't push them away? These are my powers, I realized. Mine, not hers.

I can control it.

I pushed myself off of the ground, standing and stepping out from my hiding place. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath as I let the familiar feeling of my powers grow, feeling the power brush along my skin. I released it as  I opened my eyes, staring right at my adversary. The glowing red illuminated the spectre, highlighting the smirk on her face.

She began to laugh a low, cruel laugh. "You think you can just decide one day who you want to be? You think you can control the very thing that makes you a monster? When have you ever used your powers for good, Y/N?"

'You saved him. That little boy is alive because of you and your amazing heart.'

Peter's words echoed around my brain, strengthening my resolve. "More than I thought." I smiled, thinking through my memories of the past few months. The little boy, Bucky, Peter, and all those strangers in between from patrol nights are all living examples of the good side of me. Life was a funny thing; the dead were all reminders of a past I wish I could forget, but the ones still here are the ones who would describe me positively. They were tangent proof that I had changed.

For the better.

I still had a long way to go, I knew that. But I would be the best person I could be. Because Ben and V were right; I had to move on. I had to embrace who I was to better myself, and I was prepared to do good, to do right by them and Amber. 

Starting with conquering my demons.

"I'm sorry, Camilla Green, but you have no power over me." My hands glowed even brighter than ever before, and I could feel the powerful heat of my powers in my eyes as I aimed it at the woman who had tormented me for over a decade. The bright red exploded around her, wrapping around her arms, legs, shoulders, torse, everywhere, and pulling her to the ground until she was kneeling before me. "Screw Hydra." I hissed before unleashing every ounce of power I had, beaming it right at her figure. She began to glow an angry red before she disintegrated into red ash. It looked terrifyingly beautiful as it floated gently to the ground, before settling and disappearing all together. 

She was gone. I didn't feel her anymore.

She was gone.

I felt relief flood through me as I giggled quietly. My head was reeling, and all of a sudden I was on my knees. It felt like my brain was swimming in a drowsy pool, and exhaustion forced my eyelids closed as my body slid to the ground and I blacked out.

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