A Reckless Soul | Captain America ✓

THE WINTER SOLDIER

NEW YORK CITY. 2 YEARS AGO,
April 1st 2010 (Event also recorded in Audrey's journal)

LONELINESS swept a bittersweet chill across Audrey's body as she awaited for Joe in a partially dark, dank and suffocating hallway. Audrey grumbled when another chill spiraled down her spine, in an icy blast of weariness. Why did Joe want to meet here, of all places? she thought. Couldn't have exchanged items back at the factory?

A drip of water from a faucet echoed down the hall. The repetitive trickle irritated the Englishwoman right down to the very marrow of her bones. She hated the darkness, not knowing what laid in front of her, what wandered in its midnight path, and what threat she had to fight off.

She also hated the dampness of rain, even though the woman was accustomed to it growing up in London, England. There seemed to be a special sort of warmth to her when the thought of her home country, or hometown, came to mind. Like a light that filled the painful void in her heart.

Aside from that however, she especially hated being 225.9 miles away from Washington DC, in a communistic organization—Hydra—and dumped in a city that never slept.

All of her trust for Joe was beginning to diminish. Was this a trick? To get her inside one of Hydra's facilities and snatch the moth up, kill and dispose of its corpse? Surly Joe wouldn't? After all, she is the one bringing in the goods and without her, Joe wouldn't have any worthy merchandise to sell to his top buyers. The black market was a dangerous place to get by, and the products were hard to sell without an undercover cop popping out of nowhere, and all else failed for that dealer.

Audrey shoved the notion aside to ponder on later. No time to become distracted, particularly in a place like the one she was in. Suddenly her mind was filled with horror, as the screams of an individual was heard down the hall. Her chest completely went still, as did her whole body.

The screams lasted a little longer till another chill spiraled down her spine, knocking her out of her daze. Her ears felt numb now. She untangled her arms crossed in front of her chest, and flexed her fingers in her finger-less black gloves; breathing in deeply as her eyes scanned down the hall. What was that? Who was down there?

Her eyes narrowed. There were consequences for being a curious cat. But curiosity, and wild adventure was what drove her to love that part of her job. Consequences be damned, she thought.

Inhaling a gulp of air, she sprinted off into a near-silent jog and stilled before coming around a bend in the hall. Leaning her back against the wall, she slowly crept her head out and took a peek down at either ends of the hallway. When the mercenary saw it was clear, she turned the corner and came face to face with a metal door.

At first she saw a minor challenge of how she was going to sneak in, but then she squinted her eyes and amusingly smiled to herself. The door had already been cracked open a little. By Jove, what idiot did such a scandalous thing? she shrugged and went on to think, makes my life easier. As she took a step towards the door, she smirked but then quickly froze and thought to herself, I hope this isn't a trap.

She was already thus far, why pull a stop to things now? Rolling her shoulders back, she quietly eased on and whispered, "Do not become scared now, you wimp." Taking a leap of faith and quietly pushing the door open, she found that she stood on a mezzanine floor that overlooked a science lab below. Light emerged from beneath, causing shadows to move here and there from the lower level.

Hearing unusual voices echo under her, she slid to the side and hide in a dark corner above. To her vanishing point she saw very little of things. Audrey's frown of frustration deepened, then, she cranked her head up and saw her window of opportunity. Rafters.