Silhouette | B. Banner

Shots fired

I close my eyes and next thing I know I'm in between Tony and Steve in a gray bunker.

"Geez, kid. What else are you hiding from me?" Tony asks, jumping slightly.

"Since when can you do that?" Bucky inquires. "I thought you just made light shows."

I stick my tongue out at him, "Shut up, jerk."

"Woah, wait. Don't tell me you two have some sort of history?" Tony raises an eyebrow suspiciously.

"It's... A long story."

Tony crosses his arms, "So, do you just know everyone? I thought you were super socially awkward?"

"Call me crazy but maybe that was just because, I don't know, I didn't even use to have emotions! Yeah, sorry if that makes me a little weird," Another headache rips through my forehead. My tone goes serious, "We should find Zemo."

"Wait a minute, how do you-"

I push open the doors that lead us to a chamber. There are stasis cells all with holes in them. The people inside are all dead.

"If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep. I'm grateful to them, though. They brought you here," Zemo says over the PA.

"You killed innocent people in Vienna, to bring us here?" Steve questions.

"Hm. That's not all I did to bring you here. Is it Amelia?"

My mind goes blank as I step away from the group. They all have shocked looks on their faces. Zemo continues to speak, "I was in need of a puppet and you provided an excellent one who didn't even realize she wasn't in control. Therefore, you never realized it either. All it took was a song from a movie."

"You just signed your own death warrant," Tony threatens.

Zemo hums as a video begins to play, "An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumples from within? That's dead... forever."

A voice in my head tells me to go outside and I obey despite the tiny desperate voice telling me not to. The cold Siberian wind bites at my skin but I don't react to it. I just stand there robotically.

Zemo is standing there with a gun raised at me. "I'll be honest, I am not fond of this part. I'd prefer not to do this but a deal is a deal and I keep my word."

One loud sound. Another. And another. Shooting pain in my stomach. Falling. Hitting cold snow. Muffled voices. Blurry figures. Everything is spinning. My eyelids get heavier and heavier as black spots dance like ballerinas in my vision. Finally, everything goes dark.

***

A single gunshot and the target is down. I look up to the Soldier and he simply nods and begins to walk off.

A small girl, only a little younger than me runs in the room, screaming. She cradles her father's body, sobbing. I aim for the girl too, prepared to take her out but a hand on my shoulder stops me. "She's not the mission. Leave her."

I pick the rifle up and silently walk past him.

Next thing I know, Pietro is zooming past me, making my hair fly up. I growl under my breath and fix my hair.

Pietro saunters up to me with a smirk, "Lighten up. You're so uptight."

"Don't be a pest," Wanda scolds as she

The image spins out and I'm back with Bucky. He pulls me back from getting shot at the last minute. "Be careful!"

I turn around at the shoot the man who tried to kill me in the head then point at the graffiti-covered wall. "These are names, yes?"