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8 | 𝘼𝙇𝙇 𝙄 '𝙇𝙇 𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍 𝘽𝙀
I am constantly unarmed, I'm under heavy surveillance, and I'm barely ever allowed to be by myself, but the Avengers missed one thing when accepting me into their team—I still had my watch communicator. I actually forgot that the watch didn't just tell time, that it doubled as my only way to communicate with SWAN during missions. I haven't worn it at all, but I didn't throw it out and instead kept it on the top of my dresser to collect dust. The communicators SWAN gave trainees on missions were programmed to only carry a message one way, from the person on the mission to the ones who organized it. At least that is what they led us to believe.
It's in late in the morning. I have a thin layer of sweat glistening over my skin from the run Steve, Bucky, and I went on as I enter my bedroom to collect fresh clothes to change into. I open the top drawer of the dresser and take out a black long-sleeve shirt. Just as I'm closing the drawer, there's a high-pitched beeping.
I look up and find the culprit—the watch I had forgotten. Furrowing my brow, I set my shirt down on the surface next to the watch before picking it up and examining it. None of my communicators have ever done this.
The beeping cuts out. Then, a familiar voice.
"We will send more. As many as it takes."
Despite the message being extremely muffled, I immediately recognize Ms. Aarons's distinct voice. I ignore my confusion concerning the fact that the communicator isn't only one-way and instead focus it on the message itself. What does she mean? She'll send more? My mind goes to the encounter I had with Caroline the other day, and it dawns on me. Ms. Aarons will send more trainees until they complete their mission: me. They're all expendable because there will always be younger agents in training. If even one trainee poses any type of threat to bring down their entire program, SWAN will stop at nothing to eliminate that threat. They might have to rebuild themselves after the threat is gone, but it would be worth it to them in the end. I can't believe I actually thought so highly of SWAN for so long and blindly agreed to every lie that came out of Ms. Aarons's mouth.
A knock on my bedroom door brings me out of my thoughts. I quickly hide the watch under the soft pillow at the head of the bed before grabbing my shirt again.
"Hey Nikita, Buck and I were going to go down town for some lunch," Steve's voice says from the other side of the door.
I swiftly slip out of the sweaty tank top I ran in and switch it out with the black long-sleeve shirt.
"Hang on a second," I call back as I'm tugging off my shorts to replace them with dark jeans. Once I'm dressed I open the door.
