Trust | 1 |

Chapter Two

I was sitting in my cell, scared to death about the noises and alarms I was hearing. The Avengers were here, no doubt, I was just concerned for the fate of the building. They would either search it first, or blow it up in case there were more threats inside. God I hoped they would come in. The sleeves of my long-sleeved shirt became my new toy, as I played with the ends of them, picking at them with gloved fingers. The threads at the shoulder where popping out, but nobody cared.

You see, I have a metal arm. It was designed like the Winter Soldier's arm, and they thought it was such a great addition to him, Hydra thought they could make another soldier. I was the Shadow Soldier. My arm was all black, except for the red Hydra symbol on the shoulder, where the Winter Soldier's star was. When he escaped and went rouge, Hydra put me into a more secure location up north in the near top of Canada. It was my life now, and I couldn't complain.

Suddenly, I heard a loud grunt from the end of the hallway, then a large thud. My body shot up, and I quietly made my way to the door of my cell. It was a solid steal door, but had a small slot for the occasional plate of grub to be passed through. Mission files would also be passed through, as well as propaganda to hate the Avengers.

The thing was though, they were the good guys. They helped people more than hurt. The only hurt came from hurting bad guys, or accidents. Of course there were the Hydra agents who made sure I focused on said mistakes, but I chose to see the fact that it would've been worse if the Avengers weren't there.

My train of thought was disrupted when my door suddenly caved in right in front of me. Screaming, I jumped back and got my arms up and covering my head. I tripped over my own feet, showing off my grace and balance, and went tumbling to the floor. When I uncovered my head, THE Black Widow and Scarlet Witch were standing there, ready to fight. The dust from my gross room cleared and they now saw me, laying on the ground scared half to death.

"Who are you?" Scarlet Witch asked me.

"Vous être les vengeurs," I said, dumbfounded and shocked, but pleasantly surprised. My gaze focused on one of the original six, Black Widow. Her fire red hair was even redder in person than in the pictures.

"Yes, now who are you?" The Scarlet Witch asked me. I looked to her now. She also had red hair, but it was much longer than Black Widow's. She looked guarded, with her hands at her sides ready with a red glow. It was so beautiful, and I could just imagine it swirling around a room in red wisps. I was interrupted from my thoughts when I heard someone adjust slightly.

"I'm being saved by the Avengers," I repeated once more in English this time, and Scarlet Witch understood now. Black Widow was more guarded, understandably so. Judging by her past, she's probably not the type of person to trust easily. Now with Scarlet Witch, I was a tad shocked she'd trust someone again. Maybe it was me...? I wasn't very old, at least I don't think so. It wasn't an important detail that Hydra gave me.

Scarlet Witch dropped her glowing hands and completely ignored the disapproving glare of daggers coming from Black Widow, and walked towards me slightly, then crouched in front of my figure that was still on the ground. Her face only showed trust and was kind to me. The first time I had ever seen someone like that. The people here were terrifying.

"Yes. We are here to help you in anyway needed. Now, can you please tell me your name?" Scarlet Witch asked me. A strange feeling in me made me want to trust her with everything. I don't know if it was because she's the first person to treat me so kindly, or if there was something about her, but I just trusted her.

"I-I don't really remember it. They just called me the Shadow Soldier. My real name is on my file maybe, but not in my head. It wasn't important according to Hydra," I told her. She nodded and Black Widow finally put her weapons down and away for a moment, and pushed her fiery hair out of her face. Her now free hand went to her ear to press something. A communicator between all the Avengers.

"We need to hurry. We don't know if there's anyone else in here," Black Widow told Scarlet Witch. The latter nodded and turned her attention to me once more. "Stark!" Black Widow called out. She walked out of the room to the doorway and talked to, who I assume, Iron Man.

"Okay, I'm going to call you Shadow. Is that alright? Just until we can get your real name." I nodded. "Okay okay. Progress is being made. My name is-" I cut her off.

"You're the Scarlet Witch. She's the Black Widow. They send me files of you and the rest of the Avengers, trying to point out all the bad so I could terminate you guys, but I disagree. You guys save people. You help make sure people are safe from Earthen and extraterrestrial threats. You rebuild and just...help. We kill people. I kill people..." I trailed off, the horrors of my PTSD and anxiety filling my head, breaking down my barriers and composure. My breathing got shallow and I felt a few beads of sweat forming on my brow. Scarlet Witch saw something change in my eyes, noticed my change in breathing, and took a little peek into my head. I know because I felt it slightly.

"Shadow," she said, shaking my shoulders slightly. I was brought back to reality. "You are okay now. We are here to help you and save you. Let's go. And please call me Wanda." I nodded and Wanda stood up and helped me up next. My legs were a bit shaky, but I managed.

At that point, Black Widow came back in. "Tony has all the files from the base. He decided to do his own work while we were in here. Let's get moving, shall we?" she asked. Wanda simply nodded and we all hurried out of the facility, that was about to be blown to hell. Well, according to Wanda at least.

When we got back outside, the rest of the Avengers were there as well. They all looked at me wearily, but Black Widow and Wanda were being quite friendly towards me.

"This is Shadow. She is a captive of HYDRA and we need to help her," Wanda helped explain. They were about to protest, when the head of the base walked out from behind a tree, clapping slowly. Everyone's attention was brought to the clapping man, Black Widow, Wanda, and I turning around to see who it was.

"Bravo Avengers. You have to 'save'," he put air quotes, "My newest pet. But be warned. She knows her training," he said, his accent pushing through and showing itself off like a showgirl. That man made a fury bloom in my chest, hatred and fear rolling into something dangerous inside of me.

"Va au diable," I sneered at him. We maintained eye contact, and I made sure my gaze held the same fire my words did.

Hatred grew on his face now, and he quickly held up a gun and fired it at me. A searing pain bloomed through my right thigh, and I screamed. My legs gave out and I fell to the ground. Wanda was there however, and picked the man up with red wisps of magic and threw him into the side of the building, effectively breaking his neck and back. He was dead most likely. And if that didn't do it, Hawkeye shot him with an arrow from up in a tree, before repelling down to join the rest of us on the ground.

I would've been in awe, the magic and teamwork I had just witnessed foreign to me and my training, but at the moment I was just concerned with trying to stay alive, my mind being filled with my pain.

"Guys we need to get her to the jet!" I couldn't see who it was, but the Sokovian accent gave it away. Suddenly, I couldn't feel the ground anymore, and I was being moved to a different place. It all seemed exciting, but I passed out before I could see anything else.