Nightingale | An Avengers Tale

Flashback

The Winter Soldier barely stirred as he heard the shuffling of heavy footsteps outside his cell. He tightly closed his eyes as he waited for the pain that he knew would soon follow.

A loud screech sounded as the rusty door was shoved open. He concentrated on controlling his heart rate so they wouldn't know how afraid he really was. A thud followed by a quiet whimper alerted him that someone else was now sharing his cell. The door clanged shut signaling the two were now alone.

He opened his eyes to see Kobik hunched over on the floor. "Tweety?" He softly whispered as he let out a sigh of relief. She was still alive. In spite of all their cruelty, somehow they had enough decency to let her live in spite of her betrayal.

But she didn't even glance up at him. Instead she crawled away and shrunk into the corner farthest away from him. Her shoulders quivered as she desperately tried to back further into the wall.

"Tweety?" He again whispered. Maybe she hadn't heard him, but the sinking feeling in his stomach said otherwise.

When she finally looked at him, pure terror filled her normally cheerful blue eyes. And that was when he knew that the happy and carefree Tweety was gone. They had finally broken her just as they had him. Her laughter and singing would now be replaced by cries of fear and pain. Tweety was gone just as the person he was before was gone. All that remained of both of the them was Kobik and the Winter Soldier.

"Kobik?" He finally whispered.

She jolted up at his voice and for a split second he thought Tweety had somehow broken through. But then her quiet voice told him otherwise. "Ready to comply."

***

Kobik sighed as she slid down into position. She had finally been deemed ready for her first mission. Her partner, the Winter Solider, should be arriving soon. He had failed to eliminate their target earlier so she had been brought in to finish the job.

She shifted nervously as she glanced towards the empty apartment where they believed their target to be hiding. Why they couldn't just go in and finish the job, she had no idea.

But that wasn't the plan.  She has heard the plan over and over again, but for some reason it had suddenly changed. Something about the launch date being moved up.

It hadn't made sense to her at all, but it wasn't her job to lead the team. Her job was to eliminate threats. Threats that sought to halt and destroy Hydra's rise to power. And today, that threat was Nicolas J. Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Kobik sighed again as she adjusted her gun. She gazed briefly through the scope watching for any indication of movement within the small apartment. Annoyed with the lack of movement, she adjusted her earpiece that she had earlier connected to a bug inside the apartment to focus on the soothing music that had been left playing.

She smiled to herself as she heard the sound of a door slowly opening. Someone was most definitely home. "Show time." She whispered quietly under her breath as she glanced around for the Asset. He still wasn't here.

"Target in sight." She softly whispered into her comms as she adjusted the gun in her hands. The music playing in the room immediately grew louder. She rolled her eyes to herself. Did they seriously believe she was stupid enough to not know they were having a highly classified conversation?