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2014
In the past three years, Rey only went on a handful of missions. Now she never had the time to draw or play the piano but reading was something she was doing day and night. In the past thirty years, the technology has evolved drastically. Rey, thanks to a high IQ and photographic memory mastered the use of the technology within two years. She learned to code her own computer software.
There was something Rey struggled to learn which was to control the abilities the Hummingbird Serum gave her. Rey had the ability to change her appearance and change the colours of her skin allowing her to blend in with her surroundings and even disguise herself as other individuals. This made it difficult for her to get caught which was the reason HYDRA only wanted one Hummingbird.
Over the three years, Rey realised HYDRA had many secrets that they did not share with her and more secrets than they had before. There were certain files she did not have access to or was not allowed to see. So, like any other inquisitive hacker, she hacked into their system. When she accessed the files she wished she had done it before.
There was footage of Bucky killing Howard and Maria Stark. In the 80s Zola threatened Rey to kill the Starks if she did not do HYDRA's bidding. Pierce threatened her with the same but when she read the files that stated the Starks were already killed in 1991 (while Rey was under cryosleep) by Bucky who was under the control of HYDRA. For the past three years, Pierce was threatening her to have the Starks exterminated but it was something he had already done.
When Rey accessed other files she realised why. It was because he did not want her to expose HYDRA, and that was exactly what she planned on doing now. She saved copies of all the HYDRA files that were forbidden to her, while saving she came across a few other files regarding a group of heroes that saved New York from an alien invasion called the Avengers. Two of which were her fathers; Tony Stark and Steve Rogers.
Rey had found out she was a hybrid made in a lab when she was abducted and brought to HYDRA. It was then she found out that Howard was not only her grandfather because he considered her mother Rohini as a daughter but also because of his son Tony was her father.
Rey started formulating a plan to expose HYDRA but for that, she would have to keep her operation a secret and to do that she would have to wear a mask that HYDRA would not recognise as she still did not have full control over her abilities.
The brunette decided to make her own suit, much like her father's Iron Man armour suit. Inspired by Tony's suits Rey started to make her own only it would be better. She found a dealer by the name of Ulysses Klaue. He sold the earth's strongest metal; Vibranium in large quantities for a high price or exchange for something worth millions. Which was an easy exchange for Rey, she gave the man two different serums she made over the three years in exchange for the Vibranium. A memory-wiping serum and a truth serum, three vials of each.
Rey found it difficult to utilise Vibranium, it was hard to shape so she used nanotechnology in her Vibranium suit. There were low-powered thrusters on the soles of the boots along with retractable wings. (A/N: I mean, how could she be a Hummingbird without wings?) Rey chose to go with wings because they would give her more control over her flying and she could make remote and sharp turns quicker which was something she was not getting with thrusters. She also started to code a UI system by the name of V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A.; Very Efficient Remote Oriented Networking Intelligence Computer Assistant.
Rey tried her best not to let HYDRA find out about her secret projects or they would put an end to it or use her inventions for themselves. Rey knew keeping it a secret was going to be difficult and if by chance they found out Rey would be in grave danger. In six months of time, she managed to make the perfect suit that would not only protect her but help her blend into the surroundings like her abilities do. It also helped her control them so that she did not look inhuman.
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Rey:
Rey entered an abandoned HYDRA warehouse outside New York. She had a duffle bag and a backpack it her essentials along with the tight holsters on her legs and the guns in them. Rey destroyed all the CCTV cameras in case HYDRA still had access to them. Rey continued to amble before she felt the air in the room ship. Feeling a presence behind her she grabbed her Glock 26 from her thigh holster and spun around pointing the gun at the person behind her.
"Whoa! Whoa! Don't... don't shoot..." the guy trailed off seeing Rey's appearance. Her beauty was non-human like an angel. That is what happens when you have three good-looking parents and are genetically modified.
"Who are you?!" Rey asked snapping him out of his daze.
"It's okay." he said as he held his hands up to show he was unarmed. Rey looked him over to see if he had any guns. He wore an army camouflage-patterned uniform. He had smooth dark brown hair and olive-green eyes.
"Did HYDRA send you?" Rey asked walking closer to him as she pointed her gun at his chest.
"Hey. Hey. I'm on your side." the guy assured taking steps back with his hands still up.
"How so?" Rey asked firmly as she continued to point her gun at the guy not letting her guard down.
"We both wanna see HYDRA fall." he said Rey lowered her gun slightly. Her eyes softened as she processed his words "They took everything from us." Rey shook her head shaking off the vulnerable and empathetic emotions.
"Who are you?" Rey repeated raising her gun again.
"Jay. Jay Jonas." the guy answered.
"Jay Jonas? As in Jacob Jonas?" Rey asked the boy nodded before Rey lowered her gun completely "I read your file at HYDRA. Your parents got killed in HYDRA's Ohio mission 26, right?" she said before she looked around at the run-down warehouse "What are you doing here?"
"I... Uh... I live- I mean, I stay- no I- I am-" the guy stuttered trying to find words but could not. Rey nodded to herself understanding why the guy was lost for words. He probably had not talked to anyone for a long time. Rey returned her gun to her thigh holster and held her hand out for the guy to shake.
"Rey Irani." she introduced herself.
"I know who you are." Jay said as he shook her hand "Mom and Dad talked about you." Rey nodded.
"They were some of HYDRA's best agents, I trained with them." Rey spoke emotionless tone. "You know, after I was woken up from my cryosleep." Rey said with a shrug before taking out a 90s flip phone-like device from her backpack and scanning the warehouse for thermal signatures but found nothing.
"There's been no one here for months." Jay said. Rey side glanced at him "I'm here alone." Rey nodded and wordlessly tucked her scanner back into her backpack.
"Do you have a computer here?" Rey asked. Jey smirked and walked past her she followed the brunette when he opened the doors Rey gawked at the large monitor in awe. She looked down at the control panel and started typing to open it.
The password window popped up. "I'll just get that-" Jay was about to take control before Rey typed in a code and unlocked the computer without the password "Or you can do that." Jay said causing Rey to smirk she could tell from his tone he was impressed.
Rey took out the hard drive with HYDRA's backup and plugged it into the USB port. And started to save the files into the computer. Rey took out another USB chip labelled 'V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A.' and plugged it in. "Hello, Rey. What can I do for you?" a voice with a thick British accent. Jay's eyes widened as he looked around at the ceiling speakers around the room.
"Hey V, can you get me everything on the Avengers? News articles, street footage, satellite imagery, all of it." Rey commanded.
"Yes, Rey." the UI replied.
"What was that?" Jay asked in a slightly scared tone.
"I am a UI assistant devised by Rey Irani. My name is V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. It stands for Very Efficient Remote Oriented Networking Intelligence Computer Assistant" V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. explained.
"Why does she sound like Hermione Granger?" Jay asked Rey who was rummaging through her backpack looking for something.
"Because I used Emma Watson's voice for her. I wanted a sassy know-it-all kinda attitude and also I've been a huge fan of Harry Potter for the past three years." Rey said without looking up from her backpack. When she could not find what she was looking for she walked to the nearest table and started emptying her bag until she found what she was looking for; a military combat knife.
Rey rolled up her right side half-sleeve to the shoulder revealing a knife scar "Rey, It would be advised you to reconsider your actions. There could be severe consequences-" But before the UI could complete Rey slowly dug the knife into her upper arm re-opening the scar. She winced as tears of pain welled up in her eyes before she slowly pulled the knife out.
"Holy shit!" Jay exclaimed in shock as his hands flew to his head. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." he mumbled as he stared at the blood leaking out from Rey's cut.
"Are you gonna stand there cussing or are you gonna get a first aid kit? Go to the safe room you'll find one in the red box." Rey said Jay rushed out and returned with the first aid kit. "Give me the tweezers." Jay handed her the tweezers. Rey slowly inserted the tweezers into the cut and pulled out a small device the red light on it blinked indicating the tracker was functional. Rey placed the tracker on the table and slowly pinched the sides of her cut together. Jay cleansed the blood and patched her cut before tying a bandage.
"You gonna be fine?" he asked.
"Yeah. I've been through-" Rey tried to reply but cut herself off by hissing in pain when Jay pulled the ends of the knot tightly he mumbled a small 'sorry' before looking up at her and asking her to finish "I've been through worse." Jay did not say anything just nodded.
Silence enveloped the room it was not awkward but it was not comfortable silence either "Where are you gonna be staying?" Jay asked.
"I've told Pierce I'm going to go around the world." Rey said. She took the tracker that she removed from her arm and cleaned the blood off. "He's going to be tracking me so I'm gonna use this to trick him." Rey said took the tracker from the table and cleaned the blood off with a clean handkerchief. She walked back to the computer control panel and started typing, a map popped up with a red dot blinking it was Rey's tracker. Rey typed in codes and different locations and the dot started to move. "Now, they won't know I'm here." she said. Jay stared at the monitor in awe.
"When did you learn all this?" he asked in an amazed tone "You were asleep for nearly three decades!" he exclaimed.
"Advantages of having a high IQ and a photographic memory." Rey said with a smirk as she flipped her hair over her shoulder.
Jay rolled his eyes at her bragging. "Okay. Where are you going to stay?" he asked again. Rey just gave him another smirk.
"Here." Rey said as she took her sleeping bag and unrolled it. "Good night." she said grabbing Captain Teddy and laying down hugging the teddy bear tightly throwing the blanket over herself head to toe.
"I don't think I'm comfortable that of the girl living here." said Jay.
"Well, life's not always comfortable, dude." Rey sassed as she turned over. Jay sighed and left the room. He walked to his room. He groaned as he collapsed onto his sleeping bag his face buried into the pillow Jay turned to his left and looked at a picture frame with a picture of himself and his parents at his parents' marriage anniversary.
Jay's parents were from the group of HYDRA's best agents and even after that was not enough for HYDRA. Jay's parents trained day and night they were constantly on the move and Jay did not mind it. Of course, he never made any friends because they were never in one place for longer than a month or two. So what was the point of making friends when you were anyway going to lose them?
But one day Jay's parents were called to the nearest HYDRA base and when they returned the blond in their body was glowing in a neon green colour. They had been experimented on and evidently, it went wrong. The Scientists said Jay's parents did not have much time. The serum injected into them will slowly start to spread across their body and they will die slowly in pain and agony. Even after getting infected with the serum they continued to go on missions and assignments. It slowly started wearing them out even more and eventually, they passed away leaving Jay with nothing but memories.
The day they died Jay packed all the necessary things that and left. He knew that HYDRA would raid the house after his parents died so he took the essentials and fled. He walked for days with only fruits in the forest to eat and bottles of water from the gas stations to drink. It was then he found this run-down warehouse that belonged to HYDRA a long time ago. It was on the edge of NYC so Jay stayed there he knew HYDRA would not take the risk of coming near the city since the Avengers had security systems put up on the borders of New York.
Now it had been ten months and four days since Jay had been living here. He would go to the city for supplies but he barely spoke to anyone. He would only get what he wanted, would pay for it and leave muttering a simple 'thank you'. Rey was the first person Jay had had a proper conversation with in ten months.
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Rey:
The next few days Rey and Jay barely talked. Rey could tell what happened to his parents had hit him hard just like how it hit Rey when she heard her mother being shot. And not one day went by where Rey did not blame herself. If she had not listened to her mother and stayed in the car instead of running away she might have still been alive.
Letting her emotions take control of her was something she could not afford but keeping it welled up was hard. So she always let off some steam by training and that was what she was doing now. She was wearing a pair of boxing gloves and punching a punching bag.
"Jay is coming in." V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. spoke through the speakers. "He is not listening when I said you should not be disturbed while training."
"Boys." Rey sighed rolling her eyes. A few seconds later Jay entered the training room and looked at Rey who had her back towards him while she punched the punching bag.
"So, your little digital friend says that it is unwise to be in your presence while you're training." Jay said mockingly as he air quoted 'unwise'.
"Well, that 'digital friend' is right." the UI sassed.
"Did you program her to be as sassy as you." Jay teased.
"Not in the mood for jokes, Jonas." Rey said as she started punching harder.
"Whoa... We're on last name basis now." Jay mocked.
"I SAID I'M NOT IN THE MOOD FOR JOKES!" Rey shouted as she punched the bag so hard it went flying to the other side of the room. Jay's eyes widened as he saw the punching bag fly across the room and crash to the floor spilling sand out of it. Jay stared at the bag before looking at Rey with slight fear in his eyes.
"How... How did you do that?" he asked breathlessly.
"I- my- that-" Rey stuttered over her words scratching the back of her palms something she did when she was nervous or scared. Jay walked over to Rey he could tell she was scared of her own strengths and capabilities. She was scared she could hurt someone.
Jey gently guided her to a bench in the gym. Rey sat down as she rested her elbows on her knees running her hands through her hair as she let out a frustrated sigh. Jay walked over to the small fridge in the corner of the room and took out a small cold bottle of water. He opened it and gave it to her before sitting down next to her on the bench.
Rey chugged down the water and put the bottle away. Rey glanced at Jay from the corner of her eyes and saw him staring straight at the bag she had punched. Rey stared at the bag before looking away cursing herself for revealing her strength "Are you an enhanced?" Jay asked as he looked at the brunette sitting next to him. Rey nodded without saying a word Jay looked away nodding solemnly. "So what did they put in you?" he asked.
"I don't get my strength from the serum they injected in me." Rey said. Jey looked at her confused "I got it from my father." she said looking at Jay.
"Father?" he asked Rey nodded.
"My full name is Radha Irani Stark Rogers." she said looking at him.
"Stark Rogers?" he asked she nodded before Jay chuckled "So, you're what? Related to Iron Man and Captain America." Rey glared at him which caused him to stop laughing.
"I'm their daughter." Rey said. Jay's eyes widened in shock "I was made from their and my mother Dr. Rohini Irani's DNA."
"By HYDRA?" Jay asked.
"No. By the Stark scientists back in 1972." Rey said.
"I have to say it's kinda cool." Jay said looking at the punching bag that lay on the floor.
Rey chuckled "I guess." she said.
"So, do they know they're your-?"
"What?! No! Are you crazy?!" Rey exclaimed "They don't! And I don't plan on telling them either." she said.
"Why not?" Jay asked.
"If I do I might put them in danger. Anyone who knows their life is in danger." Rey said before she dug into her pocket. "Which is what I have to wipe your memory." Rey said as she took out the memory-wiping serum spray bottle and was about to spray but Jay grabbed her wrist.
"You don't have to do this alone." he said lowering her hand from his face.
"I have to. I always have to. They could do a lot to get information out of you if they found out that I know about their plans..." Rey said as she looked down at the spray bottle "You have no idea what methods they use."
"Well, I'm sure if they would find out they'd take you in." Jay assured which caused Rey to scoff.
"Yeah, right." Rey looked at Jay chuckling sarcastically "When they find out what I've done they'll probably throw me in Alcatraz." she said.
"Those people you killed... that was not your fault-" Jay said.
"Yes, it was."
"They made you do it."
"Yeah, but I could have protested."
"They would have killed you."
"No, they threatened to kill the Starks!" Rey blurted out Jay looked at her confused "I was very close to Howard and Maria Stark when I was young. They were like my grandparents—" Rey stopped before she corrected herself "Actually not like — they were my grandparents. Before I was kidnapped I thought they were my grandparents only because they considered my mother their daughter but it was because I was their son's daughter." Rey said looking down before she looked back at Jay smiling "Who by the way, was only two years older than me." she said trying to ease the tension. Jay stayed silent processing all the information. "And even after I woke up three years ago they did not tell me that... that they already had the Winter Soldier kill the Starks. They continued to threaten me to kill the Starks. When I realised that they were keeping things from me I hacked into their system and found out about the Starks."
"Put that away." Jay said calmly looking at the spray bottle of the memory-wiping serum. Rey looked at it and hesitantly put it back in her pocket. "You are not alone any more."
"I am always alone." Rey said.
"It's not I any more Rey — it's we." Jay said. Rey looked at him and saw him giving her a warm smile which she returned.
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Rey and Jay sat in the computer room going through files that Rey had hacked from HYDRA. "Project Insight is HYDRA's key to finishing Schmidt's ambition." Jay said as he looked at the digital blueprints of the Helicarriers "No one will have any freedom. We'll all be enslaved by these- these-" Jay struggled to find the word to describe HYDRA.
"Bitchs?" Rey said.
"That's the word!" Jay exclaimed pointing at Rey.
"Yeah well, we both can't stop them alone." she said staring at the blueprints on the large screen.
"You're not saying...?" Jay trailed.
"No!" Rey said firmly knowing who Jay was thinking about. "I told you before, I don't want them to know." Rey said. She turned in her revolving chair, stood up and started pacing back and forth. "We can't contact them directly.
"So, we need to contact someone who knows the Avengers but can keep your identity a secret." Jay said.
"Someone who's secrets have secrets." Rey said. There was a moment of silence as both Rey and Jay thought of someone with these qualifications before both their eyes widened and they turned to each other knowing they both had the same person in mind.