SEVEN
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The days following the incident with Ultron, Amelia spent digging through the things they had found on her. She red article after article on the assassin known as Red, flipped through picture after picture of her childhood. She would often have to seak out her brother (the male usually locked away trying to find out where ultron was headed) to ask him questions about people in photographs. Others she would seak out Bucky, who was continuously finding more information regarding her time with Hydra. The joys of having clearance for hidden files thanks to a brother that can hack anything and everything.
Curreny she sat in the living, tucked up on the same couch she was on day before when Ultron made his appearance. She sat with her feet under her, a large blanket wrapped around her as she flipped through another article on Red. The article spoke of the mysterious assassin who seemed to appear from thin air and disappear just as quickly. She was nowhere to be found, the nickname dubbed simply because of a single witness who recalled her red locks as she fled a scene. She had quickly become a bedtime story told to scare children into behaving, one that seemed more real as her victim list continued to climb.
Each word she read felt like a stab in her heart, her green eyes refusing to peal away from the paper despite this. She paid no attention to the metal armed man as he entered the room, not registering the look on his face as he stared at her, clutching a single document in his hands.
"Amelia?" His words stole her attention, the look in his eyes stealing her breath as green locked with blue. The blue held so much emotion, happiness and sadness all at once.
"What's wrong?" Amelia wondered, setting the paper she was reading down. She watched him move closer to her, sitting beside her on the couch. "What's that?" Gesturing to the papers he clutch tightly, she grew even more curious.
"I found something," he stumbled over his words, unfolding the paper to look at it closely. "Remember when you told me to search Winter and Red? To see if maybe they had us working together?"
Amelia shifted, sitting up straight as she faced him fully, "yeah, did they?"
"That and a lot more," Bucky mumbled, handing her the paperwork. While she originally thought he only held one paper, he actually held multiple. Each paper a different article of the two, who had went on multiple missions together. Some of the articles held pictures of the two, showing them close to each other in a rare photo the two were holding hands.
At the bottom of the papers was a single sheet of paper, the words across it surprising the redhead. She stared at it with wide eyes, not truly believing the proof right in front of her. "This is real?" With a racing mind she tried to process the sheet of paper, eyes darting across the page multiple times as she tried to read it throughly and understand it fully. "They told me you were dead."
Bucky studied her as closely as she studied the paper, blue eyes calculating her every move, "obviously they lied, but whats new."
"Why would they erase this from both of our mind and not erase it legally as well?" Amelia wondered, brows furrowing as she looked up at him. "Why would they make us both forget ever getting married to each other?"
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A redheaded woman moved with grace through the streets. Her eyes dark as they surveyed the situation, her entire face on display for all to see. The guidelines for the mission played on repeat in her mind, pushing harshly against her skull. A dull tingle across her scalp her constant reminder of what would happen if she failed to remember the rules.
As her eyes landed on her target a fleeting thought danced through her head, yet it disappeared too quickly for her to understand it. She approached swiftly, following the man in his suit as he continued about his way as if he wasn't being followed. She often questioned the intelligence of those she targeted, green eyes usually rolling at the sheer stupidity the targets often emitted.
She supposed it could've been written off as luck, as the man paid more attention to his phone than where he was walking, and he wondered his way into an alley. She followed him with ease, grinning as he went deeper and deeper into the darkness, where his screams and cries couldn't be heard. She stopped a couple feet behind him, his head darting up as he looked around in confusion. His confusion grew though as he turned to face the redhead standing behind him, a sinister smile on her lips. Due to their location, she no longer would need to play the innocent act.
"Who are you?" The man questioned, stepping closer to the female. She titled her head curiously, wondering if this target was going to prove to have more stupidity than the others. "Why'd you follow me here?" He snapped, glancing around, "where even is here?" He mumbled those words to himself, clearly confused, but only adding to her amusement.
"У Hydra есть сообщение для вас (Hydra has a message for you)" the single name of the organization seemed to strike a chord within the man. His eyes widening as he made a mad scramble backwards, not once taking his eyes off of her. She followed each step he made, green eyes glowing brightly in the darkness around them. The man quickly trapped himself against a fence to keep the alleys divided, his fist pounding relentlessly in hope someone would hear and save him.
"Why!?" His eyes darted between the fence and the redhead, fear covering every inch of his being. "I didn't do anything!"
Growing bored of the game, she moved forwards with calculating steps, quickly bringing the man to his knees. Darkness seeped through the sleeve of his shirt, his arm broken and bleeding harshly from the strength of her pull. She had no reason to care, simply pulling out the gun they had given her and pressing it under the mans jaw.
"Please! Have mercy!" His begging fell on deaf ears, her mind running over the orders, making sure she accomplished everything correctly. "Please!"
"град Гидра! (Hail Hydra!)" The redhead shouted, flinching as the man in her memory shouted. With a single flicker of her finger, a blast echoed in the air, brain matter splattering as the man fell motionless. He bled violently, death instant, and painless, at her feet, golden eyes staring straight back at her.
"Миссия выполнена (mission accomplished)" The redhead muttered, tucking the gun away and leaving the scene. The man in her memory shouting loudly at her, demanding a perfect mission.
A short scream echoed through the penthouse, a small group rushing quickly to assess the issue. Eyes landed on a disheveled redhead, eyes wide and unfocused as the memory replayed behind her eyes. She flinched as the gunshot echoed loudly, green eyes snapping shut in an effort to block it out.
Her brother was the first to her side, handing rubbing her back to comfort her, yet it troubled her further. She pushed him away silently, shaking her head as tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. The memories she gained painful emotionally and mentally.
"Let me try," his voice was the first to reach her ears, everything else mumbled messes she couldn't bother trying to process. Faintly she felt the bed dip beside her, a warm presence comforting her in a way she didnt understand. "Was it a memory?" Green slowly showed itself, as her eyes fluttered open at his words. He was watching her closely, blue eyes shinning deeply with concern.
"Red," her whisper explained a lot, the male nodding silently as he rolled his lips in thought.
"It's not you," he began, reaching out he took her hand, holding it tightly to anchor herself from her memory filled dream land. "It's not the person you truly are, thats the monster they made you, but thats not you. It never was and never will be."
She nodded mutely, silently reminding herself that it still truly had been her, yet she had no energy to argue with him. They sat in silence for a moment, before her green eyes darted towards her brother, Clint and Steve. The three watched with nervous, worried eyes, waiting for anything that would tell them she was okay. She was quick to send them a smile, although it didnt reach her eyes, it served the purpose to calm them.
"Its time to suit up and headout," Steve stated moments later, giving the redhead a smile before disappearing from the room. Clint and her brother were quick to follow, her brother making her promise to never scare him like that again before he left the room.
"Where are we going?" Amelia looked up at Bucky curiously as he himself stood and headed for the door.
"Wakanda, Tony thinks Ultron is looking for Vibranium." Bucky explained with a shrug. "Meet at the hanger."
Disappearing from the room, he left the redhead alone. Her thoughts ran a mile a minute as she tried to process the memory. It was the first she gained regarding missions Hydra had sent her on. Her first memory of what exactly Red had done in those years Hydra controlled her. It left her shaken to the core, her body physically trembling as she pushed herself out of the bed. Blinking rapidly, she pushed the memory from her mind, focusing instead on the mission at hand. This one, she hoped, wouldn't be nearly as bad as the one in her memories. And as she dressed to meet the others at the hanger, she hoped she wouldnt gain another memory of one of her missions woth Hydra. They seemed to be the worse memories yet.
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The inside of the building was dark, full of large missiles that were placed everywhere. She stood behind her brother slightly, the comforting feeling of being protected by him relaxing her just a little. Her green eyes never settled as the men around her spoke amongst themselves, listening in to the conversation between the man and robot across from them. She never focused on the coversation until familiar figures appeared, standing on the robots side and causing the smile they initially brought to her face to turn upside down. She was confused in their choice to be on the robots side, not understanding how they could side with someone who was openly planning to destroy so much of their world.
"It's a thing with me. Stark is... He's a sickness!" Ultron spoke with hatred, looking down in anger.
"Junior." Her brother spoke, gaining the full attention of the others across from them. The redhead focused on the twins, flashing them a smile as she made eye contact. "You're gonna break your old man's heart."
"If I have to." Her brows furrowed, not understanding the anger that shined in their eyes. As far as she knows she hadn't done anything to warrent their anger, so why were they so angry with her?
"Nobody has to break anything." Steve spoke up, stepping forwards slightly.
"Clearly you've never made an omelet." Ultron stated, reminding Amelia of Tony. In the few weeks she spent with her brother and the small amount of memories she gained revolving him, she had learned quickly that the man was a smart ass, full of sarcasm that never stopped.
"He beat me by one second." Her brother stated, looking back at Thor.
"Yes. He's funny. Mr. Stark." Pietro spoke up, his accent sending a calming sensation over the redhead despite the hostility the twins were sending. "It's what Comfortable? Like old times?" The white haired man looked down at the missles on the floor before them.
"This was never my life." Tony stated, Amelia's eyes widened, memories of her days in the compound with the twins coming forwards.
Amelia leaned against Pietro, green eyes staring blankly at the gray wall across from them. The twins were speaking amoungst themselves, although she slowly began to listen in.
"We won't let him get away with it," Pietro assured his sister, running his fingers through Amelia's hair.
"Who?" Amelia had wondered, eyes lifting to meet his blue ones.
"Tony Stark," Wanda spat his name as if it carried a disease, full of hatred.
"Why?" The redhead questioned, curious on who this man was and whag he did to cause them so much hate.
"He killed our parents," Pietro revealed, clutching his sisters hand tightly with his right hand as his left continued to run through the redheads hair.
She could understand their emotions, she herself would be upset if someone else had played a hand in her parents death. Yet she still didn't understand the glares she recieved, unless she was solely getting them for being on her brothers side.
"You two can still walk away from this." The redhead looked up at Thor as he spoke, his large mass bringing a small amount of comfort to the youngest Stark.
"We will." Wanda answered, eyeing the four.
"I know you've suffered." Steve began.
"Captain America." Ultron interrupted. "God's righteous man. Pretending you could live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth, but..." the robot made motions with his hand of throwing up.
"If you believe in peace, then let us keep it." Amelia began to wonder why she was with them. She couldnt be any help, and she didn't have any words to add to their argument. Instead she stood silently, absorbing all the information around her.
"I think you're confusing "peace" with "quiet."' Ultron answered.
"What's the vibranium for?" Tony questioned, trying to get straight to the point.
"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan." Steve grabbed Amelia pulling her away from her brother as Ultron collided with him the two smashing back into the wall.
"Go!" Steve pushed her towards the stairs on the other side of the room, the redhead took off, a squeak slipping past her lips as a man she had never seen before intercepted her. Sliding to a stop the female eyed him closely, watching for him to make the first move. He darted forwards after a second, grabbing at her with filthy hands. She barely dodged his hands, twisting out of his reach. She kicked her right leg up, slaming it into his side and sending him to the floor. He grunted loudly, grabbing her and tossing her to the side. She collided harshly with the boxes to the side, a grunt escaping her lips as she fell. Pushing herself to her feet, Amelia countered the man attacks, keeping him back just enough to keep her from going down again. Growing frustrated with the back and forth, Amelia released a short scream that knocked the man back, his hands holding his ears in pain.
Darting away the female continued forwards, pushing her way through the fights around her. She used her voice as a weapon everytime someone came near her, breathing heavily from the effort and strain until everything froze. Her eyes widened, a red haze surrounding her before everything changed. She was openly weeping in the memory, and it felt like she was standing to the side watching everything unfold. Instead of reliving the memory herself, she was watching it like a movie.
With teary eyes, she watched the scene unfold, her heart breaking the further the vision unfolded. Her memories, she decided, would be the death of her.