*Six Months Later*

Never in a million years did I think that the Avengers would persuade me to help them, but it happened. Not only did I agree to it, I finally was given back the other half of my identity; the weapons and the uniform. Why? Because I can't go fight villains unarmed and unprepared. Being unprepared is for amateurs and quite frankly, I'm just not that. Chaos had been erupting all around us and it all can be traced back to one person. Tony Stark just so happens to be the person who unleashed a new kind of danger that goes by the name, Ultron. You see, he thought that inserting Artificial Intelligence into Jarvis would be a great idea. The best part about this entire predicament is that Tony and Bruce were the only ones who knew about it. Because of this, the entire world is in danger of going extinct.

This is not how I expected things to turn out over the course of six months.

"On behalf of the assassin in me, I don't believe finding Ultron would be this easy," I groan, trying to get them all to believe me. "He's just luring us in like helpless children and when we're not looking, he'll trap us, unarmed."

"We're going to be fine, Avalon," Tony tries to convince me, but I roll my eyes and lay down on the floor of the quinjet.

When you're all dead, it won't be my fault, I say in my head and the amount of sarcasm in the thought makes me laugh a bit. Things have changed in my life over the past year and a half and I don't know how I feel about it. A part of me longs to go back to the way things used to be, but as cliche as it sounds, I'm okay for how it is now. Though, I don't mind helping the Avengers, this isn't my fight and this isn't my place, but hey, it is what it is.

After becoming lost in my thoughts, I feel the quinjet start descending towards the ground and the shuffling of feet makes me groan, knowing that I have to get up. Pushing myself up with my hands, I get up on my feet and instantaneously, I make sure all the weapons on my person are secure. Grabbing my cross bow and quiver, I adjust them on my back, and for a brief moment, it seems like if I look up, Bucky would be standing there and we'd be off on whatever mission we were assigned. But that isn't the case and I'm slightly disappointed.

Something bad is going to happen today, I can feel it, but let's not give up hope.

***

Having the element of surprise is something I live for and I plan on taking advantage of it. Steve instructs Clint, Nat and I to hide throughout the ship and this is where I expect things to become more... exhilarating. Quietly, the three of us walk in the opposite direction of Steve and with every step I take, I listen to what's going on around me as I become more familiar with this place. Vibranium is stored in this place and it's all Ultron wants.. And maybe death to the entire human race. The distant chatter of civilians working and the clinking of metal echoes through the ship.

"Alright, we have to split up from here," Clint says in a hushed voice. "And Lonnie, cause a little Hell because it's kind of your thing."

"Awe, thanks, Dad!!"

A smirk forms on my face before I split from the two and I run quietly up a flight of stairs. You know what you're capable of. Don't hold back when they should all fear you. Pushing away the thought, prop myself up on a railing, knowing that if anyone is going to come near me, I will take them down in a second. 

I'm as possibly still as I can manage while balancing on the railing. If anything happened, we would've been warned and possibly, we'd already be fighting against whatever robots Ultron would have in store for us. But as I thought things would take a while to go drastically downhill, the sound of gunshots come from everywhere around me. Gracefully, I jump from the railing to the platform below me and I quickly grab my crossbow and load it. A group of armed men run down the platform in my direction and one by one, I take them out with an arrow to the head. There's more where that came from. Don't stall. Just do the job. Then, I take off running in the direction where the gunshots are louder and become more frequent.

As I'm turning the corner, I feel someone behind me, but I look ahead of me, noticing that Clint is effortlessly picking off the ones shooting at him. Looking over my shoulder and noticing someone lurking in the shadows, I load my bow before fiercely turning around, and aiming the arrow at the person.

"Take another step and I'll kill you," I threaten, only to see a girl come out from the shadows.

A devilish grin forms on her face as she takes a good look at me.

"You must be the Red Ghost," she says, knowingly. "The infamous assassin who only wanted to cause mass destruction. Where'd the assassin go? Seems to me you've gone soft."

I roll my eyes. Wanda Maximoff. Enhanced with the power of telekinesis and other various mental manifestations.  

"Hydra doesn't control me anymore, haven't you heard?"

A familiar sound of someone yelling catches me off-guard, causing me to slightly go in a vulnerable state. Only a second goes by and it gave Wanda a short time frame to do what she wanted. Suddenly, a wave of pain went through my brain and my hands grab my head, hoping to make the pain stop. Averting my gaze to Wanda, a smirk rests upon her face before she disappears. I think everything is fine and well, so I begin to run in the direction I last saw Clint, but then, I wasn't in the same place I was merely two seconds ago.

The temperature in the room seems to drop thirty degrees and it sends a shiver throughout my body. I know this room. I became very familiar with it and its purposes for over six decades. Oh god, this is Hydra. My heartbeat begins to quicken, fear running throughout my entire body as the run around me comes to life. Scientist and doctors flood the room, doing god knows what, but they don't seem me. At least, not at the moment.

"Restrain her, now!" yells a doctor and a swarm of multiple doctors attempt to grab ahold of me.

But I stand so incredibly still that I let it happen and in a second, I'm being dragged over to the electromagnetic shock chair. Things calmed down as the others gather their things together, but a familiar presence is in the room, behind two guards. My heart sinks to my stomach, having a bad feeling that I know exactly what's going to happen and what I'm going to have to do. This isn't real. It's just a hallucination. It's all in your head! But it feels so real and I can't see passed that.

"Bucky?" I question, my voice projecting loud enough to see a head perk up.

The guards push someone in front of them, they stumble with due to the force. My breathing hitches, realizing that Bucky is here and terror in written in his features. Angered, I push pass the doctors and run over to Bucky, immediately checking if he's hurt.

"Are you okay? Did they hur-" I don't even get to finish my question.

He grabs ahold of my hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "I'm fine, Avalon. Don't worry."

    The doctor clear his throat, causing Bucky and I to turn our attention to him. With a smug smirk on his face, he looks slightly amused by the sight of us. As an instinct, Bucky steps in front of me, trying to protect me for whatever is to come. Something that he would've done if we were both still assassins working for Hydra. His grip on my hand is firm and it's like he intends on not letting go anytime soon.

"Why protect her? Not knowing that she's going to be the one to kill you?" the doctor snarls, my body freezes.

Blinking a couple of times, I try and predict what he's inferring. "Over my dead body, prick," I say in my usual sarcastic tone.

"That won't be necessary. Either you willing give into the assassin or we'll make you snap"

My eyes dart to the side of Bucky's face. He doesn't look terrified anymore. Somehow, it's like he's relieved and it breaks my heart because I wish he would fight to get out of this. His stormy blue eyes meet mine and right when he's about to speak, a guard grabs onto my waist, pulling me away from him. I grip onto his hand, trying so hard to get out of the guards arm, but my hand slips away from his. Suddenly, the room becomes hectic and my life is flashing before my eyes. Avalon, this isn't real. Snap out of it! You know what they're going to do!

Bucky is on his knees, a gun pointed to his head, and I'm being restrained by a guard. We stare at each other, knowing that the worst has come for us, but I need to find my way out of this before it's too late.

"I'm not going to kill him," I state, my anger rising by the second and soon, I know I won't be able to control it.

"наука (science)," the familiar Russian word rings in my ears.

I breath deeply, tightly closing my eyes, in hopes the words will stop.

"сорок четыре (forty-four)"

I flinch. "Red or not, I won't kill him. You'll have to kill me first!"

    The guard's finger rests on the trigger and out of nowhere, he presses the gun to Bucky's head. Tears form in my eyes and I shake my head as if I'm trying to say no, but I can't form the words. Slowly, I feel the assassin make her way back into my mind as I'm in a vulnerable state of mind.

"Kill him!"

The gun fires, instant killing Bucky, and his body goes limp. A scream escapes my throat as blood puddles from beneath him and tears start uncontrollably streaming down my face. Breaking free of the guard's hold, I run over to his body and I take his head in my arms, hoping he'd wake up, but in reality, he never will. Kill. Kill. Kill. My anger rises from within and my mindset changes like a flip of a light switch. Looking up towards the doctors, guards, and scientist who stare at me, amused by my reaction.

I have to let her in. I need get my revenge. They killed James Buchanan Barnes.

"You'll pay the price for this"

And instantly, I'm forced back into reality as a different person than I was when I went into the hallucination. Red, don't do this. Chaos is calling my name. Hydra ruined my life and no one did anything about it. They killed Winter and whoever stands in the way will pay the price. Anger and madness take over; everything I felt as an assassin comes back with ease.

The world should be afraid of the Red Ghost because no one is going to stop me.

a/n - hey friends! the next chapter is killer and i don't think you're ready for it - kenzie