You put in your earbuds and start your playlist. You turn it up as you run. It's just the music and your thoughts; your body goes into autopilot as you run.

What are you doing, Jo? I don't want to hurt Steve, but I don't know if I'm in love with him. Is it just a ghost of what we had that pulls me back?

Tony... Where did that come from? Why was it so easy to let you in?

You control your breathing as you pick up the pace. You run faster and faster as the thoughts keep flying through your head.

God, I want to feel Tony's touch again. Can I let him in all the way? Does he really see me? Can he handle seeing the real me? Do I want him to see the real me? How can I show him the real me if I don't know who I am?

You pass the lake and continue your run along the edge of the woods. You start your circle back to the compound.

What am I doing? What will they do with me after Hydra is dismantled? I can't be a hero if I've been the villain all my life. Bucky became a hero, can I? Can I trust myself to do what's right? Do I know what's right and wrong anymore?

Suddenly, you get an uneasy feeling. You slow your pace and remove your earbuds. You stop and look around, listening to the wind in the trees. The hair on the back of your neck starts to stand up. You take a deep breath to slow your heart rate and listen again. You don't hear anything out of the ordinary, but your gut tells you something else. You slide your earbuds into your pocket to listen as you do a 360° and scan your surroundings again. Nothing, but you know there is something out there in your gut. You know your subconscious heard or saw something you didn't.

You're still a ways from the compound buildings and people. Something is telling you to get back inside now. You regret not taking Bucky up on his invitation to run with him and Steve.

You tense up, and your senses become hyper-focused. You start to run again but watch your surroundings closely. You have to be losing it; you're on the grounds of Avengers HQ, a highly secure facility. Damn it, you don't even have your daggers on you.

You've run a few yards when you hear branches snapping behind you. You stop and spin on your heels. You see a small fox run across the path. You let out the breath you have been holding and turn around.

Suddenly, there are two men dressed in all black, their faces covered with masks. You hear sounds behind you and glance back over your shoulder. Two more figures have stepped out of the woods onto the path.

"Fuck me." you say under your breath.

"Guys I'm kinda having a good day here and these are my favorite leggings, I really don't want to mess them up. What do you say I close my eyes, count to ten, and you can leave before this gets ugly?"

The figures make no effort to move. One of them speaks. "It's time to come home, Alpha."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen, dick wad." You take a deep breath, roll your neck, and stretch your shoulders. "All right boys, let's get this over with. I have a date with a bottle of whiskey in an hour."

The first two men pull out batons and extend them. They charge you. They are good, but still no match for you. Within a minute, you have them laid out on the ground at your feet. You raise your foot to stomp one in the face, but you hear Steve's voice in your head.

"Be better than them. We hold ourselves to a higher standard." Steve's voice echoes through your thoughts.

You turn and see the other two figures still standing behind you. You look down at their hands and see they have electrical prods in them.

"Shit, I hate those things." You think to yourself. If they hit your enhancements properly, they could disable them. You're going to have to be careful with these two.

They separate to flank you from both sides at once. You try to block them with your flesh arm. If they hit your hand, you can still fight. If they hit your enhanced arm, that could prove to be a problem.

One comes at you with his wand extended in front of him. You dodge and grab his arm, snatching the rod from his hand. You kick him to the ground as he lands, your foot makes contact with his face. For added measure, you hit him twice with the wand.

The fourth assailant comes at you while you are distracted by the one on the ground. You see him out of the corner of your eye and quickly block his wand with yours. With one hand, you grab his wand, ripping it from his hands as you kick him in the gut, sending him reeling backward. You advance on him and hit him on each side with a wand, sending about  2000 volts each through their body. They collapse to the ground in a convulsion. You look down and realize that there is a large hole ripped in your pants leg.

You walk up to the groaning figure and hit him again with both wands. "What did I say about my pants!" You yell at him. You raise your foot. "Fuck higher standards!" You bring your enhanced foot down, and the crunching of his skull fills the air.

You stand there for a second as you catch your breath. "They really must think I've gone soft if they thought these ass hats could bring me in." You say out loud.

In that split second, you hear the crack of a high-power rifle being fired. You see the birds in the trees take off before you feel the bullet hit your shoulder. You stumble back, caught off guard by the impact. You hear another crack in the opposite direction as you try to track where the shot came from. You feel the second shot hit you in the back of the leg.

They've got multiple shooters in the trees, and you're a sitting duck. They could have taken you out in the beginning, but they wanted to play with you first. You turn to run towards the compound when you hear two more shots ring out.

You feel both of them hit you. You look down to see red stains materializing, one on your abdomen and one on the chest. You try to take several more steps, but you can already feel the blood running down your legs.

You stumble to the ground, but you can't stop. You need to try to get to the clearing ahead.

You can hear heavy footsteps coming up behind you. The pattern suggests that it's at least two men.

You feel a pair of hands grab your ankles and pull you back towards the edge of the woods. The hands twist your legs, rolling you over onto your back. Your breathing is becoming more labored as blood slowly fills your lungs.

A silhouette of a man looks down over you. "We've missed you, sweetheart." You know that voice, and it sends ice through your veins. He kneels down next to you. "I bet your nights have been lonely without me." Brock Rumlow says as he brushes the hair from your face.

You try to roll away from him, but he grabs you and pulls back to his feet. "Where do you think you're going, baby?"

He swings his leg over you so he has you pinned to the ground. He leans down and brings his mouth close to your ear. "We're going to catch up on lost time when we get you home."

Your mind starts to flash back instantly. You remember all the times he raped and tortured you. Tears start to fall from your eyes. You raise your arms to grab his throat, but your reflexes are slowed due to the blood loss.

"Now, now, baby. Save the rough stuff for later. You know I like to warm up to that," Rumlow says with a twisted smile. He reaches into a pocket on his vest and produces a syringe. "I have a little present from the doctor. It's going to make you feel really good, baby. We want to make sure you're compliant."

Your eyes go wide with those words. "No! No! Please don't!" You say through the blood in your mouth.

He pulls the safety cover off the syringe and slides it into the vein in your forearm. At first, the liquid is warm, but then it turns cold in your veins. You can feel your mind fading; you don't know if it's the loss of blood or the serum. Your vision is starting to get hazy, and things are slowing down.

Steve and Bucky finish their run and go out on the living room balcony, talking when they hear shots ring out. They instantly know something is wrong. Steve looks at Bucky, jumping up, he says. "Nat said Joey's out on a run by herself." Bucky is already heading for the edge of the balcony.

"You take the edge of the woods. I'll take the lake." He doesn't look back as he jumps from the balcony, landing on the soft grass below. He takes off at top speed toward the lake.

Steve quickly steps inside and grabs his shield. He follows Bucky's exit, jumps from the balcony, and takes off towards the woods. A knot in his chest rises as he approaches the path that runs the edge of the woods. He's still several hundred feet away, but he can see two figures standing over a body on the ground. He throws the shield at a tree, and it ricochets off, hitting one of the men and sending him to the dirt.

As Steve gets closer, he recognizes the other figure. "Rumlow! Get away from her!" 

Rumlow realizes he's lost and looks down at you. "Don't worry, baby girl. I'll be back for you, and then we'll have some real fun." He looks to the sky as a jet materializes above them, and a cable is lowered. Rumlow grabs it just as Steve picks up his shield and throws it straight at Rumlow. It's too late and he is lifted into the jet and takes off.

Steve runs over to where Rumlow was standing and looks at you on the ground. That's when he sees how badly wounded you are.

"Bucky! Bucky! I've got her!" Steve yells at the top of his lungs.

He kneels down next to you and rips his shirt apart. He takes each piece and covers the wounds in your chest and abdomen. "Joey? Joey, sweetheart, can you hear me?"

He continues to press on the wounds. You can barely focus, but you recognize Steve's voice. Tears fall from your eyes. "St.. Steve."

"I'm here, sweetheart. You're going to be Ok. I promise." Steve looks up to see Bucky running towards him.

Bucky comes running and slides up next to you. "Joey, I'm here kiddo. We'll get you back to the compound, but I need you to stay with me. Do you hear me, Jo? I need you to stay with me!"

Bucky looks around at the other bodies and then at Steve. "What the hell happened?"

"They came for her, Buck. Hydra came for her just like she said. It was Rumlow, but he got away. How did they get this close?" Steve says, seething with anger.

"I don't know, man, but I already called Nat and Sam. My gut told me this was bad, so they're grabbing the doctor too." He tries to wipe the blood from the side of your mouth.

"Come on, Jo. Hang in there for me, kiddo; I know you're strong enough." Bucky looks up and towards the building. "Where the fuck are they?" Fear rises in his chest as he sees the fabric becoming soaked with your blood.