The next two days were spent packing things and then buying things when Tony realized I didn't have many things to call my own. We mostly did online shopping since he would draw too much attention and I was wanted by the highest governments around. Outside wasn't an option.

So I had my stuff all packed up and was just waiting on a few online things to come in when I heard an excited voice chattering away from down the hall. I was currently sitting on a couch in the living room. And the voice was coming towards me.

I turned towards the source and saw a teenager trailing behind Tony as he talked animatedly. "I just- Mr. Stark this is a huge honor especially because, you know, after the whole Germany thing, I was real worried I was never gonna hear from you again so this is absolutely incredible thank you Mr. Stark!"

Tony, unlike his little friend, looked drained. I chuckled lightly then decided to see what was going on. "Hey, who's this?" I asked. Tony looked at me with tired eyes while the teenager looked shocked at my presence with his energetic eyes.

"You... you're... that's..." the kid mumbled, pointing at me and looking between me and Tony.

Tony moved on and waved me off. "Yeah yeah, kid meet Rey, Rey meet kid." I got off the couch and walked toward the pair, and then Tony walked toward this kitchen mumbling something about needing a few cups of coffee.

"My- my name is, uh, Peter Parker," the kid said. He reached his hand out and I carefully accepted and shook it.

I smiled lightly. "Nice to meet you, Peter. What are you doing here?" I asked him, taking my hand back and crossing my arms over my chest.

His face went red and he looked around wildly between me and Tony, trying to decide on his story. "Well, uh, well you know, I'm, uh, part of this S-Stark internship thing with Mr. Stark and he's, uh, just... showing me around and stuff," he managed to spit out. Something about his voice was really familiar, and it took me a second to figure it out.

When it clicked, I made sure not to say anything out loud or react too suddenly. He very obviously lied and I wanted to see how he'd react if I caught him.

"So, how are you after Germany?" I asked suddenly.

In a stuttering mess, Peter came up with something like 'I have no idea what you're talking about, I've never left New York.' Of course I knew this was wrong, and glanced at Tony who was chugging a coffee and watching with interest.

So, as nonchalantly as I could, being one of the best ex-Hydra assassins with some of the best sneaking skills, I walked back over to the couch and grabbed the TV remote. Not even a second later, I lobbed it in the direction of his head.

Normal people would have maybe seen it last second and gotten smacked in the face anyway, but he caught it right in front of his face and stared at me with scared wide eyes.

I smirked and recrossed my arms. "So, I'm going to ask again, how are you after Germany?"

Peter looked at Tony. "She's good," he said with a sigh and nodded his head.

Tony just shrugged. "Yeah, she is," he said to Peter. Then, he looked over at me. "Now next time you figure something out, don't throw things to prove a point." He had a small scowl on his face and then turned to grab another cup of coffee.

I laughed. "Oh come on, I knew he'd catch it," I said, then shook my head. Peter was looking at me in awe, which made me feel weird, so I just gave him a small smile and wave. Now I felt more than awkward around him. Sure he had great reflexes and such, but I still worried about hurting the kid.

"I'm going to go hang out in my old room for a bit," I said and walked away without listening for a response from either of them.

When I got to the old room, I glanced around and just worked on making sure everything was packed up. I checked every drawer (again), checked under furniture (again), and checked the closet (again).

Tony was going to bring me up to the upstate facility later today, so right now was just a waiting game. It was a game I seriously didn't enjoy. There was too much stress that came with waiting for something to happen. It was best to simply get it out of the way and for me to just go up there and start with this new chapter in my life.

I couldn't do much to pass the time other than continuing to check every single crevice in my room (again), go out and try to socialize (hell no), watch TV (after a full week of doing nothing but lounge in a bed and watch TV), or workout.

Working out didn't seem like too bad of an option at the moment. Since I got out of the med bay, all I've been wearing is workout clothes, so I didn't even need to worry about digging through my box of clothes to find something.

My journey down to the gym floor was uneventful to my relief. The Peter kid and Tony must've gone to the lab floors to check those out, so I didn't run into anyone on my way.

For three hours I just worked. I punched the bags and lifted the bars trying to work on my human arm. For another two I did leg exercises and stamina training. My body was shaking and I felt like dry heaving but it was a good workout. And for the last hour I just continued weight lifting. It certainly passed the time well enough.

My thoughts had run rampant while I exercised. Peter Parker was the first thing that I spent actual time thinking about. This kid was interesting. He was entirely too enthusiastic, but maybe that's just because he hadn't seen the horrors the world held, yet. It was somewhat sad to think about how one day that innocence would be going away.

After I got myself off that track, I delved into thoughts on my abilities. Strange didn't know how to help me, and he was my one shot. Now I had to try and figure out how to find the unconventional doctors who dealt with chakras and the inner spirit. God knows how I was going to find someone like that.

My mind then drifted off to what my life could have been. Who would I be if I was never touched by Hydra? If I had never seen the tortures I went through? I didn't even know how I got into their possession, if I was taken by force or given.

Who was I before I became this monster?

"You doing okay?" The question caught me off guard and my head snapped up to see Tony at the gym entrance, standing with his arms crossed and concern on his face.

I nodded. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I asked, trying to shrug off the conversation. The other day when I broke down in the hallway was hard enough on my pride- I didn't need any more heart-to-hearts.

Tony nodded towards something and started walking towards me. "Well, do you not see what you've done to the poor bar," he said.

My eyebrows furrowed and I looked down to see my metal hand crushing the bar of a weight. I let out an 'oh' and then dropped it.

With a sigh, I sat on a nearby weightlifting bench and put my head in my hands. There was a small noise and Tony sat down next to me. "You okay, kid? You've had a rough couple week and maybe this huge move was a bit too sudden..."

I shook my head and lifted it out of my hands to look at Tony. "No, it's not the move. If anything that's a chance for me to start again... no, there's just..." I sighed and shook my head again, struggling on how to continue.

A hand was placed on my shoulder and Tony gave me a smile. "Come on, you can talk to me," he said in a quiet voice. "It can't be awkward anymore, can it?"

I took another deep breath and nodded my head this time. "I sought out Doctor Stephen Strange after I got hurt and went to the hospital. Through some research on a stolen laptop, I found him to be one of the greatest surgeons in the world. I thought maybe- just maybe- I could get him... get him to remove my abilities and the soldier within me.

"It ended up being just some silly dream, because he had no idea what to do. I mean, who would? Hydra barely knew what they were doing up there how could anyone else have a grasp on it?" I sighed before continuing on. "We didn't have to much time to really chat anyways since they called the FBI on me and I had to run. But I just... I really hoped that would be some sort of breakthrough for me. The whole reason I'm wanted by nearly every government around the world is because of those things. I thought that if I could get rid of them I could be free. I was wrong, because I can never be rid of them."

Tony rubbed my shoulder as I spoke, and had listened intently. When I didn't continue, he put his arm around me and brought me into a side hug. "Any tears?" he asked with some humor.

I chuckled. "Nope, no more tears. I've lost enough dignity as is."

He laughed and squeezed me in the side hug. We sat there for a couple seconds in silence. It broke when Tony sighed and lightly shook me in the continuous side huge. "Look kid, I know I can't help you in that department very much, and I really wish I could, but..." he trailed off and sighed again.

I didn't speak, waiting for him to continue. "You don't have to like that part of you, but it's just that- a part of you. At some point you will learn to accept it and learn to let it teach you, not define you. As for the whole thing about being the most wanted woman in the world, well, that I can help with. It'll take time, but I can make calls."

The offer was one that I appreciated greatly. Tony and I definitely started off on the wrong foot, and I was happy to see him not holding that against me. It might help that I didn't hold it against myself too much either.

"Thank you, Tony. For everything."

~~

By the time the sun was down, I was standing in front of the Avengers facility upstate, my new home. Tony stood beside me. We each held a box of what we called my essentials, including some clothes and toiletries.

"Your room should be all ready for you to move in to, so let's do this," Tony said. He walked in and led me to my new room.

It was a bit of a walk to an elevator and then down a hallway. I was a bit worried at first, being on the end, but when the door opened and revealed my new room, I was in awe.

For starters, it was huge. There wasn't anything other than a bed in there at the moment, adding to the large feel of the room. I looked around and noticed there were three doors. Two of them were similar to the door into my room but the third door was glass.

Tony smiled as he watched me set my box down and hurry over to that third door. I opened it and stepped outside to see it was a corner balcony. The noise of frogs and cicadas filled my ears and I smiled.

"It's so peaceful," I said, and turned around to face Tony. He had set his box down next to mine and was coming over. Joining me on the balcony, we stood and looked over the grounds below and the forest beyond.

"I'm glad you like it. Figured you might like this room the most," he said with a shrug.

After a few more minutes of silence and enjoying the outside air, Tony told me about how the furniture would be coming in tomorrow and I could layout my room however I wanted. He left and I went to bed soon after.

A/n: so I'm really bad at this posting schedule so far, but I'm trying here. I'm also trying to tell myself that once I get more of this book posted, I'll start getting more readers. That's what I'm trying to do, at least.