Azara's pov

The lights of a small corner shop come into view and I enter, hearing the ring of the bell on the door.

"Wo bin ich? Es war eine lange Reise," (Where am I? It's been a long journey) I ask the shop keeper.

"Michendorf, südlich von Potsdam," (Michendorf, just south of Potsdam) he replies politely, fiddling with the cash register.

"Wie komme ich nach Zossen?" (How do I get to Zossen?) I ask, browsing the aisle of newspapers.

"Take the main road out to the west and go south at Rangsdorf, there's a bus stop just down the street that'll take you there," he replies in German, now looking up at me.

"Vielen Dank, Ihre Dienste haben HYDRA geholfen," (Thank you, your services have been of help to HYDRA).

"Was? wer ist HYD-" (What? Who's HYD-).

I shoot him square between the eyes, the murmur of the silenced shot and the slump of the man to the floor is all the noise there is before the cover of an otherwise silent night take over once more.

Grabbing the worker's rucksack and emptying it, I fill it with water and food. Taking the bus would be stupidity and I have no clue what the base on the outskirts of Zossen looks like, so I'm going to walk it.

It's only a seven hour journey but I've overstocked because you never know just what it'll be like when you arrive. "Be prepared for a freak storm even when the water is still" as my father used to say.

~~~~~~~

Dropping my bag on the curb corner outside of an abandoned apartment building next to a big sign saying "Willkommen in Zossen" (Welcome to Zossen), I sip at my water.

An old man approaches me with a walking stick, his hunched shadow flickering in the dodgy street lamp light.

"They left these part long ago, or so they say at least," he says in German, "They never left and they never will. There's a man in there who can help you, Shadow," he gestures to a small, dimly lit bar.

"Hail HYDRA," he mutters before walking off. I watch him walk down the lonely street until he disappears around the corner before pulling myself up off the curb and in the direction of the bar.

Walking in cautiously, I'm hit with the overbearing smell of strong alcohol and smoke. Glancing around, it doesn't take me a moment to realise who the man I'm looking for is. Sat in the corner of bar in a spot where he's able to see everyone, turning a little, his HYDRA tattoo is prominently visible on his neck. I slide onto the stool next to him and order a beer.

"Was bringt dich zu diesen Teilen, Soldat?" (What brings you to these parts, soldier?) He continues to stare straight ahead at the numerous bottles lining the shelves.

"The grey base is gone. Sergeant Volstad is dead along with everyone else on the base."

"Wer was es?" (Who was it?) he take a long sip of his drink.

"Die Avengers," (The Avengers) I state.

"Warst du bei ihnen?" (Were you with them?) His voice is calm but accusing.

"Ich war, bis mein Vater mich zur Besinnung brachte," (I was until my father brought me to my senses). A lengthy silence prevails as the bartender slides my drink over the bar-top towards me.

"Du bist wegen der roten Basis hier, nehme ich an?" (You're here for the red base, I suppose?) he taps rhythmically on the counter top.

"Ja, mir wurde gesagt, es sei hier in Zossen," (Yes, I was told it was here in Zossen) he chuckles slightly at my words.

"I spoke to Sergeant Volstad just days ago and he told me about your mission on your return. There is a plane that can take you to America. There you will have to kill the Avengers to prove the loyalty of your return. If not, you will die. Simple," he downs the dregs of his drink and leaves without another word. Standing once I've finished my drink, I head out towards the plane he spoke of. Thanking my judgment to get extra supplies in Michendorf, I take off within half an hour.

~~~~~~

Setting down the plane in an empty field 50 miles inland of New York, I faze into the shadow of the plane I'd set a light to inside, no doubt going to be reduced to a pile of smouldering metal by nightfall.

You maybe thinking: 'why can't she just teleport from Germany to New York?'. You try and travel the distance of the expanse of the Atlantic Ocean in a split second and tell me how difficult it is. Big journeys take too much out of me and I know I need to be well rested for this mission.

~~~~~~

By the time I've taking a stolen motorbike the last few miles to the new Avengers compound night has fallen.

The large feature windows let me easily see the interior of the lounge area which is currently filled with the Avengers.

Slipping into a nearby shadow and out in the shadow of a bookcase, I listen in on their conversation attentively, ready to follow them to their respective rooms and kill them in their sleep: it's clean, effective and non time consuming.

"She just snapped, Tony. The guy said these four words and she went all out kill mode on me!" The exasperated and tired voice of Natasha Romanoff fills the room.

"But if she wanted to kill you she could've! But she didn't. There must be some of the Azara we know still in there!" Tony protests the lack of hope in the redhead's voice.

"Even if some of Azara was left in there, it'll be gone soon. After whatever HYDRA did to her in just four months, there's no telling what they can do in longer."

"Do you want us to give up, Romanoff? Do you want us to move on and forget? Because it's sounding awfully like you don't care and are more that ready abandon her to the hands of those monsters! Every time I see her in pain or fighting, I think of the first time I saw her. She was innocent! She was this innocent, funny, curious girl who seemed genuinely interested in whatever shitshow we put on here! You can give up but I never will!" Tony yells and the whole room falls silent.

The sound of the billionaire's shoes leaving the lounge are muffled my the sharp ringing and splitting headache that suddenly come on. Snapshots and little moments flutter by in such quick succession that I struggle to keep up.

"She saved your life, Natasha. You seem to have forgotten that." Steve Rogers' voice swims through the haze of memories and his footsteps follow Tony's in leaving the room.

I can finally open my eyes after the ringing and excruciating headache pass slightly.

"Natasha, you can't give up. I didn't give up on you and I barely knew you." Clint says before leaving the room.

Slipping in and out of the shadows towards the seating area of the lounge, I silently and invisibly assess the redhead Avenger sat alone in the large room.

"I do care... of course I care, Clint, because she cared..." I can't barely hear her soft and pained voice through her hand which she's buried her face in.

I stand in the shadows as the memories flood back. She hasn't moved an inch and I'm sure it's been a while.

"My entrances need to get more original: from what I can remember, I like to silently watch before magically appearing and scaring the unsuspecting people in the room."

She stands and turns before putting as much distance between us as she could.

"Surprise!" I say sarcastically, my gaze not wavering from the woman in front of me.

"FRI-"

"No, no, no please don't tell FRIDAY to tell Tony. I come in peace," I grin, doing the Spock fingers.

"You're HYDRA... your one of them... I've got to... I've got to..." she can't find the words as she looks me dead in the eye, desperately assessing every little move I make.

"Kill me?" I offer.

She doesn't answer; instead she looks down at the floor.

"I'm not sure what I am but I'm not going to hurt you, Natasha, not by free will at least. I'm sorry for what happened in Germany, I really am, but... I don't know. I'm a danger to everyone if all it takes is four words and I'm out to kill you."

It's my turn to look down at the floor, not daring to meet the assassin's eyes if she looks up, which she does.

"You tried to kill me, but you saved my life before that. What changed?"

"Nothing..." My voice is nearly a whisper as I can't find the words to phrase a better answer.

I look up to see her shocked expression at just how blunt I was.

"So... you still want to kill me." She asks warily.

"No, as I said, I'd never even think of doing that while I'm Azara but when I'm the Schatten Soldat (Shadow Soldier)... yes." I sigh, knowing my answers probably weren't making her any more comfortable.

"What did they do to you?" To my complete surprise, there's a great deal of concern in her voice.

"HYDRA? I... I don't want to remember, I don't want to think about it, I don't want to remember, I don't want to..." my breathing is heavy as the torturous memories fight to resurface.

"Hey, hey, hey, no you don't need to tell me; just breath in... out... in... out..." she rushes over to me, her apparent initial fear gone completely as she puts her hands on my knees which are now curled up into my chest as I ended up sliding down the wall and formed a little defensive ball onto the floor.

I let out ragged breaths, pushing the memories away more forcefully for the redhead's benefit and not mine: I don't know what would happen if the resurfaced and I don't want to face the loss of what little trust that they all have in me now.

"W-why do you care?" My voice is a broken whisper in the dimly lit room.

"Because you cared. You cared about me." Her eyes meet mine and I can she she fighting whatever emotion that want appear.

"How? I mean I-"

"You saved me." She cuts in with slight annoyance at my weak attempt to skirt around the touchy subject, both of us remembering what happened when I came back the last time.

"From that bullet? It wasn't meant for you, it was meant for someone who wasn't with Ultron. Not just for you." I struggle to argue but her expression tells me she won't back down.

"You saved me. But, more than that, you saved me when no one else would. Sure, Clint may have tried to push me out of the way, Steve may have blocked it with his shield or Tony may have stepped in front of it in his suit. But you? You knew that you couldn't stop it with some fancy tech and you'd be hit, but you did it anyway. No one has ever even attempted to do that for me before." He voice is small and volatile. Her eyes portray more emotion than I've ever seen her show before.

"And I'd do it again," I meet her eyes with a small smile but she frowns slightly at my comment.

"Never pull that again." She says with a stern voice which makes my weak smile a little bigger.

"I have so much red and death on my ledger I had to do something right; I was just lucky enough to survive it." I admit.

"You have no idea how much red I have on my ledger. And I thought you were gone and I thought I'd let another innocent die at my negligence and therefore my hand-"

"No. Don't say that. I chose to. I chose to take that bullet and you never told me to. People die, Natasha, that's the way of life." A contemplative silence falls between us.

"Where were you? For two months, where were you?" Her voice is as quiet as a mouse.

"Time works differently down below. But you know that, because FRIDAY broadcasted my explanation in the lounge to you." I say softly.

"I'm sorry, and I'm never sorry about anything." She whispers.

"I tried to kill you, it should be me who's apologising," I smile weakly.

"What now? Tony, if we let him, would throw a party every night when he hears you're... ok."

"I wasn't lying when I said I'm a danger to everyone here. HYDRA have a god-like power over me that I can't control: those four word and I'm their mass-murdering, super-soldier, demi-god puppet. I have to go, I need t-"

"No." My rambling explanation is cut short by the redhead's definitive but slightly wavering voice.

"Uh... no?" I question.

"You're not leaving, not again." She shakes her head and rest her forehead on my knees.

"Two months I thought you were dead and when you came back I pushed you away and when y-you... yeah, I thought it was my fault and I thought you were gone again." As she whispers, I feel small spots of wet touch my knees at a quiet sob shakes through her.

I pull her around and into my chest. She clung to me like I was going to disappear (which wasn't a mad assumption due to my rather nifty ability to do exactly that). In a matter of minutes, her grip loosens ever so slightly and her breathing evens out.

"I'm not leaving, not again. Never again, I promise on the stars above and the ground beneath our feet, never again." I whisper into her ear softly, fazing into the shadows with her and reappearing in her room.

Setting her down on her bed and putting her under the covers, I go back downstairs and lie down on the comfiest looking sofa.

"Night, FRIDAY."

"Goodnight, Azara, it good to have you back." She whispers.

I smile lightly and drift off into the most peaceful sleep I'd had in a long time.

Hiya guys! Hope you're all having a good day! HYDRA may (*wink wink* will) make a reappearance in some form later just an FYI.

Just like for the other languages I've used, I Google translated all the German so sorry about all of the errors that I'm sure are there.

It's my birthday in a few days and I go back to school next week from lockdown (us UK peeps are apparently spreading COVID around the zero people I've seen in the past month so a big fuck you Bojo) so updates will be getting slower, so sorry about that.

Thanks again,

Much love, Shrimpward xx