Silver and Grey

Elizabeth

     I twisted my hair up into a sloppy bun and then pulled the hood of my new sweater over it to hide the silver highlights in my hair. The contacts I was wearing had changed my eyes to a light blue similar to the color they used to be before I was changed, but not quite the same. Henry was wearing a black cap with the brim pulled down low over his eyes. On the front was the Romanian flag with Romania written underneath it in Romanian. He did not wear contacts because his grey eyes were not as unusual as my bright silver ones.

We were just leaving a small diner where we had breakfast when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a pair of men following us. Both had guns carefully concealed in the waistband of their pants like me and Henry and they were trying a little too hard to act discreet. "We are being tailed." I whispered to Henry. Two more men appeared ahead of us and were moving in our direction. "Split up. We'll have to meet up again at the meeting place when it's time."

"Now," We took off in opposite directions and the GECS men split up and chased after us. I dodged and weaved through people, but the two guys chasing me were less graceful. They shoved people aside as they charged past.

I was starting to outrun them when one of the guys went in a different direction and then took a short cut to cut me off. I didn't know until he was rounding the corner just as I was turning into it and we collided. My gun skittered across the ground away from me as we struggled. Somewhere in the fight, I managed a quick jab to his throat and he fell back coughing and gasping for air, unable to breathe. He recovered as I picked up my gun and he lunged.

Bang!

Blood spread from his chest and he collapsed glassy eyed. As the adrenaline wore off I realized I was shaking and excruciating pain was shooting through my side. I could feel blood soaking though my shirt. "Oh no," I gasped, realizing my wound had reopened.

The second man finally caught up. It was John and he stared at me and the dead GECS agent with wide, disbelieving eyes. He took a step towards me and I pressed my gun to my head. "You don't want to do that Elizabeth." he said while putting up his hands slowly as if to calm a skittish animal.

"Don't I? I am dying anyway so I don't see what difference it would make."

"You don't want to die. Besides, Henry is waiting for you somewhere. And what about your brother? He is waiting for you to return home."

Fury bubbled up inside of me. How dare he? "You are going to take me back to the GECS or I am going to die. Those are my only two options and either way I won't get to see them again."

"You have a third option." John said almost guiltily, looking at the ground ashamedly. "I can help you and then let you go."

"What?" I couldn't have heard him right.

"Just this once though. If I catch you again I am taking you in, understand?" I was too stunned to protest as he crept closer and pulled a pack off his back. Carefully, he dressed my wound and then helped me to my feet.

"Thank you," I was suspicious as I walked away, but he did not follow me just as he said and no other agents were around. I walked all the way to the castle. It took me a while, but I made it in time.

Karolyi Castle was more of a large white mansion than an actual castle with sprawling grounds and gardens and tourists gazing around them in wonder as they walked the neat paths. It was very busy at this time of day which made it a great meeting spot. The GECS would not attack in such a populated place. After a few minutes I spotted two men hanging out by a tall lamp post and recognized one of them as Henry.

"Are you okay?" Henry asked as I stumbled up to them. "You look very pale." He hissed and grabbed my arm as he caught John's scent. "Did he hurt you?"

"No, actually he did the opposite." I lifted up my sweater to reveal the bloodstain on my shirt. "I fought with one of them and it reopened. But he dressed it for me."

That did not help. He only got angrier. "Are you crazy? First of all, I can't believe you let him near you. Second, the only reason he let you go was so you could lead him back here!"

"I wasn't followed, okay?" I snapped back. I could understand why he was upset, but he was getting a little too worked up. "I'm not stupid. And I needed his help. What else was I going to do? John's a good guy. His loyalty is just misguided."

Henry scoffed. "A good guy..."

The Hungarian agent coughed, interrupting Henry. "Agent Barton, Agent Samson, if you don't want those GECS agents finding you again then I suggest we get going now."

I turned coldly away from Henry. "Right, of course. Thank you for taking the trouble to come out here for us Agent..."

"Konrád Andros,"

"I hear things have been rough lately."

"It is true. I have lost many comrades in the Hydra invasion. But I have been able to find a good situation for myself and still will fight for S.H.I.E.L.D. and lend a helping hand to fellow agents in need. Besides, I owe Clint."

"Have you heard from him lately?"

"Not a word. But I wouldn't worry. He is probably trying to keep off the radar. He will be a huge target for Hydra you know. Him and Director Fury, Agent Hill, Agent Romanoff and who knows who else. You two might be as well."

Agent Andros led us to his car. I winced as I climbed into the back. Henry got in next to me. "At the border they will be checking passports. I haven't got passports or other documents ready for you yet, but they should be all set by the time we get back to my place. For now I am going to have to ask you to transform when we get close."

Fifteen minutes of the drive was spent in tense silence. I was ignoring Henry. Eventually he tried to break the silence. "Listen, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you." He waited for me to reply, but I didn't. "Come on Lizzy. Please don't stay mad at me."

"Calling me Lizzy like you used to isn't going to help."

"What will?" He sighed heavily when I remained stubbornly immovable. "We never should have split up. I could have taken all four of them."

"It was too risky. It was better to separate them and keep them moving than give them a chance to call backup and catch us for sure."

"I wasn't mad at you. I was upset with myself and I took it out on you. I'm sorry."

I looked up at him and frowned. "What blame could you possible take from what happened?"

"Back at the facility, I took on the responsibility of taking care of you and looking out for you. I guess nothing has changed. If something had happened to you I never would have forgiven myself."

"None of it would have been your fault."

"I know, but I just got you back and if I lost you to them again..."

"But you didn't." I said with a yawn as the night on the run caught up with me. I rested my head against his shoulder and fell asleep.