Control (Avengers Fan Fiction)

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After the door to her room hissed shut, Scarlett leaned against it for a few heartbeats. It had been a long day, but she felt hopeful about tomorrow. The HYDRA assassin huffed and almost rolled her eyes. Hope was something she didn't believe in but strangely enough, she could feel it.

She crossed the dark room to get to the lamp by her bed. Half way across, she sensed someone behind her. Scarlett spun around to deliver a backwards roundhouse kick to the unknown person's collarbone. Whoever it was ducked the kick but wasn't quick enough to dodge a punch to the nose.

"Jesus Christ, Scarlett!" A familiar voice grunted.

"Vince?" She furrowed her brows together. She turned the lamp by her bed on to find Vince Warren cradling a bloody nose. He was a fairly tall man, standing at around six feet tall. His shoulders were broad and his dark hair was slicked back out of his eyes. He wore a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform that Scarlett knew didn't belong to him. "What the hell are you doing here, Vince?" She took note of the firearm on his left hip and his right thigh.

"Came to rescue you, baby." He tilted his head back for a moment before looking to Scarlett with a grin.

"I don't need to be rescued." She turned away from him. Vince grabbed her arm to stop her. She instantly pushed his hand off of her arm and spun around to point an accusing finger at him. "You don't get to touch me, Vince."

"That's not what you said last time I saw you." He smirked mischievously. She turned away from him. "What the hell's been going on with you, Scarlett? Where've you been for the last two months?"

"I'm tired, Vince. I want to go to sleep." She pulled off her hoodie and tossed it onto the bed.

"So what I've been hearing is true." He shook his head in disbelief. "You've turned soft."

"I don't get soft, Vince." She growled as she turned to face him. Dark blue eyes glared at him.

"You're inside our biggest enemy's base making friends with them, Scarlett!" He whispered loudly as he took steps towards her. Scarlett let out a heavy breath before moving to sit down in the chair in the corner of the room. She crossed her knees and rested one elbow on the arm rest. Her fingers came up to tap her lips. "I heard about Project Recluse."

"Who told you?" Her eyes flickered over to meet his.

"Pierce."

"Did he send you here to try to get me to turn myself in?" Scarlett cocked her head to the side just a little. It was a dangerous gesture, one that she did when she was trying to work someone. She wanted to know his motives.

"No." Vince shook his head. "He tried to get me to come after you when you first left. He wanted me to kill you. I told him he was batshit crazy if he thought I had the skill to do that." He half chuckled, hoping to see her loosen up. The corners of her lips barely turned up. She was amused by the idea of him killing her.

"He wants me dead." She hummed softly. Her eyes left Vince to the door. "He doesn't think I'm valuable to HYDRA anymore."

"He knows you're valuable to HYDRA, Scarlett. But he also knows that you come with a risk. You have knowledge that no one else within HYDRA has. Pierce has trusted you for years and you turn your back on him for what? For parents that never wanted you?"

"I never turned my back on him." Scarlett snapped. She uncrossed her legs and placed both feet firmly on the ground. "He withheld information from me."

"He does that, you know. It's sort of his thing."

"He never kept secrets from me, Vince. That's the point. He always told me everything."