Trapped in the Shadows

Chapter 34 - I'm Not Leaving Your Side

I uploaded all of the information I had gotten from the base to a shared drive for all of the Avengers to see and began sifting through the information, ecstatic when I found lists of some of their members as well as locations of a few of their new bases. It was idiotic of them to keep so much information on one easily accessible computer.

The information I had stolen also explained what had happened to Hydra after the fall of Shield and the following raids on their bases. Leadership was handed down to many people, however no one held this position for long. There were a number of high ranking Hydra heads qualified to become the official leader, but many were killed by a man named Mr. Bloom, who had been tricked into doing so by the remaining agents of Shield.

However, another man took the mantle of head of Hydra in order to get revenge on Shield until he, too, was killed. After so many upsets in leadership, Hydra was left essentially destroyed. But once an idea is created, it cannot be taken back. Edgar Lascombe, the owner of a pharmaceutical company and my former boss, used his money and wealth the start slowly rebuilding the organization. He set up a number of secret bases around the globe and began recruiting as well as finding previous members of Hydra who still lived, eventually strengthening into what I had become a part of.

His version of Hydra returned to the idea of creating super soldiers just as in the forties and they began experimenting, creating some truly shocking abnormalities. One of which was the man with the knives sticking out of his skin that Peter and I had faced the first year we patrolled together. Their hope was that if they were to create enough super soldiers, they would be able to finally take down the Avengers as well as Shield. In the midst of their experiments, they had found me and decided that I would be a great candidate for brainwashing due to the powers that I had in addition to the training, which had been by members of the Avengers and meant I knew their styles.

I finally discovered why they didn't have me go after the Avengers in all of my months of assassinations. Tony was an outlier, a death to prove that I was fully committed to Hydra before sending me out on missions. Meanwhile they were building a team, creating a group of super soldiers to help me defeat them. There were supposed to be six of them, each modeled after the powers of one of the Avengers. However only four had made serious progress: Thor, Tony, Steve, and Clint.

"Hey, (Y/N), you've been up here since we got back from the mission and we were getting a little worried," Peter spoke as he entered my lab with a plate of food. "(A/I) told us you were in your lab, so we didn't want to bother you. But we had dinner and I was just stopping by to bring you some."

"Thanks, Peter, I've just been going through these files. I've made a map of new locations that Tony can send reconnaissance bots to as well as compiling a list of members that I have found," I explained as I gratefully took the food, realizing that I had barely eaten anything all day.

Peter wandered through my lab as I ate, looking through the files I had gotten from Hydra. Once I finished, I asked Dum-E if he would be able to take it down to the kitchen so that I could continue looking into Hydra's plans.

"Who are those?" He asked, pointing to the super soldiers that I had brought back into the screen closest to me.

"They're called the Hydra Four, an unfinished project of Hydra that was going to help me take down the Avengers. According to this they have perfected Hammer, Militant, and Bowman, while Tactical Force still needs a bit more work. They were hoping to make more, one based off of Natasha and another off of Bruce, but there aren't any updates to their status on the computer we downloaded the information off of."

"This is insane, so you think that they'll unleash them now that you've been caught and turned?"

"If they haven't yet, they must be waiting for something. Perhaps they want more than three to be finished before putting them in the field? I don't know, but it is a good thing that we got a heads up on them in case they show up during one of our raids. I just wish I had more information. Don't get me wrong, this was more than I was expecting, but there are still so many things I want to know. These super soldiers, they can't be the only projects of Hydra, I just wish I had access to Lascombe's computer."

"So you're going to risk your life again next time we storm a Hydra base so that you can find more? You are aware of the phrase curiosity killed the cat, right?"

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, but satisfaction brought it back so bite me. Besides, you don't have to stay with me next time, I don't want to put you in more danger than is necessary."

"I'm not leaving your side, (Y/N)," he argued taking my hand in his. "Even if it costs me my life."

"I won't let that happen, Pete," I replied, bringing my lips to his.

He waited for me to deepen the kiss, respectfully waiting until I felt ready to continue the relationship that we had had before I was captured. But I wanted him, I wanted to feel that exhilaration and ecstasy that I had been denied of and had forgotten about for the past almost four years now. I entangled one of my hands in Peter's hair and let the other one run down the side of his body until reaching the hem of his shirt.

But as I was about to lift it up, I remembered the scars that now mangled my body. He had not seen me since Hydra, he was not prepared for the horrors that lay beneath my shirt. Reluctantly, I pulled away from the kiss and averted my gaze, "I'm sorry, Peter, I-I just can't."

A flash of disappointment crossed his face but it soon disappeared into a reassuring smile, "hey, don't worry about it, (Y/N). I am happy to wait until you are ready. You've been through hell and back, I don't want to pressure you into anything you don't feel comfortable doing or even just don't want to do."

"You really are the best boyfriend, I feel like I haven't told you that in a while," I replied, wrapping my arms around his neck. "And I wouldn't say no to a light make out session."

"Your wish is my command," he replied, bringing his lips down to mine.

We ended up moving to the bed, wrapped in each other's arms with our lips interlocked. Peter stayed true to his word and did not press me any further, although I wanted to do so. The kissing was wonderful, but I did want more after having been denied for so long.

After a while, we began to cuddle and eventually he fell asleep while holding me close to him. I tried to do the same, but still found it difficult to do so, even in his protective embrace. Closing my eyes I was only met with the faces of the lives I had taken, the innocent targets along with their family, their friends, anyone who got in the way. I lay restlessly for a while, listening to Peter's soft snores and wishing that my sleep could be as peaceful, until I finally fell into a light and restless sleep.

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(A/N): So a lot of this information is from Agents of Shield (which I am embarrassed to say I have really only seen once all the way through, although I have seen some episodes multiple times out of order), so I hope that I got everything right! Also threw in a bit of the comics! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!