Control (Avengers Fan Fiction)

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It had been three days since Scarlett spoke with Pietro, three days since she killed Reo Takahashi, and three days since she and the S.T.R.I.K.E. team took down the HYDRA facility in Tokoyo.

"You sure you boys don't want me to tag along?" Scarlett glanced up to Rumlow. He and his team were in her hotel room discussing their next target, Octavian Bloom, while Scarlett patched up a wound she received from the job they'd just done.

"We don't need to worry about dragging your ass out of that mansion." Rumlow shook his head.

"You sure you don't need someone who actually knows what they're doing?" Rollins asked. They had recently paid the Baroness a visit in her Romanian home. The fortress had been well guarded and Scarlett took a bullet to the shoulder during the raid, no thanks to Ryder providing her with half-ass cover.

"I'm fine." She muttered through her teeth. "Make sure you don't get your asses killed."

"Aw, Scarface. You gonna miss us if we die?" Rumlow teased as the team started making their way for the door.

"I'm going to miss not getting the chance to kill you myself."

He rolled his eyes at her.

The door shut behind him with a heavy thud. Scarlett began to clean up her bloody wound when her phone buzzed on the table next to her. It was an unknown number.

"Who is this?" She answered the call.

"We haven't talked in a while, Scarlett. How have you been?"

Scarlett's stomach dropped and she stood to her feet.

The voice was all too familiar. It was Giovanni Warren, Vince's father.

Her eyes flickered around the room as she suddenly fell unsafe.

"How did you get this number?" She kept her voice calm and even as she moved around the room, inspecting every little detail. Nothing was out of place.

"I have my ways."

"What do you want?" She stopped in the center of the room. No one had been in the room while she and the S.T.R.I.K.E. team were assassinating the Baroness so how did he get her number? Did he know where she was? Was he going to send someone to kill her in an act of revenge?"

"First, I want to know why you killed them." Giovanni's voice was low and quiet. He didn't sound angry, but he was always a distant father so perhaps he was good at hiding his emotions.

"Vince was using me." Scarlett sat down on the edge of her bed. "He and Pierce were plotting behind my back."

"And Will?"

"I didn't want to kill him." She admitted. "He was a good man, and an even better agent. But he wanted to hurt someone I care about."

Giovanni was silent for a long time. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat.

"Very well. I suppose if they were worth anything, they'd be able to hold their own against you."

His words surprised Scarlett. He was cold and cut off from his children. His wife, Nicole, was the complete opposite. It surprised Scarlett so much growing up to see how the Warren family interacted. They were odd, even for a HYDRA family. But still, she didn't think he'd be so okay with her having killed his only children.

"Not many can." Scarlett reminded him. "What else do you want?"

"I've kept my silence during your recent outbursts. You know I don't fancy the politics within HYDRA. I've never been one to say or do something just to keep a political interest happy so when you decided to go rogue, as you could imagine, that pissed a lot of Alex's political interests off. He wanted to erase your memories, turn you into something similar to the Winter Soldiers. I didn't want to do that. I believe that a big part of what makes you the perfect agent, the perfect assassin, is your memories. In order to turn you into the Soldier, it would take years and years of work. I've already put my entire life's work into you and I didn't want to ruin you."