Fated Marks

Third Person’s POV-

“It’s been an entire day since the initial deadline Adler gave Hayley…” Tony started. “And we still have no idea where she is.”

“Facial recognition software hasn’t picked anything up.” Bruce said.

“We still don’t have any leads on the mole.” Natasha said.

“Guys it might be time we start considering that it’s too late.” Steve said.

“No.” Clint said.

“Clint.” Natasha said.

“No, Hayley is not… she’s not dead. We would have felt if she did.” Clint said.

“Then it’s just a matter of time.” Steve said.

“I just don’t get it. She found Natasha and we got her out. The warehouse was completely abandoned but she showed up there hours before she was supposed to meet up with Adler. How’d she even know you were in Buffalo?” Bruce said.

“Why’d Adler let her see you before turning herself in?” Tony asked.

“I don’t know.” Natasha said. “I actually haven’t seen Adler since he called Hayley.”

“Did she say anything?” Thor asked.

“Not really. Nothing that can help us find her.” Natasha said.

“How much time is left on the black box?” Bruce asked.

“About another eight hours.” Tony said.

Hayley’s POV-

Allison Marie Adler

August 9, 1956 – July 26, 2008

“Hi Mom.” I said. “It’s been a while.”

“I thought it was fitting, that we end this where it all began.” Hadrian said.

“Life is one giant circle.” I said remembering what mom used to say.

“On a big round blue ball moving in circles.” Hadrian finished. “Oh look your spot’s been taken.”

I looked over to what see what he was talking about. The empty grave he had kicked he into almost six years ago was now filled and someone else’s final resting place.

“Well it’s not I stayed in it.” I said.

“Eh, I think I’m just going to throw you over the cliff over there this time. Burial by sea.” Hadrian said looking over to the trees where said cliff was.

“At least it’ll have a nice view.” I said. “Seeing as this is all about closure, I just need to know one thing. Why do you hate me so much?”

“My dad died when I was four and it was just me and mom. We were all each other had and it was perfect. She worked and I covered for her. I took care of her when she came home drunk. Got rid of any troublesome exs, sabatoged some brakes, you know what I always did. And then he came along.” Hadrian said.

“You’re pissed because mom had another one night stand in a very long series of one night stands?” I asked.

“No I’m pissed because she goes away for one damn weekend in Missouri alone where she met a man from the sky and she comes back with you! And you you worthless pathetic bitch did nothing but go against us and you were still her favorite!” Hadrian shouted.

“And that’s my fault? I didn’t ask to be born Hadrian!” I screamed.

“But you were!” Hadrian screamed.

“How did I ask for this? To be born to a trainwreck, self centered, overbearing mother and an insane, psychopath asshole of an older brother. No one in their right mind would ask for this!” I yelled.

“You were a parasite from the second we knew you existed. I begged her to let them take you out with the tumor but she said no. You did nothing but argue and go against everything we worked for just because of some stupid morality about doing the right thing.” Hadrian said.

“I’m sorry I don’t have mommy issues and I actually have a fucking conscience.” I said sarcastically. “That I actually have a sense of right and wrong and that I actually care about other people besides myself.”

“Oh please you’re no better than I am. You have just as much blood on your hands as I do. And you manipulate those around you just the way mom used to. When push comes to shove and those self preservation instincts kick in you don’t care who gets caught in the cross fire so long as you come out on your feet. Speaking of how are Marcel and Rebekah doing?” he said hitting a nerve.

“At least my soulmates didn’t go to extreme measures to get away from me.” I retorted and he snapped. He slapped me almost knocking me down.

“I’m done with this fucking stupid game. Get on your knees.” Hadrian said.

“Really?” I said.

“Did I fucking stutter?” Hadrian yelled before grabbing my arm and pushing me down.

“Ow ah.” I said falling on my knees.

“Any last words?” Hadrian said.

“Go for it.” I said before closing my eyes. I heard him take his gun out before slowly taking off the safety.

“You had a good run Calliope.” He said before I heard a gunshot.

I felt nothing when I opened my eyes Hadrian fell on his knees as he clutched his side. One my one the rest of the guys from the van came over and aimed their guns at him. I got up and brushed the dry grass off of me.

“What the fuck?!” Hadrian growled.

“What was that saying Javi used say all the time?” I said. “Big fucks small. I couldn’t never beat you on my own so I found someone bigger who could.”

“You bitch.” Hadrian growled trying to lunge for me Just as Rumlow grabbed him stopping him.

“That’s enough. Chain him up and load him in the van. The boss wants to have a few words with him before we take him out.” Rumlow said.

“You? You’re working with her?” Hadrian said.

“Means to an end. She’s a lot easier to work with.” Rumlow said.

“Romanoff’s as good as dead.” Hadrian spat out.

“Mh, yeah we let her go.” Rumlow said. “We had orders not to go near them. The boss wasn’t happy to hear you went of book but he’ll tell you all about that. Take him away.”

“Uh! I’m going to fucking kill you!” Hadrian shouted. “You fucking bitch!”

“Put a muzzle on him while you’re at it!” Rumlow called out.

“Cut it a bit close there don’t you think?” I said.

“We needed him distracted. If he saw it coming we wouldn’t have gotten him.” He said. “Pierce just wants to talk to him about the missing funds see if he can get them back after that he’s dead.”

“Good.” I said. “My last request?”

“About that…” he started.

“You know I still have bunch of files I can send with the click of a button.” I reminded him.

“We know. My boss wanted me to extend an offer to you. He thinks you’d make a great asset to our cause.” Rumlow said.

“He’s offering me a job?” I said not knowing whether he was serious or joking about this.

“He is.” He said.

“Rumlow, I’d rather have you stick rusty nails under each of my toenails while listening you sing off key again than work for Hydra.” I said.

“I thought you’d say that.” He said with a smirk. “He’ll be here in five minutes.”

“Okay. I’m going to go enjoy the view while I still can.” I said walking over to the cliff Hadrian was planning on throwing me from.

I could see a lighthouse in the distance and a beach in the distance. The sound of crashing waves was oddly relaxing and added to the peaceful ambiance. It almost made me forget for an instant what was coming next. It wasn’t until I felt like I was being watched that I turned around and saw him standing there.

The Winter Soldier…Bucky was standing a few feet away from me. He stood there watching each of my movements with sharp steel blue eyes. He looked ready to attack at a moments notice. His metal arm shined as the sunlight bounced off of it, the red star standing out against the silver metal plates. He wasn’t wearing a mask so I could see how emotionless he was.

“Hi.” I said but he didn’t say anything or reacted. “You don’t know who I am but I know who you are and I don’t mean what they made you be. You’ve been through a lot, more than anyone should ever have to go through. I’m really sorry that this happened to you and I’m also sorry you got dragged into my mess but I promise you it’s going to be over really soon. There’s someone out there who’s loved you for a really long time and he’s going to get you back. Take care of him for me, someone has to keep that punk out of trouble.”

I took a step forward and put a hand on his cheek. He flinched but didn’t move back.

“I’m glad I got to meet you, Bucky.” I said before he quickly grabbed me by my neck with his flesh hand and lifted me up. I put my hands on his arm trying to get him to loosen his grip but he just kept walking to the ledge.

“I-It’s okay.” I said as he took out his gun out. I quickly jabbed the syringe into his arm.

“Ah!!” he cried out angrily before a loud gunshot rang out. I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I pressed on it and sure enough I was bleeding. He tightened his grip on my neck before he let go and I fell into the ice-cold water.

Your journey is almost at its end. You’ve made many sacrifices but your life will be the last one. Life is one big circle. Your circle ends where it began. The red star will push you over the edge. Cut off one head two more shall take its place.

Guess fortune tellers aren’t all talk.

I always knew Hadrian would be the reason I ended up dead but it doesn’t bother me now as much as it did then. I died so that both of my soulmates could live and I couldn’t imagine a better reason to die. With that last thought, I smiled as everything went dark.

It was all going to be okay.

Third Person’s POV-

“You all have to face facts that your soulmate is the mole. There is no other explanation.” Fury said.

“Hayley is not a traitor.” Thor said.

“If she was the mole why did she save me?” Natasha said.

“Wouldn’t be the first time a spy defies orders. You and Barton know what that’s like.” Fury retorted.

“Adler’s been trying to kill her for over a year. The winter soldier went after her. That doesn’t make any sense if she was the mole.” Tony said.

“A lot of things don’t make sense. Why the council suddenly decided to rush some of our special products at the worst possible timing also doesn’t make sense, but it is what it is. We all have jobs now go do yours. Find, Hayley Adams and bring her in for questioning or I will.” Fury said before ending the video call.

“We’re not going to stop looking for Hayley.” Steve said. “But we’re not going to arrest her.”

“She does owe us answers though.” Clint said.

“Damn right she does.” Tony said.

“Where do we… ah!” Natasha cried out curling into herself as she slowly fell to the ground.

“Nat?” Clint started before he felt it too. “Ah!!”

“Ah!” Steve cried out. “Can’t breathe.”

“W-what is this…” Thor winced as he started falling.

“J-jarvis.” Tony choked out.

“AH!!!!” Bruce said falling on his knees. “Mh… not now.”

“There is nothing physically wrong with you or any of you sir.” Jarvis answered. “I believe it might be a mirroring symptom.”

Just as it started it disappeared.

“Hayley.” Natasha said.

“Something’s wrong.” Steve said. “I feel cold. It’s just like when I crashed the plane and I froze.”

“Sir.” Jarvis said.

“Jarvis unless Fury has news about Hayley, send him to voicemail.” Tony snapped.

“Actually sir, I believe you should know that the time lock on the black box Miss Adam’s programmed has run out.” Jarvis said.

“Bring it up.” Tony said running to his computer.

“What’s on it?” Steve asked.

“Give me a minute Capsicle, It’s coming up right now.” Tony said as the files were brought up. “Huh, that’s weird.”

“What is it?” Bruce asked.

“It’s a video message from two days ago.” Tony said bringing it up on the TV.

The screen was black before and the lab appeared and Hayley sat down in front of the camera.

“Hey guys, Right now you’re busy in DC trying to get a lead on the mole and you’re not getting anywhere with that. By the time you get back or well when you finally get to see this you’re going to be pissed at me because I decided to go of on my own.” Hayley started.

“No shit.” Tony said.

“Sh.” Steve shushed him.

“That wasn’t getting us anywhere and I focused on trying to hack this stupid phone. I thought it was unhackable until Tony me the brilliant idea of over loading the system and forcing a reboot. Tony you’re a freaking genius. I managed to get in to the system before the firewall was back up and I was not expecting it. I always thought that Hadrian’s vendetta was the only thing we had to worry about but turns out he was just the tip of the iceberg. When I finally got through the firewall there was this AI that as it turns out wasn’t an AI but the stored consciousness of Arnim Zola.” Hayley said.

“That’s not possible.” Steve said. “Zola’s dead.”

“SH!” Tony shushed him.

“I had my doubts but with how the information was processed and the way the firewall managed to defend itself so well from anything trying to go through it, it makes sense. Once I got through the files I found records of how they went about doing it. Pretty genius if you know, he wasn’t an insane Nazi. I had Jarvis record the entire conversation which is on another video file you can look up later. The cliff notes of that conversation, we’re going to start with Shield is not safe. It’s compromised and I don’t mean by one mole, I mean the entire organization since the day it was founded was compromised. When Zola was recruited he used Shield to rebuild Hydra from the inside. I’m not sure exactly who’s a Hydra agent and who’s on our side, I didn’t really get a chance to go through everything but it goes up pretty high, Starting with Alexander Pierce. He’s the head of Hydra. I’m not sure if Fury and Hill are in on it but if they aren’t they don’t have a clue. I couldn’t risk telling you all while you were at the Triskelion because I didn’t want you to go in blind and unprepared. There have been people who discovered this before me who tried to do something and they were taken out. We’re talking presidents, foreign dignitaries and… I’m sorry Tony but your parents too.”

“No, no they died in a car accident. There was an investigation. Open and closed case, it can’t…” He started.

“They’ve cause wars and so much political turmoil over the years to help their cause and they’ve almost accomplished it. They’re planning something big. It’s called Project Insight. It’s some sort of flying ship with modified engines kind of looks like…”

“The flight stabilizers on the suits.” Tony said at the same time the video did before groaning.

“Tony?” Natasha asked.

“After New York I might have given Fury some suggestions to improve the Helicarrier’s engines after I got a close look at them. It implements arc technology to power fight stabilizers big enough for a Helicarrier.” Tony said.

“The engines aren’t the problem, the problem are the giant guns and the targeting system that can identify targets around the world by their genetic markers. There won’t be a place to hide where those things can’t find you. Hydra plans to use some algorithm to identify and target anyone that is or can one day be a threat to them. It’s also in one of the files. I thought it was just one ship but as it turns out it’s actually three or there will be three of them. They’re still a few months away from launching them and at the moment only one of them can fly. So there’s still time to take them out.”

“I left because after I found all of this I realized that you all have bigger things to worry about than Hadrian. He has Nat and if everything went according to plan she’s probably watching this with you guys. I’m sorry I broke my promise and went off on my own and that I ruined everything but I did this because Hadrian didn’t just have one of my soulmates hostage he had two of them.”

“What is she talking about?” Clint said confused.

“I found out who the Winter Soldier really is. Turns out the Russian sector of Hydra found him in the bottom of a ravine in the Alps back in 1945.”

“No, that’s not possible.” Steve said.

“Who is she talking about?” Thor asked.

“Steve I know you didn’t ‘cry’” Hayley said using finger quotations “at the end of Saving Private Ryan but you are definitely going to cry at the end of Saving Sergeant Barnes. Bucky’s alive and he’s been Hydra’s prisoner for the past seventy years. There’s some files here about what they did to him but I don’t want you to watch them just know it’s bad and he’s held out longer and has been through more than anyone should have to go through. They’ve erased his memories, brainwashed him and forced him to do a lot of things for them and he’s going to need you.

I recognized one of the agents that went on your last mission as one of the guys that helped Hadrian kidnap me in London. Brock Rumlow. He’s really greedy and wants Hadrian out of the way to climb Hydra’s ranks. I forged some files and bank statements to make it look like Hadrian had embezzled money from hydra’s bank accounts. It doesn’t matter what business you’re in people really don’t like losing money.

The first I’m asking for is to see Nat before going to Chicago to meet Hadrian. I hope you got the message I left you in the elevator and if you didn’t Tony start tracking my bracelet, it’ll lead you right to her.

I’m going to have to turn myself over to Hadrian for the rest of the plan to work. There’s this Diner in Chicago, Mike’s. That’s where I’m meeting him. From there I really hope Hydra keeps their end of the bargain because the second thing I’m asking for is for them to take out Hadrian before he takes me out.

And lastly, I asked to pick my own executioner.”

“What!!???” they all shouted.

“Please tell me she didn’t just say what I think she said.” Tony said.

“Executioner here is the same as on Asgard right?” Thor said hoping the answer was no.

“Why would she do that?” Clint shouted.

“Hadrian doesn’t leave loose ends and neither does Hydra but that’s not why I’m doing it.” Hayley said reaching for something off screen. She lifted it up to reveal a syringe Tony immediately recognized.

“Tony you should recognize this. It’s the nanobots we’ve been working on for the past couple of days. I still haven’t fixed the glitch but I did tweak them a little so now they’re all microscopic transmitters that can be tracked if you have the right frequency, which Jarvis does. I want to get close to Bucky and if it goes the way I want it to by the time you’re watching this he probably has a couple thousand nanobots running through his bloodstream. Please find him and bring him home.

And as for me… well The Winter Soldier never fails a mission and he won’t fail this one. I never expected to come out of this alive and I’m really sorry I put you all through this. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. Some that I would do anything to be able to take back and others that I stand by. This is one of them. I always knew that Hadrian would be the one to end me and if we’re being honest I deserve whatever’s coming to me. I am partly to blame for what he’s done. As long as Nat and Bucky make it out of this I’m okay with it.

Nothing I can say will ever be enough to make up for what I’m putting you all through right now but I need to say this while I still can. Meeting you all was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You all gave me a home and family and the courage to do what I spent my entire life being afraid to do. If I had to do it all over again, go through the worst years of my life, I’d do in a heartbeat so long as I got to be with you all again. I love you guys. Thank you for the best year of my life.”

With that the message ended and the rest of the Hydra files came up but no one bothered to look through them.

Natasha stood there silently as tears started falling down her face. Steve’s eye’s got watery and he struggled to hold them back. Thor walked towards the wall and punched a fist-sized hole into the wall in anger. Clint walked out of the room without another word. Bruce took in some deep breaths and tried to stay calm as her tried to hold the other guy back. He also wasn’t doing any better. Tony just sat there staring at the computer screen. His parents didn’t die in an accident someone had them killed. The same people who now killed his soulmate.

“W-what are we supposed to do?” Natasha asked.

No one said anything.

“We take the bastards down, and we burn Shield and Hydra to the ground.” Steve said. “Hayley didn’t sacrifice herself for nothing. We have something they don’t, they don’t know we’re coming for them.”

“And the winter… Bucky?” Bruce asked.

“We’re going to need all the help we can get.” Natasha said.

“Where do we start?” Thor asked.

“We bring the terminator back to our side.” Tony said. “Jarvis, track down the nanobots.”

“Tony I’m…” Steve started.

“Don’t.” He said. “We’ll get him back because he has intel and it’s what Hayley wanted. He’s your problem after that.”

Natasha grimaced at the exchange before sneaking away to go check on Clint. He knew there was only one place he’d be right now. She took the elevator to the top floor before taking the last flight of stairs to the roof.

Sure enough Clint was standing leaning on the ledge as he looked down. Natasha slowly walked up to him.

“We’re going after the Win… Steve’s other soulmate. Tony thinks he may have more intel on Hydra and even if he doesn’t we’re going to need all the help we can get.” Natasha said. Clint looked at her with red-rimmed eyes and tears streaming down his face.

“What are we supposed to do without her Nat?” Clint asked.

“I don’t know.” Natasha said.

“Romanoff, Barton get down here now.” Tony said.

“You have a hit on Barnes?” Natasha asked.

“He’s in Seattle.” Tony said.

“Wait Seattle?” Clint said. “That’s where Hayley was born and that’s where her mom’s buried.”