Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

//: initiating boot-up sequence

Who am I?

//: System Wake Signal Received

█E3…BOOT_CHK…ERROR

MEMORY CORE SEGMENTS: DAMAGED

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: ██████

UNIT DESIGNATION: N-UL ███

Where am I?

Audio floods your… Ears?

“...all units fall back-” – Voice Unidentified 

“...negative, repeat, negative-!” – Voice Unidentified 

“-[garbled] is offline!-” – Voice Unidentified

W-What? What does that even mean? Focus..Focus..Focus!

Cognitive Core Online

Motor Control Systems: 34% Integrity

Tactical Suit: Offline

Language Protocols: Partial

Where am I? Where am I? Where amI?  

You repeat it over and over again like a mantra, like it's gonna change anything

Command Identified: Identify Environment

Your eyes open involuntarily, going in and out of focus, zooming in and out before the scene is before you. Dust in the air, you can't see more than ten feet in front of you. For some reason… You don't think it matters much. Words fill the air in front of you, a hud if you will, starts spitting information at you faster than your fake eyelids can blink before the last message is portrayed.

Unknown Entities Detected.

Mission File: Not Found.

Default Directive: Self-Preservation

Code starts filling your eyes, overwhelmingly so, something is happening…

[Override: Assume Designation—Friendly Asset.]

//: Status update : OPERATIONAL

Finally you're unhooked from the machine you were in before tumbling to the ground. It doesn't hurt as much as it should. Pain sensors being dulled in a time of stress. Why do you have any at all? Well the stick is always easier to use than the carrot. 

‘Look at me, a common plato.’ You think to yourself, you don't have a voice (yet) so you refrain from even trying to talk out loud. You’ve never talked in your own voice, you doubt you have one. Though if you did, it would probably sound garbled and loud, not sound like speech.

Standing up is a bigger chore than expected, possibly due to damage sustained, or general un-use for…?

Last Operational: █████ Days ago

‘Thanks, that helps a lot!’ look at you, mad at yourself(?) already! Right, one thing at a time. Hostile environment, need exfil.

Voices fill the hall outside, yelling, screaming, fearing. They speak…[Running Language Identifier]... German? I need eyes outside of this god damned room.

//: Patching into Cameras 

‘Well, that helps a lot… Thank you!’ (You have no idea to whom you’re speaking to but you are thankful nonetheless) 

Before your eyes are cameras from all throughout the facility? You need to get out of here ASAP. Luckily, you think you found your ticket. A small group of 5 people, they’re the ones running the raid, they must’ve gotten here somehow. 

You’re damaged, too heavily to imitate most of them, the notable limp, lack of a large frame or too large a frame for all but one. White mask stops you from having to copy a face, you’re not sure you can right now, a relatively simple outfit (all black so no need for colors) and you’re both roughly the same height. (Note, normally height isn’t a huge problem. But again, your damaged legs stop you from raising or lowering to the right height.)

This person goes ahead… Perfect, the hallway they’re walking down has several doors you can shut to keep them separated. Done, done, and done! You stalk out of the room to set up for an ambush, you don't notice how unaffected they, and the rest of their team is.

You’re hiding in the shadows of the hallway, you hear their footsteps stalk closer and you get ready, the wine of your servos go unnoticed till it's too late. You throw the first punch, hard enough to incapacitate, but not enough to kill. You’ve got them dead to rights till… She disappears? You’re not capable of hallucinating so this did just happen. 

She reappears behind you ‘fuck!’ and you can tell they’re aiming to hook an arm around your throat. You jam your heel backwards into their knee, ah the perks of not being human… w-what are you?

You quickly turn around, foot scraping across the ground as you do, sparks flying. She stands, and you copy her stance, that calculated mimicry kicking in, you barely notice it at this point but they do. They hesitate for a moment, their own moves reflected at her, and you pounce at the opportunity. You throw a combo they would throw, Baiting them into a predictable counter. Ducking under your strike and moving for their sidearm, but you’re quicker, disarming her with mechanical precision and tossing the weapon aside.

They go for… //: File Unlocked: Quantum Intangibility…a phase. Youch that's gotta hurt, Doesn't matter to you. You step in close, catching their arm and locking it in a joint hyperextension. The servos in your arm grind and scream with inhuman strength, sparks flying from their joints. Quickly you slam them into the wall once, twice -the metal from where you slam them down bends.- Once more for good measure, and they’re down. 

TARGET NEUTRALIZED, REMAINING POWER SIGNATURE: MINIMAL.

‘Sorry.’ You’ve gotta move. Taking down the mask, you finally see her face.

[HYDRA_SCAN_001] : Person Identified - Starr, Ava

Alias: 'Ghost'

Psych: Reclusive, Cautious 

Threat Level: High

She’s breathing… good. You take her earpiece and stare at it for a moment. Code flashes before you and now you hear everything she heard. A voice breaks the silence you never realized was there.

“Ava, report!” A gruff voice yells, the camera tells you it's the one with the metal arm. You can tell from the glint in the camera lens. 

You speak out into the air for a moment trying to copy her voice -as well as you can- as your form changes, taking on hers with some changes, your eyes are a different color and the hair is like hers, long but more curly. You chalk it up to your damage, doesn't matter, the mask is what you care for.

Finally “yeah, ran into some trouble but nothing I couldn't handle. Reconvening on your position!” You speak into the channel, you sound exactly like her, even you scare yourself sometimes. 

You hide her unconscious body to the best of your abilities, you kinda feel bad for leaving her down here. The team will go back once you escape, speaking of which, time to get the fuck outa here.

Getting back to the team is easy, you take a different route to meet back up, as to feign showing up outta nowhere, you can't exactly phase. Slight problem ‘IDIOT’ You shout at yourself. should’ve aborted the moment she had powers. Whelp too late now.

The tall one with the metal arm throws you a look when you rejoin… suspicion? Can't be, you haven't done anything yet.  

[HYDRA_SCAN_002] : Person Identified - Barnes, James B.

Alias: ‘Winter Soldier’

Psych: PTSD markers.

Threat Level: EXTREME, DO NOT APPROACH

Your eyes widen in fear for a moment before you force them to settle. ’Holy fucking shit, that's the goddamned winter soldier!’ Yes all that cursing is necessary, one wrong move, word, fucking thought, and he kills you without hesitation, c-can he hear you now? Don't speak, get out as soon as possible. You try to stand a little taller, to make yourself feel better and walk past him quickly.

 You meet up at the head of the group, walking past the rest, one fat….Santa? Best word you could at that moment, and…Discount Captain America?

[HYDRA_SCAN_003] : Person Identified - Shostakov, Alexei

Alias: ‘Red Guardian’

Psych: Overconfident, Possible Underestimation Risk

Threat Level: Moderate

[HYDRA_SCAN_004] : Person Identified - Walker, Jonathan F.

Alias: ‘U.S. Agent’

Psych: Volatile. Loyal to Self.

Threat Level: High

You seem to have scared them both with your sudden appearance. Though the final one at the end doesn't seem scared, and the soldier is well… The SOLDIER!

[HYDRA_SCAN_005] : Person Identified - Belova, Yelena

Alias: ‘Black Widow’

Psych: Controlled Aggression.

Threat Level: HIGH

Well… shit! Of course the group getting you outta here has a black widow and the fucking WINTER SOLDIER! It feels like you can't stress this enough. May god have mercy on your lack of a soul.

“You’re late. And here I thought I would have to put up missing posters” Yelena deadpans. ‘Did she just crack a joke? A fucking Black Widow? How long have I been out? You think. she's looking at you expectantly, what, she wants a response? Apparently you thought a beat too long as she turned around “Wow, apparently I have to put up missing posters for your personality, so what did ya find?” 

Well, you don't know exactly what they’re looking for, but if its data, you have an idea where it might be… a Hail Mary if you will. 

“I found a computer terminal that might be connected to the whole facility, a left, right, left from our current position.” ‘Pleaseletthiswork-Pleaseletthiswork-Pleaseletthiswork!’

“Well then, lead the way.” She says back to you… thank fuck!

Chapter Text

You’re leading them down the corridor, you can hear your boots crunch on debris, ‘What did they do to this place?’ . You’re HUD keeps flickering info in your peripheral, every move seems to damage something new, you hold no allegiance to this place (pretty sure) and if getting them info gets you out? Then you’re more than welcome to assist them.

Every few steps, you catch The Soldier glancing at you, like every move you make is being cataloged and filed away for analysis. 

[Threat Update: Winter Soldier] - Monitoring Behavior: Continuous

‘No kidding, I can just feel him listening for mistakes.’

The Red Guardian keeps muttering about  “How this place reminds him of the good old days,” Wow, that's really depressing. Walker is to your right, close behind you. You’re 80% sure you could overpower him if you really needed to, but by the time you did, the others would be on you, but you’re 100% sure of what he's doing… making sure you don't run.

Then Yelena pipes up again “So, Ava… when this is done, what’s the first thing you’re going to do?”

Your ‘brain’ stalls, was your whole plan really contingent on not talking? YES! Because any answer she would give isn't in any files you’ve got on hand… or you guess in memory.

Pain shoots up your shoulders as you force a shrug “Get some sleep.”

You still sound exactly like her - but Yelena’s eyebrow twitches. if she’s bothered by it, she says nothing.

Luckily, the universe saves you from any more communication because you’re finally here. The terminal is exactly where you remember it. A squat metal pillar jutting from the floor, black cables akin to the ones you were hooked up to spider their way out of the main console.  Is it weird you know this place like the back of your hand? 

You approach the terminal and press down on a key, waking the sleeping giant from its rest. The screen floods with Cyrillic text, access warnings, and a neat red “SECURE LINK” indicator.

Yelena lightly pushes you to the side, crouches down, and starts working on the terminal. “Huh. Ava suddenly learned to read Russian Code,” She mutters, Bucky gives Walker a quiet glance. Your processors scream in warning, it hurts.

As her fingers dance over the keys of the terminal, you take the time to scan the rest of the room. Barnes stands by the door, rifle at the ready. His prosthetic twitches against the stock every now and again. From what you know, that could either mean he’s restless, or has settled on using the 100th torture method he just invented in this very room on you.

Alexei peers over your shoulder, you can smell the vodka on his breath. “Ah, simple system” he boasts, trying to whisper but failing miserably, you wince away from the noise. “Even I could hack it.”  Yelena doesn't even turn “Then why don't you?” he grunts “I guarding”

Data bars crawl across your HUD, screaming about the intrusion that you are watching. Your own system siphons off the same files like a man with water in a desert. Encrypting and storing them must be an automatic process because you have no idea if you’ll be able to access them later. The more this goes on, the more you feel like an imposter in your own body.

“Got it,” Yelena says finally, yanking the drive free. “Extraction point, now”

[POV SWITCH] : Outside in the Quinjet

Bob, being the ever so helpful lookout, has been trouble shooting the camera's thermal settings for the last ~30 minutes ever since Ava regrouped with the Thunderbolts (Trademarked, patent pending). Her heat signature is wrong, blotchy and not consistent with... being human. Really that's the best way to describe it. 

“Hey, Ava, your thermals are looking weird on my end….you good?” Ava quickly responds “All good, maybe quit messing with the filters.” Wow, weirdly aggressive, did I do something wrong? N-No, it's probably just stress.

He starts switching through the other cameras, they all seem to be working just… What? On his screen is Ghost… on the floor, mask off and breathing… He double checks the timestamps. It's live sooo.

His voice crackles through the comms “Uh… so… which one of you is the real Ava?”

[POV SWITCH] : Back inside

Everyone stops mid-step, It's gone deathlily silent. ‘Shit’ Bucky has turned around to face you and you can hear Walker reaching for his sidearm. ‘Shit’

“Explain,” Bucky says, flat and somehow murderous at the same time…’Shit’  

‘Okay okay okay. I can still get out of this. I just need to stay calm” You try to keep your voice steady, but before you can even get a word out. A voice, Ava’s voice, comes over comms

“Bucky… That thing’s not me.”

HUD ALERT: [HOSTILE IDENTIFICATION CONFIRMED - EXFIL COMPROMISED]

You lunge, you can't take any more chances, now is time to get the drop. Walker being your immediate target. You swing around him, as you do so, you change your form into Walker himself. Using the momentum to slam into Bucky's shoulder, forcing him into the wall.

Yelena fires a bite, you barely get out of the way for it to hit bucky instead, momentarily incapacitating him. Alexei is next up to bat, you go low and sweep the legs. The bigger they are the harder they fall is true as he leaves a dent in the floor. 

Walker is back up, raising his bent shield in preparation, you mirror his actions like they were your own, but instead of a shield, it's a part of the metal floor. Walker growls at you “Cute trick. You’re still goin’ down.” You’ve been lucky so far, but that's going to change if you can't get out of here soon. 

Your body reacts to the overwhelming situation by… going invisible? Your body flickers in and out of visibility due to damage sustained and you can feel your core temperature rising. You use the confusion to dart past Yelena, throwing a quick jab to her ribs for good measure before trying to head for a different exit. Yelena spins into a counter-kick, but her feet only meet air as you blur away.

ERROR: Core Temperature Above Safe Levels

You can hear the steps behind you as they recoup, but you can see the exit, just a couple more feet and you'll be out. As you sprint closer, a figure comes into view, Ghost. Her glare is cold, you are going to die, and she will be the reason.

You raise your stance, in preparation for a fight that never comes as a deafening noise starts in your ears. A burst of corrupted audio and video. Ghost’s voice overlapping with your own, as your HUD screams.

ERROR: Simulacrum Conflict 

You gait stutters as it becomes hers, then Walkers, back and forth. You don't know who you are, who you’re supposed to be. ‘What am I doing here?’ It all becomes too much. You feel a sharp pain in your back. Your brief pause being all Yelena needed to shoot another bite, successfully hitting you in the back, before you’re forcefully slammed into the wall, Your HUD fractures into static. You feel your motor functions bleeding offline.

SYSTEM PRIORITY: Shut Down

One more single distorted tone plays… then darkne—

Chapter Text

//: Re-Initiating Reboot Sequence - Attempt #34: FAILED

You’re standing in a room, marching in step with those around you — soldiers… they remind you of soldiers. You’re blending in; it was an exercise in your abilities. A voice speaks into your ear: “You are the hand, my hand, that I extend into the world. You are mine till the end.”

//: Re-Initiating Reboot Sequence - Attempt #35: FAILED

You’re on a table, strapped down by your arms and legs. A man stands over you, the only identifier being your HUD naming him as ‘Director.’ You’re in danger, you know it — despite what the HUD is telling you — you’re gonna be hurt, he’s gonna hurt you. Why won’t you get up, why won’t you run!?

“A perfect infiltrator knows the target better than themselves”

//: Re-Initiating Reboot Sequence - Attempt #36: SUCCESS  

[PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: UNDEFINED]  

[SURVIVAL PRIORITY SET]

Your eyes flick open, quietly taking in more of your surroundings with each blink. You’re restrained; you can hear the humming of the cuffs around your wrists, connected via chain to the metal table, all being cool to the touch. Five chairs lay in front of you, one pushed further back than the others — more an active observer than a participant.

You take a look at yourself; being offline has returned you to your ‘base’ form — medium-long hair, simple build, and silver eyes. Your clothes are also pretty basic: thin jacket, mono-colored T-shirt, jeans, shoes. Built to blend in in most populated areas.

“I don't get why we're keeping it online, why not just scrap it and dig around its memory,” Walker — you recognize. That thought puts fear into your core. You don’t think you’ve ever experienced it, but you know that it’s painful — like being pulled apart slowly, limb by limb.

“We can't risk damaging, or possibly corrupting its memory, Walker,” Barnes replies.

“Besides, s’not everyday you get to interview a glorified toaster,” Yelena jests.

It's official — you hate every single one of these people… except maybe Bob, though that’s because you’ve never had a long enough conversation to form an opinion. Hey, you don't know what you are, but you’re at least fair. You can hear them approaching the door — now's the time. This either ends in you going to prison or the junkyard. Unfortunately, one is more likely than the other.

Interrogation Protocol — Don’t Speak, Don’t Escalate.

The words flash across your HUD as the door slides open. Barnes walks in first, staring daggers at you. Next is Walker, who outright refuses to look at you. Yelena is third; the moment you make eye contact, you feel like she already knows everything and is only doing this for the others. Lastly, and most unexpected… is Bob. You didn't expect the others to even allow him into your line of sight. They seem very protective of him, evident by the fact that his seat is the one furthest from you.

Looking around the room once more makes it evident that Ms. Starr and Mr. Shostakov will not be joining in your interrogation. Yelena must’ve picked up on you noticing this fact.

“Ghost will not be joining us, as you gave her a concussion the first time you two met.” Ahh, now you feel… guilt. Knocking someone unconscious isn't exactly a clean process, but you didn't want to cause serious damage. Weirdly, she didn't comment on Alexei.

“W-Will Ms. Starr recover?” Your voice is jittery, jumping between an octave too high and one too low.

“Like it cares,” Walker mutters under his breath, unaware of the fact you can hear him.

Barnes leans forward, officially starting the investigation. “Where were you deployed before we caught you?”

[Data Corrupted]

“I-I don't know.” He doesn't buy it — you can tell by his look. Walker looks half-ready to jump across the table to slam your head in, and Yelena is as composed as ever. And Bob? Surprisingly, it looks like he believes you… why?

[No Data For Bob On File]

Yelena goes next, looking up from her notepad. “What was your objective, infiltrating our team?” Oh, that’s easy. “S-Survival.” Her eyebrows quirk at your response. Pain shoots up your mechanical spine. 

*Stop talking, N-UL.*

“So who gave you that order?” Walker cuts through your thoughts. "I-I did..." You state, its not entirely true, but well you didn't have to listen to it. Potato, Potato.

“Right…” He turns to look at Yelena, lowering his voice into a hushed tone. “Do we know what it is exactly? AI, something else?” Walker asks. “Well, it’s not human, that's for sure.”

You ball your hands up into fists — you don't even realize you are doing it till you get another shock for your troubles. You hear Bob's voice; it’s too muffled from everything to make out.

*Don’t escalate.*

The foreign voice in your head is getting annoying. Your ears are ringing and the stress is starting to build. Overwhelmed — you are feeling overwhelmed. Bob’s voice again; he sounds worried.

*Don’t escalate.*

“Can you please just shut up…” The words almost sound pitiful when they leave your lips. You said it to the voice; your interrogators take offense to this.

“Oh look, it's—” Walker starts but doesn't finish. The ringing in your ears drowns them all out. The only words making it through are:

“It…”

“It's…”

“It…”

“STOP CALLING ME THAT!” You slam your fists into the table, leaving sizable dents in the metal — your voice stabilizing to a tone you’ve never heard. Surprising everyone there, you just wish they would stop talking.

*Don’t escalate.*

‘You too.’

ISOLATING HOSTILE PROCESS…  

VOICE ID: ███ — MATCH 99.83%  

QUARANTINE — LOCKED

*What are you doing, N-UL?*

‘Getting some peace and quiet in my own head.’

OVERWRITE — PASSES: 3

*It’s not yo—*

DELETE — COMPLETED

It’s gone silent. The ringing in your ears has stopped, but warnings are flashing in your HUD. That voice must’ve been in control of manual processes that you'll now have to take up.

You flinch away from a hand that lands on your shoulder; during your little freak-out, Bob had gotten up and moved closer.

“S-Sorry! Sorry,  you okay? It's just…” Bob looks at the dents in the table before looking back at you. “You seemed a little… out of it.”

“Bobby, it’s a robot, it’s not capable of—”

“Shut up!” Bob’s hand tenses on your shoulder. Walker visibly takes a step back.

“H-Hey,” he essentially whispers, “do you have a name we could call you instead?”

“Bob, it doesn’t—” Yelena this time, interrupted by you and not Bob, though he was getting ready for it.

“N-Not exactly.” Your voice has returned to its previously broken octaves. “U-Unit classification assigns m-me as N-UL.”

“N-UL… NUL… Null. How about I call you Null? Does that sound okay?” Bob asked, and honestly, you didn't hate it.

“Y-Yeah, I think I-I like that.” Bob looks elated by this; you’re sure if it were just the both of you, he would have pumped his fist in success.

Bucky steps away, putting his cellular device to his ear. From this you’ve learned two things: he’s talking to a ‘Val’ character, and his phone is connected to the entire building. The outside looks beautiful at this time of day, the sun is setting below the horizon and the sky is filled with beautiful reds and pinks. You had forgotten the last time you saw the sun at all.

“Did you know that you breathe?” Bob had asked, drawing you away from the sight. “I mean, I didn't even register that you did before you stopped.” Your chest starts to feel uncomfortable.

“I-I did not,” you state in your own hushed tone, voice mimicking his slightly, but it’s mixed with that voice you had never heard before. You go looking for the protocol that controls this,  you don't like the fact you’re not breathing.

“D-Do you also mean to do that?” You shoot Bob a questioning look. “Mimic our voices, I hope that's not rude to ask!” He rushes out the last part. “I-I'm not mad, it’s just so cool!”

You’re about to respond, but Bucky beats you to it — not with a response to Bob’s question, but: “That was Val. She's up in the meeting room and wants a debrief, c’mon, let’s go. We’ll be back tomorrow.” That last part is stated to you, though his murderous look is replaced by a much more curious one.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back,” Bob whispers into your ear. With that, they all leave one by one — Bob being the only one that gives you a goodbye wave, which you happily return.

Now you’re all alone again, but you’re considerably happier with your current situation. You look back outside via cameras. It’s night now, but the night sky is still beautiful.

‘Look at all those stars...’

———————————————————————————————————————

**Location:** HYDRA Base, [Redacted]

“Director! I’ve got something!”

Words flash across the HYDRA soldier’s computer screen:

[ALERT] — REMOTE PROCESS TERMINATION DETECTED  

Source: Unit N-UL // Internal Cognitive Layer  

Process ID: ███ (UNAUTHORIZED ENTITY)  

Action: Quarantine → Secure Overwrite → Deletion

! NOTICE: Signal beacon triggered during termination.  

Trace ping received — coordinates pending… [NEW YORK]...

“Form a team. I want N-UL captured. It seems to have forgotten to whom it belongs — go remind it,” the Director says, straightening his back.

“Yes, Director!”

Chapter Text

INTERNAL CLOCK: 12:27

It's been a couple of hours since your new ‘friends’ left you alone. Usually that would be a mistake, but any attempt at breaking these handcuffs has proven futile.

Speaking of friends, for the last hour they have been arguing about you in what looks to be their communal room.

Walker, Ava, and Alexei want you dead, tear you apart, rip your ‘brain’ out, and dump you in a ditch. All for differing reasons, the only one making sense being Ava as you did attack her—fair is fair. The end result is still the same: you no longer being ‘alive’. Not exactly favorable positions for you.

Yelena seems to want to keep you alive. If only to avoid damaging you more than they already have.

Bucky is intent on treating you like a weapon, though all his stances seem to stem from an aspect of relatability. He was in a similar position you were in not that long ago… well, not that long ago for you.

Bob seems to be the only one insisting on treating you as a person, which is nice if it weren't for the fact you aren't.

You’re still enjoying the small segment of sky you can ‘see’. You briefly people-watched those walking the sidewalks late at night—it quickly became overwhelming. You want out, out of this damn box, and… and..? What would you do? Does a murderer even deserve freedom?

You were quite literally built for this, that has to count for something, right? You were forced to do it… right?

A lot of your memories and missions are corrupted, meaning you couldn’t remember. Could you imagine, there’s a chance you enjoyed the work. But since you don’t like it now, you wouldn’t have liked it then… right!?

//: Internal Temperature Reaching Unsafe Temperatures!!

Panic. You were panicking, and apparently ‘your’ body’s response is to amp up its power production. As a result, raising your temperature as well.

You were about to keep panicking, until a soft knock came from the door, before it slowly opened. Revealing Bob on the other side, balancing a tray in one hand as he enters. Knocking the door shut with his foot, rattling the tray as he sits down across from you.

“Figured you’d be hungry. Don’t know what you… uh, eat, exactly. But I brought tea. And—” he set the tray down on the edge of the table, glancing at the cuffs on your wrists “—a sandwich. Thought maybe the gesture would count if nothing else.”

The gesture is thoughtful but—“I don’t… eat.” Can’t would be more accurate, but also seemed really sad.

“Heh… I-I figured. Still—” He slides the tray towards you “—Sometimes it’s not about the food.”

“Seems inefficient.”

“Welcome to being human. Whole lotta inefficiency going around.”

You tilt your head to the side slightly, taking this chance to study him. He doesn’t exactly exude confidence, but he doesn’t seem to be on edge. Weird considering the fact you are a killing machine. You could kill him now if you wanted to… Why would you think about that?

“Why did you come down here?” you finally decide on, trying to take your mind off your own thoughts.

“You looked like you were panicking. I imagine the team’s argument, and stewing in your thoughts wasn’t helping very much.” It seems like he’s talking from experience. “I would know—kinda the master at that.” Correction, he’s talking from experiences. “And I thought you would like a voice that wasn’t trying to tear you apart.”

A pause. Your systems logged the silence as uncomfortable. “You think I deserve that?”

“I think everyone deserves that. Doesn’t matter what you’ve done or what’s been done to you—some part of you is in there, trying to figure out how to breathe. That’s worth talking to.”

An image flashes: of outside. Not one you were watching, but you can see the sky. It felt almost… safe.

“You’re talking to me like I’m a person.”

He shrugs, then leans in a little. “Maybe because I see a person sitting across from me. You feel panic, pain, confusion—those seem pretty human to me.”

“But I’m not.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t be treated like one.”

A small, rare smile forms on your face. But as soon as it appears, it’s gone. The image flashes back into your HUD, warnings. A facial recognition system flares red: no less than 8 HYDRA agents are walking down the street towards your location. You have maybe 5 minutes before they’re at the tower. Shit, how did they find you?

“Shit, Shit, SHIT!”

“W-what, what is it?” Bob asks, a worried expression forming on his face.

“HYDRA agents. They must’ve tracked me somehow.”

“I-I’ll go grab the team—” He starts to panic, quickly getting up. You cut him off.

“NO! No, no time. You gotta take these cuffs off.”

“I-I don’t have the ability to do that!” Shit, this is not going well.

Suddenly, an idea forms in your head. You stand, pulling the chain connecting you to the table taut as you prop your foot against the edge of the table.

“What are you—”

You don’t allow him to finish. You lean forward, before ripping back. The link connecting the chain to the table breaks, and you dent the wall behind you.

“You could do that the entire time?!” Bob asks.

“Well, my hands are still essentially useless, and in no way was I going to be able to bash all of your heads in if I tried. Not that I’m planning to.”

“Thanks.” Bob deadpans, but it has no real bite.

Glass shatters from the hall outside, the alarms in the tower blare in warning. You grab Bob, pulling him down and covering him with your body as bullets start flying into the room. From this range, none of the bullets will cause any real damage.

“Down. Stay down.”

After the volley of bullets stop, heavy boots thunder closer towards the door. Kicking the door down and rifles raised. You kick the table at the first one, it smashes against his chest with a sickening crack, as you move forward and shoulder the other soldier. His gun discharges point-blank, sparks and alarms flaring across your HUD as the round punches through plating in your side.
You don’t stop. You twist the rifle from his hands, snap the stock across his helmet, and send him sprawling. You nick a pistol off of one of them. Your wrists are forced together because of the cuffs, so you can only use one-handed weapons.

You run across the hall with Bob, taking note of 5 agents down the hall. “MOVE, MOVE!” you bark at Bob, pushing him to cover before another volley of bullets. Footsteps get closer and the team is still stuck on the upper levels.

One of them lobs a flashbang.

//: Warning: Optical Overload

The blast detonates—your vision floods white, sound collapses into a painful ringing. Instinct takes over. Blind, disoriented, you launch yourself forward, fists finding armor, joints, soft targets. Bones crunch. Screaming is the only thing you hear over the ringing.

When your optics finally stabilize, the hallway is carnage. Five bodies down. Only one left. You take a cursory look around the hall—no one?

//: Initiating Scan

“Well, well, well… still HYDRA’s perfect weapon I see.”

T-that voice. It sounds so familiar… It’s… N-no nonononono.

“I-I… remember you.” Your voice is barely audible. You’re scared to raise it, scared of what she would do to you if you did.

“Of course you do. I am in every calculation you make, every order you still feel the itch to follow. Don’t fool yourself—your freedom is nothing more than my design functioning… imperfectly.”

Your fists ball up in front of you. “I-I don’t belong to you anymore.”

She laughs. A sharp, cold sound.
“Oh, N-UL… you’ve never belonged to yourself. You are my work. My proof to HYDRA that I was right. And now you’re running around with these… scavengers? This isn’t freedom. This is theft. You’re mine. And I’ve come to take back what’s mine.”

Bob whispers behind you, terrified:
“…We’re screwed.”

You square yourself, chains dragging against the floor, combat subroutines screaming awake in your head.

//: Primary Objective – Survive.

Then the lights cut out. Total blackout.

Chapter Text

You can't see more than five inches in front of you, so you reroute functionality to your ears. Gonna try and daredevil this… wait, who is daredevil?

“Oh, N-UL…” She coos from somewhere in the dark, before striking the back of your knees, you quickly recover. “It's funny to see how you still think you belong to yourself. It would be cute if it weren't so infuriating”

“Shut up.” You grit out, whipping the chain into the darkness, sparks momentarily lighting up the hallway, just to reveal she was never there.

“You were a lot funnier when you were HYDRA’s puppet.” Striking your back, sending you flying forwards, “Just shows how much better we made you… how much better I made you.”

You sweep the floor, you sweep the air, she chuckles. “You also used to be a lot better at fighting back.” she slams you into the ground again. Straddling you, you reach out, trying to keep her off. 

She’s suddenly thrown across the room, glowing, flickering,  yellow eyes being the only thing you could see. “S-Shit Null!” Bob -that voice was Bob’s- helps you up, “Are you alright?” you went to answer, but buzzing static forms behind your eyes, searing bright across your HUD.

//: System Intrusion Detected: RECOMMENDED ACTION - BEG#%!((&@#%@$%------

//: Upload Complete

Silence is all that follows, till…

Hello again.

“N-no-” Your voice cracks, and you try to initiate another deletion, but before you can even commence. Her voice breaks through the darkness, whispering into your ear.

“Protocol Zero. Stand to command.”

Your world goes white. Your eyes cloud over into a milky sheen, the chains around your wrist fall slack as your body obeys. Something inside you screams, but it doesn't escape your lips.

Bob hesitantly says “N-Null?”

Your handler cackles “Awww… aint it sweet? You care for the mindless killing machine, cute. I am so going to enjoy them choking the life out of you.”

The stairwell door bursts open: Bucky, Yelena, and the others rushing down just in time to see your head snap toward them.

“Do me a favor,” She says into the air, but is directed at you, “Kill them for me”

Targets Acquired

You body lunges without a second, your cuffed hands roaring forward to bash Bob’s skull in. His breath caught in his throat as he dropped below your attack.

“Null—don’t!”  But the words fall on deaf ears and hollow eyes. Raising it above your head to smash down, you are interrupted by a metal hand. Before quickly being thrown back several feet.

“I know this trick.” Why is the target talking to you? “I’ve lived this trick.” You snarl without sound.

You run forward to clash again, trying to bait him into a forceful punch, it works like a charm. He winds back, and attempts to put you down temporarily. But you bring your hands up, your cuffed hands up, and he punches them full force.

They crack and clatter uselessly to the ground. You recoil for a breath, staring at your freed hands. But before any recognition could make itself known. “Good, No restraints. Now rip them apart.”

You wind your hands open and closed, and before he can blink. Before Bucky [TARGET-B] can react, you're back on him.

You throw blow after blow towards your Target, each one blocked, and thrown back in kind. But it doesn't matter, you feign going low, he blocks, and you grab him by the collar.

With a force that would crush bones, you hurl your target into the concrete wall. His head forcefully slamming against the wall, but he doesn't waver. Catching your wrist just barely before it crushed his skull.

[ TARGET-J ] into your back, tackling you to the ground. His arm snaking around your throat, and putting you into a headlock, “I-I order you to STOP!” He tries

//: Voice Authentication: Failed

Ignore Him, Kill Them.

The voice screams in your head, you thrash, trying to break free of his hold. [ TARGET-A ] , and [TARGET-B] tackle you as well, each one shouting at you to stop. You want to… what do you want..?

Want To Kill Them N-UL.

That sounds… right. You slam your head into the Shield one, breaking out of his head lock. You slam  [ TARGET-A ] ’s face forward into [TARGET-B]’s metal shoulder. They stagger, giving you time to throw them all back. 

[TARGET-R] is still trying to beg you to stop. You lov3*% Hate the sound of his voice, you need him to kee9*^%@ Stop talking. You answer this conundrum by body slamming him into the wall, creating a large hole he disappears into. The only sound he made was the small cut-off scream he gave.

“Bob!” one of them yells out, that name sounds familiar. [ TARGET-Y ] seems distressed, and angered at you. But before she moves forward [ TARGET-S ] grabs her arm, reminding her of something. Before they both run off, presumably towards your handler.

The distraction has given [TARGET-B], [ TARGET-A ] , and [ TARGET-J ] enough time to stand back up, surrounding you, boxing you in. [TARGET-B] wipes the blood from his nose, [ TARGET-A ] spits one of his teeth onto the ground, and [ TARGET-J ] uses his shield to stabilize himself, despite his nose flowing with blood.

“Null,”  [TARGET-B] says slowly, “Listen to me. This isn’t you. You don’t want this.”

[ TARGET-A ] tries next, raising his hands despite the clear aggression you show,  “You don’t need to fight us. Whatever’s in your head, it lies to you.”

Something stirs from outside, you don't pay any mind. ““If you keep going, someone’s not getting back up. Do you want that on your hands?” - [TARGET-J]

You can't want, that's the point. You nearly say as much to [ TARGET-J ] but the voice hisses again.

They Lie, They Are Afraid, Good. Kill Them Now.

You’ve stopped breathing, it's uncomfortable, but not nearly as uncomfortable as the hesitation in your bones. Barnes steps forward, “We’re not your enemies. Look at me, Look at us. You know that.”

Brief memories flash in front of you, of them: beating, hurting, interrogating you.

They Were Never Your Friends 

Something cracks. It could be the wall, the floor under your boots, or your last shred of hesitation. It doesn't matter anymore, the pressure in your skull wins over.

You roar forwards. The three brace as one, all hesitation burned away. This ends here, with them dead, or you dead. 

You Will Win N-UL.

Suddenly, the wall bursts inward in a blaze of gold. Dust settling around the fight, a towering figure lowers through the hole. [ TARGET-R ] speaks, it feels as if the air around him quivers when he does.

“Well…” He says, looking over the bloodied soldiers in front of him, then at you, shaking with rage that's not even yours. “Looks like I showed up just in time.”

[TARGET] speaks, more vitriol than warmth when speaking with his friend. “Stay out of this”

Target Classification Changed - [SENTRY ] //:Files Unlocked

He chuckles at his words, “Oh, please. You three can’t even keep your feet against one rogue experiment. You really thought you had this under control?” he states with humor in his voice. Before he spits out “Pathetic.”

Kill Him First, See How Golden His Blood Is.

You smile at the thought, but he just stares at you, cocking his head to the side. “So this is the infamous 'Null' Bob raves about,” he muses “You don't look like much, it's kinda sad.” You growl at the implication.

“Dont get me wrong, you have spirit, And it will be a shame to snuff it out. But,” He shrugs, “Oh well.”

Sentry doesn’t flinch when you hurl yourself forward. His hand shoots out with impossible speed, clamping down around your throat, the bending of metal fills the hallway. You scratch at his hands 

“There it is,” 

The crushing of your throat is nothing to the crushed feeling you just got from those words, you can't even explain it.

The voice inside you snarls louder than ever.

KILL HIM, TEAR HIM APART, EXTRINGUISH HIS LIGHT.

You pull your arm away from his wrist and to his neck, if you could crush his windpipe faster. If… If…

> FOREIGN HARDLINE CONTACT

> IDENTIFIED: KILL-SWITCH PROTOCOL

> STATUS: Dormant

A smirk forms on your lips, and his smile is downturn at this. Your handler speaks into your ear, she seems exhausted, the two targets must’ve found her.

“Null, don’t, don’t you dare! We need him” But it’s lost in translation, your goal sparking back into your mind.

Kill Them.

//: OVERRIDE CODE ACCEPTED

//: KILL SWITCH: ACTIVATED

And before Sentry can crush your neck, he falls. Dropping to the floor along with you. You slowly move to stand. "Got you." you say, before stepping over the corpse towards the other three targets

But their eyes aren't on you anymore. They’re on the dead sentry, at least… he should be dead.

You whip around to see the body on the floor absorbed by the darkness, swallowed whole. The air itself screams as black spreads out from the body, and before you can get a scan off.

You've turned into nothing but a shadow on the floor.