"The main thing in life is not to be afraid of being human."

-Aaron Carter

Steve bashed his shield at the Huntress and she rolled to the side to avoid it. As she rose she was facing his back and had the full advantage. But she was fighting a man that was enhanced by the Super Soldier Serum, just as she had been, but in a greater, properly made dose and a more planned out procedure. HYDRA had scrapped together any of the serum that they had given her, but she had some of it in her system, and had trained fighting men like Steve. Only, the people she trained with would kill her if given the chance; she had a feeling that the great Captain America would prefer hostages over victims. 

The Huntress had years of training, years of small doses of the serum, but she did not have life skills, army skills, war experience, and she was far smaller than the Captain. This was a match that she could not win, but she was trying to escape, not defeat him. 

Her small stature did help her as she avoided his hits and blows coming her direction. She grabbed his arm when he swung at her, and bent it back with the intent to pop his shoulder out, but he shook her off and tossed her aside. She landed on her back and groaned, hopping up quickly, as though it hadn't hurt her. In reality, it hurt to breathe. Taking a deep breath to push forward in this fight, she brought her hands up to her face to protect it. Bouncing between feet, she tried to stay swift and nimble. Lunging at him once again, seeing that he often kept the shield up high, and his legs exposed, she swept her leg down to his feet. Steve was far too experienced to not see it coming, and jumped to avoid it. Bashing his shield towards her, she was forced to step backwards quickly to avoid a broken nose. 

"Who are you?" Steve asked between throwing punches and blocking them.

The Huntress said nothing to him, simply grimaced at him dangerously and lunged at him again, taking two small daggers out from her hips and slicing at him. He blocked her attack with his large shield, knocking one of the daggers from her hands. She gripped her remaining one harder and sliced again, cutting his thigh but only to be greeted with a facial blow via the shield. She had not calculated her tactic well enough, and toppled backwards. Landing on the gravel rooftop with a thud, she shifted in pain. This time she fell hard, and could not get up. 

She winced, groaning as she strained herself, but Steve was standing above her in seconds. After kicking away the daggers, he knelt down and placed his knee on her bicep. Not pushing down hard enough to hurt her, but threatening to do so if she were to try to escape. He placed his hand on her opposite shoulder and looked into her green eyes. "I asked you a question."

"I have no answer," she said truthfully. She was the Huntress, but she had no true identity that she knew of. 

That made Steve pause for a second; then he asked, "Who are you working for?" 

She didn't want to answer, she hated them for what they had done to her, and what they would continue to do to her. But she needed them; she was able to do the things she could because of them. HYDRA was her lifeline; without them she would die. Already she was craving Rapture, and already she knew that it would be withheld from her at this point in order to get her to do their bidding. 

But there was no one to hurt her right here and now. She had an opportunity she never had before in her life.

The Winter Soldier didn't come back for her, he left her behind when she couldn't keep up. She knew that she was nothing to them, and so she began to debate in her mind what was the best thing to do here. In her time with HYDRA, she had learned that answering their questions made her life slightly easier, and she knew they couldn't hear her speaking to Steve now. 

So with some small drive of good inside of her, she answered, "HYDRA."

"HYDRA...?" He shook his head. "No, HYDRA died with Schmidt."

"You couldn't be more wrong." She shuddered, the words coming off of her lips ingrained in her mind. "We grew stronger."

"Cut off one head... two more shall take its place," he solemnly said the HYDRA motto, loosening his grip on her momentarily.

"I can help stop them." The words escaped her mouth before she could even think to stop them. Something deep inside of her told her to do this; there was something trying to escape within her. What was it? Or who was it?

"And why should I trust you?" He scoffed, but his question had honest intentions. "You just killed... Fury!"

Steve pulled her to her feet and forced her to shuffle along until he reached the edge of the building, facing his apartment and peering through the broken window. With her arm stretched painfully behind her back, she knew there was no escaping. However, she did not feel the need to escape; she meant what she said about helping bring HYDRA down. Getting Steve to believe that was going to be a matter of believing it herself. She didn't even know if she had a name, she knew nothing but HYDRA. Yet something was glowing inside of her, something that told her helping Steve was going to help her. He had been just so far, that was more than HYDRA ever had been. Glancing across the buildings, she saw that the lights were on now in Steve's apartment and there was a blonde woman peering back out at them.

"Kate!" he called to her. "What's his status?"

"He's alive," The Huntress muttered before Kate could say anything. 

"I've called an ambulance, they will be here in three minutes," Kate called back, her voice sounding panicked.

"Come on." Steve walked towards the rooftop entrance of the building and opened the door, grabbing the Huntress' arm and bending it behind her. "Try anything and I will knock you out."

"That's no way to treat a lady."

"You're HYDRA; are you even human?" 

She could not answer the question, and went along silently down the stairs. His words cut deep because she believed up until now that she was nothing more than HYDRA's weapons. Disposable. But she saw an opportunity to change that; something about Steve knowing who the Winter Soldier was, it made the Huntress wonder about him. There were answers that she wanted, but was unsure if she would receive. When they reached the parking lot, flashing lights blinded her, and she reached to cover her eyes, but found she could not. Steve gripped her arms tighter. "Not so fast."

"I wasn't trying anything other than trying to shield my eyes from the light," she told him. "I'm not used to... all this."

"That, I can understand," he said almost sympathetically. He walked over to a blonde, who she recognized as Kate from the window of Steve's apartment. "I need you to watch her, make sure she doesn't go anywhere."

"Who is she?" Kate asked. 

"I don't know," he said. "But she has a role in this..." He gestured to Fury being loaded into the ambulance swiftly.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to go with Fury..." he said, then glanced at Kate. "Can I trust you?"

"I was hired by Fury to protect you, of course you can."

"Fury told me not to trust anyone," he admitted.

"Where do you want me to bring her?" she asked. "To SHIELD?"

"No." He shook his head. "Somewhere safe. And be careful, she's a fighter."

"So am I," Kate retorted, grabbing the Huntress by the arm. 

They watched as Steve disappeared into the back of the ambulance. It took off, the whine of the sirens fading into the traffic sounds. There were a few people standing outside the apartment building, but they all shuffled back in when the commotion died down. Kate cuffed the Huntress and brought her back in as well, bringing her to her apartment; it was not a safe place, but it was the safest place she could be until she could confirm another location. This was something she was trained for, Kate, and she knew who Fury would trust. 

"Sit," she commanded.

The Huntress sat on the couch; never before had she had such comfort. She looked up at Kate, studying her. Steve said he didn't trust anyone, but he put enough trust in Kate to watch over her. Looking at the floor and sighing, wondering where the Winter Soldier was, but knew that no one knew that. He certainly wasn't coming back for her; they were hardly partners for more than a day and he had shown that he didn't want her there. 

She guessed around now HYDRA knew of her capture and would be sending him after her pretty soon, to make sure she never spoke to anyone about what she knew. Being a threat to HYDRA like this made her nervous, but also gave her so much power. She shuddered at the thought, which felt like a memory.

"Who is trying to kill Fury?" Kate asked her, sitting down on the coffee table in front of the Huntress. Kate leaned over her legs and stared across into her green eyes, searching for something to trust. Some reason to be sitting here with a HYDRA affiliate while she could be doing far more important things; she trusted Steve, though.

"The question is who isn't." She said wryly, knowing that HYDRA members made up about half of SHIELD - she'd never been told formally, but she heard them, snaked her way into their minds.

Half of her wanted to betray HYDRA now that she had someone like Captain America possibly willing to help her. That part of her was telling her trust these people. There was hardly any part of her that didn't want to grab hold of this opportunity if it meant she could get away from HYDRA; but she was also terrified. They had connections; Kate could even be HYDRA and was waiting for the Huntress to slip up. If that were the case, she was dead already. 

Suddenly she realized how unlikely it was she would survive. How could someone like her possibly help take down HYDRA? A distant memory flitted in her head, a song. She cringed.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't tell you anymore." She sighed; though she knew that she would be killed by either the Winter Soldier or by SHIELD, and giving intel might keep her alive on one side, she felt as though she was giving information too easily. If she could guarantee some promise of safety, she would give them what they needed. But in the end, she knew very little. Only that she was meant to hunt down her targets and help end them with the Winter Soldier. It would take more than formal chit chat and interrogation to open up her mind.

"Why not?" Kate sounded infuriated, but remained calm. 

"I don't know... I don't even know who I am."

"Well then, let's find out." The determination in her voice made the Huntress trust this woman.