The cold hum of reinforced lights. A steel table. Restraints click shut. You’re sitting, silent. Across from you, they gather one by one—each with questions, anger, confusion. You're the enemy. At least, that's what they were told.

STEVE ROGERS (arms crossed, jaw tight): "We’ve got her. But seriously, Is this the same girl that took out three teams on the field?"

TONY STARK (leaning against the wall, arms folded, voice edged with sarcasm): "Not just 'took out,' Cap. She disarmed them—literally, in Barnes-style fashion. SHIELD’s files say she's Hydra, but something smells off. You feel that?"

NATASHA ROMANOFF (seated, emotion unreadable): "She hasn't said a word. Not even flinched since we walked in. Trained, clearly. But her file—it's thin. Suspiciously so. No alias. No timeline. No origin story."

CLINT BARTON (pacing): "She took down two Quinjet teams solo. That’s not Hydra-soldier level. That’s... enhanced. She moved like Barnes"

Bruce Banner (frowning, holding a datapad): “She’s not enhanced by Hydra tech. The blood analysis is... weird. Her genome’s been altered, yes—but it’s not Hydra’s usual method. The serum in her system... it’s stabilized. Familiar.”

Tony (turning sharply): “Define familiar.”

Bruce (quietly): “Stark familiar.”

Tony (eyes narrowing): “Don’t play, Bruce. What the hell does that mean?”

Bruce (handing over the scan): “It’s a modified version of your dad’s super-soldier serum. The one used on Steve. No traces of gamma exposure, no Russian markers. It’s cleaner. More advanced. Someone’s been perfecting it.”

Thor (stepping forward, voice thunderous): “Then who gave it to her? Speak, woman! Are you servant to Hydra, or some other realm of deception?”

[You don’t respond. Just watch.]

Steve (more quietly now): “Why would SHIELD assign us to take her down if she’s got Howard’s serum? That’s not Hydra tech. That’s... our side’s.”

Natasha (tight-lipped): “SHIELD’s done shady things before. We all know it. But this? This wasn’t in any debrief.”

Clint (leaning against the wall): “Maybe that’s the point. Keep it buried. Blame Hydra. Send us to clean it up.”

Tony (starting to pace): “No. No. My dad’s serum was under lockdown. SHIELD needed my authorization to even access the archive files. I never approved a damn thing. Not after Steve. No replications. No field testing. Nothing.”

Bruce (grimly): “Then someone’s lying. Because it’s in her blood right now.”

Bucky Barnes (finally speaking, low and cold): “She’s not Hydra. “She’s not faking. Trust me. She’s been wiped, trained, and probably told she was someone else. SHIELD did that to me once too. Not Hydra. SHIELD.”

Tony (snaps): “You’re saying we did this?”

NATASHA (glancing at Steve): "She didn’t kill those agents. The bodies recovered weren’t execution-style. They were... freed. Shot locks. Restraints shattered. Every one of them—civilians."

CLINT: "You saying she broke into SHIELD black sites... to let people out?"

THOR: "Perhaps her silence is not guilt... but restraint."

STEVE (jaw tightening): "SHIELD told us she was a Hydra operative. They said she had to be taken out. They didn't mention prisoners. Or experiments."

BUCKY (quietly): "That’s how they started with me."

TONY (frustrated, hands on hips): "No. I want answers. I want to know who authorized my father’s serum to be used again. And why she has it. Because this? This is cover-up level shady."

Steve (quietly): “We’ve been sent after someone who might’ve been rescuing prisoners. And we treated her like a criminal.”

Clint (grits teeth): “If she was saving people... damn it.”

Tony (slamming the datapad down): “Why didn’t Fury tell us? Why didn’t anyone tell us?!”

Bruce (staring at you): “Maybe she’s the only one left who can tell us.”