Adelaide had to chuckle at his last remark. She was nothing but a controllable pawn in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s game. The only use she was according to them was her past relations with Steve. The only reason she was still loyal was because she had nothing left.
“You are kidding, right? I’ll be lucky if they don’t shoot me dead for showing up without you. I’m nothing to them. Just a person with a century’s worth of connections.” Adelaide sat on the floor of the small motel room, leaning against the opposite wall. “But it’s the only thing I have. After everything I’ve been through, I deserve some stability.”
The brunette pushed her hair back, shaking her head. “I know you don’t understand.. I’m not expecting you to. My whole life has been one giant shit-storm, and it won’t stop. And now, the only one I have left doesn’t trust me.” And I can’t blame you. “I mean, I don’t know why it hurts so much. I suppose you never really knew the real me to begin with.”
She sighed, closing her eyes tightly. “I was born in 1895. 19 years later, I met the love of my life. A year after that, my fiance died in the first war. I was... so lost without him. Then, a couple years later, I moved around. I looked exactly the same as I did when i was 19, and I didn’t know why. So I traveled, eventually settling in Brooklyn when I was 43. I met you and Bucky, and life was great again. Then history had to repeat itself, except I lost two this time.”
Adelaide looked up with sad, regretful eyes as she took in a deep breath. “Peggy came to me, and I eventually helped her and Howard create S.H.I.E.L.D. I was the very first agent recruited. And I was pretty popular around everyone until Pierce was put in charge. I disappeared, he didn’t want me going on missions, training new recruits, anything. I was a ghost. And I listened to him, because some part of me needed a break. He had me put into cryo in 1991. And i woke up in 2014, finding out that he was Hydra the entire time. He just wanted me out of the picture because he knew I could sniff the rats out.”
She stood up, playing with fingers as she kicked at the ground. “So, I am so sorry that I couldn’t be there for you when you needed me. I wish I could’ve been there to help you get used to everything. I.. I wish I could have helped Tony mourn his parents. I wish I could have helped Bucky earlier so none of this happened!”
“But, I couldn’t. And when I woke up, Fury said it wasn’t the right time for me to come back into the world. Especially since the whole Hydra thing happened. And, stupid me decided that he was right.”
Adelaide shook her head, walking away towards the door in the back of the room. “I’m just going to the bathroom, pull myself together.”
As soon as she was in the bathroom, she slammed the door shut. Looking into the mirror, shaking her head at herself, she suddenly remembered one thing that Romanov didn’t grab. She pulled down the zipper of her jumpsuit, looking at the pin taped to her bra. She quickly turned the faucet on, letting the water run before Steve got suspicious.
Thinking quickly, she pressed the button on the pin. A red light began to blink, soon disappearing. She pulled her zipper back up, and splashed some water over her face. Adelaide looked at the mirror once more, not knowing if she regretted her move or not. If she was, it was too late now.
They’d be here in an hour.
