Little Insanity

Long story short, the Avengers captured me. I'm not going through the process of explaining the embarrassing tale of me getting caught, but they did. And much to my dismay, they're trying to make me an Avenger.

What fun for a wanted criminal, right?

And people call me insane.

The truth is, I'm not so insane that I get scared at everything I see. I only hear voices every once in a while. Usually it's my conscience catching up to me, reminding that this is not what a normal person should do. Well, I'm not exactly normal.

I chose this life of being constantly on-the-run. I chose every part of it. I was an assassin for hire, and I was fine with it. People constantly hired me for my skills at not being caught, but I guess that can go down the drain seeming as the Avengers caught me.

Now they think they can 'redeem' me or whatever, something I know they can't do. It's simply not possible to make me a whole human being that has a heart or soul. Don't get me wrong, I have a heart and soul. Somewhere deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep down, I have a blackened heart and soul. Deep, deep, deep, deep down, I'm sure it's sitting there with its little worth to me.

I have time to contemplate these things as I've stuck in the room/prison cell the Avengers have assigned me for the last week, the door only opening when they give me food. I have an en suite to take care of me, a bed, and an entertainment unit. Evidently, that's enough for the Avengers to give me until I agree to become an Avenger. Like that's ever going to happen.

The only visitor I ever get is the Winter Soldier, who hates it when I call him "the Killer Snowman". It's the only real entertainment I get anymore. The only thing on TV is my capture, and that's quite boring seeming as I was there at the time of the capture.

The only thing I really think about anymore is why they want me to be an Avenger. No one knows about my abilities that allow me to be the assassin I am, and they wouldn't just want a random assassin on their team. So my question is, why me? There are plenty of assassins out there. And when I say plenty, I mean plenty. I had to kill one once. Do you know how hard that can be seeming as they're always on guard? I almost got caught doing that, key word almost.

They're six feet under and I had gotten the large amount of money for killing them, so I really didn't care.

My door opened, and the Killer Snowman was standing in the doorway, looking around my room.

Great. Time for my daily chat with Frosty the Killer.

"You haven't done anything to your room," Bucky observed.

"Obviously. I wasn't really given anything to decorate it, though, was I?" I retorted.

"I can give you things," he volunteered.

I rolled my eyes. "Was sarcasm not a thing back in your day, Frosty?"

"Haha," he grumbled. "You know if you just promised to not kill all of us in our sleep, you would be able to come out, right?"

"Oh, very. I'm also aware that I don't want to."

"You're making this a lot more difficult than it has to be."

"No, I made nothing difficult. It was your team of so-called 'heroes' that decided that this was for the best. If I had any say in it, I'd be dead."

"You'd rather be dead than be an Avenger?"

"Do you really think I have the ability to become a hero? I'm an assassin, not a hero."

"I changed, and I was an assassin for seventy years."

"Yeah, thanks Gramps for that enlightening revelation, but as you can see, I'm not exactly the same person as you."

"But you can redeem yourself, like I did myself."

"Yeah, no. I kill people because I chose to, not because I was brainwashed. Sorry, Chucky, but I don't think I'll be a hero anytime soon."

Bucky rubbed his face with his hand and metal hand at my comment.

"It's been a week, Taliah. You have to give in sometime," Bucky sighed.

"I don't, actually. There's nothing to really convince me to. I don't have any family for you to threaten me with. You've got nothing," I said.

"Not completely true. Arabella may not be related by blood, but she is still what you consider to be a sister to you. I find it very endearing how you met. You just killed her father, and she watched. Then you decided to take care of her. Very endearing, really. It brings warmth to my heart," Bucky smiled.

My eyes narrowed at him. He threatened Arabella. Nobody threatened Arabella, nobody knew she was alive! When they didn't find her body along with her parents', they just assumed I took the girl's body elsewhere. But I didn't, instead raising the baby. Arabella was now a eighteen year old woman travelling the world. She had stayed with me after I told her why I killed her parents. They were crooks, people who killed others to advance in the world of politics.

What I do may seem dirty, but the world of politics is dirtier.

"Never speak her name, and leave her the hell alone!" I yelled at him.

"I wouldn't dare touch her, but Natasha has no problem killing her. We just have to give her the incentive. The choice is your's, Taliah. Join the Avengers Initiative, or let your 'sister' suffer."

"Why?" I asked, my voice cracking a bit. Frosty looked confused at my tone. I wasn't going soft, though. "Arabella is trying for world peace. She's raising money for the poor and building homes and schools for those in need. Why the hell would you want to ruin that? You're so willing to kill someone good to make a sociopath like me join you. I don't know how people could even begin to describe you as heroes."

"We wouldn't kill her, Taliah. Her life will just be safer if we protect her. Without our protection, Hydra may find an interest in killing her. Whether it be for the idea of her uniting people, or that they find your connection to her, I don't know. But I have the feeling you'd rather keep her alive and not find out."

"Deal," I said suddenly.

Frost Bucket looked astonished. "What?"

"Fine. I don't care. Protect her."

"Just like that you're agreeing?"

"I love my sister more than anything in this life. I will choose her happiness over mine, every time."

Bucky nodded.

"You're just in time to come have supper with us," Bucky grinned.

"I never agreed to those terms," I said, shaking my head. Just because I said that I agreed to be an Avenger to make sure Arabella was protected doesn't mean I'm willing to just become one of them.

"It'll be fine," Bucky said.

"No," I said, finality in my voice.

"Fine. Tomorrow, I'm giving you no choice," Bucky promised.

I rolled my eyes. "Good luck with that, Snowflake."

Notes