Chapter 2

That voice, that figure, she now remembered who it was. That man from yesterday, the one that saved her from being hit by a truck. So many questions popped up. How did he knew where she lived? How did he knew she saw inside his head about Hydra?

He seemed to see in her eyes she was scared but when he spoke the word Hydra, she twitched. He took his hand off of her mouth but placed it on her chin holding it so she couldn't look away from him.

"So you know about Hydra."

"I... I... don't..."

"Don't play with me!" He warned her, staring deadly into her eyes. "Who sent you?"

"I don't know who's Hydra, I swear!"

"You said Hydra earlier when I pushed you! Don't lie to me!"

"I didn't say anything, I didn't have time. You left in a hurry."

"You said it. You were looking at me, straight in my eyes and I heard Hydra."

"I swear I don't know who that thing is. I... I saw it in your mind. I saw you and then I saw a logo. An octopus with a.... A skull as its head. I swear it was the first time I ever saw that thing... And I don't remember even talking to you."

"How?"

"How what?"

"How could you see my mind?"

"I just can. I can hear your thoughts too..."

His face changed, he seemed to not trust her.

"I could do that since I was a little girl. I didn't mean to read your mind. It filled my mind. Memories... Emotions... I'm sorry. And I'm really sorry for what you had to go through. I can't imagine the pain."

He kept his hold on her, trying to figure her out.

"Wait... You said you heard me talk but... I didn't. That mean... Can you read minds too?"

The face he made told her no.

"Than, this means I can..."

She looked straight into his eyes.

Can you hear me?

He pulled back a little.

"Yes..."

"Good. I'll make you believe me."

She opened her mind for him to see. She showed him everything from her first memory to today. All her pain, her laughs, her worries.

He saw she didn't have anything to do with the enemy. But the pain felt through those memories resembled a lot his own. Not being able to live freely, always hiding, not being able to be herself. He let go of his hold on her, backing up a few steps.

"Sorry."

"It's fine..." She replied covering herself with her arms.

"Put clothes on."

"What are you gonna do with me?"

He just walked out of her apartment by the same way he came in, the window.

"Wait..." But he was already getting down the stairs.

She was surprised and confused. He was the same man then two days ago but he didn't gave the same energy. She closed and locked the window to be sure this situation wouldn't happen again.

She spent the rest of the night trying to digest what happened. Is it that easy now for people to find, follow and attack her? She had a hard time to fall asleep even though she only slept for three hours in a couple of days.

The next morning, she did her same routine and went straight to school. She was distracted and couldn't concentrate. She was thinking about that man from last night when someone knocked on the door of her psychology class. The teacher stopped the class.

"Excuse me, but we need Miss Robin Barnett."

Everyone turned to her. She gathered her stuff and followed the man to an office where a man was sitting with documents in front of him. She sat down not feeling good with any of this situation.

"Robin Barnett. From Philly. Daughter to Maria and Daryl Barnett."

"What's going on?"

"We are just making your accountance."  The man smiled but Robin didn't like any of this.

She decided, against her own rules, to read his mind. Something didn't feel right about all this. All she could see was black. There wasn't any thoughts or memories. Fear clawed her guts. Never in her entire life did she came across someone who could hide their thoughts.

"I'm guessing you are trying to read my mind, aren't you Robin?"

The question brought her back to her seat.

"What are you talking about?" She played dumb.

"I know what you are capable of doing Robin. And so is my agency." He put a smile on his face to look appealing. "Listen, we'd like you to join us. We need people like you in our ranks."

"Is this a job interview?"

"You can say that."

"Then, what is the name of this agency?"

"It is a government agency. And like most of them, it is not public knowledge. But greatly encourage you to join and you'll know every information about us."

"Well, I appreciate all of this. But I'm not interested." She got up and hurried to the door.

The man laughed.

"If you are not with us, then you are against us. We are coming for you. We'll find you. You can't hide from us. HYDRA is everywhere."

She ran out of the office and knew she couldn't stay. The memories of the man from last night came back to her. All the mind control and brainwashing was waiting for her if they get her. She ran out of the university and was heading to her appartment but realized she might be followed. She just took another route trying to figure a way to get them of her trail.

She remembered she could speak into his mind but she didn't know where he was. He might not even be in New York anymore. She had to try anyway she could.

I need your help. HYDRA is after me. Please, help me.

She repeated those words over and over focusing on him, doing her best to send the message as far as she could. She looked at every people surrounding her trying to figure out if they were HYDRA agents coming for her.

She was walking in the opposite direction from her appartment, when she spotted the first suspicious person. She turned her eyes away but put her mind to work, something she didn't do for years.

Spin around three times.

The man didn't react nor spunned around. She knew he was an agent, she took the next right which was an alley. She started running when she was out of his sight. But what she didn't know was it was a cul-de-sac. When she turned the corner, she saw her mistake. She went back to where she came from only to see four man entering the alley. Her heart started to pound in her chest. She check the only two doors but they were locked from the inside. She heard their footsteps coming closer, almost running.

The four of them appeared around the corner, guns out, pointed directly at her. Her back was on the wall, there was nothing else she could do. She couldn't read their minds or play with it to change their mission, something was blocking her.

"You got yourself stuck, heh kitten?" One of them smirk, approaching her one step at a time.

A sudden light of hope enlighten her, she decided she wouldn't stay put and walked towards them.

"Stop it. Don't you come any closer." One of them shouted, looking more stressed out seeing her move, his gun ready to shoot her.

Her breathing became irradic and she pushed herself towards him. He got scared and shot multiple times at her.

Everything moved so fast, the bullets were coming for her. She stopped in a hurry, she lifted her arms to protect herself and waited for them to pierce her skin but nothing happened. She looked up and realized the agents were confused. She saw the bullets levitating inches in front of her hands. Nothing made sense. She flipped her hands towards her and the bullets fell on the floor.

The shock passed and the agents knew the only way to get her was to distract her. They all shot at her, ready to empty their ammunitions on her.

Something fell from the roof of the building, right in front of her, blocking the bullets, protecting her at the same time. The bullets ricocheted, emanating metallic sounds, towards the agents. One got hit and fell down on the ground. She looked at what was protecting her and saw a man, the one from last night.

"Hide!" He yelled before going straight for the remaining agents.

She couldn't move, she couldn't hide. All she did was watch him fight with his bare hands three men. They were shooting at him, trying to slow him down but no bullets hit him. He always managed to stop them with his left arm, which was a mystery for her.

He was punching and kicking left and right, hitting face, stomach, any parts of their bodies to put them out of the fight. One agent let go of his gun and he took advantage of it. He grabbed the gun and shot him dead. He turned to the one on his left and pulled the trigger but the gun was out of ammo. He threw the gun to his opponent's face, breaking his nose. The last HYDRA agent standing jumped on his back. He felt a hand grab his shirt from behind and he flew in the air. His head met the ciment wall and Robin heard a loud cracking noice. His body fell on the ground, dead.

Her savior was standing in the middle of them, catching his breath, when the agent with the broken nose grabbed his gun and pointed it straight at his opponent. She knew what was going to happen and she couldn't wrapped her head around it. She got up and lifted her hands.

"NO!" She screamed, getting the attention of his savior, who turned around to see the agent fly towards the garbage bin.

A invisible force pushed him, none of them knew how or why, but there was no time to think about it. He approached her and grabbed her arm.

"Come on, we gotta go. There's gonna be more coming. Come on."

He almost ran out of the alley, pulling her with him.

"How did you found me?"

"I just followed your voice."

"It worked? You heard me?"

"It was faint at first but the closer I got, the louder your voice was. And then, I saw HYDRA agents. I just followed them."

She saw him looking around, searching for something. He took the next left, crossing the street.

"Wait, where are you going? My appartment is this way."

"We can't go to your appartment. They found you at your school. They know where you live. They might have posted multiple agents near or in your building. Keeping an eye out for you." He pulled her closer to him, taking her left hand in his. "We need to leave the city."

Robin stopped suddenly.

"What are you doing? We gotta go. Now."

"My mom... They knew about her. And my dad... They know about my mom, they know where she lives. We gotta go and take her with us."

"We don't have time. They are not interested in her."

"But they might take her as levrage, to get to me. We HAVE to get my mom." The tears started to fill her eyes, fearing her mother was in danger. "If you don't want to come with me than I'll go alone."

He let out a loud growl. He knew HYDRA already had her mother, it was just a matter of time before they caught them with that bait. And they were going straight towards the trap.

"Fine!" He responded by passing his right hand over his face, unsure of the decision he just made. "Follow me."