Juliette awoke to the sterile smell of a hospital, and the irritating beep of a heart monitor. Her mind automatically recognized the familiarity—HYDRA’s infirmary. She’d had to visit this place many times when she was younger. Her eyes fluttered open to catch the sight of an IV in her arm, and she let out a long, painful sigh. She slowly reached to rip it out, when—
"Ah, don’t do that, Agent Gray. It’s healing you."
Agent North entered her room with pursed lips, gently shutting the door behind her and sitting in the chair beside Juliette’s bed. “How are you feeling, dear?”
She should have felt like hell. She should have been hurting all over. She should have felt like she was going to die. But she didn’t. Whatever drugs they were giving her were working.
North gave another disgustingly warm smile that seemed completely out of place with her features. “Good. Now, if its not too soon, I’d love to inform you on that mission we’d talked about.” Juliette nodded once before the other woman continued. “Alright. We have an agent that’s gone rogue—we believe she’s even killed some of her own fellow HYDRA agents. We need you to exterminate her. Can you do that, Agent Gray?”
Juliette nodded again, and North handed her several files.
"She’s trying to hide from us, and she’s doing a very good job of it, but we believe that she’s been hiding out in very close proximity to SHIELD headquarters. You should be ready to go by this afternoon, if your healing pattern continues."
As North got up to leave, Juliette mulled over the files, eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. But…Ingrid? She couldn’t do this.
Just as she started to speak up, the other agent spoke for her.
"One more thing." North stood beside the door, looking over her shoulder at Juliette. "This agent—she’s the one that sold you out to SHIELD. She was seeking asylum with another agency and sought to gain their trust.Every single bit of torture—it was her fault. I thought you would want to be the one to eliminate her. That’s why I chose you."
