No copyright infringement intended.

Another story? Another Self-Insert? Why, you ask.

Why not?

-1-

The Asset froze as The Other commanded it to. Something was important. Had caught their attention.

At first, they thought it might have been a smell. Or a noise.

But then their wandering eyes lit upon a figure half-hidden in the shadows. She was sitting in the corner of a cafe, reading a book, and sipping some tea occasionally.

They knew her.

She was tall, taller than most women they could remember, with short, messy hair, and a pair of designer glasses perched on her nose. (How they knew that, they weren't sure. Must have been important for some sort of mission.)

They knew her.

By all appearances, they continued their surveillance, staking out the site of yet another murder mission.

Their handler must never know.

The Asset allowed the Other more freedom, seeking an explanation for who this woman was. She did not seem to be particularly important, nor much of a threat.

She was somewhat trained, but the muscles she had were from swimming to the almost certain exclusion of all else. She had not the musculature of an operative, much less a handler. There were scars, but nothing that hinted at combat. Not even an accident.

The glasses alone were a risk to herself.

Nevertheless, they could hardly steer their attention away from her.

They knew her.

And perhaps the Asset would have performed as well as usual the next day, would have added yet another name to the growing list of people they had killed in the name of HYDRA and a new world of peace – which the Other inwardly scoffed at – if they had not noticed the woman.

But they did. And that changed everything.