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[abrightboy]

 This is Bright. Leave a message.

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[abrightboy]

“You didn’t try to save him? Then why were you looking for him? Didn’t doing that compromise your position?” Malcolm asks.

[bossyboiler]

"I looked for him. It's only because I didn't stop looking that I was brought into the fold and told the truth. They gave me a promotion to keep me quiet." Or to keep her complacent and manipulated. Either way, Kate continues to feel like the worst person. What makes her any different from Winter's handlers?

[abrightboy]

"So what could you have reasonably done instead?" Malcolm asks.

[bossyboiler]

"Not taken the promotion? Ran my mouth to anyone who'd listen and possibly ruin my life in the process."

[abrightboy]

"And what would that have accomplished?" Malcolm presses.

[bossyboiler]

"I don't know. Probably nothing. I maybe would have got labeled as insane. Definitely would have lost my job. Been an embarrassment to all that know me."

[abrightboy]

"And if you sacrificed all of that, would it have saved him?" Malcolm asks.

[bossyboiler]

"No. I don't know." She sits back down across from him.

[abrightboy]

He studies her face for a second.

"What does all this have to do with Winter?"

[bossyboiler]

"What doesn't it have to do with Winter? He was taken. Conditioned to do Gods know what, I don't want to think about it. He didn't ask for that. He didn't get to say yes. It was just done."

[abrightboy]

"Who by?" Malcolm asks curiously.

[bossyboiler]

"You mean Winter? I don't know. Not really." The name HYDRA has never been spoken aloud by either Yelena or Winter.

[abrightboy]

"Then why did you suddenly start having these thoughts? Something must have triggered them," Malcolm says logically.

[bossyboiler]

"Because for movie night, I picked the Iron Giant and it seemed to have upset Winter." Look. She had never seen or heard of the movie before. The librarian she rented it from had assured her that it was a good film and a must see.

[abrightboy]

"A movie about an alien robot being hunted by the government?" Malcolm says. He doesn't want to criticize her for just watching a movie but his face does suggest that maybe she should read the back of the box next time she's picking a movie. "Is he okay now?"

[bossyboiler]

"I didn't know, okay!" Maybe she should have done so but she feels bad enough already. She doesn't want Malcolm adding to her guilt. "It's hard to say with Winter, Malcolm."

[abrightboy]

"Do you want me to talk to him?" he asks.

[bossyboiler]

"No!" She answers that question very quickly. "I do not. This is private conversation between myself and you. It should never go beyond that." Her heart races. God, Malcolm. Please don't talk to Winter about this.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm holds up his hands.

"Okay, no problem. Then. Why did you want to talk to me about it? Just to get it off your chest? Oh, is that why you chose me? Because you don't like me but you do trust me not to blab?" he clarifies.

[bossyboiler]

"I do like you Malcolm, most of the time but every now and then you can be a real annoyance." Kate claps her hands together and then unclasps them. "I'm telling you because I do trust you not to blab and I need to tell you what happened next. I'm fairly certain that I fed my Entity because now I know something that most people don't."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm's eyebrows go up.

"What's the thing you know?"

[bossyboiler]

"I can't tell you. That would be a betrayal of trust." But oh how it feels good to know something that others don't. Kate smiles because the secret feels good to hold onto, to lord over. She knows something that only two other people know. She then frowns upon the realizing that it feels good. Even now, she's feeding the Eye. "Shit."

[abrightboy]

He sees the smile. He understands the significance.

He sees her realize it.

“You brought me here to feed on me.”

It’s not a question.

[bossyboiler]

"What?" She shakes her head. "No. Goddamnit. I did not. I came here to talk." But now she's not sure. She doubts herself. Maybe she had on a subconscious level. Maybe she had without even realizing it. "I wouldn't do that."

[abrightboy]

“Then why tell me you learned something interesting if you weren’t going to tell me what it was?” Malcolm challenges.