My hearing was two days long. The first consisted of a lot of questions being answered. The second was going over the video evidence Tony found of my time at HYDRA.

Day 1

"Ms. Smith, do you feel remorse for the crimes you committed while at HYDRA?" A man in his sixties asked me.

"I hate that I had to do anything for HYDRA." I responded.

"That's not what I asked, Ms. Smith." The man responded.

"I know." I said before taking a deep breath. "All, but one, of the men I killed for HYDRA were dirty in some way. They were either future dictators, or they were profiting off of HYDRA." I explained.

"You said, 'all, but one', can you explain?"

"There was a..." I swallowed hard as I thought back to Prague and then the mangled, twisted corpse he became in my dream. "A witness. In my opinion, he's the only person I should be standing trial for." I sniffed and looked away from the board of people in front of me. "I didn't even know his name..." I said more for myself than anyone else.

"And what exactly did he witness that cost him his life?" A woman asked this time.

"He-Uhm," I started before clearing my throat and trying again. "He witnessed the Winter Soldier in action. He heard the words the Soldier spoke to our target." I replied.

"And that was enough for you to kill him?" She asked.

"Yes," I nodded as I stared off into the memory. "If I let him go, HYDRA would have killed him anyway, but they would also have killed the people he was with at the hotel and his immediate family as a safety measure."

"How would HYDRA have known?" The man in charge asked me.

"The Soldier had to recite the entire mission when asked by former Secretary Pierce. If I had let him go, the Soldier would had told Pierce. All that would have done is get the witness, his colleagues, and family killed, along with me. They would then have put the Winter Soldier back in the memory-" I froze at the thought of Bucky back in that chair. "Uhm- the- uhm- memory suppressant machine to wipe his mind again for not killing the witness himself."

"So you deemed this a necessary violence?"

"Unfortunately," I responded. "I deemed it the only choice I could make."

Day 2

I was sitting in front of the panel of board members as they collected the evidence given to them by Tony. It started off with an explanation and summary of what they would see on the video. It was a lot easier for me to explain the video in a summary than it was going to be to watch it.

Luckily, the video evidence was trimmed to just a few examples of my training over the past year and a half. Unluckily, it was the worst training days of my time at HYDRA.

I tried to watch the video of my stealth training without much of a reaction. The longer I watched, the more my mind tried to pull me back into the memories.

I did my best to stay in the present, but it was getting more and more challenging. My stomach started to roll when the video got to my teleportation training and I had to look away. I glanced over the boards faces to see them watching the video in absolute horror. Some even started looking at me with sympathy, which was good for my case, but not what I needed right now.

I wanted out of the room. I wanted away from the video and the horrified faces of those watching. I wanted to crawl into bed with Loki and shut out the world for awhile.

The thought of Loki gave me an idea. I closed my eyes and focused on the connection of the ring. If I focused hard enough, I could feel his life force. I could feel his steady heart beat.

But, when I tried to focus, I felt nothing. No pull, no tingly buzz of another persons life force. Nothing...

I started to panic as I thought of why I couldn't feel the pull of the ring.

1. I was too stressed to focus

But even when I was stressed I could feel the pull. So, I ruled that out.

2. There was nothing to feel from the ring because Loki was dead.

This one I excused quickly since Tony, or Steve, would have come to get me. Thor unfortunately had to go see Jane today since she hurt herself during an experiment and ended up in the hospital.

I saw Loki outside the UN hearing room I was in just a few hours ago and I knew he wouldn't leave me here alone. If something had happened, I would have heard something.

3. Loki took the ring off

This was the most likely of options, but I didn't know why he would take it off. The only reason I could think of was that he didn't want me to know where he was. I just didn't know why.

I was positive that he wouldn't leave me here and Tony, and Steve, would tell me if he left when lunch was called... unless they didn't know. As long as no one touched his illusion, it would look like he was actually there.

The only reason he would take the ring off was if he didn't want me to know where he was, or how close he was...

I quickly shifted in my chair to look over everyone's faces. I had been so focused on the UN board that I ignored the others in the room, which was what Loki was probably counting on.

Everyone behind me was either watching me or the video with a sympathetic look, so it wasn't one of them. I then turned back around and looked at the people standing behind the board members.

There... near the back wall, was a man whose facial expression did not match the others. Others looked on with horror, but not this man. This man looked angry.

"Stop the video!" I called out desperately, keeping my eyes locked on him. Everyone's eyes went to me, all except the very angry green ones I needed to look at me. The video was about to show how I got the large scar on my leg. It was the training drill where I teleported into the table.

"Something wrong, Ms. Smith?" The head of the UN board asked.

"I need you to stop the video, please." I repeated and glanced to him before looking back to Loki. "Or... call a recess?" I tried. "Please?"

Loki's eyes were glued to the screen. Watching as I teleported into the table. Watching as I was told to get up and walk to get myself patched up before I kept training.

I could feel his anger build as the weight of his magic settled in the air. I could feel it like a heavy blanket on my skin. It wasn't a nice feeling and I would be terrified if I didn't know what was happening. I could tell everyone else was getting antsy and nervous, the entire room felt unnerved.

The head of the UN board glanced at the other members and murmured something before clearing his throat and looking at me.

"Mr. Lare, could you turn the video off." He said to someone by the television. "Ms. Smith," he started and turned back to me. "I believe we have seen enough of your time at HYDRA. We will discuss and reach a decision by the end of the day."

"Thank you." I nodded. I should have been relieved that this was all about to be over, but I was more relieved by the fact that they turned the video off.

I looked back at Loki to see him already staring at me. He looked angry, more than angry, murderous, but I could tell it wasn't directed at me. I stayed seated as everyone started to vacate the room. My eyes never broke from Loki's rage filled ones.

Once almost everyone had left, I finally stood. Loki started toward me and looked like he was going to stop, but he didn't. He walked past me and straight out the door.

I clenched my jaw and grumbled to myself before turning and going after him.