Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Winter Soldier’s mission had gone well. Target eliminated. On the quinjet back to base, the men who made up the Winter Soldier’s escort were in high spirits. They were talking and laughing while the Soldier sat, shackled to the wall and still bleeding. He’d been working solo and after a higher number of reinforcements than initially suspected, he’d been shot twice. No one had treated the wounds. The bullet was still in one. Shackled as he was, he couldn’t even tend to the wounds himself. That meant when they finally got back to base, the Soldier would be sent to the lab. 

As he suspected, an hour later, with his wounds already on the mend, he was escorted into the lab. Outwardly, he showed no signs of discomfort. Internally, he was preparing for whatever pain was to come. A visit to the lab never ended with just tending his wounds.

“Get it up on the table,” one of the two white-coated scientists said as the Soldier entered the bright lab with his armed escort.

“Soldier, on the table!” his handler barked.

Obediently, the Soldier walked over to the table and sat down. The scientists removed his shackles and then proceeded to strip him down. He was then forced back onto the customized table where several new shackles were snapped into place.

“You might as well go make your report, Rumlow,” the scientist with the bowtie said. 

“It’s only two bullets. I could remove them with my knife in seconds,” his handler growled.

“Yeah, but we have orders from on high,” the scientist with the thick glasses said with a sigh. “We’ve got a few experiments to run.”

“Fucking scientists and your fucking experiments.” His handler groaned. “Fine. Soldier, do not move from the table until I return. Come on Rollins, let’s hit the showers. You know how much I hate sand.”

“You hate everything, Rumlow.”

“That is a lie!”

“You hate cake! Who the fuck hates cake?”

The Soldier listened to his handler and Rollins argue as they retreated down the corridor. Once their voices were gone, he surreptitiously glanced at what Glasses and Bowtie were doing. Glasses was preparing some sort of injection as well as an IV. Bowtie was doing something on the computer. Based on what he could see, the Soldier figured this might take a while.

The scientists chatted while they secured the IV to the Soldier’s arm and injected him with an odd blue liquid. Once the IV was in place, they checked both bullet wounds and had to cut open one wound to remove the bullet. They didn’t use anesthesia.

“So, what exactly are we pumping into our highly volatile weapon this time?” Bowtie asked. “Something fun? Or do they just want to see if he can fight off something else, like when they asked us to expose him to scarlet fever?” The Soldier didn’t remember that.

“Don’t know,” Glasses said with a shrug. “Just an order from above. Secure the Soldier, pump this shit into its veins and make sure it doesn’t die.”

“I mean, can he die?” Bowtie asked. “He recovers from anything not immediately fatal.”

“I don’t ask questions,” Glasses said as he jotted something down on a clipboard. “You shouldn’t either.”

“Sheesh,” Bowtie said with a huff. “Hey, Soldier, what’s—”

“Stop it!” Glasses shouted. “Don’t talk to it.”

“Why not?” Bowtie said as he stepped over to the table. He placed two fingers on the Soldier’s metal arm. “He’s shackled down. Even the metal arm can’t break through this.”

“For the last time, it’s not a he. It’s a weapon. Get that straight. If Rumlow hears you call it a he, he might shoot you,” Glasses said.

“Fine. Whatever you say.” Bowtie gave a sloppy salute. “I’ll start the report.”

After that, the Soldier was left in relative silence. Both scientists started tapping away at their computers. The Soldier could feel whatever was in that IV seeping into his veins and bringing heat with it. The heat spread and started to burn. He grit his teeth, holding back any signs of discomfort. The pain just got worse. Soon, it started to interfere with his senses and eventually his thoughts.

He lost himself in the pain. Lost any sense of time or place. He blinked and the bright lab morphed into a darker version of a lab. There was a sound, a sort of pulse, in his ears.

Thump thump. Thump thump. Thu-thump thump. Thump thump.

What was that? Was it… words? Was someone talking? The Soldier strained to look around, but he was shackled securely and could only move his eyes enough to verify there was no one in the lab. Well, no one in the dark lab. The Soldier was currently existing in two places at once: the dark lab, where he was alone, and the bright lab, where Glasses and Bowtie were tapping away at their computers.

The thumping was a voice but the Soldier was fairly certain it wasn’t a real voice. At least not one the scientists could hear. That did not bode well for the Soldier. If he admitted to it, and he would have to answer truthfully if asked, it would mean immediate recalibration. Still, he couldn’t do anything about it. So, he focused on the voice instead of the pain. It was scratchy and after listening for a while, the Soldier realized it was repeating.

Thump thump. Thump thump. Thu-thump thump. Thump thump.

Sometimes it sped up or slowed down but it was always the same repetition. He focused harder.

Thump thump. Five five. Thu-thump thump. Thump thump.

The repetition of the two sounds allowed him to decipher the words. Five five? Two numbers? Were they the only two numbers or was it a string? Listening for numbers, he concentrated again.

Three Thump. Five five. Thu-thump oh. Three eight.

Definitely a string of numbers. After a dozen more repetitions, he finally deciphered the string.

Three two. Five five. Seven oh. Three eight.

Once he’d deciphered it, it was utterly obvious what was being said and he couldn't not hear the numbers anymore. 

Someone entered the dark lab. The Soldier strained to glance over. The man was short and wore a lab coat and glasses. The Soldier felt like he should recognize this man but his memory had always been unreliable. The sneering, little man approached the table and looked down at the Soldier.

“Good evening, Sergeant Barnes.” After hearing the voice from above him, he realized that the string of numbers was being said by the Soldier, or at least whoever was laying where the Soldier was.

“Sergeant James Barnes. Three two. Five five. Seven oh. Three eight,” replied the same voice that had been repeating the string of numbers.

None of this made any sense to the Soldier. He didn’t know this scientist. He didn’t know this lab and he didn’t know who the hell Sergeant Barnes—

Oh. Fuck. The Soldier was Sergeant Barnes. Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes with the 107th. Howling Commando and—

The flood of information that followed was more painful than the fire raging through his body and the Soldier—no, James—finally gave in and screamed.

The labs around him wavered and the dark lab faded away to reveal both Glasses and Bowtie on their feet and standing beside the table.

“What the hell happened?!” Bowtie shouted. No, not Bowtie. Clark. That scientist's name was Clark. The Soldier—dammit, James —remembered that. He remembered it all.

“I don’t know!” Glasses—Martin—answered tersely. “The boss wanted to make the Soldier better! Said this stuff would do it! What’re its vitals?!”

“Off the charts, even for him,” Clark tapped at the keyboard quickly. “Maybe this is supposed to happen?”

James was both in agony and felt fantastic at the same time. His entire body was on fire but every sense was sharper than ever before. His pain was offset by a fierce desire to move. Fueled by rage this time, he howled again. As he roared, he writhed against the shackles. The ones securing the metal arm didn’t budge. The single one around his flesh arm creaked warningly. 

A split second passed. James made eye contact with Martin and then put everything he had against the restraints holding his flesh arm. The shackles buckled. Then his arm was free. He grabbed Martin’s throat and crushed. Clark moved toward the place where James knew an alarm was hidden.

“If you hit that alarm,” James coughed out, “I will take my time killing you.”

Clark paused with his hand on the button. “You’re still restrained—”

James interrupted him by grabbing the heavy metal cuff around his metal arm with his flesh hand. Then, using the strength of both arms, he tore free. It took only a few more moments for James to be completely free and roll off the table. Clark still hadn’t hit the button. James locked eyes with him.

“I’m dead either way,” Clark said and pushed the button. The alarm blared and James grabbed Clark by the head and shattered his skull against the wall. His time was limited but the fire inside had worn down with the exertion. The dull heat was no longer agony.

A quick glance around the room revealed the Winter Soldier’s bloody armor in a heap on the floor. It would have to do. There were no weapons though. But the Winter Soldier didn’t need a weapon to be deadly. By the time he was geared up, he could hear the HYDRA soldiers in the hallway. Before they burst in, James took a moment to shake his head and clear his mind. His senses were running in overdrive. He could smell the aftershave on two different men in the hall. He could smell the stench of cigarettes wafting off Rollins. He could hear a dozen panicked heartbeats. It was nearly too much. He focused and brought up the cold detachment of the Winter Soldier. Then he laced that icy determination with his burning rage.

HYDRA had half a dozen different Winter Soldier containment protocols. But they all boiled down to either trigger words or doing enough damage to the Soldier to get him off his feet. The damage came in many forms: bullets, caustic gas, cattle prods, explosives. Anything goes, really. Before the lab door was kicked in, they went with the less violent option.

James heard the lab’s PA system crackle to life. “Sputnik!” The word rolled over James like oil, slimy and uncomfortable, but the feeling eventually passed. James grinned maliciously and kicked his way through the lab door and out into the hallway. STRIKE Alpha was thoroughly surprised. 

Rumlow—James refused to refer to that sadist as handler ever again—tried for the safer tactic a second time. “Желание!” he called out the Russian word and James only staggered because he expected to. There was no compulsion behind the word. But his stagger made STRIKE Alpha relax. “Ржавый!” The second word did nothing and James used the advantage to charge into melee range with the STRIKE team. 

It was over quickly. STRIKE Alpha may have trained with the Winter Soldier. They may have considered themselves the foremost authorities on the Winter Soldier. But they had never once had to deal with the Winter Soldier when he had truly slipped his leash. The Russians might have managed to contain him. They knew what the Winter Soldier was really capable of and the measures that had to be taken when he went wild. But this wasn’t Russia.

It only took a single strike to end each member of the STRIKE team. A blow to the head or chest with the metal arm was fatal. He only pulled one punch, breaking ribs instead of pulping organs. James hauled up the broken body of Rumlow and pinned him against the wall. If he’d had time, James would have made this last, but he didn’t. The base was already alerted and they had probably initiated a lockdown.

“Семнадцать…” Rumlow barely managed to cough out the third trigger word.

“Your Russian is terrible,” James drawled. 

Rumlow’s eyes widened a bit, likely at the entirely out-of-character answer from the Winter Soldier. “Go to hell…” Rumlow, eloquent as always.

James gave him a predatory grin. “You first.” He killed Rumlow with his own knife. The knife that he liked to tell stories about, elaborating on all the horrible things he’d done with it.

With STRIKE Alpha dead, more men would be on the way. But wouldn’t you know it, Rumlow and his men were kind enough to bring an entire arsenal right to James. He took the time to arm himself. The gear was familiar, all HYDRA standard issue. He took every knife, except the one he left in Rumlow, half a dozen handguns and an assault rifle along with all the spare ammo he could fit into his gear, which was a lot.

James knew the base was already in lockdown. The minute Clark hit that particular alarm, it had been initiated. The lockdown was to keep the Winter Soldier contained long enough to get him back under control or for backup to arrive. He was stuck inside, fully armed, in control of his mind and surrounded by the people who’d been torturing him for decades. 

James rampaged. He killed everyone. Soldiers, scientists, researchers; they all died violently. James knew this base. Over the years and between various mind wipes, he’d seen it all. Now, with everything back in place in his mind, he fit the pieces together and knew the full layout of the base. As he started clearing floors, he realized that whatever it was Martin had injected him with had somehow, inadvertently, fixed his memory. Not only that, but the two bullet wounds were gone. Not even a scar left behind. On top of that, James could now hear the panicked heartbeats of the scientists hiding in their labs. He had no idea if this was permanent or how long it would last. He was stronger and faster. He needed to use that advantage while he had it. In less than an hour, James was fairly certain that he was the only thing left alive in the base. Well, him and the dozen or so weird color-changing lizards he’d found in one of the labs. He didn’t kill them but he did let them out of their cages. There was something to be said for prisoner solidarity.

James’s second step was to properly arm himself. He headed to the Winter Soldier’s armory and proceeded to get himself battle ready. Once fully armed, he grabbed one of the STRIKE helmets from the adjacent armory. The Winter Soldier was always sent out without a helmet. Who sent an operative out without a helmet? James was a sniper. He’d be practically giddy whenever some macho idiot decided to take to the field without a helmet. 

Next, he managed to find a few laptops in the labs and a few portable hard drives. He set the entire contents of the base’s mainframe to download while he skimmed the files. He pulled up a few files on this particular base. Apparently, he was in New Jersey. Ew. Some decidedly Brooklyn part of him cringed at that. This base was some sort of special weapons repository for SHIELD. It took a bit of digging to find out that SHIELD was the reimaginings of the SSR and absolutely infested with HYDRA. That explained a lot. Over the years, he noticed that sometimes he worked for SHIELD and sometimes against. Well, now he knew why. It wasn’t just SHIELD that was corrupt, either. There were reports marked with FBI, CIA and several other alphabet soup agencies, including organizations in other countries, like the British MI6 and the Russian FSB. Fuck, how far had HYDRA spread?

He wanted to dig further into the files but also wanted to check the Vault. That was where HYDRA kept its weapons projects. He left the files to download and headed to the Vault. Even though it was called the Vault, it wasn’t actually a vault. It was just a large and very organized storage room. It turned out whoever was the stickler for organization extended that to not only properly categorizing all the weapons but also including basic information on the item in the same box.

There were a lot of boxes to go through and while he was only looking for one particular item, James couldn’t help opening most of the boxes. He found all manner of wild and creative weapons, each with proper documentation. 

Pyrrhic Gauntlet: It was a ridiculous looking weapon, all wires and tubes that you had to stick your whole arm inside to fire. The documents were labeled with huge red warnings: KILLS USER UPON FIRING. Yeah, not interested.

Tesseract Cannon: This one James recognized and he nearly dropped the lid when he cracked open the box. He’d seen a lot of these during World War Two. According to the documentation, it was here because there was no ammunition to be found for it. There was a note, however, indicating where more of the cannons were located and that attempts were being made to refine more ammo. Did that mean HYDRA had the Tesseract? During the war, James had seen the unsettling blue cube a few times. Even touched the thing, not that he’d wanted to. That bastard Zola had pressed the damn thing against his chest, all the while talking about Vita rays. He’d thought he heard it was aboard the Valkyrie when—

James cut off the thought and went back to the boxes. Now was not the time. If he was going to survive and stay free, he needed every edge.

Tellor rifle: James didn’t need to read the notes on this one (but he did anyway). The Tellor Rifle was a Stark Industries gem. It was one of the most powerful sniper rifles the Winter Soldier had ever had the pleasure of wielding. According to the notes, it was here so the research and development team could reverse-engineer it in order to replicate it, since Stark Industries no longer produced weapons. James hung the heavy rifle over his shoulder. He wouldn’t be able to fight with it there, it was actually taller than him, but he was not leaving it behind. If he needed to fight, the Tellor was sturdy enough that he could throw it clear.

Ah, there was what he’d been looking for!

Photostatic Cloak: It was a sort of short cape. One side was darkened fabric and the other side was glossy white. There were wires running through the fabric and James knew from having tested it himself that this cloak provided active camouflage. It was a sniper’s wet dream. It wasn’t large, barely big enough to cover him from the waist up, but used effectively, he could become invisible.

He pilfered everything he wanted from the Vault, but only what he could carry while leaving his hands free.

It was time for James to make his escape. He had a couple ideas. He assumed it would take a few more hours for HYDRA to mount enough forces to take him down. It had only been two hours so far. He could wait until they came in. HYDRA had been completely reliant on the trigger words to control their Soldier for a long time. He suspected they didn’t even know he’d managed to overcome them yet. They would probably start with that. But waiting left him vulnerable to whatever surprise they put together. 

James gathered every explosive in the armory. He used his considerable knowledge of the base to rig it to implode. He spared a few explosives to make sure the Recalibration Chair and the cryo unit got a properly explosive send off as well. He even went so far as to find the combustibles in the labs and add them to the mix. He rigged the main blast door last.

Fully armed, with a backpack full of stolen hard drives and experimental tech, James hit the detonator about three hours after he’d broken his chains. He’d rigged a cascading blast that would take out the blast door and give him six seconds to get out before the hallway collapsed behind him and the charges deeper inside the base went off in succession. He rushed out though the blast door and into the ambush he was expecting; thirty men against the Winter Soldier. He kept the fight contained in the warehouse. Oh, except that guy, he was now outside, but dead, so still contained.

When the fight was over, James stood amid a field of bodies. Blood had long since soaked through his armor, gunpowder tickled his nose and his ears were still ringing from the gunshots and explosions. He looked around.

This was the Winter Soldier’s—the fist of HYDRA’s—gruesome artwork. James was free, his mind was his own, yet still, still, he was the Winter Soldier. Still, he fell back on HYDRA’s orders. Decades he’d followed orders to kill, for both HYDRA and the US Army. So deeply ingrained was that mindset that even free, he’d fallen back on it. He’d killed, down in that base and up here on the surface. Not just in self-defense. Some of those scientists had begged. It was revenge and murder, bloody and feral. HYDRA had turned him into a monster. There was no doubt about that. But while they held his leash, he was contained and directed. He followed orders. He didn’t rage through the streets, gorged on bloodlust. Without those orders, he had rampaged. If he walked away from this battlefield, would he just be unleashing another monster on the world?

James looked down at his blood-soaked hands. Maybe he should end it. Kill a monster and save the world. HYDRA was still out there. Another monster that needed to be slain. Is that what he needed to do? Pit monster against monster and watch them destroy each other? James was fairly certain there was nothing left in him worth saving. He was more monster than man. This warehouse full of corpses proved it. The question was, where did he go from here?

He wanted HYDRA to pay. If nothing else, the world shouldn’t have to suffer with that parasite for a moment longer. If James embraced the monster, maybe he could manage it. He could fight HYDRA. He could use every trick they’d taught him to make the rivers run red. It wouldn’t be easy. He’d have to kill thousands, tens of thousands. He would become synonymous with death. Civilians would be caught in the crossfire but HYDRA would burn. The cost would be his humanity, or rather, what tattered pieces of it remained. There would be nothing left of James Buchanan Barnes after that. And once HYDRA was gone, would he be able to stop? Would there be someone strong enough to put him down if he couldn’t? Would he become a threat worse than HYDRA?

What if he killed the monster, right here, right now? Slayed the monster to save the man. No more killing. Find another way. What else was there? People like HYDRA didn’t just stop if you asked them nicely. Death was the only way to guarantee it. Was it even possible to stop them without killing them? Even if he found irrefutable evidence of HYDRA’s crimes, was there anyone left to turn it over to? Would anyone seek justice? Or was the corruption too far-reaching? With HYDRA so widespread, would it be possible to turn the branches of HYDRA against themselves? Could he bring the world together against HYDRA?

James stood in the warehouse full of corpses, looking down at his hands. He was at a crossroads. On one metal hand was the monster, feral and bloodthirsty. On the other flesh hand was James Buchanan Barnes, the man, desperate and determined. He needed to make a choice. Whichever he embraced, he needed to commit to it fully. Blurring the line would render both of them ineffective. Monster or man. Time to choose.

Chapter Text

Nicholas Joseph Fury had never thought he would lead one of the biggest and most effective intelligence organizations in the world. But he’d come to terms with that a few years ago. He’d worked for it and then he’d gotten it. What he could not come to terms with was that that organization, SHIELD, was crumbling around him and it was all thanks to a goddamned ghost.

He could trace everything back to a single point in time, June 1st, 2010, at exactly 7:42 pm, Eastern Daylight Time. That was when Nick got the text.

Hill: Outpost Scythe destroyed. No survivors.

Nick stopped what he was doing. He put down his coffee and reread the text.

“What the everloving fuck?” he said into the empty office. He hit the call button. “What the everloving fuck, Hill?!” he yelled when the call connected.

“The situation is developing, sir,” Deputy Director Maria Hill explained. “So far, Scythe is a write-off. No survivors and the entire facility was brought down on itself.”

“Scythe. That’s the one in New Jersey?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What kind of casualties are we looking at?”

“Nothing confirmed, but STRIKEs Alpha and Epsilon were on site. The base was staffed with nearly 200 people.”

“Jesus,” Nick whispered under his breath. “What are we looking at? Foreign or domestic threat?”

“No idea, sir. Right now, we can’t even tell if the base was brought down by an ICBM or a gas leak.”

“Alright, get me a jet. I’m on my way.”

Nick arrived in the little town of Maplewood, New Jersey an hour later. The SHIELD base Scythe was located underground, beneath an empty warehouse on the very edge of town. The quinjet set down in a nearby field and Nick headed across the street to the warehouse. There were dozens of SHIELD agents running around, apparently directionless. Other than the mess of agents, there was nothing to say the area was compromised. Well, that was until Nick stepped into the warehouse.

The cavernous interior looked like a warzone. There were blast marks on the walls, hundreds of shell casings on the ground and bodies littered everywhere. The massive slabs of concrete that concealed the entrance to the base were open, leaving a hole in the ground filled with rubble. Nick took in the scene as Hill approached him.

“What's the situation, Hill?” Nick asked as his eye trailed over the bodies.

“Still coming together, sir,” Hill began. “We haven’t gotten into the base yet. Our analysts have looked over the warehouse and made a few interesting discoveries. According to them, all these agents were arranged facing the entrance to the base. The majority of the bullets were fired toward the entrance.”

“So, they were trying to stop something from leaving?” Nick asked.

“That’s the guess. Medical says all the agents were killed mundanely, with bullets, knives or blunt-force trauma. Based on the injuries, we’re probably looking for one human or something human-shaped.”

“One person?!” Nick turned to Hill in surprise. “One person did this?”

“Fury!” Nick looked over and saw Romanoff and Barton coming into the warehouse. Romanoff was waving a tablet in her hand. “I’d say I told you so, but I really wish I’d been wrong,” Romanoff finished as she joined Nick and Hill.

“Romanoff,” Nick greeted her. “What do you have?”

“Clint and I were canvassing the area. There’s a little dive bar on the edge of Maplewood. Based on the type of place it was we didn’t expect much, but we looked at their security system anyway.”

Barton continued the explanation, “I’m not exactly sure how a place like that affords 4K Ultra HD security cameras with a motion sensor perimeter but I’m not about to ask why after what we found.”

“Which is?” Nick pushed.

Romanoff held the tablet up so all four of them could see it. After a few taps, a video started to play. It was a single camera’s night-vision feed. The scene showed the edge of the parking lot and the forest beyond it. The parking lot was empty and the whole image was still.

“There.” Romanoff pointed to a spot in the forest. Nick looked closer and eventually noticed movement, likely only because of the very high resolution of the camera. After a few moments, the movement became a person with a staggering gait. Finally, the person reached the last tree and stopped. He reached out a shiny arm to brace against the tree and seemed to take a moment to breathe. Nick scanned the man, black tactical gear, black mask, goggles, helmet, bristling with weapons, massive rifle on his back. He looked like an assassin. That shiny arm and mask were the only distinguishing features. After a full minute, the man stood up straight again and looked around. He had to be 30 feet from the camera, but Nick knew when he looked right at it. He raised the shiny hand and gave a quick wave. Then, in a lightning-fast move, he drew a pistol and the camera flared white.

“Nick, allow me to introduce you to the Winter Soldier,” Romanoff said grimly.

“That’s the Winter Soldier?” Nick asked as Hill took the tablet and rewatched the video.

“The helmet’s new, but the rest looks the same as he did in Odessa.”

“You’re telling me one man destroyed Scythe?” Hill scoffed at the idea.

“No.” Romanoff shook her head. “I’m telling you he was here. That’s all this video confirms.”

“I got a question.” Barton broke into the conversation. “Bringing down a base like this takes time. So, why didn’t we get an SOS from Scythe?”

“What do you mean?” Nick asked.

“First reports of the attack were from the local 911 dispatcher,” Hill explained. “Some civilians saw the smoke and called it in. Once the local PD saw the scene, they called us.”

“Someone hit the base,” Barton thought aloud, “did something, then came out. These guys tried to stop them, but lost. That means time passed and Scythe didn’t send out any signs of distress or calls for backup.”

“Maybe their communications were interrupted?” Hill suggested.

“There are 30 men here.” Romanoff gestured around the warehouse. “Surely they could have sent one person into town to make a call.”

They didn’t get answers. The consensus was that the Winter Soldier had somehow breached the base, set charges and then escaped. Nick assigned people to begin excavating the base, hoping to find some answers. 

A week went by, during which he was blissfully unaware that the downward spiral had already begun. It was another text that brought the bad news.

Hill: Sir, please report to the server room. You’ll want to see this in person.

Grumbling, Nick left his office and took the elevator all the way down to the lowest level of the Triskelion. Once there, he found a whole slew of agents. He headed to server access and began the five-minute process of getting through the security system. He stepped through the last door and into the cold and expansive heart of SHIELD. There were stacks of servers and wires everywhere. He walked past them all toward the computer access point on the far wall where Hill and Romanoff were waiting. They were staring at the computer intently and blocking the view.

“Isn’t this an IT problem, Hill?” he asked as he approached.

“Not quite, sir.” Hill turned toward him and Nick could see the computer when she did. The computer’s screen was black. On top of the monitor was an object that seemed very out of place. It was a snow globe about as big as his fist. Inside, there were a few trees and a little wolf.

“Cute,” Nick said.

Hill and Romanoff shared a look. 

“It wasn't here yesterday,” Hill said. “Jenkins sounded the alarm when he checked the cameras this morning. We checked everything and all we found was the snow globe and this.” Hill brought up the tablet and played a ten-second clip. It was just an image of the server room from one of the cameras with absolutely no movement. At the five-second mark, the snow globe just appeared. One frame, it wasn’t there and the next it was.

“That’s it?” Nick asked.

“That’s it,” Hill answered.

“What are we thinking?” Nick demanded.

“I think it’s the Winter Soldier,” Romanoff said as she looked at the snow globe. “But he’s never left a calling card before. So, I almost want to say copycat but…”

“But what?” Nick asked.

Romanoff looked up at him. “But I don’t know any other operatives who could do this.”

That made the Winter Soldier the catalyst that sent everything straight to hell. It started slow. First, a few SHIELD agents were arrested in France when their cover was blown. The French authorities didn’t take kindly to Americans operating in their country without permission. Then Nick started losing agents to the police. Agents started to get arrested at their homes for crimes unrelated to espionage. One apparently had killed his ex-wife, another was smuggling drugs. The list went on and on, getting more extensive every day. SHIELD looked into it—it was all true. And somehow, Nick had missed it.

SHIELD started getting tips about foreign agents working on American soil. They were true as well. The worldwide intelligence community was more active and volatile than it had been since the Cold War. There were firefights between agencies, longtime friends shooting at each other, bitter enemies working together. Every day, something shifted.

Sometimes, Nick thought it felt like the whole world was a game board. Every intelligence agency was playing. Everyone had their pieces in place and made cautious and tentative moves, while keeping their plans to themselves. Seemingly at random, someone would step in and sweep all of a country’s pieces off the board. The country would scramble to get their pieces back on the board while everyone else would scramble to adjust their own pieces. When it was over, some of the pieces were broken, some were on the wrong sides, some were in the wrong places, some were missing entirely. 

Nick felt like he was at war with himself. That SHIELD was fighting itself just as hard as it was fighting the rest of the world.

Over a year after the Winter Soldier had been spotted at Scythe, Nick and Hill finally spotted a pattern.

“Operation Paperclip,” Hill sighed. 

Sitting in the office of the director in the Triskelion, Nick and Hill were discussing how to turn things around when the conversation turned back to how things had gotten so messy in the first place. 

“Contrary to what you might think, that was a little before my time, Hill,” Nick said. “Enlighten me.”

“The US government recruited over 1600 Nazi scientists. Some of those scientists ended up in SHIELD,” Hill explained. “We’ve been trying to connect all the agents who got exposed or killed. It’s not all of them, but most of them worked with those scientists.”

“Okay, if we’ve found the pattern, can we follow it?” Nick asked.

“Maybe,” Hill said as she sat back in her chair. “We’re looking now but every lead we follow is already cold. Either someone was arrested, killed or is missing in action or a base is empty, on fire or in ruins.” Hill hesitated for a moment. “We might have one lead.”

“What?”

“Camp Lehigh.”

“Camp Lehigh? That place has been abandoned for years.”

“Maybe, but it’s still standing. For the moment.”

Nick considered that. He also considered his dwindling pool of reliable agents. “Send STRIKE Delta.”

“Just Delta?”

“Just Delta.”

Hill sent STRIKE Delta. While they waited, Nick and Hill discussed what operations they could continue and what they’d have to scale back. 

“Operation Valkyrie?” Hill asked.

“Useless, if you ask me,” Fury sighed. “But Stark’s still footing the bill. Have Coulson keep an eye on it.”

“What about the helicarrier?”

“Keep on that. Pull people from PEGASUS if you need to until it’s operational.”

“The Avengers Initiative?”

“I’ll handle that personally.”

“What about—” 

Nick’s phone ringing interrupted Hill. He tapped it to accept the call. “Ro—”

Romanoff yelling into the phone interrupted Nick. “Camp Lehigh is now officially a smoking crater. Thanks to the Winter Soldier.” She coughed a few times after she finished. Nick thought he could hear snapping and popping in the background, like something was on fire.

“What the hell happened?” he demanded.

“When Clint and I got here, it was still standing. We were poking around when the Winter Soldier politely asked us to leave.”

“He attacked you?” Nick asked, reading between the lines.

“Did I say that?!” Romanoff sounded frustrated and exhausted. “No. I didn’t. I said he politely asked us to leave. He did. We shot at him but he didn’t shoot back. He lured us outside then blew the base. We have no idea where he is and we aren’t going to be able to track him anytime soon. My ears are still ringing and I’m seeing stars. Clint’s in the same state. We’ll be in tomorrow to make a full report. And send a crew. This place is still on fire.” The line went dead.

“Well, I’d say that confirms it,” Nick said into the silence left behind after Romanoff’s angry echo faded away. “The Winter Soldier is running this game.”

Fury tried to save SHIELD. He did everything he could to keep operations going, even after losing almost half of his staff. When New York was attacked, he had almost nothing he could lend to its defense. Nothing, except the Avengers Initiative.

Chapter Text

Logan never really expected his life to lead him here. Considering he didn’t remember a lot of his life, that probably didn’t mean much. Still, here was the swankiest and most exclusive prep school on the east coast. And somehow, Logan was a teacher. Yeah, he still laughed whenever he thought about it. But it was true, somehow.

Rather than playing pool in some dive bar, throwing back brewskies like tap water, here he was, in the common room of a mansion worth more money than he could really imagine, surrounded by teenagers and drinking root beer. Root beer. What had his life come too? Well, at least it was cold.

He took another swig of the sugary drink and eyed the pool table. He leaned down against the table to line up his shot as the early autumn breeze picked up and blew through the room. Before he could take his shot, he caught a scent on the wind. It was faint, barely there, but subtly familiar. He tipped his head up and sniffed the air. Stronger, tickling his memory. When it finally clicked, he heard the pool cue snap like a twig in his hands.

“Uh… Logan?” Bobby asked from the other side of the table. “Something wrong?”

Oh, there was so much wrong right now. Without moving from his position of still leaning against the pool table, Logan scanned the room: a dozen kids, open windows, clear lines of sight. They were fucked. Royally fucked if who Logan was smelling was actually nearby.

Carefully, Logan set down the splintered pool cue. “Bobby,” Logan began, “go find Scott. Tell him to initiate a lockdown. I’ll deal with this.”

“But Logan—”

“Go!” Logan’s loud growl silenced the room. He didn’t have time to be kind; if he could smell him, he was close enough to shoot. Logan wasn’t sure why he hadn’t opened fire yet. His harsh tone was enough and Bobby ran off. The other students followed and Logan headed out of the mansion.

He knew these grounds. He’d explored every inch of them. He knew the forests and the ponds. He knew the best lines of sight. He knew the extensive security Hank had in place. It was sophisticated; top of the line but utterly useless against who might be in the woods tonight.

Logan followed the scent. That in itself probably meant he was walking into an ambush. This guy was far too good to accidentally pick a spot upwind to shoot from. He stalked slowly, carefully, straining every sense, trying to pick out a heartbeat or a breath in the quiet woods. It was a footstep behind him that eventually alerted Logan and he whirled around, extending his claws with a loud snikt in the quiet night.

Terror dripped down Logan’s spine when he realized he’d been right. Standing before him in the woods was the Winter Soldier in all his terrible glory. He was armed to the teeth. His metal arm, the metal arm that even Logan’s claws couldn’t cut through, was somehow blackened. If Logan was going to win this fight and protect the school from the massacre that was about to occur, he needed to act first. Logan went to lunge and saw the Winter Soldier raise both hands in surrender.

Logan wasn’t an idiot. The Winter Soldier wasn’t just a legendary assassin. He was also a legendary spy. Logan would not be fooled or accept a false surrender. So he lunged, and only just managed to stop his claws from digging into squishy flesh when the Winter Soldier didn’t dodge. With one claw resting on the Soldier’s flesh shoulder and the other’s tips against the heart guard in the Soldier’s bulletproof vest, the Soldier spoke.

“I’m not here to fight.”

Logan just stared at the guy’s goggles as neither one of them moved. “I don’t believe you,” he snarled back.

“You don’t need to believe me. Just listen.” The Soldier’s voice was quiet and calm. Logan knew that like this, he could kill him in an instant. But maybe that was the Soldier's plan. The guy had always lacked a sense of self-preservation. Logan had no idea what was going on. Killing the Winter Soldier could lead him into some sort of trap. He couldn’t underestimate the Soldier. He’d take a chance.

“Talk then,” he growled.

“I’ve come with information. Six bases worldwide, conducting immoral and illegal experimentation on enhanced individuals,” the Winter Soldier said. “This… school is a safe haven. You protect your own. Maybe you would protect them, too.” The two of them kept staring at each other. “There is a flash drive in my pocket. Can I reach for it?”

This was a terrible idea. The Winter Soldier was obviously baiting Logan with something he knew Logan couldn’t resist. “Slow,” Logan said. “Don’t move the metal arm.”

The Winter Soldier gave a minimal nod and lowered his flesh hand enough to reach into his pocket. Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, he pulled out a flash drive. Then he held it between them. “The information is encrypted. The cipher is the name of the city where we had our first encounter.”

“Now what?” Logan growled. “I take that drive and then… what? Let you go?”

“Consider this a tentative step toward non-aggression.”

“You think I’d let you go? You’re a monster. I’ve seen you in action.”

The Winter Soldier tilted his head back to look up at the starry sky above them. “For the first time in a very long time, my mind is my own. Department X has no hold over me. If you want to kill me, fine. At least I’ll die free. Otherwise, let me go. It’s not just enhanced individuals that these people are exploiting.”

“I don’t believe you,” Logan said. Maybe he wanted to believe him, but the risk was far too high. Logan knew some of the things the Winter Soldier had done and what he was capable of still. If he didn’t take the chance to kill him now, anyone the Winter Soldier killed was on Logan’s head.

“Do you remember the dam?” the Winter Soldier asked. “Because I do.” Logan tilted his head in confusion. The dam? What dam? He scanned the memories of his interactions with the Winter Soldier. None had been at a dam. But… he did remember a dam. It was vague, only brief flashes. At the time, Logan’s mind was in pieces. He’d barely been coherent enough to escape. “I killed them all,” the Winter Soldier continued, still staring at the sky. “Most of the experiments were too far gone. But one was still fighting. I had orders to bring in any survivors.” The Winter Soldier finally looked back down at Logan. “I reported no survivors and unlocked the cage.” Logan just stared at the Winter Soldier. The memories of his escape were spotty. But he did remember his cell door unlocking suddenly and the dam being nothing but a graveyard during his escape. “I did not remember until recently. Department X was always good at manipulating the mind.”

Logan didn’t know what to believe at this point. “Prove it.”

“How?”

Logan shook his head viciously trying to clear the memories. “I don’t know!”

The Winter Soldier, still with adamantium claws on his shoulder and against his chest, looked pensive for a moment. “James,” he said quietly. “That was the name on the files I destroyed. I thought it was familiar at the time. I know now that I share that name. James Howlett. I think that was your name.”

Logan didn’t know if he believed that. The name didn’t sound familiar. “What would you do if I let you go?”

The Winter Soldier shook his head. “No more killing.”

“Then why all the weapons?”

“Intimidation is a useful tactic.”

Logan had already made the decision. He just hadn’t realized it yet. It didn’t surprise him though; he was always too sentimental for his own good. He snapped his claws back and took a step back. “I think I believe you, Winter Soldier.”

The Winter Soldier twitched in place, still keeping his movements to the bare minimum. “I told you; my name is James.”

Logan snorted. “Don’t make me regret this, James.”

The Winter Soldier cocked his head to the side. “What is life? If not a series of regrets?” He flicked the flash drive into the air and disappeared by the time Logan had caught it. Shit. What the hell had he just done?

By the time Logan walked back to the mansion, the faculty was on high alert. 

“Logan!” Scott called when he stepped out of the woods. “What’s going on?”

“I was just playing hide-and-seek in the woods with the world’s most infamous assassin,” Logan said nonchalantly as he tossed the flash drive into the air and caught it again.

“Where are they now?” Scott asked.

“Long gone, I bet.”

Later, in the more secure base beneath the mansion, Logan elaborated while surrounded by the rest of the X-Men.

“So, you’re saying someone called the Winter Soldier showed up to give you that flash drive?” Scott asked. “And he’s some sort of assassin?”

“Not ‘some sort’. We’re talking the best. The guy’s a goddamned ghost story. Been around as long as I can remember, at least.”

“I have heard of him,” Charles said pensively. “Rumors, whispers. Never from someone who believed them.”

“He’s real, alright,” Logan said with a sigh. “I’ve seen him at least twice before tonight. I’ve caught his scent a few more times. Hank, what’s on the drive?”

“It’s taking some time,” Hank said from the other side of the room. “You said infamous Russian spy, so I went big with the security protocols.” Hank tapped a few keys. “Okay, ready. It’s encrypted. Do you—”

“The cipher is Ottawa.”

Hank hummed and tapped at the keys. “Oh. Oh. I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Hank?” Charles asked.

“People can be monsters,” Hank sighed as he looked at the screen.

“Out with it Hank!” Logan needed to know if he’d let the real monster walk away less than an hour ago.

“There’s files, divided into six folders. Experimentation on mutants. Active and ongoing from the look of it. The most recent files are from… my god… four days ago.”

“Well, I guess he wasn’t lying.”

The X-Men were careful and quiet with the assaults. Their team was entirely covert and the world still believed that Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters was just a prep school. They ran the rescue missions and withdrew before anyone knew what hit them. Some of the mutants they took home, a few they let free, one had to be killed, it was a kindness at that point, though. Two came back with them to the school. It was hard for them to settle in but they were resilient.

This time, Logan was in the garage, tuning up his motorcycle with Kitty helping, when he caught the scent.

“Kitty. Do me a favor and tell Scott our ghost is back.”

“Are you talking in code on purpose?” Kitty asked.

“Yes,” Logan said with a snort as he wiped his oily hands on a rag.

“Alright, but if this place actually is haunted I wanna know about it,” Kitty said before running off straight through the wall.

Logan made sure the area was safe in case any of the kids wandered by and then headed out to the woods. The Winter Soldier wasn’t hiding this time. He was perched on a low branch of a tree that the kids loved to climb deep in the woods. He was relaxed, with his back against the trunk, looking up at the stars.

“Less weaponry this time,” he said as Logan approached. Logan looked him over and realized he was indeed only minimally armed.

“Sheathed claws this time,” Logan countered.

“I brought more.” As he said it, the Winter Soldier raised his hand and showed off another flash drive.

“Getting us to do your dirty work?” Logan asked. He’d considered why the Winter Soldier had brought them the last round of information. Seeing as the X-Men left nothing at the sites but smoking ruins, he had a good idea.

“I’m good, but not that good,” the Winter Soldier said with a shake of his head. “I’m not running as an assassin these days. Think of me as a curious ghost. Sometimes I find things, and provide breadcrumbs to interested parties.”

“You’re scheming,” Logan grunted as he leaned against a tree.

“Hardly. More like seeking out the puzzle pieces, and slowly seeing the big picture. Only parts of that picture matter to certain people. So, I pass on a few pieces, here and there.”

“How do you know what matters to me?”

“Do you care about the civil war in Darfur? Or the nuclear arms race in Iran? How about the instability in the Russian FSB? The genocides in China? The corruption in SHIELD? Are any of these worth your time?”

Logan looked away from the Winter Soldier. He had fought in many wars over the years, for many causes. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to get involved in another one. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see the X-Men dragged into that either. “Tell me then, what does the big picture look like? I’m hoping for a summer meadow.”

The Winter Soldier huffed at that. “Think more red. A web of corruption, stretching far and wide and interconnected in ways you can’t even imagine. I’ve been cutting threads. Alone and with… interested parties.” He nodded toward Logan. Then he shook the flash drive in his hand. “Do you want it?”

“Fine. Hand it over.” At the word, the Winter Soldier tossed the drive and Logan caught it. “Before you pull that disappearing shit you’re so good at, the professor asked me to invite you in for tea.”

The Winter Soldier cocked his head to the side. “Tea?”

“I told him it was a dumb idea. Frankly, having you within five kilometers of the school makes me nervous. But he insisted I ask you if you ever came back. According to him, the school is a sanctuary for all mutants. Even you.”

“I’m not a mutant.”

“Maybe, but you ain’t normal either, bub.”

Logan watched as the Winter Soldier seemed to consider it. “Maybe, one day. When non-aggression becomes truce.” The Winter Soldier dropped off the branch into a silent crouch. “If I find more information, should I bring it by?”

“Yeah, even if we are doing your dirty work.”

Chapter Text

Ayo hated leaving Wakanda but it was a necessary evil. Even with Wakanda’s isolationist policies, some manner of diplomacy was needed to make sure their borders were respected. Venturing out into the world at large was dangerous. Wakanda had no friends beyond its borders and they didn’t want any. Outside of Wakanda, the world was corrupt, rotten to its very core. Every single person only looked out for themselves and their own interests. Every country would gladly trample another underfoot to gain any advantage. Poor, little, technologically inferior Wakanda would just be used as a stepping stone for other countries.

Even so, diplomacy was necessary. But a diplomat who was schooled enough in politics was no seasoned warrior, case in point, Kondala. He was an excellent negotiator, knowledgeable in world law, diplomacy and very well versed in saying no to the United Nations. While he was a diplomatic powerhouse and a passable warrior thanks to his size, he could not be expected to work alone. None of the Wakandan diplomats could. It had been decided long ago that any diplomat who ventured beyond Wakanda’s borders would do so with a member of the Dora Milaje.

Together, diplomat and warrior would go out and glad-hand. They would look the part that Wakanda played on the world stage and dress in their tribal garb. They would only bring a single bracelet of kimoyo beads each and a single vibranium spear for the warrior. They would eschew all of Wakanda’s luxuries while out in the world. It made for a very stressful and boring trip.

Ayo and Kondala had just finished settling a border dispute with Ethiopia. They had needed to go to Egypt, at Ethiopia’s behest, for an arbitrator. In the end, Kondala had worked it out. Mostly by saying no a lot. Wakanda’s borders were well established and Ethiopia’s claim had been quickly shot down by the Egyptian arbitrator. 

With the situation resolved, Ayo and Kondala would be spending only one more night in Cairo. The Wakandan diplomatic envoys were staying at the Nile Ritz-Carlton, in the Royal Suite. Ayo thought it was quite gaudy and sterile. The Ethiopian envoy had made a joke about indoor plumbing when the hotel had been mentioned. Luckily, Kondala had spoken up before Ayo could and had struck back with a witty barb, but his jab was hidden under the language of diplomacy. While Ayo may have disliked the accommodations on principle, she did concede that they were secure. Which was why she didn’t question when she stepped into the suite for her last night outside Wakandan borders and was greeted with a single bent piece of paper sitting conspicuously on the table in the entryway. 

Assuming room service had been by and had left a note to thank them for their visit, Ayo picked up the note and read it.

Wakanda,

I have in my possession 13 kilograms of unrefined vibranium as well as assorted weapons and technology that I believe to have originated from Wakanda. I wish to return these items to their proper owners. I will be at the following address, alone, with the goods tomorrow night at midnight.

WS

Ayo read the note twice. Then she threw out a hand to stop Kondala from taking another step into the room. She spent the next hour securing the suite. Once she was sure the suite was secure, she used her kimoyo beads to scan the note and then contacted Okoye.

The conversation had gone long into the night. Okoye had brought King T’Chaka into the discussion quite quickly. There was a lot to be interpreted from such a short note. First was the reference to Wakandan technology. That meant whoever left the note may know the truth about Wakanda. Next was the offer to return the stolen items. That was hard to believe. Last was the signature. Only two letters, far too little to piece together who it might be.

In the end, the decision was made to attend the rendezvous. Ayo and Kondala would go, ostensibly alone. In reality, a talon aircraft and a contingent of Dora Milaje would be waiting to step in if necessary. Ayo and Kondala would also be equipped with transmitters so their support could see and hear everything.

When they pulled up to the old warehouse the next night, Okoye spoke in Ayo’s ear before she even stepped out of the car. “Stealth drones are in and around the building. There is one man inside along with two crates. We’re running scans to identify him now.”

“I have his identity!” Ayo nearly flinched when that youthful and carefree voice broke over the comm. Shuri was still a child, she shouldn’t be involved in something like this, but no one, not even the king, could argue that her skills were not impressive. Ayo knew she could be walking into a trap and as much as she may hate to risk the innocence of the princess, she was grateful for the support. “The metal arm is a dead giveaway. He’s the Winter Soldier.”

Ayo was worldly enough to have heard the name before but she only knew it was the moniker of an assassin. “Understood. We will be careful,” Ayo responded. She nodded to signal Kondala and they exited the car and headed into the warehouse. 

The warehouse was surprisingly well lit. The edges of the cavernous space were stacked with boxes but the middle was empty except for the man who must be the Winter Soldier and two crates at his feet. Ayo took a moment before she approached to take in the man. It was clear that he was ready for battle, every inch of him was covered with armor and weapons. His features were hidden behind a mask, helmet and goggles. The shiny metal arm Shuri had mentioned was on display. He had a massive sniper rifle on his back and so many hidden knives that Ayo lost count. 

However, it was his posture that caught Ayo’s attention. He was standing over the crates, relaxed, hands empty and at his side. He was still and non-threatening. He only moved his head enough to look up when Ayo and Kondala stepped into the warehouse.

“Thank you for coming,” the man greeted. His voice was low and digitized.

“Low-grade audio distortion,” Shuri said over the comm. “I might be able to cut through it for voice recognition, but not quickly.”

“You have something of ours?” Kondala asked as he took a few steps to stand in the center of the warehouse, opposite the Winter Soldier. Ayo followed him, standing just behind his left shoulder.

The Winter Soldier raised a combat boot off the cement floor to rest on the edge of one of the boxes at his feet. He then slid the box a few feet across the floor so that it sat equidistant between them. “Thirteen kilograms of unrefined vibranium.” He then repeated the action with the second box. “This box is mixed. I can’t identify the metals and the technology doesn’t match anything I’m familiar with. If you can identify it as Wakandan tech or vibranium, you’re free to take it as well. But if it’s adamantium, I’d prefer to keep it.”

“This could be a set-up,” Okoye said over the comm. “He could be trying to get us to admit to our advanced technology.”

“And if I say it’s all vibranium?” Kondala asked. He was listening to the comms as well, but they couldn’t wait and discuss the issues or the Winter Soldier would notice the delay in the conversation.

The Winter Soldier shrugged and the action made Ayo realize that he had been unnaturally still up until that point. “Then it’s all vibranium and it’s all yours to take. I am choosing to defer to experts. I would be foolish to ignore those experts.”

“I don’t think this colonizer needs us to admit to anything,” Shuri said quietly over the comm. What little they could see of the Winter Soldier’s skin around the goggles was enough to tell them that the Winter Soldier was definitely not Wakandan. That removed one theory.

“And what would you ask for in return?” Kondala asked. Everyone knew that nothing was given freely.

“Nothing,” the Winter Soldier answered. “I have seen the power of vibranium. Both as weapons and armor. I have seen it turn the tides of war. If this vibranium remains in the world, people will try and use it for war. I cannot destroy it. I cannot use it. I cannot reliably hide it without dropping it into the Mariana Trench. But I can return it to where it belongs. I will hand it over freely. All I ask for in exchange is your promise that it will be returned to Wakanda.”

Kondala looked over at Ayo and Ayo nodded in return. “You have our promise then,” Kondala said.

 With the decision made, Ayo took a step forward and knelt beside the crate. She started to sort through the items. In the warehouse, everyone was silent but in Ayo’s ear, Shuri was giving a running commentary. 

“That’s a vibranium spearhead, jaguar model. Adamantium knife. Experimental Starktech. That looks like AIM’s attempt at recreating an Arc reactor. A kimoyo bead?! Where’d he get that?! That’s a rock of raw adamantium.” As Shuri kept a running log of the items, Ayo sorted them honestly. Anything Wakandan went into the box with the raw vibranium and the rest formed a pile on the ground. The last item Ayo pulled from the box was a faceted sphere about the size of her fist. “What is that?!” Shuri yelled into the comm loud enough that Ayo nearly flinched. “Running scans now.” As Shuri worked, Ayo turned the shiny, gold sphere over in her hand to help Shuri analyze it. “I don’t know what that is,” Shuri said excitedly. “But I want it! Ayo! Just say it’s vibranium and toss it into our box.”

“Is it vibranium?” Okoye asked.

“No, but—”

“This is not vibranium.” Ayo broke the silence in the warehouse. “It is like nothing I have ever seen before. We would be interested in studying it.”

The Winter Soldier took a single step forward and Ayo had to clamp down on the reflex to bolt to her feet and meet the threat head on. The Winter Soldier reached out his metal hand and simply stood there, waiting. Ayo took the hint and put the sphere in his hand. He brought the sphere up and looked it over.

“Take it,” he said after nearly a minute of examining it. “I can do nothing with it. Consider it a gift with the hope that we can have friendly relations in the future.”

Ayo took the offered sphere and set it into the box with the raw vibranium. Then she put the rest of the non-vibranium items back into the empty crate. She stood up and pulled the box of vibranium over to sit between her and Kondala.

“We will take our leave,” Ayo said.

“One more thing, before you go,” the Winter Soldier began.

“Be on guard. I suspected this was too easy,” Okoye said.

“I was hoping you may be willing to provide me with a means of contacting you,” the Winter Soldier continued. “A phone number, an email address, even a dead drop location. This time, I tried to approach you as non-threateningly as possible, but I can see from the security measures you have taken, I was unsuccessful.”

“And if we refuse?” Kondala asked.

The Winter Soldier shook his head once. “Then the next time I need to secure vibranium we will go through all of this again.” 

“Give him the diplomatic email address,” King T’Chaka, who Ayo hadn’t even known was on the comm line, said.

Kondala rattled off the email address and the Winter Soldier nodded. 

“Understood,” the Winter Soldier said as he knelt to pick up his own crate with his metal arm. “I will take my leave. I’m sure your people would prefer to land their aircraft without witnesses. Have a safe flight home.”

“He knows about our talon?!” Shuri said with a gasp.

The Winter Soldier took the crate and retreated, without ever turning his back to them. Shuri’s drone tracked him until he got into an SUV. It was King T’Chaka who answered her when she asked if she should keep following him. “Let him go. This man has treated us fairly and amicably. He offered us trust. We will do the same in return.”

The entire flight home Ayo was on comms with Okoye discussing the Winter Soldier and the potential reasons for the meeting. When she and Kondala finally got home, Shuri was waiting for them on the landing pad. 

“Where is it?!” she demanded as she bounced on her feet. With feigned exasperation, Ayo pulled the shiny sphere from the crate and held it out to the little girl. Shuri squealed in delight. “You always bring me the best presents, Ayo!”

It was almost a year later when Ayo’s turn as diplomatic escort came up again. This time it wasn’t a planned trip. East Africa was in the middle of a drought. United Nations ‘peacekeepers’ through the World Food Programme, UNICEF and CARE were harassing Wakanda again. They were illegally crossing into their country to bring aid that Wakanda did not need and they were getting more aggressive about it. They could not comprehend that Wakanda did not want or need help. They had it in their heads that the Wakandan Royal Family was suppressing the need and letting their people suffer.

So, a diplomatic envoy was sent to Geneva. That envoy consisted of Kondala with Ayo as escort. The whole week was exhausting. Ayo had always been impressed with just how many ways Kondala could say no. Even still, she stopped counting at 27. 

Finally, after a week, it was over. Ayo and Kondala had been yelled at, insulted, badgered and disrespected repeatedly. No one could understand that Wakanda didn’t need help. But they eventually got an agreement. Even though it basically came down to the United Nations agreeing that if Wakanda wanted to starve, the UN had no right to interfere.

Ayo and Kondala were scheduled to fly out of Geneva on a commercial flight that evening. Once they reached Cairo, a talon would pick them up. Ayo hated flying on commercial flights but it was necessary to keep up appearances. She and Kondala left the hotel and headed for the airport in a taxi. It was only Ayo's constant, unwavering vigilance that alerted them to the attack. The taxi driver took a detour around the evening traffic. They were on a slightly less busy street when the attack came. Dozens of men in tactical gear assaulted the taxi and Ayo only just got Kondala out and into a nearby store.

Kondala hit the panic button on his kimoyo beads as Ayo led them through back alleys to safety. There were far too many men for even Ayo to take on. She made a decision. She left Kondala with her spear, tucked him away out of sight and led the attackers in a different direction. It worked. They followed her for blocks before a lucky shot caught her in the arm. When she saw the wound she realized why the men hadn’t killed her yet. They were being careful. They wanted her alive. The thing that hit her arm was a tranquilizer. It took two more, but the first was enough to make her woozy and the third one knocked her out completely.

Ayo could admit, eight days in HYDRA’s hands made her yearn for the frustrating boredom of Geneva. Since she woke up in the dreary base, stripped of her gear and kimoyo beads, HYDRA had been torturing her. So far, they had stuck to methods that left no permanent damage: waterboarding, starvation, dehydration and the like. But Ayo didn’t break. It was actually surprising how much she managed to learn simply from the questions they asked. She realized that HYDRA didn’t know. They suspected that Wakanda had secrets and power but they didn’t know how beyond their access to vibranium. It was quite different from her run-in with the Winter Soldier. She had suspected he might be working for them, but whereas he seemed to know that Wakanda had a stealth aircraft watching the exchange, HYDRA was only guessing.

She was trying to meditate in her dark cell when she heard sounds in the hallway. That usually meant the guards were arriving for another round of torture. There was something off about the noise; it wasn’t enough people. There was a sudden screech of metal from the other side of the door, then it was wrenched open and Ayo had to shield her eyes against the bright lights on the other side. After a moment she looked up and saw a dark figure silhouetted in the lights from the hallway.

“Wakanda,” the figure in the doorway said.

Ayo’s eyes adjusted quickly and the voice, coupled with the features of the man that had started to resolve, allowed Ayo to recognize him. “Winter Soldier,” she replied.

The Winter Soldier sighed. “I am only equipped for stealth infiltration. I was not expecting to stage a prison break. I hope you can walk.”

Ayo considered the man in the doorway. No guards had responded yet. There was no alarm. She didn’t think the Winter Soldier was HYDRA. He had a tenuous trust with Wakanda. But it could be a ploy, a trap to make her believe she had a chance at escape. Ayo was not one to play the long game. This was a chance to escape, she would take it. “I can walk,” she said as she pulled herself to her feet and willed the dizziness away. “Maybe fight.” She took the steps necessary to stand beside the Winter Soldier and as she did, she realized that he was armed very differently than the last time she had seen him.

He wore fewer weapons and more tech. His gear was more streamlined and had very few protrusions. His armor looked thinner, easier to move in. He still wore the mask and goggles but the helmet was missing, revealing long, dark hair tied back in a ponytail. When she stood beside him, he held something out to her. Ayo looked down and saw her kimoyo beads in his metal hand.

“These were in the lab, in a faraday cage. I believe they are yours?”

“They are.” Ayo took the beads and slipped them around her wrist, activating the emergency signal as she did. Even if it was a trap, the Dora Milaje could handle it.

The alarm rang then and the Winter Soldier said something that wasn’t English. Maybe Russian? Her kimoyo beads could translate it but she’d have to check them to see it. She didn’t bother. Even without understanding the word, she knew it was a curse. 

“We need to go. Stay behind me.” 

As much as Ayo wanted to help him, she hadn’t had a lot to eat or drink in the last week and she knew she needed to save her strength. She just nodded in acknowledgement.

HYDRA threw everything they had at them to stop the escape. The Winter Soldier was a force to be reckoned with, even if he was scrounging weapons from the fallen soldiers at every turn. Ayo covered his back with a stolen assault rifle. Just because the Dora Milaje preferred spears didn’t mean they weren’t extensively trained in firearms as well. 

HYDRA made the Winter Soldier work for every inch. Ayo’s passing thought about the Winter Soldier’s armor being thinner was proven true when she realized he was bleeding, probably from a gunshot. He’d been in melee with enough soldiers that a few had gotten lucky with knives as well. Even wounded, the Winter Soldier did not slow down.

Ayo heard the soldiers barking orders about holding the door and knew they were close to the surface. She was hopeful that this was almost over, especially since it was getting harder and harder to stay on her feet. It was so bad that she didn’t notice the little metal ball that rolled between her feet until it was far too late.

Ayo came back to consciousness slowly. There was growling in her ear and the world swam in a twisted mess of black and green. It took several seconds of harsh jostling for her to realize she was upside down. She managed to lift her head enough to look around and when she squinted her eyes she noticed the area around her was dark but she could make out green with blurs of red. There were also voices that pounded at her ears; harsh, angry and familiar voices.

A shock of familiar red surged out of the dark and Ayo was jostled roughly and shifted away from the red. The red finally solidified into a person. A very familiar and very angry person.

“Okoye?” Ayo muttered as she cocked her head to try and see Okoye right side up.

“Ayo!” Okoye cried and brought her spear up again to point toward Ayo.

“What…?” Ayo trailed off as she looked away from the upside down image of her general and back toward herself. She finally realized that she was being carried. She was over someone's shoulder. Her stomach was pressed painfully into a solid shoulder and when she looked down she saw black-clad legs and combat boots. There were several beats of still silence while everything clicked. “Soldier, these people are Wakandan. I signaled them with the beads you returned to me. They are here to rescue me.”

The silence persisted for several more seconds before the Winter Soldier responded. “Is it your choice to go with them? I will stand against them if you would rather flee.”

Ayo considered that for a moment. There was something about the sentiment that made Ayo wonder who exactly the Winter Soldier was. “I trust them.” At her words, strong hands came up and carefully manipulated Ayo until she was right side up and then sat her down on the forest floor leaning against a tree. Right side up, Ayo took in the scene around her. The Dora Milaje had come in full force; a dozen of them were spread out around them, all with spears up and in the predawn light she could see that some of those spears were bloody. Many of the Dora were breathing hard, but none of them looked injured. The Winter Soldier, on the other hand, was covered in blood. His black leathers were slick and shiny with it. His pant legs were in tatters from a dozen cuts and the remnants were stuck to his legs with drying blood. Some of the injuries were ones she had seen him take back in the HYDRA base, but some were new, and likely inflicted with spears.

Once he had Ayo sitting comfortably against the tree, the Winter Soldier took several steps away from her and stood silently. The Dora kept their spears trained on him and Okoye’s eyes never left him as she used hand signals to send Xoliswa to Ayo’s side.

“Ayo!” Xoliswa said as she knelt beside her and tapped Ayo’s kimoyo beads to bring up her health information. “We’ve been worried sick. We couldn’t get a lock on your beads until only a few minutes ago. What happened?!”

“Is Kondala safe?” Ayo asked.

“He is,” Xoliswa said with a nod. “We got there as fast as we could but we couldn’t find you. Then we lost your signal.” She risked a glance over at the Winter Soldier and sneered when her eyes found him.

“Peace, Xoliswa,” Ayo said as she rested her hand on her shield sister’s wrist. The touch brought Xoliswa’s attention back to Ayo. “He saved me. He pulled me out of a dark dungeon, returned my beads and fought a hundred men to get me out.” Xoliswa bowed her head in acknowledgement of the statement. “I take it he also had to fight the Dora?” Ayo asked.

“We wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt,” Xoliswa began, “but when we ordered him to release you, he refused.”

“I see,” Ayo said. “I believe there has been a misunderstanding. Soldier, I should have told you I was calling for reinforcements.”

There was a moment of hesitation before the Winter Soldier responded, “I should have noticed the spears and the equipment. I was so focused on protecting you, my judgment became clouded. You have my apologies for attacking your people.”

“Apology accepted,” Okoye said and gave the signal for the Dora to lower their spears. “You have saved the life of one of our people. We are grateful for the assistance. The least we can do is offer to tend to the wounds we inflicted.”

The Winter Soldier twitched at the offer. “While I am in awe of your technology, we do not have enough trust built up for me to allow you to use it on me.”

Okoye considered the Winter Soldier for a few seconds. “Yama, go check the medical kit in the talon and bring back the mundane supplies.” 

Yama didn’t make a noise as she vanished from the clearing.

“I was not able to properly subdue HYDRA during our escape,” the Winter Soldier said. “They may have the manpower to form a search party.”

“We are on alert. You are safe here.”

At Okoye's words, the Winter Soldier seemed to make a decision and proceeded to slump against a nearby tree. While they waited, Xoliswa fussed over Ayo. When Yama returned only a minute later, she tried to approach the Winter Soldier, only to cause him to flinch and the tension returned to the clearing.

“Help me up, Xoliswa,” Ayo said. “Would you consent to letting me treat your wounds, Soldier?”

The Winter Soldier sighed, but gave a jerky nod and Xoliswa pulled Ayo to her feet and Yama handed her the med kit. It took a while. All Ayo did was remove a single bullet with forceps and then bandage the wounds that were bleeding the worst. 

“You will need to see a doctor,” Ayo tried.

“I heal quickly,” the Winter Soldier countered.

“Even still.”

“I will… consider it.”

“It’s time for us to head home,” Okoye said when Ayo had finished. “I would offer you a ride but I have a feeling you would refuse.”

“I have transport nearby.”

Ayo stood before the Winter Soldier and offered her hand in friendship. “Thank you, Winter Soldier.”

The Winter Soldier considered her outstretched hand. “My name is James,” he said as he shook her hand.

“I am Ayo. I look forward to our next meeting, though I pray the circumstances are better.”

Chapter Text

Steve Rogers was tired. Not physically tired. He could go out and run back-to-back marathons right now if he needed to. He was mentally exhausted.

Six months ago, he and the Howling Commandos were leading the war against HYDRA. Five months ago, Bucky had died and a few weeks later, Steve had decided to join him. Four months ago, he woke up and nearly 70 years had passed. And last month he had fought honest-to-God aliens. It’d been a pretty crazy six months.

The thing that no one seemed to understand was that after Bucky died, Steve had wanted to die as well. He had walked around in a haze of mind-numbing grief until that last mission. He’d given it everything he had and when he realized that the only way to save the east coast was to crash the plane, he’d been resigned and just a little bit happy. He would get to see Bucky again. Instead, he woke up to a nurse and a poor actor. He was still alive and once that kicked in, the haze of grief returned.

He’d tried. SHIELD tried to get him acclimatized to the future, well, the present. But he couldn’t engage with it. He’d look around and see some modern convenience and he’d eagerly lean over to nudge Bucky only to remember. Bucky wasn’t here. Bucky didn’t get to see the future he had always been so hopeful for.

He followed the SHIELD guidelines but what fun was this new present without a best pal to share it with? Why should he be excited when he couldn’t share that excitement with anyone? Everyone he knew was gone. He’d checked. The Howlies were all dead. Peggy was still alive, but wracked with a thing called dementia that muddled her mind. 

One day, he got up the courage and typed Captain America into the Google search bar. He clicked the Wikipedia link and read the article. There was so little fact in the article that Steve had trouble figuring out which missions they were actually referring to. Almost everything was boiled down to war propaganda.

He’d clicked the links for the other Howling Commandos. They were all brief, some served for years after the war, some retired shortly after it. It took him all night to work up the courage to click on the James Buchanan Barnes link.

He’d almost been sick when he read it. To the world of today, Bucky was Captain America’s sidekick. That was it. Every single reference in the article only mentioned Bucky in terms of Captain America. Captain America grew up in Brooklyn alongside Bucky Barnes. Cap stayed stateside while Bucky went off to fight in the European theater. Captain America rescued the 107th and Bucky Barnes from HYDRA captivity. Bucky Barnes died saving the life of Captain America.

It was sickening to think that the world relegated Bucky to nothing more than a sidekick. That Bucky was only worth mentioning when connected to Captain America. Steve knew better. He knew that Captain America would never have stood a chance without Bucky. The Howling Commandos would never have succeeded. Bucky may not have led the group, but he was the heart of it. He was the mastermind. He was the one who’d sit down with Steve and talk through the plans, explaining military nuance to the woefully green ‘captain’ who’d never even been through officer training. He was the one who taught Steve how to make plans. He was the one who always knew when a soldier needed a friendly ear, a shot of whiskey, or someone to shout their frustrations at. He was the one who would ground Steve and remind him the world didn’t rest solely on his shoulders. He was the one to soothe Steve’s anxiety enough to let him get a few hours of sleep. Bucky was a hero.

Things just got worse when Steve decided it was high time he paid his respects. According to the articles, a Captain America monument had been erected in Arlington Cemetery. He’d checked to see if he could find Bucky’s grave. As he soon discovered, there was no grave. He looked again. Maybe his parents had wanted a marker put elsewhere? No. He found nothing. As far as the world was concerned, a frozen ravine in Austria was the final resting place of James Buchanan Barnes.

SHIELD had spent 70 years searching for Captain America, but Bucky had been forgotten. There wasn’t even a record of a single search party being sent out to look for him. The brass had promised Steve they would send a search party when he’d brought Zola back, since Captain America couldn’t waste his valuable time looking for a body in the snow. Apparently, they had lied to him.

Steve was angry. Angry that he got to live while Bucky died. Angry that, to the world, he was a hero and Bucky was a footnote. Maybe he could set the record straight. 

While he had been trying to vent his frustration, Nick Fury had tried to recruit him. He wanted to tell Fury that whatever he was looking for in Steve, he wouldn’t get it. The world may think that Bucky was nothing without Captain America but Steve knew Captain America was nothing without Bucky Barnes. Without his best friend, to talk him through plans, to cuff him upside the head when he proposed something reckless or stupid, to watch his six, Captain America would be a shadow of what he once was.

Instead, Steve took the job. Maybe this time he could get the heroic sacrifice right.

The Avengers were a motley crew. But they won the day in New York. SHIELD had decided early on that to protect the safety of those around them, the Avengers would be masked heroes. Steve didn’t argue. He considered the moral gray area of not being accountable for his actions, but he didn’t really care. He didn’t care about much anymore.

The Avengers had done a few press conferences and fought a plant monster in Brazil. To the world, he was Captain America. Without the mask, he was Steve Rogers. It was kind of funny. The legend of Captain America from World War Two was so forgotten by history that people didn’t even know the name of the man under the cowl. SHIELD hadn’t even bothered to change his name when they gave him a new identity.

It was over a month after the Avengers had been assembled. Steve had settled in at the Tower and gotten to know his new team. 

Tony Stark, Howard’s son, wasn't as bad as Steve’s first impression had suggested. It took a few arguments to determine that Tony wore a mask pretty much all the time. He played the role the media had given him and Steve had a feeling that the mask was hard for Tony to take off. Once in a while he’d see the man beneath it, usually in the form of a gesture. Steve had several boxes appear at his door with information to help him acclimatize to the modern world. Information packets that were far more detailed than anything SHIELD had provided and definitely less biased. They also covered a far greater range of topics, everything from memes to gay marriage. He’d also received a few things from the past, including a record player. Whenever he asked, Tony denied it came from him. But Steve knew better.

Natasha Romanoff was a little cold and aloof. Someone else accustomed to wearing a mask. But Natasha was far better at slipping the mask on and off. Or exchanging it for a different one. It took a while to get over the feeling that he needed to protect her. But after watching her fight a few times and realizing that she could take care of herself, he found it a lot easier to settle into the idea of having a woman watching his back. He’d trusted Peggy back in the day, but he’d never had her watching his back. 

Off the field, Natasha seemed to have every aspect of the world figured out. At least, that was Steve's first impression. He’d caught her, once or twice over the weeks, looking over at Clint, almost in confusion, almost asking a question. All Clint did was smile and nod and fierce Natasha was back in control. He knew there was a story there, but he didn’t ask.

Clint Barton was the type of guy Steve was more accustomed to working with. Clint was highly skilled and focused while on mission. Off mission, you’d swear he was a lazy layabout who’d never worked a day in his life. He reminded Steve a bit of Dum Dum. Both men knew when to take a break and how to make the most of downtime.

Bruce Banner was quiet and a bit hard to get a read on. He was a genius and constantly engaging with Tony about things Steve could barely follow. While that should have put him off, it didn’t, because Bruce was quite personable and could shift from science mode to friendly conversation in a heartbeat. He was pleasant to talk to and willing to listen. More than once, Steve started speaking and only just managed to snap his teeth closed before he said something too real, too raw, too personal. 

Steve liked spending time with Thor, when he was around. He didn’t even lie to himself; it was nice not being the only one in the room who didn’t understand. Thor was an alien and a prince. He was adjusting to life on Earth but eager to see everything and he seemed to enjoy taking Steve along for the ride. It was nice to be able to share enthusiasm for the world with someone.

So, after a month in the Tower, the team was a success. Fury was happy to keep them together and just let them keep an eye out. This morning, Natasha had called a meeting.

“Nat, who died?” Steve asked, partly as a joke and partly because the expression on Natasha’s face indicated something bad had happened. The Avengers, minus Thor, were sitting in a conference room around a big table in cushy office chairs.

“There was a break-in last night at Hammer Industries,” Natasha said, barely keeping a growl out of her voice. “Fury sent over the only video of the suspect.” Natasha tapped a few controls on the table and the lights in the room dimmed and the screen came to life.

On the screen, Steve saw a darkened but lavish office. After a few seconds a figure covered head to toe in tactical gear walked into the frame. The figure was probably a man. He was wearing heavy black tactical gear and was bristling with weapons. He was also wearing a helmet as well as goggles and a mask over his mouth and nose. His left arm was oddly silver and gleamed in the low light. Some sort of reinforced sleeve?

When the man stepped into the frame both Clint and Natasha gasped. A moment later the image went black.

“Nat!” Clint whined as the lights in the room came up. “Why now? No one’s seen him in months!”

“Maybe he never left, Clint,” Natasha said as her eyes lingered on where the video had been.

“Someone want to share with the rest of the class who that was?” Tony asked as he lounged in his chair.

“That… looks like the Winter Soldier,” Natasha finally said. Steve was sure there was a shakiness to her voice that he had never heard before.

“Okay, and who exactly is the Winter Soldier?” Tony asked.

“Let me start at the beginning,” Natasha began. “The story doesn’t have the same gravitas without the buildup.” She let out a long breath. “Most of the intelligence community doesn’t believe he exists. The ones that do call him the Winter Soldier. He’s credited with assassinations over 50 years.”

“So he’s a ghost story,” Steve added.

Natasha continued, “Five years ago, I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran, somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff, I pulled us out, but the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer, so he shot him straight through me. When I got back to SHIELD, I tried to tell them the Winter Soldier was active but nobody believed me. ”

“Two years ago SHIELD lost a base,” Clint said as he dropped his head to the table.

“Lost? Like misplaced it?” Tony asked. “I mean SHIELD’s pretty—”

“It was destroyed,” Natasha cut in. “Total loss of life; over 200 people. On American soil.”

“No one knows how it was done, but the only suspect was caught on a single local camera,” Clint added.

“The Winter Soldier,” Steve provided.

Natasha nodded. “Fury is convinced that this guy is running the game. I’d call it paranoia; someone desperately looking for logic in the chaos of every intelligence agency in the world being at each other's throats, but I can see some of the patterns.”

“We rarely actually see the guy,” Clint said with a nod toward where the video had played. “Sometimes we see his calling card in places that it shouldn’t be possible for him to get to.”

“Clint and I ran into him face to face once,” Natasha said. “It ended with Camp Lehigh being reduced to rubble.”

“Don’t remind me. My ears are still ringing from that.” Clint sighed loudly.

Steve perked up at that. “Camp Lehigh?” He knew that place. Spent a few weeks there, in another life.

“It used to be a SHIELD base but it was abandoned decades ago. Now it’s an empty field.”

“So what does this ghost want with Hammer?” Tony asked. 

“No idea,” Natasha answered as she sat back in her chair. “But this guy is extremely dangerous. If we get sent after him, do not let your guard down, even for a second.”

The first time Steve saw the Winter Soldier, he took Nat’s warning to heart and went for an all-out assault. The Avengers, minus Bruce and Thor, had been called out to a sprawling corporate complex built around a towering building. The rest of the Avengers were dealing with some sort of flying, laser-wielding drones. Steve had taken one look at the scene and knew it was a distraction. It had taken a bit of hunting, but he’d found the trail of destruction inside the building and followed it to the basement.

Now, he stood in a doorway with the Winter Soldier across the room with his back to Steve. The guy was every bit as intimidating as he had been in the few seconds of film he’d seen, all leather and tactical gear. Steve didn’t hesitate and he threw his shield at the unsuspecting Soldier.

Steve’s shield hit some sort of see-through wall and bounced back to him. The Winter Soldier spared a glance behind him.

“Captain America,” the Soldier said dryly before turning back to the computer in front of him. His voice was muffled and flat, maybe a bit mechanical sounding, the way Tony’s voice sounded when he spoke as Iron Man. “You’re six minutes early. Congratulations.”

Steve took a moment to survey the scene. The Winter Soldier was in an area separated from his own by the clear wall and a sort of airlock made of the same material. “You must be the Winter Soldier,” Steve said as he walked over to the airlock to inspect it.

“That’s what they call me,” the Soldier said without turning to face Steve. He was still tapping away at the computer.

“Stand down, Soldier. The building is surrounded. You can’t escape,” Steve tried as he poked at the access panel on the airlock.

“Surrounded, huh?”

“Surrender and face justice for your crimes.” Steve put the full Captain America persona into those words.

The Winter Soldier looked back at him. “My crimes? What about Roxxon’s crimes? Their victims can’t afford to hire someone to stand up for them. Not like Roxxon; they can afford to hire the Avengers.” The Winter Soldier tilted his head pensively. “Well, they hired SHIELD. Same thing, I suppose.”

“If Roxxon is guilty of something, they will face justice as well,” Steve tried.

“In a perfect world maybe.” The Soldier turned back toward the computer and pulled something out of the computer then put it in his pocket. “Well, this was fun, Capt—”

Before the Soldier could finish, an explosion rocked the building and parts of the roof caved in. When the debris stopped falling, Steve looked up to see the roof in the computer room had collapsed and the Soldier was gone. He saw the roof above him was also breached and he leaped to the floor above to follow the Soldier.

“Report!” Steve called as he ran.

“STRIKE Omicron found an explosive device in the building,” Clint said. “It went off when they tried to disable it. Injury reports coming in. It looks bad, Cap.”

“Dammit.” Steve ran following the barely-there sound of the Soldier running. He followed him into a stairwell and up a dozen floors. When they finally emerged onto the tenth floor, Steve heard a window shatter and didn’t hesitate to follow the Soldier straight through it and out into the bright light of day. When Steve landed on a roof, he took his chance and hurled his shield. Never in all his time using the shield had someone caught it when he threw it. Since it had never happened before, when the Winter Soldier stopped the shield with his metal hand, Steve was stunned. There was a singular moment where the world stopped. When it started again, the Winter Soldier leaped over the edge of the rooftop and Steve tried to give chase. When he got to the edge, he looked down but the Soldier was gone. Along with his shield.

Steve didn’t give up. He searched high and low but eventually, he had to admit that he’d lost the Soldier and headed back to help with the cleanup. He also had to explain how he’d just lost his vibranium shield. In the back of his head he could hear Bucky howling with laughter at the entire situation. Bucky had always laughed at Steve for throwing away his main weapon in the heat of combat. Bucky would always threaten Steve that ‘one day, it’s not going to come back’. If only Bucky could see him now.

That night Steve watched as the news broke. The Winter Soldier made all the headlines; terrorist, murderer, monster. Ten people had died in the blast and dozens more were injured. Steve listened to Tony rant and rave about SHIELD’s idiocy and that if they’d just called it in instead of sending untrained grunts to defuse a bomb left by a world-class assassin, none of this would have happened. The news had footage of the Winter Soldier and his face, or rather his mask, was plastered everywhere.

Steve endured constant teasing from Tony about losing his shield as Tony theorized a way to locate it based on its vibranium signature. Steve was still in the workshop with Tony the next morning, neither of them having slept when JARVIS interrupted them.

“Sir, I believe I have located Captain Rogers’s shield.”

“JARVIS, you are a genius! And since I created you, I am a genius!” Tony laughed loudly as he spun his chair in a circle. “How’d you do it, buddy? Use the Stark VII satellite to isolate the isotope over America?”

“Social media, sir.”

“Show me, J!” Tony shouted and a screen lit up with a picture. The picture on the screen showed the life size bronze statue of Captain America that Steve knew had been erected in Arlington shortly after he had gone down with the Valkyrie. It depicted a life-sized Captain America, holding his shield high over his head with one hand and one foot braced dramatically on a rock. The whole thing sat on a five-foot-high base, allowing his statue self to look down on everyone. Steve has seen pictures of the monument on Wikipedia when he’d looked up Captain America and the Howling Commandos.

The picture that JARVIS showed them was slightly different since, in front of the rock Captain America’s foot rested upon, was a second shield. Only this one wasn’t bronze. It was red, white, blue and vibranium.

JARVIS continued, “Based on several social media posts, visitors to Arlington were greeted with this sight only moments ago. I have just been in contact with the military and they have sealed the scene.”

“Good thinking, J. Who knows what kind of surprise our frosty buddy has left for us,” Tony said as he threw a wrench aside and headed for an Iron Man suit. “Ready for a field trip, Cap?”

“I was thinking of visiting Arlington. Didn’t expect it to happen like this.”

Steve had been standing guard for almost three hours. He was in full Captain America garb and dozens of people were not so surreptitiously trying to get pictures of him in the same frame as the statue in the distance. He’d given up trying to avoid them after the first ten minutes. Finally, Iron Man walked over to him.

“I don’t like it,” he said. The voice of Iron Man was highly digitized and sounded nothing like Tony Stark. “I’ve run every scan I can on the thing and there is nothing. No chemical residue, no radiation, no GPS signal. Nothing. I can verify that it is your shield. Definitely vibranium. But whatever trick the Winter Soldier is pulling, I can’t figure it out.”

“How many more hours do we let it sit there?” Steve asked.

“Okay,” Iron Man said with a digital sigh. “I’ll pick it up.” Iron Man approached the statue and looked at the shield like it might explode. He picked it up. Nothing happened. Carefully, he turned it over a few times in his hands. Then he walked back over to Steve. “Nothing,” Iron Man huffed. “I hate it.” He held the shield out to Steve. “Look it over, will ya?”

Steve took the shield and did as he was asked. Every time he looked at the shield, it hurt. He’d gone into the ice with it. When Fury had recruited him, he’d handed the shield back to Steve, and Steve had felt violated in a way he hadn’t thought possible. 

While in SHIELD’s possession, the shield had been transformed. They’d given it a new paint job, exchanged all the old leather for some modern material and swapped out the steel hardware for something stronger. Fury had said new and improved and Steve was positively gutted.

The shield had carried so many memories. That paint job hadn’t been perfect from the day Howard applied it. But anything that had hit hard enough to nick the paint was worth remembering. There was a nick in the paint, on the edge, from where Steve had thrown it at one of HYDRA’s megatanks. There were some chips caused by lucky shots from HYDRA grunts. One of the points of the star was warped and faded. That one had happened the last time Bucky had held the shield. And SHIELD had just painted over it all.

Then there were the leather straps. Steve remembered how Bucky had spent a whole evening teaching Steve how to properly treat the leather to keep it supple. One of them had to treat it at least once a week or it got stiff and prone to cracking. Once, Steve had been in a hurry and went to pull the shield out from the side of the armored vehicle it was lodged in and did so by the straps. Instead of pulling free, the leather tore in half. Steve and Bucky had needed to search every inch of camp to find similar straps to replace them. The next time the straps broke, Bucky had pulled a spare set out of his pack. That set had been on the shield when Steve had gone into the ice.

Now, the shield might as well have been a stranger. Still, Tony had asked him to check it over. He put his lamentations aside and inspected the shield. It was the same.

“Looks the same,” Steve verified.

Iron Man stood still for a whole minute. “That worries me, Cap. Winter Wonderland had your shield for 12 hours. He could have done anything to it. He could have kept it or scrapped it. So, why did he give it back? Without even a tracking device on it?”

“Maybe for exactly this reason?” Steve tried. “Make us sick with worry over nothing?”

“I don’t know,” Iron Man said quietly. “I don’t know and that scares me.”

Chapter Text

Penelope Whitlock didn’t ask for much from the world. A decent job that paid well enough to provide the necessities of life, maybe enough to go out once or twice a month. Good health. Hot coffee. She asked for little and was grateful to get it. She never asked for more. What was the point when she knew she wouldn’t get it? 

Penny was working late, as usual. Her current job wasn’t terrible but it was by no means good either. The pay was meager, barely enough to cover rent for a crappy two-bedroom apartment in the Bronx. And even that was with the help of her roommate’s—her mother’s— pension checks. After covering the necessities, there was very little left over to cover anything else. She had a few cheap hobbies—writing fanfiction and crochet—but mostly she stayed home. It was all she could afford.

Apart from the meager pay of her job, the hours were also bad. Officially, she worked nine to five and was only paid for that. In reality, she worked however long she needed to in order to get the job done. That meant unpaid overtime, a few hours a day or one very late night a week. 

Penny had done a lot of jobs over the years: customer service, waitressing, one summer she was even a tour guide. At this job, she was the only person in human resources. That put her in charge of all the employees at Synthetic Builders. The company was in the construction industry. They hired a lot of contractors and people were constantly coming and going. Penny had a hard time figuring out who was on the payroll each week. 

There were a few things about the job that made her uncomfortable. The people who came through, ostensibly the contractors, were a very intimidating sort. All hard eyes and sharp corners. They were assholes and handsy. There was also the fact that while the company was supposedly in construction, she had never once seen a tool in the office. None of the contractors carried any and there were none in storage. 

Still, a job was a job. And with the current market, finding a new job would take long enough that she might lose the apartment. That wasn’t a risk she was willing to take. 

Midnight was rolling around and even though she wasn’t finished with her work, midnight was her hard cut-off. Penny shut down her computer and packed up her tote bag to head home. As she stood up and stretched in the empty office, she noticed that there was a light coming from one of the currently vacant private offices. As far as Penny was aware, she was the only one who usually worked this late. She had a key and everything. The boss was too cheap to hire an overnight cleaning staff, so there shouldn’t be anyone else here at this hour. Curiosity got the better of her and she walked over to the door. 

As she raised her hand to knock, she heard an angry but muffled voice from within. “—can’t kill him. We don’t have the people anymore.” Shocked, Penny stalled, hand still in the air to knock. “HYDRA is a shadow of what it once was. Thanks to the goddamned Winter Soldier.” She heard an angry scoff from within. “I really wish they’d just tortured that thing to death years ago.”

“We still need to deal with Red.” That was a different voice, also male but not as deep as the first. And eerily familiar.

The first voice sighed heavily. “I know, but I don’t have any ideas.” Penny realized she was listening to people plotting murder. She wanted nothing to do with this. She turned to sneak away and in a move that was practically trope in fanfic, her high heels—the same heels that her boss demanded she wear to look ‘presentable’—clacked on the linoleum floor on the first step. Yup, this was how she died.

The door swung open and there was her boss and one of the contractors.

“Oh, Ms. Whitlock,” her boss said almost sadly. “I really liked you. How much did you hear?”

“I… I didn’t—” she stammered.

“Flak, take her somewhere quiet.” Her boss stepped aside and Penny lunged to get away but the contractor, or more aptly, the hired hitman, grabbed her arm.

“Trust me, miss, I’ll make this quick.” Penny struggled but she was no match for the man, Flak. She tried to bite and scratch but he just wrapped her in his arms in a way that told Penny he’d done this before. “Call Shrap for me, would ya? This one’s a fighter.”

“He’ll meet you downstairs,” her boss said with a nod.

Penny screamed but Flak just stuffed something in her mouth. She gave in to panic when the hitman threw her over his shoulder, letting her tote bag fall to the ground. He picked it up and carried her out of the building. There was a car waiting out front and Flak dropped her in the trunk and slammed the lid.

In the dark, Penny scrambled to pull the cloth out of her mouth and with a few deep breaths, she tried to stave off panic. She could do this. She’d watched YouTube videos on how to escape a kidnapping. She knew that a lot of cars had a release in the trunk. She started looking, patting around blindly. The longer she spent, the more she started to realize that any hitman worth his salt wouldn’t put an unrestrained captive in a trunk with a built-in emergency release.

They drove for a while, Penny still patting around in the dark, tears on her cheeks while she hoped, prayed, she’d live through this. The longer they drove the more hope she lost. She was never going to see her mom again. Her mom was never going to know what happened to her. She had stopped trying to escape and was crying in earnest when the car finally stopped. End of the line.

A few moments later, the trunk popped open and Penny had a moment to look up and see two men above her. They both reached in, dragged her out and threw her on the ground. Penny had a brief second to look around; they were on the docks. The sound and smell of the water was strong and there was wood under her. One of the men threw her tote bag down beside her. Penny knew her phone was in it but she would never get a chance to use it.

“Sorry, miss,” Flak said as he pulled a pistol out of his waistband. “Times are hard. We take the work we can get. It’s nothing personal.”

Penny was laying on the wooden boards of the dock, she lowered her head and closed her eyes. Penelope Whitlock didn’t ask for much from the world. But just this once, she asked for more. Someone, anyone, please help.

Instead of a gunshot, Penny heard a grunt and several loud thumps. Unwilling to hope but fueled by curiosity, she opened her eyes. The two hitmen were both on the ground. Above them was a shadow. In the dark, it was hard to tell, but when it turned—when he turned— Penny saw shiny metal in the dim light of the docks. She looked closer and whatever hope had blossomed at the sight of her two kidnappers defeated, died when she realized she was looking at the Winter Soldier. He was in black heavy-duty military gear. He was bristling with weapons. His face was covered in a mask, his eyes were hidden behind goggles and he was wearing a sleek and dark helmet. As Penny stared, the Winter Soldier looked up and those goggles focused on her. 

He took a step from over the top of the bodies and then knelt in front of her. Penny wanted to scream. The Winter Soldier was a wanted terrorist. He fought the Avengers alone and held his own. Whatever bad situation she was in before, it just got worse. The scream died in her throat.

“Why were they going to kill you?” The voice of the Winter Soldier was low, pitched to only carry between them but not a whisper. It was calm, measured and strangely monotone. It also had a slightly digitized quality to it.

“Please! Don’t—” Penny cut herself off and tried again. “I’m no one! I—”

The Winter Soldier cut her off this time. “Why were they going to kill you?” he repeated. It was said exactly the same way, no anger or exasperation at the repetition. Just calm, cool and collected. 

Penny found that oddly comforting. He was calm. He was knelt about a foot away from her and he hadn’t moved since kneeling down. Penny embraced his calm and pushed herself up a bit, to more of a sitting position. She took a deep breath and her words only came out a bit shaky. “I overheard my boss talking. I think he was talking about killing someone.”

“What did you hear?”

Forcing herself to breathe, Penny tried to remember. “They want to kill someone called Red. But their organization isn’t strong enough anymore. They said something about a hydra. And…” Oh, she looked into those goggled eyes again. How was he going to react to the last thing she heard? “Something about torturing the Winter Soldier.” The answer to Penny's question was that he didn’t react. He didn’t move. He just kept staring at her. After what had to be a full minute, he sighed. It was a heavy thing that caused his shoulders to drop and the tension to seep out of him. 

“I believe you,” he said. “That means you’re in danger. I’ll take you somewhere safe while I deal with your boss.”

With the immediate prospect of death off the table—death was still an option, just not an immediate one—Penny felt a surge of bravery. “What if I don’t want to go with you?”

The Winter Soldier stood up slowly and looked at the two bodies behind him. “They aren't dead but if you don’t want my help, I’ll go.” 

Penny’s eyes widened at that. They weren’t dead?! The Winter Soldier was carrying enough weapons to take on a small army but he hadn’t killed them? The news said he was a terrorist, a murderer, a monster. But he hadn’t killed them. Penny looked at the bodies, really looked. It was true. They were both still breathing.

“Okay! I’ll go with you,” she said. She reached over to her tote bag and pulled it close. She went to stand and noticed the Winter Soldier was holding out a hand to help her up. Tentatively, she took it. Based on what the guy looked like, she was expecting to be roughly jerked to her feet. Instead, his grip was gentle. He pulled carefully and Penny stood up only to realize that at some point one of her high heels had broken and she staggered… right into the unyielding surface that was the Winter Soldier’s chest. That metal hand came up and found her shoulder to steady her but he didn’t move while she got her balance.

“Can you walk?” he asked.

Penny looked down at the broken heel. She couldn’t walk in the shoes. The only other option was to take them off and that was a terrible idea. Her feet already hurt and the streets of New York were filthy. But she would be able to walk.

“Yes, just let me take these off.”

Before Penny could bend down to do so, the Winter Soldier spoke, “Can I carry you?”

Penny’s eyes shot up to the googles. She wasn’t exactly into machismo, but the guy she was currently leaning against was built like a tank. With a slight blush on her cheeks, she nodded. “Yes.” That shiny metal arm swept her off her feet, literally, and Penny found herself in the Winter Soldier’s arms. Once she was settled with her tote bag on her lap, he took off. 

Penny wasn’t petite. Even still, the Winter Soldier jogged down the street like this was no more difficult than a morning jogging routine. He stuck to back alleys. After 20 or so blocks, he stepped up to a door between two dumpsters and pushed his way through. He climbed the stairs to the third floor and stepped out into the hallway. He only put Penny down when he stood in front of a nondescript wooden door. Once her feet were on the ground, Penny removed the heels as the Winter Soldier unlocked the door with a key. He then stepped aside and gestured for Penny to enter first.

Having no idea what to expect, the apartment on the other side was kind of anticlimactic. After tucking the broken heels into her bag, she stepped inside. It was tiny; a kitchen with barely two feet of counter space, a loveseat in place of a couch since a couch wouldn’t fit, a small coffee table, a single chair, an open door showing a bathroom with no tub and another door that was closed and likely led to the equally tiny bedroom. There were almost no decorations but a few things stood out. There was a duffle bag under the coffee table, a pair of binoculars on the window sill and a donut box on the counter. Penny took the two steps needed to sit down on the loveseat. As tiny as the place was, at least it was clean. 

“Stay here,” the Winter Soldier said from the doorway. “I’ll deal with your boss.”

Penny looked toward him. “When you say deal with…?” she asked warily.

He shook his head. “Not kill. I’ll be back.”

“Wait!” Penny said before he could leave. “Someone is expecting me at home… I don’t know how all this spy stuff works. Can I call and make sure they’re okay?”

The Winter Soldier was quiet for a moment. Then his head turned and he looked into the kitchen. “There is a landline. Give no details.” Then he turned and left, closing the door behind him.

Penny just sat there. She was probably in some sort of shock. When she finally came back to reality she looked in her tote bag. Everything was in there, keys, wallet, cell phone. Her phone told her it was after 2am. Her mom would be worried. She almost called on the cell phone but decided to heed the Winter Soldier’s words. She headed to the kitchen and took the receiver of the old-fashioned phone off the cradle on the wall. She had to get the number for her mom’s cell out of her phone.

Someone picked up on the second ring. “Hello?” The voice was tentative and confused. Penny assumed her mom was expecting the worst; her daughter was late coming home, and now an unknown number was calling in the dead of night.

“Hi Mom!” Penny said, trying to sound cheery and not let the gasping sob in her chest escape.

“Penny! Where are you?!” Her mom sounded angry but relieved.

Penny needed to be vague but honest. “I ran into a little trouble on the way home from work.” She carried on quickly before her mom could cut in. “Before you ask, I’m fine. I headed over to Mandy’s and she’s looking after me.” It was a weak lie. Penny hadn’t seen her ex in months.

There was silence over the phone line for several moments. “Are you sure? I can come get you—”

“No, Mom, I’m fine. I’m just exhausted. I’m going to stay the night and head to work from here. We can talk about it tomorrow night, alright?”

“Alright, dear.” Penny was pretty sure her mom knew she was lying. “We’ll talk tomorrow night. Sleep tight!”

“I will. I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, Pookie.”

Penny was almost in tears as she set the receiver back on the cradle. She headed back over to the loveseat and curled up. She was asleep in a few minutes.

The crick in Penny’s neck woke her. She shifted and realized she wasn’t in bed. She was asleep on a couch, or more specifically, a loveseat. Her eyes flew open and she took in the tiny apartment in daylight. Physically, the room hadn’t changed since she’d closed her eyes. But the situation had changed dramatically since the Winter Soldier was sitting in the chair on the other side of the coffee table. Only this wasn’t exactly the Winter Soldier. This was the man beneath the mask. The man who sat across from her might have stepped straight off the cover of GQ magazine. He was wearing nothing but a pair of black cargo pants and a black henley. All the gear, the goggles, the mask, the helmet, all of it was gone. In its place were striking blue eyes, a strong jawline, a cleft chin, shoulder-length dark hair and potentially one of the most attractive men Penny had ever seen. Even if Penny didn’t swing that way, she knew beauty when she saw it.

As she stared, the Winter Soldier looked up from the sandwich wrap in his hand and those brilliant blue eyes met hers. He pointed to the coffee table and Penny glanced down and saw a plastic bag. “Lunch,” he simply said.

A dozen things were running though Penny’s mind. This was the Winter Soldier? What had he done last night? When did he get back? How long had he been here? Was he watching her sleep? That was creepy. Had he brought her lunch?

Eventually the question that slipped out was, “It’s lunch time?”

He nodded. “Just after noon.” His voice was different without the mask, smoother and far less distorted.

“You could have woken me,” Penny grumbled.

“Why? There’s nothing to do but wait.”

“Wait for what?” she asked.

“I delivered information to several reporters, three different police precincts and SHIELD in regards to Synthetic Builders' criminal activities. The evidence is damning but the authorities will take time to act. Likely later today the arrests will be made.”

“Then I can go home,” Penny said with a sigh.

“That might not be wise. They may still come after you.”

“They? You mean… HYDRA?” Penny wasn’t expecting a single word to have such an effect. The Winter Soldier went still, eerily still.

“Yes,” he replied but he didn’t look at her. He only looked down at the wrap in his hand. After a moment, he set it on the coffee table. “You may not be safe if you stay. I can make you a new identity and take you somewhere new.”

“I can’t leave,” Penny countered. “I look after my mom.”

“Understood.” The Winter Soldier still didn’t look at her. “I will do what I can to prevent them from looking for you.”

Penny looked at the man across from her and found that she was having a hard time relating this man with the one the media called a monster. “You are not what I expected, Winter Soldier.”

“My name is James.” That singular sentence was said with more emotion than anything she had heard from him yet. There was so much behind the words that Penny couldn’t decide which emotion it was. Anger? Joy? Sadness? Hope? Threat? Rather than try and guess, Penny responded.

“It’s nice to meet you, James. My name is Penny.”

James finally looked up at her again. “I take it you didn’t know your boss was HYDRA?”

Penny sighed. “I don’t even know what HYDRA is but… I did know something was off.” The Winter Soldier—no, James—didn’t reply. “It was the best job I could get. Sure, it was a shitty work environment and the pay was bad but—” She cut herself off when she realized what she was about to say was the exact same thing Flak had said to justify his actions: Times are hard. We take the work we can get. She swallowed hard. “How bad is HYDRA?”

“Worse than the worst you can imagine.”

Penny dropped her face into her hands. “I am a terrible person! Why did you even help me?!”

“Because I stand against HYDRA and you are not HYDRA.”

Penny looked up from her hands and toward James. “Everything you do is to fight HYDRA?”

“Yes. That, and protect people.”

“The news says—”

“HYDRA has infiltrated the media.”

Penny’s eyes widened in surprise. “They call you a monster and turn the public against you to try to stop you.” Penny took a few breaths. “Okay, how can I help?”

James’s mouth quirked. It wasn’t quite a smile. “Are you… applying to be a minion of the Winter Soldier?”

For a split second, Penny was shocked silent. She replayed James’s words and while it was faint, there was a hint of humor there. “Fuck that,” she scoffed. “Minion is derogatory. I’d prefer henchman.” 

That cracked a smile on James’s face. He closed his eyes for a moment. “It would be… nice, not to work alone anymore. The Avengers are a capable team. The more often I engage them, the fewer tricks I have left to use.”

“Are the Avengers HYDRA?” It was hard for Penny to believe. She had a little bit of a crush on the Black Widow.

“Unknown. SHIELD was HYDRA, maybe is. They work for SHIELD. Hard to tell.”

“You can’t be the only person out there trying to fix things.”

“Unknown. As you said, the media turned the people against me.”

“Not everyone buys into the media’s lies. Have you considered recruiting?”

At that, James opened his eyes and looked at Penny. “Recruiting?”

“I mean, if the world calls you a terrorist, why not embrace the title? Become the villain, start your own Evil League of Evil and use it to save the world from HYDRA.”

James seemed to consider that, then he leaned forward. “There would need to be rules.”

Penny nodded in agreement. “An ethical code of conduct.”

“No killing.”

Penny nodded again. Her mind was running a mile a minute. She’d had a lot of jobs in the past and all that experience was apparently about to help her found a terrorist organization. She laughed at that absurd thought. “Maybe I can help. I was in HR.”

“HR?”

“Human resources. Hiring, firing, making sure people got paid, that sort of thing.” When she said that she realized that this new job might not come with much actual pay. “That might be a problem though; getting people to join the cause without being able to pay them.”

“I have money,” James said quickly. “A lot of money. Taken from HYDRA.”

“How much is a lot?”

James ran the metal hand through his hair. “Millions? More? Better it’s out of HYDRA’s hands. Trust me when I say that I was owed every cent.”

Penny didn’t want to think about why HYDRA owed the Winter Soldier money. She focused on all the pieces that were falling into place. “This actually might work. We can start a small business, like Synthetic Builders, and hire everyone through that. Then we can…” She trailed off as her thoughts went wild. “Holy shit! This is a plan!”

Suddenly, the world looked a lot brighter to Penny. She looked down at the bag on the coffee table and gestured to it. “Brainstorming is going to need a full stomach!”

James nodded and pushed the bag closer then picked up his own wrap again. Inside the bag were half a dozen sandwich wraps and the same number of bottles of juice. Penny took one at random and sat back with it. Once she’d quieted her stomach with a few bites and James had moved onto a second wrap, she started brainstorming.

“So, what kind of people will we need?”

“Soldiers,” James began. “Good soldiers. Not mindless ones. Ones willing to ask questions but well trained. Medics or doctors. Pilots. Maybe… lawyers?”

Penny nodded. “All great ideas. Maybe an R&D team as well? To help with making technology to stay competitive.” James nodded in agreement. “I think we could fold all this under the umbrella of a R&D tech start-up.” James tilted his head slightly in what Penny assumed was confusion. “Well, if we make a company focused on research and development that allows for the scientists and researchers. We’d also need lawyers for patents and stuff. We’d want security to keep it all safe and secure. We’d be able to hire anyone and do it legally.”

Penny heard the faint noise of a phone vibrating. James reached into his pocket and pulled out a smartphone. He tapped at it a few times. “Your office was just raided. Your boss and most of your coworkers have been arrested. Flak and Shrapnel are also in custody.”

“Guess that means I’m out of a job,” Penny said with a sigh.

“I may be inclined to make an offer.”

“I may be willing to take a look. What are you proposing?”

“What do you want?”

“Not much, just to be able to afford my apartment. So, more than minimum wage.”

“How much is your apartment and what is minimum wage?”

“Uh, I share the apartment with my mom but we pay $2000 a month. Minimum wage in New York is $11 an hour.”

James’s eyes widened slightly. “That is… normal?”

“Yes?”

“I think that’s worse than during the Great Depression.”

“What?”

“Never mind. Is it common for workplaces to take advantage of their employees?”

“Oh, yeah. It’s the culture. A lot of my friends work two jobs.”

James shook his head briskly. “Not if they work for me.”

Penny was starting to think that this was going to be fantastic.

Things happened quickly after Penny’s company was in the news. Her first order of business was to go home and have a good long talk with her mom. She wasn’t going to spill everything, but her company was in the news today so she could say a fair bit. James told her to go to the police and report everything after she spoke with her mom. He said it was better to get everything out in the open and he was fairly convinced she would have no problem with the police if she told most of the truth. He coached her on what to say and after he’d grimaced at her and told her she was a terrible liar, they decided to go with mostly the truth. Before she said anything though, the answer to every question was lawyer. After exchanging phone numbers, James put her in a cab and she went home. 

As expected, her mom smothered her. She told the truth, right up until James entered the picture. Then, just before dinner, she headed to the police station. Her mom demanded to go with her. She wasn’t surprised to find a pair of lawyers already waiting there for her.

“Ms. Whitlock?” the smiling man with flowing blond hair greeted her.

“Yes?” both Penny and her mom replied.

“I’m Foggy Nelson. This is my partner Matt Murdock.” Foggy introduced himself and the man beside him who was wearing dark red glasses and carrying a white cane. “A friend of yours told us you needed representation. Asked us to be here when you arrived. Paid us double our usual rates just to sit around in the police station and wait for you to show up.”

“Your friend was worried about you,” the blind man, Matt, added.

“My boss tried to have me killed last night,” Penny provided. “I found out my whole company was raided this morning. It’s been a stressful 24 hours.”

Foggy and Matt were pleasant and professional. Penny told the police her story, with the slight redactions that allowed it to still be the truth.

“What did the guy who saved you look like?” the detective asked.

“He was wearing all black,” Penny answered. She, Foggy, Matt and the detective were all in the little interrogation room. “And a mask. He said I was in danger. To hide out and wait to report everything until I saw my boss on the news.”

“Just… all in black?” the detective asked skeptically.

“It was dark. I was terrified.”

A few hours later, she was walking out of the police station with her lawyers.

“Do you know who saved me?” she asked.

“The police have a hunch,” Foggy said once they were outside. “They call him the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. You were a little out of his usual stomping grounds but the attack fits his MO.”

“All the evidence points to him,” Matt said absently.

Penny wasn’t surprised. She’d been vague but vague in a way James had directed. He probably knew exactly who they were implicating. “How much do I owe you?”

“Oh, we’ve been paid,” Foggy said as he brought up his phone. “The moment we stepped out of the precinct, I got the notification. Your friend is very prompt.”

“Ms. Whitlock,” Matt began, “please stay safe. While the police remain convinced that the Devil saved you, I’m more skeptical. Bear in mind that whoever did save you may be quite dangerous.”

“Thank you for worrying, Mr. Murdock,” Penny answered. “I’ll be careful.”

A week later, when things had settled down, she finally got a text from James.

James: Lunch?

It was followed by an address.

Penny: Looking forward to it.

When Penny left home that day, she was dressed very differently from the way she had been the last time she and James met. Gone was the revealing and tight, nearly skanky outfit. She’d abandoned the heavy makeup and heels as well. She was in a bright but modest sundress and running shoes. 

When she arrived at the address, she found a diner that was looking out over the water. She stepped inside and saw that most of the seats were full but the place was still quiet. She scanned the tables and stools and started to think that she had arrived first. She scanned the diner again and this time, she saw him.

James looked just as different as she did. He was sitting in the last booth against the window. He was in tight black jeans with unlaced combat boots. Even on this warm autumn day, he was in a long-sleeve red Henley. He was wearing thin, black leather gloves and his long hair was pulled back in a loose braid. He had a bit of stubble on his cheeks and was wearing glasses. He was looking down at a large book that was resting open on the table. If Penny didn’t know better, she’d be tempted to call him some sort of hipster/gym rat fusion. She realized that was probably the look he was going for.

Penny walked over. “Good morning, James!” she said as she slipped into the booth opposite him.

James looked up from the book. “Good morning, Penny.”

“What are you reading?” she asked as she set her tote bag in the booth beside her. James closed the book and Penny had to cover her mouth to stifle a laugh. “Small Business for Dummies?” As much as she nearly laughed at that, it was obvious that James was taking this seriously.

“There is a lot to learn,” James said with a frown. “None of this falls into my usual skill set.”

“I’m glad you’re taking this seriously.”

They ended up spending several hours in the booth. Penny took notes on everything they discussed. They kept the discussion focused entirely on the new business and avoided the topic of the rebel organization in everything but allusion.

“So, who’s going to be the founder of this new business?” Penny asked.

“This identity is flawless.” The way he said it made Penny realize that James might not be the Winter Soldier's real name. He reached into his wallet and pulled out a driver’s license. Penny took it when he handed it to her. The picture was of James, of that she had no doubt. “James Knight.” She read aloud then she looked back up at him. “Founder and CEO of… well… we’re gonna need a name.” She passed the ID back to him.

“What kind of name?”

“The biggest tech companies are all named after the founders: Stark Industries, Hammer Industries, Viastone, Pym Technologies.”

James looked down at the ID for a moment. “Knighthood?”

Penny smiled at him when he met her eye. “James Knight, founder and CEO of Knighthood.”

“Penny Whitlock,” he replied. “Director of human resources and inaugural employee of Knighthood.”

“It will be a pleasure working with you, Mr. Knight.”

“You as well, Ms. Whitlock.”

Penny was very busy after that. Founding a company wasn’t easy but she was committed. She buckled down and worked. If she was actually paying attention, she would have realized she was working just as many hours, if not more, than she had been for Synthetic Builders. But this was so different. Not only did she enjoy the work, she was getting paid handsomely. It was also exciting to basically be given a blank slate to work from. 

She didn’t see James for a month after the meeting in the diner but she kept in constant contact with him over phone and text as she founded the company. As much freedom as she had, she still ran everything by James. Sometimes he had opinions and sometimes he asked for advice. Like on the location of the building that would house Knighthood.

James: Not Jersey.

Penny: Why not? It’s cheaper than New York.

James: Not Jersey.

Penny: Fine. How about Yonkers?

James: Acceptable.

That text conversation was how Penny found a quiet little office building in Yonkers, at the very end of the subway line, that fit the requirements of both Knighthood and the future rebel organization they were founding. She set up a meeting with the real estate agent and texted James about it. He adjusted the date and said he’d be there.

When Penny walked up to the building, it was everything she hoped for. It had a big and beautiful glass lobby, ample parking, nice landscaping—

“Ms. Whitlock?”

Penny shook her head clear and looked over. A man in a blue suit with a tablet was walking toward her. “Oh, Mr. Miller! I was just captivated by the building!”

“It is nice,” Mr. Miller said with a smile. They only made pleasant conversation for a few minutes before the roar of an engine grew and James drove into the parking lot on an impressive looking motorcycle. He was dressed casually again, still in a way that screamed hipster. He parked the bike nearby and when he pulled off the helmet with the blackened visor, Penny giggled at the helmet hair he had beneath. He shook his head wildly then locked the helmet to the bike and walked over while catching his long hair in a loose ponytail.

“Am I late?” he asked as he approached. “I’m not used to the traffic.”

“It’s fine, James. We only just got here,” Penny assured. “James, this is our real estate agent, Mr. Miller. Mr. Miller, James Knight.”

“Nice to meet you, sir,” Mr. Miller said as he shook hands with James.

There was a tour after that. The office was huge; eight stories high with two basement levels. The first floor was mostly reception and a few large open rooms. Floors two and three were rigged for mechanical labs. Floors four and five for chemistry labs. Floors six and seven were offices and floor eight was a mixture of a few large offices and a badly maintained rooftop garden and greenhouse. The first basement was huge with cavernous rooms meant for storage. The sub-basement was much smaller with lower ceilings and lots of rooms connected by twisting hallways.

Penny saw a lot of potential in the building, even if it was in a bit of disrepair. According to Mr. Miller, the building had last been occupied over a year ago and the company had gone bankrupt.

As the group stood in the bright and open lobby, Mr. Miller spoke. “Well, what do you think?”

James looked at Penny and asked, “Is there housing nearby?”

“Yes, we’ve already looked into it.” That had been a concern for her as well. “Housing, public transportation, good schools, amenities. The neighborhood is pretty safe too.”

Penny watched James for a minute as his eyes scanned the lobby. “Your opinion?”

“I like it,” Penny said happily. “The rooftop garden could be beautiful. But this place might take some work.”

James nodded. “Looks like we have an HQ.”

It didn’t take long to get the keys to Knighthood HQ. James paid to expedite the entire process. A few days later, they were back at HQ, going room to room discussing what they would need to make the building useful. Penny had the mundane things covered: desks, chairs, telephones, computers, lockers, punch clocks, all the annoying but entirely necessary equipment. Since it was just the two of them, James also added the less mundane items to the list, things the rebel organization would need. Anything they could get legally, Penny added to her list. The rest, James just nodded and said he would handle it.

They were sitting on the roof, in the mostly dead greenhouse, discussing everything they would need and deciding on who to hire to do the work. Penny had her old laptop on the ground in front of her that she was taking notes on. She was currently waiting for the document to save.

“That is your computer?”

Penny glared at him. “Hey, don’t mock my baby! This old girl has stood by me through all sorts of ups and downs. She is the best therapist I could ever ask for.”

“You could buy a new one.”

“We’re about to buy ten new computers for the HQ.”

“I meant for you. Use the company account.”

Penny laughed. “You already pay me a ridiculous amount, James. I’ll probably buy one soon, since you know, I can afford it now.” Penny sat back while the file continued to save. “I’ve been thinking. What are you going to call your new group?”

“Minions of the Winter Soldier?”

Penny had been around James long enough that by this point she could usually tell when he was joking. “Henchmen of the Winter Soldier?” she countered. “Seriously, if you don’t pick a name, the media is going to pick one for you. And we both know they won’t be kind.”

James looked off toward the slowly setting sun. “Do you have any ideas?”

“I was thinking of something cold themed, to go with the Winter Soldier. Maybe Winter Guard? Or Wintertide? Winter Corps? Frostfall?”

“I didn’t choose the name Winter Soldier.”

Penny looked at the man across from her thoughtfully. She didn't know he didn’t pick the name. By the way he’d said it, she wondered if he even liked it. “Change of tack then. False Spring? Spring Thaw? Summer Soldiers? Springtide?”

James let out a sharp breath, sort of a snort, maybe almost a laugh. “Did you just come up with all of those on the spot?”

“The spring ones, yes. Not the winter ones. I’ve been thinking about it for a while.”

“I’ll think about it.”

James was around a lot more while Penny was getting the building ready. He’d disappear once in a while but he was only gone for a day usually. He’d spend several hours at the HQ every day with both Penny and the contractors who came and went. Every time she saw him, she tossed out a name idea with no context.

“Icicles!” she yelled across the lobby as James walked in.

“Pest Control!” she said from under a desk while she hooked up a computer. James snorted from the other side of the room.

“Frost!”

“Evil League of Evil!”

“Snowhearts!”

“Hailstorm!”

“Snowflakes!

“Permafrost!”

They’d been working on the building for two weeks and Penny had offered a hundred names. Yesterday, she had missed James when he didn’t show up. She was sitting at the new reception desk in the lobby waiting for the contractors to show up to finish the gym in the basement when the Winter Soldier walked in through the big glass doors. He wasn’t in the armor, but he was definitely not walking with the casual, laid-back demeanor of James Knight. That was a murder strut if she ever saw one.

Penny launched to her feet. “James! What happened?”

“He is infuriating,” James’s voice was quiet and full of threat. “Self-righteous and oblivious.” In the quiet lobby, straining to hear James, Penny heard a very quiet hiss from James’s left side. She saw him clench that fist, the metal one, and what she assumed was the metal arm hissed again. This was the first time she’d ever heard the arm make a noise. By this point, she assumed it was a prosthetic. In public, he always kept it covered with long sleeves and a glove. In private, with her, he’d often take off the glove or wear a T-shirt.

“Alright, who are we talking about?” Penny knew the Winter Soldier had clashed with the Avengers last night in Manhattan. It was all over the news.

“Captain America.” The name was said with so much exasperation and frustration that Penny wondered how much the media was lying about the leader of the Avengers.

“Will you tell me why?”

“He’s a liar. An imposter with a stolen shield. A tool being used by a corrupt government. The real Captain America would be rolling over in his grave if he knew what was being called his replacement.”

“The real Captain America?” Penny had to think about that for a second. “Oh, wait! I remember something from elementary school. You mean Captain America, from World War Two?”

James nodded aggressively. “Steve Rogers was a hero who died to destroy HYDRA. This imposter is protecting HYDRA. If Steve Rogers were here…” James trailed off and Penny watched the anger fade from him. “He makes me angry.”

“I can see that.”

They stood in silence for a few minutes while James took deep breaths. Eventually, they were interrupted by the expected contractors. Before Penny left the room to lead the contractors to the basement, she called back to James. “Shieldbreakers!”

“Heracles! He’s the one who kills the hydra!”

“Grim Reapers!”

“Karma!”

“Kismet!”

“Revengers!”

“Brushfire!”

Penny and James were standing in the lobby of their now fully functional HQ when James spoke, “Avalanche.”

Penny looked over at him. “Avalanche?” she asked.

“An unstoppable tide, made up of individuals working together toward the same goal. We will be an Avalanche.”

Chapter Text

Sergeant Michael Stiles was sick of the entire world. Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. He could vaguely remember a time that wasn't the case. At 18 years old, he was wide eyed and ready to go out and save the world. He’d enlisted in the U.S. Army. And now, more than six years later, he was so jaded to the horrors of the world that he couldn’t even bring himself to care anymore.

He was never very smart. Barely got through high school but he was a good soldier. He was just smart enough to think on the fly and adapt plans to fit the encounter but not smart enough to question orders. The brass liked that.

What the brass never noticed, though, was that Mike was observant. He saw everything. When on base, he’d know everyone’s business just from watching. Milo slipping out after dark? Mike knew. Allen stealing rations? Mike knew. Lieutenant Hawkins meeting with civilian contractors who hadn’t come on base through the front gates? Mike knew.

At first, he let it slide. There was probably a good reason for some of the things he saw. But slowly, his optimism faded, and he started to realize the truth. That shipment of guns his unit escorted to the ‘British’ military contingent? Some of them might have been British but they were not military. That base his unit secured and found evidence of drug smuggling in the basement? No report on that ever surfaced. That time he’d nearly been court-martialed because his orders had been changed after he’d carried them out? He knew he was the fall guy.

With that betrayal hardening his heart, he watched with far more pessimism and it became clear quite quickly: a lot of the brass were corrupt. He even watched a few take bribes from some spook organization called SHIELD. 

All the while, Mike said nothing. What was the point? They’d already proven they could make him take the fall. So, he kept his head down and waited for his contract to end. He was down to his last 18 months when the underworld went crazy. 

The brass and intelligence agents had no idea what was going on but suddenly every organization that did any cloak-and-dagger work was in turmoil, including the U.S. Army. There were defections, suicides, infighting and blackmail everywhere. Countries that had been allies were withdrawing. More than once, Mike’s squad went out to a firefight with no idea who they were shooting at. Rather than stay in the dark, Mike watched and eventually took notes. He pieced some of it together, and it all came back to SHIELD. Someone was compromising SHIELD’s operations. Mike knew what SHIELD was, he figured it might not be a bad thing if they were taking a hit.

Eventually, he heard a name. It was said in hushed whispers between two flustered SHIELD agents who were hanging around outside the command tent and not watching what they were saying.

“Goddamned Winter Soldier.”

“At this rate, there’ll be nothing left of SHIELD.”

The agents were called back inside and Mike went to find his squad.

“Sexton!” he called when he got to the outbuilding they called home. It wasn’t the usual barracks but it was quiet and isolated. “I need a favor.”

“Oh, a favor.” Corporal Sexton grinned deviously as he sat up from his bedroll. “Those are expensive. Even for my friends.” Mike tossed over a box of chocolate Smarties. It barely got by the other hands that grabbed for it before Sexton caught it. “Smarties?!” Sexton looked up in shock. “When did the Canadians come through?! I would have known—”

“Don’t question your amazing sergeant,” Mike drawled with a smile. “I’m paying the big bucks, so I expect excellent results.”

“Sir, yes, sir!” Sexton snapped out.

“I need you to look into someone called the Winter Soldier.”

Sexton titled his head in confusion. “The Winter Soldier? With capital letters? Like a title?”

“I think so. And do it quietly. I think this is the guy intelligence is going crazy over.”

“I’m on it!”

It was a week later, Mike was in the field with his squad, camping in a quiet forest when Sexton brought it up again. “I found him; your Winter Soldier.”

“Tell me.”

“It took a while,” Sexton began. “Google kept trying to alter the search parameters, or I’d just get articles that contained both words but not together. I found him on a conspiracy theory website.”

“Conspiracy theories?”

“Yeah. Your Soldier ranks up there with hollow Earth theory and the pyramids being built by aliens.”

“Are you sure you found the right guy?”

“I had two words to work with Stiles, you tell me.”

“Okay, okay. Tell me the rest.”

“According to the website, the Winter Soldier was first mentioned in Berlin in 1949. Since then, he’s been tenuously connected to dozens of assassinations.”

“Over 60 years?”

“Yeah, that’s where the conspiracy theories start. Sixty years is a long time, the forums argue if it’s one guy or if some outfit just sends all of their assassins out in the same distinctive gear. Or maybe it’s an inherited title, passed down from master to student.”

“Distinctive gear?”

“There’s only one grainy photo of him and a few eyewitness statements. Black tactical gear, mask and a metal arm.”

“A metal arm?”

“That’s the next hotly debated topic. Some say it’s a metal combat sleeve, some say prosthetic, some say it’s cosmetic. No one knows.”

“Dammit Sexton, you brought me more questions than answers.”

“I brought you information. What you do with it is up to you.”

After being sent on a dozen mysterious missions, Mike’s squad was finally considered trustworthy enough to get a briefing. Mike nearly laughed when the briefing on the Winter Soldier consisted of two photos and two sentences.

“This is the Winter Soldier. If you see him, report immediately and do not engage.”

There were two photos. One was old, grainy and in black and white. It was a man in dated combat gear. He wore a mask over his nose and mouth. His left arm was white in the picture. The other picture was much more recent. It was only a little grainy, like it had been enlarged but it was tinted from night vision. The man was standing beside a tree, on the edge of a forest. He was in much more modern gear, armed to the teeth with a massive rifle on his back. He wore the same mask and goggles but had a new helmet.

Comparatively, Sexton’s briefing was far better.

Things carried on in confusion for over a year. Mike was counting down the months to his contract ending when his squad was deployed to check out a base. He was a little worried. His squad was only 12 men and they were tasked with investigating a base that could house hundreds.

When they got there, he realized why the brass had only sent 12 people. The base was empty. Every floor was deserted, every room ransacked. There were pots left on the stove. Food left on the table. Broken furniture. Whoever was here left in a hurry and recently enough that the bread on the table was still fresh. They were clearing room after room when he heard it. Someone was still here. They worked their way down and in the lowest sublevel, they found them. All of them. It was painfully obvious what the intention of this base was with just one look at the lowest level: human trafficking. The cells were filled with almost a hundred glassy-eyed men, women and children. The locks on the cells were all broken and there was food and water placed inside the doors, but the victims hadn’t ventured out, too terrified to take the risk. 

Mike called it in. His squad was not equipped to deal with this.

“Sarge!”

Mike hustled over to the shout and found Sexton standing over a laptop computer. It was closed and sitting conspicuously on an otherwise clear table. It was the item on top of it that had Sexton’s attention. It was a snow globe depicting a black bear in the woods. 

Sexton looked over at Mike. “I’m making a kind of obvious connection here.”

“Me too. I’ll call it in.”

Mike didn’t think he’d ever seen the brass move so fast. Within an hour the base was swarming with people. If anything, it got the human trafficking victims proper care a bit faster.

After that, Mike and his squad often debated the idea of the Winter Soldier. Always away from camp; no one wanted to risk their loyalties being questioned.

“I mean, the brass calls this guy a monster. But a monster doesn’t free a hundred people from human trafficking and leave them with food and water. Then make enough noise to make sure someone comes by to help.”

“Yeah, but what about that base in the mountains? That place was a bloodbath.”

“That wasn’t done by one man.”

“The brass says Winter Soldier.”

“We don’t know he was there.”

“We don’t know he wasn’t.”

In the end, things settled down a month before Mike’s contract ended. Based on his observations, it wasn’t over but the Winter Soldier was less active in their corner of the world. 

Mike was back stateside and had just put down his first and last month’s rent on an apartment as far away from the military as possible when he got a text from Sexton who was still stuck somewhere sandy.

Cpl Sexypants: Snow globe. Deer this time. Base was SHIELD’s.

Mike wasn’t surprised. SHIELD was corrupt and the Winter Soldier seemed to know it.

Wild Style: Can I buy Smarties in the U.S.?

Cpl Sexypants: Nope, gotta cross the border for those bad boys. Get some hard maple candy too. That shit is better than crack.

Three months went by with Mike getting the occasional messages from Sexton.

Mike didn’t hear about aliens attacking New York until six hours after it happened. He was working long hours at his shitty job for shitty pay. It wasn’t even enough to cover his rent; he had to use his savings from the military to offset it but he refused to accept help from the military. He wanted a clean cut from corruption. Twitter of all things tipped him off to the attack since he usually avoided the news. It was just the same shit on a different day. The absolute worst part of the whole thing was that apparently the newly christened Avengers worked for SHIELD. Well, what was left of it. The Winter Soldier had been working hard.

Mike drifted through the days, angry and hopeless. He was indulging in his one Starbucks coffee a week when it happened. He’d just taken the coffee off the counter and was bringing that sweet nectar of the gods to his lips when he glanced at the TV in the corner and the Winter Soldier was looking back at him. Mike dropped his coffee—his nearly $10 coffee— and he didn’t care.

The Winter Soldier was on TV! He was taking on the Avengers! And winning! Well… sometimes. Mike set up alerts on his phone to ping him whenever the Winter Soldier made the news. The media coverage stateside was far better than in the desert and Mike got to see the Soldier in action in high definition. It was pretty hilarious the first time he’d humbled the Avengers. He’d even walked away with Captain America’s shield.

Mike wasn’t a hacker by any means but with Sexton’s help through a FaceTime call, he found himself on the dark web and in a chat room supporting the Winter Soldier. He lurked mostly, but the people inside had logical observations that the media disregarded. Apparently, since his first appearance in New York three months ago, the only deaths connected to the Winter Soldier were from the explosion at Roxxon. But no one could definitively say the Winter Soldier had set that bomb. Aside from that, death occurred, bombs, explosions, collateral damage. But not once could the Soldier be conclusively tied to it. And not once did anyone he shot die. Even still, the media cried murderer. There was a grainy cellphone video of the Winter Soldier tearing the door off a car to free the people stuck inside. That never made the news. So, Mike lurked and watched the Winter Soldier’s chatroom grow. 

One day, four months after the Winter Soldier’s first fight with the Avengers, Mike logged in to find the chatroom empty. The banner greeting was huge and in bold font: The Winter Soldier is recruiting! Followed by a link. Mike didn’t hesitate. He clicked it.

He was taken to a black page with white text. The URL was just letters and numbers. He read the single page of text with glee.

I have realized that I alone am not enough. The world is corrupt, the people in power make sure it remains that way. I will continue to fight, for those we have lost and those we can yet save. The goal is not harm. You will be held to a code of ethics. No one dies, not us or them. We will drag those who thrive in darkness into the light. We will stand; against the Avengers, against the government, against any who would threaten our planet.

If you feel that the time has come to take a stand, then stand with me. Show the world that the Avengers are not enough to keep them safe. Show the world what hides in the shadows. Show the world that you will stand for what you believe in.

I am seeking like-minded individuals with the skills and knowledge to not just stand, but to fight. I need soldiers, medics, scientists, researchers, lawyers, pilots and many others. I would also be grateful for the assistance of those willing to put their unique skills to use. I am not the only person in the world who is different. I know that can lead to others thinking of you as nothing more than a tool. 

I will welcome all comers. But I will only accept the best.

The Winter Soldier

Below that text was a link with the innocuous text of ‘submit application here’. Mike clicked it. And somehow, he really had no idea how, but somehow it had gotten him here.

Two weeks after submitting the application, Mike walked into a hotel convention hall in Washington, D.C. to see about a hundred people milling around. The place was pretty nicely laid out, if a bit spartan. There was a table with refreshments as well as several rows of chairs in front of a stage with a podium and a microphone. It was the people that had Mike’s attention. They were an eclectic bunch. There were four people in costume. Two were obviously handmade while one looked professional and the last was basically custom tactical gear. There were a few people in military dress uniforms. Mike had considered wearing his but it just made him angry. There were soldiers out of uniform too. Mike could pick them out simply by how they walked. There were a couple of teenagers and a few older people as well. Some people were dressed casually, some were in expensive suits. Mike didn’t mingle, he just cased the place and realized he wasn’t the only one doing it. 

A few minutes after the meeting was supposed to begin, the Winter Soldier, in full battle regalia, complete with dozens of weapons and a sniper rifle taller than him on his back, walked into the room from the same door Mike had entered through. In person, the Winter Soldier was even more terrifying than he’d ever seemed on the news. He was in heavy tactical gear but that silvery metal arm was on full display. Prosthetic or sleeve, even in person Mike couldn’t decide. His face was covered with that odd muzzle-like mask and he wore the same goggles. He also had on a black, custom helmet.

The room went quiet as the Soldier’s head turned in a way that meant he was scanning the room. “Petersen! Jacobs! Kowalski! Front and center!” The voice of the Winter Soldier was hard and carried so much authority that Mike nearly stood at attention. Instead, he watched three men, who Mike had clocked as military, step forward to stand about ten feet in front of the Soldier. They were pretty nondescript guys. “Or should I say Adams, Crenshaw and Burns?” At the words from the Soldier all three men stiffened and one went to speak but the Winter Soldier cut him off. “I’m sorry to inform you but I’m not looking to employ spies as poor as the ones in SHIELD, the FBI and the CIA.” The Soldier snapped his attention to one of the men and the guy wilted. “Adams. You will find your sniper support napping in the dumpster behind the donut shop down the block. Please retrieve him and tell him that if he needs to be that close to make the shot, he has no right to call himself a sniper.” The Soldier skipped over the middle guy and looked at the one on the other end. “Crenshaw. Your surveillance van has been disabled. Evacuate your people within the next ten minutes or I will detonate the EMP rigged to its undercarriage and leave the entire unit obsolete. Come back for it later.” The Soldier looked at the middle man and dropped his chin. Mike assumed he was glaring. “Burns. You may wish to consider changing careers. If the CIA sent you in here without backup, you are obviously expendable.” The Soldier pointed toward the door. “All of you, please leave.”

The three men looked between each other but eventually slinked out. Mike was a pessimist. That was a pretty nice show the Winter Soldier had just put on. But those guys could just be actors. This could all have just been a set up. As he watched the three men leave, he considered the terror he’d seen in their eyes when the Winter Soldier called them by what was likely their real names. That sort of terror was hard to fake.

Mike snapped back to reality when the Winter Soldier spoke again. “This location is compromised. Please follow me if you are still interested.” Everyone, including Mike, did.

The whole group moved through the kitchen, then a tunnel and emerged into another, smaller hall set up in much the same way. The Winter Soldier gestured to the seats and sat on the edge of the stage. He had to shift that massive sniper rifle aside to do so.

“I will not waste your time,” he began once the group was seated. “Before we begin the interview process, I want everyone to be completely aware of the goals and requirements of my new organization, Avalanche. The goals are threefold. First, to prove to the world that six people, in the form of the Avengers, are not enough to defend the planet against what may be lurking among the stars. Second, to expose the corruption lurking in the governments and bring the perpetrators to justice. Third, to stand against any force that threatens the planet.”

The crowd murmured a bit, chatting amongst themselves for a moment. The Winter Soldier just waited. Eventually, the crowd quieted.

“If you join the cause,” the Winter Soldier continued, “you will be held to a strict, ethical code of conduct. We will not be villains, even if we are criminals. There will be no killing.”

That got a bit more of a response, with louder conversation. Someone stood up. “Wouldn’t it just be easier to kill the bad guys? It would stop them for good,” the standing man asked.

The Winter Soldier didn’t look bothered by the question. He was still sitting calmly on the edge of the stage. “Perhaps, but a dead man can become a martyr. When he dies, he takes his crimes and secrets with him to the grave. We are blamed, called villains, labeled worse than him for seeking justice. We will expose the truth, defame, disrupt, intimidate. We will make them desperate, make them turn on their fellows and expose the whole web of treachery. Make them suffer, publicly and before the world for their crimes. Let their victims see justice being done.”

The guy sat down. The Winter Soldier nodded and pointed to the screen on the stage. The screen lit up when he pointed at it. “This is the preliminary code of conduct. Changes may be made in the future after input from new members but assume you will be required to follow this. You will all be sent a follow-up with a scheduled interview. If you are willing to follow the code of conduct, please reply with a signed copy of it.”

Mike looked at the screen and read the code of conduct. It was pretty bare bones but the important parts were there. And frankly, Mike could get behind everything it was saying. The Winter Soldier didn’t stick around and Mike wasn’t exactly sure when he disappeared, only that he didn’t answer any more questions. Once the Winter Soldier was gone, the group dispersed pretty quickly.

Mike wandered the streets of D.C. once he left the hotel. He’d made it three blocks when his phone notified him of an email. He checked it and there was an email from the same spoofed account he’d gotten the invite to this meeting from. It was brief, just a copy of the code of conduct and a few time slots in the next week to set up an interview. The times were all for later that week. The problem was, Mike was broke. Getting to D.C. was costly, so was his hotel. He replied to the email with the digitally signed code of conduct and after briefly considering it, he summarized his problem in the email.

Ten minutes later, when Mike was looking at the Washington monument, his phone beeped again. This email said that they understood his predicament and could do his interview today if he was available and if the Winter Soldier was interested, accommodations could be made to allow Mike to stay close.

Mike sent back a resounding agreement and the response was a nearby address and an appointment that was an hour from now. Talk about accommodating.

Mike took a cab to the location and found a small store with a closed sign in the window. Above the closed sign was a handwritten note saying to use the back door. Mike went around and knocked. The door opened and a woman in heavy black tactical pants, a black sweater and a pure white, porcelain mask stood before him.

“Sergeant Michael Stiles?” she asked pleasantly.

“Just Mike, please,” Mike answered.

The woman nodded and stepped aside. “Come in, please.”

Mike stepped into the room and found he was in the back of the store. The room had been arranged to be cozy, with two couches facing each other and a coffee table between them. On the table were a few bottles of water and a folder full of papers.

“Please have a seat,” the woman said and sat on one of the couches. “You can call me Chatelaine. Winter will be joining us soon. He’s just doing a security sweep.”

Mike sat down across from her. Before he could say anything, there was a distinct knock on the door and it opened. The Winter Soldier, still in full gear, walked in.

“All clear,” he said as he headed over to a table against the wall and put that massive sniper rifle down. As the Winter Soldier disarmed of his most cumbersome weapons, it dawned on Mike that he was alone in a room with one of America’s Most Wanted. What surprised him more, though, was that he wasn’t really worried about it.

“How’d it go with the spies?” Chatelaine asked.

The Winter Soldier huffed. “The CIA is laughable. I did find an M40 sniper rifle just lying on a roof where anyone could stumble across it. Like a good citizen, I secured it. Wouldn’t want a kid stumbling across that.”

“Can’t believe the sniper left it unattended to go for a donut,” Mike added dryly.

The Winter Soldier glanced up from the table to look at Mike. “Well, at least it will be appreciated here.” After that, the Winter Soldier removed the goggles and helmet, revealing startling blue eyes and shoulder-length, dark hair. He swept the hair up into a loose ponytail and walked over to sit beside Chatelaine. The Winter Soldier glared at Mike and Mike glared back.

The stare-down was broken when Chatelaine put a gentle hand on the Winter Soldier’s knee. “This isn’t a fight, Winter,” she said quietly. “There’s no need for the murder glare.”

The Winter Soldier broke off his glare to look at Chatelaine. Then he sighed and leaned back on the couch. He crossed his arms as he did, showing off that dexterous metal arm.

“I have one important question,” the Winter Soldier began. “Your military file indicates you worked for 18 months chasing my trail. Why would you ever choose to side with me?”

Mike couldn’t say he was surprised that the Winter Soldier had access to his classified military records. He took a moment to think over his answer before he responded. Usually, taking the time to think was met with his superiors getting snappy and anxious, thinking he was trying to hide something. Both the Winter Soldier and Chatelaine just waited patiently. “There was a base, outside Gorgan, in Iran. My squad was the first on site. We found a snow globe there.” Mike watched as the Winter Soldier went still. “Whoever cleared out that base, left all 104 human trafficking victims with food, water and made sure that help was on the way. Those aren’t the actions of a monster.”

After a few moments wherein Chatelain glanced over at the Winter Soldier, the Soldier spoke, “Some people would argue I cut into their profit margin.”

“Those people are the real monsters. The moment I had a chance to get away from the U.S. Army and SHIELD, I ran for the hills. I didn’t think there was anyone still trying to do the right thing. But maybe I was wrong.”

Chatelaine took over the interview after that. There were some mundane questions as well and some questions about his skills and what he was and wasn’t willing to do. 

After the interview, Mike walked back to his hotel. The long walk gave him ample time to ruminate on the Winter Soldier and everything connected to him: The Winter Soldier, Avalanche, the code of conduct, SHIELD. By the time he was back at the hotel, his thoughts were so twisted, that he just gave up and tried to get some sleep.

When he woke up, he had two emails. One was from the same spoofed email and signed by Chatelaine. It was a job offer for a position in Avalanche. It was very concise; the Winter Soldier was impressed with the interview, we believe you are a suitable candidate, more information to follow. The second email was from a name he didn’t recognize but the @ domain was for a company called Knighthood. This email was a job offer, complete with a preliminary contract. He read the email thoroughly before getting to the contract, all while still lying in bed in the overpriced hotel room.

The email said that they understood his financial limitations and if he signed on with Knighthood, they would cover his transportation to New York and hotel accommodations until the date of hire, a week from Monday. Mike frowned at that. That was a lot of money. He tapped on the attached document and read the official job offer.

The first few paragraphs were the code of conduct and the confidentiality statements. Both included a clause for immediate termination of employment if they were breached. There was a section for the mundane HR stuff, 40 hours of work with voluntary overtime and so forth. His duties were listed, mostly security, but there was some play in the wording that allowed Avalanche’s activities to be included.

Things got interesting when he saw his wage. Mike actually sat up in bed and swore out loud. That was a lot of money. The next line mentioned hazard pay was time and a half. Then five weeks of paid vacation. Five paid sick days. Medical benefits and dental? This… this couldn’t be right. Mike was a grunt. He wasn’t worth this much. The military certainly didn’t think so and neither did anyone he’d worked for since. Except, apparently, the Winter Soldier.

Mike joined Avalanche because it was morally and ethically right. He joined Knighthood because it would give him a chance to lead a good life.

He spent the morning crafting a reply to the representative from Knighthood. That evening, he had his reply. After a little back and forth, Mike had a plane ticket back home for the next day to clean out his meager apartment, a plane ticket the day after to get him to New York and reservations at a hotel until his first day at Knighthood where the HR representative said they could discuss his accommodations then.

So, after a quick jaunt across the country, cleaning out his apartment, flipping off his landlord, a flight to New York, a little less than a week in a rather nice hotel, and a shopping trip to pick up some business casual clothes, Mike was standing in front of the building that housed Knighthood.

The building was surprisingly nice; eight floors with a glass entryway. The lawn was well landscaped and maintained. There was a parking lot and a few picnic tables near the building. There was a little sign near the road. It said Knighthood in gothic font with an image of a knight’s helmet. In the know, Mike thought that the visor of the helmet looked a lot like the Winter Soldier’s mask. He had a quiet chuckle about that as he walked into the building.

“Oh! Hi, Mike!”

Mike looked around the bright reception area and saw a woman with a tablet in front of the desk. She was tall and lithe, with long curly brown hair. “Hello, Miss…?” he tried.

“Oh! Right!” She shifted the tablet so she could hold out a hand. “I’m Penny Whitlock, head of HR. We spoke through email.” As they shook hands, Penny looked a little sheepish. “I might have introduced myself as Chatelaine last time we met.”

Well, that explained it. 

“This way please,” Penny said and led Mike down a short hallway. She opened a door and led him in. Inside, three men and a woman were sitting at a conference table with a folder of paper in front of each of them. There was one more vacant spot with a folder where Mike sat.

“And that’s everyone,” Penny said as she sat at the head of the table. “Let me be the first to welcome you to Knighthood. This will be your orientation as well as where we get everything signed and organized.”

“I have a question,” the man beside Mike asked.

“I hope I can answer it, Kenny,” Penny said with a smile.

“What’s with the pay?”

“Ah, well. It’s very generous, isn’t it?” Penny replied.

“Too generous,” the other woman in the room said. “What’s the catch?”

“I guess there is a bit of a catch or two.” As Penny said it, everyone in the room, including Mike, relaxed a bit. “First, it’s the code of conduct. You see, you aren’t just expected to follow it at work. It’s going to need to apply to your life outside of work, too. The pay is high enough that you won’t have to rely on moonlighting and risk breaking the code of conduct. The other thing that may be difficult is that you’re going to be expected to work for Knighthood as well as Avalanche. That means when you aren’t running missions to save the world, you’ll be doing the mundane work of helping out at an R&D tech startup. That means you’ll be doing security, bodyguard work, helping out in the labs, training, testing, anything really. There’s a lot to do and James wants to make sure his people are compensated fairly for their time.”

“James?” Mike asked.

Penny smiled at him. “James Knight, founder and CEO of Knighthood. And just between us, the Winter Soldier.”

“The Winter Soldier’s name is James?” Kenny asked in surprise.

The whole first hour was questions. Mike discovered that the five people being hired today were all military veterans with varying levels of skills and ranks. They would be doing security at Knighthood and forming the first Storm team of Avalanche. 

Hour two was paperwork. There was a lot of paperwork. Signing up for direct deposit, benefits forms, and non-disclosure agreements among other things. 

Once all the signing was out of the way, Penny sat back in her chair and grimaced. “So the next part is a story. One that James should really be telling but when he told me the story, I saw how badly it affected him and I don’t want to make him go through that again so I’m going to tell it. I won’t be able to answer any questions. So, you’ll have to save them to ask James later, alright?”

Everyone shared glances but eventually nodded.

“Our story starts in the 1900s,” Penny began. “An organization by the name of HYDRA began to make a name for itself. HYDRA fancied itself the New World Order and felt like the world should fall in line under its rule. It gained power in the early 1900s, pulling strings from behind the scenes in the First World War and rose to power in the Second World War where it became known as the occult Nazi science division.

“While HYDRA was powerful, the allied forces met the threat head on. Captain America and the Howling Commandos battled HYDRA across Europe and eventually HYDRA was wiped out when Captain America crashed the Valkyrie, which was full of experimental HYDRA technology into the Arctic Ocean… or so the story goes. The U.S. military and its allies pursued HYDRA and they might have been successful, if not for Operation Paperclip.”

“Oh, fuck no,” the other woman in the room groaned and dropped her forehead onto the table.

Penny gave her a sad smile. “I see you’ve heard of that operation, Sophia. For those of you who haven’t: Operation Paperclip saw the U.S. government recruit over 1600 Nazi scientists to work for them and issued full pardons to most of them. The vast majority of the scientists were HYDRA. It didn’t take long for HYDRA to start to spread as a parasite within the U.S. government. Intelligence agencies, the media, the senate, the stock market, everything was infected. Three years ago HYDRA’s reach was so vast, almost nothing was beyond its grasp.”

“What happened three years ago?” Kenny asked.

“The Winter Soldier happened,” Penny answered. “James has been trying to wipe out HYDRA for years and now. He needs help to finish the job.”

“That’s a lot to take in,” Sophia said.

“I don’t expect you to just believe me,” Penny said. “James has more than enough records to convince you if you want to take a look. I wouldn’t believe a story like that myself if I hadn’t nearly been killed by HYDRA hitmen. Anyway, James can answer any questions you have about it after our tour.”

Mike spent most of the tour contemplating the story Penny had told them. It was a little unbelievable, but also it weirdly made sense and Mike could admit, it explained a lot. 

Penny showed them the massive gym and firing range in the basement. Then the lockers that were also down there. Next was the labs and the offices, including her own on the seventh floor. 

They all gathered in the elevator again and she hit the button for the top floor. They emerged onto the eighth floor and Penny led them to a door where she knocked. 

After a few seconds she sighed. “Of course. Where would he— Oh, right! This way!” Penny led them down a hall and out a big glass door.

The group found themselves in a greenhouse that had to take up a quarter of the roof. Beyond the glass of the greenhouse was a frosty and overgrown outdoor garden. The whole greenhouse looked like it had been gutted recently but someone had been trying to bring it back to life. Most of the plants looked new and as Mike slowly looked over the garden, his eyes fell on the gardener. The Winter Soldier was kneeling on the edge of a planter box with both of his hands in the soil. He was in loose work clothes and only looked back at them when Penny cleared her throat. The only thing that gave him away to Mike as being the Winter Soldier was the long hair he’d seen in the interview, since the metal arm was covered in long sleeves and work gloves.

“Oh,” he said. “I’m late.”

“A little bit, but it’s fine,” Penny said. “It gave me a chance to show off the greenhouse. It looks amazing. Have you been out here all morning, James?”

The Winter Soldier… James, Mike was really going to need to remember that. James looked up toward the sun, then back at Penny. “If it’s almost lunchtime, then yes.”

“Well, go clean up. It’s your turn for the orientation. I need to go get the benefits information entered so I’ll have the details ready for them before they leave.”

“Right,” James nodded and looked down at the garden for a moment before he wiped off his hands and stood up.

“And bring them to the common room behind reception for lunch in an hour.” Penny looked over at Mike. “Remind him please, Mike. You’ll train all day on an empty stomach if you let him forget.”

“That was one time, Penny.” James huffed indignantly.

“I ordered tacos from that place you like. Maybe the smell will remind you.”

“Go!” James said harshly with a dismissive wave. “Do your paperwork voodoo, Chatelaine. Mike will remind me.”

“He’d better,” Penny waved and left them all on the roof. Mike realized that out of the group of recruits, he’d been singled out to not only remind James about lunch but also to interrupt him to do so, if necessary. James waved for them to follow him and he led them back to the basement gym. James disappeared into the locker room for a few minutes and came out covered in less dirt. He sat on the mat and everyone joined him.

“Ideally, Avalanche will have several six-person Storm teams,” James began. “Each team will be composed of five skilled military veterans and one enhanced person.”

“What’s an enhanced person?” Sophia asked.

“Enhanced people are those with special abilities beyond baseline human,” James explained. “Some possess incredible, world-altering powers, like the Hulk. Some are more mundane, like Captain America. Some are not combat related. The goal of a Storm team is to fold an enhanced person into the unit, to allow the unit to support the person and for the enhanced person to support the unit.”

“What kind of abilities are we talking about?”

“They vary,” James explained. “It could be anything. Super strength, super speed, the ability to breath fire, make shields or emit radiation. Trust me, the options are unlimited. Next week, two enhanced employees will be joining the company and one of them will be joining your team. She is young, her powers are unusual, but I think with a bit of ingenuity, she will prove highly effective.”

“What can she do?” the big guy, Bruno, asked.

James shook his head. “That is not for me to say. She will decide how to use her abilities. She has expressed interest in helping in the field. But she is young and inexperienced. It will take time and patience to work with her. I am hoping you will be willing to train, to guide and to accept.”

Sophia leaned back on her hands. “It’s in the code of conduct; no discrimination.”

James nodded. “But easier said than done. There are people in the world that see her abilities and wonder what she can do for them. SHIELD tried to recruit her. She said no. They tried harder.”

Mike heard everything James wasn’t saying. Depending on what this girl could do, SHIELD might not back down with trying to get her on their side. He flopped back on the mat. “God, if she’s anything like my kid sister, I’m going to love her and hate her.”

Chapter Text

Abigail Boylen just wanted to fly. I mean, when you find yourself exposed to some weird alien gas that you can now control and use to lift things, who wouldn’t want to fly? So she did. It took a while to figure it out. Flying on a cloud was a lot harder than Goku made it look in the cartoons. She had to focus and get the breeze just right. She had to judge her weight and measure her acceleration. 

Floating in the backyard came first. Luckily, she lived on the outskirts of Evanston, Illinois. Not exactly New York City, so she could hide the alien gas, and her using it to fly, from her neighbors. 

After a while, Abby had the mechanics perfected, mostly. She took flight and it was every bit as amazing as she expected it to be. She was on cloud nine. In heaven. Over the moon. A few hours every night and all day on the weekends she flew. She found an old pair of goggles and with her blond hair streaming behind her like a pennant, she soared.

She had just graduated from high school and was taking a year off before college to find herself—read fly—when a knock at the door brought her crashing back down to earth.

Abby answered the door to find two men in suits outside. “Abigail Boylen?” one of the men asked.

“Yes.” Abby was worried.

“May we come in?” the leader asked.

“What’s this about? My parents—”

“We’re here to talk to you, Ms. Boylen,” the man interrupted. He reached into his coat and flashed a badge. “My name is Agent Hauer. We’re with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.”

“You’re with who?” That was a mouthful if Abby ever heard one.

“We’re with SHIELD. We’d like to discuss your recent… activities,” Hauer said.

Abby knew exactly what he meant. She wasn’t sure if she could turn him away. She ended up spending an hour listening to a recruitment pitch from a SHIELD agent. She had a feeling it would have gone on longer, but her parents came home and Agent Hauer had excused himself.

Abby didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want to be a SHIELD agent. She didn’t want to use her powers for anything other than flying. She took some time to consider her options. She could say yes. She could say no. She could run. She spent over a month thinking while limiting her flying.

On one of her now rare flights, she realized she was being followed by some sort of stealth jet. She only noticed it because it interfered with her Wind. Once she noticed it, she tried to be more alert. She started to notice they didn’t just follow her when she was in the air. They followed her around town. They staked out her house. The day after New York was attacked by aliens, SHIELD came knocking again. This time, with a full SWAT team.

They attacked her home. They arrested her and her parents. They held her for days without a lawyer. They interrogated her. They made demands. They made threats. The more Abby listened, the more she realized they would not take no for an answer and it was only a matter of time before they stopped asking.

It was a week later before she was finally home. This time with an ankle monitor and strict orders not to fly. Abby had done nothing wrong. She’d never broken any laws. She even tried to be careful when she flew. She stayed away from airports and main air traffic corridors. She stayed below 400 feet when she traveled. She didn’t want to hurt anyone or get in the way, so she was careful. But it didn't matter. She knew it was only a matter of time before SHIELD press-ganged her into service.

Bored out of her mind, stuck at home and desperate for a distraction, Abby found herself on social media. The Avengers were trending, as usual. The whole idea of them made her shudder. Were they volunteers or did they get the same invitation that Abby had gotten from SHIELD? She clicked on the link to see the video and saw that the Avengers had a new rival. The guy was a badass; clad in black tactical gear, with a mask, goggles and a helmet. He not only held his own against Captain America but he also got away with Cap’s shield. 

A few weeks later, the Winter Soldier was back in the news. This time, he took down Iron Man before getting away. Abby became curious. She didn’t like SHIELD, the Avengers worked for SHIELD and the Winter Soldier stood against them. She buckled down and started searching the internet with a purpose. She hadn’t been this excited in weeks, since she hadn’t been allowed to fly.

She researched the Winter Soldier, but there wasn’t a lot of information. She changed tack and tried researching other enhanced individuals. It was hard to find but there were a few blogs, people telling their stories while on the run from the world. Most of the blogs were considered fiction but Abby knew better. Everything she found just darkened her world view. 

With the help of a friend from school, she managed to get onto the dark web and secure her old laptop to make sure SHIELD wasn’t spying on her. Her friend told her they had been spying on her once he’d accessed the laptop remotely. Once she was sure she had privacy, she looked on the dark web and found more of the same. She’d been confined to her house for five months when she finally found the Winter Soldier’s recruitment post. It was interesting but two lines really resonated with her: I am not the only person in the world who is different. I know that can lead to others thinking of you as nothing more than a tool.  

Abby debated for days. She knew by this point that trying to stand against SHIELD alone was impossible. But the Winter Soldier was giving her an option. She took a chance and sent the application. She didn’t really know what to include. She sent her résumé, the same one she’d applied around town with. She sent a brief description of her abilities. Lastly, she sent a quick summary of her situation: SHIELD attempted to recruit me, I refused, SHIELD arrested me, currently under house arrest even though I’ve committed no crimes.

Two days later a response came to her junk mail.

Dear Cloud 9, 

We are saddened to learn of your situation. SHIELD will likely continue to keep you isolated until you agree to their terms. The Winter Soldier would like to invite you to a gathering in Washington, D.C. to present his proposal to all interested parties. However, because of your situation, attending will likely provoke SHIELD. If you choose to go to Washington to attend the meeting, the Winter Soldier is willing to assist you. If you wish to join his new organization, he will offer a new identity as well as his protection. If you choose not to join, he will still provide a new identity and help you leave the country if you desire it.

The Winter Soldier has asked me to make sure you are aware that if you choose to leave your home and break the house arrest order issued by SHIELD, you will be a criminal, even if you have committed no crime. He encourages you to say your goodbyes and take everything important when you leave. He also suggests that if you have any family members to encourage them to be very social for the foreseeable future. Encourage them to go out, visit friends, host parties and be active in the community. It will be far harder for SHIELD to hurt them if they are public figures that people see regularly.

Let me know whether to expect you in Washington. The Winter Soldier will need time to craft the proper documents.

Be safe,

Chatelaine, on behalf of the Winter Soldier.

Abby was a little surprised that the Winter Soldier was offering to help her even if she didn’t want to join up with his new group. But it was a happy surprise. It just proved that he really did care. Well, assuming any of this was the truth. Still, the information about what SHIELD might try to do to her parents was given freely.

Abby was pretty sure it was time to leave Evanston. She had a long chat with her parents while using loud music and running water to muffle the microphones she was sure SHIELD was listening in with. Her parents were sad but understood, they wished her luck, promised to become pillars of the community and pulled three thousand dollars out from under the bed to give her. Her mom helped her pack, just a single camping backpack with mostly clothes and essentials so she could still fly. She took a photo album, her journal and a few other odds and ends. She left her phone and her laptop behind. She geared up, said her goodbyes, cut off the ankle monitoring device and, for the first time in five months, she flew.

It was surprisingly hard to navigate while flying by sight. She headed east across Lake Michigan. Rather than fly over it, she kept the coast in sight. Better safe than sorry. Then she kept heading east until she hit Lake Erie. She respected sovereign borders and stayed out of Canada, hugging the southern bank of the lake. Once she passed Cleveland it got a bit trickier. It was easy to get lost between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. She followed the highways mostly.

She arrived in Washington the day before the meeting. She found an internet café and checked her emails. She had one from Chatelaine.

Cloud 9,

We hope you are safe. You have done an admirable job of evading SHIELD. As of writing this email, your parents are safe. SHIELD still has them under surveillance but they have not been arrested. I have enclosed the details for the meeting. Once you have attended, we will send a follow-up email to present the options we have to you.

Stay safe, and send me a message if you need help, 

Chatelaine

Abby camped out on a rooftop. It wasn’t swanky but it was safe. She went to the meeting the next day and met the Winter Soldier for the first time. She read the code of conduct and nearly laughed aloud in the hall filled with people. She was sure SHIELD never swore to uphold something like that.

After leaving the meeting, Abby was more sure than ever that this was the right path. When she checked her email at a different internet café, she found an email with the code of conduct waiting for her. She signed it, sent it back and had a response within minutes. Tomorrow morning, she would meet the Winter Soldier. 

Abby was sure you were supposed to dress up for an interview. As it was, she was lucky to get a shower and her clothes were hardly clean. Still, she knocked on the back door of the little shop and stood to her full height of five foot five inches. A woman in a pure white porcelain mask opened the door. Other than the mask, she wore a black hood, black cargo pants and a black sweater.

“Ms. Boylen?” the woman asked.

“Yes, are you… Chatelaine?” Abby asked tentatively.

“I am. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Please come in.” Chatelaine stepped aside and motioned for Abby to enter. Inside, Abby found herself in the back room of the closed store. There were two nice couches set up facing each other with a coffee table between them. On the coffee table were several bags that, judging by the smell, were full of food. Abby’s stomach grumbled. She was being careful. Her parents had given her three thousand dollars but she had no idea how long that money would need to last.

Chatelaine let out a huff. “I guess Winter was right.” She motioned to the couch and the food. “Please eat. Winter won’t be here for 20 minutes. He asked me to let you know you’re safe here. He guarantees it.”

“You mean the Winter Soldier?” Abby asked as she sat down on the couch.

“Yes.” Chatelaine sat across from her.

“What’s he like?” Abby asked as she tore open the bag and found honest-to-god authentic Japanese bento boxes inside. “He seems scary.” As scary as the Winter Soldier might be, Abby found Chatelaine’s presence calming. The emails she’d gotten had expressed a concern over Abby’s well-being and even told Abby to send a message if she needed help. Sitting across from her, Abby felt calm. Knowing the Winter Soldier was likely outside, ‘guaranteeing’ her safety, she felt protected.

“I wouldn’t call him scary,” Chatelaine began as Abby ate. “Scary implies fear and fear means danger. While he is incredibly dangerous, it’s never without cause. I’d call him… imposing. At least on first glance. I can honestly tell you he very nearly canceled the meeting to rush out to Illinois to make sure you were okay. I managed to convince him to let it be your decision. He’s been quite worried.”

“Worried about me?” Abby asked.

“Yes. He knows what SHIELD is capable of and doesn’t wish that on anyone.” Chatelaine handed Abby a bottle of juice. “Are you okay? I can’t imagine how hard all this is for you.”

“It is hard,” Abby admitted. She tried to stay strong but she never expected this to happen. Her new powers were supposed to be a good thing. Now, she’d left everything behind. Once, she had daydreamed of going on an adventure. Flying around the world and seeing all the sights. But in that dream, she had a home to return to. Without that home, this adventure was more like a nightmare.

Chatelaine just nodded, then they were both quiet and Abby ate while Chatelaine tapped away at a tablet. Not quite 20 minutes later, Abby sat back and nodded. “Okay, let’s do this!” A full belly always made the world a little brighter.

Chatelaine pulled out a cell phone and made a quick call. “We’re ready.” 

A minute later, there was a distinctive knock on the door and the Winter Soldier stepped inside. He was still scary, prickly with weapons, but after he removed the helmet and goggles, Abby realized Chatelaine was right. He was less scary and more imposing. She really hadn’t expected the long hair or the bright blue eyes. He eventually sat across from her, on the couch beside Chatelaine. 

“I will not let this be your only choice,” the Winter Soldier began. “I will not let SHIELD back you into a corner, where your only options are bad and worse. If you do not want this, I will do everything in my power to help you escape; from them and all the others like them. I will not force you into anything.”

Abby looked deep into those baby blues. “I could go anywhere but I came here. I might not have many choices but I do have them. More, thanks to you and Chatelaine.” Abby rubbed her sweaty palms on her pants. “I didn’t know there were people in the world who were… different until I became one of them a year ago. I didn’t know they were treated like tools until SHIELD tried to recruit me. Something tells me you’ve known that for a long time.”

The Winter Soldier met her gaze. It was steady, calm, and almost peaceful. Slowly, he reached down and withdrew a knife from… somewhere. He held the knife’s handle in his flesh hand and put his metal fingers on the blade. In one smooth motion, he bent the blade 90 degrees. Abby sat back in shock. Even Chatelaine gasped.

“I am strong,” he said. “Among other things.”

Abby smiled at him. Time for show and tell. She made a grandiose gesture with her arm and golden wind swept through the room, gathered the garbage left from her meal on the table, and deposited it in the trash bin. “I can control some sort of weird gas. I just call it my Wind.”

The interview went pretty smoothly, all things considered. Winter, as Chatelaine called him, made Abby aware of several things. First and most important was that if she joined Avalanche, she would have to use her powers for violence. That was what stuck with her the most once the interview was over.  

When she went to leave, Winter handed her an envelope. “Abigail Stratus.”

Abby narrowed her eyes at him as she took the envelope. “Isn’t that a type of cloud?”

“Yes.” 

Abby laughed loudly at the deadpan answer. It felt good to laugh.

“Chatelaine has you booked for several days at a local hotel.”

“She does?!” Abby asked in surprise as she looked over at the white porcelain mask.

“Email us when you make a decision so Winter knows if he needs to find a place in Canada.”

“I already have a place,” Winter grumbled.

“I know you do, Winter.”

“Alright,” Abby said after the light conversation. “I’ll let you know.”

Later, at the hotel, Abby buckled down and thought. She mapped everything out and tried to focus on it from every angle. It was a very hard decision to make. Abby didn’t want to hurt anyone. She never had. SHIELD had forced this whole issue on her. And Winter—when had the Winter Soldier become just Winter in her mind?—had offered her an out. Sure, she could retreat to somewhere in Canada and hide from the entire issue. She would just become another enhanced person on the run from the government. Hiding and making no attempt to help anyone but herself.

Winter, on the other hand, was helping everyone he could, even when the media was calling him such horrible things. Abby didn’t see it. This man had offered to help her at every turn. Would it be possible to use her abilities to help people, like he was? Even if she had to be a villain in the eyes of the world?

Abby debated for several days. Chatelaine said the hotel was booked for a week. Finally, she came to a decision. She would stand and fight. With the Winter Soldier. She would find out if the Avengers served SHIELD willingly and save anyone who didn’t.

She accepted the offer from Knighthood—seriously, who would refuse that much money?—and Chatelaine helped her with hotel bookings in New York. 

When Abby arrived at Knighthood, the building was startlingly plain. It was nice, though. Chatelaine, or rather Penny, the head of HR, greeted her and brought her into a conference room where only one other person was waiting. 

“Well, well. You must be James’s other wayward soul,” a young man with short, white hair greeted her from where he was slouched in an office chair.

“Abby, allow me to introduce you to Callum Jones,” Penny said as she sat at the conference table.

“Cal, to anyone who matters,” Cal said with a grin.

Abby sat beside him, since the papers were in front of that chair.

“Cal, this is Abigail Stratus,” Penny finished.

“It’s nice to meet you, Abby,” Cal said. He didn’t offer to shake hands as Abby expected.

“You too, Cal.” Abby wasn’t sure what to make of the young man.

What followed was what Abby assumed was normal on your first day. There was a lot of paperwork then a bit of orientation.

“So,” Penny began after lunch. “Cal is going to be working in our infirmary until we can find an actual nurse or doctor to join us. As for you Abby, James doesn’t want you to devote all your time to Storm.”

That surprised Abby. “What? Why not? I signed up for it. I know what I’m getting into.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way. He wants you to train with them but it’s a lot of work. Too much in his opinion,” Penny said with a sigh. “He also doesn’t want it to be your whole life. There’s more to life than fighting. So, you’ll be devoting only half your time to Storm.”

“And the other half?”

Penny gave her a big grin. “Whatever you want. Knighthood is currently lacking in several important positions.” Penny consulted a list in front of her. “We need: a receptionist, janitor, landscaper, mail clerk and IT specialist. Among other minor things. You can pick. Maybe do something for a week and change if you don’t like it. Right now, we’re all multitasking.” Penny’s next words were a conspiratorial whisper. “Would you believe James is currently our gardener? He’s getting rather good at it.”

In Abby’s first week, she was going to spend 20 hours working with Storm and 20 hours jumping between jobs until she found one she liked.

Abby met James, AKA the Winter Soldier, after lunch. Out of the tactical gear, he was much less scary but still imposing.

“How are you settling into New York?” he asked after Penny dropped her off in the rooftop greenhouse before taking Cal down to the infirmary.

“The city is huge,” Abby answered. “I’d love to see it from the air.”

“Speaking of that. I’ve set aside some gear for you, so you can maintain anonymity if you choose to go flying.”

“Wait, I’d be allowed to fly?! Wouldn’t I get caught?” Abby asked.

“Maybe, but who has the right to stop you? Certainly not me,” James said as he put the last little plant in place and wiped off his hands. “You will call me if you run into trouble though, right?”

“I…” Abby hadn’t thought she would ever fly freely again. “Yes.”

James gave her a small grin. “Are you ready to meet the Storm team?”

Abby wasn’t. Penny had told her they were all hardened veterans with years of military experience and she was just an 18-year-old who never got around to picking a college. “I guess?”

“Don’t worry, they are less scary than me. And Mike is a good man.”

James led Abby down to the basement gym she’d seen on the tour. Now, it was occupied with four men and a woman beating the crap out of each other. Or… wait… was that called sparring?

“Not fair Mikey-Mike!” the big guy in the group shouted after the blond forced him to the mat. 

The blond laughed. “Bad time to go down, Bruno. James is watching.”

“Son of a—” Bruno stopped abruptly and raised a hand to wave vigorously from where he was laying on the mat. “Afternoon, James!”

“I see Mike continues to be slippery,” James said.

“Compliments from the Winter Soldier?” Mike laughed. “That’s it. I’m done. I’ll never top that.” Mike reached out a hand and helped Bruno up. “This the new hire?”

Introductions followed that. Abby had to admit, between the names and ranks she lost the plot and missed almost everything. Still, she remembered Mike and that was enough.

She spent her first week getting to know everyone. The first thing she noticed was that she was dead wrong with her assumption that as military vets they would all be grim and harsh. It only took a week for her to find she had made friends. They were a weird sort. A strange mix of different branches of different militaries and different ranks but they somehow got along and dragged Abby into the group. 

When they trained, Abby joined them. When they did Knighthood security tasks, Abby tried out being a receptionist. It was early in the second week when Abby realized they hadn’t asked. No one had asked what she could do. Kenny had been teaching her to shoot. Sophia was teaching her tactics. Bruno was showing her different equipment. And no one had asked. Did they already know? James had said she would use her powers to help the Storm team and they would help her in return. They must know. Still, it never came up.

Abby had been paired up with Bruno for this particular sparring exercise specifically because he was six foot three and she was five foot five. Sophia thought it was important that she learn and understand leverage as soon as possible. Abby was in the right spot. She had her feet right but Bruno was heavy. If she had just a little boost she could do it. Just a little nudge. Abby called up her Wind behind her back to give her that nudge and finally threw Bruno.

“Woah!” was the general response from the group.

“That’s what you can do?!” Kenny asked in awe.

Abby took a step back in surprise. “You didn’t know?” she asked.

“No,” Mike answered. “James said you would tell us when you were ready.” 

“Oh.” Now that she thought about it, she realized that James never considered her to be just her powers. Case in point, she had duties in Knighthood beyond them. “I don’t know exactly what it is.” Abby explained as she called up a little two-foot-tall tornado of golden wind. “I think it’s alien but I don’t know.”

“That’s amazing,” Sophia said as she stepped toward the little twister. She reached a hand out then stopped. “Can I…?” 

“Sure, it’s not going to hurt you like this,” Abby answered.

“But it could hurt me?” Sophia asked as she extended her hand and the Wind moved around it.

“Maybe?” Abby shrugged. “I’ve never tried. I’ve only used it to fly.”

Everyone stopped and stared. “You can get enough lift to… fly?” Kenny asked with wide eyes.

“Yeah, sure. It took practice.”

Mike gave out a huff of a laugh. “Now I understand why James said this might need ingenuity.”

“What do you mean?” Abby asked.

“It looks like you have loads of potential. We just need to ask questions and find out what might work.”

“What are you thinking, Mike?” Sophia asked as she tried to catch some of the Wind in her hands.

“Questions like can you lift other people? Can you lift more than one person at a time? Can you spread out the wind instead to make fog for concealment? Can you condense it enough to stop blows? Can you transport a whole team into combat?”

“Woah,” Bruno said as he looked on. “I think I see what you’re getting at.”

“Yeah, ingenuity.”

Abby had never even considered any of that. This might be amazing.

Chapter Text

Caladrius hated everyone. It wasn’t that he just didn’t like people. He hated them. All of them. Men, women, even children. He hated them all with a burning passion. He could admit that wasn’t normal. But then again, nothing about his life was normal.

When Cal was four years old, he hadn’t known he was different. When he tripped and fell, he just ran his hands over his scraped knee and the pain and the cuts disappeared. He just got up and kept playing.

When his mother had cut her hand on a knife while making dinner, Cal hadn’t thought about it and just ran his hand over the cut and made it go away. A week later, a strange man showed up at the little shack he called home and took him away. It was years later that he realized his mother had sold him.

Cal was raised as a slave and a very high-value commodity. Some masters were kind, some were cruel beyond imagining. He’d been held by the Russian mafia, HYDRA, MI6, and the Ten Rings, among others. Sometimes for a few weeks, sometimes months. Nobody usually managed to keep him for a year.

Cal was a hot commodity because of what he could do. He could heal. That was a game changer for people at war. With a single skin-to-skin touch, he could read a person’s health. The longer the touch, the more detail he got. Then, with concentration, he could fix things. Traumatic injury was the easiest. It was basically just prompting the body to do its job faster. He could heal something like a broken bone in minutes, maybe half an hour for a serious multi-fracture. 

Illness was harder. He could push the body to fight harder, faster and recover quicker. What a person might fight off in a month, he could shorten to a day. Genetic sickness was where things got tricky. Not impossible, but hard. Initially, he couldn’t do it. But since his skills lay in healing, most of his masters pushed him to study medicine over the years. In time, he came to understand more and eventually, if he understood fully, he could fix it. Sometimes. But it took time, weeks. And he had only been successful a handful of times. Cancer was his big nope. It went right against the way his ability worked. He’d push the body to heal faster and the cancer just got worse.

All this healing was not easy, however. Healing one broken bone exhausted Cal. Saving someone from a lethal injury could put him in bed for a day. Saving someone from multiple serious injuries and several lethal wounds might knock him out for a week. Occasionally, in desperation, Cal would heal himself to get over the after-effects, and that worked, for a while. He’d heal someone, then heal himself, then heal someone else. After that though, Cal would always regret it. That stressed his own body so badly that a few times, he’d felt like he’d nearly killed himself. 

So, Cal traded hands a lot. Sometimes, he was stolen by the enemies of his masters, sometimes his master’s desperate second-in-command would steal him. Cal learned that the world was terrified of death, and to anyone who knew of his existence, he was the escape. He watched people fight and die to possess him. He watched men kill each other to save a loved one. He was nothing to them but a tool to be used. A way to have one more day in the sun. And so, Cal hated them all.

Seventeen-year-old Caladrius was sitting cross-legged on the couch, in the middle, staring down at the Nintendo Switch in his hands. This master wasn’t too bad. He wasn’t kept underground; he was in a dingy little apartment. He had some clothes, enough food and even a TV and the Switch. He was doing well, on his way to a new Tetris high score. It was a little hard to concentrate though. About 30 seconds ago some badass in black leather kicked in the window of the apartment. He was currently in a heated battle with Cal’s three guards. The guards had automatic weapons but the badass was just using a knife. It was loud and distracting but Cal wasn’t worried. This was a normal occurrence. He just bowed his head a little lower and focused on his game. He was too valuable to kill.

He was achingly close to a new high score when he realized the room was quiet. Cal sighed heavily and paused the game. He looked up into the masked face and goggled eyes and then glanced around at the room. His guards were down, dead maybe. Cal didn’t care. The badass wasn’t hurt. Cal wasn’t an idiot, he knew how this dance went.

“Right,” he said with a nod and tapped save before turning off the Switch with a frustrated sigh. “Let me grab my bag.” The badass stepped aside and Cal hopped off the couch and headed to his room. His room was tiny and very utilitarian. But it was more than he usually got. He grabbed his pre-packed backpack and shoved the Switch in on top of the clothes. He pulled his journal off the desk and shoved it in too. There wasn’t much else that was his. He grabbed his jacket off the door and kicked on some shoes. He headed back out into the messy living room and found the badass still waiting.

“Ready,” Cal offered.

“Where do you want to go?” the badass asked through the mask.

“I know how this goes. Wherever you want to take me, man,” Cal said with a shrug.

The guy shook his head. “I’m freeing you. I will craft you a new identity and take you wherever you wish to go.”

Cal looked at the guy skeptically. This was odd but not unheard of. Sometimes his masters promised ‘this is the last time’. It was always a lie. Cal took a moment to size up the guy. He was big, buff, built like a tank. Wearing black tactical gear, a muzzle-like mask, goggles and a helmet. His left arm was shiny metal. Whatever, it was always easier if Cal didn’t argue.

“America,” he finally answered. “Land of the free, right?”

“Debatable,” the man grumbled. Then, his head jerked to the side. “Company. Stay.”

Cal stayed when the masked man jumped back out through the window. Cal sat back down on the couch and continued his game. Half an hour later, the masked man in black was back. Only this time, he was bleeding.

“Follow,” he demanded and Cal did. They walked out of the apartment through a warzone. All of the people on the ground served his current—well, previous—master. Most were still alive, Cal should make sure they stayed that way but the badass in black didn’t slow down. They walked for a while, cutting through buildings and yards, before finally climbing a tall apartment building.

They stepped out onto the roof and the badass pulled out a phone and tapped it a few times. A jet shimmered into existence on the roof and Cal jumped back in surprise.

“Holy shit!” Cal followed his new master inside the jet and sat when prompted, along a bench against the wall behind the cockpit. The badass got them airborne in a matter of minutes and soon the flight leveled out and his new master came back and sat on the opposite bench. The guy was quiet. Even as he stripped off his tactical gear, leaving the mask and helmet but removing the goggles. Cal saw that he had been shot at least twice, once in the chest. When his owner had all the gear off and was down to just the torn shit, he grabbed a med kit and a set of forceps.

Cal was confused when his master started to dig out the bullet on his own. “Uhh… you know I can do that, right? Trained in medicine to make it easier to do my job. Let me take the bullet out. Then I’ll heal it.”

The guy didn’t look up from his work. “Do you want to?”

“What?”

“Do you want to heal the wound or are you only offering because it’s expected of you?”

Cal clenched his teeth on his response. 

“I will do it myself,” the badass said when Cal didn’t respond. A few seconds later, he dropped the bullet on the deck.

“I can heal that,” Cal offered.

“I know.” Instead, his master just applied pressure to the wound. “Do you have a preference for the name of the identity I create?” 

“My name is Caladrius.”

Badass just sat quietly. “Callum Jones?”

“Alright.” Who was Cal to argue? “But I’m not sure what’s going on. Why did you take me if you don’t want me to heal you?”

“I told you. I am freeing you.”

“That doesn’t work. They know what I look like, they find me when I run.” Cal had tried to run. Of course, he had. They never killed him when they caught him, he was too valuable, but they made him understand that running was bad.

His maybe-not-new-owner looked over at him. “The hair is the most obvious, but white will dye easily. Dye it, grow it out a bit, wear fake glasses and no one will look twice.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Cal snorted.

“I will make it easy.”

“I’m still doubtful.” Across from him, the badass stitched his wound himself. Then he pulled all the gear back on. “What do I call you?” Cal asked.

“The world calls me the Winter Soldier. You can call me James.”

Twenty-four hours later, Cal, with freshly dyed black hair, glasses with clear lenses and a bright yellow winter scarf, and James, in dark jeans, a red hoodie and a toque, were standing in a cozy little apartment in Philadelphia. It was on the nicer side of town, fully furnished, clean and warm.

James handed over a wallet to Cal. Cal looked inside and saw a driver’s license with the picture James had taken a few hours ago after he’d dyed his hair. 

“Callum Jones,” James began, “age 18. Born here, in Philly. No family. This apartment has been paid for for one year. All utilities included. That credit card connects to an account with 50,000 dollars in it. Don’t lose it. There is a card in the wallet with a phone number on it. If you believe your life is in danger, call the number and leave a message. I will get here as soon as I can.”

Cal just stared down at the wallet and its contents. 

“I’m sorry that this is all I can do for you.” Cal looked up at James when he spoke. There was minimal expression on his face. “I hope you find happiness.” And then he was gone. Just like that, Cal stood alone in the apartment. In his apartment. It was only after he’d pulled his journal out of his backpack that Cal realized he had never even thought to thank James.

For over a month, Cal expected the other shoe to drop. He expected the Winter Soldier to show up and need to be patched up. Or for some other organization to kick down his door. It didn’t happen. He’d had one run in with the cops and Cal nearly panicked when they had asked for his ID. The ID had worked and they let him off with a warning. 

Once he started to believe that James might have actually been telling the truth, he started to try his hand at living. It was hard. He’d never been grocery shopping before. He started with little jaunts out of the safety of his apartment. And eventually progressed to day trips. He got a part-time job at a pet store. He discovered he liked dogs, loved cats, and birds absolutely adored him. And if he used a little bit of his abilities on the animals who came to visit the vet next door, what did it matter? They wouldn’t tell anyone.

When New York was attacked, Cal watched with the rest of the world, but he wasn’t really interested. It was his co-worker at the pet store who ended up sharing the groundbreaking news.

“The Avengers lost last night,” Mary said as Cal walked into the little, privately owned pet store. He was used to Mary. She was very friendly but sometimes forgot basic social conventions like saying hello before starting a conversation.

“Who served them a slice of humble pie?” Cal asked as he set his backpack behind the counter.

“Dunno, some new villain. The news is calling him the Winter Soldier.”

Cal staggered in place. It had been months since he’d seen James. He hadn’t known if he was even still alive. His little bit of research into the Winter Soldier found mostly lies. Assassin, they said. As far as Cal was concerned, James was one of the best people he had ever met. And the only one to see Cal as more than what he could do.

But Mary just said Winter Soldier. There was a chance it wasn’t James. “The Winter Soldier, huh?” Cal asked offhandedly. “So, judging by the name, he’s got ice powers, right? Throws icicles at people?”

Mary laughed. “Nah, he’s actually kind of normal, maybe a bit emo. Dresses all in black, lots of guns, mask, goggles. He does have a dope metal arm though.”

“A metal arm?” Cal had seen James’s arm. He’d seen enough while James dug the bullet out of his chest to know that arm was permanent and fully integrated. He’d also seen just a hint of the scars.

“Yeah, the media is talking about him this morning.”

“So, what happened? There’s six Avengers and they got beat by one guy?”

Mary hopped up to sit on the counter while Cal counted out the till. “The media coverage is a bit disjointed. I tried to piece it together but I think there was some stuff missing. Basically, the Winter Soldier showed up, tossed out a few distractions, went toe-to-toe with Captain America for a bit, grabbed his prize and left.”

“And what was his prize?”

“You mean other than Cap’s shield?”

“He stole Cap’s shield?!”

“Well, I don’t know if you can call it stealing when Cap literally threw it at the guy and he just sort of caught it and left.”

Cal snorted in laughter. “I bet Cap is pissed.”

“Other than the shield, I don’t know what he got away with. The attack focused on some building in New York but the news never said the name.”

Cal ended up getting all of his Avengers news from Mary. Mary was a member of what social media called the Iron Legion. She was infatuated with Tony Stark and all of his creations, including Iron Man and its pilot (Cal’s money was on that being Pepper Potts.). Mary’s interest extended to the Avengers so even if Cal didn’t follow social media or the news, he’d still know when the Winter Soldier took to the field.

“Hawkeye shot the Winter Soldier!” Mary yelled when Cal got to work a few weeks later.

“What?!” Cal shouted back from where he stood in the doorway. “When?!”

“Last night. He tried to attack Oscorp but the Avengers managed to hold him off and Hawkeye managed to hit him!”

Cal braced his hand on the door and focused on breathing. “He just shot him, right? He’s not dead?”

Mary gave him a smile. “Nah, he did run outta there, though.”

Cal spent the entire day thinking about it. The Winter Soldier was injured. If Cal was there… Cal stopped in his tracks on the walk home when he started that line of thought. If he was there, would he want to heal James? He realized with a start that he would. And not because he felt like he owed it to him but because, if James had rescued Cal from slavery how many other people had he rescued? How many other people would he rescue? Cal’s relocation and ID were far too easy for James to get if he didn’t know how to do that sort of thing already.

To Cal, death was a part of life. He almost never felt the need to save someone, especially the people his masters brought before him but James was different. Cal wouldn’t mind healing him. 

Cal paid attention as the Winter Soldier fought against the Avengers and when he found out the Winter Soldier was recruiting, he sent an application. His application was literally three sentences. 

Hello James,

I would like to apply.

Caladrius

Cal was fairly certain James knew everything there was to know about him, so there was no point in reiterating the details. He got a response and drove down to Washington to attend the meeting. (Thank you Mary for teaching him how to drive even though the identification James had provided was a driver’s license.) Cal nearly cackled in delight when James called out the idiot government agents who tried to infiltrate his meeting. It was amazing.

A few days later after signing the code of conduct, Cal had his interview. 

“Callum Jones?” a woman in black wearing a white porcelain mask said when she opened the door to the back of the empty store.

“Cal, please,” he replied.

“You can call me Chatelaine,” she said. “We’re just waiting for— Oh here he is!”

Cal jerked around and standing behind him in the alley was the Winter Soldier.

“Hi James!” Cal said with a wave.

James gestured toward the open door and Cal followed Chatelaine in. James followed them and shut the door behind him.

“You know James?” Chatelaine asked.

“I do,” Cal said.

“I have one question, Caladrius,” James said through the mask. “Are you here by choice or because you feel obligated? You owe me nothing.”

Cal looked James over as they all stood quietly in the room. “I’m here because you actually believe that. Answer a question for me, James. How many people have you saved from slavery?”

James stared at Cal through his goggles for several seconds before letting out a deep sigh and removing his goggles and helmet. “Does liberating concentration camps count?”

“Oh, hell yes, it does,” Cal said with a grin.

“Then I have no idea. I lost count a long time ago.”

“Wait,” Chatelaine began. “When did you—”

James cut her off. “Maybe I used the wrong word? Work camps? Internment camps?”

“Oh,” she said. “Okay.” She gestured to the two couches and Cal sat opposite the two of them.

“If you join Avalanche, I will need to be able to rely on you, Cal,” James said. “While I would usually never demand someone use their abilities, I will need to be able to count on you in the event that life or limb is threatened. You won’t need to heal them fully but you’ll need to save their life and limbs.”

Cal considered that. “But everything else is my choice?”

“Of course.”

“That’s fair.”

“Your job will not solely be your abilities. Is there something else you’d like to do within the company? Mundane medic maybe?”

“I can do that.”

James nodded. “Chatelaine, double Cal’s paid sick days in his offer.”

Chatelaine nodded. “Of course.”

“Wait, paid sick days?!”

Cal’s offer did indeed come with paid sick days; a whopping ten of them. As he packed up his apartment in Philly, he realized he was a little sad to leave the place behind. There was still one month left on his lease but he packed up anyways with the intent of moving to New York. He packed everything in his car and headed out.

Orientation at Knighthood was awesome. James was going to be a great boss. Chatelaine, or rather Penny, told him and the other new hire about HYDRA. It surprised Cal that several of the people who’d held him over the years were different branches of HYDRA. After the tour of the building, Penny left Cal in the meager infirmary with directions to make a list of things they still needed to buy while she took Abby to see James.

After lunch, James came to visit.

“Cal,” he said in greeting.

“James.” Cal looked up and stared at James for a few seconds. Without the mask, James was ridiculously attractive. “Wow. Has anyone ever told you, you are, like, amazingly hot?”

“Hot?”

“Attractive,” Cal offered. He wondered what James’s native language was since his grasp of English lacked a bit of modern slang. Cal was trying to pick up as much as he could since it wasn’t his native language either.

“Oh, not in a very long time,” James said as he looked around the room. “How is the infirmary? I know we still need to order a lot of supplies.”

“I’ll get Penny a list.”

James nodded and turned to go.

“Wait!” Cal had been thinking about this for a while. He’d seen the scars that hid under the Winter Soldier’s armor and the red and irritated skin around where the metal arm connected. That had to be painful. “Will you…” Cal held out his hand. “Will you shake my hand?”

James narrowed his eyes at Cal. “Why?”

“I won’t do anything. I signed the code of conduct. I know consent is important. I just… I know you’re in pain. I don’t even need my abilities to see that. Let me see if I can help.”

“You owe me—”

“Yes, I know. Nothing. But I want to.”

James hesitated for several seconds before taking Cal’s hand in his flesh one. Cal closed his eyes and explored. The first thing that hit him was the sickly tang of metal. It wasn’t just in the arm. No, the metal extended out from the arm, around the ribs, down the spine. Cold and stiff. The connection at the shoulder was grafted over mangled bone and muscle. Every movement of the metal arm tore at the tender muscles and James’s body was constantly fighting to fix the damage. And even though it was obvious to Cal that James’s enhancements made his body heal at a rate he’d never seen before, it just barely kept up with the damage. James had to be in pain all the time.

“Oh, James…” Cal said as he opened his eyes. James tried to pull his hand away, so Cal let go. “I can’t help. I could fix the damage and it might give you a few days of reduced pain but it would just come back. As long as you keep using that arm—”

“The arm is mine. The good and the bad of it. I need it to continue fighting.”

“I understand. I’m sorry I can’t help you.”

“But you are helping me. And I very much appreciate it.”

Chapter Text

Tony Stark was far too rich for this. Still, he refused to let anyone else pilot the Iron Man suits, so here he was: Batman. Well, not exactly Batman, but close enough that if DC Comics knew, they would totally sue him. Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. Also, in his spare time—what spare time?—Iron Man.

The world, of course, had no idea. Tony had wanted to go on stage and admit to being Iron Man. He’d been prepared to do it. The words were on the tip of his tongue and then he’d seen Pepper and realized that being Iron Man made him a target. An even bigger target than just being Tony Stark. And that could get the people close to him hurt. Grudgingly, he’d followed SHIELD’s lie. He claimed a bodyguard piloted the Iron Man suit and the lie snowballed. Besides, who would ever believe that Tony Stark risked his life to pilot the suit?

So what if he didn’t get the credit for saving New York from a goddamned nuclear warhead? Iron Man got the credit and he was Iron Man. Ergo, he got the credit. That was good enough… right?

When Clint and Natasha had first introduced him to the Winter Soldier with three seconds of video and a spooky backstory, Tony hadn’t understood why the guy was a big deal. Sure, that arm might be neat, but in the three-second clip, he hadn’t moved it. Nat claimed it was a prosthetic. Tony wasn’t convinced. That tech didn’t exist. 

Still, the Avengers kept an eye out for the Soviet ghost. Tony was busy shooting down laser drones when Cap called in that he had eyes on the Soldier. Tony wanted to help. He did. But the laser drones were a handful. Where did the Winter Soldier even get 12 armed and highly maneuverable combat drones? Like seriously, where? Because Tony wanted a membership. This shit wasn’t top of the line but it was effective. It was exactly the distraction Cap called it out as. 

Just when Iron Man managed to bring down the last drone, the blast went off. Clint relayed the information that SHIELD’s bumbling had set off the Winter Soldier’s trap card. That was all kinds of stupid. Tony was on-site. He could defuse, or at the very least contain, anything that was thrown their way. But SHIELD had messed up and now people were dead. 

Tony flew off and immediately began verifying the structural integrity of the building. With JARVIS’s help, he did scans, shored up a few weakened areas, did a bit of welding and pulled a few people out of some bad situations.

“I’ve lost eyes on the Winter Soldier,” Cap said over the comm. “Returning to assist with the clean-up.”

It was only because Tony was distracted with solving the heat diffusion issues in his suit that he didn’t notice something was missing when the Avengers were piling out of the quinjet on the roof of the Tower. He was icing a minor burn caused by the Iron Man armor heating up after a few too many laser hits when he finally did notice it.

“Cap,” Tony said pointedly as he looked over the group, still in costume, who were gathered on the common floor of the tower. “Something is missing here.”

Steve Rogers, war hero, Greatest Generation, popsicle, actually went red with embarrassment. “I lost the shield,” he finally said.

“Wait. What?” Natasha sounded positively scandalized.

“I threw it,” Steve said as he brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck. “And the Winter Soldier… sort of… caught it? Then he disappeared.”

“He caught it?!” Tony was sort of amazed by that. First, he wanted the video. “JARVIS! There were news ‘copters in the air! Find me a video!”

“On it, sir.”

Next, Tony’s mind flew through the numbers. He’d seen just how much Steve could bench press. He’d built the custom weights himself. He knew that Steve could throw that shield with enough force to embed it in ballistic steel. There was no way a normal human could catch it. But apparently the Winter Soldier had. And then he’d vanished from the battlefield. 

“Sir, I’ve found a video.”

“Show me, J!”

The Avengers gathered around the massive TV as JARVIS brought up a fairly rough and distantly shot video of Steve chasing the Soldier across a rooftop. Steve wound up and threw the shield and the Soldier turned and caught it with his left arm. The supposedly metal prosthetic. Consider Tony Stark interested. 

“So, Cap,” Tony began as the Winter Soldier on the screen leapt over the edge and disappeared, even as Steve and the camera tried to find him again. “I take it this has never happened before?”

Steve was still bashful. “No. Bucky—” Steve paused for a moment. He took a breath and tried again. “He used to tease me that it might. Can you… uh… Can you find it?”

Tony wanted to be angry. That shield was practically priceless. Pure vibranium and a lot of it at that. Add on top of that that it was a world-renowned symbol of America and everyone would want to get their hands on it. But Steve looked positively gutted. 

“I’ve got some ideas,” Tony said with a hum. “Vibranium has a unique signature. I’ll see what I can do. But for the record, I am going to tease you mercilessly.”

“And I deserve it,” Steve said with a shadow of a grin.

It was a long night in the lab, full of shield and performance jokes. When Tony finally laid gauntlets on the shield, he was almost certain it was going to explode. It didn’t make sense. At all. Why would the Winter Soldier steal Cap’s shield only to give it back? The number of things the Soldier could do with that shield were limitless. He could keep it. He could add it to his own equipment. He could sell it as a symbol of America. He could sell it as scrap vibranium. He could use it as a fruit bowl. He could drop it into the Mariana Trench. The possibilities were endless.

Instead, the Soldier had done nothing with it. Tony looked around the cemetery where they had found the shield while Steve fussed with it a bit. He took a moment to consider what the Soldier had done with the shield. He hadn't exactly given it back. He’d brought it to Arlington Cemetery. To what was considered to be the final resting place of Captain America, hero of the Second World War. The Winter Soldier had returned the shield to where it belonged. To the entire world, the Captain America who was an Avenger was not the same man from World War Two. This new Captain’s public story said he was a veteran soldier and a SHIELD agent. Maybe the Winter Soldier took offense to someone else wielding the shield. 

Still, it didn’t matter. Who cared what went on in the mind of a supervillain? Certainly not Tony Stark.

The Avengers got a call a week later and dashed to the scene. This time the target was Kronos Corporation. No one knew what was going on, just that there was fog as thick as soup and visibility was practically zero. Even inside the building. The Avengers had to disembark from the quinjet several blocks away and Tony couldn’t even fly in since he couldn’t see more than two feet ahead of him.

Cap called it and everyone spread out. Iron Man was assigned to the building. Steve had a theory that this might be the Winter Soldier again, seeing as it was another very large and public company. So, Tony headed for the server room in the basement.

Iron Man burst through the door with repulsors at the ready and scanned the room with every sensor he had, trying to see through the fog. There was a metallic clank as something hit the back of the Iron Man suit and everything shut down. The suit lost all power and Tony was left to stagger as 600 pounds of metal sagged when it was no longer supported by active actuators. 

Technically, Iron Man could still move. But without power, it was a lot of weight resting on Tony’s shoulders and all he’d be able to manage was a trudging walk. He realized that even though he was without power, his chest hadn’t started hurting yet. That was weird, but a good sign. As he was considering his situation, he heard a noise beside him and a moment later the Winter Soldier walked into his field of vision.

“Iron Man,” the Soldier greeted as he stood a few feet in front of the lax Iron Man suit. This was the first time Tony had seen the guy up close. He looked the same as he did in the photos Tony had seen. His voice was a little digitized, meaning he was altering it somehow. Tony’s eyes flicked down to the metal arm and he wished JARVIS was riding piggyback right now so that he could scan it because, bloody hell, that thing was a prosthetic. How the hell was that even possible? Tony had questions. So many questions. Still, he gritted his teeth and didn’t respond.

The Winter Soldier continued when Tony didn’t speak. “If my calculations are correct, the power distribution systems in your suit should be entirely offline. This should render the suit inert.” Tony considered that. The Soldier had messed with his power distribution systems, not his power generation. Meaning the Arc reactor should still be glowing brightly in his chest. Well, at least Tony’s life wasn’t hanging in the balance due to the shrapnel. 

“I have one question for you.” The Soldier stepped closer and visually examined the suit. “Without power, is your life at any risk? Does the suit act as any sort of assistance device, or is it so self-contained that without power, you might run out of air?” Tony’s brow furrowed at the question. Why did the Winter Soldier care about that? Did he want to gloat?

“If the answer is yes, I will remove the disruptor and restore your systems.” The Soldier reached out with a metal finger and tapped on the face plate. Tony wanted to marvel at the dexterity of such a simple gesture but he was distracted by what the Soldier was saying. “However, you will be admitting that either you are highly vulnerable without the suit or that Tony Stark designed a device that would kill its operator when it lost power.” Shit. Tony could say yes. Pretend his life was in danger and the Soldier might actually restore his power. But he’d be admitting to a serious design flaw in the suit that didn’t exist. It would get him back in the fight though. The Soldier could just be lying as a way to try to get information. Tony should lie, maybe get back in the fight. His pride wouldn’t allow it.

“My life is not at risk,” Tony growled. 

The Winter Soldier nodded. “Understood.” He looked around the foggy room. “Can you sit? This might take a while.” Tony couldn’t sit. As heavy as the suit was, he’d just fall if he tried and he’d never get back up. The Winter Soldier slipped under his arm and stood up tall. Tony felt the suit rise as several hundred pounds of weight were lifted off his shoulders. Fuck, this guy was strong. As much as Tony didn’t want the help, he let the Soldier manhandle him into a seated position against the wall. Then, the Soldier headed over to a computer that was nearly out of sight through the fog and got to work.

Tony stewed in silence for several minutes. He wondered where the Avengers were. He hadn’t called in since… How long had it been? He didn’t really know. He couldn’t call in now, not with no power in the suit. He did have backup comms and gear but to use them meant engaging the manual release and stepping out of the suit. That would put him alone and practically unarmed in a room with the Winter Soldier. 

Silence was not Tony Stark’s strong suit. “What, no villain monologue?” he finally snapped when he was sure the silence would kill him. The Soldier just responded with the tapping of computer keys. “Where’s the evil mustache twirling and the ‘you are at my mercy, Iron Man’?”

“You watch too much TV,” the Soldier responded.

“Yeah, I do. Seen you on it a bunch lately. Terrorist, I think they call you. Murderer on some channels.” It probably wasn’t the best idea to antagonize his captor, but Tony had never played by the rules. 

“I’m not trying to hurt anyone. I’m just trying to do what’s right.”

“You and I have very different definitions of what’s right.”

“Too bad. I respect you, Iron Man. I don’t want to hurt you, or see you killed. But I need to do this. Maybe you’ll understand one day.”

“I doubt it.”

The Winter Soldier pulled something out of the computer then used the metal arm to tear the side off the computer and pull something out that was definitely not supposed to come out. “The Avengers will find you soon,” he said. Then the Winter Soldier turned and disappeared into the fog. 

It was ten minutes before Natasha showed up. “Iron Man?” she called through the fog.

“Here!” he called back.

In the end, Steve had to mangle whatever the Winter Soldier had attached to his back, but Tony still got the specs off the thing later. He found out that after he’d gone radio silent, the fog had gotten creepy. Well, creepier. Everyone who wasn’t him started seeing lights and shapes in the fog: voices calling for help, shadows running around. It had taken a lot of time before Clint had managed to tag a tiny drone with an arrow and they determined that there were drones in the fog pretending to be ghosts. Then it was a matter of verifying they weren’t actually people before taking out the drones.

Tony had to admit; he was impressed. The whole setup was a clever use of technology for an unintended purpose. It was a distraction and the only people who got hurt were minor injuries from the confusion. The thing that had disrupted his power was an ingenious little device that Tony made sure would never work on an Iron Man suit again. The whole encounter left him with mixed feelings about the Soldier. It didn’t matter though; Iron Man was a hero and the Winter Soldier was a villain.

A few encounters later, the Winter Soldier changed the game.

“Cap!” Tony called as he flew the Iron Man suit above the fight to try to get eyes on the Winter Soldier. “Got a call from AIM. They’re reporting a break-in! I think the Winter Soldier is the distraction this time!”

“Okay,” Steve replied. He sounded out of breath, probably from chasing the Winter Soldier across the rooftops. “Go, Iron Man! We’ll handle this!”

“Aye aye, Captain!” Tony took flight. He arrived at AIM’s HQ and did a quick circle of the building. He found the source of AIM’s troubles on the sixth floor. A large window had been blown out and there were six people in serious tactical gear standing at the edge. Each person looked practically identical. They wore the exact same heavy-duty combat gear, almost looking like a SWAT team on crack. They were decked out, head to toe, in protective wear: bulletproof armor, Kevlar-reinforced pants, helmets, elbow pads, knee pads, solid boots, gloves, goggles, masks. The whole nine yards. Every single piece was of the highest quality and the only piece of superfluous gear they wore was a shiny, silver pauldron on their left shoulder. It was cut in a way so as not to inhibit movement in the slightest and Tony had a sneaking suspicion that it showed their loyalty.

As he approached, he watched two of the SWAT team members grab ropes and begin to repel down the side of the building. One of the team members looked up and saw him.

“Incoming!” the SWAT team leader called. Suddenly, the Iron Man suit was buffeted with a lateral force so hard that it threw Tony off course and away from the building wildly. Fighting the force and trying to see through a haze of gold, it took Tony a solid minute to regain control. When he finally managed to orient the suit, he saw the last two members of the team descending from the sixth floor while cradled on some sort of golden cloud. When the last two members rejoined the team on the ground, they started to run.

Tony tried to give chase, but the team dropped into a sewer and the Iron Man suit couldn’t exactly fit through a manhole. Before he could even call it in, Steve reported that they’d lost the Winter Soldier.

With no suspects apprehended, Tony flew back to AIM and went in through the broken window on the sixth floor. Inside, other than the broken window, there was only one sign that anyone had even been there. In white spray paint along the wall in all capital letters was one word: AVALANCHE.

Fuck! The Winter Soldier had people now. When did that happen?!

Even though Iron Man was a superhero, Tony Stark was still just a man. Just a man behind a multibillion-dollar company that revolutionized technology on a yearly basis. If Tony wanted to continue being Iron Man, he needed to keep the cash flowing since a single Iron Man suit cost millions of dollars.

That meant Tony was sitting in another boring meeting with the Stark Industries board of directors. He was multitasking. Well, he called it multitasking. In reality, he wasn’t paying attention to the board at all and was primarily focused on the tablet in his lap where JARVIS was putting together a comprehensive profile on the members of Avalanche. JARVIS was taking every scrap of video footage and trying to piece together a list of exactly who they were fighting. It was far harder than it should have been.

The Avengers had run into Avalanche a few more times since its debut. On the second encounter Tony had been ready for mass casualties when Avalanche breached a subsidiary of Hammer Industries and opened fire on the security guards. Everyone was surprised when the guards had gotten up an hour later. They were groggy and apparently hungover but clearly alive. Since then, Avalanche had been making a name for itself as the Winter Soldier’s terrorist organization.

There was a lot of footage of the members. The problem was, every single one of them dressed identically. Each person wore the same heavy-duty combat gear with the shiny silver pauldron. Visually, there was no way to tell any of them apart. So, JARVIS had moved on to other methods. He was working on gait analysis and body shape profiles at the moment. He’d managed to pick out a few women in some videos but when the video shifted, he’d have trouble finding them again.

As far as Tony could tell, Avalanche seemed to be arranged into several different six-person tactical teams. Each team had a gimmick. One team had a way to swat even Iron Man out of the air with some sort of golden wind. Another team could get into places without being seen. Sometimes the Avengers didn’t even know that team was on the field until far too late. Sometimes, Avalanche fielded a bruiser strong enough to give Cap a run for his money. He was a little more obvious because of his size, but he was still in the same gear and supported by five identically geared soldiers. Avalanche, and the Winter Soldier, seemed to have a lot of cards to play. 

The Winter Soldier’s people were also very well trained. They worked together flawlessly. Any time the Avengers had one team on the ropes, another was there to back them up. In short, the Avengers were losing. Numbers were playing a significant role here. And loath though he was to do it, Tony had suggested going to SHIELD for backup.

That’s why he was trying to sort out the members of Avalanche. Maybe, if he could find out who on the team was controlling the golden wind, he could incapacitate them first.

Tony was distracted from his tablet by one of the board member’s passing remarks.

“What did you say?” Tony asked, trying to get back into the conversation.

“I was just saying that Knighthood has continued to refuse our generous offers to buy out the company.”

Knighthood. It had been mentioned before. Tony knew someone on the board tried to buy shares in promising up-and-coming companies and he’d heard the name a few times. What was odd was that most companies were happy to go into business with Stark Industries. Most were downright thrilled by the idea. So, why was this company refusing? Tony disregarded the board’s conversation again and went back to his tablet. He swiped the information about Avalanche aside and googled Knighthood. 

There wasn’t a lot of information. Founded about six months ago by James Knight as an R&D tech startup. About 50 employees. A building in Yonkers. What was interesting were a few of the new patents attributed to them. Some of them were pretty ingenious and had names on them that Tony recognized. Tony had been trying to get Stan Lee to sign on with SI for almost a decade. But he’d been skittish ever since Stane had sacked him for trying to switch to non-lethal weapons development. Tony had worked with Rostov on half a dozen collaborative projects over the years but the paranoid man would never sign more than a month-to-month contract and he never stayed for more than six months. Apparently, they were both working for Knighthood and turning out some amazing stuff. Who else was working there? Tony was curious.

“I think I’ll take a visit to Yonkers tomorrow,” Tony said, interrupting whoever was talking about whatever in the meeting. “Throw some money around in person.”

Tony slipped out of the Tower the next morning and drove up to Yonkers. He found the building easily enough. It was kind of cozy for an office building. There was nice landscaping and a pretty little garden around the glass entryway. He could see some greenery hanging over the roof of the building and he wondered if this place had a rooftop garden. There was a picnic table in the shade of a big tree and a barbeque tucked around the side of the building on a stone patio.

Tony pushed through the big glass doors and into the brightly lit lobby. Inside was cozy as well. The little waiting area had comfy-looking chairs, a TV, a coffee maker and a bunch of kids’ toys. He looked to the reception desk and saw a petite woman with long blonde hair who couldn’t have been 18 years old sitting behind the desk.

“Hi, welcome to Knighthood. What can I do for you?” she asked happily with a big smile. Tony assumed she didn’t recognize him.

“Hi there, beautiful. I was hoping to have a chance to meet with your CEO. Is he around?”

Something about Tony’s question seemed to confuse the young lady. “James?” she asked. She looked down at the computer and hit a few keys. “He doesn't have any appointments today. Did you want to make one? He usually won't see anyone without an appointment.”

“Sure, I guess I can make an appointment. Stark Industries is eager to talk to him.” Tony’s blatant name-drop did the trick and realization dawned in the woman’s eyes. 

“Oh, you’re Tony Stark,” she said. The reaction wasn’t what he expected. He usually left people starstruck; amazed at their good fortune to have the chance to share his space. This was more wary; almost startled. Odd. “Give me a moment.” Still, the name-drop served its purpose and the young woman made a call. “Hey, Penny. Tony Stark is here to see James.” There was a pause. “Yes, in the lobby.” Another pause. “Okay.” She hung up and gave him a brittle smile. “Just one second, sir. She’s on her way.”

Tony didn’t ask about why she’d called a woman named Penny when Tony had asked to see the CEO, who his research said was James Knight. He just smiled back and thanked her.

It was less than a minute before a woman with long, curly brown hair stepped out of the elevator to greet him. “Mr. Stark? I’m Penny, head of HR. Abby told me you are here to see James?”

“I was hoping to have a chat, on behalf of Stark Industries,” he answered.

“I see.” Penny looked very pensive. “James isn’t available at the moment but I can see if I can find him. I wouldn’t want you to come all this way for nothing. Please, come with me.” Penny stepped back into the elevator and Tony followed her in. “Normally, I’d take you to one of the executive offices to wait. It’s where I leave all the people who come to throw money at Knighthood. But I have a better idea.”

The elevator stopped on the third floor and Tony followed Penny into a lab. “Good morning, Rostov.”

Tony looked into the lab and saw the paranoid Russian inventor that he had worked with several times in the past. 

“Interruptions!” Rostov growled. “Always with the interruptions! I promise you, I have not yet exceeded my 40 hours, woman!”

“It’s only Wednesday, Rostov,” Penny said with a laugh. “If you were already over 40 hours, it wouldn’t be me here to yell at you. It’d be James.”

“He does not scare me.”

“He terrifies you and you know it.”

Rostov grumbled something in Russian. Tony knew enough of the language to get by. He had been an arms dealer on the tail end of the Cold War, so of course he knew some Russian. He managed to pick out the word ghost among the mumbles. 

“I brought you an assistant,” Penny said.

Rostov sighed. He still hadn’t turned around and was just poking at something on the workbench. “I will take anyone at this point.” Rostov finally turned around. “Oh. Stark.”

“Rostov. So this is where you’ve been hiding,” Tony said with a wide grin.

“I hide from no one but ghosts. What brings the illustrious Tony Stark to Knighthood?” Rostov asked as he settled into an office chair.

“I would guess Mr. Stark is the latest in SI’s attempts to buy Knighthood,” Penny said before Tony could speak.

Rostov laughed. “Useless. James will never sell.”

“I have to admit, I’m kind of looking forward to meeting this guy after everything I’ve heard about him,” Tony said.

“On that note, I’ll see if I can find him,” Penny turned back toward the door. “Keep an eye on him please, Rostov.”

“Da, komandir,” Rostov said with a sloppy salute.

Tony found time slipped by after that. Rostov had a problem with power conservation in a high-current system. The math said it should work. The prototypes all argued otherwise. There were a dozen prototypes with different variations and within minutes, Tony was engrossed. Having worked with Rostov before, he was used to the short and aggressive tone he always seemed to have and the problem they were trying to address was interesting. Tony didn’t get to see the other side of what they were building, what it was powering, but this part had potential. It was also clever and cutting-edge. If this was what Knighthood was working on, it was no wonder SI wanted a piece.

“Copper?!” Rostov growled hours later. “Copper?! No. Nyet. Nein. Bad idea.”

“Copper is a great idea,” Tony argued.

Rostov side-eyed Tony. “Fine. We try.”

“Later.” The voice came from behind where Tony and Rostov were hunched over one of the dismantled prototypes. 

Rostov jumped and cursed in Russian. “ебать призрак!”

Tony turned around more slowly and saw a sinfully gorgeous man standing in the doorway. He was dressed casually: stiff boots under tight jeans and a long-sleeved red Henley. He had long hair, pulled back in a loose braid. Surely, Tony would have known if someone as handsome as this was his new competition. Surely, someone would have told him? Those casual clothes hid considerable muscles and Tony wondered if this tech CEO was brains and brawn. Tony’s woefully distracted mind did notice the one thing odd about the man. He was wearing thin, black leather driving gloves with a take-out bag clutched in one hand. Still, Tony had met a lot of people with weird habits and wearing gloves inside was hardly the strangest.

“I’ve chased away the wolf,” the newcomer said from the doorway. “Eat, before he comes back.” The handsome man put the bag of take-out on a clean workbench.

“Work always comes back,” Rostov said with a grin.

“Then you best take the time to eat.”

Rostov nodded at him then turned to Tony. “Thank you for the collaboration, Stark.”

“My pleasure! You’ll tell me if it works, right?”

Rostov glanced at the stranger, who nodded. “Yes, I will.”

“Until next time, Rostov,” Tony waved as he headed to the door, but Rostov was already distracted by the food.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Stark,” the man said.

“Please, it’s Tony. You must be James?” 

James nodded.

“I want to buy Knighthood!” Tony said cheerfully. 

“Knighthood is not for sale.” James’s icy blue eyes met Tony’s and Tony saw more than enough to know there was no chance to argue here.

“Great! Now I can tell the board I tried and we can move on to more exciting things!”

James looked skeptical, but nodded nonetheless. He turned and gestured for Tony to follow him. “What sort of more exciting things?” James asked once they were in the elevator.

“Well, whatever you’ve got Rostov working on is exciting. That sort of power conservation could be applied all over the place to extend battery life.”

“Not everyone has the unlimited potential of an Arc reactor to work with,” James countered.

“Exactly! You’re working with less and trying to do more with it! That’s awesome!”

James looked at Tony warily as they rode the elevator up. “We’re trying.”

“I’d like to help,” Tony said as the elevator reached the top and they stepped out. Instead of heading toward the door that was obviously the CEO’s office with Knight on the nameplate, James turned them in the other direction.

“How?” he asked.

“Exactly what we were just doing: collaboration.” When Tony followed James through a glass door, he was distracted from the conversation by a lush and expansive rooftop garden. The entire thing was beautiful. There were flowers and plants everywhere and everything was vibrant and screamed spring. They weren’t alone in the garden. There were a dozen or so other people; one was watering, another was weeding, the rest were having lunch at picnic tables or on a blanket. James motioned Tony over to an empty table with two bags of take-out on it and two chairs.

“You’ll have to forgive me. We weren’t expecting you,” James said as he sat in one of the chairs.

“Are you kidding?” Tony laughed as he sat in the other chair. “This has been great! Old friends, science talk, and tacos in a gorgeous rooftop garden? This has all the making of an amazing day.”

As they ate, Tony tried to get a better idea of who James Knight, founder and CEO of Knighthood, really was. Tony had spent enough time around people that he considered himself a pretty good judge of character. But James was hard to get a read on. He was smart, that was clear to Tony, but he was careful when he spoke about the patents coming out of Knighthood. He measured his words and took the time to find the right ones. Once or twice, Tony had thought he’d lost the man when he had diverged onto a tangent about one of the patents. James had been quiet, obviously thinking, and Tony had been about to backpedal when James had caught up and made the connection. To Tony, it seemed like his initial assessment was right and James was smart, all of the tech talk just seemed… new to him. He seemed to know the fundamentals, but when they got to more difficult topics, he had to go back and remember the fundamentals before finding his way forward. But he did catch back up, and he kept up with Tony. Most people couldn’t do that. And he kept up when Tony brought up Knighthood’s mechanical patents and the chemical ones. Meaning this guy knew everything going on in his company and not just his own field.

They ended up sitting in the garden in the spring sun for hours, discussing Knighthood, Knighthood’s patents, Stark Industries and possible collaborations.

“James?” Tony looked up and saw Penny standing beside the table.

“Penny?” James asked.

“I’m heading home. I just wanted to make sure you and Mr. Stark didn’t need anything.”

“Heading home?” James looked up toward the sky then at the empty garden. “After five?” he asked.

“Almost six,” Penny said. “Rostov and Sam are still in the labs. Stan kicked off early since he’s going to be running that experiment this weekend. I think Mike is still in the gym with Abby.”

James nodded. “Understood. Go home. Have you decided on how to end your story?”

“Ughh.” Suddenly, Tony wasn’t looking at the professional head of human resources anymore. He was looking at an excited young woman practically radiating enthusiasm. “No! I was thinking of having Dean sacrifice himself for Sam. That’s a good climax right? Brotherly love triumphing?”

Tony’s mind blanked for a second before he caught up. Dean. Sam. Winchester? Supernatural?

James hummed in thought. “A sacrifice can be necessary, but Dean is a warrior. Would he not fight with everything he had for his brother? A warrior knows the rules of the battlefield. Let Dean bend the rules to his own advantage. A clever victory is also a good climax.”

Penny laughed. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll think about it, James. It was nice to meet you, Mr. Stark.” Penny gave a little bow before she walked away. Before Tony could restart the conversation, Penny yelled back to them. “Make sure you go home tonight, James!”

“You’re not the boss of me!” James yelled back.

“You set an example for everyone here!”

“They all know I’m a terrible example!”

“You’re my hero, James! Don’t ever forget it!” And then Penny was gone and Tony was alone on the roof with James again.

“They’re amazing, aren’t they?” Tony chuckled. 

“They?” James asked.

“The people who choose to stand with us. My Rhodey bear and Pepper. They stand with me. I wouldn’t be who I am without them.”

“Sometimes I wonder why they stand with me.”

Tony offered James a knowing smile. “Me too. But it’s not our decision; it’s theirs. They choose who they follow. They must see something worth following in us.”

Chapter Text

Knighthood was thriving. Three months after its founding, it had 30 employees, 14 patents and a ton of investors trying to make contact, including Stark Industries. Avalanche was doing well too. Storm Cloud took to the field last week for the first time and not only got away with the information but Abby also managed to knock Iron Man around enough to not need to engage him. James was glad it hadn’t come down to a fight.

Life had changed significantly for James in the past three months. First, he had a home. Even if he wasn’t always in New York, he came back to it often enough that Penny had helped him find a nearby loft to call his own. It was still pretty bare and he didn’t spend a lot of time there, but still, a home. He hadn’t had one of those in a while. 

While the loft was supposed to be his home, he found he was more comfortable at Knighthood. He’d consulted Penny and they had hired contractors to renovate a portion of the sub-basement into two small apartments and a bunkhouse. The apartments were pretty simple: a bedroom, bathroom and single room for the kitchen and sitting area. More often than not, James would sleep there. He tended to find comfort in the underground and secure rooms.

Today, James was frustrated. Stan, up in chemical research, had a problem. James had offered to help and been summarily refused. So, James headed to the gym to find someone else to help.

“Mike,” James said when he walked in on Abby trying to support Kenny securely enough on her wind to let him shoot accurately. 

“You don’t have to keep him perfectly upright, Abs. You just need to keep him secure. If he needs to be upside down for that, that’s fine.”

“That’s not fine, Mike!” Kenny called down from the cloud as he tried to find enough balance to shoot. “Blood rushing to my head is not fine!”

“It’s only for a minute! You’ll be fine! Keep trying, Abby!” Mike gave a wave and headed over to James. “What’s up, James?”

“I need your help.” James hated asking for help. Especially when it was something he couldn’t do himself.

“That’s why you hired me. How can I help?”

“Stan’s got a problem. He said I can’t help. So, I want you to help him.”

“Up in chem? What’s the great Stan Lee cooked up this time?”

Stan Lee was an underappreciated genius. He could make weapons the likes of which you could only imagine. Once he had made a name for himself, he turned to non-lethal options hoping his name would allow him to find work. It hadn’t been enough and his job prospects had dried up. The government cut him off, he lost his job at Stark Industries and Stan had been nearly destitute for years. But he held to his convictions.

He had applied to Avalanche and accepted the code of conduct happily. During the interview, he’d made his stance clear: non-lethal weapons only. James agreed and Stan had been up in chemical research for two months just creating. Now, he had something.

“I… maybe he should explain it,” James said with a huff.

“Gotcha,” Mike said with a nod. “Sophia! You’re in charge!”

“Got it!”

“Let’s go.”

James, Mike and Stan stood around a neon green plastic pistol that was sitting on the workbench. 

“I call it an ICER. An Incapacitating Cartridge Emitting Railgun,” Stan said with a flourish of his hands.

“Incapacitating?” Mike said as he looked up from the plastic gun.

“Totally non-lethal,” Stan explained as he picked up the pistol. “The cartridge it fires is like a modified paintball with an electric charge. It uses a mixture of chemicals to knock out the target when they breathe them in and a finely tuned electric shock to scramble the brain enough to render a person unconscious. Neither effect alone is enough, but together, a person will go down with a single shot to the head or chest. Or with two shots elsewhere.” Stan paused. “At least, in theory.”

“In theory?” Mike asked.

“I’ve tested it on myself. And Rostov volunteered as well. But I need to test it on more people to make sure the effect is safe.”

“I volunteered,” James said.

Stan looked away from the pistol and toward James. “But James is enhanced. He’s not suitable to test the baseline applications.”

Mike looked around the group. “So, chemical and electric knock-out gun. Does it hurt?”

Stan grinned at Mike. “About as bad as a paintball and a static shock. In our tests, I was unconscious for 72 minutes and Rostov was out for 55. We both woke up with what he called a hangover. We chugged some water and the headache was gone in an hour.”

“Okay. I can see why this would be amazing for Avalanche. We can keep ourselves safe by shooting back but anyone we hit will wake up later,” Mike said with a pensive look. “But why is it plastic and neon green?”

Stan laughed. “I used a 3D printer to make this. It’s just a prototype. If it works, I can modify some Sig Sauers or we can begin production on a custom design.”

“What about accuracy?” Mike asked. “I’ve played paintball. Some of those guns can barely hit a target at 20 feet.”

“This prototype gets about 20 feet with high accuracy,” Stan said. “But the rounds aren’t pneumatic like paintball guns. It’s still ballistic and should give you similar accuracy. The trick to this isn’t the gun, it’s the bullets.”

James watched as Mike considered the neon green pistol. “Hangover?” Mike asked.

“Hangover,” Stan verified.

“Alright. Hit me.”

James really should have realized Stan had no impulse control. The moment Mike said yes, Stan shot him in the chest. Mike’s eyes rolled back in his head and only James’s Winter Soldier instincts let him catch the man before he hit the floor.

“Now what?” James asked when he had Mike’s unconscious body leaning against him.

“Now we wait,” Stan said with a triumphant grin.

“On the floor?”

Stan’s grin faded away. “Oh. I should have thought of that. We can move him to the infirmary?”

Waking up in a different place was unnerving. “Go get a blanket.” James sat on the floor of the lab with Mike’s head resting in his lap for a little under an hour as Stan puttered around. Mike groaned loudly when he woke up.

“James, you are a goddamned mother hen,” he said when he opened his eyes and looked up at James.

“I wasn’t going to leave you on the floor.”

Mike gave him a smirk then a wince and James handed him a water bottle when he sat up.

“How long?” Mike asked.

“Fifty-four minutes,” Stan called from his workbench. “Symptoms?”

Mike sat up and took a long drink before responding. “Headache, a bit of nausea, upset stomach. I’ll agree with Rostov; hangover.”

They did a bunch more tests before Avalanche deployed with the ICERs. Everyone who carried one needed to know what it felt like to get hit. Then they practiced to verify the pistols Stan modified were accurate. So far, they just had pistols but Stan said he could make assault rifles and maybe even a sniper rifle.

Slowly, Avalanche, and by association Knighthood, grew. Avalanche trained and deployed three Storm teams.

Storm Cloud was Mike’s team. It was built around Abby’s abilities. Abby could use her abilities to move the team around the field in unexpected ways, provide cover and distract enemies. 

Storm Blind was built around Samuel Chung’s cutting-edge cloaking tech. It was based on Sam’s ingenious ideas and refined using technology from the prototype Photostatic Cloak James had liberated from Outpost Scythe. The whole team was kitted out with it and Sam suited up with them to keep it all running. They could pass practically unnoticed. Sam trained with the team but spent most of his time in the lab. 

Storm Rage was built around Elvin Haliday. He was a brawler, gifted with strength and durability. James had been hesitant to hire Elvin after his invasive background investigations before hiring had discovered Elvin was only 15 years old, even if he looked 30. They’d come to a compromise. Elvin had an internship and worked part-time as long as he also worked toward his high school equivalency certificate.

Forming Avalanche made James intimately aware of a facet of his personality that he had thought had been left behind in the Second World War. The thing that mattered most in the world to Bucky Barnes had been his people. It started with his family, moved on to include Steve and his mom. In the war it was his men, later the Howling Commandos. 

James hadn’t really put two and two together that his people included all of humanity when he’d vowed to destroy HYDRA. That had all been abstract. Now, however, with Knighthood and Avalanche, he had people again. And it was just like Mike had said: James was a goddamned mother hen. Every person James hired didn’t just earn a great paycheck; they also earned the protection of the Winter Soldier in all aspects of their life. 

When Abby and Sophia had found an apartment together, James somehow found the time to help them move in. When Bruno complained about his ex-wife withholding visitation rights to his kid again, James had set him up with the trustworthy law firm of Nelson and Murdock. When Cal’s new cat got stuck in a tree, James had scaled the tree to bring her down.

Even as busy as he was dealing with HYDRA, Knighthood and Avalanche, he still tried to find time for his people. That was why he was in Evanston, Illinois. He was on his way back from a solo meeting with Ayo and Kondala to hand over a few more vibranium bits. He’d parked the quinjet a safe distance away and walked to his destination. He’d left the Winter Soldier behind in the jet and was merely James Knight in plain clothes. 

The farmhouse was quiet, but only a few miles from the town. The nearest house could just be seen down the street. James had made sure this was okay in advance. He knocked on the door. 

After a few seconds, a petite blond woman answered the door with a huge smile on her face. “Hi!” she said.

“Mrs. Boylen?” James asked, even though he had seen pictures and knew this was Abby’s mother.

“Yes?”

“I know this might seem odd, but can we talk in private? Outside?” James knew the house was still bugged by SHIELD in case Abby came home.

“What’s this about?” Mrs. Boylen asked warily.

James pulled out his phone and typed the word Abby into a chat box. When he showed her his phone screen, Mrs. Boylen’s eyes went wide and both she and her husband followed him out of earshot of the house.

“If you’ve hurt her—” Mr. Boylen began.

James cut him off. “Abby is fine. She’s safe. Here.” James held out the burner phone he’d brought for them. “If you’re somewhere without any listening ears on Sunday morning at 10am, you might get a call.”

Mrs. Boylen looked at the phone with wide eyes. “Really?”

“Yes.” James was not expecting Mrs. Boylen to hug him. He very nearly drew one of his hidden knives. In the end, she got away unharmed.

“She’s really okay?” Mr. Boylen asked.

“I think so, but she can tell you herself.”

When James got back to Knighthood, he immediately sought out Abby before she left for the end of the day.

“Abby!” he yelled as he ran into the lobby.

“James!” She rushed back inside. “Did you see them?!” she asked. “Are they okay?!”

“They’re fine. Worried about you. Here.” James handed her another burner phone with only one number saved in it. “They expect a call at 10am on Sunday. Try and refrain from naming people or places.”

And then James got his second hug of the day. Apparently the Boylens were huggers.

Since James was leading the whole outfit, he was constantly in need of new information to direct Avalanche toward the right targets. The Winter Soldier still did a large number of solo operations. He’d made a plan to investigate an old HYDRA base in Siberia and had every intention of going alone. Penny had scolded him; told him he had a team for a reason. So, Storm Cloud was running backup in the quinjet while James investigated the base.

It was abandoned and James got nothing from it except an unpleasant trip down memory lane. After a few hours, he headed back to the evac point. He was jogging through the quiet woods. The snow was knee-deep and heavy enough that anything more than a jog would be taxing, even for him. He wasn’t in a hurry. He jogged through the snowy landscape, a sparse forest with trees barely clinging to life in the cold.

A rumble and crash was the only thing to warn James he had company. He jerked back and threw himself to the side in time to avoid the massive paw of a 1500-pound Kodiak bear. The bear was pissed and it roared its rage to the heavens. James hadn’t even noticed it. It must have been asleep and he’d walked right up to it. He didn’t want to kill it. It was just trying to survive out here and it was a truly impressive example of its species.

James ran. The bear followed, crashing through the few trees that stood in its way. James was fast, even in the snow, but the bear was fast as well. It was also furious. James tried to keep his distance but the bear wanted his head. When James realized the bear had harried him into a box canyon, he took a moment to re-evaluate the situation. As he stood before the massive and angry beast, he figured it out.

“Ursa?” James asked. The Winter Soldier had met Ursa Major a few times. Ursa was a highly trained Soviet asset. He was a loyal and dutiful patriot to his motherland. He was everything the Winter Soldier was supposed to be. Ursa didn’t just have exceptional training; he also had the ability to shift his form into that of a great Kodiak bear. It had made him quite valuable.

Ursa and the Winter Soldier hadn’t interacted much. There had been a single sparring match their respective handlers had arranged to show off their skills. But mostly, their interactions were in passing; the Winter Soldier handed off information to Usra to take back after an operation, Ursa provided intelligence on a base the Soldier was going to assault. Handoffs, never working together.

Ursa didn’t respond to James. He just dragged back a mighty paw and tried to cleave James’s head from his shoulders. James could tell Ursa was furious, but he knew Ursa could talk like this, so why wasn’t he answering? Another vicious swipe and James decided. Fine, if Ursa wanted to fight, then they’d fight.

“Uh, Winter, are you making friends with the local wildlife?” Mike said in James’s ear.

“Personal problem,” James replied as he vaulted over Ursa’s head to avoid his teeth.

“Can we help?” Mike said.

“Negative.”

“Are you worried about us or the bear?”

“Both.”

Mike was quiet after that and just let James fight. James didn’t draw a weapon, just fought against tooth and claw with his metal arm. Ursa was out to kill him and James realized he wasn’t the only one who held back when they had sparred.

The fight went on for more than 30 minutes before Ursa, panting and foaming at the mouth, growled a word in Russian. “Traitor!”

By now, the box canyon was awash with James’s and Ursa’s blood. The snow was tamped down, some of the rocks were broken and many of the nearby trees were kindling. That word made James realize that Ursa might be here to kill him on orders. He may see James as a traitor to Mother Russia and worthy of nothing more than a shallow grave in the snowy woods.

Ten minutes later he got another Russian word. “Deserter!” James was pretty sure Ursa was just going to kill him as a traitor. There’d be no talking down the loyal son of Mother Russia.

“Relic!” Ursa roared the word to the sky and with a heaving gasp, collapsed on his rear in the snow.

James stood panting and a little confused.

“That’s what they called me. A relic of a bygone era,” the bear growled. With the fight clearly having left Ursa, James dropped to the ground in the snow on the other side of the canyon. “Are you here to kill me, Soldier?”

“I was here to investigate the base. Are you here to kill me?” James asked as he applied pressure to where his metal ribs had stopped Ursa’s claws from tearing his torso apart.

“I smelled a fight and came running.” Ursa took a pawful of clean snow and ate it. “The world has changed. I have not changed with it.”

“Tell me, Ursa. It has been many years since I’ve seen you.”

Ursa grunted and snarled. “The Soviet Union fell. Russia entered a brave new age. Men like us were no longer needed. Retire, they said. Live life, they said. No, I replied. I gave you my life. You made me what I am. They threw me in a gulag and not one of the nice ones.” The bear across from James flopped back in the snow in a very human gesture. “In the gulag, I rotted. I got angry; cast aside by the country I had given my life to. Called traitor, deserter, relic and worse. The angrier I got, the harder it was to control my shift. Once I was only the bear, I was no longer even human to them. I broke out of the gulag and have lived as a bear for several years.” Ursa looked away from the sky and toward James. “What about you? The Winter Soldier? The Soviet Ghost? Did they try to retire you as well?”

“They sold me to the Americans.” James grimaced at the thought that he had been just a thing that could be sold.

Ursa roared. Or maybe it sounded like laughter? “A fate worse than the gulags!” Ursa pushed himself up. “You still serve them?”

“I broke my chains a few years ago.”

Ursa nodded sagely. “Always I knew they had something over you. And what has the great Winter Soldier done with freedom? More than puttering about the Siberian wastes eating salmon, I hope.”

“I founded an organization in America to fight HYDRA.”

Ursa perked up at that. “HYDRA? You fight them?”

“I try.” James hadn’t expected to find an ally in Siberia. But it looked like it was happening anyway. “Would you like a job?”

Ursa roared in laughter again. “You would have me work for capitalist, American dogs?”

“No different than Soviet, Russian dogs.”

“Fair.” Ursa scratched absentmindedly at his furry shoulder where James had landed a solid hit. “I am just an old soldier, one who doesn’t even look human. What can I offer?”

“Knowledge. A different perspective. Most of my soldiers are American.”

“You don’t want my claws?”

“Not if you don’t offer them. We aren’t tools anymore. We choose what we give. You would be held to a code of conduct, though; no killing.”

“Your heart has gone soft, Soldier,”

“As it should be. A hard heart makes a hard world.”

“And the fact that I am quite obviously a bear?”

James shrugged. “There is a basement apartment in my building. You can live there. And if you regain control, I will make you a new identity. My people won’t care. But if you break the code of conduct or hurt any of my people, I will drag you back to the gulag myself.”

“I know to fear you, Winter Soldier. Even with a softened heart.”

“My name is James.”

Convincing Mike to let a 1500-pound bear with bloody fur into the quinjet while James was still bleeding from several deep claw wounds was not as hard as he thought it would be.

“We worked it out,” James said as he and Ursa stood at the bottom of the jet’s ramp. Mike looked skeptical. James could understand that especially since the conversation James and Ursa had had was entirely in Russian and Mike probably hadn’t understood any of it.

“You’re both bleeding,” Mike said with a glare. 

“It was fun,” Ursa snorted. James slapped him with his metal hand. He just snorted again.

“Ursa will behave.”

“I am not stupid enough to cross the Winter Soldier.”

Mike gave a long suffering sigh. Then muttered to himself, “Okay. A talking, Russian bear. I can deal with that.” He continued much louder, “Which one of you needs medical attention first? James, I think the blood on your side is starting to freeze, but I can’t see if Ursa is bleeding under all that fur.” 

Settling Ursa in at Knighthood was just another task on James’s very long to-do list. Occasionally, he regretted founding Avalanche. His self-appointed task of destroying HYDRA was a massive undertaking and, while logic would dictate that having more people would help, there were still a significant number of tasks that James couldn’t trust anyone else with.

Avalanche wasn’t the Winter Soldier’s only allies. He had people and organizations around the world that he communicated with on a regular basis. He traded information with people he’d spent years forging trust with. People who would not trust if the Winter Soldier sent an intermediary. So he had to deal with them in person.

On top of that, there was James’s very personal and very secret side mission. One that only a handful of people in the world were even aware of. Over the course of years of thorough investigation and countless hours of weaving the truth together, James had found a thread. One simple thread that wove through everything. He had spent a very long time gently tugging on that thread and now he finally had answers. He finally had the answer to a question that had puzzled him for years.

After reviewing so many of HYDRA’s files, James had found that HYDRA had slowly risen to power after World War Two. But that slow rise had been bolstered in the early ‘90s. He’d managed to track the source and discovered that one of the heads of HYDRA had a significant personality change and the man had driven HYDRA forward with renewed vigor. The newly re-energized Head had spread HYDRA further and further, pushing into fields that HYDRA had never touched in the past. He had been the catalyst that made HYDRA the all-encompassing parasite it was today.

James had looked long and hard at the man and tried to find out why. After years of looking, he finally had the answers. The reason was outlandish and unbelievable and if he hadn’t seen the proof with his own two eyes, he would not believe it. He could not expect anyone else to believe it. So he worked. He routed HYDRA and searched for more information about what exactly was living in its shadow.

Chapter Text

When Natalia Alianovna Romanova first heard the name Winter Soldier, it was in the terrified whispers of forgotten little girls.

“The Winter Soldier lives only to follow orders.”

“The Winter Soldier does not sleep.”

“The Winter Soldier cannot die.”

“You cannot run from him.” 

“You cannot hide from him.”

“He will find you.”

The whispers were shared from older girls to younger ones. Always with fear, reverence and just a little bit of awe. The Winter Soldier was a legend to little Natasha. Just a grim bedtime story in a grim existence; no darker than the world around her. She knew to fear the faceless monster that was the Winter Soldier, but only in the abstract sort of way that a child feared the dark. The Winter Soldier became reality when she was only eight years old. 

The compound was busy. More so than usual. Rumors had been flying around for days. 

“Inessa escaped!”

“The Winter Soldier was sent after her!”

The Madame rounded up the two dozen girls, all under 12, and led them to one of the main gyms. They were lined up along one wall, in perfect silence. Along the other wall were soldiers. In the middle of the room was Inessa. She was bloody, with two broken legs and obvious signs of torture. But it was the dark figure that stood over her that drew Natasha’s attention. He wasn’t the tallest man she had ever seen but his sheer presence was staggering. He did nothing and commanded the attention of the entire room. He stood over Inessa, clad head to toe in black tactical gear, still armed and covered in drying blood. His metal left arm was still caked in blood that was likely Inessa’s. His face was hidden behind a mask and long dark hair. His eyes were fixed on Inessa.

In that moment, Natasha knew that monsters were real.

The instructors made a spectacle of Inessa’s death and used the Winter Soldier to do it. He followed orders quickly and without question. He never said a single word the whole time. When it was over, Natasha knew she would never be able to enter that gym without hearing the screams and seeing the puddles of blood.

After Inessa’s execution, Natasha saw the Winter Soldier a few more times. A couple of times a year he would darken the halls of the Red Room. Whenever he was there, the instructors got nervous and snappy; pushing the girls harder, holding tighter control, making sure no one wandered anywhere without supervision. She would see him, in passing, sometimes trailing behind a high-ranking officer, sometimes being debriefed before or after a mission.

When Natasha was ten, somebody’s mistake ended up with her being alone with the Winter Soldier. After a day of grueling physical training that left her barely on her feet, Natasha was called to the Madame’s office. She should have been heading to a desperately needed dinner. Instead, she dragged herself, nearly shaking from overexertion, down the long hallway to the office. She only noticed there was already someone waiting outside the door when she was within ten feet. She only recognized that someone when she was close enough to see his arm. His metal arm.

The Winter Soldier was standing at ease on the far side of the door but there was nothing easy about his stance. He was coiled and ready to act, even while waiting. His eyes were fixed on the bare wall across from him and he didn’t react to her approach. He wasn’t in the same imposing gear this time, just heavy boots and dark clothes. The muzzle was still firmly in place, though. That and the arm gave him away; along with that all encompassing and intimidating aura.

Terror brought a shock of adrenaline to Natasha’s system and for a moment she considered running. Knowing there would be no escape, she resigned herself and only squeaked a little when she spoke. “I am expected?” She meant for it to sound firm and confident. She was expected. It was the truth. Instead, it came out as a question.

The Winter Soldier’s head moved just enough to look at her. “Madame B is in discussion with my handler. They are not to be disturbed.” The Soldier’s voice was flat, lacking emotion and any inflection. It sent a shiver down Natasha’s spine.

With no other choice since she had been summoned, Natasha stood on the other side of the door and started to wait. It didn’t take very long for her exhausted body to start to lean on the wall. Eventually, the wall was the only thing holding her up.

“Sit.” The flat word from the Soldier startled her but when she looked over, he wasn’t even looking at her. It was a bad idea but she was exhausted and if anyone asked, she could say the Soldier ordered her to sit. Was she supposed to follow his orders? Before she could think about it any more, her knees gave out and she sat heavily.

It was an unnerving wait that ended up being nearly half an hour. But since it was dinnertime, no one came down the hallway. So, Natasha just took the moment to rest.

“Stand.” The sudden word had Natasha scrambling to her feet and a moment after she composed herself, the door swung open. A high-ranking officer stepped out; a colonel if the stripes on his uniform were to be believed.

“Colonel,” Natasha greeted with a curtsy. Her now rested legs thankfully cooperated.

The colonel’s eyes widened in surprise then snapped between Natasha and the Winter Soldier. “Soldier, report!” he demanded.

“The widow-in-training reported as expected 28 minutes ago. Standing orders were not to disturb the handler.”

The colonel huffed then looked back into the office. “Madame, your girl has arrived.” He looked back toward Natasha. “Tell me little one, what do you think of Russia’s greatest asset?” He gestured to the Winter Soldier.

Natasha knew it was a test. It was always a test. “He is the ideal to which we all strive. Powerful, obedient and deadly. I only wish I am as useful as him when I graduate.”

The colonel barked out a laugh. “I have heard great things about you, little one. Perhaps one day you will earn the right to work beside him.” The colonel gave Natasha a pat on the head and then turned to the Winter Soldier. “Fall in,” he ordered as he walked by and the Soldier did so.

The meeting with the Madame was forgettable in comparison to Natasha’s meeting with the Winter Soldier. She only saw him in the Red Room a few more times after that, always in passing or making a spectacle for the newer widows. Then she graduated and with less time spent in the halls of the Red Room, she didn’t see him again.

It was after she defected to SHIELD that he came up again. Natasha and Clint had just been briefed by their handler, Phil Coulson, on the recent assassination of a high-profile target. The assassination was a mystery, the very definition of a locked-room problem. The type of situation that was impossible.

“Еще одна жертва зимы,” Natasha sighed as she reviewed the details of the murder.

Phil and Clint both looked up at her across the table.

“Another victim of winter?” Clint asked. He looked down at the files and the pictures spread across the table. “I don’t think this guy froze to death, Nat. That doesn’t make you bleed this much.”

Natasha smiled back at him with a grim grin. “No, I mean I can guess who did this.”

“Really?” Phil asked. “SHIELD is at a loss. There are literally no leads. Not a hair or a fiber. No prints. No witnesses. We don’t even know which injury killed the ambassador or what weapon was used. If you have any leads…”

“They call him Зимний солдат; the Winter Soldier,” Natasha explained. “But SHIELD doesn’t believe he exists.”

“The Winter Soldier?” Clint asked then snorted in an almost dismissal. “Never heard of him.”

“You wouldn’t. He’s a well-kept secret. He’s a Russian operative with a metal left arm. His skill is unmatched. I met him a few times, in passing, when I was a child. He was the one tasked with hunting down widows who defected.”

“Has he come after you?” Phil asked, suddenly worried. 

“Not yet, but I will admit, I am still looking over my shoulder and waiting.” 

After that, Natasha explained what little she knew about the Winter Soldier, the whispered rumors and legends.

“Sounds like they made this guy into a boogeyman,” Clint said after they had all ruminated on the information. “And you’re sure it was always the same guy?”

“The one I saw was always the same. Why? What are you getting at, Clint?”

“I was thinking that maybe the Winter Soldier isn’t one man,” Clint explained. “Maybe there’s a Winter Soldier program that trains boys to be soldiers like the Red Room trained girls to be widows. Maybe there’s a bunch of guys who all dress up the same. I mean, you saw this guy when you were eight years old. That was over 15 years ago. It can’t be the same guy.” 

“That…” Natasha hesitated, first in disbelief, then in contemplation. “That actually makes a lot of sense! It explains how he’s been active for so long.”

Slowly, years after her defection, Natasha came to accept that the Winter Soldier was simply a boogeyman overhyped by the Red Room. He was just a man, just a series of men, holding a title and playing a part. The one she met was just one man in a long line of operatives similar to widows. She came to terms with the monster from her childhood and left her fears behind.

Or so she thought. As it turned out, that fear always remained. That sliver of terror still coiled deep in her gut and Odessa proved just how wrong she had been. The Winter Soldier was every bit the monster the Red Room claimed.

Everything had gone flawlessly: nuclear engineer acquired, Iran escaped without firing a shot, and extraction was waiting only 100 kilometers down the road in Odessa. They were on a dusty, scenic road that took a meandering path to the city. It was rarely used anymore since most people used the new highway that provided a more direct route and a better maintained road. Natasha was driving. Her charge was asleep in the passenger seat after days of hard travel.

Natasha didn’t hear the gunshot, though she knew something had hit them because a tire didn’t just blow out like that. Her instincts and skills kicked in. She steered into the swerve and tried to regain control as the nearby cliff came closer. She almost had control back when she lost another tire. She made a split-second decision and gave up on the car. She grabbed the frantic engineer’s arm and dragged them both out of the car as the vehicle sailed over the edge.

They only just caught the edge of the cliff and Natasha had to scramble to pull the engineer up. When they were both on solid ground, she stood up to help the engineer only to come face to mask with the monster from her childhood. Somehow, somehow the Winter Soldier was there. There was at least a kilometer between the cliff and any form of cover. There was nowhere close by where he could have come from but still, he was there. Right there within ten feet of her.

Natasha didn’t even have time to draw one of her many hidden weapons. The Winter Soldier shot her still-kneeling engineer in the head. It didn’t even register that he’d done so through her until she felt the warm blood soaking her pants. She looked down at the bloody wound, glanced back as the dead engineer toppled over the cliff then looked back at the unflinching Winter Soldier. She collapsed to her knees a moment later, eyes still locked on the Soldier.

“You were… expected,” she rasped in Russian as the Soldier adjusted his gun for the execution. The moment before the bullet was fired stretched on as Natasha gripped her bloody side, trying to prevent death by blood loss. Natasha had always hoped to face her death with dignity. She tried to hold on, to see the moment it all ended.

She concluded later that she’d passed out. She woke up in a hospital in Odessa. Clint was sitting in the chair beside the bed.

“What happened?” she croaked.

“Dammit, Nat! Took the words right outta my mouth!” Clint said before giving a relieved sigh.

“Clint?”

“We don’t know,” Clint answered. “A passerby found you on the road outside Odessa. They called emergency services. The only reason you didn’t bleed out was because your wounds were caked in sand and dirt.”

Natasha considered that. It didn’t make sense. The Winter Soldier should have dragged her back to the Red Room or at the very least killed her. “It was him,” she said without thinking.

“Who, Nat?”

“The Winter Soldier. It was him, Clint. The same man I met all those years ago. Not someone else in the same gear.”

“How is that even possible? And why didn’t he kill you?”

“I don’t know,” Natasha admitted. “I don’t know a lot about him but there is one thing I do know: The Winter Soldier is being actively deployed. We need to warn SHIELD.”

No one took her seriously. She gave her report and no one believed her. She pulled together a list of assassinations that matched his skills and tried to provide proof but she was dismissed. It got to the point where only Clint and Phil believed her and she had to stop even mentioning the Winter Soldier lest people think she was crazy. She kept an eye out, though. Kept an ear to the ground and knew the Winter Soldier was still active.

It was all hands on deck when Outpost Scythe was attacked. Anyone currently not on assignment swarmed the tiny city of Maplewood and STRIKE Delta, or rather Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton, was no exception. 

The pair of them were tasked with checking the town to see if anyone saw anything other than the smoke. The little town was kind of a dump and there wasn’t much of anything there. Clint’s eagle eyes picked out the bar before they even got close.

“Well now, that might be useful,” he said with a slow grin. Natasha gave him a curious look and he continued. “Those cameras are very high tech for that kind of bar.”

It only took a smile, a little coaxing and the flash of a badge to get into the bar's basement and get access to the security tapes. It took a while but finally, finally Natasha had proof that the Winter Soldier actually existed. As much as she wanted to be happy about it, the fact that the attack on Outpost Scythe might mean that the Winter Soldier had declared war on SHIELD tempered the joy.

The following year was probably one of the worst of Natasha’s life. She watched as SHIELD crumbled. Operations went bad. Operatives were killed, arrested or turned coat. No one could be trusted, not within SHIELD or any of its affiliated organizations. Eventually it was only Clint, Phil and Fury that Natasha could trust. She and Clint often worked without backup, either there was no one available or they didn’t trust the people who were. They were run ragged and always exhausted, fighting serious and credible threats to the public that there was no one else left to deal with. There was no time for espionage since most of their time was filled with responding to threats.

When Hill called them on one of their few days off to investigate the old and abandoned Camp Lehigh, Natasha wanted to just brush her off. Scouting an abandoned base wasn’t worth the effort. There were too many actual threats to civilians to waste time on an abandoned base; too many bombs, too many hostage situations, too many power grabs. But Fury made it a personal favor. So, Natasha dragged herself up and she and Clint drove to Camp Lehigh.

They arrived early in the evening. The base was deserted, as expected. They scouted the buildings quickly, finding nothing of note. In the interest of being thorough, Natasha picked the lock on the ammunition shed and they found a bunker that shouldn’t be there. Once inside things changed.

“Clint, Minsk,” she whispered. That one word was enough to remind him of the mission in Minsk where they’d played cat and mouse with a Chinese operative who had a flair for stealth and a tendency to strike from the shadows. Clint understood immediately and put his back to Natasha’s. Natasha wasn’t sure if that was the case here, but something set off her instincts. Instincts she trusted and instincts she knew Clint trusted as well. Back to back, they explored. Natasha led the way and Clint kept his back against hers as he watched the rear. They came across a command room and found evidence someone had been here recently. It took careful exploring, but they found the hidden passage behind a movable rack. Natasha’s hand was on it, ready to pull it aside after checking for traps when their silent shadow made his move. A filing cabinet was hurled across the room and smashed into the rack. 

Clint loosed an arrow and swore loudly. “The fucker is fast!”

In the dark, the shadow struck again with a flashbang and Natasha only just got behind a desk in time to mitigate its effects. “Clint!” she yelled.

“He went back the way we came!”

Together they surged after their attacker. Clint loosed a few more arrows as they gave chase and Natasha wasted a few bullets, hoping to harry the attacker into messing up. They reached the surface, side by side, and in the light of the moon, Natasha saw who it was they were chasing. The Winter Soldier stood a few dozen feet ahead of them. The moment slowed. Clint drew back his bow, Natasha raised her gun but before either of them could fire, the base behind them exploded. Natasha dragged herself and Clint into an alcove where they waited out the destruction. After a full minute, the dust settled.

She only wasted a few moments making sure the Winter Soldier was gone before she called Fury to request a clean-up.

Natasha spent a few months trying to reconcile the Winter Soldier from her childhood with the Winter Soldier that she had met since defecting. It didn’t make sense. This Winter Soldier was the same man, no matter how much Clint argued that it couldn’t be, Natasha knew it was true. But his actions didn’t make sense. He destroyed Scythe and killed hundreds but there wasn’t a single casualty at Camp Lehigh. He had even led her and Clint out before the base blew up.

As much as she wanted to know more, she didn’t have any leads other than Fury’s paranoid mutterings about the Winter Soldier’s master plan. And then New York was attacked by aliens and gods and Natasha Romanoff became an Avenger, a masked hero and a public icon. She was on a lunchbox now. How the fuck did that happen?

Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Hawkeye and the Black Widow. She had a team now, a tentative trust. She had lost Phil and her SHIELD support but that hadn’t been useful in months. So, she embraced it and tried to be a hero. Then the Winter Soldier made his very public debut and Natasha was even more confused by his actions. She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if he wanted to do these missions quickly and quietly, he could. A few strategic kills and he’d be in and out unnoticed. Instead, his ops became spectacles. He succeeded often and got away every time.

Then he started recruiting and fielding his own people. That little curl of terror deep inside began to grow. What was he planning? Who was he working for? What was his end goal? She didn’t know and it terrified her. She felt like that scared little girl again.

The Avengers had no decisive victories against Avalanche. They had never killed or captured a single one of them. They had only managed to prevent a few incursions but sometimes, they didn’t even know what Avalanche’s goal was.

Finally, they got lucky. And it was just pure luck. When one of Avalanche’s tactical teams tried to withdraw, a school bus full of children got in the way. All of the Avengers held their breath. The tactical team scrambled to readjust. In their haste, one of the members was isolated and Natasha made her move. She cornered him (her?) beside the school bus, the children onboard were pressed against the windows, eager to see the Black Widow in action and ignorant to the potential for danger and bloodshed. Natasha positioned herself so that if she had to fire, the bullet wouldn’t be aimed toward the bus. She hoped the member of Avalanche wouldn’t open fire. She knew they were using some sort of tranquilizer guns but she didn’t know how they affected children and she didn’t want to find out.

“Surrender!” she yelled as she stood with her gun aimed at the Winter Soldier’s henchman. She really hoped she didn’t have to kill him in front of the kids. 

The henchman looked down his assault rifle at her. He glanced at the school bus then to where his allies had retreated. He lowered his gun. “I surrender.” To say Natasha was surprised was an understatement. The henchman dropped his gun and raised his hands.

“Widow reporting,” she said into the comm. “I have a prisoner on Sixth Street beside the school bus.”

“A prisoner?!” Iron Man’s voice over the comm belied his own incredulity. 

It took a few minutes to get sufficient restraints to hold the henchman. They didn’t know who was enhanced and decided to cover all possibilities. Captain America brought the shackles himself. All the while, the henchman waited patiently, hands up in surrender. With Cap by her side, Natasha frisked and disarmed the henchman and they shackled him in the heavy arm restraints that even a super soldier couldn’t break out of.

What they chose to do next, needed to happen fast. Natasha knew that there was a very real possibility that the Winter Soldier would execute his own man for being taken captive. Even if a little voice in her head told her the man had surrendered far too easily if he thought he’d be killed for it. 

“Cap! Bring him!” Natasha called and Captain America pulled the henchman to follow them both into an abandoned coffee shop. Once inside, they headed to the most defensible corner and Natasha stripped the henchman further. She removed his helmet and mask, getting a good look at his face. He was kind of plain, with short dark hair. Neither attractive nor ugly. His expression was far more interesting than his face; he appeared at ease. 

“We can protect you,” Natasha began. “Cooperate with us and we can protect you from the Winter Soldier.”

“You can protect me,” he began with skepticism, “from the Winter Soldier?”

“Cooperate and we will do everything in our power to keep you alive,” Natasha reiterated.

The man’s expression morphed from skepticism to surprise. “It’s not the Winter Soldier I need protection from,” he said bluntly. “It’s you.”

“Us?” Cap asked.

“The Winter Soldier is the best man I have ever met,” the henchman said with surprising conviction. “Compared to him, the Avengers are just attack dogs. I will never betray the Winter Soldier.”

Natasha took a moment to share a glance with Captain America. The Winter Soldier’s indoctrination was far more thorough than she’d been expecting. This could take a while.

“We can—” Before she could finish the thought there was a loud crash and Captain America put himself between her and the resulting shower of debris. When Natasha looked past the barricade that was the Symbol of America, she saw the Winter Soldier had crashed through the roof and stood beside his henchman. A heavy rope dangled between them. Before she or Cap could react, the Winter Soldier grabbed the shackles on their prisoner and the rope pulled up, dragging the Winter Soldier and his henchman out through the roof. 

Natasha stepped forward to look through the hole at the retreating pair. “We just lost the prisoner! They’re retreating in a quinjet!”

“Avalanche has a quinjet?!”

As she watched, the quinjet shimmered and faded from sight. “Visual lost.”

“Avalanche has a stealth quinjet?!”

In the 12 months since the Avengers first assembled in New York, the superhero team had fought many things: plant monsters, robots, drones. Against those, the Avengers always won. When it came down to the Avengers’ ongoing conflict with the Winter Soldier and Avalanche, the Avengers were losing. With their abject failure to contain Avalanche, the Avengers turned to the remnants of SHIELD to supply backup in order to try to put an end to the Winter Soldier’s reign of terror. SHIELD put several STRIKE teams on standby, ready to deploy alongside the Avengers. When the call came in that Avalanche was attacking the headquarters of the Life Foundation, the Avengers and STRIKE Omicron sprang into action.

The Avengers were obviously expected. Avalanche had fielded at least two tactical teams, the ones Tony had nicknamed Gold and Bruiser. Everyone kept an eye out for the third, nicknamed Ghost, but they usually never saw that one until it was too late.

The Black Widow and the Avengers joined the fray with a counter-assault and STRIKE Omicron took to the edges of the field to try to flank Avalanche. Everything seemed to be progressing as usual. Natasha found herself supporting Captain America who was in a slugfest with the heavy on team Bruiser. The guy didn’t have a lot of skill, but the force behind his blows was staggering, even for the supersoldier.

Natasha tried to pay attention to the field, but Bruiser took up most of her focus. Iron Man called out that he was having trouble staying in the air due to Gold’s interference, Hawkeye reported someone had spooked the employees of the Life Foundation and they were stampeding, Thor was chasing Ghost in the nearby field and Hulk was sitting this one out; too many civilians. 

Hawkeye’s report caught Natasha’s attention. “The Winter Soldier is making a break from the field for some reason. I’m intercepting.”

“Hawkeye!” Natasha called over the comm. “Do not engage in close quarters!” If nothing else, she knew the Winter Soldier was enhanced, somehow. She knew that metal hand could snap bone (poor Inessa). Even knowing how skilled Clint was, his greatest strengths relied on him being at medium or long range.

Natasha tried to move toward Clint’s location but that would mean leaving Captain America to deal with Bruiser alone. The soldiers supporting the heavy opened fire and Cap used his shield to cover himself and Natasha. Even if Avalanche used those weird non-lethal guns, enough hits made even Steve unsteady. 

Natasha heard a familiar, but not immediately recognizable, voice over the comm while she took cover. “I have the shot.”

A second completely unfamiliar voice replied, “Take it.”

A moment later the sound of a single, ear-splitting gunshot tore through the battlefield.

“Fuck!”

Natasha heard a chorus of cries through her earpiece but before she could respond the heavy tackled Cap, knocking the three of them down and then slugged Cap across the jaw while straddling his chest. Natasha scrambled back to her feet, trying to get her gun up to support the Captain. From this close, Natasha managed to hear the comm in the heavy’s ear. “Winter is down! I repeat: Winter is down!”

“Dammit!” the heavy growled before vanishing from her sight.

The tactical team withdrew so fast it left Natasha’s head spinning. Ignoring Steve, she ran to Clint. “What’s happening?!” she called over the comm.

“I don’t fucking know!” Clint sounded scared. Natasha ran faster.

“Avalanche is closing ranks around where the Soldier went down,” Iron Man reported. “They… Shit! They’re withdrawing in the quinjet!” Within minutes, Avalanche was off the field. They withdrew with extreme prejudice, firing off hundreds of rounds and causing property damage to cover the quick escape.

When Natasha ran into the intersection where the Winter Soldier had gone down, she found Hawkeye sitting on the ground, covered in blood.

“Hawkeye!” she called as she knelt beside him, barely remembering to use his codename. As she patted him down, looking for injuries and finding none, the other Avengers arrived. Thor took up a guard position over them and Iron Man was circling above. Captain America staggered over a moment later, clutching his jaw.

“What happened?” Cap asked. His authoritative ‘Captain’ voice seemed to break Clint out of his shock.

“Who fired, Widow?!” Clint shouted in rage.

“I don’t—” Natasha had to think. Who fired what? She’d heard a gunshot. Had a sniper fired and hit the Winter Soldier? If so, why was Clint covered in blood? If someone was aiming at the Winter Soldier it must have been one of the Avengers’ allies.

“Who the fuck fired?!” Clint roared again.

“Omicron, I think,” Natasha answered.

“Omicron?” Clint said in disbelief. “Omicron?! Masterson?! Fucking hell, he isn’t that good! Who the fuck gave the okay?!”

That was a good question. “I don’t know,” Natasha said with a sigh.

“Find out,” Clint growled.

“I will,” Natasha promised. Clint was furious in a way that Natasha had rarely seen in the past. She would use every scrap of skill she had to get him answers.

“What happened?” Cap asked again.

“Omicron’s sniper called that they had a shot on the Winter Soldier,” Natasha explained as she figured it out. “Someone gave the go ahead and they took the shot.”

Cap looked toward Hawkeye who must have been covered in the Winter Soldier’s blood. “He made the shot?” Natasha heard the confusion in that question. Steve didn’t understand just as much as Natasha didn’t understand. A sniper had made a shot on the Winter Soldier. Made a potential kill shot on the Winter Soldier. Clint had lamented time and time again that the Soldier was a slippery bastard that even he could rarely get a bead on. So, why was Clint so angry?

“Fuck!” Clint roared. “Fuck! Iron Man! I want everything! Every view of the field, every bodycam, every surveillance camera!”

“On it, Hawkeye,” Iron Man called over the comm. “JARVIS is compiling it all now.”

“I don’t understand,” Cap said as he looked around. “Omicron made the shot, didn’t they?”

“I’ll explain later, Cap,” Clint growled. “When I’m not about to get up and go strangle Masterson.”

It took a few hours to get back to the Tower. Natasha never left Clint’s side and Clint’s fury never subsided. He only took the briefest moment to shed his blood-soaked clothes and shower before heading down to one of the labs and looking through the footage. Natasha watched and provided silent companionship while he worked. She was trying to find out who had approved STRIKE Omicron’s shot but so far, she’d found nothing. Clint worked with JARVIS until late evening and even though Natasha saw what he was looking at, she didn’t understand what she was seeing or why it was making Clint even more upset. Finally, Clint called for a meeting.

Everyone showed up within minutes and deferred to Clint’s fury.

“Fucking Omicron!” Clint growled once everyone was gathered. He slammed his hands on the table to punctuate the statement.

“Clint, start at the beginning,” Steve tried. “Tell us why you’re so angry, so we can be angry with you.”

“Why am I angry?! I’m angry because to SHIELD and Omicron I’m acceptable collateral damage! JARVIS, bring up the traffic cam footage!”

Natasha watched as the screen in the conference room flicked on. The traffic camera showed the location where she had found Clint covered in blood, but he wasn’t there yet in the footage. As she watched, the Winter Soldier ran across the screen but before he could leave the frame, Clint swung in on a rope and his feet connected with the Winter Soldier’s shoulder. Both of them went down. There was a scramble for a few seconds as they both grappled on the ground. First Clint was on top, then the Soldier. They rolled around for another few seconds, then the Winter Soldier was on top again. Something hit the Soldier very hard in the back and even though the footage was silent, it was clear to Natasha he’d been hit by a high-caliber bullet. The Soldier slumped against Clint, little more than dead weight. Clint struggled for a few seconds before one of Avalanche’s tactical teams showed up and dragged the Soldier off of him and out of the frame. This left Clint laying on his back, obviously in shock and covered in the Winter Soldier’s blood.

“Looks like Omicron saved you,” Steve said quietly.

“It looks like that, doesn’t it?” Clint sneered at him. “JARVIS, play the footage again but sync up our comm audio.”

The footage moved back to the beginning and it played again with the communication audio overlaid. 

“The Winter Soldier is making a break from the field for some reason. I’m intercepting.” Clint’s voice rang out.

“Hawkeye! Do not engage in close quarters!” Contrary to Natasha’s warning, Clint swung in and engaged the Soldier in close quarters.

“I have the shot.” Knowing that that was probably Masterson, Natasha recognized the voice now.

The Winter Soldier and Clint rolled around on the ground grappling and vying for an advantage. “Take it,” the unknown voice said. A moment later, the Winter Soldier was on top and the bullet tore into him.

“Fuck!” that had been Clint. The scene on the screen continued up to its conclusion when the Winter Soldier was dragged away.

The implications of what she just saw and heard were starting to make themselves known to her but Natasha could tell the others still didn’t get it.

“Clint,” Steve began. “I don’t—”

“You don’t fucking see do you?!” Clint growled. “JARVIS, again!” The video started again. 

“I have the shot,” Masterson said and Clint paused the video.

“Do you see this?!” Clint yelled as he pointed at the frozen frame. Clint was grappling with the Soldier and currently on top. “Masterson called out that he had the shot when I was on top. The only way he had the shot was if he intended to go through me.” Clint’s fury was a palpable thing. “And even if he was hoping to wait for a moment when the Soldier was on top, there was still the chance that the bullet would go straight through the Soldier and hit me anyway! Masterson isn’t me! He isn’t even the goddamned Winter Soldier! This shot, from him, had just as much likelihood of killing me as it did of killing the Soldier!” Clint paused as the revelation crashed over the Avengers. He continued much more quietly. Quiet, but still nearly shaking with rage. “And that’s not even the worst part. JARVIS, continue playback.”

“Take it,” the unknown voice said again. A moment later the Soldier was on top of Clint and the shot was fired.

“Did you see that?” Clint said as he pointed vigorously at the screen. “JARVIS, show it from my bodycam.”

The footage replayed from Clint’s point of view. He swung in and knocked the Soldier down. Masterson called the shot. They grappled. The voice said to take the shot. The Winter Soldier rolled them over so he was on top and then the camera went red.

“Play it again, JARVIS.” JARVIS did as Clint requested. “Do you see it? When whoever it was says ‘take it’, the Winter Soldier flinches.” After repeated watches, Natasha did see it. “He fucking heard it! And what does he do?!” Natasha watched the screen even though she knew the answer. She had just watched the Soldier do it a dozen times.

Steve was the one to put words to what they were all seeing. “He puts himself on top.”

“That goddamned, motherfucking bastard took that bullet to save me.” Finally, his fury shared with the table, Clint’s anger started to subside and he dropped into one of the office chairs. “That bastard saved me from my own damn people,” Clint said quietly.

“Why?” Steve asked. “Why would he do that?”

“He doesn’t want to hurt us,” Tony said. It was very quiet and he didn’t look up from the table as he said it. “And he doesn’t want to see us killed.”

“Tony?” Natasha asked. She wasn’t sure where that thought came from.

Tony looked up at her. “Do you remember when he disabled my suit?” Natasha nodded and Tony continued. “He gave me an out. He told me if disabling the suit put my life at risk, all I had to do was say so and he’d free me. I told the truth, it didn’t. But I asked him why and he said he wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. He was just trying to do the right thing.” Tony paused for a second. “JARVIS, scan all records and video footage from every interaction with the Winter Soldier and Avalanche. Search for any footage that shows the Winter Soldier or Avalanche directly killing anyone.”

“Search commencing, Sir.”

“Tony, what are you thinking?” Steve asked. “We know the Winter Soldier is a murderer. He set that bomb on his debut that killed a dozen people.”

“Do we know that, Steve?” Clint asked. “As I recall…” Clint’s eyes glazed over for a moment. “Fuck,” he breathed. “Fuck! Omicron called that in.”

“J! Footage!” Tony demanded.

A moment later the screen flickered and a hallway appeared. Six men in SHIELD tactical gear ran down a hallway and turned into a room. The footage advanced a bit and the men emerged from the room before running back down the hall. 

“This footage shows STRIKE Omicron approaching the location of the bomb as well as their withdrawal after confirming its presence,” JARVIS explained.

“Play it again, JARVIS,” Clint asked. The footage rolled again and Clint groaned before dropping his head onto the table. “The backpacks!”

It was obvious once Clint said it. When STRIKE Omicron ran down the hall to the room, three of them were wearing large backpacks. When they left, there wasn’t a backpack in sight.

“Omicron set the bomb?!” Steve asked, clearly surprised. “Why would they…?” he mumbled before continuing more clearly. “But it makes sense. The Winter Soldier was surprised when it went off. I thought it was because STRIKE had tampered with it and it went off early.”

Natasha leaned back in her chair and actually considered the ramifications to what they were discussing. “What about his targets?” she asked. “Roxxon? Kronos?”

“Roxxon has been in legal hot water for months,” Tony said. “A bunch of whistleblowers emerged from the woodwork with all sorts of evidence to dozens of federal offenses. The company is imploding, as it should. Kronos is in the same boat, reporters have been tearing them apart and it’s only a matter of time before the courts grant the search warrants.”

“Tony, are you saying that the Winter Soldier is attacking corrupt companies?” Steve asked.

“No. I’m saying that the companies that the Winter Soldier attacks are being accused of some seriously bad shit not long after the Winter Soldier hits them.”

“Do you think he’s providing the information to the whistleblowers?” Clint asked.

Steve looked toward the footage of STRIKE Omicron on the screen. “The Winter Soldier mentioned Roxxon’s crimes. I… didn’t take him seriously. I assumed that… I assumed.” The way Steve said that last word silenced the whole table. Assumed. How much of everything going on was assumption? What did the Avengers actually know about the Winter Soldier and his goals?

“Sir,” JARVIS said after several minutes of quiet. “I have reviewed all footage from the Avengers’ interactions with the Winter Soldier and Avalanche and can find no definitive proof of either entity being directly responsible for a single death. However, four indirect deaths could be attributed to them. Those deaths could also have been indirectly caused by the Avengers.”

“Alright,” Steve said after taking a deep breath. “What exactly does all this mean?”

“That is the big question, isn’t it?” Natasha said. “The Winter Soldier is definitely up to something. But what?”

Chapter Text

Steve Rogers still couldn’t believe it. Even after three days of Tony, Clint and Natasha digging through files and pulling proof to the surface, he still couldn’t believe it. Even as he watched the news coverage of the attack on the Life Foundation and the reporters speculating on the death of the Winter Soldier, he still couldn’t believe it.

The Winter Soldier wasn’t responsible for the deaths from the bomb at Roxxon. The Winter Soldier wasn’t responsible for a single death since he’d challenged the Avengers. The Winter Soldier wasn’t actually the enemy. How was that even possible?

Tony was digging through the companies that the Winter Soldier had attacked and every day he found more whistleblowers, more reporters refusing to give up their sources and more anonymous information provided to law enforcement.

Clint and Natasha were digging into SHIELD, STRIKE Omicron and other government agencies while trying to find out who that voice on the comm belonged to, the one that approved the shot on the Winter Soldier. 

Steve was reviewing footage of the Winter Soldier’s attacks and watching with eyes unclouded by the media’s rhetoric for the first time. With a clear-eyed perspective, Steve could see that the Winter Soldier avoided dragging civilians into the fray. So much so, that his henchman had surrendered when kids were at risk. Everything he watched just shifted his perspective a little more.

The call to assemble came and the Avengers met on the quinjet for the briefing. Bruce rushed on last and that meant this was a Hulk-worthy call. Steve focused quickly when Tony started speaking.

“Got a call from Nevada,” Tony began as an image flashed on the quinjet’s bulkhead. The image showed a massive reflective mirror in the middle of the desert. It was hard to judge size with nothing but desert in the shot. “This thing showed up about ten minutes ago and is only getting bigger.”

“That is a Naldthian gate,” Thor said as he moved closer to the image.

“Give us all the juicy details, Point Break,” Tony said.

“Naldthians have space-tunneling technology. They create an anchor on their homeworld, then locate a planet ripe for conquering and open a gate. They march an army through to secure their foothold, allowing them to construct a second anchor to hold the gate open.”

“Are you saying an army is about to march out of that?” Steve asked. A second alien invasion. Great. Only a few weeks late for the one-year anniversary of the last alien invasion. The future was terrible.

“Yes, Captain. However, all is not lost.” Thor pointed at the screen. “The gate has not yet opened and we should have time to reach it before it does. The Naldthians can only hold the gate open for so long without a second anchor. If we can prevent their foothold, the gate will close.”

“When you say space-tunneling, do you mean a wormhole?” Tony asked. “Keeping something like that open would take massive amounts of energy. How long are we talking?”

“A few hours at most.”

“Alright, we’ll have to make a stand,” Steve said. “Let’s call in the National Guard.”

The National Guard didn’t heed the call. Well, they claimed they wanted to, but an hour after the wormhole had appeared, it was only the six Avengers standing in the Mojave Desert before it. The National Guard and several other agencies were scrambling to gear up and deploy. It could take hours and they sent nothing. Steve was more than a little pissed off about that. Under that curl of anger was also a seed of suspicion. Surely, someone could mobilize something in 60 minutes? If not the National Guard, maybe the Army or the Air Force? Something? Anything?

“Heads up,” Iron Man called as the Avengers were getting ready around the quinjet. Thor said they had only a few minutes left. “JARVIS says we have incoming.”

“Friendly?” Hawkeye asked as he looked around and then fixed his eyes on a point in the sky.

Steve breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, someone got their shit together.

“Unknown,” Iron Man said with a hum.

A minute later, a modified Chinook helicopter and a quinjet resolved in the distance and were soon landing almost a hundred yards away. Two transports. Not much, but Steve would take anything at this point.

“Thor, time?” Steve asked.

“Minutes, Captain.”

The quinjet opened. Steve wasn’t sure what he expected, but it was definitely not the Winter Soldier. Especially since the media was still speculating that he was dead after taking that sniper round to the chest only three days ago. Well, at least they knew for a fact he was still alive. The Avengers tensed as he walked down the ramp, then jogged over to them with both hands held out to his sides, showing them to be empty of weapons. He stopped a dozen feet from them.

“Avengers,” the Winter Soldier greeted. “It has come to the attention of Avalanche that this wormhole is about to unleash an alien army. Is this correct?”

Steve took a moment to glance at the other Avengers. How exactly did the Soldier know that? “Yes, that's true.”

The Winter Soldier gave a sharp nod. “Then I formally offer a truce between Avalanche and the Avengers. Accept, and Avalanche will fight beside you and after the last alien falls we will retreat peacefully. Refuse, and Avalanche will take up a defensive position a kilometer out and prevent any invaders from fleeing the area.”

Steve balked at the offer. After every fight between the Avengers and Avalanche, they were offering a truce? He couldn’t stop the question from passing his lips. “Why?”

“This is our planet. We have the right to defend it.”

Steve looked around at the others. He wasn’t sure they were in a position to refuse. “We accept.”

The Winter Soldier gave another sharp nod. “Avalanche, deploy!” The instant he said it, the members of Avalanche surged out of the Chinook and the quinjet.

“Is that a bear?” Hawkeye mumbled. Steve did in fact see a massive Kodiak brown bear among the dozens of people in tactical gear that piled out of the transports. It looked like Avalanche was pulling out all the stops for this and playing cards they hadn’t brought to bear against the Avengers yet.

The Winter Soldier started giving orders. “Storm Cloud: take the air and assist Iron Man.”

A feminine voice called out a response. “Got it, Winter!”

“Storm Rage: support Captain America. Don’t let him out of your sight.”

Six soldiers, including the bruiser who Steve had fought in the past, rushed over to stand beside Steve. The bruiser replied to the Winter Soldier, “Stick close. Yes, sir.”

“Storm Blind: equip the Widow. Don’t let her get overwhelmed.”

Six soldiers that Steve hadn’t even seen rushed over to the Black Widow and only replied to the orders with a wave and a “Yes, sir!”.

“Storm Bear: give Hawkeye a good vantage point to shoot from.”

Surprisingly (unsurprisingly?), the massive bear responded to that with a growly voice. “A good vantage point? Tell me, archer, would you like to ride a bear?” Steve ignored the squeal of excitement from Clint and focused on the orders the Winter Soldier was issuing.

“Storm White: on support. Do not let Cal kill himself.”

“I resent that, Win!”

“It’s an order, dammit!” That phrase sounded nothing like the Winter Soldier that Steve was expecting, but it was from him nonetheless. “Storm Ice: on range. Get some distance. Do not let anything leave the field. Use the big guys if necessary.”

“Yes! The big guns!”

“Storm Paladin: on me.”

Steve tried to watch as Avalanche scurried to follow orders but his thoughts were interrupted by the bruiser assigned to him.

“Nice to officially meet you, Cap.” The guy was as big as Steve and, as Steve knew from multiple encounters, just as tough. “We got your back. We won’t let Winter down.” 

Before Steve could respond, Thor cried out, “The portal opens!”

“Avalanche!” the Winter Soldier yelled in the last few seconds of peace. “Lethal force authorized!”

The alien army emerged and goddammit Steve was never going to think of pangolins the same way again. These aliens were massive scaly beasts that looked like pangolins had finally had enough of your shit and hulked out. Their foot soldiers were nearly eight feet tall and some of them were mounted on four-legged pangolin-looking creatures. They marched out in columns and the fight was on.

Steve’s Storm team provided support as he cut through the armored aliens. He noticed a lot through the melee but could only pull his attention off the brawl occasionally to check on his team. Iron Man was in the air dealing with invaders mounted on scaled flying creatures. That golden wind that Tony had cursed a hundred times before was actually supporting him in the air. It was disrupting flyers and keeping Iron Man from being overwhelmed. The golden wind even caught him once, before righting him.

Hawkeye was whooping and hollering while launching arrow after arrow and riding the bear. At some point he ran out of arrows and his bow was replaced with a rifle.

Steve didn’t see the Black Widow. He didn’t see her shock of red hair on the field at all. He called out over comms, asking if she’d gone down. She’d replied that she was fine and well supported.

Hulk was smashing and Thor was preventing anything from escaping.

The Winter Soldier was in the melee. Occasionally Steve got eyes on him and for the first time he wondered how much Avalanche and its leader held back when they scuffled with the Avengers.

After an hour of combat and a constant stream of invaders through the portal, Steve took a hit. Three massive claws tore through his side and likely would have torn his head off next if Storm Rage hadn’t moved in to surround him.

“Hold on, Cap. Cal is coming.”

Steve wrapped an arm around his bloody side and tried to stand. He didn’t notice when the soldiers around him changed but the man standing over him a moment later wasn’t the bruiser.

“Shield wall!” The new man yelled and the five men supporting him formed a ring around him and Steve. They raised massive shields to make a safe haven. “Heya, Cap. My name’s Cal. Looks like you took a bad hit. I can help you with that, but Winter’s a stickler for consent, so you need to say yes before I can work my magic.”

“Uh, yes?” Steve had already lost a lot of blood but if this man could get him back into the fight…

“Great!” Cal said as he reached down to Steve’s side. “Disclaimer: I can give you now but later will suck.”

“I need now,” Steve growled.

“Then I’ll give it to you.” Cal rested his hand on Steve's side and Steve felt the usual slow itch of his body’s healing surge. He gasped at the feeling. “Fuck,” Cal sighed. “Winter’s gonna be pissed.” Cal then slapped Steve on the shoulder. “All done!”

Steve couldn’t believe it but the pain was gone. He went to stand but Cal grabbed his shoulder and held him down. 

“Nope.” Cal held out a canteen. “Support, not just healing. We don’t know how long this will go on. Take a second to drink, you might not get another chance.”

Steve downed the whole canteen then let Cal help him to his feet. “Thank you,” Steve said as the young man looked him over. 

“My job’s done. Ready for us to drop the shield wall?”

Steve gave a nod and he found himself back in the battle.

The battle raged for over two hours before the wormhole flickered and Thor called out to stand strong for only a few more minutes. Only a minute later, the wormhole flicked out of existence. By then, the constant reinforcements had already begun to dwindle and there weren't many invaders left alive on the field. Only a few minutes after the wormhole closed, the last invader fell and a cheer went up.

“Storm Cloud!” Steve heard the Winter Soldier shout from nearby after the cheer faded. “Get our people back to the transports. Storm Paladin on coup de grâce.” Steve joined Storm Paladin and the Winter Soldier as they wandered through the bodies and killed the maimed invaders. As the battle-high faded, the majority of Avalanche retreated to their transports. The Avengers were clustered together, all alive but with injuries. 

The Winter Soldier, flanked by four of his people, approached where the Avengers stood. As the Soldier approached, Steve noticed that he was minutely shaking. His posture was hunched, his stance wide and braced and every step looked like it would be his last. Steve then remembered that only three days ago, the Soldier had been shot in the chest with a sniper round. Even if he healed as fast as Steve, there was no way he was back at full strength. He probably shouldn’t even be on his feet, let alone fighting for hours in the hot desert sun. One of the Winter Soldier’s people was walking so close to him that their shoulders were brushing. It made perfect sense. The Winter Soldier was moments away from collapse, but he still had a job to do. So he buckled down and did it.

“Mission complete,” the Winter Soldier rasped. “We will now take our leave.”

Steve gave the Soldier a respectful nod. “Thank you for the assist. It’s too bad we couldn’t be on the same side more often.”

“I will never side with HYDRA,” the Winter Soldier mumbled. 

That word. That one word hit Steve harder than the entire fight before it. Since waking up in the 21st century no one had ever mentioned HYDRA as anything other than a fragment of history. Yet here was the Winter Soldier, not only using the present tense when speaking about HYDRA but also implying that Captain America was HYDRA. The absolute shock led Steve to act without thinking. After the Winter Soldier had turned away but before he could start walking, Steve reached out, heedless of the risk, and dropped a heavy hand on his shoulder to stop him from leaving.

Steve’s thoughtless movement had an immediate effect. The Winter Soldier’s tiny shakes disappeared and his whole body stiffened under Steve’s hand. The four members of Avalanche pulled up their guns and aimed them at Steve. Behind him, he heard Iron Man’s repulsors charging up. What had been a calm, friendly, even jovial atmosphere had instantly devolved into a tense standoff. All because of one thoughtless action.

“Let him go!” the member of Avalanche who had been brushing shoulders with the Winter Soldier yelled. His assault rifle was aimed at Steve and it looked like he desperately wanted to put himself between Captain America and the Winter Soldier.

“Cap?” the Black Widow asked from behind him. The questioning tone asked a lot that was otherwise left unsaid. It asked: What happened? Are you sure you want to do this? But it also said: We’ll follow your lead.

The rumble of the Winter Soldier answered before Steve could. “Release me or we will not part amicably.”

Steve had so many questions but he’d lost his chance to ask them. He took a deep breath and then lifted his hand off the Soldier’s shoulder. Avalanche retreated. The Winter Soldier led them but never turned back to look at the Avengers.

It was only moments after Avalanche’s two transports disappeared into the distance that the National Guard showed up to save the day.

Steve’s mind was frantic and chaotic while the Avengers dealt with the National Guard. The other Avengers noticed and took the lead. When they finally got back to the Tower, he wanted to bring up his concerns about HYDRA to the team immediately. Instead, he ate enough to feed a dozen people and then collapsed in bed for over 24 hours. When he woke up, he ate ravenously again before collapsing again. It was only when he woke up the second time he remembered what the medic from Avalanche had said. 

“I can give you now but later will suck.” Fuck, he was right. Later did suck but it was worth it.

Steve caught the news while he ate. The media was reporting on another resounding victory for the Avengers. The photos showed the Avengers arriving at the site in Nevada, then standing amid the aftermath of the battle with the National Guard at their side. There wasn’t a single picture of anyone from Avalanche or a single mention that they had supported the Avengers. The media instead heaped accolades on the National Guard for supporting the Avengers. It only served to convince Steve that something sinister was afoot.

Steve tried to do his own research. He typed HYDRA into the Google search bar. That did not go well. With a little more effort, he typed HYDRA into the Wikipedia search bar. That had been a little more useful. Instead of 184 million hits on Google, Wikipedia gave him about 100. The list included myths, ships, stories, software, people, songs, musical albums and one evil Nazi organization. He clicked the link and was immediately greeted by the red and black image of HYDRA’s squiddy symbol.

He took the time to read the extensive but woefully inaccurate page. HYDRA’s Wikipedia page was just as poorly done as Captain America’s. It was riddled with errors, full of conjecture and opinion, and downplayed most of HYDRA’s crimes. According to the page, HYDRA was officially wiped out in 1945.

The problem was, Steve knew that wasn’t true. Phil Coulson, during one of Steve’s many debriefings after waking up, had told Steve that the majority of HYDRA was wiped out by 1945 but several cells lingered for years before SHIELD officially declared them gone. Steve needed answers. It was time to ask questions and demand the answers no matter what.

Steve called a meeting with the other Avengers. In the conference room, he laid out his concerns. “I’ve been thinking about what the Winter Soldier said,” he began.

“Steve,” Natasha said softly. “You can’t listen to anything he says. The Winter Soldier isn’t just a master assassin. He’s also a master spy. He’s very well trained. He’ll know exactly what to say to get you to drop your guard or put you off balance.”

“It doesn't matter, Nat,” Steve countered. “Even if it’s a complete lie and he just said it to get under my skin, I still have to look. Because I have to know. If there is even the slightest possibility that HYDRA is still around, I need to know.”

“Steve,” Natasha sighed.

“Tony?” Steve said to get the genius’s attention. “Will you help me break the law?”

“Oh! Which law, Cap?” Tony asked with a glint in his eye. “A fun one?”

“I want you to hack into SHIELD. I want to know everything.”

“Is Captain America giving me his blessing to hack the government?” Tony asked with a raised eyebrow. “Because you can’t undo this.”

“I want to know everything, Tony. Find me the truth.”

“JARVIS! Let’s get hacking!”

It took a week. Steve wasn’t sure if that was fast or slow. For something of this magnitude, Steve assumed fast. They were back in the conference room with Tony looking mildly disappointed.

“Good news and bad news, Capsicle,” Tony said as he flopped into one of the cushy office chairs and started spinning it in slow circles. “The good news is JARVIS and I got into SHIELD’s mainframe undetected. We started looking and based on what we found, HYDRA died out in the late ‘70s. After the war, there was a mop-up effort that took about a decade. There were a few offshoots and splinter cells, but SHIELD put them all down.”

“That’s good news,” Steve said as he breathed a sigh of relief. “What about the bad news?”

“Well, it’s not actually bad news. It’s more like… potential news. According to JARVIS, the SHIELD mainframe is only at about 42% capacity.” Steve gave Tony his best look of confusion and Tony continued. “See, that’s kind of funny because an organization as big as SHIELD was a few years ago? I’d expect them to be up at 95% or even 99%. Most big companies buy the data storage space they think they’ll need, then, as they grow they need more so they expand the space. But SHIELD is in decline, they wouldn’t have the funds to just go out and buy a whole bunch of new servers. So, I sicced JARVIS on it and as it turns out, 54% of that empty space wasn’t always empty.”

“Tony, are you saying—” Natasha began but Tony cut her off.

“Exactly, Itsy Bitsy! 54% of SHIELD’s mainframe has been erased.”

Steve saw Clint and Natasha share a glance before Natasha asked, “When?”

Tony hummed for a moment. “Hard to say. JARVIS found a program that’s actively writing gibberish over the empty space repeatedly. It’s a slow program that’s working on a lot of space but according to J, the oldest bit of data it’s laid down is at least two years old.”

“What was erased?” Steve asked.

“No idea, Cap. The program means we can’t salvage anything.”

“So, SHIELD is hiding something,” Steve said. He didn’t want to jump to conclusions about what that was. He didn’t even know what conclusions he might jump to.

“JARVIS is—” Tony began but JARVIS interrupted.

“Sir, I believe my incursion into SHIELD’s mainframe has been detected,” the British accented voice said.

“Shit!” Tony grunted. “Alarms?”

“Negative, Sir. I believe…” JARVIS paused for a moment. “I have received a text communique.”

“Text? Display it, J.”

Text appeared on the screen in the room. “Well now. This is a surprise. No one has come snooping around here in a long while. As you can see, it’s somewhat empty here. If you tell me what you’re looking for, maybe I can help you find it.”

“J, where’s the message coming from? Someone at SHIELD?”

“Negative, Sir. Tracing the source is proving to be problematic but SHIELD so far has not noticed the incursion.”

“Does this mean someone else is in the SHIELD mainframe?” Natasha asked.

“It would appear so, Agent Romanoff,” JARVIS answered. “While I cannot trace the source of the communique, it does not seem to originate from SHIELD.”

“This is too convenient,” Natasha said. “This has to be a trap. The Winter Soldier—”

“How would he know, Nat?” Steve asked. “We could have gone looking anywhere. The FBI, CIA, anywhere. And even if it is him, even if it is a trap, don’t you want to know what SHIELD is hiding? I think it’s worth the risk.”

“Steve—”

“JARVIS,” Steve began, “can you send a message back? And tell whoever it is we’re looking for HYDRA?”

“Sir?” JARVIS asked.

“Do it, J.”

“We are looking for HYDRA.” Appeared on the screen. There was almost a full minute of silence around the table before a response appeared on the screen.

“HYDRA? Interesting. Well, you’ve come to the right place. But you won’t find the information you seek here. Not anymore. I might be able to help though. Before the files were deleted, I made a copy of the SHIELD mainframe. The information contained is out of date now. I’d be willing to part with a copy, for a price.”

“Shit,” Natasha groaned. “I guess the Winter Soldier did break into the mainframe.”

“Assuming this is the Winter Soldier,” Tony argued.

“How could it not be?” Natasha shot back. “This reeks of a set-up.”

“We might as well figure out the price,” Tony said. “J, ask.”

“What kind of price?” Appeared on the screen.

The reply took about a minute. “Hmm… I suppose that would depend on who I’m talking to. If you are who I think you are, then providing me with all financial records for Stark Industries from May 2008 to present should be rather simple. I’m giving Stark Industries the benefit of the doubt and assuming things have changed since Tony Stark tore out HYDRA’s hooks.”

“What the fuck?” Tony yelled after reading the text. “What does that even mean?! Was HYDRA in SI? That’s not…” He trailed off. “It can’t be…”

“Tony, the Winter Soldier is a master manipulator,” Natasha tried. “You can’t trust—”

“JARVIS, tell him he’s got a deal.”

“Those terms are acceptable.” 

About a minute later the response came in, interrupting Natasha who was trying to persuade Tony to see reason.

“Send a single operative to Juniper Valley Park in Queens tomorrow night at midnight. There will be a short trail for your operative to follow. If the operative is followed or aggressive the meeting will be canceled. Audio taps and GPS tracking are permitted. As are weapons, but the operative must be alone. Until then.”

Even though it had been debated at length, Steve never had any doubt he would be the one to make the trade. Natasha and Clint argued against it. Too risky they said. Tony wanted to go himself, but no one was sure how the Winter Soldier—and Steve was pretty sure this was the Winter Soldier—would react to an Iron Man suit. 

The next night, Captain America arrived in Juniper Valley Park in Queens with a small briefcase that held the drives Tony had uploaded the Stark Industries financial records to. Steve had his shield on his back and an earwig in his ear that had an open and active mic.

The park was pretty nice. Long, wide paths with lots of big old trees. It was mostly empty at this hour. Steve walked the paths, not sure what he was looking for. When he saw it, it was obvious. On one of the lamp posts was a big, bright, metallic silver helium balloon, gently swaying in the breeze. Steve approached it and found a note attached to where the balloon was tied to the post. The note just had an address on it.

Steve followed the note to the address, an abandoned convenience store. The note there was obvious as well. After two more addresses, Steve found himself walking into a big, empty warehouse. The inside was lit at least, even if the lighting was poor. On the far side of the cavernous warehouse was a large and conspicuous steel briefcase sitting on a milkcrate. 

Steve took a few steps toward the briefcase but jerked back suddenly when the Winter Soldier dropped out of the rafters into his path.

“Hello, Captain,” the Soldier said after he landed.

“Soldier,” Steve greeted. They were alone in the warehouse. The Winter Soldier didn’t try to get closer to Steve but stood in the way of the briefcase.

“Tell me, Captain, why does this interest the Avengers now?”

Steve gritted his teeth. “Captain America has always been a force to stand against people like HYDRA. But before you mentioned them, I thought they had been wiped out in World War Two. If that’s not true, if they still exist, then it’s my duty to see them destroyed for good.”

The Winter Soldier hummed in thought. “An admirable sentiment, if it’s true. To be honest, I was sure the Avengers were HYDRA until you reached out. You have been doing a lot to protect them.”

“If everything you’ve been implying is true, then maybe the Avengers have been on the wrong side. We’re going to fix that.”

The Winter Soldier huffed out a breath. “Maybe you really are worthy of Steve Rogers’s legacy. I suppose it remains to be seen.”

Steve was caught off guard by the name drop. As far as he knew, the name Steve Rogers wasn’t public knowledge anymore. But the Winter Soldier knew Captain America’s real name. “What do you know about Steve Rogers?”

The Winter Soldier shook his head slowly. “I know he was a little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb not to run away from a fight. And I know it was that that made him worth following.”

Steve’s thoughts clouded over as a memory assaulted him.

“Hell, no. That little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb not to run away from a fight. I’m following him.” Bucky’s words were haunting. Bucky had followed Steve into the jaws of death. Not Captain America. But all of that had been lost to history. How could someone—how could the Winter Soldier know those words?

Steve looked at the man before him. The man who claimed to be fighting HYDRA. The man who hid his face, who masked his voice. He didn’t look like anyone Steve knew. Could he be someone Steve knew? There were only the two of them in that bar when Bucky said those words. It could just be coincidence. It had to be. There was no way—

They never found a body. No. That wasn’t possible.

“The files, Captain?” the Winter Soldier prompted.

Steve complied without thinking. His mind was mired in fog and before he knew it, he was alone with the case the Winter Soldier had left. Natasha’s screaming in his ear brought him back to reality.

Over the next several days, Steve tried to reason with his own treacherous mind. Bucky was dead. Steve had seen him fall with his own eyes. They never found a body. But that was because no one looked, not because it wasn’t there.

The Winter Soldier couldn’t be Bucky. That was impossible. He looked nothing like Bucky. You can’t see his face. Okay, fine, but what he could see didn’t look like Bucky. Bucky had never been that solidly built. He never moved that gracefully. He never stalked instead of walked. He didn’t have a metal arm. He wasn’t enhanced. 

Are you sure about that?

Steve stopped in his frantic pacing as that thought echoed in his mind. Bucky wasn’t enhanced. That was a lie. Bucky wasn’t enhanced like Steve, but by the end, Bucky wasn’t normal either. Steve had noticed, after Kreischberg, that Bucky was different. It wasn’t just the battle fatigue and psychological trauma from the torture; Bucky was physically stronger, faster but he tried to hide it. Could Bucky have survived the fall? Did Steve leave his best friend behind?

The Winter Soldier’s words just bounced around in his head. And even though he tried, he could not convince himself that the Winter Soldier wasn’t Bucky. He could only get to 99% sure but there was always that 1% of nagging doubt. And that was all it took. The only way he could fully accept that the Winter Soldier wasn’t Bucky would be to see his face, or at the very least his eyes. But how could Steve ever convince the Winter Soldier to remove his mask?

He didn’t tell the others. He didn’t know what to say. Tony locked himself away for a whole week. It was a quiet week. No Avengers business. Eventually, Tony emerged from his lab. He looked terrible when they all finally sat down for a meeting.

“It’s true,” Tony said as he waved and blue screens popped up around the room. Text and pictures flashed across the screens. “When this copy of the SHIELD mainframe was taken, on June 7th, 2010, over 50% of all SHIELD operations were actually HYDRA operations.”

“Tony—” Natasha tried.

“It’s true, Nat.” Tony sighed. “I didn’t want to believe it. I’ve been working nonstop to prove that this is all lies. That the Winter Soldier just fabricated it all but I can’t. JARVIS has been cross-referencing and it’s all true. For every mission SHIELD ran to save an ambassador, HYDRA ran one to kill one. For every SHIELD operation that stabilized a country, HYDRA destabilized one. HYDRA had its slimy tendrils everywhere until 2010, when the Winter Soldier started to fight back. Roxxon, Kronos, Oscorp, Hammer, the Life Foundation, AIM, SHIELD, the FBI, CIA, MI6, FSB. Fuck, Nat, the list doesn’t end.”

“How?” Steve asked. This was too much. Steve had put down the Valkyrie to save the world from HYDRA. He had trusted the people he left behind to continue the fight.

“Operation Paperclip,'' Tony said with a bone-weary sigh. “The US government recruited over 1600 Nazi scientists after World War Two. They worked all over the US. In all sorts of agencies.”

“That’s…” Steve wanted to say impossible, it was his favorite word lately, but the evidence was right in front of him. “Those scientists, some of them tried to commit genocide.”

“All pardoned by the good old US of A.” Tony made a gesture and a list came up. He started reading from the list. “Brenner, Beckers, von Braun, Zola, Reinhardt—”

Steve’s mind screeched to a halt on one word. “Wait, Zola?! Arnim Zola?! SHIELD recruited him?!”

“Among a thousand others, Steve.”

The more they looked into it, the more they realized just how bad things had been in 2010. Natasha and Clint were very quiet, just poring through page after page of information. They came to the conclusion that the Winter Soldier had been telling the truth, the information they had was out of date. Most of SHIELD had been purged of HYDRA, though not completely, which explained STRIKE Omicron. The Winter Soldier had been using this information to fight back against HYDRA for years. And the Avengers had stood in his way; had defended so many corrupt corporations unknowingly. 

Among the files, Tony found evidence that his godfather, Obadiah Stane, was HYDRA. They found evidence that HYDRA was involved with the program that resulted in the Hulk. They even found evidence that HYDRA had its tendrils in the Red Room. It was hard to believe that a lot of the bad things that had happened to the Avengers all stemmed from one organization.

There was one thing conspicuously absent from the files. Tony had discovered it when he’d done a search for the Winter Soldier. There had been only a handful of results and the group had come to the realization that the Winter Soldier had likely removed himself from the files. They debated the why of that for a while, but there were so many more important things to consider.

Days after the revelation that SHIELD was HYDRA, the Avengers publicly cut ties with SHIELD.

“We should reach out to the Winter Soldier again,” Steve said when the Avengers were gathered to pore over more files. “He’s the only one we know who knows the full scope of this.”

“Will he even want to work with us?” Clint asked.

“We have to try.”

“JARVIS, is that backdoor in SHIELD’s mainframes still open?” Tony asked.

“Indeed it is, Sir.”

“Send a message. We understand now and we want to talk about an alliance.”

A blue screen popped into existence and text appeared on it. “We understand now and want to talk about an alliance.”

The meeting continued. It was over an hour later when the text response came. “Oh? I seem to be doing quite well on my own. Why do I need your help?”

“I mean, he’s not wrong,” Tony said as he leaned back in his chair. 

“Maybe, but HYDRA is everyone’s concern. We need to get involved, alliance or not. JARVIS, send that,” Steve said. 

Tony tapped a screen and new text appeared. “HYDRA is everyone’s concern. We need to get involved, alliance or not.”

“Well then, prove it. However, you cannot reveal the existence of HYDRA to the world. The goal isn’t to tear the world apart, but to bring it together.”

“Understood.”

The Avengers, with the help of Stark Industries, got to work. The Winter Soldier had been thorough. The amount of work he had done was staggering. Even Natasha had to admit that the sheer magnitude of HYDRA looked nearly insurmountable when seen from the SHIELD mainframe of 2010 but the Winter Soldier had been implacable and after three years of work, HYDRA was in shambles. 

The Avengers worked for two weeks to follow leads and expose corruption in the World Security Council. Finally, it was after the Undersecretary, Alexander Pierce, was exposed that the Winter Soldier made contact again. It surprised Steve a bit, since the Avengers hadn’t managed to capture Pierce. The man had fled the country and dropped off everyone’s radar. The Avengers requested a meeting and the Winter Soldier agreed with the same conditions as last time.

So, a few nights later, Steve, fully geared and masked as Captain America, met the Winter Soldier in an abandoned convenience store.

“I owe you thanks,” the Winter Soldier said as Steve walked into the store. The Soldier was perched on the damaged counter beside a broken cash register. He was fully geared and armed, with the mask, helmet and goggles all in place.

“Thanks? What for?” Steve asked as he secured the door behind him. “We’ve barely done anything.”

“Your efforts made Pierce nervous and he dropped his guard. I’ve been waiting for that opportunity.”

Steve looked at the still figure perched on the counter. “He didn’t escape then?” 

“He did not.”

“Good.” After the records they had found about Pierce, Steve was glad the bastard was dead. “The Avengers are hoping to form an alliance with Avalanche to take down HYDRA.”

“So you’ve said,” the Soldier said. “We may be willing to work with you, but an alliance is a bit of a stretch. Maybe a truce. Frankly, I still don’t trust any of you. A few weeks of effort after a year of conflict doesn’t build much of a bridge.”

“I know,” Steve said with a sigh. “I may have another way to gain your trust.” Steve had been thinking about this for a while. In the end, he only had one idea. He pulled out his earwig and crushed it. This was private. “I think I know who you are beneath the mask.”

The Winter Soldier scoffed. “I highly doubt that.”

“Still, I think I know but just calling out your name won’t convince you of anything. So, I have another idea instead.” Steve took a deep breath. “I’m going to show you who I am and then, I’m going to tell you who you are.”

The Winter Soldier was very still where he sat. “That’s a risky maneuver. Your mask keeps your personal life safe.”

Steve choked out a laugh. “What personal life? I have no family. No friends other than the Avengers. The only reason the Avengers are masked is because SHIELD demanded it and we both know SHIELD can’t be trusted. So, I’m going to tell you who I am.”

The store was quiet for a moment before the Winter Soldier shrugged. “I’m not going to stop you.”

Steve nodded, then reached up and pulled the mask off his face with one hand and the cowl down with the other. “My name is Steven Grant Rogers.” Steve counted the heartbeats of silence that followed. Both he and the Winter Soldier were deathly still.

“Liar.” The word was quiet and raspy.

“It’s the truth.”

“Liar!” the Winter Soldier roared and leapt off the counter to stand menacingly in front of Steve. “Steve Rogers died on March 4, 1945, when he crashed the Valkyrie into the Arctic Ocean! They showed me the newspapers in six different languages! I read the old SSR reports! I visited the memorial in Arlington!”

Steve took in the angry Winter Soldier but stood his ground. Even as his mind caught on the Soldier’s perhaps unintentional words: they showed me the newspapers. “You’re right,” Steve said calmly, placatingly. “That is true, but not the whole truth. SHIELD found me, about four months before the attack on New York. The ice didn’t kill me; it just left me frozen and asleep. And that’s why I think I know who you are.” Steve didn’t waste his chance. “I think you’re James Buchanan Barnes. Bucky, my best friend.”

Steve didn’t have a chance to react before the Winter Soldier was on him. He was tackled to the ground with the Soldier straddling his chest and a knife pressed hard enough against his throat that it drew blood.

“The only people who know that name were my captors,” the Soldier growled. His masked face and goggled eyes were only inches from Steve’s but still, Steve couldn’t see enough to recognize him. He had the presence of mind to recognize what the Soldier was saying about captors. “You must have been one of them. Just a convenient imposter. Is HYDRA getting this desperate?”

“I swear it’s the truth,” Steve said, careful not to move too much with the knife pressed against his throat. He still didn’t have conclusive proof that the Winter Soldier was Bucky, but everything he had said just convinced him more and more. So, he decided to run with it. “Do you remember my green hat? The one my mom knitted for me? The Marino brothers stole it and threw it up a tree. When you saw me crying, you climbed up the tree to get it back for me. You were my hero, Buck.” Steve paused, but the Winter Soldier didn’t move or reply. “We used to have sleepovers, when we were kids. We’d put the couch cushions on the floor and camp out in the living room. My mom’s name was Sarah, but you always called her Ms. Sarah. Your mom’s name was Winnifred. My mom called her Winny but I always called her Mrs. Barnes. Your little sister—”

“Stop,” the Winter Soldier growled. Steve was quiet and waited, still looking up at those goggled eyes. Tentatively, the Winter Soldier released Steve’s shoulder and brought his metal hand up to his goggles. He pulled the goggles down and Steve was met with those striking blue-gray eyes that he would never forget. That was all the proof he needed.

“Bucky,” Steve gasped as he stared into those angry and confused eyes.

“It’s not enough,” the Soldier said quietly. “HYDRA has tried this before. It’s not enough for you to tell me things I know. You need to tell me something I don’t know.”

Steve kept himself from getting lost in those eyes by sheer force of will. He didn't focus on the horror of Bucky’s words, that HYDRA had tried this before. Tried what before? Tried to manipulate Bucky? How was he supposed to tell Bucky something Bucky didn’t know that he knew would be true? An idea came to him and before he could think too much about it, he found himself talking.

“I noticed,” Steve began, then continued when Bucky didn’t reply. “After Kreischberg, I noticed you were different. It wasn’t just the battle fatigue, you were different. Different like me. You were the only one even close to able to keep up with me. You were stronger, faster. You didn’t sleep as much and you were always hungry. It happened slowly. But I noticed. I think Monty did too. But you tried so, so hard to hide it. So, we didn’t say anything, not to you or the brass. I should have known. God, I knew you’d gotten shot in Colmar, even if you’d said it was just a graze! That was too much blood for a graze! But I just let you lie about it! I should have known you healed faster, that you might have survived that fall.”

The room lapsed into silence. Slowly, the blade against Steve’s throat relaxed.

“Did you survive the fall, Buck?” Steve asked. He got no response, just blue-gray eyes staring into his eyes and showing a world of emotions. Slowly, Steve raised one of his hands toward the Winter Soldier’s mask. “Please, Buck. I need to see.” The instant Steve’s fingers brushed the mask, the Winter Soldier jerked back violently.

“No,” the Soldier mumbled as he scrambled to his feet. “No!” he said again, louder. “This is… I can’t… No!”

By the time Steve sat up, the Winter Soldier was gone.

Chapter Text

Mike Stiles honestly did not believe life could be this good. He had a job that paid well. He lived in a nice apartment in Yonkers. He had great friends. And most surprising of all, he was glad to get up every morning.

Working at Knighthood could not be better. His job consisted of overseeing security and training. Security for Knighthood was pretty simple. They secured the building and oversaw the few people who came to visit. A surprising number of people came by to try to talk to James without an appointment and more than once, security had to escort them out. After Tony Stark had visited, Mike had personally escorted Rostov to Avengers Tower so that he and Stark could have a play date that resulted in Rostov cackling maniacally the whole ride back to Knighthood. Mike considered the collaboration a success and James agreed.

Training was significantly harder but extremely fulfilling. Some of the people Mike worked with were military veterans, like Sophia and Bruno. They had been hired for their skill and Mike was just working to keep their skills sharp. Some of the people he trained were rank amateurs with nothing to start with but heart and latent ability. 

Abby was whip-smart and picking things up so fast that Mike could barely keep up. He was constantly handing her off to others who were experts in their field to try to keep her thirst for knowledge sated. She had already proven she had a knack for marksmanship and if she kept progressing at the same pace, she was soon going to surpass anything even Kenny could teach her and Mike was going to have to get creative. He’d already decided it was probably time to bring James in on it. If the conspiracy theories were true, the Winter Soldier was a master marksman himself.

Elvin was a little more difficult to teach. At first glance he looked like he was 30 years old and Mike had to constantly remind himself that Elvin was only 15. While Elvin didn’t take to the mental aspects of combat as quickly or as easily as Abby, James was adamant that he learn. And Mike agreed. Even if Elvin grumbled, he did try and even if it was slow, he was learning. He took to combat much faster. Mike had paired Elvin up with Bruno to teach Elvin the basics but it had been tricky and eventually, Bruno had gotten hurt. Cal had made sure nothing was permanent but the whole thing made Mike acutely aware of just how much strength Elvin had. 

And that was how Mike found a drinking buddy. Not Elvin, of course, the kid was 15. No, Mike went looking for someone strong enough to not be hurt when training with Elvin. James was an option and Mike was sure if he asked, James would be there to help. But James wasn’t just busy, the man was inundated with work. Mike didn’t even know if James slept. Penny was always on his ass to sleep and James assured her that he did, but Mike wasn’t sure James got more than a few hours a week. Mike tried to help as much as he could and he only brought James into the security and training side of things when it was absolutely necessary. So, rather than bother James, Mike went looking for someone else who could help.

He found Ursa in one of the two apartments in the sub-basement. James had spent a fair bit of time with the bear since his arrival a few weeks ago but so far, Ursa had kept to himself. So, Mike went knocking. The grumbled growl from Ursa invited him in.

“You are not James,” Ursa said pensively when Mike stepped into the apartment. The apartment was quite homey; Penny had mentioned that she had decorated it. It wasn’t small but Ursa was huge and he was sprawled out half on the couch and half off it. The flat screen TV on the wall was on and tuned to a very aggressive hockey game. Mike wasn’t sure which teams were playing—hockey wasn’t his sport—but they were both in red and white.

“Nope,” Mike answered. “I’m Mike. We met on the quinjet.”

Ursa snorted. “Right, the one so eager to get his hands into my fur.”

“You were bleeding. James would’ve been angry if I let you die.”

“I have always wondered what would happen if the Winter Soldier got angry. Sometimes I think it is only the ice that keeps the world safe.” Ursa was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. “What do you want with me? Not here to watch the continuation of the Russia/Canada hockey rivalry, I suspect.”

“I need your help,” Mike said before explaining the situation.

Ursa sat up and looked at Mike pensively. “I see; teaching.” Ursa scratched his chin a few times. “Well, I can’t expect to live off James’s generosity forever and teaching is a simple thing. Yes, I will help.”

When Mike brought Ursa up to the gym, he gained everyone's immediate attention. Rumors had spread and most people knew about him but Ursa had kept himself pretty isolated since his arrival. After about 30 seconds of staring and slack jaws, Mike decided that was enough time to acclimatize and he gave a sharp whistle.

“Code of conduct! Discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated!” he yelled across the gym and that snapped jaws shut and brought awareness back to glassy eyes. 

The training session that followed had gone amazingly well. Ursa wasn’t just strong, he was also smart and a good teacher. It didn’t take long for the other members of Avalanche to accept Ursa and at the end of the day, Storm Cloud retreated with Ursa down to his apartment. Six people and one 1500-pound Kodiak bear made it very cozy, but they all ended up watching the ‘80s action movie Red Heat. Ursa provided a running commentary from a Russian perspective that made the whole cheesy movie utterly hilarious.

Everyone was in the middle of gasping laughter when Ursa’s head snapped up and he quickly paused the movie. “Yes. You are welcome to enter.”

The rest of the group calmed down and followed Ursa’s gaze to the door where James appeared with a large crate in his arms.

“Hiya, James!” Abby called from where she was snuggled into Ursa’s furry side.

James’s cool gaze swept over the group dogpiled (bearpiled?) on the couch and floor in front of the TV. His eyes then flicked to the TV and saw the paused explosion. “Movie night?” James finally said when he stepped into the room.

“The main character’s Russian accent is terrible. I expected more from an Austrian,” Ursa answered.

“Is he the villain?” James asked as he set his nondescript, wooden crate on the table.

“Nyet. He is the hero,” Ursa answered.

James hummed in response. “Well, it would seem I still possess my flair for dramatic timing.” He turned slightly and rested his metal hand on the crate beside him. “Yelena sends her regards and a taste of home.”

“A taste of home?” Ursa asked as he tilted his head curiously. 

James used his metal hand to pry the lid off the crate and pulled out a large clear bottle with a red Russian label. “Stolichnaya, direct from Kaliningrad.” The Russian words rolled off James’s tongue. “And it’s been in a snowbank since last night.”

Beside Mike, Ursa laughed. “James! You spoil this old bear!”

“Not me,” James said with a shake of his head. “Yelena.”

“Still, there was once a time I never thought I would get to drink vodka among friends again,” Ursa said as he pulled himself out of the bearpile to step over to James. “Join us, my friend. We will toast to a softer future.”

It only took a few minutes for Mike and his team to gather around the table where James and Ursa had poured the clear alcohol into eight glasses.

“Uh…” Abby said quietly. “I’m only 19.”

Ursa roared in laughter. “Americans and their liquor laws!” 

As he laughed, James passed a glass with significantly less liquid in it than the rest to Abby. “Not to get drunk. Just a drink among friends. We are already criminals after all. You can sign your life away to the military at 17, so why not a drink between friends? Besides,” James looked at Ursa, “you’ll probably hate it.”

Abby took the glass. The whole group of them raised glasses. James and Ursa called out something in Russian, Mike added a ‘cheers’, Bruno a ‘salud’, Kenny a ‘kanpai’, then they all downed the glass. It was good vodka, even if vodka wasn’t Mike’s favorite. 

Abby reacted as predicted, sticking her tongue out and coughing. “How do you drink that?!”

“Lots and lots of practice,” Ursa laughed.

The rest of the vodka was stored away in the freezer and James left them to finish the movie, even after Mike tried to get him to join them.

“Wait, before we start the movie,” Kenny said after everyone was piled back on the couch and floor in front of the TV. “What can you tell us about James, Ursa? I mean, you were both Russian operatives, right?”

Ursa scratched at his chin thoughtfully. “I had never met James before we fought in Siberia a few weeks ago. The person I knew was the Winter Soldier.”

“Well, tell us about the Winter Soldier, then!” Kenny pushed.

“No,” Ursa said.

“No? Why not?” Kenny asked.

“If you want to know about the Winter Soldier, then ask the Winter Soldier,” Ursa replied. “But I pray you never meet him. If I had met the Winter Soldier in Siberia, one of us would not have survived.”

“I did my research,” Sophia said. “The Winter Soldier is a legend and a myth. Considered one of the best assassins in history. Cold, ruthless and bloodthirsty.”

“No,” Abby said sternly. “I don’t believe that. There is no way James was an assassin. James values life and liberty more than anyone I have ever met. I mean, have you seen our code of conduct?”

The veterans in the room shared glances as realization passed between them.

“Abby,” Ursa began softly. “Sometimes, the people who value something the most are the ones who know what it’s like to have it taken away.”

Everyone turned wide eyes toward Ursa. 

“Ursa, are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Mike asked. “James did those things against his will?!”

Ursa gave a full-body shrug. “I do not know. Only James knows.”

“That’s impossible!” Abby said sternly. “James is like, super strong! There’s no way anyone—”

“Abs,” Mike cut in. “You’re strong, too. Remind me, how long did SHIELD have you cowed?”

“You’re saying SHIELD—” Abby cut herself off. She took a breath and tried again. “No. HYDRA.”

That was it, wasn’t it? Abby had just hit the nail on the head. It made perfect sense. “Does it matter?” Mike asked. 

Everyone looked around at each other. It looked like it didn’t matter to them.

“No,” Sophia said. “It does renew my desire to tear down HYDRA, though.”

“It makes me want to go and hug James again,” Abby huffed.

“Wait,” Kenny said. “You hugged James?”

Abby’s smile lit up the room. “James is a great hugger!”

Things were great. So of course, when they went bad, they went very bad. The mission wasn’t simple. The Avengers were getting desperate and while James was a tactical genius, even he couldn’t predict everything that could happen during a mission. 

Avalanche was attacking the Life Foundation in order to find undeniable evidence of HYDRA’s involvement and human experimentation. Storms Cloud, Rage and Blind were on the battlefield. The Winter Soldier was working alone. Mike had tried to get him to bring Storm Paladin but James didn’t think they’d need to play that card yet. 

The Winter Soldier had retrieved the information. All he needed to do was get across the street and into the old office building that had long-forgotten sewer access. He had to run across the street where Mike knew SHIELD had set up snipers. Mike knew about the snipers because James had already called them out at the beginning of the mission.

Where Storm Cloud was stationed, supporting Abby while she kept Iron Man occupied, Mike was on lookout. The instant James was out of sight in the office building, he’d give the order to withdraw. He watched James run into the street. Then he watched Hawkeye swing down and ram into the Winter Soldier feet first, knocking them both to the ground.

Everything happened very fast. It was only a few seconds, not even enough time for Mike to order Storm Cloud to assist James, before the shot rang out. It was loud, even over the sounds of battle in the street. It was deafening in a way that let Mike know that this was not just small arms fire. Even from as far away as he was, Mike saw blood splash in the air as James slumped over Hawkeye.

“Winter is down! I repeat: Winter is down!” Mike shouted over the comm. “Cloud! On me! We extract Winter! Full retreat! Sam, I want the jet! Now!” Avalanche’s quinjet had been a well-kept secret until only last month when James had made the call to use it to pull Kenny out of the Avengers’ hands. To James, exposing the quinjet and revealing that it had cloaking technology was a small price to pay to get Kenny back safely. Now, they needed it again.

The jet could only hold so many people, so Storm Blind went to ground and vanished from sight. Storm Cloud grabbed James while Storm Rage provided cover. When Mike got close enough, he dragged James’s bloody body off a dazed Hawkeye. He ended up needing to call Bruno over to actually lift James because holy fuck James was heavy. Like how was that even possible? It was like his bones were made of lead or something. The metal arm alone couldn’t weigh that much!

The retreat was messy but fast and effective and only two minutes after the shot had been fired, Storms Cloud and Rage were in the jet with James on their way back to headquarters.

“Sophia! Triage!” Mike called and Sophia started checking James over. “Sam! Get Cal on the line, now!”

“I’m here! I’m here!” Mike recognized Cal’s voice on the comm. “Status?”

“GSW,” Sophia called out, “rear, lateral thoracic region.”

“Thank fuck,” Cal said with a grunt. “No exit wound, right?” 

Mike wasn’t sure how that was possible. The shot he’d heard came from a very high-caliber weapon, something that probably wasn’t meant for people.

“No exit wound,” Sophia confirmed.

“Good. Is he conscious?”

“No.”

“That’s less good. Is Rage there?”

“Yes,” Mike answered as he found Elvin standing off to the side looking rather green at the amount of James’s blood that was soaking the floor of the quinjet and Sophia’s clothes.

“Keep Rage close and have him ready to restrain James if he wakes up confused but don’t restrain him unless he tries to hurt you or it’ll just make it worse.” Mike had a feeling Cal knew a little more about the Winter Soldier than was common knowledge.

Mike made the call and Avalanche took a risk and dropped Mike and Elvin, with James carried between them, on the roof of Knighthood. The quinjet and everyone else went to the usual hangar hidden in a nearby warehouse. Cal met them and they all dragged James into the infirmary.

Mike sent Elvin away immediately. The kid was 15, he didn’t need to see this, but Cal was Avalanche’s only full-time medic so Mike stayed to help. Mike kept pressure on the wound while Cal worked his magic. 

“Thank fuck,” Cal mumbled as he cut and tore James’s armor off. Mike ended up needing to help. The back heart guard plate in James’s armor was pierced straight through and deformed badly enough that it took the two of them to wrench the armor off. Finally, Cal could run his hands down James’s bare but bloody back.

Mike had never seen James shirtless. Every soldier had scars but the vast majority of the Winter Soldier’s scars were not from being a soldier. They looked like they were from torture. Mike had seen the sort of scars POWs came back with. This looked similar, only worse in every way. It only reinforced the belief he had that James had been held against his will at some point. And that he was likely forced to do terrible things during his imprisonment.

“He’ll probably live, but this will take a while,” Cal’s voice snapped Mike out of his musings. That didn’t matter. Keeping James alive mattered. “I’m going to need to pull out a lot of shrapnel and it’s going to be tricky.”

Cal didn’t need much help. He seemed used to working alone, so Mike just hung around as moral support. Eventually, while Cal was pulling tiny, jagged bits of metal out from deep in James’s back, Mike asked the question that had been ruminating in his mind for half an hour. “How?” When Cal didn’t answer or look up from his work, Mike tried again. “How did he survive a bullet that went straight through the steel plate in his armor?”

“Well,” Cal began. “Mostly because he is genuinely the most badass person I have ever met. He knows every one of his strengths and weaknesses. If that bullet had hit his right side, he’d be dead. Based on what I can see, it was some sort of anti-tank round.”

Okay, James was hit in the chest with an anti-tank round and survived because he was a badass. While undeniably true, it was not the answer he was looking for. “What’s so special about his left side?” As Mike said it his eyes wandered to James’s left side and his eyes fell on the reason why that side was so special. “The metal arm?” Mike asked.

“Partly,” Cal answered as he dropped another piece of shrapnel in a bowl and sunk his tweezers back into James’s back. “The metal arm is the only part you can see.”

Mike considered that. “There’s more?”

Cal nodded. “Almost every bone on that side of his chest is metal, including plates along his spine. And since James is still alive, I’m guessing they’re stronger than the steel in his armor. The bullet hit the metal ribs and shattered. Some of the pieces got through and into his chest cavity. I’ve already fixed the damage to his heart and lung, I just need to get the rest of the pieces out.”

Cal worked methodically while Mike just watched and thought about what Cal had said. The left side of James’s chest was all metal. How did something like that happen? How did someone survive that? Was it because of the metal arm? Was the metal needed to support the arm? His eyes trailed to the visible connection between metal and flesh. The gunshot wound wasn’t very close to it but under the blood that was coating nearly everything, Mike could see the gnarled scars and irritated red skin around the metal. How badly did that arm hurt James on a regular basis? He always kept the connection point covered, never wore anything less covering than a T-shirt. Was it always that sickly looking? Even not immediately after a mission? Mike was in a bit of a daze, watching Cal work when he suddenly stopped. 

“Mike, take a slow step back from the table.” As Cal said it, he took a step away and Mike did the same without question. “James? You’re back at Avalanche HQ. You’re here with me, Caladrius, and Mike. You got shot. There’s still a few pieces of shrapnel in your chest. You might not feel it since I gave you the painkillers we talked about.

James growled something in Russian. 

Cal shook his head in response. “No. Mission complete. Stand down.”

On the table, Mike could see James’s eyes were wide and his whole body was stiff. At Cal’s words, the stiffness faded and James’s eyes closed.

“James, can I finish?” Cal didn’t get a response. Eventually, Cal moved quickly to remove two more pieces of shrapnel, then cleaned everything and wrapped it all in bandages. “Help me move him to the bed, Mike.”

Mike did, and this time, he knew why James was so heavy. Once James was settled on the bed, still in most of his Winter Soldier gear, Cal dragged Mike out into the hallway. When Mike went to protest, Cal cut in first. “He’ll be fine and it’ll be far safer if he wakes up alone. You need to go deal with everyone else. With our fearless leader down, it all falls on you.”

“Right, right,” Mike agreed. 

“Send someone up to watch him but make sure they stay out of the room. I need some sleep.”

“Got it, Cal,” Mike said. He noticed Cal was pale and he was leaning against the wall. “Go, you did good work.”

Cal nodded and headed off, likely to the bunkhouse in the basement. 

Mike shook himself, put his sergeant face back on and headed to the basement to handle the crew. When he arrived in the gym, most of the crew was there, already back in street clothes. He noticed one of the new hires, Dr. Ashley Kafka, a certified psychiatrist specializing in post-traumatic stress disorder, was already drifting through the group and assessing people. 

Mike had been thoroughly surprised when James had introduced him to the woman. Apparently physical health wasn’t enough for James and even though Knighthood’s medical benefits covered access to mental health professionals, James had somehow found a psychiatrist willing to work with Avalanche and offer help to anyone who needed it, without the need to lie or withhold information. James had even mandated mandatory training, led by Dr. Kafka, on how to handle the symptoms of PTSD. Most of the vets who worked with Avalanche were well adjusted, but triggers came in many forms and now even the civilians knew what to look for and how to respond safely. 

Dr. Kafka’s presence in Avalanche proved exactly what kind of man James was to Mike. Sophia was the first to see him when he approached the group. “Mike, tell me Cal is a miracle worker.”

“Cal is a miracle worker,” Mike replied. “James will be fine. But I think Cal’s worried about his mental health. He wants someone nearby in case.”

“I’ll go,” Bruno said. “Storm Cloud had it easy.”

“Alright. Cal says to stay out of the room but stay close and keep an ear out.”

“Got it.”

Mike spent the rest of the day handling the fallout. Cal went no contact unless it was an emergency. Dr. Kafka spoke with several people, including Mike and Elvin. Bruno eventually helped James down to the apartment in the basement several hours later when he woke up. 

Everyone who had been on the mission had the next day off. The day after was slow, as everyone settled back into the routine.

It was 4:30 am not even three days after the assault on the Life Foundation when Mike’s phone blared an alert that he had only heard once before in testing. It was very loud and when he rolled over and silenced it he heard the faint echo of another alert somewhere else in the building. That did not bode well. Bruno lived two floors down. If this was an Avalanche-wide alert, it must be bad. Mike read the message.

“World threat: alien assault. Full deployment. Report to HQ immediately.”

Mike hadn’t dressed so fast since he was in the army. In less than a minute he was out the door. He ran into Bruno in the apartment’s lobby. They nodded at each other but didn’t waste breath on a greeting. They were close enough to Knighthood that they just ran. Along the way, one of the guys from Storm Blind fell in with them. 

Knighthood’s parking lot was already filling up and people were arriving in cars, on bikes and on foot. Penny was at the door, calling names and checking off people as they ran into the lobby. “Suit up!” she called as people ran past.

James pulled out all the stops and played every card. The Chinook helicopter that Avalanche rarely used was filled to capacity and left immediately while the quinjet waited for the slower folks since it was faster. Mike saw everyone who had any combat experience was taking to the field today, including Ursa and even Stan. This was going to be bad.

Once everyone was in the air and on comms, James explained the situation. “According to my sources, a gate is about to open in the Mojave Desert and an alien army is going to march through bent on conquering the planet. The Avengers are responding and sending out a call to the government for assistance. The government has yet to respond.”

Everyone had their own way of mentally preparing for the coming fight. If Mike had been on the quinjet with James, he’d make sure James was actually recovered enough to take to the field. Since he was on the Chinook, he just had to hope.

James’s voice came over the comm again when the windows showed only desert outside. “The government is not sending the Avengers any support. I will offer them a conditional alliance.” 

The Battle of the Breach was intense. It was deeply strange for Mike to work alongside the Avengers after over eight months of violent conflicts with them. That did mean that Avalanche knew a lot about the Avengers by now and following James’s orders meant that Avalanche was able to support them beautifully.

When it was all over, James headed over to end the alliance with the Avengers. Even if Mike hadn’t known James for months, he’d still be able to tell that the Winter Soldier was moments away from collapsing. But James was putting a great deal of effort in keeping up appearances. So instead of throwing James’s arm over his shoulder and helping the man walk, Mike stood as close as possible and tried to offer James his support that way.

Mike suspected James hadn’t meant to mention HYDRA. But the word slipped out anyways and Captain America responded. It was very nearly a fight, but somehow, they got out of there and back into the quinjet.

“Mike,” James asked from where he had collapsed and was half-conscious in one of the seats. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you did, James,” Mike answered from beside him.

James sighed and then took a deep breath. “Well, I guess we’ll see what happens now.”

The next few days at Knighthood were very slow while everyone recovered. Penny arranged for a massive company-wide barbeque on the coming Saturday. According to her, they all deserved a party.

Avalanche stayed quiet for a while. They got no credit for helping with the Battle of the Breach and the media was still speculating that the Winter Soldier was dead.

James called Storm Cloud to a briefing a little more than a week after the battle. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. Storm Cloud, being Avalanche’s inaugural team, often played the role of advisors to the Winter Soldier.

“I have been in contact with the Avengers,” James began. They were all gathered in one of the conference rooms.

“How?” Sophia asked.

“Years ago, I infiltrated SHIELD to take a copy of their mainframe. While I was there, I left a backdoor open, so I could access it remotely. Someone else infiltrated the mainframe last night. While I cannot confirm it was the Avengers, evidence strongly points to them.”

“What did they want?” Mike asked.

“They wanted the files to find proof of HYDRA but SHIELD had deleted all of that since I was there. I’ve made a deal to trade my copy of the mainframe for Stark Industries financial information.”

Sophia hummed. “That’s good evidence Stark is involved. Are we willing to hand over the SHIELD mainframe?”

“The information is woefully out of date. It should not cause a problem for us.”

“What do we think?” Mike asked. “Are the Avengers HYDRA?” Most of the faces Mike saw didn’t have a good answer to that.

“I don’t know,” James answered. “Perhaps it’s time to find out for certain.”

Storm Cloud helped set up the meeting. Mike was a little surprised it went off without a hitch. 

A few weeks later, James dragged Mike along with him on a mission in the quinjet with just the two of them.

“Okay, James,” Mike said from the copilot’s seat. “Tell me what’s going on. Why are we here alone? Why not bring Storm Cloud?”

“I am about to break the code of conduct,” James said from the pilot’s seat.

The blunt admission made Mike’s eyes widen in surprise. “Okay,” Mike said. “Okay. I know you must have a good reason for that.”

“Years ago, I made a decision to choose non-lethal options whenever possible. However, there were 12 people that needed to die. I am going to kill one of them today.”

“Who?” Mike asked.

“Undersecretary of the World Security Council, Alexander Pierce.”

Mike considered that. “I’ve seen some of the files we’ve turned over to the authorities. I’ve seen the horrible things some of these people have done. And yet, none of them did anything bad enough to make your list.”

“No.”

“But Pierce did?”

“Yes.”

“You know him?”

“Yes. He was the one who gave the order for STRIKE Omicron to fire at the Life Foundation. He was the head of HYDRA in North America. He ordered the nuclear missile to be launched at New York during the invasion. He—”

“I understand, James.” Mike watched the world fly by out the window for a moment. “What I don’t get is why I’m here. You could have gone solo and no one at Avalanche would ever have known about this.”

“They should know,” James said. “They will know. But I can’t risk them turning on me. Not yet.” James paused. “I don’t know what mental state I’ll be in after I do this. I need someone to stay with the jet and fly home if necessary.”

They flew to Belarus. Mike was left alone in the jet. He had several hours to think things over while he waited for James. 

Twelve people. Out of all the horrible people in the world, only 12 people warranted an assassination mission from the Winter Soldier himself. Mike had seen how terrible some of the people Avalanche had brought down were, but not one of them was worth a bullet from the Winter Soldier. Mike wondered just how bad Pierce really was. He also wondered who else was on James’s list and how many were still alive.

When James finally came back, almost six hours later, a chill of dread arrived with him. For the very first time, Mike felt like he was really seeing the Winter Soldier. The same Winter Soldier that Ursa knew.

James was entirely silent. It wasn’t his usual calm silence. It was brittle and filled with tension. He walked stiffly into the quinjet, completely disregarding Mike and collapsed, not in one of the seats, but on the floor, against the wall. There was something wrong about the way James was acting. Wrong beyond James’s obvious and entirely ignored discomfort. Wrong in a way that made Mike very uncomfortable. James’s gear was still immaculate, not a drop of blood anywhere. Most of his weapons looked like they hadn’t even been touched. There was nothing to show what had happened beyond James’s own intention to kill Pierce.

Mike tried to get James to engage, since it was pretty clear he was dissociated. But James didn’t respond. He didn’t even look at Mike, just kept his eyes fixed on the floor. When Mike crouched down to try to get into his field of vision, he could see that James’s eyes weren’t even focused. This was bad but there wasn’t much Mike could do. He wasn’t stupid enough to try to shake the Winter Soldier out of dissociation. All he could do was what James had asked him to do. Mike sat in the pilot’s seat of the quinjet, thankful that it was practically child’s play to fly, and took them home.

Even once they were back in New York, James didn’t snap out of it. Mike parked the quinjet safety in the secret hangar. He pulled out the ammo box full of candy that was stored on one of the shelves and sat on the floor of the quinjet across from James. It was another hour and three chocolate bars later when James finally stirred.

First, he blinked a few times, then took in his surroundings without moving. After a few moments, he made eye contact with Mike.

“James?” Mike asked.

James took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Where are we?”

“We’re back in New York.”

They sat quietly for a little while longer while James focused on breathing. When James appeared to be more himself again, Mike started to chatter. “You know, I don’t see the appeal,” he said as he tore open a bag of M&Ms. “M&Ms are just as good as Smarties. Now, my buddy Sexton, he would legitimately fight me over that comment. He’s infatuated with foreign candy. All those ridiculous flavors of KitKats, Haribo gummies, Turkish delight, anything. But give the man a good old, American chocolate bar and he scoffs at you. It’s hilarious to watch him turn his nose up. But honestly, I can’t even tell the difference between Smarties and M&Ms!

“He’s getting out soon,” Mike said after crunching away on a few M&Ms. “He’s gonna have so much catching up to do. Superheroes are a thing now. Here to stay, I’ll bet. I wonder how he’ll react to it all. He was always on about the Winter Soldier conspiracy theories. Did you know the world is pretty much convinced that the Winter Soldier isn’t one man? But like, a series of operatives, likely Russian, who just all dress the same? I mean, no one knows, but that’s one of the theories.”

“I read that they think the arm is cosmetic.” Mike looked up from his M&Ms to look at James when he spoke.

“Of course, they think the arm is cosmetic,” Mike replied. “That tech doesn’t exist. Even the best Stark Industries prosthetics are practically dead weight. Although, SI has put out a few interesting advancements in the past few months.”

“Maybe I inspired Stark?”

“That’d be great if it’s true!” Mike said with a grin. “It’s fitting that when the largest supplier of advanced weapons in the world turns over a new leaf they get into helping the people affected by those weapons! Maybe we should write Stark a letter…”

Mike kept a close eye on James for the next few days. He didn’t think James was in a good enough headspace to meet with the Avengers again, but he didn’t say anything. He really should have.

When James came back from his second, private meeting with Captain America, he wasn’t just a little shaken, he was terrifyingly furious. The Winter Soldier stalked into the halls of Knighthood and everyone was smart enough to get out of his way. Mike eventually cornered him but he brought Ursa along with him, just in case.

“James,” Ursa said when they cornered James in the gym. “You are scaring your people.”

James growled something in Russian at Ursa. 

Ursa startled and took a step back. He replied in English, likely for Mike’s benefit. “There is a code of conduct, James. While you could kill them all, I don’t think that is what you really want to do.”

James, still fully clad as the Winter Soldier, went very still. “I am dangerous right now,” James said in barely a whisper. “I need to go somewhere where I can’t hurt anyone.”

Ursa nodded. “Mike, fly him somewhere snowy in Canada. The cold will do him good.”

So Mike flew James, still clad in his Winter Soldier gear and bristling with weapons, to the middle of nowhere in Northern Canada. The flight was tense. James paced and seethed and Mike didn’t ask. He should, but James’s fury did not subside even a little and James had said it himself: he was dangerous like this, even to his own people. While Mike flew, James put together a small and nowhere-near-sufficient survival pack from the gear in the jet. When Mike was close to where he’d picked, James just dropped the ramp and jumped. Without a parachute.

As terrifying as that was, Mike kept his wits about him and did a low pass to confirm James was still alive and then left him in Nunavut.

Two weeks went by. Knighthood’s people were self-sufficient enough that life moved on, even if the boss went on an unscheduled vacation. Finally, Penny found Mike after another tense day of work where everyone was careful to not mention James.

“I got a call from James,” Penny said when she found Mike. “He’s in Baker Lake. He says he’s ready for a pick up.”

“Baker Lake?” Mike asked. “I specifically dropped him off in the middle of nowhere! Baker Lake is…” Mike checked Google Maps, “300 miles from where I dropped him!”

“He says the people are nice and were grateful for the caribou,” Penny gave Mike a grin that showed she was also a bit confused.

Mike stared at Penny. “Caribou?”

“I guess you’ll have to ask him. Mind playing taxi again, Mike?”

“Well, now I’m curious.”

Mike flew out to Baker Lake. When he approached in the jet, a mirror flash drew his attention and he found James sitting in an ice field just outside of town surrounded by dozens of dogs, three people and two sleds. James was dressed in a mishmash of Winter Soldier gear and cold weather gear. Figuring that it must be safe, Mike landed the jet and lowered the ramp. James finished his conversation with the two men and woman, patted a few of the dogs and then hauled his rucksack onto his shoulder. He walked over to the jet and then turned and waved, calling out something that was unrecognizable to Mike. The people waved back and called out the same thing.

When Mike could finally raise the ramp and block out the freezing weather, he took a moment to look over James. He looked far better than he had when he left. He looked calm, settled and relaxed. He only had a few weapons visible on him. His rucksack was full to bursting with what were obviously antlers tied to the side.

“You look better,” Mike said.

“I feel better,” James answered with a brief smile. “I’d forgotten how beautiful the Northern Lights were. I made a few friends and learned a bit of a new language.”

“And hunted a caribou?” Mike asked as he gestured to the antlers.

James gave a rueful smile. “He was not happy about me being in the way of his herd. I brought the meat to town. But they told me to keep the antlers.”

Mike nodded and decided to be blunt. “James, answer me honestly, are you okay?”

James sighed. “Something Captain America said shook me to my very core. But I think I’m okay now. Well, as okay as I can be after everything I’ve been through.”

Mike took a few seconds to really look James over. James had obviously been a soldier once. He’d probably been a POW too. He fought the Avengers. He routed HYDRA. He operated Avalanche and oversaw Knighthood. He was highly capable but he still suffered from PTSD. Mike was certain of that. And while James made sure all the people under his care got the help they needed, Mike wasn’t sure if James ever sought out help. As much as Dr. Kafka might be able to help James, Mike knew that no one could ever force the Winter Soldier to get help. It would have to be on his own terms. Until James made that decision for himself, Mike would do everything in his power to help his boss and his friend. “Alright. What now?” Mike asked.

“Now, it’s time to go home.”

Chapter Text

Peter Parker didn’t want to save the world. Well, he did. That would be super cool! But to save the world meant the world was in danger. It meant a lot of people would get hurt. So, he hoped he would never be in a situation where he could save the world. Instead, all Peter wanted was to help his tiny corner of the world: New York, or more specifically, Queens. 

For a long time he thought he would do that with science. He loved science and he hoped and prayed that he would be smart enough, be innovative enough, to make something that would help people. He buckled down and studied hard. He joined every science and technology club. He took every meager opportunity at his little overcrowded and underfunded public school. He wanted to help people with science.

That was why he idolized Tony Stark. Even more so after Stark Industries moved away from weapons development and into green energy. He hoped that one day, with time and effort, he might make some small contribution to the world.

It was amazing how everything could change in the span of a heartbeat. Every plan he had, every goal and hope for the future changed with one tiny spider bite. A class trip to Oscorp, a lecture on radiation, some poor lab safety protocols (seriously Oscorp, Stark Industries would never allow that sort of sloppiness) and a single spider bite that barely bled and Peter changed.

At first he had no idea what was going on. He was terrified and did the only thing he could think of doing: science. He began experimenting with his new strength, speed and senses. He did tests, recorded results and tinkered with technology. He started getting excited. With his new abilities, he could help people in a very real and meaningful way. Much more directly. He could be a… a superhero!

But that was nonsense. He wasn’t Batman. He was just a 16-year-old kid from Queens who did well in math and science classes but couldn’t even work up the courage to talk to the girl he liked. He was no superhero.

But, like before, everything changed in a moment. New York was attacked. Manhattan was under siege by aliens who were flying out of a portal in the sky. Some actual, real-life superheroes, including Iron Man, were fighting against the aliens and while they kept the battle mostly contained to Manhattan, some of it did spill over into Queens. 

Peter wasted no time in helping. He grabbed his gym shirt, tore it into strips and covered his face, just in case. He used his new-found strength to lift rubble and free people. He used his experimental web shooters to shore up a few damaged buildings. And he even wrapped up an alien that tried to hurt some people.

When it was all over and the portal was finally closed, Peter realized that maybe, just maybe, he could actually be a superhero. He could never be as great as Iron Man. He didn’t have millions of dollars worth of Tony Stark’s most innovative tech at his disposal. He couldn’t even be as stealthy as the Black Widow. Or as commanding as Captain America. No, Peter Parker couldn’t be an Avenger. But he didn’t want to be. He just wanted to save his little corner of the world. He would just be your friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man.

His costume was pretty laughable but he was still proud of it since he’d made it himself. He put most of his technological expertise into the web shooters. He was constantly tinkering with them and trying to improve them. 

He tried to keep his identity a secret but he was very close to his best friend Ned and it didn’t take long for it to slip. It turned out to be a godsend because Ned wasn’t just enthusiastic about it, he was also amazingly helpful. Not only did Ned help Peter plan his patrol routes and determine how best to help people, but he also covered for Peter with Aunt May. He was a great sounding board and someone to talk to when Peter ran into trouble or just had questions about how to be a superhero. Questions like when to get involved? When to call the police? What to do in an emergency? 

Peter and Ned kept up to date on all the latest Avengers gossip. Ned was a member of the Iron Legion and signed up for countless accounts dedicated to Tony Stark and the Avengers. They’d watch every fight and read every fan theory. So when Peter was lurking on the fringes of the Avengers’ current battle in New York, he recognized the man, or rather the terrorist, he saw fleeing the scene. 

As far as social media was concerned, the Avengers were engaged with the Winter Soldier again. Peter was perched on a lamppost watching Iron Man flying around in the distance when heavy and fast footsteps perked up his ears. There, several buildings over, was the Winter Soldier. He was clad in the black tactical gear Peter had seen before on the news. His face was covered with a mask. He had on goggles and a dark helmet.

While Peter should have been scared since the media called this man a murderous monster, he found that fear tempered with excitement. This was Peter’s chance! He could make a name for Spider-Man by webbing up the Winter Soldier and handing him over to the Avengers! This was going to be awesome!

By the time Peter made the decision to engage the Winter Soldier, he had lost sight of him and had to follow the sound of footsteps down to a nearby street. Once he reached a building’s ledge with a view of the street, he saw the Soldier again. He was running toward a car. A car that had slammed into a light post and was actually on fire. With people still inside. And the Winter Soldier was running toward them. Peter didn’t hesitate. He judged the perfect spot to affix his web, leapt into the air and swung with the hope that he could get there before the Winter Soldier did something terrible. As he swung, Peter watched the Soldier tear the damaged door off of the car and reach inside. It was when the Soldier pulled the driver of the car out, that Peter realized he’d messed up.

He jerked at the last second and instead of kicking the Soldier who was now holding the unconscious driver, Peter brushed past him and went tumbling down the street. When he got himself up, he saw that the Soldier had gone around to the passenger side of the car and was pulling the passenger out.

Peter just stood there, dumbstruck. This didn’t make sense. The news said the Winter Soldier was a terrorist, a murderer, a monster. What kind of monster puts a pause on his own escape attempt to save two people trapped inside a burning car? As he watched, the Soldier gently laid the terrified but quiet passenger beside the unconscious driver. Then, the Winter Soldier looked up at Peter. Their eyes met, through mask and goggles. The Winter Soldier gave a tiny nod to Spider-Man and then leapt to a balcony, before shimmying up the side of the building.

It was only the approaching sirens that broke Peter out of his stupor. He tried to follow the Winter Soldier but he was long gone by then.

The next day at school, Peter told Ned everything.

“Spider-Man had a run-in with the Winter Soldier yesterday,” Peter said as he took a bite of his sandwich. Beside him on the bleachers, Ned choked on his water. He dropped the bottle and began hurriedly patting down Peter.

“Did he—” Ned tried.

“He didn’t hurt me.” Peter told Ned the story. They were on their lunch break and sitting outside on the bleachers. There was nobody around but Peter kept an ear out in case someone came close.

“He saved them, Ned. Iron Man was in the sky just over the river, probably looking for the Winter Soldier but the Soldier stopped to save those people.”

“Why would he do that?” Ned asked. 

Peter had been thinking about the answer to that question all night. “You know what they say about not believing everything you hear?”

Ned looked at Peter with a calculating expression. “Yeah.”

“What if the media is wrong about the Winter Soldier?”

“But the Avengers—”

“I don’t know,” Peter interrupted. “But I want to find out.”

Ned worked his considerable hacking skills and a few days later, they spoke again. This time, after school on the roof of Peter’s building.

“It took a long time and a lot of cross-referencing,” Ned began. “When the Winter Soldier attacked Roxxon, ten people died to a bomb.”

“A bomb the Winter Soldier set?” Peter asked.

“That’s what the media says but there isn’t any proof. No pictures, no videos, no eyewitness statements, nothing. The only images of the Soldier are from his escape after it went off.”

“Okay, so no answers there. What else?”

“This is where it gets interesting.” Ned pulled out his laptop. “His next big target was Kronos Corporation and get this, nobody died there.”

Peter looked over at Ned in surprise. “But I thought—”

Ned nodded along and pointed at the laptop’s screen. “I know! I pulled up the news reports from the next day!”

On the screen, Peter saw the reports: Massacre at Kronos! Kronos mourns their dead after Winter Soldier attack! The bloody aftermath at Kronos!

“The media claimed people were killed and my research shows two dozen people were hospitalized but no one died.”

“So the news is lying?” Peter could hardly believe it. Sure, it was assumed that not everything the news said was the truth but to say people had died when no one did? How did they get away with that?

“I’ve got a theory on that, too!” Ned grinned happily. “Tell me, Pete. What do people do when the Avengers show up?”

“What?” Peter thought about the question. “Well, I guess they take cover? They hide, right? So they can be safe?”

Ned shook his head briskly and clicked another bookmark on the laptop. The screen switched to a YouTube video that looked like it was taken on a cell phone. The video showed the Avengers fighting a plant monster. Whoever was taking the video was barely ten feet from the monster.

“People are idiots. When the Avengers show up, they flock to take pictures and videos. They put themselves in danger to get close to the action because they think the Avengers will save them.” Ned paused the video on the screen. “What do you think people do when someone with the Winter Soldier’s reputation shows up?”

“They run.”

Ned nodded sagely. “They run,” he agreed. “And that means they’re safe. Maybe the Winter Soldier planned it that way.”

It was a lot to think about. Peter and Ned tried to keep up to date on the Avengers and the Winter Soldier. Ned did the research after each encounter and usually found evidence to counter the media headlines. Ned also found some sort of dark web chat room that supported the Winter Soldier and Peter realized they weren’t the only people who didn’t believe the media.

Spider-Man was doing good work. He wasn’t an Avengers-level superhero, but he had stopped several muggings and a few robberies. He was patrolling as usual when his phone pinged with a text from Ned.

Ned: Avengers engaged with WS at Oscorp.

Peter read the text and shot off a quick one-word reply before he tucked the phone away. He picked out the direction of Oscorp and swung that way. It was after midnight and while the city was never dark, the rooftops could get quite shadowy. Peter reached out with every sense as he swung until he heard familiar running. He looked over to see a black shape flying over an alleyway before landing hard on a rooftop and stumbling, nearly falling.

Peter recognized the Winter Soldier instantly and when he got closer he also recognized the smell of blood. A lot of blood. He made a split-second decision.

“This way!” Peter called as he shot out a web and changed directions. “Empty warehouse! Iron Man’s scanning rooftops!”

The Winter Soldier hesitated for a moment before following Peter. Peter swung through the broken window on the top floor of the warehouse and the Soldier leaped through behind him. He then hustled past Peter and into a shadowy corner while Peter stood close to the window.

“He’s getting closer. Stay out of sight!” Peter stood guard by the window, looking up toward where Iron Man was flying in a grid pattern over the city. Behind Peter, in the dark corner he heard rustling and the scent of blood got stronger. “Are you alright?”

“Hawkeye got lucky.” The voice was quiet and slightly digitized. “Why are you helping me?”

“I’m just returning the favor,” Peter said as he kept watch.

“Didn’t think the friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man would help a criminal.”

Peter looked over to the shadow that was mostly hiding the Winter Soldier. In the dark, the Soldier was doing something with his hands near his stomach. “Technically, I’m a vigilante. That makes me a criminal, too. Thus, the mask.”

The Winter Soldier huffed out a breath. Peter wasn’t sure if it was in laughter or pain since he was obviously bleeding quite badly. “Vigilante, eh? That’s risky business. Tryin’ to catch the eye of the Avengers?”

Peter snorted. “No. Just… tryin’ to help people, you know? With great power comes great responsibility. I have a bit of power, I need to make sure I use it right. And helping people is always right.”

Peter wasn’t expecting the deep belly laugh that came from the shadow. Peter puffed up indignantly. How dare the Winter Soldier mock—

“Oh, god! You sound just like him!”

Peter looked at the Soldier in surprise. He tore his eyes off the shadow to glance out the window and he saw Iron Man pass by a street over. “Just like who?”

The Winter Soldier gave a swift shake of his head. “An old friend of mine. Guy didn’t know when to quit. Got into back alley fights every week to protect someone. Didn’t matter that he usually lost. He always got back up.” It was quiet for a moment. “You remind me of him,” the Soldier continued. “So I know that nothing I say or do is going to convince you to stop being a vigilante. But working without backup is dangerous.” The Winter Soldier slowly emerged from the shadow. Peter could see that his stomach was covered in blood but he’d done something to staunch the bleeding. “Got a phone, kid?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I’m gonna give you a number you can call if you ever get in over your head.”

“I don’t—”

“Take the damn number. It’ll make me feel better knowing you have it.”

Hesitantly, Peter put the number into his phone. And then the Winter Soldier was gone just as fast as he’d appeared. The only things left to mark his passing were the drying blood in the shadowy corner of the abandoned warehouse and the new number in Peter’s phone.

Explaining that one to Ned had been difficult. But after the interaction with the Winter Soldier and Ned’s investigation that proved yet again there were no deaths after the Winter Soldier clashed with the Avengers at Oscorp, Peter was fairly convinced the Soldier wasn’t what the media claimed.

It was months later when Peter got in way, way over his head. It was bitterly cold out. Snow and ice made everything slippery and Peter was wearing heavy clothes under his Spider-Man outfit. 

He hadn’t seen the Winter Soldier since that night after Oscorp but he and Ned kept following the news. They knew about the Winter Soldier’s new organization, Avalanche. Strangely, Peter was kind of glad the guy wasn’t working alone anymore.

Peter had been watching the old warehouse by the river for weeks now and was convinced something bad was going down there. The boxes of guns he saw tonight proved it. Maybe he got cocky. He hadn’t been hurt while doing his vigilante thing and no one was ever a match for him. When he tried to crash whatever deal was going down, he’d messed up. Bad. And now, after barely web-slinging across town, he was bleeding from a bullet wound in his left side.

Peter considered his options as he held his side to slow the bleeding. He could try to treat it himself but the wound wasn’t through which meant the bullet was still inside. He knew basic first aid but he didn’t know if he could deal with this. He could go to Ned but Ned didn’t know how to deal with this either. He could go to a hospital but he knew from TV that hospitals had to report gunshot wounds and then he’d have to explain Spider-Man. Going to Aunt May was out for pretty much the same reasons. He did have another option. His only option, really.

Peter pulled out his phone, now sporting a new crack in the screen even through the protective case. He found the number he’d saved under the name Fire and hesitated with his finger over the call button. He needed help. He hit the call button.

The phone rang twice before it picked up and a gruff but familiar voice answered, “Tell me.”

“Uh… hi?” Peter began nervously. “I’m looking for uh… my… friend?” Peter didn’t know if he had to be vague or direct. He doubted the call was being monitored. When the person who might be the Winter Soldier didn’t reply, Peter gave up on pretenses. “It’s Spider-Man. I need help. I’ve… uhh… been shot?”

“Shit!” the voice said loudly. “Where are you?!” The words were accompanied by sounds of movement in the background. 

“Near Juniper Valley Park?” Peter said as he looked around. “On a roof?”

“Find a shadow to hide in. Keep pressure on the wound. Stay still and stay calm. I’ll be there in… seven minutes. Stay on the line and talk to me.”

Peter surveyed the area and dragged himself over to the roof access door where he dropped down in the shadow. He couldn’t stop the grunt of pain as he tried to hold his side tighter.

“Kid?” the voice asked. “Talk to me, kid.”

Peter only got out a few mumbled words.

“You looking for a job?” the voice asked again. 

“What?” That wasn’t what Peter was expecting.

“Avalanche is recruiting. Could use a fiery go-getter like you. You’d have backup.” In the background, Peter could hear the sounds of fast movement. The conversation devolved into long silences where the voice on the phone would go quiet, before barking out a question and Peter would just mumble an answer.

When the most recent barked question was accompanied by someone touching him, Peter jerked back in alarm.

“Easy, kid. It’s me.” 

Peter looked up and focused blurry eyes on the Winter Soldier. He didn’t look like the Winter Soldier. He wasn’t in tactical gear, just dark clothes. He was wearing the mask and helmet but the goggles were pulled down around his neck.

“You need to answer my questions or I’m gonna have no choice but to take you back to Avalanche or the hospital. Can you do that?”

“Sure,” Peter slurred. He could answer a few questions.

“Your enhancements, do they help you heal?”

“Yep! Super fast!” Peter had done experiments. When he’d get hurt, he’d time how long it took his bruises to fade.

“Good. That’s good. You need to stay awake, okay? Same deal, you pass out, I gotta take you in.”

“I’m not sleepy, I swear.” He was lying.

“Sure, kid. We’ll try this on your terms first.”

Peter wasn’t really sure what was happening. Things got fuzzy after that. The pain faded. Peter was aware of a quiet but gruff voice talking but he couldn’t really make out the words. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed but eventually things snapped back into focus and Peter jerked his head up. His eyes met with the bright gray-blue eyes of the Winter Soldier.

“There you are,” the Winter Soldier said with a sigh.

“I… yes?” Peter tried. “What happened?”

“I gave you some heavy-duty painkillers, fished the bullet out of your side and stitched you up. I had to cut away parts of your gear; there was a lot of blood. I’m just putting the last of the bandages in place. But this is good news, if you metabolized those drugs this fast, that means you’ll heal pretty quickly too. How are you feeling, kid? And don’t lie to me.”

Peter looked down and saw that the Winter Soldier had done a lot of work. His side was relatively clean and the Soldier was gently patting down the bandages. Around them, all sorts of trash was strewn along the roof, showing that the Soldier had been working on him for a while.

“It hurts,” Peter admitted. “But not nearly as bad.”

The Winter Soldier nodded. “Good. Now what? This is your rodeo, kid.”

“I’ll head home, I guess.”

The Soldier nodded again and gathered up all of the garbage on the roof around them, including the ragged and bloody bits of Peter’s suit, and shoved them in his bag. Then the Soldier turned and put his back to Peter while still crouching. “Hop on. I’ll take you home.”

“Uhh…” Peter hesitated. He couldn’t let the Winter Soldier take him home. That would put Aunt May at risk. 

The Winter Soldier huffed out a breath. “You aren’t the only one who did his research, kid. I know who you are.”

“It should probably worry me that you know that, but it doesn’t,” Peter said and he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around the Winter Soldier’s neck. The Soldier stood up and carried Peter piggyback-style. Once Peter was settled, the Soldier took off across the rooftops. Peter realized that the Winter Soldier must be incredibly strong to carry Peter and still vault across alleyways. They were quiet as they traveled. Eventually, they reached the roof of Peter’s building and the Soldier set Peter down on his feet.

“You will call me tomorrow,” the Winter Soldier said. “And the day after.”

“I’ll be—”

“No arguments! You’ll call or I’ll have to come by and check on you.”

“Jeez! Alright! I’ll call!”

“Good.”

It took a week for Peter to heal. Ned convinced him to keep his feet on the ground for another week to make sure he was back to full strength. Peter couldn’t really argue since he needed to fix his suit.

“Peter!” Aunt May called as she entered the apartment. “Mail for you!”

Peter shoved the suit he was sewing under his bed and ran out into the living room. He wasn’t expecting any mail. “What is it, Aunt May?” he asked.

“Dunno. Looks fancy though!” Aunt May handed him a white box that was branded with the Stark Industries logo on all sides. 

Peter was immediately excited. He wasn’t expecting anything from SI, how could he be? He was just a kid from Queens. It was probably a mix-up but he was excited nonetheless. Peter tore the box open. Inside was a folded stack of papers and three short-sleeve shirts in clear plastic bags. The shirts were all in black but there was something strange about the fabric. He pulled out the paper and read it out loud.

“Thank you for opting into the user trials for the new Stark Industries line of advanced workwear. Inside this box you will find three of our newest products. These shirts are made of the highest quality technical fabric. They are flame retardant, rip-proof, cut-proof, stab-proof and even bulletproof! As a member of the user trials, please put these products to use in the most extreme circumstances and report on their durability so Stark Industries can make any necessary improvements. We look forward to hearing favorable and even unfavorable reviews from you.”

“I didn’t know you opted into a Stark Industries trial!” Aunt May said after he finished reading.

Neither did Peter. Instead of admitting it, he told a little lie. “I didn’t really expect to get picked.”

“Well, lucky you, then!” Aunt May said as she headed into the kitchen and started making dinner. 

Peter took the box back to his room and looked it over more carefully. The letter from Stark Industries looked professional. He checked everything over with a keen eye but it wasn’t until he ripped open the packaging on the last shirt that he had his answer. A small, white piece of paper fluttered out of the shirt and Peter caught it before it could hit the ground.

“S, the product works exactly as advertised. Stay safe, WS.”

Peter read over the Stark Industries letter again. This time, his eyes caught on the word bulletproof and he realized that it wasn’t just an exaggeration to help sell the product. A quick Google search proved that there had been a trial of this product but it had been two years ago. The product was commercially available now, with a whopping $1000 per shirt price tag. Peter realized that the Winter Soldier had just sent him bulletproof armor and had found a way to get it through the front door and past Aunt May without a single question.

Ned was not going to believe this.

Peter was on his normal patrol route when he spotted the shadowy figure standing on a roof and looking out over Juniper Valley Park. He hesitated. The figure could be the Winter Soldier and Peter would really like to see him again, especially since no one had seen him or Avalanche since the Winter Soldier had been shot on live TV a few weeks ago. The media was speculating he was dead. Peter really hoped they were wrong.

But the figure could also be Daredevil. It was a little out of his territory but it wasn’t unheard of for the Devil to track people across other boroughs. Peter didn’t really want to chat with him. Daredevil talked down to Peter like he was just a useless kid.

It could also be the Punisher. Peter did not deal with that guy. 

Curious, and hoping that maybe he’d get to see the Winter Soldier again, Peter swung up over the rooftop and vaulted off his web into a graceful flip to land on the roof access door behind the guy. When he landed, he startled the brooding figure and he turned toward Peter with his arm up and pulled back, ready to throw his shield.

“Oh snap!” Peter said. “You’re Captain America!”

The Captain hesitated before lowering his shield. “I am, but you seem to have me at a disadvantage. I don’t recognize you.”

“Me?!” Peter asked with a gulp of surprise. “I’m just your friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man. Out on my usual patrol.” Peter hesitated as he realized the Captain might be here for a reason. “Is there trouble?!” he demanded. “Avengers-level threat?!”

“No!” Captain America said quickly to stop Peter’s descent into panic. “No threat. I’m just…” he trailed off and glanced over his shoulder at the park behind him. “I’m just looking for someone. I thought he might be around here but I haven’t had much luck.”

“Well, I patrol this area a lot,” Peter said as he looked over the park as well. “Who are you looking for? I see a lot of people, heroes included.”

The Captain looked back at Peter. “I’m looking for the Winter Soldier.”

Oh no. Of course the Avengers were looking for the Winter Soldier. The Avengers had been after the Winter Soldier and Avalanche for over a year. Peter needed to play this cool. “I thought the Winter Soldier was dead. The news says a SHIELD sniper killed him.”

“He isn’t,” the Captain said quietly. “He survived.”

Relief flooded through Peter. He had hoped the Winter Soldier was alright but he didn’t know. He would trust this information until he saw the Solder with his own two eyes but for now, it bolstered his hope. “Oh. That’s…” Peter trailed off. He wanted to say good, great, amazing! But Captain America might question that.

“Yeah,” the Captain answered. “I take it you haven’t seen him lately, then?”

Peter shook his head. “No. I haven’t seen him but even if I had—” Peter cut himself off abruptly. Captain America did not need to know this.

“Even if you had… what?” The Captain leaned back against the low wall around the roof. “Even if you had, you wouldn’t tell me, right?”

Peter fixed his gaze on Captain America. He had a choice to make. The Winter Soldier was a good man. He had saved Peter’s life. He didn’t hurt anyone. The Avengers were good people too. They risked their lives to fight monsters and save people. But the Winter Soldier and the Avengers were enemies. Peter had to pick a side and it was the Winter Soldier who gave Peter his personal phone number in case of emergencies. The Winter Soldier who had come when Spider-Man was bleeding out on a rooftop. The Winter Soldier who provided the body armor Peter was currently wearing.

“No,” Peter answered quietly. “I wouldn’t tell you.”

Captain America hummed in thought. “I respect that. But you have met him, right?”

Peter wasn’t sure if admitting that would get him in trouble. Still, he didn’t want to lie. “Yes, a few times.”

“Will you tell me about him?”

“What?” Peter asked in surprise. “Why?”

“Because I want to know the truth and I don’t think I’m going to get that from the media or the government. But I might get it from a teenager in Queens.”

Peter blew out a raspberry. “No kidding. Every word the media says about him is lies. It only took my friend two days to find the evidence. They aren’t even trying very hard to hide it.”

“So, will you tell me?”

Peter considered for a few seconds. “Alright.” So, Peter found himself sitting on the edge of the building with Captain America a couple feet away on the same ledge. He started the story at the beginning, when the Winter Soldier pulled those two people out of the car. He moved onto when he’d helped the Soldier hide from Iron Man. He told the Captain how he’d been hurt and the Winter Soldier had saved his life and ended the story with the package he’d received to help keep him safe.

Captain America was a good listener. He paid attention and asked intelligent questions. He seemed interested and actually concerned for both Peter and the Winter Soldier. It made Peter wonder, why exactly was Captain America out here alone looking for the Winter Soldier?

“I was wondering,” Peter said when he finished the story and the Captain was oddly quiet. “Why are you looking for him alone?”

The Captain was quiet for several minutes. “Did you watch the news about the Battle of the Breach?”

“Yeah,” Peter said with a nod. “I guess alien invasions are a thing now.”

“It wasn’t the National Guard who helped the Avengers that day. It was Avalanche.”

“What?!” Peter’s jaw dropped.

“The Winter Soldier and I… we’ve shared a few words lately and I think I knew him. A long, long time ago. I tried to talk to him but I just spooked him and now I can’t find him.”

Peter looked critically at Captain America’s profile as he considered his words. “Were you his friend?”

The Captain nodded. “His best friend.”

“He might have mentioned you.”

The Captain’s head shot up and he stared at Peter with wide eyes. “What?!”

“When I helped him, he said I reminded him of an old friend who…” Peter tried to remember the exact wording. “Got into back alley fights and usually lost but always got back up.”

“Oh god!” the Captain groaned as he dropped his head into his hands. “How did I miss it for so long?!” Peter waited while Captain America composed himself. “I thought he was dead. I left him behind.” The Captain stood up from the ledge onto the roof. “Thank you, Spider-Man, but I need to go. I need to find him. Whatever it takes.” He turned to leave.

“Wait!” Peter called before the Captain could go. This was a stupid idea. “I might have lied… just a little.”

“What?” 

“I… might still be able to get into contact with the Winter Soldier? With that number he gave me for emergencies.” Peter pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I can’t give you the number, not without his permission, but I could call him for you?”

“You would?”

“I…” Peter hesitated as he considered whether or not this was a good idea. “I will, but only to tell him you’re looking for him and because I want to know if he’s still alive.”

“Alright,” Captain America said.

Peter called the number listed as Fire in his phone. He kept the call off speakerphone but he wasn’t sure if that mattered. It rang three times before someone picked up.

“Kid?” the Winter Soldier said when he answered.

“Oh, thank god. You are alive.” Peter couldn’t keep the relief out of his voice.

“I am. Is there an emergency?”

“No, it’s just…” Peter hesitated as he looked over at Captain America. “I’m near Juniper Valley Park, on a roof, with Captain America.”

There was a single beat of silence before the Winter Soldier replied. “Is he threatening you?”

“No, nothing like that,” Peter assured. “It’s just, he said he was looking for you and that he knew you and I wasn’t going to give him your number without your permission but I thought I could call and ask and maybe it was the wrong thing to do but—”

“Kid.” The Winter Soldier interrupted sternly. “Breathe.” There were a few more seconds of silence while Peter breathed. “Well, what do you think of Captain America?”

“What do you mean?” Peter asked.

“Do you think he’s a big hero like the media says or do you think that like the media paints me as a villain they are just telling people Cap is a hero and it isn’t true? Do you think the Avengers are the good guys?”

Peter considered the Winter Soldier words while he looked over at the Captain. The Captain was standing stiffly and Peter assumed that he was hearing both sides of the conversation.

“I don’t really know. It takes a lot of work to look into every Winter Soldier or Avalanche fight and find all the media’s lies. I haven’t considered doing it for the Avengers yet. But I think that they might be the good guys. Just maybe misguided? I mean, they fought the aliens in New York and in the Battle of the Breach. Not many people would put their lives on the line like that. I think it’s worth a try, you know? The Avengers can’t protect the world alone but neither can Avalanche.”

On the other end of the line, the Winter Soldier let out a deep sigh. “Always with the hopeful idealists! Fine. Fine! Cap, I know you’re listening. Thursday. Midnight. Best hot dogs in New York. Don’t be late. Now, leave. I still don’t trust you around the kid.”

“Understood,” Captain America said with a salute. “Thank you again, Spider-Man.” As Peter watched, the Captain vaulted off the roof and headed toward Manhattan.

“Is he gone?” the Winter Soldier asked.

“He is.”

“And you’re really okay?”

“I am.”

“I am going to kill that punk.”

Chapter Text

Steve Rogers left Avengers Tower alone. It hadn’t been easy. Nat and Tony had followed him right down to the garage, hounding him for details on exactly what he was up to. But Steve didn’t yield. He gave no answers as he swung his leg over the gifted motorcycle and headed out into the night. 

Traffic was bad. The sheer number of people in New York made traffic a problem at all times of the day. Even now, almost midnight on a Thursday, Steve had to zip around a few cars and even go up onto the sidewalk to reach his destination on time.

His destination was the best hot dogs in New York. Anyone who didn’t know Bucky and Steve would get the answer wrong. The location itself was a test and Steve knew it. He grinned to himself as he blew by Coney Island and left Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs behind. The best hot dogs in New York were not the most popular ones. They weren’t even the most expensive ones. No, the best hot dogs in New York were the ones you shared with your best friend. And there was one place little Stevie Rogers and Bucky Barnes could always get a couple of cheap dogs for a dime and share them on the beach.

He drove way down the coast, to where the sand nearly ended, and finally came to a stop. Like most of New York, this place had changed a lot. He knew there would be no little hot dog stall with Mackie hawking his wares and it made Steve homesick. He got off the motorcycle and headed down onto the sand. Thankfully at this late hour it was quiet enough for no one to notice him. He headed over to the breakwater and found a rock to sit on to wait. 

He wasn’t sure how long he waited, just listening to the tide. Eventually, a red dot appeared on the sand near his feet. Steve startled badly; he’d heard of red dot sniper sights but the red dot was just sitting still on the sand. Steve looked up and saw the source of the red dot. It looked like it originated from the roof of a building a few blocks away. As he looked, the light flashed on and off a few times, then went dark.

Steve knew an invitation when he saw one. He took the motorcycle and found the building easily enough. He parked out front and headed in. Whatever the building was, it had a large open reception area. Inside was dark, but not too dark for Steve to see. The movement of the Winter Soldier’s gesture to follow him was what revealed him to Steve. Steve nodded and followed him down a badly maintained hallway and into a room with a few intact chairs and no windows. Inside, the Winter Soldier made a gesture that seemed to encompass the whole room.

“The room is secure?” Steve asked. He wasn’t willing to give away the Winter Soldier’s secrets.

“Yes.”

“Thank you for seeing me. I’m sorry about last time. I was… a little overwhelmed. I shouldn’t have tried to take off your mask.”

The Winter Soldier let out a long, heavy breath. “I didn’t believe it was you. I… had good reason to doubt. But I’ve thought about it and found enough SHIELD records to corroborate it.” Slowly, the Winter Soldier removed his goggles and Steve nearly gasped when he was the focus of those beautiful blue-gray eyes once again. Then the helmet came off. Steve hadn’t expected shoulder-length dark hair to fall free once it was removed. For a moment it made Steve realize that while his eyes may be the same, it had been a very long time and a lot of other things may be different. Before he could consider that any further, the Winter Soldier removed his mask. And Steve had his proof. That was Bucky. Yes, there were a few more scars, but there was no mistaking a face he had seen nearly every day of his life for years.

“Bucky…” Steve said breathily.

Bucky flinched at the name. Not just a subtle twitch but a full-body jerk. “Please. Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” Steve asked.

“I’ve… lost a lot. I’m working to take things back, but that name… it’s not me anymore. Please don’t call me that.”

Without the mask, Steve could hear his best friend again. It was painful and exciting at the same time. “Alright, what do I call you then?”

“I go by James now.”

“James?” Steve asked as he wrinkled his nose. The Bucky he knew hated that name. “You—”

“I know,” James interrupted. “I hated it. No one ever called me that. It made it easier to adjust to.”

Steve couldn’t tear his eyes off Bucky, or rather, James. That would take some getting used to. But because his eyes were glued to his old friend’s face, he could see the struggle there, the sadness. “Alright.” Steve needed answers. He had so many questions. “Will you tell me what happened?”

“You don’t want to know, Steve. You really don’t. And I don’t know if I should tell you. I know you. If I tell you the truth, it’ll just eat you up inside.”

Steve knew it was probably bad. The little bit he did know told him that. But he needed to know. It was all his fault after all. “I want to know everything, James. The good and the bad.”

James looked up from the ground and met his eyes. “There isn’t any good, Stevie.” He took a deep breath. “Fine. I’ll tell you, because I need your help and I don’t think you’ll believe me without the truth. Sit down, this might take a while.”

Steve plopped into one of the rickety chairs. He was a little surprised it held his weight. James sat in the other chair after placing his helmet with the mask and goggles in it on the nearby table.

“You were right,” James began. “Whatever Zola did to me in Kreischberg worked. It… changed me. I guess it allowed me to survive the fall intact. Well, mostly.” James rapped his flesh knuckles against the bicep of his metal arm. So, that was a prosthetic. And James had lost it in the fall. He had lost his arm because Steve didn’t catch him. “I don’t know how long I waited in the snow for rescue, at least a night because I remember the place in both daylight and darkness. Eventually, rescue did come. Or so I thought.” Steve ached at the words. He had read the reports. No search and rescue team was ever sent for James Barnes. So who…? “HYDRA found me.” Steve dropped his face into his hands. There was literally no worse answer that James could have given him.

“They wanted their own super soldier. I refused. I don’t know how long I held out, but I wouldn’t do what they wanted. They tried everything to break me but when they finally succeeded, they didn’t get what they wanted. They showed me the newspapers, Captain America: Dead. Капитан Америка: Мертвый. Capitaine Amérique: Morte.” James slipped into the various languages easily. “When I broke, there was nothing left for them to use. But HYDRA was resourceful. Zola and a man named Fenhoff developed a way to wipe away my memories with electricity. With no memories, I didn’t even know there was a reason to keep fighting.”

Steve stared at James in horror. “That’s—” Steve wanted to say impossible. But how could he, in the face of a future where aliens were reality? He bit his tongue to stop his words. Then managed to say, “Sorry, go on.”

James nodded and continued. “It didn’t last. I guess I healed too well and after a few weeks, my memories started to come back. So, they would just wipe them away again. Downtime became an issue. HYDRA’s solution was cryostasis. When they didn’t need their weapon, they just left it in cold storage. I served HYDRA for decades, Steve. I tortured for them. I murdered for them. I toppled governments for them. I never had any choice in it, though.”

Steve couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Bucky Barnes, his best friend, had been tortured and brainwashed into being an assassin for the very same organization he had given his life to destroy. And it was all because of Steve. It was all because Steve had asked Bucky to stay and fight. All because Steve hadn’t been able to reach him on the train. “James,” Steve began, barely choking the words out. “I’m—”

“Stop. Interrupt me now and you may never hear the end.” Steve snapped his teeth together. He had to know. How did James get here? “A few years ago, HYDRA ran an experiment on me. Tried to make me stronger or something. Well, it worked. Really well. Too well. My memories came back in a flood and with the new strength I managed to get free. The base I was held in was one of SHIELD’s. HYDRA was inside SHIELD. They were in almost every organization I looked into. So, with inside knowledge and the skills HYDRA had tortured into me, I got to work on fixing the problem.”

“All this time,” Steve began, wide-eyed in shock and disbelief, “you’ve been fighting HYDRA and I’ve been standing in your way.” Steve had been so consumed with grief that he’d forgotten what he stood for. He forgot what it was like to take a stand. To look at the way of the world and say no. To fight against injustice. Steve had seen injustice since he’d woken up and he’d ignored it. Entirely by choice. He knew the Avengers weren’t accountable for their actions if they hid behind masks. He knew SHIELD made some questionable decisions in the name of peace. Who knows how much more was going on and Steve never even asked.

All this time, Steve just drifted along, caught up in the current. He never opened his eyes. He abandoned the fight for justice and just went looking for any fight instead. But Bucky, who had been through so much, had had so much taken from him, including his memories, was still fighting. Steve needed to do better. For the world, for himself, for Bucky. 

“I want to help,” Steve finally said.

“I believe you. That’s why we’re here.”

“How many people know about this?”

“HYDRA? A hell of a lot more now than three years ago.”

“And how many people know about you?”

James narrowed his eyes at Steve. “Very few. Most of the people who know the Winter Soldier worked for HYDRA are dead. Some may make the connection but you’re the first person I’ve told the story to and I’ve taken great care in removing myself from HYDRA’s record.”

“Does anyone know you’re James Buchanan Barnes?”

James was pensive for a moment. “I don’t think so.”

Steve was quiet as he ruminated on James’s words. He remembered James saying that the only people who knew his name were his captors. 

“There’s a reason I’m telling you all this, Steve, and it isn’t to make you feel bad. I need your help.”

Steve looked up and met James’s eye. If James needed help, Steve owed it to him to offer it. “Anything, Bu—James. Anything.”

“In the 1990s HYDRA surged in strength. I’ve finally found out why but no one will believe it. I’ve been careful. So incredibly careful. I’ve been setting up the pieces so when the time comes, we’ll be ready. But right now, there’s a chance that I might die before then. I’ve been looking for someone I can trust who is strong enough to shoulder the burden if I can’t anymore.” 

“I’ll help. Of course, I'll help.”

James nodded absently a few times. “In 1995, Earth was invaded by aliens and not the kind you’ve already fought. These ones call themselves the Skrull. They aren’t very strong but they can shapeshift to not just look like someone, but completely mimic them. A person’s scent, body language, accent, gait, everything. The only way to prove it’s an imposter is to kill them since they revert when they die. I’ve seen it. I know they’re here. The Skrull I’ve interrogated told me their goal was destabilization. They planned to infiltrate the governments of the world to make Earth easier to conquer but when they got here they found HYDRA. HYDRA had already infiltrated most of the world’s governments, so the Skull just took over the organization. They only needed a few dozen agents to guide HYDRA.”

“James—”

“I know you don’t believe me. The whole idea is crazy. The only person I’ve revealed this to had to see a Skrull die to agree to help me. He made me this.” James pulled a small metal cylinder out of his armor that was about the size of a grenade. “It puts out a disruption field that extends for about two meters that is painful enough that it forces a Skrull to revert. It’s how I know you aren’t a Skrull. And don’t think I didn’t consider that.”

“What I was going to say is I believe you.”

James’s eyes widened as he looked at Steve. “You do? Oh. That’s… unexpected. I’m used to… Well, everyone I meet we start as enemies. No one ever… no one just believes me.”

Steve considered that. Natasha had told Steve a little bit about the Winter Soldier’s reputation. If everyone knew that reputation, then it was no wonder James was always considered the enemy. It was incredibly sad that James was paying the price for something he had no control over. “Well, I do. What do you need me to do?”

“I was hoping to form an alliance with the Avengers if you vouched for them. I was also thinking about telling them the truth about this since I might be able to give them proof.”

“What kind of proof?”

“Thor. The records I’ve found say he’s an alien. If that’s true, he may be able to confirm the Skrull exist and are exactly what I say they are.”

“Thor’s offworld at the moment.”

James cursed in what sounded like Russian.

“But I’ll vouch for the Avengers. And I’ll vouch for you. We can still try to work out an alliance. But maybe hold off on the truth until Thor is back. I believe you, but evidence will help. How do you want to go about the alliance?” 

“I’ll have to rely on my usual currency to barter neutrality. I have some information that Tony Stark, the Black Widow and Hawkeye will each be very interested in.” 

“You don’t have to—”

“This is the way I operate, Steve. It’s the way I have to operate. Set up a meeting with the Avengers. Get me a promise from the Black Widow that she won’t kill me on sight and I’ll be there.”

Steve wanted to stay and spend more time with James, but it was clear sharing the information he had had taken its toll and he looked exhausted. So, with a new phone number in his high-tech Starkphone, Steve headed back to Avengers Tower. The whole ride there his thoughts were preoccupied with how he was going to make this work. 

In the end, the hardest part was convincing Natasha not to shoot James when he approached the Avengers. She eventually promised that she would not be the one to make the first aggressive move, but if the Winter Soldier so much as flinched aggressively she was drawing her weapon. The promise had been enough for James, and Tony set up a meeting in a secure location that turned out to be the backyard of Stark Manor.

“Stark Manor? Really, Tony?” Clint asked as he, Nat, Steve and Tony all lounged on the massive and well-furnished deck behind the building Tony had grown up in.

“I considered inviting Sub Zero to Avengers Tower, but Cap said he wanted to try and play ball with the guy and I figured asking him to walk into the enemy stronghold was a bit much,” Tony explained. “Stark Manor is secure, has decent surveillance and there’s no one around for… uh… JARVIS?”

“Not for 6.2 miles, Sir.”

“So we’ve got oodles of space if things go sideways.”

The present Avengers were all in their combat gear and fully masked. Tony was simply lounging on a deck chair with the Iron Man suit standing guard beside him. Steve’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out to check the screen.

Jerk: About to enter the surveillance grid. I’ll let myself get caught on camera. Mission still a go?

Punk: Yes. We’re ready.

Jerk: Roger.

“He’s almost here,” Steve relayed. “He says he’s about to enter the surveillance grid.”

“Sir, I have the Winter Soldier on camera,” JARVIS said through the Iron Man suit’s speakers. “Based on his current speed, ETA is three minutes.”

“Time to suit up!” Tony said as he stood up, stretched and the Iron Man suit stepped forward to envelop him.

The wait was tense. They’d scheduled the meeting in the evening, after dark, but Stark Manor had floodlights that lit the entire area behind the manor and Tony had them all on. When the Winter Soldier finally stepped out of the woods on the far edge of the yard, Nat twitched toward her gun but didn’t put her hand on it. 

The Soldier was fully armed, just like the Avengers, including the massive sniper rifle on his back which turned out to be a better conversation starter than anything Steve could have said.

“Is that a Tellor?!” Tony asked with awe. “Where in Tesla’s name did you get one of those?! I thought I destroyed them all!”

“HYDRA was attempting to reverse-engineer it at Outpost Scythe,” the Winter Soldier replied as he approached the group. “I liberated it along with several other useful pieces of technology.”

“Sure. Fine,” Tony shot back. “But the ammo is proprietary SI tech. You can’t—”

The Winter Soldier moved his metal hand enough to pat a massive clip of bullets that was strapped to the side of his ribs and the action cut Tony off.

“No way. Who's making your gear?!”

The Winter Soldier cocked his head to the side. “Is that the information you want? It seems paltry and drab compared to what I actually brought.”

“If we’re sharing information,” Nat said through gritted teeth, “maybe you want to explain Scythe?”

The Winter Soldier turned to face her. “Information is my currency, маленькая вдова. Is that really the question you want answers to? I would think by now you’d have the answers to that.”

“If you’re so sure of the information I want, then tell me, Зимний солдат.” She grounded out the Russian words like they were a vile curse.

The Winter Soldier took a moment to share a glance with Steve before he looked back at Natasha. “According to my investigations, the Black Widow and Hawkeye ran an operation in 2008 with the goal of killing Dreykov and ending the Red Room permanently. You were not successful.”

“Lies!” Natasha yelled as she jumped to her feet. “Dreykov is dead.”

“He is,” the Winter Soldier agreed. “But he did not die in the explosion. Your op was well known to SHIELD and SHIELD was infested with HYDRA. HYDRA had worked with the Red Room since its inception. In the weeks leading up to your op, HYDRA quietly fortified several of Dreykov’s businesses. When your explosion brought down his office building, Dreykov, his daughter and several of his security team managed to find shelter under the newly delivered and highly fortified furniture. Afterwards, HYDRA dug them out and SHIELD recorded him as dead.”

Natasha was quiet, so the Winter Soldier continued. “The incident left Dreykov shaken and he began research on a better way to control his widows. What he created was a chemical pheromone that would render complete compliance in anyone properly exposed.” The Winter Soldier slowly moved his hand to his belt and opened a pouch. He pulled out a glowing red vial about the size of a test tube. “This is the formula that was synthesized to counteract the pheromone control. Breathing in a high concentration of it breaks the control. I will not give you the details on the control chemicals but the cure is yours to take and I encourage you to make as much as you want. Make the formula public so that this disgusting mind control is never used again.”

Natasha looked at the glowing vial. She glanced over at Clint then she scoffed. “You expect me to believe this? Mind control? And a glowing red vial is your proof?”

“No,” the Soldier said as he passed the vial to Steve when Natasha wouldn’t take it. “My proof is a phone number and a connection.” He reached into his vest again and pulled out a Starkphone in a custom reinforced case. “Can I call them?”

Natasha scoffed but Steve nodded and the Winter Soldier tapped the screen. The call went through and it rang twice over the speaker before it was picked up. Instead of a voice answering there was what sounded like a whistle. It was just a simple two-tone whistle and then nothing. Steve saw Natasha’s reaction to the whistle. Her eyes went wide as she stared at the phone in the Soldier’s hand and her lips parted a little bit.

“What, really?” A woman’s accented voice came from the phone after a solid minute of waiting in silence. “You’re going to leave me hanging here? After all these years? Winter, tell me you aren’t strangling her right now.”

“I am not strangling her,” the Winter Soldier said.

“Ugh, fine. Let’s try this again,” the woman said and then whistled the two notes again.

This time Natasha responded with two whistled notes of her own. “Yelena?” she asked in a choked voice.

“Jeez, it sounds like you have been strangling her, Winter. You know, the last time I visited he gave me one of the Avengers lunch boxes. It is hilarious and the perfect size for my 9mm ammo. The Black Widow, a superhero! Ha! You’ve moved up in the world, big sister.”

Natasha looked up from the phone in the Soldier’s hand and glared at him. “Yelena, is he threatening you?”

On the phone, Yelena made a very undignified sound. “No, Winter is a teddy bear. He told me he was going to tell you about the Red Room. Did he?”

“Some bullshit about chemical pheromones.”

“All true, sister. But we can talk about it later. I’ve given Winter permission to give you my number. I think we might need to meet and talk about this. But before I go, I know exactly what you’re thinking right now. It’s what I was thinking when the Winter Soldier tore into the Red Room to free the widows. But the man before you is more than what the Red Room made him. Just like the Black Widow is more. You need to remember that. Also, if you kill him, there are a great many people who will be angry, myself included. Call me later and we can discuss your action figure. Really, I was expecting bigger boobs.”

Natasha actually cracked the tiniest smile at Yelena’s last words. “Understood, we’ll talk. Until next time.”

“Ciao!” Yelena said and the line went dead.

“Satisfactory reason to delay my death?” the Winter Soldier asked.

“The number?”

The Soldier handed over a piece of paper the size of a business card.

“Execution stayed pending investigation,” Natasha said as she slipped the paper into one of the folds in her uniform that she called pockets.

The Winter Soldier nodded, then slipped the phone back into his vest. He pulled out a flash drive from the same pocket. “Hawkeye,” he prompted. Clint looked up from Nat to run his eyes over the Winter Soldier and the presented flash drive. “Information on the whereabouts of Trickshot.”

Clint scoffed loudly. “Trickshot is dead.”

The Winter Soldier cocked his head to the side. “Did SHIELD tell you that?”

Clint startled back a step. His eyes flicked between the drive and the Soldier’s goggles. Then he snatched the drive and it disappeared into a pocket.

“I have so many questions,” Tony said. “But I’m also super excited! Do me next!” In the Iron Man armor, Tony rubbed his metal palms together in eager anticipation.

“Sadly, I bring you no good news,” the Winter Soldier said as he dropped his shoulders and did not look toward Iron Man’s faceplate. “What do you know about Stark Industries’ connection to HYDRA?”

Tony chuckled and waved a metal hand in dismissal. “That’s an easy one. It was in the SHIELD files you sent us. Stane was HYDRA. Which explains a lot. I’ve been cutting HYDRA out of SI for years without knowing it.”

“And you have been doing an admirable job, according to the files you provided me. But do you know how HYDRA earned Stane’s loyalty?”

The Iron Man suit stilled, then turned toward the Soldier. “It must have been big. Stane always wanted big.”

“Before I begin, know that I have been looking for proof of this for years. But HYDRA covers up things they consider weaknesses or mistakes and this falls into that category. I have circumstantial evidence and what I’ve seen with my own eyes. But nothing concrete.”

“Okay,” Tony said. “Tell me the story.”

“Howard Stark was always obsessed with what he considered to be his magnum opus,” the Winter Soldier began.

“Right, Captain America,” Tony said, then quickly added, “not this one. The one in World War Two.”

The Winter Soldier just nodded and continued. “After the war, he worked to find a way to replicate his success.”

“Yeah, but he never succeeded. I know this story. Get to the fun bits.”

“You are only partially correct.”

The Iron Man suit cocked its head to the side. “Go on.”

“After the war, SHIELD paired Howard with the only other scientist to have created a successful supersoldier, Arnim Zola.”

“Howard worked with Zola?!” Steve broke in. “But Howard knew exactly what Zola—” The Winter Soldier jerked his gaze over to Steve and Steve bit his tongue to stop talking.

“I will not make judgments on his decisions, only report on what happened. While they worked together, they were not successful. It took years, but eventually, Howard was successful. In 1991, he created five doses of what he considered to be a viable formula. He packed up the formula in his civilian vehicle and headed out with his wife on vacation. Along the way, he planned on delivering the formula to SHIELD.”

“Wait, are you saying HYDRA killed my parents to get their hands on the super soldier serum?” Tony asked in shocked surprise. He was so wrapped up in the story, he didn’t even notice that he had given away that Iron Man was Tony Stark. Steve figured it didn’t really matter since the Winter Soldier wasn’t even slightly surprised.

“As far as I am aware, the murder was due to infighting,” the Winter Soldier explained. “If the package had been delivered to SHIELD, HYDRA would have had it. But another branch of HYDRA wanted it for themselves and they sent an operative who staged the accident and retrieved the serum.”

“That’s where you come from, isn’t it?” Tony said with a quiet and dangerous voice. “You’re too strong, too fast. I had my theories—”

“No,” the Winter Soldier said as he shook his head. “But I was there. And this is where the failure begins. Howard’s serum was not nearly as successful as he hoped. Yes, it made the HYDRA death squad who received it stronger and faster, but it also made them feral and psychotic, prone to violent outbursts and just as much of a risk to their own people. HYDRA was devastated. Howard had been killed before he could perfect the formula. The death squad was uncontrollable and useless to them. The entire operation was considered a failure and all documentation was destroyed.”

“They put down their death squad?” Tony asked.

“No. They sealed them away in cryostasis, hoping a solution could be found in the future. I made sure they would never wake up when I found them,” the Winter Soldier replied.

“And how does this all tie to Stane?” Before the Winter Soldier could answer, Tony continued. “Because Stane took total control of SI when Dad died. HYDRA framed the murder as a fucked up gift to him.”

“Exactly.”

“That’s some heavy accusations, Snowflake. But you don’t have any proof.”

The Winter Soldier gestured to Hawkeye. “Only a few reports that make reference to the mission. Those are saved on the same drive. Some circumstantial evidence. I burned the bodies of the death squad to prevent anyone from finding them. I promise you, Stark, when I am able to, I will bring you the truth and the proof.”

“I’ll hold you to that, Soldier,” Tony said and then he glanced around. “Until then, I think we’ve all decided that we’re not going to shoot each other, right?”

“Looks like it,” Steve said.

“So, alliance?”

“My proposal is we start small,” the Winter Soldier said. “A few simple and clandestine missions to find information and forge trust.”

What James had planned was infiltrating MI6. Not exactly what Steve would consider simple. But after leaving amicably the previous night, he sent a detailed plan to Avengers Tower the next morning and Steve had been giddy with excitement when he read it.

One thing he was pretty sure that no one except the Howlies knew, was that it was Bucky who had taught Steve how to be a soldier. Steve never got any training beyond his eight weeks at Camp Lehigh. His captaincy was honorary, but no one seemed to remember that. He had never received any officer training, no instruction in tactics or even how to command, but Bucky had made sure he was never lacking. Most of the early plans made for the Howlies were Bucky’s. All of the incredible ingenuity and tactics that went down in history as being attributed to Captain America, were actually Bucky’s ideas. Eventually, Steve caught on, and with collaboration between the two of them, the ideas just got better. It had been a very long time since he’d seen one of Bucky’s plans and frankly the plan James had provided was gorgeous.

If every Avalanche mission was planned out in this level of detail, it was no wonder the Avengers rarely got the upper hand. The mission was pretty simple. James wanted something from MI6 but he needed a lawful distraction. That was where the Avengers came in. 

Every single detail was planned out, who was where, when and doing what, several different methods of entry, alternate routes, half a dozen ways to get through a certain door, listed in order of least noticeable to most, and several escape routes. There were also dozens of contingencies, locations to get to if you got left behind, contact numbers to call, addresses of safe houses, even information that could be given in the event of capture.

Even Natasha was impressed by the level of detail and planning involved. Her part of the plan was to join Storm Blind for the incursion, along with the Winter Soldier. Clint was eyes in the sky while Tony was helping with a bit of hacking. Steve was supposed to gladhand with a couple of important people. James had actually listed out talking points for the conversation and provided reference information including a few files that were highly classified about MI13.

The Avengers agreed to the plan. The teams were set up so that the Avengers and Avalanche were intertwined. Hawkeye was on a roof with a sharp-eyed woman that was introduced as Cloud 9. The Black Widow was folded into Storm Blind. Iron Man was working with Avalanche’s Central and Captain America was being supported by three men, introduced as Clouds 1, 2 and 3, who were dressed in flight suits and helmets and were pretending to be the flight crew for his quinjet.

Everything went off without a hitch. How could there be problems with a plan so thorough and filled with contingencies? Steve learned a lot about superhero teams in other countries after he brought up MI13 with his contacts. Now, Steve was on the Avengers’ quinjet. Clouds 2 and 3 were in the cockpit flying, but Cloud 1 was sitting across from him and Steve could have sworn the guy was angry.

“That went very well,” Steve said, trying to break the ice. All of Avalanche had been pleasant and great to work with but this guy had been cold the whole time.

“I’m gonna ask you a question, Captain, and you’re gonna answer it honestly,” Cloud 1 grounded out through gritted teeth. “And if I don’t like the answer, or I think you’re lying, I am going to do everything in my power to make things difficult for you.”

Steve locked his eyes on the dark mask of the man across from him. James’s people were very well trained. It seemed odd that one of them was threatening Steve. “Is that a threat?”

“I would never endanger Winter’s plans or this alliance, but whether or not I like you depends on your answer.”

“Okay, ask then.”

“What the hell did you say to Winter?”

Steve wasn’t sure what he was referring to. “I’m not sure—”

“After your second meeting, Winter came back furious. I have never seen him so angry. Whatever you said to him made him want to kill a lot of people. I think we very nearly lost him to the Winter Soldier.”

Steve’s mouth dropped open. He had known the big reveal must have been hard on James but he didn't know how hard. And what did this man mean by nearly losing James to the Winter Soldier? “I didn’t—”

Cloud 1 cut him off. “Winter isn’t just my boss. He’s my friend. Something you said to him hurt him badly and terrified the rest of us with his reaction. So, I’m asking you again, Captain, what did you say to him?”

Steve looked over Cloud 1 across from him. “You really care about him.”

“I do. And I’m willing to stand between you and him if I have to.”

“Like you wanted to at the Battle of the Breach?” Across from Steve, Cloud 1 sat up straighter. “That was you, wasn't it? Walking at his shoulder? Making sure he was okay.”

“It was.”

“Alright.” Steve took a deep breath. He was glad James had people who cared about him but he would not risk James’s secrets. “I don’t know how much you know about him and I won’t risk his secrets so I’ll need to be vague.” Cloud 1 didn’t respond so Steve continued. “He and I knew each other a long time ago. We were childhood friends. I thought he died. He thought I died. I… probably could have handled the big reveal a little better.”

Cloud 1 sat very still. “Okay. I can see how learning that information might be traumatic.”

“He was my best friend and I know he’s gone through hell. I’m glad he’s got people like you looking out for him.”

Cloud 1 groaned. “I wish he would let us look out for him. Guy’s a goddamned mother hen. Did you know he actually rescued a cat out of a tree for one of us?”

Steve threw his head back and laughed. “Sounds about right. Have you ever complained to him and had him offer to help you in a dozen different ways?”

Cloud 1 snorted. “Yes. He actually booked the flight, paid for the ticket, and then locked me out of HQ so I would go visit my family!”

Steve roared in laughter again. “It’s usually better to just go along with it,” he gasped out.

Cloud 1 shook his head as he laughed. “Alright, Captain. If you help me look out for him, you and I are good.”

“I will. I promise.”

The Avengers had run two successful missions with Avalanche when Thor returned from Asgard to celebrate Christmas with his girlfriend, or as he called it, Yule. They briefed Thor on how the situation with Avalanche had evolved since he left but before Thor could head off to spend the holidays with Jane, Steve asked him for a favor. Thor was willing to answer James’s question and Steve set up a meeting. They did the meeting at Stark Manor again. While they were allies, James still hadn’t set foot inside the Avengers’ stronghold or revealed Avalanche’s base of operations.

No one bothered with costumes this time, except for James, since it was obvious he knew who all of them were.

“Prince Thor,” the Winter Soldier said as he stepped up onto the deck behind Stark Manor.

“Soldier of Winter,” Thor replied.

“Thank you for accepting.” The Winter Soldier actually bowed as he said it. “I have only one request: Will you tell me about the Skrull?”

Steve was surprised to see the usually laid-back demeanor of Thor stiffen to something deadly serious. It was clear he recognized the word and it worried him.

“Your choice of question makes me incredibly wary, Soldier,” Thor replied. “But I will answer. And then, you will explain. Agreed?”

The Winter Soldier nodded. “Agreed.”

“The Skrull are a technologically advanced race of reptilian humanoids,” Thor began. “While their technology is impressive, it is their innate physiological ability to shapeshift into a near-perfect copy of any other humanoid for which they are most notable. That ability is also how they infiltrate planets and destabilize civilizations enough to allow for their battleships to conquer said planets in order to expand their empire. Even on Asgard, it takes a highly skilled illusion mage to spot the deception of the Skrull. Now, Soldier, you will tell me why this information is important to you.”

The Winter Soldier shared a glance with Steve, then he addressed the group. “Because the Skrull are here and they have been since 1995.”

“Wait!” Tony shouted. “You’re telling me alien shapeshifters are here? Have been here for years?”

“They took control of HYDRA in ‘96,” the Soldier answered calmly.

“You can’t be serious,” Natasha argued. “Alien shapeshifters? You expect us to believe that?”

It was Thor who answered her. “If the Soldier of Winter has cause to believe that the Skrull are here, you should heed his warning. Invasion may not be far behind.”

The Winter Soldier seemed to regard Thor for a moment before he reached into his armor and pulled out the metal cylinder with the blinking red light that Steve had seen before. “I have had people working for months and we’ve devised a way to force a Skrull to revert.”

Thor’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Truly?! Asgard uses magic. As far as I am aware, no civilization has developed a means to reliably detect the Skrull. Although it may have been created and then suppressed after the Skrull conquered. I would be most interested in your discoveries.”

The Winter Soldier held out the metal cylinder and a flash drive. “It takes my contact a long time to make even one of these. He says that the frequencies must be calibrated down to the fourth decimal place. He’s provided detailed instructions on how to make them as well as insight on methods that have failed and how to properly test the disruptor. So far, he hasn’t found anyone else capable of producing them. He has high hopes for Stark Industries.”

Thor took the offered items and set them down on the table where Tony immediately picked them up. “How’s it work?” Tony asked.

“I have absolutely no idea,” the Soldier answered. “But it works with 100% reliability within two meters in two minutes. I’ve used it to find several Skrull.”

“So,” Natasha began, obviously very skeptical. “You’re telling me that Earth is being invaded and nobody knows?”

The Winter Soldier focused all of his attention on her. “I know. And now, you know.”

Chapter Text

The people of the world didn’t know how lucky they were to have SHIELD. They didn’t know just how many threats SHIELD saved them from on a daily basis. Maria Hill knew. She knew that SHIELD was a force for good in the world. She worked hard to make it that way. So when SHIELD started to decline, she took it personally. She had worked closely with Fury to save the agency and to keep SHIELD strong, but it hadn’t been enough and when honest-to-god aliens attacked New York, the only card SHIELD had left to play was the Avengers Initiative. 

Thankfully, it had worked and the Avengers were a force to be reckoned with. The Avengers worked separately from SHIELD, for the most part, but after trying and failing to subdue the Winter Soldier, the Avengers had reached out and SHIELD had put a few STRIKE teams at their disposal. It had worked out very well and Masterson had made a kill shot on the Winter Soldier.

Instead of getting time to celebrate the death of a supervillain, the world was nearly invaded by aliens again. And this time, SHIELD had nothing to offer. If Project Insight had gotten beyond the planning phase, an alien invasion could have been dealt with with the push of a button. But SHIELD had neither the funds nor the manpower for three more helicarriers. Thankfully, the Avengers managed to save the day, again. 

Fury was still patting himself on the back for putting together such a useful team when, eight days after the Battle of the Breach, the Avengers cut all ties with SHIELD. It was sudden and absolute. Three letters of resignation arrived at the Triskelion by courier from Rogers, Romanoff and Barton, effective immediately. When Fury tried to call to talk to them, he was put through to the Stark Industries legal department.

Fury and Maria were more than a little surprised since only a month ago the Avengers had come to SHIELD for help. Fury started setting up a not-so-legal means of getting a face-to-face meeting with the Avengers while Maria worked through the proper channels and set up an appointment with her former agents. It took weeks but she got appointments with each of them. The first of which would be Captain Rogers.

Maria was going to be leaving for New York tomorrow and after spending a few days checking in with SHIELD’s New York branch, she would be meeting with Rogers at Avengers Tower. She headed to bed in her small, but secure, Washington apartment for the last night of sleep in her own bed before her trip.

When Maria woke up the next morning, she was not in her own bed. She jolted upright and looked around. She was in a cell, that much was obvious. Three walls were cement and one wall was metal bars. She was laying on a solid cot with a foam mattress. There was a small pillow and a single blanket. The cell was brightly lit with recessed and inaccessible lights. Beside the cot was a cardboard box filled with military MREs. There was a toilet/sink combination on the other wall and a stack of something about the size of a milk crate near the bars. 

Maria’s mind immediately went into panic mode. She checked the room. The metal door in the bars was locked but the lock had a plate welded over it so she couldn’t get to the keyhole. There was a camera in the hallway beyond the bars with a red light on it and an analogue clock beside it. She couldn’t see down the hallway but it was dark.

The stack of things she hadn’t recognized near the bars was books. Most of them were old with pages yellowing from age. There was a single note on top of the pile of books that read: “Clap for lights.” Maria clapped twice and the light went out, leaving her in near-total darkness with only the red light on the camera remaining. She clapped again and the lights came back on.

As far as Maria could tell, someone wanted her contained. But this cell was not designed to torture. In fact, it looked like it was designed to keep her in relatively good health. There were enough MREs to last about a month, more if she rationed. There was clean water in the sink. There was a bed and she could control the lights. The clock beside the camera looked like it might be trustworthy. There was even entertainment. There was not, however, anything she could use as a weapon. Even the bed was a solid steel construction that she couldn’t pull any pieces off of.

Nine days went by and no one came. Maria had tried everything she could to get out. She’d even started digging into the concrete around the bars but she didn’t have a tool so it was very slow progress. 

She’d quickly discovered the books were terrible. Mostly Harlequin romance and all likely bought in an airport for the level of quality. Still, it broke up the mind-numbing boredom of isolation. 

Rangar was just embracing his love interest after tearing away his shirt that had been ripped oh so strategically during the fight with his rival when the oppressive silence of the cell was broken by a heavy clang in the distance. Maria was on her feet in a second, the book left forgotten on the bed. She briefly considered turning off the lights. Instead, she stood as far from the bars as she could.

The man who walked around the corner was not who she expected but it made sense. Apparently, he wasn’t dead. The Winter Soldier stepped up to the bars. His goggled eyes swept over her and then the cell.

“Deputy Director Hill,” he said.

Maria remained silent. The Winter Soldier pulled something with a red light on it out of his vest and fiddled with it for over a minute, then put it away and pulled out a cell phone. He tapped at the phone and then spoke. “I have her.”

“Thank god,” came a familiar voice over the phone. It almost sounded like— “Hill, are you alright?”

It sounded like Captain Rogers. But why would the Winter Soldier be talking to Rogers? “Captain?” she asked. Were the Avengers in league with Avalanche? Was that why they had cut ties with SHIELD?

“It’s good to hear your voice, Hill. The Winter Soldier will bring you to Avengers Tower.”

“Bad idea, Captain,” the Soldier said. His voice was low and rough. “She’s not going to trust me. She’ll probably try to kill me the moment I open the cell.”

“Hill’s good people!” Rogers argued. That confused Maria a bit. Good people were the type who would put down the Winter Soldier in a heartbeat. “Hill, you wouldn’t—” Rogers cut himself off. Then he spoke again after a moment. “Nat says you would. Okay, look can you just leave her there, Soldier? And we’ll come for her when we can?”

“I’d have to leave to go scout. This place isn’t secure,” the Winter Soldier answered.

“Okay, Hill. It looks like those are your choices. Either go with the Soldier to Avengers Tower or wait for the Avengers to come to you.”

“Is Romanoff there, Cap?” Maria asked. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but Fury trusted Romanoff.

Romanoff’s voice answered. “Hill?”

“How did Fury lose his eye?” Maria asked.

“He’ll tell you he lost it to the biggest, meanest alien anyone ever saw. But my intel says it was a goose.”

“If the Winter Soldier kills me, I am going to come back and haunt your ass,” Maria growled.

“Soldier, play nice.”

“If she attacks me, I’m knocking her out.”

“I would expect no less. Alive, Soldier.”

“Da,” the Winter Soldier put the phone away and then reached forward and crushed the lock on the door with his metal hand. “Follow.”

Maria grabbed the book off the bed. Totally not because she needed to see if Rangar got the girl but so that she had something to use as a weapon if she needed it. She stepped out into the hallway and saw that it turned sharply to run up along one side of the cell. Then it led to stairs. 

“Where are we?” Maria asked.

“Near Flemington, New Jersey. A very old SHIELD safehouse.”

Maria followed the Winter Soldier down the hall and up the stairs. He pushed open the steel door at the top of the stairs and Maria found herself in a rustic but homely looking farmhouse. The house was in good repair and showed no signs of a struggle. Outside, a black SUV with windows tinted too dark to see through was waiting.

The drive to Avengers Tower was tense. Maria didn’t say a word and spent most of the time plotting the route and making sure they were going the right way. She considered running, or even forcing a car accident so she could get away. But Maria knew the Winter Soldier was enhanced. He’d crushed the lock on the cell like it was cardboard and had somehow survived Masterson’s bullet to the chest. A car accident would hurt her a lot more than him.

Eventually, they got to New York. Then the Winter Soldier pulled the SUV into the garage under Avengers Tower. When the Soldier got out, Maria followed him.

“Welcome back to Avengers Tower, Soldier.” Maria had only interacted with Stark’s AI twice but she’d heard it speak several times so it didn’t surprise her. The Winter Soldier looked equally unsurprised. “Congratulations on the success of your rescue mission. It is good to see you well, Deputy Director Hill. We have all been worried for your safety.”

Maria followed the Soldier into the elevator, which whisked them to the upper floors.

“Hill!” It was Romanoff who greeted her but all of the Avengers were waiting for her and none of them were in costume.

“Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on and why I’m not allowed to shoot the Winter Soldier?!” Maria demanded.

“It’s a long story,” Rogers began as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

“Oh, I am just dying to hear this,” Maria said with a scowl. It better be damn good.

“I need to get some sleep,” the Winter Soldier said from where he was still behind Maria. “There’s a reason I never approached Hill or Fury in the past, Captain. I think you’re about to find out.”

“Alright,” Rogers said. “Go get some sleep. You look like you need it.”

The Winter Soldier stepped back into the elevator and the Avengers just let him go.

“What the hell is going on?!” Maria demanded.

It wasn’t until an hour later, after Stark had shuffled her into a guest room to shower and change and they plied her with pizza that Maria was sitting in a conference room with Rogers, Stark, Romanoff and Barton.

“JARVIS, bring up the footage of Hill’s visit, starting from the top,” Stark said with a flourish of his hand. The screen in the room lit up and Maria saw a security camera video of her walking into the tower.

“This video was taken five days ago, when you showed up for the meeting you’d scheduled with me,” Rogers said.

Maria watched as the her on the screen met with Rogers in the lobby of Avengers Tower and they both shook hands. “That’s impossible. I went to bed in my apartment four days before I was supposed to meet you and woke up the next morning in a cell.”

The Avengers shared a few looks. The Maria and Rogers on the screen headed to the elevator and eventually arrived in a very similar conference room to the one she was currently sitting in.

“Thank you for meeting with me, Captain,” the woman on the screen said. It sounded like Maria. “I was hoping to find out why the Avengers suddenly cut all ties with SHIELD. We both want the same things. We should be working together to achieve it.” On the screen, Maria rubbed both hands over her eyes and temples in clear discomfort before she sat down.

“Is everything alright, Hill?” Rogers on the screen asked.

“Oh?” Maria said. “Yes, fine. Just working too hard I guess. I think I feel a headache coming on. Can you tell me… why…?” Maria trailed off.

“Hill?” Rogers asked, clearly concerned as the Maria on the screen dropped her head into her hands. 

A moment later, someone in Maria’s clothes was sitting in her place. Someone with green skin, dark eyes and facial ridges. The thing in her clothes looked at its now green hands then looked up at Rogers and said in a very not Maria voice, “Well, this is awkward.”

“What the hell is that?!” Maria yelled as the screen paused its playback.

“That is a Skrull,” Rogers said with a sigh.

“Nope,” Stark said as he leaned back in his chair. “Even with the buildup and proof, I’m still having trouble believing it.”

“What the hell is a Skull?!” Maria demanded.

Romanoff was the one who answered. “Shape-shifting aliens that have infiltrated the world’s governments to destabilize society in order to facilitate an invasion.”

Maria’s mouth dropped open. “Where the hell did you hear that?!”

The Avengers shared a look. “The Winter Soldier,” Rogers said.

“You expect me to believe a known terrorist?” Maria growled.

“If I may cut in,” JARVIS said. “Strictly speaking, I do not believe the Winter Soldier fits the definition of terrorist.”

“Preach, J!” Stark shouted with a fistpump.

“According to Cambridge Dictionary’s definition, a terrorist is someone who uses violent actions, or threats of violent action for political purposes. As far as my investigations go, I have found proof of the Winter Soldier's violent actions, however, politics have never played into the situation. The Winter Soldier has never made a declaration or demand for the media, the government or the public to behave a certain way. He has only provided information and allowed reporters, the media, the public, the government and law enforcement to act on the information however they choose. A more suitable word would be vigilante.”

“I see,” Maria said as she scanned the gathered faces. JARVIS was apparently on the Winter Soldier’s side now. Who else among the Avengers was also compromised? “You expect me to believe that the world is being invaded by shape-shifting aliens and the Winter Soldier is the only one who knows about it? And your proof is… what? One video?”

“Well, we have the chameleon down in the basement, but he’s not being very cooperative,” Stark groused. “Don’t worry; so far we’re sticking to the rules set out by the Geneva Convention.”

“You and I both know how easy it is to doctor a video, Stark,” Hill argued.

“J, bring up the feed from the cell.”

The screen flicked to a supposedly live feed of a prison cell with the green alien on the cot staring at the ceiling.

“That’s still not good enough. That could just be a really dedicated cosplayer. Or a VFX artist hired by Stark Industries,” Maria argued. “Besides, why now? I don’t believe any of this. The more likely story is that this is all a ruse by the Winter Soldier to get you to work with him. And even if it is true, even if there are shape-shifting aliens, how do I know you all haven’t been replaced? You all had a very drastic personality shift a few weeks ago. You all could have been replaced at the Battle of the Breach!”

“We haven’t been replaced, Hill,” Rogers argued. “The Winter Soldier gave us some tech to locate the Skrull and—”

“Isn’t that convenient!” Maria cut it. “The Winter Soldier’s tech found my copycat. The Winter Soldier knew where to find me.”

“We have the alien in lockup!” Stark argued. “All our tests confirm it’s not terrestrial.”

“Your tests,” Maria repeated. 

Barton lowered his head to the table and groaned. “Don't bother, Tony. I’ve seen this before and the Winter Soldier was right.”

“Clint?!” Tony asked. “But Thor confirmed—!”

“It doesn’t matter what we say. It doesn’t matter what we do. Hill won’t believe us. She’s committed to her own way of thinking and anything we show her won’t change that. We could bring the Skrull up here and have him shift through a hundred different people and Hill will just say something like… we’re using gas to make her hallucinate or you’re using holograms to trick her. We could put every document we have in front of her and she’ll just say they are all fake. I can only imagine how she would have reacted if the Winter Soldier had told her about… the other thing we know. I can see why the Soldier made such a quick exit.”

The room was quiet for several moments before a phone beeped. Rogers took his phone out of his pocket. “It’s the Soldier. He wants to know how it’s going. The jerk is supposed to be sleeping.” Rogers looked up from the phone to look at Maria. “I know you won’t believe me, but the Winter Soldier and Avalanche have been helping the Avengers track you down since we realized you’d been replaced. According to JARVIS, the Soldier hasn’t slowed down his search even to sleep.”

Rogers tapped at the phone a few times. Then the phone beeped again. “Huh. The Soldier says to tell you to ask Fury about a Blockbuster Video explosion in 1995. What does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” Hill growled. “I guess I’ll have to ask him when I report in and tell him that the Avengers are working with the Winter Soldier.”

“Alright,” Romanoff said. “I guess we’re done here.”

“Done?! What are you talking about?” Stark shouted. “She still doesn’t believe us!”

“And she won’t,” Barton sighed.

“You’re free to go, Hill,” Rogers said.

Romanoff escorted Maria out.

“If I remember correctly, it was you who said the Winter Soldier is a massive threat to public safety and the world would be a better place if anyone could kill him.”

Romanoff glanced over at Maria in the elevator. “I did say that and it was true. But things change. I am willing to open my eyes and see it. It’s too bad you aren’t.”

When Maria got to SHIELD’s New York outpost she realized that she hadn’t even been missed. No one knew she was gone and everyone just assumed she was in talks with the Avengers. It didn't improve her mood. She called up Fury on a secure line and relayed the entire story to him.

“What exactly did they call these aliens, Hill?” Fury asked.

“Something like Skrull,” Maria answered. 

Fury hummed in thought for almost a whole minute. “Did they say anything else?”

“The Winter Soldier seems to think that if I mention an explosion in a Blockbuster in 1995, it will be important to you.”

“Well. Shit.”

Chapter Text

Steve Rogers was slowly getting to know his best friend again. It was hard. Almost the entirety of James’s attention was focused on eradicating the last traces of HYDRA or finding more information about the Skrull. It left little time for James and Steve to bond. Steve was hoping to spend more time with James but right now, he was happy with what he could get. Even if that was brief and professional encounters between the Avengers and Avalanche.

The Winter Soldier was at Avengers Tower, bringing a new round of information to the group who were all gathered in a conference room when the Winter Soldier’s phone went off. He quickly answered, “Tell me.” There was a moment of silence before he spoke again. “Are you certain?” More silence. “How long?” Another pause. “Will you be ready?” More silence and then a scoff from the Winter Soldier. “I have to be ready.”

The Winter Soldier hung up the phone and looked around the room. “My contact has just confirmed the Skrull fleet will be in orbit tomorrow evening. He believes the attack will come shortly after that.”

“Alright,” Steve said. “What’s the play?”

The Soldier took a deep breath before he began. “I have allies around the world. People who I hope I can count on to help. I had intended to reach out to them individually but time will not permit it.” The Soldier looked at Tony. “Stark, can you hack a worldwide broadcast for me? I need to reach everywhere, from Canada to Russia. Brazil to Ethiopia. England to Australia. The sooner I get the word out the more time people have to prepare.”

“I think so. J?”

“We should be able to accommodate in approximately 15 minutes.”

“I’ll be ready,” the Soldier said. “I need to verify the information I’m going to share and contact Avalanche.”

The Winter Soldier’s live and worldwide broadcast went out 15 minutes later. Tony picked a nondescript backdrop for the broadcast and made sure it wouldn’t be tracked back to Stark Industries. James was fully geared as the Winter Soldier for the broadcast.

“For those of you who do not know me, I am the Winter Soldier. It has come to my attention that 34 hours from now, an alien fleet will enter orbit and begin a multipronged invasion. Many capital cities will be targeted with the largest attack aimed at Washington, D.C. I know that the majority of the world will not believe this but it is not to them I am reaching out. I am calling on any allies of the Winter Soldier to assist in the defense of our world. If you can arrange transportation to Washington, come and stand with me. If you can’t, gather at your country’s capital. Support will be waiting there. Make contact with Avalanche and more information will be provided. I don’t know if any of you will answer this call, but I will stand in defense of this planet. I hope I am not standing alone.” He gave a jerk of his head and Stark cut the broadcast.

“Short and to the point, eh, Hannibal?” Stark said once it was over.

“I have already had my chance to convince them. All I can do now is trust them.”

The Avengers spent the next 33 hours deep in preparation. When the time came, they headed out to the site the Winter Soldier had mentioned and found the full military might of Avalanche waiting in the snowy field. There were news helicopters in the sky as well as a few military aircraft but everyone seemed to be in a holding pattern.

“Avengers,” the Winter Soldier greeted.

“Avalanche,” Steve said as he stepped off the quinjet with the rest of the Avengers. “The Avengers stand with the Winter Soldier.”

The Winter Soldier nodded. “Fall in.”

JARVIS took over piloting the quinjet and moved it out of the way in time for another high-tech aircraft to take its place. Three people in matching costumes and one yellowish rock monster walked out of the aircraft. 

“I wasn’t expecting them so soon, Winter,” the man in the lead said.

“But you are ready, Mr. Fantastic?” the Soldier asked.

“Of course I’m ready!” Mr. Fantastic whined. “Drones are in place in all the major cities with the Skrull disruption tech. Say the word and we’ll be able to see them. The Fantastic Four stand with the Winter Soldier.”

The next aircraft to land wasn’t alone. It was actually a whole squadron of advanced-looking fighter craft as well as several troop transports. Whoever this was, they were bringing a whole army. The doors to the craft opened and hundreds of people in African tribal garb poured out. They were led by a dozen women with shaved heads clad in red armor. In front of the women was a man in black armor with a distinctive panther motif.

“Soldier,” one of the women in red greeted. 

“Ayo,” the Winter Soldier replied.

“We have not met, Soldier,” the black-clad man said. “I am Prince T’Challa. Wakanda has decided to take this opportunity to follow your example. The world may be a bitter place but it will not get better if we do not try. And so, Wakanda stands with the Winter Soldier.” The prince crossed his arms over his chest in some sort of salute and the entire complement of Wakandan soldiers saluted as well.

“I trust Wakanda is protected?” the Soldier asked.

“Of course,” the prince replied. “The logistics of transporting the war rhinos were a little beyond even our capabilities.”

“Thank you for coming,” the Soldier bowed to the prince as the soldiers spread out.

“When this is over, you and I are going to have a very long talk about how the hell you know the prince of Wakanda!” Tony hissed.

The Winter Soldier didn’t have a chance to respond because a long and sleek black jet landed next and a gaggle of people in colorful costumes stepped out.

The one who led the group was short and in a bright yellow outfit. “I was supposed to be relaxing with a brewski tonight, Soldier, but instead I’m going to war! You couldn’t have waited until Monday?!”

“War waits for no man, Wolverine.”

“Tell me about it, bub. I don’t like it but the X-Men stand with the Winter Soldier. Alpha Flight is spread across Canada, ready to defend and in contact with Avalanche.”

While Wolverine was talking, another jet had landed and an older man in purple and red floated over. “Really, Soldier? Consorting with the enemy?”

“Magneto,” the Winter Soldier said in greeting. “I don’t care if you don’t get along with the X-Men. I know you don’t want to be oppressed and the Skrull will oppress all of us. The X-Men will take the left flank; the Brotherhood has the right.”

“Sufficient, I suppose,” the old man sighed. “The Brotherhood stands with the Winter Soldier.”

“Winter,” one of the Avalanche soldiers who Steve thought might be Cloud 1, said as he stepped forward to stand beside the Winter Soldier. "Chatelaine reported in. We have support from over 40 countries around the world. Two dozen widows are also in place in as many capitals, ready to report.”

“Good.”

“Okay, I got a question,” Tony called over the comm. “This is an alien invasion, right? So why are we standing in a field? Couldn’t they pick a different location? Or, I don’t know, orbital strike us?”

“A significant part of the Skrull strategy is to destroy the morale of the people they intend to conquer,” the Winter Soldier replied. “We’ve set our defense, they will assault it to prove we are no match for them.”

“Are we a match for them?” Steve asked.

“I have gone to great lengths to limit the Skrull’s knowledge of the people gathered here,” the Soldier said. “To them, we are just a standard Earth army. They have no idea what stands against them. I think it’s time.” As the Soldier spoke, another craft landed but only one ordinary-looking man who wasn’t even covering his face stepped out.

As the man walked toward the assembled soldiers, Steve saw the Winter Soldier tense up. The approaching man began to clap slowly. “Well, well, well! This was not what I was expecting.”

“Ritter,” the Winter Soldier growled so lowly and beastly that Steve barely heard the word in it.

“All these people, allies of the Winter Soldier. Tell me, Soldier, how many of them know the truth, hmm? How many of them know that you served HYDRA for years, for decades? All of the destabilization you blame on us was actually your doing.”

“If we’re sharing truths now then you can’t stop with half measures,” the Soldier growled. “Why don’t you tell them about how you tortured me into compliance? How you used electricity to wipe away my memories?” There was a brief pause as the Winter Soldier and Ritter glared at each other. “No answer to the truth, Ritter? Besides, it doesn’t matter who I am or what I did, the only reason they stand with me is to stand against you.” 

“You think you’ve accomplished something here but it doesn’t matter!” Ritter yelled as he pointed angrily at the Soldier. “You are just a broken weapon! Useless! We should have put you down a long time ago!” 

The Soldier’s response was flat and monotone. “Then come and try.”

Ritter grinned, dark and threatening. “Even if you win, we will hide and you will never know who to trust.”

“I think you might have missed something important here, Ritter,” the Winter Soldier said calmly. “Mr. Fantastic?”

Mr. Fantastic hit a button on a tablet and suddenly, Ritter’s shape wavered and he was green.

Ritter looked at his hands then stared at the Winter Soldier with his mouth hanging open. “How did you…?”

“Human ingenuity. Next, we’ll show you human tenacity.”

Ritter roared and apparently that was the cue his people were waiting for because several lights streaked across the cloudy sky.

The Winter Soldier’s voice came from both beside Steve and in his ear. “We need to destroy the battleship. Who has spaceflight capabilities?”

“Wakanda has three talons that are space-worthy,” a male voice replied.

“The Fantastic Four’s jet can reach low Earth orbit and our weapons are long range.”

“I have four Iron Man suits on standby that are space-worthy.”

“Asgardians can survive in space for a limited time.”

“Alright, everyone who called out, get up there and destroy that thing,” the Soldier said. “Do what you can to make sure the debris is pushed out of orbit. We don’t want all of that shit falling to Earth.”

Steve heard several replies over the comm then saw Thor twirl his hammer and launch himself straight upwards.

“Anyone who can fly, focus on the Skrull air support,” the Winter Soldier said. “Storm, get rid of the cloud cover. Most of our fliers fly by eye and need a clear line of sight.”

“Understood, Soldier.”

Steve watched as the cloud cover swirled and then slowly vanished and left a blue sky, filled with dozens of fast-approaching ships.

“Magneto, my reports say most of those ships don’t contain much that’s magnetic so I brought you a gift.” As the Soldier said it, Steve saw him drop six two-inch, shiny, metal spheres on the ground in front of him.

“Adamantium? For me, Soldier? You really shouldn’t have.”

As Steve watched, the six spheres lifted up off the ground and twirled in a few geometric patterns before rocketing off.

“I expect those back, Magneto!” the Soldier said. “Or you will owe me a favor.”

“Ugh… fine.”

“Nightcrawler, you’re on medevac. If anyone goes down, get them off the field to safety.”

“Verstanden, Soldat,” came over the comm. Steve recognized it as German.

The Winter Soldier’s time was up, and the Skrull fleet descended. But that didn’t mean the Soldier stopped giving orders. In the battle that followed, Steve quickly lost sight of him but he never worried, because the Winter Soldier’s voice over the comm never faded. Wherever he was, whatever he was doing, he was still controlling the battlefield in a way that only a commander who knew the capabilities of every person under his command could. 

“X-Men, watch the left flank. The Skrull are coming around.”

“Torch! Hit them with fire! Pyro can handle it! Pyro! Incoming! Cover yourself!”

“Hulk, the guy beside you in yellow with the claws, throw him at that fighter jet!”

“Wakanda, push the advantage. Force yourself through that gap in their line!”

“Iron Man, confirm that the black and gold suit is empty. Magento can make good use of it if it is.”

“Incoming disabled jet! Storm! Divert its course away from our ground troops!”

“Hawkeye, kill the one with the red streak on his armor. He’s an officer.”

The Skrull fielded dozens of fighter jets and hundreds of ground troops as well as armored ground vehicles. The fighting was intense. Steve found himself standing beside people he’d never met before with powers he couldn’t even imagine. The few times he’d found himself in a bad spot, someone was there to back him up and once, the Winter Soldier guided him out of it.

“Captain, the driver is behind the middle of the window. Your shield will cut through it like butter.”

The battle was waged for hours, on the ground, in the sky and in space. Eventually, Tony’s voice came over the comm.

“The battleship is disabled and venting atmosphere. Thor’s pulling it out of orbit. With its engines exposed, once it’s clear, we can blow the thing up. But none of my suits have the firepower left to hit it hard enough.”

“Wakanda, are your talons capable?” There was a few seconds of silence after the Winter Soldier spoke.

“Negative, but give us a moment to evacuate the royal talon and we’ll give you the firepower.”

It was only a few minutes later that Thor called over the comms that the battleship was destroyed. The Skrull knew they were routed then, but they kept fighting. It was long after dark when the battle finally ended. The massive field was littered with ruined craft and the bodies of the dead. Steve walked through the debris and checked on his team. Once the fighting had died to practically nothing, the comm chatter also faded but Steve still didn’t see the Winter Soldier. So he found one of Avalanche’s Storm teams, although he wasn’t sure which one it was.

“Do you have any word on the Winter Soldier’s status?” Steve asked.

The Storm team shared glances then one of them tapped their ear a few times. “Sorry Cap,” the woman said. “Winter’s still active on channel two.”

“Channel two?” Steve asked.

The woman nodded. “Multipronged assault. I haven’t been listening in, but Winter’s been providing insight and direction on that channel, too. It sounds like they’re still fighting in São Paulo.”

“Thanks for the information.”

“No problem, Captain.”

Rather than be idle, Steve put himself to work. He found where Cal had set up a medical tent and helped transport the wounded. Someone who could blink in and out of existence in a puff of black smoke seemed to be transporting people somewhere in less than a minute.

It was an hour later when Steve heard a familiar voice both over the comm and yelling loudly enough to be heard across the field.

“Defenders of Earth!” the Winter Soldier shouted. “Two Skrull battleships have been destroyed. The massive assault on Washington has been halted. The multipronged concurrent attacks on Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai, São Paulo, Moscow, Paris and London have all been thwarted. We are victorious!”

There were two beats of silence where everyone, including Steve, took in the enormity of the potential invasion, and then a cheer erupted across the field and in Steve’s ear. It sounded like the Winter Soldier had also broadcast that little speech around the world.

When the government started pushing toward the battlefield, the allies of the Winter Soldier all beat a hasty retreat. Even the Avengers only stayed long enough to hand over the 18 Skrull who had surrendered. 

The Avengers managed to get away from the fight with only a few injuries—although Thor’s hair was a little scorched and Tony had lost dozens of suits worth potentially a billion dollars. He dismissed the loss saying money was inconsequential in comparison to the number of lives saved for every sacrificed Iron Man suit. He was interested in one particular suit that had been crushed into a near-perfect sphere, though.

The day after what was dubbed the Last Stand of the Secret Invasion, the media went mad. Steve spent the entire day on the internet as he watched the drama unfold. The world was asking questions. How did this happen? How did aliens invade Earth and no one knew? Why was the Winter Soldier the only one who knew? Why did so many governments choose to ignore his call to action? Why did civilians stand at the front when there should have been armies? Who was the Winter Soldier?

It was that last question Steve paid the most attention to because people took it as a rallying cry to ask questions and find the answers. Article after article of in-depth exposé hit the internet. Is the Winter Soldier really a supervillain? by Eddie Brock was Steve’s favorite. Brock had put a lot of work into the article and it was pretty clear that it was too much work to have been done in only a few days. It listed every one of the Winter Soldier and Avalanche’s attacks, identified the target company and then listed the criminal charges brought against the company in the aftermath. Even Steve was surprised at just how terrible some of the companies were. Like finding out the Life Foundation did human experimentation or that Kronos Corporation actually had gulags in Russia.

From there, the hashtag (and Steve now knew what a hashtag was) #IstandwiththeWinterSoldier started trending. People were actually demanding the government work with Avalanche to find out how many more companies were getting away with murder, quite literally in some cases. They were also demanding the government explain how they were going to rout the Skrull.

It only got better when someone leaked the comm chatter from the Last Stand of the Secret Invasion. Steve had heard half of it but he listened to all six hours of channel two after it was posted. It turned out James was actively supporting not only the battle he could see but also every battle going on concurrently. Women, who were likely the widows he had heard mentioned, were giving succinct and clear reports on the various battlefields. They reported on who showed up to support the Winter Soldier, how many enemies arrived and the government’s response, among other things. The Soldier stepped in to offer insight and tips, broke up arguments when people who had never met had to work together and facilitated communication.

As Steve listened, he closed his eyes and tried to imagine giving orders without seeing the battlefield. He decided it would really help if he knew the people involved and he assumed James knew every one of them.

Tony called the Avengers together a week after the Last Stand. “We’ve got a problem,” he said.

“We’ve got lots of problems,” Natasha replied. “Which one has become a priority?”

“J?” Tony said and a screen popped to life. On the screen was an article with the headline: Avengers, heroes of the people or enforcers of the government? “People are starting to rally behind the Winter Soldier and they are starting to wonder about the people who’ve stood against him, mainly us. We’re gonna have to make a statement.”

“Hashtag I stand with the Winter Soldier!” Clint said with a big grin and a thumbs up.

“It’s not that simple—” Tony started.

“Why not?” Steve cut in.

Chapter Text

James had never expected to survive the final battle with the Skrull. He had plans and contingencies for every eventuality, but his survival wasn’t incorporated into any of them. He had not expected so many people to answer his call. He had not expected the fight to go so well. He had not expected every fight to go so well. He was certain the fight would be harder. Certain that Earth would struggle and that some heroic sacrifice would be necessary to win the day. And he was more than ready to be that sacrifice.

But now, it was over. And Earth didn’t just have a victory, they had a total victory. Casualties were minimal given the scale of things. At least half of the members of Avalanche were wounded. Some would need weeks to recover, but Cal had been very careful with his abilities and had only used them to save life and limb. Once triage was done and everyone was in the clear, those that could went home. The rest were sleeping in the bunkhouse in the basement of Knighthood.

Beyond Knighthood, Wakanda had lost a few people. The X-Men and the Brotherhood had left the field together when Xavier had offered to treat the injured members of the Brotherhood. Stark had to be at least a billion dollars in the red with the number of Iron Man suits he had lost. But still, given the scale of things, the victory was amazing.

James found himself on the roof of Knighthood in the garden. He was alone. He’d turned off his phone and disconnected from everything. He had no idea what to do next. He wasn’t supposed to still be alive. He was supposed to die. It was what the Winter Soldier deserved.

He needed a new plan.

He took one hour. One hour where he was unavailable to the world to plan what the hell to do next. In the end the decision was surprisingly simple.

Avalanche was exhausted over the next few days but in high spirits. Those who were fit for duty started to get back to work. James’s first order of business was to deliver the 200 Skrull disruptors to every government that wanted them. Two hundred was practically nothing when you considered the sheer amount of people in the world but it was the best they had. Along with the disruptors, he would also be delivering the schematics for them. If any organization could make the devices themselves, they were more than welcome to.

Avalanche was inundated with requests for contact through email. Allies of the Winter Soldier were also relaying messages to him that their governments wanted to meet. James filled the quinjet with boxes, gathered up Storm Cloud and flew off to the White House.

“This is Snowflake One to the White House. Avalanche is requesting permission to land,” Mike said from the pilot’s seat. It was after midnight and the quinjet was cloaked. If they were shot at, they would just move on to the next country.

“White House to Snowflake One, permission granted. Land on the back helipad.”

“Are we really going to meet the president?” Abby asked.

“Doubtful,” James responded. “More likely a few generals.”

Mike landed the jet and the Winter Soldier flanked by Avalanche stepped out. They were greeted by a few dozen Secret Service agents and two four-star generals.

“Generals,” James greeted. He set the small box in his hands down on the grass and stepped back. “Inside you will find six Skrull disruptors and the schematics for how to make them.”

“Six?!” the general on the left said. “Only six?! We have millions of people—”

James cut him off. “We only have 200 devices. And you have no more right to them than England or Sudan. You are free to make more of them but so far the only people who have proven themselves capable are Stark Industries, Pym Technologies and the country of Latveria.”

“You have to—” the general tried again.

“I have to do nothing. I am offering my assistance. You are free to handle the situation on your own if you wish.”

“General Langley, stand down,” a man said as he stepped out from behind a bush.

“Mr. President!” Langley said as threw himself in front of the president. Behind James, Mike snickered quietly.

“At ease, General. I think if the Winter Soldier wanted me dead, I’d be dead,” the president said as he stepped out from behind Langley. “Thank you for this, sir. We appreciate any help you’re willing to offer. We’d also be interested in working with you in the future. While we are grateful for your work in bringing the guilty to justice, we are a little leery about your methods.”

James considered the president’s words and decided to offer a little advice. “If you are committed to improving things, then the first thing you may want to do is look back. Look back on the seven years you have been in office and at the various laws you have passed. Take a good, hard look at those laws and ask yourself, are they really for the good of the people? Who proposed the laws? Who pushed for them to be fast-tracked through Congress? Can those people really be trusted? Especially now, knowing that your government has been invaded by alien shape-shifters.”

“I see,” the president said. “I think I have a lot of work to do.”

“So do I. Goodnight, Mr. President.”

“Goodnight, Winter Soldier.”

Most interactions around the world went the same way. Once James was done distributing the Skrull disruptors, he called for a general assembly of Knighthood. Everyone gathered in the gym, even the wounded.

“I am disbanding Avalanche,” James announced to the shocked gasps around him.

“What?! Why?!”

“The Winter Soldier is no longer needed to defend the world. HYDRA is in ruins and there are other people to take up the hunt. The Earth is safe from the Skrull threat and the world is aware of the threat they pose. With no need for the Winter Soldier, I am leaving. Avalanche will disband but Knighthood will remain. I have already created the documents required for Knighthood to continue without me.”

The people in the gym listened quietly as they shared glances that spoke of disbelief. It was Mike who spoke up. “I only have one question, James. You said that you're leaving, is that because you’re retiring and going to live in the Bahamas or something else?”

James took a deep breath. It was time to tell the whole truth. Time to reveal exactly who his people had chosen to rally behind. “Everything the media says about the Winter Soldier is true. I am a terrorist, a murderer and a monster. I spent decades working for HYDRA and murdering men, women and children in their name. I had no right to ask any of you to follow me and I refuse to continue lying to you.”

Several of the people in the gym shared glances. “We know, James,” Abby said. Several people nodded along.

James’s mind screeched to a halt. “What do you mean, you know?”

“Well, we don’t know,” Mike clarified. “But we figured it out. You were a POW, right? HYDRA captured you and forced you to do those things.”

“I—” James tried.

“I’ve seen what they did to you, James,” Cal added. “No one could withstand that kind of torture.”

“But—” James tried again.

“You saved my life, James,” Penny added. “You didn’t even kill the people who were going to kill me. I know you could have, but you didn’t.”

“That’s not—”

“Have you seen our code of conduct?” Abby cut him off. “That’s the James I know.”

“But I—”

“We know you’ve made the hard choices, James,” Sophia said. “To protect us and the world. We know who you are now. That’s what matters.”

“No. I—”

“We all knew exactly what we were getting into when we signed on with Avalanche,” Mike cut in. “Informed consent, right? And we’re all still here. So, if you want to run off to the Bahamas and retire in the lap of luxury, none of us are going to stop you. Frankly, you fucking deserve it. But if you have something stupider in mind, something like a heroic sacrifice, then you are shit out of luck. Cause you might just piss off everyone here with that bullshit.”

James narrowed his eyes at the entirety of Avalanche as he thought. “I don’t think even the Winter Soldier could stand against Avalanche.”

“Damn right!” Abby cheered.

“So, James, are you still going to disband Avalanche?” Penny asked.

“I… don’t know. I need to figure some things out, I think.”

“Fine, but don’t make any rash decisions without talking to us!”

The response from Avalanche surprised him but it did not deter him. He updated the old protocols he had set up to provide direction to Avalanche in the event of his death. He geared up in his Winter Soldier gear and he went out to find his death.

He found it in the middle of Manhattan. JARVIS let him into Avengers Tower and even whisked him up to one of Tony Stark’s private labs.

“Heya, Snowflake!” James heard as he stepped out of the elevator into the massive and cluttered lab. He looked over and saw the grease-stained billionaire elbow deep in the mechanics of one of the Iron Man boots. “JARVIS said you wanted to chat. El presidente not happy with his Skrull disruptors?”

“I made you a promise, Stark. I am here to fulfill it.”

“A promise?” Stark looked pensive for a few seconds. “Oh, you found some proof?”

“I’ve had it all along, but I could not risk the fallout. Now, the Winter Soldier is no longer necessary for the defense of the planet.”

“Wait, are you saying—”

“I know everything I told you because I witnessed it first hand. The operative who killed Howard and Maria Stark was the Winter Soldier. I… I killed Howard.” The thing was, at the time, James hadn’t even recognized him. It was only later that he had realized that he had killed his old friend. And that Howard had recognized him.

Where he stood across the workshop, Stark was quiet and his eyes were focused on James. “J, lock down the lab.” The lights flickered and James heard several mechanical locks tumble into place. “You killed my parents?”

“Yes.”

“Why?!”

“Because I was ordered to.”

“And you just followed orders like a good little soldier!”

“I didn’t even remember him!”

“What the hell are you—!” Stark paused mid-shout and went utterly still. “Wait. Wait. JARVIS, gimme the audio playback from before the battle of that asshole and the Winter Soldier talking.”

James heard a crackle over the speakers and then voices.

“Ritter.” 

“All these people, allies of the Winter Soldier. Tell me, Soldier, how many of them know the truth, hmm? How many of them know that you served HYDRA for years, for decades? All of the destabilization you blame on us was actually your doing.”

“If we’re sharing truths now then you can’t stop with half measures. Why don’t you tell them about how you tortured me into compliance? How you used electricity to wipe away my memories?” 

“End playback, J.” Stark looked at James and James just waited. He had already accepted how this would end. “Is that true?”

“Does it matter? Howard was my friend and I killed him. You deserve revenge. I won’t stop you.”

Stark narrowed his eyes for a moment. “I want answers first.”

“I’ll answer whatever I can.”

“Howard died over 20 years ago. You can’t be more than 40. How was he your friend?”

James sighed but reached a hand up to remove his mask and goggles. “My name is James Buchanan Barnes. I was born in 1917.”

“Barnes? Bucky Barnes?!”

“You’ve heard the name.”

“Dad used to talk about you all the time! Everything was always ‘Steve and Bucky’ this or that. Wait, does Steve know?!”

“Yes.”

“Well, that explains a few things! But Dad said you fell from a train and died!”

“I survived. HYDRA found me. Zola’s attempts to recreate a super soldier were successful in me. I served HYDRA for decades after they discovered how to wipe away my memories. I was stored in cryostasis between missions.”

“You’ve lived through all of that and now you’re ready to die?”

“Yes. The Winter Soldier is no longer needed to protect the Earth. It’s time I face the fate I deserve.”

“Death?”

“Yes.”

“At my hands.”

“Yes.”

“When you aren’t fighting back?”

“Yes.”

“You want to make me a murderer?”

James glanced up. “No, I—”

“I recognize you, James Knight. What’s gonna happen to Knighthood after I kill you? Or Avalanche?”

“They’ll be fine.”

“I think they’d be better if you were around.” Stark clapped his hand. “Alright. I’ve decided. I’m not gonna kill you, James. Instead you owe me a favor. And I’m calling it in now.”

“I won’t kill anyone for you.”

“Nah, the opposite in fact. You have to live. You’re not allowed to off yourself. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but the world is a helluva lot better since you’ve been under your own control. May 2010, I’m guessing? The world needs you and if I have to live with my grief, then you have to live with yours. So buck up, buttercup. And deal with it.”

Confused and disheartened, James wasn’t sure what to do next. Instead of leaving the tower, he decided to give Stark time to think it over and change his mind. He asked the AI to take him to the roof. Once there, he leaned against the high ledge around the roof and tried to figure out why his choice had made everyone so mad. 

“Soldier?” A voice from behind him startled James and he looked back. “No mask I see.”

“Steve,” James said when he recognized his old friend in the dim light on the roof.

“JARVIS told me you were up here and could use some company.”

James let out a deep, bone-weary sigh and turned back to look at the bright lights of the city. “I think I pissed off Stark.”

“Okay.”

“I think I also pissed off Avalanche.”

“Okay.” 

“And I think if I tell you, I’ll piss you off, too.”

Steve hummed in thought as he walked over and leaned against the ledge about a foot away from James. “Well, I can’t guarantee you won’t piss me off. But I can promise that even if you do, I’m still gonna be here, standing beside you, to help you figure it out.”

James glanced over at Steve, realizing and truly accepting, maybe for the first time in this century, that this was Stevie. He tore his eyes away and looked back out over the city. “I told Stark the truth. I told him about Bucky, I told him about the Winter Soldier and I told him who killed his parents.”

“Who—”

“It was me, Steve. I killed Howard and his wife.”

Beside him, Steve startled and jerked his head around to stare at James. “James—”

“I didn’t remember him. Even when he called me by name. I didn’t remember.” James looked over to see his old friend’s face drawn in horror and anger. “If you want to kill me for it, I’d understand. I won’t even put up a fight. Stark wouldn’t do it. Said I have to live with my grief. I stuck around hoping he’d change his mind.”

“I see,” Steve said. His voice was low and raspy.

James looked out at the city lights again. “I tried to disband Avalanche.”

“That didn’t go well, either?”

“They got angry at me. So I told them a bit about the Winter Soldier, the people I’ve killed. They said they already knew and they understood. But they don’t understand, Steve!”

“What don’t they understand, James?”

“I was supposed to die in the battle! Every single plan I’d made assumed I would die, one way or another. I’ve been close to death so many times in my life and every time I fought against it. But this time, this time, when I was finally ready to stop fighting, the opportunity didn’t even present itself! So, here I am!” James gestured vigorously at the roof and took in the area around him. He noted the dark look on Steve’s face. “And now I’ve pissed you off too.”

Steve looked up and met his eye. “A little bit, yeah. I’m also a little bit worried that we’re standing on the roof of a skyscraper.”

James huffed out a breath. “I’m not gonna jump, Stevie. I’m pretty sure the fall wouldn’t kill me.”

“Good,” Steve said. “So, what happens now?”

“I’ve got no fucking idea! I never made any plans for this contingency.”

“Well, then maybe it’s time to make plans.”

“Why? The world would be better off if the Winter Soldier wasn’t in it.”

“That is a lie you need to stop telling yourself,” Steve said angrily. “Maybe you’ve done terrible things, but look at what you’re doing now. You’ve spent I-don’t-know-how-many years bringing the world together. You’ve practically destroyed HYDRA single-handedly. You saved the world from an alien invasion. And now… oh. I think I get it.” Steve said the last words quietly. “You’ve spent every waking moment since you escaped focused on that, haven’t you? And now that it’s gone, you’ve lost yourself.”

James snorted. “I’ve been lost for a long fucking time, pal.”

“I know it might not be the best idea, but what if you found something else to work toward?”

“The world doesn’t need the Winter Soldier, Steve.”

“Maybe it doesn’t. But maybe the world does need James. I would be willing to bet that if you put your mind to it, if you stop focusing on what you think you deserve, you’d be able to find something. So, do me a favor, and think about it. And try to remember that I’m here for you. And so is Avalanche. None of us want to see you go.”

“I still think—”

“Think about it, James. The world is still a pretty shitty place, even without HYDRA and the Skrull. I bet there’s a helluva lot you could still do to help it.”

James left the tower after that. He snuck into Avalanche and left the Winter Soldier’s gear behind. Then he headed to his apartment. His actual apartment, the loft a few blocks from Knighthood, not the apartment in the basement. As he stepped inside, he was reminded what this place had become. All of the furniture came with the loft. He didn’t live here but it was where he kept the few personal items he owned.

Sitting in the middle of the kitchen table was a massive pair of caribou antlers. He had discarded them there after getting back from Nunavut, since it was the only surface large enough for them. 

On the fridge were several crayon drawings of what he assumed were supposed to be people. Bruno’s daughter had given him those when Bruno had brought her by Knighthood after he’d won sole custody rights to her and his wife only got visitation rights. When James had asked what he was supposed to do with the drawings, Penny had said they belong on the front of a fridge. A place of honor, she called it. So, the drawings went there and stayed there.

In the freezer was a bottle of Stolichnaya. Bucky Barnes might not have liked vodka, but the Winter Soldier spent a very long time in Russia. Alcohol might do nothing for him, but James Knight had developed a taste for it. That might have been because Ursa and Yelena demanded he drink it with them.

One shelf of the bookcase was devoted entirely to snow globes. He hadn’t had a reason to leave one behind on a Winter Soldier operation in a while, but he kept them around, just in case. And besides, some of them were works of art, purchased from all around the world to thwart any would-be HYDRA sleuth who tried to track him down.

On the shelf below was the entire collection of the Avengers action figures, complete with an additional figure that was a repaint of the Captain America figure that Kenny equipped with 3D-printed weapons and armor to make him look like the Winter Soldier. Last time Yelena stayed here she set the whole bunch of them up in an epic showdown. In the tableau, the Black Widow had turned coat and was fighting beside the Winter Soldier.

As James stood looking over the sparsely decorated room, the rising morning sun made its presence known. He made a very uncharacteristic decision. He grabbed a coat, scarf and hat, adjusted his clothes, and went for a walk. He aimed vaguely south and just walked. He had no destination in mind. There was no target to track, no location to surveil, no recon to be done. For the first time since the 1940s, James just took a walk through New York.

He walked for hours. He had adapted to the cold long ago and a chilly March day in New York was nothing compared to Siberia or Nunavut. He took time to look at the world around him and actually think about what he was seeing. The advancements in technology, the sea of people, the beating heart of the city.

It was around noon when he finally stopped. His super soldier metabolism told him it was time to eat. Sure, he could go for quite a while without eating and the Winter Soldier had often pushed his body into starvation mode, but since his escape, he tried to avoid that. It made him irritable and unpleasant to be around, or so Penny told him. He found a small park with a hot dog vendor braving the March weather. He bought a pair of hot dogs that were nearly a hundred times more expensive than the last ones he’d bought in New York. He found a bench. All of them were vacant since the weather was so poor. When he sat down to eat, he realized the bench he picked had a perfect view of Avengers Tower in the distance.

He let his thoughts wander as he ate the first hot dog. It wasn’t anything special. Just your average street meat. As he looked at the tower in the distance, he realized it was within his power to make the next one the best hot dog in New York. He set the remaining hot dog on his lap and sent a quick text.

Jerk: This hot dog is terrible.

It only took two minutes for the reply to come through.

Punk: Well, that’s easily fixed. Where are you?

Jerk: I can see Avengers Tower.

Punk: It’s too cold for a scavenger hunt. I will look though. You plan on waiting while I canvass Manhattan?

Jerk: Fine. Tudor City Greens.

Punk: That's just down the street!!! Ten minutes!

In that ten minutes, James caved and ate the other hot dog. Besides, cold hot dogs were actually terrible. When Steve showed up, he bought another pair of hot dogs from the same vendor before finding James on his bench. Steve stopped several feet away and his eyes trailed up and down James. 

“Something wrong, Steve?”

“No, it’s just…” Steve paused as he kept looking over James. “I haven’t seen you in casual clothes.”

James looked down at himself briefly. “Is that—”

“You look good, James. I’m still getting used to the long hair though.”

“What's wrong with long hair?”

“Nothing!” Steve laughed. He sat down on the bench beside James and passed over one of the hot dogs. “Best hot dog in New York.”

“Even at 100 times the price?” James asked as he took it.

“There’s very little I wouldn’t give to have this chance again.”

James huffed. “Sap.”

“Absolutely.”

They ate in relative silence. When they were done, Steve broke the ice. “How are you doing, James? And don’t lie to me.”

“I’ve been thinking. Already made some plans but I haven’t committed to anything yet.”

Steve just hummed in agreement.

“Hey, Stevie. Did you know that after the war, people did a lot of research on battle fatigue? The research came in waves, but since the US was involved in so many wars, a lot of research was done. Battle fatigue got rebranded a couple of times and it's now called post-traumatic stress disorder. It’s generally accepted that anyone who goes through a traumatic event is gonna end up with some degree of it, especially soldiers.

“Nowadays when soldiers come home, the government actually tries to help them readjust and provides therapists who specialize in PTSD to help them recover. The government is pretty shitty at helping the soldiers but mental health is now taken very seriously. Avalanche employs a bunch of military vets and there’s even a therapist on staff to help them.”

“That’s great, James.”

“I’ve never considered sitting down with her. I always figured, what was the point? I wasn’t gonna live through this so I would just be wasting her time. But now I’m supposed to live. So, I’ve been thinking that maybe I should try talking to her, about some of the truth.”

“That sounds like a great idea.”

“I think it might be.” James paused for a moment. “What about you?”

Steve startled a little bit. “What about me?”

“You ever think about seeing a therapist?”

“I don’t need—”

“Steve, were you even listening to what I said? Soldiers, all soldiers, end up struggling. Are you going to tell me that everything has been just peachy for you since the Second World War? Cause I know that’s a lie. You watched your best friend fall from a train. You woke up 70 years in the future where almost everyone you knew is dead. Then you found out HYDRA was still around. And finally, you found out I was still alive. Any one of those things would be traumatic.”

“James, I think you getting help is a great idea. But SHIELD had me see a bunch of therapists when I woke up and they all cleared me for duty.”

James just glared at him. “You realize that every one of those so-called therapists was only interested in clearing you for duty and didn’t actually care about you, right?”

“I don’t think—”

“Fine,” James relented. “I can’t make you do anything. I know that. But the option is there, Stevie. They don’t deal with mental health the same way as they did when we were kids. I’ve seen the benefits of working with a good therapist in my own people. I’ve decided to give it a try. Maybe one day, you will too.”

James stepped into Tony Stark’s private lab again a week later. “Mr. Stark,” he greeted. 

Stark looked up from soldering something in an Iron Man helmet. “This isn’t the Winter Soldier I’m looking at, is it?”

James took a moment to look himself over: tight, black jeans, red long-sleeve Henley, loose combat boots, thin leather gloves, tablet in one hand. “No, I’m here to discuss a joint venture between Stark Industries and Knighthood.”

Stark stared at James for almost a minute before he put the soldering gun down and his grave expression morphed into a smile. “Well then, Mr. Knight, I am all ears!” He gestured to a pair of chairs set on opposite sides of a workbench. 

James sat and Stark grabbed a pint of blueberries out of a mini fridge and then sat across from him. “Knighthood is about to open a new division and I was hoping Stark Industries might be willing to do the same. A little friendly competition will make it safer for everyone.”

“Go on.”

“I want to open an enhanced person talent agency.”

Stark’s eyes went wide and he blinked owlishly several times. “Did I… hear you right?”

James nodded. “Right now, every time the public sees someone with extraordinary powers, it’s a hero fighting in some sort of battle. They’ve come to associate powers with conflict. I have been around the world. I have talked to mutants and enhanced individuals in a hundred countries. There is a war on the horizon, Stark. SHIELD had already made preliminary drafts of several different acts to try to control people with powers. The Mutant Registration Act is already mentioned in hushed whispers. As are a set of accords to control anyone who wants to be a hero. Some countries want to go as far as conscripting anyone with unique abilities.”

“Shit,” Stark huffed. “I knew it might be bad but this…”

“Something needs to be done. I’m still working on long-term plans but this is a start. I want to change the public opinion of those with powers by letting people see these abilities working around them and helping them.”

“With an enhanced person talent agency.”

“I have met a great number of people who would love to use their abilities to help people. People who don’t want to hurt anyone but can’t use their powers without persecution. Knighthood and Stark Industries could employ them, provide insurance and protection, help them find contracts to use their powers to help people.

“A quick example: one of the mutants in the battle, Pyro, has a rudimentary control of fire. Imagine if he worked on a contract basis with the New York City Fire Department. He could save hundreds of lives. Or if he helped fight wildfires; he could divert the fires away from towns.”

“I can see the appeal. But I’m not sure why you’re here,” Stark said with a shake of his head. “Knighthood could easily do this. In fact, I would bet you already employ some of these people. You could pay them whatever you want and make money hand over fist until the rest of the world caught on and joined in. You could make billions.”

James sent a baleful glare at Stark. “Who does that help? Money doesn’t interest me. There are hundreds of people I could help with this venture. I have their tentative trust. I will not break that or exploit them. But giving them only one company to work for means they have no choices. No competition means no protections from unfair working conditions. If they can leave Knighthood and move to Stark Industries if they are unhappy, then all the better.”

“But it’s you who has their trust, James. Not me or SI.”

“And if I told them that I trust Stark Industries?”

“You would send people to me?!”

“SI has branches all over the world.”

Stark started at James for a few seconds. “You know this will probably make SI billions of dollars.”

“And give safety, work and livelihood to how many people who are currently scared and poor?”

“Alright. I’ll need to talk with Pepper and the board. But no one’s gonna say no to this. Not with so much money on the table.”

James held out his hand to Stark. 

Stark looked at the hand. “To changing the world’s perception,” Stark said as shook his hand. “Again.”

“Maybe next time we meet to discuss this, you could drop by Knighthood and bring a couple of your close friends. I’m sure Steve would be happy to see the place.”

“You have a date, James. But I expect you to provide tacos again. Those things were amazing!”