Prologue

Five Months after the destruction of Ultron…

Water seeped through the bark of a tree, it filtered through its many caverns of wood. The trees around it had moss around certain parts of the bark. The water was being poured over them as the clouds produced a steady amount of rainfall, that would increase then decrease at different periods, but it always held a certain pace. The water was falling onto the green leaves, they held most of the force of the quantity of water, but occasionally, one would fail and water would fall to the ground, turning dirt to mud. The wildlife stayed in their burrows and hid from the rain.

A bird landed on a dirt path and slowly walked side to side and then started to peck at the wet ground once it saw what it desired. The sound of mud splashing caused the bird to lose its focus on the worm it so desired. It looked up and a tall figure in navy blue sweat pants and a light grey t-shirt, or it would have been but it was drenched with water making it dark grey. The calves of the figure had mud splattered over them and the shoes were covered in it. The bird cawed and flew away from the fast moving figure.

Steve Rogers kept his breathing under control, he had to blink often to keep the water out of his eyes. He was running along a dirt path through the woods and he was on his twentieth lap. He was running at a steady pace and his feet would splash into the mud, making it shoot outward by the force of the foot placement. He could feel how heavy his feet were from the amount of mud that had been acclimating from the start of his run in the woods outside the new Avengers' facility in upper state New York.

It was an early start, even for him: 5:34 am. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon. It had been five months since Vision had destroyed Ultron, and they saved the whole planet and everything living on it from extinction. He watched as Thor had left to try and understand why all the infinity stones were popping up. Stark had went on to do the one thing that Steve knew that he would do. He didn't come by much, but his assistant that was basically talking for him; Miss Belova was around often. Steve didn't like it, it made him seem that Stark was watching them for some strange reason.

Not to mention Miss Belova seemed to like Steve, a little too much. She had begun as a shy woman, and Steve had to accept that she was there, she was rather good at making it seem that she wasn't there, but Steve always noticed her. It was hard not to she was beautiful and she always ended up talking to him, Steve had begun to think that she has a crush on him. Steve wasn't naïve enough to not notice when women stared at him. It had been almost four years since he woke up and was brought out of the ice, and he had grown somewhat accustomed to the world around him, but he still didn't entirely know what he wanted from it.

He spent the past five months working on training the New Avengers and Natasha had been helping him, but she hasn't been seen for three months. He was alone with the whole training thing, and now he went out for drinks with Sam more often than usual. He had continued to be persistent with finding Bucky, but he had to admit that it seemed that he wouldn't find him till he wanted him to. So Steve decided to focus on training the new team. Wanda and Rhodey had been the hardest to train, since Rhodey isn't used to working with other people that can do around the same things he can, and Wanda was still trying to find her limits with her powers and she was still mourning her brother's death. Vision had been helpful in that area, actually helpful in all areas, for only being alive for five months he had a great deal of wisdom. It actually made him worry, what if he got too smart and turned into another Ultron, but he made the choice of trusting him, and that would have to do.

Steve noticed that ever since Banner left that Natasha seemed more distant than usual. They had grown distant before Ultron was made, but it was even more now. He didn't even know where she was. He thought of her often, where she was, how long would she be gone, when would he be able to look into those brilliant emerald eyes again. He will admit he liked her, but he was busy with other things, not to mention she wasn't interested in him, she was far more interested in Banner.

Steve even gave Banner the advice not to wait and now he was gone, and no one knew where he was. Natasha was still efficient with everything she did, but he caught her staring at walls more often, like she would get lost in thought and slip into a trance, at least that's what it seemed like. He saw her doing it just before he had told her about the new recruits. He would still find himself staring at walls, but he would literally disappear from the moment and he would relive an old memory.

He thought about what could have been often, but he was working on getting past it. It was hard, and he really didn't have anyone to talk to about it, actually the one person that was helpful when talking to about it was Natasha, and she wasn't there. She was technically the only original member still on the team besides himself, Clint had been at his farm with his family. So he was out of touch most of the time, the occasional phone call was nice, but it was always small talk.

Steve wasn't alone in the facility, but he felt alone. He started to wake up earlier and earlier for his morning run and he would also run longer each time. He was starting to like his run, he was alone and it gave him a chance to get away from the chaos in the facility and think. Steve jumped over a fallen branch and he almost lost his footing as he landed, but he recovered and continued running. He was drench in water and it had begun to rain hard again. The rain was coming in with the wind and would sting against his skin and he could barely see and fog was already in the morning air.

Steve saw another branch and he leaped over it and landed. As he landed he saw an explosion hit next to him and he dove out of the way and landed in the mud. He heard gunfire all around him and he saw bullets making contact with the mud. He saw a large log lying on the ground and he saw charred marks from fire on the bark. He crawled through the mud and he got behind it and he could smell gunpowder and smoke. He saw Bucky run past him, but he had both his arms and short cut hair. He was covered in mud and he was carrying a Thompson. He stopped and knelt behind the tree along with him.

"They have a MG42 in a good hole!" He yelled over the gunfire

"Take Jones and flank left, I'll flank right!" Steve ordered

Steve watched as Bucky took Jones and ran toward the left flank and he fired as they went. Steve went to stand when a mortar shell landed behind him and he was tossed into the log and he dented the wood and he hit the ground face first. He pulled his face out of the mud and he pushed himself back up and he ran to the right and another shell hit beside him and he put up his shield and blocked the shrapnel. He could see the MG42, in the hole thirty feet ahead of him. He ran and flanked them. He saw Bucky and Jones about to take the team out and he saw them aim the gun. Steve threw the shield and it flew through the air and rain made a trail behind it as it went toward the German with the aimed gun in high speed.

Steve saw the shield hit the German and Bucky and Jones tossed a grenade and then the hole erupted in fire and mud. Steve caught his shield as it came back to him then another mortar shell landed near him and sent him to the ground. He pulled his face from the mud and Bucky was holding his hand out to pull him up. Steve reached and as he grabbed Bucky's hand he went right through it. Steve blinked then a bright flash and he was reaching toward Bucky on a high speeding train and the cold air was nipping at his face.

Steve saw Bucky about to grab his hand, but the railing he was holding onto broke and he fell into the white canyon below. Steve yelled his name and he closed his eyes and put his forehead against the cold metal. He got back into the compartment and turned around and he saw Bucky standing before him. He had his metal arm and his hair was long and his skin was blue and his eyes were foggy and ice was in his hair and skin.

"Why did you let me become this?" He asked and blood spilled out of his mouth took a step forward "It should have been you that died" he said and he shoved him out of the train. Steve fell away from the train and he flipped through the air and he saw the ground and he landed and he felt bones snap and he had blood leaking out of his nose and mouth. His face was in the cold snow and then he saw Bucky lying there barely awake with a huge rock on his left arm. Then a group of men in white walked past him and dismissed him, they only went for Bucky.

"Get away from him!" Steve yelled

But they couldn't hear him or they chose not to and then dragged Bucky away. Steve was struggling to breathe as blood poured out of his mouth and filled his lungs, he was drowning in his own blood. Steve closed his eyes and then opened them. He was sitting in the mud next to a log and he was breathing heavily and he looked around frantically. He saw now scorched bark, or mortar holes caused by exploded shells. The smell of gunpowder and smoke was gone and in its place was the smell of the wet grass and the trees. Steve pulled himself up and he turned back toward the facility. His heart was racing and he felt jittery, and he was shaken up.

He needed a shower, mud was all over him, at least it was still early and no one would be up. He really needed to get a handle on his PTSD. He did for a while, but it came back six months ago, out of nowhere. That was one of the reasons that he distanced himself from Natasha. He didn't know why he did, but he did.