So. Another new chapter in this not-even-a-saga, and another thank you to everyone who's been following and reading so far. Bless ya faces. Now I hope you guys liked Winter Soldier, because that's what Ellie's next adventure consists of. Please tell me what you think! I'd love to know if this is even good or not, because Winter Soldier has been my favorite MCU film so far, and this fic is something I hold very and near and dear to my heart. I've been working on this thing for over a year if you can believe it, so please tell me what you all think. Please enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Steve Rogers. If I did, I would be screwing him senseless. Ugggggh. Beefcake.


I swear to God, my lungs were burning. Literally burning. Flames, licking them up, making sure I died running this thing. I mean, it was possible. I could burn someone's face off, so why not burn my own lungs, too? Then I wouldn't have to be running this f-

"On your left." I nodded, as Steve passed me, running right by. I let out a huff, and picked up the pace. Someone caught up with me.

"Shit, he's fast. Who was that?" I smirked, and glanced at the guy while we ran.

"New around here, aren't you?" I tried to catch my breath, as he nodded. "That's Captain America." The guy paused, but nodded once more.

"Yeah, that makes sense. But if he's Captain America, then you must be-"

"Ellie Stark. Pleasure to meet you." I shot a smirk at him. "Now try to keep up."


I was running past the Lincoln Memorial, when Steve sped by again.

"On your left."

"Uh-huh, I know. On my left." Sam chuckled, and we kept going.


We were running by the Reflecting Pool, when I heard Steve making his way. "Don't you even think about it, Rogers, or I swear-"

"On your left."

"UGGGGGGHHH!" I growled at him, and I heard him laughing as he took off. I stopped to catch my breath, hunching over. "Jesus Christ, I'm going to kill that man. I don't know how, but I am."

"Good luck with that." Sam panted.


Sam was sitting against the tree, and I laid out on the grass, breathing heavy. Sweat was dripping down my face. "Need a medic?" Steve asked, but I didn't even bother to react.

"More like I need to pound your face in." I retorted instead.

"Is she always like this?" Sam asked, and I looked up, shooting a glare as I propped myself up on my elbows. Steve helped Sam up off the ground.

"You don't know the half of it." I smirked then.

"I need a new set of lungs, man. You just ran 13 miles in 30 minutes." Sam panted out.

"I got a late start, thanks to that one." Steve nodded to me, and I pouted. "Ellie, get up."

"No." I laid back down, just to piss him off. "Are we done now?"

"No." I moaned in agony. Sam laughed at me.

"Really? That was a late start? You should be ashamed of yourself, take another lap." I laughed at Sam's statement...a little too much, actually. I was exhausted. Between the late-night work and the crack-of-dawn run, I was worn out pretty thin. Sam glanced away from Steve for a split second, and then looked back. "Did you just take it? 'Cause I'm assuming you just took it." Steve noticed his sweatshirt, and pointed at it.

"What unit are you in?" He asked. I hadn't even noticed the sweatshirt.

"58th para rescue, but now I'm working down at the VA." Steve nodded. Sam held out a hand for him to shake. "Sam Wilson." Steve took his hand, shaking it.

"Steve Rogers."

"Yeah, I figured." Sam paused, catching his breath. "It must've freaked you out, coming back after the whole defrosting thing." I winced to myself. Steve didn't like to talk about that, barely even to me. He wouldn't dare talk about it to a stranger.

"It takes some getting used to, but Ellie's a big help. Even if she refuses to get up." I rolled my eyes, and sat up, crossing my legs. I smiled sarcastically.

"There. Happy now?" Steve just stared at me. I groaned, and held out my hands. "If you want me to get up so badly, then help me." He took my hands, and pulled me to my feet.

"You know, you should be able to handle this. I thought Extremis improved everything." I shot Steve a look of death, and laughed sarcastically.

"You're funny, soldier boy. I'm sorry to say, but it only increased my strength and gave me a healing factor, as well as supposedly fixing any health issues I had before. And, also, I can occasionally get a little too hot-headed." Steve smirked at the joke. I turned to Sam, who was now confused, smiling at him. "It was nice to meet you, Sam, but we should probably get going."

"It's your bed, right?" My first thought was, how did Sam know about that?

I'd been living in the apartment across from Steve's, since S.H.E.I.L.D. headquarters was in D.C. I didn't want to keep living with Dad, and Steve and I were mostly stuck together on missions. I spent plenty of time in the city, between visiting Darcy and Jane when they were there, plus seeing Dad and Pepper, so we got plenty of space. But when I came back to the apartment some nights, I'd go in to check on Steve, and find him sleeping on the floor, like he couldn't stand his bed. It was regularly a mess, like he had to fight to get to sleep.

I'll admit, I didn't sleep as much as I should, either. I slept as long as I could after missions, but that still wasn't much. I had nightmares regularly, and when I woke up, and stepped outside my room, Steve was sitting in the kitchen, ready to listen. I had a suspicion that I screamed in my sleep, but if I did, Steve didn't say anything.

"What's that?" Steve asked, as he was starting to walk away.

"Your bed, it's too soft. When I was over there, I'd sleep on the ground, using rocks for pillows. Like a caveman." I frowned, watching the two. I'd never thought of it like that. "Now I'm home, and it's like-"

"Like you're lying on a marshmallow. I feel like I'm gonna sink right to the floor." Sam smiled, and nodded in understanding. "How long?"

"Two tours." Steve nodded. "You must miss the good ol' days, huh?" I bit my lip, forcing back a smile.

"Well, things aren't so bad. No polio. Internet, super helpful. Food's a lot better, actually, we used to boil everything." I scrunched my nose up. "Ellie's a great cook."

"Someone has to know how around here. You can't, Nat barely can, and don't even get me started on Clint's cooking." I shuddered. "The spaghetti fiasco of 2011 still haunts me."

"The what?" I shook my head, patting Steve's humongous bicep.

"Tell you later, short stack." I pulled out my phone, as it went off. It was a message from Natasha: speak of the Devil, and she shall appear. "Nat says to meet her at the corner, we've got a mission."

"All right, well." Steve held out a hand to Sam, who shook it. "It was good to meet you, Sam. And a good run, if that's what you'd like to call it." Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, so that's how it is?"

"That's how it is." Steve and Sam grinned at each other, and I held out a hand to Sam, shaking it.

"It was good to meet you, Sam."

"Same to you, Ellie." I smiled at him, and Natasha pulled up, as I dropped his hand.

"Hey guys. Does anyone know where the Smithsonian is? I'm here to pick up a fossil." I rolled my eyes, leaning in the window.

"Already said that one, Nat. You lose." Natasha glared at me. I grinned, and climbed into the backseat. Steve was right behind, yelling to Sam about impressing some girl for him.

"Ha-ha. You guys are hilarious." Steve said sarcastically, as he approached.

"Oh, no, I'm hilarious. Miss Rushman here just likes to try and one-up me." Natasha rolled her eyes, and sped away from the curb.


I skimmed across the monitor, briefing everyone on the mission as someone took over my flying duties. "Target is a mobile satellite-launch-platform, the Lemurian Star. We were sending up their last payload when pirates took them, 93 minutes ago."

"Any demands?" I nodded, turning to look at Cap.

"Billion and a half." Cap frowned. "It's S.H.I.E.L.D.'s." It clicked in his head as soon as it clicked in mine.

"So it's not off course, it's trespassing." Cap confirmed my thoughts.

"I'm sure they have good reason." There goes Nat, defending Fury's ass. I was getting a little sick of it, actually.

"You know, I'm getting a little tired of being Fury's janitor." Cap counter attacked. I wanted to smirk, but he didn't know what I was doing. He couldn't.

"Relax. It's not complicated." Nat shot me a look, too, as she said this. Cap looked me right in the eyes when he asked me his next question.

"How many pirates?" I turned back to the monitor, trying to avoid his stare. They were so friggin' blue, I wanted to melt into a puddle, right in this spot. God, he was gorgeous.

Holy shit Stark, control yourself. You work with the guy, for fuck's sake!

"25. Top mercs led by this guy." I dragged his picture forward, blowing it up on the monitor. "Georges Batroc. Ex-DGSE, Action Division. He's at the top of Interpol's Red Notice." Nat looked interested now. I knew that'd get her. "Before the French demobilized him, he had 36 kill missions. This guy has a rep for maximum casualties."

"Hostages?" I puckered my lip, dragging forward Sitwell's picture when Cap asked.

"Mostly techies, but there's one officer. It's Sitwell. They're in the galley." Cap adjusted his gloves, frowning.

"What's Sitwell doing on a launch ship?" He went right ahead, so he wouldn't get shit from Natasha. "Alright, I'm gonna sweep the deck, find this Batroc. Nat, you and Ellie kill the engines and wait for instruction. Rumlow, you sweep aft, find the hostages, get them to the life-pods, get them out. Let's move."

"S.T.R.I.K.E., you heard the Cap. Gear up." Rumlow ordered his crew. So glad I wasn't one of them. Finding the hostages is the worst part.


"Secure channel seven." Cap spoke into his walkie, and I pulled out mine, just as Nat did hers.

"Seven secure." We spoke it in the same monotone. I smirked, but she didn't react.

"Did either of you do anything fun Saturday night?" Cap went first.

"Well, all the guys in my barbershop quartet are dead, so, no, not really." I tried to get out of it, but Nat wouldn't take it.

"E?" I shrugged.

"Pepper and Dad went on some couples retreat, so I cleaned up Dad's workshop. He never does, and he won't let Pepper go near it, nor does she want to."

"Ellie." I turned to her, and she looked between the both of us, raising an eyebrow. "You guys have to get lives. Seriously." The pilot came up on the radio, telling Cap that we were coming up on the drop zone. Cap punched the button, opening up the hatch.

"If Steve asked Kristen from Statistics out, she'd probably say yes." He pulled his helmet on, yelling over the roar of the wind.

"That's why I don't ask." I rolled my eyes, shooting him a look that said I knew what he was doing. He didn't have many friends, not much of a social life, and he had to get one. Pronto.

"Too shy, or too scared?" Natasha asked, smirking.

"Too busy." He jumped out of the hatch, and my breath caught for a second; but then I

saw him through the clouds, and I knew he'd be fine. It was still kind of terrifying, though.

We waited until he'd mostly cleared the deck, which was barely even a minute, and then we jumped down to the ship. I followed Nat's lead, and landed right next to Steve.

"What about the nurse that lives across the hall from you guys? She seems kind of nice." Now I'm going to-wait, nurse? What nurse?

"Secure the engine room, then find me a date. Or, better yet, why don't you get yourself one." Nat shot him a dirty look, but I smirked. "Ellie told me about that visit to Stark's. What, did you think she wouldn't notice?"

"Shut your mouth, Rogers. Get back to work." I laughed, and Nat jumped over the railing, dragging me with her. "C'mon, lady bug." Her grip on my arm would have hurt, but it didn't. HA!


We managed to get below deck, and we were on the stairway to the engine room when we finally ran into some goon. Natasha stopped me, and made me wait there, while she dealt with the guy. Natasha grinned creepily at the guy down by the phone, after she slid down the pole that led to the phone with ease.

"Hey, sailor." Oh, dear God, just punch me already. I hated hearing her like that, the only thing I ever heard from her was a monotone. It was kind of disturbing, seeing her with so much personality. Definitely not the Natasha I knew.

She wrapped her retractable wire around his neck, shoved him against the railing, and then dove over it. The guy was tied right to it, stuck there. Natasha shot a couple guys on her way down, and I didn't know whether they were dead or not. Natasha didn't care, and frankly, neither did I. She shot the guy below her a few times, and then put her guns on either side of him, shooting the guys below him as well.

Soon enough, Cap was asking for our status. And it couldn't have waited any longer, unfortunately.

"Ellie, what's your status?" He was whispering, so he had to be ducked down somewhere on deck, hiding from Batroc. I jumped down a hatch from above, and stormed up to the goon walking, shouting into my walkie.

"Hang on!" I managed to grab the guy from behind, and choked him with some wire, forcing him to pass out. Natasha jumped the next one, stinging them with her Widow Bites. I wanted to whip out some fireballs at the sight of those, but I resisted the urge. These idiots weren't worth the fire.

I beat up the guy after that, spraining his arm by twisting it back, and kicked him a couple times: once in the shoulder, once in the gut. I ducked down, and swung my leg out, tripping him. I kicked up, knocking the weapon out of his hand; he thought he had me, but he didn't. I knocked my head against his nose, breaking that as well. I flipped my legs up, and then down, tossing him over my back and onto his. He was KO.

"Engine room secure." I spoke into my walkie, and Natasha picked up a wrench, knocking him in the jaw before he could get back up again. I turned to her, and grinned. "I've been working on that back flip."

"It was still shitty." I glared at her, and she smirked, walking away. I groaned. That bitch.


We'd made it to the control room, and I was going at the files when Cap bugged us again.

"Natasha, Batroc's on the move. Circle back to Rumlow and protect the hostages." She didn't reply immediately. She was looking at me uncertainly, so I nodded. "Natasha."

"Copy that. On my way." She put her walkie down, and got out of there. I turned back to the computer, and sighed.

Cap was going to be pissed.


I turned, kind of startled when Cap shoved Batroc through the door, forcing it right off its hinges. He also knocked Batroc right out, but I wasn't surprised. I bit my lip, when he stood, and turned to find me there. I grinned sheepishly. "Hey, Cap. What's, uh...what's shakin'?"

"What are you doing?" He thought I was screwing up the mission. HA! No, Cap. I only screw up at board games. He should know this by now, we've played Monopoly plenty a time. I lost every single game.

"Backing up the hard drive." I said it nonchalantly, but I hated the look on his face. He was angry, and betrayed. "It's a good habit to get into." Cap looked back at Batroc, but right before he did, I saw a glint of protectiveness in his eyes. He was making sure we were safe.

"What the hell are you doing here, Ellie? Shouldn't you be helping with the hostages?" I was back at the computer again, trying to ignore what I just noticed. I hated noticing those little things, I didn't want to, they just happened. And I hated it. "You're saving S.H.I.E.L.D. intel."

"Whatever I can get my hands on. Which is, actually, almost everything. Go me."

"Our mission is to rescue hostages." I sighed, and looked up at him pleadingly. I didn't want him to be mad. I didn't want to fight with him, not one bit. I looked back at the computer, making sure everything downloaded.

"No, that's your mission, Cap. Yours and Natasha's. Mine is to do this." I pulled out the jump drive, and turned to Cap. "Now we've both completed our missions. Let's get out of here." Cap grabbed my arm roughly, stopping me in my tracks. My eyes went wide; it actually hurt a little. My muscles weren't entirely rock hard, and I'm pretty sure he'd leave a bruise, if it wasn't for Extremis.

"Do you even realize that you've just jeopardized this whole operation?" I shot him an angry look, tugging my arm from his grip. He looked hurt, but I didn't care. He wasn't my boss, we were equals.

"Don't you think you're overstating things, just a tiny bit?" Batroc got up, and Cap shoved me back as Batroc threw something; it looked like a bomb. Cap whacked it with his shield, sending it far enough away, and grabbed me in his arms. He jumped over the desks, and I blasted the window to another office, breaking the glass. Cap jumped through it, and I curled up in a ball, like he was a cave, and I was hiding in him. Once it went off, I pushed myself off of him, sitting with my back against the wall. I laid my head on his shoulder, panting at the adrenaline rushing through my veins. "Okay. That one's on me."

"You're damn right." He got up off the floor, and I stared after him. Great. Now, he was seriously pissed at me. I didn't think I could force another wall to be put up, but I did. And I didn't know if I could tear it down this time.