A part of the problem, Steve acknowledged in one of those still moments between fighting groups of Hydra agents, was that there was no definitive way to end the fight. Not even taking out Pierce – which Director Fury had done by now. There was too much chaos; too many people trying to save their own skin, people trying to run off with various SHIELD/Hydra tech, standoffs between people on the "unknown" list who were trying to figure out who they could trust. Fury's news had hit a hornet's nest with a bat, and no one knew what to do about it.

Movement outside a wide window caught Steve's attention and he spared a second to glance and assess what was going on. Helicopters had arrived, and SWAT trucks were pulling up to the bridge that led to the Triskelion. Local authorities were finally on the scene, and that would only add another layer of chaos to things.

I think that's my sign to get out of dodge.

He didn't feel the need to stick this one through to the messy end. Not this time. All loyalty he'd felt towards SHIELD had vanished the moment he found out they were tied up with Hydra. He'd agreed to this mission because someone had to do something, and the country hadn't known the danger they were in. But now everyone knew, and Pierce was dead, and Steve was done.

He had other priorities to take care of.

The news wasn't sharing any of the information that Star was actually interested in. They went on and on about the list that Director Fury had released, especially the names of politicians that were on it. But Star didn't know who any of them were, and she didn't particularly care what happened to them. She wanted to know about the Avengers, what bases they had gone to, what was happening with them.

The first bit of interesting information came when the newscaster started talking about the Triskelion, SHIELD's headquarters. A whole fleet of police and SWAT and other groups had descended on the place. Star leaned forward slightly on her stool; if that was SHIELD's headquarters, then at least one of the Avengers had to be there.

"Where is that?" Star asked.

Pepper glanced over at her, looking away from the screen for the first time since they'd turned the news on. "The Triskelion is in Washington DC. That's about a four-hour drive south."

Making it way too far for Star to go. All she could do was watch, and wait, and hope, and she didn't like it.

"Don't worry, kid," Rhodey said. "They'll be fine."

Star scowled; he was trying to be reassuring, but she didn't want to talk to him. Not after he'd tried to lock Bucky up and made him run away.

But as Star kept watching the news, nothing interesting came up again. Nothing that meant anything to her, anyway.

"Maybe you should get some rest," Pepper suggested, not unkindly. "You've had a long day, and it's probably going to be a while before we get a real update on anyone."

It had been a long day, but Star didn't think she'd be able to sleep. Not that she was enjoying staring at the TV much more than she'd enjoy staring at the ceiling. "Okay," she agreed, mostly because she didn't know what else to do.

She slipped off the stool and started to head for her room, but then on sudden impulse shifted directions and headed for Steve's instead. It looked almost the same as it had the last time she'd been in there, though now his closet door was wide open, and a dresser drawer hadn't been shut all the way. Probably from Steve packing up to go to Clint's.

That feels like it was months ago now. Star could hardly believe it had only been days.

She stood in the room a moment, unsure what she was really doing there. It was just…somehow this felt safer, less alone, than being in her own room. A yawn caught her off guard. Star wouldn't have thought she could be tired yet; maybe it was the stress getting to her after all.

Well, she didn't think Steve would mind if she napped in his room. Star crawled onto the bed and hugged one of the pillows. She closed her eyes, let her breathing slow. And she hoped, whenever she woke up, there'd be news.

It took longer than typical for Steve to make it back to the Tower, what with all the chaos going on. Normally he wouldn't let that make him impatient – it was only to be expected, really – but he had the message Tony had sent right as they'd started the attacks pushing him.

Star and Bucky went back to the Tower. Bucky seems to be helping her.

Steve wasn't sure how Bucky had managed to snap out of Hydra's control. There wasn't time to ask, and Tony probably didn't know anyway. The only way Steve was going to get details about how they were was to actually make it to the Tower.

But even though it took longer, he did eventually make it. He silently willed the elevator to go faster as it carried him to the upper levels. The doors slid open, letting him into the living room. The TV was on, the volume low in consideration of Pepper, who was passed out on the couch. A man was in the kitchen, and it took Steve a moment to identify him as Colonel Rhodes. Steve had met him once before, at one of the few parties Tony had managed to convince Steve to attend.

Colonel Rhodes looked surprised to see him. "I wasn't expecting any of you back this soon."

Steve shrugged. "Not much reason to stick around, once the main threats were taken care of and reinforcements arrived. Where's Star and Bucky?" Steve had noticed that neither of them were anywhere to be seen.

"Star went to her room to sleep," Colonel Rhodes said. He grimaced a little before he continued. "Sergeant Barnes is gone."

Steve stiffened. "Gone? Gone where?"

"I don't know," Colonel Rhodes said. "When Tony found out they were here, he called me to come keep an eye on them. Well, on Sergeant Barnes, mostly. The kid claimed he was free, but who can say what being under Hydra's thumb for seventy years will do to a man? I was going to keep him contained until we could confirm things one way or another, but when I showed up, he ran."

Steve bristled, his knee jerk reaction anger at the idea of 'containing' Bucky. But he checked that knee jerk reaction before he could say anything, because Tony and Colonel Rhodes had a point. The last time he'd seen Bucky, Bucky had tried to kill him. When he'd taken Star, he'd apparently threatened to kill her if Bruce had tried to stop him. Those were things that the Bucky Barnes who Steve had known would never have done, not even under threat of death.

This Bucky was not the same man Steve had known before, and he didn't know the side effects of everything that Hydra had done to him, or even what Hydra had done to him in the first place. Steve didn't know how strong a hold Hydra might still have on Bucky. As much as Steve didn't like it – and he really didn't like it – caution made sense.

So, he just nodded. "Understood."

"What's going on out there?" Colonel Rhodes asked, gesturing towards the TV, which was showing probably repeat footage of the mess with SHIELD.

"I'll update you after I check on Star," Steve said. None of his information was so pressing that it couldn't wait five minutes.

He moved to the hall the rooms were on, but before he made it to Star's door, JARVIS spoke up. "Captain, Miss Star is in your room right now, not hers."

A flicker of surprise ran through him; what was she doing there? But he adjusted his path accordingly. "Thanks, JARVIS."

When he made it to his room, he immediately spotted her curled up on his bed, hugging a pillow. He scanned over her as well as he could, checking for injuries, and some of the tension finally drained from him when he couldn't find any.

She's okay.

The relief made him feel a hundred pounds lighter. He moved towards the bed, sure she'd want him to wake her up rather than leave her to sleep longer. He wanted to reach out and touch her, to really confirm she was there, but he didn't. "Hey, Star. It's time to wake up."

Her face scrunched slightly, then her eyes blinked open. It took them a moment to focus in on him, but once they did, Star launched herself at him. Steve let out a surprised grunt at the impact, which likely would have bowled him over completely if he didn't have super strength on his side. Star flung her arms around his neck, and Steve automatically returned the hug.

"You're back!"

There was excitement and relief in her voice, and Steve couldn't hold back the smile that pulled on his face. This greeting was a far cry from the first time they'd met. "Of course, I'm back," he said. "I promised I would be."

Her grip loosened, and Steve set her down; she was short enough that her enthusiastic hug had left her feet dangling in the air. Star looked up at him, and her mouth stretched in the widest smile he'd ever seen on her. Star's smiles were few and far between, and generally reserved for James, or the Barton kids. For the first time since he'd met her, Star actually looked like a happy kid, and something warm, and fierce, and protective welled up inside Steve.

"You're okay," she said.

"I'm okay," Steve agreed.

She shoved some of the long hair that had fallen out of her braid out of her face. "Is everyone else back too?"

Steve shook his head. "Not yet. I'm the first." Her smile faltered some, and he hastened to reassure her. "They'll be fine, too. It's just going to take a little time for everyone to make it."

Star nodded. Then she darted forward, hugging him one more time. "I'm glad you're okay."

Steve returned the hug. "I'm glad you are too." He knew that it had been a close thing, as Hydra had gotten hold of her again. He just wasn't sure how close.

After a moment she let go of him and stepped back, her cheeks flushing slightly as she tried to taper her enthusiasm to her more typical levels. "What's happening with Hydra?" she asked. "The news just kept repeating the same stuff."

"Let's go get breakfast," Steve said; it had been almost twenty-four hours since he'd eaten, and he was starving. "I'll update you and Colonel Rhodes and Pepper at the same time. Then you can update me one what happened with you."

She looked a little less thrilled about that part, but she agreed, and they went back to the kitchen together. Colonel Rhodes had woken Pepper up while Steve was checking on Star, and they both had mugs of coffee in hand when they appeared.

"Steve," Pepper greeted. "What's going on?"

He headed for the fridge, glad for the open concept of the kitchen and living room area so that he could get breakfast going while he updated Pepper and Colonel Rhodes. Star sat on the barstool by the kitchen island while he talked.

What he knew probably wasn't as much detail as they'd like; he certainly didn't know how things were going with Tony, but there wasn't anything Steve could do about that. But he told them that Pierce was Hydra's ringleader, and now Pierce was dead, and the Triskelion had fallen.

When he finished telling what he knew, JARVIS spoke up. "Pardon the interruption, but Master Stark is on his way back. He wished me to inform all of you that he is well. He will arrive in approximately three hours."

Pepper's shoulders slumped, her eyes closing. "Oh, thank goodness."

Steve settled his gaze on Star, who also looked relieved at the news. "Now, I want to know what happened with you. I know Dr. Miller and Bucky found you at the farmhouse; what happened after that?"

She fidgeted, gaze dropping to her the tile counter a moment. "We left on a quinjet. One of the agents tried to ask me what information I'd told you, but I didn't tell them anything." Steve could guess how that had gone, though whatever injuries the Hydra agent might have left had already healed. Still, it was infuriating to even think about them hurting her. Star shrugged. "Anyway, I noticed that it seemed like Bucky didn't like it when the agent hit me, so I figured that maybe seeing me get hurt might help snap him out of Hydra's control, and uh, it worked."

Steve spun around from the bacon he was frying to face her. "You figured what?" He could tell from the stunned looks on Pepper and Colonel Rhodes's faces that they hadn't heard about this either.

Her expression shifted to that blank mask she was so good at, and Steve regretted his sharp tone. But it was hard not to be upset with her after finding out she'd purposely gotten herself hurt in order to free Bucky. It was such a reckless plan, and she'd had no guarantee that it would work. What if it hadn't? What if she'd gotten herself tortured for no reason at all?

"It worked," Star said again, her tone mild and neutral.

Steve wanted to chew her out for being so reckless, but Star's mild tone and blank expression helped him bite his tongue. Because it had worked, and lecturing her now wouldn't change what had already happened. He made a mental note to help her work on her sense of self-preservation in the future.

"Okay," he said, trying to keep a lid on his temper as he turned back to the bacon he was cooking. "Then what?"

She told them about Bucky rescuing her the moment they touched down at the Hydra complex they'd gone to, which luckily had turned out not to be that far from the city, and how he'd informed her of the tracker they had in her.

"So, we went to a hospital and had a doctor take the tracker out, and then we came here," Star said.

"Wait," Pepper said, a frown creasing her face. "How did you get a doctor to agree to take the tracker out?"

Star drummed her fingers on the counter top a moment before she answered. "We, um. We took a doctor hostage and threatened to kill her if they didn't take the tracker out. We wouldn't have," she hastily added. "It was only a bluff!"

Steve took a steadying breath. Because that sounded nothing like the Bucky Barnes he'd known. His Bucky wouldn't have threatened an innocent person like that, bluff or not. More evidence that Bucky was a completely different person now.

"Yeah, that could still be a problem," Colonel Rhodes said.

A frown flickered over Star's face. "No one got hurt though. And we got away from the cops."

Steve winced at the mention of cops. The scrambled eggs and bacon he'd been fixing were ready, and he brought two large platters of eggs and bacon to the island. "Food's ready, if anyone else wants to eat."

He got plates and silverware as Pepper and Colonel Rhodes moved to sit at the island. Pepper was already absorbed in her smartphone as she went, fingers flying over the screen. She grimaced over whatever she was looking at. "Yeah, there's already articles out about it. Probably the only reason we haven't seen this on the news is because of everything happening with SHIELD and Hydra. Luckily, it looks like that hospital didn't have any security cameras, but they've got a pretty detailed description and sketches." She flipped her phone around so they could see pictures of the sketches, which were unfortunately accurate in their likeness of Bucky and Star. "The only positive is they seem to think that Star is also a victim; they suspect Bucky kidnapped her or something."

Star looked genuinely surprised. "That's the sort of thing that ends up on the news?"

Steve sighed. "Yes, Star, taking people hostage in hospitals is almost guaranteed to end up on the news."

"Oh." She frowned and scooped scrambled eggs onto her plate.

"Hopefully the cops will be busier looking for Barnes than her, and nothing will come from it," Colonel Rhodes said.

That would definitely be the better option. Steve was pretty sure there weren't any cops out there who could catch Bucky, and it'd be easier for all involved if Star just wasn't noticed.

Once they finished eating, Pepper and Colonel Rhodes said they'd take care of the dishes, freeing Steve up to finally go shower and change. Then all that was left to do was wait for everyone else to get back.

It felt like it took forever for the others to get back. Tony was the first to arrive, and Star was relieved to see that he was as okay as he claimed. He had plenty of questions for Star, and she had to repeat her story of what had happened to her. He took the news of how she'd helped free Bucky from Hydra about as well as Steve had, and Star hoped that she wouldn't have to tell anyone else about it. Though she probably would; no doubt Bruce would want to know what had happened to her.

It wasn't like I had a lot of options.

Which was probably the only reason she wasn't really in trouble.

Rhodey left before anyone else made it back, called away by the Air Force, whoever they were. Star wasn't sorry to see him go, as she still hadn't forgiven him for making Bucky run off. She didn't know why Steve didn't seem to be mad about it too.

She asked Steve about it, in a quiet moment after Pepper had dragged Tony off, insisting he at least needed to nap. Steve sighed, leaning back in his spot on the couch.

"It's not that I'm not upset about it," Steve said. "I am. But I also understand why they thought it was necessary."

Star bristled. "But it wasn't! He got out from their control!"

"For the moment," Steve allowed. "Star, we don't have any idea what Hydra did to Bucky. I do know that the Bucky Barnes I was friends with would have sooner let Hydra kill him then help them kidnap a kid. This Bucky, the Winter Soldier…" He grimaced, but looked determined. "I don't know how free he is now. I don't know if there's a way to trigger him into being the Winter Soldier again. But what if there is? What if it had just been you, Pepper, and Bucky here, and Hydra managed to regain control of him?"

That gave Star pause. It hadn't ever occurred to her that there might be a way for Hydra to regain control of Bucky. Once he'd broken free, she'd just assumed he was free.

"I want to help Bucky," Steve said. "If I can find him, if there's any way I can help him, I will. But not if it puts you at risk. If I have to choose between helping Bucky and taking care of you and James…I'm going to choose you two. Every time."

Star didn't know how to respond to that, so she just…didn't. She dropped the topic, pretending to pay attention to the news that was still playing on the TV.

Natasha and Clint made it back at the same time. Star wasn't sure if they had gone to the same place, or simply run into each other on their way back. They both looked tired, but neither one was hurt beyond a bruise here or there, so that was a relief. Though seeing Clint inspired some guilt in Star; she hadn't meant to lead Hydra to his family's doorstep, but she had, and she felt like she should apologize for it somehow. She didn't get a chance to though, as he and Natasha both wanted to change and rest.

It was evening when the last of them arrived; Laura and her kids, Bruce with James. The sight of them shot a mix of relief and adrenaline through Star's system, and she jumped over the back of the couch to greet them. "Bruce!" She darted forward and hugged him, and he returned the gesture with his one free arm, as the other was holding James.

"I'm so glad you're safe," Bruce murmured.

She was going to say the same about them, but before she could the words out, James squealed and reached for her, almost overbalancing in Bruce's hold in his effort to reach her. Star quickly caught him, pulling him close and impulsively kissing his cheek, which set him off in a fit of happy giggles. Lila darted in and hugged Star around the waist, Cooper following and latching on to one of her legs as he couldn't quite reach her waist.

"You got away from the bad guys!" Lila exclaimed, wide grin dominating her expression.

"I did," Star confirmed.

Clint walked in the room, and the kids immediately abandoned Star to greet him. Star didn't mind. She didn't need the kids asking how she'd gotten away from Hydra anyway. She was perfectly content just holding James close and seeing that everyone was back and safe.

And they're going to stay safe. Hydra's gone now.

Some of her elation dimmed. Hydra was gone. The mission was over.

What were Star and James supposed to do next?

AN: Welp, hope y'all enjoyed that chapter, and maybe it was worth the wait? Let me know! We've got one more chapter to wrap up some loose threads from Part 1, and then we'll be on to Part 2! Thanks so much for all the feedback on how Part 2 should be posted; I am going to continue posting it here as suggested.