And we have a new record, Chapter 17 is here!

Now I don't own any of the following: "Firestarter" – that credit goes to the Prodigy. Mortal Engines or Harry Potter, those go to JK Rowling and Philip Reeve, and obviously I don't own Umbrella Academy or Misfits either.

This current chapter continues right where 16 left off, and is part content and part filler, because I had a few ideas and rolled with them.

Constructive criticism is always appreciated.

Sam walked into the diner a few blocks away from the Avengers' Tower, spotting Case almost immediately.

She was seated sideways in the booth, elbow braced on the table as she rested her head in her hand, dark sunglasses covering her eyes. Her hair was up in a loose ponytail, and judging by the way she was dressed in a baggy blue t-shirt and black leggings, Sam figured she'd probably just rolled out of bed when she sent the message to meet her here.

He walked over and caught sight of her feet, "You know your shoes don't match?"

Case sat straighter and held up her feet, noticing one white flip-flop and another a turquoise color, then dropped them with a thud, grimacing before saying in a hoarse voice, "Whatever."

As Sam slid into the booth across from her, he asked, "You wanted to see me?"

She didn't move from her position as Sam took his seat, but she croaked out, "Not so loud, would you? My head's gonna explode."

"What did you do last night?"

Case turned to sit properly in her seat, then grabbed at her head, "I talked a few things over with Ryder…and then there was some Spirytus..."

"What's that?"

"Hundred and ninety-two proof Polish vodka," Case told him, then gave a hiccup and a groan, rubbing at her head, "I opened and finished the entire bottle."

"What?" Sam asked as his voice rose, "Case, do you know—"

"Stop, stop, stop!" Case snapped, then mouthed the word, 'Stop.' She raised her hand and lowered it, whispering, "Lower the volume."

Sam shook his head, "Alcohol poisoning is no joke, Case."

"With my genetics, do you really think I could get alcohol poisoning?"

"Still…do you really need to risk it?"

Case gave a shrug and cringed, "Fuck…"

Sam waited until the pain left Case's face before asking, "So…why did you call me here?"

"I owe you a few explanations…and an apology."

That one he wasn't expecting, and Sam asked, "An apology?"

"For not trusting you," Case said, "For going over everything else except my mother issues…we had an agreement, and I broke it."

"Look, water under the bridge," Sam shrugged it off.

Case stared at him for a moment, and in a suspicious voice said, "How much did Ryder tell you?"

With a sigh, and against his better judgement, Sam explained, "He told me about your mother and why you haven't spoken to your father in months. Basically, the roles they played in making Bucky the Winter Soldier."

"Realistically speaking, we shouldn't be blaming Dad for that one," Case admitted with a sigh. "He didn't know…didn't know what Zola did to Bucky…it's a double-edged sword really."

"Really?"

"Yeah…see, sometimes I think of what would've happened if my Dad had come home sooner, maybe aimed a little straighter with his claws…" Case's shoulders slumped, "I'm already having a hard time dealing with the fact they crossed paths…but he didn't know Bucky was under that mask. So, there was the very real possibility that he could've…" She didn't finish, instead chose to look down at the table instead.

"How did he react?" Sam asked.

Case sighed then looked up at him as she answered, "When he found out it was Bucky? He turned about ten shades of green before some rapid-fire word-vomit excuses and apologies came out. He seemed…"

When she paused again, Sam gave her a moment, then prompted, "What?"

Case chewed on her lip, then said, "Horrified."

"Horrified?" He had a hard time picturing that kind of emotion on Wolverine.

"Yeah…I can't blame him, really," Case admitted. "I mean…how would you feel if you watched a kid grow up, thinking he'd died for his country. Only to find out he wasn't dead at all but had in fact murdered Maria?"

Sam frowned, "Does everyone know about me and Hill?"

"I haven't told anyone," Case shrugged. "Doubt Ryder has either. You guys aren't ready to go public with it, we're not gonna out you."

"Thanks…" Sam said quietly. He hesitated, because he also had a hard time picturing anyone getting the drop on Maria to hurt her let alone kill her. But the more he thought about it, the idea of it turned his stomach. He swallowed roughly before continuing, "I can't…I can't even imagine that scenario."

"Yeah…" Case mumbled, then her eyebrows went up, and Sam could see her eyes widen behind the dark glasses she wore, and face-palmed as she groaned, "Oh fuck…"

"What?"

Case's face suddenly went red, and she admitted, "I think I drunk dialed someone and cried over Nathan's death in Misfits."

Sam frowned at that, the name sounded familiar, "Isn't that the show where the criminals get superpowers?"

Case rolled that around in her mind for a moment, "Something like that yeah…I was browsing through Hulu and found it the other day."

"Okay…so you called someone and cried about it?"

"I think I was sobbing, actually," Case admitted in shame. "God, I had to turn it off before finishing the episode, I was crying too hard. Not even so much that the asshat died, but the fact it was triggering memories of when Bucky fell…especially when the blonde girl Kelly kept yelling that he wasn't allowed to die…" She cursed again and pulled the glasses off her face, wiping at her eyes.

"Are you…are you gonna be okay about it?"

"Uh…yeah, I think so," Case nodded as she put the glasses back on. "Tony explained to me about Nathan—"

"I meant the memories it dragged up," Sam asked, then frowned, "Wait…Tony explained it to you?"

"Uh…yeah…" Case admitted, rubbing at her arm. "See…when I was laying on the floor, sobbing like a child, Jarvis got worried, and the only one in the Tower at the time was Tony. After he managed to calm me down, he explained about Nathan's character, which kinda made me feel better, I guess. Still haven't been able to watch season two though."

"Why not?"

"Well…Tony watched the rest of the episode with me, and then we got to the end credits and I started crying again," Case said with a sigh, "God how pathetic am I?"

What the hell happened in those credits? Sam wondered, but wasn't sure if he should ask.

"Was this before or after you got drunk?"

Case thought for a moment, "The sobbing fit with Tony was about a week ago…the new one was last night when I got drunk…don't really know why I brought that up…" She frowned, scratching at her head, "Who the hell did I call last night?"

"Let's put a pin in that one for a moment, shall we?" Sam asked. "Did you call me here to talk about your mother issues?"

Case sighed again, "Yeah…"

"Okay," Sam said. "We can do that. Where do you wanna start?"

Case mulled that over, "At the end."

"The end?" Sam repeated.

"When she erased my memory," Case explained. She hugged her arms around herself, "I hated Queen…which, realistically doesn't really seem like a big deal. But when Tony asked why I wasn't listening to them, I said 'they're a band of idiots'."

"But they're one of your favorite bands," Sam said in confusion.

"When I was with Hydra, I had a conversation with my mother about them…and she said the same thing. They're a band of idiots."

Sam's eyes widened when he realized what the woman had done, and the way Case was once again staring at the table, he had a feeling he understood perfectly. "You're afraid of her."

Case tightened her grip around herself, "I don't know if I'd go that far…I just…" She looked back up at him, "I blame her. Which isn't exactly fair to her, because she wasn't the only one that hurt him…but she's the only one I've got."

"Ryder said she's been trying to get in contact."

"Oh yeah…as far as I'm concerned, she can stay gone," Case told him, leaning against the booth seat.

"Have you told Bucky about her?"

"He asked," Case admitted. "Ryder thinks I'm afraid to tell him."

"And are you?"

Case sighed and looked like she'd deflated. She chewed on her lip, then finally said, "Yeah, I am."

"Why?"

"Why?" Case blinked at him behind the dark lenses. "Is that a trick question?"

"No, it's a perfectly valid one," Sam frowned.

"I look like my mother," Case said. "I have her eyes…there's some differences, but at the end of the day, I look like her."

"And?"

"What if he doesn't see a difference? Huh? What if he finds out and suddenly decides he doesn't want to ever see me again, because all he can think of is what she and the rest of Hydra did to him?" She looked away again, but Sam could see the tears rolling down her cheeks. "He'll hate me," She whispered, "I hate me."

"Case…you can't blame yourself for what your mother did with Hydra," Sam said. "She's a grown woman and could make her own choices. What she chose to do with Hydra, even with the memory wipe, that was all her."

"I feel like such a child," Case said as more tears appeared from behind her glasses. "I just keep thinking, 'she took him away, she did it. It's her fault!' I lost him again because she put Hydra ahead of me. And yet she wants to walk back into my and Ryder's lives like nothing happened?"

"Do you want her to be in your life?" Sam asked.

Case chewed on her lip again, then said, "Part of me does…as loathe as I am to admit it. But I can't…not after what she's done. I can't risk her finding Bucky."

"You think she'd hand him over to Hydra?"

"What I think is irrelevant on that matter," Case told him. "It's a risk I refuse to take. Even if Bucky hated my guts after all was said and done, I won't let her take him away. Not again."

"But you do have an opinion on it."

"Sam—"

"Case, you said you were going to be honest with me!" Sam snapped. He took a breath, then continued in a calmer tone, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped. But Case, I can't help you if you don't help me."

Case was chewing on her lip again, not looking at him. After a few moments she said, "I'm…I don't want to believe she would."

"But?"

"But…for a brief moment, I thought my mother was on my side, and would help me get free of Hydra," Case explained. "She was just there to tell me about the fusion. I think somewhere I maybe believed she had some good in her…God I sound like I'm from Star Wars…but she just told me of his kills, telling me Hydra would do the same to me. She kept asking about Bucky, so I thought…maybe...if I told her about my feelings for him, maybe she'd let him go." Her face scrunched as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks, "All she did was erase his memory and mine. Tucked him away to be used again at a later date."

Sam was quiet for a few moments then said, "You flip-flop, do you know that?"

Case's brows furrowed in confusion, "Come again?"

"Your mother is twisted, I'm not denying that," Sam began. "But your reasons for being angry at her change…sometimes you argue it's because of what she did to you…but it almost sounds like you hate her more because of Bucky. Like somehow what she did to you doesn't matter because at the end of the day she hurt the man you love."

Case's eyes went back to the table.

Sam's eyebrows rose, "That's it, isn't it? You could handle what she did to you, but you can't handle that she hurt Bucky."

This time Case opted to look out the window, arms tightening around herself again.

And we have a winner, "You can't take responsibility for her actions, Case. They had nothing to do with you."

Case gave a huff, "Didn't they?"

Sam frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Twist it however you want, but we didn't go to look for him," Case said, flopping against the booth cushion. "Once he fell from the train Bucky was lost. And we left him in the snow for the Soviets to find."

"And so, what if you found him? Hydra infiltrated SHIELD. They very easily could've gotten a hold of Bucky and turned him into the Winter Soldier that way."

Case shot him with a glare that made her eyes practically glow behind those sunglasses and she snapped, "Why is that always the answer? That it doesn't matter because Zola would've gotten him anyway. But that's the thing, we don't know! For all we know we could've found him, and Bucky would have been discharged and lived the rest of his life in peace!"

"Even if it wasn't with you?"

"Maybe I wouldn't have gotten on the plane if I knew Bucky was waiting for me!" Case snapped. "We don't know, we'll never know!"

"Exactly," Sam told her.

Case scowled at him, then folded her arms in a huff, once again glaring out the window.

A tall, skinny waitress came up to the table. Her hands trembled as they held her notepad and she spoke in a timid voice, "Okay, I'm sorry, but you're going to need to order now, or I'll have to ask you to leave."

"Pancakes, a side of bacon and some sourdough toast," Case said immediately, not even making eye contact with the woman. "And some coffee, please."

"Er…okay," The woman gave a nod. She turned to Sam, "And you sir?"

"I'll have the same," Sam gave her a weak smile.

Case waited until the waitress was gone before saying, "Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"My mom's a bitch."

"No arguments from this corner."

"No!"

And there it is, Ryder sighed as he walked away from the refrigerator with a water bottle.

After returning from her emergency mental health meeting with Sam – and after eating her pancakes, bacon and toast – Case felt a lot less like death warmed over, and retreated to the communal area of the Avengers' Tower, sitting at the counter with her iPod and her copy of Order of the Phoenix, determined to finish the book that afternoon.

That was where Ryder found her in the early evening. He had wandered into the kitchen to make a sandwich, and when he saw his sister sitting at the counter, decided to say hello. However, the greeting had fallen on deaf ears as Case had her nose buried in Order of the Phoenix, and was singing along to the music in her blue earbuds, slapping her hands on the counter to the beat of the song.

Case was currently flipping through the last few chapters of the book, tears filling her eyes and looking like she was about to panic as the elevator doors opened and Tony stepped into the room. He too seemed to see Case's distress, and jogged over, eyes going from Case to Ryder as he asked, "What's wrong?"

Ryder now was leaning back against the opposite counter with his arms folded, "She just found out what happens to Sirius Black."

"He can't be dead…that can't be!" She looked to be about ready to start sobbing as she continued to flip through the last couple of chapters as if she had missed something, "She didn't…she couldn't!"

"Does she even know we're here?"

"Doubtful…tried to talk to her, but I guess she's been blasting the song 'Firestarter' on repeat in her iPod…couldn't hear me," Ryder explained, grabbing his discarded water bottle from the counter.

"And how do you know that's what she's listening to?"

"She did a few drum solos to the beat on the counter, followed by lyrics, 'I'm a Firestarter, twisted Firestarter. You're the Firestarter, twisted Firestarter.'"

"Makes for a compelling argument," Tony agreed. "But I've seen how this plays out…I'm gonna finish it before it starts."

He took hold of the book, and once Case let go, he pulled it away, marked the page, and put it on the opposite counter behind Ryder.

Case looked up at them in confusion, and pulled a blue earbud out of her ear, "When did you guys get here?"

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Prodigy," Ryder said, drinking more of his water.

She rolled her eyes at her brother, then looked to Tony, "Please tell me Sirius comes back! That he's not…he's not…"

Tony sighed, and looked sympathetic as he shook his head, "No Howlett, I'm sorry. He kind of has this moment at the very end of the story, but not the way you want. Sirius is officially dead."

Case's mouth formed into a thin line, "So let me get this straight…Brian O'Conner is out of the Fast and the Furious series for the obvious reason. Nathan Young was dead…and last we watched was buried alive, and now Sirius Black is dead dead…am I understanding this?"

"Yes."

Case let out a small wail along with a few curses in Russian as she dropped her head to the counter and covered it with her arms.

"Somewhere in the Tower Natasha is beaming with pride," Ryder chuckled.

With a roll of his eyes, Tony picked up the book again, "Jeez, Howlett, what'd you do to this thing?"

Ryder frowned and looked at it. Tony had fanned the book open, and it appeared that some of the pages were bent, like it had been exposed to a very tight grip then tossed to the side somewhere. Clearly Case had tried to flatten them, but the damage was done.

"Bucky was pouting 'cause I was paying more attention to the book than him, so he dropped it on the floor!" Case said, voice muffled by her arms.

Ryder's frown deepened, "Bucky did it?"

"Howlett, we've been over this," Tony sighed, putting the book down again. "If you don't wanna give the answer just say so. Don't make up stories about it…"

Case sighed as she resurfaced, "Right…I'm sorry. I dropped it, okay?"

"See? Was that so hard?"

Ryder eyed the crimp-marks in two of the pages, and thought that maybe a metal thumb could've made them – not that he had a lot of experience with pages catching in metal fingers, but he supposed it was definitely a possibility.

"Hey…Natsu Dragneel is still alive," Tony pointed out.

"Great," Case said quietly, "One out of four."

Tony studied her for a moment, "You gonna be okay? After the Nathan incident—"

"Trust me, Tony, if I'm in the middle of another breakdown, you'll be the first one Jarvis calls." With a sigh, Case grabbed the book and stalked toward the elevator. "I liked that Tom Natsworthy kid in Mortal Engines, maybe he'll be my new favorite book character."

Tony cringed, "Might I suggest Umbrella Academy instead?"

"Already started Mortal Engines, Tony."

Tony frowned and looked to Ryder, "I'm gonna tell her."

"Don't you dare," Ryder hissed at him.

"Oh fuck!" Case yelled from the elevator.

"What?" Ryder asked.

Case turned to them, and they could see her face had turned a bright red color, "I just remember who I drunk dialed last night…"

And thus, ends Chapter 17.

And to recap, nobody but Ryder really suspects that Case is seeing Bucky – Tony kind of does, however he's of the assumption they met up for a one-night stand kind of thing.

Sam doesn't really pick up on it, since he and Steve are still actively searching for Bucky at this point. He sees Case telling Bucky about Kayla Silverfox on a more hypothetical level.

Kitty and Marie know that Case is seeing Bucky, having walked into Case's apartment and saw him in the flesh – the situation Case described where Bucky wanted her attention is actually a precursor to the scene mentioned in Chapter 13.