Hello everyone,

Sorry for the delay. I will explain in the Author's Notes more of why it took so long to post. In the meantime here is chapter 89, enjoy.


Date: Unknown

Place: Unknown

Like always Kat immediately awoke, and immediately remembered what she did last. Still waking in a strange place was a bit disorientating. Regardless the instant the memories came back, Kat wished she could forget. She rolled onto her side as a sob broke loose, and as much as she didn't want to she recalled those last memories.

"No satellites. No ships. No armies. No ground defenses of any kind. It's just him." Carol had said as she flew outside the ship.

"And that's enough." Nebula had replied. Immediately they landed some distance from Thanos' location and Kat left the toy cat Sake in her seat. She followed them out as they moved in on Thanos' location. They spread out to hopefully surround him and over the comms came Steve's voice.

"Kat? Got a beat on his thoughts?"

Immediately she focused, he was thinking mundane things about the weird plant he was growing and about to cook. "He doesn't realize we are here... he is focused on cooking a meal."

"Let's catch him off guard," Steve said not wanting to give Thanos even the slightest chance. The group followed Steve's lead and game plan. Carol went in first, then Banner and Rhodey, and finally, Thor to chop off the bastard's arm. Next, Steve, Nat, Nebula, Rocket, and Kat walked into the house. As Thanos screamed and groaned in pain. Rocket rolled over the gauntlet to find the stones gone. Suddenly the hope Kat had plunged into darkness as she looked down at the vacant spots.

"Oh no."

"Where are they?" Steve asked coldly.

"Answer the question." Carol tightened her grip when it looked like he wouldn't Kat added.

"You can either answer or I will rip them out of your mind."

"The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose... beyond temptation."

"You murdered trillions!" Banner yelled knocking Thanos back.

"You should be grateful..." Banner punched him, but it was then Kat moved forward.

"I'll show you grateful!" With that, she attacked his mind with everything she had. This time the purple bastard screamed in utter agony as she forced him to live through her pain, and then did one better... she ripped through his memories making him relive his most painful one. Turns out it was the memory of sacrificing one he called his daughter. Gamora. She would make him watch that moment over and over again and again until all he knew was that pain. His screams grew louder as she slowly moved towards him with each step the sharp mental attack grew to crippling heights as he clutched his head and rolled on the floor.

"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I AM GRATEFUL?!" Kat screamed at him, by now the constant mental attack was causing a painful spike of pain in her but she wanted to keep going. She would break him! The pain would be worth it to see him suffer, to hear him beg for mercy, and receive none!

"Kat stop!" She heard Steve call out, but she didn't want to. No, he hadn't suffered nearly enough to warrant any kind of mercy. A pair of arms wrapped around her and pulled her back effectively stopping her mental attack. "Kat stop! You're hurting yourself!"

"Let go, Steve! I don't care I want him to suffer!" But Steve refused to let go as Nat came into view to try and calm her down.

"Hey, look at me. Your nose... it's bleeding whatever your doing is hurting you." She turned back to Thanos. "Where are the stones?"

"Gone. Reduced to atoms."

"You used them two days ago!" Banner argued.

"I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me, but the work is done. It always will be. I am inevitable." Kat saw it in his mind she saw him destroy the stones and with it any hope of ever seeing her friends in SHIELD, the Shadow Network, Sharon, Daisy, Tess... Bucky. She gripped Steve's arm which was holding her back from attacking Thanos.

"We have to tear this place apart. He has to be lying!" Rhodey said not wanting to believe the stones gone, but Kat had seen Thanos' memories. The stones were gone.

"My father is many things. A liar is not one of them." Nebula said confirming what Kat had seen.

"Ah, thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly." Before more could be said Thor saw red. He swung his axe, beheading Thanos in one quick clean slice. It was too quick... he deserved to suffer and scream in agony for hours, days, months even years... until there was nothing left but a whimpering blubbering purple mess begging to die. Still, Kat couldn't fault Thor after everything the purple bastard had done.

"What?" Banner asked stunned.

"What did you do?" Rocket asked.

"I went for the head," Thor said wishing he had before and blaming himself for not killing Thanos before. Nebula knelt by her father's remains, but Kat could barely focus on anything. This was why you never held out hope... too easy to have it ripped away. It was all too much suddenly as she felt like she would be sick, her heart would shatter, and the tears flowed freely. The only thing keeping her upright was Steve. However, as it became hard to breathe her head hurt more... she had indeed pushed herself too hard in her mental attacks of Thanos. But everything played a factor as the room spun and she blacked out. Her last thoughts being: 'Please let this just be a nightmare. I want to wake up'.

Kat cried into the pillow at that last painful memory. Steve must have brought her back to the Avenger's compound and let her rest in this room. Her pleas for it to only be a nightmare didn't seem to be answered. So focused on her own grief she couldn't bring herself to pull on the tethers and feel nothing. However, she heard the door open and close and immediately thought it was Steve coming to check on her.

"Please leave me alone..." She begged not wanting to be bothered by anyone. Tears were still flowing as she heard a tray being set down and smelt the sharp scent of coffee. She thought at that moment Steve would leave, but the bed dipped. Maybe if she ignored him Steve would take the hint and go away. Instead, she was stunned when someone laid down right behind her and wrapped their arm around her waist. She stiffened not wanting anyone but Bucky to hold her, and for a split second wondered what Steve was thinking until she heard a very familiar voice.

"And leave my girl crying? Never." Bucky's voice made her gasp, sit up and turn to look at the man behind her to find Bucky smiling at her. How? This wasn't possible! She saw him vanish, she had pulled on the tether connecting them countless times only to feel nothing! Thanos said he destroyed the Infinity stones, she would never see Bucky or Tess again! Thus Kat burst into tears and covered her face with her hands as she cried even more.

"Doll?" Bucky asked worried and was unsure of what to do. Her bursting into tears at the sight of him was not what he had been hoping for.

"I've gone insane..." She gasped out then cried more, "You can't be real, I must have lost my mind."

Bucky chuckled as he released the breath he had held. For some strange reason, he thought it was something he might have done. "I'm real doll."

However, Kat couldn't bring herself to look up as she cried even more, so Bucky added. "Hey, I'm here."

"No, if you were here I'd tell you how sorry I am. How much I miss you, and agree to more kids as many as you would want..." Kat replied tearfully then her voice broke as she said the last part, "I just want you and Tess back. I'd give anything..."

Two strong hands gripped her upper arms. "Hey, I'm here doll. Look at me."

Hesitantly Kat lowered her hands and looked up at Bucky, who wiped the tears away. He looked like he wanted to tell her something or many things, but settled on one thing. "I'm here, you're not crazy... I can prove it."

With that, he kissed her deeply stealing her breath away. At first, Kat wasn't sure what to do, then she returned the kiss hesitantly as if testing to make sure this was real. When she made sure she moaned and pressed against him. Her fingers ran through his hair as she tugged him close wanting to deepen the kiss. So what if she was going insane? If she was with Bucky she didn't mind. She ended up in his lap straddling him as he pulled her close to feel how much he wanted her, and screw it she wanted him too!

Suddenly she became frantic to get the damn sleep shirt out of the way, as well as her panties. Also did this mental delusion of Bucky need to wear so many damn clothes?!

"Woah easy doll." Bucky caught her wrists to stop her from going further. She gave a pained groan, she needed to feel him even if he was a delusion. "Feel me..."

Bucky placed one of her hands on the side of his head, he wanted her to pull on the tether. Immediately she tried to pull away scared. How many times had she tried to sense Bucky and Tess? Too many! She couldn't do it! She didn't want to feel that emptiness where they had been! Immediately she shook her head and tried to pull away only for Bucky to hold her tight. "No, no I have pulled and pulled on those tethers, I can't-"

"Yes you can, please! For me doll. I need you to know I am here." He pleaded, and Kat sobbed as she looked down before nodding in agreement to what he wanted. Closing her eyes tears still overflowed and escaped as Kat focused on the mental connection she had with Bucky. Hesitantly she tugged on the connection expecting nothing on the other end and gasped when she sensed Bucky. How was this possible?! Her eyes flew open to look up at Bucky in stunned confusion before he pulled her to him and caught her face in his hands. In the next instance, he was kissing her senseless!

"You're real!" she gasped between kisses making Bucky smile.

"Yes and I am looking forward to your promise one day, but for now..." He grinned as he trailed off before kissing her more and laying her back on the bed with him following on top. Kat's mind was reeling, how did this happen? Last she knew she had been on that garden planet. Thanos had told them he destroyed the infinity stones before Thor beheaded him. How did she get from point A to point Z? She was still trying to figure this out as Bucky kissed her and didn't want to release her. It all seemed too good to be true, was she dreaming? Had she gone insane? How was he here when she saw him vanish? What happened after Thor beheaded Thanos? She must have passed out because she didn't remember going back to the ship or going back to Earth. She guessed Steve must have carried her to the ship, then into the compound? But that didn't explain this... this gap in memory.

Bucky's lips trailed down her neck making her shiver, then she realized he was too focused on kissing her. He... was distracting her. There was something he didn't want her to see or know. He was actively blocking her. This scared her more than anything. Since when did he hide things from her?! The more she thought about it the more scared she got. Something was wrong, Bucky wouldn't hide things from her! Also, why did it feel like she was missing something?! Like she had completed a puzzle but was missing the most vital piece!

In this moment, Kat felt torn on what to do. He looked like Bucky, felt like Bucky, smelt like him, and even his thoughts while hiding something... was definitely Bucky. She felt like a woman drowning in an ocean and Bucky was air. She needed and wanted him, she didn't want to release him; but on the flip side, fear was mounting. A giant void where some vital information should be was missing, he knew something but wasn't telling her. And the longer she didn't know the more terrified she got. She had never had a blank spot, and yet here one was. She needed answers. She needed to know what was going on. Was she insane? Was she hallucinating Bucky? Was this even Bucky? The thoughts that her mind finally snapped scared her, as she felt Bucky's hand slip beneath her sleep shirt.

The debate to give into Bucky, or get answers was difficult. She might never get this chance again with him, she didn't want him to stop. However, him actively holding his thoughts in check and hiding information from her made her think that this wasn't real. Thus she made the painful decision to stop this before he went further and she wouldn't want to say no to him. Pushing against his chest, Bucky immediately pulled away. "No Bucky wait..."

"What's wrong?" He asked concerned, she went with a lame answer off of the top of her head.

"I.. need a drink of water," Kat replied. For a second she wasn't sure if he bought her lame excuse, and she hoped there wasn't a glass of water already there. Fortunately, Bucky moved off of her and sat at the edge cupping her cheek as she sat up.

"Alright doll, wait here." He kissed her again then got up and left the room. The second the door clicked shut, Kat bolted out of the bed and found some shorts to slip on. She also grabbed some shoes and headed for the door. Opening the door she peaked out to an unknown hallway that was also empty. Where was she?! Panicking more Kat slipped on one shoe as she moved quickly down the hall. It held a similar format to the Avengers Compound, but the style and paint job were completely different. Practically jogging down the hall the desire to escape and find someone she knew drove her to hurry. As she moved she did a bit of a hop as she quickly pulled on the second shoe.

However she did not get far before seeing Bucky round the corner with a glass of water, and for a second he froze when he saw her. Him being stunned gave her the opportunity as she rushed forward and down the stairs to her left. She was halfway down when Bucky called out to her and she knew she would have to run to escape.

"Kat wait!" Bucky called as she leapt off of the last five steps and ran. She could still hear 'Bucky' chasing her as she ran for what she hoped was the escape route, or to someone that would confirm she wasn't losing her mind. The first one she saw was a blonde in a red jacket that she shoved out of the way. Another called out to the man she shoved past.

"Quill are you alright?"

Based on the pure fact that she didn't know who that was she kept going. She could still hear Bucky behind her and wanted someone she knew to help her. Again Bucky called out. "Kat stop!"

She ignored it and dashed around a corner trying to find her way out of this damn maze of a building! Steve, she needed to find Steve... or Nat. She knew them she could trust them. As she ran she pulled on both tethers and felt like the wind had been knocked out of her! Steve was there, but not Nat. Again she tried to sense Nat, but... nothing! No! She had just seen Nat! She had stood right next to her when they caught Thanos! What the hell was going on?! She pulled on the tether for Steve and sensed him, now she just needed to get to him.

Running down a narrow hallway, Kat could hear Bucky behind her. Dammit, she forgot how fast he was! Cutting a corner she narrowly dodged being grabbed and heard a crash behind her, Bucky might be faster, but she had practice dodging pursuers. Not wanting to take a chance, Kat kept running and dodging down different hallways slowly getting closer to Steve. As she reached the end of a hallway she pushed through a set of glass doors and dared a look back. Bucky was still chasing her, but there was some distance at least.

No sooner did she make it through the doors, did she run into someone. Whoever it was was big, and barely budged. Since she had been running though it felt like she had hit a brick wall, and fell down hard.

"Oh my god!" She heard a woman cry.

"Kat, I'm so sorry, are you alright?" That was Banner's voice. Had she run into him? She didn't remember him being that tall or big. She winced at being knocked down so easily and felt a number of eyes on her as she rolled to her side to get up. She still needed to find Steve! Looking towards the large group that were just down a few steps and in a lounge area she spotted Steve as he was coming towards her.

"Are you alright Kat?"

"Steve!" Kat cried relieved. In an instant, she was on her feet, jumped down the steps, and ran into Steve hugging him, which surprised him. The poor man had not expected to be hugged by a scared Kat, who should be in his best friend's arms, not his. But given the circumstances, Steve hesitantly wrapped his arms around her to comfort her. "Please help! I think I'm hallucinating or...or have gone crazy. The—there's this—I don't know what you call it! It's like I did a big puzzle but am missing the most vital piece! Umm a blank... spot or a void... I know I am, and I think I have gone crazy! I saw Bucky, but I saw him turned to ash, and I can't sense Nat! Why can't I sense her?!"

The words all came out in a rush as she was panicking. By the end of it, Kat was in tears, and all Steve could do was try to reassure her. "It's okay. You're going to be okay."

"No, something is very wrong with me..." She whispered back and closed her eyes for a moment trying to stop the tears. She was so confused. A fact that never once happened before as she wondered what was going on? Where was Nat? And why was this happening? Then came the next question: what was wrong with her? For a long pregnant silence, she just let Steve hold her and calm her down afraid to open her eyes and see this strange new situation again. She tried to sense Nat again, but there was still a void where Nat should have been.

"What's wrong with me? I can't sense Nat? I keep trying, but she isn't there... She was there. She was right next to me. Have I gone crazy?" Kat asked tearfully, they were questions Steve was unsure of how to answer as he held her, but she caught glimpses of his memories. Some sort of platform, strange suites... they were someplace—no some time elsewhere. Then they were back... but Nat wasn't. Barton, Nat had been with Barton, he told how she sacrificed herself.

"She's gone," Steve whispered making Kat burst into tears.

"No—no that's not... that's not possible! She was right there! She was right next to me... she said my nose was bleeding and I needed to stop!" Kat said as she started crying against Steve. If what he said was true, how come she didn't remember it? Again she tried to sense Nat, but... nothing! So that meant Nat died? Briefly, she thought about those times working with Nat... them in Venezuela fighting HYDRA and chatting casually amongst other times. How? How had this happened? Why was there this gap in memory?

"What's the last thing you remember?" Steve asked gently.

Taking a deep shaky breath, Kat replied. "The garden planet. We went after Thanos, remember? You, me, Nat, Rhodey, Banner, Thor, Carol, Nebula, and Rocket. We found Thanos, but he destroyed the stones. I remember ripping his mind apart. You grabbed me and pulled me back... Nat said I needed to stop. My nose was bleeding... then Thor chopped off his head. After that, I blacked out..."

This only seemed to disturb Steve more as if he didn't know how to respond or act to this news. However, hearing someone behind her made Kat stiffen and shrink away from whoever was behind her. Was this person a delusion created by her snapped mind? Steve must have noticed her reaction as he said. "It's alright."

"Kat?" The familiar and uncertain voice of Daisy surprised Kat as she peeked back. Sure enough, there was the SHIELD agent that became more like a sister to her. While Daisy was dressed in casual clothes, she also looked a little older. Maybe it was what she had done to her hair? Still, did she trust her own mind that this was actually Daisy? Coulson's entire team disappeared when Thanos snapped his fingers after all. Kat looked back at Steve then at Daisy hoping for some kind of confirmation that she wasn't insane. But when Steve said nothing she asked.

"I'm not imagining or seeing things, am I?" Steve gave her a concerned look wondering if she was seeing Moira? Why would she be seeing her dead mother?! Kat shook it off, "I feel like I have lost my mind... I couldn't sense Daisy or Coulson's team before..."

Steve immediately straightened as he realized the issue. "She's real."

"I can prove it," Daisy said offering her hand to Kat. Hesitantly Kat pulled away from Steve and turned to face Daisy. The other SHIELD members were behind her with a couple of new faces Kat did not recognize: A dark-haired woman, a dark-haired man that looked familiar, and a teenaged kid. Strangely both the guy and girl looked concerned with Daisy getting so close to her, so Daisy looked at them. "It's okay."

Looking back to Kat, Daisy urged her to place her hand in the SHIELD agent's, and Daisy used her powers to cause a slight tremor to run up Kat's arm. The sensation made Kat feel like her hand had gone numb, but without the painful prickling sensation. Merely it was to prove that Daisy was real since Kat wasn't exactly trusting her Inhuman ability to sense others, a relieved smile spread across Kat's face as Daisy stopped using her powers. Still what happened? Why couldn't she sense Daisy or the others before? Rather than worry over that, Kat came forward and hugged Daisy relieved to be reunited with the SHIELD agent. She ignored the worried looks the guy and girl gave as she hugged Daisy.

"She's okay," May said to them to reassure them that Daisy was in no danger of Kat. This seemed enough to get the two strangers to relax.

"I couldn't sense you after Thanos snapped his fingers, what happened Daisy?"

"It's complicated..." Daisy said then looked to Doctor Strange, but Kat didn't see the action. The Doctor leaned forward and sighed as he stood up knowing he would have to explain what happened. Meanwhile, Kat peeked around stunned by some that were in the lounge her eyes though landed on Bucky who looked like a kicked puppy after she had run from him and went right to Steve. Talk about awkward, luckily another person approached her.

"Katrina Barnes," A man addressed her, and she released Daisy and turned to find a man with a goatee and greying black hair standing to her left. "I'm Doctor Steven Strange."

She had heard that name before, and almost immediately recalled where.

"Neurosurgeon, I read an article about you back in 2009 on cutting edge surgical procedures when I would impersonate a nurse," Kat replied automatically since she immediately recognized the name from memory. She stole a glance at Bucky who was still standing there watching her. He also still looked hurt that she ran from him but made no further move near her. As if he didn't want to upset her further, and was unsure how she would react to him.

"Well glad to be recognized for that at least," Strange said after a moment regaining Kat's attention. "Currently I'm a master of the Mystic Arts."

"Uh Mystic arts? You've gone all Harry Potter?" Kat asked confused. Rather than answer directly Strange decided to get right to the issue at hand.

"I'm here to help explain why there feels like an important puzzle piece missing. Come have a seat." Strange gestured to the lounge area where a number of people were already watching them after she unceremoniously ran into Banner, and ran to Steve. Some she easily recognized. The original Avengers she knew looked a little different, possibly older? But there were those that had been dusted and were sitting there like nothing had happened. All of this confused her, more especially when she walked by the Hulk.. wearing glasses?

Hesitantly Kat followed Strange towards the couches and chairs in the lounge. She took careful note of who all was in the room which was a little overwhelming. How had she not noticed all these people before? "Apologies, I know you don't like a lot of people or crowds... I read about you too shortly after you came out of the shadows. HYDRA lab-rat for the first number of years of your life suffering from Social anxiety disorder, fear of crowds... makes you feel like you're suffocating."

"I uhh kind of learned a work-around," Kat said as her eyes lingered on some that she either did not recognize or had changed drastically. Not to mention new faces she had not seen before.

"So Mrs. Barnes...uhh can I just call you Kat?" Kat nodded as she sat on the couch across from Strange. "Right well would you like a drink? Tea?"

"No, I don't like tea..."

"Oh right, Coffee," Strange said, who had told him she preferred coffee? Either way, she found a mug in her hand and raised a brow at him.

"Okay Houdini," Kat said leaning forward and setting the mug on the coffee table, "Can we stop with the parlor tricks please."

"Fair enough, you said the last thing you remember was the garden planet, right?" Again Kat nodded as Strange sighed, he had a lot of explaining to do.


August 12th, 2023

Ruined Avengers Compound

Flashback

The second Bucky pulled Tess away, the strange man in blue with a red cloak acted. He seemed to know how this stone worked and how to use it. The green stone floated in front of him as he activated it and a green circle before him encased his wrist. He moved closer to Kat who's nose was bleeding and a second later fell into unconsciousness. Immediately he raised his hand directing the strange green sigil to Kat, then he pushed left slowly and with what seemed to be difficultly. Bucky wanted to ask what the hell he was doing, but Tess tugged his arm and called out. "Daddy!"

Immediately Bucky turned his head and looked down at Tess before following his daughter's gaze. It was strange the blood ran back up into Kat's nose, her clothes changed multiple times. Her hair grew longer rapidly, then would be cut short again, grow long, then be cut once more. The more Strange pushed left the more she changed and even began to look healthier. She didn't look like she was anorexic any more as she seemed to fill out some. Bucky watched in stunned awe at what Strange was doing.

Meanwhile Strange was gritting his teeth as he gasped out. "This is harder than it was with the apple."

Finally, Kat's hair was once more long and back to its usual black with purple highlights, and she was once more in her blackish-purple suit. Thus Strange stopped and fell to his knees gasping, the time stone dropped to the ground in front of him. Bucky looked back at him wondering what he had done.

"Stay here," Bucky ordered Tess after a moment then passed her back to Daisy. He then moved to his wife and gently pulled her up some. He rested her against him as he looked her over and placed his fingers against her throat. He was relieved to feel a pulse there and just wanted to hold her close.

"Check her wrists." Strange ordered, Bucky looked at the man stunned. What was on her wrists? Regardless he began unhooking her wrist dagger on her left hand and pulled the sleeve up. He wasn't sure what he was expected to report, but all he saw was Kat's lovely smooth wrists.

"And what am I looking for?" He asked.

"Scars."

An icy shiver ran down his spine but replied. "There are none."

Strange merely nodded relieved as Bucky held her close and made sure she was alright. His wife was merely unconscious. When all seemed well, Daisy released Tess and the little girl came around and knelt next to her mom's other side and hugged her.

"She's okay, just sleeping," Bucky whispered to Tess who nodded still scared. From there Bucky really didn't pay much attention to the others, he was vaguely aware of both Aida and Friday suggesting a more secure location. Stark had long ago had built a secret hidden retreat ever since Ultron that the Avengers could go should they need time from the spotlight. It had never actively been used, nor was it an address given to the military. Between the two AIs they gave the location. Doctor Strange, Wong, and some other sorcerers made portals to get them there, and pretty soon the exhausted groups left for the hidden location. While some like the Wakandan armies were returned via portal to their original location.

Bucky easily picked up Kat, with Tess sticking close to him. Meanwhile, a number of heroes lifted their fallen friend Tony up to aid in carrying him through the portal. After this horrific battle and the terrible losses, they deserved some peace not to be badgered by reporters or government personnel. Of those to go through the portal to this hidden base were the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Agents of SHIELD, some of the Asgardians, King T'Challa, Shuri, Okoye, and close friends and allies of these main groups.

They all found themselves in a clearing surrounded by trees and in front of them was a large building. Immediately Aida and Friday took control of security and unlocked the doors for the heroes. Of course, Aida also contacted ones like Nick Fury, the Shadow Network, Sharon, Happy, and others that would be permitted to come to this location. The Shadow Network immediately sprang into action to secure ships and personal items from the destroyed facility alongside agents from SHIELD.

However none of this really bothered Bucky, what concerned him was the unconscious woman in his arms, and the little girl clinging to him. Aida quickly directed him to a room to put Kat in with Tess needing to be distracted by Myra, and Okoye. He changed her clothes and got her into bed. He wanted answers badly like what had that guy done to his wife?! However, answers would have to wait as his next step was to work towards calming down Tess. Meanwhile outside some sorcerers opened portals to allow others through from other locations. One portal was opened for Happy and Morgan, another for Hank Pyme and his wife Janet. Meanwhile, another was opened for Cassie Lang, her mom, and Paxton. Many more were coming including Everett Ross, Nick Fury, and Maria Hill as Bucky took Tess outside to some patio chairs.

"I want to see mommy!" Tess complained.

"Honey she is sleeping. I know you want to see her, but we need to let her rest, okay?" Bucky urged gently. The little girl looked down saddened but gave a small sad 'Okay' in response. "Hey look at that they are bringing people through still. Wanna go see who?"

Tess continued to sulk as she shook her head. Normally he knew just what to do to get her smiling, but he too was worried. Meanwhile, Coulson and his team greeted Nick Fury and Maria Hill and explained what all happened right up to Thanos being destroyed, Stark dying, and what had been done to Kat. Although the last part no one was entirely sure what was done.

Sadly while it was easy for Coulson to explain this to Fury, Pepper was having to explain to a five-year-old Morgan why her dad was never coming back which was a lot harder. A few had noticed Pepper lead her daughter away to explain things gently to her.

All in all the hidden base was a hive of activity with many being reunited with lost loved ones and friends, mourning their losses, and just trying to recover from it all. No doubt the outside world wanted answers, but those answers would simply have to wait. Many of them just took it one step at a time.

It was hard to keep track of everyone and everything, and neither Bucky nor Tess were of the mind to care. The only distractions came when different ones like Coulson's team eagerly rushed up hugging Tess after missing her for a long time. The little girl didn't mind the hugs or attention, even M'Baku picked her up giving her a big hug saying he missed the miniature Dora. However nothing distracted her for long, she wanted to see her mommy.

By the afternoon they were all in the lounge room quietly eating and cradling drinks. While Bucky went to get them something to drink, Tess took in the room from where she sat. She was sat on a long couch, the spot to her left was empty where her dad had been sitting. Further down sat Sam and Myra.

Past the couch sat two chairs at the end with a heavy set Asian man and the weird red-cloaked guy. Past them was a railing and an upper level of the lounge where a pretty blonde lady with short hair stood, further down was Coulson talking to a strange man in a trench coat with an eyepatch and a brunette. Beside them stood two other agents, but they weren't with Coulson. Just below where Coulson stood was Mack, May, Yo-yo, Daisy, Fitz, Simmons, Sousa, and Kora. However, there were two new faces with them one them being a little blonde-haired girl about Tess' age caught her attention and Tess tilted her head wondering who she was. The little girl spotted her, smiled, and waved so she smiled and waved back. All of them were catching up with Hunter and Bobbi by the stairs. Next and across from a coffee table sat on another couch was Steve, the strangely bearded blonde, Groot, a talking Racoon, Scott, another brunette, and an older couple. The old man looked rather grouchy, so Tess looked past the couch at a strangely bald tattooed man, a blonde in a red jacket, and a girl with antennas. They were right behind Groot and the Racoon.

In the couch to Steve's left was T'Challa, Shuri, Okoye, Wanda, and Barton. Okoye gave Tess one of her rare smiles making Tess smile too. Next, the strange rock creature and thing with knives just past the couch caught Tess' attention, the bug looking one seemed to wave at her and she gave a shy smile before waving back. Past them and closer to the bar stood the leaders of the Shadow Network including Sharon. Behind the bar stood a pretty lady with a tattoo on her face making drinks, did she work in a bar? She seemed to know what she was doing. Looking further to her right was the Hulk wearing glasses, Tess had wanted to say hi to Banner, but was worried she would anger the big green guy so she didn't. To the right of the couch T'Challa and co were sitting in sat a blue-skinned lady that looked very intimidating, and in the other chair next to her was the only one not intimidated by her M'Baku.

Finally, Tess looked to her immediate right where another couch was which held Rhodey and a heavier set man both of which looked sad and were comforting a teenager with brown hair along with a woman with brown hair and glasses.

However, with a perfect memory like her mom's, she knew two people were missing. She had hoped to see Nat, and to thank Iron Man for saving her, but didn't see them. Maybe if she asked Sam... Tess looked over but saw him talking to Myra and she didn't want to bug him. Looking to her right she decided maybe she could ask Rhodey? She didn't know him that well though, and something seemed to be bothering him. Taking one last look around the sea of faces and not finding Nat or Tony, Tess looked to Rhodey again.

"Um... Rhodey?" Tess asked hesitating as he turned to face her.

"Hey there, Tess. Need something?"

Tess looked to the teenager then back to Rhodey. "Is everything okay?"

Rhodey looked over at the teen then nodded as he looked down. "We're okay, just..." The man paused remembering he was talking to a five-year-old, "Never mind, was there something you needed?"

"I um... I was wondering where Nat is? I haven't seen her... also I wanted to thank Mr... Iron... I mean Mr. Stark for saving me." Tess said shyly and immediately regretted it because Rhodey looked down again. Did she say something wrong? She suddenly felt bad for some reason, so she immediately apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you..."

"No, no it's okay," Rhodey said, then noticed Bucky come back. The questioning look he gave made Rhodey tell him what they were talking about. "She uh wants to know where Nat and Tony are."

The look her dad gave worried Tess more, it was the same look he gave when they told her Lincoln had died, she was really hoping this look was for another reason. Like both, Nat and Tony were busy and away, but would be back soon. Bucky set down their drinks on the coffee table and sat by Tess, and just like with Lincoln he tried to tell her as gently as possible that both Nat and Tony were gone. They were in a better place and the same lines as before. It had not made Tess feel better then and it certainly didn't now. She already missed Nat and wanted to see her. The last time she saw Nat was before the battle in Wakanda... five years ago to some, but to her it felt like yesterday. She had told Nat she liked what she had done to her hair when she hugged her. Now it was the last time she would ever see Nat.

What was worse was it was a double blow as she remembered Tony saving her from that alien during the battle. She replayed those moments over and over inside her head before the words tumbled out as she sniffled. "But, I saw her yesterday, and... I never got a chance to thank him..."

"Hey c'mere..." Bucky said gently picking Tess up to sit her in his lap as she started crying into his shoulder, and he rubbed her back and rocked her gently to soothe her. She stayed there burying her head as Bucky got a few looks and he said. "She was asking about Natasha and Stark..."

Tess wasn't sure who her dad was talking to because she never looked up, but after a long time crying her eyes, she eventually grew exhausted. She always got tired after having a nice long cry. So inevitably after crying for a nice long while her eyes grew heavy and she dozed off in her dad's arms. For a time Bucky just held a sleeping Tess, not wanting to disturb her. However, after telling Steve what was wrong and why she was upset every once in a while he would get looks from others. Suddenly some of those unfamiliar faces could turn out to be potential enemies as he hugged his daughter protectively to him. The greater concern was the man Coulson was talking to: Nick Fury. While Coulson could be trusted Bucky wondered if Fury would hold a grudge for attempting to assassinate him.

Meanwhile up on the upper level of the lounge Fury had taken careful stock of those in the room, and had clocked the little kid wearing a SHIELD baseball cap long ago. Coulson had seemed to know the kid because she ran up and hugged him earlier on, so one of the first questions had been. "Who's the kid?"

Coulson then launched into explaining who she was which stunned Fury. "So you kept this to yourself?"

"You had secrets before, sir. Well Kat was mine," Coulson replied gaining a look from Fury, "You gave me the job of Directing SHIELD, well Kat was my advisor. She helped us take down HYDRA. Besides Tess is not my secret to tell. A five-year-old with the super-soldier and Mastermind serums, plus the potential to become Inhuman... a lot of people would go after her. I couldn't let that happen."

Fury sighed. Some secrets were meant to be kept for the greater good. The world and governments did not need to know about this little girl and be at risk of being taken away from her parents. Fury could understand that then looked to Coulson. "You are aware he tried to kill me."

"I'm aware sir, but Barnes was being controlled by HYDRA," Coulson said looking to Tess and Bucky, "Besides he can no longer be controlled, Kat's mental abilities have safeguarded him from any hidden HYDRA programming according to our local friendly AI."

Fury leaned on the railing, he was not even going to get into it about Aida and instead replied after thinking a moment. "Still you could have told me you recruited Katseye, or whatever she goes by now."

"We just call her Kat, but I do think the Guardian Avenger sounds pretty cool." Fury raised a brow at Coulson. One of the two agents named Talos chuckled while the other agent Soren elbowed him to get him to stop. Meanwhile, Fury looked down at the other SHIELD agents seeking their thoughts.

"May?" Fury asked, they had been close enough to hear the conversation.

"She's a good person and helped us a lot. Ruthlessly efficient at wiping out HYDRA, and is a good advisor."

"Just don't mess with Bucky or Tess and she won't kick your ass," Daisy added, gaining a raised brow from Fury.

"Something tells me anyone messes with the kid... if her mom or dad doesn't get to them you will." Fury said, and Daisy nodded bluntly. Kora standing next to Daisy smiled and laughed a little.

"We all kind of have a soft spot for Tess, Sir," Fitz added, but Fitz's biggest soft spot seemed to be for the little blonde girl clinging to him. Fury looked at the SHIELD team then to Coulson before shrugging.

"Alright then."

Once everything was mostly settled the groups could relax, and that was what many of them did in the spacious lounge. By then it was getting towards evening and Bucky carried a sleeping Tess to her room. On the way there he also noticed Fitz carrying a sleepy blonde child and raised a brow. "I'll explain later," Fitz reassured him as he passed, and Bucky just shrugged and moved on. Finally putting Tess to bed, Bucky felt he could get some answers without scaring Tess senseless, so he moved for the lounge deciding he would get answers one way or another!

The moment he entered the lounge he headed straight for Strange, who immediately got up and put his hands up in a placating gesture. "I can explain."

"You better! What the hell did you do to my wife?!" The sharp tone caught the attention of the others.

"I saved her." Strange replied calmly, "She was dying."

Alright, so he would not beat the answers out of him at least. Strange gestured for Bucky to sit, which he hesitantly did despite looking like he wanted to murder someone. Strange sat back down and sighed. "Tell me do you know what Systemic failure in medical terms means?"

Bucky was not in the mood for an educational talk of medical practices, he was about to open his mouth to say as much but Jemma spoke. "Systemic failure is often multiple organs failing because of an infection of some sort."

"Correct, often it can start with something small... like a snowball at the top of a mountain by the time it reaches the bottom it can cause a lot of damage," Strange said looking to Bucky, "Your wife's condition or problem grew over time and was the result of multiple issues... multiple failings."

Bucky frowned as he gripped the chair as Strange continued to explain. "I viewed over fourteen million possible future outcomes and in each, your wife died. In a few of them, she even killed Thanos, but that also killed her."

Strange paused for a moment to let that sink in then Bucky asked. "How?"

The doctor turned sorcerer knew what he wanted to know. "The ball of snow that started this was Thanos snapping half of all life out of existence when he did that he severed a lot of mental connections Kat had. It was painful, disorientating, and overwhelming. Anyone that saw her probably thought she was in shock and that is because she was. It even took her a few minutes to register that Tess had vanished too."

"Of course... her Inhuman powers had established neuropathways connecting her to others. Those connections being severed would be like blinding or deafening someone!" Jemma added.

Jemma's words made a lot of sense despite the medical jargon thrown in. Kat's ability to mentally connect to others, it would naturally be affected when suddenly she could no longer sense half of them.

"Indeed, I take it you have extensive knowledge on Kat's abilities?" Strange asked.

"Not just hers but Daisy's and Yo-yo's as well. Kat's ability started out as a form of mental instant messenger. She could send and receive thoughts. However according to Lincoln Campbell another Inhuman that sadly is no longer with us... Inhumans have an innate Inhuman trait pre-terrogenisis. Kat's innate ability happened to be adaptability which meant she could adapt to situations more easily than most. I've theorized that is how Kat's abilities have evolved beyond mental instant messaging."

Strange had leaned forward interested in Jemma's explanation and nodded in agreement. "Makes sense..."

"You mentioned a snowball effect, Doctor?" Sharon asked eager to know what had happened to her friend.

"Yes, I did. The next was forcing a connection to Tony Stark, it was unnatural to the way she usually forms connections. Instead of being around Stark for prolonged periods, getting to know him and forming the connection naturally. She opted for forcing a mental connection via other's memories. Sure it helped to inform everyone that Stark was still alive, but it caused further damage. Immediately after discovering Stark was alive she passed out, and had a nose bleed. That was a warning of the damage."

"Kat told me before she has to be around a person, get to know them before any type of connection forms..." Daisy said frowning, "Attempting to force a connection sounds..."

"Reckless." Mack offered up.

Wong handed Strange a mug of tea as he sat down by him, and Strange took a sip before continuing. "The third hurdle was when the Avengers went after Thanos on that garden planet. Thanos destroyed the infinity stones, and Kat attacked his mind. She was not going to let up. She wanted him to scream and suffer, but the prolonged attack was hurting her forcing Steve and Nat to stop her. Another warning that she was endangering herself was another nose bleed followed by her passing out..."

"So those times she was overextending herself," Carol added leaning on the railing above the lounge.

Strange turned and nodded then looked back at the others before sighing like he didn't want to continue. "From there, her condition just became worse and more unstable. After she attempted to take her own life and had to be admitted, she began seeing and speaking to someone called Moira."

"Phew!" Hunter whistled, "Yeah mate, Moira is not a well-liked person."

"She's Kat's mother and the very last HYDRA head Kat killed," Fitz added when had he got back from putting his daughter? To bed?

"Well Kat obviously didn't like her, but this Moira somehow convinced Kat to live. Sadly not all the decisions were in Kat's best interest. She choose complete isolation, spoke only to Moira, and over five years focused on building up her powers."

Bucky felt his stomach twist painfully at the thought that Kat had tried to kill herself, and ended up talking to Moira Nakagawa of all people. Jemma frowned as she spoke. "Moira was probably a self-preservation response to her attempted suicide."

"That is what I thought but it was an added problem because from what little I saw of the conversation Moira encouraged Kat to build up her powers for an honorable death. Which leads to the Avengers recruiting her." Strange said then took another drink before continuing, "She agreed to go on the Time Heist, but when they failed to get the Tesseract in 2012, she went with them to the 1970s. The issue is all the other Avengers and people she knew still alive were not born yet, it meant she was... disconnected from them in a way. During the entire time she was in the 1970s she was plagued by headaches which was yet another warning."

Bucky sat forward rubbing his already aching head as he thought about the information Strange was laying on him. "And I think you know what the next issue was..."

Barton sighed. "On coming back to the present she could no longer sense Nat."

The reminder reopened the painful wound of losing Nat as some looked away. While Strange nodded, "Correct, next was those lost in the snap suddenly coming back and those long dead connections re-connecting."

"She seemed to be in pain when she suddenly sensed everybody," Steve said thinking of those moments just after the snap and before Thanos' attack.

"That is because it was... and it only got worse. Next was the battle, Kat using her powers repeatedly, attacking Thanos' and his allies' mind multiple times... it all added up and counted towards that now giant snowball. Leading up to the last straw... the moment Tony Stark died that connection which was a lot stronger by then, was lost."

Strange sighed and took a drink. "It all added up, and being mentally unstable, she wasn't going to survive it if I hadn't stepped in and did what I had done."

For a few minutes, Bucky sat there stunned then swallowed. "And what exactly did you do?"

"Turned back the clock." He replied.


Author's Notes:

First off Thank you for the lovely reviews. As always I enjoy hearing from you all and am sorry it took so long to post this latest chapter. I knew exactly what I wanted to happen, but where to place each event was still jumbled. So it took time to work out exactly how the pieces of the story would be put together.

With that said here is the things I feel I need to touch on in this chapter. For starters, I decided to let it be confusing a little bit because Kat is confused and felt this would help story-wise. For example, Kat wakes up and immediately remembers what happened last, but you as the reader already knows that this 'flashback' has already happened... at the beginning of Endgame. So the immediate question is: What is going on? Why are we getting a mini repeat of Thanos dying? The simple answer is because that is the last thing Kat remembers.

Suddenly Kat sees Bucky, but for her he was dusted a month ago, so she starts panicking and calling her sanity into question. Now some might ask: Why Bucky didn't say anything? Because he wanted to break the news to her gently, he didn't want her to panic... you get the hint. Hence him trying to distract her and find a way to break the news to her gently without the panic. Obviously, this doesn't work out, and because Kat is already confused it just makes her panic more. So she escapes Bucky and ends up in the lounge where she is even more confused because she can't sense Nat and half the people she thought was dead are suddenly alive.

In comes Strange who has to explain what happened... but rather than get him simply stating what happened we get a flashback to after the battle when Kat passed out from Bucky's perspective. We get to see how things pan out all the way until he has a sit-down with Strange who explains that Kat's condition was already bad and only getting worse leaving Strange no choice but to 'Turn back the clock.' A clue to this was when Strange said: 'It was easier with the apple.' This was in reference to his movie where he used the time stone on an apple taking it back in time to make it whole then going forward to see the apple eaten. Obviously taking a person back five years would not be easy.

I also did this because for the entire story Three/Kat has never forgotten anything. She has prided herself on remembering everything because that is what the serum in her does. So it seemed fitting that she would come full circle and 'forget' at the end of Endgame even if it wasn't exactly her that forgot. This would be the closest she would ever come to forgetting anything, and the biggest tragedy is she will have lost memories. Any memories in that five-year gap between herself and Nat and herself and Tony... are gone. A prime example is when she and Tony were in the changing rooms in 1970 and she was joking with Tony-gone! She does not get those memories back.

I hope this clears up any confusion for this chapter. If still confused imagine you see the very beginning of Endgame right up until Thor beheads Thanos. Then jump to the end after the battle, that is what Kat is seeing.

Anyway, I do hope you have enjoyed this latest chapter and I will try to get the next couple of chapters out soon. After that, this story will be on hiatus until I know what is happening in the Disney plus shows. Sadly with the current state of things in the world, this story might be on hiatus for a long time. But not worry yet, we still have a couple of chapters left at least. I obviously have some things to write on and do before a hiatus is called so not there yet.

Please let me know what you thought of this chapter,

Lesliezin