Avengers: Age of Ultron | Saviors | Reality

"I love you, Avery Lola Rogers…"

"You are the Winter Soldier. Our most magnificent weapon of the century…"

"You are my sister…nothing could stop me from loving you…"

"Don't let them change you…you be a good girl, Avery…"

"This is your first test," Dr. Zola appears by her side, holding out a pistol in his hands - waiting for her to take it. "Shoot them." Gesturing to the three small children knelt in front, shaking with fear, silently begging this to be a nightmare. Hoping they aren't actually away from their parents…about to die. Rags are stopping them from talking, tear stains are evident on their paled cheeks.

Without even thinking, Winter grabs the gun from the little man - aiming it at the kids. And one after the other, they fall to the floor with an identical bullet lodged in their skulls. This woman is a monster.

….

Avery's grasp is slipping from the train, the wind brushes past her with a vicious push - she can barely breathe. "Steve…" whimpers breathlessly, feeling her grip slipping. "James…" she looks up to see her two boys disappearing from sight - their soulful eyes being the last thing to vanish, it's like they are fading from existence. "Don't leave me!" She screams with desperation. "Please! Don't leave me!"

Her grip fully lets go, her body begins to fall from the sky with a hefty drop.

Back to the present, Ava's body jumps and jolts off. Her breathing is erratic and heavy, it's like she has no control over her body. A scream ricochets out of her mouth, her eyes snapping open while a large gasp fills the air.

"Avery?!" A very frantic worried male's voice starts to cut through her undetermined haze. "Ava, calm down. It's okay! You're safe!" The voice is speaking in her ear as her eyes clench shut again, her heart constricting as the recognition comes to her. Steve.

Ava's muscles clench while her head begins to shake in a hasty manner. "Not real…" she starts to mumble to herself. "Not real…none of this is real." Her voice breaks, arms wrapped around her shaking figure. Everything that replays through her head…all those things she's done. No, that couldn't have been her. She couldn't do all those things, could she?

She barely recognizes the pinching pain in the human arm through her mumblings, but even so, her body begins to slump with tiredness - her words beginning to slur as her mind starts to shut down. Her last words before darkness takes her are. "I'm a monster…" and with that, her unconscious body falls into the mars of her brother - her eyes rolling to the back of her head - back into the mind of nightmares.

….

Steve looks down at his sister with worry sharpened in his eyes. "What's wrong with her?!" He insists, a hard note in his tone while his eyes narrow dangerously with protectiveness - as if daring anyone to lie to him about his sister's condition. He carefully picks her up, placing her back onto the medical bed she was on before.

"I-I'm not sure," Helen Cho stutters slightly, glancing at the monitor that shows Ava's brain activity. Helen Cho is the main doctor when it comes to the Avengers getting injured - she has a small body, she's of Asian descent but as much of an American as everyone else is in this city. "At least, I'm not a hundred percent sure. Her brain waves are acting like an amnesia patient who's started to regain their memories, but this is…" she doesn't really know how to put it. "I've never seen someone remember something at this extreme level and from the looks of it, it's taking a toll on her body."

"He's remembering everything," Steve murmurs to himself, his eyebrows creasing with tense shoulders. He never lets go of his sister's hand. She now lays almost peacefully on the bed, a thin blanket now covering her still uniformed body - a line of sweat beaded against her forehead. He starts to calm down, seeing his sister no longer in pain, but his worry for her is still spiking. He glances at Helen. "Every time a memory would come back to her, it hurt," he mentions. "But, that was just one or two…if she's remembering everything…" He glances back to his twin, only being able to imagine what kind of pain she must be in. He might not see it right now because of the drugs in her body, but he knows something like that isn't going to be pretty.

"Steve…" Dr. Helen Cho speaks, trying to get his attention back. She watches as he blinks away from his sister, turning to her with confusion - he must have noticed the slight dent in her voice - she knows what's about to be said, it shouldn't be taken lightly. "If it's true and all the memories from both Winter's life and her own are coming back…all of them. There really is no telling how she's going to come out of this."

Steve starts to look angry. "She'll make it through. She's my sister!" Not being able to help but remember the last time he said that statement - right before the battle between SHIELD and Hydra.

"Of course," Helen tries to calm him down, not wanting him ramped up even more within his already emotional state. "But, what I'm saying is, that's nearly a hundred years worth of memories and they're not going to all be pretty, and you know exactly what I mean by that. Having both Avery Rogers and The Winter Soldier in one body…it could spell disaster. They're both really strong personalities, and it's going to be hard to find that balance in one small body." And with that, she exits leaving him a small smile, needing to check on her other two patients - Bucky Barnes and Clint Barton.

….

The next time Avery wakes up, she feels calmer and less psychotic as before- it might be because of the steady flow of drugs running through her system by the needle attached to her human arm.

Her breath comes out more collected. "Where am I?" She murmurs to herself blearily, the blinding light from the open window stains against her face. She ignores the metal arm but raises the skin one instead, lifting it towards her face to push the strands of her dark hair away. After a moment, she's finally able to blink without being blinded. As her eyes open, the room is still bright but it makes her realize where she is. The room looks familiar - it's one of the rooms in the Avengers building. She slowly sits herself up, looking down at the clothing she wears - it's a set of jogging pants and a tank top.

The room is filled with hospital type equipment, including a lot of experimental stuff too. Something that makes her feel a little too uneasy about. She doesn't even wait another second until the needle is wrenched out of her skin, not liking the drugged feeling still lingering inside her.

"What happened to me?" Her voice slowly drifts out, trying to think back to the last thing she remembers, but all she can see are the flashing memories pressing against her brain. A numbing pain splinters in her skull, but luckily it isn't something that stops her from doing anything. It's like a typical headache, just a lot more painful and annoying. She slowly moves off the bed, her slipper booted feet connecting with the floor as she does. Her body wobbles for a moment, her legs feeling dead and unused for some reason.

"James!"

Ava's body snaps backwards in a startled manner when her past voice echoes in her mind, her back connects harshly with a rolling metal table with medical instruments on it. All of it crashes to the ground with a smashing sound, something that anyone in the hallway will clearly hear. Ava's hands go up to her ears, covering them with a scared look - she clutches her head tightly, wanting the noise to stop.

The door opens. "Avery?!" Steve's voice snaps her back to reality. Her head begins to slowly look up to the long-seen face. Her heart stills in its place, she can't believe Steve is standing there - staring at her with worry - she hasn't seen that look in so long.

Ava blinks, wondering if he's actually there or if this is just another one of those terrible nightmares. Nothing feels real to her anymore it seems. "S-Steve?" She breaths with a crack in her throat, her voice riddled with desperation and longing - small tears begin to form at the corner of her eyes. "Stevie?"

Steve's face begins to light up, a smile quickly forming on his lips - relief filling his features. "Ava…" without even thinking, he walks forwards and brings her into a hug. He wraps his arms around her, clutching her tightly to his chest. Steve can't help but breathe in her familiar scent, even after all this time, she still smells the same.

There's a moment where he can feel her tensing at the human contact, but after that second she begins to relax against his frame. She curls into his slightly taller being, wrapping her arms around him. All the emotions finally get to her by this point. Ava finally lets go of everything, sobs slowly and eventually crawls out of her, her body shaking as the tears pour down her face. Steve holds her tighter, feeling his own eyes well up at the sight of his sister looking so lost and helpless.

So much guilt and sadness wraps around Avery like dead bolted chains - she just can't get out of it. All those things she's done…she's killed so many…and enjoyed it. More sobs pour out when she realizes everything she has done - even though she personally wasn't the one in control during the last 75 years. The Winter Soldier is still her. Everything that was done by these hands…was committed by her. She even tried to kill her two boys not too long ago; she really doesn't know if they will or have even forgiven her for what she has done.

Today she is just simply…broken.