There were a lot of phone calls involved in moving. His utilities, to close his accounts and schedule for them to be shut off. His internet company. His landlord, who was less than thrilled that Steve was breaking his lease. Not even being Captain America could get him out of the penalty that came with that. But even with their varying degrees of annoying, none of those were the hardest call Steve had to make.

He waited until he took the trash out, so he could have a little privacy making the call. And though he knew he didn't have much time before the others would wonder where he was, Steve still hesitated, his thumb hovering above the call button for a long moment before he took a breath and tapped it.

"Magnolia Retirement Home, Pamela speaking, how may I help you?"

"Hey, Pam," Steve said, recognizing the voice of one of the nurses he regularly talked to. "It's Steve."

"Oh, Steve!" she said, her voice slipping out of the overly polite tone she'd used for answering the phone. "It's been a minute."

"Yeah, work has kept me busy," Steve said. Pam had never realized that he was the Steve Rogers, as in, Captain America. Nor had anyone else working at Peggy's retirement home, so far as Steve knew. He'd prefer to keep it that way. "I wanted to come visit Peggy, but I thought I'd see if she was up for visitors."

"Today has been a good day for her," Pam said. "Should be a perfect one for you to come by."

"Great, thanks," Steve said. "I'll be by in a little while."

He ended the call, then trudged back up the stairs to his apartment, heart heavy in his chest. He knew the conversation he planned to have with Peggy wouldn't be an easy one. But it was one he needed to have with her, as much as she'd be able to.

Bruce was cleaning up after lunch, and Steve could hear Star in the gust room, getting JJ settled for his post lunch nap. "Hey, I'm going to need to run some errands," Steve said, gaining Bruce's attention. "Think you'll be good with both the kids for a couple hours?"

"Shouldn't be a problem," Bruce said.

"Thanks, I appreciate it," Steve said, getting his keys and heading back out before Star finished with JJ. Steve wanted to avoid her asking if she could come, mostly because he didn't feel ready to explain why this was something he needed to do on his own. This was a conversation he didn't to want anyone else to hear.

Magnolia Retirement Home made an effort to be picturesque. It was outside the main city, with cultivated lawns and gardens, winding pathways with frequent benches for those residents who were still able to wander outside. The building itself was made to resembling a rambling home, with a wide front porch, walls painted bright, cheerful colors, and wide windows to let sunlight in. It was, Steve supposed, as comfortable as any retirement home could hope to be.

Steve followed the familiar halls to Peggy's suite, pausing a moment in front of her closed door. Would it be better not to know?

He pushed that thought away as soon as it crossed his mind. Secrets were part of what had allowed Hydra to flourish within SHIELD in the first place. Steve was done with secrets.

He knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Steve pushed the door open, gaze sweeping over the room. Peggy's kids had done their best to make it feel homey for her, with a quilt on the bed, her favorite books in easy reach on the nightstand, framed pictures of her family on the wall. Peggy was sitting in the recliner by her window, apparently having felt well enough to get up today. She was bundled up in a fluffy blue robe and blanket over her lap, her white hair neatly brushed and held back in a loose ponytail.

He still remembered how shocked he'd been, the first time he'd seen her like that, with her white hair and wrinkles around her eyes and mouth, how it had still shocked him even on his next couple visits. It wasn't a surprise anymore. Steve had visited her enough that this version of Peggy was as familiar to him as the one he'd known during the war.

She smiled in greeting when she saw him, but the expression didn't reach her eyes. "Steve. I expected you would come by at some point."

"Been watching the news?" he guessed, moving a chair from the small table she never used to face her.

Peggy shook her head. "Sharon came to see me already."

Sharon. Or Kate, as Steve had known her. Fury had ended up telling Steve about Sharon and her assignment as his undercover bodyguard when going over the list of agents they could trust. He hadn't exactly been thrilled to find out SHIELD had been spying on him, but he'd had bigger concerns to focus on at the time, and she hadn't been back to her apartment since Steve had come to move out of his. At least I never actually asked her out for coffee.

The silence dragged out between them, as Steve considered where he wanted to take the conversation next. But in the end, there was only one thing that really mattered.

"You recruited the Hydra scientists."

She'd been SHIELD's first director. It couldn't have been anyone else.

Peggy didn't flinch away from his statement. "I did."

He'd known that was going to be her answer, but knowing didn't make it any easier to hear. "Why?" was all he could manage to ask next.

Peggy sighed. "Operation Paperclip. Have you heard of that?"

"Yeah," Steve said, frowning. He'd read about it, in some of his attempts to catch up on the history he'd missed. Different government agencies had recruited Nazi scientists after the war, a decision Steve could hardly wrap his head around. He'd seen firsthand the kind of experiments they'd gotten up to; they should have spent the rest of their miserable lives locked away for what they'd done, not been hired for jobs. Though nothing he'd read had ever mentioned SHIELD getting involved in that; but then, they wouldn't have been mentioned, would they? SHIELD had worked very hard to stay out of the general public's knowledge up until Loki had invaded with the Chitauri.

"I knew, when that started, that someone would try to recruit the Hydra agents we'd captured," Peggy said. "It was inevitable. I thought if we brought them into SHIELD, we could keep a close eye on them. Prevent them from doing anymore harm. Maybe force them to do some good, to make up in some small way for all the evil they'd done before." Her shoulders slumped slightly. "Obviously, it didn't work out the way I'd thought."

Steve wanted to believe that Peggy had recruited Hydra scientists in an effort to prevent them from hurting people but…he didn't. Oh, he believed that was part of her motivation. But only part. She'd wanted to use them too. She framed it as forcing them to do good, and maybe she had even convinced herself that was true. But it didn't change what she'd actually done. Didn't change that she'd set Hydra scientists free in exchange for the weapons and other tech they could invent.

Maybe she was right, that if she hadn't done it, someone else would have. But maybe if she hadn't recruited them, had kept Hydra out of SHIELD…maybe then SHIELD would have been able to stand against Hydra, instead of being taken over by them.

"Knowing how it turned out, I would change it if I could go back," Peggy said. "But you understand why I felt it was the best choice at the time, don't you?"

"I understand," Steve said, because he did. He could see how she could have convinced herself it was a good idea, a necessary one even. Could understand how she could have thought the Hydra scientists would be unable to inflict harm if watched over by SHIELD. "I understand, but I don't agree with the choice."

Peggy's mouth pressed together in a thin line, eyes blinking rapidly. "No, I suppose you wouldn't. Can't say I do either anymore."

They lapsed into silence, and Steve considered if there was anything else he should say about the situation. After a long moment, he decided no. He'd wanted to confirm what Peggy's involvement had been, to find out her reasoning for hiring people who had been loyal to Hydra, and he'd done that. There'd be a point worth belaboring if there was anything she could do about the situation, but they were far past that.

"I'm moving back to New York," he told her.

She didn't look surprised. "I expected you would eventually. You always did love that city."

"Yeah, I did," Steve agreed.

"Are you going to Brooklyn?" Peggy asked.

Steve shook his head. "Manhattan. I'll be staying at Avengers Tower. We're going to try and privatize the Avengers. See if we can do some good without being attached to the government." And with less risk of being controlled by people who wanted to use them for their own nefarious agendas.

Peggy's gaze sharpened. "There's a lot of people out there who won't like that."

"I know," Steve said. "It's not going to be easy. Tony's coming up with the plans for how it's going to work."

"Well, if anyone can make it work, I suppose it'll be a team you put together," Peggy said. "You've always had a talent for finding the right people. Look what you accomplished with the Commandos."

"They were good men," Steve said, unwilling to take full credit for himself. They'd volunteered to join the Howling Commandos, and he couldn't have pulled off his missions without them.

"They were," Peggy agreed, "but you must admit, keeping Dugan and Howlett from killing each other took some skill."

Steve let out a short laugh, Peggy's remark bringing to mind more than one occasion where he'd had to separate the two men. "They worked well together when it counted."

"You all did," Peggy said. "I expect your Avengers will do the same."

"We're going to try," Steve said. They'd pulled together during the Invasion of New York, and during this mess with Hydra, but that was their only practice at working together as a team. Sure, he'd worked with Natasha and Clint on various missions for SHIELD, but all five of them? It would take some work to make sure they were really a team.

Peggy's shoulders were started to droop, and Steve could tell she was getting tired, though he knew she'd never admit it. It was probably time to make his exit; besides, Star was probably wondering about where he was.

Thinking of Star made him pause, and after a moment of consideration, Steve fished his phone out of his pocket. "There's one more thing I want to tell you about," he said, tapping the screen. He'd snapped some pictures of Star and JJ during their visit to the Smithsonian, and he flipped through the pictures until he found one of both of them and held out the phone for Peggy.

Peggy took the phone, studying the screen intently as Steve spoke. "That's Star and James. They're clones of me that Hydra made. I've adopted them though, and that's from their first trip to a museum."

Her eyes went misty and she blinked rapidly before looking up at him and smiling. "They're beautiful. I'm glad you're able to have them."

She made no comment about the 'made by Hydra' portion of his statement. What was there for her to say? Steve accepted the phone back from her. "Yeah, I am too." They were, without a doubt, the best thing that had happened to him since he'd come out of the ice.

"Well," Steve said, pushing up out of his chair. "It's about time for me to head back. My apartment won't finish packing itself, so." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Goodbye, Peggy."

A fond smile crossed her face, and she reached up to pat his cheek. "Goodbye, Steve."

"She was decommissioned."

Dr. Miller's careless words wouldn't stop rattling around James's mind. Decommissioned. Such a bland way of saying Hydra had murdered a child.

The grief washed over him again, as it sank in how deeply he'd managed to fail Star. He hadn't realized, before Dr. Miller informed him of her death, that he'd held out some small hope that maybe she'd one day escape on her own. That even if it took her years, maybe one day she'd get out from Hydra's control.

He hadn't realized he'd still had heart left for Hydra to break.

It really was all futile, wasn't it?

Trying to save his parents by working for Hydra, trying to shield Star from some of Dr. Miller's experiments, trying to give her at least small bits of happiness within the compound, trying to rescue Star from Hydra…all of it fallen apart spectacularly.

Even Hydra's fall back in the States hadn't been in time to save her. James wondered if Captain America even knew a clone of him had existed. If anyone other than himself would know or care about Star and the short life she'd lived.

The collapse in America isn't even going to stop Hydra.

Hurt them, yes. A lot of resources had been lost, and prominent leaders killed. But it wasn't enough to stop Hydra. Cut off one head and two more will grow, as the true believers were fond of saying. It certainly hadn't done anything to stop Von Strucker's experiments with the twins.

The twins are kids too.

Older than Star had ever gotten to be at sixteen, but still just kids. James had never tried to bond with or help them, not like he had with Star. His abject failure when it came to rescuing her, and the image of a Hydra agent shooting his father in the head because of it were burned too deeply in him. He honestly didn't know if his mother was still alive. He hadn't been allowed any contact with her since his attempted betrayal, and the risk of failing and what that would cost had stopped him from daring to try again.

"She was decommissioned."

Star was dead. Hydra had murdered her. Hydra would murder the twins, if it was ever decided they weren't useful enough.

Wanda and Pietro. They have names.

James had tried not to think about their names. Tried not to remember that they were people, so he could stay numb enough to just keep functioning. But now, the news of Star's death seemed to have cracked open something in him, and James couldn't stop thinking about how Wanda and Pietro were kids. He couldn't ignore the tests Von Strucker put them through, pushing them past their limits to see what their powers could do. Couldn't ignore how they were poked and prodded and spoken about as if they were something less than human.

There's nothing I can do about it.

There was no one for him to contact and expose Von Strucker to. No way he could sneak Wanda and Pietro out of the castle, and he certainly didn't have superpowers to fight their way out either.

Wait.

James didn't have the power to fight his way out of the castle…but Wanda and Pietro did. Of course, there was the little problem of the inhibitor collars they wore so they could only use their powers when Von Strucker wanted them to, but if James could get the collars off somehow…

He'd seen what Wanda and Pietro were capable of when they were allowed to use their powers. Von Strucker kept a security force of about thirty armed guards in the castle at all times. It wasn't a guarantee that the two could fight through all of them. But they'd have a chance. Which was more than Star had ever gotten.

James didn't bother coming up with an elaborate plan; he'd learned from experience that any such plan on his part would probably be noticed. He simply waited for morning, when he headed to the lab where Wanda and Pietro were kept. It wasn't unusual for him to be there, or for him to approach the computers.

He glanced around the room; four armed guards as always, but they were all fairly relaxed. The twins were in their cells with inhibitor collars turned on, and consequently they were of no threat at the moment. A few other scientists were present as well, including Dr. Miller, but they were absorbed in their own work and took little notice of him. They'd quickly gotten in the habit of ignoring him in the year that he'd been there, and that wasn't going to change this morning.

James logged into on of the computers, and it occurred to him as he did that it would be easy for Von Strucker – assuming he survived what was about to come – to trace this back to him. It was more or less a death sentence; if the twins didn't kill him in the midst of their escape, Von Strucker absolutely would.

He wasn't overly bothered by thoughts of his impending death. All things considered, it was probably what he deserved.

James tapped a button, and the red lights on Wanda and Pietro's inhibitor collars flicked out. He tapped another in rapid succession, and the collars snapped open, falling to the floor of the cells with a metallic clang that made one of the guards actually look their way. His eyes went wide and he drew a breath to shout when James tapped the last button, and the doors to the cells opened.

Pietro blurred, and the guard's shout turned into a grunt as he dropped. Before James had fully turned to look, a second guard was also down.

Dr. Miller lunged for an alarm, but before she could reach it a red blast hit her and flung her back into the stone wall. She crumpled to the floor and didn't move. A gunshot sounded and James automatically flinched back, but the last guard went down before he could get any more shots off. Still, that one gunshot would have been enough to alert others.

Pain erupted across James's face, and he was on the floor before he'd even really registered that Pietro must have hit him. He dimly heard Wanda say something in Sokovian, her voice sharp and hard. Pietro fired back in rapid response, but James had no idea what was being said.

He blinked his vision clear to see Wanda standing over him, and despite her slight build, somehow she managed to loom. "Why did you free us?" she asked.

Before he could try to even think of a response, her hands sparked red and –

Star looked up at him, the barest hint of curiosity in her expression. No traces of pain though, even though James knew with certainty that her injuries from her last training session hadn't fully healed yet. They were already teaching her to ignore pain, or at least hide the feeling from her expressions.

It made James feel sick. It was past time he actually did something about this.

"Star, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I should never have let them do this to you, even if…" His words trailed off for a moment as he thought of his parents, held captive by Hydra in some unknown location. It was how Hydra had forced James to work for them, by taking and threatening his parents. Rescuing Star would cost them their lives. But they wouldn't want their survival to be based on the enslavement of a child.

"You're just a kid," James said. She was a kid and his parents would want him to help her. It's what they would choose, if James had any way to ask them. "I'm going to fix this. I'm going to fix it, okay? But you can't tell anyone. I just need you to be ready to go when I say tomorrow. Promise you'll be ready?"

Her head tilted slightly, and her brows crinkled. She was confused; didn't understand why he was asking this of her. Didn't understand that the way she was being treated was wrong, and now wasn't the time for James to explain it to her. "I promise," she said anyway. "I'll be ready."

James gasped as the memory abruptly faded, and he was once more lying on the stone floor of the lab. Wanda's eyes narrowed, her gaze still on him even as he became aware of the sound of approaching boots.

"Wanda," Pietro said, warning edging his voice.

She nodded slightly. "We're bringing him with us."