Sorry for the delay on this one, but I got busy and had to find a good place to end it. A little bit shorter than the last ones, but a lot happens in it.

BuckyBarnes07: Thank you so much! I'm glad you're excited for more!

Broken2018: There are certainly a lot of twists and turns. And basically they're all connected because they're all soulmates with each other. I had originally planned to have certain Avengers be soulmates with others so they weren't all connected, but then Rory would be the one to whom they were all connected to, but it just got too confusing so I switched it to them all being soulmates with each other. And yes, Rory is essentially the center of the wheel, despite everyone already being connected. And as far as Bucky goes, you'll just have to wait and see. That will be discussed when he comes back into the story in a few chapters from now.

yasmina1: Aww thanks!

Nat hasn't been gone very long when Captain America comes into the room. He had either been close to where she was, or he had run all the way. By the look on his face, it could have been either. She had seen a similar look on Bucky's face when they'd visited the Smithsonian. Hopeful uncertainty mixed with pain and disbelief.

He stops a couple of feet from the bed. Rory had only ever seen him in pictures and he was definitely bigger and more imposing in person.

"Nat said you wanted to talk to me." He says, eyeing her with bright blue eyes. They were less steely than Bucky's, but she can feel the power behind them. He was used to being in control and making sure others knew it without having to say anything.

Rory nods. "Yes. I wanted to tell you about HYDRA. And about Bucky."

He shifts slightly at the mention of Bucky. "HYDRA first. Where are they at?"

"Somewhere in the city. Not far from here. I-I don't know exactly, but I came out in an alley and I could see the tower from the street."

"Do you know which direction you were?"

"West, I think. But I can't be positive."

He nods. "That's alright. It gives us a place to start looking."

Rory bites her lip, looking down at the mark on her arm. He doesn't say anything, but she knows he wants to ask. "I met him two years ago. They had taken him out of cryo for something. They were having problems controlling him, so they brought me in. Sometimes if I can concentrate enough, I can get into people's heads, but I'm not very good at it. They wanted me to calm him down, but as soon as we touched…"

Steve steps closer to the bed, his heart pounding in his chest. It's the first news he'd heard of Bucky other than rumors and what he could decipher from HYDRA's files. They hadn't made any mention of her connection with Bucky or him having another soulmate. He reacts before he can think about it, following her gaze down to her arm. He grabs her arm in his hand, spotting the mark before it hits him.

Rory's stomach lurches as he grabs her arm, and this time her breakfast does come up. She manages to lean over the side of the bed away from him, emptying the contents of her stomach on the floor. She feels tears of embarrassment sting her eyes, her body shaking and hot but not from her powers. Her side is burning from the force of her vomiting, and she doesn't want to turn around and face him. She flinches as she sees his hand coming towards her face, expecting him to hit her, yell at her, berate her for making a mess.

Instead, his fingers brush the hair away from her face. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." He helps her roll back over, adjusting her pillows for her. "I just couldn't believe Bucky had someone else…"

Rory frowns, looking up at him. He did look guilty, the disbelief still in his eyes. He doesn't say anything else as he turns slightly, pulling up his t-shirt to reveal his left side. There on his skin was a rose, vines weaving across his muscles in all directions. It was the same spot her skin was tingling, her left side right under her breast.

Rory looks back up at his face, swallowing the lump and the taste of bile from her throat. "He saved my life. When HYDRA fell, they were going to kill me but he showed up at the base and got me out. I didn't think he remembered meeting there. I didn't think he'd remember me. But he did. He told me about fighting you, remembering. I guess whatever you did made him remember a lot more than just you. We stayed on the run for a while, trying to keep off of HYDRA's radar, but they found us. We were forced to separate and HYDRA took me."

"You should have come to me. I would have helped you."

"I wanted to. I told him to, but I guess the memories were too painful, too much for him all at once. Before we left D.C. we went to the Smithsonian. To your exhibit. That's when I found out who he was. I think it was too much for him. But he was remembering. He wrote it all down in notebooks. Any chance he could."

"Do you know where he went?"

Rory shakes her head. "No. He...he talked about leaving the country, but getting overseas without having to reveal ourselves was the difficult part. He may have found a way and left."

"Do you think he'd come if you found a way to contact him."

As much as it pains her, Rory shakes her head. "No. HYDRA tried to use me to drag him back. Tried to lure him into traps. He'd probably think it was another one. I don't think if I even went to find him he'd believe it. I think he needs to work through some things on his own. Figure things out for himself before he comes back."

Steve nods. "Thank you." He looks like he wants to say something else, but the doors opening cuts him off.

"What happened?" Bruce comes in, having been alerted by JARVIS that Rory had been sick.

"I think Stark was right," Steve says, looking to the doctor.

"He's my soulmate too," Rory says, keeping her gaze down. "But I got sick...I think eating was too much, mixed with my body's reaction to him. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have puked on the floor."

Bruce smiles sadly down at her. "It's alright. You couldn't help it. I'll have someone come and clean it up."

Rory finds herself alone again with Steve. It's silent between them, but she can't help but feel an unspoken bond between them. A bond that was missing the third person involved.

"I should go update the rest of the team on what you told me," Steve says, taking a step back from Rory's bed.

She reaches out, grabbing his arm. "Promise me you'll find him."

Steve puts his hand over hers, running his thumb over her skin. "I promise."

Rory nods, letting him go, feeling satisfied with his answer. She leans back in her bed again, letting her eyes drift closed. It had been another long day and it wasn't even lunch yet. At least, she thought it wasn't. She wasn't doing well with gauging time, but at least she could see daylight in this room and she would be fed.

The doors open, but Rory doesn't open her eyes. She assumes it's a janitor to clean up her mess. She feels bad at having made the mess in the first place. She hears the person moving around the room before coming closer to her. It's quiet for a few moments before he begins to speak.

"You always were making messes, weren't you."

Rory's eyes snap open, hoping she had just misheard the man speaking. "I'm sorry?"

The man turns to look at her, a scar running down one side of his face. She feels a pit form in her stomach, her heart rate starting to pick up. "At least HYDRA made you clean up your messes yourself."

His hand shoots out, wrapping around her neck, squeezing. She chokes around it, gripping his wrist trying to kick at him. He grabs a knife with his free hand, bringing it close to her face.

"You remember me, don't you? You marked my face, I'm just making things even."

Rory grabs his other wrist, trying to keep the knife away from her face. She knew he was going to do more to her than just "make things even." She can feel her body warming up, her hands starting to burn. She can smell his burning flesh as he screams in pain, releasing her. She should have stopped, but she can't, sliding off the bed as he backs away from her, tripping over the mop. Fire shoots from her hands, engulfing the man in flames. Alarms are blaring and lights are flashing but she doesn't care. Her energy is draining but she can't bring herself to stop, even after the man goes silent. She's done letting HYDRA try to rule her life. She's done living in fear. She can taste the blood dripping out of her nose, her vision starting to go blurry from the exertion.

Someone calling her name has her pulling herself out of oblivion. The fire dies from her hands, her knees going weak under her. She's caught before she hits the ground and lifted into a pair of arms. She vaguely recognizes the feeling of electricity shooting through her body but she quickly loses all ability to feel anything, drifting into unconsciousness.

Steve had been the first one to arrive at the med bay as soon as the alarms started going off. He feels guilty like he shouldn't have left her alone. But how were they supposed to know, when even JARVIS, nor Stark's intense security measures hadn't caught him. He's shocked to see her standing, fire erupting from her hands. There's a dark look on her face, chilling him to the bone.

Tony, Thor, and Bruce are right behind him, all three of them coming to a stop. All three of them look just as shocked as he feels, looking at their soulmate currently roasting a man alive. None of them know what to do, worried if they approach her, she might accidentally roast them too. Steve does the next best thing he can think of, calling out to her. It takes a couple of tries, but finally, it seems to get through to her, the fire dying quickly. She wavers on her feet, blood dripping out of her nose.

Thor is there before Steve can get to her, catching her before she falls. Thor moves her back to the bed, laying her down, Bruce moving to her side. Blood was quickly covering her face, dripping out of her nose and down her cheeks like tears. Her hands were also bleeding, her fingers split open and blistered. She had torn her stitches as well, the wound on her side starting to bleed again. Her body was still hot to the touch, her heart rate through the roof. Bruce goes to work, trying to lower her body temperature and stop the bleeding at the same time while Tony and Steve put out the remaining fire.

"What the hell happened?" Clint asks, coming into the room carrying his bow. Nat was right behind him, gun in hand. They had heard the alarms and had gotten to the med bay as quickly as they could, but it seemed like it was over before they even got into the elevator.

"HYDRA," Steve says, looking down at the burnt remains of the agent who had slipped into the tower.

"How did he make it through Stark's security?" Nat asks.

Tony feels his stomach twist angrily and guiltily. "He must have buried that part of him real deep. I'll have JARVIS do another sweep on everyone who has access to the tower." He takes his leave, shooting a passing glance at Rory before heading back to his lab.

"He's going to beat himself up about this for a while," Nat says, watching him go.

"It's not his fault. I was the one who left her alone." Steve says.

"We can't take that risk anymore. At least until we can get the remains of HYDRA taken care of." Thor says, stepping over to them.

"One of us should stay with her at all times. We can take turns, rotate shifts. Make sure nothing like this happens again." Clint says.

"I'll stay with her first," Thor says. "It appears Stark's hypothesis was correct."

The other three nod in understanding.

"I'll take a look at the security footage, see if I can't figure out why this happened," Nat says.

"Clint and I will take care of the body. Get it over to Hill. See if there's any way we can figure out who he was." Steve says.

The four of them go their separate ways, Thor moving back over to the bed where Bruce was working to stabilize Rory while Clint and Steve took proper measures to move the body. They had all thought she would be safe with them, but they were wrong. Thor wasn't sure about a lot of things that had happened recently, but he was sure he wouldn't ever let anything like that happen again. Not to her.