Welcome back, have a seat, and buckle in for more 'cause this is...more. Yep. Anyways, I'd like to mention my dear editor and helper,

T. Rycbar. She's annoyed with me for not giving her the right kind of attention in the first chapter and ate the rest of my ice cream so I'll say- If you like Transformers or Star Trek, go check her out. She's really cool. (She'll eat your Ben and Jerry's 'Americone Dream' though, so watch out for that)

IDon'tOwnMarvel

The ride, although it was only two hours long, ended up more boring than I had anticipated. My anxiousness had come down just enough that I could be comfortable around them again. At one point, I think I got out of my seat and just laid down on the floor. Then I found a stress ball and started tossing it up in the air whilst still laying on the ground. It was quiet too. Clint had fallen asleep, but Steve kept awake. Probably to watch me, but I paid him no mind and continued tossing my stress ball.

We were about one hour into the trip when Steve broke the comfortable silence that we had going. "So what did you mean when you said 'someone like you'?"

I turned my head frown at him. "Oh, um…I'm not sure how to explain that. You guys won't believe me. In fact, I hardly believe where I am right now." I chuckled nervously hoping that he would drop it.

"Answer the question," he insisted, pausing before tacking on a frankly pathetic attempt at manners. "Please."

"Fine. In my world, this is just a bunch of movies. Well, a bunch of movies based on comic books because, you know," I waved my hands in the air. "Superheroes."

Steve stayed quiet but Natasha, who had heard the conversation, thought this was a good time to speak up. "So you know about us through movies?"

"I guess. I mean, it's weird. You guys aren't supposed to exist to me but here you are. I'm kind of a fan by the way." I looked over my shoulder to try and catch a glimpse of the assassin behind my head but I couldn't see her.

"That's why you kept calling Tony, Robert, right?" She said from somewhere in my blindspot.

"Yeah, you all look identical to your actor counterpart which doesn't really make sense to me but I suppose it makes my day a little easier." I shrugged and tossed the ball again, keeping my cool.

"I bet he's not as good looking as me." Clint grumbled, reminding me that he actually slept more like a cat.

"Of course not, Mr. Barton." I said, only partly listening. My mind was swirling with a new range of thoughts. Why do they look like their actor counterparts?

By all means, it didn't make much sense, but I was fine rolling with it at that point. This whole predicament was not what I expected to be faced with when I got out of bed this morning. And besides, the whole lack of memory thing was really starting to get to me. Not that I'd admit it to these dorks.

I gave the ball another toss and it came down and bounced off my face when I missed the catch. I dropped my hands and watched it roll away. It stopped right by Steve's foot, who, to my surprise, carefully picked up the stress ball and examined it like it would grow spikes before casually throwing it back.

"Thanks." I averted my eyes and stared at the ball.

"No problem." He leaned back in his seat. He seemed a little less on edge than when we first left the city. It was weird to no longer be subject to his incessant questions, but I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. The guy could be intimidating when he wanted to.

The ball once again fell out of my grasp when we hit some turbulence so I sat up and snatched it off the floor before taking my seat again. I was sitting a couple seats away from Clint, but a few seats short of being opposite to Steve. By the time I was settled back in, I felt my eyelids start to droop. As much as I wanted to try and stay awake in the presence of two assassins and a super soldier, the mental exhaustion from the day was starting to get to me.

I decided on closing my eyes and at least resting, if not sleeping. The constant white noise from the flying jet and the sudden comfiness of the previously uncomfortable seats were too tempting to fight. I stayed half awake though. This universe has quite the reputation for catching its residents by surprise. I wasn't that surprised, however, when they started talking about me.

"Do you think she's telling the truth?" Steve's hushed voice asked.

"I don't know, it sounds a little out there," Natasha replied. "We did just fight a bunch of alien robots through a wormhole opened by a Norse God though, so I wouldn't completely write it off just yet."

"Yeah, I guess we did." Steve chuckled slightly to himself.

"She's asleep?"

"Yeah I think so." There were footsteps on the hard metal floor leading away, but then they turned and came in my direction. Then, what I could only assume was a blanket was tossed over me.

"Very motherly Rogers." Natasha snickered from the cockpit.

"We might not know who or what it is yet but it's still just a child."

Ugh 'it'? Really?

"Still." I could almost hear the amusement in Nat's voice. "From the way you were questioning her earlier I didn't think you'd bother."

I felt myself getting a lot heavier under the warmth of the blanket and found myself dangerously close to sleep. That is, until I actually, finally, drifted off. It really wasn't long before a voice shot me out of my dreamless sleep.

"Lincoln, we're here."

I jolted up with my heart already pounding and quickly took in my surroundings. I was on my feet already and looked down at myself, realizing I had taken up a defensive position. Clint had already hopped out of the Quinjet and Natasha was climbing out of the cockpit. She walked past me as I slowly relaxed myself into a normal standing position.

I sighed and pulled the blanket off the floor where it had fallen off of me, folding it up on the seat. Steve was watching me expectantly and waited until I was in front of him before following behind. I guess he still didn't trust me not to run off yet. I would have been more okay with it if I wasn't so freaked out about not having eyes on all the previously fictional characters. Instead, I relied on watching Natasha and Clint, and just listening to the footsteps of Steve behind me.

We entered a building after walking across the small park Natasha landed the jet in. I felt my hand shake start to come back. Fury was an intimidating character on screen, so I could only imagine how he was in real life. I also had to be careful that no one was listening when I spoke with him.

Agent Hill was waiting outside of the door to Fury's office, and I offered a smile as I approached. She was definitely one of my favorite Shield agents. Before following in Natasha and Clint, I held out my hand to shake hers.

"Agent Hill, it's an honor to meet you," I said, beaming at her.

Hill gave me a funny look but managed to smother it fairly quickly before taking my hand and shaking it. She looked at Steve for some sort of explanation but he just shook his head and waved it off.

"I hope I get to see you again before I go," I smiled at her politely and turned to follow the others into Fury's office.

Steve came in right after and stood against the back wall. I dropped the smile from my face almost immediately and saw Fury sitting back in his chair.

"Lincoln Patel." He started and motioned for me to take a seat. I obliged and gingerly sat in one of the chairs in front of him. "Agent Romanoff filled me in already on who you think you are. Do you really expect me to believe that you're from another dimension?"

"Uh yes." I tried to keep my voice even while I felt the eyes on the back of my head.

Fury didn't look convinced. "Can you prove it?"

"Well, I'm not really sure how to...prove something like that. I do know a lot about each of you though." I looked at him for some sort of confirmation to continue, but he said nothing. "Um, for example I know how you got the eyepatch."

"How?" I saw a quick flash of confusion run over his face. It was gone before anyone could recognize it as such.

"Are- uh, are you sure you want me to say? With them in the room? I know you have this thing going where you say it's the last time you ever trusted someone." I fidgeted slightly with my sweatshirt.

He looked briefly behind me, probably at the other agents, before turning his attention back to me. "Go for it."

"Okay, well, it was the result of trusting a Flerkin." I nodded confidently at him.

A small smile played on his lips and he folded his hands on the desk. "You're familiar with Goose?"

"Yes, I quite liked Goose." I smiled back at him.

"How much do you know?"

A memory shot at me, making my blood run cold. I looked around the room to see a camera pointed at where we were sitting. "Um, hold on a second. Can I do something?"

He didn't say anything so I took the invitation to pull a chair over to the corner of the room and searched around the camera for a moment before finding the off button. I turned it away too just to be safe. Then, out of pure luck I caught a red tint from the book case.

I pulled the chair back to its place and then continued to the bookcase. I moved a book in front of the small camera and then turned back to the group. I stood beside my seat again and started signing because I wasn't sure if they had bugged the office or not. Hydra, that is.

I put a hand to my forehead and pulled it away, signing {I forget.}

Fury signed back {Forget what?}

He lowered his hand to the tape dispenser on his desk and pulled out some batteries in the bottom. I was glad he got the message. The tape dispenser is an odd place to hide a camera though.

Steve looked lost, but both Natasha and Clint were watching with great interest. I was pretty proud of myself for taking the ASL classes instead of Spanish right about then.

{Not safe talking here.} I signed, looking around for any cameras I might have missed.

{Why?}

{H-Y-D-R-A. Watching.}

Steve still looked lost, but I saw from the corner of my eye both agents reaching for a weapon. I quickly turned to them and shook my head whilst signing 'no' over and over. {We leave. Another location.}

Then Clint wanted in on the conversation. {Are you sure?}

{Yes. Trust me please.} I signed it faster, knowing that the longer we stayed quiet, the more suspicious it would seem.

Steve was looking around the room for any kind of information, but still didn't speak. I pulled the chair back over to the security camera and stood on it to turn it back on. After that was done, I noticed the batteries on Fury's desk were gone and Clint had moved the book back out from in front of the camera.

I didn't have a chance to sit back down when Fury stood. "I'm sure you're tired from your trip. How about we get you some food and then find you a bunk. You mother will be pissed if I don't."

I narrowed my eyes at him but followed him out of the room. I wondered who I was supposed to be to him in this situation. Natasha and Clint were in front of me, but Steve chose to walk behind me again. I stopped halfway down the hallway making Steve almost run into me. "Sir?"

Fury stopped too and looked back. "Yes?"

"Can Agent Hill come as well? She promised she'd show me around DC while I was here."

Maria shot me a look of confusion once again and then looked up at Fury for confirmation. "Yes, we shouldn't go back on our promises now, should we Agent?"

She shook her head. "No, I guess not." Her face immediately relaxed, but Steve was still left in the dark. Serves him right for learning Japanese before ASL.

We filed out of the building and out to the park. I walked alongside Clint with Steve still behind me. Natasha and Maria were making small talk which I knew they both hated, so it made me wonder if it was part of the cover.

Clint tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention. {You know Sign?}

{Yes. A little. 3 years.} I grinned sheepishly, putting my hands into my pockets.

He nodded slowly and then pointed to his hearing aid. {Whole life.}

I returned to using my voice, now having my hands tucked out of sight. "That's really cool. The comics said you were deaf but none of the movies showed anything like that."

"You read a comic book about me?" He smiled, looking back ahead.

"Yeah, my sister got me into it." I let a small grin cross my lips, knowing that I had at least earned a little bit of trust or favor from Clint. That definitely calmed my nerves enough to be able to talk about the Hydra infiltration in Shield when we finally arrived at a picnic table.

All eyes were on me the moment I sat down. "So, I don't know if what I saw is accurate to what actually happens, so I'm going to list a few names and you have to tell me if they work at Shield and or exist."

I rattled off the names of the people I remembered (Which weren't too many) and paused, waiting for confirmation.

Fury narrowed his eyes. "What about them?"

"Oh, well that's just fun isn't it?" I whispered to myself, uneasy about the fact that this world was accurately depicted. They probably heard.

I took in another deep breath and jumped into as much detail as I could remember about what people were in on it and who they could trust. I was trying to explain to them what I could prevent and they nodded along, hopefully understanding. I stopped when I was close to mentioning the winter soldier though. I wasn't sure how to break that kind of news to Steve.

Could he handle that kind of news break right now? Only a year after waking up in the 21st century? I shook my head at my own indecisiveness.

"And?" Fury brought my attention back to the group.

I looked around at them. "What?"

"You left off in the middle of your sentence. You said I fought with someone." Steve was back into interrogation mode.

"Oh shit, I left off there?" I really need to get better at watching what I say. Otherwise this could get really messy really fast.

"Uh huh."

I looked at Clint for some kind of support, but he just kept a blank stare. "The Winter Soldier." I said, letting out a shaky breath.

I clasped my hands together under the table and looked over at Steve. "A brainwashed soldier who had been captured during Steve's time in the war. He was tortured and brainwashed for years until they finally got him to work for them. A trained assassin responsible for the deaths of some pretty important people."

He was still confused. "So what makes him so different from the others? You're making that face again."

"I'm not making a face." I mumbled knowing that I most likely was. I needed to work on my poker face. "I just, uh, look..."

How the hell was I supposed to explain this to him? That his best friend actually wasn't dead but was tortured for 70 years and is now officially the longest standing POW?

Yeah, ok, why not? I frowned, sneaking a look at Steve's scowling features before dropping my gaze again. Well, here goes nothing.

"It's Bucky," I blurted out, cringing when his expression dropped in horror, the color instantly draining from his face.

"That's not possible." He looked to Fury, whose face remained indifferent.

I gritted my teeth. "It's true, Steve. I'm really sorry you had to find out like this, I didn't- I didn't know how to tell you."

His face changed to stone as he looked at me with piercing eyes that made my earlier interrogation from him seem like a cakewalk.

"Where is he now?" he asked stiffly.

I could have shivered from the ice in his voice.

"I - I don't know exactly, you'll have to get that information off of Rumlow," I answered slowly, resisting the urge to shrink away from him.

Steve stood up to leave but Natasha put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. They looked at each other for a moment before he sat back down.

Fury handed me a small notebook and a pencil and I understood almost immediately. I began writing down the names of all of the Hydra operatives that I could remember and handed the list back to Fury. He looked it over and then nodded before passing it around the group. Steve still looked a little out of it.

"He gets his memory back you know." I started, trying to be careful with the subject. "If you can get to him before they reawaken him from suspended animation, he'll probably do even better than he did in my world."

He looked up at me. "He'll be alright?"

"Yes, especially now that you guys get to him sooner."

He nodded at me, but the gratefulness in his voice sounded insincere. "Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem. I'm not sure yet what I'm allowed to say or not, but this one seemed pretty standard." I was glad to at least be able to help one person in my short stay here.

"You'll tell us more if you can though, right?" Clint cut in.

"Yeah. It's tricky. I don't want to meddle too much with someone else's future. It could cause paradoxes or kill a lot of people who weren't supposed to die. Hell, something minuscule could happen and the world would collapse in on itself. I can't intervene because I don't exactly belong here. You guys understand that, right?" I paused.

"So you decide who lives and who dies? Is that it?" Steve had switched back to his stone face and I wasn't too happy about the tone he was giving off.

I decided then that Steve wasn't really the kind of guy I wanted pissed at me. "Well, no-"

"Your saying that you can't help even if someone's life is at risk? Someone's family member or friend?" His anger was bordering on hostile and I shrunk back.

"If it's a fixed point-"

He shook his head. "No. How come you get to make that kind of decision?"

I felt my heart clenching. This was always a possibility, but one cannot simply prepare to be torn down by a super soldier. So I just sat there and took it. Not that I would have had any words to put out there anyhow.

"I didn't mean it like that." My heart was racing. He was right. Who am I to start messing with the fates? I shouldn't have said anything. I could have played it off and kept my stupid mouth shut.

"Rogers." Fury's tone shut him up, but Steve was still looking incredibly angry in my direction. I stood my ground, as scary as the look was. I sat, still very uncomfortable, when Fury continued. "So I asked you before- How far into the future?"

"2023 is the last year. Wait, 2024?...No, 2023. It's the same year. You don't know him yet though." I smiled slightly, still nervous about being subjected to the super soldiers glare. I liked Spider-Man. It was a shame I'd never meet him.

Speaking of which- "Um, I was just wondering," I held my hands tighter together. "How am I supposed to get home? I was hoping to get back in time for something."

They looked around at each other again, but Fury kept his gaze on me. "I'm going to send you back to Banner and Stark wherever they are headed to. You know why it's not safe for you here, right?"

"Yes, but home?" I asked again.

"They will be better at determining how to do that. Shield can't help you right now and I have a boss I have to evict so you're going with them."

"But-"

Fury cut me off with a wave of his hand. "No, no more questions. Agent Barton, you're taking her back first thing tomorrow. From what she's told us we don't really need you at the moment."

"Yessir." He stood and beckoned with his hand. I paused and looked back at everyone at the table before following after him. "Boy I have never been more glad to be non-essential. I haven't gotten a decent sleep in days."

I followed behind him as we walked away from the group. I looked back one more time and Natasha was watching me go. She gave a quick smile and signed. {Thank you.}

I did my best, but the smile I tried to flash in return wouldn't reach my face no matter how hard I tried. After a moment, I decided to just cut my losses and turned to jog after Clint.