December 27, 2015

Maggie was dozing in the common room, eyes half lidded as she watched the snow flurry down onto the facility lawns outside, when she heard the doors slide open.

"Tony, it's been three hours since I asked you to make me a hot chocolate. I thought you went back home with Pepper and forgot."

When she got no snarky reply, she glanced over her shoulder. Steve stood just inside the doorway in jeans and a brown leather jacket, his head downturned and his face frighteningly haggard: there were deep shadows under his eyes, and the look in his eyes made Maggie's heart drop. He was soaking wet; he must have been riding in the snow.

"What is it," she said, instantly rising out of her chair and hurrying to him.

He looked up when she grabbed his shoulder. "I've been…"

Suddenly, she remembered. "You've been in D.C., with Peggy." Her stomach clenched.

"She's…" he let out a heavy breath. "She's getting worse." He pressed his eyes shut, then opened them again wearily. "She asked to see Bucky. Before she - before she…"

Maggie nodded slowly. The grief in his voice stung in her chest. "Have you spoken to Bucky about it before?" She guided Steve over to the couch, where he sat automatically.

He shrugged. "Hasn't really been a possibility. But he… people from his past life, he doesn't think it's a good idea for him to walk back into their lives."

Like his family. Maggie closed her eyes. "Leave it with me."

He glanced up. "Maggie-"

She squeezed Steve's shoulder as she straightened. "Trust me."

Maggie found Bucky out the back of the private wing of the facility, where no one would be able to see him. He stood under the eave of the building to protect himself from the falling snow, and his eyes were fixed out at the slate grey river until he heard Maggie's crunching footsteps.

"Peggy's forgetting," she said in a cloud of vapour.

He looked sharply at her, then his expression clouded with sorrow. He looked away.

Maggie took a breath. "It's not… it's like you're on opposite paths, I think. You remember more every day, and every day she forgets a little more. But for her, it won't come back." She frowned hard, to stave off the prickle of tears. She'd seen it more often, every time she visited Peggy. A vacant look, a polite nod with no recognition behind her eyes. Confusion, and anger in that confusion. Maggie would be angry too, if her memories slipped away from her. "She cried when we told her you were alive."

Bucky looked down, his face carved of stone.

"She wants to see you. She hasn't…" Maggie pressed her lips shut.

A long moment passed, filled only by the silence of falling snow.

But then Bucky croaked: "What if I… I want her to remember me… not like this."

Maggie nodded slowly. She could understand that. "I know what you mean. But… why do you think she wants to see you?"

She watched Bucky think about it, frowning. He finally jerked his head. He didn't know.

Maggie took a sharp, cold breath. "It's because she can't remember you as you were. She's heard all these horrible things about you, seen the news, and… I think she wants to know that you're… if not okay, then at least on a good path. And I think she'd really like to meet the person you are now, if you ask me."

Bucky frowned down at his hands. The metal one glowed mercury silver. "I don't… want to scare her."

Maggie laughed, and his head jerked up as he shot her an offended look.

"Bucky Barnes," she said, eyes glinting. "Do you honestly think you're capable of scaring Peggy Carter?"

His mouth quirked up, and the change in expression was a breath of fresh air. "Still a battleaxe, huh?"

"Peggy has aged like a fine wine. Well, aside from the brain disease, but she can hardly be blamed for that."

"No," Bucky said thoughtfully. "She can't."

It had taken some work by Steve and Maggie, and some help from Natasha, to make it work. But finally, on New Year's Eve, they managed to engineer an hour where the nurses and receptionists at Peggy Carter's care home were not on watch. They couldn't have done it without Natasha - Peggy was far too well guarded, and they needed Natasha's old SHIELD connections to do it. Maggie had also disabled the facility's cameras.

Maggie was so concerned about the mechanics of it all that she'd almost forgotten their whole purpose until Bucky stalled at the end of the corridor.

He wore a hoodie to obscure his head, and gloves to conceal the metal hand. He'd frozen just as they turned down the corridor to Peggy's room, and all Maggie could see was the whites of his eyes. Steve paused to murmur to him, being sure not to touch him. Maggie looked from Bucky to Peggy's door, then continued on alone.

Maggie could hear the howling wind much clearer once she let herself into Peggy's suite: she could see trees bowing in the garden beyond her sitting room windows. She strode through the suite, searching, until she came to the bedroom.

Peggy was sitting up in bed, swaddled in blankets. Soft music played over the radio. She looked even smaller, somehow, with her softly styled silver hair and faded, wrinkled skin. The grey light through the windows washed her out.

Peggy blinked and looked over when Maggie appeared in the doorway. "Maria?" she said hazily.

Maggie's heart hit her stomach. She took a few steps forward and Peggy blinked again, focusing with effort, before smiling. "Maggie. You don't visit enough."

Maggie sighed and came over to take Peggy's hand and press it to her lips. "I know. It's hereditary."

"Always running late, always in a rush," Peggy said weakly.

"Peggy, are you up for visitors today?"

"I already told the nurse I was," she said, a little cross. They had had one nurse check to make sure Peggy was in the right frame of mind, a couple of hours ago. Peggy peered at Maggie. "It's all been very irregular and secretive, Maggie. Who have you brought me?"

Maggie stroked her hand, careful of the delicate veins and ligaments. "An old friend, Peggy. He… he's going to look a little different, and he might struggle with… talking…"

Peggy's eyes cleared so quickly it took Maggie aback. Her hand tightened on Maggie's. "You tell Sergeant Barnes," she said in a clear, forceful voice, "to get in here this minute. Tell him he's late."

Maggie smiled. "Yes ma'am."

She strode back out into the corridor and almost bumped right into Bucky. His shoulders were set as if he were going into battle, and Steve stood behind him, looking wary.

"She says you're late," Maggei breathed. Then she stepped aside, and Bucky stepped through into Peggy Carter's suite. Maggie and Steve followed a few paces behind, and then hovered in the door of Peggy's bedroom as Bucky paced inside.

Peggy had straightened a little, and as she watched the newcomer into her room Maggie could see how much of her focus it was taking to stay present. Bucky stood frozen, and though Maggie couldn't see his face she knew it would be carefully blank. Maggie couldn't imagine what it would feel like to see someone you had once known, aged seventy years. Peggy's eyes, on the other hand, went a little misty as she looked at the man before her. Her gaze strayed to his left arm, covered by a sleeve and a glove, then up to his face.

"Sergeant Barnes," Peggy croaked. "I owe you… an apology." Her voice wavered.

Bucky shook his head, vehement, but didn't appear to be able to talk. His feet were fixed to the ground where he'd stopped, a few feet away from Peggy's bed.

Peggy's brow knotted. "Well if you won't let me apologize to you, let me say…" she held out a weathered hand and Bucky finally stepped forward, as if he could not resist her summons. He didn't take her hand, but he stood right by her bed, so Maggie could see half of his face. Peggy looked earnestly up at him. "I am so… so relieved that you have made it to this place, this time. I am so pleased that you…" she coughed. "Have each other." Her eyes flicked to Steve, who took a few steps forward. "That you're looking after each other." She looked up into Bucky's face. "You look… so young."

Maggie saw the edge of Bucky's smile as he reached out and took Peggy's hand gently. "Can't hold a candle to you, Agent Carter."

Peggy smiled too. "That's Director Carter to you. You always were a horrific flirt, I remember that." A frown flickered across her face. "Not that I remember a lot, these days."

"I know the feeling," Bucky said, an almost-joke. BUt then his smile faded and his face grew complicated. "I…" he glanced back at Maggie. "Peggy, I'm so… so sorry for-"

Peggy patted his hand, even as a tear spilled out of the corner of her eye. "Howard would be proud of what you've made of yourself, Sergeant Barnes."

Maggie lost her breath to a sudden rush of emotion. It hit her now just how young she was compared to the decades of memory and grief in this room. And the thought of her father made her face burn and her eyes ache. She swallowed, then turned and walked out.

Maggie stood in the corridor outside Peggy's suite for twenty minutes, going through her steps to calm and steady herself.

Steve emerged from the suite first. "Are you okay?" he asked, his brows furrowed with concern.

Maggie nodded. "Just… wanted to give you guys some space."

Steve nodded, then reached out to touch her arm. She shot him a reassuring smile.

Moments later, Bucky walked out. His hands were back in his pockets and his face was a little blotchy, as if he'd been crying. His eyes instantly went to her. "Are you-"

She nodded, and after assessing her face for another moment he nodded in return.

He let out a heavy breath and jerked his head over his shoulder. "She wants to see you, before we leave."

Maggie nodded and walked past him.

Peggy looked exhausted. She'd sunken down in her sheets, and she'd gone so pale she looked almost grey. Maggie made it right to the side of her bed before Peggy noticed. She blinked and roused a little, breathing soft and slow.

"Maggie," she murmured.

"I'm here." Maggie sat on the nearby chair and took Peggy's hand.

"Maggie," Peggy breathed, and Maggie worried that she was lost in her own mind again, but then she focused. "Maggie. I hope I didn't upset you, talking about Howard."

Maggie shook her head quickly. "No. I… I didn't know dad very well, but I think you're right. If Tony and I can see how Bucky was controlled, how he had no choice, then dad would have too. Dad would've… wanted to help him."

Peggy's dark eyes swelled with warmth. "Oh, Maggie. All that fire. And it just made you kind." She put her hand on Maggie's cheek and drew a long breath. "He's a good man."

Maggie nodded. "I think so, yes."

"He's a good man." She drooped again, her hand dropped back to her sheets and the warmth in her eyes fading. Maggie brushed her silver hair back from her forehead.

"Howard could be kind, sometimes," Peggy murmured. Maggie's heart twisted. "He was… a good man."

Maggie held Peggy's hand until she fell asleep. When she was satisfied by her long, slow breaths, Maggie tucked Peggy's blanket around her frighteningly small form, then stepped back. Looking too long at Peggy made her want to cry, so she turned and walked out again.

The corridor was empty, so she walked out of the facility alone, just avoiding the nursing staff as they filtered back into the reception office.

She found the dark sedan they'd all driven here in together, then silently slipped into the driver's seat. Steve sat in the passenger seat, looking haggard again, and Bucky in the back. He was looking out the window.

As Maggie turned on the engine, her eyes lingered on his face.

He's a good man.

"Do you remember New York? How it used to be?"

Maggie heard fabric rustle slightly as Bucky turned to face her. She had found him up here on the roof of the Avengers Facility half an hour ago. They'd gotten back from Peggy's care home a few hours ago, and Bucky had vanished - he needs time, Steve had explained, as if Maggie didn't understand that. But then night had fallen, and it was thirty degrees out, so she'd come up here with a steaming thermos of coffee and a winter jacket, which had made Bucky snort a sad kind of laugh.

They'd just been standing in silence, looking out at the darkness of the forest and the river, the snow radiating cold around them. Maggie wasn't sure where her question had come from. She'd been thinking about all the years Bucky had lived, she supposed, and how different his world must have been from hers.

Bucky took a few seconds to consider the question. "Yes," he murmured. "Though I mostly remember… my old house, the streets, the school Steve and I went to. Brooklyn. And it was small, to me. Looking at New York from above, back at Avengers Tower, that was a whole new perspective. I only ever saw New York from that high up once, when the Empire State opened."

Maggie blinked. Oh, wow. He's really old.

Bucky laughed, as if he could read her thoughts. "There was a lot more smog back then, and the city… well, I thought it was huge then, but it's much bigger now. Back in '31, I remember looking out to Brooklyn and trying to find my house."

"Could you see it from Avengers Tower?" She'd never thought to ask, before.

She sensed him shake his head - his hair brushed the fabric of the winter jacket he wore. "Steve told me they knocked it down. Same for his old tenement. But there's a plaque up next to the department store that's on his old block now. Steve Rogers lived here."

"Do you have a plaque?"

"Not where I used to live. Steve says my names in a few places though." Embarrassment bled into his voice. "There's a war memorial outside our old school. My name's on there. Same as Steve's."

Maggie thought about being a living monument. "Why did you sign up?"

He shrugged. "Same as anyone else, really. There were bad things happening out in the world, and we thought we could fight to stop it." He huffed a laugh. "I can't believe I ever thought things were that simple. Also… it was a good wage, with benefits for my mom." He shrugged again. "Steve was the one with the big ideas."

That's the first time he's mentioned his mother. Maggie glanced across at him and could just make out the shape of his face in the darkness. "I think you have big ideas. Just… maybe not about war."

He glanced at her again, almost hopeful.

"Yes," she decided. "I think you're a scientist, Bucky Barnes."

"Oh, I don't-"

"Maybe not in the traditional sense. But you want to learn, you want to see and experience and observe. And you're so curious about everything around you, though you pretend not to be. And I know there must be a reason you're always hanging around in my workshop."

His silence was embarrassed, but pleased.

Maggie rubbed her cold hands together. "Come on. Let's do a science experiment."

They spent the next few hours in Maggie's darkened workshop as she showed him all the chemical reactions she knew of that could create light: they used phosphors and luminol and stirred up the bioluminescent algae Maggie had been growing in her burbling hydroponics tank. Bucky poured luminol into a flask of hydrogen peroxide and their faces both glowed vibrant blue in the resulting glow as Maggie murmured about chemiluminescent reactions.

12 January 2016

The headlights of Maggie's sleek sedan strafed the Avengers Facility driveway as she drove down it toward the darkened buildings, Tony's voice loud through the car speakers. She'd driven the whole way from New York in the dark, stiff in her uncomfortable dress. It was a dark blue gown that clung to her shoulders like an embrace and plunged open at the back. At least her legs were free, thanks to the slit running down from mid-thigh. Her hair was in a curly updo which she was desperately trying not to crush against her headrest.

Tony rambled over speakerphone with updates on their planned adjustments to the hologram therapeutic tech from SI, which Tony had called B.A.R.F.: Binarily Augmented Retro Framing. Tony had been at the gala tonight with her, but he'd left early to return to Pepper in California, and they'd been on the phone together ever since.

They'd made a lot of progress on B.A.R.F. since they restarted work after the holidays, but they still had a lot of work to do on the neurological side of things, since Tony wanted to blend the tech with some form of frontal lobe manipulation. Maggie had wanted Mai's help in their design process, but Mai said it would be unethical for them to work together given that Mai was her therapist, though she did recommend several notable psychologists to help.

Finally, Maggie's car rolled up to the front of the facility. She yawned as she turned off the engine and got out, switching her call to her phone and pulling her heels on so she could walk over the cold cement. Holding her phone ot her ear she found her way through the darkened facility toward the private Avengers wing.

"Tony," she said as F.R.I.D.A.Y. lit a path for her, cutting off a five-minute long period of him talking uninterrupted. "You're on the right track with the hologram recreations being used in a therapeutic capacity, but I'm getting the feeling that the cognitive access we're imagining might be out of reach, especially if you're hoping to start fabrication this year. Should we try to create a therapeutic hologram illusion independently, without any neurological interference? I'm just worried we'll cause damage like the neurologists have been warning. And Vision hasn't been able to find a way either." She'd even had Rikki researching and contacting experts in every field to get their professional opinions.

Tony was silent for a long moment. Maggie's heels clipped against the smooth floor and her dark navy skirts swished along the surface. Finally, he said: "There's gotta be a way, Magnolia."

She sighed. "I know, I know. And believe me, I want to figure out the neurological angle too." Because HYDRA did, years ago. "But I think we've got to do this in steps. Let's trial a holographic interface soon, on its own. We can recreate memories using images and programming, F.R.I.D.A.Y. should be able to crack it in a month or so, using the base tech from SI."

Tony let out a long sigh. "Fine. Listen, Mags, I'm almost home. I gotta go." She heard the crunch of tires on gravel over his end.

"Okay, same. Say hi to Pepper for me."

"Sure thing." He hung up a second later.

Maggie slid her phone into her purse as she strode into the common room. The light was already on, which made her glance up, and after a second of scanning the room she spotted Bucky on one of the couches, a laptop on his lap as he stared at her with an open mouth.

Maggie stalled. "What?"

His eyes snapped to her face, and she looked down. The deep dark of her dress spilled downward, and she could feel strands of loose hair brushing her bare neck. "Oh right, the dress. I don't know if it's my color, but I'm trying it out for tonight." She stepped out of her silver heels and tossed them and her purse onto the other couch. "It was the Triskelion Memorial Gala," she explained as she stretched out her sore foot. Her prosthetic leg slipped through the high slit in her gown; the designer had wanted to put the slit on the other side, but Maggie had refused. SHe didn't spend thousands of dollars designing this leg just to hide it. "Two years since the Triskelion fell. The gala was a memorial and a fundraiser, to support victims and family members, and to aid the repairs. Though in a few months the repairs will be done."

"Two years," Bucky murmured, sounding a little lost. Maggie wondered if he'd had a bad day. But then he swallowed and looked at her determinedly. "You look… nice."

"I know," she grinned. "Thank you."

That made him smile.

"What have you been up to?" she said as she strode past him toward the kitchen, to fetch herself an orange juice from the fridge. He didn't say anything, and she glanced back to find his eyes following her across the room. "What's wrong?"

He looked down at his computer for a few seconds, as if reminding himself what he'd been doing. "Uh… I've been taking a few online courses. Learning new stuff, you know. This one's a coding course, but I think I already knew most of it. From… y'know. HYDRA. But it's good to remind myself what I know."

"Good for you," she nodded. "Juice?"

He nodded without looking at her, and she poured him a glass as well. "Are you still researching your past these days?"

"Yes," he said. "This was meant to be a break from that. Raynor thinks I'm doing too much. Obsessing over details, when I can't do anything about what I learn." He frowned. "I don't know. It feels like there's still so much more I can't remember. I think it's important to figure out… who I have been. All the things I've done. It's hard from a computer though."

"Hm." She brought over the juice and set one in front of Bucky, who smiled in thanks. She arranged her skirt so she wouldn't crush it, then sat down on the other couch with a sigh.

"How was… the gala?" Bucky asked.

"Good, mostly," Maggie said, picturing the concert hall full of flashing lights and classical music. "I met up with some old SHIELD people I used to know, who I haven't seen in years. Steve didn't come, but Tony and Nat did. Though…" she broke off.

"What?"

She waved a hand. "It's nothing, just a stupid thing someone said."

"What?" he insisted, sipping his juice. He'd set aside his computer.

"Ugh. Alright. I don't even know this guy, but he came right up to me and put his hand on my back and said 'you shouldn't be wasting a body like that on Avenging'." She grimaced and rolled her eyes at him.

Bucky's face darkened. "Seriously?"

Her eyebrow arched. "What, you don't believe me?"

"Of course I do. I just…" he shook his head. "Christ. Well, I'd offer to go beat him up for you, but I get the feeling that if you wanted him beat up, you'd have done it yourself."

She smiled. "Mm, no need for outsourcing. I didn't break his hand, but it was a near thing. Thank you for offering, though." She rested her head on the back of the couch and contemplated pulling out her hairpins. After a second, she added: "Though if that guy turns out to be one of the assholes who the next day spreads a rumor that we slept together, then… I could always use some back up."

Bucky's voice was horrified when he said: "People do that?"

Maggie looked up and shot him a quizzical look. "What world are you living in? Must be nice."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry."

She shrugged. "It's not good, but it happens. This guy might have been angling for a paparazzi shot with his hand on my back, to get something out of it." She waved a hand. "A friend of mind gave me the best way to combat those kind of people like, fifteen years ago."

"Is it beating them up?"

She laughed. "No, though that's up there. No, the best way to deal with it is to agree with them." Bucky frowned at her, so she continued. "How about I give you an example."

She pulled her phone out of her purse and with a groan stood up and circled around the coffee table to his couch. He glanced at her warily when she sat down beside him, already googling.

She found an online article from 2006 that read MARGARET STARK INVOLVED IN AFFAIR WITH CEO OF FUTURETECH, STARK INDUSTRIES STOCK DROPS A POINT, and showed it to Bucky, who scanned it and the accompanying pictures of a twenty-year-old Maggie and a dark-haired man in a suit.

"This is the headline that ran the day after my twentieth birthday," she explained. "This," she googled again, and showed him another article, "is the headline that ran the day after that."

Bucky's eyebrows rose as he read the first line of the article, titled JACK MARTIN SCANDAL: "Jack Martin, CEO of Futuretech, under review of board of company and office reportedly 'overwhelmed' with inquiries after Margaret Stark affair." Bucky's mouth dropped open. "What happened?"

Maggie grinned and scrolled down on the article for him.

It read: When questioned about allegations that she had had a romantic encounter with the president of the up-and-coming technology startup, Margaret Stark stated "Sure I did, yeah. I mean, kind of. He asked me to hum 'It's A Small World' while it was happening, and he only lasted like thirty seconds, and he sneezed in my armpit when he, y'know. So I'd say… one star, would not recommend to friends".

Maggie laughed silently as bewilderment, amusement, and a tinge of horror shifted over Bucky's face while he read. He reached the end of the article, which she knew read Mr Martin has since held a press conference to retract claims that he ever had a sexual relationship with Ms Stark, calling her words "hurtful" and "potentially life-ruining".

Bucky finally looked up, eyebrows lifting at the silent laughter on her face. "That's genius," he said.

She grinned wider. "He ended up having to re-apologize for saying that my comments were hurtful. Sure, some people still believe we slept with each other, and I'll never be able to convince them otherwise. But more people listened to me and decided that I hadn't slept with him when I talked about his weird fetishes, than when I was actually telling the truth. And I made a bunch of friends because of this, and other women started doing it to men who spread similar rumors about them."

Bucky smiled. "How does It's A Small World go?"

"Ah right, DIsneyland didn't open until after you dropped off the face of the Earth." She furrowed her brow, then hummed a few bars. "That'll be stuck in my head all night, now."

"It's very annoying," Bucky said.

She nodded. "Anyway, it happened a few times after that-"

"It did?" Bucky asked, aghast.

"Yeah, they got a similar treatment. I signed up Guy number four for a bunch of porn magazines to be delivered to his office in City Hall every day. I heard it took him a few years to cancel all the subscriptions." She smiled fondly. "Oh, but I don't do this when it's true - a few years back after all the Avengers stuff, a guy I'd been seeing in college came out and told the press about us. So when they came and asked me about it, I said it was true. No fun embellishments. I don't care if people know the truth, it just really drives me up the wall when people use me as some kind of… I don't know, trophy."

Bucky looked at her, with her phone in his metal hand and a glint in his eye. "You're incredible."

But he didn't make the moment weird, like so many before him had: she recalled dozens of people back in her partying days giving her some compliment about her brains or her body, before they'd stare deeply into her eyes waiting for her to lay one on them. But Bucky just looked into her face, saw that she had heard him, and then went back to reading about guy number 2's alleged fetishes. He asked her what Gerontophilia was, and she laughed.

Huh.

January 2016
Beijing, China

In an apparent burst of productivity, Tony had also uncovered the location of a hacker group armed with stolen technology, and offered to come with the Avengers to help them bring the group down. Maggie had asked if he was sure, given his recent agreement with Pepper not to get involved in Avenging, but she could admit that his expertise would be useful; the group had some pretty heavy cybersecurity, so tight that not even F.R.I.D.A.Y. could hack them, and some nasty technology up their sleeves.

Tony had just said "Pepper's in Florida for a week anyway, and it's not like I agreed never to be Iron Man again. Don't worry about it." So Maggie had left it at that.

So now they found themselves here on the outskirts of Beijing as the sun crept down in the sky, fighting through a series of physical and digital firewalls to get at the surprisingly young bunch of black-hat hackers. It was hard going; they weren't really fighting, but they had to work out how to access the base full of booby-traps and steel walls.

As she and Tony had flown down over the hills covered in thick green forests toward the base, innocuously disguised as an office building, Maggie had said:

"Hey, I know this area."

Iron Man had rolled a little in the sky to look at her. "What? How?"

She'd cast an eye over the surrounding area, where streets of small houses turned into thick suburbs, growing toward the packed forest of skyscrapers miles away. "I used to go to this place nearby."

Steve had been assailing the base from the ground, creeping through adjoining buildings. "What kind of place?" he'd asked.

"Well uh… it's definitely not your kind of place, Steve," Maggie had said as she'd circled high above. "Nat, Clint, it's definitely your kind of place."

"Oh," Steve had said with foreboding.

"It's…" a ground-to-air missile had activated, and she'd had to break off for a few moments to deal with that. "Okay, so it might not be anymore, but it… well, it was kind of an underground fight club."

Tony had spluttered. "And this is just a place that you know?"

"I kinda used to be one of the main acts," she said as she plunged down toward the base.

"When?"

"Uh… 2007?" She rolled to avoid a barrage of automated gunfire. "I was working in a mechanic's shop about half an hour away, and there was a lead who drank at this place, so I started fighting there to get an in."

Sam plunged down beside her, his smaller wings flared. Below them, one side of the base flared red as Wanda began her assault. "Now I've gotta see this place. Can we go after we get these guys?"

Maggie chuckled. "Sure."

The mission turned out a little more complicated than expected - one of the base's occupants had been ten, so it had taken some time to bring them all in safely and figure out what to do with them. But Sam hadn't forgotten Maggie's promise, and long after night had fallen, the Avengers found themselves standing outside a nondescript dark wood building with glowing red lanterns out the front. There were no signs, nor any indication that inside was one of the world's most infamous fight clubs.

The Avengers glanced at each other, then strode inside. They had changed out of their uniforms, of course, and into some very bad disguises: Natasha had found some coloured hairspray in the Quinjet, but other than that most of them were in civilian clothes, hats, and scarves. Luckily, Maggie reflected as they walked inside, the Guàiwù Bar attracted enough curious westerners that they wouldn't stand out too much.

Maggie drew in a long breath of the warm, liquor-scented air as they walked in, her eyes adjusting to the neon lighting and her ears adjusting to the loud rock music, and loud Mandarin over the speakers. The bar was packed with a jostling, loud crowd, pressing toward the balcony which she knew looked down on the fight cage.

"Nice place," Wanda said, eyeing a pack of sweaty men by the stairs arguing over betting slips. The crowd let out a collective shout, followed by a muffled thud. The fights must have started.

"Drink?" Tony suggested brightly.

Sam and Nat made a united front and pushed through to the bar, closely followed by the others. Vision had a comically large hat on in some attempt to disguise his maroon face. As they pushed through, they glanced over toward the balcony, where they could just see the next fight in the ring being set up - Maggie saw the tops of two heads as they stepped into the cage. The MC called their names and the odds.

"Can anyone speak Chinese?" Sam asked when the bartender spoke to him, and was shoved aside by Natasha.

Maggie opened her mouth to call out her order, but then made eye contact with the man standing behind the bartender.

He was red-faced, with dark hair slicked back over his scalp, wearing a dark suit a size too large. His eyebrows shot up when he locked eyes with Maggie.

"Shì nǐ!" [It's you!] he exclaimed, gesturing as his mouth curved into a grin. "Wǒ de tiān, hǎoduō niánle!" [My god, it's been years!]

Maggie hid a grimace. "Wang Lei, Hěn gāoxìng zàicì jiàn dào nǐ." [It's nice to see you again].

"They remember you?" Steve guessed. Maggie nodded, embarrassed, then realized Wang Lei had not finished speaking:

"-Nǐ bìxū zài zhàn, nǐ bìxū," [You must fight again, you must,] he exclaimed, pushing the bartender aside. "Wǒ huì miǎnfèi gěi nǐ de péngyǒu tāmen de yǐnliào-" [And I will give your friends their drinks for free-]

"Ó bù, wǒ bùshì lái dǎjià dei," [Oh no, I'm not here to fight,] Maggie waved a hand, and Wang Lei's mouth turned down.

"Scared?" Natasha smirked. The others were frowning, so she explained: "He wants her to fight."

"Oh, go on," Sam said.

"Uh, no," Tony blurted, but the others were all grinning and nodding now. Steve lifted his eyebrows in challenge.

"I would be curious to see a cage match," Vision said curiously, making Wanda laugh.

"Ugh, fine," Maggie said. "Wǒ huì zuò de." [I'll do it.]

Which was how Maggie found herself stepping into the Guàiwù cage for the first time in almost ten years, squinting in the red downlights. From the other side of the cage walked in her opponent, a large Mongolian man with braided hair, who Wang Lei introduced as Gesar before announcing in Mandarin:

"And now, introducing our former champion: Chaofeng!"

Maggie raised a hand, taking in the few cheers of those who remembered her and the indistinguishable shouts, laughs, and jeers of the rest of the crowd. She looked up and managed to pick out her team: Tony practically hung off the edge of the balcony, murmuring to F.R.I.D.A.Y. via his glasses as he stared at Gesar, and the others crushed in behind him. Sam and Vision were talking to one of the circulating bookies.

Natasha had her phone out, and she laughed a second later. "The Chaofeng is a dragon."

Wang Lei reiterated the rules: No Biting. No Weapons. That's it. And then he shouted:

"Begin!"

The fights were harder than Maggie had expected. Fighting to win a cage match was far different from fighting aliens or robots, and somewhere along the way Maggie had forgotten how to perform.

She went a few rounds, weaving and striking and taking hits from the experienced fighters. It brought her back to the old days, when she'd fought like this to sate the rage inside of her. She had no rage now, only the roar of the crowd and the cheers of her friends. It almost reminded her of training, and she was able to try out moves she'd learned from Nat and Clint to get an edge over the competition. In her last fight, she appeased Wang Lei by performing her signature move: she climbed up to the top of the cage, perched on the edge, then leaped down to slam her opponent in the chest and crush him underneath her.

The crowd roared, and Maggie spread her arms with a grin.

Maggie collected her winnings (several stacks of renminbi) and pushed her way through the sweaty, shouting crowd and the pounding music, up the stairs to the upper level. The crowd thinned out a little here, and she shook her hand to ease some of the residual stinging pain from her fight as she looked around for her team. They were no longer by the railing, which made her frown, until she spotted two familiar faces at the bar.

She heaved herself up onto a stool and shot Wanda and Natasha a curious look.

"We all saw the end," Wanda explained, sipping her drink. "But Steve got in a fight and they all got kicked out."

"What?"

Natasha sighed and slid her an extra drink. "He has apparently learned enough Mandarin to tell when someone is being less-than-nice about a woman."

Maggie hissed when her sore palms touched the cool glass of her drink. "Steve… defended my honor?"

"If you want to call it that." Nat rolled her eyes.

"Well," Maggie said thoughtfully.

"We thought we'd stay to finish our drinks," Wanda said with a small smile.

There was a roar from the crowd around the cage, and they all glanced over. Maggie wrinkled her nose at the smell of sweat and blood. She flexed her fingers.

"Do you miss it?" Natasha asked. She wore a dark canvas jacket and jeans, and she'd hair sprayed her hair black. Despite her best efforts, she stood out from the Guàiwù clientele.

"This?" Maggie said, gesturing her glass at the cage.

"Your old life," Natasha corrected.

She grimaced. "Alone, hunting for a ghost, not able to tell anyone I loved how I felt, or where I was? No." Wanda watched curiously. "But this" - she leaned over to nudge Natasha - "this is nice."

Natasha smiled. "And you still get to beat the shit out of people at your job."

"Here's to the perks," Maggie said, lifting her glass.

Somehow, 'finishing their drinks' turned into ordering another round. "The others will be fine," Natasha said, sucking on a slice of lime. Wanda asked a few questions about Maggie's old life, and Maggie found herself recounting stories of her life on the move, from Kazakhstan to Brazil. Wanda seemed entranced.

"I always imagined myself leaving Sokovia, maybe visiting America, or Australia, but that seems so… adventurous."

"I saw and did some amazing things," Maggie admitted. "But I wasn't travelling, I was running. My life has been better since I stopped."

Two drinks turned into three, and soon they were talking about the team. Natasha mimicked the short, clipped way Steve gave orders and it had them all laughing into their drinks, and before Maggie knew it, Natasha asked:

"So. If you had to get it on with an Avenger, which one?"

Wanda tipped her head back and laughed, making the bartender look over in surprise, but Maggie instantly said:

"Black Widow. Obviously."

Natasha rolled her eyes fondly. "Excluding anyone sitting in this room."

Maggie sighed. "Let me think about it. Who would you pick? Steve?"

Nat shook her head. "He is pretty, but that would be complicated." She tilted her head. From the ever-so-brief flash of blankness, Maggie knew she was thinking of Bruce. But they both knew she wouldn't say that. She sipped her drink. "Sam."

"Really?"

Natasha nodded at Wanda. "Go on."

"Oh. Um…" Wanda went a little pink, and looked down at her fingers clasped around her glass. "I…" Maggie knew she was going to lie a second before she said: "Yeah, Sam too."

Natasha and Maggie shared a glance, but both chose not to say anything.

"Your turn, Wyvern."

Maggie leaned back, thinking about it. Of all the men in the facility… her mind skittered. "Thor," she finally said.

Natasha's eyebrows flew up.

"I thought he had a girlfriend?" Wanda said.

"They broke up, you know," Maggie replied. "But no, I don't mean, like, now, but back when I first met him, before I knew he was Jane's Thor? Yeah, 100%."

Natasha laughed. "I can't picture it."

"What's to picture? He's tall, he's handsome, and he kept being all polite and calling me Lady Wyvern." Maggie kissed her fingers like a chef, and Wanda dissolved into giggles.

After finishing up their third round, they pulled their coats tight around them and finally walked out into the biting air outside the Guàiwù bar, their breaths coming in clouds of vapour. Snow drifted in the air but was not yet sticking to the ground. A bouncer stood with his arms crossed by the bar door, glaring across the road at a haphazard-looking group.

The men (and android) of the Avengers sat on the far kerb in the falling snow, shivering. Vision and Sam were playing cards.

"About time," Tony grumbled as soon as he spotted them, but then he stood up to check Maggie over as she approached. He frowned at her grazed knuckles. "You were great, Mags. Very Rocky."

"Most illuminating," Vision agreed.

Sam waved at the bouncer, whose glare deepened. "I don't think we're invited back."

Rushed this one out without editing because I'm literally about to board my plane back home, but I wanted to give you guys this as an apology for the missed chapter last week! Next update will be next weekend. Hope you all had a lovely Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Reviews

DBZFAN45: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I'm so glad you enjoyed the last chapter, hopefully you liked this one too! And yes, I absolutely loved the Hawkeye finale, such good things in the MCU's future!

Eennio: Glad you liked the Christmas chapter, I hope you had a good christmas yourself!