The weather seemed to sense his mood as he approached the small gated cemetery. It was tucked between a few buildings he recognized from growing up in Brooklyn. His calloused fingers curled around the flowers in his hand tightly as he pushed open the gate. Only one other person stood in the small cemetery and they didn't react when he entered, their focus on the gravestone before them.

Steve walked through the lines of stones, his eyes searching for the two names he was told would be here. Weather had chipped away and eaten at some of the stone, but the names still stood against the test of time. He kneeled down between the two, knowing that no remains rested under the ground.

Neither body was found.

Dividing the flowers up, Steve placed one bundle against the first headstone and repeated the process for the second. He sat back on his heels and grimaced. If he had known that the gravestones were in such poor shape, he would have brought stuff to clean them.

Ada Kennedy

1921-1945

Loving wife and friend.

James Barnes

1918-1945

Devoted brother, son, friend.

The names stared at him in a way that felt mocking. Why did he get to live? Why did he get to wake up? He had made a promise that the three of them would come home and here he was, standing in Brooklyn all alone and staring at their graves. Bile rose in his throat and he grit his teeth in an attempt to push against the rage that threatened to boil up and spill out of his chest. There was no one to blame but himself. They were dead because of him.

No words came out of his mouth. What could he say? I'm sorry I lived. I'm sorry I couldn't save you both. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

What can you say to two people that were dead because you failed? He wasn't supposed to be here. He wasn't supposed to be alive in 2012 without Ada and Bucky by his side. Hearing the soft crunch of grass nearby, Steve looked up to find a man standing by the gates of the cemetery that was clearly a SHIELD agent. Director Fury had said that an envoy would be coming when they needed him for the Cube, but he didn't expect it to be so soon.

"I'll be back," he promised the two stones. Steve stood and headed for the gate where the man stoically nodded in greeting.

"Captain Rogers, Agent Coulson. Apologies for the poor timing here. It's time."

"I figured."

Everything felt so new and so wrong all at the same time. They were dropped off at a building where Coulson led him to an elevator that spat them out on the roof. A jet sat there patiently waiting, one that Steve couldn't have created even in his dreams. It looked like something that Howard would create if he had the science and time to do so.

"Captain, we will be meeting other operatives once we land. This will provide you with all of the information you need," Coulson explained as he handed him something that looked like a glass tablet. Words appeared across it and Steve quickly understood that it was another one of those touch screen apparatuses. He took a seat in the hold of the plane and hesitantly scanned through the files that were on the screen.

Howard's son, Anthony. The genius and reckless playboy who created a metal suit that could fly.

Dr. Bruce Banner. A scientist who tried to recreate the serum and instead ended up into a massive green beast.

And the final file, which he assumed was incorrectly placed there. A Jane Doe. No photograph, no video. The information that was listed was blacked out and redacted. He sighed and set the tablet down on the seat next to him.

End one war, wake up to another.

The plane settled down and the bay door opened, allowing Coulson to lead the way off the plane into the sun and onto the deck of a ship. A woman waited at the end of the ramp, her dark red curls bouncing along her shoulders and her green eyes regarding him coolly.

"Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers," Coulson introduced.

"Ma'am," he greeted.

"Hi." Her attention shifted to Coulson. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face-trace. Just a warning, she's here and she's not happy."

Coulson sighed as he headed for the door. "See you there."

"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice." Agent Romanoff began a calm walk around the hustle and bustle of the deck. Even though she walked calmly, there was a hint of predatory motion in her steps. "I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"

"Trading cards?" He couldn't hide his amusement. It was tinged with a bitter sense of disgust. He was seen as a hero, but all he could think of was the people he had failed. They were never remembered.

"They're vintage. He's very proud."

Steve spied a man lost in the crowd of soldiers and recognized him from the files Coulson provided him. "Dr. Banner," he called.

"Oh, yeah, hi." The man shook his hand. "They told me you would be coming."

"Word is, you can find the Cube."

"Is that the only word on me?"

"Only word I care about." He didn't care that the man before him could turn into a massive rage machine. He only cared about that damn Cube.

"It must be strange for you...all of this." Dr. Banner gestured around at the planes and officers running back and forth. Steve shrugged in response.

"This is actually kind of familiar." All he needed was his smug best friend and the green eyed beauty by his side. Another reminder of what was lost.

"Gentlemen," Agent Romanoff interrupted his spiraling thoughts. "You might want to step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breathe."

Whirring, grinding, and the screeching of metal filled the air as the ship roared against the ocean. Steve had been on ships before and he had been on aircraft carriers, but none that sounded like this. He found himself approaching the edge, curiosity grabbing his attention.

"Is this a submarine?" he asked.

"Really?" Banner scoffed. "They want me in a submerged, pressurized metal container?"

But they weren't going down, no. They were going up. Rotors emerged from the ship, swallowing air and helping them rise. This wasn't a ship, it was an airship.

"No, no. This is much worse," Banner drawled.

Romanoff led them into the main section of the ship and even though this was all new and different and completely over his head, Steve felt almost normal for once. The rush in the air and the calls of agents reminded him of the SSR headquarters. He almost looked for the familiar green eyes searching over a map but of course...of course he remembered. He could still feel the blood on his hands.

Steve wiped his hands casually against his pants as a way to bring him out of the nightmare and into another. One where he was in 2011 facing demons he thought he had defeated.

Everyone was discussing things that flew way over his head. Technology and spectrometers and rays. Steve just tried to make sense of what he was seeing and working on believing. For once, he was just the muscle rather than the leader and he found relief in that.

Banner and Romanoff left which meant Coulson remained. He turned, intent on asking the man something, anything, when the doors slid open from one of the halls and heavy footsteps echoed across the metal floor.

His head followed the sound to find two women in a heated discussion. One appeared to be a SHIELD agent based off her uniform and the tight bun her hair was gathered in. She was blocking the other woman from view, her shoulders tight with tension. Finally, they broke away and the second woman approached Coulson.

"Dragon," he greeted. "Meet Captain Rogers."

The woman jutted her chin out and tilted her face to see him. The second their eyes locked, Steve felt sucker punched in the chest.

Her brown eyes were cold as ice and her black hair was pulled away from her face in a braid, but she was unmistakably, irrefutably Ada Kennedy. Slim nose, high cheekbones, and full lips. A small scar on her temple. The same way she pursed her lips when she was annoyed at him and Bucky. No burns scarred her skin as if she had never been touched by the fire.

Yet there was no recognition in her eyes. No knowledge of him hidden in her expression. She just regarded him coolly and blankly.

"Ada?" he breathed.

Her nose screwed up, highlighting the curve to it that indicated it had been broken recently. She shot him a confused look and then shook her head.

"Who the hell is Ada?"