A/N: Italicized text can represent several things (dialogue in another language, inner thoughts, flashbacks, etc.) please be aware of this and the context to better understand what is happening!


"Good to see you, Short Stack." Sam smiled as Odette walked over to the quinjet.

"It's good to see you too, Sam." Odette shook his extended hand and smiled.

"How's our psycho cyborg doing?" He asked with a grin.

Odette chuckled, "Bucky's doing fine." She reassured him, though she knew it was mostly pleasantries and out of respect for her and Steve's relationship with Bucky.

"Hey, Doc." Natasha exited the quinjet and tossed something to her.

Odette caught it with ease, recognizing it as a rifle. Not her rifle, obviously, because that was back in New York in the Avenger's facility, but it was close enough. She smiled and admired the weapon as she adjusted it in her hands. "Good to see you, Nat." She smiled.

"Odette…"

She looked up, her face going neutral as she stared at Steve. He'd grown a beard since the last time she'd seen him.

It looked nice.

Really nice.

Odette smiled, "Steve." She crossed the distance between them, fitting perfectly in his arms as he crushed her in a hug. She returned the gesture.

The time between their missions had grown, and though Odette wouldn't admit it out loud, she missed Steve when they were apart. He was always there for her in the war, and they were inseparable since thawing from the ice. But recently, they had taken a few steps back from each other. With the return of Bucky in their lives, a silent rift had formed between them—though neither of them would admit it. And it all came to a head when Odette caught Steve kissing their former–neighbor–later–revealed–to–be–spy–and–niece–of–their–dead–friend. Odette hadn't wanted to make a choice between Steve and Bucky, stubbornly thinking and hoping that maybe she could have them both, but her actions (hiding away in Romania for a year to be with Bucky) and his actions (kissing Sharon) had finally snapped her from her daydreams of a perfect life.

Odette held onto Steve a little longer than she should have, but he didn't pull or step away until she did.

She smiled up at him and reached up to scratch her fingers in his beard, "I like this." She said, ignoring the hot and nervous flutter in her stomach. "I shouldn't have done that." She scolded herself.

Steve smirked and resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "It's not permanent." He held her small wrist in his hand.

Odette clicked her tongue in disappointment, "Shame."

"If you two are done doing whatever this is," Sam motioned to the two of them, "We have a walking computer to find."

"Shouldn't be hard," Natasha spoke up, when they turned to her she held up her phone.

Brooke.

Odette reached out to her friend, who gladly handed the phone off to Odette. "Brooke?" She answered hurriedly.

"The train station! Steve!" Brooke screamed, "Vision's hurt! Waverley!" It didn't even register that Odette had been the one to answer. The three turned to Steve.

"Let's go." Steve ordered, his brow furrowing in concentration.

Odette grabbed her teammates and teleported them to the train station. She left Sam and Natasha on the side of the tracks that were illuminated. Then, she teleported herself and Steve across and into the shadows.

A train was passing through the station, wheels grinding on the rails.

Across the tracks, Odette could see Vision and Wanda on the ground by the gates, Pietro and Brooke stood protectively in front of them. Standing in front of them were two...aliens. With the train in the way, neither side could make their move.

Odette shouldered her new rifle, taking aim.

The train passed.

The alien on the left grunted as she reeled back and tossed her spear across the tracks, Steve caught it with ease, turning so the glowing tip could not pierce his skin. In the same second, Odette fired her rifle, hitting the alien in the chest.

At the same time, Sam came flying around the corner, he kicked the alien in the chest as she staggered back. The alien flew across the station and into a shop, shattering glass and tumbling through the tables and chairs set up inside.

Odette then turned her rifle to the other alien, firing off several shots to distract him while Sam circled around. The other alien blocked her bullets with his own weapon and the shielded guards on his forearms.

Steve reeled his arm back and tossed the spear back across the tracks.

Sam fired off several mini explosives which distracted the alien, allowing Natasha to catch the spear as she ran up to them. She slid on her knees, taking out the alien's knee.

"Get to Vision." Steve ordered under his breath, taking off in a run to jump across the tracks.

Odette followed his orders, teleporting across the tracks. Behind her, she could hear Brooke and Pietro join the fight. She knelt down in front of Vision, her eyes widening as she spotted the hole in his torso that he was protecting.

"Doctor Swann," Vision gasped out.

"Vision," Odette breathed out, she gingerly laid her hands on his, aware that Wanda was watching her every move, and gently moved them aside so she could get a closer look at the wound. His physical form had never taken a blow like this, he couldn't reform. Odette looked up, his eyes had faded to an almost grey color.

"What happened?" She asked, her mouth going dry. The edges of the hole glowed the same golden hue as the Mind Stone embedded in Vision's forehead.

"Their weapon," Vision gritted his teeth. He was clearly in a lot of pain.

Odette had no idea how to treat him.

Vision was not flesh and blood.

He needed someone smarter, someone who knew Vision inside and out.

"We need to get you to Bruce." Odette realized with growing horror. She'd never been able to not treat a wound before.

Behind her, the fighting had stopped.

"Get up," One of the aliens hissed.

"I can't." The other replied.

Odette turned to look over her shoulder. Steve, Sam, Natasha, Brooke, and Pietro had cornered the aliens.

"We don't want to kill you, but we will." Natasha's voice was low.

"You'll never get the chance again." The horned alien seethed. And then, with a few taps on her arm brace, she and her fallen companion were lifted into the sky in a beam of light.

"Steve," Odette called. The team turned to her. She shook her head, "Vision's been wounded beyond what I can repair. We need to get to Bruce."

Pietro was beside her in the blink of an eye, "Can you stand?" He asked Vision. Vision held his wound once more and tried to push himself up. "Watch out," Pietro moved his sister and with a look at Odette, she knew to brace Vision's other arm around her shoulders. "One, two, three." They lifted him off the ground. Vision's form flickered as he rested on Pietro and Odette.

The rest of the team walked over. "Thank you, Captain." Vision panted out.

Steve looked over Vision, his eyes lingering at the wound in his torso. He looked to Odette, and then at Brooke, Wanda, and Pietro, "Let's get you on the jet." He said, his lips in a firm line.

Odette teleported Vision there, knowing the walk would only make things worse for his form. When she turned around, Pietro was there with his sister in his arms. He put her down on her feet and glanced up at Odette.

"Thank you for coming, Doc." He said quietly before he was gone again.

Odette turned to Wanda, "He's getting fast."

"Faster every day." Wanda's voice was hoarse as she jogged over to Vision's side.

"You dyed your hair." Odette commented, looking at the lovely ginger color Wanda had her long hair in.

"Tried to blend in a little more." Wanda admitted sheepishly, a blush spreading across her cheeks.

"It looks nice." Odette smiled.

Pietro returned with Brooke in his arms and sat her down on her feet.

"Odette," To Odette's immense surprise, Brooke ran across the quinjet to crush Odette in a hug. Odette returned the gesture.

Neither woman said anything.

So much went unsaid between them.

Their last meeting had been...tense.

Their relationship had previously been on the rocks due to Odette spending time away from The Avengers to be with Bucky. And then, Brooke had signed the Accords. But, she gladly accepted Steve's offer to break Pietro and Wanda out of prison. Whether that was because she realized she was wrong (at least from Odette's point of view) or because her love for the twins was stronger than her fear of breaking the law, Odette didn't know.

She knew now.

And Brooke, it seemed, empathized a little more with Odette's decision to leave and be with Bucky.

When Odette pulled away, she noticed just how warm Brooke was and she reached up to lay the back of her hand on her forehead. Brooke huffed and rolled her eyes, "I'm fine." She said, answering her unasked question.

Odette pursed her lips. "You feel clammy." She frowned.

Brooke shrugged, "Okay, so I feel a little under the weather. But, really, I'm fine. Probably just a cold or something." She tucked some loose curls behind her ear. Like Wanda, Brooke had also dyed her hair. But instead of going red, Brooke darkened her curls, almost matching Odette in how dark her hair was, aside from two chunks of hair framing her face, which remained the same shade of brown it had always been. It was different, but it was still nice.

Odette didn't have time to question her further as Steve, Natasha, and Sam caught up with the rest of them.

"Oh, sure, don't come back for us, I see how it is." Sam teased Odette as he landed and folded his wings up behind him.

"Sam," Odette sighed.

"No, no." Sam shook his head, though he smiled, "I get it." He took up his seat in the cockpit. "Let the older more experienced folks get their steps in for the day." He joked.

"Sam." Steve shook his head, but a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

The jet took off smoothly and Natasha closed the back bay doors. Scotland's nightscape turned into a distant glow before vanishing behind the doors.

"Now, I thought we had a deal." Natasha addressed Brooke and the twins, "Stay close. Check in. Don't take any chances."

"I'm sorry." Wanda croaked out again.

"You know, sometimes we like just living." Brooke turned to her mentor, "Not jumping from mission to mission."

"We just wanted time alone." Pietro explained, gesturing with his hands as if to say, 'really? Come on'.

"Sam," Odette walked over to the cockpit, passing by Steve, "Take us home."

The ride back was quiet.

Brooke sat with the twins and Vision on one side of the ship. Natasha sat behind Sam, in a world of her own. And Odette and Steve sat on the opposite side of the ship.

"Thank you for coming again." Steve said, breaking the silence.

Odette looked up from the floor, "Of course."

Steve sighed, not looking back at her, "I know you and Bucky want your rest—," he repeated himself.

Odette laid a hand on his knee, Steve finally turned to her, "I still have a job to do." She said, "And I love doing it with you." Steve's eyebrows narrowed, a memory flickered behind his eyes. Odette tilted her head curiously, "What?" She asked gently, lowering her voice to a whisper.

Steve looked over at her, debating on what to say. After the silence dragged on, Steve finally whispered back, "You once said that there was so much you had to say to me." Odette swallowed, her throat going dry. "Is there anything left to say?"

Odette paused for a moment. Her hand crossed Steve's knee to gently take his hand. He unclasped his own hands to hold hers. "Well, I guess I just can't stay away." She said quietly. In truth, it took Odette longer and longer to answer his calls, and things had never been more complicated between them. With Bucky and Sharon—okay, so maybe she had gotten a bit jealous and as a result she pushed herself away and got carried away with just how much she is distancing herself—and the Accords, and their work...there was simply no time for the two of them to just...have time.

"I hope that might satisfy you for now." Odette thought, squeezing his hand tightly.

Steve squeezed back.

For a moment, the two super soldiers sat together in silence.

How far they had both come.

Steve, willingly submitting himself to experimentation.

Odette, forcefully undergoing a tortuous change.

Finding each other in the war.

Losing Bucky.

Losing everything.

New York.

D.C.

The Winter Soldier.

Strucker.

Ultron.

The Accords.

Zemo.

Wakanda.

Odette looked back at Steve, but he was looking over her shoulder at the younger members of their crew. Odette turned in her chair to watch them as well.

Brooke had sent updates almost daily at the start of their underground life. Then the updates became weekly. Then monthly. What started as selfies and pictures of the world as they moved turned into short texts that served no other purpose than to tell Odette that they were all still alive.

Now, Odette watched as Pietro's fingers dug tightly into Brooke's waist. He kept her fitted against him, and she stood beside him as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Clearly I've missed a few life updates." Odette thought.

Wanda said something to Brooke that Odette couldn't hear from her distance, and Brooke pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

Pietro turned and placed his lips on Brooke's forehead. When he pulled away he whispered something to her. He looked concerned. She whispered back and the two turned to face Vision.

Wanda, bless her heart, was doing her best to keep Vision comfortable even though he still had an open wound.

"I wish I could have done something." Odette thought with a frown, "At least we don't have to worry about him bleeding out." She watched the four intently. She turned back to Steve, "So, what exactly did Bruce say to you?" She asked.

Steve looked back at her, he swallowed and shifted to get more comfortable in his seat. "That a man called Thanos was coming, and that he's after the Infinity Stones." Odette's heart leapt into her throat.

"The Tesseract…" Odette's mind began to spiral. "No...No, it's safe with Thor on Asgard."

And then Steve broke the news, "Asgard's been destroyed. Thor is gone." Odette looked at Steve, terror slowly gripping her heart until it came to a stop, "Thanos already has two stones."


It was early evening when they landed in New York.

"How were we given clearance to land?" Odette wondered. Everett Ross might have forgiven her, but she doubted Secretary Ross and the UN had.

"Rhodey's waiting for us inside." Sam answered their unasked question.

Odette made sure Pietro and Sam could keep Vision upright before they marched through the nearly empty campus. It had been nearly two full years since Odette had seen the facility grounds. Several new, smaller buildings dotted the far reaches of the campus, and the main building now had several attachments to it. It almost broke her heart, knowing that the grounds and facility, originally designed to be used by the Avengers and their teams, were now being treated as a backup of S.H.I.E.L.D. As they crossed the lawn from the hanger to the main building, Odette wondered how many people still worked for the Avengers that had supported her and Steve in the downfall of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"I doubt very many." Odette realized as they made it to the main building. If those people were willing to risk their lives to stand behind Captain America and The Black Swann, who's to say they wouldn't give up their jobs to stand in solidarity of their beliefs on the Accords.

They were greeted by Friday as Steve all but yanked open the front door.

"Good morning, Captain Rogers. Good morning, Doctor Swann. Good morning, Agent Romanoff—,"

"Friday, could you not?" Brooke asked as politely as she could.

"Of course, Miss Field." Friday answered.

They found Rhodey right where they expected him to be. In the long-distance meeting room. He was standing with his arms crossed, nearly nose-to-nose with the holographic display of Secretary Ross.

Odette hadn't seen him since he dragged her across the tarmac two years ago, and she was shocked to see the metallic, almost robotic-like, apparatuses around his legs. "What happened after I got knocked out?" Tony hadn't given her an update on his team, so she assumed they had gotten away relatively unscathed. Evidently, not, as time had not been Rhodey's friend.

They both turned at the sound of the glass doors hissing open.

"Mr. Secretary." Steve greeted, coming to a stop just inside the room. Odette and Natasha stood on either side of him, with Sam and Pietro holding up Vision behind them, and Wanda and Brooke bringing up the rear.

Ross looked at the former Avengers, glaring at each and every one of them with a tight jaw. He turned and stalked over to them, even as a hologram he thought he had intimidation power over them. "You got some nerve." He answered tensely. "I'll give you that."

"You could use some of that right now." Natasha spoke up from Steve's other side.

Ross's hard stare slowly dragged across each of them, stopping at Odette and Steve, "The world's on fire. And you think all is forgiven?" He asked, stepping over to stand in front of them.

"I'm not looking for forgiveness. And I'm way past asking permission." Steve's voice was low, "Earth just lost her best defender. So we're here to fight." He stepped down into the room, staring Ross down, "And if you wanna stand in our way, we'll fight you too."

Ross, hating everything about this, turned to Rhodey and growled, "Arrest them."

Rhodey replied with a sarcastic roll of his eyes, "All over it." He dismissed the hologram. He looked at his former teammates, "That's a court-martial." Then he smiled. "It's great to see you, Cap."

And like that, all the tension broke.

Steve took the last step down into the room and met Rhodey's extended hand with his own. Smiling. "You too, Rhodey."

Odette followed Steve into the room.

"Doc." Rhodey smiled at her, turning to envelop her in a hug.

"Ohh," Odette sighed, hugging him in return, "It's so good to see you, Rhodey." She stepped back to allow Natasha to do the same.

Pulling away, the four smiled at each other, "Wow." Rhodey sighed, "You guys," and he gave them a tight lipped smile, "really look like crap." He looked over each of them, "Must've been a rough couple of years."

"Yeah, well, the hotels weren't exactly five-star." Sam joked from his spot beside Vision, a friendly smirk on his face.

"Wakanda is nice," Odette admitted sheepishly, "But where I live," She raised her hand and tilted it from side to side, "A little on the rural side."

Rhodey laughed and gave her shoulder a friendly slap, "Yeah, I hear you, Miss Protector-of-the-king." Odette rolled her eyes, but smiled. After going public, word somehow escaped Wakanda of the battle between the rightful heir, and the long-lost contender for the throne. T'Challa had made sure that no article or paper published her name, but the story told was that a well-known outsider had aided the king in reclaiming his throne and country.

Hell, even Everett Ross, when he'd been interviewed about his involvement in the aid of King T'Challa, had kept Odette's name out of his mouth. Instead, he referred to her as "the hero we previously pushed aside".

It didn't take much for people to put two-and-two together to realize that it was Odette who had aided Wakanda.

"Uhh, I think you look great." A voice Odette wasn't sure she'd ever hear again greeted them from the direction of the living quarters. Bruce nervously stepped out of the shadows, gripping his hands together nervously. "Uhh...yeah...I'm back." He stated.

Natasha was the first of their crew to break the silence. "Hi, Bruce." Her voice was light. Almost as though she was in disbelief at the sight before her.

Bruce twisted his hands together, unsure of what to do with himself. He opened and closed his mouth for a moment, a thousand different thoughts running through his mind. He finally hugged himself and simply replied, "Nat."

She shared a knowing glance and a smirk with Steve. Odette spoke up, "It's good to have you back, Bruce." She smiled, but she couldn't help but wonder where he'd been this whole time.

"Bruce," Steve spoke up, his voice once again taking on its authoritative tone, "We need to talk." He then turned to the rest of the team, "All of us."

Regrouping in the lounge so they could be a little more comfortable, the three original Avengers caught their friend up to speed.

"After you left," Odette was the first to speak once Bruce was seated across from them, "Steve, Natasha, and I began training a new team." She motioned to the twins, Brooke, Vision, and Rhodey.

"But," Natasha spoke up, "After a month or so, Odette left to find Barnes."

"Barnes?" Bruce asked, "Wait," He turned to Odette and Steve, "You guys' old war buddy who ended up being a HYDRA assassin? The one that took down S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Technically we all took down S.H.I.E.L.D." Odette wanted to say.

Steve nodded his head, "Yes."

"You left to find an assassin on your own?" Bruce turned to Odette, his eyebrows furrowed together in disbelief.

"Not completely relevant." Odette deadpanned, "Either way. There was a terrorist attack by a former member of our STRIKE team, and there were," She glanced at Brooke and Wanda who both fidgeted and looked away, "casualties."

"The UN proposed The Sokovia Accords," Steve cut in, "To keep track of and control The Avengers and any other enhanced individuals."

"C-control?" Bruce repeated.

"A panel of UN officials would have had total power over where we went and what we did." Natasha explained.

"And anyone on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s list of enhanced persons would've had to have submitted a DNA sample, on top of accepting a tracker." Odette sighed.

"Jesus." Bruce sat back in his seat.

"Not all of us agreed to these terms." Steve said evenly. "So we fought."

"That's not the whole truth." Natasha gave Steve a pointed look.

He sighed. Bruce looked between his three teammates, lost and confused. "At a UN meeting to ratify the Accords, a man named Helmut Zemo bombed the UN Center disguised as Bucky."

"Barnes." Natasha added when Bruce looked even more confused at the name drop. He nodded upon her clarification.

"We knew it wasn't Bucky," Odette said, motioning to herself and Steve, "and we tried to peacefully bring him in so that the JSOC team that was dispatched to capture him didn't kill him."

Rhodey scoffed, "You nearly killed over twenty agents." He pointed out, "And you caused a massive traffic accident in the Romanian underground."

"Rhodey arrested us," Odette continued on, hissing between her teeth as she made her point. "But Zemo got in by impersonating a doctor."

"He triggered Barnes' HYDRA protocols and sent him on a rampage to escape." Natasha continued.

"Tony cut us off at our exit point. We assumed at the time Zemo was going to Siberia to unleash a team of Winter Soldiers." Steve sighed heavily, the memories weighing heavily on him.

"There's more than one Winter Soldier?" Bruce asked incredulously.

Odette ignored his question, "Tony made a team, composed of the Now-King of Wakanda, The Black Panther. A kid from Queens, Spider-Man. Brooke," Bruce looked to Brooke, who pressed her lips into a tight line and gave a half-hearted wave, "Vision," He turned to Vision who was still holding his wound, but did not appear to be in as much pain as before, "And Rhodey."

"Anyways, we fought. It didn't end well." Steve said plainly. Only Tony, Steve, and Bucky knew what happened in the HYDRA base. Neither had ever told her what happened after she left to pursue Zemo.

"After that...we went our separate ways...for the most part." Natasha finished quietly. "Odette stayed with Barnes in Wakanda. Brooke and the twins stayed under the radar. And We," Natasha looked between Steve and Sam, "Have been working in the shadows."

"Well, it's time to come out of the shadows." Bruce stood up, "Because Thanos is coming and he's bringing the end of life as we know it." He turned to Vision, "Who attacked you?"

"I don't know." Vision shook his head. He had left the group to lean against the window and look out over the small courtyard.

Natasha stood up and crossed the room to the desk on the far side of the lounge. After hitting a couple of the inlaid keys, a still from their fight in Scotland projected over the desk.

"Whoa, hold on," Bruce's eyes widened as he looked at the two aliens, "They're with Thanos." They all looked at him, "He calls them his 'children'."

"Thanos must be one ugly motherfucker." Sam whispered under his breath.

Bruce either didn't hear him or chose to ignore him, "They attacked us in New York."

"So, they know we have the stones." Odette sighed, she stood up and began to pace.

"We gotta assume they're coming back, right?" Rhodey asked.

"And they can clearly find us." Wanda nodded in agreement with Odette.

"We need all hands on deck, where's Clint?" Bruce asked, an urgency to his voice.

"After the whole Accords situation," Natasha spoke up, her arms crossed over her chest, "He and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families, they're on house arrest."

"Who's Scott?" Bruce asked.

"Ant-Man." Steve answered, one hand on his hip as he watched Odette pace.

"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?" Bruce asked incredulously. Odette stopped her pacing to nod. "Okay, look," Bruce took a breath, "Thanos has the biggest army in the universe and he is not gonna stop until he gets," his voice trailed off as he realized what he was about to say, "Vision's stone."

"Well, we'll just have to protect him." Odette said plainly, putting her hands on her hips, "And the stone." She could see the tension in Wanda upon Bruce's words.

"No," Vision spoke up, still watching the courtyard, "we have to destroy it." They turned to him in various degrees of shock, "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head," He raised his free hand to motion to the stone within his forehead. "About its nature. But also its composition. I think if it were exposed," He glanced at Wanda before turning to her, "to a sufficiently powerful energy source," Wanda began to back away from Vision as he stepped towards her, shaking her head, "Something very similar to its own signature, perhaps its molecular integrity could fail."

"Yeah, and you with it." Wanda pointed out.

"You can't be serious, man." Pietro spoke up, standing up from his seat beside Brooke to put one hand on his sister's shoulder and the other on Vision's shoulder, "We're not letting Thanos get to you."

"We're not having this conversation." Wanda's voice was soft, but her gaze was intense as she looked up at Vision.

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it." Vision looked between the twins.

"It's too high a price." Wanda shook her head.

Vision looked desperately at her, "Only you have the power to pay it."

"It's not gonna happen, Vis." Brooke stood up, joining the twins and providing her shoulder as one Wanda could lean on as his words physically pained her. "We're a team," Odette got the idea that the four of them thought of themselves as their own unit. Which was fair considering they had been on the run together for the past two years. "We'll figure something else out." Brooke looked to Odette and Steve for help.

Odette turned to Steve, looking at him from across the desk they were standing at. He looked down at the desk.

What could they do? Take the stone out of Vision and essentially kill him? But then what? They just destroy it? Destroy Vision to destroy the stone? No! The plan didn't sit well with Odette.

"Thanos threatens half the universe." Vision stated, "One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."

"But it should." Steve spoke up. He shook his head as he looked up, "We don't trade lives, Vision."

"Captain, seventy years ago, you laid down your life to save, how many millions of people?" Vision asked, walking over to him and Odette. He turned to Odette, "Doctor, would you make the same choice as you did then?"

Odette kept her mouth closed.

It hadn't been a choice.

She had failed.

"Tell me," Vision looked at the two super soldiers, "why is this any different?"

"Because," Bruce spoke up, saving the pair from a bigger argument, "you might have a choice." They turned to him, "Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. Jarvis. Ultron. Tony. Me. The Stone," he counted off, "All of them mixed together, all of them learning from one another."

"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?" Wanda asked.

"I'm saying that if we take out the stone there's still a whole lot of Vision left." Bruce explained, "Perhaps the best parts."

Odette tilted her head curiously at that thought. "Take the stone out of Vision...the stone is just one layer in a construct of overlays…" She glanced across the table at Steve. His own mind was racing on the same track, it seemed.

"Can we do that?" Natasha asked.

"Not me." Bruce shook his head, "Not here."

"Well, you better find someone and somewhere fast." Rhodey crossed his arms. Steve turned to Odette and waved two fingers at her. She walked around the desk, keeping an eye on the twins, Brooke, and Vision as she stood in front of Steve. "Ross isn't just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Steve asked, his voice in a low whisper.

"Wakanda?" Odette asked. Steve nodded. "Shuri is the only other person I would trust with this." She whispered back. "She undid Bucky's brainwashing, she could easily remove a stone from a computer."

Steve nodded once more. They turned to the group, "We know somewhere."

Odette looked at Vision through the group, "We know someone."


"Thank you again, Shuri, for doing this." Odette gave the young girl a fond smile. They'd loaded everyone into the quinjet and taken off almost immediately once Shuri and T'Challa agreed that they could bring Vision to the lab.

"You know I like a project." Shuri smiled, "And how hard can it be?" T'Challa came in from the side, appearing in the projection over her Kimoyo beads with a tense look on his face.

"You know, if you didn't just up and disappear as you pleased, this would make my job much easier." T'Challa reminded her in a teasing manner.

"Well, emergencies happen." Odette pressed her lips into a tight line, hiding her smile, "Have you checked on him today?"

'Him' being Bucky. He normally did fine on his own when Odette was away, but this time she'd be coming back with a fight. She wanted him to know.

"No. But I will be making my way to the farm shortly." T'Challa answered.

"Thank you." Odette smiled. And with a nod, T'Challa was gone.

"What is your eta?" Shuri asked, turning back to the camera.

Odette turned and looked over her shoulder at the rest of the quinjet, doing a quick mental check on their current time on the clock in the cockpit and the difference there would be with them flying. "Early morning, most likely." She said, turning back, "very early morning."

They would be flying against the flow of time, nearly doubling their trip. It was going to be a long trip, and that was only if they didn't have to make any stops to refuel.

"That should give me enough time to prep the lab." Shuri smiled, pleased, "I'll let boarder control know you're coming."

"You might want T'Challa to prep more than that." Odette lowered her voice, "We're talking numbers that could scale the universe."

Shuri's brows furrowed curiously, but she didn't question her, "I will let him know before he leaves." She said slowly.

"Thank you, Shuri." Odette smiled and swiped away the image from her Kimoyo bracelet after Shuri said her goodbye.

"Vision's gonna be okay." Odette hardly reacted as Bruce's voice came from behind her. "I stabilized him for now."

"Good." Odette said, taking a deep breath. She always felt useless when she couldn't fix an injury.

"So...you've been living in a foreign country with a crazy former assassin?" Bruce asked, awkwardly wiping his hands off on his pant legs.

"It wouldn't be the first time." Odette stretched her arms out in front of her.

"And," Bruce dropped his voice, "Steve's just...okay with that?"

Odette slowly let the smile drop from her face. "It's not like that." She said, quickly looking away when Steve caught her eye from across the quinjet.

Bruce's mouth opened as if he meant to say, "oh." But no sound came out. He nodded and pointed to the seat beside her, "Mind if I…?" Odette nodded to the seat and Bruce sat down with a heavy sigh.

"What about you?" Odette asked. Bruce looked at her curiously, his eyebrows pulled together and a frown on his lips. "You were gone, Bruce, for nearly three years."

"I know." Bruce's words were sharp, but Odette knew he didn't mean them to come out as so. "I," he rubbed his hand over his chin, as if debating on telling her the short story or the long version of the past two years, "I flew the quinjet into space—,"

"I am so rubbing that in Tony's face." Odette thought, keeping the revelation to herself so as not to interrupt Bruce's story.

"And got caught in a wormhole. I got spat out on some alien planet." He sighed, "I never changed back."

Odette's brows furrowed together, "You mean," he slowly nodded, "You were stuck as the Hulk for two years?"

Bruce continued to nod, "Anyways," he took a breath. Either he couldn't remember much of those two years or he would rather forget because Bruce carried on, "I got off the planet with Thor. We destroyed Asgard. And then Thanos attacked us."

Odette blinked rapidly at him, "that...must've been quite a shock when you got back." She said carefully.

"You're telling me," Bruce lowered his voice one more and rested his elbows on his knees with his hands clasped before him, "Sokovia was almost three years ago. The twins are Avengers? The team broke up, like—like we're some kind of band?! We're considered criminals now—Clint is under house arrest? There are a lot more insect-based superheroes than we could ever dream about!" Even though she could see a raised vein on his throat, Bruce kept his voice below a whisper, "You and Steve broke up—,"

"We weren't together. We're not broken up." Odette was quick to amend his statement.

"Still!" Bruce insisted, "You two were inseparable before, I couldn't go a week without Tony complaining about you two."

"Really?" Odette asked incredulously. That was news to her. Although, it didn't totally surprise her. Tony hated "America's Sweetheart Couple".

"I just," Bruce leaned back in his seat and pressed an index finger to his lips as if that could possibly contain all his thoughts. He shook his head, "What happened?"

Odette didn't answer him immediately. "'What happened', indeed?" She thought. There were so many factors at play that contributed to their current predicament, it was hard to boil it down to any one event.

That didn't stop the uncomfortable yet familiar weight from settling on her chest. "I failed. That's what happened." She thought, her eyes focusing on a point in the middle-distance. "Everything just," she took a deep breath, "fell apart."

It was a lousy, lame excuse for what happened, but it was true. They'd lost contact with Thor and Bruce. Tony had semi-retired. Clint had fully retired. Odette ran away. Which only left Steve and Natasha to run things. Then, when shit hit the fan—because it always hit the fan—and they tried to come back together they imploded.

They were a chemical mixture that created chaos.

They were a time bomb.

Odette squeezed her eyes shut, "It's not something I enjoy thinking about." She admitted through clenched teeth. She turned to Bruce, exhausted.

"I'm sorry, Doc." Bruce's response was quiet, gentle.

Around an hour or so into their flight, as they flew away from the setting sun, Sam dimmed the unneeded lights in the quinjet, allowing everyone the opportunity to sleep if they could manage to do so.

Odette, unable to sleep due to her racing thoughts, stood up from her chair to join Steve in the center of the craft.

"Can't sleep?" His voice was a soft whisper as she stood behind his chair.

"No." Odette admitted. "Mind if I sit with you?" She asked.

Wordlessly, Steve took his knee off of the adjacent seat and gave it a pat with his hand. Odette walked around him and sat down with a heavy sigh.

"Do you…" she looked at her oldest friend and companion, "do you think we're ready for this?" She asked, "I mean," her heart hammered wildly in her chest, "A mad alien? Hellbent on killing half of the universe?" This was not what she'd signed up for when she'd joined Good Health.

Steve was quiet for a while, thinking. Then, he clicked his tongue, and tilted his head apathetically, "I don't know." He answered honestly.


Thank you to everyone who has already favorited/followed!

Sorry if the editing on this chapter is poor, this week has been busy/stressful. Hopefully next chapter will flow better, it'll be a long one, so strap in!

See you Thursday!

There is now a spotify playlist based on all the chapter titles.

It can be found here: open. spotify playlist/6HGdZToa2S63sMWXrx8Rbw?si=ZrUmIwxaS7WLkY8EY_cWDw (remove the spaces)