"It was him... He looked right at me like he didn't even know me." Steve hangs his head as he speaks. Glancing up at Freya to check on her, he frowns. "He even went after Frey."

"He tried to kill me..." her weak voice croaks out in confirmation. "Twice..."

"How is that even possible?" Sam asks. "It was, like, 70 years ago."

"Zola," Freya answers as her voice begins to shake with exhaustion.

"Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43," Steve nods. "Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him and -"

"None of that's your fault, Steve," Natasha interrupts. She's doing her best to keep her head up. The wound in her shoulder is beginning to take its toll.

"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky," Steve looks away and sighs. Sam notices the redhead's state and his worried voice grabs the attention of the two blondes.

"We need to get a doctor here. If we don't put pressure on that wound, she's gonna bleed out here in the truck."

The guard next to him quickly pulls out a taser and points it at him. Suddenly turning it, the guard uses it on the one beside it before kicking it in the head. Knocking it out. The four turn to look at the first guard as it removes its helmet, revealing a disheveled Maria Hill.

"Ah. That thing was squeezing my brain." Maria looks around at their shocked faces before glancing at Sam. "Who's this guy?"

"Maria..." Freya breathes out happily.

Maria smiles at the young Stark before springing into action. She breaks them out of their cuffs and removes Freya's collar. The blonde can immediately breathe well again and feels immense relief. Her powers start to flood through her body once more. She's still extremely weak, though. Next, Maria pulls out a device, ignites it and cuts a hole through the floor of the truck. One by one, they drop out of the truck unnoticed. Gathering together, Maria leads them to a van she had stashed nearby. After they pile in, she drives them to a hidden location of underground tunnels next to a dam. Walking in, Steve's arm is around Freya's waist to keep her steady while Sam supports Natasha. Maria walks ahead of them while a doctor runs to meet them. Freya recognizes him to be the same doctor that had tried to save Fury.

"GSW, she's lost at least a pint," Maria calls out to him.

"Maybe two," Sam adds.

"Let me take her," the doctor calls back to them.

"She'll want to see him first," Maria declines. "Frey, too."

Freya and Natasha glance at each other in confusion. Maria leads them down the hall with the doctor at their heels. Coming to a curtain, she pulls it back to reveal a very injured, but very much alive Nick Fury.

"About damn time," he sasses them.

Freya sighs in realization as they walk into the room. Natasha sits down next to him as the doctor begins to work on her. Steve grabs a chair from along the wall and places it at the foot of Fury's bed. He guides Freya to it so she can sit too and immediately places his hands on her shoulders.

"Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collar bone, perforated liver and one hell of a headache," Fury says weakly.

"Don't forget your collapsed lung," the doctor adds as he quickly glances up at him.

"Oh, let's not forgot that," Fury says sarcastically. "Otherwise, I'm good."

"They cut you open," Natasha says in disbelief. "Your heart stopped."

"Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it," Fury explains.

"That's why I didn't feel anything. When you died, there was nothing," Freya nods.

"I'm glad to know you care," Fury replies with a small, warm smile.

"Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?" Steve asks.

"Any attempt on the Director's life had to look successful," Maria answers.

"Can't kill you if you're already dead," Fury shrugs with a wince. "Besides... I wasn't sure who to trust."

Everyone remains silent at this, knowing Fury is right. An hour later, they sit around a table discussing the situation. Fury looks at a picture of Pierce in his hand.

"This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize. He said peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility." Fury throws the picture down in disgust. "See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

"We have to stop the launch," Natasha tells them. Freya nods in agreement while Steve stands behind her with a hand on her shoulder. Fury opens the box next to him.

"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore."

"What's that?" Sam asks.

"Once the helicarriers reach 3,000 feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized," Maria explains.

"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own," Fury nods.

"One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational, a whole lot of people are gonna die," Maria frowns.

"We have to assume that everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA," Fury tells them. "We have to get past them, insert these server blades. And maybe, just maybe we can salvage-"

"We're not salvaging anything. We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick. We're taking down S.H.I.E.L.D," Steve snaps, his voice raised and full of anger. Fury narrows his eyes at the other man.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to do with this-"

"You gave us this mission," Steve gestures to himself and Freya. "This is how it ends. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been compromised. You said so yourself. HYDRA grew right under your nose and nobody noticed."

"Why do you think we're meeting in a cave? I noticed," Fury sasses back.

"How many people paid the price before you did?" Freya asks.

"Look, I didn't know about Barnes," Fury replies quietly as he looks away.

"Even if you had, would you have told me? Would you have told Frey? Or would you have compartmentalized that, too? S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA... It all goes," Steve says defiantly.

"He's right," Maria admits as she looks Fury. Fury looks at Natasha who just leans back and stays silent. Next, he looks at Sam.

"Don't look at me," Sam shakes his head. "I do what him and Frey do, just slower."

"I'm guessing you're on his side, too?" Fury sighs when he finally looks up at Freya.

"I'll always be on his side," she smiles softly and places a hand over the one Steve has on her shoulder. Steve grips her shoulder tightly in thanks when he hears that. She gives his hand a small squeeze in return while Fury frowns.

"Hmm," Fury looks up at Steve. "Well... It looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain."

With the meeting finally coming to a close, they all disperse and start heading to bed. Freya's in her temporary room, just sitting on her bed while she stares at the wall. A knock at her door makes her look up. She sees her favorite blue-eyed soldier watching her intently. He makes his way over to her and sits down on the bed as well.

"You okay, Doll?" he asks quietly. She stares at the wall again before shaking her head.

"I don't know. I have this feeling, like, something's gonna go wrong."

He wraps an arm around her shoulders and she leans into him as he sighs.

"Whatever it is, we'll deal with it. Okay? We stick together. We're partners," he tries to reassure her. She nods in silence before she finally speaks up.

"We have to help him, Steve. That's no way to live. Not knowing who you are. Having no memories... That's why I connected with him so well. I understood his pain of not knowing who you are. Not knowing anything about your past. He deserves to live a happy and full life," she tells him. Steve nods and watches her closely. Seeing multiple emotions flash across her face. "It's just..." she hesitates. "The way he looked at me today, though... When he had his hand around my neck. Killing me. The look in his eyes... It wasn't him anymore at that point. And that absolutely terrifies me. What if we can't help him...?"

"Don't think like that. We're gonna get him back. Whatever we have to do, we'll bring him back," Steve soothes her, his voice unwavering and full of confidence. Freya sighs and nods. Letting his assurance calm her. "You should get some sleep, we have a big day tomorrow," Steve says. But he hesitates to stand, clearly not wanting to be away from her.

"Will you stay? Please?" Freya looks up at him. Her green eyes search his face, picking up on his hesitancy to leave. Not wanting him to go as well. He nods, his shoulders relaxing.

"Scoot over," he smiles.

They lay down facing each other with Steve's arm draped over her waist. He presses a sweet kiss to her forehead before they close their eyes and drift off. Sometime during the night, Freya begins to have one of her nightmares. It's the one about Steve. She watches him fall again and again. Finally jolting awake, her eyes focus and she finds ocean blue eyes staring at her with worry. Steve's hand is on her face as he wipes away a rogue tear.

"Nightmare?" he asks.

"Yeah," she nods.

"Which one?" he presses. She hesitates before shaking her head and dodging his question.

"It doesn't matter. Let's just try to go back to sleep."

"Freya..." he warns.

"Steve, I'm fine. I promise," she tries to give him a reassuring smile. She turns and kisses his hand that's on her face. "Let's just go back to sleep."

He stays silent and nods. The two eventually fall back asleep until morning. After breakfast, Steve pulls Freya outside with him.

"Cmon, let's get some air," he suggests.

He leads her outside to the bridge. When he stops, he puts his arm around her and leans against the railing. Pulling her close, he looks out over the dam. She quietly watches him, noticing he's deep in thought.

"What are you thinkin' about, Spangles?" she inquires. He looks down at her and smiles before facing her. Grabbing her hands, he brings them to the sides of his face.

"Let me show you," he offers.

"Are you sure?" she asks uneasily. Still afraid of her newest power.

He just nods and waits for her to begin. Closing her eyes, she reaches her mind out. Steve sighs when he feels the comfort of that familiar warm buzz in his head. With her face set in concentration, Freya watches the memory of a young pre-serum Steve and Bucky talk. It's just after the funeral for Steve's mom and Bucky is trying to get him to stay with him and his family. Freya begins to smile as she watches them together. Tears are starting to sting the back of her eyelids. When the memory fades, she opens her eyes and tears finally roll down her face. She lowers her hands to his chest and takes a shaky breath.

"You okay, Doll?" Steve's blue eyes study her curiously.

"Uh, yeah," she nods. "It's just, seeing you two together before everything happened. How good of friends you two were. How happy Bucky looked. It makes me happy to see what you two had."

"He was my brother," Steve smiles. "Still is. Was always the one that was there for me."

"Well, someone had to protect the little guy," she grins playfully. He lets out a laugh before looking down at her nervously.

"If you were there, back then. And I was like that. Would you have... Who would you..." His voice trails off and he looks away. Clearly embarrassed by his unfinished question. She brings a hand up to his face and makes him look at her again.

"I would still choose you," she says truthfully. "I will always choose you, Steve. Whether you're the little guy from Brooklyn or Captain America. You're the same man with the same heart and that is the only thing that matters and will ever matter to me."

He smiles and leans down to connect their lips. Pulling her as close as possible. She winds her arms his neck and hums in content. Finally pulling away, he places his forehead against hers and sighs. Lost in the moment, they don't hear the footsteps approach them. Someone clears their throat and they turn to find Sam watching them with a smirk on his face. Their faces heat up with embarrassment before slightly moving apart. Sam's face quickly becomes serious.

"He's gonna be there, you know?" he reminds them.

"We know," Steve nods

"Look, whoever he used to be and the guy he is now, I don't think he's the kind you save," Sam shakes his head. "He's the kind you stop."

"I don't know if we can do that, Sam," Freya sighs.

"Well, he might not give you a choice," he frowns down at her. "It seems like he doesn't know you two anymore."

"He will." Steve glances at Sam and nods. "Gear up. It's time." He presses a long kiss to Freya's head before walking away across the bridge. Her face scrunches up in confusion.

"You gonna wear that?" Sam questions him.

"No," Steve says over his shoulder as he continues to walk. "If you're gonna fight a war you gotta wear a uniform." Before he turns away, he sends Freya a wink. She grins, knowing exactly where he's going.

"And are you gonna wear that, too?" Sam looks down at her in question when she turns to him.

"No. I think Maria can help me out there." She jogs back inside and quickly finds the other woman. "Ria, I need a suit."

"The only thing we have are the old black catsuits that you used to wear years ago." Maria looks up from her tablet in confusion at the request. "I don't think you'll wa-"

"No, that's perfect," Freya grins.

An hour later, Freya, Steve, Maria and Sam make their way to the Triskelion on the banks of the Potomac. Steve had met back up with them, now sporting his original Captain America uniform from the 40's. Freya is now wearing her original black catsuit. Both of them hope Bucky will recognize them more dressed like this. Making their way to the outer bank and stopping, they all glance at each other nervously before trudging on to take down HYDRA.