"You're back."
Kayla looked up from the couch where she sat to see Tessa standing by the armrest. The auburn-haired super soldier offered a tight-lipped smile and a subtle nod.
"You, uh, come back alone?" Tessa prodded, sitting in the chair next to the fireplace across from Kayla.
Kayla chuckled, massaging her injured shoulder as she looked out the window, "Spider-man brought me home, but I kinda think you're looking for the Winter Soldier." Kayla looked back toward Tessa, raising her brow challengingly.
"Is he alright?"
"He is. He's got some business to attend to. I'm sure he'll check in when he can." Kayla informed the brunette and Tessa twisted her lips thoughtfully as she stared at the feet of the couch Kayla sat on, "Are you okay?"
Tessa raised her head to look at Kayla, "I- I witnessed things last night that I didn't expect. I'm a little freaked out. That," Tessa gestured to the shoulder Kayla held, "That was Bucky. He did that. And then he almost died. You almost died. It's... it's a lot. I don't know-"
"You don't know what you're missing. It's quite a life." Kayla chuckled, leaning her head back against the couch as she winced, "Comes with its challenges, but... it's worth it."
"Dating an Avenger?" Tessa questioned and Kayla grinned.
"You could travel the world. Go on adventures. Barnes would never let anything happen to you. Just be patient. Things are going to get worse before they get better. He won't be around for a long time." Kayla explained, leaning forward and pushing herself to her feet, "Now if you excuse me, I need to have a chat with my husband. Thank you, for helping him with the kids. I really do appreciate it, Tess."
A weak smile broke across Tessa's face, "I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you sooner. And I'm sorry- about your friend."
Kayla nodded, her face falling as she hung her head, "Yeah, me too." She moved around the couch to head out toward the front door, looking around outside for her husband. She saw him standing with Peter and Tony by the lake, supervising the three kids while they played near the water. When she approached, Steve turned and met her, wrapping his arms around her in a hug.
"How are you doing, honey?" Steve murmured as he rubbed her back, pressing a kiss into her neck as Kayla leaned into her husband.
"I'm okay. I'm feeling a little better. I just wanted to talk to you about what happened in Seattle. What's going on with the Avengers-"
"That's behind us now. Sam's got this under control." Steve cut Kayla off, leaning away to look at her face, "Kay, you've got to let it go."
"Nat's dead. T'Challa's dead. Wakanda is gone. It's all my fault. I can't live with that, I have to do something," Kayla argued, grasping onto Steve's upper arms as he tried to pull away.
"You're gonna get yourself killed. I can't sit back and watch while you run off into battle. If anybody's going to go after Hydra, it should be me."
Kayla scoffed when Steve crossed his arms defensively, "No. I did it. You need to stay with the kids."
"How about neither of us goes and we both survive to see our kids grow up?" Steve offered and grabbed Kayla's hands, holding her tight, "Please. I don't want to fight anymore."
Those words made Kayla's heart sink. Steve Rogers had spent his whole life chasing the fight, standing up for the little guy and never, ever backing down. Kayla had spent so long hoping and praying that he would hang up the shield and take her away to live a normal life, because she didn't love Captain America, she loved Steve Rogers. And now, standing before her was Steve Rogers, asking her to let him rest. He'd earned his rest.
Kayla nodded slowly, "Okay."
Steve's brows shot up, expecting her to fight him, "Okay?"
"Yeah. I'm putting you first. I'm putting what you want first." Kayla pressed her lips against Steve's as James came running toward them.
"Dad! Will you play catch with me? Sarah and Morgan don't want to play." James whined as he tossed a football straight into the air. "Please? Uncle Tony said we would be leaving tomorrow."
Steve turned to Kayla and she gestured toward their son with her head, giving him permission to play with their eight-year-old boy. Steve let go of Kayla's hands and turned to James, holding his hands out to receive the ball. James threw it hard to his father and Steve caught it, "Go long!"
As James ran quickly toward the trees, Steve chucked the football, sending it hurtling through the air much farther and faster than it should have. Kayla patted Steve on the back and wandered over to Tony and Peter. "How long can you stay?" She asked the young man, and Peter turned to face her with a sad smile.
"I really need to go. MJ's waiting for me. I can't tell her where I am, so I should probably get going." Peter turned from Kayla to Tony, "Can I come to visit again?"
Tony smirked and shifted his weight back and forth, "Yeah, I suppose that's alright. Set it up through Kayla. She knows how to get ahold of me."
Peter rubbed his face with his palm, feeling the exhaustion of the night prior weighing down on him. "I don't want to go. I don't want to face the reality of what's happened. It's like a different world here."
"And that's why I stay." Tony chuckled, patting the man on the back, "Bring it in kid." Tony wrapped his arms around Peter and held the man for a long moment, reliving their hug on the battlefield where Tony prepared to die. As usual, Kayla Rogers got in the way of that fate. He released Peter and nodded, a silent goodbye that Peter understood.
Kayla gave Peter a tight hug, thanking him for bringing her home. Then Spider-Man walked away, leaving Tony and Kayla alone to watch their daughters play at the water's edge.
"Let her go, Kay."
Kayla looked to Tony with a set jaw, pursing her lips thoughtfully, "I know. Steve's tapped out. I have to accept that I messed up, and caused something unexpected."
"It's kind of like how I told the world I was Iron Man and suddenly I was leading the Avengers." Tony retorted, causing Kayla to snort.
"I, uh, I think I'm married to the leader of the Avengers. Just saying." Kayla teased back, beaming at Steve as he gently tackled James to the ground. "At least I used to be."
"It's time to rest. I almost lost everything to bring back your son. You saved my life, I'm not going to risk it again. We have to enjoy what we have while we have it. Nothing lasts forever," Tony warned, shoving his hands in his pockets and wandering down to the lake to check on the girls. Kayla watched him go, seeing Sarah slip and fall before Morgan scrambled to help her up. But Kayla's little girl pushed herself up and dusted herself off before going back to her games.
Kayla smiled to herself and pushed a stay hair out of her face. Everyone was right. It was time to let the past be laid to rest, no matter how much guilt was hidden in her soul.
"This... this is sickening."
Bucky kept his head down at Sam's observation, but he didn't need to voice his agreement to feel it. The Golden City was still smoldering, and the smell of charred flesh hung in the air. Bucky's chest tightened as he stepped on a vibranium spear that had once belonged to a Dora Milaje. Now, it was a relic of the great nation of Wakanda.
"Where do we even begin, Cap?" Cassie Lang asked quietly, swallowing down the vomit rising in her throat.
Sam looked around, trying to hide the fact that he was literally shaking. He wanted to be brave for his team, but he didn't know how. This was carnage like he'd never seen before. "I don't know. I guess we find them. And we avenge our friends."
"Mom! James broke my iPad!"
"I didn't break it, she left it on the floor and I stepped on it! It's not my fault it was by my shoes!"
"He still broke it! The screen is cracked!"
Kayla groaned loudly and rolled her eyes before shoving a second peanut butter and jelly sandwich into Sarah's pony lunchbox. "Sarah, why was your iPad on the floor? Floors are for walking, if you leave things laying around they get stepped on."
"Ha ha!" James mocked, pointing at Sarah as she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Oh, oh no, you have no excuse either. Your allowance is going toward repairing her tablet. You can watch where you're going, you little tornado." Kayla warned her son, handing him his Avengers lunchbox before scooping up the broken iPad from the floor. "Put your shoes on, we have to leave."
"But Moooom." James whined, but Kayla ignored him, pointing toward the shoes as she studied the tablet, trying to decide whether to send it to Tony for fixing or just buy her daughter a new one.
James huffed and pulled his shoes on, glaring at his little sister before stomping out the front door toward the van out front. Sarah slipped on her shoes with her head down, avoiding her brother and mother's gaze. "Sarah, I'll fix your tablet, you just need to put it away, okay? You can't blame your brother for everything. Sometimes you need to take responsibility for your own actions."
"I'm sorry Mom." Sarah mumbled, and Kayla lifted her chin, greeting her blue eyes with a smile.
"It's okay. Let's go, you're going to be late for school." Kayla lifted Sarah up by the armpits and nodded toward the door, ushering her young daughter toward the car.
Kayla drove in silence, focusing on the road and cars that sped by. Forty-eight hours earlier she'd been across the country. Forty-eight hours earlier Natasha had been alive. But Natasha was the least of Kayla's guilt. Wakanda had been decimated, and it had Hydra's name all over it. Despite Schmidt being in the Avengers' custody, his second in command was still at large.
"Mom!"
Kayla slammed on the breaks, causing the van to skid to a stop in the drop off zone of the school. Her son's worried voice brought her back to the present as she looked in her rearview mirror. "Sorry... sorry. Have a good night- day... at school. Have a good day at school. Be good. I'll be back for you later."
Sarah and James exchanged a worried look, then Sarah unbuckled herself and slid out the door as James questioned his mother, "Are you okay Mom?"
"Yeah, I'm fine honey. Love you two." Kayla assured her kids as they grabbed their backpacks and scurried toward their school, leaving their mother to zone out alone.
Kayla drove slowly, her eyes darting around nervously. Paranoia had kept her awake for three days since her family had returned home. She laid awake every night, imagining Natasha's body and her friends having their souls ripped away. Kayla avoided the news because she couldn't bear to see the carnage from Wakanda. It was all her fault.
She rolled to a stop at a light, looking casually to her left where she caught a glimpse of the Red Skull standing beside her. She jumped, letting out a yelp as she slammed on the breaks, causing the car behind her to honk loudly. Kayla turned to the left again, but there was no one there.
Kayla grabbed her chest as she panted, trying to calm herself down as she looked around nervously. She raked her fingers through her auburn hair as she swallowed down her fear, accepting that Schmidt wasn't actually there.
Am I losing my mind?
Kayla dialed Steve, praying that he'd answer. "Hello? Honey?"
"What is it, Kay? Are you alright?" Steve asked quickly, leaning forward at his desk. "Where are you?"
"I dropped off the kids at school. I- I thought I saw him. I see him everywhere..."
"Kay, he's gone." Steve assured his wife, resting his face in his palm as he took a deep breath, "He's gone and he can't hurt us anymore. It's done."
"It's not done because he wasn't working alone. The woman from the trial- that woman is still out there, and I think she's worse than Schmidt was." Kayla whimpered, feeling tears well up in her green eyes. "Steve, it's all my fault."
"We've been over this. Over and over again. We need to move on. The Avengers have Schmidt. And the Avengers will take care of what happened in Wakanda. It was a terrible event, but you didn't cause it. It's time to let it go and move forward." Steve pulled off his glasses to clean them, clenching his cell phone between his cheek and his shoulder. "I'll see if I can make it home early tonight. Go see Tessa. I don't want you to be alone."
Kayla nodded, knowing full well her husband couldn't see her. "Okay. I love you. So much."
"I know. I love you too. See you later honey."
As the line went dead, Kayla looked up, seeing a blonde woman smiling at her in the car coming toward her in the other lane. She looked over her shoulder before shaking her head violently, trying to shake away the familiarity of the woman away. It wasn't the woman working with Schmidt. Kayla was safe. Steve was safe. Their kids were safe. Schmidt wouldn't bother them again.
At least, that's what she tried very hard to tell herself.
Bucky and Sam watched Carol shove Schmidt into the glass chamber and quickly snap the metal shackles around his arms and legs while Bruce held him against the board. The red-faced monster laughed at the Avengers as they prepared to trap him.
"You think this will end it, but I'm just the beginning. Let Hydra fall. Destroy my legions, destroy my plans, but it will lead to your demise just the same. I will be the death of Captain America and his family. And once you've mourned them, she'll be the death of you."
"Put him on ice!" Bucky snarled tauntingly, clenching his metal hand angrily. While he'd spent several days with Sam in Wakanda, Carol and Wanda had put their combined forces to the test on Johann Schmidt, but even the Scarlet Witch couldn't extract enough information to uncover his plan. She had a name, and she had a face, but even the Red Skull didn't know where Amora the Enchantress would strike next. He'd instructed her to destroy Wakanda, and then go on a rampage of her own design. He'd known about Wanda Maximoff and her abilities. He was prepared to be captured by the Avengers and ensured that his partner would not.
Sam looked toward Bruce and nodded, giving the scientist the go-ahead to put the Red Skull into cryo until they figured out what to do with him. They'd gotten everything they could from him, but death was too kind for such a monster. Bruce flipped the switch next to the chamber and it filled with ice as Schmidt laughed, falling into suspended animation until the Avengers needed him again.
"What now?" Kate Bishop mumbled as she leaned against the wall, cleaning the tip of one of her arrows. Cassie paced around, looking at Sam occasionally for direction. Carol and Wanda just stood on either side of the cryo chamber, thankful that they wouldn't have to deal with Schmidt again. The chamber was pulled back into a storage safe by Bruce and locked behind three vibranium enforced doors. Once inside, Bruce tapped away on the screen, sucking the air out of the safe. Even if Schmidt managed to escape the cryo chamber, he'd die without oxygen.
Sam led the team toward the meeting room of the Avengers' Compound and began pulling up screens as his team took seats around the table. Bucky rested his metal arm against the glass, tapping it gently to hear the ting. He was distracted by Schmidt's words and the fight before them. He pulled out his phone, and began texting until Sam cleared his throat, snatching the team's attention.
"Amora, an Asgardian known as the Enchantress, has been working with Schmidt for the past eight years. While he was the puppet, she was the brains, and she's the one who led Wakanda to ruin. Disguising her Hydra agents as Wakandans, she snuck an army past the barrier surrounding the city, and overtook the capitol from the inside. She is our target. We take out Hydra along the way. She's powerful like Thor but with magic, like Loki, and a million times worse." Sam explained, leaning on the table to face his team, "It's going to be a long road. It's going to be a hard road. But we need to rid the world of this witch and her followers. Whatever it takes."
Bruce felt his skin crawl at Sam's words, but nodded none-the-less. "Then I think we could use all the help we can get."
Sam looked to Bruce, his brows raised as if to question what he meant, but Bruce simply looked down at the shield for a moment before looking back up to Sam. The Captain understood and breathed in sharply, "We probably could."