Once airborne, Steve quickly put the quinjet into stealth mode and set course back toward home, trying to block out the excited jabbering of his teenage son behind him.

"I can't believe this, my dad is Captain America. The Captain America! I feel like such an idiot, how did I not realize this before!" James rambled from his seat across from Wanda. The woman smiled sweetly at his chattering, but didn't offer anything in terms of information. Bucky stood behind Steve, clinging to the roof of the jet as they flew.

He kicked the shield to Steve's left gently, getting his friend's attention, "Weird having this back?"

"I never wanted it back. But Sam was right, I'm gonna need it where we're going." Steve grumbled, looking up at Bucky, "Thank you, for coming with me to get him back."

"You know I'd do anything for him. I'm his namesake, remember?" Bucky chuckled, looking back at James as the young blonde looked up hopefully. "I can take the wheel. This thing basically pilots itself. I think you have a few conversations that need to be had."

A deep hum hung in Steve's throat as he set the controls, then stood, allowing Bucky to take his place. He moved slowly back to his son, leaning against the center table of the jet, "So, I'm guessing you have a lot of questions."

James tried hard to hide his grin, but he couldn't contain it, and his perfect smile broke through. Steve was struck by how much the expression looked like his mother's, "Yes. I- I don't know where to even start..." James trailed off, considering the increasing list of questions he had in his head. Finally, he asked the one that was most relevant: "Am I a super soldier, too?"

Steve cleared his throat, looking down as he collected his thoughts, "I would assume so. I have the original formula developed during World War II, and your mother has a formula she created when we first met, based off of Erskine and Banner's work. Between the two of us, you most likely have the serum in your blood stream, which in turn will effect your cells and your muscles."

"So all this time, the reason you wouldn't let me do anything, it's because I have super strength and- what else, super speed?" James pressed, leaning forward so his elbows were on his knees.

Steve sighed, "Among other things. The serum was designed to bring a soldier to the peak of human potential. It affects your body and your mind. I don't- we don't exactly know the extent of what was passed down to you. It didn't matter. You're just our child, we didn't care what you could do."

"But I do." James argued, sitting up and leaning back, "And SHIELD clearly does to since they kidnapped me and ran tests on me. I can't believe you didn't say anything. All this time-"

"We wanted to tell you when you and your sister were older. We didn't want you to think you were any different than anybody else." Steve explained, seeing his son's expression harden.

"But I'm special. You just conditioned me to half-ass everything so I wouldn't unlock my full potential! That's not fair!" James argued, but Steve shot him a look that would have silenced a platoon of soldiers, but it was lost on his son.

Steve shifted his weight, lifting his head to look down his nose at James, "And you think it would be fair to let a super soldier play football? Basketball? Knowing he could outrun, out throw every person on the team? Or we could let you believe you were on the same level as everyone else and keep you from hitting that potential and hurting someone. Like you did last night." Steve looked toward the front of the jet as the sun began to rise. With a sigh, Steve hung his head, "Your mother and I talked about this so many times when you were little. We knew you'd be different, but we didn't want you to miss your childhood. We wanted you to be whoever you wanted to be, not who you were expected to be."

"What about Sarah? Did she know? Does she know who you guys are... what I am?" James questioned, reeling from the idea his sister could have been keeping such a secret from him.

"No." Steve answered firmly, "She has no idea. We wanted to tell you two together. Honestly, we were hoping to tell you today, after your last Homecoming game. Things just... went askew." Steve looked to the pilot's chair, his eyes falling on the shield to the left of Bucky, "It was really hard pretending to be someone else all these years. But I wouldn't trade away a single moment of letting you and your sister grow up normally. What comes next is up to you both."

James looked up at his dad with big green eyes, seeing his life with clarity for the first time. Understanding who he was for the very first time, "What does that mean?"

"Your mother created the closest thing to Erskine's original formula from 1940. She also created an anti-serum. You could take it, if you'd like, if you didn't want to be superhuman. You could really be normal... we considered giving it to you as a child, but we wanted you to choose."

"Does Sarah have super serum?" James asked quickly, seemingly ignoring the offer his father had just given him, "She's so sick all the time-"

"Your sister's situation is complicated." Steve muttered, looking over his shoulder to Wanda, who was listening intently, "When your mom was pregnant with Sarah, she got in a fight with the Red Skull. Johann Schmidt. He took her serum in an effort to extract something from your mother. She took what's called an Infinity Stone, and it gave her powers briefly. When your mom returned- we weren't sure Sarah was going to make it. Things went off the rails after that... mostly my fault." Steve admitted, twisting his hands together as he became frustrated over the memory. "People died. Your mom had your sister in jail. We faked her death and broke her out. We've been hiding ever since."

James nodded, understanding why they'd kept so many secrets over the years. He had a million things he wanted to know, but he could see the past was taking a toll on his father. So he looked to the right and grinned as he saw the Captain America shield, "Can I hold it?"

Steve chuckled, pushing back his hair as he shoved himself away from the table, "Yeah. I never fought with this one though. I brought it back from the past to give to Sam. But it's mine."

"You did what now?" James squawked as Steve scooped up the disk and brought it to James. He beamed proudly as he handed the shield to his firstborn, taking in the way he gawked at it. After running his fingers along the edge, James held it up with his right hand and shoved his left arm through the belts on the back. "How do I look?" He asked sincerely as he stood, displaying the shield at his side.

Steve swallowed back the tears that threatened to erupt at the sight, so he cleared his throat. "You look great." Steve looked his son up and down, smirking a little when he recognized the outfit, "Those are my clothes too."

"What?" James laughed as he looked down, "Well, since everyone except me seemed to know I was your son, I shouldn't be so surprised. Capta- Sam said I had some big shoes to fill."

"Oh, did he?" Steve smiled, reaching around and gently unbuckling the shield from James's forearm, "Enough of this for now. I have to get a hold of your mom."

"We can't go back to your place. They know who James is, I'm sure his school has your address." Bucky called from the cockpit. "We need to have them meet us somewhere."

"Get Stark on the phone. Tell him to expect company. I'll call my wife." Steve strapped the shield back to his own arm for safekeeping as he wandered about the jet. "Wanda, what can you tell us about Sub-Level H?"

Wanda paled at the words, looking up at Steve worriedly, "That's where Schmidt was held. He's been on ice since we caught him. In case we needed information from him. We didn't trust anybody else to keep him locked up."

"Fuck!" Steve barked as he slammed his right hand on the table, "We knocked out the power-"

"And thawed out your greatest enemy. Barnes is right, we can't go back to your place. But leading him to Morgan isn't safe either. She's dealt with enough this week." Wanda studied the way Steve's expression changed, seeing she'd caught him in a lie. "Unless you know something I don't?"

"Why don't you just invade his mind and find out, it's your favorite pastime." Bucky teased from the front, but Wanda just waited patiently for Steve to tell her the truth. He always would, he was Steve Rogers.

"Tony's alive. Kayla saved him. He raised Morgan in solitude with Pepper. The only people who know he's alive are us, Queens, and T'Challa. Everyone else thinks she remarried."

Wanda's lips pulled up into a small grin and she nodded once, "Then perhaps we do have a safe house at Stark's place. I don't want to drag Clint into this. He's done too much already."

"No. I wouldn't drag Tony into it, except he has the resources to get us somewhere safe. If anywhere is safe." Steve mumbled, clenching the table tightly, "If Schmidt is alive, he'll come after Kayla and I. We took everything from him. Twice."

"Well, on the bright side, your children know what's happening now, so we can help." James offered and Steve spun on his heels to face him.

"No."

James snorted, pulling his head back in surprise, "What do you mean, no? I'm a super soldier, it's what I'm meant for."

"You aren't meant for anything. You're lucky you inherited my good genes and not my bad ones like your sister. I was created. Your mom was saved. You were... just our son." Steve simmered, looking over to Bucky for help, but he received nothing but silence from his best friend. "You'll protect your sister, and if it comes to it, your mother. Do you understand me? You're... backup."

"Backup?" James sneered, but Steve glared him down so the boy just huffed, "Fine. Backup."

Bucky sent word to Stark of their arrival as Steve called his wife, who answered halfway through the first ring, "Hello?"

"Steve! Steve- what happened, where's-"

Steve thrust the phone into James's hand, already knowing what his wife cared about, and it wasn't him. "Hey, Mom. It's me, James."

"James!" Kayla wept into the phone as she cradled it against her cheek. Morgan tried to gently pry the phone from Kayla's hand, but the older woman clenched it and growled at the younger girl, "Baby, are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"No, no I'm fine, they just took some blood. I promise, I'm fine- Mom-" James groaned as his mother chattered senselessly on the other end of the line, "Mom, Dad needs to talk to you. It's important."

"As long as you're okay. That's all that matters-" Kayla cried as Tessa wrapped her arm around Kayla's shoulders, rubbing her arm supportively. Sarah flipped through her dad's old sketchbook on the floor as Zawadi laid beside her. Sarah closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to a drawing of the old Avengers Tower, finding herself thrown back in time again.

When the hazy orange settled, as Sarah had come to realizealways did, she found herself on the party deck of Avengers Tower. Sarah learned more from the memories stored in the old sketches than any story her mother could tell, and Sarah was beginning to enjoy using her newfound powers to wade through those memories. Sarah looked around, seeing the massive room filled with people. A party.

But the sound of shrieks brought her attention to a corner of the room where a small brunette faced off against a taller caramel blonde, "Were you going to tell me?"

The look on her mother's face was pure shock as she gasped out, "She's alive?" Kayla scrambled to her feet and threw her muscular arms around the tiny woman while tears streamed openly from her face, not unlike the real Kayla at that same moment.

"Whoa. Damn girl, you are strong." The little brunette chuckled, then seemed to remember herself, and turned to look straight at Sarah. Sarah had become accustomed to this particular brunette looking straight at her instead of through her like everyone else. "You're getting pretty good at this. But why don't you try using your power for something other than rifling through your parents' memories?"

Sarah didn't mean to pull herself out of the vision, but she found herself back on the floor of her living room anyway. She huffed and closed the book, looking up at her bawling mother, who still held the phone against her face like it was made of glass.

"Wha- what do you mean he's free? But- but-" Kayla whimpered as Tessa stared at Sarah with wide, discouraged brown eyes. Sarah pushed herself to her feet and managed to wrangle the phone out of Kayla's strong hands to hold it to her own face, wiping the tears off of it before addressing the man on the other side.

"Daddy?"

"Hey, Honey." Steve answered, his voice jumping up half an octave and Bucky snickered from the pilot's chair. "How are you doing?"

"I have magic powers." Sarah blurted, unsure if her mother had already covered that subject, but knowing Kayla, she hadn't. "I snuck into the attic with Morgan, I found your Captain America shield and I've been thrust back into your memories sixty-six times!"

Steve's cell slipped from his hand and hit the ground before he heard sixty-six times, crashing onto the metal floor. He stared at the wall for a brief moment, as his daughter's voice wafted through the phone, asking if he was still there. James bent down and scooped up the phone, gently placing it back in his dad's hand, "I think she's still talking to you."

"I, uh-" Steve stammered, remembering who he was talking to, "That's... great? No, not great, I mean, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Dad. I promise. What do you need us to do?" Sarah looked to her mom, who sat curled up on the couch with her head against Tessa, chewing on the side of her index finger thoughtfully. "Mom's... having a moment."

"Collect your things, have your mother grab anything she thinks we might need... have Morgan drive you all back to the lake house, but take the back roads. We'll be there before you are. I'll see you soon, Honey."

"You want to talk to Mom again?"

"Only if she can make coherent sentences."

"We'll see you in a few hours." Sarah hung up the phone and handed it over to Kayla, who looked up at her through soaked green eyes. Sarah rolled her eyes in response, "You need to pull it together. This sounds serious."

"He- he's gon- gonna kill- us." Kayla stammered out, hanging her head and letting out a low wail. "Everything- we gave up everything to defeat him, and he's still coming after us."

"Who?" Sarah pried, sitting on her knees in front of her mother as Kayla broke down, "Who's coming after us?"

Kayla blinked away her tears, but her entire chest shook with fear, "The Red Skull." Kayla looked at her daughter, seeing a determination in her that wasn't there before. Kayla lowered her head, staring at her daughter seriously, "Do you want to see him?"

Kayla offered her hand to her daughter, who took it quickly, without considering the consequences. The gold was brighter than it normally was as the color clouded Sarah's vision, whisking her away to another time and place, alone again. She clenched her eyes closed, hearing her mother gasp behind her. When Sarah opened her eyes, she came face to face with a terrifying, blood red wraith floating between her and her mother. The monster's eyes dropped lower before his mouth fell open into a sly grin.

"...and the daughter of Steven."

Sarah winced, covering her face as the Red Skull floated through her, trying to get closer to her mother. Sarah swung around, realizing her mother was crawling away on the ground, pregnant and terrified. She looked to the women behind her mother, seeing a glowing blonde and the redhead she and James had encountered at the funeral. They all stared at the Red Skull in fear. Sarah looked between the four, then lifted her hand slowly, "Perhaps we can... fast forward the memory." She moved her hand quickly to the left, and the world moved quickly past her until she saw her mother leaning over another woman Sarah hadn't noticed yet. Sarah's breath hitched when she saw the blood pooling from the redhead's skull, then looked up the side of the cliff they were standing beneath.

"Shit!"

Sarah turned back to her mother to see Kayla blasting the Red Skull, and him pulling the power away from her. Sarah's eyes glowed orange as she reached toward the stream of gold, but she looked at her mom as Kayla growled, "I'm stronger than you."

"I'll take care of that!" The Red Skull threatened, grabbing Kayla by the neck and throwing everything off of balance. The other women stopped trying to fight him, and he took the opportunity to knock the blonde's soul right from her body. "You think you're so powerful now, do you?" The Red Skull taunted as Sarah's mother slimmed before her eyes. After sucking out all her strength, Red Skull discarded her, and she gasped for air as she grabbed at her neck.

Sarah shook when Kayla reached for her stomach, finding it slim and weak. Kayla had fought the Red Skull while she was pregnant with her. Kayla snarled up at the monster as his skin began to cover his red form, but he just pressed his newly formed boot against Kayla's stomach. At the impact, Sarah fell, feeling the pressure on her own chest as her mother did.

"Go home to Captain America and show him what the Red Skull can do!" Sarah began to will herself away, wanting to leave this terrible nightmare before Red Skull crushed her windpipe. She looked up as he spoke again though, seeing him look at her as if she was in Kayla's place, "Tell him he's next. But not until he watches me take away everything and everyone he loves."

"NO!" Sarah screamed, clamping her eyes closed and her hands to her face. She allowed herself to shake nervously, knowing she wasn't in his sights anymore, but something felt off. She felt... wet. Sarah opened her eyes, seeing the whole world drenched in the golden hue that colored her powers. "Hello?" She yelled out, looking around to see herself in a void. Nothing and no one around, but she didn't feel alone. "Is someone there?"

"You're really getting the hang of this aren't you? Good. You'll need to understand your powers before you face him."

Sarah turned around, coming face to face with three women she'd never met, but knew very well. "You... I've seen you three before. I remember... You-" She pointed at Tiffany, "I see you in the memories a lot. You too sometimes." Sarah gestured to Natasha. She looked at the green woman standing between them in a black battle suit, "I don't understand any of this. But you three have always been there somehow."

"Not always." Natasha hummed, smiling sadly at the young woman in front of her, "You've grown so much. You were so tiny last time I saw you-"

"At least you lived long enough to see her." Tiffany slid Nat a taunting look, then turned back to Sarah, who had a look of terror on her face at the slim brunette's words, "Listen, we don't have a lot of time. You have to be ready to fight the Red Skull. You're the only one powerful enough to take him on."

"What?" Sarah snapped back, taking a step away from the women, "No... no I can't. My dad's Captain America, he can fight the Red Skull, I can't fight... that."

"It has to be you. Use the Soul Stone. It chose you.. Natasha directed, looking to her right to see Gamora and Tiffany begin to fade away. She turned back to Sarah and nodded, "Don't be afraid, everything that's happened, since the moment I jumped off that cliff, has lead to this. We'll see you again soon, Sarah..."

"No, wait!" Sarah lunged forward, but they were already gone. She fell forward, landing on her living room carpet with a thunk. She panted quickly as she threw her head back, looking up as Kayla and Morgan helped her to her feet. "No- no, no, no! I don't wanna do this! I really don't wanna do this!"

"Do what Honey?" Kayla pressed, pulling Sarah to her chest in a tight hug, "You don't have to do anything. We'll protect you. Nothing will happen to you, I promise."

Sarah stared ahead blankly, unable to shake the prophecy she'd be given, especially knowing her family's survival somehow depended on her.