The silence in the car as Sigyn drove to Karpov's house was so unnerving that Sif decided to break it. "I'm sorry about your arm," she told Barnes.

"Don't be. I'd killed a lot of people with that arm. I think a part of me is even glad that it's gone."

"Thanks for choosing to trust us. It cannot be easy for you."

"Your story makes sense."

"Does it?"

He shrugged. "Why else would two Asgardians be after me?"

Sigyn had given him his memories back, but something was still bothering him, Sif could see. "You don't have to come with us. We know who really murdered the Starks now. You're free to go."

"Actually, he is not," Sigyn broke in.

"No?"

"I helped him remember his past, but the Winter Soldier is still buried somewhere in his mind."

"What kind of sorcery is that?"

"It's called brainwashing. There are certain… trigger words that can be still used to awaken the Winter Soldier."

"What words?"

"He can't remember them. But he remembers the book they were written in. Perhaps Karpov still has it."

"I can't trust my own mind. If there's no way to fix me, then you're going to have to put me down. I'm too dangerous."

Barnes was willing to sacrifice his own life to stop himself from hurting others… In Sif's eyes, that was enough to make him a hero.

"Your mind is not beyond hope. Once we're done here, I'll see what I can do for you. Howard would want me to." Sigyn stopped the car. "We'll walk from here."

They climbed out of the car and followed her lead.

"Karpov will recognize me," he warned them.

"He won't even see you until I want him to, don't worry."

They stopped in front of one of the houses. These weren't "apartments," but more like the houses the commoners of Asgard lived in. This particular house had many windows, like the others, but they all had been covered. Sigyn closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Sister?"

"I'm ready." She opened her eyes, strode to the door and knocked it.

"Who is this?" a wary male voice asked.

"Justice." Sigyn kicked the door off the hinges. Karpov tried to escape, but his leg got trapped under the heavy door when it fell. Sigyn kicked it off of him, grabbed him by the neck, dragged him to sit in the nearest chair, conjured her enchanted chains, and shackled him to his seat. She looked like a true berserker. The inside of the house was dark, musty, and in disarray. Sif picked up the door and placed it against the frame as best as she could to give them more privacy. Barnes helped her, still invisible to their enemy.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked them.

"I'm Lady Sigyn of Asgard. The guardian of the Tesseract and the first Consultant to SHIELD. That's my sister, Sif."

"Asgardians? What do you want from me?"

"On December 16, 1991, you sent the Winter Soldier to kill Howard and Maria Stark and steal five doses of super soldier serum. You're going to tell me how you knew about the serum."

"Why do you care?"

"Howard and Maria were my friends. I've been waiting for this day since you murdered them."

"I didn't murder them. The Winter Soldier did."

"No. The Winter Soldier was just another victim of HYDRA." She must have broken the spell, because Karpov's eyes widened at the sight of Sergeant Barnes.

"Shit," Karpov hissed. "I'm not telling you anything. Go to hell."

"I'm rather planning to unleash it upon you." She tore his shirt open, and conjured a silver dagger Sif had never seen before. She wasn't sure why, but something about it made her uneasy.

"Torture?" he scoffed.

"Magic," Sigyn corrected him. "This will make you feel the pain of your victims."

So, dark magic… Sigyn was going to use dark magic on this mortal. To be honest, Sif didn't even know her sister practiced it. Damn, Loki must have given her these poisonous ideas… But Karpov didn't even seem nervous. He laughed. "My victims? Which one of them?"

"All of them."

When the dagger drew the first drop of blood, he sucked in a sharp breath and said, "Hail HYDRA."

Upon hearing that, Sigyn's eyes turned to a darker shade of blue, almost black, and she started chanting words in an ancient language. It was a harsh, guttural and ominous tongue. To be honest, Sif was now barely able to recognize her own sister. The room became even darker than before, and an eerie wind started to howl.

"What the hell?" Barnes whispered anxiously. "Is this supposed to happen?"

"This is dark magic. None of this is supposed to happen. But Sigyn wants her revenge."

He looked at Karpov, as if he wasn't sure if he should feel scared or satisfied. As for Karpov, he kept hissing, gritting his teeth, and muttering "Hail HYDRA." But by the time Sigyn finished carving the rune on his chest, he was sobbing in pain.

"Please," he begged. "Make it stop! I'll tell you everything, please just stop!"

Sigyn did. "I'm listening."

"It was his partner… Stark's business partner, Obadiah Stane! He told us about the serum!"

Sigyn almost seemed disappointed to hear this. When she sheathed the dagger, Karpov ceased to move. The unnatural darkness and the wind abated as well.

"Let's search the house," Sigyn said before anyone could tell her anything. "Sif, let us know if you find a red book with a star on its cover."

Sif and Sigyn searched this floor while Barnes ventured down to the basement. In the end, he was the one who found the book.

"So, can we start looking for a cure for Sergeant Barnes?" Sif asked, hoping this quest to be over as soon as possible. She didn't want to see her sister like that ever again.

"Not yet," Sigyn said. "Bucky also remembers a bunker in Siberia. There are five more Winter Soldiers there. He might not have volunteered to be an assassin for HYDRA, but they had. And that's why we're going to kill them."

…

As Barnes had claimed, there were five more Winter Soldiers in the bunker in Siberia, asleep in small frozen chambers. Sif, Sigyn, and Barnes all agreed that there was no redemption for these ones, so slaying them in their sleep was the wisest thing to do. Sigyn had settled the score with HYDRA, but Sergeant Barnes still needed a place where he could "lay low," so Sigyn decided to take her to her house in Tonsberg. Sif decided to go with them. The two sisters still hadn't found a chance to talk about what had happened in Cleveland, and Sif didn't want to leave until they did.

But there was a surprise waiting for them in Tonsberg. The Allfather himself. He was free of Loki's spell, yet he had refused to return to Asgard and reclaim his throne. He wanted to stay in Midgard, saying he felt stronger here, and his life was the only thing that stood between the universe and some grave threats, though he never spoke of Thanos' name. So, Sigyn was quite busy, both taking care of Odin and trying to heal Bucky. Sif was doing whatever she could to help her. It felt odd at first, living a quiet, simple life in a small house with her sister, the most powerful being in the Nine Realms, and the most notorious assassin of Midgard, but she soon grew used to it. Back in Asgard, she would always think house chores were beneath a noble warrior like herself, but apparently, Midgard had taught Sif, too, some humility.

She was mopping the kitchen floor when Odin entered one evening.

"Allfather?" she asked. "Do you need something?"

"Your sister received a message moment ago. Her last mortal friend is dead."

"Peggy Carter?"

"Yes."

She set the mop aside and ran to the living room. Bucky was there, sitting quietly in a corner, but Sigyn was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's she?"

"She went out, said she wanted to pray for Peggy's soul."

Sif went out, too. If Sigyn was going to pray, she had a guess where to find her.

The temple where the Tesseract had once been hidden still stood, though it was no longer used for worship. Sigyn had explained to her how it had become a monument after the war, though apparently mortals didn't pay it much attention anymore. It was located just outside the town, and the narrow path that led to the temple was not well-trodden. But Sigyn was there, indeed. The wall with a carving of Yggdrasil was still intact, and she was on her knees, facing it. She was praying the Norns to let Peggy Carter's soul into Valhalla. Sif knelt down beside her and joined the prayer.

"I'm sorry," Sif said once it was over.

"She lived a good life. Watched her children and grandchildren grow up. And died in her sleep. The rest of my friends weren't as fortunate," she said solemnly, but a few tears fell from her eyes. She wiped them away, then continued, "Do you remember how you held my hand during my mother's funeral?"

"Of course I do."

"Peggy was the one who always held my hand during the funerals I attended here. Ana was the first, then Howard and Maria, and a year later, Mr. Jarvis… I was starting to wonder what I was going to do during her funeral. Whose hand I was going to hold… I'm glad you're here, Sif."

Sif hugged her. "I will always be there for you, sister."

"Thank you… Come, let's go back."

Sigyn made a lot of phone calls that night. Sif had to admit that not every word that came out of her sister's mouth made sense to her, but for some reason, Bucky almost seemed… expectant. Then it dawned on her. Tomorrow, they were going to fly to another city called London for the funeral. Bucky's old friend, Steve Rogers would be there as well. He was Peggy's lover during the war. Bucky had been looking for an opportunity to be reunited with him.

…

They left Odin in Tonsberg, and flew to a small cottage that was just outside London. Bucky would be hiding here during the funeral, then they were going to explain the situation to Captain Rogers and bring him here.

Sif didn't know what to expect during a Midgardian funeral, but Sigyn had lent her a black funeral dress and a pair of black shoes. When they arrived at the temple—mortals called it a church—where the ceremony was going to take place, Sif observed most people were dressed in black, like them. Others were wearing various uniforms.

"I received a message from Fury last night," Sigyn suddenly whispered, looking around as if she was looking for a specific person. At first, she had assumed it was Captain Rogers, but now, Sigyn's voice gave her the impression that she was concerned about someone else. "We might have an unexpected guest."

"Who?"

"Tony Stark. He and the other Avengers… learned about Thanos. And me. I bet he wants some answers. Be nice to him, will you?"

"The other Avengers… Does that include Thor?"

She shrugged. "Probably."

So, Thor knew about Thanos now… "What do you think he's going to do?"

"I don't know, sister."

"Why didn't you tell Bucky anything?"

"I didn't want to make him more nervous than he already was."

"You mean, you didn't want him to run away?"

"He doesn't want to cause any more trouble. Can you blame him?"

"What about you? You seem even more nervous."

"When I left Tony's daughter on his doorstep, I didn't give much thought to the consequences."

"They should be grateful to you."

"Should they? I left a baby on his doorstep and ran away like a coward. I wish I could've been honest with them from the start."

"You were protecting them. If you'd been honest with the Howardson, then you would've had to be honest about how his parents had died as well."

"Let's get inside."

Inside the church, there were rows of wooden benches facing some kind of altar at the front, with Peggy's picture standing beside it. The place was decorated with many white flowers and candles. They sat down on one of the benches. For a time, nothing significant happened. Then a chorus of mortal children started singing some kind of requiem, and everyone stood up. Sif followed their example. A group of men were carrying Peggy's coffin inside. "The blond one," Sigyn whispered, but she didn't have to. It was easy to recognize Captain Rogers by the mournful look on his face. The men carried the coffin to the altar, everybody sat down again, the chorus went quiet, and a priest gave a short speech, then invited Sharon Carter to "say a few words."

Sharon Carter stepped onto the podium, looked around, and said, "Margaret Carter was known to most as the founder of SHIELD, but I just know her as Aunt Peggy. She had a photograph in her office: Aunt Peggy standing next to JFK. As a kid that was pretty cool. But it was a lot to live up to, which is why I never told anyone we were related. I asked her once how she managed to master diplomacy and espionage at a time when no one wanted to see a woman succeed at either. And she said, "Compromise where you can. Where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and say, 'No, YOU move'."

Sif didn't know much about Midgardian funeral traditions, but wished Sigyn were allowed to say a few things about Peggy as well. She looked like she wanted to. After her speech, Sharon Carter came to them.

"What's Stark doing here?" she whispered to Sigyn.

"He's here for me," Sigyn whispered back. "Don't worry about him. And Rogers knows about me as well."

"How do you know?"

"Fury called me last night. Thank you for everything, Sharon. I'll take it from here. You should be with your family. They need you."

"Okay. See you later."

Once Sharon was out of the hearing range, Sigyn told Sif, "Sharon doesn't know about Thanos. I'd like to keep it that way."

Sif nodded. Sigyn was extremely protective of the families of her friends. In the meantime, people were leaving the church. The only ones who stayed put were Sif, Sigyn, Sharon, a red-haired woman—this had to be the Black Widow, Sif recalled, one of Thor's new companions—Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Steve Rogers, and a friend of his.

Stark, his girlfriend and Romanoff came to greet Captain Rogers.

"Thank you all for coming," Sharon told all of them. "This is Sigyn, an old family friend, and her sister, Sif."

Sif nodded. "I'm honored to meet the Avengers."

"As am I," Sigyn said. "Last night, I prayed the Norns to let Peggy's soul through the gates of Valhalla."

Rogers gave them a questioning look. "I thought only Asgardians were allowed to go to Valhalla."

"True, but they made an exception for my mother once. Perhaps they'll make an exception for Peggy as well."

"Perhaps." He seemed confused. Sif had thought these mortals would be used to the presence of Asgardians by now. But then, perhaps this confusion resulted from their initial assumption that Thor was the first Asgardian that had been involved in their lives. Now, that assumption had been proved wrong.

"I know this is not a good time for any of us, but there's something you need to see," Sigyn said, and Sif realized that she was planning to take Stark to see Bucky with them as well.

"Unfortunately, I won't be able to join you," Sharon said, and excused herself.

Much to Sif's displeasure, Stark grabbed Sigyn by the arm as they walked out of the church. "We need to talk."

But Sigyn didn't seem to be bothered at all. "And we will. Patience, Tony."

He let her go. Everyone returned to their cars, and follow Sigyn's lead to the cottage. This cottage belonged to the Carter family, Sigyn had said. They had let her borrow it for this meeting, but Bucky couldn't hide here forever.

When they entered, Stark looked like he wanted to kill Barnes, and the only thing that stopped him from doing so was Pepper Potts.

Rogers gasped immediately. "Bucky!"

"Hi, Steve."

"Honey, get out of here," Stark told Potts. "It's not safe."

"I'm not going anywhere."

Captain Rogers chose to ignore them. "What happened to your arm?"

"It was a misunderstanding."

He glared at the Asgardian sisters this time. "Did you rip his arm off?"

Bucky sighed. "Calm down, Steve. I told you, it was a misunderstanding."

"What the hell is going on here?" Stark roared. "Give me one reason not to kill this bastard, right now!"

"Without your armor, you're no match for Sergeant Barnes, Howardson," Sif decided to remind him.

"Tony, please. She's right," Potts, who seemed to be scared of Sif a bit, agreed, and he went quiet.

"How much do you know about me?" Sigyn asked.

Potts replied, "We know that you're Loki's wife. We know you're half-human, half-Asgardian. You came here to guard the Tesseract after World War II, and became good friends with Howard Stark and Peggy Carter. Once Howard Stark was able to replicate the super soldier serum, he used it on you."

Sigyn nodded. "True. When the experiment was a success, Howard immediately produced more samples. Five doses, to be specific."

"My mission was to steal them," Barnes added.

"I was in Asgard when HYDRA resurfaced," Sigyn went on. "When Heimdall told us what happened, Sif and I went to Midgard and started looking for Sergeant Barnes. I wanted to know what HYDRA had done with the serum. But more importantly, I wanted to know how much control he had over his actions. I swear to you, Tony, on my honor as a warrior, if I believed Sergeant Barnes was guilty, I would have killed him myself."

It was actually Loki who had told them about HYDRA, but it looked like Sigyn wanted to leave him out of this conversation. Given how tense the atmosphere in the room was, it was a wise decision.

"Why did you fight him, then?" Steve asked.

"I didn't know who they were, Steve," Barnes replied. "Hell, I wasn't even sure who I was. So, yeah, we had a fight. I lost. Sigyn, she got inside my head, and… fixed me."

"What they had done to him was horrible. Barbaric. His mind wasn't easy to heal. But once I did, he gave us the location of an old HYDRA base in Siberia, where the other five Winter Soldiers were kept in cryo-cells. They had been injected with Howard's formula."

"There were more of you?" Rogers' friend, Sam Wilson, cried.

"Rest easy. We killed them in their sleep," Sif said.

"This Heimdall… He's your gatekeeper, right? He can see everything?" Stark asked sharply.

Sif nodded. "Yes."

"Then why didn't he see HYDRA coming?"

Damn. He was as clever as his father.

"As a matter of fact, he did," Sigyn admitted.

"Go on."

"They had warned me. Heimdall, Queen Frigga, the Allfather… They had warned me not to directly meddle with mortal affairs. I didn't listen. I told Howard everything. He knew he couldn't trust SHIELD anymore, so he decided to turn the serum over the American government instead. HYDRA found out."

"So, if you just had kept your mouth shut…"

"What about Peggy?" Rogers asked. "Did she know?"

"How could I tell her, after what they did to Howard and Maria?"

"Tony, maybe you should sit down," Potts suggested. He obeyed. She helped him took out his jacket and loosen his tie.

Sigyn turned to him again. "You wanted to know, Tony. Now you do. Howard was my friend. Thanks to him, now I have a chance to die a warrior's death and go to Valhalla."

"And yet, he died because of you!"

"I'll never forgive myself for that. I'll never forgive myself for what Loki did to you and your daughter either. I know he hurt you to spite me."

"Maybe I should kill you to spite him."

Sigyn had asked Sif to be nice to him, but she couldn't tolerate such a threat. "Choose your next words very carefully, Stark…"

Sigyn put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "It's alright, sister. If you want to kill me, go ahead, Tony. I will not fight you. But I want you to know that my husband wasn't always a monster."

"I don't care. He was almost going to make Ana kill me. And then he was going to kill her."

"He is complicated."

"Complicated?" he scoffed.

"After what happened to your parents, Heimdall wouldn't tell me anything that didn't concern the guardian of the Tesseract. Who do you think told me you had a daughter?"

Tony didn't reply. Instead, he simply buried his face in his hands and his girlfriend stroked his hair. "Do you want to leave?" she asked him.

"Not yet."

"What's going to happen to Bucky now?" Rogers asked. "We need to clear his name."

Sigyn shook her head. "I'm afraid I cannot help you with that."

"I guess he's going to need a new arm as well," Wilson added.

"Tony? Pepper? " Rogers asked. "Maybe you guys can pull some strings…"

"Not my problem," Tony replied, without even looking at them.

"Tony, come on," Rogers insisted.

"Not. My. Problem," he repeated and looked up. "I wasn't even here for your war buddy, I was here to learn more about Thanos. What, have you forgotten about him? You know, the guy who is going to destroy the world?"

"Who is Thanos?" Bucky asked Rogers.

"I'll explain later, Bucky… No, of course I haven't forgotten about him. You and Ana are the ones being irresponsible here, Tony, not us."

"What? Is this somehow our fault now?"

"This started because you let a 17-year-old kid mess with time itself! Without any supervision! What did you think would happen?"

"Boys, come on," Romanoff spoke for the first time. "Tearing each other apart won't help anyone. So, Thanos… What do we know about him?"

Sigyn said, "He is one of the most dangerous beings in the universe. Some call him the Mad Titan. When he invades a realm, he murders half of the population. Randomly. Why does he do that, I don't know. What I know is, those who oppose, betray, or disappoint him die a slow and painful death."

"Have you ever met this guy?" Wilson asked.

The mere thought seemed to have horrified her. "I wouldn't be here if I had. All I have is rumors."

"But you received some kind of warning, too. That's why you're so interested in him," Stark said. It sounded more like another accusation than an observation. Ungrateful bastard, Sif thought.

"When your daughter visited me in Tonsberg, I shouldn't have refused to help her. I was confused and scared. I didn't know who to trust anymore. But yes, I was aware of the threat."

"You're just full of secrets, aren't you?"

"This one is not my secret to tell, Tony."

"Can he really get all the Infinity Stones?" Captain Rogers asked.

"He can. But he cannot attack the Nine Realms while Odin is still alive. That's why Loki was posing as Odin. The throne was taking a toll on the Allfather, especially after Queen Frigga's death. We'll try to keep him alive as long as we can. In the meantime, hopefully the Nexus can be created."

"Yeah, Fury and Ana are working on that."

Sigyn made no comment, but Sif could see that she wasn't very happy to hear that Howard Stark's granddaughter was working with Fury. Sigyn had never been able to fully trust that man, and for a good reason.

"Is that all?" Stark rose to his feet.

Sigyn shrugged. "I told you everything I know about Thanos."

Potts smiled at them politely. "Thank you."

Sigyn saw them off, while Sif remained with the others. Since Stark had refused to use his influence, they still had to find someone else who could help Sergeant Barnes.