A/N: Sorry for the slightly longer wait, guys, but I'm in the middle of my exam season so I have very little writing/editing time at the moment. Bear with me ;)

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13 - Old Friends

"What are you going to do once all this is over?" Natasha asked me, having had her wound stitched up. Now she acted like it wasn't even there, and I had to commend her for that. It had been a near-fatal shot, after all.

I shrugged. "Haven't really thought about it much," I admitted. "Shadow wants to go to Brooklyn - he says he thinks he grew up there, and so he hopes going back will reward him with a few more of his memories. I want to go to England for the same reason."

"Shadow?" Natasha asked with a grin. "You call him Shadow?"

"Those first few months when he visited my cell every night he didn't tell me his name," I said. "I had to make up one just so I could call him something. After that, it just kind of stuck."

"And what about you?" she asked with a smirk. "Do you have a nickname?"

"Not really. He just shortens Silverthorn to Silver."

Natasha snorted. "You two really get along, huh?"

I frowned, staring at the assassin's face, but she gave nothing away. "Is that supposed to mean something?"

Natasha laughed. "Okay, you may have been at this longer than I have, but when I was in the Red Room, I was one of the best."

"You were the best," I corrected.

She shrugged. "Whatever. The point is, I've become good at reading people. And you get this stupid little twitch in the corner of your lips whenever Barnes is so much as mentioned." She chuckled. "You're totally smitten with him!"

"I know."

Natasha paused. "What?"

"I know," I repeated, smirking.

"Normally people deny this sort of thing."

I shrugged. "I have no reason to hide it - you're not Hydra. Ever since the 50s I've only ever had two people I could trust. One, the Winter Soldier. And two, a woman who I haven't seen since '63, and who is probably dead now."

Natasha frowned. "Who?"

"The woman?"

"Yeah."

I sighed. "She was my etiquette trainer. I don't... actually remember her name. I know it was something Cartwright. Her brother was one of the Winter Soldier's targets, and after that she left Hydra for good."

"Wouldn't they have killed her for that?"

"Probably," I said, "except I told her exactly where to hide."

"Where?"

I smirked. "You're playing dumb," I accused lightly. "You know exactly where I told her to go."

Natasha chuckled, then slowly nodded her head. "You're not wrong." She moved over to a computer and started typing very quickly. "Her name is Magnolia Richardson. Formerly Magnolia Cartwright. Born 1938 in San Francisco. Joined S.H.I.E.L.D. in 1964."

"Is?" I repeated. "You mean she's still alive?"

"Medicine's good in the 21st Century," Natasha said teasingly. "It's not difficult to live as long as she has in this day and age."

"How old is she? 75?"

"76," corrected the assassin. She then turned the screen of her computer, which had the file of Magnolia Richardson loaded. My eyes quickly scanned the information, and I was surprised to find she ended up becoming a field Agent.

"So she finally decided to train, huh?" I murmured, smiling as I looked at a picture of her in '64, when she first joined, and then a picture of her that had been taken in 2013. I chuckled. "She's barely changed."

Natasha turned the screen back to her, then turned it off. "You should go and see her."

"What? Now?"

Romanoff grinned. "Only S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most trusted Agents are in this compound," she said. "Agent Richardson has a pretty good reason to be against Hydra."

"So she's here?"

Romanoff nodded. "She doesn't do field work anymore, but she's still a good Agent. She's spent the last twenty years training new recruits. For someone in her seventies, she's kept in excellent form."

I bit my bottom lip. "I... I don't think I can meet her."

Romanoff frowned. "Why not?"

"I was there when her brother was killed," I said. "And when she asked me to kill the man who did it, I refused. I doubt she'll have forgiven me for that."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Okay, you are seeing her again and that is final," she said, grabbing my hand and dragging me out of the room.

"You do know I could very easily rip myself from your grasp, right?" I asked in amusement.

"If you truly wanted to do that, you would have done so already," Natasha pointed out with a smug grin over her shoulder.

"Touché," I muttered under my breath.

After a few minutes of walking through several corridors that all looked pretty much exactly the same, Natasha stopped in front of a heavy, cast iron door. "She'll be in here," she told me. "No doubt beating a few of our Agents into shape. It always was her specialty."

"The Magnolia I knew didn't know how to fight," I said. "Instead she got information by flirting with people."

Romanoff grinned. "She's come along since then." She opened the door. "Go on. You won't regret it, I promise." She then shoved me through the door and closed it behind me.

Rolling my eyes, I started to walk further into the room, which opened up into a very large training area. There were dozens of men and women sparring or shooting targets or doing anything else they wanted to. In front of a sparring ring was a woman with her hair in a sloppy braid, shouting instructions with a loud, clear voice. It was a voice I recognised, and the grey colour of her hair only proved this was the woman I knew a long time ago.

I stayed in the corner, watching her instruct. She didn't get in on any of the fighting herself, but she showed the two men currently fighting how to stand or place themselves, and her instructions were easy to follow. I could tell why she was still being asked to train people at such a... delicate age.

As the sparring fight finished, I stepped out of the shadows, slowly clapping my hands (what can I say? I had a flair for dramatic entrances). Every single pair of eyes in the room turned to face me, some showing shock, some revulsion, some admiration, and some utter confusion.

I met Magnolia's eyes, and saw her eyes were one of the shocked ones.

"Well, well," I said with a clear voice and a smirk. "The years have been kind to you, Miss Cartwright."

"Not as kind to me as they have been to you, it would seem," Magnolia said with a feeble smile.

I snorted. "You forget who I'm employed by."

"I don't think that's actually possible," she murmured. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to take Hydra down," I stated strongly. "I'm tired of being their puppet."

"And what about Shadow?" she asked with a teasing note to her voice.

"He's probably only just finding out I'm here," I admitted. "But he's in on the plan. Sort of."

"So you two are still working together, huh?"

I nodded. "No one else is good enough for me," I retorted with a crooked smirk.

"Sounds like a challenge, woman."

I turned around and saw a broad-shouldered man who stood at at least six and a half foot swaggering over to me, a cocky smirk on his lips.

"I wouldn't, Granger," Magnolia said warningly. "She'll put you on your ass faster than you can say 'go'."

He snorted. "Doubtful."

I glanced at Magnolia, who just shrugged. I grinned wickedly and faced Granger again. I started walking towards him. "Okay," I said slowly, "here's how this is going to go. Two hits: I hit you, you hit the floor. Capisce?"

"Oh, no, I don't think that's-"

I swung my legs out, using my full strength to knock his own legs out from underneath him. He landed on his back, letting out a huff as the fall winded him. "First rule you need to know," I said, wiping dirt off my hands. "Never let your opponent distract you." I smirked, rolled my shoulders, then began to walk out of the room. I patted Magnolia on the shoulder as I passed her. "Good to see you again, Magnolia." I was halfway across the room when I heard the man charging at me. I had to admit, for such a big man he was pretty good at moving quietly. I darted out of his reach at the last second, grabbed hold of his shoulders, then slammed my foot into his back, letting go of him as I did. He went flying towards the floor, landing with a groan. I tutted. "Amateur," I murmured, before leaving the room for good to the sound of many people laughing under their breaths.

I found Steve on the bridge outside the facility, staring blankly into the distance. I moved to stand next to him, following his gaze back towards D.C.

"Is there any chance he'll remember me?" Steve asked after a minute of silence.

I smiled. "Yes," I replied strongly. "The problem, however, is not whether or not he remembers you, it's how much it will matter to him."

Steve frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that if he remembers you, chances are he's going to make a choice. You were his best friend in the part of his life he wants to remember more than anything. I've been with him ever since."

"So you think that he'll have to choose between you and me?"

I sighed. "I don't know, Steve. But probably. Hydra has warped it into our heads the past half century that something is either one or the other. Either dead or alive. Either an enemy or an ally. He might find he has to choose between us, too. He might believe there's no way to have both." I looked down, frowning. "Look, I know I said I'll only do this if you don't kill him, but if one of us faces off with him and he's giving it everything he's got, don't just take the blows for my sake. Fight back. I don't want him to die but I don't want you to, either."

"We'll be fine," Steve said with a smile, before it withered and died. "It's time," he declared. "Gear up."

"I'm all set," I told him as he began to walk away (no doubt to inform the others). "But what about you? You're not gonna run into battle in a hoodie, are you?"

He chuckled, turning around and grinning at me. "No. If you're gonna fight a war, you've got to wear a uniform."

"I hear there's a very patriotic suit in a museum somewhere in D.C.," I called after him.

Steve laughed. "I'll have to take a look at it," he replied. I smiled. Steve was a good man - I could see why Bucky liked him so much.

Now all that was left to do was take down a bunch of Hydra Agents, three massive helicarriers, S.H.I.E.L.D., and Hydra. And hopefully in the process not get killed. "Simple," I muttered to myself, shaking my head. "Oh, God, Silver, what have you gotten yourself into?"

"I had no idea you'd actually break into the museum," I said, staring at Steve, who was wearing his suit from the 40s. While he and the rest had gone off to gear themselves up for what we all knew was going to be one hell of a battle, I had gone back to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters to see just what we were going to be facing. It was almost impossible to tell who was Hydra and who was S.H.I.E.L.D., but I estimated there'd be at least twenty Hydra Agents in each of the helicarriers, not to mention the others who were in the main building or by the airstrips.

"It was the best I could do on short notice," Steve said, passing me a strange, round thing. I sent him a questioning look. "It's a communicator - put it in your ear, and we can talk over long distances."

I nodded, placing the little round device in my ear. I winced slightly when two strange prongs dug themselves into my skin. "Ouch," I muttered.

Steve chuckled. "Sorry about that," he said. "It only hurts the first time. And we can't risk it falling out in the fight."

"I still would have appreciated a warning," I said dryly. "So, two questions - first, what is everyone's general job? Second, what comes next?"

"Fury and Romanoff are in charge of neutralising Pierce and releasing everything onto the net," Steve said. "Hill is our lookout. Our job is to take out the three carriers."

I nodded. "Okay, so now are you going to answer question two?"

"Next, we're going to rally the troops," Hill told me, slamming a clip of ammo into her pistol.

"Meaning...?"

Steve began walking towards the building. "While there are clearly many Hydra Agents within S.H.I.E.L.D., there are also those who aren't. We need to call the genuine S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents to fight."

"So you're gonna become the living American idol and give them a kick-ass speech," I said, nodding. "Fair enough. Just be sure to tell everyone who really shot Nick Fury."

Steve smirked. "Oh, don't worry," he said. "I will."