All righty! This is pretty much the last official chapter for Permanent Scars, so I shall say something that has been due to be said for a long time now. XD

Thank you all so much for reading, following, favoriting, and/or reviewing my story while I've been working on it and typing it all up. I really appreciate all of the feedback for my stories and it helps me keep going. I'm also happy that you stuck with this story for this long despite all of my sporadic hiatuses that I constantly had throughout the time this had been up and running. Thank you again!

Many years passed and I was still living on the streets in New York. For a while, I doubted that I would ever get myself off of the streets and into an actual home, until I decided to finally bite the bullet and sell off any stolen goods I still had in order to get more money. I couldn't just sell it anywhere, since I had the obvious appearance of a homeless person, so I had to delve into the shadier areas of the city, normally where there was a lot of gang activity. However, I wasn't concerned about gangs; I could easily kick all of those idiots' asses in a few seconds if I wanted to.

Thankfully, I was able to sell the goods without too many problems and continued on my way. It was a lot easier for me to go about the city, mainly because I finally looked like an adult in my late twenties. Once I had the money, I rented the cheapest apartment in the city and finally got a much needed shower in my own private bathroom for once when I got my room. When I cleaned myself up and wiped off all of the dirt and grime and any other disgusting shit I picked up in the streets, I went out and bought cheap, cleaner clothes. It was the modern world now, styles had changed, girls no longer had to wear dresses, there was a ton of technology, such as smart phones, laptops, all the like. I settled for a simple T-shirt and jeans with a black hoodie. Obviously, I couldn't afford nice, dressy clothes, so my options were limited for trying to find a job. Thankfully, I could at least land a job in a fast food restaurant, despite the fact that it had awful pay and the manager was a dick. At least now I had another way to get a steady income without having to get into trouble with the law again.

Life was like that for a while, I had a home again, and I was able to earn enough money to at least somewhat make a living. I could get one or two luxuries for myself, but the rest of my income was for food, clothes, and paying my rent. I eventually adopted a whole Gothic appearance when I was able to buy myself more clothes, mainly because I thought it looked cool, it fit my hair, and because it made most people avoid communication with me, which made things a whole lot easier to try and keep to myself. Looking like someone people would want to avoid would better my chances for not being discovered by my enemies. I also started streaking my hair violet and wearing clothes with similar colors in the design. That was mostly to make it seem like I loved purple so much that I got colored eye contacts for my eyes, when in reality, I just didn't want to stick anything into my eyes. It was a good thing I actually liked purple.

So, considering the fact that I practically lived a lone wolf lifestyle, I was caught completely off guard by a surprise visit from a stranger. I had been lounging on my couch, watching TV on a cheap cable set on the weekend, when I heard someone knocking at my door. Annoyed, I ignored the knocking and continued my relaxation until the knocking persisted and became louder and more forceful. I rolled my eyes and stood up, stalking over to the door and yanking it open, "I swear to god, if you're bugging me for some stupid fundraiser, I will personally-!" I stopped talking when I saw the man behind the door.

He was a tall, dark skinned man with a bald head, but had black facial hair. He wore a black trench coat with more black clothes underneath. The mysterious man also had an eye patch over one eye, and I could see a faint trace of scarring close to where the eye patch was. I widened my eyes slightly; obviously he wasn't here for a fundraiser, I could tell that much. "Who are you?" I asked skeptically, my hands clenching slightly.

"A friend," the man said simply.

I rolled my eyes, "Gonna need more information than that. I don't know who you are, so how could I know if you're a friend?"

"Are you Robin Rogers?" he asked, not answering my question.

I narrowed my eyes, slightly freaked out, "Yeah . . . how did you know that?"

The man chuckled slightly, "I know a lot of things about a lot of people, but your friend Peggy spoke a lot about you."

"Peggy?" I asked, surprised by the man's knowledge, "How do you know Peggy? Is she all right?"

"She's an old friend of mine," he replied cryptically, "And as far as I know, she's fine."

"How did you find me, then?"

"Extensive research."

I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms, pretty much giving him a classic look that said 'bitch, please'.

He sighed and elaborated, "I work for an organization named SHIELD, a group that monitors potential threats. Given your past record, we monitored you for a while until you stopped stirring up trouble suddenly. That was after you got this apartment."

"And yet I don't even know your name," I said snidely.

He shook his head slightly, "I'm Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD."

"Okay, Fury. What the hell are you doing here at my doorstep? What do you want to do? Arrest me? As far as I'm concerned, my record has recently been wiped clean."

"After you hacked into the system," Fury muttered.

I grinned impishly, "Guilty is charged."

"That's not what I'm here for," he said, continuing, "I'm here to tell you that we recently found Steve Rogers."

I faltered slightly, "Oh, so you found his bones in the ocean? Telling me I have to go to a funeral that we had already done almost seventy years ago?"

"You didn't let me finish," he chided, "He's still alive."

I stopped, widening my eyes at that and looking at him in shock, "Wait, what? Come again?"

"He's alive."

"I'm pretty sure I heard you wrong."

"He's alive," Fury repeated a little more harshly, obviously irritated at my disbelief.

I shook my head, completely flabbergasted, "No, that's impossible, how could that even work? It couldn't- Well, it shouldn't- How?"

"Frozen in the ice, guess it preserved him enough to keep him alive until we found him."

"I don't believe you," I said flatly, "Obviously you're lying or on drugs or something."

"Let me show you, then," he insisted, "I can take you to him."

"I'm not gonna get in the car with some stranger!" I argued.

"And dismiss that you might be missing the chance to have your brother back?" Fury asked, "I don't think so."

I stared at him and then sighed, "Okay, okay. Take me to him. But if you try anything funny, I will personally scorch off your other eyeball, understand?"

Fury seemed amused that I had the guts to threaten him and shook his head, "Understood, Miss Rogers." He then turned on his heel and went down the stairs into the lobby. I followed after him, getting into the passenger seat of his large, black van. It seemed like an ordinary car from the outside, but the inside was full of advanced technology. I stared at the inside of the car when I was seated, starting to actually believe that he worked for the government like he said.

Fury took us down the road to Times Square in a silent trip until a man suddenly burst out of a building and into the streets. The frazzled, muscled man looked at all of the screens in absolute puzzlement, and several black SUVs, much like Fury's car, surrounded the man. Fury parked his car in the circle and stepped out of the vehicle, striding towards the frightened man and addressing him. I got out of the car and inched forward to get a closer look, and I instantly recognized the confused guy Fury's talking to. That blond man could no doubt be my brother Steve, looking the same as he did seventy years ago before Peggy and I lost him. I listened to the conversation between my brother and Fury, still not believing my eyes.

"Look," Fury said, "I'm sorry about that little show back there. But we thought it best to break it to you slowly."

"Break what?" Steve asked, obviously still frightened and confused.

"You've been asleep, Cap, for almost seventy years."

At that, Steve looked around the area again in complete shock, probably as bewildered as I was simply looking at a man who I thought was dead for so long suddenly among the living again.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Fury asked, obviously noticing Steve's upset expression.

"Yeah," my brother said quietly, "Yeah. I just . . . I had a date."

Fury nodded, "Well, there's someone here to see you."

"Who?" Steve asked, the surprise obvious on his face.

Fury then motioned for me to step forward, which I complied to nervously. I hadn't seen Steve for so long, I didn't know what he would think, or if he would recognize me. I stopped beside Fury and sighed, obviously Steve wouldn't recognize me, the last time he had seen me, I looked like I was eight and I had brown hair with cute, girly clothes. Now, my hair was short, black, and I had modern, Gothic clothes, not to mention the smaller, less serious scars had faded by now. "Hey, Steve," I said quietly.

Steve looked at me in confusion, and then back to Fury, "Who is she?" he asked.

My heart sank slightly, but I should've known that this would be his reaction.

"That's your sister Robin," Fury responded.

Steve looked back to me, "That's not my sister," he said, "My sister's probably dead by now."

My heart sank even more, but I dismissed his disbelief. I had to prove it to him, "It is me, Steve. Look, I can prove it." I stepped closer to him, "Look at my face, I still have the same scars over my cheek and nose, see?" I pointed at my face.

Steve looked at me skeptically, "Could be coincidence."

"Same purple eye color," I said.

"I've been asleep for seventy years, you guys might have color changing technology for all I know!"

I sighed and glanced around, trying to see if I had to conceal whether or not I had fire powers. Times Square was filled with bystanders staring at the SUV circle in complete and utter shock. They had probably heard of Steve Rogers in history class or something, or watched documentaries on him, so seeing him standing there in the center of the street probably surprised them all. I looked back to Steve after my brief sweeping gaze and then held up my hand, summoning a fire ball and moving it around slightly, trying my best to hide it from the citizens. After I played with it for a bit, I extinguished the flame and looked at him expectantly. "No one else can do that, as far as I know," I said pointedly.

Steve widened his eyes and stared at me in shock, silent for the longest of times. I waited patiently, knowing that it was a lot for him to sink in, with the fact that he wasn't the only one, the fact that someone he knew was still here for him. "Robin? It's really you?" he whispered quietly, still in disbelief.

"Yeah, who else do you think it is, Captain Bossy?" I asked him, smiling slightly, unable to help my eyes from watering out of a feeling of pure joy. He believed me now, and my fears vanished when I saw the recognition in his eyes.

"You're still alive?" he asked, his voice still quiet.

"Well, I'm here, aren't I?"

"But . . . how?"

"I don't know, my body ages slowly for some reason. I mean, I'm not really complaining, but still. Weird stuff."

I let out a grunt as Steve suddenly hugged me extremely tightly, lifting me off of the ground, "I thought I'd never see you again!" he said, his voice filled with happiness that I was still here. "I can't believe it! And you're grown up, even!"

"Mph," I mumbled urgently, my voice muffled, "Steve . . . can't breathe. . ."

Steve instantly let go, "Sorry!"

I took in a huge gulp of air and shook my head, "Gah! Warn me when you give me a fucking bear hug, will ya?"

He smiled slightly and ruffled my now black hair, "You changed a lot while I was gone, huh?"

I nodded, my hands instinctively moving to smooth my hair out again, "Yeah, thought this would look cooler, and it does!" I looked up at him and patted his shoulder, "I missed you bro. Thought I'd never see you again, either, but here we are."

Fury cleared his throat suddenly, "Sorry to barge in on your little reunion here, but I've got a task for you, Miss Rogers."

I looked up at Fury, "What is it?"

"You're gonna have to help your brother get back into the world, so I suggest he moves in with you in your apartment. He's got a lot of catching up to do."

I nodded, "I can do that." At that, we parted ways. I led Steve back to my apartment, and Fury went to wherever the hell he had to go, probably back to SHIELD, wherever that was. I had my brother back, I had a home, I was free from Hydra, and for once, life actually seemed to be good. It was nothing short of a peaceful, albeit mediocre, life.