Beth had been gone for 36 hours and Steve didn't feel great.

His breathing eased by the serum Sharon gave him was starting to get difficult again, he tried not to let it get to him but he couldn't help glancing at the clock randomly, they had 12 hours before it was irreversible.

Maybe a month before he was in the ground for good, he could feel everyone watching him and it made him twitchy.

Enough so when Tony's phone rang he nearly gave himself an asthma attack.

"Beth? What-"

Tony was cut off by his sister "no time, get on the jet get to North Dakota, I'm sending an exact coordinate to Jarvis" Tony's brows furrowed "did you find it?" Bruce asked in his silence "yeah it's in a bunker at an old training sight, Steve you there?" she asked

He shifted "yeah?" he almost didn't Wanna hear what she had to say "dress in loose clothing and get that suit I made you, were getting you back" he smiled slowly "right" he said

"Everyone else? Suit up!" then she hung up "sir I have received coordinate to the bunker miss stark spoke up" they looked up at Jarvis' voice "feed it to the suit I'll lead you, let's move it's a long flight, cant waste any time"

Steve sighed maybe things would work out after all.

It took 9 hours for her to reach the location another 20 for the others to arrive giving them two hours forty minutes before it was too late.

She looked as they landed, Steve and tony had flown while Natasha Clint and Sharon surprisingly had flown the jet Bruce was also there but he was going to stay back in case they needed medical help or a bunker buster.

"While I was waiting I did a scan, it looks abandoned but everyone's underground. I think it's some kind of lab, the machines on the third level, strange gave me some basic details on the layout of the building when he found it"

Sharon spoke up "strange? As in doctor strange" Beth gave a jerk of a nod "yeah me and strange had a weird working relationship, he works I give him money anyway"

She turned her head slipping into the role of commander quite well as the details of the building were projected by a mat she tossed on the ground

"Hawkeye be careful with your arrows, we have one shot at this we can't let the power in this building get disrupted it's the only machine in existence that still works, you and widow go to the main power grid clear it out widow will make sure on one touches it while you go to the security room" she pointed to the locations on the 3d map an arrow and a hour glass working where they'll be going.

She turned her head to look at her brother "ironman you and 13 are going to be covering us passed the first level, from there we part in the hall of level two, you two go right we go left, your hall should take you to a stair well to level three where the subject labs are, if they have any hostages get them out"

Then she looked at Steve "cap I'd like to tell you to stay here but we don't have time and you wouldn't even if we did" he smirked at her "you might be giving the orders right now but I'm not staying behind" she shook her head with a smirk "you're going to be on my 6, were going to make a dash for the labs where the machine is"

"that's suicide" Sharon said and she looked at the woman "while I would love to clear the building floor by floor it is huge and we old have two hours before its game over, once you have the subjects out and to the jet Hawkeye should be done shutting down the security systems he can come and help out"

She held out what looked like a flash drive to Hawkeye "that'll get you into the system copy all the files and also shut down the security so we shouldn't have to worry as much, but once you plug in you can't leave the security room until its finished" he nodded once "everyone good?"

They all nodded "then let's move out 2 hours and counting"

2:00:00

When they breached the building they found the top floor surprisingly empty Hawkeye and widow slit off at the first hall way and a couple of minutes later they herd muffled gun shots "they found the guards" she muttered and they kept moving.

1:49:52

They rounded a corner and found an entire group just standing there "trap" she muttered pulling her sword and deployed a reflector shield as they started firing she herd the pings as bullets collided with Steve's shield.

When he threw it she lunged just behind it cutting her way through hydra guards as her brother fired repulsers and Sharon fired from her guns.

When the group was down more came from behind them "go! We got this!" tony said Beth and Steve shared a glance and started down the hall

1:25:02

When they reached the elevator the lights flickered and then went red "Hawkeye?" she asked as they bolted to the stairs "power on levels one and three have gone to emergency only, but level two seems to still have full power"

She breathed a mental sigh of relief "make sure the power there stays on!" she ordered and saw a group of guards coming through the door at the bottom of the stairs "damn it!" she jumped pulling up her reflector shields again and bowled into them herd the tale tell sound of the shield and ducked as it bounded off the wall and smacked into one of the men's heads.

She picked it up and spun around smacking it into several other heads she tossed it back to cap then slammed open the door to a hallway the same red light illuminating the walls leaving deep shadows they moved toured the opposite hall.

1:03:45

When they reached the hall way wear the left goes to the stairs and the right leads to the labs Steve made a yelping sound and she spun to see a hydra soldier with his gun to Steve's head.
"drop it" his distorted voice said and she growled then smirked slowly "you really picked the wrong parson buddy" she said the person probably a man, made a sound of confusion until Steve tightened his grip on the arm holding the gun and yanked it away then rammed his elbow into his stomach

The guy grunted breath knocked out of him as he fell to his knees dropping the gun then Steve punched him in the head making his sprawl out on the floor.

"Nice work cap" she smiled at him "kind of reminds me of the good old days" he smiled and they moved but not three steps later Steve made a sound of pain and she turned just in time to catch him "Steve? Steve are you alright?"

He just winced his skin pale in the light of the arc reactor in his suit "what's going on?" Sharon asked in her ear "rogers just went down, skins pale and clammy" she lifted one of his eyelids "eyes dilated"

She heard a sound of distress and looked to the side "what?" she asked "the serum is starting to wear off" Bruce spoke up for the first time Beth glanced at the clock in her helmet "but we still have a little less than an hour"

"Better retime it to about 20 minutes Beth" she jerked up "what?! You said 48 hours at least" a cold sweat broke out over her body "I said about 48 hours, I work with machines not DNA!" she growled softly.

A hand on her arm made her look back he was huffing slightly couldn't catch his breath but he was looking at her with a gaze she knew "I'm fine let's keep moving" Beth bit her lip and nodded then pulled him to his feet letting him lean on her.

0:27:36

With the new time limit she fought with a new since of urgency, her strikes harder her moves faster but she felt it still took too long to reach to lab "were at subject holding area, working on releasing them" tony said in her ear "security system secure I'm on my way to help ironman" Hawkeye also said but she stayed silent.

Just ahead the lights returned to normal and the red was left behind, Steve that had been steadily leaning more and more of his weight on her was barely staying upright but once they reached the lab they were looking for she sighed.

"almost there" she murmured and brushed aside things piled on top of a table lifting Steve so he could lay on it she saw his skin was even paler hair pasted down with sweat, his breathing ragged.

She turned to the wall of controls and the machine standing in the middle of the room like a golden challis.

0:15:59

She typed as fast as she could to power up the machine and it had just started humming when suddenly the doors slammed shut "how nice to see you my dear"

She whirled around to stare at a man standing by the wall "who are you?!" she demanded disliking the way he was approaching Steve, the man touched Steve's hair then his jaw tilting his head a little then released him and kept walking.

"I have many names, all you need to know is I am a head that cannot be easily cut off"

She curled her lips snarling "turn off the machine" he said she snarled more "no" he smirked "I hoped you would say that"

0:12:41

The impact of the man's fist was so sudden and so strong it made her fly against the wall, she shook her head narrowing her eyes how was he so strong "do you really think the serum they gave you miss stark is the only one they made?"

She tilted her head, he had the serum in him "shield would have never given you the serum" he laughed darkly "your right they didn't, hydra was developing their own kind, and I must say it is much more liberating"

When his hand flew into her stomach pushing her farther away from the controls she hissed and coughed "you are not one of a kind, you are pale copies of the fura, you cannot stop hydra, we have hands in everyone's pockets"

The next blow was to her face sending her to the ground, his blows stunning her "your death is long overdue; you were supposed to die in that wreck with your parents"

Her eyes went wide and she looked at him "what?" she questioned and the man grinned "what you did not know? Your parents deaths were all planned, they got in our way, if only they had stayed out of our way maybe they would have let them live out the rest of their natural lives"

She saw red even as the lights stayed white and she lunged at the man she had thought for years her parents deaths had been set up and now she knew.

Screaming she punched and kicked and blocked did everything she could to take him down, but he kept getting up "damn" she cursed "I don't have time for this"

0:07:12

She kicked out his knee brought him down and punched him hard then bolted to the panel "take down one head two more shall take its place" he said and she looked back as he rose a gun.
"no!" she cried as the shot echoed through the small room she saw Steve jerk and then his hand fell limp hanging off the edge of the table red blood dripped from his fingertips "you!" she screamed and lunged but she was fighting wild consumed by grief.

His face was bloody but so was her own until he hit her hard in the stomach again and then in the face sending her to the floor she groaned shifted to push herself up but his boot came down on her head holding her there, she cried out.

"It is time" he said and she could hear the hammer of a gun being pulled back "for you to die" there was a moment and she closed her eyes then a sound of energy shooting through the air.

The man went stiff then fell forward.

Scrambling away she looked over, Steve had one hand risen head bleeding from a cut, the bullet must have missed, she bolted over and kissed him hard "thank god" he made a pained sound as she held him.

"The machine" he ground out and she remembered smacking a place on the armor she turned back to the controls "guys we have a problem" Natasha said

0:o4:51

She didn't look up from the counsel "what?" she questioned "we have a missile incoming, shot from a shop in the pacific" she froze for a minute "ours?" she asked

"Theirs" she cursed "is it a nuke?" she could imagine the redhead shaking her head "bunker buster"

She cursed "then get out, all of you get out now" she herd sputtering "what about you?" tony asked "the machine is charging and I have five minutes or its game over"

"That missile hits it's already game over!" she glanced back saw Steve had started shivering "are the hostages out?" she asked "Wha, yeah, yeah were getting the last one out right now"

She nodded "good, get them to the jet, I'm right behind you"

"But-"

"That's an order ironman!"

Silence greeted her and she glanced back again.

"I'm sorry"

0:01:18

"I have to do this she hit the button and the machine charged up "how long until impact?" she asked "one minute" Natasha replied "then what are you waiting for get out of here, let me know when you're out of the blast radios!"

She turned and walked to Steve sitting down beside him touching his face.

0:00:43

She could hear it buzzing now and bent down to kiss him just once more then she noticed something, he wasn't breathing.

She reached down touched his neck but couldn't feel anything

"No"

She heard a buzzing and then a sharp burring in her back and she fell forward graving Steve as the machine fired.

But she knew it was too late.

0:00:05

"Were clear" tony said looking back from the jet "Beth can you hear me" the bright orange light suddenly appeared from nowhere tony couldn't look away even as the building exploded the force wave knocking all of them to their feet.

-0:00:01

Tony picked himself up and looked at the burning hold that use to be the building, watched as a wall fell, the building orange against the pitch blackness, grey and white and black smoke billowing from the crater and the still standing doorway.

"Beth?" he asked quietly barely a whisper but all her herd was static.

He shook his head looking down then his hands curled into fists

"BETH!"

Hydra soldiers appeared surrounding them and the remains of the door a single man in all black apparently the commander walking up like he was a king.

"bring me their remains so I can hang them on my wall" he ordered and several soldiers walked toured the building as the hostages tony Bruce Natasha Clint and Sharon were all pulled out and forced to their knees tony couldn't look at anything besides the ground.

"Sir?" one of the soldiers asked making the commander turn "what?" he asked annoyed "um we thought we saw, uh nothing sir" he narrowed his eyes "what are you waiting for? Get me my trophies"

"Yes sir" the soldiers turned back to the dark door with smoke billowing out and then suddenly

Sssssslllliiiinnnngg!

Something flew out and collided with two soldiers before disappearing back into the door way and something large lunged out taking out the soldiers, the commander turned "what" was all he could get out before the thing came flying and suddenly he couldn't talk anymore.

Tony looked down and picked up the object, a charred red white and blue shield.

He looked up staring at the smoking door way, was it even possible?