Emma spent the next few months in DC, mostly doing paperwork research and hardcore evidence digging on surviving Hydra agents. She came up with leads that lead nowhere and dead ends mostly. It was tough and dangerous. She even took a trip out to Germany and the Alps to look at old locations, most had been burnt down or destroyed, but some, including the last base they raided in the mountains existed. They only existed as hidden and forbidden government owned buildings with many "DO NOT DISTURB" signs all over the place. These places held memories, dark memories and things she didn't want to see. She felt uneasy in most of them and tried not to stay longer than she needed to.

It was when she was overseas that she got a call from Tony, he invited her back to Malibu to celebrate his birthday.

"Tony!" Emma answered her phone as she walked around some shops in London.

"Emma! Where are you?"

"I'm currently killing time in London before my flight tonight. Looking at getting your birthday gift."

"Aww, that's sweet, how about you change that flight to Malibu and get here tonight for my birthday party."

"I would love to Tony! Let me make some arrangements and I will see you tonight."

"Wear something sexy!" He said before she hung up.

Emma quickly changed her flight and finished buying her gift for Tony and headed to the airport. She wrapped Tony's gift on the plane and changed into a blue dress for the party. She was feeling good, even with all her research and searching the past few months, her life seemed less stressed, she traveled more and her mind was at ease. Emma was finally getting back to herself.

She only wished she could say the same for Tony. Emma arrived to a full, packed, loud house. She walked in and saw Tony using his tech to flirt with girls. Pepper was standing in the front hall holding a box and looking embarrassed and angry. Rhodey was over talking to Tony trying to calm him down and Emma couldn't see Natasha anywhere.

"Pepper!" Emma called over the music.

"Emma! Oh thank God you are here, maybe you could talk some sense into his deranged ass." Pepper hugged her.

"What the hell is going on?!" Emma looked around.

"Mid-Life Crisis I guess…"Pepper commented.

Emma marched straight over to Tony as he un-hooked the bimbo he had attached to his arc reactor.

"Anthony Stark!" Emma yelled.

"Emma!" Tony shouted drunkenly. He walked towards her and gave her a big, lingering kiss on the lips. She pulled away angry and slapped him hard across the face.

"Snap the hell out of it!" She shouted at him as he giggled, "I changed your damn diapers for Christ sake!" She hissed.

"Geez, my 23-year-old mother going on 69 over here." He said loudly, she hated when he used her "real" age, plus her powers were becoming stronger, not much longer and her transformation would be complete, and her biological clock would slow down and she would remain looking 25 for many years to come, similarly like Steve had.

"I'm so happy you are here! Ooohh, is that a present for me?" He asked noticing the small bag in her hand.

"Yeah, it was but I don't think you deserve it now." Emma put the bag behind her back, "Where's Natalie?"

"She's somewhere around here, she was attached to me at some point," He said holding up his Iron Cuffs.

"Oh really? Do you think you might want to keep that put away? Like I don't know, for your safety? And others?" She said.

"Nah! I know how to control it. So, how was London? I'm glad you made it. Any good travelling stories?" He asked.

"Tony, put the tech away now." She said sternly like a mother.

"Fine," he huffed and he walked away.

"I'm heading upstairs to put his gift in his room. I'm going to grab some stuff out of my room and wish him happy birthday and stop by tomorrow, when he's not a drunken asshole." Emma said to Pepper and Rhodey and headed upstairs.

She hesitantly walked into Tony's room, not sure what she would find but it was empty. She dropped his bag on his bed. She then walked down the hall to her room to find Nat in there on the SHIELD computer.

"Did he give you my room when I left?" Emma asked.

"Hey!" Natasha jumped up and gave her a huge hug, "No, but I did borrow this dress." She indicated the leopard print dress she was wearing.

"I used that one for a mission once too." Emma sat on her bed, "What are you doing?"

"Reporting to Fury about the Stark tech, he's so drunk as a skunk right now, he let me test some of it out. It's incredible stuff."

"Yeah I know," Emma rolled her eyes, "I heard that's his new party trick."

Emma heard the music stop and a collective groan come from downstairs. "It sounds like the party is over, I'm going to say goodnight to the idiot and then come and catch up tomorrow."

"Goodnight Em! Fill me in on all the research tomorrow." Natasha said hugged her again as she headed off.

Emma was just about to go down the stairs when the glass shattered from a blast. She walked down the stairs to see Tony in his suit looking sheepishly at the stairs and Pepper looking shocked with the rest of the crowd.

"Sorry Em! You okay?" He shouted at her.

"TONY!" Emma shouted running down the stairs and standing next to Pepper and everyone cheered and they started throwing things for him to fire. Emma started to reach for her gun under dress but Pepper stopped her and nodded towards Rhodey who disappeared.

"What's going on?" Emma asked her, "I can control him."

"it's beyond us, it's time for Rhodey to deal with him."

Pepper pulled her away just as Rhodey walked in wearing one of the Iron Suits.

"What the-" Emma started to say but Rhodey interrupted her.

"I'm only gonna say this once, get out." And at that everyone ran out of the building. Emma and Pepper headed out after the crowd and Emma saw Natasha coming into the room.

"Natalie!" Pepper shouted at her.

"Oh shit," Emma hissed under her breath.

"Miss Potts," Natasha said innocently.

"Oh don't you Miss Potts me! I've been on to you, ever since you came here-"

"Pepper, wait." Emma tried to interrupt but then they were interrupted by Tony and Rhodey falling through the ceiling. Emma and Natasha took defensive positions. Pepper jumped back.

"Pepper!" Happy shouted coming into the room. Emma and Natasha disappeared in the other direction.

"Nat, where are you going?" Emma asked following her.

"To my car, Fury is on his way." Emma hopped into the car with her and they drove off.

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"Son, I'm gonna have to ask you to exit the donut!" Fury called up to Tony and Emma just shook her head in the SUV.

"He's a spoiled little brat sometimes." Emma said under her breath.

"You're the one who's known him since childhood." Natasha commented to her. They both were dressed in their stealth suits and were waiting on Fury's signal to join him inside. Emma was debriefed on everything overnight and was glad to hear that those smart scientist kids back at the lab had come up with something to make Tony better. He needed to cooperate with SHIELD though to get the drugs. That's why she came along, to make sure he followed thru.

"All clear, Fury's ready." They heard in their ears and they headed inside.

"We've secured the perimeter but I don't think we can hold it too much longer." Natasha said walking up to the table and Emma crossed her arms next to her as Tony stared at her.

"Huh," He said over his sunglasses, "You're fired." He mumbled.

"That's not up to you," Natasha smirked.

"As for you," Tony started but Emma held up her hand.

"Don't even go there, you know what I can do." She said and she stood next to the table as Natasha sat down.

"Tony, I want you to meet Agent Romanoff," Fury introduced Natasha, "And you of course know Agent Barker."

"I'm a Shield Shadow, once we knew you were ill, I was tasked to you by Director Fury." Natasha explained.

Tony looked up at Emma, "You sent them my records?" He asked.

She shrugged her shoulders, "I had them look at it to find a cure, she was also here to keep an eye on you for SHIELD." Emma looked around the table, "Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to let Director Fury take it from here." Emma was still angry and headed out to go check on the perimeter still being held by the agents. Natasha soon followed her and grabbed the case with the medicine from in the kitchen.

"He's a piece of work," Natasha muttered.

"Yeah I know. Let me do it." Emma grabbed the needle from Natasha.

"I have bigger problems than you in the southwest region to deal with!" Fury said angrily and then saw Emma. "Hit him." Emma stuck the needle into Tony's neck and injected the medicine

"Oh God, you gonna steal my kidney and sell it, "Tony mumbled as she checked his vitals.

"Baby," Emma muttered sitting next to him and Natasha came back to the table.

"Please do not do anything awful for 5 seconds," Tony muttered at her.

"You deserved it."

"What did she do to me?" He asked Fury.

"What did she do for you. That's lithium dioxide, it's gonna take the edge off. We're trying to get you back to work."

"You're welcome," Emma said., "It's not necessarily a cure, but a fix for now."

"We need to get going," Natasha said and the three of them got up leaving Tony at the table.

"You are going to be in time out for a while," Emma said, "Coulson will see you shortly."

"You have a new mission," Fury turned to her. "New Mexico." He said and he handed her a case from an agent close by.

"The same one?" She said.

"Exactly, there's been a spike overnight. We need you to go check it out."

"Over and out, sir."

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Emma drove out to Puente Antiguo, New Mexico and arrived in the very small town. She looked around at the main street and found a diner close by.

"You lost?" one of the waitresses asked.

Emma looked down at her attire, it was no different from anyone else in the diner. She had a red flannel shirt with a grey tank underneath with jeans and brown knee-high boots. Emma slipped off her brown leather jacket and took a seat at the counter.

"How could you tell?" She asked playing stupid.

"You aren't a familiar face. Around these parts, we see the same people day to day. Most newcomers are lost." The waitress commented. Emma felt someone staring at her out of the corner of her eye and saw a very older gentleman sitting at the counter at the end. He had a permanent scowl on his face and a scar over his left eye. He noticed her looking and went back to his coffee and eggs.

"Don't mind Hank, he's quiet. Served during WW II, he doesn't like strangers."

"Ah," Emma commented as she looked down at her menu.

"Where were you going?" The waitress asked.

"Well, I was looking for an old college acquaintance, Jane, I heard she was out in these parts. But I think I might have gotten lost along the way."

"No, Jane lives here! Just down the road. You found the right place," She said with a smile.

"Oh good! I'm Emily by the way," Emma held out her hand.

"I'm Isabela. You let me know when you're ready, I'm gonna refill Hank's coffee."

Emma smiled and watched her walk down to Hank. Something about him didn't feel right, she couldn't put her finger on it. She stepped outside and made a call to Coulson.

"Hey Coulson," Emma said.

"Hey Emma, how can I help you?"

"I think you guys were right about this place, something weird is definitely going on. I'm gonna keep an eye on it. You might want to head out here."

"I'll talk to Fury. Keep us posted."

Emma hung up and turned around to find Hank standing right behind her.

"Oh shit!" She screamed.

"Jumpy?" He said with a slight German accent.

"I'm so sorry-" Emma stopped short, "You talked. Isabela said you kept quiet."

"You seem familiar Fräulein," he said and Emma heard the German that time. She stepped back into the alley, which was her first mistake.

"How so?" She asked trying to stay calm.

"You remind me of a girl I once knew, she fought me in a bar." Emma felt her memories flash back to being followed by Hydra agents in London and beating them up in a bar.

He smiled as he saw the recognition dawn on her face and she saw him pull something out from under his sweater. It was a necklace with a small vile attached to it.

"I've been looking for you for years," He said as he uncorked the vile and Emma tried to move but he grabbed her around the neck with more strength than she realized and stuffed the vile in her mouth and the liquid burned her mouth.

She tried to struggle but felt her body becoming heavy and the next thing she saw was blackness.