…The Disillusioned Of Winter…

/Warning/: This chapter contains, sadness and angst, a little bit of violence, a little bit of fluff, sad everyone! All reviews are appreciated.

P.S: This is an Omegaverse story as in Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics; it also deals with the standard Winter Soldier's warnings, with that be careful and enjoy!

"Character talking"

"Character thinking"

…Flashbacks…

Chapter 9

Tony gazed hard and long at the woman who was sitting beside him in the limo; his eyes were still wide as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Because there was no way! No way in hell that Bucky Barnes's eighty years old sister was the forty-something years old who was sitting beside him in his car as they headed to Stark tower. How was that even possible to begin with? I mean Tony knew that there are some people that don't look their age, and there are other who uses plastic surgery to look younger, but even Tony knows that no plastic surgery would make someone look like this unless they were part of a mutant or something.

"You know, instead of staring at me like a creep you can ask what's on your mind…" Rebecca Barnes-Proctor stated, causing Tony to blink several times before letting out a 'Huh?' sound, he turned his eyes to the windows for a few seconds before they returned back to the Alpha, disbelieving coloring his face.

"Are you a mutant or something?" Tony suddenly asked, his mouth decided to open up and dig him his grave without a care in the world or anything, not that Tony cared by this time, especially when he finally convinced Rebecca 'Call me Becca' Barnes-Proctor to come to the Stark tower with him and tell him something (Anything really) about Bucky Barnes, his past and how to possibly save him. "I mean did you see yourself?" Tony asked when he saw the woman's eyebrow twitch in irritation. "Did you find the fountain of the forever youth of something? Because seriously! No, eighty years old should look this dashing and sexy!" Tony rambled some more and he may or may not have pleaded with Rebecca to share her secret with him the secret recipe to stay young forever.

It was only Rebecca's laugh that made Tony stop his rambling and look at the woman who was shaking her head at his words like she heard something funny. "It runs in the family…" The older woman ended up saying after a while, a self-deprecating smile on her lips as she gazed out of the window, whatever smile on her face vanished as her eyes became distant; Tony could only swallow, no doubt she was referring to her older brother too with her words. Tony would be honest and admit that Bucky Barnes was beautiful, pretty even, so he doesn't find it that hard to believe that the Omega would have looked in his thirties even after reaching his nineties. If the proof wasn't his sister then it was the way he managed to survive seventy years in Hydra's clutch while still looking young and beautiful under all that scruff and hardened scary assassin look.

Tony glanced at the woman from the corner of his eye before gathering enough courage to ask the question that plagues him since Rebecca accepted going with him to the Stark tower. "Why did you agree to come with me when you made it clear that you don't want anything to do with me?" Tony asked, catching the attention of the older Alpha who turned to him with a knowing look as if she was waiting for him to tell her why she was coming with him. "Not that I don't have my suspicions, but I really want you to confirm them." Tony continued, his words getting a tired hum from the woman.

"It is because I… I wanted to see her; the woman who destroyed what's left of my brother's already shattered future…" Rebecca said, and Tony had to wet his lips, his throat closing up when his suspicions were confirmed. "It's not like I would be civil and not punch her in the face, I very much wanted to do that ever since I heard the first person calling my brother a whore in the forties…" Tony had to wince at those words, because even he had to worry about the older Alpha who had it in her mind that she can go against a super soldier, and for the first time since forever, Tony hopes that Carter was out of the tower on one of her missions, which would save Rebecca Barnes Proctor any broken hand. "…But what I really wanted to see, is her face when she realizes that she was going to be the reason for my brother taking his life for the second time." That made Tony's heart nearly stopped in his chest at how knowing and non-challenged Rebecca was when she talked about Bucky Barnes taking his own life causally.

"What… what do you mean?" Tony asked, his voice soft and nearly vanishing, his hands twitching in the hopes of finding something to tinker with and calm his nerves down; Tony swallowed and took a deep breath trying to calm down, knowing too well that if he lost it now, he would not be able to help Bucky Barnes.

Rebecca only gave him a tired smile, and only then did Tony notice how shiny her eyes were; only now did Tony notice the tears that the older woman held on to for so long, and he hated himself for asking the woman the question that was on his mind. "I agreed to tell you everything you wanted to know, and I would do it… but not here." Rebecca ended up their conversation, turning her head to the window and gazing at the outside world with a tired look, leaving Tony to his thoughts as he leaned back on his seat and shook his head when Happy gave him a concerned look through the rearview mirror.

The rest of the drive to the tower was silent and suffocating, to say the least; even Happy was shifting in his place uncomfortably and that was saying something. From time to time, Tony would glace toward Rebecca who was still gazing outside with a bored look on her face and he couldn't help but feel like he did something wrong by bringing the older woman here to face her past about her brother once more; it wasn't like Tony did it on purpose, if he could he would have searched for Bucky Barnes alone and saved him, but he had less than two weeks to find him and so far no luck even after three and half months.

"We are here, boss." Happy said unnecessarily as soon as they reached the Stark tower, causing Tony to blink and give his friend a comforting smile; Tony doesn't even fault the Beta for feeling unbalanced as he did, after all, they were talking to Bucky Barnes's sister who last time they saw, she has pointed a shotgun at their faces and ordering them to leave her property.

They were silent as they left the car and entered the elevator; they were silent throughout the whole elevator journey, and they were silent when they reached the common floor of the Avengers' living space. Tony didn't know why he decided to be the older Alpha here and not in his office or the penthouse, but Tony had a hunch that if he didn't do that, then the older Alpha would knock him out and leave him alone while she goes on a search for Peggy Carter to kill her; at least this way, Tony can stop the massacre that was about to take a place by being the peacemaker.

"Tony, you are back." As if the Gods and fates and everything in between seemed to conspire against him, Tony was greeted by the sight of Peggy Carter and the Avengers sitting in the common room eating snacks and watching TV, which was so bizarre considering that the Avengers should have been out of the tower at this time of day; Tony stayed silence as he gazed at everyone with shock and uncertainty, glancing from the corner of his eye at Rebecca who was still as a statue with her eyes zeroing on Peggy Fucking Carter who was holding a handful of popcorns in her hand.

"Yo, Tony, Who is this hottie? Please tell me she is not your girlfriend?" Clint said, probably unaware of how tense the atmosphere was becoming, especially when Peggy furrowed her brows and continued to star at Rebecca like she was seeing someone familiar; even Thor was looking uncomfortable as he gazed between Peggy, Rebecca, and Tony, which informed him how messed up the situation was.

"My name is Rebecca Barnes, and I do demand some respect young man." Rebecca, finally gathering herself enough to stop her deadly stare off with Peggy to reply to Clint's tasteless comment; everyone held their breaths at that, if the room was silent and awkward before, then it sure as hell was deadly silence and suffocating after what Rebecca just announced.

"B… B-Barnes? James's…" Peggy mumbled, standing up on her shaky legs as she gazed at Rebecca like she held all the answers in the world, and even Tony had to wince then at how hopeful Peggy was looking, unaware that the Alpha standing near her was planning on ripping her apart (Well so far Tony discovered that everyone who knew Bucky and Steven wanted to tear Peggy Carter and the military apart) for what she did to her brother.

"Bucky Barnes's sister," Rebecca stated with her head held high, taking pride in being Bucky's sister instead of looking guilty or cowering at the glares or strange looks she was getting from the Avengers; if Tony had it his way, he would have given the woman a golden medal for being able to handle the crazy folks that made it five minutes of silence before the common room has erupted into a shouting match as everyone tried to make sense.

"How the hell is that even possible?! If you are Barnes's sister then you are supposed to be eighty or over a hundred years old!"

"Please can you tell me where James is?!"

"Are you harboring Barnes? Did you have any contact with the Winter Soldier in the past few months?"

And so many more screamed words and sentences, so many questions and demands, so many exclamations and awkward silence as Rebecca refused not only to answer them but look at them, and so much more that left Tony's head spinning; what broken Tony was when Peggy started to once more spin her tales of woos while trying to convince Rebecca that she only wanted to help Bucky Barnes, which only brought anger and fury as he remembered what he was told. "Shut up!" Tony snarled so loudly that he rending everyone speechless as they gazed at him, even Tony was surprised that he managed to shut them up when his order hold no traces of command that Alphas are known to have but was the normal voice of someone who was so done. "Shut up! Just shut the fuck up and don't talk!" Snapped Tony as he took deep breaths trying to calm himself down, massaging his temples and cursing as he felt a headache making itself known. "Do you want a coffee? I am having one." Tony directed that question to Rebecca, walking to the kitchen when she nodded and started following him, ignoring the people frozen in the common room before they snapped out of their daze and followed them.

Tony trying to be the generous host that he is, pours Rebecca one of the best coffee money could buy, before starting to drink directly from the jug, ignoring how Rebecca raised her eyebrow at the sight before shrugging and taking a sip from her beverage. "Tony…" Peggy started again, only to stop when Tony put his hand up in a stopping motion, continuing to drink the coffee like a thirsty man left in the desert without water; it was only when Tony was done that he pulled the jug away with a harsh exhale, glaring at Peggy and the rest of the team behind her.

"Not one word…" Tony hissed at Peggy, shutting her up once more, his hands were shaking as he gazed at the jug that contains traces of coffee; his head was still spinning as he continued to hear his teammates interrogating Rebecca resonating in his ears. "I am sorry…" Tony looked at Rebecca who finally finished her coffee and put her cup on the counter as anger and hate shined in her eyes, no doubt she remembered the words Peggy tried to wave together.

"Don't an apology; after all, I knew this would happen." Spat Rebecca angrily before sending a harsh glare at Peggy Carter; if glare can kill, Peggy would have been once more six thousand feet under the same ice where she was found. Everyone flinched at the dark and hateful glare, even Natasha had to back away from the furious look of a near-feral Alpha Rebecca was sending them; five minutes passed, followed by another, and then another, and Rebecca in all of this continued to stare silently at Peggy Carter before she finally spoke. "So you are the bitch who destroyed my brother's life…" Hearing those words out loud, even Tony can't help but flinch at how much venom was in every single letter of the sentence; Peggy took a step back from the shock and stiffen in her place before she regain herself and put her Captain America face one, which deserves a clap in Tony's opinion, especially when Rebecca was making a good job of killing Peggy with her eyes alone.

"I don't know what you mean, Ma'am," Peggy stated, her fists clenching as she stood in her place, glaring at Rebecca who finally abandoned her seat and started stalking toward Peggy; Tony swore that he saw Bucky Barnes flashing before his eyes when he saw how the Alpha stalked toward Peggy. If Tony ever had doubts that Rebecca was Bucky Barnes's real sister, it had vanished at that moment.

"You don't know? Don't know? Of course, you don't fucking know!" Rebecca screamed in Peggy's face, and Tony had to admire the woman's restraint when she stopped herself from gripping Peggy and shaking her until common sense entered her head. "Of course, you don't fucking know, especially with the fantasy world that you seem to be living in! Of course, you don't fucking know how much you destroyed my brother's life and how you are continuing to do that! of course, you don't know because you are just a dancing monkey that does whatever people order it to do!" That made Peggy growl and she pushed Rebecca away from her when the Alpha cornered her, and not for the first time Tony wonder if bringing Rebecca here was a mistake, but the Alpha said that the only way for her to help him find Bucky Barnes was to meeting with Peggy Carter.

"I don't know what you are implying Ma'am but I assure you; the only thing I wanted to do is protect James! That was the only thing I wanted to do ever since we met because I lo-" Whatever Peggy wanted to say she was cut off by Rebecca putting her hand on Peggy's mouth, shutting her in the process, everyone was tense and on high alert, especially when Rebecca let out a piercing growl.

"Don't… don't you dare say these words… do not even dare to think about them when you know nothing about my brother." Rebecca hissed, her whole body shaking as if she was ready to attack Peggy at any moment now. "Did you know that I have waited seventy years… seventy fucking years to tell you how much of a delusional bitch you are; seventy long years to tell you that Bucky never loved you, and would never love you no matter how much you claimed to know each other… I waited seventy years to tell you that I despise you… I despise you for making my brother's wish of taking his own life come true!" Rebecca screamed, her words causing Tony's breath to hitch and for his hands to start shaking, it was only his strong will that made him stay standing, even when Peggy choked out a 'What?' and gazed at Rebecca with wide disbelieving eyes. "You seemed surprised? Why is that? you said you love him and want to protect him, right? Right? If what you are saying was true then how did you not realize he was trying to take away his life? How did you not realize that he was suicidal and should have been shipped home immediately? If what you were saying was true and that you truly loved my brother so much, then how did you not fight harder to get his body back so he can be buried with his Husband and Child?" And that was the finishing blow that even Tony had to wince and look away from, especially when he saw Peggy slide down to her knees with a shocked and lost look on her face, a look that was mirrored by his teammates who didn't know what to do; how can Tony even blame them when this was his reaction all those hours ago when he discovered that there was someone with the name Steven Grant Rogers who was Bucky Barnes's only world? A hitched sob was heard from Peggy as she seemed to finally piece what Rebecca meant by her words, as if only now did she realize the truth about her life with Bucky Barnes…

Tony couldn't help pitting Peggy when she started to cry…

Steve's breath hitched, his eyes refused to stray away from his Omega that was nesting happily in his arms, sleeping the emotional turmoil away in Steve's bed… in Steve's embrace… Steve swallowed, his gaze trailing over his Omega who for the first time since he saw him again started opening up and asking for what he wanted. His right hand was running over the Omega's back, while his left was playing with Winter's hair as he tried to ground himself with the reality that his love was with him… in his arms, under his protection, finally opening up to him and finally accepting the help he needed.

Steve's mind was still spinning from what took place in the morning; he was still confused and elated and happy and so many positive and controversial emotions and everything in between. His mate finally… finally asked something of him, finally opened to him, finally… and it was all thanks to his Alpha-self; his Alpha-self that didn't stop his rumble of content and superiority for being right, not that Steve was going to take the victory that his Alpha so deserved and achieved by making his mate opening up to him possible.

It all started when Steve returned back with Sam and the rest of the hunting party (If you wanted to call them that considering that the hunt was done by his Alpha and the rest just took it upon themselves to carry the meat while giving Steve space) only to be tackled by his Omega after arrival. Steve remembered how Winter held to him tightly, he remembered how Winter plea with him to return home, how he hated the place here, how it remind him of Hydra; this was… this was the first time that Winter opened up to him about something, the first time that Steve didn't feel like everything was coming to stab him in the back because he didn't know how to handle the situation properly… this was the first time Steve truly felt relieved and happy since he found Winter all those months ago.

Sam was there, Shuri was there, and they both stared at Winter with wide eyes, as if the two of them were seeing someone else and not the scared Omega they knew for the past few days, Steve was feeling the same, but that didn't stop him from gathering himself enough and granting his mate any request he wanted. It didn't take even a second for Steve to do what his mate wanted, and why would he refuse his mate's request when the Omega never asked anything of him?

With that, Steve and Winter spent a few hours with Sam and Shuri, with the teen Alpha telling them the 'do and don't' after the surgery Winter went through, and Steve had to make sure this time that Winter was present with them; that he was understanding what they said and meant and not just nodding his head to abase them while thinking the worse was going to happen to him.

It took time for Shuri to be confident enough to let Winter leave the med bay without supervision; it took Sam even longer to agree and drive the two to Steve's cabin, and that was only after Winter glared at him and told him he wanted to go home (An action that surprised everyone considered that the Omega never opened his mouth to talk to anyone other than Steve, but that was the only reason they agreed to let Winter go) Steve, on the other hand, was nervous and doubtful; while it may have been true that he agreed to Winter's request on the spot, it didn't escape everyone's notice how nervous and worried Steve was, and who was going to blame him when Winter thought that they brought him here to kill him not two days ago?

Steve was doubtful, he was confused, and sure as hell he didn't bring Winter home where everything could happen to the Omega without Steve being prepared to take care of him; in the end, though, he accepted the Omega's request because it was the first thing that Winter asked of him directly without letting Steve decide for him, and that was enough to convince Steve to do whatever Winter wanted…

Which was the reason that Steve was sleeping in his bed with Winter in his arms, because the Omega didn't trust Steve enough not to leave him while he was asleep; not that Steve would do such a nasty thing to his mate, but it seems that Winter won't have it. Not that Steve was complaining, but it was breaking his heart how insecure and worried his Omega was, thinking that Steve was going to leave him just because he wanted to return back home instead of staying in the med bay getting treated.

Steve let out a soft hum, nuzzling Winter's hair when the Omega scrunch his nose and shifted in his place until he was sleeping on Steve's chest, making Steve rumble and hold Winter tightly until his mate was settled in his arms once more, letting out a soft barely-there purr that meant the world to Steve.

"I am sorry for hurting you, sweetheart…" Steve whispered as he inhaled his mate's smell, kissing the top of his head and nuzzling his hair, causing his mate to let out another purr, but this time it was a little louder than before, causing a smile to stretch Steve's lips; at the familiar and calming sound of a content Omega (His Omega) that he didn't hear for over seventy years. "I will protect you this time, I promise…" Steve vowed, tightening his arms around his mate.

Closing his eyes, Steve let his mind drift away, preparing to fall asleep in his soft bed surrounded by his mate's content scent and his weight in his arms; just as he was about to go to the land of dreams and follow his mate, a harsh knock on the front door cause Steve to open his eyes and tense, wondering who was coming to his cabin unannounced at 2 in the morning; even Shuri and Sam wouldn't dare to come and knock on his door like this unless it as an emergency and they called him first.

"Open the door, Rogers! We know you are hiding the Winter Soldier!"

Snapped a familiar voice that caused a snarl to dominate Steve's features when he finally recognize the voice as one of the elders, a few more sounds joined, and by then Winter was waking up from his slumber and looking around the room in alert, fear and terror taking over his face when he heard the elders demand that he give the Winter Soldier for the authority and that the Avengers were on their way… hearing those threats were what finally snapped Steve's control and he let his Alpha out with a loud roar that made everything became quiet… How dear those pests threaten his mate?! Steve and his Alpha couldn't help but roar at the same time, how dare they scare his mate and make him shake and whine in terror as a panic attack set on his feature…

Steve sower he would kill them all…

Becca gazed coldly at the Avengers, sitting on one of the sofas with a cup of tea in her hand as she saw how uncomfortable and suspicious they were; gazing at her and then at Tony Stark with a harsh glare, which informed her how Stark no doubt 'betrayed' their trust by bringing her here and causing their esteem leader to cry her eyes out. Though she can see that Thor and Bruce Banner were the only two who instead of trying and come to comfort Carter and make her stop her crying, the two of them looked at Tony with confusion and curiosity, surprisingly no anger; informing Becca that Tony Stark has people protecting his back, and even if he didn't, Becca promised herself to protect him, not only because he truly wanted to save her brother, but because he asked her about Steven Rogers, instead of thinking of him as nothing but a non-existing ghost, which sadly nearly everyone thinks so.

It was hours ago since Becca had her screaming match with Carter (If she wanted to call it that, considering the other Alpha was too far in her shock to do anything) telling her exactly what she thought of her and how she hated her, and a few other nasty things that hit too hard on the Alpha in her breakdown… not that Becca regretted what she said and done, even if it was petty or nasty of her to do so, but Becca had seventy years to hold on to her grudges, ever since she was twelve years old and was forced to see her brother and best friend break down over his husband's corpse who was like a father to Becca.

Was it nasty of her to kick Carter when the woman was already down? Maybe. Did she regret it? Never. Will she do it again? Absolutely! Because guess what? She was not Steven Grant Rogers, with his golden heart and golden soul who never bullied others even when they deserved it; Becca had lived seventy years with her hate and grudges against the military and Peggy Carter. Where everyone her age and younger seemed to always worship Captain America, Becca was the black sheep who hated that woman publicly for being the reason for her brother's death, not only that, but everyone who knew Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes seemed to share the same sentiment as her.

So no, she was not caring about the glares she received, nor was she even going to feel an atom of remorse for the Alpha who allowed the only thing that Becca and her mother tried to save Bucky from, and that was Bucky throwing himself for death because he can't live in a world without Steve Rogers but can't take away his life with his own hands because he promised the Alpha not to.

"So… is she leaving or is she going to stay here?" Clint Barton asked after a while of staring at Becca with narrow eyes, causing the Alpha to raise her eyebrow and take a noisy and long sip of her tea, just to grit on the disrespected pup's nerves, which seemed to work if the twitch of his fingers was anything to go by.

"As a matter of fact Barton, she is, she is going to stay here as long as she likes and you can't say a shit about it!" Tony Stark yelled, drinking once more from the same jug of coffee that he seemed to have been refilled for the third time, something that concerned Becca greatly and she wondered if the man was high on caffeine right now… she needed to take his coffee away, but coffee is better than alcohol so she will allow the man to have this jug of coffee before she breaks it to stop his insane consummation of the brown substance.

"What was the meaning of this Stark? Was this what you wanted? Breaking the team apart by pulling this fucking stunt? What the fuck did you want to achieve by this?" That was Natasha Romanov as she came brawling to the common room with Peggy Carter behind her, the Alpha was glaring at Tony and looking at him like he was the lowest of the low, standing in front of Carter like she was trying to protect the Alpha from more harsh words, which was so funny… if Captain America needed another person to stand in front of her and protect her from hateful words, then how did she survive in the forties? Did she let Becca's brother stand in her place and direct everything while she got all the fame and money?

"I wanted the fucking truth!" Tony finally snapped, throwing the jug at the wall and watching it break, ignoring the flinch and wide eyes his teammates were sending him at his action… My, oh my… why don't you look at that; earth's mightiest heroes my ass…. Becca thought to herself leaning back and planed on enjoying the show presented to her. "The unbiased truth that is not all sunshine and rainbows and what-the-fucking-if; the truth of Bucky Barnes without the shadow of Captain America and Hydra!" Tony ranted, staring Natasha Romanov down, and if Becca didn't know any better she would have thought that Tony was an Alpha instead of being a Beta. "I wanted the honest truth before I decided which side I am going to choose…" That gained a suspicious look from the red-headed Alpha, and Becca saw how the woman's hand twitched toward her hidden gun, an action that caused Becca to narrow her eyes. "What? Are you gonna fucking shoot me?" Tony yelled, finally gaining everyone's attention to Natasha who removed her hand from her waist when her teammates gave her a disbelieving look.

"And what truth did you find Tony?" Peggy Carter asked, glaring at Natasha and snatching the gun from its hidden place on her waist before turning to Tony who was glaring daggers at his supposed 'Teammates' (Stress on the word teammates, because Becca was so sure they were nothing but bunches of strangers leeching off of Tony's generosity and barely tolerating each other if they didn't have something to bunch; though, Becca had her suspicion about half of the team being chummy as hell but not including Tony and the rest on their team bonding because of them being the black sheep in their eyes)

"That you are fucking delusional!" Tony shouted, and wow, just wow, Becca was having the best time in her life since her husband and children had gone to visit his parents up north for a couple of weeks; Becca was not even regretting coming here at all, even if it meant that she was forced to be in the same space as Peggy Carter. But the confused and hurt noise Peggy Carter let out was so uplifting that a smile couldn't help but stretch her lips wide. "You and you are fine pieces of work that have some screw loose or something…" Tony said pointing to Peggy and Natasha causing the women to narrow their eyes. "You with your constant seek for revenge and wanting to off Bucky Barnes the moment you saw him and being petty about everything..." Tony pointed at Natasha causing Peggy to look at her friend with hurt and disbelieving look, "... and you with your delusion of everything is going to return back to how it was when we find Bucky Barnes while ignoring the fact that the Omega is not the same anymore no matter how hard you try to convince yourself." Tony ranted at the two, ignoring how the two of them started to talk out at the same time either to define themselves like Peggy or start a fight like Natasha.

A loud fight started in the common room, and Becca stayed still and gazed at the scene taking a place in the living room. Tony throws some mean and nasty words at Natasha, reminding her of how cold-blooded assassin and a killer she was, and how she doesn't have any right to take Bucky Barnes's life and second chance when the man was brainwashed and forced to do it, unlike them who did it out of their own free will before being given another chance and changing themselves; after that, Tony started to demand that Peggy tell him about what she knows about Bucky Barnes and his life before the war, and how if she had really loved him than she should have known a thing or two about him, and he even started demanding if Peggy knew about the military threatening Bucky Barnes with his family which made the woman tear up and start justifying herself by saying she didn't know anything of what Tony was saying… typical, really, if Peggy had loved her brother truly then she should have known about Steve Rogers because Rebecca knew that this name never left his brother's lips even on his death.

The atmosphere was tense, and screams were getting louder; excuses and threats and so many in between were shouted left and right as all of the Avengers started to participate in the fight between Tony and the two Alpha women of the teams. Clint Barton took Natasha and Peggy's side, while thankfully; Bruce Banner and Thor took Tony's as they once again started the fight with louder sounds.

"What the hell is going around here?!" Someone screamed out loud, causing everything to be quiet as they turned to the shouter who turned out to be Pepper Potts who came into the room with a confused look on her face and anger in her scent when she saw Natasha pointing her widow bites at Tony. On Pepper's side were Happy and an African-American Alpha man that Becca couldn't recognize but he was doing an amazing job of glaring at Natasha and Peggy which made the women shift in their places.

The silence was even more deafening than the fight that was taking place, and awkwardness took over before Tony stepped up and started explaining everything to his friends who became shocked (And furious in the case of the man whose name turned out to be Rhodey) at the news.

It was only when Pepper Potts turned to Becca that the woman froze momently in her place, her eyes widening even more before they narrowed at Becca and a flash of gold was seen instead of blue, causing Becca to raise her eyebrow in surprise as a smile crossed over her face before she nods her head in greeting… she never thought that she would see someone of her king staying here and working in the spotlight when every one of her kind preferring to stay in the dark and in the towns that weren't so heavily populated with people. "Are you… are you really Rebecca Barnes?" Pepper Potts asked slowly as if she wanted to get the name right and not miss it, when Becca nodded her head in confirmation, Ms. Potts let out a soft 'Oh' sound looking at Becca while blinking. "Oh, dear lord… He is going to go bat shit crazy when he hears about this…" Ms. Potts mumbled to herself before she went to the cabinet that housed alcohol in it before taking whiskey from the top shelf and start drinking it right out of the bottle, ignoring Tony's squeak as he tried to take the bottle away from Ms. Potts who was half-way through the bottle.

Becca was confused about the 'He' Ms. Potts spoke about, but she was not going to question her, especially when the woman slammed the empty whiskey bottle on the counter before turning to the rest of the Avengers with a furious look, glaring them into submission… it was only when everyone was seated in their places as ordered by Ms. Potts a Beta woman who installed the fear of God into the heart of the mighty Avengers that Tony finally relaxed and turned to Becca with a tired and apologetic smile on his face. "I am really sorry about this…" Tony mumbled causing Becca to shrug and finally put her empty teacup on the coffee table before turning her attention to Tony.

"Don't apologize, I brought this fight on, and as much as it was satisfying to see Peggy Carter being knocked down a few pegs; it's getting late, and I did promise you to tell you anything you wanted to know about my brother. So tell, what do you want to know about Bucky?" Becca stated, remembering her deal with Tony that involved the man bringing her to give Carter a piece of her mind if he wanted to know a sliver of truth about her brother and Steven Rogers.

Tony stilled for a second, seeming to be considering his options heavily before he let out a tired sigh and looked at Becca. "Who is Steven Grant Rogers… and how much would he affect the recovery of Bucky Barnes if we ever find him?" Tony asked, and Becca couldn't help but give the man a gently look and a warm smile… for the first time in her life, someone had asked the right question instead of diving into the wrong path and committing to it while ignoring all the facts that glared at them in the faces. Becca opened her mouth once before closing it, that happened a second time before she closed her eyes to regain her strength, and when she finally gathered herself enough she looked at Tony with piercing eyes.

"You are the only one who asked me that question…" She started, trying to gather the threads of her memories to start her tale. "You see… your question was the only right question to start this story... and really the only way to understand them is by hearing their story... because there is no Bucky Barnes without Steven Rogers, just as there is no Steve without Bucky… the two of them were intertwined… conjoined… Together 'Til The End Of The Line…" Becca smiled softly to herself as she remembered the vows the two of them spoke to each other at their wedding… she still remembered how happy her brother was, the tears of true joy in his eyes as he finally married his twin flame and started his happy ever after with him… if only that happiness continued…

With that, Becca started her tale…

So what do you think?

Finally a chapter!

One step forward and two steps back with Winter and Steve…

Poor Winter and he was even taking his first step to recovery!

Read and Review

And tell me what you think…

Nazaki-Sama