I caught up with Aiden and Sam at the bar. The other Sam was also there flirting with Peggy's other niece.

"Everything okay?" Sam asked once I sat down.

"Yeah just Wren teleporting away from the babysitter again." I said. "We'll head out as soon as you finish your drink. If I Sharon keeps glaring at the back of my head I'm going to end up blasting her through the wall."

"I'd pay money to see that." Aiden said.

"We all would but as your lawyer I'd advise against it." Sam said. "Though you know we could always just pop over to Dublin, I miss the old place."

"I just got…" Aiden started before Sam elbowed him as they both saw something behind me. "On second thought I know the best pub in Dublin. You'd really like it."

"Why are you two acting so weird?" I said.

"We're not acting weird. This party is over lets have our own after party somewhere else. Anywhere else." Sam said.

"Okay what…" I said turning in time to see Steve walking out of the bar with Sharon's arm looped through his. "Oh."

"It's probably not what it looks like." Sam said.

"We're in a hotel and they just walked out of the bar, there's only one way this scenario ends." Aiden said.

"Guys its fine." I said. "We were on a break and I guess he just decided to make it a permanent one. It's fine. We should head back and relieve the sitter."

"You sure, we really can go to Dublin and drink this out." Sam said.

"No we should go." I said tucking my hair behind my ear with only two fingers giving Aiden the signal for us to split up and the nearest safe house.

"Actually could you circle around back for me in a bit. I have a quick errand to run." Aiden said.

"Sure." I said offering Sam my hand.

"Don't get into too much trouble." Sam said.

"What could I possibly do here?" Aiden said with a smirk.

Sam took my hand and we stopped by my house.

"Are we walking the rest of the way?" Sam asked.

"Follow me." I said taking him to the study.

"Nora." He said following after me.

"Back when Aiden popped up for the first time Wren and I starting making plans for every possible worst-case scenario." I said. "Hydra, Aliens, Snow, Abernathy, any possible way things could go wrong and you or the kids could be caught in the fall out, we had contingency plans for all of it to make sure that never happened."

I took out the books on one of the shelves to take out a panel so I could access a lever and move the entire bookcase to reveal a safe.

"Nora what are you…" Sam said.

"Sam I don't have a lot of time so I need you to listen. Whatever's about to happen it's going to be big and it's going to happen fast. It is a very real possibility that we are going to have to split up for a while. Aiden and I are going to have to go underground and the first person they are going come after for answers is you. They are going to have you followed and they will be watching you." I said. "Which is why I'm only telling you what you need to know. There is a hidden panel with weapons and a safe just like this in your house. The code is Jess' birthdate. Inside of it is a go bag with 10 thousand in dollars, euros, pesos and any other currency you could possibly need, new identities for you and the kids and a burner phone with a number already programed into it. There's also an envelope with a map and instructions on how to get to a safehouse. As long as Aiden and I do our part you will never have to resort to this but if at any point you don't feel safe, you think or even have a slight inkling you and the kids are no longer safe don't hesitate and go. Take the kids, leave everything behind and don't look back. You go to the safe house, call that number and we will come get you and the kids."

"Nora how long have you been planning this?" Sam said looking at the safe and everything hidden in it.

"Since Wren and I got back from Afghanistan. You don't do the things we do, see what we have and not expect it to come bite you in the ass at some point." I said.

"Then we should all go now." Sam said.

"Sam, life on the run isn't something you should do with kids unless it's your only choice. It's not fair to the kids and it's not fair to you." I said.

"We're family, we stick together." Sam said.

"It's because we're family that I can't let you do it. All of this is just in case Aiden and I fail and that won't happen." I said before I pulled out another envelope. "We look out for each other and you're the only one we trust to look out for us here while were out there."

Sam took the envelope I offered him. He opened it to look at what was inside of it.

"You're giving me a full POA?" He said. "Both of you? There's no way Aiden agreed to it."

"It was actually his idea." I said. "You're already our lawyer and with us gone this will give you full access to everything, money, houses. It'll ensure the government can't seize anything and more importantly it'll make sure you and the kids are taken care of."

"This is a lot." Sam said.

"I know and as much as I would understand you completely freaking out on me we don't have time for that. I have to go and I need you to stay with the kids until Aiden and I come and get Wren." I said.

"But it won't be you though." He said seeing right through me.

"I already picked up Wren with Aiden." I said nodding.

"You'll be okay?" Sam said.

"I always am." I said. "It's not forever Sam, just until things cool down or at least get back to our version of normal."

"Is it too late to run away to Asgard?" Sam said.

"Unfortunately." I said before he pulled me into a hug.

"You better come back, the three of you, in one piece." He said.

"We will, and we'll be here whenever you and the kids need us. Even if you don't always see us." I said giving him one last squeeze before letting him go. "Time to put on our game faces. As far as you know today is just another Wednesday."

"I really hate Wednesdays." Sam said. "It's only downhill from here."

"It's going to be okay." I said offering him my hand getting ready to go.

"I know, I just don't like this." He said.

"See you on the other side." I said giving him a small reassuring smile before I teleported to his house. I left before any of the kids saw me to avoid making this any harder on them and Sam.

I teleported back to London. It had been long enough for Aiden to make it to the apartment that Aiden had set up as a safehouse. He had already changed out of his suit and was in a dark jeans, a long sleeved dark grey tee with a black leather jacket over it. He was currently checking his gun and taking stock of what ammo we had on hand. I immediately went to where a small rack of practical sets of clothes in my size were hanging.

"Sam?" Aiden asked breaking the silence as I slipped on a pair of jeans.

"I gave him a rundown. I told him about the stash and what to do. He was surprised we gave him a full POA." I said zipping down my dress and letting it fall to my feet before stepping out of it and slipping my heels off.

"Who else would we leave everything to?" Aiden scoffed.

"You know Sam." Nora said. "Any chatter?"

"Everything's quiet." He said. "I can put out a few feelers but unless I know where to start…"

.

Just as I finished lacing up my boots and slipped on my black leather jacket the TV in the room suddenly turned on to show a live news footage of an explosion at the UN Assembly in Vienna where the accords were going to be signed. Instead King T'Chaka of Wakanda had died.

"You're Welcome." Aya said appearing before disappearing.

"Shit." Aiden said before the feed switched to show footage of someone that looked a lot like Bucky planting the bomb.

"Aiden." I said tapping his arm trying to urge him to do something but still in shock at what I was seeing.

"And it gets worse." He said.

"I know we agreed you wouldn't tell me where he is but…" I said.

"Already pulling up his tracker." Aiden said taking out his phone and a few seconds later.. "Bucharest."

"Romania? Was not expecting that." I said. It really wasn't the ideal place to Eat Pray Love your way to figuring out who you were after being brainwashed and tortured for over 70 years.

"He's been there for weeks. It couldn't have been him." Aiden said.

"Did you really think he would do that?" I said gesturing to the smoking wreck of what used to be the UN Assembly building.

"Obviously not. Are we going to Romania?" Aiden asked.

I put my hand out getting ready when a thought struck me. Nothing was ever what it seemed. The accords were going to put the Avengers on a leash but Bucky while not a member of the team was still on the active roster. It was no secret that Steve was against the accords and whatever side Steve landed on Bucky was going to be with him but no matter what Steve wouldn't allow something like this to happen. Something wasn't adding up.

"Actually… I think we're going to let this one play out." Nora said going to open one of the crates to pull out a burner phone. "There's something else going on. We're not seeing the whole picture."

"You think there's another player on the table." Aiden said.

"Bucky's a master assassin that for over 70 years took out some very high profile targets and not once was he caught or spotted. You think if Bucky had done it, that he would get caught or if he actually wanted to blow up the building, that the bomb wouldn't be inside the building instead of right outside parked on the curb." I continued elaborating.

"It's a distraction." Aiden said understanding where I was going.

"But for what?" Nora asked sending an anonymous text message to Steve telling him exactly where Bucky was. "Steve can go after Bucky, we're going to check on Natasha and discreetly run some interference. Whatever happens next, just go with it."

"Just another day in the office then." He said.

"And you thought retirement was going to be boring." I said putting a hand on his shoulder before teleporting us to Vienna.

Natasha jumped when we appeared behind her. Despite the controlled and unshaken façade she showed everyone else it was obvious to both Aiden and I that she was a bit shaken.

"Hey." I said not even hesitating to hug my friend. She tensed for a second before returning the hug for a few seconds. Then I went into doctor mode checking up on her. Besides a few bumps and bruises she was fine. I jumped in to assist the paramedics while Aiden snuck around gathering intel to see if there was anything the investigators may have missed.

It was a while later that Aiden found me as I finished stitching up a head lac on one of the Ambassadors.

"And you're all set." I said in French before slipping off my gloves.

"Thank you." He answered before I went to meet Aiden.

"Anything?" I asked Aiden.

"Nothing big but… I found this." Aiden said pulling up a fragment of something and putting it on the palm of my hand.

"Bomb shrapnel?" I said feeling the grooves of some sort of etching.

"It was a homemade bomb but whomever put it together knew what he was doing." Aiden said. "Professional job, probably former military, but this… it's a coin fragment."

"They used coins in the bomb for shrapnel." I said remembering my time in Afghanistan and all the shrapnel I pulled out of soldiers.

"I've seen plenty of bombs like this before, mostly in Eastern Europe say… Kososvo, Bosnia…" He started.

"Sokovia?" I finished for him looking at the coin as I spotted Natasha speaking on the phone.

"Possible." Aiden answered.

"Likely." I corrected. "Sokovia is the gift that just keeps on giving."

"The country is in ruins and it was a mess before that but I can make some calls." He said.

"It won't be hard to find them. It's probably harder to find a Sokovian that doesn't hate us." I said. "Not counting Wanda."

"Considering your father essentially just grounded her…" Aiden said.

"Tony just has that effect on people." I said as Natasha approached us.

"We have to go." She said.

"Go where?" I asked.

"Berlin. The Joint Terrorist task force assigned to the investigation is setting up a headquarters there. They have a few leads on…" Natasha started before stopping herself. That's when Aiden and I realized she had also put a tracker on Bucky and had already called it in.

"We're going to Berlin then." I said pretending not to notice her little 'slip up'. "Do you want to stop by your hotel or anywhere to get cleaned up before Berlin?"

"My hotel." Natasha said letting me put a hand on her shoulder to teleport us there.

Natasha was a pro and despite how shaken she really was she jumped right into action grabbing a change of clothes and changing into something more casual though if it were up to her she would have gotten into her suit but now she couldn't unless it was a government order.

I was sure Aiden was thinking the exact same thing as he looked towards me out of the corner of his eye while he checked his phone.

My phone started ringing and I immediately saw it was Dad. I didn't think twice and sent it to voicemail. It then immediately started ringing again and I sent it to voicemail again.

"You should answer it." Natasha said.

"Are you ready?" I asked ignoring her attempt to meddle.

Natasha gave me a look before taking out her phone to show me a photo of where exactly we were going.

I didn't even warn her when I grabbed both her and Aiden and teleported them to Berlin. Aiden had gotten used to it and wouldn't get as disoriented. Natasha on the other hand as soon as we were in Berlin her feet wobbled and she looked a bit green.

"Take a breath." Aiden said.

Instead Natasha rushed to the closest trash can and puked.

"Or do that." He said smugly.

"Nata- Nora?" Rhodey said.

"Dad." I greeted.

"I didn't expect to see you here." He said.

"I didn't expect my soulmate to get falsely accused of blowing up the UN," I retorted. "but it's just been one of those days."

"Nora he was caught on camera and he was…" Rhodey started.

"I put a tracker on him." I said showing him the signal from my phone including the history of where the tracker had detected his signal since he left New York.

"You… What?" Rhodey said.

"Technically I did on the burner phone I gave him." Aiden said.

"I put one on the phone I gave him." Natasha said.

"I put one in his arm." I said and they all turned to look at me as if I was kidding before they realized I was being dead serious. "I lost him once, did you really think I was going to take that chance again."

"That still doesn't mean…" Rhodey said.

"Dad, how about you go suit up and follow through on your orders while we stay here and figure out who the real mastermind is?" I said.

"Fine but you need to call Tony." He said.

"No I don't, but nice try." I said walking in with Aiden following behind me.

There wasn't much to do while we heard back from the ground team sent to apprehend Bucky. I really hoped Steve managed to get there on time but knowing him he would try to convince Bucky to come in so he could prove his innocence. I wondered how despite everything we'd been through Steve could still believe the world was fair.

"Miss Stark." One of the CIA Agents said.

"It's Doctor." Aiden said immediately on guard stepping slightly in front of me.

"Right. Doctor Stark, I'm Everett Ross, Deputy Task Force Commander for the Joint Counter Terrorist Task Force…" He said before turning slightly to his colleague someone I was unfortunately all to familiar. Sharon was visibly uncomfortable avoiding eye contact with me and shifting as if to try and hide behind Ross. "And this is…."

"I know who she is." I said glaring at her. Sharon accidentally glanced at me once she noticed the daggered looks of annoyance on Aiden's face. I made my eyes glow for a brief second as if warning her to get lost.

"I—I'll go get uh-a coffee!" Sharon said all but running out of the conference room.

Aiden coughed as he tried to cover up his laugh.

"Uh… Well Agent Romanoff said you could prove Barnes was nowhere near Vienna at the time of the attack on the UN Assembly." Ross asked.

"I'm sending you a detailed hour by hour location of where he's been since he left New York three months ago." I said airdropping it to his phone, email and the screen on the conference room.

"This does not fully clear Barnes. You can't be sure he hasn't removed the tracker…" Ross started.

"He doesn't know I planted a tracker on him. It's embedded in his metal arm." I stated.

"There's no chance he would have removed it even if he knew about it. The guy's a bit squeamish about messing with the arm or it even being visible." Aiden seconded.

"We still have to bring him in to confirm your intel is even true. You're both obviously on his side." Ross said. "You're more than welcome to stay here and watch but unless you sign the accords both of you can't be involved in the investigation. If you try then you'll be removed from the premises. Are we clear?"

"Crystal." I answered and Aiden nodded. He then stepped out leaving us with a live feed of the team getting ready to storm Bucky's apartment building.

"Just to make sure we're on the same page…" Aiden started.

"You have such a bad sense of direction it's no wonder you got lost on your way back from the restroom." I said.

"Of course." He said with a smirk slipping out to do some light recon.

I watched the screen of the live feed where the team was slowly getting into position. I could feel something in the air shift and knew that Aya was next to me without even having to look at her.

"You shouldn't watch." She said.

"I'm not there. The least I can do is watch." I said. "The Sokovian…"

"You know I can't tell you anything." Aya reminded me.

"Yet you just did." I retorted with a smirk. "Wren?"

"He's perfectly fine with Sam." Aya said. "No matter how this ends you know they'll be okay."

"Yeah but it's still good to hear." I said.

"Tony should be arriving within the hour. His plane is about to land." Aya said.

"Oh joy." I said sarcastically.

"He's never been my favorite person… I don't know what it is with the men in your family…." Aya said.

"You don't have a problem with Sam and Aiden and you adore Connor and Wren even if you won't ever admit it." I said.

"The men of your biological line with the exception of your son…" Aya clarified. "For geniuses they are idiots but he is still your father and this may be your last chance to speak to him before it all happens."

"I think we've said what needed to be said." I said. "I used to think it was just the Stark family curse, that we're just horrible parents and that we're meant to bring kids into the world we're not going to raise but then came Morgan and dad finally got it right."

"Your sister is a high functioning alcoholic." Aya deadpanned.

"The key word there is 'high functioning' and that just means she really is a Stark. Point is Tony's not going to change, at least not to be the dad I wish he could be and I finally came to terms with it. It only took almost 60 years to get there." I said as I spotted Steve sneaking into Bucky's apartment just as the special forces ops team get in position to start repelling down the side of the building. Then from across the building they shot the smoke and flash grenades into Bucky's apartment. "No going back now."

It happened rather quickly. The feed jumped from one body cam to another as Steve tried to get bucky to stay and talk it out. Bucky who after everything he had been through was a bit more realistic as to what they would actually do to him if they caught him. They were going at him with the intent to take him out and if they brought him in alive I didn't doubt Ross would take the first chance he got to lock him up in a lab to poke and prod him in every way possible. He was no better than HYDRA.

"Steve didn't convince him to come in quietly." Natasha said.

"Of course not. Though kind of ironic that the guy that's throwing a fit about the accords tried to convince him not to fight." I said.

"So you two are still on your break?" Natasha said.

"It's not a break, we're done." I said and Natasha gave me a surprised look. "Oh don't worry Steve's over it and is already cozying up to Sharon."

"Uh…" Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. It is what it is." I said. "What's Rhodey's ETA?"

"He's close." Natasha said obviously getting the hint that I didn't want to talk about Steve right now. "Any minute now."

'He's going into the tunnel. Barnes is on a bike…' One of the agents announced as they all scrambled to go after him.

"What did I miss?" Aiden said as he got back from his recon sweep.

"The usual." I said.

"Since when is a guy dressed like a cat the usual?" Aiden retorted. "Do we know who he is?"

"He's a new player." Natasha said. "We've got nothing."

"Not nothing. I'll bet you whatever you want those claws are vibranium." I pointed out zooming in on the claw marks left on the side of the building.

"You can tell by looking at that?" Aiden asked.

"And the sound from the bullets bouncing off his suit." I said.

"He's Wakandan." Natasha said immediately in realization. She knew exactly who was under the mask.

"Or someone who really likes cats and has access to enough vibranium for a suit." I said. "But probably."

"And there's Rhodey." Aiden said.

By that point the chase was over. They were surrounded and ordered to surrender. They roughly shoved Bucky to the ground before putting him in reinforced handcuffs. The man in the cat suit removed his mask and revealed himself to be the Wakandan prince.

"The Wakandan Prince. What a surprise." Aiden said not the least bit surprised.

"Technically King, now." I corrected.

"What's the plan?" Aiden asked.

"Now we wait." I said.

"So you already have a plan for how you're going to break him out of here?" Aiden asked.

"No." I said.

"Then let me get you read on the layout of this place." He started.

"Aiden." I said getting his attention. "We're not breaking him out."

"Then why are we here?" Aiden asked.

"Breaking Bucky out of here is not going to solve anything. Someone went to a lot of trouble to find him and have him be brought here. They waited his long when he was in New York for months. They knew exactly where he was but they waited until now, to get him right here where they want him." I said.

"They couldn't get to him in New York. He was never alone. You can only get into the compound with access or in Snow's case using choppers to blow a hole in the side of the building." Aiden said.

"And no one made it out that time. They waited until he was alone, until we couldn't interfere to get to him." I said.

"You want to use Bucky as bait." Aiden said finally understanding.

"You did a sweep, do you know what cell they're going to put him in?" I asked.

"Sub Level 3. They're going to put him in a containment unit and keep him strapped completely down. Possibly in diapers." Aiden said.

"Fucking Ross." I said following him to the containment unit to sweep the area to get a better layout if the building. Some light hacking later we were back in the conference room drinking coffee.

"Hey kid." Tony said.

"Bye." I said not even bothering to glance at dad.

"I knew you would come around…" He continued.

"Not here for the accords." Aiden said bluntly.

"Nora I know you love the guy…" I lifted my hands and used my powers to squeeze dad's mouth shut before getting up. "They're here."

"After you." Aiden said getting up and following after me.

We went down to the lower-level entry way where Bucky's containment unit was being offloaded as Steve and Sam watched.

I clenched my fist barely containing myself from blasting him out of there. I just watched the resigned look on his face turn into an even sadder look as his eyes fell on mine. We only stopped staring at each other when one of the agents picked up the cube Bucky was locked in using a forklift and carried him away to his cell.

"What's gonna happen to him?" Steve asked.

"Same thing that ought to happen to you. Psychological evaluation and extradition." Everett Ross said.

"This is Everett Ross, Deputy Task Force Commander." Sharon spoke up only for me to glare at her with glowing eyes before she quickly shut up and all but ran away.

Steve didn't notice but Sam who had noticed the interaction barely contained a snort.

"What about our lawyer?" Steve asked.

"You've obviously never been on this side of things before." Aiden said.

"Lawyer. That's funny." Everett smirked. "See their weapons are placed in lockup. Oh, we'll write you a receipt."

"I better not look out the window and see anybody flying around in that." Sam said following Steve as they were led upstairs by Natasha.

"You'll be provided with an office instead of a cell. Now, do me a favor, stay in it?" Everett said.

"I don't intend on going anywhere." T'Challa said.

"For the record, this is what making things worse looks like." Natasha lectured Steve.

"He's alive." Steve said.

"No. Romania was not Accords-sanctioned. And, Colonel Rhodes is supervising cleanup." Tony ranted.

"And I'm out." I said turning around to avoid Tony.

"Nora…" Steve started but I was not talking to him right now either.

"Where are we going?" Aiden asked.

"Not sure yet." I said as I kept walking before finding a breakroom and going for another cup of coffee.

"I know you practically live off the stuff but maybe you've had enough?" Aiden said.

"No I'm right on time for my mid afternoon or if we're going off New York time the first coffee of the graveyard shift." I said. "How many cameras are there in the hallway?"

"Please tell me we're breaking him out of here?" Aiden said.

"I didn't know you cared about Bucky so much." I said.

"He's not the worst person to have around. My nephew needs a father with common sense." He said. "I'm also getting bored."

"That sounds about right." I said handing him the coffee. Once his hand was touching the cup I slowly exhaled as forced the flow of time to stop completely. I had only done this a handful of times and only a minute at a time at this scale but here's hoping all that practice would pay off.

"Not bad." Aya said.

"You think." I said feeling as if the air had been knocked out of me.

"Don't get cocky. You won't be able to hold this forever. Go see Bucky and come right back to where you were when you stopped time." Aya said.

"Yeah." I said running downstairs to sublevel three. I got there just as the forklift had placed Bucky's containment securely down on the ground. I was really starting to feel the strain of keeping time from moving but pushed myself forward into teleporting into the cell. "Okay… Just like nesting dolls. It's a small temporal field within another temporal field."

I gently put my hand on Bucky's chest, right over his heart and took a breath. I slowly spread the temporal energy around me around him to slowly unfreeze him.

"Wha… Nora?" Bucky whispered.

"It worked." I said surprised.

"Nora what are you doing here?" He asked.

"Uh it's complicated but in simple terms I put the world on pause so we could talk without anyone listening." I said panting a bit.

"The world on pause…" He said looking at the forklift and the man operating it frozen mid-sentence. "What the…"

"You get used to it. Bucky I don't have a lot of time." I said.

"I didn't…" He started.

"I know." I reassured him. "You wouldn't do that and even if you had you wouldn't have gotten caught on camera. Also…"

I quickly took out a Swiss army knife and used a set of pliers to delicately remove the tracked I had put in his arm.

"You put a tracker on me?" Bucky said.

"I worry about you. Hydra may be gone but they're not the only bad guys out there." I said. "Some a little closer to home. Bucky something is going on here. Aiden and I think there might be someone else behind all of this. They went to a lot of trouble to have everyone come after you and bring you in. Sooner or later they're going to come to you."

"You need me to be bait." He said understanding immediately.

"Just for a little while. As soon as we get them I'll break you out of here myself." I said.

"Does Steve know?" Bucky asked.

"He knows you didn't do it but he doesn't know about this. He's not exactly spy material." I said.

Bucky looked like he was about to argue the contrary before stopping himself.

"Yeah…" Bucky said knowing I was right. "Just… don't get in trouble because of me. Think about Wren."

"I always think about him and he misses you." I said. "We both do. Just sit tight okay?"

Bucky didn't say anything just gave me a playful glare.

"Sorry." I said tucking a lock of hair behind his ear before kissing him. "Love you."

"Love you too." He said giving me a small smile.

"Okay. Close your eyes." I said waiting for him to do as I said. Once I was sure he was more of less in the same position I had found him I put him on pause just like the rest of the world.

Quickly I ran upstairs and stood right back where I was in front of Aiden handing him the cup of coffee. Boy was I cutting it close because three seconds later my hold on time slipped and it started moving again.

"So how are we…" Aiden started before I blinked and swayed a bit, almost losing my balance. "Nora?"

"It's fine. Bucky knows what to do." I said.

"He does?" Aiden asked confused before grabbing a napkin and handing it to me. "Your nose is bleeding."

"Huh?" I said reaching up to check and sure enough there was blood starting to drip out. "Oh… guess it is."

"Are you going to tell me how he knows?" Aiden said.

"Time stuff." I said patting his shoulder as I took back the coffee and chugged it down. "All that's left to do know is wait. What time is the shrink getting here?"

"Any minute. I think he's actually late." Aiden said.

"Let's do a sweep in the meantime. See if the Wakandans have anything." I said. "They have to know something."

"If they did you'd think they'd be so hell bent on hunting down Bucky?" Aiden said.

"True, but it won't hurt to cover our bases." I said.

"That's a good excuse to avoid your dad and he who shall not be named." Aiden taunted.

"You can say his name." I said wiping my nose one more time making sure the nosebleed had stopped. "And I'm not avoiding him. We're prioritizing."

"Alright then." Aiden said following me as we did our rounds.

We were eavesdropping on a conversation Agent Ross was having with one of his subordinates talking about how the psychiatrists briefing went when Natasha found us.

"Are you two staying out of trouble?" She asked.

"We're just stretching our legs." I said.

"For once we're not the problem child." Aiden said.

"Would be better if you would sign the accords." Natasha said making Aiden snort.

"So they'll strap us down in a cube shaped bug zapper like they did Barnes?" Aiden retorted. "Isn't it supposed to be innocent until proven guilty?"

"They caught him on camera." Natasha retorted.

"We can keep going in circles or you can get to the point Nat." I said bluntly.

"Sign the accords and we work within the system." She said.

"Been there, done that." I said. "I'm not interested. Besides we're not Avengers."

"I'm not even a consultant anymore." Aiden added.

"You're barking up the wrong tree. You're not in control. None of us are. The only thing these accords have done is divide the team so that the next time some global crisis comes crashing down on the world the only people that can do something about it will be too busy waiting by the phone for some four star asshole to finish working on his golf swing to call say it's okay to do your job." I said.

"You're being annoyingly stubborn." Natasha said.

"Is that why Clint isn't here?" I retorted making her tense. "Thought so."

"The psychiatrist is about to start interviewing Bucky if you want to listen you can view a live feed from any of the conference rooms." Natasha said before walking away.

"I don't think there's a therapist qualified enough to deal with 70 years of brainwashing and trauma." He said.

"Which is why you're not going to listen in." I said getting that very familiar gut feeling we were about to get an unexpected visitor.

"Somehow I don't think I'll be missing much." Aiden said.

"How much do you trust me?" I said leading him down a very familiar looking hallway.

"Do you really need me to answer that?" he asked.

"If I told you to leave right now and not get involved anymore would you do it?" I said.

"Why would you ask me to do that?" Aiden said immediately on guard.

"Because that's what I know you're going to do in about 90 seconds." I said. "Just like I know you have the keys to the safe house I told you to keep two months ago in your left jacket pocket."

Aiden reached into his pocket and pulled out the keys to show me what I already knew.

"Nora…" Aiden said.

"I'm trusting you with what I love most in this world. Everything is in place." I said gripping his arm. "Now I need you to go down this hallway, you and I are going to pick up Wren and we're going to go to the safe house. Do it and don't look back."

"Let's just go then." He said.

"I already did." I said and he finally caught on.

"Shit." He said.

"Exactly." I said feeling the air shift. "Get her out of here fast."

"I'll see you on the other side." Aiden said rushing down the hallway. It was less than a minute when the alarms suddenly went off.

"Bucky." I said teleporting down to his cell. I saw the psychiatrist holding a red notebook as Bucky stood out of the containment unit staring straight ahead saying something in Russian as the psychiatrist listened attentively.

"Looks like our time is up." The psychiatrist said. "Soldat,"

"Ready to Comply." Bucky said in Russian.

"Bucky?" I said.

"That's not Bucky!" Aya said.

"Soldier, take them out." The fake psychiatrist said. Bucky didn't even hesitate before coming at me.

"Bucky… you don't have to do this…." I said cautiously backing away. This was all too familiar. The last time I came face to face with the winter soldier, he killed me and Dottie. He wouldn't hesitate to do the same to everyone here.

Bucky lunged at me and I ducked out of the way continuing to dodge all of his punches which only seemed to anger him.

"Bucky!" Steve shouted starting to come at us.

"Steve don't!" I said. Bucky took that one second I was distracted to kick me across the room right into Steve knocking us down.

"Ah!" I groaned.

Bucky took that chance to run out of the room probably to either look for a way out or for weapons.

"Are you alright?" Steve said.

"What is wrong with you?!" I said getting up.

"Me?" He said.

"For once, I need you to not act like a lovestruck golden retriever. I had him handled and could have contained him. You should have gone after the psychiatrist who somehow managed to reactivate Hydra's programming." I said.

"It was the psychiatrist?" Steve said surprised.

"Are you… AH!" I groaned before teleporting after Bucky.

"The East Wing is Compromised. I repeat the east wing is compromised. All nonessential Staff are to evacuate immediately." The operator called out in German.

I teleported around until I found bucky just as he punched Tony aside and Sharon took a go at him. I would not hold it again Bucky if he happened to 'accidentally' snap that bitch's neck.

As soon as Bucky saw me he punched kicked Sharon at me but I quickly pushed her out of my way and into a wall.

"Soldat." I said sternly in Russian. "Stand Down."

"Ah!" He snarled lunging at me only for Natasha to jump onto his shoulders to try and knock him down.

"Did you break up with him too?" She said before Bucky slammed her onto a table choking her.

"No!" I said not holding back anymore and blasting him away with an orb. "The shrink activated Hydra's programming."

"Shit." Natasha coughed as I put up a forcefield blocking the armed agents from shooting at Bucky and not caring if they hit us in the crossfire.

Bucky saw me again and snarled.

"Guess you remember me." I said as he threw a punch with his metal arm and I quickly blocked with a forcefield. The recoil pushed him back and I followed by blasting him into a wall.

"Sourge." He growled.

"Soldat." I said about to hit him again before the Wakandan Prince jumped onto Bucky and they started going at it.

"Uh… Should I…" I mumbled to Aya.

"Roof." She said.

"Roof it is." I said teleporting up there. "Should I be concerned about the helicopter?"

"Not if you stop being an idiot and stop holding back." Aya said.

"What did you want me to do? Pull another 1944 France?" I retorted.

"No but I expect you to have enough common sense that if a brainwashed super soldier is coming at you with the intent to kill you will fight back." Aya said.

"It's not his fault." I argued.

"Of course it isn't but like I said he's a super soldier. He can take a few hits." Aya said as we heard his try to kick the roof. "Like now. Don't pull your punches."

"I won't." I said spotting the security camera right by the door.

Bucky kicked the door down and snarled as his eyes fell on me.

"To quote a certain idiot we both love, I can do this all day." I said.

Bucky ran at me and I ducked to dodge his first swing before doing a handstand kick pushing him back. I pushed an orb at him but he dodged and instead I pushed T'Challa back down the stairs.

"Sorry!" I shouted as Bucky grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back. "Ah!"

He tightened his grip ready to pull hard enough to pop my arm out of it's socket. I took a breath and jumped doing an aerial to give myself the momentum to flip my body high enough to wrap my legs around Bucky's head and get my arm free. I didn't knock him down completely just slightly off balance but that was the opening I needed to blast him into the wall 'accidentally' taking out the security camera at the same time.

Bucky groaned obviously a bit dazed but before he got up I slammed his head into the concrete wall knocking him out cold.

"Nora! Stop!" Steve rushing in tackling me away from Bucky.

"Ow! What the hell Steve?!" I said feeling the bruised and possibly cracked ribs from Bucky's hits.

"It's not his fault." He said.

"No shit." I said.

"Then why did you…" Steve asked checking on Bucky who was knocked out but other than a few bumps and bruises he was perfectly fine.

"Because he was brainwashed and set on kill. You've never gotten the full Winter Soldier treatment but it's not pretty." I said getting up.

"Are you going to take him in?" Steve asked.

"Then that would have defeated the purpose of taking out the security camera." I said kneeling over Bucky to check on him. "Are you staying or coming with?"

"Where are you going?" Steve asked.

"Anywhere but here." I said offering him a hand. He hesitated for a second before taking my hand. We ended up at an abandoned car shop a few miles away. It was one of Aiden's old cash drop locations from when he still worked for Snow.

I made sure Bucky was okay putting him down on a makeshift cot before going to look for the first aid kit.

"Nora what exactly is going on and where are we?" he said.

"Shush." I said going to clean up Bucky and the cut on his head from when I slammed his head on the concrete wall.

"But…" He started before resorting to pacing while I got Bucky settles. "I'm going to call Sam."

I quickly used my powers to yank the cell phone out of his hand into mine and crushing it to pieces.

"First rule of going on the run, ditch your phone." I said standing up. "I'll be back with Sam. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."

I teleported down the street from the Task force headquarters.

"Which way am I going?" I asked Aya.

"Straight two blocks then turn left, you'll be right behind him." Aya said.

"Is this what you meant when you said things were going to get bad?" I retorted.

"Not even close." Aya retorted.

"Of course not." I said crossing the street and making the left at the building. Sure enough Sam was just turning the corner of an alley when I grabbed him and teleported him back to the garage..

"Woah!" Sam fell down confused as to what happened.

"What are you doing?" I said to Steve who had dragged Bucky, who was still unconscious, out of the cot and was trying to put his metal arm into a makeshift vice.

"It's not safe to…" Steve argued as I pushed him aside.

"He's unconscious." I said.

"We don't know if it'll be him when he wakes up." Steve said.

"And you think that rusty thing will actually stand a chance if he does wake up as the Winter Soldier?" I said. "The only thing it will do is piss him off."

"It's not safe to just leave him like this." Steve said.

"And it's cruel that after a day of being hunted down for something he didn't do, caged in a cell where they weren't even going to let him use the toilet on his own and then brainwashed into being the Soldier again, you want a man with some serious PTSD to wake up pinned down in a vice by the man he loves." I said tucking him in. "Still think it's a good idea?"

"An hour ago you were going to sign the accords." Steve said.

"Steve…" Sam said warning him.

"What?" I said. "I'm an enhanced human possessed by a sentient being that can control time, the love of my life was enhanced, my soulmate is a super soldier, my brother is enhanced and so is my son. Why would I sign anything that essentially puts them on a government hit list?"

"Sharon said…" Steve said.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I said. "After everything you going to believe anything that blonde nutjob says? I was the one that told you Bucky was in Romania."

"No Sharon…" He started.

"I sent you a text message from a burner phone this morning before the task force figured it out." I said.

"I didn't get anything." Steve said.

"No because you forgot your phone at the funeral reception." Sam reminded him. "And Sharon…Found it."

"The star-spangled man with plan ladies and gentlemen." I said sarcastically.

"Bet you're really glad you decided not to have children with him now." Aya said appearing out of nowhere.

"Aya not the time." I said.

"What did you expect me to know Nora? You don't talk to me anymore." Steve said.

"Because there's no point. You never think things through. You're impulsive and jump into things headfirst without thinking them through." I said.

"That's not true!" Steve said.

"You want a head count? Let's start with Lagos where the second Rumlow brought up Bucky you were compromised and forced Wanda into a position she never should have been in…" I started.

"How was I supposed to know Rumlow had a bomb?!" Steve said.

"Because you're the adult in charge!" I shouted.

"Accidents happen." Steve said.

"There's accidents and then there's negligence." I said.

"Guys." Sam warned.

"It's so easy for you to point fingers when all you do is run away and blame others." Steve said.

"Look who's talking." I said.

"Are you two fighting again?" Bucky groaned.

"Hey." I said rushing to his side. "You okay?"

"What did I do?" Bucky asked me.

"Which Bucky are we talking to?" Steve said still on guard.

"Steve, it's him." I said.

"You can't know for sure." Steve said not noticing the hurt look in Bucky's eyes.

"Your mom's name was Sarah...You used to wear newspapers in your shoes." Steve said.

"Can't read that in a museum." Steve said relieved.

"What did I do?" Bucky asked again.

"Enough." Steve said.

"Nora?" Bucky asked me needing to know.

"The psychiatrist somehow found this red book with a black star…" I said remembering what he was clutching close to his chest as he ran away.

"He said the words." Bucky groaned.

"Yeah. Turns out you didn't need any help breaking out of your cell." I said running my fingers through his hair making him flinch. "But you didn't hurt anyone. Not too badly anyway."

"Oh, God, I knew this would happen." Bucky groaned. "Everything HYDRA put inside me is still there. All he had to do was say the goddamn words."

"Who was he?" Steve said.

"I don't know." Bucky answered honestly.

"People are dead. The bombing, the setup. The doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with you. I need you to do better than "I don't know." Steve said with his arms crossed.

"He's Sokovian." I said.

"What?" Sam said making Bucky look up at me.

"Aiden and I have been looking into things since Geneva. He did a quick sweep and found this shrapnel fragment." I said pulling it out of my pocket and handing it to Sam.

"It looks like a piece of a coin." Sam said.

"That's because it is. It's common in countries with unstable regimes and in the middle of civil wars when the local currency is practically worthless for rebel groups to use coins in homemade bombs. We've seen it a lot in Eastern European countries like Sokovia." I said. "The fake psychiatrist had a Sokovian accent."

"That gives us motive." Sam said.

"He wanted to know about Siberia. Where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where." Bucky said.

"Why would he need to know that?" Steve asked confused.

"Because I'm not the only Winter Soldier." Bucky answered.

"What?" The three of us said.

"There hasn't been another super soldier since… us. Since Zola." Steve said.

"That's not exactly true." I said. "You two… well us three were the most successful soldiers produced. That doesn't mean they stopped after Erskine died or after you went into the ice. There were other attempts… with mixed results. Hence the Hulk."

"One of my missions… uh Back in December of 1991…" Bucky said knowing I would immediately understand which mission he was speaking off. I gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "I intercepted a delivery of an experimental serum. It wasn't as strong as what they did to us but it did the job. Hydra took it and put together a team.

"Who were they?" Steve asked.

"Their most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in HYDRA history. And that was before the serum." Bucky said with a faraway look. I could somehow tell there was some history there.

"They all turn out like you?" Sam asked.

"Worse." Bucky said.

"The doctor, could he control them?" Steve asked.

"Enough." Bucky said.

"He Said he wanted to see an empire fall." Steve asked.

"With these guys he could do it." Bucky said. "They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize, They can take a whole country down in one night. You'd never see them coming."

"This would have been a lot easier a week ago." Sam said and he and Steve stepped away to talk amongst themselves.

"I'm sorry." Bucky said.

"It's not your fault. None of this is your fault." I said.

"Nora… I killed Howard." He said.

"I know." I said.

"Y-you knew?" Bucky asked.

"For a while." I said. "When SHIELD fell a lot of things came out. And Aya has a pretty neat trick where she can show you things that happened in other times without sending you there. It was, not something I ever wanted to see but I guess a part of me always knew it couldn't be an accident. You have no idea how many arguments we had over that stupid serum. He told me he had given it up but guess he just got better at being sneaky about it."

"Nora we need help. Can you get Aiden?" Steve asked.

"No. Aiden's currently dealing with another thing that came up. Namely an unexpected visitor." I said.

"As in…" Sam asked.

"Yeah." I confirmed.

"Okay that leaves… Wanda and Clint." Steve said.

"Would Clint ever go against Natasha?" Sam said.

"Normally no but after SHIELD fell he won't sign the accords and for Pietro, he might do it for Wanda." I said. "We might have Vision if those two finally…"

"Vision's a no. He signed the accords. Apparently the math added up." Sam said. "I might know a guy but he's in San Francisco."

"Not a problem." I said. "Do you know how to get in touch with him?"

"I know where to find him." Sam said.

"You should call Clint. Have him break Wanda out and we can pick him up on the way back." I said "We just need a jet to get us all to Siberia."

"Can't you just teleport us there?" Steve asked.

"I can't teleport somewhere I don't have a clear picture of where I'm going. Besides teleporting everyone there at once is exhausting, especially right before a big fight." I said.

"I'll make the call." Steve said.

"We'll be back soon." I said to Bucky.

"Be careful." Bucky said giving me a quick kiss before I stood up.

"Alright Sam. Close your eyes and take a breath. It'll be easier on you if you don't tense up." I said.

"How bad can it really…" Sam didn't finish his sentence before we were in San Francisco.