In the quiet hum of the infirmary, the Avengers gathered outside Charlotte's room, concern etched on each face, She'd barely vacated the room for a week before landing back in the same place. The atmosphere was tense, the air heavy with unspoken worry. Benchmark testing had abruptly ended six hours earlier with Bucky emerging from the woods, Charlotte's body draped across his arms. She hadn't woken up yet.

Tony paced back and forth in the laboratory, one room over from the infirmary. "This is absolutely unacceptable. We knew this could happen. Bruce, we let this happen."

"Tony," Bruce sighed heavily. "We weighed the risks, she deserved freedom of choice, she insisted on competing. I'm sure she'd stand by her choice. We can't sideline her based on a discovery we didn't even give her the courtesy of telling her about."

"I'm sorry," Natasha crossed the threshold into the lab, arms crossed. "Care to let the rest of us in on your little secret?" Steve and Bucky strode into the room behind her, looking equal parts concerned and angry.

Sighing, Tony rubbed his jaw. "We…took a second look at her brain scan after she was released. Then a third. We found an…alteration." He chanced a look at Bucky. "Courtesy of our friends at HYDRA."

"They tampered with her ability to self-regulate…" Bruce added sheepishly. "Her mind has been rewired, it's like they took away her ability to govern her own physiological limits. Most people have mental limits, lines they can't cross when their body needs to quit to save itself. They took that away from her. She, quite literally, doesn't know when to quit."

Nat leveled a pointed gaze at the two scientists. "And you just…let her compete with all of us today. What did you expect? You said yourself he doesn't know her limits, and now she's paying the price." She glanced back through the doorway, leading to the room where Charlotte still lie unconscious.

"We didn't think it was our place to take away her autonomy." Tony's voice was uncharacteristically soft. "Until we had enough information to give her and let her decide for herself what she wants to do, we decided to keep it to ourselves. Clearly we didn't work fast enough."

"Clearly." Bucky spoke for the first time, his gruff voice cutting through the room.

Steve's brow furrowed in concern. "Whatever happened before, that's in the past. We convinced her to come here and told her she'd be safe with us. We need to figure out a solution or our word means nothing."

Tony ran a hand through his hair. "Look, we have some information. We pulled every single file we've extracted from HYDRA over the past decade and cross referenced it with the limited intel we have on Charlotte." He winced. "It's not great."

Bruce interjected, "We're working on something, a way to regulate abilities without sidelining her completely. But it's complicated…and it's far from ready."

Natasha's piercing gaze shifted from Tony to Bruce. "Complicated or not, we can't have her collapsing every time she pushes herself. We need a fix, and we need it now."

Steve stepped forward, taking charge. "Tony, Bruce, we appreciate the effort and the discretion, but we owe her all the information we have. Even if it's incomplete. Ready or not, let her make her own choice. It's what we all would want if we were in her position."

Bucky pushed off the wall, his face twisted in an expression between frustration and pain. He said nothing.

Tony nodded solemnly. "Fine. We'll expedite the process. But this is risky. It's experimental, and we can't guarantee—"

"We don't have time for guarantees anyways," Natasha interrupted. "We just need to try. Charlotte deserves that much. I didn't bring her here so we could put her at risk and make decisions for her. I brought her here so she could be around people like her and be safe."

The hushed tones of concern were abruptly disrupted as Bucky, still standing at the periphery of the conversation, tensed. His keen senses caught a sound, soft but unmistakable—a groan emanating from Charlotte's room. Without a word, he swiftly turned and made his way to her room.

The group followed, their collective worry etched on their faces. They filed into the room only to find Charlotte blinking back into consciousness. The relief was palpable. Bucky couldn't help but mutter, "Welcome back to the land of the living."

Charlotte, still groggy, managed a weak smile. "You guys always know how to throw a party."

Steve quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah, and you sure know how to make an exit."

She chuckled, a raspy sound, and shifted on the bed. "Well, sorry to ruin the mood. Next time I'll make sure to schedule my collapses better."

Tony smirked, relief evident in his voice. "You do that. Maybe put it on the Avengers calendar."

The others couldn't suppress a few chuckles at the banter. Natasha leaned in, her tone dry, "You know, collapsing is very last season. We're aiming for superhero landings now."

Charlotte groaned as she shifted to sit up in the bed. "Noted."

Bucky, satisfied that Charlotte was - at least for the moment - all right, turned abruptly to leave the room. His departure didn't go unnoticed.

"Where are you going?" Steve called after him.

Bucky shot a glance back, his expression guarded. "She's awake. You guys got this." He disappeared into the hallway, leaving the others to surround Charlotte.

Natasha, a wry smile on her face, remarked, "Buck's gonna give you a run for your money in the dramatic exit department."

"Dramatic? An angel like me?" Charlotte croaked.

Tony added, "An angel with a penchant for collapsing. Very celestial."

In the hallway just outside the room, Bucky leaned against the wall. He heard the exchange from the room but couldn't stomach the jokes so soon after the scare. Rolling his eyes, he pushed off the wall and strode for the caught up with Bucky in the hallway, jogging to match his friend's brisk steps.

"Hey, Buck," Steve began, concern etched across his features. "Why the rush?"

Bucky didn't meet Steve's gaze, his jaw set in a tight line. "They say she doesn't know her limits, but she knew. She knew and she kept going. You didn't see her in the woods, Steve. She was laughing. She's playing with fire and doesn't even realize it."

Steve placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "She's been through a lot. You know that. We don't even know the extent of it all yet, and maybe we never will. You know as well as anyone that it's not easy to acknowledge your weaknesses. It's not easy for her, either."

Bucky's frustration spilled out in a sigh. "I get that. I do. But seeing her collapse like that, it... it brings back things I'd rather forget."

Steve's expression softened, understanding dawning in his eyes. He guided Bucky to a nearby bench, encouraging him to sit. "Buck, I know this is hard for you. Seeing someone go through what you went through with HYDRA—it's like reliving your own nightmare."

Bucky clenched his jaw, his metal fingers tapping an agitated rhythm on his thigh. "It's not just that - I mean, it is, but…I don't know. I've been getting…glimpses. Maybe flashbacks." He ran his hand along his jawline. "I can't tell if they're memories or nightmares or just my mind messing with me."

"What do you see? When you have them?"

"It's…blurry. I get bits and pieces at a time. When I saw her for the first time, that's when it started. I got a flash of us running, in the woods. I couldn't tell who was chasing who. Then when she…blacked out in the gym, I had another one. We've fought before. I don't remember when or where, but it was familiar. In a God awful way." He stared down at his hands in his lap. "Then, in the woods, seeing her bleed and collapse…I saw a glimpse of what they did to her."

The pained look on Bucky's face made it clear he was done talking. Steve let out a sigh, leaning back on the bench. "Well, this isn't really an easy thing to give advice on, but you have to remember you're still in recovery too. Just because you've been here longer, you've broken the brainwashing…it doesn't mean nothing ever happened. You're gonna deal with a lot of trauma for a long time. It's okay to take a step back if you need to."

"I shouldn't be the one who needs to take a step back right now. She needs more help than I do."

"You are helping her, just by being here. But you're not her keeper, Bucky. You can't control everything. She has to make her own choices, even if some of them worry you. We're all figuring out the best way to help someone we just met." Steve gave a half smile, nudging his friend. "If you recall, you didn't exactly give us clear instructions on how to help you, either."

Bucky forced a smile. "Guess not. Should've taken it a little easier on you guys." He leaned back on the bench. "It just... it feels like I'm back in that damn lab, watching people suffer because of me. At the end of the day, she's in this position because of me."

"That's not fair, Buck. You know it. You didn't ask for this any more than she did." He raised a hand and waved off Bucky's protest. "I know that Project Mockingbird was a response to the Winter Soldier Project. But last time I checked, you didn't sign up to be the Winter Soldier. You're both victims of the same sadistic scientists. We're all here for you both, but at the end of the day, no one else went through what you two did. Don't let them win by keeping a divide between you." Steve's voice was gentle, a steady reassurance.

"Damn." Bucky gave a half smile. "I guess some of that therapy finally stuck."

The morning sunlight filtered through the window, casting a gentle glow across the medical wing. The aroma of fresh coffee lingered in the air. Agent Hill sat in a chair beside the bed, Natasha perched on the edge near Charlotte's feet.

Maria, her expression businesslike, clicked through her notes on the tablet in front of her. "Let's go over this one more time. There are still some gaps here."

Charlotte sipped her coffee, her gaze fixed on the swirling steam escaping from the cup. "I told you everything I remember."

Natasha shot Maria a warning look as she opened her mouth to protest. Her face softened. "I know this is difficult, Charlotte. I can't even begin to imagine what you went through. But, if you're able to give us anything else, it will get us that much closer to bringing HYDRA down for good."

Nodding, Charlotte steeled herself. "What else do you need to know?"

"They're known for their incredible discretion and secrecy. No one gets in or out. Hell, it took Bucky seventy years to escape and that was through a freak accident at the Triskelion. You escaped from the facility, from the headquarters. How?"

Charlotte's eyes glazed with the distant recollection. "I was kept in a different part of the facility than the Win - than James was. Bucky." She shook her head. "I don't remember much, but I was able to pick it up over time. Piece things together. Things people said, glimpses I got at files here and there…it wasn't the full picture, but it was something."

The two women stayed quiet, letting her continue.

"To my understanding, I was one of around a dozen people in Project Mockingbird. All of us were brought in just before 1950. The Winter Soldier project had gone well, too well. I remember hearing screams, hearing him take down agent after agent. They said he was too strong. That he couldn't be controlled. That was before they perfected the memory wipe. He knew who he was, and that was why they couldn't stop him. I always wondered what he was fighting so hard to get back to." Charlotte gave a soft, sad smile. "The rest of us didn't have much of a life before being captured. I think that's why they went after orphans. When Captain America, er, when Steve came in and raided the base to free Bucky and the rest of the soldiers…they learned. They stopped taking prisoners that someone would miss. I didn't really get to know anyone else in my group, or if I did…I don't remember. I know we were all around the same age, sixteen to eighteen. About to age out of most orphanages, if we hadn't run away already."

She took a slow sip of her coffee, seeming lost in her memories.

"I don't remember much about the experiments. I remember pain, needles, being restrained. Some didn't survive the first dose. They tried to alter the serum they gave Bucky…it killed two immediately. A few didn't survive the brainwashing, it made them go insane."

"What happened to them?" Maria's voice was unusually gentle.

"They got shot." The nonchalance in Charlotte's voice was chilling.

"I believe, well, I was told…they tried different methods on all of us. Some got a serum, some got brainwashing, some were…enhanced in other ways." She winced. "Prosthetics. But they ran out of vibranium, and their version ended up poisoning the whole group they used it on. So, you know." She mimed a gunshot to the head. "I was in the lucky last group. They took everything they got right with the others, the ones they deemed most likely to survive anyways. Their best chance. I know there was a version of the serum, very diluted. It enhances the senses and makes us…me, stronger and faster. Not as strong as him though. They believed they made him too strong. We had to be enhanced enough to contend with him, but not so strong that we posed a threat to HYDRA."

Nat reached a hand out, squeezing Charlotte's knee.

"Things got a little blurry for a while. I didn't know how much time had passed, how long I had been there. I think I was kept in cryo for long stretches while they figured out what to do with me. I know they used to make us run hunting exercises."

"What were the hunting exercises?"

Charlotte took a slow, shuddering breath as she raised her eyes to look at Maria.

"They would release us into the woods. The group of Mockingbirds…and the Winter Soldier. No weapons. Miles and miles of cold, Siberian wilderness. No food. They made us hunt him. To see if we could actually survive, track him, and to see what we'd do if we caught up to him."

"Did anyone ever…catch up to him?" Neither Maria nor Natasha knew if they were prepared for her answer.

"Yes. I don't remember, but I remember hearing them talk about it after I was wiped. How one of the best Mockingbirds caught him and was about to snap his neck when they shot him. They had HYDRA snipers in the trees the whole time. We were never meant to kill him. They just wanted to see if we'd be able to give ourselves the chance."

Natasha's stomach turned as she wondered if Bucky knew.

"I don't know how many or how long those…exercises went on. Eventually they got better at brainwashing, so control became less of an issue. Bucky spent more time in the chair…we spent more time in cryo. They'd wake us up every so often, every decade or so? I don't remember what they told me. Just to make sure we were still alive. Eventually, I was the only one who woke up. I felt like I should be sad, but it had been so long since the last time that I didn't even remember their names."

Charlotte looked like she wanted to cry, but no tears came.

"We can stop, Char." Nat spoke softly.

"No, it's okay. I want to help." She swallowed. "I'm almost done anyways." She sat up straighter in bed, pulling her legs towards her chest.

"The only real memories I have started about five years ago. Right after -"

"The Triskelion." Maria and Natasha both muttered.

"Right. When the agents returned without the Winter Soldier, everyone lost their shit. Or at least, I'm assuming. They were still losing their shit when they woke me up. I couldn't even get my bearings before they were outfitting me in tactical gear, yelling at me to track him and kill on sight. I was in a helicopter within the hour." She grimaced. "They dropped me all over the United States, sending me to track him down anywhere they thought there was a sighting. Every time, I came up empty. That didn't go over well."

As if feeling phantom pain, Charlotte absently rubbed the side of her face. "It just went downhill from there. The longer we couldn't find him, the more leads that went cold, the angrier they got. With me. They tried to punish me, thinking it would make me work harder or find him faster, but it just made me weaker. We finally went back to the base…and I remember thinking how I must really be in Hell if I was relieved to go back there." She chuckled to herself. "I was hoping they'd put me back in cryo and never wake me up."

"But when we got back to base…we didn't go back to the cryo chamber. We went back to the lab." Color drained from Charlotte's face. "They had the scientists all working on something…anything that would make me better. It was awful. They were under duress too, not that I could ever feel bad for the bastards. But it wasn't exactly the environment for a breakthrough. Once, an agent shot one of the scientists for making excuses. They didn't move his body for two weeks as a reminder to the others."

She sighed.

"But, just like with me, the punishment did the opposite of what they wanted. It made them sloppy. One day, they forgot to secure my restraints."

Charlotte raised her eyes, looking straight at Agent Hill. "So I killed them all."

A stunned silence hung over the room. Not once had Charlotte's voice cracked. Although Natasha had a feeling her hands would be shaking if it weren't for the vice grip she had on the bedding.

"I know this sounds redundant…but can you tell me the rest?" Maria's eyes were almost apologetic for dragging this on further. "You overpowered the scientists, but what about guards? The rest of the base?"

"There were two guards outside the lab. I jabbed them in the neck with whatever bullshit serum the scientists had been prepping for me, grabbed their weapons, and didn't look back. Although, judging by the way they screamed, that serum wouldn't have done me any favors." She tucked her hair behind her ears. "They had been in such a hurry to get me into the lab once we returned that no one thought to wipe me. I knew exactly the way out. I wanted, so badly, to find my file and have answers. But I was tired. So tired. I only had one chance. I took it."

"From there, you escaped through…?"

"The woods." Charlotte grinned. "The same goddamn woods they used for the hunting exercises."

"And then you hitch-hiked across Europe," Nat joined in.

"Which is exactly where the story I already told you picks up." Charlotte's face showed relief, whether it was over the end of the grueling discussion or in finally sharing her burdens with someone.

"Did anyone ever come after you? Try to find you?" Maria frowned.

"Not once." Charlotte shrugged. "I was careful, at first. I changed my hair every few weeks. Kept moving. Didn't have a phone or a footprint of any kind. As time went on and no one came, I stopped hiding. But I never stopped looking over my shoulder."

"I just find it strange that HYDRA would give up with not one, but two of their most lethal assassins just…out in the world."

"With what I left behind, there wasn't much of a team to rally."

Maria raised an eyebrow, skeptical, but Natasha waved her off before she could continue. Pressing the button to stop the session recording, Nat grasped Charlotte's hand. "I think that's enough reliving trauma for one day. What do you say to wine and pizza, and Peter bringing the big TV in here for the night?"

Charlotte squeezed her friend's hand. "I'd say…I hope you like pineapple on pizza."

As Natasha breezed out of the room, promising to be back bearing gifts within the hour, Bruce caught up to her in the hallway. Jogging to keep pace, he stammered a protest. "You know, with the damage to her kidneys, from uh - the run…she really shouldn't be having wine. If I could just do another urine sample to make sure she's okay, then -"

"Bruce." Natasha whirled to face him, stopping in her tracks. "Go back and listen to the session recording and then try and tell me that girl doesn't deserve a glass of wine. Because if I had to take one guess, you'll be bringing her something much stronger before you even get through it."