Seren paced back and forth in front of Chloe's hospital room. She only stopped when she heard her name and this time, for the sake of the situation, she would forgive the usage of the annoying nickname.

"Twinkle Star, how is she?" Tony did a half sprint down the hallway until he reached Seren.

"Just like she's been in the past few days, in and out. She's had to be sedated each time," Seren glanced at the open doorway of Chloe's room.

"Why?" Tony would only peek in slightly for the moment. He wanted the full story before he took a look at the residential kid.

"Because each time she's awake, she freaks out," Seren said with a sigh.

"What does she freak out about?"

Seren felt monumentally guilty each time Chloe had her breakdown as she came out of the sedatives. "We can't quite understand everything she says. She's kind of screaming and crying. The gist I would say is that she says things are so loud and, of course, she's in pain."

"Okay," Tony rubbed a finger over his nose, "What-what exactly happened? What physically happened here? Because I gotta tell you the news is all over the place, and it's all about you and your crew."

"Where do I even start?" Seren let her arms flap on her sides. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is done, Tony. It's over."

"What? What do you mean it's done? How-how is it 'done'?"

"I mean like it's gone," Seren said sharply. "More than that, SHIELD never existed. It turns out HYDRA infiltrated it the moment it was founded all those years ago." Tony's face went into shock but Seren wasn't going to give him the chance to react just yet. "Every base, every mission, was infiltrated from the start so it's very hard to tell what missions were actually funded by SHIELD and which ones were for HYDRA. We fought and then found out that Steve's supposedly dead best friend wasn't so dead in the end. In fact, he's very much alive."

"The Sargeant?" Tony's eyes widened.

Seren nodded. "HYDRA had him for 70 years, brainwashed and committing assassinations."

"Hold on—"

Seren raised a finger to him that she wasn't done yet. "And it turns out that you were right about Chloe's sketchy record with S.H.I.E.L.D. This whole time she and Fury were trying to figure out who within the place was trying to kill her. It's why she was always doing solo missions. It was a cover to be on the run."

"HYDRA?" Tony took the only logical guess.

"Ding-ding, point for Stark," Seren muttered. "They had a second Hivemind tech piece that they implanted on her. I had to fight her—I burned her hand to try to get the tech out of her palm. We fought S.H.I.E.L.D. until it crumbled to the ground. It's gone and now here we are, left picking up the pieces we care about."

Tony's head turned towards Chloe's room. "I see. And the Sargeant? Where's he now?"

Seren shrugged her shoulders. "Your guess is as good as mine. He pulled Steve out of the river and took off. He didn't say a word to me."

"Why would he? You're nothing to him," Tony said matter-of-factly, missing the way Seren glared at him for it. He walked into Chloe's room, leaving her to follow. "Where's Rogers right now?"

"Three rooms down that way," Seren jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "He's getting better but he still needs some more time."

"And you? Don't you, like, hate these places?" Tony made a gesture to the room.

"Yeah, and I'm trying really hard to forget about it right now," Seren said. "Having my best friend and my boyfriend in here kind of helps to forget."

"Boyfriend?" Tony flashed Seren a smirk. "'Bout damn time. Congratulations."

"Knock it off, Tony," Seren rolled her eyes, subtly trying to hide her blush by turning her head. "Chloe needs help and right now I think you're the only one who can give that to her. I don't trust anyone else."

Tony turned towards Chloe's bed and approached her. "Oh Megamind, what did they do to you?" He whispered upon seeing the remnants of blue lines marking her face and arms. "How long was I gone?"

"Tony, I beg you to take this seriously," Seren came to the foot of the bed.

"You have no idea how serious I've been taking this," Tony glanced at her. "Chloe and I have been working together for 2 years now."

"Yeah, she told me," Seren said quietly, later adding in a mutter, "Trusted you a lot more than she did me."

"It's not like that, Twinkle Star. She didn't want to worry you while you were off in London-town."

Seren waved it off. "Can you help her?"

"Let's hope so," Tony said. He studied Chloe's burnt hand wrapped in gauze. "That's the hand where the tech is?"

"Was," Seren corrected. At Tony's questioning look, she sighed. "Barnes took it."

"Hold on, what?" Tony made a face. "I thought you said he took off."

"And he did...with the second tech piece. When he pulled Steve out of the river, I asked him if he could do anything for Chloe's sake."

"And he did just like that?"

Seren nodded. "Yeah, I don't know why but I'm grateful that he did. He pulled the second piece out of Chloe's palm. I was so grateful that I didn't notice he left with it."

"Well that's great, we might need that!"

"Until we manage to find him, we can't count on the second piece. Can you really not do anything without it?"

"Oh no, I'm going to do something," Tony promised her, "I just don't know what exactly...yet. The only thing I know for sure is that she's coming with me."

Seren panicked when he started heading out. "What!? What do you mean!?" she chased after him in the hallway.

"If I'm going to help her, you can't expect me to do it from this place? I have a special tower, remember?"

"You finished it?" Seren heard the tale from Chloe of his construction project on what used to be Stark Tower.

"I'm a businessman, Soul. I get things done," he snapped his fingers on the side. "And it's built with a special little room called a medbed. I'll get Dr. Cho in and we'll discuss Chloe's condition and what we can do to help her."

"Doctor who?"

"Helen Cho, look her up. She's fantastic and" — he raised a finger as Seren went to argue against it — "I completely trust her. She's been working with Chloe on her situation so trust me, she's a doctor we can confide in."

Seren's lips pressed into a thin line. She was still wary of doctors in general, no matter how trustworthy others claimed them to be. "I want to meet her."

"Well of course, I'm not interested in starting a fight with an alien." Tony stopped abruptly, causing her to bump into him. He turned around just as she stumbled back. "By the way, if S.H.I.E.L.D. is down, where are you living now? Can't imagine it's back in London anymore."

"I have savings, Stark," Seren rolled her eyes. "I'm in a hotel."

"Well, if it's about your living situation—"

"Don't even," Seren cut him off, "I have a lot to think about. My parents want me to come back home and I'm actually waiting for Rebeca to call back about a possible continuation of the Worldwide Initiative project. Don't give me something new to think about."

"I was just going to offer a place at the Tower," he said with his hands raised in front of him. "Or a simple apartment in the city, at least until you get back on your feet."

"You don't have to do that for me, thanks."

"You pulled me out of space, not to mention you went into space with me. I'm always going to have a special bond with you for that," he winked at her. Seren chuckled for the first time. "Think about it, maybe talk about it with Rogers. Ask him about a proposition I told him about a while ago."

"I don't know, Stark. I actually don't know about anything these days..."

"I'm just saying," Tony said, flashing her a smile. "Go home and rest at least. I'm going to start the transfer paperwork here. I'll call you when Chloe's been moved."

Seren nodded. "Thanks."

~ 0 ~

Seren's parents had come to see her as soon as it was safe. Without cellphones, they had to come straight to the hotel she'd been staying in and quick. Seren didn't know when the funding from Rebeca's side would stop. They were still working on that. Seren was happy to see them and relieved to know that they were alright and hadn't been hurt by HYDRA.

"Oh sweetheart, I'm so sorry about everything that's happened," Liana hugged her daughter comfortingly. Seren actually relished in it; she hadn't had a lot of motherly support in the past because of SHIELD. "How is everyone?"

"I don't know about everyone," Seren said honestly. She had lost touch with most of the agents now that everyone had basically scrambled.

"Well, how about the closer ones?" Her father, Brooks, asked. "Chloe? Is she alright?"

Seren let out a noise indicating a 'no'. "She's still in the hospital. Actually, our friend Tony is going to take her to one of his places here for more help."

"Tony Stark?"

"Mhm, yeah."

"Oh, well, then Chloe will be just fine. That man's a genius," Brooks said. "No need to be worried."

Seren wished she had her father's confidence. She was terrified beyond belief thinking about the long-term effects Chloe could suffer because of this.

"What about Natasha?" Liana asked.

Seren led them to the couch where they could sit together to continue talking. "She's fine. She's always fine."

"We saw her on t.v.," Liana said with a sigh, "It's horrendous that the government wants to pin the blame on you all for the mess in the city. It's like they're ignoring the fact one of their biggest organizations turned out to be a sham."

"Turned their backs on us," Seren said bitterly. She had a profound hatred for the government for this very act. All their hard work had vanished in the face of public pressure. They wanted culprits and since HYDRA had gone underground, that left them to face the authorities.

"Don't worry, honey, we wouldn't let anyone take you away," Liana said, reaching for one of Seren's hands. Seren couldn't help a chuckle then.

"Mom, no offence, but I can take them."

"I'm your mother. I've let SHIELD take you back then and that was the worst thing I ever did." Liana looked at her husband who sat on Seren's other side. "We've regretted it for so long now."

Seren let out a sigh. "Mom, Dad, this may actually come as a surprise but...I don't regret joining SHIELD." And sure enough, both her parents wore the same confused faces. "I mean, SHIELD is where I trained, it's where I learned to be the best version of myself...at least a better version of myself. I don't need SHIELD to continue being better but...it is where I started and where I met many good people. Like Natasha, like Chloe, and Clint...and Steve. I can't regret any of that."

"It was a big part of your life," Brooks said, having accepted it like his wife. "And now...you have to say goodbye to it."

Seren still couldn't believe it. For all the anger she felt, all the resentment, she was still in shock. She had to say leave behind such a huge part of her life, if not something she had known for most of her life. The idea was scary when she got to wondering what she was supposed to do after.

"It'll be alright," Liana said as Seren fell more and more distant. "We can...we can go back home and—"

Seren snapped out of it and looked at her mother with wide eyes. "Go home?"

"Well, at least for some time."

"Mom—"

"Seren, it might help you to just relax for a few days and think about what you want to do now. And what better place than your home? Your old room?" Liana wiped a strand of Seren's hair from her forehead. "It's away from the city."

"I don't...I don't want to be alone..." Seren said, and by that she meant she didn't want to leave Steve behind. And Chloe. They needed her as much as she needed them.

"Just for some time," Liana insisted but Seren knew the idea her mother had and it just wouldn't happen. She would go home for a few days and then Liana would "drop" the idea that she move back in.

Seren didn't know what she wanted but she knew that she didn't want that. After everything, she couldn't just go back to Hudson and pretend like nothing ever happened to her.

"Chloe needs me around and Steve and I...we have some things we need to do," she explained.

"Well, Steve is welcome to stop by the house if he'd like," Brooks said and laughed at Seren's reaction. "What? You think we didn't notice?"

Seren blushed and looked straight ahead to avoid her parents' gazes. "Whatever has been said, ignore it."

Liana laughed softly. "I think it's a great idea. I'll bet if anyone needs a break, it's that man. Think about it, Seren."

Seren relented and told her parents that she would consider the idea. "Where's Atria?" she then asked, her voice laced with a tad of disdain. "I need to talk to her."

"She said she would stop by later," Liana said. "After we came out of hiding, she said you needed some time to think about things."

Seren laughed humorlessly. "Seriously? That's what she said?"

Of course since neither of her parents knew that Atria might have suspected about HYDRA's infiltration, they were very confused with Seren's apparent fallout with Atria. As far as they knew, Seren adored her grandmother. For the sake of keeping an amicable relationship between them, Seren didn't tell her parents anything. She needed to talk to Atria herself.

~ 0 ~

Seren had just finished a long call with Rebeca when she heard someone knock on her door. Before answering it, she cleared her face of any lingering tears and straightened herself up. She opened the door and came face to face with her grandmother.

"Hello, my little star soul," Atria greeted her like she always did. This time, however, Seren couldn't respond the way she usually did.

"Hello," she left the door opened for Atria and walked away.

Atria stepped into the suite and closed the door behind her. "I'm glad you're alright. Steve is alright too, I imagine. As well as the rest of your team."

"Mhm," Seren turned to face her grandmother, crossing her arms. "Well, you know, Chloe might have a thing or two to say about that — oh wait, she's not talking right now because she's unconscious...in the hospital...because of what HYDRA did to her..." She practically glared at Atria by this point. "The organization that you knew had infiltrated SHIELD ages ago."

"Now Seren, I know you're angry but I didn't know it was HYDRA—"

"But you knew something was wrong and you never said anything!" Seren exclaimed. "You brought me in, you let me do HYDRA's dirty work, and you never said a single thing! Grandmother, I don't understand why you would do something like that!"

"It is hard to understand this if you are not a seer but the things I see, most of them are never clear, Seren," Atria said, "It's-it's all a jumbled mess and it's hard to decide what's real and what's not. Believe me, I have seen countless versions of our lives."

"Spare me that crap, grandmother," Seren said. "You could have told me your suspicions. Do you know how useful it would've been to know what was going on? I could've helped Chloe! I could've done so much!"

"No you wouldn't have," Atria said earnestly and such honesty left Seren indignant. "Because you would have crumbled under the disillusionment of the truth, much like you did and still are."

Seren frowned, but no words came to mind.

"You were always so proud of your work and what you fought for, I didn't want to take it away from you," Atria said. "SHIELD did give you things that you will always carry with you in your life."

"And I am grateful for them but it doesn't take away from the ugly truth," Seren said quietly, "The truth you helped hide from me. I would expect more from my family than Fury but you and him both acted the same. And now here we are. I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do now."

"I know—"

"No, you really don't," Seren said through gritted teeth.

"But I do," Atria said sharply. "I fled my home, Seren, and I came to a foreign planet with nothing but the clothes on my back. Believe me, if there is someone who understands what it means to start all over again, it's me."

Seren sucked on the inside of her cheek as once again she was left without words. Maybe it was slightly similar but...she didn't want to give her grandmother the point. She didn't deserve any points right now.

"Trust me, Seren, it's hard right now but things do get better. You grow past all that happened and you move on. You get to decide what you want to do next."

"How?" Seren's voice cracked as tears welled in her eyes. "I'm left with nothing! My job, all my work, just went down the drain! Rebeca just called me — my work for the Initiative in Europe was terminated. Anything funded by SHIELD is being put under the microscope. It's all done!"

"Then a fresh start is inevitable," Atria said annoyingly calm.

Seren laughed bitterly. "Oh, because it's so easy?"

"No, of course not," Atria sighed. "This will be one of the hardest parts, but you will make it through it."

Seren rubbed her forehead tiredly. "I...I don't know about that. Because as I have just said, I don't know what to do anymore. I'm at zero so thank you for your useless words right now. I only wanted to face you but it doesn't even look like you're sorry for keeping things to yourself. You haven't even at least tried to apologize. My mother always said that you were a proud woman, and now I finally see it."

And maybe that was something she should apologize to her own mother about. Because today, Seren was no longer blinded by the "shine" of her grandmother. She adored Atria for everything that she stood for — in her mind, anyways. She idolized Atria for her work and for bringing her into SHIELD. Seren couldn't possibly count all the time she spent training and pushing herself to the limit just to make Atria and SHIELD proud. It was an innate desire to be accepted, something she already battled with in her civilian life.

"How stupid I was..." she mumbled, and swallowed hard. She met Atria's gaze and very sternly asked her to leave. She couldn't with the conversation anymore.

Atria didn't put up any fight either. "My little star soul—"

"Don't call me that," Seren shook her head. "I am not little, nor am I your anything. Please just go."

"Alright, but I will be here for you whenever you need it."

"You weren't there for me when I needed you," Seren retorted and gestured Atria to the door. She waited for Atria to be on the other side then hurried to close the door. Tears rolled down her face and so she quickly wiped them off her cheeks. Her anger won out everything else this time.

~ 0 ~

Packing is how Steve found Seren when he arrived at her hotel. She was going to and from her closet putting clothes back in the suitcases she originally came with last week when he surprised her.

"No, no, no, no, what are you doing here?" She had dropped everything and rushed to him to encase him in a tight hug.

Steve chuckled at her reaction and pressed a kiss on her hair. "Thought I'd surprise you, but maybe I messed it up."

"No, of course not! I just thought I was going to come get you," Seren said, stepping back from him. She took his hands in hers and squeezed them. "I didn't want you to come from the hospital all on your own. I'm a terrible girlfriend—"

"No, you're not," Steve said sharply, eyeing her as such. "I was fine, really. And I did leave with Sam anyways. We started some, uh, planning."

"Oh, planning," Seren said, nodding. Of course he was going to get a headstart on the search for Bucky. "Anything I can do to help, you just tell me okay."

Steve nodded at her. He had no doubt that she would help him. He looked past her to the mess of clothes on her bed and then her suitcases. "Are you going back to London?"

Seren cleared her throat. "No, no, um..." She sighed. He was going to find out anyways so she might as well tell him. "Rebeca called earlier. The Initiative has been officially shut down over there so...I am officially out of a job everywhere."

"Oh sweetheart, I'm so sorry," Steve said, bringing her in for another hug. "I know it meant so much to you..."

"It's alright," Seren mumbled, even though it wasn't. Nothing was alright in her life these days. "Now I just...gotta figure out what the hell I'm gonna do now. For starters, moving to a smaller hotel room. I don't need a big one like this one." It was the room that Rebeca had originally paid for and now that the funding was gone, Seren didn't want to waste money where it didn't need to be.

"Do you know where you want to go?" Steve asked her.

"I'm not quite sure yet." Seren let go of him and walked back to her bed to continue packing. She glanced over her shoulder to Steve and flashed him a little smile. "But I'd like for it to be enough for both of us."

Steve couldn't help the smile that grew on his face. "Yeah?"

Seren's smile spread. "Yeah." Because if she had to leave everything behind, she would at least come out with him at her side.

"Then I guess we can add apartment hunting to our to-do list," Steve said, making her chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess so. I'd like for us to stay close to Stark's Tower, though. He's taken Chloe there to continue helping her."

"And how has she been?" Steve asked. He hadn't been able to visit Chloe while he was in the hospital and now she'd been taken away before he could leave the hospital room.

"Same, in and out." Seren went for the closet again. She preferred to leave out the moments where Chloe thrashed against anyone around her. They were painful just to watch. Chloe sounded like she was in pain trying to remember what happened and where she was. Her hand was healing but there would be scars.

"Maybe we can visit her then, try to help her however we can," Steve said, prompting Seren to stop for a second. He noticed the look on her face, like she wanted to tell him something but was hesitating. "Seren, what is it?"

Seren sighed. "Stark's pretty irritated with me right now."

"Why?"

"Because he says the one thing that could really help Chloe right now is that second tech piece and, well, Bucky sort of took that with him."

"He did?" Steve practically gaped at the news. Seren nodded at him. "Why did he—?"

"I don't know, he just did, and we don't know where it is anymore," Seren said. "I was so involved with you two that I didn't notice when Bucky slipped away."

"Well then we really need to find Bucky," Steve said. "For Chloe's sake."

"I'm ready to start planning whenever you are."

Steve knew that she was. "I think we have one more thing we need to do, though. I, uh, got a call..."

~ 0 ~

Seren saw him as soon as they entered the cemetery and Steve knew that she'd seen him when she squeezed his hand. The two walked up to recently added grave where a tall man in a hoodie was waiting for them.

Nick Fury stared at his own grave for a long minute before he spoke to the two behind him. "So, you've experienced this sort of thing before?"

Steve nodded at the question. "You get used to it. It also helps that mine was taken out." Despite there being no body, New York still had a grave for him somewhere. It was strange looking at your own name when it was part of a gravestone.

"We've been data-mining HYDRA's files. Looks like a lot of rats didn't go down with the ship..."

"No, I suppose that would be impossible," Seren said. Fury finally turned around to face them. "HYDRA was everywhere, after all. I'm surprised none of them were able to infiltrate other organizations like the CIA."

"So you've been going through the files as well," Fury remarked.

Steve glanced down at Seren at the question. She hadn't told him about that but it wasn't that hard to imagine.

"I wanted to know if I knew some of the rats," Seren said curtly. "I did, by the way."

"Agent Soul—"

"I am not an Agent anymore," Seren said loud and clear. "'Agent Soul' went down with HYDRA and SHIELD. 'Agent Soul' was theirs, I am not."

"I understand your disillusion with the world, but this world is far from happy and perfect. Sometimes the only choices we have are the worst ones and we still gotta make one. Have you never made a decision from two bad ones?"

"I don't think that's what Seren meant, Fury," Steve cut into the conversation. He felt Seren squeezing his hand again and not because of nerves. "It all comes down to honesty and loyalty, and I think Seren has given you that her entire life...even when she shouldn't have been at SHIELD."

"And I recognize it," Fury assured them. He looked at Seren and her hard face. "I do. I always have. Without you, many of our missions wouldn't have been successful."

"But you lied," Seren said. "You and my grandmother were two people I looked up to and respected and you both lied to me."

"We had to," Fury said, standing by it like Atria had as well.

"Did you, though? How many people got hurt because you had to hide the truth? Not including Chloe and Bucky. Because some of the files I've been reading talk about some weird work on people filed as SHIELD work. If I had known—"

"Stop thinking about things out of your control," Fury warned her. "Because the truth of the matter is that even I wasn't aware of everything. It doesn't matter now because this is where we are, Seren. You're right, you're not an agent anymore."

"I don't know what I am anymore," Seren said quietly. "All I ever knew crashed down. What I worked on so hard is now gone. I have nothing to show for it."

"That's not true," Steve said to her, "The people you've saved along the way count for millions. That is what you have and that will never go away."

Seren didn't regret those moments, even when she got hurt for most of them. "You know back in the early days, I read up on everything that had to do with the Avengers' Initiative. I learned a lot about what happened in '95 with Danvers. To this day, she is still my hero. I wanted to be like her, honor her with this Initiative...now that feels really stupid."

Fury looked at her like she was crazy. "Soul, you gave that Initiative your 110%. I will always be grateful for your help pushing my biggest idea through the ranks. Danvers lit the idea but you brought it to life."

"Even when I was brainwashed for half of it?" Seren said with a lighthearted smile.

"Hell, that just proves how good you were."

Seren nodded, her smile spreading. Perhaps she needed to hear this so that she could really start to think past all this. She couldn't think about the future if she was stuck on her past.

"I'm headed to Europe tonight, don't suppose either of you would like to come," Fury said and looked between the two.

"There's something I gotta do first," Steve said then glanced at Seren for her answer.

"I need time," she said truthfully. It was like Steve had said before, just because she could shoulder the burden of the world didn't mean that she had to take it on. Right now, she couldn't take on anything...and that was okay.

Fury understood. "Alright then." He shook hands with Steve, then Seren. "Anybody asks for me, tell them they can find me right here." He gave a nod at his gravestone then started off.

"You should be honored, that's about as close as he gets to saying thank you," Natasha's voice turned the remaining two around. She and Sam were approaching them, the former holding a manila folder in her hands.

"Natasha," Seren went to hug her. They hadn't seen each other in a few days. "Thanks for taking the head at Capitol Hill."

"Ah, don't even worry about it," Natasha waved a hand at it. "They're not going to be doing anything. They're in more heat than we are."

"Are you going with Fury?"

"No."

Seren tilted her head at the woman. "But you're not staying here either?"

Natasha smiled. "I blew all my covers, I gotta go figure out a new one."

"That might take a while," Steve warned, though he was smiling as well.

"I'm counting on it," Natasha said.

"Take your time." Seren wished her well.

"Keep me posted on Winters'," Natasha said to all three of them. "I want to know how she's doing each step of the way."

"We will," Seren promised her.

Natasha held the manila folder over to Steve. "I called in a few favors from Kiev."

Steve took a breath before reaching out for the folder. Everything about Bucky while he was gone was inside that folder. It would take a lot from him to read and find out exactly what had been done to Bucky while he was out.

"Be careful, Steve. You might not want to pull on that thread," Natasha said as softly as possible. She understood the drive to go find the Sargeant but she also knew that the ending might not be the one Steve was hoping for.

"Thank you," Steve said. She hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"You're going after him?" Sam asked when Natasha got going.

Steve nodded. "You don't have to come with me."

"I know," Sam smiled lightly. "When do we start?"

A/N:

P.S. As always, I have an AO3/Wattpad account under "noblecrescent" and a tumblr account under "saiilorstars" if you'd like to follow :)