A/N: Hello and welcome to my third Steve x OC fic, featuring my OC Seren Soul. If you're brand new, you might want to go back and read the first fics 'Darkest Before Dawn' and 'Alignment' to get a better sense of the background/context of everything! This story will cover the entire Ultron plot with some original plots thrown into it. This story will also feature my second OC Chloe Winters and a brief third mcu OC, Citlalli. This is first and foremost a StevexSeren fic with some occasional other Chloe moments with a certain character :)

Seren's face claim is the actress Mariluz Bermúdez with green eyes and short ginger hair.

Chloe's face claim is the actress Riley Voelkel.

Citlalli's face claim is Sachi Tamashiro

It was pitch black and all Chloe could see were the wisps of dark red energy floating around her. Every now and then, blue lines cracked the black air, like something was fracturing.

In the real world, Chloe Winters was having the hardest time staying asleep. She tossed and turned in her bed.

The darkness felt like it was suffocating her…the energy kept whipping at her…the red growing stronger…the blue fading…

Chloe groaned in bed, squeezing her eyes shut.

The energy hit her once, then twice…

Chloe finally gasped awake and sat up, breathing heavily. She had the world's wickedest migraine. It truthfully felt like someone had been hitting her head with a brick. She didn't see the faint glow of blue lines on her face.

~ 0 ~

Seren Soul was fast asleep in her boyfriend's arms when she heard the light knock on the door. She didn't need to ask who it was, merely only checking the time to confirm what she already knew. She was careful untangling herself from Steve's arms so as to not wake him. He was a very light sleeper; a consequence of his soldier days.

Seren stepped out of her bedroom with a robe on and covered a yawn with her hand. "Coffee?" she sleepily asked, and Chloe nodded.

Half an hour later, the two women were sitting on stools at the kitchen, nursing warm mugs of coffee while Chloe relayed her latest 'dream'.

"Every time it feels way more real and less of a dream," Chloe said, flapping an arm on the side. "It really felt like I was getting hurt even though there's nothing on me!" She pulled her hair on the sides to reveal her temples and injury-free skin.

Seren nodded and drank from her mug. "And what does the hivemind say about all this?"

"It's weird," Chloe said, "They're in like disarray too. It's like…like they're being hurt too. Usually, the Animinds are very talkative."

"Well, duh, that's the point of having a Hive mind in your head, Chloe."

"Ha, ha, I know," said Chloe with a roll of her eyes. "It just feels like I'm not dreaming these things. I'm somewhere and this thing or whatever is hurting me for real."

"But there's no physical injuries?"

"Nope!"

"So maybe we're talking about something else…like, uh, I don't know, you're being harmed mentally?"

At this point, Chloe didn't know what to think. The dreams had been happening for weeks now, only when they first started it was just nightmares. Chloe was no stranger to nightmares, she could deal with him. But lately, the dreams had begun to feel slightly more real…like somewhere out there, something or someone was trying to attack her. And although she housed an entire alien hive mind inside her head, they were unable to tell her what was going on.

"I thought this surgery was supposed to correct all the crazy in me," she said glumly, propping her cheek on her palm. One year ago, she had a "life saving" surgery to help stabilize her connection to the Hive Mind and yet here she was suffering from strange dreams-that-are-not-dreams.

"It fixed the connection, but everything else was supposed to stay the same," Seren said, lowering her mug on the isle. "But I do think that the Animinds not telling you what's going on is a red flag. Maybe we can have Helen scan you and run some tests."

"Yeah, I think so," Chloe agreed and let out a heavy sigh. "Again, I'm sorry for waking you up this early."

"Don't worry about it." Seren would rather know exactly what was going on with Chloe than be blindsided again. "I was waiting for a call anyways."

Chloe snorted. "Really? It's the crack of dawn."

"It was Risa Taylor."

"Oh, that woman you worked two years with to expand the Avengers' Initiative back when S.H.I.E.L.D. was still a thing?"

"That's the one," Seren pointed. "Risha's gathering some intel within the CIA about Loki's scepter."

"Risha's in the CIA?" Chloe blinked.

"Yeah, remember? When my international team got shut down, Risha went directly for the CIA."

"Ah, like Sharon," Chloe nodded. "Are they friends?"

Seren shrugged. "I don't know. I don't exactly keep up with them, even if that is rude. I worked with Risha for two years but this last year has been...rough…"

Chloe snorted. "I'll say. Tony and Dr. Helen surgically adding an alien tech into my head to save my life, having to conduct a search for Bucky even though half the time I really wanna throw him off a building for running out on me," — Seren barely held her laugh,— "Putting together this makeshift of a team and taking command it, and searching for Loki's scepter. It's been a hell of a year."

"Yeah," Seren sighed tiredly. Maybe she could do with another hour of sleep.

"Go back to sleep, Seren, I'm sorry for waking you up," Chloe said.

"I don't think I'll be sleeping anymore but that's okay," Seren said, sliding off her stool. "You know you can always tell me."

Chloe thanked her and stayed back in the kitchen to drink the remaining coffee in her mug. Seren headed back to her bedroom to see if Steve had woken up already. He was still lying in bed when she stepped inside. She was only halfway through to the room when her tiptoes were cut short.

"You left…" said Steve in a raspy voice. A smile wormed its way across Seren's face as she climbed on the bed to her spot beside him.

"Chloe needed me," she said, sitting against the headboard. "Morning."

Steve looked up at her with a small smile. "Morning."

Seren lowered her mug to him, offering him some coffee. He was too lazy to get up so she had to near the rim of the mug to his lips. She giggled while he slurped the coffee. "You really couldn't get up?"

"If you were to lay down and see how warm it is, you'd understand," said Steve.

"You got me there," Seren shrugged and sipped what was left of her coffee.

"So, what's going on with Chloe?" Steve put a hand on her knee and began making lazy circles over her skin with his finger. "And why does she keep waking up my beautiful star at the crack of dawn?"

Seren playfully rolled her eyes. "Well, one, because we're both sure that Natasha sleeps with a taser under her pillow and neither one of us is willing to test the theory out. Two, she's having the dreams again."

"What were they about this time?"

"Same as before. Darkness, red energy…"

"And she can't see it clearly?"

"No, I think this is where that inhibitor is working," Seren said, though she hadn't said it out loud to Chloe yet. Time was, Chloe was sure that she did not want to see the future so blatantly and since she had the surgery, she got her wish. She could see the future at some points, but other things slipped away…like this one.

"Is it me or has Chloe been having more of these visions lately?"

"Definitely not you. She has been having more. But she's waking up with actual pain, like it was an attack."

"But that can't be. Nobody's been in the Tower. We would have known."

"Yeah," agreed Seren. "Which makes me wonder if we're not looking for a physical intruder then maybe we're looking for one that's knocking through mentally."

Steve looked up at her curiously. "You think someone's attacking her mind?"

Seren shrugged. "I don't know, I'm not an expert, but with the scepter out there…it wouldn't be that big of a stretch. I think it's something we need to start looking into."

"On top of everything else?" Steve smiled to himself. It seemed like their to-do list kept growing.

Seren read his thoughts. "I know. Maybe we can fit that in between 2 and 3 a.m?"

Steve let out a low chuckle. "Yeah."

"I guess I should tell you now that I'm heading to London sometime this week."

That piece of news got Steve to wake up completely. He sat up and took the mug out of her hands. "Excuse me?" He set the mug on the night stand by his side and gave her a faux stern look. "What are you doing?"

"I'm meeting with Risha, my old team member from the Initiative's expansion. She says she might have some leads on the scepter."

"I thought she worked for the CIA?" Steve remembered clearly each team member Seren had pulled into her assignment and Risha Taylor was an important one. The young woman had climbed up high enough for Seren to name her as second in command when Seren herself wasn't around.

"She does," Seren confirmed with a nod. "But she also knows about our long term mission and she decided to help us out."

"That's great. Did she tell you something in advance?"

"Just that she has some possible locations we can try out. She knows we've been tackling other HYDRA bases. Whether or not she has something concrete about the scepter, I will gladly accept the confirmed bases."

"Do you need any backup?"

Seren smiled and pinched his cheek. "Thanks, but I think I can manage a little turbulence on the flight. I'm a big girl."

Steve rolled his eyes playfully. "It's too early to be this funny, sweetheart."

Seren chuckled. "I'm going to be okay. It's just a simple meet and greet. Besides, I'd rather you stay here to keep a watch on the others."

"You're putting me on babysitting duty?"

"Who else than Captain America, right?"

Steve mimicked her cute grin then wrapped a hand around her leg and pulled her down flat on the bed. Seren yelped and laughed as he hovered over her smugly.

"Exactly how long are you going to be gone again?" he asked her and pressed a kiss on her cheek.

"Just a few days," Seren replied, humming cheerfully while Steve pressed a few kisses down her neck. "Don't miss me too much."

"Asking the impossible," Steve was quick to say and raised his head to meet her eyes—her beautiful, sparkling green eyes. "Why does it have to be all the way in London again?"

Seren laughed again. "You're so clingy!"

"Clingy? Excuse me?" Steve feigned offense. "All because I don't want to be away from you for so long?"

"Sometimes separating is inevitable, lovey," Seren said, rolling her eyes at him, though secretly she didn't like it very much either.

For months now, they had worked hard to catapult the idea of the Avengers. They had found Natasha, Thor, Clint and even Banner to make this team up. They officially moved into the Tower, and although it was tricky getting along with everyone all the time, things were working. They were finding HYDRA bases, building their strategies and their teamwork, essentially.

Seren loved the whole thing. The Avengers were taking form away from SHIELD. She was running it the way she wanted, and it did not have anything to do with the bureaucracy that SHIELD always had. And best of all, she was running it with Steve. They worked perfectly together; they were always in sync. They had similar ideas, similar opinions (most of the time). They were perfect.

But sometimes, their tasks and missions led them apart and while it was really nothing, it felt like a big deal separating. Perhaps it had to do with how much time they spent apart from each other before admitting their feelings and getting together. They were used to being around each other all the time so much that it was genuinely hard separating.

"You're right, but I still hate it," Steve said. "Why's she in London anyways? I don't understand why the conversation has to happen all the way over there?"

"Truthfully, me neither," Seren confessed. It was a long way from New York and just for a conversation, really. "But I guess work is work and we all have things to do. Besides," she lifted her head up enough to capture his lips in a kiss, "you have things to do as well. Any leads on Bucky?"

Steve groaned and shook his head. "Not really, no."

"Ah, well then you are definitely going to be training," Seren said, "I suggest you give Chloe a good run for her money. She needs distractions and she needs to keep pushing herself. Helen said she needs to train as much as she can to really adjust to the Hive Mind and the tech pieces."

"Yeah, I know," Steve said. "I'll make sure of it, I promise. So," he kissed her nose, "when do you have to leave?"

"Probably later today."

"So there's still a whole morning to be enjoyed," Steve said thoughtfully and with a growing smirk.

Seren chuckled but ultimately agreed with him. She welcomed all and any kiss he decided to leave on her body.

~ 0 ~

Chloe fell flat on her back on the ground and thanked God they had decided to pad down the floor because otherwise her head would've cracked open. She looked up with a heavy breath and saw Natasha grinning triumphantly down at her. She straightened her staff on her side and extended a hand down to Chloe.

"You don't have to rub it in," Chloe muttered and took Natasha's hand.

"I didn't say anything," Natasha said, still grinning. "Was it the Hive Mind who told you?"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "No, I actually don't need a Hive Mind to tell me how much you can gloat."

Natasha chuckled. "Oh, c'mon, I won fair and square."

"Like always!" Chloe grabbed her fallen staff on the floor and exhaled. "Seriously, whose dumb idea was it for me to train against the Black Widow?"

"Would you rather train against the God of thunder?" Natasha raised an eyebrow at her, knowing the answer fully well.

Chloe tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear and tightened up her ponytail. "Yeah, whatever. I know why you guys are doing this."

"Oh?" Natasha whipped her staff and Chloe jumped back, startled. "What do you think the reason is if not to whip your ass into shape? Just because you had head surgery doesn't mean you get a pass to be lazy."

Chloe smiled sourly at the redhead. "Ha, ha." She dropped her smile and struck her staff forwards, only for Natasha to smack it away with her own. "I know you guys want to keep me distracted from all my problems!"

"Like the creepy nightmares?" Natasha swung and Chloe dodged it by jumping to the side.

"I don't even think they're nightmares at this point!" Chloe rushed forwards and narrowly missed Natasha. She turned around, grinning at her close victory. "It's like I'm seeing something! But even the Hive Mind feels attacked!"

"Gotta be pretty powerful to attack both of you then," Natasha said, striking with her staff. It led into a close combat between the two for a few minutes. "What does the Hive Mind say about it?"

"I dunno…I haven't really asked them…"

Natasha stopped fighting altogether and raised an eyebrow at Chloe. "You haven't asked them? Chloe, seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you? The whole point of having the surgery was to have a better connection with the Hive Mind and you're still not using them?"

"It's hard, okay! Not to mention that it hurts me!"

"Of course it hurts! You haven't healed completely! But it's just like every other physical injury. You have to train and use it little by little to get used to it."

"I know!"

'Then act like it!" Natasha whacked her with the staff. "Now stand straight, we got a lot of work to do!"

~ 0 ~

The following day after Seren arrived in London, she met with her old team member, Risha Taylor in the latter's hotel. There, they would talk freely about Risha's findings.

"It's so good to see you," Seren said, giving the young woman a tight hug.

"I know!" Risha grinned. "I feel like it's been forever since we last saw each other. How are you doing now? I know you're leading the new Avengers now?"

Seren flushed as Risha gushed about the new team for a full minute. They sat down together on the couch and Seren explained briefly how the team was doing in its initial stages.

"You're a natural leader so I'm sure the team will be up to 110% in no time," Risha said. "But I know you want to get straight to the point so I'm gonna do just that."

"You said you had some leads to potential HYDRA bases?" Seren asked. Risha nodded and motioned to a few files on the coffee table in front of them. Seren blinked a couple times and then looked back at Risha. "You found all these on your own?"

Risha shook her head. "I've only been in the CIA for a few months but I've made some friends and I think you know one of them. Citlalli?"

Seren's eyebrows raised together in surprise. "You know Citlalli?"

Risha nodded. "She's the one training me. She knows what you guys are doing and she also knows that she's not exactly welcome at the Tower…"

Seren closed her eyes and sighed, now understanding why she had to travel all the way to London for this information. Ever since Citlalli helped Bucky escape and refused to tell them — mainly Steve — where the first stop had been, her relationship with them was strained. Steve wanted nothing to do with her.

Oh God…Seren knew she was screwed, so very…very screwed.

"Is everything okay?" Risha asked nervously. "You're not…you're not mad at me, are you?"

"No, Risha, I'm not," Seren opened her eyes and looked at the woman. "I just know this is not going to end well on my end."

"Because you guys don't like Citlalli and she got the information for you? Because I swear that it's all valid — she never misses!"

"No, I—I trust Citlalli. I trust her judgment and I know she does good work. Chloe knows that too. It's just…the problem is that Steve does not trust her. He's, uh, a bit against the bureaucracy behind the CIA, you know?"

Nobody knew that it had been Agent Del Rio who helped the Winter Soldier make his escape and if anyone ever found out, she would be arrested on the spot.

"Right, right," Risha nodded, "Um, well, do you want to look at the stuff she found?"

"Yes, absolutely," Seren said. Because no matter what they disagreed on, everyone agreed that there should be no HYDRA bases in existence and that is what she was going to tell Steve when she returned home.

~ 0 ~

Chloe sat cross-legged in the lounge for her guided meditation routine. She found that after the surgery to fuse both alien tech pieces inside her head, being fully connected to an alien Hive Mind could be overwhelming. Meditation helped here and there and since she kept having odd dreams, Chloe thought it could even help her decipher them.

It's not a matter of meditation but a matter of sitting and taking the dream apart.

Chloe's eyes opened. "They're all too much," she said simply and closed her eyes again. "I'm not taking apart hundreds of nightmares."

Then how do you expect to get better at deciphering them?

"With meditation, obviously. Can you go away now?"

Chloe, you are projecting your concerns to us. We are only here because you needed us.

Chloe scrunched her nose. Alright, that sounded about right. "I'm only concerned but there is only so much I can do."

Take the last dream apart.

Chloe sighed. "Okay." Giving up meditation for a moment, she got up from the floor and started to think about her latest dream.

It was all in darkness. There were no sun's, no lights whatsoever.

"That's melancholic which can only mean that it's something bad…" She reasoned with herself. She started paying back and forth in the living room. "And then the girl — there's a girl that has this red fire power or something. She's—"

How do you know there was a girl?

"What?" Chloe stopped.

You only saw darkness and red. How do you know there was a person there? And that it was a woman?

"Well…" Chloe thought back to the dream and everything that happened in it, which wasn't much. She did say there was darkness all the time and she still stood by it. There were no lights except for the red flames.

The Animinds were right. How did she know there was a girl in the darkness?

"I did see something real," she concluded with a small gasp. All this time she thought it was just fragments of dreams that she was seeing, but no. This was...like a premonition. A brief glimpse of the future.

"Who are these people?" She asked, and she sincerely hoped the Animinds had the answer. "Why am I seeing her now?"

You're the one on Earth. You tell us. Trust your feelings.

"Right now my feelings are telling me to stop talking to myself and go find someone." Chloe thought she sounded and looked like an idiot standing in the middle of the room having a full conversation with herself and a Hive Mind. It was a good thing she lived within the Tower where everyone knew of her situation.

What have you been doing this whole time, Chloe? Your missions. It could be related to that.

"My missions," Chloe smiled ruefully. "My missions aren't exactly going well. Bucky's still a no-show and we haven't found the scepter."

That's not the case for your other missions.

Chloe sighed. "You think this has to do with Hydra, then?"

Do you think so?

Chloe didn't think twice in nodding her head. Sometimes, as much as she preferred not to be able to see into the future, it was helpful insights. Now she knew that Hydra was planning on something.

~0~

Seren hated being away from Steve, but she loved the way he would welcome her back. He had pepper-kissed her entire face, given her dozens of bone-crushing hugs, and repeated how much he missed her. Usually she would be over the moon about these moments but today was a different story.

And soon Steve caught onto it.

"Did something bad happen in London?" was his first guess.

Seren deliberated with her words but she knew that no matter how much she thought about it, it still wouldn't be good enough. "I, uh, met with Risha and she had several potential places we could search through."

"That's great!" Steve said, confused. "Why are you not more excited?"

"Well, because…uh…Risha didn't exactly find them herself…"

"What do you mean?"

Seren had thought about her choices before landing. The obvious one was to lie and tell Steve that Risha had found everything. Even Risha herself suggested it. But the idea of lying to Steve was just too hard for Seren. She hated it, for a lack of better words. They were always honest with each other. It was their promise. After being lied to so many times in their lives, neither one wanted it to taint their relationship. They were the only ones they could 110% trust in and Seren didn't want to jeopardize it for any reason.

"Seren?" Steve was still waiting for her to respond. He was growing more concerned than confused at this point. "Hey, what is it?"

Seren took in a deep breath, willing herself to just go for it and answer in one clean go. "It turns out that Risha didn't find the information. Citlalli gave it to her so she could give it to us."

"Del Rio? She planned this?" Already the anger was filling Steve's eyes.

"She didn't 'plan it', Steve. It's not an evil plan or something. She knew how you would react if she came anywhere near the Tower so she had Risha do it. And truthfully I can't really blame her because look at you!"

Steve couldn't deny the heavy annoyance it gave him to know that Citlalli was trying to help them out when she wouldn't assist them in an even bigger mission. "I respect her work but you can't expect me to like her, not when she hasn't told us about Bucky."

"Well if you respect her and her work, then you know that this information can be very valuable to us."

"I don't think we should be using any of her work unless she herself comes here and faces us!"

"For what? So you can yell at her?"

"I wouldn't yell!"

"You're yelling right now!"

"How can we trust her when she won't even face us?" Steve asked, leaving Seren silent for a moment. He meant every word he said. He respected Citlalli and her work and her morals, but the fact that she had not come even once to give them an explanation about Bucky left a lot to say.

"Uh, what's going on…?" Chloe appeared at the doorway and, worse, with Natasha and Tony behind her.

"Trouble in paradise?" Tony joked and sauntered into the living room casually.

"Not now, Stark," warned Steve, shaking his head. The last thing he needed was an audience.

Unfortunately, for the first time it seemed like Seren disagreed. "I have information on some potential hydra bases and Steve doesn't want to use it because it came from Citlalli, not Risha."

"Del Rio's helping us now?" Tony bobbed his head thoughtfully. "I thought she hated us."

"Get off it, Tony," Chloe rolled her eyes. "She does not hate us!"

"Right, Rogers does," Natasha pointed at Steve, amused.

Seren thought they were all just making it worse. "Nobody hates anyone here. We're just a little confused and maybe mad…" She made a pass at Steve. "But nobody hates anyone."

"I don't understand, how did Citlalli get Risha to give you the information?" Chloe asked.

"Apparently, they work together," Seren said, "And Citlalli knew she wasn't welcomed here so she got Risha to give me the stuff."

"And is it viable?" asked Natasha.

"I went through it with her and on my own. I think it is," Seren nodded. Steve scoffed. "Steve, you're just mad that Citlalli hasn't told us where she helped Bucky get to but let me remind you that all she did was give Bucky his first stop."

"It doesn't matter!" Steve exclaimed. "Any new information could help!"

"I'm not going to let this opportunity pass us by because you can't set your differences aside with Citlalli!"

"What do you mean?"

Seren straightened up and gathered enough courage to face Steve without messing it up. "We have potential bases that we can take down and I am going there with anyone else who wants to come along. I am going to vet them and then anyone who wants to come with me can. Anyone who wants to stay here is totally fine. They can be backup."

To say that Steve was floored would be a huge understatement. He stared at Seren silently for a long moment. They had never been on such opposite sides for anything.

Chloe, Natasha and Tony were just as surprised as them. They exchanged glances with each other, their silent expressions asking each other if this was really happening.

Seren soon looked over at them and gave them the floor for their respective answers.

"I'm in," Natasha said without a moment's thought. "It's the logical thing to do."

Tony doddled with his answer for a moment. "Mm, I might be with Rogers on this one."

Seren was startled, as were the rest. It wasn't every day that Tony and Steve agreed on something.

"O...kay…" Seren cleared her throat, "Sure. Fine. You and Steve can stay here while Natasha and I, and anyone else who happens to agree, follow through when I have a viable list of bases."

"I'll go," Chloe said as well. Seren nodded at her and started heading off.

"Seren," Steve tried calling but Seren dismissed him with a hand and disappeared.

"Hell must be freezing over right now," Tony didn't waste a minute after to start teasing.

Natasha's smirk, while temporary, was seen by Steve. Chloe was the only one who let out a tired sigh.

"I'm just saying…" Tony shrugged, apparently taking the silence as a 'go' sign to keep talking.

"No, you're not saying anything." Chloe thought it better if everyone just stayed silent on this matter.

"I don't need any of your comments, Tony," Steve said, intending on leaving when Tony called again.

"Hey, I just sided with you, remember that?"

"Yeah, I didn't ask you to!"

"I know, but I actually thought you were making some good points." Tony's words left the trio dumbfounded for a couple seconds. He rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know, it's weird, but it is what it is."

"I don't know why it's such a big deal," Chloe admitted. "Whatever problems there are against Citlalli, she's not an enemy." She herself had learned to redirect her anger from Citlalli to Bucky Barnes himself. At first, she'd been so upset with Citlalli for helping Bucky despite him leaving her behind but a little voice in the back of Chloe's head reminded her that despite everything, Bucky needed to leave the city. Citlalli had done what she always did. At the end of the day, Bucky was the one who sought Citlalli on his own.

"It's her past choices that I look at, Chloe," Steve said, throwing the blonde a sharp glance.

"This is Hydra we're talking about. Citlalli knows the danger they pose and she helped out."

"I'm with Seren and Chloe," Natasha nodded. "Whatever bases she can point out, we should take it with gratitude."

"So nobody's bothered by the fact we don't know if these places are even real?" Steve incredulously looked between Chloe and Natasha.

Natasha gave a light shrug of her shoulders. "Isn't that why we bust in?"

Steve wasn't amused with her answer.

"Not to mention why we dutifully vet them before we go in," Natasha said.

"Okay," Chloe started when she could genuinely feel the tension in the air, "I think the conversation has reached an end."

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly," Steve muttered and left the room.

A/N:

Trouble in paradise already, yikes! Just to be more clear, this is about a 1 year (maybe 1 year and half before the Ultron plot). Truthfully, the timelines oc the mcu suck...terribly.

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