The house is in a smaller neighborhood, with neat condos and houses around it, all with trimmed, small front yards. They walk up the stairs to the porch. It's nice.

"Wonder how much this place costs," Kate mutters. Steve just shrugs and knocks on the door.

A few moments later, the blinds covering the window in the door go up, and Sam is standing there. Kate suppresses a sigh, wondering how much matchmaking she'll have to endure. He opens the door, looks at all three of them. "Hey."

"I'm sorry about this," Steve says. "We need a place to lay low."

"Everyone we know is trying to kill us," Nat adds. Kate just nods.

Sam hesitates a moment, studying them, thinking. Then, he opens the door wider. "Not everyone." Steve walks in first, then Kate, then Nat. Sam closes the door and drops the blinds again. "What do you need?"

"A shower," Nat replies.

"Ibuprofen," Kate adds. "And food."

He chuckles. "Shower's down the hall to the left."

"Cool, thanks. I'm going first," Nat declares, and Kate sighs.

"Towels are in the closet outside the door." He looks at Kate. "You should probably eat before you take that ibuprofen. I'll get breakfast going."

"Thanks," she mumbles, and he nods, heading into the kitchen.

Nat takes a quick shower, then Kate does, both discarding their dirty hoodies. Steve washes up in the sink while Nat and Kate sit on the bed, Nat drying her hair with a towel. Kate twists hers in her hands, the orange darker than it usually is.

"You okay?" Steve asks, walking in.

"Yeah," Nat lies. Kate only shrugs, dropping her hair.

Steve's brows furrow in concern, and he sits down in a chair across from them both. "What's going on?"

Nobody answers, and Kate turns back to Nat, getting a glimpse of Steve's expectant face. "Your turn to share. We're listening."

Nat sighs. "When I first joined SHIELD, I thought I was going straight... But I guess I just traded in the KGB for HYDRA. I thought I knew whose lies I was telling, but... I guess I can't tell the difference anymore."

Steve nods. "There's a chance you might be in the wrong business."

Nat snorts lightly, the sound mirthless. "I owe you."

"It's okay."

"If it was the other way around, and it was down to me to save your life — now you be honest with me — would you trust me to do it?"

"I would now," he replies. "And I'm always honest."

Kate scoffs. "I've heard some lies that would beg to differ."

"Nobody asked you, Kate," Steve jokes, shoving her shoulder.

"You seem pretty chipper for someone who just found out they died for nothing," Nat points out.

"Well, I guess I just like to know who I'm fighting." Steve shrugs. Then, he turns. "Kate?"

She sighs. "I thought I'd gotten out of it. I've shared too much with you people already."

"Not me."

She hesitates. But Nat shared, and he knows part of the background anyway. And he's shared a lot with her in the past year. "Remember when I told you... kinda why I joined SHIELD?" she asks, looking down, fiddling with her fingers.

He nods. "Yeah."

She considers a moment, then Nat squeezes her hand. Kate closes her eyes, getting it out there. Ripping off the bandaid. He deserves to know, after everything he's told her. "I... got this way in a lab accident. I was trying to fireproof something, and I screwed up." She takes a deep breath, her hand briefly going to that scar on the left side of her face. Nat still holds her other hand. "I didn't know what to do with myself, what I could do. Fury found about it and gave me a shot. It was to use my... power, yes, but it was something better than what I was facing, trying to figure it out alone. This organization is my life. And then to know some of things I've done — maybe everything I've done — has helped HYDRA, an enemy I've always hated, thought was gone..."

"You didn't know," Steve assures her, laying his hand on hers. "No one can blame you for that."

Sam walks in, knocking on the door frame. "I made breakfast. If you guys... eat that sort of thing."

Kate takes a breath, putting it all away. "Pancakes?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"I don't like 'ma'am.'"

"Sorry... Dr. Carson."

"Better," she says with a smile, getting up. Steve laughs behind her.

They all sit at Sam's kitchen table, eating pancakes and bacon and eggs. He even offers them cereal, which they all decline. They eat while filling Sam in on everything, then discuss.

"So, the question is: who in SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?" Nat asks, pacing back and forth.

Kate sighs. "Pierce." He's basically half a step below Fury, if that.

"Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world."

"But he's not working alone," Steve points out. "Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star."

"So was Jasper Sitwell."

It goes quiet, and then Steve sighs. "So, the real question is: how do the three most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?"

Sam grabs a file and some pictures, slaps them down in front of Steve. "The answer is: you don't."

"What's this?" Steve asks. Kate leans forward, avoiding her nearly-gone stack of pancakes.

"Call it a resume."

Nat picks it up before Kate can see anything more than a picture of two people. "Is this Bakhmala?" Nat asks. "The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you? You didn't say he was a para-rescue."

Steve takes the picture back. "Is this Riley?"

"Yeah," Sam replies.

Kate swallows a bite of pancakes. "Where's he?" They can use all the help they can get.

"Uh... not here anymore," Sam replies with a frown.

Kate's eyes widen. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay."

Nat thankfully continues on. "I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use, a stealth chute?"

"No. These." He picks up the file itself, then passes it to Steve, who opens it.

"I thought you said you were a pilot."

Sam smiles. "I never said pilot."

Kate gets up, walking over to get a better look. It's a picture of Sam wearing actual wings — mechanical, probably military constructed, like what Icarus should've built if he wanted to go higher. And had the technology. "Oh, my stars, I need one of these." It would definitely save her from having to use parachutes — or not — again.

Steve shakes his head. "I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason."

"Dude, Captain America needs my help," Sam insists. "There's no better reason to get back in."

"Can't argue with that," Kate adds.

Steve sighs. "Alright, then, where can we get our hands on one of these things?"

"The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall," Sam replies.

Steve nods, glances at Kate and Nat. "Shouldn't be a problem."

"Don't look at me," Kate says, going back to her pancakes. "Unless you wanna wait a while."

Nat sighs. "Then I'll go alone. Finish your pancakes, Carson. I'll be back soon."

Kate looks at Sam as she leaves. "Hey, can I have that ibuprofen now?"

"Yeah, of course. We'll definitely need the Flame on our team." He grabs the bottle from a drawer, then smiles at Kate as he passes it to her. "So, what do you think? I wasn't lying when I said I was a pretty good cook, huh?"

Kate breathes through the knot in her chest, opening the bottle. "These made from scratch?"

"Yes, m- Kate."

"Then, I guess you weren't lying." She downs a couple pills with her orange juice, then continues eating, grateful when Steve and Sam start talking over the file.

~_~_~_~_~

Nat and Kate wait on the roof, Nat pointing a gun at Sitwell on the ground, the laser on his chest. She picked up a few more things when she went to get Sam's wings.

Sitwell does as Sam asks via phone, going to Steve, then Sam gets up to get in position. Steve soon throws Sitwell through the rooftop door, banging it open. "Tell me about Zola's algorithm," he demands.

Sitwell backs up as soon as he's on his feet, putting his fallen glasses back on. "Never heard of it."

"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?"

"I was throwing up; I get seasick."

He hits the edge of the roof as Kate and Nat follow behind Steve. He catches Sitwell and holds him there.

Sitwell asks, "Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're gonna throw me off the roof? 'Cause it's really not your style, Rogers."

"You're right. It's not," Steve admits, letting go of Sitwell, straightening his jacket. "It's hers."

He steps to the side, then Nat kicks Sitwell in the chest, knocking him off the roof. She turns to Steve, talking over the screams. "Oh, what about that girl from accounting — La-Laura...?"

"Lillian," Steve corrects. "Lip piercing, right?"

"Yeah, she's cute."

"Yeah. I'm not ready for that."

"Don't be so close-minded, Cap," Kate chides.

"Says you."

"Me?"

"Won't give Nat and I's advice a chance," Steve replies as Sam flies up with a still-screaming Sitwell and tosses him back onto the roof.

Steve, Kate, and Nat walk over to where he fell, and he starts talking immediately. "Zola's algorithm is a program..." he takes a breath "... for choosing Insight's targets!"

"What targets?" Kate asks.

"You!" Sitwell replies. He points at Steve. Him! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Under Secretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa city, Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA! Now, or in the future."

"The future? How could it know?"

He laughs, getting up. "How could it not? The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it. Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, e-mails, phone calls, even your SAT scores. Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future."

"And what then?" Steve asks.

"Pierce is gonna kill me," Sitwell mutters, causing Sam to walk over to him again, ready to toss him off the building.

"What then?!"

"Then the Insight helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time."

~_~_~_~_~

They immediately load Sitwell in Sam's car, driving back to SHIELD — or HYDRA or whatever it is now — going to stop all this from happening. The thought of it makes Kate sick, but also ready to fight. They can't let this happen. Maybe it's just the four of them, but they have to prevent this, no matter the cost.

"HYDRA doesn't like leaks," Sitwell says, regrettably sitting beside Kate in the backseat. Nat is on her other side. Sitwell refused to sit in the middle, claiming he gets carsick, too, and Kate wasn't going to waste time arguing with him.

Sam glances in the rearview mirror. "Then why don't you try sticking a cork in it?"

Nat leans forward. "Insight's launching in sixteen hours; we're cutting it a little close here."

"I know," Steve replies. "We'll use him-" meaning Sitwell "-to bypass the DNA scans and access the Helicarriers directly."

"What?! Are you crazy?! That is a terrible, terrible idea," Sitwell protests.

Before anyone can tell him to shut up, there's a thud on top of the car, then a hand smashes through the window and grabs him, throwing him out of the car and onto the other side of the highway.

Nat shoves Kate into the floor and slides into the passenger seat as a shot enters the car from the roof, then another. She pulls Steve's head forward as a shot goes off, then Sam moves his head as another does. Four shots — two in the back, two in the front. Four targets. Four misses.

Sam slams on the brakes, throwing the man off the car. Kate sits up enough to see a glint of metal — a metal arm.

The Winter Soldier.

He slides back, metal fingers digging into the road to stop himself. He gets to his feet, stands there. His entire face is covered by a mask. Kate starts to heat up, and Nat aims her gun, but then a car crashes into the back of them. Glass breaks, Kate's forehead slams into the console. "Goodness gracious great balls of fire," she mutters, holding her forehead. The car behind them doesn't stop driving, pushing them towards the Winter Soldier. He jumps over the car and lands on the top.

Sam slams on the brakes again while Nat twists, trying to get something out of the floor. Kate rubs her forehead. She's fairly certain she doesn't have a concussion, but she can barely think about it as the Winter Soldier's hand bursts through the windshield and rips out the steering wheel.

"Crap!" Sam shouts.

"Get me out of this car!" Kate screams. Nat starts firing at the ceiling. The car is still going, Sam unable to do anything about its direction as it hits the edge of the roadway.

Steve lifts his shield, and Kate knows something is about to happen — possibly something she's going to hate. "Kate, get in the front, now!" Kate scrambles into the front seat, on top of the center console. "Hang on!" Steve shouts. His arm goes across Kate, grabs Sam's shoulder, and then he slams into the passenger side door, removing it from the car. Kate hangs onto Nat and Sam for dear life as the door skids across the road and the car flips away from them.

Sam rolls off of the door, slipping out of Kate's grip, and Kate soon goes with him, tucking her arms in. When she finally stops, sure she has road burn, she mutters, "Every single time I do any sort of mission with Captain America."

A army-type jeep parks in front of them, someone gets out of the back with a rocket gun, and the Winter Soldier takes it. He fires at Nat and Steve, the latter pushing Nat away before holding up his shield. The shot hits, blasting him entirely off the highway.

"Steve!" Kate shouts, but Sam holds her back, pulling her behind a car.

"Just stay quiet. We don't need to attract that dude's attention."

"That's my friend! He's not just gonna kill my friend!" He's already killed Fury.

"He's Captain America, I'm sure he's fine."

Sam's probably right, but Kate can't say anything else anyway; shots ring out, hitting the car shielding them. Sam moves to a more covered spot, taking Kate with him. Nat moves in front of them, ducking behind another car. The back windshield in front of Kate and Sam shatters, so Sam runs further back, but Kate moves to the side, in between the car and the edge of the roadway, wishing she was immune to bullets instead of fire.

Nat starts shooting, and the Winter Soldier shoots back at her, forcing her to jump over the median. They fire at her as she rolls, goes over a car, runs. When she gets behind one, the Winter Soldier shoots it, and Kate can see her jump off the highway, shooting a grappling hook. Her anger, somehow, increases. If there weren't so many guys with him...

He changes guns, walks towards the edge of the highway. Shots ring out from below him, and one hits. Definitely Nat. He yanks his busted goggles off, then gets up again, shooting below. Kate takes the opportunity to shoot a fireball at his back as Nat exchanges fire. His armor doesn't catch fire, but he stumbles forward before turning around, looking for the source. She hides again, ducking. Breathing. Waiting.

She spots a light pole near the edge of the roadway, leading to the ground.

She runs for it.