"You are a bloody idiot, Barnes, do you know that?"

Steve moved slowly to stand between Peggy and Bucky, his eyes keenly watching the weapon that she still held in her hands.

"I sent her with you so that you could look after her, not let her run off on her own! Now we have no way to find her, and for all we know she could be dead!"

"Peg, calm down," Steve sighed with his hands in front of him, doing his best to distract her from his friend. "She's not dead."

"No, I will not calm down! She may have the same strength as you, Steve, but that doesn't make either of you infallible. It makes the both of you more stupid than ever!"

"Thanks for the confidence, but could you maybe put the gun down just a little?"

Peggy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before slowly releasing it and opening them again to look at Steve and Bucky with a cool resolve. "Alright, listen to me. We push forward; we can't afford to stop now when we are so close to winning and taking this monster down. I suppose that I...we...have to trust that she will find her own way."

~~~

Little did Peggy know, but Steve was right that day; you were alive. After the loss of both Steve and Bucky, she believed that you had to be dead as well and had given up all hope of finding you. With the war finally over, she didn't know what her life would be like now, and the days were with filled with questions that couldn't be answered and regrets that she wouldn't likely forget any time soon.

"Another, please." She held up her empty glass to the bartender, knowing that more alcohol would do nothing to make her feel better, but it didn't mean she would stop trying.

"Here you go, ma'am. It's been covered."

Her head snapped up and she looked at him with confusion, "what do you mean?"

He simply pointed to a small table on the other side of the bar. She turned and looked, only to gasp at who she saw. Her face paled as if she were looking at a ghost from her past.

"(Y/N)?"

"Hey, Peg. Long time, no see." You grabbed your own drink and made your way to her, not sure of how this reunion would go given that you were there to recruit her for a mission that she was likely to ask you to sit out of so she wouldn't lose you again.

"Oh my god, I thought you were dead," she sighed as she pulled you into an embrace. After a moment she pulled back, still holding your shoulders and looking at you with trepidation. "We lost them both," she whispered, her voice cracking slightly, "did you know?"

"Only recently," you nodded and looked to the floor, "I'm not sure if I believe it though, to be honest. I've seen some things that lead me to think otherwise." You took a seat next to her and considered your words before you spoke again.

"I'm not a mind-reader, (Y/N). Tell me what you saw."

"Hydra is still out there," you paused, taking down the rest of your drink with one swallow, setting the glass down heavily on the bar. "And I need you to help me stop them."

~~~

After a month of collecting as much data as she could find, dodging Army security blocks and sneaking into offices that would have her immediately arrested if she were found inside, Peggy had finally found the location of a base that was believed to be Hydra's; it was where you had heard Bucky's voice, leading you inside. It was where they had held you for months after you tried to reach him, slowly pulling information from your mind and leaving only blank spaces behind that they filled with the directive that you were now following.

Convince Agent Carter to follow you in.

"You ready? I'll go in first, wait for my signal."

"What? No," she argued, "we go in together like we agreed. We only have one shot to get this right, and everyone's ready."

"I should go in first and be sure we have a clear window. Minimize the risk."

"We go in together, or not at all." Peggy pushed past you and to the large metal door. She put a small explosive at the handle and activated the timer, stepping back to grab you by the arm and lead you away. The ensuing explosion was enough to crack the lock but not enough to cause a commotion inside.

As she held your arm and stood so close to you, you felt some remorse at leading her towards her capture. The memories of her as your best friend were gone, but you knew that she had meant something to you in the past. The smell of her perfume struck a cord in you but you couldn't place it, and it began to frustrate you. She was nothing more than your mission, and this kind of response had never been a problem before.

"Alright then, in we go." You pulled your arm away and made it a point to avoid close contact with her again. "Stay behind me."

"I will do no such thing."

"Have you always been this damn frustrating, Carter?"

She glanced at you from a step ahead of you, "you know that I have, (Y/N)."

When you entered, the facility was dark, making it hard to see what was ahead, but you knew that the ambush was only moments away, and you would take the upper hand. Pangs of regret kept hitting you the closer you got to your mark, and it was getting harder to shake them.

'(Y/N), don't let them in. You have to fight it!'

You stopped and shook your head at the sound of Bucky's voice playing over and over. Peggy turned and hurried to your side, grabbing your arm as you held your head in your hands and the searing pain began to grow.

"(Y/N), are you alright? Tell me, what's happening?"

"Peg, you've gotta get out of here," you gasped. "You need to go now."

She looked around the small team, confused at what was happening. "(Y/N), what are you talking about? You're not making sense."

"Peggy, please go, it's a trap. I brought you into a trap. Go!"

The lights came on, a bright light that stung your eyes and disoriented the team. Peggy released your arm to hold her gun in front of her, standing defensively in front of you as a shield. "I'm not leaving. Not without you."

Frustrated that she wasn't listening to you, you leapt forward and pushed her down from behind, grabbing her gun when it flew from her hand. She slowly rose to her feet and watched you point her own gun at her, your weapon aimed towards the group only a few feet behind.

"Grab her," you demanded. "I want you to grab her and take her away. Don't come back for me, that's an order." You could hear the Hydra troops approaching fast, and your anxiety began to grow. "Now!"

Despite her yells for them to stop and the thrashing arms and legs, they were able to get her to safety as the Hydra troops arrived to see you standing in the room alone. "You have failed, (Y/N)," came a deep voice, filling the room. "You have been warned of the consequences, and insolence will not be tolerated. Take her."

~~~ (Present day) ~~~

"So, what you're telling me is that Hydra really sticks to what they know."

"Yes, sir. It would appear that she's been in a cryogenic freeze for approximately 70 years. We couldn't find any information as to why, or as to what their plans were for removal."

Fury slowly walked around your cryo tube, pausing at the window to study your face. "Do we have any SHIELD intel on her? Anything found at the site?"

"Only these." The agent lifted a small black case from the floor and opened it slowly, revealing two thin cylinders that looked like handles. "Stand back, sir." He lifted them from the box and gave them a firm snap of the wrist; a loud whoosh of metal and an electric buzzing followed. Fury took a small step back away from the razor sharp blades that appeared from them.

"Vibranium, sir."

"Well, I think we might have stumbled upon someone very dangerous," he whispered, again looking at you. "So what are we waiting for? Let's wake her up and find out what we've got."

Part 2

"Alright, everyone, stay alert." Fury ordered, standing well back from your cryo tube with his weapon drawn, along with the other SHIELD agents that surrounded you.

"Sir, we have her weapons. Is this really necessary?"

Fury looked at Hill as if she had asked him the most ridiculous question he had ever heard. If you were held like this by HYDRA for so long, you had to be a serious threat and you had to have a purpose for this future time. "Agent Hill, until I know exactly what we're dealing with, this is how we will proceed. I'm not above using lethal force."

"Yes, sir."

Steam escaped from the pod when the scientist in the white lab coat completed entering the commands to open it. Nick didn't realize he was holding his breath until the front of the tube opened quickly and he could actually see all of your form. He could tell immediately that you had been enhanced, much like Steve; he tightened the grip on his gun as he watched you slowly open your eyes and take a harsh breath of fresh air.

"Ma'am, can you tell us your name?"

You looked at him and then around the room at the people with weapons held in your direction. You didn't recognize any of them or the surroundings. They looked nothing like the building you were held in the last time you were awake. A shine caught your eye; just to your left on a table were your swords, being examined by another man in a lab coat. No one was allowed to handle those.

"Ma'am, do you know who you are?"

"Of course I do," you whispered, still staring at the man who was studying your weapons. "Step away from those," you warned.

He looked up at you then to Fury, not sure if he should do as you commanded or if he should continue. "Sir?"

"I told you to step away," you repeated, your tone more menacing than before. "I don't want to hurt you." It was true, you didn't; this man wasn't one of your targets, and you never agreed with collateral damage despite HYDRA's beliefs that innocents didn't matter. When he didn't move fast enough, you extended your hands towards your swords, bringing them through the air to you and into your firm grasp, fully extending the slim blades.

"Put them down," Fury said, but his words were diminished by the sound of arming weapons and quiet commands through the group. "Please."

You closed your eyes for a moment, silently assessing your strength after the long years of sleep. You felt strong enough to get out, but you weren't sure of your stamina. There was only one way to find out. You opened your eyes slowly and looked at Nick, tightening the grip on your swords.

When Nick looked at you this time, your eyes were glowing an angry green, not unlike another green that he was all too familiar with. He was caught off guard; just long enough for you to build an energy field around yourself and run, deflecting any bullet that connected with it. He tried to chase after you, but your enhanced speed was no match for him. There was only one person who could have a shot at catching you.

"Hill, make the call."

~~~

Steve carefully inspected the tube that had held you for so many years, hoping for any clue that might tell him who you were and why you had been held frozen by HYDRA for so long. Bruce was having no better luck, entering codes and trying any command he could think of to get information from it. Given the history that Bucky had with HYDRA and how his mission had been to kill Steve, they weren't about to take any chances without as much information as possible.

"Cap, take a look at this," Fury summoned, "most of this casing has been damaged, and I can't make out what it says, but is there anything familiar to you in it?"

"Zola," he whispered. Steve took a step back and crossed his arms, over his chest, frustrated that he couldn't read what else had been carved into the site of the old metal cylinder. "I'm getting a little tired of this guy showing up all the time. I'm gonna need to see everything you have from those old SSR files you recovered. There has to be something in there."

He turned to leave the room so that he could call Bucky to come in and help sort out all of the information, hoping that he might have more insight into it. As he reached the door, he turned back and paused at a flash of thought that crossed his mind; 'she has two Vibranium swords'. "How the hell does all this fit together?" he whispered to himself.

"Fury, I'm gonna need to see the video from her escape."

~~~

Steve never got the chance to put the pieces together. He was just about to lay the information about you out in front of him to begin when Fury ran by, frantically calling out to him.

"Rogers, we got her, but she's in the tower! We gotta move!"

When the pair arrived with a long line of agents behind them, they met one of the tower guards at the front entrance, waiting for an ambulance to arrive; his arm was bleeding and his partner was lying motionless just inside the entry. "Sir, she's after Mr. Barnes. She ran in, but when we tried to stop her..."

"Go," Fury told Steve, grabbing the guard and directing him to one of the vehicles. Steve bolted through the doors and ran up the stairs as fast as he could to get his shield, watching for any signs of movement and listening for any sound that could tell him where you were.

"Cap, talk to me, what are you seeing?"

"Nothing so far," Steve whispered to Nick, "don't bring anyone in yet. Wait for my signal."

Steve moved silently through the common room and into the lounge, making his way to the lab where Tony should have been. The door opened, but no one was there. He moved down the stairs to the robotics lab, and again, no one to be found. The gym and locker room proved empty as well.

"Fury, no one's here so far. Have you seen anything from your location?"

"No, nothing...wait..." Nick's attention was grabbed at the loud scraping sound of one of Tony's suits, sliding across the hangar bay floor and falling over the side of the building. It crashed to the ground and smashed into pieces, but thankfully Tony wasn't inside. "They're in the hangar!" he yelled and stormed into the building with his team.

Steve broke into a sprint up the stairs to reach them as fast as he could, hoping that he would get there in time to help before anyone was seriously hurt or worse. He was stopped cold when the door opened and he saw his team held captive, standing in front of Bucky to protect him.

"Steve, stay back," Natasha warned. "Those swords..."

"Are Vibranium. I know," he sighed, squaring his shoulders and setting his jaw, ready to fight. "But so is this." He held his shield up and charged ahead towards you.

You crossed your swords in front of you to deflect his shield and pushed him back onto the ground. He kept the movement going and rolled backwards to push himself back to standing. You brought your weapons down to your sides and turned them in your hands, taking care to watch his every move.

"She's an enhanced too, if you didn't figure that out."

"Thanks, Stark, I picked up on that."

"No, Steve, I don't think that you do-"

The Captain pitched his shield to bounce from the wall and to you, but you were able to anticipate this; you pulled away the hood that covered your face, allowing you to create a force field to deflect the shield back to him. "You're Steve Rogers," you said with an even tone, not even phased by his efforts. "I've come for you too."

Nick and his team burst into the room with their weapons drawn, but both Steve and Bucky jumped forward, holding their hands out and blocking their view of you. "What are you doing?" Fury asked, "we need to neutralize her."

"No," Steve panted, "no, don't. We know her." He glanced at Bucky then to you, both men now standing in front of you with their hands up in an attempt to dissuade you from your attack. "(Y/N), don't you remember us? Steve and Bucky? We were friends...and Peggy."

"Honey, they took you from us, they took your memories. They did the same to me, okay? They gave me this." Bucky took a few steps towards you and turned his metal arm so that you could see it. "They're wrong, (Y/N). Everything about HYDRA is wrong."

They were confusing you; their words didn't make sense, but made sense all at the same time. When they said their names there was a sharp pain in your head that wouldn't let go. "I don't know you," you whispered. You brought your swords in front of you and dropped back into an attack stance. "You're my mission."

You charged forward at the two, but they were able to just barely evade the tips of your weapons every time you came close. Each time one connected with its Vibranium counterpart in Steve's hands, the sound resonated through the hangar loud enough to hurt everyone's ears.

Steve pushed forward, knocking you back several times, but you quickly recovered without effort. He threw his shield again, this time successful in knocking one sword from your hand, hurrying forward to distract you from trying to retrieve it. You stood again and he kept pushing you back and away from his team; he had a determined burst of energy and kept the upper hand as he attacked. Each time you recovered, he was there again. You tried to slice at his legs but he jumped onto a table and onto your back, pulling you down and knocking your other sword away.

He was trying to secure your legs with his own and had one of your arms pinned. You thrust your head back into his face and shocked him enough to free your other arm, attempting to summon your weapons but he kept trying to pull them down. Pushing with your legs you were able to flip yourself over so that you were on top of Steve, now facing him. He stared at you for a moment, trying to see into your eyes and to see who you were now.

"Stop it," you growled, pushing up and away before he could grab you again. You stumbled back a bit and he took the opportunity to grab you from behind, pinning your arms at your sides. You swung your head back again but he was able to anticipate and deflect from it. Pushing back as hard as you could, you tried to spin him around, but you felt your feet slip, your ankle hit something, and then...nothing.

"Steve!"

You heard a loud group of voices yelling his name as the two of you went over the side of the launch pad and off the side of the tower.

Part 3

"Shit! Steve, hold on!" Tony yelled over the side of the hangar, seeing him hanging by one hand with you grasped tightly in the other. There was nothing below you other than the hard and unforgiving ground over a thousand feet down.

"You say it like there's another option, Stark!"

"Drop me, Steve," you yelled up to him, "It's okay! This isn't my life, you said so yourself! I'm expendable!"

"Are you insane? There's no way in hell that I'm letting you go!"

You tried to wiggle your hand away from his, but his grip was too strong, even for you. "As much as I know that it's my mission to kill you, I also know somehow that I can't let you risk yourself for me! Drop me!"

You could see the struggle in Steve's face as he held you and tried to keep his fingers locked on the railing, but he began to feel a slight slip in them. "Stark! Where are you? Anytime now!"

"Why are you so stubborn?" You reached down with your free hand and pulled a small knife from your boot. "Peg was right! You've always been a pain in the ass, Rogers!" Taking aim, you threw the knife and connected with his forearm above the hand that held you.

Steve's eyes widened at the realization of what you had just said at the exact moment that your knife sunk into the muscles of his arm, forcing him to release you.

"(Y/N)!"

It was amazing how it felt like time had slowed down as you fell, watching Steve try to reach for you and yelling your name. Even as you fell at remarkable speed, the wind felt gentle at your back and the stories of the building passed by slowly. Surely you should have reached the ground by now? You didn't want the look on Steve's face to be the last thing you would see, so you closed your eyes to prepare for your final moment, but they shot open again when two metal arms wrapped around you and flew you back to safety.

~~~

Your body had barely hit the floor where Tony dropped you before Steve was unloading his rage at you. Of course, someone had the presence of mind to lock up your weapons during the whole hanging-from-the-building fiasco, and since Steve matched your strength, you no longer had the methods to gain the upper hand. All you could do was listen and await whatever fate they would decide for you.

"You are completely insane, (Y/N)! Never in my life have I seen something so careless, so stupid as the stunt you pulled back there! What the hell were you trying to accomplish?"

"Steve, calm down," Bucky said, stepping out to grab his arm.

"I will not calm down!" Steve stormed towards you and grabbed you, pulling you up by the wrist to stand next to him. His grip was cutting off the blood flow from your fingers and they were starting to sting. "I had you," he growled, "and you didn't trust me."

"I don't know you," you snarled back, pushing yourself closer to him. "So why should I trust you?"

Bucky leapt forward again and pushed himself between you, trying to get Steve to release his grip. "You're gonna break her hand, Steve. Let go."

"You know me," he said with a huff as he pushed you harshly away, making you stumble slightly, "you do. You said 'Peg was right'. I heard you."

"Okay, so what then, Steve?" Bucky huffed, "are you gonna yell at her until she remembers? You think that getting pissed off and pushing her around is gonna do the trick? Because it's not." He glanced back at you and took a deep breath to calm himself, then pushed forward at Steve, "hey, why are you so worked up about this?"

"You know damn well why, Buck."

Steve shook his head and turned to leave with the group still looking on. Bucky took your arm and held your gaze, looking for something familiar in your eyes as you looked back at him without any emotion. "The day we lost you was the day he lost me. Then after 70 years he wakes up and had lost her too. Try to imagine how this feels for him."

"Are you trying to help me, or make me feel guilty? Because I don't know if either will work. I still feel pretty strongly about killing you."

"Alright," he nodded, "I'll give you a fair shot. If you fail, then I get to work on that busted head of yours." Bucky walked to a large cabinet across the room and grabbed your swords, looking down at them for a moment as if he was second guessing what he was about to do. He slowly turned back towards you and shrugged, holding them up for you to see.

"Is everyone making idiotic decisions today?" Sam asked aloud, and pushed out from the crowd to the door, "I'm going to get Steve. This is getting outta hand."

~~~

When Sam and Steve approached the hangar bay, Natasha ran to meet them at the door, looking uncharacteristically nervous. "You need to stop this. They're going to kill each other, and I'm not even exaggerating."

The Captain pushed past her to see that each of were now wielding one of the swords, but you had Bucky on his back and he was struggling to keep you from impaling your blade through him. He was able to hit your hand just right to force you to release the sword, dropping his own and grabbing your hands so that you couldn't summon them back. He flipped and pinned you on your back, taking the sword in his hand again and pushing it lightly against your throat enough so that you could feel the slight sting of the blade grazing your skin.

"You never came back for me," you groaned under the weight of him, "this is your fault, Barnes."

The pressure on your throat lessened some, and you heard his breathing become faster and erratic. "What did you say?" His eyes were wide with a look of horror at what he had heard. "(Y/N)?"

"I am this person now because you didn't come back for me. The three of you, you left." You took a deep breath when Bucky pulled the blade away but he continued to hold you to the floor, and Steve was now standing at his side, listening intently. "I waited for you, and you never came. I didn't care what they did to me, and I don't care now. I almost gave them Peggy, but I couldn't do it. Just like I can't seem to bring myself to finish you now."

The shock on Bucky's face was unchanged as he dropped back onto the floor next to you, looking up at Steve in disbelief and a flash of guilt. "I...I didn't realize..."

"You thought I was dead, I know."

"I didn't," Steve sighed, "but we couldn't go back. We had to keep moving. We could only believe that you would find a way out."

"Look, I know only that I know who you are, and that you abandoned me there, because that's what I've been told. That you deserve whatever pain I can inflict." You slowly sat up and pushed yourself back against the wall. "But I don't remember us. I may as well have read my own history from a textbook."

"Okay, then," Bucky said quietly, "you lost."

"Sorry?"

"I ain't dead, sweetheart, so you lost." He stood and extended his hand towards you to help you from the floor. You looked at him suspiciously but relented, taking his cold metal hand in yours. Bucky looked back at Steve, but you couldn't see his face; all you could see was the change in Steve's from anger to sorrow. "I know exactly where we need to go."

~~~

"Let me go in first, see how today is going," Steve said, slowly walking away as if he were trying to extend time and make this moment not happen.

You and Bucky stood quietly against the wall, waiting as nurses walked back and forth past you with judgment in their eyes, most likely from the blatantly obvious metal arm that showed their own reflection. It took all of your willpower to not snap profanities and insults their way in retaliation, but you were trying your best to behave.

"What's our goal here?" you asked.

"To find the key." Bucky nodded in Steve's direction when the door opened, putting his hand on your back to push you forward. You hesitated at first, but he was insistent as he walked along side of you. "We had a deal, (Y/N). Move."

"This isn't going to work."

"Not with that attitude," he chuckled. "Alright, in you go."

You put your hand on the wall to keep him from pushing you in, "wait, you're not coming in with me?"

"I am," Steve whispered. "She seems to remember me more than anyone. Her Alzheimer's is pretty bad. She, um, comes and goes."

"So there's a chance that there's gonna be two busted memories in there?"

"(Y/N)? Is that you?" You felt a shiver in your spine at the sound of Peggy's voice; it was much smaller and quieter than your damaged memory could recall, but her tone was the same as the last time you had heard it. When you were about to hand her over to HYDRA. "Steve? Is that (Y/N)?"

"Go," he sighed and looked back at Bucky skeptically, "while she's still here."

You took a small step into the room and stopped, shocked by her small frame and silver hair. Your mind had a different picture of what Peggy Carter looked like, but it was an old and outdated image. "Hey, Peg. Long time, no see."

"That's exactly what you said the last time that I thought you were dead," she laughed quietly with a small cough and held out her hands to you. "Come here, darling."

Glancing back, you saw Steve still standing in the doorway, so you weren't able to make an escape. You reluctantly went to her and put your hands in hers, looking into eyes that had a familiarity to them that didn't change with her age. You were sure that many of the wrinkles now around them were from hours of you both laughing and crying together, bonding as army women and dealing with the men around you, and from many nights of drunkenly arguing over if Steve or Bucky were the more attractive of the pair and why.

"You always said Steve because you still saw him as the little guy," you mumbled to yourself.

"And you always said Bucky because he did too and still protected him," she replied with a warm smile and a brief look towards Steve.

Your knees began to shake and you felt like you could collapse at any moment. The room was spinning and your head was overwhelmed with an unrelenting pain. Pulling your hands away from her, you started to move around the bed and towards the door, but your vision was getting spotty.

"Steve..." you whispered, unable to summon enough breath to speak any louder. He reached out but you fell to the ground too quickly and landed hard against the tile floor.

"(Y/N), hey, come on, wake up," he said as he scooped you up into his arms. Hearing the commotion, Bucky was quickly at your side. "(Y/N), come on."

"Ow," you groaned as you tried to move, but still not opening your eyes, "I thought you were faster than that, ya punk. Must be slowing down in your old age."

"Is she okay?" you heard Peggy ask from above.

"I'm okay, Peg." When you finally opened your eyes, both Steve and Bucky filled your vision, but Bucky was clearly working to meet your gaze.

"I think the most important thing for us to remember here is that you think I'm better than this guy, and you're all witnesses," he joked. "And that I totally would have caught you."