At 0300, the quinjet takes off with everyone on board. It's about a five-hour flight to the location. You sit quietly as everyone talks amongst each other. Sam, Clint, and Nat are cleaning and prepping weapons and trading jokes. Tony is flying the quinjet while Bruce co-pilots. Wanda, Steve, and Bucky sit and talk quietly as they look over the schematics again.

You catch Bucky looking over at you several times. You are not used to being on a team like this. You were always alone, except in the beginning when you still required handlers. You relished the time alone. You used that time to determine every possible mission outcome and have a contingency plan.

That's what you are doing now. You had already memorized the floor plans, even though you had been there before. You knew Hydra used the same pattern of guard duty everywhere. So, you were running all routes from the main gate to the server room.

Bucky leans over to Wanda and whispers to her. " Wanda, is she good?"

Wanda closes her eyes but doesn't look over at you. She opens her eyes and looks at Bucky. "She's perfectly calm and oddly at peace. She's methodically running every possible scenario."

Steve looks at Wanda. "Should we be worried?" As he quickly glances over his shoulder at you.

Bucky looks at Steve. "No, she's doing what I trained her to do. This is has been her life for so long, it's comforting for her."

Tony comes in from the cockpit. "Okay, everyone. It's time to wake up. We are fifteen minutes from our landing coordinates."

You stand up and walk over to Steve and Bucky. " I need one of you to hit me." You say bluntly.

"What? No." Bucky replies with shock in his voice.

"Why do you want us to do that?" Steve asks.

"You wouldn't go down without a fight, and they know that. This has to look believable, " you say.

Everyone has noticed Bucky and Steve's elevated voices and have gathered closer to the table.

"I'm not going to hit you, Jo." Both men say

"They won't believe if I'm not roughed up a little. I need you to do it." Your voice has become louder.

Bucky stands his ground. "I'm not going to hit my sister. You just have to go as is."

You throw your hands up in the air and yell. "God damn it! I'm not some fragile doll. You know I can handle it. Hell, the Winter Soldier did worse to me!" Bucky flinches at your words a little.

You turn around to walk away when a fist makes contact with your jaw. Your head flies to the side from the impact. You look back to see who had the guts. It was Nat that hit you. You move your jaw around and plant your feet.

"Again." Is all you say as you prepare for another hit.

Nat comes in full force. She punches you two more times in the face, then kicks you in the stomach. You stay firm in your stance as you look back at her with a look in your eyes. You spit out your own blood onto the floor.

"If that's your best, no wonder I kicked your ass the first time we met." You know how to push Nat's buttons already.

She takes a few steps back and comes at you with a flying punch. She hits you with enough force that you stumble back into Steve's arms.

He helps to steady you back on your feet. A smile spreads across your split lip. "I knew I could count on you. I didn't mean what I said ." You say to Nat.

"It's Ok, I knew what you were doing." She gives you a smile back.

Bruce lands the quinjet and then joins the rest of you. You grab a comm off the table and push it into your ear. Steve's shield is on the floor, leaning against the wall. You walk over, nudging it with your foot. It falls over, and you stomp on the edge, flipping it up and catching it.

Steve walks over to you. You look up at him and pat his cheek. "Don't worry, you'll get her back in just a little bit."

Steve looks at you with concern in his eyes. "That's not what I was going to say."

"Don't worry about me, " you say as you look down at the floor and then back up at Steve. Your face has changed, and your eyes are cold and dead again. "Worry about them."

Steve is stunned at how easily you slipped back into Alpha. He's really starting to regret this mission.

You turn to the team. "Stay back and wait for my signal." You say as the door to the jet opens, and you start to walk out.

Clint speaks up. "What's the signal?"

Bucky looks over at him. "Trust me, you'll know. Jo doesn't do anything subtle."

A grin spreads across Clint's face. "So I've learned." Bucky gives him a look. There is no time, but he will have to ask Clint about that later.

The team watches a satellite feed as you walk up to the gates. You hold the shield up to the surveillance camera on the side of the building. Seconds later, the gate opens, and you walk through. Several soldiers meet you and start to escort you in.

"I know my way around. You're dismissed." You coldly say to them.

"We were told to escort you." One replies sheepishly.

"I said you're dismissed! Do I have to remind you who I am?" You bark back at him.

They all stand straight at attention. " No, ma'am."

They quickly turn around and head back to wherever their posts were. As you approach the main door, you hear it automatically unlock. As you enter, you plant a small disc explosive the size of a silver dollar. You continue down a hallway, passing several doors. You place explosives along the way.

You finally enter a large open area, where the base commander greets you. He looks at you.
"You've been gone a long time to return empty-handed, soldier."

You look at him with dead eyes. "Not completely." You pull the shield from your back and toss it at his feet. You had wiped your blood on it to make it look good. "Captain America is no more. I figured you would want a souvenir."

He leans down and picks it up, looking at it. He smiles. "Not your mission objective, but excellent news." He looks up at you for a moment. "Even though the leaders will be very pleased with this news, I have been instructed to place you in the chair and wipe you for precautions."

You crack your neck and look at him. "That won't be necessary." You push the detonator that you've been holding in your hand. The first explosive blows the door off its hinges, the rest going off one by one. Debris and smoke flood the air. You pull a dagger from behind your back and throw it, landing straight between the officer's eyes. He falls to the floor with a heavy thud.

You walk over to his body and look down. "You won't be needing this, and I promised I'd give it back." You kick the shield up into your hands.

You can hear voices coming towards you. You pull your Glock and walk back the way you came in. You take a few more steps when you see Steve and Bucky in the dust-filled air. Steve walks up to you.

"You took a long time. Are you Ok?" He asks, looking you up and down.

"Yes, I'm fine. I just had to get further into the building before I detonated. Here, I always keep my word." You say as you hand him back his shield.

Just then, Bucky raises his gun at something behind you. "Look out."

Steve grabs you, pulling you tight against him as he covers you both with his shield. You look up at him as he looks down at you. "Why, Captain, you need to holster your weapon tighter. I can feel it digging into my thigh."

A smirk crosses his lips as he pulls you tighter. "Maybe you can help me with it later. It seems to have a mind of its own."

"Your comms are on, and we can all hear you." Sam says in your ears.

"Can we stay on mission here?" Bucky yells as he continues to fire at approaching soldiers.

"Follow me and try to keep up." You say as you head down an opposite hallway.
Steve and Bucky follow you, taking down any soldiers you encounter on the way. Five minutes later, you arrive at the server room doors. You try entering the access code in the panel. It responds with an angry buzz.

"They must have changed my access code when I didn't come back. Stand back. I'm going to have to blow it." You place a small explosive on the door lock.

You take a couple of steps back when Steve grabs you, turns you around, and covers you both with the shield. "Fire in the hole, " he says over the comms as he looks down at you.

There is a fire in your eyes. You are in your element again. He can see life again in your face.
"Play your cards right, and you can say that again later in my room." You raise your eyebrow and give him a playful grin.

"Again, we can all hear you!" Sam and Bucky say simultaneously.

You continue to hold Steve's gaze. "Push my button, Captain." Steve takes one hand away from your waist and pushes your finger over the detonator.

The door blows open, and Bucky brushes past. He looks over at both of you. "Both of you need to take a cold shower. Separately!"

Steve turns and follows Bucky as you ensure no one is in the hallway. You step into the room and point at a computer terminal on the right side. The tall servers almost hide it. "That's the one you want right there. It connects to all of the servers in this room."

Steve pulls out a thumb drive from a pocket. "Tony says we'll need about 5 minutes to copy everything and 5 minutes to upload the virus. We have to get as much as we can off these servers before we wipe them."

"Just do what you have to, Bucky, and I will cover you. " you say as you hear footsteps approaching the door.

Just as Steve walks over to the terminal and inserts the drive, three soldiers enter the door. You and Bucky start to fight them as more come down the hallway. As you both take on the incoming soldiers, you separate. You can feel yourself slipping into old habits. Two guards attack you with nightsticks. You easily disarm them and knock them out, but you don't stop there. You point your Glock at each and pump two rounds into each head.

You look up at Steve across the room. "How much time?" You yell out.

"Seven minutes!" Steve continues to type on the keyboard as he watches the screen.

You quickly glance over at Bucky, watching him fight off the guards. You are suddenly grabbed around the neck as another guard runs at you. You easily flip the guard holding you over your shoulder. As he hits the ground, you kneel down, take his head in your hands, and quickly twist, snapping his neck. As you drop his body to the floor, you throw a dagger from your hip. You throw it, piercing the guard's heart, instantly dropping him to the ground. Three more guards enter from an unnoticed side door. You holster your gun and pull two more daggers from your belt.

Steve turns around to tell you only 3 more minutes when he sees you slash one guard's throat and throw him to the ground. You throw one dagger, hitting the guard in the middle of his forehead.

"Jo!" Steve yells at you as the third guard approaches you. You and the guard exchange a couple of punches when you grab his arm and pull him towards you. He turns toward Steve as you pin him against your chest.

Steve can see it in your eyes. "Jo, don't!" You look Steve straight in the eyes as you snap the guard's neck with no remorse.

The server beeps, the files are finished, and the virus is uploaded. The self-destruct sequence has begun to count down. You walk around the bodies on the floor, double-tapping each body in the head. You keep your eyes on Steve the entire time.

"Enough, Jo!" He yells as he gets closer to you, anger spread across his face. You double-tap one more body before you turn to Bucky. "Time to go." You touch your comm. "We have forty seconds to clear the building."

Steve and Bucky are now standing beside you as you make your way out of the corridor you came in. Bucky looks over at you. "You good?"

"Never better, " you say as you look at Steve. Bucky can tell something is wrong between you and Steve. Steve is silent as the team converges on the quinjet. Bucky knows this is not good but is unaware of what you did.

**Special Thank you to @TaliasTales for the amazing song recommendation. It fits perfectly<3