CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Briefly opening her eyes to see a dark room, Evelyn groaned. A massive headache formed and she went to grab it when she realised that her arms were tied.

Evelyn frowned as she thought over how she got into the room. The last thing she remembered was being in a closet with a man with glasses when he pulled out the red book with a black star. Evelyn groaned in realisation as she pulled apart the restraints and rested her head in her hands.

Evelyn could hear groaning coming from beside her, so she looked up and over at Bucky who had his arm trapped under something heavy, only just becoming conscious.

Bucky looked towards his hand, then turned his head and looked at Evelyn. "I knew it was going to happen again," she told him lightly.

Bucky nodded and looked down. "I was hoping it wouldn't."

"Hey, Cap!" Sam called out.

Steve and Sam walked into the room and stood on either side of Bucky and Evelyn. "Steve," Bucky sighed.

"Which Bucky and Evelyn am I talking to?" Steve asked.

"Your mum's name was Sarah," Bucky replied almost instantly, before smiling at the memory. "You used to wear newspapers in your shoes."

Steve looked towards Evelyn. "You can only sleep on the side of the bed closest to the door so that you could protect me if an intruder were to come in." She smiled lightly as she looked down at her hands. "When I'm upset, you let me braid your hair with flowers."

Sam let out a small chuckle and looked at Steve. "I never knew that about you, cap."

Evelyn looked towards Sam. "You sleep with either a falcon teddy, or your wings under your arms."

Sam's cheeks darkened and he shook his head. "That was meant to be a secret between you and I, Eve. You and I."

Steve smiled at Bucky and Evelyn. "Can't read that in a museum."

"Just like that, we're supposed to be cool?" Sam asked him, referring to Bucky who they hadn't seen properly since he was trying to kill them.

Just like that, Evelyn's smile dropped from her face. "What did we do?" She asked.

"Enough," Steve immediately replied.

"Oh, god, I knew this would happen," Bucky mumbled. "Everything Hydra put inside of us is still there. All they had to do was say the god damn words."

"Fucking longing and frost and shit," Evelyn mumbled.

"Who was he?" Steve asked.

"I don't know."

"I thought they bloody got rid of the damn book," Evelyn mumbled.

"They would never get rid of that book, not unless they had another copy," Bucky told her.

"People are dead. The bombing, the setup, the doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with the both of you," Steve said. "I need you to do better than 'I don't know'."

Evelyn and Bucky paused, trying their hardest to remember anything that happened in the last few hours. When a sharp pain began to grow in her head, she kept pushing on in hopes of remembering anything at all.

"He wanted to know about Siberia," Bucky eventually told Steve. "Where we were kept."

"He wanted to know exactly where it was," Evelyn continued. "It was the same base Bucky helped me break out of."

"And why would he need to know that?" Steve asked.

Evelyn and Bucky shared uneasy looks, before he shamefully lowered his head. Evelyn hesitantly brought her gaze up to Steve and Sam. "Because we weren't HYDRA's only weapons."

Steve and Sam started to converse with one another so Evelyn crawled over towards Bucky. She lifted the heaving object on his arm and Bucky pulled his metal arm free.

"Are you alright?" He immediately asked.

Evelyn chuckled lightly as she shook her head. "Shouldn't I be asking you the same question?"

"But I wasn't the one who was electrocuted like that," he said.

Evelyn sighed deeply and nodded. "Yeah, Buck, I'm alright."

"Who were they?" Steve asked them.

"The most elite death squad. More kills than anyone in HYDRA history, besides Evelyn of course," Bucky teasingly looked at her and she playfully rolled her eyes. "And that was before the serum."

"They all turn out like you two?" Sam asked.

"Worse," they replied in sync.

"I didn't know them after the serum. Bucky got me out soon after we...obtained it," she looked away sad. Bucky reached over and held her hand cause he knew what they did to obtain it.

"With the serum, they were as strong as you and I," Bucky said. "They made me fight against them until they could overpower me."

"The doctor, could he control them?" Steve asked.

"Enough," Bucky replied.

"Said he wanted to see an empire fall," Steve said.

"With these guys, he could do it," Bucky said. "They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilise. They can take a whole country down in one night, you'd never see them coming."

Sam turned around so that he could privately talk to Steve. Bucky looked down at his hands, so Evelyn lightly patted his leg. "On the bright side, it was my 98th birthday a few days ago. So, yay," she cheered quietly to Bucky, which made him smile.

"I turned 99 a few months back," he informed her.

"No way!" She exclaimed. "What date?"

"20th March, 1917," he replied. "That makes me older than you."

"At least next time I can get you a cake for your birthday," Evelyn said. "Mine's the 31st of May 1918, which makes me older than Steve."

"Stevie marrying an older woman. Never would have thought," Bucky chuckled as he rubbed his hands together. "Actually, I never would have thought he would get married growing up. No one ever liked him. Now the tables have turned."

Evelyn smiled lightly at him. "You'll find yourself a dame some day, but I'm not sure if she would be ready to date a 99 year old. The age gap is pretty high." Bucky chuckled as he looked at her. "There's that smile," she teased.

"You're too good to me," he shook his head. "But I don't think I'll ever find someone. I would hate myself if I accidentally hurt her."

"You would never hurt her, Buck. You could never hurt someone you love. I can see it in you eyes," she smiled lightly.

He looked down. "But I hurt Steve before, and you."

"As did I," Evelyn sighed.

Bucky then shook his head and brought his gaze up to her. "I wish you didn't get taken by HYDRA," Bucky said. "You're too good."

"What happened, happened. Can't go changing it now, and I wouldn't change it anyway," she smiled. "It brought me closer to you."

"We should probably head off," Sam said, making Evelyn turn to look at him.

"Do we have a car or something to get to wherever we're going?" She asked.

"Well...." Steve gave Bucky and Evelyn a look. How bad could the vehicle possibly be?

•

Evelyn would never would have thought that Steve's ideal get away car would actually be a volkswagen sedan. You would think he would've chosen a slightly larger car, considering it needs to carry three buff men and a demi goddess. But no. Steve wanted Evelyn to suffer.

Sam, apparently, shot gunned the passenger seat, so Evelyn was stuck in the back with Bucky which gave her minimal moving space considering Bucky was so beefy. So, Evelyn had her head resting on Bucky's thigh with her legs in the air. She was comfortable. As comfortable as she could be.

Steve was driving to some under bridge while Evelyn was on the phone to Clint, trying to persuade him to join them.

"We're talking about our freedom to protect people without having to wait for approval before the situation gets too bad, Clint," Evelyn told him, but the man was persistent.

"I mean, yeah, I get your point, but do you really need me? I'm planning on taking the kids water skiing, Eve," Clint replied.

"Clint, this is serious," she said. "They want to arrest anyone who does the job without the governments approval."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Clint said. "But I really think you can handle this one your own. I am retired, Evelyn."

Evelyn sighed. "You've given me no choice Clint," she paused for a few seconds to add suspension. "Tony put Wanda on house arrest and I'm fairly certain they're making her fear herself."

There was a pause on the other line.

"Be there in five," Clint replied, before pulling the phone away from his ear. "Honey! I have to go pick up Wanda from Stark! He's being a bad dad again!"

Evelyn grinned as she hung up the phone, fist pumping the air.

Steve stopped the car and put it in park before opening his door and getting out. Evelyn sat up from her spot in the backseat and saw him approach Sharon Carter. She decided to be polite and go see her best friends great niece, and hopped out of the car also. She walked over towards the pair who were standing at Sharon's cars boot, which had Steve's shield, Sam's wings and Bucky's backpack (something Evelyn had requested she brought)

"Thank you for doing this, Sharon," Steve smiles lightly at her as he took out his shield and Sam's wings. Evelyn took Bucky's backpack out and put it on.

"Yeah, Shaz. You're a legend," Evelyn smiled.

She shrugged. "Anything for you two. You're basically legends to me, all thanks to Peggy."

Evelyn smiles softly. "She's amazing. We honestly wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for her."

The three shared a small laugh before Sharon took a few steps backwards. "I better go back to headquarters and sort everything out—try to explain myself for taking your weapons."

"Thank you again," Steve smiled.

Sharon saluted and hopped back into her car, driving off.

Evelyn looked up at Steve with a bright smile and was about to say something witty, when she noticed he had a distant look on his face.

"What is it?" She asked.

"I just..." Steve took a deep breath. "When you told me about your time with HYDRA, I didn't actually believe that you were that cold assassin. Today, seeing you brainwashed again, I—"

"You didn't think that it was true," Evelyn finished.

Steve nodded. "When I see you, I see this ball of light and happiness. It was just hard to imagine you turning into something like that so easily."

Evelyn shrugged. "And it's never going to go away. Not unless by some miracle someone comes up with a way to get rid of the trigger words from my mind. I'll always be a threat to the world."

"But you're not a threat to me."

Evelyn shook her head. "Steve, I nearly killed you today. And that's not being a threat to you?"

"But I can take care of myself and you," Steve said.

"I know. I know," Evelyn sighed as she looked down. "But I'm stronger than you. I have powers. I can kill you with them so easily."

"But you won't."

"How do you know that?" She asked.

"You wouldn't let it happen," he shook his head. "You have enough control over them, you would never do that to me."

Evelyn chuckled. "You better touch wood now."

"There's no wood around for me to touch," Steve shook his head with a small smile.

"I just don't know how you could love someone like me," Evelyn admitted. "Someone with a horrible past with killing people, and someone who use to work for your enemy."

"Evelyn, I have seen the best of you, and the worst of you, and I still choose both. That's never going to change. Ever," Steve smiled lightly.

Evelyn smiled lightly back. "What did I do to deserve you?"

"You came into my life when I was doubtful," Steve kissed her forehead. "I didn't do anything to deserve you."

They smiled lightly at each other before Evelyn looked back at the car.

"You know, I'm having doubts about this whole no-signing-accords crap now," she admitted. "I mean, Bucky doesn't deserved to be locked up. I know he didn't do it. But considering how our team—my family—are being pulled apart, it breaks my heart."

Steve held Evelyn in his arms. "I know you have doubts. I can see it in your eyes. But if you signed the accords, then you wouldn't be able to help people if a situation turned south."

"And that's what I love to do, help people out whenever and wherever I can," Evelyn said. "I don't want to wait for the governments approval to do so, and knowing my luck with them and Ross, they'd probably never give me the approval to leave the Avengers Compound ever again."

"Knowing your luck," Steve chuckled lightly. He then looked down at his left hand and at the small band sitting on his forth finger. "I love you, so so much. You know that, right?"

Evelyn smiled at him. "Of course, I do. And I love you, too."

Steve let out a massive grin as he picked Evelyn up and swung her around. She laughed like a maniac when he placed her back down on the ground, leaving a short kiss on her cheek.

Clapping could be heard from the direction of the car. Both Sam and Bucky were nodding in approval, small smiles on their face.

Evelyn rolled her eyes at how dorky those boys were as Steve and Evelyn picked up the shield and wings. They walked towards the back of the Volkswagen and opened up the boot and placed them in, as well as the backpack with the journals.

Unedited