I didn't stick around for long, deciding that running was a better option than pretend Pierce didn't recognize me to be one of his assassin-pets.

Well, running is too dramatic. More like a determined walk away. Running was too obvious and it would be easier to yell, "Stop her!" So, fast walk won.

I also had to find a way to the rendezvous point. The very public street was not an option for me to take, so I hurried around to try and find a way out.

"Rey? Rey what's happening?" Tony's panicked voice came over the comms.

"Pierce spotted me and definitely recognized me. I'm trying to get out of here, hopefully without complications," I answered quickly. Finding a random corner, I decided to remove the SHIELD gear. It was too heavy anyways. "I'll meet you guys in that alley, okay?"

I didn't wait for any replies, and instead focused on getting out. When no one interrupted my path, I knew my escape was too good to be true. It was never ever that easy.

Rounding a corner, I finally met the obstacle I knew I'd face eventually. The elevator doors at the end of the hallway I entered opened. Inside was STRIKE, affectionally known as Hydra to those with enough clearance.

Me being one.

"There! Grab the asset!" Rumlow yelled, and I wasted no more time standing and staring. When they started to run, I turned and did the same thing.

As long as they didn't get close enough to say those words, I'd make it out alive. I did have to lose them somewhere, lest they find the rest of us and we screw the timeline up completely.

The tower was full of several twists and turns, enough to where I thought I was getting lost. I felt safe enough to stop and look around to try and figure out my surroundings. "Shit..." I breathed.

"Don't. Move." Shit. I was found. However, it wasn't by Rumlow or any other STRIKE member.

I knew this because none of them were female, and this was a woman speaking to me.

With my hands slowly lifting, I steadily turned around and faced them. I shouldn't be shocked, considering there aren't a lot of other women who would have found me and been suspicious. And yet, I couldn't stop from breathing in a shaking breath.

"Nat..." I whispered. One from long ago, who didn't know me or who hadn't gone blonde or seen some of her closest friends disintegrate in front of her.

She eyes me carefully, gun drawn and pointed directly at me. Aimed between my eyes, no doubt. "Who are you?" she asked, voice unsurprisingly calm. "If I found out it's you, Loki, in some sort of disguise, I won't hesitate to shoot. I don't care how much Thor loves you."

I shook my head quickly. "No, no, I'm not Loki. I'm... I'm a friend. Just not yet. But give it time and it'll make sense."

This caused confusion to fill her features, and I knew it would. I also hoped it would give me the chance to hurry off and get the hell out of this stupid tower. This layout was different than what I knew, considering it's about to get renovated after being nearly destroyed by Loki and his alien friends.

"There!" My guard was too far down, and I turned to see STRIKE coming straight for me. I turned back around and noticed Nat was gone. Whether she was in the shadows or had simply been stalling so they could find me and left after a job was well done, I didn't know.

Hands were on me in an instant and I was brought to my knees. I struggled against them, but they didn't have very forgiving grips.

Rumlow was the one to step in front of me, having been one of the few people to ever have access to either my or the Winter Soldier's books. He had memorized the words, most likely a command from Pierce in preparation for a situation like this.

I could see by the evil smirk on his face that he knew I understood what he was going to do. "Odinokiy."

Flashes of the Shadow Soldier tore through my conscious. In was painful, considering it had been close to seven years since that part of me had seen daylight. And it wasn't like before, with years of forced sleep in between. It was years of my mind being alive and being it's own entity.

The pain caused me to let out a yell and try to curl in on myself.

"Postanovleniye." My teeth gritted and I could feel the murderer in me wanting to be free.

And then clarity came through.

"NO!" The yell ripped through me and was accompanied with a burst of orange that pushed everyone off of me. Everyone, Rumlow included, went shooting back and were either flown down the hall or rammed into the walls next to me.

The ones who had the short end of the stick, or the walls as their landing zone, were out quick. Rumlow, as expected, wasn't going to be giving up that easily.

He stood slowly. We stood still, staring each other down. "Soldier, you should know better."

I scoffed. "I am more than a pet." With that, I used my abilities to pick him up and throw him to the ceiling, then gave an extra push to his fall to the floor, effectively ending the fight before it truly began. "Tshchedushnyy."

Despite how badass that felt, my body shook and I felt sobs wanting to escape. That was the closest I had come to becoming the soldier in a very long time. And this almost ruined all of the progress I had made.

"You okay?" I turned to the side and saw Natasha was still there, but this time she didn't have her gun drawn and aimed for my demise. Instead she looked like she understood.

Rather than directly answering her question, I asked my own. "How do I get to the alley from here?" I asked, rushed and slightly out of breath.

"Go to the end of the hall, stairs by the elevator. Go down until there's a door that says exterior. You should be good from there."

I gave her a nod, one she returned, then went to follow her instructions. At the last second, however, I wanted to say more. To thank her and ask her why.

But when I turned around, she was gone. The only other people in the hall were unconscious. I wasn't surprised, even if the Nat I know isn't the one who just helped me.

I didn't focus on it. Instead, I used her instructions and found myself covering my eyes from the harsh sun a few moments later. Once I was adjusted to the bright light, I looked around to try and find the others.

After taking a few more steps, I found them all huddled at the end of the alleyway- well, minus Bruce. Scott was standing by a car, leaning on it, with the scepter in his hands. Steve was standing still and waiting. Tony was the most active, pacing around a bit.

"Hey!" I called, jogging over to them.

Tony's head snapped to look at me and I saw relief cover his face. "Oh thank god. Are you okay? You look pretty okay," he said, giving me a brief hug when I got close enough.

The other two moved from their idle positions and came over to where Tony and I were. "I'm all right. Managed to knock STIRKE out before anything could happen. Then a certain redhead gave me directions."

Steve's face filled with confusion. "Wait, Natasha? Why?"

I shrugged. "Not sure. When I went to ask, she was already gone." I figured I'd leave out some of the details, considering they would only make the others worry. "Now, do we have a plan for the cube? Cause last I saw, it was in a god's disappearing hands."

Tony was the one who nodded. "Rogers and I are going to the 70s. We know the Tesseract was there at the same time Hank Pym was, so there should be more particles for us to use. You two are heading back to our time."

"Well then," I said, "I'll see you in 2023."

We all nodded to each other. Scott and I watched Tony and Steve go back first, and then we looked at each other.

"You think they were successful?" I asked him, trying to calm my own worries.

He did a half nod, half shrug sort of move. "Out of the four of us, I think they had the best chance."

I nodded, completely agreeing. "Then let's go."

Our suits came on, and with a curt nod of my head, the helmet came on, too. With one last look, we pressed the buttons at the same time and traveled back to our time.

Arriving on the platform at the exact same time as everyone else was strange, and I couldn't stop the smile from spreading. With an initial look around, it seemed as if everyone was successful, too. There was no reason not to smile.

"Where's Nat?"

A/n: im sorry