Since they took down the drug business and had uncovered clues as to the locations of other HYDRA facilities, Steve and Percy had been an relentless force. They took down a facility every week, if not more. They figured that if they slowed down, they'd give HYDRA enough time to reinforce themselves and recoup. 

It was one occasion when they were en-route to a facility that an agent called Rumlow turned to Percy. "So, rookie. How is it that you can keep up with our dear ol' Cap?"

Percy smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Come on, what's the secret?" Rumlow  asked.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret, now would it?" Percy replied.

"He's got a point." An agent with short platinum hair chirped. Their eyes were a brown like cognac- a redish amber, and one eye had a segment of a bright blue.

Rumlow frowned at the agent. "We're a team, we ought to know."

Steve frowned from behind Rumlow.

"Are we a team though?" They speculated. "I rather think a team trusts each other." Percy was fond of Agent Myers; they spoke their mind and said what they meant.

"Myers. Shut the hell up. We don't need one of your philosophy discussions." Rumlow grunted.

Myers and Percy smirked. 

"Reaching the drop-off in five." A pilot announced.

"Oh good." Rumlow said.

"Anyone have any questions on the plan?" Steve asked the group.

They briefly went over the plan, yet again. When it was done, Rumlow leaned in Percy's direction. "But seriously. What's your secret?"

"You really want to know?" Percy raised an eyebrow. 

Rumlow's look was answer enough.

Percy leaned over to him and stage whispered so the whole STRIKE team could hear. "Well, the truth is," Percy paused, donning a blank face that could be taken as a serious one. "I'm obviously a god."

Rumlow's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. Percy kept his blank face for all of one second until he snorted and fell into laughter. The other STRIKE agents joined in.

"Ho! D'you see that! He really believed you!" A redheaded Irish agent O'Brien crowed.

"Oh, he's gonna need a drink to recover from that embarrassment later." Myers chimed.

"After the mission." Woods replied, lip piercing accentuating his grin. "Don't need him drunk on the field."

"He's gonna have to get black-out wasted for this." The second pilot chuckled.

Rumlow's face turned red from embarrassment. "Alright, that's enough out of you." They all ignored that comment.

Woods grinned. "So, where're we going afterwards then? Tammy's? BlackBird? Lil' Lily's?"

"We're not going to a strip club, Woody!" O'Brien exclaimed. "Or that gay bar you fancy so much." O'Brien seemed to shiver at a memory.

"Still not over 'The Incident'?" Myers smirked.

O'Brien shivered again. Myers laughed.

"Fine, fine. Tammy's it is." Woods said. He looked over to Percy. "You're coming right?"

"Well," Percy said. "I would, but they won't let me in, let alone drink."

"Why not?" Woods frowned.

"You forget I'm only seventeen." Percy pointed out.

"Any man who can kick as much arse as you should be able to drink as much as he wants." O'Brien said. 

"With what I've seen you do, Perce, I don't know how you don't drink." Myers added.

"He's made out of sterner stuff." Steve said. Rumlow scowled.

"Well, you don't have to drink, Perce, but we'll get you in." Woods claimed.

"What, so I can babysit you all?" Percy replied.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far..." Woods trailed off.

"Will I get to hear the story behind 'The Incident'?" Percy raised a brow.

O'Brien groaned. Myers and Woods laughed, nodding.

"Then sure, I'll sneak into a bar with you idiots." Percy grinned.

"Oi!" O'Brien exclaimed, accompanied by Woods' and Myers' "Hey!"

"One minute to drop-off." The first pilot announced, and Percy guessed she was smiling at what she heard.

The STRIKE team grew quiet, and took the last minute to make sure that everything was exactly as it should be. Then, the quinjet landed and the ramp lowered, releasing them.

The mission was easy. It had been like a skeleton crew defending the warehouse. None of the team that Percy exchanged looks with liked it. After all, if something's ever too easy, there's probably a reason why.

~~~~~~

"So, I was twelve when my Dad finally introduced me to the rest of the family. Now, he says to me, 'Lee, my relatives have always been stuck up and set in their ways. They ain't gonna change. So, the best thing you can do is give 'em hell for it.'" Myers says, falling into a deep Texan accent when imitating their father.

Myers continues their story. "Alright now. We go to this family reunion. I'm wearing the most gender-neutral clothes. My hair was short, but not too short, you know? So whenever I introduced myself to anyone, I'd switch it up.

"So by the end of the day, we've got the family arguing with each other over whether my name is Ellie or Liam." Myers said. "They finally go to my Dad and demand answers. He says 'Lee. My kiddo's name is Lee.' And they all start yelling again, because they want to know if I'm a girl or a boy, and I won't tell 'em and my Dad won't neither.

"We decided to leave after I punched Senile Ol' Grandma Douglas' nose when she tried to check my pants. Dad and I laughed the whole way home, it seemed like. Until he got us milkshakes as a treat." Myers finished their story. "That is the story of how I came out to my family."

Percy laughed at the chaos that was Myers. As did the others, as it seemed they had heard this story before. While the four of them, Percy, Myers, O'Brien, and Woods sat at one booth, Rumlow was on his own at the bar.

Tammy's bar was a decent place, Percy assumed. It was well maintained and nicely decorated. The next story that was told was Woods' coming out story.

"Joshua and I had been best friends for a bit over two years, and boyfriends for like three months. He's sitting on my living room couch with the family. I walk in, past the back of the couch. When I do, I give him a quick peck. Then he says 'Dammit, Woody, keep your gay to yourself,' to which I reply, "But I'm so full of it, I have to share!'" Woods tells, and the table laughs.

"Alright. So we know boring Ol' Brien doesn't have a story to tell. Your turn, Perce." Myers says.

"I don't have a coming out story..." Percy says awkwardly.

"Okay, it doesn't have to be a coming out. Epic love fail. Go." Woody says, punctuating the 'go' with a slap to the table.

"Epic love fail? I don't really have one of those..." Percy trails off, still awkward.

"Guys, look at his water. You forget that he's little." Myers says. 

O'Brien holds his hands in the air defensively. "I'm not calling him little." For perspective, O'Brien is six foot four and fights with brass knuckles, with the muscle to back them.

"Whatever. But c'mon, there has to be some drama." Woods prodded.

"Well, there was this time that a girl fell in love with me but I was already in love with another girl..." Percy trailed off.

"Oh! Details!" Woods said immediately.

"This girl was uh... Isolated? And I had to stay at her house for reasons. Once I had healed up enough, I left, and she got really pissed. Now she's happy with another friend of mine." Percy explained as simply as possible.

Woods blinked. "That's it? I said details!"

"Woods, there's not much to tell. What I didn't say, I can't tell you. The classified kind of can't." Percy said.

Woods pouted. "Fine. Then do we need to get you a girl? Or a guy?"

"No!" Percy said quickly, eyes wide.

Woods and Myers laughed. "Oh? Do we need to help you win someone's favor?" Myers asked.

"Nope." Percy said quickly. "As a matter of fact, you should leave my love life alone because I am perfectly happy with its current status."

"Is that the sounds of a young man trying to be okay with single life?" Woods inquired.

"No." Percy said seriously. "That is a man who is happy with his fiancee and wants it to stay that way."

The three of them blanched. "Fiancee?"

Percy pulled out his wallet, and showed them a picture of the two of them. "This is my fiancee, Annabeth."

"You have a better love life than Brien." Myers commented. 

"I'm just waiting for the right person." O'Brien protested.

"Aren't you seventeen though?" Woods asked.

"Yeah. We're waiting until we're eighteen to get married." Percy said, and shoved his wallet back in his pocket.

"Is her family cool with that? Y'all marrying so young?" Myers asked.

"Yeah. She's actually safer with me, believe it or not." Percy said.

O'Brien opened his mouth to speak, but then Woods' phone started to ring. Woods pulled it from his pocket, saw the caller ID, and promptly dropped it on the table, eyes wide. His hands flailed about for a second, and he struggled to breathe.

"Josh." He said as way of explanation, and then snatched his phone up and crawled over O'Brien to get out of the booth. As he passed, Myers reached forward and smacked his ass, sending him flying forward. Woods managed to save his fall by rolling, and rolled up onto his feet and sprinted out the door. They saw him answer the phone, and try to look casual.

The three remaining burst out laughing.

"He hasn't gotten over Joshua. They broke up a long time ago, but they've always been on the verge of getting back together." Myers explained. When Woods walked back in a few minutes later with a grin on his face, he announced that he had a date. 

"So," Percy said after a while. "What was 'The Incident'?"

He figured that it was well named.

Percy was glad that he had gone out with them. Although it was a bit weird that they were older than him by an average of ten years, he also found them to be companionable. They knew that life was tough, and there were some things you didn't talk about.

Over the course of the evening, Percy broke up three fights without hurting anyone, eventually ordered his own drink which left his STRIKE teammates gaping, was oddly good at karaoke, and learned how to play pool.

~~~~~~

He was reaching for an outstretched hand. The bar that he was grasping onto budged, and then in a horrifyingly slow second it broke off. He fell.

Winter jolted awake. Not for the first time, he woke up soaked in sweat from a nightmare. Winter frowned. He didn't think 'nightmare' would be the best word for it. No, they had been too precise, too detailed to be figment of imagination.

Could they have been memories? But that made little sense; after all, he didn't remember them. But by that same logic, he could have only recalled the scenes because he remembered the memory.

Winter grunted and rubbed his forehead. The bed beneath him groaned as he stood up. In the bathroom, he tended to his morning needs. He found himself looking in the mirror. He pulled his hair up. Winter found the most comfortable way to keep it out of his way was in a bun that only held the hair from the top of his head. His stubble could last another day before he had to shave it.

Winter walked into the kitchen, and assembled a breakfast. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was certainly better than the cafeteria rations. Especially since he picked what he wanted to eat. He didn't know why it gave him such satisfaction to choose his own food, but he reveled in the feeling of control.

Why did he like having control? Winter felt a flash that made him drop his fork. He wasn't allowed control. He followed orders. Ten whole seconds passed where Winter stared at the fork and the uneaten food on his plate. Then he reached for the fork, and went back to eating.

When he finished, he opened the laptop that his superiors were using to send him information. It was clever work, he knew, but he didn't understand all the finer details. He wasn't a superior himself after all.

Winter read through the information several times, careful to take in all the details, no matter how insignificant they may seem. Winter now knew Captain America's rough schedule when he wasn't on mission. Winter didn't understand how Maelstrom fit in. Maelstrom matched Captain in physical strength, but they were incredibly different. Captain had more muscle, and Maelstrom was made for more delicate work. Considering Captain used a shield, and Maelstrom a sword, Winter supposed it made sense.

He cleaned up whatever mess he had made, and left the safe house just as he had found it, save for his few items that were expertly packed. He put on his gear, and readied himself for the final stage of his mission. 

If all went well, Captain America and Maelstrom would be dead before the next day could pass.

A/N

Alrighty folks! Quick poll, do you guys like the STRIKE team people? I originally just wanted to give them names so that they weren't Agent #1 and Agent #2, but then they got personalities, and backstories...

So, the canon one-shot clearly won the query... Choose which one you'd like most:

1) The story behind 'The Incident'

2) Pre-serum Steve and Bucky

3)Past Winter Soldier in HYDRA

4) Poseidon & Sally meetup

Ps: I'm so hyped for Bucky, I've been waiting an entire book for this time to come