A/N: I debated on whether I wanted to include the actual Avengers movie and Iron Man 3. I really would like to but that make this story super longer and I don't want to bore anyone. I'm super excited to finally get to this point though!
One Year Later
Somewhere over the Indian Ocean
"The target is a mobile satellite launch platform: The Lemurian Star. They were sending up their last payload when pirates took them, 93 minutes ago." Agent Rumlow explained to the group on the plane.
"Any demands?" Steve asked.
"A billion and a half." Rumlow answered.
"Why so steep?" Steve asked confused.
Catherine secured her parachute. "Because it's SHIELD's."
"So it's not off-course, it's trespassing." Steve said.
"I'm sure they have a good reason." Natasha pointed at.
Catherine watched as Steve and Natasha bickered back and forth for a couple of minutes while checking her straps again. She listened to Rumlow explain more about the mission and the hostages.
"Alright, I'm gonna sweep the deck and find Batroc. Nat, you'll kill the engines and wait for instructions. Rumlow, you sweep aft, find the hostages, get them to the life-pods, get 'em out. Catherine, apprehend the pirates. Let's move." Steve told everyone. "Secure channel seven."
Catherine checked her wrist to make sure she was on the correct channel and let out a shaky breath.
"You okay?" Steve asked her quietly.
"Yeah. Just not a fan of jumping out of planes." She admitted.
"I'll hold your hand." Steve teased.
Catherine glared at him. The past year had been crazy to say the least. Shortly after officially joining the Avengers, Thor's brother Loki decided to steal the tesseract from SHIELD which promoted Fury to call in the Avengers. They were able to defeat Loki thankfully. Accept she lost her partner Phil. It crushed her when she found him dead because of Loki. If it wasn't for him, she would probably still be with HYDRA. She had grown close to all of her fellow Avengers, but especially Steve. He finally learned to trust her. He would usually ask her or Natasha for help on missions.
"What are you doing Saturday?" She heard Natasha ask breaking her from her thoughts.
"Nothing...why?" She asked suspiciously.
"You two should hang out then. You two have to be the most boring people I've ever met." Natasha said referring to Steve.
"Gee. Thanks." Catherine said sarcastically.
Steve smiled and shook his head.
"You okay?" Rumlow asked.
"Yeah. Why?" She said.
"You look nervous." He pointed out.
"I'll be okay. Thanks for the concern." She said with a smile.
"You didn't say anything to anyone about us going out Saturday?" He asked.
"Well, the whole world pretty much knows everything about me Brock. Some things, I like to keep just myself." She told him. "Now focus."
Catherine turned her attention back to the hatch opening revealing the dark sky and dark, churning water of the ocean. She could barely make out the ship in question in the distance. She tapped the dial of her altitude monitor and flipped down her night vision goggles just in time to see Steve jump out of the plane without a parachute on. She felt her lips curl into an amused smile, show off.
She walked to the edge of the hatch and paused as members of the STRIKE team jumped off all around her. She took a deep breath and stepped her feet off. She felt the wind catch her. The air was cold against her skin. The wind caused her hair to whip wildly around her face despite the fact that she had pulled it back for the mission. She checked her monitor again, waiting for the perfect moment to open the cute.
When she did, she prepared for her body to be pulled back momentarily. After that, she began her slow decline onto the deck of the ship. However, panic arose in her when she noticed Steve fighting some of the pirates. While still in the air she pulled her gun out and aimed it at one of them. She couldn't shoot while she was in the air, but she wanted to be ready as soon as her feet hit the ground. As soon as she did, Rumlow shot the pirate down seconds before Catherine landed.
"Thanks." Steve told him.
"Yeah. You seemed pretty helpless without me." Rumlow told him with an expression.
"Nat, secure the engine room." Steve told Natasha and turned to look at Catherine. "Can you handle getting the hostages to safety?"
"I can do that." She told him.
"Good. Be careful, Cat." Steve said before running to apprehend more of the pirates."
"Always am!" She called after him and walked towards a door that lead inside of the ship. The hostages were being held inside of the galley according to their reports.
"Need any help?" Rumlow asked as she got to the door.
Catherine turned to look at him. "It's cute of you to assume that I can't handle a few pirates, but thank you for your offer."
"Cute?" He chuckled. "Agent Catherine Stark thinks I'm cute. I don't know whether to be offended or honored."
"Oh, Brock. I think you're more than cute." She flirted with him one last time before withdrawing her sidearm and walking inside.
She walked slowly and quietly through the empty hallways, but kept her guard up. At any point someone could jump out and attempt to kill her and she wanted to be prepared. She wasn't far from the galley when she encountered her first pirate. She assumed he was there to guard the entrance of the galley. Luckily, he had his back turned to her. She stalked behind slowly and at the last minute, she jumped up and wrapped her arm around his throat.
"Go to sleep! Go to sleep!" She said through gritted teeth as he fought against her. Once he did, she laid him on the ground and handcuffed him before advancing towards the galley.
She placed a glove hand against the door of the galley and opened it slowly. The first thing she saw was the crew of the ship against one side of the room. The next thing she saw was one of mercenaries running at her. He fired a shot at her and she kicked his gun away. She felt someone grab her from behind and she attempted to fight him off. She fought to reach down to her belt and retrieve one of her stunners.
When her hand wrapped around it, she jabbed it blindly in the man holding onto her. He screamed out in pain and he released her. She jammed it into his neck over and over until he hit the ground in a state of unconsciousness. The last guy came towards her again. She scrambled to get her gun but it was out of arms reach. It had flown out of her hand during the altercation. He threw a punch her way and she somehow caught it with her hand.
She twisted his arm and he grunted from the pressure. She turned slightly and kicked behind his legs causing him to fall and hit his head. She handcuffed the two individuals and reached down to grab her gun and holster it.
She huffed. "Well, that was easy."
"Catherine?" She heard Steve's voice through the coms. "Did you get the hostages?"
"Yes. I'm about to send them your way." She told him before beginning the process of untying all of them.
It didn't take long and she escorted them up to the main deck where a helicopter would take them to safety. She was tired as she climbed back into the plane. She was of course the last on. The first thing she noticed was the tension between Steve and Natasha. They sat on opposite sides of the room while Steve shot her untrusting looks.
"Did I miss something?" Catherine asked confused.
"Did you know that Nat had her own mission?" Steve asked her.
Catherine looked at Natasha and then back at Steve. She needed to diffuse the situation. "It's not unheard of. If there's another opportunity within the mission, SHIELD usually takes it."
Steve said nothing.
Catherine was looking forward to going back to her apartment. She had been awoken late in the night for the mission and it lasted several hours. She attempted to sleep on the plane, but it wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep. Director Fury, however, had other ideas.
Just as Catherine was about to ascend the stairs to Steve's apartment, he emerged from the door. He stopped to glance at her and sighed. "Let me guess, Fury told you about my little outburst and sent you here to check on me."
"You hit the nail right on the head." She said with a smile.
"Hold on. Let me get something and then we can go for a walk." He told her. She stood on sidewalk and waited for Steve to come back outside. When he did, it was with a baseball hat in his hand. He walked up to her and pulled it over her head.
"Is this necessary?" Catherine asked as they began to walk.
"For where we're going, yes."
"And where exactly are we going?"
"The Smithsonian." Steve said.
Catherine raised an eyebrow at him. "And why are we going there?"
"It has a Captain America exhibit."
She bursted out laughing and felt her cheeks tinge pink. She reached up with her hand to stifle her laugh. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just had no idea that Captain America was so vain."
"I'm not...vain. More like curious." He defended himself and the fell quiet for a moment. "Do you trust Fury and Nat?"
"They haven't given me a reason not too." She told him truthfully. "I don't think they're the enemy though."
"And what do you know about Project Insight?" He continued on with the questions.
She sighed. "Not much. From what I've been told or read, it's just another layer of protection the world needs. Hey, Steve?"
He stopped to look down at her. "Yes?"
"You know if you ever need anything, I'll be there for you and I do mean anything."
"I know, Catherine."
Catherine didn't quite know what to expect from a exhibit solely based on Steve's life. Most of things inside of it, she already knew about it. She still found it slightly fascinating to see old photos or read stories about him from others. She stood in front of the section about Peggy Carter and listened to her speak about Steve briefly before moving on to the section about the Howling Commandos.
Her knowledge of them was minuscule. Then, she stopped at the small section for Steve's best friend, Bucky Barnes. She knew he had died in the war and he was the only Howling Commando to do so. Steve was rarely talked about him, but when he did it was only nice things. Her eyes traced over the black and white imagine of James Buchanan Barnes. Attributes about him started to stick out. His eyes. His mouth. His nose. She had seen him before.
Zima.
James.
She felt herself stop breathing for a second. No, her mind was playing tricks on her. The Winter Soldier she knew did not look almost ninety years old, but the similarities were there. The name was the same though. She shook the thought away. They couldn't be the same person. Perhaps they were related somehow? Plenty of people were named after dead relatives? However, the weird feeling in her stomach said differently.
"You okay, Catherine?" Steve whispered.
"What?" She asked and blinked rapidly. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine."