Avengers: The Age of Ultron | Saviors | The Last Hydra Base
Four Months Later…Sovakia…Hydra Base…
Snap … Crack … Punch … Kick

Winter bounced from side to side in combat mode – Hydra soldiers were coming in from all places, but she was too strong and too skilled for them to take her down so easily. They were falling limp like rocks.

Four months had passed since the talk Tony had given her, and since then, things had been moving along at a good smooth-enough pace – she was still remembering details here and there. But the biggest achievement so far was being able to talk to Steve and Bucky without acting like, well, a bitch.

To put it simple; the three of them made a deal. She would try her hardest in bringing out Avery Rogers and in return, they were not to push her. From now on she had decided to go with Ava (Avery) as being her name, but, in the field – she was to be called Winter. This was the compromise. She was still far away from being the real Avery Rogers but this was a start, and she was actually finding it pretty nice to bounce between the two personalities.

Since that day more Avengers Missions had been happening – these superheroes had given her the full briefing after a month of being around, telling her what was really going on – what had happened during wherever she was that made her miss the action. She must have been in the sleeping coma when this first alien fight happened in New York – she honestly wished she had fought in it, it sounded exciting in a way.

Beside her, doing the exact same things as her was Bucky – or well, Lieutenant America if you wanted to be 'superhero specific' during this moment in time. They actually work pretty well as a team Winter had fingered out, or again – Ava. She still doesn't have many of the earlier memories but she did remember some of when she fought side by side with the two American heroes in the past – before her altered personality. And this was a good thing. A thought occurred to her one night, that if she had regained these memories during her time as 'The Winter Soldier', maybe she wouldn't have tried to kill them last year – or even built up such a ridiculous hatred towards them. But everything that had been told to her was from two someone's she had presumably trusted, Dr. Zola and Agent Alexander Pierce. She felt like such a fool for being tricked by those hooligans – she should have used her training more to figure out what they're true goal was. She had been just a pawn in one of their spiteful and disgusting games.

"Winter!" Bucky yelled, flinging his shield towards her – seeing two men holding rifles in their hands, all about ready to shoot her.

Winter grabbed the object without even looking, directing it's oncoming force towards those two men – the shield bounced from one face to the other – effectively knocking them out cold … and probably breaking both their foreheads. That was sure to hurt in the morning … if they even wake up…

"SHIT!" Tony's annoyed curse blurted through their earpieces.

"Language." Steve's immediate reply was – this was something that released a chuckle from both Winter and Bucky. They shared an amused look. In the last three months, things between them have gotten a lot more comfortable – it wasn't just about the deal that was made between them. Winter knew and could slightly remember that Ava meant a lot to Bucky – so much so that they were to be wed. This gave her a different idea for their relationship until the day she regained her full memories back. They were to essentially start over – pretty much completely over.

…
"How about we start over?" Winter suggested, shrugging slightly at a loss for ideas. "I want you to show me the guy Avery fell in love with. Who knows … maybe something will … click?"

Bucky looked down for a moment, thinking. After everything each of them had been through … maybe this would be the best overall solution? "Okay." He agreed, nodding his head after a second. He slowly formed a grin on his lips, looking up to her and letting his hand raise up between them – remembering how they first met in the first place. "I'm James." He introduced himself. "James Buchanan Barnes."

Winter's shoulders slumped just a touch, her eyes looking … relieved? "I'm Winter." She started to shake his hand, not being able to help noticing how warm and soft his touch was. "Or … I-I go by Ava, Avery Rogers." She had hesitated for a second when she said Ava's name – but she said it, and it was a start. This new beginning will be good for everyone … they hoped.
…

"Jarvis." Bucky threw another soldier into the tree, less were coming at them now – these Hydra soldiers obviously got the picture that they'd be beaten into a bloody pulp if they tried to get near them. "What's the view from up there?"

"The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield." Jarvis's robotic voice replied almost instantly after being asked. "Strucker's technology is well beyond any other Hydra base we've taken."

Winter chucked the shield back to Bucky, "There seems to be a lot more idiots to fight too." She muttered, grunting as she elbowed another gun-man in the face as he tried to get up from his attack. There were only five people left to take down – 'a piece of cake', she thought.
Winter was glad to have a new uniform, it was much easier to maneuver in and was pretty stylish too considering her lack of clothing taste. The uniform was nicely shielded and had pockets for at least 5 different guns of her choice, including a couple of knife pockets too as a precaution.

"Loki's sceptre must be here." Thor declared, the power of his voice booming through.
"Strucker couldn't mount this defence without it." He was determined to push forwards with all his might. "At long last."

Natasha's grunt came through next, "'At long last' is lasting a little too long for my taste, guys."

"Yeah," Clint spoke sarcastically, "I think we lost the element of surprise." You could practically imagine him rolling his eyes as he said this.

A gunman just upside the hill was taking his aim at Winter, the man preparing to shoot when Bucky noticed him. His eyes widened, and without even thinking about it – his own gun was relinquished from its holder against his hip – immediately pointed towards the guy's head – his finger pulled the trigger and the bullet ricocheting through the now dead-man's skull. The body dropped with a thud towards the snowy ground.

Winter threw out her tightened fist once more, it harshly connected with the last soldier's face who dared to face up to her skill and strength. He dropped too with a thump, his breathing shallow but strong. He was officially unconscious. She looked up to notice the body upside the hill, Bucky was staring at the dead body with shock running through his veins, his eyes slightly narrowed with hatred towards the man. The guy had tried to kill the woman he loved. No one was going to touch her ever again he swore. He wouldn't let her life fall through his fingers again, he couldn't.

Winter blinked, thankful and relieved but also unsure at the same time. "Thanks." She muttered to herself, realising what he had just done for her – if he hadn't shot the man, she'd probably be the one with a bullet in the head. She had magnificent healing powers, but, a bullet to the head sounded a little too far stretched to live through.

Bucky heard the sound of her unsure voice, turning towards her – the glaring now thrown aside. He started to open his mouth to say something to her but Tony's interrupted him, what a pain in the ass this man was...

"Wait a second!" Tony exclaimed, bringing everyone's attention to him. "Is no one else going to deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language'?"

"I know." Steve replied, you could tell from his voice that he was probably huffing to himself at his mistake – he should have stopped himself and now he'll probably be the mockery of the day. "It just slipped out."

Winter rolled her eyes out of blue, "You were always the goody too-shoes in the relationship, Stevie." She quirked, not noticing the small grin forming on Bucky's face and evidently a similar look appearing on Captain America himself on the other end of the mic. After a moment she started to stare down at one of many bodies in front of her. She had killed them. She had killed pretty much most of these soldiers who were just trying to fight for what they believe in – it was Bucky who just tried to hurt them enough so they couldn't walk again ... or fight. She couldn't help but think how much of a monster she was – what she had become after all these years…

Bucky sighed, looking around at all the dead or wounded bodies of the Hydra agents – there were so many it was completely devastating to witness and commit. He turned to the woman he loved, frowning when he saw the blank look on her face. "We should head back to the others," He started, jolting her out of whatever thinking space she had been in. "Help them out, I think we're about good in this sector."

Winter blinked, turning away from the bodies towards him, "Yes." She nodded after another moment of thought, "They need us." She said with a determined manner. The Winter Soldier still felt the need to prove herself on the field, whether she needed to or not was another matter. She turned to him this time, "Is the bike broken?" She wondered, gesturing over to the motorcycle they had ridden in on – the one that looked similar to Steve's. It had taken some getting used to, riding on it, but she actually found an interest in these bikes – they were electrical or well, gas powered and fast. That was something that really seemed to peak at her interest.

Bucky cringed looking at his beloved bike that harbored a massive dent in the side, "Ahh." He pursed his lips, looking at the machine sadly, "That's a big mark." He started moving towards it, his shoulders hunching as he did – this bike had been with him since he was removed from the ice – he desperately and silently hoped Stark could fix it for him after this fight was over.

Winter was about to open her mouth, nearly going to ask why this particular bike was so cared for when there seemed to be hundreds of them out there as it was. But a piece of movement caught her eye towards the right, and without even realising it her eyes were widening in horror – a screamed name hallowing from her throat, "JAMES!" Her voice only came out as a blast of hot energy was fired towards Bucky, she felt the urge to move but her legs just didn't seem to understand the command.

Bucky's head was startled upwards as his real name being shouted, he didn't even begin to comprehend that Winter had been the one to his name out until something toasty like hot lava smashed against his shoulder, slivering up towards his neck – the heat ripped through the fabrics of his uniform and connected with his skin like a hot boil. He could practically feel his skin instantly cooking at the temperature – he fell backwards with a strangled gasp, his breathing deepening with pain.

As he toppled to the floor, Winter's legs finally seemed to regain their consciousness – she skidded towards Bucky's shield still lying in the snow and without a second thought, she flung it towards the large shooting machine that hurt her man. The energy tank blew to smithereens on impact at the force, she had literally thrown the rounded plate close to lightning speed before the impact.

A groan behind her made the attention snap back to the injured man lying on the floor – Bucky was lying there with shock in his eyes, he had never been this hurt before. His skin was burning alive and it was nearly killing his nervous system. She quickly skidded her way back to him, and with her heightened instincts she grabbed something from one of her back pockets – a small first aid damage kit. Everyone had one them just in case. She ripped it open without even seeing the damages first, but when she did – let's just say that she felt something else that had never even crossed her thought patterns before. A bubbling fear that Bucky wasn't going to make it crawled its way into her heart. There was a gaping hole in this shoulder, a small part missing from the skin of his neck to. The look of it actually made her want to throw up, this had never happened either.

"You're going to be okay." She shakily told him, her voice had never sounded so bad before – she hadn't even realised that a layer of salty water had begun to appear against her pupils. "Y-You're going to be fine." She grabbed an injection needle with a clear liquid rolling around inside before plunging it into the side of his neck that wasn't torn through.

Bucky's eyes were fluttering, his eyes blearily looking towards her through the pain – his heart constricted seeing her face. She looked so much like her, but she was so much not like her at the same time. "Y-You c-called me J-James." He stuttered, his words coming out with several stuttered breaths.

Winter swallowed as the remembrance of what she called him came back to her. She ripped open some kind of cream that numbed wounds – she started to dab the substance around the wound on his shoulder with shaky hands. She tapped the side of her earpiece, turning it on, "Bucky's hurt, bad – he needs immediate assistance. I repeat. Immediate assistance." She didn't even realise how fearful her voice sounded, she didn't even realise how much she mirrored Avery Rogers at that moment.

Bucky's hand jumped onto her own, the one that was about to place a large sterile patch on his shoulder. "Avery…" He breathed, pain radiating off him in waves. Darkness was starting to fill his vision, he could feel himself slipping away.

Winter licked her lips nervously, "Yeah." She let out a large breath, her shoulders heaving down for some reason. If anyone was to look at her right now, someone who wasn't Bucky – they would have thought acceptance radiated off her. Like she had accepted the name … but no one was there to witness this, so no one will ever really know sooner rather than later this time. No one will realise what she had finally figured out about herself. A tear finally made its way down her cheek as she looked down at him – still kneeling by his side, holding his hand with a comforting grip.

Bucky's eyes fluttered a little more, they started to slowly close. "I-I l-love y-ou…" With that his eyes closed as the darkness finally took him. Right then Winter knew the medicine was now working. Stark's substance keeps the body alive and the mind asleep until it can be repaired, adding that to Bucky's already heightened strains of DNA makes the injection a bonus.

Winter tapped the com again, "We need an E-Vac, now!" She ordered, not letting go on Bucky's hand – her heart beating a mile a minute as she gazed down at the dark-haired American hero.

So many things were beginning to riddle around in her head … hundreds of things were running through her mind. Winter could literally feel something snapping inside of her, something she hoped was good. That headache was coming back, the ones she used to get when memories were fluttering back into existence. She just hoped this would be over soon … she wanted to be real again, she wanted to be one person and one person only. But, that was the person she didn't know who to be anymore.

Darkness finally filled her consciousness and just as the E-Vac's were arriving … her eyes rolled to the back of her head, passing out as her body flopped to the side. Her hand was still in Bucky's but they were lying next to each other … who knows what will happen when either one will wake up.

Note: Thank goodness I finally got the time to get this done for you guys. I really hoped you liked it. And no, no one will die … so far… ooo, cliff hanger.
Anyway. Follow, Fav and Reviews please. I might even be able to get the next chapter up within a few hours. Let's pray I can get it done.

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