You piled all your hair on top of your head, finishing quickly and getting out and dressed. You had on a pair of black pajama bottoms and a white tank top, barefoot as you padded around the room. Opening your windows, you stared out towards Brooklyn, missing home for some reason. Pulling a chair towards the large windows you sat in it, staring out. A knock on the door startled you some time later and you called out, hearing it open and shut.

"I didn't know if you were still up or not." Steve said softly, the sound of a chair being dragged across the room the only noise.

"Sleep isn't coming easy tonight, not with everything that's happened." You admitted, looking over at him, "How did it go?"

"The team is getting ready, we're going after Ultron in the morning." He said firmly, and you nodded, turning in your chair and facing him.

"Tony didn't mean to do anything wrong Steve, he was trying to do something good." You told him, seeing him lean back, "His heart was in the right place."

"But it ended badly." Steve pointed out.

"I know, but you'll fix it. You always do." You reassured him, reaching out a hand, Steve automatically grabbing it.

"I need to ask you something and I don't want to but..." he trailed off, taking your hand in both of his, sounding almost pained.

"What?" you murmured, placing your other hand on top, "You can tell me anything."

"I think we need you on this with us." He admitted, looking up at you, "We need everybody on this, it's gonna take us all to take down Ultron."

"Hey, it's okay." You smiled, your hands barely covering his large ones.

"Believe me I don't want you anywhere near this, or him but I have to ask. This means for now, you have to give up the search for Bucky." He said softly, making you realize he was right.

"Well, I'd like for him to have a world to come back to and Ultron doesn't seem like he's going to let that happen." You frowned, looking out the window again, "It's not like Sam can't take over for me for now."

"Yeah he's not coming for this." Steve nodded.

Letting go you stood up, looking out the window at the lightening sky, the black turning more and more blue as the minutes passed. Steve put an arm around your shoulders, pulling you against his side.

"I don't want you anywhere near this thing but you're the one of the best, even I know that now." Steve admitted, resting his chin on your head.

"Well I'm glad you finally see it." You teased, feeling him chuckle, your hand around his waist.

"Suit up, we got to figure out a game plan." He muttered, pulling away from you, leaving you standing by the window as he walked out.

Deciding that for now you were handing the search over to Sam you texted him, telling him about the board in your room and the few leads you had found before heading to a door in your room. Tony had given you a place to put your suit and your weapons, stocking you up with whatever you would need. Putting on the suit and putting all your weapons in their proper places you tied you walked out, and to the elevator. Standing in it you went down to a different floor, the team meeting in a different room while the other one was being fixed. As you walked towards it you ran into Steve, carrying two boxes, nearly over his head. Grabbing one you saw him give you a nod of thanks.

"What are we looking for?" you asked, seeing the marked file boxes.

"Anything on Aaron Struker we might have missed." He informed you, walking into the room behind you.

"Struker? Wasn't that the Hydra agent you guys arrested in Sokovia?" you frowned, setting the box on the table, Thor making room for you.

"Ultron killed him, left a little note on his way out." Tony murmured, his eyes catching yours for the briefest moment.

"We think he knew something that Ultron doesn't want us to know." Nat chimed in, opening a box.

Nodding you opened a box, grabbing a handful of files and opened the top one, your eyes flickering over the pages. Seeing nothing you closed it, opening and doing the same to the next one, Thor watching you from next to him.

"Are you actually reading those?" he asked, making you stop and look up.

"Yeah, my eyes and my mind process written information way faster then a normal person." You explained, feeling a tad embarrassed, "And whatever I read I can recall it if I think about it."

"Like photographic memory?" Nat questioned, Bruce shaking his head.

"The correct term is eidetic memory. It's an amazing ability to have." Bruce corrected, glancing up at you.

"Yeah, wasn't so amazing getting it." You muttered bitterly, seeing Bruce's face fall and feeling bad.

Going back to the files you opened it up again, reading line after line, nothing standing out to you. Making it through half the box you opened up a personal file, seeing a man's pictures hanging off the side, a brand burnt onto the side of his neck. You recognized it, not the man but you couldn't place why you knew what it was. Tony moved towards you, leaning over your shoulder.

"I know him." He admitted, your head turning and looking up, "From back in the day, he operates off the African coast, black market arms."

Steve gave Tony a look, but you shook your head slightly, staving off an argument but Tony caught it, "There are conventions, alright meet people, I didn't sell him anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game changer." Tony thought out loud.

"What this?" Thor pointed to the brand, your interest piqued.

"It's a tattoo, I don't think he had them back then." Tony murmured, not paying much attention.

"No, those are tattoos." You pointed at the picture, your fingers brushing against the photo, "This is a brand."

Bruce stood up and grabbed the picture, seeing you were right. Going to the computer he scanned it and used the picture to search for the meaning. Hearing a beep, you turned and looked over, seeing him staring at the screen.

"You're right, it's a word in an African dialect meaning thief in a much less friendly way." Bruce informed you.

"What dialect?" Steve questioned, standing beside you and Tony.

"Wa-wakanada?" Bruce stumbled over the word and suddenly you realized why you vaguely recognized the brand.

"Wakanda." You said firmly, looking at Steve and Tony both, the worry on their faces matching your own.

"If this guy got out of Wakanda with some of their trade goods..." Tony tailed off, his voice low.

"I thought your father said he got the last of it." Steve mumbled, Bruce getting to his feet and joining everyone else.

"I don't follow, what comes out of Wakanda?" He asked, and you caught his eye for a split second as you glanced down at Steve's shield, resting against a cabinet.

"The strongest metal on earth." You said softly, wondering what the plan was for the vibranium.

"Where is this guy now?" Steve asked, him and Tony launching themselves into finding him.

Reading through more of Struker's files you swallowed up as much knowledge as you could, not knowing what could come in handy. When you couldn't handle anymore, the details hitting a little too close to home in some of them, you grabbed a tablet, reading up on vibranium and Wakanda at the same time. You were ready to go, and you walked into the elevator, heading for the quinjet, seeing it ready for take-off. This was the first time you had been on a mission with the Avengers, your last real mission was your only mission, the Lumerian Star with SHIELD. Walking onto the jet you sat in one of the chairs, scrolling quickly through text, eyes flickering through it. As everyone got onto the jet you gave them a moments glance before looking back down at the tablet. Clint was in the drivers, seat, everyone else scattered around as the jet took off, the next 3 hours spent flying to find the arms dealer. Tony was off on his own, looking down at a computer, his normally happy cheerful demeanour still holding traces of fear. Making a decision, you got up and made your way to him, sidling up next to him and almost startling him out of his gaze.

"Hey kid, holding up alright?" he asked, and you smiled, resting your fingertips on the top of the table.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing." You teased softly, the real question hanging in the air between you two.

Tony didn't say anything, averting his gaze back down at the computer, everyone's files all gathered in one marked Avengers, including your own. You had no idea what had put Tony into this state, but you knew him well enough by now to know that it had to be something big. Reaching over you put your hand on his, stopping his hand from moving and making him look down at you.

"What has you so shaken Tony?" you whispered, keeping your voice low, between the two of you, "What is so bad that you resorted to making Ultron?"

"Struker has...had...these kids, twins. They volunteered for experimentation." He explained, and you winced, wondering what drove someone to something like that, "The girl, she showed me something."

"What did she show you?" you frowned, your hand still resting on Tony's.

You watched as he looked around the jet, those brown eyes resting on everyone for a second before he looked down at you. You could see the sadness there, the fear and you realized finally that he wasn't afraid for himself, the fear was for you.

"The end, for all of you." He admitted, making you tilt your head slightly, "Everyone was dead, Thor, Bruce, Steve. You."

"And you?" you asked.

"I just got to watch." He swallowed harshly, and you turned to face him fully, "I got the tail end of everything and I was alone."

"Tony, I can understand how that would feel, it's a fear for me myself." You reassured him, "Losing everyone, nobody wants that but maybe next time, don't create a murder bot with Doctor Banner."

"Duly noted." He nodded, a ghost of a smile gracing his lips.

Touching his shoulder, you moved to walk past him, feeling like you did a little to help ease his mind.

"Hey kid." He called out, and you let the nickname slide as you turned, not pointing out that you were like 50 years older then him, "Thanks for that."

"Anytime Tony." You smiled, going to find a seat.

You understood now why Tony did what he did, trying to protect his family the same way you would've. Looking up you watched Steve from across the plane, wondering just how far you would go to protect your family. You saw the moment he felt your eyes, his turning and finding you watching him. Ending his conversation, he walked over, the new suit bringing the same old nostalgia with it.

"So, Tony, myself and Thor are going on the offensive. You, Nat and Clint take out anyone who stands in the way, main target is getting the vibranium away from Ultron." Steve informed you, nodding your head as he sat across from you, "Everything okay with you and Tony? Saw you two talking."

"We're fine." You murmured, seeing him give you the look, "He just gave me a warning about the twins."

"Ah the Maximoff's." He nodded, and you looked down, finding the file on them and reading quickly, "The girl can do some serious tricks on your mind. Stay clear of her."

"I think I'll take your advice on that one." You nodded, reading about her abilities, "This is what I was worried about at some point."

"What's that?" he questioned.

"My mind is an intricate thing now, even I'm not sure what it's capable of yet." You muttered, shutting the tablet off, "I think because it's so much more open it might be easier to get inside of it. That's was Hydra's plan from the start."

"To break you and brainwash you?" he frowned, looking disturbed.

"I don't like to think back on all that but lately that's all I've been doing. They tried real hard to wipe my memories and they were getting close, I was missing pieces of my memory when I got back. Not a lot but still some." You told him quickly, seeing the horror on his face, "What if because of all the things that were done to me I'm an easier target to take over?"

"I think...just watch yourself around her." He frowned, not knowing what to say to you, "Please, be careful. I don't know if your theory is right, but I don't want to find out."

"Me neither." You smirked, the smile dropping off quickly.

You didn't want to bring it up, but it had been bothering you for awhile, having to dig into Hydra to flush out Bucky, bringing up old memories. As the jet flew to your destination you sat quietly, getting yourself into the mindset to do the job, forcing yourself to stop thinking about the search for Bucky. When the jet landed you were ready, getting up and following Nat and Clint out, Bruce staying in the jet. It was still hard for you to believe that the mild-mannered doctor was the large green angry Hulk that you had seen on the videos. As you walked out, Steve was standing there, the mask firmly in place and the shield on his back. You knew he wanted to say something, the frown obvious even behind his mask.

"Be safe." You whispered, your hand resting on his arm as Clint and Nat waited.

"Don't worry about me." He shook his head.

"I always do."

Letting your hand fall you walked out,catching up with the other two, making your way into the ship quickly. You kneweveryone else would be in there soon, the three of you needing to take care ofeveryone so they could get the vibranium out of there.