"Didn't mean to startle you, Doll," Bucky apologized as he walked out of the bathroom.

     I tried to relax myself upon realizing that he wasn't a threat. Slowing my breathing, reduced my heart rate and nerves.

     We were both quiet for several minutes.

     "When Steve gets back I'm going to ask him to get us some more clothes," Bucky said. "I got out of the shower and realized that the only clothes I had were the ones I just got out of."

     Nodding, I agreed with him.

     "Might ask him for some books or something too. Not a lot to do here."

     I made no response to this comment.

     "You're being pretty quiet," Bucky noted.

     "I- I- I just wish I knew who I am. Or least who I was."

     Bucky gave me a sad smile. "You're...you, Doll. We just have to find out some more about you."

     "Right." I wiped away a tear that was running down my cheek with the back of my left hand.

      His deep blue eyes locked with mine. "It'll hurt and probably take some time. But you will figure it out, because they didn't change who you are."

      I pressed my lips hard together to suppress the tears that wanted to flow down my face.

     "I'll be here to help you, Doll. Steve will too," he promised me.

     Looking down at the floor I whispered, "Thank you" before I went to lay down on my sleeping bag.

     Steve returned to the apartment around 1:30pm empty handed.

     "What have you been doing all day?" I asked.

     He replied vaguely, "Running errands."

     "You guys hungry?" Steve asked as he pulled out the fixings for sandwiches.

     We each made our own sandwiches and began eating.

      "What's your next crazy Captain America story?" I asked, having become accustomed to Steve sharing about his adventures during mealtimes.

     "Last year, the Avengers reassembled to bring down HYDRA. We found out that a HYDRA base in Sokovia was using Loki's Scepter to create an army of enhanced soldiers so we raided the facility. Or at least that was the plan, until we met the products of their experimentation," Steve began.

     "How many?" I asked.

     "Only two. They made it difficult, but we were able to retrieve the Scepter."

     Steve recalled, "Clint was injured pretty badly so we had to hurry back home."

     "Stark Tower was now Avengers Tower. Maria gave us the run down on the two enhanced upon our arrival."

     "The pair was orphaned at age 10 when a shell collapsed their apartment building."

     "Pietro Maximoff gained super speed from HYDRA's experiments," Steve said and flashed a picture of a man with messy white hair who was wearing a tracksuit.

     "Pietro's twin sister, Wanda Maximoff, underwent the same experiments as her brother, only she gained psionic energy manipulation, telekinesis, force-field generation, telepathy, and mental and emotional manipulation powers because of it."

     An auburn haired girl wore a fitted red leather coat and lace-up red corset while glowing red power came from her hands in the picture Steve showed me. I felt connected to her through the abuse we had both suffered at the hands of HYDRA.

     "Doctor Helen Cho, world-renowned geneticist and leader of the U-GIN Research Group, fixed Clint up in no time."

     "With the last of HYDRA defeated, we had a victory celebration." Steve smiled as he said the words

     "I don't think I have mentioned Colonel James Rhodes aka War Machine yet. He is Tony's best friend and uses a suit much like Tony's Iron Man suit. He has helped Tony get through a lot of struggles."

     A picture of a man in a full dress United States Air Force uniform was followed by a picture of a dark grey and silver suit of armor with a gun mounted behind his right shoulder.

     "Rhodey, as Tony calls him, and Sam joined us as well. It was a great party."

     "At least until it was crashed by a broken down talking robot who claimed he killed someone. Called himself Ultron. He hijacked some of the Iron Legion drones and attacked us."

     "The Iron Legion was a bunch of Iron Man droids made to protect and guard civilians while we might be fighting in populated areas," Steve explained.

     "We were able to destroy them, but not before they caused a significant amount of damage to the interior of the tower. Ultron said the only path to peace on Earth was killing the Avengers."

     "Killing the Avengers?" Surprise was evident on my face.

     Steve nodded. "He cleared out by using the Internet as an escape hatch and stole the Scepter. We also discovered that he destroyed J.A.R.V.I.S., Tony's digital butler and artificial intelligence system."

     "But where did this murder robot come from?" I asked.

     "Tony had this dream of creating a peacekeeping artificial intelligence that would let the Avengers retire. He called it Ultron. Only Tony wasn't able to create the intelligence level of A.I. necessary for such a task. Tony and Bruce used the Scepter to finish the Ultron Program leading to the birth of Ultron."

     My forehead wrinkled in confusion. "But he wants to kill, but he was made for peace?"

     "Yes," Steve confirmed. "After the Tower was secured, we had another group argument."

     "You guys love to not get along," I said under my breath.

     Steve gave a brisk nose laugh, but the reaction to my words seemed hollow.

     "The next morning Maria informed me that Ultron had made his way all over the globe. He was clearing out robotics labs, weapons facilities, jet propulsion labs, and whatever he could get his metal hands on. There were multiple of him. They were only killing when engaged and now they had the Maximoffs with them."

     "Maria also showed me that Ultron killed the former leader of HYDRA, Baron Von Strucker, and wrote the word 'PEACE' in the man's blood on the wall of his prison cell."

     I grimaced at the vivid image that came into my mind.

     "I shared the intel with the rest of the team. We found out that Ultron had also deleted all of our digital files on Strucker so we pulled out the hard copies."

     "Figured out that Ultron would probably be going after vibranium from a black market arms dealer by the name of Ulysses Klaue who operated out of South Africa."

     "When we got to Klaue, Ultron and the twins were already there. We tried to negotiate peace, but they weren't having any of it," Steve recalled.

     "Thor and I fought the Ultron sentries and the twins while Nat and Clint fought Klaue's men and Tony fought Ultron's main form."

     I asked, "Where was Bruce?"

     "He stayed back on the Quinjet,"said Steve.

     "And Sam and Rhodes?"

     "Sam continued searching for Bucky. Rhodey was at the Pentagon trying to smooth things over with the government and its allies."

     "Back in South Africa, Pietro knocked me down and Wanda played with my mind."

     "She made me see these strange visions. It hurt...." his voice trailed off. Steve was still obviously shaken just by the memory of the event.

     "Wanda did the same thing to Thor and Natasha. Fortunately, Clint got us back to the Quinjet."

     "While he was doing that, Wanda triggered Bruce to turn into the Hulk and Tony had to fight him in Johannesburg."

     Steve went on, "Once we were all back on board the Quinjet, Maria got in touch with us and said we needed to stay off the grid for a while."

     "Clint took us to his homestead in Missouri. Turns out he has a family: wife, two kids, and another one was on the way."

     "And none of you knew?" I questioned.

     "Well, Nat did since she's his kids' godmother, but the rest of us had no clue. Fury helped set it up for Clint when he joined S.H.I.E.L.D. and he also kept it off S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files," explained Steve.

     "Thor was pretty shaken and he left looking for answers about the vision Wanda had caused him to have almost as soon as we got to the farm."

     "The house and family stuff was pretty triggering for me too so I started chopping wood to clear my mind."

     Steve shared, "Tony came out to join me. We had a disagreement. Then Laura, Clint's wife, needed Tony to help her with something."

     "Turns out Maria called Fury and he came out to the farm to join us."

     "Fury said he thought Ultron was building something but he didn't think it was just one thing considering the amount of vibranium he made off with. Told us Ultron was multiplying fast and trying to crack nuclear launch codes, but wasn't very successful so far because someone kept changing the codes."

     My interest piqued. "Who was it?"

     "I'm not there yet," Steve replied with a sly smile.

     "Fury motivated us to pick ourselves back up and fight Ultron."

     "Bruce figured out that Ultron wanted to evolve into something better than the human race."

     "Fury dropped Bruce off at Avengers Tower and then 'borrowed' Maria. Tony went to find out who our unknown ally with the nuclear codes was while I took Natasha and Clint with me to find Doctor Helen Cho in Seoul," Steve stated.

     "When we got to the U-GIN Genetic Research Facility, Ultron had already left and I found Doctor Cho lying injured on the floor."

     "She told me that Ultron was uploading himself into the body she had made for him, but she didn't know where. She said that the real power was inside the Regeneration Cradle and the Gem's power was uncontainable. She begged me to get the Cradle to Tony."

      "What is the Gem?" I asked.

     "It was what gave the Scepter its power," Steve explained.

     "Clint and Natasha located the Cradle from the Quinjet. I jumped onto the truck that had Ultron and the Cradle inside it. Did my best to fight Ultron and Clint and Natasha helped me out, but I was still getting my ass kicked. Fortunately, Pietro and Wanda came to help me."

     I interrupted, "They helped you? Why?"

     "Wanda said that Ultron couldn't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it. I have a feeling that had something to do with their change of heart."

     "Clint got the Cradle and took it to Tony, but we lost Natasha in the process. Ultron took her captive." Steve clenched his jaw after saying this.

     "I brought the twins back to Avengers Tower with me. Walked into Tony and Bruce trying to upload J.A.R.V.I.S.'s consciousness into the body inside the Cradle."

     "Wait, J.A.R.V.I.S. is alive? I thought Ultron destroyed him?" I hesitated.

     "J.A.R.V.I.S. wasn't destroyed, he was disassembled. He went underground and dumped his memory. Tony pieced him back together again. J.A.R.V.I.S. was the one who was protecting the military's nuclear codes."

     I asked, "But isn't this where everything went wrong the first time?"

     "Yes and I told them to shut it down. They refused. We started arguing and ended up physically fighting each other."

     "Thor returned and electrified the Cradle with his hammer. The being inside exploded out of the Cradle. It was confused at first, but soon calmed down," Steve remembered.

     "It apologized for its initial behavior and then thanked Thor. It somehow created its own uniform and cape from nothing."

     "I asked Thor why he helped create this thing and he said that he'd had a vision. That the Gem in this thing's head is the Mind Stone and it's one of the six Infinity Stones which are the greatest power in the universe and are unparalleled in their destructive capabilities."

     "Then why would he bring it to life?" I wondered.

     "Because Thor said that the Avengers could not defeat Ultron without it's help."

     "The being explained that it was not a child of Ultron and it was not J.A.R.V.I.S. either, but rather something new."

     "But what is it?" I asked after taking a good hard look at the picture of what looked like a red man accented in silver with a glowing yellow jewel set in its forehead.

     Steve explained, "A vibranium synthezoid and a combination of Tony's digital butler, J.A.R.V.I.S.; Tony's murder bot, Ultron; and the Mind Stone, which we know very little about."

     "That makes it all so much more clear," I muttered.

     "He is called Vision. We're not entirely sure what his full potential powers are."

     "Wanda told us that she had looked inside Vision's head and seen annihilation."

     "Thor said that the twins' powers, the horrors in our heads, and even Ultron himself had all come from the Mind Stone and that all of those were still nothing compared to what it could unleash," Steve told us.

     "I asked Vision if he was on our side. He said he didn't think it was that simple. He was on the side of life and Ultron wasn't."

     "Vision said that he didn't want to kill Ultron, but he also knew that if Ultron was not completely destroyed that the world would likely come to a horrible end. He agreed to help us destroy Ultron and told us that we all needed each other and we had to act now if we were going to win."

     "Clint had found out that Ultron was in Sokovia and that he had Nat there too."

     Steve continued, "Then Vision handed Thor his hammer."

     I asked, "What's so special about that?"

     "Only those who are worthy can wield Thor's hammer," Steve answered.

     I raised an eyebrow dubiously.

     "I know it sounds crazy but it's impossible to pick up. Only those who are worthy even can."

     "So Vision is worthy?" I guessed.

     Steve clarified, "Yes and that ultimately was what made us trust him."

     "We all suited up and rolled out within minutes. I made it very clear on our flight there that our first priority was to get the people of Sokovia out of harm's way."

     "We also needed to find out what Ultron was building, find Natasha, and keep the fighting between Ultron and ourselves."

     "This fight wasn't just about beating Ultron, it was also about whether he was right for calling us monsters and what is wrong with the world," Steve said in a hard tone of voice.

     "Once we arrived in Sokovia, we started evacuating the citizens and in response, Ultron unleashed his army of Ultron Sentries."

     I shook my head in disbelief. "This can't be real. An army of killer robots?"

     Steve answered, "All too real I'm afraid."

     "This is crazy," I mumbled before finishing the last bite of one of my sandwiches.

     "We fought the robots and continued to evacuate the people. Found out that Ultron had created a device from the vibranium and remaining alien anti-gravity tech from the Battle of New York so he could levitate Novi Grad, the capital of Sokovia, into the air."

     "Why?" I asked.

     "The city was going to be his meteor. Once it reached the desired height, he would drop it down and annihilate every living thing on Earth," Steve explained.

     "It was terrifying. Suddenly the ground I was standing on was leaving the earth."

     "We kept fighting Ultron. Bruce rescued Natasha and they both joined us. I told Nat that the Maximoffs were with us now. Then Tony said he had a way to blow up the city."

     "But you and all the people?" I protested.

     "I know, that's what I told Tony. Didn't look like there was any hope."

     "That's when Fury and Maria arrived with a Helicarrier and Rhodes. We got the civilians into life rafts and got them off of the flying city," Steve remarked.

     "When Ultron saw we were winning, he attempted to activate the key early, and drop Novi Grad out of the sky. We all gathered around the key to protect it and prevent Ultron from getting a hand on it."

     "The air was getting thin, so I sent Clint and Natasha to the life rafts. I came behind them looking for stragglers."

     I probed, "And what about protecting the key?"

     "Wanda took care of that," Steve said.

     "And Pietro?" I asked.

     "Pietro didn't make it."

     I was in shock. "What? How can the guy with super speed not make it?"

     "He gave himself up as a human shield to protect Clint and the Sokovian kid he was trying to rescue," Steve revealed.

     "No. Oh no," I whispered.

     "One of the robots must have touched the key because the city suddenly started falling fast."

     Concerned, I questioned, "Did Wanda get off?"

     "Yes, Vision rescued her before Thor and Tony blew the city up."

     "Where was Bruce?" I wondered.

     Steve explained, "The Hulk got on board a Quinjet which was in stealth mode so we couldn't track him."

     "Vision killed the last Ultron. We saved the world."

     "Clint retired and went home to his family."

     "Thor returned to Asgard to learn more about the Infinity Stones."

     "Tony took one of his dad's old Stark Industries warehouses in upstate New York and made it into the New Avengers Facility. It's a huge, beautiful multi-billion dollar complex. Many of the staff are former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Fury, Maria, Doctor Cho, and Doctor Selvig were all there too," Steve said.

     "After that, Tony decided it was time for him to retire."

     "The Hulk was still missing, so that left Natasha and me."

     "And that's the last time the Avengers were together," Steve finished. "Some people call us the 'Original Six' since new members have joined since then."

     "There's more of you?" I asked surprised.

     Steve nodded.

     "War Machine, Vision, Falcon, and Wanda made up the New Avengers. Natasha and I trained them ourselves. It's not easy to make a bunch of individuals into a team."

     "What were you doing while all of that was happening?" I asked Bucky.

     "Hiding out in Romania," he replied. "Found out about all of it a couple of days later from the newspapers."

     "Oh."

     Bucky changed the subject saying, "Steve, both of us need more clothes."

     "I can take care of that," Steve answered.

     "It'd be nice if they were a little bit bigger than Clint's sizes," Bucky added.

     "Consider it done."

      "I also need much bigger clothes," I told Steve.

     "Understandable. Natasha is much shorter than you are."

     I looked at the floor when I said, "It would also be nice if the bras were a little smaller in the chest."

     Steve seemed unphased by this request. "Of course."

     Bucky stated, "It would also be nice if we had something to do. Just being in the apartment all day while you're out doing God knows what is very boring."

     "You two can't keep each other entertained?" Steve teased.

     I just shrugged. "Why can you go out and we can't if we're all wanted?

     "They are after me too, but they won't kill me on site if they see me," replied Steve.

     "There's the ingredients for spaghetti in the kitchen. If you two could make that for dinner before I get back around seven, that would be greatly appreciated."

    Steve called out, "See you two later!" as the door closed behind him.

    Bucky and I were left alone together again and silence filled the apartment.