"Oh my God," Sam and Bucky whisper, watching the destruction on the horizon. Even though Bucky's more upset with Sam than he has words for, the two of them watch together as they approach where you'd apparently been taken. They were still miles out, but they could already see the plumes of dark smoke coming from their destination.

Bucky gestures angrily with one hand. "It's almost like tearing her away from any stability and familiarity she knew wasn't a good idea," he shouts over the loud rumble of the engine.

"What are you yelling at me for? I didn't do it!" Sam yells back, fighting back the urge to defend himself and tell Bucky all about the hellish investigation he'd endured. Mostly because, it didn't matter- at least not right now. He messed up. He knew you both deserved the truth. And once this was all over, he hoped that he could give that to you.

"You didn't even try to fight for her," Bucky pointedly accuses. "She was counting on you and you gave up."

"I didn't give up," Sam fumes, scowling at Bucky though he knows he doesn't really have any right to. "They made a decision, there was nothing I could do."

"Bullshit!"

Sam swallows his retort, knowing that it won't help the situation. He takes a deep breath and watches as they approach the epicenter of destruction- destruction of your own making.

As quickly as humanly possible, they arrive on-site. And it's not good, they don't know anything other than what they can see with their own two eyes, and if the perimeter that stretched over a mile long was any indication- it really wasn't good.

"What happened?" Bucky shouts, running up to the various agents surrounding the closed off perimeter, monitoring the situation.

It was like they'd stepped into a completely different climate. The sky was dark with thick smoke, the wind howling around them making it hard to hear anything, the cracked and seperated ground that periodically rumbled underneath their feet. All the vegetation and greenery that wasn't completely charred was now a sickly grey, completely limp and lifeless.

Bucky knows that somebody had finally pushed you too far. He just knows it.

"I don't know," the agent sputters, shrinking under Bucky and Sam's intense glares. "We put her in a debriefing room and she went nuts."

Bucky's fist clenches tightly, fighting the urge to shake the man in rage. "One of those tiny debriefing rooms? The incredibly small, constricted debrief rooms?"

"Did you even read her file?" Sam shouts. "Severely claustrophobic, you idiot. You're lucky she didn't bring the entire city down."

"Can she do that?"

"Yes," Bucky and Sam scream in unison, the two of them gesturing to the widespread damage.

"Why didn't you let her out?" Bucky demands.

"We tried, but the wing was already coming down. We had to get everyone out."

"And is everyone out?" Sam questions.

"Everyone except her."

Bucky doesn't even give Sam a chance to formulate a plan before he takes off, very literally running into the eye of the storm. You may be the one causing this, but you're still only human, you could be trapped, hurt, or any other number of things. You're his priority.

He runs toward where the building used to stand, shielding his eyes from the ash and small rubble whipping around in the air. As he approaches, he sees the steel framework that still stands barely holding on. It's all about to come down and you're still in there.

"Doll?" Bucky shouts over the winds screaming against him. There's no answer. "Come on- if you can hear me, just scream, I can get you out."

He runs around the perimeter of where the building used to stand, craning his neck and desperately searching for any sign of you through the remains of the building. "Come on, I need you to talk to me. Just let me help you, please. Let me help you."

"Did you know?" you shout, your voice angrier than Bucky's ever heard. More than he ever thought could come from you.

Over the winds and general chaos, Bucky can barely pinpoint where your voice is even coming from and his heart stutters as he realizes that you put the pieces together. And this all makes so much more sense. He knew exactly how much it hurt when he found out Sam knew, and the fact that you had to find out from a stranger in the process of getting taken away from everyone- he understands. They'd finally broken you. "Doll-"

"Did you know?" you angrily shout, your breathing ragged as Bucky digs through the rubble to find you. "Don't lie to me."

"No. I didn't, I swear I didn't know." This time you remain silent, he continues speaking trying to coax more words out of you. "Doll, you've got to calm down. We can fix this, but you have to calm down."

"Maybe I don't want to fix it anymore. Maybe there's no point."

"I know you're hurting but that's not true. You have to know that."

"I don't. I don't know anything anymore," you seethe.

"Well I do," he shouts in desperation. For a moment, he fumbles for the right words to say to help you. He thinks about the many therapists he'd been forced to see and all the bullshit affirmations he spent hours listening to- most of the time, it only made him angrier.

He could tell you that there was a light at the of the tunnel or that it gets better. And while that might be true, he thinks about what he'd want to hear. Sam was right about you two being two sides of the same coin, and he knew that kindred spirit was there, so maybe what he would want to hear is what you need to hear: the truth. "And I know you, you're annoyingly optimistic. Unfailing trust in people. You've got a dark sense of humor, but you don't let a lot of people see that. Your favorite color is yellow, and- and you're my other half. Remember? You and me, we're the same. Except you're better. After all the shit you've gone through, you still manage to see the good in people. You saw it in me. And you have every right to be angry, but this isn't you. Just come back to me. We'll figure it out together."

"I can't," you wail, your voice now sounding more hurt than angry. "I can't, James. He knew. He knew the whole time."

"I know, and I know it hurts, but this doesn't solve the problem."

You stay silent again. Bucky scrambles once again to find you, lifting up steel beams, and large chunks of concrete as he tries to find you. Above him a steel beam groans just as a large chunk breaks. He dives out of the way, tumbling into another pile of rubble. He's back up in an instant. "The building's coming down, we need to get you out."

"Please," he pleads, letting all the vulnerability and desperation flow through his words. Because he is desperate. He remembers that feeling of bitter hopelessness when he almost lost you the first time, he can't do it again. In the year that he'd known you, you'd shown him a bright and hopeful world that brimmed with possibilities. It was golden with more hope on the horizon. And without you, he wasn't sure that he'd recognize the world as it used to be. "I can't lose you."

"No," you sob, clutching your head as you try to block it all out- try to bring yourself back to a person that you recognize. "You have to get out of here. I can't- I don't know how to stop."

'I'm not leaving- I trust you."

"No," you cry again. "You shouldn't. I'm everything they thought I'd be."

"Do you remember what Strange said about choices? This is the choice I'm making and I'm not leaving without you. Just let me help you."

"I don't know how to stop, James. I can't do this anymore."

"Don't say that. Just let me help you. Please," he begs, feeling the sweltering heat continuing to rise around him.

"I don't know how," you repeat. Bucky can hear the hurt in your voice and maybe it's just because it's you, but it's like he can feel it too. He can feel the way you're trying to hold on to your anger like it's your only life preserver and you're adrift in a sea of despair.

"Yes, you can," he says, finally getting closer to your voice. "I know you can."

"He knew. The whole time he knew. I was always an assignment to him. None of it was real."

And even though he's pissed at Sam for what happened, even though he vehemently disagrees with what Sam did, he defends him, "That's not true. He just wanted to keep you safe. That's what matters to him. He was scared. I know it's not right, but you're like a little sister to him. And he's your annoyingly overbearing, protective brother. He messed up, but all he's ever wanted is to protect you."

And there's just more chaos filled silence. "He threatened me, you know? After we met, he warned me not to flirt with you. And when you were in the hospital, I told him I was in love with you and he threatened me- again. Said that if I didn't spend the rest of my life making you happy, he'd kick my ass. He's an idiot, doll. And he did something so incredibly stupid, and I'll probably kick his ass for it later. But he cares- he cares so much. In his own, stupid, overbearing, idiotic way."

When Sam watches as Bucky takes off into the center of the chaos, he doesn't hesitate to follow. Unfortunately for Sam, he's not a super soldier, he can't lift steel beams and tons of concrete. But he searches for you just the same, through the thick smoke of the fire and the winds that make it just that much worse. And still, he tries to look for you.

He can hear the one sided conversation Bucky's having with you, how despite how furious he was with Sam, he was defending his actions to you.

Only a few minutes into searching, through the heavy smog, Sam sees another SHIELD agent approach. He stumbles toward the unfamiliar man, just close enough to see a vaguely familiar weapon in his hand. It takes Sam a split second to place it: some knockoff of the sonic cannon Tony once used on Wanda.

He gasps angrily- were they really going to do that to you? The person they touted at their most valuable asset. Their ever-lovely, never-needy crowning jewel. You were always on their side. You'd never done anything against SHIELD, and yet one wrong move and they were ready to take you down without pause.

The agent raises the weapon as soon as he's got Bucky in his sights, waiting for the moment he gets a clear shot at you.

"Drop it," Sam barks, pointing his gun at the SHIELD agent just as he's about to pull the trigger.

The unfamiliar agent barely freezes, turning to look at Sam with a grimace. "You don't know what you're doing."

"I know exactly what I'm doing. Now drop it."

"She's a threat. A threat to us all like this. She's lost it."

"Drop it," he over enunciates again, his finger just barely grazing the trigger.

The agent barely spares him a glance as if he knows Sam won't actually do it. "This is only going to get worse. You give her an inch, she'll take a mile."

"You don't know anything about her. And I'm not going to ask you again," he orders, pointing to where he wants the agent to drop the weapon.

The agent sighs, shaking his head as he lowers the weapon to the uneven terrain. "You're encouraging a superhuman temper tantrum. She could kill everyone in a ten mile radius if you let her."

"Shut the hell up before I pull the trigger."

"-he knew," Sam hears you sob. Though the ground has ceased to rumble, he knows you've yet to gain control over yourself.

He kicks the weapon away from the man, breaking eye contact with the man as he stumbles through the torn concrete and violent flames.

"I'm sorry," Sam shouts, finally making his way to where Bucky stands, your voice coming from a large mound of fallen concrete and heavy steel beams. "I'm sorry I lied. I was just trying to keep you safe. But you are not just an assignment- that's why they took you. We all got too close. We cared more about you than what SHIELD wanted."

"Sam-" Bucky tries to interject, shaking his head to warn him that he's probably the last person you want to talk to right now.

Sam shakes his head, holding up his hand as he continues stepping closer to your voice. "I'm sorry I thought you needed protecting more than you needed the truth. And I'm sorry I kept things from you. I'm sorry. But you have never been just an assignment to me."

And for a moment, Sam's sure that you're not listening. But the air slowly stills, debris literally falls from the air as it all gradually goes quiet. The flames no longer angrily roar but quietly smolder out as it all just stops. And now that it's all quiet, they can hear your ragged breathing begin to even. They listen carefully, following the sound of your breaths. Bucky stumbles over, lifting the large slab of concrete off of you.

The second it's off of you, you scream.

It's different than your previous emotional cries of desperation- it sounds like you're in pain, in agony.

For the shortest mili-second, Sam hears you scream in agony, your hands covering your head as you try to make it stop. He turns to see the same agent as before, directing the weapon right back at you.

This time Sam pulls the trigger without hesitation.

And once again, it's all quiet. Bucky flips the slab of concrete, grabbing your hand and pulling you up. He wraps an arm around you as the three of you survey all the damage that surrounded you. The agent that Sam just shot. The building you just single-handedly brought down.

Sam's lips pull in as he reluctantly nods, "Oh yeah, we're definitely going to be in trouble for this one."