Present

Sam brought Bucky and I onto a large airplane. I did my best not to gawk at the new technology. Commercial flights weren't common when I grew up and it was most certainly out of our price range. I only made so much in my job as a librarian and then when I worked as a secretary. When mana passed, we couldn't cover the costs of her funeral.

The Barnes family stepped in, Mrs. Barnes making all the arrangements, bless her soul, Bucky didn't leave my side for weeks afterword, the three of us stuck together like glue.

That was the day Steve and I officially became orphans. I took on most of the responsibilities when mother got sick, and the financial strain wasn't as great, Steve and I were barely holding on. Bucky offered to help, but we refused. We needed to make our own ends meet, not take handouts.

Bucky sat on one of the benches that lined the plane walls, Sam sat on the other side. The two seemed to have been in an argument, one that had continued from before I woke up. I'd fallen asleep on Bucky, leaning my head against his shoulder despite the bumpy plane ride.

A new man approached, informing Sam of the nearing drop point. The two had already taken turns changing into darker clothing, although why they hadn't done that earlier in the apartment I couldn't guess.

"What's the plan Sam?" Bucky called across the plane, Sam didn't reply, continuing to put on and check his suit. He strapped what looked like a version of the small black rectangle on his wrist, I think Bucky called it an iPhone, which was the modern phone.

I looked between the men, trying to figure out what they'd been arguing about before, but they seemed to be determined to hash it out when I wasn't around. "What are we doing?" I finally asked, sending a glance over to the new man before turning back to Bucky as he got my attention, having to yell slightly over the loud aircraft.

"You know that serum I told you Steve was injected with?" Bucky asked instead, at my hesitant nod he continued. "We're going after a group, they're all high on this stuff, beaten Sam and I a couple of times, we're going after them because they've hijacked a shipment of some supplies meant for people at the camps that came about after the blip"

Nodding, I processed the information. "The blip was when half the world was gone yes?" Bucky nodded. "So what, the two of you are going to go against these super soldiers? You're gonna get yourselves killed!"

"Trust me Laura, we've been doing this awhile. You are going to stay on the plane while Bucky and I go a deal with this group" Sam stood, tapping at his wrist.

"What am I supposed to do in the meantime?" I demanded, standing up, and I was proud that I only swayed slightly this time. "I'm not just going to sit here and worry"

"We're at the drop sight sir!" A young man dressed in a uniform interrupted. Sam nodded, walking toward the now open door.

"Torres has an iPad, he can let you watch the mission. See you there Bucky" Sam gave us a mock salute before jumping out. I rushed toward the opening, almost losing my balance in my haste to see if he was alright. I'd have fallen out if Bucky hadn't grabbed me at the last second.

I turned, my back toward the door. "What if he dies?!" I glanced between the two men, who looked unaffected by the fact that their friend had jumped out of a moving plane.

"It's alright Doll, he's got a suit that allows him to fly" Bucky soothed, gently pulling me a little further from the edge.

"Fly?" I, rather embarrassingly, squeaked, looking toward 'Torres' to confirm. He shrugged, nodding.

Bucky had a soft smile on his face. "Everyone has a gimmick now" then he turned toward the other man. "Where are the parachutes?"

Torres shook his head "the plane is too low for that" he looked down at the flat device in his hands, tapping on it. "It's not safe for you to jump, maybe we could find you another rou-"

Bucky sighed, cutting the agent off. "I don't need it anyway" he grasped the sleeve of his left arm, pulling until it ripped away, revealing a metal arm in place of flesh.

"Bucky" I gasped in alarm, immediately reaching out to touch the foreign object, but he softly grabbed my hands. "What happened?" I looked up at him, seeing turmoil rolling in his blue eyes.

" 's okay Peaches, I'm okay. I need you to stay on the plane though, Sam and I will be back soon" Bucky soothed once again, he looked at Torres "take care of her for me"

The young agent gave him a resolute look, stepped forward to help me further from the edge so Bucky could take my place.

I planted my feet, refusing to move. "If you think for one second I'm letting you jump out of an airplane..." I shook my head.

"I'll be okay, I'll explain everything when we get back, but for now, I need to go" Bucky promised.

I was about to reply when the somewhat smooth plane ride suddenly jolted and I lost my balance, falling out of the plane before anyone could blink. I tried to scream but my voice was stolen by the wind, Bucky started to become smaller as I fell.

This was it, I was going to die.

Suddenly out of nowhere, arms wrapped around my waist, slowing my decent and even idling in the air.

"I got you" Sam's familiar voice was close to my ear and he held onto me. Although my relief was short lived when I saw another thing falling from the plane. Sam cursed under his breath as he flew forward. "Alright I'm going to need to catch Bucky, which means I have to turn you" Sam began as he darted toward my rapidly falling best friend. "Then you're going to need to grab onto my suit. That alright with you?"

I nodded, at my agreement, Sam let me drop enough for him to catch me so I was facing his chest, I did exactly as he said, allowing him to let go with one hand so he could reach Bucky while he held my back with his other.

Sam managed to grab Bucky's hand just as he was about to reach the tree line. The two men let out a relieved laugh, I buried my head in Sam's chest, terrified of looking at the ground that was flying past at a dizzying pace.

"Laura, how're you doing?" Sam asked, tightening his grip of me slightly.

"I'm fine, although I don't mean to doubt you, but are you sure you can hold the both of us?" I questioned, never moving from my position.

"I'm not going to drop you" the man promised. "We're approaching our target, when we reach the trucks I'm going to set you down on at the end so you can stay away from the battle, all you have to do is stay on top"

"I can do that" I nodded. "Although why can't I go to the plane?"

"We might lose them if we double back. We've been trying to set this raid up for weeks" Sam explained.

As we neared the moving vehicles, Sam let Bucky down first, allowing him to run ahead toward the front of the truck. He then set down, gently helping me stand on my own and keeping a hand on mine just in case.

"Remember, stay on, I'll come get you" he reminded, removing a small device from his belt before he shot something deep into the metal, then he handed the cable to me. "That should help" Then he followed Bucky to fight the bad guys.

Battle ensued as I did my best to hold on, that was until a large man started lumbering toward me. Bucky and Sam were otherwise engaged and I really didn't have anywhere to go.

Before the man could reach me however, a rather odd looking black aircraft came toward us with swirling blades atop of it, allowing it to stay in the air. It was successfully distracting to my would be attacker. A man jumped off, immediately throwing some sort of oversized frisbee that knocked back many of the assailants.

He was dressed in almost all blue except for on his chest there were red stripes, his head was covered in some sort of helmet. He was soon joined by another man who immediately jumped into the battle.

Bucky was thrown back toward me, barely managing to stop before he pushed the both of us off the moving trucks.

"Who's that?" I questioned.

"The new Captain America" Bucky replied bitterly.

"Like Steve?"

He scowled, a look so unlike the man I'd grown up with. "He's nothing like Steve. He thinks he so important because the government decided to hand him Steve's shield"

"So he's arrogant" I summed, adjusting my grip on the rope Sam had given me.

Bucky nodded, sending a glare toward the man in question. "Thinks he can replace Steve"

Before I could reply, another brute came running at us, his eyes angry behind his mask. Bucky rushed toward him, punching him in the chest. A brief look of surprise flashing on his face at the little it did to the brute. In return, he backhanded Bucky which made him fly off the side of the truck.

"Bucky!" Abandoning my anchor to the moving vehicle, I immediately tried to go after my fallen friend, but I saw Bucky catch himself on the footrest on the bottom of the truck, his head inches from the tires. I was about to get up to look for Sam when I was suddenly picked up by the waist.

It was the man who'd thrown Bucky. Desperate to get out of his grip, I clawed at his arms as well as kicking my legs against his knees.

Bucky managed to climb back on top of the truck and had almost made it to me to help, but the brute decided now would be an opportune time to chuck me.

"Sam!" Bucky called as he ran toward me, jumping off the truck fast enough to meet me mid-air. He quickly pulled me close to his chest, probably hoping to take the brunt of the fall. Another set of arms wrapped around from behind me, successfully sandwiching me between the two men.

Unfortunately for us, in Sam's effort to catch us, it knocked him off course and he couldn't recover fast enough to bring us safely to the ground, however, he did wrap his wings around Bucky and I, cocooning the three of us. The impact of the ground sent us spiraling and we all did our best to avoid head butting one another.

Sam's wings folded into his pack as he fell off of me, in turn I fell off Bucky until we all laid side by side in the tall grass, the clouded sky directly above us.

"That sucked" Sam groaned.

"You're telling me, I'm the one the both of you landed on" Bucky huffed.

"Nuh uh man, my wings totally protected you" Sam defended.

I laughed for a moment, their banter reminding me of him and Stevie. "What are we going to do about the super soldier trucks?" I wondered aloud.

"We're gonna track 'em that's what" Sam supplied.

"You know what might have made that fight go smoother?" Bucky started "If one of us was using that shield" Sam groaned again.

"How many times do I have to tell you, I didn't know they'd give the shield to some random dude" Sam huffed, obviously this had been a previous conversation.

"We should probably get up though huh" I interjected before Bucky could continue his argument.

"We're going to have to walk, I think my wings got jacked up" Sam rose from the dirt floor, stretching for a moment. "Airport is that way" he pointed west.

Not fully feeling the motivation to stand, I held up a hand to Sam while Bucky laid there for a few more seconds. Sam's grip was surprisingly gentle as he helped me from the ground.

I sent him a grateful smile before brushing dirt off my new clothes. It was uncomfortable to wear pants having been so used to dresses all my life. They were tight, although non-restricting and soft. Bucky had given me a leather jacket that was a little big on me, but apparently it'd been Steve's, so I held on to it.

"How do you know where the airport is?" Bucky challenged when he finally stood. "I thought you'd never been to Munich"

"I hadn't until now" Sam defended.

"Well then how would you know?" Bucky raised an eyebrow.

Sam threw his head back and sighed. "I have a computer attached to my arm" he gestured to his wrist. I leaned over curiously, a map of some sort was on it.

"What's a computer?" I wondered as Sam tapped on the map, a line growing from one place to another.

"It's a device that's connected to what's called the internet, which is like a giant library with maps and books as well as can answer questions you have" Bucky answered, Sam began to lead us toward a road, the same one we'd just been thrown off.

We walked in silence for a few minutes, me between the men, acting as a barrier of sorts, until I decided to break it. "So, the two of you are friends?"

"Colleagues" Sam corrected, not unkindly. "We had a common friend, Steve, we all worked together until Steve decided to break up the band. Cyborg over here isn't the most social of people which means that he doesn't really have any friends"

I looked at Bucky in shock for moment before getting the giggles. "Oh, the irony"

Bucky almost looked embarrassed as Sam questioned. "What?"

"Out of the three of us, Bucky was the most social." I explained.

"Wait a minute" Sam grinned. "We talkin' about the same person here?"

"A lot's changed" Bucky grumbled. "Let's just get to the airport"