The Occidental, Washington, D.C.

"Listen, I gotta fly home tonight because I have some constituency problems, and I gotta press the flesh."

Senator Stern, the very same senator who had awarded Medals of Honor to Tony, Zach and Rhodey just a few years prior, voiced to Jasper Sitwell, who walked with him, followed by men in black suits.

"Any constituent in particular, Mr. Senator?" Sitwell pondered to the old Senator.

"Uh... no, not really. 23, kinda hot." Stern bragged to the "SHIELD" Agent. "Real hot. You know, wants to be a reporter, I think. I don't know, who listens at that point?"

"Doesn't sound like much of a problem to me." Jasper smirked.

"Really?" Stern questioned with an identical smirk. "Cause she's killing my back. But, this isn't the place to talk about it." His eyes followed down to a SHIELD pin on Sitwell's suit jacket. "This is a nice pin.

"Thank you." Sitwell appreciated it with a false look, knowing neither of them liked it.

"Come here," Stern came close for a hug, but only to those around the two. As he came closer, he whispered in secret into his ear. "Hail HYDRA." After which, Stern let him go, but braced his knee as he walked. "See, it's right there."

"I just saw that, yeah." Sitwell mentioned.

"Should I get it checked?"

"I think you should." Sitwell acknowledged, just as his phone began to ring in his pocket. As he took it off his person, he was surprised to see the caller ID read "Alexander Pierce".

"I need a minute. Bring the car around." Knowing his allegiances, Sitwell answered the call. "Yes, sir?"

But it wasn't Pierce on the other end.

"Agent Sitwell... how was lunch?" A completely unknown voice spoke to him. "I hear the crab cakes here are delicious."

Sitwell braced with a hint of fear. "Who is this?"

"The good looking guy in the sunglasses, your ten o'clock." Sitwell looked to the crowd, to what he believed was the direction he was told. "Your other ten o'clock." The voice corrected.

Sitwell turned to the other ten o'clock, finding Sam Wilson at a corner table, raising his iced tea in his direction. "There you go..." Sam subtly smirked while eyeing Sitwell through his sunglasses.

"What do you want?" Sitwell demanded, staying as vigilant as a "SHIELD" agent would.

"You're gonna go around the corner, to your right." Sam dictated, not breaking eye contact with Sitwell. "There's a grey car, two spaces down. You and I are gonna take a ride."

"And why would I do that?" Sitwell commanded.

"Because that tie looks really expensive." Sam answered back. "And I'd hate to mess it up." As he heard Sam's words, Sitwell looked down towards his tie, finding a red sniper dot aimed directly at his heart.

. . .

Sitwell immediately found himself being thrown through the entrance of a door of a rooftop by Zach, just as Steve, Natasha, and Ella followed after him.

"I know I said I didn't really like you," Zach commented, just as Sitwell rose to his feet, and adjusted his glasses. "But really? I would have never taken you to be one of the Red Skull's bitches."

Sitwell had finally adjusted his vision clearly. "Tell me about Zola's algorithm." Steve commanded, cornering Sitwell. "Never heard of it." Sitwell acknowledged.

"What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?" Steve asked again. "I was throwing up... I get seasick." Sitwell acknowledged yet again, but hadn't realized he reached the edge of the building.

"For a spy, you're a shit liar." Ella spoke up.

Steve grabbed Sitwell by the edges of his jacket, as he looked behind him, and back towards the four agents. "Is this little display meant to insinuate you or Zach are gonna throw me off the roof?" Sitwell beckoned the two of them in a mocking tone. "Because it's not really either of your style."

"You're right. What about you, Z?" Steve answered with a smirk, and looked at Zach, who simply shrugged. "I dunno. It could be my style. Sitwell doesn't know what I do."

"But it's certainly hers." Zach moved out of the way, as Natasha raised her leg, and with enough force, pushed Sitwell off the rooftop, as he screamed for his life, plummeting to his death.

The four just watched as Sitwell fell to his possible demise. "Oh, wait, what about that girl from Accounting, Laura..." Natasha pestered Steve yet again.

"Why are we getting into Captain America's love life right now?" Zach questioned, still watching Sitwell cry for life, even though he could fly down and save his life.

"Lillian." Steve corrected, as he put his hands in his pockets. "Lip piercing, right?"

"That certainly doesn't sound professional to have." Ella commented, holstering her ICER, as she had it out in case.

"Oh, yeah, she's cute." Natasha acknowledged. "Yeah, I'm not ready for that." Steve nodded.

Sitwell's screams had suddenly rose back up as he miraculously was thrown back up onto the rooftop by Sam, donning his old wingsuit, as he gracefully landed a few feet away. The grey metallic wings retracted back into his apparatus, as he turned back, high-fiving Zach.

"Nice work, Falcon." Zach commented, also fist-bumping Sam.

"Zola's algorithm is a program!" Sitwell confessed, still feeling the adrenaline of his near death. "For choosing...Insight's targets!"

"What targets?" Steve commanded, to which Sitwell immediately responded. "You! Zach! A TV anchor in Cairo, the Undersecretary of Defense, Amadeus Cho, Steven Grant, Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, anyone who's a threat to HYDRA! Now, or in the future!"

"In the future?" Steve asked Sitwell, confused as all hell. "How could it know?" To his shock, Sitwell laughed, as if the answer wasn't obvious enough. "How could it not?" Sitwell beckoned again. "The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it."

Everyone looked at each other in confusion, just as Sitwell stood to his feet. "Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, e-mails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores!" He exclaimed in horror. "Zola's algorithm evaluates people's pasts to predict their future."

"And what then?" Steve questioned again, but Sitweel received a shiver down his spine. "Oh, my god." Sitwell shuttered, as Zach held the back of his jacket to brace him. "Pierce is gonna kill me."

"What then!?" Steve commanded.

Sitwell looked him in the eyes, with as much horror as he already described. "Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list."

"A few million at a time."

. . .

"HYDRA doesn't like leaks." Sitwell spoke up as the six of them rode in a SUV, on the way to the Triskelion. "So why don't you stick a cork in it?" Sam sarcastically responded.

"Insight's launching in 16 hours," Natasha informs the team, peeking from the backseat. "We're cutting it a little bit close here."

"I know," Steve responded. "We'll use him to bypass the DNA scans and access the Helicarriers directly." Upon Rogers' plan, Sitwell's eyes flared. "What!?" He warned. "Are you crazy!? That is a terrible, terrible, idea—"

(a/n: bro's getting violated constantly oh my god)

Sitwell was cut off by a thud on the top of their vehicle, and suddenly, the window closest to him smashed open, as a metallic arm grabbed him by the throat, and threw him onto the other side of the road, pulverizing him into roadkill.

From what it looked like, the Soldier had found them. He rose upward and aimed his pistol into the the roof, and Natasha jumped towards Steve to shield him, as Zach did for Ella in the back, and Steve forcefully put the car into Park.

The car jerked forward, and the soldier rolled off the hood, but used his metal arm to break himself with the friction, as sparks ignited on the road. He stood tall, as the other cars sped past him, and rose up, showing his masked face.

The others were too busy with him to realize another car ramming into the back of their car, pushing them towards the Soldier. As the car came closer, he jumped back onto the hood, and punched through the roof of the driver's side, relieving Sam of the steering wheel.

"WHAT THE FUCK." Zach exclaimed as Sam had a similar look on his face. "SHIT!" Sam exclaimed, as Natasha grabbed hold of her pistol, and began shooting at the soldier.

As their enemies sped forward, they knocked their car into the concrete wall, preparing to run them over. Steve adjusted his shield, just as Zach blew the car door off.

"Hang on!" Steve yelled, as Natasha and Sam held onto him, as Zach was ready to do the same on his end. Steve broke off the door, which dropped the three of them, while Zach flew out with Ella holding onto him, and the poor car ended up totaled.

The vehicle aligned with the soldier stopped, as he jumped off the hood. The driver of the vehicle had provided him with a grenade launcher, which he took from him.

He aimed it towards Steve and Natasha, for which the former pushed her away from it, and braced for the explosion, which had thrown him back off the bridge and into an ongoing bus, causing a brief collision with an electric truck.

The other agents followed after the Soldier, who led their violent march, as Sam, Natasha, and Ella ducked behind the cars, watching for ways to get out. Zach, however, ran into the fire, and flew behind an agent, kicking them to the ground, and snapped their rifle in half.

Natasha dodged the next grenade fired by the Winter Soldier, and ducked behind a bullet ridden car, while Sam and Ella fired from the other side. The Soldier fired another grenade, making Natasha fly off the edge, but she shot a grappling hook in time to the underside of the bridge, gliding her down to safety.

As she escaped, the Soldier's eyes narrowed to Zach, who had blown up most of their weapons stock. "There you are..." Zach whispered, as the Soldier caught his gaze, and marched towards him, aiming the grenade launcher.

Another grenade fired from the chamber, which Zach had caught and immediately redirected to their vehicle. He quickly flew back behind him, and struggled for the grenade launcher. As he grabbed his hands on it, Zach eyed the Soldier with a glare as his hands glowed an electric blue.

Another explosion came from the launcher, but both had survived, just as Zach was thrown off the bridge, and onto the bus. The Soldier then received an assault rifle one of the agents had used, and aimed it into the street.

What he wasn't expecting was Natasha shooting back, as one of her bullets cracked the right lens of his goggles. He turned back, and slowly reached for them, and snapped them off his face, revealing his cold, uncaring gaze.

He furiously turned back around, and immediately shot back down into the crowd, just as Natasha continued to shoot back with her dual pistols. Another agent joined the soldier, but was quickly shot down. The Soldier looked towards them, and eyed the purple veins that appeared.

As the soldier looked up, he found Ella aiming her ICER towards him, and shot him straight into his forehead. The soldier had jerked back, but still conscious and standing, as both her and Sam watched him peel the dendrotoxin bullet off his forehead, and dropped it to the ground.

"Fuck." Ella muttered, as Sam looked back at her. "What was that supposed to do!?" He asked frantically.

"Make him unconscious." Ella muttered again, as the two ran off away from the soldier, and to Zach, Steve and Natasha. The Winter Soldier turned his attention back to Natasha, but finally spoke.

"У меня есть они." The Winter Soldier assured in Russian through his comms. "Найти его."

(Translation: I have them. Find him.)

Without another word, he dropped down from the edge of the bridge, and landed on an abandoned car. The soldier strutted down the car, ready to hunt down his prey.

More HYDRA agents fled down, beginning to fire upon innocent people, just as Steve rose to his feet from within. "COME ON!" Steve heard Zach yell in anger. "FIRING ON INNOCENTS?!" As he escaped from the bullet-infested bus, he saw Zach firing back towards them, and flew back right in front of one with a gatling gun.

Zach grabbed the shooter by the arm holding the weapon, and twisted it in the other direction, making him drop the gun in pain. He then severed the cable from the backpack, and threw the man to the wall, and blasted the other shooters with another photon blast.

As they were trying to make their way off the bridge, Sam unleashed a combat knife and snuck behind one of the other shooters, kicking him in the shin, made a right cross towards his jaw, and slashed the knife upward, distracting him enough to grab his weapon, and kick him off the bridge.

Sam and Ellabegan shooting at the remaining gunmen, and looked towards Steve. "Go, We got this!" He shouted, and continued firing.

. . .

The soldier had derailed a Cop car, and as he silently marched, he emptied the barrel of his rifle, and without looking, re-armed it without breaking his gaze.

He turned out all the noise around him to track down Natasha, recalling how he shot through her contact to graze her. His eyes darted near a van, and as he turned out the screams, he heard Natasha's voice from cars across it, sounding as quiet as could be.

"I make an LZ, 23 hundred block of Virginia Avenue. Rendezvous, two minutes." Her voice allured the Soldier, as he walked quietly to the van, and kneeled down, removing a small bomb which he rolled under the car. "Taking fire above and below the expressway. Civilians threatened. Repeat, Civilians threatened."

The Soldier readjusted his weapon, aiming it where he thought Natasha was. However, he realized it wasn't her. Her voice played back in the same tone, with the same message.

"I make an LZ, 23 hundred block of Virginia Avenue. Rendezvous, two minutes."

He was duped.

As he realized his mistake, Natasha attacked him from behind, engaging him in a scissor lock, trying to strangle him with a pocket garrote. The soldier struggled to breath, and moved back towards a car to throw her off, flipping her off his back.

The Soldier retook his weapon, but as he did, Natasha threw a small silver disk at his prosthetic arm, shocking it out of his control and disabling it. From above, Zach spun around and round-house kicked him in the face, making him drop his weapon again.

"Not so tough without that arm, are you now?" He insulted the soldier as he held the metal arm back. The Winter Soldier stared back in rage, and using his good arm to fight back, released a cross to Zach's chest.

"Fuck, you're strong." Zach groaned as the soldier removed the device, and recalibrated his arm by twisting it 360 degrees. "Oh, fuck that guy." He spat, as he stood back up.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Natasha screamed to the scared bystanders as she ran away from the soldier. "STAY OUT OF THE WAY—" She got out before she was shot in the shoulder, stumbling as she lost balance.

She ducked back behind a car, gasping for breath as she applied enough pressure to her wound. She looked around, wondering where the Soldier could attack from, but he jumped to the closest car, and aimed at her yet again.

Steve bolted towards the soldier, who saw him from the corner of his eye, and rose his fist towards him, only for Steve to block the hit with the shield.

The soldier pushed the shield out of the way, and kicked Steve off, dropping both of them to the ground, but the Soldier was fast, and rose his rifle at him. Yet Steve still remained behind the shield.

The Winter Soldier grew annoyed with not being able to land a shot, and discarded his rifle, only to take his Colt M4A1 from his back and shot across the cars, as Steve ran behind them.

Weapon after Weapon, the Soldier finally managed to relieve Steve of his shield, briefing and claiming it before launching it back in a move that would have decapitated the Captain.

The Shield impaled itself into another van, as Steve ran towards him. The Winter Soldier finally employed his blade, and spun it in his hand, making wild jabs to try and stab Steve. The Soldier swung it down, which Steve miraculously dodged.

The Winter Soldier threw it back into the air, and grabbed it, making two jabs towards his face and abdomen. He swung both his fists, as his metallic one whrred with each motion.

Steve was able to get him off his balance, and spun-kicked him into a van. From there, he jumped in the air, pinning him to the van, and punched him across the face.

Yet the Soldier was as fast as he was. He rose his arm again to strike him, getting him to release him off the van, but Steve threw him into the ground. As the Soldier rose back up, he grabbed Steve by the throat with a intense, angry stare in his eyes.

Why did they look so familiar?

The soldier charged up his arm and threw Steve across a car, as he jumped up, prepared to kill him, but struck the pavement instead. Another fistfight ensued, as Zach approached the van with the impaled shield. He charged up his fist to buff the shield out, and reclaimed it, running towards the Soldier and Steve.

"Steve!" Zach exclaimed, grabbing his attention as he spun the shield to him, and blocked off the soldier. Steve grabbed him by the mask, and threw him over his shoulder, a few feet away from them.

A thud was heard before the Soldier dropped to the ground. His mask laid on the ground, as the Soldier stood his ground, his face now bare and known to the world.

He turned back towards Steve, who never thought he'd see that face again. The last time he saw that face was in 1945. Before he saw him fall to his death.

The Winter Soldier... was James Buchanan Barnes.

"Bucky" Barnes.

Zach froze with enough fear to put down a horse. Steve couldn't believe his eyes. His best friend — his only friend before becoming Captain America — alive after close to 100 years. Just like him.

"Bucky?" Steve asked in disbelief.

The soldier stood quietly, before finally speaking in English. "Who the hell is Bucky." He coldly answered before raising his pistol again, but before he could make a single shot, Sam flew down and kicked him off his feet.

As he touched ground, Zach snapped back to reality, and rushed to Steve. "That's Bucky?!" He exclaimed, pointing to the Winter Soldier. "Bucky's alive?!"

Bucky stood back up, silently staring at Steve, who still had stood so still. But upon seeing his chance, Bucky rose his piece towards Steve, but Zach fired a photon blast in defense, causing a cloud of smoke to emerge from the discarded vehicle.

Bucky had disappeared from the scene, making his exit through the smoke. However, STRIKE had arrived on the scene, and flooded the area. "Drop the shield, Cap!" Rumlow commanded as he came into their view. "On your knees, on your knees!"

Steve complied and dropped the shield, but Rumlow had kicked him to his knees, just as Sam, Zach, Natasha and Ella had watched, as they went put to their knees.

"Screw you, Rumlow." Zach spat at the ground, earning a swift punch from him, but Zach smirked madly. "Try me, bitch, as if that did shit!"

Rollins aimed his rifle towards the back of Steve's head, but Rumlow had noticed the news helicopter flying above them. "Not here." Rumlow commanded, but Rollins still held his gun. "Not here!"

Rollins put the rifle down, and the five "fugitives" were placed in STRIKE custody, awaiting transfer to the Triskelion.

"It was him." Steve confirmed, as they were all in military-grade confinement, strong enough to hold superhumans and super-soldiers. "He looked right at me like he didn't know me."

"Bucky Barnes is alive." Ella reiterated. "And he's the Winter Soldier."

"How's that even possible?" Sam asked them. "It was like seventy years ago." Zach nudged him with what he could. "We got living proof of a man from 1945 in front of us." He reasoned. "Bucky could have gone through something similar."

"Zola. Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43." Steve recalled from his early days of Captain America. "Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him and..."

Steve couldn't string his next words together, and couldn't imagine what HYDRA had put his best friend through.

"None of that's your fault, Steve." Natasha stated, yet Steve still felt guilty. "Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky."

Ella looked back to Natasha, who held her head, and she had noticed the wound leaking blood on her jacket. "Oh, shit. We need to get a doctor here." Ella advised the officers in the truck with them.

"We don't put pressure on that wound, she's gonna bleed out here in the truck." Sam added from his experiences. However, the officer ignited an electric rod, almost frightening Sam, but the officer turned it around, and had shocked the other officer, kicking him unconscious, surprising all of them.

The officer reached for her helmet, groaning as she did. "Ah... that thing was squeezing my brain." She said, revealing herself to be Maria Hill, looking towards the familiar faces, then to Sam. "Who's this guy?"

Moments later, Hill had taken them to a secret facility, where they entered into a bunker, just as a man ran towards them. "GSW!" Maria informed the man. "She's lost at least a pint."

"Maybe two." Sam added to be sure.

"Let me take her!" The man said, but as he approached the light, he was none other than the doctor who had operated on Fury just before his death. "She'll want to see him first." Maria advised as the Doctor led the group to a room with blurry curtains, and as she opened it

Nick Fury, alive and well on a hospital bed. The Director looked up, and looked at them with his good eye. "About damn time." He declared to the group.

. . .

"Lacerated spinal column. Cracked sternum." Fury listed off his various injuries due to his attack from Bucky. "Shattered Collarbone, perforated liver... one hell of a headache."

"Don't forget your collapsed lung," The doctor commented, as Fury took into account. "Oh, let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good."

"They cut you open." Natasha recalled, as the doctor stitched her up. "Your heart stopped."

"Tetrodotoxin B; slows the pulse to one beat a minute." Fury explained. "Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it."

"So why all this shit?" Zach finally spoke up, getting closer to the man. "Why not tell us about anything. All this secrecy stuff is going to give me a headache, Fury."

"Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful." Maria answered the question. "Can't kill you if you're already dead." Fury added. "Besides... I wasn't sure who to trust."

After a briefing of Pierce's history, and their objective of bringing down Project Insight, bringing down both SHIELD and HYDRA, Steve took a moment to stand outside and looked out from the dam.

As he watched the water rush, he couldn't help but think back to the time where he lost his mother, and Bucky was the only one there for him.

"We looked for you after. My folks wanted to give you a ride to the cemetery."

"I know, I'm sorry. I just... kind of wanted to be alone."

"How was it?"

"It was okay. She's next to Dad."

"I was gonna ask..."

"I know what you're gonna say, Buck. I just..."

"We can put the couch cushions on the floor like when we were kids. It'll be fun! All you gotta do is shine my shoes, maybe take out the trash? Come on..."

"Thank you, Buck, but I can get by on my own."

"The thing is, you don't have to." Steve remembered the last thing from that conversation, as if he could feel Bucky patting his shoulder again.

"I'm with you to the end of the line, pal."
"I'm with you to the end of the line, pal." Steve echoed those words, what they always told each other, when they knew they had each other's back.

"He's gonna be there, you know?" Sam said, breaking Steve out of his trance, walking with Zach by his side.

"I know." Steve solemnly answered, and still looked out into the dam.

"Look, whoever Bucky used to be, the guy he is now," Zach mentioned. "I don't think he's the kind you save. He's the kind you stop. There's a small chance, but... it might not happen, Steve."

"I don't know if I can do that." Steve answered them again, as the two men sighed. "He might not give you a choice — He doesn't know you." Sam responded.

"He will." Steve responded confidently, and turned to the two of them. "Gear up; it's time."

Zach looked down at Steve's normal cillian clothing, and looked back up. "You're gonna wear this?"

"No." Steve answered, and turned back. "If you're gonna fight in a war, you gotta wear a uniform, son."

Smithsonian Museum.
Washington, D.C.

A Smithsonian Museum guard trekked through the Captain America exhibit, making his rounds around the area, but abruptly stopped, as he approached the Howling Commandos uniforms.

"Oh, man!" The elderly guard sighed in defeat. "I am so fired!"

Captain America's uniform was missing.