Natasha wasn't too sure how long she'd been running for. It was still dark outside - but that didn't help solve anything as it had been when she started. The absence of others wasn't a great indicator either as the team was clearly too preoccupied to be pulling any late night training sessions.

She supposed she probably should have been a few floors down with them all, brainstorming how they were going to jog Avery's memories - especially as they all knew now that they'd known each other a bit more intimately than they'd previously let on. She was honestly surprised that Isaac hadn't been in here, dragging her down with a demand to help them - but she figured that he had enough survival instincts to know that he wasn't someone she wanted to see right now.

Besides, she was pretty aware of the lone figure that had entered the room and had been watching her for the past seven minutes in silence.

"You don't need to hover," she muttered, stopping the treadmill and sighing as she allowed her chest to heave for a minute, wiping at the sweat on her brow with one of the gym's microfibre towers Tony had imported. "It's creepy, and weird."

"I wanted to make sure you were okay," Steve replied, leaning against the door and immediately regretting his choice of words as Natasha looked up from grabbing her fleece on the ground, a sharp look on her features. "I know you're not okay - I just mean-"

"How did Clint's interrogation go?" 

Steve was actually quite thankful for her interruption, saving him from continuing to dig himself into a deeper hole with Natasha. Wanda had filled Steve in on Natasha's discussion with her and Peter about her secret relationship with Avery and Steve couldn't say he was overly surprised - he'd made that assumption as soon as he connected the dots of her reaction to them thinking Avery was dead.

"Sorry Nat..."

"That's not what I asked."

He knew what she was doing. Putting up a front, treating this like a normal mission rather than acknowledging the deeply personal side of all of this. She didn't want him to see her break down, and he knew her well enough to not take offence.

"No recollection," Steve replied, his voice a bit firmer now. "Only seems to know what she's read in case files about us."

Natasha nodded, her jaw clenching as she absorbed the information. She had expected as much, but hearing it confirmed still felt like a punch to the gut.

"And the scans?" she asked, her voice carefully controlled.

Steve hesitated before answering. "Bruce is still analysing them with the help of Helen Cho, but... it doesn't look good, Nat. Whatever Hydra did to her, it was thorough. Traces of some substance and a lot of poorly healed internal damage it seems."

Natasha turned away, her hands gripping the edge of the treadmill so tightly her knuckles turned white. She closed her eyes, fighting against the wave of emotions threatening to overwhelm her.

"And the physical tests?" she asked, forcing her voice to remain steady.

"Enhanced strength and reflexes, similar to Bucky's levels."

Natasha closed her eyes briefly once more, fighting back the surge of anger and grief that threatened to overwhelm her. When she opened them again, her expression was carefully neutral.

"We need to figure out what exactly they did," she said, her tone clipped and professional. "Run more tests, analyse her blood work again, brain scans-"

"You need to stop," Steve interrupted, moving forward and placing a gentle hand on her arm. "And breathe. We will do all of that - and more. But maybe you should take a break, get some rest."

She shook her head sharply. "I'm fine. I need to be there, I need to-"

"You need to take care of yourself," Steve insisted, taking a deep breath. "You won't be any help to Avery if you run yourself into the ground."

Natasha's shoulders tensed, and for a moment Steve thought she might lash out. But then she seemed to deflate, the fight draining out of her. Natasha looked up at him, conflict clear in her eyes. Finally, she gave a small nod.

"Okay," she conceded. "But wake me if anything changes. Anything at all."

"Of course," Steve agreed, relief evident in his voice. "Come on, I'll walk you to your room."

As they left the gym together, Natasha couldn't shake the feeling that somewhere in the building, Avery was awake and alone, trapped in a body and mind that no longer felt like her own.

Natasha wasn't sure what was worse - knowing Avery was maybe trapped under there, or knowing that Natasha couldn't bring herself to even face the love of her life. Two things that were equally as devastating as the other.

____

"Here to torture me?"

Bucky didn't say anything as he sat across from Avery, his eyes watching and analysing her every move as she seemed to straighten up in his presence. The small glint in her eyes told him that she knew exactly who James Buchanan Barnes once was - no explanation or recap needed.

"The infamous Winter Soldier," she continued, her voice staying somewhat neutral while having the ever-so-slightest hint of admiration that almost turned his stomach. "Hydra's original greatest weapon."

Bucky remained silent, his steel-blue eyes never leaving Avery's face. He could see the traces of the woman he once knew - the determined set of her jaw, the sharp intelligence in her gaze - but there was something else there now.

"Nothing to say?" Avery taunted, leaning forward slightly. "I've read all about you, you know. How you broke free from Hydra's control. How you became a hero."

"Is that what you think?" he asked quietly.

"I think you're weak," she spat. "You had power, purpose, and you threw it all away for what? To play dress-up with Captain America?"

"I chose freedom," Bucky replied, his voice low and intense. "I chose to be my own person, not someone's puppet."

She leaned back in her chair, her posture relaxed but her eyes still wary.

"And how's that working out for you?" she asked, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "You're still haunted by what you've done, aren't you? Still wake up in the middle of the night, screaming?"

Bucky didn't rise to the bait. Instead, he leaned forward, his gaze boring into hers.

"I remember everything they made me do," he said softly. "Every life I took, every mission I completed. And yes, it haunts me. But I'd rather live with those memories than be the hollow shell they wanted me to be."

He recognized the stubborn set of her jaw, the fire in her eyes. It was so achingly familiar, yet twisted into something darker.

"I know what it's like," he said softly. "To have your mind torn apart and put back together wrong. To feel like you're trapped in your own body, watching yourself do terrible things."

Avery didn't have a reply for that. Bucky studied her face closely, looking to see any flicker of any reaction or realisation - but there was nothing. He knew how this worked; she'd recently been wiped again, and soon enough the cracks would appear and then she'd start to have the memories filter through. They just had to keep going.

Avery's eyes narrowed, a cold smile playing at the corners of her mouth. She leaned forward, her voice dropping to a near-whisper.

"You think you understand me, don't you? That we're two sides of the same coin?" She shook her head, a low, humorless laugh escaping her lips. "I'm not like you, Barnes. I'm not some Winter Soldier 2.0."

She stood up abruptly, beginning to pace the small confines of her cell. Her movements were fluid, predatory, like a caged tiger ready to strike. The fluorescent lights cast harsh shadows across her face, accentuating the sharp angles of her cheekbones and the intensity in her eyes.

For a moment, Bucky noticed the dark circles under her eyes and wondered when she last slept, or when she last ate. 

"This isn't conditioning. This isn't brainwashing. This is me, making my own choices, following my own path." Her voice grew louder, more forceful with each word. "I wasn't broken and remade like you. I wasn't tortured into submission. I chose this."

Bucky remained still, his face an impassive mask, but his eyes never left her. He could see the tension in her muscles, the barely contained energy thrumming through her body.

"You see, that's where Hydra went wrong with you. They tried to erase everything you were, to build you from the ground up. But me?" She tapped her temple, a feral grin spreading across her face. "There wasn't anything to erase. I don't know who the fuck Avery is, or why you're all adamant that I'm her. And I'm sorry if you really truly thought your friend was somewhere inside me, but I can reassure you - there is no Avery here."

Bucky leaned forward, his voice low and intense. 

"Is that what freedom looks like to you? Being locked in a cell, cut off from everyone who ever cared about you?"

Avery - or not Avery, whoever she was telling herself she was - stopped, laughing humourlessly as if Bucky had said something fleetingly hilarious.

"Care about me?" She chuckled. "You think I care about being cared for? I don't know any of you people and I certainly don't care to."

"And what, you think Hydra cares about you?"

"Oh my god," she breathed, rolling her eyes. "Of course they don't care. Again, I don't care about being cared for. I have a task, I complete the task and I serve my purpose. The rest is all absolute."

"And what happens when you've served your purpose?" he asked quietly. "When Hydra decides you're no longer useful?"

Avery's pacing faltered for just a moment, a flicker of uncertainty crossing her face before it was quickly masked by her usual cold expression.

"Then I'll have fulfilled my duty," she replied, her voice steady but lacking its previous bravado. "That's all that matters."

Bucky shook his head slowly, a sad smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "You really believe that, don't you? That you're nothing more than a tool to be used and discarded?"

"It's not about belief," Avery snapped, her composure cracking slightly. "It's about reality. This is who I am, what I am. And no amount of your misguided attempts at 'saving' me is going to change that."

Bucky stood up, his movements slow and deliberate. He could see the tension in Avery's body, the way she subtly shifted into a defensive stance.

"You're wasting your time," she said, turning away from him. "I told you, there is no Avery here."

Bucky nodded, knowing he had pushed as far as he could for now. As he turned to leave, he paused at the door, looking back at her one last time. Bucky watched her for a long moment, noting the rigid set of her shoulders, the way her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides.

This was going to be a lot harder than they thought.

____

Wanda sighed as she leaned back on the armchair, holding the mug of hot chocolate in her hands as her eyes flickered between the two men sitting on the opposite sofa. She smiled gratefully as Steve wrapped a blanket around her shoulders before moving to pour himself a cup from the pot in the adjoining kitchen's stove.

"Can you like... take a look?" Sam asked Wanda, breaking the silence. Steve snapped his head to look at his friend, sending him a scowl at the suggestion. Isaac looked over from where he was buried in his book, trying to take his mind off the fact his sister was three floors below them with no recognition of who he was.

"Take a look?"

"Yeah, like... do that red mist thing and shimmy through her brain?"

It wasn't a bad suggestion, Wanda thought. She'd already ran it through her head once or twice - but she wasn't really sure if that was something any of them really wanted to explore. One wrong move and she could make things worse - one wrong move and it would be akin to mentally torturing Avery.

She didn't miss the way Steve seemed to flinch at the thought of it - the first and only time she'd done it to him hadn't been a pleasant experience, and while she had intended to emotionally hurt the Avengers, she knew it wouldn't have been a welcomed action from Avery if she was here with her full consciousness.

Wanda took a deep breath, her fingers tightening around the warm mug.

"I... I don't think that's a good idea, Sam," she said softly. "Her mind is already fragile. If I were to go poking around in there, I could cause irreparable damage."

"That didn't stop you when we were fighting Ultron," Isaac snapped, his eyes shutting as he instantly regretted his words.

The room fell silent, the weight of Isaac's words hanging heavy in the air. Wanda could feel the desperation radiating off him in waves, and her heart ached for the pain he must be feeling - and a little bit for herself at the tone of the words directed towards her. It was a bit unfair, she knew that. Isaac and Avery hadn't even been there when that happened.

"I understand your frustration, Isaac," Steve said gently, moving to sit beside the younger man. "But don't start on Wanda."

Sam leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he tried to move the topic on as he noticed Wanda was feeling uncomfortable with the attention being back on dark times for her.

"What about Bruce's and Cho's analysis? Any progress there?"

"Nothing conclusive yet. They're still trying to identify the substance they found traces of in her system."

"Do you think...?"

Wanda's eyes flickered back up as Sam trailed off, his noticeable glance at Steve with a sigh telling her exactly what he was considering saying. She closed them for a second, knowing by the look on the captain's face that the thought wasn't a stupid one.

"Super serum isn't off the table," Steve admitted.  

"There's something else we need to consider," Wanda said quietly, opening her eyes to find everyone looking at her. "What if... what if she truly doesn't want to remember? What if this new identity is all she knows now?"

The silence that followed was deafening. Isaac's face crumpled, and Sam reached out to place a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"What do you mean, Wanda?" Steve asked, not quite sure he understood what she was indicating. In his mind, Avery was there - just like Bucky had been, and there was no universe for him in which they didn't get her back somehow.

Wanda set her mug down, her hands trembling slightly as she tried to find the right words.

"When I looked at her earlier, when we first brought her in, I tried to get a sense of her mind. With Bucky it was like... like looking at a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces have been reshaped. They don't fit together anymore. But with Avery..."

Isaac leaned forward as he interrupted, his book forgotten. "But you could fix her, right? Put the pieces back together?"

"I'm sorry Isaac, but it wasn't like that," Wanda muttered. "It was just... blank."

A heavy silence fell over the room as they all absorbed the implications of Wanda's words. Sam was the first to break it.

"Blank?" Sam asked, his brow furrowed. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

Wanda took a deep breath, trying to find the right words to explain what she had sensed.

"It's like... there's nothing there to recover. No hidden memories, no suppressed personality. Just a clean slate."

Steve stood up, pacing the room as he tried to process this new information. 

"Okay, so if what Wanda's saying is true, then we're not dealing with memory suppression or brainwashing in the traditional sense. This is something entirely different."

"But how is that even possible?" Sam asked. "To completely erase someone's entire identity, their memories, their personality... that's beyond anything we've seen before. Bucky had memories resurface, so surely..."

"Maybe that's the point," Wanda said softly, interrupting Sam as she leaned back on the sofa and pulled her knees closer to her chin. "Maybe this is Hydra's way of showing us just how far they've come. That they can create a blank slate, a perfect soldier with no past to hold them back."

Isaac shook his head, standing up abruptly as he scowled at the three others sitting in the room. He was frustrated, he was upset and he was down right tired of the pessimism that the team had been throwing around the second Avery was found. 

They'd thought she was dead only a day prior to seeing her again, and already they were thinking of the worst case scenarios. Isaac didn't want to hear the bad, he wanted the good. His little sister was ALIVE, and standing flesh and blood in front of them all. If Avery was alive, he had to hope that things were going to be okay now.

Maybe it was selfish, Isaac wasn't sure. Avery was alive, and he wasn't going to sit here and mope while they could be working harder to make sure she remembers them all. 

"Isaac..." Steve started, a low warning tone in his voice as he noticed the slightly irrational look in the technician's eyes. 

"I don't care what Wanda thinks she saw in my sister's head," Isaac spat, his hands shaking as he pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose closer to his eyes. "Avery is sitting downstairs, and she's going to remember me. I'm going to help her remember me, even if the rest of you think I'm wasting my time."

They all said nothing as he stormed out of the room.

______

"I don't mean to question you..."

"But?" Dr Faust replied, looking over his shoulder at the lab technician that was standing behind him, clipboard grasped tightly in their hands as if it was the only thing keeping them from trembling before the man.

"Why did we spend so long conditioning the Osprey, only to not try to get her back?"

"Do you think the Osprey is weak, Riker?" Faust replied, turning in his chair to face the technician. Others around peered over from their workstations, watching the interaction with a sense of fear mixed with curiosity. "Or that I'm careless?"

Dr. Faust's thin lips curled into a chilling smile, his icy blue eyes glinting with a mixture of amusement and malice. He leaned back in his chair, twisting his long, pale fingers as he regarded the now-trembling technician, who remained silent.

"My dear Riker," he began, his voice smooth as silk but sharp as a blade, "the Osprey is far from weak, and I am anything but careless. What you're witnessing is the culmination of years of meticulous planning and psychological manipulation."

The other technicians quickly averted their eyes, pretending to be engrossed in their work as Faust began to pace, his footsteps echoing in the suddenly silent room.

"You see, we didn't just condition the Osprey to be a weapon. We prepared her for this very moment." Faust's voice took on a lecturing tone, as if he were explaining a particularly clever experiment to a group of students. "Her capture was not just anticipated; it was orchestrated."

He paused by a large, holographic display, waving his hand to bring up a series of brain scans. The images flickered and rotated, showing intricate patterns of neural activity.

"We've done more than simply erase her memories," Faust continued, his eyes gleaming with pride. "We've rewired her very psyche. The Osprey truly believes she has no past beyond Hydra."

Riker's eyes widened in understanding, and Faust nodded approvingly.

"The more they try to make her remember, the more she'll resist. It's a beautifully elegant trap, really. They'll exhaust themselves, pouring all their resources into 'saving' someone who doesn't want or need to be saved."

He paused, running a hand through his neatly combed silver hair. "You see, the Avengers' greatest strength is also their greatest weakness - their unwavering loyalty to their own. We knew they would stop at nothing to 'save' their lost comrade."

He gestured to the bank of computer screens lining one wall of the lab. Each displayed scrolling lines of code, interspersed with flashing warnings and access granted notifications.

"At this very moment, our operatives are infiltrating ex-SHIELD bases across the globe," Faust revealed, his voice barely above a whisper yet carrying throughout the now-silent lab. "The Avengers are so focused on their emotional reunion that they've left their digital defences vulnerable."

He placed a hand on Riker's shoulder, causing the technician to flinch involuntarily.

"So you see, my curious friend, we haven't lost the Osprey at all. She's exactly where she needs to be, playing her part to perfection in our grand design."