Bree was in the hospital, lying unconscious in her bed, in a hospital robe.

The door was being guarded.

Steve was sitting at Bree's bedside.

Bree started to wake up, taking in her surroundings.

Steve leaned forward. "Hey. We thought you were dead."

Bree groaned in pain. "So did I. What happened?"

"I don't know," Steve told her. "We found you at the side of the river. The helicarrier went under. We couldn't find Alec or Bucky."

Bree took several deep breaths. "The last thing I remember... is that I was trying to get through to Bucky."

"And did you?" Steve asked.

"He didn't kill me, did he?" Bree replied. 

Steve thought for a moment. "I think he saved you."

Bree looked at Steve.

Steve nodded.

"Then where is he?" Bree asked. "Where's Alec?"

Steve looked at Bree sadly, shaking his head.

    ✯   

Several S.H.I.E.L.D agents were in a shooting range, taking target practice, including Sharon.

Sharon was by far the best shot, taking off her ear muffs and goggles, looking at her targets, smiling.

    ✯ 

Maria was sitting in a Stark Industries building, on the computer, smiling.

  ✯ 

Senator Stern walked out of a building, on the phone.

Two S.H.I.E.L.D agents walked toward Stern, showing them their badges to arrest him and take him in.

    ✯   

Brock was brought into a hospital. He had been trampled and disfigured by the falling building, barely hanging on to life.

The doctors desperately tried to keep him alive, not knowing that he was one of the bad guys.

    ✯   

Nick walked along a street.

    ✯   

Natasha, Ana and Tatiana were in a courtroom.

Female bailiff: (voice over) "Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"

    ✯   

In a storage locker, Nick was going through his S.H.I.E.L.D badges and identification.

Natasha: (voice over) "I do."

Tatiana: (voice over) "I do."

Ana: (voice over) "I do."

    ✯   

In the courtroom, Natasha, Tatiana and Ana sat together.

"Why haven't we yet heard from Steve and Bree Rogers?" the judge asked.

"I don't know what there is left for them to say," Natasha told them. "I think the wreck in the middle of the Potomac made their point fairly eloquently."

"Well, they could explain how this country is expected to maintain its national security now that the five of you have laid waste to our intelligence apparatus," the judge told them.

"Hydra was selling you lies, not intelligence," Ana told them. 

"Many of which you all seem to have had a personal hand in telling," the judge told them. 

"Agents, you should know that there are some on this committee who feel, given your service record, both for this country and against it, that you belong in a penitentiary," a male committee member told them. "Not mouthing off on Capitol Hill."

"You're not going to put us in a prison," Tatiana told them. "You're not going to put any of us in a prison. You know why?"

"Do enlighten us," a woman committee member told her.

"Because you need all of us," Tatiana told them. 

Natasha and Ana looked at Tatiana.

    ✯   

In the storage unit, Nick took off his eye patch.

Tatiana: (voice over) "Yes, the world is a vulnerable place, and, yes, we help make it that way."

Nick put the eye patch on the table next to his sunglasses.

Tatiana: (voice over) "But we're also the ones best qualified to defend it."

Nick picked up his sunglasses.

    ✯   

In the courtroom, the hearing continued.

"So, if you want to arrest us, arrest us," Tatiana told them. "You'll know where to find us."

The judge and the committee looked at each other.

Tatiana stood, turning around, walking out, leaving.

Natasha and Ana smirked, standing, turning around, following her.

Natasha, Tatiana and Ana walked through the crowd.

    ✯   

Nick poured lighter fluid through the storage unit, letting it aflame, walking out, leaving.

  ✯ 

Steve and Bree were in the cemetery, standing at Nick's headstone.

Nick walked closer. "So, you've experienced this sort of thing before."

"You get used to it," Bree told him.

"We've been data mining Hydra's files," Nick told them. "Looks like a lot of rats didn't go down with the ship. I'm headed to Europe tonight. Wanted to ask if you'd come."

"There's something I got to do first," Steve told them.

"All right, then," Nick told them, shaking both their hands. "Anybody asks for me, tell them they can find me, right here."

Bree smirked.

Nick walked away, leaving.

Natasha walked toward Steve and Bree. "You should be honored. That's as close as he gets to saying thank you."

"You, Ana and Tatiana going with him?" Bree asked.

"No," Natasha answered.

"Not staying here?" Steve asked.

"Nah," Natasha answered. "We blew all our covers. We got to go figure out new ones."

"That might take a while," Steve told her.

"We're counting on it," Natasha told them. "Ana's headed over to Malibu. I don't know what Tatiana and I are gonna do." She walked toward Bree. "That thing you asked for..." She pulled out a file, handing it to Bree. "I called in a few favors from Kiev. Be careful. You might not want to pull on that thread."

Natasha turned around, walking away, leaving.

Bree opened the file, revealing it was about Bucky and Alec.

Steve walked closer. "You going after them?" 

"You know it," Bree answered. "You coming with me?"

Bree closed the file, looking at Steve.

"You know it," Steve answered. "When do we start?"

Bree and Steve looked at each other, smiling small smiles.

    ✯   

In the Smithsonian, many, many people were going through the Star Cap exhibit about Bree Rogers / Star Mistress and Steve Rogers / Captain America.

A man in a heavy jacket and a baseball cap walked toward the memorial for Bucky and Alec, his hands in his pockets, reading everything. 

Man: (on PA) "Bucky Barnes, Alec Anders and Steve Rogers were best friends since childhood. They were inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield. Being best friend with her brother, Bucky was able to meet and fall in love with Bree as teenagers. They continued their relationship up to the war. The night before Bucky left for the 107th, he proposed to Bree in a national park in front of everyone. She accepted."

There were pictures of Bucky proposing to Bree, and them kissing after she had said yes.

Man: (on PA) "Though, Bucky and Alec were both lost in war. They were the only howling commandos to give their lives in service of their country."

There was a video of Bucky and Bree in the military bar, the video Bree had watched in chapter "Triskelion"

"Yeah, you know, I helped Steve pick out his name," Bree told him. "Now I just gotta pick out mine."

"Easy," Bucky told her. "I can help you with that, because, mistress, you'll be a star yet."

Bree smiled at hearing him say it. "I knew you were gonna say that."

"I know you did," Bucky told her. "So, what do you say, Star Mistress? Is your fighting outfit gonna be the one you wore for star girls?"

Bree leaned her head against his shoulder, hiding her face, smiling cutely in embarrassment. "No!"

Bucky smiled at her reaction. "No?" Bree shook her head. "I can hear it now. The disappointment of all men in the world that need saving."

Bree raised her head to look up at him. "Good thing I'm only aiming to please one."

They smiled, continuing to dance.

The man in the heavy coat and baseball cap was revealed to be Bucky himself. He was reeling from the start of getting his memories back.