Dear Diary,

After a long day of driving around and waiting for Sam's guy to take the 10-hour plane ride from the mid-United States, we finally left to meet him.

The car ride was filled with chit chat and questions and absolutely tons of car games- but we, eventually, made it to Leipzig Halle Airport located in Schkeuditz, Germany.

—————

Pulling onto Parking Level B6, we parked next to a big white van. Not at all suspicious.

We I got out of the car and I was met with the other people I, myself, and Sam had invited.

"Cap," Clint addressed me, walking over.

"You know I wouldn't have called if I had any other choice," I told him, shaking his hand.

"Hey, man, you're doing me a favor," he admitted as Wanda walked up to us and he looked over at her. "Besides, I owe a debt."

"Thanks for having my back," I told her.

"It was time to get off my ass," she replied.

"How about our other recruit?" I asked, itching to know who he (or she?) was.

"He's rarin' to go," Clint told me as he approached the van to open the sliding door. "Had to put a little coffee in him... but he should be good."

The man was laying across the back seat asleep and awoke abruptly after the door slammed open. I looked over at Sam like, seriously?

"What time zone is this?" the man, I remembered Sam had told me was named Scott Lang, asked, clearly disoriented.

"Come on," Clint nudged him, a hand on his shoulder. "Come on."

He made eye contact with me and approached, taking my hand.

"C- Captain America," he smiled. He looked... familiar.

"Mr. Lang," I came back.

"It's an honor," he told me, still shaking my hand. "I'm shaking your hand too long... wow, this is awesome!" he said, sounding all too excited. He turned to Wanda and pointed at me. "Captain America. I know you, too. You're great!" He turned back around and grabbed my shoulders. "Jeez," he commented on my size. I looked back at Bucky who was standing by the car still. "Ah, look, I wanna say, I know you know a lot of super people, so... thinks for thanking of me," he misspoke. He pointed at Sam. "Hey, man!"

"What's up, Tic Tac?" Sam replied. That's it! He's the really, really tiny guy that came to the new Avengers facility to 'borrow some tech'...

"Uh, good to see you. Look, what happened last time when I-"

"It was a great audition, but it'll never happen again," Sam interrupted him with a chuckle.

"They tell you what we're up against?" I asked Scott.

"Something about some psycho-assassins," he replied.

I nodded. "We're outside the law on this one," I informed him. "So if you come with us, you're a wanted man."

"Yeah, well, what else is new?" he answered... I'm not sure how much I liked the sound of that, but ok.

"We should get moving," Bucky called from far away.

"We got a chopper lined up," Clint relayed to us.

Then, a man started talking on the PA system in German. "They're evacuating the airport," Bucky translated after the man finished. I guess I don't realize how many languages he actually speaks...

"Stark," Sam turned to me and surmised.

"Stark?" Scott sounded confused.

"Suit up," I told them- and we all did... right there, out in the open, on the parking deck, in front of each other... it wasn't weird, I promise.

I, then, went to make a run for the helicopter that we were about to get into, but it was immediately electrocuted. It was Stark. I saw him in a suit along with Rhodes... though, I thought he exploded all his suits...? Whatever.

"Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport," Tony spoke to me. "Don't you think that's weird?" he asked Rhodes as his mask moved away from his face.

"Definitely weird," he replied.

"Hear me out, Tony," I pleaded. "The doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this."

Then, T'Challa appeared to my right out of nowhere. "Captain."

"Your Highness."

"Anyway," Tony went on. "Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in. That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?"

"You're after the wrong guy."

"Your judgement is askew," he accused me. "Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday-"

"And there are 5 more super soldiers just like him," I informed him. "I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony. I can't."

"Steve," I heard Natasha say from behind me. They were surrounding me. "You know what's about to happen. Do you really wanna punch your way out of this one?"

"Alright," Tony announced. "I've run out of patience. Underoos!"

Then, there were... spider webs? on my hands pulling them together and my shield had been pulled from my arm. I looked up.

"Nice job, kid," Tony regarded him.

"Thanks," he replied. God, he sounded so... little. "Well, I could've stuck the landing a little better, it's just... New suit- it's nothing, Mr. Stark. It- it's perfect, thank you."

"We don't really need to start a conversation," Tony explained.

"Okay- Cap- Cap'n," he saluted me. "Big fan. I'm Spider-Man."

"Yeah, we'll talk about it later," Tony told him. "Just-"

"Hey everyone," he waved.

"Good job," Tony repeated.

"You've been busy," I commented with a smirk.

"And you've been a complete idiot," he came back. Harsh. "Dragging in Clint. 'Rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even wanna leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep-" he lowered his voice. "I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart."

"You did that when you signed," I replied.

"Alright, we're done," he said. "You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us- now, because it's us... or a squad of J-SOC guys with no compunction about being impolite... Come on."

"We found it," Sam said to me on my radio. "Their Quinjet's in hangar five, north runway."

I held my hands up and Clint, from afar, shot an arrow at the webs binding them together to break me free. Tony turned around and put his helmet on.

"Alright, Lang," I said into the radio.

"Hey, guys," Spider-Man began. "Something-" he was interrupted with a kick to the face by Scott as he grew back to normal size, taking my shield with him.

"Woah, wh-" Rhodes stammered. "Wh- what the Hell was that?"

He handed me my shield. "I believe this is yours, Captain America." I took it.

"Oh, great," Tony muttered. "Alright, there's two on the parking deck. One of them's Maximoff, I'm gonna grab her. Rhodey, you wanna take Cap?"

He knows I can hear him, right?

"Got two in the terminal, Wilson and Barnes," Rhodes announced.

"Barnes is mine," T'Challa called out as he started running. Like Hell he is.

I threw my shield at Rhodes to hold him off as I went for T'Challa.

"Hey, Mr. Stark?" Spider-Man started. "What should I do?..... Okay, copy that!" he started... slinging webs? God, I'm confused.

I ran after T'Challa so that I might get to him before he got to Bucky. There's no way I'm letting that happen. I threw my shield at him and tried to choke him- but he was like liquid, the way he made his way out.

"Move, Captain," he ordered. "I won't ask a second time." And, you know, I didn't move because I'm stubborn, and I also think it's pretty damn funny- until he started attacking me again... then it wasn't that funny anymore.

He kinda just kept trying to scratch me with those damn claws of his, but really only ever just cut up my shield. How rude.

Then, Rhodes came down on my shield with an electrocution rod. I had to fight them both at once, but it sure felt like I was winning.

"Hey, Cap, heads up!" Scott yelled as he ran up to me and threw me a little tiny 18-wheeler. I caught it and looked at it like I was confused at what it would do. He held up a small metal thing with a glowing blue core. "Throw it at this." And then, he threw it at Rhodes. "Now!"

I threw the miniature semi-truck and it became full sized on impact. This shrinking/growing tech that he's using is extraordinary!

"Oh, come on!" Rhodes yelled as he was faced with the vehicle.

It exploded upon impact with the ground. "Oh, man, I thought it was a water truck," Scott revealed. "Uh, sorry..."

We ran away from the wreckage and met up with Clint, Wanda, Sam and Bucky. "Come on!" I yelled to signal them.

We started for the Quinjet when we were faced with none other than the Vision. "Captain Rogers," he began. "I know you believe what you're doing is right. But, for the collective good," the others ran up to us, then, too. "You must surrender now."

He lowered to the ground and met up with the rest of his team and now, more than ever before, it felt like the most real battle I'd ever been in. Sure, I fought in The Second World War in 1945, but this? This was like the Civil War back in 1861.

Fighting the rest of the world as a group of us, The Avengers, makes us strong. We are the same as those United States in that we stand united. Fighting each other, after this terrible separation caused by the Accords, makes us weak. We are the same, now, as The United States against the Confederate States of America in that divided we fall.

It's me- Captain America, The Winter Soldier, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye and Ant-Man against Iron Man, Black Widow, The Vision, Black Panther, Spider-Man and War Machine. This can only end in chaos.

But, wasn't it The Vision himself who said chaos and peace are one and the same? How can that make sense, especially now?

"What do we do, Cap?" Sam asked.

"We fight," I replied, beginning to run at those who stood against us.

I went for Tony and we all went at it. Bucky against T'Challa, Nat against Clint- Wanda helping all of us out.

Spider-Man started swinging past me, so I cut him down with my shield from his web.

He landed. "That thing does not obey the laws of physics at all," he pointed out.

"Look, kid, there's a lot going on here that you don't understand," I explained.

"Mr. Stark said you'd say that, wow," he replied, attacking me at my shield first, then my legs. "He also said to go for your legs," he chuckled.

I stood from the ground, going for my shield. He restrained me with his webs, so I threw him across the way. We fought back and forth for a little while before he swung up and out of reach.

"Stark tell you anything else?" I asked, looking up.

"That you're wrong. You think you're right," he replied. "That makes you dangerous."

He came at me, but I kicked him down. "I guess he had a point," I realized, throwing my shield at the structure above him and making it fall. He caught it above him and held it there. "You got heart, kid. Where you from?" I asked.

"Queens."

I smiled. "Brooklyn," and ran off.

Bucky caught up to me and we pulled off to the side. "We gotta go," he said. "That guy's probably in Siberia by now."

"We gotta draw out the flyers," I decided. "I'll take Vision, you get to the jet."

"No," Sam joined in over the radio. "You get to the jet! Both of you! The rest of us aren't getting out of here."

"As much as I hate to admit it," Clint came on, too. "If we're gonna win this one, some of us might have to lose it."

"This isn't the real fight, Steve," Sam replied.

Bucky looked up at me with those big blue eyes of his and I couldn't help but zone in on them. He was telling me to go along with what they were saying, as much as he knew I didn't want to- Buck knew I would listen to him, if no one else.

"Alright, Sam, what's the play?" I asked.

"We need a diversion," he said. "Something big."

"I got something kinda big," Scott answered. "But I can't hold it very long. On my signal, run like Hell. And, if I tear myself in half, don't come back for me."

Bucky looked at me and mouthed 'what' like Scott was out of his damn mind. "He's gonna tear himself in half?" he asked.

"You sure bout this, Scott?" I made certain.

"I do it all the time," he mentioned. "I mean, once, in a lab. Then I passed out..." Then, he started whispering to himself. "I'm the boss, I'm the boss, I'm the boss..."

Then, out of nowhere, Bucky and I watched as Ant-Man became a literal giant at probably more than 60 feet tall... that was probably the signal, huh?

"I guess that's the signal," I relayed to Bucky.

"Way to go, Tic Tac," Sam exclaimed.

We started running for the Quinjet as Scott started stepping on stuff and breaking airplanes and literally being an actual life saver.

"You wanna get to them, you gotta go through me," I heard Scott say. "Get off," he said a few moments later, definitely being attacked at this point.

We were almost there! I didn't think this could actually work...

"Something just flew in me!" Scott yelled. Shit. They know.

Vision literally chopped down a building to stop us. It started falling into our path, but Wanda was able to hold it up just long enough for us to get through, even after it literally collapsed on top of us.

We were, then, met with Nat. "You're not gonna stop," she said.

"You know I can't," I replied.

"I'm gonna regret this," she added, shooting her electricity weapon at T'Challa, who had been standing behind us the whole time. "Go," she told us.

"Does anyone have any orange slices?" Scott asked. That was probably the loud bang I just heard- he fell and almost passed out. Oh well.

We prepped the Quinjet and Bucky and I managed to take off, finally. Though, Stark and Rhodes were after us and Falcon was on their tail.

"I'm sorry," Sam said to someone that wasn't us. We were later informed that he'd dodged a shot and it hit Rhodes, making him fall from the sky and loose consciousness. He'd nearly died.

We were well on our way now for Siberia at full speed. That had all gone by so fast, the fight and the reunion of us all and everything. But now? There was no time to waste.

"What's gonna happen to your friends?" Bucky asked from behind me.

I sighed. "Whatever it is... I'll deal with it."

"I don't know if I'm worth all this, Steve."

"You are to me, Buck," I told him. "What you did all those years... it wasn't you. All I kept thinking after I first saw you again was that you weren't in control and you would hate that more than anything. You didn't have a choice."

"I know," he replied solemnly. "But I did it."

We went the rest of the ride with mostly small talk, seeing as I had to steer and make sure we were getting there as fast as possible.

When we finally landed, we went through the jet to get as much equipment as we could to prepare for this.

Bucky opened the wall slot labeled Romanoff and took a massive gun out of it. Then, we prepped to leave.

"You remember that time we had to ride back from Rockaway beach in the back of that freezer truck?" I asked him- as a matter of fact, I think I forgot to write about it when that happened... surprisingly. I guess I'll save the story for a rainy night after not much has happened and I'm feeling like writing about the past a little bit.

"Was that the time we used our train money... to buy hot dogs?" he asked, a smirk on his face, remembering everything that had happened just after the fact.

"You blew three bucks tryna win that stuffed bear for a redhead," I reminded him about the events that had preceded the hot dog purchase.

His smile radiated everything I had been missing all throughout the Jet. "What was her name again?" he question, knowing full well who she was and simply trying to pick my brain about that bitch he was always worrying me about and trying to make me nervous with.

"Delores," I responded. "You called her Dot."

"She's gotta be a hundred years old right now," he added, making me feel a whole lot better about everything.

"So are we, pal," I put my hand on his shoulder.

Then, he looked at me- and it was just for a second, but I saw it. That glint in his eyes like he knew he wanted to, but he wasn't sure if he should. Like, somehow, the past seventy years apart changed something between us. It was like he was in his head about it, but the rest of his body was dead-set on what it wanted.

"Buck-" I started, trying to help him muster up whatever it had been he was currently lacking.

His eyes wavered down to my lips momentarily like he knew where I was going, even though I, myself, didn't. "Mhmm?" he mumbled so as to make me continue my thought despite my current inability to vocalize the words swirling around in my brain.

"Can I kiss you?"

He exhaled sharply as a small smirk grew on his face. "I thought you'd never ask," he admitted.

His cold, metal hand met the side of my face and cupped my jaw. He inched closer and just held us there, an inch apart, and forced me to look at him. We'd both changed so much since the first time we did this in the '30s at the docks of Brooklyn a few blocks down from mom's house. But it was now that I realized that even though we, ourselves, were undeniably different, the dynamic and feelings between us would never change.

He pulled me in and placed his lips on mine for the first time since that windy Saturday early-morning in London at our hotel room in 1945. I felt my body rage with heat as he pulled my hips into his own ever-so-slightly and pushed his tongue between my lips. The stubble on his face reminded me of our first time in upstate New York in that tent... All my memories of us, even the ones that had been so minuscule and even the ones I told myself I'd never forget (but inevitably did), came flooding back.

I saw us as we were back then... so innocent, comparatively. He felt like that right now, like he used to be. His lips ravaging mine right now like there wasn't a care in the world other than making it home in time for curfew to tuck in Rebecca and to be sure my mom wouldn't be angry at me. Hell, they both knew about us, didn't they? There was too much history between us for either of us to ever forget again what this was like- what it was like to be in love.

I pulled away reluctantly and just looked at him for a moment. My eyes were glassy and wet while I watched a single tear roll down his face. We both smiled.

He pulled us together for a hug and held me there for a second before pulling away and motioning for us to go; so, eventually, we did.

We walked outside and approached the building. I examined his footprints in the snow and decided "he can't have been here for more than a few hours."

"Long enough to wake them up," he replied as we made our way inside.

After looking around on the top level with no sign of him, Bucky led me to the elevator that would takes down to the basement.

"Are you sure you can do this?" I asked as we stood in the elevator, facing one another, in silence.

He nodded and looked at me like there was no need to worry about him. We continued on our way in silence.

We exited the machine and made our way stealthily and along the wall- I didn't realize how much of a weapons master he was... his form and method was perfect.

As we made our way up the stairs, we heard a thud behind us as if someone was exiting the elevator we had just been in and was coming for us. Perhaps the doctor was behind us with the rest of the soldiers. We both spun around and I knelt down to protect us with the shield as he raised his gun so that he might shoot him when he showed up.

"You ready?" I whispered.

"Yeah," he replied, zoning in on the door as it opened.

Then, a light came through- it was Tony. I approached him, but Bucky went to his guard.

"You seem a little defensive," Tony began, dropping his face armor.

I nodded, my shield up as I inched closer. "It's been a long day."

He looked up at Bucky. "At ease, soldier. I'm not currently after you."

"Then why are you here?" I asked.

"Could be your story's not so crazy," he answered whitely as if he didn't want to admit he was wrong. "Maybe... Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself."

"Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork," I joked. He laughed. "It's good to see you, Tony."

"You too, Cap," he came back. "Hey- Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me," he yelled up at Bucky who still had his gun pointed to Tony's head. "There's a truce here. You can drop the..."

I waved at Bucky to tell him it was ok. He gave me a look like he still didn't trust 'that guy' but he'd do as I said this once.

All three of us made our way through the hallways where Bucky directed us to get to the other soldiers. As we inched closer, I felt my bones start to almost shake like they always do before a fight. I know it's just the nerves, but I've already been through so much today.

"I got heat signatures," Tony announced.

"How many?" I inquired.

"Uh... one," he said, confused.

We walked into the room before us and all the lights turned on. There were tanks surrounding a chair at the center of the room. In the tanks were... people? It was the soldiers and they were frozen, so they had no heat signatures. But... there was still one person awake in there that wasn't us.

Then, the speaker came on. It was the doctor. "If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep." We approached the tanks to see that they had all been shot and killed as he said they had. "Did you really think I wanted more of you?"

"What the Hell?" Bucky murmured as he turned to look at me like he was going to be next.

"I'm grateful to them, though," he went on. "They brought you here." This was a set up. He appeared behind a glass barrier- I threw my shield at him, but it came back and he still remained. "Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets."

"I'm betting I can beat that," Tony claimed.

"Oh, I'm sure you could, Mr. Stark. Given time," the doctor returned. "But then you'd never know why you came."

"You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?" I questioned. I still wasn't getting his method.

"I've thought about nothing else for over a year," he admitted. "I studied you. I followed you. But, now that you're standing here, I just realized... there's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes," he chuckled. "How nice to find a flaw."

"You're Sokovian," I pointed out. "Is that what this is about?"

"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to Hell," he told me. "No. I'm here because I made a promise."

"You lost someone?" I interrogated further.

"I lost everyone," he said. "And so will you." He reached for a panel and a screen behind me displayed words and numbers in Russian.

16 декабря 1991

"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again," he started as I approached the screen. "But one which crumbles from within?" I looked at him. "That's dead. Forever."

Bucky and Steve approached the screen, too, to watch whatever he was about to show us.

It seemed to be a recording. It read:

PM 7:00
DEC 16 1991
CAM 3

"I know that road," Tony added. "What is this?" he yelled.

We watched a car speed down the road, hit a tree and start smoking. Then, a motorcycle pulled up nearby. A man got off it and approached the car.

"Please, help my wife- please... help," the man who had crawled out of the car pleaded. The man who had gotten off his bike approached the man on the ground and grabbed his hair, making him look him in the face. "Sergeant Barnes," he recognized him.

"Howard," the woman called from the car. By God, was it Howard Stark, his wife and Bucky? Tony looked over at Bucky where he stood, but Bucky's eyes never wavered from mine. I knew what was about to happen. We all did.

Bucky started punching Howard in the face repeatedly.  "Howard!" his wife called.

When his body fell, Bucky dragged him into the drivers seat and made it look like he'd died in the crash. He then made his way over to the passenger side and choked the woman until she died.

After, he approached the camera which he somehow knew was there and shot it. The video died.

Tony made a motion towards Bucky. I grabbed his arm. "No, Tony," I jumped in.

"Did you know?" he asked.

"I didn't know it was him," I replied, regarding Bucky.

"Don't bullshit me, Rogers. Did you know?" he asked again.

I waited. "Yes," I knew because Zola showed me a few years back after we found him being saved on that massive computer room under the fake weaponry storage unit at Lehigh. He pulled away from me.

He punched me to the ground and shot Bucky's gun away. Crap, this is what the doctor meant by crumble from within.

Stark went for Bucky- as in, he was trying to kill him. So, it was rogue missiles, shots fired and the building collapsing from there on, out, as we fought Tony for Bucky's life.

Bucky looked up at me. "Get out of here!" I yelled- deja vu, much? The last time I said that, he refused to leave me. This time, he ran like the devil.

Tony went after him, but I tried to reason with him. "It wasn't him, Tony. HYDRA had control over his mind!"

"Move!"

"It wasn't him!" I yelled, grabbing his foot and breaking one of the thrusters beneath it.

He trapped me behind some rubble, but I managed to get out of it just in time to climb up the escape route Bucky'd been using and save him."He's not gonna stop," I told Bucky. "Go."

He made his way up as I pulled Tony down- but it was only a matter of time before Stark shot a bird at the escape hatch, pushing Bucky back in and trapping us all together. He flew up and started choking Bucky, but I tackled them and we all fell back down to the bottom.

I stood from the ground, panting, and faced Tony as he stood above me, and Bucky, as he resided behind him. "This isn't gonna change what happened," I clarified.

"I don't care. He killed my mom."

And, he punched me and kept on coming like he never intended to stop until I was dead myself. He got on top of me and started wailing, but that was just when Bucky jumped him with my shield from behind. Christ, this all felt so surreal.

We double teamed him, throwing the shield back and forth and taking turns wailing on him with everything we had. We were so much stronger together. We always were.

Until, he shot at me and pushed me back. I was down for a minute, but Bucky kept on. When I looked up, Bucky was yelling, using everything he had to push Stark against the wall and pull the arc reactor from his chest.

There was a bolt of light, a pulse, from Tony's chest. The next look I had revealed that Bucky had been momentarily knocked out and thrown to the ground.

I went for him- we brawled it out, but I was surely winning and now? After he almost killed the most important person I'd ever known? I wasn't leaving until he was gone gone.

One minute, he was talking to FRIDAY, the next, he started kicking my ass. My shield was gone and I was on the ground, looking at him stand above me.

"He's my friend," I decided to say.

"So was I," he punched me to the floor and threw me to the wall. "Stay down. Final warning."

But I stood. As much as I wanted to stay down and as much as I felt I'd been beaten, I didn't stop. I couldn't. Not when the only living person who knew Sarah - Mom - like I did, was there watching. I couldn't let her legacy fail in the single most important thing she'd told me- after that fight she had at our apartment with that man, who's name is escaping me now, of all times. He'd left. Her face was bloody. I was under the table. She'd told me to come out, so I had. I'd asked her why didn't you just stay down, Mama? and she'd said because, and you listen close, Steven... you always stand up.

And, so, I'll always stand up.

I got into my guard position and looked him straight in the face. "I could do this all day."

His phaser readied, Bucky grabbed his leg from the ground, so Tony kicked him. I jumped him, picked him up over my head, and threw him to the ground.

I climbed on top of him and punched his mask- then, took my shield and started beating the mask in with it. I peeled the mask away and the look on his face was pure fear. I didn't want to do this, but there was no other way to save Bucky. I couldn't lose him again.

Stark blocked his face with his armored hands, thinking the shield I wielded above my head was going straight there. When I struck the reactor at his chest with it, he was lost. I felt like I couldn't take it anymore, simply holding the shield there.

I fell to the side and pulled the shield from his body. It flickered and the glass fell from it.

I helped Bucky up. He slung his arm over my shoulder as I helped him walk.

"That shield doesn't belong to you," Tony struggled. "You don't deserve it- My father made that shield!"

I waited a moment and thought about it. He's right. Howard made it, but he gave it to me. Whatever. I don't need it.

I dropped it at my side and we walked away.

—————

And we didn't look back.

~ Steve R.