⏳ 2016

I sat cross-legged on my bed in my room. I enjoyed the quietness of the wing I was in. Wanda was next door to me, and she was one of the people on the team who wanted their space from time to time. Tony was nice enough to dedicate an entire wing of the base to just the two of us on the top floor, away from everyone else. It made the place quiet and peaceful and private. But at the same time, it also seemed to me that it was made to keep us away. We tried not to think about it.

I pulled my watch from my pocket. My fingers brushed the golden surface, polished to a shine yet aged and thin cracks snaking across its lid. I pushed the button at its top and it flipped open. Golden time dust floated out, swirling around the room. Pictures fused out of it: pirate ships, men on horseback, sword fights, trains. They melded together to create a circular shield. Slightly darker dust circled the surface of it, going clockwise, while lighter dust circled anticlockwise. A star bloomed in the center. Captain America's golden shield floated before me.

I smiled. It had been a wild ride for Steve and I. We'd been through a lot over the past few years as friends and now more. It actually felt weird to call him my...boyfriend. It didn't feel like that. I didn't like calling us that. It felt like we were more like...soulmates. And even that title felt uncomfortable. I didn't like calling us that either because it felt like were disregarding the other people we'd once had feelings for: Peggy and Eilian. I knew what we were, and that was all that mattered rather than saying what we were.

I'd tried my best to help Steve adjust to life without battling the common thug or warlord every minute of every day. He struggled. We both did. But we were powering through it. We'd spent a lot of time together. We'd spent Christmas together with the rest of the Avengers. And his birthday on the Fourth of July where we sat on the roof of the base and watched the fireworks.

In regards to work...well, to be honest, it was harder to fight now that we were together. We'd always spend too much time worried about each other rather than concentrating on the mission. And we didn't need to. We both knew we could take care of ourselves. But it was a habit now. We were afraid of losing each other. Afraid to face life without the other. I was afraid to face life without him. And with the future words I'd heard last year following me around like a thundercloud over my head, it felt like that reality was creeping closer and closer. 

United we stand. Divided we fall. The seeds of evil have been sowed. Death is your mistress now, Steven Rogers. Nothing can save you. Nothing.

A loud hiss like water touching a steaming hot pan took me by surprise. The golden time dust in front of me twitched. And then blackness rippled throughout the gold. The black shield fell away, and a face appeared. It screamed.

I gasped and threw the watch away, leaping off my bed and stumbling to the opposite side of the room. The black dust evaporated in a plume as the lid snapped shut. My breathing became rapid. My pulse throbbed loudly in my ears. My heartbeat went into overdrive as I struggled to my feet.

W...What was that? That had never happened before. How was that even possible?

Like someone approaching a spooked horse, I carefully crept towards the watch. I knelt before it and reached out to grasp it carefully as if it were scolding hot. I swallowed...and I opened it. No dust floated out, black or gold. All I saw was the clock face, the hands ticking normally like nothing had happened.

I frowned. My watch was a neutral object. It could never be corrupted. With that said, what had I just seen?

I heard footsteps nearing my room. The door clicked open. "Yo, Andi! T..." Sam didn't finish his sentence. I glanced at him as his brow furrowed. "You okay?"

I stood and shoved my watch into my jacket pocket. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." I cleared my throat. "What's up?"

"Stark wants us all in the lab. He's got something to show us."

So much for relaxing, I thought.

After grabbing Wanda next door, we followed Sam down to Tony's lab where everyone was waiting.

I leaned against the wall as the rest of the team filed into the lab. I got the shock of my life when Vision materialized through the floor to stand next to me.

I leaped away like a startled cat. "Oh, my God!"

"My apologies," he said politely.

"Use the door! That's what they're there for!"

He glanced at the door then back at me. "Hmm."

I massaged the bridge of my nose. God, you are useless sometimes.

"I'm afraid Vision not using the door is the least of our problems," Tony announced as he walked into his lab. "Zemo's escaped."

"What?" Steve growled.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were escorting Zemo and the Wrecking Crew to Ryker's Island prison when they were run off the road," Natasha explained. "The Crew remained in the truck, but Zemo ran off."

Tony flicked a picture from his tablet to the hologram screen in the middle of the lab. It was footage from a security camera in the area. A S.H.I.E.L.D. prison van drove through the busy highway when another van crashed into it, sending it slamming into the guard rail and onto its side. The van who hit it continued to drive on out of view. Zemo climbed out and ran off.

"And there's been no sign of him since?" Clint asked.

"None," Nat replied. "The agents delivering them have no clue what happened and they didn't get a good look of anything; suspect faces, number plates, nothing. We've lost him."

Steve perched his hands on his hips and sighed in irritation. "Damn."

I crossed my arms. "So what are we going do?"

"We're gonna go out and find him," Steve replied. "He's too dangerous to be left out on the streets. We escort him this time."

Nods spread out through the group in agreement. Guess the rest of today and tomorrow weren't going to be days off after all.

I turned on my heel to leave when a portal ripped open the atmosphere directly in front of me. I stumbled back. The rest of the group stepped away, moving into defence stances.

"Andi..." Steve mumbled.

"I didn't make that," I whispered, keeping my eyes glued to the portal.

"Then who did?" Sam asked.

I powered up. So did Wanda next to me. I heard Tony's armour hands fly onto his own, and the hum of Steve's shield being raised.

I squinted as I took a wary step forward. The portal rippled, no one coming out. It had an...aura to it. A familiar one. Who had made it? It was a Time Walker, that was for sure. But who? An ally? An enemy? I tipped my head to the side. My dark version? I swallowed. Eon?

I took another step towards it.

"Careful, Andi," Steve warned.

And then a body flew out. It slammed into me, knocking me to the ground as the portal snapped shut.

I pushed the body off of me and skittered away, my eyes wide. What the hell?

And then I took a closer look. It was a woman. And she wasn't moving. Her choppy black hair covered her face. Her clothes were odd, like they weren't from any time I recognised.

I warily crawled over to her. I rolled her over. And my eyes widened and I gasped. "Astra!"

I carefully pulled her into my lap. She was pale. Her side was bleeding. She'd been stabbed.

★     ★     ★

⏳ 2016

I stood on the other side of the glass window as Dr. Cho looked the stranger over. Andi stood at her side, watching intently with a blank expression. Although her expression revealed nothing, I knew that she knew the woman. By the way she'd said the woman's name sounded like they were close, too.

"You know Andi better than anyone," Tony noted as he stepped next to me. "So who's the girl?"

"As much as it's hard to believe, she doesn't tell me everything," I grumbled, keeping my eyes glued on Cho examining the stranger. "All I know is that she's a Walker."

"But what is she doing here?"

I didn't reply. I didn't reply because I didn't have an answer. I didn't know what she was doing here. I didn't know who she was or where she came from. But I was nervous. I was nervous for Andi's sake. How did the woman know to come here? What did she want? What was going to happen when she woke up?

I watched as Andi placed a hand on Cho's shoulder and left the lab. Tony and I left to follow her. She walked into the lobby where the others waited.

"So," Sam began, "how is she?"

Andi took a breath. "She's going to be okay. She's already healing."

"First thing's first," Tony interjected, his arms crossed. "Who is she?"

Andi looked down at her feet. She had to answer the question. When a stranger you knew stumbled into a secured base, that was a question that you were required to answer. But I could tell that Andi was hesitant to reply. Obviously there was something about this stranger that was important enough to her that she couldn't tell the team; couldn't tell me.

She sighed. "Her name is Astra. I'm assuming you've gathered already that she's a Time Walker. She's from the Omega Chronos Resistance."

"And that is?" Nat asked.

"Omega Chronos is basically the Washington D.C. of the Walkers. It's the place we all go. It's the capital. And Eon's taken it over. The Resistance was designed to resist, to stop Eon's army from destroying the Chronos. Astra's one of the commanders."

I squinted. I had a feeling I knew the answer to my next question. "And who's the leader?"

She ran a hand through her hair. "Me."

Jaws dropped. I gathered I was wearing a shocked expression as well.

"I'm supposed to be the leader, that is. But since I'm here, Astra is one of the few taking over my job." I watched her bite her lip. "I need to go back. I have to go back to Omega Chronos."

❈Author's Note: Hey, there! I'd like to thank the absolutely wonderful -verdant- for designing the absolutely gorgeous covers for Out of Time, When Time Collides, and The Path of Time. She is an amazing designer and I can't thank her enough for just being awesome! Do show her some love and give her a follow and check out her work. Her book The Legends is great!

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