Aftershock

Moving Day

"Well look at you, man in uniform." Tony remarked, nudging Steve. He smiled lightly.

"Yeah.. Natasha insisted on it and Willow said she wanted to see it too." Steve shrugged and Tony wouldn't catch his eye. Steve knew he didn't approve of this. Of him getting close to Willow again. The past week had been rocky. Willow didn't remember him completely. Everything was coming back in bits and pieces. She had nightmares of being tortured by Dr. Armin and killing people on missions she had undertaken. More often than not, Steve would enter her room and find fresh tears on her face.

Sometimes she could recall happy memories of the three of them, Steve, Bucky and herself. For the most part, Willow could remember the letters and the photos. Steve had made copies of all these things and given them to her. Willow insisted on not taking the originals in case Aftershock took control of her and destroyed their words to one another. She was emphatic that the copies were just as good as the originals.

Steve could walk in sometimes and there would be this look on Willow's face and he knew she didn't want him there, that she didn't recognize him for who he really was. Sometimes Steve could bring Willow back and sometimes he couldn't. The times he couldn't, Steve would leave and come back hours later and see if things had changed. Sometimes they would, sometimes they wouldn't and the process would repeat.

Tony was still convinced that Willow was lying, though he had reviewed the tapes and noticed how often Willow brought up memories more often than Steve, like she was testing the feel of them, trying to understand if they were real or not. Steve would never confirm her stories until they were finished. He never prompted her, never pushed her and yet Tony was still hesitant. He had seen how loyal Steve was to Bucky, despite how he tried to kill him. He could only imagine what Steve would do if it was the women he loved.

"Well I'm sure she'll be thrilled to see you." Tony said without a hint of joking as the elevator continued to ascend to the designated floor. When they were let out onto the the sixteenth floor, Steve sighed at the amount of S.H.I.E.L.D Agents milling around. Some of them had clipboards, others were holding guns and all of them looked deadly serious as Tony and Steve made their way to Willow's room. Natasha appeared, coming to walk along next to them, a grim look on her face.

"It's one of her bad days Steve." His shoulders slumped a little but he nodded as they entered her room. Some S.H.I.E.L.D Agents were standing around, trying to ask her questions and Willow or, Aftershock, was shouting at them, saying all sorts of awful things that she would do to them once she was let loose.

"Willow!" Steve called out, causing her to look up at him.

"So you've decided to pay a visit too Captain." She spit out. "Why are all these people here? What the hell are you going to do with me?"

"We're just taking you to a more secure S.H.I.E.L.D Facility." Willow scoffed at Steve's words.

"You're going to experiment on me."

"No." Steve tried to argue.

"You are! It's what happened last time I was unfrozen." Aftershock snapped at him. "They drew my blood and talked about drilling into my skull all because they had this idiotic notion that my powers could be replicated! But they can't." She paused.

"Why not?" Natasha pressured. Willow scoffed.

"You don't think HYDRA tried? It's just like what happened with Steve. The formula was lost. Whatever is inside me, in my blood is going to die with me." The room had gone silent and Tony, being Tony decided to lighten the mood.