Autumn kept her pace steady, although she was already working harder than Alexis was. Clearly, her endurance and strength hadn't taken the same jump that her partner's did.

Alexis went through the rest of the physical eval easily, finishing before Autumn did. She and Steve had already figured out that she had gotten a big boost to her physical endurance.

Coulson waited until they were both done and then nodded. They had both done better than they did at the last eval. "Alright. Hearing next."

Autumn performed much better on the sensory evaluations. Her hearing was much more sensitive, apparently her sight would give Clint a run for his money, and her nose was fairly close to rivaling Logan. Her skin was still just as sensitive, as well, and she was able to pick out things that didn't belong from a line of glasses filled with water.

Alexis didn't door poorly on the tests, but not nearly as well as Autumn.

"Funny, we got complementary upgrades," she said with a bit of a grin. "Odd how that worked out."

"No kidding," Autumn replied, grinning back. "Always knew we were a good match."

"Yup." Alexis grinned. Coulson was jotting down their results, Steve and Charles were talking about something, Pietro was lounging against a tree looking bored, and there was a brief glint of light off a rifle.

The Winter Soldier said something in Russian, a codeword, and Alexis blinked as the world stopped and tilted and blurred. She could hear things going on, but nothing made sense. Which was exactly the Winter Soldier's plan, because it got those two out of the way while he shot at the others.

Autumn went down just as quickly, falling to her knees and blinking slowly. Her eyes were unfocused, and she couldn't seem to string any thoughts together at all.

Everything happened all at once, and Steve jumped into action when the unfamiliar player appeared out of nowhere. He put himself between the girls and the intruder, and immediately tried to get the gun away so nobody else risked getting shot.

Pietro moved in front of the girls, protecting them while Coulson took up another spot so he could help Steve.

The Soldier swore quietly when the blonde man took his gun, and pulled a knife instead, attacking again. Four against one were not the worst odds he'd seen, and he'd injured at least one of them.

Steve kept the assailant busy, trying to at least get him away from the girls. He was working a lot harder for it than he expected, and that was definitely something to worry about.

The Soldier finally snarled something in Russian and managed to shove the blonde man back several feet. He threw a knife at the one in the wheelchair, and Pietro blurred over to grab it. The Soldier took his opportunity to dive for the girls, grabbing one and reaching for the other.

Steve was there quickly, his hand closing around the intruder's wrist like a vice.

"I don't think so," he growled, twisting the man's arm back to a painful angle.

The Soldier contorted in ways oddly reminiscent of Natasha to break out of Steve's grip. He took one last look at Pietro ready to attack, Coulson bleeding but his gun steady, and Steve. And then he decided he would need to try again and slipped off into the trees.

Once he was gone, Steve turned and went to see if the girls were alright. He had no idea what had happened to make them go down so fast, but he knew it couldn't be good.

Pietro was already crouched over Autumn, checking her over for any injuries. When he didn't see any, he looked at the professor.

Autumn, Alexis, you're both alright, Charles told them. Focus on my voice.

Alexis groaned quietly and blinked a few times, some of the confusion lifting, enough that she at least recognized where she was and that Steve was there. "The hell?" she muttered, still feeling rather dizzy and kind of sick now.

Autumn came out of it a little slower, blinking a bit and struggling to focus her eyes. It was hard for her to string thoughts together, but it was slowly getting a bit easier. She was still dizzy and dazed, though.

"What the hell was that?" Steve growled, glancing over at Phil. Phil had what looked like a handkerchief or hand towel against his forehead to stop the bleeding, but he was alert and focused, which was good.

"If I had to guess? Some kind of trigger," Phil said, pressing hard against the wound. "Something that Hydra likely implanted while they had the girls."

"I think you're right about that," Charles said, his brow furrowed. Pietro just looked livid, hovering near Autumn.

Autumn fought a little more against the conditioning of the trigger, and then stopped, mentally exhausted from the effort. She could feel Charles poking and prodding, but she didn't do anything to stop him. The trigger was keeping her quiet and docile.

Steve was just as angry as Pietro.

"Let's get them back to the tower," he said. "We can look after them there and see what we can do to help them."

Charles nodded his agreement of that, and Pietro picked up Autumn and ran to the car with her. Clearly he was ready to get going.

Phil huffed quietly and used his free hand to make sure they had everything important. He figured Steve would want to carry Alexis, and unfortunately with his shoulder shot, he wouldn't be much help.

Fortunately for everyone, Alexis was also still quiet and docile, since she hadn't fought very hard against the conditioning yet.

Steve gently picked up Alexis and took her to the car. They needed to get back to the tower as quickly as possible. He put her into the car next to Autumn and got into the driver's seat.

"Let's go," he said tightly to the others.

Once everyone was in, Phil nodded for Steve to go. He figured it would be a tense trip back.

Once they were most of the way back, but not quite to the tower yet, Alexis started to stir. The conditioning was wearing off, finally, and she was slowly regaining awareness. She blinked a few times, trying to clear her vision.

Autumn came back slowly as well, blinking and lifting a hand to put some pressure on her forehead. She had a huge headache forming, and she wanted to stave it off as long as possible while she figured out where she was and what was going on.

Alexis felt when the car stopped, and she managed to focus enough to recognize the underground parking at Stark Tower.

"When did we get here?" she mumbled, closing her eyes again in an attempt to help her pounding head. It didn't work.

Pietro got out of the car as soon as it stopped moving, leaving the door open so he could get Autumn.

"Just now," Steve replied quietly as he turned the car off.

Autumn groaned a bit when she tried to open her eyes, and immediately closed them again. Even through her sunglasses, the light hurt.

Alexis groaned. "Did not ask for your snark, Rogers," she muttered.

"Easy," Pietro soothed Autumn, keeping his voice quiet and low. "Just try and relax." He picked her up, careful not to jostle her.

"Come on," Steve said, going around the car and carefully helping her out. "Let's get you upstairs. You need to rest."

Autumn whimpered a bit at the touch, but didn't try to squirm away. All of her senses seemed to be back on high for the moment, and it was getting overwhelming, but she trusted Pietro to find somewhere quiet and safe.