CHAPTER THREE- June 2025

"I'm so sorry, Tony," Bruce admitted, "but Sam's DNA is on everything, or at least traces. It's all contaminated. We won't know… I can't tell you what happened that day to cause the explosion." If there was ever a time when he wished he'd been in the lab more, this was it. The only remaining pieces of rubble large enough to test from Pepper's last known location in the containment wing were useless. Any deteriorated or partial samples of Pepper's remains would be impossible to distinguish from her daughter's DNA with certainty. Closure was now impossible. Tony would never know the truth.

Stark stood with arms crossed. He mumbled under his breath every so often, things like "this is not happening" and "what do you want me to do." He kept walking over to the windows, glancing down halls, and rubbing his forehead, all as if jonesing for a fix. But Pepper was gone, and the fix would never come. Cold turkey.

Bruce ended the silence. "Sam's going to be fine though—"

"How can I care what happens to the kid? Pep's gone," Tony said as he turned away from Bruce, seeing Barton approach from the living quarters' hall, "and Sam nearly got herself killed on day one with me!" He finished with a venom for himself. "Seriously, Doc—"

"Tony, I'm sure Hulk would never—"

"It doesn't make any difference. Same problem! What am I gonna do with a kid? By myself?! What could I do? Retire to the country? That's more Bird's thing," he directed at Clint.

"Really, Tony? I'm not even the one who flies," Hawkeye replied. "You just need some time to let her heal. Things will settle down—"

Tony lunged forward, getting in Clint's face. "When have we ever been guaranteed safety, huh? Who's been out there predicting each attack precisely? I just wanna know so I can mark it on my calendar. Get a jump start on vacation planning. I'm thinking Disney."

Banner tried to quietly interject, "we also have no idea if the explosion at Containment was deliberate, targeted, or an accident…"

"It's nobody's fault, those stones are notoriously dangerous," Clint tried to yell over the other two. Tony gave him a death-glare, as if Clint had just branded him with a white-hot poker of blame for letting his wife go in Stark's stead. Clint didn't take the bait, continuing, "so we just need to make sure Sam is safe from now on, okay?"

"Because obviously I'm Father of the Year and can be trusted with her?! Pepper was the real parent," Tony lamented, shaking his head. "I can't do this. You two know me. Is she safe with me? Because I don't think so!"

Bruce let his eyes flicker back and forth between the other men. No one should ever ask parenting advise from Dr. "Giant Green" Banner, and he knew that well enough to keep his mouth shut.

"Alright," Clint said in his best soothing voice. How could he calm a grieving husband and terrified father? He remembered the instinct to fight for family came easily but sitting still and confronting reality did not. Plus, Tony was much worse at self-reflection than Hawkeye. "You both need some time. Why don't Laura and I take Sam for a while? Sam will have other kids and plenty of space that doesn't have the makings of a bomb in every room. Nate would love to have a friend around, too. How about that?"

Tony looked at the closed infirmary door, and after a long pause, he made an odd, rounded nod, blurting, "she can't be here." He walked off in the opposite direction.


"I wouldn't do that. He's still pretty pissed," Natasha advised, moving between Captain Barnes and the door.

"Stark needs to know I would never endanger—"

"He does know, but," she hardened her eyes to the soldier, "this is a terrible time to go remind him that someone else saved his daughter."

Bucky shifted his gaze from the door to the petite woman before him. "I was just closer. He had enough to worry about. He—"

"Doesn't get to bury his wife?" She stopped his progress forward with a hand on his chest.

"If I hadn't kept my comms on—"

"If you were friendlier to Pepper or anyone, you'd have been too invested—"

"If I got down there a minute later due to schmoozing the grieving, you mean? What even happened at Containment?! We don't have any open threats at the moment."

Natasha silenced him with a look. "Do you want me to take your mind off it?" Her honey words drizzled sweetly as she took in the details of his face. Bucky was stone, his own focus flickering back and forth between her deep blue eyes.

She drew her hand away from his chest. She swallowed. "So you've decided…"

Nat tried to read him like a book but the pages were all out of order. There were hints of fear, confusion, longing, even pain in an otherwise blank expression. She knew what he learned to hide, she knew he could be more convincing if he wanted, but she also knew this was different. Bucky was being the most honest he could be, letting her see the rat's nest in his brain. Nat remembered the feeling well.

"You are not the monster they made you," she said, lifting her hand up to his cheek. He let it touch him for the briefest instant then pulled away.

"But I was and I am capable of the worst." Bucky slipped past her and flashed through the doorway, heading towards the grounds, not the infirmary.

"James," Nat called after him, but she stopped herself. She couldn't think of more to say that she hadn't already argued for months.