A/N: *Nervously* Hey, guys... So um, I wrote this chapter... and I don't know how you all are going to take it... so I'm going to go and lock myself in Tony's lab for a bit until this all blows over... I'll bet DUM-E's cleaned up the thermometer mess by now, right?
Lia could not for the life of her figure out what was going on. Nobody would leave her alone for more than five minutes at a time. She was constantly being followed by Natasha, Bucky, or one of the many agents that had been hired to keep the trio safe while the rest of the Avengers were gone. She was sure something was up; she just didn't know what.
Peter came to visit again the day after the Avengers left. Bucky pulled him aside as soon as he arrived and explained the situation to him. He listened intently, understanding the magnitude of what was going on, and agreed to keep things quiet.
He was overjoyed to see that Lia was doing much better than she was the last time he'd been there. She had texted him the day before to tell him she was feeling better, but Peter knew he wouldn't fully stop worrying about her until he saw her again face to face.
As soon as he saw her, he gave her a big hug. "Hey, Butterfly," he said, using the pet name he'd given her a week or so before.
"Hey, Peter," she replied, hugging him back.
"Glad to see you doing better. You had me worried."
"I'm sorry. I feel bad for scaring you and everyone else."
He pulled back so he could see her face. "Don't ever apologize for stuff like this. You couldn't have predicted that something like that was going to happen. It wasn't your fault, anyway."
She still looked unsure. "Did I scare you?"
"Not at all," he reassured her. "I've helped my aunt work through panic attacks before. They don't scare me."
She sighed in relief. "Okay, good. I was worried you wouldn't want to come back after that."
He smiled at her. "Trust me, Lia. It'll take a lot more than that to keep me from coming to see you."
She smiled widely. "Thanks for helping me, by the way."
"Hey, I'm your friendly neighborhood Spiderman. Helping people is what I do." He puffed out his chest a bit, hoping to make Lia laugh.
It worked. Lia started giggling almost uncontrollably at Peter.
That's when he knew that she'd be alright.
ooOOoo
Clint peered over the edge of the rooftop at the warehouse below. None of the lights were on; for all intents and purposes, the place seemed abandoned. He put a finger to his ear.
"Guys, are we sure this is the right spot? I don't think anyone's home."
"Clint's right," Sam said over the comlink. This place looks completely abandoned."
"It may appear to abandoned, but looks can be deceiving. We should still check it out, just to be completely sure," Cap replied. "Pietro, have you seen any guards at all?"
The speedster was running around the warehouse, trying to pinpoint the best way inside. It was hard to tell what he was saying over the sound of wind rushing past him.
"No guards… found entrance…"
"Kid, will you please slow down?" Tony interjected. "None of us can understand a word you're saying."
The whooshing sound on the other side of the comlink stopped abruptly. Pietro could be heard panting for breath.
"I said, there are no guards, I found an entrance…" he said between breaths.
"Where's the entrance?" Clint asked.
"On the south side of the building."
"Wanda, do you detect any human presence inside the warehouse?" Steve asked.
"I don't know. There might be, but I won't be able to tell for sure until I get inside," she answered.
Clint was already at the south entrance where Pietro stood, waiting.
"I cannot wait to get inside and punch someone in the face," he spat, cracking his knuckles.
"What's got you so riled up?" Clint asked.
Pietro looked incredulous. "Do you not know what that horrible man did to Lia?"
"I know he did something bad, judging by her reaction to his name being said, but I don't know exactly what," Clint replied.
Pietro's incredulous look shifted into a murderous glare. "He strapped her down so she couldn't move and injected her with something that caused her excruciating pain. Then, he would sit and laugh while she screamed…"
Clint just stood there in shocked silence.
"That is why I am here: to make sure that dog gets what he deserves."
Tony landed in front of Clint. Seeing his shocked expression, he waved an armored hand in front of his face.
"You alright there, Legolas? You're zoning out on us."
Pietro related the story he had just told Clint to Tony. he reacted much the same way.
One by one, the rest of the Avengers arrived at the south entrance and, one by one, they heard Pietro's horrendous account. It added a new sense of urgency to the group; the sooner they caught the creep, the better.
Once he'd recovered from the shock, Steve took charge. "Alright. Tony, you and I will go inside first and scout ahead. Pietro, Wanda, and Clint, you'll all come in after us. Sam, I need you to be our eyes in the sky."
"Roger that. Punch that scumbag in the face for me, will ya?" he requested before spreading his wings out and taking off into the skies.
"Clint, as soon as you're inside, find high ground and stake out the place," Steve instructed.
"You got it," he replied.
"You ready, Tony?" Steve asked.
"Born ready," he answered.
"Okay. Let's go. The rest of you, wait for my signal before heading in."
ooOOoo
Peter, Natasha, Bucky, and Lia were sprawled out on the floor of the common area, a Monopoly board between the four of them.
Lia took the first turn, rolling the dice. She moved her thimble six spaces, landing on Oriental Avenue. She handed Bucky $100 of monopoly money and he handed her the property deed.
"I still don't understand why you guys wanted to play with Peter and I," she started.
"I just thought that, with it being just the three of us for a few days, it might be fun to do some stuff together," Natasha replied nonchalantly, tossing the dice onto the game board. She moved her dog nine spaces to Connecticut Avenue, handing Bucky money for the property without breaking eye contact with her daughter.
Lia didn't look convinced in the slightest. "But you're always training by now. You never skip a session. And I know for a fact that Bucky detests Monopoly."
Bucky was moving his battleship seven spaces to a Chance square. He pulled a card from the pile, scowling at it. "'Pay poor tax of fifteen dollars'. Gosh I hate this game."
"You see?" Lia said, pointing at him. "Back me up, Peter."
Peter rolled the dice and moved his top hat five spaces to Reading Railroad, paying Bucky $200 dollars for it. "I don't think there's anything wrong with having them play with us," he said, handing her the dice. "Your turn."
"No," Lia said, pocketing the dice. "Something is up. All three of you guys have been acting really odd ever since everyone else left. Is there something you aren't telling me?"
She stared each person in the eye, never once breaking eye contact. "Don't lie to me, guys."
When she came to Peter, she stared long and hard at him. He squirmed uncomfortably under her gaze.
"Peter," she said slowly. "Is there something you aren't telling me?"
"N-no," he stammered out.
Her eyes narrowed. "Peter Benjamin Parker, if you're lying to me-"
"I-I'm not! I swear!" He said.
Her face fell. "You are lying to me. You never stutter when you're with me unless you're lying."
None of them noticed the cloud cover forming above their heads.
"Lia-" Peter started.
"Don't 'Lia' me! Why are you lying to me? What is going on?"
I… can't tell you," he replied, seeing the looks on Bucky and Natasha's faces.
"Do you not trust me?" Lia asked quietly.
Peter hurried to shoot down her question. "No, no, of course I trust you! It's just that... Well…"
"We told him not to tell you!" Bucky intervened, growing angry. He wasn't going to let Peter take the fall for what was going on.
Lia glared at him. "Told him not to tell me what?"
The cloud cover above their heads grew darker. A rumbling sound was heard.
Natasha jumped in. "Lia, you have to trust us. We're doing what we're doing to keep you safe."
"Safe from what? Tell me!" she yelled.
"We're not going to tell you!" Bucky shouted back at her.
"Why not?!"
"Because if we do you'll freak out!" He screamed.
The heavens opened above them. Rain poured down into the living room, soaking them all where they stood.
"I won't freak out! I can handle it!" She shouted at him, still dry. Her powers never seemed to affect her, only those around her.
"No, you can't!" he yelled, rain running through the grooves of his metal arm.
"Yes, I can!"
No you can't! What makes you think you can handle what's going on if you can't even handle being in the same room as Nick Fury?!"
A loud clap of thunder sounded right above Bucky's head. He didn't even flinch, still glaring at her.
"How dare you," she said in a low voice.
"How dare I? How dare I what? How dare I bring up the fact that you're afraid of a bald man with an eyepatch?!" There was no going back from this now.
Tears formed at the edge of her eyes. "James Buchanan Barnes, I hate you!" she screamed.
The loudest clap of thunder any of them had ever heard sounded above them, making them all jump and look behind them. When they turned back, Lia was gone.
ooOOoo
"Clint, what do you see?"
"Not much, Cap. Just shipping containers and a few empty workspaces. Nothing out of the ordinary."
"Keep your eyes peeled and let me know if you see anything suspicious. This warehouse looks abandoned right now, but we've found signs of recent human habitation."
"Copy that, Cap."
Clint had his bow out, arrow at the ready, in case anything should happen. He scanned the area, looking carefully for any signs of movement or activity.
"Guys." Pietro's voice cut through. I found something." His normally cheerful voice was serious and full of dread.
"What is it?" Steve asked.
"You need to see for yourself," he said. "I'm not sure what to think of it."
"Where are you, kid?" Clint asked, replacing his bow on his back.
"In one of the offices. The name on the door says 'Avengers'."
"I'm on my way. Steve, Tony, you keep searching. I'll go take a look."
"Let us know what you find, Katniss. I'm rather curious myself," Tony requested.
Clint made his way down from his perch in the rafters of the warehouse and headed toward the small offices lining the left wall.
Pietro met him in front of one of them. "You need to see this," he said, pushing the door to the office open.
The office was empty, save for six chairs placed in a semicircle around an old television set. The remote for the TV was sitting on one of the chairs. A post-it note was stuck to it.
Clint picked up the remote, reading the note. "Press Play…"
He put a finger to his ear. "Cap, whoever was here before was expecting us. They left us a message. You're going to want to see this. Tony, Wanda, Sam, you guys come too."
"Roger that," Sam replied, the rush of the wind making it hard to hear him through the comlink.
"We're on our way," Cap said.
Wanda walked through the open door. Her eyes widened at the sight. She began muttering in Sokovian.
"What's she saying?" Clint quietly asked Pietro.
"Nothing that should be repeated out loud," Pietro answered. He walked over and put an arm around his twin sister.
Tony and Steve walked in soon after.
Tony's eyes narrowed. "They were expecting us…" he said darkly.
Steve cast his eyes around the room. "Six chairs…" he muttered. "And six of us… how did they know that six of us would be coming?"
"Do you think we have a mole somewhere?" Clint asked, handing the remote control to Steve.
"Possibly… but let's not jump to conclusions just yet."
Sam let out a low whistle when he came in. "This doesn't look good, guys…"
"Yeah, we've noticed," Pietro replied sarcastically. Clint put a hand on the speedster's shoulder, causing him to go silent.
Steve sat down on one of the six chairs, gesturing for the others to take a seat as well. When everyone was seated, he took a deep breath.
"Well, here goes nothing."
Then he pressed play.
ooOOoo
As soon as the words left his mouth, Bucky regretted it. He knew he had a crossed a line by bringing up Fury. Peter was staring at him in shock. Natasha, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to murder him.
When Lia screamed that she hated him, it was like taking a knife to the stomach. He couldn't bear to face her or the others any longer, so he walked off in the opposite direction, leaving Peter and Natasha to deal with the torrential downpour in the living room.
Peter still hadn't said anything. Natasha put a hand on his shoulder.
"It's not your fault," she said. "Just give her some time to calm down. She'll come around."
The rain was had started to slow as soon as Lia left the room. It was barely drizzling now. Natasha cast her eyes around the room and sighed.
"At least Tony had the good sense to waterproof this part of the compound," she said. "The water won't damage the floor or the walls. He replaced all of the upholstered furniture with water-resistant leather. And the rug is washable."
Peter looked down at their Monopoly game. "I don't think the game is waterproof, though," he pointed out.
"You know where the towels are?" she asked.
He nodded.
"Grab as many as you can carry. I'm going to go and find a mop."
While Peter and Natasha worked to clean up the mess, Bucky was outside, wandering around the grounds. He felt horrible for making Lia cry like that. Big brothers were supposed to fix their little sisters problems, not cause them. He wasn't even sure why he had blown up like that. He'd never gotten mad at Lia before.
He looked up and found himself outside the hangar. Sighing, he walked inside. Maybe watching other people's mindless work for a little while would help him clear his head enough to be able to apologize.
He sat down on an unused shipping container and watched the workers scurry around the large building. There were a couple other Quinjets still there and various small vehicles as well. Some of the workers were performing maintenance on one of the Quinjets. Every so often a worker would run down the ramp of the jet and disappear for a few minutes, only to return with some obscure tool that the repairman needed inside.
"Hey," a voice called out.
Bucky turned around to see the worker that had dropped the shipping container the other day.
"You alright?" he asked.
"I'd kinda like to be left alone if you don't mind," Bucky replied, annoyed.
"Yeah, I understand. I just have a message to deliver to you," he said.
Bucky raised an eyebrow. "A message? From who?"
He grinned wickedly. "Dr. Pohl. Winter Soldat aktivieren!"
Then everything went black.
ooOOoo
As soon as Steve pressed play, the face of a balding, middle-aged man appeared on the screen.
"Willkommen, Avengers," he said in a thick German accent. "My name is Doctor Friedrich Pohl. Perhaps you've heard of me."
"Yeah, we've heard of you all right, you lying, mangy-"
The rest of the Avengers shushed Pietro.
"I suppose you are wondering what is going on," Dr. Pohl continued. "Well you see, you have something of mine, and I would very much like it back. I believe you now know the story of Experiment Nummer Dreizehn."
"What's that mean?" Wanda asked.
Steve looked angry. "It's German. It means 'number thirteen.'"
Dr. Pohl continued to speak over the Avengers. "Dreizehn is a vital part of my operation and my greatest achievement thus far. I have lured you here to the great city of Budapest so that I may retrieve her once more."
The door to the office locked behind them unexpectedly, trapping them inside. Steve stood immediately and went to the door, kicking the lock as hard as he could. It didn't even dent the door.
"I wasn't going to try and take her with all of you there. One doesn't rob a house with all the residents still inside. Now that you are all out of the way, I can put the rest of my plan into motion. By the time you receive this message, Dreizehn will soon be in my possession once more."
The camera cut from the doctor to a shot of the compound's hangar. There was no sound, but Bucky could clearly be seen sitting on one of the shipping containers. A man in coveralls came over and spoke to him for a second. Suddenly, Bucky keeled over, grabbing his head. He fell off the shipping container onto the ground. The man knelt down and whispered something in his ear. Bucky stopped and stood up, ramrod straight. His face was emotionless. He had once again become the Winter Soldier.
The doctor came on screen once more. "As you can see, I have already eliminated the Winter Soldier. All that is left is to rid this place of the Black Widow and Dreizehn will be mine for the taking."
"Tony!" Steve shouted. "Try and shoot the door!"
Tony did as he was told, redirecting all power to his hand repulsors and firing a loud blast at the door. It didn't leave a single mark.
"Of course, I couldn't take any chances of you escaping. The door and walls of the room you are in are made of a special vibranium alloy my inferiors were able to cook up for me. Do not try and call for help or warn your colleagues; the walls of your prison are too thick to send or receive any signals. I'm afraid there is not enough air in that room for you all to last more than an hour. Say Auf Wiedersehen to your precious protege, Avengers. She will soon be mine!" Doctor Pohl let out a spine-tingling maniacal laugh.
Then the screen went blank.
