This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.

AN: For those who follow Agents of SHIELD, I am throwing everything from the Hive arc out of the window. Instead, Hive never made it back to Earth and the remaining monolith stones were destroyed by Daisy and Andrew Garner wasn't human and died when he got hit with the Terrigen so no Lash.

AN2: Merry Christmas! Enjoy your present!

Chapter 25: The Best Laid Plans

The honeymoon for Steve and Bucky was supposed to last a full week. They were insanely bored by the third day and desperately missing their kids. Steve had commented that it was odd that after only a few short months it had genuinely felt like they were a full-blown family. Rebecca and Sarah had turned into complete daddy's little girls with them. Joseph and George had finally settled down a little in sleeping for longer periods once Helen had okayed semi-solid foods and they required less feedings.

Fortunately for both Bucky and Steve, Clint and Laura seemed to have anticipated them missing the kids because they did their level best to send pictures of the kids throughout the day. So, the couple did their best to enjoy Hawaii, going to different attractions, while pretending not to be bored. By day five, Steve was thoroughly sick of vacation. Sure, it was nice just being with Bucky, something he would never complain about, but it lacked the chaos and fun of being with his family. Bucky agreed, pointing out they should have ignored everyone's arguments and just taken the kids with them.

It was that night that everything went sideways. They got a call from Clint telling them that the plane would be ready when they got to the airport, but to get back to New York immediately because the kids had been taken.

Five Hours Previously

It was a Friday night and Peter, Ned, Natalia, and Rebecca were sitting in a group discussing what high school was like, mostly for the sake of the girls who had never attended any school to begin with. They were mid-discussion when the Avengers Assemble alert went off. Peter's head shot up, "FRIDAY, what's going on?"

"There appears to be a large-scale attack in Queens involving a large number of robots. The Boss has activated the Iron Family protocol and asks that once the girls have been taken by their armor, you suit up. Maria Hill has ordered Ned down to the security department immediately," FRIDAY responded swiftly.

Less than a minute later the two suits designed for Rebecca and Natalia arrived. Peter and Ned got them into them quickly before they closed and took off out a window that had opened while they got the girls in the suits. Once they were gone, both Peter and Ned headed directly to the elevator. Peter went to the team room which was the same floor as the QuinJet bay. Ned only had one more floor to go after that. Peter changed quickly, finding it odd that he was about to participate in his first official mission as an Avenger.

Once he was changed, he joined the rest of the team assembled in the QuinJet bay. Tony nodded to him while his aunt frowned but didn't comment, May was dressed for work, "Alright, this is an all-hands situation. Looks like AIM has gotten back up and running without Killian, not sure how. The robots are wreaking havoc all over Queens. We all take the fastest route to the area. That means Thor, Vision, and me at the vanguard and the rest of you following immediately behind in the QuinJet. Barton, once you land on a good rooftop, set up shop. Peter, make sure you have ample webbing. Disable or destroy as possible goes for everyone. May, get your ECHO jet set up in a good park close enough to the action that the injured can get there easily, but not so close that you become an immediate target. Once your team is down, let us know where so we can evac the injured there and provide cover. All clear? Good."

Tony finished as soon as everyone was nodding heads and his helmet fell into place before he took off, followed immediately by Thor and Vision. Peter spared a glace at his aunt as he followed the rest of the team into the QuinJet while she went to brief the medical response personal. Fortunately, Peter already had his mask on, so no one could read the concern on his face. He heard the chatter of communications coming through the earpiece built into his suit. Once the QuinJet was up, Peter grabbed a couple extra cartridges of webbing from a gear rack and attached them to his belt.

"Spidey, once we land, we'll need you to get me and Pietro to the ground quickly. Then you can do your thing. Focus on disabling the robots, we'll go in for the kill once they're down," Black Widow was cold in her tone of voice, Peter realized. She was completely different at work than when she was just Nat.

"Understood," Peter nodded. They landed almost immediately after his response, the flight was less than two minutes due to proximity of the fight.

Once the QuinJet was down, the team rushed out. Peter paused while Quick Silver and Black Widow got a good hold on him before quickly lowering them all to the ground. Once down, he swiftly climbed a building and got to work swinging around and hitting every robot he could with the specialized EMP webbing that Tony and he had designed. As the robots dropped, he made sure they wouldn't land on anyone before moving onto the next. Once an area was clear, he checked if there was any injured and those who could couldn't walk, he cocooned and brought to the ECHO site his aunt had set up.

It took them a full hour of running around to find and take down all the robots. At some point SHIELD apparently popped up to help with the attack, one lady knocking the robots out of the sky with shockwaves. Even Peter was breathing hard once they finished. He then found himself being ordered to get any injured he could find to the ECHO site. This meant responding to cries for help and moving rubble for Peter as he was a heavy lifter. The oddest bit of the whole experience was that Ned had been assigned as Peter's handler, so on top of Peter hearing the rest of the team over comms, he also had Ned giving him updates that were being fed from the scanning units that Tony had roaming over the area. At least until Ned and Hill headed for the Upstate facility after the fighting ended.

It was a full three hours from the time that the Assemble alert had been given to the time that Peter was finished. By that point, Hawkeye had moved the QuinJet over next to the ECHO site. Peter slumped into his seat on the QuinJet, grateful to be away from the swarm of press that had arrived while they were helping the injured. Security personnel and emergency response personnel, like the police and firemen, had finally taken over, allowing the Avengers to retreat and rest. Once the others were on the QuinJet, Clint took off and Peter was finally able to pull off his mask and get a drink of water, which he chugged quickly.

"You did good kid. We didn't even need the big guy for this one. Which probably saved us a lot in terms of property damage," Natasha had sat down next to him, back to her more relaxed persona.

"Is it always that hectic?" Peter asked, he had only ever dealt with the occasional hold-up or mugger. This was his first big fight.

"It can be. It really depends on the circumstances. When we are dealing with a terror attack, which is essentially what this was, it tends to be a bit crazier because it's in a populated location which results in more property damage and higher injury rates. When we're dealing out strikes to bases that we've located, it tends to be more controlled. None of us were anticipating the extra participants though," Nat offered, she clearly didn't like the sudden reemergence of SHIELD either.

"Yeah, what's with the chick who could use shockwaves?" Falcon asked, he had arrived mid-battle as well. "She nearly knocked me down with one of her blasts."

"No clue, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. They're supposed to be meeting us at the Upstate facility, which is where we're headed now. I was under the impression that SHIELD was gone for good," Natasha responded.

Not long after, they got a call from Tony, "Guys, we have a problem. The kids never arrived at the facility." He reported.

"What?" Natasha's voice had turned icy. "What do you mean they never arrived?!"

For the first time since his first meeting with Black Widow, Peter genuinely feared for his life simply because he was the closest person to her in a physical sense. He contemplated trying to relocate, but fortunately for him, she got up and immediately headed for the cock-pit of the QuinJet. Peter shared a horrified look with Sam. He felt the dread wash over him as the reality sunk in, if they didn't arrive at the Upstate Facility like they were supposed to, that meant that the Iron Family protocol had been hacked, most likely by Hydra and now the kids were being held by them.

It wasn't just Natalia, Rebecca, Sarah, Joseph, and George who had been taken, either. Cooper, Lila, and Nathan, as well as Laura had also been included in the protocol. The only family member of the group who hadn't been taken was Aunt May and that was because she had been running ECHO on the ground. She would likely to be there for several hours longer. He had that small point of relief before feeling guilty that he had some reassurance while the others didn't. Steve and Bucky didn't even know about the situation yet.

As he was mentally analyzing this, the QuinJet landed. Peter swiftly followed the rest of the team off and into the base. It was his first time seeing it, but he didn't really care about that with the new concern. Ned and Hill were both already waiting there. Hill waved for them all to follow, Ned falling in beside Peter.

"What happened?" Peter asked immediately.

"We aren't sure. The protocol activated like it was supposed to, sending them away from the tower. None of us thought about it beyond that, because we figured it would run like it was supposed to. But when the fighting died down, Hill suggested we relocate to here because we would need to be here during the meeting with SHIELD, only when we got here, we learnt that the Iron Family suits never arrived, in fact, that the facility hadn't even been alerted to the fact that there was fighting in Queens. Hill got them to scramble the people for helping with the rescue and clean-up, but we haven't been able to get anything out of FRIDAY. As soon as Hill questioned her about the protocol, FRIDAY just started ignoring anything to do with it," Ned finished, keeping his voice down.

"Why weren't we alerted sooner?" Peter asked, his voice a little harsh.

"That was the other thing, direct communications with the Avengers and ECHO were down. We could hear you, but we couldn't communicate back. We think something was blocking it," Ned was just as worried. He had started becoming attached to the little girls as sort of younger siblings.

"Damn it, Я собираюсь вырвать ей горло!" Natasha snarled out as they arrived in the meeting room. SHIELD was waiting in the room already. There were five people total, though Peter knew there had been way more on the ground.

"And we don't blame you for feeling that way, Romanoff. However, we need to locate them first," An older, rather normal looking man stated bluntly. He clearly understood Russian, even though Peter didn't.

"Coulson, nice to know you're alive, only took you three years to let us know. I'd probably be ripping into you, but we have bigger fish to fry," Tony stated coldly.

"I understand that you're pissed. I can't even blame you for it. Honestly, we've been trying to keep our heads off the chopping block up until now. However, we have someone who is probably the best hacker in the world. Daisy Johnson, aka Quake. I believe you know her as Skyenet," The man identified as Coulson stated.

Tony's head snapped to the young woman who had been the one who caused all the shockwaves during the battle, "You're Skyenet? You don't strike me as a top-caliber hacker, no offense."

"None taken. I wasn't always a SHIELD agent and I only acquired my powers recently. I was a hacker before that. I've even hacked Stark Industries a few times," Daisy turned and looked at Vision. "I think Vision can confirm it, but that can wait until later. If we trace the hack on your systems sooner rather than later, we may be able to figure out where exactly they took the kids."

"I'll show you to the computers lab, shall I?" Vision offered.

"Right, get on that then. The sooner we know where they are the better. On second thought, I'll go with you. Nat, you work out what the hell has been going on with SHIELD," Tony stated, then he and Vision took Daisy and the three left.

An older Asian woman was eying Peter and Ned during the exchange but kept silent until the left. Once they did, she turned to Natasha, "Recruiting kids, Romanoff?"

"Oh, shut up, May. Peter accidently got bitten by a radioactive spider and got super powers. It's not our fault. You can take that up with Oscorp. We've kept him safe. He's Bruce's intern," Natasha shrugged. She had been the one who had never even batted an eye about Peter becoming a part of the team in the first place, though Peter hadn't figured out why exactly.

"What kind of powers?" Coulson asked, glancing at Peter and then Ned.

"Off the charts strength, extreme durability, he can literally climb walls, oh, and he's a certifiable genius, though I think that last bit was present before the spider bite," Hill responded. She waved for everyone to take a seat.

"It was," Bruce confirmed. Peter glanced at Ned and was surprised that his friend had managed to keep his cool so far. But then he remembered he had been training under Hill, the woman had been militaristic in her training of Ned. Something that was clearly showing now in his blank demeanor.

"Well, that explains why you lot were so determined to keep Spider-Man's identity concealed. You can't really go advertising that you got a teenager on the team. What's with the other kid though? He powered too?" The massive black guy stated. Peter wondered what his powers were. He was guessing it was something related to his size.

"No, he isn't, Agent Mackenzie. Ned was a close friend of Peter's who knew about his powers already. We felt it was wise to bring him into the security team, so we didn't get any accidental leaks. Ned's proven worth the effort I've put into him. You wouldn't recognize him from the boy who joined us only two months ago," Hill actually sounded a little proud of Ned. Peter hid his smirk.

"We're getting off topic, how is SHIELD still active? We thought it went down completely after D.C." Natasha redirected the conversation. Peter wasn't sure why they were being included but didn't protest.

"Fury gave me locations of uncompromised SHIELD bases, funding sources, and a few other things. We even managed to keep the Iliad afloat, though that was a near thing and that was Gonzales's doing. We're building back up slowly, being careful who we allow back into the fold and vetting new recruits with extreme care. Hydra will have a hell of a time infiltrating us a second time," Coulson explained. "That said, we could use all the good will and backing that we can get, because legally, we don't have much of a leg to stand on yet, though we are working covertly with the U.S. government and the Air Force."

"So, you thought that coming in and helping with the attack on Queens might be a good way to build good-will? Did you not think that coming to us sooner and just letting us know everything would have been a better strategy?" Clint spoke up now. He had kept quiet the whole time.

"Told you so," May stated with a glance at Coulson.

He winced but gave a nod, "It was suggested to me, however, up until recent events, I wasn't certain how good an idea that would be."

"What recent events?" Natasha asked.

"You heard about the recent outbreak of powered individuals?" Coulson asked.

The group confirmed they had before Coulson continued, "We know what's causing it. Agent Johnson's mother tried taking the Iliad about two months ago. She failed, but in the process of stopping her, an alien chemical known as Terrigen was dumped into the ocean. This chemical is harmless to normal humans. However, for a small percentage of the human population that carry what's been dubbed the 'Inhuman' gene, this causes a transformation called Terrigenesis. It alters the person on a genetic level, resulting in powers and in some cases physical alterations to the body. Daisy was previously exposed to the chemical and had already gained her ability to manipulate vibrations. Since then, we have done our best to contain it. Prevent people from consuming the contaminated fish oil tablets by recalling them, banning fishing in the exposed area, but to be honest Terrigen's already been introduced into the eco-system and there have even been a few cases where the person in question lived on the sea coast and got caught in a rain storm and went through Terrigenesis." Coulson looked defeated. "Honestly, at this point we don't think it can be contained."

"So, what you're saying is that the changes are going to keep happening? Is there anyway to reverse it?" Natasha asked. Peter's mind was already going a mile a minute though. Manipulate vibrations? Everything had vibrations. Everything vibrated at least on a molecular level. Agent Johnson could theoretically unmake people with her powers or destroy the planet.

"No. The changes are permanent. I had not known the Kree had come to Midgard. Terrigenesis was their means, thousands of years ago, to create a powered army. However, we have long thought that the whole experiment was a failure," Thor was the one to answer the question, surprising a good number of the Avengers.

"From the Kree's perspective, it may have been. According to the records of the Inhuman community that was previously run by Agent Johnson's mother, whom she did not know before going through Terrigenesis, the Inhumans on earth managed to band together and drive away the Kree. You can't really use a weapon that has free will and a desire to not follow orders from a race of alien overlords," Agent May explained.

"So, is there any limitation to Agent Johnson's power or can she shake the world apart if she wanted?" Peter finally let his curiosity get the better of him. "Because, everything vibrates on a molecular level and if she can manipulate the vibrations of everything than theoretically, she could destroy the planet."

Everyone's heads snapped to stare at Peter who suddenly felt the keenest desire to disappear into the floor. Instead he decided to defend himself, "I'm only asking because if she can, then she really belongs with the Avengers and not SHIELD, right? I mean, I'm an Avenger and all I can do is swing around, web people up and climb walls and be really strong."

Hill resorted to a face-palm. Natasha, Clint, and Sam looked like they were resisting the urge to burst into laughter. Bruce's expression had turned thoughtful. Wanda, Pietro, and Ned were all nodding along like what Peter had said made perfect sense rather been rambling. Coulson and May had both resorted to blank expressions. Agent Mackenzie was eying Peter incredulously. The remaining SHIELD person, a Hispanic woman who was tiny and spry, smirked.

Coulson turned to Hill, "A genius you said?"

"He suffers from severe word vomit, we're working on it. He knows when not to reveal information, so we at least don't have to worry about any accidents on that front," Hill groaned out. "He is useful, I swear. We wouldn't be putting a kid out there for no reason."

"Yeah, I noticed that when we were fighting the robots. He was bouncing around all over the place on his webs," The Hispanic woman spoke, her accent clear.

"Oh, we forgot to introduce you. This is Elena Rodriguez, aka Yo-yo, she's an Inhuman with powers like Quick Silver only she snaps back to where she started within a single heartbeat," Coulson pointed to the woman who just spoke.

Pietro immediately turned to Wanda, "I told you that I wasn't the only one running around at high speeds." His expression was one of vindication while Wanda's was baring exasperation.

"Yes, because that is what's important here, her speed. We are getting off topic again," Wanda was rolling her eyes.

"Not really, we finished explaining why we finally came back into the light. As for Daisy's powers, yes there are limitations. If she over extends, she can facture her own bones and certain frequencies can harm her," Coulson explained. "So, we should have some plan of attack once Daisy, Stark and Vision locate the base where the children were taken."

"Just another random thought, but this one is like a thousand times more important, has anyone tried contacting Steve or Bucky?" Peter suddenly asked again, realizing that Steve was really the head of the team and thus should probably be here, also it was his kids that had been taken too. This time the expressions of everyone who looked at him were pure horror.

Pietro immediately zipped out of the room, presumably to find out how to contact the couple who were off the grid besides what Tony and Clint knew. A few moments of silence later, Pietro was back, "Tony's calling them now. He also said to put you all up in rooms and for everyone to get rest while we can because once we get the location, we will all be gearing up."

Hill nodded, "That's probably wise. Ned, make sure Peter eats enough before crashing. His aunt will kill us if he ends up dead because he didn't eat. Pietro, you and Wanda as well. I'll call your mother, Ned, inform her that we had a sudden business trip that was unavoidable, and I needed your assistance."

Ned nodded. His mother had taken the whole internship thing with Stark Industries with a great deal of pride and had bluntly informed him that he was to do whatever was expected of him. Hill had made a point of being friendly and keeping her in the loop when it came to Ned, so his mother was happy to accept anything said to her by Hill as fact. Ned was convinced that his mother was so happy to turn a blind eye because he had managed to land a paid internship at the biggest Tech company in the country on top of being the only child of hers to go to a STEM high school.

Peter was ready to collapse from the fight, but followed Ned through the facility, which he had been to before, to the kitchen, where his friend made up a stack of sandwiches. Ned handed each to Peter as he finished making them. Peter managed to finish four before dragging himself off to one of the open bedrooms, stripping and collapsing on the bed.

Clint filled them in on the basics of what happened while Steve and Bucky drove to the airport. They were told to sleep while they could, because Tony, Vision, and Coulson's star hacker, who was apparently the best of the best, were already working on tracing the hack on FRIDAY. The fact that Coulson was alive had been the least of Steve's worries. That said, he knew that he would get to that when he knew the kids were safe. The flight from Hawaii back to New York was eight hours so he and Bucky forced themselves to lay down on the bed in the jet and sleep. Fortunately, their time in the military allowed for them to sleep when they told their bodies, regardless of their emotional state. That said, Bucky had two nightmares during the flight.

Ned was waiting for them when the landed, the jet going directly to the Upstate facility. The teen looked nervous but began filling them in, "Agent Johnson and Tony alternated sleeping last night to keep working on the trace. Vision fortunately didn't need any sleep, so he was working with whichever was awake through the night. Agent Johnson got a lock on a possible location fifteen minutes ago. Everyone is suiting up as we speak."

Steve and Bucky shared looks before allowing Ned to lead them to where everyone was gathered already. Steve gave Coulson a quick look of disappointment before focusing on the younger of the tiny Asian women in the room, who began speaking immediately on their arrival.

"Right, so, with Stark and Vision's help, I managed to pin the location of that hack to just outside Miami," Daisy completely ignored the insulted look on Stark's face at the implication that he only helped, though she had done the lion's share of the work in the trace. "It's in this remote portion of the Everglades that's conveniently blacked out on all government satellites. Looks like we still need to route out Hydra from the government, but that's beside the point. From the files I have from previous raids on Hydra bases, my best guess is this is their 'Glade' base that's been found in a few reports. From what I can tell, it's a research facility."

She shoved specs of the place over to Steve. He immediately picked it up, and began scanning through the base layout, "This place is massive, if these are right. Bigger than Strucker's place in Sokovia."

"Which means we need all the help we can get. Coulson's already offered to assist with the endeavor to boost our numbers. Agent Johnson here can manipulate vibrations, that one over there is Elena Rodriguez, she is similar to Pietro except she goes back to her starting position within a single heartbeat. They also have a guy that can generate electricity, one who can melt any metal, and a lady who can split herself into as many people as she wants, though apparently the electricity guy and the lady who splits herself are both primarily medical," Tony explained.

"They can and will fight, especially if it means keeping Hydra from getting hands on a group of enhanced children," Daisy spoke up. "Coulson's already put in a call to them. They will meet us there with the rest of our team."

Steve nodded, "As long as you understand that this is an Avengers run mission."

Coulson sighed before responding, "Understood. It's your kids at risk. We'll follow your lead on this one." With that, everyone was getting up from their respective positions. Steve and Bucky immediately went to suit-up before joining everyone where a few Avengers QuinJets and one very large plane waited.

"It's the Zephier One, plenty of space, pretty much a giant QuinJet,' Coulson explained. The SHIELD agents all boarded the Zephier and the Avengers boarded the QuinJets, with their security back-up on the other QuinJets.

AN: Bwahahaha! A cliffhanger!

The translation of what Natasha said:

Я собираюсь вырвать ей горло! =I'm going to rip her throat out!