A/N: Thank you for all the kind words last chapter. I'm attempting the NaNo writing challenge thing this month, which is why this chapter is ready. As always, thank you BlueOwl and Emerald2211 for helping me edit this chapter!

"So, am I still grounded?" I asked two days after said grounding happened.

I found it more amusing than anything since Bucky didn't really do anything to ground me. Leaving the tower without an adult was already off limits, which is a whole nother issue, and it wasn't like there was anything he could take away. Bucky didn't even forbid me from playing games or visit Tony. Just sent me to my room that first night, only calling me for dinner.

Good news is that my bullet wound is almost all healed up, only 9/11 now (ha).

"We need to talk first," Bucky said before looking to Steve and adding, "Mind leaving us alone for a few minutes? We can watch that movie afterwords."

"Sure thing, Bucky, I'll just go see if Hill found anything," Steve said even though he was just with her less then an hour ago.

Bucky waited until Steve was completely gone before speaking up again.

"Jarvis, are you able to leave us alone for ten minutes?"

I raised a brow at that. Just what type of talk was Bucky wanting to have here?

"No, but I can delete the recording at your command afterwords."

"That will be good enough," Bucky said with a slight frown before giving me his full attention.

"Okay, tell me exactly what happened when you left to retrieve the bag."

"Uh, okay? I went into the bathroom and turned on the water before teleporting to that alleyway we left the bike in. I had my phone with me, and even set it to buzz if I was there for more than five minutes. Pretty sure no one saw me since I made sure to appear behind the trash bins," I started to explain.

"You didn't have to reset?"

"Nope, I was ready too if anything happened and," I paused before telling him about what happened afterwards with Tony.

That ended up not being too bad. He even continued with my little welding lesson yesterday.

"...and nothing happened so I didn't. I am sorry for making you worry, but I did have a fail safe in place."

"Do you feel safe here?" Bucky asked after being completely silent longer than I was comfortable with.

"I guess? Not sure how realistic that is though."

"Tony Stark figured out how Hydra was able to find us at the museum," Bucky said after another slightly too long pause.

"Oh?"

"They were able to get hold of some video evidence of you fighting before Stark was able to delete it."

I nodded, since I figured it was something like that, before stopping mid nod.

"Wait, me? Not you?"

"Did..." Bucky started to say before stopping and looking at me with a serious experion, "In the times before where you had to reset, did they ever try taking you back or just me?"

"Uh," I thought back to the two other times Hydra found us, "First time was when we were staying in that farm house and I don't think they even knew I was there. The second time... well I told you how they ordered you to kill me."

Bucky frowned, and I was getting ready to bring up the fact that last time they ordered him to kill me, he was able to fight it, but then Bucky spoke.

"What changed to cause them to capture you instead of kill you?"

Huh. That's... a good question.

"You think seeing me fight the aliens was enough to change that?" I wondered.

I figured that the only reason Hydra was still bothering with me was because I was with Bucky. I knew that would be the case since having him come with me. But in the musume they went after me when I was away from Bucky. I wasn't just collateral or an afterthought.

"Something was enough to change the method they used to track us."

"Well, that's not good."

And it really wasn't. I was assuming that we got caught because I slipped up, but if it was because of a change on their end then that's bad.

"No, it very much isn't good," Bucky said as he slid his hand down his face. "Jarvis, please delete our conversation and tell Steve he can come back in."

"The last ten minutes and 47 seconds has been deleted and I have alerted Steve." Jarvis told them just as Steve came through the door.

"Were you just waiting outside?" I had to ask.

"No? I was... already coming up when Jarvis said I could come back," Steve said and I shared a look with Bucky.

It was pretty obvious he was just waiting outside the communal area.

"Sorry for the interruption, but Romanova and Barton are back and requesting a meeting."

"They're back? Wait, can I come to the meeting?"

I assumed that they got the book which is one less thing to worry about. At the very least this will make the events that happened in civil war completely null.

"We need someone to watch over Lani," Bucky said instead of answering my question.

Or maybe that was his answer to my question.

"I don't need a babysitter!"

"You're still grounded."

"How long am I going to be grounded for then?"

"Until Hydra is dealt with."

"Oh come on, that could take years!"

"It's not going to take that long, I'll make sure of it," Steve said, and I was very tempted to point out that he is part of the reason Hydra is still around.

If Steve didn't go down with the plane, he could have prevented Hydra from coming back.

But I held my tongue.

"Romanova says she is willing to watch Lani during the first part of the meeting, then will bring her up for the second part without Fury," Jarvis said, almost like he was waiting for our little argument to finish.

It's hard because I do get why they don't want me involved. To them, I'm just a kid. But I thought Bucky trusted me more than this.

"Are you okay with that arrangement?" Bucky asked, and I really wanted to say no.

"It's fine, I guess. Have fun with your meeting with Fury or whatever."

I was pouting too much to notice the pleading look Bucky gave Steve, but I did hear the sigh Steve gave.

"Don't worry, we'll try to keep you in the loop. I know how much this worries you and knowing about our plan of action helps."

"I could help too. Not that I want to get involved with the fighting, but I could do other stuff. I'm... very mature for my age," I tried telling Steve, but he just gave that 'how cute' smile that adults will do when a kid is being silly.

Bucky at least gave a nod. Not sure how much weight he'll have considering Steve is probably the only one in the Avengers who trusts him, but I guess it's better than nothing.

It didn't take long for the elevator to ding and reveal Natasha. Her hair was black and in a tight bun which was a little surprising. Not much considering she is a spy and now everyone knows what the black widow looks like, but still.

"Have you ever dyed your hair a fun color like blue?" I asked as a fun ice breaker.

"I dyed my hair green by accident as a teenager once."

"Really?"

"No," Natasha said, and for the life of me I could not tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

"Are you sure you're okay watching, Lani? I could stay behind," Steve said like him staying behind for a meeting about Hydra was a smart idea.

What the hell.

"I need the break, and I want to have some girl time with Lani," Natasha said as she made herself comfortable on the couch.

Why does girl time sound super ominous coming from Natasha? Didn't my relationship thing with her say she doesn't think I'm the enemy anymore?

"Uh, okay then," Steve awkwardly said, and it was only then that I noticed the expression on Bucky's face.

"Make sure no harm comes to her," Bucky said in Russian and Natasha gave a serious nod.

"Ohmygod, nothing's going to happen while you're gone. Just go!" I said while physically pushing Bucky to move.

I wonder if there was a nice way to lower a relationship level because this 'putting an overprotective parent to shame' thing is starting to get out of hand.

Bucky started walking, and Steve had the gal to laugh while leaving.

Ugh.

Only once they were gone, I realized that meant I was alone with Natasha. Which should be perfectly fine. She's cool. I'm cool. Everyone is cool.

"What language are you more comfortable speaking in, Lani?"

"Uh, English I guess? I'm still learning Russian and I know a little mandarin but..." I trailed off and Natasha motioned me over to take a seat.

Which I did in a nearby chair. I wanted to ask about the book, but that's luckily what the 'second' meeting is going to be about. No need for me to make Natasha repeat it twice, and if I think there is anything she leaves out I could always ask afterwards.

"I wanted to ask you this before we left," Natasha started off saying, which got my attention right away, "but were you the one who killed Vasily Karpov back in the bank hideout?"

Whatever I was expecting Natasha to ask me about, it wasn't that. Bucky hasn't even brought that up, and I was hoping to keep it that way.

"Uh..."

"Was that your first time killing someone?" Natasha continued, and wow, she really wasn't going to let this go.

"I guess? Did you find the book?" I quickly tried changing topics.

"I'm assuming that you were trained to fight to kill, and you were forced to rely on that training when you attempted to escape with Barnes?"

Okay, I guess we are talking about this now. Great.

"Yeah, I wasn't really thinking, just..." I waved my hands around like that would make the words any easier to say.

"You were just reacting. That's the point of that type of training," Natasha said, and it wasn't like I didn't know that.

I did know that. But I thought that after almost three years away I would lose muscle memory.

"I was 8 when I killed my best friend," Natasha said out of the blue. I didn't even notice that she was probably waiting for me to respond and got tired.

"It wasn't the first time I killed someone, but it was the first time it was someone I knew."

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said, more on reflex than anything else.

I knew Black Widow's background was dark, but hearing it from her rather than a few mentions on the movies and people talking about it online was very different.

"At the time, I didn't feel anything about it. It was just how our training was; spares ended only when someone killed the other. It wasn't until I ment Clint that I even let myself think about it. That I wondered if there was something wrong with me for not feeling guilty at the time for killing her."

"Do you feel guilt about it now?" I asked when Natasha didn't continue with her story.

"Sometimes. There was nothing I could have done at the time, it was either her or me, but I wonder what she would have been like as an adult."

I figure Natasha was telling me this story for a reason, but I wasn't sure what connection she was trying to make. That she was killing people when she was my age? That she thinks I knew Vasily and felt guilty about it? That I don't feel guilty about it?

Also not sure how I feel that Hydra was using the same methods as the Red Room to train the kids. At least with the sparring and killing part. Hopefully it was just due to that being the Russian Hydra branch and when the Red Room folded some of the people joined Hydra?

What do you even do if you lose your evil job? Is there like a job board for henchmen?

"What I'm trying to do is let you know that you can talk to me about it. I know better than to judge you for what you did and what you are feeling," Natasha said, and when I looked up (when did I look away?)...

[Relationship up]

[Natasha Romanova friendship 2]

[Natasha is willing to be your confidant]

"Uh, thanks. I'll... let you know. If I want to talk about that or... yeah," I awkwardly said.

I felt like this was a much bigger deal than just being level 2. Then again, Bucky saw me as a relative at level two and Steve was willing to sacrifice himself at only level 3. Seems that the level really depended on the person.

"I've been told talking about it outloud is better than trying to keep it in," Natasha added with a small smile.

"Probably, I'm just... I'm super grateful for you offering to listen to me, but I'm still processing? Like, that was my first time causing a human to die but that guy was also evil and so..." I trailed off, losing my train of thought.

"There isn't an expiration date to talk to me. You don't need to talk about it now, but if you don't want to talk to Barnes or Rogers about it, you'll have me."

That was very kind of her. I didn't think Natasha would be the type of person to offer to be a friend therapist, but I guess I was wrong.

"Thanks. Maybe another day then."

"Now, mind telling me why you are grounded?" Natasha said, and even smiled when I groaned at the reminder.

"It was nothing, I just-" I started to say before being interrupted by alarms going off.

I jumped to my feet, and a look over to Natasha showed that she was not only off the couch but pulled out a hand pistol.

"Jarvis, what's going on?" I asked right before the lights flicked off.

"Shit, that's not good," Natasha muttered before turning to me, "I need to find out what's happened. You can either come with or try hiding."

I was shocked that Natasha was even asking me to come with, but if this is an attack on the tower then it's not like me staying here is going to do much good.

"I'm coming."

Natasha nodded like she expected that, before pulling a big ass combat knife from her belt.

"Play it safe, we don't know what's going on," Natasha reminded me before taking off.

The emergency lights were already on, a nice red that really pulled the whole 'danger element' vibe.

"Jarvis? Are you back online?" I whispered, figuring that Tony would make the speakers sensitive enough to pick that up, but I got nothing.

That wasn't good. The tower was already being run solely by the arc reactor Tony fixed up at the beginning of the avenger movie, and assuming he did the same here, it doesn't make sense that the power would just off. If Jarvis got hacked or they blocked the power somehow, then maybe.

"Do you want me to take us to the ground level?" I asked Natasha just as we headed to the staircase, and she paused after looking down the stairs.

"Can you take us to meeting room 101?"

"Uh, I don't know where that is, but I could do that hall that leads to the medical wing?"

Natasha gave a nod, and I grabbed her hand. There was a little panic at traveling with another person, but I've done it often enough with Bucky that I was confident it would be okay.

We appeared right where I was expecting and it was chaotic. The alarm was still going off on this floor, and there were people trying to get out. Natasha bolted down the hall and into a room with double glass doors. I stayed not too far behind, since I figured staying with Natasha was better than going off on my own.

There was a loud roar that I recognized was the Hulk, which wasn't a good sign. I didn't think things were so serious that Bruce thought it was a good idea to bring the green sherk out, which meant that he got overwhelmed in some way.

Rushing into the room, I saw Natasha speaking with Fury and it wasn't long before he spotted me.

"What is that?" Fury asked Natasha, and I really wanted to meet him under better conditions.

"Uh, rude? I'm not a what."

That's probably not going to make him like me either. I really should just not talk when amped up.

"Doesn't matter, what's going on and where's Barnes?"

Fury gave me a look before giving a sharp nod.

"Hydra infiltrated the tower, attacking the physical servers to damage the security and Barnes went with Rogers and Stark to deal with that. Clint got Hulk to his containment room as of a minute ago."

"How many are we looking at?"

"Small group, likely been planning this since the bank incident. Stark figured all of them would be in the server rooms, but there could be lurkers."

Natasha turned around and I saw the fury in her eyes.

If Bucky is going to be fighting against Hydra, I hope I was right about most not knowing the tigger words. Sure, Steve could deal with Bucky, but I'm not sure if he would fight Bucky. Well, I know he likely won't fight Bucky and if Tony is forced to use lethal force to keep Bucky from killing Steve then...

"Lani, stick with me for now," Natasha said as she patted the back of my shoulder.

"Uh, okay."

I really wanted to check on Bucky, but I have no idea where the servers are.

"Um, please tell me you have the book in a safe place?" I asked, since the fact that Hydra is attacking so soon after they came back is suspicious.

Sure, Fury just said that it's too small for it to have not been planned in a few days, but it could be that they already had the people in position and gave out the call.

"The book is destroyed."

"Oh, that's... really good."

I didn't think that Natasha and Clint were ones to pass up information like that, but I guess they figured it wasn't worth the risk.

"Lani, do what you have to to stay safe," was all she said before suddenly shooting a guy.

The two people with him suddenly pulled out guns from who knows where and started firing.

I reflexively apparated behind them, which the sound of me popping away was enough to distract them for Natasha to get clean hits.

Suddenly, there were three dead or close-to-dead bodies.

"What? Wow, did you know they were Hydra?"

"I had a hunch, how are you with a gun?"

What does she mean by a 'hunch'? Did she see them before and knew they were lucky Hydra or was spider sense against neo-nazis just one of her super spy abilities?

"I'm okay, why?" I said and Natashsa picked up one of their guns while handing me her pistol.

I took it with only a slight hesitation. The safety was already off and I wanted to put it back on. Instead I stored the gun very unsafely in my pants and kept the knife out. Would be easier to use the knife for alchemy than the gun.

Also, using Natasha's gun for alchemy seems like it would be rude.

"I think Fury was wrong with only a few being here," Natasha told me before heading to the staircase.

I followed from a distance, still trying to get my mind wrapped around what was happening. It was very obvious it was Hydra, but how? And why now? Is it just for Bucky or was he right about them trying to get me now as well?

I really hope that isn't the case because I purposefully avoided taking that headhunted perk when I came here since I was worried that Hydra would be the one to hunt me. Having that language perk would have been really useful in the past.

We ran down a few flights before Natasha suddenly stopped us.

"Are you still good to take us to the ground floor?"

"Yeah," I said, before grabbing her arm, which might not have been my brightest idea since I was two steps above Natasha when I teleported us.

Meaning I fell once we landed. Not far, since Natasha kept a hold of me, but still enough to be emberrousing.

"You okay?"

"Yep, I'm good," I said, though I did make a quick check on my stats.

[Name: Lani]

[Age: 7]

[Hometown: Hawai'i]

[Family: Bucky Barnes]

[Title: Rebellious: people of authority will mark you as 'bad egg']

[hp: 60*]

[sp: 83]

[Strength: 6**]

[Dexterity: 9**]

[Constitution: 7**]

[Intelligence: 18]

[Wisdom: 11**]

[Charisma: 17**]

[*:bullet wound (9/11)]

[**: -7 to physical states, -2 to wisdom and +2 to charisma due to age]

Right. Forgot my HP was still not at max. That's not great, but my shoulder is almost healed. Just a little sore and starting to hurt, but nothing serious. At least Hydra was nice enough to wait for me to be out of the sling.

Natasha gave me a look like she didn't believe me, before letting go.

"Try not to get shot," Natasha gave as a warning before taking off.

I didn't really notice how strangely empty the ground floor was when we arrived. I had us appear behind the cafe area that was close to the pubic office-looking rooms that I noticed when first arriving. Even the day of the battle for New York, there was more people walking about than now.

Really hope that means people got evacuated when Jarvis went down.

Natasha suddenly held up her hand in a fist, then pointed two fingers up at... a vent?

"Wha-" before I could finish asking I heard the sounds of heavy boots on the tile.

Hoping she was pointing because she wanted me in the vents and not because she heard something coming from there, I apparated up on top of the big metal vents. From there I could see from the open layout five very armed people heading to Natasha.

They were wearing SI security outfits, but that didn't stop Natasha from opening fire.

I pulled out the pistol, wondering if Natasha wanted me up here just for me to be out of the way or to help. Not that she needed it. Even with 5 to 1 she was kicking their butts.

Instead, I looked around to see if there were any people that were undercover Hydra.

There were two people running, obviously hearing the fight Natasha was in. They were just wearing normal clothes, but the fact that everyone was evacuated and they weren't...

I took another look at Natasha who was down to fighting only three, and back to the newcomers who were still a few 'rooms' away. I could see their guns and I couldn't let them get a hit on Natasha.

Decision partly made, I teleported right above one, stabbing their neck before apparating away. The other dude pulled out their gun, but I was faster for once. I pulled the trigger aiming at their gut without any thought on my part. Not immediately lethal, but will be quickly.

I kept the gun pointed as the dude fell, grasping their stomach in pain. The other guy stopped moving.

"Lani? Are you okay?"

Natasha came running over, somehow not a hair out of place even though there was a splatter of blood on her check.

"I'm... uninjured," I said, taking a shaky breath before continuing, "Did you deal with the other guys?"

"Yes, we should get moving. The more noise we make the more likely others will show up," Natasha said, gesturing her head up.

"Right. Got it," I said before teleporting back to my spot.

My hands were shaking a little as I set the gun down in front of me and I stayed crouching in my position. I left the knife in the dude below, but I didn't want to go back and get it now.

Also, I had apparated 7 times now. I'll have to start keeping track to make sure I don't use up all my SP.

With that in mind, I kept watch as Natasha dealt with a few more Hydra undercover people who showed up. Only three more, which seemed to be child's play for the Black Widow, at least until I realized that one had an arrow sticking out of their neck.

Looking around, I didn't see Clint anywhere on the ground floor. Which was why I also fell off the vent when the man jumped out from inside it.

"How did you even fit in there?!" I yelled, forgetting that I was supposed to keep the element of surprise.

But seriously? Clint is a grown ass man, how does that even work?

"They are bigger than you would think kid!" Clint yelled back, and Natasha looked like she was about ready to murder us both.

But I couldn't see any more people coming, so I took the chance and apparated back down.

"That still makes no sense."

Clint gave a shrug, and put his bow around his back.

"The others said they dealt with the main threat, and power should be back soon," he added right before said power came back.

"Is Jarvis back?" I asked instead of the thousand other questions I had.

"Why are you so obsessed with the big brother AI?" Clint asked, waving his arms in the air a little.

"Cool factor, and I guess the answer is no since he didn't respond."

I really hope he isn't damaged.

"Clint, give me your com," Natasha said before reaching over and just grabbing it out of his ear.

"Yeah sure, just take it without cleaning my ear wax out. That's not gross at all," Clint complained while Natasha walked away talking to... someone.

The moment of calm didn't really feel that calm. The lack of red warning lights helped, but the fact that Clint didn't collapse his bow meant that there was still a chance of battle. Or he had it out to feel better.

"Is Bruce okay?" I asked.

"Hmm? Yeah, the big guy is all safe in his new room. Good thing Stark got that done so quickly."

"And everyone else is okay?"

I still was a little worried that Tony was with Bucky and Steve. High tensions and all that.

"As far as I know, everyone is fine," Clint said before Natasha came back.

"Do you mind taking Lani somewhere safe? We'll meet up once things settle down."

"You sure you want me to do that?" Clint said in a hushed tone that I wasn't sure I was meant to hear.

"We don't have much of a choice here. Fury saw Lani, and we'll have to deal with that too," Natasha responded, and I was getting tired of them talking like I wasn't there.

"Uh, why do I need to leave?"

"It will only be for a few hours. I'm certain we dealt with everyone, but we can't be sure. Barnes also asked me to get you out of the tower for now and I agree that would be best," Natasha said, and while it was nice to hear that she spoke to Bucky, she could be lying.

Honestly, best thing would be to just re-load my save from this morning but...

"It will only be for a few hours, and you can meet Lucky."

"Lucky? Who's that?"

I was pretty sure none of his kids were called Lucky. That would be an unfortunate name of any kid.

"You'll have to come and find out," Clint said before turning back to Natasha, "Should I order some pizza?"

"Might as well. Barnes and Rogers will be coming back with me at the very least."

Clint gave a nod and fully collapsed his bow.

No one was dead. I could just as easily re-load after going to whatever safehouse Clint and Natahsa are talking about. Better to get all the information I can then to have to relive the day 20 times.

With that bs reason, I nodded and followed Clint out of the Stark tower.

A/N: Now that Hydra has made their move, things will be moving quickly for a few chapters.

Thank you to everyone who has favorited/followed this story. And super thanks to AyakoA-chan, ningji (times 2!), The Guest who likes how this feel likes a "real" gamer fic (I never liked how the gamer mind protect you from nightmares and trauma so in this gamer mind is literally how Lani can view her stats like it's a game), I.D's Fantasy, the Guest who loves this story (thank you!), KingCat48, TomRiddlesTwin, cruelty (times 3!), Amir-015, Morningstqr, BlackDove WhiteDove, Heroic Kyojin, BrownDirewolf, Hoodedgenius98, kittyrsocute, Misaka Phenex (times 14!), Zapper Frost (times 2), Death Fury, PepperonyOwl, LetTheWorldHonorTheFallen, Innieminnie, Cassie-001, pendora, Abdur Rauf Aymaan, Roxycall18, Bored411, Mar888, Lowenweiss, RavenclawGryffindor35, Kragh50, That2-one3-girl4, d8rkforcen1gh7, Omega-66, Lady Kaiki, Mads-Chikistorm, curry-llama, soratomoyo-chan, Rosiekay, and FullFear (times 2!) for taking the time to leave me a review.

I forgot to mention it again last chapter, but I set up a discord server for this story. Still not sure what to do with it, but I'm in a few for other stories and fandoms and it's fun. Its discord code is: VGenjp

Until next time, hope you all have a good day/night!