Chapter 7

It had taken a few weeks, but life was finally feeling like it was getting back to normal. Steve had started going on more missions but he was more open about what was going on with Annika to help ease her worry and build trust. The other Avengers also seemed to have backed off a little as Annika was able to build trust with them as well. The fact that life seemed to be getting back to normal was actually a really nice change of pace for Annika. She didn't realize that, in all the frustration she had experienced a few weeks prior, she had lost site of how much she really did love the life she was given, despite it's challenges.

What high schooler gets to hang out with super heroes and live in a compound with every gadget known to man at your finger tips? She got to see things others would only dream of. She also had the advantage of a whole slew of aunts and uncles that cared about her as much as her dad did and could train her how to snap someones neck on top of it. It was one of the first things Natasha taught her when Annika had mentioned that a boy at school had pulled her hair.

Annika got ready for school and headed downstairs but was surprised to see Happy standing at the front door without Peter.

"Hey Happy, where's Pete?"

"Just you today kid. Spidy has a charity event so Pete's 'home sick'" he said using air quotes

"Any chance I can go with him instead of going to school?" She asked giving Happy her biggest puppy dog look. Sometimes, if she was lucky, they would let her go with Peter to some of his events just for fun.

"Don't you have a science test today?"

"I'm sure Ms. Covelle will let me make it up"

"I think it's best you go to school. Maybe next time kid"

"Worth a shot" she said as she allowed Happy to guide her out the door and to the waiting car.

"And to show his appreciation for all of your donations, please welcome, Spiderman!" May announced as Peter came from behind the curtain.

"Thank you all! I really appreciate your generosity to give back to our community. I know that these funds are going to have a huge impact on families in need"

That's when the reports started to rush in and ask questions so fast, Peter couldn't quite tell where one question started and where the next one ended.

"Uh, no comment. Thank you everyone!" And with that he did a back flip and got back behind the curtain with May. "I hate when they do that"

"I know, but thanks for coming and doing this. It means a lot to me"

"Of course. Besides, it gives me an extra day to study for my history test" Peter said with a wink.

"Hey now, you didn't tell me you had a test today"

"You didn't ask"

"No wonder you were so quick to agree to this so last minute"

"Come on May, I'm sure you played hooky when you were my age"

"Sure, but you just need to make sure that you're doing so responsibly"

"I always do May. So should we go grab lunch?"

"Sound good to me" Said Happy coming up from behind them and walking up to May to give her a kiss.

"Gross, can't you two get a room?"

"Come on Pete, it's not that bad" May said leaning in for another kiss.

"Nope, still gross. I'll just grab a sandwich at the bodega"

"How are you going to get home?" May asked. Living upstate meant that Peter couldn't always be the "friendly neighborhood spiderman" as much as he used to because when the day was done, he couldn't just swing home like he had before.

"I'll get an Uber or something"

"Alright, but stay in touch" Mary shouted as Peter put his mask on and swung off toward the exit. "Happy..."

"I'll come get him when he's done"

"Thank you"

The school day went along just as normal. Her test went fine and so did the rest of her classes. She did miss having Pete at school though. At the end of the day she hopped on the bus and was headed back to the compound. She was hoping that Peter would be there when she got home. She always liked to hear about his different Spiderman events.

When the bus pulled up the the gate, instead of Happy being there it was Bucky which immediately put Annika on edge.

"Hey Buck...what's going on?" Annika asked hesitantly getting off the bus

"Hop in, we'll talk on the way up" he said motioning for her to hop on the golf cart. She followed his lead and hopped in. Bucky immediately sped off down the long drive way.

"So are you going to tell me what's going on?"

"We're not sure, but you're going to be hanging out at the compound till we figure it out"

"What does that mean? You gotta give me more than that" But just as soon as she said that the pulled up the compound and Bucky quickly led her inside. Everyone seemed to be buzzing around with their face in a screen of some sort

"Head up to your room, I'll send someone up there to explain more later" Bucky instructed. On her way up to her room she almost collided with Tony and figured she take her chances.

"Uncle Tony"

"No"

"Come on!" she pleaded. Tony took a breath and finally took her shoulders in his hands.

"I promise once we know more your dad and I will fill you in. Help us out and go hang in your room so we can get this figured out okay?" Annika dropped her head feeling a bit defeated but knowing that there was no point in arguing.

"Alright" He kissed her on the top of the head and motioned toward her room. Annika had never seen the avengers like this, all collectively worried and buzzing around like they were trying to figure out how to diffuse a bomb. She really hoped her dad would come to her room and talk to her soon.

She got to her room and realized in all the chaos that she didn't see Peter. "Friday, pull up a video call to Peter's room"

"I'm sorry Ms. Rodgers, Peter isn't in his room"

"Where is he?"

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you that Ms. Rodgers"

"Friday, tell me where he is!"

"That information has been classified as top secret"

"Since when?!" Annika was starting to panic. She had always had access to Peter's location before. This had to be part of what all the ruckus is about down stairs. "I'm going to go talk to Tony" and she got up and went to leave only to find her door locked.

"I'm sorry Ms. Rodgers, I have orders not to keep this door locked until such time as your father is able to come and brief you"

"Friday, I swear, you open this door right now or I'm going to break it down"

"I'm afraid neither of those are possible"

"Stupid AI. If you were real I'd punch you in your stupid face. So much for my dad telling me what's going on" Annika threw herself back on the bed in frustration. How could they think that locking her in her room was a perfectly okay way to handle something like this. If Peter was missing, she could help. Then again, maybe that was exactly what they didn't want. She did all she could, but she couldn't help but allow her mind to go to the worst case scenario of what could be happening to Peter. What if he was hurt? What is some weird alien came out of the sky and now he's all alone trying to fight him off. IF that was the case, what were the Avengers till doing here at the compound? Shouldn't they be out looking for Peter?

It felt like hours but finally the door to her room opened to reveal her dad standing there.

"Hey Anna"

"You can't do this, lock me in my room until you want to deal with me"

"That's not what I did."

"Really? Because that's exactly what happened"

"Listen..." He rubbed his brow trying to come up with the right words. "There's been an accident"

"With Peter?"

"How did you...?"

"Friday wouldn't tell me his location but she told me that he wasn't home"

"He's okay, he's in the infirmary getting checked out by Bruce"

"If Peter was the only one in trouble then why lock me in my room?"

"Anna, come sit down" Steve motioned to his daughter to come sit next to him on her bed. "You know how we talked about sharing more with you and keeping you in the loop, but there are just some things that, in order to keep you safe, I just can't share with you"

"What could be so serious that you had to lock me in my room? It's not like I can escape this place" She motioned around. The compound was monitored 24/7 by an AI that had the ability to lock down the building as any moment if she tried to run. Not to mention the fact that there were super heroes crawling all over this building who would be able to bring her back before she even got to the gate. Her dad wasn't making any sense.

"Annika, to be fair, you did just sneak out of here with a swipped key card just a few weeks ago"

"Yea, when everyone was a sleep and most of you were out on a mission. But that's besides the point. Just because something happened to Peter doesn't mean that something was going to happen to me"

"I know that, but I also know that Peter is basically your brother. I couldn't risk you getting wind of what was happening and trying to go after him"

"Can I go see him"

"Yea, you can go see him" and with that Annika walked out without another word. She didn't believe her dad, he was dodging the questions and had answers too readily available for her taste. Something was up and she knew that Peter would give her a straight answer.

Walking into the infirmary, Annika wasn't prepared to see Peter is such rough shape. "Peter, who did this to you"

"Hey kid. Come over here" he motioned with his free arm, his other was in a sling. Annika was hesitant to approach but she got as close as she felt comfortable. "Come on, it's not as bad as it looks" he said patting the side of the bed. Annika reluctantly got closer. Peter used his free hand to cup her face. "I'm okay, I'm right here"

"Who did this to you?"

"It doesn't matter"

"Yes it does Peter."

"Listen, Tony and the others are taking care of cleaning all this up. What's important is that I'm okay and so are you"

"Peter..."

"Anna, you gotta stop trying to put yourself in the middle of these things"

"Says the boy laying in a hospital bed"

"Hey, that's not fair"

"Isn't it?"

"I have a responsibility. My powers come with a price"

"You could say no"

"And deny who I am?"

"What about me? I'm half super soldier but everyone treats me like i'm a freaking porcelain doll. I'm stronger then I look and I'm sick of everyone feeling like they have to protect me"

"No one thinks you're weak Anna, what you don't realize is that everyone knows you're strong, and it scares them"

"Now I know you have a head injury"

"Hear me out. You are one of the strongest of all of us. You aren't scared of anything. Sometimes that's good, but other times you need to know when it's good to have a healthy amount of fear. Without that, you run into situations without taking the necessary time to analyze the situation and be sure that you can actually handle the consequences. This job may look like fun and games and getting to be the hero, but there are real consequences that you rarely hear us talk about."

"Like what?" Annika said folding her arms

"The times where we save all but one. That one that we lost haunts us forever. There are other times where maybe we save everyone, but we leave a neighborhood in shambles. What about those families? Not to mention the fact that we have to put aside the fear that we may never come back home to the people we care about most" and with that statement he grabbed her hand. "You and Morgan are my sisters, and every time that I end up in a dangerous situation, I think about you two and how I wish that I could see you one last time. Then I think about May and how upset she would be if something happened to me. It took me a while to realize it, but now I understand that you have to weigh the losses every time you suite up"

Annika sat there for a few minutes processing what Peter had said. Maybe she was more impulsive then she wanted to admit. Maybe she deserved to have her door locked and be left in the dark until the situation was over.

"You scared me Peter"

"I know, I'm sorry." He then pulled her close and she gently hugged him trying to be aware of his injuries.