Merry Christmas if you celebrate. Happy Saturday if you don't.

Christmas can be hard for us all—so can Saturdays—whether you're alone and don't want to be or are surrounded by people and want to be alone. If you're surrounded, tell them you need a bathroom break and come read this. If you're alone, I hope this chapter fills a little of the day for you.

I will be surrounded by people for part of the day, but I am 100% here for you if you need to talk. Here on FFnet, my PMs are open, and I will reply as soon as I can. If you have Tumblr, you can send me a message on there — my account is jadeys-world. If you have Twitter, I'm Jadeys_World and my mentions and DMs are open. We can talk about anything you want or we can just exchange gifs of kittens or Irondad moments. Whatever you need, I'm here all-day UK time and I'll get straight back to you if I miss your time zone.

Chapter Seventy-Two

"Time travel," Fury said, his disbelief evident in his smirk.

"Yep," Tony said cheerfully. "Now, most people want proof—apart from Happy, 'cause he's just that great a guy. I'm guessing you'll want proof, but we've got nothing newsworthy coming for a while, so I'm not sure what to tell you."

Fury rubbed his chin. "Yeah, I need proof. This is all… Sure, I'd believe you could make the tech, Stark, but it doesn't explain how Thor and Bruce got here when you were fighting a battle in Manhattan."

"Excellent point, Director," Mind said. "What proof would you like?"

Tony smirked. With Mind's appearance, he thought Peter was about to follow.

He was looking forward to seeing his son again, even though he'd spent an afternoon in the lab with his younger self the day before. There were differences between the two Peters, though. He loved them equally and was closer to the Peter that belonged in this timeline than he had dared to hope for at this point, but he missed his older son.

"Maybe proof of this machine," Fury said.

Mind's lip quirked, and Tony thought he was enjoying himself.

"Machine is a strange word to use," Clint said. "He prefers when you use his name."

"You named the machine?" Fury asked, then snorted. "Of course you did. What's this one, Fuk-U?"

"Actually, it's Peter," Mind said.

Fury looked at him, face blank, and then his eye bugged, and he stiffened as Peter appeared in a rush of green light and said, "Hey, Director."

Fury gaped for a moment and then asked, "How did you do that?" in a rough voice.

"Time travel," Peter said simply. "I can time travel—and I sent these guys back to 2016 from 2023 because I needed them here." He smirked. "But I can tell you're not going to believe me without proof. You didn't believe in me last time, either. So, I can take you somewhere, show you something, or I can bring something here for you to see?"

"Bring something here?" Tony asked, wondering what Peter would bring.

Peter grinned. "Who wants to see what happened to Fury's eye?"

"Oh! Me!" Clint said, hand flying into the air. "I've always wondered what kind of badass got the jump on him."

Natasha smirked. "Yes, I think a demonstration of that would be a good idea, Peter."

"No," Fury said loudly. "We don't need to see that."

Peter's eyes were shining with glee, but he formed his face into a gentle smile and said, "No, of course, that's probably a traumatic memory for you. We'll skip that."

"You're kidding?" Clint gaped. "You've got to show us."

Peter shook his head. "No, it would be cruel to Director Fury to revisit that trauma."

"You're going to tell us what happened, though?" Sam asked. "C'mon, Peter. You've got to."

Peter looked like he was having a lot of fun, though his voice was solemn as he said, "You've all seen a lot in the universe, but I don't think any of you are ready to face a Flerken."

"A what?" Steve asked.

"A nothing," Fury said quickly. "Okay. Fine. I believe you. You can time travel. That's great. Why did you do it?"

Peter looked around at them all. "Well, you've all told this story a lot since I bounced you back, so whose turn is it?"

"Not it," Tony said, sitting back and crossing his arms over his chest. "I am done telling stories about the craziness that is our life. Someone else can take a turn."

Steve cleared his throat, seeming prepared to take up the story, but Bucky spoke first.

"We're here for Peter, and we're staying here until we're sure he's safe in the future."

"Safe from what?" Fury asked.

"Dying," Peter said easily, though his eyes gave away the fear of it. "And leaving the whole universe open to a threat no one else can defeat."

Tony cast his eyes down, knowing that wasn't true but more willing to plunge a knife into his heart than to have Peter know that.

Fury nodded. "Okay, I'm listening. Tell me what I need to know."

Peter raised his hand, and colored light rippled over his palm to his fingertips. "I possess the Infinity Stones…."

Tony could see the greedy gleam in Fury's eyes, but he knew there was no way Peter was ever going to be a pawn for anyone, let alone him.

They had told Fury everything, and now they were giving him a chance to gather his questions.

"So, you are the most powerful person in the universe," Fury said, staring at Peter.

"Yes," Peter said, unabashed.

"More powerful than Carol Danvers?"

"Yeah, but that's not saying she's not a badass all on her own. She's going to help me out with some training if we get back with me alive. She's got her own ways, which I'm clueless about. But core power, yep, I win. I mean, she got her power from Space, and I've got him and the others all together.

"More powerful than this Nemesis?" Fury asked.

Peter and Mind exchanged a long look, and the other occupants of the room shifted uncomfortably.

"Are you, bud?" Bucky asked, his brows low over his eyes.

"Yes," Mind said. "Peter possesses we Stones. Nemesis merely has access to some of our abilities as our creator. She cannot do the things Peter can do."

"But if it comes to a fight, it's not going to be a coast for me," Peter added. "I've got more power, but she's got a good reason to fight and nothing to lose going against me. I've got everything to lose."

"Like what?" Fury asked.

Peter narrowed his eyes. "Like my family. They're all locked in life until 2023—they will be on that battlefield with me when I snap, everyone except Vision and Nat. But I can't protect them from their power if Nemesis comes for them. Ego trashed me in 2023. I can protect the people I love from bombs and bullets, but there's nothing I can do about an attack from Nemesis apart from fight them first, and I can't do that until 2023, and I can't do it until I learn how."

"And you can't go learn and come back and kill Nemesis now?" Fury asked. "Because that seems like it'd be a better use of your time?"

Peter shook his head. "To learn, I have to go away with the Stones, separate myself from all realities completely. I can't do that while the me that belongs here is under threat."

Fury nodded slowly. "So you've got Hall Monitor duty until the threat in this time is over?"

"Yes."

"Then I guess I better do what I can to help you."

"Thanks," Peter said. "Tracking Ross is basically useless since Nemesis can teleport, but they've got a team working with them. They've got a tech genius called Beck—"

"Quentin Beck," Tony supplied. "Used to work for me on the BARF initiative."

"Yeah, him," Peter said. "Also, someone from the Winter Soldier program called Josef. And a woman we've not identified yet that posed as Nat when they were setting up Franklin to murder people. They've got Photostatic Veils, so they can look like anyone at all." He clicked his tongue. "But the woman that dosed me with cyanide said something… The memories I saw were all kind of foggy as I— no, he was losing consciousness. That might be worth working through with him. Maybe BARF can help."

"You want us to put you through the moment you were almost killed again?" Bucky asked.

Peter smiled at him a little sadly. "Want? No. But it'd be clearer for him than for me, and he can handle it. We really do need to know everything we can about these people so Director Fury can help us look for them."

"He's right, Bucky," Tony said, though he wasn't happy about it. "He knows what he can take and what he can't. Sure, Pete, I'll bring you by the tower tomorrow afternoon to run you through BARF. Maybe that'll help." He turned to Fury. "And I'll send you copies of all the information we've got on Beck and Zemo. We've got nothing on Josef."

"Thank you," Fury said. "I'll have my people look at it. They're good. If they're going out there as themselves, we can find them." He rose to his feet and strode to the door without a farewell.

"Okay then," Peter said, staring after him. "I guess we're done. And, since the other-me isn't due here until tomorrow, I figure I can stick around and have some fun."

Tony beamed at him. "That sounds great. What do you want to do, kid?"

"Anything," Peter said expansively. "But I want to seeVision, too." He gave Mind a pointed look.

Mind's lips turned down, but he nodded and said, "Of course. In that case, I will see you when you return." His eyes closed, opened again, and Vision assessed them all and said, "Did we make progress?"

"We did," Peter said with a wide smile. "And I promise you've got at least a full twenty-four hours until Mind shoves his way in again.

Vision smiled. "I would appreciate that. As much as I enjoy speaking to you, Peter, when I am elsewhere, I cannot say it's a pleasure to be left with Power sometimes."

"Sorry about that," Peter said. "I'll talk to him about being less…" His brow furrowed as he searched for the right word.

"Less of an asshole?" Tony suggested, and Pepper elbowed him.

"He's—"

"If you're about to say he's not that bad, I'm going to step in now and say, yes, he is," Bucky said. "He loves you, bud, so you get the good side, but Power is an asshole."

Peter smiled wryly. "Okay, maybe."

"Anyway," Pepper said pointedly. "You hungry, Peter?"

"Always," Steve answered before Peter could. "And I want one of Queens' sandwiches."

"Yeah," Peter said eagerly. "That's exactly what I'm in the mood for." He jumped to his feet and headed to the kitchen, Steve following.

"You happy, honey?" Pepper asked softly.

With the prospect of a whole twenty-four hours with his son as he knew him best ahead of him, Tony didn't think he could get much happier. He nodded and leaned in to kiss her, a voice shouting to him from the kitchen.

"Hey, Tony, Queens says you're on pickle duty."

Tony laughed against Pepper's lips and got to his feet, summoned by his son and perfectly happy about it.

Bucky had loved having a day with Peter, and when he said goodbye, just before his younger self was dropped off by Happy, Bucky had felt a small pang at the farewell. That was soon dispelled when the younger version stepped out of the elevator and greeted him cheerily.

"Hey, Bucky," he said. "How are you doing?"

"Happy to see you," Bucky said, perfectly honestly. "How are you doing?"

"I'm great. I hung out with Ned and MJ this morning, and Tony says he has something important for me to do here." He tilted his head to the side. "Do you know what it is?"

Tony strode into the room at that moment, patted Peter on the shoulder, and said, "It's some future stuff, so I can't really explain properly, but we think you might know more about our enemy than you realize."

Peter frowned. "Oh, okay. I don't know what I know, though. I mean, there was that woman, but I didn't recognize her or anything. It's all kinda fuzzy because of, you know, cyanide."

Tony winced, but his voice was steady as he said, "No, we're hoping we can nail down who she is anyway. Would you be up for going over the memory with BARF?"

Bucky expected some hesitation, as it had to be a traumatic memory, but Peter nodded and said, "Sure."

Tony wrapped an arm around his shoulders and gave him a squeeze. "We're going to keep it small, so you're not being watched by all of us while you're going through it. It'll be me, Bucky, Steve, and Nat. That okay?"

"Yeah. Fine. You want to do it now?"

"Only if that's okay with you, bud," Bucky said.

"Yeah. Fine."

Tony gave him another squeeze and said, "Let's go to the lab then. Bucky, can you tell Steve and Nat Peter's ready. I think they were in the gym."

Bucky crossed the room and gave Peter's shoulder a squeeze, then headed to the gym, where he found Natasha and Steve sitting on the benches lining the room, deep in conversation.

"Am I interrupting?" he asked, surprised to see their close conversation in private.

"Yes," Natasha said. "We were planning your birthday party."

Bucky scoffed. "My birthday is in March."

"Is it?" Natasha asked, straight-faced.

Steve chuckled. "Okay, we weren't planning your party, but we were talking about Peter's. It's coming up, and we want to do something for him."

"I'm sure Tony's already got that taken care of," Bucky said.

"Exactly," Natasha said, brows drawn together. "Tony has. Like Tony was planning his seventeenth party with Morgan. We want to do something."

Steve sighed. "We just thought it'd be good if we could have a part in planning this time. Obviously, it makes sense for Tony to do it in 2023 as he's got Morgan to help—and who can deny that girl anything? But we thought we could have a go this time."

"Want to help?" Natasha asked, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

Bucky considered. He did want to throw Peter a birthday party, but he could imagine the fit Tony would pitch if they took it upon themselves to organize it.

"C'mon, Bucky," Natasha said. "You know you want to."

Bucky grinned. "I do, yeah. Okay, I'll help, but I'm not going to be the one telling Tony."

"Me either," Steve said.

"Cowards," Natasha scoffed. "I'll tell him."

Bucky laughed as he imagined that conversation. Tony was not going to be happy, but it was true he had his chance in the future. They all loved Peter and wanted to make the day special for him; Tony wasn't the only one. Natasha would make him see that, one way or another—probably with a tantrum in the process.

"Peter's here," Bucky said. "And he's going to have to go through BARF."

"Great," Natasha said, rising gracefully to her feet. "Let's go."

Steve looked a little worried, just as Bucky felt, but he followed her out.

When they got to the lab, Peter was sitting cross-legged on a chair and spinning in circles while Tony watched him. Peter was gabbling about what he had done with Ned and MJ that morning, and he only stopped when he spotted them on a rotation and said, "Hey, Steve, Nat," with a wide smile of greeting.

"Hey, Peter," Natasha said. "You ready to do this?"

"Don't push him," Tony said, mouth a thin line.

"No, I'm ready," Peter said. "There's something there. I remember the woman, and I know she said something, but I can't remember what. If I can help with this threat, I want to."

"Okay then," Tony said, opening a drawer and taking out the glasses. "Remember, you're perfectly safe, and you can get yourself out at any time by taking off the glasses. We're all here. No one is going to hurt you."

Peter nodded. "Got it. I'm ready."

He took the proffered glasses from Tony, slipped them on, and looked around.

Bucky watched, waiting for something, and then his heart skipped as the scene formed. Peter was battling a woman he didn't recognize, and her strikes were lightning fast. The way she moved reminded Bucky eerily of Natasha. They had the same grace and whiplike speed.

"No!" Natasha breathed beside him.

Bucky turned to her, away from Peter's fight, and said, "What?"

"These moves… they're from the Red Room. They're textbook what they taught us. She's one of us."

"Which one," Tony asked in a rough voice. "Who is she, Natasha?"

"I don't know. I don't recognize the face, but that's probably a Veil. Damn."

Peter spoke, and Bucky turned back to him. "Setting 241, Karen."

Bucky was on the point of asking Tony what that setting was when the answer came from the scene before him. Peter hit the woman in the stomach with webs, and she immediately began to seize as an electric current worked through her.

She groaned through her gritted teeth, and Peter turned away, diving into the vent. He yanked out a silver canister, like a fire extinguisher, and his stressed voice asked, "Karen, how do I deactivate it?"

Whatever her response was, it did not come in time. Peter lifted his hand as if he was going to throw it into the air, but before he could, gas spurted from the nozzle and into his face.

Tony made a sound of pain and started towards him, but Natasha caught his arm and said, "We need to see all of it, Tony."

Bucky hated to watch like this, as Peter was reliving the moment he was poisoned, but they needed to know who that woman was, and Peter had told them this was what they needed to do—that he could handle it.

The woman kicked him in the gut, and Peter sucked in a breath of poison. He started to cough, and his legs gave way, and Steve placed a hand on Bucky's chest and said, "He can handle this," knowing that Bucky was on the point of rushing to him.

Peter was pale and his eyes wide and scared as he relived the trauma, and Bucky's hands clenched into fists as he watched the woman bow over Peter. Through the sound of his heart thundering in his ears, he heard the woman say, "Tell Natalia, Melina says hello."

"You got it, Nat?" Tony asked. "You know?"

"I know," she snapped, darting forwards to Peter.

She was there first, and she pulled the glasses from his face and patted his cheek, and Peter's eyes were squeezed closed now, and he was still coughing.

"It's over, Pete," she said. "It's over. It's not real."

"Breathe, Pete," Tony said, pulling him up and into his arms.

Peter seemed to struggle to catch his breath, and Bucky rubbed his back and said, "It's not real, bud. It's not poison. It was just an illusion."

"We shouldn't have done this," Tony growled. "He was wrong."

"I'm okay," Peter panted. "Really… I just need to…."

"Just breathe," Natasha said gently.

"Did you… see what … you needed?" Peter said between breaths.

"We did. You did great," Natasha said. "We know who we're looking for now."

Peter's breaths began to slow, and he leaned heavily against Tony's chest and closed his eyes. "Do you know how to find them?" he asked. "Can you stop the attacks?"

"We can," Natasha said. "I know exactly what to do."

Tony helped Peter to his feet and said, "C'mon, Pete. I think you need some peace and space after that. Come to your room, and I'll put on a movie for us."

Peter nodded and allowed Tony to guide him out of the room.

Bucky wanted to follow, but he needed to know what Natasha knew more. As soon as the door closed behind them, he asked, "Who's Melina?"

Natasha closed her eyes a moment then said, eyes still closed, "Melina Vostokoff. She went through the Red Room more times than anyone. We were friends at first."

"At first?" Steve asked.

Natasha opened her eyes. "She went rogue, even by Red Room standards. Set herself up as a mercenary, called herself The Iron Maiden. You know I've got red in my ledger, but she's way more dangerous. She saw me as competition, hated when the limelight shone on me and went out of her way to do something horrific in return. If she's part of Nemesis' plan for Peter, and she's got to be, we've got to find her before she can strike."

"You're serious," Steve said. "This person scares you."

Natasha shook her head. "No, she doesn't scare me, but I want her dead anyway. Look what she did to Peter already. And now she's part of the threat against him." She clenched her hands into fists. "It's personal now. She came after one of mine."

Steve looked surprised by the venom in her voice. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to find her and kill her," Natasha said tonelessly.

"I'll come with you," Bucky said. As little as he wanted to leave Peter behind, he was not going to miss out on a chance to end one of the threats against him.

Natasha eyed him a moment, then said, "No. You stay and protect Peter. I'll take Clint." She tossed her hair, face becoming a mask, and said, "Tell Peter I said goodbye."

"Wait, you're leaving now?" Steve asked.

"I know Vostokoff. I know the places she likes and the places she hides. I'm leaving now so I can find her before she touches Peter again."

"Do you think she's going to come for him?" Steve asked, worrying his lip.

Natasha shook her head. "No, she's not going to have a chance. I'm going to kill her first."

She swept out of the room without another word, leaving Steve and Bucky staring after her and wondering just what was in store for Vostokoff when Black Widow herself was coming after her.

So… If you've seen Black Widow, you know Melina. This is not that version. This chapter was outlined and written long before I saw Black Widow and I used the Earth 616 version to base the character on.

I want to doubledown on my previous A/N. I am here if anyone needs me.

Much love

Until next time…

Jadey xxx