Chapter 20

"Aunt Stephie," Angie cried as she jumped into my arms. "We couldn't stop him from taking Mary Alice."

"We'll get her back," I said, not sure if I was telling her the truth or lying. My spidey sense instantly guided me towards telling the truth.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"I'm sure, Sweetie," I answered, positive I was telling the truth.

"Let me go!" a woman screeched.

"That's Krystal, our old babysitter," Angie whispered. Eddie detained Krystal before she could lure Angie away from the group. His oldest son, Liam, refused to let the woman take Angie. He pressed his panic button to alert Rangeman.

I stared at the woman. She glared at me and smirked. "Where's your baby?" I thought.

Her answer screamed inside my head as she continued smirking, "There was never a baby. I only said I was pregnant to move up our timeline."

"Wow. You're one of those women," I said out loud.

"What is that supposed to mean," Krystal snarled.

"Lying about a pregnancy to force the man to leave his wife," I replied. Her jaw dropped when I spoke her thoughts. "Steven was already planning to leave Valerie. Why not wait?"

"How do you know that?" she asked, scared.

"I just do," I replied, not wanting to tell her I could hear her thoughts. I waited until Krystal started thinking about Steven's plan for Mary Alice. She wasn't aware she was telling me their entire scheme.

We secured the children into Rangeman vehicles with several guards. They returned to the Avengers tower. Darcy contacted Valerie, asking her and Ram to return immediately. Only Eddie remained with our team. Eddie is required to provide a statement to the police.

Krystal wasn't saying too much, but Wanda and I were able to hear everything. Luckily, whenever I would say something into her head, and she would respond out loud. We discovered Steven Sutton has been working for HYDRA since he married Krystal. He spent the thousands of dollars he stole within months of leaving Valerie with the girls. Steven needed to make enough money to support Krystal's spending habits. Unfortunately, Krystal didn't know where her husband was planning to take the girls.

The paparazzi sold photos of Steve and me. Others of us with Mary Alice and Angie. He contacted my mom to find our location. A little lie saying he wanted to take Valerie back had Helen providing our locale. It took him a few months to pinpoint our location in Manhattan. With the help of Batroc to distract us, Steven kidnapped his youngest daughter. His attempt to grab Angie too failed.

We had more than enough proof he was detrimental to Angie and Mary Alice's safety. Ram will have no problems adopting the girls when we find Mary Alice. Sutton kidnapping his daughter automatically flagged him as an unsafe parent, even if it's for the right reason. Which this case, it was not.

The military detained Krystal Sutton for conspiracy to kidnap and terrorist activities. We learned they planned to kidnap both girls. When Steven Sutton saw photos of me with Steve Rogers and other Avengers, he plotted with Batroc to take his girls to force Steve and me to rescue them. Sutton knew I would do anything for my nieces.

"Did Mary Alice wear the earrings?" Valerie asked when I returned. I shrugged.

"I checked our floors, and Angie checked her room on your floor. The other children didn't know," she confessed.

"Peter? Did you ask him?" I wondered.

"Um, excuse me, Mrs. Rogers. Are you looking for these?" Peter asked as he pointed to a photo of Mary Alice on Matthew's phone. I zoomed into Mary Alice's ears. Relief flushed throughout my body.

"She's wearing the earrings, Val," I said as I showed her the photo. Valerie relaxed when she realized we could find Mary Alice.

"Why hasn't she activated them?" she asked as her voice trembled.

"I advised her to activate them when she's alone. I'm certain we'll hear the signal soon," I say, trying to comfort her.

"Does that mean she's not alone?" Valerie wondered. It could also mean she was dead or incapacitated. I kept that thought to myself.

"Possibly," I admitted. "We'll find Mary Alice, Valerie."

Ram pulled his crying wife onto his lap. He held her tight and said, "We'll stay here while you look for her."

My Avenger and Rangeman families gathered to plan our next course of action. A few warehouses in upstate New York felt like viable locations to hide Mary Alice and HYDRA labs. I prayed they didn't use Mary Alice for experimentation.

We all took Mary Alice's kidnapping personally. I know we aren't responsible, but we felt the guilt all the same. JARVIS displayed the map interface onto the wall. "If Steven left within minutes of grabbing Mary Alice, they would be arriving at the closest warehouse within a few hours. The farthest warehouse would take an additional hour of travel," Steve stated.

"There are several routes he could be travelling," Tank added.

"Eliminate the toll route and highway," I suggested.

"Why?" Bucky asked.

"Cameras," Ranger replied.

JARVIS interrupted, "Sutton's car is in the mall parking garage."

"Steve!" I shouted. "Take me to our first crash site immediately."

Everyone ran from the room towards the elevator. There were too many of us to take the elevator, so Steve, Bucky and I used the stairs. Tony, Falcon, and Rodney used their suits to fly up to the roof. We met the group on the rooftop as we piled into the quinjet. As we lifted off, Mary Alice's tracker earrings gave us a signal. She was finally able to activate her earrings.

We arrived in time for Tony and Rodney to catch Steven before he could escape on the motorcycle. Sutton was searching the ground to uncover Mary Alice's hiding spot. I looked up into the tree I was once wrapped around. Mary Alice was smiling as she clutched her broken left arm.

"Jump, Mary Alice. I'll catch you," I stated.

She shook her head and said, "I'm too scared."

I started climbing the tree when Tony arrived to grab her. "Hang tight," Tony said as he lowered them to the ground. Steve unnecessarily caught me as I dropped from the tree.

"I know you didn't need help," he whispered. Honestly, I wasn't offended.

"Beautiful fell for you," Lester joked.

Mary Alice groaned, "That joke fell a little flat, Uncle Lester."

During the trip home, Lester and Mary Alice told ridiculous falling jokes. I laughed when she said, "One leaf said, 'I'm falling for you.' Another leaf replied, 'Yeah, you and every other leaf on the tree.'"

Lester added, "A sheep, a drum and a snake fall down a cliff. Bah dum, hiss."

Mary Alice laughed until she held her head, "Ouch, it hurts."

Bobby passed Mary Alice Tylenol to help her headache. He carefully wrapped her arm when we found her. I knew he wasn't giving her anything more potent until we got the CT scan at the Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse.

Dr. Lambert mistakenly thought Mary Alice was my daughter. I had to admit she resembled me. If I didn't know better, I would've drawn the same conclusion. Mary Alice's eyes were a lighter blue, but she had my dark curly hair. As her biological aunt, I was able to make medical decisions in Valerie's place.

"You're lucky you didn't cause more damage to your arm by climbing the tree," Dr. Lambert told Mary Alice.

"I know climbing the tree was stupid. It was the only safe place to hide," Mary Alice stated.

"Have you talked to the police?" he asked.

"Yup. Aunt Stephie and Uncle Eddie talked to them too," she replied. He asked her a few more questions, ensuring her safety. "Are you seriously questioning the integrity of the Avengers?" Mary Alice asked as she raised an eyebrow.

Lambert finally looked around to see the group accompanying Mary Alice. Steve, Tony, Bucky, Natasha, and I refused to leave her side. "Oh. I'm sorry. Whenever we handle kidnapping or assault cases, we have to ask the questions," he explained. "Only one of you can be in here."

"I know you're just doing your job," I stated. "But none of us are leaving. We don't know if anyone else is after Mary Alice."

He sighed before saying, "Miss. Sutton has a mild concussion. She can't watch TV or use electronics for a few weeks."

"How am I supposed to do my homework?" she asked.

"We can figure that out at home," I replied.

An attractive woman entered the room to cast Mary Alice's arm. "Hi, I'm Dr. Ashley Morgan. I'll be applying the cast," she told Mary Alice. "What is your name, Sweetie?"

"Mary Alice. You're pretty," she added.

"Thank you, Sweetie," Dr. Morgan replied. "You're pretty too. You look like your mother," Ashley said as she looked towards me.

With a giggle, Mary Alice stated, "That's my Aunt Stephie. Everybody makes the same mistake."

They exchanged small talk while Ashley wrapped Mary Alice's arm in cotton before applying the wet plaster strips. I stifled a laugh when Mary Alice said Ashley should meet her uncle Lester. "You both have dark blond hair and green eyes," she sweetly said. "You'll make gorgeous babies together." Ashley blushed.

"Mary Alice," I admonished. "Stop trying to find a mate for Lester."

"Why? I bet she's Uncle Lester's romantic soulmate," she stage whispered.

Ashley laughed before asking, "What makes you think I'm his soulmate?"

"I'm not sure how I know, but I know. It's kind of like Aunt Stephie's spidey sense," she explained.

Well, this was new. I wonder if Mary Alice has the latent ability to sense people's romantic soulmates. It's a theory I was willing to test. "What should we bet?" I asked Mary Alice.

"Um. If I win, you and Uncle Steve take me and the others to Disney," she thoughtfully stated.

"And what if you lose?" I asked.

"I'm not going to lose," she replied. I stared at her, willing her to come up with the losing alternative. After sighing, she added, "Fine! I'll wash all of the cafeteria dishes by hand."

Using my phone, I sent Lester a text. 'Hey, sexy. Your niece is asking for you.'

Lester immediately replied, 'I knew she would.'

His jaw dropped when he entered the room. "You're all of my fantasies wrapped into one gorgeous package," Lester said to Ashley.

She gasped and quickly replied, "Mary Alice just won the bet." Steve groaned while the others laughed. Knowing Tony, he was probably researching ways to rent Disney for the day.

As we were leaving, Ashley stated, "I'm relocating to Manhattan in a few weeks. I accepted an attending position at New York Presbyterian Hospital." Lester moved back behind the curtain, pulling Ashley with him.

"Where are you living?" I heard Lester ask from behind the curtain. They must be revealing their marks. "That's my writing," Lester stated.

"I haven't found a place yet," she confessed. "That's my writing."

"You'll live with me," Les offered as they moved from behind the curtain. She nodded as a blush coloured her face. Lester programmed his cell number into her phone. He sent himself a message to receive her cell number. "Call when it's time to move."

"Okay, I will," she promised.

I could tell it was difficult for Lester to leave her behind. He needs to return to Manhattan for his Rangeman shift. Since I'm currently out of commission, Lester had to cover extra shifts. "We need to hire more men," I whispered to Ranger as I passed him.

"Babe," he said as he shook his head.

Once I have control over my abilities, I'll be part of the Avengers team. I'm not sure if I'll be working many shifts at Rangeman. Ranger should hire my replacement sooner rather than later.

I started to feel a bit guilty for injecting myself with the serum. It was selfish of me to make a life-changing decision without considering everyone else. "Babe, you made the right decision," Ranger said when he noticed I was struggling.

"How could you say that? When I control my abilities, I won't be working for you anymore," I confessed.

"You will always have a place at Rangeman," he reassured me. "We'll take whatever you can offer."

"Thanks for understanding," I replied. "I still should have considered how my decision would affect you."

"Babe, you're less breakable now. You can keep up with the Captain," he said with a small smile. I knew he was saying more than physical strength.

"We need to get Mary Alice home. Valerie knows she's safe, but she needs to see her daughter," I stated. Steve reached for my hand as we left the emergency department. The quinjet landed on the hospital helipad for us to board.

"Hurry," Clint yelled. "A helicopter is on-route. ETA ten minutes."

Lester scooped Mary Alice into his arms and ran up the ramp into the quinjet. Mary Alice was laughing as Lester helped buckle her into the seat. "Thanks for the ride," she joked. She squirmed in her chair, excited to see her family again.

Sam sat beside her to discuss her kidnapping. He wanted to make sure she wasn't suffering any mental anguish. I closed my eyes and listened to their conversation. Mary Alice seems to be well adjusted, considering the circumstances.

It didn't take long to fly back to Manhattan. Valerie was waiting for the quinjet to land so she could hug her daughter. Ram was on the phone talking to his lawyer. He was coordinating with his lawyer to obtain a copy of Steven Sutton's arrest record. "Give me a minute," he said before hugging Mary Alice. "I'm glad you're back home."

"Thanks, Dad," Mary Alice replied. Ram held her right hand as they made their way towards the elevator. Steve and I took the stairs, as did most of us.