Summary: As the team try to come to terms with Michelle's death, a new terrifying threat is looming over them. Clint and Grace are forced to confront their darkest fears and enemies, as they prepare for their baby's arrival. Co – Written With snowqueen79. Clint/Grace, Bucky/Sophie and other pairings.
The Cradle Will Fall
Chapter 3
"They would inject my baby with different serums and try to see how he was progressing. I almost lost him during one of these experiments, Zach had gone into distress." Grace explained finally, her voice shaking as she remembered the traumatic day.
"Were the experiments continued, even though your son had gone into fetal distress?" Harold asked intently, Grace nodded and sat up straight.
"Yes, they were continued until I escape when the Avengers attacked the base. I climbed out of a window, and ran until I couldn't," she explained quietly, Harold nodded and looked at her silently.
"I see, no more questions your honours." Harold said finally and moved to sit back down next to his three clients who were looking at Grace menacingly.
Misha smirked at her, and she saw Clint looking like he'd get up and punch him, when Sophie, Bucky and Sam grabbed him. He looked at her, and she gave him a reassuring smile and he relaxed.
"Grace, are the defendants in this room?" Foggy asked seriously, Grace nodded and Foggy continued on questioning her.
"How did you feel when Zach was born?" Foggy asked gently, Grace felt her eyes burn with tears, one sliding down her right cheek. She had never been so scared, but so excited to see Zach.
"Happy, overjoyed and relived. I thought I'd lost Zach when he hadn't kicked on the day he was born, my sister and our godmother May Parker rushed me to the hospital. I gave birth, and Zach weighed 5 1/2 and 6 pounds. He had to stay in the hospital because he was born at 35 weeks and they wanted to monitor his lung development." She said explained honestly, remembering how May and Sophie had wheeled her into the NICU Unit.
"And you never considered giving him up for adoption?" Foggy pressed gently, Grace shook her head and wiped her tears from her face, grateful she'd worn waterproof mascara.
"No, I loved him, I still love him. He was my reason for going on, that's why I escaped when the base was attacked." Grace said truthfully, Foggy nodded and gave her a sad smile.
"Thank you, Grace. No more questions, your honours," Foggy said gravely, the three judges nodded, and Grace returned to her seat with shaking legs.
She sat down next to Clint who immediately wrapped his arms around her, while Sophie and Adrian moved around her protectively along with the others.
"Court will resume tomorrow morning, everyone!" Judge Elizabeth Seymour announced calmly, her British accent elegant but soothing.
Everyone nodded and began to leave.
Clint stayed by Grace's side as they settled in the living room of the suite, she'd been silent and then finally spoke up.
"It's not fair that our children are dead, it's not fair that our sister's dead, it's not fair that Darcy, Quinn and all of those children are dead because of Ross! It's not fair, that Zach, Lila and Cooper won't get to see our baby and their baby brother. Why Clint? Why did our children have to be taken away?" Grace sobbed tearfully, Clint pulled her into his arms and held her.
"I don't know Grace, I don't know sweetheart. But they're here with us even though we can't see them," he said comfortingly, Grace nodded and cried silently.
He hated seeing her so upset, she shouldn't be going through this again, having to relive the worst days of her life.
"Don't let them hurt our baby, or the others, Clint." Grace pleaded, she was trying to calm down, but the day had taken a toll on her emotionally and physically.
"I won't Gracie, I promise. Let get you settled, and have something to eat," Clint said softly, his heart broke seeing the woman he loved in so much pain.
Clint found menus in the kitchenette, carrying them back to where Gracie sat, curled in on herself on the couch. He could have cheerfully killed Ross for not only making her recount the awful tale of her captivity in Sokovia, but also putting her in the same country as three of the men who'd raped her, tortured her during that time.
Clint would have cheerfully killed each of them too. Slowly. Painfully.
The soft knock at the door had him back up, opening up to find Sophie, Bucky, Natasha, and Steve.
"She's not going to rest until she makes sure Grace is okay," Steve told him apologetically.
Sophie just went around Clint to join her sister on the couch.
Grace allowed her sister to pull her into her arms, obviously enjoying the comfort while the rest of them joined them in the living room. Nat lumbered awkwardly towards the stuffed chair next to them, it was just so hard to see the normally graceful super spy to move like that, and Steve pulled a throw pillow from the couch to place behind her back to ensure her comfort.
"Grace," Nat murmured, while Steve took a seat at her feet. "You okay?"
Grace nodded from Sophie's arms as Clint and Bucky took seats on either side of them.
"I just want this to be over," she muttered. "I just want to get back home. So, you can have your baby and I can see Peter. I can't believe I have to be here right now when he needs me, needs us, so much."
"Tony and everyone back at the compound are taking good care of him," Steve said in a calm tone. "Try not to worry."
"Has anyone checked in today?" Grace wanted to know.
Steve nodded. "I talked to Tony earlier. Everything has been quiet which is good news until we get back."
"Do you think they'd let her out of the rest of this if we were to have an emergency?" Nat smirked.
"Are you okay?" Sophie's eyes were wide on the redhead.
Nat grinned. "At the moment, I'm fine. I'm just saying if I went into early labor, do you think they'd let her out of this."
Clint snorted. Typical Nat. He loved her sense of humour to lighten the situation.
"I wish," Clint told her. "If I thought they'd let all of us go home, I'd be doing Lamaze breathing with you."
Steve looked very uncomfortable at the mention.
"You did get to do the birth prep class didn't you, Steve?" Clint asked their leader.
Steve managed to look even more uncomfortable – if that were even possible.
"I did," he said slowly. "I think I'll be okay when the time comes."
"We've already got a pool going," Bucky leaned forward so he could see Clint on the other side of the couch.
"Pool?" Clint's brows shot up.
"Sam's betting he passes out before the kid is ever born," Bucky explained.
Nat was trying not to laugh while Steve scoffed, looking more than a little offended.
"You took up for me, right?" he directed at Bucky.
"I did." Bucky smirked. "I think you'll make at least until the kid starts making his way out.
Nat laughed at that while Steve darkened into a deeper shade of red.
"That's mean," Grace looked at both Clint and Bucky meaningfully. "I'm sure Steve will make it just fine through the birth."
Bucky shot his girl a look that said, "come on." Sophie was trying hard, he could tell, to stay neutral.
"Steve, I'm so sorry," Grace apologized while Nat continued to chuckle. "For my part, I think you'll do just fine."
"We could gather pillows to spread around the floor in the delivery room so maybe he won't hit as hard," Clint couldn't resist throwing in. He grunted at the power in Grace's play punch.
"We're supposed to be here making Grace feel better," Nat reminded them, trying to sober her expression.
"I know I feel better," Clint told her and Bucky started laughing then.
"Yeah, laugh," Steve told them dismissively. "Can't go after Clint because he's done this before but you, Bucky. One day you'll be where I am, and I have a very good memory as you know."
Bucky's expression told everyone he did know. All too well.
He couldn't wait to marry Sophie, and have a family with her, he loved her more than anything. She was his white spider, and he held her hand tenderly as they laughed and joked for a while, until their Chinese arrived and Clint gave a tip to the man who smiled, as they tucked into the meal.
Grace was smiling, and she leaned into him as he rested a hand protectively over her baby bump.
The trial resumed the next morning with the continuation of Grace being cross examined, she was trying to keep calm, but it was hard though. Misha, Dmitri, Alexei and Zemo glaring at her from the side of the courtroom where they were sitting next to Harold Eastman. She just had today, and then she and the others could go home to the rest of their family. She saw Foggy walk towards her.
"Do you know how long they kept you prisoner, Grace?" He asked gravely, Grace swallowed and took in a deep.
"Six months, at least that's how long HYDRA held me. I was thirty weeks pregnant, that's what the Sokovian OB/GYN told me," Grace explained quietly, thinking of Zach and how much she loved him even then.
Foggy nodded in understanding, and looked at her seriously.
"Are the men that tortured and raped you in this room, Grace?" He asked seriously, Grace nodded.
"Yes, all three of them are. Misha, Dimitri and Pietro Maximoff are three of the four men who raped and tortured me." She confirmed, and whispering broke out.
"Thank you, no further questions, your honours," Foggy said calmly, and sat down as Harold walked over to her.
"So how do you know it was them that raped you, Miss Melnychenko Drăgoi?" Harold questioned sharply, Grace absorbed his words before she spoke firmly.
"Because they told me who they were, and the women that had I had been helping with the Red Cross told me who had assaulted them and murdered their families. One survivor told me that Zemo was easy to recognise, because he had a tattoo on his back." Grace explained quietly, refusing to be intimidated by Zemo's glare at her from he sat behind the desk.
"What was the tattoo of, Grace?" Foggy asked gently, Grace swallowed as she remembered the tattoo.
"The Sokovian far right National Party symbol which was a red, blue and gold version of the swastika. Zemo would force me to look at his tattoo and told me that it was my fault. That it was my fault I was being raped, and I should be grateful that Rumlow had managed to get me pregnant first. He and Dimitri called me a kurva and told Pietro that my father was an arms dealer that sold the Serbian military the bomb that had killed his and Wanda's parents, and neighbours." Grace explained bravely, trying to keep her voice steady.
The room was silent, everyone was staring at the three men who had different expressions on their faces. Dimitri looked bored, while Zemo was indifferent, Misha was glaring at her, but it was Pietro that frightened her, his expression was of pure hatred towards her.
"What does kurva mean, Grace?" Foggy asked grimly, he had a sinking feeling that he had an idea of what it meant.
"In Sokovian and Serbian, it means whore. They called me a whore, and a waste of being used for the Widow Ops Program." Grace said quietly, and both men nodded.
"No more questions, your honours." Harold said politely, and the three judges nodded gravely.
"We will have a small recess, before continuing the trial." Judge Eleanor Danilowciz announced gravely, her expression sickened while Judge Richard Hughes looked disgusted and Judge Magda Čáslavská looked grim.
Grace ran into the bathroom and threw up, she threw up until she couldn't anymore. She went to the toilet, and pulled the chain, before washing her hands shakily.
She was trembling, she placed a hand on her round eight-month baby bump and felt Connor kick her reassuringly. Tears stung her eyes, and she took in a deep breath before exhaling.
'I can do this, I can do this for myself, Clint, Connor, Sophie, Bucky, Adrian, Wanda, May, Peter and the others.' She chanted mentally, and left the bathroom as she saw her team, her family waiting for her.
Clint, Adrian and Sophie walked on either side of her with Wanda glaring at Pietro as they sat down in the courtroom.
"Mikhail Savić, you were one of the four men who tortured and sexually assaulted Grace Viktoria Melnychenko Drăgoi in 2015. Why did you perform this horrific crime?" Foggy questioned calmly, although he was privately sickened.
"To punish her for her parent's betrayal to the motherland of Russia, and of HYDRA. Grace and Sophie would've been placed in the Black Widow Ops Program along with Lilia Dumitrescu, if they hadn't escaped. HYDRA wished to have solders that were like the Winter Soldier, and Captain America." Misha said indifferently, a few people gasped at his cruel indifference.
"Why did HYDRA recruit you, Brock Rumlow, Laura Yurchenko and Dimitri Petrović, Helmut Zemo and Pietro Maximoff to operate in the Project Genesis Program?" Foggy questioned grimly.
"After we had been injected with the Winter Soldier serum, by Dr Yulia Lozchenko and trained in the Project Centipede Program. We trained Adrian Melnychenko Drăgoi, but he proved to be more like the original Winter Soldier," Misha said flatly.
"How so?
Misha shrugged nonchalantly but Grace could easily read the petty jealousy behind the gesture even though she felt sick and wanted to be anywhere but where she currently was.
"Barnes," Misha gestured in Bucky's direction, only be met with a steely glare from the Winter Soldier himself and an even colder one from Steve Rogers, "no matter how many times they wiped him, no matter what they did to him – and things got bad at times, didn't they comrade? – they never could… erase certain things, certain memories. They considered it a weakness."
Only Nat's hand on Steve's arm kept him in his chair. Bucky? He was far from defenceless. Grace was certainly glad the man was like a brother to her because being on the receiving end of the glare he had on Misha would have chilled her blood.
"If they considered Sergeant Barnes weak, why did they retain him?" Foggy asked simply.
Misha's chuckle was a dry, humourless sound. "Because he when they sent him to kill a man, he killed him without fail. He was brutal, merciless, and fast. There was only one time they sent him to kill a man that he failed, and we all know that story now. That man is sitting at his side."
"So you are saying that Adrian Melnychenko Drăgoi was the same as Sergeant Barnes in that he was an efficient killer? Or that they couldn't erase aspects of his identity," Foggy wanted to clarify.
"Both." Misha continued. "Their father was the same only less efficient of a killer than his son and Barnes. Unlike Barnes, they only had Adrian for a few years. Not decades. What would that do to a man?"
"Mikhail Savić," Foggy said when it looked like he'd continue, "please only answer the questions. Sergeant Barnes was only referenced in connection with the original question of why you were recruited by HYDRA for the Project Genesis Program."
"Because when we were injected with the serum, we survived and were not weak," Misha bit out. "I was not weak like Barnes, like Adrian. I could have a kill rating like Barnes given time with no attachments to others holding me back. That's weakness. A true killer, a true soldier, has no attachments. Only the cause."
"You were brainwashed?" Foggy pressed.
"Objection!" Harold called from his seat in the courtroom.
Foggy wasn't waiting for a ruling. "Did they wipe your memories?"
"Yes," Misha answered simply. "There were no happy memories I wanted to retain. Only service to Mother Russia. And if there were memories, just remember that what HYDRA planted in your mind is a hundred times more powerful. It doesn't go away. It isn't cured."
Misha caught Sophie's eye. "You remember that White Spider. Your soldier could activate and kill you at any time. But if you manage to survive, I'm into sisters. I liked Grace. I could take care of you."
It took Clint and Steve both to keep Bucky from coming after Misha who smirked at him from the stand. Grace saw that all the colour had drained from her sister's face at his words and cringed, knowing the guilt her sister carried for what had happened to her.
"Mr. Savić," the older female judge rose from her seat. "One more outburst like that and we'll have you removed from this court. You have an opportunity to give your testimony in your own defence. I suggest you use it well."
Misha turned his glare on Grace, as if all of his misfortunes were her fault. In his mind they were. She just hated all of it. What was done to her, the loss of Zach, that her family and loved ones had to live the entire pain fest with her. Sophie didn't deserve that. Neither did Bucky. And Steve looked like he was planning how to execute all three of them from where he sat. She knew that expression and had seen it on the battlefield.
It was probably why he didn't seem to notice how Nat was too quiet, too still from her seat next to him.
"You okay?" Graced mouthed to her when she managed to catch her eye.
Nat nodded but it was too enthusiast. Was something happening with the baby?
The rest of Misha's testimony went ahead without further incident, and then finally it was Pietro's turn to testify. Clint tensed up next to her, and she held his hand tightly.
Clint watched as Pietro was questioned over his involvement in HYDRA, and there was no sign of remorse for regret on his face as he was questioned.
"Pietro, why did you and your sister volunteer to partake in the Project Psyche Program in 2015?" Foggy asked calmly, Pietro was silent for a few minutes before he answered.
"To avenge the murder of our parents and to get rid of outsiders that were destroying our home, Tony Stark destroyed our home and killed our parents. He had to suffer for what he did to our parents, so did the Avengers!" Pietro shouted bitterly, glaring at where Clint, Steve, Natasha and Bucky sat.
Natasha winced slightly in pain, and gripped Steve's hand in a vice like hold, she was taking in a deep breath. Clint saw Grace look at her worriedly, and murmur to her reassuringly.
"Mr Maximoff, are you aware that it was in fact the Serbian Army that shelled the apartment building where your family resided? Tony Stark had nothing to do with the deaths of your parents, family or friends. Stark Industries stopped manufacturing and building weapons in 2008, when Tony Stark was rescued from the Ten Rings," Foggy revealed, causing everyone to stare in horror and shock.
Clint felt like cold water had been thrown over him, he knew that what had happened to Pietro and Wanda's parents, had been the sole reason for them working for HYDRA. Wanda had told him that she hadn't even trusted them really but had done it for Pietro.
Natasha was sucking in a deep breath; her face pale and she was clutching Steve's hand tightly. A recess was called, and they rushed Natasha to the hotel room.
"I think it's safe to say Nat, you're in active labour." Helen Cho announced calmly, Natasha looked stressed.
"Please tell me that we can go back home to the compound, please?" Natasha pleaded, Foggy nodded and looked at them all seriously.
"I'll ask the judges to let you all leave, and you can testify by video conference. And Grace isn't handling being in the same room as her four attackers." Foggy said reassuringly, they all nodded and got ready to leave.
Natasha sucked in a deep breath as another contraction hit her, Steve supporting her as he walked her to the bathroom.
Enjoy, and review :)