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 6

Bucky and Sophie watched over Howard along with the others, Tony and Lilia had gone to the police station to identify Larisa, but they all knew it was her.

"Lilia doesn't deserve this, Bucky. She's already lost her mom, then her dad and now she's lost her only remaining family, her cousin." Sophie said upset, Bucky nodded sadly and felt a dark sense of anger rage hold of him.

"Something is going on here, doll. Someone poisoned Larisa with an unheard poison, and not even Bruce has heard of it or Helen and that means Pepper's behind this or someone else. We're gonna get through this, and help Lilia get through this," Bucky promised firmly, Sophie nodded as she checked on Howard who was fast asleep in his bassinet.

Clint, Grace, Steve and Natasha came into the living room followed by the others and Bucky felt his stomach drop in dread. Something was wrong, Bucky realised.

Steve took in a deep breath as he looked at all of them.

"I've just been told by the new head of the US Sokovia Accords Panel, that we can't investigate the death of Larisa Dumitrescu and we're not being given choice on what missions to go on. Director Victoria Hand believes, that we need to focus on capturing Pepper Potts and Jane Foster." Steve explained grimly, and everyone was shocked by his words.

Bucky knew that Steve wasn't happy, he was angry that they couldn't investigate the murder of Lilia's cousin. Something felt off, like they were being warned to back off.

Tony held Lilia's right hand tightly as they were taken to the viewing room at the morgue and were shown Larisa's body. Lilia had tears silently trailing down her face, and his own eyes burned with unshed tears as they nodded at the medical examiner to go ahead.

She gently pulled out the body and Lilia almost crumpled onto the floor, if Tony hadn't caught her. The sight was unbearable, Tony's stomach rolled in nausea. Larisa's face was bruised and discoloured, he didn't miss the way the detectives exchanged a grim glance. Lilia held onto him tightly, as she looked at Olivia.

"Was...was she raped?" She asked bravely, her voice numb as she prayed to god that her cousin had been spared that ordeal. Larisa didn't deserve this, she really didn't.

"I'm afraid so, Lilia but she wouldn't have felt pain. The drug that she was injected with, it paralysed her neurologically." Olivia said gently, Lilia blinked as more tears came down her cheeks.

"Now, we have to ask you some questions. What was Larisa's job?" Olivia asked gently, with Rollins giving her and Tony a cup of coffee each.

Lilia swallowed thickly, and Tony squeezed her hand reassuringly as she tried to remember what Larisa had said.

"Larisa worked as a journalist, she told me and Tony that she was working on something very important. She was investigating a pharmaceutical company, but she didn't tell me anything else." She explained quietly and wiped her eyes.

Olivia and Rollins nodded, as Rollins asked her the next question.

"Did Larisa have a laptop with her?" He asked gravely, Lilia nodded, and she took in a deep breath.

"Yes, a black Toshiba Satellite laptop. We Skyped and FaceTimed on there every day," she said shakily, and a grave expression was on Olivia's face.

"We're going to take possession of the laptop to see if we can find anything on it that could give us any leads," Rollins said gently.

"I'd like that back as soon as you're done with it please," Tony chimed in here, drawing everyone's attention.

"Mr. Stark," Olivia said carefully, "we wouldn't leak anything out to the press. It would—"

"Not worried about that," Tony said coolly. "I know you have to evaluate it for your job but my experts are better than yours."

Rollins nodded, not arguing because he knew Tony was right. "Are you saying that the Avengers will also be launching an investigation on this?"

"Absolutely," Tony told them before turning to Lilia. "Sweetie, would you go out into the hall with Rhodey right now? I'll just be a minute."

She eyed him warily but did as he asked, slowly approaching the door and quietly leaving the room. His heart sank to watch her. She had no one left aside from him and Howard. The team was also behind her of course but his beautiful girl often looked around as if she didn't quite feel like she belonged in their world. With him.

Pepper was to blame for most of that. And he would make her pay.

Once he knew she was out of earshot, he turned his attention back to the detectives.

"I fully intend to find who did this," Tony said angrily. "I thank you for trying to spare Lilia any pain. I do. But we all know how badly this poor woman suffered. She was beaten, brutally raped. A toxin that could turn the skin that colour? That could cause that kind of damage in just a few hours? What did you estimate the time of death was?"

"Somewhere between two and four AM, Mr. Stark," Olivia answered.

"That's been around twelve hours ago," Tony pointed out. "What do you normally see post mortem in cases of poisoning? Think about it."

They were. Both detectives had gears spinning in their heads. They did good work and Tony liked them both. He wasn't trying to take anything away from them and hoped they knew that. He couldn't tell them. He had a reputation.

But whoever did this? Tony was going to find them, and he was going to make damn sure they never did it to anyone else.

It was too close to a member of their family as it was and that already had him suspicious. He already had a few suspects in his head. He just needed the laptop and the final autopsy reports to be certain.

"Anything you need here," Tony told them. "Let me know. You have my full support."

Olivia nodded. Rollins muttered, "Thank you, Mr. Stark."

"I hope she'll be okay," Olivia said tipping her head in the direction of the door.

Tony nodded. "She will be."

He didn't know what he'd do if his Lilia fell apart. He needed her.

Tony found Bucky with Steve and Nat in their apartment. Clint was there too.

Steve's expression was grim when it met with Tony's.

"How did it go?" Steve asked, motioning Tony towards one of the stuffed chairs. Nat occupied the other one, nursing Joseph beneath a thin blanket draped over them.

Tony couldn't sit down. His mind was going in a thousand directions and he felt like he was going to come out of his skin.

"Terrible," Tony said finally. "Her cousin's body…"

Raking a hand through his hair, Tony began to pace. "Severely beaten, raped. Cause of death hasn't officially been determined but the autopsy will reveal that she was hit with one hell of a toxin. Neurological paralysis, discoloration that makes Violet Beauregarde's complexion look downright fashionable."

"Who?" Steve frowned.

Nat shook her head. "Movie reference."

"The point is that this is the opening act of a brand-new play," Tony told them, exasperated.

"She's a journalist." Clint threw out there.

"Right. And it would be easy to assume she was chasing a story someone didn't want her to chase and they decided to stop her. But that's too neat, isn't it? Something's wrong here."

His gaze met Bucky's and he knew instantly that Steve's best friend from the old days was on the same page.

"Someone's trying to manipulate us into thinking this was just about Larisa being a journalist. Something's going on here, Larisa told me and Lilia last night that she was working on an article about a pharmaceutical company doing shady stuff. What if they're involved?" He asked grimly, and everyone looked grim.

"We'll keep an eye on each other, and we'll find out what's going on, Tony." Steve promised grimly, he knew something was going on and it wasn't good.

Sophie, Grace and Wanda kept Lilia occupied by taking her and Howard to the cake shop, with Peter going with them. Sophie's heart went out to Lilia, she'd lost her entire family within four months of each other. Lilia sat down quietly as she fussed over Howard and took him into the bathroom to change his diaper. She looked so sad and lost, it was unsettling for the three women to see the usually calm and kind woman so shattered by everything that had happened.

"I'm worried about her, you three. Lilia's devastated, and she's blaming herself for what happened to Larisa, she thinks it's her fault for what's happened." Sophie said worried, Peter, Grace and Wanda nodded in agreement as they saw Lilia come back with Howard who was playing with a strand of Lilia's dark brown curls.

"Right, let's redo our website and upload some new photos of our cakes, and our flavours," Grace said softly, everyone nodded and Lilia helped them update their website.

Bucky was waiting for Sophie, when she came looking worried and showered as she got into bed with him. He could tell straight away that she was worried and wrapped his arm around her gently as she rested her head on his chest.

"What's worrying you, Sophie?" He asked gently, he ran his right hand through the strands of her damp blonde hair as she leaned into him and decided to talk.

"I'm worried about Lilia, Bucky and about Peter. We've been through so much, but now Peter's lost MJ who was his girlfriend and Lilia's lost her remaining family member. I just feel like we're in an endless battle with HYDRA and the Watchdogs, Bucky." Sophie said exhausted, she knew first-hand what HYDRA were capable of and they frightened her.

Bucky held her tightly and kissed her tenderly on the mouth. He knew she was frightened, his Sophie just hid it better than everyone else.

"We'll be alright, doll. I won't let anyone hurt you, or our family, I promise on my life," Bucky vowed fiercely, Sophie held onto him tightly as the cats settled on the bed.

Sophie believed him, she knew Bucky had meant every word.

Fury informed the team that Victoria Hand wanted them to search a recently abandoned HYDRA base, in Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. Hand insisted on Clint and Grace going on this mission, as Grace had been through a similar experience. She didn't want to leave Connor so soon, she held her son protectively in her arms as she kissed his soft tufts of dark blonde hair. She'd already suited up for the mission, but felt awful for leaving Connor for at least three days, and knew Clint felt the same way as her.

Bucky and Sophie were going to look after him, and she had told them how to get Connor settled for bed, and that he napped at least three times a day.

"I don't wanna leave him either, Grace," Clint admitted quietly, his voice laced with worry and guilt as she gave him Connor. Lucky was dozing on his dog bed, Bonnie sleeping by him.

She knew that Clint was anxious about leaving Connor, he was rocking Connor gently and he giggled up at his father. She loved her boys so much, and her heart swam with love but sadness as well. It just seemed unfair that Cooper, Zach and Lila weren't here.

"Well, we know his uncles Bucky, Steve, Adrian, Peter, Sam, Tony, Grant, Scott, Thor and Lance will protect him. Not to mention his aunty Nat, Sophie, Lilia, Wanda, Helen, Jemma, Skye, May, Mary - Jane and Gwen." Grace said finally, knowing that their team would watch over their son.

Clint squeezed her hand reassuringly, and ran his calloused right hand over her face. It felt soothing, almost as if Clint always did it to make sure that she was real and not an illusion.

"How are you healing up?" He asked seriously, he knew that Connor's birth had been hard on her when he showed face presentation.

"I'm okay," Grace told him.

What she didn't tell him was that both Bruce and Helen were against her having to go. It was true because of her enhancements that she healed faster than normal human women, but the birth had been traumatic, and it had only been a few weeks ago, less than half the time average women got for maternity leave.

Clint winced when he took in her bags, including her breast pump. She'd need it in case the mission went on for several hours to stay comfortable. She shouldn't be having to go out now. Nat gave birth first and hadn't been on a mission yet. Why were they doing this? It had to be more than just Grace's previous experience. Hell, they'd all HYDRA experiences by now and not a damn one of the pleasant.

Stepping forward, Clint pulled her against him, just quietly holding her for a moment.

"We'll go get this done and we'll be right back," he told her softly. "Connor will be fine."

"I know." When she lifted her head, her eyes were shiny with tears. She'd never been away from Connor since his birth. And to have it be for some minuscule mission like this?

Steve found them there, taking a quiet moment. He stopped and Clint almost thought he'd go back the way he came but their leader's face was flushed with color, jaw locked.

Steve was pissed off. Clint knew how hard he'd tried to get Fury and Hand to turn the mission over to him and Bucky. When they quickly and easily dismissed his proposed change, it sent Steve's ire higher. Clint wasn't sure if it was his pride or the fact that he didn't want Grace sent out so soon after giving birth. His own girl had just had a baby, so he knew the situation all too well.

Clint suspected he was angry on both counts.

"You guys ready?" His voice was notably less enthusiastic than normal.

Clint nodded, Grace dropped her gaze.

Steve laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Grace, I'm so sorry."

Placing her own over his, she nodded. "I know, Steve. You tried to take this one and I… I really appreciate it. I do."

It wasn't enough. Steve looked ready to go pull someone apart. "I'll be monitoring on coms. If anything seems off, get out of there. If you need anything, or run into any trouble, we'll be right there. You know that."

"I do, Cap," Clint told him gratefully. "Think they're going reprimand you for being on coms?"

"I could care less," their leader replied. "I'll be monitoring."

Clint got her into the jet before anyone else could say goodbye again, else they'd never get out of there. They'd been on their way for about twenty minutes when Clint noticed just how quiet his Gracie had become.

"Baby, what's wrong?"

Grace shook her head slowly, turning his alarmed eyes on him. "Something feels… wrong. Clint, I don't know why I feel that way. I just do."

He blew out an exhale. That wasn't a good sign. One thing the spider venoms seemed to have given his girl and Sophie was eerie intuition. If they were an hour out and Grace thought something was off, God knew what they were walking into.

He vowed with everything he was that no matter what, he'd get them out of there and get her back home to their son.

Bucky finally couldn't take it anymore. Sophie had been pacing in their bedroom for the last hour. She'd been upset when she found out that Clint and Grace had left before she got to say goodbye to her sister again before she left.

Then it just got worse.

Connor, according to Grace's schedule, would wake up any time for a feeding. Bucky could take out an entire HYDRA regimen all by himself. But he wasn't sure he could deal with Sophie when she got like this and a crying, hungry baby. He'd already had to talk Steve down earlier.

Beneath it all was this growing phantom fear that something was coming for them. Something bigger and worse than anything they'd faced yet.

Sophie was so lost in her head that when he stepped into her path, she plowed right into him. He grabbed her about the waist to keep her from falling. She clung to him and it took a minute for her mind to clear enough for her to realize where she was.

"Doll?"

"Bucky?" Her gaze searched his for a moment and then the tears came on.

Her tears and her weird spider, future-telling ability were not mixing things and he felt real dread as he waited for her to speak.

"I can sense that Grace and Clint are ok, but something's wrong. I know something isn't right, please tell me that if they're not back in two hours, we're going after them?" She asked fearfully, Bucky squeezed her hands reassuringly.

"We're going after them, doll. Even if we go against Fury and Hand's orders, they're our family." He said firmly, and Sophie held onto him tightly.

Grace had felt like she had stepped into a sci - fi horror film, as she and Clint saw the amounts of blood in every room that was located in the HYDRA base. It looked like a massacre had taken place, there were bodies everywhere. She exchanged a weary look with Clint, as they continued walking through the hallway, and found a room with the bodies of six women.

"What the hell?" She whispered shocked, Clint looked around and tried to turn on the computers, but nothing happened. There was a smashed laptop, and he put it in a bag, hopefully Tony and Lilia could find out what HYDRA were so keen on hiding.

He checked the heat signatures, and nothing was showing up on the scanner, but he was still on guard. Grace gathered all of the papers that had been left behind, while Clint notified Steve on the coms of what they had found.

This place set her on edge, she frowned when she heard soft crying and froze at hearing the sound. She saw Clint had heard the noise as well, and they cautiously made their way to the area where the crying was coming from.

To Grace's shock, six babies were in incubators all looking to be a few days old and sick. Three were boys and the other three were girls, they had no names or who were their parents.

"Cap, we found six babies in a room on the west side of the building and a room filled with the bodies of six women. Requesting, a medical team," Clint reported to Steve and he immediately responded.

"Copy that, me, Bucky, Adrian, Tony, and Rhodey will be there within two hours. Be careful, Clint and Grace." Steve responded assuredly, they both nodded and waited for their teammates.

"What do you suppose killed the women?" Grace asked quietly, Clint was quiet as he looked around the sterile lab and the papers that had been left behind.

"I'm guessing the pair bodies couldn't handle the enhancements, that the babies had in their genes. Bruce, Jemma and Helen can tell us more but it's almost like they died after giving birth." He said finally, knowing that these women would not have willingly been taken here.

Steve, Tony, Rhodey, Bucky and Adrian had arrived at the base where Clint and Grace were waiting for them. Bodies were being wrapped up in body bags, to be taken back to the compound to undergo autopsies, and Tony was given the laptop that Clint and Grace had found.

"You two won't be going on anymore missions, unless me and Tony approve of them. Let's get you both decontaminated and examined." Steve said firmly, Clint nodded as both he and Grace were taken to the decontamination triage tent.

Clint stripped out of his suit that had been taken to be completely decontaminated, as Grace's suit had been taken away too. He gave her right hand a reassuring squeeze, as the hot water poured over him and once, they were both thoroughly cleaned wand washed, they were permitted to get changed into clean clothing from the quinjet.

Blood was taken from them and waited twenty minutes, before it was announced that they were cleared to leave. Grace had to use the breast pump, as her breasts had started aching and Clint put a towel over her chest.

"Steve, what the hell is going on? What is it that Hand and Fury telling us?" Clint asked firmly, as they were allowed to Skype Sophie, Natasha, Zach and the others.

Steve exchanged a look with Bucky, Adrian, and Tony as they saw Rhodey yelling at Hand, his voice becoming outraged.

"The Watchdogs uploaded a video onto the internet, apparently they're claiming that they've made a biological weapon. A virus, that can wipe out Inhumans, Enhanced and Mutants. Fury thinks Hand might be withholding information from him and the United States Army," Steve explained grimly.

Clint felt his blood run cold at Steve's words, and saw Grace had turned pale as she grabbed his hand.

"Do we know what exact virus, it is?" Grace asked finally, her voice calm but Clint could see the fear in her eyes.

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