A/N: This chapter took a long time to write, and I'm not super happy with it, but the next chapter should be better.

Thank you BlueOwl and Emerald2211 for helping me edit this chapter!

[Warning: SP Low]

"Bucky are you okay? Do you know who we are?" Steve asked, placing his hand on Bucky's shoulders so he couldn't even see the empty monitors anymore.

I awkwardly looked away and back to the big ass physical servers that I completely destroyed. I might have overdone it a little. Computers are very easy to destroy; all you need is a strong enough magnet. I did not have to go through and break almost every wire that I could in the towers, but I did. And the few that I left alone overloaded the capacitors. The end result being I was very confident that there was no way Hydra can scrape Zola from these now.

"I..I'm fine," Bucky said after a moment, drawing my attention back to them since he sounded like he just ran a marathon.

Or whatever the equivalent of a marathon would be for super soldiers. Zola obviously didn't have time to say the words, but Bucky looked much worse than when I left him.

"Sorry, I know it would have been better to wait for the others to arrive and try getting information out of him but..." I trailed off looking away from Steve and Bucky.

I could go back, but I don't think I could just risk Zola surviving.

"Don't worry, you did the right thing," Steve firmly told me, which I didn't agree with but gave him a nod.

The right thing would be to get more information that would help in the future, not just make me feel safer now. Though with Zola gone, project insight or whatever it was called probably won't happen now. Still assuming that at least this is following the movie plot. It seemed to be like movie stuff more than half the time, which isn't great but I guess still better than going in blind.

Hopefully, with Zola dead, Hydra wouldn't get the idea to publicly denounce Bucky.

"The others should be arriving soon. Why don't we go back up to meet them," Steve said, giving me a smile but it was obvious he was worried about Bucky.

I was too. I don't think I've ever seen Bucky this out of breath. Was it really just seeing Zola that stressful?

...shit I hope he didn't have a panic attack or something before we arrived.

Bucky nodded and walked past Steve to the elevator. I followed, as did Steve, but no one spoke as we rode it back up. Amazing with how the ride down was, it was only a little less stressful.

We just were walking out when I heard what sounded like a fighter jet, and it wasn't until I saw him land did I realize it was the Iron Man suit. I guess during the alien fight I didn't notice how loud it was.

"Doesn't look like anyone is bleeding out, so mind explaining to me what this was all about? Another way to draw out Hydra? Only instead of using my tower you used your kid?" Tony directed that last part to Bucky, who in the short distance from the elevator was looking somewhat normal.

"What? He didn't use me, it was my idea to do this!" I yelled before Steve could say anything.

"Of course it was."

That stung a little, but I shouldn't be surprised. I already knew Tony felt betrayed by what I did. I doubt he would have felt that way about me if he really thought it was Bucky's master plan. It was both of our plans, but I was the one who set it in motion.

"I am sorry I didn't tell you, but we were short on time."

I couldn't tell if Tony was going to accept my half ass apology since he didn't bother taking off his face plate, but it probably wasn't helping that Steve and Bucky were acting like this was a 'us vs them' problem. Last thing we need is a reenactment of the civil war fight.

"If we are so short on time, then let's get a move on. Where's the matrix located?"

"What?" Steve and Bucky said almost at the same time.

"In a double secret base. I kinda blew it up though," I explained, pointing over to the building we were just in.

Not really excited to go back down there, but there was a good chance there was other stuff besides Zola's brain servers. It was even more weird that Tony didn't say anything, just started walking over there followed by Steve and Bucky. I followed behind, almost ready for Bucky to tell me to head back, but he just looked over to me without saying anything.

Though, I don't have a lot of sp left.

[Name: Lani]

[Age: 7]

[Hometown: Hawai'i]

[Family: Bucky Barnes]

[Title: Rebellious: people of authority will mark you as 'bad egg']

[hp: 60*]

[sp: 11]

[Strength: 6**]

[Dexterity: 9**]

[Constitution: 7**]

[Intelligence: 18]

[Wisdom: 11**]

[Charisma: 17**]

[*:bullet wound (9/11)]

[**: -7 to physical states, -2 to wisdom and +2 to charisma due to age]

Okay, that was still enough for me to go back, but not with anyone else. Seems my escape rope plan is busted for now.

"Hey Buck, maybe you and Lani should stay up here and wait for the rest of the team," Steve said once they got to the secret shield base.

"I rather have Lani go with you in case Hydra's backup comes before your team."

I turned out to look at Bucky when he said that. I mean, having someone up here to make sure our backup comes and not Hydra makes sense. No one in the secret basement heard Steve or I, and we weren't being that quiet. But not sure I want Bucky to be alone right now, and from how Steve was hesitating, I think he agreed with me.

"If that's what you think is best," Steve ended up saying with a frown.

Okay, so Steve does think leaving Bucky alone isn't the best idea, but not enough to say out loud it's bad? Great.

I did end up just following Steve and Tony into the elevator without speaking my thoughts on the matter, so I guess I wasn't much better than Steve. I just have to hope that things will be fine. And if not, I can reset.

Just need to be quick about it and not get hit in the head.

Tony whistled loudly when Zola's lab was visible and even opened his face plate to get a better look.

"I feel like there should be Germany scientist rolling around talking about the end of the world," Tony said but this time I wasn't sure what he was referring to.

Maybe Dr. Strangelove or some other cold war movie?

"If anyone else was down here, we would have drawn their attention long ago," Steve said, looking around to see.

With the servers still smoking slightly, I kept my distance while looking around. The dead henchmen were still on the ground, which I guess is good since nazi zombies is the last thing we need. The room was huge, and the grates under the monitors Zola was talking from made me think there might be something below them. Probably just generators and wires, but who knows.

Tony went wandering off deeper without a word to us.

"Well, if he got that covered, want to see if there is anything weird below us?" I asked Steve, pointing to said grate.

"Stand back," Steve warned, giving me just enough time to step up the slightly raised platform before he slammed his shield into one of the corners.

The resulting sound rang through the area, but Steve was able to get one of the panels off in one try. I crouched down and stuck my head in to take a look.

"Does anyone have a flashlight with them?" I asked while trying to look around.

It was mostly wires, but the area was larger than I thought it would be. Definitely big enough for people to hide stuff if they needed to. Of course, knowing our luck it could be from back when this was still under an active shield base, but any new information would be good. Their really sensitive stuff probably won't be digitized, or at least not on the bits that Tony was able to get from that bank base.

"Sorry Lani, I don't... Stark! Do you have a flashlight with you?"

I popped my head back out and sat on my feet in time to see Tony stomping back toward us. Well, not really stomping, but his suit was really loud.

"You really going to explore the crawl spaces?" Tony asked as he pointed his glove at me.

I didn't have time to react before Steve pulled me out of the way by the back of my shirt as Tony activated it. Only, nothing blew up.

"You have a flashlight in your repulsors?" I asked, but it quickly became clear to me that no one was listening.

"You really thought I was going to hurt the kid?"

"I didn't know what to think, Stark. All I know is that that's a weapon."

"And also a flashlight!" I said again before Steve and Tony could get into a fight.

I don't think it was really that bad yet, but I also did not want to test my luck.

"Though I was hoping for something a little more portable..."

"I'll just go check. Jarvis is picking up some strange stuff on the scans," Tony announced before jumping into the hole, which was a tight fit for him with the suit.

"Are you sure?" I asked, and for a moment I didn't think Tony heard me from how he just ducked and disappeared from view.

"Might do you good to learn to rely on other people kiddo."

"Like you're one to talk," I responded before thinking.

I really hope Tony didn't hear that one. One, that was rude as hell and Tony might have a negative relationship with me, but that was due to my own actions. And Two, Lani shouldn't know that Tony has issues working as a team. I'm sure I could figure out some lie, but I really need to stop making comments like this.

"Come on, let's see if we can find anything useful," Steve said, patting me lightly on the back in an effort to get me moving.

"Yeah, ok."

Nat was honestly impressed with the kid. Taking advantage of the situation like she and Bucky did was useful, despite what Stark and Rogers think. Of course, finding out that an ex-hydra scientist that was personally responsible for the winter soldier was still alive in the 'do you want to play a game' sense was less good.

Natasha informed Fury that they had a new lead, and Clint fired up the quinjet before they could get permission. Bruce was still hulked out, and taking the green guy up in the air was asking for trouble, therefore it was just the two of them as backup. Fury would be aware that they were going since Natasha and Clint didn't bother to remove the tracker, so if they take too long or the plane gets blown up, more backup will come.

Assuming Fury isn't too annoyed by them leaving.

"Any word from them?" Clint asked as they leveled out.

Flying to New Jersey was a little overkill, but it was faster than the forty minutes that Natasha could do while only breaking a few laws. Not to mention it'd be good if they need a quick escape plan.

"Rogers conveniently forgot to put his communicator back in his ear, and Stark hasn't tried getting in contact."

Which is about what she was expecting, and Clint too from his exhale.

"At least we are already prepped for a fight."

Natasha didn't bother responding, and the rest of the flight was flown in silence.

Clint landed closer to the fort than he would on any other mission, but there was a good chance they might have injured like last time. Also any element of surprise left as soon as Iron Man showed up, assuming that Lani and Rogers didn't just rush in to save Barnes.

Natasha readied herself even though it was unnecessary, and watched in the corner of her eye as Clint grabbed his bow and met up with her.

"Want me to stay back and look for a perch or stick by you?"

Clint is more useful long distance, but they are working with too many unknowns here.

"Stick with me until we figure out where the fight's going to be," Natasha said right as she opened the hatch.

If there wasn't a fight happening now, there was going to be soon.

It was starting to get dark, but not enough that Natasha and Clint were comfortable just walking up to the already opened gate, but there wasn't much choice. The place was too open, and the fact they didn't already draw people's attention was not a good sign.

It felt like just an abandoned base as they walked through, but Clint suddenly stopped, with Natasha following after a half second. Natasha moved to get ready for a fight, but Clint just gave a half wave at one of the buildings. Which, ended up being the Winter Soldier as he jumped down from his perch.

"Did we miss the party?" Clint joked, and it was a relief to see Barnes frown at that.

"Tony and Steve are below. Reinforcements could come at any moment."

Which means that it's either prepare themselves for a fight, or help Rogers and Stark with whatever they are doing downstairs.

"I'll go make sure the boys are playing safe. Have fun you two," Natasha said as she walked to the building Barnes was holding out on top of, figuring they were in there.

"It will be nice to have someone who knows how to snipe," she heard Clint say, but didn't bother stopping to listen in on their conversation.

Lani and Rogers were able to get here soon enough to keep Barnes from being resetted. She will just have to trust that Clint can take care of himself.

It didn't take long to find the elevator down, and once she did it was clear that this must have been where hydra reformed after the war. No wonder Rogers and Stark were going through everything, the stuff here would have been too dangerous to be digital.

"You boys need any help?"

There was the sound of metal hitting metal followed by, "Fuck, please tell me that's our Russian spy and not some other one."

Stark. And it sounds like he was under the metal floor for some reason.

"Oh, Natasha's here?!" Lani exclaimed from further in the room, echoing slightly.

Hearing that Lani was so excited to see her just reminded Nat what she wanted to talk to the kid about. It was hard not to see herself in Lani, and that was scary. Last thing they needed was another black widow.

The two bodies were fresh, and clearly done in by Rogers who was jogging over to her, likely from where Lani was.

"Romanoff, we're trying to get as much information before blowing this place up."

"We're blowing it up?!" Lani yelled, though it didn't sound like she minded the idea.

"Is that why Stark is under the floorboards?"

"It's a crawl space, and there is lots of stuff that has been left behind. Maybe even a secret nazi tunnel," Stark answered for Rogers.

This group wasn't her top pick for extracting sensitive information on a time limit, but Stark was right that secret documents were likely going to be hidden away. This place might be a recently destroyed server room, something Natasha is going to need to find out who caused that, but it was old. And someone who has a secret base in an already hidden base is going to be paranoid and kept physical documents.

"Scoot over," Natasha warned before dropping herself into the hole.

The place was lit up by Stark's suit, while the man himself was poking what might have once been a sandwich. There is no question about Stark's intelligence, but he isn't a spy and Natasha was already prepared to get a full sweep of the place.

"I already made my way through that end."

"Just keep the light steady."

She had to crawl to get to some of the areas, but sure enough, under layers of dust and hidden corners, Natasha started to pull out a folder of sealed documents. She was able to find a good stack before Rogers suddenly spoke up.

"There's someone coming; Lani, stay here."

"Uh, okay?"

The sounds of Rogers walking, shield out, was enough to warn Natasha that their time was up.

"Come on, Stark, think we are done here," Natasha said as she got back to where the hole was, dusting off her pants even though it wasn't going to help much.

"Oh, are you done with me being your spot light?"

"Yes, you did great, but I wouldn't quit your day job."

Stark huffed, already out standing next to Lani who was looking very uncomfortable, but didn't say anything back. Faceplate just fell back into place and he was looking up.

"Hey kiddo, if I asked you to go back, would you?" Stark asked, still looking up.

"I... no. Is there a lot of people coming or...?" Lani said, wringing her hands a little before sticking them into her jean pockets.

Clearly, something had happened between Stark and Lani. Now's not the time, but it was still strange considering how well they got along before now.

"We got three vans incoming, going to be here in only a few seconds."

Not ideal, but also not as bad as she was expecting. The real question is what type of information Hydra was running with. If they were only thinking the Winter Soldier and a kid he ran away with were here, that is going to be tough to deal with, but not impossible.

"Let's go say hello then," Natasha said before looking at Lani.

It was pretty clear she wasn't going to run away. Lani might have not had the training she had, but it was clear she knew how to kill. And willing to do it in life and death situations at the very least.

"You can either come with us or try hiding," Natasha told Lani, ignoring the look of disbelief she could feel was rolling off Stark.

To her surprise, Lani smiled a little before looking at her with a more blank expression and saying, "I'm coming with."

"Do you have any weapons on you?" Natasha asked, and when Lani shook her head, she pulled out one of her combat knives that would be a good enough size for Lani. "Play it safe, we don't know what they are going to be packing."

"I don't know if I'm more scared you pulled that knife out of nowhere or that you just gave it to a 7 year old."

"Would you rather have her killed?" Natasha asked because Stark needed to start taking this seriously.

Lani made a face before stepping between them and saying, "Hopefully I won't have to use it."

Natasha doesn't think they would be that lucky, but they were wasting enough time. When they got onto the elevator and rode it back to the surface, there were already sounds of a fight. Roger's shield hitting metal and the sound of live rounds that she already knew weren't from Barnes or Clint.

Stark made a show of blasting the doors off, which distracted them enough that Natasha was able to get into close quarters with the people Rogers wasn't trying to behead. It was more people then tried to infiltrate the tower, which isn't a good sign that this was all, but was that there was something here they didn't want to give up. The files that Natasha folded up and stored in her suit are going to have to go straight to Fury.

It didn't take very long to deal with everyone, Clint even stole one of her kills.

"That wasn't so bad," Stark commented the dead or soon to be dead.

Like many secret organizations, they love their cyanide pills. Natasha could stop them, but it's unlikely that they will have any useful information.

"Wait, do you hear that?" Rogers ask, looking up in the northeast.

"Hear what?" Lani asked, appearing from wherever she set up camp.

"Shit, missile incoming. T Minus 5 minutes, and unless anywhere knows where a wormhole I can lead it too is, we need to leave," Stark informed them.

"How far is the quinjet?"

"Just outside the fence. Didn't care about the element of surprise," Clint said as he jumped down from his perch.

It would have been nice to take another look at the place, but no one said anything as they all took off running. Natasha noticed out her peripheral vision that Barnes picked up Lani, who yelped, but that was it.

"I'll give you a head start. My ride is a bit faster anyways," Stark said, head turned to where the missile must be coming from.

Clint went straight to the controls, and Natasha joined him in the co-pilot seat. It was still close enough to over hear Lani's conversation as they made a quick take off.

"Are we going to get out in time?"

It's a far question. Stark neglected to tell them what time of missile was being sent, but if hydra was this desperate to make sure no one got this information, it wasn't going to be small. It was a good thing there was no nearby towns.

"We'll be fine Lani," Rogers said just as Barnes interrupted.

"The shock wave might hit us and there's be some turbulence. Buckle up."

Natasha didn't look back, but the sound of the kid putting it on was obvious. As well as how Rogers and Barnes did not.

"Don't worry, I know how to ride out shockwaves," Clint called back as they took off.

They got high enough that Natasha was able to see the missile fly to the base before falling. Iron Man was ahead of them already, and for a moment it looked like they cleared the blast radius completely.

Then the shockwave hit.

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger. It just felt like a good place to end. I did finally got around to watching Dark World, so now I can figure out how much of that movie I can get Lani to change. We are still a fair bit away, but soon the pace will pick up a little. We are getting close to... not a time skip but moving faster since there isn't too much Lani can do about the infinity stones without Thor.

Thank you everyone who favorited/followed this story, and super thanks to everyone who took the time you leave me a review. Even if I don't repond, I read every single one of them. To the Guest who reviewed on chapter 1, the reason why Lani has yet to mess around with Vibranium with her alchemy is because for her to use alchemy she needs to know something about the chemical make up. Not a lot, just a gen chemistry knowledge, and the more she uses her alchemy, the more she gets a feel of what the chemical make up of an unknown object is. But Vibranium is a Marvel-only element and so Lani doesn't know what it is in terms of protons/neutrons/electrons. She will get there, but it will be a while. Thank you .P for your nice review, Guest on chapter 34 (here is your 2021 update!), Axene, Guest on chapter 7 (well I may or may not have plans for Lani to befriend loki, so some people might count that as befriending a villain), and Guest on chapter 34 who cringed but in a good way.

Also, forgot to put this in at the end of the last few chapters, but I still have a discord where you can see snippets of future chapters, picrew of Lani, and ask me any questions. The code is UgdDa4R.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!