Jack was propped up on one of the beds in the Med-Bay while Dr. Cho finished looking him over. He was bruised from head-to-toe, he had multiple cracked bones, a bad concussion, an insane migraine, and he was pissed as all fuck.
Dr. Cho had been silent the entirety of her check up and Jack knew exactly why. Because his sisters hated him all because he was just trying to do what was right for them. But, just like Danielle, Wanda, Clint, and Sam, Dr. Cho was under Steve's impression that he was Mr. All-Knowing, Captain America, the Man With A Plan. God, he hated him so much right now. But most of all, he hated himself.
He hated himself for not trying hard enough to keep this from happening in the first place. The only reason Wanda and Danielle were siding with Steve was because they thought they knew him better. And why? Just because Jack had been a bit withdrawn recently and hadn't been honest when it came to his feelings about the Rumlow incident with his mother? Or because Jack had tried to do the right thing before by letting Danielle go with their mom? God, what a mistake that was.
"Hey."
Jack snapped out of his thoughts to glance up at the new arrival.
Tony stood in the doorway of his room just as Dr. Cho was leaving. "You look a bit rough," the billionaire remarked.
Jack scoffed. "Yeah. It would've been nice to have some backup a few hours ago," he replied bitterly. "How'd you even get here so fast?"
"I was in the area," Tony answered vaguely as he entered further into the room. "What happened?" He asked in a more genuine tone. The billionaire had only known the younger man for a year now, but he could read the kid like an open book. Probably because he reminded him so much of himself (whether that was a bad thing or not, Tony couldn't decide yet). And right now, Tony could tell something was up. Something had already been bothering Jack since after Lagos and he could tell. "Talk to me," Tony pressed.
Jack let out a heavy sigh, shifting on the bed so his arms were on either side of him as his head was bowed. "Remember when my mom took Danielle, Wanda, and Sharon on that shopping trip in New York?"
Tony blinked in confusion. He wasn't sure why Jack was talking to him about something that happened months ago, but the genius almost laughed at how ironic it was that he was asking about the day Danielle had been saved by Peter when only hours ago Tony was talking with the kid. "Yeah," the billionaire answered despite the confusion.
"Well, a few hours later, I found out that Steve had had Sam and Rhodey watch her, spying on her to make sure she didn't try anything," Jack explained. He shook his head and let out a humorless laugh. "I remember being so pissed and upset that Steve would try to question my own mother's motives... And then I started to see where he was coming from when mom tried to take Danielle away. I love my sister, but watching my Mom try and take her away... I couldn't help but wonder why she would ever want to separate us back then.
"I remember yelling at Steve for not taking any action for trying to get Danielle to stay, but it was too late," Jack recalled as he frowned. "And then... And then Rumlow happened, mom... Mom croaked. And I sat there with my crying sister in my arms feeling so helpless. I tried to do the right thing then when I wanted to fight for her to stay, but not just because I thought my mom was doing something wrong, but because I couldn't let her go. I wanted her to stay for me, not for herself. And, I think that's why I let her go in the end.
"And now with this," Jack said, gesturing to everything around him vaguely. Tony took he meant the situation they were in as a whole. "The Accords is a way to keep Danielle safe, but it comes with some repercussions. Her privacy for one may be compromised, something I strongly disagree with. And then, the fact that she would technically be working for the government... I hate the idea, but I hate the thought of Danielle in prison a lot more than I hate her being an active Avenger," Jack explained. "So, I'm making the decision to support these Accords and agree with them for her benefit, not mine. And now... It all just feels wrong."
Tony let out a heavy sigh, setting a hand on the younger man's shoulder in comfort. "This isn't like the incident with your mother Jack," he told him. "You weren't sure what the right thing was then, but you know what it is now. You know what's best for Danielle, even if she doesn't. Same thing with Steve.
"We just need to stop them so we can work this all out," the billionaire stated.
Jack nodded. "How are we gonna do that?"
"Well, Natasha found us a lead. Apparently, Danielle's caretaker spilt the beans on where they were headed: Leipzig, Germany for a trip up to Siberia," Tony explained.
"What's in Siberia?" Jack wondered aloud.
"An escape for Barnes? A vacation home? A sanctuary for old men that look like they're twenty? I don't know," Tony replied sassily. "What I do know is that we have less than..." he checked his wrist where a watch would normally be, only to stare at his naked arm for a moment. "... eighteen hours left to bring them in. So, you and Vision take some time to power back up, heal, rest. Then take the jet to meet us at the airport in Leipzeg. I'll call you when I get there." Tony began to rise from his seat, moving towards the door to leave when Jack called out for him.
"Hey, Tony." The genius spun around to face the kid. "It's us against two super soldiers, Sam, Wanda, Clint, and possibly my sister, right?" Tony nodded. "How are you planning on stopping them with just you, Rhodey, Nat, a broken android, and me? Didn't you say you had someone to recruit?"
"Yeah," Tony replied a smug smile. "You'll meet them in Germany. I have a feeling you might like them." And with that, the billionaire left, leaving Jack sore and still extremely confused.
—
It was safe to say Danielle was letting everything affect her when it wasn't supposed to. She was trying to stay strong, but it seemed like everything just kept piling on. First it was losing Peter as a friend, then it was Lagos, Rumlow, the Accords, her brother's behavior, finding out Rumlow hadn't killed her mom, Vienna, Berlin, Ross, the doctor knowing who she was, Tony and Jack acting as though she was some pawn, and now Steve setting her to the side when she just wanted to help.
She wanted to cry so badly, lying curled up in a ball on the motel bed. She wanted to go outside, fall to her knees, and scream. She just wanted to let go for a moment and release all those bottled up emotions she had raging a war against herself within her mind. But, she couldn't. She had to remain strong and composed. She couldn't crack under any circumstance because then it just proved to everyone around her that she was exactly what they perceived her to be: a weak teenage girl. She wasn't, she was better than that, and she would prove it by holding it all in to the point that it hurt even more.
"Hey," Danielle jolted upright from the sudden closeness of this new voice beside her to find it was Steve who was sitting at the corner of the bed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to... wake you up."
Danielle shook her head. "I wasn't asleep," she explained simply. "I can't."
Steve frowned. "Danielle, I didn't mean to get angry with you-"
"You just want to keep me safe," she finished for him.
Steve nodded. "Exactly. And sometimes you can be a bit stubborn when it comes to putting yourself in danger for the greater good. Trust me, I know. I was a lot like you once."
"You mean when you tried to enlist in the army and they kept telling you no because you were too little?" The brunette asked with an amused smirk. It was funny to imagine someone telling Steve he couldn't fight because he was too small, knowing the man who sat before her now who was enormous.
Steve chuckled. "Yep. Too small and too sickly to fight for my country."
"Now look at you," Sam chimed in from where he laid out on the couch. "Too big and too burly to even catch so much as a common cold." Danielle laughed while Steve could only roll his eyes and smile.
"My point is," Steve started back where he left off. "I understand you want to do what's right and help us fight against the doctor, but Dani, you're fourteen. You're barely a freshman in high school and haven't experienced the world. The last thing I want is for you to get hurt and never get to live the rest of your life."
Danielle bowed her head, mindlessly playing with the loose strands of yarn on the ends of her cardigan sleeves. "But... what if I had to fight? What if my safety depended on whether or not the doctor in Siberia was stopped?"
Steve furrowed his eyebrows at the same time Sam began to sit up in his seat on the couch. Even Bucky, who had been standing vigil at the motel room window, tuned in to the conversation. "What do you mean?"
The girl finally glanced up to meet Steve's eyes. Now was as good a time as ever to come clean, wasn't it? If she couldn't tell Jack or anyone else about the doctor knowing about her and her mother and the USB, Steve as as good as anyone to tell. "I... When..." Danielle took a deep breath in before starting again. "Remember when I showed up in Lagos? You guys hadn't told me where you'd gone and when you guys asked me how I even knew where to find you, I told you Vision and Rhodey told me?"
Steve and Sam exchanged confused looks, but the soldier nodded nonetheless. "Yes, I remember that."
"I... I lied," she stated. "I found out where you guys were going to be by using Rumlow's targets' locations."
"How'd you get his targets?" Sam asked.
Danielle looked between him, Bucky, and Steve before finally turning to the soldier with wide, pleading eyes. "Please don't be mad at me."
Steve gave her an uneasy glance. What was she hiding?
Danielle then slowly reached into the pocket of her cardigan and pulled out a USB drive. It was silver with blue lights coming out of it when she popped the actually insertion piece out of it.
"A hard drive?" Sam asked in confusion. Danielle nodded. "How'd you find Rumlow's targets on that thing?"
"It doesn't just have Rumlow's information on it..." Danielle explained timidly. "It has everything on it."
Steve narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean 'everything', Danielle?"
"As in... Everything everything," she stated. "All the names of HYDRA operatives: field agents, tech support, low-grade weapons dealers, high-class politicians and world leaders. Assets, targets, shipment deals, files on all the people they've taken out so far, dates, names, everything. It's on here." Danielle held up the tiny hard drive that held all the information on it.
Steve, Sam, and Bucky all looked a her with wide-eyes, unsure whether or not to be horrified or ecstatic that she had all this dangerous information in the palm of her hands, literally.
"Where... How did you get that?" Bucky asked, finally breaking the silence.
"My Mom," Danielle answered.
Steve furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "She gave it to you before she...?" he trailed off.
Dani shook her head. "I found it. Back at the house in Rhode Island. I went back to see if maybe she might've left anything to help us find Rumlow, and it turns out she did. A whole forty-one page file on him stored in here along with about four-hundred other files like his," she explained. "She'd been gathering information about HYDRA for years apparently. The first file added on the drive was Rumlow's... the second was my Dad's."
"Why didn't you tell anyone, Danielle?" Steve asked. "You have to understand how much that hard drive could mean. How dangerous it can be in the wrong hands."
"Which is why I didn't tell anyone," she exclaimed. "Natasha told me once to never trust anyone unless you've seen their true colors. And, after the Accords ordeal, I saw the person I trusted most's true colors and I wasn't sure what to do... So, I kept it to myself," she explained. "But, now, I can't. Because someone already knows about this drive..."
Steve's eyes widened and his jaw clenched. "The doctor," he guessed. Dani nodded.
"That was what he was talking to you about before I ran after him?" Sam asked. Danielle nodded again, not paying attention to the pointed look Steve gave the pilot for withholding the information from him.
"He, uh... He also knows about me," Dani added, barely above a whisper.
"He knows... about Eris?" Steve asked. She nodded. The soldier let out a heavy sigh. It all just kept piling on.
"It's another reason why I wanted to go to Siberia," she explained in a soft voice. "Not only to prove myself, but because if I don't help stop the doctor, he could tell anyone who I am– if he hasn't already."
Steve clenched his jaw at the thought of both Danielle going to Siberia as well as the doctor exposing the young girl to the world. He wanted her to be safe in every way possible, but there was a chance he couldn't do that with the doctor still free.
"Steve," Dani brought the soldier's attention back to her. "I have to help. Please."
Steve sighed as he looked at her big beady, brown eyes. It was always hard to say no to those, but another factor that led him up to his answer was the fact that he knew her. She would just keep fighting and finding ways to sneak over to Siberia if he said no. But, if he said she could come, she wouldn't start plotting to sneak over and he'd have a chance to stop her before she even stepped foot on the plane.
He wasn't sure if it was a good plan or where she would end up if he left her at the airport, but he knew that wherever she'd be, she'd be safe and away from Siberia, the doctor, and those Winter Soldiers. And that was a better option in his eyes.
"Alright," the soldier finally relented – much to Danielle, Sam, and Bucky's surprise. "You can go. But, I have conditions." Danielle, who was still shell-shocked from his decision t allow her to go, nodded frantically while biting her lip to refrain from smiling in victory. "You stay out of the line of fire, only helping unless absolutely necessary. Also, do not make risky moves– you'll know what I'm talking about. And finally, do not run off and go against someone on your own. Understood?"
Danielle nodded. "Yes, sir," she replied.
"Okay. Then lets get going because the sun's starting to come up and Clint messaged me earlier saying he and Wanda were a few miles out." Steve smiled as he watched Danielle enthusiastically jump from off the bed and run to where her bag was to start packing for their trip to Siberia. He caught sight of Sam jumping from off the couch, eyeing him curiously, obviously confused by the Captain's decision. But the calmness on Steve's face must've fold him that there was a catch to letting Danielle go. "I'll explain later," Steve mouthed to the pilot simply before beginning to pack himself.
While everyone was packing – mostly Danielle due to the fact she seemed to be the only one with a small bag in hand carrying some food, drink, and her mask she had snuck through security by wearing it as a bracelet of sorts – the teenager quickly shoved the USB drive into a small slit on the side of her mask. She hoped that it wouldn't be found in there in case things got a bit hairy.
Once everyone was ready to go, they all walked out to the car.
"Sharon was right," Danielle remarked as she stood on the curb beside the little Beetle. Steve turned around to face her as she continued, "You really don't understand the concept of a getaway car."
Sam broke out into laughter while Bucky was too busy watching every angle around them to be sure no one was watching. Paranoid, obviously, Danielle noted. She wondered if the super soldier knew who she was, who her mother was. He trained her after all. Did he even remember her? Either way, it wasn't important right now.
After leaving the motel, it wasn't long before the tiny blue Volkswagen Beetle arrived at the Leipzig Airport a few miles away.
Danielle practically had her face pressed against the window the entirety of the ride over. She was frantically searching for any sign of Wanda and Clint as Steve drove the tiny car int the parking garage. Dani thought the ride would last forever until the Beetle finally made it way to the second-to-last floor of the parking garage, passing by a singular white van before parking a few yards away.
As soon as the car stopped, Danielle was already unbuckling her seatbelt.
Finally, just as Steve got out of the car an pulled his seat forward, Danielle jumped out and ran towards the familiar brunette climbing out of the passenger's seat of the van a few yards away. "Wanda," she cried just as she attacked the older telepath in a bear hug.
Wanda let out a huff of air at the impact, but smiled nonetheless as she returned the rig embrace. The young woman didn't remember the last time she'd seen her little sister, let alone the last time she got to hug her like this. Wanda could feel the tears starting to prick at the corners of her eyes just thinking about being away from Danielle and having to fight Jack, the small burns from their fight lingering on her lower arms still.
Wanda slowly pulled away frm the little girl to get a good look at her face to make sure she was unharmed. She let out a heavy sigh when she found that there was nothing wrong aside from the tears in her soft brown eyes as well. The telepath chuckled. They were both alike when it came to these heartfelt reunions or sappy romance movies or even in books where dogs died. They could always count on each other to cry with one another.
"The waterworks coming on already?"
Both girls turned their heads to see none other than Clint Barton making his way around the side if the van with his signature smirk.
Danielle laughed through her sniffles. "Hi, Clint."
"Hey, kiddo. How's your chicken?"
Danielle smiled fondly at the archer's question, still remembering the day she had been given a little chick for her birthday months ago. "Quintin's with Cho back at the Compound," she answered. "He likes pretzels and pillow forts."
Clint chuckled before turning back to Steve who was walking towards him. "Cap," he greeted as he extended a hand towards the soldier.
Steve took it as he shook the archer's hand firmly. "You know I wouldn't have called if I had any other choice."
"Hey man, you're doing me a favor," Clint dismissed after releasing Steve's hand to momentarily glance back at Wanda with a knowing smile. "Besides, I owe a debt." Danielle and Wanda exchanged knowing glances as well, a small unspoken conversation in remembrance of their fallen brother, Pietro, exchanged before they were brought back to the present conversation again. Though, Dani couldn't help but wonder what Pietro would've thought about all this nonsense. Probably something quipp-y and light-hearted to make her, Wanda, and Jack laugh. She missed him, and she knew Wanda and Jack did too.
Steve then turned his glance to Wanda. "Thanks for having my back."
Wanda nodded as she squeezed Danielle's shoulders some more. "It was time to get off my ass," she said simply, glancing at Clint. Danielle giggled from beside her sister.
"How about our other recruit?" Steve asked Clint, prompting Danielle to furrow her eyebrows in confusion.
The teenager looked to her older sister and whispered, "We have a new Avenger?"
Wanda chuckled. "Just wait till you meet him," she replied before both girls turned back to Clint making his way towards the van's side door.
"He's rarin' to go. Had to put a little coffee in him, but-" the archer paused as he pulled open the door to reveal a resting man sprawled out along the van's backseat. Once the door stopped with a loud thunk, he jerked awake. Danielle snickered into Wanda's side. "-he should be good."
Oh, right. Danielle now remembered Sam saying something about calling in his 'buddy'. This must've been who he was talking about. Hmm. She wouldn't have thought Sam's friends would've been so... jumpy? Was that the word she was looking for. Or maybe just... normal? Yeah, that was it.
He seemed incredibly normal and human as he pulled himself up out of the van and grimaced at the brightness of the natural sunlight around him. "What timezone is this?" He asked as he stumbled up and out of the van.
"Come on," Clint said simply as he shut the van door. The man glanced back at him in confusion before Clint pushed him forward towards Steve. "Come on," he repeated himself, gesturing towards the soldier nearby.
Just then, Danielle watched as the man's eyes landed on Steve and he instantly became very much awake and... bright. His eyes widened as he took a step toward the Captain. THE Captain. As in Captain freakin' America. Holy shit!
That's when the man finally noticed the Captain's extended hand. He took it immediately and began shaking it vigorously and enthusiastically. "Ca-Captain America," he said breathlessly in awe and shock. Or maybe a mixture of both, Danielle mused as she watched the interaction in amusement.
"Mr. Lang," Steve greeted him with a bit of a strained voice. Danielle could tell he was obviously taken aback by his enthusiasm. Or what Danielle now knew it as: fanboy-ing. She recognized it like she did when Ned or Peter got to talking about the Avengers or Stat Wars. Or when Liz and Betty got started on talking about the Bachelor guys from those shows. Or even when Michelle talked about historical figures in history or modernist poets Danielle had never heard about. Fangirl(and boy)-ing.
"It's an honor," 'Mr. Lang' said with a large smile. It was at that moment he finally glance down at their shaking hands and said aloud, "I'm shaking your hand too long." He finally let go of Steve's hand.
"Wow. This is awesome," he exclaimed before turning back towards Wanda, Clint, and Danielle with a look of awe. "Captain America," he said, gesturing to Steve. "I know you, too. You're great," he told Wanda with a smile before turning back to Steve and looking at him up and down as if he were checking him out. And as if he were apart of a comic, sent to purposefully make Danielle laugh harder than she already was, he reached out and grabbed hold of Steve's biceps and arms in amazement. "Geez," he muttered in amazement before letting go of Steve. Danielle's snorting was barely being contained by Wanda pinching her sister's arm to keep her quiet.
"Look," Lang continued. "I wanted to say, I know you know a lot of super people, so... Thinks for thanking of me." Danielle couldn't surprise the loud snort that erupted from her mouth this time. Wanda having to suppress a laugh of her own as she held onto Danielle's arms, quickly clamping a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet.
Steve smiled and nodded, trying not to laugh at Danielle's reaction alone just as Lang's attention turned to Sam who was standing beside the super soldier, looking clearly amused by the interaction.
Lang waved at the pilot. "Hey, man."
"What's up, Tic-Tac," Sam greeted with a simple jerk of his head. Tic-Tac. That was a curious nickname, Danielle thought to herself as she sobered up from her laughing fest.
"Uh, good to see you," he replied before hesitating. "Look, what happened last time when I-"
Sam quickly cut him off with a laugh. "It was a great audition, but it'll- it'll never happen again."
Danielle tilted her head slightly as she turned to Wanda. "What happened last time?" She asked.
"Ssh, little one," Wanda whispered back. "I'll explain later." Danielle, satisfied with her answer, turned back to the conversation at hand.
"Did they tell you what we're up against?" Steve asked Lang.
"Something about some... psycho-assassins," he replied, not sounding too scared, more confused if anything.
Steve nodded slightly in confirmation. "We're outside the law on this one. So if you come with us you're a wanted man," the Captain explained.
Lang shrugged. "Yeah, well, what else is new?" He asked nonchalantly.
Danielle smiled. "I like him," she whispered to Wanda.
Just then, Lang turned around to find the voice who had spoken, his eyes widened in horror when he discovered it was a little girl. "Uh... What's a kid doing here?" He asked.
"She's with us," Sam explained vaguely.
"Yeah, no, I get that. What I mean is, why? What special powers do you have that make a ten year old so special?"
Danielle frowned slightly. "I'm fourteen..." she mumbled.
"She... She's an asset to the team. She'll be going to Siberia as back up," Steve explained simply, not going into too much detail about who Danielle really was. Enough people knew about her identity than he was already comfortable with. It was better if he just left it at that.
"We should get moving," Bucky chimed in from where he stayed standing behind the Beetle, farther away and isolated like he had been since Danielle met him. That's what he seemed to do to him self: isolate himself. Whether that be just because he was a giant introvert or just because he was afraid of hurting anyone, she wasn't too sure. But, she had a good idea considering the one real conversation she had with him he seemed friendly, so she could only assume it was for other people's safety- according to him.
"I got a chopper lined up," Clint exclaimed.
Just then, an alarm began to blare. Bright yellow lights on the pillars surrounding the parking garage began to light up as a voice erupted from the speakers speaking in fluent German, words Danielle couldn't decipher. She looked up at Wanda in confusion, trying to see if maybe she understood what they were saying. Thankfully, Bucky apparently did. "They're evacuating the airport," he translated.
Sam frowned slightly as he turned to Steve. "Stark," he said simply.
"Stark?" Lang asked in confusion.
Danielle's chest clenched. If Tony was here, her brother couldn't have been too far behind. How had they even found them? Was she going to have to fight her brother? Tony? Natasha? She hoped it was none of the above, but it didn't see, to be that way when Steve glanced among the entirety of his tea and commanded, "Suit up."
Then they were off. Steve, Sam, and Bucky were beginning to grab their things out of the trunk, Danielle peeling herself away from Wanda to go collect her mask from out of her bag stuffed in the trunk along with the trio of men's gear.
Danielle pulled out the small gold mask and turned it around in her hands. It was a bit rough. It had a few patches where she'd had to sew it back up after nights in the town as Eris, a few blood stains that were too stubborn to come out, and it smelt of smoke and ash. She really needed an upgrade...
"Where's your suit?" Wanda asked, approaching fully dressed in her Scarlet Witch suit.
Danielle frowned slightly as she held up her mask. "I was only able to sneak my mask past security. I didn't really want to risk packing my suit in case TSA decided to search my bag," she explained and shrugged. "But, it's okay. I can just make do with my hoodie, skirt, and... Vans." Yeah, this was gonna work out great for her.
Wanda scoffed. "Well, it's a good thing I brought a gift for you from the Compound, now isn't it?"
Danielle glanced up at her sister in confusion just as Wanda pulled out two navy blue objects. One looked like an earpiece with a little hook to latch into the back of her ear and a large button in the middle. The second was a large object that seemed to latch onto her abdomen with a large button in the middle as well.
"Jack may have been working on a suit of yours ever since you'd been going out as Eris at night. He wanted to make sure you were safe even when he couldn't be there for you." Danielle's chest constricted at the thought of her brother doing something so nice after all he had been doing to her recently. The telepath held out the objects to her. "Go on. Try them out."
Danielle took them. Taking the bigger object and placing it on her abdomen. It stuck instantly with a small mechanical buzzing noise. Danielle glanced up at Wanda who only nodded in encouragement. Without another second thought, Danielle pressed onto the button in the middle.
Just then, an array of navy blue and good came spiraling out from beneath the button, spreading out across her body, wrapping around her stomach, going down her back to her legs, encasing her feet with large clunky boots, placing protective pads on her knees and a chest plate over her chest. The armor continued to wrap around her by going over her shoulders and down the expansion of her arms, stopping at the palms of her hands, creating fingerless gloves and pads over her elbows.
When it was done, all the lining began to glow bright gold. It was just like her old suit, but better. Danielle smiled. She felt like she was being given a nice, tight hug all around her body. And it was super comfortable. She lifted her knee and stretched out her arms. Comfy, too.
"How do you like it?" Wanda asked expectantly.
Danielle giggled in excitement at the thrill of it all. "It's comfy," she answered simply.
"Ooh. Try on the mask," her sister encouraged.
Danielle furrowed her eyebrows. "Mask? What..." Her eyes then trailed to the small earpiece in her hand with the button on it. "Oh."
The teenager slowly raised the earpiece into place, pulling her brown locks of hair our of the way before pressing the button. Soon, everything below her eyes, stopping at where her suit began at her collarbone, was covered in a chrome-gold-plated mask. She laughed at how cool it felt. It was way more comfortable then having that piece of fabric brushing against her face all the time and it even gave her better airways.
"That's... awesome," Lang said in amazement from where he stood beside the van, dressed in his suit it seemed. A red and silver suit that looked a bit... odd. "Wait, you're... You're that girl from-from Sokovia. You lifted the meteor!" He exclaimed in realization.
Danielle pressed the button on her earpiece to reveal her grimace from beneath the mask that instantly retracted. "Yeah... I'm, uh, I'm Eris," she explained simply. It felt weird telling that major secret to anyone, especially a somewhat stranger. It didn't feel big or garland like she imagined, probably because he didn't know her and was somewhat like her. Enhanced, that was.
"Holy crap! My daughter loves you! You're like her freaking role model," Lang stated excitedly. Danielle couldn't help but smile and blush. She couldn't have imagined anyone ever seeing her as a hero let alone a role model. "I'm Scott, by the way," he said with a wave.
"I'm Danielle," she replied.
"Wow," Scott breathed in amazement. "I can't wait to tell my daughter about all this."
"You have a daughter?" Wanda asked with a soft smile.
"Yeah," Scott nodded. "Her name's Cassie. She's pretty stoked about me being a super-hero and all."
"She should be proud," Clint said as he walked over with his bow hand and his suit already on. "Her dad gets to help save the world from crazy super-assassins. Nice suit, Dani."
"Thanks," she replied, quickly walking back to the trunk to pull the drive from her old mask and sticking it in a compact pouch on her new suit's hip. It was practically invisible.
"You sure it's going to be safe in there?"
Danielle jumped and spun around to find Bucky standing behind her.
He gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry. Didn't mean to spook ya."
She shook her head and gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm- I'm fine."
There was a small pause between the two before Bucky gestured to the place Danielle had his the drive. "You should keep that safe," he remarked. "There's a lot of valuable things on that drive. Things some people would kill for."
A shudder ran down Danielle's spine, but she held her ground by nodding firmly and replying, "I know."
"Have you looked through it?" He asked. "The drive, I mean. The files."
Danielle shrugged. "Some of it. Skimmed through, really." Bucky nodded, looking off into the distance as if scanning the area. Danielle could tell something was on his mind. "There's a file on you. If-If you were wondering."
"Oh," Bucky replied simply. There was another awkward moment of silence before the super soldier spoke again. "Is there... How much? How much about me is on there?"
"I- I don't really know," she answered honestly. "A couple dozen pages or so. I didn't really get a good look to know for sure, but-"
"It's fine," the ex-assassin assured her. Danielle nodded as they fell into another awkward silence. She could tell they were more alike than they knew. Too awkward and damaged for their own good to speak about the elephant in the room– or rather, parking garage.
Just as Danielle was about to shut the trunk and go back to talking with Wanda, Scott, and Clint, Bucky spoke again. This time with more emotion and less hesitance like he had the first few times. "I knew your mother." Danielle felt her breath catch in her throat as she turned back to face him questioningly. "I don't know if you read that on my file, but I trained her."
"I know," Danielle said timidly. "I-I didn't read it on the file, though. She told Steve a long time ago."
Bucky nodded. "I'm sorry about your loss. She, uh, she was a strong woman. I didn't know she had kids when I first met her. Even if I did, I don't think it would've mattered. My mind... It wasn't right."
Danielle nodded. "Steve told me. He... He told me HYDRA did bad things to you, too. They experimented on me and my siblings when we were younger. Gave us these powers... I'm- I'm not saying its the same thing you went through. I'm sure being used to kill people for decades is a lot worse- I mean– uh, sorry. I didn't mean-" She began to stammer and fumble on her words when Bucky began to chuckle.
"It's fine. I get it," he told her reassuringly. "We're both damaged ex-HYDRA experiments gone rogue, huh?" Danielle chuckled nervously, but nodded in agreement. "You remind me a lot of your mom. She always fumbled on her words when she first met me. Always trying to ask me questions about who I was and what I did and why I didn't talk that much." That made Danielle laugh. It sounded a lot like her kindred-spirited mother she knew before HYDRA got ahold of her. It was hard to imagine that the nice man in front of her had any part in that.
"She also used to hum a lot during training, even singing and dancing when she thought no one was looking," he recalled with a fond smile. "And there was always this one song. Gosh, I forgot the name of it... But I remember coming out of cryo – where they kept me in between assignments – and having that stupid song stuck in my head. She explained to me it was from some Disney movie, but I never knew what she was talking about-"
"A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes?" Danielle asked hesitantly.
"Yeah... I think so."
Danielle smiled. "That was the song she used to sing me when she tucked me in at night," she recalled. The soft sounds of her mother's voice filling her eyes as she drifted off into a steady slumber each night. She even remembered the last night hearing it when her mother first began to stay at the Compound with her and Jack. She didn't realize it until recently just how much she truly missed her.
Bucky gave the girl a sad smile. He understood what it felt like to have everything ripped away by HYDRA. From his free will, to his memories, to his humanity. And he could see that despite still being one sweet kid, this girl was obviously ripped from something. And that something was her own mother. A woman Bucky was quite fond of during his short time training her. She was strong, stead fast, and put up quite a fight when it came to being obedient to her handlers. He even remembered images and flashes of memories of her punching a few handlers at one point. If that woman was a strong handful, he could imagine her kids were just the same, maybe even more so.
"Steve tells me you helped save the world a year ago," Bucky exclaimed, bringing Danielle back to the present. "I'm sure your mother would be proud of all that you've done."
Danielle gave him a sad smile and nodded. "She was."
"Hey, are we even sure all of us are gonna fit on that one helicopter?" Scott Lang asked out loud, prompting everyone to turn back to him. Bucky and Danielle's conversation set aside as they both walked over to the forming group in between the two cars. "What's the plan again? Do we even have a plan?" Scott continued to ask questions frantically. Danielle figured it was from the nerves. She was a bit nervous as well.
"What's our plan, Cap?" Clint asked Steve as him and Sam approached in their full gear, shield and Falcon pack on hand (or in Sam's case, on-back).
"Alright," Steve began. "We know Tony's bringing it his all. Meaning, he's already called in Rhodey without a doubt, Natasha will most likely be joining him, Vision, and Jack." Steve gave Wanda and Danielle questionable glanced. "You sure you'll be okay with that?"
Danielle and Wanda exchanged looks before Wanda turned back to the Captain. "If it comes to it, I can handle our brother."
Steve nodded, but turned to Danielle for confirmation. "Danielle?"
The teenage girl nodded. "I'm okay," she told him. Her voice strained a bit, but not enough to cause him worry as he continued.
"Our strongest asset is Wanda. Meaning, Tony will most likely be heading to get you out of the field first. So, you and Clint will stay here while I head in first to assess the environment, see if I can maybe try and talk to him."
"That's a pretty big 'maybe'," Sam commented with a doubtful look on his face.
"Yeah, well we have to try," Steve replied. "Lang, you're my backup. Stay hidden if you can."
Scott modded eagerly. "Aye, aye, Captain," he said with a mock-salute and a bright smile. Danielle wondered what he meant by 'staying hidden'. Could he turn invisible or something? If so, what was with the name 'Tic-Tac'? The mystery was just scratching her brain for any answers as to what was so special about Scott and his weird suit.
"And Sam, Bucky, you're in the terminal," Steve continued with his plan. "As much as Tony will be trying to stop us, he's here to bring in you most of all-" he told Bucky with a serious tone. "The airport will be evacuated, try spotting the Quinjet Tony most likely brought here. Like Scott said, we won't all fit in that chopper, but it's a last resort if we need it. Stay out of the fight, stay hidden," he told Sam and Bucky. "Danielle, you stay with them. Remember what we we talked about?"
Stay out of the main fight, don't take risky moves, don't take anyone in by yourself – she recalled his conditions to going with them to Siberia and nodded in confirmation.
"Okay," Steve sighed. "Everyone have their comms?"
Everyone moved to adjust the small devices in their ears while Danielle moved to turn here on with the press of the second button beneath the one that extracted her mask. It beeped to life and she could hear the small static on the other end.
"Alright," the Captain nodded as he looked amongst his teams. "Clint, Wanda, stay here. Danielle," he turned to the teenage girl. "You think you could do what you did with Natasha back in Lagos and get Bucky, Sam, and yourself to the terminal downstairs?"
Danielle pursed her lips. "I'm not sure..."
Steve gave her a smile of assurance. "I have faith in you."
Danielle nodded, turning to Sam and Bucky with outstretched hands. "Please, try and stay as still as possible," she requested of the two very stressed out men. Sam looked fearful while Bucky just looked straight up confused as they both took each of her hands in their own. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the terminal she remembered seeing in the drive inside the parking garage. Concentrate on that, she told herself. Just concentrate. Take a deep breath, and... release.
When Danielle opened her eyes again, the trio were no longer in the parking garage. Instead, they were all standing in the middle of the empty terminal, the glass walls overlooking the empty stretch of concrete where the planes took-off and landed. The sterile smell of white tiled floors and emptiness all around reminded her of school and she suddenly realized: she'd done it. She had actually teleported more than one person. And not one, not two, but three people – including herself! She smiled and let out a small laugh of disbelief.
Meanwhile, Sam and Bucky were still trying to wrap their head around it. Sam looked like he was a bit dizzy. "I need to lie down after that," he remarked as he leaned against a large silver pole in the middle of the terminal.
Bucky looked wide-eyed as he took in deep breaths as if he were about to puke everywhere. "Me too," he muttered in agreement.
"Bucky, Sam, Eris," Steve's voice broke through the comms in Danielle's ear. "Did you make it to the terminal?"
Danielle chuckled at the other two men's inability to speak as they were still recovering from the teleporting. She answered on their behaves. "Yeah. We made it," she said, pressing the smaller button on her earpiece.
"Bucky? Sam?" Steve called back.
"Uh, they're still a bit... in shock from teleporting from one place to another still," Danielle explained with a grimace while both men tried to refrain from puking out their brains or passing out.
"We're fine!" Sam called out as he rose from off the pillar.
"We're alright, Steve," Bucky added as he cleared his throat.
"Okay. Well, we're getting in positions. Sam, look out for that Quinjet," the Captain ordered.
"Copy that," Sam replied.
Danielle followed both men as they walked towards the large window of the terminal, overlooking the rest of the airport through the glass. Sam raised his wristband while the trio kneeled down to stay out of view. He began to press a few buttons when Danielle caught sight of the small drone Jack had installed to Sam's suit darted by the terminal window. He must've let it loose back when they were in the parking garage.
"Here we go," Bucky shifted on his knees so he could see Steve running out the parking garage better from where they sat.
Danielle watched as the Captain dashed towards the helicopter when it suddenly began to spark once a small gadget hit the area just below the helicopter blades, short wiring the engine. Well, there went the helicopter back-up plan.
Soon after the helicopter was blown out, Steve looked up in the sky just as the Ironman suit came landing a few yards in front of him, followed by Rhodey's War Machine armor.
"Wow. It's so weird how you meet people at the airport," Danielle heard Tony speak through Steve's open comm as his Ironman helmet retracted to reveal his bruised and beaten face. She wondered who he had gotten into a fight with. Her mind trailed back to when she had seen him last in the office at the Joint Task Force building just after the doctor had somehow hypnotized Bucky and released the Winter Soldier... Danielle's eyes briefly glanced at Bucky before turning back to the scene down below. "Don't you think it's weird?" Tony asked Rhodey over his shoulder.
"Definitely weird," the Colonel agreed flatly.
"Hear me out, Tony," Steve spoke up, disregarding the pleasantries and trying to go straight into his plan of getting Tony on their side. Here came that 'big maybe' Sam was talking about. "That doctor, the psychiatrist; he's behind all of this."
"Heads up," Bucky remarked just as a new figure out of Danielle's peripheral vision jumped over a few objects, landing with grace. She realized it had been that dark figure that had been chasing after Steve and Bucky during that chase in Bucharest.
"Captain," Danielle barely made out the smooth-accented voice from beneath the mask of that... cool looking, black-suited guy. She had to admit, he may have been on the opposite team but his suit did look quite intriguing and... cat like.
Steve bowed his head slightly as he greeted, "Your Highness."
"Anyway," Tony cut back into the conversation, grabbing Cap's attention back. "Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in. That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?"
"You're after the wrong guy," Steve answered back flatly, clearly not buying into Tony's little game of trying to go out the easy way. Clearly, Tony wasn't going to join his side but he could at least try and talk him into letting them to and stop the doctor without having this end in a fight. Another big 'maybe' that was worth a shot.
That idea was completely shot down down, however, when Tony snapped back, "Your judgement is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday-"
"And there are five more super soldiers just like him," Steve cut him off forcefully. "I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony. I can't." And he was back to Plan C of trying to get agony to let them go rather join or stop them.
Just then, another new figure crept into view for Danielle. A redhead.
"Steve," Natasha's cool and soothing voice caught the soldier's attention. He spun around to face her and she gave him a pointed look. "You know what's about to happen. Do you really want punch your way out of this one?" That one got the Captain thinking. Did he? No, not in the slightest. His friends and his team were on the line when it came to this fight, and the last thing he wanted to do was fight his friends, his family, or put any one of them in danger. But he also didn't want them to be out into danger or at risk, like Danielle, if they stood down and let the doctor go. So, where did that leave him?
"Alright. I've run out of patience," Danielle heard Tony say, breaking into whatever moment Steve and Natasha were having. "Underoos!"
Danielle scrunched her nose. As in... the old underwear brand, Underoos? What was Tony-
Her thoughts were instantly cut off when she caught sight of a figure in red and blue jumping above Steve's head. A familiar thwip-ing sound came through the comms as the figure seemed to shoot something on Steve's shield, yanking it from his hands and replacing it with some sort of restraint around his wrists before landing agilely on the small cart thing a few yard away. Danielle's breath caught in her throat as she recognized the unmistakable red and white suit with the wide white eyes on the mask and the spider emblem... No...
"Oh my God," Danielle breathed in shock. "I know him."
—
A/N: Cliffhanger! Mwhahahahahhaha. Guys, I just got finished writing the rest of the airport scene, and let me just tell you... Oof. My fingers hurt from the amount of typing I did with that. Spoiler: it is the longest chapter I've ever written. Probably won't be tho when we hit the Infinity/Endgame arc, so, kee that in mind. It is still an important chap tho. Let me know what you think about this one tho!
Chapter Song: Revolution (Stripped Version) by The Score and Sound Off The Sirens (Alternate Version) by Sam Tinnesz. [I swear, I'm just obsessed with these artists for no reason, I just love them so much.]
Reviews:
Avalongirl55: Thank you! Glad you're enjoying it! Hope you like this chap!
amrawo: Well, here is the next fix. Enjoy!
Guest: Yay! Hope you enjoy this one!
Incorrect Quote of the Chapter:
Steve: What's the most illegal thing you've done?
Scott: Stealing.
Bucky: I was turned into a murderous assassin.
Danielle: Uh... I once illegally downloaded the Glee cover of Somebody To Love...
