Natasha Romanoff had her gun raised as she carefully tread along the edge of the brick building she was investigating in southern New Jersey. She pulled a pin out of her belt and began to pick the lock of the doctor's office, looking over her shoulder before pushing open the door.
"I'm in."
"I've got eyes on the doctor. He's in the southwest wing, keep north of that." Sam warned from his perch on the opposite building. He scanned from the doctor to where Spiderman climbed up the side of the wall, waiting for the cue to enter the building.
Natasha took the stairs quietly, arriving on the third floor in recond time to open up the window for Parker to enter. His mask faded into his suit, and he turned to Natasha, giving her a thankful nod. "Thanks Nat."
"Anytime. You take to the ceiling. I'll take to the basement. Keep your guard up." Natasha carefully made her way back down the stairs as Peter shot a web at the ceiling and pulled himself up, beginning to crawl upside down to get information about the increasing number of disappearances on the East Coast.
While Natasha snooped in the basement, Spiderman dared to enter the vent system in the room the doctor continued to work in. He silently crept above the doctor, the eyes of his suit zooming in to watch and record the doctor work as he chattered away on speakerphone.
"Listen, I've got the cyanide perfected, but it's not helping with the recruitment process. We've only got about two-hundred followers as of now, and that's not good enough for what the Boss has planned. I'm working on a mind control pill. Like a... a more long term roofie. I think it'll be more helpful in gaining traction if we stop giving people a choice... I know the authorities are on to us... it'll be worth it- I promise."
Peter shifted, and his foot slipped, slamming into the side of the vent. He hissed silently and gathered his composure, his eyes narrowing in on the doctor as the man turned to look up at the ceiling. He smiled as he squinted at the vent. "I gotta let you go. It seems the authorities have arrived."
The twenty-year-old Spiderman went scrambling through the ventilation system, trying to contact the other Avengers, "You guys, we have a problem!"
"Romanoff, the doctor's on the move, he's going after Parker." Sam took off flying from his spot, swooping in through the open door that Natasha had broken into. "Natasha, do you copy?"
Natasha didn't answer, but Sam soared into the main lobby of the hospital, running into Spiderman as he swung from the ceiling. "We've got to get out of here!"
"What did you do?" Sam barked back and looked up to see the doctor aiming a gun at them. Sam raised his shield as Peter cowered behind him, peeking around his side to shoot a web at the gun, clogging it and rendering it useless. "Great work kid." Sam applauded as he took to the air, flying at the doctor and kicking him to the ground, aiming both guns at him as Spiderman swung to his side, webbing up the doctor against the wall.
"Nat, we've got the doctor. We need extraction. Natasha?" Sam pressed his hand to his ear as Peter stood and faced his right, a beat before the door slammed closed. Without warning, he took off swinging, trying to catch whoever was fleeing the scene. Sam turned his attention from the young man to the bound man on the ground. "People are disappearing. What do you have to do with it?"
The doctor sneered up at Sam, a wicked smile across his dark features, "You may have stopped us a lifetime ago, but we'll rise again. You cut off one head, two more have taken its place." Before Sam could stop him, the doctor clenched something in his hand and began to froth at the mouth.
Sam backed away as the man began writhing, then slumped over, dead. Sam approached slowly, unfolding the man's hand to reveal a black box with a small needle sticking out of it, having injected the man's palm.
Cyanide
"Romanoff? Parker? Either of you copy? I've lost the doctor." Sam admitted sadly, letting his arm fall limp as his shield dangled beside him. He chewed the inside of his mouth as he waited for a response. The doctor had struck a chord with him. He was talking about Hydra. He was talking about Steve. Steve had cut off the one head of Hydra, and now two more had taken its place?
Peter swung back to the landing where Sam stood, his mask fading away to reveal a conflicted expression. "He got away. Whoever was with the doctor. I heard them talking, Cap. He said that he was working on a mind control pill. Cap... what are we gonna do?"
Sam met the young man's eyes, seeing the weight of his role in stopping this disaster in its early stages. Peter Parker may be an adult, but he was still too young to join in Hydra's war. A war that was inevitably being run by Johann Schmidt.
"Romanoff? Natasha, what's your twenty?" Sam tried again, but once more there was no answer. Spiderman could see the panic in Captain America's eyes, "Find Romanoff." Peter nodded, his mask reappearing and went swinging through the hospital, covering ground as Sam tried to decide what to do about the deceased doctor.
Sam held up his forearm and typed away on the holographic screen, calling the Director to give an update. "This is Sam. We found the doctor. He took a shot of cyanide but Spiderman overheard him talking about a mind control drug. I'll do a search of the place... there's one more problem... Romanoff is missing."
The next morning, back at the Avengers Compound, Sam called Bucky as he rested on one of the couches overlooking the lake. "Barnes."
"What's up, Wilson?" Bucky asked casually as he munched away on the brunch Kayla had cooked for him and the kids. Steve was back at work on that Monday morning, so Kayla was left alone with her kids and their new favorite uncle.
"I'm gonna need you to come home. There's been a... development." Sam sighed, massaging his temples as he closed his eyes tightly. "Romanoff's missing. Our best lead on the disappearances is dead by cyanide. And we have reason to believe that Hydra is working on a mind control drug."
Bucky shot Kayla a pointed look and stood, ruffling James's hair as he walked by, opening up the glass door and heading outside to talk in private.
"What's wrong with Uncle Bucky?" James asked sadly, looking through the door to see Barnes pacing across their patio, holding his phone in his prosthetic hand and holding his mouth with his real one. "Is he... is he gonna leave us? I don't want him to leave!" James yelled loudly across the table at his mother, causing Sarah to cower a little in her high chair.
Kayla pointed at James, effectively shutting him up without speaking. She looked from the boy to the little girl, pushing the miniature triangles closer to Sarah. James clenched his fists and banged on the table, his rosy lower lip stuck out in a pout that his mother wasn't paying attention to him.
Without looking up from Sarah, Kayla finally addressed the boy before his tantrum got out of control, "If you don't simmer down, you don't get to play with Uncle Bucky today."
"No, no no no!" James cried out again, but when Kayla's eyes rose to look at him, he closed his mouth quickly, understanding that his mom was serious.
Bucky slid the door back open and entered with a smile across his clean-shaven face. Kayla waited patiently for an explanation, but he didn't offer one, he just sat down next to James and continued eating his french toast and eggs.
Kayla watched him for a few moments as he shoveled the food into his mouth with even more ease than Steve. She cleared her throat, and he lifted his head, meeting her green eyes, "Yes?"
Kayla rolled her eyes and let her jaw sling open for a moment, trying to hide her displeasure in his coyness, "How's Sam?"
"He's okay. He's asking when I'm coming back." Bucky said evenly through a mouthful of food, looking from Kayla to James, who stared at him with hopeful green eyes, not wanting his new friend to leave.
Kayla nodded, tilting her head to the side as she looked to the ceiling, "Is there... a- a reason?"
"Needs me back at work."
Kayla stabbed her fork into her breakfast, shoveling the food into her mouth as James looked from Bucky to her, picking up on the subtle cues bouncing between the adults.
"Are you going away? Forever?" James asked sadly, and Sarah turned her head, realizing what was happening as soon as her brother said it. The little girl opened her mouth and a fierce cough erupted instead of words, causing Kayla to quickly pat her on the back in case she was choking.
"Not necessarily. I might go away for a little bit, but I'll come back. I promise." Bucky offered his palm to James for a high five, and the boy responded with a hard hit, one that would have caused a non-super soldier to wince.
"I know Steve will really miss you," Kayla mumbled sadly, rubbing Sarah's back with her thumb. "We all will."
As James finished his breakfast, he slid from the chair and tugged on Bucky's jean's leg. "Can we play?"
"In a minute. You and your sister go ahead, I'll be there in a minute. I've got to talk to your mom." Bucky shooed the boy away as Kayla lowered Sarah to the ground, and she toddled after him, babbling for him to wait up. As the kids left the room, Bucky turned to Kayla, grabbing her hand with his right one, "Natalia's missing. They lost her last night on a mission. Hydra is working on a new type of drug... Sam believes Schmidt is behind it."
Kayla sighed, dropping her head into her palm, "You've got to go. Part of me wants Steve to join you, but-"
"No. He has to stay here with you and the kids. Plus, the Avengers don't know he's alive. We'll be okay. We'll find her, I promise." Bucky grabbed Kayla's shoulder and she looked at him suspiciously.
Kayla couldn't ignore the danger that was creeping toward her and her family. It was only a matter of time before Schmidt found them. She believed in her friends, in the Avengers, but nobody understood the Red Skull like Steve Rogers...
Kayla and Bucky were distracted by the quick knocking that came from the front door before it flung open, Tessa sprinted into the kitchen, unfazed by the presence of Bucky. "LOOK LOOK LOOK!" She shrieked as she shoved her left hand in Kayla's face.
Kayla's eyes grew wide as she leaped from her chair to grab her friend's hand, studying the three-carat princess cut diamond ring that adorned her slim finger. "He... he proposed?"
"Yes! He proposed this morning at the coffee shop! Showed up unannounced and got down on one knee in front of everyone! I didn't think I'd see him until tonight! Katie, can you believe it? Can you believe he finally did it! The ring is so gorgeous." Tessa trailed off, staring at the shiny rock that glittered as she turned her hand. She caught herself staring and blushed as she smiled, "I'm just so happy."
"I'm happy for you Tess. It's about time." Kayla laughed, enveloping her friend in a hug.
"Congratulations," Bucky said dryly, surprised that the man had actually committed to marrying the woman. It wasn't that he didn't want Tessa to get married, he just didn't like this Ryan fellow she was now engaged to.
Bucky watched as the two women hugged and began chattering about wedding planning and bridesmaids and wedding gowns and all sorts of things that didn't really matter. Bucky couldn't pull his mind away from going back into the fight. Going up against a new Hydra, the organization that destroyed his life in every way. They had Natalia, and they were killing people left and right. They were recruiting soldiers, and if they had mind control in a pill, something that would be much easier to administer than the mind wiping the Winter Soldier had endured, they'd have an army in no time. So the wedding talk just hung around Bucky, reminding him of a life he'd never have.
"I actually need to be going. I'll go pack up my things and say goodbye to the kids. You'll let Steve know that work called, won't you?" Bucky asked Kayla quietly, running his hand through his short hair awkwardly. He felt out of his own skin with a clean-shaven face and a fresh haircut. He was just starting to feel like a person again instead of a weapon, but Captain America needed him to join the fight, and it was his duty to answer the call.
Kayla's happy expression fell as she turned to Barnes, her face solemn as she twisted her lips to the side before speaking, "We were hoping you'd stay longer."
"I was too, believe me. But I'll try to come back soon. They'll have to reschedule my vacation time." Bucky fumbled, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse that a regular job would create. "Plus, sounds like you two will be busy with the wedding plans and such."
"Oh yes, I'll basically be a permanent fixture at your house as we get the ball rolling." Tessa bopped up and down clapping her hands quickly. Kayla forced a sad grin, feeling conflicted about the happy proposal and the devastating news that Natasha was missing.
"Just- let us know if you need anything. Don't be a stranger, okay?"
Bucky nodded at the women, then turned to head upstairs and pack up his belongings. When James and Sarah saw him with his packed duffle, they went running toward the bottom of the stairs to intercept him. "No. No leave! No leave!"
"I have to. But I'll visit soon. I promise." Bucky knelt down and wrapped an arm around each of the kids, happy that James didn't notice how his left arm didn't feel fleshy like the other one. Bucky pressed a kiss to Sarah's head, then messed up James's shaggy blonde hair before standing, "Be good for your parents. I won't be gone long. I love you guys."
"Love you too, Uncle Bucky." The children chimed just out of unison, hugging his legs as he prepared to leave. He turned to Kayla and gave her a confident smile, promising he'd help make everything right. The kids let him go and he left, leaving Kayla to pray that his silent promise would come to pass.
Author's Notes:
Nikkita Starr- Tension yes, but Ryan FINALLY COMMITTED! About damn time!
Siobhan- Isn't Uncle Bucky the cutest? Also sorry I dropped that ominous little hint. Unfortunately, there will be several attempted and successful deaths in the next couple of chapters. The suspense has just begun!