"That's why we can't go to Florida?"
Natasha nearly laughed at the innocence of the question before answering. "Yes, that's why."
"Did you sign the Accords?"
"Yes."
"Why?" Lainey always thought that she'd be the last person to sign those documents.
"It was the right thing to do." She responded, choosing to omit the fact that as long as she complied with the government, they wouldn't come after her, and if they didn't come after her, they wouldn't come after Lainey.
She was going to do everything possible to keep that kid safe.
And she was safest with her.
She'd be damned if someone managed to take her away.
Chapter Fifteen: Volare
"Why can't I come with you?" Lainey asked as Natasha led her through the Compound, straight to Wanda's floor.
"Because Little Miss, this doesn't concern you. I need you in a place where I'll know that you're not in any danger." The woman replied, setting Mischief down and getting a bowl of water for her.
After the bombing of the UN, there was no way Natasha was taking any more chances with that kid. They both got lucky and didn't get hurt, but that didn't mean they needed to keep putting themselves in danger.
"But I can help!" Lainey insisted. Natasha didn't know about her powers yet, but she was sure that she could help some other way.
"And you are going to help me." Natasha smirked when Lainey perked up. "By staying right here."
Lainey deflated and stopped herself from rolling her eyes. "That isn't funny."
"Really? I thought it was." The redhead continued to smile as Wanda entered the living room.
"Hi!" Lainey forgot all about how disappointed she was and ran into the older girl's awaiting arms. "I missed you."
"I missed you too. Did you have fun hanging out with Clint?" Wanda grinned.
"Yes! I made muffins and I learned how to shoot, and guess what?"
"You saved the world from villainous aliens?" Wanda joked, poking her side to make her giggle.
"No!"
"I know, you beat Steve up and he's so embarrassed that he hasn't said a word."
"No!"
"Then what?"
Natasha couldn't help but smile as she watched them interact. The two clearly loved each other and they enjoyed being in one another's company. She could've left Lainey at Clint's but she knew the girl would eventually get too homesick to enjoy herself, so she brought her back home and decided to have her stay with Wanda.
Besides, the teen needed some cheering up too. After Lagos, she had reverted right back into her shell and practically locked herself away from the world. Tony didn't help matters when he pretty much kept her inside.
He meant well, but no matter his intentions, Wanda didn't seem to be improving.
Lainey and Wanda needed each other, she'd be an idiot not to see that.
"I got a kitten!" Lainey beamed, running to the kitchen to get the animal before running back and shoving it in her arms.
The kitten meowed and played with Wanda's straight hair, not at all phased by being passed around like an object. She was just content with being held.
She was a spoiled little thing.
"Oh she's adorable." Wanda gushed, tapping the animal on the nose, before setting her down and shooting Lainey a serious look. "I called you a few nights ago and you never called me back, is there any reason? Because I'd also like to know what on earth possessed you to sneak off without telling anyone where you were going."
Lainey gulped and looked at her mother for help. "Mama?"
All the woman did was shrug and motion for her to respond.
"No, Mama's not talking to you, I am. Look at me." The older teen took ahold of Lainey's chin to force her to do just that.
"I wanted to go with Mama." Lainey spoke softly wondering how on earth the conversation took such a serious turn in a matter of seconds.
"So you put your life in danger and snuck off?"
Lainey only responded by hugging the older girl and mumbling a soft, 'sorry'.
"You better be." Wanda felt her tough resolve crumbling as she hugged her back.
She had this all planned out too. Just because Lainey was young and cute, didn't mean that she was allowed to get away with something like this. She was going to scold her to make sure that she knew better for next time, but as soon as she hugged her, the plan went out the window.
She was a softie.
"Are you sure I can't go with you?" Lainey asked Natasha, making sure to change the subject as quickly as possible.
"Yes Lainey, I'm sure." Natasha shook her head. "And if I catch you sneaking off to come after me, you're grounded until the foreseeable future."
Lainey was planning on doing exactly that. Sure it was definitely wrong to go anywhere without telling someone, but she wanted to make sure that Natasha was safe. She didn't really care about her own wellbeing.
But now that the threat was in the air, Lainey found herself wondering whether or not it was worth it to pull another stunt like that.
"No television, no cellphone, no hanging out with friends, and no ice cream. I suggest you think about that before you decide to do something stupid. Understand?"
"…...Yeah." Lainey sighed. "But-"
The preteen cut herself off before she could say anything stupid or incriminating. There was no need for her to get grounded before Natasha even left. That would be a whole other level of lack of self-control and stupidity.
She didn't want to be one of those kids who didn't know when or how to keep their mouths shut.
"Alright." Natasha's face relaxed. "I have to go now."
Lainey really thought that she'd be better at saying goodbye this time, but she realized that she really overestimated herself when tears started flying down her face. "No, not yet."
"Lainey, you can't cry every time I have to go." Natasha told the girl gently. Those fat tears were really breaking her heart. She hated it when Lainey cried.
"Yes I can." Lainey insisted. "And anyway, I'm not crying."
"Come here малышка." Natasha opened her arms and allowed the girl to fall into them. "Вам не о чем беспокоиться. Мама придет к тебе домой. Будь хорошим, хорошо?"
Lainey sniffled and nodded, not wanting to let her go. "Да мама."
Wanda smiled at the redhead and gently pulled Lainey away from her and settled her into her own arms. "Be safe."
"I will. I'll call to say goodnight every night I'm away Lainey." Natasha attempted to give her something to look forward to.
"Every night?"
"Every night."
"Okay. Пока мама."
"Пока, дорогая."
"Alayna! Where are you?" Wanda called for the girl.
She had been looking for her for a half an hour because she apparently made the mistake of telling her that she should get ready to go to bed.
Lainey had overridden F.R.I.D.A.Y. so that she wouldn't be able to tell Wanda where she was, making her little game that much more fun.
Wanda was nearly at her wit's end when she heard a quiet giggle come from the hall closet.
"There you are, you stinker." She mumbled to herself, making her way to the closet. "I guess Lainey doesn't want ice cream before bed. I'm going to have to eat it all by myself."
And no sooner did the words leave her lips, did Lainey come barreling out of the closet.
"I want ice cream!" She giggled and tried to run to the freezer, but a red aura surrounded her and kept her from moving. "Hey, that's not fair."
"I think it's fair, considering I spent all this time looking for you." Wanda smirked and lowered her a few inches before letting her drop onto the floor.
Lainey landed with a grunt, quickly turning around and glaring at Wanda. She wanted revenge, but she knew that she couldn't do the same to the older girl, so she said the first thing that popped into her head. "I'm telling."
How mature.
"Telling who? Your kitten?" Wanda joked, not at all phased by the threat.
"No." Lainey rolled her eyes. "I'm telling Mama when she calls."
"I'm so scared." Wanda waved her hand and allowed her red mist to show itself.
"You should be." Lainey stood and stalked over to Wanda, crossing her arms as a serious look crossed her face.
"You're so cute." The Sokovian squeezed her face. "You know that? So cute."
"Stop it!" Lainey tried to wiggle away.
They're little banter was soon interrupted by the ringing of Wanda's phone.
"I'll get it!" Lainey yelled and ran to get the phone, picking it up as soon as it was in her hands. "Hi Mama!" She waved at the screen cheerfully, her annoyance long gone.
"Hi honey, how are you?" The redhead smiled as Wanda came into frame and lifted Lainey up, walking over to the couch with her in tow before sitting down.
She was extremely light for her age, so no one ever had problems lifting her up to move her or throw her onto the couch (which happened often).
To be honest, Lainey wasn't even paying attention to that, she was so locked into her conversation, that she didn't have time to complain about how twelve year olds shouldn't be lifted up like that.
"I'm good. Wanda dropped me." She immediately tattled.
Wanda rolled her eyes and pushed her off of her lap just for good measure, before turning her attention back to Natasha, who looked more than amused.
"Mama! Wanda pushed me!" Lainey whined from her place on the floor.
She looked ridiculous sprawled out with all her limbs in different directions.
"And I'll push you again if you keep tattling like that. Snitches get stitches." Wanda smiled sweetly.
"I definitely don't have enough patience for this." Natasha facepalmed. "Alayna, get off of the floor and sit back down. Wanda stop dropping her, and please for the love of all that is good, stop pushing her around."
Lainey stuck her tongue out at Wanda, knowing that she had practically gotten away with being a brat.
Wanda responded by glaring and turning the camera to face her, so that Natasha could see what was going on.
"Alayna, what did I just tell you? Get off the floor."
Lainey scrambled up onto her feet and gave Wanda a nasty look before plopping back down on her lap.
She made sure that it would hurt the older girl by dropping with all of her weight.
"Ow!" Wanda growled.
"Mama I didn't do anything! I did what you told me to!" Lainey plead not-guilty even though she was far from it.
Natasha pinched the bridge of her nose and took in a deep breath before glaring at both girls. "Whatever is going on between you two, had better be resolved before I get back. I don't want to call again and watch the two of you at each other's throats again, do you understand me?"
"Yes." Wanda responded without hesitation, shocked when Lainey decided to pick at her nails and act as if she didn't hear anything.
"Alayna?" Natasha narrowed her eyes. She loved this kid, she really did, but sometimes she wanted to strangle her.
Mothers are human too.
"I understand." Lainey grumbled reluctantly.
"Now." If it was possible, Natasha's face hardened a little more as she continued to stare them down through the screen. "If you can't behave and get along without me policing you, so be it. Alayna I expect you to be in bed by 8:30 every night I'm gone. Obviously, you need the extra rest."
Lainey's jaw dropped and she began to protest, but Natasha cut her off. "Don't give me that look and don't you dare roll your eyes at me. I can make it 7:00 if you would prefer."
"8:30 is fine."
"That's what I thought." Natasha noticed the smug grin on Wanda's face and decided to address her too. "You can get to bed at 9:00 since you think this is so funny."
Wanda's entire face dropped and she looked at Natasha in disbelief. "You can't do that! I'm not your child! I'm not even a child!"
"Would you like to test that? If you're in bed even a minute later, I will fly right back to that Compound and personally deal with the both of you myself."
Honestly, if someone other than Lainey and Wanda were in the room, they'd probably be busting a gut at how ridiculous the conversation was. It was hilarious. Natasha managed to ground both a twelve year old and an eighteen year old at the same time without even batting an eye.
She felt pretty good about herself, all things considered.
She loved this new fun side of parenting.
"How will you know?" Lainey asked, grasping for any source of dignity she had left.
Wanda swore under her breath in her native tongue and clamped a hand over the child's mouth.
"Stop. Talking." She spoke slowly.
"I'll have F.R.I.D.A.Y. report to me every single day. You two think you're tough and untouchable? You've just met your match. Get to bed."
And with that, the screen went black as Natasha hit the 'end call' button.
"I'm gonna kill you!" Wanda shouted, causing Lainey to skitter off of her lap and dash to her room, slipping and sliding in her socks along the way.
Natasha watched the entire thing unfold as F.R.I.D.A.Y. showed it all to her through the surveillance cameras.
"Shall I alert them that you're watching?" The AI asked.
"No." She shook her head, enjoying the show. "They still have about thirty more minutes until they need to be in bed." She sipped her tea and smirked.
"You certainly are diabolical Agent Romanoff. I like you." If F.R.I.D.A.Y. could smiled, she definitely would be grinning from ear to ear.
"I said I was sorry!" Lainey screeched as Wanda chased her around the living room while Mischief watched, completely unaffected by it all.
"Vision and I are just friends!" Wanda hollered.
They had been threatening each other for days, Mischief figured they would have to calm down sooner or later. And if they ended up killing each other, then she'd have the entire floor to herself.
Either way, she won.
Stupid humans.
"Stop running!" Wanda suddenly grew very serious and stopped chasing Lainey.
Lainey froze to a halt just in time to watch an explosion go off from the window."What was that?"
"I don't know, stay away from the window." Wanda forgot all about how angry she was at the child, and pulled her into herself as Vision phased through the floor. "What is it?"
"Stay here, please." The android told them, once again disappearing to see what was going on.
"Do you think-" Wanda covered Lainey's mouth with her hand and turned around, using her free hand to make a knife fly across the room, stopping at the last second before it reached the intruder's face.
"Guess I should've knocked." Clint shrugged, pushing the knife away, more than glad it never reached him.
"What are you doing here?" Wanda let Lainey squirm out of her grip as she questioned Clint.
"Disappointing my kids." Clint spoke bitterly, shooting arrows on both ends of the room before grabbing Wanda's hand to pull her towards the door. "I'm supposed to go water skiing. Cap needs our help. Come on."
"I can't leave, I'm babysitting."
"I'm not a baby! I can take care of myself!"
Both adults ignored Lainey's little outburst and continued their conversation.
"I'll send Fury out here to watch her. We need to leave. Now."
"Clint!" And with his impeccable timing, Vision once again, phased into the room, stopping the two from leaving. "You should not be here."
"Really?" The archer turned around and gave the android an incredulous look. "I retire for what, like five minutes, and it all goes downhill?"
Lainey crept over to the couch and picked up her kitten, ready to run and hide if anything escalated, but unwilling to leave the scene before her.
The Avengers were falling apart.
Right in front of her eyes.
"Please consider the consequences of your actions." Vision tried again.
"Okay, they're considered." Clint watched as the arrows he planted formed a forcefield around Vision and trapped him. "Lainey stay right here and don't move. Someone will be here in a few hours to watch you." He informed the twelve year old before turning his attention back to Wanda. "Okay, we gotta go…...It's this way."
"I've caused enough problems." The brunette played with her sleeves, not feeling right about any of this.
Especially leaving Lainey to her own devices.
"You gotta help me Wanda." Clint sighed. "Look, you want to mope, you can go to high school. You want to make amends, you get off your behind... Dammit." He muttered as Vision broke free.
Lainey screamed and ducked behind the couch, not wanting to see what was going on. She could only hear grunting and flopping, which really made her curious as to what was going on.
Were they actually fighting each other?
"Clint, you can't overpower me." She heard Vision say.
"I know I can't. But she can." Clint's voice sounded very strained as if he was in a chokehold.
"Vision, that's enough. Let him go. I'm leaving." Wanda allowed her fingers to do all the work for her.
"I can't let you."
"I'm sorry." She whispered, pulling her hands apart to reveal a bright red glow.
"If you do this, they will never stop being afraid of you."
"I can't control their fear. Only my own."
That was the final straw. Wanda used her energy to push Vision multiple stories below.
Lainey decided to peek out from behind the couch and watch in awe as Vision was smashed through the floor.
"Oh...…come on." Clint whistled in shock. "We got one more stop."
"I need to bring Lainey with me. Natasha left her with me, I can't just leave her alone even if its just for a couple of hours." Wanda told the man.
"Alright." He sighed, tired of trying to convince her to let Fury take care of the kid. "Lainey, let's go."
He didn't really want to be the one to explain to Natasha that he left her there alone anyway. It was safer this way.
"Cap." Clint greeted the super soldier as he got out a the little beetle he was driving.
"You know I wouldn't have called if I had any other choice." Steve informed him., not wanting to make it seem like he didn't respect the man's choice to retire.
"Hey man, you're doing me a favor. Besides, I owe a debt." Clint motioned to Wanda, who smiled at Steve.
"Thanks for having my back."
"It was time to get off my behind." She parroted what Clint had told her hours prior.
"How about our other recruit?"
"He's ready and rarin' to go." Clint opened the van door. "Had to put a little coffee in him, but...…he should be good."
When the door opened the whole way, everyone was able to see Lainey poking a man's cheek as her kitten crawled all over him.
"You brought the kid?" Steve asked, clearly panicking.
"Look, before you get all antsy, we didn't really have much of a choice. Wanda was watching her and we didn't think it was a good idea to leave a kid home alone." Clint explained.
"Oh my goodness." Steve ran a hand over his face. "Lainey come here." He lifted the girl onto his hip and looked her straight in the eyes before grumbling. "Natasha is going to kill us."
"Hi Sam." Lainey waved. "Hi man I don't know."
Bucky smiled and waved his metal arm, making her face light up with fascination. "My name's Bucky, Doll."
"Oh, well hi Bucky. I'm Lainey."
"Watch it Bucky, she seems sweet now, but wait until you get to know her." Wanda warned, making the man crack a genuine smile.
Lainey frowned and buried her face in Steve's neck, vowing never to speak to Wanda again.
"What timezone is it?" Scott grumbled as he slowly cam back to the land of the living.
"Come on." Clint waved him out of the van. "Come on."
Scott stumbled out of the van, bitter at being woke up with all that noise, but as soon as he laid eyes on Steve, he turned into the ultimate fanboy.
"Captain America." He shook the man's hand, practically gushing over him.
"Mr. Lang." Steve greeted, clearly amused.
"It's an honor." Scott beamed, still shaking his hand. "I've been shaking your hand too long. Wow! This is awesome! Captain America." He looked at Wanda. "I know you too, you're great!"
The awkward hero worship even made Lainey peek out from Steve's neck just in time to see Scott feel his muscles. "Jeez. Ah, look, I wanna say, I know you know a lot of super people, so…...thinks for thanking of me.."
That mess of a sentence was enough to make the preteen groan and bury her face back in its hiding place.
"Hey Sam!"
"What up Tic Tac?"
"Uh, good to see you. Look, what happened last time when I-"
"-It was a good audition, but it'll never happen again."
"Oh, you're the guy that beat Sam up? That was so cool!" Lainey looked at Scott in pure amazement, much to Sam's chagrin.
"Kid, how did you even find out about that? You weren't even there." Sam growled.
Everyone seemed to be growling at her lately.
What a pack of wolves.
"I saw the surveillance footage and you really need to work on not underestimating the people you fight, because I think that's-"
"-Okay!" Steve put a finger to Lainey's lips before she could dig herself into trouble. The only plus side to this, was it was lightening the mood and making Bucky smile. "Did they tell you what we're up against?"
"Something about some...…psycho-assassins?" Scott honestly had no clue, he was half-asleep when this was all explained to him.
"We're outside the law on this one. So, if you come with us, you're a wanted man."
"Yeah, well...….what else is new?" Scott shrugged.
"We should get moving." Bucky jumped back into the conversation after a while.
"We got a chopper lined up." Clint informed them of their little getaway plan.
"Dies ist eine Notsituation. Alle Passagiere müssen den Flughafen sofort evakuieren." The PA system cut in.
"They're evacuating the airport."
"Stark." Sam grouched.
"Stark?" Scott asked, clearly confused.
"Suit up."
Looks, like this was going to be harder than they thought.
"Lainey, I need you to stay out of sight, do you understand me?" Steve spoke sternly, leaving no room for any arguments.
"I want to see Mama.'
"And you will see her, just stay out of the line of fire."
"You're going to fight each other?" Lainey asked, her eyes widening in panic.
"Not if we don't have to." He tried to reassure her. "Just stay somewhere where I know you'll be safe. No one here wants you to get hurt."
"Okay." Lainey cuddled into Mischief and watched as all the adults got down to business.
She looked around and found a place to watch everything without anyone knowing she was actually there.
The roof of the garage.
Sure it was high, but it was better than nothing.
She watched as everyone on Cap's side and everyone on Tony's side stood in opposition of each other.
This didn't look very promising from her end.
"Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport. Don't you think that's weird?" Tony asked Rhodey, sporting a new shiner.
"Definitely weird." The man responded, with a lack of humor in his tone.
"Hear me out Tony." Steve tried to solve this with words. "That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this."
Lainey's eyebrows furrowed.
She thought that this was all about the Accords. How much was everyone keeping from her?
She watched as a man in a cat like suit leapt over a truck and landed near Steve. "Captain."
"Your highness."
So Prince T'Challa was a superhero too?
How ignorant to this situation was she?
"Anyway." Tony cut the small talk. "Ross gave me thirty-six hours to bring you in. That was twenty-four hours ago, Can you help a brother out?"
"You're after the wrong guy."
"You're judgment is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people."
"And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can't let the doctor find them first Tony. I can't."
Lainey's full attention was peaked when her mother stepped forward cautiously, like her first instinct in this situation wasn't to fight.
"Steve…...you know what's about to happen. Do you really want to punch your way out of this one?"
After she asked the question, nobody said a word. Nobody moved.
Tensions were too high to let go now.
Everyone knew what was going to happen, but no one was willing or able to stop it.
"Alright, I've run out of patience." Tony cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled. "Underoos!"
Lainey was shocked to see Peter in his suit, shoot a web and steal Steve's shield.
This wasn't going to end well at all.
"Nice job kid."
"Really Tony, you brought the kid into this?" Steve furrowed his covered eyebrows. "You've clearly been busy."
"And you've been a complete idiot!" Tony got right down to the insults. "Dragging in Clint. 'Rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep…...I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart."
"You did that when you signed."
What was going on? Why were they fighting like this? Why couldn't they just talk this out? Were they that far gone that all they could do now was fight?
"Alright, we're done." Tony growled. "You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us. Now! Because it's us! Not a squad of J-SOC guys, with not compunction about being polite…...Come on." He practically pleaded.
Steve shook his head and lifted his webbed fists. "Alright Lang."
Scott shrunk and crawled onto the shield, growing in size at the last minute, before knocking Peter down and handing Steve his shield back. "I believe this is yours Captain America."
Lainey took this as her chance to sneak away somewhere else, she couldn't just sit here and watch everyone fight one another.
She had to do something.
She trained with Wanda enough to know how to defend herself, so if worse comes to worse she could rely on her powers to help her.
Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that.
She ran down so many flights of stairs that she couldn't keep count and made her way onto the tarmac, making sure that she wouldn't be seen.
She watched as Scott weakly attempted to fight her mother, but got tossed flat on his back for his effort.
"Look, I really don't want to hurt you." Is what he said.
"I wouldn't stress about it."
But before Scott hit the ground, he shrunk and flipped Natasha onto her back instead, watching as she flipped over, trying to figure out where he was.
When she found him, she used her taser and zapped him, causing to him to fly and hit a truck close by.
This was pure and utter chaos. Everyone was fighting, things were exploding, people were getting hurt!
It was all so confusing.
Lainey didn't know whose side she was on.
She didn't know whose side she should be on.
"Captain Rogers. I know you believe that what you are doing is right. But for the collective good, you must surrender now."
So Vision did make it out of the Compound.
It sure did take him a while to get here.
"What we do now Cap?" Sam asked as 'Team Iron Man' Stood before them all once again.
"We fight." Steve schooled his features.
There was no other way.
"This is gonna end well." Natasha thought aloud as they began to move forward.
"They're not stopping!"
Even Peter wanted no part of this at this point. It was all fun and games before, but it got a little bit too serious for his liking.
"Neither are we."
And that was the moment when all pandemonium broke loose.
If Lainey thought it was bad before, she didn't know what it was now.
They really looked like they were trying to kill each other!
She looked around at everyone and caught her mother fighting with Clint. Neither one of them was winning.
They just kept pinning each other down.
"We're still friends, right?" Natasha asked, wanting to make sure.
"Depends on how hard you hit me." Clint smirked, only for Natasha to pin him for the millionth time.
She got ready to kick him, but a familiar red aura stopped her and flung her into a truck.
But before her head could hit the ground, a purple aura stopped her momentum and gently set her on the ground.
"Oh my-" She gasped, looking at her daughter in shock. "What the hell are you doing here? Do you have any idea how dangerous this is? This isn't a game Alayna!" She scolded, making her way over to her, ignoring the chaos around her. "And how long have you been keeping this little secret from me?"
"I'm sorry."
"No Alayna. Answer me. I'm not joking." Natasha looked her over to make sure she wasn't hurt, sighing in relief when she found that she wasn't.
"I've had these powers for months now…...I didn't tell you cause I thought you'd be mad. And I was right."
"No. You don't get to play that card with me anymore. We're way past that. I'm pissed off because you hid this from me and you crawled into a war zone! This is no place for you!"
"I'm sorry. But when Uncle Clint went to get Wanda, they brought me with them."
"They what?!" Natasha snapped, her nose flaring as she grabbed onto Lainey's arm to keep her from running.
"I didn't run off again! I promise! Mama, you're scaring me."
Natasha loosened her grip just a little bit, but she continued scolding the girl.
"Did they bring you out on the tarmac?"
"No."
"No! Then what do you think you're doing here?!"
"I couldn't just sit and watch!"
"You couldn't just sit and watch, so you decided to fight in a battle that doesn't concern you?! What am I going to do with you?! Do you not realize what you've just done?!"
"What did I do?" Lainey furrowed her eyebrows.
"You've just revealed yourself. Now you're in danger. If you were an adult, you'd be on Ross' Watchlist. What you did is irreversible."
"I didn't know." Lainey tried to make amends. She had never seen Natasha this angry. Especially not at her. Never at her. "Mama, I'm sorry. I'll never do anything like this again, I promise you."
"You won't. Now move." Natasha was way too livid to listen to reason.
"Mama?" Lainey's lip quivered at the foreign look in her eyes.
"I said move." Natasha threw Lainey over her shoulder and stalked over to where the remaining helicopter was, setting her down on the ground to stand in front of her. "You're grounded. I don't know for how long, but you're grounded. You're not leaving my side for anything, do you understand me?"
If these were better circumstances, maybe Lainey would've asked something smart like, 'what about going to the bathroom?', but she knew better.
"Yes...…Are you still mad at me?"
"Very." Natasha replied shortly.
"I'm sorry I couldn't do better this time."
Natasha's resolve wavered just a little bit, but she refused to give in.
"Mama?" Lainey's face began to crumble in such a way that she had to turn away from her.
But she didn't respond to her. She was too upset and she was trying to gather her thoughts.
She didn't want to say anything that she may not be able to take back. She probably already said something she couldn't take back, why would she add anything more?
Parenting was definitely not easy.
What was she supposed to do now? Hold her? Let her cry? There were no parenting books for this type of scenario.
"Mama…..." Lainey tugged on her arm, making her snatch it away.
She could've shocked herself on one of her tasers if she kept pulling like that.
But Lainey didn't know that. All she knew was she tried to seek a little bit of comfort from the woman and she was denied.
And that was just fine.
She didn't need Natasha. She could get by on her own.
Allison was probably laughing from the dark corner of her cell at how stupid Lainey was to believe that someone could possibly love her unconditionally.
She wasn't going to be laughed at or used ever again. From now on, she was her own person who didn't need or rely on anyone else.
So she dragged her sleeve across her face and wiped away her tears, took a deep breath and let a blank look cross her features.
All of a sudden, the hangar began to collapse, interrupting Lainey's villain origin story. The rubble began to fall at an increased rate and stopped right before it hit the ground, allowing Steve and Bucky to make it through to the other side.
They were completely shocked to find out that Natasha had been there the entire time, waiting for them.
"You're not gonna stop." She stated.
"You know I can't." Steve responded sadly, not even noticing that T'Challa had arrived behind them.
"I'm gonna regret this." Natasha shrugged and shot a Widow's Bite and T'Challa, stunning him. "Go." She stressed, shooting him again.
That kept him down long for Steve and Bucky to escape on the quinjet and make their way to their destination.
Hopefully.
"I said I'd help you find him, not catch him." She spoke almost regretfully. "There's a difference."
"You should have thought of your child Agent Romanoff." T'Challa glared. "What will happen to her now?"
"Stay put." Natasha told Lainey, bringing her to the waiting room of Medbay at the Compound, before walking away. "Don't move."
To anyone else, she looked calm. But on the inside, she was frazzled. She was a criminal now, she just knew that T'Challa had called and informed Ross about what she did.
She couldn't give Lainey up. She loved that kid. She needed that kid.
Even if she hadn't been acting like it for the past few hours.
Now that she cooled off, she could finally speak to her and lay out all her concerns. It wasn't fair that she had been dragged into all of this and then got yelled at for trying to help.
Sure, what she did was dangerous, but did anyone really expect her to sit still and just watch while everything she had grown to love just fell apart?
She was an idiot.
None of this was Lainey's fault and yet, here she was, yelling at the kid as if she had something to do with it.
She didn't even know half of what was going on.
That was Natasha's fault for keeping her in the dark all this time.
"The doctors say he shattered L4 through S1. Extreme laceration in the spinal cord. Probably looking at some form of paralysis." Tony moved behind her.
"Steve's not gonna stop. If you don't either, Rhodey's gonna be the best case scenario." Natasha had heard all about how Rhodey was accidentally shot out of the sky, but it needed to end there, because if it escalated any further, someone was going to die.
"You let them go Nat." Tony shot at her bitterly.
"We played this wrong." She tried to be the voice of reason, but Tony wouldn't listen.
"We? Boy, it must be hard to shake the whole double agent thing, huh? It sticks in the DNA."
That one cut deep. Of all people, Natasha would have never thought that Tony would be the one to use her past against her.
She was wrong.
"Are you incapable of letting go of your ego for more than a damn second?" She fired back.
"T'Challa told Ross what you did, so…...they're coming for you. What are you going to do about the kid? You're a criminal now, CPS'll be knocking on your door so fast it'll make your head spin. All your covers are blown. What's your big plan now?"
"Oh screw you Tony. I don't care about any problems you may have with me, but don't you dare bring that kid into this. How old are you? You weren't 100% right about any of this and you know it, you let your emotions get the better of you and now you're alone. Again. What's your big plan? I'm not the only one who needs to watch their back."
And with that, she was gone.
Tony would never say this out loud, but he knew he was wrong.
But it was too late.
Nothing would ever be the same again.
Lainey watched as her mother angrily stalked back over to her, in some kind of rush, picking up their bags and pulling her up out of her seat towards the exit.
"Let's go."
"Go? Go where?" Lainey asked. Her mother made her pack a simple bag of things for her and her kitten, but she never asked why.
"I don't know, but we can't stay here."
"Why? What's wrong? Why can't we stay here anymore?"
"We're on the run kiddo. T'Challa told the Secretary of State all about what I did, now we have leave. It isn't safe here anymore."
"Are we gonna be okay?" Lainey pushed her little pity party aside and became serious.
"Of course we will. I'll make sure of it."
"Mama?" Lainey called softly. "I'm not going to an orphanage...…am I?"
"Not while I'm around. You're staying with me. You're my daughter and that's that."
"Period?"
"Period."
Вам не о чем беспокоиться. Мама придет к тебе домой. Будь хорошим, хорошо? - You have nothing to worry about. Mama will come home soon. Be good, okay?
Да мама - Yes Mama.
Пока мама - Bye Mama
Пока, дорогая - Bye Honey.
A/N: Hellooooo! I'm glad I got the airport battle out of the way! It was pretty hard to write, but i think I managed. Well that marks the end if Civil War! Now they're on the run and Natasha knows about Lainey's little gift. Any thoughts on what should happen while they're running from the government? Reviews and requests are always welcome. Have a great week!