I'm blown away by all the support you guys have given this story! Thanks for taking the time to read it. Nope, I still don't own Marvel.

"I know you've got questions," Phil said as he walked toward Natasha, "but it can't be the strangest thing you've ever seen. You fought aliens in New York and your daughter was created in a lab. Her father is a World War 2 hero who spent the majority of the last century in the ice. Are you coming?"

"Well, I'm not staying here," Natasha said with a smile, "Director Coulson."

"Didn't take you long to figure that one out."

Phil got her bags out of the car while Natasha unbuckled Nicole. "Time to go, little lady," she said with a smile.

Nicole looked fairly unfazed by the gunfire, but as they started walking to the quinjet she looked at Natasha. "You win?" she asked. "You go pow, pow, pow," she added, making her hand a little gun. "Get a cookie."

"Well, that answers that question," Natasha sighed. Her daughter had definitely seen enough gun battles to not be shocked.

Once they were aboard the quinjet, Phil and Sky rushed them to a containment pod. "This is strong enough to hold the Hulk. Whatever they are using to track her won't even be able to detect her in here," Phil replied, closing the door behind them.

Fitz and Simmons were already in the pod setting up equipment. Jemma looked at Natasha apologetically. "I'm sorry we missed the tracker. We scanned for any man-made devices, but I have a feeling they are tracking her with something unique to her biology. Fitz and I will need to run a few tests then hopefully we can come up with something."

Natasha nodded. Her daughter was back in a cage less than 24 hours after she'd promised her freedom. Oh yeah, she was definitely on track for mother of the year. She sat on the cot beside Nicole as Simmons took a blood sample.

"May will keep us in the air while these two work," Phil said calmly. "These guys are good. They'll figure something out."

"Thanks, Phil. I'm really glad you're okay."

"Sorry this is how you had to find out," Phil replied. "If it helps, Fury wasn't lying when he said I was dead. I was dead for awhile, but I guess Shield must have thought they needed me around. They brought me back, but it had a pretty hefty cost. I wanted to tell you, but things were a little complicated."

"In our line of work, complicated is standard operating procedure. I get it. Thanks for the assist out there."

"You had him down before we even landed. She's a lucky little girl to have you to protect her, well, you and the Captain."

Natasha smiled softly. "I'll do my best. This is way scarier than Chitari, and I don't mean battling Hydra agents. I want to be a good mom. Do you even think I'm capable of motherhood after all I've done?"

"You're doing great so far. You'll be fine. Sometimes I wonder what it might have been like if I'd gone a different route, settled down, had a family. It's not in the cards for me, but I guess someone up there thinks you've got what it takes."

Phil left them to update May, and Natasha and Nicole colored while the two scientists worked. Nicole colored like most nearly three year olds, meaning she scribbled and moved from page to page at will, but she really seemed to be having fun. To the casual observer, she would seem like a normal, all-American kid. But, Natasha couldn't get the words of the Hydra agent out of her head. What had they done to her child?

He had called her a monster. The word gave Natasha a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She hated the word. If anyone was a monster it was that Hydra agent or, maybe, it was herself. She had felt like a monster for years, but this little girl was no monster. She was just a child, and Natasha was going to do everything in her power to make sure Nicole never thought of herself as anything else.

Again, she found herself thinking of Steve. He was a good man, probably the best man on the planet. Clint would bring him back, and he would help. She felt bad about taking him away from his search, but she had a feeling he would never be able to forgive himself or her if something happened to Nicole while he was away.

Natasha could hear Fitz and Simmons discussing possibilities in hushed tones, but when Fitz spilled his tea while shouting for Simmons to go over his latest discovery, Natasha left her place beside her daughter and joined them at the small work bench.

"Do you see what I'm seeing, Jemma?"

"It doesn't make any sense," Jemma replied. "There should be instabilities or, at the very least, defects, yet she's perfectly healthy."

"But, it certainly explains how they are tracking her. If-"

"What's going on?" Natasha asked.

"We found an anomaly," Fitz replied sheepishly. "We just don't know how to prevent Hydra from using it against us, and-"

"We don't know what it means for Nicole and her future," Jemma finished.

"Explain," Natasha ordered.

"Understand, I wasn't looking for it before and it wasn't in any of the files. But," Jemma paused and looked at Fitz briefly, "we think they must have used gamma radiation on the child, likely during gestation or possibly even before the embryo was implanted. The gamma rays in her cells are actually acting as tiny markers, giving her an individual energy signal unlike anyone else on the planet."

"Well, almost anyone," Fitz added.

"Gamma radiation," Natasha repeated. "They exposed my child to the same radiation that turned Banner into the Hulk!" Natasha was livid and Jemma winced. Well, that answered the question of whether or not Coulson's team of wet behind the ear agents knew what she was capable of, so Natasha trained her features and calmly asked if they had a plan.

Jemma looked down pensively. "My best lab isn't an option at the moment. We can't risk taking the child back to a base they already attacked. I need equipment and, honestly, I need an expert on gamma rays."

"You need Bruce," Natasha replied. "I'll call Tony. Have May head for New York. Banner is at the compound. They'll help."

Jemma nodded and left the room while Natasha dialed Tony's number.

"Red, have you already made up your mind? You moving in?"

"Actually, Tony, something's come up. I need your help."

Berlin

Clint arrived at the hotel Sharon told him Steve was staying a little after 3 in the afternoon. He pounded on the door and Steve answered.

"Hey, Cap, long time no see," he said with a smirk.

"Barton, come in. How did you find us? Is something wrong?"

"World in danger?" Sam threw in as Clint entered the room.

"The world's safe at the moment, but Nat needs you, Cap."

"What's going on?" Steve replied, grabbing his shield.

"I can't really go into detail, but Hydra's involved. She sent me to get you."

Steve looked at Sam who nodded. "It's okay, Cap. I've got this. Go with Hawkeye."

"Let's go," Steve replied, looking directly at Clint. "Do you have transport?"

"Do I have transport?" Clint nodded his head, "do I ever. I didn't see any point in turning the quinjet I had when Shield fell over to a government that may or may not be full of Hydra agents. I've got us covered."

Once they were in the air Steve started asking questions, and Clint realized keeping Nicole a secret wasn't going to be as easy as he had hoped. Finally, he decided a partial truth might get Steve to settle down and relax without getting him in too much trouble with Nat.

"Nat got a visit from Fury a few days ago. It seems Hydra got a hold of some of Natasha's genetic material a few years ago and the result is a little girl. Fury acquired the kid and Nat went to get her."

"Wow, that's something," Steve replied.

"Yeah, it's something alright. The kid was being groomed like Nat was as a child. She's really cute. Nat sent me a picture," Clint paused to show him the child. "It isn't going to be easy, but if anyone can help the kid it's Nat."

Steve took Clint's phone and smiled as he saw the tiny little girl. "She's beautiful. This must be what Nat meant when she said things were going better, but it doesn't explain why she sent you after me."

"Yeah, you're right. There's more to the story. Yesterday, Nat was attacked. Hydra found her. She and the kid made it out, of course. I mean, it's Nat, but Hydra can track the child and-"

"That's why she needed help. She wants us to help her protect her daughter."

Clint sighed. It wasn't a total lie. "Yeah, something like that. There's something else, Coulson is alive. Don't ask me how, but he is and his team were the ones who found the kid. Nat is with them and they're headed to the compound. They'll get there before us, but with this baby," Clint patted the quinjet's console, "we won't be far behind."