Chapter Six:

Sophie's POV:

"That was insane. I didn't think we'd be able to calm down the teenagers, but Thor was just as impressed by tonight," I said to Steve as we got ready for bed.

"Did you have to shock Tommy?" Steve asked me.

I smirked at him.

"He wanted to call me the Electric Hawk."

He smiled back at me and kissed me.

"I love you, Sophie."

"I love you too, Steve."

We were just about to get in bed when Dad came barging into our room.

"Sophie, I need your help at my house, quick. It's your mother."

My stomach dropped out. I didn't even say anything to Steve, I just ran out of the room and down to the teleporter, scared that she was dead or dying. I could hear Steve and Bucky coming behind me, but I ran faster than both of them. I got out of the teleporter in Pennsylvania and went straight to find her.

She was curled in the fetal position, grasping her stomach. She was sweating, and even from the door, I could tell she had a fever.

"Mom," I said in Russian. "It's Sophie. Just breathe, Mom. I got you. Can you tell me what happened?"

She shook her head.

"Where is the pain, Mom? Is it just in your stomach?"

She nodded. I picked her up and brought her downstairs to the basement, where she had some of the medical equipment we had been able to get her. I put her on monitors to get her vitals. They weren't as good as they should have been. I took an ultrasound machine and started to run it over her stomach. I found three things that concerned me, two of which were immediately life threatening. The problem was Mom was the doctor, not me. I understood the medicine, but putting it to practical use was something I wasn't really equipped for.

"Mom," I said to her in Russian. "We've got a couple of problems here and they look surgical."

I showed her the ultrasound.

"There are epidurals in the drawer to your left," Mom said to me through her pain in Russian.

"Are you kidding me, Mom? I'm not a doctor. You are."

"I can't do this, Sophie. I need you."

I took a deep breath before kicking Dad, Bucky, and Steve out of the room, locking the door behind me without saying anything. I could hear Dad freaking out outside.

"Shut up! I need to focus!" I yelled at him in Russian from inside, before turning back to my mother. "Mom, you can't talk me through this while I'm cutting into you. Let me try to get help, someone who isn't involved in either side of this war."

I took a deep breath before using the summoning spell I had been given years ago while I was on my own, on the run from the labs, before I thought I lost Mom and met Bucky. The spell was to reach a specific person, no matter where in the cosmos he was, because he made it clear I was to use it only if it was a dire emergency. No matter how bad things had been with me before I'd never used it. I couldn't think of an emergency more dire than my mom at that moment. After a few moments, he appeared in the room with Mom and me.

"Sophie, what's wrong?"

"Doctor Strange, I need your help. My mom needs surgery and she wants me to do it. I know why you wouldn't be able to do it, but can you at least help talk me through it or do anything to help me? She can barely focus, I can't count on her to talk me through operating on her."

"My specialty was neurology, Sophie… What is her problem?"

I did the ultrasound again.

"I know the basics to help her, tell me what supplies you have and I'll talk you through it."

"Thank you, Doctor Strange. I know you've been staying out of the war, but my mom isn't a superhuman. All she's done is help to treat those against Stark, but she wasn't taking care of herself. I can't thank you enough for helping me."

"Thank me after we finish, Sophie. Right now, it's time for your crash course in surgical procedures," he said to me as he handed me an epidural, showing me the best place to administer it to minimize Mom's pain.

We got started on what I knew would be a long night of surgery on Mom. I was terrified I wouldn't be good enough to save her. The only thing keeping me calm was that the Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Stephen Strange was there helping me.

Steve's POV:

Sophie unlocked the door a few hours after she locked us all out. By the time we realized it was unlocked, she had left. When Bucky and I followed Clint into the room, Anya was sound asleep on the exam table. There was a note for Clint. He didn't seem to notice.

"Clint," I said, getting his attention. "I think Sophie left you a note explaining what's going on."

He saw the note and took it. Something in his eyes changed and he just stared at Anya. I looked at Bucky.

"Go home, Steve. She's upset. I'll stay with Barton in case he needs anything or one of the kids needs something. Take care of her."

"What if she's speaking rapid-fire Russian?" I pointed out.

Bucky and Sophie had started to teach me Russian because of their habit of slipping into it without realizing it. Even though I was picking it up, I wasn't at the point where I could follow her if she was upset.

"Tell her to take a deep breath and try to remember it's you," Bucky suggested. "I think she needs you more than me right now."

I nodded and left through the teleporter. Thor was in the room when I came out in the lab at my house.

"Is Sophie alright? She seemed quite upset when she came through here. She ran upstairs," Thor said to me.

"It's her mom. I'm not sure what happened. Was everything okay here? No trouble with the Young Avengers or Runaways?" I asked him.

"We all had a grand time, Rogers. There were some revels and they all fell asleep a bit ago."

"Tell me you didn't give them alcohol, Thor… you know what, I'll deal with this later. I need to check on Sophie."

I went upstairs to find Sophie sitting at the window in our room, brushing her hair, which was still wet.

"Sophie?" I asked gently, trying to get her attention.

She looked up at me and it was easy to tell she very upset.

"What happened in that room, Sophie?"

She took a few deep breaths. After waiting a few minutes, she finally spoke.

"My mother asked me to perform surgery on her, Steve," she said, her voice quivering. "She didn't want to go to the hospital."

"What was wrong with her?"

"Apparently, Mom has been hiding the signs of renal failure. Her left kidney was dead, completely. And on top of that, her appendix burst."

"We don't have the tools you would need for those kinds of surgeries, do we?"

"No, we don't," she said looking at her hands, which were shaking as much as her voice. "She had me give her an epidural to remove her kidney and appendix. Then I had to use the healing serum to substitute for the missing supplies."

"Will she be okay?"

"Her right kidney looked fine to me, and the person I called in to help me agreed."

"Who did you call in to help you? Why didn't Barton get a notice?"

"I can't tell you that, but I blocked the signal from going to Dad's phone. This person needs to stay anonymous. He did me a huge favor just coming to help me, I couldn't let anyone know he was there."

Something told me there was more to what she was saying, but she wasn't ready to say anything.

Bucky's POV:

Things got more stressful. Stark, enraged at the backlash he was getting for ambushing Steve, was doubling his effort to try to find the Secret Avengers. His side had gone as far as enlisting supervillains to find any superhuman who was considered rogue. This made the target sign on our backs bigger.

Barton pulled out of everything having to do with the resistance. It turned out Anya miscarried when Sophie had to do surgery on her, his house was now only being used as a safehouse when we needed it. Sophie was focused on training the Young Avengers and Runaways if she wasn't in the lab, making new weapons, new tech, anything that could help us in our fight.

I couldn't take it anymore. I went after Stark directly. I broke into his house, getting past his security team easily. Finding him in his office, I cornered him, barricading us in.

"You've got balls, Barnes. I wasn't sure, considering Sophie is usually the one who covers for you," he said to me.

"You're one to talk, hiding in your high security building, Stark."

"What do you want?"

"What's it gonna take to put an end to this? Release the superhumans and put this registration shit to rest."

"I'd say your death would be a good start, Barnes," Stark replied.

I was worried he would say that.

"You have the nerve to come in here after everything you've done? Sophie, she was distressed. She could be reformed. But you, you're a killer, Barnes. A cold-blooded killer."

"I'm cold-blooded, Stark? The people I've killed were mostly while I was under mind control. While I've had control of myself I have never intentionally targeted women and children. But you? You are holding how many teen and women superhumans in your prisons? What is your excuse, Stark?"

"Protection. From people like you. From people like Sophie Holden… excuse me Sophie Rogers who don't know how to ensure the safety of the civilian population in an emergency."

"That's just your excuse, Stark and you know it! You started having issues with Sophie before the incident in Sudan."

"You know what, maybe I did. Seeing how careless she was when it came to you being around, I started to have a problem. When I see there are people with the kind of power that you and Barton's daughter wield, and then I see that you can't keep your heads on straight, I have a problem, Barnes. That girl should be in school, hanging out with friends, not going on black ops missions with you where she puts her life at risk to keep you safe. She's eighteen. Instead, she's married, a fugitive from the federal government, and running around with a bunch of rogues who don't want to comply with the laws of the land. And both you and her husband are encouraging it! She had such a bright future and you're destroying it, Barnes."

"You don't know anything about Sophie. You never understood her."

"Maybe not, but do you? Can you say that you understand her, Barnes?"

"Do you really want to keep this fight going, Stark? Think of the casualties to the people who are supposed to be protecting this world! We can't safely do what we need to without some kind of autonomy!"

"What do you know about any of this, Barnes? What are you even doing here? Why aren't you with your buddies?" Stark asked, changing the subject, clearly getting frustrated.

"I'm trying to put an end to this insanity, Stark. You don't realize what you're costing everyone, the people who have vowed to protect the world, because you're acting like a dog with a bone."

"Your group of rogues are the ones causing the problems, Barnes."

"If I were you, I wouldn't say that to Barton. I don't think even Natasha could save you from him if you did."

I opened a portal, knowing I was frying every circuit in his building. I punched him so hard in the face with my cybernetic arm it knocked him out with one hit and I was satisfied knowing that it was going to leave a bruise and that I more than likely broke a few bones in his face on impact. Finally, I got closer to the portal and left, going home before I sank to his level and just killed him while he was unconscious.

Barton's POV:

I had been spending most of my time with Anya and the kids. Anya's emergency had been a rude awakening. I had been so preoccupied getting back in the fight, I didn't see the signs that she was sick and in pain. What made me feel worse about it, she was still taking care of everyone as one of her organs died inside of her. It made me realize that I needed to take better care of her, Lila, Cooper, and Nathaniel. If I didn't, I could lose them all.

Needing to make sure that Anya was okay, I started bringing her to an outside doctor. We were coming out of the office with Nathaniel in a stroller when Stark landed in front of us in his Iron Man suit. I wanted to kill him. He was making all of our lives a living hell.

"Leave me alone, Stark," I growled at him.

Anya looked tired and I wanted to get her home. Nathaniel was asleep in the stroller.

"Is that any way to greet an old friend, Legolas?" Stark asked, the faceplate on his helmet lifting.

I noticed severe bruising and what looked like a broken nose and cheekbone. Knowing it wasn't easy to get near him, I could think of only two people who could get to him that easily, but only one with a metal fist to do that kind of damage in one hit. Bucky. He just moved higher up in my book.

"I'm not your friend. Just leave me the hell alone."

"Why aren't you hiding under a rock like your daughter and her friends, Barton? What changed?"

"Stark, get the hell away from me, before you regret it," I snarled at him. "I don't want anything to do with you. And officially, you have no jurisdiction over me. I don't have superhuman abilities or the technology that would give me those abilities. Now get the fuck away from me, because if you wake up my son, I will make sure that this war ends with your death right here, right now."

I pushed past Stark and put Anya in the front seat of the car before putting Nathaniel in his car seat. Knowing he was going to follow me, I put in a call to Steve, asking him to get Stark away from me as I drove away.

Sophie's POV:

I appeared down the block from Stark. I could see his suit start sparking. As I extended my hand, the sparks grew bigger, and as they grew bigger, I knew they would be getting hotter. Stark ejected himself from his suit. He began to look around to find me.

"I see you Rogers!" he called out to me.

"I'm not hiding, Stark!" I called back.

"You really want to fight with me?" He said, coming closer to me, showing me what Bucky had done to him.

"You have no idea how badly," I said with a smile on my face.

The days of my playing nice with Stark were long gone. As soon as he and Natasha became my torturers, they became enemies. No warm emotions remained in me for either of them.

Stark and I engaged in a hand to hand fight. He was no match for me. Even without my abilities, I was an expert combatant. He realized he was no match for me and pushed a button on his sensor. His suit started to seek the sensor out. I put my hand up, pulling all the electrical currents out of the Iron Man suit.

"I don't think so, Stark. Can't fight a girl in a fair fight?"

Natasha appeared and Stark ran off.

"You think you can take me, Sophie?"

"Let's find out, traitor."

We started fighting. I could see she had power restraints. I used my new powers and fried their circuits. As quickly as she was trying to subdue me, I was coming back around, matching her. Finally, with a kick to her chest, I knocked her halfway down the block. Before she could get back to her feet, I threw two of the throwing knives she gave me. One landed in her shoulder, the other in her stomach. She retreated and I went home, not caring that I had just seriously injured my father's former best friend.

Stark's POV:

Romanoff had to be picked up from her last fight with Sophie. Not only had she physically taken me on, but then she took Natasha on when I left, killing the power restraints, and nearly Natasha in the process. When she was brought back to base she was bleeding freely from wounds made by throwing knives she had given Sophie for Christmas last year.

"Stark," Hill said, coming into my office.

"What do you need?"

"Have you had any luck finding Rogers' base of operations?"

I sighed. I may have been used to being the smartest person in the room, but that was until I had met Sophie. She gave me a run for my money.

"Have I brought you to Mr. and Mrs. Capsicle, Hill? No? Then that would be your answer."

"We need to find them. As long as Rogers is out there, leading the resistance, we're going to have trouble, Stark."

"I would think you should be more worried about Mrs. Capsicle, you know the one who keeps hacking us and keeping us from finding them?"

"Maybe you taught her too well, Stark."

"She knew more than you would think on her own. I just focused her, Hill. Sophie is a brilliant mind and could be so much more than a fugitive."

"She's a felon."

"Look at some of the people you've brought into this, Hill. Before the registration the Avengers would have been hunting them to put them in jail for the rest of their miserable lives or worse. Now we're employing them to find our former teammates who don't want to join the registration? Rogers and his group of rogues may not be right, but are we right glorifying these guys?"

"They're following the law. That's the priority right now."

I turned away from her, back to my computer. Hill left my office and I went back to work. Putting an end to the resistance, getting all those with superhuman abilities united was the priority. A few hours later I checked on Romanoff.

"Any luck on your end finding Barton?" I asked her.

"None. He's off the grid completely. They all are. I don't see how she can keep them in this country and off the grid this completely. There's nothing, school records for the kids, bank statements, utilities, nothing."

"What about Sophie's mother?"

"There are random medical records, but they're literally scattered around the country. Nothing is centralized, so I can't even estimate if it's anywhere near where he's living."

"What are the medical records for?"

Romanoff hit a few keys.

"We've got check-ups for kidney removal surgery, an appendectomy, and…"

"And what, Romanoff?"

She looked up at me.

"And a DNC post-miscarriage, Stark. Anya had a miscarriage."

No wonder Barton hated me and wanted nothing to do with any of us. His girlfriend had lost her appendix, kidney, and their baby. It also explained why Barnes suddenly came to me trying to work things out. He knew what all of this had cost Barton already. And my reaction set him off, which was why he attacked me before disappearing.

"Where were the surgeries done?"

Romanoff hit a few keys.

"With the exception of the DNC, there is no record of the kidney or appendix being removed anywhere."

"You don't think they refused to get her treated, do you?"

"I'm not sure what they're thinking other than staying out of prison right now, Stark. But Anya is the only one with a medical degree."

Natasha's POV:

The law is what it is. That's all there is to it. Barton wouldn't see that from the beginning of the registration. He blindly followed Steve Rogers and the rogues, getting involved with the resistance when he didn't have to, even when I told him that it would be better if he just stayed out of it and convinced his daughter to sign up with the registration.

He told me I was a fool. After all we had been through, he called me a fool because I told him that right now, the registration was the best thing. It would force everyone with superhuman abilities to be trained and accounted for. Even after I helped him with Sophie, he wouldn't listen to me.

"And now your family is falling apart, Clint. You should have listened to me before this all got out of control."

I was brought out of my thoughts when security brought someone to me since Stark was in the field. It was Peter Parker, Spider Man, our most valuable asset. He looked uncomfortable being escorted to me, we'd had our run-ins before, some good, some not so much, but he was doing the right thing. It was a lot more than I could say for those I once called friends.

"What is it Peter?"

"I needed to talk to Tony."

"He's not gonna be back for a few hours. You can talk to me about whatever you need to tell him. Maybe I can help you, if not, I'll tell him later and he can come check-in with you after."

Peter looked nervous, more than when he unmasked himself to the media and by default, the country.

"No, that's okay, Agent Romanoff," he replied. "I'll give Tony a call later and find out when is a better time for us talk."

Peter left and suddenly, I felt like our most valuable asset was going to become our most dangerous enemy.