Chapter 14. Alone

Lacey looked at the time and wondered why Bucky hadn't called yet. It had been three days since they argued and two days since he apologized, explaining how he had been dealing with a growing sense of dread. She thought for sure he would call when word came of the spacecraft appearing over New York that left taking a sorcerer and Iron Man with it. When he didn't call she wondered if he even knew. She called but there was no answer and she assumed he was out in the fields working.

At the farm Clint and Laura had set up a picnic table and everyone was out there except for Lacey and Tommy. He had fallen, scraped his knee and Lacey was performing first aid on him, Mom style. As she kissed his knee and sent him outside the TV showed a breaking news alert. Standing up she watched as the announcer reported that a strange phenomena was being noted all over the planet. People were disappearing into dust. There was no rhyme or reason to it either. Sometimes whole families disappeared and other times just one or two members. Going to the door she went to call Clint and Laura in to watch it. In the distance she could hear Clint calling for his wife and kids, almost hysterically.

"Oh no," she said, then in desperation she called her son. "Tommy! Where are you?"

"Here, Mom," he said from the side of the porch. "What's wrong with Uncle Clint?"

"Something bad has happened, honey," she said, picking him up. "I think it's happened to him as well. Clint!"

She called him several times before he finally came over, his face tear stained. "Where are they?" he asked, his voice choking. "They were here, then they were gone."

"It's happening everywhere," she replied. "I don't know why but people are disappearing everywhere. It's on TV."

He pushed past her to the living room and stood in front of the TV, watching the news coverage. It was unbelievable then finally there was word from someone in government and the announcement was officially made as the TV screen showed the Oval Office and a shaken Vice-President.

"Today, the Earth was attacked by an extraterrestrial being," said the Vice-President. "This being, Thanos, was behind an attack on New York yesterday, and Scotland last night. Today, his forces attacked the country of Wakanda and Thanos did the unspeakable. In an act of genocide, he somehow caused the death of a significant portion of Earth's population. Our own President and the First Lady were among the casualties. We are still trying to get in contact with people who were involved in the battle of Wakanda to find out exactly how this heinous act was committed. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has lost a family member today. We grieve with you."

The Vice-President began to cry and the broadcast from the White House was stopped, replaced by somber music playing over nature scenes. Clint stood there, unmoving then grabbed his phone and began calling. He called Nick Fury and it went straight to voice mail. Then he tried Maria Hill, and several others. It was only when he tried Natasha that he got an answer.

"Nat?" he cried. "They're gone ... Laura, and the kids...they're gone, disappeared. What the hell happened?"

As Natasha tried to explain Clint became more and more upset then slammed his phone down, damaging it. He looked at Lacey with agony on his face.

"Vision is dead, the Mind Stone taken from him by Thanos," he said. "Wanda is gone. So is Sam, T'Challa, Shuri, and ..."

"Bucky ...," whispered Lacey. "He's gone, isn't he?"

He nodded and as Lacey began to cry he opened his arms and they held each other, crying loudly. Tommy sat quietly watching what was happening. Finally, Lacey stopped crying and blew her nose. She sat on the couch and motioned to Tommy to sit with her.

"A terrible thing has happened," she said, holding his hands. "A very bad man found a way to kill a lot of people all at once. He's killed Aunty Laura, Lila, Cooper and Nathaniel. He also killed your Dad. They're all gone, honey. They won't be coming back."

"Where did they go?" he asked, confused.

"I don't know, but they aren't here any more," said Lacey. "They're just gone."

"So I don't have a dad anymore?" asked Tommy. "We won't talk on the tablet?"

"No honey," said Lacey. "I'm sorry."

She looked up at Clint and she noticed something had changed in him. His face had hardened and there was something in his eyes that wasn't there before. Without a word he left the house and went towards the big barn. Carrying Tommy she followed him out there and saw him walk into his workshop. He scanned the tools and found what he was looking for, industrial cutters.

"What are you doing?" asked Lacey. "Won't that send a signal to them that you've cut them off?"

"Yep," replied Clint. "That's why I'm going to the edge of my perimeter to do it. I'll leave you the truck. I have a motorcycle."

"Clint, they'll arrest you," said Lacey. "Laura wouldn't want you to do this."

He glared at her. "I wore this happily when she was alive," he said. "Now that she and the kids are gone there is nothing keeping me here."

"What are you going to do?" she asked. "What about the farm?"

"I'm not going to sit here and mourn my family," he stated, walking out of the barn with the cutters. "You can have the farm. It means nothing to me now."

"You'll be leaving us unprotected," cried Lacey, grabbing his arm.

He stopped, breathing heavily. "Steve will protect you," he replied. "Agent Jones, if he made it through this will protect you. I can't stay. I'm sorry."

He went up to his room and Lacey could hear him packing a bag. Then he came out with a back pack and put the cutters into it.

"Don't leave," pleaded Lacey. "Please."

He touched her arm and looked at Tommy then turned away and left the house. As she watched from the porch he went into the garage, then came out a few minutes later on his motorbike. He slowed down briefly to look at them then sped up and disappeared from the property. Lacey slumped into a chair on the porch and began to cry. Tommy patted her arm trying to comfort her. She held him closely, crying with him for some time.

"Well, kiddo," she finally spoke. "Looks like we're on our own. Do you think you can run the farm with me?"

"Yeah," he said. "We can do it, Mom."

Lacey hugged him then grabbed her cell phone. She thought for a moment then took a breath and dialled a number, thankful she had asked Nick Fury for it some time before when the one he gave her at the funeral didn't work.

"Terry?" she said. "You're alive! Thank God. Is Nancy alright? Tommy and I are okay but the family we live with disappeared, except for the husband. He's had a breakdown and left. Did you mean what you said about protecting us? Would you live with us?" He spoke for a bit then Lacey's face dropped. "Bucky disappeared, in Wakanda. He was part of the battle against Thanos." Terry said some more and Lacey began to smile. "Okay. You call me at this number. Thank you, Terry. I didn't know who else to call." She looked at Tommy. "Your Uncle Terry may come to live with us. He has some things to deal with first then he'll call."

She looked at the second number and debated about whether to call him but she dialled it and when it went to voice mail she hung up. Agent Jones wasn't answering his phone and had possibly been one of the disappeared. Then she dialled Steve and waited for some time before hanging up as he wasn't answering. She took a deep breath and tried one more number. Just like Agent Jones this one went to voicemail and she wondered if Phil Coulson had also succumbed to Thanos' snap. Taking Tommy by the hand she went back into the house and tried different channels on the TV to see if they had anything different to say but it was all the same. Billions of people had just turned to dust and disappeared. She and Tommy were likely on their own.

One year later

"There's an aircraft approaching!" yelled Lacey's brother Terry as he stopped the tractor and jumped off.

Lacey came out of the barn where she and Tommy had just finished transferring the straw bales from where they had been dropped off outside the doors. She knew the farmer who sold them to her was short on help but it would have been nice if he had put them in the barn. Still, Tommy was strong enough to drag them in almost by himself. She looked up at the sky and smiled.

"It's a quinjet," she said. "Probably Steve. About time he showed up."

The aircraft landed about 100 yards away and she strode towards it, removing her gloves in the process. The ramp came down and it wasn't just Steve but also Natasha and another man she had never seen before. He had some sort of external bracing on his lower legs and she wondered if he had suffered an injury at some point.

"It's about time you showed up," she repeated for Steve's sake. "For a year you've been saying you'll come. I'm not angry, just disappointed it's taken you this long."

"I'm sorry," Steve apologized as he hugged her. "There's only a few of us now and it's hard to keep things going when we're spread so thin. This is Colonel James Rhodes, War Machine. Lacey Williams also known as Lacey Chapman."

"Rhodey is fine," said Rhodes extending his hand. "I thought it was time I met you and this little guy."

"This is Tommy," said Lacey. "That big guy coming in from the field is my brother Terry Williams. He lives here now."

"The football player?" asked Rhodes. "I didn't know you were related. What's with the two names?"

"Chapman is my pen name," replied Lacey. "It seemed easier and more secure to keep it when I first went into hiding. At least Nick Fury thought so." She looked at Natasha who was hanging back. "Hey Nat. I've had no word from him. It's like he's dropped off the face of the Earth."

Natasha looked at Lacey then at Steve and Rhodes. "That's partly why we're here," she replied. "We kind of have a lead on him. He's gone rogue."

"What do you mean?" asked Lacey, as her brother joined them. "Terry, this is Steve, Natasha and Rhodey, who's apparently a fan. What do you mean gone rogue?"

"Let's go in the house," said Steve. "Hey Tommy. Ready for a workout?"

"Sure, Uncle Steve," replied the boy. "I'm a lot stronger now. Uncle Terry set up a gym in the barn and we lift weights together."

"I don't overdo it," said Terry. "But it won't be long before he can out lift me. If I didn't see him doing it I wouldn't believe an almost 4 year old can do the things he does."

Together they walked to the house and Lacey put the coffee on, bringing out enough cups for everyone. She gave Tommy a juice box and asked him to watch TV for a bit while the grown ups talked. No one said anything as Lacey poured coffee for everyone. Terry brought out sugar and milk.

Steve took a deep breath. "When Clint left what did he take with him?" he asked.

"Industrial cutters, a back pack of clothes and his motorcycle," said Lacey. "Why?"

"Did you notice if he had a sword with him, like a samurai sword, except shorter?" asked Natasha.

"No, but it's possible he kept it in the barn where the motorcycle was," replied Lacey. "He may have carried it in a travelling case attached to the motor bike."

"Do you mind if I look?" asked Natasha. "I know where he kept his weapons in the barn."

"Go ahead," said Lacey.

Natasha left and went to the barn. Her face was grim. "You're going to have excuse Natasha," said Steve. "She hasn't heard anything from Clint and she's worried."

"What do you mean about him going rogue?" asked Lacey again.

Rhodes cleared his throat. "There's reports of a ronin, fully disguised, who's going after criminals," he said. "Not the run of the mill ones either. He's going after heads of drug cartels, mafia, Yakuza, anyone of them that survived the Snap. He uses a katana, a shorter version of a samurai sword. Clint knows how to use one."

"You don't think he's doing it, do you?" asked Lacey incredulously. "He's a family man, kind and a gentleman."

"Without his family," said Rhodes. "Angry that his loved ones are gone and these criminals still live."

They saw Natasha returning to the house and she looked downcast. "It's not there," she said. "He must have taken it."

She took a deep breath and Lacey could see she was shaken. Grasping Natasha's hand she squeezed it and was rewarded with a sad smile. As Natasha picked up her coffee cup Lacey could see her hands were shaking slightly.

"Are you going to try to stop him?" asked Lacey.

"So far, he's eluded us," said Natasha. "I know him better than anyone and even I can't find him. I just worry that he'll reach a point where he can't come back. I owe him so much and I can't even ..."

She began to cry and Lacey pulled her up, hugging her. Looking back at the men she took Natasha upstairs. Steve sighed then he looked at Terry.

"Thank you for coming out to stay with Lacey," he said to Terry. "Like I said we're spread so thin that none of us really can spare the time to be here with her and Tommy. Have there been any incidents?"

"Nothing," replied Terry. "That FBI agent that was supposed to check on her and Clint hasn't shown up so we assume he disappeared. Apparently, he's the only one who knew about the farm. Phil Coulson dropped by a couple of times but like you he couldn't stay as SHIELD is short staffed as well. We've heard nothing from Tony Stark."

"You likely won't," said Steve. "He still blames me for not supporting him. As if that would have stopped Thanos. How's Lacey holding up?"

"Okay mostly," he said. "She's working on her third book. I do hear her crying sometimes so I know she still misses Bucky. Did you know after he finished his treatment he was going to turn himself in so he could come back to the States? I guess Thanos interrupted that plan as well."

"He never told me," replied Steve, upset at hearing it now. "I'm not surprised he wanted to be here. He wanted to come back as soon as he found out about Tommy when he was still a baby. He wanted to make it right."

Terry nodded. "At least Lacey and I are close now," he said. "When I was still playing I was quite the asshole and she didn't want much to do with me. After I found out the danger she was in I offered to help and she called me after the Snap to move here. Best decision of my life. Tommy is an awesome kid. Even as strong as he is he doesn't show off or get angry and abuse it. He loved Bucky and I think he misses the relationship, even though it was over the tablet. He doesn't want to disappoint Lacey."

Steve looked at Tommy sitting in the living room and watching TV. "I'm going to do an assessment of his physical skills while I'm here," he said. "Since you're already monitoring him lifting weights it's probably a good idea for you to encourage him to be as physically active as possible. Running, jumping, parkour type activities. He should be fully capable of all of it."

"What about self defence?" asked Terry. "Tommy said you were teaching him to box but I know nothing about any type of fighting."

"There's a possibility he has a genetic memory of how to fight," said Steve. "I was a 98 pound weakling who got beaten up a lot before I took the serum. Once my body changed it was like it knew what to do all by itself. Bucky's change was from a different serum but Bruce Banner, a scientist and doctor, thinks it's possible he passed on the memory of how to fight to Tommy." He drained his coffee and looked over at Tommy. "Hey buddy, want to show me what you can do?"

Tommy turned around with a big smile on his face. Together he and Steve went outside and Steve ran up to the top of the barn parkour style, using the smaller outbuildings beside it to jump up. Tommy looked up at him and ran towards the first outbuilding, easily jumping on top then he continued on and pulled himself up to the top of the barn. They high fived each other and Steve jumped straight off down to the ground. Tommy followed him. Steve picked up one of the straw bales and carried it into the barn then stood in the doorway and watched Tommy as he lifted the edge of one then tried to lift it onto his shoulder. It's bulk was too much for him and he dragged it in instead.

"It's too big," he said to Steve. "Maybe when I'm bigger."

"Maybe," agreed Steve. "You've seen martial arts on movies, right? Do you think you can do what those guys do?"

"I haven't tried," said Tommy. "It would hurt Uncle Terry if I did."

"That's why I'm here," smiled Steve. "Go ahead, show me what you can do."

Terry and Rhodes watched from the porch as Tommy suddenly adopted a martial arts fighting stance and began attacking Steve. He was just as fast as Steve and landed several blows and kicks, getting past the bigger man's defences more than once.

"It's like he knows instinctively what to do," said Terry in a low voice. "He's only ever seen it on TV."

"He's definitely a super soldier," said Rhodes, impressed. "No wonder HYDRA tried to breed Barnes. He could have fathered a whole army of them."

"They tried to breed him?" asked Terry. "Lacey said he thought he was sterile and didn't believe that Tommy was his at first."

"He was because of all the chemicals they were pumping into him," said Rhodey. "Our guess is once he got away his body was able to detoxify itself. By the time he and your sister got together he wasn't sterile anymore. Of course, he didn't know that at the time."

"Have there been any encounters with HYDRA since the Snap?" asked Terry.

"The odd sighting of a known operative," replied Rhodes, "but nothing organized. They were probably hit as hard by the Snap as all of us."

Steve called a halt to Tommy's fighting and kneeled down to talk at eye level with the boy. "You can fight without even thinking of it, can't you?" he asked.

"It's like my hands and feet know what to do," said Tommy. "Does that mean I am a super soldier?"

"Looks like it, buddy," said Steve. "I know it's hard but you have to make sure no one sees you doing that except your Mom and Uncle Terry."

Tommy nodded in understanding. "I know," he sighed. "Can I be an Avenger when I grow up?"

Steve smiled and ruffled Tommy's hair. "If that's what you want to do," he replied. "Let's go for a run."

They set off running at an easy pace for them. To the men on the porch it looked like they took off at top speed. They came back about ten minutes later and Tommy's face was glowing. As he stepped up to the porch he looked at his uncle.

"Did you see me?" he asked.

"I did," replied Terry. "You're fast, much faster than I ever was. It must have felt good to run like that. I watched you fight as well. You looked like you were pretty good at it."

Tommy beamed and hugged his uncle. "Thanks, I'm going to tell Mom what I did," he said, entering the house.

Rhodes looked seriously at Steve. "So, the kid has the abilities," he stated. "What now?"

"He stays here," said Steve. "Even though you're here Terry, Tommy has more than enough physical ability to protect you and Lacey than you do. He could disable a normal human. I'm going to see if we can get a satellite in position to monitor the comings and goings on the farm. If anyone does try anything we have access to the sorcerers now and can get a portal here within seconds. I'll talk to Wong and see if he can also put a protection spell on the farm. Not that I'm expecting trouble. The world is still reeling from the Snap, friendlies and non-friendlies alike."

The sound of Tommy's voice drew their attention to inside the house where Lacey and Natasha were coming down the stairs with the boy. Natasha had been crying but she was smiling kindly at Tommy as he continued to tell the women what he and Steve did. When they got down to the bottom of the stairs she kneeled down to him and touched his cheek.

"You look after your Mom and Uncle, okay?" she said. "You're strong enough to keep them safe. Don't ever forget that."

"I won't," said Tommy, and he hugged Natasha hard.

She returned it just as hard and stood up with a deep breath. "Are we ready to go?" she asked briskly, then turned to Lacey. "I'll try to come more often. Thanks for the shoulder. Good luck with the book."

Lacey rubbed Natasha's arm and smiled grimly at her. "You're welcome," she said. "Don't be a stranger." She looked at Steve and Rhodes. "Both of you as well. You're always welcome here."

She hugged Steve and Natasha hard then looked at Rhodes. He gave her a small hug. Terry shook their hands. Together they all walked out to the quinjet. The three Avengers walked up the ramp and Steve took the controls. He waved at the three still standing together on the ground. Tommy waved back while the other two just raised their hand in farewell. Terry went back to the tractor while Lacey and Tommy watched the quinjet lift off and fly away. Then she put her hand out to Tommy and they walked hand in hand back to the barn to finish taking the straw bales in.