**I'm baackkk! Also, this is the end. Not this particular chapter, but by the end of the day, this book will be done, so binge until your hearts are content. Unfortunately, a whole month of fluff has really thrown off my tone and this chapter is a little more... well, let's just say I lost some of my dark writing skills. As a recap: Peter found out he was Natasha's son, and Natasha found out that Fury was part of a "deal" to trick her into having Peter when she was a kid. Fury bought Peter in an auction when he was a baby and taken from Natasha, which is how Peter became an agent of SHIELD. Last 2 chapters were Peter killing Doc Ock (who gave him his powers as a child and was also part of the "deal") and Clint killing Fury for being a piece of shit human. Bucky went to get Peter, but Peter's dad, a HYDRA executive now, knocked Bucky out and took Peter. Enjoy the hardcore angst and happy ending! I know this was kinda quick as far as books go, and it wasn't super angsty, but I already have another book coming and that one has a huge climax with MAJOR angst. Enjoy!!**

When Bucky woke up, he was on the sidewalk outside Ned's house, cold rain seeping into the back of his shirt. He pushed himself up, the metal hand slipping on the wet pavement and scraping across the ground.

"You're up."

Bucky turned. Ned was perched on his front stoop, an umbrella held over his shoulder.

"How long was I out? Where's Peter?"

Ned shrugged. "Only a little bit. Maybe half an hour?"

"Where's Peter?!"

"He left." Ned looked at Bucky with stony eyes. There was sadness and fear hidden behind the mask of strength. "He said he couldn't risk it."

Bucky shook his head. Leave it to a teenager to be selfless to a fault.

How could I let this happen? Bucky thought, chastising himself angrily. I had one job and I let a fucking HYDRA agent jump me. I let Peter down. I let Natasha down. I couldn't-

Bucky stood up, ignoring the head rush and wave of dizziness that came with it. "I have to go back to the Tower. Since you were here and that man knows you're close with Peter, I need you to come with me."

Ned nodded. "I know. I was waiting out here for you to wake up so we could go."

"How long have you known Peter was an agent? And a superhero?"

Ned shrugged. "A few weeks."

The two got in the car, Ned sitting in the passenger seat and jumping a little. He reached under himself and grabbed a piece of paper folded neatly on the seat. It had a line of clean writing on the front, but Ned couldn't read it. It was written in Cyrillic.

"Must be for Nat," Bucky commented, looking over at the note. His Russian was rusty, but he knew that didn't say 'To the Avengers'. "I'll bet you anything its for Nat."

The ride to the Tower was spent in silence, Ned thinking of the blood and the body back home, Bucky thinking about how he had failed Peter. The car was illuminated with streetlights, then plunged back into darkness, then streetlights. It was the pattern of night in New York City. It was the pattern of most things, really. The dark eating up the light. The light flooding back. Like a tide.

"He was soaking wet," Ned commented quietly. "When he showed up. He'd jumped in the river before coming to see me."

"Why?"

"He told me being in the middle of water, not knowing which way was up or down, it was like being weightless. Like flying."

Bucky didn't say anything.

"Who was it who knocked you out?" Ned asked.

Bucky grunted, a twinge of phantom pain shooting through his head at the mention of his injuries. "A HYDRA executive known as Alek Yohontov. He's big in the organization - was a top rated assassin and agent for a while, moved up the ladder over the last 5 years. He oversees bases and designs raids and stuff like that. He would have been someone in charge of the project that produced me, if he were around then."

Bucky paused, letting Ned take in all the information he'd just spat out. After a moment, he took a breath.

"He's also Peter's father."

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Natasha was pacing in the living room of the penthouse, her hands running through her hair wildly. She wanted to know Peter was safe. She needed to know Peter was safe.

"Still no word from Buck?" Tony asked, looking back and forth from Natasha to Steve.

"No." The supersoldier jerked his head a little to the side, motioning for Tony to join him in the kitchen. Tony followed him, watching to see if Natasha noticed them leaving. She didn't.

"Tony," Steve started, only to have Tony cut him off.

"You said Clint did it? He shot him?" Steve nodded. "Where is he now?"

"Cleaning up the basement. Sam took the body up to the med bay and Bruce put him on ice."

Tony shook his head. "I can't say I'm disappointed. I never liked Fury, and after everything that happened... I would have done the same thing."

"I know," Steve said. "I just wish we could have gotten some more information on Peter's dad."

Natasha had slipped into the kitchen quietly, neither men noticing her until she spoke up. "His name was Alek. He was part of a training program in HYDRA, similar to Bucky's but without so much... brainwashing. The people who trained me- they were pretty close with HYDRA. He and I met when we were young. I was only 14, he was 16."

Tony smiled  sadly at her. "Hey, you have to know none of that- none of what Alek did or the people or Fury- none of it was your fault. Peter turned out to be a lot more like you than you thought, but for better or worse, now you get to have the son you thought you'd lost."

Natasha smiled. "I know. I just wish..." The woman took a breath, letting her eyes drop to the floor and fill with tears. "I wish I'd never left SHIELD. Maybe then, he would have been happy. Happy without ever knowing I was part of his story."

Natasha brushed her tears away, sniffling her nose and drawing herself together. "Sorry. I'm not normally this weak, he's just my weak spot right now."

Steve's phone ringing interrupted the moment. He pulled it out, flashing Tony and Nat a reassuring smile. It was Bucky.

"What do you mean?" Steve's face fell as  he answered the phone and Bucky started talking. "How far are you? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah, we'll throw together a room. Yeah, okay. Thanks, see you soon."

Steve snapped his phone shut. "Bucky's on his way with Peter's friend, Ned. Alek showed up at Ned's house and jumped Buck. Peter went with him."

Natasha threw her head back, a laugh escaping her lips. "Of fucking course. Because as soon as something starts to go right for me, Alek shows back up after 15 years to steal our son."

"By 'something right' do you mean Fury getting his brains blown out?" Tony asked, making Natasha snort.

"Bucky did say that Alek left a note. He thinks its for you."

Natasha nodded. "Let's go meet the famous Ned and hatch a plan, then."

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"Моя маленькая балерина," Natasha read out loud as she held the note. "My little ballerina."

"Remember when you told me that we were going to have a baby? I was so excited, Natalia- now that it was all over, and my part was finished, I could finally get away from you. Those big, innocent eyes. The stupid jokes. The childish want to be cared for, as if you were worth care in the first place. You were my ticket to freedom. To power. To a better life. In the end, I chose not to leave. I chose to stay with HYDRA and rebuild a better world. Now that Peter's previous owner is "indisposed", I can finally build that world - with my son at my side. Thanks for the gift."

The team didn't say anything. They were all too pissed off to speak. Natasha watched them all burn in rage, her eyes tracking from one person to the next. She was used to this. Used to the pain and the torment and the feeling of worthlessness. She'd had a lifetime of practice, all leading up to this moment. Alek couldn't hurt her anymore.

"Well, don't just stand around. We should really be tracking down the nearest HYDRA base."

Tony looked over at her. Eyes set and mouth drawn in a tight line, it was clear that she wasn't crying any more. She wasn't broken. She wasn't weak. She was about to get her son back. "You're right. FRIDAY?"

"I've scanned the area, sir," FRIDAY said. "I'm not seeing anything specifically HYDRA, but there is an abandoned hospital in north Massachusetts that matches some SHIELD files for a HYDRA base taken down a couple years back."

"'Cut off one head, 3 grow back'," Clint said darkly. "I bet they reopened that base recently."

Bucky hummed. "Plus its close enough to be a potential pick for a hide out. Or a landing place for a plane to take Alek and Peter back to Russia."

It was agreed, then. The team had one chance of stopping Alek and saving Peter, and it was barely a chance at all. If they were wrong, and Alek was somewhere else, Peter would be lost forever.