Natasha thought about what Rebecca said. She kept tabs on her through Rhodes, and all he could say was, "She's been quiet, there hasn't been any activity going on in New York." It was like that for the next couple of months; it was like she disappeared in the face of the Earth, even though Natasha knew that she was just there in the streets doing what she could to cope and help people. Whatever job she was doing now, Natasha just hoped it wasn't something she would regret later on... and speaking of regrets, there was also another person she has been looking for. Since his family disappeared, Clint Barton has also. Jumping from place to place, doing jobs that were similar to what Rebecca did but with more anger. She has been trying to look for Clint but each time she would, he would already be long gone, leaving a trail of corpses.
A debt paid; Natasha remembered saying to Rebecca when she gave her the Widow's Bite. A debt for something she should have forgotten a long time now but after seeing her with Barnes, old wounds opened and she was just glad to see that he found some sort of peace with a daughter, even if he had no recollection of her. But because of the Snap, and Barnes disappearing, Natasha felt that it was her responsibility to make sure that she gives Rebecca the life he should have given her. A second chance. And she was failing, just like she was with Clint and the world. But a sudden call from Rhodes gave her a bit of hope.
"She's been seen in a refugee camp in Brooklyn, you might want to go there."
Taking her car, Natasha drove down to Brooklyn, following the location that Rhodes gave her. It brought her to an old building that turned into an orphanage. Due to the Snap, a lot of children were left orphans, some were still babies when they were brought here – newborns – and others were taken in when they were found in the streets. Walking in the orphanage, Natasha saw a lot of children running around towards the classrooms, she followed them. A couple of workers greeted her with smiles, there were those who recognized her but did not make a fuss. Arriving in the hall, she saw an entire hall with rooms filled with children playing, studying, eating. There were volunteers inside, helping with teaching the children.
She was about to call Rhodes to tell him that Rebecca wasn't there in the orphanage but stopped when she saw the person she was looking for. Inside of a room where there were a couple of children and a few volunteers teaching them to read was Rebecca. Instead of a bulletproof vest, army pants, and boots, she wore a pair of jeans, a hoodie, sneakers, and held a book as she taught the group of children how to read. Watching her teaching these children, Natasha found some sort of relief that she had to hold on to the door to steady herself. It didn't take long for her presence to be known as one of the volunteers identified her as an Avenger. The mention of the word "Avenger" caught Rebecca's attention and finally saw her. They looked at each other for a while before Rebecca made the first move by asking one of the volunteers to take her place.
Rebecca approached Natasha, and Natasha couldn't help but smile when she saw that the girl has tied her hair to a messy bun.
"So, this is what you do when you're not dodging bullets," she told Rebecca.
Rebecca smiled slightly. "It's not bad... Let's go to the roof."
Once in the roof, they sat on the edge looking at the view of an almost deserted city. It was silent for a moment before Rebecca asked.
"How did you find me?"
"You should know that I have my ways," Natasha said.
"Then why did you come here?"
"I got worried, I haven't heard a word from you and about you for the past couple of months. I had to see what you were doing. I'm glad that you're no longer doing those jobs. How long have you been working here?"
"Volunteering," Rebecca corrected her. "And I'm still doing a couple of jobs, just recon, nothing more. The government is still understaffed in this line of work, and with my set of skills, I should at least make a living out of it."
Natasha shrugged. "Well, that's a lot better than before. You have to stop being their missile. Do recons, give tips, but stop being the person they use to pull the trigger. At least promise me that, and if not me or Steve, then Barnes. He did everything he could to get you out of that life. Don't go back."
Rebecca nodded. "I won't."
"Why the sudden change?"
Rebecca pursed her lips. "I found James' family."
Natasha's brows knitted. "What do you mean?"
"I wanted to tell them that whatever they heard in the news about him was wrong... that whatever he did as a Winter Soldier he had no choice. I thought that maybe if I do that, I would find some sort of peace in mind because people still think that he's a criminal. I found his sister – Rebecca Barnes. She never changed her name, she lived here in Brooklyn... and she just died a couple of months ago of natural causes." Rebecca sighed. "Both her children were turned to dust, so her grandchildren were sent here..."
Natasha let out a shaky breath. "So, you've been looking out for them."
Rebecca nodded.
"Did you tell them?"
"I realized that if James were alive, he would have stayed away... he would do anything to protect them, even from him... so I decided to just do this. I would volunteer to keep an eye on them. Make sure they're not getting in trouble or are getting bullied, that they're not separated."
"What you're doing for them, I'm sure Barnes would grateful." Natasha pulled Rebecca to an embrace. She never did this with anyone but with her sister, Clint, his family, and a few other people. Maybe Rebecca became part of that small circle. "He would be proud of what you're doing." Natasha released her from the embrace. "Now, what do you need? You said it yourself, the fight is here, what do you need to help this place?"
Rebecca bit her lip to stop herself from grinning. "We have a list downstairs, wanna see?"
Natasha smiled. "I'll see what I can do."
Since that day, Rebecca stopped taking jobs in the NYPD and started working in the orphanage and for the Avengers. She would do recons like Rhodes, heading to places where Natasha needed her to be. And there were times when she would go beyond the places Natasha would ask her just to find the person the Black Widow has been looking for, and she wasn't too happy to see the trails that Clint Barton has been leaving.
~*~
"Yeah, we boarded that suspect warship and..." Rocket trailed off.
"It was an infectious garbage scrap," Nebula finished.
Returning to the office with a plate of peanut butter sandwiches, Natasha sat down on her seat and eyed those who have attended the meeting. From left there were Nebula and Rocket, flying around space in their spaceship, then there was Okoye reporting from Wakanda, Danvers somewhere in space, then Rhodes and Rebecca all the way in Mexico. Natasha was more than glad to see that Rebecca was wearing her Vibranium suit again, it shows that she was no longer doing any vigilante work. But she still wore her leather hooded jacket.
"Thanks for the hot tip," Rocket retorted.
"Well, you were closer," said Danvers.
"Now we smell like garbage."
Natasha ended the banter. "You got a reading on those tremors?"
"It was a mild movement in the African plate," said Okoye.
"Do we have a visual? How are we handling it?"
"Nat, it's an earthquake under the ocean, we're handling it by not handling it."
Natasha stiffly nodded. "Carol, are we seeing you here next month?"
"Not likely," Danvers replied.
"What, you're gonna get another haircut?" Rocket remarked.
"Listen, fur-face, I'm covering a lot of territories. The things that are happening on Earth are happening everywhere. On thousands of planets... so you might not see me for a long time."
"Well, this channel is always active, if anything goes sideways. Anything making trouble where they shouldn't, comes through me," said Natasha.
They all responded in understanding. One by one they disappeared but for Rhodes and Rebecca. The two glanced at each other before facing Natasha.
"Where are you two?" Natasha asked.
"Mexico," Rhodes replied. "The Federales found a room full of bodies. Looks like a bunch of cartel guys who never got a chance to get their guns out."
"That's probably just a rival gang."
Rebecca spoke. "Except it isn't."
Natasha snorted and joked. "I guess you would know a lot about that, huh."
Rebecca and Rhodes didn't laugh.
"It's definitely Barton," said Rhodes. "What he's done here. What he's been doing for the past few years... I mean, the scene that he left. I gotta tell you that there's a part of me that doesn't want to find him."
"Will you find out where he's going next?" She asked.
"Can you find out where he's going next?" She asked.
"Nat..." Rhodes tried to reason with her.
"Please," she turned to Rebecca.
Rebecca nodded. They then turned off their cameras and left Natasha in the office. Once Rhodes and Rebecca were gone, Steve stepped out of his hiding place. "You know, I'd offer you cooked dinner, but you seem pretty miserable here."
"Came here to do your laundry?" Natasha teased, trying to hide her tears.
"I came to see a friend."
"Clearly, your friend is fine."
Steve walked towards her desk and sat down.
"You know, I spot a couple of whales while I was coming over."
"In the Hudson?"
"Fewer ships, cleaner water."
"You know if you tell me to look on the bright side... I'm gonna hit your head with those gummy bears."
"Sorry, force of habit." Steve strode through the room and sat down on the chair across from Natasha. His eyes fell on the folder of documents that still haven't been opened for the past five years. It was all of Rebecca's information – her birth certificate, family, and even her death certificate, which was not valid since she was clearly alive. Rebecca never opened it, it was like she never wanted to know who she was before HYDRA, or maybe she already did. He placed the old hat on the table, the fading color of the Shield facing him. "You know, I keep telling people they should move on – grow – some do... but not us."
"If I move on, who does this?"
"Maybe it doesn't need to be done."
There was silence between them before Natasha spoke. "I used to have nothing, and then I got this. This job... this family, and that was all better because of it... and now they're gone, I'm still trying to be better."
"I think we both need to get a life," Steve lightly joked, but his eyes shifted to the hat.
Natasha saw his gaze and smiled bitterly. "You first."
Steve smiled. "I'm grateful for what you did for Rebecca."
"What did I do?"
"You connected with her, you got her out of that life and brought her here."
"She did that herself, technically," Natasha chuckled.
Steve shook his head. "No, you stuck by her, I should have done the same."
"You did what you thought was best. You kept an eye on her."
"But it wasn't enough."
A sudden alert popped out from thin air, Natasha waved her hand to open the call. At first, Steve didn't look to see who it was, but then he heard the familiar voice and the name.
"Hi, is anybody home?! This is Scott Lang! We met a few years ago, at the airport! In Germany. I was – I got really big and I..."
Getting up from his seat, Steve went to see the video. That was impossible, Scott Lang was one of those who disappeared. "Is this an old message?"
"It's the front gate," Natasha told him.
~*~
Rebecca was in Seoul when she got a call from Steve that she needed to come back home. For the past few weeks, she's been following the trails that Clint Barton has left and it has led her to Asia, she was so close to Madripoor and Japan that she was tempted to go there, but the idea of doing it brought back Bucky's promise that they would go there together so she just pushed it back to the dark parts of her mind and focused on her mission.
"You have to come home," said Steve.
"I'm in the middle of a job," Rebecca said.
"There's a chance to get them back."
"What are you talking about?" Rebecca walked through the busy streets of the city and lined for a cab.
"There's a chance to fix our mistake."
Rebecca stopped on her tracks. The cab was already there waiting for her. "Don't give me hope, Steve."
"That's all we could do. Remember? We take whatever chance we have."
Without having to ask more, Rebecca got into the cab and then told the driver to take her to the airport. Arriving in New York, Rebecca first went to her apartment to get her things, then rode to Upstate, New York on her motorcycle. Upon arriving in the Avenger's compound, she was greeted by the sight of Steve waiting for her at the entrance of the building wearing his checkered shirt, slacks, and dress shoes. She stopped her motorcycle before Steve and turned off the engine.
"New ride?" Steve said.
"Working for the government was a pain, but it has its good sides," Rebecca shrugged. She got off the bike and greeted Steve with an embrace. "Good to see you again, Steve."
"Good to see you too, Becc."
Rebecca looked past him and saw the commotion inside through the glass windows. "What you said, is it true?"
Steve nodded. "We have a chance. This is going to work, Becc."
"It has to," Rebecca let out a breath. "Because I don't know if I could take another failed mission of this."
"I'm sorry... Come on, just park that in the garage and I'll let Lang explain."
"On it."
After taking the motorcycle in the garage, Rebecca was brought by Steve back to her old room in the compound to drop her things, she was left for a moment to change but while he was gone, Natasha knocked on the open door.
"Hey," Natasha greeted her.
"I found him," Rebecca said. "I know where he's going. I already sent you the information. But you have to move fast because he is. He won't stop."
"Straight to the point," Natasha pursed her lips.
"You did the same for me – you never gave up on me, and I know how much Barton means to you, so..."
Natasha brought Rebecca to an embrace. "Thank you. I'll take off now, just tell Steve where I'm going."
Rebecca nodded. "You got it. Thank you, Nat."
After Rebecca got changed to more comfortable clothes, she came out to where she heard a lot of hammering, blowtorch, and talk of science. When she came there, she saw the last thing she expected to see. The Hulk wearing sweatpants and a hoodie.
"Oh, you're here – uh, you're Rebecca, right?" The Hulk greeted her.
"Uh, yeah," Rebecca said and shook the Hulk's hand, rather, his finger.
"You've grown since the last time I saw you."
Not long, Steve came to her side with an amused smile, and with him was Scott Lang, which surprised Rebecca since she knew that he was one of the people who disappeared.
"Hi, wow, you've changed," said Scott.
"How are you here, I thought you were with the ones who disappeared?" Rebecca asked.
"It's a long story," Steve said.
So, Scott told the story, how he got stuck in the Quantum-Realm for five years but felt like for five hours, then the whole mission they were planning to get the Stones from by past by time-travel. Everything that came out of Scott's mouth was bizarre and felt like it came straight out of a sci-fi film or in his case, Back to the Future, which she already watched out of boredom when she was in her two-year house-arrest.
"I know it's a lot to take in, and it sounds insane, but it's a chance," said Steve.
"And I'll take that chance," said Rebecca. "But I have to ask, how does this whole time travel thing work again?"
"It's best if Bruce or Tony explains," Steve sighed.
The mention of Stark's name had Rebecca silent. Just on cue, Stark's voice was heard calling for some assistance in creating what Scott called a Quantum Tunnel, turning to his direction, Rebecca saw Tony Stark carrying what looked like a large tube and was trying to connect it to something. The two of them met each other's gaze for a moment, and just like the last time they saw each other, they both felt the tension. The Winter Soldier killed Stark's parents, and Rebecca was the closest to Bucky, aside from Steve; and she was a former HYDRA weapon. So, she wouldn't be surprised if he still had some feelings of anger towards her.
The next couple of days, Rebecca helped around in creating the Quantum Tunnel, she, Steve, and the Hulk were the muscle, carrying the heavy equipment. There were times when she had to assist Tony it holding heavy objects while he welds them together and in those times they kept their talking and eye contact to a minimum. The production sped up when Nebula came to help along, and it did much more when Banner and Rocket came back from their trip to New Asgard, bring along Thor with them. And then eventually Natasha came back with Barton. For weeks, the whole plan was to complete the Quantum Tunnel, and while Tony and Rocket focused on doing the final touches, Nebula, Scott, and Banner focused on making a suit.
"Time travel suit, not bad," said Rhodes.
Rebecca joined in to learn more about time travel since she was still a bit confused, and Steve encouraged her to learn about it as well.
"Easy, easy!" Scott exclaimed as Banner was about to put in the Pym Particle in its container.
"I'm being very careful," said Banner.
"No, you're being very Hulky."
"I'm being careful!"
"These are Pym Particles, alright? And ever since Hank Pym got snapped out of existence, this is it, this is what we have! We're not making any more!"
"Scott, come on," Rhodes tried to calm him down.
"Sorry. We got one round trip each – that's it. no do-overs. And two test runs." Just as he placed the small vial inside, he shrunk and then came back to full size. "One test run."
Rhodes sighed.
"Alright, I'm not ready for this," Scott sighed.
"I'm game," Rebecca said, but along with her was Barton who just entered the lab. The two of them turned to each other in confusion.
"Okay, let's decide who's going to do the test run," said Banner.
"It's obviously me," said Barton. "I'm not going to let a kid do a test run."
Rebecca closed her eyes and let out a breath. "If one of you calls me a kid one more time, I swear."
"How old are you anyway?" Banner asked.
"I'm thirty-eight!"
Scott spoke. "I gotta say, you aged very well for someone who's already thirty-eight."
Rhodes rolled his eyes. "She was put in cryo, that's why."
"Oh, like Captain America!"
"Good to know no everyone has read my file," Rebecca mused.
"But to settle this argument, you're not going to do it," said Rhodes. "Besides, the suit won't fit you, it's too big."
"It's actually adaptable in size –" Banner began but stopped when he saw Rhodes shaking his head. "I mean, yes, Clint would do it."
It didn't take long for Clint to change into the suit, while they prepared him for the test run, Rhodes spoke.
"You know, if we can do this, go back in time?" he began. "Why don't we just find baby Thanos and just..." he made a gesture of wrapping a cord around the neck and then pulled at it, shoring that he was strangling the image of baby Thanos.
"First of all, that's horrible," said Banner.
"It's Thanos," said Rhodes.
"And secondly, time doesn't work that way, changing the past doesn't change the future!"
Scott spoke. "Look, if we go back and get the Stones before Thanos gets them, Thanos doesn't get the Stones! Problem solved!"
"Bingo!" Barton said.
"That's not how it works."
"Well, that's not what I heard," Barton commented.
"Who? Who told you that?" Banner asked.
Rhodes started listing down movies. "Star Trek, Terminator, Time Cop, Time After Time –"
"Quantum Leap," Scott added.
"Wrinkle in Time, Somewhere in Time –"
"Hot Tub Time Machine."
"Hot Tub Time Machine! Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure – basically every movie that deals with time travel!"
"Die Hard? No, that's not one."
"This is known."
Rebecca has been turned to each and everyone that was speaking, just listening to every idea they have on the whole mission, and the more she listened, the more confused she gets.
"So, what you're saying is, time is like the Butterfly Effect? It's Chaos Theory where each action has a ripple, if that's the case isn't it a whole lot dangerous?" Rebecca asked, her brows furrowed.
"I don't know why everyone believes that but that isn't true," Banner turned to Rebecca. "Don't listen to them or those movies, okay? Think about it, if you travel to the past, that past becomes your future, and your former present becomes your past which can't now be changed by your new future."
Rebecca massaged her temples. "This is a lot to take in, Shuri didn't really explain the whole time-thing to me in school."
"So Back to the Future is a bunch of bullshit?" said Scott.
On the test run, Rebecca stood at the side with Steve and the others. They watched as Clint stood on the Quantum Tunnel, waiting for Banner's cue. When Banner started the countdown, Clint put on the helmet, he looked slightly nervous. And with one, Clint turned subatomic, going into the tunnel. He was gone and then in five seconds, Banner brought him back. When he came back, Clint was on his knees and gasping for air. Natasha and the others came to his aid.
"It worked," Clint showed the baseball glove.