Marlena stared at the MacBook sitting on the counter in front of her. She was sure her lunch was getting cold, but she couldn't bring herself to care too much. She was desperate to uncover some sort of information on the mysterious Hydra family Bucky told her about just the night before, but not once in her life had the internet ever been so useless. Once upon a time, it was almost impossible not to find anything related to Hydra on the internet, thanks to SHIELD's massive data dump back in 2014, but with each new search, Marlena was left with little to no results. At this point she'd be happy to find anything, even an encrypted file. All she'd need to find her way inside was one phone call.
Marlena glanced at her phone laying on the counter and frowned slightly. She hadn't received a single notification, at least from the few she wanted to speak to. Earlier that morning, Steve left with Bucky and Wanda on yet another rescue mission for the twins. Since then, there'd been no update from any of them, no insight as to whether or not they were all still okay. The anxiety of the situation left her with terrible nausea and a building migraine, one she was now battling slowly with a dose of acetaminophen. She figured her research would help serve as a distraction, but waiting on the results proved to be much more disappointing than waiting on her phone to ring.
"I spent an hour making that and you're not even gonna eat it?"
Marlena groaned and looked at her mother, who was staring at her from her spot by the stove. She prepared lunch for everyone in the apartment—Mason, Greyson, Marlena, and herself—and while everyone else finished their meal without a problem, Marlena was falling behind.
"Sorry," Marlena apologized and picked away at her food with a fork. There were no words to describe just how much she missed her mother's cooking, but the sight of it only made her feel nauseous. She blamed her anxiety and her pregnancy. "I'm just a bit anxious and it's making me nauseous."
"They're gonna be okay, y'know?" Miranda reassured her.
Marlena nodded her head slightly and pushed her plate away from her. "I know, but I just got Bucky and Wanda back, and if I lose them again I don't know what I'll do."
"And Steve?"
"I don't even wanna think about what would happen if I lost him," she answered quietly, her eyes on her laptop screen once more.
"You haven't talked much about your relationship with him," Miranda chimed. "At least to me, you haven't."
Marlena shrugged and looked at her mom again. "It's hard to talk about being in love with your deceased husband's best friend when your deceased husband is sitting right across from you."
"Do you see Bucky sitting anywhere?" Miranda gestured to the empty kitchen. "It's just me, Mar, and I've been out of the loop for so long due to literal death, so if you could please just give me back some sense of normalcy, that would be wonderful."
"You got a pretty good sense of normalcy last night in my guest bedroom." A disgusted expression fell across Marlena's face as she recalled everything she'd heard the night before. It was all she needed to know that her mom and Greyson were, in fact, back for good. She'd just forgotten how disgusting that fact could be.
"I didn't think you'd hear that," Miranda muttered. "The TV was on in both your room and the living room."
Marlena raised her brows and tapped her head with her index finger, letting her mother know she didn't need to physically hear them to know what was going on. Miranda had completely forgotten.
"You know, it's really rude to read someone's mind without their permission." Miranda grabbed Marlena's plate and began munching away at the food she knew her daughter wasn't going to eat. "I feel like there should be a rule about that among the group."
"There is a rule, and I follow it, but you guys were loud," Marlena said to her. "It was really gross."
"Whatever." Miranda hummed and took another bite of food. "What is it you're so concentrated on over there?" she asked, gesturing over to Marlena's laptop.
"Um, just some research for school." Marlena was hesitant to spare her mother the details or her current conflict. She remembered a time when the dangers of her life resulted in her mother's violent death, and the little voice inside her head was telling her not to let it happen again. Marlena had been given a once-in-a-lifetime second chance to make things right with her mom, she thought. The last thing she wanted to do was let her down again by sharing too much.
Miranda stepped away from the counter and walked back over to the stove with her plate. "I know I've been gone for a long time, Marlena, but I'm still your mom. I know when you're not being honest with me."
"It's really nothing, mom." Marlena sent an innocent smile her mom's way and began typing away on her computer again. She searched for Claire-Chernova-Hydra, not shocked to find there weren't too many results. One result did catch her attention, however, as did the familiar name within it. It was then she thought she just might need her mom's input after all.
"Actually, maybe you can help me..." Marlena began again as she clicked on the link. It was an incredibly long article surrounding the circumstances behind the deadly Hydra attack on her father's covert Army unit back in 2005. She'd never seen it before, but then again it wasn't something she ever thought she needed to look for.
"With what, exactly?"
"Well, before we get into this, I need you to know I've uncovered a bit of information over the last several years," Marlena explained carefully to her mother as she skimmed through the document on the screen. "Information about dad and his job."
Miranda seemed almost startled by Marlena's words but concealed it just enough. "What kind of information?"
Marlena looked over at her mom. "I know he wasn't just a regular soldier. He lead a covert unit called Raven Elite."
"Where'd you find that out?" Miranda asked, her brow raised. "When did you find that out?"
"Back in 2016, not too long after I, um, was arrested." Marlena looked back at her computer screen, skimming over the words printed. A lot of the information was redacted, but the information that wasn't was enough to make Marlena's stomach turn.
Miranda's eyes widened slightly at Marlena's words. She obviously had years worth of experiences and memories to catch up on, and after hearing Marlena, she wasn't sure she wanted to know what else her children had been up to. "Marlena Claire, why on earth did you get arrested?"
"Look," Marlena laughed quietly, "It's a really long story, and I promise I'll fill you in later, but that's not what I wanna talk about. What I wanna know is if dad ever mentioned anything to you about Hydra."
Miranda shrugged her shoulders. "He wasn't really allowed to talk to me about his work. I knew enough to know when he was leaving and when he was coming back, but sometimes I didn't even know that."
"Well, did he ever mention the name Chernova to you?"
The question seemed to elicit a reaction from Miranda, but once again she was quick to conceal it. Marlena didn't miss it, though, and she wondered what answer she was about to receive.
"Where'd you hear that name?"
"Do you really wanna know?"
"I wouldn't have asked."
"Alright." Marlena chuckled quietly to herself. Despite the seriousness of the conversation, she'd missed her mom's sass. "When we time-traveled back to 2012, we ran into Rumlow. He recognized me and called me Chernova. Bucky told me the Chernovs were a family of Hydra agents and spies. I didn't think I'd get anymore information than that, but your reaction is telling me Bucky isn't the only one familiar with the name. And neither is this loosely redacted report I found on the internet."
"What does the report say?" Miranda asked. She was genuinely curious, but at the same time a bit taken back.
"On September 27, 2005, in response to the violent reemergence of Hydra, the U.S. military unit Raven Elite, led by Lieutenant Colonel James E. Claire, infiltrated a suspected base of operations in Russia," Marlena read to Miranda. "At approximately 06:30 AM-EST, the unit was attacked, leaving behind no survivors. Of the three suspects believed to be responsible for the attack, Hydra operatives Alexei Kozlov and Viktor Chernov have been identified. A third party militant remains unidentified. Recovery mission unauthorized."
"At least now I know why we never got his body back," Miranda muttered to herself.
"Mom..." Marlena gave Miranda a chastising look. She couldn't believe she was being so dismissive of the situation. Marlena figured it must've been difficult for Miranda to learn the truth behind the death of her husband, though, and while Marlena was more than aware of the identity behind the third party militant responsible for the demise of her father, she wouldn't spare her mom the details. All she wanted was the truth behind the Chernovs and why the Claire family now seemed to be connected to Hydra in more ways than just one. If her mom somehow knew the answer, Marlena planned on finding a way to get it.
"Okay, I know the name but it's not because of anything to do with Hydra," Miranda revealed. She started cleaning up the kitchen, likely so she didn't have maintain eye contact throughout the conversation. "I mean, there's no way it has anything to do with Hyrda. It's not possible."
Miranda seemed to be in denial, and Marlena could hear it in her tone of voice.
"What aren't you telling me, mom?"
"N-nothing, it's just—" Miranda sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "There was this girl your dad met when he first joined the Army. Her name was Ana Chernova. She was a recruit. They had a thing, I guess."
Marlena was taken back. She definitely hadn't been expecting that piece of information. "You mean, you two weren't together when dad joined the military?"
"Sort of." Miranda scratched the back of her neck and turned away from her cleaning job to look at Marlena. "We separated just before he left for basic training. He didn't tell me he was leaving until three days before he left, and I didn't take that well, so I broke up with him."
"So, what happened between him and this Ana girl?" Marlena asked.
Miranda shrugged and turned back around to finish her work. "I just know they kept each other pretty busy for two months. He never heard from her again after basic training. I don't think she has anything to do with what you're looking for, Mar. I think the names are just coincidental."
Marlena thought to herself for a moment. She was processing her mom's words and tone of voice, and with each passing second she grew more and more suspicious. Miranda wasn't telling the whole truth, and Marlena wanted more than anything to go in and find it herself, but she lacked permission, and she highly doubted her mom would willingly let her roam around inside her mind.
The lack of information was unsatisfactory to Marlena, however. She wanted more but wasn't sure where else to get it. Her mom refused to be honest with her, and the internet had obviously failed her. At this point Marlena was ready to give up, but she couldn't completely stop herself. There was something telling her she needed to know.
Marlena closed her laptop and stood up, grabbing her mom's attention once more.
"Where are you going?"
"Just not feeling very well." Marlena shrugged her shoulders and rubbed her belly. She grabbed her laptop and phone from the counter and started out of the kitchen. "I think I might go lay down for a bit."
"Okay, well feel better, baby."
Marlena thanked her mom and quickly left the kitchen, making her way down the hall to her bedroom. She hadn't been lying when she told her mom she didn't feel good, but she didn't have any plans to lay down any time soon. She was more-or-less on the hunt for what she knew to be hidden in the back of her closet. Years ago, before collapsing her house in the aftermath of the Decimation, Marlena packed away a small number of important family items she'd held onto throughout life. Among the items were a few of her father's belongings. These included an old sweatshirt, four polaroid pictures, his dog tags, and his basic training roster, the latter of which Marlena wanted to get her hands on.
After entering her room, Marlena closed the door behind her and placed her laptop and phone on the bed. She walked into her closet and over to the decorative box on the shelf. She removed it carefully and placed it onto the floor, wasting no time at all in opening it up. After digging through the box for a few moments, Marlena finally came across the familiar picture book. It was in that moment she was happy the government decided to spend money on "yearbooks" for military recruit graduates. She hoped it'd help give her the answers her mom couldn't, but it was still a long shot.
Marlena flipped through the book on the search for her father's platoon, and once she found it, she stopped to take in the different faces and names on the pages. She spotted her father almost instantly, and the sight of him was enough to put a small smile on her face. Just a few faces before him, however, was an image of the woman Marlena knew she'd been looking for. Her smile dropped, and Marlena was left with a pit in her stomach.
Before she even had the time to ponder over the details of the image in front of her, Marlena was startled by her brother's loud voice.
"Oops." Mason laughed. "I didn't mean to scare you."
Marlena closed the book slightly and turned to look at her brother. "What's up, Mase?"
"I was just gonna ask where you keep the toilet paper." Mason glanced to the book in Marlena's hands and raised a brow. He was now more concerned with what she was trying to hide than his previous endeavors. "What are you trying to hide? Is that dad's Army roster?"
Marlena let out a breath, now annoyed that her brother was as observant as he was. "Yes, it is."
"Why are you looking at it all of a sudden?" Mason walked into the closet and stopped when he reached Marlena.
Marlena wondered if she should tell her brother what was going on, the same way she wondered if she should tell her mother. What she'd just found, however, was something she didn't really want to keep to herself, but it was something she didn't want to take to her mom either. Mason seemed to be the most comforting option for Marlena.
"Well, I was in the kitchen talking to mom about dad's ventures in basic training and decided to take a look for myself," Marlena told him, being very careful not to reveal too much in the moment. "Then I noticed this woman in his platoon..."
Marlena opened the book again and stood up, holding it out for her brother to see. She pointed to the image of an Anastasia Chernova, and Mason's expression changed in an instant. He took the book to get a better look at the woman in the picture, glancing over to Marlena and back several times.
"That's so weird," Mason mused. "She looks just like—"
Marlena's phone ringing on the bed cut Mason off. She hurried over to grab it, not at all bothering to check who was calling before she answered.
"Hello?"
"Hey," Steve's voice came through the speaker.
"Hey!" Marlena was happy to finally hear from him. "Are you okay? How's everyone? How're things going?"
Steve sighed, making Marlena a lot more anxious than she needed to be. "Well, everything's fine. We've got the twins, but..."
"But what, Steve?" His vagueness was concerning her tremendously. She was relieved to know the twins had been found, but she needed to know whether or not they were okay. "Are they okay?"
"They're fine," Steve assured her. His tone was throwing her off a bit. He seemed bewildered, almost in disbelief. "They're perfectly fine, but there's something you need to see, Marlena."
"Where are you guys?"
"We're at the tower."
Marlena furrowed her brows in confusion. Tony sold the tower years ago. "The Tower? The Avengers's Tower?"
"Yeah. Pepper bought it back about three days ago," Steve answered quietly.
"Well, do you want me to come there?" she asked him.
"Yes," he answered slowly. She only wished she was able to read his mind over the phone. Something was wrong and she could hear it in his tone.
"I'll be there in thirty minutes."
"Be careful," he told her. "I love you."
"I love you more."
Marlena hung up the phone and looked at her Mason, who was standing just outside the closet watching her carefully.
"Was that Steve?" Mason asked. "Did they find Charlie and Jay?"
Marlena nodded, and she couldn't help the smile on her face as she thought of having her babies wrapped in her arms again. She'd missed them so much and more.
Mason was visibly relieved by the information. He remembered the night they were taken so vividly it made his head ache. He remembered the look in their eyes as they cried for him to help, and he remembered just how helpless he felt as he withered away on their bedroom floor, unable to protect them as he wished he could've.
"Are you gonna go with me to get them?" Marlena asked Mason hopefully.
"Is that even a question?"
Marlena smirked and placed her phone into her pocket. She grabbed her jacket and her keys before turning back to Mason, her hazel eyes bright.
"Then let's go get 'em."