Bucky's POV
As Steve, Clint, and I rounded the corner of the medical floor, I couldn't help but get cold feet.
I'll admit it. I'm scared.
I don't want to watch my daughter suffer at the hands of HYDRA. I can handle all kinds of crap from all kinds of people, but I can't handle watching someone I love suffer. Specially from HYDRA.
"You okay, Buck?" Steve asked. I gave him a reassuring look. "No, but thanks for the concern."
Steve gives a slight nod in return. "Let's go, they're waiting for us."
With a shaky breath, I regained my composure and followed Steve to Nadiya's room.
I instantly regretted stepping in.
"I don't want to see her like this, Steve." I said as I tried to turn back.
"I know, Buck. But you've got to." Steve said in a somber tone. I could tell he was hurting.
"Trust me Bucky I don't like it either," Natasha said, "but try and get your crap together for the time being."
Clint walked over to Natasha and put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a look. She rolled her eyes. "Please?" She added.
"That's better." Clint whispered to Natasha.
With one look to Steve, I slowly walked over to Nadiya's bedside. At first glance, you might mistake her as being dead.
Her skin was sickeningly pale. The bags under her eyes grew darker by the minute. Her once shiny, curly brown hair is all frizzy and in nots.
I extended my hand to touch hers, and pulled away in surprise. She was so cold.
"Blankets," I mumbled. "We need blankets, she's freezing."
"Here you go," Clint said as he handed me a blanket. I gave him a slight smile, then turned my attention back to Nadiya.
I carefully placed the blanket over her. Once I saw that she was fully covered, I began tucking in the sides.
My mother would always tuck me in like this when I was little, so I only saw it fit that I do the same to my daughter.
After I finished, I placed a kiss on Nadiya's forehead. "There you go, doll."
The room went into silence as we waited for Dr. Banner to show. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Natasha constantly checking her monitors. She was worried, as she should be.
"Okay," Dr. Banner said as he entered the room, "I've got both good and bad news. Which one do you want first?" He said as he clasped his hands together.
We all looked around at each other, not knowing what to decide. By the look on Nat and I's face, Steve could tell we were conflicted. So, he turned to Dr. Banner.
"Good." Steve said with a shrug.
"We can take the chip out with surgery and we might be able to restore her memory." Dr. Banner said with a smile.
"The bad?" Natasha asked.
"If you decide to do the surgery, there are a number of things that can go wrong. For starters, we don't know how the chip has affected the brain, or what damage it could do if we take it out. Our main concern is that she might not wake up. Now, if she does, we are pretty positive that she'll be her old self."
"How would that be possible? The chip has been wiping her memories this whole time." Clint pointed out.
"Hence the 'pretty positive'." Dr. Banner said, "The chip is specifically designed to mess with the brain's memory. We don't think the chip is fully wiping her memory, but blocking them. We won't truly know until she would wake up."
"So we're taking a gamble." I said harshly.
"Is there a chance she could wake up now?" Steve asked.
"Yes," Dr. Banner hesitantly said, "but we don't want that to happen."
"Well why not?" Natasha snapped.
"Because if she did she wouldn't remember a single thing." Dr. Banner said a little more harshly. "The chip is still in her brain. Her memories are still getting blocked. If she would wake up, she would want to escape and get back to HYDRA Obviously we don't want that to happen, so she's being closely monitored."
"How soon can we do the surgery?" I asked.
"I'd say we are looking in about two to three weeks. That's if she doesn't wake up."
"Alright, thank you Bruce." Natasha said, "Can Bucky and I have a moment, please?"
"Sure thing," Steve said with a nod, signaling everyone else to leave the room.
Once everyone left, I turn to Nat. "Everything okay?"
"Everything's fine," Natasha said,"but we need to talk about all of this. Whether we like it or not, you and I are parents to Nadiya. Not only do we have zero knowledge on how to properly raise a kid, but we barely know ours."
I let out a sigh. "I know."
"What do we do?" Natasha asked barely above a whisper. When I looked up at her, I could see the concern in her eyes. Natasha isn't one for close attachments, but once Nadiya stepped into her life, she was like an open book. Natasha would do anything for her, and it really does show.
"We fight for our child," I responded. HYDRA can do whatever they want to me. I couldn't care less at this point. But they made one grave mistake.
They hurt with my daughter. I couldn't do much back then, but I can now.
"HYDRA messed with the wrong kid." I said in a deathly tone.
"They sure did." Natasha said coldly. "Let's go get the team together."
I nodded my head at Natasha's response, and watched her leave the room. I then turned my attention back to Nadiya.
"I'll be right back, doll. You hang in there, alright? I won't be gone for too long."
As I stood up, I heard loud footsteps running down the hallway. Whoever this person was seemed to be either pretty distraught or just plain clumsy, because they kept on running into the walls and tripping.
Eventually, this person practically ran into the doorframe of Nadiya's room. I chuckled once I saw who it was.
"You better watch yourself, Parker. We don't need another kid on the med floor today."
Peter must've not known I was here, because when I spoke up, I practically saw his soul leave his body.
"Ohhh my gosh," Peter said with bulging eyes, "H-hey Mr. Barnes! Yea, yea, I probably should watch where I'm going. Thanks for the advice."
I raised an eyebrow at the slightly skittish kid. Being Nadiya's father is going to be fun.
"Sir." Peter continued, attempting to stand up straighter than he had been previously. I just stared at the kid, which seemed to make him even more nervous.
As if what he did wasn't enough, Peter saluted. That's when I decided enough was enough, and let out a laugh.
Peter seemed like he didn't know what to do with himself, so he chocked out a laugh and ran his hand down his hair to try and cover up the salute.
"It was nice seeing you, Parker." I said said with a half smile.
"Me too!" Peter replied with an exaggerated smile, which quickly turned to one of horror. "You too, I meant you too!"
"Goodbye Peter," I said with a chuckle as I made my way to exit the room.
He didn't seem to trust his mouth, so Peter just gave me a slight wave and made his way over to Nadiya's bedside.
Once I left the room, I stayed around the corner so I could here what was going on in the room. What can I say? I'm a nosey father.
"Hey Nadiya," Peter started, "You don't look so good. Get better for me, okay? Because I still need to beat you at chess, and I can't do that if you're still fighting off evil HYDRA memories. I really want you to wake up, but I know if you do, there's a chance you'll go all 'crazy assassin' on me. But hey, if you do, I'll be the Luke to your Anakin and turn you back to the light side, okay? I'll save you."
When I didn't hear anything coming from Peter, I peeked my head around the corner. A smile spread across my lips at the scene in front of me.
Both of Peter's hands were holding Nadiya's left hand, which was pressed against his forehead. He seemed to be praying.
He was a good kid, and I knew Nadiya would be okay under his watch, so I left to meet up with the team.
"What took you so long?" Natasha asked as I entered the room. Before I could answer, Tony spoke up.
"It's simple. Grandpa over here is having hip problems, and couldn't find his cane." He said as he placed a hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay? I mean, I wouldn't know what it was like wobbling up all these floors, but I would imagine it would be quite painful."
I looked at his hand on my shoulder, then back up at Tony. I instantly came up with the perfect response.
"I squished your spider. That's why I didn't come up right away." I said as serious as possible.
Once the realization of what I said kicked in, Tony quickly removed his hand and placed it on his chest with a gasp.
"Enough you two," Steve said in a very mother like tone.
Tony gave me a glare, then proceeded to take a seat next to Thor. I returned the glare as I proceeded to sit in between Steve and Natasha.
We spent an hour going over different tactics we could use to find and attack HYDRA. We would've continued, but we got interrupted.
"Mr. Stark," JARVIS started, "Mr. Parker would like me to inform you that Miss Barnes is awake. Would you like me to rely a message back to Mr. Parker?"
The room got silent. Everyone's face was a mix of shock and horror. We didn't exactly plan for this.
"Uhm, just tell him to be careful and to make sure she doesn't leave the room!" Tony said.
"I am sorry to inform you that Miss Barnes has indeed left the room, and left Mr. Parker unresponsive." JARVIS said.
"Fantastic." Tony replied.
"I thought she wasn't supposed to wake until after we did the surgery." Thor said.
"That was the plan," Clint responded.
"'Tis a shame the plan was not stuck to. Why don't we take the matters into our own hands?" Thor said as he lifted up his hammer.
"You've got to be kidding —" Tony said as he began to rub his temples, "Thor, no! Don't make me get the spray bottle."
Thor immediately slumped back into his chair in defeat.
"Alright everyone," Steve started, "Let's all disperse into groups of two. Natasha you're with Clint. Tony you're with Thor. Buck you're with me. Banner, is there anything down in your lab that can help us knock out Nadiya for the time being?"
"There should be." Bruce replied.
"Good. Everyone be on guard, but don't hurt her. She doesn't know what's going on. If you find her just detain her." Steve added.
"But he gentle." I said.
"Right," Steve said, "Let's go."
With that, we all got up from our seats. Natasha and I shared a look of concern. We both didn't know what kind of state our daughter would be in, or how dangerous she could actually be.
With a reassuring nod towards Natasha, we both left the room in search of Nadiya.
Updated 7/01/20