Chapter Thirteen
"Mama? How long do I have to go to school for?" Lainey asked Natasha, picking at her eggs from her place at the island.
In the last few weeks she had been attending Midtown Middle School, Lainey came to the conclusion that she absolutely despised going to school. Everyone was still treating her as though she were the new kid and no one wanted to speak to her.
That girl who had sat near her at lunch, continued to do so, but at this point, Lainey was beginning to wonder if she wanted to be friends, or she just wanted to sit where no one else would bother her.
She'd rather be at home. She could learn just as much, if not, more under Natasha's watchful eyes than she was at that school.
The only thing that kept her wanting to go back, was her frequent get togethers with Peter. But even that was draining her. Sometimes, Peter had Decathlon practice, so she'd sit outside the school on the steps to wait for him to get out. She always let Tony know she was safe so he wouldn't worry, but she would much rather be at home with everybody else.
That was the arrangement now. Natasha would drop her off at school in the mornings, and in the afternoon, Lainey would be picked up by either Pepper, Happy, or Tony to go back to the Tower. She'd hang out, eat dinner, and finish her homework before either Steve or Natasha drove down to pick her up.
And it was exhausting. Lainey hoped that Natasha would eventually catch on to how much she didn't like school and how much she didn't look forward to the commute every single day. Because if she had to go through another several months of this, she thought she'd scream.
"Until the end of twelfth grade. And even then, you might want to go to college." Natasha cupped her chin before heading back over to the counter to make some lunch for the girl.
"That long?" Lainey gasped.
Maybe she would scream now and relieve some of the tension building up in her shoulders.
She couldn't keep doing this!
"It'll fly by."
"I don't want to."
"Pardon?" The redhead stopped what she was doing.
"I don't want to." She crossed her arms.
"Okay….." Natasha put the knife she had been using to spread peanut butter over some bread down and made her way back over to Lainey. "Will you tell me why?"
"I don't like it."
"You don't? I thought you did." Her eyebrows scrunched together. "You told me you were learning new things and playing outside. You told me that you like it."
"I lied." Lainey put it bluntly, no longer willing to beat around the bush. "I don't like getting up before everybody else, I don't like being the new kid, nobody likes me, I don't like getting home so late, and I don't like school!"
"Okay." Natasha placed a gentle hand on Lainey's leg. "I'm glad you told me how you really feel. But I'm not happy that you waited all this time and let that build up inside of you until you couldn't take it anymore. You don't have to lie to me, Honey."
"But you wanted me to go to school."
"I did, didn't I?" She huffed. She had been pushing the subject of school pretty hard. Maybe Lainey had been telling her she didn't like it for a while and she just wasn't listening. "I'm sorry. I just wanted you to have something to do while we worked and trained instead of waiting for us to finish up. I just didn't want you to be bored."
"I wasn't bored."
"I should've talked to you about it before I made that decision for you." She offered the girl a small smile. "I'm sorry. I'm still learning, sweet girl."
"It's okay." Lainey shrugged. She liked the feeling of being apologized to. Natasha just acknowledged her feelings and apologized for not taking them into account sooner. It felt good not to be brushed aside. That's what Allison would've done. She didn't care what Lainey felt. Lainey did whatever she said without complaints. There wasn't any room for feelings.
"Thank you."
"Does this mean I don't have to go back?"
"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Natasha delivered the bad news. "I have to speak to your principal and get all your records. I can't just pull you out of school. There's a process."
"How much longer do I have to go, Mama?"
"I'll see if I can get everything done today and even if I can't, today can be your last day there."
"Yay!"
"But, you will still be homeschooled the same way you were before, Little Miss. No slacking off on your end. Deal?"
"Deal!"
"Lainey? May I speak with you for a minute?" Lainey's math teacher teacher asked her before she could leave the classroom.
The brunette furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, trying to think of anything she could've done to get herself in trouble.
And she came up with nothing. She did all her homework, she never showed up late to class, and she always did her best to pay attention and take notes.
What did she want?
"I wanted to speak with you about your last test grade." The woman spoke as if she had read her mind. "For someone who just started so late into the year, I'm very impressed by your grades." She handed Lainey the test so that she could see the grade.
And right on the top part of the front page, was an 'A+' written in bright red ink. Flipping through all the pages, Lainey found that she hadn't gotten a single thing wrong.
"I know it seems like you're not getting off to a very great start, and I know it can be hard to fit in, but it's evident that you're one of the best students in this class. I think you could go very far if you keep handing in work like this. Everything else will fall into place."
"Hi."
Lainey furrowed her eyebrows and looked in the direction of the voice that was speaking to her.
It was that little girl who always sat near her for lunch. She had finally worked up the courage to speak to her!
"Hello." Lainey offered a shy smile.
She read somewhere that, 'hello' was the very first word in a new friendship.
"Y-You're new here." The girl stammered, not wanting to upset her. "Lainey…..right?"
"Uh huh." The ten year old nodded, scooting a little bit closer to her so that they'd be able to hear one another over the loud noise in the cafeteria. "What's your name?"
"Sarah."
"That's a nice name." She didn't know what else to say and she figured she couldn't go wrong with a compliment.
"Thanks."
"..…Do you like apples?" She tried to get the ball rolling. "My uncle packs some of my lunch and he gives me too much food."
Good 'ol Steve. Always making sure she was eating healthy. He must've slipped something extra in her lunch bag after Natasha was through with it.
"I like apples." Sarah evidently felt more comfortable with her. "They're my favorite."
Lainey lit up and opened her lunch bag, pulling a container full of apple slices out of it. She set it down onto the table and motioned for Sarah to take a slice.
Sarah smiled shyly before hesitantly reaching her hand into the the container and pulling a small slice out for a bite.
Maybe Lainey had been wrong. School wasn't going to be so bad after all. She was willing to give it another try.
"Are you sure you don't want me to walk you out?" Peter asked his friend.
"I'm not a baby." Lainey rolled her eyes. "I can get downstairs all by myself."
"Okay, well, call me when you get home, okay?"
"Okay." The girl huffed as she was pulled in for a hug. "I'll see you next week."
Spending time with Peter was one of her favorite pass times, but Lainey couldn't wait to get home to tell her mother the good news about how she actually wanted to stay in school instead of dropping out. And she wanted to show her the test her teacher handed her today. Natasha would be so proud of the grade she received.
"Oh, I'm sorry." She grunted, accidentally bumping into someone on her way to the small cafe she would go into to wait for Tony to pick her up and bring her home.
She loved that little cafe. It had the best donuts she'd ever tasted in her entire life! Her mouth watered just thinking about their double chocolate fudge donut with m&m's on the top.
"That's quite alright." The man tipped his hat and gave her a smile.
But it was a creepy smile and Lainey wanted nothing more than to get as far away from him as possible. There was something off about him. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but her tummy was telling her to leave and leave fast.
"Excuse me." She spoke politely, attempting to move around him, but was stopped when he grabbed her arm.
"Going somewhere?"
Now she was in trouble. How was she going to get herself out of this one? And what did this guy want with her anyway?
"Let go of me." She hissed, attempting to rip herself out of his grip.
"Not a chance. We've been looking everywhere for you, kid." And if it were possible, his grin grew even more unsettling than before.
Lainey knew it was now or never. She needed to get out of here and head to a safe place.
So taking a deep breath and forcing her body to relax, she stomped on the man's foot, surprising him, before she grabbed at his free hand, straightened it out and twisted it, holding it there until she felt a loud crack and a howl.
The broken hand was enough to make him let her go, but she wanted to make sure that he wouldn't be able to come after her anymore, so she stepped up onto his leg and propelled her own leg over his head so that she was sitting up on his shoulders. It happened so quickly, he didn't realize she was up there until he felt himself stumble.
Lainey took his lack of balance and coordination as an opportunity, locking one of her legs around his before squeezing.
For a small child, she certainly was strong. And this man was beginning to realize that. He had learned the hard way that he shouldn't have underestimated her so quickly. When his boss told him that he needed the little girl to be brought in, he assumed that it would be an easy thing. Maybe she'd resist, maybe she'd try to make it hard on him, but he never expected anything like this.
She was not a sitting target.
His eyes bugged out of his head and his mouth opened wide in a failed attempt at gasping for air. Air that he just could not supply. He did his best to reach up and knock Lainey off, but his hand-eye coordination was very inaccurate due to the lack of oxygen he was suffering from.
And Lainey didn't take pity on him. Why should she? All she did was squeeze him tighter. And eventually, he dropped to his knees as his eyes rolled to the back of his head.
The child effortlessly landed on her feet while the man landed flat on his face with a thud. She had taken him out, but for all she knew, there were more. There were always more. So she searched his pockets for any weapons she could find and managed to take possession of two pocket knives that she hid away on her person.
She crossed the street and made sure to end up somewhere busy where she could not easily be found. She knew that these guys would eventually catch up with her, but she just needed a little time to alert someone, anyone, of what was going on.
She'd been working her whole life towards this. Allison had taught her well. She was going to be okay. She could do this.
"Hello?" Tony's voice rang through her flip phone as she dodged a woman walking with her two children. "Are you ready to come home? I can pick you up in about half an hour."
"Uncle Tony, listen." She didn't have time for the small talk. He needed to hear this right now. "I'm being followed."
"What?! By who?"
"I don't know. But a man just grabbed me…..he said they've been looking everywhere for me.…he's on the corner of 170th and 73rd avenue. I don't know how much longer he'll be there, but you need to find him."
"Alayna, where are you?"
"Find him and then find me." Lainey looked over her shoulder to see a man in a suit pursuing her. "Tell Mama that I'm okay….."
"Alayna." She could hear him furiously typing away at his computer, more than likely trying to get a location on her, but she knew it would be useless. These guys were closing in on her.
Whoever wanted her was going to find her.
"Uncle Tony, I''m gonna be okay." She assured him, sounding much, much older than she was. "170th and 73rd. Please."
And that was the last thing Tony heard before the call was cut off.
Lainey muttered under her breath after hanging up the phone, stopping short when she nearly slammed right into another man in a suit. He must have been working with the other two.
She looked behind herself once again and saw that the man was still there, so she needed to act fast. Just because she had a feeling she wasn't going to be able to fight her way out of this one didn't mean that she was going to just sit there and let it happen.
Reeling back and kicking the man's knees, she dodged a full swing and punched him, catching him right in the eye. The man grunted, but he seemed to be stronger than his friend. He grabbed the girl and lifted her up, ignoring her kicks and attempts to set herself free.
Lainey threw her head back and allowed her head to collide with his nose, hard enough so that it stunned him. Her foot met his stomach, causing him to break into a series of coughs, but that did nothing to help her situation.
She got away, of course, but she had forgotten all about the man who had been trailing her. She didn't account for him being so close.
And she certainly didn't account for that needle pricking her neck.
"Friday? Get Natasha on the phone. Now." Tony ordered his A.I.
"Right away, sir."
The billionaire furiously typed away on his keyboard, pulling up the coordinates of the block Lainey had just told him to look into before he sent it to Natasha. If anyone was going to get any information out of this man, it was her. And maybe even Wanda could get a crack at him, she could read minds. They might not even have to interrogate him if she was around.
"Hello?"
"Okay." He inhaled sharply. "Lainey just called."
"Is she okay?"
"That's just it, Red." The man hated to have to be the one to tell her, but she had a right to know. "Lainey called me to tell me she was being followed. I don't know by who, but she gave me this address to look into. Apparently, she got one of them and she gave us a lead."
This kid never ceased to amaze him. Sometimes he honestly forgot she was highly skilled in the art of espionage. She was so small, it was easy to forget.
"That's the address you just sent to me?" Natasha questioned.
Tony couldn't tell what she was feeling based on her tone of voice. But he knew she had to be upset. Lainey was her daughter and now she was in danger. She was probably slipping a pair of shoes on her feet to tear the city apart as they spoke.
"That's the one. Meet me at the Tower in an hour?"
"Thirty minutes."
Natasha broke every single traffic law in the New York State driver's manual. But she didn't care. She was out to find her kid. She didn't care about anything or anyone else but Lainey right now. And everyone else in the SUV felt the very same way. As soon as she hung up, without even being told what was happening, they all gathered their gear and followed her out to the garage.
Nobody messed with Lainey. Not on their watch.
"We're gonna find her, Nat." Steve spoke to her from his place in the passenger seat. "She's gonna be okay."
"I know." She swallowed a lump in her throat. Now was not the time for emotions. She needed to compartmentalize and focus on the task at hand. Flipping out wasn't going to help Lainey.
"Did Stark tell you anything else?" Clint asked. He had flown in for a couple weeks and was so glad he did. Lainey was just as much his family as his own three children were. If anything happened to that little girl, whoever was responsible was not going to get away with it.
"He found the man Lainey told him about. Ethan Verdict." The redhead kept her eyes on the road as she weaved her way in and out of traffic. "She called Tony, knowing that if he found him, we'd be able to get a lead."
"Smart kid." Sam commented. "Did Tony figure out what this Ethan guy was up to? Or who he works for?"
"He won't talk." Natasha grit her teeth. "My guess is Hydra."
"I thought we got rid of Hydra in D.C."
"Hydra still lurks in the shadows undetected." Wanda spoke up for the first time since finding out what happened.
She liked Lainey. She was a sweet kid. After Ultron, Wanda didn't think the child would be willing to get to know her considering what she had done to her mother. But Lainey proved her wrong. She welcomed her with open arms and immediately warmed up to her. Wanda lost her brother in that fight against Ultron, but little by little, day by day, Lainey was helping her heal the hole that had been left by Pietro's absence.
Somedays, she wouldn't want to get out of bed, so she'd just sit there, reading a book in the confines of her room. Lainey just wouldn't have that. Despite Natasha's warnings to leave the teen alone, Lainey always managed to sneak into her room and keep her company.
And what amazed Wanda, was how aware Lainey was. She knew that Wanda more than likely didn't want to talk, so she'd sit next to her or she'd sit on the floor of the room, and keep herself occupied and quiet. The company proved to do Wanda well. Because after that, she began to come out of her room and interact freely with everyone else.
It helped knowing there was someone she could call a friend…...a little sister even.
And that's how Lainey was worming her way into her heart, wasn't it? She sat with her, she read with her, she always wanted to play with her and she was even beginning to imitate her. Wanda hadn't even realized it until now. They were becoming close. They were becoming a family.
And if Natasha couldn't get through to this man who had the answers, she would.
That was a promise.
Lainey woke up a little groggy, but she was by no means disoriented. Whatever sedative she had been injected with, didn't have a very strong effect on her. They must have wanted her to wake up as soon as possible.
She slowly opened her eyes and found herself strapped down to what looked like an experiment table. Pulling lightly, she felt the straps weren't as tight as they should've been.
The room was empty. She was in there all by herself. Just her, the bright white walls and the sharp lights.
She could easily slip off the table, but she didn't know where she was and she didn't know where anyone else was. Why had she been brought here? What did they want with her? Was anyone coming for her? Would they find her?
Allison always told her that if she ever ended up in a position like this, she was to remain calm and level-headed. She couldn't panic, because when people panicked, they made mistakes. She couldn't afford the luxury of making a mistake.
Wiggling her fingers around her legs, she felt the knives she had taken earlier and sighed in relief. They were still underestimating her. They saw she was a little kid and figured she'd be too scared and too weak to defend herself in a strange setting. This was going to work to her advantage.
Pulling one of the knives out, Lainey meticulously cut away at the restraints holding her. She didn't cut all the way, but just enough so that she could get free when the opportunity presented itself.
Once she completed her little task, she laid back down on the table and closed her eyes, staying perfectly silent in order for her ears to pick up any little bit of movement they could.
And they did.
Her body tensed as she heard a set of footsteps enter the room with the door shutting quietly behind them. She felt the person moving around the room in search for something before making their way over to Lainey.
Closer..…closer…...closer…...
Lainey's eyes shot open as she jumped up off of the table, startling the woman in the room, causing a gasp to escape her throat. That gave the girl plenty of time the wield the knife. The woman screamed and clutched at her leg, dropping down to her knees as tears poured down her cheeks.
She and Lainey locked eyes, and the ten year old could see the pain and the fear written all over her face. But that wasn't going to stop her. It was either her or this lady. There was no deliberating, no contest, just a straight answer.
So taking the steel pan that had been just sitting there, she swung and knocked the woman out cold.
It looked like she had been ordered to inject Lainey with a sedative of some sort, the syringe had fallen out of her hand when she attacked. So Lainey tucked whatever it was into her sleeve. Who knows, it could come in handy.
It wouldn't be so easy next time and she was sure that whoever this woman was working for would figure out exactly what happened. But for now, she needed to find a way out of here.
As stealthy as a cat, Lainey moved across the room, once again concealing the knife, opening the door to peak out and see what was going on outside the room.
Even though the little room she had just been restrained in looked like an established medical facility, Lainey was being kept in an abandoned warehouse. Which probably meant she was still in the city. And if she was still in the city, then she could get home.
"Here goes nothin'." She muttered to herself, stepping out of the room and making a sharp right, hoping to find the exit and not some more goons that were out to get her.
Unfortunately, whoever wanted her, was a lot more prepared than that, because as soon as she turned another corner, she was ambushed.
She tried her best to fight, but it was three adults to one child. No matter how much experience Lainey had, she was still a child. She wasn't winning this one.
She groaned at receiving a swift punch in the jaw before another one of the men kicked her legs out from underneath her, sending her flying flat on her back. The girl landed so hard, she had to shake her head a few times in order to get rid of the stars that suddenly clouded her vision.
If she kept fighting, she'd have a chance. She needed to push on. She needed to buy herself some time.
A kick to her stomach sent her into a coughing fit as the person who did it laughed and gloated over her. He didn't care that he and his friends were hurting a child. They had orders and they were going to carry them out.
In a last ditch effort, Lainey pulled the syringe out of her sleeve and slammed it in the guy's leg, pushing down to make sure she gave the sedative to him.
She couldn't get all three, but at least this guy was out. One less person for Natasha to deal with when she came looking for her.
And Lainey knew she would.
Her mama would come for her and she would save her. And before Lainey knew it, she would be home, tucked into her bed being cuddled by her mother and her Uncle Steve. She'd be nice and warm.
…...And safe.
She heard a loud thud before the pain in her head set in and her eyes rolled to the back of her head.
One of them must've hit her with something heavy...and she could feel the sharp prick of another needle in her neck, so that meant another sedative.
It was okay, though. She'd be home soon.
Her mama was on her way….she'd be here in no time at all.
No need to be scared.
Her mama wasn't going to let anything happen to her.