Chapter 1
“They found her last night at a Hydra base. Right now, she’s with our best team of scientists, who are working on her trying to figure out as much as we can. The scientists have estimated her to be pretty young, only about six or seven. It's also clear she is way behind on schooling, she knows nothing a basic young girl should know. So, we think she's been in Hydra for a while now, and we don't think she got much education. In addition to this, we found documentation of experiments performed on her, by the looks of it, they didn’t wait long to start experiments. She was properly only a few months old when she was sold and they probably started almost imminently. But, that’s not the only thing, Due to the conditions of the experiment, we think Hydra is trying to reopen there enhanced individuals program, with or without the tesseract. Luckily, it looks like they haven’t gotten very far, but have been able to succeed in some way. Lucky for us, it’s not perfect, but the results are still deadly. The girl we found seems to have developed powers but were not sure what they are yet. We do know however, she doesn’t exactly know how to control them. This is where you come in. Besides Barton, you have the closest connection with the Maximoff twins, who to our knowledge, are the only people to have survived the early experiments. We are hoping you could use the knowledge you've gained to help train her in using her powers. And Barnes, you have dealt with Hydra before, so you're more aware of what goes on in those facilities than any of us. Between the two of you, I think you're the best people for the job of training her.” Maria briefed Steve and Bucky.
The couple shared a knowing side glance, and Steve nodded,” Can we see her.”
“Yes of course, right this way.”
Maria then led them through hallway after hallway. Labs and offices and board rooms. But, before long, she led them to a simple iron door in the center of the facility. She typed in a pin code and scanned her hand before the door started to move.
“Is this really necessary?” Steve asked.
“Yes,” is all Maria said as she walked in, the two men following behind her.
There wasn't anything special about the room. The dull yellow walls were bare, and the off-white tile floor looked like it needed scrubbing. There wasn't much furniture in the room, only a long wooden table in the center and a few scattered chairs. But, two things stood out to Steve. One was the wall to the left of him, instead of the chipping paint there was a full glass viewing window. The second thing was the small file on the table that simply read, Gwen Stacy. Maria walked over to the file and handed it to Steve. He began to read through it very thoroughly. From the transaction of money from Hydra to her mother to the awful experiments, they had done to her for the years she was there.
Steve carefully read over the file, and Maria had answered some phone call and left. But Bucky, Bucky had wandered over to the large glass wall. There, lying on the floor, was one of the most beautiful girls he had ever laid eyes on. She had medium blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. And to just think, someone somewhere had sold this amazing, beautiful girl, over to the awful people that make up Hydra. He just couldn’t believe it. Now, the more he thought about it, the more his blood boiled, whoever had done this to her had to pay. He had to kill whoever had any part of her experiments. Not a single one of them would be left standing.
“Buck, take a deep breath, they have her now, no one is ever going to hurt her again,” Steve comforted. Somehow he always knew what was up, sometimes Bucky wondered if he was a mind reader.
“Steve I don’t trust them, I don’t trust them to keep her safe. Here they are going to just poke and prod her with sticks. You know how they are at SHELD. She needs to grow up somewhere where she can have a family-friendly environment.”
“Bucky what are you implying?”
“I’m implying we should adopt her. And before you say anything I have this all figured at. We can turn that extra bedroom down the hall from ours into a nursery. And Wanda can help train her to use her powers. And who better to calm her down from a nightmare then two super-soldiers, one who has been infl-.”
“Let me stop you right there, you don’t have to rant any longer because I agree. I’m going to talk to Maria now, and hopefully, she’ll agree with us. If they want us to train Gwen, what better way to do it then from our own home. Where two soldiers, two assassins, and a product of the same experiment can help.”
“Thank you, Steve, you don’t know how much this means to me.”
10 years later
Beep. Beep. Beep. Gwen rolled over to turn off the alarm, before slipping out of bed. You would think no normal child would be this excited to get up on a Monday morning. On any other day, Gwen would be dreading it, and probably hit snooze on her alarm five times before getting up. But, today was different, after ten years of being homeschooled by her over-protective parents she finally convinced them to let her go to a normal school. So, you could understand while she was a tad excited.
“Sweetie, are you coming, we’re going to be late for meeting your Uncle Sam for our run,” Steve called from the base of the stairs.
“Coming Dad,” she yelled back.
Gwen quickly threw on some clothes from off the floor along with a pair of tennis shoes. She then proceeded to lazily brush through her hair and put it into a high ponytail. After one final look in the mirror, she ran downstairs and grabbed the premade plate of pancakes. Gwen then took a seat on the barstool and began to stuff her face.
“No kiss for the chef,” Bucky voiced from his spot next to the stove.
“Sorry,” Gwen said, rolling her eyes, but still getting up to hug her father.
“Now, hurry up and eat your breakfast, your dad wants to leave soon so we can get there on time. We’re scheduled to meet your uncle in fifteen minutes.”
“K, I’m ready.”
“Well that was fast, come on, get in the car, me and your dad will be out in a second.
Bucky finished putting away the stuff from the pancakes and wiped down the counters. Not long after Steve wandered in as he was pulling his shirt over his head. He greeted his daughter before walking over to his husband, who he greeted with a peck on the lips. Gwen, of course, let out a fake gag before going out to the car.
“Come on Buck, time to go,” Steve told his husband.
“Ok, but did you eat today, I don’t like when you don’t have breakfast.”
“Yes, of course, I did honey.”
Bucky glared at him.
“Fine, I didn’t, but I’m ok Buck.”
“No, your not, here eat a pancake on the way.”
He handed Steve a pancake and grabbed the keys. Bucky then walked out the door, Steve trailing behind him munching on his pancake. A few minutes later, they pulled up into an empty parking lot of a park.
The three of them piled out of the car and into the parking lot. Sam was already waiting there and jogged over.
“Took you long enough. I thought I was going to have to run alone,” Sam complained.
“Well you're going to have to still, see yah,” Bucky said taking off.
Sam took off after him screaming a string of cuss words. Gwen could have swore she heard Steve whisper language under his breath but didn't say anything. Up ahead she saw Steve and Bucky passing Sam, screaming, on your left and on your right in unison. She then took off to join the boys on their run.
“So big G, you excited for your first day of real school?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, it’s got to be better than being taught by the cheesiest couple in the world. There can be so annoying sometimes,” Gwen joked.
Sam let out a small laugh,” Yeah they can be like that, so what school you going to anyway?”
“Midtown High. It’s a fancy tech school up in Queens.”
“Well, I’m sure that will be fun. Now.... race you to catch up with the old men!” He said before taking off.
Gwen let out a little giggle before running after him. A few hours later
“Gwen, the school bus is here!” Steve yelled.
“Ok, coming!” Gwen yelled back.
She grabbed her backpack from her chair and ran downstairs. She grabbed the lunch box from Bucky’s hand and headed towards the door.
“Hey! Aren’t you forgetting something?” Steve asked.
Gwen turned around confused,” No I don’t think so.”
She rolled her eyes when she saw her parents outstretched arms.
“Sorry,” she said walking back to them.
She gave them each a hug and said goodbye, before rushing out the door. As she ran towards the bus stop, she heard her dads call from the house, shouting something about being home by four for training. She gave them a thumbs up in acknowledgment, before running to the bus and slipping in, just as the doors were shutting. Gwen looked up to the driver who gave her a “next time I won’t wait look”. Gwen made a mental to be a few minutes early next time.
She took a seat in the back and popped in her headphones hitting shuffle on her 80s playlist. The beginning notes of Billie Jean played through her earbuds as she took in her surroundings. Aunt Nat had always told her to analyze a situation before taking action. Of course, she meant it more towards her training as a spy, but it could work for school too, right. In the front of the bus, sat a few quiet students doing the homework and the middle-aged bus driver that already didn’t like her. Behind them, there was a multitude of people talking, of course, everyone already had their cliques, that’s what happens when you start a month late. Across from her was a boy with curly brown hair and a bigger Pilipino dude. Behind them was an African-American girl with her head stuck in a copy of Pride or Prejudice, ever once in a while she would say something to the two boys in front of her, but never looked up from the book. Across from the girl, and behind Gwen, way at the back sat a group of four boys who seemed to be led by a Guatemalan-American boy. Gwen didn’t know why, but she was getting a feeling him and her weren’t going to get along.
By this time, the bus had pulled up to the school, and people were getting off. Gwen followed them off the bus and into the school’s main entrance. Inside the school, it was the same as the bus. Everyone was in their little cliques, talking and joking around, waiting for the bell to ring. She spotted the two groups that were sitting around her, walking a little up ahead. Gwen also looked just in time to see the curly-haired boy get shoved into a locker by the four boys. She was about to go help him when the bell rang. Everyone went in their different directions off to there different classes. Gwen then realized that when she was distracted by the fight, she forgot she was supposed to go to the main office to get her schedule and locker number. She quickly asked a staff member where the principal's office was and made her way there.
“Hi I’m Gwen Ro-Stacy,” she told the secretary, catching herself before she could give away her last name. She used her old last name as a coverup, so people didn’t know her true identity.
“I’m new here, and I was told to come to the office and get my schedule and stuff.”
The woman hit a button on her desk, and said something, before telling me I could go in. She motioned to an oak door to the left and told me that it was the headmaster's office. I walked in and was greeted by a middle-aged woman.
“Hello, I’m Mrs. Morrita, and you must be Gwen Stacy. It’s nice to meet you,” she said, offering me her hand.
“Thank you, it’s nice to meet you too,” Gwen said taking her hand.
“Come, come have a seat won’t you.”
Gwen took a seat on a leather chair parallel to the desk.
“Now here’s a map, your schedule, and your locker information. I also assigned a student to you for the day to show you around. He has almost the same schedule as you and will be able to answer any questions you have.”
As if on cue, the door opened, to reveal the same curly-haired boy from the bus. Gwen smiled a little, but she didn’t quite know why.
“Hi, I’m Peter Parker, I’m going to help show you around Midtown,” he said as if he practiced it a million times.
Gwen blushed slightly. It wasn’t until now that she realized how cute he was. Even his voice was cute. She realized she had been staring for too long, and stuck out her hand.
“Nice to meet you, Peter Parker.”