Legendary

The next morning, there was a formal meeting with several senior members of the Justice League and the press. We smiled for the camera with Superman, Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Black Canary, and Martian Manhunter. We made a presentation for the press of how the public areas would be restored and improved, and after that was over, we went to the private area and the plans got less grand, more practical, and more tech driven. Each full member of the League would have permanent quarters and there would be guest rooms for probationary and adjunct members. This part of the building--it was a complex, actually, but most of it was off limit to the public--didn't have historic status, so what I was doing back here was taking care of the power requirements and soundproofing. Each full member would be working with the interior designer from Kreiner, Lastori, and Houlan (a DC firm) for their quarters and overall they had chosen a practical, no-nonsense (bland) design for all the common areas. Out in the public area we had to deal with restorations that had altered the clean, grand lines of the original plan. We couldn't get rid of all of it since the historic designation had been conferred after a good many of the changes had been made. It was currently, unfortunately, a monstrosity, and there was a lot of damage to fix. It was going to take a couple of years to accomplish, but the League areas were the priority. We broke ground that afternoon. No ceremony, no cameras.

We went back to the city after we had gotten the ball rolling, and Karen would be coming down every other week for regular inspection. She had a submanager on site at all times. This was a big deal for Valkyrie, and we all wanted to get it right.

Weeks passed, and Damian and I watched the kids grow with a great deal of interest. We had decided not to ask about the sex of the babies, but the imaging revealed that we were having another girl/boy pair, and we started to think about names. We kept Sigurd and Torburn longer than expected due to Emma's serious post-partum depression. There were good treatments available, but they had to be undertaken carefully to avoid the medications affecting her son. Steve was torn between being over the moon and deeply concerned about his wife. Because of Steve's physical challenges before the serum, they'd had to clean up his genome once it was discovered that he'd be passing some dangerous genes to his child, so this was one less thing he had to worry about. We took the boy, whom they named Christopher Robert, for a couple of nights to help them out. It was good practice, kind of a refresher course on infants. It took about a month, but Emma's depression passed, and it was soon a joy to see their family. Everybody had had their baby by this point--a girl named Joy Robin Grayson, a girl named Carolyn Alexa Stark, and I had a new sister, Kathryn Annabelle Barnes.

One morning we woke up to the news that Bruce had eloped with Selina. About time. And Nessa Richardson moved in with Uncle Bucky. We made an effort to get to know each other; I really wanted to like the woman my uncle chose, and I did. She was not only sharp, articulate and classy as she appeared to be in her public role as the mayor's spokeswoman, but kind, funny, and soft and loving with Bucky. She didn't seem threatened by my closeness with my uncle, which was a huge relief. And in other good news, Aslyn and Alan had taken the next step into an exclusive relationship. At work, after I had Tony run a very comprehensive background check, we hired Theodor full time. He was one of the unfortunate Returnees who hadn't been able to find any family and he had no signs of any HYDRA ties. The clients loved it when he brought them tea or coffee and in the dark gray suit he preferred and his friendly face he made an great impression. He'd been a concierge in one of the best hotels in Europe before, and we were lucky to have him. He was a favorite with all of us at Valkyrie as well.

Summer faded away, fortunately--I hated being pregnant in the heat. Steve sent over a delivery of the most stylish maternity clothes known to womankind, and after the photographs in the media created a clamor, created a mass-market line of well-designed but not overly expensive maternity wear. The initial collection was small, but he'd add pieces to it periodically.

As the fall wore on, I began to think I'd been lucky to miss out on this part with my first pregnancy. The kids seemed enormous and my back was always killing me. Still, it beat the hell out of being drugged and curled up in a fetal position praying for each day of continued pregnancy, so I kept my mouth mostly closed on my complaints. I actually did do the yoga for expecting mothers because my back hurt too do much else. Alfred doted on me and Damian made sure I wanted for nothing. I finally found a good match for an associate, a recent graduate from Georgia Tech's new program who had a solid grasp of the essentials of historic preservation and had different interests, which would compliment my own. Maya Thompson joined the firm in early October. Serena had hired a guy named Jackson Cooper to work as her associate. It was an excellent choice, because he'd been a street level hero in Chicago before retiring and going back to school. He understood the needs of her dual identity and could pick up the slack when she needed to go out on a mission. The creative direction of her office remained firmly in Serena's hands, but he made valuable contributions.

I went on maternity leave right after Thanksgiving. The kids were enormous and it was exhausting to cart them around. Damian promptly established a home office and only went in for meetings and one day a week on site. I felt kind of bad about dropping Maya in the soup so fast, but I was only a call away if anybody had questions. It turned out to be a good call. I went into labor a couple of weeks early and delivered the twins on December 4th, National Cookie Day. It was a good omen. I was only in labor for a bit over three hours before Iris Violet (faith, hope, wisdom and valor; watchfulness) made her appearance, followed shortly by Miles Faris (merciful, knight). Miles was breech, but they were able to move him around without any trouble. Then the best part of all--I got to hold my babies right after the doctors checked them out thoroughly. Damian and I checked--four limbs, one head, two eyes, nose, mouth, two ears, ten fingers, ten toes, no tail (just checking.) I adored them, but they were still wrinkly and red and not terribly attractive. They'd be a little better when they reached the Winston Churchill stage of babyhood, but I couldn't wait for them to start revealing their personalities. Then everything was cleaned up and our families came into the room to meet the newest members.

"I've finally got a little sister," Xander said, kissing Iris on her head and smirking at his big sister, who was impatiently waiting for her chance to hold a child. Bruce had Miles, who also had a crowd of people waiting for a crack at a baby. Martha cooed at Iris, cuddling her briefly before passing her on to Bucky as my mother rather forcibly took hold of Miles. Damian smoothed my hair as we watched Bucky with Iris; she rather sleepily waved at him and her little hand bumped his. It looked for all the world like she gave him a fist bump. And as I'd said, while everybody should have an Uncle Steve, an Uncle Bucky was a necessity. With Bucky also in his late 20s, there would be plenty of time for my babies to know and love him too.

The nurses took them away soon for additional tests and to let them rest. The family trailed out after them after congratulating Damian and me. When we went home a couple of days later, we found a present from Tony in the nursery: special metal rails had been attached on the floor and ceiling right next to the walls with a scrim attached. A new control was in the wall; when this was turned on, images appeared on the scrim. Right now it was set with a woodland mural; it allowed the wall color behind to be seen still and provided a prettier effect than a projection. A note said that this was the first installation of the new technology, which I could make available to my clients. Eira raced into the nursery to see the new puppies; she wagged her tail hesitantly and thought that they were quite small and... she hid it fast, but they didn't look very promising in terms of fun to her. I gave her ears a good skritch as I cradled sleeping Miles and assured her that it would take some time, but she'd have fun with them. She bolted out when Miles let out the most ear-piercing screech in a demand for a snack. I saw her peeking in later as he nursed.

Fairly quickly our babies' personality began to manifest. Iris was exceptionally laid back for a baby and seemed disposed to be happy; she cooed and burbled and was happy with everybody who showed up. Miles was a bit tetchy and more demanding and it seemed he could bellow pretty well in a short amount of time. Alfred adored them, as he adored Martha and Xander. I found him in the kitchen once, taste-testing baby foods so he'd be ready once the kids were ready for solids.

I stayed at home into January, gradually picking up my work again. Mid-month, I had a call from the director of the library who I worked with, apologizing for disturbing me during my maternity leave, but she felt that I should be aware that Maya had recommended changing some of the work that was being done in the library. I headed off to the Valkyrie and asked Maya for an explanation. It had been her judgment that another method should be used to stabilize a portion of the ceiling. When I asked her why she felt that she had the right to alter the plan, she said that her method was better. I had to explain to her why it wasn't and had to speak sternly about not screwing with my decision. She was embarrassed, I think, which made her mouthy, accusing me of being threatened by her expertise, and I wasn't in the mood. I was disappointed in her, and after increasingly tense conversation, fired her and escorted her to Aslyn so she could process the termination. Then I went to my other clients to make sure that Maya hadn't messed up those projects as well. Karen reported that she'd tried something down at the Hall of Justice, but that she'd shut down Maya, and a couple other clients reported that she'd made suggestions but they had preferred to stay with my plans. I apologized to everyone affected, and sighed when I was done. I was open to different perspectives and knowledge, but the time for that was in the offices, not behind my back with the clients. I'd have to search for a new assistant. Dammit.

So I came back from maternity leave sooner than I wanted, but Dad had the credenza ready with two bassinets. Damian and I worked out a schedule with Alfred. Sometimes each of us had both babies, sometimes only one, and sometimes none. I did get a slight majority of time with the sprouts, seeing as how I was also mealtime. I wasn't producing enough milk, so we had to supplement, and I was determined not to be upset by this. At least I could nurse this time. My office experienced higher-than-normal traffic on the days I had one or two babies, and Damian reported with amusement that the nursery setup at his workplace was busy too, although he liked to keep the babies in with him whenever he wasn't in a meeting. Mom worked at the Valkyrie location of her business more and often came up with my little sister and to see her grandbabies. She got to keep Kitty during the day, making the argument that a woodshop, with its dust and sharp tools, wasn't the best place for an infant. My dad couldn't argue, but he did sulk. At home, while Miles could still make everybody cringe with his wails, the dogs had come around to the babies and although Frank and Sam still preferred Alfred over the twins, Signe was made from stouter stuff and could often be found in their cribs, with or without the babies. I couldn't blame her. Babies smelled good.

So winter passed into spring. It was a beautiful spring, and our house hosted frequent gathering of all the other babies and their parents as well as everybody else who wanted to be part of the parties. Uncle Steve delivered the christening gowns, and they were exquisite, every stitch hand sewn, with soft, delicate handmade silk lace. Not that either Iris or Miles cared, they hated the christening, apparently, particularly the part with the water. Even the priest winced at Miles. But the garden part afterward was lovely. Steve's son, like all the babies, especially liked Bucky, it was like he was the infant whisperer. Young Christopher was a fussy kid, and both Steve and Emma looked worn out and fraught. Bucky scooped him up and the lad quickly quieted, then smiled at him confidently. Bucky smirked, and Steve didn't know whether to kiss his feet for the quiet or punch him. Gratitude won out.

New medical technology helped my body recover from delivering my babies much faster than the first time, and because I'd kept up my strength and fitness as well as I could during pregnancy, I was back to my preferred activities by the beginning of summer. Flight had been my first priority; I always felt calm and peaceful in flight. Well, unless I was on a battlefield. Which I wasn't, these days. I'd cautiously started the hiring process for a new associate, and provided very clear guidelines about what the associate could and could not do, what the responsibilities of the job were. I actually ended up with two, Callahan Archer from the Imperial College London and Mei Wu from Tsinghua University in Beijing. They brought with them international contacts and experience and I immediately put them in charge of supervising the projects we were doing in residences.

I felt like I was settling into a good groove. The anniversary of the creation of Valkyrie was about this time, and we had a party up in the conference room. All of my partners had completed the buy in, and Valkyrie was a booming business. For the anniversary and also the beginning of our first truly joint project: we closed on a parcel of eight city blocks and we would be renovating some buildings, demolishing and rebuilding others, and turning it into a mixed-use community. Something special, like the Valkyrie building, but with residences too. We were still debating whether we wanted to rent everything to maintain control or sell the buildings. Renting was more attractive to us all, but then we'd have to find someone trustworthy to manage the properties, and that was a whole other can of worms.

One evening in September, I got a call from Nessa as I was getting ready to pick up Damian and the kids at his office. "Alex, have you heard from Bucky at all today?" she said tensely, and I frowned.

"No. What's up? He should be at the zoo."

"He didn't show up. I just got home and there's a call from the zoo, asking if he's ok. He's not answering his communicator. Our building security footage shows him leaving today, just like every work day."

"Ok. Call the hospitals, see if he's been admitted. I'll make some other calls," I said, and we hung up. I didn't expect him to be in the hospital; it was something for her to do. I called Tony and explained the situation. He said he'd get to the tower and start searching the street cameras. Damian came on the line and told me to go to the tower, that he'd take the kids home and wait for my word. I love that man. So that's what I did. When I got to the tower, Tony had traced him to the subway and was in the process of getting hold of the transit security footage. The good thing was that the Avengers' name made it easy to cut through red tape. The bad thing was that we saw, barely, one man hit Bucky over the head from behind as a surge of people left a train and boarded. They moved back, out of the range of that camera, but another one picked up two men, wearing EMT jackets, pushing a gurney with a sheet over the occupant. Up on the street, they loaded it into an ambulance, and Tony tracked the ambulance with traffic cameras to a private airfield in New Jersey, where the gurney was quickly wheeled out to a small jet. The ambulance (stolen, we found out, not a surprise) was abandoned, and the jet took off at about 10 am, headed for Europe.

Tony said a lot of bad words and I called Daniel. Within an hour, the Avengers had assembled with Daniel, and the oversight committee Senators conferenced in. They heard what we'd discovered, and the discussion began. The obvious step was to track the plane, and Daniel stepped out to call the Avengers' lawyer and get the ball rolling to get information on flight plans. One Senator said he'd lean on the military to provide tracking information on the flight. Another hour, and this information was ours. The plane had landed in Belgium as the flight plan had stated, and gone into a private hanger, where it was still parked after service. Then there would be more tracking through cameras on streets and security feeds, and that would take time. Tony snapped that he'd call when they had real data, and he and a couple of newer Avengers with great hacking--I mean computer--skills got to work. The rest of us left the building. Daniel gave me a ride home. There was nothing to be said at this point, and when I got home, Alfred reheated my dinner as I told him and Damian what had happened.

"HYDRA?" Damian asked eventually as I finished. I nodded.

"Who else? If HYDRA never really went away, the resources they command now would be stunning. Nico said that HYDRA was hot to reacquire him, and this was a meticulously planned operation."

"Are you going after him?" he asked quietly, covering my hand. I flipped mine over and laced our fingers.

"No, the Avengers have more resources and bodies. They can crash whatever facility he's at and bring him home most effectively." And there were the kids to consider. At that point, Bruce came into the kitchen from the cellar and the tunnel to the bat cave.

"Daniel told me the news," he said immediately. "I'm sorry, Alex. The Justice League will be offering assistance gathering intelligence."

"Thanks, Bruce, I really appreciate it." Bruce patted Damian's back and kissed my cheek.

"We'll keep you informed," he said, and I nodded.

Eventually we adjourned to the library with the pet herd and the babies, then it was time to go to bed. I got up once in the night to feed the babies, but I did sleep, even if my dreams were uneasy. It wasn't until almost nine the next night that I was told to go back to the tower. This time there weren't just the Avengers; we had members of the League as well as Loki as a representative for Thor.

Tony, who didn't look like he had slept at all, showed us a map of Europe, then focused on the Dinaric Alps. "We've traced them to these mountains so far and we're working on more precise data as we speak. The geology of this range is Mesozoic and Cenozoic limestone, dolomite, sand, and conglomerates. It's not granite like other mountains, which will be helpful if we have to go in hard." He clicked on the projection once more, and a cursor jumped around as the analysts evaluated different areas in the mountain range. Periodically, a chime indicated more information that had been uncovered and the search had narrowed down to one country. Then we struck a motherload of data that showed big shipments of highly specialized components and equipment through customs. There were a few gaps in the regular shipments, though, that indicated that either there were inexplicable delays in delivery (possible) or covert imports/officials paid to bugger the data and look the other way (probable.) The current government of this country was known for its corruption. By the end of our import trail, we had a good idea of an extensive complex, underground, judging from the number of excavators, and with large barracks. The Justice League provided a series of satellite images from the Watchtower that showed a complex small from space but large from the ground, under construction for over a year, and they began the delicate process of relocating the Watchtower to geosynchronous orbit over the location so that they could use their scanners on the installation. I went home to update Nessa, sleep a little and spend time with my family.

The next morning, the League produced images that showed a large subterranean complex, about what we'd deduced, and the Avengers started to plan immediately. I sat and listened, chewing on my nails. They had a good plan going when one of the Senators actually arrived. He looked around at the plan, then sighed. "Shut it down."

"What?" Steve snapped. The way he glared at the Senator was ferocious.

"Stand down. We have not been able to secure permission from their government to mount an extraction."

"We can go without permission," Natasha said flatly, and the Senator glared.

"No, you can't! That is not how things are done anymore, and why the Avengers and groups like the Justice League are still permitted to operate!" And there was a yelling match. Even the newer Avengers, who didn't really get along with the classic Avengers were pissed and kind of aghast. After all, this could happen to them some time too.

"So you're just going to abandon him to be tortured by HYDRA. Again," I said, rage making my voice shake. I'm sure that my face was red too.

"Nobody's being abandoned, Ms Barnes," the Senator said testily.

"Bullshit." I jumped to my feet.

"We're working with the government, leaning on them heavily, and we will get permission. It will not be immediate, however. But we are doing everything we can." I listened as he laid out what the military and government were doing, but the process was slow, we'd already lost a lot of time, and Nico said that HYDRA had more effective ways of brainwashing than they used to. I waited until they called a break and started out the door. There was a hand on my arm, and I looked up at the Senator, curling my lip.

"Take your hand off me," I said coldly, and after a moment, he did so.

"You're not planning anything stupid, are you?" he asked stiffly, and I rolled my eyes.

"Look at that complex," I said, gritting my teeth so hard my jaw ached. "It's huge. It's an operation for a team, not one person. And I'm not a hero."

"Good," he said after another pause. "Because you would be killed if you tried. You just had twins, didn't you?"

My lip curled as that man tried to tell me what to do. I pushed past him, then turned. "Anything that happens to my uncle is on your incompetent hands," I snarled, so enraged that even I could barely understand what I was saying. "You could have acted, but you held back. But then, caution is your byword, isn't it?" I was hitting low and hard. Before his election to the US Senate, Fitzgerald had been an Army colonel, and there were rumors that his failure to send a rescue mission for an op had wiped out most of a platoon. It hit home; the Senator was as enraged as I was.

"That was never proven," he said. "There was an investigation." I looked him in the eyes for a long moment.

"If you hadn't done it, you'd have said so, rather than hiding behind what was proven," I said softly. "There were some witnesses who couldn't be spared to testify, weren't there?" I couldn't help myself although I wasn't trying too hard.

"I didn't do it," he spit back. "There was no cover up. It was a horrible mistake, and we are all working to ensure that there isn't another one," he said, also through gritted teeth. "Go home, Ms Barnes, you have no business being here. As you say, it's for heroes." And he gave me a little push, closing the door after me.

I stomped off down the corridor. The door opened behind me and I looked over as Emma caught up with me. She was as pissed as I was.

"What do you need?" she asked quietly. I looked at her. She rolled her eyes. "I know you're going after Bucky," she said impatiently. "We can't both go, they'll be watching us. So what can I do?"

I took a deep breath and told her.