fifty-one.
Bucky let his eyes trail over what Peter declared to be his goodbyes to everyone. He wanted to crumple the paper and throw it away because it was bullshit and wherever Peter was, he was alive. But he resisted that urge because when Peter came back he would need this letter. He carefully placed it back where he got it from and closed up the hidden compartment again.
He couldn't stop thinking about what Peter's note to him said. He ran a hand through his hair and began muttering to himself. "Because I know what they say? What does that mean?"
There was a flash of memory in his mind of the last few seconds that he saw Peter before he left. When the boy had spoken to him in the Soldier's tongue. His tongue.
Peter turned around as he grabbed the door handle, a smile on his face. "You know what they say: Яблоко от яблони."
Suddenly, it dawned on him. "Яблоко от яблони," He repeated, stunned. Peter'd had a plan this whole time.
Bucky ran up the stairs as fast as he could, taking them two at a time to go even faster. He couldn't believe it took him so long to figure it out! He threw open the apartment door and Nat's quick reaction meant he had a gun pointed at his head, but he paid no mind. He took two large breaths and looked over at Steve. "I know what he meant! I get it! I can't believe it took me so long."
"Buck, what the hell are you talking about?" Steve asked as he put his cup down on the counter.
"Right before Peter left, he said "Яблоко от яблони"." Steve had no idea what that meant because he, of course, didn't speak Russain. Natalia lowered her weapon. Steve asked for clarification, and in unison, both Bucky and Nat said, "Like father like son."
Steve nodded like he knew what was going on, but he didn't know in the slightest. "I still have no idea what that means for us."
Bucky shakes his head, strands of long hair falling into his face. "I used to tell Peter stories about the things I remembered. Things from being Him. The tactics I used to use, the places I used to go."
Nat looked up at the two men. "Breadcrumbs."
Steve had one question. "How?"
And that one word really covered all of the questions. How would he leave them? How would they be found? How would they know that's what they were? They were both looking at him and he was quick to understand. He was the key to finding their boy.
After another long, sleepless week of trying to follow Peter's scattered bread crumbs, they came to a stop. They had all the crumbs they needed to piece the loaf together. Peter's clues were few and far between, but once Bucky found the first one scratched into the paint on the train he took to find Wade, they weren't too awfully difficult to notice once they happened across them.
Once they geared up and got to where they were meant to go, they were shocked to find the building completely empty... They'd been so close... Bucky fell to his knees after they searched the building over for the third time. "He's really not here..."
His shoulders shook and he looked up at Steve. "He's supposed to be here! Why isn't he here? What... What if he's..."
Steve shook his head. "No, we're going to find him. He's just fine, wherever he is."
Peter was not just fine in any capacity. He was strapped down to a table less than half dressed while 10 or so Hydra agents were filling the room. He could see Steve and Bucky on the monitors over their shoulders, and he screamed. If only they could hear him.
An Agent turned and smacked him hard enough it made his head roll and he ceased his screaming. He's only been here two weeks, but it's felt like hell, and he hasn't seen Wade once. Was he going to die in here? No, he couldn't die. Not when his parents were right upstairs!
He heard an Agent say something about having guarded agents nearby, in case they found the secret entrance into the basement area. The other Agent asked why they didn't just go up there and kill them all, and Peter cried out again, begging for them to be left alone.
Again, he was smacked and again he silenced, hot tears rolling down his cheeks. He saw Bucky rise to his feet and turn to go back the way they came and Peter cried harder. He was so close to being out of this hell-hole...
He did everything he could to forget about the horrible place that he was in. He did his best to try and block out the verbal abuse spat in his direction from whoever felt like it at the time. He tried to block out the sound of screaming from down the hall. God only knew who that was or when they'd be found.
Peter was healing from his injuries at an even slower rate than he was before he stabbed Wade. What had these assholes done to him?
An Agent in a lab coat came into the room once everyone else had left. Peter begged and pleaded with him for the millionth time, but today instead of silence, he was met with a sharp pain to the thigh, and then the other thigh.
A couple of moments passed and his legs were completely numb.
"Hey! Hey, what are you doing?!" Peter tried to struggle, but he couldn't feel his legs to move them. His ankles had been freed, but these guys really thought of everything. The Agent, Doctor? Parted his legs and Peter felt the panic rise up in his throat like bile, and he tried to fight but he couldn't move his legs and his arms were still bound. Was this guy about to touch him?
He screamed and thrashed what of his body he could feel. "They're gonna fucking kill you!"
The person paid no mind to his screaming but sighed before looking at his clipboard.
"Wade is gonna fucking kill you if you touch me again!"
This time the person took an interest. "Oh, you poor, deluded child... Deadpool works for us. He has always worked for us."
Peter protested through the man's speech.
"And as for your... parents? They won't ever find you here. They don't want to find you. They don't want you back, Peter. They never wanted you. Nobody wants you, Peter. Not them, not May, not your real parents... You're going to be down here with us... Forever."
Peter felt hot tears rolling down his cheeks and he was so focused on the thought that maybe this man was telling the truth and nobody really wanted him, that he almost missed being injected with something. He squirmed.
"What are you doing to me?"
"Deadpool failed his mission to impregnate you, so I'm using his DNA to do it properly."
And then the panic began again. He couldn't even think straight as the man put his legs back down and halfways fixed his hospital gown. He'd been kidnapped, to make a child?! This couldn't be right, this couldn't be happening. All he could do was keep crying as he left.
He ended up crying himself to sleep on the cold metal table, and when he woke there was a hand over his mouth. Afraid, he fought before seeing the masked Deadpool over him. As soon as Wade removed his hand, he started crying again.
"Go away! Go away, you lied to me! You lied to me, I'm your mission!" He whimpered. It broke Wade's heart to see the boy like this. He knew that Hydra finally got to the boy.
"No, no, Petey, I wanna get you out of here."
"No, you don't! You just wanna get your money!" Peter was in hysterics now, sobbing so hard his body shook. He just wanted to go home, he wanted to be safe... He didn't want to hear Agents walking into the room, and he didn't want to hear their gunfire.
He screamed as a bullet entered his thigh and continued to scream as Wade was shot repeatedly, his blood and chunks of skin getting blown all over Peter. Wade's body went limp over him and continued to cover him in blood, and all Peter could do was cry. His voice was too hoarse to keep screaming. The Agents in the room didn't enjoy his hysterics, so they shot him a second time in the shoulder at point blank.
The pain was too much for him, and he let his eyes droop shut, silently praying for someone to save him, even though he knew that they'd never come.
He was going to die here, he was certain.