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Chapter Text

You were trying to wrap your head around it, the man’s face felt familiar but so far away.

“Talk to me Sunny.” Bob broke the silence.

“I think I need to call Bruce.” You pulled your phone out and dialed it. You hoped he’d answer at this time of night.

Bruce was up tinkering away when he saw your call coming through. “Hey kiddo! How’s everything going?”

“Hey Bruce…you have a second?” You decided to sit on the couch next to Bob.

“What’s wrong?” He could hear the tone in your voice.

“I had a bad dream and I saw someone in it and tonight I saw them at the gala. Is that a premonition or something?” You felt Bob soothing your back.

He pulled up your file that your power set and precognition was on there. “What did you see?”

“I had tubes coming out of me sucking me dry and this guy came out of the shadows with eyes full of hate.” You looked at your feet.

“Describe him to me.” He was ready to help you.

“Well,” you described him as best you could from his dirty blonde hair and his height, “he called me Sunflower. No one else called me that except for mom.”

He went through the files associated with your project and one name was blacked out entirely. “I’m looking now and I’ll get back to you ok? Just relax and stay with Bob.”

“I will, thank you Bruce.” You were happy to be getting answers soon.

The man was still at the gala , watching the other avengers talk amongst each other that their two teammates bailed on them.

He didn’t know he could have that effect on you even though you were only a toddler the last time he saw you. But no matter, he had you scared the same way.

“You’ll soon be mine little sunflower and your mom won’t be there to protect you.” He chuckled darkly to himself as he made his exit.

He casually passed by Mel, Valentina, the rest of the Avengers. All those walls put up between you and him were crumbling down.

Bruce was able to uncover the name blacked out and he had a sinking feeling. Michael Ross. Grace’s ex husband. Oh he knew this man all too well because his uncle had tried to kill him more than once.

This was not good at all.

Bruce instantly called you back, hoping you’d answer but all he got was a busy tone. Fuck!

You were on the phone with Mel who was trying to clear things up. “I’m sorry, I had an anxiety attack and my powers were about to go haywire if Bob didn’t get me out of the building.”

“Oh no we wouldn’t want that.” Mel heard you.

“Valentina can be mad all she wants to if she didn’t want the building to be leveled.” You looked out the window.

“I think she’s just a bit pissed that Bob melted a reporter’s phone.”

“He was being a jerk to us, wanting to force an interview.” You shook your head.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Mel asked again.

“I’ll be fine I just need to calm down.” You took a deep breath.

“Just get some rest ok?” Mel hung up.

You heard the line cut and saw you missed a call from Bruce, redialing his number again. “I’m sorry Bruce! Had to handle something PR related.”

“That’s ok, do you remember anyone by the name of Michael Ross.” Bruce asked, that name was tickling something in the back of your head.

You tried to think back to your past but it was very vague. “I think so…he was someone close to my mom right?”

“Try ex husband.” Bruce filled in that blank.

“I thought everyone related to the project was killed or buried.” You rubbed the back of your neck.

“Not this guy, he’s slick and he has connections that could get him in and out of trouble. What are you gonna do?”

“Nothing. If he wants something from me, then he can try to get close.” You challenged him.

“Honey I think you should tell Bucky, get him in on the loop. Because this Ross guy will pull any string to hurt you or those around you.”

“I’ll tell him, I promise. Thank you Bruce for everything.” You were happy to have an ally at your side.

“Of course kiddo, I’d do anything for you. We’ll chat later.” He let you go for now.

“He’s Grace’s ex husband?” Bob asked.

“Yeah and I won’t put it past him if this is a sick game of revenge.” You were still trying to remember him exactly, where he was in your childhood.

“Are you going to tell Bucky?”

You shook your head. “I don’t know…I know I should but I don’t want to seem like I’m blowing this out of proportion because my only lead is a nightmare that I saw in my head.”

“It wouldn’t hurt.” He kissed your temple.

Unfortunately that time would never come, as soon as the team came back from the gala, Bucky had a folder in his hand. “Mission just came through.”

“Already?!” You were disappointed obviously.

“I know it’s not ideal but it’s something that has to be done, we have some things to clean up.”

Another mission was assigned personally by Val as a favor. An old SHIELD facility had been overtaken by a criminal organization and it was up to the Avengers to clear them out to preserve the good name that was SHIELD.

You gave Bob a kiss for good luck. “I’ll be back ok?”

Bob kissed you back. “I’ll be waiting.” He had to stay because he was sort of grounded for his behavior at the gala. He couldn’t be risked being seen outside after his display of power.

“I’ll miss you on comms.” You gave him one more hug.

“I know.” He held you close, just taking in your scent.

You joined the rest of the team on the quinjet, even piloting under Bucky’s watchful eye. “How am I doing Sergeant Barnes?”

“Pretty good so far.” Bucky made sure the coordinates were set before letting you fly. “Keep yours eyes forward ok?”

“Yes, sir.” You smiled happily, keeping the quinjet steady.

“So what happened at the gala? You and Bob ditched us.” Yelena asked.

“I uh…had an anxiety attack. It came out of nowhere.” You partially lied.

“I’m sorry about that kid, you’re good now right?” Bucky hated that you had an episode.

“Yeah I’ll be fine.” You nodded.

As you neared the facility, Bucky took over for the landing. “We split up into teams to cover more ground.” Bucky said.

“Copy.” John made sure his comms were on.

“I call having the little bird on my team.” Alexei nodded.

“Ok fine, I’ll go with Ghost here.” John sighed.

“And Yelena you’ll go with the winter soldier.” He added.

“Stop calling me that.” Bucky found it annoying.

You and Alexei took the front, it seemed quiet but it was obvious people were using the facility. “Keep your eyes peeled little bird.”

“Yes, Alexei.” You opened your ears, hearing something familiar that pulled on your heart strings. “What is that?”

“I hear it too.” He took point, “stay behind me.” He found himself protective over you like a father would to a child.

You watched him kick down a door and the singing was playing again. It was like a control room of sorts and each screen had something from your past life.

The screen in the middle was playing a recording of Grace rocking you to sleep while singing the song that calmed you down. “What the hell is this?”

“Welcome home JG050203 or should I say Sunflower.” A voice that you didn’t think you’d hear again came through. “You may not remember me because you were only small. Your mother did a good job in keeping me away.”

“No it can’t be…” You shook your head as your chest felt cold.

“You said you’d protect your mother but you didn’t.” The surveillance footage of your mother’s death played on a loop on all screens.

“Stop it…” You looked away quickly. “No!”

“You couldn’t protect your mother and now you can’t protect your friends.” A count down started. “Times ticking Sunflower.” The time was displayed on all the screens.

Alexei did the honors and destroyed the screens. “Let’s go little bird!”

“Evacuate the building! I repeat evacuate the building!” You called out on the comms.

“On our way out!” Bucky put Yelena in front of him and ran for the exit.

The mission was a set up. The building was lined with explosives and it wasn’t Valentina’s doing this time. It was Michael Ross that wanted you alive but your teammates dead.

Bucky was in the quinjet trying to get it powered on but something was wrong. “Fuck it’s not responding!”

“We don’t have time for this!” Yelena tried to troubleshooting but it was all dark.

John made it on board with Ava. “Ava saw the explosives lined and this whole place is gonna be a crater if we don’t get the fuck out of here!”

“Well the quinjet is dead and we won’t make it out of the blast zone in time.” Bucky broke the news.

“We’re here!” Alexei came on board.

“Quinjet is dead and we’re out of time.” John repeated to him.

“Fuck!” He rubbed his face.

You knew what you had to do, you needed to save your family. You slipped back out when you started hearing pops in the building, you put yourself between the quinjet and the bunker.

“Kid what are you doing?!” Bucky saw you out the window.

“Getting you out of here.” You summoned your strength and projected a shield while you raised the quinjet, giving it power.

The building started blowing up and the blast was reaching the shield. Thankfully, the quinjet was slowly powering up. Your power was making you glow like the sun. “I’ll be ok I promise!”

The ground started giving way, fire was rising up. You poured more energy into the quinjet, fully turning it back on.

“We have power! Kid get your ass back in here!” Bucky called out to you.

“Go Bucky. Go!” You let go of the quinjet, trying to contain the blast but it was too much energy to absorb.

He hated the notion of leaving you behind but he had faith, when he felt you let go, he punched the gas to get out of there.

The explosion engulfed you completely and your comms went dark.

“Turn around!! We have to get her back!” Alexei saw that everything was being leveled.

“She gave us a chance to go! We’ll get her back!” Bucky hoped and set a course for a safe house.

Everyone sat quietly, why did this happen? Why did this mission feel like a set up. “Something wasn’t right with this.” John shook his head.

“The room that we stumbled into, a man’s voice was speaking to her as if he knew the little bird. Someone that her mother knew.” Alexei rubbed his face.

“We’ll regroup and we fight another day.” Bucky told him.

“What about Bob?” Ava added.

“We’ll worry about him later.” He didn’t want to think about having to break the news to him.

The team was sitting in a safe house planning the next move. “How do we get her back?” John was pacing around.

“I don’t know.” Bucky was trying to think of something.

Yelena’s concentration was broken when your phone started ringing. She warily picked it up and she braced herself when she answered. “Bob?”

“Hey! Is everything going ok?” Bob thought it was odd Yelena picked up your phone.

“Bob.” She tried to stayed composed. “The mission went bad, Sunny got taken and we’re trying to think of a plan to get her back.”

There was silence then he started laughing. “That’s funny…a cruel joke Yelena.”

“I’m serious Bob, this mission was a set up and they have Sunny as a prisoner.” Yelena heard the line drop.

Bob had crushed his phone in his hands. You were taken from him and all of this could’ve been prevented if he had just gone with you.

He looked at his reflection and Void was looking back at him. “You know what you have to do, what we have to do.”

“Yes.” Void nodded.

Bob went to the room and pulled out the box he thought he’d never open. Like you, a costume was redesigned specifically for him.

He dawned his new outfit, adding your bracelet you wore to the gala onto his gauntlet. You needed him and he’d bring you home safely. He turned to look the picture of both your mothers. “I promise I’ll bring her home. You have my word.”

He went to the helipad and took a deep breath. “I’m coming Sunny.” He trusted in his powers and took off into the air.

The group was terrified now. Yelena looked at them all. “He thought I was joking and then the line went dead.”

“That’s great…real fucking great.” John felt like he needed to punch something. “We lost Sunny and now we have another threat: a distraught Bob.”

“No we can use him as a battering ram to get Sunny back.” Alexei tried to stay positive.

“Or he could level the world trying to find her and not enough PR could fix that.” Ava scoffed.

A harsh landing was heard outside and it caught everyone’s attention.

“Fuck! it’s Sentry.” John looked out the window. “Yelena you go talk to him.”

“Oh my God fine!” Yelena opened the door warily. “Bob?”

“Yeah it’s me.” Bob spoke freely. “I should’ve been there and none of this would’ve happened.”

“It was a set up, we didn’t know.” Yelena said gently. “We don’t have many leads.”

“I got one, can we talk inside?” Bob needed to sit.

“Ok.” She stepped aside to let him in. “He’s fine.”

“How do we know that he won’t try to kill us.” John wasn’t budging.

“Because I want to my fiancée back and I will not hesitate if you get in my way.” Bob wasn’t having it.

“What’s the lead you said you had.” Yelena broke the tension. “And did you just say fiancée?”

“Michael Ross, Grace’s ex husband. Sunny had a nightmare where she saw his face and at the gala she saw him in the flesh. That’s why we left early.” He had to keep calm because he could feel Void underneath the surface. “Yes I did say fiancée.”

“Oh fuck…how do you know all this?” Ava wondered.

“Because she called Bruce scared out of her mind and that was the answer he came up with. She predicted her own fate and now she’s gone.”

“Bob.” Alexei stepped forward. “We’ll get her back. Also nice costume, it suits you.”

“Thanks.” He let out a sigh.

“The little bird was rattled by what the evil showed her on the screen, saying how she couldn’t protect her own mother and played the security footage of on a loop.” He crossed his arms.

“So the Michael Ross guy is scum.” John hated that you went through that.

“And we’ll find him and end him ourselves, no one does that to one of us and gets away with it.” Bucky was willing to do the dirty work.

“Where do we start?” Bob looked at him.