Chapter Forty-Three

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A/N: Today's the day! Happy one year anniversary of Into the Light! You probably think I've gone crazy for making such a hugeee deal out of an anniversary but I literally never finish my books and this is the first one to get this far so seriously guys, thank you so much for sticking with me and Adie for a whole year. It means a lot to us :).

So as I've been boasting, I made a little surprise to celebrate this one year anniversary and here's the link to it:

I hope you guys like it!

Anyway, so considering how special today is, this chapter is obviously just as special. It's a whopping 9,000 words long and at the end, you'll get read a little bit about Adie's past. This chapter officially marks the beginning of the revealing of Adie's past and veryyyy soon (as in Civil War soon) you'll get to read about her entire past, no secrets or suspense left. I'm so excited I can't wait to see all your reactions when that happens!

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"Hurry up and help me color!"
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Pepper: You're not going anywhere until
we get there.

Why not? I'm only going upstate,
I'm not leaving the country.

Pepper: I said no.

Tony: ^

But I'm only going to meet the team!

Pepper: Why do you have to go now of
all times? What's such an emergency
that it can't wait until we come back?

Tony: ^^

Adelaide winced. If she were to tell Pepper the exact reason why she wanted to go upstate, then she would probably remotely initiate a secret lockdown mode in the Tower and not even let the teenager leave to go to school until she came back from her trip. Sighing, Adelaide texted back a reply.

I just miss the team, that's all. It's
been a while since I've seen everyone.

Tony: ^^^
Tony: Btw while you're there,
you mind kicking Cap's ass in pool
to remind him how much he sucks
at the game?

Will do.

Pepper: I didn't say you could go.

Please?

Pepper: Fine. But Happy will take you
there and back and stay with you
the whole time. I don't want you
wandering out by yourself.

Thanks Pep, you're the best :)

Tony: ^ ditto
Tony: Don't forget the pool thing

I won't.

Pepper: Tony, did you leave our hotel
key card somewhere?

Tony: I thought you had it

Pepper: I gave it to you this morning...

Tony: It's funny you thought I was
playing attention while I was playing
pool

Pepper: Get another one and get your
butt back here now. I'm boiling outside.

Tony: I'm kind of in the middle of
something

Pepper: What could be more
important than this?

Pool?

Tony: Bingo!

Pepper: Get. Back. Here. Now!

RIP Tony :)

Tony: Shut up, kid

Laughing to herself, Adelaide tossed her phone onto her bed and then let herself fall beside it. She needed to go upstate to clear her head before the day of the science fair came around. Not to mention that she needed the help of a certain android. And what she had told Pepper wasn't a complete lie: she really did miss the team.

So Adelaide texted Happy to pack his bags as well and within half an hour, they were on their way upstate. Luckily, Happy let her play her 70s/80s playlist without complaining like Peter had.

"So what's been going on with you, kid?" Happy asked, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel to the beat of the song. Adelaide shrugged.

"Same old," she answered, "We're making a hoverboard for our science fair project."

"A hoverboard?" Happy asked, letting out a low whistle, "That's a nice one. Who came up with that?"

"Peter," she answered.

"Is he the weird one?" Happy asked, glancing at her. Adelaide gave him a confused look. They both had their quirks but she didn't know what was weird in Happy's dictionary.

"Define weird," she said.

"You know, the one who's obsessed with Tony. He's got glasses I think and this really weird...dorky thing going on," Happy tried to explain, "Oh, I think he's the one you kissed."

Adelaide almost choked on air.

"I - How do you know about that?" she exclaimed.

"You know, for a superhero, you're kind of obvious. Maybe you should work on that."

Adelaide groaned loudly. She did not like this conversation at all. She couldn't believe she was talking with Happy about kissing Peter. She wanted this conversation to end right now.

"You didn't tell anyone, did you?" she suddenly asked, sitting up in her seat.

"Well..." Happy winced.

"Happy!" she shrieked, smacking his shoulder.

"Relax, kiddo, I didn't tell anyone," he laughed. Adelaide fell back into her seat, relaxing.

"Don't you dare tell anyone about this," she threatened.

"Why is it such a big deal? You're a teenager, isn't that what kids your age do?"

"If you haven't noticed, I do a lot of stuff kids my age normally don't do," she grumbled.

"So you like him. Just tell him, don't drag it out," he said. Adelaide wondered when Happy had become her relationship advisor.

"I don't like him!" she argued, throwing her hands up. Happy snorted.

"Yeah, right. You remember how I said you're obvious, right?" he said. Adelaide scowled.

"You're lucky you're driving right now, Happs," she grumbled, running her hand through her hair. He was being ridiculous. Peter was her best friend. She didn't like him. It was simple as that. And that kiss had been a mistake. They had both been angry and it was just in the moment. No big deal. Just a simple little overlookable mistake.

Adelaide spent the rest of the drive trying to not think about it without much success.

By the time they had gotten there, the sun had already set and it was starting to get dark. While Happy unloaded the car, Adelaide headed inside.

Steve was in the lobby to greet her this time and the supersoldier pulled the teenager in for a giant hug that only he could give. He smelled like bar soap and clean laundry.

"Hey Steve," Adelaide grinned once they had pulled away. She really had missed this big guy. He ruffled her hair and she frowned, trying to fix it. Why did people always mess up her hair?

"Hey Happy," Steve said, nodding his head at him as he walked in hauling a couple of bags behind him.

"Hey Captain," Happy nodded, dragging the bags inside. Adelaide was just about to follow Steve inside when Vision walked through the wall, almost giving both of them a heart attack.

"Hi, Vision," she said, calming down her heartbeat. He paused for a moment before answering.

"Hello Adelaide," he nodded, "Glad to see you here."

The teenager glanced at the supersoldier standing beside her. Vision had seemed to already catch on as to why the teenager had made a sudden visit.

"Thanks," she smiled and then turned to Steve, "Where's Nat?"

"Down in the training room," he answered, "I'll go tell her you're here."

"No, I'll do it," Adelaide grinned and Steve nodded, stepping aside to let the teenager go. She knew her way through the compound fairly well so she easily found the training room. As she walked down the stairs, she could hear the assassin training behind the door. Listening closely, she could tell she was practicing with knives.

Adelaide made herself invisible, deciding to play a little trick on the assassin. Quietly, she opened the door, letting herself inside. She had been right: Nat was doing a little target practice with knives. The teenager silently snuck up on the assassin but just as she was about to tackle her, Nat turned around and pinned Adelaide to the floor with a knife hovering over her throat.

Groaning, Adelaide made herself visible again. Natasha grinned, getting up and then offering her hand to the teenager.

"I was silent," Adelaide grumbled, taking her hand. She dusted her pants as Nat aimed the knife at the target. She tossed it and it landed in the bull's eye, not so surprisingly.

"But I was fast," the assassin grinned cockily. Adelaide rolled her eyes which were still slightly glowing blue.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"So what are you doing here?" Natasha asked, grabbing her water bottle from the ground and chugging it.

"Just...missed the team, that's all," the teenager shrugged. Nat stopped drinking the water, lowering her water bottle.

"You're a terrible liar, you know that, right?"

"Yes, I know," she sighed.

Natasha shrugged. "So why are you here?"

"I missed the team," Adelaide said, narrowing her eyes.

"Whatever you say, Blue," the assassin smirked, tossing the teenager her water bottle. Adelaide caught the bottle, scrunching her nose in confusion.

"Who's Blue?" the teenager asked, tossing the water bottle back.

"You." Toss.

"Me?" Toss.

"Yeah." Toss.

"Why?" Toss.

Natasha shrugged again, taking a sip from her water bottle.

"It's your new nickname," she said, walking past the teenager and ruffling her hair, "Come on, Blue, Я голоден."

Grumbling under her breath about people's lack of care for her hairstyle, Adelaide followed the assassin upstairs, trying to put her hair back into place.

-----

It had taken a whole hour and a game of pool against Steve (which, she had won) before she finally got Vision and Wanda alone. Her game with Steve had started a spontaneous pool tournament and Adelaide had followed Vision and Wanda into the kitchen where they were making spaghetti for everyone.

Well, Wanda was making the spaghetti while Adelaide and Vision were pretending to help.

"You're stirring it wrong, Vision," Wanda said, taking the spoon out of the android's hand.

He looked at the teenager who merely shrugged. If there was a worse cook than Adelaide – well it was probably Tony, but even worse than him would probably be Vision. The android took a seat next to the teenager on top of the island and they both sat with their legs crossed.

"I presume you're not here to eat spaghetti," Vision said, looking at Adelaide.

"No," she answered, staring at the pot Wanda was stirring the sauce in.

"Don't bother lying this time," Wanda said, blowing on a spoonful of the sauce to cool it down. She gave the spoon to Adelaide to taste and the teenager gave her a thumbs up after trying it.

"I...need your help," Adelaide said, turning to Vision, "What do you know about Ivan Lukov?"

"Ivan Lukov?" Vision asked, his expression turning serious, "Why do you want to know about him?"

"I think he's been watching me, keeping track of me. And – not just me but Tony, too. Well, not him exactly. See, I have this gym coach – he joined a while ago – and he has this whole eyepatch and weird thing going –"

"Start from the beginning, Adelaide," Wanda said, her face serious as well. Adelaide glanced between the two of them and took a deep breath.

She told them everything. Everything starting all the way from Coach Ross and his murder, the note, how her new coach had joined and how she had passed out at the sight of him.

She told them about following Graves to the tow pound and how he had bought drugs. She told them how she followed his car to his caravan where she found the drugs and how she had overheard his phone call with Ivan Lukov who knew her name.

She told them how they were both planning for something big in a few months and she told them everything FRIDAY had told her about Ivan Lukov including HYDRA and Pierce and Zola.

And when she was finally done, Adelaide felt amazing to have gotten it all off her chest.

"So that means Lukov is affiliated with HYDRA but there's no hard evidence to prove it," Vision said.

"But I don't understand what Lukov would want with you," Wanda said. Adelaide shook her head.

"I don't either," she said.

"What else do you know about your coach?" Vision asked.

"Nothing," Adelaide sighed, "He's sketchy and he does drugs but I don't know anything else."

"My records tell me that Lukov worked closely with Zola and Pierce. They were fleetingly known as the Golden Trinity of HYDRA and the Red Skull in the early 20th century. Zola developed the algorithm used in the flash drive for Project Insight," Vision said, "That means Lukov must have been a part of Project Insight as well since Pierce administered it when HYDRA infiltrated SHIELD last year."

"But he never surfaced when Nat and Steve took down HYDRA," Adelaide said, "The last the media saw of him was when he retired as the Russian Minister of Foriegn Affairs in 1991. There haven't been any pictures or sightings of him since."

"That's odd," Wanda said, tilting her head, "Ministers like to stay involved even after retirement."

"Not if they're hiding a secret," Vision said.

"So you're saying that he did something with HYDRA and then went into hiding by saying he was retiring?" Adelaide asked.

"Precisely," the android nodded. Adelaide thought about it as she stared at the pot of bubbling red sauce. Pierce and Zola were both dead now and Lukov was the only one alive out of the three of them. That meant he must have done something that Pierce and Zola didn't.

That probably meant that at some point he had betrayed them without their knowledge. Could Project Insight have been the reason he went into hiding? Or was it something entirely different? And how did Adelaide relate to any of this?

"If he's gone into hiding, then the only known person still in contact with him has to be Graves," Adelaide said.

"Of course," Vision agreed, "All we need to do is trace his call to Lukov."

"But we need Lukov's number for that," Adelaide said.

"That's why you will get your coach's phone and get Lukov's number from his caller or contact list," Wanda said, tasting the sauce, "Отлично."

"And then?" the teenager asked.

"I'll handle the rest," Vision said.

"Why don't you just tell Tony about this?" Wanda asked, straining the spaghetti. Adelaide sighed, a familiar feeling washing over her. She had never said the reason aloud or even admitted it to herself but she was sure of it now more than ever.

"I'm scared," she said quietly, "Whenever I think about telling him, something stops me. Like if I told him, then...something really bad will happen."

"To him or to you?" Wanda asked. Adelaide looked the witch in the eye, fear roiling inside her.

"Me."

What Adelaide didn't know, was that many bad things had already happened and there were many more to come.

-----

That night, Adelaide couldn't sleep. Not very surprising as she rarely got much sleep to begin with.

What she had told Wanda wouldn't stop circling in her head. Wanda was right: if Adelaide just told Tony everything then maybe this problem could be solved in a matter of days. But her every instinct was telling her not to.

Every time she considered it, she began to feel a burning sensation in her veins as if she were being burned alive. It was all in her head, of course. The feeling was only a memory. A very vivid memory.

But it was okay because now she had a plan. She would get Graves' phone and find Lukov's number and track him down. Then she would get all her answers. Yet, for some reason, Adelaide doubted it would be that easy. Things tended to go...disarray whenever she came close to finding answers.

It was well past midnight when she finally found sleep. But it was a very restless night.

She was surrounded by darkness, her biggest fear.

She worried that if she took even two steps forward, she would run into something...or someone. So she stood absolutely still. Until, she suddenly saw her reflection in all the blackness.

Something wasn't right about it.

The scar on her arm was gone, her eyes were brown, and when she tried to use her powers, nothing happened.

"What's wrong?" said a familiar voice behind her, "Did you break?"

Adelaide turned around but no one was there.

"Stark, he'll show you happiness, but you will never be happy with him. He's dark. Like a wilting flower," said the voice.

"What do you want?" Adelaide whispered through gritted teeth. She felt someone touch her chin, lifting it up.

"You," he said, and Adelaide could feel his cold smile, "my greatest weapon is you."

"Who are you?" she whispered with a shaky voice.

"A lot of things," he answered, "But first, I am your savior. You've lost a lot, little girl. But I gave you much more."

Adelaide stayed silent. The voice was talking in circles around her but she still couldn't see his face and she was too terrified to move a muscle.

Her reflection changed again and this time, she had a gun in her hand.

"Use what you know, be who you really are," he said as the blackness faded away into Sokovia.

She was standing on the edge — the city was already in the sky. The only problem was that there was no one else here. Except...

Adelaide turned around. Rosie was standing there, hugging her doll. She had a hole in her chest clotted with blood. Her eyes were dark and sunken in her sockets. The skin on her small body was graying.

"Rosie..." Adelaide whispered, her eyes filling up, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. So, so—"

"Do what he told you," she said.

"What?" Adelaide whispered, searching the child's face. She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand, stepping towards the girl. "Rosie, it's me."

"Do it," she said, her face void of emotion.

Adelaide had a sinking feeling in her chest. She knew what the girl meant. The voice had told Adelaide to be who she really was. She knew what that meant.

"Do it," Rosie said again. Adelaide took a step back.

"No," she whispered, her tears falling down her face, "No."

"Use what you know. Be who you really are," Rosie said, taking a step forward. Adelaide took another step back. She was at the edge; she couldn't go back any more.

But there was always a choice. Step back and end it for herself or stay here and do what she had always done.

"I can't," Adelaide cried, falling to her knees. She closed her eyes and her hand with the gun, as if it were guiding her, raised itself up and pointed the weapon at Rosie.

"Do it," Rosie said. Adelaide felt her voice wrapping itself around her neck.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, dropping her head and pulling the trigger.

When she opened her eyes, instead of seeing Rosie, Adelaide saw Peter laying there with a bullet hole in his chest oozing with dark blood. Her hand flew up to cover her mouth.

"Nonononono...No! Pete! Peter!" she screamed, running over to him. She tried stopping the blood but he was

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