It was two in the afternoon. I had left my room for the first time today. It had been a long and boring week. I hadn't really done anything other than skate, talk to Rhodey, take care of the cat, and sit. I stood in the kitchen with a bowl of cereal looking around the room, thinking about how it would be different with six other people there with me. My phone began to vibrate continuously in my back pocket, I took it out and looked at the screen. It was a call from Tony. I breathed out impatiently, swiped to answer and held the phone up to my ear.

"Yes, I'm at the compound," I answered by habit.

"That's not what I called for, but thank you," Tony replied.

"What is it, Tony?" I asked. 

I set down my bowl of cereal and leaned against the kitchen counter. James the Kitten came prancing into the kitchen and rubbed against my ankles.

"I need you to pick up the kid from school," Tony said.

Kid? What kid is Tony talking about- Then it click and I furrowed my brow. Following the fight in Germany, Tony kept the Spider-Boy close. His name was Peter Parker and he lived in Queens. In his spare time, he patrolled the neighborhood in his suit to keep crime on the low. At least that's what Tony told him to do. I honestly didn't know what he had planned for him. I had met him once after the fight, we hadn't exchanged more than a few words and he barely looked at me. 

"Peter?" I asked. 

I lifted my foot and rubbed it along James' back.

"Yeah, him."

"Can't you?" I asked.

I was not in the mood to do anything.

"No, I'm busy, I never pick him up." 

"What about Happy?" I suggested. 

"He's-" Tony hesitated, trying to find an excuse. "Parker gets nervous around you."

"Really?" I said in amusement.

I brought my foot back down and allowed the white kitten to continue rubbing against my ankles.

"He feels bad about fighting you, and I guess he thinks that you're just... Mad about the situation you are in right now," Tony explained.

"Well, he is right about me being mad," I replied sternly. "But he doesn't need to feel bad about fighting me."

"Great! How about you tell him that when you pick him up?"

"I- Tony, I literally just left my room," I said.

"Then eat, get dressed, and go get him." Tony rushed.

I sighed, placing my hand behind me on the counter. "Which car do I take?"

"Whichever you want, the keys are-" Tony began.

"On the hooks by the garage door, I got it," I finished.

"Hey, you gotta quit it with the attitude," Tony said sternly. "If it weren't for me you'd be locked in a prison right now."

"Yeah, I know, just please stop treating me like a kid," I picked up my cereal. "I'm technically older than you, so I should be the one bossing you around."

"Mhm, tell me, who had the letter from their father telling them to take care of you?" Tony asked.

"You did," I said overtop of his "I did."

"That's right, now finish whatever you're doing right now, then get the kid," Tony finished. "Also, feel free to take him anywhere, like the mall or out to eat, I don't know. Just be back by five."

"Alright, bye dad," I said sarcastically before hanging up and finishing my cereal.

~~~

I pulled up to the high school at three o'clock in Tony's chevy. It was a nice car, but not so nice that it drew attention. The only thing that would really draw attention was the license plate that said "PEACE".

Peter was standing at the front steps next to a bigger kid who had dark hair, tan skin and slim eyes. They were talking and laughing, I thought I'd let them socialize before I got Peter's attention. 

I rolled down the window and beeped the horn twice. Peter looked over and I began to wave. He stared at me for a moment, perhaps trying to figure out if it was really me. The tan kid looked at him in shock, then back at me. His were eyes wide and his mouth gaped open. Peter said something to him before they both began walking over to the car.

Peter bent down to look into the window at me. His friend stood behind him and gazed into the car.

"H-hey, Miss Flint," Peter greeted.

"Hi, Peter." I gave a friendly smile. 

"Are- are you picking me up today?" He asked.

"Yeah, Happy was busy, so I'm here," I replied, then looked at his friend who was still staring at me. "Who's your friend?"

Peter looked at his friend and lightly hit his arm, snapping him out of his gaze. His friend smiled and began waving at me.

"This is Ned, he- he's a fan of yours," Peter explained.

"This is just really awesome, because not only am I talking to Frostbite, but I'm also talking to a war criminal!" Ned exclaimed and my smile disappeared.

"Nice to meet you," I forced a smile and looked at Peter. "Hop in."

Peter said goodbye to Ned before getting into the front seat and putting his backpack at his feet. I shifted into drive and pulled away from the high school and onto the main road.

"So, um, what does Mr. Stark want?" Peter asked. "It's been awhile since I've heard anything from him."

"I don't know, he isn't going to be back until five, so we could stop at the mall or something," I replied.

"Oh- I don't have any money," Peter looked at me.

"I'll pay," I said.

"No- you don't- Miss Flint, you don't have to-"

"It's not a problem, and you can call me Ellie," I smiled at him and he slowly turned to face forward in his seat.

"Thank you.."

I set my eyes back on the road, and sometimes I'd glance over to see Peter open his mouth to say something before closing it again. His fingers were tapping on his knees, he would try to distract himself and look out the window. I smirked and shook my head.

"If you have a question, you can ask," I said.

"H-how... When did you learn to drive?" He asked. "I mean, you were old enough to drive in... What? 1930 something? You wouldn't be able to drive back then..."

"2002, Clint Barton taught me how to drive and I got my license," I answered. "Technically Timothy Dugan taught me in 1944 while stealing a HYDRA truck, but-" I paused, remembering the reckless driving we did through the woods outside a HYDRA base. "That doesn't count. 

Peter nodded and faced forward again before turning to me again. "So that fight in Germany, we're past that, right?"

I laughed. "Yes, I'm not holding a grudge. You got thrown into something you didn't understand." 

Peter frowned. "I understood." 

I raised my brows and gave him a dubious look. 

"Oh yeah?" I challenged. "Why were you there?" 

Peter sat up in his seat. "I was there because..." He paused to think. "Because... I had to-" He scratched the back of his head. "To... The- Captain..." A humorous grin spread across my face as he struggled. Peter finally leaned back into the car seat again. "Yeah, I don't know. Mr Stark just asked me to be there." 

I nodded. "Uh-huh."  

"Do you know where Captain America is?" He then asked.

I went silent for a moment, chewing on my inner lip and thinking. My hands moved on the steering wheel. I stared straight forward, my heart beat quickened then slowed down. I cleared my throat. 

"No, I don't know where Steve is," I answered truthfully. "We haven't been in contact ever since Germany. But I don't doubt that he's safe."

"Do you miss him?"

I glanced over at the curious kid sitting in the passenger seat. He was attentively staring at me and I laughed.

"Yeah, I do," I said. "He's like an older brother, he's family."

Peter nodded and looked forward again. Something was eating at him, his lips pursed then relaxed. He blinked a few times, picked at his fingers, glanced up at me, and then back down.

"Alright, last question," I smiled.

"I've only been to the compound twice, and the last time- I think it was a Saturday, and you weren't there," Peter said. "Where were you? Because I was going to apologize for the whole fight thing, because I didn't want there to be hard feelings, but you weren't there so..." 

I didn't answer. I knew exactly where I was on Saturday. I stared straight forward, my hands began to sweat which made me very uncomfortable. I moved them up and down the steering wheel, then wiped them one at a time on my pants.

"Ellie?" Peter repeated and I looked at him.

"Huh?"

"Did you hear my question?"

"Yeah, um..." I swallowed. "I visit Clint and his family."

My voice cracked. Jeez, when I'm lying to Tony it's so much easier. 

"Heh, no..." Peter laughed. "You know I can tell when people are lying, this spider sense thing, your heartbeat quickened, you got really tense." 

"We're not going to talk about it right now," I said sternly.

"Okay," Peter faced forward in his seat. "I'm sorry."

~

I parked the car outside the local mall. Not a lot of people were there, so that made me feel a bit better. Peter and I got out of the car, I locked it and we headed towards the front entrance.

"Well, you been needing anything new?" I asked him, scanning the stores.

"Not really, no, I'm happy with what I've got," Peter shrugged.

I looked over at him. He was wearing what looked like old clothes, they had seen better days, more so his backpack. One strap was barely hanging on, one of the pocket zippers was missing, and the top zipper was slowly sliding open.

"How about a new backpack?" I pointed.

"Oh, I was saving up money to get one later, so-" Peter began.

"Let's get one now, I'll pay," I said and began walking towards a store.

"No, Frost- Miss. Flint- Ellie- you don't have to," Peter struggled.

"I'm still gonna," I looked back at him.

He looked flustered, he pulled his backpack forward and followed me.

We stood in a store, looking at all the backpacks they had on display. I chuckled when I saw an Iron Man themed backpack. I pointed to it and glanced at Peter.

"How about this one?" I smiled. "You can show Tony later."

Peter smiled nervously, widened his eyes and laughed. "No, thank you."

I laughed again and turned away from the backpack and faced the man at the desk. He was staring at me, not out of surprise because "Oh, my gosh it's Frostbite." But more of a "Get this war criminal out of my store."

I turned on my heel and walked over to Peter, he was looking at a dark grey backpack that looked similar to the one he had now, but better quality.

"You want that one?" I asked.

Peter nodded shyly, and I took it off its hook and brought it over to the desk. The worker scanned it, looked at me and I pulled out a debit card and handed it to him.

"Is that Mr. Stark's?" Peter asked.

"No, it's mine," I replied. "I have money, too." 

"Do you want a bag?" The worker handed me back the card.

"No, thank you," Peter answered, taking the backpack off the desk.

We left the store and Peter hadn't even taken five steps when the strap on his old backpack broke and the bag slipped off his back. It fell to the ground and all his papers flew everywhere. I couldn't help but laugh at the irony, but I still helped him pick up his mess.

"Good thing we got a new one," I said.

"Yeah," Peter nodded and put all of his papers into his new backpack, took his old one and walked over to a trashcan. "Goodbye, old friend." He dropped the backpack in and walked back to me. 

"What, has that backpack saved your life before?" I joked.

"It has held so many textbooks, you don't even know," Peter replied. "Do you wanna buy anything?"

I looked around the mall, frowned and shook my head. Then saw a candy store a few stores ahead of us, remembering a conversation from last weekend and I realized that I did, in fact, want to buy something.

"Wait!" I began and Peter jumped. "I wanna see if they have any candies that will take me down memory lane."

"Like, candies from the 1940s?" Peter asked.

"Exactly."

~

I left that store with a box of Jujubes, Junior Mints, Candy Cigarettes, Candy Buttons, black licorice wheels, and a smile on my face.

"Crazy how they still have these things," I looked in my bag.

"People love junk food," Peter said.

"That's true," I nodded and looked back up at him. "You wanna get something to eat?"

"Sure," Peter shrugged.

He seemed to have given up arguing against my generosity and had decided just to go with it. We headed to the food court and I let Peter decide what he wanted to eat, and wherever he chose to go, I just hoped that they had salad or some sort of cold item on the menu. Luckily, McDonald's salads are not terrible. They could be better, but I would manage. We sat at a table, Peter ate a burger and fries, while I picked around at my salad. My phone buzzed in my back pocket. I pulled it out expecting to see Tony's name, but my heartbeat skipped when I saw the contact name "Clint Barton." I have two contacts under that name, the other one is "Clint Barton" without the period, the real Clint. A small detail to pick out the difference between the two names that only the person who made the contact names would notice.

"Your heart rate went up again," Peter said through a mouthful.

"What day is it?" I asked him while reading the coded text.

Clint Barton.: Coming to visit today?

"Friday," Peter answered.

"Dammit," I muttered and began texting back.

Me: Sorry, got held back. I'll be there tomorrow.

"Is that Clint?" Peter asked mockingly.

Clint Barton.: Pick you up at 9 am, usual spot.

Me: Got it.

I put my phone away and exhaled. White vapor clouded around and I waved it away. Peter looked expectantly at me and I looked down. My heart still pounded against my chest and I knew that Peter could sense it. I hate lying to people who don't deserve it. 

"Peter, can you keep a secret?" I asked. Peter began to nod his head rapidly, excited that there was about to be a secret between the two of us. "I'm serious, you can't tell anybody."

Peter set down his burger and folded his hands in front of him, staring at me.

"Every weekend, I've been going to see Bucky," I said quietly.

Peter's eyes got wide and he leaned back in his seat. 

"The Win-" He began to shout in surprise and covered his mouth before whispering. "The Winter Soldier?"

"Don't call him that," I whispered back. "But, yes, I've been going to see him. I'm not telling you where, and I'm not telling you how. But, if you tell Tony, both Bucky and I will be goners. I don't care what he does to me, it's what he'll do to Bucky that scares me. Do you understand?"

Peter nodded again. "I won't tell him."

"Do you promise?" I raised my brows.

"I promise," Peter answered with dignity.

"Thank you," I looked back down at my salad.

"Is that what the candy is for?" Peter asked.

I laughed and looked at the bag. "Yeah... he's still trying to get memories back. I mentioned candy last week and he couldn't remember the type of candy he used to eat."

"His metal arm is pretty cool," Peter took a bite out of his burger and began to ramble. "He's almost like a cyborg, ya know? Half-human, half-robot. I imagine it's much stronger than a normal person's arm..."

I tilted my head at him as he rambled on, dipping his fries in ketchup, talking with his mouth full, taking a drink of soda, then continuing.

"-Remember when I caught his fist? At first I was like: 'Cool! A metal arm!' Then I thought: 'Oh my Gosh, I just caught that' and then your bird buddy swooped in..."

I looked back down at my salad and took a bite. As I chewed I scanned the store, looking at all the people walking, or sitting and eating. My eyes caught a worker at a jewelry store who was staring at me. I looked away, Peter was still talking and I began to laugh.

"What?" Peter chuckled.

"You talk a lot," I said.

"Oh, sorry," Peter looked down, embarrassed.

"No, it's fine," I shook my head. "It's pretty quiet at the compound. I mean, Rhodey is there, but he's usually talking to the UN or doing something government related. Tony visits, sometimes, but he usually just checks in, sees how I'm doing. This is good company."

"You don't get out much?" Peter asked.

"No, Tony only let's me leave during the weekends because," I lowered my voice. "He thinks I'm at Clint's farm."

"Is Clint in on it?" Peter got another french fry.

"Oh, yeah," I nodded and smiled. "He finds it hilarious. When I arrive in-" I stopped before I revealed Bucky's location. Peter nodded, understanding what I was getting at and I continued. "I text Clint, then he texts Tony to confirm that I'm at his farm."

"Mr. Stark believes it?"

"Miraculously..." A pang of guilt hit my chest. "He has put a lot of trust in me to be honest... This is the only secret I've been keeping from him."

"Are you mad at him?" Peter questioned and I hesitated to answer.

This kid looks up to Tony like he's a God, this man is his inspiration, and one word could totally crush Peter's view on him. Yeah, I am mad at Tony. I am very mad at Tony. He's got me confined in the compound with little to no freedom, he practically broke apart the Avengers, although that was a group effort. He has lashed out multiple times in the past few months and has left me unhappy. I looked at Peter, the curiosity in his eyes made me think of the white kitten back at the compound, the only companion I have there. I breathed in, leaned back into my seat, and exhaled, white vapor clouded around and I waved it away.

"That never ceases to amaze me," Peter pointed and I laughed lightly.

"Listen, Peter," I began. "Being a strong, powerful, smart, enhanced adult with responsibilities can be very stressful. That applies to everyone who was in the Avengers. Adults make mistakes, we did just that, and some of us handled those mistakes very differently."

"What happened after the airport?" Peter blurted. "Like, Captain America and the Winter Sold- Barnes- went missing, so did almost everyone who was put in the Raft, but Tony came back with you."

The events of the fight in the HYDRA flooded back to me. I felt myself grimace at the memory of the December 16th footage. Peter furrowed his brows and I inhaled. 

"We went to Siberia, there was a fight, we all got hurt. Steve took Bucky, and Tony took me," I answered.

"Why?"

"Because," I said. "Steve couldn't take both of us... That's just how life goes sometimes, you don't always get what you want and you end up somewhere that you don't want to be, but..." I thought for a moment. "Sometimes it's for the best."

~~~

"Huh, is the compound getting some work done?" Peter asked, looking out the car window.

"Yeah, a bit," I answered.

My eyes caught sight of the car parked in front of the compound, the unmistakable luxurious appearance of it caused me to click my tongue against the back of my teeth. The clock on the dash read 4:45. He said 5:00, why is he early?

Once the car was parked in the garage, Peter and I got out, and I took the lead to the door and opened it to the main floor. I hung the car keys on the hook, stepped aside so that Peter could enter the compound and closed the garage door.

"Hey, Tony!" I called out. "I'm home!"

The only answer I got was from James