Time Unchanging

Chapter 175

With the Widows free again, the team began searching the Red Room for signs of the Death Widow and to get everyone else out. As they searched, they found rooms with girls of varying ages.

Bucky and Sam managed to get to the surgical room and stopped five young women from undergoing the "graduation" though they had not arrived in time to prevent the sixth's. It made both men feel guilty, but there had been nothing they could do.

Tony, Loki, and Thor found girls ages five through fourteen in a room and ushered them out, praying that they all had parents looking for them. Tony vowed that if they couldn't find their families, he would help any and all foster facilities find homes for each girl. He could not abandon them, knowing the hell they had endured while the Avengers were unable to locate the Red Room.

Wanda, Sharon, and Bruce found a daycare-like room for children ages two to four. They calmly lead them out. The last thing those innocent children needed in that moment was more fear.

Tony and Sharon made sure to spray the caregivers with the red dust, in case they were also mind-controlled, but Bucky and Sam didn't have that safety. The doctors had all been there willingly.

Eva and Steve were looking for one room in particular. The nursery. It felt like hours before they found it. There were at least thirty infants in the room, many crying for their parents, telling the super soldiers that the babies had been taken recently. Fury and Hill took care of the red dust, considering the couple had one particular goal in mind.

"I don't see her anywhere!" Steve said, panic rising. "Fiona! Mommy and Daddy are here! Fiona!"

Eva had tears falling, a mix of pain and fear making the drops endless, as he called out, "Fiona, baby, talk to us! We need to find you!"

As they searched, Wanda joined the heads of SHIELD to help carry the little ones to the helicarrier. One by one, the others joined, each carrying a child or two out. The nursery was the room that would take the longest to clear, and no one wanted the fail-safe to be the fortress falling from the sky. They all felt the need for urgency.

Ten minutes of this, Steve and Eva heard the most beautiful voice cry out, "Mama! Dada! Ere!"

The pair ran towards the sound of their daughter calling to them. She had been placed in an isolated bed at the end of the hall, Amethyst Widow written on her crib. It was clear that the Death Widow had made plans for their little girl, but they got to her in time, for which they were grateful.

Steve picked up their daughter and hugged her tight, saying "Hey, baby girl." Fiona clung to him as snot, drool, and tears soaked his suit. "Oh, we got you."

Eva hugged her daughter as best as she could, smiling as she said, "That was scary, huh?" She got big blue eyes looking at her and Fiona's little head nodding. "But you were so brave!"

That earned them a smile, but she still didn't want to let Steve go. Wanda ran in as the last of the other children were carried out. She went to the couple, relief coloring her eyes for a moment before she became serious again.

"I'll take her to see Bruce," Wanda said, seeing the writing on the crib and knowing they needed information on anything done to the little girl. "Go finish this, Eva. Go!"

Eva kissed the top of Fiona's head and squeezed Steve's hand. He didn't have time to stop her and the way his daughter clung to him, he didn't have the luxury of rushing after her.

Eva ran out the back of the fortress and onto the airstrip. There, she saw a jet housing the Death Widow and some armed guards. Nat watched the lone figure come towards them as the jet began to rise into the air.

"Don't let her escape!" the redhead ordered her men. "I want the woman! Now!"

Eva jumped onto the wing and climbed up the turbine. She looked at the blade as it spun too fast for her to track. The Death Widow saw her as she leaned out the open door.

"That's enough, любовь - love!" she said over the roar. "We both know you won't do it!"

Thinking of the hell the redhead had put her, Loki, Steve, and Fiona through, Eva replied through tears, "You're wrong! I've had enough of you hurting my family and me! This ends now!"

Nat began crying, fear filling her. "любовь - love, please! It will kill you too! Don't be stupid!"

"Then so be it." Eva conjured up a staff and held it ready.

At that moment, Loki jumped up next to her, his hands over hers, and said, "Not without me, sister!"

She looked at him in shock. Then Bucky joined them, adding his hands to the staff as well.

"You really thought we'd let you do this alone, sis?" he yelled over the turbine.

This was the final enemy, the end to their dark pasts. With the Death Widow gone, HYDRA and the Red Room would die with her.

Steve, Sam, and Thor ran out of the building and saw their partners poised to stab the blades.

"Sha, what-" Sam began, but fear prevented him from finishing his sentence.

Steve called out, "Eva, baby, get down from there! Please!"

"Loki," Thor cried, "Don't do this! I'm begging you!"

The three of them looked at their husbands. As much as the triplets wanted to give in, to run to the men they loved, they had to do this. Loki and Bucky could only give them sad smiles and shake their heads.

Eva gave the same look, but said, "We love you all so much!"

Wanda joined the men just as the three siblings forced the staff into the turbine. Because it could no longer turn and the engine had been punctured, it exploded instantly. The triplets were thrown back. Wanda threw up a barrier but it felt like time had slowed as each man called out the name of their spouse.

The Death Widow's jet exploded soon after and the world went dark for Eva, Bucky, and Loki.