Hey, I'm actually on time so please enjoy this chapter. Please review, it really helps me actually motivate myself to write. It makes me so happy that people are reading and enjoying my writing.

Chapter 44

In the echoey, hollow apartment of the late Mrs Popindrus, Elvira slipped her deep brown leather jacket off and tossed it to the side. "Ok lesson number one: use your strengths and target their weaknesses. Everyone has them."

Peter, in exercise shorts and a t-shirt, paused his leg stretches to inquire, "Even you?"

Elvira nodded, "Even me, but you're never going to find out what they are. Now, what are your strengths?"

"Uh, I'm strong, and I have this spidey-sense. Well, that's what I call it. I can sense if there's danger." He holds up his arm to point out how his arm hair rises when there is a threat.

"No, there is always going to be someone stronger than you, someone with better reflexes. Your first strength is that you're small and look innocuous. People will underestimate you. Use that to your advantage."

Peter nods his head, soaking up the information.

"Second, you're lean and light in comparison to who you'll be fighting so use your agility to your advantage. Punch me with all your strength." Elvira beckoned him to attack.

Peter's eyes shot wide, "I'm not going to punch you!"

"It's fine Peter. I can take it." Elvira reassured as she took her stance.

Peter seemed conflicted as a frown tugged at his mouth but approached Elvira anyway. He reared his hand back and it was clear the punch was not half-hearted. His arm quickly thrust toward her. If she hadn't spent a large amount of her time battling Pietro she might have been caught off-guard. She moved to the outside of the punch and yanked on the attacking arm, using the momentum to flip Peter onto the floor.

He let out a puff of air as his breath left his lungs. "How did you do that?!" he exclaimed in disbelief from the ground.

"It's a waste to rely on your own strength, use theirs to your advantage. Agility and resourcefulness always win. And based on that suit you made, you've got resourcefulness. Did you just have that tracksuit laying around?" she smirked.

"Yeah hilarious, can we just continue with the lesson?"

"Ok, you ready? In hand-to-hand keep your knees bent, right foot back with the heel raised and don't pull your arm back so much, you might as well just say 'I'm going to punch'. Find your strength through your core not by swinging back your arm."

Elvira moved into her stance, raising her fisted hands. "Now fight me, Peter," she antagonized with a wicked grin.

BBB

"Oft!" Peter grunts as he hit the hardwood floor for the hundredth time. He panted, not making an effort to get up.

"Come on Peter," Elvira called. Her settled her hands on her hips as she caught her own breath. "You did a lot better than yesterday"

"Everywhere hurts," Peter groans dramatically. "I've got new bruises on my bruises from yesterday."

"Call it a day then?" Elvira supplied. She wanted his experience training to be kinder than her own.

To her surprise, Peter responded, "No, I'm sure I can get a punch in today."

Elvira resumed her stance, "Then instead of just flailing your arms at me, actually come up with a strategy."

Peter scratched the back of his neck for a moment, "Ok I think I've got something."

This time Peter waited for Elvira to strike. She slid closer to land a right hook. The concentration was heavy on Peter's face as his arm dashed up to block the attack. Elvira used her current motion to slip behind him. With the twinge of a smirk, she raised her foot to kick in his knee.

Suddenly Peter's elbow shot out and almost hit her jaw. She dipped under the arm ready for a sneaky uppercut. But after a few days of training, Peter's mind was moving a lot faster making him aware of his open position. his other hand darted out to stop Elvira, tightly wrapping around her wrist. The movement had made him unsteady and the original arm tried to steady itself on the closest thing available, the top of Elvira's head.

Peter knew he had messed up when Elvira's whole body froze. The second of unsettling stillness was followed by her violently ripping herself away from him. Her eyes frantically shot around the room searching for something as her body trembled.

"Wooh, hey hey," Peter tried to sooth the panicked woman. He raised his hands in surrender, trying to show her there wasn't any threat. Her eyes skipped over him as if he wasn't even there. He slowly approached like she was a leopard about the bolt away.

As he reached her, Peter could hear her whimper, "Don't wipe me. I can't lose it again."

"You're ok, Elvira. No one is going to uh wipe you…," Peter cautiously steps into her sightline, trying to be calming but he doesn't know what to do with his hands. Elvira's eyes finally land on him and steady. "I need to remember it," she gasped, her mind still struggling to catch up to the present. She drops her head and Peter can hear her deep breaths.

As Elvira lowered on to the ground, Peter awkwardly followed suit. They sat there for 20 minutes as Elvira's breathing evened. "I'm sorry Peter," Elvira croaked.

"No, It's my fault… I think?" Peter tried to reassure but he was confused by the situation. "Elvira," Peter paused in uncertainty, "What just happened kind of looked like a panic attack. Are you sure you're ok?"

Elvira bolted up and moved away from him, dismissing, "It isn't your concern. I'm just here to train you. That was the deal."

"But you were saying these crazy things about wiping and losing something a-and remembering!" he listed off, utterly perplexed and concerned. Then his brain stopped under a crashing realisation.

"Elvira…You can't remember anything, can you?"

She was turned away from him, but he could see her shoulders tremble in response to his tender voice. A heavy silence settled around the room as he waited for her to respond or run.

Elvira let out a heavy shallow, "These people. Bad people. They uh took my memories. I was strapped to a machine that felt like they were ripping them out of my head. I can't remember how long I was there or how I got there. I think I had a life before. A brother and a home." As she turns to face him, a ghost of an emotion drifts across her face before she irately digs her hands into her chaotic hair. "Every time I teleport without set coordinates in mind, I end up in places that are familiar somehow. They create this annoying itch in the back of my head."

"I'm sorry. I had no idea," Peter professed.

"That's why I can't stay here much longer. They're still hunting me down," Elvira recited the process she had become used to by now.

"That doesn't really sound like a way to live," he admitted.

"It's the only way to make sure I never go back there."

Peter jumped up onto his feet, "No, we can do something. Like, call the Avengers!"

"Who?" Elvira scoffed, "No Peter you don't know who these people are. They are in everything. You call anyone and 20 mins later an army of black cars roll up outside. The only way is to run."

"You shouldn't have to!" Peter vindicated.

"But I do." Her tone was sharp and final. "Peter don't worry about me. I'll be around for a few more days. You just worry about keeping that mask on."

BBB

Peter was still concerned about what he had learned about his mysterious superhero mentor as he strode into Midtown High. He was so deep in thought that he didn't realise his best friend had popped up beside him until the boy spoke, "What's with the look? Do we have a test today that I forgot about?"

Peter jumped a little, "Woah Ned! You're gonna give me a heart attack if you keep sneaking up on me."

Ned shrugged with a sincere smirk, "Maybe you're just jealous you don't have my ninja skills."

Peter rolled his eyes as a grin finally stretched across his face. "Oh, no doubt."

"What up Penis Parker!" sounded in his ear right before Flash Thompson purposefully slammed his elbow in Peter's. In a sudden jolt of reflexes from 3 intensive days of fight training, Peter turned with the momentum of the elbow, twisting around the arm and sending a jab up to his nose.

The hallway stood silent for a moment before Flash's cry of agony filled the space. Peter gaped at Flash, who cradled his bloody nose. Murmurs of shock rose, including Ned's squeaked, "Oh man."

Mr. Polher had noticed the commotion and strutted down the hallway. Flashed wasted no time in dramatically wailing, "Peter Parker attacked me. Out of nowhere!"

Mr. Polher huffed at the sight before him, "What have you done Parker?"

"Wh-I it wasn't my fault," Peter tried.

"I really don't want to hear it. Because it's a first-time offense Peter, you both get 2 weeks after school detention," Mr. Polher dismissed.

"What?! Why do I get detention too?" Flash screeched.

"Because it's not your first-time offense antagonising another student, Flash. Now everyone get to class before I have to write even more paperwork," the weary teacher grumbled as he rubbed his balding head. Ned nudged Peter to homeroom as Flash glared daggers at him from behind Mr. Polher's back.

The rest of the day had been twinged with the sourness of his morning and the dread of detention with Flash.

An insistent "Psst," drew his attention from his disgruntled thoughts as he sat in history class. His gaze landed on his classmate, Michelle, across the room.

She was staring at him already. When their eyes met she flipped up a drawing of him and his grumpy expression. She mimicked his unhappy face. He gave a tight-lipped smile in response before turning to his history textbook for a distraction. He casually flipped through pages on the conditions of WW2, European tension, American involvement, Captain America-

Peter's eyes shoot open at a small black and white photo on the 2nd page dedicated to the superhero's influence on the war. 'Its impossible' Peter tried to reason with himself. But the closer he looked the more obvious it became. The light curly hair, the nose, the eyes, everything matched.

"Holy shit!" Peter shrieked.

"What have I said about no swearing! Parker detention," Miss Nelson snapped with a curt gesture to the door.

Peter scrambled to collect his books and darted out the door. He had the tell Elvira or Annabel Rogers now. Sorry detention. His mind was still reeling at the fact that he had been hiding the 90-year-old amnesiac sister of Captain America 4 stories above his apartment.

"Penis Parker! Where are you going?"

His whole body felt like it had just slammed into a brick wall. Flash settled a menacing hand on Peter's shoulder, forcibly turning him away from the exit and down the hall. "Don't even think about skipping detention."

Every tick of the clock grated on Peter's nerves. He had been stuck in detention for almost an hour and there was no sign of escape. He really wished Elvira had a phone or he had the Avenger's number.

BBB

Elvira's foot tapped impatiently against the wooden floor. Where was Peter? He was usually so annoyingly excited about training that he would swoop into her temporary hideout the minute he got home from school.

Why is she so jittery? No, she is not worried about Spider-boy. There is probably normal, non-evil organisation reason for him being almost an hour late…right?

She groaned as paranoia won over and she opened a portal to the school. With dark tinted sunglasses and an inconspicuous brown jacket, she trod out of an alley parallel to the school. It was a decently busy pathway lining the school-front. So one woman loitering around didn't look out of place.

She almost let out a relieved sigh when the school looked completely untouched by HYDRA. Elvira relaxed against a street light pole as she noticed there were other adults waiting around the school entrance. They were all too out of shape to secretly be HYDRA agents. They seemed to also be waiting around for someone to exit the institution. Probably their children.

For a moment Elvira let herself settle into the idea of herself as a normal woman waiting for her younger brother to finish school. She would be more disgruntled that he was late than worried. Her imagined self had plans to get to, maybe with some friends. Her musings were cut short as her eyes locked on Peter hurriedly skidding out the front doors. Why was he running? Elvira grew concerned. Peter's exit was quickly followed by another boy of a similar age but this one had a stockier build.

The other boy's intent was clearly hostile as he stomped towards Peter and pushed him against a barrier wall. Elvira was already moving towards the confrontation with quick even strides. The boy was oblivious to her until she wrapped an iron grip on his forearm and twisted it swiftly behind him.

The boy exhaled a squeal of pain before barking, "What the fuck! What are you doing, freak?" At his words, she bent the arm a little further into its unnatural position.

"I'm giving you an option, either leave Peter alone or I move this arm further and further until I hear a crack."

Peter recovered from his shock and attempted, "This is my uh cousin. How about you let go of Flash's arm Eve." He tried to motion to her.

"Sure," Elvira smiled, "but it's Flash's choice. A pathetic dose of power or a working arm?" to accentuate her point Elvira gave his arm another light push. The boy responded with a squeal of pain.

Peter stepped around Flash and wrapped his hand around Elvira's arm, "You have to trust me. Let him go." She gave him an unsure look before releasing Flash with a little shove. The undignified boy already shouting. "I have to deal with Flash. Please stay right here. I have to tell you something, ok? Stay here," Peter pleaded frantically as his hands gestured out for her to stay where she was. Peter stumbled over the livid Flash, directing him away from the aggravated blonde.

BBB

Bucky heard a sighed outside his door before Steve nudged it open. Bucky sat on the end of the bed continuing staring at his feet, not acknowledging his visitor.

"Bucky, are you sure you don't want to join us for dinner?"

The ex-assassin remained silent as his eyes sunk deeper into his shadowed boot. Steve refused to accept Bucky's lack of response as he gently moved through the room and sat down beside him.

"Bucky we're starting to worry about you. You haven't come out of your room in days," Steve confessed with a heavy exhale.

"We?" Bucky probed distastefully. He knew the others mostly tolerated him because Steve wanted him here.

"OK, mostly me. Look Buck, I hate seeing you like this. This whole situation is unbearable but I need you to know that you can talk to me." Steve sincerely offered with a soft pat on his shoulder and a tight smile.

Bucky finally turned to Steve. He tried to hide his fear. "There's been no sign of her for over 2 months Steve."

"That doesn't mean anything bad happened. Our girl is smart, she is probably just laying low."

Bucky turns away as he strains to hold all his emotions back. His hands anxiously twist with themselves. "I can't sleep when I don't know where she is or if she's safe, I don't want to go out because I'm always disappointed when she isn't there."

"Bucky I –"

"Cap you are gonna want to get here right now!" Tony almost shouted over the speakers.

Bucky's eyes shot to Steve's as his head spun with hope and fear. What if its her? But what if they're too late? What if she hates him?

Steve ran to the lab at almost top speed, with Bucky following him.

"Did you find her?!" Steve shouted urgently.

Tony was already suited up, attaching one of the restraints he made for Annie to the hip of his suit. "A CCV spotted her at a school in Queens. Suit up. And take these," he threw them both matching restraints, "This is the best chance we're going to get to get Annie back."

Bucky had never changed so fast in his life but in just over a minute he was strapping himself into the Quinjet. The beating of his heart was erratic and deafening in his ears even as the Quinjet's engines roared to life. Every second felt like another vice on his lungs because in any of the seconds she could be gone. He needed to see her. Needed for her to be safe. Needed his world to shift back into place.

The rushed turns and jarring speed of the jet told him that the Natasha woman felt the same urgency as she steered the Quinjet across the city. Steve, already clutching his shield, addressed the Avengers with a serious gaze and a strong voice that resonated over the engines, "We'll be there in 30 seconds. We don't have time for mistakes so be ready. We need to do this fast with minimal force."

Bucky was already up, snapping the tranquilisers into his gun. He turned to the heavy hand on his shoulder. Steve looked at him with determination chiseled into his features, "We're going to get her back Buck."

Steve turned to the cockpit and ordered, "Nat, 20 meters to initiate the force field."

"On it!" Natasha shouted back in a voice laced with gravity. "Field activated in

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The light flick of the switch echoed through the cylindrical jet, followed by the whirl of the generator firing up.

Bucky's hand gripped a hanging handle as the Quinjet lowered. The overlying shutters of metal on his arm shifted at the pressure. He was going to get her back.

The force field that settled around them shed an eerie glow on what should have been a mundane street. Bucky didn't see or care about the field or the street. His eyes were deadlocked on the woman who stood firmly in the middle of the energy dome. There she was. After 9 months she finally stood a dozen feet away. She was different, in all the ways you'd expect HYDRA to change you. Her soft round edges were replaced with lean muscle, her welcoming expression gone with hard aggression shaded with sunglasses taking its position on her face. But mostly she was the same Annie he had always known with wild hair, short stature, and rose-patched skin.

She made a stilling motion to one of the bystanders outside the force field. Her head darted around tracking the Avengers' movements like HYDRA would have taught her. Her sunglass-covered eyes quickly landed on him.

Bucky stood frozen, got caught in her gaze as if staring and willing her to remember him would make to happen. His enhanced hearing filled his ears with the sound of her breath hitching. His heart leaped before her face shifted to an expression he could only match with fear. No, this was going wrong.

Steve stepped forward with the caution one would use when approaching a wild horse. Her head snapped to him, all fear he could glimpse was overtaken with hostility. Steve's hands stuck up to show no harm. In an even voice, he pleaded, "Annie, I know you're scared and alone but I need you to trust that we just want to protect you," he took a deep breath, "Do you remember me?"

For a moment Elvira is stumped by the odd approach they're using. HYDRA usually wasn't fond of the emotional manipulation route. But she was painfully reminded that they had used it in the past. She steels herself, she won't let them throw her off. There was no way they are getting her back. Her lips pulled into a smirk, "Do you think I'm stupid? You use classic HYDRA strategy and cover yourselves in weapons, and even bring him," she spares a glance at the man with the metal arm, willing her fear away. "And you expect me to fall for a bad lie?"

She stared defiantly at the blonde man as he continued to pretend he was saddened by her response. But she kept her stony expression. She would show HYDRA no fear. Her body shifted into the familiar fighting stance, "Don't you remember what happened last time you tried to cage me up like this?"

She saw the large blonde man stiffen. She had thrown him off and she would use it. She launched at the blonde man who had mistaken approached during his charade. Elvira gripped the shield he held and wrenched is around, twisting his arm painfully at the elbow. He was quick to slam the shield into her to blunder her grip away. Elvira stumbled back from the blow and heard multiple guns click.

Elvira slipped back into a portal to the man's clear shock. She growled at the sight of the infuriating barrier that her portals couldn't penetrate as she stepped through open space. She jumped out behind the archer who had stuck to the outer edge of the barrier. She needed to get the long-range shooter out of the equation. Before she to land a roundhouse kick on his head, the archer had whipped around to block with his surprisingly sturdy bow. As her foot landed, she swathed her arm around the bow. She threw up the gun she kept latched to her pants and aimed it at him. With a groan of effort, the archer retaliated by flipping the bow and her with it. The gun flew out of her hand as she followed the momentum and twisted mid-air to land on her feet. Pulling on the bow, his face was flung towards her fist. He moved his head in the last moment but she was already kicking in his leg and using her hold on the bow to hurl him to the ground. He knocked his head as he landed on the ground.

Now that he was down the others could shoot at her with hitting their ally. And it looked like the red-haired woman was already aiming. A portal shone between her and the woman as Elvira quickly bent down to collect her gun. She shot at the robot man but the bullets didn't even dent the armour. Elvira quickly pocketed the gun and dipped down to grab an arrow from the unconscious archer's quiver. She leapt into the waiting opening and ejected it above the robot man that had taken to hovering 11.52 meters above the fight. Elvira wrapped her free arm around its neck, clinging to its back. She winced at the small back jets burning into her thighs. Elvira digs the arrow into the back if the suit, hoping it would do some damage. The jet flames scorching her thighs made a puff before disappearing. The robot suit started jolt about in the air. The man with wings was now zooming towards them at 60 km/hr. she redirected him with a portal into the barrier wall.

Elvira launched off the robot and straight to the shield-wielding man who was still trying to hide his shock. His reflexes were incredible. In the time it took her to dive 5.78 meters with the intention of a thigh bound choke hold, he had flung up his shield. Her knee shook against the vibrating metal. Elvira shot off and sunk into a portal. Appearing back out behind him to knee his lower ribs. But the man had already turned to grasp her knee before it could land. She jabbed his hand away and pushed into him. The built man's face flushed with confusion as he stepped back but there was nothing to stand on. He fell through the ground-laying portal and shot through to the other side of the battlefield. Elvira grumbled as she saw him land gracefully after the surprise teleportation.

"Annie" a clear voice called.

The man with the metal arm stepped before her. Her spine jolted at the sight of the tall man covered in black fabric and strapped weapons. The barrier's hue reflected off the deadly gleaming arm.

"Annie please," he pleaded. His face warped with anguish.

What horrible game were these people playing? Elvira's head screamed. She didn't know if it was worse or better that he hadn't raised his gun to her yet, just like in her horrible foggy memories. No fear, she chanted in her head as the emotions started to bubble too high.

She heard the zip of a bullet releasing from the muted chamber of a gun. The woman was firing at her while the man was distracting her. So that was their game, Elvira realised. Elvira dipped down with speed she thanked months of fighting Pietro for. The bullet flew over her head as Elvira spun onto her knee and flung her gun out from around her back. She fired back at the woman who ran and weaved out of the way. She even managed to dodge the portal Elvira opened for her to fall through. This woman was smart. She finally ducked behind the blonde man and his raised shield.

Elvira turned to the man with the sad eyes and deadly arm. He had raised his gun to her now. Elvira dropped her gun in response. He held a pair of fancy-looking shackles in his other hand.

With her voice strong she warned him, "It's not going to be as easy to kill me as it was last time."

His eyes widened. Elvira teleported to right beside him and grasped his gun. His metal arm blocked the fist she almost propelled into his face. Zip. The woman was firing again. Clearly, friendly fire wasn't a concern anymore.

Elvira squeezed her hand, crashing the barrel of his gun. She teleported to the edge of the barrier, dropped gun already teleported back to her hand. She opened 3 portals before her and fired into them. The remaining enemies took defensive positions against the flying bullets. They were too well trained to hit them like this.

There were still 4 of them left undamaged and she was starting to dislike those odds. These people were different from the teams HYDRA had sent before. And for some reason, she just couldn't bring herself to sever them with her portals.

No. Don't get confused. Be efficient. She needed to destroy the barrier, which looks like its powered by the ship. Elvira grumbled about how this was going to hurt tomorrow as she steadied her feet dropped the surrounding portals. With a roar, she begged for space to open under the ship. The stab of some sort of projectile digging into her thigh screamed through her effort but Elvira ignored it as her hand stretched as the tugged the portal bigger and bigger. The ship fell through the gaping portal that consumed the ground and propelled into the barrier.

The barrier fizzled as Elvira glanced at the tranquilizer dart sticking out of her leg and tugged it out. She grinned at the hell they'd just fallen into as she dived into a portal. What a surprise they were in for now.

Dipped down behind the railing of an adjacent rooftop, Elvira watched as red-haired women shouted "Bruce" and the robot man jetted to the beaten-up ship. Their heads snapped to the rolling waves of blue and a portal whirled open. They sunk into their various prepared stances, waiting. It wouldn't take long, Elvira thought impatiently. No sound could penetrate from 1 portal through to the other side, but she could feel a slight wobble of the portal under its weight. A mass of white burst through the large portal and with it a deep growl. Elvira never thought she would be happy to see the Jotunheim beast again, but he was about to be surprisingly helpful.

Her eyes flew to the wreak of the jet as a louder, rawer growl challenged that of the beast. The robot man quickly distanced himself as the thick metal walls of the jet were peeled away by a giant green humanoid figure. It looked around with a mix of confusion and blind anger curled up on his human face. The green thing stampeded towards the beast with a roar of "Hulk!"

This was what Elvira was here for. She knew these people were not going to give up so she didn't want any secrets or tricks they could use against her. And this green giant was one hell of a secret.

The green man slammed a whopping fist into the beast's head. the beast stumbled back, dazed. It let a sound that was most easily compared to a squeal before charging back to the hulking green guy and clamping its shredding jaws on his shoulder. The giant green man roared at the action, but the bite didn't appear to hinder him at all.

The group managed to defeat her beast after 10 mins of collaborative fighting. From observing Elvira had learned that the robot was actually a man inside an advanced mechanical suit, the man with the shield and the man with the metal arm had enhanced strength and reflexes, the archer never misses (and is very mad at her), the wing guy is just using a sort of jet back and doesn't actually have wings, the red-haired woman relies on pistols but is a skilled fighter, and the green thing was actually a normal man too but he requires the woman to calm him down to turn him back into a man.

She had watched how they moved, communicated, their weapons, their strength, and looked for their weakness.