A/N: Hey guys! I thought this story up a few days ago and I've already got the first three chapters written. You should know that in this story, Pietro never died, and I've also omitted Clint's secret family. This story doesn't really follow any specific story arc or movie plot. Bucky is in it too, and he's not the psycho Winter Soldier assassin, he's just... Bucky. Eventually, I'm going to bring Spiderman and his friends into this too, but not for a while. Also, this part of the story takes place a few years ago in 2016. The next part takes place a few years after. I hope you guys like it! Please review and tell me what you think! Love, EllaoftheOpera

"Okay everyone, listen up." Cap's voice could be heard coming through Pietro's comlink.

"Why must we listen standing up? Can we not listen upside down if we want to?" Pietro voiced his opinion with a smirk.

An audible sigh was heard on the other end. Clint spoke up. "Kid, seriously, as much as I love your strange sense of humor, now is not the time."

"Agreed." Tony chimed in. "We need to focus on the mission at hand. You were saying, Cap?"

"I'm sorry," Natasha's voice cut through, "but did Tony Stark, king of distractions and bad humor, just agree to focus and not crack jokes?" You could practically hear her smirking.

"You know what, Romanoff-"

"Guys, seriously. Now really isn't the time." Sam's voice was nearly drowned out by the sound of the wind rushing by him. "Man, is it ever cold, though! Why can't Hydra ever build their bases someplace warm? Just imagine it: A Hydra base on the beach in Cancun."

Steve, Tony, Clint, Natasha, Wanda, Pietro, Sam, and Bucky were on a mission investigating an abandoned Hydra facility near the German border. At least, they thought it was abandoned. SHIELD had been watching it for awhile and had recently found reason to believe Hydra was still using it. Currently, the Avengers were spread out over several different vantage points, casing the place.

"Why didn't you guys come here before, back when you were busting up the rest of the Hydra bases?" Asked Bucky.

"This one wasn't on our radar back then, Buck. And even when we did notice it, it didn't look like anyone was home." Cap answered.

Pietro was running around the building, looking for possible points of entry. "Hey you guys," he spoke, "I think I found a way inside." He was looking at a wall with a barely there crack in the shape of a door. "It looks like it might be a door but I'm not sure."

"What do you mean you aren't sure? Is it a door or not?" Tony asked.

Pietro ran his fingers along the crack until he found a small groove near the ground. He pushed his fingers into the groove and heard a clicking noise.

"Yeah, it's a door," he said, as he watched the wall slide backward and out of sight.

"Pietro, wait for the rest of us before you go inside. It's not wise to go alone." Wanda's calming voice came over the comlink.

"Yeah Speedy Gonzales, don't jump the gun without us." Tony chimed in.

"What is Speedy Gonzales?" Pietro asked, confused.

"You mean to tell me you've never seen Looney Tunes?" Tony sounded incredulous. "Everybody has seen Looney Tunes!"

"I've never even heard of that show," Wanda spoke up.

"I've never seen that show either. They didn't exactly have cartoons where I grew up," said Natasha.

"I remember that show! Isn't that the one with the little yellow bird and the bunny that's always chomping carrots?" Bucky asked excitedly.

Tony sighed. "So you're telling me that you guys haven't seen Looney Tunes but Elsa over here has? That does it. We're having a cartoon marathon after this mission."

"You guys," Pietro interrupted, "I'm getting kind of impatient over here." Pietro's foot was tapping on the ground so fast it was nothing but a blur.

"I'm almost there, Pietro. Please stay put." Wanda said.

But Pietro was already inside.

"Wanda, this place is almost exactly the same as the facility we were kept in!" he whispered urgently.

"Pietro, I thought we agreed you were supposed to wait for the rest of us before going in," Cap said sternly.

"I'm not going to go looking for trouble! I just wanted to take a peek inside." Pietro heard footsteps behind him and turned to see his twin sister with Bucky in tow.

"Pietro!" she whisper-yelled. "You were supposed to wait outside."

He grinned. "You know how impatient I am, Wanda. You should never have put this responsibility on me."

Bucky huffed. "Enough bickering, you two. Cap gave us the green light to scout ahead. Let's go. And Pietro," he pointed at Pietro with a metal finger, "so help me if I hear one bad joke come out of your mouth-"

Pietro sped off before he heard the rest of that sentence. He had a pretty good idea of how it ended anyway.

He found himself wandering down a hallway that was eerily familiar. There were small cells lining the walls, all of which were empty. He shuddered.

"Wanda, I think this place is another human experimentation base," he said uneasily. "They have cells lining the walls just like where we were kept. They all seem to be empty though."

"Thank goodness," she replied. "Nobody should have to go through what we did."

Suddenly, sounds of combat flooded through the comlinks.

"Okay, so maybe this base isn't as abandoned as we thought," Tony grunted. Pietro could hear the sound of his repulsors firing. "There's gotta be at least a hundred guys here."

"They knew we were coming," Cap called out. "They wanted us to come!"

"Hey, kid, where did you run off to? We could use a hand!" Clint yelled over the commotion.

"I'm on my way!"

Pietro was about to head back outside and join the fight when something caught his eye. He turned toward the cell closest to him. It was exactly the same as all the other cells, with one exception: the blankets on the cot were moving. With a newfound sense of urgency, Pietro opened the cell door and rushed over to the cot.

There, buried under a mound of blankets, was a girl, sound asleep. She couldn't be more than 14. She looked underweight. She was much too skinny for it to be healthy. Her long brown hair looked rather dull and was tangled up in knots like she hadn't brushed it for days. Pietro watched as her chest rose and fell, relieved that she was alive and breathing. He pressed a finger to her wrist, checking for a pulse. It was faint, but it was there. He gently shook her shoulder in an attempt to wake her and was alarmed when she didn't stir.

"Pietro, where are you? Are you okay?" Pietro could hear the panic in Wanda's voice.

"You guys, I found someone, a girl, in the holding cells. She's breathing, but her pulse is weak. I can't get her to wake up! What do I do?" He asked, panicky.

"Lift her eyelids and look at her pupils." Bucky directed. "Tell me what size they are."

Pietro did as he was told and gently lifted her eyelids. Her pupils were enlarged, alarmingly so.

"Her pupils are very big. I can barely see the colored part of her eye."

"In that case, she's most likely been drugged. Stay where you are and keep her safe. I'll come and find you both when this is all over."

"Alright," Pietro replied, his voice shaky. He sat down on the floor of the cell next to the cot and ran his fingers through his silvery hair, lost in thought. He was hoping, desperately hoping, that the girl sleeping less than 2 feet away from him was not one of Hydra's human experiments. He wouldn't wish that pain on anyone, especially not this young girl. Although, there was a way to check. Pietro rolled up the sleeve on his right arm, revealing hundreds of little red dots on the inside of his elbow, scars from the many times they had drawn his blood. Pietro rose to his knees and gently grasped the young girl's right arm, sliding up the sleeve of the grey long sleeve shirt she wore. Sure enough, there were hundreds of red dots on her arm as well.

Pietro had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach as he looked at the red dots. This young girl had been put through the exact same thing he had. Had she even had a choice in the matter? He doubted it.

"Hey Pietro, I think I found the records room in this joint," Sam remarked over the coms. "There's a bunch of folders labeled as 'Patient Files'. Think that girl you found could be one of their experiments?"

"She is an experiment," Pietro growled. "She has the same marks on her arm as Wanda and me."

"Can you find anything that would tell me which patient she is? A name, a number?"

Pietro poked his head out of the cell and looked up.

"She is in cell number 13. That's all I've got."

"I think I'm gonna take a look around in here, do some digging. Are you guys okay to keep going without me?"

"Go ahead Sam, we've got it covered," Steve answered.

"How are you holding up, Pietro?" Bucky asked. "We've managed to take care of the initial onslaught of agents, but there could be any number of them heading your way at any time."

"I'm alright. Don't worry about me. I won't leave."

Pietro sat with his thoughts. What would happen to this girl when they took her back with them? Would SHIELD take her? Would he ever see her again? Pietro had yet to even figure out her name and he already felt a connection to her. Not in a romantic way; more like a big brother. He wondered if he could convince the Avengers to let her stay in the compound with them.

Because one thing was for sure: Pietro was going to make sure that Hydra never hurt this girl again.