Love In A Hopeless Place (An OC x OC Marvel Fanfic)

Prologue

After Bucky pulled Steve out of the Potomac, HYDRA's mind control snapped and he was finally back to himself, finally free. Not even the words to get him back in the Winter Soldier mindset worked anymore. It took a bit of convincing, but he joined the Avengers and helped them look for Loki's scepter. He knew where it was at one point – the HYDRA base he was in – but they sent it away, most likely to another base. At first, the team didn't want to check that base, they knew HYDRA doesn't leave breadcrumbs, but when the sergeant told them that they were experimenting on teenagers – five at first, but only one was still alive and they were planning on getting more – they didn't waste a second.

On the way there, Bucky told them about the girl. "She's about 16 and has been there for about two years now. I don't know her name, they don't call you by your name, but they call her 'The Winter Widow'. She's Dreykov's whole deal: mad manipulation and combat skills, batons, gauntlets; Hell, she's one of the best I've ever seen. Besides the Super Soldier Serum, she has powers – element manipulation."

Little did he know, he was talking about his daughter. Back when he was an instructor in the Red Room, he hooked up with Natasha before the graduation ceremony. Not long after, he was sent back to HYDRA without knowing why – the reason for his deportation was getting the redhead pregnant. Dreykov allowed Natasha to keep the child, thinking about what the child of the Winter Soldier and one of his best Widows would mean to him, what power it would give him. However, he took the newborn away as soon as she was born, not even allowing skin-to-skin time.

When they got there, HYDRA used the girl as a weapon, but she ended up switching sides when she realized they were the good guys. The team decided to recruit her and the younger Widow agreed pretty quickly, being aware she had nowhere to go. When the truth about her parents came out, everyone was shocked, especially the teenager who was always told her parents were dead. To say the least, it took some time to digest that.

"What's your name, kid?" asked Tony with a curious look on his face.

The teenager shrugged before saying, "It's not relevant," with a thick Russian accent.

"Well, unless you want us to keep calling you kid, I suggest you give us a name," Clint crossed his arms and stared at the short girl.

"Mia."

"Mia...?" Bruce trailed off, wanting her to finish her name.

"Mia Alianovna Romanova. As I said, irrelevant," she said with an expressionless look on her face. The whole team looked at her, at Natasha, and then back at her. "What?"

"No, no, it can't be," mumbled the older Russian.

"That's what Dreykov told me at least," the younger one shrugged.

"When is your birthday?" Natasha questioned quickly.

Mia looked at them confused. "Can someone explain-"

"Just answer the question, kid," Steve said to the teenager, softly yet sternly.

"September 16, '98. Uspokoit'sya," She answered with a slight eye roll.

"JARVIS, can you please check that out?" asked the philanthropist. Everyone, including the AI, knew exactly what 'that' meant since Nat told all of them.

JARVIS had his answer in a matter of seconds. "Of course, Sir. It appears that Miss Romanova is indeed Miss Romanoff's daughter."

Natasha engulfed her in a hug but was quickly pushed away. "What now? No, Dreykov said my mother's dead. She died on a mission. She's dead!"

"Mia, listen to me. Everything that son of a bitch says is a lie, okay? All he wants is power," the woman explained, holding the teenager's shoulders, understanding how hard it must be for her to process the truth.

"How can I know for sure that you're my mother?"

"Well, JARVIS is never wrong and we can easily do a DNA test, but I know you have a birthmark right under your ribs on your right," Natasha shared with everyone and smiled a bit when her daughter touched the spot she described.

It's been a year since that. The younger Widow got pretty close with the team but it took some time, her mother was the main reason she came out of her shell. The whole team was very protective over her, partly because they still thought of her as a kid and partly because they knew Natasha would kill them if anything happened to her daughter. She appreciated it but sometimes it annoyed her, she was more than capable of taking care of herself – both Dreykov and HYDRA made sure of that.