Marlena practically ran through the Tower entrance, with Mason and Miranda in tow. The heel of her boots echoed loudly through the halls, alerting her friends and family that she was there. Steve and Wanda, both clad in their supersuits, stepped out to meet her and the rest of the family. Marlena ran to Steve immediately and wrapped him in a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay." Marlena pulled away from him to hug Wanda. "I'm glad you're both okay."

"Marlena—"

"Where are they?" Marlena cut Wanda off.

"Marlena, there's something you need to know—"

The sound of youthful voices caught Marlena's attention, and she turned to see two young children running towards her. She knew without a doubt the smiling girl and boy were her kids, but the only issue was that they weren't the three-year-olds she said goodbye to back in 2021. They were older, much older, and the mere sight sent a twinge of pain through Marlena's body.

"Oh, my god..."

"Momma!"

Charlie and Jay ran to Marlena, wrapping their small arms around her waist and legs. Marlena knelt down to their level and wrapped them tightly in her arms, not even bothering to hide the tears that were now falling. She was so happy, so exceedingly happy, but she couldn't help but be angry when she realized what was going on. Her kids had been alive for five years and she hadn't known. Someone had taken them and completely removed Marlena from their life, and she'd never known.

"Oh, my god," Marlena repeated through her tears. She pulled away to look at her twins, a smile pulling onto her face as she studied their features. They were so grown up, or at least much more grown than they were. "You guys are so big."

"We just turned nine," Charlie told Marlena.

"W-Where have you guys been?" Marlena asked the two of them.

"We've been with Alena," Jay answered, confusing Marlena tremendously.

"Yeah," Charlie said excitedly. "She's been helping teach us about ourselves. She helped me do this!"

In the blink of an eye, Charlie was waving her hands. The computer at the secretary's station went flying towards the wall, leaving the group of adults in a state of bewilderment.

"See?"

Marlena grabbed Charlie's arms and held them steady but gently. She wanted to scold her daughter for what she'd done, as she could've hurt someone, but she was far more concerned with the "Alena" person they spoke of. She was angry and more than ready to take it out on someone. She figured she'd start with her. "Who's Alena, sweetie?" she asked.

"You know Alena, momma," Charlie answered. "Alena Nova."

"It's Chernova, Charlie!" Jay corrected her with a roll of his eyes.

"I know," Charlie grumbled and crossed her arms over her chest. "But Nova sounds cooler."

Marlena was ready to throw up at the sound of the name. There was absolutely no way it was a coincidence anymore, not after everything she'd managed to uncover over the last week. She'd been looking for the truth, and while she was sure she might've just found it, she wasn't sure if she was relieved because of it or absolutely terrified of what was about to come next.

"Where is she?" Marlena asked the twins, her voice much quieter now than before.

"She didn't come with us, momma."

Marlena looked over at Steve and Wanda for some sort of help.

"We only found the twins and Kellan, Marlena," Wanda told her, confirming Charlie's words.

"Well, where is he?"

"He's downstairs with Buck," Steve answered. He knew if he didn't tell her she'd run off and find him herself.

Marlena turned back to the twins, a soft smile on her face. "I'm gonna be right back, okay? Can you guys stay up here?"

"Sure, momma."

Marlena pressed a kiss to both Charlie and Jay's heads before standing up and starting down the hall.

"Hey, Marlena—"

"Please don't try to stop me, Steve."

Steve ran after her and grabbed her arm gently, turning her around to look at him. "I just don't want you to go downstairs and do something too rash."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to." Marlena pulled her arm away from him and took off into the stairwell, not even bothering to waste time waiting on the elevator. "But I know all of you heard the name, Steve. I need more answers than what I've got, and at this point Kellan might be the only person I can get them from. Maybe I'll get more out of him than Bucky or my mom."

Steve's brows furrowed slightly. "Wait, your mom? You mentioned it to her?"

"Yeah, earlier." Marlena scoffed as she remembered the conversation with Miranda. She'd been dishonest and vague in her answers, which lead to an accidental discovery and a dangerous assumption Marlena had yet to voice anywhere but her own mind. "I wasn't going to, but I found something online about my dad's death listing Viktor Chernov as one of three Hydra suspects."

"What?"

"Wait, that's not even the best part..." Marlena stopped to open the stairwell door leading to the floor she knew Bucky and Kellan to be on. She didn't continue down the hall, though. She wanted to finish her conversation with Steve. "Apparently my dad was in basic training with a woman named Anastasia Chernova, but my mom told me it was just a coincidence."

"And what do you think?" Steve leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, his attention on Marlena and the expression on her face. It seemed to be changing with each new thought inside her head.

"I think she's lying to me, because there's no way it is," Marlena told him with a frown. She sniffed, pushed her glasses further onto the bridge of her nose, and brushed her hair out of her face. She was getting flustered thinking about what everything could possibly mean. "Anastasia, she, um, she looks too much like me for it to just be a coincidence."

"What do you mean?"

Marlena reached out to touch Steve's arm long enough to allow him to see the image of the woman inside her head. She watched his expression change in an instant, and she let out a quiet breath, unsure of how to further explain everything. "Believe me, I've got a lot of questions about it too. It's just a matter of getting answers at this point."

"Do you really think Kellan's gonna be of any help to you?" Steve asked. He didn't believe Kellan would be any help at all. In Steve's eyes he was the enemy.

Marlena shrugged her shoulders and started down the hall towards the holding area with Steve following closely beside her. "Considering what he's done, I just might not give him a choice," she responded seriously.

Marlena hurried down the hall and practically shoved the door open, attracting the attention of the two men inside the room.

"Marlena, what—"

"Where is he?" Marlena asked Bucky as she stepped further into the room. She was now incredibly eager to see Kellan—eager to see the man she was so incredibly furious with. Bucky could practically see it in her eyes.

"Maybe you should just—"

Movement in the corner of Marlena's eye caught her attention and she turned around, her eyes falling on the young man she hadn't seen in years.

"Marlena," Kellan acknowledged her with a mocking grin. "It sure has been a while. What? Almost six years? How've you been?"

Marlena's anger seemed to intensify at the mere sound of his voice. Without even thinking, she walked over to him with a glowing blue fist and didn't hesitate to connect it to his jaw. The impact of the punch sent Kellan flying back toward the wall, though Marlena knew it was simply because of the added strength of her abilities. But she didn't care. She wished she'd hit him harder. She wanted to hurt him the way he'd hurt her through the abduction of her children. As it turned out, however, Kellan wasn't the sole mastermind. Alena was, and Marlena was prepared to find out why.

"Wow, she packs a really good punch," Kellan wiped the blood from his mouth and looked at Steve and Bucky, both of whom were not at all surprised by Marlena's actions. "I can definitely see why you both like her so much."

"You should consider yourself lucky that's all it was," Marlena remarked as she watched the blue haze disappear from her right hand. She looked back at Kellan with a smug smirk on her face. He was sitting on the floor holding his jaw and the sight was something so satisfying to her.

"Tell that to my broken jaw."

"It'll heal," Marlena said to him as she walked back over to stand with Bucky and Steve. "Now, why don't you do me a favor and tell me who the hell besides you thought it was a good idea to take my children, Kellan."

"I'm just gonna go ahead and assume one of the little runts mentioned something about Alena," he chuckled and got off the floor. He slowly made his way toward the three of them, though he stopped the moment a cosmic blue barrier appeared in front of him. Marlena didn't want him any closer to her or Steve and Bucky. "C'mon, you don't gotta be like that."

"I recommend telling us who the hell she is and where exactly we can find her before I break something else," Bucky threatened him, his blue eyes filled with anger. He was still channeling a lot of negative emotions due to the vast absorption of information he'd experienced in the last several days. He figured he needed someone to take it out on.

"She has your mind protected, so I know I can't manipulate the answer out of you, but I can always find another way," Marlena followed, taking a few steps toward the blue barrier she conjured.

"You can stop with the threats," Kellan told Marlena. "I'd be more than happy to tell you where she is."

"How wise."

"But you know what would be even better than just telling you?" Kellan questioned the brunette. "Showing you."

In a split second, Kellan had disappeared from behind Marlena's barrier and reappeared in front of her and the two men.

"I know she's been dying to meet you."

Kellan grabbed Marlena's arms and the two  immediately disappeared behind a blue haze, shocking and terrifying Steve and Bucky all the same. They had no idea what just happened, and even worse, they weren't sure where to start in order to figure it out.

Author's Note: Another filler chapter. You guys finally got a name. Can't wait for you to meet her and possibly hate me more than you already do, but oh well. I love you guys anyway.