Chapter 1

Tony sat at his desk looking the files over and over again. He couldn't believe what he was reading. The team had found them at the last Hydra base they raided. It was starting to seem like the "cut off one head and two more will grow" motto was accurate. No matter how many bases were raided and how many officers were killed or imprisoned, the organization just wouldn't die. It was like a cancer.

"FRIDAY, can you call rogers up here? Tell him it's urgent." he asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Of course, sir," replied the ever-polite AI.

Steve arrived in Tony's office shortly after he received the call. He was wearing his running clothes, though he hadn't broken a sweat, of course. Seeing the look on Tony's face, he immediately became wary. "What's so urgent, Tony?" he asked.

"Have you read the files from the last base yet?"

"Not all of them. There was a lot of information. Why, what did you find?"

Tony wasn't sure how to answer at first. He swallowed hard. "An agent- well, more like a prisoner by the looks of it. The bastards had their collective eye on her since she was born, and then snatched her up and started training her when she was 7. Never had a chance, poor girl. According to this she's been AWOL since SHIELD fell."

All the while Steve had been silently listening, and nodding his head. "But there's something else, isn't there?" he asked.

Tony shook his head and took a deep breath. He looked the captain in the eye and quietly said, "She's Barnes's daughter."

Steve almost fell over. Instead, he shakily lowered himself into a chair. "My God," he whispered, "How old is she?"

"Maybe 19 or 20. There was a photo attached to the file," Tony replied as he handed his tablet to Steve. The girl in the photo was the spitting image of James Buchanan Barnes. She had the same brown hair; the same blue eyes. Looking at the photo was almost eerie. Especially considering what she must have gone through.

Tony cleared his throat, causing Steve to look up. "I was hoping you could help break the news to Barnes, seeing as you know him better."

"Of course," he replied.

Bucky didn't visibly react to the news. He just sat and stared at the photo, not seeming to believe his eyes. Tony looked anxious to break the long silence, but Steve motioned for him to be quiet. The silence dragged on further. Finally, Steve softly asked him, "What do you think, Buck?"

"Well," he said with a rough voice, "She's beautiful."

Steve rested his hand on his lifelong friend's shoulder. "That she is. And we need to find her before what's left of Hydra does."

"You know that there's no telling how much damage they've done."

"I know."

Tony interjected, "There's no mention of memory wipes. But according to the files Hydra basically beat her into submission when they trained her."

Bucky sat the tablet back on the desk to avoid breaking it. His hands were clenched so tightly that they shook. "So, what's the plan?" he asked.

"I've got FRIDAY looking for intel and narrowing down locations," tony sighed, "but for now we have nothing to go on. I'll let you know the second something comes up."

Bucky nodded and got up to leave. Steve asked if he wanted him to come with him, but he shook his head. He needed time alone. He had Stark send the files over to him and pored over them. He racked his memory, but could not recover the smallest flash of a child. There was no mention of the name her mother gave her. Who was her mother? The Soldier has grown attached to its target, the files read, a memory wipe and reprogramming will be required.

Ah. Bucky could remember something of that. A swath of black hair. Lips painted red. A smooth, lilting voice. He was supposed to get close to the target, to gather information. Perhaps he followed his orders too well. When the time came that she was no longer useful, he couldn't bring himself to finish his mission. She must have run. All that said, he couldn't dredge up a name from his memory.

According to the files, she had evaded Hydra for a while. Until she found that she was pregnant. Of course Hydra found out as well. They hung back for years, always watching and waiting. They knew the child would be no use to them at such a young age. But with her parentage, she would certainly be worth something. Bucky shuddered.

Days passed, and then weeks. Bucky grew restless, and everyone in the tower noticed. Steve tried to talk to him, to no avail. Natasha was silent, but she gave his arm a supportive squeeze when he seemed to grow anxious. He was grateful, of course. His mind was just too clouded with conflicting feelings to express it. They had never met. Would she even want to be around him? What if she had been too influenced by Hydra? What if she was dead? What was she like?

Just in the nick of time, Tony found something. A traffic cam right in New York had caught someone who looked suspiciously like their girl walking into a shady bar. She went by the name of Amy Jones, and the aforementioned hole in the wall was where she worked. Tony called in a favor and found the address listed on her employment records. Bucky wanted to go get her himself, but Tony objected.

"Wait a minute, you think she wouldn't recognize Hydra's top assassin and run for the hills? The metal arm at least is a dead giveaway, Barnes"

"You have a point," Bucky said, "But maybe I could go with the team and hang back just in case."

Tony objected again, but relented at the encouragement of the rest of the team. Natasha and Steve would get into her apartment and wait, with Tony and Bucky listening in from a van down the street. The girl worked late, so a time and day was selected when they wouldn't be seen. The anticipation could be felt throughout the whole tower.

Susan came home late, as always. She was looking forward to getting to her rat trap apartment. However, as she arrived at the door, her agent's instincts told her that something wasn't right. She looked around warily. There was no damage around the door. Still, she trusted her gut. She was cautious when unlocking and opening the door. Scanning the entryway, she found nothing. She quietly opened the drawer of the end table by the door, only to find it empty.

"Looking for this?" came a smooth voice from behind her.

Susan whipped around, finding herself standing face to face with none other than Natasha Romanov. A revolver was dangling in her hand.