Emma stood in front of a news vendor. After paying a dollar, she retrieved the newspaper that she had just purchased. The Washington Post, or the 'Washington Compost' as she liked to call them, were one of the most biased newspapers she knew, but Emma couldn't pass this one up.
Written in big, bold letters were the words: "WINTER SOLDIER: SAVIOR OR MENACE?". A dark and blurry picture of a man taking down two HYDRA agents was displayed on the cover, the most distinct feature of the photo being the metal arm. Underneath it was a photo of Captain America testifying in front of Congress with a mocking headline: "CAP CLAIMS WINTER SOLDIER IS INNOCENT.". Emma looked at the newspaper with disgust, they always were looking to take every person and every situation out of context. 'Sensationalism sells, while the innocent pay.' She thought to herself.
Everything had changed since New York was attacked by the Chitauri. The world thought the craziest things were a billionaire playboy in a metal suit, a giant green rage monster, a costumed hero from the 40's, a sexy Russian assassin, and a guy who shoots arrows.
Her existence would blow them out of the water.
Everyone thought the Battle of New York was the end of the world, and in some ways, it was. Ever since that day, the world had changed and it was the perfect moment for someone like Emma to remerge.
"Emma!" chided a sharp voice.
Emma immediately snapped out of her thoughts and turned to her mother, who gave her a look of disapproval upon seeing the newspaper. "Come on! We're leaving!" Isobel said, this time with more irritation. Her green eyes were wide and the wrinkles prominent in her skin. Anyone would think the world was coming to an end with the way Isobel spoke to her. Emma let out a sigh and walked towards their car, in no hurry at all. She didn't need mind reading to know how irritated and clingy Abby was towards her. Emma slammed the door as she scooted into the backseat.
"We all set?" Evie asked, starting up the car. Her younger sister had just started learning how to drive, and even Emma feared that her powers wouldn't be enough to save them if they got in a car accident. Abby let out a stressful exhale of breath before settling into her seat. "Can't wait to get out of here."
"Really? Because you couldn't wait to get into this town," Evie said in a resentful tone. She hated having to move away again because of HYDRA. But, it was the only way to stay safe and anonymous from both the evil terrorist organization and the government.
Isobel noticed that Emma had stolen the newspaper, giving her a look of disapproval. Not for stealing it as much as what the contents of them were. "Really, Emma?"
"It's just a newspaper, Mom," Emma answered. "Guess the Winter Soldier isn't as bad as he seems. He killed two FBI agents who turned out to be HYDRA and saved some guy who is speculated to have powers."
"Emma, for the hundredth time, you are not going after HYDRA," Isobel stated with a groan, leaning her head of short curls back.
"They have Dad though—" Emma insisted.
"—Emma." Isobel cut her off.
Evie let out a long groan. 'Here we go again…' Emma could hear from her thoughts. 'Em, please don't piss Mom off.'
Emma suppressed the need to say anything, because it was true. Emma bit her tongue, knowing not to get too emotional or her powers would act up once again. Though living in a roof with her mother made that impossible. She drove Emma insane sometimes. "Who said anything about crime fighting? All I did was buy a newspaper." Emma said with an eyeroll.
She could feel the anger forming deep in her chest, the irritation with her mother growing…. The stirring wheel suddenly jerked wildly, causing the car to swerve quickly in a zig-zag. "Emma, stop!" Evie exclaimed. This time it was more out of fear than in a chastising way. Emma immediately felt her irritation dissipate, as did the appearance of her powers.
Isobel let out another exhausted sigh. Four years of this felt like an eternity to her. She didn't know how much more she could take this and Emma felt guilty for having caused it. "Mom, calm down," Evie said, although their daughter could clearly hear them. "We've talked about this."
"I know, I know, Eve." She exhaled, pulling out her inhaler and promptly using it. Emma even wondered if Isobel had asthma considering how much she seemed to use it around her in these stressful situations. On the drive home to their apartment in downtown Seattle, it soon began raining. Something that Seattle was most famous for. Emma leaned against the cold window, which fogged up with each breath from her mouth.
It was a peaceful night in the heart of downtown Seattle, the air was cool and the streets were lit with life. The constant noise of traffic and people was soothing to Emma, like a nighttime rain. And Seattle was one of the rainiest places in Washington. Anyone who didn't like any of these things would have a hard time adjusting to life in Seattle. But so far, the only thing that Emma Fay had a hard time adjusting to was life without her father.
The warehouse was packed with tough-looking people. Former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, FBI agents, scientists, police, and businessmen were among them. But in the end, they were all a part of the same body, just different heads. They were HYDRA and the Winter Soldier had tracked them to this very meeting. It wasn't difficult for him to break the HYDRA agents—that was if they didn't kill themselves with cyanide.
For this meeting, it was a simple weapons exchange. The undercover HYDRA agents were going to give a stash of weapons to the ones working directly under HYDRA. It was a small step and the Soldier knew the climb would be long, but he hoped it would because he wanted to take time in killing them all.
Smashing through the glass window, suspended by a rope, the Soldier unloaded the rounds from his carbine assault rifle as he descended through the air. There was shouting and a couple of agents fell to the ground either dead or wounded. The Soldier counted four agents being left before reloading the assault rifle.
One agent jumped out from his hiding space with a handgun—a big mistake. The Soldier merely batted the gun out of his hand before drawing his metal arm back and socking the agent in the face. The strong blow was enough to knock the agent out and his metal arm whirred. It was still slightly malfunctioning since his fight with Steve Rogers.
The Soldier was temporarily entranced by the thoughts that he just barely managed to roll behind a bunch of crates and dodge bullets. After the agents had run out of bullets and were reloading, the Soldier swung around and fired. A grenade was launched from the rifle and a fiery explosion destroyed the crates stacked, as well as the agents. He could hear them screaming, crying out in agony. The Soldier walked towards the inferno as burning debris and fire rained down upon him. He looked upon the destruction with apathy before noticing one of the agents he shot earlier moving. Agent Karl O'Neal. The agent could hear the loud footsteps of those combat boots and knew the Asset was near.
O'Neal was suddenly thrown against the side of the crates that hadn't been ravaged by gunfire or explosions. He found himself staring into the blue eyes of the Winter Soldier. They seemed to be emanating the very fire that started to consume the building. That made O'Neal even more terrified, aside from being unable to breathe from the Winter Soldier's grip.
"O'Neal," the Soldier said in his monotone voice. "I remember you, you would stand by and watch as they strapped me to the machine and erased my memories."
"Soldat—" O'Neal replied in Russian, causing the Winter Soldier's grip to tighten on his throat. "So, the—rumors were true—you broke free—"
"I will only ask once, where is Alexander Pierce?"
"You think—a grunt—like me knows where our leader, Alexander fucking Pierce, is?"
A wooden plank that was aflame dropped from the ceiling and landed right beside the Soldier. He was not at all phased by the warehouse filling up with smoke and fire. "I'll take the names of other higher-ups," the Soldier ordered him. "And you may or may not make it out of this alive."
"Never—" He hissed. "—Traitor."
Immediately after O'Neal said those words, the Winter Soldier snapped his neck. O'Neal's limp body fell to the cement ground. He dared to call him the traitor, but it was true, he was a traitor. He was once a soldier of the United States Army and served in World War II. Then he was captured by HYDRA and turned into their weapon. They made him a traitor. But that wasn't at all what O'Neal was implying. Didn't matter anymore.
The Soldier quickly looked around for the weapons that they had agreed to transfer. He walked towards the table the HYDRA agents had been gathered around and grabbed the silver suitcase lying on there. The Winter Soldier quickly gathered their weapons before the flames and the intense heat became too much for him. By the time he got outside, he could see the flashing red and blue lights from around the corner. The Winter Soldier made his escape by scaling the building next to the blazing warehouse next to them.
The Soldier pried open the window to the abandoned building he had been staying in. The nighttime breeze felt good against his feverish face. The Soldier found himself covered in soot from the fire and his long hair was a mess. Though it wouldn't give him as much relief as knowing what was inside the silver suitcase. They weren't trading guns or other weapons, it was something much better. Much worse. The suitcase had a lock but the Soldier easily snapped the whole thing open. Inside was a large orange folder with numerous files inside stacked inside it, almost two inches tall. But the thing that intrigued the Soldier the most were the two bold words written on the top: EMMA FAY.
After helping Isobel and Evie unload the groceries, Emma rushed to her room and slammed the door. Judging from the thoughts of Isobel and Evie, they both knew what Emma was up to. But both were smart enough to realize they were powerless to stop Emma once she had her mind set on something. Although they had tolerated her sneaking out late nights to fight crime, when it came to HYDRA, that was a completely different story.
Emma typed in the words 'Winter Soldier' into Google and with the next click was flooded with over eighteen million results in half a second. She could see the photos of him in the Images bar, some old and new, all spanning over the course of seven decades. There were a couple that had Captain America in them, back during World War II, when he was just a soldier. Not the Winter Soldier.
It hadn't been until the HYDRA uprising that Emma learned just who the Winter Soldier was. He had always been enigmatic and Emma had learned not to ask questions. That was her biggest mistake. It wasn't until she discovered her ability to read minds that Emma realized the truth. It appeared that the Winter Soldier did as well.
The Winter Soldier had been taking down numerous HYDRA agents still within the government. This led to confusion everywhere as despite the good he had been doing, the United States still condemned him for his past actions. All that was now revealed on the internet. Well, some of it, most of it was in secret HYDRA code. Something that Emma wasn't trained to decode. She doubted that the Winter Soldier could, he was after all, just a soldier. Just another weapon to HYDRA.
Something they both had in common.
There was a knock at the door. Emma sensed that it was Evie, much to her relief. She didn't want to deal with her mother's antics at the moment. "Come in," Emma said, shutting her laptop. The door opened and Evie entered. She was already dressed in her pajamas and her long brown hair in a ponytail. "What is it?"
"You know what it is, Em." Evie answered, sitting at the edge of her bed.
"Actually, no I don't, I'm not reading your mind at the moment. I promised you and mother the privacy of your thoughts," Emma replied with a slight smile, which soon faded.
That made Evie scoff at her. "Since when did Mom become 'mother'? And nothing is private with you around."
Emma didn't respond but that was good enough of an answer to Evie. Her younger sister glanced over to the newspaper. She could see the Washington Compost paper that she bought featuring the Winter Soldier, on the other one, had a picture of her father with the words 'TRAITOR' written on top.
"Did you…ever get to read his mind? Before the uprising?" Evie asked carefully. She was the only one in the family who wasn't afraid of her, who wasn't angry with her for being so stupid as to not knowing about HYDRA.
Emma pursed her lips. "It wasn't so much reading thoughts…as it was emotions…I wasn't very good and still aren't as good with telepathy…" Emma admitted. "I remember him smiling and talking to his fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. co-workers…but on the inside…I could feel his anger and resentment."
"Emma, he's gone," Evie sighed. "Dad made his decision. He abandoned us for his anger and resentment."
Emma leaned towards Evie in a confrontational way. "How do you know that? How do you know he isn't being brainwashed like the Winter Soldier was?"
"You weren't brainwashed," Evie pointed out.
"No, I was manipulated. Maybe HYDRA is doing the same to him too."
"It doesn't matter, he's still a terrorist and a murderer."
Emma extended her hand and the newspaper with the Winter Soldier suddenly flew into her hand. She skimmed through the pages discussing what the Winter Soldier had done. "If the Winter Soldier was able to break free from his programming, I know I can free Dad from the hold HYDRA has on him."
Got a request to do this. I have no idea how I'm going to maintain uploading to this story and my other two stories but oh well. XD hope you enjoyed the intro.