This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to Captain America, any of its characters or any characters within the MCU… Much to my disappointment. This will have some violent content and possible triggers. Steve/Bucky Established Relationship. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it.
Chapter 3: Mission: Rescue Rebecca… and then some
Four hours into the flight, Wanda opened the cockpit to find her brother dead asleep and Steve and Bucky making out, having long run out of things to talk about in terms of the little girl because their plan was simply to make a standard family unit with her.
"Ahem… Nat says we are a few minutes from landing," Wanda stated before going over to her brother and poking him awake to say the same.
Steve and Bucky had jumped apart when Wanda had cleared her voice and Steve got a quick drink of water before passing the water to Bucky. After that, both he and Bucky slipped their comms into their ears and confirmed the channel for use. As Natasha landed the QuinJet, Bucky yanked Steve into a kiss and spoke softly, "Just remember. No dying, Punk."
"Right back at you, Jerk," Steve responded by kissing Bucky quickly as the back hatch opened.
"Oh God, they're going to be one of those sappy couples. The tabloids are going to have a field day with that," Tony's voice was only audible through the comms and Steve blushed lightly at the fact that they had been overheard by everyone. Bucky on the other hand shockingly seemed to have already accepted that this was viewed as acceptable.
"Listen Stark, I spent the majority of my relationship having to conceal that I had the best man in the world to myself. Actually, I didn't even get to have him to myself because I had to put up with the fact that no one knew and so a bunch of idiot dames flirted with what's mine. Now, I learn that I don't have to hide it. I will shout it from the top of that fancy tower of yours if it means people keep their hands off," Bucky gave Natasha and Sam both knowing looks that confused Steve a little.
Tony's and Clint's laughter rang through the comms and it was Clint who responded as they moved carefully through the woods towards the base, Tony and Rhodes flying overhead, "You tell them, Sargent Barnes. I'm sure Tony will arrange a press conference so you can claim him before the world if you want."
Steve rolled his eyes as they split into their individual groups. Wanda and Sam falling in beside Steve at the edge of the wooded area to gaze at the shockingly inactive outside of the compound. Steve looked around, scanning the area carefully, "Tony, is there any way that they don't know we're here?"
"Nope. Hydra has all the tech available from me before the fall of SHIELD. They should have seen us coming from a mile away. You think this place is empty?" Tony responded landing with his group.
"That is highly unlikely. I assessed the viability of this base holding Miss Barnes and the satellite imagery from just before we left was a high level of activity in the area. The lack of guards would indicate not abandonment but rather the possibility of an anticipation and planned trap. They are likely to also know that Sargent Barnes has assistance and will no doubt be seeking immediate backup," Vision countered.
"Alright. That means the clock is ticking. Nat said their reinforcements are an hour away. We need to get what we came for or clear the base before turning the intel over to Fury. We clear this place in 45 minutes. We know how big it is, it's possible with three teams. Everyone, move out," Steve ordered before beckoning Wanda and Sam to follow and running straight at the building.
As could be expected, as soon as they were visible, the doors to the compounded opened and men in combat gear poured out. Everyone else followed suit, fighting their way through the first wave and into the building. The hallways were just wide enough for a couple of people to fight but they opted to have Wanda and Tony bowl the Hydra agents over instead and at the split of the hallway into three different directions they each took the teams in a direction.
Steve, Wanda and Sam made quick work of anyone they encountered, opening doors as they went before coming to the stairs leading down, "We have the East wing main floor clear, we're heading down to the first sublevel." Steve reported to the other teams.
"Got that, we're almost done with the south wing as well," Tony responded.
"We're also almost finished with the west wing too. There aren't a lot of guys here. I am starting to get suspicious," Natasha reported in as well.
Just after Sam, Steve and Wanda finished going down the stairs, a steel door dropped, sealing their exit off. Steve swore up a storm, "Damn it, can anyone read me?"
"Yeah, what happened," several voices commed in at once.
"They had a trap door slide down once we got to the bottom of our stairs, keep an eye out for that. Wanda, can you deal with that?" Steve looked to the witch who smirked in response.
"Happily," A burst of power from her caused the door to crumple and a second burst made it buckle and collapse in on itself. "In update, the door isn't very strong. Stark or Thor can easily destroy it like I did."
"Good to know. South Wing, main floor is clear. We are headed down," Tony informed them.
"West Wing, main floor is also clear. We are also headed down and keeping an eye out for dumb, cartoon traps," Natasha added her two cents.
"Good. Let's move on," Steve led them through the slightly narrower hallways of the first sublevel. Once again, they quickly subdued a few guards, none of them were even particularly strong.
"You know; I am actually kind of insulted by the skill level of those they are sending at us. West Wing, sublevel one clear, we're headed to level two," Natasha's voice actually spoke of boredom.
"Are you sharing your victims or just taking them out yourself," Sam asked, his tone joking.
"East Wing, Sub level one cleared, and yes, they are rather boring. Don't expect it to stay that way," Steve stated as they went down the next set of stairs near where the first had been.
"Oh, I let Thor play with them. Much simpler. There was another door at the entrance to sub level two, just a head's up. Thor didn't even have to work at it. It's kind of pointless," Natasha clearly didn't care about the dead they would be leaving behind because Thor had only one fighting style, see bad guy, kill bad guy.
"Oh, so we're going for the trail of corpses mode. South wing, sub level one clear. Not that Bucky is being nice to those he's seen. I'm just letting him get all his feelings out. It isn't good to hold all those emotions in," Tony's words made Sam chuckle as Wanda did the same for the second door that had dropped down.
Immediately, they had a significant increase in those they had to fight. Steve and Wanda played the vanguard, Steve knocking them out, Wanda hitting them with her magic causing them to crumple to the ground. Steve couldn't help but wonder if she was leaving a trail of corpses too, in vengeance of the experimentation Hydra had done on her and her brother.
Steve was checking the doors when they cleared out guards and the forth door down revealed a little girl curled up in a corner. Wanda and Sam followed him quickly into the room but Steve waved them back to keep checking the other rooms, "Hey, Bucky, you said Rebecca should be about eight, right?"
Before him was a three-year-old blonde girl with vibrant blue eyes when she looked at him. Bucky responded quickly, "Yeah, you saw the picture. Why, you find her?"
"Not exactly. I got a blonde, three-year-old girl," Steve responded before crouching and carefully approaching her. A quick glance at the watch for the time remaining told him they had only been in the building for 20 minutes.
"I got eyes on the prize, Hi, Rebecca, right? My name is Natasha; I am Captain America's friend. He and your dad sent us to come get you," Natasha's voice rang through the comms.
"Romanoff, can I talk to her?" Bucky immediate asked.
"Sure, I brought an extra comm with me just in case. Just give me a second," Natasha responded while Steve coxed the three-year-old out of her curled up position and picked her up.
"Daddy?" A young female voice rang through and Steve felt his gut clench. She even sounded like Bucky's younger sister had.
"Hey, Rebecca. Remember how I promised I would remember? Well, I did, now we are getting you out of here. Go with the nice lady and I promise you will see me very, very soon," Bucky's voice was emotion laden and that made Steve's chest tighten, as well as his hold on the little girl in his arms.
"Daddy, we can't leave without the others. There're four of them!" Rebecca responded.
"I have a little blonde girl Rebecca. This is Steve, your daddy's friend by the way. Is she one of the others you are talking about?" Steve asked carefully as he left the room. Wanda was standing outside another room staring uncertainly.
"I have another little girl, guys. This one is a red-haired girl around three as well," Wanda finally said, causing Steve to rush over. This one was a brilliant red-head about the same age as the one in Steve's arms.
Steve had to fight the urge to swear while he gestured for Sam to collect the little girl. Wanda would have to defend them on their way out.
"Yes, that is two of them, the others are babies. Daddy, you have to find them!" Rebecca's voice rang out over the comms.
"The rest of this level is clear and there doesn't seem to be any further levels on the Western Wing," Thor answered swiftly.
"Same here, we have just the two," Steve responded when Wanda shook her head to indicate no one was left on this level. "We don't have a lower level…"
"Found them, two babies. Clint, Bucky you get them I can't pick up babies in my armor. I will guard the way out. We also have a very terrified lady saying she is their caretaker," Tony finally announced cutting off what Steve was saying.
"Rebecca, sweetie, is there anyone else that we need to rescue?" Bucky asked, a faint whimpering noise in the background was heard.
"No! That's it, Daddy" Rebecca responded promptly.
"Ok, we are taking the caretaker lady too, just to be on the safe side. Everyone go up and out quickly," Clint's comm also had a little bit of whimpering in the background.
Steve and Sam let Wanda lead on the way out, each holding the little girl that was clinging tightly to them with care. For the most part, they only had to contend with a few of the Hydra men who had regained consciousness while they were below. It took less than five minutes for them to reach the main entrance to the building.
Tony's and Natasha's teams were right behind them. Rhodes, Pietro and Hill fell in around them to provide extra protection on the way back to the QuinJets. As they all came out at a run, they only took a few minutes to get back to their transport and take off. Everyone split off to their original QuinJets and as a result, the babies were on the other one with the caretaker and Bucky found his arms full of an eight-year-old girl while Steve still had a Blonde three-year-old clinging to him for dear life.
Pietro looked at him with the little girl and smirked, "You look like you found your own long lost daughter. She even has matching eyes to you."
Steve froze at the comment. In fact, the chatter over the comms all stopped as well. Finally, a single voice spoke, "I hacked the base computers on the main floor while we were clearing it. It was what initially slowed us. If she's Cap's daughter, it should be in the data since I just did a mass download. Same with the other kids too. Their info should all be on the drive I stole." Tony stated in a strangely reassuring voice.
"Good job in thinking ahead," Steve responded instantly.
"I was more thinking we would need to know if they did anything wonky to Rebecca. Medical history and all that. Didn't think it would be more than just her to be honest. At worst case, if she hadn't been there, I figured we could use the intel to see where she might be," Tony's shrug was obvious in his voice. "Though, looking at the three over here, we got a curly red-head that looks like she could possibly be Nat's and a blond and a brunet for the two babies. Almost makes me feel like they were breeding us or something."
"I wouldn't put it past them. Let's not jump to conclusions just yet though. And Tony," Natasha paused to ensure that the billionaire was listening.
"Yeah," Tony responded instantly.
"You may want to contact that legal team you have on standby and make sure they are prepping for a five-kid custody situation, not a one kid thing," Natasha's serious tone told everyone that while she was telling them not to jump to conclusions, she was already pretty certain about the outcome of any DNA testing for at least the red-headed girl.
"FRIDAY, do as Nat suggests, will you. I want them ready as soon as we get those DNA results back," Tony responded for all to hear.
"Yes, Sir. They will be contacted immediately," The AI interjected.
The reminder of the flight was quieter as only Rebecca, Natasha and Clint kept their comms on. Rebecca only did so to be kept up to date on the other children. The blonde in Steve's arms fell asleep a half hour in and was laid down next to him. Rebecca sat in front of her rather than anywhere else and watched intently, like a mother bird over a hatchling. Bucky leaned against Steve and when Rebecca ended up falling asleep as well he asked a question that surprised Steve.
"Any idea how they could have gotten your DNA?" His voice wasn't hurt or concerned, just confused.
Steve was silent for a few minutes before responding, "Just after I was pulled out of the ice, one of the SHIELD Doctors told me they would need a sample to make sure that the ice hadn't killed my ability to have kids. I said that it wasn't a concern of mine but he had insisted, saying it was standard procedure. I gave it just to make him leave me alone. My head wasn't really in the right place at that time so I didn't really think about it beyond that."
"So, high probability that she's yours?" Bucky asked, careful to not upset Steve.
"With what they say can be done these days? Yeah, probably. The time line fits. Looks like we're going to be a family of four," Steve's easy acceptance that he most likely had a child of his own made Bucky relax a little.
"We might need a bigger place than that apartment of yours. For three it would have been ok but four is going to need more space, even if we can stick them in the same room for a little while," Bucky remarked.
"I have a lot of back and hazard pay. More than enough for a house. We can bear with it until we find a place. I'm sure Tony will be very helpful too. He knows a lot on real estate stuff. Probably has a few houses to spare if we're pressed," Steve shrugged and leaned into Bucky.
A while later, the blonde woke, frightened and hungry. Steve gave her an energy bar, all they had currently on the QuinJet in terms of food, after Rebecca calmed her. Natasha and Clint had apparently pushed the QuinJets to their max or the trip felt shorted because it felt like no time before they were back at Stark Tower. As they got off the QuinJets, Dr. Helen Cho and her medical team were waiting. They were all brought directly to the medical labs. All the Avengers had DNA samples on file already, even Thor, so it was a matter of getting cheek swabs from all the children and running those.
After the DNA samples were taken and labeled, Dr. Cho's team immediately set about doing a standard physical on all the children while Tony, now free of his armor, plugged the drive full of information into one of the computers and had FRIDAY do a search on each of the children. Their medical records were pulled up and stored with the medical information for the Avengers for Cho to review. He then pulled up their basic profiles and put them on the main screen.
"Alright. This is the basics they have. Subject one, aka Ice Princess, aka Rebecca Barnes. Paternity, Sargent James Buchanan Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier. Maternity, Dr. Amelia Jenkins, PhD in Physics at Cal Tech. Date of Birth, May 4th, 2007. Subject two, aka Iron Princess, no real given or surname. Paternity… well, fuck… Paternity, Dr. Anthony Stark, PhDs in Physics and Electrical Engineering, bastards used Dr. I hate that title. Maternity… Natasha Romanoff, aka Natalia Romanov, aka the Black Widow. Well, Nat, we have a kid. Now, Pepper's never getting back together with me. Even if it isn't my fault. Surrogate, Yelena Belova. Date of Birth July 23rd, 2011. She's almost four then, she will be getting the biggest party ever.
"Subject three, aka American Princess, god these people like referring to little girls as princesses, no given or surname. Paternity, Captain Steven Grant Rogers, aka Captain America. Maternity, Dr. Amelia Jenkins, PhD in… we did this already, she's probably Hydra to give birth to two of them, we can give that to Fury. Date of birth July 4th, 2012. She gets a big party too. Shares her birthday with daddy and everything. Steve, you're so patriotic that the kid you didn't even know about was born on the 4th of July. Subject four and Subject five are together. American Winter twins… fucking bastards… that tech hasn't even been legalized yet. Paternity, Captain Steven Rogers and in a real twist, second paternity, Sargent James Buchanan Barnes. Egg donor for the DNA free egg shells, Dr. Jenkins, surrogate Dr. Jenkins. Yeah, she's definitely Hydra. Fury can have fun with that one. Date of births February 15th, 2015. So, they're almost four-months-old," Tony stepped away to let the others examine the information.
"You should probably give them proper names too. You are totally right about Pepper, Tony. Even if she didn't blame you for it being against your will, she will blame you for it being possible because you were such a man whore," Rhodey was completely unsympathetic.
"I know, please don't rub it in. At least I only have one. How did they get enough DNA from Cap that they managed multiples," Tony looked at Steve with a knowing smirk.
"Standard SHIELD procedure. When exposed to extreme conditions, men get samples tested to ensure viability for their own sake. The samples are supposed to be destroyed after being checked but a Hydra agent could have easily misdirected them," Clint responded immediately. "He did get pulled out of the ice after being frozen for some 60 plus odd years. That counts as about as extreme as it gets."
"How did they get Natasha's? I thought that she can't have kids because of the Red Room or something," Tony redirected immediately.
"First off, the only people I told that to are Clint, Coulson, Bruce and my doctor at SHIELD and none of them would have shared that information with you so I will be killing you later in your sleep for hacking my medical files. Secondly, since you hacked my files, you should know that six years ago I got shot in the gut. They had to remove one of my ovaries because it had been severed by the bullet. At least that was what I was told. Took three months to recover too. Again, the eggs should have been destroyed. I'm surprised they didn't go for multiples to be honest," Natasha's voice was monotone as she looked over to where the almost four-year-old was standing on a scale being weighed.
Dr. Cho came up to them at this point, the DNA profiles coming back quickly since they had been prepared for them and they had the latest and greatest in tech. She sighed, "The DNA results match what is in those profiles. Congratulations. You're parents." She handed the tablet containing the test results to Tony who looked through them before passing them to Natasha who did the same and passed them to Steve and Bucky.
"Well the twins are going to be a bit complicated but since we have the medical records from Hydra on file it shouldn't be too big a mess. I'll send this down to the legal team. We'll need names before they can file though," Tony stated as he attached the digital files to an internal email sever to go to his lawyers.