"Steve? Steve? Earth to Capsicle," Tony's voice echoed in the back of Steve's mind but all he could focus on was large green word on the screen. MATCH. It was her. He saw the scar but he didn't know for certain. It had been years, no, decades, since he had seen her. And Tony's DNA test wouldn't lie. Maybe. He needed to talk to her. Needed to look into her eyes and hear her speak before his heart started beating again. "Steve!"
"Sorry. Um, sorry, I-" Steve blinked and looked at Tony, concern written all over his face.
"Your face looks like you've seen a ghost. Which I think is impossible given the fact that your best friend who was supposed to be dead turned out not to be dead. So whatever dead person from your past you saw I can almost guarantee is not actually dead."
"You might be right about something for once, Stark," Steve sat as he let out a sigh.
"I disagree with that. I'm right about a lot of things people just refuse to believe it. Wait-" Tony realized what Steve meant and sat down next to him. "Who did you see? Did you figure out our Jane Doe? Does this have to do with the fact that your blood matches hers? Steve."
"Friday can you pull up missing person cases from Brooklyn, NY in 1927?" Steve was staring at nothing, trying to picture what she last looked like before that day.
"Of course Captain," the computer system's voice answered. Files popped up on the screen, hiding the green letters that were now burned into Steve's memory.
"Is there a file for Kate Rogers?"
"There is. Kaitlyn Rogers, age 9. Abducted from her front yard in Brooklyn, NY, on October 8, 1927. Three days before her tenth birthday. Report filed by her mother Sarah Rogers. Case closed after six months of searching with no leads. Presumed dead," Friday read off the information on file and pulled up the picture attached. It was old and grainy, but Steve would recognize that smile anywhere. He focused on the space underneath her left eye. It was hard to see with the low quality of the picture but he knew exactly where to look and sure enough there was that little white line. The same scar the girl in the room across the hall had. It was her. "Young Kaitlyn was survived by her mother Sarah and brother Steven. I am assuming the brother is you Captain Rogers."
"You had a sister? Have a sister?"
"She's alive. After all this time, she was alive."
"Steve what happened to her?" Steve looked at his old friend. Any grudge Steve still held against Tony from the fight months ago disappeared in that moment. He could see genuine concern in Tony's eyes and right then he was grateful that the person in the room was Tony and no one else. Despite Steve keeping the truth about his parents' death from him, he knew Tony understood the confusion racing through his mind as he processed what they had discovered.
"It was so long ago, I…I…" As soon as he reached for the memory it disappeared. He couldn't think. He kept thinking about Kate the moment he ran into the jet and saw her lying there. She was so small. All the childlike joy from her old picture was gone. That girl from the jet hardly resembled his sister.
"Okay, okay. Sit down. It's fine," Tony sat down in his chair and waited patiently for Steve. After one last glance at the picture pulled up on the screen Steve obliged. "Friday close the case file."
"Yes sir." The screens went black.
"Steve, just take a moment and think. October 8th. What happened that day? Where were you?" Tony's voice was unusually soft, like he was talking to a scared child. The arrogant billionaire was completely gone.
"October 8th. It was three days before Kate's birthday. She was dancing around the kitchen like she normally did. Kate loved to dance and she was good at it. Well, as good as a nine year old with no training could be," Steve laughed at the memory. Kate would twirl around the house when they were little. She would spin and spin and spin until she became so dizzy she knocked into something. "She would knock into things all the time and it would drive our mother up a wall. Thankfully she was nothing like me and didn't bruise every time something bumped her. That was probably the only reason mother continued letting her dance in the house."
"She sounds amazing Steve," Tony murmured. He knew that saying too much would pull Steve out of his head and he would lose the memory.
"I was at the table drawing; I think mom was trying to keep me distracted while she did some cooking or something. Probably something special for Kate's birthday but we didn't have much. It was a little hard since my mom had two kids and her husband was gone. Anyway, Kate must have knocked into something it caused all of the stuff on the counter to crash down. Mom started screaming at her and Kate was crying. When Kate cried things happened which was why mom tried to calm her down, but that day mom was too angry so she told Kate to go outside while she cleaned up."
"What happened when she cried?"
"Things fell over or exploded, sometimes they flew across the room. I can't remember because I usually hid."
"Okay, keep going."
"Well Kate ran outside and I tried to help mom clean up the mess. Kate stayed outside for the rest of the afternoon which wasn't unusual. We had a tire swing and the two of us would spend hours trying to swing hard enough to wrap it around the branch. Eventually mom finished cooking whatever she had started and dinner as well so she asked me to get Kate. I went outside but couldn't find her. I yelled her name over and over again, enough times that not only our mom but also our neighbors came outside to try to find her. We spent all night looking. The police came and then they took over the case," Steve hadn't noticed at first but tears were starting to run down his face. Tony held out a tissue for him and Steve took it.
"And eventually they presumed her dead and closed the case."
"Mom was never the same."
"No parent would be."
Steve stared at the ground for a while thinking about the last time he saw his sister. Her sandy blonde hair perfectly framed her tan face. That tan was gone now, replaced with a pale tone of someone who hadn't seen sunlight in years. No, decades. Hydra had taken her. Hydra. It all led back to Hydra. He slammed his fist on the computer desk so hard it made Tony jump.
"Hydra."
"Cap, take it easy."
"Hydra messed with me back when I was a kid in Brooklyn. Why?"
"You weren't even connected with Erksine back then."
"What did they want with Kate?"
"Let's take a step back before you go Captain America kid-in-Brooklyn crazy."
Steve let out a huff and leaned back in the chair, his mind wandering back to Kate right before she ran out of the house. Her cheeks were lined with tears, her eyes puffy, her eyes… he couldn't remember the color of her eyes. The picture was black and white so he couldn't see the color. "I can't remember what color her eyes were."
"Wouldn't they be blue? Like yours? Well, blue with a little green according to Zemo," Tony let out a little chuckle but quieted down when he looked at Steve.
"No, there was something different about them but I can't remember…"
"Let's go see if she's awake," Tony stood up and held his hand out to Steve.
"Thanks Tony. It really is good to see you," Steve grabbed his old friend's hand.
"You too, Steve."
