Chapter 1: A New Birth

Hey everybody! Welcome to the newest addition to the ever-growing list of Avengers AUs! This is Amaryllis speaking. I hope that everyone that reads this can enjoy and please, please review. This is my first story and I would love to look over your feedback. Also, writing is hard, so any encouragement is welcome. Cookies to those that do a review. (::) That's your down payment. More to come!

November 20th, 1963

STARK SAFE HOUSE: OUTSIDE WASHINGTON DC

Maria Stark was very, very relieved. She'd managed to convince her husband, the rather infamous Howard Stark, to keep her six-month-old child a secret from the world for at least the next six months of his life. After all, it was standard to wait until the child's soulmark had appeared. The name in their handwriting would eventually be the most important person in their life.

She slipped into her son's small nursery. Her tiny baby, her darling Anthony, no, Tony, grinned a bright smile up at her. He'd already finished teething and was starting to babble more recognizable sentences. He began crying as thunder sounded outside, the flash of light not bothering him in the well-lit room. She picked him up and started humming a classic Italian lullaby, hoping that it, coupled with the now peaceful rain, would calm him down. Tony went to sleep quickly, a small amount of drool dribbling down his little chin. Maria put him down and kissed his head, brushing his hair aside slightly. She yawned and headed off to bed, knowing that raising a child was hard work.

The little boy shifted in his sleep as words started glowing over his tiny collarbone. The name James Buchanan Barnes settled on his skin in neat but scratchy handwriting. He slept on undisturbed, unaware of the name that would bring him so much sorrow in the years to come.

HYDRA BASE: UPSTATE NEW YORK

Ice crackled as the case containing the frozen Asset was defrosted. The man's chin-length brown hair hung limply around his face as it twisted in pain. Coming out of cryogenic freeze wasn't the most comfortable process, after all. The Asset's handler, a brute of a man named Hector Agalio, watched the process with trepidation. Clutched in his right hand was a little black book, full of Russian words. Trigger words. The technician attending to the Asset's arm stalled for a few seconds, confusion swimming in his eyes.

"What's the matter? Is something damaged?" Hector's voice was silky smooth, laced with subtle hints to hurry the process. The technician visibly gulped and answered,

"The Asset is no longer without a soulmate. A very young one, by the looks of it. One by the name of Anthony Stark." Hector raised his eyebrows. They had chosen the asset partially because his allegiance would never be taken by another. This was a major development that would need to be addressed by the High Council.

"Keep him under sedation until you can wipe him again. Do not let him register that there is someone more important than HYDRA outside these walls." With that, Hector spun on his heel and walked out of the room as fast as he could without seeming worried. Pressing a pager in his pocket, the HYDRA operative slipped into a room lined with screens. One by one they lit up, voices filtering into the cold air.

"Why have you called us here?" The screen on the far left called, lighting up in sync with his words.

"Has something gone wrong with the Asset?" A lighter screen second from the right demanded, the tone undeterminable. It could have been a male, female, or a computer for all Hector knew.

"The Asset's soulmate has been identified. Very recently, as the scanners had not picked up any kind of activity within his pod. He is currently being kept under heavy sedation until he can be properly wiped." Hector paused, trying to figure out how to word his next announcement. HYDRA wouldn't take very well to this new development. "It appears that his bonded is the newborn Stark son."

The room practically exploded with groans. All nine, almost simultaneously, let out a varied curse. They knew how stubborn a Stark could be. But what if…

"Take him now. Before they can see the mark and try to hide him from everyone." The computerized voice from the center screen projected over all of the squabbling others. One by one, they gave their assent.

The screen directly to the left of the middle ordered, "Find that safe house and steal the boy before he has time to know anything but HYDRA. Dispatch your best men now." Hector nodded and left the room, making sure to hit the light switch on the way out. The men were dispatched before the clock had struck the next hour, debriefed on how best to weave their way through Stark's security system.

STARK SAFE HOUSE: OUTSIDE WASHINGTON D.C.

With a couple of very close calls and one heart-stopping alarm (that was thankfully shut down very fast), the men were filing into the house. The serene walls were painted a beautiful mix of cerulean and white like clouds on a summer day, caused the soldiers to pause. They could see them. The lights were on, and that meant that someone was awake.

They all shifted into the available shadows as a silhouette crossed in front of a lamp down the hall. With a click, the house was plunged into darkness. The men simply waited for the telltale rustle of sheets and switched on their night vision goggles. The squad snuck down the hall, their footsteps making no sound on the hardwood. Their leader was in and out of the nursery in less than a minute, and before any other alarms could go off, the HYDRA agents were in the wind.

Maria awoke barely five minutes later, the gentle drizzle not calming her nerves as she instinctively knew that something was wrong. A mother's intuition was rarely wrong. She got out of bed and headed towards the nursery, panic seeping into her veins. When Maria opened the door, she let out a shriek.

The crib was empty, blankets tucked in as if her darling baby boy had never been there at all. He was gone. Vanished into thin air.

Maria was a smart woman. She knew that her baby couldn't have just disappeared like that. As Howard appeared at her side, she reached over and tugged him into her arms, sobbing into his shoulder. He looked to the bed, despair filling his soul as he saw the sheets clearly left in a deliberate manner. Who would do this? Who would take an innocent baby boy?

As soon as he stiffened with realization, Maria looked up into his cold face. She collapsed onto her knees, crying as she knew that she'd lost both men in her life in one night. He carried her into bed and lay down next to her, holding her close as they both grieved for the son they believed to be dead. When he was older, that might have been what he had wished for that night, instead of what really happened to him.

HYDRA BASE: UPSTATE NEW YORK

Hector looked down at the sleeping baby with a critical eye. He seemed to be looking into his soul, what was the intensity of his gaze. The soldier holding him would've been very uncomfortable if the nervousness hadn't been stomped out of him during HYDRA training. When Hector finally did look up, he waved over one of the technicians.

"Take this child to Neurolab 3 and perform a brain scan. He's six months old but I've seen footage of him doing things that kids you usually be doing at about two years of age. And he's already done teething. Run some usual diagnostics in Lab 2 when you're done with the brain scan. Send the results to me as soon as you get them. Go." Hector walked away, back to the room that contained the sedated Asset.

The man was still out cold, the result of enough tranqs to take down a hippopotamus. The only change since Hector had seen him come out of cryofreeze was the name scrawled in a fine, looping script along the inside of his forearm. Anthony Edward Stark. So it was true. Hector didn't want any part of the kiddie operation so he motioned for the tranqs to be cut off.

The man moved slightly as the flow reduced and stopped, coming back to awareness just as a rubber mouth guard was fitted in between his teeth. For a split second, he tried to get out of the chair, but it was already too late. The metal arms of the machine closed in around his face and body, letting electricity run across the conduits. Hector took the book out of his pocket and started reading.

"Longing, rusted, furnace, daybreak, seventeen, benign, nine, homecoming, one, freight car. Soldat?" A blank look slid over the Soldier's face at the Russian words.

"Ready to comply." Hector gave a tight-lipped smile at the dead voice and tucked the back book away in his pocket. The process was identical to the only other time he'd seen the Soldier activate. So he was still under HYDRA's control. Good.

"Soldat. Your mission is to eliminate President John F. Kennedy. Mission to be completed within 72 hours. Remain unseen and disappear afterward. Return to this base as soon as possible after completion. You have your orders. Go." The Winter Soldier stood and walked off towards the ammunition center. Hector relaxed ever so slightly after he left. No matter how emotionless he might look, that deadened face and hollow tone gave even him chills. He turned towards the door just as a younger man in a white coat entered, carrying a folder in his slightly shaking hands.

The operative saluted Hector as he handed him the folder containing the results to the tests the scientists had done on the baby. Hector was surprised. The brain waves looked much more like someone in their late teens, not anything like the low murmur of a developing baby. The child's other tests had shown enhanced senses and muscle density. He was more connected to the Soldat than it was previously thought. Hector inwardly grinned as he realized that this baby was just what he was looking for in the test subject for the newest project onsite.

He might just have found a child that was just what he needed to mold into the Steel Shadow.

Fin.

Heya! What did you think? Don't forget to review, follow, or favorite if you like this story. I'm warning you now, I have school and I'll try to update at least once every two weeks but please don't count on it. I make no promises.
Signing off,
Amaryllis