All translations are just from Google.
Song: Dream - Imagine Dragons
Steve's POV
"There's no one here. It's abandoned." Natasha's voice says through the comms.
"Well it's clearly a HYDRA base, so let's see if we can find anything. It doesn't look like it's been abandoned for long." I say as I make my way through the hallways.
"Copy that." Nat and the rest of the team respond.
We had been here for about half a day, here being a town in Germany. After we asked the locals about Crossbones and showed a picture of Fischer, we got a tip to see the old fort on the hill. Apparently Fischer had been to this town often and would be seen coming and going from the old fort. Crossbones had also been sighted in town with Fischer. The more I thought about it, the more likely I thought Crossbones was connected to HYDRA, and I don't think this was a coincidence that two people we had been looking for turned up in the same German town.
"Steve? I think I found something." Sam's voice came through the comms.
"Need me for back up?" I ask, pulling my shield down just to be safe.
"No back up necessary, but something I think you should see." He responds.
I can hear a bit of trepidation in his voice.
"Okay. I'll come to you, everyone else keep searching."
I walk into an office where I see Sam and Natasha standing over a desk, papers spread out in front of them.
"What's up?" I ask, walking over to them. "What did you find?"
"Some pretty important paperwork." Sam answers, handing me a file.
I look at it, a profile of a HYDRA agent. One Brock Rumlow to be exact. At the code name subtitle, I see 'Crossbones' typed in.
"So Rumlow is Crossbones?" I look at the two.
"Seems to be. It makes sense actually. HYDRA was discovered, he went down, but obviously like the cockroach that he is, he survived the Triskelion falling on him. Which we knew since we heard about the report of him attacking his nurse and escaping the hospital he was admitted to." Natasha says.
"Yeah, he obviously found a way to keep up the HYDRA work with the attacks he's been doing lately." Sam adds.
"Well, at least we know who Crossbones is. We can start tracking any other known associates of Rumlow's. Let's take this with us." I say, holding the folder up. "Find out more about his connection to Fischer also."
I turn to make my out of the room only to be stopped by Nat.
"Theres more you need to know about." She says.
I turn back to her, seeing a strange look on her face. One I haven't seen since everything went down with HYDRA in DC.
"Yeah? More on Rumlow?"
"Not exactly..." Sam says a bit warily as he looks at Nat.
"It's about Celeste." Nat says.
"What about Celeste?" I ask, feeling my heart race a bit as I step closer to the desk.
"Here," Sam hands me another folder, "it's all in there."
I read the front of the folder, 'GAHEIM' stamped on the front in red. I recognised the word as German for 'confidential' from all the bases I had taken in the war. Under that, the word 'Tempestas' was written. I looked up to them again, seeing a look of apprehension on both their faces.
I open the folder seeing a photo of Celeste. She looked so different. A scowl on her face, not the smile I'd grown accustomed to.
I began reading the profile.
Name: Celeste Rose Matthews
Birthplace: Maryborough, Queensland - AUSTRALIA
Residence: Netherby, Queensland - AUSTRALIA
Date of Birth: 28th August 1945
Date of admission: 4th December 1949
Abilities: Atmokinesis (elemental control) - EXTREMELY rare and EXTREMELY powerful
"Wait..." my eyes keep looking at her date of birth, "1945?"
"I know. We both had the same reaction." Sam says.
"But... she hasn't mentioned anything about going into cryo-freeze." I say.
"No, but she did." Nat says flipping the page, to where there was another photo of Celeste in a cryostasis chamber, much like the photo of Bucky that was in his file. "They wiped her memory. A lot."
I continue reading the file, flipping to a page that has names of famous natural disasters that have taken place over the last 50 years or so. After each listed event was the word 'Erfolg', once again, German for 'success'. There was not one failed mission, at least not on this list.
"It looks like Celeste did all of that." Nat said softly.
I felt my heart drop for Celeste. I knew how much this would hurt her if she didn't have any recollection of it.
"There's also another file on Barnes." Sam speaks up, holding that up for me to see. "It was filed next to hers."
I open Bucky's file. Much of it was what we'd already seen from the one Natasha's connections in Kiev had provided her with.
"Have you gone through his yet?"
"No. We saw Celeste's first."
"What are these words?" I point to the red stamped letters on the front of the file. "I don't recognise them?"
"Erlaubnis zum Beenden" Natasha says. "I believe it means 'permission to terminate'."
"Well... let's hope that the trouble we've been having trying to track him, it's because he's really good at hiding." Sam says softly.
"Celeste said they were always well trained... but someone at HYDRA must have taught Bucky..." I whisper.
"The Winter Soldier is one, if not the best assassin in history. I'm sure he's just really good at disappearing, Steve." Natasha says, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"We keep getting leads on him, Cap." Sam says, placing a hand on my shoulder. "If there's smoke..." he trails off.
"Yeah. Anything else on Celeste?"
"Nothing in the database. I mean... literally nothing. Looks like they never wanted any digital footprint for her." Sam says, as he finished typing on the computers.
"Okay. There's plenty here..." I say looking down to the thick folder in my hands.
"Sam and I didn't get to everything in that file. Maybe you should be the one to speak with her?" Nat suggests.
"I think you both should be there. She already has issues trusting anyone. If you found this, she'd appreciate you both being present when she finds out."
"I think that's a good idea." Sam says.
Celeste's POV
The base appeared to be a bust. Although apparently Nat and Sam found something worthy of Steve's attention. But they haven't cared to share with the rest of us. It had to be something though, Steve had hardly made eye contact with me, Nat was just Nat but more talkative, and Sam kept giving me a weird smile every time we happened to look at each other. The one where you pull your lips into your mouth.
Something was going on.
We were sitting in a meeting room, debriefing the mission.
"Well that about covers it. You're all dismissed." Steve says, standing up.
I remain seated, as Wanda, Vision and Rhodey leave. Natasha and Sam begin to head to the door also.
"You coming, Celeste?" Sam asks.
"Not until you tell me what happened back at the base." I say.
Three sets of eyes look at me, then to each other.
"That's right, the jig is up. You three have been acting funny since we got on the jet home."
"I guess this is it, Steve." Natasha eyes Steve.
Steve responds with a heavy sigh, placing his hand on his narrow hips.
"Sam... can you please close the door?" Steve asks. Sam responds with a nod, pulling the glass door shut.
"Please... at least sit down." I say, hand gesturing to the chairs they just vacated only moments earlier. Once they all take a seat, we all sit in silence for a moment. "Oh, for the love of God and all that is holy! Just spit it out!" I yell, my chest aching from the anxiety that was building inside me.
"Nat and Sam found something at the base." Steve says, hands folded in front of him on the table.
"Yeah, I figured that out. And it's obviously something of importance."
"It is."
"It involves me?"
"It does."
"I thought as much. What was it?"
"It was a rather large personnel file." I look at Steve, frowning slightly. "On you."
"Okay, that's not too shocking..."
"The file has information on you, your date and place of birth, everything."
"Really? Place of birth?"
"Residence too." Sam adds.
"So I might have information on my family, where I could find them? At least..." I breathe deeply, "where I could find their resting place if there is one."
"Possibly, it's a good start if that's what you'd like to do." Natasha adds. "I'd be happy to help you with that." She smiles gently at me.
"That'd be great, Natasha. Thank you." I return her smile.
"There was more." Steve says to bring the conversation back. "There was a number of natural disasters listed that have taken place over the past fifty years." He looks to Sam and Natasha before continuing. "Celeste... all the listed disasters were labelled as successful. They were all created by you."
I feel my heart clench slightly.
"Well..." I swallow, "I told you all that those were my main objectives. The missions I was sent on."
"Yes, and we don't think any less of you. We know who you really are, Celeste." Sam says, placing a hand on my arm in a comforting way.
"Wait... you said the last fifty years... I hadn't been with HYDRA that long. What am I saying? I'm not even that old! That's impossible."
"The first one took place in 1965."
"Like I said. Not possible. I wasn't even born."
"There's more in the file, Celeste." I look from Steve to Natasha.
"Celeste...," I turn back to Steve, "your birthdate is the 28th of August... 1945."
"You mean 1985."
"No. I mean 1945. Your first recorded HYDRA attack was the 10th of February 1965. It was an earthquake in China."
"How could this be possible?"
"Well just like with Bucky, HYDRA also put you in a cryogenic freeze when they felt the need to."
"But... but I don't remember anything during that time..."
"They wiped your memory. Quite a lot, especially between the sixties and eighties."
"But... they wiped Barnes and he didn't remember anything before HYDRA. At least not that I know of. I remember my family, that night I lost them, meeting Fischer, training, I remember all of that. I've always remembered that."
"We can't give you answers now, Celeste, as frustrating as it is." Steve said, placing a hand on top of mine. "But I'm sure we can find them for you."
I swallow the lump in my throat that I felt building, and nod.
"Celeste...," I look back to Steve, his eyes full of emotion, "there's one more thing I need to tell you." I nod, taking a steadying breath. "The night when Fischer found you... didn't happen the way you think it did."
"What could you possibly mean? I know I was young, but I remember it every single day."
"Your neighbour was there, and Fischer did collect you that night... but your family survived."
My heart dropped.
I could see Steve's lips moving, but the only sound was the ringing in my ears.
I could see tiny dust particles in the air.
I could feel a slight breeze caressing my skin coming from the air conditioner in the room.
I could smell toasted bread wafting into the room from the crack under the door.
My senses were heightened. All but my hearing it would seem.
The ringing in my ears began to get louder, almost like a hundred trains were racing down the tracks. Like a million fighter jets were taking off at once. Like a hurricane was happening within my mind, not being manipulated by my own hands.
"STOP!" I shot out of my chair, a gust of wind coming from me that was strong enough to shatter the glass walls of the conference room we were in, Natasha, Sam and Steve all being thrown out of their chairs.
I looked around me in shock, seeing my two friends and... and Steve looking at me with what struck me as fear in all of their eyes.
"I-I'm sorry..." I whisper, turning and walking out of the room.
My brain keeps making noise, giving me a headache as I make my way outside. I notice out of the corner of my eye the rest of the team standing from the dining table as I make my way down the halls of the compound.
"Celeste?" I hear Wanda ask, but I ignore her.
I walk outside, feeling the fresh air fill my lungs as if it was the first time I've taken a breath in years.
I could hear the ex-S.H.E.I.L.D. agents training above where I was standing. Shouts all around me.
All the noise was making my skin prickle. My chest heavy once again. My breathing coming shallow and fast. I could feel the sweat coming out of my pores at this point. My eyes stinging with tears that I was done with shedding.
An anxiety attack.
I looked around the grounds seeing the lake.
I made my way over to the edge of the lake, walking into the cool water. It almost felt like a soothing balm on a burn. The instant relief.
It was short lived however. The noise was too much.
I lifted my hands, palms down. I could feel the pull from my finger tips, working it's way up to my wrist as the water began to seperate like the Red Sea. I created a path down the middle of the two walls of water. I began to walk down the freshly created path, my shoes sinking slightly into the soft earth. I could feel the decline as I walked further into the lake, the walls of water on either side of me getting higher.
I looked over my shoulder as I continued walking, seeing the water close together, the view of the compound disappearing. I look up, the sky soon disappearing as well. The soothing balm on my metaphorical burn made a come back as the noise was all blocked out. I had always found a sense of peace with water. Even at the battle of Sokovia when I had drowned, I felt a sense of peace as I was drifting to the bottom. Here and now, standing in the mud being able to still breath in the sphere of air, surrounded by nothing but water and the fish swimming around me, I could feel a sense of peace wash itself over my body.
I remained standing, observing the fish as they swam about their day. It was almost like going to an aquarium... or... at least what I imagined it would be... I don't think I've ever actually been to one. But it was almost therapeutic to just observe.
However much I wanted my mind to wander though, it wouldn't. It kept making its way back to what Steve had told me.
Before I knew it, I could feel the water being disturbed from the shore. Through the water I could see someone walking into the lake and what looked to be Steve's combat boots. I raised my hands, separating the water like I had done earlier. Once the water was separated revealing a path, I saw the look of both shock and amazement on Steve's face.
"Well don't just stand there. Come on down."
"You're dry." He stated as he began to walk into the lake.
"I'll show you how."
Once he was standing in front of me, I closed my hands to bring the water back together so we both stood in my little bubble of air once again.
"You never cease to amaze me." He says, looking around us in wonder.
We remain in silence for a while. Steve looking around us at the fish as I was doing earlier. After some time he turns to look at me.
"Celeste? I know this is a stupid question... but are you okay?"
I sigh.
"I knew it was bad. I've been working on believing it for weeks now. I guess finding out I've been on this earth longer than I have been was a shock. But it's not as bad as finding out I haven't killed my family."
"That's good though."
"In a way, yes it is. But that also means that I was made to believe I had. From the age of four, I've always believed that I was the one who took their lives away from them. Turns out... everything is actually a mess. Even more that I thought it could ever be."
"There's a possibility your parents have passed. But there's also a possibility that you sister might still be alive. I don't mean to give you any false hope. But Natasha said she's more than willing to help you look for them, no matter the outcome. As am I. Sam too."
"I wanted to before I knew this... so I'd still like to find them."
Steve reaches his hand over, taking mine as we entwine our fingers together.
"I'm here for you." He whispers.
I look up into his cerulean eyes.
"I know. And I know how hard it must have been to tell me all of that. I'm sorry for the glass and the wind."
"None of us were hurt, just a bit surprised." He grinned.
"I bet." I smiled softly, leaning in to press my lips to his in a gentle kiss. "I'd never want to hurt you. Or anyone here." I said placing my forehead against his once we pulled away.
"I know. We all do." He wraps his arms around me, pulling me into his embrace.
"You've all become my family."
I rest my head on his shoulder, thinking about how I was going to hunt Fischer down.
We're really getting into it now!