Ultron was gone. The latest threat was nothing more than broken wires and sharp nightmares in their minds.
The Avengers new base was larger than the tower, and surrounded by greenery. The opposite to the metal metropolis that had previously homed them. Steve would only admit to himself that he missed being close to the city. He was a New Yorker through and through.
But he had to admit he felt at home at the base; the military air about the place struck chords from long ago. He certainly threw himself into his training more, and the training of the latest members.
Sam was a good running partner. Well, he was when Steve didn't outrun him. It was quite nice having someone to train with, to verbally spar with, and to train in silence in the gym with.
Rhodey, well Rhodey had spent many years with Tony, so he was quick on his feet. Both verbally and physically.
Wanda. She was still a mystery to them. Quite reserved in herself since Sokovia. She trained hard to prove to herself more than them, that she could do good. It was an issue she thought was secret. But it wasn't, as they all trained for the same reason: to do good. They could cause so much destruction and pain (some of them previously had) and now they had to prove that they could do good, do better.
Wanda was proving herself more than she realised. She had more power than any of them. It scared them a little. Not that she would use it against them, but the power she was given. What if it had been given to others? People less wanting to do the good Wanda wanted?
Since Ultron had killed Baron von Strucker in a supposedly secure cell, they were at a loss at the other experiments he'd had a hand in. Files had been deleted, all that remained were out-dated paper copies that had only been updated when someone remembered.
Natasha spent her time pouring over these files. Boxes and boxes of them between training. Steve more than once was forced to remind her to sleep, eat, or to take a break.
It wasn't until maybe two months since Ultron's destruction that they finally had a lead.
"Here," Nat pointed on the holographic globe. Somewhere out in Northern Europe, in a country which Steve had never heard of, let alone attempted to pronounce. "Supplies are shipped here every two weeks. Heavily military guard for a small bunker. Most of the files have been redacted. But often refers to one case name that I haven't heard of before."
"Operation Frostbite?" Tony said as he flicked through the pages. "Seriously, who comes up with these names?"
"Never heard of it," Steve said, watching as Nat moved in on the globe. "Any idea what the bunker is carrying?"
"Not a clue, but there's a lot of heavily redacted reports labelled as "Subject Thirteen". Whatever tests, results or anything relating to this, it's been redacted."
"Why bother with a paper copy if you're just going to black out half the information," Tony said, tossing the file on the tabletop. "All that paper; clearly they don't care for the environment," Tony's sarcastic quips were second nature to them all, to the point where they did not entertain him.
"It's the only other lead we have on Strucker's work. He was happy to play with human experimentation," Rhodey voiced, all of them silently glad Wanda was not in the room. "Who knows what else he was involved in."
"When do we start?" Nat said with a smile.
"Obshcheye! General! It's them!" The young soldier came bouncing up to the general. "'It's the Mstiteli! The Avengers are here!"
The general's fists tightened in his gloves. He turned to the doctor besides him.
"We will have to resume this conversation at a later date." He glanced over to the soldier. "Began the system wipe. No shred of information can be left." He began marching out of the room, the balding doctor behind him on shorter legs.
"Sir! Obshcheye! What about the girl? If they find her-"
"If they find her, she won't go far. She won't be able to cope out there," He spoke with a thick accent, like many of the soldiers and officers in the base. It wasn't often he came. But this time, he wanted to see the power for himself.
"But Obshcheye, if we lose her, we stand no chance.!
The dominant man turned to his doctor friend and rested a hand on his shoulder. His eyes were deep behind his thick framed glasses. He had an air about him that, despite looking like a man, he had the power of a god behind him. "My friend, the best way to catch a rat, is by sending something disguised as a rat to catch them out. Let them find her. She'll find her way back to us soon, I have no doubt about that,"
He began to leave the room, followed by a flank of officers as they made their evacuation in secret, the rest of the soldiers being sent out to die in a vein attempt.
The doctor stayed in the room, beads of sweat fogging his own glasses before he ran after the general.
Strange noises weren't uncommon in the night. Footsteps could often be heard marching through the halls, voices trying to talk in hushed tones. The steel walls the perfect acoustic tool to make the sounds echo.
But these noises were different. First came the hum of the fluorescent light above, but in red, rather than a harsh yellow. The back-up generator was in use. The small form woke on the bed, eyes bleary as they looked towards the ceiling. The left hand had automatically reached to rub away the sleep, whilst the right one remained in its place; handcuffed to the thin iron bar above the bed. It didn't feel like it was time to wake up. The small figure under the blanket was almost used to the routine. She'd only been back at the base for a week, but sure enough she had picked up the schedule easily. Unless this was a new training program. Or perhaps it was her time to leave again. The room was already cool, but the temperature seemed to drop ever so slightly as she thought of leaving again. To go back to that Other place, she called it. Yes it was warmer, yes she could see the outside world from various windows, but it was harder. She wasn't ready to go back. The bruises on her back had only just started to heal.
Next came the footsteps. Not the routine march or the hurried footsteps of a doctor or scientist who was late. Always late. No, these steps were heavy and in a great rush. And running towards her room. Her one free hand clenched its fist as the footsteps stopped.
The girl pushed the blanket to the bottom of the bed and swung round on the small bed to face the door. One hand in her lap, the other still chained to the bar above the bed. She waited. The footsteps had stopped outside her door. Directly outside. She waited.
The door didn't simply open, it flew open, coming off its hinges and landing on a pile on the floor. Surprisingly not her doing, despite how many times she'd dreamed of it. Her eyes shot to the door in the corner of her small room, eyes wide before returning to the doorway.
"Oh. Hi there." The voice was male, confused and unsure. He was dressed blue, red and white, a helmet protecting his head. The two stared at each other. His eyes were darting around the room, to every corner, and returning to the small child, handcuffed to the bed.
When they had the briefing on the bunker, Steve Rogers certainly not expected to find a child behind those reinforced doors.
The girl was small, her feet handing a foot from the ground. She was dressed in a blue jumpsuit with short legs and sleeves, despite the chilly atmosphere of the base. She had long brown hair that hung down to her shoulders, and green eyes that felt like he was being x-rayed. She was small, probably not even ten years old.
Behind all this gunpower, a child?
In Sokovia, Wanda and Pietro seemed able to leave the fortress whenever they pleased. He supposed they had been willing contenders. He guessed all the reinforcement implied this girl wasn't.
"Are you ok?" He stepped forward, happy no one else was in the room. He clearly didn't see her as any kind of threat. "My name's Steve. What's your name?"
She didn't answer.
She knew who he was. It was part of her training. She knew them all. She'd seen videos, images, even people who dressed and fought just like him for her own benefit. The man, this patriot of America, looked at the small handcuffed girl and easily snapped it from the bar, the cuff round her small wrist falling away. "C'mon," he said. "I'm getting you out of here."
Was this training? If it was, he was a very good lookalike. If not, then the real thing had appeared. Even if it wasn't a training exercise, everything was a test. With one hard tug, the cuff snapped from the bed and she was free. As simple as that. He gently took hold of her other hand and lead her from the bed, watching as she had to jump down; her feet had been hanging a foot from the floor. She knew what she was meant to do; yet he didn't act at all how she thought he would.
"Kill him. Kill him before he has the thought to kill you, because he will. First chance he gets."
Here he was with the chance, yet he was leading her down the hallway, away from the sounds of the explosions. This must be a test. If it was, she had already failed.
She stopped dead in the corridor as he assessed the crossroads he came across.
"Stark, I'm on my way up now. One civilian with me." She looked up at him; he certainly was tall. She could break his neck. One aggressive thought and he'd be on the floor. Or perhaps the broken door at the end of the corridor would fly and hit him straight in the head.
Yet the rage-filled thoughts weren't coming.
Another explosion rocked the base, and wires collapsed from the ceiling. It was a moment to save yourself. Yet the striking figure in his country's colours grabbed hold of her and shielded her from the wreckage. Sparks and flames flickered down the hallway. Once gone, the giant in blue let her go. They found their route to be blocked by fallen debris.
"Stark, damn it." He muttered under his breath. He charged forward, clearly attempting to move the rubble by hand. The main blockage came from a vent shaft that had fallen from above. Before he could lay his gloved hands on it, it began to lift, scraping the walls and floor with a screech, before being hurled down the corridor with a bang.
Steve spun round, to find the small girl that he towered over. Her right hand was held forwards, face pale, the smallest strange wisps of a blue light at her finger tips.
"Did you just-?" He looked at the girl and back down the corridor. When he turned back, the girl was simply stood there. "Right. Ok." He said. He'd seen enough strange oddities in his time now to know this wasn't the time to question it.
"C'mon." He said, and they made their way down the corridor at a run, another explosion not too far away.
"This way!" Steve yelled as they rushed through what must have been the main hanger. The sloping ground led to the large reinforced doors, which she had never seen open. The brightness of outside was so overwhelming it was just a white light as she rushed outside. Immediately, her bare feet made contact with the grit and the stone that had coated the ground. The cold air ran its way through her hair, and her skin tingled from the chill of the breeze.
If she knew she'd run right into a war zone, she didn't let on. She stared at the things before her; the bare trees with their vein like branches; the leaves, oranges and red, undisturbed in some places, stained a darker red in others; the burning flames from vehicles. Steve reattached his hand to her wrist and they ran through the warzone.
"Stark!" Steve shouted, as a mass of red and gold flew over their heads, whipping the branches. She'd seen him before too; the metal man, who blew lasers from his palms towards the base and the soldiers who tried to defend. She looked back towards the base, as it became ashes and ruins.
Bullets fired close to them; slicing the trees and burning the ground at her feet. "This way!" Steve yelled as he started in towards the forest. One glance back at the base, then she ran after him.
She still didn't know why she didn't do as trained. She knew the punishment she'd encounter. See couldn't go back into the box. She just couldn't.
Yet here she was, disobeying her orders. How they would be mad at her when they caught her. They would. She knew they would. For the moment, she closed her eyes as the giant in blue guided her through the battle, and felt the cool air and smelt the nature (and burning). She hadn't been outside in so long she couldn't stop herself.
She'd spent maybe a year in total, in the Other place. Where she trained. Where the cold woman belittled her, where the trainers instructed her, and punished her when she failed. Where the other girls tried to bully her until she got angry. She felt their gaze continuously as they told her over and over again her purpose.
But the training was always interrupted. More tests for them to carry out, more examinations. The woman was never happy about that, as she handed her back over to the scientists. She wasn't fulfilling her potential in a lab, she'd heard her say once before.
Another explosion hit the forest floor.
"Ostanovka! Ostanovis' pryamo tam!" Someone cried. She looked back and found a soldier, his gun aimed towards them. Before one could move, something faster than a bullet hit the solider directly in the neck. He fell with a dense thud. She spun round and found another standing next to the American, a bow in his hands.
"You brought me out of retirement for this?" The man chuckled. Quick as a whip, another arrow was pulled from the quiver and shot through the woodland. Another body fell to the floor. She blinked as they people that kept her in the cage fell to the ground.
"Well we clearly couldn't cope without you," Steve said, his hot breath coming out in a cloud of steam.
"Clearly," The man said. He peered at the girl, as if trying to place something he'd forgotten. "Who's the kid?"
"She was in the base," They talked as if she were not there, another arrow being sent flying over her head. "Clint, she's enhanced." The eyes of the second man widened, and he peered at the girl again.
"Like Wanda? Another one of Strucker's?" Both the males noted how the name Strucker seemed to strike a chord. Small feet took a step back in the vegetative floor of the forest.
"It's ok," Steve raised his hand slowly, seeing the child's reaction. "We're not with him. We're here to help."
"Are you two going to do some work, or are you not finished gossiping yet?" A voice called as footsteps ran into the forest clearing. A female rushed between the two figures, a gun in one hand, and a familiar round shield in her other.
"Thanks for that," She handed it over to Steve, who brushed mud from its front.
"Hope you haven't been sledding in it again." He said, trying to smile as all three sets of eyes turned to the small girl before them.
The woman she knew. She knew the face. She knew everything. She took another step back, bare feet imprinting in the dirt. But she didn't feel the cold or the branches between her toes.
She was slim but strong, her shoulder-length red hair fiery against the grey backdrop of the forest. She stared at the girl with an almost blank expression, as if unsure what to do or say. It certainly wasn't what she expected. Strucker's work had never led them to believe his latest subject was a child, of all things.
The infamous Black Widow hadn't expected, that behind this fortress deep in a forest, forgotten by whichever country they were in, for there to be a small girl. With green eyes that seemed to scan every aspect of her. Green eyes that looked hauntingly familiar.
"Looks like we found what Strucker was hiding here," Steve said, looked into the distance towards where the base was still under attack. "We'd better get out of here. Natasha?"
"The Quinjet isn't far, about a kilometre behind the border." The redhaired woman said, not taking her eyes away from the girl, Steve nodding. He reached up to his ear and began speaking, calling the cavalry back. Natasha found herself slowly crouching down, staring at this child with an unsure sense of curiosity.
Neither her nor Steve saw the way Clint continuously peered at the girl, then back towards his redhaired friend, his mind trying to make a link but something wasn't clicking into place.
"Come on, before Stark blows us all up," The male with the bow said, and began to jog away. She stood on the forest ground looking at these strangers. She knew them all.
The captain. A man out of time, they had said.
The archer. Not to be underestimated, they had said.
The iron man. His arrogance will be his second downfall, after you.
The green monster. Self-destruction waiting to happen.
The god. A man with more power than what can be explained.
She pictured them all. The videos, the images, everything they put in front of her. But her eyes never left the woman in front of her. Who's own green eyes were suspicious and assessing her threat level.
The Widow. A traitor to us. A traitor to you. She gave you to us. You should thank her for that atleast.
"Kid? Kid come on!" Steve called. He turned and walked back towards her. He crouched before her, blocking her view to her. To Romanoff. "Hey," He reached out and grasped her arms. He was light, but he still heard the small gasp of air escape her lips, the first sound she'd made. "I know you're probably scared, but we're the good guys," He looked behind him at his companions. "We're not like those other guys," he nodded to behind her. "We're gonna keep you safe. I will, I promise."
She peered at this man, as he peeled off his helmet to show his humanity.
She knew why she didn't kill him straight away.
He was kind. Those blue eyes promised they wouldn't hurt her and she was believing him.
They were really going to be mad at her when they caught her.
He took her silence as a wilful answer, as at that moment another explosion rocked the ground. Steve clasped her and lifted her as if she weighed nothing, throwing her over his shoulder.
"Though you said she was enhanced!" Shouted the archer. "Can she not do something?"
From over Steve's shoulder, she watched as the red haired widow began firing behind them. She watched each of her movements, trying to commit it to memory. They soon got far enough away from the gun fire that Steve placed her on her feet and let her run besides him, still holding her hand.
The Qunijet was resting on a cliff edge, the wind swirling to the chasm below. A man landed besides the jet, with wide metal wings which folded in behind him like some magnificent bird. As they stopped, the girls green eyes were wide as she took in the sight of the expanse before her. The mountains and the trees, she'd never seen anything in reality like it before.
"Stark's secured the base. Him and Rhodey are gonna lead on this, see what files they can get if they haven't been deleted. You know Tony wants to check out what tech they're hiding away in there," The bird-man spoke to Steve. He was new. He wasn't in the latest bit of training she'd received. Then again, she'd been back at the lab for at least a month. A lot can happen in a month. A lot can happen in a few short hours, she'd learned today.
The heroes, as she knew they called themselves, conferred between each other their plan. She looked back towards the base, but could only see a quiver of smoke over the bare branches of the trees. She looked around and saw the edge of the cliff they were on, the shimmering lake and naked trees below.
She found herself stepping towards the edge of the cliff, looking down. It must have been miles and miles. She couldn't even make out the bottom clearly. She wondered what it would feel like to fly. To be truly feel free. Was that why the bird-man had wings? He liked to feel free.
She took another step towards the cliff edge, her toes almost curling over the edge, when she felt a hand grasp her shoulder.
"Don't get too close, it could be unstable." She looked at the redhead. Green eyes met green eyes. Natasha watched as the girls eyes seemed to almost narrow, examining her deeper than most. Her grip on the small girl's shoulder did not let up. Instead she lightly tugged, and the girl stepped away from the edge. Natasha looked and saw a small girl, a girl forced to live a life she had not chosen, to serve others. Staring at those green eyes was unsettling and familiar to Natasha. She could see herself like the girl. They even looked a bit alike, save for the hair. Her hair was brown; swirling in the wind and flying into her face. Natasha found herself reaching over and tucking the girls hair behind her ears.
The small girl continued to peer up at the assassin.
A traitor to us. A traitor to you. She gave you to us. You should thank her for that atleast.
She stepped further back from the edge. "Spasibo,"
Nat's neck stiffed as she glanced back at the girl. The Russian accent was strong. The two locked eyes, before the young girl walked back towards Steve.
Natasha had felt those eyes bore into her soul. They'd gone deeper than any persons gaze had before, and Natasha felt oddly exposed by the small girl. Whatever she'd been through, from Strucker's experiments, or otherwise, Natasha could feel that this was not going to be a fight easily won.
First chapter done - I've wanted to write this story for so long and it feels unreal to actually be posting it! Please feel free to leave me any feedback, its appreciated! Any feedback, suggestions or general comments are welcome :)