The sunrise was just beginning to tint the sky as Steve and Star arrived at his preferred run route. The moving truck would be coming the next day, and Steve wanted one last run around the national mall; though, he was also hoping to run into a friend while he was there.

"Some jogging etiquette," Steve said as they stretched, "if you're going to run past someone, call out which side you're passing them on so you don't startle them." He figured it was safe to assume she'd never run in a public space before, and that Hydra would have bothered to teach her the niceties of it.

Star nodded, her eyes darting over the area. "There aren't many out here."

"It takes some dedication to run in February," Steve said dryly. "Ready to go?"

"Yes," she said.

Steve set the pace, keeping it easy at first. He wanted to take a minute to warm up, but also to assess what Star could actually manage. She kept pace with him easily, her breathing steady. Alright then. Let's step it up a little.

He picked up speed, and Star followed suit, staying beside him on the path as they ran. Steve grinned; it was kind of fun, running with someone who could keep up with him.

They'd done the usual loop twice before Steve spotted who he was looking for. His grin stretched wider; this was going to be entertaining.

Steve picked up speed again, and he spotted the moment Sam heard them coming and glanced behind. Sam's eyes widened. "The heck –"

"On your left!"

"On your right!"

They darted around him, and Steve couldn't resist glancing back to see the surprise on Sam's expression as he registered there was a kid who could keep up with him. Sam cupped his hands around his mouth. "We need to talk!"

Steve waved to acknowledge he'd heard. Maybe he should have texted to give Sam a heads up about Star, but Steve had been busy. Besides, the look on Sam's face was priceless.

"Do you know him?" Star asked.

"Yeah, he's a friend," Steve said. "Sam Wilson." He glanced down at her. "Want to see how many more times we can lap him before we're done?"

The corner of her mouth twitched up in a smile. "Sure."

The answer was three times, and Steve enjoyed the sour look Sam shot his way every time they passed him. The last time they reached him, Sam was walking to cool down after his own run, and Steve and Star slowed to walk with him.

"You really decided to show up with a mini super soldier without so much as a heads up?" Sam complained.

Steve shrugged. "I've been busy."

"Yeah, I guess so," Sam said. "I've seen the news."

The news was still filled with stories about Hydra and SHIELD; there was plenty of material to talk about, given the files Director Fury had dumped on the internet. More and more arrests were being made as evidence of corruption and Hydra affiliations came to light.

"Yeah, well," Steve said, "this is Star, my daughter. Star, this is my friend, Sam Wilson."

Sam flashed a smile Star's way. "Good to meet you, kid." Then he looked at Steve. "Did you say daughter?"

"Like I said," Steve said, with a grin of his own. "I've been busy."

"Oh, so it's like that," Sam said. "Just for that, you're buying breakfast."

Steve nodded agreeably. It was his turn to pay for breakfast anyway. Star perked up at the mention of food, and Steve guessed she was probably feeling as hungry as he was after their run. "We're headed to a bagel shop," he told her. "They do some really great breakfast sandwiches."

She just nodded, but didn't say anything. Silence seemed to be her norm when meeting new people, but Steve expected Sam wouldn't have much trouble getting her to open up. That tended to be his specialty.

The warmth of the bagel shop was a welcome change from the chilly morning. There was a steady stream of customers, but not many were dining in, making it easy to get a table where Star would be able to sit with her back to the wall. She dug into her food as soon as they were at the table, alternating between sips of hot chocolate and large bites of her sausage, egg, and cheese bagel sandwich.

"So," Sam said between bites, "I've seen what the news is saying, but what's actually been going on?"

Steve glanced around, double checking that there was no one within earshot of the conversation. "Most of what it's saying is accurate. What they're really missing is how it all started." Steve tilted his head towards Star. "Star here is a clone of me. She ran away from Hydra with her brother, JJ, and luckily found Bruce who contacted the rest of us."

Sam nodded thoughtfully, glancing Star's way. "Raised by Hydra, huh? That's rough."

Star just shrugged, taking another bite of her sandwich.

"Your brother didn't feel like coming on the run this morning?" Sam asked her.

She washed down her bite of food with another sip of hot chocolate before she answered. "He's only two. He doesn't run well yet."

"Ah," Sam said. "That makes sense then." He turned back towards Steve. "I guess this means Hydra really was part of SHIELD all along?"

Steve grimaced. "Basically. It started with Operation Paperclip; when the government decided to recruit Nazi scientists, that included Hydra. Hard to say how long it took Hydra to build up their influence, though if someone digs deep enough into the files Director Fury dropped, we could figure it out I guess."

"That's a heck of a mess," Sam said shaking his head. "What's next for you then? SHIELD's gone, you've got kids. Those are some big changes."

"We're moving to New York," Steve said. "Tony is working on a business plan for privatizing the Avengers."

Sam's eyebrows rose. "Not taking much of a break there."

Steve shrugged. "There are still things out there that people aren't ready to handle on their own. SHIELD is leaving a gap; someone has to step into it."

"And that someone has to be you?" Sam asked.

"For now," Steve said. It was a conversation they'd had before, and not one that Steve felt like hashing out again. It must have come through in his tone, because Sam shrugged and let the topic drop.

"I do have a favor to ask though," Steve said.

"Shoot," Sam said.

Steve fiddled with his coffee cup, trying to decide how to word his request. "Have you ever heard of the Winter Soldier?"

"Can't say that I have," Sam said.

"He was a Hydra operative, but…they were controlling him. He wasn't working for them willingly," Steve explained. "And he's actually and old friend of mine, Bucky Barnes."

Sam's brows quirked. "Barnes…wasn't he in your unit back in WW2?"

Steve nodded. "He was. Hydra captured him, and managed to make him a super soldier like me. I'm not sure how he lived this long, but they've been using him ever since to do their dirty work. Until now. He broke free of their control during…all this. And then he ran away."

"Huh," Sam said. "How can I help?"

"I know you've got friends in the military still," Steve said. "I'm not asking you to go digging or anything, just…if you happen to hear anything about a super soldier with a metal arm, can you let me know?"

"I think I can handle that," Sam said. He flashed a grin. "Maybe a little birdie will tell me something."

Star blinked. "There are birds that can talk?"

"It's just an expression, Star," Steve said. "Birds don't actually talk."

Disappointment flickered over her face for a second. Sam pointed at Steve. "You're forgetting about parrots."

Star zeroed in on him, and Sam grinned at her. "Here I'll show you." He pulled out his phone, and after a couple taps had a video up. Star watched the video with wide eyes as the parrot argued with its owner about what snack it wanted to eat. When it ended, she sent Steve a questioning look.

"Parrots just repeat phrases they've learned," Steve said. "It's not exactly like carrying on a conversation."

"That looked like a conversation," Star said.

Sam nodded, tucking his phone away. "Birds are smarter than most people give them credit for."

Steve decided it wasn't worth arguing over. Especially since the bird talk was helping her noticeably relax. Star was leaning forward, listening intently as Sam regaled her with different bird facts.

Never realized Sam knows so much about birds.

Eventually the topic wound down, and Sam looked back at Steve. "So, when are you headed out?"

"In a couple more days," Steve said.

Sam nodded and downed the last of his coffee. "Well, don't be a stranger once you moved. DC isn't that far away from you."

"Of course," Steve said.

They were finished eating and the shop was getting more crowded, so it seemed like a good time to head out. They said their goodbyes and headed their separate ways, Star falling in step beside Steve as they walked back towards his apartment.

"Sam seems nice," she said, after a few minutes of quiet.

"He's a good guy," Steve agreed.

"Do you think he actually has a chance of finding Bucky?" she asked.

"I don't know," Steve admitted. "Probably not a good one. But it doesn't hurt to ask."

Star went quiet again, but Steve could tell by the way her brows furrowed she was still mulling over something, so he stayed silent and let her think through whatever it was she wanted to ask.

"What will happen to Bucky if he's found?"

It was Steve's turn to consider his words before he answered. Finally, he let out a sigh. "I don't know. I want to help him but…his situation is complicated."

Steve couldn't blame or hold Bucky responsible for anything he'd done while working for Hydra. They'd brainwashed him – he hadn't had any control over his actions. But Steve wasn't sure if the justice system would take the same view of the situation. If he ever managed to find Bucky, he'd probably need a really good lawyer.


"Why are we keeping him around?"

Pietro's question felt loud and angry in the otherwise quiet atmosphere of the abandoned farmhouse they'd holed up in. The farmhouse was rundown, but it kept them out of the worst of the elements, had had a couple cans of not quite expired food they were able to eat for their dinner the night before, and some old clothes that fit well enough to be passible.

Best of all, it wasn't a cage.

Wanda glanced towards the subject of Pietro's question. Dr. Tate huddled in a corner of the room as far away from her and Pietro as he could get. He'd made no attempt to escape, likely understanding that any such attempt would be futile. He didn't react to Pietro's question; like many of the American Hydra agents, he'd never bothered learning the local language.

"He's going to help us," Wanda said.

Pietro scoffed, shooting a venomous glare Dr. Tate's way. "He's one of them, Wanda. He's not going to help. We don't need his help anyway."

"He's the one who turned the collars off," Wanda pointed out. "He's already helped us once. And he will make my plan easier."

Pietro grumbled and paced, nervous energy making him move. "And just what is your big plan?"

"We go to America," Wanda said. "After Hydra's fall, it'll be safer for us there than it is here."

Pietro didn't have a good argument for that. They had no reason to stay in Sokovia – their mother and stepfather dead years now, their bio father as much of a ghost as he'd ever been, and Hydra hunting them. In America, Hydra agents would be too busy trying to save their own skin or rebuild to worry much about two runaway mutants.

"Two scruffy teenagers wandering around trying to leave the country by themselves will be more notable than if we have an adult with us," Wanda pointed out.

"Scruffy," Pietro grumbled, "speak for yourself."

She rolled her eyes, but waited for him to come to the same conclusion that she had.

"You can manipulate people into helping us," Pietro said.

"It doesn't always work," Wanda reminded him. Hydra hadn't let her practice that skill much, unwilling to trust her not to use it against them. Which was smart, because given the first opportunity, she would have. "And it's easier if I can give a believable scenario." Traveling with an adult would be more believable for most people.

Pietro huffed and grimaced, but Wanda could tell he was coming around. He still didn't like the idea, but he was resigning himself to it.

"How were you planning for us to get to America?" he finally asked.

It was Wanda's turn to grimace. "That part…I am not sure of."

Hydra had found them only a few months after their parents' deaths and had held them captive ever since. They'd never even left the country before, much less the continent. Which was another reason, though she hadn't said it, to bring Dr. Tate along.

Wanda stood and marched over to Dr. Tate, doing her best to loom over him. They might need his help, but there was no reason to let the man feel like he could try and take charge either.

Dr. Tate blinked behind his glasses, gaze focusing on her, though he made no move to get up or speak.

"We're going to America," Wanda told him, switching to English so he'd understand her. "You're going to help us get there."

He sat up straighter, fingers tapping against his leg. "That won't be easy," he said after a moment of thought. "We don't have any money or passports…or were you planning to use your powers to get us on something?"

"Yes," Wanda admitted. She didn't say that she wasn't totally confident that her plan would work; Dr. Tate had been at the base for a year, he was probably aware enough of the limits of both their abilities.

He just nodded. "That could work…we shouldn't take a plane though, not here. I'd expect Hydra to be watching airports. Don't much like the idea of a ship either though. If they figure out what we're on, they'd have a long time to decide how to target a ship." He considered for a moment longer. "They quickest and probably safest way would be to head to Romania, and get a plane from there."

"I though you said they'd be watching airports?" Pietro asked, tone laced with suspicion.

Dr. Tate shrugged. "Not in Romania. Hydra doesn't go there. They've blacklisted it."

Wanda couldn't imagine Hydra being unwilling to go anywhere. "Why? What's in Romania?"

"I don't know," Dr. Tate said. "No one ever saw fit to tell me. But it's not the only country Hydra stays away from. They've pulled out of Latveria recently, and they stay out of Wakanda. Again, they've never explained why, at least not to me." He shrugged. "Whatever keeps them out of there, it should shield us well enough to get on a plane, as long as you can convince them to let us on."

Pietro glanced Wanda's way, switching to Sokovian to keep Dr. Tate from understanding his comment. "Perhaps we should stay in Romania then, instead of going to America. I like the idea of a country Hydra is afraid to enter."

"And what if whatever they're afraid of discovers us?" Wanda shot back. "We'd have no where to run, if we were surrounded by countries Hydra operates in. America doesn't have a threat like that, and more places to run to, if someone finds us."

Pietro sighed, but shrugged, giving in to her logic.

"Any suggestions for getting to Romania?" Wanda asked Dr. Tate.

"Trains would be our best bet."

It sounded like as good a plan as any, and there was no reason to wait. "Let's get going then," she said.

They set off, and Wanda could feel Pietro near vibrating with impatience as they walked. She knew they could have moved faster if they weren't bringing Dr. Tate along.

"Wanda," Dr. Tate finally said, after several minutes of silence. She looked at him, surprise flickering through her. It was the first time that Dr. Tate had addressed her first since their escape from Hydra. "When we get to America," he continued, "you won't need me anymore. What are you planning to do with me?"

She lifted her chin. "As you said, we won't need you anymore."

It was a vague answer that could imply any number of things; mostly because Wanda wasn't sure what the real answer was. She hated Hydra and everyone who worked for them. She didn't feel any guilt for the bodies that had been left behind in her and Pietro's wake when they made their escape.

But her glimpse in Dr. Tate's mind had shown her enough for her to realize that he hadn't chosen to work for Hdyra. He'd been blackmailed into it. She was torn between hating Dr. Tate for standing by and allowing the torture she and Pietro went through to continue for the year he'd been at the base, and grudging sympathy for knowing he'd watched his parents die too, after failing to save another teen held prisoner by Hydra.

Wanda didn't know what kind of response to expect from the statement – perhaps some anger, some desperate reaction at the implication he might die at the end of this trip. She didn't expect to see resignation settled on his face, or the quiet, accepting, "Ah," that was his only response.