After the events at the Triskelion and the fall of Shield, Steve had set out to find his best friend with the help of Sam. For months, they had followed the trail of dead Hydra agents and destroyed bases, but they always seemed to be just one step behind the one-armed assassin. It was clear that Bucky was on a warpath of revenge and discovery, which was to be expected. And Steve understood why. Seventy years of torture and brainwashing was enough to make anyone go crazy and if he were in Bucky's position, he would probably be doing the same thing.
For the first few months since the fall of Shield, there had been no trace of him whatsoever. He had disappeared off the map and no one, not even Tony could find him. Wherever he was during that time, he had been laying low. Recuperating and most importantly, remembering. It wasn't till about six months after the Potomac that the first bodies started appearing. It had left both him and Sam a nice trail to follow. They knew Bucky's motive and had started to see a pattern in the direction the killings were going. He was looking for information, anything that Hydra had done to him and all the things he had been forced to do.
It was December of that year when Bucky came back. Steve was coming back from a New Year's Eve party, not failing to notice his apartment door cracked open. Thinking the worst, he had gone into the apartment, shield drawn and ready for the attack. He was expecting someone to jump out from the shadows to try and kill him. However, he never expected to find Bucky sitting at his table, wearing his shirt and helping himself to a provolone and ham wrap.
Upon seeing his best friend Steve had lowered his protective stance and stared in shock at the man who resembled a sad hobo rather than the dashing Sergeant that all the dames used to swoon over. His hair was even longer than last time, and it was stringy and greasy. He obviously hadn't shaved in a while, and he had the beard to prove it. He had large bags under his eyes, and it looked like he hadn't had a decent meal in a long time.
"Buck?" he asked cautiously lowering his shield, his eyes never leaving the other man as he switched the light to the kitchen on.
Bucky looked up at him with a hauntingly familiar look in his eyes, "Hey punk," he said with a sad smile.
Steve surveyed the room before he took a cautious step forward, his hands up in the air in to show Bucky that he meant no harm. The last time he had seen Bucky, he had been the Winter Soldier and he knew that he needed to practice caution for both their sake.
"What do you-?"
"Remember?" said Bucky taking another bite of the sandwich. "Most everything."
Steve came to stand in front of his friend, almost not believing that it was really him. He wasn't the Winter Soldier anymore, it was Bucky, more or less. But all that mattered to Steve was that he was here and that he had come back to him.
"I tried to look for you," said Steve as he gently laid his hand down on the chair opposite of his friend.
"I know," said Bucky as he swept the crumbs off the table apologetically. He then rose from his seat to fetch a glass of water.
"You left quite the trail," said Steve.
"I needed answers," said Bucky as he plopped back down into the chair. "I had to know what they did to me, Steve."
"Did you get them?" asked Steve crossing his arms.
"Not as much as I would've liked."
Steve shook his head, "I'm sure the information is out there. We just have to find it, Buck."
"You sound so sure of that."
"I am," said Steve as he rested both of his hands on the back of the seat and leaned forward. "Whatever there is to find, we'll find it. You and me together."
"You were always too dumb to run away from a fight," said Bucky. "I can see seventy years on ice hasn't taught you anything."
"I'm a slow learner," said Steve as he felt his face crack up in a smile. Right then at that moment, he was happy to have his best friend back in his life. It was something he thought he would never get back.
Bucky gave him a sad half-smile before finishing off the glass of water before picking up his half-eaten wrap.
"I sure hope you plan on cleaning this up," said Steve as he tried to lighten up the mood. He wasn't mad that Bucky had broken in and helped himself to his fridge, in fact, he was happy that he had decided to come here and see him at all considering the circumstances.
"I don't even know how you survive punk, there's no food in this apartment," said Bucky as he turned his attention back to the wrap.
"Yeah, it has been a while since I've been grocery shopping," admitted Steve, "in fact, that wrap has been sitting in there for a long time. I was gonna throw it out because I wasn't sure how old it was."
Bucky stopped mid-bite and examined his ham wrap before dumping it in the trashcan, "and you mention that now."
Steve laughed, and for the first time in months, it was natural. And it felt good.
Slowly things settled down into a semi-normal routine for the two super-soldiers over the course of the next few weeks. Although Bucky was not the same man, he was no longer the Winter Soldier, he was someone in-between. Sometimes he would act just like he would've seventy years ago, and other times he would lock himself in his room and not talk to Steve for days. But he was making progress, and that was good.
He had started to take better care of his hygiene, shaving his beard and taking regular showers. He had trimmed his hair, it was still long but not matted or greasy anymore. Bucky had thought about cutting it to the length it had been during the war, but he just couldn't quite bring himself to do it. He wasn't that Bucky anymore and he certainly wasn't the Winter Soldier anymore, so he decided on a trim and took the initiative of washing and combing it.
Once in a while, Steve would get a call about another Hydra base and was tasked with clearing it out with the Avengers. Bucky came with him every time, eager to find more answers and help weed what was left of Hydra out. His memories and his experience gave them the upper hand that they needed and in the end, they would sort out all the files they found. Every base they took down meant more and more files to sift through and decrypt.
Even though most all of the files were leaked, there were still obstacles and fail-safes that Hydra had put in place to protect the information. What files they did have failed to provide them with adequate knowledge of everything they had done to Bucky, and that was not good enough for the both of them. Bucky needed to know everything they had done to turn him into what he was now and he wasn't about to stop because of some missing files.
So they both searched for anything that could pertain to what had happened in that span of time, but Steve was starting to lose hope that they would find much anything else. He had a feeling that the files they were looking for had most likely been destroyed as soon as Hydra had been exposed.
But then Natasha had called him one day to inform him that Shield had decrypted some of the files found in Ukraine and that he needed to come in and take a look at what they found. Steve had been able to gather from her tone of voice that whatever it was, it was pretty serious.
"Alright, let me go get Bucky and we'll be over in a few."
"I think it would be better if you came alone," she said, her voice low as Steve glanced a look over at Bucky, who was busy watching a cooking competition on the television, much to Steve's amusement.
"Why?"
"Just trust me on this."
"You're starting to worry me, Nat," said Steve as he lowered his voice. Bucky was too engrossed by the colored television set to pay him any attention.
"Just get over here and don't bring Bucky," she said before ending the call.
Steve stared down at the phone for a few seconds before he slid it into his pocket and grabbed his wallet off his nightstand. Whatever Natasha wanted to tell him, it didn't sound good.
"I just got a call from Natasha," said Steve. "I'm going to meet up with her."
"Okay," he said not even sparing him a glance as he watched the competition. Steve could tell that Bucky was not in a particularly social mood today, which was sometimes the case with him.
"There's money on the counter, feel free to order take out," said Steve as he walked out the door.
Steve was in a relatively decent mood as he drove through the city on his motorcycle, although he couldn't help the pit that beginning to form in his stomach. He had no idea what was in those files from Ukraine, he just hoped it wouldn't be too bad.
Natasha was waiting for him outside the newly appointed Shield headquarters. She looked serious as she stared at him with her shades on and her hands shoved in her leather coat, a slight frown on her face.
"What did you find?" he asked as she led him into the building and into an isolated wardroom. As soon as the door was shut she handed him a stack of files that were written in Russian.
"Natasha-?" he looked down at the files before looking back up at her. He knew how to speak a little Russian, but reading it was a different story.
"We found information pertaining to the Winter Soldier in the files brought back from the last mission," said Natasha as she sat down opposite of the Captain. "Those files were found in an abandoned base just outside of Kiev."
Steve stared down at the foreign writing with dread and confusion as he tried to interpret the symbols.
"It means Little Winter," said Natasha upon seeing Steve's perplexed face.
Confusion spread over Steve's features as he opened up the file only to find an old and faded picture of an infant. Something clicked in Steve followed by a sick feeling, he prayed to God it wasn't what he thought it was.
"Hydra wanted to recreate Bucky's serum," began Natasha. "Originally, they had wanted to make a clone, but that didn't pan out. So they turned to more traditional methods."
The more she talked the more Steve wanted to retch as he stared down at the red-face newborn in the picture and traced his finger over the tiny face.
This kid belonged to the Winter Soldier. Bucky had a kid that was created by Hydra and he didn't even know it.
"When?" he asked hoarsely as he pried his eyes away from the photo.
"She was born on February 18, 2000," replied Natasha.
Steve was positive that if Bucky had known he would've remembered by now, which meant that he had absolutely no idea that he had a kid out there somewhere.
"He doesn't know," said Steve, more to himself than to her.
She shook her head, "no, he wouldn't have known. Everything about it was pretty secretive from the looks of it."
Steve was only half-listening to her as he stared down at the photo, etching every little detail of it into his memory. He felt utterly sick.
"How many?" he asked, afraid of what the answer would be.
"The experiment was a failure. She was the only birth that resulted from the project, not counting the clones."
That was a relief to hear that there wasn't an entire army of super-soldier children running around. That was not something that Steve ever wanted to have to deal with, ever.
Just one. Just one kid. That was all.
"How was it a failure?"
"She was born with no trace of the serum, but Hydra apparently had decided to keep her instead of disposing of her. I guess they thought she might prove handy in the future."
Steve was angered by the whole situation. Hydra had violated his friend and took something important from him, and this little girl had been nothing but an experiment in their eyes. Was she ever been shown love? Was she even alive? What would Bucky think? All these questions nagged at Steve as he continued to stare down at the infant.
Of course, she wouldn't be an infant anymore, would she? She'd be a teenager now.
"We have to find her," he said sternly. He had to find his best friends daughter; he had to save her.
"We'll try our best to locate her, Steve," said Natasha.
"Not try, we will find her."
"There's no guarantee that she's even alive, and if she is we have no idea where she is or what condition she's in."
"You know that once Buck knows he's not going to stop until she's found, right?" asked Steve.
At his words, Natasha's face grew solemn and stern as she stared back at him from across the table.
"You weren't going to tell him, were you?" asked Steve with an eerie calmness as he tried his best to control his anger.
"Steve-" began Natasha before Steve interrupted her.
"He deserves to know. You have no right to keep this from him," said Steve, his voice steadily rising with irritation.
"We will, but not right now," said Natasha. "He's in a delicate position right now and we can't afford to lose him again. Even his psychologist and his doctor agree that this sort of news would be upsetting to him and-"
"This isn't about you guys losing him, this is about her," said Steve as he set the photograph back on the table and pointed at it for emphasis. "His own flesh and blood who he has a right to know about."
Natasha said nothing as he shoved the picture back into the file before snatching up the rest of them and storming out of the conference room. For seventy years Bucky had been kept in the dark and Steve was damned if he was going have even more information kept from him, especially when it had to do with something personal like this.
Buck had a right to know, even if it was upsetting to him, he still had a right to know about her.
The files in his hand felt weighted and heavy and only served to remind Steve of his anger over the situation as he found himself making his way over to the gym. He really needed to blow off some steam before he went back home to face Bucky. He needed a distraction, a way to take his mind off the photograph in his pocket. And he knew the perfect way to do that.
He allowed himself to take his anger out on a punching bag. It was the distraction that he needed at that moment.
"Damn. What did the bag ever do to you?" asked Sam Wilson as he sauntered into the room, an exercise bag in his hands and a Nike water bottle in the other. Ever since he had officially become a Shield employee, he had been taking advantage of all the benefits and amenities that were offered to him, including the training rooms. Although they both still enjoyed their runs together through D.C. every now and then and at that point, Sam and Bucky were even starting to get along despite the fact that Bucky had totaled his car and had tried to kill him.
Steve huffed out as he stopped and reached for his water bottle taking a swig and wiping the sweat off his face.
"What's up man?" asked Sam as he dumped his bag on the bench.
"You know the files from Kiev?" asked Steve as he took his gloves off. "The ones that were decrypted?"
"Yeah, I heard about them. Why? You find anything in there about Bucky?"
"He has a daughter," was all Steve said as he reached into his pocket and handed it over to him before telling him the entire story start to finish hoping that he would be able to provide some wisdom on the subject, particularly how he was gonna tell Buck.
"That's messed up," said Sam once Steve was finished. "That's- that's just sick. And he has no idea?"
"No, if he had known he would've remembered by now," said Steve as he placed the picture back in the file. "That's not exactly something you can forget."
"No, no that's not really something I'd be able to ever forget either. I mean this is big, really big. What are you going to tell him?"
"Honestly? I have no idea," said Steve as he ran a hand through his already tousled hair. "I was hoping you could give me some insight."
Sam grinned despite himself, "you're just saying that because I was a counselor."
"And because you're my friend," replied Steve. "And I trust you."
Steve would have never been able to take down Hydra and find Bucky if it wasn't for Sam. He trusted him and he knew that Sam would always have his back, no matter what.
"I don't know either, Steve. At this point, you just gotta tell him and see if he remembers anything and go from there. It's not going to be easy, but just take it slow and see what happens."
"I don't think he's gonna take it well," said Steve.
"You don't know that for sure," replied Sam. "You won't know until you tell him."
"He's gonna want to find her," said Steve, his eyes drifting back to the files on the bench. "Even if he didn't want anything to do with her, he'd still want to get her out."
"That is a possibility and you can cross that bridge when you get to it, but right now, you should just focus on telling him. Once that's done with, you can figure out what your next move will be."
"I already know what my next move will be. I'm going to get her out of there," said Steve. "I know it won't be easy, but it's something I have to do. She may not want my help and she might be too far gone at this point to be saved, but I'm prepared to take that risk and I have a feeling that Bucky will too."
Steve scooped up the files from the bench before turning to look back at Sam once more, guilt flooding his features. "I know I have no right to ask you this-"
"You don't have to ask me, Steve. Of course, I'll help you find her. Nobody deserves this, let alone a child."
999
It was late by the time Steve got home, so he quietly made his way into the apartment not knowing if Bucky was already in bed or not. The television had been turned off and there was takeout sitting on the counter waiting for him. The dirty dishes in the sink let him know that Bucky had already eaten as he opened the brown bag and peered in at the contents.
"I got us Italian from that restaurant a few blocks down the street," said Bucky as he meandered into the kitchen, his hair dripping wet around his shoulders and his face cleanly shaven. "I got you eggplant parmigiana with spaghetti. Hope you don't mind."
"Nah, eggplant parm's good with me," said Steve as he began to unload the food. "What did you get?"
"Angel hair Pomodoro. It was actually pretty good."
"No tiramisu?" asked Steve with a grin as he opened up the carton. "I'm shocked you got Italian and didn't order any."
There was a moment of silence. Steve looked up from his food to see Bucky staring down at the brown paper bag, his metal hand twitching.
"I-I didn't realize I liked tiramisu," said Bucky with a frown, his eyebrows scrunched up as he tried to remember that far back. Steve hadn't realized before then that Bucky hadn't remembered his favorite dessert.
"Yeah, it was your favorite," said Steve. "Remember we used to go to Joe's and his ma would always make it fresh just for you?"
"I remember Joe," began Bucky, uncertainty flooding his features as he tried his hardest to remember. "He owned that restaurant down near the post office, didn't he?"
"Yeah, I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but we always just called it Joe's. You loved that place because they made the best-"
"-tiramisu in all of New York," finished Bucky, his eyes lighting up momentarily as the memories came flooding back. "I remember, my folks loved that place. We always went for my birthday."
"We used to go on dates there too. Remember when you tried to set me up with Marlene's friend from school?"
"And she tried to escape out the window but got stuck," said Bucky with a grin. "Marlene and I had to pull her out by her arms. I think her name was Georgann or something like that. She never talked to us again after that."
"I think she was too embarrassed," said Steve. He had been hurt at the time that his date had tried to escape out of the window only a few minutes after meeting him but looking back he now found the whole thing rather comical.
Bucky grinned at the memory as he opened the fridge and grabbed the orange juice before grabbing a glass, "you ever find out what happened to that place?"
"Joe and his ma had to close the restaurant a few years after the war. I think it's a Starbucks now."
Bucky shook his head as he poured the last of the OJ into the glass and took a swig, "I swear I saw three of those things just walking down the block. The coffee there isn't that good anyways and it's overpriced if you ask me."
"It's called inflation, Bucky. Everything to us is overpriced."
"Call me old fashioned, but I miss the days when you could buy a cup of coffee with a dime," said Bucky as he leaned back against the counter, his eyes zeroing in on the stack of files that Steve left on the counter. "What are those?"
Steve looked over at the files, his food forgotten about as he grabbed the stack in his hands. There were three files, but only one contained the information that was pertinent to the case. The rest contained only medical records for both the mother and the child as well as a detailed genetic sample taken from the infant that proved she did not inherit the effects of Zola's serum. Steve had taken the time to skim through everything after his talk with Sam, so he was familiar with everything in the files, which did not surmount to much.
"These are files that were recovered from Kiev a few days ago. Shield just got done decrypting them," said Steve as Bucky's eyes narrowed considerably.
"And—?" asked Bucky, his usually bright blue eyes darkening. "Did they find something?"
"I think you should take a look for yourself," said Steve as he held the files out for Bucky to grab. "You're not gonna like it, but you should know."
Bucky grabbed ahold of the files, his eyes lingering over the Russian words as he opened the first file only to find an old worn out photograph of an infant. The baby was swaddled, but its face was clearly visible as it looked up at the camera with grey milky eyes that almost all newborns had.
"Steve-?" began Bucky with a frown as he looked up at his friend, confusion written on his face. "What is this?"
"Read the file," was all Steve said.
Bucky frowned as he moved the photograph out of the way and began to read what was written on the file, a sinking feeling low in the pit of his stomach settled over him the more he read. His metal fingers tightened into a fist as he looked back at the photograph of the infant, who was apparently his daughter.
He wished he could say he was surprised, but he knew that Hydra had wanted to replicate Zola's serum and he knew that this was a reasonable and logical way to go about it.
"How many?" he asked, his voice low and gravelly as he tore his gaze away from the photograph.
"Just her."
"There has to be more," said Bucky with a frown. They probably had an entire army of super soldier kids by now.
"The project was considered a failure and permanently shut down when they found out that she didn't have your enhancements. Further research found that the serum that was given to you by Zola was not heritable. She's the only birth that resulted from the project."
Bucky nodded, relieved that she was the only one. He was also relieved to hear that the serum was not heritable. He was glad to hear that Zola's work and legacy would die with him.
"Is she alive?" he finally asked. He knew that there was a good chance that she was dead at that point. Hydra was capable of doing the unthinkable and they would logically try to cover up their dirty work any way they could, even if it meant tossing a pink bundle into the river.
"As far as we know," replied Steve. "She was moved shortly after her birth. She was supposed to be sent to Sokovia for training, but when the project turned out to be a failure, they decided to send her to the states."
"Where in the states?" pressed Bucky. Whether the girl was dead or not, Bucky knew he needed to find out more. And if she was alive, he knew he had a moral obligation to find her and get her out.
Steve shook his head, "we have no idea. Shield's trying to find out more information, but I don't know how much they will be able to find at this point."
Bucky nodded, his hand coming to rest over his mouth as he stared down at the file in his other hand. His gaze fell on the photograph once again, but he wasn't really looking as much as he was analyzing. He knew the implications this entire situation presented, but he wasn't exactly sure how to react to the news.
Hydra had created her without his knowledge or consent and they had stolen her from him. She was just another thing to be added to the list of all the things those bastards had stolen from him, and yet of all the things that had been taken from him, this one hurt the most.
"Steve I—" he began, uncertainty weighing him down as he tore his gaze away from the file, unable to look at it any more. He already had enough tortured memories to last him a lifetime at that point, he didn't need to be reminded of what he had lost anymore. He already knew that he wouldn't be getting any sleep that night, the baby in the picture all that he could think about. "I should've known they would've done something like this. They were obsessed with recreating the serum. All those tests and samples-"
His metal fist tightened, the mechanical whir all that he could hear as his mind traveled back to the laboratory where he had been kept. He remembered all the bodily samples they had taken from him while strapped down the chair, but his mind had been far too scrambled to make sense of it all. The memory itself was hazy, but Bucky remembered what they had taken from him that day. And know he knew what had happened with all those samples.
"I have to find her," he said after a few moments of deep, contemplative silence. His fists were still tight against his palm as he dared a glance back up at Steve. "I can't leave her with them, not now that I know."
"I know, Buck. We'll find her together," assured Steve.
Bucky nodded, although the movement felt mechanical as he grabbed the file off the counter, determined to find out everything there was to know about the project. That night he didn't sleep, he just held the picture in his hands as he stared blankly up at the ceiling. He was still trying to process everything in the file. He had so many questions and thoughts running through his head.
Where was she? What was her name? Did Hydra even give her a name? He wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't as a means of dehumanizing her, just as they had done to him. He had been nameless for the entirety of his stay with Hydra, he hadn't even known until he had escaped that he was known as the Winter Soldier. He had always just been an asset, nothing more and nothing less. But this girl? Did she have a name?
He read through the files, hoping to find a name. When he had found no mention of a name, he read through them once again, memorizing every little detail he could.
Things had finally been starting to look up for him. He had most of his memories back and he was free from Hydra. He thought that he now he would be able to heal and try to leave the past in the past, but just when Bucky started to believe that he could truly be free from Hydra, this popped up. And it made things just that much harder for him.
But Bucky knew how to overcome challenges and obstacles. It had been a necessity for him when he had been the Winter Soldier and if there was one thing that he knew how to do, it was strategize.
So, he started to formulate a plan.
It said she had been born in Kiev, at least that was something. There was only one base in Ukraine, and it had been cleared out by Shield, so that meant that she had been moved to another location, just like Steve said. But where in the states was she? Most Hydra operations within the US had already been weeded out, but that didn't mean there weren't more out there. And if she was moved to stateside, then there had to be some sort of documentation. Some sort of—
His gaze fell towards the names that were listed in the files.
Dr. Charles Levine, Natalia Andreyevna Tolbanov, Dr. Julian Bernotus, Dr. Sophia Hanssen, and Dr. Hinata Tanaka.
All these people had been scientists and doctors, and yet he didn't recognize any of the names listed. Although the name Charles Levine did sound familiar. He seemed to remember one of his caretakers back in the early seventies that also had the last name Levine, but he couldn't remember much else about the man. They could be the same person, or they could be related. It wasn't too far out of the realm of impossibility.
"Charles Levine," said Bucky the next morning as he plopped the file down in front of Steve, who had been in the middle of eating his cereal. "I had a caretaker back in the seventies who also had the name Levine."
"You think they're the same person?" asked Steve as he skimmed over the file.
"Or a relative," suggested Bucky as Steve shook his head.
"The name Levine's a fairly common name, Buck. You sure this isn't just a coincidence?"
"There is no such thing as coincidences with Hydra. Trust me, they're connected."
Steve sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, "so that's where we start?"
"Good of place as any," replied Bucky as he slumped into the opposite chair.
"I'll call Tony then."
AN: I wrote this story before Civil War came out so just imagine this story as an AU. Civil War never happened and Bucky has a daughter.