Of course, they were surprised by the birthmark on her side of the chest but went along with it for Tara is a sweet, inquisitive, cheerful, curious, and witty girl, truly going to grow into a beautiful woman one day with her dark brown hair, teal eyes, and flawless pale skin, next to the birthmark.
"Easy, Tara, take it easy!", Carl laughed as the little girl was very inquisitive about the forest that she was in. "Let her explore, Carl, there's nothing wrong with that.", Wendy said.
"I know, I just don't want her to get hurt, that's all.", Carl replied with a nod. Tara giggled as she looked down at a caterpillar on a plant, walking to smell the flowers, trying to feel the petals, smiling as she blinked, seeing a cobweb, searching for the spider, and shrugged as she kept going, finding ants moving across a log, and blinked as she pointed to a track, "Daddy! What this?".
Carl chuckled, looking down, and nodded, "Look at that, you found a rabbit track.", and Tara blinked, "Bunny hop?". Carl smiled, "That's right, rabbits and bunnies. From what it looks like, it's going to find some delicious berries or maybe some water, as it looked recent.".
Tara giggled, "I be a bunny!", hopping from place to place, with Wendy calling out, "Stay close, honey!", watching her as Carl squeezed her hand warmly, "Let her explore, Wendy love.", with a smile.
Wendy rolled her eyes, "Now you're using my words against me, Carl!", with a laugh as she playfully slapped his shoulder as they kept walking on. Tara kept hopping, giggling as she startled crickets, ladybugs, and even little lizards, mesmerized by the colors of the leaves on the trees, and the sound of the dead leaves crunching under her shoes.
As she startled a bird, watching it fly, she then tilted her head, hearing a faint noise in confusion and curiosity, and switched from hopping to skipping, to discover the sound, and as she got closer, she blinked in surprise as it wasn't a forest sound, but a town sound.
Tara heard babies in town, but a baby in a forest, that's not normal for her...Maybe there's other people walking with a stroller, and the baby is only seeking attention, but somehow for some reason, Tara doubts it as the people who is with her would have stopped the cries by now for, they're still going, and actually is sounding like not attention, but like upset and scared.
Tara followed the sound, hearing Carl and Wendy call after her, and as she turned around a tree, she saw the man and the baby, and Tara called out, "Mommy, Daddy! Somebody hurt!".
"What?", Carl asked as they walked over to her and found the baby and the man. "Oh, my God!", Wendy covered her mouth in shock. "Wendy... go back to the car... get help.", Carl said quickly.
"Are you sure you want me to leave?", Wendy asked as Carl nodded. "We can't all just simply leave, we might not find these two again.", Carl explained as Wendy nodded and turned around.
"I'll try to get paramedics here!", Wendy shouted as she headed back to their vehicle. Carl held Tara back, "Stay here, honey. I have to check on him and the baby.", and Tara nodded, "Baby been crying. Man not waking up.".
Carl nodded, "I know, I know. Stay there.", as he walked down to check, kneeling to check the man's pulse, seeing the tears and shivers of the baby, even if it's covered in autumn weather clothes, and exhaled, "Thank god you're alive...", noticing the knot on the head, "Crap, that's really fresh...", before reaching over to the baby.
"Hey, hey, little one, it's okay. I'm safe. I won't hurt you.", Carl slowly reassured the baby, and Susan cowered against her uncle's body, whimpering before her belly growled really loudly and painfully.
Carl winced, "Wow, you must be starving, little one. Come on, you must be cold. I'm warmer. I know, I know, you don't want to leave your dada.", and Susan sniffled, warily looking at Carl.
"Daddy's nice, baby. I promise!", Tara appeared besides Carl, and Susan blinked, seeing Tara besides Carl, and looked up at Bucky hesitantly before reaching out her hands to Carl who picked her up, smiling softly, "That's it, little one. Let's see here.", checking the back of her shirt, seeing Susan's name on the tag, "Sus-Susan. Is that your name, little one?".
Susan gurgled, babbling, and Tara replied, "She knows her name, Daddy.", and Carl looked down at Tara with a warm, grateful smile, "Yes, she does..Don't worry, we'll get your dada to a safe, warm place. I wonder what happened out here?".
Carl shook his head, "What on earth happened to you two...?". He looked at the man and was just stunned now that he looked closely. "Just like my Uncle Eddie...".
"Eddie?", Tara asked as Carl nodded. "His outfit... that's an old uniform from the war, the Second World War and all... pretty similar to my uncle's though. See that patch on his shoulder. 3rd Army, same army my uncle was in.", Carl explained. Tara wasn't getting most of it but at least got the uniform part.
"Eddie know man?", Tara asked. "Doubtful... ah, you're not old enough to truly understand right now.", Carl sighed.
Carl frowned, "Let's see, those army guys usually have dog tags, if he's going vintage, after all, there's many men who wants to be vintage as much as possible in case for Halloween or something.", leaning down to look even more closer, and pulled out the man's dog tags into view, reading carefully, "James Buchanan Barnes.".
Carl continued to look over the dog tags. The next of kin that was on it was a Steven Grant Rogers from New York City... on the other side of the country. "Jeez, this thing looks really real.", he was completely perplexed.
Susan gurgled, reaching for the dog tags, grabbing into the one who has the next of kin name, rubbing into it with a coo... Carl blinked softly, "Steven Grant Rogers.".
Susan cried like she missed him, babbling, the random memory of her daddy appearing in her mind, seeing his face of lush blonde hair and deep blue eyes looking at her tenderly and fatherly, with her mother holding her, with her beautiful medium brown eyes and rich brown hair, smiling warmly and motherly.
"Do you know this Steven?", Carl asked as she cooed again. "She does!", Tara cheered as Carl nodded.
"Perhaps... or maybe she just likes the sound of the name...", Carl rubbed his head. "Come on, Wendy... I hope you get here soon with help, there's a lot of questions that need some answering that I hope someone has.", with a sigh.
Tara piped up, "Susan be hungry.", and Carl nods, "Yes, she is, but I don't know where her mother is...She's too young on solids like you...She needs formula milk...I hope her mother did switch her once in a while on formula milk from her mother's milk...".
"Tooth!", Tara pointed as Carl noticed, "Oh, she's got one or two little ones coming in there... still not enough though... come on, Carl... think..."
Tara blinked, "Apple juice!", pointing to Carl's backpack. Susan babbled curiously, vaguely remembering that apple juice is good, but she has a feeling that she's too young as apple juice is sugary and all, not knowing that she is repressed to a normal age than she actually was in the other world.
Carl smiled bittersweetly, "Good idea, Tara, but it's too rich and too sugary for her. She's not a year old yet...She looks like at least 13 months old...".
"She needs something...", Tara gave a low whine as she was feeling worried for the little girl, not to mention the man that was still out cold.
"We'll find something, Tara, I promise.", Carl thought for a moment before it clicked. "Tara, check to see if we still have some milk...".
Tara dug into the backpack that Carl dropped on the ground and laughed happily as she pulled out a gas station milk bottle, "Found it, Daddy!", and Carl smiled, "Atta girl. Hold her, Tara. That's it, support her head like that.", before shaking the bottle, and removed the lid, looking into a pocket of the backpack for a suction nipple, and popped it on.
"Let's hope she likes it.", Carl spoke softly as he gave the bottle to Tara, "Easy, Tara. Be gentle.".
"Easy...", Tara whispered, thought it was mostly to Susan as the young baby quickly latched onto it and started to drink.
"Huh... guess whoever her mother is, she has already got her on normal milk..." Carl was very curious about this moment; this girl is just raising more and more questions.
Susan slowly felt safe as she gulped up her milk, realizing that she is in good hands, but she's still concerned about her uncle, a random memory appearing in her head about being tickled by him one evening with Bucky smiling at her, ruffling her hair with affection and love.
"Well, at least she'll be alright for now...", Carl sighed as he relaxed for a bit. "I hope this Barnes fellow wakes up soon and has some answers.".
They waited around for a few minutes before hearing a dog bark, and Carl heard footsteps as the dog kept barking, and looked up the slight slope to see a runner with a dog barking.
"Hey, everything alright?!", the runner called down, and Carl called back, "Mostly! My wife is getting help for this poor man and his little one. The baby is being fed after being so hungry for quite a long while.".
The runner nodded, "I can go to the entrance and wait, quiet, Rufus!", yanking on the dog's leash as he kept barking, turning up the volume, and Susan cried, refusing the bottle, frightened of the dog.
Tara gasped, "No cry, Susan!", scared of the dog as well, unknowing that the dog is smelling the fox-wolf inside Bucky, and between the cries and the furious barking and instinctively picking up the dog's scent, Bucky woke up, springing up into battle defense, turning into a huge fox-wolf, snarling at the dog as he covered Susan from sight, with the runner screaming and running for his life, pulling the dog away.
Carl instinctively protected Tara and Susan as the fox-wolf whirled around, staring at them, particularly Susan, and Bucky recognized Susan, whimpering as Susan remembered Bucky's canine form, reaching out for him as Bucky stalked closer and closer.
Carl shouted, "Don't you dare hurt my daughter or her!", as Bucky recognized the signs of a father, barely remembering his brother, Steve, shifting into a werewolf, with a crooning sigh, "I ain't going to hurt you, man. I want my niece back. Susie, are you okay?", looking relieved, reaching for Susan who cried happily for him, reaching for him at the same time.
Carl was completely stunned by what he was witnessing. This man waking up and turning into, what might as well have been a real-life werewolf before him. But the man was claiming the girl was his niece...
"I don't...", Carl pulled Susan back away from Bucky as he was just completely conflicted with the situation.
Bucky looked quite hurt yet understanding, "I know what this looks like. Please, Susan's part of my pack, my family...I promised my brother...Please, I need to see her. I was protecting her from a bad monster who was harming her. I need to know that she's safe. Susie knows me.".
Susan kept reaching out for him, whining and squirming even when Carl is pulling her away, and she is smiling at Bucky, and Carl frowned, seeing Susan clearly not scared of this werewolf, this uncle of hers, as Bucky slowly turned back to human, "See, I ain't scary to her. She never had been scared of me, think about it. She was on me all this time. I love Susan, and she loves me just like her parents...", reaching his hands out with a nonthreatening smile.
Suddenly, a net appeared, wrapping around Bucky even before he can touch Susan's hands, shouting in surprise and shock, people appearing out of nowhere, pulling Carl, Tara, and Susan away, with Susan screaming out in fright, crying out to Bucky, her hands reaching over Carl's arm, with Bucky shouting in angst, "Susan! Please! I am not a threat!", instinctively turning back into his werewolf form upon hearing Susan's cries of pain when one of the people pushed at Carl, "Susan! Don't hurt her! I promised my brother I'd bring her home! I promised! Susan!".
"Sir, please back off!", one of the black suited troops grabbed Carl and yanked him back. Carl once more was just stunned by all these sudden turns that he almost couldn't even comprehend; especially with Tara and Susan both screaming.
Bucky was angry, trying to get up, "Don't hurt her or them, they're innocent! I ain't leaving my niece! I promised her parents that I'd take Susan home! I need to get her home!", before howling out in pain as a dart hit him, and shouted as he looked back at the dart on his hip, and ripped the dart out, trying to destroy the net with his claws before blinking in confusion as blurry vision greeted him, moaning and grunting as he swayed, turning back to human, falling forward as he reached out, "Susan...I promised...Susie...", tears falling on his face, feeling like he failed his brother...his vision blacking out as Susan cried out for him, tears on her face as she tried to reach for him.
Carl took a deep breath as it all seemed to calm down fast, with the troops quickly taking the man away, leaving Carl and the girls alone with one other man.
"Are you alright?", the man asked him. He was different from the troops, as he looked more like one of the federal agents he had seen in movies, all dressed sharp in a black suit.
"Uh... I think so...", Carl replied, and the man quickly flashed a light into his face. "Ah! What's that for?!", blinking his eyes. "Sir, you're currently under some hallucinogenic, you understand?", the agent explained.
"What? But I don't...", Carl started to say. "You don't, but the man we just apprehended drugged you.", the agent said.
Carl widened his eyes, "So, he was faking about being hurt?", with a frown. "No, he was hurt... by us. We lost him for a bit.", the agent explained. "The man is a killer. Clearly, he was using drugs to disorient and confuse his victims and he took this girl from her family.". Carl was stunned to hear this.
"But... this girl... Susan...", Carl started to protest with a glance at Susan who is still crying and sniffling. "We're not sure about her at the moment. We believe he may have been holding this girl for a little while after kidnapping her from her parents whom he murdered.", the agent said.
Carl blinked, "Then the outfit was a disguise as it is Halloween next week, then?", with a glance at the disturbed spot. "Something along those lines, yes... it's some powerful stuff.", the agent nodded. "But he's apprehended now and won't bother anyone ever again.".
"And Susan here?", Carl asked softly. "Well, she'll have to probably be taken in by the state as there's no real next of kin for her as we know.", the agent said with a nod.
Carl frowned as he looked down at Susan in his arms, and glanced at Tara clenching his pant sleeve, "Susan knows us...I mean, we fed her with a milk bottle, and she warmed up to us...Is it possible to talk to the state that my wife and I can adopt her?".
The agent shrugged his shoulders, "I suppose that might be the best option. You'll obviously have to convince the social services that you can properly take care of her and such, but I doubt there would be too much trouble there.".
Carl nodded, and blinked in surprise as he remembered, "Wait, my wife, she had left to call for the paramedics. I should still take Susan to the hospital just to be safe.".
"You do what you must, sir. We'll get in touch with the services so we can hopefully make this all very easy. Again, I don't want you to feel like we're burdening you with the girl, it's your choice if you yourselves want to take care of her."
Tara piped up, "I be big sister. I love Susan!", and Susan gurgled softly as she kept sniffling. The flash never got to her as the Quantonium and the Serum was too strong against that, and she will keep remembering Bucky for some time before she starts to forget again, being only 13 months old, and as for Tara, she's only 2, and well, nightmares of a werewolf is easily explained if Halloween is next week.
Carl replied, "I think we can adopt her and take care of her, sir, but if I must compromise with the services, I can deal with a 6-month trial or something to prove to them that we can do it.".
The agent nodded, "I understand. Come on, let's head back to the parking lot. And don't worry, I have a ride myself. I think you had enough adventure, sir.".