Chapter 26- Captured and Rescued

Yelizaveta was tossed none too gently into one van after being separated from Steve, Natasha, and Sam. Yelizaveta then felt a human and metal pair of arms lifting her up. Through a fuzzy, drugged haze she looked up into the slate-blue eyes of her father, Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier. He then pressed her face into his large chest and stroked her hair gently. She felt tears come to her eyes as he stroked her hair and kissed her through her hair and then placed a kiss on her forehead, the scruff on his face tickling her gently. Yelizaveta then found herself wrapping her arms around his waist and gripping huge handfuls of his battle jacket.

"Dad?" Yelizaveta whispered softly against his chest.

"Sleep, Elizabeth," her father's voice was as soothing as the gentle strokes to her hair and the soft kisses he kept putting on her forehead and through her hair. Elizabeth didn't need much prompting as she was already tired. She pressed her face deeper into her father's chest and was soon fast asleep. Her last conscious thought was that she loved Bucky and she never wanted to leave him again.

The Soldier carefully played with his daughter's hair while she slept so as not to wake her. Of course that was a silly thought as with this round of sedatives his daughter should sleep for a couple of hours. The tight embrace of sleep smoothed out her features, making her look almost like the small girl he remembered. When she had woken up during the battle, it had concerned him as it was too soon for her to be waking up., but as soon as Rumlow's STRIKE force had separated her from her friends and had returned her to him, she had fallen asleep in his arms, her fingers tangling in his jacket. She couldn't have remembered that she used to do this when he came back from missions and he remembered her enough to scoop her up into his arms. Of course the big difference was that when she got older she would kiss his cheeks and pet his scruff with her tiny hands before grabbing his jacket. But she wouldn't remember that part of their tradition. He was sorely tempted to let her use his shoulder as a pillow, but she would wake up with a sore neck and back that way. And the part of him that was his girl's father didn't want her uncomfortable. The Soldier then laid her head down on his knee and twisted his flesh hand into her soft hair and switched between playing with her hair and stroking her face, dark eyebrows, and ears.

The soldier winced as he felt the pain in his metal arm. The thing was connected to his nerve endings and when he ran his hand into the man's shield, his brain had felt the agony. Of course his brain also felt muddled when the man called him Bucky and his girl looked terrified. His daughter and her friend knew who he was and he felt like he had known the man at one point. When Elizabeth woke up, he would ask her who was the man he just fought. The van then stopped and the Solider looked up from his sleeping daughter to the door as it opened.

Rumlow then looked in. "The Captain and his friends escaped. I'm just checking to see if she's still here," Rumlow said, indicating Elizabeth. The Soldier felt his stomach tighten. This man was like Pierce and would kill Elizabeth without a second thought. He slid his metal arm under her head and absently stroked her shoulder with his metal fingers. Rumlow would have to kill him to get to Elizabeth.

"She won't escape on my watch," the Soldier said with a note of finality.

Rumlow shut the door and the Soldier laid his daughter's head back down on his lap. He gently cleaned a spot on her neck and pumped more sedative into her. The longer she was out, the longer she stayed away from Pierce and the chair. So his only option was to drug her every two or three hours. Of course Pierce could decide to wipe her while she was sleeping. She would scream in her sleep at the electrical agony rewriting her brain and erasing all her memories, but at this moment the Soldier could only hope that wasn't what Pierce had planned. "Sleep, Elizabeth," the Soldier ordered softly as he smoothed her furrowed forehead with his flesh hand and cupped her face gently. To his happiness she leaned her face into his hand and he stroked her face gently with his fingers and raised her slightly so he could kiss her forehead. The girl's mother had done the same thing too in the first days of her being captured. Diana had to admit that he had a soothing touch in his fingers when he stroked her face and hair after she had her mind wiped the third or fourth time in one day and then allowed him to kiss her. Hopefully, like her mother Elizabeth would accept his authority as her father. He hated the idea of having to punish her if she didn't. The Soldier then felt the van stop and the door opened again.

He slid his metal arm under his daughter's knees and his flesh arm around her shoulders and hoisted her up into his arms, her arms going around his neck in a semi-embrace and he carried her down the corridor to the cell they had placed him and Diana in.

Diana looked up as the door opened and her husband walked in with what looked like a young girl in his arms. "James, is that-" Diana started to ask as he laid her down on the pallet Diana had prepared for Elizabeth. Her question died in her throat. Even with her eyes closed, Diana could see that this was her daughter. Diana gently caressed her daughter's face and tears ran down her cheeks. Diana then looked up at James. "How long will she be asleep?" Diana asked.

"It should be awhile, doll. We'll have to keep her sedated until I know she's out of danger from Pierce and the chair," James said as he picked up her hand that wasn't stroking their daughter's face and he gently started to kiss the palm, the scruff on his face starting to tickle her hand. Her husband then winced.

"James, what's wrong?" Diana asked, taking her husband's face between her hands. Diana looked at her daughter before switching her attention to her husband. Elizabeth would sleep for awhile. James was hurting. His eyes had a pained look in them,

"They need to look at my arm. I hit a shield and the street with it," James said as she stroked his face. A spike of fear entered her heart.

"James, no! When you go to get examined, they wipe you and I die every time they do it. You don't remember me until I kiss you," Diana said, her tears spilling over her brown eyes.

"Of course, but I always do remember you. But my arm needs to be looked at and I need you to watch Elizabeth. If she wakes up, drug her again. Now be quiet like a good girl and kiss me goodbye," James said, pressing his lips to hers. Diana's eyes slid shut as James's mouth caressed her lips and she dug her fingers into his hair.

"I love you," Diana whispered softly as he kissed her lips, throat, nose, forehead, and eyelids.

"I love you too," James said as he kissed her forehead and eyelids again and then stood up.

"James, I wish you didn't have to do this," Diana said.

"Me too, doll, but I should be back soon," James said as he opened the door, He gave her one last lingering kiss and left the cell. Diana went back to her daughter and gently stroked her daughter's hair while she slept. It didn't take long to hear her husband's screams. Why HYDRA placed their cell next to the torture chamber Diana would never know.

Yelizaveta woke up groggily in what looked like a bank vault, She looked over to see a woman with long dark hair, stirring a pot of something that didn't seem to have a scent. As if she heard her, she turned to look at her. "Oh, baby, are you all right?" The woman asked, abandoning the pot and gripping her hands tightly.

"Where am I?" Yelizaveta asked as the woman released her hands and stroked her forehead tenderly.

"I honestly don't know, baby. Your father brought you in here 2 hours ago. He told me to look after you while you slept," the woman said, her gentle fingers feeling oddly comforting to her temples.

"Who are you?" Yelizaveta asked, her voice coming out heavy and sluggish.

" Детка это я, Мама, (Baby, it's me, Mom)" the woman said in Russian.

"Мама?" Yelizaveta asked as she drifted back to sleep, her mother's cool, soft hand smoothing her forehead.

Diana watched as Elizabeth fell asleep again. She hadn't noticed when Diana had pumped the sedative into her neck. But James had said that Pierce couldn't have their daughter hurt while she was sleeping, but Diana wouldn't put it past him. When James had come back after Pierce had given him his new mission, he had told her about Pierce mocking him with a glass of milk and how Pierce had murdered his housekeeper Renata with the gun James had left on the table. Pierce would torture a girl while she was sleeping. He and Karpov were alike in that regard. They had tortured and wiped James and then tortured her with the same serum that her husband had and wiped her mind until she had agreed to be James's wife and have his son or daughter. Whoever her family had been, she didn't remember them any more. She only knew her husband, his handlers, and HYDRA and if she did as she was told, when she was told, they would treat her well. By the time the wedding came she was totally subservient to James, due to the HYDRA programming, and doing everything he told her. If she refused any of his orders, then he was told he could beat her. Fortunately James had never raised a hand to her. She loved doing everything he told her and the thought of being disobedient never crossed her mind. Or if it had, she didn't remember. If he wanted to kiss her neck and he thought her hair was in the way, she would move her hair aside to give him access to her neck. It hadn't taken long for Diana to discover she loved and cherished James's kisses as much as he loved and cherished hers. It hadn't taken long for Diana to find out she was pregnant. Then when Elizabeth was born, Diana didn't know who was happier; herself or James. James obviously fussed more over his daughter than she did, always making sure his daughter was warm and fed. Now all she could hope for was that Elizabeth would stay alive and away from Pierce. James had ordered it and she always followed his orders first.

Steve sat in the van morosely. He could only hope that the Winter Soldier, who had once been his friend Bucky wouldn't harm Liz. Now he knew the girl was Bucky's daughter, he could have kicked himself for not seeing it. She had a lot of features that came from her grandmother Elizabeth Barnes and her aunt Rebecca. Of course she had Bucky's smile. Sometimes when she would do something reckless, a grin would cover her face and now Steve knew where he had seen it. On his friend Bucky Barnes's face when he was doing something crazy and reckless. Even her name said that his friend hadn't totally forgotten his family as his mother's name was Elizabeth and it was only fitting that Bucky would want his daughter to be named after her. He had noted the warm look on Bucky's face as his eyes locked with Liz's. He knew who she was and Natasha had said that Bucky had called her Elizabeth when he shot Natasha.

"They wouldn't hurt Vet, would they?" Natasha asked.

"Considering who the Winter Solider is and how he recognized her as his daughter, he wouldn't. Bucky loved children and couldn't wait to have one of his own. I just can't believe I didn't recognize her as his kid. She looks like his kid sister Rebecca did and his mother Elizabeth. That has to be how he named her. "Yelizaveta" is Russian for Elizabeth, right?" Steve looked to Natasha.

"Right. But are you sure the Soldier is your friend Barnes?" Natasha asked.

"I'm positive. He was my best friend and was like a brother. It was him. He looked right at me like he didn't even know me. He knew Liz, though. He looked at her and remembered. Whatever they did to him, couldn't take his memories of her. That must have broken his heart when they kidnapped his daughter," Steve said.

"How is that even possible? It was like 70 years ago that he was your friend," Sam asked.

"Zola. Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43. Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall they must have found him and Bucky and the woman they forced to be his wife had Liz and the serum passed into her," Steve said.

"None of that is your fault, Steve," Natasha said.

"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky. And I promised him long ago that if he had a family and something happened to him, I would take care of them. I didn't protect his kid at all," Steve said glumly. Sam then noticed the bullet wound in Natasha's shoulder and then the guards.

"We need to get a doctor here. If we don't put pressure on that wound, she's gonna bleed out here in the truck," Sam said, indicating Natasha with his chin. The guard next to Sam raised a stun stick and looked like he was going to hit Sam with it. Sam backed up and before anyone could blink the guard thrust the stick into the guard next to Steve and bashed him across the face with his arm. The guy collapsed as the guard started to remove his helmet, revealing Maria Hill.

"Ah. That thing was squeezing my brain. Who's this guy and where's Agent Markova?" Hill asked.

"We'll explain later. We got to get out of here first," Steve said with finality. If they got out they could figure out how to stop HYDRA and rescue Bucky and Liz.