Lost in the darkness
Try to find your way home
I want to embrace you
And never let you go
Almost hope you're in heaven
So no one can hurt your soul
Living in agony
'Cause I just do not know
Where you are
- "Somewhere" by Within Temptation
"ETA 5 minutes, Cap," Clint called from the cockpit of the Quinjet.
The coil of anxiety in Steve's gut twisted. It had been tightening more every minute since that terrible moment when he'd first learned about Project Legacy. But, just as he'd been doing since that moment, Steve shoved all of his anxiety down into a tiny ball deep inside. There was no time for worry. Right now, there were lives to save.
If any of the old Hydra bases in Siberia were what they were looking for, this was it. Tony's sensors were picking up a large pocket of heat in an area Bucky had pointed out, and Rhodey had found fresh tire tracks winding through the snow. They led to a large stone building built on a craggy precipice that could only be reached by a narrow switchback.
This was it. At last.
Pushing himself to his feet, Steve looked around and made sure all eyes were on him. "All right, let's go over the plan one more time." They'd been talking about little else since they'd set out in search of this base, but no one complained as he went over the details yet again.
"Tony and Rhodey, you're covering us from above. Make sure no one escapes." Both of them murmured their assent in his ear. "Nat, Clint, you two get in there first. Scope the place out, unlock the doors, hack into their comms if you can. Then focus on getting as many of their files as you can get your hands on. We'll need as much recent information as we can get." Clint kept his eyes forward, but Natasha looked over her shoulder and gave him a swift nod. "Wanda, Vision—you're going to attack head-on and draw fire away from our targets. Are you sure the two of you will be all right on your own? Should I send Sam with you?"
Wanda shared a glance with Vision, then said confidently, "We can handle it."
Steve nodded in satisfaction, buckling his helmet into place. "Bucky, Sam, and I will focus on getting the...prisoners." He stumbled over the word, unable to say 'children.' Even thinking it made him lose his train of thought.
He looked around at the other Avengers. Eight of the strongest and most talented people on the earth. This time they had gathered together, not just to save the world, but to help him find a handful of children. They were all watching him, as if waiting for him to give them one of his rousing speeches—something to stir the fire burning in them all and remind them of what they were fighting for.
For once, he couldn't find the right words to say. Instead, he just cleared his throat and said hoarsely, "Okay. Let's do this."
Clint set the Quinjet down at the base of a cliff a mile or two from the Hydra base, then he and Natasha set off for the first phase of the mission.
The minutes slid by as they waited for Clint and Natasha to scout out the best approach for the rest of them. Steve paced back and forth, from the dim interior of the Quinjet to the blazing white expanse of snow outside. It was a cold, clear day with almost no wind—the sky blue, almost cloudless, the snowy hillside sparkling in the sunlight. It looked much later in the afternoon than it actually was; they were so far north that the sun only peeked over the horizon for a few hours before ducking back out of sight.
It would almost be beautiful, if Steve didn't know the atrocities committed such a short distance away.
When Steve turned to pace back inside the Quinjet, he noticed Bucky sitting in the seat closest to the door, glancing out at the snow while checking over his weapons for what had to be the hundredth time. Bucky had been especially quiet since their conversation about what they might find in this base.
Steve didn't need to ask what he was thinking about. Or trying hard not to think about. Once all of this was over, there would be a lot to discuss. No matter what ended up happening.
"We're in," Natasha's voice muttered in their earpieces. "Come around from the south; there's only two guards on the wall."
"Right," Steve said briskly. "Locate the prisoners as soon as you can."
When Bucky got to his feet, Steve briefly put a hand on his shoulder. Bucky nodded. Following you.
They made it inside the base without anyone spotting them. Steve could hear distant yells and the chatter of gunfire from the other side of the building, as all the guards rushed to respond to whatever it was Wanda and Vision were doing over there.
Moving swiftly and silently, Steve led the way through the cold concrete hallways. Most of the rooms they passed were empty, thanks to the diversion, but the clock was ticking and they had a lot of ground to cover. This building was massive, and they didn't know yet if there were more levels underground.
"Cap," Clint muttered in his ear, "I'm looking at the security cams, and there's this big room with...yeah, those definitely look like cryo tanks."
Steve's heart pounded as they followed Clint's directions down a few hallways. Once they reached the double doors leading to the cryo room, Steve came to a halt, trying to listen for any sound other than their breathing. He glanced back at Bucky and Sam, who both had their weapons trained on the door. Steve raised his shield and threw the doors open, ready for anything.
Well...anything except for what they actually found.
The room was empty. No Hydra guards shooting at them. Nothing but a wall of cryo tanks opposite them, the blinking lights making it clear that these machines were being used. And this time, all five tanks were occupied. As Steve cautiously stepped closer, he could make out the features he'd seen in the files. Four men. One woman.
And each of them had a bullet hole through the forehead.
Cold air leaked out of the holes the bullets had punched through the glass of the tanks. Whoever had shot them hadn't even bothered shutting down the machines. They must have been in a great hurry to carry out these executions. A sense of foreboding hung over the silent room.
"The Winter Soldiers are dead," Steve announced to the others. "Hydra executed them."
"What?" Tony said. "Why would they—"
"Good, 'cause we've got another problem," Natasha cut in. "They've just given an order to round up the 'subjects.' They're taking care of loose ends."
With a curse, Steve broke into a run, heading back the way they'd come. "Where?"
"Medical wing. Other side of the courtyard. Take a right."
Steve barreled around the corner and ran right into a group of armed men. They had little time to do more than cry out in alarm before he smashed his shield into the nearest man's face. He heard shots ring out behind him, and in moments the entire group was on the ground.
He didn't slow down. Daylight spilled through an open door at the end of the hallway. Darting through it, he found himself in a courtyard that was open to the sky. There was no greenery in the courtyard, just crumbling concrete and drifts of snow.
He'd barely taken a step outside when gunshots cracked through the air. He ducked, raising his shield, and spotted several Hydra guards standing on top of the walls surrounding the courtyard.
"Go, I got this!" Sam cried, unfurling his wings for the first time as he ran through the door. The guns turned in his direction instead as Sam spiraled tightly through the air.
Steve and Bucky took advantage of this distraction, racing across the courtyard and through a door on the other side. Steve sped up. Every second this labyrinth delayed them was one less second Hydra's victims had to live.
When he saw that the hallway ended at a T, Steve glanced over at Bucky. "Split up?"
Bucky nodded. Steve went to the left, Bucky to the right.
As Steve rounded another corner, he heard someone shouting up ahead. "What do you mean, you can't find him? Where is J01?"
The frantic voice that responded sounded like it was coming from a radio. "J01 isn't in his cell, sir! I-I don't know where—"
"Then don't stand there stammering at me, find him! When I said 'terminate them all,' I meant all of them!"
Steve stepped through the door. He had only a moment to get his bearings. In that swift glance, he saw a tall, broad-shouldered man standing in a room that looked like a shooting range. Targets were set on the far wall, and a table stood next to a gun rack near the door. The man glanced up in alarm when Steve came through the doorway, and grabbed a pistol lying on the table.
The shield was already in the air by the time the man brought his hand up. It knocked his hand to the side as he fired, sending the bullet into the wall. Steve grabbed the shield as it bounced back towards him.
The man's grimace of pain turned into a feral grin. A birthmark stretched up his neck to his left cheek, almost like a claw. "Captain America," he spat. "Come to watch your children die? I'm afraid you're about to miss the grand finale."
Gritting his teeth, Steve charged forward. The man quickly raised the gun again, but Steve was already there, knocking the weapon away with his shield.
To the man's credit, he wasn't a bad fighter. He blocked Steve's first few blows and even got in a few of his own. But he wasn't enhanced. When Steve kicked the man's legs out from under him with all his might, a distinct crack echoed around the room and the man fell with a cry of pain. For good measure, Steve punched his face twice, until the man fell still.
He didn't waste time checking if the man was still breathing or not.
"Where you at, Cap?" Sam's voice asked. "Just got out of the courtyard."
"Go right," Steve said, throwing open door after door and checking each room as quickly as he could. "Meet up with Bucky. We need to find them now."
A kitchen filled with half-cleaned pots and pans. A room with two long tables and a huge map of the world on one wall. A bathroom with a communal shower. He felt like he was getting closer. He hoped he was getting closer. This appeared to be the living quarters, and that seemed a likely place to gather up a group of children.
Most of this portion of the base was deserted, but Steve ran into two guards down a long hallway lined with closed doors. The shield and a fist made short work of them, and Steve turned to the nearest door. It led to a tiny room, barely large enough to fit a narrow cot with a flat pillow and a threadbare grey blanket. No windows. Like a prison cell.
Steve checked all the other rooms down this hallway, but each was the same as the first. He made sure to check under the beds, but all of the rooms were empty. J01 isn't in his cell, that man had said. This was what he'd been talking about.
Get angry about it later, he told himself, continuing his desperate search. Around the next corner, he spotted another Hydra agent hastily opening each door, poking his head inside, and moving on to the next. Looking for something, just as Steve was.
Steve threw his shield at the man just as he looked over in alarm. The man stumbled backwards, stunned by the blow, and Steve reached him before he could recover. A knee in the stomach, two quick jabs, and the man lay still on the ground.
Steve glanced through the door the man had just opened, but ducked back out again. Could he assume this man had been looking for the same thing he was, and forego checking the rest of these rooms, or—
His mind screeched to a halt, as if someone had just tugged insistently at him. Something about that room...
He turned back and looked at the room more carefully, trying to figure out what detail was bugging him. It appeared to be an office of some sort—a cluttered desk, a swivel chair, several file cabinets, an ugly plastic potted plant...
The fake plant was too large to sit on the desk or one of the file cabinets, so it was on the floor. But normally you would put such a big plant in a corner out of the way. Not right in front of a file cabinet, making it impossible to open the drawers. And was it just his imagination, or were the leaves trembling ever so slightly?
Quietly, Steve stepped into the office and edged closer to the plant. There was a narrow gap between the file cabinet and the wall—much too small for a grown man, or even a teenager, to use as a hiding place. But maybe...just maybe...
"Hello?" he asked softly. "Is someone there?"
No answer.
He leaned down and pushed the plant to the side. And sure enough, scrunched up in the corner between the filing cabinet and the wall, with his knees pulled up to his chin, crouched a little boy.
Steve stared into this boy's round, terrified blue eyes, and...he knew him. It was the most surreal feeling he'd ever experienced. He'd never laid eyes on this boy before. Even the photograph taken two years ago didn't look much like him anymore. But Steve didn't have to hunt for family resemblance or compare him to his memory of that photo. He looked into this boy's eyes, and he knew immediately that this was his son.
His eyes were a clear blue. Like mine. His close-cropped hair was dark brown. Like Bucky's. His hands—so small—clenched around his knees, the knuckles gone white.
"Hey there," Steve murmured, dropping to one knee to meet the boy's eyes. "It's okay. Don't be scared. I'm here to rescue you."
The boy just stared mutely at him, apparently too scared to move.
Of course, just because Steve knew who this boy was, that didn't mean the kid knew who he was. And obviously, he wouldn't be hiding if he weren't scared of something. Maybe he'd gotten an inkling of what Hydra had in store for him, and had hidden for fear of his life.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Steve said gently. "You're safe now." He held out his free hand. "Why don't you come out?"
With a sharp intake of breath, the boy shuffled all the way back to the dusty corner of the wall, eyes darting between Steve's face and his outstretched hand.
"Okay, okay..." Steve retreated on his knees until he could sit with his back to the wall. Moving slowly and making sure the boy could see everything he was doing, Steve placed his shield on the floor, then took off his helmet and set it down next to the shield. After a moment's thought, he pulled out his earpiece, showed it to the boy, then set it down on the floor as well. He held up his hands to show they were empty, then settled cross-legged against the wall, keeping his hands on his knees.
The boy's big blue eyes followed every movement Steve made. His scrutiny was heart-breakingly similar to Winter's, back in the early days. Steve remembered how he had coaxed Winter back to the cabin with a plate of sandwiches. Somehow, that seemed much easier than the task ahead of him. Especially when, in the back of his mind, he was constantly aware of the other victims who might even now be...
No. Steve drew a deep breath, forcing the urgency from his mind. The boy was already terrified, and if Steve hurried him, it would only scare him further. This wasn't something he could rush. He had to trust that the others would be all right without him for a few minutes.
A sudden thought occurred to him, as he remembered what country they were in. "Do you speak English? Can you understand me?"
Slowly, the boy's head dipped in a single nod.
"Good," Steve said with an encouraging smile. "That's a relief. It would be pretty silly if I just kept talking and you couldn't understand a word I said, wouldn't it?"
The boy just blinked.
Undeterred, Steve asked, "How old are you?" When he got no response, he tapped his chin, pretending to think. "Are you...twenty-seven? Fifty-two? No, no, that's too old... Maybe you're sixteen?" He grinned, inviting the boy to share the joke.
The boy's brows knitted together in confusion. Then he slowly let go of one knee and raised four fingers.
"You're four?" Steve said in exaggerated surprise. "Such a big boy! Want to guess how old I am?" He beckoned to the boy, leaning forward and whispering conspiratorially, "Ninety-seven."
The boy scooted forward a few inches when Steve lowered his voice.
"Yeah, I'm older than I look, huh?" Steve chuckled, pretending not to notice. "It's hard for me to believe too. Hey—what's your name, anyway?"
The boy just looked at him.
"I'm Steve. Steven Rogers, but you can just call me Steve. What do they call you?"
The boy opened his mouth, and for the first time he heard his son's voice. "M28122011J01."
"That's a bit of a mouthful," Steve said, trying to keep his voice casual. "Don't they have something shorter to call you? You know, when they want to get your attention quickly?"
The kid just looked at him for a long moment, his face as solemn as it had been in the photo. "Boy."
It took all of Steve's willpower to keep the pain from showing on his face. "Well," he said quietly, "we'll have to change that, won't we? I'll have to think about it some more."
The boy's eyes strayed to the helmet and shield lying a few feet away. He glanced back and forth a few times, looking between Steve's face and the shield.
Steve forced a smile and pointed at the shield. "You like it? Looks pretty snazzy, doesn't it?"
Instead of answering, the boy just looked at him intently. "Are you Captain America?"
Steve hadn't expected a child raised by Hydra with no exposure to the outside world to know who he was. He doubted anyone in this base would be reading the comic books, anyway. But maybe this would make things a little simpler. "That's right," he said. "But you know, that's just my job. Under the helmet and the uniform...I'm not so different from you. Hey, have you realized? You have blue eyes—just like mine, see?"
The boy scooted forward a little more, as if to get a better look at Steve's eyes.
Steve's smile widened. "You have beautiful eyes, did you know that? Here, could you come into the light a little more? So I can see them better?"
He inched forward again, now sitting at the entrance of his little hiding place.
"There you are," Steve said with a chuckle. "Much better. I wanted to get a good look at you. Actually...I've been looking for you for a while now, and I'm really glad I found you. Know why?"
The boy said nothing.
"It's...well, I don't know how much sense this will make to you, but I...I'm actually your father. Do you...know what that means?"
As the boy looked steadily back at him, Steve suddenly wondered if he should have said that right away. It was a lot to take in. Maybe he should have waited till they were in a better location to talk about this. After they knew each other a little better.
"It means...I belong to you?"
Steve smiled weakly. "You belong with me. I have a responsibility to take care of you. I'm going to keep you safe, and make sure you're happy and healthy. I...I'm going to take you away from here, and you're going to come live with me now. I know that probably sounds a little scary—I mean, I'm a little scared too, to be honest."
The look of pure astonishment on the boy's face made Steve grin. "Yeah, adults can get scared too sometimes. But you know what? We'll figure it out. And I think—I know that if you live with me, you'll be happier than you would be if you stayed here." He drew a deep breath, wondering if any of his babble made sense to the kid. "You're my son, and I promise you now that I'll do everything in my power to take care of you. I'll do my best. Does that sound okay to you? Will you come live with me?"
Round blue eyes gazed into his. Inscrutable. Unreadable. All the boy said was, "Yes, sir."
"All right, then." Steve pushed himself to his feet, still trying to move with smooth, unthreatening motions so as not to frighten the boy. He strapped his shield and helmet back in place and stuck his earpiece back in.
As soon as he did, he heard Sam's voice. "...in, Cap. Cap, do you read me?"
"Sorry, I'm here," Steve said hastily. He stepped into the doorway of the little office again and checked to make sure the coast was clear in the hallway.
"You need to get here now." The ominous tone in Sam's voice made his heart sink down to his toes. "As fast as you can."
Steve glanced back at the boy, who stood with his back pressed to the wall, watching him. "On my way."
For my father and mother have forsaken me,
but the Lord will take me in.
- Psalm 27:10
Author's Note: So now you've met him—the boy on the cover! *tremulous smile* If this isn't the most pivotal chapter in the whole fic, it's certainly up in the top five—which kind of makes me laugh, because it's so tonally different from 95% of this fic. If you've read MMW, or really anything I've written at all, you'll know I don't focus on action very much. If you want cool action scenes, go watch the MCU! XD But I do hope I did okay in this chapter, showing the high stakes they're facing and not short-selling any of the Avengers. Just assume that everybody we don't see is being really cool off-screen :P
Much inspiration for the Hydra base was drawn from the opening of Age of Ultron, and I pulled a lot of inspiration from the movie Martian Child for Steve's first meeting with his son.
