No Right
Chapter 2-
No Right.
Steve couldn't remember ever seeing a child so motionless in all his years. The child was incredibly quiet and still.
The young boy was very timid, sitting curled up in the seat next to Steve in the back of the SUV. Agent Conner was driving them from the apartment to Stockdof, Germany where they would then take the Quin jet to the Lyon base.
It wasn’t the longest commute Steve had made for a mission but with a child along it might feel like it takes forever for the young boy.
“So Kid, any of the Adults around you ever called you by a different name?" Steve inquired. The child tilted his head, so he was able to look up at Steve, he shrugged his painfully thin shoulders.
"That’s ok... do you know how old you are?!" Any Info that Steve could gather would be helpful to the team working on the case, trying to find out why this child was of interest to a terra group that was mostly known for causing damages to government infrastructure and sending threats to political party members.
The child once again continued to stare at Steve before he held his hand up showing five tiny fingers.
“Five? Ok, so you are five years old?” Steve asked to confirm, the child nodded his head yes.
"That’s great buddy, thank you for answering me,” Steve said, the boy was very brave.
He was frightened and shy but the terror in his eyes faded away the longer he was with Steve and nothing bad had happened to him.
“You are being a very brave young man,” Steve told him, and with the small bit of praise a tiny smile formed on the boy’s mouth, making Steve quite pleased with his achievement, the child was relaxing ever so slowly.
"Do you remember where you lived before you were taken?" Steve had detected a tiny bit of an accent when he had spoken his two words. Hopefully, with more, he could guess at least the country the child was from
"Not taken,” the boy said much louder than he was probably intending going off the blush to his pale complexion.
"It's ok buddy, can you explain what you mean please?" Steve said puzzled if he wasn't taken then how did he end up with the terror cell?
"Uncle Vernon sold me for being an ungrateful freak," the child said on the verge of tears. Steve was shocked. Sold. a child, who the Hell sells a child?
"Your Uncle sold you?” Steve asked for clarification.
"Yes, to the bad guys." The child explained, Steve heard a British accent, so the UK was where he was more than likely from.
But why the hell would anyone sell a child to a horrible group of people?
How a British man got involved with a Romanian terrorist group was anyone’s guess at this stage. Stranger still was the unknown reason he sold his nephew to them.
"Kid if your uncle did that then he is a bad man," Steve said still in shock and trying to think of the best thing to say to a scared traumatized, abused child.
"No child is ungrateful, and no child is a Freak," Steve stated slowly and evenly trying his best not to let his anger show.
“Uncle Vernon said I’m an ungrateful Freak who is just as useless as my drunk deadbeat dad and whore of a mother.”
The child said almost like he was trying to excuse the horrible words that were clearly said to him repeatedly by his horrid relatives.
Steve felt bad for this child, to have a family that seemed to have not liked him for whatever reason was just deplorable and Steve was struggling with the knowledge he was gaining as the child painted a picture of what his family member was like.
"I work with the police, remember? " Steve said, the child nodded his head yes.
"Ok so I know bad people, I help catch bad guys, and your uncle sounds like a bad guy to me,” Steve said hoping the five-year-old would understand, he sat in silence blinking his too-big emerald eyes up at Steve.
"Even my Aunt Petunia and cousin Dudley?" he asked in a small unsure voice.
Steve took note of the names.
"Have they ever hurt you?" Steve asked.
"Uh-huh all the time, but no one ever believes me 'cause they say I’m a liar and a delinket..." the boy said.
Steve had to truly wonder about the boy’s home life and how he grew up for however long he was with the aunt and uncle, it sounded like they should never have been given custody of a child at all.
And why if they had custody of the boy, did they keep him and continue to treat him poorly, could have given him to another family, and even the government could have found something for him?
"Ok, I believe you kid," and Steve truly did, he had been trained to pick up on lies, and this kid couldn’t lie to save his life.
"Really?" the child asked in amazement.
Steve was probably the first to believe in him going off the wide hopeful look on the kid's face.
"Yes, I do,” Steve said honestly.
They sat in silence for a brief time, Steve giving the boy a moment to take in the fact that someone finally believed him.
Agent Connor had let him know they were 15 minutes out to their destination in Stockdof, it was times like this that Steve wished he could fly everywhere like Tony did, but he knew they needed the element of surprise upon entry on this mission. Not to mention the ability to transport more people from place to place.
Steve only wished he could make the trip quicker so the child could be at the French base and be treated and fed before long.
Steve even began to wonder just how the child was even still awake at this hour. Steve could only chalk it up to adrenalin and hoped the kid fell asleep on the Quin jet.
” Do you remember what happened the day that your uncle gave you to the other men?” Steve asked hoping the kid remembered.
"Sold me," the child corrected.
"Yes, sorry… do you remember much from that day?” Steve said. He was trying to make things easy on the kid, but Steve also had to make sure he didn’t lose any trust he had managed to get with his poor choice of words.
"Well, I was taking out of my cupboard and into the car,” Steve notices the words ‘his cupboard’ and wondered if it was normal for him to be left in one.
“Ok, was that unusual for a day for you?" he asked anticipating getting the answer he needed and hoping that these horrid people didn’t leave this child in a cupboard.
“Au-huh. I wasn't allowed in the car because I would contaminate it with my freakiness” The child explained.
Steve’s anger come back; these people sounded like a real piece of work. Steve was hoping he could find them himself to show them what he thought of their parenting style. A few rounds with Steve were sure to make the uncle regret it.
“Kid, you are not a freak, ok? You are just a child who should be loved and cared for, the Adults, your aunt, and uncle sound like freaks to me. They sound like they treated you badly and that's not normal, that's not Right ok, they had no right to treat you that way no matter what. I don't even know everything but I’m angry on your behalf, sounds like your aunt and uncle need to go to Jail.” Steve rambled.
He was almost panting after his rant; he had lost himself for a minute to the anger.
But he meant every word of it.
The child was just staring at Steve with unshed tears in his eyes, Steve knew what it was like being treated badly, being the underdog.
He was at least old enough to fight back and he had Bucky before the serum to go to and rely on, this child was all alone, So tiny and breakable.
"They had no Right" Steve whispered to no one in particular.
"No right," the child said as he let his tears fall.
The young boy suddenly crawled over the back seat and sat in Steve’s lap, wrapping his slight arms around the soldier as much as he could.
"No right," the boy said softly. Steve slowly wrapped the child in his arms and began running fingers through black unruly hair, lulling the quietly crying child to sleep.
-----------------------------------------
While the child slept, Steve and Conner quietly discussed what information they had gathered.
They both agreed that the kid’s relatives sounded like people of interest to Shield as well. Somehow the uncle at least had some contact with those in a Terrorist group and it needed to be investigated.
It wasn't long before they arrived at the airstrip housing the Shield Quin jet. Well, it was more of a small overgrown field with a hanger bay in it, but Shield was using it due to its low-key location.
As gently as Steve tried to be getting out of the car with a small child in his arms, he still couldn’t prevent waking the five-year-old.
"Where we?" the sleepy child asked with a wide big yawn.
He peered around at the new place, which was lit up with lots of big bright lights. Taking everything in that he could see. Steve was surprised the child was allowing him to continue to hold him as he was a virtual stranger still.
“We are going to go in the Jet now buddy, it will be a quick flight to one of our bases in France."
Steve said as he pointed out the jet they would be taking.
"Not in Britten?" The child asked seeming perplexed.
"No, we are currently in Germany, this Jet is fast so we will be in France before you know it," Steve told him.
The child continued to look around again, probably not wanting to miss anything, or perhaps not wanting to be surprised by an attack by the people around them, Steve pondered.
"That sign doesn’t say Germany! " The Five-year-old said. Steve turned to look to where the child was pointing, seeing a sign on the wall over a map, reading Stockdof district in big bold letters.
"You can read, can you Bud?" Steve asked, wondering what the child’s learning ability is.
Was it normal for a five-year-old or was it a bit advanced, Steve wondered? He had no friends or acquaintances that talked about their kids if they had any so Steve had nothing to compare it to.
“Had to learn, I needed to read the recipes of the Dursley's favorite meals, or I’d be punished for ruining good food," the child said very factually.
“You had to cook for your relatives?” Steve asked the tiny boy in shock. The more Steve found out the more he wanted to find these worthless people and punch their lights out.
Steve didn’t even think to question whether the child could be lying or exaggerating about this, just looking at the boy Steve could tell he wasn’t well taken care of, with healing bruised and skeleton thin, the boy hadn’t had a decent meal in his life.
The mistreatment had been going on for much longer than the week the Terra group had him that was for sure.
Steve mentally filed away the name the boy used for his relatives to use for later reporting.
“Yes, Freaks must earn their keep. " Was the boy's reply as if it was common knowledge.
“Remember what I said about that word, kid?" Steve asked hoping he could change the kid’s attitude about himself and not use hurtful words that his family had used towards him, for the boy to be repeating the words like this he must have heard them daily.
"It’s not a nice word.” Was the soft reply.
"That's right, it’s not a nice word. You shouldn't have been cooking for your family bud, that’s what adults are for, to look after children and provide for them and make sure they are safe." Steve explained.
The child was looking at him, peering into his blue eyes with his brilliant green ones to see if was being honest.
“Kids aren’t allowed to cook?" the boy asked. Head tilted to the side in a way Steve could only describe as cute.
"Kids can cook WITH the adults, to help them, maybe stir the bowl, crack the eggs… it's different for each family and child. Kids should not be cooking hot foods on their own." Steve stated.
he had settled into the Quin jet now but was unsure how he should buckle the child in for safety.
The seats were designed for adults, not children.
“I don't have to cook no more and get burnt by the grill or hot grease" he was asked.
"No buddy,” Steve replied while he began to strap the seat belt around himself and the child who would be fine sitting on his lap for the flight.
"Ready to go Captain?” Conner called from the pilot seat as he was finishing up his pre-flight checks.
“Are we ready buddy?" Steve asked the child who was once again looking around with his two big wide eyes.
"Ok" was the child’s response.
Steve grabbed a headset and tried his best to secure it to the child's head hoping it would dull the loud noise when the jet was started, before donning his own headset
“Ready Conner; let’s get back to base,” Steve replied through the headset speaker this time.
Being given all clear, Conner started up the Quin jet, and ran through his last checks, before taking off out of the hanger.
Once steady in the air he looked over his shoulder to see the wide beaming smile on the child's face. It looked like he was a fan of flying, Conner mused before he went back to focusing on the aircraft.
At least it wasn’t something else to fear he thought…