The River.
Warren Barnes is being super, very, incredibly, remarkably well-behaved and patient at the moment. Because all he wants to do is to follow the others into battle, to try and save his papa and everyone else in the world, too, but instead, he sits alone on a little bridge, watching the fight from afar.
It's weird being away from the fight. Every other fight he's been around to see, Warren has been up front and center, despite how young he is. Usually, he is either attacking or being attacked, but this time, he has just as little control over what happens as every other bystander in Washington DC.
It's quite a frustrating feeling. He hadn't even considered before how it must feel to just sit and watch. To just watch as people fight, scream, and die around you. To just watch as the world could come crumbling down, either to its end or to bow down to some evil form of government. To just watch when you feel like you need to be in a panic. It's awful not to have control. It keeps putting this sick feeling in Warren's gut that he doesn't know how to get rid of.
A thousand things could go wrong.
Steve could get hurt, Sam could get hurt, Natasha could get hurt, Maria could get hurt. Any one of them could get hurt and Warren wouldn't even know until the others came back with broken frowns on their faces. Or, even worse, his papa could get killed.
Maybe Papa won't get free. That would be the worst thing. Maybe Papa would be alive, but they would lose, and he would have to go back to the people who hurt him. Maybe they will find Warren, too, and he will go back to spending his days locked alone in dark rooms, only being taken out when he's forced to do things he now knows for sure are terrible, terrible things. It would be worse, this time, because now Warren knows what the other side is. He knows what he will be missing if he has to go back to HYDRA. He knows the sunshine, even if it's sometimes overwhelmingly bright, and he knows real food, and he knows clean clothes. He knows friendship, and he knows trust, and he knows little pieces of love. He knows Natasha, and he knows Steve, and he knows Sam, and he knows Fury and Hill.
If Warren goes back, he may never get to see the friends he has made again. And if Papa goes back, he'll never get to see Steve again. And Warren is desperate for his papa to remember Steve. He wants to see him smile in the same way. He wants his papa to be happy, and Steve can make him happy. But Warren can't make sure of it unless he is there with them, helping them fight and helping them win. But he's not supposed to.
Not supposed to, not supposed to, not supposed to. Not allowed. Not safe. Not supposed to. Warren repeats the words in his mind as he rubs his eyes. Not supposed to. He has to stay here. It's safe here. He's out of the way here.
But if he went, he could help.
Warren could make sure his papa gets free, he could make sure he himself stays free, and he could make sure they win.
His heart beats quickly in his chest, like a little rabbit is thumping its foot on his sternum. It makes Warren feel all squirmy. It makes him want to go and help even more than he already wants to. It makes his muscles move without his brain properly telling them to and it makes him ignore the voices of Natasha and Steve in his head, telling him to stay where it's safe. His fear of going back overpowers his fear of getting hurt in his mind. He has to make sure he and his papa get free, so they can live, fully and freely, and they can be happy. He has to, he has to, he has to.
So, against everyone's wishes, Warren rushes to the other side of the bridge. Fury and his doctor are still tucked away inside the tunnels, and even if they do notice that Warren has disappeared from where he said he would be sitting on the bridge, Warren would already be too far gone for them to find him. Besides, Warren is very good at escaping. He knows how to slip away, how to run, and how to stay perfectly out of sight. Especially when only two people are there to watch him. When there are guards, like the guards of HYDRA, it's a bit more complicated. But this time, it takes basically no effort at all.
Before Warren knows it, he's in the forest that separates the city from the less busy and more secluded parts of DC. The fight is in the air at this point. A big cloud of smoke in the sky is what Warren uses as his guide. Follow the chaos and you will find the fight.
The air is hot and sticky and the overwhelm doesn't help. Warren feels dirty, both inside and out, and all he wants is his papa. It's been months since he's properly seen Papa. He's only seen the Winter Soldier, and that's not the same person. He wants his papa—his real papa—and he wants to be free with him.
He runs and he runs and he runs, and the closer he gets to the chaos, the louder everything is. The helicarrier is in the sky, but it's crashing, losing more and more control by the second, and when Warren gets to the edge of the woods, next to the river, a loud clanking emits from above. Warren's head snaps up as large, metal debris falls from the sky, splashing straight into the water.
And soon, something else falls.
Warren squints his eyes. Surrounded by metal, smoke, and ashes, a man dressed in blue falls straight down toward the water. The blue is a darker shade and the suit is somewhat damaged. There's a head of blond hair. Only when the body hits the water with a violent splash does Warren realize who it is.
Steve.
Warren's heart drops to his stomach and he gets that static feeling again. Steve has just fallen into the water and has yet to swim back up to the surface. That means that Steve is either unconscious or dead, and either way, it almost definitely means that he has lost the fight. It means that the Soldier has won. It means that Warren might have to go back to HYDRA.
The thought of that alone keeps Warren's heart racing and adrenaline pumping. He can't go back and his papa can't either. This is supposed to be the end of the pain, suffering, anger, and terror. This is supposed to be the beginning of freedom. How could Steve lose? He is Captain America. How could Captain America lose this fight?
Pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes, Warren tries to rub the image away. Maybe he's just imagining it. Maybe this is like a bad dream. But when Warren opens his eyes again, debris is still falling, though now a new figure is in the sky with it. Through a dark gray cloud of smoke, Warren can see a figure he can't not recognize.
It's his papa. A shiny metal arm, dark clothes, and a mop of brown hair on his head. That's Papa.
But he's not falling how Steve was falling. Papa—no, the Soldier—falls with intent. He falls skillfully and gracefully, and when he hits the water, he doesn't sink straight to the bottom. He comes back up and he takes a deep breath before dunking himself back under.
His shoes and socks all soaked and ruined, Warren stands at the very edge of the water, watching and trying to calm his heart. He pays no mind to the ripples of water that splash the lower half of his pants every few seconds. He's much too busy wondering what the Soldier is doing down there. Is he going to get Steve to bring him back to HYDRA? Will Steve be a prisoner, too? Or is the Soldier going to make sure the job is done? Maybe he simply has to bring Steve's body back to HYDRA, just so they can be sure he's dead. All of these are real possibilities, and every one of them makes Warren's head feel like a balloon about to pop.
The only person Warren has ever fully, properly been worried for is his papa. He loves his papa, he's always thought, but he also always thought that it was a rule that kids love their fathers. He didn't know that, with time, he could grow to love and care about anyone. But he's pretty sure he loves and cares about Steve, because if he didn't care, then he wouldn't feel so out of sorts at the thought of Steve being dead.
When the Winter Soldier resurfaces with Steve in his arm, Warren's eyes widen with relief and he scrambles back away from the shore. The Soldier is coming towards him. Warren can't risk being seen, because if the Soldier sees him, he'll take him back to HYDRA with him. At least if Warren is free, he could find Natasha and Agent Hill and Sam, and maybe they would be able to help. So Warren tucks himself away behind a tree and holds his breath, listening to the splashing water as the Soldier trudges toward the shore. The splashing soon turns into dragging. The Soldier is dragging Steve's body, it sounds like. But then there's a thud. A soft one. And a tired and sad sort of huff. Then it's just breathing.
Shouldn't the Soldier keep walking? Shouldn't he be dragging Steve back to HYDRA?
As carefully as he can, Warren peeks his head around the tree.
He sees his papa.
Not the Soldier.
Warren can tell the difference between the two simply by the body language. The Soldier's eyes would be colder, his body stiffer, and he most definitely wouldn't be taking a break in the middle of his mission. His papa is standing there with a bit of a horrified or distraught look on his face and his shoulders are slightly slouched down. All he's doing is staring at Steve.
Leaves crunch beneath Warren's sopping sneakers as he slowly steps out from behind the tree, and his papa's head snaps over to look at him with urgency. The moment he sees Warren, his face softens and he takes a step closer. "Ren," he breathes out.
Warren stares at him, his eyebrows pinched together. "Hi, Papa."
"You're okay," his papa says. It sounds more like a statement than a question, so Warren doesn't give any sort of answer. It's strange for James to see his son alive and well after going months without him. He wanted Warren to be free. He wanted him to get away. But, God, he missed him more than anything in the world.
"Is he?" Warren asks, breaking the thick silence. Papa's eyebrows raise in a questioning sort of way. "Okay," Warren clarifies. "Is he okay? Is he alive?"
James looks down at Steve once more, his heart twisting around in his chest. He tears his eyes away quickly. "Yes. He's alive." James steps further from Steve and reaches out for Warren's hand, which Warren takes without hesitation. And when James walks, Warren does, too.
"Where are we going?" Warren asks, turning his head back to watch as Steve's body gets smaller and smaller with each step.
"Somewhere else," James answers. Warren squeezes his hand without reason and James squeezes back. "Far away from here. As far as we can get."
"What about Steve?"
"What about Steve?"
Papa seems almost offended by the question, which surprises Warren. Warren thought his papa loved Steve. They were smiling together in the museum. The Papa in the museum wouldn't leave Steve behind like this. That makes only one thing apparent to Warren.
"You can't remember," he says with a frown.
"I remember you. That's all I need to remember," James tells him.
And to James, for right now at least, it feels truer than anything else he's ever said. All he needs is Warren, and he will figure out the rest as he goes. He doesn't need the people from his past. The people from his past will now know him as the Winter Soldier, and he has no idea if they understand or ever will understand. But Warren has always known James as himself. He's known him as Papa, and he knows that the Winter Soldier isn't who his papa wants to be. He knows that his papa is kind. He knows that his papa is good. He knows that the Soldier is someone else. James can't guarantee that anyone else in the world understands that. So all he needs is Warren.
Besides, having only Warren to worry about makes his next steps clearer. If it were just him, he would probably be spiraling. He wouldn't know what to do, whether that be to turn himself in or to hide himself away in some place no one would ever find him. But he has Warren. And Warren needs to live. Warren needs food, water, and a place to sleep. He needs to see things and to learn. He needs happiness, so all James has to do is give it to him.
They always used to talk about freedom, whenever they got the chance to talk at all. Warren didn't have a clue, at first, what he would even want out of freedom. He didn't know what he was missing. But his papa used to tell him stuff. He would tell him about the movies, about books, about different foods, and about music. Birds, flowers, stars, bugs, and squirrels. Warren always wanted to see them all. Now, James can show them to him.
All James has to do now is plan out his first steps, and the rest he will deal with later.
Well, to get as far away from here as possible, James first needs a car. Stealing one will be easy. It's the getting away with it part that might be hard. Food will be second. They will get in a car and drive as far as they can go without Warren complaining about being hungry, and then they'll make a stop. They will either dine and dash or rob some place—preferably a gas station chain that they see several of along the way, which would mean that it's a corporation and not some poor local's corner store. After that, they'll just keep driving until James inevitably needs a break to sleep. Hopefully, Warren won't find it too hard to get some rest in the backseat.
In the long run, maybe they'll find a boat that they can sneak onto to get them over to Europe or another continent. Trains might be good, too. Anything without too much security.
James is too busy making plans inside his head to notice the slight twitching of Warren's nose or the quivering of his chin. He doesn't notice the tears beginning to brim in Warren's eyes, either, until Warren makes the mistake of sniffling. The second James hears it, his footsteps pause and he looks down at Warren's face. The boy has a disconsolate look to him that makes James shutter.
He kneels down across from Warren and gently tucks his hair away from his shiny eyes. "Hey. What's wrong, buddy?" James asks softly. Warren looks down at the ground. "Why are you crying?"
"Я скучала по тебе. И я тоже буду скучать по ним," Warren whispers, the words coming out in a jumbled sort of murmur. I missed you. And I will miss them, too.
James' eyebrows furrow as he fights a frown. He almost wants to tell Warren to repeat it in English, but he decides against it for fear of discouraging Warren from saying anything more. James doesn't like hearing Warren speak in Russian very much. Because Russian is the language that Warren managed to figure out before any of the others, only due to the guards, scientists, and other HYDRA workers speaking to him only in Russian. His papa taught him English. He tends to speak Russian more when he's emotional—James doesn't know why—and English most other times.
It's just easier for James to secretly pretend, deep in his mind, that his son grew up more like he himself did in the 30s and less like a soldier, when Warren speaks English.
Instead of saying anything about the Russian, James clears his throat and gives a nod of understanding. "I know. But I'm here. And we're free now," he tells Warren, who still won't quite look back at him, "so we can do all of the things we talked about."
"But them," Warren says in a breathy voice.
"Maybe-" James cuts himself off and clenches his teeth. He hesitates to say what he is about to because he knows it might be a lie. He can't promise it. He might even actively try to avoid it. But it'll make Warren feel better, so James lies. "Maybe you'll see them again someday, Renny." He watches Warren wipe his cheeks with his sleeve, then gives him a soft—fake—smile before standing back up again. "Let's get out of here, now. Come on."
Warren nods and they keep walking, making sure to stay out of sight of any lurking eyes. Every couple of steps, James finds himself stealing quick glances at his son, bits and pieces of memories and feelings putting themselves back together in the puzzle that is his mind. Warren is his son—he remembers that instinctively this time, though he doesn't know why he remembers it. Sometimes he doesn't even recognize Warren. James wonders what makes this time different. Maybe it's the man he left aside the river only minutes ago. Maybe Steve did it. It doesn't make sense, really, but James is pretty sure he feels grateful for it. Still, though, Steve feels weird to think about.
Steve feels weird to think about because Steve is a stranger, but somehow James' friend at the same time. He managed to pull James out of HYDRA's control with only his words. He's important, somehow, and it's frustrating not to know why, but James is sure he'll figure it out as time goes on. Things always come back to him eventually, and now that he's free, he will have all the time in the world to try and figure it out.
On top of all that, it's weird to think that Warren knows Steve. That Warren has spent enough time with Steve, along with a few other people, to cry about leaving them behind. Warren might even know more about James' relationship with Steve than James himself does.
For now, though, James just needs to focus on getting Warren somewhere safe. So he pushes Steve into the very back of his mind and walks the slightest bit faster.