Chapter 2
Betty is a clever woman, and she reminds him of Becca all the time. She gives him a notebook and tells him to write down everything he knows about Hydra. She gives him maps of every continent, extremely detailed, and asks him to mark down the places he knows on it.
And while he’s writing things down and marking things on maps, she asks him questions. About what he remembers, about how he feels. She gives him advice.
“Ever heard of PTSD?” she asks, he shakes his head, making a note on the map.
“It’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder” she says, “A lot of people from the war have it. Or anyone who’s gone through trauma.”
“uhuh” he says absentmindedly.
“My son went to war” she tells him, “After the attacks, he enlisted. Did 3 tours before he got out.”
Bucky doesn’t look up. He knows about that war, he was always kept up to date with current events in case he needed it on a mission.
“After, he moved back in here. That was before he met Elena of course” she continues, “Only 25 years old – he would wake up screaming. Terrible nightmares.”
Bucky shuffles the papers around on the floor and frowns at them, listening to her.
“Little things would set him off, bring him right back to that awful place” she continued, “We had a movienight and decided to make popcorn. The sound of it sent him into a full blown panic attack. Have you ever had a panic attack?”
Bucky shakes his head.
“How about nightmares?” she asks, he thinks for a moment and then nods.
“About Hydra?” she asks, he nods again.
“Can you tell me about them?” she asks.
“I – it’s always the same” he says, “They come to get me back. Make me kill everyone I care about. Make me hurt Stevie.”
“You remember Steve?” she asks, he nods, “What do you remember?”
“He wore newspapers in his shoes because they were way too big” he says, a soft smile playing on his lips, “Couldn’t dance to save his life.”
“How did you meet?” she asks.
“School” he grins, “Little punk getting into fights. Some guy was bullying my little sister, and he jumped the guy to kick his ass. Beat me to it. Becca introduced us.”
“You got along”
“Hated leaving him behind when I was called for duty” he says, “almost as much as he hated being left behind.”
“Mom always told me you were inseparable” she says, Bucky smiles and puts down his pen.
“I’m finished” he says, “What now?”
“Okay – I had an idea – hear me out” she says, he nods, “We copy all your notes and we hand the copies over to the Avengers.”
“They’ll find me” he says, she shakes her head.
“Don’t underestimate us” she smiles, “We hand it over to Stevie. You add a note, a personal one. Tell him whatever you want. And I make sure he gets it without being able to track it back to you.”
“Yeah?” he asks, she nods.
“I promise.”
[…]
Steve doesn’t really know why he’s taking the elevator down to the lobby. The woman at the front desk insisted he’d come, but didn’t want to say much more than that. And since he hadn’t been outside in a while and bored out of his mind without any more leads on Bucky or Hydra, there wasn’t anything holding him back.
There’s a woman with long blonde hair waiting for him, a little girl with black hair in pigtails holding her hand.
“Hello Captain Rogers” she smiles, “Thank you so much for agreeing to meet me. I’m Elena, this is my daughter, Winnie.”
“Hello” he shakes her hand, frowning at the little girl who has the same curious expression as Becca used to get, “Nice to meet you. How can I help you?”
“Ah, well” she grins, “It’s more about how I can help you. I have a message for you!”
She lets go of the girl’s hand for a minute to take something out of her bag, the girl dutifully standing by her mother’s side.
“There you go” she says, handing him a brown paper envelope.
“What’s this” he frowns, not used to being handed paper anymore.
“It’s a gift” the little girl says, as her mother bends down to pick her up.
“A gift?” he smiles at the little girl, “From you?”
“No silly” she laughs, “I can’t write yet. Almost. I’m learning next year.”
“I have to go” she says, “read it. I’ll come back next week in case you have any questions. Please don’t try to find us.”
“What?” he stares, and she turns around and walks away. He stares at the envelope and opens it up carefully, peeking in to see what looks like maps and notes. He recognizes the handwriting that’s written on the inside of the envelope.
This is all I know. Destroy them, Stevie.
[…]
“So let me get this straight” Tony says, staring at the scattered documents on the table, “A woman shows up, asks for you, and hands you an envelope with in it detailed information about Hydra bases?”
“She had a kid with her” Steve adds, “I didn’t really expect her to hand me this kind of information.”
“A kid” he says, “Okay – Jarvis – security footage.”
The screens flash and the feed from that morning plays on the screen.
“Tell me when you see her, what time was it again?” Tony asks, Natasha is reading one of the documents from the envelope.
“It was about 10am” he says.
“Pulling up footage of 10am” Jarvis says, except, he doesn’t.
“What the fuck?” Tony stares, “No – that’s not possible.”
“What isn’t?” Natasha asks, looking up and then laughing, “Is that a loop?”
“Yeah” he nods, “Someone hacked me.”
“Her name was Elena” Steve says, “the girl was Winnie. Took me by surprise.”
“Why’s that?” Tony asks
“Wasn’t that the name of your friend’s ma?” Natasha asks, Steve nods.
“Looked like him too” he adds, “Same eyes.”
“You think he gathered the information and then gave it to his sister?”
“She’s dead” Steve says, “Died the year before I came back. Couldn’t find anything about kids – but I guess she did have a family.”
“What else did she tell you?” Tony asks, typing furiously on his computer.
“She told me not to look for her, that she’d be back next week if I had any questions” he says, “It’s from Bucky. That much I know.”
“How do you know?” Natasha asks, he pushes the envelope towards her and shows her the message, “Stevie…”
“We grew up together” he says, “This isn’t the Winter Soldier. It’s Bucky.”
[…]
Steve convinces them to check out one of the bases from the Intel they received. They prepare for two days, hit it the next one, and three days later it’s gone.
Tony holds a press conference, Steve insists, so that Bucky knows they listened. He mentions a new lead, a successful operation, and an ongoing investigation. He doesn’t mention that they’ve got a list of 80 possible Hydra bases to hit. He’s not an idiot.
It’s a week later when Elena shows up again, she’s alone this time. Tony joins him when Steve goes down.
“No kid this time?” Tony asks, the woman laughs.
“No, she has school today” she says, “Wasn’t planning to bring her last time, but I promised ma and my husband was running late to pick her up, so, you know.”
“Who are you?” Steve asks, frowning at her. She doesn’t look like Bucky.
“Elena, criminal defense lawyer” she says, “I’m here in case you have any questions.”
“Let’s go somewhere private” Tony says, leading them into a meeting room on the ground floor.
“Do you know where he is?” Steve asks as soon as the door closes behind them.
“Yes” she says.
“How did you bypass my security?” Tony asks.
“My father in law is a very clever man” she smiles, “Who can’t say no to his wife.”
“Sounds familiar” Steve mumbles, earning him a glare from Tony.
“How is he?” Steve asks.
“He’s healing” Elena says, “My mother in law, she’s a therapist. She’s helping him get better.”
“Why?” Tony asks.
“Haven’t you guessed yet?” Elena asks, looking at Steve.
“She’s Becca’s kid” Steve tells him, he’d figured it out a few days ago, but Elena confirms it now by nodding.
“Why doesn’t he just turn himself in?” Tony asks, “Since he was obviously brainwashed into murdering people and is clearly trying to help now?”
“Because you would kill him” the woman replies, staring straight at Tony.
“Why would I kill him?” he frowns, clearly not believing what this woman is claiming.
“Your parents” she says, “I’m so sorry. Your dad was transporting something Hydra wanted.”
“My parents died in an accident” Tony insists, a slight waver in his voice.
“I’m really sorry, Mister Stark” Elena tells him, “But they didn’t. The winter soldier was assigned to take them out. He told us there’s footage of it somewhere… in case you really needed to see it to believe it. I would advise you not to watch it. It’s at one of the bases from the list he gave you.”
“What base?” Steve asks, Elena shakes her head.
“I don’t know” she says.
“What does he remember?” Steve asks, “Has he said anything?”
“Ma has a lot of his old stuff” Elena says, “And your stuff, to be honest. Most of his returning memories are from before Hydra captured him.”
“He remembers me?” Steve asks, Elena nods.
“Yeah” she smiles, checking her watch, “Look, I’m really sorry, but I have to go.”
“Why would we just let you go?” Tony asks.
“Because I haven’t done anything wrong” she says, “And I’m not just a dumb little girl. I’m a lawyer. And I have to go pick up my kid.”
“We’re not gonna hold you here” Steve says, “Just – keep us updated on how he’s doing?”
“You’re just going to let her walk?” Tony crosses his arms, frowning at Steve, “She’s harboring a fugitive.”
“I’m not” she replies, “I never said he’s living with me. Of course he isn’t. I have a five year old at home and another on the way – I’m not an idiot.”
“Then where is he?” Tony asks.
“I don’t know” she lies, standing up, “I have to go now. I’ll see you again soon.”
She leaves the room, neither men tries to stop her.
[…]