Chapter 24
You’re breathing.
You know you are because of the sound of air filling your lungs through your nose and Natasha furiously typing beside you are the only two noises reaching your ears. There’s no other sound on the tower’s control room at 4 in the morning.
Lifting your gaze from your stubbornly trembling hands on your lap, you see the same devastation devouring your insides plastered on the expressions of every single occupant of the round table. Wanda, Vision, Thor and… Bucky. The incredible pain already consuming you pangs in your chest harder at the sight of him right in front of you. His hands are tightened against each other over the table as his head hang low and his locks hides his face from you. You keep your eyes on him as if this way you would make him somehow look back at you. You need to see it. If you can see hope in his eyes maybe … maybe it would be easier for you to hold on to it. You need to hold on to it. To anything…
Summer…
Your baby girl.
Your whole world.
“Fuck… Godammit!” Beside Bucky, Tony curses, working energetically on screens popping on the air, trying to fix FRIDAY - who has been hacked - while Natasha silently aims a furrowed stare at her laptop screen and types, searching for any clues of where your daughter might be.
By the way, every single one of you refuses to leave the room before any directions of where Summer might be. Sam and Steve are not there because they’re dealing with the necessary procedures to put Dr. Nadine into SHIELD’S custody and moving her kids to a safety program from the same organization.
After you, Bucky and the whole team almost put the entire building down and didn’t find Summer - the worst feeling you’ve ever felt in your life, as if some part of you, your own heart, dammit, had been taken away from you - the team brought every guest from the party and everyone that had something to do with you, Bucky and Summer back to the tower to be interrogated. Damn the late hour, damn with the inconvenience. Summer was missing, your little sun. The whole team’s little sun.
It took two words from Nat and just the sight of Wanda for Dr. Nadine to spill the beans. She confessed they had been blackmailing her. HYDRA. They threatened her two kids and, in exchange for their safety, she had been giving information to them. About Summer. As it turns out, despite the fact she had been telling you and Bucky there was no way to find out how the Serum would affect her yet, she knew it exactly. By following the development of her cells she knew Summer would grow with a super physical strength and abnormal brain activity, what would without doubt give her an unusual intelligence and heightened senses. She’s been telling this and everything about Summer’s health and routine to HYDRA and Zemo, as she also said she heard met him in one of her latest encounters with them.
It took every ounce of your strength for you to not just jump on her and strangle the doctor to death. As for Bucky, it took a God, a Super Soldier and an extraordinary being with an infinity stone on his forehead to hold him back. At some point you might even be able to understand her motives. Her family was in danger and it was HYDRA, after all, but she could have reached out for you, for SHIELD, anyone. You would have surely kept her and her family safe. But right now, you’re thankful Steve and Sam acted quickly on contacting Fury and arranging everything to take her far away from you. All you think about is to just rip her head off along with everyone else who even thought about touching Summer. You trusted her. You trusted her with your kid’s life, the biggest love of your life…Your baby. Your precious innocent baby has been in danger this whole time because of her.
The thud of the door opening makes you jump in your seat and you promptly stand up when Sam and Steve step into the room being followed closely by Sharon Carter. The harsh scowl on her face softens when her gaze crosses yours and she makes a beeline towards you, enveloping your body in a tight embrace.
“We’re gonna get her back, my friend,” She whispers softly in yours ear.
Your jaw clenches to hold back the sob threatening to come out and you hold her back harder. You haven’t cried yet, nor Bucky, and you don’t know you can stop if you start. But right now, you have time for none of that, you need to stand strong and focused to get your baby back.
“Do you have any news?” Thor and Tony ask in unison.
Stepping away from the embrace, you turn around to see everyone standing up like you, eyes trained on Sharon. Everyone but Bucky, who remains stoically staring down at his hands. You breathe in deeply, before focusing back on Sharon. You need anything she might have to tell you right now.
You and Sharon have been good friends ever since childhood, since your grandfather and her aunt, Peggy, were partners at SHIELD. Now, she’s the new Task Force Commander of the Joint Counter Terrorist Center, where Zemo was being kept. Her presence here means she has news about him and, therefore, about Summer.
She nods after the scowl comes back to her face and steps to the center of the table as everyone keeps their attention fixated on her. Even Tony and Nat stop what they are doing to listen to her. You heart beats in a frantic rhythm against your chest as, from her watch – courtesy of Tony Stark – an image pops up to the air with a male figure on it.
“This is Agent Ivan Reed. He used to be in charge of Zemo’s custody and, as we found out tonight, he’s also a HYDRA rat.” Her tone is bitter as her jaw clenches. “What we know so far is HYDRA has been communicating with Zemo through him and, with their help, Zemo has been putting together a new organization, a group, actually. They’ve been calling themselves Masters of Evil,” Sharon rolls her eyes and scoffs at the stupidity of the name. “We don’t know for sure yet, but it seems like there’s a few enhanced people among the group and, when they found out about Summer,” Her eyes drop to yours apologetically as her voice softens, “They reached out for her doctor and started threatening their family in exchange of information on her development and her routine, as you all already know.”
Yes, you already knew they were interested in Summer somehow, but listening to it again, how all this time your baby has been in danger punches the air out of your lungs. You glance at Bucky, but when he doesn’t show any sign to you, besides the clenched fists on the table, you turn back to Sharon.
“The idea was to build a new super soldier. One that would be raised and programmed entirely by them and therefore they could control completely. When the Doctor confirmed Bucky’s DNA would have the effect they expected on her, they decided her first birthday would create the proper distraction to,” Sharon pauses, taking in some air before continuing, “to take her.”
The sound of wood cracking makes you jump before you turn towards the sound and spot Bucky’s clenched fist deep into a whole on the table’s surface. This makes all heads snap to him, but no one says anything or move to his direction. No one dares to.
“Any idea of where they might’ve taken her?” You ask Sharon and, despite your efforts, your voice comes out shaky and you hate it. You fucking hate it as you brace yourself to keep standing up.
“This Ivan Reed, Lady Carter, has he said anything about the little Sun’s whereabouts? I can go and have a chat with him if you allow me so,” Lighting sparks run through Thor’s fingers as his thundering and dangerously low voice fills up the room.
“He’s a scumbag,” Sharon answers sharply, turning off the image coming out of her watch, “Believe me, nothing would give me more pleasure than arranging a chat between you two, Thor… but we tried everything. We really did,” She addresses a reassuring look at you, “It seems like… he really doesn’t know.” She shrugs as defeat sweeps into her voice.
A line of angry and frustrated curses resounds through the room as you keep silently looking at Sharon, as if pleading her for saying anything else that could give you hope.
“This group, these Masters of Evil, they’re a whole new organization, but HYDRA is backing them up. We’ve been monitoring HYDRA and we believed we had all their facilities down, but… they’re just fucking everywhere.” She stops and bites on her lips, a nervous tick she rarely lets slip, “But maybe… if someone who knows them, deeply, ….maybe… we…” Sharon tentatively tries to say but doesn’t finish.
She doesn’t have to as silence falls into the room. You know what she means, or else, you know who she means. You swallow, slowly nodding at yourself before you walk to Bucky, where he remained seated and quiet all this time. Getting close, you crouch beside him, supporting yourself with an arm over the table. You can see how hard he’s fighting to breathe as his chest move up and down. “Bucky… can you… can you think of a place where they might’ve taken her?”
It’s an unfair question. You know that. He’s been out of their grasp for so long and he was never really him when he was there. Not really. It’s unlikely he remembers anything, let alone something as specific as this. Besides, it’s completely unfair to put this incredibly heavy weight on his shoulders, but you must try. You just have to.
Without looking at you, he shakes his head no, “I don’t know.” He answers plainly and you finally hear his voice again after his outburst against Dr. Nadine.
“If they…” You lick your lips, “If they want her because of her enhancement, maybe they won’t hurt her.” You hold on to this thought, “They’ll probably keep her somewhere… somewhere they can… they can learn more about her.” The words come out in a struggle, “Think, Bucky, it might be a place you’ve been before…” You try, pleading with him, “It’s Summer… our baby daughter. We gotta bring her back, Bucky. We gotta protect her-”
“Don’t you think I know that?” He shouts and, as he snaps at your direction, his devastated pained expression startles you. The chair scratches against the floor with the force he uses to swiftly get up, making you stand up promptly, too. “It’s my daughter, my baby. Don’t you think I know it’s my job to protect her, a job I was terrible at, by the way? And no, I can’t think of a fucking place where they might’ve taken her.” He storms out as fast and as he blurts his words out.
You keep staring at the door he had just slammed, the loud thud cutting through the dead silence that has taken over the room. You’re lost. You’re completely lost. When you move to go after him, Steve gently puts a hand on your arm,
“Let me,” His tightens his lips at you.
You don’t have the strength to disagree and after he leaves, your legs finally crumble making your body drop to the nearest chair. You can’t hold back anymore and the loud sobs start to slip out of you in a violent rush. You don’t want to cry, you don’t. You have succeeded in holding it back so far… What a useless mother you are who, instead of finding your daughter, just keep crying there sitting on a chair. How is that going to help your little baby. You need to be strong. You need to think clearly.
Gentle hands cover yours over your lap as Wanda and Sam kneel on each side of you.
“My baby, my little baby.” You sob, “What if she woke up, Wan? What if she’s scared because she can’t see me or Bucky. She doesn’t even have her little unicorn… she’ll be so scared.” Your vision is blurred with tears as you utter your voice out between loud sobs, “What if she’s hungry. I always nurse her as soon as she wakes up and I’m not there with her. What if they… what if they hurt her…”
“No, honey, that won’t happen,” Wanda holds your hand strongly and a wave, a peaceful feeling, rushes its way into your chest. But not enough to completely calm you down.
“You said it yourself, hurting her it’s not what they want.” Sam argues.
“What if I don’t get to find her? Oh my god,” Your stomach lurches and you let go of Sam’s hand to cover your mouth, holding back the strong will of throwing up at the mere thought.
“Hey, hey.” Tony crouches in front of you. “That’s not going to happen. Do you see this team over here.” Tony waves around and you then realize the concerned faces of the whole group hovering you. “We won’t stop before we get our little sun back. We may have fucked up by not seeing it coming,” Tony bites his cheek, you know he feels guilty because of FRIDAY being hacked. “But her aunts and uncles are the best in the galaxy and most importantly her momma and dada are the best. We’ll bring her back. No scratch on her. And I pity whoever comes between us.”
You take in a shuddering breath, trying to make your breathing even as you start to feel a bit better. He’s right. You know none of them will rest before Summer is safe. They all have been working non stop the whole night. They love her. Truly love her. And will do whatever it takes to bring her back. You only wish none of this were happening to your baby.
“Ok,” You nod as the weak sound comes out of your lips.
“Why don’t you go rest a bit, I can go with you.” Wanda offers.
“No,” You shake your head fast, “I’m gonna stay right here.”
You feel the comfort of Nat’s hand on your shoulder. “Honey, go. It’s been one hell of a night. We got this. Anything and we call you, right away. Just a few minutes.” She squeezes your shoulder, “Go wash your face, lay down a bit. It’s been too much… Just a few minutes - an hour tops- and you come back. We’re not going anywhere. Please.”
You ponder the thought for a minute. You actually haven’t been of much help so far, you need to get it together for you baby… all for her. Reluctantly, you agree. Just a bit and you’ll come back and you’ll find her.
~~~
After you wash your face and drink gallons of water, Wanda offers to prep an omelet for you. Having no strength in you to argue, you accept it even if the slight glance at food makes your stomach cold. As she works on the kitchen you go to Summer’s room.
The sight of the old unicorn – her favorite toy – forgotten on her crib brings tears to your eyes again. You take it in your hands and hold it strongly against your chest as you sit on an armchair. God, you hope she’s alright.
You hope Bucky is alright, too. You hope Steve was able to comfort him at least a little bit…
“Hey?”
As in line with your thought you turn at the voice to see him standing by the door. He seems agitated, alright, but you spot something in his eyes you’ve been dying to see the whole night. Hope.
“There might be a place.” He nods and licks his lips.
“Let’s go.” You don’t think twice before getting up from the chair and rushing towards the door. As you move to pass by him, he places his hand on your elbow.
“I’m sorry…” He says firmly, not averting his eyes for even a second, “For yelling, I…
“Don’t.” You say softly, shaking your head as his eyebrows furrow. “I know. I know.” You cover his hand on your elbow with yours. You do know. Only the two of you are able to understand the deep pain you’re both sharing now.
His sigh is deep and shaky before he gives you a tight smile.
“Come on.” You urge, not wanting to waste another second when you have the chance of saving your baby.
~~~
The team splits in two. You, Bucky, Steve and Wanda go on the smaller jet, as Thor, Tony, Sam and Vision go on the bigger one. Tony keeps working on FRIDAY on the way as Nat and Sharon stay behind, searching for new intel, in case Bucky’s lead is wrong and something else comes up.
Your heart pounds as you take a seat beside Bucky. You might be so close to finding her.
He watches as you place the little stuffed unicorn in your lap. Seconds after, his metal hand finds yours and you look at him as you let your fingers intertwine with his. That little sparkle of hope you saw in his eyes moments ago on Summer’s room grows into a fire in your chest. You’re together in this and you’re stronger. Stronger enough to go get your baby.
“We’re gonna bring her back.” You tell him, gripping on his hand for dear life. You always found the touch of the metal on his hand somehow reassuring. You always felt safe with it, because it’s him. Your rock, your strength. Your love. This time is no different.
“I know.” He nods, squeezing your hand back and allowing a small smile to form on his face, “There’s no other option.”
You believe him.
“There’s no other option.” You nod, smiling back at him.
~~~~
Ch. 25 coming soon.