Chapter Text
The Soldier followed it's handler through the halls till they came to a small room. It was the brightest and softest room the Soldiers could remember seeing and in the middle was a small child no older than three playing with some blocks.
"Meet your child." It's handler said.
The Soldiers eyes narrowed slightly as it took a step into the room, the small child blinked as it approaches.
"Are you my papa?" The small child asked.
The Soldier blinked as it crouched in front of the child, something tickled the back of its brain as it examined the child's features. Those that didn't belong to the asset brought back memories of a viscous red haired woman. A pain pit formed in the Soldiers torso as the small child's eyes examined its own with too much intensity for a child their age, it didn't know where that knowledge came from but it felt truer than anything the soldier could remember.
"Are you going to take me home?" The child asked.
The Soldiers eyes felt red hot as the child questioned them again.
"Take the asset away." It's handler called seconds before it felt hands on its shoulder pulling it back.
The soldier tried to commit the small child to memory as it was shepherded from the child's room. It didn't have faith that it would recall the small child, its small child.
*
Eight year old Y/n stood in the training room for their first session of training, training against an opponent instead of a dummy. Their fingers ghosted across the weapons that lined the walls, the quarterstaff was alluring but not nearly deadly enough for a child of Hydra. Their fingers froze as the door opened behind them, they clasped their hands behind their back as they turned to face their trainer.
It was their Papa strode into the room. Y/n could just about remember the pain and sadness in their Papa's eyes as he was dragged away from them, but his eyes had changed. What once held caution, sadness and pain were now cold, unfeeling and dead. Not the eyes that their Papa had.
They ducked as their Papa swung at them with a dagger, they spun towards the weapons table and grabbed the quarterstaff and brought it under their Papa's wrist knocking the dagger away from them.
" Good instinct ." Their Papa said cooly in Russian. " But you will need more than instinct ."
The only thing that stopped Y/n from ending the session in tears was the fact Hydra had beaten it out of them years ago and the simmering anger at what the organisation had done to their Papa. The lasting thoughts that ran through Y/n's mind as a doctor assessed their injuries was that they'd never make it easy on them.
*
14 year old Y/n laughed and spit blood from their mouth as one of the agents managed to land a hit on them, they grinned as they turned back to the agent. The agent backed up a few feet as Y/n ran towards them with a blade drawn, Y/n leaped from the floor and brought their knee into the agent's face, knocking them back against the wall. Y/n then brought the blade down into the agent's gut and twisted before slicing across their stomach, spilling the agent's gut onto the floor.
"That's enough, Y/n." The handler called. Y/n let the body of the agent fall to the floor as they stepped towards the handler and cleaned the blade. The handler smiled as they grabbed them by the back of the neck, they grinned as their head was tilted back by the handler. “You’ll be going away for some special training for some time.”
Y/n’s face remained neutral as the handler stabbed a needle into their neck, their eyes fluttered closed over the next few seconds.
*
The 14 year old tried not to cry and scream as the scientists tugged at their brainstem, the drugs they’d injected them with earlier had burnt out any desire to fight them. Not that they could if they tried. They’d still been unconscious then the scientists had got their hands on them and been able to restrain them and temporarily paralyse them from the neck down. They could still feel the pain though.
“Reduce the paralytic.” One of the scientists said.
Y/n grinned to themselves as they felt the drug flow being reduced, the restraints wouldn’t hold them.
“Don’t move.” The scientist said as they tapped on a tablet.
Y/n’s grin faded as they tried to flex against the restraints and their body didn’t respond. They cried out as they tried to tug their arms free.
“Good. Very good.” The scientist muttered. “Hold out two fingers.” They instructed as they tapped on their tablet. Y/n tried to fight the instruction but soon held out two fingers for the scientist. “Very good.” The scientist muttered. “We’ve just got to suppress their mind now. Please continue Hans.”
*
The 16 year old stood in front of the handlers in their black tactical gear, their hands clasped behind their back as they awaited orders.
“We’ve a mission for you.” The handler said as they threw a picture on the table between them and the Winter Soldier's child. “A deserter. We want you to bring them in along with any information they may have. We believe they have some kind of chemical weapon we need.”
Y/n could detect the lie, whatever the deserter has wouldn’t be a chemical weapon but would look like one. But it wasn’t their place to think about such things. Or anything. Their handler didn’t ask them to do anything other than kill or kidnap. They closely examined the picture as the handler presented the rest of the information to them before nodding and gathering their weapons.
*
They stared through the scope at their target as she flitted about the safe house she was in, not safe enough to escape their grasp. They watched as she grabbed a secure black case before heading out of the apartment. Y/n could only assume that was the chemical weapon, if they were wrong they could soon search the apartment after dealing with the deserter. The 16 year old stood and slung the sniper rifle over their shoulder as they made their way across the rooftops. They smiled to themselves as they watched the ex-widow travel the 4th exit route they favoured.
Y/n followed their path via the rooftops till the target found themselves in an unpopulate alley. They dropped down from the roof, landing lightly on the balls of their feet thanks to the serum from their parents. The target tensed at the shift in the air, Y/n gave a feral grin as the target turn to face them before striking them in the face. The handlers would scold them for toying with their prey but it had been too long since they’d had a solo mission.
Y/n’s head snapped to the side as the former widow caught them off guard with a swipe to the face with the armoured box. They spit blood to the ground before turning to face their opponent, they gave her a feral blood soaked grin before pulling a blade from their hip and slicing at her arm making her drop the black case. The case opened revealing a set of red vials nestled in foam.
The woman hissed in pain before kicking at Y/n’s side. Y/n wrapped their arm under the womans knee before pushing against her and slamming her into the floor hard making her loose her breath. The woman scrambled madly at the case as Y/n pinned her to the floor before wrapping her fingers around a vial and bringing it up to spray in Y/n’s face.
Y/n scrambled to the side as they coughed and spluttered, blood spraying from their mouth a long with the dust that had been sprayed at them. They scrubbed at their eyes roughly as their mind cleared from the control, their stomach rolled as suppressed feelings about what they’d done surfaced.
“What did you do?” They asked between coughs. “What have you done to me?”
“I’ve freed you.” The ex-widow said breathlessly.
“Freed me?” They asked as they sat back on their heels. “More like condemned me.”
“I’m sorry.” She said.
“No you’re not.”
“No I’m not.”
Y/n checked the time quickly. “My rendezvous is in three hours. You’ll want to be long gone by then.”
The widow nodded before rolling to her side and grabbing the case, she hesitated for a few seconds before running from her would be killer.
Y/n let the ex-widow put a lot of distance between them before they dug the tracker from their leg and ran from the city themselves. Hydra never really got close enough to them for them to worry but that didn’t mean they stopped moving. Once they felt comfortable enough that their trail was confused enough they started the search for their father, he’d gained his freedom when Shield fell and Y/n could only assume he’d kept it or been put down.
They found him in Romania.
*
Their papa jumped as they grabbed his arm.
“Sorry.” They said quickly as they removed their hand. “Do you remember me?”
He examined their face as he turned to face them. “You’re Hydra.” He said cautiously, his hand clenched in a fist at his side.
“I was.” They answered before continuing quickly. “Much like how you were. But I had even less control than you did.” A lump formed in their throat as they looked at their fathers searching eyes. “They did to me what they did to the Widow’s after Romanoff’s escape. A former widow freed me.”
“There’s no former widows.” He said.
“There’s at least two.”
He looked at them for a few seconds, cataloguing the weapons they had on them. The few blades at their waist and wrist brought them comfort. He searched the area for a few moments before grabbing their arm and dragging them off the streets.
“Who are you?” He asked the 16 year old as they stood in the alley.
“I’m your kid.”
He startled and stumbled back from them, Y/n deflated slightly as their father recoiled from them. “I have a kid?”
“Yeah.” The answered with a hollow laugh. “You have a kid.”
“How old are you?” He asked.
“About 16.” They answered with a shrug as they leaned against the wall. “I couldn’t say for sure. We’ve met twice before. Once when I was three and once when I was about eight.”
He smiled slightly to himself. “I remember the first meeting, when you were about three. But only just. It’s more of a flash of a too smart toddler.”
“That’s me.” They answered with a grin. “I developed really fast because of the serums.”
“Serums? Who was your mom?”
Images of their redheaded mother flashed through their mind, the Black Widow. Y/n hoped she didn’t remember them because if she did remember them and didn’t come for them they weren’t sure they’d ever forgive her. All they wanted was family.
“It doesn’t matter.” They said with a shake of their head.
Their father opened their mouth to say something before snapping his mouth shut. “What’s your name?”
“Y/n.” They hesitated for a second. “Can I call you Papa?”
He choked up before nodding. “I’d like that.”
*
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