Chapter Text
In the stillness of the wild, the fox is a creature of instinct and intelligence. It moves with careful precision, guided by senses and a mind built for survival. Every sound matters, every movement is calculated. Adaptable and observant, the fox thrives where others might fail,
But not all threats come from the wild.
There are creatures far more dangerous than any predator. Those who do not hunt to survive, but instead want to control.
Humans and their cold curiosity and hunger for power, they see intelligence not as something to respect, but something to exploit.
“Domesticating foxes was the stupidest idea humans had ever thought of doing. But for Hydra, it was brilliant.” The video on the computer was static, horrible audio quality. “We went through 26 subjects, 26 different animals. But Project Z.0 was easy, foxes are naturally trusting animals. Give them food, that’s all it takes.”
The video shown on the old retro computer flipped, pointing to a small dog kennel like cage. A small fox, only 5 inches off the ground, cowered. Looking up at the camera with such fear, ears almost flat against its skull.
“There were three in the litter, two males and one female. Only one made it past the initial tests, the eldest. She’s our next successor” The video cut off abruptly, the computer hissing out some smoke as it dramatically powered down.
The silence in the facility was deafening. It was that silence where you could feel the misery, feel the pain and anger that went on here.
The walls of this office were plastered with files, painted with numbers. Some papers even littered the floor. It’s one of those places that was definitely off and hidden away from the government.
Hidden so deeply never to be seen again. Fortunately Steve Rogers was also hidden away from the government. Guess they had that in common.
He rummaged through the ipad that sat open on the side, finding a page of cameras. Cameras that looked old and the footage looked as if it was shot 100s of years ago.
“found her.” He pressed to his ear, hearing the faint crackle as his friend spoke back.
His own eyes almost dug into the cameras, the girl sitting in the corner of the cage. He couldn’t tell anything about her, not her height, hair colour.
Facilities had always creeped Steve out, the tight hallways. Dim but cold lighting, reminded him too much of the war, of where he was built.
They caught wind of Project Z.0 months ago, right before his fight with Tony in Siberia. Zemo had mentioned it, since then it clouded his mind. Natasha moved away for a while, Bucky was sent off to wakanda. So he and Sam searched, scavenged old files. Natasha returned every now and then, giving whatever updates she could on Project Z.0 before disappearing again.
This corridor was specifically tight and cramped, it made him feel uneasy as he kicked down a heavy metal door.
A slight noise was heard and some scattering before Steve’s eyes landed on the cage. A shackle around her ankle, chained to a wall with a leather collar strapped around her neck.
She had short fabric shorts on with a striped blue t-shirt. She sat with her knees pulled up to her chest, hands and arms cradled so tightly around herself. And her pigtails, bright orange and braided. Those pigtails mixed with her bright blue eyes, she didn’t look 15.
They didn’t know what they were expecting when they came upon her, if she was dangerous, if she was wild. But she didn’t look dangerous, she looked scared.
Sam gave him that knowing look, walking straight towards the cage. It almost made Steve sick with how skinny she was, a bruise right on her cheek under her eye.
Her gaze followed Sam, even as he broke the lock on the cage door. As he reached for the handle the girl continued watching, before her eyes shimmered her body forming and changing before a fox stood there instead.
Still with the same leather collar, still with the shackle around its foot. She made a sort of screeching sound as the door opened, tugging violently at her own shackle.
Sam stopped moving immediately, afraid he’d hurt her just with his presence. The fox lashed out, tugging and yipping almost like she was in pain before transforming back.
Standing at five foot five, she was cursing out in what Steve could only guess was Russian. She stopped tugging at her shackle, her eyes now clouded with anger and aggression.
“Alright, Alright.” Sam tried, raising his voice only slightly. “Are you hungry?” The girl stopped suddenly, still standing but she had a slight slouch. Her eyes studied the two of them, reading up and down their faces.
“We have some food back on our jet” Sam tried again and the girl still looked at them funny, Steve didn’t even know if she spoke English.
“Why don’t you come with us, we have a lot of food. New clothes” Steve stepped forward and the girl now fully looked towards him. The dim lighting was dark enough he couldn’t make out a lot of her facial features. “We aren’t with them”
Her next breath was shaky, almost as if thinking of how to speak. “everyone says that”
"At least she speaks English” Sam muttered and Steve nearly kicked him in the shin, instead gave him the eyes as a hint to get him to shut up. Steve crouched down, reaching for the chain and the girl yelled a string of words in russian before turning to sam.
“No.” She hissed, like she was attempting to translate russian to english. “No touch”
“Okay” Steve put his hands up, “Okay” He whispered, standing back up. “What’s your name?”
The girl stayed silent, looking at the chain, then the shackle. The way it rubbed her skin raw, her eyes drew back up to Steve.
“Collar” She said, pulling at the leather. Attempting to break the latch, “Stops the animal”
Steve’s eyebrows knitted together, confused by her attempt of addressing the problem in full sentences.
Sam seemed to also be trying to figure it out, “Stop the animal?” he questioned gently.
The girl nodded slowly, transforming into a fox before she yelped again. Standing tall again as a girl.
“Stop the animal” She whispered again, and it was like it clicked for the two of them. It was like a shock collar, sensing any sort of change in her body dynamic.
“I can take it off” Steve walked forward and the girl stepped back, clearly intimidated by the man’s build. “Can i?” He asked slowly, the girl nodded turning around cautiously trying her best to keep her eyes on the two.
Still clearly not totally trusting, even if she heard the snap of the clasp breaking, and the relief of the pressure being gone around her neck.
She scratched at it slightly, now kicking at the chain slightly. Sitting herself down, crossing her legs and tugging at her own chain. Grunting and whispering to herself as she pulled.
“Stupid strong strength” She finally said in whispered, Sam looked at Steve. The two nodding at each other as Sam approached, the less intimidating out of the two.
He crouched down in front of the girl, looking into her determined eyes. “Strong strength?” He asked, a slight grin to his face.
“Collar make strong strength weak.” She hummed informatively.
“Super strength.” Sam corrected and the girl looked up angrily, the three of them hearing the click of the shackle being snapped off of her ankle.
With her own bare hands.
“How about we get out of here?” Sam whispered, taking the small chance to look over her for any other wounds she may have. Slowly looking at Steve to confirm that their mission was complete.
“Fox has no home”
“That's your name? Fox?” Sam asked and the girl just climbed to her feet. Ignoring the question once again, her head turned around slightly.
Like she was bearing something everyone wasn’t.
“We didn’t really want a fox, smart yes. She has very good eyesight, excellent hearing too” A voice stood from the doorway, he was bleeding from the head. The girl had whispered something and Steve turned to give her a glance before looking back.
“Project Z.0 was brilliant. But we just didn’t expect her to be more than a fox.” He said it so casually, Sam automatically stepped in front of the girl. Acting as a shield.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Steve spoke up. The girl behind the two of them shouted angrily, Russian words spilling out a million miles a minute. The man sighed,
“I mean something went wrong in her transformation process.” And the girl kept shouting.
“Such a temper, and I really should’ve taught her English, don’t you think?” The man sighed, reaching into his pocket.
Sam stood and stared carefully, stepping back slightly so he stood next to the girl instead. Steve moved to stand in front, the girl seemed to stop talking when the man reached a remote out of his pocket.
“No!” She called out, but he pressed a button and the girl stumbled to the floor. Pressing her hands against her ears so hard she could’ve crushed her own skull.
“What is that?” Sam called out, slowly walking towards the man. Steve immediately crouched down next to the girl, who was mumbling russian words to herself and steve didn’t even know what he could do.
“Since she’s part fox her hearing is excellent, so good that she can hear a pitch even we can’t. It’s the perfect way to-“ The man stopped, eyes rolling back before he stumbled forward.
Leaving the very familiar red head with a constant solemn expression stood behind them with a bat in her hand. She was chewing gum too, she crouched down and grabbed the remote, unclicking whatever was clicked in the first place.
“God he’s so boring, just talks and talks and talks.” She rolls her eyes, looking at the two men. “Hey boys, fancy seeing you here.”
“Natasha, I'd like to say good to see you but. We kinda have a situation here” Steve stood up, the girl on the floor clearly noticed whatever noise she was hearing had stopped. She looked up, directly into the eyes of Natasha Ramonoff.
“Hey Matilda”
The girl, or Matilda, stood up aggressively. Pointing her finger in Natasha's face and began to very quickly and very angrily string out Russian sentences.
“Yeah that’s lovely, but I also speak Russian” Natasha sighed, folding her arms and Matilda just folded her arms mocking the woman.
“Matilda huh?” Steve walked over and stood next to Natasha, Sam eventually joining them. Matilda looked over at the three of them, stepping back slightly so she didn’t feel so small. “It’s a very pretty name”
“You are called Steve, Steve stupid name.” She commented and Sam couldn’t help but snort slightly, clearing his throat to hide it and Natasha just elbowed him in the stomach.
“Your english is a work in progress” Natasha commented.
“Stupid” Matilda bit again, furrowing her eyebrows and narrowing her blue eyes.
“Stupid or not, why don’t we get out of here. We have some food on our ship. We can help you” Steve said softly, so soft that if he looked closely the girl's eyes almost softened.
“Fox not need help” She said stubbornly.
“Foxes may not, but Matilda does” Natasha leant forward to be eye level with her and she looked harshly up at the woman.
“Sam, wanna help me move him?” She asked, standing back up straight.
By the time they had made it back to the jet, the hydra scientist was handcuffed and left outside. Nat had slipped a very quick message to Nick Fury about him, never mentioning anything about Matilda.
Matilda who sat cross legged on one of the side seats. Looking down and fidgeting with her own fingers, the three discussed who would be the first to break the ice.
They figured the huge six foot super soldier maybe wouldn’t be the best idea.
And neither would the red room assassin who had just knocked the scientist out cold.
So Sam took the first steps, sitting down next to her.
“It’s nice to have you back” Steve turned to Natasha, whose eyes stayed glued onto the girl.
“Good to be back, I'm glad we finally got her.” They had been planning it for months, it just happened that Natasha had her own issues to take care of, she mentioned something about a sister.
“Where did Matilda come from?” Steve asked, looking Natasha up and down.
“I found it in her files, they were all named before they were projects. Matilda, Monty, Max.” Natasha told, offering a small smile as she turned back to Steve. “They stopped calling her Matilda after the experiments worked.”
“Learnt anything else about her?” He asked, watching as Sam had grabbed a bag of chips. Offering it to the girl and she turned her nose up.
“Well it turns out, a fox isn’t her only trick” She said, finally turning back to Steve. Dropping her voice and making herself quieter “she can turn into anything. Animals, people. She’s dangerous.”
“not anymore.” Steve said quieter. “Careful with her, you understand?” Natasha warned, sitting herself into the driver's seat of the jet.
“If you don’t want chips, we have some leftover chicken back at our trailer. But it’s a bit far away right now” Sam had said, doing all the talking and the girl just looked at him.
“Or I'm sure we have some fruit lying around, probably apples. America's favourite white boy likes apples, but strawberries are his favourite. He just won’t admit it” And Sam just kept talking, the girl finally narrowed her eyes slightly looking at the man with a small tilt of her head.
“I know you probably don’t understand much of what I'm saying, you’re english isn’t great from what I heard in there” Sam said and the girl just grabbed the chip bag and tossed it across the jet.
“I understand English. Russian is mother tongue” She said quickly, it wasn’t fierce. It wasn’t anger, it was rather normal, casual even.
“Well, me and Steve don’t really speak Russian. Natasha does but, she’s in and out a lot” Sam continued talking, slightly smirking at her response.
“English stupid language” She mumbled, her eyes on the discarded chip bag on the floor.
“Well I guess everyone has to learn.” Sam sighed, rubbing his hands against his eyes. “We have food, either at our trailer, or here. You just let me know okay?”
“Strawberries.” She said quietly as Sam went to stand up. “Never tried strawberries, i would like”
“You would like to,” Sam said, correcting her English and the girl nodded sternly.
“Stay here, I'll get some.” By the time Sam had returned, Matilda was curled up on the seats. Eyes closed and breathing soft and steady. Sam just set the pack of strawberries down in front of her, nodding towards Steve so they could at least begin the journey home.