Chapter Text
Living in D.C with his father was fun. Then again, he didn’t have much to compare fun to these days. Natasha got him a phone; she said it was essential for a kid like him in a time so advanced. He didn’t see it, but he didn’t argue either. Besides, he gets to scroll through Instagram and Pinterest, and it was interesting to see how much teenagers have changed as the years went on.
He and his dad had a pretty consistent routine going. Falling into a routine in the first place was a bit of a struggle considering the soldier didn’t have children before and had never lived with children that he knew were depending on him. Nonetheless, they moved around each other like they were always there. His dad went on morning runs and he stayed at home like a normal teenager.
Everything was going good and he loved not having a disrupted routine.
Nothing disrupted said routine until weeks later. It was the same day his dad met a man named Sam Wilson. Cameron quite liked Sam, he was funny and very understanding from what he’s heard. Plus, he also served in the military like his father.
Natasha had come back, they were both working a case for SHIELD. Cameron half expected this to be a normal mission that Steve went on every few days. That was until his father broke the news that they were going to stay with Sam for a little while. It wasn’t until they got there did they fully explain what was going on.
His dad knocked on the door, his expression one of guilt. Sam opened the door, his eyebrows pinched together.
“Hey, man.” Sam greeted, eyeing all three of them with kindness but also confusion.
“I’m sorry about this. We need a place to lay low.” Steve got out through a sigh. Cameron looked between the man he can only assume is Sam, his father, and Natasha.
“Everyone we know is trying to kill us.” Natasha deadpanned, adding on to Steve’s solemn plea.
“Not everyone.” Sam smirked, moving out of the way to let the three in. They entered, taking a small rest at Sam’s kitchen island. “And who’s this?”
Cameron knew he was talking about him. Everyone knows who Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff are, but him? Not really.
“Sam,” Steve straightened up. “This is my son, Cameron.”
Sam’s eyebrows hit his hairline, his eyes wide while he flicked his gaze between Cameron and Steve.
“Yeah…the resemblance is definitely there. Wow. A son? How come you never brought him up?”
“I was thinking about it. I trust you. But at the time, between doing stuff for SHIELD and fighting a ghost, I figured it wasn’t the right time. Plus, I don’t know who I can fully trust with the knowledge of me having a son. The last thing I want to happen is Cameron being in danger because someone wants to use him against me.” Steve explained.
Sam nodded solemnly, taking in the soldier's current situation, “Thank you for trusting me, Steve.”
Steve smiled, something small, but still, “I’m gonna go clean up.”
“Same.” Natasha agreed from her position leaning against the wall, observing the conversation before her. The two Avengers exit the room, presumably to Sam’s guest bedroom where an extra shower was.
“So, Captain America’s son, huh?” Sam broke the silence, throwing a glance at the teenager.
“Yep.” Cameron popped the ‘p’. “Do you know what’s going on?”
“Nope. First I’m hearing of people trying to assassinate Captain America and the Black Widow.”
“No kidding.” Cameron huffed. “I was sitting at home, Fury showed up out of buttfuck nowhere demanding where my dad was. Then dad finally shows up, he’s alert and protective. A whole bunch of other crazy shit happens and boom, here we are.”
Sam snickered while the teenager talked, “Man, I can’t believe Steve Rogers has a son.”
“I can’t believe my dad is Captain America.” Cameron collapsed into a bar stool.
“No, I mean where does it fall on the timeline? He was frozen for seventy years and you look to be in your teens while Steve hasn’t been out of the ice for even four years.”
Cameron groaned, “It’s a whole story, a whack ass story, too. But, what I can say, given that dad’s battling some trust issues, is that I’m fifteen. I was found by the Avengers a year ago.”
Sam leaned against his counter, taking everything in. “Huh. How’s it been living with him?”
“Good. We’ve got our own little routines going. He’s talked about y’all's little runs…and how he passes you every single time.”
“He’s told you about that!!” Sam exclaimed, jumping from the counter. “It’s because of his super soldier bullshit, don’t even.”
Cameron laughed loudly and nodded, “I know, I know. But hey, if you need me too, I can get him back for you. After all, I am his son. I also have the super soldier serum running through my veins. Just don’t tell him I said that.”
Sam used his left hand to make it seem like he was zipping his mouth shut, “Trust me, I won’t. I’ll get him back.”
A few minutes of Sam playing catch up with Cameron, Steve and Natasha walk back out.
“What are you two talking about?” Natasha asked, going to the end of the counter to lean against it. A nice place of eggs, bacon, and two pancakes waiting for her.
“Helping Cameron here understand that Baseball is better than Hockey.” Sam leaned back against the counter, bringing his glass of orange juice to his lips.
Steve huffed, “I could’ve told you that, Cam.”
Cameron threw his hands up, “I don’t know! I’m just now learning that the Dodgers left Brooklyn for California.”
“Don’t get Steve started.” Natasha grumbled. Steve scoffed.
“I’m not that bad. But it’s bullshit. They were better off in Brooklyn.” Steve rolled his eyes, taking a seat next to his son at the kitchen island.
“You’re proving their point, dad.” Cameron pushed his lips into a thin line sarcastically.
“Whatever, we need a plan.” Steve changed subjects.
“Right, I think we should be asking ourselves who has the power to launch a domestic missile strike.” Natasha looked at the people at the island, between bites.
“Pierce.” Steve stated simply.
“And he’s sitting at the top of one of the most secure buildings in the world.” Natasha sighed.
“I thought that was Avengers Tower.” Cameron butted in, flicking his gaze between the two Avengers.
“You’d think.” Steve sighed.
“Wow. That was low.” Cameron snorted. Steve shrugged.
“It’s probably second most secure with Jarvis and such, but still, Tony blows up more things than you’d think a normal inventor would.”
“I think he does it for fun.” Natasha smirked. “But, other than that, another issue we have is Pierce is not working alone.”
“No, he’s not. He’s working with Zola’s algorithm that was on the Lemurian Star.” Steve clenched his jaw.
Cameron kept listening into the conversation just hoping what these two were saying would somehow key him into what’s happening. It wasn’t doing him justice in any sort of way. He looked over to Sam, just to find the man not where he was. In fact, he wasn’t in the room at all.
“Yes, but so was Jasper Sitwell.” Natasha pointed out.
“I guess we should be asking ourselves how do two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?”
“Kidnap? SHIELD officer?” Cameron tuned back into the conversation just a second too late from looking for Sam. “Woah. Back up a second.”
“It’s simple. You don’t.” Sam walked back into his kitchen, dropping an interesting looking file onto the counter in front of Natasha. Cameron stood up and walked over beside his father to see what they were looking at.
“What’s this?” Steve questioned, scooching over a bit so his son could see what was going on.
“Call is a resume.” Sam shrugged, a smug, proud grin on his face. Natasha flipped open the file, picking up a picture of Sam and his pararescue team.
“Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you.” Natasha articulated, spinning to address Steve this time. “You never mentioned he was a pararescueman.”
Steve blew past her small accusation, picking up a picture of Sam and another man. Cameron shifted a small fraction to get a better look at the other man in the picture, trying to figure out if this is someone important to why they’re here.
“Is this Riley?” Steve questioned softly, looking Sam in the eye while he asked.
“Yeah.” Sam confirmed, a sad look appearing in his expression. Cameron knew from that itself that the man in the photo is probably no longer alive and was someone Sam held dear to his heart. Like another Steve and Bucky thing, probably.
“Y’know, I heard they couldn’t bring in choppers because of the RPG’s, so what’d you use? Stealth chutes?” Natasha crossed her arms, merely glancing at the picture of Sam and Riley.
Sam shook his head and hands over the file to Steve.
“These.”
Steve flipped open the file, doing a quick once over of what Sam used during his military service days. An EXO-7 Falcon suit sounded pretty badass to Cameron.
“Thought you said you weren’t a pilot?” Steve raised a singular brow in Sam’s direction.
Sam snorted, “I never said pilot.”
“What is it, though?” Cameron looked between the picture of the suit and Sam, who gave him a deadpan look.
“It’s a Falcon suit. I fly it.”
Cameron made an ‘o’ shape with his mouth. Steve let a small smirk pull at his lips, but it quickly dropped.
“I can’t ask you to do this, Sam. There was a reason you left.” Steve spoke earnestly.
“Dude, Captain America needs my help! No better reason than to get back into it.” Sam grinned at the super soldier, causing Steve to smile himself.
“Where can we get one of these things?” Steve asked, turning serious again.
“The last one I know of is at Fort Meade. It’s just behind three guarded gates and a twelve inch steel wall.” Sam pushed his lips into a thin line, his face almost a wince. Steve looked over to Natasha, who merely shrugged, causing Cameron to gape at the three adults.
“Shouldn’t be a problem.” Steve declared.
“Are y’all serious?” Cameron laughed incredulously.
“What, you against our crime adjacent ways?” Natasha smirked. Cameron squinted his eyes.
“No, I’m not, certainly not. This is badass, I love it. And it’s not crime adjacent…it’s actual crime.”
“We’ll return it, son.” Steve soothed him before turning back to Sam and Natasha. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?!” Cameron laughed, causing Sam chuckle and Natasha to smirk. The four exited the house, already honing in on their own plan to get the suit for Sam.
–
The car ride to Fort Meade was a talkative one to Cameron. Sam and Steve went back and forth over baseball and Natasha ended up butting in, telling them that ballet was better. Neither of them combated that.
Eventually, Cameron got to ask the mulling question that’s been on his mind for the last few hours to days.
“Can I finally know what’s going on?” Cameron asked, the silence that fell over the car was deafening.
Natasha and Sam both glanced over to Steve whose jaw was clenched hard. It was his call, Cameron knew that, given he’s the man’s son and all.
“I guess so.” Steve grounded out. “Cam, recently we discovered something about SHIELD. They’ve been infiltrated by Hydra for…longer than most even know.”
“SHIELD? Like Peggy Carter and Howard Stark SHIELD?”
“Don’t forget Colonel Phillips.” Steve grumbled.
“They’ve been infiltrated by Hydra since before I even joined, Cam.” Natasha butted in. “There was an attempt on Director Fury’s life, he’s dead. A lot of people are out to get us.”
“Yeah, I figured that with how you asked Sam to stay at his house.” Cameron snorted, earning a smile from Sam.
“So what’s gonna happen to SHIELD?” He continued.
“Right now, nothing.” Steve sighed. “We’ve got to deal with one of Hydra’s ghosts that is gonna prevent us from doing anything about SHIELD if we don’t deal with him first.”
“Ghost?”
“He’s called the Winter Soldier.” Natasha’s body was tense from what Cameron could tell from the backseat where she was in the passenger seat. “He’s credited with over two dozen kills in the last fifty years. No one knows his name or how to put him down.”
“Huh…that’s nearly the same amount of time I was under ice as well.” Cameron mumbled.
“So it really does run in the family.” Sam muttered. Cameron grinned.
“That’s what I said!”
“He’s serious, Cam. The Winter Soldier, I mean.” Steve cut into his moment. “His strength could possibly rival mine….and yours.”
“So in conclusion, we’re running from SHIELD, the government, Hydra, and a super assassin that no one believes is real…all while attempting to break into military property to get a piece of equipment that makes someone fly like a bird.”
None of them spoke for a moment, until Sam.
“That about sums it up, yeah.”
“Great.” Cameron clapped his hands together. “Not many sixteen year olds can say they did all this before they were old enough to vote.”
Natasha huffed, “Not many teenagers can say they’re Captain America’s son.”
“True…”
-
After the falcon suit was acquired, the official plan was put into action. They needed to demand answers from Jasper Sitwell, as one casually does, and finally figure out how to completely dismantle Hydra all while staying out of the way of the super, metal-armed assassin.
Cameron wasn’t allowed to be there, per his dad’s strict instructions, but he was allowed to wear comms that allowed him to speak to them and hear them and anyone else that spoke. Which is what he was watching them do now.
He listened as Sam calmly threatened Jasper Sitwell through the phone.
“Agent Sitwell, how was lunch? I heard the crab cakes are good down there.” Sam’s sarcastic, but smooth voice rolled through the comm in Cameron’s ear. He stifled the giggle that threatened to leave his mouth.
Agent Sitwell, as expected, demanded to know who he was talking to, which only resulted in Sam calmly telling him to follow his instructions. Unfortunately for Sitwell, he had no choice, the red dot on his suit tie told him as much too.
Minutes later, his dad tossed Sitwell across the roof, Natasha following closely behind the soldier.
“Tell me about Zola’s algorithm." Steve demanded, backing Sitwell up to the edge of the roof.
“Never heard of it.” Sitwell stated, his tone coming across as a plea.
“Man, he lies like a rug.” Cameron spoke into the comms with a scoff.
“What were you doing on the Lemurian Star?” His father barreled on.
“I got seasick, I was throwing up.” Sitwell attempted to evade the demanded question. Sitwell eyed up his whole situation, from Steve’s hands that were fisted in his suit and him at the very end of the roof. He glanced back up at Steve and smirked. The smirk ran a chill up Cameron’s spine. “Is this little move supposed to tell me you’re gonna throw me off the roof? Doesn’t seem like your style, Captain.”
“You’re right. It’s not.” Steve let go of Sitwell, backing up only an inch. Cameron jumped up from his chair and squawked. “But it's hers.”
His father stepped aside as Natasha walked up and kicked Sitwell from the roof, the screaming echoing through to the comms.
“Oh shit!” Cameron exclaimed with a laugh. Just as Sitwell had fallen completely down, Natasha spoke her first few words.
“Wait, what about that girl from accounting? Laura, was her name?” Natasha tilted her head to the side teasingly. Steve rolled his eyes in her direction and huffed.
“Lillian, the one with the lip piercing?” Steve questioned, but more so stated. Natasha nodded with a hint of a smile.
“Yeah. She’s cute.”
“Are you seriously setting my dad up right now?” Cameron raised a brow, even if none of them could see it.
“Yes, I am. He needs to branch out, kid.” Natasha muttered, a smile still intact on her lips.
“Yeah…I’m not ready for all that.” Steve sighed, just as Sam flew in with his falcon suit, dropping Sitwell on the roof with a dull thud. Steadily, Steve and Natasha approach the trembling man as he holds his hands up in hope for his life.
“I’ll tell you!” He shouts at the two vastly approaching Avengers. “Zola’s algorithm is a program…it’s used for choosing Insight’s targets.”
“What targets?” Steve demands.
“Anyone. You, a news reporter, a high school fourteen year graduate, Bruce Banner, Stephen Strange, basically anyone that’s a threat to Hydra. Even threats in the future.”
“How could it know what’s a threat in the future?”
The man on the roof laughs something cold, an evil, devilish smile on his face.
“How could it not? The whole of the 21st century is an open, digital book, Captain. All Zola did was teach Hydra how to read it.” The twin looks of confusion on Steve and Natasha’s face forced the man to explain further. “Everything. Your emails, phone calls, medical history, bank records, tests scores of any kind. Everything, Captain. It uses past information to predict the future.”
All the information that Sitwell was spilling was putting Cameron at serious unease. He knew the future that he woke up in was no joke, not like Meredith said, but it was still heavily advanced, but damn. Not this advanced.
“And what happens next?” Steve probed. The dread curling in Cameron’s stomach was getting tighter and tighter.
“Pierce will kill me.” Sitwell cries out, regretting everything he spilled. And good, he should. Working for Hydra? Really? Come on now.
“What then?!” His dad demanded.
“Then the Insight Helicarriers scratch people off the list….millions at a time.” Sitwell finally admits. Cameron’s eyes widened the farthest they could go. It was genocide. He felt like he was gonna be sick.
“Millions?” Cameron repeated through the comms, astonished. “Millions, dad?!”
Steve sucks in a breath at the sound of his son’s voice in his ear, nodding once to Sam. Sam grabs Sitwell by the underarms and hauls him up, flying them down to the parking lot while Steve and Natasha take the stairs down. Steve throws up a signal from the opposite building, allowing Cameron to come down.
Quickly, he stuffs his computer in his bookbag, his comm still snug in his ear and swiftly exits the building himself. As soon as the open air hits his face, he takes off to Sam’s car where he was stuffing Sitwell into the backseat. Natasha spun around, eyeing Cameron.
“I’m gonna sit in the middle, Sitwell will be on the other side of me.” She informed him, then climbed in. Just as Cameron nodded and continued approaching, he felt his arm be lightly tugged over. It was his dad.
“Dad?” He questioned, noticing the way Sam was watching them from the driver side of his car.
“If in any way this goes sideways, promise me you’ll run the opposite direction as fast as you can.” His dad’s tone dropped low, so low that it made anyone not want to question the soldier.
But Cameron wasn’t just anyone.
“What about you? I can’t just leave you.” Cameron protested. Steve clenched his jaw.
“Yes, you can. And you will. We don’t know what Hydra has planned, so I want you to be prepared to run if you have to. I will be fine, so will Nat and Sam. Promise me, Cameron.”
Cameron clenched his own jaw, emotions climbing high, “I promise.”
Steve somewhat relaxed. Liking the answer he got, he pulled Cameron into a hug, “I love you, Cam.”
“Love you too, Dad.” Cameron mumbled into the man’s shoulder before they broke apart and went back to the car. Sam was waiting with a fond expression on his face, already knowing exactly what Steve wanted to talk about without having to hear it.
Cameron climbed into the passenger side backseat, while his dad took his spot in the passenger seat.
“Who is this?” Sitwell leaned forward to get a look at Cameron. He smirked when he took in Cameron’s features. “Oh. I think I know who this is.”
Natasha kicked him in the shin, causing the man to reel back in pain.
“Don’t say anything else regarding my son, Sitwell.” Steve gritted through his teeth. Wisely, Sitwell did not respond, nor did he fight back against Natasha.
“You better get to talking, man.” Sam piped up from the driver seat, the car rumbling down the interstate to what Cameron can assume to be the Triskelion.
“I know one thing. Hydra doesn’t like leaks.” Sitwell snarked back. Sam scoffed loudly, and somewhat sarcastically.
“Then why don’t you stick a cork in it?” Sam rolled his eyes, letting the other two adults take over the talking from here.
“Insight is launching in sixteen hours, we’re cutting it close.” Natasha pointed out, her tone bordering on an underlying threat.
“I know.” Steve sighed. “We’ll use him to get through the DNA scans so we can get to the Helicarriers directly.”
Sounded good to Cameron–
“What?! Are you crazy? That’s a stupid, terrible idea-” Sitwell was cut off from talking as a loud thud occurred from the roof of Sam’s very much moving vehicle. Next thing Cameron knew, Sitwell was being yanked from the window closest to him and thrown into oncoming traffic. Cameron didn’t have to twist around to know that the man was dead, there was no surviving that.
Gunshots started being unloaded from the roof of the car. Natasha surges forward, pulling Steve’s head down, saving his life. Sam swerves into all the lanes of traffic, earning beeping horns and screeching brakes. Cameron unbuckled himself, ducking down behind the passenger seat. He peaks over the console to see what his dad was doing in the moment, though the man had an armful of Natasha Romanoff, he still yanked the emergency brake up. The whole car came to a complete stop, effectively tossing whatever was on top of them off.
Nothing happened for a solid moment, allowing Cameron to peak up fully to see what the fuck was shooting at him.
It was what they were talking about before. The person who was enhanced enough to rival his dad and the metal arm that went along with it. Cameron already forgot the dude’s name. Though the man’s face was concealed by his muzzle and whatever the fuck he had over his eyes, Cameron couldn’t tell. He didn’t have time to even utter a word before they were being smashed into by an oncoming car. They were being pushed toward that metal armed bastard. Cameron took a wild chance and glanced back to see who didn’t get out of the way. It was a hummer, Army looking car that was heavily tinted.
This person had to be working for Hydra.
As they slowly approached the metal man, he jumped, skimming the top of the car before he slammed himself down. The steering wheel is pulled out from beneath Sam’s hands.
“Shit!” Sam yelled. He loses complete control of the car and all Cameron feels is pure, gut wrenching dread. Natasha pulled a gun from wherever she had it and started unloading into the roof, but Cameron saw the man jump onto the car that was ramming into the back of them.
They were utterly fucked.
“Cameron!” He heard his dad shout over all the chaos. Cameron anxiously looked around, trying to grasp everything all at once. He felt strong hands grab onto his waist and haul him over the center console. When he looked back, he made eye contact with Sam.
“Hang on!” Steve shouted, clutching Natasha close while he geared his shield up to bust through the passenger side door. Sam shoved his body forward, trapping Cameron between his chest and Natasha’s back. They hauled ass out of the car, flying forward until they were dragging against the cement of the interstate, cars all swerving out of the way in hopes of avoiding them. When they stand, the Winter Soldier, Cameron finally remembers the metal-armed bastard's name, grabs a rifle and shoots. Luckily, his dad pulled his shield in front of his body quickly before he went flying through the air. Natasha ducked behind cars, Sam following suit.
Cameron was still in the middle of everything.
“Cameron!” He heard Natasha shout. He broke from his stupor and bolted over to the car she was behind. She had her gun out and ready, trying to aim at whoever. “Stay behind me at all costs.”
Cameron nodded, his breath shaky. “Okay..”
Natasha takes a shot, missing, and then the Winter Soldier takes a shot with that gun….Cameron didn’t even remember jumping into oncoming traffic, but he did alongside Natasha. The car they were crouched behind blew up, the new lanes of traffic attempting to not hit them as they ran through. Just as she pulled Cameron behind a convertible car, it blew and she yanked him to her chest, diving off the side of the overpass.
“Holy shit!!” He shouted, watching the ground come closer. He did not hit it, thanks to the copious amounts of gadgets Natasha had hidden on her person.
They start running under the overpass, Natasha breathing heavily, but Cameron breathing just fine due to that whole…serum shit.
“Where are we going now?” He asked over the sound of traffic and screaming people.
She comes to a grinding halt, her eyes dead set on the ground. Cameron follows her focused gaze to the shadow of the Winter Soldier holding a rifle over the ledge above them. She silently steps forward, gesturing for Cameron to stay back, which he had no problem listening to. The Winter Soldier doesn’t take notice of her, even when she fires a shot directly at his eye goggles. The man disappears behind the ledge of the overpass and Natasha books it.
“Let's go!” She shouts back at him. The Winter Soldier stands back up, goggles gone and guns blazing. He must’ve kept that metal hand on the damn trigger because it was shot after shot.
“Damn!” Cameron laughed to himself, following behind Natasha. She continued running down the line of cars that were parallel parked, not looking back, but Cameron did. The fucking assassin jumped off the ledge and was walking after them. Shit.
“Natasha! He’s coming!” Cameron yelled, but not breaking his sprint. They duck behind an empty car.
“Listen–” Natasha starts, though she cuts herself off. Cameron follows her gaze to see the Winter Soldier approaching. “Nevermind. No time.” She fumbled through her utility belt, finding a recording device.
“What’s that gonna do?!” Cameron whisper-yelled. Natasha smirked at him, setting the recorder on the ground with her voice repeating some words Cameron could barely focus on through his rapidly beating heart. She pulled on his arm, forcing him to follow her behind a building. The two watched as the man approached, his gun hoisted on his shoulder. But he stops. Cameron furrowed his brows.
The man takes a bomb from his own utility belt and rolls it over to the car where believes they’re hiding. So the damn recorder did work. He’ll have to keep that in mind.
Natasha ducks out from behind the building, jumping directly onto the Winter Soldier’s back, her legs around his neck in an attempt to strangle him.
Cameron watched in shock with wide eyes as the scene played out. The Winter Soldier throws her off, gearing up to shoot her, but Natasha pulls some type of electric thing that shocks the fuck out of the soldiers arm. After that, she darts off, screaming at people.
“Get out of the way! Stay out of the way!” She warned greatly, making it so there was no room for people to argue with her. If someone did, they’d be stupid. Cameron watched as the Winter Soldier crushes the devices and twists his arm. Then he's back in business, just like that. Suddenly, the Winter Soldier grabs his gun, pulling it up and aiming directly at Natasha.
“Natasha!” Cameron screamed, earning her attention at the last second. The Winter Soldier fires off a bullet and it connects with her shoulder, she collapses to the ground. The Winter Soldier spares him a glance and for a second Cameron thought he’d start on him. Not that he’d back down, no way would he go down without a fight, but damn. Warn a guy.
Instead, he falls back to his plan, marching up to Natasha, who was still laying on the ground clutching at her shoulder wound. He was gonna shoot her again, there was no way he wasn’t, Cameron thought. Should he go out there? He has the super serum after all…
Just as he finished his last thought, his dad drops in, effectively blocking Natasha from all harm with his body and shield. He kicked the Winter Soldier away, blocking every and any shot that came from that damn rifle.
Natasha lays on the ground, and Cameron manages to sneak out and over to her while his dad guides the fight away from the woman on the ground. He pays absolutely no mind to the fight between the two super soldiers, his focus on the hurt assassin in front of him. When he gets here, he shakes her for a moment.
“Natasha.” He whispered, throwing cautious looks over to the fight, making sure his dad still had it. If he doesn't, then the metal man will kill him, then he and Natasha. “Wake up.”
Natasha opened her eyes, looking around her for a second before her assessing gaze landed on Steve and the Winter Soldier.
“I’m okay. Where’s Sam?” Natasha questioned. “Are you hurt?”
“No. I’m okay.” Cameron looked around for Sam, not finding him. “I don’t know where Sam is.”
Natasha kept her eyes on the fight happening in front of them, they both were, really. Until the fight came to a stop, Steve tossing that man back like a bad habit.
“Damn.” Cameron whispered. Steve stood back to full height, spinning on his heel to face the trained assassin, who was still standing up. It felt like eternity waiting to see what the man’s real face looked like…and he had to say….it wasn’t what he was expecting.
Cameron sucked in a breath and his eyes blew wide when he realized who that was. No way…
“Bucky?” His super hearing picked up his dad’s distraught voice. The grief running through that man’s veins must be imaginable.
“Who the hell is Bucky?” The Winter Soldier–-Bucky-–rasped out, pulling a pistol to point at Steve. Now that, that must’ve felt like a punch to the gut, Cameron thought.
“No…fuckin’...way.” Cameron breathed. Natasha snapped her head up to him from where she remained seated on the ground.
“Can you hear them?” She whispered. Cameron nodded, distracted.
“Yep. Super hearing and shit.”
“What–” She started, most likely to ask them what they were saying, but she snapped her head over just as Sam kicked Bucky out of the way. Cameron doesn’t miss the look of realization on Bucky’s face, thank the good eyesight the serum blessed him with, and he also doesn’t miss the way he pushed the feeling aside. Natasha forced herself up onto her feet, grabbing hold of the hefty gun Bucky was using against them earlier.
“What is that damn thing?” Cameron pinched his brows together.
“A grenade launcher. Wanna see how it works?” Natasha questioned just as pulled the trigger, firing right at Bucky. Cameron desperately didn’t want the thing to hit the man, he’s still his dad’s best friend. As the smoke from the launcher went up, Bucky disappeared into it, like he vanished into thin air. Pretty cool, really.
Steve stood back to full height, breathing heavy, watching the spot his long dead best friend once stood in with a heartbroken expression. Cameron approached softly, a cautious tone in his voice.
“Dad.” He broke the chaotic silence. His dad’s head whipped over to him and he snatched his son into a tight hug, of which Cameron returned quickly.
“Steve.” Sam grabbed the soldier's attention away from his son. “We’ve got some visitors.”
Everyone focused on what Sam was pointing to, and soon enough, all of them could hear sirens.
“Do we run?” Cameron asked quickly.
“No.” Steve shook his head.
“That’s the one thing y’all won’t break the law on? Seriously? After all the shit y’all have pulled in the last three days?”
“We can’t.” Natasha spoke through a clenched jaw. “They have us surrounded and guns pointed at each of us. Even you.”
The grinding of his fathers jaw didn’t go unnoticed, but it went unmentioned because before he could say anything a man with a big ass gun dropped out of one of the cars demanding to get on the ground.
“Drop the shield, Cap! On your knees! Get on the ground! Get on your knees! Now! Get down!” He screamed at his father, but really all of them. His father raised his hands up, his shield hitting the ground while he slowly kneeled. The agent holding the gun kicked his dad’s leg to get him down faster and that set Cameron off.
“Hey!” Cameron attempted to walk forward, but Sam held him back.
“It’s not worth it. Just kneel, kid.” Sam sighed, kneeling with his hands in the air. Cameron followed his direction hesitantly, his hands in the air. His father took a glance over his shoulder to see Cameron looking directly at him with determined, pissed off, and scared eyes. What his dad didn’t see was the man in the hovering helicopter holding a gun pointed directly at him, at his dad.
“H-” He got cut off by that stupidass agent that started yelling at them from the beginning.
“Put the gun down! Not here!” The man on the ground holding Steve directed to the person in the helicopter. The relief that washed over Cameron was weightlifting. However, it was short-lived, feeling his hands be forced behind his back, not gently, but not rough either. The man cuffing him either knew he was a kid, or somewhere around a young age. Either way, Cameron was still pissed all to hell with him.
He was then forced up to his feet alongside the rest of them and walked over to a van that was waiting for them, agents lined outside of the van, armed all to hell. The space inside the van was tight, not packed, but not incredibly spacious either. The guards sat on either side of them, Cameron making sure he snagged a seat directly next to his father.
A second of silence goes by, the van starts moving. Cameron was lost in his thoughts about the hell of a day he’s just had. What a 24 hours, right?
“It was him.” His dad’s voice broke him from his thoughts, directing his gaze at him. “He looked right at me like he didn’t even know me.”
The defeat and shock that reaped through his dad’s tone was enough to make a grown man cry. That’s his best friend, one he’s had since childhood, working for a Nazi organization. No way would Bucky Barnes do that shit willingly though, right?
“How’s that even possible? Him being alive, I mean. He died like seventy years ago.” Sam furrowed his brows, subtly side eyeing the agents all around them.
“Zola.” Was what Steve replied with. “Bucky’s unit was captured back in ‘43 and Zola experimented on him. Whatever happened must be the reason Bucky survived the fall. Hydra had to have found him and…” He trailed off. Everyone else could fill in the blank.
“None of that was your fault, Steve.” Natasha soothed, looking at him with understanding. Cameron nodded.
“No way you could’ve known.” Cameron agreed. “You were in the ice.”
Steve nodded, because logically he knew that, but it doesn’t make it any easier to accept. Cameron knew that better than anyone.
“Yeah, well, even when I had nothing, I had Bucky.” Steve sighed, tiredly. Cameron moved his eyes from his fathers defeated expression to his fiddling thumbs. A few seconds later, and the awkward, grief-filled silence is broken.
“We need to get a doctor in here.” Sam stated, not taking his eyes off of Natasha’s shoulder wound. “If we don’t put pressure on her wound she’ll bleed out in this truck.”
Before Sam could even finish his sentence, one of the guards rears forward with an electric stick, seeming like they were ready to strike Sam, but they turn on the other guards, neutralizing all the other guards in the truck with them. Cameron pauses, looking to everyone else to see if they were planning on that happening. Apparently not.
The guard pulls their helmet off, peering at everyone in the van.
“God, that thing was squeezing my brain.” She flicks her now confused face between Sam and Steve, then Natasha. “Who’s this guy?” she asks in reference to Sam. Cameron fights the urge to giggle. “Cameron.”
“Hey.” Cameron offers a polite nod of his head since his hands are still restricted behind his back.
“Hill, we need to get out of here, now.” Steve skipped the formalities, going straight to business.
“Right.” Hill pulled a gun from the locker next to her. “This should do the trick.”
She blows a big ass hole in the ground, allowing enough room for them to crawl through the hole. Dirty, sure, but Cameron knows damn well he’ll fit. It’s his dad that they should be worried about with his build.
Sure enough, they all get through the hole completely fine, until they reach some underground, very much working facility.
“So heroes do have underground lairs..” Cameron nodded slowly, an impressed frown on his face.
“It’s all we’ve got since SHIELD’s been compromised.” Hill filled in. A doctor approached them quickly, gesturing to Natasha’s wounded shoulder that she was still clutching. “GSW. She’s lost at least a pint.”
“Or two.” Sam butted in with a grumble.
“Let me take her.” The doctor nodded, stepping to the side for the five to see a prepped table waiting for a patient. Hill held up a hand.
“She’ll want to see him first.” She sighed. “Follow me.”
They followed her, of course, until they reached a closed off room, a curtain hiding whoever was behind it. Hill pulled back to the curtain until they could all see the Director of SHIELD lying in his bed, bandages and scratches on display.
“Wow.” Cameron whispered.
Fury raised his hands, “About damn time.”
Steve sucked in a breath and nodded once to the doctor to silently tell them to take Natasha away for treatment, despite how much Natasha might refuse.
“Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and a hell of a headache. I’ll live.” Fury listed off like it was his damn grocery list.
“Wow. Any part of you that still works?” Cameron uttered sarcastically, moving to stand beside his father. Fury’s gaze moved from the leader of his Avengers team to the son of said leader. The raised eyebrow that was directed at Steve was one of disappointment.
“What’s he doing here?”
Steve sighed, shaking his head tiredly, “Hydra took us by shock, didn’t have time to figure out a safe place to get him before everything went sideways.”
Fury sighed heavily, but in hindsight, the captain was right. Natasha just finished getting patched up, strutting back up to Fury’s bed.
“They cut you open, your heart stopped.” She stated, though it came across like a question to Cameron. The woman was close with Fury, so it’s no wonder she’d be worried about him like this. Hell, if it was his dad in that bed, Cameron would be pissed all to hell. He’d unleash his inner Bucky Barnes, not the Winter Soldier kind though.
“Tetrodotoxin B. It slows the pulse to one beat per minute. Ultimately designed as a relaxer for stress by Banner. However, it didn’t go over so well for him, but it works for other things.” Fury explained carelessly.
“What’s with all the secrecy? Why not tell us?” Steve crossed his arms, furrowing his brows in Fury’s general direction.
“Any attempt on the Director’s life had to look successful.” Hill attempted to explain.
“Can’t kill you if you’re already dead, right? And besides, wasn’t too sure on who to trust.” Fury shrugged.
No one spoke into the silence for a minute.
“Can I sit down now?” Cameron asked hesitantly, running his hand through his hair. Steve sighed, spinning on his heel to face his son.
“Yeah, Cam. You can.” He claps Cameron on the shoulder, leading him away from the bed that Fury inhabited.