Project 43

Au revoir

"Steve Rogers, or Captain America, has been found trapped in ice after 66 years. The American hero sacrificed himself way back in 1945..." the news reporter blabbed on, but Emich stayed frozen. He was surrounded by the other members of the Legion, all gathered around the small TV in the tent. It was good because otherwise, he would have started breaking things. 

The man, the reason behind all the pain in his life, who he had thought to be long gone, was somehow back. Emich felt his blood boiling as he started balling his fists hard enough that his nails dug deep into his palms.

What right did his brother have to come back to haunt Emich? Who said it was okay for him to get to live after everything Emich had had to go through because of the man? Because of Steve Emich was forced to undergo years and years of torture in his father's house. Then after escaping and finding a family for himself, he was once again captured, tortured, and turned into a shell of himself all because he was related to the great Captain America.

Emich stormed out of the tent but luckily no one noticed since they were all starstruck as they observed the man with a plan being dragged from the ice.

Emich had just found himself again. He had just been able to find out who he was and find a place for himself. He had stayed in the Legion for seven years, two years more than he would have had to, all because he had found a place to call his home. Even if that place was a chaotic battlefield in the Middle East.

A few months later Emich was granted a discharge. He couldn't stay put anymore. He had escaped Hydra, left behind the life of a weapon just to be stuck being a weapon for someone else. He needed to go and his brother coming back was the final straw that made him want to leave, escape once more. With his French passport and a newfound determination, he took off.

Seemingly every screen in the world was still talking about Captain America even after months had passed. Even after he had once died, the man could not leave Emich alone.

"Bonjour chérie, comment vas-tu?" Agathe asked as Emich walked into the library. He had come to say goodbye before taking off. He couldn't stay still anymore. He had tried but he was getting too paranoid with everything around him that he needed to escape once more.

"Bonjour," Emich said not really knowing what to say. Agathe had become a mother figure to him. When he met her he was just a shell of a man trying to figure out who he was and she helped. She made him hot chocolate and helped him with anything she could. Emich remembered his own mother but just vaguely. He had been ten when she died and her passing was overshadowed by the years of torture that had followed.

"Oh! Vas-tu quelque part?" Agathe asked seeing the small duffle bag hanging by Emich's side. 

"Je suis venu te dire au revoir," Emich blurted out. Agathe stood still for a few seconds before walking over to Emich and wrapping the man in a tight embrace.

Emich prepared himself for the long train ride. He tried to stay calm in the huge crowds and quickly made his way to the train and sat down in his seat. Like every other train ride, Emich sat on the edge of his seat for the entire four hours just waiting for something to happen. 

Emich took a boat from Marseille to Napols and worked as a cleaner gathering all the money he could from odd jobs. He wanted to have enough to start over somewhere new if Hydra was to find him. He no longer had the protection nor the safety that the Legion brought him and once more he was on his own against an invisible organization that could be anywhere around him.

Emich retook the name Elias and branded himself as a Fench man looking for work in Northern Italy. Eventually, he found work on a small farm and got to work on their corn crops.