𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗬 𝗗𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗.
Charlie Stark-Rogers has grown up in the shadow of the world's greatest heroes. But spending your entire life in the face of danger takes its toll on anyone. She has secrets, thi...
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𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐉𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐘𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐓𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐉𝐄𝐓, Charlie stopped screaming.
It was abrupt and unanticipated, the sudden silence deafening. Steve Rogers felt chills rush down his spine and his jaw go slack with sudden panic. Nearly dropping Natasha, he spun around, bewildered. There was a sickening feeling dawning in his chest as he stared at Charlie, still curled up in Clint's arms.
"What happened?" he asked, his voice almost a whisper. He stared at his daughter, feeling the blood drain from his face. His Captain America persona faltered for a moment, and suddenly, he was a brand new father jumping up in the middle of the night when he couldn't hear his baby's gentle snoring anymore. "Why did she stop?"
He never thought he would wish to hear her his daughter in that much pain ever again, but something about the sudden stop felt worse.
Barton's eyebrows were furrowed. He stared down at the little girl in his arms, his hand tapping his temple. "I thought my hearing tech was malfunctioning again."
Steve readjusted Natasha's arm around his neck, moving closer to Charlie. He looked at her small brown hands, once clenched and white-knuckled, were now slack and unmoving. Her pupils still danced with red, but her face was expressionless, her features almost relaxed.
It was like someone had flipped an "off" switch.
Steve had seen something very similar, way back in the 40's, when he was first sent out as Captain America. Soldiers coming back from the trenches had that same blank look in their eyes, the same slack expressions, like they were merely a shell of the men they used to be.
But those had been soldiers. Men on the front lines who had seen death and destruction, watched their friends and allies bleed to death before their eyes-
Charlie hadn't ever seen any of that. Steve and Tony had spent her entire life keeping her from danger, to protect her-
Yet Wanda Maximoff's magic made them relive trauma, not invent it. Charlie had seen something before, something enough to make her shut down.
The last time Steve had ever heard of her acting like this was from Tony recalling the events of Afghanistan, when they were separated and Charlie was taken away. She would return to her Dad unwilling to talk, a blank look in her eyes.
But she wasn't seven years old anymore. She had moved past whatever had happened in those caves, right? She was okay now, Steve had been sure of it...
"We need to keep moving," Clint said, snapping Steve out of his trance. "Banner can check them out on the quinjet. If he's... you know..."
He didn't need to finish his sentence. Steve felt a surge of anger as Nastasha gave a small, quiet moan of distress. Her red curls hung in her eyes and her knees buckled. Steve gripped her waist. "The twins got us good."
