Purple Hope

The Meeting

Thor had to leave to go back to Asguard so they said a quick goodbye and twenty minutes later they were all marker-free and heading into the conference room. Except for Peter who was with Pepper preparing for his date.

"Alright," Fury said, "The information gathered from your last mission was intended for locating more Hydra bases."

"Were you unable to?" Steve asked.

"The information has been extremely helpful. We've located three more Hydra bases and are working on taking them down, but we also got an... unexpected piece of information."

"Oh great," Tony said.

"I need you to locate two of Hydra's... test subjects," Fury told them.

"Test subjects?" Wanda asked nervously, glancing over at her brother who wore the same expression.

Bucky clenched his fist and Natasha placed a reassuring hand on top of his.

"The information we have on any of Hydra's experiments is limited," Bruce pointed out.

"And all we have on these two is about six sentences," Fury said.

"Then how do you expect us to find them?" Tony asked.

"With persistence and the process of elimination."

"Do you think they're that dangerous?" Bucky asked lowly.

Fury shook his head. "I'm not having you all search for a threat. This is a rescue mission. Once they are found, you will get them out."

"What aren't you telling us, Fury?" Nat asked. She could tell there was something they were missing. Something important hiding behind his shaper-than-usual tone

He let out a breath, stalling for a moment before getting to the point. "In about five months, these 'subjects' turn four."

A loud, heavy silence settled over them. So quiet that their pounding hearts could be heard. Their shock and disbelief left them speechless.

"Four?" Natasha asked, hoping she heard him wrong.

Fury grabbed a file, flipping it open and reading from it. "' Subjects one and two have taken their first steps today at exactly eight months old. Subject two was the one who initiated it, taking the first steps. Subject two appears to be the bolder of the two, whereas subject one follows. They resisted us as much as they could during this week's injections. Different restraints will need to be used in the future. They are progressing well.' This was dated about three years ago."

"They've been, experimenting, on babies?" Wanda asked, voice breaking and tears pricking her eyes. Pietro gripped her hand, as much to comfort her as himself.

They all had solemn expressions, looking away from each other with their minds roaming.

How could anyone experiment on children? Especially even before they could walk. Tainting the innocence of a child all for their own twisted sake. How could anyone act so cruelly towards something so defenseless?

Roughly, Bucky hit the table, standing up and knocking his chair over. He left the room furious. All he could think of were the horrible, painful things he had been put through in Hydra, and all of it happening to two little kids.

No one made a move to go after him, even Natasha. He would come back when he was ready, after he had time to calm down. And they were all trying to process the information themselves.

Not long after he stormed out, he came back in. His previously outraged expression changed into one of immense sorrow. His heart was broken for the children he knew next to nothing about.