Deception || Steve Rogers Daughter

Chapter Twenty-Four

This is usually the part of the story where the hero wakes up back home, surrounded by family and friends, everyone happy to see them alive and planning their next move to stop the villain. The hero would have some big realization and then use it to help him/her in their quest to save the day. 

Well, dear reader, the story of Emma Katherine Rogers doesn't go as most do. When Emma woke up, she wasn't with Peter Parker or Bruce Banner (who'd be checking her blood pressure or something). Steve Rogers wasn't waiting in anger to tell her how stupid it was to willingly go with her mother, Tony Stark didn't have a witty comment, and Natasha Romanoff wasn't silently waiting in the corner to back Emma when things got out of hand. 

No, Emma woke up in a dark room. There were no windows, she could barely see her hand in front of her face. Despite being seriously hurt before, she felt fine now. Almost as if her wounds had disappeared. With a deep breath, Emma lights her palm to give her some sort of light. 

She was in a concrete room, only one metal door at the foot of the bed that was placed in the center of the room. There was nothing else. The room was the size of a box, so nothing else would really fit anyway. 

It was quiet, too quiet, and Emma's hairs stood on edge. Slowly, she climbs out of the bed to discover that she wasn't in a suit anymore. No, she was wearing a large t-shirt and shorts, her hair wasn't tangled either. It fell around her shoulders as if she'd just showered the night before, which hadn't been the case. 

Whoever this person was, they were smart. Trying to make it seem like she wasn't in any danger by hiding the major red lights. Like, for example, the large box concrete room that Emma was in right now. 

Slowly, since she didn't have shoes and the floor was freezing, Emma creeps towards the door and tries the handle. It was unlocked. Using her good shoulder, as her right one was still a little sore, she pushes it open and slips into the hallway. From here, you wouldn't think there was a dungeon of concrete behind the door she'd just stepped through. 

On the other side, it was painted to look like an ordinary wooden door in a short hallway of others. Emma didn't want to open those, she had a sinking feeling that the rooms were all the same. The floor was a crisp wood that looked brand new with walls so dark it looked almost black. There were windows here, but they were covered by deep, red shades. 

Emma releases another breath and keeps moving, her heart was almost thumping out of her chest from nerves. Who the hell lived here and why did they take her? Wasn't it supposed to be Peter? She'd contacted him, right?

Emma quickly moves her gaze down to her wrist, where the watch should've been. There was nothing, it was gone, whoever this was knew that it was her only communication device. She was screwed, Emma had no way of getting the word out.

"Emma, glad you could finally join us." A voice pulls her from her panic. Emma shrieks in fear and sends a ball of fire towards the voice. Both people dodge it by jumping in opposite directions, the fear evident on their faces. "Whoa, calm down, it's okay!"

"E-edward?" Emma stutters while staring at the brunette in front of her. "No, you died, Hydra killed you!"

"No, my uh...my dad got me out." Edward scoffs his shoe on the ground. "And brought me here. Because of you, I'm me again. Hydra got inside my head and I'm so sorry-"

"You just expect me to believe you?!" Emma interrupts while throwing another ball towards his face. "You tried to kill me! You willingly traded your life to Hydra!"

"I get that you're mad," Edward replies while putting his hand in the air, the guy could only take so many fireballs.

"I'm way past mad." She hisses as another ball appears in her hand, though Emma waits to throw it. Strangely, the older man next to him hadn't said a word. He stared at them both, watching the exchange with careful eyes.

"I couldn't come to you without getting myself under control," Edward explains. "I didn't want to hurt you again. You were my partner, my best friend, I had to make sure I was okay."

"So why get me now? How?" Emma questions.

"I believe I can answer that." The man finally speaks up. "I'm Zach, Zach Thomas. Technically, I'm your first cousin twice removed."

"I don't understand." Emma shakes her head.

"Your mother? My great grandfather was her brother." Zach states. "I've been keeping track of both families for a long time, you don't know how long it's been, Emma. I've been waiting to meet you."

"To meet me?" She scoffs.

"A story was passed down my family line." Zach chuckles as he looks away slightly, almost as if reliving a memory. "It was believed that you were just like your father and our family sought to find you. While people were looking for Captain America, we were looking for you."

Emma stays silent, she couldn't believe this...could she? A small part of her really wanted to.

"When your mom came back to get you, I realized that I had to key to finding you all along. Before she died, she gave her brother a bracelet. It looks just like this." Zach states while holding up Emma's lost bracelet. 

When Peter had given it to her, he'd fixed her broken one and put in an upgrade for Emma. It had broken during training and she had been devastated to throw it away, he'd come back hours later to grab it without her knowing. 

"I've had that forever," Emma mumbles while staring at it. 

"Yes, well, so have I." Zach nods before pulling out a similar one, except this one didn't have the touch screen like Emma's did now. Instead, it was a simple silver chain with a wave in the middle. Peggy always told Emma about how much her mother had loved the ocean. "It's been passed down, pretty embarrassing with a line full of sons, but we've managed to keep it intact for ages."

"This is insane." Emma shakes her head. "So you matched up my bracelet to find me? That still doesn't prove anything."

"Emma, he's telling the truth." Edward crosses his arms. "You have to believe us."

"Why? What does this have to do with anything?!" She cries.

"You've been out for a couple of days." Zach slowly replies. "SHIELD has been tearing through Hydra bases looking for you since they found a dead agent in the woods but Hydra is starting to fight back. I'm scared that it's going to turn to a full-blown war, a lot of people are going to get hurt."

"I never escaped from my room, did I?" Emma slowly questions. "In Hydra? I never tricked April, right?"

"We had to do it." Edward sighs. "It made the story more believable so we could nurse you back to health, so you could go win." 

"Do what?" Emma demands. "What did you do to me?"

"Everyone thinks you're dead." Zach blatantly states. "Because we killed you."