Seoul, Korea
Spring 2015
With a final, grinding screech the train stopped.
And Steve felt like he was allowed to breathe again. It was one disaster averted. Not that it felt like they were making any real headway in that department. Not in the slightest. They might have the Cradle, and they might still be alive—winning the battle, as it were—but they were far from winning the war.
And now Ultron had Nat. Silently Steve cursed, helpless anger threatening his composure in concert with a sudden, crushing wave of fear for his friend's safety.
Who knew what Ultron would do to her.
Especially considering how they had just thwarted his plans for acquiring a new body...a very, very advanced and powerful new body.
He was not going to be pleased. Ultron was going to be furious.
No, he was going to be vengeful.
Steve groaned, his hand fisting to pound lightly on the console as he forcibly reined in his emotions. They needed to stay focused. He needed to stay focused—as though that wasn't hard enough already, right now—and he needed to stay as objective as he could. And so far, he'd been failing. Badly.
Why had he convinced himself that ordering Nadine to sit out was the best plan!
This was all on him, and he knew it. He'd let his emotions make him irrational and convince him it was logic. He punched the console more forcefully, cracking the plastic and further mangling the already contorted metal panel underneath.
They needed to find Ultron and stop him. And to do that, they needed to find his base. That was the mission, now. That was the priority. As much as he wanted to find Nat—and Nina, because no only did no one deserve to be at Ultron's mercy, but he had promised to help get the girl back; something he was still determined to do despite everything going on with her mother—they had to focus on the big picture.
And hopefully, in dealing with the bigger problem, finding Nat would come along with it. Hopefully, in finding Ultron's base, they'd find Nat and Nina too; two birds, one stone. Hopefully Nadine was still up to the task on her own. Even as angry as he was with the blonde assassin, Steve was still practical enough to know they still needed her. He was practical enough to know she was their way to Ultron.
And that wasn't even counting the way he'd been starting to feel toward her personally. The way he'd been coming to count her as a friend.
As much as the dark, irrational part of him felt that he'd gone easy on her when Ultron had revealed what she'd done, the rest of him was hoping that his behaviour toward her hadn't completely pushed her away.
She'd been stung by the things he'd said, by his decision to force her out of the mission. He knew it. She hadn't been able to hide it completely. And at the time he'd been grimly pleased. Now? He was afraid he'd burned that bridge.
He was afraid he'd burned her.
Would she still be in New York when he managed to rendezvous with the Team? Or would she break away to find her daughter on her own, believing that her secret had turned them against her? He knew she didn't trust easily—he couldn't help but think the why was now abundantly clear—and he knew he'd all but shattered that trust with his reaction. And he had no idea how to fix it.
Why would she stay after the reception her secret had received, Steve couldn't help but think bitterly. And the part of him that knew he'd overstepped wouldn't exactly blame her.
Which meant their best chance for tracking down Ultron had likely walked out the door. He didn't know how to fix that either.
Although...Steve turned, looking back into the train.
The civilians on the train were trickling out of the mangled cars onto the torn-up street, understandably bowed and rattled by their ordeal. Steve couldn't help but flinch internally at the sight. They hadn't deserved to be dragged into this mess. But at least they'd saved as many as they could, he reminded himself pragmatically. That was the mission, after all; to protect and save as many as they could.
It could have been a lot worse. A whole lot worse.
If it hadn't been for the Maximoffs...
It was only now, now that the imminent danger had passed, that Steve was able to truly recognize the implications of their actions on the train.
The Twins had broken with Ultron.
That they had? It was a surprise. He wasn't quite sure though if it was a good one or not.
The fact that they had chosen to help him on the train, both against Ultron directly and in saving the civilians on board? They could've just run. Left. Saved themselves when it became apparent that the train was out of control.
They hadn't needed to show up in the first place.
But instead they had stayed. And they had helped him without question.
It had certainly been a nicer surprise than the last one...
On the other hand...that they'd broken with Ultron at all? That development heralded potentially larger and decidedly less pleasant surprise.
Somehow Ultron had pushed them away. Betrayed them, even, judging by the sister's comment earlier; though it hadn't sounded like the robot had believed so on the train. At the very least, Ultron had done something that had chased the Twins away regardless of whatever promises he'd made them.
And that could not bode well whichever way it was sliced.
But still...they had fought against Ultron on the train, which meant they were, at the very least, no longer his allies.
At the most? They were his enemies now too.
And it was very likely that Ultron now considered them as much even if they didn't.
Which meant the Avengers now had an opportunity, as objectionable as it might be to some of them considering the Team's history with the Twins.
He just needed to figure out if they were open to changing sides outright. But if they could get the Twins on their side for the inevitable final confrontation with the A.I.? It was worth a try at the very least. There was no doubt that they were going to need all the help they could get against Ultron. But it would be a potentially difficult task, that was for sure.
There was a lot of rage in the Twins toward the Avengers. Especially toward Tony.
But there was no getting around it. They were too valuable as potential allies to just walk away from, no matter how badly Steve wanted to do just that. Hell, part of him wanted to lock them away from all the damage they'd caused at Ultron's side, misguided, mislead or otherwise as they might have been.
But not only were their abilities potentially invaluable in this fight, but their knowledge definitely would be.
They would know where Ultron had set up shop.
And they knew Ultron. They'd worked alongside him, after all.
They might even know his endgame...that might even be what had driven them away from the robot.
He didn't see that they had any other choice. It wasn't an opportunity he could afford to ignore. With a heavy sigh he too stepped off the train, zeroing in on the siblings where they were reuniting not far away. There was no mistaking the concern on the sister's face as her brother determinedly waved off her hovering, his body shaking and heaving from exertion even as he sank wearily down onto the bench next to the table he'd been bracing himself against as he tried to catch his breath.
"I'm fine. I just need to take a minute," he overheard the Maximoff boy—Pietro, his memory reluctantly supplied—assuring his sister—Wanda—not that she seemed entirely convinced.
"I'm very tempted not to give you one." They both looked up to Steve as he spoke, their faces equally wary. Pietro's, he noticed, bore lingering traces of mistrust, the boy not even bothering to hide the way he was gauging the Captain as he approached. However, Wanda's was quickly overtaken with an insistent and worried expression.
"The Cradle, did you get it?" Steve frowned, nodding at the question.
"Stark will take care of it," he assured her, but his frown deepened at the way her eyes widened fractionally with alarm, a trace of panic appearing in them.
"No, he won't," she said softly, the certain way she said it admittedly unnerving him. Pietro, meanwhile, was glancing between his sister and Steve, his suspicious eyes narrowing thoughtfully. Steve nearly sighed, his patience just then thankfully holding out despite the strain the last several days—the last several hours, especially—had put it under.
"You don't know what you're talking about," he assured them both as best he could, his voice coming across as far calmer and more patient than he was feeling. "Stark's not crazy." Needless to say, the Twins did not look convinced, Wanda fixing him with an intent, knowing look.
But then, if Steve was being completely honest, he wasn't entirely convinced by what he'd said either.
"He will do anything to make things right," she insisted, her shrewd eyes boring into him. And darn it, if Steve wasn't already thinking the exact same thing, her insistence striking a chord in him. Tony would try to do whatever he could to fix the mistake he'd made. But would he really try to use the body Ultron had been making? The sinking feeling in his gut was answer enough. Tearing his attention from the Sokovian girl, he turned.
"Stark, come in. Stark." It was a long shot, hoping the Quinjet wasn't too far out of range yet...not that he was hopeful, but he had to try: "Anyone on comms?"
"Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it," Wanda Maximoff said softly, pulling his attention back to her even if he didn't turn back to the Twins, abandoning his attempt to make contact with his teammates. "Where do you think he gets that?"
Steve's gut clenched at the thought.
He turned back to the pair of them, levelling them both with a resolved look.
"I need to get back to New York." He paused, gauging each of them in turn before continuing, "are you coming with?" The brother's eyes narrowed suspiciously, looking like he wanted nothing more than to refuse. But he glanced to his sister anyway. Wanda meanwhile, looked faintly surprised that Steve had asked so openly. He had intended on easing toward the proposal, but he couldn't fight the sudden sense that they had no time to waste. There was no mistaking in her face that Wanda had every intention of agreeing. But nevertheless she turned to her twin, the pair of them conversing silently before turning back to Steve.
"Ultron's jet might still be at the airport," she offered by way of accepting, startling Steve enough that his eyes widened with it, his eyebrows raising. A hint of a grin appeared on Wanda's face as she took in his surprise in stride. "Without the Cradle, he'll have little use for it. It can take us to New York." Steve nodded once, regaining his professionalism.
"Then let's move," he concluded, beginning to do just that. But he was stopped by Pietro's sudden objection.
"No." Both Wanda and Steve glanced to Pietro at his firm declaration. "No, we have to go back to Novi Grad." He looked over to Steve with a glint of challenge in his eyes. "We have to go back to Sokovia first." Steve frowned.
"Why Novi Grad," he prompted, unsure where this was going, though an uneasy suspicion began forming in his gut. Pietro exchanged a wary glance with his sister. Though her expression was as wary as her brother's, she looked faintly unsettled...even remorseful. Steve's frown deepened.
"Ultron has his base there," Pietro said in Steve's direction as though it was perfectly obvious before he turned back to Wanda, "he still has her." Wanda looked stricken at Pietro's reminder, her guilt more pronounced, unable to meet either her twin or Steve's eye.
"He still has our friend," she repeated, finally looking over to Steve, "he still has—"
"Nina," Steve interrupted, earning startled looks from both of them. "Ultron still has Nina. Is she okay?"
"As okay as she can be, last we saw her," Pietro said uneasily, exchanging a glance with his sister. Steve frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Strucker had already started using the Sceptre on her when you attacked the base," Wanda said dully. Steve hesitated as an uneasy worry settled in his chest before he looked up at Wanda as she continued: "and now we betrayed Ultron." Pietro gave her an anxious look.
"He wouldn't hurt her!" Wanda shrugged dejectedly at the threads of uncertainty in her brother's assertion, looking sick.
"He's willing to destroy the world and everyone on it. There's no telling what he could do, what he will do."
Steve's eyes slid shut, dread dropping heavily into the pit of his stomach. That was exactly what he'd been afraid of, what Fury had predicted; Ultron's intention was to destroy everything.
"Then we need to get back to her! To get her away from him!" Pietro was nearly shouting as he leapt to his feet, his eyes intent and nearly sparking with emotion. His sister looked close to tears, but she held firm in the face of her twin's temper.
"We don't have time, Pietro," she said sadly, her tone just as insistent as his, "you think I want to leave her? We don't have a choice. We're running out of time to stop him!"
"He has one of my people too," Steve broke in then, causing the Twins to jerk their attention back to him. Pietro's expression was stony, but the same apprehension and alarm that had appeared on his twin's face flickered in his eyes. Steve sighed, unhooking and pulling his helmet off to card his fingers anxiously through his short hair before fixing Pietro with a sympathetic but firm look. "So as much as I understand your need to get Nina back, your sister is right. This is much bigger than Nina or Natasha. If Ultron wins? Everyone loses, whether we had managed to save his hostages or not."
Despite the dissenting expression on the Sokovian boy's face, Steve could see that Pietro knew he was right. Reluctantly the younger man nodded, not meeting Steve's eye. Though looking no happier about it, Wanda let out a faint sigh of relief, slipping her hand reassuringly into her twin's as she glanced up to Steve.
"What is the plan," she asked softly. Taking in both their expectant, though still wary faces as they both looked up to him, Steve slipped his helmet back on.
"We get to that jet. We regroup with the rest of the Team. Then we'll go from there."
It was somewhat easier said than done. Pietro was still wiped from his efforts during the train incident, so while still perfectly capable of moving far faster than the average person, he was still slower than he was usually capable, and he wasn't quite up to carrying Wanda along with him yet, not if he wanted to maintain his speed. Which meant that they needed an alternative to reach the airport quickly.
Not that the speedster settled for leaving everything to Steve and Wanda; they had barely made it out of the winding market streets when Pietro was blurring back to his sister and Steve's sides with a set of car keys in hand, looking entirely too pleased with himself despite the solemn, worried shadow lingering in his eyes. Wanda had groaned in dismay, but Steve hadn't been about to turn down the advantage of driving to the airport over running. It wasn't like it was the first time he'd made use of a 'borrowed' car, after all.
Though Pietro was rather put out when Steve insisted on driving.
Mercifully, they reached the airport in good time. More than that, while not the Quinjet, the plane that Ultron had left waiting was far more than just a standard private jet. Nearly as high-tech and advanced as the Avenger's Quinjet, Steve suspected it was likely a HYDRA asset that the robot had adopted from Strucker, the jet being rather reminiscent of a S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet.
Finding it hadn't been a problem, but getting to the jet and getting the clearance to leave were a little trickier. Pietro's speed and Wanda's telepathic-manipulative abilities certainly proved their worth in overcoming those hurdles.
While not strictly trained as a pilot himself, Steve had picked up enough from his time with S.H.I.E.L.D.—not to mention a measure of tutelage from Barton and Nat since—that he was more than able to get the former HYDRA Quinjet in the air.
Soon enough they were well on their way to New York.
With the autopilot set, Steve finally allowed himself to relax a little. After all, even with the jet's impressive speed capabilities, it was still going to take time to make it halfway around the world.
Besides, he needed to speak to the Twins. Discussing Ultron and what they knew was certainly high on the list of things he needed to bring up, but there was something he needed to get out of the way first. Something Wanda had said when they were talking about Nina that just wasn't leaving him alone.
Out in the main cabin, the Twins were sitting facing each other on opposite ends of the far bank of seats, each lost to their own thoughts. Pietro was lounged in a deceptively casual way against the bulkhead behind him, his long legs stretched out in front of him to prop on the seat next to his sister as his arms crossed loosely over his chest; not that the relaxed way he sat entirely hid the tension visible across his shoulders or written on his face. Wanda, meanwhile, had curled in on herself, hugging her torso tightly as she nibbled distractedly on her thumbnail. Her own legs, bent up in front of her with her crimson shawl draped over them like a blanket, were intertwined with her brother's. Steve noted that she had changed, her different outfit confirming his suspicion that the jet had been how the Twins had been ferried along around the world with Ultron.
They both looked up as he approached, Wanda uncurling slightly while Pietro's gaze once again grew suspicious and wary. Steve ignored it, glancing between the two of them with an assessing look of his own as he took a seat across from them, dropping his helmet next to him.
"You said Strucker had already begun his experiments on Nina when we showed up. Did they take?" The Twins looked faintly startled by his quiet question at first, glancing to each other with matching expressions of bewilderment; it was obvious they hadn't been expecting him to ask about Nina. They were probably expecting to be interrogated about Ultron. That would come later, of course, but right now he wanted them to clarify what they'd meant about Nina first. What Wanda had said was bothering him. Something wasn't adding up.
Wanda glanced warily back to the Captain, looking on the verge of answering, but it was Pietro who spoke first, his eyes narrowing further, as though daring Steve to react badly.
"She hasn't shown signs, but she's still alive. So it's likely."
"It's possible," Wanda amended with an admonishing glance at her twin. Pietro shot her a faint glare.
"We haven't seen her in days," Pietro broke in irritably, his expression almost accusing, "she might have by now."
"But Ultron—" Pietro scoffed, interrupting her as he sat up sharply.
"And you're so sure he would've told us? Considering what we—"
"Why would he have kept it from us? He trusted us right up until we turned on him!"
"But he was lying to us the whole time! He didn't tell us what he was going to—"
"That wasn't lying, Pietro! You heard him in the Lab. He couldn't understand why we were so upset!"
"But he was keeping it from us! How do you know he wasn't keeping Nin—"
"Guys!" Steve finally broke in sharply, his voice rising to get their attention. Wanda sighed heavily, her forehead falling to her hand as her eyes glimmered wetly in the low light. Pietro sank against the bulkhead again, resuming his sullen, distracted examination of the seatback to his right. Steve withheld a sigh of his own, surveying the both of them.
"What do you mean," he prompted, drawing their attention back to him and what they'd been explaining before they'd been side-tracked by their bickering; yet they still somehow weren't quite so bad as Tony when he really got going... "Because she's still alive?" Wanda hesitated before explaining.
"The Sceptre killed everyone Strucker used it on," she paused, glancing to her brother again, a resigned look in her eyes, "everyone except us."
"And now Nina," Pietro added softly. Slowly Steve nodded as he processed the information, his gut clenching painfully at the idea that Nadine's daughter could just as easily have died from what Strucker had done to her.
"So because it didn't kill her," he clarified, looking to Wanda, who seemed much more open to answering his questions—reluctant was the best word to describe Pietro as he glared at the Captain, "it's likely Strucker's experiments worked on her." Wanda shrugged.
"She hasn't shown any signs yet..."
Steve frowned. "So maybe not?" Wanda shrugged again, an unhappy sound escaping her throat as she picked absently at the edge of her shawl.
"We don't know. At first, I was sure...Strucker was certain the experiments would work on her—that's why he wanted her specifically—but something should have manifested by now. By this time with us? Our powers had started...showing." Steve leaned back in his seat, his hand rising to rest against his chin in thought as his arms crossed loosely over his chest.
"Why did Strucker want Nina so badly? Why was he so sure the experiments would work on her," Steve murmured distractedly, trying to puzzle it out. He felt like the answer was on the tip of his tongue, like there was something, some connection he just hadn't put together yet. Why go to all that trouble for one girl, especially considering who her mother was? Could it be so simple as who her mother was? Had Strucker wondered if some of Nadine's Enhancement had been passed to her daughter? Some trait that would make her more likely to survive the Sceptre's power?
That their brand of Enhancement could be inherited was something Steve hadn't really considered before, even all those years ago before he'd gone into the ice, when he'd allowed himself to imagine a possible future with Peggy. Could Nadine's Enhancement—and by extension his own—be passed on to the next generation? It had affected them right down to their genetic make-up, so far as he'd understood it when Erskine had explained the process. So, would the serum's effects on him go so far as to affect any future children? Would Nadine's Treatments have done the same?
He caught Wanda frowning over at him out of the corner of his eye, her expression transparently perplexed as she looked to Steve. Her brother had turned his attention back to her, looking just as uncomprehending as Steve at his twin's reaction to Steve's rhetorical query.
"Strucker wanted Nina because her parents were Enhanced," she said slowly, as though bewildered that he didn't already know as much. "He wanted to know if she'd inherited any of it from them and if it would allow her to survive the Sceptre's energy where a normal person's system was usually completely overwhelmed and burned out by it." Steve started, barely registering that most of what she'd said echoed his private musings as one particular thing caught his attention.
"Wait, parents? Both Nina's parents were Enhanced?" Wanda looked just as startled at his question as Steve felt when she'd said it, her brow creasing in confusion over her widened blue-green eyes as she nodded.
"You—you don't know? But her mother, Nina's mother...she was with you in Sokovia. In Johannesburg!" Across from her, her brother started, his jaw clenching even as he paled as his twin's words sunk in.
"Why didn't you tell me that?" It was hissed low enough that he obviously hadn't intended for the Captain to hear, but Steve heard anyway. Wanda looked stricken, but her own jaw stayed as firm as the resolve in her eyes.
"I was going to, Pietro, but—" she trailed off, gesturing absently toward Steve. It seemed answer enough.
"When?" She sighed at the terse question, clearly knowing what he meant even if Steve didn't.
"I didn't figure it out—I didn't put it together until after South Africa," she admitted softly, "and then Ultron—nothing else seemed quite as important when we found out what he..." She paused, obviously needing a moment to regain her composure before continuing. "I didn't realize Rykova and The Ghost—her mother—were the same person until then, until I saw it in the Avengers' heads," she finished apologetically with a slight tilt of her head in Steve's direction. Pietro glanced over to Steve, who was already looking away to allow them the illusion of privacy. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the boy nod, still looking far from happy, but at least satisfied with his sister's explanation. Steve glanced up at them. His gut churned, and he suddenly got the distinct feeling he wasn't going to like the answer to the question he knew he had to ask next...the feeling like he already knew the answer.
"So you know who her mother is...what about her father?" Wanda's blinked, still seeming unsettled that he didn't already know judging by the way her bow furrowed as she answered.
"Strucker wanted Nina because she's the child of the Ghost and the Winter Soldier."
Steve felt himself go cold as the Maximoff girl's words sunk in.
Nina was Bucky's daughter?
His daughter.
Something hard and angry and protective began vibrating in Steve's chest at the revelation, making it physically hard to breathe. Did Bucky know? His mind raced to process it, struggling to make sense of the new information. He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees as his head fell to his hands.
But then his heart dropped to his stomach; part of him wasn't at all surprised. Part of him had already put the pieces together.
He just hadn't wanted to see it. The feeling like he couldn't breathe was back in full force.
It changed everything.
But did it really? Did it really change what Nadine had done? Did it change how he felt about her keeping such a monumental secret—including this, apparently—from the team...from him? His fingers curled, fisting tight against his leather-clad palms.
Yes, a small, rational corner of his mind insisted, it does change everything. Nadine hadn't kept her past with Bucky a secret for her own benefit...
...But to protect her daughter...
...From the very thing that had happened to the girl...
Strucker had targeted Nina because of her parentage, after all.
More than that, the same irritatingly rational voice was finally able to point out now that Steve was paying attention, Nadine likely didn't even know about his history with Bucky. It was not widely known, after all, that Bucky and the Winter Soldier were one and the same. To her, Steve was likely just an unconnected party when it came to Bucky and his past. She probably had no reason to believe it would be personal for him, the rational little voice insisted. So why would she have felt the need to tell him? She was only just beginning to trust him, after all...a trust he'd thrown back in her face...
Steve's jaw clenched as his reason and his steadfast sense of morality began to further chip away at his anger toward the blonde assassin. He sighed heavily, his hands falling to fist tightly between his knees as he forced himself to breathe.
He had to hear Nadine out now.
If she was even still around.
He was still furious that it had been kept from him, but now he knew he had to hear the whole story.
Then he would make up his mind about how to feel about her choice to keep her history with Bucky a secret.
Because despite what he'd said on the Quinjet, she had earned his trust. She'd stayed after Johannesburg. She'd stayed to help them even when she had a chance at finding her daughter. She'd kept helping them. Even on the Quinjet, when Ultron had begun spilling her secrets, she hadn't even paused in her determination to find him. Not even to try and stop him.
Even if the revelation of her secret history with Bucky had fractured the growing trust he'd had in her, Steve still felt he owed her that much.
Especially after the way he'd behaved on the Quinjet.
He'd gone too far and he knew it. He may have felt ill and hurt and betrayed because of what Ultron had revealed about Nadine and his oldest friend, but there had been no mistaking that the same words that had burned him had utterly devastated her.
He'd then callously rubbed salt in the wound.
He'd wanted her to hurt just as he was...
And she'd taken his cold reproach—mild as it may have seemed to him at the time compared to how he'd felt—without protest or complaint. She believed she deserved it, he realized, his gut twisting painfully.
No, at the very least she deserved the chance to explain.
Then he'd decide how to proceed from there.
But no matter how things ultimately fell out between him and the blonde assassin, Steve now definitely had a renewed motivation to want Nina found safe and sound.
He owed her—and Bucky—that much.
But first they had to get back to New York.
First, they had to take out Ultron.
Or it wouldn't just be Nina getting hurt.
A/N: Thanks for Reading!
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