December 16,1991
The mission was simple. Apprehend the subject. Kill the subject. Then take the serum. What he didn't count on was the little girl sobbing in the backseat. She was just a child. Not even a child, a toddler. He had two choices; leave her and let her die in the cold. Maybe someone would stop by and save her. Or take him with her and let them deal with her. He may have been a cold blooded killer, but the Winter Soldier still had some empathy left in him.
He approached the back seat slowly. He must have been a terrifying sight with his long hair, mask and goggles. He decided to at least remove the goggles before opening the door. A pair of brown eyes filled with terror met his. Tears were streaming down her small face, soaking the fur hood of her purple jacket.
The Winter Soldier reached forward to undo her car seat straps causing her to scream. The man of few words fought to think of something to say. He normally spoke in Russian, but the chances of her knowing Russian were small
"I-It's okay..." He spoke quietly, not used to hearing his own voice. "I'm here to help."
The little girl gazed upwards toward where her now dead parents laid and then back at him. He knew she hadn't seen him, so maybe she would trust him. She nodded her head slowly. The soldier carefully picked her up and looked over at his motorcycle. Two thoughts were running through his head; he'd never held nor taken care of a child before and how the hell was he going to get her on his bike.
The little girl had begun to shake from the cold. He sat her on the bike, and he sat behind her. The helicopter was only a few miles ahead to pick him up. He wrapped one arm around her and kept one hand on the bike. She jumped at the sound of it starting but said nothing as he sped away.
What had he done? This was not good. This wasn't in his nature. What sort of punishment was he going to endure?
The soldier stopped his bike in front of the helicopter and everyone stopped when they saw the little girl.
"I get the mission didn't go as planned?" A guard asked in Russian. "He's not going to like this at all."
"She wasn't suppose to be there. I don't know if she saw anything." The soldered spat back in Russian. "Karpov can deal with her."
The Winter Soldier placed the girl on the seat and made sure to buckle her in. The terror in her eyes had been replaced with tiredness. He was surprised she handled the take off so well. He watched as the hum of the helicopter sent her to sleep. He prayed she would stay asleep through the night since the flight back to Siberia would take most of the night.
It was evident word of the girl had spread quickly when they landed. The soldier could see the murmuring of lips and concerned looks. A child had never been here. After all, it was no place for a child. She had woken up just before they landed and her brown eyes widened at the sight of the base. It was freezing. Her jacket was no match for this.
"It's okay." He whispered to her as he picked her up.
He ignored the stares as he entered the base. He entered a room full of doctors, leaders and scientists and none of them said anything for a couple of minutes.
"What have you done?" Vasily Karpov asked in Russian with gritted teeth. "She was not part of the plan."
"In his defense, she wasn't suppose to be there." One of Karpov's men spoke up.
"I wanted to make sure there were no witnesses." The soldier said quietly. He could only imagine the punishment he was going to endure for this.
"Do you have any idea what you've done? She's their daughter. People are going to search for her." Someone else spoke up
Karpov was quiet for a few minutes. "They won't suspect us. How could they? They'll probably think she wandered off after the accident. There will be a search but if you did your job correctly, they won't find her."
"But what should we do with her?" Artem, Karpov's young assistant.
More silence. "My wife can not have children. We'll take her, but we'll raise her to be a HYDRA agent. We can use her to test how children respond to training." Karpov explained.
The soldier tensed. Use her? He wanted to speak up. He wanted to protest. He looked down at her, what had he done? No one said anything. No objections or protests.
"Artem, can you take her to my quarters? I'll explain everything to Ana." Karpov asked.
"Of course." Artem quickly responded.
"I'm going with you. She only trusts me." The solider spoke.
Artem smirked. "Getting soft are we?"
The soldier glared at him through his goggles. The girl held onto his hand tightly as they made their way to a vehicle and towards Karpov's home on the base. He could see smoke coming out of the chimney and was thankful that the girl would be able to warm up. The minute the vehicle parked, a short women with red hair stepped out, with a grin plastered onto her face.
She clasped her hands together at the sight of the girl. "She's shivering! Did no one think to give her dry clothes?"
Ana, Karpov's wife was half Russian, half American. Her father was involved in the Russian mafia and her mother was born into a family full of arm's dealers. Her parents had met on a mission in Russia and instantly fell in love. She had always longed for a large family but unfortunately, after years of trying, there was no luck. There was adoption, but most places would not adopt to a HYDRA leader.
Ana ushered the soldier and girl inside and instantly took off her coat. "Does she speak Russian?"
"No." The soldier replied.
"Does she have a name?" Ana asked, this time in English.
He froze. He didn't even know her name. He kidnapped this girl and killed her parents and he didn't even know her name. Ana began searching over the girl for any sign of her name. Her eyes landed on a small gold bracelet with something engraved in it.
"It says Catherine." Ana leaned down to the girl. "Is your name Catherine."
The girl nodded.
"That's a beautiful name. How about we get some food and clean clothes?" Ana asked. "And maybe we can read after?"
Catherine looked up at the soldier and then Ana before nodding. She let go of the soldiers hand hesitantly. Ana noticed his look of concern.
"Don't worry, I'll take good care of her." She promised with a smile.
He watched Catherine head into the kitchen with Ana before turning around. However, he was met with the figure of Karpov.
"You will train her, when she's older. She needs to be strong, if not stronger then you are." He explained with cold eyes.
The Winter Soldier did not answer, but instead went to walk outside.
Karpov grabbed his arm to stop him very well knowing that this man could kill him. "And do not tell anyone where she came from."
What had he done?
A/N: I'm so happy this story gained popularity. That was never my intent. Ever. I just wanted to get this story out because it had been in my head for years. With popularity comes criticism which is fine. Most of the time I just read over negative comments. I will state this once and once only because I'm tired of replying to the same comment over and over. There is NO GROOMING. None. Zero. You have to remember Bucky has had his mind wiped and been frozen so many times, he can't make the best decisions. He feels guilty. He doesn't think Catherine is attractive at age two or five or whatever. He doesn't hit on her when she's underage. He feels guilty and wants to watch over her. That's it. I swear. Please enjoy the book that worked INCREDIBLY hard on. Love you all.