Chapter Four
Josephine

Siberia is very cold. From the second we stepped off the cargo ship, shivers ran down my body and they haven't stopped since. It's only gotten worse since we 'borrowed' a van and started the trek up the mountain where the HYDRA base is. All four of us have been huddled against Lee, whose gotten pretty handy at his whole Light Elf glowing powers. Of course here on Earth he can only muster up a faint glow of light, but it's better than nothing and I'm freaking freezing.

"My boyfriend the space heater." Stevie mumbles with a smile.

Lee leans his head against Stevie's and chuckles into his hair. I roll my eyes and say: "A space heater is better than what Lee's giving off."

He shoots me a look. "Don't insult the person whose keeping you warm right now."

Fair point. I offer him a sweet, innocent smile. "What I meant to say was I love you and I'm very grateful for your Light Elf magic."

"Mhm. That's what I thought you said."

I flip him off, this only makes Lee grin.

Bastard.

"Okay, let's go over the plan again," Steve insists, his hands tightening on the wheel. "Liam will stay behind to guard the van. Stevie will shift into an animal large enough to break down the doors."

"I've picked a rhino." Stevie whispers to us cheerfully.

"And Josephine will cover us while we clear a path to the elevator. Once we get down to the bottom level where Bucky is being held, Olivia and Zy'aire will go free him. Josephine will then transport him with one of her forcefields while the rest of us cover her. Hopefully we'll be able to make it make to the van and escape without issue."

"Okay, you gotta call me Jo, I hate being called Josephine. The only people who call me that are my fathers when I'm being yelled at." I insist.

Steve nods. "Alright, Jo it is."

Natasha turns around in her seat and looks at each of us intently, her tone grave as she warns us: "Be careful with the Winter Soldier."

Stevie gapes at her. "He's our dad."

Natasha shakes her head, something like pity shining in her eyes. "He's not called the Winter Soldier because of the climate he lives in. He's called that because of his cold and calculating nature. It's not in his programming to be anything other than a killer. He's a monster."

Steve looks like he wants to say something but he decides against it. Stevie on the other hand decides the opposite: "Don't talk about our dad like that. You don't even know him. He's the kindest, bravest, smartest, most pure hearted man that's ever lived. He's not a monster. He's a victim of HYDRA and he needs to be taken far away from their control."

Natasha stays silent. It's clear she doesn't believe him. Sure we've shown her pictures and talked about how wonderful Uncle Bucky is, about him being an Avenger and a dedicated family man. But she only knows the Winter Soldier, and I'm sure believing the truth of who he is after what she's seen will be hard. Throughout our childhood we were taught about HYDRA and what they did to him. I've seen videos of the Winter Soldier in action, read stories in history textbooks, learned about the worst things imaginable that were done by his hand. But it never mattered. To me he's my uncle. I knew he was innocent in all this, that he was a good man, that he'd never hurt me or anyone else. I've always known the truth. We all have.

Natasha is just now learning the truth, and she's having a hard time believing it. The rest of the world will have a hard time believing it too. Uncle Bucky had to stay hidden from the world for years out of fear of being arrested or killed. I realize now that even if we are successful at rescuing him today, he's far from being free. People's perceptions of him, their belief in him being a monster, are just as much of a prison as the one he's in now.

Steve stops the van just before the last steep incline of the mountain. With just a single nod towards us, he gets out of the van, strapping his shield to his arm. Natasha gets out as well, already loading several guns strapped to various parts of her body. Stevie kisses Lee briefly, but fiercely, then opens up the van's back doors, allowing the four of us to get out. Stevie reaches down and twists off his vibranium leg, latching it onto the back of his now activated suit.

He lets out a sigh and shrugs. "Here goes nothing." He then bends down and quickly shifts into a rhino, just as he said he would. He charges up the rest of the mountain, all of us not too far behind him. Despite the fact he's in animal form and physically can't express emotion, I can tell Stevie is way too excited as he smashes his horn into the thick metal doors. It bends inward but don't break. He hits it again and it bends that much more. Third times a charm though, and after a running start, he manages to break down the doors. He charges into the base, where shouts and gunshots sound, echoing across the snow topped mountain. Livy shifts into a tiger and runs inside to assist her brother, Zy and I just behind her.

I conjure up a forcefield to guard Stevie and Livy as they tear down HYDRA soldiers left and right, with Zy guarding any weak spots I have. Steve and Natasha are clearing a path to the elevator like they said, which mostly consists of Steve deflecting bullets while Natasha punches, kicks, shoots, and over all annihilates the HYDRA goons. One minute a soldier is standing, aiming their gun at Natasha, and then the next she has their neck caught in a choke hold with her legs, and she's flipping them onto their back, knocking them out.

It's honestly kind of hot.

Natasha, unsurprisingly, reaches the elevator first, thankfully finding it vacant. I shout for the others to head towards the elevator. They do so, rushing around me towards where Steve and Natasha await. I get into the elevator last, keeping the forcefield up until the last second before the doors close. The elevator itself is pretty cramped and clearly very old. Every second we're trapped in here I'm worrying that a wire will short circuit and we'll plummet to our deaths. Thankfully that's not the case. The doors open on the tenth floor, the one Stevie remembered being the level the winter soldiers are held in, and we're met with dozens of soldiers aiming their guns at our heads.

What does it say about us that this sight doesn't send us into spiraling panic attacks? Maybe I should take Aunt Soroya's advice and go to therapy. This can't be normal.

That's a discussion for another time.

I conjure up a large forcefield and expel it, sending the soldiers flying through the air, hitting various parts of the floor and walls, some making horrible cracking sounds as they do. I actively try not to think about that as we run down the dimly lit hallway, running into even more soldiers. These ones are a bit more aggressive than the rest, there's a desperation in their eyes. They don't want us down here. That can only mean good things for us.

Between Natasha's super sexy assassin moves and my shapeshifter cousins kicking ass, we make it to the winter soldier chambers with ease. Steve, Natasha, Stevie, and I cover Zy and a now human formed Livy as they begin messing with the button and dials of the last chamber on the left, the one we've only seen pictures and heard stories of. As time presses on, more soldiers appear, their shouts and growls of aggression growing more intense as they realize what we're trying to do. I don't really pay attention to any of them though, all I can focus on is the chamber as it slowly opens up, revealing the thing all of us have been hoping and dreading to see.

It's Uncle Bucky. There's a mask attached to his face, tubes and wires connecting to him in various areas of his chest and back. He's frozen obviously, which is an odd sight to see, but what really has me staring is his expression. Only his eyes are visible due to the mask, but those eyes...I see nothing. Nothing at all. I'm used to those steel blue eyes holding nothing but love and affection, but these eyes are cold. I feel a shiver travel down my spine that has nothing to do with the cold weather. Livy and Zy are able to disconnect him from the wires, tubes, and mask, but as soon as he's free, he falls forward. Steve catches him in time before he hits the ground, his hands shaking as he holds onto Uncle Bucky for dear life, shielding him from the fire that's still coming our way.

I notice something behind the angry soldiers, something bright and white. The longer I stare at it, the more my brain starts to piece together that what I'm seeing is outside the base. It's not a window, I think it's some sort of landing. It could be our ticket out of here, because Hanuman knows we're screwed if we go out the way we came.

"Everyone gather around me and hold on tight!" I shout, waiting while everyone does as I say. Steve and Natasha each have their arms wrapped around Uncle Bucky's waist and he in turn has his arms wrapped around their shoulders. His eyes are fluttering open, his breathing is unsteady. He looks very disoriented. I bet being frozen for who knows how long will do that to you.

We need to get out of here before he wakes up fully.

I create a big forcefield, big enough to fit all of us inside, then I wrap it around us, forcing it off the ground and into the air. The soldiers are completely helpless as we soar above their heads towards the landing, even more so when we make it outside into the freezing mountain air. I think we're on the other side of the mountain, so I shoot us up higher into the air, causing Steve and Natasha to both let out shrieks of surprise. I kinda forgot neither of them have done this before.

Oh well. First time for everything.

As we fly over the base and towards the other side of the mountain, I notice soldiers pouring out of the broken metal doors, running down towards where our van is. After we've flown over the incline next to the mountain top, I see Lee fighting said soldiers off, vines shooting out of his body like an octopus's tentacles. Those vines are all the plants he has to work with up here, it's too cold for anything else to grow this far up. I can see Stevie practically shake in anticipation of reaching the ground to help him out, and that's exactly what he does when we touch the snow. Livy and Zy help out as well, leaving me to guard Steve and Natasha as they haul Uncle Bucky into the back of the van, binding him with thick iron chains.

"I think it's time to go." Stevie shouts, pointing to more soldiers heading our way.

"Jesus, how many HYDRA freaks are there?" Natasha asks with an annoyed sigh.

"I don't think you want an answer to that question." I reply, covering them once again while they run towards the front seats. Stevie, Livy, and Zy do the same towards the back, me just behind them. I'm the last to get on again, but unlike with the elevator, I don't drop my shields once we shut the van doors and begin driving away. I continue to keep the forcefields up as the soldiers shoot at us and attempt to apprehend us. I even keep them up when we put great distance between us and the base, even once the mountain is no longer visible.

-

Steve

We found an abandoned office building to hideout in, one that's far far away from the Siberia base. I doubt distance will matter that much though, HYDRA will be after us no matter how far away we go. That should scare me, but right now they're the least of my concerns. All my attention is on Dad, who is chained to a chair in the middle of one of the offices right now, slowly beginning to regain consciousness. We're all in the office with him, watching, waiting to see if he'll do something. It's like we're at a zoo and we're waiting for the tiger to wake up; as much as you may want to see the tiger, there's a part of you that worries that the tiger will get angry and attack, despite the fence, or chains, separating you and the animal. I never thought I'd view Dad like this, like a threat. It's unsettling.

"You don't have to be here for when he wakes up, we can go somewhere else." Lee whispers to me. He's sitting in a leather office chair, with me sitting in his lap, his arms secured tightly around me, his head pressed against mine.

I shake my head, exhaling deeply. "I need to be here."

Lee kisses my cheek, squeezing me tighter. "Let me know if it becomes too much for you."

"The same goes for you."

"Don't worry about me, babe."

"You love him too," I whisper with a glance Dad's way. "He's your father too."

Lee looks to Dad as well, worry and pain identical to my own in his features and gaze. "I hate seeing him like this. I hate what HYDRA did to him."

That makes five of us. My sister looks on the verge of crying or throwing up as she stares at Dad. Zy has his arm wrapped around her shoulder, and he's whispering things to her to try to comfort her, but nothing can. Jo is silently sitting on top of the rotting wood desk, staring at Dad like he's a bomb about to explode. Steve and Natasha are standing next to Livy and Zy, talking silently amongst themselves, with the former's eyes repeatedly falling onto a still unconscious Dad. Despite how we all feel, I think Steve is taking this the hardest. We knew what to expect, Steve didn't. Yesterday he thought that his best friend was dead, and now he knows that he's suffered a far worse fate.

The sound of a groan pulls all of us from our thoughts. The groan came from Dad, who lifts his head up and blinks several times, trying to take in his surroundings. His eyes trail over all of us, and when they settle on me, they look right through me. I feel tears cloud my vision at the lack of familiarity in his eyes, the lack of emotion. It's the only thing that really sticks out to me. He looks pretty much the same other than that, except he has a few less wrinkles and grey hairs. God I've missed him, I didn't realize how much until just now. It's only been a little over twenty four hours since I last saw him, but it feels like forever. Instinct tells me to run over to him and hug him, to lose myself in the safety and warmth of his love and affection, but I know I won't receive any of that. This is a completely different man from the father I know.

Lee tightens his grip on me, but when I look at him out of the corner of my eye, and see that his expression is similar to mine, I start to wonder if he's trying to comfort me or himself.

"Who are you? Where am I? What is this place?" Dad asks, and his voice sounds strange. Hollow. He looks down and notices the chains, anger flooding into his cold gaze. He asks the question again in what I think is Russian, and then again in German, and each time he asks, his voice gets more aggressive.

"Y-You're safe, you're far away from HYDRA," Livy answers, and her voice sounds shaky and uneven. "You're in an abandoned office building just outside of Vanavara, Russia."

Dad shakes his head, pulling on his chains. "I don't know you. I don't know any of you. Let me go. I demand you let me go."

I start to wonder why he's not going psycho assassin on us, but then I remember something. I learned in school that HYDRA would electrocute him and reset his mind with passwords whenever he was unfrozen. That's what would turn him into the heartless machine HYDRA forced him to be. He hasn't been reset, so we aren't dealing with the full blown Winter Soldier, just a scared man who has no clue who he is or what's happening to him.

"Your name is James Buchanan Barnes," I begin, my voice sounding raw and scratchy. "You were born in New York City on March 10th, 1917."

Dad stares at me like I'm speaking in a language he doesn't understand. But he's stopped struggling and is actually listening to me, so I continue:

"You love vintage music, and say you hate modern music, but I know you secretly love Adele. You love steak but only if it's cooked well done and bourbon is your favorite alcoholic drink. You love Star Wars and your favorite character is Yoda, and for some reason you can never remember his name so you call him 'the wise little green man'. You absolutely suck at every board game except for battleship. To this day you still dance like your in a 1940's night club no matter what song is playing..."

Dad stares at me in confusion and alarm, like I'm some unnerved man with a chainsaw screaming my head off about to strike. I open my mouth to speak again, but no words come out. I'm struck silent by the fear I still sense in him, but now that fear is directed towards me. He's afraid of me. His son. Except he doesn't know I'm his son, he doesn't know me at all. He thinks I'm a threat, that I'm someone who will hurt him, that I'm just as bad as HYDRA.

I don't know when I actually started crying, but my cheeks have grown wet and a choked sob slips through my lips. Lee guides my head towards his shoulder, his hands digging into my hair, his tone soft as he whispers over and over again: "It's okay, baby. It's okay."

But it's not okay. This is the farthest thing from okay.

I hear footsteps from the other side of the room, and I lift my head enough to see Steve approach Dad, his expression unreadable. He bends down to be at Dad's eye level, and Dad's tensed up body relaxes a little bit. Does he recognize him?

"My name is Steve Rogers. You and I met in Kindergarten. I had been getting bullied by a kid on the playground and you came over and helped me. We were inseparable from that day on."

Dad doesn't say anything, he just stares at Steve. Steve takes this as a sign to continue.

"Your mom's name was Winnifred and your dad's was George. You had two sisters named Rebecca and Olivia and a brother named Charles. Your dad owned a hardware store that you and I both worked at until we joined the army. You were a sergeant and I was a captain. You and I both fought side by side for years in the Howling Commandos. Come on, Bucky, do you remember any of this?"

"Bucky?" Dad asks, his fear beginning to fade away as well as his confusion. Something along the lines of clarity flood into his features.

Steve nods. "Your real name is James Buchanan Barnes, but you always went by Bucky. Your mom told me the nickname started in preschool. You hated how many other James's there were in class with you, you wanted to have a unique name. Your mom suggested using Buchanan—"

"But I couldn't pronounce it. I kept saying 'Bucky' and it stuck," Dad finishes, disbelief and...and happiness flooding into his eyes. "Steve?"

A wide smile breaks over Steve's smile. "Is that you in there, Buck?"

Dad nods, his body shaking as he lets out a shaking breath. "I think so. H-how did you find me?"

Steve locks eyes with me, then with the others. "That's a complicated question. You might not believe the answer."

Dad lets out a laugh devoid of all humor. "After all I've been through, I don't think anything will surprise me."

Steve gestures to me and then to Livy. We come forward as he asks, and as we stand there in front of Dad, her hand grips onto mine. I look at my sister and find her expression filled with apprehension and sorrow as deep as mine. I give her a small smile. It's the only thing I can think to do to show her that I feel the same way she does. She smiles back.

"Buck," Steve says, letting out a deep sigh. "Meet Stevie and Olivia. Your children."