Chapter Text
Visiting the museum had led to a lot of memories coming back to him. Not all at once no, but in his sleep, or when it was quiet. Too quiet. He had stolen a car, and not once had he heard the sound of sirens chasing him. As he got closer to his destination, the U.S Canadian Border. First he has to cross it, and the easiest way to do that would be through the checkpoints that dot it, but he doesn’t have a passport anymore, and being someone who has been dead for nearly 70 years. It wouldn't be easy to get one. So instead, he parks the Jeep he stole somewhere off road and makes a not of the area, for extra insurance he remembers it, he punches several trees a few meters apart from each other, up until he reaches a river. He then follows it at a distance avoiding the road that follows it until he finds the border. Now he waits for night.
When night falls, he uses his skills he acquired to move quickly and silently past the patrol. They didn’t hear a thing. Now his new task; find the Bunker he knows for a fact is somewhere North of the top of Maine. Which is where he crossed. After swimming through the St Lawrence, he continued his march. He hasn’t been at his destination, but he’s spotted it in photos on occasions. The only place marked on a paperfile. An ex military site that was used as a forward base back in the war. Cleared out by the allies before he ‘died’ on the train. The news had reached them when they were about to set out for that mission… The last base found in North America taken down… was the transmission he recalls. Northwest of Anticosti island, on an island of a ring-lake. So he marches. Eventually he regrettably has to kill someone along the way. An old man spotted him on the road. He killed him and stuffed him into the car. He drove the rest of the way, no one was on this road it seems.
After reaching the lake, he swam onto the island. He wandered around till he found his destination. unnoticeable to the average person, but to him? He noticed it quickly, the creaking of old metal as he stepped across the ground. He walked over to an old tree stump. Tapped on it and when it sounded like metal, he lifted the top and slammed onto the button. Behind him the hatch that leads into the bunker opens up. It’s loud, and likely alerted the people inside. He stomps down the stairs, and listens. 41 heartbeats. And they had just sped up, save for one. There he is. He thinks to himself, and starts heading toward the sound. He kills every single person he comes across here. Using a gun from the first brave enough to try and attack him. He is a rolling storm as he continues his march.
Then he hears more. Russian, deliberate, and spaced out. They’re activating him, he realizes, and quickens his pace. He hears it as he approaches them. “Взятый. Развитый. Двадцать. Ноль. Один. Рассвет. Доброкачественный. Заб-” and he is cut off by a bullet growing through his throat. He kills the rest, and tosses his gun away, and approaches the boy arms up. He looks on the verge of tears.
“Я здесь не для того, чтобы причинить тебе боль.” He speaks softly.
“Тогда почему вы здесь?”
“Чтобы спасти тебя”
“Я-я не достоин спасения.”
He frowns. “Каждый человек достоин спасения.” he breaks the shackles on the chair apart. And holds out a hand. He takes it hesitantly. “Отойди назад” He instructs, and he does. After which he bashes the chair apart. Punch after punch after punch. What’s left of it is nothing but shards of scrap metal. He walks around, and grabs the gear they must have given him for assignments. He finds a large duffle bag and stuffs it in it. He spots a rifle, mounted on a wall. Soviet made. He notes, and takes it too. He tosses it at the kid, who folds it up into a small briefcase.
“Почему мы это делаем?” He asks, examining it again.
“Чтобы мы могли его уничтожить. Не хотелось бы, чтобы они его теперь восстанавливали, правда?” He explains. The boy nods in agreement. They leave the bunker behind, ignoring the corpses strung along the way. Bucky took all the files they had on him. He instructs the boy to set a ring of rocks up, as he goes through them all. Kill orders, and stolen items, all are in these paper files. Nothing on the boy’s identity. He was hoping to have found that. It seemed they saw no reason to keep such a record on site. After piling the papers into the ring of rocks, he starts striking some together, in hopes of burning it all. It takes about 13 minutes to get a spark going, and another 3 for it to burn properly. He does memorize the trigger words, just in case, and burns that too. The kid holds out the briefcase-gun for him, but he shakes his head no. “Мы не можем это здесь уничтожить. Если они вернутся, они просто всё переделают.” he explains. The boy nods, and takes it with him as they leave. For good measure he reenters the bunker and grabs the 4 magazines that were in the bunker for his rifle, leaves, and shuts the bunker again. They swim back to the mainland and into the car he stole, and drove back toward the St. Lawrence. He deliberately crashes the car, after telling the kid to brace. and they get out unscratched. He places the body in a position that was stuffed in the back seat into a position where it looked like he died on impact. He checked the kid for injuries, found none, and they continued onward. Getting past the border patrol again and toward the Jeep he left. They climb in and head for the road.
After asking where the kid would like to go, he says New York City. So they set that as the destination. They arrive in the late morning, and walk around for a while before finding an old abandoned apartment building in Queens. They spend the next few days making it safer, and convert it into a livable place. The kid wanted to live in the old clocktower in the building, and they converted it into a liveable place. The closest apartment still had running water and electricity, so that was a bonus. After finding (stealing) a bunch of appliances the giant room is liveable. Bucky borrows (steals) a bunch of money from an atm. And provides the kid a phone, along with a phone for him. He finally remembers that this kid probably doesn’t have a name, at least around Hydra, so he asks; “Как тебя зовут, малыш?”
He looks puzzled, before he has a thinking face on. “Питер” He says. “Не знаю почему, но это чувство мне знакомо.” he explains. Bucky just nods and accepts that. He puts his name into his phone, and provides his name.
“Какие еще языки вы знаете?”
“Nagyon sokat.” He answers, in Hungarian. “I prefer Latvarian.” he continues using it.
“Why?”
“I just… I find it the easiest to use. It was the first they made me use… and they said-” he cuts himself off. “-was forbidden. And I just.. Like this one.” He explains, and I realize he meant English was forbidden.
“Can you understand it?”
“Yes” He nods. “But they- they would puni- they called it rewarding me- but I knew better. They would punish me for using it. Now I don’t know if I can anymore.”
“You’ll get there some day.”
“Why would you help me? I’m- What I’ve-”
“Peter. I told you before. Everyone deserves help. An old friend of mine always thought so at least. So, here I am. Helping you.”
“But you’re leaving soon, right?”
“Yes. We- We can’t stay close. They are already hunting me, and soon you too. If we stay close by, they'll find us quicker. And I doubt we’ll see the light of day again for at least another 100 years.”
“Not until I’m 25.. For me. They need me to grow. I overheard them… You probably would be though.”
“Then we can’t get caught. I want to stay, really, but it’s too risky. We can.. Talk. daily. The phones are for that. And if you need something, I can drop everything and get to you in less than 24 hours. Promise.”
“Okay… Thank you.”