Junior Soldier, Part 1- Steve Rogers x Barnes!Child!Reader Two-Shot
To Hydra, the super soldier serum was worth more than its weight in gold. Their scientists had tried desperately to duplicate it, but with no avail. Hydra’s agents scoured the world in pursuit of a few remaining formulas- the Winter Soldier found five after killing Howard Stark.
So they tried a little experiment to see if they could duplicate the serum- this time, not the serum alone, but a super soldier with it.
They decided to try and breed a super soldier.
Bucky was in cryofreeze when Clint, Sam, Steve and Nat busted a small Hydra base, where they had heard some scientists were developing a new weapon.
It was Steve who found her.
He punched and shoved his way up to a small lab that contained absolutely no weapons whatsoever. In fact, it was empty apart from a tiny little girl of about three or four, asleep on a counter beside a file.
Cautiously, he approached, wary of some sort of optical illusion or trick. He reached the child, peacefully sleeping, clutching a lock of her long, (h/c) hair in her tiny fist.
Steve frowned. The girl looked pretty real at close quarters.
Of course, he was still on his guard. To see if she was real and solid, he....stuck out his index finger and poked her. Her (e/c) eyes instantly opened wide as she sat up, looking scared. She cowered when she saw Steve. She was terrified.
“Uh...hi,” said Steve awkwardly, but mentally thinking that the girl looked very...familiar.
She frowned, still tense; her breathing was deep but fast.
Steve’s eyes fell on the file beside her. Wondering if it might be hers, he reached out for it.
“Hey,” he said, trying to sound soothing. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you.”
There was a disbelieving scowl on the girl’s face. Steve reached for the file again- this time, she was still, but she watched his every movement suspiciously.
Steve opened up the file- and gasped. Clipped inside was a picture of Bucky as the Winter Soldier, and the name (y/n) (m/n) Barnes.
He looked at the girl, then looked at the picture of Bucky. The resemblance was uncanny.
The girl’s scowl had relaxed. She nodded to show she was listening.
“Er, can you talk?” Steve continued, hoping very dearly that she could. It would make befriending her so much easier.
“W-well, I, uh, I’m Steve,” he said, carefully extending his hand.
She stared at it for a few seconds, then shook it lightly before withdrawing her hand quickly, almost as if Steve was going to bite her.
“Uh, this might sound like a stupid question, but dyu know who you are?’ Steve asked.
“I’m (y/n) Barnes,” she replied softly, in a childish accent.
“What the- is that a kid?” Clint’s voice came from behind Steve, and (y/n) tensed up again, fear showing in her large eyes.
“Yeah...apparently, Bucky’s kid,” said Steve weakly.
Clint offered to take her for a while,seeing as he had experience with children, but Steve declined. He had finally succeeded in convincing little (y/n) of two things- that he was her Uncle Steve, and that he wasn’t going to hurt her.
Once thus convinced, he had picked her up, and she had clung to his neck for dear life, afraid of all the others.
“Steve, what are you going to do with her?” Sam asked as (y/n) studied him with trepidation.
“Keep her,” Steve answered without thinking.
Nat pursed her lips, thinking. Clint nodded understandingly. Sam looked at him as if he had lost his nuts.
“She’s my best friend’s daughter,” said Steve firmly, as if that settled it.
For the time being, it did. (y/n) wouldn’t let go of Steve, but she did ask him once or twice why all the mean people were lying about on the ground covered in red stuff.
“They take a lot of that red stuff from my arm,” she said unhappily.
Steve stroked her hair, already attached.
“Don’t worry, nobody’s going to hurt you now,” he said.
