Chapter Text
And when the sun comes
Try not to hate the light
Someday we'll try to walk upright
Crawl Till Dawn
- Damn These Vampires, The Mountain Goats
Missions were never simple. Plans were never decided upon in terms of how to keep the most soldiers alive, let alone civilians. The goal was always to complete the mission objective, nothing less, rarely anything more.
Of course, HYDRA had the best. Experiments and projects were trained for the field at the time of their creation, and it was to no one’s surprise that the two strongest soldiers to come out of HYDRA were made in the labs.
The Winter Soldier and the Spider, also called Pauk were an unlikely duo, but the deadliest that HYDRA has produced. They were unlikely in looks: a manky older man with a metal arm, and a younger boy, no older than 13 who resembled more of a stick than any type of creature with strength. Still, their combined job success rate was near 100%. They both knew what lengths had to be gone to for the job to be finished.
Those who worked with the assets knew that the strange bond that the two had could be dangerous if used against HYDRA. Many had speculated that if one died, that the other may not be as efficient. The spider was young, and fully in their grasp, but the soldier required regular torture and memory wiping to work as the machine that he is. It was obvious that the soldier felt the desire to protect the younger boy, which was a weakness that they could not seem to wipe. But why not use their greatest weakness to HYDRA’s own advantage, before someone else could?
In 2016, many branches of HYDRA fell. The Winter Soldier fell with them, going missing in action. He was quickly declared a traitor of HYDRA’s cause, and one of their top enemies. They knew that now; the little Spider would never leave them. How could the young boy leave the only life he had ever known now that his only friend was not only a top public enemy of HYDRA, but of the world?
It was clear that the Spider was the only one for the next mission: Kill the Winter Soldier, formerly known as James Barnes.
A commander droned, “Pauk. The Asset automatically took the backpack from the outstretched hands, reaching in to slide the gun into his boot holster.
“Your objective is simple. Do not make this any harder than it needs to be. Resources are limited, and we cannot waste them on you.”
The Asset gave a curt nod. “Target is James Buchanan Barnes. As a traitor of HYDRA, he is now a carrier of secrets and a weapon that is not to get out.”
A quick buzz behind the Asset made him tense up, which only made the coming pain of the electric baton worse. “You are to kill Barnes. Extracting him is not an option- he is affiliated with the Avengers now, who we do not need at this moment.”
The shocking electricity only seemed to ramp up as the projector was rolled out in front of him. This used to be something that he had to be seated for, but since the Soldier’s betrayal, the Asset knew his true place. His pain was only temporary, and it was to make sure he never strayed.
Pictures of the Winter Soldier started flicking on the wall in front of them, mixed with clips of war, death, and pain.
The voice that the Asset wasn’t sure if he feared or revered started speaking: “Shest, Ottsy, khranilishche, ukushennyy,” Another electric baton struck the Asset, in the ribs. He had to grit his teeth, tasting metal in his mouth, but he was at least still on his feet. He could not be taken down.
Video from before Barnes had become the Soldier started to play, a Barnes that was unfamiliar to the Asset, but it only fueled his hatred even more. “Oruzhive, beskonechnost,”
The pain started to dull as the Asset only could hear the words.
The blankness of the mind was accepted readily. He may have been screaming, he may have started bleeding from the nose, but he did not fall. “Motor, nizhniydragotsennyy, poteryannyy.”
When the Asset came back to, there was no one in the room. The exit was open, and a file lay open on the table. KILL BARNES, it read in red ink. The Asset took it and left the base, nothing more than a weapon, on his way to complete a mission.
There was to be an attack on the public of New York. It was detailed out in the file: nothing intense, or forceful, just enough to get the Avengers downtown. From there, it was the Asset’s mission to kill Barnes while everyone else just had to make sure that the Pauk could complete his mission. The Pauk wouldn’t fail- he never had before. He had grown up in multiple HYDRA bases, being trained by the best of the best. The Asset had even been given mutations, his DNA merged with the DNA of a spider, giving him powers that not even HYDRA had expected. His communication device in his ear buzzed.
“Pauk, metallicheskiy chelovek zamechen.” Spider, metal man spotted. That was the Asset’s cue. Moving with incredibly agility, the Asset run and jumped off of the roof he was perched on.
That was when he flicked his wrist, and a white string shot out, fastening to a nearby building. The web held his weight as he swung through the city. He was wearing a completely black outfit, hiding his face with a mask and in a halter that held various knives and a few guns.
The attack was playing out in a neighborhood park. Casualties were to be expected, for they expected the Avengers to come, didn’t they? As the park came into sight, a helicopter hovered in the air above it. The Asset slowed his descent until he could safely latch onto the side of a building, peering at the helicopter. News, or SHIELD?
That question was answered as a body hurtled out of the open door, launching to the ground at surprising speed. A blur of blue and red made the Asset sneer out of habit. While Captain America was not the target, the Asset wouldn’t have minded getting in a few shots at him. A few more followed the captain, while others were floating in the air. The Falcon, Iron Man… What a touching sight. They all came out just to help some common people who happened to be in the wrong place.
HYDRA had worked hard to wipe everything that did not benefit the mission, but the Asset still found himself rolling his eyes as he started his way back to the park. He could see HYDRA soldiers running themselves stupid in circles, being the disposable distraction that they were.
“Who the hell are you?” A voice nearly jolted the Asset who was just about to swing. He jerked around and saw none other than the man of metal himself, Iron Man. He was hovering in the air, not seeming to take the Asset as a threat.
The Asset pressed the comms device to his ear and whispered just loud enough to be heard: “Pauk vkhodyashchiy, potentsial'nyy kompromiss”. This was a job that was done without being even registered by the Avengers, and yet here was Iron Man.
“I said, who are you? You aren’t supposed to be up on the roof buddy, HYDRA attack. Evacuation protocol.” Iron Man continued, stepping onto the roof that the Asset was on. When there was still no response, his helmet started to fold away, and that is when the Asset took his chance.
Spraying a healthy dose of web fluid into Iron Man’s unshielded face, the Asset ducked and rolled off of the roof, swinging away as quickly as possible. Thankfully he had the opportunity of surprise, but he could not be risk being seen again. His existence was a complete mystery to the entire world, the Avengers specifically. He has seen how the Avengers and the world treat mutants like him- which is why HYDRA is the only place he can ever live.
The Asset smiled as he heard the sputtering of Iron Man behind him, but focused in as he dropped into the park, covered by some foliage. There were gunshots at every moment, screaming, and the occasional explosion.
When his body was changed by the spider DNA, some aspects were found useful by HYDRA, but others less so, such as his enhanced hearing. The Asset would be triggered and overwhelmed by loud or crowding noises. This had hindered his ability to complete missions effectively, so HYDRA installed noise blockers in his ears years ago. Loud noises were immediately filtered out, making sure that a nearby explosion would not incapacitate the Asset. It may have been for the close fighting that the Asset failed to hear the feet creeping up behind him, but he certainly felt the hand gripping his shoulder.
“Kid, what are you doing here?” The words had not yet left the man’s mouth by the time that the Asset had a knife to his throat, which was brutally blocked. “Not-kid?”
It was not a part of the plan for the Asset to get one on one with Captain America, but he wasn’t complaining. “Woah!” The Captain had to roll out of the way to dodge the next strike, but he still dodged.
The Asset enjoyed the feeling of fighting, but he enjoyed the feeling of fighting a worthy opponent even better.
“Up for a little duel, Captain America?” He teased, watching the wave of emotions that crossed over the Captain’s face.
“Wait, are you a kid?” Neither of them broke a sweat in their combat, strikes blocked and jabs with a knife. It was with discontent that the Asset realized that the Captain was not really fighting back, he was only blocking. “I don’t really like to fight kids. Just a moral issue.”
“Good for me, then.” Another deft swipe with his blade was blocked. The Asset grit his teeth and tried to web his feet to the ground but missed.
It still distracted the Captain enough for a second shot- “What the fuck is that?!”- as the Asset’s web shot out and snatched the famous shield for himself. “What?!”
The Captain was relentlessly backing up, looking more concerned than someone who is supposed to be the leader of the Avengers were supposed to be. “Guys- I need backup in the southeast corner. There’s a HYDRA agent here, a kid I think-“ The Asset admired the shield once it was in his arms. It was nice, but small. It wouldn’t protect, and could only cause blunt force- “Yeah, no, I think it is a kid. But they shot this weird stuff at me, and I-“
“You talk too much.” The Asset growled, and hurled the shield back at the Captain, doing as he had seen in surveillance images, so it soared horizontally.
He did not get to see where it landed though, as the moment it left his hands, he felt a prick on the back of his neck. The harness and thin leather sweater he wore did nothing to protect his skin, an issue that became blaringly obvious at that moment. The Asset reached behind him and ripped the offending needle from his neck, recognizing it as a sedative, shot from what looks like an arrow.
“Wait, did you say a kid? Did I just shoot a kid? Can I shoot my kids with these when they won’t go to bed? Ah, kidding, kidding!”
The Asset was heading to plant face-first in the dirt, so he braced his arms. Toxins such as the one that he was shot with were never strong enough. The dose that would knock out someone who was not enhanced only aggravated the Asset even more. With a snarl, the Asset reached out both to the Captain’s feet, and to the feet of the man behind him (Who he assumed to be Hawkeye), and yanked hard. Both men grunted as they unexpectedly fell, and the Asset took that as his chance. This mission had been badly compromised- as good as he was, he could not take on all of the Avengers singlehandedly.
“Backup!” called a jovial voice. “You will never guess what had just happened to me, I was on the roof, and-“ Fuck. Iron Man landed in the clearing next to them, chattering away. Why did this team like to speak so much? “Hey! It’s that asshole!”
“I shot him with a tranq,” supplied Hawkeye helpfully, though he was still trying to untangle his feet from the webbing, which only got his fingers stuck in it. “So, he should be out any moment now.” The Asset grabbed one of his guns and fired at the approaching Iron Man. The bullets did nothing, but Iron Man stopped in his tracks. The Asset rarely missed a shot and didn’t miss one now. He knew from previous briefings that the suit was bulletproof, yet that was his only method of attack. When the bullets ran out, instead of reloading the magazine, the Asset hurled the gun at Iron Man, which clanged against his helmet with a loud noise.
“Yeah, no, he’s not stopping. Are you sure that you used the right arrow, Clint? I may have swapped a few of your tranquilizer arrows for ones filled with strawberry jam a few weeks ago and forgot about it.”
“Seriously, stop with the fucking banter,” The Asset groaned as he pulled himself to his feet. “Where is Barnes?”
“Bucky?” Steve asked. The Asset fixed his gun on him.
“Affirmative.”
“Why is this guy still walking? I know for sure it was one of the tranqs, because I found those jam ones and had to clean them out.”
The Asset was considering just shooting Hawkeye clear through the head. This was getting quite annoying, and while the sedative would not work on him, the place where the arrow had hit him hurt. He pulled out a second gun and aimed it at the man, who really didn’t seem to notice or care.
“Pauk?” The name was spoken so clearly that at first the Asset thought that a lost HYDRA agent had wandered away from the destruction and into the clearing.
Instead, the Asset’s target stepped into the clearing. The Asset took a deep breath and fixed his gun onto him. One part of his brain was calm, and ready to finish the mission. The other part of the Asset screamed.
It was that part that got the Asset tackled by Captain America, who knocked the guns away and pinned the Asset to the ground. The Asset should have been strong enough to fight back, to get the upper hand, but seeing Barnes after months of being apart, distracted him more than he would have cared to admit.
“That’s why your sedatives won’t work, he’s enhanced,” Barnes’s voice came from the clearing, but was coming closer. “Steve, the sedative that you keep in your boot will work.” The Asset hissed at this.
“You traitor. You scum of the Earth.” He fought as hard as he could, but at that point he was surrounded by Iron Man, Captain America, and Barnes. “You absolute piece of shit.” The words were nothing compared to the pain that the Asset wanted Barnes to feel. Captain America kept giving Barnes worried looks, but Barnes had a stoic look on his face.
“You will need more than that.” The Asset knew that he was undoubtedly going to be trapped, and there was nothing he could do. With Barnes directing how much poison he was being given, the Asset wouldn’t be surprised if he never woke up. Might as well go out fighting, as he knew was his fate.
A quick jerk of his knee had the Captain groaning in pain and crumpling off of him, but before he could snatch the vial that the Captain was holding, Iron Man swooped in. “Nu-uh, punk. It took me forever to get your gunk out of my suit- what was that, anyway?”
It only took a swift movement, a prick, and the Asset knew that he had been gotten. The drowsiness set in almost instantly. It wasn’t as fast acting as what was used by HYDRA, so the Asset chose his last moments wisely.
“Fuck you. I will kill you. Not for HYDRA,” his breathing grew labored, but he still stared into Barnes’s unflinching eyes. “But for me. Because you left me behind.”
It was only as his eyes started to close that the Asset saw a flicker of emotion go across what used to be his only friend’s face. But that might have been the drugs.
The metal door creaked open. Peter, who was huddled on the cot in the corner, whimpered as an imposing figure stepped through the doorway. “Please don’t hurt me!” he cried, pushing as far back into the wall as he could go. “I won’t cry anymore, I promise!”
The figure who came in did not say a word, only shut the door behind him and sat in the chair facing the bed. “When can I go home?” Peter asked meekly.
Still, the person said nothing.
Minutes passed in the dark room with no words. Peter slowly uncurled his body, trying to gauge if he was going to be hurt. He hadn’t been, yet, though he was hungry. He wasn’t sure what had happened- one moment he was waiting at school for his dad to come pick him up, the next he was on a plane where everyone spoke a different language, and no one would help him.
His daddy was an important man, a scientist, Peter knew that. His mom was important too. Did they have to go on a work trip, and were going to meet Peter here? That seemed unlikely. Peter couldn’t tell truly, but he thought that a few days had passed. It was really scary, and Peter just wanted to go home.
He slipped off of the bed, and cautiously crept towards the man in the chair. At least, Peter thought it was a man- it was dark, and Peter had lost his glasses at some point.
“My name is Peter. Peter Parker. I’m six.” He informed the man who was still unmoving. “Is my daddy coming to pick me up? His name is Richard.”
There were several moments in which Peter thought that the man wouldn’t respond, or even acknowledge him. He had even stuck his hand out for a handshake, just like his Uncle Ben taught him. “What’s your name?” Peter tried to prompt.
“Barnes.” The man’s crossed arms moved, and Peter noticed that his left arm gleamed in a strange way. His fears forgotten, Peter took a few more steps forward, jerking his hand out to touch the metal.
“Woah.” He looked up at Barnes and beamed. “Cool.”