Connections

19: The Winter Soldier Program

The Avengers arrived as quick as they could to Layla's beach house. They parked their quinjet far from the house to avoid alerting any possible Hydra agents in the area. Steve moved his way into the house quietly. All the lights were off, and it was silent. He moved around the room, checking each room for a sign of any life.

Steve reached up to his ear, and pressed on the communicator, "Its empty."

Everyone began to slowly filter in. Natasha ran through each room, looking to see if there was any hint of where Layla went. Steve just circled around the kitchen, the frustration setting in. Tony looked around the kitchen before setting his helmet up.

"Jarvis, scan the house." Tony said. A red light began to move around the kitchen little by little. It stopped at the cabinet by the fridge.

"Something in here sir." Jarvis spoke out. Tony looked over at Clint curiously. He quickly walked over to the cabinet and opened it up. He looked into it not seeing anything out of place. His hands shifted through the cups. Taking them out one by one. He paused when he saw a slight blue light. He furrowed his brows before grabbing the item.

"I found the tracker." He called out. He held it up between his thumb and finger. Natasha walked in and let out a deep sigh. She was already gone. They all circled around thinking of what to do next.

"So we're at a dead end." Tony said sounding annoyed. He walked up to the fridge and stared at the postcards on the door. He slid his fingers across each one before grabbing one. He looked at it closely before flipping it over. Just some sweet writing on the back with a date.

"Well traveled." He said quietly. Clint leaned against the island counter as he watched Tony. Tony just continued to flip the card in his hand. Trying to decide what to do next. Clint's eyes shifted away and towards the door of the fridge. He focused onto each letter that held a postcard. He stood up quickly dropping his hands to his side.

"Wait...put that back exactly how it was." Clint said to Tony. Tony just stared at him confusingly before going back and setting the letter "R" magnet onto the card. Clint's eyes just continued to shift around. Thinking of what it could be.

"Nat..." He said quietly as she looked over at the fridge. Her eyes lit up as well as they moved and grabbed the postcards and the magnets. They laid them out onto the counter. Both began shifting them back and forth around each other. Keeping the magnets with the respective postcard.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked as him and Bruce looked down at their project.

"The postcards were from her parents. They would send her one during their missions." Clint looked up. He grabbed a postcard and flipped it around, "Each on has a date. We put them in order and-" Clint continued to shift the cards around until finally stepping back. The group looked down at the message written in the magnets.

"Atta girl." Natasha said as she looked up to Steve. On the counter the magnets simply just "Siberia." Everyone took a second to soak it all in before moving quickly.

"Jarvis, start facial recognition on all street cameras in Siberia." Tony said was he walked out the door. Natasha grabbed her phone as Clint followed behind. She quickly dialed Fury's number as she explained what had happened. Steve looked over at the fridge one last time. He walked closer as he noticed a familiar picture on it.

He quickly grabbed the picture off and looked at it closely. It was the picture of her and Bucky that she always kept around. He scanned the rest of the fridge wondering if there was anything else. He questioned why she would leave this behind.

Steve quickly put the picture in his pocket before following the others out the door.

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