Red in my Ledger

Chapter Eleven

YEAR: 1991
DATE: December 16th

Maria Stark was playing the piano, singing.
Tony was lying on the couch under a blanket.
Howard entered the room and lifted it off him, to see the baby girl asleep on Tony's chest.
Tony opened his eyes and sat up, then handed the baby to his father.
"Say goodbye dear" Maria said.
"Bye dad. Bye y/n" Tony kissed the back of your head. "Where are you taking her again?"
"Just out of town for a while. While we handle some business."
"What kind of business could possibly involve a ten week old baby?"
"Nothing you need to concern yourself with. We will be back in a few days" Howard explained. "And she'll only be gone for a few weeks I presume."
Maria got up from the piano and hugged her son, then took her daughter from her husband.
"Everything will be okay. This family will be just fine."
She couldn't believe that herself.
Tony naïvely did.
Howard and Maria were running away, planning to hide their child.
Howard had made a poor decision when Maria was pregnant with you, agreeing to give you up. But now that you were here, he couldn't do that.
"Okay. Bye mom. Bye dad. Love you" Tony waved as they walked out the door.
They got in their car and started driving.
"Do you think this will work?" Maria asked hopefully.
"It has to. We've no other choice" Howard frowned, looking at you in the baby seat in the back of the car.
He had only taken his eyes off the road for a minute, when someone crashed into them, driving them off the road into a tree.
The front of the car went up in flames.
"No" Howard muttered, opening his car door. He fell out, and tried to get up to save you from the backseat.
The Winter Soldier came up and grabbed his head to pull him up.
"Sargent Barnes" Howard said.
"Howard..." Maria cried from inside the car.
The baby started crying.
The Winter Soldier hit Howard's face repeatedly.
"Howard" Maria repeated.
The Soldier dropped his body. Dead.
He picked it up and put it in the drivers seat, placing his head on the steering wheel.
Maria gasped in fear, panting worriedly.
The Winter Soldier walked around to her side of the car, as she watched her dead husband.
She felt his hand reach down through the door and push up against her neck.
He choked her to death.
You were still crying in the backseat.
He opened the door and ripped off your seatbelt, making you cry more.
He picked you up carefully, then walked to face the surveillance camera.
He pulled out his gun and shot once to cut off the footage.

YEAR: 2014

When I woke up, I had no idea where I was.
Last thing I remember was driving back after the fight at the bridge.
I didn't know what happened that had made everything go black.
Now, I didn't know if I was at Hydra, a police station, the Red Room maybe.
I wasn't tied to anything, but I was locked in a cell.
Nothing special, just three brick walls and some bars keeping me encaged.
I woke up just lying on the floor.
I heard people talking outside, but I lay still so it took them a while to notice that I was awake.
"You" someone said. I turned my head to see Tony Stark walking towards my cell. "You're finally awake."
I looked back up at the ceiling.
"What's your name?"
I ignored him.
"Y/n" Natasha answered for me.
"Right, y/n. You were the one that came to one of my parties a few years ago... and you tried to kill me... why?"
"You were a mission" I said blankly, still avoiding looking at any of them.
"Natasha, you knew her? Tell me about her."
"She is a black widow assassin, code name Winter Widow. She frequently pairs up with the Winter Soldier..."
"Bucky?" I heard Cap's voice.
"Yes. She first eliminated someone when she was seven, a hundred people by the time she was ten. She was the best young assassin, working between Hydra and the Red Room for years. Then in 2008, she- I thought she died."
"You mean you tried to kill me" I corrected, sitting up and facing her.
"I did not try to kill you" she sighed.
"You blew up the building I was in."
"I didn't know you were in there until it was too late..."
"Liar! You wanted me dead!"
"No-"
"You knew I was in there and you blew it up anyway."
"Y/n-"
"You tried to kill me!"
"I wouldn't have exploded it if I knew you were in there. I care about you!"
"Bullshit!" I was standing now, approaching the bars of the cell. "If you cared about me, why didn't you ever come back?!"
"I-"
"Don't try to make up excuses. I don't care. As soon as I get out of here, I am going to kill you" I enunciated threateningly. My face was close to the bars, almost pressed against them.
Natasha seemed genuinely concerned by my threats, which felt satisfying.
"Tony are you alright?" Cap asked.
I broke my gaze with Natasha to look at Stark.
"Tony?" Natasha questioned.
I rolled my eyes and went to sit leaning back against the opposite wall of the cell.
They started muttering to each other, but I could still hear what they were saying.
"You said she was taken by the Red Room?" Stark asked Natasha.
"Yes."
"When?"
"She was a newborn. Just a couple months old."
"So you don't know if she had any family?"
"Dreykov said they're dead, but to be fair he said that about everyone's parents."
"You have no idea who her family was?"
"No. She's the only widow without a last name."
"Okay this is gonna sound crazy but bare with me for a sec... I want a blood test."
"To find out who her parents are?" Cap questioned.
"Tony, they are probably dead" Natasha said.
"No, I- look can we just do the blood test?"
"Okay" Natasha nodded.
"You're not fucking touching me" I called.
I had listened to their entire conversation. I still had some curiosity about who my parents were, even though they were probably nobody's, not to mention dead. Why Stark was so interested, I had no idea.
But in the end, I didn't want them going anywhere near me.
Natasha grabbed a key that I assumed unlocked my cell.
I stood up immediately to face her as she put it in the lock.
"Don't do anything stupid" she warned.
The key turned.
I glared at her.
She pushed the door opened and stepped inside slowly.
I instantly ran and tackled her. I took her gun. I pressed it against her forehead and pulled the trigger.
The gun was empty.
The guys outside came in and pulled me off Natasha.
She looked mortified that I had just tried to shoot her. She obviously knew there were no bullets in the gun, but she knew that I didn't know that.
"Get off me!" I cried.
Cap was holding one of my arms and the guy I didn't know was holding the other.
Stark had run off to find a needle, and came back when the others had a hold of me.
"Now if you stay still this will only take a second" he said, stepping closer.
"No!" I pulled one of my arms free, but the super soldier serum meant that Cap still had the other one.
I kneed him several times, then when he still didn't let go, I bent down and bit his arm.
I spat his skin and blood back at him, then turned to run out the room.
Natasha was standing in the doorway.
We ran towards each other at the same time and fought relentlessly.
The guys helped her.
It was four against one.
I still managed to knock three of them down - Cap was still standing.
He was admittedly a lot stronger than me.
So I turned and ran.
I heard him run after me - he was a lot faster than me as well.
His hand reached out for my shoulder so I elbowed him in the face. I punched him, hitting his eye, then kicked him in the side.
He was weakened for a second so I ran again.
I saw a table of weapons so I grabbed a knife and turned to throw it. But he was right behind me.
So I forced it into his stomach. I turned the handle to widen the cut, then pulled it out and ran off.
No one followed me.
I got out.
I stole one of the cars and drove back to the Triskelion where I knew Hydra agents would be.