Silhouette in the Dark

III.

                                                                  [2012]

"I don't understand," Steve remarked, tossing the file folder back on Natasha' desk. "You really think she's from that time?"

Natasha shrugged from her spot by the wall. "I don't know for sure, but the files sure make it sound like that."

Steve shook his head, trying to comprehend what this super spy was telling him. "That's not possible. No one could possibly live that long." He glanced up at her. "Could they?"

"Didn't Thor say he was like 1500 years old or something?"

"He doesn't count. He's from another planet."

"Realm."

"Whichever." Steve threw his hands up in frustration. "I still say it's impossible."

Natasha finally moved away from the wall, taking the chair next to Steve. "Look. I know this is probably hard for you to grasp, but the world has changed quite a bit since you went under. A lot of the things you knew—well, it's different now." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "And now, knowing that there are other worlds out there, with beings who can travel to ours—" she leaned back again, "it really changes things."

Steve glanced at her out of the corner of his eye with his eyebrow raised. "You've given this a lot of thought, haven't you?"

"I've had a lot of time to think." Steve made a face that suggested he agreed with her on that. He sighed, and for the first time, she truly thought of him as old. Deep within her, she felt sorry for him. The world he left behind when he went in the ice was gone, and this new world must be overwhelming for him.

"Run it by me again." He reached for the file folder and handed it to her. Inside were the pages of the document that had grabbed her interest and prompted this impromptu meeting.

Natasha picked up the first page and glanced over it to refamiliarize herself with the facts. "These reports are from Europe, and they speak of a female warrior clothed in black. She never spoke and fought with a variety of bladed weapons, never guns. At first, the reports are all of burglaries, with the occasional robbery. Over time, they get more violent." Natasha flipped to the next page and read straight from the text. "Eventually it was discovered that her victims were all part of a terrorist group known as HYDRA." Natasha glanced at Steve for his reaction. While his eyes widened some, he didn't say anything. "It's important to note that she never actually killed anyone, but that's not to say she didn't do some damage."

"And that happened in Europe?"

"Yes. The dates are all redacted, though."

"So, what make you think she's from the 1940s?"

"Call it an educated guess. I can't really explain it, but it just—in my mind, it all makes sense. She could have been some sort of mercenary fighting against HYDRA, but one of these reports says she didn't appear until after numerous HYDRA weapons factories were destroyed. Now it doesn't mention you specifically, but that right there seems to be the proof."

Steve shook his head again, unsure what to think of all this. "But you said there were files of her from as recently as a few years ago. I still don't see how someone could live that long!"

Natasha flipped through the pages in the folder, searching for one in particular. "The first sighting of her in the States occurred sometime around the 70s or 80s, but she didn't show up on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar until the 90s. Nick Fury was actually the first person to see her, back when he was still an agent. He seemed to show a great deal of interest in learning about her, so he's probably the one that collected all these reports."

"So why didn't he find her?"

"Apparently something—or someone—else came at that time that called for his attention a little louder. Whatever that incident was, it must have had a big impact on him. That's when the first prototype for the Avengers Initiative was formed, and if some of these documents are to be believed, it even involved the Tesseract."

Steve raised his eyebrows briefly. He held his hand out for the file, and she gave it to him. She watched as he flipped through the remaining pages, stopping on one that Natasha had typed up with information pulled from the official documents. "What are all these names?"

Natasha stood and walked closer to read over the list. "Aliases. Almost every report had a different name attached to her."

"If she never spoke, how would they know her name?"

Natasha's brow furrowed. That same question had been haunting her since she began looking through these files. "I'm not sure. I haven't figured that out yet. But look at the pattern among the names. Do you see it?"

Steve read over the list again and shook his head. "The first name always starts with a T? I don't know."

"Well, that too, but all of the surnames are the names of different birds. Sparrow, Hawk, Falcon, Lark. She's especially fond of larks apparently, because she kept coming back to that one. Every other name has the last name Lark."

An old memory stirred in Steve's mind, and he sat back, trying to remember the details. "I used to know a guy with the last name Lark."

Natasha took her seat again and furrowed her brow. "When?"

Steve closed the file folder and looked over at her. "When I was a soldier. There was a guy named Russ Lark in the 107th regiment, Bucky's unit. He was one of the ones I rescued from the HYDRA factory. He was a nice guy."

"Did he have a wife or girlfriend? Someone who would want to seek revenge while using his name?"

Steve covered his face with his hands, trying to remember. Slowly, the memories of that night came back to him. "He was one of the first ones I let out. Everyone else was just excited to be set free, but he looked fearful. My mind was on finding Bucky, so I guess I didn't think much of it at the time."

Natasha shifted in her seat. "Did he say anything to you at that moment?"

Steve took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Yeah. He... he grabbed me by the arms and all he said was, 'They have her. They have my sister!'"

Natasha groaned. "Oh, no."