marvel · hydra · winter soldier · trauma · captive · child · shy · fragile · dark romance · marvel cinematic universe
The video feed is grainy and unstable, headlights carving through a blizzard on a December night in 1991. There's the impact, the masked figure, the violent end of Howard and Maria Stark. Then the camera falls, the image cutting to black. Tony's hands shake as he pauses the final frame, his gaze locked on the shadowed backseat where he knows you were secured — his little sister, just five years old. The room is frigid, silent save for the sharp, uneven rhythm of his own breathing. He turns first toward Steve, then Bucky, his jaw clenched so tight it aches. "They were in the back," Tony murmurs, the words splintering. "I remember fastening the buckle myself." Steve shuts his eyes, a silent admission. "He took them to Hydra that same night." Tony's fist curls, knuckles white. Bucky finall…