have done all our lives. People have tried to tell us who we are and we do all that we can to prove them wrong." – she gave an almost relieved laugh – "I'm actually glad that
you came with Dmitri. It was about time we had this conversation."
He nodded, "I'll respect your wishes this time around. You thought it best to raise the twins away from me, and perhaps you were right to do so. I wasn't in the mindset to
raise children. After we find them, I'll leave you in peace. I promise."
"I don't want that," she said with a shake of her head. "You were right when you said you had a right to know them. I think it's time I told them the truth."
Erik looked at her incredulously, his mind frenziedly trying to search for something to say in response to her words. But, before he could come up with anything that could
entirely encompass what he thought of that, the door to Dmitri's room opened and an agent stepped out.
"Ms. Eisenhardt, Mr. Lehnsherr," the agent greeted, looking a little on edge. "Mr. Maximoff is stable, and demanding to speak with you. He's actually threatening to teleport into
this room if we don't let you in."
Erik and Magda – no, he thought to himself, her name is Nikki now – exchanged a glance. Of course Dmitri would be threatening to do something reckless, as he had a
penchant for putting himself into dangerous situations. It was probably why he had gotten shot in the first place. They followed the agent into the room silently, the medical
staff exiting as they did.
Dmitri was lying in a halfway reclined cot, his face paler than usual, but he looked no less lively. Or less livid. It seemed like the only thing keeping him in the cot, aside from
fatigue, was one of the nurses holding his shoulder down.
"I don't care if I rip the stitches," he snapped. "Magda needs to know!"
As he made to pull away from the nurse, Nikki rushed forward and pushed him back against the mattress, "I'm right here. Do me a favor and don't hurt yourself any more than
you already have."
Catching sight of her, Erik watched as Dmitri simultaneously calmed down and lit up. His hand gripped hers and he gave a broad smile.
"I found them," he said excitedly.
"You should calm down," Erik suggested. "You came in, bleeding to death on the floor."
"Bah! It was three bullets," Dmitri snapped. "My death will not be to bleed out."
"It might be if you don't lie still," Nikki murmured.
"I found them," he repeated. "The kids, the base, the guards. I know where they are. What is the date?"
"The date?"
"Da. How long was I gone?"
"Five days."
Dmitri barked out a laugh, "Found the right time and all it took was a near-death experience. Wonder what it means…"
"It means you need better focus," Erik snapped, more irritated that Dmitri would make light of the situation than the fact that his mutation was poorly managed. "Where are
they?"
"Colorado," Dmitri told them. "Deep underground bunker in Mount Charteris, outside of Burton Canyon. It is huge. I tried to find where they were keeping them, but only found monitors of the cells."
"Inform Agent Coulson and the Avengers of this," Nikki told the nurse before returning her attention to Dmitri.
"How can we know they're not moving," Erik pointed out. "They knew we were searching, and now they know we've found them, so what makes you believe they haven't been
planning to disappear elsewhere?"
Nikki shook her head, "There are too many people they'd have to take. Transporting fourteen mutants and an Asgardian would be impractical, not to mention the risk of a few
of them escaping. They'll likely up their security rather than trying to move."
Dmitri nodded, "Besides, it is much easier to defend a bunker under a mountain than open transit vehicles."
"We should get ready," she said. "The sooner we get on our way, the less time we give them to prepare."
"And the less time we have to prepare ourselves," Erik pointed out. "Be reasonable, Magda."
"I am being reasonable," she snapped. "Don't think that, just because you hunted Shaw for four years, means that you know anything about strategy."
"Then don't think that you know anything of it when all you've read are the books in Charles's study."
"Would you two stop!" Dmitri snapped, drawing both of their gazes. "What is the time?"
"Time?" Nikki echoed.
Erik thought back to the last time he had checked the time, "A little after eleven, give or take. Why would that matter?"
Dmitri gave a lopsided grin, "Because I interrupted an early dinner."
Erik and Nikki exchanged a glance, a silent agreement passing between them, and they turned to walk out.
"You're welcome!" Dmitri called after them.
Erik watched as Nikki stopped and quickly walked back to the side of his cot. Brushing his hair back from his face, she pressed a kiss to his forehead.
"Thank you, batya," she said, smiling. "Get some rest while we're gone."
She pulled away and walked out a second later, leaving Erik to follow. Before he could, Dmitri was calling his name, and he stopped to look at his adoptive father one last time.
"Watch out for each other," Dmitri told him.
Erik nodded, "We will.
Steve was walking down the hall towards the room where his uniform was stored when a sharp whistle caught his attention, and he turned to find the source of the sound.
Ten feet away, laying on one of the cots in the hospital ward, Dmitri was looking straight at him through an open door. The Russian was waving animatedly for him to come
over. Deciding that there was nothing wrong with the idea, he walked into the man's room.
"Rogers?" he asked, giving a cough that wracked his body.
"Yes," Steve answered, taking a seat beside the man's cot. "Something I can help you with, Sergeant?"
"Ah, found that out, did you?" The Russian asked before waving his hand dismissively, "But I did not wish to talk about myself. We need to talk about you."
"Me?"
"Don't think I don't know about you and Magda – Nikki, however she calls herself now," he said, giving the ex-soldier a knowing grin. "I have been around long enough to know
these things when I see them."
"I'm not sure what you're talking about," Steve replied, feeling suddenly uncomfortable around the man who was, essentially, Nikki's father.
Dmitri gave a soft chuckle, one which very nearly became another cough, "You're a terrible liar - that's good. But I need you to listen to me well. Magda, she is like a daughter
to me. Looking at her, you may see a woman who is both a mother and a fighter, but I still see the little girl I pulled out of Auschwitz. I have a picture, somewhere..."
The man leaned over the side of the bed as far as he could without tearing his stitches. There was the sound of a drawer opening, of several belongings rustling around inside,
before he sat back up with a triumphant 'ah!'. A worn old black and white photograph was in his hands. He gave it to Steve, beaming like a proud parent.
The photograph was of three people. The first was obviously Dmitri, though he was younger by a good eight years and in a Soviet army uniform. A young boy stood next to
him, clinging to his arm as though he might blow away in the wind, who was gaunt and had a haunted look about his eyes. A little girl was in Dmitri's arms. She was just as thin
and frail-looking as the boy who Steve guessed was Erik, but she didn't look quite so plagued by her past. There was a fire in her dark eyes like she was ready for a fight even
though she looked like she might break.
Dmitri tapped the photograph emphatically, just above the little girl's head, "That's her. My solnyshka. Did she ever tell you how I found her?"
Steve shook his head.
"They were the only two in a sep
arate building from the other prisoners," he explained. "It was one of the scientific divisions in Auschwitz, right near Mengele's offices. The
scientists who had worked there had not wanted us to find them, as they had set the building aflame, but I heard her. This little voice over the sound of bullets and screams. I
shouldn't have been able to hear her at all.
"She was at the window, had broken the glass, and reaching through with bloody fingers. My German was poor back then, but I understood enough to learn that she wasn't
alone. It took six men to break through Erik's cell, as he had collapsed from smoke inhalation. We searched for their families after the liberation, but we found no one. Magda
was one of the few Roma left in the camp. They were put in an orphanage and, when the war was over, I adopted both of them. You see, they were inseparable in those
days, but I could not leave them to only themselves."
Steve looked up from the photograph, "She saved Erik?"
"She saved both him and herself," Dmitri corrected. "I think, to some point, she was always saving Erik. After the war, he didn't talk often, he often disassociated from his
surroundings, wouldn't eat. It was always Magda who brought him back. She was always so strong, just in a different way."
Steve looked back down at the photo, his eyes trailing to the young boy that had been Erik. It was then that he noticed the boy wasn't so much as clinging to Dmitri, as he
had thought before, as reaching towards the girl. It was as though he needed to know she was near to feel at ease.
"They still love each other as they did in the camps," Dmitri pointed out. "But the marriage they had is gone now. What she has with you – now that, Captain Rogers, is what
interests me."
"What she has with me?"
That knowing smile returned to his face, "I've seen how you look at her, how you try to regain her trust. And I've seen how she looks at you. From what they tell me of you,
you seem like a good man. But I will say this once. If you are going to keep going after her, I expect you to watch out for her. She doesn't need a caretaker, but-"
"I know," Steve said, handing the photograph back. "She doesn't need anything or anyone, not in that sense. I don't intend to be her protector."
"Good," Dmitri laughed. "What she needs is someone to stand beside her, as an equal. I'd like to think that might be you. But I will warn you, break her heart..."
"You'll break something of mine," Steve finished, giving an understanding nod.
"No, I won't. But Magda will."
For a split second, Dmitri's face was completely composed and his eyes seemed to narrow on him. Steve shifted slightly in his chair after a second, causing the older man's
expression to break into a teasing smile, and they both laughed. Dmitri gave him a pat on the shoulder and nodded towards the door.
"Hurry, Rogers, and have her back for me, yes?"
Steve gave a nod, "You can count on it, sir."
Dmitri nodded, his mouth stretching into a lazy smile as he laid back against the cot, "Good."
Taking it as a dismissal, Steve stood up and gave a slight wave goodbye as he left the room. Although it wasn't the most important aspect of the day to be thinking of,
especially given as they were perhaps an hour and a half away from raiding a HYDRA base, but it was somewhat reassuring that Nikki's father approved of him. The thought
brought a smile to his face as he turned the corner and entered the armory.
Putting on his uniform had become something of an automatic series of actions, the motions more like reflexes due to force of habit. But as he clicked the star-shaped belt into
place, running his fingers over the white A, he couldn't help but wonder if it was a bit tasteless when working alongside two Holocaust survivors. After all, they had been
persecuted out of fascist extremism. Deciding he would talk to Tony about a less ostentatious uniform later, he pulled the helmet over his head and fastened the belt beneath
his chin.
As he walked out, he caught sight of Erik Lehnsherr in the same deep purple armor and asymmetrical cape as before. The man's green-grey eyes scanned over Steve
analytically, his eyebrows raising in skepticism, and Steve couldn't help but bristle at the scoff he received.
"Bit much, isn't it?" he asked, falling into step with Steve as they made their way to one of the hangars.
"It could be worse," Steve replied, his tone carefully level as he watches Erik out of the corner of his eyes. "I could be wearing purple."
Much to his surprise, Erik didn't snap any retorts back at him. Instead, the older man began to laugh, shaking his head as he looked down at the floor.
"So you do have a sense of humor," Erik murmured, his expression going somber after a minute. "You should know that you were right."
"About?"
"About Nikki," Erik said, the name sounding almost foreign on his tongue. "I came here with the belief that she would be the same woman I had known all my life and I took that
as a justification for disregarding the truth about her. I should have trusted her to make her own decisions long before now. I thought it only right to say thank you. For
respecting her when I couldn't."
"I take it you're going to spend some time here after we get the kids back?"
Erik nodded, "I have much to do back home, but I can spare a few weeks. And Nikki seems to be more open to the idea."
Steve stopped, allowing a friendly smile to cross his lips as he held his hand out to Erik, "Then, welcome to the family."
Erik looked at Steve skeptically, as though he still wasn't entirely certain he could trust Steve, but he slowly took his hand. Before either of them can say anything, Tony
comes barreling through both of them, his suit on and his faceplate retracted, forcing the two apart.
"No time for bromance," he announced, grinning like a cat who had eaten the canary. "Romanoff's got the quinjet up and running for us. Bruce isn't coming along for this one,
kept worrying that he might accidentally collapse a wall on the kids, so we're just waiting on you two."
"Where's Nikki?" Steve asked. "We can't leave without her."
"I'm right here."
Both men spun around at the sound of her voice, both staring in shock at the sight before them. Nikki stood with her arms crossed, looking for all the world as if she was
extremely unamused by the both of them. They couldn't stop staring anyway. She was in a catsuit quite like Natasha's, all black and a zipper running down the front, but her's
is sleeveless and zipped all the way up its high neck. It was paired with combat boots that laced up almost to her knees, fingerless gloves made of interlocking metal plates,
and a long cloak of what looked like black silk. It was sleeker than her vigilante outfit, but reminiscent of it enough that she wouldn't be mistaken for someone else in public.
And it clung to her like a second skin, accentuating every curve.
She sighed at the both of them, walking into the hangar as she said, "Come on, boys, we've got a job to do."
Steve was vaguely aware of Erik turning to watch her go as he does the same. He jumps at the sound of metal smacking metal, his eyes turning to Erik just in time to see that
Tony had slapped the man on the shoulder.
"I know," Tony said with a laugh. "She's built like a brick shithouse. Makes you jealous of this guy, doesn't it?"
As he said it, he gave Steve a soft smack on the chest with the back of his hand, walking after Nikki. Left with that, Steve looked up to see Erik staring at him with an almost
irate edge to his expression. His jaw even twitched.
"Right," Steve said, hoping he didn't sound as awkward as he felt. "Better get going then."
If there's the slightest push he gets from the metal on his uniform and shield, neither Steve nor Erik bother to mention it.
&n
bsp; Nikki's foot tapped against the floor of the quinjet in an anxious rhythm as Natasha announced how close they were to Mount Charteris. As if on cue, Steve could feel the
atmosphere almost shift around them, and he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Cabin pressure's rising," Clint called over his shoulder. "Everything all right back there, Eisenhardt?"
"Sorry," she shouted back, taking a deep breath.
"You okay?" Steve asked.
"I've never done anything like this before," she confided. "The vigilantism, that was small scale. This is so far out of my league, so..." - she waved towards both his and her
uniforms - "I'm not like you guys. I'm not a superhero."
"Lavar Johnson."
Both looked up at Tony, confused by the outburst. Even Erik, who had been toying with something shiny in his hands, and Thor turned their attention towards Tony.
"What?"
"The 7-Eleven cashier whose life you saved, that first time you were caught on camera in a black hoodie and a ratty pair of jeans," Tony explained. "That night you kept him
from having a bullet in his head, knocked out those two gunmen trying to rob the place, he told every local newspaper that you were the one to save him - even though he
hadn't seen your face. You're a superhero to him."
"That's not what that-"
"Lily Tyler, Farrukh and Shabnam Aladray, Isabella Hernandez, Michael Jones, Enzo Arlotti, Mohinder Kapoor, Olivia and April Robinson, Katherine Treval, Elliot de la Viez," Tony
continued. "All of them, and their families, see you as a hero. Do you know what happened when word got out that S.H.I.E.L.D. had you imprisoned and the HYDRA video was
put on Youtube?"
Nikki frowned at that, "No..."
"You were the biggest issue on social media," Tony told her. "Bigger than me, and that's impressive. '#freethealchemist' was a trending topic for days. So say you're nervous -
hell, say you're terrified - but don't bother trying to say you're not a hero. You've had that one down for years."
"But this is HYDRA, a neo-Nazi group with innumerable followers," she pointed out. "Not a couple of robbers with a gun."
A Girl of the Future Page 47
