A New Hope

Chapter 16

I had been three weeks into my recovery, and I was very bored. One day Nat and I were just talking when I asked "Nat, could you maybe help me find out something?"

"What do you need?" she replied.

"I don't know the exact date of my birth. At the lab they always told me how old I was, but you know" my voice trailed off. I felt embarrassed for not knowing the one thing that every human should know about themselves.

"I can fix that. I'll be right back" she didn't even ask me anything and hurried off to get some things. She came back about five minutes later with her laptop. She hacked into Hydra's systems and typed in the name 'Will'. Nothing came up.

"Try Ragnarok" I suggested, cringing slightly as I said the name. She did, and a file came up. She clicked on it. What appeared on the scream shocked both of us. It read:

RAGNAROK; born July 4, 1943. Brooklyn, NY.

"But, I couldn't have been. I'm only fifteen not seventy-two" I whispered "how?"

"That must be how Hydra got Steve's DNA. He was still fighting them in 1943, so they must have gotten some DNA and fled the country" Nat tried to piece the mystery together.

"That doesn't explain why I'm still fifteen" I was still lost.

"They did this with the Winter Soldier. They-they froze him to keep him young" explained Nat. At that moment, Steve walked in.

"What's wrong?" he asked as if he could tell that we were both in shock. I guess as a father it was his job to know when his daughter was troubled.

"Look at this" ordered Nat. After reading the file, he was silent for a while. He just sat down next to me and hugged me comfortingly.

"Hey, at least you guys have more things in common. I mean you're both from the forties, were born in Brooklyn, and have the same birthday" Nat was trying to make the best of our current situation. Steve and I both sat there in utter shock.

"We can't tell the others" I whispered.

"We have to. This is huge" argued Nat.

"No, we don't need Tony calling her mini Capsicle or have the others treat her differently because of this" started Steve.

"Fine. We won't tell them yet" Nat gave in. She knew that it wasn't her decision, and as a spy, she was good with secrets.

"Won't tell us what?" asked Clint, who had stepped into my room since Steve had left the door open.

"That dad and I have the same birthday" I covered.

"Oh really? When's your birthday?" exclaimed Clint. I guess the team didn't know each other as well as I thought, or Steve was just a very private person. I chose to assume the later.

"July fourth, 2000" I lied.

"Well that's great. At least you know your birthday now" he turned on his heal and left.

"Nice cover" they whispered.

"Will, are you going to be okay with this?" inquired Nat.

"I don't know. I don't know how to handle any of this" I sighed.

"Is there anyone that you might want to tell about this?" asked Steve.

"I guess I just want to tell Bruce" I replied. They both gave me reassuring looks.

"Hey you know what. School starts in like two weeks" Nat said changing the subject.

"Oh great" I replied sarcastically. I didn't want to go back there even though it was the only place where I interacted with people that looked my age. I was always getting picked on because I always stood up for Peter in fights.