Winter's Daughter

Chapter 25

Fifteen years had passed since then. The world moved on while the girl slept. Hydra had been overthrown by another supreme power and S.H.I.E.L.D. collapsed. The pod laid in the same pile of rubble that it had when the explosion went off. Peaceful and undisturbed.

"James, are you seeing anything?" A voice called out to a figure that was exploring the ruins of the old base.

"No, nothing yet. Torun, you could just help me look instead of asking me what I've found." James responded to the girl that had gone with him to explore.

Torun landed next to the boy, and started looking around in the rubble as well.

"Let's head north and see if we find anything." The girl suggested.

James nodded and started walking when his foot hit something metallic.

"On second thought, let's stay here." He said, bending down on his knees to remove pieces of the decimated building off of whatever he found. When he removed the last piece, he fell into shock.

"Torun, I might have found something big." He said taking a step back from the newly discovered pod.

"What?"

James gestured to the dusty pod and to the girl that rested inside of it. Torun took her sword out of its scabbard. "Friend or foe?"

"She had a file in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database. She was an agent. Dad talked about her sometimes with mom. They were both friends with her dad. He didn't make it out of the battle.

Torun raised a brow at James. "You know everything about this person don't you?"

James shot Torun a look and began disabling the systems that were keeping Vic frozen. After a few tries, he was able to pry the door open and pull the girl out of the chamber.

"Hey, what's with the star on her shoulder?" Torun asked.

"I don't know. Maybe she thought she'd get a tattoo before she locked herself in that freezer." He said, not really sure himself.

Several minutes went by before the girl regained her color and she took a breath of fresh air. Her eyes opened slowly and she blocked a few times to get used to the sunlight.

"Where...Where am I? Who are you?" She questioned James as she started to become fully alert.

"My name is James Rogers. This is Torun. You're in the middle of nowhere as of now."

"Rogers... Are you related to Steve Rogers?"

James nodded.

"Are you with Hydra?" She asked, fear slowly rising.

He shook his head. "No. Hydra fell ten years ago."

"S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"It fell when Ultron became ruler of the world." Torun said.

"Then who are you with?"

James took a step toward her, careful to not get to close.

"We're the Next Avengers."