The Soldier and the Child

Chapter 2: A Repeated Performance

"Wherever a man may happen to turn, whatever a man may undertake, he will always end up by returning to the path which nature has marked out for him." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

When they met again, Percy had once again been getting in a fight. This time though, it was with his stepfather, Gabe Ugliano who had once taken him in because of the fact he was planning on selling him to the "highest bidder" as he called it.

Until then though, Percy had been hiding his own stash of food and money away from him, waiting for the perfect moment to get out of his life and never be found again until he was, perhaps, 18 and a legal adult.

He knew the ugly cloud was above him though, so when Gabe finally made it that moment, Percy did his ultimate best to get out of the claws that Gabe had paid.

The guy wasn't a pedophile though, as he expected, but someone with a military stance, but had evil twisted in his eyes that screamed Percy was going to a worse destination. The ugly red creature on his chest also screamed it evil with it and resonated a deep fear that Percy didn't even know he had.

So, when he had been dragged outside kicking and screaming, and hoping that the neighborhood would for once care about their neighbors but knowing it was useless, Percy fought the best his nine-year-old self could.

"Let me go, let me go. Help! Help!" Percy screamed but knew it was useless as his arm hurt from the tight grip the man had him in as he was pulled toward a black SUV that screamed danger to him. He wondered if he was going to experiment on or something like so many missing people in the neighborhood have been.

Just as he neared the car though, a sharp shot rang through the neighborhood not uncommon but seemed more distant and in that second, Percy seemed transfixed as he watched something, in almost slow motion, connected with the man that had been dragging him toward the car.

A bullet in the forehead...just like the kids from two months ago...

He let the thought stop as he took the sudden loss of grip and ran for it. The three of the five other men that had been with the general looking man snapped their own guns out but it was too late. Three more shots rang out as Percy ducked into the alleyway that so long ago he was met with a change in fate. The other two chased after him.

The bloodstains have long since been gone, surprisingly, but Percy didn't stop his momentum to really look at the surroundings he's been avoiding and used it to jump onto the dumpster just beside the metal fence and sprang upward and grabbed the top of the fence.

Dragging himself up in a smooth motion, thankful for his success in gym class, he threw himself over the fence and started running toward the construction site that was pretty much abandoned at this point in time.

He ran under the yellow tape around and ducked toward the cement staircase that was the first thing made. Speeding up the stairs until he was on the third floor, he tried to calm his breath and ducked around the corner, hoping the people trailing him would continue upward.

But like his luck seemed to be most of his life, they didn't continue up and instead were going to be searching his floor.

Breathing heavily but making sure it stayed silent, Percy ducked around one of the pillars around the place and toward one of the open rooms there that was semi-finished.

The walls were slightly in place, but the insulation and final paneling still needed to be placed. There wasn't anywhere he could go.

He heard the click of a gun and spun around to see only one guy pointing his guns toward him. Tripping backward, Percy felt his breath catch in his throat.

So similar to two months ago, Percy was certain he was going to die at this moment with no one to care about him.

"Kill him, we need to clean this mess before it gets further out of hand," a man with a heavy Russian accent said behind them. "We don't need him. The stepfather is already taken care of. No one will know we were here," the man said before heading back toward the stairs.

Percy felt his eyes widen as he watched the man's pointer finger move to the trigger and slowly start to press it in.

Bang. Bang.

It rang through the place as Percy flinched at the sound. But was confused when he felt no pain. Opening his eyes hesitantly, he looked to see the man dead in front of him, looking toward the staircase he saw the other one just as dead.

Bile rose in his throat but he stopped the feeling with determination as his eyes sought the producer of the gunshots.

Ocean green eyes met hazel brown ones.

"You....you're back," Percy whispered as he recognized the man in front of him.

The metal arm was hard to miss, but Percy mostly recognized the man by his eyes. The eyes that seemed lost and confused. Like he was missing something but didn't know what. He recognized the eyes because Percy has seen them similar in his own eyes when he stares into a mirror.

The man didn't say anything, just merely clicked his gun into Safety Mode and stuffed it back into his pants. They didn't break eye-contact, just seemingly stare at each other.

"What's....what's your name?" Percy finally asked hesitantly.

Silence for one minute, then two, before, "I am called Winter Soldier."

It was all he said as Percy watched in a transfixed state as the man turned around once more, and left him alone with more dead bodies.

"This is becoming a bad habit of the dude," Percy muttered to himself as he felt the bile rise in his throat once more before forcing the feeling away and carefully standing up on shaky legs.

Perhaps it was time to live on the streets he thought as he carefully made his way down the construction site to go grab his Go-Back from his 'bedroom' and find a place to sleep for a week.