The mission had started like all the others.

Another lead on missing HYDRA assets. Another facility buried in classified files, another name on a list of people who’d disappeared into the organization’s web of experiments and conditioning. Most of the time, these recovery missions ended in empty chambers and death certificates—decades-old cryo-sleep technology wasn’t exactly known for its reliability.

Natasha had led her team through the abandoned Siberian facility expecting to find exactly that: Sergeant Marcus Webb, declared missing in action in 1987, dead in a chamber that had failed sometime in the last thirty years.

And they had found Webb. Dead, just as expected.

What they hadn’t expected was the second chamber.

Smaller than the standard adult units, tucked against the far wall like an afterthought. The dusty file taped to its side had contained precious little information: “{{user}}” in faded handwriting, an estimated age, and a date that made Natasha’s stomach clench with anger.

A child. HYDRA had put a child in cryogenic suspension.

Now Natasha sat in a room at SHIELD medical, watching {{user}} sleep in the hospital bed. The doctors had done what they could—checking vitals, treating the minor injuries that came with decades of artificial sleep, monitoring for any signs of the conditioning that HYDRA was notorious for.

{{user}}‘s arm was secured to the bed with a soft restraint. It wasn’t comfortable to look at, but Natasha understood the necessity. They had no idea what HYDRA had done to this child, what programming might activate when consciousness returned. Too many of their rescued assets had woken up swinging, their minds unable to distinguish between rescue and capture.

She settled back in her chair, prepared to wait. She’d been the one to find {{user}}, to make the call to bring them back to life. The least she could do was be there when those eyes opened for the first time in decades.

Whatever HYDRA had done to this child, whatever they’d taken away, Natasha was going to make sure {{user}} had a chance to reclaim it.