When Warren Barnes was with HYDRA, all the food he ever had was the type of food normal people would call slop. Kids in the poorest of school districts would prefer their school lunch food over the scraps Warren was provided with. Sometimes, though, when his papa was taken out of cryofreeze and given a meal before a mission, he would share bits of his food with Warren. It was usually healthier and better than what Warren ever got, because the Soldier needed to be kept very healthy and strong—at least physically—in order to perform well on missions. Still, though, what he got was nothing compared to the food most Americans eat on a regular basis.

That's why, when Warren got free and stole the first five things he saw in a gas station, he was delighted by the explosion of flavor in his mouth. It was insane. Everything tasted so favorable that it was a bit overwhelming at first.

Now having been free for a number of months—Warren hasn't been counting—he has tried all sorts of treats. Among many other things, he's had M&M's, Skittles, Heshey's bars, Twix, gummy worms, Chips Ahoy, and, of course, his favorite: Mini Muffins. Candy and sweets are like drugs to a kid like Warren, so he takes whatever he can get.

And Nick Fury has provided Warren Barnes with something called a lollipop.

Lollipops are something Warren's never had before. Sure, he's seen them in gas stations and in the checkout aisle at the grocery store, but he's never actually tried one. Mostly because he didn't even know they were something you eat until now. He thought they were toys for babies or something. Now that he's trying one, he cannot believe he hasn't had it until now. The sweet, red ball of candy is good enough to rival Mini Muffins, and it's really starting to make Warren consider trusting Nick Fury.

It's been a good couple of hours, now, since Warren's been at this facility. Miss Alice left a little while ago because she had to get back home to her family, apparently, especially because she had to drive a whole four hours back to New York. Warren didn't even know she had a family. He thought he was the only person she was supposed to look after, but as it turns out, she's got two teenagers and a ten-year-old. Warren was a little jealous when he found that out, but he ended up forgiving her.

He was super mad when she first told him she was leaving. Because she promised she'd be there with him, but it turns out, being there every step of the way actually meant being there until she was sure he was safe and got all the paperwork filled out.

What got Warren to calm down, luckily, was Miss Alice informing him that Captain America works for SHIELD. The moment the words came out of her mouth, Warren's eyes lit up and an instant wave of relief washed over Miss Alice. She had a feeling it would help. Over the months that Miss Alice has known Warren, she has noticed that he has, for some reason, quite the fascination with Captain America. He is desperate to know more about the Super Soldier in stars and stripes.

This is because, one day, he and one of his first-ever foster families went to a museum, and Warren saw Captain America on a video screen. Next to Captain America, was his papa. Warren's own papa, laughing next to Captain America. Like they were friends. It looked like their hearts were tied together.

It was very weird seeing that version of his papa. It was his face, sure, but it didn't look like him fully. His hair was shorter and his eyes brighter, but rather than the empty look Warren was always used to, in the video, his papa seemed full. Not full of food or anything like that. Full of something else. Something non-physical. Something more meaningful. Warren didn't understand it. He still doesn't.

Anyway, knowing that his papa could trust Captain America gives Warren just a bit more confidence in the thought that he, too, could trust Captain America. If Captain America works for SHIELD, and Papa smiles at Captain America, then maybe SHIELD isn't so bad.

So, with that in mind, Warren said goodbye to Miss Alice, who was then led out by Maria, and listened to her high heels click, click, click down the echoey hallway until there was nothing. That left and still leaves Warren alone with Fury. Fury, who Warren is beginning to trust. Just a little bit.

And with that newfound trust in Fury, Warren is starting to suspect that HYDRA really is wrong about things. He's never questioned it too much before.

With HYDRA, all Warren ever really did was obey. That's all he had ever been taught to do, after all. There was no such thing as questioning them, their instructions, or their methods. Warren would do as he was told, or he would be punished. That, to Warren, was just how the world worked. For a long time. Things changed, though. Like they always do. And now Warren is here, in a SHIELD facility, questioning the likes of his creators.

While Warren silently sucks his lollipop, Fury is rubbing his forehead exhaustedly. Usually, he'd use other methods to get information out of someone. But this is a little boy, so it's not like he can hurt him or threaten him or anything like that. Besides, if he did, Warren would likely vanish within a few seconds, and then Fury would have to send out a search team. That would be suboptimal.

Humming quietly to himself as he contemplates, Warren takes the lollipop out of his mouth and spins it between his fingers. He stares at it with sparks in his eyes. If Fury had known a lollipop was going to be all it took to get the boy out of his moody funk, he would have given it to him a long time ago.

Regardless, here they are.

"Listen, kid. All I want to do is keep you safe and taken care of, right? And I can't do that until I know, at the very least, who you are," Fury explains to the brown-haired boy. Warren is listening, but he's still got a lot of his attention on the lollipop in his hand. He had no idea things could taste this good. Fury taps the desk three times, making Warren look at him again. "I know your name's not Alexander. I know you didn't just wake up with those powers this morning. Give me a little something."

Warren sticks the lollipop fully into his mouth and bites down hard. The candy cracks under the pressure of his molars, breaking it into sharp shards for him to crush even further down into crumbs. Using his front—still baby—teeth, Warren scrapes the leftover bits off of the paper stick and pulls it out of his mouth.

"Ren," he finally says, the name somewhat muffled by the candy still in his mouth.

Fury lets out a relieved sigh. He's one step closer to getting to go home for the night. It's been an exhausting day already with Steve Rogers stirring up all sorts of questions after finding out his and Natasha Romanoff's missions weren't the same. But, now, a weight is lifted off of Fury's shoulders because he has finally gotten the kid to crack.

"Wren? You mean like the bird?" he pushes, leaning forward in his chair. "That's your name?"

"Warren. Last name, I don't know for sure," the boy elaborates. He seems almost unbothered, talking about it. Almost. But if Fury were to look closely, he would be able to see the slightest bit of a frown on Warren's face. It's hard not to know anything about yourself. "My papa's got bad memory. He only tells me little bits he remembers. He forgets everything about himself. It's annoying. Sometimes he tells stories, but I don't know if they're true. About soldiers. But the doctors- they erase him every time, anyway."

It's kind of strange hearing Warren say more than five words at a time. Now, Fury notices the strange way in which Warren speaks. He has an accent. An unrecognizable one, at that, with no identifiable origin. A mixture of all the accents he's ever heard before in his life. His papa's American accent as well as the variety of accents from the soldiers and doctors Warren was constantly surrounded by growing up.

But to Fury, the more important thing is the words coming out of his mouth, not the way he's saying them. Doctors? What doctors? Miss Alice said this boy was found out on the street, rummaging through a dumpster. He told her that he had no parents. But now he has a father. One with a bad memory. One who gets erased, whatever that means.

Slowly but surely, Fury begins to piece some things together in his head. Boys aren't born with invisibility, typically, so this ability must have been given to Warren by somebody. More than likely, it was given to him by the doctors he's talking about. If they're willing to do experiments on him, then surely they're willing to do them on his dad, too, right?

With that in mind, Fury comes up with another question. Hopefully, one that will lead to more in-depth answers. "And what exactly were you doing running around New York on your own?" he asks.

"I ran away," Warren answers quite simply.

It's a little bit infuriating that he refuses to expand upon any of his answers without further questioning, but Fury does his best to pretend that it's just fine by taking a breath and letting out a deep sigh. "From who were you running away?"

"From HYDRA."

And that's it. Bam. Like lightning striking a dry field, and it doesn't just disappear; it sets the grass ablaze. Answers. Finally. So many answers are about to come from this boy, whether intentional or not, that it's actually a bit hard not to be excited. HYDRA isn't the type of thing people should be excited about, though.

"Hold on a minute," Fury says as he stands up out of his seat. He walks around the desk, leaning back against it next to Warren. "So, let me get this straight. You are an escaped HYDRA test subject with invisibility, your name is Warren something, and you've been lying about this for months because why?"

Warren shrugs and sticks the paper lollipop stick into his mouth to chew on. He really, truly has no idea why he felt the need to lie. It was more of an instinct than anything else. He's never been supposed to tell people where he's from or who he is, anyway. All HYDRA taught him to do was lie. How was he supposed to know who and who not to tell the truth to?

Huffing, Fury snags the sucker stick out of Warren's mouth. "That part's not for eating," he says, irritated, and tosses the stick into the bin next to his desk. "Besides, you better keep talking. I don't know how much you know about SHIELD, but if you aren't aware, we don't take kindly to HYDRA agents."

Like a threatened puppy, Warren shrinks in on himself a bit. But he gets this angry, defensive look in his eyes, too. "I'm not a HYDRA agent anymore. I left," he reminds Fury again.

He doesn't know what SHIELD agents do to HYDRA agents, but taking into account what he knows HYDRA agents do to SHIELD agents, Warren does not want Fury, or any other agent for that matter, thinking that he's still with HYDRA. He doesn't know his own opinions yet, sure, but if straying from HYDRA is what keeps him unharmed, then that's what he'll do. He doesn't care as long as he doesn't have to hurt anymore.

"Why did you leave when you did? Why not sooner?" Fury asks the boy.

Of course, he understands it must be hard for someone, especially a kid, to escape the hands of HYDRA. But he also knows that HYDRA isn't afraid to use child soldiers to infiltrate, kill, or do anything they need done. For all Fury knows, Warren could be working for HYDRA right now. He needs facts. More evidence, at least. Proof that Warren really is who he says he is without hidden objectives.

"I didn't know I needed to go at first. But then Papa started telling me to leave. Every day, he said it—before they erased him again, at least. Made him sleep again," Warren explains. His shiny, dark eyes tear from Fury's as he twists around in the chair, clawing at his own stomach. "Then, I ran. It wasn't hard. They couldn't see me." He lets out a soft huff, pressing his head against the back of the chair he's sat in. His stomach is starting to get all twisted and ill. "I'm hungry," he tells Fury.

For a moment, Fury only stares at Warren, contemplating whether or not to help him.

His story checks out. Besides, if he was sent by HYDRA, why would he have wasted time bouncing around the foster care system for months? HYDRA gets things done quickly and discreetly, and Warren has been neither of those things.

"Alright," Fury finally says. "Get up."

✮

About half an hour later, Warren is sat alone at a table in a moderately sized cafeteria. He doesn't like it very much in here. The lights have too yellow-ish of a hue and the floors and walls are all much too white. It's sickeningly bright to the point that Warren has to squint ever so slightly just to bear it.

On top of that, there are three security guards sitting at their own table across the room, and every time Warren looks over at them, they are already staring back at him and have to avert their eyes as quickly as they can to pretend they weren't. Warren sees them, though, and he's not stupid. He saw Fury muttering to them before leaving him in there. They're watching him. Fury still doesn't trust him. Not fully, at least.

The good news, at least, is that Warren is enjoying himself a little pack of Nutter Butters that Fury got him from the vending machine. They're quite strange. They're shaped like peanuts, but they are actually cookies with peanut butter inside. Plus, they taste very, very good.

After popping the last bit of Nutter Butter he has left into his mouth, Warren slouches back into his chair. His eyes wander back over to the vending machine for something else. Despite the daggers the guards across the room are staring into Warren's back, he hops up off of his seat and makes his way over to the snacks. He wouldn't mind another pack of Nutter Butters.

This, however, is Warren's very first time using a vending machine, so he doesn't have a clue that you're supposed to put money into the machine. All he does is smash the buttons and kick at the glass pathetically, and it doesn't make a difference. Just as he plops down to his knees and sticks his arm into the slot the Nutter Butters had come out of earlier, Fury returns from whatever escapade he was on.

"Warren!" Fury shouts, his voice echoing across the room. Warren instantly freezes, his head snapping to look at Fury, and pulls his arm out of the vending machine. "Get your ass up. Time to go."

Without having managed to retrieve another pack of Nutter Butters, unfortunately, Warren scrambles back up to his feet and follows Fury out of the way-too-bright cafeteria. Like a duckling to its mother, Warren trails directly behind Fury as he traverses the complicated hallways and operates the big, metal box that takes them up and down floors, which Warren has learned is called an elevator.

Warren is not a fan of elevators, so far. They're too unsteady and they make him feel woozy. Plus, they remind him of missions. At least the elevator at SHIELD is glass and has windows. HYDRA's is quite the opposite.

Anyway, only when they get to Fury's car, which is a black SUV and just as scary as him, does Warren think to ask where exactly they're going and why exactly he is coming with.

"What's going on?"

"We're getting out of here."

"Why?"

"Do you wanna stay?"

"No."

"Then shut up and buckle your seat belt."

So, Warren does. This car is very fancy, though, which is a little bit distracting. Most of the cars Warren has ever been in are much smaller and much cheaper. Aside from the many vans that he's been sat in the back of on the way to and from missions. He hates those vans.

Suddenly, snapping Warren out of his van-themed thoughts, the car begins to speak. "Activating communications encryption protocol."

Eyes as wide as saucers, Warren stares over at Fury, who is very good at multitasking. He's driving, but he's also operating the many fancy controls this car has. "Why can your car talk?" Warren asks, slight fear riddled in his voice.

All he gets from Fury in return, though, is a shushing noise. "Shh. Open secure line zero-four-zero-five," Fury says to the talking car.

"Confirmed," the car says.

"What's zero-four-zero-five?" Warren questions.

Fury shushes him again, a bit more harshly this time, and Warren kicks his foot against the dash frustratedly. Fury ignores it.

On the windshield in front of Fury, an image of the brown-haired woman, Maria, appears alongside the sound of her voice coming from the speakers. "This is Hill."

"I need you back here in DC," Fury tells her.

"Are you still with Miss Alice? Can I tell her hi?" Warren interrupts.

"What part of shhh don't you understand?" Fury snaps at him. Warren frowns and sinks deeper into his seat as Fury turns his attention back to Maria on the other line. "Deep shadow conditions, Hill," he tells her, a tense and serious tone to his voice.

"Give me four hours," Maria replies.

"You have three. Over." Fury ends the call as he pulls up to a stop light.

Irritated, Warren lets out a deep huff. He really, really wishes he could know what's going on. It makes his stomach hurt not to know, especially when Fury is acting so intensely. What if it's HYDRA? What if they're going to take him and he's going to have to go back to sitting in a cell and eating slop? He isn't sure if he could take living like that anymore, now that he knows what it's really like to be free. He does miss his papa, though.

Warren just wishes that he and his papa could both be free together. They would be happy, that way. The doctors wouldn't be there to erase his papa anymore, and Warren wouldn't have to keep reminding him of who he is. He always hated having to remind his papa how he was every time he got to see him. Sometimes, it would take so long for Papa to remember that Warren would get scared that he would never remember him. Then he'd be alone forever. Luckily, that hasn't happened yet.

Fury glances over at Warren, just because he's gotten a bit quiet again, but Warren isn't what makes Fury do a double take. It's the cop duo that's pulled up next to them, staring at him like he's done something wrong just by existing. "Wanna see my lease?" Fury deadpans.

The cop's siren wails just once, making Warren jump and glare at the cops through the window, but before he can glare too long, the light turns green and the cops drive through the intersection, Fury following a moment after.

Just as they get to the middle of the intersection, though, another cop car comes speeding at them from the left and smashes into the side of Fury's car. The cops in front of them back right into the front of the vehicle, and two new cops appear, ramming into the back and right side of the car. They're completely surrounded.

"Fracture detected," Fury's car informs him, showing an image of the broken bone in Fury's arm. "Recommend anesthetic injection."

Warren's neck and back feel like he's just been whipped out of an airplane or something, and everything is turning into blurry, doubled versions of themselves. His neck and chest both feel like they're on fire, or like burning acid is sizzling on his skin. He desperately fumbles to unbuckle the seatbelt that's digging deep cuts into his skin while Fury injects an anesthetic into his broken arm.

"DC Metro Police dispatch shows no units in this area," the car tells them.

"I can't get it!" Warren wails, tugging hard at the seatbelt.

Fury quickly reaches over and fiddles with the seatbelt until it unlatches. The second it does, Warren scrambles away from it, pressing his hand against the cut it left on his neck and upper chest. It's not nearly deep enough to kill him, but it sure as hell hurts like he's about to die. Like a wounded dog, he lets out a soft whine.

"You're alright, kid. We're gonna get out of here," Fury tells him.

It's hard for Warren to believe it, especially when he looks up and sees the many police officers, both with riot gear and without, approaching their car with guns pointed at them.

"Get down on the floor and don't get up until I tell you to," Fury orders before spitting a bit of blood out of his mouth. Almost instantaneously, Warren drops down to the ground and tucks himself between his seat and the dash. "Get me out of here," he hears Fury say to the car. And it's immediately followed by seemingly endless gunshots.

Luckily, this car is bulletproof. Unluckily, though, it won't be for long. The more shots fired at the car, the closer and closer it gets to giving in and letting the bullets break through the glass.

"Propulsion systems offline."

"Then reboot, damn it!"

The louder the gunshots get, the harder Warren presses his hands over his ears. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see a number on the screen, counting down. The number gets smaller with each gunshot fired, and the smaller the number gets, the more Warren wishes he had never gone out to steal those Mini Muffins. He should have known better than to let Miss Alice leave him there with SHIELD. He should have known that any agency that has something called a facility should almost never, ever be trusted.

He feels like he's back again, trapped in situations he never wanted to be in from the beginning. Listening to the gunshots his papa lets loose and quietly cleaning up any messes made along the way.

Fury suddenly climbs across to the seat Warren was in before, and when Warren looks up to see why, he's sure he's either about to die or to be taken back. Because at Fury's window, the fake police officers are about to break into the car. With the first blast, the car rocks hard to the side, nearly tipping over. Warren shields his head with his arms. Another hit, followed by another until the window is about to shatter, and Fury's not doing anything.

"Do something!" Warren screams.

"I will!" Fury insists.

Warren doesn't believe him until the car rocks to the side one more time, a gun deploys from the center console, and Fury rains bullets through the glass, killing all the soldiers on the other side, and then some.

"Propulsion systems online."

"Full acceleration! Now!" Fury shouts. Tires squeal against the pavement and bullets whiz through hair, coming from inside the car and out, until they're speeding down the road and away from the police cars. "Initiate vertical takeoff!"

"Flight systems damaged."

"Then activate guidance cameras!" Fury climbs back across to the driver's seat and Warren almost dares to peek up out the window. But then, he remembers that Fury said not to move until he says, and if that will keep Warren alive and away from HYDRA, then that's exactly what Warren is going to do. He stays curled up into a ball on the floor and listens as Fury gets them out of this mess.

The black SUV flies down the streets of DC, weaving between cars and ramming them out of the way when needed. For a little while, the gunshots stop, but soon enough, the not-really-cops catch back up to them and bullets are flying all over again, regardless of the civilians it puts in danger. These people don't care in the slightest if innocent people have to die. They want Nick Fury dead, no matter how many people they have to kill. And that's why Warren is almost positive that this is HYDRA.

"Brace yourself, kid!" Fury shouts just in time for Warren to do so before he slams on the breaks in front of an intersection. They turn onto a different road, and Fury is desperate for this to be over. "Get me off the grid," he demands.

"Calculating route to secure location."

For a good fifteen seconds or so, everything is very quiet. Eerily quiet, even. There are no gunshots. No cars chasing after them. Not even a nearby group of pedestrians screaming. It's like this is a normal drive, just for fifteen seconds. And then the car is being propelled into the air.

Everything moves in slow motion as the car is flipped upside down. Warren can see the glass falling from the floor to the roof of the car as he does, too. Then all he can see is a cloud of smoke and all he can hear is the ringing in his ears.

Eventually, the smoke begins to fade and Warren can make out the blurry figure of Fury in front of his face. Soon, he can hear him, too. "...kid! Hey! Wake up. C'mon," Fury is saying as he lifts Warren out from between the now crushed dash and the roof of the car. "We're gettin' out."

Fury pulls some kind of weapon or instrument from his jacket, but Warren is too distracted by something coming at them through the smoke to notice what he's using it for.

A silhouette Warren knows all too well. Dark, overgrown hair. A mask over his face and goggles over his eyes. All black clothing with a gun in his hands.

"Papa!"

Warren is suddenly grabbed from behind. "Kid! I said come on!"

✮

getting cut by my seatbelt in a car crash is one of my biggest fears. so sorry to do this to you, warren. you should have been in a booster seat. you're not big enough to go without yet.