A/N: Here is an older Avengers Fanfic I'm reworking and reposting because no one really reacted to it in any way? Anyway, please tell me what you think below, and please follow for more! Every other chapter will be a flashback, and I promise the flashbacks aren't grating or unpleasant to read- they're actually my favorite parts of the story. I'll be trying to make the chapters each this length, though some will probably be a bit longer since I originally wrote the story when I was into writing and posting ten thousand word chapters (because I was stupid- No one wants to read a ten K chapter, Erin). As always, leave your questions in the comments and I will reply via PM. Enjoy :)

They were on a dark road. Somewhere in eastern europe, probably closest to Russia. The road was unkempt and the wilderness surrounding was eating away at the edges. It led them deep into the night, away from civilization. The car they were riding in crossed two bridges before they heard it.

The lullaby. The singer appeared tormented, her voice rough and sobbing. It grew in volume till they saw a woman. She was sitting on the edge of a cliff, her hair uncombed and wild, her nightgown ripped and torn and covered in blood and dirt. They did not stop the car, there was no way that she was real. The singing did not stop, and the volume was constant.

The next time they saw her, she was standing and faced away from them on the opposite side of the road, miles away from her previous position. Her hands covered her face and her shoulders shook. Her voice was soft , but not muffled by her hands.

"Maybe we should stop." Wanda suggested, but Bucky didn't stop the car.

He was the one driving, as Steve was sleeping in the passenger seat, having driven for a day and a half himself. Bucky didn't trust the voice, and he knew the hydra base they were near was abandoned for good reason. He didn't know the particulars, but he knew that something had gone wrong a couple of decades back. He knew he had been there before, but his memory was hazy on the subject of how long or the why.

His gut told him something was wrong, terribly terribly wrong. He knew that if they stopped, it would be dangerous. But nothing prepared him for the faceless girl manifesting in the road before them and he threw on the brakes to avoid her.

Her singing did not cease till they came to a complete stop. In a heartbeat, her form was dispersed into the night. Steve was awake now and he had seen the girl as well. Scott, the 'Ant Man' stepped out of the car first. Concern shone on his features for the woman, but soon enough he heard the jingling of bells begin as two small girls stepped out of the forest.

The rest of them filed out of the car; Steve, Bucky, Wanda, Clint, Sam- all of them.

The two girls stepped out of the darkness, approaching them with curious eyes. The two were obviously twins, identical in every way. They were holding hands, swinging their arms back and forth as they approached the group. Grade school age; around seven or eight if Bucky had to guess. One of them wore a lilac lace dress more reminiscent of church wear from when he and Steve were young. The other wore a similar fashioned dress, but it was baby pink and torn in numerous places. She was spotted with blood, but her skin appeared clean and pink in the moonlight.

"I'm Lucy!" The one wearing pink pronounced, her strawberry blond head bouncing up and down as she stepped closer. Her eyes were dark; almost black even in the light. Her sister smiled softly behind her, not revealing any teeth as she shyly hid behind her bolder sister.

"Mother wants to meet her guests," The shy one mumbled and Lucy tilted her head to the side as she analyzed the group. It was unnerving for one so young to be so… predatory.

"Yes, Aggie. She does." Lucy pronounced, more for them than anything.

"Mother hasn't had any guests in such a long time. She would never pass up the opportunity." Lucy mentioned, drawing her eyes to Bucky. She smiled at him, her teeth sharpened into points.

Her sister whispered into her ear, "He smells like us, so does the blond one, but not as much."

Lucy nodded.

"We have someone to stop," Steve told the girls but the twins did not care.

"Mother knows what the plan the man against you has. She sees all…"

"Knows all." Aggie finished, focusing her own gaze on them. Her eyes were a bright, dangerous red that set off the heroes before them.

"What are you two?" Scott asked them and Lucy giggled, her voice merry and cheerful.

"We'll tell you if you come with us. Take it as a bonus, if you will. As you have no real other choice." Aggie shrugged as the car was lifted off the ground and tossed off the road and into a tree. Wanda spotted a flash of brown hair that disappeared into the forest behind the twins. Another laugh was heard but behind the treeline.

Lucy let out a sigh. "Pardon Clara, she has had little exposure to others. She is not as tame as my sister and I."

This unsettled the group, but they knew that if the one that had thrown the van down the road so far came at them, it would be a fight they had a severe disadvantage with. The girl was fast, granted not as fast as Wanda's brother had been, but Wanda got the feeling that it was more due to the fact that the girl wanted to be seen.

The girls turned and walked into the forest and they followed them.

"Was that your mother singing?" Bucky asked, with the distinct feeling he knew the girls.

Aggie nodded and Lucy voiced her reply, "Mother likes to be noticed. So few people ever stop when they see her now. It makes everything so much more difficult. It is nice that you stopped willingly. Much less messy for everyone involved."

An older girl stepped out beside the group. "I am Clara."

She appeared to be a pre-teen, somewhere around twelve or thirteen. Her brown hair was as wild as the woman's had been, but shorter, only reaching her shoulders. She wore a denim jumpsuit that was three sizes too big, but rolled and pinned to fit her better.

Her eyes were as bright a red as her sister's. The three were so fair that they damn near glowed in the darkness, but they seemed skilled enough to blend into their surroundings. The twins were swinging their arms back and forth as they walked ahead and another girl followed behind the group, a year or so older than the twins. Wanda felt unnerved when she noticed the girl and the way she stared at the redhead.

Clara wheedled her way between Steve and Bucky. She looked at the brunette man with wide eyes, but they seemed exuberant, like she couldn't be happier to meet him. She smiled at him and he ignored his gut and smiled back softly at her.

His gut told him that something was terribly off about the girls, but there was something about them. They were predatory, but he doubted that these girls were capable of evil. Clara turned her gaze on his metal arm.

"Mother said you had a metal arm." She mentioned and the twins turned back to glare at her.

"Clara, that is not for us to discuss." The twins said in unison, unsettling the group further.

Clara looked depressed at the thought and fell back behind Bucky. He didn't like her behind him, he didn't like anyone being behind him really, and he grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her back to his side. She gripped his hand in a stone hold and she beamed at him. He didn't even try to pull back, he found himself not wanting to the longer he was beside her. The twins smiled at him kindly and turned back around, leading them through the forest.

Eventually they found a path, though it was overgrown to say the least. "You live in the old base."

The girl at the back replied.

"Yes. It is where Mother grew up, she is quite attached-"she let out a giggle. "-to the place."

They walked for a few miles till they came to a stop by a rock face. Lucy gently pushed a boulder away, as if she did not want to break it. It revealed a metal door-vibranium.

The girl at the back came to the front and knocked on the door. It slid open a moment later to reveal a very young girl-a toddler- two, maybe three years old. She was sucking on her thumb and clutching a small glass doll in her hand. The doll wore a yellow stained lace dress and the girl wore a dress that matched it.

Her brown hair was in her face and the unnamed girl picked her up and swept some of the locks out of her eyes. She led them through the entrance and into a hall. "Genny, you are supposed to be with Mother. Someone else can answer the door. What if a stranger knocked? You could get hurt."

The toddler shook her head rapidly, removing her thumb from her mouth to reveal sharp teeth as well. "Nuh-uh Mary! I couh take um."

Mary sighed and placed her down on the floor, taking her by the hand and escorting them to the main chamber. Another set of doors awaited them and Mary knocked on the door again.

Ruffling was heard and shuffling came to the door where it opened to reveal a man with the same eerie red eyes.

"Uncle, we have brought Mother's guests." Mary said as they entered the chamber.

Bucky traced his gaze around the chamber, spotting the device chair that they used to toy with his head at the back. Around the chamber on all sides were twelve tubes, almost like columns holding the roof up. The man, their Uncle, was odd. He looked familiar, but Bucky knew he would have recognized him if he had seen him before.

The man caught his stare. He chuckled, "I am no longer human, that is why you do not recognize me."

Scott stared at the man, "Then what are you? Enhanced?"

"Of a sort." He clipped.

Bucky found his gaze on the dais in the center of the room. Another tube column protruded from it and it extended down from the ceiling. He traced it to the top and took a breath at the sight. Wanda spoke up.

"Is that blood?" She asked, appalled at the sight of so much of it.

Mary had released Genny and the little girl ran to the dais and touched a hand to the cloudy glass of the tube. The air seemed to release a bit and the silhouette of a woman peeked out of the haze.

"Yes." The girls' Uncle replied, his arms crossed behind his back, his lab coat open to reveal plain blue scrubs.

"My name is Beau, I take it my sister brought you here." He introduced and Steve nodded.

He let out a laugh, it was not pleasant, but neither was it malevolent in any way. "Well, there she is! Feel free to approach, she will not bite in her current condition."

Beau. Do not frighten my guests, you know how rare an event this is. A feminine voice broke into the air, the voice of the singer.

"Ma'am?" Steve spoke, following Bucky's gaze to the tube. Genny giggled and whispered against the glass to her Mother.

The figure in the glass appeared to kneel down and as she reached out, a hand appeared through the glass, running her fingers through her daughter's curls. The girl leant into her Mother's touch and Bucky could just make out the wire that was attached through her hand.

"My, my, my. Dinner, what a nice surprise." Another voice was heard and a woman appeared behind the tube, trailing the tips of her fingers over the glass as she circled around to them.

"Lenora, they are your mother's guests. They might not be dinner...Yet." Beau drawled, looking over a clipboard in his hands.

Lenora stilled when her Mother snapped out her hand and captured her own. Her red eyes clouded over black for a few moments, no other color present. After a minute she blinked and it disappeared. She appeared at her Uncle's ear, whispering softly.

He left the room and slowly two other girls stepped into the room. Neither of them were older than seventeen physically and they all had their sister's ephemeral features. The group stepped forward into the room to allow the girl's entrance. The eldest, Lenora, stepped back up to the tube.

"What is wrong with your Mother?" Steve asked her and Lenora scoffed.

"A collection of shit. Ill health, ill choices in people, ill choices in general. You'll have to be specific." She sighed when she felt her mother's disappointment fill the air.

She turned to the tube and apologized softly, brightening when her mother reached out and ran a hand over her chin lightly, a sign of forgiveness. She had always thought her mother too forgiving, too kind. If they had done those things to her, she would have killed them.

If they had done what they've done to me to you, they would be dead, darling. Her Mother's voice was protective in her mind.

Clara released Bucky's hand and ran to her Mother, bursting with energy and happiness. Her mother released Lenora and touched a hand to Clara's forehead. The girl's eyes glazed over and she stilled.

Bucky was surprised by the concern he felt when the girl stilled so suddenly. He kept his face calm however and when Clara suddenly burst back into reality, her little face excited and happy. She glanced back at him and beamed.

"That kid really likes you," Sam mentioned and he shrugged. Bucky didn't know why, but her happiness around him was so pure, so alien to him.

A flash of a girl's face. She was pale and sickly, but she was so happy to see him. He wondered why she liked him so much. He was cold to her, always cold, but she...adored him. No one liked being around him here, but she did. Her father didn't seem to mind her being around him, and it wasn't as if her mother had stuck around long after they moved to the base.

Her name was Allegra, but the boy that moved here with her called her Ally. The boy's name was Beau, and he always gave him the stink eye when they were around him.

She called him Winter, and the soldiers around here had picked up on the nickname as well. They called him the Winter Soldier now. He couldn't remember his name anymore, so he didn't mind the nickname. It mistified him at how easily her father left her in his care. He was a trained assassin, not a babysitter.

But she was not annoying, she only followed him around and watched him train. When she had first gotten here she was shy around him but now she told him everything whenever she saw him. It was nice, to have someone give a damn, even if he knew he shouldn't care. He was The Asset, after all.

They hadn't fucked him up in the head for a while now, but he felt like the time for that was drawing near.

Bucky came out of it with a shake of his head to find the girl back latched onto his arm. She didn't flinch at the coolness of the metal, though she seemed to radiate cold herself. Beau walked back into the room, carrying a tray in one hand and a clipboard he was scanning in the other with ease. It looked almost comical, but he appeared comfortable with the awkwardness of the movement.

The girls surrounded the tray when he placed it on the lab desk. In a flash the lid was lifted and the girls had taken what was underneath so fast he hadn't seen what they now held. Clara looked up at him, her face pained as she met his gaze.

"It's going to hurt," She said, "I'm sorry."

He heard Wanda scream behind him, the redhead falling to the floor as the… blood made its way into her own bloodstream. Her power attacked at those surrounding her, but the girls were unharmed as they circled her.

Steve rushed to her side, but she didn't stop screaming. Bucky went to help as he saw a girl stab him in the shoulder with another syringe, but Clara held him with an iron grip. "What are you doing?"

"Mother said that it needed to be done." Clara said sadly and they watched as Clint, Sam, and Scott received the same treatment. Within moments, they were all screaming and clawing at their skin as their flesh seemed to burn and burn and burn.

"What are you doing?" He asked Beau and the man smiled at him. It wasn't cruel, and it wasn't quite sad- he didn't know what it was.

Beau handed him a syringe. "It hurts less if you drink it instead of inject it. Though injection makes it faster."

Clara was staring at the syringe and her eyes shone with hunger but she did not move. "You drink blood?"

Clara blinked at him, "I have to, or bad things happen."

Beau watched him, "You might want to hurry it up, you really don't want to look like dinner longer than you have to."

Clara took the syringe from him, "Mother said it wouldn't hurt you as much."

"Why?"

"I don't know, she doesn't tell us everything."

Lucy appeared at his side and stole the syringe from her sister. "You are taking too long, the younger ones are growing restless."

He looked at Genny beside her Mother's tube. She was calm and sucking on her thumb. "No they aren't."

He saw Lenora staring at him however and the two oldest appearing of the others. Lucy had followed his gaze to Genny. "She is the eldest of us."

Lucy appeared to be having trouble as well. In a sudden movement she rammed the needle through his lips (which should have been impossible given his height) and plunged the blood into his mouth.

It tasted… odd. Not bad, and it seemed to grow better and better till he was forced to swallow. It began to burn at his insides and he collapsed to his knees before the girls, clawing at his chest as his heart began to beat faster and faster till he felt like it would explode. He felt Clara hold back his metal arm and his vision became dotted and everything faded to black.