Family

After cleaning up the place, Maximoff twins and rest of the children including Noah sat in a circle around the fireplace burning with gentle flame. They all were wearing fur coats that were several sizes too big, making them look comical in appearance like crouching pandas. But everyone ignored it in favor of keeping warm.

Noah roamed his eyes at the group of children around him with a serious expression, making the mood little somber and the children fully focused toward him. Sweeping eyes at the confused and uneasy faces of the children in front of him one by one, Noah started speaking although his voice sounded childish, it still contained healthy dose of confidence and power.

"All of us gathered here are from different countries with no relation to each other before this. We have experienced torture that many people can't even imagine and it's not like we were living our best life before this either. So although we escaped from that hell-like place, it's not like we have a home to return to anymore and I don't think that those people will give up chasing after us."

"So at this moment, you have two choices."

"Just a few kilometers away, there is a city called Yekaterinburg. I can send you to the local authorities there. They may protect you or they may send you to an orphanage to find someone to adopt you."

Speaking this far, Noah paused waiting for any questions. He was mainly asking the older children, since the youngest were just 8 year olds, he already decided to keep them with him until they grow up a little. So the young ones looked at Noah eagerly. For these children, they would rather follow Noah then the authorities or the orphanage.

The older children looked at each other.

Wanda, who was the oldest among the girls, spoke up. She faced Noah with seriousness and her eyes contained a sliver of hope and little excitement: "I don't think the governments will care about us. Even during the war they didn't help any one of us. So although they were shady we still joined HYDRA for revenge."

"We were promised strength in exchange for full cooperation. In truth we would have gone through every experiments if that could give us strength but only after entering the base we realised that we were just guinea pigs for them. But now it's different since you succeeded."

"Do you want to go back?"

Noah asked back. Wanda shook her head, clueless: "I don't know. Although your experiment succeeded, the same can't be said about us. If we go back I don't know what else we have to endure."

In fact, when she and Pietro left the base with Noah, They had already made a choice, otherwise they could have just stayed at the base. Although shameless they decided to stick with Noah, since he had the strength they could only hope for. After Noah asked Wanda, he looked at the others: "What's your choice?"

"We want to follow you, Noah, Wanda is right, the government won't care about us."

One of the oldest boy with tall and muscular body spoke without much hesitation. All of them are either orphans or vagrants, and they have long been disappointed with the peoples, let alone the government of a country that does not belong to them. Instead of going to authorities and letting the authorities resettle them, it is better to follow Noah in their opinion. And there is no guarantee that they won't be caught again when they contact the authorities.

Noah can destroy a base with his own strength and this strength is enough to make them rely on it. Scanning the faces of the serious children in front of him one by one, Noah chuckling, feeling a little warm in his heart.

"Okay then let's make it official. Up until this point, we've been on our own, without any family or support. We have even gone through the pain one can only imagine. But now, we have each other. We'll lean on one another, support each other, and from this moment forward, we are a family."

"Yeah!!"

When the children listened to Noah's words, they all nodded happily, including the young one who cheered loudly infected by the mood around them. For everyone here Noah was beacon of light in their dark world. Even Wanda and Pietro. While they may desire the power to seek revenge, there's a comforting feeling in having family, isn't there?

"Since we have decided to stick together, now we need a place to hide where HYDRA can't find us. They won't be able to find us for now since the snow has covered our tracks and I have veiled our images from satellite probing, but that won't be the case if we go to populated areas so we have to find a different place and leave as soon as possible."

Noah explained his plan. Their current location is several hundred kilometers from the base, but it's too close to the road and too conspicuous. Although their escape direction is veiled from monitoring devices, thanks to Noah's hacking skills honed as a lone mercenary in his previous life, it was relatively easy, given that technology around the world was still behind. But despite that considering the manpower of HYDRA, he has no doubt they will find them soon enough, if they stay here.

"Then where should we go?"

Wanda asked. Noah took out a map and tapped on one of the long lines under the light of the fire: "The Ural Mountains is a large mountain range stretching across Russia. It's in a position where it is always snowy and windy and it's only a couple kilometers away from Yekaterinburg. So we won't have much difficulty in restocking our essentials by driving there."

"It will be easy for me to hide our positions from satellites and adding the wind and snow and the cover of trees, it is almost impossible for those people to find us."

"They won't consider the chances of couple of kids staying in mountain instead of going to towns."

Given HYDRA's extensive manpower and connections, it would be impossible for them to leave the country without concealing their whereabouts from HYDRA. Therefore, there's no need to flee as long as they have sufficient material resources to sustain themselves.

Moreover, the harsh environment of mountain will be beneficial to train the Breathing techniques. Noah would simply wait for him and the kids to grow up. Even if HYDRA's agents don't come to them, they will go to HYDRA to finish what he started.

"Then what should we do for now?"

"For now I'm leaving for Yekaterinburg to buy daily necessities and a car. Pack up your things and wait for me to come back. We will set off overnight."

"OK!"

The children spoke in unison, their eyes regaining liveliness. Noah's maturity in speech and decision-making makes him seem much older than he is. So to the kids, he was the pillar of strength that brings comfort to everyone around him.

Noah smiled lightly. Without delay, he straightened his clothes and approached the window, gazing out towards the distant road. He waited. True to his expectation, after more than ten minutes, amid the heavy snowfall, he discerned the rumble of an engine and the piercing brightness of headlights approaching. In this wintry landscape, the truck's headlights shone more intensely than usual.

Once the truck had passed by the wooden house, he quickly opened the door. Ignoring the concerned looks of the children, he ran out into the windy, snowy weather.

*hum!*

Noah transformed into golden light once more, streaking toward the truck like a bolt of golden lightning through the wind and snow, moving at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow clearly. Within seconds, he covered several hundred meters and caught up with the big truck carrying wooden logs. With a leap, he landed on the piled wood at the back of the truck.

He lay down on the plastic sheet covering the wooden logs.

He curled up in his coat, and soon the snow completely covered him. He began to breathe in rhythm with the Sun breathing technique.

． ． ． ． ． ． ． ． ．

[Old castle, ???????, Siberia]

In the office, Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, one of HYDRA's top leaders, stood before the window dressed in a thick down coat. Outside, heavy snow blanketed the scene. Behind him, his subordinates reported eagerly, their expressions reflecting his own fanaticism.

"At last, the test has succeeded."

"Subject Code 69 has awakened his ability."

Abruptly turning, Baron fixed his gaze on the commander of Noah's base.

"This are the video footage of his ability, Sir."

The subordinate handed him a tablet displaying footage from the base's CCTV footage. On the screen, the Baron saw a boy turning his body into golden light and moving at unimaginable speed. His soldiers offered no resistance. They were simply overrun by the Code 69's formidable ability.

The golden figure tore through his soldiers like a knife in butter.