Chapter Text
-James Barnes-
He can feel the motorcycle vibrating beneath him as he revs the engine. He fires a single shot, driving the car off the road. It’s dark, and the area is deserted. Perfect. He spots a surveillance camera, no witnesses, it will have to be destroyed.
His orders are simple. Kill Howard Stark. Take the formula. Leave no witnesses alive. The Asset climbs off the motorcycle, and approaches the car, gravel crunching under his feet. The driver has been thrown from the vehicle, and is lying on the ground.
“Help my wife.” The target says, “Please. Help.” The asset strides over, and grabs him by the hair.
Stop, a voice inside him screams.
“Sergeant Barnes?” Howard asks, turning pleading eyes on the man. There’s blood on his face. The asset raises his fist.
“Howard!” A woman’s voice cries. No witnesses. He swings his fist forward into Howard’s face.
No, the voice cries.
“Howard!” The woman cries out again. The asset shoves Howard’s body back into the driver’s seat, face against the steering wheel. He does not check to make sure the man is dead; he has never been ordered to.
The woman whimpers, as he walks around the car, momentarily visible as he passes in front of the headlights. The woman has blood on her face when he grabs her by the throat. She gasps for air, as his hand tightens, struggling uselessly against him.
Eventually she stops struggling. Retrieve the formula. The asset forces the trunk of the car all the way open, and grabs the metal case out of the trunk. He opens it quickly to confirm the contents.
“Mission Complete.” He informs the handler, raising his gun to fire a single shot into the surveillance camera. No witnesses.
“Return to the rendezvous point.” The handler orders, he’s new. The Asset does not remember what happened to the previous handler.
James Barnes wakes up in a cold sweat in an overly comfortable bed. James Barnes, not The Asset. James Barnes.
“Fuck.” He grumbles, grabbing onto his notebook and jotting down every detail he can remember about his dream.
He knows it’s a memory, these days it seems like all of his dreams are memories. His little book, filled with a list of crimes Hydra ordered him to commit. He’s halfway through writing it all down, still not fully awake, when a word pops out at him. Stark.
“Shit.” He growls, throwing the book down, and reaching for the phone Mr. Stark gave him. It only takes a moment to pull up the contact list, Tony Stark’s name staring at him from the screen. His thumb hovers over the dial button. “I hate my life.” He presses it.
“Isn’t it midnight for you?” Mr. Stark asks, picking up after a single ring. He sounds annoyed which is odd, it isn’t too late in New York yet.
“I think I killed your parents.” James says, and his voice is still rough from sleep. There’s a car alarm going off in the background.
“Listen, now’s not really a good time.” Mr. Stark says, and he sounds distracted. Did he not hear him?
“But-“ James starts to argue.
“I’ll call you back.” There’s a click as Tony Stark hangs up on him. Tony Stark hangs up on his parents’ murderer. James stares at the phone for a moment longer, and then sets it down, deciding to wait for the call.
The part of him that wants to survive considers running, but he’s been running for a long time now, maybe it’s time to face the music. If anyone can keep people safe from him, it’s Tony Stark.
He finishes writing down what happened in the dream, and gets to his feet. It feels wrong to eat the food Mr. Stark has delivered, but he doesn’t want it to go to waste either. He remembers snippets from Before, remembers when food was scarce, remembers rations. Even now he doesn’t like to waste.
-Tony Stark-
“Okay,” Tony says, as Happy speeds towards the tower. “Friday, we need to prioritize.” Happy merges out of the lane he’s in like a New York cabbie with a deadline to meet. “Number one, ensure that the idiot teenager in his pajamas is alright.”
“Seems reasonable.” Friday says, and she seems almost sassy with it.
“Number two, figure out why the hell there’s a group of Asgardians in my backyard looking as if they just left a warzone.” Tony decides.
“That feels like it should be number one.” Happy mutters, earning a glare from Tony.
“There is an injured child in the backseat.” He says gesturing to where Peter is passed out behind him.
“I’m just saying, intergalactic war might be a bigger concern than this kid.” Happy says, turning abruptly down an alley. He has a point.
“Fine, Friday can you have Rhodey go to the compound?” Tony asks, “Him and Vision can talk with the Asgardians. No Asgardians in the building until I’ve spoken with Thor.”
“On it, Boss.” Friday says. “Rhodey is on his way.”
“Good, priority number three, figure out who the winged maniac flying around New York is,” He pauses for a moment. “Well, the other winged maniac, I already know Sam.”
“I’ll start looking into it.” Friday agrees, and he has the utmost faith in her.
“Number Four is going to be explaining this entire thing to the Accords council.” Tony has a headache already just thinking about it. “And Five, call Barnes back I guess.”
“Barnes called you?” Happy asks, and the car swerves as he turns to look at Tony.
“Eyes on the road!” Tony shouts, grabbing onto the handle above the door.
“Why did Barnes call you?” Happy demands, shifting back into his lane. Tony shrugs.
“I don’t know!” Tony says, “He just called, and said he thinks he killed my parents.” Happy turns to look at him, “What did I just say? Eyes on the road!” Happy turns back around, pulling abruptly into the parking garage under The Tower.
“He called you to tell you that he killed your parents?” Happy asks, and Tony hums in agreement, “And you didn’t tell me?” Tony ignores his outrage, climbing out of the car the moment it stops moving.
“He called like two minutes ago, I was kind of dealing with the kid at the time.” Tony defends, opening the door to try and pull Peter out.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Helen calls out, storming up behind him. “I hope you weren’t about to attempt to lift a patient with a potential spine injury without proper support.”
“Of course not.” Tony lies. “You think he has a spine injury?” He’s a little panicked at the thought, taking a big step away from the car.
“Well, I don’t know yet, do I?” She says, and Tony knows the kid is in good hands. “Let’s get him onto the stretcher and into the medbay. What do you know about him?” They carefully maneuver the kid onto the stretcher.
“He’s fifteen, he’s enhanced, he swings around in his pajamas at night, I don’t know, what do you want to know?” Tony is frazzled, and that’s putting things lightly.
“Does he have a name?” Helen asks, setting him down on the exam table.
“That’s classified.” Tony blurts out, and she rolls her eyes at him. “Okay, fine, it’s Peter.”
“Thank you, have Friday get me his medical file for me.” She says, preparing the x-ray machine. “And get his guardian here.”
“I don’t think she knows about,” He gestures vaguely towards the kid, and Helen gives him a look. “But, of course I will call her right away.” Tony agrees.
“Thank you,” Helen says, and then gestures for him to get out of the room. He obeys.
“Friday, can you get the kids Guardian on the line?” He asks, and immediately the phone starts ringing.
“She’s currently at work, calling Grant Hospital.” Friday says, just as the line picks up.
“Grant Hospital, this is Karen,” A voice answers. “Thank you for calling how can I help you?”
“Hi Karen, I’m calling for,” He glances around in a panic looking for her name. Friday pops up the name in front of him. “May Parker, it’s about her kid.”
“I’ll get her.” The woman says, and instantly hold music starts playing. Tony turns to Happy.
“She put me on hold.” He says, and Happy nods. They both sit there for a moment listening to the hold music.
“What happened to Peter?” A voice asks, the moment the hold music stops. “Who are you? Where’s my nephew?”
“Okay,” Tony starts, his mind going momentarily blank as he tries to figure out how to explain this. “This is going to be hard to explain over the phone. Peter fell down,” He says, which is technically accurate. “He’s pretty hurt, he’s currently in the medbay at Stark Tower.” He looks to Happy, and gets a strange combination of a shrug and a thumbs up.
“What?” May asks, sounding unimpressed. “Who is this?”
“This is Tony Stark.” Tony says, and he feels almost unsure under her scrutiny. “I can send a car to get you.”
“Eugene Thompson!” May says, and she sounds furious now. “Peter has told me all about you, and I don’t appreciate this childish attempt at a prank call.” Tony turns wide eyed to Happy, who looks about as panicked as he feels.
“What?” Tony asks, “I really am Tony Stark.”
“Sure, and I’m the president,” This woman he’s never met snarks back, and if he wasn’t so freaked out he might like her. “Eugene. I am at work.”
“I don’t even know a Eugene!” Tony says, dropping down onto a chair in frustration. Why is everything so hard today? “Peter took a really bad tumble right in front of me, and I kind of panicked, you know? Because, injured kid, and then I rushed him to the medbay at the tower, because I kind of forgot about hospitals.” That’s a lie, he brought Peter here, because enhanced children should not be in hospitals.
“You’re serious?” She asks, and Tony would almost say this woman is scarier than Pepper.
“As a heart attack,” He replies, before she can hang up on him.
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes, and if this is some kind of a joke you are going to be in a world of trouble.” May threatens, and Tony nods along.
“Yes ma’am.” He agrees, the line goes dead.
“Well,” Happy comments, “She sounds scary as hell.” Tony nods in agreement. “I’m going to go meet her in the lobby, Friday, can you get me a picture of her so I know who I’m looking for?”
“Sent to your phone.” Friday replies, and then Happy is gone. Tony stands there for a moment, feeling unsure what to do, and then turns back into the medbay.
“Helen?” He calls out as he walks in. “Any updates on the kid?”
“Tony, it’s been a whole two minutes.” Helen says, and it looks like she’s waiting for the x-rays to be finished. “Sit down, outside, I’ll update you as soon as I have any news.”
“Right, yeah.” He salutes lazily in her direction and walks out of the room, dropping onto one of the chairs, his hand drumming against the desk. “Fri, can you get me an update on the Thor situation?”
“James Rhodes has arrived on the scene.” Friday answers, and there’s a long pause as Tony waits for her to continue.
“Well?” He asks, as soon as he realizes she doesn’t plan to say anything more.
“Boss, it’s only been five minutes since we called him” Friday explains, and he has a feeling that she’s laughing at him. “He just got there.”
“Oh yeah,” Tony sighs, and looks around the empty waiting room. “What now?” After the mad rush to get Peter to the doctor, he abruptly feels like he has nothing to do.
“You could call Barnes back,” Friday offers, and he scowls at the idea.
“That’s number five on the list Fri,” He points out, clearly, she has her own order of priorities today. “Plus, he probably went to sleep.”
“Oh, we’re going through the list.” Friday says, and he knows that tone. She’s up to something. “Dialing the Accords council.” The phone starts ringing immediately.
“Friday, wait no-“ Tony starts to protest, but it’s too late.
“Hello, Mr. Stark?” Yaromir picks up the phone, sounding exhausted. Perfect.
“Hi Chairman Yaromir, so sorry to bother you so late at night.” Tony says, shooting a glare at Friday’s closest camera. “I was calling to let you know that we’ve had a group of Asgardians land a spaceship in my backyard.”
“Ah,” Yaromir says, “We’ll need to work on some protocols for out of planet visitors.”
“Based on their state of attire I think they may be refugee’s Thor is with them.” Tony explains, and he makes the decision not to make any comments about Loki until they know more. “Colonel Rhodes is speaking with them now.”
“Do we think they’re going to do anything in the next,” There’s a short pause, and Tony assumes Yaromir is looking for a clock. “five hours?”
“Uh, probably not?” Tony says, completely unsure.
“I’m going back to sleep.” Yaromir decides, “We can discuss what to do with the Asgardians in the morning.” The line abruptly goes dead, and now Tony really has no idea what to do.
“Now we can call Barnes.” Friday proposes, and Tony rolls his eyes.
“You’re cheeky,” He remarks. “Get me the footage from the compound, I want to see what Loki’s doing.”
“Fine.” Friday grumbles, and Tony comes to the realization that his AI is entering her sassy teenager stage.