Chapter Text
Tony Stark was beyond tired of HYDRA.
Ever since Cap had rescued James ‘Bucky’ Barnes from the clutches of HYDRA, they’d been nothing but a thorn in Tony’s side.
Just last week, they’d once again attacked the tower in an attempt to steal the Winter Soldier back, and it had been the final straw. Tony had spent the rest of the week in a sleepless dive into HYDRA and their network, and they’d been making surgical strikes to each and every base of operations.
This was the final base. The last one. Once they took this one out, it was over.
At least, that’s what Tony hoped. FRIDAY had been adamant there was nothing else, but he’d sent up several dozen searches to continue on in perpetuity. If HYDRA so much as blinked, Tony would find out about it.
For as much as he didn’t like Barnes living in the tower, he also wasn’t a huge fan of an evil Nazi organization from WWII kidnapping people and forcing them to be assassins against their will. Or even their knowledge.
Barnes wasn’t even aware of anything he’d done after those Russian words were spoken to him.
The final base was surprisingly easy to infiltrate. It probably had something to do with them killing hundreds of HYDRA agents in the previous 5 days. They were weak. They were small. There was nowhere else to go.
Iron Man made his way through the underground compound, deep in the forest of Manitoba. There was a high likelihood he’d be hearing something from Fury about ‘invading sovereign nations,” but he honestly didn’t care. HYDRA started it.
“One life form detected three doors down, to the left, Boss,” FRIDAY said, showing him a diagram of the hallway in his HUD.
“Gottem,” he replied, as he held his hand up in preparation. He didn’t charge his repulser, however. Not yet.
The form was… strange. Small. It did not look like all the other enemy combatants he’d faced that day already.
‘Unlocking door now,’ FRIDAY announced.
Tony frowned. Why was the door locked?
So far, nothing had been locked, once they got past the intense security on the outside.
Kicking the door open, Tony stormed into the room, hand raised and pointed right at the HYDRA operative. Agent. Whatever it was.
But he froze when the figure didn’t even flinch.
“F.R.I.D.A.Y, is he alive?” Tony asked, as he tilted his head.
”I’ve detected a heartbeat.”
In the corner was a small figure, curled up into a ball. He was lying on his side and staring off into the distance, somewhere to Tony’s left. He was wearing a sleeveless top with leggings, his feet bare. The compound Tony knew was around 45 degrees, which explained the… curled up position. He had to be freezing.
Tony could see goosebumps along the boy’s arms even from across the room. The concrete floor alone had to be leeching the heat straight out of him.
The person… child—Tony couldn’t deny that it was a child—was still. If it weren’t for the slight rise and fall of his chest and the occasional blinks, Tony would have thought the kid was dead.
“Who are you?” Iron Man asked as he opened his face plate.
No response.
Footsteps behind him were all the warning he got before Cap was barreling into the room, ready for a fight. He stopped short, right beside Tony, and furrowed a brow.
“Tony,” he said, half a question, half a warning.
“Zip it,” Tony said. He opened his armor completely and stepped out.
Wide, brown eyes flitted to him briefly before the kid somehow became more still.
“Kid,” he said gently, “You alright?”
The kid didn’t budge as Tony slowly crossed the room. He looked back at Cap, making quick eye contact that asked watch my six, as he carefully knelt down in front of the boy.
HYDRA was an evil organization, but Tony was not about to blame a kid for being a HYDRA agent. Especially not a kid curled up into a ball, freezing to death, behind a locked door.
Tony couldn’t deny the room their in looked like a cell more than it did an office.
He wasn’t entirely sure what they would do with the kid, but while his usual approach with HYRDA was shoot first, ask questions never, he could at least ask this kid questions first.
If he were HYDRA, if he were some kind of trained operative waiting for a chance to strike, then they’d have to deal with that. Tony wasn’t naive enough to pretend that wasn’t a possibility. If the kid attacked, Tony could subdue him and turn him over to Fury.
Fury probably didn’t want to execute half pint agents, either. He could put him in rehabilitation, or something. Tony was pretty sure there was a rehabilitation program.
“What are you doing here?” Tony asked, as he slowly reached a hand out and set it on the boy’s arm.
The boy flinched violently, and Tony retracted his hand immediately.
Tony threw both hands up in a surrender pose and said, “Kid, we’re not here to hurt ya. We’re the good guys.”
Finally, the boy turned his head, his eyes finding Tony’s face.
His eyes were cold and completely vacant. It sent a shudder down Tony’s spine.
“Okay,” Tony said, as he ran a hand down his face. He turned back to Cap, to see the man standing just a few feet behind him, his shield ready to be thrown at a moment's notice. “Let’s get him to the jet,” he said.
Cap nodded once and clipped his shield to his back. “I’ll get him.”
“Back off, Spangles,” Tony said as his armor walked over to him. He waited until he was encased again, and said, “I’ll get him. You clear the way.”
“Can you walk?” Tony asked, his face still open to the child.
The boy furrowed his brow and looked at Tony again.
“Up,” Tony said, holding a hand out to help the boy to his feet, “Time to stand up.”
Apparently, the boy did not need help, because at that, he snapped to and outright jumped to his feet. His speed was… unnatural. He stood at attention, clearly waiting for orders…
Behind Tony, Steve went very still. Tony didn’t have to look to know exactly what expression was on the man’s face. He’d seen it before, every time Bucky slipped into that same rigid posture.
“FRIDAY, who is this kid?” he asked his suit.
The A.I. replied, “He is not mentioned in any HYDRA files I can locate. There is a mention of Asset 86, which would match the size and weight of this operative.”
Tony nodded. He thought for a moment, trying to decide what to even do.
If he was some kind of HYDRA operative… they couldn’t just let him walk free.
But if he were another Barnes situation, another person turned into a weapon whether he wanted it or not, then leaving him here wasn’t an option either.
And if he was just a kid… there was the Fury plan. And they’d already taken out the rest of HYDRA. What could one kid do to them?
Yeah. That decided it.
“Alright. Cap, lead the way to the jet,” he said, making up his mind. “Kid.” The kid straightened. “Follow Cap.”
The boy furrowed his brow, like he was honestly confused by the order, but the moment Steve moved, the boy followed directly behind him. So, at least he was obedient?
If he had been trained to obey anyone, they could work with that.
Maybe Tony could tell him to stop being obedient and never obey orders to hurt people, and that would fix everything.
He couldn’t help the soft snort to himself. Yeah. Because undoing HYDRA brainwashing was definitely that easy.
Down the hall and around the corner, they ran into Clint and Natasha, who were finishing up setting explosives throughout the compound.
“What is that?” Nat asked, narrowing her eyes at the kid.
“This is a kid,” Tony said, before Cap could respond.
Steve shot him a look, then replied, “We found him freezing in a cell. So far, he hasn’t spoken.”
“You think he’s like Buck?” Clint asked as he jogged over and gave the kid a look from head to toe.
The boy didn’t even twitch under the scrutiny. He had stopped behind Cap and was standing still, at attention.
“I don’t know, Birdy, you tell me,” Tony said dryly, just staring at how the kid was standing.
“Man,” Clint exhaled, “Now I’m a little mad we got rid of the rest of HYDRA. I kind of want to shoot a few more of ‘em.”
“Let’s get him back to the jet,” Cap said, “Get him warmed up. We can contact Fury to decide on a plan.”
“Nu uh,” Tony said, “We’re not contacting him first. This is just a kid. Fury doesn’t need to know about a kid if he isn’t an actual threat.”
Because if this kid was unwilling, and wasn’t a threat to anyone… Fury would put his skills to use ‘for the greater good.’
There was no way the kid was even old enough to drive. He should be going to school and worrying about girls, not whatever nonsense Fury would put on his shoulders.
“Do we know he isn’t a threat?” Nat asked dryly, her sharp eyes scrutinizing the kid.
The kid didn’t seem to even notice. Tony would be squirming in his place.
Tony rolled his eyes. “Come on, we’re the Avengers. We can keep an eye on him while we figure that out.”
Steve looked back down at the kid, a deep frown on his face. He took a deep, steadying breath, then nodded. “Let’s go.”
- - -
The kid went onto the jet without so much as a peep. He sat exactly where ordered, on the medical cot, and clutched the blanket they wrapped around his shoulders when told.
It was unsettling.
Despite how the color was slowly returning to his face, the kid didn’t seem to fully notice the blanket around him. He sat stiffly, straight as a board, his eyes fixed off into the distance.
Tony had seen the look on Barnes’ face half a dozen times. Steve had likely seen it a hundred times, and that was why he excused himself without a second glance at the kid, to help Nat fly the plane back to New York.
Bruce had been waiting for them, where he usually waited during more serious missions, just in case they called a code green or someone needed medical assistance. Now, he moved around the kid, taking vitals, checking his eyes, and trying to get the kid to respond to any question, but the entire time, the boy sat completely still. His eyes were void, like he wasn’t even present with them.
Tony took a seat directly across from the kid and pulled out a tablet. He took a quick photo of his face, then started running his profile against the missing and exploited database for as many countries as he could access.
“What are we doing with him?” Clint asked as he leaned against the wall beside Tony.
Bruce frowned as the blood pressure gauge beeped with a result, then jotted the number down. Tony pulled the vital readouts up to the side of his tablet and similarly frowned.
It was strangely low. His heart rate was dangerously low, but he didn’t seem to be struggling at all. Tony might have chalked that up to freezing to death, since his lips had been tinged blue when they first got him up there, but his temperature was higher than average. Almost like he was running a fever.
But, again, he looked fine.
“We can’t turn him free,” Bruce said, as he stared at the vitals he’d recorded. He looked back at the boy and frowned deeper. “He’s catatonic.”
Tony nodded. He thrummed his fingers against the back of the tablet and said, “I was thinking we’d just keep him.” His tablet dinged, and he looked down at the possible matches FRIDAY had compiled.
“Keep him?” Clint echoed almost incredulously, “Tony, we can’t just kidnap a kid from HYDRA and keep him. He’s not a puppy.”
“Oh, but if he were a puppy, you’d be in favor of rescuing him from HYDRA?” Tony huffed. The first result was of a 23-year-old man who had gone missing out of London the year prior. His missing persons poster listed him as being at least five inches taller than the kid in front of him.
Also, he wasn’t a kid. This kid was nowhere near 20, much less 23.
“In my book, human children deserve to be rescued, too,” he added, as he flipped to the next result.
“I’m not saying we shouldn’t have rescued him,” Clint shot back, “I’m saying we are not equipped for this. And for the record, I don’t think you are equipped to rescue a puppy, either.”
“I’d have to agree with that, you wouldn’t remember to feed a puppy,” Bruce said.
“Wow,” Tony said, “I see how it is.” He clenched his jaw and flipped through the next several results. Each one was off in one way or another, and he felt the frustration start to build.
“The kid’s gonna need protection,” Tony said after a minute, “And we’re already protecting Barnes from HYDRA. What’s one more? It’ll be easy to do this, I won’t even need to program anything new. Just add the kid's name to the protocols.”
“We have no clue how dangerous he is,” Clint pointed out.
“We’re the Avengers,” Tony exasperated, “We can handle a kid.” They could, and had handled Barnes. The kid would be easy.
Clint huffed, “We don’t even know who he is. How can you add his name if you don’t know it?”
Tony rolled his eyes. “I’m working on it. Besides, he’s sitting right there. We should probably stop talking like he’s just a piece of furniture.” There was no telling how aware he was.
Sure, he could be catatonic, or he could be so well trained to be still and quiet, he just appeared to be catatonic.
All eyes turned back to the kid, who didn’t react at all.
“He seems to be dissociating,” Bruce said, his frown still present on his face.
Tony shrugged. “All the more reason to keep him. Kids aren’t supposed to do that.”
Clint’s shoulders dropped as he rotated his head around in a circle. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, then turned to Tony. “I’ve got my own kids, I can’t take in another, especially not one who may pose a danger to them.”
“No one was asking you,” Tony scoffed.
“Are you suggesting you are going to take him in?” Clint challenged.
“Yeah, sure, why not?”
“Why not?” Clint echoed.
Tony smirked. “How hard can it be? You’ve got like four, right? If you can handle four, surely I can handle one.”
“I have three,” Clint said, as he narrowed his eyes, “And none of mine are trained weapons.”
“Yeah, and neither is this kid,” Tony said with a wave of his hand. People were not weapons, and Tony would die on that hill.
Besides, the Avengers were made up of a lot of people who had been trained by organizations for nefarious purposes; the kid would fit in just fine.
“Relax. It’ll be fine,” he added, as he turned his attention back to the tablet. The next potential match was an old missing persons case. This child had gone missing back in 1986, at the age of fourteen. His 8th-grade school photo was strikingly similar to the kid sitting in front of him.
Tony looked back and forth between the two of them. The kid in the photo had more baby fat on him in his cheeks, and an intelligent glint in his eyes that was almost hidden by the very 1980s pair of glasses on his face, and overshadowed by the goofy smile on his face.
The kid sitting in front of him was gaunt, a haunted expression on his face. His eyes were still vacant, and his mouth was flat, in neither a frown nor a smile.
Tony read through the file and accompanying newspaper articles FRIDAY found. This kid would be… 54 years old, today. And yet, the kid sitting in front of him still looked fourteen-years-old, the same age he’d been when he went missing from the streets of New York in 1986.
Or… he looked just how Tony might expect a fourteen-year-old to look, after being starved for a while…
HYDRA, obviously, had technology to keep people in stasis. Bucky looked not a day over 30, and yet he was over 100. There had been stasis chambers at the facility they just blew up.
Could this kid honestly be from 40 years in the past?
Peter Parker, the file read. Orphaned, missing after the murder of his uncle. His elderly Aunt May Parker had died a few months later, from grief, an article said.
Tony looked up at the kid once more and studied the boy’s face. “Peter,” he said, trying for a commanding voice.
The kid blinked. Outright surprise flickered on his face, gone so fast Tony questioned whether he’d seen it at all. He turned his head toward Tony and made eye contact with him for the first time.
And there was a spark in there. Tony could see the kid inside there.
The kid wasn’t hopeless, after all.
“You found him?” Clint asked, after finally tearing his eyes away from the kid. Bruce, similarly, had seen the kid’s reaction and was gawking.
“Peter Parker. From Queens. Went missing in 1986,” Tony said, as he handed the tablet over to Clint and stood to his feet.
The kid's eyes followed him, though he didn’t move otherwise. Didn’t so much as twitch a single muscle.
“1986,” Bruce said, his voice thick with disbelief, “Tony, this kid is sixteen at most.”
“Stasis, Brucie Bear,” Tony said, as he stopped right in front of the boy. His eyes were still trained right on Tony, so Tony tried a smile. “Hiya Pete, I’m Tony. Nice to meet ya.” He stuck his hand out for a shake.
The kid's eyes darted down between Tony’s hand and his face a few times, before the spark Tony had seen slowly dissipated, and his eyes went unfocused again.
“Damn,” Tony said, retracting his hand, “We’ll have to work on that.”
Tony jumped when Steve spoke up from the doorway.
“So he’s another Winter Soldier.”
“Seems like it,” Tony said, running a hand through his hair. “Good thing we already have one of those. Shouldn’t be too hard to unbreak another, right?”
“Tony,” Steve sighed.
“Relax,” Tony said, as he turned around to lean against the bed beside Peter, “I’ll handle this one.” Who even knew if it would be a good idea to mix the two winter soldiers together? There was no telling what programming the kid did have, and Tony wasn’t one to actually want to disrupt Barnes’ recovery, for as much as he liked to joke about it.
“What’s your obsession with this kid?” Clint asked as he passed the tablet off to Steve to read through next.
“What’s your lack of obsession?” Tony shot back, “He’s a kid. If we don’t help kids, who do we help?”
Peter could use all the help he could get, as far as Tony could tell.