Three
2012
"Wait, wait, wait. So your telling me that Mr. Tall, Dark, and Mysterious is actually blond?" Tony gestured with his drink at Damien. Natasha rolled her eyes.
"Yes, can't you see the blond when he does stupid things?" She takes a bite of her shwarma.
"Wait, should I be offended?" Clint asks the team.
"Of course not, Blondie." Bucky says. He pats Clint's shoulder.
"I do stupid things? Miss Oh-Let-Me-Jump-Onto-An-Alien-Jet-Ski." Damien throws his napkin at his sister.
"Food fight!" Tony yells and throws lettuce at Bruce.
"Tony!" Bruce wipes the lettuce off his face.
"Guys! I am actually concerned here!"
"Tony..." Thor looks out the window.
"Damien!"
"What? That tomato looks perfect with your hair, Tasha."
"Yeah, Tasha!"
"Tony don't call me 'Tasha'. I will break you."
"Brothers and sister!"
"Hold up, Thor, we're making fun of Clint."
"Watch it, Bucky. I can take you out with one arrow."
"Brother Clint, there is someone-"
A metallic clang rings through the air as a metal disk hurls itself through the window and bounces off the Iron Man suit.
"Who the hell-" Tony starts but Natasha grabs him an Bruce and ducks under a table. Damien grabs Clint, Thor, and Bucky.
Damien and Natasha shout Russian to each other before they throw Bucky into a closet.
"Thor! Keep Bucky in there!" Damien vaults over a table and starts firing a gun at someone. He falls backwards after one shot from the other person.
"Damien!" Natasha rushes over but gets hit with the metal disk- shield.
"Natasha! Tony, get in the suit!" Clint grabs his bow and arrows and starts for the roof.
"Thor! God dammit lemme out!" Bucky slams himself against the closet door.
"I am truly sorry, Captain. Natasha has instructed me to not let you out." Thor calls for Mjolner.
"Bruce! Hulk up!" Tony says from inside his suit. He blasts out onto the street to see Natasha and another man fighting in the street. Damien limps out of the restaurant and fires with his right arm. His left hanging loose at his side. The intruder gets hit multiple times but doesn't even flinch. Damn.
The Hulk smashes through and heads towards the man. The man in the mask kicks off Natasha and heads towards the Hulk. The Hulk swings a fist out toward the blond but he just grabs onto it and jumps onto the Hulk's head.
"Holy shit." Tony tries to blast the masked blond off but instead blasts Hulk's face. Using the distraction, the Blond presses his hands into the Hulk's pressure points and kicks his jaw and-
The Hulk shrinks into a sleeping Bruce.
What. The. Fuck.
"Thor!" Tony calls as the silver shield hits Tony in the face. Arrows rain down on the man, but it doesn't stop him.
Thor's hammer hits the Man's face and he flies with the hammer. The Man's mask flies off. He lies on his back with Mjolner on his chest. Thor heads over to retrieve his hammer when the blonde grabs the handle of the hammer and lifts it off himself. The blond's long hair blocks his face as he looks at the hammer. Everyone was still.
"Avengers! Earth's mightiest heroes! Stopped by a single weapon. How fitting." The Avengers turn to look at a man with a grey suit.
"Alexander Pierce." Tony spits at him.
"How nice to meet you, Mr. Stark. So I see you have met my favourite pet. Yes, its last Master had a little slip up." Pierce looks at Natasha and Damien.
"Damien, do you remember how to take him out of programming?" Natasha whispers to her brother in Russian.
Damien nods. He whistles to Clint to tell him to go grab Bucky for a distraction.
"Mr. Rogers, what are you doing?"
Bucky tenses as he walks silently out of the restaurant.
Pierce shakes his head. "I'm sorry. You don't go by your father's name. Mr. Romanoff, what do you think you are doing?"
"Um..."
Pierce holds up a tuning fork and says: "Attack."
Bucky jumps at Pierce just as the Masked Blond throws Mjolner at Tony, leaving him trapped under the weight of Thor's hammer and whacks Pierce in the head with a chair. Damien shouts for Clint to throw the tuning fork at him which Clint does and Damien shouts: "Steven Grant Rogers!" And the blond freezes before he falls to the floor, screaming in pain and clutching his head.
Natasha and Damien rush over and try to asses the damage done. Bucky stood still on his way to see who the blond man was.
"Dammit, dad, stop screaming! I can't help you if you can't hear me!" Damien yells.
"Damien! He can't hear you!" Natasha slams her hands on The Winter Captain's leather collar and The Blond falls silent.
"Steve?" A quiet voice asks. The Winter Captain looks at Bucky.
"Who the hell is Steve?" A rough voice answers.
Bucky froze on his way towards Steve.
The Captain springs off the floor and vaults over a car. Natasha jumps to follow him but Damien catches her arm.
"Don't, Natalia." Damien looked over to where their father was. "He will come back when he is ready."
Natasha pushed Damien away from her and chased after The Captain. Damien sighed. Clint put a hand on his shoulder.
"She'll be back by tomorrow."
Damien looks at Bucky whose heart ache was written clearly on his face.
"I know."
2014, May
"Dammit, Romanoff!" Bucky charged out of his room into the common area with clown make-up all over his face. Clint chokes on popcorn while Natasha and Damien keep their poker face.
"Hey, Buck, you got a lil' something on your face." Natasha dead pans.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're a riot, Tash." Bucky waltzes out of the room to grab a towel, bumping into Tony and Pepper on his way out.
"Hello, fellow Avengers!" Tony shouts as Pepper marches to the kitchen.
Pepper could hear the rest of the team groan inwardly because whenever Tony used those words, it usually meant that he needed their help with something he doesn't want to do by himself.
Pepper flicks her red hair over one shoulder and stops as she notices that someone else is also in the kitchen.
"Hello." The man by the fruit bowl says.
"Oh...um. Hello." Pepper's finger hovers over the distress button. "What's your name?" She asks as she goes to get a cup of coffee.
"I don't know." Comes his soft reply. "I...I cannot remember. Can you...can you help- is that the word?- can you help me?" He grabs a banana and sits at the round table.
"Oh, of course! Do you want me to get the other Avengers? Do you-"
"Please don't. Last time I met them, I almost tore them apart."
"Oh." Pepper realises this was the blond man she was told to find. She makes to press it. "Well, if you want, you can go up to my office-"
Before she finishes, the Man is up and out the window. The banana left on the table untouched.
Pepper sighed and nodded to herself and tapped on her Stark pad to let her secretary cancel all her appointments today. She walks out of the kitchen like nothing happened with her cup of coffee. Damien gives her a knowing look as she walks past him.
"-so Scary Spider Lady and Mr. Blond," Tony says, "Will go and find the dress for Pep-"
"Tony, I'm busy all day today. Please do not bother me or I'll have Natasha and Damien go after you." Pepper says as she kisses Tony's cheek and leaves.
Bucky walks in and nods towards Pepper, "Hiya, Miss Potts."
"It's Pepper, Bucky. Hello and goodbye."
Pepper could hear Bucky yelling at Damien, Natasha and Clint from the elevator about clowns and masculinity.
Later that day...
Pepper walks into her office to find a gun on her desk and the Man kneeling next to it. Pepper quickly walks to him.
"You don't want to sit in a chair?" Pepper pulls out a swivel chair and looks at him. The Man tilts his head slightly an looks at her, asking permission.
"Come on, let's sit you down." Pepper slowly reaches towards him and he follows her movements like a small child. Once he was sitting, Pepper pulls up a seat next to him.
"Do you remember your name now?" She asks softly.
The Man looks at her and she can see the innocence in the gaze. He nods.
"Can you tell me?"
The Man's eyes change and they look old and worn. "His name is Steven. He likes to be called Steve though."
"He?" She looks at the Man.
"Steve. He's in here with me. I tried to save him when I was programed in, but when I ran into a complication on a mission in 1978, I was beaten and killed and torn apart and brought back to life. I opened the door to where I put Steve and i told him what happened and he told me that the boy was supposed to be saved but then the boy- Tony he called himself-" Pepper gasps. Tony had told her that a blond man had saved him the night of the crash that killed his father. He also said that the man had metal hands and gave Tony his leather gloves. If this man was telling the truth... "- and he asks for my name and I told him I didn't deserve one. And Steve said I did deserve one so he gave me his name. But now he's trapped in here with me and he doesn't deserve that. Then there was a program that was put in and...Steve he...he's not the same. He cannot speak through here. He is still healing. He c..." The man stops talking.
Pepper touches his shoulder. "What does Steve do?"
"He calls me...he calls me Grant." Grant looks at Pepper and he curls up into a ball on the chair.
Pepper whispers in Grant's ear. "I know a doctor that can-"
"Please, miss, don't let them take me away. I don't want to be pulled apart and put back together like a doll."
Pepper comes closer and tries to wrap her arms around him. Grant makes a startled noise and falls off the chair away from her arms.
"Grant...honey, no. This doctor will just check you out to make sure your healthy." Pepper looks so sad. Grant immediately regrets what he did.
'She's tryin' ta give us a hug, you meatball.' Steve says.
"I...I'm sorry, Miss. I'm not used to..." Grant is interrupted by Pepper when she hugs him. Grant hesitates before wrapping his real arm around her, careful not to let his metal hand touch her.
"It's ok, Grant. I won't let anyone take you away. You can stay with me. I got you." Pepper kisses the top of his head and Grant starts to cry.
"I don't want to be a weapon again, m'am. I don't want to...I just want to be happy. I want to live. Don't make me go back there, please, please..."
"Shh, it's ok, Grant. I got you." Pepper rubs his back. "I got you."
Pepper calls Dr. Banner.