Competence
"They're just kids. How hard can it be?"
Well, apparently, the answer would be very hard.
Don't believe me? Let me explain.
It all started four days after Fury first gave us the mission. I was with Clint, we were disguised as a young couple who were curious about the teens; the others were pretending to be various different types of people and, as far as any of us could tell, the kids didn't suspect anything, yet.
Each one was doing something different in the weird makeshift booth that the three of them were operating from. The brown-haired one was fixing things that people brought in so fast it seemed like second nature to him, I was willing to bet that Tony would be curious about his skills in engineering. The blue-eyed boy was creating colorful chemical compounds and showing off their incredible uses and properties. The last kid was teaching people how to defend themselves with everyday objects, he was also giving advice on how to better fight with actual weapons.
Bruce and Tony approached two of the kids, Bruce the second one and Tony the first. Tony asked the child to repair a piece of tech, he did so with ease. Bruce took a more diplomatic route; he ordered a few pest traps, then began asking the boy about himself. "What's your name?" Bruce asked him.
"Varian." The boy responded, not looking up from his work. "What's yours?"
"Bruce. Where'd you learn to make these compounds?"
"Oh, I didn't. I created them."
"Really?" Bruce asked, sounding surprised.
"Yeah, I mean. I had help. My mom helped me; she's a chemist." Varian asked, glancing at the other two boys for conformation. Strange.
"Oh. Well maybe I've heard of her work then. What's her name?"
"Ulla." Varian whispered. "You wouldn't have heard of her. She was local only."
"I see... Well, in any case, she's very talented."
"Thanks."
He sounded as if he was trying to keep a mountain of emotion backwards that was threatening to overflow into his voice.
I wondered how much of his story was really true, and how much was lies, because no way was that story all truth.
Tony decided to try Banner’s angle and dropped a smoking chunk of metal with wires haphazardly sticking out onto the worktable. The Brunette looked at him with a calculating expression, “This is part of an Iron-man gauntlet.” He said without twitching or even blinking. “So, either you stole it, or you are Tony Stark. Since the Stark Tower is the most heavily guarded place in history, however, I have to say, I am forced to the conclusion that you are Tony Stark.”
“Nice, kid.”
“Thank you. It is only fair; my name is Peter.”
“Oh,” Tony said. “Well, hello there, Peter. You know, it’s incredible that you were able to recognize my gauntlets at a glance… especially when they’re this beat up. Therefore, you are an Iron-man fan.”
“Wrong. I am a Tony Stark fan.”
Tony looked confused, though flattered. “But we’re one and the same.”
“Yes, yes, but I do not believe that Tony Stark is a good person because he is Iron-man, more rather, I believe Tony Stark is a good person, so he is Iron-man. Does that make sense?” Peter asked, well aware that it was strange when he spoke about someone like that to them.
Tony smiled at the boy in response.
Peter flashed Tony a smile so small and quick that it was practically a single frame, if not less, on a camera. I thought that this was strange, as judging by the boys voice he was a very happy person, so why the constant frown?
That was when SHEILD operatives jumped the gun on the three kids, surprising everyone present; and ruining what we nearly had going!
The moment they appeared, the kids were up like shots, the third boy, who we never caught the name of, slid the lid onto the jar they had for money; he then slipped it into a pole on their stand and pressed a loose board that turned out to be a sort of lever. The money vanished down a hidden shoot. Then the three quickly left the stand, tapping a pattern into a certain spot on the desk-top. The stand folded in on itself and basically transformed into a bench before our very eyes; the three culprits dashed out into the park, where a secret panel opened up revealing a sort of escape tube, the boys shot down the tube and the panel instantly closed before anyone could follow them.
We were in shock, as it turned out, Fury was right: the kids were definitely part of some kind of crime syndicate, the good news, we knew what they looked like, the bad news, they had possibly the entire city, if not more, wired.