I Promise

When the jet landed Tony made no move to get up. He looked at the team and tilted his head towards the door in a wordless way of saying, you guys go on ahead. They all nodded with understanding, but no one spoke as to not frighten the boy. They all took one last pity filled look in the boy's direction and exited the jet. Tony shifted a little, but not so much that it would scare the Boy, in a way of getting his attention.

“Hey buddy? We’re here.” Tony said gently. The boy looked up at Tony and then around the jet. He seemed to sag in relief when he noticed the team was gone. “You’re pretty hurt, is there any way you will let someone check you out and help make the pain stop?”

The boy looked up at Tony fearfully, but did not nod or shake his head. “What if I promise to explain everything going on and give you the option to say yes or no to whatever they want to do?” Tony was careful not to use the words Medical or Doctor. The boy thought a minute and apprehensively nodded his head. “Alright, thank you.” He also now made a point to give appreciation to the boy as much as possible. “I need to make a quick call before we go in, alright?” The boy nodded. “Okay, I’m just going to step over to the other side of the jet, I won’t leave, I promise.” Again the boy nodded. Tony got up slowly and gently lifted the boy off him and put him back down on the ground. He stretched out his stiff muscles and walked to the other side of the jet so the boy could not hear the call. If only he knew that the boy had super hearing.

“Hello, Helen?” Tony spoke

“Hey Tony, what’s this I hear about an injured child you found at Hydra’s base?” Helen Cho responded.

Tony lowered his voice a bit before replying “We found him strapped to an operating table, he is not in good shape; he is hurt, way too skinny for his age, and has a metal muzzle attached to his face.”

“Bring him inside and I will do some tests and see what I can do.” Helen said in a professional manner, not letting the horrific information distract her from her duty.

“About that.” Tony cleared his throat and lowered his voice even more, “He is completely terrified of anything medical or anything to do with doctors” Tony could have sworn he saw, from the corner of his eye, the boy flinch at his sentence. ‘That couldn't be right, there's no way the boy could have heard him from over there,’ Tony thought.

“He sounds like he needs help, what do you suggest we do?”

“I am going to bring him to my room and I want you to come in, without your lab coat. I promised him no one would touch him or do anything to him without his consent. You and I can explain everything to him as we go along and give him the option to agree or disagree to anything. Does that sound ok?”

“Sounds like the best we can do for now, I’ll wait down here until FRIDAY tells me to come up.”

“Sounds good, see you soon, and thank you.” With that he hung up. He walked back over to the boy who still looked sacred, but also looked a bit relieved, Tony wasn't sure why though. “Can I lift you up and carry you again?” The boy nodded, Tony gave him a small smile and said, “Thank you.” before he lifted the boy. Once again not liking how easy he was to carry, he weighed almost nothing.

He walked into the building with the boy in his arms, who cowered into his chest whenever someone walked by, and headed to the elevator. They made it inside the elevator and as it started to go up to the penthouse the boy got startled and started to panic. “Whoa whoa, it's alright, it's just an elevator, it’s taking us somewhere safe, I promise.” The boy calmed a bit and luckily the ride wasn’t long. As soon as Tony finished his sentence the doors to the elevator opened up to the penthouse. He walked to his bedroom and spoke before doing anything, “Can I put you down on the bed?” The boy looked at where Tony gestured his head and then nodded. Tony gently put him in the middle of the king sized bed, which looked even bigger with the small figure in the middle. He was about to pull away and get a chair to sit in when a small hand tugged at his shirt. Tony looked down at the boy’s scared expression and said, “You want me to sit with you?” The boy nodded desperately. Tony smiled sympathetically, “Alright, but first can you let me get you something warm to wear? You must be freezing.” The boy nodded.

Tony went to his closet, and although he knew he would have nothing to fit the small boy he still wanted to get something so he was no longer just in his boxers. He quickly picked sweatpants with a drawstring so they could tighten it a bit around the boy’s waist and his MIT sweatshirt. Tony went back and carefully got onto the bed and sat next to the boy. “Do you need help putting them on?” he asked as he handed him the clothes. The boy shook his head. He put on the sweatshirt and then started to put on the sweat pants, that’s when Tony heard a small whimper. ‘Of course he can't put the sweatpants on by himself with his disfigured legs, idiot.’ Tony thought to himself. “Can I help you?” The boy looked up at him like he was speaking a forien language. “Please?” The boy then nodded. “Ok if it hurts too much and you want me to stop, use the X motion we talked about earlier, alright?” Tony demonstrated the motion again just in case the boy was forgotten. The boy nodded. He started easing the boys misshapen legs through the pants, everyone once in a while hearing a small whimper. When he finished Tony let out a breath of relief and went to sit next to the boy once more. Once again, the boy crawled into his lap. Tony would have smiled if it were a different situation. “FRIDAY” Tony spoke in a hushed voice and quickly said “Mute yourself in this room and tell Helen to come up.” before FRIDAY could respond and perturb the boy.

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door that caused the boy to flinch. “It’s alright,” Tony assured, “it’s just my friend Helen, she won't hurt you and she won't touch you without your permission, can she come in?” The boy looked up at Tony with trusting eyes and nodded. Tony called out, but not too loudly “Come in.” The trust in the boy's eyes turned to worry as he focused on the door.

Helen opened the door slowly and walked in with a soft smile on her face. “Hello,” she said in a kind voice, “my name is Helen. Can I come closer?” The boy looked up at Tony who gave him a small smile of reassurance. The boy looked back and nodded his head. “Thank you.” Helen praised.

“I see that you're hurt, can I look and see if I can help?” Helen asked, never breaking eye contact. The boy hesitantly nodded. “Thank you, I will ask before I touch, ok?” Again the boy nodded. Helen walked over and started taking mental notes of all the boy’s the injuries. Something was definitely wrong with his legs, but they weren’t swollen, meaning they probably broke a while ago and healed wrong. There were quite a few surgical scars on his abdomen and chest, some healing incisions, as well as a gastrostomy tube inserted in his abdomen. Like Tony had said, the boy was way too skinny, you could see each individual rib and his cheeks were sunken in. There were patches of black, blue, and purple littered on his chest and stomach as well. She did not let her kind facade break at the horror she was seeing. She looked back up at the boy and once again gently smiled. “Are you in pain?” She knew it was a supid question, which was proven when Tony looked at her in disbelief, but she needed the boy’s acknowledgement. He nodded.

“I can tell,” Helen said compassionately, “I want to make the pain go away, but in order to do that I would need to take a blood sample.” The boy immediately started to panic, breaths coming out fast and uneven through the muzzle. Helen took a step back since she knew he thought she was the threat.

“”Hey, hey, it’s ok. I need you to take some deep breaths for me. No one is going to hurt you, and we're not going to do anything with your explicit permission, I promise. Please just try to take some deep breaths.” Tony pleaded. The boy didn't calm and didn't even seem to hear what Tony said. Tony took a risk and slowly put his hand on the boy’s, careful to avoid the raw skin that was left from the cuffs. The boy looked down at the hand, but did not pull away. Very gently Tony raised both his and the boy’s hand and placed them on his own chest, just left of the arc reactor over his heart. Then he started to take deliberately deep slow breaths. “Feel that, can you copy me?” Tony said, trying to sound calm, even though he was internally freaking out.

It took the boy a minute to register what Tony said, but then he tried to copy Tony’s breaths. After about 20 minutes the boy’s breaths were almost back to normal. Tony looked at him straight in the eyes and said, “You did so well, I’m proud of you.” The boy looked still a bit befuddled at the praise, but also seemed a bit delighted as well. Although Tony had let go of the boy’s hand minutes ago the boy left it on his chest. That made Tony’s heart swell.

Helen cleared her throat a little before she spoke in an attempt not to startle the boy, it seemed to work as the boy looked over, but did not flinch or panic. “I am sorry I scared you, I just want to try and help.” She paused for a second contemplating her words, “Is there anyway you” she emphasized the word, you, to make sure the boy knew it was his decision, “will allow me to do a blood test?” The boy did not go into another panic attack, but did not nod or shake his head either, he just stared at Helen with alarmed eyes. “It will only be a small pinch, but I want to be completely honest with you, you do need an IV so we can get some fluids in you.” She paused to let the information sink in and give the boy a minute to make sure he wasn’t going to freak out again. He didn't, so she continued, “Normally we shouldn't draw blood from an IV port because the blood will be diluted by the IV fluids, but if we take the blood first before we attach the fluids, it should be fine. This way we only have to pinch you once.” She said pinch instead of ‘insert the needle’ to try and make the procedure sound less scary.

The boy looked up at Tony like he was looking for guidance. Tony smiled and said, “I will be here the whole time, I promise, and you can squeeze my hand if you want to,” he would regret saying that soon, “will you let us help you?” The boy very slowly nodded. “Thank you.” This time Tony said it not only to praise the boy but also said it like a prayer, letting out a breath.

“I am going to go and grab the supplies and be right back ok?” The boy nodded. Helen turned towards the door and walked out.

Tony looked down at the boy once more and said, “We will explain everything as we go along, if you want us to stop, tap my hand three times since you won't be able to use the arm motion we discussed while she is putting in the IV, ok?” Tony demonstrated and the boy nodded. He looked up at Tony apprehensively almost like he wanted to ask a question but was afraid. Tony decided to test his theory, “What is it bud?” The boy looked surprised that Tony understood he had a question, but then lifted his small boney hand and pointed towards the muzzle. Tony’s heart broke, “As soon as we get you hooked up I am going to find a way to get it off, I promise. I just need to make sure you're stable before that, ok?” The boy looked sad but nodded.

Tony did not want to ask too many questions and make the boy anxious, but his curiosity got the better of him, “Can I ask you a question?” The boy nodded. Tony took a deep breath not knowing if he really wanted to know the answer, “How long have you had that on?” He had noticed that the area around the muzzle was red and inflamed where it dug into his skin. The boy looked up at Tony uneasily. Tony quickly said, “You don't have to answer if you don’t wa-” before he could finish the boy help up one trembling finger. “One?” Tony asked confusedly. The boy nodded. “One what? One day?” The boy shook his head. “One week?” Shake. “One month?” Shake. Tony was going to throw up. “One y-year?” Tony asked shakily. The boy nodded. Normally only a small percent of people could survive off of a feeding tube for a full year, but the boy was not normal, Tony of course did not know this, yet. Tony instinctually tightened his grip on the boy not wanting to ever let him go, to keep him safe forever. A second after he did this he realized he might have made a mistake and frightened the boy. Luckily the boy took it as comfort and snuggled in closer to Tony.

Helen came back and smiled at the site before her. She once again cleared her throat to announce her presents. Both boys looked up at her, “Sorry to intrude, I have the supplies.”

“Great, let's get this show on the road.” Tony tried to say lightheartedly, “Alright, so the first thing Helen is going to do is set everything out so you can see them.” Helen did just that.

“Now,” Helen said, picking up where Tony left off, “can I touch your arm?” The boy nodded, Helen smiled and took the boy's arm in her hands looking for a vein. It was hard because he was so dehydrated, but Helen was really good at her job and found one that would work. “Ok, can I put this rubber band around your arm? It will be tight, but it will only be on for a minute.” She made sure to ask before she did anything to give the boy a chance to refuse. Still the boy nodded. She tied the band on his bicep and he winced a little, “Sorry, I know it's tight.”

“You’re doing so well, we're almost there” Tony commedded. The boy looked up and his eyes almost looked like he was trying to smile. Tony smiled back.

“Alright,” Helen continued, “this is an alcohol swab, can I clean off the area?” The boy nodded, “It might be a little cold.” She cleaned off the inside of the boy's elbow. Before she grabbed the next piece of equipment she wanted to warm the boy. “Now, I am going to grab the needle from the tray, is that ok?” The boy flinched at the word needle and Tony tightened his grip on him so he knew he was there. The boy nodded. Helen smiled and then turned to grab the IV catheter. The boy’s eyes were wide with panic at seeing the needle, “It looks more scary than it is. Do I have your permission to put it in?” Again she stayed away from the word insert to be safe.

The boy looked up at Tony nervously. “It’s alright,” Tony said, “do you want to hold my hand?” The boy nodded eagerly. Tony gave him a reassuring smile and put his hand out for the boy to grab. The boy did so.

Helen asked again patiently, “Do I have permission to put it in?” The boy looked back at Helen and nodded but then looked straight back to Tony not wanting to look at the needle.

“Just keep your eyes on me, it will be over in a minute.” Tony said comfortingly. Helen steadied the boy's arm and started to insert the needle. The boy squeezed his eyes shut and gripped Tony's hand harder. A small grunt of pain was heard in the room, but it did not come from the boy. The boy opened his eyes to see that Tony’s were shut in pain. The boy tore his hand away from Tony’s.

Helen quickly finished inserting the IV catheter, taking the rubber band off, drawing the blood, and setting up the IV bag before addressing Tony. She knew doing it quickly now while the boy was distracted was best. “Tony are you alright?”

Tony opened his eyes, breathed out a bit and responded, “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He lied not wanting the boy to feel bad for hurting him, he knew it was an accident. Sadly it didn’t work, the boy looked up at Tony fearfully, scrambled back, almost tearing out the IV that was just put in, luckily the line was long enough that it did not tear out, and put his hands above his head defensively like he was expecting someone to hit him. Tony looked on with a sorrowful expression, “Hey, hey, it’s ok. I am not going to hurt you. No one is going to hurt you. I am not mad, I promise.” The boy looked up but kept his hands where they were. “You’re ok, and I’m ok. Can you please put your arms down, I don’t want the IV to come out. No one is mad, I promise.” The boy slowly put his arms down, and Tony smiled at him, “That's right, good. Thank you.” Tony had almost forgotten the pain in his hand until the boy looked down at the red starting to appear. “Hey, I know that was an accident, I know you didn’t mean to, ok? I promise, I’m not mad.” At that the boy relaxed a little.

“We should still get that checked out, will you be okay if I take Tony down to get his hand checked out?” She directed the question towards the boy with a small smile. The boy looked sad, at the notion of being left alone or that he hurt Tony, neither knew. Either way he nodded.

“I’ll be back soon, I promise.” He gave the boy one more smile and followed Helen out the door once she cleaned up the IV supplies. They walked to the elevator and went down to the medbay. Before the X-ray Tony said, “FRIDAY, tell me if anything changes with the boy or if he needs me. Also can you scan the muzzle and send the results to my Satrkpad?”

“Will do, Boss”

Turns out his hand was fractured. ‘how on earth could such a malnourished kid do that?’ Tony thought. Apparently he was not the only one thinning that.

“He should not have been able to do that.” Helen said, breaking Tony out of his thoughts.

“I know,” Tony thought for a second “How long can someone survive with only a stomach tube?”

Helen looked up at him perplexed as she was not expecting the question, she knew the boy had a PEG tube, but was not sure how long ago it was put in. She looked back down and continued to wrap Tony’s hand as she answered, “Well, about 81% survive on one for a month, and about 38% survive on one for a year, why?”

Tony replied hesitantly, “He-” he really didn't want to think about it but it was important, “He told me he has had the muzzle on for a year.” He whispered the last word wishing it wasn’t true. Helen couldn’t help but look up at him with alarm, her professional facade broken.

Not only was the information terrifying, but it seemed impossible. “Tony, not only would it be against the odds that he could survive for a year on a PEG, but with his injuries and how malnourished he is, it’s- it’s impossible.”

“What are you saying?”

“I am not even sure, hold on.” She walked out of the room to go to some tests on the boy’s blood.

Just then Steve and Bucky came into the room. “How’s the kid? Also what happened to your hand?” Tony looked up at them and crooked his eyebrow at Bucky. He didn’t hate Bucky anymore but he also didn’t completely like him either. “He insisted on being here, since he knows first hand what it's like to be a prisoner to Hydra and he wants to help the boy.” Steve answered Tony’s nonverbal question. Tony couldn’t argue with that. He told them everything that had happened since the jet, he saw shock and sorrow in Steve's eyes after telling them how long the boy has had the muzzle on. The only thing he saw in Bucky's eyes was fury at the ones who did this to the boy. He saw shock once again, this time on both their faces, at the part where the boy fractured his hand. Both Steve and Bucky often had to hold back their strength or else they could accidentally hurt others. Before all three of them could spiral into thinking the worst, Helen came back into the room.

She got straight to the point “He is not entirely human.”

“Want to say that again? I don’t think I hear you right.” Tony’s sarcasm was laced with anxiety.

“He is mostly human, but part of his DNA is not. I have to do more tests to see what the other part is. It should explain why he is so strong and could survive on a PEG for so long.”

“Well, shit.” It’s all Tony could think to say.

“We also found something.” Bucky interjected.

“What?”

“We had FRIDAY run facial recognition with missing children to find out more about him.” Steve answered.

“And?”

“He is an orphan from Queens, his parents died in a plane crash when he was seven. He went missing from an orphanage five years ago at the age of nine. The police didn’t seem to look very hard as he had no parents trying to get him back.” He said the last part with such sadness.

“Fuck.” Again Tony couldn’t think of anything else to say. He took the file in Steve's hand and read it over. “I need to go be with him, he shouldn't be alone right now.”

“Just be careful, we don't know what he’s capable of.” Helen warned.

“I know, but he’s just scared. He’s a terrified child who’s alone right now.” Bucky, Steve, and Helen all looked at him in understanding and gave him a small nod.

He walked out of the medbay and took the elevator up to the penthouse. The whole time he was reading the file, but his eyes kept returning to one word. He walked down the hallway, opened the door to the bedroom and just uttered that one single word.

“Peter?” The boy, Peter, looked up at him, his eyes were wider than he had ever seen them as unshed tears glazed over them.