Protective Custody

Chapter 20: A Friend

The Avengers’ Tower-
Tony-

Tony wasn’t a people person. He knew that very well and was quite happy about it. People were illogical and erratic. One could never tell what they would do at any given time. So having new people in his home was troubling, even though he knew it was necessary and he had been the one to open his home to them. He certainly wouldn’t kick out someone like Ash who was in a dire predicament. It seemed like every minute of the day some little fact of Ash’s life was brought up and gave Tony a whole new reason to pity Ash, though he was fairly certain Ash wouldn’t appreciate pity. He knew he wouldn’t if he were in Ash’s shoes.

The fact that just the idea of watching the movie ‘Annie’ had made Ash look like he wanted to run out of the room was just a whole new bucket full of ‘sad’ and made Tony want to hit someone. He’d never thought of himself as a violent man, but there were times when humans made him want to hurt people. Abusing little kids, killing them, drugging them... Tony’s mind slipped over to a memory of watching Natasha try to understand ‘The Three Stooges’ while Clint howled with laughter next to her. The confused look on her face at the mock violence and her whispered, “Clint... I don’t understand. Is this funny?” Made her own horrible childhood too clear. He thought about Bruce hesitating to go into public because he was so afraid that he might be captured and forever imprisoned or killed or used as a weapon. He thought of Steve who tried to be perfect for his team but had been caught more than once flinching at loud noises and Tony had overheard him confess to Phil, “Sometimes, it’s like I can still hear the gunfire. I hate fireworks.” Clint, the best sniper around, who hated killing people but, “I’m not good for anything else. I never went to school and I don’t have any other skills. So if bad people need to be killed, I should do what has to be done. I want to be useful.” And Tony was fairly sure Clint feared that if he wasn’t ‘useful’ he wouldn’t be allowed to stay with the team. Tony knew Phil had been talking with Clint about that. And then there was the absent member of their team, Thor, who had so many issues Tony didn’t even know where to start. And that thought led him straight back to another person with too many issues - Ash.

Tony sighed as he walked through the tower’s halls. His thoughts kept running this way and that, all time filled with too many emotions and those thoughts kept running in circles around Ash, his team, and all the pain that Tony didn’t have any way to fix. He didn’t like that. He found great satisfaction in fixing problems, but when it came to emotions, he had no idea where to even start. It was terribly frustrating and because he was frustrated, he paced the tower halls at a brisk clip. He did that when his thoughts got too big for his brain and it seemed that walking helped to spread the thoughts out and let him study them, better. The whole situation dragged up all sorts of thoughts - troubling and interesting and frightening and sad - and he was having a bit of trouble dealing with them. Thoughts he could deal with very well, but emotions were difficult. Thoughts and emotions mixed together were just a mess. So he paced the halls, walked up and down the stairs of the tower and roamed through several rooms. At one point he turned a corner just in time to see Jessica and Michael walking down the hall away from Tony. Tony stopped and listened to what they were saying.

Michael skipped next to his mother. “Mommy, you n’ daddy have to adopt Ash. He said it’s okay and his Jennifer won’t be mad so you gotta adopt him, now.”

Jessica’s step faltered for just an instant. “You really like Ash that much, huh? You know, adopting someone into the family would mean big changes. It’s something everyone would have to be very sure of.”

“I love Ash lots! I had bad dreams and he was so, so nice and he helped when I had an accident.” Michael paused then smiled at his mom. “Sorry.”

Jessica smiled, fondly. “That’s alright, dear. You can wake me or daddy up next time.”

“But Ash helped. He’s really good at helping. And we talked for a long time and I told him about my school and about recess and did you know Ash never went on monkey bars?! He didn’t know what they were so I had to tell him.”

“That was nice of you, honey. Sometimes, Ash doesn’t know all the things you know because he was raised by some mean people when he was growing up, so it’s good that you help him.”

“So... when are you gonna adopt him? He said he’d do it ‘cause we’re awesome.”

“Michael. It’s not something to do quickly.”

“But... but... but... if you adopt him he’ll really be my brother and then even when he goes away to Japan, he’ll still be my brother and he’ll remember me even when he’s far away.”

“Silly! Ash will remember you no matter what. Come on, honey. Time for your nap.”

Tony felt his eyes start to burn with tears as Jessica and Michael turned a corner. He blinked and shook his head. “All these emotions...it’s hard. So hard.” Tony put a hand to his chest where his heart used to be. It occurred to him, not for the first time, that if he had no heart, surely all these emotions wouldn’t hurt so much. “Too much.” He headed down to his lab and wasn’t at all surprised to find Bruce there, reading. Bruce looked up the minute Tony walked in, but said nothing before he started reading, again. Tony didn’t say anything to Bruce, either. Bruce was one of the few people Tony could handle being around for long periods of time. Even though Bruce was filled to the brim with emotions, he was also logical and usually quiet. And he did turn into a huge green wrecking ball which was always fun.

As Tony worked, and he normally let himself get completely lost in his work, he couldn’t quite keep his mind off his guests. The Tower felt fuller than it ever had and Tony partly felt like he was walking on eggshells to keep everyone happy, but, he had to admit, things were going better than he’d expected. Of course, he still had the problem of his department store that wasn’t a department store to deal with.

Tony set down his tools and frowned. What was he supposed to do with that place, now? It wasn’t set up to be the department store Tony had been anticipating and, yet, it was nearly finished. He was of a mind to rip the whole thing down simply because of it’s association with Golzine and, remembering the few times he’d encountered that man during unavoidable social occasions, just thinking about Golzine made Tony want to break things. He hadn’t mentioned it to anyone and doubted he would because there was nothing to be done about it, but he felt dirty, like there was film of scum on his skin, when he thought about that awful party where Golzine had basically thrown Ash at him to attempt to seduce him. God, but he felt guilty about that. It was another ugly emotion Tony didn’t want to deal with, but seemed to be unable to escape every time he looked at Ash. If hadn’t gotten drunk that night, or if he’d drunk less, maybe he would have been able to help. Maybe not, but there was always a chance and it wasn’t as if Tony would have been afraid to face Golzine.

“Ya know,” Tony said aloud to anyone who might be listening whether was J.A.R.V.I.S., Bruce, or any of the robots. “I ought to give Ash something to do. He’s bright enough that I think him getting bored might be a problem. What can I have him do? Let’s think. Games? Everyone likes games. Video games? What do I have he might like? He likes guns.”

“No shooting games.”

Tony whipped around at the sound of Bruce’s voice and saw Bruce looking at him over the top of his book. “Why not?”

There was no answer straight away. Bruce hid behind his book. “Just a feeling. Maybe one of those games where he can build something. A farm or an amusement park. “

“Great idea. Should keep him from getting bored for a little while. It would be safer if he’d stay in the tower until his court date, but doesn’t seem like he has any intention of making our jobs easy.”

Still, Bruce didn’t look up, but when he spoke his voice was soft and thoughtful. “It’s not good to keep people locked up. Tony, you... ah... you should talk to him.”

And there was the problem, in Tony’s mind. He could see no earthly reason why Ash would ever want to be in the same room with him, let alone have a civil conversation. And, yet, there Ash was, living under Tony’s roof and being generally good-natured and polite. He was certainly a lot better mannered than many people Tony had done business with, people who hadn’t had such a hand dealt to them as Ash had, people who should have been better than they were. And there was Ash, who had virtually nothing, grew up poor and abused far worse than most people could imagine, and he showed a kinder nature than people born with every luxury.

He had heard about Ash helping Michael - J.A.R.V.I.S. told him everything - and he had heard about how badly Ash had reacted when he’d thought Phil was a pervert trying to get into Jessica and Michael’s apartment, and how he’d gone to see his dead friend’s sister to apologize because he felt guilty about his death. Ash was good, Tony knew, though he had every reason to be angry and hateful, he didn’t seem to be.

“I don’t think he’ll want to see me any more than he has to,” Tony turned back to his work and started working out an equation to help his newest invention balance just a little better. “I probably remind him of the Hell he went though. I still can’t believe I was right there and didn’t do a damned thing to help him.” Phil had tried to explain to Tony that nothing that had happened to Ash had been Tony’s fault and, logically, he understood that. Logic didn’t make his guilt go away, though.

“Maybe. But, we both know he’s smart. Really smart. Don’t we? I think he probably understands why you didn’t help and he doesn’t seem to hold a grudge.” Bruce peeked over the top of his book. “Maybe he’d like to talk to another genius?”

It gave Tony pause. “You think he’s THAT smart?”

“Well... you could talk to him and find out.”

It was food for thought. “And onto another train of thought - who the heck killed those two shooters in Chinatown?”

“What?”

“Those guys who shot at Ash? Clint said they were dead, both of them shot, before he got to them and he said it wasn’t even five minutes before he found them. So, who shot them? Phil checked around with the other groups - the X-men, the Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange - but no one’s claiming it. None of them really use guns, anyway. It seems to me that someone wants Ash alive, but doesn’t want us to know who they are. I know why so many people want him dead, but why does this one person want to keep him alive? They’re willing to kill to keep him alive, but they don’t make themselves known? I don’t like that.”

It was then that J.A.R.V.I.S. announced that there had been an explosion and Clint and Natasha were at the scene.

Tony’s pencil froze just above the notebook of calculations he had been working on.

Explosion. Clint. Natasha. Explosions. He needed to be there. “J.A.R.V.I.S., who’s on ‘Ash duty’ today?”

“Steve. He, Ash, and Eiji have left the tower in the company of a person identified as Lee Yut-Lung. He was hard to investigate; the only record I have of him is a brief news clip about the unexpected deaths of the vast majority of the Lee family, a powerful business family who own the Hua Yan Bank. The only survivors were Lee Hua-Lung, who was named as the president of the Hua Yan Bank after the death of the eldest brother, Lee Wang-Lung. Lee Yut-Lung was named as his brother’s counselor, though I find it difficult to find more information about him. I can tell you that neither he nor Ash seemed fond of one another from what I observed.”

Tony blinked and slowly set down his pencil. “So... Steve’s with Ash?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. That’s good.” Because Steve was reliable.

They hadn’t gotten off on a good foot when they’d first met, but Tony had issues and Steve had been in a mood after waking up, so Tony figured it was all understandable. Time had passed and Tony had grown to like Steve. He was a little straight-laced, but he was good and Tony knew precious few people that he could honestly call ‘good’. He was also honest and brave and honorable. How could one not like Steve? More than that, Tony had learned to trust Steve, so he knew their little house guest would be safe with him.

“Are you going?” Bruce asked as he got gracefully to his feet.

“Yes.” Because... explosions and Clint and Natasha and, yeah, Clint knew how to look after himself, but Natasha had all the self-preservation instinct of a door-knob and if she ran into danger, then Clint was sure to go after her and what did either of them think they could do about a building exploding? It was probably on fire and there might be more explosions - Tony had a vast experience with explosions - and buildings usually collapsed after exploding, didn’t they?

“Tony?” Bruce was at the door and looked over his shoulder at Tony. “Are you coming?”

“Right. Yes.” Tony sprang to his feet and hurried after Bruce.

They met Phil in the garage and asked J.A.R.V.I.S. to look after Max and his family before they headed off.

***

The fire department and the police had already arrived. The building that had exploded had caught fire and a dozen firefighters were calmly in control. There were a great many people on the sidewalks, watching the action as they were kept at a safe distance by the police.

‘Should have brought the suit. What good am I without the suit? Nothing. That’s what, I’m nothing without... no! Don’t think like that.’ It was a dangerous line of thought and one that Tony struggled with on occasion. Of course, he was plenty useful without the suit. He had created so many things to better the world that he couldn’t deny he was very useful, but situations like this, where his team mates were in serious danger made him very aware of how very weak he was without the suit compared to his team mates.

Tony stared at the fire, both horrified by the destruction of the fire and so thankful that the firefighters were able to control it so quickly. He looked around. Bruce stayed close, but stared at the fire, his hands deep in his pockets. Phil was talking with the fire chief and came back to tell them, “No one’s seen anyone fitting Clint or Natasha’s description, but they haven’t gone all the way through the building, yet. Maybe they already left.”

Tony didn’t like ‘maybe’. He’d never liked that word. What a terrible, uncertain word. He certainly wasn’t going to risk Clint and Natasha’s lives on a ‘maybe’. He opened his mouth to tell J.A.R.V.I.S. to send the suit to him, but before he could even make a sound, Steve was with them and glared at the fire as if it was a personal offense. Ash and Eiji stood behind him.

“I spoke to J.A.R.V.I.S. about the explosion. What do we know?”

“Not much.”

Steve said, “Tony, take custody of Ash, please. I’ll be right back.” And without hesitation, Steve ran into the fire.

Tony’s eye twitched. ‘Fine. Great. That’s just great! Clint can’t do a thing with arrows in there and Nat can’t a kill a fire, and Steve’s... damn it! If they don’t die in there, I’ll kill ‘em myself!’

But he’d barely even thought the words before his team mates rushed out. Clint carried a man over each shoulder while Steve also had two, one man under each arm. Natasha dragged a fourth man, coming more slowly behind until Tony ran to her and helped to get her out of danger. Five men. They were all laid out neatly on the sidewalk across the street from the burning building and after the fire chief yelled at everyone in general for going into fires when the firefighters were trying to save lives, The whole Avenger’s team sat down to the rest. Bruce stayed on his feet and shifted from side-to-side as the paramedics worked on the unconscious men. They offered oxygen to everyone who’d gone into the fire, but the priority was the unconscious men.

“HYDRA,” Natasha said. She looked up at Phil with those huge, innocent eyes that had lured so many people to their deaths. “I recognize that one,” she pointed to one of the unconscious men. “He was in that warehouse... just outside Barcelona? He was there, fighting for HYDRA. He must have slipped away when it became obvious they would lose.”

Tony didn’t question Natasha, she didn’t make mistakes about such facts. HYDRA agents so close to home was bad. Then Tony looked at Phil and caught the fleeting moment when Phil cast a look over at Ash. Ash and Eiji were standing together and while Eiji watched the fire with natural horror, Ash looked at the fire and then over at the five rescued men still being tended by the paramedics. He looked back and forth a few times, but said said nothing and settled for standing quietly with Eiji.

“And you two thought it would be a good idea to run into a building that just blew up?” Tony asked, looking at Clint and Natasha. “Really?”

Clint coughed. “Well, we couldn’t just stand around and do nothing. People could have gotten hurt.”

And, yes, Tony could understand the impulse, but the part of him that urged him to look after his younger team mates wanted to shout at them. If there had been a second explosion when they’d been inside... his brand new family...

The paramedics worked furiously, shouting to each other as they struggled to work on all five men. Bruce lent a hand, but there was nothing Tony could do. Eventually, the wounded men were all loaded into ambulances and rushed to the nearest hospital for treatment. Tony knew Phil would arrange for them to be questioned, at the very least, as soon as they woke up. Fury was not going to be happy about having HYRDA in the city, especially since they were only caught by pure chance. If the building hadn’t exploded, it was probable that they would have gone undetected.

Just as the last of the ambulances started for the hospital, Tony turned in time to see Ash offering a bottle of water to an exhausted looking firefighter taking a break near the back of a fire truck.

“That’s alright, kid. I’m fine, but thanks.” The firefighter tried to wave off the kindness, but she looked ready to drop. She was slumped over and sweat covered her face.

“Just take it,” Ash said, pushing the water bottle at her. “It hasn’t been opened, I didn’t do anything to it. This is my neighborhood and the fire could have spread real fast. So... thanks.”

She looked touched and took the bottle of water. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”

It was a simple act of kindness, just a bottle of water, but considering what Tony knew about Ash’s life, he was impressed by that simple act of kindness.

Phil confirmed with the fire chief that there was no one else in the building, though there had been one man renting an apartment, according to the landlord, but he hadn’t been found in the apartment and every room had been searched. They all waited until the fire had been put out before they went home.

The Next Day-

The next day would be a quiet one as Phil, Natasha, and Steve went to talk to Fury about the HYDRA agents while Clint recuperate from smoke inhalation. It was Tony’s day to look after Ash and so it was that Tony sat in his own kitchen at the table with everyone else and had no idea what to say to Ash.

Jessica put a piece of buttered toast in front of Ash along with a glass of water and said, “Have you thought about what you’re going to do when all of this is over?”

Ash turned a page in the newspaper. “What do you mean?”

“Well, the court case won’t last forever. It might feel like it, but it won’t. Someday, this will be over. What do you want to do?”

Tony nodded his head. “That’s a great question. You’re bright. Have you thought about going to school?”

Ash just stared. He looked around the table at everyone watching him, then put the newspaper back up in front of his face. “School? Give me a break. I never made it passed first grade; I wouldn’t know what to do in a school. Is it important?”

“Be serious.” Eiji poked Ash on the arm. “You must want to do something. You can do anything.” It was said so earnestly, without any pretense.

“Are you kidding? I never thought I’d live passed sixteen. I was sure Dino would get sick of me by then, that I’d be too old for him. It wouldn’t have been hard, he could have just strangled me in my sleep. He was strong enough to do...”

Bruce cleared his throat, loudly, and nodded at Michael, who’s eyes had gotten distressingly wide.

Ash took the hint and said, “So.... yeah. Never mind all that. I never gave much thought to ‘what comes next’, but I guess I should think about it, now.”

“Well,” Bruce said. “Think carefully. Think about what you enjoy doing and let that start you out. Take it from a person who can’t have his dreams, if you can do it, go for it. By the time this trial ends, you’ll have nothing to hold you back.”

Ash’s phone rang. He looked at the screen then answered with a lazy sounding, “Hey, Alex. What’s up?” Whatever Alex said to Ash must have been bad news because the longer Ash listened, the deeper his frown got. “Damn it. Did he give you a reason?” Ash paused to listen. “Right. Where is he? Are you with him?’ Again, another pause. “Well, stay there. I’ll be there in a little while. Don’t let him leave. Sit on him if you have to.” Ash hung up his phone and stood up. He jammed his phone back in his pocket and pulled his gun out from the waistband of his jeans and checked to make sure it was loaded.

“What’s wrong?” Max asked, his face grim. “Trouble?”

“Nothing for you to worry about. I can deal with it.” At Max and Jessica’s clear concern, Ash rolled his eyes as he put his gun back in the waistband of his jeans. “One of my guys is having a little trouble. It’s nothing for you to worry about. I’ve taken care of it before and I can do it, now.”

Eiji sat up a little straighter. “The guys? Who’s hurt? I’m coming, too.”

“No, you’re not.” Ash wasn’t asking or requesting, he was giving an order, a gentle one, but an order all the same. When Eiji’s eyes narrowed and he looked very much as if he would argue, Ash said, “It’s Bones. You like Bones, right? Well, he’s having a rough day and the last thing he’ll want is a whole mess of people gawking at him and making a big scene. It would embarrass him.”

Eiji reluctantly backed down.

Ash stood up and left the table. “Doctor Banner, come with me.” And he headed to the door without checking to see if Bruce was going with him or not.

Bruce looked up, surprised. He looked at Tony, then at the door Ash had gone through. Together, Tony and Bruce hurried after Ash.

“I didn’t invite you,” Ash said without turning around when they caught up with him in the hall. “I invited Doctor Banner.”

“And it’s not his day to take care of you - it’s mine. We have this all worked out.”

“You might have it worked out, but I need Doctor Banner. Today,” Ash abruptly stopped and spun around to face Tony. “You’re no use to me.”

Tony had never been one to back down from a confrontation. “Well, that’s hard luck. Bruce doesn’t like leaving the Tower alone, so I’ll go along for his peace of mind if nothing else.”

Ash looked at Bruce, as if to ask if Tony was telling the truth. Bruce shrugged. Ash sighed. “Fine. But go put on something casual.” He looked down at Tony’s slacks and polished shoes. “Honestly, you’re gonna get mugged going out like that. And you,” he turned to Bruce. Bruce, in his sweat pants and comfy, stretched out sweater. “You’re fine. You look completely harmless.”

“I’m really not, you know.”

“Neither am I, but my guy probably won’t bolt if you go in looking like a teddy bear.” He waved a hand at Tony. “You’ve got ten minutes to change and be in the lobby. After that, I’m leaving without you.”

Tony wasn’t entirely sure why he ran to obey the eighteen-year-old kid, but he did. He was in the lobby wearing jeans and sneakers in eight minutes. Ash had timed him. He looked Tony up and down before giving the judgment. “You’ll do. Let’s go.”

He led the way and Tony didn’t miss how Bruce tensed the minute they walked out onto the street. He didn’t, however, seem on the verge of panicking, so Tony guessed that was a good sign. “Where are we going?”

“To see a guy. Keep up.”

Ash led them all through the city, right out of the ‘nice’ part of town and to a neighborhood that was filled with graffiti on walls, trash in the gutters, broken windows in business, and the hard, suspicious eyes of passers-by. Tony had never been in that part of town, but, strangely enough, Bruce began to look more relaxed. Bruce had, on occasion, spoken of some of the places he’d visited in his travels as he’d run from the military and none of the places he’d spoken fondly of had been bright, shining cities.

“Sir?” J.A.R.V.I.S.’ voice was soft in Tony’s ear. The little communicators he’d made so the team could communicate more efficiently had really turned out to be very useful. “Is there anything you’d like me to do?”

“No. We’re good. I’ll let you know if I need the suit, but everything seems quiet.” Tony grimaced when he had to step around a brown pile of something suspicious on the sidewalk. Neither Bruce nor Ash paid it any attention at all.

They went to a bar. It was in the basement of a large building and they had to go down a flight of stairs from the sidewalk just to get to the front door. Inside, the whole room was thumping with too loud music, so loud that Bruce flinched and put his hands over his ears.

“Turn that down!” Ash thundered.

Instantly, the music was off and every eye in the place was on Ash. They were all teenagers - dangerous looking teenagers, but teenagers all the same. There were a few there who didn’t look old enough to shave. They watched Bruce and Tony with cold eyes, but Ash told his friends, “Relax. I brought them here. Everyone out!” Ash didn’t have to ask twice. Everyone put down their drinks and left without a word of complaint until there was only one person left and it was to that boy that Ash asked, “What happened and where is he?”

“He’s in the back. Kong’s sitting on him.” The boy who spoke looked no older than Ash, though he was a bit bigger - a little taller, a little more solid looking. That size advantage didn’t make any difference because Ash was the leader. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. He’d had no hesitation when he’d walked into this... bar? Club? Whatever it was, Ash was in control and everyone there had known he was in charge. This boy, who looked bigger and stronger than Ash, apparently accepted Ash’s leadership as a matter of course.

Tony made a mental note of that. Natural leadership. A fine quality.

Ash ran a hand over the top of his head and momentarily looked surprised, as if he’d expected his hair to still be long and shaggy. Ash gestured loosely to Tony and Bruce. “These are part of The Avengers,” when the other boy’s eyes lit up, Ash snapped, “You start gushing and I’ll deck you! You two, this is Alex. He’s my right-hand man.” ‘Man’ seemed a bit generous as Alex didn’t look like he could have been much passed nineteen, if he was even that old. Still, Tony didn’t dispute it. Ash asked Alex, “Right. How did it happen?”

“I think it was right when we all got out of that hospital place that wasn’t a hospital.” He shot a wary look at Tony and Bruce before looking back at Ash. “We got everyone out that we could, everyone who was still alive, and Bones was so happy that he threw himself at me and knocked me down. We both fell. Sorry I didn’t catch him, I’ll do better.”

“You did fine. That twit knows he’s not supposed to do stuff like that. You didn’t notice anything earlier?”

“You know he hides it. And,” Alex looked a bit embarrassed. “I wanted everyone out of there. Fast. Sorry, but look... that place... it was wrong. I know you’re gonna say it’s just a building and of course it was bad with all the shooting ‘n stuff, but there was something just bad about it. Evil.” He moved to stand near Ash, but didn’t touch him and, to Tony, it looked as if Alex had deliberately, thoughtfully, not touched Ash. It was possible, even likely, that a few of Ash’s gang might know what he’d gone through and, who better to know that than Ash’s second-in-command? Alex turned his back on Tony and Bruce and lowered his voice, though not quite enough to prevent Tony from hearing, “I saw Matt. Kong told me that when they were all locked up in the cells a couple of men came and took Matt away from the others, dragged him away screaming. When we were leaving... I saw him. What they did to him... Boss, it was bad. They cut him up and... God. It was real bad. I still gotta tell his granma what happened. She doesn’t know where he is. She depended on what he brought home to pay the bills. I dunno what she’s gonna do without him. She’s got a bad heart and can’t work; I think she might lose her apartment.”

Ash’s expression didn’t change as Alex was talking. “She won’t lose her apartment. I’ll take care of it. Doctor Banner, you have a patient. One of my guys got hurt, but he won’t go to the hospital to get it taken care of. Your job is to convince him to go. So, you go in and look fluffy and harmless and maybe he’ll let you look at him and maybe you can tell him all the reasons why he needs to go to a hospital.”

“Why won’t he go?” Bruce asked. “If it’s money, there’s a very good free clinic a few streets from here. I went there once and the doctors are excellent.”

“It’s not money. Let’s go.” He slipped by Alex and went into a back room where they found a boy with strawberry blonde hair and a very large boy sitting next to him on a shabby couch that was so rundown and filthy with stains that Tony wouldn’t have donated it to charity. The large boy had a hand on his friend’s shoulder and refused to let him budge even when the smaller boy squirmed to escape.

Ash snapped, “Knock it off, Bones!”

Both boys went silent and looked at Ash, as obedient as dogs looking at their master. It was almost eerie. Ash stood in front of the boys and held out a hand. “Let me see it and don’t screw around.”

It was the smaller boy who whined and held out his arm to Ash. Ash looked at the arm and, despite his harsh words, handled the arm gently. “You know you have to go to the hospital if this happens. You want it to heal crooked or something? Here,” he gestured to Bruce. “This is Bones. Come and look at his arm. Stop moving, you goober.” Ash aimed the last at Bones, who got a wild look in his eyes when he saw Bruce. That wasn’t an unusual reaction to someone seeing Hulk, but Bruce - still in his sweat pants and his over-sized, comfy sweater - looked like everyone’s favorite kindergarten teacher.

Bones shook his head wildly. “I don’t want no doctors! I ain’t goin’ ta no hospital! Not again!” His speech was a little off, Tony noted. He had several front teeth missing. Despite how Bones clearly wanted to run away, he didn’t make any effort to pull his arm away from Ash, not even when Ash reprimand him,

“You keep still. You don’t take care of yourself. Jeezum Cripes, you know you break bones like you’re made out of eggshells, so you’ve got to be careful. Now, he’s a doctor and he’s good. He’s taking care of my knife wounds so I know he’s harmless.”

Bones turned his frustration on his other friend, still holding his shoulder. “This is your fault. You told Alex!”

Ash growled. “You keep that up and I’ll knock you right to the ground! Kong did the right thing.”

“You know,” Tony spoke up. “Bruce really is a nice guy. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Alex frowned. “Who’re you?”

Tony froze. It wasn’t often he met someone who didn’t know who he was. Such an unexpectedly exhilarating feeling. “No one,” Tony answered. “No one at all. You just ignore me.” He wandered away from the little group to an old arcade game that sat in the corner. It was one of those huge box-things with art of the game decorating all sides of it. He smiled. “Q*bert... nice.”

“Leave it alone; it’s not fixed, yet.” Ash sauntered over, though he kept his eyes on Bruce and Bones.

“You’re fixing it?”

Ash nodded, absently.

Tony ran a hand over his hair. “What still needs to be done?”

“The sound doesn’t work. I need some more stuff to fix it right, but it’ll wait till after my court date. The guys can be patient or fix it themselves.”

“You’re repairing an almost forty-year-old game so your gang can play?”

“Well, I’m not fixing it for me. Video games are stupid. Waste of time.” For the first time, Ash turned to look at the game. He put a hand on the joy stick. “Used to be this kid hung around here. Skipper. He was a good kid. He wanted to be part of a gang, so I let him hang here. Better than a little kid running the streets, ya know? I was gonna get it fixed up for him, so he’d have something to do around here and keep himself out of trouble.” Ash took his hand away from the game. “He’s dead, now. Ten-years-old and he’s dead. Got shot right in front of me.” He lazily kicked the side of the arcade machine.

Bruce examined the arm in question and easily passed judgment. “It’s broken.” And then Bruce set in on one of his strangely gentle lectures where he managed to persuade Bones to agree to go to a hospital, but Bones wasn’t happy about it. He ended up practically in tears and muttered about evil doctors and hospitals with locked doors. He would only be calmed when Kong said,

“Don’t worry. I’ll go with you. Stay with you the whole time, n’ everythin’.”

Bones was escorted to the hospital. Ash walked behind the group to make sure Bones didn’t make a run for it and didn’t leave until Bones had been examined and treated. Then he promised the doctor that he would make sure Bones returned for a follow-up visit. Before they parted ways from Alex, Bones, and Kong, Ash gave an envelope to Alex and a few whispered instructions and told him to call if there were any other problems.

Later-
Phil-

After returning to the Tower from their meeting with Fury, Phil sent Natasha and Steve up to their home while he made a quick stop at the receptionist’s desk to pick up his newspaper. As he stood there, he noticed Ash in the lobby and found it curious that he was talking with Sitwell.

“J.A.R.V.I.S., can you amplify what Ash and Sitwell are saying so I can hear it in here?” Phil asked, tapping the communication device Tony had given all of them in his ear. He had worn it that day in case any information Fury had given them needed to be relayed at once as J.A.R.V.I.S. was the surest way to quickly get information to the team.

“Yes, Phil.”

And just like that, because they were in the Tower and J.A.R.V.I.S. was nearly all-powerful in the Tower, Phil could hear every word Ash and Sitwell said with his communication device.

“It’s good to meet you. I’m sorry it couldn’t be under better circumstances.” Sitwell held out a hand. “I’m Jasper Sitwell.”

Ash eyed the hand, then looked at Sitwell. He took the hand and shook it, but released it very quickly and put his hands back in his pockets. “Ash.”

“Well, I’m glad I caught you, though I thought Phil would have you tucked away upstairs where it’s safest. Stark is well-known for having excellent security and that security only improves the higher one gets in this tower. Phil is a good friend, we’ve worked together for a few years.”

Phil couldn’t argue with that. In all of S.H.I.E.L.D., Jasper Sitwell was one of the people he trusted most. And that was why his own reaction puzzled him. Hiding. Eavesdropping. That wasn’t the way one treated a friend, but he had the very strong feeling that he didn’t want Sitwell to know he was there, not just yet. It made no sense, but that didn’t stop Phil.

“There seems to be a little difficulty with your case. I heard about it in a roundabout way, so it’s possible that it’s only rumor and one really must take that sort of thing with a grain of salt. Have the police been by to speak with you, today, by chance?” When Ash shook his head, Sitwell went on, “Well, I’m sure they’ll contact you, soon. It does seem to be a rather big deal, so it’s important that you know.”

Ash took a step away from Sitwell. It was casual and most people might not have even noticed it, but Phil did. Ash’s expression didn’t change - cool and disinterested - but it seemed to Phil that the step Ash took was a deliberate attempt to put space between himself and Sitwell. It was frustrating that he didn’t know Ash as well as he knew his team. With his team he would have known for certain. He knew Tony started rambling when he was upset, that Bruce would laugh to cover up nerves. He knew Natasha lean towards a person if she trusted them and that Clint clenched his left fist when he was angry. He knew Steve tended to hide in his rooms when he was feeling lonely and out-of-place in the world. He even knew that Thor, who spend the least amount of time with the team but firmly counted himself as an Avenger, swung his arms and paced when he was agitated, but also did the same when he was excited. He knew his team and if one of them had taken a step away from a person, he would have known what it meant. He just didn’t know what it meant with Ash. Did he distrust Sitwell? Was he afraid? Was he just bored and wanted to get away?

“What are you talking about?” Ash asked.

“I’m sure it’s nothing. You know, there are a lot of people around who are trying to help you out. I’m not really on your case, but I have heard things. Unfortunately, there are a lot of rumors that run around an organization like S.H.I.E.L.D. and the whole business with Club Cod was very big news. It still is.” His face fell with sadness. “It’s so hard to believe there are such people out there in the world. I wish you all the luck and I hope you’ll count me as one of your supporters. I’ll be right there in the courtroom for you.”

Ash looked away, as if the receptionist at his desk was suddenly very interesting. “Thanks.”

Sitwell laughed. “I’m sorry. I’m told I can come off a little strong. I just want to reinforce what I’m sure everyone’s been telling you - you’re not alone. I’m on your side.”

“What did you hear about me?” Ash was not one to be deterred.

Sitwell sighed. “I shouldn’t have brought it up. I don’t want to worry you. Still, it’s your right to know, you’re the one most affected by it, after all. The thing is, apparently, those officers who are handling the Club Cod case tried to look for evidence at Dino Golzine’s mansion but they can’t get in.”

“What?”

“They can’t get in. What I heard is that they can’t get a search warrant. I expect it’s only some kind of paperwork error, but you would think if they were trying - really trying - then it wouldn’t be very difficult. After all, it’s not as if there would be anyone on the force who would work against you. None of the police can be involved with Golzine, right? And I’m sure those officers didn’t mean to keep such important information away from you. I’m sure they would have told you about it... sooner or later. It’s not like they’d deliberately keep secrets from you when you’re so much at risk.”

Ash’s face was as still as it had been the moment Sitwell had introduced himself. “Thanks for telling me.”

“You’re very welcome. I hope we can be friends, Mister Lynx.”

To be continued...