Protective Custody

Chapter 21: A Crushed Heart

The Avengers’ Tower-
Ash-

Ash watched as the man, Sitwell, walked away and left the building. He wasn’t sure what Sitwell was after, but he didn’t trust him. Ash had lived most of his life by trusting his instincts so when his instinct told him that Sitwell was no good, he trusted it. Sitwell was competent, he didn’t give off any real indications that he was lying and if Ash’s instincts hadn’t warned him, he might not have guessed. Of course, his instincts had failed him before - Foxx sprang to mind. When Foxx had confronted him in Frog’s bar, Ash hadn’t given him a second thought other than he was just another old man looking for a good time. So it was entirely possible that he was wrong about Sitwell, too.

Phil was watching.

Ash made an effort not to look over to where Phil stood behind him in the lobby, but he knew the man was there. He glanced again at the front doors of The Avengers’ Tower and, in the glass of those doors, he saw Phil standing near the receptionist’s desk. He looked troubled and, rather than watching Ash, he stared after where Sitwell had gone. Maybe they weren’t such good friends as Sitwell had told Ash.

“Ash!”

Ash turned a little at the sound of Max’s voice. Max had just stepped out of the elevator and was headed towards Ash.

“What are you doing down here?”

“Not much. You?”

“Me?” Max’s eyebrows rose. “What am I doing down here? When a building just exploded and you and Eiji were there watching it burn and I didn’t know if either of you were hurt? Gee. I wonder why I might want to know where you are. You’re gonna give me an ulcer, kid.” He looked Ash up and down and walked around him. “Are you hurt? You just can’t keep out of mischief, can you?”

Ash still wasn’t used to Max saying that sort of stuff. It made him a bit uncomfortable but a part of him liked the idea of being worried about. He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned his face away from Max. “Don’t go getting all sentimental.” But Max had been worried about Ash and it gave Ash a little warm glow in his chest that he wasn’t sure what to do with and it scared him a little. Was he supposed to say something nice back to Max? That warm feeling was becoming more common, though. There were other people who could inspire it - Jessica and Michael and Blanca and Nadia and Eiji... Eiji could inspire a damned bonfire.

Ash considered the situation for a moment. There was so much to worry about. He couldn’t believe that Bones had gone and let himself be in pain for days without saying anything to anyone. He was supposed to be the smart dog of Ash’s pack. But, they’d seen some pretty bad stuff when they’d been taken prisoner so Ash couldn’t really blame Bones for not wanting to go back to any kind of hospital or to trust people wearing white lab coats. Heck, they were all pretty lucky that Kong hadn’t gotten a concussion when Foxx’s men had pistol-whipped him right to the ground. It must have been an awful hit because Kong wasn’t an easy person to knock down. And he still had to find Gregory. Gregory was the priority because he had the Banana Fish. Ash really needed to get out from under the watchful eyes of his babysitters and get back to the streets because no matter how advanced and efficient, the drone Stark had provided just wasn’t doing the job. Ash needed to talk to people and see things with his own eyes and... maybe set a trap? That was an idea worth contemplating. And he also had to think of Sing. Hopefully, Yut-Lung had the sense to tell Sing’s guys what had happened and they could be out scouring the streets to find whoever had done the deed. It brought up the added worry about who was in charge of Sing’s guys. Ash didn’t know. He wasn’t as close to the Chinatown gang as he had been when Shorter had been alive and welcomed Ash into his territory with open arms and a smile. Had Sing been targeted deliberately or had it been a crime of opportunity? Yut-Lung had been right about the fact that Sing had very few enemies - he was nearly as well liked and respected as Shorter had been. He didn’t have his guys out making trouble and stealing blindly like some some idiot Bosses, he kept control. Even Yut-Lung respected Sing. He wouldn’t admit it, but Ash could tell. There was the matter of Griffin to consider, too, because Ash knew he should tell his father, but... it was complicated.

Max put a hand on Ash’s shoulder and gave him a little shake. “You look like you got the weight of the world on your shoulders. What’s going on?”

Banana Fish. Sing. Gregory. Griffin. Ash glanced again the lobby’s glass doors and saw Phil still standing by the receptionist’s desk and he looked as if he were deep in thought. “You know some guy called Sitwell? He said he’s a friend of Phil.”

“The name doesn’t ring a bell. What’s wrong with him?” Because, of course, Max knew there was a problem. He’d caught something in Ash’s voice or face. If there was one thing that Ash admired, it was how Max was so much smarter than he let everyone think. People looked at him and saw a big guy with a wide, dull face and they usually just wrote him off as strong, but dumb. But Ash had read Max’s writing and that had told him clearly enough that Max was far from stupid. He could almost call himself a fan. Long before he’d met Max in prison, he’d take the time to hunt out the Greenwich Tribune newspaper at the library just so he could read the column Max wrote.

“Maybe nothing. Not sure.” Ash turned his back to Max and walked right over to Phil, who looked surprised to see him. “So, that guy really a friend of yours?”

Phil quickly schooled his expression and gave Ash a contrite smile. “Sorry for listening in. I was just surprised to see him here. I know Sitwell; he works for S.H.I.E.L.D. but I’m not sure why he came here. If he had any useful information, he really should have brought it to my attention because, as far as S.H.I.E.L.D. is concerned, I’m responsible for you.” Phil’s eyes sharpened a little. “How did you know I was watching? Your back as to me the whole time and...” he looked over Ash's shoulder. "Ah! You saw my reflection in the glass of the doors. Very good."

“Yeah, and I also know that you had a shadow with you that day we first met, when I found you at Jessica’s door.”

“Two shadows,” Phil said. “Clint and Natasha were with me.”

Ash frowned, put out. He was sure there had only been one person. By then, Max had joined them and Ash took out his cell phone. He dialed a number he’d memorized long ago and, after just two rings, a familiar voice answered.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Charlie.”

“Ash. Is something wrong?”

“I just heard a rumor that maybe I’m not being told everything by the cops. What’s this about you can’t get into Dino’s place?”

With a tired-sounding groan, Charlie said, “That’s nothing for you to worry about. I’m not sure who told you that, but we’re taking care of it.”

“You should have told me if there was a problem. I’m not some helpless little kid. You know that.”

“I do, but it’s not that. No matter how much you don’t like hearing it, you’re the victim in this case. The only thing you should be worrying about is recovering. Getting into Golzine’s mansion and finding evidence is my responsibility. I will deal with it. And it’s not the big deal that you seem to think it is, there’s some higher up that doesn’t want us to get the search warrant and I’m sure we’ll find out why as soon as we starting hunting through Golzine’s mansion. These things often take a day or two and I only just...”

“Or we could do things the fast way and I could just give you permission to go in. I own the damned place now that Dino’s dead.”

Charlie was quiet for a minute. “Thank you. Your permission does make it easier. I just... I don’t want you to think you have to do this all by yourself. I was hoping to spare you the stress of having to think about that place and maybe keep you out of the investigation as much as possible.”

“Are you kidding? I’ve been up to my neck in this for years. Now,” he looked down at his feet, then looked up with a hint of a smile. “Now, I’m trying to climb out of the muck. I’ll sign any paper you need me to if that’s what you need to make it legal, but you have my permission to go into Dino’s... no. You have permission to go into MY mansion.” And Ash grimaced because those words left an ugly taste in his mouth. “And don’t keep things from me.” And, because he knew Charlie and knew he’d been trying to be kind, he softened his tone when he added, “You don’t have to protect me. I’m a grown-up, now.”

“I think maybe you should be protected a little more. Grown-up or not.”

“Yeah, well. Whatever. Look, you getting anywhere about Sing?” They talked for a little while about what had happened to Sing and how Nadia was so upset. Charlie didn’t know anything new. They were getting skin found under Sing’s fingernails tested. There had been blood on his clothes and while Charlie thought it might all come back as Sing’s, there was a possibility that some of it might have belonged to the attacker. Ash told him to look for more than one, because Sing might be small, but he was a fiery little scrapper. If it had been a one-on-one fight, Sing probably would have beat the tar out of his attacker.

Ash hung up and looked at Max and Phil, who’d both been watching him. “Sitwell wasn’t lying.”

“Hey, now.” Max looked between Ash and Phil with an unhappy expression. “What’s this all about? What’s going on?”

Phil motioned to the elevator. “Let’s take this upstairs. No need to talk about all this in public.”

In the elevator, Phil told Max what he knew and what he saw and Ash let his mind drift away from what they were saying. He folded his arms and leaned against the elevator wall. His mind felt like a race track, with all his thoughts a different car competing to be the first to get Ash’s focus. He needed to decide what to do. He needed to check a few items off on that ‘to-do’ list in his head. And in the background, was the thought that Sitwell had planted in Ash’s mind. That the cops weren’t telling him everything. It was an unsettling thought. While there had been dirty cops and some plain jerks, Ash had known Charlie and Captain Jenkins for years and they’d always been straight with him. Heck, the first time he’d met Charlie, the guy had been a beat cop in his shiny new blue uniform walking the streets of Ash’s territory and he looked young enough to be in Ash’s gang. He’d had that wide-eyed, enthusiastic look of a brand-new cop who wanted to save the world. But the world had been the less-than-friendly neighborhood Ash’s gang was based in, where poverty was the norm and violence was sadly common. Still, Charlie always tried to help.

He’d arrested Ash for solicitation on his first day on the job. He’d also bought Ash a ham sandwich from a vending machine in the police station while he waited for Ash to get processed and told really bad knock-knock jokes. Charlie didn’t lie. Ash had seen Charlie try to lie and he was awful at it, completely unconvincing. And Captain Jenkins? The idea of him doing anything underhanded was almost unthinkable. He was like of the cops in old movies - worn and tired but so determined to do what was right and serve justice. The first time Ash had met him, Ash had tried to shoplift a box of granola bars in a convenience store.

Memory-

Ash was real hungry. So hungry he felt like his stomach was trying to eat itself. He had forty-eight cents in his pocket - spare change he’d found on the sidewalk - but even a candy bar cost more than that. So he’d looked around the convenience store for something to eat and he’d desperately hoped Griffin, when he finally came back from the war, would never hear that Ash was a thief. His big brother would have been so ashamed. But the shelters were full and begging hadn’t worked and he really needed to eat. He found the box of granola bars and started to slip it under his shirt when a big hand grabbed his arm and Ash, terrified, looked up.

The man was big. He looked as big as Marvin and that made Ash start to shake. Unlike Marvin, the man holding Ash’s arm had a big, droopy moustache and was starting to go bald. He had dark circles around his eyes and his clothes were rumpled, as if he hadn’t changed his clothes in days.

“You don’t want to do that, kid.”

Ash pulled on his arm. “I didn’t do nuffin’ wrong!”

“But you were thinking it. Don’t.”

Ash wanted to cry. He was caught. He wouldn’t get food and they’d call the cops... and... and then Ash saw the shiny badge hanging on the man’s belt. He was a cop. And Ash knew he was done. Dino was gonna hear about it if he got arrested, again, and - God! - he didn’t want to deal with that. He looked up at the man and made his eyes get as wide and innocent as possible as he squeezed out a tear. “Please, let me go, man. I’ll do anything.” And he really, really hoped this guy wouldn’t want to do what some other cops had wanted in exchange for letting Ash go without a fuss.

The cop raised an eyebrow. “Anything, huh? Let’s see how much you mean that.” He took the box of granola bars from Ash, then released his arm and pointed at the front counter where a clerk stood at the cash register. “March.”

Ash did as he was told until he was standing in front of the clerk - a pudgy old man with a tattoo of a cross on the back of his hand. Ash would have run, but the cop who’d caught him stood between Ash and the door. The cop looked at Ash sternly. “Well? What do you say?”

So Ash confessed. It was embarrassing as anything, but he confessed that he’d tried to steal and then he apologized. To Ash’s shock, the cop went and bought the granola bars, a bottle of water, and four apples. He had the clerk bag up the groceries, then handed the bag to Ash.

“Why?” Ash asked. His hands were clenched tightly on the bag. He might not understand, but he sure as heck wasn’t going to give back the stuff. “Whatdaya want?”

“I want you to not steal. There’s a church, two blocks that way,” he pointed down the street. “They run a soup kitchen and they don’t turn anyone away. You get hungry, go there. It’s called Saint Nicholas Church. What’s your name?”

“Ash.”

“I’m Jenkins. I don’t want to arrest a hungry kid and as I see it, anyone who’s stealing just to steal is going to take cigarettes, booze, or dirty magazines, not granola bars. Have you got a home to go to?”

Ash panicked. He did not want this guy calling child services on him and God only knew what Dino would do if he found out Ash got put into a foster home. Jenkins was nice and he didn’t seem like he wanted to hurt Ash, but... Ash kicked him in the shin and ran, clutching his bag of food to his chest with the awful fear that Jenkins would catch him and take back the food.

End Memory-

Jenkins hadn’t gone after him and he’d never even mentioned the food the next time they’d met. He was good and honest enough that he’d demanded Ash confess what he’d tried to do and apologize for it, so it was real hard to think that he’d be the kind of person to keep secrets when it was Ash who was in so much danger.

The minute J.A.R.V.I.S. opened the elevator doors, Ash left Phil and Max. He needed more time to think.

Ash was still thinking, when he reached Max and Jessica’s apartment that they were allowing him to stay in. He was keenly aware that they were all guests of The Avengers, of Tony Stark in particular, but he was still a guest of Jessica and Max. Really, he shouldn’t have accepted the offer. He should have stayed in his own little room, but he found it strangely easy to sleep when he knew one of them was in the other room and the small guest room Stark had fashioned for him was almost too good to be true. He really liked the lock on the inside of the door.

Ash only just stepped through the door and into the entryway when he heard voices and paused. He peered into the living room and saw Eiji in the middle of Max and Jessica’s living room, stretching. Without a shirt. He was completely bare from the waist up. It shouldn’t have been a big deal. Ash had seen many, many people completely and revoltingly naked, but... EIJI HAD TAKEN HIS SHIRT OFF!

“Ibe-san,” Eiji said.

Ash only just noticed Ibe-san was in the room. He appeared to be looking through the pictures he’d taken on his camera. He sat on the couch with his ankles crossed in front of him. “Hmm?” Ibe-san didn’t bother to look up.

“I think I am mostly healed.”

“You were shot. You are not almost healed. You do more than stretching and I will tell Jessica you need to be mothered.”

Eiji reached his arms up to the ceiling. He had muscles. How had Ash never noticed? Eiji had said he was an athlete, like a real ‘going-to-the-Olympics’ sort of athlete. Eiji had muscles. Lots of them. And they moved every time Eiji moved, like water rippling, and it was very interesting. Eiji said, “Ah, don’t bother her. She and Max are busy and they will get married, soon. Don’t make her worry.” Eiji, with his back to Ash, reached down to touch his toes and, again, those muscles moved as if they were dancing under Eiji’s skin. “I just think I can do more than stretch. Maybe go for a jog. A slow, short jog.”

Ibe-san did look up and fixed a stern look on Eiji. “You will do nothing more than walk until a doctor tells you otherwise.” It was about as strict and threatening as Ash had ever heard Ibe-san speak, which was to say, not very. “And even then, you will not go alone in case you fall.”

“J.A.R.V.I.S. is everywhere and he’ll see me if I fall. Won’t you, J.A.R.V.I.S.?”

J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke up and said, “I will watch and do what I can, but I can do very little if you fall. I believe Ibe-san is correct in advising you wait for long walks until you have a companion.”

“Ash will walk with me.” Eiji said it without a hint of doubt and, still listening, Ash nodded his head. He would walk with Eiji without any hesitation.

Ibe-san snorted a laugh. “And then you both fall and what happens? You just take it easy for a while.”

Eiji sat on the floor and crossed his legs as he continued stretching. “Yes, Ibe-san. Don’t worry about me. We’re very safe here.” He paused and grinned over his shoulder at Ibe-san. “I wish I brought my trading cards here. You should have told me Ash was staying here before we left Japan. I could have gotten my Thor card signed.”

Ash glowered. Thor? Thor wasn’t even there. What was so great about Thor, anyway? He was big and as muscular as Blanca and was that the kind of thing Eiji admired? Ash looked down at his own thin body and frowned.

Ash nearly went in then, but he saw Michael peeking out of his bedroom. Ash stopped and waited.

With his ever-present teddy bear in his arms, Michael slowly crept out of his bedroom. He looked at Eiji warily before he ran to Ibe-san. In his loudest whispered, he said, “Uncle Shunichi, is Mister Eiji nice?”

“Ei-chan is very nice, Michael-chan. Do you want to talk to him?”

Michael nodded. He gave Ibe-san a hug, then went to sit in front of Eiji with a grim expression on his chubby face. Michael patted his teddy bear for a minute before he said, “Mister Eiji, do you remember me? You were at my house.”

“I do remember you, Michael-chan.” Eiji gave Michael a warm smile. “I’m happy to see you, again.”

“Are you gonna take Ash away to Japan?”

Eiji stopped stretching. He put his hands on his knees and leaned forward a little. “That is a big decision to think about. Right now, there is much to do in America. Ash will not be able to leave for a long time.”

“Yeah? Yeah, well, if you take Ash away, you have to make sure he eats lots ‘cause daddy says he’s too skinny and you have to be nice to him when he has nightmares. You have to take care of Ash.”

With all of solemn gravity of a man swearing an oath on his honor, Eiji said, “I promise, I will always take care of Ash, so long as he lets me.”

“Okay. Okay. That’s good. He’s not really good at taking care of himself.”

A six-year-old felt he had to take care of Ash. Ash couldn’t quite decided whether to laugh or cringe. So he silently snuck into the bedroom he’d given Eiji to use. With the door closed behind him, Ash took a breath and sat on the foot of the bed. He said, “Right, J.A.R.V.I.S., let’s get to work.”

“As you wish.” A holographic image of New York city appeared in front of Ash, speeding by almost too quickly to be of any use, but Ash didn’t mind. He knew who he was looking for.

Phil-

Phil called a meeting and everyone met in his rooms. Normally, they would have had their meeting in the common room, but Phil didn’t want anyone but The Avengers to know what was going on. And so it was that he had all five of them together, waiting for him to start. Steve was patient and silent. Tony’s knee jiggled as he waited, a sure sign of his impatience. Natasha and Clint were, of course, quiet and patient. Bruce sat on the arm of the couch and cleaned his glasses twice while waiting for Phil to start.

“Jasper Sitwell was downstairs just now.”

Everyone stared at him and it was Steve who spoke up. “And? Is that bad?”

“I’m not sure. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to speak to everyone. Did anyone here know he was coming over? I didn’t get any message from Fury that he was sending anyone over and if Sitwell was coming over, he really should have contacted me. J.A.R.V.I.S. doesn’t let just anyone up here, do you, J.A.R.V.I.S.?”

“No, Phil. I would need to have Sir approve an unexpected visit or be informed by a resident of visitors before allowing anyone in the living areas of The Tower.”

“That’s right,” Bruce said. “Tony told everyone that rule when we moved in. I suppose Sitwell didn’t know that. He’s part of S.H.I.E.L.D., so we can trust him. Can’t we?” Bruce’s trust issues ran very deep. “He’s your friend, isn’t he?”

“Well, we work together and I’ve never had any problem with him.” The word, ‘friend’ was such a strong word. Phil didn’t like to use it carelessly. “But he was in the lobby talking with Ash. It could be a coincidence that he just happened to run into Ash and started a conversation, but he left after speaking with Ash. He didn’t even try to contact me. Right. It’s odd, but I don’t know if it’s something to worry about, yet. Onto what does worry me. HYDRA.”

Steve sat up so straight he looked like he had an iron rod for a spine. “One of those men at the building that exploded was definitely identified as a HYDRA agent.” He looked at Bruce, Tony, and Clint who hadn’t gone to the meeting at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. “Fury was NOT happy to find out we had a HYDRA agent in the city.”

“Fury is NEVER happy.” Tony practically jumped to his feet. “Can we talk about what’s more important? Ash. He’s smart. Like ‘graduated-Harvard-at-twelve-years-old’ kind of smart. I wasn’t sure when he did the Rubix Cube, but then J.A.R.V.I.S. let me see the game of Go he and Ash played and let me tell you - wild! Kid’s got a mind for strategy, that’s for sure. And he took Bruce and me to his... I don’t know... club? Hide out? Whatever it was, he needed Bruce to patch up one of his friends and he showed me an old arcade game he’s repairing and I don’t mean some kind of modern knock-off of an old game, I mean this thing was at least forty-years-old and had been very well used. He had it in near working order. While Ash and Bruce were busy with the other kid, I took a closer look at the game and Ash needs maybe two or three parts and he’ll have it in full working order. Yeah, it’s not high-tech computer engineering, but that’s pretty impressive for kid who says he never made it passed the first grade. I really want to know what he can do. And! And! That’s not even counting that fact that he survived all that stuff he went through an he hacked into Golzine’s financial accounts and used it to rob the Corsican Syndicate? And he didn’t get caught! If he’s as smart as I think he is - and I’m NOT wrong! - then I want him in my R&D department. God, with that mind, he could be head of the department in two years.”

Phil’s neck was starting to ache as he watched Tony pace the room in his excitement. Bruce caught Tony’s arm when he passed close enough and, when Tony stopped, said, “He’s only eighteen and it doesn’t sound like he even knows what he wants to do with his life, yet. He must be under a great deal of strain. Maybe... don’t put more pressure on him, yet?”

From anyone else, Tony likely would have brushed it off, but he listened to Bruce. Phil didn’t entirely understand the friendship between the two anymore than he understood exactly what was between Clint and Natasha, but Tony listened to Bruce. Maybe it was the science. Tony knew a great many scientists, but he and Bruce could talk for hours about things that left other people scratching their heads in bafflement and laugh at jokes no one else understood. So when Bruce spoke up, Tony listened.

“Maybe,” Clint said, “He doesn’t want to be an engineer. You know, I was talking with Max and he said Ash is a crack shot. I want to take him down to the shooting range and see how good his aim is.” He gave Tony a mildly challenging look. “Maybe he’ll want to be sniper and work for S.H.I.E.L.D., like me.”

Tony put both hands over his heart and staggered backwards. “No! He can’t let that mind... S.H.I.E.L.D.? You think he’d work for Fury? Oh, no. That’s not gonna fly. They won’t know how to challenge him.” And he waved both hands in the air in front of his face, as if to chase away unwanted thoughts. “All the S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists know how to build its weapons.” He paused. “No offense to my S.H.I.E.L.D. friends present.”

“None taken,” Phil, Natasha, and Clint all chorused as they knew Tony wasn’t the biggest fan of S.H.I.E.L.D. and had no trouble expressing his feelings about it.

“But he’d be wasted at S.H.I.E.L.D.!” Tony looked like he might cry. “He should be here where he can experiment and grow. He’d never get bored my my research department. I could pay for him to go to school, if he likes.”

Phil leaned forward in his chair and put his hands over his face. He tried very hard not to smile. Tony meant well, but he was a little overbearing and Phil was very pleased that Tony hadn’t started going on like that in front of Ash. Somehow, Phil didn’t think Ash would appreciate it.

“You never know. He might like to be an electrician or a plumber,” Steve said. “There’s nothing wrong with a good, sensible trade.”

“Of course there’s not, but...” Tony looked around the room as if they’d all betrayed him. “But I want to hire him!”

Phil rubbed his face and forced himself not to smile. It was time for business and Tony seemed like he’d gotten his excitement out of his system. Phil sat up and tried to sound stern, though Fury had often told him that he didn’t do ‘stern’ well. “Let’s get back on track and Tony, try to hold off on job offers under all this mess is dealt with. HYDRA.” He was pleased when everyone got back on track so easily. “We know that one man Natasha identified was a HYDRA agent, but since then, we had a meeting with Fury who had organized with the local police to identify the other men. They aren’t talking, but Fury’s working on it. One of the men was dead, but not from the fire or smoke inhalation. Anyone want to guess how he died? You three,” he looked at his team members who’d gone to the meeting with Fury. “Don’t answer, you already know how he died.”

“Something fell on him?” Bruce guessed.

“No. Next guess?”

Clint thought for a moment. “One of his buddies turned on him and shot him.”

“Nope. Tony?”

“Shark attack?”

“Tony...”

“What?”

“Never mind. No, he wasn’t killed by a shark. The man had heart problems. As in, his heart was crushed.” He gave that a minute to sink in and Bruce frowned. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it and Phil said, “Go on, Bruce. Say what you’re thinking.”

“How was a heart crushed? You said nothing fell on him.”

“I did say that. According to the forensic investigators, there was no sign that anything fell where that man was found and, yet, the coroner found a tremendous bruise on the man’s chest, just over his heart. When the man was opened up, the heart was crushed, like someone had hit it with a baseball bat.”

That got Natasha’s attention and she frowned. Phil could tell it was a real show of emotion, something rare that made it all the more important for Phil to pay attention to it, so he gave her a minute and waited until she was ready to speak. “It is possible for a person to crush another person’s heart with a single blow. There are very few people who can do that.”

“Can you do it?” Clint asked curiously.

“No. It takes immense strength as well as the proper training in exactly how to strike. I am not strong enough. I did know someone, once, who was able to do it.”

“Who?”

But Natasha turned away. “He’s gone.”

There was no forcing Natasha to talk when she didn’t want to, so Phil moved on and hoped she’d speak with someone later, even if it wasn’t him. “Alright. So, we know HYDRA is in the city. We know that Ash was attacked in Chinatown, though the shooters didn’t succeed. Fury’s looking into them, too. We know those two men were killed by person or persons unknown. It seems most likely that someone was trying to keep Ash alive. It would be nice to think that it was just a person trying to do good by saving a life, but I’m afraid I’m not that optimistic. Considering what we know about Ash and his knowledge of the Banana Fish drug, can we all agree that it’s possible that HYDRA may take an interest in Ash?”

Tony cursed. “They’ll want him and the drug.”

“Maybe.” Everyone looked at Bruce. He squirmed with all the eyes on him, but continued to speak. “It’s all just conjecture, isn’t it? We found one HYDRA agent. There may be more. Or not. It’s possible that finding that agent is nothing but coincidence. Maybe that agent was here for an entirely different reason. We don’t know for certain that HYDRA is after Ash.”

“No,” Steve answered. “But we should act as if they are.”

Ash-

Ash was busy. It was good that way, he didn’t get bored. J.A.R.V.I.S. played the video from what the drone was seeing on the streets as it hunted for Gregory. No luck so far, but there were a lot of places to hide and places the drone couldn’t go. After all, the drone couldn’t search through any buildings or under the canopy of trees in Central Park or in the sewers. Really, Ash thought as he hunched over his knees and stared at the image J.A.R.V.I.S. showed him, he needed to get out of the Tower. It did him little good to stay inside and if it hadn’t been to protect Jessica and Michael, he wouldn’t have accepted in the first place.

While the video played and Ash kept half his attention on the streets, noting idly that he’d have to have a word with Alex when he saw one of his guys spraying graffiti on the side of a small grocery store. Didn’t his guys have any class? If you were going to go tagging, then at least put some art up and not just dirty words. He looked at his phone, an image of a bank’s website on the screen. With a few taps on the phone, he entered the screen name and password and waited until the account’s page was brought up. He took a quick look through the account he’d set up for Sing. It hadn’t been touched.

He alternated for a while, looking between the image J.A.R.V.I.S. showed him and the account page displayed on his phone. Every now and again he rubbed his eyes. They were starting to get sore and he wished he’d thought to bring his reading glasses from his apartment. Dino hadn’t given him those, so they couldn’t be evidence, right? He should be at least allowed to have his glasses.

“Ash, what are you doing?”

“Stuff.” Ash didn’t look up when Eiji came in and sat next to him on the bed, thankfully fully dressed. “How are you feeling? You need to rest?” Ash started to push himself up off the bed, perfectly ready to give it to Eiji if he showed even the slightest hint that he might need to rest because Eiji deserved a little consideration. Ash didn’t want to think about Eiji pushing him away when Shao Ti and his friend had rushed into the room and how that had put Eiji right in the path of the bullet. Ash pushed it away, just like Blanca had always taught him, but the image wouldn’t go quietly. He saw Eiji cry out and saw him fall and it was as if it were all in slow motion. Ash had killed Shao Ti and his friend for shooting Eiji, saw him fall and, though a haze of red fury coloring his vision, had heard Sing yelling for Ash to stop because Shao Ti was already dead.

Ash blinked and looked back at the screen J.A.R.V.I.S. showed him.

“I’m alright,” Eiji said. “You?”

“I’m okay.” The pain was nearly gone. Well, it was a lot less than it had been and Ash thought that was probably good enough. And he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so many people worried about his health. It was a little unnerving. Speaking of unnerving... “Um, so... sorry about lil’ Michael giving you orders out there. He’s a funny kid.”

“He likes you and I like that he wants to have someone take care of you. You know what that means, don’t you?”

There was something teasing and sly in Eiji’s voice that made Ash wary. “No. What?”

“Tofu sandwiches and natto with rice.” He nudged Ash’s arm. “Got to make sure you eat right.”

Ash groaned, but looked away so Eiji wouldn’t see his smile. The whole world was falling down, but Eiji was smiling, so things were sure to work out. They talked of nothing of consequence while Ash also kept his attention on his phone and on J.A.R.V.I.S.’ hologram. They talked about Bones and about what the guys were likely to do with all their money. They talked about Eiji’s family and his flights to and from Japan. Eventually, they started to talk about the final battle between Ash and Foxx, how Ash had driven a power drill through Foxx’s chest and even that hadn’t been enough to kill him. “Dino showed up and shot Foxx through the head. How’s that for a kicker? Dino saved me. And then he fell off the edge of the building and into the fire of the helicopter crash below. Charlie told me they fished his body out. He’s dead. Really dead.”

“Max told me. Are you happy?”

“No. It’s stupid. I watched him fall and you know,” Ash leaned forward a little and said, “Don’t tell Max - J.A.R.V.I.S., don’t you tell anyone, either! - but... I think... I think if I could have saved him, I would have. What kind of screwed up person am I? I want him dead. I’m glad he’s dead. He deserves to be dead. But... when I saw him start to fall, I ran to him. And I felt,” Ash had to pause, his breath was coming too quick and too hard. He waited until he calmed before he said, “I felt like I... I felt... I don’t know what I felt. After everything he did, I shouldn’t feel bad that I couldn’t save him. All the people he killed, all the lives he ruined, all the lives he would have ruined if he’d gotten Banana Fish put into use like he wanted to... and I still... Damn it. I really am screwed up.”

Eiji took Ash’s hand and squeezed it. “That’s because you’re a wonderful person. You are good and compassionate and you want to save everyone.”

Ash would have laughed if anyone else had said it, but Eiji spoke with such a serious tone that Ash knew he believed what he said. He believed Ash was a good person. “I think it’s just one more way I’m messed up.” Because, seriously, he would have shot and killed Dino given half-a-chance. He had shot Dino, once. So it didn’t make any sense at all. “I told Max I’ll think about seein’ a shrink.”

Eiji made a face. “A what? I don’t understand.”

“A psychiatrist. Someone to fix me. You know, I don’t feel like me, lately. Ever since we came here,” Ash waved his hand around vaguely at the room. “I don’t feel like ‘me’. I feel... I don’t know... relaxed? It’s weird. I keep thinking that this can’t last. They’re too nice and I feel like I’m going soft. I cried in front of everyone when I thought Shorter had been in Club Cod. Cried.” He hated himself for that stupid, weak show of emotions, but lately, it seemed like he just couldn’t keep his emotions under control and that was dangerous. He needed more control and he was growing scared of how complacent he felt in The Avengers’ Tower, under their protection. Blanca had always warned of the danger of letting oneself grow too comfortable and at ease.

Eiji leaned forward a little and looked at the floor between his feet. “It’s not a bad thing to cry, even in front of other people. Or to feel relaxed. Maybe it’s just weird because it’s new?”

“Maybe. I -” Ash broke off when a soft ‘ding’ from his phone made him look at it, sharply. He tapped a few buttons, watched the screen, then tapped a few more buttons. He stood up and, without looking at Eiji, said, “I gotta talk to Max. Someone just got into the bank account I gave Sing and unless he made a miraculous recovery, I’m gonna guess it was whoever took the information I gave him - the people who attacked him.” A grin that was far from happy settled on his lips.

Eiji-

Eiji watched Ash leave. Before the door closed behind Ash, Eiji heard him say, “J.A.R.V.I.S., want to see if you can help me hunt some people online? They used the internet to get the money, so I think we can follow their cyber trail back to...” And that was the last Eiji heard.

Ash’s room was very comfortable. A small stack of manga on the dresser and Eiji would have felt quite at home. The bed was new and firm with a heavy blanket. The room was a perfect temperature, not to warm or too cool. Even though there were no windows (security, Max had explained when Eiji had complained that Ash should have fresh air and sunshine) the room was lit so well that it seemed bright and airy. There were books that Eiji didn’t know the titles to, but he had never been a great reader, let alone of English novels.

Eiji turned to the drone’s holographic image that still played. He wouldn’t fail Ash.

In less than ten minutes, Eiji’s serious attitude had faded into admiration for what he watched in front of him. Yes, it was serious business and he had no desire at all to see what Gregory would do with the Banana Fish if they didn’t catch him, but watching the video was equal parts exhilarating and relaxing. It felt like he was flying through New York. He saw places he recognized and lots of new places. J.A.R.V.I.S. was good enough to tell Eiji about all the things he had questions about. It was wonderful, so amazing to see the city as if he were a bird.

And then he saw Gregory.

Gregory had been peering out at something from an alley and he looked a great deal different from the last time Eiji had seen him. His hair had been dyed and he was clean shaven, but it was him. That face... it was him.

Eiji’s throat dried up. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. A terrible, overwhelming fear washed over him.

Captured. Taken to Golzine. Arthur had been there, smirking when Shorter had been dragged away, yelling and cursing. Eiji had been taken to a bedroom and stripped. Eiji hadn’t lied to Ash when he’d said that Golzine hadn’t touched him, but Gregory had held a knife at Eiji’s throat until Eiji stopped fighting when he was undressed. The knife blade had been cold against his skin. Gregory had glared at him the whole time and when Eiji’s clothes were gone, it was Gregory who’d tied Eiji’s wrists to the bed’s headboard with a rope.

“You’re nothing special,” Gregory had told him when Eiji was helpless. “Just a common little mouse. He doesn’t love you.”

Eiji didn’t know what Gregory had been talking about, but there had been something awful in Gregory’s eyes - something burning and cold. He’d had nightmares about Gregory and, while he’d never told Ash, he would admit to himself that Gregory terrified him like no one else could. Eiji had never been so afraid of any person in his life.

In the hologram, Gregory pulled out a gun from somewhere and aimed at the drone. One shot and the image went to gray static.

“The drone has been disabled,” J.A.R.V.I.S. announced.

To Be Continued...