Broodmare

Halfway to his office Bucky stopped in his tracks and insisted on following the younglings to the medical facilities. T'Challa and Shuri followed dutifully as he seemed distressed being so far from them.

When they entered the medical room they were glad that they followed, as the children were huddled in the corner, watching in trepidation and fear as their father was loaded onto a gurney and tended to men that spoke in a language that was foreign to them.

The eldest two were shielding the younger children as best as they could. The girl holding the baby, hiding her face in his soft shoulder while using her slender body to shield her siblings from the proceedings. The elder boy had an arm around her shoulder the other holding the pups behind him, his stance was that of a tiger ready to pounce on anyone that might try to hurt his siblings.

“Doctors,” T'Challa called out. The doctors looked up as they cut off Tony's ragged clothing and searched for a vein for an IV. “English, please.” They looked at him in disbelief. “The pups can't understand you. It is not helping them to hear you speak in an alien tongue.”

The doctors turned to where their King had gestured and swallowed hard. They looked terrified. Their drab discolored clothing a sharp contrast to the stark white walls.

“Of course, your majesty. We… didn't…”

“There was no harm done friend. But please be mindful of the young for future reference.” The obvious need not be mentioned, as it was obvious that the small family was uniquely close due to their upbringing.

Winter approached them slowly. “Deus, Kamala, it's okay, they're going to make your Boba all better.”

Kamala swallowed hard, clutching the youngest to her chest a little more. “You promise? You promise they won't take him away?” Her voice quivered, but her eyes were sharp as ever.

“I promise. Boba needs a little tender care. In fact, you all do. Me too.”

The elder boy, Deus nodded hesitantly, relaxing his stance, but staying in front of them. “Yeah, he's right I reckon. We have to be healthy for when Sukbu* Tony gets better. Gotta show him that we were good too.”

T'Challa raised an eyebrow at the endearment, but held his tongue.

Shuri walked in the door, T'Challa hadn't seen her leave, with more nurses and approached the group slowly.

“I am of the mind that you might feel better after a proper bath and a change of clothing. I have brought these people; my most trusted nurses, to see to you. They will not hurt you, not on purpose. They mean only to ensure your continued health and comfort.”

Deus and Kamala looked at each other and nodded. “Can we have some food after bathing?” Kamala asked softly.

T’Challa closed his eyes slowly and cursed himself inwardly. Food. They were probably starving. But she was right. The Panther Gods only knew the last time that they had been truly clean.

“Yes, and afterward, there will be soups and porridge waiting for you, as well as a change of clothing.” The little girl's eyes grew wide and T’Challa felt his stomach churn. He wanted answers, but their priority was the wellbeing of the pups and their Boba.

Shuri smiled and beckoned them to follow her. They hesitated, looking over to where Tony lay unresponsive and now hooked up to machines that they didn’t know or understand.

T’Challa took a knee and leaned in close. “I give you my word,” he said holding up his hand. “Your Boba will receive the absolute care and I will personally see to his protection. And I assure you, no one will get to him.”

Kamala chewed on her lip, considering his word thoughtfully, before nodding her head and taking Deus’s hand.

Winter smiled sadly at them before following Shuri into through a door that he thought would be a small bathroom… but he was wrong. It was spacious, open, with a sink almost the size of the tub they had used for bathing, a bathtub that would easily set all of them and a shower that was easily the size of the room the kids had shared in the cave... and bright… egads so bright. The kids thought so too and covered their eyes, the youngest pup hiding his face in the crook of Kamala’s neck.

He let out a hiss and turned to Shuri. “Can you, like, adjust the lighting. It’s… it’s really bright in here.”

Shuri jumped a little, before realizing that the adrenalin of the whole event must be wearing off, and wherever they had not been the most fitting accommodations for any living beings, let alone a handful of children. Nevertheless she reached over and adjusted the dial on the wall to lower the lighting until Winter nodded and gave her his thanks.

Shuri watched as Winter helped each kid undress and painstakingly fold the clothing just right and set it aside. He flinched when he realized he didn’t have to do that anymore. As the younger kids marveled at the the sheer size of the tub Winter figured out how to turn the water on and how to get the water just the right temperature.

Shuri pretended to busy herself gathering their old articles of clothing and receiving the new set from the Dora on the outside of the room as the kids piled into the tub and giggled. She could not help herself. She wanted to understand them, and what better way to evaluate physical and mental state than to observe them.

“What’s that?” Kamala asked Deus as she pointed to the bubbles in the water.

“Bubblebath. It’s gonna make us cleaner and smell good.” He answered patiently.

“What’s that?” She asked pointing to the bottles that Winter was carefully considering.

“Shampoo, conditioner, probably bodywash. Shampoo and conditioner is for our hair. The body wash if to get all the dirt off us.”

“Oh.”

Winter started with the youngest, as Kamala and Deus helped the others figure out the soaps and other fancy loofa things on the side.

Suddenly Winter gasped and tried to calm the youngest down when he accidently got soap in his eyes.

“Ssssh Nova. Ssssh, it’s okay. No, no, you don’t have to scream… please Nova.” When the others heard his soft plea they all turned their attention the youngest.

“Ssssh Nova, it’s okay. See, soaps not even in your eyes no more.”

“Look Nova, Riri’s hair is a big soap bubble.”

“Hey Nova, look at Miles.” Called out another, and the boy, Nova turned to see the other boy, presumably Miles; who had a handful of bubbles in his hand blow this in his direction.

Shuri could not think of why this would cause such a widespread panic, but it had, and their reactions had the desired effect. The boy was so distracted by his siblings antics that he forgot about crying and was laughing. Winter let out a deep sigh of relief and pulled the boy to lean against his shoulder.

“Let’s get you rinsed off before you turn into a plum.”

“Raisin, Winter, you mean raisin.” Deus corrected softly.

“Right, my little raisin.” He chuckled as he raised Nova out of the water, wrapped him in a towel, brought him over to the long counter with the sink, stood him up on it and playfully dried his hair. The boy giggled again, something odd about the pitch of the giggle struck Shuri, but she wasn’t sure what.

“Would you mind helping me dress him?” Winter asked softly.

Shuri could see that the long day was starting to take a toll on him. “Yes, his clothes are right here.” She said as she retrieved the small pile of white clothing. “It is on short notice. But my brother, his majesty, has promised more suitable wears in the morning.”

The blush that colored his cheeks was unexpected. “This, this is more than enough.” He added softly as Nova raised his hands above his head for the shirt.

“My brother will insist.”

He seemed to swallow his pride and accept it with a nod. “Thanks.” When Nova was fully dressed Winter sat him down next to Shuri.

“So, Nova?”

“Huh?”

“His name… Nova?”

Winter let out a string of curses which was met with a resounding chorus of “LANGUAGE” from the bath tub, and another set of giggles.

“Yeah, his name, Nova I mean. I’ll… I thought… it’s been a long day. When we get to dinner I’ll go through them all.”

Shuri patted his hand in understanding. “Go get the rest cleaned up, maybe take a shower yourself. I’ll keep Nova company and keep an eye on them.” She turned to the little boy. “Won’t I?” He scrunched his face up like he had just gotten the best present in the world… and that kind of broke her heart.

She kept an eye on Nova, but couldn’t help but watch Winter with the rest of the children. Out of their clothing they were so skinny, not malnourished, but so underfed. She would do anything to fill up their bellies and put some meat on their bones.

When they had first appeared before them they had looked so dingy and dirty and their skin so dark. It wasn’t until the soap had washed away it all that she realized just how different they truly were. Nova’s skin was light and pink. The ones slightly older than Nova were light skinned, the boy’s skin freckled, his hair a rusty brown and the girl had freckles over the bridge of her nose, but her skin was like ivory and her hair so blonde.

The two older than them had darker skin, the girls skin reminded her of sepia and the boys skin of umber. The girl’s hair had been pulled back under a makeshift bandanna, but once taken off her hair bounced back into a pile of raven curls.

The eldest girl, Kamala’s own skin tone was a more subtle golden terracotta, her dark hair falling in cascades over her shoulders.

The eldest was a Korean descent, skin like golden sand, hair darker than Kamala’s, kept short on the sides, a little longer at the top. As the kids got up and dried of he teasingly fashioned his hair into what the American’s would call a faux-hawk. It reminded her of… her heart lurched as Winter undressed and stepped into the shower while Deus and Kamala helped the rest get dressed.

Deus. Short for Amadeus. Korean. In the name of the Panther Gods, she could not believe her eyes. It had been years, it was no wonder he did not recognize her. But she knew better than to rush into things. They had to be assessed, one could not go off half cocked in these matters.

She watched as each child used the restroom and was more than a little disconcerted at how they marvelled at how it flushed it all away.

Amadeus came over and took Nova. “Sorry, gotta do a potty check.” He whispered with a knowing smile. Nova gave a couple of happy chirps as he was lifted off the counter top and brought over to the toilet.

A quick glance through the glass doors of the shower showed that Winter was taking quite possibly the quickest shower on record and was turning the water off just as the kids washed their hands. Shuri tossed him a black tank top and matching hospital pants.

He nodded and dressed as the others gathered near the door patiently waiting. Shuri had given a brush to the two elder children to run through their and their siblings hair, but she had gotten out a 8 toothed comb and was showing Riri how to use it in her hair.

Winter approached silently, squatting down and helping Kamala get out the last few knots in the blonde girl’s hair before double checking Kamala’s hair against her weak protests.

Shuri took a step back and looked at them all lined up against the wall and looking at Winter as though he were the moon, their Boba was their sun of course. Their ages wouldn’t be hard to figure out, but birthdays, they’d have to choose more than likely.

It was getting more complicated by the second and she could feel a migraine pressing against her eyeballs.

It wasn’t long before she led them back into the medical room where Tony Stark now laid, sedated or asleep on a twin sized bed. All around him were monitors and drips, but even in the dimly lit room; obviously done by T’Challa, they could see he was well enough alive. T’Challa was sitting next to Tony’s bed, fingers dancing across a holo screen filled with information, face intent and stern.

He heard the group enter more than saw them. Heard their collective gasps of wonder at the sight of the table in the middle of the room, filled with soft bland foods, surrounded by 10 chairs and 10 plates. Winter stopped short, hand going to his stomach, looking at the food ravenously.

“Take a seat, please.” He said, closing the holo screen and rising to join them.

“We do not abide by ceremony here. Please, sit down, eat. I feel as though there is much to talk about.”

The children looked at Winter first; whom nodded, before scrambling to get a seat. Kamala kept Nova beside her, Amadeus sat across from her, the younger two sitting next to him while the other two sat across from them. Winter sat at the end, trying to divvy up the food and chastising them to eat slowly, no one was going to take the food away. T’Challa too the seat at the other end, and Shuri took the last seat next to the second youngest.

They ate in silence that was only punctuated by the occasional hushed “wuzzat” question that Amadeus answered patiently.

“Wuzzat?”

“Mashed potatoes.”

“Wuzzat?”

“Gravy.”

“Wuzzat?”

“Rice, but in ball form.”

“Wuzzat?”

“Tomato soup.”

“Wuzzat?”

“Chicken noodle soup.”

When they queries had settled and silence had fallen over the group T’Challa cleared his throat.

“It seems that I have been remiss in my duties. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is T’Challa. I am the King of this Country, but you may call me T’Challa. This is my sister, her name is Shuri. Mayhap I ask your names?”

They all simultaneously looked Winter, who nodded. “I’m Winter… that’s the only name I remember. You’re sitting next to Kamala; Tony’s first born and Nova. Nova is my and Tony’s first born. Next to them are Riri, his second born, Miles, his third born, across from them are Gwen; his fourth born, and Peter his fifth born. And next to her is Amadeus Banner-Cho.”

T’Challa dropped his fork in shock.

“Amadeus…” He turned to the boy who had ducked his head. “By the Panther God’s. Amadeus.” He reached out the put his hand over the boys but he flinched a little so he pulled back. “Amadeus…”

“I was kidnapped when I was seven. I don’t remember much. One minute I’m at the park with my mum and the next… they threatened to kill her if I ‘hulked out’. And after that I was shoved into a room with them. I’ve… I’ve been there ever since.”

“I must…”

“NO! It’s bad enough I escaped. They can still hurt her. You can’t do that to her. YOU CAN’T!”

Suddenly Winter was behind him, metal hand on his shoulder. “Deus, calm down. Now!”

He dropped his head into his hands and wept softly. Suddenly Gwen was in his lap, resting her head against his shoulder. “Deus, Deus, I’m not hungry no more. Can I take a nap?” She asked softly.

He curled his arms around her as though she were the only thing keeping him tethered to this world. “Yeah,” he sniffled. “Nap time. Nap time, then nurse time. Sounds like a plan.” He stood up and carried her over to one of the many cots on either side of the room.

“I’m not hungry any more either.” Kamala said softly, pushing her plate away. The others nodded, standing up. Riri walked around the table to lead Peter to a cot while Miles followed Kamala and Nova.

Once the table was abandoned T’Challa let out a long breath. “My apologies. I over reacted.”

Winter shook his head. “I think you under reacted. I’m surprised that Shuri didn’t--”

“I did. In the bathroom. Once he was clean he did something to his hair to make Kamala giggle. It made him look younger and I made the connection. We met him once, maybe twice when he was much younger.”

T’Challa cursed under his breath. “That a dear friend's child was so close, and the others. I feel a fool.”

Winter shook his head. “Not so close. On the other side of the desert. Way, way on the other side.

T’Challa’s eyes narrowed. “But that is--”

“Yeah… I know.”