Broodmare

This is going to be a long day. He thought to himself as they exited the glider. As they stepped out all eyes turned towards them. Between them Tony started to tremble.

Just as Winter was about to do something… he wasn’t sure what… but he would have done something… but Rhodes seemed to have had the same idea, probably a better one.

“Shuri? Hey, I… I need to have a private talk with my boy… in private.”

Shuri nodded as she approached. “Of course, of course. There is a private--” But her voice became muffled to Tony as the world around him went grey. He turned to look at Winter and Winter was quick to pull him away from Rhodey. Shuri put a hand on Rhodey’s chest to restrain him.

Winter guided Tony to a chair just off to the side, sat him down and parted his legs while Tony clung to him with his arms around his neck as though it were the only thing in the world keeping him afloat.

“I can’t do this… I can’t do this… I thought I could. I did, but I can’t.”

“Sssssh, it’s okay, I’ll be right there on the other side of the door. If I smell so much as a hint of distress I’ll tear the door off its hinges in a second.” He cooed softly into his ear.

Tony pulled away minutely to lean lean his forehead against Winter’s forehead. “What if he hates me? What if I disgust him? What if he thinks I--”

“He love you, Tony.” Almost as much as I do. “He loves you, and there is nothing in this world that’s going to make him love you less or think less of you. Alright? I met him five seconds ago and I already can tell you that. Okay?”

Tony nodded weakly as he moved his head to rest to the crook of Winters shoulder and neck. “I need you.” He whispered softly. “I think we have a codependency issue.”

Winter huffed. “Yeah, well, we’ve had time to perfect this certain issue.” He sighed heavily before adding. “I’ll be no less than 20 feet away. The moment you need me, I’m there. No questions asked. Got me?”

Tony sniffled. “Yeah.”

“Okay. Good. Now, your legs, can you stand?”

“Huh? Yeah,” He used Winter’s shoulder as leverage to stand. “Yeah, I’m good.”

Shuri approached silently with saltines and a cold bottle of water in her hand. “Here, there will be proper food awaiting you when you have finished.”

Both men smiled wryly. Shuri already knew them so well.

Tony took the offered items and turned to Rhodey. “Talk, we need to catch up. I have… so... “

Rhodey smiled as he reached out for his best man. “Yeah, lean on me. I’ve got you.” He said softly, but it held the weight of an oath; that he wasn’t going to let him down, not now, not ever.

Tony smiled and reached out for him to put his arm around his shoulder. “My huggy bear.” He whispered. “Always there for me.” He said fondly. Tony cast one last glance up at the balcony before letting Rhodey lead past the argueing men, into the palace, down a hall, and into a small bedroom just out of the way.

As Winter rose to follow Shuri put her hand on his arm. He looked at her with an expression of confusion on his face. “I’m not stopping you, friend. I want only to tell you, James Rhodes is a good man, and a good friend.”

Winter nodded. “But sometimes the worst harm comes from the best intentions.” He added softly before making his way into the building.

-----

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE! HOW LONG HAVE THEY BEEN HERE! DO YOU HAVE--”

“Director Fury. I understand you’re upset, but please keep it down. There is more going on than meets the eye.”

He looked over his shoulder and saw the Wanda, Pietro, and Thor were looking up at the balcony and felt his stomach drop. Of course they would be the ones to notice. Thor and Wanda both were gifted with the ability to scent out others. They knew that there were more people close by.

He cleared his throat to get everyone attention. “Mr. and Ms. Banner-Cho, I would first like to apologize for not being more truthful as to why I needed your presence. My only desire was to prevent an upset which would have caused the Hulk to emerge.”

Bruce gave a dry chuckled into Amadeus hair where is nose was currently buried. “Well, you weren’t wrong. I think it can be forgiven.” Ellen nodded as she was still speechless. “Also, thank you for not telling Fury. This could have ended much more tragic if Hulk had smelled deceit.”

That seemed to pour a bucket of cold water on Fury’s … well fury.

Clint walked over looking a little more ashen than he had been five minutes ago. He pointed to Banner, then to Fury, then T’Challa. He put his hands on his hips, shifted side to side, and then walked back to Natasha.

Natasha smirked knowingly. “He also appreciates the lie by omission.” The rest of the team nodded.

T’Challa couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re welcome.” He turned his attention back to the small family. “Secondly, I cannot begin to express to you my remorse that I did not know he was so close by all along.”

Banner looked at him dubiously. “At the risk of inciting the rage of Hulk… how exactly close was he… and how the hell could you have possibly known?”

------

Rhodey held Tony at arms length and looked him up and down. “It’s you.” He whispered. “It’s really you.”

Tony didn’t say a word as his hands rubbed Rhodey’s forearms. They were his tether. His arms, his voice, the depth of his best friends eyes were all that were keeping him grounded in reality.

“I…” Rhodey reached out and put his hand on his shoulder before removing it, and sliding his hand from his neck to his torso. But his hand stopped at his chest. He paused.

“What happened Tony?”

“You… you want to see?” He asked softly.

“Yes… I want to see all of you.”

Tony’s blood ran cold. ‘I want to see all of you, NOW!’ rang in his ears and he backed away, frantically shedding his hoodie, yanking off the henlee, and fumbling with his tank top until he yanked it over his head.

When he reached for the  top button on his jeans he heard.  “Woah woah woah.” From Rhodey, as one hand grasped the top of his jeans stilled his hands.

Tony blinked rapidly. “I-I’m s-so--”

His words were cut off by Rhodey picking him up and carrying him bridal style over a high backed comfortable chair and setting him down. He pulled a matching chair facing the opposite direction beside it and sat down in it. He reached over and cupped Tony’s face, wiping away his tears.

“I’m I’m so s-sorry.”

“Shh, it’s okay… I said it wrong. I said the wrong thing. You did nothing wrong.” He looked over his own shoulder, grabbed the saltines and water from end table next to him and put them in Tony’s lap. “Eat. Drink.”

He did as told and leaned back into the softness of the chair when he was done. “I’m sorry… I’m such a mess. I can’t.. I can’t stop crying!”

Rhodey shook his head and reached out to wipe away his tears again. “You’ve had a rough couple of years, Tones. You’re allowed to cry it out.” His fingers grazed the arc reactor before pulling away.

“When we hugged I felt it against my chest. I … I was… I am worried. What is it? Wait… one second.” He got up and retrieved Tony’s shirts and hoodie. As he sat down he started talking again. “Nothing else matters to me. You’re alive.” His voice cracked. “You’re alive, Tones. Anything else… we’ll deal with. But that…” he pointed to the arc reactor. “That I’m allowed to worry about.”

Tony took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, okay, but.. You have to let me tell it from start to finish or I’ll lose my nerve.” His voice cracked a little and Rhodey reached his hand out to grab Tony’s and hold it delicately.

“Lay it on me Tones.”

---------

They had relocated to the balcony after T’Challa had explained part of why he felt responsible for Amadeus’s and my extension, Tony’s continued captivity.

“So… you’re trying to convince us that you should have had some kind of psychic radar that magically senses kidnap victims some 50 odd miles beyond your kingdom’s boundaries?” Clint asked quizzically.

Natasha rolled her eyes. “Tactful as ever, Barton. But he does have a point.”

Bruce nodded, his arms still around Amadeus. “The important thing is that they got out and that they got here.” He shook his head ruefully. “Gods only know what’s 50 miles in the other direction.

T’Challa and Shuri shared a look that gave him their answer: nothing

Thor was pacing by the bannister. “These fiends must be dealt with.”

Sam nodded. “I’m on the same page as him. This is… massive.”

T’Challa and Shuri shared another look and winced.

“Is this the ‘more delicate’ part of our experience you were talking about?” Fury asked.

T’Challa cleared his throat. “No, unfortunately not. This is but tip of the iceberg.”

Scott groaned. “Why do I get the feeling that this is a really big iceberg.”

You have no idea. T’Challa thought to himself.

Steve was pacing by the bay doors of the balcony. “You… you called him Winter.”

This brought Natasha to her feet. “About that. I have something to say and you aren’t going to like it, Steve. If this Winter is the same Winter I encountered in the Red Room, then we are all in a great deal of danger. He’s a ghost as far as the intel community is concerned. Has no less than 50 confirmed kills, and those are just the confirmed ones. He’s--”

“No.” Amadeus said resolutely. “Winter’s a good guy. He protected us.”

“I’m sorry but…”

“No.” He said adamantly, moving from his parents embrace to standing right in front of her. “No. I won’t let you near him. He’s my sukbu, just like Tony. They protected me. He wouldn’t let them hurt us and he kept us safe! I don’t care what he was before, he’s FAMILY NOW!” He stomped his foot indignantly as his face turned red and his eyes welled up with tears.

Bruce came to stand behind him, putting his hands on his shoulder. Ellen stood next to him, her hand rubbing in a soothing circular motion on his chest. “Nat. I know you mean well, but I’m going to have to side with Deus on this one. He’s protected Deus’ since he was seven. He protected him in the desert. I’m gonna have to put him in the good guy column for the moment.”

Natasha shook her head dubiously. “I understand what you’re saying. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let my guard down. You don’t know the things he’s done the way I do.”

T’Challa cleared his throat. “So what you’re saying is that he is a trained killer.”

“Assassine. Sharp shooter. Top tier. Second to none.” She stated plainly.

“And yet, with very little concern for his own welfare he trekked some 50 miles across a desert to bring them to their freedom.” He stated blandly. “With all do respect, Ms. Romanova, I believe in redemption. Do you not?”

She grimaced. “Point taken. But I’m still keeping an eye on him.”

Steve cleared his throat. “So… Winter?”

“Yes,” they both said.

“But J.A.R.V.I.S. said that he’s… he’s Bucky.”

Shuri shook her head sternly. “Steve, he has no memory of his past. He knows himself only as Winter.”

T’Challa could not help but smirk. “And he knows himself to be old enough that he ought be dead.”

Everyone turned to him sharply.

“When we explained to him the circumstances surrounding Tony’s purported death, and the events after we had to tell him about his mother.” They all collectively cursed under their breath. “Yes, as you can imagine, it did not end well. We had to sedate him. After Winter made sure he was comfortable he asked me if Stane was dead, really and truly dead. He mentioned that he knew enough about himself that he ought be dead. His exact words were ‘ I should be dead, very dead ’.”

“So he is …”

Sam cleared his throat. “He might have been James Buchanan Barnes, Steve. But that dude; the way he looked at you. That’s not your Bucky.”

Steve looked away, his face was pale but his eyes were red. “Not my Bucky.” He whispered, nodding to himself. “Not my Bucky… not any more.” He tried to shrug it off but found it hard to do. “I think I’m going to get some fresh air.” He said calmly. “Yeah, if we’re going to go after their bases I should probably think about tactics.” He headed for the stairs down  but T’Challa stood up suddenly

“Do not go far, friend. Once Tony returns the true ‘sensitive matters’ begin.” They all looked at him suspiciously.

“I shall find you when you are needed, Captain.”

“The tip of the iceberg is Deus. The rest of the iceberg is something like the Hindenburg isn’t it?”

“You are not wrong, Director.”

-----

“So…. Ho Yinsen.”

“Yeah…”

“I owe him… a lot.”

“I told you---”

“I know, Tones, I heard you. But that doesn't mean I owe him any less.” He gently reached over and caressed the arc reactor lovingly. “You wouldn’t be here without him. That means I gotta do right by him… and by extension you.” He handed him the shirts he’d been holding onto for what seemed like forever.

“But the rest of the scars…”

Rhodey shook his head. “I don’t need to know. If you want to tell me, you can tell me when you’re not so raw.” He hesitated with the hoodie. “I can’t let you wear this though.”

“Huh?”

Rhodey stood up and took off his suit jacket and stripped off his dark green hoodie. “I believe this belongs to you.”

It took Tony a second to recognize it but when he did he was almost brought to tears again. “My hoodie?”

“Your hoodie.”

“You kept it?”

“We kept everything.” He reached for his neck. “This belongs to you too.” He pulled a necklace with a ring on it from around his neck. “They gave you postumus honors.” It was an MIT ring. “We take turns wearing it.”

His eyes glistened with tears. “You didn’t have too..” He whispered as Rhodey put the necklace over his head.

“We did... Pepper and I…”

His face perked up. “P-Pepper?”

Rhodey smiled. “Yeah Pepper.”

“T-T’Challa said that Stane…”

Rhodey sobered up immediately. “How much did he tell you?”

Tony shook his head. “Not much. Only that you found a way to defeat him while running for your lives.”

Rhodey nodded. “Stane--”

“He’s-- He’s dead right?”

“Yeah. We saw his body and stayed with it right up to the crematorium. They thought we were a really morbid couple.” Tony smirked at that. “But we had reasons to want to make sure that it wasn’t some kind of tactic. We’d already lost our best man.” His smile wilted. “We weren’t about to let that bastard slip through our fingertips only for him to come back.”

Tony nodded sadly, but looked down at the hoodie in his hands and smiled. He carefully put it on and wrapped it around himself as though it could ward off the entire world. He buried his face in the hoodie and inhaled deeply. It smelt like Rhodey. The scent made him feel safe and secure. Gods, he’d missed the unique unnamable scent that was Rhodey so much.

The hoodie was green and had MIT blazoned across the chest; though most of it had faded away.

He looked up and watched Rhodey put his black hoodie on and then his suit jacket and smiled.

“He went after you because of me.” He said softly.

Rhodey winced. “Yes, because he hadn’t realized that both of your parents had left their shares of the company to you. You would have had controlling interests and therefore more sway. He also hadn’t realized that you left a will and testament, which you had, which we had possession of and knew what you wanted done.” Rhodey sat down again and shook his head. He reached over and took Tony’s hand into his own and squeezed it. “I’m pretty sure you get why he didn’t want to get away from arms dealing.”

Tony nodded. “He… He killed my mom.” He whispered softly. “My mom.”

Rhodey brought Tony’s hand to his lips. “And we figured that you were with them. And when they didn’t find a body…” his voice trailed off. “We had search parties scouring the mountains as we started the process of using your designs to show the board of Old Angry White Boys that the future was in renewable energy when well… he came after us.”

Tony swallowed hard. “I’m so s-sorry.”

“Hey, hey, it brought us together and while we were running for our lives, dodging explosions, and making his life harder we managed to get on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s radar. They gave us a secure hiding spot and we told them to bugger off. He made this personal. He was using all of Howard’s ‘bad babies’ and we had to improvise. He was willing to take out the entire East Coast just to get at us. So, we took your designs; fucking brilliant by the way, and managed to create a trap that should have been non-lethal.”

Tony winced. “Bad design?”

“No.” Rhodey answered emphatically. “Perfect design. It was the asshole inside said perfect design that made it lethal. If he would have just stayed in there. If he hadn’t tried to blow his way out of V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. he would still be here today.”

Tony swallowed hard. “He-- He tried to BLOW his way out of V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A.?”

“Yes, like an idiot. And it failed, and he died.”

“And you and Pepper…”

“We’re fine.” He smiled, holding up his hand. “We’re fine.” He said pointing to his ring finger.

Tony gasped. “Awww, I’m so happy for you… I knew you’d be perfect for each other as soon as you got over the Alpha/Alpha thing.” He sniffled. “Was the wedding nice?”

Rhodey shook his head. “There hasn’t been a wedding.”

Tony looked at him with great confusion. “What? But the rings?”

“Engagement… we are… we were waiting on our best man.”

“Oh Rhodey.” He whispered as he lunged to hug him. “You shouldn't have waited for me. You shouldn’t have--”

“We were waiting for you to come home, one way or another. We weren’t going to do this without you.” He whispered into his shoulder, before pulling away. “But yeah, we’ve been together since. We butt heads, and she wins most of the time. She lets me do my thing in R&D; which I will be so happy to have you translate some of your designs for me because man, some of that shit is far into the future it’s unreal.” He snorted. “She takes care of the Board Of Old Rich Angry White Boys, while I do my thing in R&D, and she occasionally drags me out for meetings and charity functions.”

Tony sniffled happily. “That’s so… I’m so happy for you both.”

Rhodey smiled. “Can.. Can I tell her?”

Tony’s face went white.

“I don’t have to tell her now. I know that you’ve been going through a lot and I ---”

“Tomorrow?” He asked.

“Tomorrow?” Rhodey parroted.

“You… you can tell her tomorrow…”

“Okay, but I should warn you, I have a guy that can get her here through a magic portal.”

Tony reared back.

“I’m just saying, Tones. The moment that she hears that you are alive that we’ve got about twenty minutes before she barges through the spacetime continuum to see you.”

Tony laughed softly. “A guy? Who? I mean… what?”

“He’s a sorcerer.”

“Sorcerer?”

“It’s had to explain. It annoys my inner scientist that I can’t explain magic. But it’s a thing, he can get her here in 10 seconds flat.”

Tony gulped.

“Look, okay, here’s what I’ll tell her. I’ll tell her that I forgot my hoodie at the penthouse.”

“You live in a penthouse?”

“Oh boy, I have so much to tell you, but it’s too much to take in all at once. So let me ease you into this slowly. I’ll tell her that I left my hoodie at the penthouse. She knows how much I hate being without one of your hoodies.” Tony’s chin trembled and Rhodey squeezed his hand. “It’s a coping mechanism we both developed.”

“I can ask her to bring one to me and she’ll contact the ‘Sorcerer Supreme’ as he likes to call himself, and he’ll get her here.”

“Really?”

“He’s sweet on her, but knows it ain’t gonna happen.”

“And… she just shows up, looks at me and…”

Rhodey winced. “I’d probably sit her down and warn her before having you walk around the corner or something.”

Tony took a deep breath, held onto Rhodey’s arm and said. “Okay, yeah, I’m good with that. Um… I think I think it’s time to rejoin the others.”

“You sure?”

“No. But I have to try.”

----------

T’Challa’s office was spacious, but somehow felt almost claustrophobic at the moment. Around the room sat half of the Avengers team. Commander Fury, Clint, Natasha, Cap, and Sam were sitting around waiting for … they didn’t know what, but T’Challa, who was looking out his massive window that faced the side of Wakanda that faced the desert, wasn’t giving them much information.

The door opened and in walked in Rhodey, Tony and Winter. Winter went rigid when he saw Steve and steered himself and Tony far away from him. Steve could only avert his eyes and wince.

Winter let Rhodey guide Tony across the room to T’Challa and made his way back across the room to stand as a silent sentinel. They all got the feeling that he wasn’t just their to keep them in, one glance at Tony and they knew exactly who he was there for.

Rhodey left Tony with T’Challa and took a seat at the end of the couch that Barton and Natasha were sitting on. He nodded to them, but his eyes never left Tony.

“I-- I can’t do this.” Tony whispered softly. “I-- I can’t.”

T’Challa nodded solemnly. “I understand Tony, but how…” he followed Tony’s eyes and winced internally.

“I understand, friend. You must do what you feel is best for yourself.” Tony looked at him is pupils were small as pin pricks and he looked terrified. He took Tony’s hands into his own and squeezed them reassuringly. “ We will protect you with all that we have, to you that I swear.” He vowed solemnly. The tension in Tony’s shoulder drained minimally and he took a deep breath as to steel himself against whatever he was about to face.

He slowly walked across the room and was met close to the door by Winter.

“I--I can’t do this.”

Winter looked at him quizzically. “I can’t… I lived it once… I can’t live through it again.”

“Then how will… Oh…” He muttered softly. “I-- What do you want me to tell them?”

“Everything.”

Winter looked up sharply, the hand holding Tony’s tightened it’s grip minutely. “No. I will not. You cannot expect me too. They do not need to know all the sordid details.”

Tony seemed to hesitate.

“I will not tell them anymore than they need to know. You can’t make me do that, Tony. They don’t need to know everything.

“Then you decide. You know… you know I can’t decide.” He whispered anxiously.

Winter squeezed his eyes closed put put his his hand on the back of Tony’s neck to give him a reassuring squeeze. “I’ll tell them what they need to know and not a bit more.” He promised softly.

“Thank you,” he breathed into his shoulder.

Tony pulled away to address the room and immediately regretted it. There were so many of them and…

“Tony’s… I’ll be the one explaining everything, today.”

The door behind them opened slightly and there stood Shuri. Both men turned to look across the room and T’Challa nodded as he put away his smart phone.

Shuri held out her hand, in the end was a walking stick. “Today has been tumultuous as its best. I believe it is in Tony’s best interest to acquit himself from these matters and take his leave for his own good.” T’Challa explained thoughtfully.

Rhodey stood up and walked over to Tony. He took his face in his hands and kissed his foreheads. “When this is over; me and you, buddy. I’m stuck to you like glue, got me?”

Tony couldn’t help but smile a little at that. “I got you, I got you.”

“Good.” He sighed, kissed his forehead, turned to Shuri and looked her dead in the eye. “I’m trusting you to keep an eye out on my boy.” He turned to Tony and squeezed his shoulder. “Gotta keep my best man safe.” He whispered only Tony to hear.

Tony smile softly, nodded to Winter and took Shuri’s hand. He was at a loss for words and could only meekly wave goodbye before following Shuri out the door.

Rhodey walked away Winter squared his shoulders.

“Alright. So here’s the deal. I’m going to tell you what you need to know. Nothing more, nothing less. So listen up, and don’t interrupt, I’m only telling this story once.”

---------------

(Yall know the long and the short of the story and I don’t wanna haffa type it again. Just take what you know and make it that much worse. There will be times when I do mention specifics, but if I start getting into it…. I have a very twisted imagination, and I really don’t want to go there. So… without further ado, Tony gets to meet the rest of the merry band of Avengers.)

-----------------

Shuri guided Tony down the stairs and to the balcony and into the area where the others sat waiting. She stopped at the foot of the steps. “We could take you the long way around to the pups.” She whispered. But Tony was looking at the occupants… mostly Amadeus and his family.

“No no, I… Could you give me a couple of minutes… then maybe bring the pups out. I… I think… I think I wanna meet these Avengers… the others…”

“It’s more intimidating when there is more to be expected, yes?”

“Yeah… yeah… exactly.”

As they entered Amadeus stood up and ran for him. “Sukbu, sukbu, I want you to meet my parents!!” He exclaimed excitedly. He grabbed Tony’s hand and pulled him forward and Tony could not bring himself to do much else but allow his former ward to pull him closer to the parents he had missed so dearly.

“Momma, Daddy, this is Tony.” He exclaimed as soon as he got close. “Tony, this is my momma, Dr. Ellen Banner-Cho. And this is my daddy Dr. Bruce Banner.”

“Uh, nice to meet you. You have an extraordinary son.” As he spoke Shuri brought over a comfortable high backed chair for him to sit on. “Thanks…”

“Thank you, or I should be thanking you. The way Amadeus talks about you. You’re a legend.”

Tony laughed nervously, messing with Amadeus’s hair before giving him a playful shove towards his parents. “I’m not sure I’ll quite live up to being a legend. It’s your son that deserves a lot of credit. He helped out immensely when we needed him the most. And I’ll forever be grateful for everything he’s done. Some debt’s just can’t be repaid.” He added softly, and Amadeus rushed over to give him a hug.

Ellen cleared her throat and tried to find her voice. “And that can go both ways.” She shook her head. “The way they took him. They left me for dead and Bruce…”

Bruce chuckled ruefully. “All those years of careful planning and conflict avoidance. All up in smoke the moment I couldn’t find my boy and wife was hurt. First came Ross and the S.H.I.E.L.D. and  Fury soon thereafter.”

“But it all worked out, in a roundabout way. Ross got caught paying off someone that worked for someone else, that contracted someone else to do the dirty work. To this day he refuses to say a word about it.” Ellen added sadly.

“But it’s okay, cause you found me, right?” Amadeus added, his eyes alight.

“Yeah.. you can say that.” Bruce reached out for his son to pull him close and give him a noogie.

Tony smiled and looked around the room and felt his throat close up. It felt like there were so many more of them than what was in T’Challa’s office.

Bruce noticed the panicked expression and realized that they had company.

“Allow me to introduce our companions. “This is Scott Lang and Hope Pym.” They waved. “Next to them is Thor Odinson.”

“Tis an honor to meet you.”

They all gave a small chuckle.

“Across from Scott and Hope are Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, they are twins.”

They waved from where they sat.

“Hi,” his voice cracked a little. “I’m Tony. And I have no idea where to go from here.” They all gave a small chuckle at that.

Wanda looked at Thor and shared a knowing look. They could both sense that there were pups close by, but from the looks of it, it was not the time nor the place to blurt that out.

But it seemed as though the fates would take it out of anyone's hands as a little boy attempted to scuttle around the corner chirping happily… and then a pair of extremely long arms dragged him back around the corner with a squawk.

After an awkward pause Tony chortled to himself. “It’s okay, Mala. You lot can come on out.”

Kamala peaked around the corner, Nova squirming in her arms. “We’re sorry Boba, we heard voices and were curious. And then Nova heard your voice...”

“It’s okay, come out and say hello to the nice people.”

As the pups came around the corner Ellen’s grasp on Bruce’s arm intensified.

“Oh God,” he whispered softly as the pups came around the corner. In the back of his head he heard a rumbling. Protect. PUNIES.

---------

Everyone was aghast. But it was Clint who managed to collect himself first. “Okay, first of all, I’ve gone 78 hrs without sleep, I have jet lag, and I’m running on fumes so you’re going to have forgive me if I don’t make sense right now. Second of all, I’m formally resigning as an Avenger.”

“THE FUCK!” Fury jumped to his feet.

Clint jumped to his feet as well. “AVENGERS DON’T KILL AND I CAN’T BE AN AVENGER RIGHT NOW!!”

Natasha put her hand on his arm from where she sat on the sat on the couch and T’Challa was in front of him, his hands on his chest, urging him to sit down.

“Is there more you would like to add, Barton?”

“Yes, yes there is. Rhodes, you’re the science guy. How the hell is this possible?”

“Did you not pass high school biology?”

“I DIDN’T GO TO HIGH SCHOOL, but that’s BESIDES the point…” he was panting now, anger all drained from him. His face was blotchy, his nose and eyes were red. “Nat and I are both beta’s.” He said haltingly. “ And what I can remember from S.H.I.E.L.D. basic training is that Beta’s can’t impregnate Omega’s.”

Winter turned to T’Challa.

“I had no idea.”

“No one does. To the outside world S.H.I.E.L.D. is teeming with strong Alpha’s. But it’s a lie. There are plenty of Beta’s and more than a few Omega’s in our ranks and on the field. This, this," he motioned almost violently to the tubes, "should be physically impossible! Even if they did somehow extract our dna from our blood samples and somehow mess with science and make it sperm... it still shouldn’t be possible… right?” He asked with an edge of hysteria to his voice.

Rhodey seemed to be trying to digest it all when Steve cleared his throat.

“You said… you implied that there were miscarriages.” His voice wavered.

“Yes.”

“And you implied that they went in a specific order.”

“Yes, the order of the tubes.”

Steve winced as he took a closer look at the tubes. “How… how many?”

“How many what?”

“M-miscarriages.”

Winter shook his head. “We don’t know exactly. Sometimes he thought he was pregnant, but then he’d have stomach pains. Other times he’d get really sick and then it would pass. There were at least 3-4-5 times he conceived and then miscarried…. Why does this---”

“Me. Those… Those …. I’m…” His voice wavered. “Everyone thinks of Captain America as the most virile Alpha to have ever existed. But they are wrong. There’s no way he could have had my child.”

The others made noises of protest.

“No, look. The fact that I was conceived was a miracle. That I was born and survived it, was another miracle. I was the sickest baby they’d ever seen. Each day was a gift, and every day I woke up left the doctor baffled. Every milestone was an event. Every time I overcame whatever disease, infection, or illness that hit me, was a miracle. I left doctors baffled. My Omega mother shouldn’t have been able to conceive and my Alpha father wasn’t exactly cream of the crop.”

“But the serum…”

He shook his head at Natasha. “The serum, in theory, just took what was in me and amplified it, or that’s what Dr. Erskine tried to explain at least. But that’s the thing, the serum is still in me. It’s in my veins but it’s self replicating. It doesn’t… it didn’t bond to my DNA.” His eyes swung over to Fury. “Believe me, I know. They took enough blood to make me light headed after Erskine was assassinated. It’s not something that can be carried over.” He shrugged sadly.

“If he was able to conceive from my sperm… the probability of it surviving…” he shook his head sadly. “Miniscule. Even with today’s modern advances… you can’t make something stick that wasn’t meant to stick.”

A palpable silence fell over the room.

“I’m still going to need a swab from each of you…” T’Challa said softly.

Steve stood up abruptly. “You won’t need one from me, Your Majesty.” He walked across the room briskly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need access to as much intel as you have about this location so that I can make plans accordingly.

T’Challa closed his eyes and nodded. He gave Steve a thumb drive and gave him directions to an unused study for him to use.

The door closed with a bang and they all jumped.

Clint was the first to take a swab out of T’Challa’s hand. He jammed it inside his mouth and started swabbing his cheek. When he knew there was enough he handed it back to him. “Now, tell me about these kids.” He asked softly.

The other Avengers followed suit before looking at Winter expectantly.

Rhodey eye’s, though, they were the ones that Winter felt piercing his soul. “Riri?” He asked.

Winter couldn’t help but smirk. “He told me that he thought ‘Rhonda’ was too much of a dead giveaway.”

Rhodey didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“What order were they born in?” Fury asked, his voice taking a much softer tone.

T’Challa took that as his opportunity to hand out tablets to each Avenger.

“Kamala was first; with Yinsen.”

“Two genius’s would make a prodigy.” Rhodey muttered under his breath with a shake of his head.

“Then Riri," he said and Rhodey grimaced hard. She had his mother's hair texture and curls. Tony's dimples, but it was his own eyes were staring back at him.

"Then Miles.”

Fury cleared his throat and stared down at the face that mirrored his at a much younger age.

“There were a couple of years where his body just…”

“The miscarriages.” Fury whispered.

“One or two… but they just wasn’t taking.”

“And then came Gwennie.”

Clint gasped sharply. He had to put his tablet down as he buried his head in his hands.

“She has your eyes and the same hair color that you had at that age.” Natasha whispered.

Winter squinted at him. “Never seen eyes so blue that they’re almost violet.” He cleared his throat and continued. “And then came Petee.”

Fury cursed under his breath. “I’ve seen those freckles before.”

Natasha could do nothing but swallow hard. She didn’t remember much of her life before the red room, but there were a few faces that stuck wit her. The boy looking back at her looked so eerily like her younger brother that it made her chest hurt.

She wanted to hurt someone.

And she wanted to hurt them now.