Broodmare

When the show was over the pups were shivering but deliriously happy about it. Shuri and the Dora Milaje came armed with fluffy towels and dry clothes.

“That was AWESOME!”

“RAIN IS COLD!”

* chirp* *chirp*

“Yeah, it definitely made your hair curlier.” Kamala giggled as she sat Nova down, grabbed a towel, wrapped it around him and playfully started to dry him off and tickle him at the same time.

“Does it rain a LOT where you’re from Thor?” Gwennie asked in awe as Thor stepped into the room looking more drenched than all the pups combined. Scott came up and took his drenched cape off while Hope draped a large towel over his shoulders.

“Nay, though when it does they think I did it.” He chuckled when all the pups reared back. “I jest with you… They only suspect me when it thunders overmuch.”

The pups all giggled at that. Pietro and Wanda laughed as they helped the older kids change the younger kids into dry clothes. Even Tony couldn’t help but chuckle at the disarming manner with which he spoke.

As the pups got settled T’Challa came down the stairs.

“Pardon the interruption, but I must ask for the remaining members to join me in my office.”

Tony’s smile wilted from his face and Winter squeezed his knee.

“After our talk I believe that we will be departing for a mission. We shall be gone three hours at the most. In that time Shuri has directed the staff to prepare dinner. We all hope to have returned by then.”

Tony nodded, but he felt hollow, numb. He’d just met these people, maybe made friends… and now they were going to realize just how utterly pathetic he was.

It was nice while it lasted.

“Dr. Banners, I know that you wish not to participate in this mission, but I believe that you being fluent in many languages may come in handy.” Bruce nodded.

“I’ll be staying behind.” Ellen said resolutely. “As much as I would like to help, I want to be here.” She reached over and ran her fingers through Amadeus’s hair.

T’Challa nodded. “Understood. Dr. Banner. Shuri needs to share some pertinent information before you go.”

“I’m staying behind to.” Winter said from where he sat next to Tony. Tony looked up sharply. “I’ve seen enough of the catacombs to last me a very very long time.” Tony let out a shaky breath and T’Challa reached out to squeeze his shoulder.

“They will know nothing more than needs be known, I assure you.”

Tony nodded but wouldn’t look up.  

T’Challa and the others left but Winter stayed behind. He pulled Tony to his feet and pulled him close. “No one hates you Tony. No one blames you. They want to make sure that they put a stop to this. So that it never happens again. I swear to you Tony, no one’s mad at you.”

Tony nodded as he pulled away. Winter leaned over to kiss his cheek and then twined his fingers with Tony’s and lifted them to his lips for one last chaste kis.

Tony breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe Winter was right. Maybe they were going to be okay. But as Thor and the other disappeared upstairs and Shuri and Bruce left the common area his stomach felt a sharp twist of doubt.

Ellen sensed his turmoil and sat down next to him, playfully knocking their shoulders together. She tentatively put her arm around his shoulder and laid her head on his shoulder. “We’re here now.” She said softly, into his shoulder. “And you’re safe.” Her words; however simple, hit him like a ton of bricks.

His entire body deflated against her shoulder. “I’m… I’m so tired.” He whispered softly.

She raised her hand to run gently through his hair and hushed him. “By the looks of it, so is everyone else…”

He could just barely crack open his eyes but he could see that she was right. All the pups were scattered around the couches curled up together in two’s sleeping: Kamala and Nova on one side of the loveseat opposite from them with Riri and Peter on the other. Just off the side in a large overstuffed chair was Miles with Gwennie curled up tight against his chest.

Movement caught off to the side of them caught his attention and he turned his head just in time to see Amadeus; swathed in a fluffy towel draped over his shoulder, walking towards them with a steaming coffee cup on a small platted between his hands.

Amadeus smiled at him. “Tea. It always soothes daddy.”

Ellen’s eyes grew large. That much sedative would kill anyone.

“Don’t worry momma. It’s the normal green tea with a bit of honey to sweeten it. It’s just warm enough to get rid of the chill in your bones and lull you asleep, I promise.”

Tony sighed heavily. Tea. Not quite coffee; which he hadn’t allowed himself to think about since the nightmare had begun, but it was close. Gods, I miss coffee, he thought to himself pitifully, knowing full well that coffee at this point would probably kill him.

“Thank you,” he said softly as he took the saucer to cup from Deus. He lifted the cup to his mouth and inhaled the steam. Milk and water and juice were all fine things that he’d never take for granted again, but a warm drink… something to chase the cold and dampness away… it almost brought a tear to his eye.

First he took a small tentative sip so as not to burn his tongue. The warmth, he was pretty sure he made an indecent noise at the warmth spread down his throat and through his chest. The second and third drinks were bigger, but he didn’t rush it. He wanted to savor the warmth… but his head had other ideas.

“M’tired.” He mumbled as his eyelids drooped and his head bobbed. “All I do i’seep any more.” He muttered under his breath.

“Recuperation. It’s called recuperation, Mr. Stark.”

Tony’s head listed to one side. “Nothin’… I’m… I’m Nothin’...”

Amadeus’ head shot up like a dart. “Not Nothing, Sukbu, never Nothing.” He whispered ardently, so ardently that Ellen was taken aback.

“S’always s’mthing to you, Nipote*.” He mumbled as his head lolled to the side and rested against top of Amadeus’ head. “Always s’mthing to you.” He mumbled before drifting off to sleep.

When she was sure that he was fast asleep Ellen softly suggested they lay him down but Amadeus’s arm shot out quickly and he shook his head sharply. “No momma, he can’t… just… no laying down. Just believe me.”

Ellen could only nod. Her son, her baby, he’d changed so much. It was as though some of his innocence had remained intact, but he was so much … smarter, in tune with those around him.

She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to laugh or cry as she saw him look at how much space he was taking it up and mutter under his breath that there was ‘enough room for Sukbu Winter’ or as he situated one throw pillow under Tony’ head before lifting his feet up onto the coffee table and putting the other pillow under his feet. Lastly he took the blanket that he had had previously wrapped around his shoulder; not a towel as both adults had mistaken it for, and draped it over both Tony and her laps before crawling underneath it, curling up at Tony’s side and leaning against him.

Tony’s arm lifted up as soon as Amadeus rested against him and Amadeus snuggled up underneath his arm as though he had done so a million times before.

And it broke her heart.

It also made her almost regret staying behind with Tony and the pups. Almost. She knew good and well that the Avengers were well equipped to deal with whatever hostile forces they might encounter… she knew good and well that there was nothing she could do that one of the Avengers couldn’t do better…  she knew that she had already lost too much time with Amadeus and that there was so much she needed to learn about the boy he was now.

But that didn’t mean she didn’t want to kick the hell out of a couple of terrorists to make her feel a tiny bit better…  And God help anyone that ever tried to lay a hand on Tony or his pups or her son ever again.

--------

Thor, Pietro, and Wanda sat together on the loveseat. Wanda was holding onto Pietro so tightly her knuckles had turned white. Fury couldn’t quite decide if it was to keep him from flying out the window, or to make sure that he took her with him.

Scott and Hope sat across from them, faces grey and eyes  trained on the vials that sat on the table before them.

Sam sat on the other end of the table watching everyone’s different reactions. Scott’s expression warred between horror, despair, and fury. Hope looked as though she wanted nothing more than to get her helmet and fly to wherever these monsters were and lay waste to them all.

Pietro and Wanda though, they were the ones he worried about. Between her power and his speed; there was literally no stopping them. Perhaps Thor could stop them… if Thor there weren’t a lightning storm in his stormy grey eyes, and thunder weren’t rolling in the distance.

And that was the reaction that they got when they received the heavily redacted version with only the important bullet points.

Odin himself wouldn’t stand a chance of stopping these five if they found out how much more sordid and horrible it was.

“I thought the light show was over, Thor.” Sam said softly to the man sitting across from him.

Thor couldn't stop thinking about Kamala, small precious, precocious Kamala. She had made herself small and asked if she could climb him. He had, of course, granted her permission to do as she pleased, and she had. She had climbed his leather pant leg as though he were a great mountain with tiny grunts and loud exclamations.

When she had gotten to his neck she had become enamored with his hair."Can I braid it?"  She had asked softly. 

"Of course." He had replied. And she had been so excited to take bits of his hair and twirl around until she had braided an entire section and it laid proudly against his chest.

"Good?"

"Fantastic."

And to think that such a girl, such a sweet and pure girl had been an experiment. That her and her adorable siblings had been forced. His blood boiled at the thought.

"THOR!" He heard Sam call his name and he blinked his eyes once, twice, three times before closing them, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. Outside the grey clouds receded while the far off rumbling of thunder ceased. When he opened his eyes they were blue grey once more.

“That’s… those pups…” Scott said shakily, his eyes never leaving the vials with his name on the side. “I think I'm going to be sick.” He stood up suddenly and started pacing. “The pups, I hate to ask but…” but the words got stuck in his throat.

T’Challa shook his head. “None of them are ours, if that is what you are asking.”

“No, no, never in… I don’t care about that. But their …”

Fury closed his eye and shook his head. “They are as healthy as they could be under such circumstances. As for parentage… we are getting tests done as we speak.”

“They should be done by the time our mission is over…”

Scott let out a humorless laugh. “I… I’d like to formally tender my resignation.”

“WHAT IN THE HELL IS WITH YOU PEOPLE TRYING TO RESIGN TODAY!” Fury bellowed.

Scott didn’t hesitate to get into his face. “YOU CANNOT HONESTLY THINK THAT I CAN WALK INTO A PLACE WITH THESE KIND OF… OF… MONSTERS KNOWING FULL WELL WHAT THEY’VE DONE TO THAT OMEGA AND HIS PUPS…” his voice cracked. “To pups my Cassie’s age…” Fury cursed under his breath. “And you think that I could possibly NOT end their lives before they could do something else to ANOTHER Omega and their pups…”

“For what it’s worth, they never touched the kids.” Winter offered lamely, shrugging when everyone turned to him. “It’s not a lie.” He shrugged. “We never let them anywhere near ‘em.”

Scott let a shaky humorless laugh, but turned to Fury with unshed tears in his eyes. “I--”

“You ain’t resigning, no ONE is resigning. This is not a S.H.I.E.L.D. sanctioned mission. Hell, I have no intentions of telling them more than what is absolutely necessary! Do I want to kill them all? You had better believe your ass I do. I hope they burn in hell! I want to tear through them like a hot knife through soft butter. I’ve got a kid now and five step kids now. And that’s not including the terrified Omega downstairs that practically ran out of this room when surrounded by Alpha’s. So yes, I give a damn about this operation. Yes, I realize that there are going to be casualties, but I’d much rather it be on THEIR side than OURS.”

He turned to Thor sharply. “No biblical storms.” He turned to Pietro. “I want you to run around the surrounding areas and look for anyone that is fleeing. Bring them back. Unless you can tell that they are fleeing for their own lives, and are not directly involved with this shit storm. I’m counting on you to use that,” he motioned vaguely towards his head. “Psychic thing you two are so fond of trying to hide.” Both twins winced.

He turned Wanda. “Your job is twofold. A) I want you with Hope and Thor in the Village.” He held back a wince. “And I want you to help weed out the Ten Rings.”

Both twins were on their feet at once. “No.”

“I gave my word to never…”

“You cannot ask this of her…”

“ENOUGH!” Fury bellowed. “Now, I understand what you are against, Wanda. But,” he motioned to the window. “There are people out there that helped with this, and we need to root them out. Thor is going to use his All-Speak to talk to the Omega’s and the pups; they are the most vulnerable. They’ll take one look at Thor and see that he can protect them from whatever threats might be levied against them. He’s going to eliminate the bulk load of the terrorists in the village. But I need you… you can see what they are thinking beyond language.”

Her face was blotchy and her nose was red. “I do not like the idea of doing this…” she looked out the window to the place where she and Pietro had  laughed and played and spun around with the pups in the rain. “But I will. This one time.”

“This is the last time. I swear.”

“I want that in writing.” Pietro grumbled as he squeezed her hand.

“I’ll have papers ready to sign before we’re prepared for take off.” T’Challa offered softly as they twins embraced.

“Good.”

“You said two fold?”

“Yes, Hope, you are going with Thor and his team. I want you to fly around. If you see any scared pups, Omega’s… anyone one that’s being held captive or against their will. If you find any I want you tell Thor so he can take care of it.”

“Scott; T’Challa has a flying ant problem and we’re going to fix it.”

Scott’s eyes went large. “For ME? You shouldn’t have.” T’Challa smiled at that. Scott had a way of bringing humor to the worst situations.

“Scott, you are going to go through the catacombs and put a special bomb in each room.” They all turned to him at that. “The bomb has a detonator, which will be in my possession and will not be detonated until the all clear is given and that is where you come in again, Wanda.”

“Yes?”

“I’m going to need the biggest self contained shield you can muster to keep the detonation from affecting the town to the west of it and Wakanda. Is that manageable?”

Wanda hesitated.

“Is it?”

“Yes…”

“Wandi… It will be too much…”

“No, Pietro. I can do this. Have faith… please.”

His shoulders slumped in defeat. “I have faith in you…” his eyes swung to Fury. “It’s others that I doubt.”

“Also, Hulk is going to be nearby.”

“What?”

“Wait?”

“Huh?”

“Perhaps they should hear this from someone else.” T’Challa offered. Fury shrugged. “Shuri is speaking to Banner right now, giving him limited  information. He’s getting less than you lot got. She’s giving him the broad strokes.”

Thor was on his feet. “With no one to defend her? Banner is reasonable. But Hulk?!”

Hope cleared her throat. “I think I see where you’re going with this Fury, and I’m not a particular fan of this kind of plan.”

Thor sat down slowly and Scott squinted at Fury. “Do tell, Hope. For all I can see is naught but anything that shall end in disaster.”

“We all know that Hulk is always present in Banner. Even when he’s meditating and zenned out; Hulk is always there. You’re hoping; and I really hope you’re right, that Banner is present inside Hulk enough to keep him from smashing every terrorist that comes his ways because they’ve hurt Amadeus and by extension those that Amadeus cares about.” She paused. “Stop me if I’m wrong.”

Fury smirked. “You’re right; mostly. I’m hoping that hearing the ‘broad stroke’ details with Banner in charge will help Hulk understand that the terrorists are needed alive and not… smashed.” He turned to Thor. “When I said I want you to weed out the terrorists, I meant, literally. I want you to use your hammer and … for the lack of better word ‘lob’ them out of town and into Hulk’s waiting ‘embrace’ if you will.”

Scott let out a huff of laughter. “They aren’t stupid enough to think they can escape Hulk.”

“Precisely.”

“And it will be a show of force to both the people in the town and the terrorists inside the town that we mean business.” Sam added.

“Yes.”

“Huh,” Scott clicked his tongue. “Just when I think you can’t get more devious… you prove me wrong… I don’t know whether I should feel admiration or distress.”

“Both.” Fury answered for him.

“Both is good.”

Wanda cleared her throat. “That leaves the small matter of the vials.” Which she couldn’t take her eyes off of. The vials disgusted her, but the ones marked ‘Scarlet Witch’ and ‘Quicksilver’ tore at her very soul.

“I was hoping that you would take care of them Wanda.” T’Challa said softly. “Destroy them, please, and dispose of what is left over in whatever pocket universe you can muster. Make it so that nothing of it will ever be able to be used.”

Her eyes glowed red. “It would be my greatest pleasure.” She growled as her hands sparked crimson. The vials slowly rose from the table and levitated in mid air. As it levitated it was engulfed by a transparent orb of crimson, then another and another. Once she believed it secure enough she started to clench her fist until the vials and the case that contained them started to crumble into itself . She knew that destroying all the samples was important, but her eyes never left the two vials most important to her.  When all that remained was a small clump of black matter the crimson orbs that had surrounded it shrunk until all three encapsulated it completely.

Once finished she pulled the crimson ball of matter towards her with one hand and opened a portal with another. She looked at the Director squarely in the eye, her own eyes full of righteous indignation as she held the ball in the palm of her hand and clenched her fist around it before throwing it hard as she could into the open portal.

When she closed the portal closed her eyes returned to their normal brown and everyone in the room seemed to relax. “No one will ever use those vials for anything ever.”

“Good, thank you Wanda.”

“Yeah, thanks” Scott echoed, his voice wavering a little.

“Uh,” Winter interjected cautiously. “Does that happen a lot nowadays? Cause… that…”

T’Challa smiled at him warmly. “Wanda is a mutant. One of the strongest of her kind. Her sorcery is second to none.”

“Don’t let Strange hear that, he’ll be offended.” Hope muttered under her breath.

“And no, to my knowledge there are only two people that can create such portal.”

“And we appreciate that she’s on our side… a lot.” Scott added.

Everyone smiled a little at that.

“Good, now that that is out of the way, now it’s onto the mission. Wheels up in ten…”

Everyone stood to get ready but Wanda called out to Fury. “Wait… what about Clint? He’s not slept in…”

Fury hid a smile; it was one of the few things that Fury took great pride in was Clint’s pseudo-quasi parental relationship with the twins. He was 100% sure that none of them realized that they had become a little family unit. Well, Natasha noticed, but Natasha noticed everything.

“Natasha gave him a sedative that will put him out for a good hard half an hour power nap. It’ll take us that long to get the perimeter secured.”

Appeased, the twins got to their feet to change into their gear.

Fury walked over to the door where T’Challa and Winter stood talking softly.

“Gentlemen, are you both sure you want to sit this one out?”

T’Challa turned to him sharply. “Wakanda is a separatist nation. As King I have no choice in the matter.” He paused. “I assure you, Director, there is nothing in this world that I wouldn’t give to be there with you, but I cannot. For my people, our sovereignty, and our independence is at stake. If we were to be seen as taking action now, it would change everything. I must look out for my country, my people, and by extension, our refugees, first and foremost.”

Fury nodded. “Understandable.”

“Having said that; at my request Shuri has already mustered a small faction of the Dora Milaje and they have been scouring the desert since their arrival.”

Fury’s eyebrow rose. “And have they found anything.”

“Unfortunately they weren’t followed.”

“Unfortunately?”

“The Dora are none too fond of anyone that would enslave or mistreat an Omega. They were hoping to catch someone so that they could at the very least feel like they had done something to prevent it from happening again.”

“Understandable.” Fury turned to Winter.

“No.” He stated simply. “My place is with my family. Tony needs me.” And I need him. “And the pups would worry. They’ve been through enough. And…” he paused. “... if I were to go back… it would be a one man wrecking crew… and I… I can’t do that… not anymore. I’ve got to much too lose, and too many people counting on me to keep it together. I’m staying back and that’s that.”

Fury nodded, but before he could open his mouth he heard a loud roar and the castle shook.

“What was….”

“That would be Hulk…”

The door opened and Shuri rushed in breathlessly.

“Are you--”

“I’m fine, brother.” She said as her chest heaved.

“You don’t look fine.”

“Oh, considering everything, I’m doing spectacularly.” She deadpanned.

Winter cursed under his breath. “I’m leaving this to you lot. I have to go check on them.”

------

Ellen stood in the archway of the garden where she had just kissed her husband goodbye, and seen her Hulk looking back at her in his eyes. It wasn’t something you ever get used to; seeing a giant rage monster staring back at with such affection.

Bruce hadn’t said anything… his body language had spoken for him. Anger. Rage. Fury. Despair. They all swirled around him ominously.

“Just come back to me… to us…” was all she had said as she leaned in to kiss him.

Bruce had pulled away after the kiss to take off his shirt and hand it to her. “Always.”

And then she had watched him, her big green monster emerge from her small studious scientist, he gave a great roar and then he took off for the desert.

Sh heard someone come up behind her and when she peeked over her shoulder she saw that it was Winter.

“You okay?”He asked breathlessly.

“I’m fine… were the pups…”

“No, still sleeping like logs… Tony too, thankfully.”

“Good, good…” She nodded, looked one last time at the horizon and noticed Thor flying northwest following Hulk and the quinjet went northeast over an outcropping of mountains.

“It’s hard to believe that two hours ago I was mourning the loss of my son… and now… now my little family has grown 10 fold.” She turned back to him and smiled. “If I haven’t said it before, allow me to say it now. Thank you. My son… my baby…” she choked on the words. “I didn’t think… I never thought I’d…. and now… thank you..”*

Winter nodded. “You’re welcome… though I reckon I should be thanking you for raising such a compassionate kid. When he arrived… it was bad. It was… not easy for anyone. They sent me away for some stupid mission… wasn’t even to kill anyone, just retrieve an intimidation run or something.” He gave an exasperated sigh and leaned against the opposite side of the archway.

“And I came back and it was still chaotic, it was still a mess. But there was Deus, helping out where he could. ‘Mala had this nasty bug she couldn’t shake. She could barely breath and Yensen had his hands full with Riri and Miles being scared because Mala wasn’t getting better and Tony…” his voice trailed off.

“I get it.” She said softly, putting her hand on his arm.

“It was too much.” He whispered softly. “But there was Deus. Barely knew anyone's name and he was there; rubbing this...this goop into her collarbone and telling her to breath and… and…” he inhaled sharply. “He’s a real miracle worker that one.” He smiled weakly.

“It was about… a month or so after that that something happened…. I don’t know what… neither does Tony, honestly. One minute I’m guarding the door the next minute they are escorting Tony and Yinsen outside, they made me lock the door and follow…”

He sighed heavily. “Only Tony and I came back.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah, and the hits kept coming. Tony was a hot mess. Suddenly I’m fulfilling Yinsen’s role as their Alpha, and trying to help keep Tony from…” he let out a frustrated noise. “It was worse than mourning someone you’ve lost. It was worse than feeling like you’ve lost it all. Because Yinsen was everything to them… to all of them. He was their Alpha, their friend, their doctor, their teacher. They took the sun from the sky and replaced it was a half assed candle.” he shook his head roughly.

Ellen chuckled softly as she walked over to him and bumped shoulders. “Considering how well adjusted they are, I reckon the candle wasn’t all that bad.”

He gave a half hearted huff. “They are… I had little to do with it… I mean… I don’t know anything about raising pups. I don’t remember being a pup. I just … hold onto them when they are sad, read books to them, listen to them, and try to give them some semblance of normalcy… which we most definitely are not.” He added with a derisive snort.

Ellen chuckled softly and pulled on his elbow to follow her back inside the mansion. “First of all; normal is highly overrated. Second of all;” she paused at the entrance of the living room. “Would you really have it any other way?”

Winter paused next to her and let out a little sigh at the sight of Amadeus curled up next to Tony, Kamala curled up with Nova in a chair, Riri and Peter curled up together in a love seat and Miles curled around Gwennie in a plush overstuffed chair next to them.

“No… no. Can’t say I would.”

-------

(I would also like to take a moment and apologize for my appalling grammar and punctuation. It’s horrible. And I apologize.)

(*Nipote: italian for nephew)