Tired Doesn’t Equal Training
“What in the name of god, made you think it was a good idea to place a man, who still has to ask permission to use the kitchen, in charge of an eight year old?”
None of the team could bear to look up from the floor at the man scolding them, despite the fact that he was the one sitting down and had said eight year old in his lap.
Winter wasn’t any help, the man deferring to his former handler with ease, which showed that he still hadn’t flushed the protocols out of his head and that really didn’t help them in pleading their case.
“And now you have a ninja Tony on your hands. What fun that must be.”
Steve wanted to do nothing more than to melt into the floor, seeing as he was the one solely responsible for their current predicament.
Two weeks prior . . .
“You’re sure you got everything?” Steve asked from where he was sitting on the floor, lacing the boots of his uniform up, a scowling Bucky Barnes standing behind him with the currently eight year old Tony sitting on his shoulders.
“Yes, I have. JARVIS will remind me if I forget anything.” Bucky (who insisted on being called Winter) replied while Tony was leaning on his head, yawning loudly as Steve grabbed the duffle bag sitting by the door. As reluctant as the team was to leave the de – aged Tony and the still recovering Winter Soldier in the Tower alone, someone had to deal with the HYDRA base that was going to launch an attack at some point during the month.
Dante had been kind enough to inform them about the situation, as he was still able to access the mainframe despite revealing to HYDRA that he was never on their side. Tony had been eager to hire Dante’s team of hackers, but Dante didn’t work in the tower himself. Apparently it was for personal reasons, but Natasha was pretty sure there was some history between Tony and Dante that neither man was willing to bring up.
Dante did sometimes drop by the Tower in order to check on Bucky, while also helping out with the recovery process as he had been Bucky’s handler for several years.
“We’ll keep in touch, and let you know if we need radio silence.”
The other’s were waiting for him, so as soon as Bucky nodded, Steve was out the door.
And because he was in such a rush, he missed hearing the one thing that would have made him turn around and prevent the whole ordeal from happening.
“So, what does Rogers mean by get you tired?”
-o0o-
It had been foolish on Steve’s part to leave Bucky in charge of Tony, who still happened to possess his adult mind and most likely would have convinced Bucky to let him do things that his eight year old body certainly couldn’t handle.
JARVIS had been happy to inform them that there had been no accidents, Bucky had been deferring to Tony as the main handler (in order to cope with a new residence) and Dante had been quite firm on the matter of Bucky keeping his main handler safe. It was part of the recovery process, and so having the accident prone man in the form of an eight year old had made Bucky even more wary than before.
However, when the team had returned from the mission, bruised and battered, but relatively uninjured, they really should have seen the ambush coming when neither Bucky or Tony greeted them when they got back.
Luckily none of them had been wearing their battle gear, having changed and showered before heading back to the Tower.
A flurry of glitter bombs fell from the ceiling, and through the furious shrieking they all made as the glitter was somehow slimy, those among them with heightened senses had heard the childish giggling from the air vents.
Throughout the next week, they were pranked, assaulted and partially traumatized, but none of them ever caught even a glimpse of either Bucky or Tony.
When even the merciless and ice cold hearted Black Widow broke down into a sobbing fit from frustration, they called in the one person that would be able to handle the tag team of pranksters.
Needless to say, when Dante arrived, the team had almost wept in joy before wailing to the hacker of their woes.
Once JARVIS let Dante have full access to the tower, the ex – HYDRA agent took not even an hour to hunt down the terrible duo.
Thus, leading to the current lecture the team was receiving.
-o0o-
“Winter, while I’m glad you’ve taught Tony how to defend himself, do remember he has the body of an eight year old. Which means endless amounts of energy. Add that and his hyper – active brain, that can lead to total disaster. We’re just lucky JARVIS denied him access to the labs.”
The team shuddered, not wanting to think of what monstrosity Tony might have created instead.
“I guess you haven’t found a lead on how to get Tony back to his normal age yet?” Dante questioned while Bucky took a pouting Tony to the kitchen, seeing as it was easier to get him to eat than when he was an adult.
“No, the technology that was used is completely busted, unless we can somehow find an alternative, Tony might have to grow up again naturally.”
None of them were looking forward to Tony going through the stages of puberty, they were well aware of his MIT days.
Dante seemed to be thinking along the same lines, and the hacker let out a heavy sigh.
“Luckily for you, I know a guy. He might be able to get Tony’s body back to his adult age again, but he’s a magic user.”
The only magic user the team knew about was Loki, and none of them, not even Thor, would give the trickster such trust in regard of one of their teammates.
“And who, exactly, it this guy you know?” Natasha asked with a frown, Dante’s associates were very secretive and not even SHIELD could find out who his contacts were.
Dante just grinned, leaning forward in his seat with arms crossed over his chest.
“Are you familiar with a Doctor Stephen Strange?”
-o0o-
Four days later, and they had their old Tony back.
Except, apparently even the Sorcerer Supreme couldn’t fully negate the effects of Tony’s de – aging.
It was quite terrifying to see a wacky, extravagant inventor in his 40’s with the skills of a ninja and the hyper – active energy of a young child.
-o0o-