The First Memory
The screen lit up and an image of a small child appeared.
It was a boy. Around two years old. Black hair was sticking in almost all directions and big brown eyes looked around in fear. He was in some sort of a conference room with no windows. A big wardrobe stood in one corner. Suddenly there were voices outside the room. The boy quickly crawled in under the table. At the same moment the door opened and three men went in. The shortest one was throwing impressed glances at the one with a metal arm. The third one simply went over to one of the chairs and sat down. Unfortunately it was the chair closest to the boy.
“I still can’t understand that you managed to make Barnes…”
“His name is Winter Soldier. And that’s the only name you are allowed to use Howard. Understood?”
Howard quickly nodded. The Soldier stood now next to the wall. His eyes swept the room and stopped on the boy curled up under the table. The child slowly put both his hands up in surrender and suddenly they started to glow blue.
“So what can you offer us Howard? And try to find something we don’t already have.”
Howard was looking rather pale. Meanwhile the Soldier and the child kept staring at eachother. Then suddenly the man looked up and started to ignore the boy. The blue glow disappeared.
“Listen Henry. Stop acting so damn important. You are just a Hydra shit that is not worth anything. I have been providing you with the best of best. The serum, the chair, his arm. What more can you want?”
The sitting man smirked suddenly.
“We heard you have a child Stark.”
If he was suspecting any big reaction from Howard he was mistaken. The man simply shrugged and answered:
“Anthony? He is useless. You can have him if you want but he is nothing. But a brainwashed Peggy Carter… “
Before he could finish the boy jumped out from under the table and screamed:
“You can’t! How dare you?! Not aunt Peggy! You stupid, sick bastard!”
His hands began to glow once again but before anything more happened the Soldier picked him up and, to everyone's surprise, hugged him. The glow slowly faded. After a few more minutes the boy had calmed down completely and actually fallen asleep against the man.
“Soldat?”
The Soldier looked over to Henry.
“Sir.”
It seemed to calm the man a bit. He turned to a shocked Howard.
“Not so useless after all. Who would have thought? The hair to the Starks- a mutant. And smart enough to be able to talk flawlessly at this age.”
Then he stood up and added sharply:
“I’m taking the boy with me. He will be brainwashed and learned everything he needs to serve Hydra. Soldat. We’re leaving.”
But the Soldier was standing and looking at the boy who was sleeping in his arms. He looked conflicted. Then suddenly he drew his gun and shot. Henry was dead before he even hit the floor. The boy had been startled awake by the gunshot and was now watching the dead man with wide eyes. Then the Soldier put him back on the floor, nodded and headed towards the door. On the way there he picked up the dead body and then walked out not even looking back. Howard was muttering something under his breath. Something about having a drink. The boy shivered all over. He was visibly afraid. But if it was Howard he was afraid of or the Soldier that had just left was unclear. The man looked over to the boy and then to the pool of blood.
“Clean this up. Freak.”
Then he left the room. After a few seconds a tall man entered. He went over to the boy and picked him up.
“Master Tony? What happened?”
“I… I used it again. And father saw.”
The man’s eyes widened a bit. Then he smiled softly and said with a calm voice:
“Why don’t you go to sleep Master Tony and I’ll clean this up huh? I promise that it will be our secret.”
The boy nodded and leaned a bit more against the man.
“I love you Jarvis. You know that right?”
Jarvis simply nodded and went out of the room not once looking over to the pool of blood.
The screen went black and the it became quiet. Everyone was in various states of shock. The first one to collect himself was Clint. He leaned a bit forward and asked:
“Tony is a mutant?”
That seemed to snap them all out of it and suddenly everyone was trying to say something at the same time. Everyone except for Bucky. Sam was the one who noticed it first and he put both hands up in the air. That made everyone go quiet again. When he spoke his voice was calming as if he was trying to say that he was not a threat and he did absolutely not want to end up being thrown at the wall.
“You knew Stark?”
Bucky shook his head.
“Not like that. I never connected Howard Stark’s son to that boy. I knew him under a different name. And they never did anything to make me believe something else. If I had known that he and Tony are the same person…”
“But he is a mutant?”
Natasha groaned.
“You just saw one of the most dangerous assassins in the world kill his handler because he wanted to save a child and the only thing you can think of is Tony being a mutant.”
“He isn’t that anymore.”
Peppers voice was quiet but in the silent room everyone was able to hear her. Bucky turned towards her with actual fear in his eyes.
“They didn’t.”
“They did. I don’t know where you come into the story later Barnes but they did. When he was ten. Because they couldn’t control him.”
Bucky’s head hung down and when he spoke they could all feel the pain and hate in his voice.
“Ten. The same year I was put back into the cryo. Those bastards planned it from the beginning!”
Suddenly he flew up from his seat and looked around with the same wild eyes he had before. Clint’s and Natasha’s hands moved slowly towards their guns while Vision stood up again. At the same second Friday seemed to think it would be a good idea to make them all calm down so she overloaded the power in one of the lamps and made it shine brightly right before it exploded into pieces.
Everyone looked around shocked while Rhodey and Pepper smiled. They had both seen Jarvis do that. Vision sighed.
“Friday.”
“Could anyone just please calm down? Winter please sit. Those memories are a few hours long and I don’t think standing is a good idea for all that time.”
That was when Bucky suddenly smiled and sat down.
“You can hear that Jamie is the one who created you girl.”
“I take that as a compliment.”
Before anyone could ask anything more Bucky looked around and said calmly:
“Before you ask I am going to say this. I have no idea why I went against orders and saved him. I don’t really remember anything from around that time. Just that I saved a boy who was a mutant and I was put in the chair as soon as I arrived back.”
No one seemed to want to comment on that so Friday figured she should continue with the clips before anyone started to argue again. Wanda was staring at the screen. Tony Stark was a mutant. Tony Stark had powers that seemed to be very familiar to her own. She slowly scratched the word freak out from her mental list of bad things about Stark. After all, calling him a freak would be almost like calling herself a freak. The screen flickered back to life and once again did Vision sit down first when he thought all the danger had disappeared.