James Winter
Tony was slowly making his way down the stairs when suddenly he felt Thelma grab his shoulder and drag him backwards. He stumbled and fell down but she simply kept dragging him upstairs.
“Sir Howard said that you are not allowed out of your room and I will not allow you to go anywhere. You’ll only hurt someone. That’s all freaks like you do. Hurt people.”
Tony was trying to shove her away without using his powers but for a women as small as she, she was surprisingly strong. Suddenly they heard voices from downstairs and both of them stilled. Then Thelma took out a small gun from her apron, let go of the boy and started to go downstairs.
“Get back to your room freak.”
But Tony just waited until she had gone all the way down and then followed her quietly. As he walked into the living room he saw Thelma standing completely still staring at the men in front of her. All the confidence from before had disappeared from her. Then one of the men lifted his gun and shot. The woman fell to the ground. Tony looked over to the men and lifted his glowing hands up. His eyes slowly became blue and he was getting ready to either attack or protect himself when he noticed the metal arm one of the men had. He looked up and was met by a pair of ice blue eyes. He threw himself towards the man.
“You came back!”
The man caught him and lifted him up. Tony hugged him and the blue power faded as well as the blue in his eyes. One of the other men stepped forward.
“Asset. What’s the meaning of this?”
The Asset simply put the boy on his hip and held him in place with his metal arm. Then he looked over to the man and answered coldly:
“The boy is coming with me.”
The man, most probably feeling suicidal, stepped closer to them and said:
“No way. He is going to be killed. We don’t need him.”
For a second everyone was quiet and then the Asset lifted his gun and shot the man. He fell down dead. No one else dared to say anything. The Asset looked at the boy and asked with the same cold voice:
“Is there anyone else in the house?”
The boy shook his head.
“Mother and Howard left with Jarvis. Aunt Peggy is working and Ana is not here on Tuesdays. She only comes in on Sundays.”
The Asset nodded and headed towards the door. He went out and went over to one of the cars. He slipped into the front seat and sat the boy down on his knees. Tony quickly turned a bit so that he could look out the window. One of the men got into the driver seat and two others got into the back. The other men got into the second car. They drove for about one hour. Tony’s eyes were all the time looking out the window with fascination. When they stopped, the Asset was the first one to get out of the car. He lifted Tony up and went over to the building. He got inside and went immediately to the laboratory. He opened the door and went in. Everyone was staring in shock when the Asset went in with the child. One of the men stood up from where he was sitting and went over to them.
“What is the meaning of this?!”
Tony, hearing the sharp voice, curled up a bit and hid his face in the crook of the Soldiers neck. The man must’ve noticed the way the boy shuddered because the next time he spoke his voice was softer.
“Where did you find him?”
“Howard Stark’s mansion.”
“Why did you take him?”
“He’s special. I like him.”
The man kept his eyes on the boy when one of the men from the cars went in.
“Mr. Pierce.”
“What is this? I told you to kill everyone.”
The man paled.
“We wanted to sir. But the Asset wouldn’t let us. He killed Johnson when he tried to kill the boy.”
Pierce didn’t take his eyes off of the boy. A few seconds later he nodded.
“Fine. He can stay. But I want to know why he is special.”
The last thing was directed towards the Asset. He simply put the boy on the floor. Tony grabbed his metal hand and looked up with wide eyes.
“Is this Hydra?”
Everyone except for the Asset stilled. He nodded. Tony looked around and suddenly smiled.
“You won’t kill me?”
The Asset shook his head. That seemed to calm Tony down and he lifted both his hands up. They begun to glow and his eyes turned blue. He directed the energy towards one of the tables and lifted it up. He made it flip upside down and fly around in the room before he turned it right and put it down in the exactly same place. All the time the things on the table didn’t move an inch. Pierce looked at the boy with wonder.
“What’s your name?”
Tony shrugged while his eyes went back to brown.
“I don’t wanna use my name.”
“James.”
Pierce looked up at the Asset. There was something like panic in his eyes.
“WHAT did you say?”
His voice was sharp but quiet as if he didn’t want to scare the boy. The Asset didn’t even react to that.
“His name is James. I remember that.”
One of the men in the lab coats came forward.
“Sir. I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“He might remember…”
“He won’t.”
Then he turned towards the boy and nodded.
“So, James. And the last name?”
“Winter. It’s his name so I can have it as a last name. Right?”
Tony’s voice became suddenly frightened. As if he was afraid of making a decision on his own. As if he thought he would be punished for it. Pierce smiled and nodded again.
“Of course James. Asset take him to Block A. Take one of those rooms. Your old… um, room, is not fitting for a child.”
“Yes sir.”
The Asset grabbed the boy’s hand and started to head towards the door. Before they exited Tony asked quietly:
“Does this mean that I can use it whenever I want?”
The Asset nodded.
“Yes Jamie. You can.”
When they had gone out the same man in the rock came forward again.
“Sir. This is not smart. If he keeps using the name James he might remember that his own name is James.”
But Pierce shook his head.
“He won’t remember. When he gets back you are going to question him. Make sure that the only thing he associates with that name is the boy. Wipe him if you have to.”
“And the boy? You surely understand sir that if they took the boy from Stark’s mansion then that must be…”
“Tony Stark?”
Pierce laughed.
“Yes. I do realize it. And imagine Stark’s genius and the boy’s powers in one. In Hydra’s hands. Act nice around him. Make him feel safe. It’s obvious that he was abused by Howard. Make him feel at home here. He will get useful later.”
The man in the coat sighed quietly but when Pierce looked over to him he quickly stood straight and said with power:
“Hail Hydra.”
Clint was on the verge of shooting someone or something. He knew how it felt to be abused by your parents. He also knew how it felt to have someone fuck with your brain. Because that was what Pierce was doing with Tony. Giving him false hopes about a safe place so that he could use his powers. Wanda felt rage inside her. Hydra was going to use her for her powers once. Now seeing it happen to Tony she felt angry. How dare they?! Using an abused child only because they wanted power. Then she quickly stopped her thoughts. Was she really feeling sympathy towards Tony Stark? Pepper looked over to Bucky and smiled.
“I know what they did to him later. And I hate them for that. But thank you. Thank you for getting him away from Howard. At least he had some happy years as a child.”
Bucky nodded slowly. It was clear that he was not used to being thanked for anything. Pepper looked over to Wanda.
“You alright Wanda?”
Wanda nodded.
“Yeah. I just… He was a child. I still hate him but he didn’t deserve that.”
Bucky felt Pepper still completely. Then she slowly got up and went over to the girl. Vision shifted slightly in his seat.
“Listen now young lady. I don’t like you. Understood? I have been trying to act nice and treat you like a godchild because Tony talked me into it. He said you had changed. That you were just lost. But now I see that you have not changed at all. How can you hate Tony after everything he gave you and everything he did for you?”
Wanda’s eyes suddenly became cold.
“Did for me? He put me in a prison cell!”
“A prison cell he built for himself!”
Everyone, even Natasha and Rhodey, stilled. Wanda’s and Vision’s eyes widened.
“What?”