Hey guys, I seem to like these Assassin stories, don't I? I'm really violent... Anyways, enjoy! Also, sorry I haven't updated in so long, I broke my laptop screen, and HP are assholes to try and get it fixed. It's still broken, I can just use it without the screen being a multitude of random colors. Couldn't get this idea out of my head, so, enjoy!
No one notices the way Tony doesn't make a sound when he walks.
They don't notice that his face is nothing but a mask, and something glitters in his eyes.
They don't notice he always seems to know when you are there.
No one notices the way Tony seems like he's always on edge in a new place, through his facade.
No one sees the way his eyes flicker to all possible exits, traditonal or not.
Not one person has ever noticed the way his reflexes react so quickly, or the toned body he keeps hidden under expensive suits.
People don't notice the way he seems to gravitate toward the shadows, when he's not pulled into the spotlight.
But most of all, people don't notice the floor on the very top of his new tower is unlabeled, and you need a passcode to get in.
Well, not everyone is included in that 'no one'. But no one asks, or thinks much of it.
Rhodey, having gone to MIT with Tony, noticed first. He also noticed the nights Tony snuck into their shared dorm late in the night, or the occasional injury that appeared after a few of these late nights, or in some cases long days or weeks he was gone.
He only asked once about it, before chalking it up to just being Tony. That was until one night...
Happy noticed second. The moment he stopped those muggers, he just had a feeling the man in the expensive suit could do much more damage than he had helped him inflict. That's the day he became Tony Stark's bodyguard and driver.
During his spars with Tony, he noticed the way he seemed tense, and restrained, but got a rare glimpse every once and awhile of a graceful move, before Tony became tense once more.
When Happy asked, Tony responded with a laugh, and a raised eyebrow, saying; "Happy, son of a billionare here, my dear old dad thought it would be a good idea to teach me self-defence."
Happy didn't ask again, but the thought never quite left his mind. And he realized not too long after he was right not to let it go.
It was a given Pepper noticed third.
From the day she marched into his office to point out an mistake (pepper spraying the guards to get in), to the day she realized she cared deeply for the man, it was a flitting thought at the back of her mind.
She asked many times, receiving either a sarcastic remark in response, or a distraction from the original question. It took almost three years for her to find out.
The Avengers were so new to Tony, they hadn't quite noticed, or downright refused to let the thought enter the conscious part of their minds.(Not including those who already knew, of course...)
Because Tony Stark was just Tony Stark, right? The annoying sarcastic genius who was annoyed at the thought of having them live in his tower, even though there was was plenty of room.
Nothing more.
Oh how wrong they were…
Tony was 3 the first time his father beat him.
The eager young boy had been dying to see his father's lab, and had already made minor projects (which his father was not impressed with, and his mother didn't care, too drunk to function most of the time, the only one who cared was the butler, Edwin Jarvis, who Tony considered family), and had finally been allowed to watch his father work. He was told to stay away from anything his father was working on, or that was dangerous. Howard had given him a few tools and some scraps to play with if he got bored, but was allowed to watch his father work from a distance.
Tony was a smart young boy. At only 3 he could speak full sentences with ease, and use complicated vocabulary with minor difficulty. He was already doing math taught in the 3rd grade, and had built multiple items such as an addition to his Captain America action figure that made it walk around. So he knew to stay out of his dad's way while he worked. And he did, his days in the lab passed smoothly for almost 4 months.
For some reason that day, Howard had decided to work drunk, making him more hostile than usual. Tony stayed out of his way the best he could, but there was only so much he could do. Howard tripped over one of Tony's tools, that Howard had used only seconds before to the child's abject horror, and dropped the part of the machine he had been working on. Tony only had time to blink before it smashed into the floor, breaking into little pieces. Tony tensed, eyes wide, as his father slowly turned toward his, fists clenched, face red with rage.
"YOU LITTLE SHIT!" The elder Stark screamed, slapping Tony across the face hard. Tony fell to the floor with a cry of pain, hands holding the place Howard had hit him. Howard moved forward, emphisizing his words with a strike each time he spoke.
"I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THAT WEAPON FOR MONTHS! THIS WILL SET ME BACK WEEKS! YOU WORTHLESS LITTLE BASTARD, YOU RUINED THE MOST CRUCIAL PIECE!" His rage didn't last too long, as he was still mostly intoxicated.
Tony sobbed as his dad hit him, trying to understand why he was doing this. He knew his dad didn't like him very much, but surely he didn't hate him this much? His dad didn't mean those things, did he?
Tony remembered that day for the rest of his life. It was the day 'dad' became 'father'.
The beatings continued more frequently as the year continued. Tony was (sadly) used to them now, and hardly ever cried. In fact, you could barely get an emotion out of him. Only Jarvis or a few of the other house staff could get a smile (a true smile), and only Jarvis could get a laugh. Tony still felt of course, just kept it hidden, because the slightest of emotions shown around his father could earn him a beating.
But then it happened.
Jarvis, the closest thing he had to family, died in a car accident on his way to get tony from school (they had to keep up appearences).
When Tony heard the news that the paramedics had called it, he fell to his knees and flat out wailed, cursing anything of a higher power, his father, his mother, himself, anything he could lash out at he did. When he finally calmed down enough to realize what other people were doing, his father was there, looking very angry. Tony sobered up, and kept an emotionless face. Not even wincing as his father's hand grabbed his arm so hard it probably almost broke. He walked to the car, sitting the back seat, as his father's driver sped out of the parking lot.
He took his beating quietly when they got home, his mother watching drunkenly from the side, not even protesting. The house staff were both grieving and furious watching Tony recive blow after blow. And then the words out of Howard's mouth shifted from incoherent swearing and cursing at the boy, to actual sentances.
"YOU BITCH! THE NERVE OF YOU! IF YOU HADN'T HAVE STAYED AFTER SCHOOL FOR THAT FUCKING CLUB OF YOURS, THE BUTLER WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN IN THE CAR WRECK, MEANING I WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO COME GET YOU! I'M SO CLOSE TO FINDING CAPTAIN AMERICA, YOU LITTLE SHIT, AND YOU JUST INTERUPTED MY WORK! STEVE ROGERS IS A BETTER MAN THAN YOU'LL EVER BE, HE DESERVES TO LIVE, YOU DESERVE TO DIE!" He screamed, before hitting Tony once more, and stalking back to the lab. Tony sat on the floor in shock.
His father didn't even remember Jarvis' name…
That night Tony tore down everything with Captain America related to it and threw it in the trash, and sobbed into his sheets.
The beatings continued for another four years. They got worse as Howard got more frustrated when he couldn't find his precious captain. By this time Tony was studying highschool subjects, and knew 5 languages, including English. He knew Spanish, French, Italian (the languages were close, it was a given), Japanese, and Russian. Maria Stark grew to depend on a bottle of liquor constantly. The only time she was seen without a bottle was when they were in public. She was more subtle then, a flask in her purse would suffice until they got home. Tony had started calling his father Howard after the night Jarvis died. Howard never noticed.
The house staff did their best to keep Tony happy, but the boy was so devoid of emotion the thought him beyond help. The only way to help him would be to get him out of the Stark household.
One of the maids, Julia, was closest to Tony. She also had a few contacts. A little over a year before Tony's 7th birthday, she reached out. It had been a game of chase to track down the right person to get in contact with them, but she'd finally done it. She'd contacted Den des Chasseurs.
Known in English as Den of the Hunters. The feared assassins took a few recruits in every few years, maybe 4 or 5, 10 at most, and trained them to be the most talented killers on the planet. They killed those who had escaped punishment in any way. They always left a calling card, and none were ever seen, not counting the times they wished to be spotted.
From the accounts of the people who had seen them, each was personalized to an extent. Three seperate weapons of the assassin's choice. A color scheme associated with each assassin, and their mask and name.
Each mask was a persona of their name. For example, what was rumored to be the current leader of the Chasseurs name is Tourra Wolf. The women wore a wolf mask, had a longbow, katana, and spear as her chosen weapons, each accented with a silver and indigo. Her token was a wolf's tooth carved from a Rowan tree, enlarged so you could see the carvings in it, each one different from the last, no two alike. They were usually dropped in the blood of the victim, with Tourra Wolf carved into the side.
Most tokens were carved from wood, but some were made of metal, others from stone, and one token was even carved in bone (animal of course).
These assassins were the most feared, talented, and loyal in the world. Not one has ever had their identity to the world, or more than who they wanted to at least. They were on the edge of having the governements on their side, in fact, if a Chasseur was caught (however unlikely), he or she would most likely be let go, because of what they did to make this world a better place.
Julia knew they would kill Howard and Maria Stark after what they did to Tony over the years.
It was just after Tony's 8th birthday she got a response. A letter in the mail, the paper thick, sealed with what was the Den des Chasseurs' crest. A spear and a sword crossed with a dagger in the middle, a bow over the top, a scythe under the bottem, a large H in the middle of it all (Julia assumed it stood for Hunters), in silver wax.
Julia opened it with shaking hands.
Dear Miss Rudgar,
I have received your message on the concerns of Howard and Maria Stark. For what has happened to young Tony, I have deemed your opinion of them being worthy of death true, and have passed the job onto one of my most trusted men. He shall be there in three weeks from September 8th. He will not kill you, but will be required to use force as necessary to subdue anyone who attempts to stop him, including death if anyone continues to try and keep him from his message. I recommend you stay in your rooms that night, and let my man deal with it. No matter what you hear, you stay in your room until morning. I cannot stress that enough. Thank you for letting us know of this atrocity to the human population. Have a nice day.
-Tourra Wolf
Den des Chasseurs
Julia just about sobbed in fear and relief. She quickly remembered that today was September 6th. She had two days until the assassin arrived. She showed the rest of the staff, and they too were relieved for poor Tony.
The next two days passed, and it was 9:00pm, September 8th. Julia tucked Tony into bed. They hadn't told Tony what was about to happen, for fear that he would react badly. She shut his door, and everyone rushed to their rooms. Maria and Howard were fighting again, bottles crashed, swears and curses ripped through the closed door, and no one really fell asleep until around 11:00.
Tony didn't though. He couldn't shake the feeling that the house staff knew something he didn't. Something that was going to happen tonight. He lay awake, his mind going through what it could be when the yells and crashes died out, and then another hour after that. It was 1:00 when he heard it.
Barely, just barely, he was able to make out the soft footfall of someone on the squeaky floorboard outside of Tony's room.
Tony froze, eyes wide, only slightly afraid though, more surprised than anything. There was a small grunt of annoyance, before silence again. Since the person was no longer on the squeaky floorboard, they were silent as they walked. Tony slunk out of bed, cracking the door and peaking out, hardly making a sound.
He peaked out just as a dark clothed man slipped into his parents room down the hall. Tony didn't hesitate in following him. As Tony approached the room, he heard a muffled shriek from his mother, and an gurgling sound, before nothing. He slowly walked into the room, not overly surprised to see a man in a Jaguar mask with gold patterns standing over the bodies of his dead parents. Tony kept his emotions in check, and stared up at the man, who seemed more surprised than Tony.
"Are you going to kill me too?" The 8-year-old stared up at the man, little fear in his eyes as he noticed the bloodstained dagger used to slit his parents throats.
"No, jeune. I am only here to kill your parents." Tony nodded.
"Why?" He asked quietly. The man knelt down to Tony's level.
"They were not good people, jeune. Not only have they hurt you, but weapons made by Howard Stark have been given to bad people, who killed other people with them. Those weapons were given to them by your father's company.
Tony nodded before speaking. "Connaissez-vous d'autres mots en français, ou tout simplement «jeune»?" (Do you know other words in French, or just 'young one'?). The man smiled at the boy.
"En effet, je fais, enfant. Je suis surpris que vous faites aussi bien." (Indeed I do, child. I am surprised you do as well.) Tony looked the man straight in the eye.
"Your a Chasseur, right?" The man was startled at the fact the boy knew this.
"Yes, enfant. How do you know this?" Tony looked at the floor.
"I read a lot. I was particularly fascinated with the Den des Chasseurs. Men and women who don masks of predators and hunt the men and women who escape justice in any way. No one has ever been caught, and are feared by many."
"You are very intelligent, jeune. Tell me, would you like to come with me, back to the den. Become one of us someday? I see you are brave, smart, and quick learning. You would be able to escape being this person you've created to hide behind, and be yourself, Tony." Tony thought for awhile. He really did, but in the end, he chose the obvious answer.
"I'd like to come with you." He said firmly. The man smiled, picking Tony up, and carrying him out of the room.
"Where is the den?" Tony asked softly. The man smiled. "The city of love itself." Tony nodded before something donned on him.
"Can I get a name?"
"Jaguar. I will reveal my true name when we are in a safe area. For now, dormir. We have a long way to go. Tony tried to fight the exaustion pulling at his body, but eventually yawned, putting his head on Jaguar's shoulder, and slept.
The next morning's headline was all about the murder of Howard and Maria Stark, and the abduction of their only heir to the Stark empire. Nick Fury stalked around his office, waiting for the comfrimation. A nervous newbie handed him the file, and dashed away. Fury opened the file and his stomach did flips.
Cause of death: Clean cut through the jugular and throat
Weapon: Dagger
Token: Enlarged version of a jaguar's claw, painted gold, name Pemba Jaguar carved into side
Confirmed kill by the Den des Chasseurs
Nick Fury sighed, sat down at his desk, and took a long drink of scotch.
So, good? Bad? Let me know. I do intend to continue, with or without haters, so , I'd review. Let me know what you think. Seriously. I NEED TO KNOW! Ok, bye!