MANY YEARS AGO….. IN A TOWN FAR FAR AWAY …..
It was a beautiful Friday afternoon at the park. A little four year old boy was walking through the park with his parents while playing with a stuffed bear. His father was talking to a business associate while his mother was talking to the associate's wife. The boy got bored playing with his bear and wandered away from the four boring adults.
He walked past a lovely duck pond that was near the boundary fence. The boy decided to go through the arch that led out of the park, and towards the nearby street. The street was heavy with traffic and there was a dead squirrel in the road that had its little guts strewn across a length of three feet.
The little boy ran out into the street to try and save the dead squirrel. He got a good five feet into the road before he heard a loud blare of a truck horn. He froze like a deer in headlights before the large truck that barreled down the street. Suddenly two long arms wrapped around his chest and pulled him back to the hard sidewalk with a crash and tangle of limbs. The boy's impact was softened by the a person who had landed back first on the sidewalk after pulling him from the street.
"Owwwww…. What the bloody hell have you been eating kid?" Asked an annoyed and pained voice. The person had an odd british lilt to it.
"I ate a sandwich earlier. Why do you care?" The little boy got off of the person underneath him and saw a skinny form on the ground. The rescuer that was laying on the ground had black hair that was cut just below the chin and pulled back into a small ponytail. The person also seemed to have a small, shiny, gold clip that held back the black fringe face was pale and had scars going across the left eye. The person's left eye was crystal blue and the right eye was venom green. Wearing a long, navy blue coat and tall, shiny, black boots.
"Because you are a very heavy to pull off of the bloody street."
"You talk weird." The boy said matter of factly.
"So do you." The person started to get up off of the sidewalk at this point and stood at a good five foot and six inches.
"No I don't" He spoke with a high pitched, indignant tone.
"Do American children always argue with their elders?" The adult in front of him questioned.
" Yes." The boy said smirk.
"Well that answers that question. Now for another, where are your parents?"
"Why should I tell you? You could be a kidnapper."
" Very true, I could indeed be a kidnapper." The person's voice took a snarky turn "I bet it is a very profitable business. Think that teddy bear would be worth much?" he pointed to the bear in the boy's hands.
"YOU ARE NOT TAKING MY TEDDY BEAR!"
"Bahahaha of course I wouldn't do that. So where are your parents?"
"The park."
"Well then let us go find them then." The person said cheerfully.
"I am Anthony by the way. But I like to be called Tony." Tony said in a matter of fact tone.
"Well Anthony who likes to be called Tony, you can call me Gil." Gil's hand extended in an attempt to shake hands. They then shook hands.
Gil held Tony's tiny hand and led him through the park. They passed many pretty sights and Tony insisted on stopping to feed the ducks. Gil let the boy have some bread crumbs from the trench coat pocket. They stayed there for a good ten minutes before Gil insisted that they should press on. The odd pair reached the other side of the park, where Tony had left his parents and the business associates.
The four adults were talking to a pair of police officers. Tony's mother was crying and his father was arguing with the two cops about the location of his son.
Tony ran from Gil and towards his parents yelling in happiness that he had found them.
"Tony where have you been?" His father asked angrily with fury in his eyes.
"I was with Gil. Gil saved me from being run over by a truck." Tony said with enthusiasm.
"Who is Gil? Did he hurt you?" Tony's mother was freaking out at this point.
"Mommy, Gil is right over there. And he didn't hurt me at all." Tony pointed to where he saw Gil, in the navy blue coat and boots. Gil looked at them with a sad expression. A small smile was on Gil's face as he brought a gloved finger to his lips in a 'quiet' motion. Tony looked like he was pointing at thin air to his parents. His father and mother looked concerned. Until the associate's wife spoke up.
"Howard, Maria, I wouldn't be too concerned. Anthony just has an imaginary friend, it is completely normal for children his age. And Howard before you say it is too childish, he is four, not thirty." She continued speaking in a matter of fact tone. "Did you know that some scientists believe that children having imaginary friends improves social skills. Honey you will have to deal with another Stark Industries charmer soon." She said the last part to her husband.
Her words made Howard and Maria calm down slightly. Maria was still clutching the small boy to her chest despite her newfound calm, showing that she did not want him to run away again. Tony squirmed out of his mother's arms and ran to Gil.
"Gil are you my imaginary friend?" Tony asked with wonder in his eyes and curiosity in his voice.
"I guess I am now. I have nothing better to do anyway. But you should probably not talk to me in public because right now you look like a loon." Gil said the last part with a smirk
"HEY!" He stopped yelling when he saw the surprised faces of his parents.
His father spoke. "Anthony, it is time to go home so get your bear and… um…. Gil.. and we will be off."
"Ok dad." Tony got out of his mother's arms and walked over to where he had left his teddy bear and Gil.
"Do you want to come with us Gil?" He asked in a small voice towards his new found imaginary friend.
"Sure. Luckily I don't exist, so that way I won't take up too much space."
With that Howard, Maria, Tony, and Gil all left the park and went home.
(ONE LINE BREAK TO RULE THEM ALL)
PRESENT DAY: AVENGERS TOWER
The now adult Tony Stark was currently hiding from his girlfriend ,Pepper Potts, in a closet on the sixty seventh floor of the tower. His reason for hiding in a closet was the fact that he was not aware of her presence when he was spray painting Clint Barton's bow, and now her pristine white suit, a bright neon pink. He was cowering behind an old, navy blue overcoat, and underneath a shelf that was attached to the wall. He seemed to be brandishing an umbrella like a sword. His heart was pounding into his arc reactor, and this is why when Steve opened the closet door, it almost gave Tony a heart attack.
"AHHHHH!" Tony attempted to hit Steve with the aforementioned umbrella. Steve just grabbed the umbrella out of his hand and it accidently hit an old shoe box that was on the shelf above their heads. It tumbled to the floor and opened, revealing and spilling the contents onto the beige, carpeted floor.
"Stark, Pepper went to run your company. Stop hiding in the closet. What are these?" Steve looked in curiosity at the objects that had fallen from the worn out box. Both of them started looking through the objects that had fallen from the box. On the ground were multiple hand drawn pictures that appeared to be done by a child. There was an old teddy bear that had a little gold clip attached to the ear.
Steve picked up one of the child's drawings. It depicted a young boy with brown hair that was holding a teddy bear. The child in the photo was holding the hand of a tall person. The person was wearing a long blue coat, had black hair in a small ponytail. A small gold clip was in the subject's hair. Underneath the boy was the name ,Tony, in scrawly text. Under the other figure was the word Gil. Steve felt a sense of deja vu as he looked towards the second person.
"Stark, who is this?" Steve pointed to the blue clad figure on the right.
"Oh that's Gil, he was a friend."
"A friend? You had one?" Steve chuckled with amusement.
"Why are you so interested?"
"Because he looks like someone who fought with the Brits during the war. See this gold clip and the pony tail?" Steve pointed to the drawings head and showed Tony the gold clip from the bear. "These remind me of an RAF pilot that I came across a couple of times. He always had hair that was not regulation, and always wore this gold clip. Said it belonged to his mother."
"Wait wait wait…" Steve was silenced by the billionaire. "Was the mother's name Agatha?"
"Yeah…. How did you know?"
"Gil mentioned his mother sometimes. Said that the clip was used to stab kidnappers."
"He said that it was used to stab nazis."
At this point both men were looking at each other with wide eyes. Both wondering how the other knew the gold clipped soldier. They both decided to go down to the lab and look through WW2 records and see if Steve's soldier matched Tony's snarky delusion. They arrived at the lab and Tony immediately went to the national archives website.
"Ok capsicle what is your buddy's name?" The nickname caused Steve to glare.
"Gilbert Blair."
Tony typed the words into the database and came up with a result that surprised them both. He recited them in an interested voice as he read the passage.
"The phantom of World War Two? Gilbert Blair was a British pilot that was known for his work in air force espionage missions as well as his work with the famed Captain America. However, upon closer examination of British records showed that that a man by the name of Gilbert Blair never existed. No birth certificates, school documents, or hospital records have been found relating to the man. Some historians have found that he could have possibly been female, and could be the little ten year old girl in this picture. Little Blair Gilbert went missing twelve years before a 22 year old Gilbert Blair enlisted into the RAF. Further proof is the sharp, gold, hair clip that Gilbert was always seen wearing proudly upon his head. It bears a resemblance to the gold clip worn by Blair Gilbert when she disappeared. Either way, Gilbert Blair, or Blair Gilbert if we are to believe the speculation, has been thought to be dead since 1947, when he/she participated in a second super soldier experiment performed by Howard Stark. No remains have ever been found."
Both of them looked in shock at the report that was on holographic computer screen. What surprised Tony further, was that the photo of Gilbert Blair matched the imaginary friend that Tony had met in the park that one Friday afternoon.
(A/N) I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my story. Sorry if the characters are a little OOC, I am working on that. Reviews and PMs about the story or other random stuff are always welcome.
UNTIL NEXT TIME MY FELLOW FANFICTION READING HUMANS!
-Zeetha