It begins, like it always does, with a call to assemble.
"It's an anonymous tip," Steve tells them, "from Halsey, Oregon."
"Trap?" Goes Clint, face green as he attempts to fish out another pickle from the jar. It's a dumb bet he made with Thor- whoever can eat the most of the food they find the most nauseating without puking wins. They asked Tony to join but he steadfastly refused. Unlike the rest of his team, he's not an idiot.
"Maybe," Steve responds, making a sour-lemon face at the archer. "But we obviously have nothing better to do with ourselves."
"Touché." Clint grins. Then his eyes do a comical bulge and he doubles over with a groan. "Thor, buddy, I give."
From the table, the Demigod gives a jubilant huzzah and picks up his plate, slamming it down hard on the table. Glass shards and bits of lettuce go flying.
Tony makes a mental note to buy some paper plates.
Halsey's a small town, mostly rural, and they spot the warehouse a couple miles from the center. It looks obviously abandoned, but Cap, not taking any chances, has Thor and Tony fly reconnaissance. They find no trace of movement, no guards, no vehicles, nothing vaguely threatening at all.
"Nobody's home." Tony says and cuts his repulsor power, dropping down next to Steve. The man nods and reaches back to grab his shield.
"We'll do a simple search, in and out in five minutes." He tells them. "Don't forget, it could be a-"
"Trap, yeah, we know." Tony interrupts, earning a scowl from Steve. "Lead, the way Captain!"
The building is mostly empty, but there's debris spread around haphazardly like whoever worked there had left in a hurry. Clint and Natasha peel off to dig around in some boxes while Tony, Thor, and Bruce follow Steve down some steps to the lower level.
It's dark- the power's been cut- but Tony's arc reactor gives off enough light to cast the hallway in a soft, incandescent blue glow. Steve gives the order to split up, and Tony methodically begins to check each adjoining room. The place has been thoroughly cleared out, but it has the bones of what was probably a medical lab of some sort. The walls are stark white, and many rooms contain hospital beds. He finds plenty of discarded papers, filled with messy, scrawled notes, which he snatches. He's nearing the end of his designated search area when he first hears the noise. The armor's designed to amplify sounds when he's in the field, and although it's muffled, the sound of crying is unmistakable.
"I believe it is coming from the last door on your left, sir." Says Jarvis, unprompted.
The door is heavy and locked, a keypad sitting off to the side. It's a good system, similar to the one Tony has set up in the tower, but that makes it easy to crack. He's in in seconds, palms up with the repulsors loaded. When no sudden threats make themselves apparent, he lowers his hands and scans the room. It's pretty much a carbon copy of all the others, white walls, a metal bed, big cabinets on the opposite side. Besides that, the room is empty.
"Thermal scan." He tells his suit. The room instantly plunges into darkness, with the notable exception of a bright, rainbow-colored blob in the left corner, near where the cabinets are. Tony cuts the scan and activates the comms. "Hey, Cap, I think I've found something."
"Heading to your location." Steve replies, and Tony, almost certain that the little blob isn't dangerous, opens the cabinet door.
He's not proven wrong. The source of the crying he heard earlier becomes apparent, but the little boy is utterly silent now, huddling as far back in the cabinet as is possible. He's got a head full of bright red curls and is looking up at Tony like the man had just murdered his kitten.
The kid is obviously scared shitless, and Tony, in his armor, knows that he doesn't exactly look cuddly. He pops open his faceplate and crouches down the best he can.
"Hi there, my name is Tony. What's yours?" He doesn't really expect a reply and the boy remains silent, shoving a fist into his mouth, eyes going all glossy. Tony realizes that he's probably going to start crying again.
He wishes Steve would hurry up and get here. Captain America had a soft spot for babies. It probably came from the serum, along with righteousness and the urge to help old ladies cross the street, but it was handy whenever kids popped up in their missions. Tony, on the other hand, was absolutely terrible with children. He didn't mind watching them from afar, but whenever he had to actually talk to one, he got all tongue tied and sweaty.
"Please don't cry. Steve will get mad at me if I make you cry." He tells the kid, a bit pathetically. "I'm not gonna hurt you or anything, so you don't have to be scared."
The boy sniffles and ducks his head, wrapping his skinny little arms around his knees. He looks maybe three or four and is wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of tighty whities- no bumps, bruises, scratches or other undue signs of torture. All in all, he looks like a normal kid. Tony has no idea what he's doing in a locked room in an abandoned facility. It's clear he not going to get any answers from the boy either.
Luckily, Tony's saved from having to handle the situation further by the arrival of Steve and Thor, who burst into the room in a flurry of activity. It certainly does not help to calm the kid's nerves, and this time he really does start crying again, big, hiccupping, gasps of air that echo around the room and cause Cap's face to go slack with horror.
"Tony! You didn't tell me there was a child!"
"I didn't tell you there wasn't a child." It's petulant, but Tony's already exhausted, and the crying is, unfairly, beginning to get on his nerves. He makes to leave the room and the noise pitches higher, becoming almost hysterical. The kid is working himself into a panic, face turning the same shade as his hair as he struggles for breath. Tony instantly feels bad, because sure, he doesn't like kids, but that doesn't mean he likes to see them upset either. "Ok, ok I'll stay."
Cap's regaining his footing and orders Thor to go brief the rest of the team, along with getting the quinjet ready to go. Next, he turns to the boy and starts the same line of questioning Tony had tried. It doesn't elicit any answers, and hey look, Cap is even worse with the kid than Tony was. He tries not to feel pleased about this.
"He's probably dehydrated. We don't know how long he's been here." Steve sighs when he finally gives up calming the little boy down. "I'm going to find him some water. Do you think you can coax him out of there? I'd like to leave as soon as possible."
Steve's 're a good twenty-three minutes into their five-minute mission, and Tony's feeling twitchy. "Um...sure."
Once Steve leaves the room, the crying settles into quiet whimpers, and Tony walks back over to the cabinet. He has no idea how he's going to persuade the kid to climb out, but Tony seems, ironically enough, to be the one the kid hates the least, so he has to make an effort. It would be easier if he knew exactly what the little boy was so afraid of.
He casts his eyes around the room when something tugs at the edge of his vision. It's just barely visible twisted in the sheets, and Tony heads over to the bed, pulling out a stuffed toy. It's a little bear, brown and tattered, with a missing ear and stuffing spilling out the side. He smiles and holds it just out of the kid's reach. "Is this your bear?"
The teddy bear captures the boy's attention, and his eyes widen, whimpers cutting off completely. The nod is barely visible, but hey, it's progress.
"Does he have a name?" Another nod, a bit more forceful. "Should I guess what it is?" A ghost of a smile. Yeah, never mind what he said earlier, Tony's clearly great with kids. "Hmmm, Bobby?"
The kid shakes his head, curls bouncing. "No? Alright, how about Bruce?" The smile is growing more pronounced, and Tony can feel its echo on his own face. "Teddy? Fuzzy Wuzzy? Snuggles? Mr. Fluffy?"
By the time Cap comes back with a water bottle and a granola bar, the little boy is almost laughing. He's still in the cabinet though and Steve shoots Tony a frown like Tony had personally let him down.
"Are you thirsty?" Cap asks, crouching down in front of the cabinet. He should be, what with all the crying and all, but the boy stubbornly, frantically, shakes his head. Steve doesn't push it and shoves the water bottle at Tony, who steps back with a frown.
"I don't like to be handed things."
Steve gives him the You're Being Insufferable But I'm Going To Keep Quiet And Pick My Battles look and sets the bottle on the bed, along with the snack bar. "If you can't get him to move in five minutes, I'm going to have to use force."
"How'd I get stuck with this?" Tony whines, but Steve is already out the door. He sighs and turns back to the kid, who is staring at the bottle of water. He's obviously thirsty, and Tony suddenly has an inkling of an idea of why he won't drink.
"How about I try it first?" He says, twisting off the cap and holding the bottle to his lips. He lets a little bit of the liquid slide into his throat and makes a big show of swallowing. "Yum, refreshing." He then sets the bottle in front of the boy, who carefully reaches out to grab it. The first sip is slow, but after that, the kid nearly drains the whole thing. The granola bar is next. Tony nibbles a little off the end and the boy chomps down the rest.
Tony's almost forgotten about their little game when the kid goes, "Honey."
It's so quiet that Tony barely hears it. But sure enough, he's pointing at the teddy bear, lips parted.
"His name is Honey?"
Nodding.
"Wow, that's a great name. I would have never thought of that." Tony smirks and gently deposits the bear in the little boy's lap- a reward for talking. He instantly curls his arms around it, clutching the bear to his chest. His voice is louder, more sure, when he says 'Stephan'.
"Your name is Stephan?"
"Mm-hmm." He's looking out at Tony, eyes puffy, but completely dry. Tony's just amazed that they've gotten this far at all. He got the kid to talk. Him. Not Steve.
Cap comes back to warn them that time is up, but Tony's already helping Stephan climb out of the cabinet, the promise of more food and water a good a motivator as any.