Chapter 1: The first Hurdles


Thanks so much for your great reviews! I wouldn't have thought that it would be liked by so many to follow it since it had only been a random idea I had when I was bored... Ah, well I'm just glad you like it and I hope I won't disappoint you in the next chapters!

Enough of my rambling now, enjoy!


Tony had been already at the Russian science facility for two weeks. Despite the logical part of his mind (the biggest part) said that he shouldn't get close to anyone, a very small irrational part that he couldn't pinpoint made him do just that: he, Leonid and Natasha grew close like siblings in only a few days but then…

Then one of his siblings was taken from him. It was just after the breakfast; Dr Turgenev came into the room and took Leonid with him. Leonid gave Natasha and Tony a small signal to reassure them that everything would be fine – a lie they knew, but they would still hope in silence and together.

They never saw him again; only screams echoed throughout the facility and even the ones that had perfected their masks of emotionlessness winced at the pain and agony in the screams.

Tony and Natasha were fighting against others of their class when Dr Turgenev stepped into the training area and signalled them to stop. His expression was as cold as Howard's had been when he had caught Jarvis while trying to get Tony out of the mansion – Tony's hand twitched slightly at the thought - as he told them: "Today LK05 came out to be another failure despite his promising progress. As a consequence, your training will be intensified and you will be punished severely if you are caught not giving your best when you are ordered to do something, understood?" A chorus of "Yes sir." was his answer, which seemed to satisfy him for the moment because he turned and left them to train again.

Tony and Natasha sat that night together on Tony's bed once everyone else was asleep and made a promise in memory of Leonid, that made it their goal to survive this hell and one day get out of it – together.

They rose to the top of their 'class' while simultaneously being put through extreme experiments that improved their human limits to their peek. They stuck together trough thick and thin, despite having to fight sometimes against each other – leading to serious injuries – or together against bulky adults and having to kill their classmates during 'training' sessions.

In addition to that, Tony was trained in the use of technology once the scientists found out that Tony had a brilliant mind attuned to maths and everything connected to technology. This fact made him also a perfect candidate for the 'Blue Knives' program that had killed Leonid. The day he was told that he "should feel proud to be part of an even more important part of the operation than some of the other children"; he sat at night huddled together with Tasha on his bed, comforting each other silently and praying (not that they believed that it would help) to whoever would listen to get through this alive.

Tony was ten at that time, just as Leonid had been, but they didn't just infuse him with whatever they were mixing together in their labs – they slowly let Tony's body get used to the changes since they didn't want to lose one of their most promising subjects.

They changed Tony's biology over the course of six long years (god they were so long, longer than the years before); succeeding in transplanting a really small circular device in his chest right over his heart that fused itself with his body, giving him a higher regeneration factor and unexpectedly causing Tony's eyes to glow a light blue when he felt extreme emotions (even if he sometimes couldn't understand what kind of emotions they were).


On his sixteenth birthday they scientists 'gifted' him with a new addition that allowed him to transform body parts into armour as long as he was wearing something metal (no mater how small) as well as being able to create weapons through touch – once he touched something metal or connected to any kind of computer, he could shift its form to any weapon he wanted it to but he still preferred to use knives, swords as well as quiver and bow instead of guns and such. He had bad memories of guns – a drunken Howard holding a gun and directing it at the then three year old Tony, firing and only Tony's quick learned ability to dodge and run saved his life, running as fast as he could to his room barricading himself in there, despite Howard pounding on the door, till Jarvis came back from shopping.

He was the first to survive this fusion and thus became officially the first successful Blue Knives, just as Natasha became the Black Widow.

Of course they could control Tony's ability like all the others they gave their "precious" children so that they couldn't decide on a wimp to escape their "care" (more like total control). Once a child reached eighteen (which was extremely rare) it was brainwashed completely through machines – unlike the years from where the child came to the facility to then, where they were only brainwashed through words and actions.

But despite their best efforts to brainwash Natasha and Tony through words and actions, the two had still their free will – especially the will to escape one day – but the scientists and doctors didn't realise this because they behaved like good little puppets should.

They didn't talk back, fought without mercy against the other children and obeyed their commands – but inside they only had their goal in mind while doing so. Their tactic succeeded and they were almost ready to escape when suddenly a new factor was thrown into their equation: a man from Afghanistan, who wouldn't be missed by anyone since he had no one anymore and thus made a perfect test subject for the part of their program that was trying to improve adults instead of children. His name was Ho Yinsen, a kind-hearted older man who tended to Tony's and Natasha's wounds – on his first day in the facility – after another brutal training session, without being told to. He tried a bit of small talk with the two who were – despite Yinsen's nice behaviour – still wary of the adult.

"My name is Ho Yinsen. What are your names?" He asked gently as he cleaned a nasty head wound Tony had received – they didn't tell him that they wound would be totally gone in a few hours because he seemed to find something like inner peace while he was helping them and so they kept their mouths shut on this topic. Their answers to Yinsen were their normal designations instead of their well-kept names. "This is NR03 and I am AES04." Yinsen stared strangely at them once Tony had said that with an emotionless voice.
"And what are your real names? Or don't you remember them? How long have you been here?" The onslaught of questions made Tony uncomfortable and he drew slightly away – towards Tasha. Yinsen realized this and stopped immediately. "I am sorry. I didn't want to ask you to much, it's just that… I do not know what to expect and I hope that you two hadn't had to go through whatever will happen to me for to long. I mean you are what, fourteen?" "Something like this, we don't have calendars to keep track of time." Tony lied – of course he knew how old he was , even to the day but he wouldn't tell a complete stranger that and Tasha was surely thinking the same because she didn't contradict his statement.

Yinsen nodded sadly "I had feared so… What about your 'designations', I think they were called, why are they like this?"

Tony's facial expression didn't change but his eyes were clearly saying 'if you haven't figured that out you are a complete moron', Natasha elbowed him in the side giving him a 'don't be rude. He isn't here that long.' look. He sighed and finally said: "Our designations are made up from the first letters of our real names and the numbers stand for how old we were when we came here."

The older mans eyes widened in understanding and a horrified look replaced the surprise. "Oh god…" Tears ran down Yinsen's face, puzzling Tony and Tasha. Tony cocked his head to the side. "Why are you crying? Are you hurt? Jarvis once told me that you cry if you are hurt badly or if you are sad, are you sad?" He asked like an innocent child, despite his actual age he still didn't understand reactions of humans towards certain things and then a childlike curiosity would lead him to asking questions without a second thought. Yinsen just shook his head and whipped the tears away with the sleeve of his grey shirt. "I am not hurt. The thought of how long you had to go through this… it makes me sad. No one should go through something like this. …Who is this Jarvis you mentioned?"

Natasha, who knew that Tony hadn't really thought about the words he had said, took Tony's hand in hers and squeezed it (a small sign of 'I'm here for you' since it were only the three of them). She knew that it hurt him talking about the only person that hadn't tried to kill before coming to the Red Room. Tony gladly accepted her encouragement and squeezed her hand back. "He was someone… different. He treated me different than my creators and was the first to do so, one of three. Now four." Again Yinsen looked crushed by the words Tony had spoken – 'different' and 'creators' were clear indicators that the boy didn't understand love and feelings in general. It was then that Yinsen made it his goal to teach the only two other 'subjects' in this facility (everyone else had already died) about morals, feelings and everything that they hadn't been taught their lives up to now…