I'm not quite sure what happened, but my summary didn't show up for the first chapter, so here it is:
Summary (extended): After the incidents at the Expo, and later New York, Tony thought he could finally get a break, to continue living as a Genius Billionaire Playboy Philanthropist, but life is never that easy. Forced to relive bitter memories, bad experiences & even the history of his parents, Stark is now in charge of a child whom his mother secretly claimed guardianship of over thirty years ago. With his friends and fellow Avengers, will Tony be able to handle this next adventure? Will he not be able to get over past experiences, to move on and continue? Between Steve's conscience, Bruce's logic, and even Clint and Natasha's suspicion Stark will have to do what he believes is the right thing, let's just hope it really is the right thing to do.
Warning: There will be no OC love interests or major character deaths, sorry to disappoint but I want this to be somewhat happy and Mary Sue-free. There will be foul language, drinking at points, and even mentioning or insinuation of child abuse. If any of this upsets you then this might not be the ideal story for you. Also, though it might not need a warning, any and all Russian in this story will be spelled phonetically purely for the sake of pronunciation. Translations will be at the bottom in bold print.
This is not Iron America. Again, sorry to disappoint, but this story focuses on other aspects, but if I do this right then there will be fluff between the two. If you really want Iron America, then please, squint and tilt your head a bit to the left.
Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or the Avengers.
Two figures visited inside a pristine office, one of which-Steve Rodgers-sat at a thin black table, the man in front of him-Nick Fury-paced none too patiently on the other side. Time seemed to trickle by as the two waited for the third member of their party. Fury seemed to grow more agitated with every passing minute that Stark didn't show.
Finally the large office door opened as Tony Stark waltzed in. "Hey Patchy, did I miss the party?" the man asked as he sat in the seat beside Steve.
"Stark, you're twenty minutes late." The SHIELD Director deadpanned. "My time today is limited; I thought I had made that clear." He stepped up to the front of the table. "Since I don't have time for pleasantries, I need you to take on a project of mine."
"We gonna be making macaroni art now?" Though his statement was sarcastic, Tony couldn't keep the interest out of his tone.
"Not quite. I'd like you to meet Subject 10642, our scientists here have taken to calling him Comrade." As Fury said this, a wheelchair was wheeled in by three people in white coats. A child around the age of six or seven sat in the child-sized wheelchair, large white blankets wrapped around him securely like a cocoon; his bare feet barely touched the foot rests. His black hair pulled back in a stubby ponytail, his bangs sliding into his face as his head lolled against his shoulder.
"Wait, you mean you're going to give us a human being?" Tony asked.
"Why call him Comrade?" Steve asked, talking over the man next to him.
"The first words we heard him speak since arriving here were Russian." One of the scientists explained, maneuvering the boy next to Fury.
"… So you want us to babysit a human being you happen to own-and I have no comment on that-who doesn't even speak English? Where'd you even get him, do you keep them on stock or something?" Tony asked jokingly, both he and Rogers were quickly edging out of their comfort zone.
"Well, that's why you're here Stark. By extension, you are his legal guardian." The already quiet room grew silent; the only sound was the slight whistling of Comrade's breathing. "Mrs. Maria Collins Carbonell-Stark, your mother, claimed guardianship of our little friend here and seeing as both your parents are… no longer with us, you inherit their affairs."
Tony looked shell shocked, wondering how that was even possible. In order for his mother to have claimed this child, the boy would have had to have been born before her death in 1991. That in itself was impossible; the boy-Comrade had to have been born in the early two thousands, '06 at the earliest. With a choked swallow, Tony gathered his bearings. "If what you're saying is true-doubt it-then wouldn't a name have turned up in order to link the kid to Maria?" a good question, but the cool look on Fury's face seemed to nip it in the bud.
"Genetic testing, through a later maternity test we were able to link him to a Ms. Zhanna Lazarev. In the court papers involving the guardianship he was only named as the child of Ms. Lazarev. A lack of marriage records suggest the boy was born out of wedlock. Apparently Mrs. Stark was close to this woman, or at least felt responsible for her; however through your mother's records as well as Ms. Lazarev's we have no way of proving they even met. Your mother had never been to the Asian continent, and Ms. Lazarev never left the Tuva Republic."
"So basically what you're saying is that Maria claimed some anonymous child out of Russia, and this woman consented to it? Fury this isn't making any sense." Steve, though briefly, had actually known Maria Stark, before and shortly after she had started 'seeing' his friend Howard. This didn't sound like something Maria would do, she was never a spur of the moment kind of gal, nor did she keep secrets.
"It's about to Rogers; during the Genetic testing we were able to draw several possible matches for the father. The only possible match who even knew Ms. Lazerov at the time was a young intern of her father's, Anton Vanko." Taking a pause to let his statement take full effect, Fury continued "Once again, through personal records, we noticed that Zhanna seems to drop off the map two years before Vanko left for America." While Tony was at a loss, Steve was beginning to catch on. With an awed tone, the blond soldier raised a hand weakly "You don't mean she changed her identity… do you, Sir?"
"Now that's a good question Rogers, I have receipts for plastic surgery on Vanko's tab, for his wife Renata. It was purely cosmetic, no medical issues were filed." Fury laid down a tan folder in front of the other two men. As Steve leafed through them Tony caught glances of photos. A tall girl stood against the worn wall of a barn, she was dressed in a long polka-dotted dress and had a grey shawl, she had an almost bored expression. A strong brow line traced smoothly to an aquiline nose; her eyes, the color of dark chocolate, were almond shaped though they held an almost gaunt look even though she couldn't have been older than 15.
Another photo, the same woman though slightly older stood next to a tall man, both were pail and had dark hair, the man wore slacks and a white button up, the woman wore a long blue dress with a red bandanna tied into her hair. They were smiling and the man had his arms wrapped loosely around the woman's shoulders; in the corner of the sepia photo was a loopy scrawl "Molodoy lyubvi, Zhanna and Anton August 23, 1939"
A third photo, the woman sat in a hospital bed. Though she only seemed to be in her mid thirties, her hair already had a silver streak that stood out against her dark hair like snow against fresh soil. The planes and angles of her face had changed, her nose had a subtle curve outward, almost like a button nose. Her cheeks were sharper though not in the same gaunt fashion as before, carefully manicured brows curved with a tired curiosity as she gazed at the camera. In her arms sat a small bundle, a pink face sat between the blue folds of fabric, a baby boy. Tony could see the boy had the same hair color as his mother, an almost inky black that matched Comrade's. Looking over to the boy and then back to the photo, Tony could make out the resemblance, the boy's father maybe? Turning to look at Steve, Tony couldn't help but be unnerved at the seriousness in Steve's expression. He was analyzing the photo, that much was obvious, but what he was looking for was yet to be seen. "…Spangles?"
"This is Renata. It has to be, both women have to be, they have the same spark." The captain said as if to himself.
"What's that supposed to mean Steve?" Tony was at a loss, so what if it was the same woman, what did she have to do with the boy in the wheelchair?
"Renata was Anton's wife. I knew them both when I was working with your father."
"And they had a son you had the pleasure of meeting not too long ago, Stark." Fury said.
"Anton, you mean that physicist that worked with my dad?" Tony said, finally getting a grain of the subject at hand.
"The very same, he was a genius and a good friend, but his allegiance to his countrymen was stronger than his towards your father." Fury said with grim sense of irony.
Steve looked like he'd had a run in with old ghosts; his mouth was pressed in a thin line. "The Anton Vanko I remember was a good friend of mine and a business partner of Howard's, I'd like to remember him that way. Are you saying that boy is Anton's grandson?"
"You mean he's the kid of that psycho Ivan? He nearly killed me and now you want me to take on his spawn?" Tony demanded.
"Now Stark, why would I do that? This isn't Vanko's son," Fury defended poorly.
"Then why are you walking us in circles? Just tell me what you wanted to tell me and ship the kid to my house!" Tony's patients were quickly being strained.
"Fury quit playing us and just tell us what's going on. With all due respect sir, this is a kind of touchy memory for me to deal with, and I'd like to know why you insist on bringing it up." Even Steve was fighting against his temper at this point.
"This boy, Comrade is Vanko."
Molodoy lyubvi- Young love
Yeah, I'm aware that's probably the cheesiest cliff hanger I could have chosen, but if you saw the last 4 paragraphs I tried to tag onto this you'd understand why it's better without them. Please forgive me for taking this long, I've been in a theatre production in my town and the shows just ended last Sunday, I've been exhausted to say the least.
I'd love to hear your comments, anything you have to contribute feel free to share.