Disclaimer: I don't own the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)
A/N: This story is a canon divergence from Age of Ultron, the only thing that actually happens in this universe similar to what happens in the movie is the fight at the HYDRA base (not the same one in this story). However, the fight at the HYDRA base in Age of Ultron goes slightly different in this story. There are no twins anymore, they were killed at the last HYDRA base in this story. And yes there is Brutasha as well as Stony. This chapter is merely setting up what is to come, so no real action here.
Chapter 2: A New Recruit?
After arriving back at the Compound, Tony quickly disappeared downstairs into his workshop while the rest of the Avengers all slowly filed back into their rooms to loosen up."Hey Cap, have you been hearing about this kid from Queens? Apparently he has some weird spider superpowers and Tony's been going on and on about him lately. He's hoping to recruit him as the newest Avenger." Clint asked.
"Kid? How old are we talking?" Steve enquired, suddenly curious as to what make this kid so special as to take the attention of none other than Tony Stark.
"He's 16… Still studying in some high school in Queens."
Steve whirled on Clint. "16?! And Tony is thinking of making him an Avenger?! Superpowers or not, we are not recruiting teenagers. Not only are they reckless, the press will have our heads once they know we're supposedly bringing children into the battlefield." Calming himself down, Steve continued. "Does his parents know that he has superpowers?"
"From what I heard from Tony, his parents are dead, he's currently living with his aunt, his uncle is also dead." Clint informed sympathetically. "His aunt doesn't know he has powers."
"Name?"
"Peter, Peter Parker. Go search him up. Maybe you'll find something useful to change your mind, else you're gonna be the one to break the news to Tony, cause there's no way in hell I'm doing, or anyone else for that matter. The screaming matches can stay between you and him." To which Steve rolled his eyes dramatically as Clint walked away.
With Clint and the remaining Avengers on their way to their rooms, the steady sound of footsteps slowly faded away until the permeating through the hallway was an eerily silence and Steve's even breathing.
Steve never liked silence, reminded him too much of danger and ambushes during the war.
Which is why Steve found himself in the common room lying on the couch with a hand on his chest, still in uniform, listening to Michael Jackson's Bad.
He didn't know why he suddenly chose to listen to Michael Jackson, maybe because Clint and Tony had told him to. Despite being awake in the 21st century for over 4 years now, with 4 birthdays all arranged by 4 different members of his new 'family', and Tony had yet to arrange a birthday for him, and boy, wasn't he just waiting for that? Steve still has a lot to catch up on, but at least now he can understand most of Tony's references, apart from the most obscure ones from something everyone's caring 'anime', which he has yet to delve into.
Sitting upright, Steve contemplates about the event from this morning and about what they're going to do next. He doesn't realise how long he just sits there, as still as a statue, staring at nothing in particular until Natasha speaks up from the doorway.
"You've been sitting there and doing nothing for nearly 30 minutes Steve. What's up?"
"It's just that, I'm tired."
Natasha, being the spy she is, doesn't usually get surprised by much, but this however, did. "Tired? Of what?"
Steve sighed to emphasise his point. "This… We're finally rid off HYDRA, but instead of being free, another has taken its place. It seems we're just stuck in an endless cycle of evil. Eradicate one, another more malicious one pops up to replace it. I'm just… tired... The longer we keep this up, the higher the chance that something's going to happen to one of us, and then, we'll all have to pay the price."
Not having something to say about that last part, Natasha pointedly ignored it. "Steve, we don't even know if whoever destroyed HYDRA is bad or not. They may be good, we just need more data and evidence."
Steve shook his head in disagreement, he's seen enough to know better than that. "If whoever attacked HYDRA was truly good, why were there dead bodies everywhere? Why did they destroy all the buildings instead of salvaging for data in HYDRA's data banks? This isn't a case of justice, this is a case of another organisation getting rid of the competition."
"Steve, killing people to achieve a moral and justified goal isn't evil." Natasha replied.
"You'd know, wouldn't you?" Steve snapped, a little too harshly.
"Yes, I would. Which is why I'm doing what I'm doing, to make up for my past mistakes." Natasha answered calmly, then abruptly left.
Steve only sighed, exhausted, as he dragged himself back to his room.
Mornings at the Compound are usually pretty uneventful. Well… As uneventful for a team of superheroes can get.
Bruce is always the one at the kitchen with Natasha occasionally helping out, mainly because they're the only ones that can safely cook, Clint and Thor somehow always find something to argue about, whether it's about Asgardian sports against Earth sports or cereal before milk. Steve usually just sits quietly on the couch, drawing the scene infront of him, which, fortunately for him, is never the same. By the time food is finished, Tony usually strolls into the room to grab his daily cups of coffee.Usually. Some of the time, though, Tony isn't to be seen until late into the afternoon. The cause of this is usually him working on some projects or dozing off due to exhaustion from lack of sleep because of a project.
And Steve, to say the least, is not happy with this, at all. Whenever this does happen, Steve stomps down to Tony's workshop, punches in his emergency override code, which Tony has yet to disable, and begins scolding Tony for his adolescent behaviour. Which always ends in a screaming match between the two.
By now, the team is used to this. So whenever Tony doesn't appear for breakfast, they usually know what's going to happen.
"Looks like Tony isn't coming up for breakfast today. Nat, you owe me 20 bucks." Clint said smugly as Natasha slapped a $20 bill onto his outstretched hand.
Steve, sighing loudly, clearly quite fed up and frustrated with this behaviour, said. "I swear, he never listens to anything I say. Unbelievable."
Standing up, Steve made his way down to Tony's workshop, internally preparing himself for the argument that was for sure to come. Punching in the same override code, Steve entered the workshop.
"Tony… Seriously, I can't keep doing this. You need to stop pulling all-nighters, it's not good for your health, especially for someone your age." By now, Tony would've piped up and accused Steve of insulting him, but surprisingly, he hasn't. "I know you're a workaholic, but that's no excuse for you to work yourself half to death. On top of all that, you need to get actual food in your system, not your idea of a 3 course meal that is completely comprised of chocolate bars." Steve reprimanded, exasperated.
The silence following that was uncomfortable to say the least, even the sounds of Tony working stopped at some point, indicating that, yes, he did hear what Steve said.
"You're right. You're right, and I'm sorry for ignoring your advice, you only want what's best for me, well, at least I think/hope so."
Ha! Oldest trick in the book. Sorry Tony, but you aren't fooling anyone.
"Okay Tony, I've known you for too long to fall for a trick as simple as this."
"No, I'm serious. I've been ignoring the signs and side-effects of my behaviour for far too long. Now it's getting harder and harder to continue doing that. So, however unbelievable it may seem, I'm actually going to listen to you and follow your advice." Tony answered, nothing but the truth in his voice, even at Steve's raised eyebrow. "Why the doubt Cap?"
"Can you blame me? We've been at this cycle for well over 2 years now with you and I arguing everytime I come down here to remind you to treat your body right." Steve paused, scanning Tony's face for any sort of reaction, for which he found only a small smile directed his way. "And now, you're suddenly agreeing with me instead of screaming at me. So I think I'm entitled to some skepticism."
Slowly powering down his holograms and equipment, Tony said. "Hmmm, I can see where you're coming from, and so your skepticism is more or less understandable. But…" Tony kneeled down to lift something apparently quite heavy off the ground, if his grunt of exertion was anything to go by. "If it makes you feel any better, the project I've been pulling all-nighters for is actually for you."
If it were anyone else, they'd be ecstatic to know that Tony Stark had gone out and made something for them, but not if you're Steve Rogers. He knew from experience what that actually meant. "Tony, I don't want to be another one of your test dummies for your new repulsors or to test the effectiveness of your new tank missiles."
Tony placed a large black rectangular suitcase on the table infront of him with groan. The suitcase had the iconic Stark Industries logo emblazoned on its smooth surface, but other than that, the suitcase looked rather ordinary.
"Now I know this suitcase may not look as extravagant as any of my other stuff, but I'm 80% sure you'll love what's inside. Plus I kinda followed your vibe of having things be simplistic and lame, so here you go." Tony patted the top of the suitcase in appreciation of his handiwork. "As much as I would like to see your reaction to what's inside, I gotta take a shower and get some sleep now, so I'll see you in a bit." Tony said as he walked towards the door.
Steve, shocked as he was, could only stare wide-eyed at Tony as he walked towards him and to the door. Both surprised by Tony's actions in the past few minutes and still slightly skeptical this was all a prank.
"By the way, feel free to take the suitcase back to your room so you can have some privacy while you open it, I won't peak, I promise." And just like that, Tony was gone, leaving Steve alone in the workshop.
Both curious to see what Tony had made for him and reluctant to see what Tony had planned for him, Steve had an internal debate with himself.
In the end, curiosity won out and Steve found himself staring straight at the Stark Industries logo on the suitcase.
Before he could have doubts and talk himself out of it, Steve took the surprisingly heavy suitcase and ran back to his room, locking the door behind him.
Placing the suitcase on his bed, Steve found himself hesitating to open it, suddenly no longer wanting to know what was inside. Seeing as the last time Tony gave him something, it shot him up 25 metres into the air and left him with a couple broken bones.
Come on Steve, you fight aliens, terrorist organisations and demi-gods for a living and you're afraid of breaking a couple bones?! Steve chastised himself internally.
Filled with renewed determination and indignation, Steve pressed the button to cause the suitcase to slowly open up.
As it did, Steve's eyes slowly widened and his breath was caught in his throat as he took sight of the contents of the case.
Inside the suitcase, there was a holographic note and a set of armour. It didn't take a genius to figure out what the blue, red and white colour scheme meant, Tony had made him a new uniform.
Unlike previous uniforms where Tony kept the materials rather simple and similar to the ones used when SHIELD and Howard had made Steve suits.
This time, Tony opted to use some sort of infused fabric instead of his reinforced Kevlar, which might explain why the blue of his new suit was a bit darker than his current and previous ones, being more similar in colour to the stealth suit SHIELD made for him back when he still worked for SHIELD.
Not only was the blue different, so were the red stripes across the lower abdomen area of the suit, it too was also darker in colour. Which Steve found he quite liked.
The star in the middle of all of it also seemed to glow, much like the power core of Tony's suits.
Directing his gaze to the holographic note on the side, Steve read it.
Hey Steve,
By the time you've begun to read this, you'd have already seen what's inside the suitcase. I know, a new suit, big deal. This is the third suit I've made for you now, and in typical me-fashion, it's the best.
Now I know you may be wondering what the hell is up with the darker colours, well, you see, I kind of had trouble making the materials become the correct shade of blue and red like those of your previous suits, so you'll have to deal with these shades for now. The reason for said difficulty is because, as I'm sure you've figured out, I've used a different base material for the uniform. Instead of just plain old reinforced Kevlar, this suit is made of vibranium infused Kevlar.
Pretty cool right? The stuff your shield is made of, your uniform is too, to a certain extent. I couldn't exactly make your uniform entirely out of vibranium because, well, I don't have that kind of vibranium and it'd be really stiff if it was.
I've also added a couple different cool abilities to your new suit as well. You know the shield holder on your back? Your new suit still has that, of course, but it also has an in-built jetpack that also works even when your shield is on your back. Come down to the workshop to get some lessons on how to fly with it, I swear on my love for coffee that you won't get more broken bones.
Not only that, I've put some mechanics into the sleeves of the suit that give you 50% more power on your shield throws. That coupled with your super strength means that, by my calculations, you'll be able to cut straight through 3 metres of reinforced steel.
If you want to know the full extent of my upgrades, you can come down to the workshop some time and I'll show you them all.
I really hope you like this new suit, worked my ass off on it, but hey, anything to keep my friends safe right?
Lots of love, Tony.
Steve sat down on the bed, and looked beside him to the suitcase, feeling an immense sense of gratitude at not only having Tony on the team for his amazing contributions to it and helping them stay and work together, he was also grateful to have Tony as an ally and most importantly, a friend.
Though they may have had a rough start, thanks to Loki's Sceptre, Tony Stark proved to be nothing like what news articles and the media said, what the media said was only the first impressions of Tony Stark, sadly, Steve himself had fallen for those lies.
But once he had gotten to know Tony better, Steve realised his initial perception of his teammate was entirely wrong. Tony wasn't a self-centred, irrational and uncaring person, instead, he was much the opposite of that. His devotion to the team, to him and the other Avengers was astonishing, and his fierce love for those who cared for him and were his close friends and family was endearing.
His countless upgrades to the Avengers equipment and the numerous gifts he gave celebrations he held for each and every one of his close friends and family was a testimony to that.
Steve was thankful for all the things Tony has done and most likely will continue to do for him, but what he was most grateful for, was Tony's friendship. And he'd make sure Tony knew that.
"I must disagree with your theory friend Natasha. I highly doubt that HYDRA's members waged a civil war with each other considering there has been none in their long history." Thor countered.
Natasha shook her head, still unwilling to accept the idea that someone destroyed HYDRA. "There's a first time for everything Thor. HYDRA has had many different leaders throughout the years thanks to our intervention, and with different leaders come different agendas. However, the agenda of the organisation may not line up with the agenda of its members, and with a fast changing agenda, it's only logical that, eventually, a civil war would break out."Clint stood up from his seat to face Natasha. "But isn't HYDRA's agenda just absolute control? That's what it was back during WWII and thanks to the incident with SHIELD and Washington DC, it hasn't changed since then."
"That's their main agenda, but not their only one. Other agendas might include research and development into new weapons or the development of a new super soldier serum. HYDRA has multiple agendas, but it can't do all of them." Natasha informed. "I believe that the most plausible solution is that a civil war broke out between different HYDRA groups when they were all grouped up in the same area, and so they wiped themselves out. You can't just assume that some other organisation came in and destroyed them."
"Natasha's right." Which prompted everyone in the room to look at Bruce, who didn't squirm underneath the scrutiny. "Just because we have an unsolvable equation infront of us with a certain amount of variables in it, we can't simply add in another variable that will fix everything just like that, that's not how it works. We have to use what we have and try to come up with the most plausible solution using those variables and information."
Bruce sat down on one of the bar stools and leaned on the counter. "For your theory to be correct, we'd have to assume that somehow, said organisation has access to extremely powerful weaponry that can penetrate thick armour, have vehicles or aircrafts that can travel at extremely high speeds, a cloaking technology that's able to fool our sensors and someone smart enough to create all that."
"What other option do we have? We have no concrete evidence, no idea of what even happened, and very few leads. The only leads we even have are the damage done to the equipment and armour." Clint said, frustrated while waving his arms frantically.
Before anyone could say anything else, the elevator doors pinged open, revealing a very happy and relaxed Steve Rogers.
Raising an eyebrow at Steve's sudden change in behaviour from when they came back from Denmark, Natasha asked. "Well, you look happy today. What's up this time?"
Opening the fridge to get a bottle of orange juice out, Steve answered. "Tony made me a new suit. Apparently it's made of some fancy infused vibranium material and has some abilities that I'm excited to test out later."
"What?! Tony made you a new suit and yet he didn't make me a new set of arrows?! This is preposterous!" Which earned a light-hearted chuckle from Steve.
"Hmmm. That's nice of him. Say, where is he now?"
"Tony's asleep right now, probably in his room." Steve answered matter-of-factly, laughing at the faces Clint and Bruce made. "I know, hard to believe right? He even agreed when I told him he couldn't keep pulling all-nighters and not eat properly or sleep!"
"Steve, I see you're taking from the master, because your jokes are getting better." Clint said.
"No, Tony is actually asleep in his room. Right JARVIS?"
"Yes Captain Rogers. Mr Stark is currently sleeping in his room."
"Alright, I don't know what's weirder, the fact that HYDRA's base suddenly got destroyed by someone other than us or the fact that Tony agreed with Steve on anything and is also actually sleeping right now."
"First time for everything." Natasha said.After that, everyone seemed to accept Tony's strange behaviour as an anomaly and resumed their discussion on HYDRA.Bruce walked to the floor to ceiling windows and stared out, blocking out the debate going on behind him between his teammates, until something caught his attention.
"Uhhhhh, guys? Are we expecting someone?"
"No? Why?" Steve answered, confused.
"Because a car just is pulling up right at our front stairs and a teenager just walked out of it."
"Teenager? What business does a teenager have that requires his presence at the Avengers Compound?" Thor asked.
Having a good idea of who it is, Steve began walking to the front doors as he spoke up. "I'll go meet him, find out why he's here."
Walking through the door that led to the main lobby, Steve found the kid wandering around aimlessly, seeming almost intimidated by the walls of the building itself. Making the kid seem even smaller than he was compared to Steve.
The kid didn't seem to notice him approaching nor did he seem to hear him approach if his earphones were any indication, but as Steve got closer, the teen abruptly stopped his wandering and slowly turned his head towards Steve's direction.
Hmmm, interesting.
As soon as the kid saw Steve, he was left speechless, mouth wide open like a complete dope, which prompted an amused smile from Steve.
"Hello and welcome to the Avengers Compound. If I'm not mistaken, you must be Peter right? Peter Parker?" Steve greeted kindly, outstretching his hand in an offer of a handshake.
"I… Uhhhh… Hi… Yes, I-I'm Peter Parker…" Peter stuttered, clearly shocked as he gestured wildly. "And you're C-Captain America… Oh my god… The Captain America is infront of me… This is amazing."
Steve chuckled at Peter's behaviour. "Yes, I am the one and only Captain America. Now, would you tell me why you're here Peter? This isn't exactly a place for 16 year-olds."
"Right. Uhhhh, I'm here because Mr Stark called me to come here a few weeks ago." Peter answered, still weary he was talking to a literal superhero and national icon. "For my Avengers recruitment training."
To be continued...