I know it's quite short but hey, you didn't have to wake for long at least :P

Chapter 13

Tony walked in to the elevator and pressed the button that would take him to the training area where he would find the boy he was looking for. The doors opened and he didn't have to look around; in the boxing ring Damien was training with his staff, jumping around and hitting the air in only sweat pants.

"I hope I'm not interrupting?" Tony asked and walked up to the ring.

Damien stopped what he was doing but he didn't look startled, more like he knew he was there all along. "No, I was just going to take a break." He answered but he didn't have that trademark smirk he always had around Tony.

"Is something bothering you?" Tony asked and got up in to the ring.

Damien looked at him but quickly looked away and walked over to where he had his water bottle. "Are you here to have the dad-talk with me?" Damien asked him and made the staff fold in to itself.

Tony chuckled and shook his head. "Something tells me you have already got it from someone else." He said and leaned on the railing. Damien sat down on the floor, sweat sliding down his body and his hair slick back by the water he had held over his head and dragged the hair back by his shaking hands. "I think you are working too hard." Tony stated and walked over to him and crouched down in front of the boy.

Damien looked up at him with uncertain eyes. "Why do you care?" He asked with a stern voice.

Tony sat down, still facing the boy. "I care because you are an avenger and also a good friend to my daughter." Tony said truthfully. Damien leaned his head back on the pole and looked up at the ceiling. "It was nice of you to by my daughter that present." Tony said with a smile at him. But he got nothing from the boy; he just kept on watching the ceiling. "You know what; you need to have some fun. Meet me in the garage in 40 minutes." Tony said and stood up and walked away, leaving a stunned boy watching him leave.

Tony took Damien to a very explicit bar. He was kind of happy to at least put on a nice black shirt and blue jeans so he didn't look so out of place. "What do you want for a drink?" Tony asked when they got to the bar.

Damien looked around a bit uncomfortable. "Is it wrong to order beer here?" He whispered to his hero.

Tony chuckled and turned to the bartender. "One beer and one scotch on the rocks." He said and placed some money on the bar and then turned back to the boy who was looking around at the people. "Relax and have fun." Tony said and sat down on a couch that was near the window that had the view of New York and the Stark tower shining in the sun light. Damien sat down on the couch opposite of Tony and looked out the window. A waitress came over with their drinks and gave Damien a flirtatious smile before leaving. To Damien's surprise he didn't reciprocate the feeling he just got from a very pretty girl… but not as pretty as Joanna.

"So do you usually come here?" Damien asked to break the awkward silence and took a sip from his beer.

Tony chuckled and took a sip from his scotch. "Loki took me here once on our second wedding anniversary and it sort of ended up being our place." Tony said with a warm smile. Damien smiled back and nodded.

"The beer sure is great here." He said and took a bigger gulp of the delicious drink.

Tony nodded and looked up at Damien. "How did you end up an agent?" Tony then asked him with a serious voice.

Damien decided to tell the story he told Joanna when she asked him the almost same question. "My father was a Shield agent, but he died and so my family was left under surveillance to make sure we were safe. My mom found a new man and he and I didn't really get along so well so he threw me out the house and so Shield picked me up and trained me. Turned out I was even better than my dad… but as you heard I don't play well with others… until now I guess." Damien said and drank his beer.

Tony nodded. "Can I ask what happened to your dad?" He asked with a concerned look.

Damien bit his tongue to make the memories of Shield agents knocking on their door and telling them his dad was dead. "I found out later that he was killed by the same man who threw me out the house."

"Well if it isn't Tony Stark." A very familiar voice for both Tony and Damien came from a man dressed in a nice suit and the familiar face that both men wanted to punch until it didn't exist.

"Mr. Hammer, when did you get out of prison?" Tony asked, holding his temper. But he was shocked to see Damien looking away from the man, like he didn't want him to see who he was.

"Oh I think it was about seven years ago or something. I'm doing better now, I got a family and the Hammer industries are going well." He just blabbered on how good his life was now.

"Justin baby, here is your whisky." A woman with long brown hair and a green dress came up and pressed herself close to Hammer. She looked down at Tony and gave him a small smile but when she looked at the boy her smile disappeared. "Damien?"

Damien put on his usual smirk and looked up at the woman. "Hi, mom." He said with distaste and repulsion showing in his face.

"Wait, is he…" Tony asked but was cut off.

Hammer laughed and looked down at Damien. "I never thought you would end up with Stark, Damien. I thought you were in an alley somewhere, begging for money." Damien stood up ready to punch the man but was stopped by a hand that belonged to his hero. "Not I wise move, I have bodyguards with me you see and they are ready to shoot who ever that choose to attack me." Hammer said and chuckled and the woman joined him.

Tony looked around and saw all the black suits with earpieces watching them closely. He leaned in closely to Damien's ear so only he could hear. "Let's go, we can't take him down right now but I promise you that we will." He felt Damien's muscles loosen up and breathing calm down.

They walked past them and Tony was surprised and horrified by the fact that Damien's mom didn't say anything more to her son. "Run away, just like your father." Hammer said and made everyone laugh after them. Could he be more stupid?

Damien stopped dead in his tracks, he pulled up a knife he had hidden in his pants and launched towards Hammer faster than anyone could see. He was lying on top of the man who had killed his father, knife pressed to his throat, one slide and the man would be dead. But who would care?

Tony looked around and saw that all the bodyguards were ready to shoot but if they did the knife would most likely do the last thing it could before its owner took his last breath. "Okay everyone calm down, lower your weapons and I'll deal with this." Tony said and looked at the bodyguards that considered it for a moment, then the guns was pointing at the floor and one of the men nodded. Tony walked up slowly to Damien and put a hand on his back to get his attention. "Damien, trust me when I tell you that killing him here right now will only feel good for about 5 minutes and then you will regret it all and live with it for the rest of your life. So let's move away from him slowly and go home." He couldn't blame the boy for wanting this, especially now when he had it in his hand and just walk away from it but if he did it he would be put in jail and Tony would have failed to protect him. But he couldn't help to feel that he wanted this himself.

"Please Damien, he means everything to me." The woman who is his mom pleading to him like he is a stranger. He has been gone for two years, she hasn't been looking for him and now when she has him right in front of her she can only think of the chicken he is trying to kill. Mom of the year.

"You will shut up woman or I will personally kill you myself and make it look like an accident." Tony growled at her, making her step away from them with wide eyes. "Damien, look at me." Tony said with a calm voice. The boy lifted his look slightly towards him; he was crying and shaking. His eyes showing hate, sorrow and panic, but they also screamed for help. Tony put a gentle hand on his hand which held the knife and managed to get the hand away from Hammer's throat. When Damien released the knife he stood up and walked out towards the stairs and Tony followed him closely surprised that neither was shot by the guards but when he looked at them he could only see pity in their eyes.

When they got out in to a back alley Damien took out his aggression on a brick wall; he punched, kicked and screamed. Tony stood there for some minutes and just watched him take out all his anger on that solid wall, but when he saw that it started to appear blood on the bricks he walked up and put a hand on the boy's shoulder making him turn around and face him. He looked at his knuckles who was scraped to the point blood was flowed out of the wounds. He then looked up and in to Damien's eyes, it was like he wasn't present at the moment. His eyes was filled with tears and swollen, but he looked like he was somewhere else in his mind. "Hey Damien, listen to me." Tony said and put his head on the boy's neck to make him lean his forehead on his and calm down. "You did good, kid. Now let's get to the car and clean this." Tony said and grabbed the boys arm and started to walk towards the car.

Happy was first shocked to see them so soon and then he was more confused to see the boy crying and bleeding. "Boss, what have you done?" He asked with a low voice.

"I didn't do this Happy. Get us home." He said and got in to the car with Damien. He opened a small case and brought out the first aid kit and found all the supplies he needed to fix the boy's wound.

"Thank you." Damien said with a raspy voice but not meeting Tony's eyes. He couldn't after all weakness he had shown him, he should be better than this.

Tony just kept on fixing the wound, going through what happened at the bar over and over again. "Your life is more fucked up than I thought." Tony murmured, focused on patching up the wound.

Damien chuckled and nodded. "Maybe not as fucked up as yours and Loki's but yeah… it's pretty messed up." Tony only chuckled at that and put the kit away when he was done.

"I can ask Loki to heal the wounds if you want?" Tony said when he leaned back on the seat.

Damien shook his head. "No I'm fine." He said and smiled at Tony who smiled back. This boy was really something.

Happy parked the car in the garage and let the men out and said goodbye to him. Tony and Damien walked in to the elevator in silence watching the city become greater the higher up they got. "Am I the only one who knows about this?" Tony asked the boy who was finally breathing regularly now.

Damien shook his head and leaned against the wall. "Loki got my folder from Fury and… Joanna only knows that I was thrown out. Did you know that it was Hammer's daughter she made pass out the day she saved my sister?" Damien asked his hero.

A smirk appeared on Tony's lips. "I guess Stark's and Hammer's just don't get along that well." He said and chuckled. "Wait, my husband knew about all this but never told me?" Tony frowned.

Damien gave him a panic look. "He didn't tell you because it wasn't his place to tell." He said with a small voice.

Tony sighed. "No, of course not." He said and dragged a hand over his face. The elevator dinged and revealed Damien's apartment.

"Thanks again for the fun." Damien said with his usual smirk.

Tony smiled but still looked concerned. "You don't have to be alone if you don't want to." Tony said, feeling the boy should never be alone again.

"I might be 18 but I can still take care of myself." He said and walked out of the elevator and gave small wave before the door's closed before Tony.

Tony sat in his lab; music blasting through the speakers and screens with text, pictures and diagrams of one special agent Carow. All from Shield's data base that he had hacked in a matter of seconds, they really sucked or maybe it was because it was his program that they used. It was like reading a biography of a boy who lived through hell all his years. Bullied in school, father killed, Hammer coming in and throwing him out and his mother didn't care, his teacher trying to rape him, his partner left him in crossfire out of fear of dying resulting in Damien almost killed. There was now wondering left in Tony to understand the boy's lack of trust in people after reading this, he was actually surprised that he managed to stay sane after all this. Suddenly the music was cut off and his trusty AI spoke.

Sir, your husband is calling. Jarvis said and Tony didn't have to tell him to let Loki through.

"Hello my love." Tony said with a happy voice.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Loki sounded relieved to hear his voice which made him smile.

"I'm fine, how did you know?" Tony asked with a shocked voice.

"Paparazzi, Tony." Loki said with a stern voice. Tony chuckled; of course they would know about the accident in the bar. "Is he okay?" Loki sounded extremely worried now.

"Yeah, he is fine now, just a few scratches." Tony explained while going through some diagrams of Damien's training, amazed to see how much he had progressed in just one year.

It was silent for some second before he could hear his husband's voice again. "Are you mad at me for not telling you?" Loki sounded scared and small and it made Tony want to hold him close to him.

He sighed and dragged a hand through his hair. "No, as Damien said it wasn't your place to tell." Tony answered and smiled in to nothing. He heard his Loki let out a breath in relief. "Have you've been to the doctor?" Tony asked to change the subject.

"Yeah, she is as good as Dr. Jensen was." Loki said and sounded happy this time.

Tony smile grew wider; he had wanted the same doctor as last time but she had retired two years ago so that wasn't happening but she recommended the doctor who took over after her. Dr. Ryder was a very nice, tall, thin lady with blond hair and a nice smile. "What did she say?" Tony asked and looked at some videos of Damien fighting. The boy got skills.

"Everything is normal… wait, don't change the subject; what happened at the bar?" Loki growled after realizing his husband's plan.

"Damn, you caught me." Tony sighed and pause the video. "Hammer came up to us and pretty much strike a lot of nerves but the biggest nerve was probably when his own mother showed no interest in him… only Hammer. I wanted to kill her Lo." Tony was so furious, thinking back at the disgusting woman and how she pressed herself up against the coward.

"Love calm down… I'll be home in 15 minutes. I love you." Loki said with a calm and loving voice.

"Yeah, love you to." Tony answered, wishing he was already there with him.

Tony felt like he was done with all Damien's information so he took everything down and went back to tinkering with his suit when an explosion was heard from underneath.

It appears somebody has attacked the tower sir. To be correct somebody is in agent Carow's apartment and kidnapping him as we speak. The AI said calmly to his master.

Tony was just about to get his suit when a man put something on his lab door and then took cover. Tony knew exactly what was about to happen so he hid behind a table at the exact time as a second explosion occurred. He thought he was safe but the explosion was bigger than he thought and made the table role over him in the shock wave, causing a punch to his head that made him extremely dizzy. He lay on the floor when three men lifted him up and a forth put something over his mouth and everything turned black.

Sorry for the cliff hanger... No I'm not D