"Senator, while I understand that this has likely been already covered, I would very much appreciate it if you could indulge me again," said one of the senators from Tennessee, a petite black woman who was serving her second term. "Can you please explain exactly why there is a need for this… registration act?"
"Okay, so she's probably not one of them," Steve murmured as he wrote down the lady's name and what state she represented in his notebook. He had already been watching the debate for over three hours, pretty much ever since he and Tony had dropped Peter off at school, taking detailed notes as he tried to determine exactly how many of the senators were hooked in with HYDRA and who they all were.
It was always good to know exactly who you were up against, and Steve wanted to collect as much data as he could before he finalised his plans, even if all of the garbage spewing from the mouths of the pro-registration senators had almost made him angry enough to punch through the living room wall more than once.
But since he didn't really feel like having to patch up yet another hole in the penthouse, he had managed, at least so far, to control his temper.
"Babe, really?" Tony suddenly said from the far corner of the living room, startling Steve enough that he almost dropped his pencil. "Why the hell are you still watching that, you know it's only gonna piss you off?"
"We need to know what we're up against, Tony, you know that," he answered, gripping his pencil as he frowned at the television. "And I'm tired of always being three steps behind the enemy. It's time that I quit slacking."
"Yeah, 'cause you certainly spend most of your time slacking," Tony muttered, rolling his eyes as he stopped next to him. He wrapped his arms around Steve's waist, tipping his forehead against his arm. "Didn't we just talk about you putting too much pressure on yourself? Or was that just me talking to myself again the other night?"
"Yes we did, but I also said that no pressure is too much when it comes to you and Peter," Steve said with a frown. He planted a quick kiss on Tony's head before returning his attention to the screen, hoping Tony would get the hint and drop the subject. He really wasn't in the mood to rehash their entire argument, especially since he knew they would just end up going round and round again and wouldn't actually get anywhere.
Besides, Steve had already made up his mind, and already discussed it individually with Bucky, Thor, and Bruce, and the rest of the team as a group. At the moment his plan was that if something were to happen to him, Thor would immediately find Peter and transport him to Asgard, leaving him in the protection of his guardian Heimdall before returning for Tony. Once Peter and Tony were both safe, Thor would then return to the Tower or Compound and assess the situation, continuing to evacuate the non-enhanced team members if he thought it viable while Bucky and Bruce/ Hulk attempted to hold off any potential opposition. Once everyone was sequestered on Asgard, they would then monitor what was going on on Earth via Heimdall and formulate additional plans from there.
And under no circumstances was anyone to allow Tony or Peter to return to Earth until their safety could be guaranteed, both publicly via a press conference or something similar, and in writing. Long gone were the days of simple handshake promises or giving someone "your word", yet another thing that Steve sometimes lamented about the twenty-first century.
Tony let out an exaggerated sigh, but thankfully didn't press the issue. Instead, he released Steve and plunked down onto the couch, patting the cushion next to him.
"At least come and sit down then, yeah?" he said. "You've been pacing back and forth so much I'm surprised there's not already a path worn into the floor."
"All right." Steve watched as Senator Davis approached the podium, assuming his arrogant-as-hell expression that Steve had already grown to despise.
"Very well, Madame Senator," Davis began, clearing his throat.
"In the years since the formation of the so-called superhero team known as the Avengers, there has been an increase in not only the number of known enhanced individuals, but also an equally commensurate increase in the number of what many would term as 'Avengers' level threats'. In fact, research conducted by various committee members and other groups has shown that since the discovery of Captain Steve Rogers in the Arctic ice, the man many of you know as Captain America, there has been a sort of ripple effect with these events, and one that I feel, as do many of my colleagues, that we can no longer ignore."
The Tennessee senator frowned as she leaned over to listen to her aide, whispering something that Steve couldn't catch.
"Could you be more specific about this 'ripple effect', Senator?" she asked.
"Of course, Senator," said Davis. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, peering at the sheet of paper in front of him.
"Ever since Captain Rogers was defrosted and reintroduced into public society, there has been an increase in the number of potential world-ending events. Now, as he happened to state in our recent hearing, Captain Rogers believes that the Avengers are the best equipped to handle these particular events, and while he may in fact be correct, I personally find it rather interesting that these events only began to occur after he was found. Now, while I agree that this may simply be a vast coincidence, it is a bit difficult to look past all of the evidence, past all of the casualties and destruction and damage, especially when Captain Rogers himself seems to not care at all about what's left behind in the wake of these events, and has stated for the record that he would not hesitate to utilise not only the combined strength of the entire Avengers' team, but also the large robotic army created by his… companion, Mr Tony Stark, whenever he personally sees the need. Now, I'm not sure about the rest of you, but having one person, and not even a so-called normal person but one that's in fact enhanced, sitting on that kind of power and operating under absolutely no regulations or oversight, well, to be perfectly frank, it frightens me."
Davis paused for a moment, presumably for dramatic effect. "And I believe, Senators, that we must examine all of this evidence with not only a critical eye, but also an objective eye. For while it may be difficult for some to believe that Captain America may not in fact have the best interests of the United States at heart, right now it seems as though that is exactly what's happening. The perspective that Captain Rogers and his team are specifically inviting these catastrophic challenges to both show off their strength and firepower to the world and stoke their own egos should not simply be dismissed out of hand."
A loud snap! startled Steve, and he looked down at his right hand to find that he had broken his pencil into about five different pieces, all clutched so tightly in his white-knuckled fist that bits of the wood and lead had already embedded themselves into his skin. Slowly, he uncurled his fist, allowing the broken pencil shards to fall to the floor as Tony quietly asked JARVIS to mute the television.
Steve didn't know what was worse: the fact that someone who didn't even know him was so harshly judging not only his intentions but also his integrity, or that at least a third to a half of the other senators seemed to be agreeing with Davis's remarks.
All he'd ever wanted to do was serve his country, the very same country his own father had given his life for, and protect his family that he loved more than his own life. Almost every single decision that he'd made since he had turned eighteen years old had been toward one or both of those ends, so how could Davis not see that?
How could anyone not see that?
"Babe?" Tony murmured, gently tugging on his arm. "C'mon, let's go for a walk or something, yeah?"
Sucking in a slow, deep breath, Steve picked a yellow splinter of pencil out of his palm before nodding, carefully closing his notebook.
"Yeah, okay," he whispered. "Just… need to get my shoes on."
Outside it was bright and sunny, the vast city filled with all of the sounds and smells of early spring, such a sharp contrast to the violent thunderstorm raging inside Steve's mind and heart. He offered Tony his arm as they stepped onto the sidewalk at the foot of the Tower, absentmindedly heading up the street in the direction of Peter's school.
"You know Davis is just a first-class asshole, babe," Tony said after they had walked in silence for almost three blocks, his hand tucked securely into the crook of Steve's elbow. Tony's brown eyes were hidden behind one of his many pairs of sunglasses, but Steve didn't need to see them to know how much hurt they were carrying. Like Steve, Tony always took any jab at his loved ones very personally, and Davis's remarks about him had been about as low as Steve had ever heard.
"I know," Steve answered. He rubbed at his aching jaw with his free hand, surprised that he still had all of his teeth for how tightly it was clenched. "But I'm not sure that'll matter all that much if he's able to convince all of the others to go along with him."
Tony just pursed his lips as they crossed another street, leading Steve inside a coffee shop.
"Two large peppermint teas and a chocolate croissant, please," Tony said to the young lady at the counter, who immediately started gushing as she recognised them. Tony smiled as she fumbled with his change, giving her a twenty dollar tip as she handed them their drinks, the clean, pungent smell of the peppermint already working to soothe Steve's frayed nerves. Peppermint had been banned from the Tower and Compound because of how dangerous it was for Peter, so Steve took full advantage of any opportunity that he had to enjoy a cup of his favourite tea without it posing a threat to their son.
They took seats over by the window, leisurely sipping their hot drinks as they watched the various people walking by outside. People-watching had always been fascinating to Steve, and he'd been known to sit inside shops or outside on park benches for hours when Tony was busy in the lab or at a meeting, just observing humanity and occasionally sketching in his sketchbook.
He had already finished half of his tea by the time Tony reached for his hand, his long, calloused fingers warm as they curled around his own.
"I think I've got the MAUDE glasses just about ready," he said. "I've had JARVIS running every single simulation that I can think of for the past three days, so as long as you and Bucky are still good to go, then—"
"I'll double-check with him tonight." Steve glanced down at his untouched croissant, finally giving into his growling stomach and tearing off a large piece. "I can't imagine that he's changed his mind though."
"No, not likely, but it's always good to make sure," agreed Tony. "But what we really need to discuss is if we're gonna let Pete watch the experiment. I mean, obviously we'd have to make sure he couldn't hear the trigger words, but you know he's gonna want to watch it."
Steve dropped his chin to his chest, his fingers tightening around Tony's. "I'd really rather that he didn't, especially if something were to go wrong. But I'm not sure that I'm up for fighting with him over it either. He's been so distant lately, and I just…"
His voice trailed off, unable to bring himself to finish his sentence. I just don't want him to start hating me if we don't have that much time left together.
"Well, I know that I'm not really up for it," Tony said casually, as if they hadn't just recently listened to a government official try and smear Steve and the Avengers across the entire United States Senate. Steve felt his jaw tightening again, and he took another sip of his tea, trying to force himself to calm down. Tony wasn't trying to minimise or ignore what was happening, he was just compartmentalising it.
And while Steve sometimes envied Tony's ability to compartmentalise everything so well, as soon as he remembered exactly why Tony had been forced to learn how to do it, he just got angry again.
"I think we should ask Bucky, see what he says," Steve finally said. "He may not want the entire team watching while we try and trigger him, so… if he says no, then we'll just tell Peter no."
Tony gave a nod before taking another sip of his tea. "Great idea, babe."
"I'll talk to him after dinner tonight, okay?" said Steve. "Are you thinking sometime this weekend for the experiment?"
"Yep," answered Tony as he stole a small piece of the croissant, winking as he popped it into his mouth. "Bruce and Sam said they'll have the panic room prepped and ready by Saturday morning, so…"
"All right. And the contingency plans?"
"Code green for containment, and Helen's developed a sedative she says should be able to knock him out as long as we can get it into a large vein right away," said Tony. "And Nat's already volunteered to take care of it if it comes to that."
Steve bit his lip. He didn't like the idea of Natasha risking her life that way, but he also knew she was the best person for the job since she had experience with that type of thing.
"All right," he said softly, squeezing Tony's hand. "Thank you, sweetheart. I'm sure Bucky's already told you this too, but I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the work you've put into this."
Tony gave him a shrug, one of those nonchalant shrugs he often gave whenever Steve gave him a compliment. "It's for Pete too, babe, so don't be trying to give me more credit than I deserve."
"And you need to stop downplaying it all the time!" Steve snapped, a bit too forcefully when Tony's head jerked back in surprise. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that, but please, don't do that, okay? Don't always try and deflect it away when I give you a compliment. Please?" He brought Tony's hand to his lips, kissing his knuckles. "I love you, and I'm so grateful for you and for everything that you do, and I don't only mean the glasses. I mean everything that you do for me, and for Peter, and for the rest of the team. We wouldn't be half as good at what we do if it wasn't for you, and that is a fact."
"Steve—" Tony started, his eyebrows knitting together, but Steve cut him off.
"No, please don't," he whispered. He breathed in, pressing his lips to Tony's hand again as tears stung his eyes. "Just let me appreciate you."
"Steve, I don't need you tell me that you appreciate me," Tony said after a short pause. "It's pretty much written all over your face everytime you look at me."
"Well, that's good, but I'm still gonna tell you anyway, all right?" Steve said with a slight smile. "I thought you would've figured that out by now."
Tony gave another shrug. "Well, you know me, honey."
Yes, I do, Steve thought. Just like I should.
He had just finished the last of his tea when the door to the coffee shop opened and George Stacy and another police officer stepped inside. Steve instinctively shrank back, trying to avoid eye contact but Stacy noticed them right away, a wide smile stretching across his face as he waved hello.
"Good day, Captain Rogers, Mr Stark," Stacy said as he stepped over to their table. Steve reluctantly got to his feet, shaking Stacy's outstretched hand.
"Mr Stacy, it's nice to see you again," Steve said as he unconsciously reached for Tony's arm, fighting the urge to step in front of him. George Stacy was a police officer, not a government official, and ever since the theatre incident Steve had had no real reason to view him as a threat, but that damn senate hearing had gotten him so twitchy, as Peter would say, that he was even more paranoid than usual.
"So, my daughter mentioned something about the Decathlon team being invited to stay in the Stark Industries building down in D.C. during their big competition?" Stacy asked.
"Oh, yeah," said Tony. "Since it's only a couple blocks away from the school hosting the competition, I just thought it'd be easier than trying to cram everyone into a hotel."
And much safer, Steve thought, since Tony had recently outfitted the entire building with their defence drones, complete with a long enough range to target the competition site if necessary. That plus the fact that all of their teammates were also planning to attend the competition were the only reasons why Steve was able to be so calm about it. After the committee meeting, Steve was not at all looking forward to returning to Washington D.C.
"Well, that's very generous of you, Mr Stark," added Stacy. "I know we're all looking forward to it, and Gwen especially."
"Yeah, call me Tony," said Tony. "And from what Pete's told us, with how hard Miss Stacy's been drilling them, I doubt there's any way they can lose."
Steve watched as Stacy's already ruddy cheeks flushed even deeper. "Yes, well, she's definitely competitive, and has been ever since she was a baby. But from what she's told me, your boy is just as much, if not more so."
"Yes, that seems to be a common trait among geniuses. Or at least among the geniuses that I know," Steve said, curling his arm around Tony's shoulders. "It was nice to see you again, Mr Stacy, I hope you have a nice rest of your day."
He had taken only one step towards the door when he felt Stacy's hand on his arm.
"Captain, Mr Stark," he said, glancing furtively at his partner who was still waiting for their order. "Gwen told me what's been going on, and I've been following along with some of the senate debates. I just wanted you to know that my family is here if you ever need anything. Even if it's just to pick Peter up from school, all you need to do is ask."
Tony gave an almost imperceptible flinch, prompting Steve to squeeze his shoulder. "Thank you, Mr Stacy," he said in his Captain's voice. "We appreciate that very much."
"It's the least I can do," Stacy said. He stepped back as his partner approached, juggling two big coffee cups and a loaded paper sack in his hands.
"Hey, did anyone ever tell you that you look a lot like Captain America?" the young man asked, who barely looked old enough to drive, much less be a police officer. He gasped as he stepped back, looking between Steve and Tony. "Oh my God, you really are Captain America! And Iron Man too? Oh wow, my girlfriend's never gonna believe this!"
"Brian, this is Captain Steve Rogers and Mr Tony Stark," said Stacy, taking his coffee cup before it could drop onto the floor. "My daughter is in their son's class at school."
"It's nice to meet you, officer," Steve said as Brian first clasped his hand, then Tony's, shaking them both vigorously. "Thank you for all that you do to keep the city a safe place."
"Oh, like you never do any of that! I'm just a beat cop, but you guys… you're the real deal!" the young officer said, clearing his throat as he glanced over at Stacy. "Anyway, it was so awesome to meet you both!"
"Yes, well, we need to be heading back to the precinct now," Stacy said firmly, shooting Steve a rather apologetic look. "Have a nice day, Captain, Mr Stark."
"Thank you." Steve waited until Stacy and his young partner had crossed the street before he and Tony exited the coffee shop, heading back towards the Tower.
"Do you believe him?" Tony asked after a couple of blocks. "Stacy?"
Steve gave a sigh; he'd been hoping Tony wouldn't ask that. "I'd like to. He seems sincere enough, and if he really thought that Peter was Spider-Man he could've arrested him or even gone to the press right after the attack at the theatre, but—"
"You're not sure if we can really trust anyone in a law enforcement position right now," Tony finished. "Right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, can't say that I blame ya," said Tony. "But if he is telling the truth, it can't hurt to have the support. I know he's not exactly the mayor or anything, but he does run one of the largest police precincts in the city."
"Then I guess it's good that his daughter likes Peter so much," Steve said.
"Yeah, like she even had a choice," Tony said with a rather cheeky smirk. "I mean, you didn't, did ya?"
"No, not with either of you." A knot rose in Steve's throat at the memory of the first time he laid eyes on Tony and Peter, sitting there in the middle of that endless desert, the horrible blue colour of Peter's split and cracked lips as he lay completely motionless in Tony's arms, and the heart-stopping panic on Tony's face as he begged Steve to do something, anything to save him.
It was an image that still haunted his nightmares, even now, almost four years later.
"Babe?" Tony said, tugging on Steve's arm. "You okay?"
"Yeah, sweetheart, I'm fine," he murmured. Tony shot him one of Peter's yeah, right looks, but thankfully didn't press him.
The television was still on in the living room when they got home, a sharp slap in the face compared to the last couple hours of relative peace that he and Tony had just shared. Steve's heart skittered as he turned his back to the screen, winding his arms around Tony's shoulders and pulling him into a tight hug.
"I love you so much," he murmured into Tony's hair. "And thank you. I needed that."
"Yeah, no shit," Tony muttered. He cupped Steve's jaw, pressing a slow kiss to that sweet spot that always turned Steve's knees to jelly. "Can you do me a favour, though?"
"What's that?" Steve rasped, biting his lip as Tony kissed that spot again.
"Don't listen to anymore of that bullshit? It's just gonna make you mad, honey, and it probably won't matter in the end anyway. I'd rather you go down to the gym and bust up your knuckles again than listen to those idiots blathering on all afternoon. JARVIS will let us know if anything important comes up, you know that."
Steve squeezed his eyes closed, breathing in the glorious scent of Tony's hair as he struggled to come up with a plausible excuse, and found nothing.
"All right." He tilted Tony's chin up to kiss his lips, his breath hitching when Tony quickly deepened the kiss, his hand curling around the back of Steve's neck to hold him in place as his tongue plundered his mouth, searching for his own. Steve could taste the faint traces of peppermint and chocolate on Tony's tongue, and he quickly lost himself in the touch, taste, and feel of his husband as Tony's other hand slid down to his ass and squeezed.
"There," Tony said cheekily once they finally broke apart, flushed and panting. "See what you get when you listen to me?"
A low growl escaped Steve's throat as he dipped his head to kiss Tony again, deliberately keeping it chaste even though his entire body was screaming at him to take it further. "You are incorrigible, you know."
"Yeah, but you love me anyway," Tony said with a wink as he gave Steve's ass another firm squeeze. "But if you promise to keep behaving, there'll be more where that came from later tonight."
"Promise?" Steve whimpered, sucking in a shaky breath.
Tony gave him a downright wicked grin, waggling his eyebrows. "You know it, babe."
Gulping, Steve nodded, pressing another kiss to Tony's forehead. "JARVIS, can you please turn off the television?"
"Of course, Captain."
"Good boy," Tony murmured. "Now, we've got a little over two hours before we need to go get Pete, so go on and get all hot and sweaty while I go and daydream about getting you all hot and sweaty. Okay, Captain?"
"Yes, sir," Steve breathed, his cheeks flaming hot as Tony sauntered back towards his lab, all perfectly mussed brown hair, back as straight as a ballet dancer, lean, toned limbs, and the most beautifully round ass that Steve had ever seen.
God, Steve was a lucky man.
He just hoped that his luck wasn't about to run out.
Peter groaned as he rubbed at his aching neck, his eyes burning from spending the last three hours trying to decode the wonky Russian HYDRA files. It was already after four in the morning, and he knew he should probably try and get at least a bit of sleep before he was supposed to get up for school, but his progress so far had been so annoyingly slow that he didn't want to give up until he actually found something of value.
"Just one more," Peter muttered as he selected another file, this one a bit larger than the two previous ones he had decoded earlier that night. After that first initial evening, Peter had decided that it was too dangerous to work on the files while his dads were still awake, so for the past three nights he had been going to sleep at his usual bedtime, then setting an alarm to wake him up at 1am and working for as long as he was able to keep his eyes open.
But so far it had all just seemed like a massive waste of time, since besides HYDRA's manifesto, all he'd been able to uncover had been nothing but a bunch of supply lists and personnel shift assignments.
Whoever it was that had kept HYDRA's records at that Mongolian base had apparently written down freaking everything except what he wanted to find, and Peter's patience was rapidly approaching its breaking point.
Reaching for his water bottle, Peter chugged over half of it in just a few seconds, wiping his sleeve across his chin before tapping open the next file. He breathed in, letting it slowly out as he allowed his eyes to relax into their unfocused state so he could decipher the text.
Twenty minutes later, Peter curled his frozen hands into fists and grabbed his glasses, sliding them on so he could read what he had just finished typing out.
"Subjects were selected from various science divisions within SHIELD, based on initial responses to treatment and willingness to cooperate with further testing. Incremental doses of CTX-616 were given at regular intervals to ensure compliance."
"They were experimenting with that drug," Peter said, grabbing his polar bear and stuffing him under his chin. He let out a hard shudder as memories from the Miami bunker flooded his mind, of him lying there, strapped to a freezing cold concrete slab as the Aminacin burned through his veins like molten lava, while he bit through his bottom lip to keep from screaming from the almost unbearable pain.
And that had been before they'd pulled out Loki's sceptre and tried to turn his brain into scrambled eggs.
It had only been a few weeks that he'd even been able to recall those memories, the coma he had been in for months following the Miami battle having repressed them so deeply that it'd taken until now for them to reemerge.
Or at least, that was Uncle Sam's theory about it. Peter had yet to tell his dads that he was starting to remember more of what had happened down in Miami, and Uncle Sam had promised to keep it a secret unless he decided that it was doing Peter harm to do so. Dad and Papa didn't need anymore reasons to worry about him, they already had enough of their own.
The file went on to discuss the death of at least twenty of the test subjects during the dose-titration experiments, since apparently non-enhanced people couldn't tolerate the higher doses that Peter and Papa received. Even Dad, who had been given the drug too, had apparently gotten a much smaller dose since they were afraid that too much of it would kill him.
"So nice of them, since it almost did anyway," Peter grumbled as he continued to scroll through the file, physically forcing his eyelids to stay open.
"Subject 114, successful demonstration of cryokinetic abilities in-laboratory. Doctor List recommends field test at new Avengers' facility to determine viability."
"New Avengers' facility? That must've meant the Compound!" Peter exclaimed, clapping his hand over his mouth a second later. He had already deactivated JARVIS for the night, not wanting to be bugged every three minutes about why he was still awake, but the last thing he wanted was to possibly wake up Papa, who Peter knew had not been sleeping well lately.
"That must've been the guy that caused the lake to freeze over last summer." Peter rubbed at his eyes behind his glasses, his heart thudding as the file went on to comment that while the cryokinesis test was moderately successful, the subject himself didn't survive the attempt.
"Subject 128 with a successful in-lab demonstration of hydrokinesis. However, subject terminated following failed attempt to capture one Peter Stark-Rogers."
"Oh my God!" Peter breathed into his polar bear's neck, his belly swooping at finding his own name spelled out in a HYDRA document. "They really were trying to get me?"
But… why? What's so special about me?
There were several other subject numbers mentioned in the file, all listed with various matter-manipulating abilities and all who were then terminated for various reasons, including Subject 141 who had demonstrated the ability to control fire, but who also ended up failing to capture Peter Stark-Rogers.
"That must've been at the theatre," Peter mumbled, his heart thudding madly. He shivered, burrowing down even further into his blankets as he kept reading, trying to figure out why in the hell HYDRA was sending all these semi-enhanced people specifically after him.
It just didn't make sense, or at least it wasn't making too much sense at four in the morning when he was drop-dead exhausted. Peter was enhanced, that much was true, but it wasn't like he was the only enhanced person out there. Papa, Uncle Bruce, Uncle Thor, and Uncle Bucky were also inherently enhanced, meaning that their abilities didn't depend on specialised equipment like Dad and the rest of their family members. But why was Peter being singled out as the target for all of these experimentally enhanced people? Why not Papa, who the senate was personally targeting with their smear campaign, or even Uncle Bucky, who had already been caught in HYDRA's clutches once before and who was also still sensitive to the trigger words?
It wasn't until Peter had reached the last few paragraphs of the file that he got his answer.
"Subjects 155 and 156 have successfully completed all trials and have demonstrated extraordinary abilities on multiple occasions, perhaps due to innate genetic enhancements present at birth as well as sibling relationship. Will hold in reserve while strategic plans move forward in the United States, and will continue to search for others.
"That's it!" Peter said, his horror briefly tempered by his excitement at finally figuring it out. He tapped his tablet screen, highlighting the line he'd just read.
"Innate genetic enhancements present at birth."
That was the difference between he and Papa and every other enhanced person on their team. Aside from Uncle Thor, Peter was the only enhanced person that he knew of who hadn't received his powers as an adult, after the fact. And while Uncle Thor was a literal god—and likely not even HYDRA seemed to be up for targeting actual gods, especially if doing so would very likely piss off Uncle Thor's father and bring down the entire wrath of Asgard upon them—Peter could see how having soldiers who were genetically enhanced from birth, mutants, as it were, would be preferable to those they would have to artificially create.
"So, there's apparently two other people out there who were born with innate enhancements," Peter said. "Or, at least the potential for the development of them."
And, if there were two more people like Peter who HYDRA had already found, that meant there were likely even more who had yet to be found, which meant that there was quite possibly an entire subpopulation of people with similar mutations who were potentially in danger of becoming slaves for HYDRA. All HYDRA would need would be a big enough supply of that drug, and they could control just about anyone.
Except for me, the little voice inside his head reminded him. They weren't able to control me, even after using the sceptre.
Maybe that's why they were so determined to recapture him, to experiment on him to try and figure out how he had been able to resist their conversion procedures.
Peter buried his face into his polar bear, trying to ignore the fact that his glasses were pressing uncomfortably into the sides of his nose as he debated on what to do with this new information. If he showed it to his dads it would only make them even more determined to send him away, and that was the absolute last thing that he wanted. Like it or not, if things continued to progress the way that Papa feared they might, the team was going to need all the help they could get for the conflict that was sure to follow.
Or at least, the conflict that Peter hoped would follow. He couldn't imagine that the Avengers would just sit idly by and allow the registration act to become the law of the land, because to do so would go against everything that Papa had fought for during the war and everything the Avengers had stood for up till now.
Despite the fierce battles they had fought, the Avengers were overall a peacekeeping force, not a government-controlled enhanced army, and Peter knew Papa would never allow them to fall under any sort of government control.
And especially not a government filled to the brim with HYDRA.
No, Peter would have to sit on this for awhile longer, maybe just until Dad finished working on the MAUDE glasses. He really didn't like hiding things from his dads, it always made him feel so guilty that he could barely bring himself to look at them, but with how stressed they both were at the moment it would be better to wait at least until Uncle Bucky's test with the glasses was over, so both Dad and Papa could at least not be worried about that anymore.
Besides, if there really were other people out there like him, then he owed it to them to try and help.
"Won't be for too much longer," Peter muttered as he shut down his computers and stacked them on his bedside table along with his glasses. Dad had mentioned at dinner that the MAUDE glasses were just about ready, so as long as Uncle Bucky was still up for it, they were planning on running the experiment sometime during the upcoming weekend.
And if it worked, which it would, as Dad's stuff never didn't work, then Peter wanted his dads to be in as good of a mood as possible when he asked, again, if he could do the experiment himself.
And then, once he knew for sure that HYDRA no longer had any control over him, then he would show his dads what he'd found, and hopefully convince them once and for all that he was way too valuable to be sent away.
Uncommon valor was a common virtue, Peter thought as he closed his eyes, finally giving in to his exhaustion.
And I've got to have it.
"JARVIS, do me a favour and run another quick diagnostic on the interface for me, yeah?" Tony asked as he tapped some final commands into his monitor. Through the Hulk-proofed windows of Bruce's panic room he could see Steve sitting next to Bucky on the bed, talking to him while Bruce finished attaching a series of sensors to his chest and temples, while Sam took his position over in the back corner. Clint, Natasha, and Thor were with him in the anteroom, standing off to the side of the monitors and ready with the emergency supply of Helen's super-sedative if things ended up going south.
"Diagnostic revealed no anomalies, sir," JARVIS said. "System is ready."
"Thanks, J," Tony murmured as Peter came up next to him, a pair of noise-cancelling headphones clutched in one hand and a pen in the other.
"Everything good?" Peter asked, eyeing the monitor. "I bet Uncle Bucky's anxious to get started."
"Just about, Pete." Tony tapped in some more commands as he glanced furtively at his son, who was flipping the pen around his thumb so fast that Tony could barely see it. "You sure that Bucky's the anxious one here, though?"
Peter shot him a glare in response, one that seemed a lot more ferocious than Tony thought necessary for just a simple jab.
In fact, now that Tony thought about it, Peter had been especially moody ever since he and Steve had gotten home from D.C. He had tried to brush most of it off as Peter just being upset about the whole registration act thing, but not even that was enough to explain all of it.
He had even been avoiding spending time in the lab with Tony lately, choosing to do all of his homework in his room and completely neglecting his chemistry experiments, which, if Tony didn't know any better, almost made it seem as though Peter couldn't even stand to be around him.
And according to Steve, it hadn't been any better with him.
"Just don't want anything bad to happen to Uncle Bucky, Dad," Peter said. "He's already been through enough crap for three lifetimes, don't you think?"
"Yes, which is why I've made triply sure that we're all good here," Tony said evenly. "It's not like I'm trying to hurt the guy, Pete. We're doing all this so we can help him."
Peter rolled his eyes. "I didn't say that you were trying to hurt him, did I?"
Tony huffed in frustration as he turned to face Peter, ducking down as he tried to make eye contact. "Yeah, well, first of all, I never said that you said anything like that. And secondly, you can drop this whole attitude thing that you've got going on right the hell now, or you can mosey right on back upstairs to your room, understand? I'm already edgy enough about this whole thing without adding all of your excess teenage grump."
Guilt flashed across Peter's huge brown eyes as they locked with Tony's, just for a second before flitting away again. He looked so exhausted that Tony was surprised he was still able to stand, with his cheeks even paler than usual and big purple circles under his eyes, and while Tony could understand being tired—neither he nor Steve had been sleeping well lately—this seemed like a lot more than simple school-induced stress and fatigue.
"Look, bud, I didn't mean to snap at you, okay?" Tony said gently. "I think we'll all feel a lot better once this is over."
"Uh huh," Peter muttered, his eyes trained on Tony's chest as he bit his bottom lip. "Sorry."
"Mmm." The fact that Peter couldn't even seem to look him in the eye just reinforced that something else was wrong, but unfortunately now was not the time to be delving any deeper into it.
"Everything ready out here?" Steve asked as he exited the panic room, stepping up between Peter and Tony. "Bucky says he's as ready as he'll ever be, so…"
"Yeah, I think we're good to go," Tony said as he finished inputting the final set of parameters for the projection. If everything went according to plan, once the glasses were able to form the connection with Bucky's hippocampus and the trigger words were spoken, whatever memory his mind recalled would then be outwardly projected inside the panic room for everyone to see, with Sam prepared to try and talk Bucky through it if it seemed like he was in danger of slipping away.
"All right then, little guy, headphones on," Steve said to Peter, placing a hand on his shoulder. As soon as the headphones were in place Steve turned to Tony, giving him a reassuring nod.
"It's gonna be okay, sweetheart."
"Yeah," Tony whispered, trying to smile. I sure as hell hope so.
He cleared his throat as he activated the panic room microphone.
"All right Bucky, go ahead and put on the glasses, and then just sit back and try and relax, all right?" They had decided a few days ago that Sam would be the one to verbalise the trigger words, thinking that he would be the person least likely to be viewed as a threat by the Winter Soldier.
Bucky gave a nod, sliding the glasses onto his face and leaning back against the pillows, his hands clasped tightly in his lap.
"I am ready, Тони," he said firmly.
Tony sucked in a deep breath, nodding at Steve over his shoulder.
"We're all set. JARVIS, go ahead and activate the interface."
A sort of bluish light swept across the lenses of the glasses as the interface connected, with Bucky immediately stiffening on the bed. Steve flinched, taking a step towards the door before Tony could grab onto his hand.
"It's okay, babe, that's supposed to happen," he said, trying to sound more reassuring than he felt. "The interface feels kinda weird at first if you're not used to it."
"You're sure?" Steve asked. "'Cause we can always try this some other time, and—"
"I'm ready!" Bucky said, his eyes wide behind the glasses and his fists tightly clenched. "Start now!"
Tony gulped as he checked the monitor. Bucky's heart rate and blood pressure were elevated but not dangerously so, and everything with the interface looked good.
"Pete?" Tony said, relieved when Peter didn't even glance in his direction, his gaze firmly trained on his Uncle Bucky through the window. "All right, Sam, go!"
"Longing," Sam said in a clear, firm voice, watching as Bucky's jaw twitched and his teeth clenched. "Rusted. Seventeen—"
"Stop," Bucky said as his spine went rigid, his head shaking frantically from side to side but his eyes still wide behind the glasses. "No, I don't wanna, please don't—!"
"Tony?" Sam called, his hands raised in question. "Should I—?"
Just then the glasses activated, projecting an image of a dark, dank, bunker-like building. Steve gasped as soon as he saw it, grabbing onto Tony's shoulder.
"That's the HYDRA bunker in Siberia where we found the Winter Soldier stasis pods! Sam, keep going, Bucky knew this might happen!"
Sam gave a reluctant nod, leaning forward in his chair. "Daybreak! Furnace!"
"Stop!" Bucky pleaded, his face as white as a sheet. "That's not me, I'm not—!"
"Tony!" called Sam as a man suddenly appeared in the image, dressed in the uniform of a Russian Army Colonel and holding a red-bound book embossed with a dark grey star. "Are you sure—?"
"This must've been what happened when he was taken out of stasis and given a new mission," Steve said, his Captain's voice wavering ever-so-slightly. He wrapped an arm around Peter's shoulders, tucking him close. "Sam, keep going, we're almost there!"
"I agree, Sam," Tony said, double-checking his readings. "Vitals are good here."
"Yeah, okay," Sam said as he got to his feet, stepping closer to the bed as an image appeared of Winter Soldier Bucky strapped to a metal chair, trembling in fear. Bucky jumped as he saw it, his head jerking back as though he'd been slapped as his Winter Soldier counterpart started to thrash against his restraints, begging the colonel to stop as he continued to advance towards him.
"Nine!" said Sam. Goosebumps pebbled down Tony's arms as he heard the word twice, in Russian from the colonel and from Sam in English.
"Oh God, Steve, I don't want Pete watching this," he said. "Don't let him watch it!"
"I've got his eyes covered, Tony," Steve said quickly. "Sam, keep going!"
"Benign! Homecoming!"
"No! Please, no!" Bucky cried as Sam grasped onto his right hand, not taking his eyes off Winter Soldier, who had almost managed to break through the restraints holding his metal left arm in place. Bruce was on his feet as well, standing by the back wall and looking like he was ready to pounce.
"One! Freight car!" finished Sam and the colonel. Both Bucky and Winter Soldier froze as soon as the final word left their mouths, and an eerie silence fell across the room as the colonel leaned closer to Winter Soldier, almost as though he was scanning him.
"Солдат?" asked the colonel.
"That means, 'soldier'," murmured Natasha.
"Солдат?" the colonel asked again. "Вы слышите меня?"
But instead of responding, Winter Soldier stayed quiet, gripping the arms of his chair as he stared straight ahead, his lips pursed so tightly they had almost disappeared. Tony's heart skipped a beat as Bucky sat straight up on the bed, still gripping Sam's hand, his chest heaving with every stuttered breath as he studied his alter-ego.
"Солдат?" the colonel asked again, obviously frustrated. "Ты соблюдаешь?"
"That means, 'do you comply?'" whispered Natasha.
"Нет," Winter Soldier said, so softly that Tony at first thought he had only imagined it. The colonel started, obviously shocked at hearing anything other than what he had expected.
"Солдат, ты соблюдаешь?" the colonel repeated.
Winter Soldier's eyes flicked up towards the colonel, his upper lip twitching into a defiant sneer as his metal fingers curled around the arm of the chair. "Нет," he said again. "Я не соблюдаю."
"Nat?" called Bruce. "Ah, is that a good thing?"
"He said, 'I do not comply'," Natasha said with only barely tempered excitement. "Tony, I think it's working!"
"Copy that," Tony said, barely audible. He glanced back at Steve, still holding Peter in his arms with his eyes firmly trained on his friend through the window.
"C'mon, Bucky," he murmured. "C'mon, you can do this!"
"Что?" the colonel demanded. "Это ваша обязанность подчиняться!"
"'It is your duty to obey!'" Natasha said. "Steve, that guy sounds pretty shocked, I doubt this has ever happened before."
"Not likely," Steve agreed as he leaned over the microphone. "C'mon, Bucky, you're almost there!"
Just then the colonel grabbed Winter Soldier around his neck, slamming his head back against the hard metal of the chair. "Это ваша обязанность подчиняться, солдат!"
"Нет," said Bucky, not even blinking as he leaned closer. "Я решил не подчиняться."
"'I choose to not obey'," Natasha said. "Tony—!"
"Нет," Winter Soldier repeated. "Я решил не подчиняться."
The loud groan of bending metal immediately followed Winter Soldier's words, and Tony jumped when not even a second later he had ripped the arm from his chair and slammed it right across the face of the Russian colonel, knocking him flat to the floor with a very undignified shriek. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, the colonel attempted to crawl away as Winter Soldier quickly freed the rest of his limbs, grabbing the colonel by the scruff of his neck and slamming him up against the wall.
"Нет!" Winter Soldier stated, his nostrils flaring dangerously as the colonel scrabbled at the metal fingers wrapped around his throat, crushing his windpipe. "Я решил не подчиняться!"
"Steve!" Tony yelped, his heart in his throat. "Steve, don't—!"
"It's all right, Tony, I've got his eyes covered!" Steve cut in. "It's gonna be okay!"
The sickening crack of the colonel's neck breaking was almost enough to turn Tony's stomach, and he watched in half-horror, half-relief as Winter Soldier released his grip and stepped back, watching as the man who had tortured him and kept him prisoner crumpled into a heap onto the cold, grey floor.
Slowly, Winter Soldier turned to face Bucky, clicking his heels together and straightening his back as he regarded him.
"Сделано," he said with a single nod.
"'It is done'," whispered Natasha.
Bucky breathed in a long, shaky breath, his chin quivering as he nodded.
"Да. Сделано."
And then Winter Soldier turned on his heel and walked away, with the rest of the image dissolving into pixels as soon as he was out of sight. Silence fell across both the anteroom and inside the panic room, with nobody daring to move until Sam finally quirked an eyebrow in question.
"Ah, Tony?" he said, jerking his head towards Bucky, who was panting like he'd just run a marathon. "We good here now?"
Tony glanced back at Steve, his heart swelling at the look of pure elation in his glassy blue eyes. He still had Peter in his arms, tucked adorably against his chest with his fists clutching handfuls of Steve's shirt, just like he always did with Tony when he was a baby.
"Yeah," Tony murmured, slumping against the counter as he checked Bucky's vitals. "Yeah, I think we are."
Holy shit, it actually worked!
"Aw, yeah!" exclaimed Sam, playfully knocking Bucky on the shoulder. "See? I knew you could do it, man, I knew you could!"
A knot rose in Tony's throat as Bucky's piercing eyes locked with his through the window, with Bucky giving him an almost imperceptible nod.
A nod that clearly said, thank you.
"You're welcome," Tony whispered, just as Steve's large hand curled around his shoulder, pulling him into an elated hug.
"Thank you, sweetheart," he murmured into Tony's ear. "Thank you so much!"
Tony breathed in against Steve's neck, trying to contain himself before poking his head back up to find Peter removing his headphones, a huge smile on his face.
"Dad, it worked! It really worked!" he exclaimed. "Uncle Bucky is free!"
"Sure seems that way, buddy," Tony answered. "Looks like we did okay."
"Yeah, just okay," Peter said, rather impishly. He paused for a moment, glancing up at Steve as he bit his bottom lip. "So, do you think that I'll be able to—?"
"We're not gonna decide that right now, little guy," Steve said firmly. "I think we should go and celebrate with some pizza first, and then we can think about when we'll talk about it. Okay?"
Peter's shoulders dropped as he frowned, rolling his eyes. "Oh, come on, really? We can think about when we'll talk about it? That's just code for 'we'll see', which is just another way of saying 'no', isn't it?"
"No, it's code for 'your papa is hungry and wants to go and eat large quantities of pizza'," Tony retorted. "Which is exactly what we're gonna do!"
"I am all for the eating of large quantities of pizza," said Thor as he came up behind Peter, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "In fact, young Starkson, I do believe that you in fact challenged me to some sort of contest the last time we indulged in eating pizza together?"
"Oh yeah!" Peter said with a rather dopey grin. "It was gonna be me and Uncle Bucky against you and Papa, remember?"
"Hey, if we're doing some sort of pizza-eating contest then I wanna be in on it too!" protested Clint. "I know I'm not a goddamn god or anything, but I'm pretty sure I can hold my own when it comes to pizza!"
"Oh boy," muttered Tony. "Not exactly sure I'm up for watching that."
"Nah, I'm sure it'll be fun, sweetheart," Steve said. He shot Tony a wink as Bruce, Bucky, and Sam stepped out of the panic room, with Peter leaping into Bucky's arms as soon as he'd cleared the doorway.
"This is so awesome, Uncle Bucky, I'm so happy for you!"
"Thanks, Петр," Bucky said as he released Peter, ruffling his hair as Bruce handed Tony the MAUDE glasses. "I'm pretty happy too."
Next it was Steve's turn. "I'm so proud of you, Buck," he said, clapping him on the back. "That took a lot of guts."
"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure he's got guts to spare," said Sam. "Now, did I hear someone say something about pizza?"
"Yeah, you just might've," Steve said with a grin. "You guys hungry?"
"Aren't I always?" said Sam as Bucky ruffled Peter's hair. "Let's go!"
"We'll meet you all down in the lobby," Steve said.
Tony stepped back, carefully placing the glasses in their case while the rest of the team filtered out towards the elevator, with Peter sandwiched between Bucky and Thor and laughing at something that Thor just said.
"Sweetheart?" Steve suddenly said from behind him, curling an arm around his waist. "Are you okay?"
Instinctively, Tony leaned his head back against Steve's collarbone, feeling the tense muscles across his shoulders relax at his touch.
"Yeah, babe, just relieved." He turned the glasses case over in his hand. "If it hadn't've worked, and Pete would've had to see Bucky… well… let's just say that I'm really glad that it did."
"Me too, mo grá, me too," Steve said as he kissed the top of Tony's head. "And I know Bucky's relieved as well. He would hate for Peter to have to see him as anything other than his true self."
Tony nodded as Steve took his hand, heading towards their penthouse elevator.
"We're gonna have to decide about Pete now, you know," Tony said. "He's not gonna give us a moment's peace until we do."
"I know." Steve let out a heavy sigh as the doors opened into their living room, turning to Tony as soon as they stepped out. "And as much as I wish that we could tell him no, I just—"
"But we can't," Tony interrupted. He swallowed hard, glancing down at the glasses still in his hand. "Now that we know it works, we just can't." He didn't add that he was even more afraid of what HYDRA would do to Peter if they ever managed to get their hands on him again than he was of Peter using the glasses. It wasn't something that he felt like saying out loud, and knowing Steve, he was probably already thinking the exact same thing.
Steve cupped Tony's cheek, pressing their foreheads together. "No, we can't, sweetheart, but we don't have to worry about it right this second either. Let's just try and enjoy this a bit first, okay?"
"Yeah, okay," Tony whispered. He pressed a soft kiss to Steve's lips, tilting his head as he smirked. "But I'm not exactly sure how watching all you guys stuff your faces full of pizza is supposed to be enjoyable."
"Well, not sure if I can help too much with that one," Steve said with a grin. He took the glasses from Tony's hand, placing them gently on the coffee table and offered Tony his arm. "Shall we?"
With a semi-contented smile, Tony took his husband's arm. As much as he often liked to tease Steve about his 1940's chivalrous behaviour, most of the time he secretly loved it. Just another way that Steve always made him feel cherished.
"Yeah, babe. We shall."
Steve's mouth was dry, his heart thudding madly against his ribcage as he watched the Senate vote unfold on their bedroom television screen. Next to him sat Tony, his calloused fingers wrapped around Steve's bare bicep, still a bit bleary-eyed from being woken up by JARVIS when the vote was announced. Steve had tried to insist on watching the vote in the living room so Tony could sleep, only to be met by one of Peter's duh looks, so there they sat, watching as the various senators inputted their votes on the bill containing the Superhero Registration Act.
Yea, Steve thought, his eyes narrowing slightly as he burned the image of the offending senator—a woman from Pennsylvania—into his memory. So far the tally was 17 Yea and 17 Nay, with two senators who were believed to be abstaining.
Steve drummed his fingers on his knee as the the voting continued. Nay. Nay, that was nineteen total. Yea. Yea. Yea, now they were ahead again. His belly swooped as two more senators voted Yea, making it five in a row.
Minnesota. Ohio. California. Nevada. Delaware.
All likely members of HYDRA.
And the fact that they were holding the vote at four in the morning only added more fuel to Steve's suspicions.
Another Nay vote, by a lady from Virginia, followed by another by a man from Oregon.
It was still neck in neck.
Do these people even understand what they're voting for? he thought. Do they actually understand what's at stake?
Somehow, Steve doubted it. As he had told Senator Davis at the hearing, no one else could possibly understand Steve's perspective of crashing into the ice having recently witnessed the Nazi's rise to power, and being able to immediately recognise the exact pending signs almost as soon as he was defrosted.
"Steve," Tony suddenly said, tugging gently on his arm. Steve gulped as he leaned forward, his eyes going wide as no fewer than seven senators in a row proceeded to vote Nay.
"How—how many are left?" he stammered past his dry throat, his mind spinning way too fast to do the math.
"Just three," answered Tony, his fingertips digging into Steve's flesh. "Honey—"
Steve held his breath as the final senator submitted her vote. Nay, bringing the total to—
"That's forty-eight for, and fifty against, honey," Tony said quietly, his voice quivering. "It didn't pass."
It didn't pass.
Steve was stunned. In all of his wildest dreams, he'd never actually thought it was possible that the bill might not pass. A high-pitched squeak worked its way from his throat as he attempted to swallow, his disbelieving eyes still staring at the television.
Yea: 48, Nay: 50.
It didn't pass.
"It—it didn't—it didn't pass," he murmured, cupping Tony's cheeks with trembling hands. "Tony—it didn't—"
Tony's beautiful brown eyes were shimmering with unshed tears as he shook his head. "Nope," he said. "It didn't pass."
"Oh my God," Steve breathed. He blinked as he read across the numbers again. And again. And again.
Yea: 48, Nay: 50.
It didn't pass.
"So… uh… what exactly does that mean? I mean, what happens next? There's no way that HYDRA's gonna let this go, but—"
"Babe," Tony said gently, brushing his fingers across Steve's lips. His chest was heaving, and there were beads of sweat sprinkled around his hairline. He had been just as nervous as Steve, but as usual had been trying to hide it. "Honey, let's not worry about that now, yeah? It's four in the morning. We gotta take Pete to school in a few hours."
Steve nodded, breathing in a long, shaky breath. Tony was absolutely right. It was the middle of the night, and they did need to take Peter to school in a few hours.
"Yeah. You're right."
But… it was so close! Just a couple more votes tipped in the other direction, and—
And he'd be packing Tony and Peter off to Asgard, instead of sitting on their bed trying to stop shaking.
"Tony—"
"No," Tony said, cutting him off with a firm kiss. "Not now babe, okay?"
At Steve's nod, Tony ordered JARVIS to turn off the television, pulling Steve to lie back down. Steve draped his arm across Tony's waist and pulled him as close as possible, burying his nose into his hair and breathing in.
"We need to let Peter use the glasses, Tony," Steve said after a short pause. "We need to make sure that—"
He broke off, not wanting to finish his thought. This wasn't really the time.
"We just need to," he finished.
"I know," Tony answered as he kissed Steve's knuckles. "We can tell him in the morning, all right?"
"Okay." Steve let out a semi-contented sigh as he cuddled even closer, kissing the top of Tony's head. It had been so close!
"I love you, mo grá. I love you so much."
Tony turned his head, just enough to reach Steve's jaw with his lips.
"I love you too, honey. Now, sleep."
Steve closed his eyes, allowing his body to relax into the mattress and reveling in the closeness of his beloved husband, the husband he had been so close to having to say goodbye to only moments before.
First Bucky's successful experiment, and now the dead registration act bill, Steve thought. Maybe our luck is finally starting to change.
And, if that was indeed the case, then the time had come for him to finish the mission. Because of the vote, Steve now had a list of every single senator who had supported the registration act, which meant that he could determine exactly who in the government was out to get them, and work on figuring out why.
And then, once we do that, we can take them down.
All of them.
By my estimation there are four chapters remaining in the story, so we're getting close to the end!
I can't wait to see what you think! Please don't hesitate to leave me a review! :)