I actually ended up rewriting most of the stuff I'd postponed from last chapter, so my head start on this chapter wasn't much of a head start.
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Stark whirls around. "What did you just say?"
The Asset James has divulged classified intel, intel he was not supposed to be privy to in the first place. HYDRA kept him muzzled to ensure silence and wordless compliance, he never would have disclosed that information under their control.
He has divulged the intel without questioning. He has not been forced to drink a beverage that made him compliant to interrogation, as he had while being questioned by the enemy asset.
"HYDRA?" Potts appears genuinely shocked. "No, they were defeated in World War Two."
James watches her. She may not be reporting to HYDRA, but if HYDRA agents are in SHIELD, it makes little difference. They will find him. The punishment will be severe- several methods of corporal punishment, followed by an extended period in the Chair. They will quite possibly wipe him until he forgets even his handlers and past missions. He will start anew as an empty asset to be reconditioned into the Winter Soldier.
Worse, they will hurt Harry, possibly try to turn the boy into an asset.
The newly-repaired prosthesis clenches into a fist, the Batman James's jaw tightens at the thought of Harry being beaten, electrocuted, wiped.
PROTECT HARRY. He will eliminate anyone who attempts to harm his boy. His son.
Stark eyes him as if he is a puzzle to be solved, but there is something sympathetic in his gaze. "You weren't having a flashback that time you said they were after you, were you?"
James grips Harry and replies. "HYDRA is not the visions. Memories."
"But they were defeated." Potts repeats.
"Well, everyone thought he died in the war, too." Stark gestures at James. James knows the man hadn't believed him when he said HYDRA was after them, but he appears to be considering it more now. "Well, part of him did."
James does not waste any time wondering if the dead part Stark is referring to is the flesh arm, or the Bucky voice.
"He didn't die." Harry scowls in confusion, prodding James with a finger to be certain. "My other James dad died, and my mummy. Not my Batman A'set dad."
"HYDRA must've found him and..." Stark glances at the prosthesis, then rounds on Potts, who is giving Harry a sympathetic look. "Did you tell SHIELD about him?"
"No." Potts answers, and James does not observe any signs of deception in her demeanor or tone. His muscles relax minutely.
He is certain that HYDRA is still hunting him and Harry as they speak, but at least SHIELD has not been alerted to their presence here by Potts.
"We tell no one. Not Fury, or Rushman- I mean Romanoff." Stark turns to scrutinize James once more. "Hey, either of those names ring a bell? Are either of them HYDRA? I really hope not, that would be terrifying."
James had heard some of the STRIKE team members joke about how blind Fury was, but other than that, he heard nothing.
Stark crosses his arms. "Come on, Terminator. I need names, something. You can't just say HYDRA's infiltrated SHIELD and have nothing to back it up."
James carefully analyzes his options. Stark does not seem to support SHIELD, and clearly disapproves of HYDRA. If he intended to hand them over, he would have done so already, and he had promised not to turn James in 2.8 minutes ago.
James reports two names. "Rumlow. Rollins." He can't recall the names of the other STRIKE team operatives, but he remembers them.
SILENCE, the old voice gives conflicting orders, since it has been telling him to avoid HYDRA since Harry became a handler. He is not supposed to reveal HYDRA's existence, or the STRIKE team's true loyalty, but making the intel known may help with protecting Harry.
Serves the bastards right, the Bucky voice seethes in his head.
"Jarvis, find out everything about them." Stark orders, his voice steely and his eyes filled with calculating suspicion.
"Already on it, Sir." the computerized voice replies as holographic images of Rumlow and Rollins materialize. Stark asks if James meant them, and James nods once to confirm.
"From their files, they appear to be SHIELD special-ops, but it is unlikely they'd have 'HYDRA' written down if they are undercover."
"Keep digging." Stark says to his mechanical butler, before addressing James again. "Who else is HYDRA?"
He is unaware of the names of many of his handlers. They kept changing, he'd be put in cryo by one handler and another would be there when he was thawed. Several spoke Russian, but he is uncertain how long ago those handlers were.
"They're bad guys with guns." Harry shares, wriggling in James's arms and looking at James for confirmation. "If they come, we'll dis-arm 'em. And we can glue their guns and wep-nized sticks."
Harry reaches for a bottle of superglue on a rolling table 0.7 meters away. One of the robots zooms forward to grab the bottle with its claw, waving it in the air and offering it to Harry.
"Dum-E, put it down." Stark orders. "Maybe he'll summon it with his Force powers. Hey, Harry, can pull it to you without touching it?"
James wordlessly strides to the table, picking up the glue and handing it to Harry. He won't let Stark turn his boy into a test subject, no matter if Stark repaired the prosthesis and is not turning them in.
Harry brandishes the glue like a sword, squeezing the bottle.
"Careful." Potts says to Harry. "You don't want to get your fingers stuck together."
Harry shrugs and glances at James. "I don't get sticked, right?" James nods. Harry had been the one to free him in the castle. Harry's green eyes light up, and he declares "I can tell snakes to bite them!"
In the next 2.4 minutes, Stark fires off sixteen more questions about HYDRA, twelve of which James is unable to answer. He was only ever informed of his missions, never HYDRA's overall plans.
After the sixteenth question, Stark scrubs a hand over his face. "Sorry. This isn't supposed to be an interrogation. I know how horrible those are." His eyes appear haunted for 1.7 seconds before clearing. "It's just, this is huge news, and we need as much information as we can get. Jarvis and I'll keep digging, and if you're right, we're going to bring them down."
James feels something satisfied fill his chest as Harry successfully twists out of hold. It is not quite the feeling of mission success. It is something else, something almost like... pride?
Harry slithers away from James like a snake to evade his next attempt. He slips to the other side of the closet Harry designated the Batcave, which is now decorated with scribbled-on coloring pages of Batman and Robin, as well as unrecognizable portraits drawn entirely by Harry.
"Good," James tells his son.
Training Harry has brought forth memories of the Red Room, of instructing girls with blank faces how to disarm, incapacitate or eliminate opponents several times their size. Unlike the Red Room, there are no handlers barking orders in harsh tones. He does not use corrective punishment for anything less than perfection, as the handlers had.
James pushes away the memories to refocus on Harry, who is beaming up at him. "Can I beat bad guys now?"
NEGATIVE.
James does not answer right away. Harry is making progress, and displaying more and more courage, but he is not adept at combat and escape.
"You shouldn't have to." James surprises himself with his words. He is training the boy so that he can protect himself if necessary, but it shouldn't be a necessity. Harry should be able to live free from the threat of harm.
James frowns. That thought is irrelevant. It is obvious that several enemies are after the boy. James is surprised they haven't been found again again by now. He's kept his eyes open for owls, which had led to their capture by the enemy asset and old man Dumbledore.
"Robin beats up bad guys!" Harry declares, crossing his arms stubbornly. He has refused to wear anything but his Robin suit since its arrival.
The Bucky voice sighs heavily in James's mind. You keep this up, and we're gonna be pullin' him out of alley fights for years.
"You have a lot to learn." James tells his son. "We have not covered evading punches or any close quarters combat."
"What's 'vading?"
"Dodging."
Harry nods in understanding. "Like how I ran 'way from Dudley." James's jaw tightens, but he forces himself to speak in a neutral tone.
"Escaping is smart, but if you are cornered, you have to dodge. Try it."
He starts to advance on Harry, clenching a fist to perform a slow punch- he still does not use his full strength against his boy.
0.8 seconds later, James stops as suddenly as if he'd been ordered to.
Harry is staring at James's fists, his tiny body trembling and his lip quivering. "No, please." Harry stammers, and James feels as if he's just been electrocuted. "I'm sorry!"
Approaching Harry with clenched fists likely made him experience his own visions- memories. James has little doubt that the boy is remembering his uncle storming toward him with his own fists clenched. He doubts the man would have liked Harry trying to escape his punishments.
James sinks to his knees, reaching out to his boy. Harry is no longer a handler and clearly wouldn't punish him anyway, but he still feels as if he deserves it for terrifying his son.
Harry flinches away from the touch initially, and James pulls his hands back. He speaks softly. "I am sorry, Harry. I promise I will not hurt you willingly."
James can't promise he'll never hurt him. He already has, and if HYDRA uses the codewords, they can make him do anything. Yet Harry knows one codeword, one which had overridden the agents' codewords and made Harry his handler.
THE BATMAN IS NO LONGER HYDRA'S ASSET.
After 1.2 minutes of softly spoken words, ranging from English to Russian, Harry clutches onto the dark cape hanging from James's shoulders. James strokes his hand through his son's untidy hair. He'd snapped three combs attempting to get it to lay flat earlier, when Harry asked if he could have hair like James's own.
"I will never use corporal punishment on you, Harry." James promises, even though that is all he knows. He has experienced enough of it firsthand, but he will not inflict it on Harry. Fathers are supposed to discipline their children, but Harry has yet to misbehave, still too terrified about the consequences.
"It was supposed to be practice," he adds, when Harry sniffs wordlessly. He's getting snot all over the Batman cape, but it does not matter. "We will take a break. You need to eat."
Harry nods, climbing to his feet. James expects Harry to keep his distance, but the boy holds his arms up to be held. James scoops his son up and exits the Batcave, heading toward the kitchen.
Another part of being a father is ensuring his son is fed properly. Stark's kitchen is stocked with an amount of foodstuff that leaves the Bucky voice speechless, remarking they will not have to scrimp and save to put food on the table. Nor will James have to shoplift as he had on the run.
Harry's stomach still cannot handle too much food, but he munches on some of the leftover Lo Mein noodles Stark had ordered in last night as James pulls out the blender.
He is displeased that Stark threw the knives out the window. Not only does it lower the number of weapons available in case of an attack, but it makes chopping less efficient. Harry scrambles toward the counter.
"You do not have to help," James tells him. "You should eat."
"It's fun." Harry says. He clearly enjoys dropping chopped fruit into the blender, but he does not use his powers to slow the fruits' descent. Harry helps him scoop out a protein-rich powder to add to the beverage.
The noise and swirling of ingredients in the blender seems to delight Harry, but James thinks the expression on his son's face is a better sight. He is still not used to having opinions, but he cannot shake the thought.
When the blender slows down, Stark says "I'm gonna go raid a base now."
James whirls around to see Stark standing in the doorway, a slow grin spreading on his face. "Hey, Terminator, I finally got the drop on you for once."
James scans the room for other occupants, wondering how his attention could have lapsed. He's been out of cryostasis for too long.
Earlier, James had told Stark the coordinates of four different HYDRA facilities.
"I'd offer to let you come, but you should probably look after your kid." Stark shrugs. "Jarvis is awesome, but I don't think he's a qualified babysitter."
"Yet I frequently ensure your own needs are met, sir." the computerized voice somehow has a dry tone. James no longer readies for a fight when he hears it. "Might I suggest eating yourself before you embark?"
Stark reaches for the blender pitcher, but James blocks his hand. Harry copies the move, and Stark shakes his head before grabbing a banana.
"You two are weirdly possessive of protein shakes." Stark breaks off the rounded tip of the banana and tosses it toward the open blender pitcher. Harry snatches the small yellow chunk out of the air with his hands, as easily as James would block a bullet with his prosthesis.
James feels the prideful feeling again. He had not instructed Harry on how to catch, it seems to be an innate ability. Harry looks pleased he caught it, and pops it into his mouth.
Stark appears disappointed, no doubt hoping Harry would use his abilities instead of his hands.
"So, you're gonna stay here, while I try to get some evidence for this HYDRA thing? Jarvis'll hopefully make sure you don't do anything stupid like give a preschooler a knife." Stark gives James a pointed look.
"I agree that Master Harry should be supervised by a responsible adult, but I'd hesitate to qualify either of you as such." The computerized voice Jarvis's tone is somehow dry. "Unfortunately, Miss Potts is too busy running your company to babysit."
Stark switches topics abruptly. "Hey, are the wizards part of HYDRA? Maybe they somehow hide out together. Am I gonna find crystal balls at this place?"
James scowls. He does not know if HYDRA has wizards, but both organizations are far too interested in kidnapping Harry.
"Right, well, you two watch TV or something." Tony says over his shoulder as he heads downstairs to the workshop, where his armor is located. "Don't blow up the house while I'm gone."
James does not rig Stark's house to explode as he had done to 4 Privet Drive. Instead, he spends 1.8 hours researching Batman. According to the voice Jarvis, Batman first appeared in a 1939 issue of Detective Comics. Robin debuted the following year. That was, according to Jarvis, before Bucky or Steve started fighting, but the Bucky voice does not say if either of them ever read the comics.
James does not research Steve Rogers or James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, but a Captain America comic pops up in the search results anyway.
The Bucky voice sounds outraged. They turned me into a kid sidekick?! Hell, I'm basically Robin in this garbage!
James leaves the site and returns to Batman comics. Batman is more important to the mission of protecting Harry.
The research leads to sitting on the couch, watching a cartoon about Batman and Robin.
He notices Harry sneaking awed glances at the screen before pretending not to watch. James gestures to the old, suit-clad butler onscreen. "I need a Batman expert to watch with me. Who is that?"
Harry smiles slightly. "Alfred. He cleans, like me."
James looks pointedly at Harry's costume. "You look more like Robin."
Harry lets out a delighted laugh, scrambling onto James's lap and leaning against his chest to watch the show.
The Bucky voice marvels at the animation itself. The Asset James notes Batman's obvious competence in combat, his resourcefulness, his dark clothes and stoic demeanor. Batman is a fitting cover identity for him, he decides.
Much better than Superman, who the Bucky voice comments is like Steve. All-American, always stickin' up for what's right. He's even has red and blue in his suit.
James does not think Steve possessed the abilities of flight or X-Ray vision, even after his body modifications.
"Can you fly?" he asks Harry as Superman soars through the air.
Harry looks puzzled, but does not take his eyes away from the action onscreen. "We flewed off the train. Did you for-get?"
That was not flying. Their descent had been prolonged, as the mug falling from the counter had the other day.
"I remember." James answers quietly.
After 46.7 minutes, Jarvis turns the television off, stating that children ages two through five should have no more than one hour of screen time per day.
Harry, full of excitement from watching Batman and Robin fight enemies, runs around punching and kicking the air. The Bucky voice wonders, once again, how long it will be before Harry's getting into fights like Steve.
Batman is a vigilante, and James wonders if Harry expects him to go out and fight crime. He has to protect Harry, but he is certainly not going to encourage his boy to go looking for fights, even if he is disguised as Robin.
Stark had suggested James help raid a base, as Batman would. James is skilled enough to take down whole squadrons, could defeat the STRIKE team simultaneously, except for the 99% likelihood they would be able to reclaim him with codewords and regain control of his programming. Without Harry there to override the commands, James would be helpless.
Everything about Batman appears to be fictitious, as James's brief research in the cottage in Scotland had suggested. Stark, far from providing the classified coordinates to the Batcave, has backed up those accounts. Harry had said Stark's lab was not the Batcave upon entry, but it might be the closest they'll get, if Batman is indeed fictitious.
The Winter Soldier was supposed to appear fictitious as well. There is a 98% certainty he does not appear in comic books, cartoons and movies, as Batman does. Captain America and Bucky Barnes were real, but appeared as fictionalized characters in comics as well.
James is pulled from his thoughts by a small hand pulling at his prosthesis. "Let's go, Batman! To the Batcave!"
Harry leads him to the closet, which is now deemed the Batcave. "The bad guys are coming!" Harry exclaims. "We haf'ta beat 'em up."
James readies for a fight before realizing Harry is playing an imaginary game. It is bound to happen in reality sometime, but for now, the enemies they fight are invisible- but not in the way the enemy asset had been invisible in the cloak when capturing them.
From the intel he's gathered, Batman does not kill. How can he be Harry's Batman? He is responsible for at least a dozen assassinations, is not sure he remembers them all. Even Bucky Barnes was reportedly a sergeant, he must have killed people if the memories of sniper rifles are any indication.
James joins his son in fighting imaginary enemies, using non-lethal force. The voices in his head argue about whether lethal force is warranted or not.
"Be careful, Master Harry." the computerized voice Jarvis warns as Harry attempts to perform an aerial roundhouse kick which results in falling on his posterior. James checks to see if his son is injured.
"I'm Robin!" Harry insists, barely seeming to notice the pain as he grabs one of the broken wooden train tracks.
"Of course, Robin."
"I would rather have Harry as a son than Robin." James is unused to voicing or having opinions, but the statement feels more factual than subjective.
Harry freezes in the middle of pretending to throw a broken Thomas track like a Batarang. "...Really?"
"Really." James confirms, a part of his mind noting he should teach the boy how to throw. Harry was the first one who smiled at him as the Winter Soldier. He was the first person to touch him in ways that did not hurt, the first handler to ever show kindness and mercy toward him.
Harry looks at him as if his thoughts are defective. "But Robin's a hero." He clearly views himself as less than Robin. Something in James is determined to change that. Harry's abilities are an asset, but they are not what made James decide to be his father, made James want to be his father.
A memory rushes to the forefront of James's mind, unbidden.
"You ready to follow Captain America into the jaws of death?"
"Hell no." he replies in the Bucky voice. "That little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb not to run away from a fight. I'm following him."
Steve smiles.
"But you're keeping the outfit, right?"
James snaps his attention back to Harry.
"That little kid from the cupboard who smiles at me, he's my son. Not Robin." James does not realize he's echoing Bucky's words from the memory until he's already spoken. Despite mimicking the words, his voice does not sound like Bucky's, but it is not quite as flat as the Soldier's, either.
He chooses to continue echoing the memory. "You should keep the outfit. It is a suitable disguise."
Looks like you broke him again, pal, the Bucky voice says.
Harry charges toward him with a hug so enthusiastic it is almost an ambush.
"I love you more than Batman!" Harry gazes up at him with awestruck eyes. He bites his lip, voice dropping to ask hesitantly. "Do you want me more'n Matilda?"
James is at a loss for words for just how much Harry being his son means, how nobody could replace him. Should he say Matilda is fictional? Harry believes Batman is real, though James himself is starting to believe the caped crusader really is fictitious.
Instead, he hugs his boy tight, and hopes that is answer enough.
At 0209, James and Harry are seated at the kitchen counter, Harry with a mug of hot chocolate, and James with a steaming cup of real coffee, the best he's ever tasted as far as he can remember.
"Yummy." he says, which has the desired effect of making Harry giggle.
Harry had another nightmare after only 6.2 hours of sleep. The computerized voice Jarvis claimed that children Harry's age should sleep between 10.0 and 12.0 hours, but lamented "Nobody in this house gets the recommended hours of sleep."
The computer had sounded disapproving for a machine at the fact James had slept only 0.95 hours, instead standing watch inside their Batcave. His mind had raced, convinced Stark was really turning them in despite his promises. It was an illogical thought, given Stark's clear distrust of SHIELD and hatred of HYDRA, but it had persisted.
The computerized voice Jarvis had displayed the feed from the cameras of Stark's Iron Man suit, and James had watched the man explore a HYDRA warehouse.
James's pulse and respiration had nearly doubled at the sight of the Chair, until he saw Stark's armored hand blast it with a repulsor.
"Jesus, J." Stark muttered in a horrified tone inside the suit. "This is worse than a cave."
Stark had seemed equally horrified by the cryogenic chamber.
James takes another drink of coffee to warm his body from the phantom chill coursing through him. He turns back to the notebook laying open in front of him. He'd lost the notebook he'd recorded memories in at the Tesco store. He is not sure if the enemy asset is in possession of it, or if it was abandoned in the Tesco parking lot with the rest of their supplies. Either way, that notebook may have fallen into enemy hands.
For that reason, James isn't sure if he should start another notebook, but transcribing memories helps quiet his mind. He jots down flashes of the Bucky person's life. He writes about the Red Room and maintenance, and snaps a pen in half from gripping it too tightly.
Harry watches him with silent curiosity for 6.8 minutes before finally asking "What are you writin'? Chores?"
James does not have to report to Harry now that he relinquished his position as handler. Still, it is clear Harry is used to having his questions ignored. He should be comfortable asking questions.
"Memories." he answers, not going into detail. The boy has seen too much horror already.
He lets Harry scribble over a blank page in crayon while he writes on the other page. Harry jabs a finger at the furious green scribbles, then black squiggles underneath that appear to be mimicking writing. "That's the green light. An' this says Uncle Vernon."
The black scribbles do not actually form words in any language James knows, but he nods all the same as Harry continues to mark up the page.
Harry's movements are uncoordinated, his work a mess, but it still strikes James as familiar. He remembers a thin hand moving deftly over paper, creating worlds with simple strokes. He can't recall the pictures Steve drew, but he writes down Steve drawing.
It is directly under a written recollection of eliminating the Dursley family. His stomach flips, glancing at the memory.
WITNESSES ARE TO BE ELIMINATED.
What would the boy think, knowing what he's done? He's a weapon that kills without thinking.
James remembers eliminating families, remembers targets pleading for their lives. He's killed children, strangled the Dursley boy. The Dursley boy was a brat, but he was still a child simply imitating his parents' horrid treatment of Harry.
If his original orders had been to assassinate Harry, rather than bring him in, he would have done so and been back in cryostasis by now. He would not even remember the boy who is now his son.
His stomach churns. The Bucky voice is disgusted, but, oddly enough, not at James. Those monsters. We should go all Batman on their asses.
DESTROYING HYDRA AND SHIELD WILL ENSURE HARRY'S SAFETY.
James does not reply to the voices in his head, though the mission voice is correct. To truly ensure Harry's safety, however, they would need to eliminate the wizards as well. That has proven difficult.
Harry watches him, looking far too concerned and old for a child so young. "Are you hurt?"
"I killed them." James says out loud, before he can stop himself. He doesn't deserve the boy's sympathy. "I murdered the Dursleys."
Harry replies, nonchalantly "There was a fire." He reaches for a red crayon and begins to scribble furiously over the page, as if to provide a graphic representation of the flames.
Harry is unaware of James's past, seems to be too immature to understand the concept of death.
James suddenly cannot stand looking at his son as something claws in his stomach. He stares down at his notebook instead, hearing the computerized British accent of Jarvis, but not processing the words.
He begins transcribing the memory of assassination set up to look like a car crash. The memory seems clearer now, the target Howard's features are more defined and even more strikingly familiar.
Stark mentioned a Howard, commiserated with Harry on parents dying in a car crash. James isn't sure if his mind is playing tricks on him, but the clearer vision of Howard and his wife- whose name he doesn't remember- have clear familial resemblance to Stark.
James realizes he's snapped another pen, and clenched the prosthesis hard enough to leave finger-shaped gouges in the table.
He'd killed Stark's family. Part of him is relieved that memory is not of Harry's parents, that he is not the reason Harry ended up with the Dursleys, but the rest of him is tense. His stomach churns.
Staying in the base of a man whose parents he'd assassinated would be the strategy of an idiot. James wonders if he should have left when Potts mentioned SHIELD therapists.
Glancing out the window, he sees the fire being spewed from an aerial vehicle's repulsors, then realizes it is not a vehicle. It's Stark in his Iron Man armor, estimated time of arrival 0.2 minutes.
Well, hopefully this goes better than it did in Civil War.
Harry's Gryffindor-ness is starting to show!