"Boss?" Tony was jerked out of sleep by FRIDAY's gentle prodding.
"I'm awake," he said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Time?"
"It's 8:30 a.m. Sorry to wake you, but Duo asked I let you know that breakfast is ready, if you'd like it while it's hot."
"Pull up the kitchen feed, on mute."
Given who the request had come from, he wasn't surprised to find Duo cooking again, though this time it looked like at least Tall Barton was helping. Tony watched Duo move around, already navigating the space as if he'd been there for months not a few days. A night of solid sleep and having friends near had done wonders for Duo, erasing lines and bags. For the first time since they'd met, Duo looked like he could be a normal college student.
Tony looked down at the article he had found last night after Peter left. Our Lady of Sorrows Church and Orphanage Destroyed.
Tony wouldn't have thought much about it, except the article itself had mentioned that the church had been known locally as the Maxwell Church—for the priest who ran it.
No survivors found didn't mean there weren't survivors, and given the coverup, being found would have been very dangerous.
Tony looked back at the kitchen feed in time to see Duo's braid slide over his shoulder. It looked… a lot shorter. He was wearing a simple black crew T-shirt this morning, and Tony could see the ornate top of the cross on the nape of his neck, the colors of his half-sleeves bright against the black.
The church was destroyed in AC 87. Duo would have been seven. That kind of thing could definitely leave a mark that would lead to someone getting a huge cross on their back, even if the crossbars were mostly hidden by the wings.
He could be wrong, but he didn't think he was. He also didn't think he could keep the fact he knew from Duo. Secrets had done so much damage in the recent past. Did he want to bring this up as soon as he knew?
As he watched the kitchen feed, Winner joined them. He looked a little sleep mussed, still not totally awake. He went to Tall Barton first, giving him a side hug and a kiss on the cheek. Then he went to Duo and lifted his arms to slip them over Duo's shoulders and into a hug. Duo laughed and reached back to nip Winner in the side, getting him to let go. Winner then noticed that Duo's braid seemed shorter and appeared to start grilling him on it.
"Boss?"
"Yeah, I'm coming," he said. Probably best to ruin everyone's day right upfront.
"Look who decided to join us," Bruce teased when Tony stepped off the elevator. Winner had fallen silent when Tony came up, but the look he shot at Duo said their discussion wasn't done.
With Tony joining, the entire damn team was there. Everyone seemed relaxed, or at least, they had been until he showed up. "What? Not making all three of our guests cook?" he asked.
"Quat is not allowed to cook," Duo said with a pointed look at Winner, who dutifully circled the bar to take a seat.
"Ever," Tall Barton agreed.
Winner looked like he wanted to protest but resisted.
"Not going to argue?" Tony asked.
"Cooking is not among my skillset, I'm afraid," Winner said with a self-deprecating smile. "Good morning, Mr. Stark."
"It's for the best," Tall Barton said, and he set a large mug of steaming hot coffee at an open place at the bar.
Taking the tacit invitation for what it was, Tony slid into the spot next to Winner on the end.
Duo piled some french toast and bacon onto a plate, then slid them over to him. "I don't think you're allowed to give me crap about sleeping anymore," he said.
"Tony should never be allowed to give anyone crap about sleeping," Natasha volunteered, and he sent a glare her way.
"I got caught up in something."
"That doesn't sound familiar," Tall Barton tossed in Duo's direction, and got a glare for his trouble.
"Anything interesting?" Bruce asked Tony, an empty plate in front of him.
Tony smothered the french toast in syrup—real maple, none of that corn syrup nonsense—and stared at it. "Interesting is a word for it."
Something in his tone must have set off warning bells among the group because if he didn't have everyone's attention before, he certainly had it now.
Winner sighed, looking disappointed. "You really shouldn't have," he said as if he knew what Tony had done, and somehow the sad tone stung more than Steve yelling would have.
Duo's gaze sharpened. "What did you do?" he asked.
"I wanted to know where 'Maxwell' came from," Tony admitted. He pulled out his phone and tapped a few things. "Pretty sure I found it." He threw the article up so everyone could see it. Even for his son, no more secrets.
Duo went very still and both his friends tensed—so they both knew about this then. Duo scanned the article quickly as if he'd never seen it before. There was no picture, just a 300-word blurb.
"An orphanage?" Bruce asked.
"It says 'no survivors found,' but it doesn't say how many casualties," Natasha said.
Duo reached out and flicked the article away. "Two hundred forty-five," he said, and Tony had been sure, but Duo's casual knowledge still made his heart sink.
"You were there?"
He crossed his arms and raised a sardonic eyebrow. "Wouldn't be here if I had been, would I?"
"Two hundred forty-five?" This time from Wilson, who sounded as sick as Tony felt. "How was that not all over the news?"
"A coverup," Steve said, jaw tense, the hard look that gross injustice always put in his eyes there.
"It didn't make the news because it was an orphanage in the worst part of the worst L2 colony," Winner said. "And because it was a coverup." He looked at Duo. "You may as well explain it now. You know they won't stop asking until they get it all."
"What actually happened?" Tony asked. "I know the article said that it was a gas leak. I assume whoever published it just didn't bother to correct whoever gave them the article, since any colonist with a third-grade education could tell you that they don't use natural gas on colonies."
"Yeah," Duo agreed, turning off all of the burners. "Someone meant for that to be evidence. That's why they mentioned the Maxwell Church," he said. He stared at the stovetop for a long moment. When he began to speak, there was something different about his voice. "On L2, it's known as the Maxwell Church Massacre. I lived there for a year, and I didn't even know the church had another name. Everyone I knew called it the Maxwell Church. There's a plaque there today, where it stood. I don't know who put the plaque there, but no one fucks with the church grounds." He leaned back against the counter. A hand reached up as if to play with a necklace that wasn't there. As soon as he realized he was doing it, he crossed his arms again.
"How many of the casualties were kids?" Clint asked, and when Tony looked, he looked pale. It took a lot to make this group look this bad.
"Almost all of them. It was run by, eh, maybe a dozen sisters and Father Maxwell. They took in whatever street kids the pigs—er, cops—could round up. Also lotsa whore-born. Whores knew their new-babes would be safe at the Church. It actually did good getting homes for new-babes," he explained, and his speech took on a rougher, more melodic cadence—probably the colonial dialect.
"Over two hundred children were killed and it didn't make every news feed on the planet?" Steve demanded.
Duo tilted his head and gave him a curious look. "We are talkin' 'bout the ring that released a plague to control the whore-born problem two years before that. Who'd care if more whore-born were offed?"
"A plague?" Tony asked, voice sharp.
"I thought that was an urban legend?" Bruce said.
The looks that the three colonists traded said it all: not an urban legend.
"You survived it," Tony said, not a question.
Duo laughed and it was not a nice laugh at all. It was the kind of laugh that raised the hairs on the back of Tony's neck. "Survived three rounds. After the second round, got nabbed and sent to the Church. Behind the third, got the fuck off the ring."
"Une, Relena, and I are putting together a suit to expose the level of corruption and the human rights violations on the L2 colonies pre-Eve Wars," Winner said. "It's... it's going to be bad," he added, grim. "The urban legends are tame in comparison. Most of it was done to control the population problems among the..."
"Among the whores and gangs, Quat. Don't soft-sweet it."
Winner nodded. "Birth control was not readily available in the eighties and nineties, and L2 has been a haven for paid sex for decades."
"Paid young sex," Duo added with a snort.
A nod of his head conceded the point before Winner continued. "Paid, underage sex, limited birth control, and even more limited access to abortions meant that the homeless and disenfranchised populations on parts of L2 colonies were legitimately out of control. Due to the depth of the systemic corruption, though—"
"They decided that the solution was to kill off the undesirables," Tony filled in, rage boiling in his chest.
"As I said, we're working on exposing and bringing the people responsible to account for it."
"Summary executions scheduled all around," Duo shot, and he gave an ugly, vicious grin that said he looked forward to it.
Winner held up a calming hand. "That's... actually not unlikely, if we can tie it to individuals. The outrage will be... intense. Especially with events such as the Battle of New York and Sokovia still close in people's minds."
"If you need anything from—"
But Winner was already shaking his head. "With due respect, Mr. Stark, you're not a colonist, and even including Duo, you have few colonial interests."
"Neither do Une or Princess Peacecraft," Tony pointed out.
"Une has history with the colonies from the Eve Wars, and she has a lot of firsthand accounts of the abuses of power because of it. Relena is engaged from not only the humanitarian perspective, but also because of her ties from the Eve Wars. She's well-loved and respected in the colonies. We have the firepower we need."
"Without potentially muddying the issues with Avengers and me," Tony finished. "Very diplomatic, Mr. Winner. That said, if there's anything—"
"If there's anything, I will certainly ask," Winner assured.
Tony decided to take the platitude at face value. "Going back to the church, what actually happened?"
When Duo didn't immediately answer, Bruce offered, "We can leave." And okay, Tony should have thought of that. "Or you don't have to tell us if you don't want."
Duo shook his head. "Up, down, zero," he said, waving a hand as if in dismissal.
"Up and down are a matter of perspective in zero-g," Tall Barton supplied helpfully. "It means that one way or the other doesn't matter."
"Sorry," Duo sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I'm totally sliding into spacerspeak, aren't I?"
"You usually do when you talk about L2," Tall Barton said without judgment.
"Anyway, the church." He lost that peculiar lilting rhythm to his speech, making a conscious effort to sound more Earth American. The shift was more impressive having heard what was probably Duo's native dialect. "Some rebels were fucking with the Alliance, decided to hole up in the church, claiming sanctuary. Alliance blew the church rather than give in to their demands."
"What were they demanding?" Tony asked, trying to understand what they could have wanted that was worth so much collateral damage.
"What every rebel wanted in those days—a mobile suit. As if one standard suit could make a difference." His eyes narrowed, and whatever he was looking at wasn't here and now.
"How did you escape?" Barnes asked, his question soft.
Duo took a deep breath. "They wanted a suit? I went to go get a suit for them. Who knows? Maybe stealing the suit is what set the Alliance off. By the time I got back to the church, there wasn't anything left."
"Wait, you stole a mobile suit from an Alliance base?" Tony asked, needing to be sure he heard that right. "You were, like, seven."
Duo shrugged. "Wasn't like it was hard . Stole from the base all the time." The L2 cadence came back as he continued to speak. "Knew how to get in, knew guard rotations. Even had blackmail on a bunch of the guards at the time. Can buy any kinda sex on L2, and most of it's underage, if only 'cause street kids have early expiration dates, 'specially if they start turning young. Officers usually looked the other way, but fooling around with the littles, they took pretty serious." He gave that fierce and frightening grin again. "Knew which ones did that, did I."
Tony didn't know where to start unpacking that response, other than to take it as proof positive that Duo was his kid. Stole a mobile suit from a military base when he was seven . Tony kind of wanted to applaud the sheer chutzpah, but even he wasn't so emotionally headblind to miss the fact it wouldn't be appreciated. He realized he was focusing on what Duo had been doing to ignore the tragedy of what happened while he was gone.
"So, Maxwell, for the church."
"Maxwell for Father Maxwell," Duo corrected, glancing over to Tony and giving a half-apologetic look. "Closest thing I had to a parent when I was a kid. Him and Sister Helen, but I never knew her last name, so..."
"I'm so sorry for your loss," Bruce offered.
Duo rolled his shoulders back and straightened. "Death takes us all in the end," he said. "But if you wanted to know why I hate the Alliance—Keres take them all —or why I joined the Rebellion, that would be the inciting incident." He rubbed his hands together and looked at Tall Barton. "Anyway, all this talk makes me want to go hit something. Very hard."
"Stitches," Tall Barton reminded.
"Yeah, that's why you're coming. I hear there's a great gym here."
"I'll show you," Barnes offered. Tony shot him a look that said what the fuck are you doing? Barnes shrugged. "He can beat up on me all he wants. I won't get hurt," he said, then headed toward the stairs, Duo on his heels.
"That isn't a bet I would take," Tall Barton said, and Tony couldn't tell if he was joking or not. Before following, he looked at Winner.
"Go," Winner said. "Let him blow off some steam, without pulling his stitches, please? I'll take care of this."
Tall Barton nodded and joined Duo and Barnes at the stairs.
.o0o.o0o.o0o.
AN: I know you're wondering-why is the Maxwell Church not called the Maxwell Church?
In my experience, Catholic churches aren't named for the people who run them. That's totally done in other denominations, but not in Catholicism (at least, again, not in my experience). So to me, it makes sense that the church wasn't technically called the Maxwell Church-that was what the locals called it. So, my headcanon says that it had another name, and naming a church and orphanage for Mary seemed appropriate. Bonus points because it made it harder for Tony to make the connection. ;)