So I found out that the school isn't going to hire me again next year, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do next year. But don't worry, I don't think this chapter is full of existential dread or anything.
Tony catches up to Steve at Camp Lehigh, which he knows from Howard's endless stories is where Steve Rogers first trained before being souped up with serum.
Cap is currently standing in the abandoned site, looking as if he's seeing a ghost.
"Feeling nostalgic?" Tony asks when he lands, smirking at the slack-jawed look Steve gives his suit.
"I thought flying cars were the future," Cap mutters.
"Yeah, well, Howard couldn't even manage that, and I built my first suit with scraps." Tony replies. "By the way, Logan's pissed you took his bike. And for the record, I'm going to make Harry a flying one."
"I know I'm new to... now," Cap says, "But I doubt kids his age are allowed to drive."
"They are, totally." Tony answers. He gets a disbelieving look before Cap returns to business.
"If HYDRA's still around, they'd want to keep their enemies close, wouldn't they?" Cap rambles something about army regulations and munitions storage, ending with "That building's in the wrong place."
"Maybe some sap turned it into a shrine to you," Tony says as they make their way over. "I thought you were off hunting HYDRA agents."
Cap ignores him, pulling his shield back to smash the padlock.
Tony huffs, pushes Cap out of the way, and cuts it with a laser instead. "We've got better tools these days, Gramps."
When the lights turn on, they reveal a large SHIELD logo on the far wall along with rows of shelves and empty desks with ancient computers. Cap still looks intrigued by the technology, and Tony rolls his eyes.
"That stuff's decades old already."
On one wall has large portraits of Howard and Peggy. Cap stares at them silently and Tony, never one to let silence stick around, says "You know, James almost abandoned Harry to go looking for you. He said someone has to watch your back when you do something stupid, so here I am."
Not looking away from the pictures, Cap seems to be picking his words. "He found someone else to look out for."
"Yeah, he and Harry are kind of a package deal."
"Little kids don't like me. They always cried during photo shoots," Cap shakes his head, "but Bucky, he's great with kids. He has four little sisters."
"Well, now he's got his own kid," Tony points a finger at Cap's chest. "So don't get between them."
Tony thought his life was surreal before, and now he's quasi-threatening a living legend who, until a few days ago, was thought dead. Well, he still is by most of the world.
"He always stuck up for the little man." Cap huffs something that isn't quite a laugh. "Usually me."
Suddenly, Steve is back in Captain America mode, tugging at a set of shelves. "Why hide something in an already hidden bunker?"
The shelves slide to reveal a rickety old elevator, which takes them to a basement full of tape drives. "These are ancient, too." Tony tells his companion.
Right in front of the large, eighties-era monochrome monitor is a suspiciously modern USB reader.
Clearly, someone's been down here recently, though the place seems like it's been abandoned for years.
A USB stick pops out of Tony's suit, and Tony plugs it in. "All right, Jarvis, do your thing."
The tape drives begin to whir, magnetic tape spinning on large wheels all around them. Cap looks around, but Tony's gaze is fixed on the screen.
"Sir-" Jarvis starts. Vertical green lines flash across the screen before forming a crude image of a bespectacled man.
"Zola." Cap mutters. "A German scientist. Bucky and I-"
"I know who he is," Tony says. "He's been dead for years."
The security camera hooked up to the computer turns to point at Tony, and a voice suddenly speaks. "You are wrong, Anthony Stark. Much as Steve Rogers was about his friend."
Cap's mouth tightens. Tony wonders if this is how people feel when they first hear Jarvis, except this voice is much more sinister.
Inside Tony's helmet, Jarvis says "Sir, he appears to be a fully functioning AI."
Tony swears. Not only is HYDRA a despicable terrorist organization, but they also somehow built a cybernetic arm that rivals his suits and uploaded someone's consciousness to a computer, decades before Jarvis or Iron Man were born.
He's going to burn them to the ground.
Zola's going on about how he received a terminal diagnosis in 1972. How he was recruited for SHIELD upon its conception during Operation Paperclip.
HYDRA didn't infiltrate SHIELD, it was lurking from the very beginning.
Cap seems to be having similar thoughts. He smashes his shield into the keyboard, sending shards of plastic keys flying everywhere, as if that will destroy Zola. "It was all for nothing!"
Zola monologues, almost like a supervillain in a movie, about how humanity can't be trusted with its freedom and how HYDRA will bring order.
Then Zola pulls out the big guns, or rather, files. Grainy photos of the Winter Soldier, peering down a sniper rifle. Records of medical experiments with redacted information, though it's clear who the subject was. The screen even flashes headlines about that fateful car crash.
"Jarvis," Tony says, eyeing the screen with loathing. "Deal with him."
"With pleasure, sir." Jarvis replies.
Hours later, Tony rockets back to the school, landing just before all the students go in for dinner. Harry runs up to him almost as soon as he lands. His dark hair is sticking every way, as usual, but he looks like he's been playing outside most of the day, going from the dirt on his clothes.
"Did you beat them?" Harry asks breathlessly.
"We, uh, had a talk with one of the bad guys."
Harry looks highly disappointed. "And then you kicked his butt?"
"He didn't have one." Tony replies, and Harry giggles despite himself.
"When are you going to beat them all?" Harry presses, and Tony almost can't believe this is the same frightened, overly-apologetic boy who showed up at his own mansion. It's a good change.
"It takes time."
Harry huffs. "You were gone all day."
"It takes longer than a day." James sounds as if he's said it a thousand times today.
"Years?" Harry asks in disbelief.
"I hope not." Tony replies. "But this isn't like those Justice League episodes you saw."
Harry glances back at James, then tugs on Tony's armored fingers until Tony crouches down. Harry leans in to whisper against Tony's helmet. "Did Steve die? Dad's going 'ta be sad."
"No." Tony snorts. "Cap's just slower than me."
Harry turns to James to announce "He's not dead, he's just slow."
Tony can't help the burst of laughter that escapes him, though it mellows when Logan approaches with his usual scowl. James does not appear remotely intimidated, some of the tension has left his flesh shoulder after hearing the news about Cap.
"Your bike's fine." Tony assures before Logan says anything.
"I got a basket." Harry tells Tony, who holds out his hand for a high-five before remembering the repulsors attached to his palms. He settles for a fist bump instead, which Harry must have picked up from the older students.
"A shrimpy kid like you? That's impressive."
Harry glowers slightly. "I used my powers."
"That's even better." Tony grins.
"Ms. Grey did too." Harry begins to pull Tony and James toward the mansion. "Mr. Moody said I can't use a wand. I can hit bad guys with basketballs and Bludgers."
"You aren't fighting." James says sternly as they hang back behind a throng of students in the hallway. James is tense again, and Tony catches him glancing back toward the road.
"He's just slow." Harry reminds him.
"He has enhanced speed." James mutters, though Harry clearly isn't listening, talking with one of the older kids about basketball.
It isn't until they're already eating that Steve arrives.
Harry points at the shield on Cap's back and whispers "He's a turtle."
Cap slings himself next to James, and Logan stalks away check on his motorcycle, raising a claw at Cap on his way out.
Moody clomps over. "You need any help getting information?" He actually smiles at the prospect of interrogation, and it's honestly terrifying.
"Did you talk to Piers?" Harry asks, looking more at Tony than Steve.
"Pierce." James corrects rigidly.
"No, it was Zola." Steve says with a scowl. James' eyes go distant and he glances down at his hands as if seeing them for the first time. "On some kind of screen."
Tony's too busy watching James to make a crack at that. The AI version of Zola clearly knew about the Winter Soldier, so he'd almost certainly been responsible for the torture, surgeries and everything else James suffered through.
Tony almost wishes the man was still alive, just so they could have a chat face-to-face.
Harry reaches out to grab his dad's metal fingers, and doesn't say anything when Steve does the same to James' flesh hand.
"I've got him trapped right here." Tony says, holding the flash drive. "The... sicko thought it'd be a good idea to upload himself on a computer, but..."
"You took his brain?" Harry asks, squeezing James' fingers. "Like Dumb-Bell-Door?"
James seems to have calmed down, and Tony wonders if Professor X had anything to do with that as the man drives his wheelchair over.
"Dumbledore's been fighting dark wizards and witches since before you were born, boy." Moody growls. "Your mum and dad did too. It's why they were killed by-"
"You can't die too." Harry says, glancing at James, Tony and even Steve. "You can't die when you fight them, okay?"
"I wasn't planning to," Tony says, softer than usual.
"Dumbledore is tracking HYDRA wizards and Death Eaters across the pond." Professor X informs them.
"Not us?" Harry asks, concerned.
"He will not bother you here." Professor X promises. "Nor will Snape, who you've called the 'enemy asset'"
Tony notes that Moody doesn't seem so convinced about that second part, muttering about how some people never change.
I spent ages worrying it'd be unrealistic for Tony to capture Zola on a flash drive, but it's pretty unrealistic that Zola uploaded himself, too. Plus the MCU had that scene of Ultron destroying Jarvis, so I figured I could have an AI fight scene (even if it was off camera).
I feel kinda bad for stealing this scene from Natasha, like in CA:TWS, but it was fun writing Tony and Steve working together.