Their surroundings froze as the Illuminate appeared, magic twisted and danced across its fingers.
"All of you now have questions about what I have beheld before to you now." The being seemed to stare right through Natasha as it directed its piercing gaze to her. "Interesting," It paused, "Why did the gift scene bother you the most Miss Romanoff?"
She didn't like then how the Being dragged the truth out of her.
"I thought he was putting on the whole act of not wanting to be handed things because he enjoyed being difficult. In the Red room we were taught to read people like books and Stark who I thought was easy to read, is actually more complex than I thought. This quirk definitely seems to have a history to it. I hate being wrong and I'm curious to know more."
The others stared at her. The more they thought about it the more that aversion to being handed things seemed to be deeper than they thought.
"Don't worry Miss Romanoff your question will be answered when the time is right. The majority of you wish to know more of Amico though so that must be answered first."
Dumfounded, they stared at it before making their agreement known.
"I believe we have our next selection of memories in place." It clicked its fingers and dissolved into the colours spinning around them.
"Sir."
"Young Sir it's time for you to get up."
"G'way Jarvis, five more minutes."
"Young sir I advise you get up before I play that recording of you singing in the shower to the rest of the household staff."
A ten year old Tony jumped up as if he had been burned while all the Avengers snorted.
"I am up! I am so up you wouldn't believe how up I am."
"Oh my God..." Clint chuckled.
"Why'd you do this to me J?" Tony asked as Jarvis poked his head around the door and smirked.
"Blackmail Sir." Jarvis laughed at Tony's scowl and threw some clothes at him. "We need to get you up for your school mechanics competition today."
"That's Today?!" Tony was alert and the team felt Tony's spike of anxiety at this, sitting up straight clenching the clothes in his lap. "Where's Amico?"
Amico. Bruce smiled the mention of the robot Cat, he much like the others hoped that they would see him soon.
"Amico is downstairs waiting for you. Sir I will take you to your school your mother will meet us there. Calm down Sir, otherwise I'll have to iron those again."
Looking down, Tony smiled sheepishly at Jarvis taking the clothes from his lap and smoothing them flat on his bed.
Jarvis shut the door to give him some privacy changing.
Tony asked "Hey Jarvis is Dad going to be there?"
Shutting his eyes briefly Jarvis paused and replied in a perfectly level voice but with pursed lips.
"No young Sir he has gone back to the artic to assist with the search for Mr Rogers," Steve jumped slightly and the others turned to look at him.
"Not being funny Stevie but Howard seems a bit obsessed with you." Bucky commented to Steve frowning at the Stark's disappointment creeping across his chest joining the thought ofI should've been expecting this.
"Just a tad," Clint snorted.
Hitting him across the head once more, Natasha accused him of being insensitive in Russian.
"Hey it's not my fault Howard's a bit - STOP HITTING ME!"
Both Wanda and Scott stifled their sniggering at Clint's antics.
"He'll be home tonight though right?" Tony asked hopeful again.
"Yes young sir. Agent Carter-Sousa along with Ana and I will be there to support you."
"PEGGY?!" Steve felt like the bottom had dropped out his stomach. It had obviously shown on his face because Vision replied.
"Sir was the child of Howard Stark a mutual friend of both yourself and Former Agent Carter it would be unwise to assume that he didn't know her."
Snap. Steve's jaw had clicked shut but he looked particularly paler than before.
A flare of joy sparked in each of them.
"Aunt Peggy's gonna be there? COOL!" Tony sprung out of the room looking rather dapper in a tiny navy two piece suit.
"Thank you." Smiling a special sort of smile reserved for Pepper and Rhodey, Tony gave Jarvis a huge hug.
Thank you so much. You have no idea how much you mean to me. I love you.
Everyone gaped then the depth of love felt then was something no one of them except Rhodey and Vision had associated with Tony.
"I'm the reason the other Jarvis is gone..." Wanda trailed off regret clogging up her throat.
"No Wanda it wasn't you. Stark made Ultron." Clint argued grabbing Wanda by the shoulders and leaning down to make her look him in the eyes.
"Because I got to Stark first and pushed him to do it."
"What?!" Clint whispered hoarsely.
Straightening up his arms dropped to his sides as his expression morphed into one of horror.
I had been thinking the worst of my old pranking buddy since that whole debacle and it wasn't his fault?
Keeping him in the raft was another thing, now he bet that there was more to that than he knew. Stark had made sure his family was safe from Ross after all.
Man of Iron had been affected by the red witch too? Thor had no idea. Guiltily, he dropped his hammer on the ground stared at it. What kind of worthy friend and leader would throttle someone without knowing the full story? What kind of friend would throttle a friend full stop? At times he forgot his teammates were more physically vulnerable than himself. Thor realised that this was what the Illuminate meant and it stuck him like the lightning he was known to create.
"Wanda what do you mean?" Bruce's eyes migrated from brown to hazel to bright green. Hulk remembered how much his vision had terrified him and felt furious that the Red Witch had forced his friend to go through that trauma as well.
RED WITCH HURT TIN MAN. RED WITCH HURT HULK . HULK SMASH RED WITCH.
No smashing. Banner argued back. I need to find out what she meant.
HULK SMASH AFTER?
"I...I'm sure you'll see what happened later." Filled with regret, Wanda looked down at her feet.
Maybe. Banner agreed, staring at Wanda unsympathetically.
Satisfied Hulk nodded.
Climbing down the steps Tony smiled as he gathered the tiny robot cat in his arms.
"Miss me, Buddy?"
"Merroow."
They all immediately recognised it as the cat they saw before sitting proudly on Maria's shoulder.
The tiny robot cat was very intricately designed covered in a fine layer of mahogany fur donated by Peggy. ("Howard gave me this fur coat once it's ghastly, maybe you can use the fur to make your cat." Tony had readily agreed.)
Possessing tiny Titanium claws had come in handy mauling several potential kidnappers that year it was needless to say that that group didn't come back.
Metal for the framework had come from spare steel Tony had stolen from Howard's workshop as well as the new long lasting batteries Howard had invented. Tony was sure he wouldn't get caught. Howard had loads. It's not like he would miss 2 every six months anyway.
Iridescent green eyes completed the look making the cat look adorable as well as giving it Infrared and Xray vision.
"Wow that's amazing. I'd love to work with him sometime." Scott uttered staring wide eyed at the cat. Did I just say that? What? Scott was astonished with himself. He really doesn't seem so bad. Scott reasoned with himself. Maybe when Hank said to never trust a Stark he'd been a bit hasty? No. Scott thought. People change. I have to wait for more recent memories to gain a definite conclusion.
The members of the Avengers with advanced hearing subtly stared at Scott as if he had grown a second head for all of two seconds until they noticed that time had skipped forward.
The Avengers had now found themselves in front of a hall with a highly nervous Tony in tow.
"Sir I know you'll be brilliant."
"Thanks J." Tony smiled softly at his friend.
"We'll be in the middle row. See you after the show Tony."
Grinning from ear to ear Tony moved to the front with the other contestants.
Ha! He just called me Tony, he can't take that back now. No more of this Sir nonsense. Muah hahaha. I'll have to tell Ana that he finally called me Tony. That contestant's work looks good. Oh no they're coming offstage, it's me next. Mask you're up.
With that Tony's body posture straightened and a confident smile graced his lips. Totally transforming himself from the nervous boy they saw earlier.
"That's unnerving." Steve whispered slightly disquieted.
"It's brilliant." Peter smiled underneath the mask.
He had idolised Tony from a young age because of his brilliance, his inventions and work as Iron man. When he met Mr Stark that hadn't gone away but he had begun to admire how dedicated he was and how well he could act too. To think that Tony was clever enough at this age to create a convincing mask for himself and make Amico would be unbelievable if he hadn't met Mr Stark.
Swaggering out on stage with a believable amount of bravado the ten year old walked out on to the centre as if he owned it holding Amico in his arms.
"Hey everyone my names Tony Stark and I am here now to present to you... the Cyber Cat. His name is Amico and perfect if you want a pet but don't want to clean up the mess or shell out a lot of money for food. All he needs is 2 AA Stark batteries to keep him running for six months. He can also do lots of other neat tricks show them boy. What's the time?"
The cat's eyes glowed red as a hologram showing that it was 9:45am lit the air in front of it. The audience gasped and clapped.
"What's the temperature?"
The hologram changed to 15°c.
"What's the date?"
Saturday 15th March.
"Now there are some really neat settings on the inside can also be changed so you can see the year as well. He also possesses Xray vision. All pets of this type will come issued with a have a keen sense of protectiveness and loyalty to their owner but it also has a self-preservation instinct so the only reason it will run away is if you deliberately harm it." He gave them all a sharp stern look which the Avengers last saw on Howard in the circuit board memory. It made a few members of the audience gulp.
"But you all look like nice people here," Tony offered them an easy smile, "you wouldn't do that. I also made an additional protective measure. Amico show your claws."
All of a sudden Amico's claws extended and some of parents in the room jumped to their feet in alarm.
"Relax guys," Tony waved them down back into their chairs before bringing his eyes back to Amico. "Safety mode initiate."
Amico's eyes flashed amber this time, his claws retracting.
"What did that do Mr Stark?" The announcer asked faintly.
"That means he won't bring his claws out unless I, Jarvis, Ana, Peggy or My mum are in danger. This is because I've logged their names and photos on the data base inside Amico here."
Everyone paused.
"But most importantly Amico acts like a regular cat for the things that count. Thank you for listening."
Everyone clapped as Amico leapt into Tony's arms.
"Well done Amico I am so proud of you." Purring loudly it licked Tony's cheek.
"Aww gross dude." Tony laughed at the cat, bringing it over to the Jarvis's, Peggy and Maria.
Hearing people murmuring about how he must've used daddy's help and daddy's money to enter on the outside mask ignored them.
However on the inside the Avengers were privy to Pincushion's inside rant.
I worked hard to make him by myself. If I used "daddy", they could hear the sneer in his voice at this point, he would be here for things like this not all the way in the Artic, always at SI or SHIELD but I'm not meant to know that. Jarvis acts more like my dad than him. Steve winced and the others had their mouths set in a grim line.
"Ducky I am so proud of you." Peggy came over hugging him tightly, engulfing Tony in a flood of brown and speckled grey hair, Buddy wiggled over her and jumped at Jarvis who caught him.
Steve's jaw would've hit the floor if he hadn't caught himself. Why didn't Tony tell him that he was close to Peggy?
She let him go after a long while, patting his shoulder gently.
"Mary, Michael and Daniel would be too. Can I take some photos to show them when I get back? They always love seeing what you make."
"Sure Aunt Peg." She chuckled giving him a kiss on the cheek and ruffling his hair as he squirmed in embarrassment before she swanned over to Jarvis.
"For the record if they don't let you win they're idiots."
He grinned at the middle aged woman with a gorgeous main of curled light brown hair and bright blue eyes, Ana Jarvis, who winked back before she carried on talking to Jarvis and Peggy.
A beautiful Italian woman with Tony's eyes, cheekbones and skin tone appeared in front of Ana, obscuring her from view.
"Antonio I second that Darling I'm very proud of you. Your father will be too." A loving smile twisted against her lips before dropping. ". "Mi dispiace non riesco a farlo molti di questi. Io provo e mi piace quello che si può fare." l'm sorry I can't make it many of these. I do try and I do love what you can do. All the Avengers heard the English translation in Marias voice afterward startling. She sighed seeming much older than before "I wish I saw you more."
"At least you try Madre." Smiled Tony patting his mother on the arm. I know you do.
"Come on you two the results are coming in."
Maria grabbed her sons hand and led him forward so that they could hear the results.
"And the winner is Anthony Stark."
They felt Tony's elation as he ran up to collect the medal for Amico but then the scene dissolved around them.
"I'm never going to get used to that." Clint groaned clutching his head.
The others looked around and saw themselves once again in Tony's mindscape.
Outside he was in a beautiful garden sat with Peggy on an old fashioned child's swing; it was the same day but later as they were both dressed the same as earlier watching Jarvis and Ana cook dinner.
All three versions of Tony looked more relaxed than the Avengers had ever seen them so far. Despite this the Avengers were far from comfortable. No matter what the circumstances you can't unsee a child with knifes sticking out their back and chest. Admittedly there were much less in this version than they saw in the adult Tony but the sight still put them all on edge.
"Tony, what made you make Amico? Most people in that competition made Robots that would complete a task not a pet."
I was lonely. Pincushion supplied truthfully. I wanted another true friend other than Jarvis, you and Ana. Not a backstabber, liar or user that I tend to pick up at school. To ensure this I made him. It's not like I stay in one grade long enough to make true mates without being pushed up to the next anyway.
The Avengers winced.
"Damn." Rhodey muttered. Was I his first real friend?
Idiot. Angry Tony hit him over the head reminiscent of how Natasha hit Clint earlier. You can't tell her that.
Why not? This is Aunt Peggy we're talking to.
Let him say it. Mask supplied from where he was sat at the table chucking a file hologram at Angry Tony who was about retort. She's trustworthy. Mask stated staring pointedly at the file.
Stepping forward the Avengers looked over his shoulder as saw a detailed profile of Margaret (Peggy) Carter -Saousa detailing her age, height, weight, status (married linked to his profile), children (and links to their files), friends (several links to theirs) but the section that they found themselves drawn to was Personality.
Personality detailed Tony's opinion of her and the characteristics she has as well as evidence for this.
Strong (Ex Director of SHIELD, saved me from a few kidnappings)
Hardworking (seen through her army rank and shield work especially hard to do as she was a woman in a male dominated society where women were looked down on.)
Caring (makes sure to come to your events and supports you)
Clever (can read people really easily and manipulate them), sassy (verbally ripped apart those boys she caught picking on you. Link to memory here.)
Non-judgemental (she picked Steve Rogers as Captain America and grew to like him beforehand despite all his ailments.)
Trustworthy (hasn't told any of the secrets I confided in her and confides in me too.) The trustworthy section was highlighted.
The trustworthy section was highlighted by Mask in the copy of her file he had thrown to literally highlight his point.
I...Okay as long as you mention about Howard not allowing pets as well.
Defeated, Angry Tony took a seat watching the screen wall.
"I was lonely and I've always wanted a Cat. They're independent and cuddly. Amico can keep me company at school and doesn't make any mess, unlike regular cats. Dad doesn't allow pets."
They could feel young Tony wilt.
"He'll love this one as long as he doesn't figure out where the fur is from." Deviously Peggy smirked.
At this both Peggy and Tony burst into laughter as Jarvis and Ana both looked up and grinned at them from the window.
The scene morphed once more and the team found themselves studying the scene as if they were ghosts.
They were in Tony's lab which was quite a bit smaller than his father's with concrete steps leading down to it, a Captain America poster hung by the door and it was one of four the rest were posters of famous scientists like Einstein, Steven Hawking and Marie Curie.
The rest of the rooms walls were bare but on his desk lay several books bursting out of the seams with notes and ideas.
Organised by name and amount of use, (they had a feeling Jarvis helped with that), his tools and materials were held by a stack of shelves that curved around the room.
Tony's inventions scattered around the room depending on their purpose.
It seemed that it was still the same day but about night time as the lab dimly lit by the lights spreading through the room.
Sighing Jarvis opened the door, rubbing one of his eyes. It was to the amusement of many Avengers, particularly Vision, that the Butler wore a grey silk suit style pyjamas making him appear as put together as he looked in the day time, this effect was ruined however by the obnoxiously pink furry slippers he wore. These were clearly Ana's emphasizing the fact that the man was half asleep.
"Young Sir, it's almost midnight."
"I know. Sorry Jarvis it's just I have so many ideas rattling around in my head and I would like to show Dad Amico before I go to sleep."
Sprawled over his desk chair, Tony flicked through a thick project book speckled with bookmarks.
"OK sir; just make sure you go to bed before 2am. No experiments. I don't want to be woken up at 3am because of an explosion again."
Wow Tony is as bad then as he is now. Bruce thought snorting.
"Goodnight Sir."
"Good night Jarvis."
Once Jarvis had shut the door gently behind him Tony had begun flicking through the pages rapidly until it landed on the pages for Amico. These had drawings notes with specific parts exploded across the page so it was easy to see how they worked.
"You know I think I get why those pet robots he made really took off now if they are anything like these." Bruce noted.
"Me too," Secretly impressed, Natasha agreed.
The sound of heavy footsteps approached the door accompanied by the sound of cursing and smashing glass.
"Shit. The search didn't go well." Tony breathed, turning and looking at Amico warily as it pawed the medal around its neck. "Whatever he says, ignore him, you don't interfere, he doesn't mean it. Get me?"
"What does he- oh my gosh." Steve cut himself off as he watched Howard stumble down the steps holding a bottle of alcohol in one hand.
Steve and Bucky kept their eyes fixed on their old friend apprehensively, they knew he liked his scotch but they thought he knew better than to be that drunk in front of a child.
Clearly, they were wrong.
With his back turned to Howard, Tony quickly mouthed at Amico to shut up as he had started to hiss at Howard.
Clint and Bruce's whole bodies tensed as they both subconsciously moved forward, they both knew how their dad's had acted when they had drunk too much and they really didn't want to see that happen to Tony.
"T'ose bloody idiots 'ave been scannin' the same area for th'ee weeks. THREE WEEKS! Incompetence," Most of the Avengers were impressed Howard managed to say that word without slurring.
"But I set 'em straight," he nodded stumbling a little whilst leaning against the wall," Pegs tol' me once he's fou'd he can hav' a proper burial wi' full mili'ary honours bu' I said No Pegs I 'now my frien's alive the serum will keep 'im well." Howard took a long swig out of the bottle.
"No one will believe me."
"I believe you dad."
Tony's hurt stabbed them sharply as Howard snorted and rolled his eyes.
"Wha' you got t'ere anyway?"
At being given an opening, Tony's eagerness to impress sparked.
"Do you like it?"
"Like it, what does it do?" Howard's voice was sharp and so unlike what Steve remembered of him he flinched backwards.
What surprised them all was that Tony didn't snap anything back, saying a simple "It's all here dad" in reply. Guiding him to the table Tony carried the small cat over to him, putting him in front of Howard.
"Does it do anything else?"
"It's all listed there."
"So it's not useful then."
"Of course it is," indignation rose in Tony, "It has-"
"Noo," Howard sneered patronisingly." It won't help find Steve," he raised a finger and Steve flinched again. "And the only weapons it has on it are those things."
Laughing as the Cats claws came out and it hissed at him in warning.
"What are they? Titanium? Pathetic. There are materials out there way stronger than this." Howard whipped out Tony's hammer which was placed on the side and slammed it straight through the cat's stomach.
Amico never saw it coming.
Neither did Tony as he instinctively surged forward but Howard held Tony back.
"People like us Anthony can't afford weak spots," The medal clattered to the floor as the cat was slammed on its back by the force of the swing.
Crack.
A few of the cats joints were fractured as the force rendered it paralysed. He slammed the hammer into it again and the cat's eyes flickered as its stomach dented.
"Any found. Anything you care for can and will be used against you."
Bang.
The cat's legs became disturbingly distorted. It seemed to plead with its eyes for help but Tony was unable to move. Wanda, eyes glowing scarlet, tried to grab it with her powers despite knowing it was futile.
"We aren't as strong as Steve Rogers was but we are smarter than him, than everyone." Bang. The cat's tail twisted and fell off. Visions eyes glared gold in anger. "Life will be hard for you. You are the son of Howard Stark after all." He smiled self depreciatingly.
Bang.
Slamming down on one of its paws, the hammer had split the pad and its claws clattered to the floor.
"You will be a pawn living life knowing you are being manipulated and used."
BANG.
Its head had been pushed inwards leaving a large dent. All the Avengers knew without looking at Tony's notes that Amico was unrecoverable by this point.
Saddened, Scott hung his head; it was a remarkable bit of tech and above all Tony's friend. Seeing a toy- no a friend being destroyed that way by their own father would mentally scar a child for life. That was unforgivable.
"And you will HATE it."
Amico let out one last broken "m-m-errow."
All his lights flickered, his back surged upwards and all his joints seized before dying completely.
Satisfied, Howard threw the hammer to the floor staring at his shell shocked son now rather than the decimated robot.
"That is why I had to destroy your cat. You cared for it and it was imperfect. Both are unacceptable. The more you care the more you have to lose."
Stalking across the room Howard slammed the door behind him.
A numb feeling spread itself across their chests mingling with the sadness as a broken gasp fell from his lips.
Speechless, the Avengers watched as Tony put the hammer back, feeling as if part of his heart had been scooped out and died with Amico.
"I'm so sorry you were my weak spot."
Cradling the dead robot cat, his legs gave out and his expression turned devastated but determined.
I won't have one again.
