The white linoleum floor gleamed from the bright florescent lights above, and he tried not to stare at the glare for too long, though it was hard not to. He kicked his feet, swinging his legs back and forth, the chair just slightly taller than his legs were long. He'd been allowed by his mother to bring his favorite stuffed animal, a grey long-eared rabbit in a navy blue velvet jacket named Mr. Vincenzo, with him today, so he fiddled with the tattered rabbit's ears as he waited for his name to be called. His mother had given him the rabbit when he was born, and he'd had it ever since. She was pleased that he loved it as much as she had when she was a girl. Mr. Vincenzo was quite the world traveler. He'd come all the way from Italy in his mother's suitcase when she'd married his father and moved to America, and now he called New York City home. And he thought New York was very exciting. At least, that's what Tony liked to think. Only because HE thought New York was exciting, too. And it was fun to imagine sharing adventures together in the big city.

'Mama? When are they going to call me? We've been here for forever," Tony complained.

His mother raised her hand, and ruffled the boy's thick dark hair lovingly. "Not long now, dolce mio. Patience," she said.

Tony frowned. He just wanted to get this over with. He'd been dreading this day for a week, and now that it was here, it seemed time was standing still. He wandered if this was part of the experiment- to drive the subject insane by making them wait for extended periods of time so that their imagination could run wild with ideas about whatever tortures awaited them beyond the exam room door. But just then, a woman in a grey wool business suit holding a clipboard, opened the door that was just across the hallway from the chairs they'd been sitting on.

"Mrs. Stark? We're ready for Anthony now," she informed his mother. Maria nodded, and inhaled nervously as she stood her son in front of her. "You be a good boy, eh? Do as your father says, and don't be afraid," she instructed him, though he could tell she was probably as nervous as he was.

"Come with me, mama. Please?" he begged. The butterflies in his stomach made his hand shake as he held it out to her, trying to persuade her to take it and come in the exam room with him.

Maria Stark gave her son a weak smile, and shook her head. "You go, Anthony. I'll be right here, waiting for you, okay?" she said, trying to sound brave.

The woman in the suit came up behind Tony, and put her hands on his shoulders. "Well take good care of your boy, Mrs. Stark," she assured. Tony looked up at her, and the woman smiled down at him. But he didn't like her smile. Her eyes seemed to stay cold and calculating to him, so that her lips were parted and her smile seemed to be forced and almost animorphically distorted. He looked back at his mother, the worry increasing to alarm now. "No, mama!" he begged. "Don't make me go! I don't wanna go! Please?"

Just then, the door that the woman had come out of opened, and out stepped Howard Stark, a look of stern consternation on his face.

"What seems to be the trouble out here?" he demanded.

Tony's head swiveled behind them to look at his father. His eyes met his father's gaze, and he swallowed hard. "N-nothing, Sir," he answered.

"You bet 'nothing'," Howard replied. "Maria? Is this how our son behaves in public?"

Tony looked back at his mother, as she was lost for words. The last thing he wanted to be was in trouble right now. It would only compound his fear of going in that room. Since his father had told him about what he'd been working on, and that Tony was the perfect candidate for the experiment, he could only imagine some sort of medieval dungeon where he'd be strung up and tortured mercilessly, never to see his mother, or his room, or any of his other stuffed animals again.

His mother stammered. "Please, Howard. He's frightened," she explained.

"Frightened? What in hell for? Tony, come here," his father commanded.

Tony did as instructed, braking away from the woman with the clipboard to go to his father. Howard clapped his hands on his son's shoulders, crouched down to the boy's level and looked him in the eye. "Now we've talked about this, haven't we?" Howard asked him.

Tony stayed silent, but nodded in agreement, his hands gripping Mr. Vincenzo tightly to keep from shaking.

"And I've explained in great detail what my intentions are, correct?" Howard asked.

Again, Tony nodded silently.

"Okay, then," Howard said. "I won't have you acting afraid for no reason. This will all be over quickly, and you and your mother can go home."

Howard stood back up, and grasped his son's hand. "Now, then, let's get you onto the examination table, shall we?" he asked, as he led Tony through the door. Tony looked back once more quickly to see his mother. Her face was still very concerned, her eyes fixed on him before the exam room door shut with a loud BANG.

"Now," Howard said, leading his son into the darkened exam room, where in the middle of the room, the only light was coming from an over head lamp, shining down on a stainless steel examination table. "Climb up there, and we'll get you strapped in."

Tony felt his father let go of his hand. He glanced up at him, and then back at the table with trepidation. Slowly, he walked over to the table, and laid down, clutching Mr. Vincenzo tightly in his arms. His father chuckled. "Oh, no, Mr. Rabbit, here, needs to wait outside," he said. He grabbed the rabbit from his son, and Tony whimpered when he did it.

"Mr. Vincenzo!" Tony said.

"Don't worry, my boy! Your mother can hold him until we're finished," he said, trying to sound upbeat for his son. He handed the rabbit to the woman in the wool suit, and she nodded as she left the room with the stuffed animal. A tear leaked out of Tony's eye as he watched her go, and he began to tremble.

He looked straight up at the light, and tried to focus on it, but his father's silhouette blocked the view. "Try to relax, Tony," he said, cinching straps over his son's body. One went across his chest, over his stomach, over his hips, his knees, and a final one over his shins. Then, he began attaching nodes to his son's forehead face and neck, and Tony flinched, his body now hypersensitive to any foreign sensations. "These will measure your brain waves, your pulse, and your respiration. Try to breath normally, and stay calm. This will all be over soon."

He felt someone grab his right arm, and turn it over underneath the straps. He felt them push up is sleeve. He glanced at who it was, and a nurse with a surgical mask was there. He could only see her eyes, and it occurred to him her eyes weren't smiling either. He felt a pinch in the crook of his arm, and he inhaled sharply, as this was the only thing he could do given he was strapped tightly down. "Ow!" he whined. "What's happening? Dad? What are they doing?" he asked in alarm.

Howard chuckled and smiled at his son. "There, there, Tony. It's just a simple blood draw. Nothing to be alarmed about."

"Blood? Why do they need my...," he started to say, but Tony suddenly found he couldn't finish the sentence. His mouth quit responding to what his brain was telling it to do, and his eyelids were now feeling extremely heavy.

"Da- dad?" he mumbled, as he drifted off to sleep.

XxXxXxXxXx

Tony awoke with a start, jolting upright from being bent over, asleep at his desk. "Guh! What the hell?!" he blurted out, squinting in the bright lights of the shop. He was breathing heavily, and he took a few deep breaths to try to calm down. He shook his head, frowning, trying to clear his head, but the images of his dream had seeped into his bones. He swore he could still feel the needle in his arm, and he had to look down to make sure it wasn't still stuck in there. He rubbed the spot where the nurse had stuck him in his dream, and looked around. The loneliness of that exam room was slowly drifting away, and he felt grateful that the familiarity of the shop was taking its place. He'd gone downstairs once JARVIS had begun looking for Dr. Guierre's whereabouts, and he now figured he'd grown drowsy and fallen asleep waiting.

"Where the hell did that come from?" he murmured to himself. It had all seemed so real, and he had the strangest sense of deja vu, yet he had no recollection of ever being part of one of his father's experiments as a child. And certainly, he'd never come across anything eluding to the fact that he had been in all of the notes he'd found in his father's personal effects over the years. Surely, his mother would never have allowed it. The look on her face as he'd been led away from her in his dream sent chills up his spine even still.

"JARVIS, any luck?" he called out, resolving get his mind off the dream and back on task.

"No exact matches in western Europe, Sir. Perhaps, though, Dr. Guierre has adopted some type of alias?" the AI suggested.

Tony shrugged and nodded. "It's a possibility, J," he agreed. "But where would we even begin to look?"

"I would suggest relatives, Sir? I could pull archived SHIELD records, if you like. They may make mention of spouse's and children's names?" JARVIS offered.

"Do it," Tony instructed. "I've gotta find this guy."

JARVIS went to back to work, and Tony decided to go upstairs to check on H.A. The images from the dream, and the sense of loneliness he'd felt from them was still wearing off, and he wanted to have a look at his son, if for no other reason than to make himself feel better.

He quietly crept upstairs, the whole house dark and silent. Tony reached the top of the stairs, and slowly opened H.A.'s door. The boy was sound asleep, but would let out a soft whimper every few seconds. Tony frowned and listened. It happened several more times, so Tony stepped inside, and made his way to the edge of the bed. "H.A?" Tony whispered. "Hey, buddy? You okay?"

H.A. slow awakened. "Dad?" he asked sleepily, raising up on his elbows, and squinting at his father in the darkness.

"Yeah, H.A. It's me. You were whimpering in your sleep," Tony said.

"I was?" H.A. asked.

"Yeah," Tony replied. "You alright?"

The boy nodded. "I'm fine dad," he assured his father.

"O-kay," Tony said skeptically. "You'd tell me if you weren't, right?"

"Yeah, dad. Just...go back to bed. I'm fine. Okay?" H.A. assured.

Tony bent forward and kissed his son's forehead, noticing the dampness of sweat on it. "You're sweating. You don't feel sick or anything, do you?" Tony asked cautiously.

"Dad, I'm fine! I was just having a crazy dream. That's all," H.A. replied.

"Must be the night for it," Tony muttered. "Okay, buddy. I'll leave you alone. But tell me if you need anything, okay?"

"Yeah, dad. Goodnight," H.A. said, waving his dad off, and rolling back over in his bed.

Tony went to leave the room, pulling the door closed behind him. But he hesitated for a moment, watching as H.A. went back to sleep. He listened for more whimpering, but this time, just the soft sounds of H.A.'s quiet dozing was all he heard. He shrugged and shook his head. "Must have been a crazy dream," he muttered to himself, as he closed the boy's door again, and jogged back downstairs.