A/N:Hey so this is a story I've had in mind for a couple years, and wrote the first part a while ago but just decided to edit it and publish it. The timelines messed up but this is set in early 2016, so before Civil War but after Age of Ultron. I'm probably not going to acknowledge the movies after AOU but I'll try to include the new characters. The only major change I think I'm making is that Steve has a half-sister. If you notice anything else let me know. I also tried to have them as in character as possible but again let me know if you think I messed up. Also I know you can get dna off a piece of hair but for the purposes of the story and for more entertainment value I thought this would be better.
Let me know what you guys think of this story
Christian Everett drums his fingers on the cold metallic table. The cuffs around his hands are making that hard to do without too much pain but he does his best to give off an air of indifference. That, however, does not appeal him much to the two men that are currently staring holes into him. Steve Rogers and Tony Stark are both staring at him waiting for him to speak. The glares they are sending him don't bother him but he's been in this room with these two for five minutes which means the rest of them should have gotten out of the way and underground by now so he figures he'll play their game. Sighing he leans back in his chair as much as he can.
"So is this going to take much longer? Kind of have an appointment in like half hour and you know doctors aren't exactly the patient or forgiving type."
"Is this a joke to you?" Rogers's deep voice cuts into the room and the anger in his words makes Christian drop his mask for a second. However just as quickly, it's back on as he turns to the older man and blinks.
"I'm not laughing if that's what you mean." He responds as Stark lets out a groan of frustration before slamming his hand onto the table.
Stark then takes a second to calm himself down before sitting down on the chair opposite Christian. He had taken off his suit soon after they had arrived at, well Christian honestly wasn't sure exactly what this place was but it seemed to be a base of some sort. Anyways Stark was now simply wearing a pair of jeans and an AC/DC shirt. Not the most intimidating combo but Christian had to admit that the man had style even if he was annoying Christian very much right now.
Stark moves his hands around as if he was deep in thought before pausing and looking at Christian. "Alright let's start over. We know you tried to hack into my company. You were with the equipment that we found was the origin for the hacking. So now all we want to know is why you did it? Did one of my competitors send you? Hammer maybe? Or Hydra, are you working for Hydra? Or maybe a foreign country? We can help you but you got to give us something."
Christian's response is a dry chuckle. "Ok first of all, the only proof you have that I hacked into your company is the computer that you found with me, you have no proof it's mine. That won't go over so well in front of a jury if that's the route you want to go. However knowing you guys you probably just want to lock me up without a trial. Second of all let's just say hypothetically that you're right about me hacking into your company. Even I know Hammer is in jail, I wouldn't go near Hydra with a ten foot pole and I'm sure the North Koreans and the Russians are just dying to have a blonde kid from New York hack for them."
8 minutes. He had been in this room for 8 minutes. It had taken them only one minute to fly him from his hideout to the base but 4 minutes after they had found him to finally leave his hideout, Stark insisting on checking every inch of the place himself. So that puts the tally at 13 minutes. 13 minutes for them to escape, to go underground. He figures that would be enough time for them to get out of dodge so that they are never found no matter what happens to him. He knows David and AJ can take care of them. The good news for him is that he's pretty sure none of these people know who he is yet.
Stark growls again as he and Rogers look at each other and have an unspoken conversation. On the outside of the room, watching this interaction through the glass Clint Barton turns to Natasha Romanoff. Clint retired from the Avengers and Shield permanently after Sokovia but he from time to time still checks in with them. It was during one of those check-ins that Tony got an alert that someone in New York was trying to hack into his company and he and Steve left to check it out while Nat and Clint finished the left over work.
"They're getting nowhere with him." Clint sighs as he rubs his eyes. Being a new father for the third time was getting the better of him and costing him sleep. More than that however was the flashbacks to Sokovia and what happened there. Wanda was another big part of that as he checked in with her more regularly than the others, except for Natasha. She was currently with Sam in a training exercise as Rhodey had other official work to get done. And now there was a kid who was roughly the same age as her, Clint assumed. He always hated when kids and young people were involved in this type of life.
"They'll get something." Natasha reassures him. "This is Steve and Tony we're talking about. He'll talk."
Footsteps coming up behind them distract them from their conversation as they push themselves off the glass to greet the new arrival. Phil Coulson being alive was a shock to all of them especially Natasha and Clint. It had taken them a little while but eventually they all got back into the pattern they had before, albeit without Coulson being their handler.
"What's up old man." Clint jokes causing Phil to roll his eyes and chuckle.
"I'm not the one that's retired here Barton." He responds causing Clint to roll his eyes and grin. "Anyways I came here to talk to Fury but he's otherwise occupied right now so I figured I'd come hang with you guys. What's going on?"
Natasha just beckons him over to the window and once he looks into the room his face falls. Natasha and Clint share confused glances as Coulson mutters curse words under his breath before he runs to the door, stopping shortly to yell back at them.
"Get Hill and Fury here now." He barks at them before going to enter the room. Natasha and Clint share confused glances at each other again before Clint grabs his phone to do what Coulson told them to.
Tony just got done talking to Friday who once again told him there was nothing in the databases of the man in front of them when Phil Coulson barges into the room. He ignores Steve and Tony's shock and confusion as he focuses his attention on the man in handcuffs.
"What is going on here?"
"Oh hi Dad. Nice of you to show up. How are you?" Christian puts on his best fake grin which only infuriates Phil more while Steve and Tony exchange confused glances behind them with Tony mouthing the word 'dad?' causing Steve to shrug before they turn their attention back to the two men.
"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" Phil grits his teeth which only serve to amuse Christian more as he leans back in his seat.
"Oh me? I was just having a lovely chat with umm what do I call you guys?" Steve and Tony look shocked to be included in this but Phil ignores them his eyes solely focused on the man who was apparently his son.
"You know I haven't heard from you in almost 5 years, do you know how worried I was? And now you're back like this?"
Christian can feel his anger rising inside of him so he bites his lip to keep that down not wanting to give him that satisfaction. It doesn't work. Because who the hell was his father to stand there and be self-righteous to him like he was a bad son.
"Oh really? Explain this to me 'dad', were you oh so worried about me when you had your boss run experiments on me at 17 in the hopes that I would be like your oh so precious Captain America. How worried about me were you then?"
He leans forward his eyes practically bulging out. He knows this goes against everything he's taught himself but he frankly doesn't care. Steve and Tony just look between each other bewildered and outside Natasha and Clint share the same look between each other before they both turn to look at Hill who smiles at them before getting her phone out and telling the person on the other line to get Fury there now.
Back in the room Phil just scoffs as he takes a step back and finally acknowledges the two other men in the room.
"So Stark what did he do?" Tony's too bewildered to respond for a few minutes still processing all of the information that he's received in the last two minutes. However Coulson glaring at him brings him back to Earth as he looks to the file in his hand and stammers.
"Um ok about 45 minutes ago Friday got an alert that someone was trying to hack into the main company database. She tracked it to an apartment about 20 minutes away from here and me and Steve went to check it out where we found him. We did not however find out why he was trying to hack into the company."
Phil takes the file from him which is just information of the hack and reads it his eyebrows burrowed,
"Trying to hack into Stark industries, but that doesn't make…" He trails off as his mouth gapes as he turns to look back at Christian while pinching the bridge of his nose. "Let me guess, Michael is still trying to find…?"
Christian leans back and shrugs. "Hey if you had just told him who his dad was none of this would be happening. Wow you were a shitty father weren't you?"
Phil just grits his teeth again as he closes the file and turns to Tony.
"I know you hate needles and things handed to you but I'm going to need a blood sample from you."
Tony looks at him surprised, he really hated this feeling of not being in the loop, but another glare from Coulson had him raising his hands.
"Alright one blood sample coming up." He turns to leave to get the needle and Phil drops the file he's been holding onto the table before turning to Steve and sighing.
"Uncuff him." Steve goes to argue but Phil just turns to face the wall and runs a hand across his face so Steve just sighs and grabs the keys from his pocket and goes to uncuff him. Tony returns with the blood sample and hands it to Phil who throws it on the table in front of Christian.
"There you go. I hope that Michael gets the answers he wants."
Christian takes the vial and mock salutes Phil. He then gets up to leave but pauses at Steve
"So you're the famous Captain America?"
Steve nods causing Christian to chuckle,
"Wow my grandma way oversold you." He clicks his tongue and then walks out. He pauses abruptly, seeing Fury and Hill but just as quickly mock salutes them before leaving. Phil walks out of the room to be met by a glare from Fury.
"You're just letting him leave?" The man sounds almost furious causing Phil to groan.
"Well it's not like I had much choice." Both Steve and Tony walk out of the room then, both equally confused and Steve turns to Phil.
"Why'd he say grandma like that?"
Phil groans again, this is absolutely not how he saw the day going when he decided to visit the Shield building.
"Ok in my defense I didn't know she was your niece." Steve still looks confused so Phil switches gears. "Ok you know you have a sister right?"
Steve nods, he had heard from his mom that his dad had cheated and had another family somewhere but his SHIELD file had said she was deceased so he didn't really pursue it after he got out of the ice.
"Well she got married and had a daughter April who took her dads last name Everett. I met her around 1990 and we eventually got married. Christian, who you guys just met, was born in 1994."
Steve processes this information. "So his grandma is,"
"Your sister."
"Which would make him…"
"Your grandnephew."
"What about his mom?" Steve asks still shell-shocked. Phil swallows before he answers.
"She died shortly after his birth and my start in SHIELD. After that I did my best to shield him from life here." His eyes flicker to Clint and Natasha who were listening and who he never told any of this.
Steve nods as he processes this until something that Christian said comes back to him and he turns to Phil angrily.
"You had experiments performed on your son?" Phil takes a step back and raises his hands. He was not prepared for angry Steve.
"That was above my pay grade."
"Your pay…" Steve turns his attention to Fury who was standing in the corner listening. "You performed experiments on my grand nephew?"
Despite himself Fury takes a few steps back his eyes never leaving Steve.
"I did what I had to do. That boy could have been vital to protecting our planet. He had parts of your DNA in him. You were a teenager when you underwent your serum."
Steve looks at Fury as if he grew a second head. "That was my choice; you did not give him one." He would have kept advancing against Fury but Tony grabs his shoulder to stop him. Tony then turns to Phil and asks him the question on his mind.
"Who's Michael and why did you need my blood?"
Phil turns to Fury who keeps his eyes on Steve so Phil decides to take the initiative.
"Do you remember Samantha Anderson?"
Yeah, Tony remembers Samantha. He had met her two years after his parents had died. She had been the first woman he could remember to actually care about Tony the man instead of Tony the Stark. So of course he had messed it up because of his drinking problem.
"Well right after you two broke up she found herself pregnant."
Tony puts two and two together and looks at Phil shocked.
"I have a son?"
Phil holds up 2 fingers. "Two. Twins, boy and a girl."
Tony's shock quickly turns to anger.
"And you knew and never told me?" Tony felt like punching them all and dealing with the consequences later. Phil just nods Fury's way and Tony turns his glare to Fury. Fury finally breaks his staring contest with Steve to look at Tony. Nick Fury was not one to be easily intimidated.
"Wasn't in charge at the time but I stand by that decision. You were in no condition to be a father."
"Wasn't your call." Tony starts advancing on Fury; he wasn't going to be intimidated either. Plus the man had hid his kids from him. Steve holds out a hand keeping him back. Tony looks at him incredulously but Steve shakes his head before turning back to look at Fury and Coulson. A thought occurs to Tony and he turns back to Coulson because honestly who knows if Fury would try to lie to him again.
"Wait, giving Christian my blood means that he knows where Michael is. Tell me, tell me that's a coincidence and you didn't perform experiments on my kids." Because if Coulson authorized experiments on his son who knows what else happened. The silence between the two men speaks volumes and Tony overcome with anger lunges at the two men. Steve grabs him and holds him back before he gets far and pulls him away, standing in front of him to keep him out of eyesight of the two men in front of him. Steve rubs his eyes tiredly. He feels as if he's aged ten years in one day.
"Okay so why don't you guys start telling us what happened?"
"I don't take orders from you Rogers." Fury was never one to back down even in defeat. He levies a glare at Steve that would normally have made him flinch but not today.
"And I don't take orders from you anymore. So why don't you tell me what I need to know. Since we pretty much know most of it now." Coulson's hesitation makes Steve furrow his brows. "What?"
"There were others." Everyone in the room turns around to see Wanda and Sam standing at the doorway. None of the people in the room had seen them enter but it was clear from their expressions they had heard a majority of the conversation. It was Wanda that spoke. "They weren't the only ones. There were other kids weren't they?"
Fury and Phil look at each other and then back at her. That's confirmation enough for her as she turns around and takes off running. Clint stares, first at Natasha then at Steve and Tony before quickly following after her. Steve takes a deep breath before turning to look at Phil and Fury. He was really tired of Shield.
"You know you once told me that Shield was the good guy and I almost believed you." He turns around and starts walking away but turns around. "From now on the Avengers are no longer affiliated with Shield. Get someone else to clean up your messes." With that he turns around and leaves.
Tony looks like he's going to say something but instead decides not to and instead follows Steve. Sam and Natasha share a glance before they also leave, Sam pulling out his phone to text Rhodey what was happening.
Christian looks behind him as he exits the alleyway. He took a much longer route then needed because he didn't trust Shield not to send someone to follow him. Finally he decides the coast is clear and enters the deli. He liked the deli as the owner was cool about a bunch of young adults hanging out under his store, as long as they paid. Christian had a system whenever he entered the deli, just in case there was someone watching him. He grabs a bag of chips and heads to the counter paying for them. He then heads to the bathroom, looking behind him before heading towards to the side doors. Taking the stairs downstairs he finally arrives at the hideout.
As soon as he enters, a flurry of blonde hair is flung at him and he catches her meeting her lips with his own. After what seems like an hour they finally break apart and he presses his forehead against hers and lays a hand on her cheek.
"I was gone for half an hour."
"Felt like longer." Donna Newman's blue eyes met her boyfriends emerald eyes before she starts looking over his body presumably for scars. He knows she trusts Shield less than he does and as such had been less than thrilled at his plan to give himself up. Chuckling softly he brings her head up to look at him.
"Hey Romeo, Juliet." Christian really needed better friends. He takes his eyes off Donna to glare at the man that made the statement. David Jackson just smiles at the look on his best friends face. "You two about done?"
"Asshole."
"Self-sacrificing idiot." David fires back as Christian just rolls his eyes. He starts walking into the room.
"Yo Anderson." Michael looks up from the computer he was working on. "Catch."
Christian throws him the vial he had hidden in his jacket as Michael catches it before nodding at him gratefully. Michael runs a hand through his jet black hair, suddenly nervous. He had wanted to know the truth for so many years and he was finally close enough to it. He catches his twin sister's eye but he simply shakes his head. She didn't have to know, he really didn't want to get her hopes up. Vanessa looks at him weirdly before shaking her head and focusing back on Christian who had crossed the room to get a water bottle.
"How was it?"
Christian takes a sip before answering. "Okay I guess. Iron Man and Cap were cool, sort of. And then my dad showed up."
"Your dad was there?" Donna asks as her eyes bore into her boyfriend. Christian smiles weakly to assure her he's okay before ducking his head and taking another sip of his water.
"Yeah but I doubt the rest of them knew what happened."
Frankie Jones scoffs from his place on the couch."Oh yeah I bet. Who the hell is going to advertise the fact that they performed experiments on teenagers and then let the teens run away and have no idea where they are."
Dani Brooks who was sitting in his lap with her head on his shoulder hits his chest. He looks at her in mock surprise as she just rolls her eyes before laying her head back on his shoulder.
"Yeah." Christian pauses' knowing what he's going to say next isn't going to be well-received. "But we have a problem."
AJ is the one to answer him. "We've been made."
Christian nods as the rest of the people in the room digest that information. They all knew staying in New York after what happened was a risk but they figured that was their best option as Shield would probably figured they had left the state. Now that Shield knew that they were in New York there was no telling what would happen next.
"So what happens now?" Autumn asks her eyes flickering up to her older brother David who for once has nothing to say. Michael is the one to answer her as he goes to grab the backpack he took with him. He takes out various pieces of papers wrapped in a small book before he tosses them at each of them. Christian doesn't need to look to know what it is. Of course Michael had created passports for all of them under fake names. He looks up at the man who just smiles at him before turning to Autumn.
"We leave. Maybe not the country but we all have to leave New York. And we have to split up. I can get us a jet and money for each of us to help for the short term."
"Siblings stay together." Christian answers as AJ, David and Michael, the older brothers turn and nod to him.
Frankie clears his throat as he gets up off the couch. Dani groans as her seat disappears. "I think though we need one final message before we disappear."
The rest turn to him as a dangerous glint forms in his eyes.
Steve was currently in the Stark Tower gym taking out his aggression on a punching bag. Today had been interesting and there was a lot for him to think about. The fact that he had a relative that was alive was first and foremost on his mind. Next was the fact that Shield had been lying to him since the day that he had been found from the ice. His cell phone ringing brought him out of thoughts. Tony had insisted he get a smart phone because 'it's the 21st century Cap, you gotta keep up'. He reaches for the cell phone and sees it's an unknown number calling him. He answers it hesitantly.
"Captain." He should have known it was Coulson. "You might want to come to Shield Headquarters. You're going to want to see this."
Ten minutes later Steve walks into the headquarters. He is apparently the last one there. Clint and Natasha lean against the far wall, together but as far away from Hill, Fury and Coulson as they can be. Wanda is sitting on one end of the table, also away from Fury and Coulson with Sam, Tony and Rhodey sitting in the middle, all far apart. Steve takes the seat next to Tony who nods at him as he nods back. Tony then turns to the three in the front.
"So what's this about? Some of us are actually busy."
"Stark." Fury growls but Coulson grabs the remote and turns on the TV.
"Security cameras caught this about 20 minutes ago."
All of them watch the TV. as a young man with long slick hair and olive skin appears on the screen. He stares right at the camera and shakes his head no. Then his entire body soon erupts into flames as he starts burning the garbage cans nearby. He obviously didn't want to do damage Steve figures as there were plenty of other things he could have burned that would have been bigger. He was sending a message. Don't look for us.
"Who is he?" Steve's curiosity gets the best of him.
"His name is Frankie Jones. He grew up in Bolivia until a gang killed his parents. His uncle took him and came to the United States where his uncle died six years ago in a mugging gone wrong." Coulson answers.
"How many of them?" All eyes turn to Clint as he pushes himself off the wall and stares at Fury, Hill and Coulson with fire in his eyes. "How many of them were orphans who had lost their family and were just trying to survive."
"Stand down Agent Barton." Fury demands as Clint starts advancing.
"I'm not an agent anymore and I don't take orders from you." Clint responds.
"Clint." Steve says softly as Clint looks at him before nodding and stepping back. Steve shares a glance with Tony before nodding and standing up.
"Any files you have on these kids or on this experiment, you give to us. Any electronic files or data you send to Tony and then you delete all your copies. From now on these kids are no longer Shields business but the Avengers." Steve begins walking away as Fury calls to him.
"You don't give orders to me Cap."
"Well you sure need to take orders from someone." Steve replies without even turning around. Soon one by one all the rest of them leave the room. The last one is Tony who turns to look at the three of them.
"I'll be waiting for your information. And if you don't I'll just have Friday hack into it." He clicks his tongue as he walks out the door.
Tony drinks his fifth cup of coffee as he enters all the pictures SHIELD had into his database. Sleep could wait, he was going to get his kids back. His mind flashes back to
AJ Steele looks over at his sister, Crystal, as she slept on the train ride through the Californian wilderness. His mind would not let him sleep keeping him keenly aware of all that could go wrong. He swore he would never forgive Nick Fury for what he had put them through.
Clint arrives home earlier than intended and hugs his kids a little tighter and prays to a god he doesn't believe in that he can always protect them.
Christian looks around and smiles. Of all the places he could have ended up Seattle was not the worst. He walks down the downtown area as he passes a shop and looks inside. His hands go to his dirty blonde hair as an idea pops into his head.
Natasha trains Wanda as she has done many times before. If Wanda's powers are a little more erratic and if Natasha's punches are a little harder, neither mentions it.
Frankie runs a hand through his hair as he hikes the Texas Mountains. He could make this work. First thing first he needs to find a job because after all Michael's money won't last forever.
Sam and Steve sit down as they have done before to make a plan to try and find Bucky. Sam pretends not to notice how hard Steve is clutching the picture of Christian they got from Shield.
Dani keeps her head down as she walks into the store. Michael had dropped her off in nowhere, Oklahoma which she was fine with but the one thing she knew was that she could never be too careful. Shield was powerful and they could have eyes everywhere.
Coulson finally gets home after midnight. He collapses on the couch and lays there for a few minutes. Then getting up he goes to his bookshelf and retrieves a picture he keeps in the back of it. It was a picture of Phil, Christian and Christian's mother. No matter what anyone says he really does love the kid.
The first thing David purchases with the money Michael gives them, after food and hotel rooms, is a motor bike. Then leaving Autumn, with strict instructions to call if anything happens, he takes a drive through Detroit before ending up at a construction site. He never finished school but he could work with his hands.
Pepper finds Rhodey leaning against the door of Tony's workshop. She left for one day for a SI meeting and everything went to hell. Rhodey looks at her nodding, before going to back to watching Tony, who wasn't even entertaining the idea of going to sleep working on 20 different things. Pepper sighs before walking into the workshop, determined to get Tony to sleep tonight and continue the search tomorrow.
Michael almost wants to turn to Vanessa and make a joke about how her clothes are not equipped to handle the Boston weather. But he can't. So instead he just focuses on driving and making sure his twin sister is safe. And if there's a lab he can break into to finally get the truth of his paternity all the better. His hand absentmindedly goes to the bracelet he wears. He had made the bracelet himself in order to help him control his powers. He was grateful that his uncle had let him use his lab to make it but he knew he couldn't stay; otherwise he was putting his uncle and his family at risk. And Michael Anderson refused to let anyone else he loved suffer at the hands of Shield.
Donna leans back into her chair as she relaxes on the beach in Florida making sure she was aware of everything going on. Super hearing had its perks she guessed although she still wasn't happy that she had it. However she was going to use it to her advantage especially during times like this.
A/N: This isn't really addressed in the chapter but I figure I would give ages in case anyone was wondering
Christian, Michael, Vanessa, David, Frankie, Dani and Donna are all the same age being born in 1994 so they are all 21/22. AJ's a year older so he's 23. Autumn and Crystal are 20, since this is set around January, February 2016