On the first night of Chanukah the-real-narnia gave to me:

Another chapter of Tsunami!

^Yes, I am doing this again. Happy Chanukah, 2018!

Also, yeah, we're still on Tony, if you look at the titles. We're like...barely half way through it, I think. Sorry about all the exposition, but here, have the feels; this is super sappy and something I've always wanted to say to Tony, actually, so Elle gave me the perfect opportunity.

Chapter Seven - Tony, Part Six

Tony was frozen. "…What?"

"That night, your dad was delivering five vials of super serum that he made to SHIELD," I explained. "HYDRA killed him. Your mom died because they didn't want any witnesses."

He still seemed pale.

"Do you want me to get Rhodey?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"Do you want a hug?"

He hesitated.

"Can I give you one anyway?"

He nodded. Tony's eyes looked suspiciously wet.

I've only seen Tony cry a handful of times, because the first thing that hits him usually seems to be shock.

I pulled Tony into my arms. Normally, it wouldn't work – even though we were both around the same height, Tony was still bigger than me (it was probably from all of his work in the shop, but he has muscles, like what the fuck) but by laying Tony down next to me and curling up around him it seemed to work. It was similar to the way I'd comfort Laxus, or any of the other boys who got too big for me.

He still seemed a bit in shock, but I tightened my hold on him. "It'll be okay," I told him. "You can cry. There's nothing wrong with crying," I said.

His arms tightened around me, but he didn't seem to be crying yet.

"And we'll get back at HYDRA," I continued, rocking back and forth. "We'll save their prisoners. We'll take them down. When we all work together, they won't be able to handle anything we throw at them."

And then the tears started. I could feel my shirt getting wetter.

We mostly stayed there, and I stroked his hair. It's probably because he starts to cut his hair shorter more in the future (maybe he has problems with it in the suit?) but his hair is actually pretty long and soft right now, curling down around his ears.

It makes him look adorable, and a lot younger.

Eventually, he stopped crying. He pulled his face away and looked up to me, and there was shame on his face as he wiped away his tears.

I sighed and brought his face forward, back into my embrace. "It's okay to cry, Tony."

His head shook again against me. "Stark men are made of iron," he whispered.

I stared down at him and went back to running my fingers through his hair. "Oh, Tony." I gently tugged on his hair and pulled his head back until he looked up at me.

"'Stark men are made of iron', right? That's the stupid saying."

He nodded.

I made him look into my eyes. "Okay. Fine. Stark men are made of iron. But you know what else is made of 'iron'?" I put up air quotes.

He was quiet, waiting for the answer.

"Tony, you are Iron Man," I said. "But that suit isn't iron. It's a titanium-gold alloy. And Tony, that's you. That's the iron you're made of. You've got a mind as sharp as titanium, a will as strong as your yet-to-be synthesized vibranium, and a heart made of gold."

He stared at me as tears welled up in his eyes, and he threw his arms back around me, clutching at me tightly and sobbing more than he had earlier.

I've seen Tony Stark shed a tear or two before, but never full out crying. This was actually a good thing. All of that shouldn't be bottled up.

Plus, the heavy metal poisoning can cause mood swings and stuff. I think. So it's good for him to get overemotional right now until another time.

I shushed him and stroked his hair until the crying died down.

"Do you feel better?" I asked him.

He was silent before he pulled back from me and nodded, breathing heavily.

"Are you ready to continue?" I asked.

He nodded again.

I took a deep breath. "Now, you need to know the difference in HYDRA agents."

"There's a difference?" he asked.

"Most of them are crazy, evil fanatics," I admitted. "But they tend to torture and brainwash their prisoners. Turn them into puppets. Those are the ones I think we should save."

He looked at me, understanding dawning on his face. "One of them was the one who killed my parents, weren't they? One of the brainwashed ones?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

Tony was silent before he grabbed a mug off the table and hurled it at the wall. The ceramic shattered, but he didn't notice. He was standing now, pacing and thinking. "You know…ugh. I've never had a great relationship with Howard, I'm sure you know that."

I nodded.

"But for all of the shit he pulled, for all the times he…"

"Neglected," I said softly. "He neglected you, Tony."

"Fine," Tony continued. "For all the times he neglected me, I still…"

"I know," I said. "That's why you worked so hard, that's why you acted out. You wanted to impress him, and when that didn't work, you wanted his attention."

"He was my dad," Tony whispered. "And as much as I hated him, I also loved him. And I never got to say goodbye." He swallowed heavily and paced again, walking over to his desk and leaning on it, his head hunched over. "But despite it all, for the last…well, nearly twenty years, I've been blaming it on him. I've been forcing myself to hate him, to hate me, because I thought it was my fault. Because I argued with him, and when we argued, he drank, and when he left with mom there was one less bottle in the kitchen. I blamed him and I blamed me, for years, because he not only went and killed himself, but he killed Mom too, and she should've never…"

His voice cracked on the last word and he took an uneven breath, so I moved forward and hugged him, figuring that he might be a bit close to a panic attack.

"I know," I said quietly. "She didn't deserve that. Neither of them did."

He was still quiet. "You know, it was closed casket? And I'm pretty sure that Obie paid off the mortician. At first I thought it was because Howard was obviously intoxicated. Now I'm wondering…"

"If Stane was HYDRA?" I asked. "Or if he was the one who got HYDRA to take them out?"

Tony took another deep, uneven breath. "Does Aunt Peggy know? About any of this?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so. But I do think you should let her move in. They never confirmed it, but I think HYDRA killed her in the last timeline – probably through a nurse or something. The time she died was too convenient for them; and it caused a lot of fighting. If she hadn't died then, everyone might've been calm enough and had enough time to talk things out and settle them the right way."

Tony nodded. "I think that'd be okay. But I think she's getting worse…"

I stroked his hair. "We'll see what we can do, okay?"

He nodded.

"So, the person who killed my parents didn't have a choice," he said quietly.

"Not really, no. Even if he had tried to resist again, like he did in the beginning, they'd have someone else do it and spend the next few years re-breaking him."

"I still want to hate him," Tony whispered. "He…he took my mom from me."

"Tony, he didn't know," I said softly. "He was, for all intent and purposes, a robot, following their every command. And not like one of your bots. There was no free will, no self awareness at all. They could make him kill a friend, and he would do it. Because at this point he doesn't even know his own name. He didn't even have a name. He refers to himself as an 'it'."

Tony looked horrified. Not that I was so surprised. To a genius like Tony, his mind was probably everything.

"They would torture him over and over again, specifically electrocution, so he'd forget things."

"And he'd kill a friend because he had no free will," Tony said softly. "And he wouldn't recognize them."

He was silent before I finally said, "He didn't."

"What?" Tony asked, lost in thought.

"You're right," I said softly. "He didn't recognize a friend. Howard was his friend, and it's probably one reason why HYDRA particularly sent him to take your parents out. Because they'd think it was funny. Or ironic."

"He knew Howard?" Tony asked, his mouth slightly open.

"They call him the Winter Soldier," I said. "and he's known as a ghost story, and has been around for decades. But he was born as James Buchanan Barnes, and he went by the nickname 'Bucky'."

Tony's eyes were wide. "Captain America's best friend?"

I nodded. "I know you were raised on some of their exploits. I'm sure you've heard about how Steve rescued the 107th because he heard that Bucky had gotten captured, right?"

Tony nodded.

"While he was there, Bucky was experimented on by a man named Armin Zola, who, by the way, is only dead in body."

"In body?" Tony asked.

"He uploaded his brain onto a computer server," I said. "Because the brain runs on electrical signals anyway, and he wanted to be immortal. So once we rescue Bucky and do some other things, we're going to trash his servers. That should help a bit with your feelings on HYDRA. Anyway. Bucky."

Tony nodded. "Continue."

"Bucky was the only one who was experimented on who lived, and then he continued traveling and fighting with Steve and the Howling Commandos. And then…"

"He fell off the train," Tony said quietly.

I nodded. "When he was captured the first time, I think they gave him some version of the super serum. But it didn't activate until he was falling – maybe because of adrenaline or something? He survived the fall and HYDRA got him. And then they wiped him again and again, so he doesn't remember. He's cryogenetically frozen in between 'missions'."

"And you said he doesn't know his own name?" Tony asked.

I shook my head, before thinking over my next words. "For whatever reason, HYDRA liked to record some of their missions. Maybe it was for kicks. Maybe it was for feedback. Maybe it was to point out mistakes and punish people for disobeying. Who knows? But in the video, your dad recognizes Bucky. He calls him 'Sargent Barnes'."

"And he didn't stop?" Tony asked softly.

"No," I said, just as softly. "He didn't."

"If he doesn't remember anything," Tony said, "Then how can we help him?"

"I have a few ideas," I admitted. "But I also think that the super soldier serum he got helps him. The serum – that it heals him. Part of it speeds up regeneration, super soldiers heal a lot faster, and I think it's healing his brain, too. That's why they need to wipe his mind so often. Because if given the chance, the neural pathways in the brain that they fry might start healing and he might start recovering."

"So you think if we get him out of their clutches and let him recover, he should get his memories back on his own?"

"I don't think it's anywhere near that simple," I said. "But something like that, I guess."

Tony shook his head. "HYDRA, Bucky Barnes…jeez, what's next?"

"I think you already know," I said quietly.

He froze, staring at me. "Really? Are you kidding me? Captain America?"

I nodded. "We'll fish him out of the arctic soon. But we need to find him before SHIELD does. SHIELD is infiltrated by HYDRA , remember? And because of the way he acted the last time around…"

My mind flashed back to the incident on the Helicarrier. 'I've seen the videos, Stark,' Steve had said.

What videos? A compilation of Tony Stark's Biggest Mistakes?

"I think that they made him biased against people, and tried to turn him against them. Also, he didn't exactly adjust well. They tried to get him to cling to the past."

Tony winced. "Yeah, I can see why that might be a problem."

"But we need to get Bucky first," I said.

"Why?" Tony asked.

"Well, for one, when it comes to Bucky, Steve has a one-track mind," I said dryly. "He's like a dog. And instead of going 'bacon bacon bacon bacon' it's 'Bucky Bucky Bucky Bucky'. If Bucky is already here and recovering (which will probably take awhile anyway) we have a much bigger chance of 1) getting Steve to stay here and not run off causing chaos and 2) help him adjust to the 21st century. He'll have a few links to the past. Bucky, Peggy, and you."

"How am I a link?" Tony asked.

"Do you really need to ask?" I asked him.

He looked down. "So, what, he's just gonna think I'm Howard?"

"He might at first," I said. "But I get the feeling Peggy will kick his ass if he doesn't straighten up. Another reason we need them here first."

"Alright," Tony nodded. "As for the rest of your plans?"

I smiled. "Don't worry," I reassured him. "I think you'll enjoy them."