So I re titled my fic. I have a better idea for where I want this to go and felt like this was a better title. Anyways, I honestly had no idea what to name this when I first started.
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I'm sorry it took so long for me to update, but my life has been a big mess with little to no time to write. I apologize.
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Thank you all so much for your support! I really appreciate it, you have no idea!

It had been a good three hours since Tony sat down to look through files. His head was swimming from all the information he had read, and his eyes hurt from not getting enough sleep. FRIDAY had long ago compiled all the information from HYDRA's database and put it away for safekeeping. Tony definitely wanted to wait till he got back to the compound before he cracked any of that open.

Honestly, Tony had not had any idea where to start. So he did the most logical thing and began with his supposed child. Subject 009, or Peter, (as Tony prefered) was a little over three years old. According to the records he was born with severe asthma which caused a lot of complications in the beginning. After reading the notes left by a Dr. Vanderooth, Tony discovered that they "wouldn't have necessarily called his birth a success due to the health complications". The subject would have normally been terminated and they would have started over, except Peter was the first child to live past the pregnancy. And according to the doctor, "They would take every win they could". If he couldn't be used "in the field" he could at least be studied. Tony sure as hell didn't appreciate the view they had on Peter's life, but in the end, their thinking had saved Peter's life.

After digging more the inventor also learned that the child was nearsighted, but no corrective action had been taken. (Tony was sure to make a note to get the kids lungs checked out, as well as corrective lenses.) And while there seemed to be some things wrong with the kid, there were also some enhancements.

While the boy's eyesite was poor, he could hear exceptionally well. A note had been added to the side, though, stating that Peter was prone to sensory overloads. There were no other notes on that subject, but Tony was curious if his eye site might be modified in any way. It was just one more reason to take the kid to an eye doctor.

As Tony continued to read he discovered that the boy did not have these enhancements naturally. The file stated that a geneticist had been experimenting on the boy while he was still in the womb and then a few weeks after birth. All the experimenting came to a halt when the scientist was suddenly killed. The most alarming discoveries Tony had made, though, was that Tony had known the scientist. The other thing was that he was the husband of the woman he was experimenting on.

It wasn't like he and Richard Parker were friends. Acquaintances was a better way to describe it. They had worked together on collaboration projects a year or so after Tony had graduated from MIT. At that time Richard was single. They had worked together off and on for a good six months and then went their separate ways. Of course Tony had heard that Richard and his wife had gone missing a few years back, but he never could have imagined that this was their fate. And then that lead Tony to look at the mother, Mary Fitzpatrick Parker. There were a few notes in the file about her, and it left Tony with a good understanding about what had happened.

According to the file, Mary had worked for the CIA before she became a SHIELD agent. She was incredibly brilliant and was at the top of her class at the academy with a soaring IQ. She worked with SHIELD for five years before she then became a double agent and was sent into HYDRA's network. Unfortunately she only lasted a month before she was found out. Mary was supposed to be executed, but because of how smart she was, she became a prime candidate for the breeding program they had going on, and they had just the match for her. And with Mary in HYDRA's grasp, it was easy to get ahold of her husband. They had forced Richard to work for them, holding the threat to kill his wife above his head. Unfortunately when Mary had lost her value, she was killed, and soon Richard became less compliant. He followed Mary soon after.

The last note on Mary was that she was the one who had given the boy his name.

Peter.

Mary had cared for her child enough that she had given him a name. Sure, Tony had never known Mary, but for some reason he felt connected with her. And the guilt began to pool in his stomach as he looked at the picture of her that was on the file. He would definitely look into her life more as soon as he was back at the compound. Perhaps she had family somewhere. He would be sure to tell them what had happened to her. Especially if she was still listed as missing. They deserve that much.

From there Tony fell into another rabbit hole. He was curious about the other children who were held captive and he did his best to read up on them. The oldest in the group was a girl named Bailey, and she was only sixteen. That fact alone made Tony's blood boil. She was taken from her home in Seattle months ago after being observed and followed a few weeks prior. A note made by Dr. Vanderooth said she was an "exceptional candidate."

Bailey was intelligent and seemed to be involved with most school activities, but the thing that had caught HYDRA's eye was her athletic ability. She was a state champion in high jump three years in a row. In the off season she played Volleyball where she was a star athlete as well, and before she had been taken, she was making quite a name in the power-lifting scene.

Tony cursed under his breath as he read over this information. This girl had a future. She was going places. She had her entire life ahead of her. Hell, she as only a Junior in High School. And all of that changed just so HYDRA could have their little project. - According to the file, she had been impregnated with a mutant who had super strength.

The inventor soon moved on to the other kids, though. The other girl was another sixteen-year-old name Samantha who was taken from California. HYDRA had been attracted to her due to her finishing high-school when she was fifteen. She had been taken from her college campus and paired with a telekinetic

The youngest was a small girl who was a little under a year old. Tony only found a name when it came to her mother, but it seemed like the girl had a mutation dealing with fire. Apparently there were many testes recorded on the server, but currently, HYDRA was seeing how much heat her body could withstand.

The last boy was around Peter's age. He was labeled as a "test-tube-baby," He was the product of sperm and egg that HYDRA scientists chose from two different mutants they had "on file". After the egg was fertilized, they just stuck it in some random woman, as if she were cattle.

Tony let out a heavy sigh as he scrubbed his face. All the information he had taken in was too much, and this was too heavy of a subject for his tired brain to process. All he wanted to do was take a nap as soon as his jet arrived, but he needed to be sure that the kids were taken care of. They came first. His kid came first. Tony was pulled from his thoughts as his phone began to go off, alerting him that the jet would be landing in the next fifteen minutes.

"Speak of the devil," He muttered as he collected all the files from off the table. Tony turned in the chair, ready to leave the room and alert Steve about what was going on. What he was not expecting was a small child to be standing directly behind the chair, staring at him. Tony would never admit it, but he definitely let out a scream as he quickly backed away, busting his ass as he fell to the floor in a panic. Tony's surprised yelp seemed to scare the boy though, and he quickly scurried away, hiding behind another desk that was a few feet away from him.

"Jesus kid!" Tony huffed as he put a hand on his chest, looking in the direction of where the kid had ran to hide. "I uh-" he stammered, not really sure what to say in a situation like that. "You scare me half to death," He said, collecting himself, though he didn't move from his spot on the floor. "But I guess I scared you too, huh," He muttered. "Please come out, I'm promise I won't hurt you kid! I-I didn't mean to yell at you." Honestly, Tony had no idea how to talk to the young boy. And he wasn't even sure if the kid could understand him, so Tony decided on talking to him like he would anyone else, until he got a better feel for the kid.

"I'm sorry," Tony heard after a moment. The voice was small and trembled as the kid spoke. "I didn't-" He began, but Tony cut him off.

"It's okay...Peter," Tony said. He hadn't gotten a good look at who the kid was, but he had gotten a flash of those doe eyes, so he was pretty sure he knew who it was. "You just scared me, that's all. Come on out, okay?" He said patiently.

It took Peter a moment, but slowly the boy moved, out from his hiding spot and cautiously made his way towards Tony. The inventor stayed quiet, not wanting to scare the boy off. Peter finally took a seat a few feet in front of Tony, folding his legs over each other as he stared at the man. They sat like that for a while.

Now Tony had a good view of the kid, and he noticed how small he looked for his age. Obviously Tony was no expert when it came to children, but he felt like a toddler of his age would be a little bit bigger. He also took in the way the child's stomach distended and how his limbs were small and lacked much muscle mass. It was clear that Peter was malnutritioned. He was sure there were other issues based on his appearance. Dark shadows under his eyes, clammy skin, and even his hair seemed frail.

"What are you doing here kid?" Tony finally said after a very pregnant pause. Peter just looked at him and blinked a few times, but otherwise stayed silent. "Isn't Steve watching you? I thought-"

"I wasn't sleepy." Peter suddenly interrupted. "Everyone else fell asleep, even Mr. America. So I went exploring," the child said, finishing with a small shrug.

If this were any other time, Tony would have laughed at the name Peter had called Steve, but right now Tony was too busy focusing on Peter. Okay. So he could obviously speak in full sentences. That was good to know. And he was obviously curious. Of course he was a Stark.

"So you went looking for me?" Tony asked, scrubbing his face.

"No. You were just here when i came in," Peter said with a small smile.

Ouch. Tony thought. The kid definitely didn't care about hurting anyones feelings.

"Right," Tony said with a small chuckle. "You were just exploring," he repeated.

"Are they really gone?" Peter suddenly asked, his eyes never leaving Tony. "The bad people that took Bailey?"

"Yeah Peter, they're gone...Mr. America made sure. And he called me over here to make sure that they didn't come back. I won't let them hurt you ever again," Tony reassured.

"But they didn't really hurt me," Peter said, his brows knitting together. "But they hurt Bailey. They made her cry. A lot. Is she going to be safe too?" Peter asked.

"Of Course, Bailey too. Everyone is going to be safe, you understand me? I won't let anything bad happen to any of you. In fact," Tony said as he began to get up. Peter just stared up at the man but didn't move. "My jet- my airplane- is here. We're all going to get on it and I'm going to take you somewhere safe. You'll have food to eat and your own bed. You can take baths and play outside and-"

"I've never had a bed," Peter interjected, taking Tony off guard. Tony opened his mouth to say something to Peter but he honestly didn't know how to respond to that before he could say anything, Peter spoke again. "Is Mr. America coming?" he then asked.

"Y-yeah. Mr. America is coming too. He's going to make sure everyone else goes back to their homes," Tony reassured.

"But this is my home. I-I've never been away from here," the young boy said, his voice climbing to a panic. "I don't have a home to go back to...Are you going to bring me back here and-"

"Hey hey hey, don't worry!" Tony quickly said as he knelt down in front of Peter. "You're going to stay with me, okay? At least for the time being. You'll never come here again. You hear me? I'm going to keep you safe. Okay?" Tony said, doing his best to stay calm. Seeing Peter stressed was not doing any good to his heart.

"But," Peter interjected, his voice shaking slightly. "I don't even know you," the little boy said as a few tears began to fall from his eyes. Tony's breath hitched and his mind began to scramble, thinking of what the right response would be.

"I'm Tony, the mechanic," Tony said as he reached his hand out for Peter to take.

"I'm Peter," the little boy said as he eyed Tony's hand before taking it. "Just Peter," he said in a small voice.

"No way," Tony said as he held onto Peter's hand. "You're Peter, the bravest boy I know," and with that he let go of Peter's hand and stood up. After collecting all of his things from the room he took Peter's hand hand began to lead him out of the room.

"Come on. Let's get Mr. America and the others and get out of here," Tony said, squeezing Peter's hand lightly. To Tony's surprise, Peter actually squeezed back.