Author: Black Dragon on the Rocks/animealam
Rating: T
Pairing: None so far, mentions of one sided Steve/Peggy
Summary: The Universe stared at the boy for what seemed an eternity to him, only to change into a decrepit, dirty alley, and that was the last thing Steve saw before loosing consciousness. The small frail boy banished in a flash of blue flames. Be warned VERY AU Young Time Travelling genius tech savvy Steve.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers, I'm just borrowing them. I'm using a good number of the movie dialogs, even if I added bits and pieces to some of them. So if something looks familiar they are obviously not mine, and belong to their respective owners.
Warnings: NOT SLASH, AU, Completely totally AU, Time Travel, Younger Steve, Violence, Adoption, Smart Steve, Technopaths, Technopath Tony, Technopath Steve, Canon Character Deaths, Minor Character Deaths, OOC-ness, there are quite a lot of movie dialogs which I decided not to change but I did add my own twists and turns to make them a bit more interesting.
Characters: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Thor, Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, Maria Hill, Sarah Rogers, mentions of Bucky, mentions of Peggy Carter, mentions of Howard Stark, mentions of Colonel Phillips, mentions of the Howling Commandos, Jarvis, Pepper, Happy, Rhodey
Timeline: Pre Avengers, Captain America: The First Avenger, Avengers, Post Avengers
Author's Note: First of all, a HUGE apology for taking so long in updating. The chapter was mostly done, there was only a little part I was not happy about, so I did some editing, some some splitting, some shuffling about, and finally managed a somewhat short chapter. The part I was having the most trouble got moved to the next chapter, which I might post by the end of the week.
Anyway the main reason for the delay was simply a mix of real life, which can't be avoided, and Civil War.
I knew Civil War would mess up my writing, which it did, and I did not even go to see it because of it. I have way too many pending stories that I really do not wish to leave unfinished. Also #noHYDRACap. No, nope, definitely NO. What was Marvel thinking?!
There are, however, Civil War spoilers just about everywhere *sighs* (tumblr, but specially Pinterest). Now I just have to wait until it comes out in DVD, or BluRay, to see it and hope it won't put me off writing Avengers fanfiction forever. Anyway, despite being a bit (more like a LOT) discouraged with how things seem to be going in the MCU, I tried to come back to this story and get things done.
So here it is, chapter 18.
Total size without notes: 3,181
Keys:
"Speaking aloud."
'Thoughts'
Name: /Mental interfacing between technopaths and/or tech\
Stark Tower
The moment the doctor in charge at the tower's infirmary saw Steve's condition, she rushed him into the small but well equipped operating room. The wound on his abdomen was still bleeding, and there were signs of internal bleeding as well. There clearly were more problems than just the broken ribs.
The rest of the team simply crashed on any available couch or chair, while doctors and nurses checked on them. They were all exhausted, but none of them wanted to find a bed to rest yet. Even when Tony made it clear there were rooms available for them on the upper floors should they want them.
Truth be told, they were all extremely worried about Steve, as he had not looked good. At the moment Bruce was in the operating room with him. While he was not a medical doctor he did know enough to supervise the procedure, and make sure no one took samples from the kid. Bruce was also the only one who showered so he could be in there, the others were too tired to bother.
Once they were all patched up—and they had nearly had to sit on Clint for him to allow the doctors to take x-rays of his torso just to make sure he had no broken ribs. Which he thankfully did not, but the archer was going to have one hell of a quiver shaped bruise on his back. Tony sent for coffee, large amounts of the caffeinated drink to keep them somewhat functional.
Despite the coffee, they were all exhausted—physically, emotionally, as well as mentally—and they could admit to either nodding off, or simply zoned out at times, while they did their best to keep a vigil. This was when Tony decided to continue with his explanation, just so they could all remain awake.
"You wanted to know how the kid ended in the past?" He asked them, and got tired nods in response. "There's much we don't know, because Steve was not very forth coming, but I'll tell you what little Bruce and I found out. We aren't sure when exactly, or how, since as I said he was very reluctant to say, but Steve found a small glowing blue gem..."
"A piece of the Tesseract?" Natasha could not help asking becoming more alert. She noticed Thor and Clint focused their full attention on Stark too.
"Not quite, Romanoff," Tony said after drinking some of his coffee. "Steve believes"—he cradled the hot mug in his hands, and settled more comfortably on the couch he had sprawled on, then he continued with the explanation—"and Bruce and I agree with him, since Steve is actually the one who worked with the HYDRA weapons, that it is probably the crystalized energy used to power a HYDRA tank. He says it's the right shape and size, and we have to take his word for it."
"Where did he get it?" Clint asked puzzled, then added. "Because I don't think he had it with him when he was found," he went on with a frown. "It would not only have been in his file, I'm certain Fury would have sent it to Selvig to examine. He would not have let the guy keep something like that, even if it happened to have sentimental value or something."
"Bruce concluded the same thing, Clint. He also realized Steve could not have found it after he was thawed. Simply because SHIELD has kept him under close surveillance. They would have confiscated it, as you say.
"Anyway, Steve did tell us he found the gem in a warehouse by the docks. Only, he refused to tell us when, or why he was there in the first place, and that's what we—well Bruce was the one who did initially—found suspicious," Tony told them.
"But why did he show you this gem, Man of Iron?" Thor was curious he did not see a reason why the young midgardian would choose to do so.
"Long story short, I was fooling around, and Bruce almost touched the scepter's jewel by accident." That earned him three death glares. He just ignored them, used as he was to being glared at for doing stupid things. "Don't say a thing, I got berated by a kid for it. But as I was saying, Steve told us the small gem was able to open a portal large enough to transport all three of us, should anyone touch it, which he did not believe was a good idea."
Tony went on telling them an edited version of their conversation in the lab then, and the things which made Bruce suspicious. Omitting any mentions of technopaths, of course. He also chose to lie to explain how he knew Steve was younger than he admitted.
He was good at lying on the go, so it was not too difficult to come with a story as he went. Tony told them his father had once mentioned Captain America was a kid. He told them Howard had been very drunk then, but had said the Cap was sixteen when he died.
"When Howard was sober," Tony went on, "he denied telling me when I asked him about it. So I always suspected Captain America was younger than everyone believed him to be. I had no confirmation of it, until I had JARVIS do a search for a modern Steven Grant Rogers under the age of twenty, who also happened to have an illness list longer than my arm.
"Then lo and behold! JARVIS found Steve," Tony went on too tired to do more than wave just one arm, "twelve years old, a genius, and a very sick kid. He also mysteriously disappeared from his home on February 2 of this year." That got him stunned looks from all three of them.
"He was twelve when he travelled back in time? So how old is he now?" Natasha asked more than a bit shocked. Rogers was practically a child when he went back! How did he manage to survive on his own?
"Yeah he was, and patience, Romanoff"—she had not given them permission to use her first name, and after what she did to Wilkins, he was going to be very careful around her, and as respectful as he could be as well—"I'm getting there. Anyway, we know Steve touched the gem, we don't know whether he did it on purpose, or accidentally.
"The gem opened a portal," Tony continued with the story, "but instead of disintegrating Steve, like the Tesseract did the Red Skull, the portal took him to the past. To 1941 to be precise," he indicated. "He did not tell us, hell, he did not admit to being a time traveller, but Steve din't deny it either.
"It was only when I talked to Sarah, that I really had confirmation of what happened to him. She was the one who told me that was the year he ended at." It had been a shock to realize how young the kid was when he travelled back, and it was amazing to know he actually managed to survive on his own until Project Rebirth. "After SHIELD found him, the kid somehow managed to send her text messages once a day, and he told her.
"We don't know how he managed to survive on his own back then..." He said not knowing Natasha, as well as Clint, and even Thor were puzzling about it too
"History says he was very close to Sergeant Barnes..." Natasha trailed off. "Maybe it was because he helped him."
"Could be," Tony admitted. His father had commented Barnes and the Cap had been really close, like brothers, actually. Losing Barnes had devastated the kid according to his father.
"The birth certificate Fury found," Clint added, "he must have falsified one and presented it for the books. Nat said it was issued in 1941, after a fire destroyed many birth records," he pointed out. "That is one clever kid, he knew to take advantage of it, and pass himself as an adult from the start."
"Yeah, he did. I'm truly impressed, specially since he somehow managed to make the people back then believe he was twenty-two, when he really looked twelve; and we've all seen photos of how he looked in wimp form, before the Super Soldier Serum changed him." Tony let that sink in, then went on. "To answer your question Romanoff, he's sixteen now.
"He was four years in the past. But... I don't know how to feel about this," Tony could see he shocked them by admitting he had feelings. "Steve knew from the start he had to become Captain America, there was no way he didn't, not with his looks, and the name. He knew his history, hell all school kids do! Then Steve knew who he would lose and how.
"He... He also knew when, where, and vaguely how he would die... Or thought he would die, and yet... He still went through with all of it," he said with a wary sigh. Frankly, Tony did not know how Steve did it. How he coped with knowing he was not going to live to be eighteen.
"That's... so... so fucked up!" Clint exclaimed, while Natasha swore in Russian, and Thor in his own language.
"Yeah," Tony agreed. "That's why I told you he was strong."
"Yet SHIELD nearly broke him," Natasha commented with a sigh. "I suspect you chose to adopt him to protect him from SHIELD."
"Yeah, but also from any other agency who wants to control and/or experiment on him. It really was the only way I could think off. That's why I contacted his mother.
"After I explained a bit about Kraft, without telling her the truly horrible stuff," he hurried to say when all three of them glared at him. "Give me some credit, will you? I'm not THAT insensitive!"
"Sometimes I have my doubts," Natasha muttered, and just got a glare in response.
"Anyway Sarah Rogers agreed to give me joint custody through adoption so I had legal grounds to protect him. My lawyers are already working on it, but Rutherford—my main lawyer—also suggested she made a Will, and appoint me as Steve's guardian should something happen to her before the adoption process was finished," Barton and Romanoff nodded, Thor just looked confused. "Which is the way we're going to go now Sarah's dead.
"No offense, Clint, Romanoff, but SHIELD has assassins in their employ. They could have ordered a hit on her to get her out of the way," he told them. "SHIELD doesn't mess with me, the same with Congress, and the Military. They know I'll turn whatever they do into a huge scandal, and make them look bad while doing it."
"I don't think Fury would have ordered Mrs Rogers eliminated, he's usually not so callous as to go for innocent civilians," Natasha said thoughtfully. She knew he was not that callous as to murder an innocent. "The World Security Council on the other hand..." She trailed off.
Natasha did know more than a few assassination orders came from the World Security Council, from Alexander Pierce in particular. After he became the American representative to the World Security Council, the assassination missions had tripled.
She did not like it, it reminded her too much of the work she had to do for the Red Room, but there was not much she could do about it. Natasha knew Clint, as well as several others—including the now late Coulson—shared her opinion on the situation, but they were on the same boat as her, not knowing what they could do.
"Yeah," Clint agreed. "If those bastards thought nothing of nuking New York City," he definitely did not approve of that decision, specially not when he was actually there, "then they wouldn't even have to think about getting rid of the Cap's Mom if they wanted to have control over him.
"You did right in asking us to keep this quiet, Tony. He's done so much for the world, and does not deserve to be treated as a lab rat, or a mindless weapon. Never mind the fact he is still a kid."
"No he doesn't," they all agreed, and their resolve to protect Steve firmed then.
They knew that despite his youth, Steve was a good leader, as well as a very good fighter. He proved it to them earlier, so all knew they would follow his orders. But they also realized he was useless at taking care of himself, and off the... battle ground they would overrule his decisions about his health, Tony in particular, since he had become the default parental figure.
Some time later, while they all dozed sprawled on the very comfortable couch and chairs, Bruce came out of the operating room. He looked exhausted and somewhat grim, which put everyone on edge. Was the kid in a terribly bad shape? Did Steve die?
"Steve's healing," Bruce began to ease the concern on their faces, even Romanoff was showing it, "and the doctor will bring him out of sedation in a few minutes..."
"But?" Natasha asked as Bruce's face clearly showed there was a problem.
"The Super Soldier Serum might have healed his illnesses, and perfected his body, but it has it's disadvantages as well. His metabolism burns through medicines too fast for them to actually work properly," he explained. "We had a really hard time finding a combination of drugs to keep him sedated." His face was grim. "He almost woke up on us a few times.
"I really need to work on finding something to either slow his metabolism enough for drugs to work, or make the drugs time released..." He shook his head and went on as he fiddled with his glasses. "As it is, the dose the anesthesiologist had to give him would have been lethal for anybody else.
"Frankly, we're concerned," he admitted. "Steve's going to be in a lot of pain once he's out of sedation, and we don't know what we can give him besides large amounts of morphine, in a continuous drip, which is not ideal.
"He did mention it worked back then, but I really don't like the idea of drugging him up like that. He's also going to wake up very disoriented, and with his enhanced strength we're going to need you around, Thor, as you're the only one besides the Other Guy who can hold him down if need be... unless the suit is working?" He asked Tony.
"The Marks VI and VII are probably lost causes, but I still have the old ones. I can have Dum-E bring the Mark V down here. It's lighter, and portable, but should be strong enough to help contain Steve should it come to that," Tony said and sent a mental command to Dum-E to bring him the football.
"That's the one you used in Monaco?" Natasha asked, and Stark... Tony nodded.
That one fit in a briefcase, which was actually surprising, but she had seen it at work, and had to agree it might be enough. They did not know how strong Steve really was, there were never any tests done to measure it, because he refused to be treated like a lab rat. But judging by what he did to the big whale thing, Steve was VERY strong.
"Do you think it's strong enough?" Natasha had to ask anyway.
"It should be, even if it's not as strong as the others," he told them.
"Good," Bruce said with a nod. He felt better knowing Tony could help should it be necessary. He had a connection with Steve, so the kid might be more prone to listen to him. "I think Thor's strength might be enough, but it's better to have a back up plan, because I rather not bring the Other Guy out in those circumstances. Even now I can tell he really does not like the idea of Steve being hurt, or in pain."
"I will assist you in whatever you need doctor," Thor said showing he was concerned as well. "But what is wrong with the young one?"
"Call me Bruce, Thor, and quite a few things, which he aggravated by unleashing his grief on that thing," Bruce told them, then he gave them the medical report on Steve's condition.
There was the Chitauri wound, which the Super Soldier Serum tried to heal, but pieces of his suit ended in Steve's abdomen and the foreign objects in his body were wrecking havoc. The wound partially closed around them, then his body began rejecting them, and he had the beginnings of a fever by the time Thor deposited Steve on a gurney at Stark Tower.
There were also three broken ribs, on the same side as the wound, which had grazed the spleen and a lung. Both had been bleeding, so Steve had been losing blood internally probably since before he got the Chitauri wound.
The injuries had not been life threatening, and the Super Soldier Serum would have probably healed them with no trouble. In fact, it had been doing just that. Unfortunately Steve aggravated them once again, and they became life threatening after his mother died, when he chose to make mince meat out of one of the large flying monsters.
They were all just absorbing the information Bruce gave them when there was a commotion coming from the recovery room. Steve was clearly out of sedation, and he was very confused. He thought he had slept for several years and was in the future again. He actually got off the bed and tried to escape.
Bruce had had the foresight to warn the doctors and nurses not to try to stop him, as Steve was stronger than a normal human, and he would certainly harm them even if it was not his intention. They should wait for one of the Avengers to contain him.
Thor was on his feet in a second, and promptly went to stop the youngster, who was clearly panicking at not finding anything familiar. Tony was just a step behind putting on the suit which Dum-E had brought while Bruce explained.
At Bruce's signal, both Natasha and Clint held back along with him. The two assassins were normal humans, and Steve might harm them inadvertently. For his part, he was not as frail as he looked, but he could not risk unleashing the Other Guy when Steve was so out of it. Who knew how the Other Guy would respond.
Romanoff and Barton were puzzled, but Bruce told them Tony got along with Steve like a house on fire, he was hoping the kid would recognize him. Besides, the suit should protect him even if it was not the most resistant he had. Bruce did not tell them the billionaire had a mental connection with Steve, so he was the one with more chances of calming him.
