Abril: I probably should've mentioned this before but this story is set after Captain America: Winter Soldier but before Captain America: Civil War. That sweet, sweet spot where things are eeeeh, relatively fine? Maybe? Things are never fine in this universe tho, lol.
He stumbled graceless through the slightly uneven terrain, he felt displaced somehow, like his body wasn't his own. By the time Aithusa finally managed to get back to their old truck, the sun had set and it was dark and cold. By grace of being a dragon masquerading as a human, he tended to run a little hot, but he knew in the back of his mind that Merlin would be cold.
Aithusa didn't know what to do.
He fumbled open the driver's door with the spare key they kept hidden inside the truck's hood. Merlin… Merlin had kept the keys in his trousers, he'd been driving when they arrived at the park. Aithusa sat in the driver's seat, body trembling and eyes lost in the dark landscape through the windshield. He choked then, as he tried to draw breath.
This couldn't be happening. This could not be happening. He began feeling dizzy, like there wasn't enough air in the truck. How long had he been sitting there? It felt like forever. With clumsy fingers he struggled until he was able to pry open the door and throw himself out and into the rough floor. He gasped there in the sad, walked on grass, fighting to breathe and not let the panic take over him. It felt like hours had passed by before Aithusa managed to get a semblance of normal breathing back. He inhaled, raggedly, as he lay on the dirt on his side, but finally able to draw in full gulps of air.
He needed to do something, he needed to do something about this whole infernal situation now. He remembers the skull then; with its spreading tentacles all around. An evil little thing. He had seen that before, somewhere, he just couldn't quite pinpoint where or when.
The albino crawled back into the truck, fumbling for the phone in the glove compartment they had bought to keep up with the world and appear as normal as they could. Aithusa didn't like the stupid little square. Unlike Merlin, who had learned through the ages how to delicately manage his magic and interact with technology with a small amount of concentration, Aithusa lacked that skill. Dragon magic was big and raw and not meant for such delicate management. Whenever he grabbed the phone, if he wasn't careful enough it began glitching and frizzling.
The memory of Merlin laughing at him and at his frustrated rumblings invaded his mind. Aithusa's heart missed a beat and he had to push away the ringing that the images made in his mind.
He breathed in, deep and controlled. He reigned in his magic slowly, making it small and unobtrusive. He thought of his feline form and of small soft things that wouldn't break other things by accident. He thought of things with constant shape. He kept his whole concentration on the task, his face emotionless as he unlocked the apparatus. He opened the browser and wrote a simple description of the symbol he had seen.
There!
Hydra. He knew he had seen that symbol before, a couple of times on the news when the American heroes had brought down that Nazi organization. It had been plastered everywhere, that huge flying craft plummeting from the sky.
Aithusa's small victorious moment slipped through his fingers with that minuscule burst of excitement. The phone in his hands popped internally, cracking the screen and dying immediately.
The man exhaled incredulously. His white fingers ghosting over the fissures on the glass. This had happened before, but Merlin could always fix it, and even when he couldn't, he never got mad at Aithusa. If it was a bad day he'd just pat his cheek with fondness and get to work on the phone. If it was a good day he'd smile at the dragon in the skin of a man and would tell him it was okay, technology just couldn't handle how awesome and powerful Aithusa was.
But Merlin wasn't here.
He was goodness knew where, probably in pain. Most definitely in pain.
The trembling in his body returned, but now anger bloomed from his helplessness. He gave a short scream and threw the phone to the other side of the truck where it bounced and broke even more. Aithusa brought his legs up to the seat and hid his head between his knees, grabbing at his long trussed hair as he began to cry.
He prayed then, like the Druids used to do when they wanted to call the great Emrys, lord of their people, hoping somewhere out there the warlock was listening.
"I'm coming for you, I'm coming for you, I'm coming for you," he whispered over and over in the darkness like a mantra, projecting it in his mind as strongly as he could, even though the albino knew it could never be true. He had been commanded and forbidden, there was nothing that would break an order from his dragonlord, the man who had brought him into this world.
It comes unexpectedly to his mind, the memory of the witch hunts, of Merlin tied to a post, weak and delirious for he had been poisoned and dragged through the streets pulled by a horse. Merlin burning while a town he'd helped watched and raged at him as if he'd done them some great evil. Aithusa had not been helpless back then, he'd been a great and powerful dragon. He'd come to his kin's aid, had felt Merlin's pain in his own heart from afar. Still, Merlin had burned. He had not died that day, but maybe it would've been a mercy. The pain of recovery had been excruciating on the man, one of his short deaths and long healing sleeps instead would've been a mercy indeed.
Years later, when Aithusa's own kindness had landed him in trouble, Melin had said to him as he brushed through his scales tenderly, 'Two peas in a pod we are, eh? We just can't keep ourselves from helping.'
The albino's head shot up. Help. The Hydra Symbol. Those American Heroes. Hydra was their responsibility! It must be. They could help him.
Without thinking twice, Aithusa turned on the bothersomely left driven truck, taking out their paper map of the country and looking for New York in the lines.
He was rescuing Merlin one way or another, the only thing the dragonlord had stated in his command was that Aithusa couldn't be the one going after him.
The white haired man let hope beat inside his heart. Unlike Merlin, he was not as afraid of the feeling. He let it give him courage and something to hold on to. He concentrated on the feeling in his heart which always told him that Merlin was out there, somewhere.
He pulled the car into drive. He was finding help.
~.~.~.~
As a general rule, Aithusa didn't much like big cities, he thought them ugly and view obstructing. There was also a feeling of wrongness within him when he got too close to the metal monstrosities and huge radio waves that traveled through the air caused by technology. His magic vibrated oddly against them as he entered these places, a constant uncomfortable feeling prickling all over his skin. Merlin also didn't quite like them but he tended to swallow back his displeasure, the desire to know the people around and new things much stronger than the discomfort.
All that said, Aithusa loathed New York with a passion, if there ever was a big city, it was this one. Ugly metallic buildings covered the sky and hot concrete paved all of the earth. Horrid honking of cars left and right that could run you over at any moment. And the smog, sweet goddess that horrid smoke. Polluting the sky a sickly brown-gray like a thick blanket. It made the albino nauseous.
And there it was, the Avengers tower, tall and proud and so very ugly. The only thing the man liked about skyscrapers was the heights and the wind you could feel over there. Merlin had taken him to some from time to time, it was gorgeous being up there, it felt familiar. Like a distant dream he'd almost forgotten.
His heart stuttered. He needed to stop thinking about his brother and concentrate on getting him help now. Later, after he was saved, Aithusa could yell at him all he wanted for being an ass.
The albino sighed, getting in and finding one of the heroes was going to be the real problem here. He feared it would be as hard as getting inside the queen's palace, or a movie star's home if he tried the front door. As in, he would simply not be let in.
Sneaking in it was he supposed.
Aithusa hid behind a dumpster in a desolate alley and watched the world grow around him as he shrank. He padded quietly to the back of the Avengers building, his white tail disappearing from view as he swiftly went in through the backdoor when a worker was going out to take the trash.
~.~.~.~
"Sir, it appears an unauthorized life form is moving inside the tower."
Tony looked up from the papers he very much needed to look into before Pepper decided he was no longer welcome in their bed.
"You said life form, as in, it's not a person?" The AI hummed, as if it needed to think, Tony would find it obnoxious if he hadn't programmed it that way.
"Hard to say, my sensors keep glitching as it approaches them, but it is small in size."
The mechanic stood up from his desk, important papers left behind, and opened up holograms of the security display in the air. It was true, the cameras had a hard time catching whatever this was, like a spot in the video was being overexposed making it look mostly white all around.
"You say small, how small? A kid? A dwarf?"
"I believe the correct term is little person, Mr. stark. But I am unable to determine the exact size of it, though it is moving at a swift pace."
"Can you tell me where it's heading J.A.R.V.I.S.?" Tony frowned at the faulting sensors and precise algorithms for data gathering, all quite evidently, not doing what they should.
"It seems to be going up, sir," the AI informed him.
"Hm, it would seem we have a visitor," he stated thoughtful, "let's greet them."
~.~.~.~
They lost track of the intruder from one moment to another. Tony was perplexed, how was that even possible? Even if the sensors and video had been glitching, it was state of the art technology, he had built it himself, it was not possible for that to happen.
"Where are you?" the man grumbled, a small glimmer of concern creeping into him. Maybe he should've called this in as soon as it showed up.
"Ah, excuse me?" A soft spoken voice, yet deep in tone, came from his office door.
"I'm busy, go away," Tony said without glancing away from the holograms.
"I am afraid I can't, it's really rather important. I need help. I believe you and your team are very familiar with the Hydra organization?"
Immediately, Tony shut off all visualizations and turned to the double doors. The thick, confusing accent finally registering in his mind. This was, not as he had previously assumed, a person who worked for him or should have any business being here. It looked like a tall lumberjack got lost in the tower. But by the sound of it this person was not lost.
"How did you get in?" Tony asked with a scowl.
"I… walked." The tall stranger shrugged diffident. The man was extremely pale, if Tony had to judge by his appearance, he'd say the man was an albino.
"Did the Slavic basketball team lose you or something?" The mechanic eyed him up and down askance.
"I'm… British," the man answered instead with a slight frown, not quite angry and a bit confused, unsure if he was being made fun of.
Tony glared at him a little, doubting the validity of that statement. There was something British about the lilt of his voice, yes, but the rest was almost German in nature.
"Whatever, you can't be here, I'm calling security, Geralt." He turned from him, directing his attention to his phone.
"That's not my- Wait, no! I need your help please." The pale man entered the office in full and swiftly approached Tony.
"Now, I would advise you against getting any closer," he took a step back and looked threateningly at the other. He had not pulled out the hand repulsor yet, but he was very close "Security is on their way."
The stranger stopped in his place, torn.
"Mr. Stark, please, listen to me. My… My brother was taken by Hydra two days ago," the man pleaded, "I need help." His voice broke at the end there, it made Tony stop for a moment. Instead of letting the sudden sympathy in his chest grow, he turned his attention to suspicion.
"You hesitated. When you said brother, you hesitated," he accused the other.
"I… we're not precisely blood brothers if that's what you're asking," the stranger said uncertainly but there was something bristling beneath that. "He is my family in all the ways that matter."
There was something in the way he said that, 'blood brothers,' something old that reminded him a little of Thor. The annoyance in the albino's face shimmered down, overwhelmed by his desperation.
"Please, I don't… I don't know what to do. He was hurt the last time I saw him, and I'm sure he's being hurt as we speak. He's the only family that I have. I'll… I'll do anything for help, I swear. Anything."
Tony stopped. The desperation was real, he could tell. The man looked about ready to follow through with his promise and fall down to his knees to beg some more for good measure. Their heads turned in unison as they heard footsteps coming down the hallway. The stranger's breath hitched.
"Do you have any proof of what you're saying?" Tony asked a second later. The guy fumbled, unsure of what to offer.
"I- ah- I have a really good memory. I can tell you all the details I recall with a lot of accuracy." It wasn't much, and the white haired man seemed to know so too.
"Mr. Stark!" The double doors opened with a violent swing as the security team came in, firearms at the ready. The intruder turned to face them, walking a few steps back in alarm. He had that look, almost like a cornered animal. It gave the mechanic pause, that wasn't quite the behavior of someone who had nothing to hide. The fear was very real though.
Tony closed his eyes and sighed with self exasperation.
"God damn it," he whispered to himself. "False alarm gentlemen! And ladies," he said with a charming smile. "Friend of mine this one, he thought it'd be funny to give me a scare." He rolled his eyes good naturedly. "Nothing to worry about, we're all good."
The head of security hesitated, her gun not complexly lowered yet.
"Sir," she said cautiously. "This man was not on today's guest list." She made hard contact with Tony's eyes, looking for any sign that her boss might have been cursed into saying that. Good woman that one, he should give her a raise for her astuteness, though he already paid the lot of them a fair amount.
"We'll talk about that later, you know how I am. Always pulling the rug from under ya guys."
The security team lowered their weapons, a little unsteady as adrenalin still ran within them, their pursuit brought to an abrupt halt. They left the office though, in an orderly fashion, the head of the team glancing at Tony one last time before retreating.
The pale stranger was breathing shakily, frozen in place and eyes stuck where security had just left. Like a deer in the headlights indeed.
"Take a seat man, you look faint. They won't bite you now."
"Sorry if I don't like feeling like I am being persecuted by a mob," he mumbled quietly, but nodded. A little unsteady on his feet, the stranger sat carefully on the comfortable chair on the opposite side of Tony's desk. The businessman raised an eyebrow at the snarkiness but didn't comment on it.
"Now, what's your name Viserys?" Tony flopped down on his own seat.
"I am called Aithusa," he answered quietly.
"Eytoosa? What's that?" The dark haired frowned.
"Ai-thus-a," the stranger exaggerated the th, "and it's…" he looked for a moment for words to say, until he settled at last, eyes downcast. "Old."
"No need to spit at me big man," he said as he typed on his phone, with a look of uninterest. "Now," Tony put the phone down. "Why should I help you or care about this supposed kidnapping?"
"Isn't Hydra your problem?" Aithusa threw back without much thought. "And it did happen, I was there, I saw it happen."
"First of all, when you're asking for help, don't get all sassy with the people you want help from. Second, no, it's not our problem, we help people but the Avengers are not part of the government. Well, at least not anymore," he muttered that last bit to himself. "You could say we are a… group of friends joining together for a good cause."
"Look, Mr. Stark, I am profoundly sorry, I don't mean any disrespect," the distress had returned to the guy's face, he looked ready to start crying if this conversation didn't end with a 'Yes, I will help you.' "I just don't know what else to do, or who to go to. I… I really can't do anything to get my brother back. I'm useless-" He stopped there, his hands subtly gesturing at himself. "I would really do anything for your help, anything." He shook his head for emphasis, the white strands of his long hair swishing around his shoulders.
"Hm," Tony nodded pensively. It's not like he wanted to refuse the guy, but he couldn't just trust this random person who'd managed to go all the way to his office floor without being stopped. Something about all this was weird.
The mechanic had also not forgotten the earlier glitch, conveniently, just right before Aithusa had shown up.
"Well, you can start by telling me the truth about how you got in here." He shrugged.
"I… I'm telling the truth," Aithusa said earnestly, though gazing down for a moment at his hands. Tony narrowed his eyes.
"You walked? Just like that?" He asked incredulously. "Through the security, and the access codes, all the way up?"
"Yes. I… came in through one of the back doors. I just walked through. Straight up." Unbelievable. For a man that was supposedly so desperate, he was getting sassy with Tony, again.
"Sure Houdini," slightly, just slightly, the inventor caught a subtle tensing on the stranger's shoulders. 'Gottcha,' he thought, but put that information away for later.
There was a knock at the door.
"What now?" Tony huffed at being interrupted, again.
A redheaded woman came through the door, a clipboard in her arms. The businessman raised an eyebrow quite high while his guest tried to make himself small against the cushions of the black chair.
"Mr. Stark, you called?" She asked in a crisp professional voice.
"I have to say, I didn't think you were going to get here so fast," Tony said disbelieving, eyeing up and down her office approved attire.
"Well, I am your secretary, it is my job to be around here you know." Oh. Oh, he knew just what game she wanted to play. Tony smirked.
"Right you are there, sweetheart. Eitoosa, may I introduce you to my wonderful assistant Miss. Natalie Rushmore. Natalie, Eitoosa." He gestured to the other man who nodded his head politely, which could have been easily mistaken for a short bow. The more and more Tony observed this man, the more interesting he seemed.
Abril: Please, leave me a comment, tell me your thoughts (: