I didn't get ch 21 up on the 21st, but the 22nd is still sooner than I expected. It feels weird posting in the evening now, instead of during the day.
Tony downs his third glass of scotch, staring at the mangled door of his Audi, which Dum-E had not-so-helpfully sprayed with a fire extinguisher.
Taking in a cyborg and child who showed up out of nowhere probably wasn't the best idea to begin with, but he hadn't expected things to spiral this far this quickly. Even his earlier mental image of James- Bucky- murdering him in his bed somehow seems less extreme than what has actually gone down.
Tony's a literal genius and even he's struggling to make sense of recent events. He's not even sure he wants to.
Okay, he knew from the start that both his new houseguests have issues, have obviously seen some horrors. Not only does he have an abused British toddler in his house (does the kid even have documentation to be here legally? No matter, Jarvis can forge that), but also a cyborg super-soldier. The man's rigid posture, his elevated vitals as Tony inspected the arm had reminded Tony uncomfortably of himself.
And it turns out the cyborg is none other than Bucky Goddamn Barnes. Howard would've wet himself if he found out Bucky was still alive. Somehow Bucky survived a fall from a train, been turned into a super-soldier who would probably rival Cap if he were alive.
Tony shakes his head. The man isn't Bucky, not really. For starters, he's got that monstrosity of an arm. He undoubtedly has boatloads of trauma. Expecting him to be the Bucky from the history books is laughable.
Tony had changed after three months in a cave in Afghanistan. Who knows what metaphorical caves James has endured in almost seventy years?
Memory wipes. Christ. James had suggested removing "visions" as one would suggest removing a jacket when it got too hot, as if it was the only logical conclusion.
Tony's certain the guy wasn't talking about getting blackout drunk, either. He'd said Tony didn't have the equipment, and god knows he's got enough booze to cause significant memory loss.
Not only that, the way the guy knelt down submissively, his talking in the third person, calling himself "it". The whole pain is irrelevant thing.
Tony downs another gulp to try and combat his pounding headache. He can't deal with this right now. He is so far over his head with these two. Tony's never been great with solving people problems. Tech problems are easy, but feelings, emotions? Not his forte at all.
Hell, even Pepper would be unequipped to deal with the pair, and she's the most competent person Tony knows. She deals with Tony on a regular basis, stuck by him after Afghanistan and that whole fiasco with Vanko and Palladium poisoning.
Pepper would probably say they need therapy. She's suggested Tony try therapy, but he's brushed that aside every time. Could he even get a therapist for James? His existence seems classified, and he doesn't trust Fury enough to turn to SHIELD. He'd probably take James away for testing or something.
Trying to distract himself, Tony has Jarvis pull up clothing websites and goes through clothing options for their guests. It seems like they'll be staying with him for the foreseeable future, and they need more than what they have now.
"Perhaps we should let our guests pick their own clothes." Jarvis pauses and admits. "That might be challenging, seeing as both of them appear to have no concept of personal agency."
"Sure. Let 'em know price doesn't matter." Tony's good at throwing money at problems, which does not always solve them.
His throat burns pleasantly as he drinks more scotch, before Jarvis interrupts. "Sir, Master Harry is currently in possession of a knife."
Wonderful. As if today hasn't been enough already. He really has to childproof his house, he thinks as he heads upstairs, not drunk enough to stumble yet.
He finds Harry brandishing a large kitchen knife like a sword in the middle of the living room.
"I thought you were watching TV," Tony had set Harry in front of it. Wasn't TV supposed to entertain kids for hours and keep them from doing dangerous things like playing with knives?
"I'm not 'lowed to watch telly. Only Dudley."
Of course, Tony sighs. That still doesn't explain why he's holding a large knife.
Tony rounds on James who, despite standing in front of Harry in the middle of the room, still somehow manages to blend in like a wallflower.
"Okay, I thought I was the worst possible parent material, but even I wouldn't let a toddler get ahold of a knife! I thought you had that whole protect mission!" He glares pointedly at James. Not that James acts anything like a parent, he defers to a toddler, which is messed up in its own right. But if he's so set on protecting the boy, why does he let him handle lethal weapons?
"The handler needs a reliable method of self-defense, for when the Batman James defects." James speaks as tonelessly as always.
From the way James is standing, it almost looks like he's inviting Harry to go at him with said knife. What the hell.
James adds "His shields are inconsistent."
Not even thinking about the shield comment, Tony sticks out a hand toward Harry and orders "Give me the knife. Now."
"I know how'ta use it." Harry sounds way too nonchalant as he passes it over, but at least he does hand it over. Thank goodness for small favors. "Aun' Tuna had me cut stuff."
"Well then it's a wonder you aren't missing some fingers. Or a whole hand." Tony mutters, glancing at James's prosthetic limb. It's probably rude to stare, but Tony's never let that stop him and James doesn't react anyway.
Tony averts his eyes and goes to put the knife back in the drawer. He pauses, glancing back at his new residents. He needs a safe, and another drink. Even an armored safe probably wouldn't stop James for long.
"Who's after you anyway?" Tony asks. It's always a good idea to know who might be knocking on his door, and the way James and Harry just showed up the other day, well, unexpected visitors aren't out of the question.
"Bad guys." Harry says.
"Thanks, kid, that gives me tons of useful information." Okay, it's not his proudest moment sassing a toddler, but today's been kind of rough.
"HYDRA." James speaks up suddenly.
Tony frowns at him. "You having a flashback there, James? HYDRA was defeated in 1945 by your good buddy Cap."
Tony knows all to well what that's like. Sometimes after his own flashbacks, he thinks the Ten Rings are still a threat, even though he made sure to destroy them all.
James just stares at him. He seems like the paranoid sort, and it's obvious his head is all scrambled. Maybe he's just remembering HYDRA and is on the run from an imaginary enemy.
And yet, HYDRA is exactly the kind of evil organization that would drill a prosthetic arm into a guy's bone and completely erase his memories.
Tony scrubs a hand over his face. What are the odds that more than one World War II relic isn't really gone?
No, there's no way HYDRA's still around, right? Someone would've noticed. Fury, in all his paranoia would've sniffed it out. Not to mention Aunt Peggy, or even Howard back in the day.
"All right, listen here." he points at Harry, then realizes he's still holding the knife and thus aiming its tip at the boy. The murderous glare on James's face makes Tony's blood freeze, and he swears his heart skips a few beats. He places the knife down and raises his empty hands.
"Look, I'm Iron Man. I've got suits galore, Jarvis runs one of the most secure security systems in the world." He pauses, remembering how James had climbed in through a window. Okay, aside from that.
Tony shifts his gaze to James. "Point is, keeping the kid safe is no problem. There's no need for him to run around with a knife."
James studies him with icy eyes. "Are your suits resistant to weaponized sticks?"
"What, like quarterstaffs? Batons? I'm insulted you have to ask."
James opens his mouth, but Tony interrupts before he says a single word. He is so done with this right now, and jabs a finger at Harry. "No knives, kid, I mean it. You've got the coolest superhero in the world looking out for you, plus one cyborg soldier."
James looks completely unapologetic. "Your base does not have adequate firearms."
"Yeah, well, I stopped weapons manufacturing years ago. Soon as I saw where they went. And even if I did have guns, I sure wouldn't let a toddler anywhere near one!"
Harry glances at James, waiting for his take on the matter. "My Batman's teachin' me like Wobin."
"No!" Tony shouts. Since when was he the responsible adult in the room? The world's done a complete one-eighty today and he'd really like it to go back to normal. "If I catch you holding a knife again- and trust me, Jarvis is always watching- I'll..." What will he do?
"Lock me in my cupboard?" asks Harry as if it's the most natural thing in the world.
"God, no!"
"Week wit'out food?"
Tony almost wants to slam his head into the wall. Just when he thinks today can't get any worse, these two go and prove him wrong in the most disturbing ways imaginable.
And he'd thought talking the boy out of trying to clean up the destruction in the gym was bad. Harry had been persistent even though it was impossible for a boy his size- especially one as malnourished as he is- to move the broken equipment.
"I'm not going to abuse you, that's illegal. And wrong and- ugh." Tony pulls the knife drawer out of the cabinet and stalks toward the window, which Jarvis helpfully opens. He dumps the contents over the cliff watches them splash into the waves.
"There, no knives. Jarvis, increase security on my workshop. There's too many sharp, pointy things down there." Tony sighs. Dumping knives into the ocean probably wasn't his brightest idea.
Glancing at James, he mutters "You could probably kill someone with a paper clip."
James simply nods, which is sort of terrifying.
Tony rubs his forehead. What had he even been planning on coming up for, before this whole knife incident?
"You need clothes." Tony announces, handing them each a StarkPad, Harry's showing boys' clothes and James's showing menswear.
"I just wear Dudley's old tings." Harry says, not even glancing at the options and holding the tablet as if it might explode.
Tony bites back a comment about the fire, instead saying "In this house, everyone gets their own clothes. So pick stuff out, don't worry about the price."
"Are we goin' to Tesco?" Harry asks.
Tony tries to explain buying things online. Harry looks completely lost, while James stares unblinkingly at the boy. "James, you pick your own stuff."
"It is up to the handler to decide what the Batman James wears."
He should've known even this would be impossible.
"Nope, everyone picks their own."
Harry looks overwhelmed, and Jarvis instead has Harry's tablet show one shirt at a time. One is covered in Thomas the Tank Engine train characters, and the other is made to look like Robin's outfit from Batman, complete with a yellow cape. "Do you like these, Master Harry?"
Harry's eyes are filled with longing before he looks away, fiddling with the hem of his own shirt.
Tony sends an appreciative glance at his AI. Jarvis, as always, is better at people skills than his creator.
When Jarvis brings up a matching Batman shirt in a men's size on James's tablet, James nods without even glancing at Harry. Tony's not even sure if that's what James prefers, or if he simply knows that's what Harry likes and is once again deferring to his "handler's" preferences.
When asked his preferences, James says whatever is required for the mission, and somehow ends up looking at tactical military gear. He seems to at least know how to look at different options and navigate sites.
Well, so much for James making his own decisions. Even Harry isn't actually voicing his opinions, though it's pretty obvious when he likes something but is trying to hide it.
Tony knows recovery takes time. He's still not over Afghanistan, he may never be, so who's to say when James or Harry will recover, if ever? Even if they do, it's clearly bound to be a long, painful process.
Sure enough, when Jarvis announces Pepper is due to arrive, Harry hightails it to his room again, and James follows behind him.
Being on the receiving end of Pepper's wrath for missing the board meeting might honestly be a relief compared to the rest of today.
Harry wakes with a gasp. Uncle Vernon was storming toward him and Aunt Tunia was shouting at him. To his relief, he'd seen Mr. James appear. Surely he'd stop Uncle Vernon.
But then the bad guys came. Dumb-Bell-Door, and the greasy haired guy, the nurse and all the bad guys with guns. And they made Mr. James go all rigid and blank, and started to pull him away while Harry screamed. The giant appeared and beat his Batman up.
He bites his fist to keep from crying, curled in the dark closet, and then he hears a sound outside his door. Not the sound of Uncle Vernon thundering down the stairs, or Aunt Tunia leading Dudley downstairs.
He hears someone breathing very fast outside the cupboard. No, the closet. He's in a closet. Part of Harry wants to curl in the corner, but then he realizes it's Mr. Asset James. Slowly, he pushes the door open, still amazed to find it unlocked. He could even sneak to the fridge now.
In the light from the huge window, he sees Mr. James laying on the floor, right outside the closet door. He'd slept on the floor in the ski place, too.
Mr. James looks hurt, his face sad. He grunts in pain and mutters "Nyet."
Harry remembers when Mr. Asset James had been dreaming on the train. Nighty had nosed him, and he'd pinned the dog down. Nighty ended up being a bad dog, but Harry's a bad boy.
He doesn't want to be pinned down, he should probably stay away.
But whenever he woke up from the green light, he'd wished someone would hold him, hug him and whisper that it was okay. Like Aunt Tunia did to Dudley. Harry used to hope she'd do it to him, too, but she never had.
He wishes someone would hold him now, too.
Harry doesn't know what Mr. James is saying, it sounds made-up like when the bad guys with guns showed up.
Harry slowly scoots over and wraps his arms around his Batman's neck. Mr. James's metal arm feels hot again, so Harry avoids it.
Mr. Asset James jerks, gasps then goes silent. He's good at being quiet, like how Harry bit his fist so he wouldn't cry and wake Uncle Vernon.
"It's okay." Harry whispers. He feels a hand reach up smooth his hair- Mr. Asset James's skin hand.
"Harry." his Batman breathes. Harry likes hearing his name, and he snuggles closer into the man's chest. This must be what it's like having a dad.
Harry reaches to run his fingers through Mr. James's long hair. The man goes completely still.
"Uncle Vewnon was mad." Harry whispers after a bit. "An' you were there but da bad guys stopped you."
Harry feels Mr. James's jaw clench tightly. "They could. They are hunting us."
Harry had seen them freeze him for real, but they'd gotten away. They could get away again, right? "No. You're Batman. You're so strong an' brave."
Aunt Tunia always said Dudley was strong and brave, when taking him down for hot chocolate after bad dreams. Dudley usually sobbed loudly, but Harry was pretty sure a lot of his cries were fake.
"The Batman is still defective."
"Did you have vis-ons?" Harry asks.
"Affirmative. Fight in an alley. Shooting targets. Maintenance sessions." Harry feels Mr. James tremble the tiniest bit, then go still.
It reminds him of when the bad guys made his Batman all rigid. Harry misses Mr. James combing his hand through his hair. Aunt Tunia always said Harry's hair was terrible, but Mr. James never said that.
"Get up," he whispers, hating how still the man is. It's like when the doctor witch was there.
Mr. James immediately stands up, gripping Harry to his chest.
Harry still doesn't understand why Mr. James said he needed that maintenance thing, when that's what the bad guys were going to do.
"If he tries'ta take your brain, I'm gonna kick him in the butt." Harry mumbles. He's not a superhero, but he kicked the nurse and punched Mr. Stark. He didn't get punished either time.
"That will most likely be ineffective." Mr. James says, and Harry rests his head against his shoulder. "Weapons would yield better results."
"I can assure you, you are perfectly safe here." Jarvis says. "I have not observed any intruders."
Hearing Jarvis's voice reminds Harry that they'd broken one of Mr. Stark's rules. He glances at the bed nervously. It's too big. The whole room is too big and bright to sleep in. The walls are too far apart.
"Mr. Stark's gonna be mad." Harry mumbles. He'd already made the man mad about the knife, but somehow avoided a beating for that. Maybe this will be too much.
"I believe Mr. Stark made the bed rule hastily, without taking your circumstances into account." Jarvis tells them. "He will not punish you for not sleeping in the bed."
"Really?" Harry wonders if he's still asleep, because not being punished for breaking rules has to be a dream.
"Really, Master Harry. Might I suggest some hot chocolate?" Jarvis says.
Harry's never made hot chocolate before, not even for Dudley. Jarvis helps him with the process, and Mr. James puts the mugs into the microwave. Jarvis had insisted they make two, for some reason.
When they're done, Harry waits for Mr. James to take a mug, but he doesn't, just looks at Harry.
"It's for you." Harry whispers. Mr. James had a bad dream after all.
"And you, Master Harry." Jarvis says as Mr. James grabs a mug.
Harry frowns. "Not Mr. Stark?"
"You helped make it. You should reap the benefits of your work."
Harry never thought he'd be ordered to drink hot chocolate. Slowly, he takes a sip from the other mug.
It's warm and sweet, even better than Harry imagined when he'd smelled it from his cupboard. He'd thought it smelled like the most wonderful thing in the world as his stomach rumbled in the dark.
"It's so yummy." Harry breathes, hardly believing he's tasting it.
Mr. James sips his with an expressionless face, but repeats Harry's word. "Yummy."
Harry giggles. It's funny seeing Mr. James, who's always so serious like Batman, say yummy.
It's the best night Harry can remember, ever. Sitting in the kitchen, sipping hot cocoa with his Mr. Asset James. It feels like they're a family, like Aunt Tunia and Dudley.
Apparently Robert Downey Jr got clean after throwing drugs into the ocean. I actually didn't know that when I wrote Tony throwing knives there, so it was ironic when I saw that on Reddit.
Sorry if this story is moving too slowly now. Hopefully things will pick up soon. Tony's in denial about HYDRA, but he's definitely one to look into that instead of completely brushing it off.