Chapter 3 Siblings

Tony's point of view

A month to the day later, I was home sick from school with a nasty bout of Strep Throat.

I was tucked up in bed with my electric blanket, a big mug of Mrs Jarvis's homemade Tomato and Basil soup and my schoolbooks. We had tests coming up that we needed to pass for switching to Homeschooling and I wanted an A on them all so sick or not I was revising hard. Twice that week Dad insisted on bringing me downstairs to watch TV with him.

Bruce and Jay came to visit me and bring me my homework for the week (while wearing masks, gowns, gloves and visors so that they wouldn't get sick too!)

We studied together, and I took my medicine and had a hot bath. By the time my parents got home from work I was asleep.

Howard's point of view

At precisely 11:30pm that night, I heard a frantic pounding on the front door. Edwin got up and went to answer the door, his Smith and Weston pistol hidden behind his back. I stood in the doorway of the living room, my New York Yankees baseball bat in hand, ready to attack. Ana held a glass bottle over her head and Peggy had her own pistol concealed.

Edwin opened the door and a child fell into the front hallway.

"Bruce!" I cried

"Edwin, call Dr Turner — NOW! Tell him we have an injured child here and that we need his help at once."
"I will sir"

Bruce groaned softly, trying to turn over

"Don't move son, you'll injure yourself more. Help is on the way."

"My mother is dead… my father has been arrested… he set the house on fire so that my mother could not escape. He shot at me and hit me in the side, and it hurts… like… hell!"
"All right! Stay calm. I need your help to add 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13+14+15+16+17+18+19+20+21+22+23+24+25+26+27+28+29+30. Can you do that for me? I also need you to tell me exactly how you came to your answer."

Dr Turner arrived, took care of Bruce's wounds and Bruce told us the answer to the question I had asked"
"That's very impressive Bruce." Dr Turner said

"How did you do it?"
"Well, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. I split the numbers into groups of 5 and then added the totals of each grouping of 5 and then I added those totals together.

First I added 1,2,3,4 and 5 which is 15 then I added 6,7,8,9 and 10 which is 40. Next I added 40 to 15 which is 55.

Next, I added 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 which is 65, and then I added 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 which is 90.

90+65 is 155 and 155+55 is 210.

Finally, I added 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 which is 255 and then I added 210 to 255 which is 465 so the answer is 465."
"That's impressive"

We took Bruce to the hospital to get checked over. He was kept in for observation. There was some question over where he would go since he was legally still a minor. He was going to go to an orphanage… it was about to be arranged when I went to visit him. He was angrier than I had ever seen him. He was holding a knife, examining the tip of the blade carefully.

"Bruce. I want you to keep up with your schoolwork"
"What's the point Mr Stark? I wanted to be a doctor but in this orphan place I'll get the paltriest of paltry educations, and I'll never get the grades I need. I'll have to go and work in some factory or something… it's a pointless life for someone who had so much potential. My parents didn't have much but at least when I had parents I had the option of funding, scholarships… grants… now all I have is… a place at an orphanage, a state school, and a bleak future… I don't want to live in a world where I won't meet my full potential. I would sooner end my life and go and be with my mother than live in a world where I have to go to a school that's only going to give me a basic and mediocre education."

It was at that moment that I realised that the boy was depressed and needed some adult help. I called Peggy at the office and asked if we could help Bruce and she said yes.

"Bruce, listen to me. We're not going to allow you to get a mediocre education, OK? We're going to make sure you get a decent education. I am going to arrange for you to come and live with us."
Peggy and I were evaluated by the Child Protective Services Department. Bruce came to live with us 2 weeks later. By then though, trouble was looming for Jay.

One Sunday morning, while Jay's family were at church, and he was home alone - in bed sick with a bad cold - an obnoxious human being put a lit firework through the front door's letterbox. It exploded, starting a massive fire. Jay escaped but something even worse happened. On their way home from church, Jay's entire family died in a freak accident.

"I know this is racially motivated" Tony snapped. "It doesn't take a genius IQ to figure that out either."

"I believe you might be right Tony, but trying to prove it will not be easy."

"There's no way this is coincidental!"

Tony was right - the attacks were racially motivated.

Tony's point of view

3 years after Jay and Bruce became my brothers, we went to the circus. When dad and I were in the line for the restroom, we witnessed a small boy receiving a beating from a circus hand.

Dad stepped in and I gained another brother. Clinton Francis Barton - known as Clint. He was 8 years old and had been badly abused. He had some learning challenges, so we got a specialist tutor for him and Bruce spent time helping him with schoolwork. He also had some severe hearing loss which hadn't been corrected.

"I think Clint could benefit from attending Military School" said Bruce - he had been tutoring Clint in math and reading.

"Maybe"

Mom and Dad were reluctant to send Clint to military school at first, but then something happened which made their decision easier.

At the end of February the following year, two SHIELD agents, known for capturing HYDRA operatives, disappeared, their son and daughter came to live with us while my parents and the search and rescue teams tried to find their parents.

Scott was 9 years old and Ruth was 7. Both children were exceptionally intelligent. Unfortunately, the parents were never found. Scott and Ruth were adopted by my parents.

On Christmas morning of that same year, my father awoke to the sound of what he thought was tiny kittens crying but was, in fact, the sound of human infants wailing. A basket had been left on our front stoop containing 2 infants — A boy and a girl who had been abandoned by their Sokovian mother who had left us a note.

Wanda and Pietro were 8 months old when they arrived at our stoop. Ruth was thrilled to have a little sister.

2 weeks after this, my parents helped my godparents move into their new house next door to ours…