The Barnes Brothers

18: A Familiar Face

The Next Day...

"Fill me in." Were the first words spoken by the millionaire when he stepped of the quinjet. Fury had sent him the overview of what went down the day prior but there were no specifics.

Nat and Clint walked alongside him whilst Steve and Bruce followed behind. Nat started off by saying "There was an attack on the Maximoff twins by HYDRA agents. 4 of them. Two of them went with Fury and the other two are here in holding. They have enhancements and the twins both know the boy well. Wanda is currently keeping them both asleep but she can't be doing that forever."

Clint added,turning behind him to look at the blond man, "Oh and Steve?"

"Yes?"

"The man in the holding cell has a metal arm. But its not Bucky. His right arm is metal. Not his left. Thought you might want to check it out though."

Steve nodded in appreciation. "Thanks Clint. I'll head down there now with Tony."

The two of them set off into the building and took the elevator down to the floor where the agents were being held. As they stepped off, they saw Pietro slumped against one of the cells' glass walls and Wanda was sat upright in a chair off to the side, seemingly staring into space but they both looked towards the men that entered.

Tony swiftly made his way over to the cell containing the boy and looked back at the twins who had risen to their feet.

"Can you wake him up?" Tony asked Wanda who nodded and walked closer to the cell. And shortly after, the boy quickly stood up and stared at the adults in front of him.

"Pietro?" he asked staring at the silver haired man in front of him. He then averted his eyes to the lady right in front of him. "Wanda?"

She smiled sweetly at him before saying, "Yes dragă (sweetheart). It's us." And Pietro moved next to his sister to say to the boy, "Hi Cam, nice to see you awake."

Cam ignored their greetings now and began to look around him. "Where am I? What happened? Where's T?"

This caught Steve's interest who was originally staying back against the wall, and he came closer to the group.

"Who's T?" He questioned the child.

"He- um. Well-" Cam stuttered, not sure whether he should say anything. Clearly if they didn't know who he was referring to, T hadn't said anything, so it was best to keep his mouth shut. He finally settled on, "He's just a friend," and avoided the rest of the questions thrown at him.

Tony became really impatient and made his way over to the cell that held the man. He looked over to Wanda and asked her to wake him up and she did so. The man quickly shot up, ran at the glass and slammed his fist on it.

And for the first time in a long while, Tony was speechless.

"Tommo?" A voice sounded from behind him.

Steve walked over and stood next to Tony, never taking his eyes off the man in the cell. Tony turned to look at Steve in confusion before noticing the slight tears welling in the man's eyes.

Tony then found his voice before saying quietly to Steve, "His name's not Tommo, Steve. That's George. I knew him when I was in college. We were good friends but he moved away and I never heard from him again. Now I know why. Hydra kidnapped him." He turned back to look at his old friend in the cell, now feeling guilt that he had no idea that this is what became of him and he had done nothing deserving of it.

It was now Steve's turn to look at Tony in confusion. "No. His name is not George. Well yes it is but he never liked that name."

"And how would you know that Capsicle? You've been frozen all this time."

"We grew up together Tony. I think I would know what name he liked best. George was his father's name. He never went by it."

"I'm lost," Pietro spoke from behind the men. Wanda looked at her brother before whispering, "there's only one way to find out who's right. I have to go through their minds. I tried already with the mystery man there but I got nothing. It was blank. I'll be quick."

She closed her eyes and focused on getting into the minds of the avengers who were still bickering about who was right and wrong about the man in front of them. And it wasn't that hard, neither man had very strong mind defences.

"Stop," she spoke sternly. "You're both right. You Steve did grow up with him. You knew him well. You were his brother. And you Tony also knew him. He was your best friend. As well as Rhodey of course."

Steve glared at the floor, "Hydra. Again," he said with anger ridden in his voice. "First Bucky and now Tommo?" He looked back to Wanda. "Does he know us? Who he is?"

"Only one way to find out," she pointed at the man who was still banging on the glass, not really taking in his surroundings as much as he probably should have. And to the shock of everyone, when they approached him, he stopped. For a second, Steve thought he saw something switch in his eyes when he looked at them.

Steve went closer, to the point where his nose was practically touching the glass of the cell. He studied the face of the man stood in front of him. He looked young but his eyes told a different story. Steve could see the hurt in them just as he did Bucky's. He noticed the contrast between the blue and the green in his iris; just as he used to do when they were young. He then looked down to his metal arm and studied the way Tommo held it as if it pained him just having it there. His hair held a slight curl to it now as it was a little longer than he remembered it being. It wasn't a significant change but he noticed it.

Steve then reached into his pocket and reached for his wallet. He flicked between some notes before pulling out a small, tattered photo. He paused for a moment before raising it to the glass in front of Tommo who averted his gaze from Steve to it.

"Summer of '39. Before the news broke that Europe was at war," Steve said not taking his eyes off Tommo now. "We had just gone swimming in the river like we did every few days and after we put together the little money we had and bought ourselves some bagels. We shared two between the four of us. Your Ma took the photo. That's me," he pointed at the photo now, "that's Becca, your sister. That's Bucky, your brother. And that's you." Steve looked up at Tommo hoping for anything that would show that he remembered.

But there was nothing. Not even a smile. Tommo just stared at Steve in a way that could only be described as hatred. Tony stepped forward and put his hand on the deflated Steves' shoulder. He turned him around and began to walk him back to the door which they came through. And he was about to say something to comfort Steve when a gruff voice broke the silence.

"I gave you my bagel."

Steve swivelled round on his heel quicker than he ever had before. "I'm sorry?" He asked in almost a whisper.

Tommo spoke again, "You nearly drowned and got the chills. I felt bad for you so I gave you my bagel."

This brought a large smile to Steve's face as he practically ran over to Tommo. "You remember? I mean you actually remember?"

"I wasn't gonna let them make me forget you that easily Stevie. You look older."

"You don't," Steve chuckled. He wasn't sure how much Tommo would have remembered so he didn't bother asking how he was even alive but that wasn't even important right now. All that mattered was that he was alive and here. He also decided it would be best not to tell him about Becca yet. Or even Bucky for that matter. Steve knew it would hurt the man to know he sacrificed his life to save him yet Bucky still ended up with the same fate as himself. And telling him about Becca. Well that might break him and he only just got his friend back.

Tony decided to see if the man remembered him as well so he went over and stood next to Steve.

Tommo took one look at him before turning to Steve.

"Steve? Who's that?"

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A/N

Sorry about not posting in ages. As I said in my other book, I'll try and post more this year.

Thank you for reading this book so far though. I appreciate it so much.