Lives We've Lived

Coming Clean

Tony shuffled through his report one last time, muttering under his breath in unhappy Russian. After uniting with Peter, and then finding Wint- James, Tony had slipped back into his habit of speaking Russian more and more, and it was hard to shake it now. Thankfully, the team hadn't yet made a big deal about it.

They were almost home. Tony was so close to his son, to James, to his secrets.

"FRIDAY? Can you put a call through to Peter?"

Sam groaned. "Seriously?"

"We're almost home, Tony, you can't wait?" Clint teased. Tony hadn't told the team he and Peter were actually related, but it was no surprise they were close and the team teased Tony about being a father figure to the kid. Little did they know.

Tony just waived them off and let his phone ring through to Peter's. When there was no answer, he redialed. And redialed again.

"FRIDAY, where is Peter's phone right now?"

"The GPS tracking shows Peter's phone is in his room, Boss. He is not there, however." FRIDAY's voice came through Tony's watch, loud enough for the others to hear. Natasha turned towards Tony, her face drawn up in concern.

"Peter's not picking up?"

Tony shook his head. "Is he down in the labs?"

"No, Boss, as far as I can tell, there are no bio-metrics scans to indicate Peter is in the Tower at all."

Tony pursed his lips. It wasn't unusual for Peter to leave every now and then, but the only time he ever left his phone was when he went on patrol. "Is Karen online?"

"No, Boss. There's no sign of Spiderman, and if I may be so bold, there are no heat signatures at all in the lab."

The team shared confused glances. Of course there wouldn't be heat signatures in Tony's private lab if both Tony and Peter were out. How could that-

Tony was already up and pacing, a habit he'd picked up whenever he was nervous similar to the worrying of his hems. "Can you pull up and relevant security footage from the last few hours?" he asked, still talking to FRIDAY. "By-pass previous security measures and bring it up on the screen. I want to see everything."

There was a moment of tense anticipation, then a video came up. It was the front of the Tower, clear as day, and the timestamp on the corner told Tony  it was around 2 in the morning. There was movement inside, then a few dark figures came through the front doors - there was two of them holding Peter, who looked drugged from the way his head was drooping down to his chest - and then a whole team of them were dragging a half-conscious James out of the building. Tony watched as James' head lolled to the side, then he was kicking out. His movements were slow and easily dodged - he was probably drugged, too - and Tony's heard clenched unbearably as he watched them both get loaded into a car.

Tony collapsed into his chair. "Эти ублюдки... Мой сын... Джеймс..." (Translation: Those fuckers... my son... James...)

The team was huddled around Tony now, Natasha quickly translating while Steve ordered FRIDAY to replay the footage. He paused it just as James threw his head back and tried to kick the men holding him, leaving his face on display.

"Tony, is that-"

"Зима. Извини- Джеймс." (Translation: Winter. Sorry- James.)

Tony pulled on the curls near the front of his head, scratching dull nails against his scalp. Natasha crouched in front of his chair, pulling him closer so she was right in his space. "Tony, look at me. Look at me."

Tony dragged wet eyes to Natasha's and focused on her.

"You need to tell us what's going on right now."

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Tony tried not to shiver as he was led further into the basement. Nothing good ever came from going further into the base, where the more secret, more disgusting, more gruesome things happened.

The plaque on the wall said 'Отдел X'. Department X. Tony didn't know when he'd picked up the Russian, but once he realized how similar it was to the old Greek Tony had learned in college, he picked it up easy. It wasn't too bad actually - there wasn't nearly as much conjugation as there was in romance languages like Italian and French.

They were heading into a lab, the familiar look of the steel and glass making Tony wince. This wasn't the usual tech lab, it was a medical lab. A surgical lab.

"Что я здесь делаю?" (Translation: What am I doing here?)

The men walking Tony through the base pushed him forward, not bothering to answer the question.

Inside, there was a large team of men, each one moving between lab tables and incubators and equipment. In the middle of the lab was an examination table, not unlike the ones in a doctor's office. There was a strange head rest, though, like a dentist's chair, and straps for ankles and wrists.

There was a man on that table.

There was a man on that table missing his left arm.

There was a man on that table, missing his right arm, and there was a metal replacement on the bench next to the table.

Tony almost threw up.

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"He was my best friend through that whole time," Tony said lowly. "We used to spend hours together working on the arm and doing upgrades, and when he returned from missions... He used to clean up my wounds. He said he wanted to leave, and I wanted to leave, but when the time came..."

Tony was staring at his hands, picking absent-mindedly at a callous. The team knew he'd continue when he was ready, and even though it was eating Steve alive, they all stayed quiet and waited for him to keep going.

"When the time came, I got away, but Winter stayed behind. He covered me so I could leave, and I have no idea how Peter got out or if Winter was a part of that, but I would bet money he helped."

"So you've known Bucky all this time?" Steve finally asked.

Tony nodded.

"And Peter is your son? Your actual son? And you were both HYDRA agents?"

Another nod.

Steve pursed his lips in that disapproving way. "And you're only telling us all of this now, because you had Bucky hiding at the Tower and both he and Peter were kidnapped by HYDRA?"

Tony nodded one last time before Steve exploded, slamming his hands down on the desk and jumping up. Mouth open and eyes wide, Steve was getting himself worked into a lecture. Natasha put a hand on Steve's shoulder, calming him down with one touch. It was like she had a superpower, honestly.

"I think we have bigger issues to deal with than Tony lying to us," she said tactfully. "We need to figure out where Bucky and Peter are right now."

No one argued with her.