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“Entrance is clear.”
“Basement’s clear.”
“Back hallway also clear.”
“One more room to go,” Peter said into the comms as he walked down the hall towards the last door. The rest of the Avengers were scattered throughout the Hydra facility making sure the whole building was clear and now there was only this last room to clear before they could go home and debrief.
He opened the door and immediately Karen was scanning the room. It wasn’t needed once the lights were on and the sight almost made him sick in his suit. The room was filled with young pups, all of them handcuffed and blindfolded. There was barely enough room for all of them and the room smelt strongly of death, distress, and other unpleasant smells.
To Peter’s dialled up senses, it was a miracle he didn’t pass out.
“I need back-up,” he called weakly into the comms. “You guys should see this.”
“Everything okay, Parker?” Cap asked, sounding worried.
“Not in danger, this is just… you’ll see, Cap.”
It was a few moments before the other Avengers arrived and stared in horror at the room around them. Most of the pups were unmoving, either passed out or dead. They were all dirty and skinny, obviously malnourished and abused by their captors.
“Why are they blindfolded?” Thor asked quietly, voice solemn as he looked over the small children.
“Pups imprint when they’re young. All they have to do is lay eyes on you,” Clint told him, voice just as deathly quiet. The blond’s scent was slowly growing sour with distress, adding to the already acrid smell in the air. “People… People blindfold ‘em so they can’t.”
“That’s what they did in the Red Room,” Natasha added in as she took a few steps forward. She knelt down next to the closest unmoving pup and pressed her fingers to the pulse in their wrist. “Dead.”
“They might all be,” Peter whispered, following her lead and taking further steps into the room. The other Avengers slowly followed, all of them starting to check over the unmoving pups.
“Got one,” Steve said as he broke the shackles on the pup’s wrists and carefully lifted the poor child into his arms. “I’ll call a medevac, keep checking.”
“This one lives,” Thor murmured as he did the same. Both of the blonds carried the two pups out of the room while the others continued their search. There was another few moments of silence before Natasha came across one more and carried the pup out of the room.
“Three. Three out of how many pups,” Clint whispered as he caressed a little girl’s cheek. The omega blinked back tears and stood up, tearing out of the room when he couldn’t take it anymore. Bruce would be providing basic care on the quinjet, they hadn’t needed a Code Green and he definitely would’ve hulked out over this.
Just when Peter was about to leave the room to wait for SHIELD, he heard a whimper from the far corner behind a dirty cot. He walked over and gasped when he saw a small boy curled into a corner shivering. He was awake which was far better than the other pups they’d taken out of the room.
“Poor pup,” Peter murmured as he knelt down a foot from the trembling boy. “Can I touch you, pup? Can I take the cuffs off?”
The pup let out a high-pitched whine of distress, a sound usually emitted by abused omegas. Hopefully once they got out of the room he’d be able to smell this boy’s presentation. Peter purred soothingly and pumped out as many calm pheromones as possible to overcome the putrid smell of the room.
“You’re okay, pup, no one’s going to hurt you ever again,” Peter continued, carefully reaching forward and snapping the chain of the cuffs. The pup flinched and wailed and his trembling got worse. “Shhh, sweetheart.”
He gently picked the boy up into his arms and carried him from the room. He held him firm to his side when the boy started to struggle and whine, obviously trying to get away from him.
“I promise you that no one’s gonna hurt you, sweet boy. We’re gonna get you some help,” the superhero murmured next to the pup’s ear. He rubbed the boy’s back lightly, carefully checking for any open wounds while he comforted the boy.
They emerged from the facility and Peter blinked as his vision got used to the sunlight outside. Now that there was better light, he could see the pup in his arms better. He had long, dirty, brown curls and his whole body was covered in dirt and bruises. His clothes hung in tatters around him.
His heart ached at the sight of the cloth covering the pup’s eyes.
He carried the boy onto the quinjet where Bruce was still busy looking over the other three pups. Everyone looked up when Peter stepped inside, their eyes wide when they saw the boy in his arms.
“He’s awake,” Peter told them. “Scared out of his mind.”
“I bet all of ‘em were,” Clint muttered, still looking a little green.
“Bring him over here, Peter,” Bruce said as he let Steve carry the girl he’d been patching up to the cot where the other two still slept. Peter brought the boy over and carefully sat him on the table. The boy whimpered and clung onto the older brunet.
“Shhh, sweet boy, I’m right here.”
“My name is Bruce, and I just want to see if you’re hurt. Can you tell me your name?”
“T-T-Tony.”
“Alright, Tony, anything hurt?” Bruce asked, grabbing his stethoscope and gently pressing it to the boy’s chest to listen to his heart. For all that Bruce claimed he wasn’t that kind of doctor, he always did well for basic check-ups and first-aid.
“E-Everything…”
“You’ve got some bruises so that’s expected,” the scientist murmured as he listened to the pup’s lungs next.
“M’head too,” Tony whimpered, whining when Bruce touched one of his bruises. The lights around them flickered which drew everyone’s attention.
“Karen, what was that?” Peter asked, brow furrowed.
“It seems like a power surge, cause unknown, Peter,” the AI responded, her voice making Tony jump. The lights flickered once more, going out for a second or two and then coming back on. Peter thought deeply for a moment, looking at Tony before turning to Natasha.
“Natasha, what files did you find? Any human experiments?”
“I don’t know, Karen should be going through them right now,” the redhead told him, her brow furrowing as she looked at the man. “Are you thinking…?”
“Yeah, I am. Karen, let me know what you find,” Peter said as he gently took one of Tony’s hands in his own.
“I’m going to keep the blindfolds on ‘til we get them to the medbay, or a hospital,” Bruce explained quietly, putting his stethoscope around his neck. “The pups’ve most likely had them on since they were born so their eyes are behind in development.”
“Did we call Helen?”
“She’s on standby in the medbay. I know what you’re thinking but you know her cradle isn’t capable of this, Peter,” the scientist answered. “We just need to let their eyes develop, they’ll all probably have visual impairments for the rest of their lives.”
Peter nodded his head and turned his full attention on Tony. The boy was no longer trembling and his distressed scent was slowly dissipating. The older brunet gently took him back into his arms and just held him.
“Hill’s here with back-up,” Steve announced, grabbing his shield and placing it on the holster on his back. “I’ll coordinate with Nat, the rest of you head back to the tower. These pups need medical attention.”
“Cap, I want them all to have proper funerals. I’ll pay for it, I don’t care how much it costs,” Peter told him firmly, meeting the alpha’s blue eyes head on. Steve slowly nodded his head before he and Nat got off of the quinjet. Clint went to the cockpit and soon they were in the air on their way home.
-
“Peter, I’ve asked you multiple times to sign these damn papers and Pepper is this close to killin’ me,” Harley called as he entered the dark medbay, a stack of papers in his hands. He paused when he saw the omega sitting next to a blindfolded pup.
“Shut up and bring ‘em here,” Peter whispered, glaring at his loudmouth of an assistant. The alpha walked over and handed him the papers he was carrying. He pulled a pen out of his pocket and handed it over before pulling over a chair and sitting down.
“One of the pups you guys brought back?” Harley asked quietly while he watched the omega sign.
“Yeah. Tony was the only one still conscious,” the brunet replied, glancing up at the blond. “Helen has them all on fluids now. A social worker is going to be by in the morning, we have to figure out what to do with them all.”
“Somethin’ tells me you already know what to do with this one, Pete,” the taller man murmured. He placed a gentle hand on the other’s knee to draw his attention. He could tell just from those guilty brown eyes that he wanted this boy for himself. “You wanna be a mama?”
“I’ve thought about it for awhile now. I know I have time but between the company and Avengers business,” Peter murmured, handing the papers back to Harley and then taking Tony’s little hand in one of his own.
“Hell of a responsibility.”
“I’ll have help. There’s just...something about this sweet boy, Harley.”
“You know I’ll always help, Peaches. I gotta get these back to Pepper or I’ll never see the light’a day again,” Harley told him with a smile, squeezing Peter’s knee before getting up and leaving the medbay. Peter watched him go with a fond smile before turning back to Tony.
“One of these days I’ll convince him to ask me out but today is not that day,” the omega murmured to the unconscious pup.
-
“Today’s the day, Tony, are you ready?” Helen asked the pup quietly. It had been a week since the social worker showed up to take the pups into custody and Peter had announced he wanted to adopt Tony. The worker had started the process a few days ago once she’d looked into finding the pup’s birth parents and coming up empty-handed.
Since Peter was a celebrity, the process was expedited for him.
Tony had loved the idea when Peter had asked him if he wanted to be adopted by the older omega, nodding his head and purring endlessly. Even with all of the trauma the small brunet had been through, he’d bonded with Peter.
And today was the day they were going to take the blindfold off and let the boy imprint on him.
“R-Ready,” Tony murmured shyly as he sniffed out Peter’s scent. The older omega was on his other side waiting patiently to meet his pup’s eyes. Bruce and Helen had warned that the imprint might not take since the eyes would be underdeveloped. They had the room dimmed down enough to just barely see one another.
His irises probably wouldn’t be their proper color either. They’d just have to give it time.
Helen nodded her head and carefully untied the cloth around the pup’s head and brought it away slowly. Peter was immediately sitting on the bed and placing himself in Tony’s immediate view.
“Ev’ryfing’s blurry,” Tony whined, making grabby hands for the blob in front of him. Peter pulled him into his arms and cuddled him close with a purr.
“Your eyes have to get better, sweet boy,” the older man explained quietly as he rubbed his back. “Look up here baby.”
Tony did as told and looked up at where he thought the superhero’s face was. This close, everything was a little clearer and he was surrounded by his sweet, strawberry cream scent. Something in the back of the pup’s mind clicked and his young instincts screamed mother!
The pup immediately started purring and he pressed his face into the older omega’s neck to get more of that comforting scent. Peter’s arms tightened ever so slightly around the small boy and he kissed the top of his head. The pair of brunets were all wrapped up in each other, further cementing the imprint.
“That’s that then,” Helen murmured, voice quiet so she didn’t ruin the moment. “You can take him up to the penthouse, he just needs to keep taking his medicine and I want to check on him every other week.”
“Thanks, Helen,” Peter said, smiling up at her. He carefully got up off the bed with Tony secured in his arms. The pair of brunets left the medbay and made their way up to the penthouse where they spotted Harley and Pepper talking on one of the couches.
“Oh, Peter, he’s adorable,” Pepper said when she spotted them, a smile blossoming over her face.
“Tony, these are two of the friends I work with,” Peter explained to the pup who was shyly peeking at them. “Miss Pepper and Harley are always here and they might even watch you when I’m away on a mission.”
“Hi,” Tony whispered shyly, blinking a few times as he tried to look at their faces. He whined softly and closed his eyes when he started to get a headache.
“Are you tired, sweet boy?”
The pup nodded his head and buried his face against the other omega’s neck again, fist clenched in his shirt. Peter purred softly and carried the boy down the hall to the bedroom he’d had set up. The room was right next to Peter’s own just so he could be there in an instant if Tony needed him at night.
He changed the boy’s clothes into a onesie after checking his pull-up and then tucked him into his racecar bed, running a hand through his soft curls. The pup gave a big yawn and burrowed into the blankets, each one soft and comforting to a young omega. One of the blankets was from Peter’s own nest for even more comfort.
“I’ll wake you in an hour and we can get something to eat,” Peter murmured, pressing a kiss to the boy’s temple. “Okay?”
“Okay, mommy,” Tony mumbled tiredly, eyes drifting closed. He was almost immediately snoring and Peter couldn’t help the smile that grew on his face. He grabbed the baby monitor off of the end table and clipped it to his pants before leaving the room as quietly as possible.
“That poor boy,” Pepper murmured when she saw the omega step into the living room. “He can’t see?”
“Not well. So far he’s just incredibly near-sighted but we hope it’ll get better as his eyes develop,” Peter told her as he sat down next to Harley and leaned into the alpha.
“He’ll probably need glasses,” Harley told him quietly, wrapping an arm around the other’s shoulders casually.
“Maybe. I think he’s… I think he’s enhanced in some way. Maybe he’s like me,” the omega murmured tiredly. “Karen finished going through the files a couple days ago but I haven’t had the time to look yet.”
“Well let’s look while Tony sleeps. Pepper, you mind?” Harley asked the other alpha.
“Not at all. Do what you boys need to do, I’ll be in my office,” Pepper told them with a smile before heading towards the elevator. She looked over her shoulder and smiled at the way the pair was cuddled close looking at a holoscreen together.