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Saturday morning. Tony was with Howard at some kind of super duper important meeting (Tony's words to Peter), Peter was awake, fed, and bored. On top of that, it was raining outside, so Peter couldn't go out and play with Wade or the other children.
"How about a movie?" Steve suggested, opting to ignore the paperwork that was waiting for him on the table. Peter came before that...he always came before that.
"'Kay," Peter said excited, running over and jumping on the couch quickly.
"Okay," Steve nodded, turning on the television and then looking down at the remote. Okay...movies...he could find those...
Peter snatched the remote quickly and turned on Netflix and went to an account that said PETER in capital letters. He smiled and handed the remote back to Steve, "Now you just pick one, pops."
"Thank you, Peter," Steve laughed quietly.
"You're really bad at that stuff," Peter commented.
Steve rolled his eyes, "Well, that's what I have you and your dad for, obviously," he joked, turning on one of Peter's cartoon movies for him and relaxing back against the couch.
Peter jumped slightly when thunder boomed outside. He grabbed a blanket off of the back of the couch and pulled it over his head.
"Pete, it's okay," Steve laughed quietly, pulling him close, "It's just thunder."
"Tell Uncle Thor to shut up, it's too loud," Peter mumbled, cuddling close to him and pulling the blanket around himself.
"Well, it's just Uncle Thor," Steve said, rubbing his shoulder, "You're not scared of Uncle Thor, are you?"
Peter shook his head, a smile appearing on his face, "No, he's funny," he giggled.
"Exactly," Steve poked his nose, "He's just up there having fun, obviously. You can tell him to stop it next time you see him."
Peter nodded, "I'm gonna give him a le'ture."
"Lecture," Steve corrected.
"Lecture," Peter said slowly.
"Good," Steve ruffled his hair, letting Peter cuddle closer to him.
Suddenly, there was rapid knocking on the door. They didn't stop after knocking once, it was just continued knocking again and again.
"Stay here," Steve told Peter, getting up and walking over to the door. He opened the door and didn't see anyone. He suddenly looked down and saw Pietro standing there, a pair of goggles on his face, "Hello, Pietro, what's going on?"
Pietro stared at him for a moment before bursting into tears.
Steve's eyes widened, "Pietro, what is it? What's going on?" he asked quickly.
"M-My papa," Pietro said, sniffling, "There's a bunch of guys there and they're yelling a-and Uncle Logan and my dad aren't home!" he yelled, "He told me to come and get you!"
Steve nodded, "Stay right here," he said, grabbing his shield from beside the couch, "Peter, buddy, can you stay right here for a minute?"
Peter looked confused, "What's going on? Is Wade's brother okay?" he asked, trying to peer over and see Pietro.
"Everything is fine," Steve gave him a reassuring smile, "Just watch your show, okay?" he asked, walking out, "JARVIS, lock down," he called, walking out the door. He stopped momentarily and made sure the door's lock clicked shut. He looked down at Pietro, "Let's go," he told him.
The silver haired boy nodded and disappeared in a blur.
"I didn't mean that fast," Steve sighed, running over the house. He debated on knocking, but judging by the amount of yelling he heard inside, it was probably best to just walk in.
"C'mon, c'mon!" Pietro said quickly, pulling on his arm.
"It's Captain America!" Wade yelled suddenly.
Steve's eyes widened at the scene before him.
Charles was in the entry way of the house and there were about ten men frozen in place right in front of them. Wade was holding a knife, there was a girl with white hair that Steve had never seen before with glowing white eyes, and Wanda's hands were glowing red. Alex and Scott were hiding behind Charles and Alex was standing in front of Scott. Darwin was hiding as well along with Sean, who was holding Lorna close to him. Pietro was already back behind him as well. Angel, Raven, and Hank were hiding on the stairs, their eyes wide as they looked down at the scene before them.
"Charles?" Steve called from the doorway.
"Steve," Charles sighed in relief but didn't lose his focus on the men, "I have them frozen, but I can't...call anyone."
"Who are they?" Steve demanded.
"It's Stryker!" Hank told him from his place on the steps.
"Stryker?" Steve asked, looking confused.
Charles cleared his throat, "William Stryker."
Pietro sniffled, moving further behind Charles' chair, trying to make himself smaller as he eyes the man in front.
"It's okay, Pietro," Charles said gently. He looked at Steve, "Could you grab that device from his hand?"
Steve walked over and looked at the men. He grabbed the device quickly, looking down at it, "What does it do?"
"Knocks you out," Pietro said quietly.
Steve nodded, handing the device over to Charles, "Kids, go upstairs to...Raven's room," he said, choosing one of the kids at random, "Lock the door."
The children quickly ran upstairs. Darwin took Lorna from Sean, older and better at carrying her than he would be.
"Wade," Steve stopped him, "Give me the knife."
"No," Wade said quickly, "They took Pietro before, I'm not letting them do it again!" he yelled.
Steve glanced over at Charles and saw Pietro was still behind him and hadn't went upstairs with the others. The telepath was trying to continue to focus on the men but Charles could see the sad look in his eyes.
"Wade, I'll take care of everything," Steve assured him, "Just give me the knife."
Wade looked down at the knife in his hand and back at Pietro. He finally nodded, holding the knife out for Steve.
"Thank you," Steve told him, taking the knife before Wade could change his mind and put it on the table, "Now go upstairs with the others and, uh...protect them! Yeah, protect them."
Wade swallowed and ran upstairs.
"Pietro," Steve said gently, "Could you please go up with the others?"
Pietro shook his head no quickly, still hiding behind the chair.
"I know that you're scared," Steve sighed, "But I'm going to take care of this. Just wait upstairs, it'll be safer."
"Papa can't get upstairs a-and they're blocking our elevator," Pietro croaked, "I don't want them to hurt him too."
"I'll be fine, darling," Charles told him gently, "Just go up with your brothers and sisters, please."
Pietro sniffled and nodded, disappearing in a silvery blur.
"Okay," Steve said, "Could you unfreeze them?"
Charles nodded and let them go.
"-AND YOU-" Stryker went to slam on the device that was no longer in his hand.
"Hey," Steve waved at them before hitting one of the guards in the face with his shield, causing him to be knocked out instantly, "I'm Captain America."
Stryker's eyes widened before he shook it off, "Take care of him. The rest of you, go after the kids."
"I can't let you do that," Steve told him, moving to block the steps, "They're just kids. They have nothing to do with this."
"They're just what I need," Stryker growled.
"Okay, they're not yours, so you can't take them," Steve said, slamming his shield into another one of their faces, "Also, they're just kids. You're kind of...creepy, actually, being so obsessed with kids," he said, knocking yet another one out. He started fighting, not caring what the guy, Stryker, had to say next. He didn't care. These people were after children and had apparently already taken one of them once. He kicked one in the chest, sending him flying back through the window by the door.
"Sorry, Charles," Steve called, punching another one in the face.
Suddenly, the door burst open and Steve heard a familiar sound of metal clanking together and there was a blast, sending two of the guards flying back into the wall.
Steve looked over and saw Tony had one of his devices on his hand and was looking around at the chaos. Howard was behind him, in the doorway.
"What the hell?!" someone demanded, probably Howard.
Steve fought Stryker easily. The man might have been trained, but he was Captain America and he wasn't much of a match for him. He got him on the ground, struggling for control.
Stryker saw the knife that had been on the table and grabbed it, jamming it into Steve's shoulder.
Steve gritted his teeth, refusing to cry out in pain despite really wanting to. He grabbed his shield and slammed it against the side of Stryker's head, finally knocking the man unconscious.
Steve rolled off of the man, breathing heavily.
"Damn it," Howard cursed, running over with Steve, "He's going to start healing, someone needs to pull the knife out."
"Is Captain America gonna die?!" one of the children yelled suddenly.
They looked up and saw the majority of the children at the top of the stairs.
"No, trust me, he'll be fine," Tony told them before turning back to his husband, "Steve, I'm pulling the knife out, hold my hand."
Steve nodded, gritting his teeth and grabbing Tony's free hand.
Tony took a deep breath and pulled the knife out as quickly as possible.
"I'm not a doctor, but I don't think you are supposed to pull out the knife," Charles said, wheeling himself over quickly.
"We have to," Howard said quickly, "He would have started to heal around it if we didn't. The wound will be completely healed within the hour."
Charles just nodded. He cleared his throat, "I'm going to call the police now," he said, taking out his phone.
"Who the hell are these guys?" Tony demanded.
"William Stryker and his men," Charles said, "They experiment on mutants...they take them from their homes and do horrible things. Sometimes they die," he whispered, "Most of them are never the same, if they live," he said, putting his phone up to his ear and started talking in a hushed voice.
Tony sighed, looking down at Steve, "You know, you don't always have to be the one to save the day."
"I know, but it's kind of my job," Steve laughed weakly, "Hey, Howard."
"You really have to stop getting into so much trouble, my friend," Howard laughed.
Steve winced as he sat up, "Peter is at home alone, I had JARVIS lock down the place."
Tony nodded, "Yeah, I kind of figured. We got back to the house and Peter was freaking out and saying you ran over there. I told him to stay there with Pepper until we were done with this."
Steve nodded, "I didn't mean to scare him. Pietro just showed up at the door freaking out and...I had to help them."
"I know, I know," Tony rolled his eyes, "I wish there was an on and off switch for that heroism you have."
"Yeah, you got 'em!" Wade cheered, running downstairs. He stopped at the bottom and looked at Steve on the ground, "You're not gonna die, right? You can tell me if you are, I won't tell the others."
"I'm already healing, Wade," Steve sighed.
"Cool, can I see?!" Wade asked, looking down.
"No, you cannot," Tony snapped, "Beat it, kid."
Wade ignored him, looking down at Steve's shoulder, "Cool."
"Wade, please-" Charles started.
"What the hell is going on here?!" Erik yelled, walking in with Logan.
"DADDY!" Wade yelled, running over and launching himself in Logan's arms. He held onto him tightly.
Logan blinked in shock and picked the boy up quickly when he saw the tears in his eyes. It was rare for Wade to cry. Usually the kid was just running around making an ass out of himself.
"Daddy!" another voice yelled.
Steve didn't even see Pietro come into the room, all he saw was a silver blur and the next thing he knew, Erik had Pietro clinging to him.
Erik held him close and Pietro let out a sob.
Wade froze, looking over at him, "Pie..." he trailed off.
Pietro held onto his dad tightly, burying his face in his neck and sniffling, "Daddy..."
"You're okay, you're okay," Erik said with so much affection in his voice that it shocked Tony, "You're going to be okay," he told him, glancing over at Charles.
Steve could tell by the way they were looking that they were having some kind of mental conversation, especially when he saw the rage fill Erik's eyes.
"No, Erik," Charles said softly, "Just take care of Pietro. The police are on their way."
Erik stared down at Stryker for a moment before another harsh sob from his son snapped him out of it. He nodded to Charles and walked upstairs with Pietro in his arms. Tony could hear him talking to the kids as he walked out of hearing range, saying "Move out of the way...he's okay, I promise...everyone just calm down."
"I want to stay until the cops get here," Steve said, sitting up and wincing slightly at the pain in his shoulder.
"Oh no, you're going home and getting in bed until that heals," Tony told him, glancing up at Howard, "Take him over and check on Peter. I'll wait until the cops get here."
Howard just nodded, helping Steve up slowly with Tony, "Come on, my friend, I think someone needs a nap."
Steve rolled his eyes as he walked out with him.
Tony glanced over at where Wade was still being held by Logan as the small boy clung to him.
Logan walked out, not saying a word. He took Wade upstairs, still carrying him as he did.
"He got a knife to the shoulder, dad!" Wade said, already done crying as he wiped his nose on his sleeve, "It was healing and it was fuckin' cool!"
"What did I tell you?" Logan grunted as they walked up.
"It was freakin' cool!" Wade corrected.
"Good," Logan nodded as they disappeared.
Tony cleared his throat awkwardly, "Uh...the storm passed, I guess," he said, trying to make conversation as he looked out the broken window.
"That would be Ororo," Charles chuckled, "The forecast was for sunny skies."
"Ororo?" Tony asked, pronouncing the name carefully.
Charles nodded, "She just got here, two days ago," he explained, "She has the power to control weather. She doesn't have very good control of it yet, as you can tell."
"You have a kid that controls weather now?" Tony demanded.
Charles just shrugged, "She needed help."
"You know, you're going to run out of rooms eventually," Tony commented.
"We'll figure that out when the time comes," Charles just smiled.
Alex ran downstairs suddenly, practically ignoring the bodies, "Pietro is freaking out, man."
Tony felt a chill go down his spine and felt the wind start to pick up through the open doorway and broken window.
"Please tell Erik to bring Pietro down to the living room, Alex," Charles told him, "And tell the others we'll take care of him."
Alex nodded and ran back upstairs.
"Mr. Stark, would you mind staying out here and watching them? My son needs my attention," Charles sighed.
Tony just nodded, trying not to seem shocked. None of the other kids seemed too shocked. What was wrong with the speedster?
The weather turned back to normal and it heated up almost instantly.
Erik walked downstairs quickly a few moments later, still carrying the shaking silver haired child. He stepped over the bodies on the ground like it didn't even phase him and went into the living room.
The living room wasn't closed off, it was just an arch that led into it from the entry way, so Tony could hear everything that was going on.
"Pietro, please, calm down," Charles said softly, "He can't get you."
"H-He's right there," Pietro whimpered, "He's right there, daddy."
"We won't let anything happen to you," Erik said softly, "Iron Man is right out there. He won't let a thing happen."
Pietro sniffled, "R-Really?"
"Yes," Charles said.
There was silence for a moment before another harsh sob came from the small boy.
"Don't let me go," Pietro sobbed.
"I won't, I won't," Erik said quickly.
Tony finally dared to glance in the room.
He saw Pietro, the small little kid, was being cradled in Erik's lap as he held onto him. Pietro was crying against Erik's shirt and holding onto him tightly as Erik rocked him back and forth, singing a quiet song under his breath. Pietro's hand was clinging to Charles' as the other man sat in his chair in front of them.
Tony quickly looked away, not wanting to intrude on the private moment.
He stared down at the bodies and stopped when he saw the outline of a phone in Stryker's pocket. He leaned down and grabbed it quickly, staring down at it.
He turned it on and laughed at the fact that this guy who was obviously trying to run some...crazy mutant thing...didn't have his phone locked. He quickly opened it and was instantly met with a green screen, rather than a normal home screen.
FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED was blinking at the top of the screen.
Tony shrugged and grabbed Stryker's wrist, pressing his finger to the screen.
The screen blinked it's confirmation and several files showed up on the screen with names. Stryker had had something open on it that had an address. He looked down at the mutants listed under the address.
Cassidy, Sean - FILE EMPTY
Dane, Lorna - FILE EMPTY
Darkholm, Raven - FILE EMPTY
Lehnsherr, Eric M. - ARTICLES AVAILABLE
Lehnsherr, Pietro - INFORMATION AVAILABLE
Lehnsherr, Wanda - FILE EMPTY
McCoy, Henry - FILE EMPTY
Muñoz, Armando - FILE EMPTY
Salvadore, Angel - FILE EMPTY
Summers, Alexander - FILE EMPTY
Summers, Scott - FILE EMPTY
Wilson, Wade - FILE EMPTY
Xavier, Charles - ARTICLES AVAILABLE
Tony instantly tapped on Erik's name and scrolled through, sighing when it was just articles that had been collected during his Magneto days. He especially rolled his eyes at the headline MAGNETO DEFEATS AVENGERS. He quickly exited the file and decided to just ignore Charles', if it was going to be like that.
He stared at Pietro's name, noticing the information was available, unlike the others. He hesitantly tapped on it, not sure if he wanted to know. He went through the listings, reading through it.
NAME: PIETRO DJANGO LEHNSHERR
DATE OF BIRTH: JULY 17, 2009
AGE AT CAPTURE: FIVE YEARS-OLD
CAPTURE DATE: JULY 18, 2014
DATE RELEASED: DECEMBER 24, 2014
FATHER: ERIC M. LEHNSHERR
MOTHER: MAGDA MAXIMOFF (DECEASED)
MUTATION: ENHANCED SPEED
SECONDARY MUTATION: PIGMENTED HAIR (GRAY)- Tests conclude that on top of moving fast, his entire system moves fast. Cuts healed within hours and continued to do so despite exhaustion and food/water deprivation.
- Hair is pigmented because of mutation, tests conclude that hair grows faster.
Tony glanced down at the men, making sure none of them were moving. He doubted they would be up anytime soon though, not after a hit with Cap's shield.
He scrolled further, looking through the details of Pietro's capture. They captured a five year-old child and ran tests on him for months.
Tony felt sick.
CAPTURE
Pietro Lehnsherr was taken from his home at 3:01 a.m. on July 18, 2014. All parties in the home were asleep at the time. Quick in and out, we put the boy to sleep with a sedative. It is noted that the sedative wore off very quickly, causing the boy to panic when he awoke in the helicopter. We sedated him again.
Tony swallowed, imagining the terror the child felt. He was alone, without his parents, with some guys who kept stabbing him with needles.
He scrolled further, trying to get passed the details of the experiments without seeing them. He came to a picture, causing him to freeze up on it. Pietro was staring at the camera with dark circles under his eyes and his hair was chopped at an odd angle.
He quickly scrolled away and finally found the details of his "release."
RELEASE
Pietro Lehnsherr was broken out of the Alkali facility by Logan Howlett [WEAPON X] and Eric M. Lehnsherr on December 24, 2014 at 4:49 a.m. Lehnsherr took down facility doors with his mutation and was able to get his son and leave. Howlett killed twenty guards in the process.
Tony took a shaky breath and suddenly sensed movement out of the corner of his eye. He saw Stryker start to move. He stared down at the man as he shifted and slowly opened his eyes.
Stryker went to open his mouth and Tony slammed his foot against his face as hard as he could, knocking him unconscious again.
Tony gritted his teeth as two cops finally walked up.
"We had a report of a break in- whoa," a young cop said in shock.
"You know what?" Tony sighed, taking out his own phone and tapping Sharon's contact, "I'll take care of this."
"This has a bunch of files on it," Tony said, handing the phone over to Fury as they stood outside of the house, "Details on different mutants," he glanced over as Stryker was taken out into the ambulance, his wrist cuffed to the side of the stretcher.
"What do you mean?" Sharon asked, standing beside Fury with her arms crossed.
Tony took a deep breath, "He's kidnapped mutants. He has a file on Magneto's son, he kidnapped him once and ran tests on him. He tortured him," he said, his voice faltering slightly when the words came out of his mouth.
"Pietro?" Sharon whispered.
Tony nodded, "If he did it to one of them, I'm sure he did it to more."
Steve walked out of their house and walked over, "What's going on?"
"Mutants are being kidnapped and tested on," Tony told him, "It happened to Pietro," he looked at Fury and Sharon, "Did you know anything about it?"
"We heard something about it," Fury said, "But we didn't look into it."
"Why the hell not?!" Tony snapped.
Erik walked out on the porch, Lorna in his arms now and not Pietro. Some of the kids followed after him, watching the argument unfolding. Charles, Logan, and Pietro were no where to be seen.
"We have bigger cases-" Fury started.
"Bigger cases than a kid being kidnapped?!" Tony demanded, "He was experimented on! He was hurt!"
"Stark, you need to calm down-" Sharon started.
"No, he doesn't!" Steve cut him off, "You think it's fine just because they're mutants?! What kind of logic is that?!"
"Steve, you know that's not how it is," Sharon said gently.
"Really?" Steve snapped, "Because that's how it seems."
"Investigate that, or the Avengers will," Tony gritted his teeth, "I want Stryker questioned, he's at the front of this."
Fury nodded, considering it for a moment and going silent as he thought.
"We'll have a team on it," Sharon said before Fury could, "We'll keep you posted."
Steve nodded, not saying a word to them.
"Let's move out," Fury called, going to the car with Sharon.
Tony glared after them, "DAMN IT!" he yelled as soon as they pulled away.
Steve put his hand on Tony's shoulder, "It's okay, Tony."
"He was Peter's age, Steve," Tony shook his head, "What if it had happened to him? They wouldn't have ignored it because he's a human."
Steve swallowed, "I know."
"Thank you," someone said suddenly.
They turned and saw the kids were all on the porch looking at them, along with Erik.
"He did most of the work," Tony said, gesturing to Steve.
"No," Erik said, handing Lorna over to Alex and walking down, "Thank you for standing up for us. Not many people...do," he cleared his throat, "Humans, I mean."
Alex put Lorna down on her feet and jumped down off of the steps, walking up to Steve, "Hey," he snapped.
"Hello," Steve smiled at Alex.
Alex crossed his arms, trying to look intimidating as he stared up at Captain America, "You saved us."
"Well, we both did," Steve nodded.
Alex held his hand up at him, "Thank you."
Steve smiled and shook the small boy's hand, "No problem."
Alex looked up at Erik expectantly when he pulled his hand away.
Erik cleared his throat and held his hand out, "I'd like to thank you, again. Maybe you humans aren't...terrible. Just you though."
Steve smiled at him, "Well, technically I'm an experiment, if that makes you feel better. Tony is human though and so is Peter."
"Did you say Peter?!" Wade called from the porch.
Tony sighed, looking up at the sky, "Wade, Peter is going to be playing outside...all of you are welcome to come over and play with him," he said awkwardly.
Some of the kids ran off, but Lorna, Wanda, and the newest addition to the family, Ororo, stayed behind on the porch.
Tony held his hand out to Erik, "I'm not saying I like you...but we can get along when the children are around."
Erik nodded, shaking his hand with a tight grip, "Thank you, Stark," he said simply before walking away.
Alex followed him, trying to take big strides like Erik did. He hesitated slightly when he didn't see Scott on the porch and quickly ran into Steve and Tony's backyard where his brother was playing.
Steve watched as Erik picked up Lorna and went inside, the other children following, "He isn't that bad when he isn't trying to kill humans."
"I guess," Tony crossed his arms.
"We're monitoring that SHIELD investigation, aren't we?" Steve asked, walking back to the house with him.
"Damn right we are."
Night had fallen now. All of the kids were home from playing with the Stark-Rogers boy in his backyard. Logan had done a double check on all the locks, despite knowing Stryker was now in SHIELD custody. It didn't help the paranoia they all felt after today.
Erik sat, his head resting on top of Pietro's as he rocked him.
Pietro had pretty much exhausted himself with all the crying and had finally started to doze off, but his grip didn't release on Erik's shirt. Erik continued to hum softly, trying to keep him relaxed. From the moment Erik had walked back inside, Pietro had been out of Charles' lap and clinging to him.
"Kids are asleep," Logan said, walking in the living room and pushing Charles' chair, "Even got Ororo asleep in time."
Erik just nodded, continuing to hum and card his fingers through Pietro's hair.
"He asleep?" Logan asked, lowering his voice.
"Yes," Charles said simply.
"Want me to take him up to bed?" Logan asked.
"Not yet," Erik said quietly, "I'll take him up when we go."
"Okay, bub," Logan said, "I'm heading to bed," he said before turning and going to his room.
Charles waited until Logan walked out until he gave Erik a grin.
"What is it?" Erik sighed.
"You like them," Charles smiled.
"I do not like them," Erik sighed, "I tolerate them for the children."
"They saved your children today, you know, and me," Charles told him, "I couldn't keep them frozen like that forever."
"The children could have fought," Erik said quickly.
"Would you really want them fighting?" Charles asked.
Erik looked down at Pietro and brushed his silvery hair from his eyes, "No," he said quietly, "They're okay, I guess. We're stuck with them anyways. I might as well learn to like them," he cleared his throat, "They aren't that bad."
"That's the spirit!" Charles said happily.
"This doesn't mean you're right," Erik said simply.
"Whatever you say, dear."