Chapter Text
Oh, no
The horrification was all Steve could process upon the sight in front of him, never had he imagined this, not even in his worst nightmares. Still, he had to keep strong and not show it. He was on a school trip with one of his classes, a school trip to Stark Industries, and the students were his priority. That there was a girl in one of the labs, appearing to be in a coma, was none of his concern.
Kali
He hadn’t known her well, they had barely met, but it was most definitely her. She looked as young as the day they lost her, a young teen girl old enough to be in his class. It was a daunting sight, especially paired with the blond man on the bed next to her.
Steve did not want to guess his name.
(Steve didn’t want to be right.)
“Mr. Harrington,” a voice called out from behind him, sounding oh-so-young and cautious, “are you okay?”
Peter Parker, always a sweetheart and a little trouble, the kind of kid that would have fit right in with the Party, was staring at him, worried. The class was already a bit further ahead, chattering on as they followed their tour guide.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he laughed a little, awkward, and fake but the convincing kind, “this just caught me by surprise.”
Seeing Peter’s shoulders slump with relief as they joined the tour group again, Steve drew his masks up. Mr. Harrington, the Midtown High physics teacher (totally and completely Dustin’s fault) was a different mask than ‘King Steve’, but it went up fluidly all the same. Perfected throughout many Monday mornings after weekends at Robin’s weird uncle’s house, he could play the part of the nice and encouraging teacher to a T.
Still, as the tour ended and they ended up descending in a ridiculously long elevator ride, he couldn’t help but wonder why they were shown this research. Stark Industries research into alternate universes wasn’t a secret, no he’d had to listen to Dustin rant about their confidentiality and lack of open access data one too many times to be oblivious to it, but why show their results (because that was all Kali and that could be) to a group of high schooler and their teacher? Was it all because of Dr. Stark’s suspicious connection to Peter Parker, or was there more at stake?
He’d have to discuss it with the Party, or at least with the RWUH-squad (Robin decided the name), but how? And Dustin definitely had to know too, but he had no idea how to get around the NDAs. Still pensive, he almost missed the arrival at the ground floor.
- - -
Signing out and getting all the students on their way home was an ordeal, but one he could manage on autopilot. The distraction of what was upstairs wouldn’t leave him alone, and in his absent-mindedness, he did not recognise Dr. Stark at all, simply processing him like he would a normal back-up emergency contact for children, much to the scientist’s amusement.
It was only at the end of the interaction, as he got a once-over and a flirtatious wink that he realised just who was in front of him.
“Thanks for the tour, Dr. Stark,” politeness was key after all, “Peter is an excellent student, so I hope you appreciate the mind he has.”
That seemed to be the right thing to say, as Peter flushed a little at the attention, a somewhat smug smile on his face, and Dr. Stark regarded him with a softness that was definitely familial and not romantic, which was a relief as there were only so many reasons for an adult to take interest into a high schooler and Steve couldn’t help but worry.
“Don’t worry, I will. Though you don’t look like you enjoyed the tour, you’re a bit pale. Maybe you should give us some recommendations.”
Busted, Steve grumbled internally, of course the billionaire who had weeded out his entire social circle would see through his little act. Stupid.
He couldn’t quite escape the look in his eyes, and he didn’t quite trust it either, so focussed was he that he missed what Peter mumbled, and then repeated at a louder voice once he realised neither man had heard him.
“The alternate universe part.”
“What is wrong with that part?” Dr. Stark was being quite theatrical, making large moves with his arms as if to emphasise the ridiculousness of the notion, “It is top-of-the-field, highly confidential research that you had the honour of seeing, what would be wrong about that?”
“The girl,” was all Steve could muster up, unable to explain just how it had shaken least they caught on, “she looks like one of my old high school students. It was a bit unnerving.”
“The girl you’re talking about isn’t a girl at all, it’s a creature pulled from another dimension and a test subject, nothing to worry about,” Dr. Stark explained, “which should have been in the tour guide’s explanation of the project.”
“Sorry, Dr. Stark, I froze up a bit from the similarities.”
And really, it was the perfect excuse because not long into his career at Midtown, back when he was the P.E. teacher and coach of all of the sports teams, there had been a girl with a striking resemblance to Kali to the point that Nancy had researched her family history to affirm that no relation between them existed, and one day she’d fainted in the gym due to malnutrition.
The incident had left an impression on Steve, both what happened and due to the resemblance. It was an easy out, and not a lie either. The girl had gone on to get the right treatment and had recently graduated from NYU with honours, she’d sent Steve a little graduation note to thank him for his support during high school.
“Please, none of this Dr. Stark nonsense, just call me Tony, Mr. Harrington.”
“Then feel free to call me Roger, Tony.”
Tony’s hand was surprisingly warm, Steve noted as he shook it, and so was his arm as he swung it around his shoulders with ease, as if he always did that and as if Steve were not too tall for him to comfortably do that.
“Maybe you should tell me about these similarities, Roger, I’m sure we can figure something out.”
And Steve knew that this was bad, he was supposed to stay under the radar, and off SHIELD's radar, but he had no reason to refuse and Tony knew that, which was why he didn’t protest as he was led back to that specific hallway that had sight on the two bodies, leaving a very bewildered Peter Parker behind to run after them.
Seeing Kali again wasn’t the least bit reassuring, yet Steve (Roger) felt himself calm down as he saw her body.
“Look, there’s nothing to see here,” Tony’s smugness was undeniable, “just a research subject.”
And while Steve got hives just hearing Tony refer to her as a research subject, the visual of Kali’s body, in a coma-like state, was relieving. She didn’t look dead, nor alive, but she looked at peace. The girl had always looked tortured before, willing to help but burdened with knowledge and pain.
- - -
In the end, the visit hadn’t taken long, and Steve wasn’t able to get any peeks at the rest of the research, but it was productive all the same.
For some reason, he had Tony's Stark's number;
(He digressed, it was probably for research or Peter reasons, but still)