Ironically Chapter 5

[cat_13145]

Title: Ironically
Chapter 5

Rating: Currently NC 17

Word Count: 2436
Beta Used: [Unknown site tag]saphirerose1986 I have no idea why she puts up with me, I'm just pleased she does.
Archive: Yes Please
Warning: Contains references to eating disorders.
Summary: The Robins, Steve and Tony start to get the help they need.
A/N Conversation between Rhodey and Bruce inspired by Mask in the Iron man, and simmysim's fic Privelege and Duty.

Brief note: Fred Davis was the kid who replaced Bucky.  You can read all about him here. The events described by Fred Davis happened only in my imagination, though I will be posting a version of them if anyone is interested.

 

Previous chapter here

Chapter 5

“Bloody Idiot!” Cat’s comment wasn’t directed at anyone in particular and the Avengers in the waiting room didn’t even bother to acknowledge it. “How was I supposed to know? Bloody Irony, the man can walk through a minefield without a starch on him but can’t cross a road in New York! What does that say about the state of the world?”

The rant which Bruce was fairly sure she wasn’t even entirely aware of continued. None of the avengers even bothered to acknowledge it, their eyes merely watching the clock that stood above the door to the operating theater.

*

Fury knew about masks.

You couldn’t work in the intelligence field for nearly 60 years and not.

 He also knows about the more visible masks. Over the years he had seen a lot of people in them, starting with the Invaders and now with the kid in the Red mask.

The guy is sprawled on the floor. Nick recognizes him, or to be more precise recognizes him from the wanted posters.

His name is Zebediah Killgrave, though he’s more commonly known as “the purple man.” Whatever he’s calling himself he’s a piece of filth that gives Meta’s a bad name.

That doesn’t mean he’s going to let the kid kill him, mainly because he knows Cat would kill him and Davey for losing track of the kid in the first place. Probably Steve too for not looking both ways and landing her at the hospital rather than at her station when the call came in.

He was gone. Davey was blunt and apologetic. They couldn’t find him, and their sensors showed he’d left the complex where V-Battalion was currently based nearly an hour ago.

Normally they wouldn’t have worried but as Davey phrased it, “given what happened back in the day...”

“At ease kid.” He growls softly. “He aint’ going anywhere.”

The eyes that gazed up at him don’t seem properly focused. He’s seen it before. On Cat, On Bucky, On Wolverine. When you’re trapped in the past and not quite sure why the two versions don’t gel up.

“Too right he isn’t.”

Fury manages not to laugh at the British butler’s influence on the street rat, but he forces himself to stay serious.

“He’s going to the Negative Zone.” He says firmly and hopes that it reaches though the fog as he’s heard Cat describe it. It seems too.

“He’s not going to get out again?” The question sounds half desperate and he answers honestly. “Not if I have anything to do with it.”

There’s a pause, only a few seconds, but it feels like it lasts a life time.

Then, breathing like he’d run a marathon, Jason let the purple devil slip from between his fingers on to the floor. Nick waited until his men had moved, secured him, before reaching to touch Jason’s arm.

“Come on.” He said, softly. “Let’s get a bite to eat.”

*

Tim was sitting by the window, gazing out over an unfamiliar city. He didn’t know what was going on, just knew that he was alone. Again.

“He’ll be alright.” The voice startled him and jumped. But turning around, all he could see was the old mechanic, who he’d seen fiddling with some piece of machinery he couldn’t even name. . “If he’s on Earth, Nick’ll find him. He’s good at that.” The man held out his hand

“Fred Davis.”

“Tim Drake. And I’m not worried about him”

“Oh?” the question was loaded as the man sunk unbidden into the seat.

“I’m worried for the city.”

“For New York?” there was a slight laugh in the voice. “She’s a tough old lady, boy; whatever he throws at her I’m sure she can handle it.”

“You don’t know Jason.” He said. Returning his gaze to the window, he muttered “Once a Robin, always an ass.”

“Sounds like a better deal than I got.” Fred had moved into the room and sunk with a slight wince on to a chest pressed up against the bed. Davey had decided when it came to nine with no word from Cat that something must have happened and they were staying the night. It had been then that they realised that Jason was missing.

“Once a Bucky, permanently screwed up with a hero worship complex.” He smiled softly as the kid turned to face him. “Don’t look so shocked, most of us here used to be capes.”

“Why aren’t you...?”

Fred shrugged. “Me specifically. Got injured.” He indicated his leg. “In general, world changed and this seemed the best way to help it.”

He shifted uncomfortably and added. “It’s hard when they won’t stay dead isn’t it?”

Tim made a noise.

“Harder when they’re dead though.” Noticing the shock on Tim’s face, he added. “Maybe not for you, you were chosen and accepted by the first. Me, not so much.”

He paused slowly. “You may have noticed that Davey and the others cut me a wide berth.”

“It’s hard not to.” He immediately regretted it, at the look on the man’s face.

“I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault.” Fred sighed, running his fingers though his hair. “Sixty years is a long time to hold a grudge.” He paused, “how much do you know about Bucky?”

The child had moved away from the window and was now sitting on the bed. He shrugged. “Just what Bruce told me? That he was Captain America’s partner.” He paused, uncertain for a moment. “I didn’t know they’d been more than one.”

“Four in total.” Fred shifted, so that his weight was more comfortable. “The first was Bucky Barnes. Army Brat, secret agent, leader of the Kid Commandos, founder of liberty Legion,” the barely muffled snort that came from the smallest of the Birds, made him raise an eyebrow. “I don’t think someone from somewhere with “Teen Titans” and “Justice League of America” is in any position to comment.” He continued. “Then there was me, Ball boy for the New York Yankees, drafted in with only the president’s say so when they thought they’d lost Cap and Bucky_”

“Only the president’s?” there was a note of surprise in the kid’s voice and Fred laugh. “For reasons that will become clear, that wasn’t enough.” He resumed.

“Then there was Jack Monroe.” He paused. “Probably the less said about him the better. Then there was Rick Jones for a brief while.” He counted off on his fingers. “Barnes gets grabbed and Brainwashed by the Russians, ends up spending most of the cold war fighting against America, comes back just as Cap is killed and ends up taking on the mantel. Me, I get beaten up by own side and shot, so I guess I get off lightly.  Jack” he shook his head. “Jack’s life was just one fucked up mess after another  so possibly been Bucky had nothing to do with that, though the serum was a mess, maybe why he was the only one to take it. And when any one last saw Rick, he was a giant monster. Literally.”

Tim nodded. In view of that, the Robins had been lucky.

“Why wasn’t the president’s say so enough?” He asked his natural curiosity overcoming his worry.

Fred paused. “Because he didn’t understand what it was like out there. Maybe no one could. The Kid Commandos had been together since 1939, they were a team, they looked out for each other, the-” He paused, and looked at the kid. “You understand.” It wasn’t a question. Tim nodded.

“I was an outsider. No training and limited contact with them.” He paused, uncertainly. “It didn’t help that they, unlike most of the others, knew Bucky was dead.

“Cat was a double agent, officially secretary to some German bigwig, unofficially intellect gatherer for the resistance. One day, she received a telegram to pass on to her boss declaring that Captain America and Bucky had been killed. I don’t think he ever got the message, though apparently the next thing Cat remembers is that thug Logan forcing Whisky down her throat. Then three months later, I showed up. Hair dyed and freckles covered. It was dark, War was always confusing with death reports, she thought...” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter what she thought, she was mad when she found out. So were the others. No consideration, there were others far better suited to the job than me and...” He paused and shook his head, evidently still hurt by what they had said. “Let’s just say I was unwelcome and they let me know it. Nothing big, but when they get up as soon as you sit down, even if they haven’t finished, you can take a hint.”

“Things came to a head after a few days. If I’d been a bit smarter, I might have thought it odd that after nearly two weeks of shutting me out, they wanted me to come with them to meet a contact. But first thing I knew about it was when a nightstick made contact with my skull.

“You want to know what I remember most about what happened next? There was skull in the wall. It was just above Cat’s head, and every time she or one of the others hit me or asked me a question or something he vanished out of sight. And it was scary cos I genuinely thought I was going to die down there.” He shook his head. “I didn’t get it at the time, but they were trying to help me.”

“By beating you to a pulp?” The anger in the kid’s voice was so visible, that Fred offered a mental apology to Davey.

“In a way, yeah.” He fixed the kid with his eyes. “I wasn’t ready for it. If I had been, maybe I wouldn’t have been shot, wouldn’t have ended up a semi cripple.” He gazed at Tim. “Cat and Uli took full responsibility for what happened, even though the others had all been involved. When Namor demanded an explanation, Cat simply said, “If you’re playing the game, you try to stop it destroying others.” He gazed at the young man. “I never understood that until William died.”

He glanced out the window.

“See. Told you Nick would find your missing bird.”

*

Nick couldn’t help it, he liked the kid.

Everyone who’d met him, had commented on the similarities between him and Cat, and Nick could see them. But he could also see bits of all the Kid Commandos in there. Bucky’s fighting spirit, Gwenny’s fury, Peter’s determination and possibly most worrying was Uli’s sense of self worth, which in a group of street brats, child prostitutes and child soldiers was the lowest of the lot.

He could also see others he’d known over the years. Friends he’d known growing up, some of the commandos, several thousand SHIELD agents, all reflected in that young face.

Shit, he was young. He didn’t entirely shared Cap’s views on using teenagers as sidekicks but he’d had to fight off a curse as the kid took off the mask and he got his first good look at him.

Nineteen at a maximum and probably much younger. O.K. Cat was only eleven when she started and Fury’s trained them younger than that, but still...

He’s not quite sure what the but still was, but he knew he had to help this kid, cos he couldn’t help the others.

Images flash before his brains: Toro rising up in battle with the Mad Thinker, going out in the very medium he controlled; Uli lying in a vat of his own blood, with Cat desperately trying to stop the bleeding from his upper arm; Phil, the last time he’d seen him, hooked up to machines dependent on them for life, no end for the proud Greek; Bucky dressed in Cap’s costume and him thinking that despite been tailored to fit him, it still seemed too big and Cat.

Cat being questioned about Fred Davis, her eyes seeming dead. Cat wrapping a bandage around his hand, a child nurse but this was no game. Cat, after Weapon X, pulling instinctively away from any human contact even when she knew they meant no harm.  And most importantly, Cat at the end of a long shift, looking much younger than she had any right to be. He remember once talking with one of the shrinks, who had expressed the opinion that child soldiers never truly grew up, that like flies in amber they remained trapped at the moment their childhood ended. Nick could believe it.

He watched as the kid reached up and undid the mask, releasing the catches and shaking his head free. Noticed the slightly amount of sweat that clung to his face, the eyes too wide in their sockets, and remembered...

*

“I’m not sure who’s crazier,” Cat said, picking up pieces of the costume, of Cap’s costume off the table. How she’d got them out of SHIELD Custody, was a question that he knew he didn’t want the answer to.

“Stark for coming up with this, you for agreeing to it,” she turned to face Fury, “Or you for thinking this is a good idea!”

“You don’t then?” Bucky’s voice was muffled, as he stripped, pulling the costume on.

“It’s crazy! Steve is, was, Steve. You’re you. No good can come of this.” Her hands stroke over the cowl. It’s changed a bit over the years, but the basics are still there, covering most of the head and a lot of the face.

“Have you even tried this on?”

Bucky shrugged, apparently not seeing the problem.

“It’s a mask. I’ve worn them since I was 13.”

“No.” Cat says, firmly getting to her feet. “It’s cowl.”

The leather hood bears down on the kid before he has a chance to realise what’s happening. Nick watches, fascinated but feeling like an outsider as for a brief moment panic and claustrophobia encompasses the kid’s face. Then Bucky gets control of himself and gazes at Cat, his eyes barely visible though the cowl.

“I can handle it.” He says firmly.

Cat stares at him, almost mad with desperation. “James, I just got you back. I can’t...I can’t lose you again.”

The metal hand reaches out and lifts her head up.

“I’ll be fine,” he said, smiling at her. Cat gazed at him.

“I wish I could believe that.” She said softly.

*

There had to be a reason for the change in mask style and the look the kid flung at the window above his head. Nick had a good idea of the reason.

On a level, he supposed he should be proud that the Kid Commandos morality was still going strong. You didn’t kill kids and you took care of your own by any means necessary. And you bear the consequences.

He couldn’t tell Jason everything would be O.K. Besides the fact that that was the worst thing to say to an abuse survivor, he didn’t believe it.

So he as he handed over him to Davey, he said what he always told Cat before a mission.

“Hey Kid.” Jason turned back to look at him. “Keep your chin up.”

Jason snorted. “You’re quoting a talking fox?”

It took him a moment to place it, then he remembered the Disney film.

“Hey as much wisdom in Mickey mouse as in Confucius.”

Jason grinned.

*

“Do you hate Tony?” It was a stupid question, especially given that he was surrounded on one side by Carol Danvers, who had to be at least as strong as the Boy Scout, and Jim Rhodey, who looked like he’d been made at least partly of metal.

He didn’t see the fist that hit him.

~

“O.K.” Cat straightened up, handing Jim an ice pack. “Nothing’s broken. Guess Carol pulled her punch at the last moment.” she pulled off the gloves before chucking them in the bin. “Just keep the icepack on it.”

Jim grinned, handing the icepack over to Bruce.

“You were out of line though.” Cat said, firmly. She paused. “We’re all really mad at Tony, but,” she shook her head. “We don’t hate him.”

“Then why...?”

The beeper on Cat’s belt chose that moment to go off. Cat glanced at it and sighed.

“I leave you Jim to explain the complexity that is Tony Stark.”

She stepped out. Jim muttered something that sounded like a curse. He paused.

“Tony is... It's easy to hate Tony.” He made his way over to the sinks and began to wet a paper towel. “He’s good at getting what he wants but he never asks you for it. You just feel that he just needs you and somehow...”
Bruce interrupted.

“I do know Tony.”

Jim bits his lip to stop him from saying that he never heard Tony mention Bruce, despite nearly 40 years of friendship.

“Then you know. He sets himself up, makes it so easy for you. But...” He paused. “It never works. Cos no matter how much you hate Tony, you can never, ever hate him as much as he hates himself.”

Bruce nodded. Jim turned to hand the dampened towel over and was surprised to see that Bruce had gone.

*

Tony was still awake. Bruce wasn’t surprised; the man was the only one he’d ever met who came close to matching his endurance. Well... the only human.

It had been one of the things he loved about him.

“Bruce.” Tony sounded relieved. “What’s going on?”

Slowly and carefully, he explained, stressing that Steve was going to be fine. Just a fractured clavicle and some bruised ribs. They just wanted to keep him in overnight for observation.

Tony’s face stared up at him, confused and hurt and for a moment he wanted to stop. To just go back to Gotham, as far away from Tony Bloody Stark as he could get. But like last time he knew he couldn’t. Cos heroes didn’t run.

“You weigh less now,” he said, forcing Batman into Bruce Wayne’s voice. They needed to work together if they were to have a chance. “Than when I arrived here.” He forced him to meet his eyes. “Tony. This isn’t working.”

“It has to!”

He wasn’t sure what he expected but definitively not the man breaking down into tears. Feeling uncomfortably, he placed a hand tentatively on Tony’s shoulder, only for the man to pull him down. Lord only knew where he’d learnt that from.

“Everyone hates and I hate myself. I’ve no clue what I’m doing and I’m scared and it’s all my fault. Happy’s dead and Pepper, God they’d both be better if I stayed out of their lives. Reed blames me for him and Sue and Christ they’ve got kids and Steve hates me, or if he doesn’t he should and everyone, my whole family is gone and I... I can’t do this.”

Bruce bit down, trying to summon up the right words.

“It’s O.K. to admit you need help, Tony.” The voice startled them both and they turned to See Steve, his arm in a sling and surrounded by the other Avengers and Cat, who was muttering under her breath about idiots and their countries.

“None of us hate you.” Bruce had no idea how they did it. This guy, the Boy Scout, Alfred, they always seemed to know the right things to say, the way to reach people.

And somehow, it felt both right and wrong to hand Tony over. To let Steve take him and to stand back as Tony sobbed into Steve’s chest.

“We all care about you. All we want to do is help you.”

He’s talking to the top of Tony’s head but Bruce could tell that this was what Tony wanted. What he needed to hear.

“But you have to let us.”

The sobs, if possibly became louder and more insistent but despite that Bruce can still hear the words that he knows they all need to hear.

“Help me. Please.”

Comments

[tebyho21.livejournal.com]

Heyho ^^
I read your first chapter of Ironically and found it very interestin, but I have trouble finding the chapters between the first and this one.
Could you please post them.
Thx.

[cat-13145.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sorry, my plan is to post them on my journal as soon as I have some time. Please keep an eye out and nag me if I forget.
Glad you liked it so far.