Aim: Hydra | Y/N Story | Sequel to "Aim: Avenger"

18. The Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist's Pissed

CRASH

The water glass slips from Tony's hand, breaking against the counter, creating a beautiful explosion of shards and droplets. His breathing became uneven and his eyes widened in shock and pain. Peter quickly supports his elbow so he doesn't fall out of his seat, and we both wait for a reaction.

"Why?" Is all he asks in a breathy tone, still winded from the no doubt painful process of hundreds of memories flooding back into his brain all at once.

"I wanted to keep you all safe." I shrugged.

"You? Keep the Avengers safe? That sounds rather backward."

"I know you like to think the tower is safe, but it's not. Hydra still has their fingers in more than a few pies, and staying with you would make it easier for them to find me."

He sighed, crossing one arm over his chest and pinching the bridge of his nose with the other. He paused for a long time before asking, "Who else remembers you?"

"You, because I let you, Peter because he doesn't live at the tower, and . . . Bucky."

"Barnes knows? Why does he get to remember?" 

"Two reasons, really. He was awake when I wiped everyone, and because I wanted him to know that he helped." I answered.

After a long pause, he said, "fine," and looked up at me, but I was confused.

"Fine, what?"

"Fine, you can stay here. But there are a few rules." I raised an eyebrow at him but motioned for him to continue. "You go wherever the kid goes."

"What?" We both said in unison.

"I don't need a babysitter, Stark. And Peter goes to Midtown, I don't."

"That can be fixed."

"I'm not going to school, Stark. And I have things to do."

"Like what?" Tony looked at me. I paused, glancing over at Peter. He returned my gaze before his eyes flickered over to the closet, where my captive currently was. Just my luck, Tony noticed. "What's in there?"

"N-nothing." Peter stuttered.

"Jesus, Parker, you'd make an awful agent." I groaned as the raven-haired man strolled over to the closet, trying to pull it open. He messed with his bracelet before metal swept over his hand, and he used the tech to pull it open forcefully, causing the young woman to drop to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

"Y/N. Who the hell is this?" He hissed.

"That would be Enora Bell, personnel specialist with Hydra," I said calmly, a stark contrast to the exasperated man in front of me.

"And why is she in your closet?" He asked pointedly.

"I needed a way into Hydra so I could find someone."

"You're going to be the death of me, Y/N. Peter, why didn't you tell me about this?" He glared at the panicking boy.

"It kind of just . . . happened?"

"Leave the poor kid out of this, Tony."

"I'm older than you!" He protested.

"Have you killed 319 people?" I shot back.

"Focus back to the current problem, please." Tony stopped our squabbling. "Y/N, why are you going back to Hydra?"

So I told him. I explained everything about the General and my plans for saving and recruiting the specialists, of course getting interrupted a few times for him to throw in some clever remark. I decided to leave out the whole mental-crisis thing, I don't think he'd like that. When I had finally finished, we sat in silence as he absorbed the information. The sound to finally break the silence was a cell phone ringing.

Tony pulled out his phone and looked at the caller ID, frowning. Answering it, he said, "Hey Manchurian Candidate. Just the cyborg I wanted to talk to. Yes, she's right in front of me. I remembered." He continued to squabble over the phone. I looked over at Peter's face, and judging by his expression, he could hear the other side of the phone. He winced slightly before I heard Tony laugh bitterly. "Fine." He hung up the phone before turning back to us. "Well, this had been fun, but it will need to be continued later." He walked over to the door, opening and taking a step outside before glancing over his shoulder. "Watch her, Petey."

When the door closed, I looked over at the boy. "I don't need a babysitter."

"I know."

☢️💮☢️

I laid on my bed, staring straight at the ceiling, trying to fall asleep. Crickets chirped peacefully outside, and there were a few scattered car horns; I found the busy street sounds soothing, but my mind was still whirring from the day's events. Peter left shortly after Tony had, and I had a lovely chat with Enora before dumping her at the police station since I promised Peter no more killing. I got everything I needed from her memories, anyway. I tried listening to boring lectures, calming music, even exercised, but I simply couldn't sleep. "No sleep equals patrol time," I muttered to myself as I slipped my suit on.

"Hello Y/N." A female voice said.

"What the hell!" I yelled, jumping from the unfamiliar noise. "Who are you?"

"I am an artificial intelligence system created by Mr. Stark to aid you."

"Of course you are," I mumbled, rolling my eyes as I pulled my pack's straps on. "Why have we never met before, then?"

"Mr. Stark remotely accessed your suit and removed the 'Training Wheels' Protocol."

"Sounds like him. Okay, what do I call you?"

"Whatever you wish."

"Alrighty. How about Amandine, like the cake?" I asked, opening my window and rolling onto the fire escape soundlessly.

"Whatever you wish. Would you like to link with Peter's suit?"

"Um, sure." I deployed the wings and flew around. "Hey, can you scan police scanners?"

"Of course, Miss L/N." 

"Y/N is fine." Meeting my new special helper proved to be the most interesting thing to happen that night, as the rest of it was just boring muggings, small robberies, and the occasional vandalism. At least, that's how I wish the evening had gone. After I'd told off some jerk for throwing a rock and me and calling me a 'wannabe Avenger,' Amandine alerted me to a hostage situation a few blocks away that she'd picked up from the police scanners. I quickly flew off, landing a little bit louder than I had meant to in haste as I hurried over to a police officer.

"So, what seems to be the situation?" I asked the startled officer

"Um, I'm sorry, civilians can't get involved." She stuttered out.

"Eh, it's fine. I work with the Avengers." She eyed me warily as I added, "Iron Man sent me."

That seemed to relax her. Slightly. Ish. But it was enough that she told me, "We have twenty-three scientists and lab technicians inside, according to the work logs. The culprits reached out, but we haven't been able to get them to respond to any of our messages."

"Why not? How'd they reach out?" I asked, looking around.

"Well, that's a little bit difficult to answer." I tilted my head at her, and she continued, "I think it would be easier to just show you, but I must warn you, it's a little bit . . . graphic."

"Lead the way, ma'am. I doubt it's something I've never seen before." Her face scrunched in concern and probably a little bit of confusion, but she turned on her heel and lead me over to one of the ambulances a few feet away. When we got closer, I saw a body bag, lumped up from the body no doubt inside of it. She nodded to one of the Responders, who zipped it open and peeled it back to reveal a body deeply carved with a strange series of letters that no regular person could understand. Unfortunately, or I guess in this case fortunately, I could.

EBVD

Crap. "Does this facility have anything to do with cosmetics?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Because I have very predictable friends."

☢️💮☢️