A Flash From The Past ~ An Avengers Reacts Story

One ~ Tony

"So, what are we going to be seeing exactly?" Steve asked.

"Wait, you'll see," Hayden said.

The whole team turned to look at the screen, which was now lit up with a slightly blurry image of a man walking around holding an old phone. In the corner of the room, there was a small carrier with a baby inside. The man was talking on the phone, but no one could quite make out what he was saying yet. The man then turned around and Steve gasped.

"Howard?" He said, frowning. "What is this?"

"This is a projection of one of Tony's first memories, but from a different perspective," Kylie said.

"Why are we seeing this again?" Clint asked, clearly bored with the situation.

"So, you can have a better understanding of your teammates and what they have been through." Hayden said.

"Not everyone is perfect, even you guys," Kylie said, "And now you are going to see why."

"Tony, do you have anything to say about this?" Steve asked.

"Not really," Tony said, oddly quiet.

"For once, you're speechless," Clint laughed and Natasha hit him on the back of his head.

Everyone turned their attention back to the screen when the man on the phone, Howard, started to speak.

"Yeah," Howard said, "I'll be back into work soon." He paused. "No, my son was just born, that's all. It's no big deal." Howard paused again. "I swear it doesn't matter, I can see some kid anytime I want, all that matters is finding Captain America."

"No big deal?" Clint exclaimed, his boredom all gone. He scowled and even though he didn't say it out loud, Natasha knew he was thinking about his kids at home, Cooper and Lila. It was a massive deal when they were born, even for Nat, who wasn't even related. Neither of them could imagine brushing it off as if it was nothing.

Steve was staring at the screen as well, but for entirely different reasons. He couldn't believe Howard for caring about him more than his son. He had only knew Howard for a few years back in the '40s and Tony was his son.

The baby in the corner of the screen then started to cry and Howard turned around, frowning.

"Will you be quiet?" He shouted, but the baby didn't stop crying. "Jarvis!" A man in a suit came in, just as Howard left, still on the phone. The man, Jarvis, walked over to the baby and picked him up, just before the memory ended, the screen fading to black.

Everyone was silent, and turned to Tony, who was sitting there, his eyes glued to the black screen, deep in thought.

"Tony?" Natasha suddenly said, "Are you ok?"

"What?" Tony said, looking at her.

"I mean, that was... not exactly how a father should be," Nat said, keeping her distance a little.

"So?" Tony frowned, "Everyone is different. Everyone has different... ways of handling people."

"Ok, in the next memory, Tony is four," Hayden said, and the screen began to play.

It showed a small boy with brown hair and brown eyes putting something together with wires. He seemed to know what he was doing, as he worked quite quickly and he was completely focused on what he was doing.

"You were building stuff when you were that young?" Steve asked and Tony just nodded, thinking he knew what was going to happen.

When the boy was finished, he smiled and held it up, smiling. The boy got up and ran through a doorway towards what looked like a glass office room. Howard sat in there, leaning over some papers on his desk. Young Tony knocked on the office door, hiding the circuit board behind his back as a surprise.