The Billionare's Street Rats

Chapter One - Hush Little Children, Don't You Cry

Tony had been invited to a small country in Eastern Europe named Sokovia. Tony wasn't a stranger to the country, knowing explosives he once manufactured and distributed where used years ago in a bombing that devastated the countries captain, Novi Grad.

A billionaire that Tony had met a handful of times lived in the countryside outside Novi Grad, and had invited him to spend a weekend with him. Tony couldn't refuse the offer, well, Pepper couldn't, so Tony had to go regardless.

It was Saturday and Joe, the billionaire, was showing Tony and Pepper around Novi Grad. Tony noticed that the city seemed to be heavily underdeveloped, with a very large population of the residents living in poverty. He wondered what the job market was like around town.

Everywhere they went, they got dirty looks. Joe explained it was probably because everyone knew it had been Tony's weapons used to cause devastation upon almost the whole country. But Tony noticed very few of the looks were directed toward him, and most were at Joe. Tony didn't like the atmosphere of the city. It was sad and depressing, and it weighed heavily on him.

They were walking along a street that had a few open, but empty, coffee shops. "Any change sir?" Tony looked into a boarded-up doorway. He stopped as he noticed it was two little kids asking. They were bundled up in coats, blankets and scarves, but they looked malnourished and Tony knew they were probably freezing. The children looked at him with hope in their eyes, maybe hoping for a euro or two. "Tony?" Joe asked from a few steps in front of him. "Come on, Tony" Pepper urged, noticing people staring.

Tony ignored them and squatted down to the children's height. "What's your names?" He asked gently. "I'm Wanda" the little girl said quietly, her voice barely above a whisper. "Pietro" the boy said, his voice slightly louder than Wanda's. "How old are you? If you don't mind me asking" Tony asked. "Fourteen" Wanda replied.

Tony was shocked, but a little angry. There was two fourteen year olds, freezing and starving to death, and nobody cared one bit. "Tony" Joe said, now behind Tony. The children shuffled together and hid their faces. "Let me talk to them, Joe" Tony said and Joe rolled his eyes, walking away.

Tony was now sitting on the path, talking to the pair. "Where are your parents?" He asked. Pietro reached behind him and pulled out a newspaper from two years ago. He handed it to Tony and pointed to the front page. 'Three Flat Block's Demolished in Stark Bombing. Death number unknown' the headline read. Before he could apologise, Pietro had handed him another paper, this one open and a bit underlined. Tony gave him the other news paper back and read the underlined bit. 'Tony Stark is not responsible for January bombings. Hungarian terrorists attacked 4 flat buildings in January 2008 using Stark-manufactured weapons' it read.

Tony gave the newspaper back and stared at the children. "What do you want out of life?" He asked. Pietro looked at Wanda for her to go first, "I want to own bakery" Wanda said with a small smile. "What would you call it?" Tony asked. Wanda shrugged, "I don't know" she replied and Tony looked at Pietro, who shrugged. "Life has not much to offer" he said.

That broke Tony's heart. Wanda had a dream, and she was set on it. Pietro had clearly seen things no child should see, and his faith in humanity had been shattered.

"Life has lots to offer" Tony said. "For America, yes. For us, no. We are third world country, as local say" Pietro replied and Tony frown. Then he had an idea. A stupid idea in some ways, but he knew he couldn't just leave these kids to die. "Would you like to come home with me?" He asked. The two stared at him in awe. "We can go on a plane to my home, and you can stay with me" Tony said and the two looked at each other. "Will you leave us?" Wanda asked, looking back at Tony. "I'll always be there. I won't leave" Tony promised.

Tony found Joe and Pepper looking at a half-destroyed statue. Pepper turned around and looked horrified to find Tony holding the hands of Pietro and Wanda. "Tony-" "I can't just leave them on the street" Tony defended. "So what do you propose we do?" Pepper asked sarcastically. "Adopt them"

Tony cut the trip short on the account he wanted to take Pietro and Wanda home. Wanda had fallen asleep under a pile of blankets on her seat, but Pietro was awake and sitting with Tony, quietly drinking a cup of water. Tony was texting Happy back home, briefing him on what happened and what needs done for his arrival with the kids. "Do you think the world will explode?" Pietro asked out of the blue. Tony shrugged as he put his phone down, "sometimes" he replied. "I think it will" Pietro agreed and went back to drinking his water. Tony was staring at him in admiration of the child's very random question and straight answer. He definitely made a good choice.

They got home just after dinner time. Tony carried Wanda off the plane and Pietro trailed along beside him. "Funny looking souvenirs" Happy said. "Shut up. I want these kids home, bathed, dressed and fed" Tony said and Happy nodded. They drove home in silence.

They got back to Tony's mansion and Wanda was taken to bed. Pietro was hesitant, but he was slowly trusting Tony. Pietro got a shower and he got clean clothes and socks. Pietro got comfy on the sofa and Tony gave him a heavy blanket. He put on an old Snoopy cartoon, and Pietro was immediately absorbed into it.

Wanda came downstairs an hour later and sat with Pietro. Tony gave them each a small bowl of grapes, which were gone in a minute. "Got the pizza" Happy said as he walked in with Pepper. Tony took apart the kids cheese pizza and put a slice on a plate with a few chips. He walked over to the sofa and offered it to the twins. "What is it?" Wanda as they both took the plates and sat up. "Well, it's warm bread with tomato sauce and cheese" Tony simplified. The twins scoffed it down in seconds, so Tony gave them another slice.

Tony decided it was the children's bedtime since they were nodding off on the sofa. They brushed their teeth and both looked at their rooms. "Can we stay with you, Tony?" Pietro asked, looking at Tony. "Yeah. I don't want to stay by myself" Wanda added on. Tony had a big bed, and the children were pretty small for their age. "Sure" Tony agreed. He guided the children to his bedroom, where they got into bed on one side and immediately fell asleep together.

Tony woke up in the middle of his bed in the morning. He had to admit, that was the best sleep of his life. He looks down and noticed Pietro was sprawled over him, his hand holding onto Tony's bicep. Tony smiled and looked to his side, finding Wanda pressed up to his side, holding his shirt.

Tony lay in bed for about two hours, drifting in and out of sleep. When he wasn't sleeping, he was thinking about how to move forward with this. He knew it was only a matter of time before Fury came knocking, asking what the fuck he was thinking. But, he didn't care what Fury thought, because he loved these kids, even though he had barely known them a day. He wanted to be the dad his own father couldn't be, and nobody was going to stop him.