The second I got notified by Friday that a James Buchanan Barnes and a Peter Parker were spotted in a random, abandoned village near the corner of the deepest parts of Russia, I didn't spend an extra second longer than needed.
Grabbing my suit and shouting on Friday to spread the news to the rest of the Avengers and just have them catch up, I blasted my way through the sky and raced over to the coordinates that popped up onto my screen.
We found them.
They're alive.
We're going to be bringing them home.
They were captured for a month and a half. Probably bloodied and bruised and traumatized as hell. But they were alive.
That means we can deal with anything else along the way.
It took four hours of my flying before the Quinjet caught up to me and I hopped onto the flight and we blasted over to Russia in another hour and a half.
Peter and Bucky weren't in their last known sight, but a faint trail of blood showed me that they tried to take shelter in the woods. Turning on our comms, the team and I split up to search the area and find our lost members.
I was the one that spotted them hiding in a tree. Peter seemed to be unconscious and Bucky was lining up four guns around them for safety and precaution. Firing up my repulsers so I could go over to their height, I finally got a good look at my son.
I choked back a sob as I saw his thin, emancipated frame. When has he last eaten? What other injuries does he have under his worn out clothes?
I hated myself for being angry that Bucky looked like he was in a much better physical state, but one glance over at his face, I saw how exhausted he was in his eyes.
"They put him under the fucking words Tony," he mumbled, his voice gravely and rough. "The entire time, it was like—"
Bucky squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out painful memories. He wasn't even able to finish his sentence, but I wasn't sure I wanted him to at the moment.
I told the rest of the team to come over to my coordinates as I pulled out the thermal blankets that I had to wrap around Peter and Bucky. They were trembling terribly from the cold.
"Come on little guy, let's get you back to the jet," I whispered, reaching over to lift Peter up. I tried not to wince as I felt how light he was. As I felt almost every bone in his body.
"Tony– Tony I'm so sorry. I tried, I really did. I tried so hard to keep him safe, but I failed. I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," Bucky started to frantically say, reaching out to grab me by my forearm. His desperate voice made me forget the anger I had.
"It's okay," I said sincerely, surprising myself as I felt as though I truly meant those words. "You were captured too Bucky. It's not your fault. You were a prisoner there too."
I saw him visibly relax by my words and nod. Natasha brought herself closer to our location and helped Bucky walk over to the jet. Steve came running in a minute later and also stood by Bucky. Bruce and Clint stayed by the jet so they were waiting there for us, keeping supplies, beds, and extra warm clothes and blankets ready.
I rested Peter's pale body onto one of the cots that we had laid out. Taking off the suit, I immediately went to sit by Peter, refusing to leave his side.
"He needs me here right now," I said to Clint, as he came over and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"I know Tony. I'm not trying to tell you to move. Just letting you know that we're flying back to our city in a minute."
Peter didn't wake up the entire flight, but I didn't move from my spot. I held his hand and stroked his hair.
"It's okay bambino, you're safe now. You're safe and back home with me. I promise, tesoro, you're never leaving me again. I promise you Peter. I promise."
Back at the tower and now placed onto one of the beds in the med bay, the entire time was sprawled across the many chairs scattered around the room. I told Helene that we can deal with helping him once he wakes up and she agreed. She did a quick check over and didn't see anything of immediate concern so she allowed it.
Everyone else was sleeping awkwardly and uncomfortably in their chairs, but I refused to allow my eyes to close, certain that once I did, the little boy — my son — in front of me would disappear.
But soon enough, I found small, brown, doe eyes looking up at me, blinking upwards tiredly and in confusion.
"Tony?" a small voice said, rough from lack of use. Even he seemed surprised that he was able to say those words, but hearing the voice made my heart soar with happiness.
"Yes baby, it's me. It's Tony. You're back home with me in the tower. You're home."
"Are you– is this real?" the boy questioned, looking impossibly young and innocent. My eyes softened at his question.
"Yeah bambino, this is real. It's real."
"I love you dad, thank you so much for finding me."
My heart squeezed as he called me dad for the first time.
We had a long way to go, I knew that for sure, but Peter was here right in front of me, and I am never letting him go again.
He's home at last.
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Not Anymore
FanfictionS-20 has only ever known one thing, Hydra, until one man came into his life and showed him that there was so much more. That man was his first friend. His older brother. But after one night, the two were ripped apart and S-20 cannot even remember hi...
