I Thought You Were Different: Part 5

Guarded

"I'm going to wake them one at a time," Stephen cautioned, standing at the foot of Anthony's gurney first, his eyes locked on the boy, "but it may take only one to gain the upper hand, so be prepared."

"Be prepared to take down my own son?" Steve gasped, shaking his head vehemently. "I don't know if I can do that."

"Then you need to step aside."

"I don't know if I can do that, either."

Strange took a long breath, finally moving and looking to Tony for guidance, realizing in that exact moment that he was the wrong person to seek answers from, finding that he looked just as shaken and uncertain as the Captain was. He had already sent you away, under the guise of it being for your own good to not be exposed to the kids this way, but in all honesty, he knew that you would be the most susceptible to their influence. "Captain, perhaps it would be best if you waited with your wife? Tony, maybe you should join them?"

"Me?" Tony scoffed, trying to not sound offended and failing. "I'm good, doc. I'm staying. Steve too."

"When they wake up, it might not be them-"

"I'm aware. Just get on with it." Tony took a few steps to the other side of the room, making a clear point to pass Steve with a supportive hand on his arm, joining Bruce and taking a tablet from his friend. With a quick swipe of his fingers, the display came to life, alight with the vital signs and brain waves of each of his grandchildren dancing across it. "We're good to go on this end," he commanded plainly with a nod towards Anthony. "Cross your fingers, everyone."

Steve and Tony exchanged worried glances as Bruce lightened the sedative that had kept the boy asleep, each of them watching with held breath as his eyelids began to flutter and his hands started to twitch involuntarily. Anthony mumbled something in his half-awake state that no one caught, but it didn't matter; what they wanted to hear was what he would say when he was conscious, given the terrors that you had reported him saying even deep in his slumber.

"Anthony," Stephen began softly, "can you look at me, please?"

The boy stirred a bit more, the first person he looked to being Tony, then to Steve, before finally turning towards the voice drawing him out. "Doctor?" he asked meekly. "Why are you waking me up? Are they gone?"

"No, Anthony, they're not. In fact," Stephen began carefully, "we think that something is imminent, even more so than we thought previously. They're able to use your minds and bodies during your sedation, so there is no purpose in using it any longer. Do you recall anything from your interaction with your mother a few hours ago?"

"No? What did I say? Is she alright? Dad?" he asked urgently now, sitting up despite the wave of dizziness that struck with the motion; even through two closed doors and a hallway away, you could sense his anxiety building. "Where is she?"

"She's okay, Ant," Steve reassured. He walked up to his son and rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "she's just a little shaken up, that's all. Through you, someone told her that she had to help retrieve the time stone, or they would kill you."

"Dad, you have to lock us up. Somewhere that we can't use our powers to break out of," he argued almost immediately, without question. "You have to get us as far away from here as you can, and we have to be separated. That's the only way. Together, we're a weapon, you know that. You've seen it."

"I do," Steve agreed quietly, "and we've already considered that, Ant. But we've decided that keeping you here, close to the team and under the strongest security in the world, is the best place for you."