An Interesting Arrangement

Chapter 16

"AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!" Tony screamed in frustration.

Steve popped his head into Tony's office. "What happened this time, Stark?"

"I've been trying to find these people for five weeks and they show up on none of the radar!"

"What people?" Steve asked, hoping not to hear one answer.

"The Black Lightning Vigilantes! For over two months, they've showed up at every single HYDRA base we've attacked, gotten the information before us but always made sure we had a copy, and managed to save yours and Maximoff's lives twice!!!!! And on top of that, Maximoff and Vision can't seem to read their minds! What is it with these people? They're obviously trying to do good, but they don't work for the FBI, CIA, or even SHIELD! And I know, because I've hacked every single government agency but they don't show up!! Even on SHIELD's radar! It's like they're ghosts!!" Tony, who'd been hopping on and off furniture while he'd been ranting, finally sat down and sighed.

Steve shrugged. "Did you ever think that there might be a reason why they're hiding themselves? I mean, what if they're ex-HYDRA? We wouldn't exactly trust them, now would we?"

Tony sighed. "I guess not. But I'm still going to look!"

Steve sighed and walked out the door, making a mental note to let Natasha know to stay away from missions for a while.
*
Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. Because the very next mission, everything went wrong. Bucky got hit in his left shoulder and Jace ran to his favorite uncle. He managed to get him sent up to the plane with Oki, who besides being able to shift into a Pegasus to be able carry him also had medical knowledge.

And that's when it happened. Jace was so worried about getting Bucky and Oki to safety that he forgot to watch his back. And that's why he didn't notice Wanda sending a blast of energy towards him. It knocked him off his feet and slammed him into a wall.

Stephanie screamed as she watched her brother slide down the wall, unmoving. And suddenly the anger seemed to control her, coming out as a fierce ball of lightning, setting everything around her on fire. But Wanda absorbed most of the teenager's fiery anger and she was encased in the heat for several moments, before surrounding her own energy around the lightning and sending it off. Which set more things on fire.

Loki watched the chaos and turned to Natasha. Her eyes echoed his own concerns.

"This isn't going to end well, Loki." She told him

"I know." He whispered as Vision sent a beam of pure energy towards Stephanie, who responded by short circuiting the Android with another bolt of lightning.

"We need to get your daughter out of here, but I honestly don't know if I can teleport Jace at this distance safely. Especially not knowing what injuries he's sustained..."

Natasha saw how much it pained Loki to even suggest leaving one of the children behind. Loki honestly viewed them as his own children.

Natasha gently squeezed his friend's shoulder. "Thank you, Loki. I promise Jace will be safe. Sam won't let anything happen to him."

Loki sighed. "Of all the missions Steve could've skipped..." he stopped as he saw Stephanie beginning to summon a mass amount of lightning. He took a shaky breath. "Last chance to back out and find another way."

Natasha barely choked back a sob at the thought of Jace being out of her sight, but she still nodded. "Let's go and hope that the others see reason."

Loki grimaced and snapped his fingers. There was a sudden silence as Stephanie, Loki, and Natasha were all teleported to their plane.

Sam, somehow grasping the situation immediately, rushed over to Jace, who was just beginning to stir.

"Listen, Jace, I don't know how much time we have. Stephanie was really losing it, so Loki and Nat had to take her away. But don't worry bud, I'm sure they're already scheming to get you back. But you're gonna have to be the Avengers' guest for a while, kay?"

Jace grimaced. "Well this should be fun."

Tony stalked over. "Looks like we've got a prisoner!"
*
Tony glared as the prisoner's head snapped back from the impact of the blow.

Happy leaned closer to the prisoner. "For the last time, tell us who you work for."

The prisoner, who still had that annoying black mask fixed across his face just glared at them with shockingly familiar green eyes. Tony knew he'd seen them before, but he couldn't place them. They kind of reminded him of Romanoff's.... but that was stupid. Romanoff couldn't have kids.

Tony leaned over his prisoner, ignoring a slightly sick feeling in his gut. "You will tell us who you work for, and do you know why?" The prisoner shook his head. "BECAUSE I WANT TO KNOW WHO YOU WORK FOR AND I AM TONY STARK!!!"

"For whom." The prisoner said sullenly.

Tony whirled on him. "What?"

"For whom." The prisoner repeated. "Proper English grammar. You said 'I want to know who you work for', when it should be 'I want to know for whom you work'."

Tony felt his temper rising and he raised his fist to punch the prisoner again when a shield slammed against his hand, followed by a pair of magnetic handcuffs.

"Don't you dare touch my son again." Steve snapped stalking into the room, shoving Happy away, and kneeling in front of the prisoner. Steve gently reached behind the prisoner's head and removed the mask revealing the bloody face of a fourteen year old boy. Tony looked at horror as he saw the obvious physical similarities between the boy and Steve. They both had the same intense looks in their eyes, the exact same chiseled features, and the same blond hair.

"Steve, I..." Tony started, horrified that he had ordered this kid to have information beaten out of him.

"Save it, Stark." Steve cut him off angrily before turning back to the kid. "Jace, I'm so sorry. I didn't even know what happened until a couple of minutes ago, I swear. I would've been here. I should've..."

"It's ok, Dad." The kid... Jace said quietly. "No matter how hard you try, you can't keep us from getting hurt sometimes." Tony shook his head and motioned for Happy to leave the father and son alone. There would be enough time for explanations later.

Steve sighed as he undid his son's bonds. "I know. I just wish it hadn't happened at the hands of the Avengers."

Jace, freed from his bonds, simply stood and hugged his father. "It's ok, Dad, really. You can't be the hero for everyone."

Steve looked even more pained at that though. "Jace, you're my son. If there's anyone I should be a hero to, it should be you. I'm sorry I haven't been there as much as I should have. As soon as we get this mess sorted out I'm coming home."

Jace looked up at his dad hopefully. "For good?"

"For good. I think it's time that Captain America retired."