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Nick Fury was glaring at them all, practically incandescent with rage.
“Let me get this straight,” he spoke slowly, words clear and distinct. “I ask the team that can best villains and aliens and terrorists to watch a five-year-old for one fucking afternoon and I come back to the Compound in shambles, a terrified kid and said team half-mad and trying to lock a child in a trunk.”
He looked pointedly at the large trunk at Steve’s feet and he briefly looked away in shame, shuddering when he caught the livid look on Bruce’s face.
This day had been a nightmare. It had started with a run-of-the-mill battle against Loki before they were interrupted by Amora. The sorceress seemed to have some bone to pick with Loki so they got into a fight, magic flying everywhere. Clint had been injured in the process, breaking his leg in a nasty fall.
Tony had been hit by some stray magic and they only got to him after the fight had ended, only to find a de-aged genius panicking about being trapped in the armour.
With Clint in the med bay, Thor in Asgard to research the spell and Bruce working on finding a way to reverse Tony’s condition, Fury had left the young boy who had no memories of his future self in the hands of the rest of the team.
Wanda had no interest in looking after him and had chosen to ignore him. Vision didn’t know how to interact with children so he decided to avoid him instead.
That left Steve, Sam and Natasha.
It went downhill right from the start.
Steve thought he was a brat, not listening to them and trying to get away from them the entire time since waking up in the Compound after passing out in SHIELD’s med-bay.
He’d short-circuited Natasha’s Widow Bites which electrocuted her. He blew up Sam’s phone causing him to rush off to treat his (thankfully) mild burns. And then he managed to blow up the microwave.
Steve lost his temper around there and grabbed Tony roughly and forcefully sat him in the common room with Wanda.
“If he moves then make him stay,” he told her, completely exasperated with the brat’s behaviour.
Wanda smirked at Tony and her magic lit up around her hands.
Steve left for five minutes to go check on Sam and Nat before hearing another explosion and finding Wanda screaming, her magic lashing out around her.
Tony was nowhere to be seen again which prompted a building-wide hunt and Steve ordered Friday to shut the Compound up tight so that no one could get out.
She wasn’t happy but she followed his instructions.
They found the little demon in one of the labs and Wanda yanked him to them with her magic. Natasha quickly tied his arms behind him with a ziptie, ignoring his kicking and yelling.
Sam came back around then and asked them why the hell they’d tied Tony up. The kid had started crying in what Steve didn’t doubt was an attempt to gain sympathy.
“I’d rather he doesn’t blow anything else up Sam. You and Nat already got hurt,” Steve explained.
While they were trying to explain the necessity to Sam and Vision who just came in, they missed Tony scrambling into the vents with the help of one of his bots.
Fury arrived around the time they’d located the trunk and were ordering Wanda to drag the brat out with her magic.
He promptly exploded.
“He’s a spoiled brat sir,” Natasha explained in a tight voice. “He’s repeatedly blown up items which resulted in members of the team getting injured.” Her hair was a little singed from her electrocution and Sam’s hand was wrapped in bandages.
Fury looked unimpressed. “I am going to shoot each and every one of you,” he snarled.
“What the hell were you thinking Nat?!” Clint’s voice drew their attention to the man standing with the help of crutches in the doorway. He looked completely horrified. “If you did that to my kids I’d fucking murder you!”
“This is different Clint,” Steve tried to explain.
“He’s a little demon,” Wanda muttered, glaring at the vent.
Clint made a ‘shut up’ motion and they all fell silent. “Listen,” he told them harshly.
Frowning at him, they did as he requested and gradually all became aware of a quiet sound.
“Is that…crying?” Sam asked hesitantly.
“Yeah,” Clint snapped. “It is. Did you even explain anything to him? Or did you just start telling him what to do the moment he woke up?”
“What do you mean?” Natasha asked in frustration.
“I mean that he doesn’t know who any of you are. He has the memories of a five-year-old. He woke up in a place he doesn’t recognise with people he doesn’t know and they started ordering him around the moment he was conscious. He thinks he’s been kidnapped you morons!”
“Tony Stark was kidnapped four times by the age of four. Every time Peggy was the one to rescue him. She taught him how to escape on his own,” Fury added in an even voice.
Horror was beginning to dawn on Sam’s face now as he paled.
“We didn’t kidnap him!” Steve shouted in offence.
“He doesn’t know that!” Clint yelled back. “For fuck’s sake he’s a kid! Five years old Steve! He’s scared and alone and doesn’t know what to do! So he was trying to escape like he’d been taught!”
Clint shook his head at them and moved over to the nearest vent, putting his crutches aside. “I’m going to try and fix your mess. None of you move.” He glared at them before hauling himself into the vents and disappearing.
Natasha was frowning thoughtfully while Sam looked like he was going to be sick. Wanda turned to leave but a barked order from Fury had her freezing.
“You are staying right here until I can be sure you’re not a danger to the five year old in the building.” He cut his glare to Steve. “Friday showed me the footage of you giving her permission to use her powers on him Rogers. I am so unbelievably pissed at you right now. Friday? Play the audio when Clint finds Tony would you? I think these so called heroes need a reminder on how to treat children.”
“Of course Director,” Friday replied and it was only a few minutes later that Clint’s voice came from the speakers along with the sound of muffled sobbing.
“Hey there kid, hey hey, it’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you. Promise.” Clint’s voice was soft and soothing. “The name’s Clint. What’s yours?”
There were a few stifled sobs before Tony spoke. “T-Tony,” he sniffled. “Are you going to take me back to the bad people?”
“You mean the idiots who hurt you? No Tony, I’m not going to let them hurt you again okay?”
“Did Aunt Peggy send you?” he asked hopefully and for the first time a pang of unease ran through Steve’s chest.
“It’s a long story bud. But I’m here to tell you that you’re not in danger or kidnapped or anything. Those people were supposed to take care of you but they did a shit job didn’t they?”
“That’s a bad word.”
“I know, don’t tell anyone okay. I don’t want to get in trouble,” Clint said in a hushed whisper.
That managed to draw a watery giggle from Tony. “They’re not kidnappers?” He asked dubiously.
“Nope. They were just really, really dumb today. I’m not dumb though so I’m going to take care of you now okay?”
There was a long pause, broken only by sad little sniffles.
“Okay,” Tony whispered.
“How about you come with me hey? We can get out of here and get you untied.”
“It hurts,” Tony whimpered softly and Natasha flinched. She hadn’t been kind when she tied the ziptie.
“I know bud. I promise I’ll get it off and then we can go get something to eat okay?”
There was the sound of shuffling which they took to mean that they were making their way out of the vents and Friday cut the audio.
Fury glared at them.
“We didn’t mean to scare him,” Steve said guiltily.
“Well you did, so now you lot are staying far away from him. Clint is in charge of him now.”
“Clint’s leg is broken,” Natasha pointed out.
“Clint is a father. If you think a broken leg is going to stop him from taking care of a scared kid then you don’t know shit about parents.” Fury shook his head and stalked out.
Bruce glared at them. “If any of you hurt him again, I’m not even going to try and hold the Big Guy back, got it?” he threatened quietly. He waited until he got nods from them all, Wanda paling noticeably at the promise, before he followed Fury.
They all looked back at the vent as Clint reappeared, carefully easing out but keeping his attention in front of him.
“There we go Tony,” he praised softly. “Almost there.”
The five-year-old timidly peeked out and immediately scuttled back inside.
“They’re there! They’ll hurt me again!” he cried. “They said they were going to lock me in the trunk for being bad!”
“I promised I wouldn’t let them remember?” Clint told him gently. “And I never break my promises. Their boss just yelled at them too. Come on Tony, your wrists are bleeding. I need to take a look at them.”
It took a little more coaxing but eventually he reluctantly slipped out of the vent, stumbling when his feet hit the floor and looking around the room anxiously with frightened brown eyes.
Clint picked him up with one arm and grabbed one of his crutches with the other so he had some support before moving towards the kitchen. Tony hid his face in the archer’s shoulder, visibly trembling.
Wanda huffed and stormed off and Vision followed soon after, looking uncertain. The others trailed after Clint though, guilt bubbling up in varying degrees in their chests.
Clint set the kid down on the kitchen table and quickly got to work on the zipties, shooting Natasha a harsh glare as he tossed away the bloodied plastic.
“You’re a little fighter you know,” he told Tony, still keeping his voice soft as he started cleaning the boy’s wrists.
Tony sniffled and glanced at the rest of them anxiously. “That’s what Aunt Peggy says too.”
Clint bandaged up both wrists and ruffled his messy hair with a bit more praise thrown in.
Tony’s face was still tear-streaked but he seemed a lot calmer now. When Clint picked him up again he wrapped his arms around his neck and clung to him.
“You’re hurt,” he whispered, peering down at the cast on his leg.
“Yeah but don’t worry. I’m just clumsy,” Clint gave a heavy, dramatic sigh. “I tripped over some Lego,” he told him in a conspiratorial whisper.
Tony gave him such an unimpressed look that it was kind of adorable.
“How do you trip over Lego?” he asked in disbelief.
“When its night-time and my kids leave it all over the floor,” Clint answered dryly. “So much Lego the floor was covered in it!”
“You’ve got to be super clumsy,” Tony decided.
Clint mock-gasped. “How’d you find out my secret?!” he asked, making Tony giggle.
“Come on kiddo, let’s go watch some tv huh?” he suggested and Tony nodded agreeably, resting his head on the archer’s shoulder.
He walked off, leaving them to stew in guilt and frustration. Tony watched them warily over the archer’s shoulder.
Steve’s shoulders slumped. This was a disaster. Clint and Bruce were furious. Fury was livid. And no doubt when Pepper and Rhodes heard about this they would erupt as the overprotective friends they were.
Who knew watching a kid could be so difficult?