The dust settled on the ground. You could hear people coughing. Fires surrounded the area. Buildings and vehicles lay in ruins. Bodies littered the ground.
Several individuals emerged from the wreckage: Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Captain America, and the now-reverted Hulk, Dr. Bruce Banner. They had just concluded a battle, and the result was the rescue of a young boy, twelve-year-old Victor Henry Frankenstein.
Tony acted awkwardly around the kid. Black Widow stepped forward in a motherly way. Despite her inability to have children, she could act like a mother. She soothed the child, doing her best to make him feel better. Hawkeye simply slapped him on the shoulder.
"Are you all right, kid?" he asked.
The boy looked up and nodded, "I'm fine."
This child was very special. His rescuers were The Avengers. Two months prior, they had saved the Earth from an invasion aliens led by Loki, the brother of Thor. It made it all the stranger that they were now saving a young boy.
Dr. Banner stood alone. Victor looked at the man, noticing how much skinnier and weaker he appeared compared to the others. He looked tired. Victor walked toward Dr. Banner, Black Widow by his side, watching.
"Dr. Banner?" he said, surprising the scientist, who tried to hide even among his friends.
Bruce looked over at the boy. "Yes, Victor?"
"Dr. Banner, I'm quite interested in your situation." The boy placed his hand on the scientist's shoulder. He patted him gently and eventually removed his hand.
"My situation?" Dr. Banner asked.
"Yes, this mutation you undergo when you become angry."
"You have questions about that?" Bruce asked, raising an eyebrow.
Victor nodded.
"You mean, you want to ask about my mutation, given the situation you've just been through—being kidnapped by a notorious group and nearly dying—and then rescued?"
Victor nodded informatively again. "It wasn't just any group, Dr. Banner. It was Hydra. Have you heard of them?" he asked.
Captain America perked up and came over to the boy.
"Hydra? Are you sure?" he asked.
Victor smiled. "Oh, I'm sure. They were constantly saluting each other, saying 'Hail Hydra.' I mean, it looked the same as the history books you appear in."
Captain America frowned, deep in thought. It has been over seventy years, he thought to himself.
Bruce looked at him. "Do you think this is a new Hydra?" he asked Cap.
Victor shook his head. "No. It should be the original one—the Hydra Captain America fought back in World War II. I found a lot of things. If you guys hadn't destroyed the place, I could show you the evidence."
Everyone looked around at the desert landscape. Contrary to what most would think, the devastation wasn't the result of the Hulk, but Iron Man losing his temper. Tony had been so angry when they came in that he hadn't asked any questions—he just started blowing things up. That recklessness had almost gotten Victor killed.
Thankfully, Black Widow had been able to rescue the boy with Hawkeye's help.
"One of them mentioned someone named Pierce," Victor added. "A bald guy. I think his name started with an 'S'. Sit... Sitwell. That's it."
Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye exchanged glances.
"Did you guys know anything about this?" Cap asked them.
They both shook their heads. This was the first time they were hearing about it. Like Captain America, they thought Hydra had disappeared at the end of World War II—along with Captain America himself.
"Well, you survived," Hawkeye said. "Why couldn't they?"
"We need to talk to Fury about this," Black Widow said.
Tony waved it off. "Got it from here, Cap. Go talk to Fury and see what he knows."
"You sure?" Captain America asked.
"Yeah, yeah, no problem," Tony said, shrugging.
Cap, Hawkeye, and Black Widow boarded their Quinjet and flew off into the air, leaving Tony, Dr. Banner, and Victor behind.
Tony began, "Don't share this with anybody, okay?"
"Sure," Victor responded, not looking at Tony much.
"Back to my question, Dr. Banner," Victor said. "How did you arrive at this situation you find yourself in?"
"It was an experiment gone wrong," Bruce answered. "I was told the serum was one thing—it turned out to be something else. We were supposed to be creating something that was radiation-proof, but in reality, they were working on a super-soldier serum. The experiment went wrong. I got exposed to gamma radiation along with the serum itself, and ever since then, I've had to deal with being the Hulk."
"Very strange. Much like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sort of thing, I think. Only, you aren't a secret villain—you're self-absorbed but a good man. Very tragic," Victor said.
Bruce looked at Tony, then at the boy. "Thanks?"
"Hey, Bruce, I'm calling a cab for you," Tony said. " I need to talk to him for a little bit."
"Excuse me, Mr. Stark," Victor said. "I would appreciate it if you called me Dr. Frankenstein. That is my name, what's with calling me a kid?"
"Dr. Frankenstein?" Both Bruce and Tony looked at the boy.
"Yes, Dr. Frankenstein. I know I'm twelve. I know I'm young. But I've already graduated from college. I have several doctorates in chemistry, biology, genetics, metagenetics, and two or three other fields. So yes, I think calling me Dr. Frankenstein would be more appropriate."
"You mean like the Frankenstein who created the monster?" Banner asked.
Victor looked him straight in the eyes. "It takes one to know one."
Bruce was a little confused. "Takes one what?" he asked.
"It takes one monster to recognize another monster," Victor replied.
He turned back to Tony. "So, Mr. Stark, where's that transportation you talked about?"
Victor turned back to Bruce. "Please forgive my short temper, Dr. Banner. I am quite out of sorts at the moment. I've had a very intense last two weeks. I was kidnapped from home—thank goodness my mother wasn't there—held prisoner, threatened with torture, and told I would soon become a proud member of Hydra. Then you guys show up, and this bozo," he pointed toward Tony, "starts blowing the place to hell. I get taken captive, threatened again, and if it weren't for that red-headed lady, I would have been killed."
He crossed his arms. "And then, after nearly getting me killed, Mr. Stark here informs me that he's my father. He's come to save me. Well—with fathers like you, who needs enemies?" Victor finally looks at Tony, but it isn't a friendly look.
"Oh, Tony, I think he's inherited your mouth," Bruce laughed.
"Yeah, thanks, Bruce. Not helping," Tony grumbled.
A taxi rolled up. Bruce took it to Stark Tower—or Avengers HQ, now. Tony and Victor took the car, pulling up. It was Tony's bodyguard, driver, and friend, Happy Hogan Drove up in one of Tony's limos.
Tony climbed into the car and rolled up the rear window. "Sorry, Happy. Some private things to talk about back here."
"No problem, Tony," Happy said, glancing at the kid.
They drove for a little while in silence until Tony finally started speaking.
"Look... I didn't even know you existed until your mother called me and told me you'd been kidnapped. So I'm sorry I missed your life. It wasn't my intention. If I knew you existed, I would have brought you home, showered you with expensive things, raised you."
Victor stared at him for a moment.
"Well, I didn't need your expensive toys to grow up," he said. "My mother and I did just fine. She got married to a wonderful man who raised me as my father. Unfortunately, he got cancer about a year ago and passed away. Mom never told me about you either. As far as I knew, Hugo Frankenstein was my biological father."
Victor turned to the window.
"I understand," he continued. "My mother wanted me to have love. She wanted her husband to love me as his child, and that's exactly what happened. The only reason she called you was due to the circumstances. Otherwise, I doubt she would have ever talked to you again."
He turned back to Tony with a serious look. "And that's what bothers me. What did you do to her to make her feel that way?"
"I'm not unfamiliar with you, Mr. Stark. I've seen you in magazines. I know the kind of man you are with women. My mother isn't some floozy. I'm sure she thought you were committed to her. And when you abandoned her... well, she understood she'd made a mistake. When I came into the world, maybe she thought she'd made a bigger mistake. But instead of aborting me, she did her best to raise me well."
Victor stared out the window again.
"I thank you for saving my life. And I hope this will be the last time we shall meet."
Tony looked reflective, stealing glances at the boy from time to time.
"You hungry?" Tony asked.
Victor looked back over at him. "I suppose. They weren't exactly regular with meals."
"Great," Tony said. "Let's grab something on the way to your house."
Tony lowered the partition between him and Happy.
"Happy, let's get some food. What do you like, kid? Burgers? Pizza?"
"A burger would be nice," Victor said. "Fries. Dr. Pepper."
"Great. Happy, find a place."
"No problem, Tony," Happy said from the front.
They grabbed burgers. Tony ordered a couple of cheeseburgers, fries, and a Diet Coke for himself, and a double order for Victor—a couple of big burgers, large fries, and an extra-large Dr. Pepper. Happy bought something for himself but didn't eat while driving, saving it for later.
Tony observed this and appreciated it. Happy was a good driver and a better bodyguard.
Victor ate silently. Tony quietly observed him, seeing in the boy a mirror of himself after his return from Afghanistan—gobbling food like a starved wolf.
Tony thought: I hope I can convince this kid to give me a chance.