Chapter 1

New York, 2013

If there was one thing to be said about genii of Tony Stark's caliber was that boredom did not suit them. To be more precise, boredom can become a source of mass destruction when you had the brains to hack in to the country's nuclear defense system in the blink of an eye and deploy missiles, all without leaving a trace.

Luckily, Tony did not have any psychopathic tendencies - no matter what Fury and his band of psychiatrists liked to think - so until now, that option had not been on the table…no matter how bored he got. There were other options after all; other infinitely more fun options that has never failed to infuriate Fury to no end…without killing millions in the process. One of them just happened to be hacking in to SHIELD's database and extract whatever secrets Fury was trying to hide from them.

Fury's expression whenever he found out what Tony had been up to - usually because of a note Tony left somewhere in the server after he leaves - was priceless every single time. Steve may not approve but Tony didn't really care about that. He was going to have to find fun where possible before he became insane under the pressure of all this world saving. Besides, he figured, Fury kind of owed it to him in exchange of all the advanced equipment Tony supplied him free of charge.

"I don't know why," said Steve after Tony had laid out his defense for him one beautiful Monday afternoon, "But your logic is faulty."

"My logic is extremely sound," Tony pouted, crossing his arms across his chest like a petulant child, "Besides, who am I hurting?"

"No one," Steve admitted reluctantly. The poor man looked as if those words pained him to say. Like always, Tony marveled at how deep Steve's respect for authority ran. Fury would probably have died of happiness if Tony had even 1% of Steve's respect for his superiors - not that Tony saw any of them as his superiors, but that was beyond the point.

"Good," said Tony, "It's all settled then."

Steve's eyes widened in alarm as he quickly added: "But that does not mean I'm encouraging you."

"Of course not, soldier," Tony nodded seriously and gave him a playful punch in the arm, "Come on, most of the team is already assembled."

Steve's expression turned confused at that.

"Why? Do we have a mission?"

"No," Tony smirked, "It's something way better than that."

Bruce was already sitting in front of Tony's massive holographic monitor when Tony and Steve made their way in to the workshop. Natasha looked up from where she was filing her nails and rolled her eyes when Tony grabbed Steve by the arm and forced him to sit down next to him near the console.

"Hawkeye's not here?" Steve asked, looking around. He couldn't find Thor either.

"No," Natasha replied, "He had something else to do. Thor went home to visit his parents and to see how Loki's doing."

Steve nodded as Tony finished his discussion with Bruce and took the man's place at the controls.

"What are we doing?" Steve asked reluctantly when no one made any move to explain it to him. He had a feeling it will have something to do with hacking SHIELD's network again but he can't be sure. Tony's unpredictable in that way. "And why are we doing it?"

"Because I'm bored," Tony said matter-of-factedly, as if that explained everything. For Tony, it probably did. "And there's something I want to check out."

"This better not end up with an explosion," Bruce warned him.

Tony snorted and tapped a few keys to activate his computer.

"Jarvis," he said instead of replying, "Please pull up the blueprint I saved of SHIELD HQ."

"Of course sir," replied the AI.

"You have a blueprint of SHIELD HQ?" Steve wondered if he should even be surprised considering Tony's considerable resources.

"I found it by accident," Tony replied in a tone that deeply implied there had been nothing accidental to his find, "Now shut up and look."

"What are we looking at, Stark?" Natasha asked in a bored voice as everyone started at the hologram. To Steve's untrained eye, the blueprint looked like a…blueprint. There really wasn't anything special to it.

"Jarvis?" Tony said again and a red circle appeared on the screen, pointing out where they should concentrate their attention.

"Wait…" Natasha said, straightening up from her seat, "That's not possible. Why is there a staircase there when it's already the deepest level of the building?"

"Simple," Tony smirked, "There's a secret room we do not know about."

"Maybe it's a mistake on the architect's part," Steve offered weakly.

Tony gave him an incredulous look.

"Tell me you don't believe that?"

Steve sighed.

"I don't."

"Stark," Natasha interjected, "What do you want to do about this?"

"Tony wants to go exploring," said Bruce. He looked resigned.

"SHIELD doesn't want us to know what's down there? Well, tough luck; we are going to find out anyway. Get ready kiddies, we are going on an adventure."

"Flashlight?"

"Check."

"Map?"

"Check."

"Water bottle?"

"Check."

"Extra clothing in case it's cold down there?"

"Check."

"Compass?"

"Check."

"Signal jamming device?"

"Check."

"Decoding device?"

"Check."

"Lock-picking and safe-breaking tools?"

"Check and Check."

"Good," said Tony. He closed his notebook with a satisfied smile. "We're ready to go."

"I cannot believe I'm coming with you," Steve moaned as he followed their little group of 4 in to Tony's awaiting car. "I'm going to get in to so much trouble for this."

"Live a little, Steve," Tony chided him, "Who knows when any one of us will die considering the lifestyle we lead."

"That is strangely comforting," Steve said, looking disturbed by the revelation, "Thanks Tony."

Tony gave him a small smile before instructing the driver on where to go.

"So," said Tony once the divider between the driver and the back seat was raised, "How are we going to play this?"

"Do you know where to go once we are inside?" Steve asked.

"I already remember the layout," said Natasha with the confidence of someone who had successfully completed more than 55 covert missions in her lifetime. "I can direct us."

"Good," Tony nodded, "Now we need to find a way in."

"Strategically speaking," said Steve, looking down at the map of the area surrounding the main building. He moved a little closer to Tony so that he could spread the map as flat as he can in the confined space they were in. "We need to park a little farther and make our approach by foot."

"I'm not sure if it's a good idea to use our access key," Natasha mused, "Fury will know something is up if we are here on our day off."

"We could go through the service bay," Bruce suggested, "I know the guard working there. He'll let us in incognito."

No one bothered to ask him how that happened. Judging by Bruce's expression, he was relieved.

The car drove for a few more minutes before pulling up a small unassuming alleyway a few blocks away from SHIELD HQ. This was, Steve had determined, the closest the vehicle could get without attracting undesired attention. Tony didn't mind the walk; it'll help him clear his mind.

"Steve," Tony said once the car had stopped, "I need you to stay here to warn us of any new developments on the outside."

"I guess it can't be helped," Steve sighed but didn't look too disappointing at being left behind.

Swiftly, the trio got out of the car and retrieved their gear from the trunk of the car. Once that was done, they started to make their walk towards HQ.

The service entrance was situated on the side of the building and was only guarded by a tired looking man with messy black hair and black framed glasses. His eyes widened a little as he recognized Bruce and smiled readily as the doctor approached.

"Bruce," he said, a hint of a British accent coloring his words, "It's so good to see you."

"James," Bruce smiled, shaking the other's hand, "Everyone, this is James. He's a guard here."

"It's nice to meet you all," said James, "What are you doing here on your day off?"

"I forgot something inside," Bruce said, "But I really don't want to let Fury know I'm here in case he gets some idea of asking us to work. Think you can do me a favor and let us in secretely?"

"For you my friend?" James nodded, "It would be my pleasure."

James extracted from his pocket an access card and moved towards the door. He slid the card in to the slot and used his fingerprints to dissatisfaction the security.

"In you go then," he said, moving aside to the group pass through the open door.

"Thanks," Bruce said as they moved as an unit to enter.

James closed the door behind him.

"That was easy," Tony said, looking delighted, "Alright Natasha, your turn."

They moved through the building with efficiency and due haste, mostly thanks to Natasha's expert directions and before they knew it, they were in the basement level of SHIELD HQ, looking for the mysterious set of stairs they had seen on the blueprint but with no immediate luck. Not really surprising considering how dark and abandoned the whole place was.

"I have never been here," Bruce said, sounding a little freaked, "And I'll probably be happy never to be back."

"I have to agree with you," said Tony. It was, by anyone's standards, a little creepy. All it needed was a child's disembodied voice floating in the air and it would be the perfect set for some b-rated horror movie.

"Stark," Natasha suddenly said, "I think I found it."

"Thank god," Tony sighed, quickly making his way to her. The entrance to the stairs was hidden by a large crate and was only revealed once it had been pushed aside. "Can you get it open?"

Natasha leaned down and pulled, and Tony was surprised when it gave easily. It was obvious that someone had been here recently or else it wouldn't have been this easy to open.

"Let's go."

They moved quietly down the stairs, making sure to shine their flashlights as close to their feet as possible to avoid unnecessary light pollution and giving away their presence if they weren't along. Luckily, that didn't seem to be the case.

"I think we're safe," Tony said, once they had reached the bottom level. He looked around. "This looks like some kind of lab."

"I agree," Bruce said, taking in the complicated machinery. "A very well-funded one from the looks of it."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Tony muttered to himself. This lab reminded him too much of Dr. Frankenstein's lab for his own peace of mind. He really hoped SHIELD hadn't been doing human experimentations down here.

And that was when Bruce gasped in a horrified tone; "Oh my god."

Tony turned.

"What is it?" he asked urgently.

Instead of replying, Bruce raised a trembling hand and pointed to one of the giant ceiling to floor tubes. Tony followed his finger and felt immediately sick at what he found.

Because in one of the tubes, his body attached to at least 25 different wires, was a teenage boy.

TBC

Next Chapter:

Tony frees Harry and smuggles him out of Shield.

Harry wakes up and tries to adjust to the real world after having spent his entire life inside a test tube.

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THE GRAND RESCUE

"Get him down, Get him down! Bruce, go find a way to drain the liquid in side the tube! There must be some kind of abort button on the console."

"I'm trying! Tony, stop yelling!" Bruce exclaimed.

"I'll try to find something to break this by force," Natasha offered, moving around silently, in search of a weapon.

Tony stood with his eyes closed, trying to think. He really didn't want to break the tube physically when doing so could possibly hurt the boy. But if Bruce can't find the off button, breaking it would be their only choice. There was no way Tony was letting this boy stay here one moment longer. The things SHIELD must have done to him; the implications made him nauseous. When Steve finds out about this, he would probably explode. And with good reason too. Tony didn't care about all the "for greater good" crap. Nothing, and he meant nothing, could ever justify this.

Luckily, Tony was pulled from his dark thoughts when Bruce gave out a triumphant shout. He had found the elusive off button.