(A/N: Sooorrryy abt no updates heh :p)
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'Who the fuck knew that shit would happen?' Cruz lamented in his mind. Never would he have thought that his first school in this world would be a hydra sleeper school.
'But why the hell did it have to be here of all places?'
Cruz had recognized the pre school as a place to indoctrinate children into hydra. The reason was because in the hallway he had seen pictures of notable people in the school. However there was one that specifically caught his eye. A portrait of a man he had only seen a silhouette of in the MCU movies. The name "Gideon Malick" in bold white letters with a biography of the man. Apparently he had been a sponsor of the school.
Cruz remembered watching MCU analysis videos late night in his room and Gideon Malick had been apart of the S.H.I.E.L.D council. Particularly one if the hydra sleeper agents that would eventually turn on Fury later.
This wasn't the only thing. Inside each classroom as he walked past them to get to his he saw a particular poster in each room. Each in the same place. "For each time you fail let two more attempts take its place." littered the posters with a cartoon hydra in the background. If he hadn't caught on at that point he would be an idiot in the absolute sense. It was blatant as hell and anyone worth their salt would piece it together instantly it was like they weren't even trying to hide it.
But at present time Hydra has not been revealed to the world. That would happen in 2014. IF and only IF the timeline of the movies is followed. For all Cruz knew this could be a different version of the MCU.
'It does make sense though. The children at that school usually have parents that earn a lot but not too much.'
Even in his old world people who made a lot would be targeted by foreign operatives from overseas as a way to gain quick funds from people who made 6 figures which was not enough to make national news but still good enough to set your family up for success and any foreign operatives looking for a way to get quick funds. He had seen plenty of stories like that on the news.
That made them perfect targets. They were not affluent enough to protect themselves from getting caught up in Hydra's plans but they were suitable to be used as perfect financial chess pieces. Ways for the organization to plant their ideas in young minds who will inevitably hold important 'enough' positions. It may not seem like having one or two minor government officials is important. But all of it eventually adds up to weave one large web of corruption and cover ups.
Wayne looked at his son in the back seat. It looked like he was deep in thought for some reason. For a kid who just wreaked havoc through a pre-school to sit in the car so calmly was a bit out of the norm but when was his son not.
Celeste noticing her husbands look, caught where her husbands gaze was and noticed Cruz's odd behavior. Sure Wayne had passed it off as nothing to worry about however Celeste couldn't help but prod.
"What are you thinking about Cruz?"
"I wanna be home schooled." He blurted out not even stopping to think for a second.
'I'm acting a lot more childish than I would've expected.' Growing more cognizant of the fact that he was a child mentally and physically now was a shell shock to him. Indeed the principals reaction had been a wake up call. Along with his new found qualifications of genius. That's just asking to be ostracized and bullied. It'd be better to homeschool rather than putting himself in a position to be further ostracized by kids his own age.
'At least until around 5th grade. By that time a few kids my age would have developed enough to keep up with my intellect. Plus not being around other kids my age would be boring as all hell.' On top of that he was a black kid in the early 2000's with a genius level intellect. That's bound to draw negative attention from both adults and kids. Taking into account his socio-economic status if he were to enter the preppy private schools he was bound to be enrolled in there wouldn't be a lot of people that looked like him. Plus he was not quite in the information age where he could cancel someone by a press of a button on his phone. And even then that wouldn't always work when the perpetrators and larger than a single person.
Dreading being homeschooled but inevitably accepting that it was probably what was best for him for now. He examined his parents reactions to his request. 'Either you say yes or I throw a tantrum. What's it gonna be?' He thought to himself a glint of mischief in his eyes.
Celeste seeing the look in his eyes quickly came to a decision.
"Why do you want to be homeschooled?"
To stall. That was her plan.
Cruz stunned at the response couldn't help but think his mother was indeed still smarter than him. Even though he knew that they knew homeschooling was the best choice. Both parents even knew it before they had that unfortunate meeting in the office. Celeste nonetheless found a loophole in Cruz's unspoken ultimatum.
"Because kids my age are annoying and cry at everything." Cruz said catching on to what his parents had planned. Something in him just popped. Maybe it was the stress from the fact he almost got indoctrinated into hydra in what could be considered his first moments in the 'real world', maybe his lack of ability to understand abstract concepts that he was able to understand before maybe the lack of people his age he could talk to that could keep up with him rather than talking to minuscule amount of adults he could interact with as a child or maybe it was the fact he could feel himself becoming irrationally angry and then growing even more irritated at the fact he couldn't control this rising anger. Maybe it was one of those or maybe it wasn't any of those or maybe it was. Who could know?
"They can barely understand a fraction of my sentences too! Do you know how hard it was to convey the concept of abandonment to a bunch of children in less than a minute? Sure telling them their parents will never come back is one thing but hearing that from a kid they jus met and having to break down all the walls of mental reassurance they got from their parents prior to being dropped off requires a lot of deep and intricate planning with my words and then compressing them into bite sized pieces for their little pea sized freaking brains to understand!" Now Cruz realized that he had tons more options to remove himself from that school. One that required less chaos and impulsivity. He knew better now that the reason he did it was because he wanted to test something. Test just how little it would take to push someone who was mentally his age and intellectually far more incompetent than him, into a hysterical mess. Concrete evidence of what he and his parents already knew. No matter how many park visits no matter how many children at the park he wouldn't no actually, he couldn't make friends.
A test that was testament to his loneliness.
Cruz face as red as a tomato could no longer contain himself in that moment. Bursting into tears he cried the whole time home. Exchanging glances the set of parents could understand each other with a gaze. His Dad quick to pullover. Celeste got out and hopped into the back with Cruz. She embraced him in a hug. Cruz feeling the fabric of the coat his mother wore holding a slight coldness from the cold wind outside grabbed his mother even tighter burying his head into her chest.
"I'm sor. I'm sor-hick-ry. I-I didn't HICK mean it."
"It's okay baby. It's okay. Me and Dad both know you're just frustrated. We understand buddy. It's okay go ahead and cry it out. It's fine." Celeste consoled.
Eventually Cruz calmed down and fell asleep in his mothers arms and he had to be carried in by his father. He slept the whole day away too tired from crying.