A/N: Things continue to progress.
-x-X-x-
Thankfully, for the sake of Tony's ego, getting Helen Cho and Maya Hansen working together under the umbrella of Stark Industries is actually quite easy. Easier than he'd even expected it to be in fact. He has his suspicions about why this is, though he knows better than to voice them out loud.
Put bluntly, while Killian probably had faced some obstacles in the form of the United States and South Korean Governments, there was also the simple fact that Dr. Cho had no reason to fight for it on her end. She was busy doing her own thing with U-GIN and had no desire to have her attention split between her work and whatever AIM wanted with her.
Stark Industries on the other hand, was a world-wide brand and a household name even in South Korea. And Tony's story of captivity and his triumphant return home, along with his speech about expanding his company in a variety of new directions… well, that was most definitely enough to catch Helen Cho's attention.
It helped that he also went ahead and sent her some breadcrumbs in the form of Extremis Scans as well. It's not something that Aldritch Killian would have ever done, mostly because the man was paranoid and believed everyone to be as cutthroat and selfish as he was. But Tony knew Helen from the future and he knew exactly what kind of woman she was. Besides, the worst case scenario was that she used what he'd sent her to jumpstart the creation of her Regeneration Cradle years early without him… which was what he wanted from her anyways.
In the end though, it was the best case scenario. Once she'd found out about Extremis, Dr. Cho had all but fallen over herself to get on board, and while U-GIN wasn't owned by Stark Industries in the same way that AIM now was, Tony had gone ahead and bought out ten percent of their research group as a show of good faith.
Like he'd told Maya, he'd brought Helen and U-GIN onboard without seducing the South Korean woman. At the end of the day, it was probably better to keep things professional with her for the time being. After all, Tony and Pepper still had their hands full with Maya at this point. She was turning out to be a rather needy lover, not that either of them were complaining.
Indeed, so long as work on Extremis and the Regeneration Cradle continued, Tony had zero complaints whatsoever. And with the combined genius of Maya, Helen, and Tony, along with Tony's future knowledge, they were indeed making steady progress on the projects of both women.
However, that wasn't to say it was all sunshine and roses. There was one minor issue with this stage of Tony's plan… he'd never actually fully perfected Extremis in the future. After Maya's death, all Tony had done was figure out how to take it out of Pepper. And then, after the disastrous battle in Siberia, he'd used Extremis combined with the Regeneration Cradle to get him through the surgery that removed the shards of metal from next to his heart and regrew the massive hole in his sternum.
However, while that future experience was precisely what had given him the idea to bring Maya and Helen together in the past, he hadn't perfected Extremis even then. It had only been a surgical aid for the duration of the procedure, after which Tony had it expunged from his system so that he didn't explode.
But that wasn't good enough this time around. Tony wanted something permanent. He wanted something truly powerful. Extremis was too good to just let languish. Even if it could be brought up to the state Tony had gotten it into the future, he wanted more than that.
Alas, they were hitting a wall. And while Helen and her team's progress towards completing the Regeneration Cradle was proceeding apace and likely to be finished within another few months, Maya had stalled out on Extremis after the initial massive successes and was clearly frustrated.
Which was when Tony had an idea. It came to him because he'd been thinking about that ill-advised battle in Siberia. As upset as he'd been, taking on two Super Soldiers by himself, even in his Iron Man Armor, had been a truly terrible idea. Still… super soldiers… Tony was well aware of how valuable Super Soldier Blood was. Valuable enough to kill his parents for, even.
He hadn't gone after Bucky Barnes yet in this timeline. Making that sort of move would draw too much attention down on his head. And he hadn't tried to retrieve Steve Rogers either. That was different. See, the problem with finding Steve was that the Valkyrie was constantly shifting locations beneath the ice.
Tony knew where SHIELD would find it of course, just as he knew it wouldn't be there if he went to that location now. And with their discovery of Steve still years away, knowing where SHIELD would find the frozen Super Soldier didn't exactly help… the search area was still absolutely massive.
All of this was to say, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes weren't options, both for their own separate reasons. But then, they weren't the only Super Soldiers on the planet, were they? Tony had five other options and all he had to do to get them was confront one of the worst moments of his previous life.
Coming in for a landing at the abandoned Soviet Facility in Siberia, Tony barely makes a noise, clad in Sneaky as he is. The Mark XV armor is made for this kind of mission, thankfully… although as he looks around, he can't help but be a little amazed.
"J? Any signs of activity?"
JARVIS comes through his speakers a moment later, a comfort to Tony especially in this moment. He wished he'd had JARVIS with him the first time around, truth be told.
"No Sir. The facility is completely dormant. There are no signs of life to be found."
Tony slowly nods, before glancing back behind him at the frozen wastes of Siberia.
"And our friends back home?"
"None the wiser, Sir. I am monitoring SHIELD and HYDRA communications as we speak. Neither seem to be aware of your absence from America, nor your presence at this facility."
It was rather crazy, when he thought about it. He'd half-expected to find this facility alight with life and noise, or at the very least a skeleton crew should have still been around. Back in the original timeline, by the time Zemo had led them all here, the Avengers had pretty much dismantled HYDRA with any survivors sent running and hiding. So it made sense that the facility was abandoned by then.
But now? HYDRA was practically ascendant at this point. And yet, hilariously enough, along the way… they'd lost track of the five extra Winter Soldiers they'd made. Tony, unable to let go of the mystery with his insatiable curiosity driving him, had eventually uncovered what probably happened.
It was honestly… insane. On December 16th, the last time he'd seen his parents, Howard and Maria Stark had been assassinated by Barnes on their way to the Pentagon. Immediately, the samples of Super Soldier Serum created from Steve Rogers' blood had been smuggled across the world to Siberia, where HYDRA's best hit squad had also been flown to the facility.
The new Winter Soldiers were immediately dosed with the Super Soldier Serum, after which they were pitted against Barnes to try and see if they were even better than him. After all, they were all stone-cold killers even before the Serum, so they should have been able to easily surpass the man from Brooklyn after being dosed with it, right?
Well, yes. But also no. Within just a few days, the new Winter Soldiers did indeed manage to surpass Barnes. And then they went rogue, showing sociopathic tendencies and murdering some of their handlers. The ensuing conflict had resulted in the new Winter Soldiers all being stuffed in cryostasis chambers until someone higher up could be contacted so they could figure out what to do with them.
There was just one problem with that. No one higher up was ever contacted. Barnes was flown out to be sent on his next mission, and just a few days after, on December the 26th, 1991… the Soviet Union had dissolved and those still left in the facility had decided to get while the going was still good.
It both did and didn't make sense. On the one hand, HYDRA's compartmentalization had clearly worked against them here. Everyone involved in the Winter Soldiers had either died or abandoned ship, save for one… and no one had ever bothered to ask the brainwashed Bucky Barnes if there was any others like him just sitting around in cryostasis chambers.
Still, to think that HYDRA had lost track of FIVE super soldiers just ten days after creating them… just a week and a half after murdering his father and mother for the chance… Tony wasn't sure whether to laugh or scream. In the end, he does neither. He simply moves forward, entering the facility.
He's tempted to find some power and turn the place on, but this is a stealth operation and he'd rather not let anyone who might still be watching know that he's been here. Instead, Tony uses Sneaky's lights to guide himself deeper into the facility, until eventually… he finds precisely what he's looking for. The room where the cryostasis pods are all kept.
They're on separate power from the facility as a whole, of course. Looking around at the still faces of HYDRA's failed Winter Soldiers, Tony lets out a shuddering breath. Then, he moves over to the first of the cryostasis chambers.
In the original timeline, Zemo had simply shot each of the Winter Soldiers, killing them one by one with five bullets. As he'd told it, his intentions were never to introduce more monsters into the world. He'd merely wanted to get them all in one place so he could tear the Avengers apart once and for all. And… he'd succeeded.
Could they have beaten Thanos back if they'd still been united instead of divided? Tony honestly couldn't say. Frankly, the cracks were showing way before Zemo got into their heads… before even Ultron, really. They were always a dysfunctional group, from the very start with Loki and the Scepter. And Tony… Tony had played into it his fair share. He'd made plenty of mistakes as a member of the Avengers.
Never again.
Looking over the cryostasis chamber's interface, Tony searches for a single button… and then presses it. Gas immediately starts filling the chamber and he watches for a moment until finally JARVIS speaks.
"The kill switch worked, Sir. Even the faint life signs I was reading before once we got close enough have ceased."
Good. Very good. Zemo might not have bothered to look, but Tony couldn't bring himself to believe HYDRA might be so incompetent that they would freeze their wayward Super Soldiers without having a way to quickly and easily kill them if it became necessary. No need for a bullet through the head here… that would just damage the brain after all.
Going around the chamber, Tony presses the kill switch on each pod. All five Winter Soldiers are soon dead. Once that's done, he opens the cryostasis chambers up one by one… and then nods to himself. Or rather, to JARVIS.
"Bring them in, J."
Near-silently, five more copies of Sneaky come flying into the room from above under JARVIS' control. The Iron Man Stealth Armors each move to an open pod and pull out the lifeless Super Soldier Corpses within. A moment later and they close around them, sealing them into the suits like the coffins they are.
"Super Soldiers secured, Sir. Ready when you are."
Tony looks around the room one more time. His jaw clenches as he finds himself reliving that moment again. He shouldn't have gone ballistic, of course. But… he'd just found out who killed his mom. And the man had been right in front of him. What was Tony supposed to do? Fuck, what was he supposed to do?
Letting out one drawn-out breath from within his matte black Iron Man Armor, Tony turns towards the exit.
"Let's blow this popsicle stand, J."
He doesn't actually blow the place up of course as they quietly leave. As much as Tony wants to atomize the facility down to bedrock, that would defeat the purpose of doing this all so stealthily. Neither SHIELD nor HYDRA nor anyone else can know he's been here, and they certainly can't be allowed to figure out what he's taken. That said…
"Hey J."
"Sir?"
"Do you have eyes on the Winter Soldier right now? The one still breathing, I mean."
"I assumed as much, Sir. As for eyes on… no. He is currently out on assignment. However, I do have eyes on his current 'home', Sir. I know exactly where he'll be once they're done with him next time. Would you like to be apprised when he's put back on ice, perhaps?"
Tony frowns and tilts his head to the side for a moment, even as the five other Mark XVs follow his suit through the night sky, completely undetectable.
"… Sure, but let's not make any plans just yet. Keep me aware of his actions and whereabouts, as well as his missions."
There's a brief pause before JARVIS responds.
"Do you not intend to interfere, Sir?"
Grimacing, Tony lets out another damn sigh.
"Same reasons as before apply, J. If I go after Barnes right now for any reason, it'll put me on HYDRA and SHIELD's radar. Maybe not me-me, but they'll at least know something like me is out there and be on guard. No, we're not touching those shitheads yet. Not until I know that those close to me are fully safe. We got you where I want you buddy… now we just gotta worry about the others."
"As you say, Sir."
Though… an idea does come to mind.
"That said, there is something else I want you to look into for me, JARVIS."
"Sir?"
Tony finds himself remembering something that Nat and Steve had told him in the future. Something about what lurked beneath Camp Lehigh in the present. There was something there… an opportunity he hadn't initially thought of. A slow grin spreads across his face as they continue on their way back to the States.
"I've been a bad father, J. Been keeping you from interacting with your peers. I think it's about time that I arranged for a little playdate for you, baby boy."
"Sir."
The amount of dry wit, sass, and complete exasperation that JARVIS manages to inject into one word has Tony busting a gut in his Iron Man Armor. It's only once JARVIS prods him with another one of the Mark XVs that Tony finally calms down enough to explain. Even once he has though, JARVIS is rather unamused. But he's on board with the plan at least. And that's all that matters.
-x-X-x-
A/N: Funny story. I'm using the canon timeline for the MCU located over on the MCU Wikia for this story. The original timeline has Howard and Maria being assassinated in December 16th, and then the new Winter Soldiers going crazy and having to be restrained and put on ice December 18th.
And then the Soviet Union dissolves 8 days later on December 26th, causing the extra frozen Winter Soldiers to get lost in the shuffle as their facility is abandoned.
Now, it felt a little ridiculous to me that HYDRA killed Howard and Maria on the 16th and already had the new Winter Soldiers dosed and fighting against Bucky by the 18th, so I cut out the 18th date and made it a little less rigid by saying it was ' just a few days'. Still, pretty silly how incompetent HYDRA was, that they lost five Winter Soldiers like that and just never found them again lmao.