"I'm glad you're finally up on your feet again, kid." Bucky said with a relieved smile on his pale face. I could still see the traces of sleepless nights under his eyes in dark circles, and the memories that came to him in his sleep made his blue eyes guarded. He was still haunted by the past, and so was I.

I nodded, my eyes dancing between the people who were gathering around the table. I noticed that they gave me enough space. Perhaps it was because I had been rather jumpy and avoiding most of them the last couple of days, or maybe it was because of the crutches that rested against my chair.

I was trying to grasp the reality, the fact that I shouldn't be so paranoid in this building, with those people. But there was always this heavy feeling in my chest, it didn't seem to go away no matter where I was.

But then I realized that to get better understanding about what was going on, I needed to hear what Stark had to say. It was safe to say he wasn't that pleased with me, I could feel the bitterness that hung over him and the large ego that could not take any blows. Apparently, me trashing his suit was still a touchy subject. I had apologized, which he had ignored, but he had felt slightly better, which was all I had been aiming for.

"It'll be fine, Atlas. I'll be here, I just... I just wanted you to know that kid." Bucky said quietly after inspecting my shallow breathing and eyes that kept jumping from one person to another. I knew my body language was clear as a sunny day, but I just couldn't help the anxiety that had been building in my chest ever since that certain day. Those words were meant for me, and only to me. If anyone at this table heard, they didn't show it.

I gave Bucky a side glance, trying to smile but I wasn't sure it worked, so, I just nodded. I tucked my head, blinking as I realized I didn't have that long hair to hide behind anymore. Apparently, Natasha had said that new beginnings always started with new looks. That had been a refreshing moment, to get rid of that long hair. However, he hadn't gotten to Bucky. The Soldier was adamant on keeping his hair, but I knew better. There was no way he was letting anyone near him with scissors or just a trimmer.

I noticed Clint coming towards us, eyeing the empty chair that was beside me and I tensed. With a flash of blue light, Pietro sat on it, making the grey chair jerk back slightly as he sat there with his legs up on the table, looking as if he had been sitting on it the past half an hour. With his hands behind his head, Pietro looked up at Clint smugly. "What's up Pelican?" I could sense the annoyance, which made me curl my hands into fists anxiously, Clint must have noticed as he simply chuckled at the smirking white haired man. "Oh nothing, just walked by and stumbled upon a raggabrash." The man said, walking away with a smile on his face as he saw the confusion on Pietros expression. "Hey, what does it mean? Oy! Bird Eye, what does it mean!" He sat up straighter, ignoring the way Wanda shook her head from across the table or the muffled laugh from others. Pietro turned towards me and Bucky whose jaw was ticked. "What does it mean?" The man with heavy accent asked us quietly, leaning in as he hoped to get an answer from us. Realizing Bucky wasn't going to say anything, I shruggled, not having any idea of what it meant.

"Alrighty, is it really necessary for all of you to be here? I feel like it's a press conference like that, I should have put on my new suit, FRI? where is my new suit?" Natasha didn't even blink as she gave Tony one of her many, unnerving looks. The billionaire gulped and ignored the instructions his Al gave him.

"Okay, let's get started." Stark said, opening a folder he had been keeping under his arm securely. "Hey, are you even okay with all of us being here? You know, you're allowed to keep secrets if you want. Family is everyone's own business." Pietro said quietly, searching my glassy eyes to make sure I was still present. "it is fine." I answered simply, because looking the way Tony tried to mask his frown, I had a feeling he'd have more to tell then just where my real parents were.

"Okay, so, Hydra had your information only on one server, they had no time to clean their data, which gave us everything there was. However, considering how much time of your past you had been in one of Germany bases, I have a feeling there still is something in that country left of you.

"Your full name is Atlas James Elison, exactly two weeks ago, you turned seventeen. Your mother passed away of meningioma. Your father, who was from Norway actually, Grogan Elison -uh what a name-was found dead in his office in STAR Labs. I also dug up those old news, for two years your mother wrote articles and sent your picture to news. Apparently, you had mysteriously dissappeared and she kept looking for you until the tumor got to her. Her name was Anna Elison."

A deadly quiet hung over the table. I felt as if I had been smacked over my head with a rock, or possibly a hammer.
I could feel their eyes filled with unknown emotions stare at me carefully.

However, I could not tear my eyes from the photos that had been hidden in the folder with my name on it.

Those photos were the most beautiful thing my cold eyes had ever witnessed. I knew that if they didn't give me those, I'd steal them, hide them somewhere safe and when it got hard again, look at the smiling faces of my parents and remind myself that some time, a long, long time ago, I had a family. I could faintly feel their surpise as my stoic facade cracked, and the corners of my pale lips turned upwards slightly. A ghost of a smile danced on my lips and I could not remember the last time I had smiled.
I realized that I was human, at least in some ways. My parents, dead or not, had been flesh and blood and bones. And that I wasn't a mix of chemicals that someone had decided to just throw together to make a monster. I was born out of love, not out of someone's incubator.

"Do you happen to know where she- both of them have been buried? I-I would like to bring flowers to them." I found myself asking, my voice quieter then usually asi realized that there was a lump in my throat.

Stark cleared his throat and shuffled with the papers as he avoided eye contact. Sadness, the man was sad. What for, I did not know. "Yes, uh, I mean, I will search it out for you bud, you can even take one of my planes, unless you'd like to use your own way of flying, that would do too, no passport problems or anything. But let's move on before this soap opera makes me feel something and Thor over there cries a river of Asgardian tears on my carpet."

Natasha told something to him under her breath, but I was too occupied by staring at the woman on the picture, my mother, Anna. How wonderful to know. "But what about the murderers? Wasn't there anything about them?" Pietro voiced, leaning on the table as he glared at the folder Clint was skimming through.

"No, the case was shut down after not getting any leads. But Ms Elison didn't seem to give up hope. She kept blaming his husband's brother, Hendrik Elison, said the man had dissappeared around the time as her son did. And that the man had always been sneaking around their house. Other then that, nothing."

"Sir?" Tony stared at me. "What?" I cleared my throat, ignoring the look Loki was giving me from a cross the room. "The name, Hendrik, was he a doctor?" Tony nodded and I looked down, realizing that my mother had been right. "They used to call him Doctor Elison back in the base, I and every other experiment was told to call him Sir."

"Stalin would have suited better."

I didn't smile st his attempt of a joke, I didn't even know what that Stalin was.
It just baffled me, if he was brother to my father, how could he have done such a horrid deed?

"He is dead thought, along with Masinzky and Budnikov. For a long time, you were held in some of the bases in Germany. And would you look at that. Experiment Beast escaped with another Subject called Quicksilver. Wonder who that was." Stark said humorously.

I vaguely glanced towards Loki, he had played a big part in it.

He had been the start of this whole story. I could see the ghost of a smirk on his face, for everyone else thought, it might have looked like a sneer.

You're welcome Draki.

"It says that your brainwaves are very different from normal humans, that you're very sensitive to emotions." it came out more like a questions as Tony looked at me for answers.

"Atlas is an empath, he feels what others are feeling. Apparently, your band of humans did not care to mention it." Loki answered for me, which was a huge relief on my part, I might be talking, but I was still struggling to express my thoughts.

"How do you know that, Loki?" Steve, who had been awfully quiet the whole time asked the God of Mischief curiously. "I'm observant, Soldier."

Lies. He just likes to be in my head.

Stark snorted, catching the attention of the whole room again. "Yeah, sure thing Reindeer Games. That's very interesting fact, why didn't you tell us you could feel emotions like that? Kind of surprising, considering how closed off you are bud."

"Would you be happy to feel every single emotion in a room full of people, Tony?" Natasha asked the man, crossing her arms.

"Okay, sensitive topic to everyone, let's move on. Uh, apparently, your controlling wasn't that hard, considering you relied on your instincts more then to logic. They realized fast how to get you to obey like a dog." I could hear Bucky growl lowly under his breath, glaring at Stark who ignored him. I knew the man was skipping some details.

Like how I had gotten out of control, killed people, killed agents, killed doctors, cleaners and targets. Because at the beginning, I could just vaguely remember, I had been untamable.

"Then they figured out a serum, and words, there are some trigger words as well. But they aren't written here. I assume they were with Budnikov or Masinzky, as they were the two in charge of you. And since the bases were pretty much blown up, I can assume so were the words. Gone forever."

I could hear Thor mumbling something to Steve, telling how he could recall the big explosion that shook the grounds.

"Hendrik was apparently a little shit--" "language" "--who refused to tell anyone the receipt he baked the sweetest cake in his lab. As much as everyone else tried to come up with the serum that made you, you, no one could do it. However, years later, with your blood cells and scale molecules, they managed to create something. Together, they were called The Children of Beast. Experiment Alpha and Experiment Beta. Beta didn't live throught the experiments, but Alpha, well, I guess we saw him just some time back in all of his glory. Safe to say, the thing is eliminated. And after that, they ran out of time, obviously. You were the last big thing from Hydra, kid. "

I soaked up the information, trying to place it in order while keeping everyone's emotions out of my head. It was easier, to ignore it and just try and understand my own past this time.
"So, I'm their final experiment." I stated, feeling some kind of relief wash over me.

"I think we're done for today, Tony." Steve said firmly, snapping the folder shut that Clint had finished with, making Pietro groan as it was snatched out of his grip.

"Get up and follow me." a smooth and silky voice of Loki commanded me. "He needs to rest that leg." Bucky said, looking the God of Mischief with annoyance. "Sometimes I wonder how narrow your mind is, but out of respect to you, I won't make a, what do you call it here? A joke out of it. The boy needs something else then closed rooms and the presence of strong minds."

And that's how I found myself, walking with crutches, following the tall God through the halls of this place.

***

Hey, can you guys like, give your review on this book? I want to make a chapter that just has the readers opinion on it :)

Overall, we're getting pretty close to the end ey?

I'm not tearing up right now.

Nope.

Uh, love ya'll peeps.