Chapter Text
It was precisely eight months three weeks and six days after he was released from SHIELD’s care into society that he found himself getting restless and completely giving up the pretense of living normal, civilian life. He had managed to earn himself a degree or two, finishing two-year courses in a year. He had managed to publish few journals. He took out more patent on his designs than he cared. All of this was done under the name Eduardo Ferro, the identity SHIELD had kindly made for him (note the sarcasm please)
He was strongly advised to change his appearance to separate him with Howard Stark, the several years deceased Stark Industries founder and weapons manufacturing pioneer, despite his appearance was somewhat younger and healthier looking than Stark from the time of his death (supposedly that was what being dead and frozen did to you, he bet that many people would be dying to achieve that, yes, pun intended). He finally relented and chose to dye his hair into lighter brown, shave his face clean to remove his signature facial hair and wear thin-rimmed glasses.
Often times the simplest change was the best way to deter others from recognizing familiar faces (though not as simple as wearing glasses and taking it off, seriously, Superman set up a bad precedent, he wished it was that easy, dyeing hair was such a pain). He didn’t fail to notice how his usual doctor-nurse-psychiatrist team addressed him rather carefully after he made the changes, even the unflappable SHIELD director made a double take at his appearance.
Director Fury had been quite an enigma, a piece of puzzle that didn’t quite fit. For someone who was in charge of a covert intelligence agency, the man was rather upfront when it came to sharing the contents in his file (redacted as it was, he had no illusion, he imagined his actual file was much longer, probably with many notes and analysis) and didn’t delegate the task of returning him to society to any of his subordinate and instead took care of everything himself. It was either that Howard Stark, or the knowledge that he was alive was that dangerous or Howard Stark mattered much to him, but for what reason, he couldn’t fathom. He didn’t know the director well enough to make a guess.
From what he could glean (he was working on his hacking skills), the life of Eduardo Ferro closely resembled the life of Howard Stark, or as close as it should be possible. His birth year was moved up by few decades. A wife and a son. Wife died in an accident, son missing, instead of estranged. An engineer, an inventor, but instead of weapons, he invented industrial appliances.He had a feeling that his psychiatrist had a hand in this, probably hoping that familiarity would help to jog his memories, and should they come back, he would have no difficulty in incorporating them with his current identity, which was rather presumptuous of them, while he wasn’t even certain whether he wanted them back at all.
He didn’t quite know what to make of Howard Stark. The file provided nothing but bare facts, nothing about the man’s character, of his motivations behind everything he did. From all of the information he gathered on his own (oh the wonders of hacking, the world practically opened up beneath his fingers), Howard Stark was charismatic man, there was no denying that. He carried himself with calm confidence behind his pleasant demeanor for public. He was smooth and suave whenever he was in functions or business meetings. He was the very epitome of a successful businessman. However, he could easily drop that public persona when the need arose, his very presence was imposing, his expression turned cold and unreadable.
This happened more often in the last years of his life somehow, it was as though that he had felt the need to keep others in the distance, as though he had lost trust and confidence in others. In the very year of his death, Howard Stark had completely alienated himself, even from his own family, his wife, Maria and his son, Tony. He wondered whether it was intentional on Howard’s part. Through the years, the appearance of Stark family together was becoming rarer and rarer that there were rumors of a divorce and some reacted with surprise that Maria was with Howard at the time of the accident.
Meanwhile, the car accident itself and the circumstances around it were rather suspicious, but there was no sign of foul play (confirmed from the police reports he managed to lay his hands on, along with SHIELD’s reports on the crash). The SHIELD analyst seemed skeptical whether anyone could fool the Howard Stark, especially considering his paranoia.
Of all things he was certain of Howard Stark was that he was very paranoid. He could never turn off his instinctive reaction to scan his surroundings for suspicious people and activities, to check the room and have escape route before he entered, to read into people’s actions as innocuous as they were, but most surprising was how his reaction was leaning towards fight than flight.
This was most perplexing of the mystery that was Howard Stark, because nothing in his file suggested any combat training, formal or informal. The SI founder was also a workaholic, he spent insane amount of time in his work, whether in SI or SHIELD, making him wonder when the man found time to train himself (not to mention his annual disappearance to the Arctic, this was another thing that confused him). After he went through extensive physical rehabilitation, regaining full use of his body, he found that he had good reflexes, such as beyond-average reflexes. If it was only having a mind that couldn’t stop thinking and analyzing, he could release the tension through reading journals, doing experiments and tinkering in his workshop, but with these reflexes, what was to say that he wouldn’t impetuously get into fights just because one stupid fool said the wrong thing at the wrong time?
Right now, even as he was elbow deep into his latest invention, he could feel the low thrum in his bones and the tension in his muscles. The only reason why he wasn’t already was only because Howard Stark, being a public figure he was, was already used to suppressing them. It seemed he was not an alcoholic by choice, but by necessity. It was the better option compared to drugs. He suspected though, it was not without any side effects, and for that reason, he refused to drink, knowing that he would easily pick up the habit along its downsides. However, that left him with no other viable options in dealing with his pent up energy, unless…
Well, he was getting bored, he had no further obligations to fulfill and he was due for a visit anyway.
That was what he said when he made an unexpected appearance in SHIELD’s secret headquarters then was brought to the Director himself. Fury was not amused, not that he expected the other man to be, his lone eye boring through him as they were left alone in his office. After all, no one should know the exact location of their base of operations and yet he was, waltzing into the headquarters and asked for the director as though it was any other office building.
“How do you find our location?”
“I noticed some things during my stay, made some analysis, narrowed down the possible locations and made some guess.” He shrugged nonchalantly, not bothering to go into details as he was slouching comfortably on the hard chair that was obviously not meant to be seated in a long time.
“Things?” Fury put his hand in front of him while leaning forward and glaring at him, to no effect, he merely looked at the director with a bored expression.
“Soil and water sample, time and transport used to transfer me from the headquarters, among them.”
“How do you get access into the headquarters?”
“Howard Stark has access.” That response effectively silenced Fury. Using this opportunity, he mirrored the other man’s stance, folding his hands before him and leaning forward that they were but inches apart.
“You know why I am here, Director. I want to work for SHIELD.” He stated bluntly, fearlessly returning the dark man’s gaze.
“Do you know what you are asking?”
“I do, Director,” he calmly responded. “I have Howard Stark’s access, which means I know exactly what kind of organization SHIELD is.” At this, Fury leaned back on his leather seat; his face was thoughtful for once.
“It’s not like I’m asking to be a field agent. I’m fine being one of your scientists in R&D without the same clearance that Howard had.” He said nonchalantly, not wanting to give away how much he wanted this, but of course, being a master spy, Fury didn’t fail to notice this.
“What do you want in return?”
He was half-tempted to answer that he wanted nothing, but it was too obvious of a lie. Everyone always wanted something in return, even well-intentioned ones; it was a basic fact of life. He didn’t want to give away too much; especially he hadn’t had much to give in the first place. He wasn’t one to trust easily and this man had done nothing to earn his trust… yet. Fury had tried though; he was a bit surprised when he came to that realization.
Fury didn’t keep him locked up or under observation after he regained his full health. The man didn’t lie of his true identity and gave him what he wanted before he could ask for them. The Director kept him in loose watch (oh he noticed their routine check, he had noticed them in three days since he was released from SHIELD and made some retaliations on his own, he couldn’t forget the look in the agent’s face when he found out that he was tricked into It’s A Small World ride and would like to see the look of whoever in charge of checking his inbox when they found out their computer will keep running Pink Panther theme, yeah, he was old school, sue him), but otherwise, remained in a distance. His identity as Eduard Ferro was another form of freedom he gave him. He also had a feeling that Fury didn’t let anyone know that Howard Stark was alive. The man was too large, too important to be ignored, especially if he was involved in the founding of the very organization Fury led. He also doubted that Fury didn’t have someone to answer to, who wouldn't be pleased for hiding the fact that one of the organization’s founders had returned to life.
“…Howard Stark,” he started, “What kind of man he was?”
“…Why would it matter?” He could see the care of which Fury spoke the words, as though he was navigating between landmines.
“Do you know I could tell how many weapons you have on your person and their kind from their weight? Do you know I could tell your preference for coffee and tea from your habits? Do you know I could tell where all the cameras in this room are positioned?” He said all of this tonelessly, his eyes never leaving the other’s face, remained unchanged even after the revelation.
“I would expect Howard Stark to understand a thing or two about machines and computers, weapons are a given, considering what he did for a living, but never I expected him to know about turning the most innocuous things into weapons and using them. Strange that I have no memories of the life I’ve lived, but that I know things just like I’ve known them for all my life.
“Do you really think that I am meant for civilian life, with or without memories?”
There was a long, heavy silence as both men merely stared at each other. Surprisingly, it was broken by Fury himself.
“No.”
He would be lying if he wasn’t surprised by the somewhat honest admission from the enigmatic man.
“You’re certain that this is what you want?”
He had wondered before what made the director went such lengths for him, among them ran the lines that Howard Stark, or the knowledge that he was alive was that dangerous or Howard Stark mattered much to the man personally. He was leaning more and more to the latter, oddly enough, for someone who seemed to care little of others.
“Am I that much of a hassle?” Instead of blurting the question he had in mind, he settled into joking manner. The knowing look in Fury’s eyes was painfully familiar, but he could never pin it down, however much he liked to.
“You’ll be treated like other new recruits. You will have to take tests and can officially become a part of SHIELD if you passed. ”
“If? So little faith.” Then his eyes narrowed in suspicion, “You won’t rig the test just to make me fail, will you?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Despite the toneless voice, he could see a ghost of smirk on playing at the edges of his mouth. It was as though the man was teasing him, in retaliation of the mess he was getting the other into. It also made the director seemed much more human.
“Here’s the address. Be there tomorrow at 7 sharp.” Fury slid a card on the smooth mahogany table towards him, which he caught reflexively. He wasn’t surprised that the recruitment process wasn’t in the headquarters itself. He would bet that the place would appear like any other office building and in itself, it was a test for the recruits. He simply had the advantage having been already in the headquarters.
Having gained what he wanted, he didn’t bother to stay any longer. He stood up from the uncomfortable chair, tempted to stretch his poor limbs, but he simply turned around and walked towards the door.
“Don’t worry, I’ll let myself out.” He waved back with the card in his front and middle fingers.
“Make sure you do.” Without looking, he knew Fury was giving his best threatening glare. Before he reached the door, he stopped, wanting to know one thing before he left. He turned slightly, enough to have a good look on the spy sitting at his desk.
“He was your friend, wasn’t he?”
The flicker of surprise, the briefest look of vulnerability that crossed Fury’s features was enough of an answer to him as he once again turned his back on Howard Stark’s old friend. He was starting to get a read on the master spy, and he could be certain that he meant no harm to his person. If anything, it seemed the man tried to protect him. He would not be as naive and foolish as to give his complete trust to him, but he knew that he could count on the SHIELD director to give what he needed, even though he had to dig beneath the lies and deceit.
He took another look on the simple card, although he had memorized the address before slipping it back into his pocket. He couldn’t help the smirk that was tugging his lips at the thought what was awaiting him, and he knew that he was making the right choice.
Now, he only had to make sure that he wouldn't make it easy for them to get rid of him and passed the damn test.
Eduardo Ferro whistled a tune to himself as he slipped soundlessly among the crowd.