A/N: Welcome to my next fanfiction. This is a full length story (100k words O.o) and it is more or less finished. I plan on updating weekly.

A couple quick notes: Chiune is Tadashi. He has amnesia so he doesn't remember his name. It will be dealt with. There are a couple of cameo appearances from Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. If you don't know who they are, don't worry about it. Lastly, there is an OC in this story but she is not there to be a love interest. There aren't really any pairings in this story.

Thank you for taking the time to read. Please enjoy!

"Come on!" he cried, grabbing on to the younger girl's arm. "Hurry! We don't have much time."

"Where are all the guards?" screamed the girl.

"Putting out the fire I started in my lab." he answered simply. The very thought of the flames made his heart beat erratically. Though he didn't remember the fire that he'd first been involved with, he still had the horrible burn scars to tell him that something bad had happened before he'd woken up in this God forsaken compound with no memories to speak of. "We only have one chance at this imouto otherwise Hydra will kill us both."

"No," the girl, well she was a young woman actually, shook her head. "They'll kill me. You're too valuable to them. They wouldn't do anything to hurt their robotics genius."

"Not since I made my refusal very clear. I won't work on their projects. Not anymore." he told her. The girl faltered a step but didn't lag enough for him to drag her.

"Y...you didn't!" she gasped in surprise. There was something completely awestruck in her face then it melted away into pride. "Good for you robot boy. I knew you had it in you."

"Don't thank me just yet. We aren't out of this place yet." he told her, trying to keep the smile off his face. He needed to be serious. He had to focus on how to get them both out of the underground Hellhole they'd both been stuck in. Suddenly the girl jerked to a stop. He felt her fall a little and turned back to look at her. She was staring down one of the connecting tunnels they'd just passed.

"This way," she said as she raised her hand to point.

He looked at her, raising his good and unscarred eyebrow. "What makes you so sure?"

"The Hydra agents, they brought me this way when they first captured me."

"Hate to break it to you bonehead but all these tunnels look the same." he told her.

"No!" the girl told him emphatically, "I remember them dragging me down this hall. I remember those tiles. I remember that stupid shade of pink and thinking if they were actually going to kill me here then maybe I could laugh at the stupid tiles as I died."

"Morbidity aside, that's not a lot to go on imouto."

She turned to him, green eyes blazing with determination. "Please, trust me." she told him. "Call it instinct. Call it highly advanced training. Call it whatever you want but I know the way out is this way."

Something in the way she stared at him pleadingly made him break. "After you then."

The girl didn't let go of his hand. They both clung to each other as if their lives depended on it as they raced down the cold, metal halls. In reality, their lives probably did depend on staying together. The girl looked strong on the outside now, but he'd heard her crying in the room she was kept in enough to know the truth. She was scared and the people who had kept them both prisoner had broken her in some of the worst ways imaginable. It was little wonder to him that she was able to look at the idea of death and laugh. Death was probably easier than surviving through her torture. However, there had to have been a reason for her fight through. A reason to live. That was why he'd taken the risk to himself in order to get them, but mostly her, out of the Hydra's grasp.

They heard footsteps racing their way. He grabbed the girl around her shoulders and pulled her around a corner, into a small cubby for the ventilation piping. Hydra footsoldiers ran past them with their weapons. "Where's the Scientist? He did this!" called one of the cacophony of voices.

He winced but that didn't stop him from pulling the girl closer to him.

"That S.H.I.E.L.D. agent is missing too!" one of the soldiers yelled back. The girl, the agent in question, pushed herself against his chest. Her bony shoulders dug into his side. There was something incredibly familiar about the way she clung to him, the way her body quivered. It was like a far off aching memory of another time, another place, and another person he so desperately knew he had to protect.

The footsteps died away into the distance and the shouting got fainter. The girl pushed herself away from him, apparently her training taking over. They both peered around the corner. For a brief moment her face grew panicked as if she wasn't certain which way to go anymore. "Calm down and think about it from another perspective. Look for a new angle." he said as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

The girl took a deep breath and went still underneath his hand. Her hand fluttered in front of her body and her mouth moved in silent words. Slowly she turned around in his grip and that's when he noticed that her eyes were closed. She stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity. Every breath he took was spent worrying that the footsoldiers would come back and find them. Suddenly the girl's eyes snapped open. "This way." she said.

He didn't ask her reasoning this time. He trusted her. They both peeled away from their hiding spot and tore down the tunnel side by side. They turned corner after corner, trying not to trip over their own two feet as they slid around the slick polished metal surface. Then they turned another corner and the girl stopped abruptly. He nearly took her out from behind. "Oh crap!" whispered the girl in horror and he couldn't help but agree.

At the end of the hall was a flight of stairs, quite clearly labeled 'exit'. However, standing between them and their way out was a group of men. There were three of them in total, two footsoldiers and their boss, a particularly not nice guy named Williams. For as long as he'd been in Hydra's underground compound, he'd been under the distinct impression that Williams was in charge of everything that went on. Williams was in charge of finding him tools, supplies, and anything else he needed. Williams had also been the one who'd given the order to torture the girl. Oh crap indeed. "Leaving so soon Agent?" Williams asked the girl. "And are your accommodations not to your liking Scientist?"

"Oh well you know how it is," he said starting to put himself in front of the girl, "places to go and things to do. Can't say that I don't appreciate the top notch medical care you gave me with my horrible scarring burns but...your ideals don't exactly mesh with mine."

"A fine way to show your gratitude, going on this little excursion along with the sending hundreds of thousands of dollars up in flames in order to facilitate it." Williams said scathingly. Then Williams looked directly at the girl. "Apparently since you're able to walk and run about our facilities then you should be more than up to another interrogation session."

He felt the girl go rigid under his hand. He saw as her face went blank. No doubt she was reliving whatever torture Hydra had put her to. There was some inexplicable anger that rose up in his chest. These men wouldn't touch her. Not while he could still help it. Williams gave his men a nod and the two minions began their way towards them.

Without really thinking, he jumped forward and met the first one head on with an open handed strike to the chin. The footsoldier reeled backwards but not before getting a roundhouse kick to the side. He came back to his center, acutely aware of the unpleasant pulling and tightness where his scars were. What really grabbed his attention though was the fact that he apparently knew karate. First the robotics engineering and now karate? Alright, robotics was fine and somewhat understandable. That was a logical, intellectual thing. Not too much of a stretch. But karate? Really? Then again, Hydra hadn't really ever given him the chance to practice hammer-fist and spear hand strikes. Where had he learned all this stuff exactly? He'd make it a point to find out once he got himself and the girl out of this place.

The girl cried out. His attention snapped back to the present. In his moment of confusion, he'd forgotten that there were actually two men that had come after them. He'd struck the first but the second had gone straight for the girl. "Imouto!" he yelled out as he turned to help her.

Of course that was about the same time that she hauled off and performed a flawless front kick straight into her attacker's chest. The footsoldier went flying across the room. He stared at the girl in surprise. Oh, yeah! She was some sort of secret agent spy or something. He'd forgotten about that. She also no longer looked as though she was catatonic. "Behind you!" she yelled out in warning.

She was a breath too late. The footsoldier he'd gone after was back on his feet and had wrapped his arms around his middle. The second footsoldier was back on his feet and swinging punches at the girl as well. Most of them she either dodged or blocked. He on the other hand couldn't do anything, not until he was actually away. In what was really a wild flail, he sent his elbow into his captive's face. There was a crack and flow of sticky, warm blood that fell down his arm. Gross as it was, it meant success. His attacker let go of him in favor of coddling his now broken nose. The attacker staggered away from him but he chased after him. He sent a brutal fist to the side of the man's head. The footsoldier groaned before slumping to the ground. Immediately he turned to help the girl. Instead, however, he nearly got taken out by the second footsoldier as she delivered a high, spinning kick to the guy's head.

What he didn't miss was the way she was panting for breath. This girl could obviously take care of herself on a good day. Today, though, wasn't a good day. Whatever Hydra had done to her had taken a toll on her. He jumped to her side to back her up.

Williams simply looked at his two downed men and shook his head. "Full of surprises aren't we Scientist." he commented, "Obviously we didn't try hard enough with you girl."

"Wanna try me?" the girl asked with a hiss. He wondered how much of it was false bravado and how much of it was a desperate bluff. "I'm not going back there! You'll have to kill me."

"Figured as much," shrugged Williams as he pulled out his gun and raised it at them both. Willaims looked at him, "I'll give you to the count of ten Scientist to turn around and go back to your room before I shoot you too."

He didn't dignify that with a remark. He simply raise his chin and glared at Williams while silently moving in front of the girl. Williams sighed, "Suit yourself then."

Williams squeezed the trigger. "No!" screamed the girl, voice filled with terror.

He felt her hand wrap around his own as her body collided against his. He didn't even have time to close his eyes. The gun went off with a bang. The girl outstretched her arm in front of both of them….

And the bullet stopped.

Both he and Williams looked wide eyed at the shimmering blue shield that was around him and the girl. Both the casing and the spent bullet hit the ground. The girl's eyes widened as if she was in shock that she'd pulled a shield up at the last minute to protect them. Then it was gone. It must have been second nature to her because she pushed the shield away from them and straight into Williams.

Williams hit the opposite wall with a loud smack. The ringing noise the impact made resounded all around them in the metal halls. The shield disappeared as soon as it made contact with Williams. The man slumped to the ground in a daze. He turned to the girl. "You're a metahuman?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I mean I was...I mean I am...I haven't been able to do that since they took me prisoner. Believe me, I tried." her voice broke at the end. She bit her lip and stared at her hand, flexing it. Trying to form another shield he realized. Trying...and failing. Her eyes started to water and the impression her teeth made on her lip grew deeper. He stepped in front of her and took her hand.

"We're almost out of here imouto." he told her giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "You can figure that out when we're safe."

The girl nodded stiffly. She followed his lead wordlessly as they stepped past the Hydra men who'd tried to stop them. He opened the door to the stairs and pulled the girl up them.

Light. Bright and stinging light hit his eyes. He turned and looked at the ground blinking away the tears that it brought to his eyes. When was the last time he'd seen the sun? He literally couldn't remember. It must have been before Hydra had taken him from wherever they'd gotten him from and nursed him back to health but he didn't remember anything farther back than the two years he'd been in the Hydra facility. The girl tugged on his arm.

"We have to keep going before…" she told him. Sirens went off. Her face paled. "Before the sirens go off."

"Hurry!" he told her. He only hoped that they could actually keep running. Scratch that, he only hoped that there was some place to run.

The stairs that had lead them up and out of the Hydra compound had taken them to an abandoned warehouse. Nothing but miles and miles of concrete and pipes was laid out before them. He turned to look behind them. Spilling out from every possible doorway were Hydra soldiers. The girl pulled her hand from his and gave him a shove away from her. "Go! Get out of here!" she told him in an incredibly even voice.

He shook his head as he went to take her arm again, "I'm not leaving you behind."

"You have to. It's the only way." she said. She ducked away from his reaching hand.

"Don't be stupid." he snapped at her. It was a little more fierce than what he'd meant it as but she was no longer paying attention to him. Her eyes were locked solely on the oncoming Hydra soldiers.

He grit his teeth and went for her arm again. This time, because she was distracted, he managed to take hold of it. She turned to look at him in shock, probably fight him a little too, but the sound of screeching made her pause. Made them both pause. A black van with an eagle emblem on its side came careening around a corner, tires squealing against the pavement. It had been hidden from eyesight by a rather large pile of rusted steel beams. Now, though, it was in full view and coming straight for them.

He went to yank the girl out of it's path but the action wasn't necessary. In a haze of smoke and burning rubber, the van slid to a violent stop in front of them. The doors flung open and both the driver and the front passenger jumped out, guns raised. He went to pull the girl close to him to protect her but before he could she let out a strangled gasp.

"Get in the van! Now!" yelled the passenger, a balding man in a charcoal gray suit.

He stood there, not really sure about what exactly was happening, but the girl took the lead again. She twisted her grip around so that she was holding his hand and dragged him around the side of the van. As soon as they were both out of the line of fire, the passenger and the driver, a woman of Asian descent, opened fired on the pursuing Hydra agents. The van's back doors sprang open and another young woman with dark hair took their arms and hauled them in. Two more nondescript people pulled the van doors shut while the woman who'd helped them in screamed, "Go! Go! Go!"

There was more doors slamming, tires screeching, and rubber on asphalt as the driver threw the van in reverse and pulled it around in the opposite direction. Shots fired around the van. Some even sounded as though they hit the side of the van. It must have been reinforced though because none of the bullets pierced the vehicle. "Friends of yours?" he asked the girl with an upraised eyebrow.

The girl didn't respond. She gave a strangled sob and doubled over on the floor mats of the van. Her entire body shook as she sobbed. Both he and the young woman rushed to her side to comfort her. "It's over imouto. It's over." he whispered the promise in her ear.

For the first time in two years, he felt as though he'd truly lived up to an expectation. What that expectation was he couldn't exactly say.

X X X

Three very long hours later, he sat in the comfy seat of a huge private jet. He ruffled a heavily scarred hand through his jet black hair. Now that all the excitement was over he felt tired except for the fact he couldn't sleep. He closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose, thinking all the while about how he was never doing something like that ever again. . He hadn't seen the girl since they'd ushered her to the medbay of the plan they called 'the bus'. She desperately needed it. He hadn't realized just how bad she'd been hurt. He was pretty certain that he'd overheard someone talking about how she had a broken ankle and several broken ribs. It was a miracle that she'd managed to run away from that compound with him. A small cough made him open his eyes once more.

The passenger from the van, the balding man in the charcoal suit, was standing in front of him with his hand extended. He rose immediately and shook it. "Director Phil Coulson, S.H.I.E.L.D.," he said. "She told us all about your grand escape plan...thank you. You saved her life."

He rubbed the back of his neck and laughed nervously, "Don't mention it. Any decent person would have done the same."

"There's not a lot of decent men in Hydra." came the voice of the driver of the van. Apparently she was also a pilot. A pilot who wasn't flying the airplane.

"I'm not Hydra," he explained quickly, "Um...shouldn't someone be flying this thing?"

"It's called autopilot robot boy." the girl said. She emerged from the same door that the driver/pilot had come from. Her face was taped up and she had what looked like a cast boot on her foot. Director Coulson shot her a look and she slid into one of the other comfy chairs with an audible, pained hiss. The girl pushed some of her own long black hair out of her face before offering him a weak grin. "Didn't they teach you about autopilot in whatever fancy school you went to? It's kinda a robotics thing. Should be right up your alley."

He rolled his dark brown eyes. "I'm sure they did." he replied sarcastically. Then he paused. "I'm sorry, I never got your name."

"Vera," she said softly, "my name's Vera."

"Good to meet you properly." he responded.

"What's your name son?" asked Director Coulson.

"Well, that's the thing." he sighed as he sat back down. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" the pilot repeated skeptically.

"Agent May…" Director Coulson waved his hand through the air slightly, "let him speak."

"I woke up in that compound nearly two years ago with these…" he raised his scarred arms and pointed to his equally scarred left side of his face for emphasis. "I don't remember anything beyond that. Not how I got these or even my own name."

"Why did Hydra want you?" Agent May asked. From the look she was giving him, he felt as though this was turning into an interrogation.

"He's an ace robotics engineer." Vera answered for him quietly. She was picking at the upholstery on the chair. "I saw some of the things he's built and designed while Hydra was...holding me captive."

He didn't miss the evasive tone in her voice as she said it. Pain rose in his chest. He'd saved her from the physical threat but it was obvious that she wouldn't be free of the mental pain that Hydra had caused her anytime soon. "They had me making little things first, writing software and building pieces mostly. Then they slowly began having me build bigger and bigger things. Weapons, I realized. Some sort of hive drone that was controlled in mass via neural receptors."

He looked over at Vera. Neither one of them could look at the other. "By the time I knew what was going on...I don't know...I was too scared to stop." he whispered.

She didn't turn away from him. He took that as a good sign that she didn't blame him. "You were just trying to survive."

"When I set the fire in my lab there, I made sure that the hive drones would go up in the blaze." he told them, trying to make the situation better somehow.

Director Coulson cleared his throat once more. It served to diffuse some of the tension that had arisen in the room. "I can't make any promises, but I have pretty computer savvy person on my team. I'll ask her to try and find your family, if you have one that is."

He looked up at Director Coulson in shock. He blinked a few times as he tried to register what had just been said to him. His family. He'd always assumed he had one out there somewhere, Williams had made enough barely veiled threats against to make that clear. He himself hadn't wanted to say anything about where or who they might be. He hadn't wanted to give them any more ammunition to use against him. Hurting him was one thing. Hurting another because of him, that was something else entirely. "Are there any clues that you can give us. Anything that might help us figure out who you are?" Director Coulson prompted him.

"Uh, there was a fire, obviously." he floundered. He raised his hands again for emphasis. He wracked his brain for more. "I'm a robotics engineer. I think I would hold a rather advanced degree with the level of knowledge that I have. Um...I also seem to know karate?"

He added the last part more for humor than anything else. However, Director Coulson took him seriously as he made a note on a small notebook he'd pulled from his suit pocket. Vera at least snickered. He looked over at her. She was now sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest and her feet on the seat. The posture made her look tinier than what she was.

Vera looked up at him, locking eyes with him suddenly. "What does 'imouto' mean?" she asked him.

"Imouto?" he repeated in confusion.

"Yeah, you called me imouto a few times while we made a run for it." she reminded him.

Then his brain clicked on. "Oh! Um, it's Japanese for little sister."

"Little sister," she scoffed, offended. "How old do you think I am buddy?"

"Sorry," he winced, "it's just that you look so young."

"Because you're obviously an old geezer." Vera snorted as she rolled her eyes. Then she grew serious again. "Do you know Japanese? Speak it, I mean?"

He closed his eyes and focused. At first only a few words and phrases came to him. Nii-chan, or older brother, was very prominent and painful in his mind for some reason. Then it was like a file cabinet opening and a whole different language popped out. "Yeah, I speak Japanese." he finally answered, surprised at himself.

"I'll add 'speaks Japanese' and 'possibly Japanese in ancestry' to the list." Director Coulson said as he put the finishing marks on his paper. Then he looked up at him. "The next thing we need to do is get you set up somewhere safe. Hydra will probably be looking for you for a little while yet. We're more than happy to furnish the necessary documents for you to have a somewhat normal life. Especially after you saved one of our own."

"Th...thank you sir." he stammered. Again he rubbed the back of his neck. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Vera shift slightly in her seat so that she was facing towards him.

"You need a name. Any suggestions?" Agent May asked him.

"Tony Stark," he said quickly, jokingly. Vera snorted.

"We have enough Tony Starks running around so perhaps a different name? It is good to see that your knowledge of current culture and sense of humor is intact though." Director Coulson smiled.

"What did Hydra call you?" Agent May questioned.

He bristled. "Just the Scientist but if it's all the same I'd rather not go by that or anything else they might have called in that Hell." he answered crisply.

"What do you want to go by then? Please don't say Bruce Banner either because I doubt he would be amused. You don't want to see that guy when he's unamused either, trust me." Director Coulson continued on, obviously using the joke to lift some of the tension that had settled in again. He thought about all the names that were available. The sky was the limit. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to fit him. He wanted his own name, his real name. He shook his head. He had nothing.

"Chiune…" Vera suggested quietly. They all turned to look at her in confusion. She was once more playing with the upholstery on the chair. "After Chiune Sugihara."

"Who's Chiune Sugihara?" he asked in confusion.

It was Agent May who answered him. "A Japanese diplomat during World War II. He saved the lives of over six thousand Polish and Lithuanian Jews from Hitler and the Nazis by writing exit visas for them. He was a quiet, humble man and very few of his own countrymen knew about his heroism. It wasn't until after he died that most of what he did came to light."

"I don't think…" he started. That name was way too heavy for him. He wasn't a hero. He didn't deserve to call himself after one.

"I'm just one person," Vera said quietly as she looked up to meet his eyes, "but I'm probably more grateful for what you've done for me than all six thousand of those people put together."

"Chiune…" he repeated the name thoughtfully. It wasn't his name. He knew that for a fact. Chiune wasn't a bad name though. It was so far away removed from 'Scientist' that he wouldn't feel like Hydra was constantly hanging over his shoulder. Who was to say that Director Coulson's computer person wouldn't find his own name relatively quickly? He could always change to his true name once he found out what it was. He gave a slow nod. "Chiune, it will work for now. I think I can grow into it."

"Excellent," Director Coulson smiled. "Let's talk about your security then and protecting you from Hydra...Chiune."

Chiune nodded. Again, the name felt as though it was an ill-fitting shoe but it was so much better than not having a name or simply being referred to as 'the Scientist'.

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