WC: 5307
Aria walked towards her office, looking at the piece of the file she needed to turn in. It was perfect, though she wasn't surprised, Parker is a genius kid. As she entered the small room, she turned the lights on and sat down still looking at the piece.
"Excuse me?" A voice said, startling Aria out of her thoughts.
She looked up to see THE Tony Stark, "Oh, sir! I thought you were out of town for the time being."
Aria was right, he was supposed to be out of town. The only problem was, he saw someone snooping in his main frame and decided to meet the person who was the cause of that.
"Yes, but I saw something suspicious with your name on it." Her whole face turned a shade of pink, caught red handed she spluttered some words out. Trying to defend herself was of no use, she hung her head in defeat as Tony asked her why.
"I wanted to understand this whole Rouge Avengers stuff, sir. So I collected data on what I could find and I might've went a little to far."
"That's the understatement of the year." Stark said, narrowing his eyes at the young woman. "Tell me what you gathered, and I'll fill in the blank spots." Aria looked up in shock, why would he be rewarding her for doing something wrong?
"Okay sir. Let me start at the beginning."
LINE BREAK
About 11 Months Before The Rouge Avengers Arrive:
What could Tony Stark do to help every victim from the Civil War? He had just sent a generous amount of money towards the funerals of the men that died in Berlin trying to apprehend Rogers and Barnes. He'd also had a press conference stating his condolences towards the victims, making sure that the families of the deceased would get help, and offering help to pay the medical bills of the people who didn't have the right insurance to pay for their stay at the hospital. But they still should be helped, the people who died shouldn't be forgotten.
Tony sighed and returned to modifying his BARF so the Wakandan scientists could remove Barnes' triggers.
He'd almost finished programming the first important modification when his phone rang. Laura.
"Tony I need your help, an angry mob has gathered on my fields and scaring the kids, can you come get us?" Shit. Tony suspected that something like this could happen but he'd hoped he was wrong.
"Just hang on, I'm coming."
As soon as he started the quinjet, F.R.I.D.A.Y. sent him a notification that Ross had heard about the mob and wanted to storm the farm in hopes of finding the Barton family and capturing them.
He decided he needed back up, calling down to Y/N, he told her to grab her suit and meet him on the jet.
Tony stepped in the quinjet that was waiting, and hurried to the cockpit. His Iron Man suit loaded in the back. Y/N walked on soon after that and sat in the co-pilot seat. They reached the farm after an hour. Laura hadn't been kidding, this really was one hell of an angry mob. Tony decided to put on his suit, and have Y/N wait inside for the family. He called Laura while flying outside.
"Laura the plane is waiting outside, just go in, I'll get the mob away from here."
Tony didn't wait for a response before flying towards the mob, most of them left the second they saw him. The rest followed when realizing they didn't exactly have the numbers anymore. A few stubborn people stayed behind, but they weren't really a threat.
Tony flew back to the quinjet, stepped out of the suit, and asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. to fly the jet back to the compound. Laura could make a decision about staying somewhere else or staying at the compound once she had calmed down.
Once they had reached a high enough velocity to walk safely, Tony gestured the oldest two still shocked children to follow him into the cockpit that Y/N was waiting in, which had a wonderful view of the country land they flew above. Cooper looked at all the buttons on the panel trying to understand how it all worked, asking Y/N some questions since he saw she was Tidal Wave. Lila was busy gazing down below, at all the green fields they were passing and then at the clouds. He showed the the most important buttons and what they did.
Showing this to children felt strange, one of the few happy memories Tony had with his father, was his father teaching him to fly. He didn't have that chance with Y/N, Fury already corrupted her.
Now Tony might not be their father, but if he could distract the kids from what had happened while keeping them out of Laura's hair for a bit, why wouldn't he?
After a while the kids got bored of course, but then again, Tony got easily bored as well. They had tons of movies here, so Y/N decided to put up the first Star Wars movie in chronological order, to keep them distracted.
Then he sat down with Laura, who was holding baby Nathaniel.
"Are you alright?"
"A bit shaken up, but I'll be fine."
"You can stay at the compound for as long as you like."
"I don't want to intrude." Laura sounded doubtful.
"Don't worry, the compound is big enough that you will have some privacy, so we won't be getting in each others hair, but this way you'll at least be safe."
"If you are sure..." Laura sounded resigned to the facts. "Than I wouldn't mind having somewhere safe to live. Thank you."
"No problem." Tony smiled. "Y/N can help you all settle in." He was glad to be able to help them.
When they landed Tony gave them four rooms near each other. The rooms were bigger than the Barton family was used to, but the billionaire didn't think any of them minded. Nor did they mind the pool that was near their rooms. When Lila had asked Tony if they were allowed to swim in it she had practically been bouncing. Tony had replied that Lila needed to ask her mother and when the latter had said yes, the oldest two practically dived for their bags to get their swimming clothes. Tony of course warned Y/N that she had to be on lifeguard duty since the only pool they had went down 40 feet, to meet Y/N's needs of course. Once they had left Laura had given Tony a hug and whispered. 'Thank you so much.'
Tony doubted Laura had missed the tears in his eyes when he walked away.
He hadn't missed the tears in hers when he presented her the baby bed he'd quickly built for Nathaniel and explained to her that F.R.I.D.A.Y. would wake her up when the baby needed his mother.
At the end of the day, it had been heavy but successful.
Tony, for the first time in a while, didn't have any nightmares that night.
LINE BREAK
"Yes, Y/N and I did relocate the Barton family, but that wasn't a big deal."
"It was, especially for Mr. Barton's view of you."
"Go on."
LINE BREAK
Tony,
I'm glad you're back at the compound, I don't like the idea of you rattling around a mansion by yourself. We all need family. The Avengers are yours, maybe more so than mine. I've been on my own since I was 18. I never really fit in anywhere – even in the Army. My faith is in people, I guess. Individuals. And I'm happy to say, for the most part, they haven't let me down. Which is why I can't let them down either. Locks can be replaced, but – maybe they shouldn't. I know I hurt you, Tony. I guess I thought – by not telling you about your parents I was sparing you, but... I can see now I was really sparing myself. I'm sorry. Hopefully one day you can understand. I wish we agreed on the Accords, I really do. I know you were only doing what you believe in, and that's all any of us can do, it's all any of us should. So no matter what, I promise if you -- if you need us. If you need me, I'll be there.
Steve
This was the 28th time that Tony had read the letter, but he still just couldn't comprehend what it said. Or perhaps he did and Steve was just delusional. That too was a possibility. The Avengers are more Tony's family then Steve's? While Tony didn't doubt for a second that Steve didn't consider the old team his family, he just couldn't understand why the guy had thought that the Avengers were Tony's family, perhaps he had missed the fact that the old team had followed him? Tony really didn't know.
"My faith is in people, individuals." Well great. Those might not have let you down, but you let a whole lot of those individuals down in your turn. "Locks can be replaced, but maybe they shouldn't"? What does that even mean?
Tony prided himself on being a smart man. He had been proclaimed a genius before he even could walk on his own. Yet he couldn't fathom what Steve had been trying to say, both with that particular sentence as with the letter as a whole.
The question that kept popping up in Tony's head was "if Steve hadn't known that Bucky as a person had killed Howard and Maria Stark, but just knew about Hydra doing it, then how in hell was Steve sparing himself?"
"If you need me, I'll be there"? When had that ever been true? When had Steve even listened to Tony, let alone offered him help? Never.
What the hell had Rogers been thinking when writing this letter? What delusions were running through that head?
Unfortunately, he would never know. Because even though Tony had been analyzed, psychoanalyzed, checked and checked again, the man who missed 70 years somehow had never even had one talk with a therapist or psychiatrist. Tony would like to say he didn't know why that was, but he did. Tony might have been approved at the last moment by Fury for one mission after being rejected for the Avengers, but even if they'd only listened to Romanov, they still could've asked Rhodey, or build a similar suit.
Meanwhile, if Rogers had been through some mental health checks, Fury knew he wouldn't have been approved. There was no other superhuman with enhanced strength in the picture, so Fury couldn't risk that, because of that, no one realized that Rogers wasn't as perfect as the propaganda had said until S.H.I.E.L.D. fell and Steve had handled that the worst way possible.
Which brought Tony here. At his desk. Reading that letter again and again. He knew he had better things to do, but this letter just was a mystery, and Tony couldn't let a mystery unsolved.
"What are you reading?"
Tony looked up. Y/N had just walked in. He'd been so busy he hadn't even noticed.
"Well, you remember that package that came?"
"The one addressed to Tony Stank? The one Rhodey and I are still laughing at?"
Tony rolled his eyes. "Yes, that one." He held out the letter.
Y/N's eyes scanned the lines. "What the hell is this piece of shit, he could've just written: 'I'm right and you're wrong and if you dare to act as if we betrayed you, then you're being petty' and he'd wasted less ink. What does he mean about your parents though?"
Tony sighed, he put up the video again. He'd already showed it to Rhodey anyways, no reason not to show it to Y/N.
When the video had finished, Tony suddenly was trapped in a hug, but not really. Y/N's arms couldn't wrap all the way around. "You shouldn't have gotten through that alone." Y/N mumbled.
"Don't worry about it."
Clearly, that didn't work. "How long were you there before Vision found you? He never told us."
"Uhm, I don't know, you'll have to ask Vision, I was unconscious then."
Y/N's eyes darkened. "If I ever see Steve again, I'll drown him."
Tony smiled. "Please don't, my PR department will demand higher loans if that would happen."
Y/N rolled her eyes. Then she looked at Tony closely, she saw the dark lines under his eyes, the red veins within them. She saw the state of Tony's clothes and sighed.
"When was the last time you slept." She asked worriedly.
Tony thought for a second. Then shrugged. "Not a clue."
"You know that self-care isn't selfish right?"
"I can name a whole lot of people that disagree."
"Like the old team? I hate to break it to you, but the only person who they didn't allow self-care was you. The rest of the team sat on their ass while you were working. You really shouldn't take your self worth from their estimation of your worth." Y/N said patiently, though it did seem like her urge to find the old team and kick them increased with every word she said. "Now, go to bed." she finished.
"It's only eight in the evening." Tony protested.
"You only look at a clock when it benefits you don't you?" Y/N asked, amusement showing in her voice.
"Exactly, and now it doesn't." Tony replied easily.
"Yes it does benefit you, it benefits your health."
"Spoilsport." Tony muttered.
"I know, I would pull you to your room but I can't so now I'll just resolve to tickling you until you try and get some sleep. Don't try to lie, I know you're ticklish."
Tony laughed, and the two kids (yes I'm including tiny in the kid definition) walked towards Tony's room. The girl was a little tense, wanting to kill Rogers and all his little friends.
After finally having taken a shower and putting his clothing in the laundry machine, he went into the bed. If Tony had immediately opened his Laptop and worked for at least three more hours before caving into his tiredness, then Y/N wouldn't be any wiser.
'Locks can be replaced, but maybe they shouldn't' Rogers' voice said. It was pitch black around him.
'You murdered my parents and tossed me in here and now you will pay' Wanda's voice.
The room lit up red.
'See Tony, it took them how long before they threw us in a cell for not listening?' Wilsons voice. Now Tony scoffed, they broke the law. They were a bunch of criminals.
'Always so arrogant.' Wanda's voice again. It was getting hard to breathe.
'I've been on my own since I was 18.' Steve stepped forwards, hand in hand with Bucky. 'I know you were doing what you believed in, and that's all any of us can do.' He sneered.
Tony was now lying on the ground bleeding, surrounded by all the people who he had seen on the pictures in the file of who had all died in Bucharest. A six-year-old girl was crying, having lost an arm, shaking the body of a boy who was about four. His body was terribly scarred and he wasn't moving. Lyla and David, Tony remembered. That were their names. Lyla would grow up without an arm and a brother.
'Bucky is innocent.' Steve said.
'Wanda's just a kid' He added.
As he said it the people that died in Lagos and Sokovia appeared as well. Tony had memorised their faces and names as well.
Sam joined in. 'Bucky is innocent, Wanda's just a kid.'
They repeated it again, and again, and again.
'If I see a situation going south, I can't ignore it.' Steve now said, stepping on two corpses, pushing away the crying little girl without even looking at her.
The scene changed 'Wanda's fine she's currently confined to the compound. There are worse ways to protect her.' Tony said. They were back at the centre, just after Tony had reassured Steve that the accords could be amended.
'Protection? That's what you call it?'
'She's not a US citizen and they don't grant visa's to weapons of mass destruction.' Tony tried to say. His voice going a little louder to try and make Steve hear him.
'Oh come on, she's a kid!'
'Give me a break' Tony yelled. The next sentence was quiet. 'I'm doing what has to be done to save us from something worse.'
'You keep telling yourself that.' Steve said.
Tony closed his eyes for a second. Why was Steve so determined to see Steve as the bad guy?
Steve put down the pen. The scene changed again.
Now Howard was there. 'You are a disappointment. Why can't you just be more like him?' He pointed at a picture of the howling commandos, Steve standing half in front of Bucky, casting every other person around him in shadows.
'I'm going to look for him again. I know he's not dead. I need to find him.' He walked away from Tony. Again.
Tony woke up with a jolt. "It's just a nightmare." He whispered. "It's not real."
He looked at the clock, it read 2:00 AM. He'd been asleep for five hours. That had to be enough. He stood up and went to work. This evening he had a charity event to help people who got hurt or lost income after the affairs in Bucharest, Lagos and Sokovia.
He needed to get ready.
LINE BREAKKKKKKKKK
'What are you working on?' Asked Hope, who just walked into the kitchen, where Tony was busy looking at a screen.
"My speech for the fundraiser tonight. Did I ever tell you I hate speeches? Or public appearances for that matter."
He walked to the other side of the kitchen island and grabbed a non-alcoholic beer. As much as Tony longed for a real drink, he had been completely sober for almost six months, and he wasn't going to break that streak thanks to Rogers.
Meanwhile, Hope was reading the speech. "Impressive, real emotional. But don't you think people will expect some kind of show?"
"That's what will make this speech stick. If I make it a show then people will just forget it, throwing it in with all other shows, and the meaning will be lost. If I am completely sincere, however, it will throw people off their game, and they'll be more likely to listen."
"You finally get it." A new voice said. Tony turned around fast (#whiplash).
"Pepper." He sounded surprised, both in the confused and the happy way. "What are you doing here?"
"Seeing if you are okay of course, I kept in contact with Y/N and Rhodey, but when I called the latter about his injuries he told me that you weren't doing so great either." She was quiet for a second. Taking in his unbelieving look. "Tony, just because we broke up doesn't mean I stopped caring."
"Pepper, he doesn't believe anyone cares. That's the main problem. I tell him, Rhodey tells him, even Laura, Barton's wife that just moved in for protection tells him. But he's too stubborn to believe it." Hope stepped in.
Pepper smiled towards Hope. "Then we'll just keep saying it until that annoying man over there starts believing it."
"See, you think I'm annoying, point proven." Tony interrupted, wanting to stop this conversation, or at least change the direction it was going in.
The two women shared an exasperated look. Tony had that effect on people.
THIS IS JERRY, JERRY IS A LINE BREAK
The fundraiser had arrived and people started slowly entering. Soon the room in the compound that Tony had freed for this was filled with voices and Tony had shaken so many hands that he had lost count.
First Tony needed to give his speech though. He'd written the main course he would be steering in, in advance, but during the speech, he would definitely improvise a little bit. That was the best way to make sure what he said was from the heart.
"Hello everybody, do you mind if I steal your attention for a couple of minutes? My name, as you all know, is Tony Stark. I don't have to introduce myself because I am lucky. When my parents died, I was already an adult, because of that, I never had to be adopted or fostered. Not everybody is that lucky, people lose their parents in accidents and get forgotten, as do their parents." He looked at Y/N, who lightly smiled in sadness and encouragement. "These kinds of things happen often, but less often in such great numbers, and all in an 'accident'. However, it does happen, in Sokovia, in Johannesburg, in Lagos, and in Bucharest. Many people died, but even more survived to see their lives in ruin. These people are seen as lucky for surviving, even if a car has smashed into their shop, their livelihood, and their insurance doesn't return enough money. These people are called lucky when they survived but a family member didn't. These people are called lucky when they suffer from PTSD or panic attacks, but can't afford to pay the treatment. These people are called lucky when they have lost a limb, but at least it wasn't their life, right?"
Tony's words had gotten more heated, so he stopped for a second to breathe. Looking at Y/N again to gather himself. He closed his eyes for a second before continuing a lot quieter.
"These people, ranging from ages 3 to 80, deserve our help. They deserve to be able to continue their lives without having to worry about money and health just because one man deemed the life of another much higher then he deemed the lives of all the other innocent bystanders.
"We are lucky, we do have money, when we get ill we can afford our hospital bills, when we get in a car accident and have nerve damage we can afford medical procedures. If any of us was in such a situation we would be able to pay a therapist and get help with PTSD. If any of us lost our homes then we have the money to buy a new place. They don't deserve that any less then we do. Please donate the money to help these people. Thank you."
Tony stepped off the stage, and people started applauding. Normally he would've welcomed it, but now it felt wrong. He didn't deserve the applause, the people who had lived through all that trauma did. Pepper must've seen the uncomfortable look in his eyes as she walked towards him and grabbed his hand. Tony smiled gratefully at her, Pepper would always have his back.
After the people started talking among themselves again, Tony made his way to the food. There were a lot of things he liked there, so it took him a while to decide on what to take. Though he drew in a deep breath as he was still in line, knowing he was finally okay.
JERRY IS SLEEPING BITCH, YOU SHOULD GET SOME SLEEP TOO ;)
It had been a few hours since the fundraiser had ended and Tony was busy working. He needed to get the New Avengers initiative in the air. In ten hours he would present his plan to the United Nations. A team that is actually trained before sent into the field, in a good command structure. An initiative that would contain more than one team, each team their own specialty. Slowly the Avengers would actually become a real team, mainly enhanced people, of course, Tony knew better than to look over the regular people, he was one, as was Rhodey, and Quill was one as well.
First starting in America, then slowly becoming a worldwide organization. That was his plan. Now he just needed to get it off the ground.
Not that Tony doubted he would succeed.
JERRY WOKE UP AND WANTS FOOD
"Auntie Y/N!" A girl's voice interrupted her thoughts while she was walking in the compound, just coming home from her camping trip. Wait. Was that?
She turned around swiftly and caught the little girl in her arms. "Lila, what are you doing here?"
"A group of people went to our house and started screaming, mommy called Tony and he told us we could stay." What? People had found them? How? She hacked every database to get hide the Barton family.
"Where is your mother, little one?"
"Kitchen.' Lila's thumb automatically went in her mouth.
"Then I'll go there, are you coming as well?" Y/N said, gently pulling the girl's arm away from her face. "Don't put your thumb in your mouth Lila, you know it's bad for your teeth." She reprimanded softly.
"Sorry." The little girl said, before running into the kitchen.
And yes, there was Laura, with baby Nathaniel in her hands. Y/N smiled, he was so cute and small. "Mrs. Barton."
The woman looked up. 'Y/N! I'm so happy to see you, remember it's Laura!" She moved Nathaniel to the side to give the young teen a hug.
"What happened that you are here? Lila said people had found you?"
"Not entirely. Just after the Civil War Tony called me, suspecting something like this would happen, and told me that he would help us if we needed to move somewhere no one would know Clint is my husband. I told him I'd consider it, and I was already planning on taking the offer when it turned out the word of our identity had spread, and suddenly an angry mob was at my house along with what looked like government agents. I called Tony and he picked us up and let us stay here.
"I have just taken a job as Pepper's assistant so I am not entirely dependent on people's good graces, and now the children go to a school here. I suppose that we're very lucky that Clint has such a good friend.
"Even if Clint apparently wasn't such a good friend when it came down to it." Laura sighed. "I wonder if Clint even knew half of what was happening during the fight. God knows that the information we were given at the farm was as incomplete as possible. I'm gonna kill that man."
She stayed to talk with Laura for a while until Cooper Barton came running in, demanding Y/N to swim with them and Peter who had just arrived, who was Y/N to resist?
JERRY IS FULL, YOU SHOULD BE TOO! HAVE YOU ATEN TODAY?
Tony returned to the compound after a successful talk with the UN. He'd gotten permission for most of his changes.
The hardest amendment to push through had been that Avengers only had to reveal their identity to Tony and that he would only share that intel if said person had committed a crime. (Even then there were privacy laws in place to protect said vigilantes family members.)
Fury had asked him to meet some other woman that would be interested in joining, one that he apparently had called specifically to replace the other Avengers. Fury claimed she was more powerful then Wanda as she had gotten her powers from the Tesseract but, unlike Wanda, had actually properly trained with them. Tony had to admit that he was curious about her, and had already looked up her name. She had been a Captain in the army before going missing for six years after a test flight with a woman named Wendy Lawson. She also appeared a few times in the files from S.H.I.E.L.D., something about Skrulls and Kree trying to invade the planet and Fury losing an eye. That last part interested Tony especially.
Tony was just imagining what the cause of Fury's lost eye could be when he heard laughter coming from the pool. Was that L/N's voice?
Tony looked through the door, and yes, the former girl scout was currently playing with Lila, Peter, and Cooper in the pool. Tony hadn't even known that she had returned, she probably hadn't thought it necessary. Though it mattered to him, that young girl saved his life, and he cares for her.
JERRY HAS BEEN RUN OVER, JUST LIKE MY DREAMS :)
As Tony was taking a quick break, he saw Fury's helicopter landing on his helipad. Weird, he wasn't supposed to come in for another hour.
Tony quickly made his way upstairs.
When he got there, he was met with Fury complaining about Tony's tardiness (The nerve) and Carol telling him to loosen up. He liked her already.
"Hello, I'm Tony Stark, nice to meet you." He stepped into the room.
Then he turned to Fury "You do realise that you're an hour earlier than planned right?"
"No I'm not." Fury glanced at his watch to confirm what he was saying.
"We're in a different time zone Fury, I told you we didn't have to hurry." Carol said.
"I'm Carol Danvers by the way, I won't say it's nice to meet you until I've formed an opinion."
Tony grinned. "You and I are going to get along just fine, my question is, can you contribute something useful to the team?"
Fury looked offended. "I told you she would contribute something, don't you trust me?"
"Well, no. Besides, last I checked, I'm the one in charge of the selection process. Pirate."
Carol snorted. Then she lit her fist on fire. "This is a small manifestation of my power, I can use it to fly and to fight, I also have been trained in multiple martial arts from over the universe and had both military training on earth and during my team when I had lost my memories and thought I was a Kree. I destroyed their empire once I found out who they really were. After I had done that, I suddenly got a page from Fury claiming the team he'd created to defend the earth had fallen apart due to legal matters and I was needed here. So I returned."
"Great, you'll be on trial at first, but I suspect that you will fit in perfectly. Will you need a room here?"
"Yes, thank you."
"No problem, come on blondie, I don't have all day."
"Blondie?" Carol asked, feigning offence.
They walked out of the room bickering, oblivious to Fury's SMALL smile at the fact that they were already acting like they'd been friends for years. Not that he had expected anything different.
He just really hoped that Carol would keep two little secrets for him, both the way he liked his toast cut and how he lost his eye. Then Fury sighed, he suspected that that hope was too much to ask for.
JERRY IS IN THE HOSPITAL #GREYSANATOMY
It had been a week since Carol had joined the Avengers, four days since Y/N had moved in again. The two girls had decided to challenge each other for an arm-wrestling match within a few hours, this match went to Y/N as her super strength (cough, cheated with water powers, cough) beat that of Danvers. Then they went for a running match, this one went to Carol.
The new team was growing pretty close already, they had also decided to train together. Vision often went against Captain Marvel, as their powers had similar origins. Y/N had first complained about not having a sparring partner with enhanced strength, as she wanted to have tougher competition, but then came the weekend and Tony decided to have Peter get a little more training as well.
A/N: sorry for the long wait, the next update might take longer so please be patient! thank you all for the support with the comments and votes it means a lot to me! and yes it is actually wednesday ;) - xoxo sam