We never were
Tired, Tony felt tired, from the second Ste… Rogers left with his bestie all the murderous rage just abandoned him. The adrenaline rush ceased and all the pain came. His head hurt, his arm hurt and his chest absolutely throbbed with pain (a broken sternum could do that). Also he just realised how cold it was and being in an iron coffin didn't help.
The suit weighted too much to sustain and gravity brought him down.
Years of friendship, of trust, years of being a supposed family, they were all lies. He thought he had a family and he lost them, no, not lost, they left him. What was Clint even doing there? Wasn't he retired?
His breathing was ragged. He definitely had at least a couple of broken ribs, mabye a punctured lung.
All left but Rhodey and Vision, who were paralized and heart-broken respectively. Even Pepper couldn't deal with him anymore. Wow, now that was a pity party.
He started tasting iron on the back of his throat.
He felt utterly alone, betrayed, hurt and kinda guilty. But most of all, he just felt tired. Tired of doing the betreyal thing all over again, tired of having his trust shoved in his face, again, tired of having to get up and fix it, again, tired of this routin of broken trust, just tired of living a life full of betrayal and loneliness. Pain simed to be his most loyal companion since Howard first hit him.
The cold clawed its way up his body. He needed to get out of the suit… something like five minutes before.
Was he doomed to have his trust broken or was it just faith having a sense of humor? Maybe he even deserved it, maybe he just had it coming for expecting mutual respect and trust. Geez, It felt like Obie all over again.
He couldn't feel the tip of his right hand anymore.
The realization hit him like like a truck: he was alone. Nobody knew where he was, St… Rogers and his boyfriend left, his kittines was probably gone too (yeah he knew Garfield was there, thank you very much, but hey they could have used a paw against Zemo so…, also, he kinda liked the guy), the suit couldn't fly or call for help, he was alone. Tony Stark was going to die silently without anyone noticing. He would have laughed at the irony of it if it wasn't for the blood half choking him.
With the suit down the only way to reach the relise button was through sheer force, but the suit's arm weighted too much and he… he was stuck.
Man had he messed up bad this time. He thought about closing his eyes for good. He was so tired. God was he tired. Mabye he could just sleep for awhile. Wasn't that a bad idea with a concussion? Wouldn't he risk dying? would that be such a bad thing? Did it hurt? Mabye it wouldn't hurt if he was sleeping. Mabye he could just lay there and pass out. Mabye for once in his life he would be lucky.
So he just layed there until sleep or death finally clamed him (he didn't know wich, only that he was embraced by lovely darkness).
He woke up with a start, darkness all around him, pain and cold deep inside his veins. His tired eyes moved around, only to be met by silence and shadows.
He must be dead, and this must be hell, or something.
He layed back down
"So this is the great Iron Man? Tony 'fucking' Stark I presume" the woman's voice didn't sound impressed. He opened his eyes and saw the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her skin was olive dark, in contrast with her light blue, almost white, eyes, her light brown hair fell in a waterfall of curls on her back and her lips were full and white. Her cheekbones were sharp as knifes. Her body tall and majestic. But he was too tired to smile or comment about it, so he just layed there and stared at her, his face blank giving nothing away.
"The one and only" he tiredly answered. She looked down on him and then offered her hand. He took it. Her hand was freezing cold but he was used to that at this point, how many ours was he concious in freakin Siberia before he fell asleep (because this must be a dream)? One? Two? Five?.
"Six and a half" she responded, apparently reading his mind. Yep, definitely a dream. "No, it isn't"
"Ok, that's creeping me out, could you just… not do that?" He asked, voice wavering just a little.
"As you desire" was her response, but he was sure she was still reading his mind. A small satisfied smile made its way on her face, probably a response to his latest thought. Her smile grew wider.
"Who are you and what do you want from me?" He inquired, letting his curiosness show.
"Why do you think I want something from you?" She wondered.
"Everyone does. So, what is it?" He demanded a bit impatient.
At that she took a moment to observe him. After a few seconds or so, she finally answered his question. "I want you to reunite the Avengers." He looked at her like she was crazy, wich she probably was if he was being honest with himself. Half of them was in prison, another two were fugitives, and the last two were broken. And then there was him, more broken that he had ever been, broken by one, two counting that probably Romanov knew too, of them. What could possibly be so important? "There is a threat" she explained. Well when isn't there one? he asked himself. "A big one" how big? And when exactly did he give up speaking? "It threatens the whole Creation" so… big enough.
"I suppose the cold and being Rogers punching bag will live me with some presents, won't it? How can I piece them back together when I'm trying to survive?" He pleaded. He was probably going to miss a couple of fingers, mabye a hand, depending on how much time it took to find him. And then there was the concussion.
"You'll survive" she assured him. "You are stronger than you think, and I'll make sure you make it".
"How do you have the power to make this kind of promise? Who are you? And how come you think you can stop me from dying?"
"Oh Tony, I thought you would have figured it out by now, I'm Death" he froze for a second before relaxing. "Not surprised?" She asked brows forrowing noticing his behavior.
"Not really, seen too much weird stuff in my life to be surprised I suppose". He watched her for a moment. "I'll do it" she sighed relived "but" at this she perked up, not expecting demands as she just saved him from herself. "Then, can you heal Rhodey?"
"Ah, your friend right?" At his nod she continued "no, the damage is already done, I can only save you because you're not dead yet. I can stop things from happening but not change what already happened" taking pity on him she chose to give him one last gift "is there anything else you want?" Taking him by surprise she watched as he tried to seriously think about it.
"Pain" he said
"What?"
"I can't deal with it anymore, I just can't, it's too much"
She looked at him with a sad and slighlty surprised face, befor she agreed with a nod. "I'll see you too soon for it to be a goodbye, Stark, so go back to sleep".
She placed a hand on his forehead.
He closed his eyes just before the darkness swallowed him. And something inside of him snapped.
A strange numbness started wrapping itself around him, going all the way to his heart, making him painless, numbing on its way also his basic will to survive. And then his emotions were muffled, almost completely gone leaving in their place a wall of indifference.
Chapter 2 awake
He was surrounded by darkness, it enveloped him, making him cold. No, wait, he wasn't cold, but he wasn't warm either, he felt numb. He wasn't even panicked about it, he felt confused and strangely calm. Was that wrong? 'Who cares', said a little voice in his head 'you aren't in pain are you? So who cares as long as you aren't in pain' Right, ok, no pain, that's good.
He tried to open his eyes but found it to be extremely difficult. He heard some noises coming from his right. Slowly and with some difficulty his eyes opened. Even in the blurryness he recognized Rhodey and Pepper. They were looking each other in the eye, having a silent discussion. Their eyes were puffy and red. Pepper's were still wet. He watched them for some time before he noticed the wheelchair Rhodey was sitting in. Shit, he forgot about that, he was paralyzed because of him, because of his loyalty to him. Maybe that's why people in his life aren't loyal, because those who are get hurt. A strangled noise that was meant to be 'I'm sorry' made its way past his lips making them aware of his wakefulness. They looked startled at first, but after a moment they regained their senses and hugged him. It was like he had just returned from Afghanistan again, it certainly felt like it. He tried to talk again only to have the same results as before, and suddenly there was a purple hand with a cup of water and a straw in it in front of him. He restrained himself from jumping and looked at Vision thankfully. The android smiled at him. They became closer in the months previous to the accords, since he was Vision's creator he felt almost like a father, just like he was to all of his creations. He moved to take the cup in his right hand, just, there was no movement. He looked down and saw the problem with his own two eyes: there was no hand, heck, there was no forearm.
He froze, there were voices, people speaking to him, but he couldn't hear any of them, because half of his arm was gone.
But he was right handed, it couldn't be, he couldn't be missing half a arm, he couldn't work like that! No, it must have been a dream, wait, the dream. Was it a dream? God he had no idea, but he knew this would happened, it's just, he couldn't… he just… he couldn't. But what if it was real? Then he needed to know how much damage was there, to repair it, fix it, to move on and reassemble the Avengers.
He scanned his body for other wounds and found another absence, his left leg. Up to his knee there was nothing.
He stayed calm, 'deep breaths' his mind reminded him. Ok, he could build them, he would build them, he could totally do that. It's ok, it wasn't a problem, this was what he did, he fixed things, he could fix himself. Death told him this would happened, and he needed to have his shit together to go on and save the universe.
He swallowed
He was going tu brush his face with the right hand before he caught himself. He moved his left one, his movements restricted by a cast, inspecting it, noting a slight tremble and a half missing annular, right, he could fix that too, before brushing his face. He stopped mid action as something felt off. He repeated the movement feeling his face, noting the fact that the tip of his nose was missing, as was the left side of his upper lip, where in its place there were only teeth. There were stitches on his left brow. His left ear was gone, too. Not so easy to repair those ones.
There was something else, something felt… different. His chest was heavier. Oh no, not again, he looked down and saw the arc reactor shining through the bandages surrounding his torso. 'Surprise!' his mind supplied helpfully. Alright he couldn't fix that, but maybe extremis could.
He started noticing the silence present in the room.
They were all watching him intently expecting some kind of reaction, cryies, screams, something. But nothing came, he just watched them with a calm he never felt before and remembered asking for no more pain to Death. She probably thought that he was talking emotions too. And he was, he just didn't expect to be… this… this calm. Finally he asked "who found me?"
They looked confused for a moment - it was a weird first question - but he needed to know.
"Ms. Romanov did, Sir" Vision sometimes used 'Sir', he inherited it by J.A.R.V.I.S.
He nodded, she must had heard S… Rogers. Rhodey got closer "who did this to you?"
He thought about telling the truth, that one of his own did it, but he was to rebuild the Avengers, and if they knew, they wouldn't let him.
"The super-soldiers did" wich wasn't technically a lie.
"Where were Steve and Bucky?" He asked then.
"They were fighting too" wich wasn't a lie, either.
"Why did they leave you?" Was his next one.
"I made them leave" not a lie.
"Why?" Oh this was a good one.
"Is this an interrogatory?" He asked with a brow up. At the absence of response he finally answered "They couldn't stay there" it was truth.
"Why not?"
"I would have had to arrest them" ok, this was close.
"I don't understand, you were dying, was it really more important for them not to get caught?" Ah, here it is.
"They called Nat" still the truth.
"It wasn't enough, they needed to do more" Rhodey said firmly.
"I didn't die, did I?"
"You didn't die? Tony, have you seen you?! You're one leg and one arm down, the arc reactor is back to keep pieces of the suit from your heart, your sternum had to be replaced, your chest is a mess and you got only half your face, how can you possibly be so calm?!"
"Must be the drugs, or the shock" LIE. Hell he hated lieing to them since the Palladium incident. "I need to go home" he had to build, but he needed someone, maybe Rhodey, or even Harley, he was seventeen now, he could do it.
"You need to get rest" Pepper intervened.
"I need my leg. I need my arm. I need to adjust the suit to be more strong, how long have I been here?" He asked.
"Three days here, two before you were found".
"I've rested long enough"he said convinced.
"No, you really haven't and I won't let you go like this!" Replied Pepper.
"Ok, on one condition" both Rhodey and Pepper perked up in interest. "You get rest too, and I mean go home, take a shower, eat something and go to bed, I bet in these three days you haven't gone home and you can't convince me otherwise, no offense but you smell". At this he scrunched up his nose in distaste.
They put up a fight but he won, still Vision would be there, but he wouldn't stop him. They said their goodbyes and left.
He was going to get up when he remembered about the leg. "Viz, could you pass me that wheelchair?" The android didn't move "please?"
Vision floated to the chair as he moved to get down the bed. "To be clear I advise against this course of action" said the android.
"I know Viz, I know" he sat on the chair with little difficulty and made Vision wheel him to the car Friday called for him, since Happy wouldn't let him leave, probably on strict orders from Pepper. Once arrived at the Compound he let a breath out, he had work to do.
Chapter 3
Harley and Pete were waiting for him when he came back ready to assault him with a huge hug, that would be Harley not spider-boy, he was in the standing awkwardly in the background until Tony widened his arm inviting him too, then it was all limbs, tears and a crazy amount of questions, from "how are you?" to "what happened?" To "since Rogers has the super soldier serum, how many times could I, only figuratively obviously, kill him?" Also "can extremis rebuild them?" And "dude, what's extremis?" And another thousand questions fired so quickly he couldn't even understand them. After a while they let him go and started to mother hen him. It was all 'you need to eat' and 'how would you know he hasn't eaten already?' and 'we have a bond' eccetera. When he finally escaped them he had showered, eaten and had two full hours of sleep. When has he gon this soft? It must be old age.
Wakanda
Steve entered the common room after his morning run. Everyone but Clint was watching the tv intently. He saw on the screen Tony's photo and went still. That was probably why Clint wasn't there, he was pretty angry with the billionaire "What's happening?" He asked preoccupied. Natasha never returned his calls after she went to retrive Tony and for the last two weeks no one heard from the billionaire. There were voices on the tabloids that he was gone missing despite of the reassurance of Pepper's words regarding his well being. She said in a press conference that he was alive but nothing more.
"A representative of the U.N. is talking about Stark" said Sam, to him Tony became Stark after the Raft."He's saying Stark made a statement to the accord committee, saying that the three of you fought the five super soldiers and won, but apparently he got injured and won't make appearances any time soon. He also said Stark is pushing for us to be pardoned". He seemed unconvinced, while everyone else seemed confused.
It was Wanda who spoke first. "Why would he do that, didn't you say he tried to arrest you but you escaped? Why would he want us pardoned if he wanted us in prison?" Seeing his confused expression she grew preoccupied. "Steve?"
"I have no idea" he said sincerely. Why? Why would he free them? Was it a trap for Bucky to go back home only for him to try kill him again? No, Tony was a good man, he wouldn't do that.
"He was injured? Man, you didn't tell us he was injured. Did he try to arrest you while he was injured? Wait, did you injure him?" Scott asked a bit startled by his own accusation. Everyone froze.
All eyes on him Steve got nervous "I was only… he tried to…" at the end he settled on "I couldn't let him take Bucky".
"Steve, what did you do?" Sam asked still calm. When his only response was a guilty look, he sighed. "Steve, please"
"I broke his arc reactor"
There was a gasp from Scott and everyone turned towards him. "You did what? How did he get back?"
"I called Natasha, she brought him home" there were some relived breaths.
Noticing his still guilty look, T'Challa got up from the couch. "How long after you broke his reactor?" He asked
No response
"Steve, when did you call Ms Romanov?"
Everyone's attention was on him again. "After the first missing announcement" a moment of absolute silence passed "forty two hours after the fight".
Mouths slightly agape everyone looked at him incredulous. Then hell broke through.
"You left him in a Hydra base with a broken reactor in freezing freakin' Siberia!?" Scott yelled
"What were you thinking?" Sam
"Were you even thinking?" Wanda
"How is it possible? Captain America doesn't do things like that!" Scott
Another thousand questions were thrown out there while he made himself smaller and smaller before the one that silenced them all: "Are we sure he is even alive at this point?" Wanda. And silence fell.
"Pepper said he was" Sam said
"She said he was alive, not that he wasn't in coma or something" Scott responded
"But the statement he made…" Steve tried
"Could be a fake made by the committee, to push for our pardons so that we sign the accords with someone on their side for the public" Wanda reasoned.
"It would explain the pardons" said Shiuri. Tchalla seemed livid.
No, it couldn't be, he didn't put Tony in a coma, it wasn't possible, it just wasn't possible. He started panicking, tuning them out. But what if he did? What if he put one of his closest fiends in a coma? What if he did that to the person that offered him a home, founds and a family? Oh God no, nononononono, he needed to get out of there, he needed to get away.
He started running, and kept running till he found himself in an a garden he didn't know.
What did he do?
He worked night and day with Friday to make the blueprints of the arm he had sent to the kid. He had complete faith in Harley, he was in M.I.T. after all, first year, man was he proud. The spider-ling helped too, making the designs following his word as if it was a crime not to. It was seven weeks since his trip to Siberia and he hadn't had one nightmare. But still, sleep came as easy as breathing with the arc reactor. He still woke up at night, just without cause, wich was pretty unnerving. Whatever, he didn't need sleep, he needed to make extremis perfect. So he did, barely sleeping or eating, drinking only coffee as if it was water, closing the workshop down until he would be ready to face the world. He hadn't even watched himself his the mirror yet. Natasha passed once, almost gasped as she saw him, they talked about what happened, he gave her the same version as the others: they fought the super-soldiers, the guys escaped, yadda yadda yadda. His face blank through it all. He had previously convinced T'Challa to change his statement about her, she was free. At first when he told her, she was confused, being the one having retrieved him she knew how mad with her for lettin them go he should have been, then she just turned around and went away.
Two days later was the day he would inject extremis, it wouldn't regrow his biggest arts, but the nanobots in his body would make it easier to attach and control his arm and leg. It would also make him stronger possibly, if it worked. Again he was strangely calm, the syringe in his left hand, he took a deep breath "here goes nothing" and injected it. His veins immediately started lighting up like a Christmas tree in a light blue color expanding through his body. The lip, finger, nose and ear regrew, they were soft and bright pink, but they were there. For the first time he looked in the mirror. He could see almost every single vein in his body, his skin a bluish shade, and his eyes arc reactor blue. After a minute or so it faded, making him look as normal as a legless and armless person could look. Still, he smiled at the mirror. His muscles were more defined, but he wasn't as bulky as Rogers or Barnes. He also seemed a decade younger. No pain came with the process, even if it should have felt 'oh so painful'. Nanobots in his body, the arm and leg next, the name Iron-Man was becoming realer and realer by the day, he laughed.
Chapter 4
The ones left behind
Three weeks and he had enaugh proof against Ross to put him away for good. Another two and Ross was in prison. Another one and his new titanium arm was ready. Harley and Pete met again and helped him attach it, apparently they bonded over mothering him since they were so in synchrony they finished each other sentences. It was a relief to him to see tha boys getting along. His new silver arm shined in the light of the workshop. Two hours for him and Rhodey as he finally had two arms to start racing against each other, three for him to start working on Rhodey's braces. Two weeks and they were created and it took him all of two minutes to wheel himself to Rhodey to try them on, they worked. Other four weeks and his leg was ready, the kids helped him attach this one, too. His new arts moved as smoothly as flesh ones would have. Their silver coloring was 'cool as Hell' to quote Harley.
Three days and he caught wind of Ross' idea of revenge: to act on who was left behind. Forty minutes and he was in a jet in front of the Barton's farm. Deep breath he remembered. He was going to Laura after two years and no team, but more importantly, no Clint. He got to the front door and knocked, not feeling the guilty look he was wearing, the door opened slightly showing a gun, behind there was a scary looking Laura Barton. To his credit he didn't seem anything other than bored "I wouldn't have knocked if I meant any harm" he declared the obvious. She raised an eyebrow.
"Might be a trap" she reasoned. "He's not here" anger evident in her voice
"I know, he wouldn't put you in danger like that". Barton wasn't an idiot after all. Actually he was pretty smart, he never would have risked it by hiding in his own home, secret or not.
"What are you doing here at three a.m. then?" He looked around noticing just then the darkness around them. He looked at his watch, it was three a.m. Wow, he had really lost sense of time in the workshop.
"You are in danger, you and the kids" he raised his gloved hands to show he was harmless. He put a long sleeved short and gloves to not scare the children, not that his face couldn't to a damn good job at scaring kids, but better safe than sorry.
"Why would you help us? Clint fought against you".
"I'm a duchebag not a monster".
"Still don't believe you"
He sighed "then shoot me" at her incredulous look he elaborated "if you don't believe me the shoot, but after take the kids and go 'cause you're in danger" she watched immobilized for all of five seconds. Oh god she was going to shoot him for real. 'Death by angry mother of three' will read the papers. He always knew he was going to die by the hand of some angry woman. He sighed and closed his eyes, at least she was going to run after, probably. He opened his eyes, ready for th incoming pa-
"Okay". She agreed finally, then reluctantly lowered her gun and let him in. "In danger from what?"
"Ross" he responded letting out a breath. The bastard had a twisted sense of humor, making him save the families of the people he fought.
"The news said you took care of him?"she sounded confused.
"Revenge"
"How much time have we got?"she asked as she as she took three suitcases from a wardrobe, giving him her back.
"two, three ours?"
"Good" at this she turned around and hit him square in the jaw. It was a good hit. He didn't even flinch. He actually didn't feel a thing.
"Hey" he said in mock offence.
"This is for the Raft"
"I didn't put them in there" he calmly responded rolling his eyes.
"Your actions did"
"Their actions did, and I wasn't the one who called Clint."
"Steve had a good reason though, the supersoldiers? You said it yourself, you fought them together, you won, all thanks to Steve, or so the tv said"
"He didn't say anything to me or the U.N., they didn't know, heck I didn't know, he could have called but he didn't, he didn't trust me as he trusted all of the others, Clint included."
"Could you blame him after Ultron?"
"No, I really can't, because he didn't listen to my explana-"
"But he was right, wasn't he? Steve I mean, Clint… he had a good reason to leave us, right?" At this point she was pleading, a tear threatening to fall.
He took a deep breath, there was no reason good enough to leave your family he thought. The next words were going to hurt him, but it was for her good "Yes, Steve was right, he was right all along, and Clint helped in saving the world" no pain, it didn't hurt a bit, he still felt calm and…void, it would be terrifying, if could feel terrified, but that way, he could get used to it. She nodded.
"Ok, ok… what happened to your face?" She asked curiously noticing the scar colored parts "you don't have to answer I-"
"Siberian cold"
"Oh, ok, where are we going?" She asked as she made her way up the stairs.
"The compound, but first a couple of stops" he followed her. She went through a door and returned with litttle Nathaniel. She gave the sleepy child to him. He took the baby carefully, as if he was holding a bomb and she had the nerve to laugh at him.
She stared packing hers and her kids' stuff. She woke the children and made them dress, taking them down the stares and through the field to the Jet, he followed suit. Once in the jet he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. With the children fast asleep he piloted the jet to his next stop: the Langs. "Stay inside, I'll go to take them" she watched as he went to the door and a man in his pajamas responded, took one long look at him and called for someone, then a woman was there punching him in the face before giving him the chance to explain himself. After a minute or so, he came back with a broken nose. She got up, grasped his jaw and snapped his nose back in place. Again, he didn't even flinch. "Thank you" he murmured. Twenty minutes later, there were three other people in the jet. "Laura Barton, Cooper Barton, Lila Barton and Nathaniel Barton" he pointed to them. "Jim Paxton, Cassie Lang, Maggie Paxton". They nodded to each other and then they were in the air again. Then there were Hope Van Dyne and Hank Pym, who instead of punches had sharp tongues in store for him. It took fifty minutes to convince them to come with him. Sharon Carter was easier to convince. After that Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis who thankfully didn't tase him. They made other two stops which got him a slap and a kick in the shin, but finally Wilson's mother and sister, Joyce and Melody, and the sister's dog Marley, were on board and they could go back to the compound. The bruises were healed by extremis before even arriving. Once there, he gave each family a floor and finally got back to work, he had a suit to work on.
Wakanda
Steve was in his room sleeping when something woke him up, there was something cold pushed against his throat, something cold and sharp. His eyes snapped open, Natasha looked back at him, knife in hand and eyes full of determination. "Nat, what is g-"
"What did you do to him Steve?" She asked, voice cool and steady.
"I don't know what you're talking ab-"
"What happened in Siberia?" She tried again, anger now evident in her voice.
"Nothing I… he… we… we fought the soldie-"
"I'll ask one last time Rogers, what. happened. in. Siberia?
So he told her, he told her everything. He told her about the truce. He told her about the dead soldiers. He told her about the video. He told her how he tried to lie. Told her about he is my friend and so was I. He told her about Bucky's arm. He told her about how he beat Tony repeatedly to the head, how he crushed the arc reactor, and how he left Tony behind.
Then he started crying, silently and full of regrets.
She left him and got back to the Quinjet, she needed to make amends.
Chapter 5
The leftovers
Three hours after there were some 'accidents' involving all the houses that blew them up. Bodies were found inside. Two minutes after the news broadcasted it, Laura was there in the workshop. She was in tears, probably for the house. He was still working, so concentrated he didn't even notice her until she touched his shoulder, making him jump. "S-sorry, didn't mean to scare you" she said.
"It's ok, I was just-" he noticed her tears "hey, what happened? Did something happened? Is it for the house? Cause I can totally rebuild it, it's what I do, I fix thi-" he was interrupted by her sudden hug.
"T-thank you, thank you s-so, so much, I don't know what would have happened to us, t-to my kids if you didn't come, thank you" she kept thanking him and at one point even apologizing for hitting him until he sushed her and hugged her back making soothing circles on her back with his gloved hand. Following her example, the others came down to thank him, even Hank, who thanked him through clenched teeth while Hope smirked.
He took the phone and called Rogers, they needed to know.
"Tony? Is it you?"
"Yeah it's me Captain, I need to talk to Clint, Scott and Sam right now".
"What? Wait, I have to talk to you Tony, and for them isn't a good moment, their families were-"
"Blown up, I know, just reunite them in one room and put me on, it's important"
"You know? Then why would you-"
"Just put them on Captain!"
"Ok, ok, just give me a moment"
Five minutes later they were all reunited around a table in the common room. Clint was th first to speak his mind "I swear to God Stark, if this isn't a world ending situation I'll-"
"They are safe" he interrupted what was probably going to be a long conversation on holes in wich arrows could fit.
"If this is some kind of sick joke I-"
"They're all safe I swear" he interrupted another threatening rant "they're all safe and sound, I got there in time, they are here at the compound, they're fine I promise"
"Even Sharon?" Steve asked
"Even Sharon"
"How are they?" Asked Sam.
"They're sad and a bit ragged, the kids are scared but I took them in, they are just fine, all of them, even the dog. He's adorable by the way, I would send you pics but this phone is as old as-"
"They're okay?" Questioned Scott for reassurance, only after feeling able to breathe again.
"Yes, they are okay, they're all here, even Hank" a chocked sob and a watery laugh sounded on the end of the other line.
"Tony, thanks man-" Sam couldn't even finish his sentence before Tony stopped him.
"it's okay Sam, thanks, I mean you welcome… whatever, you'll hear from them soon enaugh" he ended the call.
Two days later found them all, the 'leftovers' as they started calling themselves, sans kids, in his workshop as he worked on his suit. They all looked around marveled, Hope and Hank included.
"So, I've been thinking, since we don't know how long you'll be here for, and the kids need to go to school, I took the liberty to find for you a couple of private secure schools not so far away. One of us, us being me Visiono and Rhodey, will have to always accompany the children to and from school, for security reasons. And it would be simpler if you agreed on just one school for them all. Also, Ross will try to find any excuse to lure you out of here, and since this is an Avengers compound and none of you are or are imparented to any current Avenger, I'll have to employ you." He ignored their protest and went on. "Sharon could work as a bodyguard for me since Happy -that would be my driver/bodyguard will be busy with Pepper. I know Melody, can I call you Melly? Is a doctor, so maybe she can be one here. You'll see, the med-bay is a work of art. About Foster, Darcy, Pym and Van Dyne, the four of you could help me in the lab with a couple of things I'm working on. Laura you could be one of my lawyers since you were one before all the parenting thing. Paxton you could be a bodyguard for the families when they go out, and Mrs. Wilson you could be the babysitter for the kids. Any questions?"
He connected the last two parts and got up, turning towards them. That's when they noticed the arm and leg, them being covered two nights earlier for the kids and the fact that he had been in the workshop since then, extremis made him way more resistent, made so that they didn't know. Some gasps were heard. Some of them blanched. There were also some mouths agape. While Hank and Hope were white as sheets, they were also watching the arts with fascination and curiosity. "What happened to you?" Laura finally asked.
"Siberian cold" he answered sheepishly. There were some sharp intakes. "I didn't want the kids to see and… just… okay… well… yeah, good talk, ah, I almost forgot, there is a phone on that table, you can use it to contact the guys, just please, don't tell them about this." He pleaded pointing to himself "so… yeah, if you need anything you'll find me on my floor, see ya" and with that he stalked out of the room leaving them baffled and confused.
After calling down the kids, one by one they used the phone, hearing their father/son/husband/ex-husband/boyfriend/brother/guy that used his suit and dated his daughter after five months of silence.
He left them the phone and went in his room. He layed down on his bed sighing tiredly, closing his eyes and falling asleep. After an hour or so he woke up, something felt off, someone was there. In less then a second he got up and pinned the intruder to the wall, vibranium hand to the throat and flesh one on the wall. Natasha looked him in the eyes, unblinking, mask well in place. He stared at her for a moment, then shifted the silver hand on the other side of her head. "Why are you here?"
"The Bartons, I had to check on them, for Clint"she responded
"But why are you here, in my room?"
"I had to check on you"
"Why?" He didn't understand
"I haven't heard from you in three months, I needed to know you were ok, and Laura called, she is worried about you" explained her
"Why, she cares now?" she had a weird way of showing it if she did
"Yeah, she does"
"She punched me in the face" was his only reply
"She thought you deserved it"
"She pointed a gun at me!" He said indignantly
"She was angry at Clint for leaving"
"She could punch Clint when he comes back" he suggested rolling his eyes. The corner of her mouth shot up, then she turned serious again.
"Why are you making him come back, aren't you angry?"
"I forgave him, them"
"What happened to you?"
Rogers did "Why do you care?"
"Because I care" sure
"You really don't "
"how would you know what I care about"
Cause you knew and didn't tell me, was what he wanted to say "because you left"
"I couldn't stay"
"Why"
"They would have arrested me"
"I meant the second time"
"I couldn't stand it"
"You couldn't stand what?" She hesitated
"This" she placed her hand on his titanium arm "I couldn't stand seeing what I did to you" her eyes gone softer.
"You didn't do it" he whispered looking away from her.
"But I did, by letting them go I am as guilty as they are"
"They didn't do anything to me" he said getting away, letting her go.
"Don't lie, Steve told me what happened"
He looked at her closely, she seemed guilty even if she hid it well. Once he wouldn't have noticed, but extremis gave him new senses, and an extraordinary sight was one of them."Why didn't you tell me?"
"I thought Steve did" she watched him with pleading eyes, hoping he would understand. He went further away from her.
"Well, you were wrong"
"I know and I'm sorry"
He thought a moment, if she were to stay by his side he could use her for the pardons, and having another pair of hands on fixing the accords couldn't hurt "Then stay, if I'm going to make them come back I need all the help I can get, and…" he sighed tiredly "I could use a friend" She looked at him, considering. "Please" he tried again. She nodded
Chapter 6
He worked for eight straight days on the suit without sleep or food testing out extremis' limits. Apparently he reached it because his stomach started grumbling and his eyelids were heavier, he felt like fainting. But the biggest problem was that he was out of coffee. He thought about going all the way to his flat on the last floor, but he needed to be quick to come back to work. He settled for going on the common floor. He made his way to the elevator "common floor Friday"
"Sure Boss" the AI was more than happy to comply.
He was working on a way to make the suit wearable so that it could always be with him. He started rethinking his possibilities, he needed something small, but not too small, like a clock but bigger, like… like… like the arc reac- a cought startled him out of his thoughts. He had arrived on the common floor and there was a crowd in the kitchen staring at him. Ah, he must have tuned them out. "So, what's going on in here?" He asked. Looking at Melly, Joyce, Maggie, Foster and Lewis he felt slightly outnumbered. Luckily there was Vision on his side.
"We are teaching Vision how to bake cookies" said Jane. He stepped out of the elevator.
"Really? Well how's my kid doing?" He wondered
"Who?"
"You got a kid?"
"You know… purple and mighty" at their perplexed looks -either for the nickname or for the unknown origin of the android- he elaborated "I created Vision" understanding downed on them.
"Well you look like shit Mother Nature" Darcy said after a beat of silence.
"Darcy!" Hissed Foster
"Please, don't hold back" he said sarcastically
"To be fair, you do look a bit ragged Sir" Vision helpfully pointed out. Ok maybe he wasn't on his side.
"My own son" he said with false hurt.
"Only stating the truth" replied the android with a slight smile on his lips. Definitely not on his side.
"Did you just talk back to me? Unbelievable, under my own roof" he then pointed a finger at the android "you bring your father some respect young man" he put a hand to his heart "I thought we were years away from your teenage fase" he said dramatically. He heard a giggle and spun around finding Lila. "You havin' fun with my pain, little agent?" She nodded easily. "Making fun of the elderly, today's youth ladies and gentlemen" he sai looking affronted, she giggled some more.
"You 'bout done?" Asked Melly
"Maybe"
"Cause you look like you're 'bout to faint" she stated
"I'm fine" he responded annoyed
"When did you sleep last, honey?" Questioned Joyce.
"Or eaten for that matter?"demanded more than asked Maggie
"I'm okay" he insisted making a beeline for the coffee. Before anyone had the time to investigate any further the elevator doors opened revealing Bruce and Thor inside. "thanks for the heads up Friday" he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. Thor strode out of the elevator and approached him ignoring everyone else around him. He then took him by his throat and lifted him in the air. Wow, this really brought flashbacks down his door. Tony wasn't concerned though, with extremis he could last minutes without oxygen.
"Thor no!" Yelled Bruce still in the elevator. Tony brought up a hand to stop Vision and the others from intervening as the other one went to the hand to his throat trying to release the pressure a bit. He didn't feel pain, only pressure. He could probably take Thor, but that wasn't a brilliant idea if he intended to reassemble the team.
"I heard of your doings from our comrades Stark, tell me, why should I let you live?"
'Lying time' his mind happily supplied "ok, I know I screwed up, BUT… " at this he pointed behind him "we have cookies" he said merrily. So, when that didn't work out and the pressure increased he pointed to Lila, who was now in tears for the men she knew had saved her and her family "and a kid present so…" Thor let him go, not wanting to upset the child any further.
Foster came into view as his coughing fit ended helping him upright and glared at the blonde, who seemed to have just noticed her "Thor! Are you crazy! You could have killed him! The man who saved me! What were you think-" she was interrupted by Thor's hug.
"Lady Jane! I thought you dead!" Oh, ok, so they told him about the part where he was wrong but they couldn't tell him about him saving their families? Nice. A buzzing sound was heard and Goldylocks went down on his knees and then hit face first the floor, showing Lewis with a taser in hand.
"Not cool dude" she said to the now unconscious asgardian sounding unimpressed. Tony looked at her confused "What? Chill, it isn't the first time, and you saved us while he was around doing Odin knows what so…"
"Actually, Odin is dead" added Bruce, finally stepping out of the elevator. Bruce watched in horror as he finally noticed the missing limbs, the scars and the arc reactor.
"Hey Brucie-bear, you ok? Lookin' a bit green there" Tony asked concerned.
"Am I ok? You are the one who just got strangled by a god!" He exclaimed
"Not the first nor the last" he responded lightly. Bruce was still staring "ok, you know how everyone kept saying that Ironman and I weren't one? Well, now there won't be any more debate" the engeneer replied cheerfully to the questioning look he received from Banner.
Bruce was left open mouthed as Lila broke from her haze and run to hug Tony. He was taken aback at first, but then regained control and finally picked her up and hugged her close to his chest. He started to talk trying to soothe the crying girl. Laura must have told her about the arts cause she didn't seem scared at all of the metal arm. Vision took Thor in his arms and brought him somewhere else, he didn't care where. There were voices talking, asking what did he mean by 'not the first time' and if he was okay, but he tuned them out by trying to complete the task at hand: make Lila feel better. Turns out, the reassurance he was okay and a couple of jokes were enaugh to calm her down and, after a minute more passed holding her, he let her go. She reluctantly let go of him only to grab his hand a second later. He spent the rest of the afternoon trying to bake cookies with the help of Vision and Melly for Lila since the ingredients were already out and then playing with her till they both fell asleep on the couch. That's how Laura found them that evening, cuddled together fast asleep. She took a picture and smiled, they were going to be just fine there.
Chapter 7
Touch
Turns out Thor an Bruce had brought a crowd with them. And Loki, but he was apparently a 'good guy' now according to Bruce. He offered to take in the asgardians to Bruce since Thor was still out cold. The offer was gratefully accepted and he met most of them, but the most interesting guys were the ones that called themselves 'the guardians'. There was an enormous-tattooed-shirtless one called Drax who couldn't understand a joke, one called Nebula who glared a glare at him that could have stopped his heart if he still felt fear, there was a teenager tree who kept repeating his name, a talking raccoon who was eyeing adoringly his metal limbs, a green woman who frowned at his arc reactor, a human called star-lord, and a yellow woman called Mantis. She was looking at him with a confused expression on her face as he met them all, then whispered something to the green woman, who then eyed him suspiciously. The strangest thing wasn't the reaction to the words, but the words themselves: "I can't feel him". They couldn't imagine that thanks to extremis he had a super hearing and probably believed him oblivious to the entire exange. Was she like Wanda? Could she feel his emotions just by standing near him, or better the lack of emotions? Could he be outed so easily? They were either possible enemies or allies, and he couldn't screw up the only chance to have another hand in the war. He needed to think of something, and fast. Maybe he could tell them the truth, but how could he trust them? No, he had learned his lesson with the rogues, he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. But if he told the truth perhaps they would trust him and help with the incoming threat. However the yellow woman didn't seem too sure, so maybe there was no point in telling anything until they confronted him. Then the yellow woman extended her hand in greeting and he shook it, but the reaction he got startled him: she started crying.
Mantis felt confused, this human wasn't emanating any emotion, not even one. Had she lost her power? She asked herself panicking. Had her powers really let her down? For a few worrying seconds she was left in doubt. But then she felt her friends' emotions and calmed down. It had to be the human then. She watched him closely, noticing the scarred eyebrow lip and nose, the glowing circle in his chest that could be seen through his black shirt, the metal limbs that reminded her of Nebula, and thought of what could have caused all that trauma, that maybe that was the motive she couldn't feel his emotions, maybe he was trying to ignore them himself. Maybe touching him was the only way to feel his emotions. She thought of an excuse to do so and remembered how the other human, the one called Bruce, greeted them. She extended her hand, palm open, ready to feel the usual cocktail of emotions all heroes seemed to have in common: self-hatred, fear, sadness and guilt,but nothing came. A shiver ran down her spine. She grabbed his hand with her other one, hoping to feel something, anything. Nothing. She felt lost, it was all so dark and… void, the quiet was endless, he was so empty it was overwhelming, cold and deep. She staggered, it couldn't be! How was he even alive? There was always something, some echo of emotion, some spark, something. Something alive, even in the most controlled, ruthless being, even in Nebula, even in Thanos. But there was nothing there, not sadness, not love, not even hatred. She tried to reach further in the nothingness, searching for any indication that he was alive other than the pulse she could feel under her fingerprints. Darkness and silence surrounded her, making her scared, and she went deeper, trying to escape all the emptiness. She found nothing and that's all there was. How did he get so broken it wasn't worth repair? How did he become so lonely love wasn't enough to fight the self-hate? How did he still walk and talk and breathe when there was nothing to live for? No emotion worth feeling? How could he have been so broken to give up love and happiness? She felt a hand swipe away tears she didn't know she had poured and opened her eyes to see Stark caressing her face, a concerned expression on him. She started sobbing at the profound sadness he had to be in to close off to the world. He wrapped his arms around her trying to soothe her. She kept crying until she passed out in his arms.