IRONY
Disclaimer: I only own the characters I have created, the rest is property of Marvel and the mouse.
Chapter One: Reeling In the Years
New York City, 2009
I: Logan
"You're goin' to go to him, ain't you?"
The Harlequin turned around and saw Wolverine standing accusingly in the doorway of the master bedroom of her bunker.
"He's my friend, Logan."
"Darlin', Tony Stark ain't a friend to any of us, anymore. Not since the Civil War."
"That's in the past. He's trying to make amends."
"Tryin'? Shit, we're livin' in the ground like rats because Norman Osbourne walked right into the crack that the war made in our world! Steve's dead because of that fuckin' war! Nobody woulda gone for Registration if Stark hadn't got behind it. He woulda put you away. And Eddie. And me. And our sons."
"Don't drag Jack into this. Or Tommy. Just because you're his father don't mean you get to throw him up to me! Besides, Logan, you know as well as I do that the bottom fell out in '85, after that stunt Ozzy pulled. It was only a matter of time. The Keene Act, the fuckin' Death Squid. Apocaylpse. Onslaught. The Civil War. Now this. The hits just keep on comin'. That's the way it is. Did you blame Onslaught on Charlie?"
"No."
"Then cut Tony some slack. He's givin' up the thing he loves the most to save us. To make amends, and cut that fuck Osbourne off at his knees."
"His life?"
"No. His mind."
"I can't understand you, Liv. You fought against him. And you swore up and down that you would have hung with Cap if you had to."
"I would have."
"Then what the fuck are you goin' to Stark, for?"
"You remember what I told you, Logan, right before we took our blood oath?"
"Yeah."
"I told you I'm in this for the long haul, that when I'm your friend I'm your goddamn friend and even after every motherfucker on God's Green Earth has turned their back on you, I'll still walk ten miles barefoot over broken glass to come to your side. Well, I'm Tony Stark's friend, too. Fuck war, and fuck politics, and fuck Norman Osborne, too. Tony needs me. I gotta go."
"What do you want me to tell Eddie, when he gets back?"
"He knows I'm a stand up kind of broad. Tell him I had to stand up."
Logan was about to say something when their son, Tom Howlett, AKA Patch, appeared behind him in the doorway.
"Hi Pa. OK, Ma, I got the car all gassed up like you told me. When will you be back?"
"Wait a fuckin' second! Tommy, d'you know where she's going?"
"Yeah."
"To Stark?"
"Pa, he's gonna die. Hard. He might as well not die alone."
Still protesting, Logan followed his son and Liv out of the bedroom and all the way onto the kitchen, where Jack Blake, AKA Viking, was eating his breakfast of Froot Loops and milk out of his horned helmet, the way he always did.
Jack was a lot like his father.
Good times, bad times, apocalypse, it was all the same to Jack Blake.
"That better not be the last box." Tom said to his twin.
"What if it is?"
"If it is, you're stickin' your America's Most Wanted ass out on the street to go get another box, I'm not."
"Relax, bro. It's not." Jack chuckled.
"Jacky, you know what your mother's doing?" Logan asked.
"Will you quit callin' me Jacky, Uncle Logan? I'm 29 fuckin' years old. It's embarrassin'."
"That ain't what I was askin' you about."
"Yeah. An' I know Pop's gonna shit about it when he gets back. But, what the fuck? If Stark's gonna die, and die like a slobberin' fuckin' dog, let him die lookin' at the last mask who don't wanna see him do it." The Comedian's son observed.
"That's what I said." Tom agreed.
He sat down with a bowl, with Liv's two red-headed sons, and Jack pushed the milk across to him.
"Siddown, Uncle Logan. Have some fuckin' cereal. Ma ain't gonna listen to you, or me and if my dad was here, she wouldn't listen to him, either."
Logan sat down.
"Well, I guess you're right. Besides, it ain't like she could get killed, or anything."
"Anybody can get killed. Everybody dies. Even people like us. Lookit Tony. You woulda thought that extremis woulda made him fuckin' invincible." Tom said.
"Everybody thought Cap was fuckin' invincible." Jack interjected.
"Nobody's fuckin' invincible. My big brother's out there with that Muramasa Blade, and he ain't lookin to shave with it. If he kills you, Pa, I'll hafta see how invincible he is." Tom observed.
"We'll hafta see how invincible he is, Tommy. Kill 'em all…"
"…an' let the Devil sort 'em out in Hell, Jack."
The brothers clinked their cereal bowls together, resolutely.
"What the fuck are we talkin' about Hell and dyin' for? Nothin' could kill me before the mutation. I'd like to see the fuckers try an' kill me now. You boys wanna hot breakfast? I don't gotta leave right now." Liv said.
She started banging pots and pans around.
"How the fuck is she getting to the Middle East?" Logan asked his son and his godson.
Jack shrugged.
"Sometimes with Ma, it's like what they say about gays in the army. Don't ask, don't tell." Tom observed.
He and Jack both found that funny, and Logan tried not to laugh, but he found himself doing it, anyway.
Maybe they had a point.
Tony used to be his friend, his teammate, even.
Cap had died horribly, and alone, except for strangers and his familiar murderer, brainwashed into killing him.
He wouldn't have wanted to see Tony go the same way.
Let the man die in peace.
Maybe he deserved that.