Kinship

Summary: It's been twenty-five years since Tony Stark lost his parents, and a month since he learned the truth of what really happened on that night. When he was looking through his mom's stuff for remembrance, something caught his attention that leads him to searching a secret that his mom had been hiding from everybody, and one that she took to the grave.

As Tony's search takes him to New York, where he ends up teaming up with Matt Murdock, to uncover the truth, they both find themselves on the run as along the way they discover a lot more than they thought, and much more danger and running as the unimaginable truth emerges.

And Tony suspects the secret is Matt Murdock.

Tags: Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Season/Series 02, Drama, Angst, Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Mystery, Secrets, Thriller, Action/Adventure, Crime Drama, Suspense, Canon-Typical Violence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence,

Things You Need to Know:

1.) This story is set after Season 2 of Daredevil and Captain America: Civil War (Both contain spoilers). But beyond that, it's AU and I have no knowledge what happens after that event. I wrote this before The Defenders S1and Daredevil Season 3 (no spoilers) It's pretty much no compliant beyond S2 and CA:CW (I'll ignore the Defenders S1 and Daredevil S3).

2.) This is connected to my other fic, if you noticed. So technically, this is the sequel. But can be read as a stand-alone. This is Part 2 of Vigilante's Consequences.

I hope you enjoy this ;)

Chapter 1

You did this-

-n't have to say it. It's not—

-Bring them back! God damnit, brin—

-Damage you cost-

-Look, I can't—

-Tony-

-You did this. You did this.

…

Nightmares happened.

Not always. Not everyday. It just happened sometimes.

He would wake up with his chest heaving. The other time, he would stare at the nothingness. His mind blank and wonder for a second what he was thinking.

It still happened.

…

He attended meetings. He listened to Ross' ranting. And he couldn't think about it. His mind would wonder once again, and all he could hear was a car crashing the trees.

…

Sometimes at night, he would look at the phone Steve had given him. And then he would bury it deep into his cabinets before staring at the ceiling, wondering what the world was thinking.

…

"Mister Stark, this is General Ross, calling about your statement that you missed—"

Tony ended the message, leaning back his seat.

He had made many mistakes in his entire life. Some of them, he didn't care because it brought him joy and was obviously delighted. He had been arrogant and selfish at that time, and very careless of what other people think. But the other mistakes, it gave him a dark pit to his stomach and there was the underlying guilt that was eating him up.

One of his mistakes was building nuclear weapons without a thought. The next was trusting Obie, and that was a punch of a gut. His biggest might have been creating Ultron, and he regretted it everyday for what he had started caused in the end. And what effect it had on everyone.

Trusting Steve Rogers, now it had been one of the worst. It hurt in the end for what Steve did, probably much worse when Obie betrayed him. Even when Steve had his reasons, it wasn't enough. Tony still couldn't believe what Steve Rogers, the friend he thought he could trust, turned his back on him when he needed him. Lied to him! Betrayed him!

Whatever they had, even when Steve told him in his letter that he would always be there, it's gone. They can never be what they were. Their relationship was damaged and cannot be fixed. Not after that Steve had lied to him! Steve had known what truly happened to his parents, and never told him that Barnes had murdered them.

No, Tony cannot find it in himself to forgive Steve and his pal for this. Never could he find peace in it. The image had burned in his head forever after watching that video.

My mom—

He pushed the aching pain and anger aside before looking at the screens he pulled off.

…

Tony held back the urge to pick up the phone for the past few days. There was nothing comforting about it except how considerate Steve was. Ha! Now he wanted to smash it.

…

His eyes stared at Rhodey and Vision, both looking down at their meal. Tony knew that look. And he knew what was going on.

They missed them…

…

"Are you okay?"

Tony froze. That voice. He thought he would never hear that voice in his presence. The clicking heels moved closer and he watched as Pepper came to view, looking concern at him, and that stunned him much more.

"I heard what happened," she bit her lip as she knelt in front of him, hesitantly reaching out to his face before she rested it in his cheek. Tony closed his eyes, welcoming her touch that was so familiar and comforting. He didn't realize how much he missed this. How much he missed Pepper. "Tony…"

"What are you doing here, Pep?" It took a lot of pushing to say that. Despite how much he wanted this, he knew he had to break it.

"I was worried."

"Well," he let out a bitter chuckle. "You see, I'm fine, thanks for the—"

"Don't give that those crap lies," Her hair brushed against his knuckles, and Tony realized that he was holding her. "Just…tell me what happened?"

Tony looked up to her. Those soft blue eyes staring at him with concern. Her voice wasn't stern as he always heard, but quiet and soft. "I'm fine Pep." He said.

She frowned. "Do you want me to stay?"

He opened his mouth to tell her that he was fine on his own, but her gaze made him stopped. He nodded reluctantly before climbing to bed while Pepper joined with him.

"I'm not leaving you, Tony, I'm never leaving you." She said quietly to his ears before a single tear dropped from his face. "Not now, not ever."

"I thought we're done," Tony said. "It's over between us."

"I said that we just take a break," She rested her head on his shoulder, "But, I think I'm terrible of leaving you anyway."

Tony chuckled a bit. "Yeah right."

"Tony…"

"I want to sleep now."

He heard her sigh before she moved closer to his side, and that was the last thing he felt before sleep took over him.

...

Tony sat at the edge of his bed, looking at the screens he pulled up. It was his parents again, or more specifically, his mother. He watched the video of his mother hugging him—a 14 year old him-while his father looked at them at distance, with an unreadable look on his face.

He watched as his mother seemed to murmur something to his ears. It hadn't been picked up by the cams, but he remembered the words.

"I'm so proud of you, dear."

Then his mother and father walked away while Tony stood next to his butler, gazing at them with love yet saddened once again that they were leaving him. It was the only public footage he could find because it was rare to find one that was entirely between about him and his mother.

His mother and father were leaving to New York for a trip after that, something about a development that needed to be halt. Right now, all he could stare was the picture of his mother. Blonde hair pulled into a bun, wearing that fancy business dress she always wore on a trip.

It was the longest time he hadn't seen his mother. He had seen his father returned after that trip a week later, and told him that his mother was with her old friends back in New York. She came home on Christmas a year and a half later. Tony, sixteen years old, had smiled at the top of the stairs before he gave her a kiss on the cheek. He remembered that she had smiled shakingly at the sight of him and squeezed his shoulder before giving his father a kiss.

Tony needed to see more. He wanted to see his mom so he pulled a footage when she was in New York. She was in a party, wearing her long white dress as she chatted with her friends. He couldn't hear what she was saying, but all he could do was stare at the movement, recalling the way she held him back when he was kid.

Then his brows furrowed when he saw a man leading his mom intimately outside the room. His hand placed at her lower back, but what was surprising was the way his mom looked at him. It was that soft, endearing look with love.

"FRIDAY, who is that?" Tony asked. There was something about this man that sent shivers down his spin, like a cold feeling he did not like