You Get One Phone Call
by Rob Morris
LATE FALL, 2017
The phone rang, just once. At this, Captain Steve Rogers ordered his team to disperse, as far and as wide and as randomly as they knew how. He told them: Avoid all the places you 'know' that no one knows about until you have scouted them out.
"He's a good man, but he is ruthless, and he's not the only one we have to worry about."
Hours later, after he himself had relocated, reconnoitered and checked his new quarters for exploitable elements of his surroundings, Steve heard the phone ring again, this time for real. The man on the other end said some welcome words.
"The world isn't ending, and this is not a trap."
The first part he took the caller's word on. The second he took with a grain of salt.
"Tony, I went out of my way and took several precautions to send you a phone that predates my awakening and maybe any thoughts of the Avengers' Initiative taking hold. So I hope you aren't just checking in."
On his end, Tony Stark nodded.
"It's a little gem. One of the first-ever pay-units flip-phone. It even has a small set of non-expiring pre-paid units. Utterly unhackable-because it almost has nothing to hack. These phones are just about capable of calling each other. Steve, I will say this. For a man out of time, you understood just how fast phone tech has moved. These things are only a few steps beyond walkie-talkies and bag phones. Brilliant for this use."
He sighed, and kept on.
"I cloned it. I needed to speak to you, but I didn't want to use up so inventive a method when the world wasn't ending."
Rogers gave some hope for the future.
"I trust you, in the basics of it, Tony. But you have overseers. One in particular. A man who likes to create monsters, then lecture others about a New York invasion we didn't plan."
If Rogers was waiting for Stark to say the difficult Secretary had a point, Tony was not taking that call.
"Mister Ross does not have a lot of fans, does he? Even as I supported him in that meeting, I had to wonder what he would have done if Bruce had been with us-and not faced arrest himself. Alright, Steve, I'll give you this. He's already run this thing into the ground. I'm getting input from both ends to try and go around him, even when I'm inclined to do so. He keeps insisting Banner must be here somewhere on Earth. His own gamma-satellites keep finding only Blonsky and Sterns. Thank Odin Thor's off somewhere, trying to prevent his family from having to live through a Wagner opera. The old man's tone would not carry well with that hammer."
Tony followed up.
"If he's trying to listen in, he is hearing an extended version of my namesake by Black Sabbath-performed with the Chieftains backing them up. Celtic rhythm added to the tale of a doomed time traveler? Who'dve thought, but it works!"
They both knew they were dancing around several sets of minefields, much of their layout hidden, and some of it very apparent. But they weren't anxious to go there, just yet. Rogers decided to step carefully on the way there.
"Alright, before we even try to start-what do you know about the SHIELD remnant that's been operating out there?"
Stark shook his head.
"Next to nothing, except the people with the power seem to want them as or more badly than they want you. Your bunch may actually have benefited from the resources they expended looking for this group. I actually spoke to their leader through a filter even I had not a prayer of breaking. All I can say is - polite fella."
Rogers felt that the information he had was vital to pass on.
"We were hitting some former HYDRA safe-houses. Some not so former. It's vague, but best indications were, there is a final significant cell within the USAF. I can arrange a data drop. Can you pass that on to Rhodey? He might recognize some names and places, then maybe you get them to our unknown SHIELD operatives."
Stark was feeling the coming clash as well, and so welcomed what few distractions they had.
"No promises, except I'll try. Now you pass something on to Sam for me. He took a huge risk in contacting Rhodey. But that therapy program he set up has done wonders. Turns out he proposed it to the military, but their insurance people called it too risky for their tables. But for Rhodey, it was something he could finally sink his teeth into. Changed his whole outlook. Did you hear anything about what happened on the street-level in New York?"
Rogers recalled what had been said by one member of his force.
"Wanda said someone in that area was doing their best to break reality itself. That they came very close to enacting a major human sacrifice. She also said someone in New York and Hong Kong was playing around with time like it was a toy-but then she said that one seemed to know what they were doing."
Stark rolled his eyes.
"The sacrifice types were evil ninjas, if you can wrap your head around that one. Didn't know about the time-guy, but it does explain some acid-trip sightings I heard tell of. Also, someone somewhere-maybe your HYDRA bunch or another one-got hold of Stane's modded Mark 1 Suit. Tried to sell it at an auction. Turns out there's this former Afghan vet turned vigilante psycho got in there and even took out the guy wearing the suit-with a knife! Ross is after me to 'seek him out'. But some of the people he's currently targeting are the same types who used our dead from Vietnam as organ-emptied 'pharaohs' for drug shipments. Dude's unstable, and loaded for bear, but I can't bring myself to stop someone who lost their family the way he did. One last thing before we go at it. Remember the kid from the airport? Well, he's the reason I'm calling."
"God, Tony, No."
Stark realized his error.
"No-no to NO. I mean, he's alright. He's fine. Better than fine. He proved himself. Made some rookie errors-some worse than rookie errors, but he also corrected at least one big-ass one of mine. I actually offered him full membership-he said no. Judged himself not ready."
Rogers sounded uncertain.
"Tony, I'm not looking to make this part of what we have to hash out. God knows we've got enough. But are you really sure about taking a teenaged sidekick into a war zone?"
Stark felt the oddest twinge, like somehow Rogers was being hypocritical, but his mind could not recall a single fact to back this odd judgment up. Yet like stories of reincarnation, this notion would also not entirely leave him.
"That's a debate to be had. Still I believe in this kid-what I didn't do was listen to him, and so a past oversight of mine nearly hooked up with a new one to make potentially hundreds of Sokovias. The guy he stopped-gravelly voice, a little crazy, scary, loaded with gadgets-"
"What, was he fighting Batman?"
"Watch it, Rogers. We may find peace someday, but you steal my lines again, and you are done. Anyway, I dismissed him as an over-enthusiastic screw-up, and while he was and is both of those, I learned for the nonillionth time that I should listen. To him, and to your answer to the question I called you about."
Rogers breathed in, wishing Tony could find and punch him in full armor rather than face this moment.
"We need this. So ask."
Stark gathered himself. Even for this, he sounded partially ill as he spoke.
"Steve, how in the HELL could you not tell me?"
Rogers asked for pre-conditions.
"It's complicated. Will you let me speak?"
"Kind of why I'm calling, don't you think?"
Rogers felt his heart in his throat. This had seemed so much clearer when Bucky was not safe and in good hands, finally getting the care he needed and deserved.
"Natasha and I headed to Fort Lehigh based on what we'd been able to gather as the HYDRA Insight coup went forward. That's when we were met by Zola - or his computer-recorded remains."
Stark stopped him.
"Not-looking to interrupt. But-was he SERIOUSLY recorded onto tape drives and reel-to-reels? The most modern breakthrough bleeding-edge AI attempts at recording the contents of a Human mind could still be out-thought by Forrest Gump, and not in savant mode."
Rogers allowed this. Had they been discussing hand-to-hand combat, and someone did something that not even enhancements could speak to, he might be just as flustered.
"Now that is one I thought about. Not up on computers like someone born more recently, but I had a fair idea of what they could and couldn't do, and when. 1972 sounded like a stretch. A glance at some of the magazines in your suite at the Tower confirmed that. Then I hit on it. With all the backstabbing and egos at HYDRA, why had no one tried to displace Zola with this sort of immortality? Reverence for a founder only goes so far."
Stark for his part recalled the reveal of how far HYDRA had drilled down. Senator Stern had frankly been no shock, though a small surprise for just how much of a sneaking sleaze he really was. But that little joy aside, it had been like the revelation of a new STD strain among his celebrity friends. All of a sudden, Tony found himself scrutinizing all his current and past relationships for elements of HYDRA infiltration. Briefly, Killian's name had come up, but only by a way of an algorithm, and once HYDRA was excluded as a possibility, he moved on. It was what Tony always did, and seemingly always regretted.
"Remember who founded them, no matter what they claimed. Reverence for Der Founder is also right in character. But yeah, so is going Starscream on superiors. What did you come up with?"
Rogers showed that his mind was first and last a strategic one.
"The Tesseract. Zola worked with it for years. Gazed into the abyss-and as you saw yourself, it looked back at him. The Zola I knew was a follower-worse in many ways, but in the end not too different than Von Braun. But Von Braun didn't care where the missiles landed. Zola came to care fiercely. Fiercely enough to out-organize the people who beat his master. To out-do his master. To find the after-life that eluded Schmidt."
Stark nodded.
"You think it changed him. Did something to his brain, his mind, enough so that ancient creaking movie-prop computer banks could recreate a dangerously brilliant mind? Sad to say, I'll buy that. So let's resume. You two talked to Harlan Ellison's reimagining of Arnim Zola."
Rogers did just that.
"He laid out how HYDRA had been there since SHIELD was founded, and made broad claims of having a hand in world events. He heavily intimated that they were responsible for your parents' murders-"
Stark broke his promise, but Rogers had seen it coming without having to calculate it.
"-which you did NOT tell me about-but keep going."
Rogers knew that his frame of mind in that chaotic time had not been the best. From being shocked by what his own side would do to learning how close they were to handing everything over to the enemy that had claimed so much of his life and those he loved, follow-through was not among his strengths.
"Tony, in the first place, I wasn't sure that anything he said had any validity. Would you put it past a crew like HYDRA to just claim, in a moment of panic for its enemies, that that they had a hand in every dark event since the war ended in '45? Long before Schmidt, Zola and all the rest, I dealt with grifters and con artists, street hustlers during the Depression-hell, my old man's excuses about not even trying to find work. You know what I mean."
Stark did indeed.
"Yeah, once they get inside your head, they will lay claim and title to every last poop you ever popped out, if you let them. Okay. But given how much they pulled off and showed off once they unmasked, you had to know at least some of it was true. Maybe not all the big 60's assassinations, but something in there had to show the signs. Why-why didn't you just ask Barnes? I know his brain was scrambled and yes, he was set up to be their weapon, but maybe something like that-he knew my father, dammit-would bleed through."
Rogers shrugged, and then realized that such a gesture was pointless. He wanted to laugh at how used to video-conferencing even he had gotten.
"It was only straight at the end he showed that he really remembered me-and by that point, the carriers - whose descent I could not control - were plunging into the Potomac. I looked hard for him, and mainly wanted to save him and stop him from doing anything else these monsters had in mind. Worst of all, what if I told you what I suspected, and that was exactly what Zola wanted? Maybe you take Bucky down without trying to kill him, but his programming leaves you no choice. Then we find out he had nothing to do with it, or wasn't the direct operative. Zola had me by the heart-strings. I wasn't giving him anything or anyone else until I knew."
Stark often tried his damndest not to be predictable. But what came next was.
"And once you did know? Once you were damned near sure he had been who they sent after my folks? And let's be clear, Steve, the target was destroyed!"
Rogers knew his words might not be enough, but they were all he had.
"Even before the video, I felt certain that he was. At that point, I wanted to see how much of the man I knew was left, and whether he could be cured from what they did to him. I knew how you would react-how anyone would react, to the news of what they had him do. I had to give him that last doubt, that last chance. His life as it became was the result of my failure to save him."
Rather than point out the flaws in that reasoning, Stark moved against a different opening.
"And what if, Captain Rogers, you discovered that Bucky Barnes was now only a sinking island within the Winter Soldier? That in fact, your friend was, for all intents and purposes, gone forever?"
Of course Rogers had to have considered this. But Stark wanted and in fact felt he deserved to hear this himself.
"Then I would, with a heart that was trying to tear itself out fighting me every step of the way, make sure that, one way or another, he went away forever.. I can't believe he would want to live otherwise. Before I left him-under heavy guard and back in cryo, where no HYDRA inserts will be found-he made it clear that, if he cannot be helped, I am to put him down myself, or find someone who will."
Perhaps that Barnes himself 'got it' was enough for Stark, or at least enough for the present. So with at least an attempt at an explanation, Tony knew that he needed to play fair.
"Okay-guess it's your turn."
Rogers didn't want to open another can of worms. But if Tony ever called during a real full activation crisis, there might well be no time for such a clearing of the air.
"You had pressure, and you had guilt-a feeling of responsibility over Sokovia. But even with that, how could you allow Ross to present that unbelievably skewed reading of past events? Yes, we need to answer to those we protect. Yes, this was who the government gave us to deal with. But dammit Tony, a businessman of all people should know that, if you go in telling your negotiating counterpart that you're ready to concede the major points, then they will move on all the rest with relish. Why is it that you found religion, and then we all had to go to a new church?"
Stark, for all his anger and rage on the subject of Bucky Barnes, hadn't expected Rogers to actually have logic to back up his choice to hold to his friend. He wasn't outright spent, but the main reason for his call had been answered to at least a small measure of satisfaction. He had no doubt that he and Steve might well re-hash the whole sorry package yet again, if they actually met up-and if there was time.
"I told you that they were serious. They were. For all that seriousness, I could have finagled us a better deal. I could have gotten Ross's job, or gotten it for you. Fury dropped a few notes about how to work the manufactured upset."
Rogers asked the obvious.
"So why didn't you work a better deal, or use Fury's notes...wait, manufactured upset?"
Stark sounded listless.
"Miriam Sharpe was and is a legitimately grieving mother, and her son did die because of what happened in Sokovia. All of that is true. But Fury picked up on some intel that at first, she did not specifically blame us. Some feelings that we could have done a lot better, stated in the office get-togethers, some of which were found out by her boss, the Secretary Of State-who was ironically enough brought in to help settle the White House after they had to, ya know, arrest the Vice President."
Rogers was coming to the conclusion that Bruce Banner's accounts of Thaddeus Ross were, if anything, badly understated.
"Softening you up?"
Stark nodded, and this time almost cursed himself for the useless gesture.
"There's a conspiracy-lite theory about 9/11 that says, while no one from our or allied governments had prior knowledge or planned it, they did have plans in place for if and when a catastrophic attack ever happened, and the package of laws to enact in that window. I now find that theory a little easier to accept. Maybe I even wondered about this kind of thing. But it no longer mattered. Like I said, Ross was in as a wholly unintended, beyond-my-control side effect of a conspiracy that started because I slighted someone at a party. I know-whatever you think of me, I KNOW-that I have a crapload to answer for. Fine, great. Make me answer for it. Punish me. But I know I'm not the only powerful prick in this whole wide world. So I started to wonder why my lousy actions, poor judgment and war profiteering were crowding me all of a sudden."
Rogers had some definite ideas, but kept them back for the moment. Only for the moment.
"What did you find out?"
Stark sounded calmer, but not actually calm.
"I always thought that what Yinsen did for me was all a charitable aid. He was a good man. But I think maybe now he wanted revenge on me worse than Wanda ever did. Maybe worse than Killian, Vanko or any of them. Because I get now that what he made me realize about myself wasn't just a harsh jolt to the ego and conscience. It was the start of a journey. A challenge to the man I had been, and he must have known my ego could not turn down a challenge. Steve, I can't turn back from trying for redemption-even a little. Once I started that journey, I pursued it just as over-zealously as I do anything else. Problem was, once you start to solve a problem, the first thing that happens is you realize just how big it is. Stane, Vanko, Killian - basically the same as me with a little less luck and a lot more pettiness, odd as that may sound. Screw them - how many Maximoffs, Sharpes and Zemos are also lying in wait?"
Rogers reasoned out the rest.
"So Mrs. Sharpe was your limit, and this made you give in more than you might have otherwise?"
"Something like that."
"Tony, I don't know how much of your past is still waiting for you. You're right, you were what my neighborhood deli owner called a side of Prime Schmuck Steak. Everything I've heard says that, including people I've spoken to who knew you when. All the bad people you've cited and all those like you were or worse than you ever tried to be? Likely their past follows them too. Odds are, they just don't care. By Yinsen or by introspection, you were made to care. A lot of other people would have just walked away from the path you're on. Your drive won't let you. So every Killian or Vanko makes you think, and then you think some more. But I honestly believe that in this case, your enthusiasm and desire to improve got the better of you."
Stark began to break out of his funk.
"Steve, there is such a thing as answering to the people we're supposed to be trying to help!"
To his credit, Rogers took this head on.
"You think I don't know that? You think I want to be playing God over their lives by the choices I make? But here's the thing, Tony. It's where we end up anyway. The powers and weapons that are now a permanent, no going back part of our lives? They have no chance against it. Some Hydra operative could use one of Zola's cast-off experiments and convince half of Manhattan that they've actually been enemy sleeper agents their whole lives."
Stark shook his head.
"Now you're just being silly."
"Maybe I am. But your father and Peggy shut down a plot to have New Yorkers at each other's throats, and then a year later, an attack that would have opened gravity wells all over LA. They could be incinerated in a heartbeat, find the ocean in Midtown-and the only thing that can stop it is us. Think-use that oversize brain of yours and think of how many really horrendous things we shut down with seconds to spare, if that. Do you really want our razor thin margins cut to nothing by the agendas of people like Ross-or Pierce? Hell, I'm not sure where Nick Fury really stood on Insight, before Pierce played his hand. When cities fall, we need to be ready to catch them."
Stark sounded ready to throw the phone.
"You had to go there, didn't you?"
It was Rogers' turn to realize the awkwardness of words.
"Not remotely what I meant."
Stark was unsure of that last part, but since the wall had been breached, it was time to tear it down entirely.
"Your turn again, Captain. You and some of the others really didn't care for the Accords, and sure as hell didn't care for the way I sprung them on you. You all had an ace in the hole that could have scuttled the whole thing, but you never played it. So why, when Ross was running the collateral damages numbers like a Vegas wheel with a magnet under the table, did none of you finger me for Ultron?"
Rogers breathed in.
"You have a way with words."
Stark stood firm.
"Don't wait for the translation-answer the question."
Rogers' showed that he had thought all of this through.
"There's a lot of reasons. We all had legal exposure. Wanda set Banner loose and was working for Ultron. None of us exactly told all we knew about Ultron and his plans. We didn't turn you in at the time. It was because we needed you and Banner to undo the mess, but I doubt Ross would have done anything besides clamp down further. But there was one thing that overrode all other considerations. We are - or we were - a team. By choosing not to watch you, we let you pursue the path that made Ultron possible. The blood of Mrs. Sharpe's son, and Zemo's family, and all the others rests on all our hands. We're all hazards, Tony. Having Bruce around means a possible rampage. Thor means monsters out of storybooks and acid trips. Natasha and Clint mean spycraft catching up with them. I carry the baggage of a war where two sets of mad men were out to undo civilization. And so on. You invent. That sounds like a small thing, but believe me, I appreciate what it means. We all do. Ultron was made by you, but he was all of ours."
Of all the answers Stark had not been expecting, that one was without a doubt the very nadir of unanticipated. It struck him like a thunderclap - and this was a man who had in fact, been struck so by a professional. With real thunder.
"Thank You. I still think you went about nearly everything you can name in so wrong a way as to reverse the planet's spin on its axis, but Thank You."
Rogers' checked the time. Given the determination of those pursuing him and his team, he disliked staying in one spot for too long without constant recon.
"We're not going to resolve everything with a phone call, Tony."
Stark sounded calmer.
"Actually, Steve, I doubt that we've resolved anything. Probably, if and when we meet up again, we'll end up rehashing all the points we just wiped ourselves out with all over again. But keep yourself alive till then, Captain. I still hold an option on punching you straight in those perfect teeth. I'll try and pass on that info about the HYDRA cell in the Air Force, though who I'm passing it to remains a real ball-buster. Did I tell you that it looked like the filter broke when I was talking to SHIELD? Ass-hat had a sadistic sense of humor-made himself sound like Coulson. Oh-HA-friggin-HA!"
Rogers sighed.
"Some people. I'll try and arrange another info drop, but no promises. We were weeks on the edge after Lang and Clint turned themselves in."
Stark prepared to end the call.
"I tried pumping Hank Pym, just before him and his little girl took off. No hope there. The guy rivals me for science, and he rivals me for pissing past associates off. But I guess somethings I'll always own. Once again, stay alive. America still needs your help."
Rogers winced.
"You actually own that old board game? Iron Man-keep going in, all jets ablaze. And I will block that punch. For what it's worth, Tony-take care."
"And you, Steve."
Stark put down the phone, and then took a meat tenderizer to it, before placing the remains in a magnetized container.
"Ahh, Redundancy."
As he got up, Tony found his gait was staggered, and coming out of the room, he only avoided a fall by way of Pepper.
"You actually did it this time? No simulator?"
Stark looked at the woman he loved, and nodded.
"I didn't think either of us had the guts to even try and talk it out."
He turned and looked at the night sky.
"So maybe there's hope."