It had been three weeks since anyone had heard from Steve.
Tony was worried, but he wouldn't let the others know it. He had a reputation to keep, after all. So he hung back, scouting any cameras that hooked up to a satellite, trying to see if he could find any trace of Steve.
Nothing.
"Avengers Assemble." The words rang through J.A.R.V.I.S.' speakers and Tony grit his teeth. He'd have to up the firewall. He didn't want to be called to S.H.I.E.L.D. right now. They had much more important things to do. Like finding Steve. Pepper rolled over, slinging one arm around his waist.
"Don't go…" He heard her murmur, and he sighed deeply. He didn't want to. But S.H.I.E.L.D. had been quiet lately. For the last month or so they'd only had to take care of petty villains. Nothing huge, and Tony had been considering telling S.H.E.I.L.D. to send the tasks to the other guys. Surely the X-Men wanted some action? Why did the Avengers have to have every little task?
"I have to, babe." Tony gently peeled her arms off of him, rolling out of the bed. He was the last person to ever voluntarily get out of bed, especially when that bed involved Pepper. She didn't protest, she was probably still exhausted from last night. He figured she was already asleep, and he stretched, popping his spine to get the stiffness out.
He might've been summoned, but he definitely didn't want to go running to them like a bored puppy. He yawned, sleepily climbing into the shower and washing off the dried sweat that caked his skin. He took his time, but finally arrived in the meeting room where a very Maria Hill sat where Fury was supposed to be.
Tony raised a brow at that. "Where's Fury?" He asked, grabbing a chair and spinning it around before plopping himself down. The rest of his team—sans Captain America—gave him a little look before turning back to Agent Hill
"Director Fury has been temporarily reassigned. I'll be—"
"Woah! Woah hold on there, sweetheart. Reassigned? Fury? Hell to the no." Tony spat, leaning forward. "If Fury's not here, we ain't taking orders from you."
"Tony," Natasha's voice was cool as she looked over at him. She was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and probably knew all the tricks. "Let her speak. There's a reason Fury's not here."
"Oh?" Tony asked, looking over at her. He wasn't stupid enough to directly challenger her—not without the suit, at least. But he was stupid enough to argue a point. "I'm sure you know it then. Pray tell, little Spider. What's Fury up to?"
Clint sighed, shaking his head as Natasha rolled her eyes. "I don't know, Stark. That's why we're here."
"Actually…" Agent Hill piped up, but was quickly silenced by Tony raising a finger.
"Ah ah ah! No talkie." Tony didn't want to listen to her, and Hill seemed genuinely frustrated. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Tony was grinning in satisfaction. Outwardly, he showed nothing but the slightest hint of annoyance. "Only the big boys—and girl, can talk right now, kay? Kay."
This outburst prompted and angry rebuttal from Natasha, who apparently didn't like it when Tony treated her fellow agents the way he was. Finally, Bruce had to raise his voice to get everyone to quiet down, and smiled a little to himself when it actually worked. Maybe being the biggest wildcard was a plus.
"Let her talk." Bruce's voice was back to its normal, quiet level, and he leaned back a little in his chair, watching them through his thick glasses. "And then when we're out, and at home, we can argue there."
Tony looked like he wanted to say something else, but Bruce cut him off again. With an angry huff, the billionaire, crossed his arms and glared at Agent Hill. "Alright. Talk."
"Alright…" She looked more than a little annoyed now. "As I was saying. Director Fury has been temporarily reassigned, but for how long we're not sure. It was at the Council's discretion." She flipped through a file folder she had, passing out papers to each of them and frowning when she came to Steve's empty spot. "I'll be your new Director for the time being."
She paused, letting them all look over the papers she'd given them, before continuing. "I called you here to tell you that, and because I want to know…" Hill leaned forward a little, looking at them all. "Does anyone know where Captain Rogers has gone?"
The silence in the room was oppressive, and they all turned to Tony. He licked his lips, trying to come up with something feasible. "I've been trying to find him," he settled for, rubbing his forehead tiredly. "But the man appears to have dropped off the face of the earth. Again."
Hill sat back with a sigh. "I was afraid of that. We've got S.H.I.E.L.D. looking for him, but it's not looking promising." Steve knew how to vanish, and that didn't sit well with Tony or the team. He could see the other Avengers were just as uneasy, but they were trying not to show it. Really if anyone was going to find Captain America, it would be Tony. Though S.H.I.E.L.D. was a close second, and Tony took it as a challenge. He wasn't going to let S.H.I.E.L.D. win the hunt.
There was a pause as each member lost themselves to their thoughts
"We'll find him." Natasha spoke finally, looking up and locking eyes with Maria. Maria nodded.
"Thank you, Agent Romanov. Until then, you're leader." There was the beginnings of a protest from Tony, but Maria's glare quickly cut him off. "When we find Captain Rogers, you may still be leader—abandoning the team is not something that should be rewarded. Rogers may be removed from duty."
"Removed from…" Tony repeated, uncomprehending. "You can't just—you cant remove Captain fucking America from the Avengers! That's like—that's like removing the Statue of Liberty from New York!"
Maria sighed deeply. "The Council has to decide what to do. If Captain America is too unstable for the Avengers, he will be removed from duty."
Tony sat back. For now, he wouldn't say anything. But this was so fucking unfair. He rubbed his forehead as Maria continued to spew out useless information. The Council had decided to remove Fury from his position. The Council was thinking about taking Captain America off the team. What else was the Council going to do?
Biting the inside of his lip, Tony decided one thing. He had never before been a stickler for rules or authority figures, so why was he going to start now?
Screw the Council.
After the meeting, safely back at home, Tony confessed this to Pepper. He was upping J.A.R.V.I.S.' security walls, making sure that while they could still be called to Assemble, there would be no way for S.H.I.E.L.D. to use his system against him.
He was getting paranoid, and he knew it, but damn it, something was wrong.
"And they don't want Steve on the team anymore," Tony finished telling her sitting on one of the couches in the penthouse of the Tower, typing a few more commands into his laptop. His fingers were moving faster than they ever had before, with an urgency he hadn't felt since New York. "And I just don't understand it, why. Why Captain America—sure the guy's had a break down and is probably halfway around the world sipping piña coladas with some foreign babe… you know what, Pep. Schedule me a vacation to Puerto Rico; that sounds lovely."
He could practically hear Pepper rolling her eyes. "Alright, but seriously, just because Steve's had some sort of break down doesn't mean we kick him off the team. If anything, we get him help, we get him back on the team." Saving the changes to J.A.R.V.I.S.' programming, he half smirked when the walls made a little beep to confirm the changes.
Pepper shifted in her seat next to him, and he grabbed her legs, bringing them up to rest on his lap under the laptop. Stroking her calve, he smiled over at her. "It sounds to me like something's up with S.H.E.I.L.D." She mentioned quietly. Pepper wasn't supposed to know any of this. Everyone knew that, but everyone also knew that Tony couldn't exactly keep it quiet. To have Pepper know, instead of the public at large, was a small compromise that the Council was willing to overlook.
"That's what I've been saying!" Tony confirmed, putting the laptop down on a footstool so it could run the updates without interruption. "And I want to know why. What did Fury do that pissed them off so much that he was taken off the Avengers initiative? I mean, you don't mess with a big bald guy, Pep, you just don't. He could be—I don't know, what's scarier than a master spy?"
Pepper shrugged, using one arm as a pillow as she leaned her head against the side of the couch. She knew that in these situations the best thing to do is let Tony talk himself out. "I mean, really. And then to put Maria Hill in charge of us? That's like—that's like using a twelve year old to babysit your eleven year old. You just don't do it."
Tony sighed, rubbing up Pepper's leg to her thigh, almost unaware of his actions. "But really, I need to know where Steve is before I can tackle the issues surrounding S.H.I.E.L.D." He wouldn't admit that he missed the Star Spangled Man With A Plan, but he did miss how whole the team felt with Steve here.
"And I can't trust the other Avengers—well, I can probably trust Bruce, but I can't trust Natasha or bird brain, not that I ever trusted them, mind you, but now more than ever. They're S.H.I.E.L.D. agents first and Avengers second." He didn't really know if he believed that, but it was just one more excuse for his paranoia. "I'll have to build more suits—Pep, let's go back to Malibu, okay?"
Pepper watched him carefully. She removed her legs from his lap and crawled over so she was cuddled up next to him. "Whatever you want to do, Tony," She said to him. "I have to go back to Malibu next week anyways, because Stark Industries Headquarters needs me."
"Then it's settled! We leave for Malibu in the morning!"
If Pepper knew he wanted to go back so he could be closer to his vast collection of suits, she didn't say anything. And Tony was thankful for that.
Sometimes things just didn't go your way. Sometimes, life decided that everything that could go wrong, would go wrong. And so far, that had been exactly what had happened.
Prison hadn't been that bad, if he was honest with himself. Sure there were the big tough guys who liked to wail on the little newbies, but given who he was—added to the fact that he could probably build a semi-functioning explosive from very little material (Not as good as Tony Stark, mind you, but not bad.), they left him alone for the most part. He was happy with that. He got his own little cell, his own little T.V. and people let him do his thing.
That was fine. That was good.
Given the fact that he was set for 10 years in prison, unless someone could come up with $750,000 for his bail, he was going to make himself comfy.
And really, he was content being in prison, mostly because he could build up his plot of revenge against Tony Stark and his little bitch.
The bitch who put him in prison in the first place—ooh, she was going to pay. But for now, he had several ideas for what he was going to do to her—none of them legal, and more than one of them resulted in his personal pleasure and her humiliation. By the time he got out of here, he would be well into his mid-fifties. Still young enough to do what he needed to do. And that was fine.
He just needed two arms to kill her, after all.
Funny, how a prison changes you.
And then, one day, a few years into his sentence, someone paid his bail. He had no idea who it was, but he didn't really care. He just knew that he was free.
Stepping outside of the prison, he smiled up at the sun.
There was a car waiting for him just outside the prison gates, and he gratefully stepped into it. He was already thinking of ways to get his money back—ways to make sure that Pepper Potts paid. He was going to make sure that nothing was ever the same for Stark Industries again.
And he knew exactly how he was going to do it.
