Ignorance was sometimes bliss, indeed. Tony had always found consolation in the fact that his parents had died a quick death. That they hadn't even had the time to realize what was happening. Now even that consolation had been taken from him.

The crash hadn't killed them. The Winter Soldier had.

He remembered his dad's fractured face. Barnes must have punched him to death. How many punches had it taken to kill him? And his mom's broken neck… Tony was now wondering which one would be more painful. Being punched, or choked to death. Because the answer would determine how he would kill Barnes.

"Tony?" Pepper asked softly, taking his hand into hers.

Tony gently squeezed her hand and pressed it against his lips. The fact that such a beautiful, smart, kind, and capable woman had to live in the same world with the monster who had killed his mom filled his heart with rage. She looked so delicate, so fragile… And yet, she was somehow able to give him all the strength he needed.

"I think you should talk to Steve. He was good friends with Sergeant Barnes, right?"

"I'm going to kill Barnes. There's nothing to talk about."

Ana gasped. "Dad, please don't!"

"What?"

"Sergeant Barnes was brainwashed by HYDRA. He was just another victim."

"Why are you defending him?" He couldn't help but feel a little betrayed. Ana had always been on his side, no matter what. Always. Was that going to change now? Why?

"Because I was brainwashed, too! I tried to kill you. Right here, remember? If you're blaming that guy for what he did, it means, deep down, you're probably blaming me, too. And if you can't forgive me, I can't forgive myself either!"

"That was different," he said quickly. He refused to believe that his daughter had anything in common with the most notorious assassin in history. He had never blamed Ana for what Loki had done to her, ever. But did he really have to let Barnes get away with his crimes to prove that? He would do anything for his baby girl. Anything. This one wasn't going to be easy, though. But deep down, he knew hers was a good argument. He was just too angry to admit it right now. Maybe later, once he was able to think more clearly…

"She has a point, Tony," Pepper agreed. "Barnes was just a weapon. A tool. HYDRA was behind this. And if you start a fight with Steve, you'll only be doing them a favor."

Another good argument. It didn't change the fact that Barnes was still out there, though.

Then, another thought occurred to him. Ana looked like her grandmother. And she rarely used her middle name, but sometimes, it appeared on interviews and articles… What if one day Barnes woke up and decided that he had an unfinished mission? Who knew how exactly his messed up mind worked? Maybe all it took was a picture, or a word to trigger him.

"Tony? What is it?"

"Ana," he mumbled. "She… looks like my mom…"

Pepper seemed confused. "And?"

"I think he fears that Barnes might come for me." Ana had understood. Of course she had.

"It's just me being paranoid," he said quickly, not wanting to scare her. He put an arm around each of the girls, and tugged them closer. "You're safe. You're both safe. I'll speak with Cap and figure this out."

Well, he and Steve weren't exactly BFFs, but they had grown to respect each other. And Tony was happy. He finally felt like he was doing something that would make his dad proud. He was a part of something bigger than himself. That was one of the reasons he loved taking care of the Avengers. And now, he feared that their relationship was never going to be the same. But what else could he do? He couldn't let Barnes roam freely. He had a daughter and a girlfriend to think of. He was going to spare his life, to prove Ana that he understood how mind control worked, but that was all. He couldn't just ignore the fact that he was somewhere out there.

"Cap knows," Ana blurted out.

"What?" he gasped.

"Romanoff called in some favors after SHIELD fell, gave him everything she could find on Barnes… I think they didn't want you to get emotional right now. They were going to tell you once HYDRA was dealt with. But I didn't want to wait. I thought you deserved to know what HYDRA had taken from you before you destroyed them for good."

He bit his lips angrily. He couldn't say he was surprised about Romanoff. But Rogers had been lying to him this whole time as well. Tony wondered if his dad would have still admired him so deeply if he had known that Captain America would be protecting his murderer one day. Was he really going to tell Tony the truth once HYDRA was gone, or was it just another lie?

Pepper is right, he reminded himself. If he started a fight with Rogers, he would be doing HYDRA a favor.

"Dad?"

"It's okay, kid, really. I'm just glad you told me."

"You did what you had to do," Pepper told her. "Don't blame yourself."

Ana sighed. "Still, your next mission will be so awkward."

He shrugged. "We're all professionals. We don't have to be friends to save the world."

Pepper lifted her head to give him a peck on the lips. "Just don't do anything reckless, okay?"

"I won't," he promised firmly, looking into her eyes. Seemingly satisfied, Pepper smiled and buried her head in the crook of his neck. He just wanted to keep them like this forever, safe in his arms. If he were a man who had nothing to lose, he would indeed be doing something reckless and stupid right now. But Tony had so much to lose, and he couldn't afford to be reckless. Every time he donned the suit, he knew he had to return home in one piece.

…

His confrontation with Rogers didn't go well. Tony did his best to remain calm, until he found out Rogers would have brought Barnes to the tower if he had been able to find him. He would have brought that monster to the place where Pepper and Ana lived. After that, Tony lost whatever temper he might have had. Harsh words were exchanged, threats were made. But in the end, the team still stood together, and it was all that mattered.

The following missions were indeed awkward. Well, Rogers was more or less still his usual self, but the same couldn't be said for Tony. He didn't make any jokes. He didn't even speak unless he had to, which of course, didn't go unnoticed. He had a feeling that everyone knew what was going on, but no one wanted to address the elephant in the room. Not that Tony complained. It was easier this way. Once HYDRA was destroyed, maybe he would even retire, although he probably should keep funding the Avengers. They would be better off without him. Well, he had never truly been a team player, anyway.

Tony didn't want to be the man who tore the Avengers apart. He didn't want Rogers to get the impression that he was trying to turn some of his teammates against him. That was why he mostly hung out with T'Challa, who wasn't officially an Avenger. He and his sister would return to Wakanda once they found Ulysses Klaue. And to find Klaue, first, they had to find Wolfgang von Strucker.

He wasn't easy to find, though. No matter how many HYDRA bases they destroyed, he was somehow able to elude them. But once he finally resurfaced in Eastern Europe, the Avengers were one step ahead of him.

This HYDRA Research Base was located in a small country named Sokovia, and was protected by an invisible force field. JARVIS helped him locate the power source for that shield, and Tony easily destroyed it with a missile. After sending in the Iron Legion to protect the civilians nearby and letting the team know that he had taken care of the shield, he turned off his com. If he came across List, or Strucker, he was going to have a chat with them about his parents. He didn't want an audience.

JARVIS must have sensed his intentions, because without a word, he led him directly to the most crowded and heavily guarded room in the castle. The moment he flew in through the window, men started shooting at him with everything they had. He had to admit that it was actually funny. After all those years, did people still think they could penetrate a gold-titanium alloy suit with bullets?

"Guys, stop…"

But they didn't stop, so, Tony killed them. Except for the man who was still typing furiously at a computer in the far end of the room. Dr. List. Tony would kill him, too, but first, he had a few questions to ask.

He flew at List, grabbed him by the throat and pinned him against a wall.

"Vasily Karpov… Who killed him?"

Vasily Karpov was the one who was behind the assassination. The HYDRA bastard who had given the order. Tony had hoped that he could at least kill him, but he had discovered that Karpov had been found dead in Cleveland shortly after the fall of SHIELD. A rune had been carved on his chest. JARVIS hadn't been able to translate it. When Tony had asked Thor, he had said that the rune meant "vengeance" in an ancient language. That it was a terribly dark magic that would make the enemy feel the pain of his victims as he died. But when Tony had asked him who might have done such a thing, Thor had simply said he wasn't the only one who had unfinished business with HYDRA. He had refused to say anything else, claiming he had taken an oath of silence, like everyone else in his family.

Tony didn't know what this was about. All he knew was that once again, he had been denied his revenge.

List's eyes widened in panic. "I—I don't know anything about Karpov, I swear! I'm just a scientist, I've never dealt with the politics of HYDRA."

So, politics… That was how these guys saw the murder of his mom and dad. "And what about the Winter Soldier? Where's he?"

"I—I don't know. He's never contacted HYDRA after Pierce died! He was never a willing operative anyway. Even Pierce could barely keep him under control."

The faceplate popped open as his fingers closed around List's throat. JARVIS knew Tony wanted to look Dr. List in the eye as he took his life. He knew Tony wanted to hear this man beg for mercy, feel his body struggle to get free under his tight grip. JARVIS knew him too well.

Once it was done, he let go of the limp body. But when he turned around, he found T'Challa standing behind him. He could be really quiet while sneaking up on someone. The guy took this big cat thing very seriously.

"Be careful, Mr. Stark. Don't let vengeance consume your soul."

True, these days he turned to T'Challa whenever he felt like talking to someone during the missions, but right now, he didn't feel like talking much. No matter how many heads of HYDRA he killed, his mom and dad weren't coming back. The realization became more apparent after each kill, and left him with an awful pit in his stomach. Maybe that was what being consumed by vengeance felt like. But T'Challa didn't have to know that.

He stepped out of his suit. "I appreciate the concern, Your Highness. But I think I'm good," he said nonchalantly, then commanded JARVIS, "Sentry mode."

"I'm not judging you," T'Challa went on. "I'd do the same if someone murdered my family."

"Thanks… I guess."

"Strucker has surrendered. I thought you might want to know."

Tony already knew he couldn't kill Strucker. T'Challa needed him alive, and after the questioning, the Avengers would have to turn him over to the authorities. Again, alive. The world let the Avengers operate without any form of oversight, but they still had to play by the rules. "Will he cooperate?"

"He already has."

So, T'Challa had a location on Klaue. "Great. Do you need an extra pair of hands?"

"Thank you, Mr. Stark, but no. Nakia and Okoye are already on their way."

"You still don't trust me, do you?"

"After Shuri first told me about you, I studied you carefully, Mr. Stark. I wanted to see if you were really the Merchant of Death, or something more than that. And do you know what I found? A picture of you, shaking hands with Ulysses Klaue."

Tony smiled angrily. He wasn't angry with T'Challa, no. He was angry with himself. He knew the old days would eventually come back to bite him. "Look, there are… conventions, okay? Yeah, I might have shaken hands with the guy back in the day. But that's all. I didn't sell him anything. He was talking about finding something new, a game changer. I didn't care. I didn't even know he was talking about vibranium."

"I trust you with my sister now. I want her to stay in New York until we deal with Klaue. Isn't that good enough for you?"

"She'll be safe, I promise," he said firmly. Tony and T'Challa had their differences, but they agreed on one thing: Family. You don't mess with a man's family.

"I'm glad your daughter and my sister are good friends, Mr. Stark."

Tony sighed. "Yeah, me, too… Well, back to work."

He crossed to the computers and started downloading the files, and sent Hill a copy. But he knew there had to be more than just files here. This facility was better guarded than the previous ones, which meant that they were probably hiding something important.

"J, give me an IR scan of the room, real quick."

"The wall to your left," JARVIS said. "I'm reading steel reinforcement. And an air current."

He walked up to said wall and began inspecting it. "Please be a secret door, please be a secret door, please be a secret door… Yay!"

When the secret door revealed itself, he glanced toward T'Challa.

T'Challa shot him a typical "You have issues" look, but followed him nevertheless.

"So, what's your other secret?" Tony casually asked as they descended the steps side by side.

"My other secret?"

"The suit makes you bulletproof, yes. But it can't enhance your stamina, or reflexes… What else does it take to become the Black Panther?"

Such things hadn't escaped Tony's notice.

"You're quite observant, Mr. Stark," he said, but his tone made it clear that he wasn't going to answer Tony's question. Normally, Tony wouldn't give up easily, but they soon reached the bottom of the steps, and the sight before them left him speechless. For a second, Tony thought he was back in that damn wormhole. Dead, he reminded himself. The Leviathan hanging above them was dead. It was harmless. He wasn't in space. He was in a HYDRA base, in a god-forsaken country named Sokovia. When he looked at T'Challa, he, too, seemed equally disturbed. But there was also something more. T'Challa was looking at the dead Leviathan as if it were his greatest enemy. This was personal for him, too, and it was easy to understand why.

Shuri could have been there when Loki had attacked New York. She had been lucky. Ana hadn't. Tony still remembered the way she looked at him, with icy blue eyes. He remembered the dried blood on her lips, the bruises on her neck.

"His name is Tony Stark. He is my father."

"And what does that mean to you?"

"It means nothing to me."

That wasn't something a father could ever forget.

He wondered if T'Challa, too, understood the gravity of the threat. If they combined their resources… Maybe then, aliens would be screwed.

"Do you know when I first questioned my old man's legacy?" he started, walking around the room. That Leviathan wasn't the only alien artifact HYDRA had stolen from SHIELD. This place was full of all kinds of Chitauri tech.

"I can't say I do."

"In Afghanistan, when a bomb fell right next to me. One of my own."

The prince let out a dry chuckle.

"I wasn't stupid, of course. I knew what people said behind my back. Warmonger. Merchant of Death. I just never believed there could be blood on my hands. I simply made the weapons, never fired them. I never started any wars. But others knew better. Because my name was written on those weapons, and all that bloodshed could be traced back to me."

"What are you getting at, Mr. Stark?"

He grabbed a Chitauri gun. "I wish there was a name written on these, too."

A vague smirk played about T'Challa's lips, and he nodded. "You wish to know who Loki's warmonger is…"

He put the weapon down, and pumped his fist in triumph. "Yes! Finally, someone gets it!"

But all of a sudden, T'Challa gestured him to hold on, and he tapped on one of the Kimoyo beads around his wrist. The hologram of an elderly black woman appeared.

I want one of those, Tony thought.

"Mother?" T'Challa asked, apparently confused.

"My son, you have to return to Wakanda at once!"

"But, Mother… I'm so close to finding Klaue…"

"Klaue is dead! Your cousin presented his corpse to the Border Tribe. Now he has challenged your father. He is planning to overthrow him."

"What? I—I don't have a cousin…"

T'Challa's mother hesitated for a moment before speaking. "We will explain everything."

"But, Baba is…"

"Too old for such a fight? He is. And your cousin is a ruthless man. But your father thinks he should accept the challenge nevertheless. That's why you have to come home, son. You can't let him do this."

"What about Shuri?"

The Queen thought for a moment. "I think she will be safer with our new friends."

T'Challa nodded, and tapped on the Kimoyo bead again to end the call.

Tony remained silent at first. He wasn't sure if he should say anything. "Shuri will be safe," he said at last. "I'll protect her like my own."

T'Challa shook his head. "You can't…"

What the hell? Tony thought. He thought they were getting along just fine. "Why not?"

"Because you don't know who is coming for them."

"What…"

"This is wrong," he murmured, rubbing a hand over his face. "Ana trusted us… But if I lose the challenge… If I die… You have to know, Mr. Stark. There is no other way. The enemy is too dangerous to be left to children."

"What enemy?"

"JARVIS can tell you everything. All you have to do is to activate the Nexus Protocol."

"The Nexus Protocol? JARVIS doesn't have a protocol like that… Do you, JARVIS?"

JARVIS didn't reply. After shooting Tony a meaningful look, T'Challa stormed off.

…

There was only one other person who could override JARVIS' protocols. Ana.

But even Ana couldn't program JARVIS to lie to Tony. Not without Tony noticing, at least. She could make him keep secrets, though. As long as Tony didn't ask direct questions about those secrets. That was why JARVIS remained silent when Tony asked him about the Nexus Protocol.

Once they returned to the tower, Tony locked himself in his private lab, and brought up a holographic image of JARVIS' mainframe. It was something he rarely did; after all, JARVIS didn't need a lot of maintenance.

Upon first glance, there was nothing unusual, but it didn't take long for Tony to find an odd code fragment that could easily be mistaken for a simple glitch. Only, this time Tony knew it wasn't a glitch.

He kept spotting more and more of those fragments. Hundreds of them, like the pieces of a giant puzzle. But once Tony put those pieces together, he discovered a digital Pandora's Box. And his world turned over.

He wanted to be in denial, he really did, but it was impossible. Not when everything suddenly started to make so much sense. Everything. Why Ana had scrapped her time-traveling project. Why Stane had thought she had cheated death. Why she had moved to New York. Why she had refused to leave the tower when Loki had come. What she had really found on Fury's island (Her corpse… His daughter's freaking corpse, in a freaking cryo chamber).

JARVIS told him the rest. Who Ana's mother was. Why he had never been able to find her. Why Shuri had approached her in the first place.

"I am so sorry, sir," JARVIS said gravely, once he had nothing else left to say.

And Tony had thought, being the visionary he was, he saw the big picture… While he couldn't even see what was right before him. The truth was worse than his worst nightmares.

Tony started to rub his left arm, which was now getting numb. His ears were ringing, and he could literally feel his brain throbbing. He wasn't sure if he was on the verge of another anxiety attack, or going into an actual cardiac arrest. He didn't care. He just sat there, and waited to die.

He was still alive by the time Ana came to see him.

"Dad?" she whispered. Tony didn't reply. She seemed mortified, but he didn't know if it was how she really felt, or just an act. When it came to her, he wasn't sure about anything anymore.

He remembered the first time he had held her in his arms. He had felt the purest, strongest form of love, and it had terrified him. Back then, he hadn't understood why. He did now. Only she could hurt him like this. When he had discovered Stane's betrayal, it had felt like a stab wound in his chest. Same when he had found out about Cap's lies. But they were nothing, compared to what he was feeling right now. It would hurt less if Ana just grabbed a knife and literally stabbed him a hundred times.

"Dad?"

"Dad, please, say something!"

"How could you?" he was able to ask at last.

"Dad, I tried to tell you, but—"

"Don't… Don't 'Dad' me! Just don't…"

He jumped to his feet, and began pacing up and down like a caged animal. "Thanos has been inside my head since New York. And you had all the answers! You had all the answers, and you just let me suffer. How could you do that to me?"

"I didn't have all the answers, Dad. It took me three years to find out who Thanos was. And another two years to figure out how to stop him. Even now—"

"You looked me in the eye, and lied. Not for days, not for weeks, but for years… YEARS, Ana!"

"I was trying to protect you. You freak out every time someone says the A word. You were already a mess, and if I'd told you, it would've been worse!"

"So, you chose to trust a bunch of spies and aliens instead? When were you going to tell me? When Thanos finally came knocking?"

"But I told you, Dad. I told you that Loki was working for someone else, remember? I wanted to tell you the rest, but… You weren't ready to hear."

"No… No, no, no, no… That's not good enough. Not when you're neck-deep in this shit! I mean look at this," he cried, showing him the picture of the corpse.

"That's not me! That's just a temporal aberration!"

"Temporal aberration," he scoffed.

Suddenly, the room began spinning around him, and he had to sit down.

"Dad? Are you okay?"

She reached out and wanted to take his hand, but Tony didn't let her. "Don't touch me!"

"Is there anything you need?"

"Yeah, I need a lobotomy!"

"Dad, please…"

"I—I can't believe it. I just can't. I didn't raise you to be this… thing. You've been running a spy network right under my nose!"

"Spy network? You're exaggerating…"

"Am I? You're cut from the same cloth with the likes of Hill and Romanoff!"

"I thought they were your friends."

"Yeah, friends, co-workers, comrades, whatever… But you're my daughter, Ana. Or rather, you were… I'm not sure what you are anymore.

"If I make this right… If I build the Nexus, will you forgive me?"

He stared at her in utter disbelief. Did she really think he gave a shit about the Nexus right now? True, Thanos terrified him, but not as much as the sudden realization of how smoothly his own daughter could lie to him. How shrewd she was. "This is not about the Nexus, or Thanos, Ana. This is about you. What you've become. You know, every time I looked at you, I felt like I was the luckiest man in the world. Tell me, was there anything real about the past five years?"

Ana collapsed on her knees and burst into tears. "Dad, please don't do this. Please, I love you so much! I'm just scared!"

Indeed, she sounded so scared, so hurt that Tony wanted to take it all back. He wanted to say that there was nothing to forgive. He wanted to hold her in his arms, and tell her that Thanos was his problem now. To promise her that he wouldn't let him take her. He knew he couldn't remain angry with her forever. And to be honest, it wasn't even her he was mad at. It wasn't her fault that she had a cowardly father who lost his shit whenever someone said something about aliens.

But then, Loki's threats echoed in his head.

"It was your father who destroyed the Sanctuary. Thanos won't forget that. He will come for him, and everyone he loves. If he chooses to adopt you, you will watch your father die screaming. If not, your father will watch you die screaming first."

"You disgust me. Get out of my sight."

He didn't see her reaction. He didn't have the courage to look at her face. All he knew was that without a word, Ana had scrambled to her feet and left. He knew he had broken her heart, and he was never going to forgive himself for doing this. But if that was the price he had to pay to keep her safe, he was going to pay it.

He sat frozen in that chair until Pepper came for him. He felt drained. Both physically and mentally.

"I know everything," she simply said. "Ana told me before she left."

"Is she gone?" Tony asked, trying his best to hide the relief in his voice.

Pepper shrugged. "She and Shuri have left. They took the Mind Stone with them. I don't know what they're up to."

He got on his feet, and pulled her into an embrace. Loki's words were still echoing in his head.

"He will come for him, and everyone he loves."