Chapter 11 - The Past Comes Back to Haunt

Tony's POV

After Steph told her story, the team separated to complete various objectives. Clint, Sam, Thor, Sif and Steve took Steph to the gym to work on her hand to hand and hopefully calm her down a little. Natasha and I went into research mode with Bucky and Bruce standing there watching us.

"Bruce, I know this isn't really your cup of tea," I said.

"What do you need?"

"There's a list of known associates we've pulled so far waiting for you, I want you to go to the side room over there so you can use verbal commands without bothering us. Work with JARVIS on these. Start with just finding out who is alive, dead, in jail, or well, you know. I figure you spent enough time on the run and off the grid to be able to pick some stuff up from these searches," Bruce nodded in agreement and walked out.

Natasha and I kept working with Bucky silently observing. He'd pace behind us both, reading off our screens not saying anything. Finally, he nodded his head and started to walk out of the room. "Barnes, are you sure you can do this without being recognized?" He stopped and looked at me solemnly then nodded. Before he could turn around again, I said, "JARVIS, open Bolt Supply Barnes-4."

A panel opened in the wall and I gestured Bucky over, and stopped paying attention. In the cubby he'd find alternate ID, untraceable weapons, and a bunch of money in small, non-sequential bills all of which should be suitable for this particular type of work.

"Bribe whoever the hell you need to, there's more where that came from," I commented as he walked out the door. Once he was in the elevator and gone, I looked over at Natasha. "Think he'll find anything?"

"Absolutely, but how much is really the question. Gangs are notoriously internally loyal, but this is the type of thing they're going to want to hype up and brag about."

"Especially with the Avengers involved."

Natasha grunted in response and I pondered that for a while before I said, "how dumb do you have to be?"

"You think it's not just the gang? Not just about Steph? It's possible."

"Possible, but doesn't make a lot of sense the other way either."

"There's at least a dozen ways I think this could be coming at us, Stark, and none of them make any more sense than the others. Unless and until we find anything indicating otherwise, the most likely answer is the simplest. They're so pissed at Steph, they're willing to take the stupid risk on the hope of getting lucky and taking her out."

I hummed noncommittally, "JARVIS, get Rangeman on the phone for me again."

"Yo."

"It's Tony Stark," I said.

"We're kind of busy here, Stark."

"I know, and I'm not going to keep you. But if you or any of your team want to come work from here for however long this takes, feel free. I figure we should share info and that would make it easier. No point in doing all the same research twice. Plus, with Steph here, the action will be here."

"Roger that," he responded hanging up the phone.

"Did he just hang up on me? People don't hang up on me."

"Apparently at least one person does," Natasha responded dryly. "And you know I would given the chance."

Two hours later, I had a lunch buffet spread out all along the conference room table as the gym rats came back.

"Hey Sweetie Pie," I greeted Steph.

I couldn't hold back the laugh when she fired back, "Hey Plucky."

"He's got a mansion and a sweet side, so I'll take it." With a smile, I added, "Bucky is so Furrball."

Steph snorted out a laugh, and I saw Clint give me a nod of gratitude. I knew we'd all be playing a game of trying to keep Steph in good spirits until this thing was resolved, and right now it was my turn. "I have to admit," Steph said, "I wouldn't have pegged you for a cartoon fan."

"Anything on a hungover Saturday or Sunday morning," I said amused by the grunts of agreement I got from everyone but Cap.

Looking around, Steve finally asked, "where's Buck?"

"On the streets," Natasha said calmly. When Steph started to protest, Clint ran a soothing hand down her arm and Natasha continued, "don't worry about it Steph. The man's a ghost. A shadow. No one is going to see him unless he wants to be seen. And he's damn good at profiling on the fly, so he won't screw up choosing who gets to see him."

Pepper had escorted a contingent from Rangeman right behind Steph and the team, and I watched curiously as Steph looked at Ranger guiltily and asked, "he won't, ah… right?"

I turned my full attention to her as Steve filled in the blank, "kill them if he finds them."

Steph glanced back at Ranger, who stiffened up when he noticed that everyone in the room took in the movement. Natasha made a tsking sound, "more secrets, Lastochka? You continue to be more fascinating by the day. No, Barnes probably won't kill anyone today. He'll want to investigate and make sure we've all identified the entire threat before anyone gets eliminated."

"Not to mention the fact that he'll see you, Steph, as having first rights of refusal on that. Followed Barton," Sam said calmly.

Ranger had a surprised look on his face, and Steph just leaned over and whispered something about the word "avenge." I didn't hear exactly what she said, but I could fill in the blanks and knew it was correct.

Softly, and knowing exactly what he was giving away, Ranger confidently said, "Eddie Abruzzi's death was ruled a suicide."

I could see all the other Avengers mentally file away the name for investigation later, but even knowing as little about Ranger as I did, I was pretty sure whoever that Abruzzi guy was, he hadn't committed suicide. In a way I think it was Ranger's way of telling us all where he stood on the issue of Steph's safety while still offering us all plausible deniability. We were much more public figures, so he no doubt thought he could protect us all from backlash if he was the one to take the men down.

Fuck that noise. Steph was my family now, and if I got there first, my plan was to attack, consequences be damned. I had a team of lawyers that would happily earn millions of dollars in my defense if need be.

Still, I knew what it was to feel like the world was going crazy around you and the importance of retaining at least some sort of semblance of control. With that in mind, I very clearly turned so I was addressing Steph and asked, "so, what's the plan? You and Hawkeye going to lock yourselves away in a nest somewhere and make an eyas or two?"

Steph looked confused, until Barton whispered something to her, then she managed to simultaneously laugh and blush bright red.

"Not that is is any of your business, Stark." Barton said firmly, "but that isn't anywhere in the plans, probably forever, but at least for the time being." The look he shot me told me that he appreciated that I was keeping Steph laughing, but that particular joke was taboo until further notice.

Steph shrugged it off and gestured at the screens around the room displaying information on Anton Ward, Eugene Brown, and their closest known associates.

"Did you find anything particularly concerning on a level beyond vandalism yet?"

"No, not yet," I responded for those of us doing the research.

"Do you have any video of the vandalism happening, and can we ID them on it?"

"Video yes; ID, no."

Ranger looked like he was going to argue with him, but Steve and Clint both raised their hand to cut him off before he started while studying Steph carefully.

"Okay, then for all we know, it isn't actually those two. Or they don't want to take you all on, so they're just having some fun messing with me. Nothing they painted is a direct threat. Hector's on the street in Trenton, and apparently Bucky is out here. We keep an ear to the ground for word of vengeance or, heaven forbid, another hit being put out on me. I don't go out alone, or ditch the people I'm out with again." She flashed Pepper an apologetic smile, and Pepper just returned one that said Steph was forgiven. "Otherwise, we just go on with our day to day lives. I'm not going to let them make me cower. If we get a specific threat, we regroup then. In the meantime, I'll run some more thorough searches on them on the side and monitor them continuously for alarming behavior."

We all looked around the room at each other and slowly nodded. Ranger seemed the most hesitant, and looked like he was going to insist on locking her up before finally nodding reluctantly.

I noticed Steph kept looking at me like she wanted to ask something, so I finally gently asked, "what?"

"Clint, uh, mentioned that he has a tracker that you implanted in him. It stays off, but if he were to drop off the grid unexpectedly, you could find him."

I eyed Clint speculatively and he shrugged his shoulders saying he hadn't pushed her. So I answered and said, "yes, that's true."

"Do you have an extra that you might be willing to use on me?"

"They're not temporary, Steph," I cautioned. "It's not something you just put in and take out whenever you want. If you decide you don't want it anymore, we can remove it, but it'll be a procedure."

"I know, and if you don't have one or you don't want to, that's fine. I just figured you already told me about the types of people who are after you all anyway, and might use me to try to get you. I thought it might be something that would make everyone more comfortable and I'm fine with it as long as you promise not to track it unless you need to. But, I mean, it's really no big deal. Forget I asked."

"That's not what he's saying. He just wants to make sure you understand and are giving informed consent, especially since you haven't known us all that long yet. I for one would like knowing we had one of those units in you, and I'm sure the others would too," Bruce reassured her.

Steph looked around and everyone reassured her that they would appreciate it, but that it needed to be her choice. Finally she looked back at me and I just waited patiently. "If you have one, I think I would be more comfortable with that as well," she finally said.

"No rant about civil liberties, and personal freedom, Babe?" Ranger asked in a tone that I couldn't tell whether it was joking or not.

Steph spun and pointed an accusatory finger at him, "did you hear a single person here threaten to lock me in a bathroom or stun gun me if I tried to leave? No! Because I'm a grown damn woman and I can make my own choices."

"There was a hit out on you, Steph! All I wanted you to do was stay inside where it was safe!"

"With nothing to do and no end date in sight! You'd have been happy to have me locked inside Haywood for the rest of my life if it meant keeping me safe! My sister was getting married, and I had to go to her shower, Ranger. You were being unreasonable."

"I was being unreasonable?! All I did was ask you to stay inside and not go crazy so I could make sure it was safe for you to go out without getting dead!"

"I thought they had him. And, by the way, ordering your men to stun gun me if I tried to leave is not legal!"

They continued to rail at each other for several minutes, as this was apparently an argument they'd had several times over the years. On one hand, I couldn't begrudge Ranger trying to keep Steph safe, but on the other, I'd learned over years not to tell strong-willed women to do anything. Or to make ultimatums with them. Generally speaking, it just pissed them off and came back to haunt you at the oddest times.

Once they'd finally quieted down, there were a few moments of silence before Natasha finally said, "well, that was informative."

"Right, well. If we're done with that," I said, eyeing Steph and Ranger and receiving curt nods in response, "then I have that other present we talked about ready." I directed the last to Clint who looked excited and relieved at the information.

"I called in a favor, and was able to get the specs for this and the ammo for Stark to produce something for you, Steph," Clint explained. We all crowded onto the elevator, and took it down to one of my workshop floors. "You don't like carrying your gun when you're out because if you pull it, you have to be willing to use it, and you really aren't," he said it like a statement, not a question, but Steph agreed anyway.

"This," I said, whipping a cloth that was covering up the contents of a table off with flourish, "is called an I.C.E.R., which stands for Incapacitating Cartridge Emitting Railgun. It is something a friend developed, and I've only made just a couple of slight modifications for you. Like custom sizing it to your hand."

Excitedly, Clint cut in, "he's also adapted the rounds to develop things that make sense for the rest of us as well, even for my arrows. At any rate, shoot someone with one of those, and it'll incapacitate them rather than kill them. They'll wake up a couple hours later good as new."

"Really?" Steph asked, picking one of the handguns up and looking at it carefully. "You've tested this?"

"Yep," I said with a grin. "Got more rounds for you down in the armory next to the shooting range. Figured you'd want to practice with it to get comfortable."

Clint added, "Our friends have successfully used them in combat, and I made Stark test one on me."

She released the magazine and verified that they were ICER rounds before slamming them back in and firing on Ranger. He sank to the ground unconscious and Steph shrugged when Clint looked at her incredulously. "I feel better now," she said as stepped over Ranger and walked toward the elevator with her new gun grumbling about overbearing men trying to tell her what to do.

Sam let out a low whistle and followed her, while Bruce hastily explained to her that although Ranger would be just fine, she really shouldn't make a habit out of doing that to people unless she needed to. Especially the same people over and over. I looked between Natasha and Clint before the latter laughed and the former said, "well, at least she's not afraid of it," and the two rushed off after her.

As the elevator door shut, I turned to Ranger's men who were staring at me and then down at their boss. "Well, one of you put him on the couch so he'll at least be a little more comfortable when he wakes up. You can either go back upstairs and work, go to the shooting range where I'm assuming Steph went, or stay here with him. I'm going to stay here and work on some things. JARVIS will monitor Ranger to make sure he doesn't have any unexpected reactions, but really, he'll be fine."

Tank hauled Ranger up and set him on the couch indicated then they spread themselves out among various seats in the room. I was unsurprised because I figured they wouldn't willingly leave him behind while he was helpless. Watching them out of the corner of my eye, I asked, "out of curiosity, did any of you actually threaten her with a stun gun if she left?"

Hal nervously raised his hand and I just looked at him incredulously. "Were you going to use it? What'd she do?"

"Yes, Ranger ordered me to, but I let her look at it first and she stunned me with it."

I started laughing, unable to control myself for several minutes while the others joined in and promised to send me the video of the incident. Hal was looking down at his feet, but looked up eventually and met my eyes when I finally stopped laughing to catch my breath. I pointed at him and said, "you, my friend, are lucky she didn't shoot you too."