Yo, I had Harley Nathaniel Richards make a joke about making his own suit and yet I didn't get a single Iron Lad comment? Shame!
Dad told him he couldn't bring his phone to the fight.
However, he didn't say he couldn't record it.
"You ready, Jay?"
"All set, Master Peter," Jay said as Droney did a lap around Peter's head.
"Sweet! Try to get as much of the action as you can without getting too close."
"Of course," he said primly before flying off.
"That thing does not obey the laws of physics at all."
Steve internally shook his head at the costumed enhanced who took a relaxed crouch in front of him. What was Tony thinking bringing in a rookie? "Look, kid, there's a lot going on here that you don't understand."
"Mr. Stark said you'd say that. Wow," the kid - because with that voice he was without a doubt a kid - said.
Suddenly Steve was being dragged into a kick that hit harder than anything he'd felt since taking the serum, even with his shield taking most of the blow.
"He also said to go for your legs," the kid laughed.
Steve went for his shield, but a foot landed on it just as his hands were grabbed by the kid's webs.
"Spidey," Nebula growled and picked up the shield. "Non-combat, remember?"
"He started it!" the kid joked, but let go.
Surprised, Steve stumbled forwards right into the shield Nebula used to bat him away.
"Team up?" Spidey offered, landing next to her.
"No. Do as you're told or I'm sending you home," she ordered, but otherwise ignored him. She ran forward, ducking a blow from Steve and kicking his knee to bring him down so she could knock her own against his forehead.
"But I promised to punch Cap in the face!"
"If it makes you feel better…" she trailed off as she punched Steve in the face. "Now go pin Maximoff. Focus on her hands."
"Tell me you got that, Jay!" the kid whooped as he swung away.
"Hey! Father said no recording!" she shouted at him and Steve used the opportunity to grab his shield back.
"No, he just said no phone," Spidey chirped as he swung past. In a German accent, he added, "Shoot him in the legs. His shield is the size of a dinner plate and he's an idiot."
"SPIDEY!"
Tony shook as he landed at Peter's side.
No. No, no, no, no, no.
"Kid, you alright?" he asked, kneeling next to him.
"Hey!" Peter panted and Tony grabbed his arms before the kid could either hit him or hurt himself. "Get off me!"
"Same side, guess who," he said and Peter started to relax. "Hi, it's me."
"Hey Dad," Peter sighed.
"Yeah."
"That was scary."
"Yeah. You're done, alright?" Tony said as Nebula walked up.
"What?"
"You did a good job." Tony grabbed him as he started to get up and carefully pushed him back down. "Stay down."
"No, I'm good. I'm fine."
"Stay down," Tony ordered.
"No, it's good. I gotta get him back!"
"You're going home. You're done," Tony shouted, standing. "Nebula, watch him."
"Wait, Mr. Stark. Wait," he heard Peter say over the comms as he took off. "I'm not done. I'm not… Okay, I'm done. I'm done."
"Tony," Rhodey said as a private line opened up between just them. "Is that…?"
"Remind me to kill him once we get home," Tony said instead of answering. "He was supposed to stay out of the fight."
"He's your kid," Rhodey said as if that explained the kid's inability to follow orders.
Which was fair.
"I'm not the one that needs to watch their back."
Nebula downed her with one hit. "Might want to rethink that." She turned to her father. "Please tell me we can turn her over to Ross."
"Should I be worried about how excited you all are to beat up all my old teammates?" Father sighed and opened up his watch's display.
"Not all of them, just the ones that treat you like garbage."
"What am I looking at, F.R.I.D.A.Y.?"
"Priority upload from Berlin police."
"What's wrong?" Nebula asked.
"Fri, fire up the chopper. Nebula, stay here with Vision and keep an eye on you-know-who."
When he took off, she glanced down at Romanoff then followed him. "I'm coming with you."
"No, you're not." He stopped and gave her a stern look. "Ross the Lesser is already kicking up a fuss over Spidey and Masque. You need to keep your head down."
"And you need backup. Everyone except Peter, Vision, and I are either unconscious or criminals, and Vision's still messed up over Maximoff and Rhodey. Unless you plan on calling in the triplets, then let me help. Ross doesn't even need to know I'm there." When Father didn't answer right away, she added, "Should I call Pepper and see what she thinks?"
He narrowed his eyes and waved a finger at her. "You know, I didn't raise you to be this manipulative."
She continued to stare him down, unimpressed.
"What about Peter?"
"He'll be fine at the hotel."
Father sighed and continued down the hall. "Stay in the chopper."
"I'm going to kill all of them," Nebula growled as she watched Father pass Barton.
"Can you start with Dunderbolt?"
Nebula spun around just in time to see a small, dark shape dart into the shadows with a hissed, "Harley!"
"Are you two spying on me?" Nebula asked, voice sharp. "Did you forget what happened last time?"
There was a pause then a spider-shaped drone flew up to her.
"Technically we were spying on Dad," Peter offered.
"You don't need to be spying on anyone."
"You should have brought me," he huffed. "I wanna help."
"Like you helped when you picked a fight with Rogers."
"He started it!"
"We should get to know what's going on," Harley said.
"We'll tell you later. Leave."
"Droney can't fly that far on his own," Peter said.
"Droney," Harley snorted and Peter shushed him.
"Then turn it off and we'll bring it home."
"Come on, Nebs. We just want to watch," Peter whined and she could see his puppy eyes in her head.
"Yeah, come on, Nebs. We'll be good!" Harley added and she could see his smirk.
"Don't call me Nebs, Harley, and you are physically incapable of being good," she said, pushing the drone to send it spinning back.
"Hey, be nice to Droney!"
"Hey, be nice to me!"
"Does this thing even have an AI?" she asked, ignoring the younger of the two.
"No, Jay usually pilots him, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be nice."
"I still can't believe you told J.A.R.V.I.S. and not me!"
"I only told him because I needed help running the tests. I didn't want to tell anyone."
"Which we're going to talk about later," Nebula said and Peter sighed.
"What all can you do?" Harley asked. "Besides being sticky."
"Jerk," Peter muttered, but listed his abilities and the features of his suit.
Nebula only half listened, having already gotten the summary of J.A.R.V.I.S.'s Spider-Man files from Father. Most of her attention went to watching Father finish his conversation with Wilson before heading back to the hanger.
"Stark?" the more annoying Ross called as he walked up and the boys quieted down. Father turned to look at him, but then got distracted by a message on his watch. "Did he give you anything on Rogers?"
"Nope. Told me to go to hell. I'm going back to the tower instead. Hey, can I pick up Redwing here or will you have someone drop him off?" Father asked, opening the door.
"Redwing?"
"Wilson's bird-bot."
"They are government property."
"The wings are, but the bird-bot - or the Stark Drone MK82 922 V 80Z V2 Prototype Unit V6 if you want to get technical - is Stark Industries property, out on loan for testing, and legal wants it back ASAP," Father said, pointing at his watch.
Nebula shot the drone a look and mouthed, Really Peter?
Peter sent a group text to her and Harley a moment later.
Small-one: Redwings one of us! He doesn't deserve to be put in jail because Wilson messed up
Brat: Free the bird bot!
Small-one: FREE THE BIRD BOT!
Me: Shut up, idiots.
Brat: Justice for avian drones!
Small-one: JFAD!
Nebula turned to Father once the door was shut and they took to the air. "You are not allowed to have any more sons. Clearly J.A.R.V.I.S. was an anomaly. All the rest are imbeciles."
"Be nice to your brothers," he said as he lowered the tinting on the windows. "What did they do now?"
She pointed at the drone and he frowned. "Don't you two have homework to do?"
"I already finished," Peter said as Harley was saying, "This is way cooler than Grapes of Wrath."
Father's nose scrunched up. "Well, you're not wrong."
"Father!"
"Did you like that book?"
She crossed her arms. "He needs to do his homework."
"That wasn't a no," Harley snickered.
Father pointed at the drone as he sat down. "Homework."
"Do you want me to enter the coordinates?" Nebula asked as Harley groaned.
"For the tower, sure," Father said, carefully removing his sling.
"You can't be serious," Nebula said, knowing exactly what he was going to do.
"I promised to go alone. Besides, maybe if it's just me, Rogers might actually calm down long enough to talk."
"You can't go alone, we've talked about this. You at least need backup."
"The chopper isn't as fast as the suit and we need to be there now. You'd slow me down. Besides, Ross will think something's up if the chopper goes AWOL."
Nebula opened her mouth before she got a text from Harley.
Brat: Zippy can keep up right
Me: You mean Guardsmen Mark J-IV? Yes, but it's at the tower and not designed to be piloted from the inside.
Brat: True
Brat: But I MIGHT have one of dads controller headsets
Nebula turned to the drone. "You're grounded."
"What?" Peter shouted. "Why?"
"Not you."
"In my defense, I was only going to use it to prank Pete, and I never even got to do that because I couldn't figure out how to get past Jay."
"Use what?" Father asked.
"He stole one of the controller headsets."
"Which is a good thing," Harley said quickly, "because it means I can follow you with Zippy!"
Father groaned and rubbed his face. "Both of you are going to spend all summer helping Pepper with all her most boring work."
"What? Dad no, please!"
"That's cruel and unusual punishment!"
Harley scowled as he turned the book on its side in some desperate hope that it would make the book more interesting.
"Sir has engaged in combat. You are cleared to move in."
"Finally!" Harley tossed the book aside and brought the headset's display to full view. He had Zippy stand up from where she'd been hiding in a nearby cave and shot off towards the base. "Alright, Jay, how many of Zemo's muscle heads are we looking at?"
"None. Sir is currently fighting Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes."
"Dicks!" Harley hissed, pushing Zippy to go faster. He told Dad he should have waited right outside. "What did they do now?"
"Sir was the one to attack first," J.A.R.V.I.S. said hesitantly.
"And what did they do to make him attack?"
"It… would appear that one of the Winter Soldier's missions… was the assassination of Howard and Maria Stark."
Zippy jerked to the side as Harley momentarily lost control.
Holy mother of Jesus!
"Zemo had a video of the event. And when questioned, Rogers admitted he had already known." J.A.R.V.I.S.'s voice was as even as usual, but the lack of title on Roger's name gave away his anger all the same.
"I'm going to kill him," Harley snarled.
He and the others didn't know much about their Stark grandparents since Dad didn't like talking about them, but they'd managed to pick up a few things from his and Uncle Rhodey's stories from their MIT days. Mostly it came down to three things: Howard and Dad didn't get along (although that was probably an understatement according to Nebula), Maria was adored by them both and often played mediator, and Dad was crushed by their deaths.
And Rogers thought that the circumstances were something that should be kept quiet?
Harley spotted two people outside and landed Zippy next to them.
The two men leaped apart and Harley had her shoot Zemo with a tranq before turning her to T'Challa and leveling her gauntlet at his uncovered face.
"Stark?" he said, shocked.
Harley considered how to answer before turning on Zippy's voice modulator. "Iron Lad," he corrected, coming up with the name off the top of his head.
Then immediately regretting it. Iron Lad? Man, that made him sound like some perky pre-teen sidekick from a comic book.
"Where's Iron Man?"
"Inside."
"Get Zemo out of here before I do something that will get me in trouble," Harley growled before marching inside.
Destruction was everywhere, which made it pretty easy to track the three's progress through the base. Zippy dropped down a silo and Harley gasped when he saw his dad lying on the ground. Almost the entire surface of his suit was cracked or smashed in, including a suspiciously shaped crack across his upper chest. The helmet was gone and Harley could see the pieces lying off to the side while the reactor was only giving the faintest of flickers, which died out as Zippy rushed to his side.
"Dad!"
Harley gave a sigh of relief as his dad's eyes opened slightly.
"Wha'?"
"It's me. Are you okay?" Harley asked after turning off the voice modulator.
"Fine," he lied closing his eyes.
"You should have called me in as soon as that stupid video started. I'm going to kill Zemo. Or Rogers. Or both."
"No killing," Dad huffed, his voice slurring slightly.
"Dad, hey, stay awake!" Harley said, having Zippy carefully pick him up. "Jay, how much longer until the Quinjet gets here?"
"Approximately half an hour."
"Alright, we need to get you out of the cold," Harley said and had Zippy bring him up into the main room of the base. She set him down on a relatively clear portion of the floor then Harley had her hit the safety releases on the suit and pull him out. "Dad?"
There was no answer and Harley started to freak out until J.A.R.V.I.S. said, "Sir, has fallen unconscious."
He gave a shaky sigh before having Zippy begin her first aid procedures.
Tony sighed when he came into his and Pepper's office to see his children huddled up together looking like they were plotting world domination.
In all honesty, he's pretty sure his kids could manage it.
"Do I even want to know what you lot are doing?" Tony asked, looking every single one of them in the eye.
Nebula was sitting in his chair, her face completely blank. Harley was sitting on his desk, face innocent which only proved he was up to something. The triplets, in hologram form, and Friday had been near the front of the desk, but disappeared at his call. Finally, there was Peter, standing on the ceiling and currently the only one looking guilty for whatever they were up to.
Tony went for the weak link, of course. "Peter, get off the ceiling, then tell me what you all are up to."
Peter did hop down, but stayed quiet after a look from the others.
Tony stared the three down and they stared back.
"Am I interrupting something?" Vision asked as he phased through the wall.
"Up for debate, Vis. What's up?" Tony said, not taking his eyes off the kids.
"Ms. Potts asked me to give you an update on the cleanup at the mansion and to ensure you received your package."
"Package?"
"You didn't get it?" Vision asked. "It was delivered to the mansion yesterday so Ms. Potts asked the triplets to grab it and bring it to you on their way in for their updates."
Tony put his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes. "Alright you three, hand it over."
"No," Nebula said while Harley hummed, "We don't have it," and Peter muttered, "Can we talk about it first?"
Then the triplets and F.R.I.D.A.Y. popped back up, speaking over each other as well.
"Just leave it to us, Boss," FRIDAY said, trying to shoo him out without being able to touch him.
"We've got everything under control," P.L.A.T.O. tisked.
"You're still healing! How about you go watch a movie with Torre?" J.O.C.A.S.T.A. chirped.
"I think Cavallo was looking for you. Something about his braces," H.O.M.E.R. lied.
"Sir, perhaps you should just leave them to it," J.A.R.V.I.S. suggested once they finished.
Tony dragged a hand over his face at the confirmation that all but the twins were in on this. He shot Peter a pointed look. "What did I say about turning your siblings against me?"
His eyes went wide and he pointed at Nebula and Harley. "It was their idea! I told them we should take it to Mom!"
Vision walked up to Nebula and leaned down. "What is it?" he poorly whispered and she handed him a paper. He frowned as he read what was on it. "I understand your hesitation, but should it not be his choice if he wants to find out what it says?"
"Yes," Tony said at the same time as Harley's, "No."
"What even is it?" the man asked, throwing his hands in the air.
"A letter from Captain Rogers," Vision answered before the others could stop him.
Howard! Red and white and blue swinging down like a guillotine. Bone-chilling cold.
Tony's eyes pinched closed and he gave a shaky exhale. "What does it say?" He held up his hand when there were multiple exclamations. "What does it say?"
"Just a bunch of bullsh-" Harley cut off with a yelp and Tony opened his eyes to see him on the ground.
Nebula lowered her hand and held his gaze before sighing. She took the letter back from Vision. "'Tony, I'm glad you're back at the mansion.'"
The kids all snorted and Tony joined in. He had a home. Multiple ones, really. The mansion was getting cleaned up then sealed up until the UN figured out what they were going to do now that all but two of the active-duty Avengers were gone.
"'I don't like the idea of you rattling around a mansion by yourself. We all need family.'"
"He says to the Avenger with the largest family," Harley jeered. "Not counting Vision, since he's apart of the family."
"As well as Col. Rhodes for the same reason," Vision added and the kids nodded.
"'The Avengers are yours, maybe more so than mine.' True, seeing as the only remaining Avengers are your grandson and brother in all but blood," Nebula huffed and Tony felt his lips twitch up as he leaned back against the wall, watching his kids figuratively tear Rogers' letter to shreds. "'I've been on my own since I was eighteen. I never really fit in anywhere, even in the army.'"
"I thought Bucky supposedly died when he was twenty-five," Peter said, looking to P.L.A.T.O.'s icon for confirmation. "And didn't he have a team during the war?"
"As well as Peggy Carter," they agreed.
"Is he even trying?" J.O.C.A.S.T.A. groaned.
"'My faith's in people, I guess. Individuals. And I'm happy to say that, for the most part, they haven't let me down. Which is why I can't let them down either. Locks can be replaced, but maybe they shouldn't.'"
"What is he even on about now?" H.O.M.E.R. muttered.
"'I know I hurt you, Tony. I guess I thought by not telling you about your parents I was sparing you, but I can see now that I was really sparing myself, and I'm sorry. Hopefully one day you can understand. I wish we agreed on the Accords, I really do. I know you're doing what you believe in, and that's all any of us can do. That's all any of us should. So, no matter what. I promise you, if you need us, if you need me, I'll be there.'"
"Oh I'm sorry for lying to you for years, but hey, hopefully you'll figure out soon you were wrong and call me back, completely ignoring the fact that I'm now a wanted fugitive and nearly killed you," J.O.C.A.S.T.A. mockingly chirped.
"Speed-Sis," F.R.I.D.A.Y. hissed.
"No, no. She's got a point," H.O.M.E.R. said, his ram briefly being replaced by a buff cartoon angel. "So, can we track them down now? It won't be hard with the phone."
"Phone?"
"There was a phone with the letter," Peter explained, picking it up off the desk.
Tony sighed and walked over to take the letter from Nebula.
He shoved it into Pepper's shredder.
"This never happened," he said, plucking the phone from Peter's hand.
"What do you mean?" Vision asked.
"Ross the Lesser doesn't want us to get involved with the hunt for Rogers and his recently freed gang, so we won't."
"What? Why not?" H.O.M.E.R. whined.
"Until Jessy and I can get him out of the picture, we can't risk giving him any reason to think we're helping Rogers' gang. He'll take any excuse he can get to get more of a hold on us. Which means we keep out of the search." He shoved the phone into his pocket and sent them all a look. "That goes for all of you. Leave Cap and his crew alone, understood?"
They all looked disgruntled, even Vision. However, they slowly agreed one by one.
Peter wrapped his arms around Tony. "What about what they did to you, though?"
Tony ruffled his hair. "We both had a hand in that fight, and I threw the first punch."
"And then the Captain escalated it instead of de-escalating it," Nebula said.
"Yeah, and it was just a couple of punches," Harley scoffed. "You didn't even use your full strength."
"Doesn't matter," Tony said, flicking him on the forehead. "I still shouldn't have punched him. Like I said, we're both at fault. Now, don't you two have somewhere to be? Bambi said something about paperwork for marketing?"
Peter groaned and pressed his face into Tony's shoulder while Harley glared. "Cruel and unusual punishment!"
Huh, so judging by all the bloodthirsty comments I got, I clearly underestimated how much you guys wanted to see Nebs or Peter kick Cap's butt.
Question of the day: I made a joke last chapter about making Loki's arc a musical and, surprisingly, some people asked me to actually do it. As such, I figured I'd see what the consensus was. Would you guys want that? Or, as another option, would you guys want to see the musical pieces posted in a separate story, like a series of outtakes type thing?
Next up: Web-Warriors