50 Shades of Tony
By Rey
Chapter 21
Tony Stark and the Uncovering of HYDRA and Some Other Not-So-Nice Things
Warning for:
Piece 507: Heavy Teens: Intimacy
Earth, August 2015
493. Home
It's strange, and surprising, though maybe it shouldn't, that Tony finds that something seems to be lacking on Earth. Everywhere he looks, goes, plans to go, and everything he does and plans to do, they make him think, `Ooh, he/she/they'll like this!` or the opposite. They make him miss home.
494. Bounce
"Can we bounce out of this?" Tony murmurs, horrified, as he reviews the full list that Tasha and Clint have gathered, with liberal distraction provided by Cap. List which they daren't send to him, however many times the message's securely bounced about on the way and however much it's encripted.
495. Trail
The agents picked up the trail from Tony's dealings with InGen, at first, past what they'd found within SHIELD. It branched out and grew much, much bigger from there. HYDRA's building and deploying nuclear, genetic, chemical, physical, living weapons everywhere, ready for use at a moment's notice, and nobody knew.
496. Destroy
"They're going to destroy Earth!" Tony exclaims after reading the whole dossier. Cap agrees. But Tasha shakes her head. "They'll control Earth," she says. Clint concurs. "Don't agree? Boom. Speak up? Boom. Have other ideas? Boom. Unless the ideas benefit them, of course. And we haven't even uncovered everything…."
497. Neither
Neither Tasha nor Clint are certain how to proceed, next. The "Avengers" are so few, while the corruption's so deep, so well-spread, so quick. With HYDRA's presence in SHIELD, they haven't been candid in their reports there in the first place. `So where can we turn to, now?`
498. Moon
"Why'd people compare girls to the moon, Tony? The face of the moon is pimply!" On the screen, Tim laughs, pointing at the respective photo on his textbook. Tony grins in response, the first after a long, stressful, fruitless few days. "Don't ask me!" he matches the laughter.
499. Fly
The agents asked Tony to be a distraction alongside Cap, and he said yes. Unbelievable. And, even more unbelievably, it's been a while since Tony last flew in his Iron Man suit, or even the Rescue. Given what he's about to do, though, he'd rather not fly the Rescue.
500. Crystal
Earth's apparently been the hub of travel for alien species since eons ago, similar to Asgard. There's good evidence to that. For example, just now, in one of the HYDRA laires deep underground, the Avengers found boxes of polished, faintly glowing, clear crystals which emanate alien type of radiation.
Antarctica, September-October 2015
501. Refugee
HYDRA's beginning to get active. Pepper and Happy are under threat. "Bad ninjas" have even tried to kidnap Jessie, Lex and Tim. Thus, Tony temporarily calls off the operation, quarantines all of his abodes and people, and spirits the midgets plus the Avengers to Antarctica. "You're refugees here. Behave."
502. Flood
"You're a king now, Tony? They're bowing to you! Wow!" Tim chatters on and on and on and on and on, occasionally joined in by Lex and Jessie, and Tony flails, mentally and verbally, trying to find a solid thing to hang onto amidst the flood of questions and comments.
503. Lack
For being top spies, the agents' lack of comprehension on Tony's other role while among the milaðen is bemusing, and… well, amusing. But then he catches a calculating glint in Tasha's eyes and realises. Cornering her, he whispers, deadly earnest, "I like you. Please don't make me judge you guilty."
504. Speech
Cap drones on and on. Disregarding the man's speech as background noise, Tony continues to tinker with the winterberry farm's heavily modified tractor. And then Cap tries to shake his shoulders…. Bad move. A couple of guards hold the man back. Tony looks up. "You're not Fié. Don't touch me."
505. Old
"Who's Fié?" Cap demands, still. Tony sighs, grumbles, "This is so old." Then he glares at the undaunted man and snaps, "The 'alien' your boss tried to kidnap from my home. Now what do you call people who kidnap people for being different, huh? On an assumption, no less."
506. Wound
Tony and Cap can't argue anymore because two more guards have appeared and silently urged Tony elsewhere. And "elsewhere" turns out to be a bunker in the heart of Antarctica, where he immediately encounters Fié, who instantly begins to check for wounds on him. He sighs. `Yet another fussy granny-type….`
*507. Pillow
Tony'd really like to ask why in the universe a recovering-from-birth Fié's here and where they stowed their precious babies because he can neither see nor hear nor feel them here. But they're sharing a breath and a pillow and a sheet in the nest, and things are rather… distracting.
508. Vanish
Quite unfortunately, Fié pulls away before the heated moment can result in anything, saying, "Týo told me about what you and your cohorts have been doing these months. Why did you not tell me?" And Tony's desire vanishes, just so. "If you knew, why in the universe did you come?"
509. Listen
It's ironic that the midgets prove themselves better at listening to instructions than adults. Because Captain bloody America has just insulted the milaðen severely by claiming that full-on monarchy is synonymous with tirany and tirany is synonymous with oppression, right before Fié, after the full title's been introduced.
510. Breakfast
"That's your breakfast, lunch and dinner," Tony tells Cap stiffly when a guard roughly shoves a bowl of cold soup past the cell's food-flap with their foot. "No, listen, don't say anything till we're outta here. Fié can't do much else to save you from mob-linching as it is!"
511. Derelict
"You've got to admit, Stark, nobody'd guess this place got a royalty living or visiting. It's practically derelict, almost worse than my farmhouse," Clint says when Tony gets back. "Never thought you would stay here, either. Innit too… drab, for your taste? Then again, you, in a farm…?"
512. Upside
Explanations take a long, long, long time to deliver, but deliver them Tony does, in the desperate hope that none'll follow Cap's footsteps. Because Fié's brought out the babies now, and the milaðen are the more tenser for it. But the upside is: He at last gets people to listen.
513. Entire
Tony gets to keep the entire "desolate" continent, on the stipulations that: 1) he allow restricted but genuine access to Tony-and-UN-preapproved research teams, and 2) he provide eternal funding similar to the Nobel Prize on categories that he choose himself. Providing the milaðen a second home's worth it, he thinks.
514. Compass
"The monarch… they're more like a compass than a dictator to their people, aren't they?" Tasha murmurs one evening, as Tony visits the nest she shares with Clint, Bruce, Betty and little Anna. Tony snorts, grumbles. "Took you long, Agent Badass. What gave it away? N'you missing the name, y'know."
515. Defend
Tony thanks his paranoia, his offensive skills, and the milaðen's speedily deployed and sured up defensive measures. Because, before long, they have to defend themselves from illegal parties trying to land on, spy on, steal from or attack various places in the continent. And no country nor organisation own up.
516. Wind
The former Winter Soldier pops up, next, alongside Sasha, all armed up, from wherever they were. Tony raises an eyebrow. "We got wind that you might need us," Sasha says breezily to the implied question. "This one wants to help… and I need to pay my penance."
517. Predator
Sasha acts like a predator, and they are, in a sense, but they still feel jagged and wild, and Tony worries. "Don't waste yourself for revenge. Hypocritical of me, I know, but that's not the point. Learn from my mistakes. And… well… I'd hate to lose you. So please don't."
518. Recognisable
"Won't Steve like to go with us?" Clint asks carefully as he's suiting up to go with Tasha, No-Name and Sasha, back to the fray, without Tony. Tony shakes his head to that. "Nope. Got him lots of doodling materials; won't get bored. Both of us are too recogniseable, anyway."
519. Cave
There are times where Tony can't suffer being underground, including this afternoon, after Fié got him to talk about his anti-terrorism gigs. Fié insists that milaðen are naturally cave-dwellers, but, "You can't argue that way with PTSD, buddy, and whether I like it or not, I still have it."
520. Library
Online libraries and communities are Tony's saviour, since the human midgets are mostly cooped in, where it's warmer, and have little to do other than school. With such resources and little distraction, they're even doing projects now, under his, Brucey's, Betty's and Cap's guidance, like Lex and her video-game program.
521. Jail
Post-jail Cap is terribly pensive, awkward and avoidant, although he was there only for a week and nothing bad happened then. The isolation was even tempered with the presence of books, blank journals and drawing pads plus tools to use them. Tony privately wonders what's going on in his mind.
522. Generation
Tony takes much delight in getting "the next generation" to prepare for inheriting SI and his other companies, especially those who are most interested, like Helblindi, Peter and Lex. Well, technically, Lex's eligible to inherit InGen from Hammond, but she's much more enamoured of tech and computerisation than animals anyway.
523. Source
Attending board meetings remotely is just as boring as attending them live, and, with how his businesses have expanded and grown, Tony must attend many more of those than before. But, lately, he's finding the midgets to be a good source of fun on remote conferences: Bored? Just go play.
524. Mellow
"You are… much mellower, than you were before," Ályavanu, Fié's state secretary, murmurs suddenly after a period of shocked, awkward silence on their end, when Tony picks up a call from Ýmirheim for a sleeping Fié. `Before,` Tony thinks. `They knew me quite well as Farbauti, seems like. Hmm. Curious.`
525. Reedy
Tony can't immediately dig deeper into this curiosity, unfortunately, because Hammond's also calling, and he must terminate Ályavanu's call to receive it, for secrecy's sake. The old man's voice is somehow reedier than before. Tony concentrates on that, rather than the fact that Hammond's asking after his grandchildren only now.
526. Visceral
Tony squeaks and leaps away from Fié, after the latter's finished reviewing the calls made on their shared devise. It's a visceral reaction to getting a mouthful of numerous sharp, sharp black teeth framed by an angry grimace and complemented by an angry snarl on his face, he tells himself.
527. Borrow
"You are not someone that they can borrow for their pleasures," Fié snaps when they're – mildly – under control. Stung, Tony snaps back, "But I'm not a thing kept for your pleasures, hypocrit." He tries to flounce away, then, but Fié pins him in place… and kisses him. `Oh. They're jealous.`
528. Knowledge
The knowledge that, as Farbauti, Tony also contributed to Álti's genes although the child isn't Fié's, which Tony's just pried off of Anga, explains much, and helps Tony understand Fié's seemingly unfounded jealousy a little bit more. But still,, `How many times should I repeat that I'm not Farbauti?`
529. Journey
Perched on one of the farmouses' roof, Tony sullenly checks on his e-mails and messages. Then, he happens to find a belated video of a 3rd year memorial on the Battle of New York, sent by Tasha through SI's file-sharing system. He frowns. `Three years. It's been such a journey….`
530. Tender
Unluckily for Tony, given his latest spat with Fié, the one who found him on the roof is Álti. Perhaps noticing his not-so-friendly vibe… or having heard about the spat somehow… the poor child stays as far as possible. Tony sighs. He's never a tender man. But. This. Is. Ridiculous.
531. Message
Tony doesn't care what message he's sending by walking back to the nest with Álti riding on his shoulders. He cares, though, much, when Tasha sends him a message about one Dennis Nedry sabotashing an island-park full of dinosaurs and people. And the victims from both sides keep coming.
