Tony was no stranger to waking up in a hospital room. But never before had he woken up with so much remorse and guilt. The first thing he saw was Ana, standing by the large window on his left, and talking on the phone in a hushed voice. He recalled how close she had come to killing two supersoldiers on her own, and more importantly, how much he had wanted her to succeed. Back in Siberia, it had seemed almost poetic that the man who had choked his mom to death would be killed by her granddaughter in the same fashion two decades later.

Maybe he wouldn't feel so bad about it if he weren't such a hypocrite. When JARVIS had been killed, he was the reason Ana had let Rogers and the others get away with it for the greater good. He had forced her to bottle up all those emotions for more than a year, but when it was his turn to be selfless, he hadn't been able to restrain himself even for a second. It made him feel like shit.

Ana looked up from the floor while still on the phone, and smiled when their eyes met. "Thank you, Mr. Smith. Please keep me updated," she said hastily, hung up, and came to sit down by Tony's side. "Hey, Dad… How are you doing?"

"What happened?"

"I… I shot you, Dad. It was supposed to blow Barnes' head off, but he… I can't believe I hurt you!"

Yeah, he remembered that part. He wondered if Barnes had done it on purpose, to show what it felt like to be controlled by someone else, to be a puppet. Maybe he had a penchant for poetic justice, too. Or maybe, it was just a clever strategy. The only way Ana would have let them go was to make Tony's life her priority, and Barnes had done exactly that. "It wasn't your fault… Where are we?"

"U-GIN Labs. I had to teleport us here."

This confounded him. Also, after New York, he had kind of developed a phobia of portals, so the thought made him uneasy. But then, if he had to go through a portal, he would rather go through one created by his daughter. "I'm surprised there was enough power left in your suit for that."

"I'd added the Mind Stone element to the Arc Reactor. Did FRIDAY not tell you?"

"No, but I was kind of busy, so… When did it happen?"

"On the way home from Berlin. That's why I actually thought I could kill Maximoff."

"How can you be so brilliant and so stupid at the same time?"

She laughed, but it was a burst of sad laughter. "Honestly, I got no idea."

Tony patted on her hand. As usual, he was proud of her, and he didn't want the recent events to overshadow what she had achieved. "Good job, kid. Discovering an element is no easy feat."

"I've been talking to the lawyers. There's no way Ross can accuse us of breaking the law. It's our words against Zemo's, and—"

"Wait, Zemo is captured?"

"Yeah, T'Challa turned him over to the CIA. Turns out he was in Siberia, too."

"What about the, you know…"

"Officially, they're fugitives."

"Officially?" He was surprised to hear that Rogers was still alive, with his injury.

"Come on, Dad. Just put two and two together. They didn't bleed or freeze to death, which means they got out. There was only one other person who could have helped them."

"Are you saying T'Challa is hiding them?"

Ana shrugged. "Maybe he's feeling guilty for blaming the wrong guy."

"Maybe," he agreed.

"T'Challa is smart, though. I'm sure he knows he better keeps his mouth shut about our involvement, unless he wants us to start talking about the fugitives he's harboring."

Tony was relieved to see that his daughter wasn't planning to start an international crisis to hunt down Rogers. Ana liked having leverage on other people. Especially powerful people.

They remained silent as he processed the news. Then he said, "Well, we're on our own now, like you wanted. Why the long face?"

"I never wanted it to happen like this."

"I know." Yeah, it was stupid of him to expect Ana to celebrate the whole ordeal. She would never want him to get hurt.

"I'll let Helen know you're awake. She needs to take a look at you."

"I'm fine. Really, kid."

"I just want to make sure. You suffered a brain hemorrhage."

He smiled, and let her fetch Helen so that she could confirm that he was fine.

…

A few minutes later, Helen entered, alone. She seemed troubled.

"Hi, Tony."

"Hey. Sorry if this is a bit inconvenient. I wasn't expecting you to get involved."

"Well, I wasn't expecting two Starks to pop up in my lab, but here we are." She started by checking his eyes, then his pulse. "You seem fine, but I want you to stay here for a couple of days, just to be sure."

"How much did Ana tell you?"

She sighed heavily, and collapsed into the chair by the bed. "I'm sorry about your parents, Tony. I really am."

"But you still think I made a mistake?" Her attitude made that obvious.

"I remember the conversation you and Steve had after Ultron left the tower. What happened to the endgame, Tony? I thought it was more important to you than anything else. What you did in Siberia didn't help your parents; they're still dead. But the living needs the Avengers."

"So, Rogers wasn't wrong to lie to me? It's all my fault, as always, yeah…"

"Don't twist my words. If Steve were here, I'd tell him he was an idiot to have kept a secret like that from you. But you were the one who had the power to keep the team together, and you chose not to. It was your responsibility."

"Your responsibility." There was no arguing with that. It was now up to him to protect the world.

"Maybe it's not too late," she added, this time more gently. "I mean, these Accords, they aren't exactly… practical. It won't take people too long to realize that. Maybe then…"

Even if a miracle happened and they scrapped the Accords, it wasn't going to change the fact that Rogers was a liar.

…

Tony was bored, but he wasn't looking forward to going back to the Compound either, so he had agreed to stay until he got an all-clear from Helen. Ana was out to get some food when his phone rang. A video call from Happy.

"Hey, Hap."

"Boss, what am I supposed to do with the kid? We're still in Germany."

Right, the kid… He had totally forgotten about the kid. Peter had to return to Queens. "Take him home. Where's he? I want to have a word with him."

The phone was immediately snatched from Happy's hands. "Mr. Stark!" Peter cried.

"Hey…"

Peter's face fell upon realizing where Tony was, though. "Oh, you're in a hospital… Are you okay, Mr. Stark?" he whispered this time.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. Listen, you did good in Leipzig. Do me a favor, though. Happy is kind of your point guy, so don't stress him out. Don't do anything stupid. I've seen his cardiogram. Alright?"

"Yes."

"Don't do anything I would do. And definitely don't do anything I wouldn't do. There's a little gray area in there, and that's where you operate."

"D—does that mean I'm an Av—"

"No."

"So, when's our next step? W—when is…"

"The next mission? We'll call you."

"Did you have my numbers?"

"No, I mean we'll call you. Like someone will call you."

"Oh."

"Alright. Until then, hide that case well. We wouldn't want Aunt May to find out now, do we?"

"Does that mean I can keep the suit?" he asked, beaming at him.

"Yeah, that's exactly what it means."

"He's been recording the whole thing," Happy broke in. "Do you want me to do something about it?"

"I won't show it to anyone! I can delete it if you want, and—"

"Is it like a video diary?" Tony asked.

"Yeah."

"It's cool. You can keep it."

"Thank you, Mr. Stark."

"Bye, kid."

Happy took the phone back. "Sir, where are you now?"

"In Seoul."

"Seoul? When did you get to Seoul?"

"We teleported. Long story."

"You can teleport?" Peter cried in the background. "That's awesome, Mr. Stark! I mean, everything you do is awesome, but I had no idea you could…"

Happy silenced him. "This is getting crazy… So, are you going to teleport back home, or…"

"No. Maybe. I don't know. I'll let you know if we need a ride." Because of that huge bruising on his chest, Ana was insisting that they should also pay Dr. Wu a visit before returning home. It had been a long time since the surgery, but once broken, some things were never as good as new.

"Understood, sir," Happy nodded, and hung up.

Tony was glad to have met Peter, even though he wished it had happened under different circumstances, like an actual internship or something. He missed having that kind of innocent enthusiasm around. He loved his daughter more than anything else in the world, and he would keep loving her even if she turned herself into a T-1000 or something, which, by the look of it, would eventually happen if they kept going like this, but there was the fact that having grown up as a Stark, Ana had lost her innocence a long time ago. She wouldn't hesitate to stab Captain America while looking him in the eye, telling him it was for JARVIS and then calmly discuss the best ways to avoid any consequences with the company lawyers afterwards. Peter, on the other hand, could goofily fanboy over the Avengers while shooting webs at them at the same time. It was refreshing to see a young one who was being a superhero for the sake of being a superhero, and oblivious to the political dynamics of that world. Funny, he hadn't even asked Tony what exactly he was signing up for. He had just followed him around like a puppy. And once again, Tony was feeling like a hypocrite, because he was also very glad Ana didn't have that kind of naivety. She might not be an innocent little girl, but at least she wasn't easily manipulated.

Five minutes later, Ana was back.

"How are you doing?"

"Still a bit groggy…"

"Yeah, that's from anesthesia. Will you be able to eat?"

She had brought him bulgogi from his favorite restaurant in Seoul, by the look and smell of it. He propped himself up in the bed. "Well, I'm starving, and you're pampering me, so…"

She chuckled, helped him sit up, placed the bed tray in front of him, and served him his lunch. Then she pulled a chair to sit and began to eat from her own box.

They finished their meals in silence, then Ana cleaned everything up. In the meantime, something was breaking within Tony, as the memory of that footage came back to him. There was no anger this time. Only sadness, at the unfairness of it. When Ana's attention turned to him again, tears were running down his cheeks. Without a word, she came to him, to sit on the edge of the bed, and pulled him close. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, and let himself be shaken with sobs, sniffing like a little boy every now and then. He was no longer that vengeful man who was trying to kill the Winter Soldier. Just a desperate son who missed his mom and dad too much. Ana was just running a hand through his hair, gently rocking him back and forth. Tony had always tried to look strong for her, as he did for everyone else, friend and foe alike, but he no longer had the strength to put up a front. But then, he could now see that was unnecessary. Since Pepper no longer wanted him, Ana was the only person around whom he could be himself. He could bawl his eyes out if he wanted. There would be no judgment.

"They didn't deserve to die like that!" he cried.

"No, they didn't."

"Did I doom us all?"

"You're talking like you had a choice, Dad. Neither of us had a choice. Even if we'd walked away in peace somehow, we still would've been destroyed… in a different way."

"And I let you be destroyed like that... For far too long."

"No. I always had a choice. I knew nothing between us would have changed, no matter what I chose to do. How many people can say that about their fathers?"

"Yeah, nothing between us would've changed," he agreed. "Just the fate of the entire world."

"Don't give up just yet. We might still save the world. Maybe it will be even easier now."

Now that he had calmed down, Tony pulled himself back, rubbed his eyes, and decided to talk about something else. "Any word from Rhodey?"

"He's in Colombia Medical, as planned. I asked Helen about him, but she regenerates tissue. There's not much she can do about the nerves."

"Maybe we can build something for him. Are you up for it?"

"Yeah, sure."

It was always comforting, for both of them, to have a project on hand.

…

When it was time to go home, they teleported directly to the Compound. Officially, they had never been to Seoul, or Beijing.

Soon, Rhodey was discharged from the hospital. Tony lost no time fabricating the leg brace he had designed for him. It was hard, to watch Rhodey struggle to even stand on his feet, and Ana, reading a book on the couch, pretending very hard not to stare anxiously at them. Rhodey, too, was the kind of person who wouldn't want an audience while doing such things.

"Why don't we just use Extremis?" she suggested all of a sudden.

"Sweetie, you know the Accords have banned Extremis. It's too dangerous."

"Screw the Accords, you…" She paused guiltily when she saw the look on Rhodey's face. He and Vision were the only ones who had signed because they actually believed in the Accords. Tony was acting on partially guilt, and partially strategy because he knew when it was wise to play ball with governments. Ana was just on his side as usual. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"Give me some feedback," Tony said, to remind them that even without Extremis, this could be fixed. "Anything you can think of. Shock absorption, lateral movement… Cup holder?"

"You might want to think about some AC down in…" He lost his balance, and fell. Instinctively, Tony tried to hold him, but Rhodey refused.

"138. 138 combat missions. That's how many I've flown, Tony. Every one of them could've been my last, but I flew them. Because the fight needed to be fought. It's the same with these Accords. I signed them because it was the right thing to do. And yeah, this sucks. This, uh… This is a bad beat. But it hasn't changed my mind. I don't think." He looked at him with a sad smile.

Now knowing what else to do, Tony offered his hand. Rhodey got back on his feet.

"You okay?"

Rhodey nodded.

"Dad, someone's at the door…"

Indeed, someone was tapping on the glass. Tony turned around. An elderly delivery man asked, "Are you Tony… Stank?"

"Yes, this is… This is Tony Stank. You're in the right place. Thank you for that! Never dropping that, by the way. Table for one, Mr. Stank. Please, by the bathroom…"

At least he was in a good mood. Tony went to take the package, and decided to open it in the office. Ana, who had now taken over Tony's place to help Rhodey with his physical therapy session, shot him a suspicious look. She had a guess who had sent it. So did he.

…

Tony wished Steve hadn't sent that damn phone. His job would be much easier, then. He had let him free the rogues from the Raft, and he wasn't going to chase them, but that was all he could do without having to swallow his pride. Protecting the world was more important than his pride, true, but what if Ana was right? What if they could do it better on their own?

"Dad?"

"Come on in, kid… How's Rhodey?"

"He decided to take a break. I don't think there's anything wrong with the prosthesis itself. He just needs time to adjust. So, is Rogers still defending himself, or does he actually have any regrets?"

"He is… somewhere in between, I suppose." He gave her the letter.

Ana started reading it out loud:

Tony,

I am glad you're back at the Compound. I don't like the idea of you and Ana rattling around a mansion by yourselves. We all need family. The Avengers are yours, maybe more so than mine. I have been on my own since I was 18. I never really fit in anywhere, not even in the Army. My faith is in people, I guess. Individuals. And I am happy to say, 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. 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 I was really sparing myself. And I know I hurt Ana, too. Only when I had to fight for Bucky, I truly understood her loss. I am sorry. I hope one day you understand me, too. I wish we agreed on the Accords, I really do. I know you are 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 will be there.

For a second, Tony thought she was going to tear it to pieces, but then, she just gave it back to him.

"He broke into the Raft. I just got a call from Ross. I won't go after them, kid. Please, do the same."

"Geez, life was a lot simpler while we were 'rattling around a mansion' by ourselves, wasn't it?"

"Ana…"

"Don't worry, I don't want any trouble."

"Good."

"Dad, I want to give you something."

"Okay."

She pulled out the Asgardian pendant from her pocket, and put it on the desk. "When we suspected Sigyn might have told your parents about HYDRA, we both assumed Grandpa Stark had chosen to turn a blind eye. We were wrong about him. If you want to confront Sigyn…"

He thought for a moment. Yeah, he wanted to know. He had to. He took the pendant into his hands, and thought of Sigyn. This was how it worked, right?

"Tony?"

He hadn't seen her in years. It was just Ana who maintained contact with her. She had told him that the Sakaaran fashion was absurd, but he didn't think it would be this bad. "Didn't expect to hear from me?"

"To be honest, no. Is everything alright? You look… weary. You both do."

"They knew, didn't they?"

"Excuse me?"

"My parents knew about HYDRA. You told them. That's why they died." All that rage Tony had for Rogers was now directed at this woman. "Why? Why couldn't you just keep your mouth shut?"

"I did, for a time. Then Howard gave me a great gift. Something I'd wanted for more than a millennium. A chance to become a great warrior."

"The super soldier serum, he tested it on you…" Well, it all made sense now. That was the real debt she kept talking about. As a human-Asgardian hybrid, Sigyn wasn't strong enough to keep up with other Asgardians, not without the serum.

"There were risks," she continued. "Howard said it could kill me. So, I told him what I knew before the procedure. I survived, but… He decided to take the remaining five doses to the Pentagon. I read the autopsy reports, I tried to put the pieces together, but I still don't know how exactly HYDRA killed them."

"I do. They sent the Winter Soldier after them. I saw the footage. Dad didn't beg for his own life. He begged him to help Mom instead. He recognized Sergeant Barnes. Then he got punched to death. Barnes put him back in his seat, then went to Mom's side. She was calling out Dad's name the whole time. Barnes choked her to death. That's what happened. And it happened because you were a nosy bitch."

The words were like venom on his mouth, bitter and painful. He had to spit them out. The tormented expression on Sigyn's face made a ridiculous contrast with her brightly colored dress and silly ponytail. She looked like a clown, and a very tragic one at that.

"I'm so sorry, Tony."

"Are you?"

"They were my family, too."

"Tell me, is it just coincidence, or is it the serum that makes you such despicable liars? Is it like an adverse effect or something? Because Captain America lied to my face, too. At least he did it to protect his friend, no matter how twisted of an excuse that was… What's yours?"

"To protect you."

"Really? How thoughtful…"

"Do you know who else lied to you? Mr. Jarvis."

"Don't you dare speak Jarvis' name!" he spat.

"Edwin Jarvis was the most honorable man in the Nine Realms. And even he knew keeping the truth from you was the right thing to do."

"Turn this off," he told Ana. "I can't bear to see her face."

But Ana didn't have to do anything. The projection disappeared, probably cut off by Sigyn herself. Coward.

"Feeling better now?" Ana asked him softly.

"I think so," he lied.