"How much longer are you planning on keeping me here?"
was the first thing Tony heard when he was about to enter the wardroom assigned to his daughter. He stopped at the doorway to look over the scenario once.
She was sitting on the bed in a hospital gown. Her left arm was plastered with a sling. Other than that he couldn't see a lot going on with her.
"I got here just 30 minutes ago. So, at least 12 hours." Hannah responded and turned to spot him.
"Mr. Stark."
Rose looked at the doorway at that. "Hey, Daddy."
"Hey girls." he smiled and walked in, sitting on the bed next to his daughter, facing Hannah. He kept a small chocolate bouquet and a small bag of her clothes he had gotten on the bed behind them.
"So..." he trailed off
"Like I was telling little Miss I-hate-hospitals over here, I got here no less than 30 minutes ago. I need time to see everything that's physically wrong with her."
"Got it. 12 hours, right?"
Hannah nodded and then sternly looked at Rose, "Don't you dare move from this spot!" and she walked off.
"12 hours." Rose scoffed, "Nothing's wrong with me."
"Actually, sweetheart, I can probably make a list of things that are wrong with you."
"Oh please!" Rose shifted to lean on the pillows
"And I'd start with...your arm is in a sling."
"It's probably just a hairline fracture," she shrugged
"Probably," Tony nodded. He smiled and reached to tuck some stray hair behind her ear, "How are you feeling?"
"I'm in a hospital and my arm's in a cast. So, peachy,"
"That's normal,"
"And a little dreadful."
"That's new,"
"Yeah," she took a deep breath, "How's everyone else?"
"Nat, Clint, and Hill are pretty clean. Wilson has a couple of bruises but nothing too severe. You are actually the second-worst of all."
"Wow. You really did check up on everyone before me, huh? Took your sweet-arse time."
Tony raised a brow, "Au contraire, I landed in DC and came to this room first and foremost. Nat sent me a text with everything."
"Oh. That's...that's alright."
Tony chuckled, "Considering everything that happened less than 24 hours ago, I'd say you all made it pretty clean."
"all but one." she muttered, "How's he?"
"Severely bruised. But he'll make it. Wilson's with him."
"Good to know." she nodded
They stayed in silence for a few moments before,
"Rosie, what about-"
"Can we talk about that later?" she interrupted him, "I want to talk to you about that just as much as you do, but not right now."
"Whenever you want to," Tony smiled
Rose nodded back and took a deep breath.
"By the way," Tony slightly scratched his cheek, "Pepper is quite mad about the whole clusterfuck of the situation."
"She has every right to be."
"Well, that's between you and her. As long as I both my girls back alright."
Rose chuckled, "I'd probably have to beg for forgiveness, work crazy overtime and pull some strings to make it up to her, but I believe I can do it."
"Like I said, between you two."
"where's Bruce?"
"Oh, you are not gonna like it," Tony muttered
"What happened?"
"You remember that Captain Asshole suggested we get our personal doctor for the team?"
"Yeah..."
"We had received some applications over time. Bruce was overlooking the entire recruitment. He shortlisted two. Dr. Helen Cho and Dr. Cecilia Reyes."
"Isn't Dr. Cho a geneticist?"
"Yeah. That's her. He figured that having a team where superhumans outnumber the regular humans by five to two, we could use someone who'd know how to treat us specifically based on our genetic makeup."
"That's actually smart of him," Rose replied after a solid minute.
"Yeah, he's showing them both the tower and explaining the job and stuff."
Rose nodded back.
There was quite a silence which Tony broke.
"What are you thinking?"
"Nothing much."
"Honey I can literally see the gears in your head moving."
She sighed, "I'm just thinking of the cleanup. SHIELD's no more. Government is gonna be a pain in the arse. We are pretty much spread thin. HYDRA's out there. Nick pretty much retired. I have no idea what's gonna happen to the team." She took a deep breath, "There's so much to do and so less time."
Tony nodded in understanding, "how about you focus on your recovery first. Get back in shape. And then, baby steps?"
Rose nodded, taking a deep breath.
Knock! Knock!
They both looked at the door as Hannah entered.
"Please tell me ya got good news. Please tell me I can leave in another hour!"
"Uh...No and No. Sorry." she softly smiled, "Your reports came back. You used too much of your magic. That'll take time to recharge. And that," she jutted her chin towards her plastered arm, "is not a hairline fracture as we all he suspected and hoped. It's an oblique fracture. Your radius pretty much broke in half. It was a good thing that you had armor with you or it could way worse."
"what were you hit with?" Tony asked, worried and alarmed. The armor was made to withstand a lot of force and pressure. And for her to have broken her bone while wearing the armor, it had to be fucking immense force.
"Technically I hit the ground. Two heat-seeking missiles collided. I was closer to the impact for my own good, I guess. "
"The shockwave must have been pretty strong if it caused that," Hannah noted
"It was.. But It didn't feel that bad."
"Thank you armor. Adrenaline must have kept you from feeling all that pain. Along with that Norse run for healing you've got tattoed. Anyway. Good news, the bones are still aligned so some potions and at least 8 weeks of plaster, and you should be good as new."
"Why the slow process?" Rose asked
"Your body is not at the peak. Or strong enough to go through the stress concentrated healing potions will give. this time, you are taking things slow."
"Got it, Hannah" Tony nodded
"Other than that, 12 hours of observation and you'll be fit to leave."
Sam was sitting on the chair next to the unconscious Captain, eating jello.
Compared to him, Sam had gotten off easy with just a few mere scratches. Steve looked like some pummeled his face with a baseball bat. which wasn't exactly farfetched, considering the fact that Winter Soldier had a metal arm.
Despite all that, they were told that he should be gaining consciousness pretty soon.
While Steve slept, he had gone to check up on others. Rose was the next worst with her arm in a cast and sling to her neck, but other than that, she seemed fine. they had spoken for a small while before he decided to stick with Steve.
"On your left."
Sam looked up and smiled to see Steve looking at him, tiredly.
"Hey, man. How're ya feeling?"
Steve took a deep breath, "Definitely seen better days." he chuckled
"I'll get the doctor."
After a thorough checkup, the doctor declared that his recovery seemed quite promising thanks to the serum and he should be out of the hospital in a few days.
"How's everyone else?"
"Much better than you," Sam chuckled, "I think the worst injury someone got after you is Rose who has a fracture."
Steve hummed.
"I went to talk to her. Rose." Sam added, "She wanted me to tell you something."
"What?"
"She said that you missed your shot and so she took hers," Sam said rather a bit clueless.
Steve took a deep shuddering breath. He wanted to be mad at her, but she had given him a chance. He failed. He failed himself and more importantly, he failed Bucky. And he had promised her that she could take her shot if he missed.
It was around evening, that Nat and Clint made it to the hospital. Hannah had let the Stark know that Steve was awake.
So with a little discussion, they all decided to meet at Steve's ward. It was big and well enough to accommodate them all.
"You look like shit," Clint said as soon as she entered the room.
"For once, I feel like shit," Steve replied
When Rose and Tony came, they didn't look much different. They were their regular self. Neither happy nor mad. Just...normal. Tony hadn't looked at him and that was understood as to why. Rose had flashed him a soft smile but that was it.
"Alright. Now that we have literally burned down SHIELD to the ground, there are certain things that need to be addressed." Clint clapped one loud and began only to be interrupted by Nat's phone ringing.
"Excuse me," she muttered and pulled out her phone, "It's Bruce. Video Calling," she answered and placed it in a way so he could see the whole room and vice versa. After quickly checking up on Steve ad Rose, he asked,
"So, what have you guys discussed?"
"We were beginning to," Clint responded, "Anywhoo. Back to the point. We have quite a number of problems to deal with. First and foremost, Nat dumped everything on the internet."
"As was planned." Nat butted in
"Which includes our files. So everything about us and Avengers Initiative is well, public!"
"Actually they never made it to the internet," Tony chuckled
At the questioning glances, he explained.
"The night before your HYDRA Takedown, Rose had emailed me highlights of the plan along with some encrypted files she picked from Zola to go through. So I made a program and placed a virus in the SHIELD mainframe. Every single piece of data made its way to the Internet via JARVIS and NYX, who acted as sieves."
Silence.
"Ugh...English translation, please. Someone." Steve asked
Rose chuckled, "All the data and files were checked by NYX and JARVIS before they made it to the internet. As a result, our personal files and some rather important data like the posting of some agents and spies were filtered out and they never made it to the Internet. It's not full-proof. Some of our data has ended up on the net, but most of it, say about 85-90% data is secure." she smiled, "Dad's idea."
"Props to ya both," Clint smiled, "Next th-"
Knock knock!
Everyone looked in front to see a brunette woman. To some, she was familiar, while others were confused.
"Walters?" Nat asked
Rose chuckled softly, "What are you doing here, Jen?"
Jen smiled, "I thought maybe I could lend a hand. How are you?"
"A little peachy."
"Mr. Rogers? You look...uh...better?"
Steve blinked, a little confused, "I'm fine. Recovering. Thanks for asking(?)"
"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Tony asked
"Jennifer Walters. SHIELD Legal. Former." she smiled and slightly lowered her voice, "That's gonna take some time getting used to."
"Bruce's cousin?" Tony asked
"The very same,"
Now everyone looked at Bruce.
"What? She was free and interested. Stop looking at me like that."
"So what exactly are you doing here?" Clint asked
"There's gonna be a lawsuit. SHIELD wasn't very upfront with the US government and they are not happy with what they are finding on Google of all places. Sooner or later, expect a lawsuit. Especially against all SHIELD employees, considering Fury is dead."
They all shared a look
"Which means me, Clint, and Nat," Steve stated
Jennifer nodded.
"And bearing in mind there were already speculations about Avengers involvement, things might take an ugly turn." She paused and continued. "For the record," She motioned around the room and the people in it, "I'm well aware of Director Fury's alive status. But for our all benefits, we will not speak of that."
They all shared a look.
"What do you suggest?" Sam asked, speaking for the first time.
"You are gonna need some professional help."
"Are you volunteering?" Nat asked
Jennifer took a deep breath, "This would be my career's biggest case."
"So? Guys?" Bruce asked
"I know her. I'm okay with this." Clint said, slightly raising his arm
"What he said," Nat raised her arm
"I read your work. Suits me just fine." Rose added raising her right arm
Tony took a breath and looked around, "Yeah, count me in."
They now looked at Bruce and Steve for their answer. Though they already did vote in favor, this decision concerned the whole team. Everyone's opinion mattered.
"She's my cousin. I'm gonna be a little biased here." Bruce raised his arm with a nervous smile
Steve took a deep breath and smiled at Jennifer, "We haven't met but since everyone trusts you, I have no problem with that."
"So that settles it." Jennifer smiled, "It would also help if there were at least one of you guys there to make a statement."
Another round of looks.
"Would I be included in the lawsuit?" Sam asked
Jennifer looked at him, a little confused.
"You didn't work for SHIELD, right?"
"No, mam. I joined these guys just a couple of days back."
"In that case,..."
"Sam Wilson."
"In that case, Mr. Wilson, the probability of your being included in the lawsuit is quite slim. You weren't SHIELD and you aren't an Avenger. As of now, I believe."
Sam just nodded in response, quite satisfied.
"I'll do it." Nat said, "I'll give the statement on the team's behalf."
Rose chuckled, "Better not tell them to 'Fuck off' in Russian or English. Or any other language."
Nat just raised a brow while some chuckled.
Jennifer just smiled before she looked at Nat, "I can give you a guide of what is acceptable or preferable to say during the trial."
"Sounds good to me." Nat shrugged, "When do we start?"
"The sooner the better."
"Now?"
"Sure." she looked at everyone, "It was lovely meeting the team. I just wish the circumstances were better."
"Us too." Steve smiled
"Well then. I'll see you all later. Take care and get well soon, Mr. Rogers. Rose."
The two nodded back at her.
"Take care, guys. Call me if anything happens." Bruce said and after a series of "ok"s and "bye"s, he hung up.
Nat with Jennifer left to discuss the legal repercussions the team was going to be facing. Hannah came to fetch Rose as it was time for medications and Tony left with her.
Sam excused himself for getting some dinner for himself and Steve. Clint declined saying he had some errands to run.
"Be honest. How are ya feeling?" Clint asked, taking Sam's spot
"Quite painful. But mostly pathetic."
"Barnes?"
Steve nodded
"what happened?"
"I tried. To remind him of his real identity." he took a deep breath, "Don't think it worked."
"Rosie went through with it, huh?"
Steve looked at him, "Yeah, it is"
Clint leaned forward a little, "Losing family is hard, Steve."
"I know."
"We all do. But she faced down him twice before. All that rage and confusion, how long did you think she could bottle it all?"
Steve studied Clint for a solid two minutes.
"What's going on with you?" he asked, "You seem outta place."
Clint sighed and leaned back, running his hands over his face, "I worried, man. I'm fucking worried. About us. About our team."
"Did something happen when I was..."
Clint shook his head, "I have no idea how things could go any worse. The three of us are probably gonna face some criminal charges. If, by any chance we do not, We are pretty much unemployed. Rose and Tony have gone quiet and...I don't know if you can see it, Steve, but they are starting to separate out."
"Rose is reasonable en-"
"Steve, everyone knows that those two are a package deal. Rose is more reasonable, yes, but she will never do anything that Tony won't approve of." he took a deep breath and leaned forward, "Steve, if this continues the way it is going, there will be a line drawn. You and the Starks. On opposite sides. And the rest of us would be asked to pick a side. Forced too, maybe. I don't want that. None of us do.
"This team is like a family, Steve. And I don't wanna see it break up over something that cannot be changed."
Steve took a breath, analyzing his thoughts.
"How should I do it?"
Clint snorted, "Have I ever spoken to my crush whose grandparents were killed and she herself was targetted, not once but twice, by an internally trained assassin who also happens to be my best friend? Uh...no."
"You could have just said no."
Clint shrugged, "Days are bleak, okay. Lemme have whatever little fun I can have." he chuckled before going somber, "But seriously, Steve, I have a lot of experiences under my belt, this is not one of them. You'd have to think something out on your own, man."
Clint stood up, "Despite whatever past you had with him, he wasn't himself. He was Winter Soldier. I know it's hard, but try to...you know."
Steve nodded, "I got it."
"Also, please figure out a way to talk to Starks. The longer you wait, the worse it'll get." he started walking but stopped and turned to face him, "And don't think that you are getting this exclusive talking to. Rose is gonna get it too."
Steve softly smiled, "Thanks, Clint."
"Anytime, mate!" he responded with a stupid British accent before he walked off.
Steve took a deep breath. Clint was right. What happened, had happened. He couldn't change the past now. And this was his family. the Starks have been nothing but kind and generous, despite being annoying pains in his ass, and he didn't want to ruin any of it.
Rose was frustrated, sitting on her hospital bed, munching in chocolate. It was well over 12 hours, hell it was the next day! and Hannah was nowhere in sight with her discharge papers. Tony had gone to talk to Bruce about change in medical personnel since Bruce had liked them both and wanted to go on with hiring them both.
She scrunched the wrapper and tossed it in the dustbin.
"Kobe," she muttered before opening another. She wanted to change but for all, she knew Hannah could come back saying she had more complications and needed an extended stay. She really prayed it wasn't the case. So she waited until she was sure so she could change out of the damned pieces of clothing.
Her thoughts also wandered back to the lecture Clint had given her last night. Long story short, she didn't want this family any more broken than he did, but things were fucked up. She knew she had to take a few steps herself, along with Tony whether he likes it or not, and meet him in the middle, rather than expecting him to do all the hard work.
What still irritated her was her thinking on repeat on what she was gonna say to him? Apologize? Act like nothing happened? Be sympathetic? She had no fucking clue.
But wait. Why should she apologize? She did no wrong. He had his chance and he missed it. It was on him. Not her. she just followed by her promise, her words.
So, decided. She wasn't going to apologize whatsoever.
"Hey," Tony walked in bringing her back to the world
"Hey," she replied
He chuckled and waved some papers at her, "Signed your discharge. Let's go."
"Oh thank god," she got off the bed and grabbed the bag with fresh clothes. Before entering the bathroom, she paused and looked at him,
"Can you get me Hannah, Nat, or a nurse? I'd need help,"
Tony nodded and left.
She went in and locked the door after her. She stood in front of the mirror.
Wow, she really needed some proper sleep. Her braided hair was getting unkempt and messy. Her fringes were starting to curl out. And she had dark circles and a bit of visible weakness.
Minding her casted arm, she reached for the back of her hospital gown with the other hand. Hannah had to perform some very detailed magical tests on her to make sure her core was fine and all and in such tests, regular clothes would always be an issue.
And considering her hatred for hospitals, she just wanted to get rid of what she was wearing no matter how much Hannah insisted she wears it since it helped with the diagnosis.
she sighed, letting go of the drawstring before she just opened the bag and took out the denim shorts while being clad in only the gown and her underwear. She pulled on her shorts, a bit haphazardly and sighed, trying to button it just when she heard a knocking on the door.
"Hey, it's me." Nat said through the door, "Tony said you needed help."
"Just a sec,"
She opened and stood behind the door and Nat entered and closed the door.
"Alright. Let's get you dressed up."
Rose had a history of fractures and broken bones, but her arm fracture was the first. So she had no idea how to maneuver around with her arm that was half in plastered and fingers she couldn't really move too much.
Nat had been amazing and helped her out. Once done, they walked out and she sat on the bed, Nat behind her
"Not a word to Clint or anyone else," Rose muttered as Nat attached the sling again around her neck and then untied her hair and took a brush out.
"What? don't want people to know that you are in the closet?" she chuckled
Rose rolled her eyes.
"No. I've told you that I'm not a lesbian, unfortunately. But the real reason I ask for that is that I told Steve that I'd have dated Mia if Ron wasn't there and that one doesn't have to be sexually attracted to another to fall in love."
Nat hummed, "So, If I'm reading it right, and I think I am, you heavily implied about Rogers-Barnes romance."
"Yeah," Rose chuckled back, "So if now they find out that you helped me dress up and saw me pretty much half-naked, Clint's jabs will know no bounds."
"I'll agree to that."
"I really wish our ship was sailing with Pepperony."
Nat laughed, "I didn't know you were into older people."
"Eh, age is just a number." she shrugged and winced when her arm pained
"Take it easy." Nat chided, "Anyway, I got talking to Hill last night and she told me that Mia had filled for your superhero name about a week ago."
"Yeah, I had given up on it and told her to go with whatever she found a good fit. What did she choose?"
"Morrigan."
"Cool." Rose chuckled, "so, that makes our ship..."
"I'm not really invested in that,"
"MorWidow? BlackGan? WiGan?"
"I don't know."
"huh, I'll put it on social media and we'll have a good ship name by lunch."
"Sure. Because that is priority." Nat placed the rubber band at the end and then brushed her fringes, "There you go."
Nat gave her the mirror and she checked herself up. French braid. Not bad.
"Thanks."
"No problem." Nat patted her thigh and started packing her stuff. Rose helped her the best but all she could do was manual work as Hannah had forbidden her from using magic so she could recharge herself.
Once done, Rose threw the bag over her shoulder.
Nat gave her a quick hug, "I'll be there in a couple of days. Take care of yourself and Tony."
Rose nodded and pulled back, "Try not to murder anyone in court."
"I'll try my best." she chuckled, "And Tony's waiting for you in the reception."
Rose smiled and made a quick detour to Steve's ward. There she found Clint and Sam with Steve, the three men arguing over something. The argument quickly died when Sam noticed her.
"Hey. Going somewhere?" Clint asked
"I got discharged. Dad and I are heading back to Manhattan. I'll see you guys back home." she smiled and looked at Sam, "You too are welcome at the Tower."
"Thanks." Sam gave her a nod.
"Don't mention it. Take care guys and try to get back home in one piece." she smiled and walked away
As soon as the two stepped out of the elevator, they found Bruce waiting for them at the Communal.
"How bad is it?" Bruce asked
"All the damage in what you can see," Rose replied, gesturing to her body
Bruce didn't look convinced and looked at Tony, who just shrugged.
"come on, Brucie bear. It's not that bad. Just an oblique fracture. I'll be fine in 4 weeks when the plaster will come off."
"6-8 weeks," Tony corrected her, from the kitchen.
"6-8 weeks." She snapped her fingers in Tony's direction, "That's what I meant."
Bruce just chuckled and softly hugged her.
"Watch the arm," she muttered
"I'm just glad you are in one piece." he patted her back and pulled
"Yeah, the feeling's mutual. So what's the update? The two gorgeous doctors?" she asked, putting the bag on the table.
"I talked about the contracts and they asked for some time to think things through. Although, I'm quite sure they'd accept."
"Sounds good," Tony noted, joining the duo.
"what about Steve? How's he doing?" Bruce asked
"His pretty face got some severe damage but other than that, he's fine," Tony replied
"You think Steve's pretty?" Rose chuckled sitting down on the couch.
Tony looked at her with a poker face, "You have to be blind to not realize that." he shrugged, "I'm still the prettiest so there's no competition."
Bruce and Rose exchanged an amused look.
"Right."
"Of course." Bruce chuckled, "When is he getting discharged?"
"A couple of days,"
At night the trio+Pepper ordered takeout. Pepper had first been quite worried at the plastered arm and her post-hospital look, but once that wore off, it was a barrage of chiding and scolding. Everything was just along the lines of-"Why would you do something so stupidly dangerous?", and, "You have any idea how bad this could have gone?", and (her personal favorite), "Tony and I were sick with worry!"
Tony was quite quick to add to the third argument that he was, rather, quite confident in her capabilities and didn't worry as much as Pepper was making it seem.
Rose knew her parents. She just smiled at their antics.
Pepper had gone over her medical papers thoroughly and told her strictly that she was on sick leave for at least 3 weeks. Rose didn't argue. She knows a lost battle when she sees one.
After dinner, Pepper and Bruce called it a night considering how tired they were from the whole day's work.
Once it was just the two of them, they decided to put on a horror movie like old times. JARVIS put Banshee Chapter on while Rose prepared some popcorn. When done, Rose made her way back to the couch and sat down. Tony joined her with two glasses and a bottle of Vermouth.
"Vermouth?" she asked
"You don't need alcohol. Not until you are back to being fine."
Rose pouted but didn't complain, shifted, and sat with her feet on the table while JARVIS played the movie.
The movie ran for a bit over an hour and once done, the TV switched off, leaving the pair in a dimmed Communal.
Rose finished another glass of Vermouth before she sighed and stretched, closing her eyes.
"You can't hide it from him for long, you know."
"Wasn't planning on it." she muttered, "Right now he needs to heal. I'll tell him."
Tony took a deep breath.
"What is it?" she asked, looking at him sleepily
Tony sighed, looking back at her, "You sure you made the right decision?"
Iris sighed and looked at the ceiling, "Not 100% sure, dad. But it sounded much better than what I had originally planned. Killing him...would have been easy, you know. A liberation. He'd have died without having to face the consequences of his actions. Death would have too simpler of a punishment. Fuck," she chuckled softly, "Not sure that would even qualify as a punishment." she looked at him.
"I want him to pay for everything he did. To me. To us. To countless other people. I want him to be held accountable. That couldn't have happened if he was dead. I want him to look at the damage he did. I want him to feel everything. Everything you and I and all those people felt. I want him to feel so much pain and guilt that he would wish for death and..." she chuckled humorlessly, "He'll stay alive. I'm going to make him go through the worst."
Tony took a deep breath.
Rose straightened, "You asked me to treat them fairly. This is my treatment. I don't want to be grounded."
"I'm not gonna do that, love. It's just..." he exhaled, "Before you take any major steps, I want to remember what happened the last time you did that to someone."
Rose exhaled and got up, "Lucius deserved it as much as Winter Soldier does."
Hello people.
Quite a few of you might have already seen this twist coming, but I promise it's gonna get a lot more severe. Lemme know what you think of it in reviews. I'd love to know your opinions.
you know the drill.
Ciao