Despite the general chaos at Stark Tower, Steve only had to give his name before he and Diana were allowed to enter the tower and shown to the elevators.
"Good morning, Captain Rogers," a disembodied male voice said as the elevator doors slid shut. "I am JARVIS, Sir's majordomo."
"Uh - good morning, JARVIS," Steve replied, courtesy winning out over surprise. At least Diana looked a little surprised, too.
"Sir is in his lab," JARVIS said. "You will see the door immediately to your left."
"Thank you." There was nothing else to say, really, and Steve settled in for the remainder of the faster-than-he-expected ride.
It wasn't just the door to the lab that Steve saw when the elevator doors opened - it was the lab itself, since the door, like the wall it was set into, was predominantly glass.
Through that glass, Tony Stark was clearly visible as he manipulated images in the air - holograms? Something like that - before him. The images were some kind of schematics, and Steve couldn't begin to guess what they might before.
A low bass thump thump echoed in the hallway, resolving into what apparently passed for music these days as Steve opened the door for Diana.
Tony - or, more likely, JARVIS - reduced the volume of the music to a level where conversation was actually possible.
"Decided you want to use my lawyers after all?" Tony asked. He waved one hand and the schematics disappeared. He gave Diana an assessing look. "Or did you already find your own?"
"This is my friend, Diana," Steve said. "Diana, Tony Stark."
"Friend?" Tony repeated. "You've been asleep seventy years. How can you already have a friend?"
Diana smiled. "I was his friend before the Valkyrie."
"Yeah - no," Tony said. "I'm calling bullshit on that. There's no way you're past thirty, let alone past seventy."
Diana glanced sideways at Steve. "You didn't tell me he has Howard's charm."
"He's never directed it at me," Steve countered, and bit back a grin at the sight of Tony Stark staring quite literally open-mouthed at Diana.
Tony cleared his throat. "Still calling bullshit. Proof?"
"Do you have an internet connection?" Diana asked Tony.
Tony's expression turned affronted in a heartbeat. "Do I - does Tony Stark - have an internet connection? How fast do you want it?"
"I prefer security over speed," Diana replied.
Tony turned to a nearby table where several computers rested. He selected one, typed quickly, then stepped aside to gesture Diana forward.
"BPL connection," he said. "Fastest you can find. And completely secure."
"Thank you." Diana took up a position at the keyboard, Tony at her right shoulder, and Steve moved to watch over her left shoulder.
She typed quickly - though not as quickly as Steve suspected she could - and less than a minute later, the logo of the Louvre in Paris showed on the screen.
Diana turned to Tony. "I assume you have a keystroke logger enabled?"
Tony held her gaze for a long moment. "Deactivate it, J."
"Done, Sir," JARVIS replied.
"C'mon, Rogers, give the lady some privacy." Tony turned away from Diana, and Steve followed suit.
He heard more typing, and then Diana said, "Have a look."
Steve turned and saw a grainy black-and-white photograph displayed on the screen. It showed Diana standing with four men - one wearing a fez, bareheaded, one wearing a floppy hat, and one in a kilt of all things. The group reminded him of the Howling Commandos, and Steve swallowed past his suddenly dry throat at the memory.
He forced himself to focus on the descriptive text accompanying the photo.
Weld, Belgium, November 1918. Allied fighters pose after liberating the village. Copy of original stored in Ephemera Collection XXI-1918-11-A.
"You expect me to believe you fought in World War One?" Tony asked.
"I did," Diana replied.
"And then in the Second," Steve added. "She helped us take two Hydra strongholds."
"I thought you helped me," she countered, her tone just slightly teasing.
"We worked together," Steve suggested, and she smiled.
Tony looked from Diana to Steve and back, watching as she logged out of the website she'd found.
"Okay," Tony said. "I can roll with it. But even assuming that's true, why should you trust her now? A lot can change in seventy years."
Steve started to protest, then stopped himself. He had been going on his instincts - trusting first Wayne and then Diana - because he trusted those instincts. Tony had just reminded him those instincts were honed in the 1940s. Would they still serve him in the 2010s?
"That's a valid observation," Diana said. "Even if it has been my experience that people don't change. Fortunately, I can prove that, too."
She reached into the bag she carried, and when she withdrew her hand, Steve saw a length of rope in it. She wrapped it around her hand, and Steve recognized what she meant to do.
"Diana - you don't have to do that," he protested.
"I think I do," she replied. "Not just for you, but for Mr. Stark, as well."
Steve nodded tightly, and the rope glowed with power.
"I want to help you," Diana said. "I want you to have someone you can trust to be on your side before anyone else's. And I want - I hope -"
She broke off suddenly, shaking her hand free of her lasso, and Steve wondered what she'd been about to say. He filed the question away for later.
"That's it?" Tony asked. "A little confession and we're all supposed to believe you now?"
"The Lasso of Hestia compels anyone bound by it to speak the truth," Diana said.
"Hestia, huh?" Tony regarded her for a long moment. "Well, I just fought beside Thor, so Hestia's not too much of a stretch. Fine. What's going on?"
"Diana thinks Fury's trying to manipulate me," Steve said.
Tony's expression clearly said that Fury manipulated everyone, and Steve could only shrug.
"More than most," he said.
"But it's only an instinct," Diana put in.
"I was hoping for another perspective," Steve concluded. "And though you're not a big fan of Fury's, I expect you can be objective about it."
"Huh." Tony sounded surprised, but his expression was thoughtful as he levered himself up on the table. "Why do you think that?"
"As I said, it's only an instinct," Diana repeated. "But he greeted Steve with a lie, and that's rarely a sign of someone with good intentions."
"What else?"
"He wants me to work for him," Steve said. "I'll need money, and I admit I was considering his offer. Then Wayne showed up and told me about the back pay I'm owed, and I wonder why Fury or someone from S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't tell me."
"I didn't tell you," Tony said. "I didn't think about it, and I'm sorry for that."
"Don't be," Steve responded. "It's not your job to think about it - and we got off to a rocky start."
"We did," Tony agreed. "But you were Dad's friend. I don't want to dishonor that."
Steve fought back fresh grief. Most of the time, the knowledge that all of his friends were dead was just that, something he knew. But sometimes, he felt it, almost a physical pain, as he did now, even though he and Howard hadn't been the closest of friends.
Before the moment could turn maudlin, Tony added, "So - what has the pirate done to acclimate you to this brave new world before he dumps you into it?"
"Set me up in an apartment - that I don't know who's paying the rent for," Steve added with a frown. He didn't like accepting charity long-term, even if he realized that under the current circumstances, he needed a helping hand. "And had Agent Hill show me how to use the internet on a laptop and a smartphone."
Tony looked at him expectantly. "And?"
"And?" Steve repeated. "I don't know what you mean."
"Anybody can do that much," Tony said. "Even a bright six-year-old. Maybe not the apartment, but the internet, the computer, and the phone. Did either of them suggest history courses? Current events? Geopolitics? Hell, even Officer Training School to learn how today's military works. And that's not even counting getting you familiar with the most popular of pop culture."
Steve blew out a breath. "I hadn't even thought - I knew - know - that I'd have to get caught up on things, but laying it out like that just shows me how much I don't know. And I hadn't even thought of officer school."
"That's assuming you want to remain a soldier," Diana said softly. "You don't have to, you know."
Steve laughed briefly. "I don't know what else I'd do."
"You're an artist, as well as a soldier," she reminded him.
"Fair enough," Steve admitted. "But I can't just sit by if aliens attack again."
"You don't have to," Tony said. "And you don't even have to make a decision right now. I'd suggest you don't, actually."
"Why?" Steve asked, careful to keep his tone curious, not accusatory. They were starting to mend fences, and there was no need to make that task harder than it needed to be.
"Because you literally don't know what you don't know," Tony answered. "I'd say take six months or a year, get yourself familiar with the twenty-first century, and then decide. Don't let anyone - Fury, your friend here, me, or anyone else - pressure you into anything before you're ready." He paused a moment. "Unless aliens attack again, of course."
"Of course," Steve agreed dryly.
"First things first," Tony continued. "We'll get those lawyers on your back pay and IP rights. JARVIS will scan the top schools for history and all that, get their coursework and reading lists for you. If you want to go to actual classes, fine, but if not, at least you'll have a solid place to start."
"And," Diana added, "you have someone to talk to who remembers the same things you. Not as clearly, perhaps, but I do remember."
"Thank you," Steve said. "Both of you."
Both Tony and Diana nodded an acknowledgment of his thanks, but were silent after that. Belatedly, Steve realized they were waiting for him to decide what to do.
He considered his options for a moment before meeting Tony's gaze. "That's great about the reading lists and the lawyers, Tony. Thanks. But before I start that, there's one thing I want to do."
"What's that?" Diana asked.
"I want to see Peggy."