Chapter 44 – The First Betrayal

A/n: Thank you all for being as awesome as ever and being really understanding about yesterday's chapter :) Seriously you guys are amazing. ReadPaxJoy managed to get the 500th reviews as well so you can ask for another oneshot or choose to give it to the 499th reviewer instead if you'd like. There will be a new poll up for you to vote on for 550 by the time this goes up :)

XxxBellaBellaxxX: Have one confrontation to go :) Enjoy!

youwannabekate: I feel you babe definitely. Being ill really sucks. And I'm like the most insomniac person with insomnia in the world I swear so I know how you feel there too. RL needs to get out of my writing but oh well sometimes I can't help it I guess :D Glad you liked it :)

Post U Later: Yeah that was kind of intentional; I'm just as massive Sherlock fan and I couldn't resist. This actually isn't a Stoni story; there will be two parallel sequels which will be Bruce/Toni and Clint/Toni respectively. Steve's just the second character because I had to pick someone. And at this point no, Clintasha are not together. Everyone just thinks they are

whitetigerwolf: Glad you liked it and I did my best under the circumstances as I had my DVD for about ten minutes to transcribe all of the dialogue I wanted.

Booklover2526: Always feel like I should apologise anyway /shrugs Hopefully I'll feel better sometime soon, thanks for the well wishes

Ganondorf-Lover: I have the distinct feeling that you are right about that :) Thank you for the well wishes

XxXSilverShadowXxX: I'm glad you like my interpretation and I'll try not to worry about length. Probably will anyway but oh well. Thank you for the well wishes.

ReadPaxJoy: It was short but it was still number 500 :) So you have the choice that I posted above. Your call :D And I'm glad you liked that scene because I'm not comfortable with writing stuff like that generally.

Amara Calla: These type of reviews are the ones I love best because people are making an exception to read my writing and it's really flattering so thank you. And dreams inspired by this story are even more flattering. Glad I inspired some new OTPs for you :)

nessa11997: You're welcome!

"Since when did anything involving me go well anyway aside from the fights I get into in the Iron Man suit go well," Toni pointed out, "even those go sour sometimes as fights are prone to do at times."

"True," Natasha admitted.

Toni threw a nervous glance at the watching guests as Piper pulled her in close and they started to sway on the dance floor amongst the small amount of other people who were actually using it to dance.

"That's another thing I hate about those events," Steve exclaimed, "they call them balls and galas and nobody actually dances except for those who get dragged onto the dance floor by someone."

"To be fair Steve you're usually the one dragging Natasha or me onto the dance floor to avoid having to answer questions about how you survived being under the ice for all those years and about whether or not you agree with LGBT issues and other laws that have come up since you went under," Toni pointed out.

Steve went bright red and managed to stutter out a quick, "They just make me feel awkward," over the girls laughing at his misfortune. Toni was going to take her moments of laughter as they came because she knew they would soon become few and far between what with Obie's betrayal and her conversation with Piper. What was worrying her more about the second was that she couldn't remember every detail of what she had said to him and it could have been anything about a significant amount of her life considering who she was talking to. She did not need the others worrying about her again over events that had happened a long time ago. Well, maybe not that long ago but considering all that had happened in her life since then it might as well have been a hundred years considering how drastically she had changed.

"This is making me a bit uncomfortable," Toni said after about a minute of them dancing obviously still concerned about what this might do to Piper's reputation.

"And to think some people still maintain that you never think of anyone but yourself," Bruce said incredulously, "it might actually be funny how wrong they all are about you if it wasn't for the fact that they get so many people to believe what they print even if you've stopped them doing it nowadays."

"The damage was done a long time ago," Toni stated simply, "and nobody's going to forget it overnight but people are beginning to see that the papers had to get at least some of it wrong. It baffles me how they didn't notice the many contradictions before that point though."

"Because like many SHIELD agents they lack common sense," Clint offered as a suggestion and Toni nodded accepting it as one of the most likely explanations for their ignorance.

"Why?" Piper asked, "We're just dancing."

"Well, you're dancing with your boss in front of everyone that you work with and that's not going to look good for you," Toni pointed out.

"And he probably should have realised that before you did just because it was his neck that was on the line in that situation," Phil sighed, "he clearly likes his job no matter how much I used to hear him complain about it to others whenever I was around – which admittedly wasn't that often – but he doesn't seem to have the first clue that Toni can't save him from everything."

"It's a common misconception on Asgard that money and power can solve every problem," Thor said knowingly, "maybe that is what Mr Potts was thinking at this time."

"Probably," Toni said smiling at the fact that Thor understood Piper's point of view at least a little. She supposed her high position in society in America was similar to what Thor would have experienced as a prince on Asgard except for the cultural differences and the difference that came about because technically Toni was lower on the rungs in the US than Thor was on Asgard because he was only one step removed from the top. She was only a businesswoman not a politician. Nor did she ever wish to be one because all they seemed to do for her country was mess it up in as many different ways as they could find. Maybe she should go for another degree in Political Science just so she could show them up even more. She hadn't gotten a new one for a while and she had been meaning to upgrade both her Spanish and Biology degrees. She had enough time to do the online courses so Toni made a promise to herself to add classes for those three courses to her schedule. It wasn't like she didn't have the time considering the ratio of the hours she was asleep to the hours she was awake with nothing to do was ridiculous for any normal human being and some aliens and super powered human beings as well. Plus she would dropping a lot of her work for SHIELD soon.

"You have a point," Piper admitted, "but you look great and the music's good and nobody looks that bothered yet so let's just keep dancing for a while longer."

"Sometimes he is such an idiot," Toni sighed exasperatedly. Sometimes she didn't know why she put in the effort to keep Piper in his position. Well she did actually and it was purely because of his ability to call her out on her behaviour if she went too far as her judgement there was kind of skewed. It wasn't for any of the reasons that Piper was so fond of spouting like that she wouldn't survive a day without him because he seemed to forget that she had gone through a long period of not having a PA for more than three days when she hired him. So yes she knew her social security number and if she forgot she could simply ask JARVIS. In fact she could ask JARVIS for anything the problem with that solution was that he was too easy to put on mute when Toni wanted to avoid a meeting and unlike Piper he wouldn't be able to nag her into going. That was basically Piper's job description; stop Toni from skiving off important events by nagging her non-stop. Anything else the woman was perfectly capable of handling herself if she wished to. Mind you Piper had come in very handy at several points during these events by pushing the button that killed Obadiah and retrieving information for Toni. Not that she had gotten to see any of it until after the fight with Obadiah was over and she had subsequently hidden it away in a heavily firewalled folder within JARVIS' coding so nobody but her could ever access it again. She didn't even want to access it herself because seeing all the double dealing had been horrifying for her and almost as bad as seeing the video of her in the cave even if by that point she knew that Obadiah had been trying to kill her as he'd already confessed.

"I think I'm actually going to have to fire you to make sure this incident doesn't ruin your entire reputation if we don't stop dancing right this second," Toni warned him her tone deadly serious.

"I actually don't think you could tie your shoes without me," Piper told her thinking it was an idle threat.

"I'd make it at least a week," Toni said.

"I'm pretty sure you'd make it longer than a week," Natasha said knowingly, "but you wouldn't have been very healthy by the time Piper came back because you would have stopped eating as well as sleeping and would be absorbed in projects so much so that you might even forget to drink coffee for at least a day."

"Probably accurate except for the coffee part," Toni said, "I once spent three months without coffee so I can cope without it for longer than a day whilst working. It's just when people distract me and I'm trying to work on something important that I need to have the boost that the coffee gives me."

"She has a point," Phil said, "Again!"

"Really?" Piper said incredulously, "what's your Social Security Number?"

"549-42-6893," Toni recited neatly from memory.

"I can honestly say that I didn't really expect you to know what it was," Clint admitted, "just because you don't seem to do much with the paperwork that you need to fill it in on other than adding your signature as Piper does the rest for you."

"Common misconception," Toni said calmly, "I didn't always have Piper for a PA. Sometimes I went without one for months at a time so I memorised my Social Security Number at the time and saw no reason to forget about it because I never knew when I might need to put it down somewhere without an assistant there to do it for me. Preparing for every eventuality that I can possibly foresee is what keeps me alive most of the time."

"And Afghanistan wasn't calculated," Bruce guessed.

"Exactly," Toni confirmed.

"Well maybe you don't need me for that after all then," Piper teased, "I guess I should take more vacation time then."

"Yes," Toni said sarcastically, "then the board members will be even more cross with me than they are already because nobody will send them in the reports because you know full well that I'll forget to do them because I don't give a damn about the board."

"True," Piper said and the pair fell back into an uncomfortable silence.

"I have a feeling the rest of this scene is not going to be any less awkward," Natasha said with a sigh. Whilst Piper and Toni's exchanges were quite amusing the whole dynamic was sort of ruined by the fact that Toni was trying to protect Piper whilst he simultaneously messed with both of their reputations. Because nobody had gone so far as to accuse Toni of letting employees rise to the top of the ladder by sleeping with them at this point. (There had been one or two who had said this when the pair had officially told the newspapers they were dating but not as many as there could have been.) But Toni didn't have the clout at that moment to deal with supermodels getting themselves into the company and attempting to sleep their way up and when they failed making up a sob story for the tabloids that Toni would have to find a way to counter with solid evidence. Piper really needed to think more or at least listen to his boss.

Eventually Piper seemed to notice that Toni really did look very uncomfortable and she wasn't just protesting for the sake of it and asked her, "how about a little air?"

"Finally he took the hints that Toni was giving him," Steve said relieved as he had been getting seriously worried about the situation as it was so public and from the others comments he could tell that this was perhaps more of a big deal than it had been back in his time. Mind you in the 40's women didn't tend to run weapons manufacturing companies or clean energy ones especially companies that had a total net worth of billions of dollars so maybe that was the reason for the change in this situation. Of course there had been similar cases but nothing that seemed to account for just how worried Toni was about the situation.

"Yes, I need some air," Toni said quickly seizing the opportunity to stop this situation from progressing any further and getting noticed by anyone of significant power who wasn't too distracted by their own dance partner. Phil looked on with a blank expression as the two walked out to the balcony.

"I was wondering what on Earth had gone on because I didn't know of any relationship between them and there were no previous hints of one," Phil explained, "besides I noticed that Toni looked really nervous and I was starting to think I might have to step in and begin talking about the meeting with SHIELD in the centre of the crowd."

"It's a good thing you didn't have to," Natasha said, "I wouldn't want to be the person who had to explain to Fury why someone heard that conversation and asked what you were talking about. Or if he had found out you intervened on a matter that was out of SHIELD's purview."

"That was totally weird," Toni told Piper.

"Totally harmless," Piper said defensively.

"Harmless," Clint said incredulously, "on what planet was that harmless because I don't think it was harmless on Asgard either. Right Thor?"

"Due to their equivalent stations in Midgardian culture to similar ones in Asgardian culture no it would be very harmful to both of their esteemed reputations if they lived on Asgard," Thor replied confirming Clint's theory.

"It was totally not harmless," Toni informed him, "by the way."

"We were dancing and nobody was even watching us," Piper interrupted, "and nobody was even watching what we were doing."

"Wishful thinking," Steve stated simply.

But Toni was not swayed by this opinion knowing that was Piper trying to make excuses for what he had done, "Everybody that you work with every day... Piper people noticed!"

"I think you've lost objectivity," Piper said weakly clearly beginning to see what a mistake he had just made, "I think they just… people… we danced."

"That was more than just a dance," Bruce sighed, "I would understand if it was an event where everyone was dancing and switching partners but so few people were dancing that it looked like a more intimate thing when you began doing so."

"No, it was not just as dance. You need to listen to what I've been saying this whole time Piper. Everybody has their exact opinions on me because I'm me and everybody knows exactly what I do with men – and women," Toni said beginning to get annoyed at her PA, "it's totally fine for me to dance with practically anyone else at this party but I am your boss and I see you every day and I am dancing with you. Do you see my point here?"

"If he doesn't see it after that speech then I'm pretty sure I would have given it up as a bad job," Natasha said wondering how anyone could be so blind.

"I don't think it was taken that way," Piper said with a shrug sounding more confident now.

Everyone in the room couldn't help but sigh at that including Toni because he just didn't get it! He dealt with gossip mongers and paparazzi and vicious 'stab you in the back to get ahead' types every single day of his life but he didn't think anyone could see that situation as something that was inappropriate and newsworthy and that it was enough proof to get him fired. Toni sometimes thought they were just looking for an opportunity to get rid of Piper back then so they could fully pass the injunction against her locking her out of even more of Stark Industries when she failed to turn in paperwork and show up to mandatory meetings that they would call specially.

"Piper it makes you look like the one who's trying to…" Toni said trying desperately to get through to him just once but Piper just kept interrupting her trying to hit home her points, "I just think you're overstating it."

"I think she's understating it actually," Bruce said as he actually buried his head in his hands due to pure exasperation at this scene. It was ridiculous and so obvious that Piper must have become momentarily blind to his situation whilst this incident occurred.

"You know and we're here and I am wearing a very expensive dress and you're all dressed up as well," Toni said beginning to ramble as Piper leaned in slightly.

"Please tell me he is not stupid enough to do that in front of the entire crowd of people indoors because people were passing by you earlier and they're sure to do it again at the most inopportune moment," Natasha said slightly panicked one again getting caught up in the action.

"Did you see any articles about it when researching me?" Toni pointed out as Natasha shook her head, "well then obviously I stopped it happening didn't I so stop worrying so much. This happened a while ago now."

Toni let him get alarmingly close before pulling back and saying, "I am going to go and get a drink, stay here please."

"Got it, okay," Piper said stiffly as Toni turned around and walked back into the party.

"Thank God it stopped there," Steve said having been worried despite Toni's statement seeing as the two had been so close to each other before Toni had regained her senses and pulled away making up an excuse to get away from her PA.

Toni walked neatly up to the bartender and told him, "two vodka martinis, extra dry, extra olives, extra fast," here she shoved a note into the wine glass where the tips were being collected, "make one of them dirty will you?"

"Why did you order two?" Clint asked.

"Piper's favourite drink," Toni told him, "I figured if I brought him one he might be grateful enough to shut up for a bit and let me tell him exactly what he'd done wrong in a manner that he would finally understand. It didn't exactly work out like that though; you'll see why as soon as we go back to watching this thing."

Through the crowd the approaching figure of a very well dressed Christine Everhart could be seen, "wow! Toni Stark!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, hey," Toni said awkwardly.

"I don't usually talk to them again," Toni said stiffly, "she's also the last person I had sex with to this day which is kind of disturbing now that I think about purely because it was her."

"Fancy seeing you here," Christine said imperiously.

"It is my benefit Christine," Toni pointed out knowing that Christine was referring to the fact that nobody expected her to come out of 'hiding,' for the event.

"Usually you pretend to forget reporter's names," Natasha said confused.

"Wasn't going to be a good approach with her and would only alienate her further," Toni explained, "her expression told me that I didn't want to piss her off too much at that point."

"You have a lot of nerve showing up here tonight," Christine replied.

"Like I said, this is my party," Toni reiterated.

"Can I at least get a reaction from you?" Christine asked angrily.

"I do not like the way this conversation is going already," Bruce said sensing the awkwardness was about more than the fact that the pair had slept together before Toni's disappearance.

"A reaction to what," Toni said clearly having guessed that this was not about their last one on one encounter.

"I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity," Christine said coldly obviously fully believing that Toni was involved.

"Someone's double dealing on you," Bruce realised seeing as it seemed to be the only reasonable explanation for Christine's anger. He didn't expect a reaction from Toni seeing as he knew he would find out if he was right from watching the next section of the film.

"They just put my name on the invitation," Toni said trying to lighten the mood, "I don't know what to tell you."

"I actually almost bought it," Christine told her, "hook, line and sinker."

"I was out of town for a couple of months in case you didn't hear," Toni said more bitingly now, "so I really have no idea what you're talking about right now."

"Bruce is right," Clint stated simply having realised from Christine's last comment that she was referring to Toni's promise to give up weapons manufacturing as that seemed to be what she was passionate about.

"Is this what you call accountability?" Christine said thrusting photos of destruction caused by Stark weapons into Toni's hands, "It's a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?"

"Oh no," Natasha exclaimed, "It had to be there. I'm so sorry Toni."

Toni flicked through the pictures with a horrified expression pausing on the one of a Jericho missile and asking shakily, "When were these taken?"

"Yesterday," Christine exclaimed angrily.

"I didn't approve any shipment," Toni told her.

"Well, your company did," Christine said her tone of anger not fading.

"Well, I'm not my company," Toni told her. Her eyes almost seemed to be burning with anger at whoever did this, "let me tell you a story Miss Everhart. I knew someone who lived in Gulmira and he is now dead and I would never approve something that would dishonour his memory. I don't know who approved this shipment but when I do their reputation is going to burn."

The other Avengers were taken aback by just how angry Toni seemed to be. They knew she would be upset by the news especially since it happened to have occurred in Gulmira but they had never guessed just how frightening Toni would get when confronted with hard evidence that someone was double dealing with her weapons.

The scene changed to show Toni standing with Obie outside on the red carpet as Obie gestured to some of the paparazzi, "Please, do you mind?"

"Have you seen these pictures?" Toni asked sternly.

"I know something was going on," Toni muttered sadly, "I never expected it to be that bad." The rest of the room decided to tactfully not mention that they had heard that just in case it was supposed to be a private thought.

"What's going on in Gulmira?" Toni continued her voice becoming angrier and angrier with every syllable she spoke.

"Toni, Toni," Obie said doing his best to placate her, "you can't afford to be this naïve."

"You know what?" Toni said with full blown anger in her voice now, "I was naïve before, when they said 'here's the line. We don't cross it. This is how we do business.' If we're double-dealing under the table… are we?"

"Remind me to never ever make you that mad at me," Phil said almost scared by the pure anger that radiated from Toni's body language and tone. He had always seen the Iron Man side of Toni but maybe she did have a side that was every inch the 'Angel of Death,' that she had seen her old image as. An avenging angel.

"Toni, your picture, please," a reporter exclaimed in the silence that this question resulted in.

"Let's take a picture," Obie said avoiding the question, "Come on. Picture time!"

"If he had something to do with this…" Thor said dangerously not knowing that Stane was already dead.

Obie put his arm around Toni as he smiled fakely for the reporters as he muttered to her, "Toni, who do you think locked you out? I was the one who filed the injunction against you. It was the only way I could protect you." With that he walked off taking the reporters' questions with him as Christine Everhart shot Toni what might have been an apologetic look and walked away herself.

"That man has no right to be anywhere near Toni," Steve exclaimed setting off a barrage of anger directed at Stane that came even from those who knew that the man was dead already.

A/n: Yay! Ill Karma still breaks 4K occasionally. And also apparently talks in third person :) Anyway hope you enjoyed this chapter