IV.
"Make no mistake: peaceful madmen are ahead of the future." – Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Memories of My Melancholy Whores
Sometime after destroying his old life in California after Pepper's close call with EXTREMIS and sometime before he began collecting the lost agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Tony took a look at his life. Near-death experiences had that effect on him, as they should. It was just that he was never fully the best at letting old habits die hard or putting less than a hundred percent of himself into something he felt strongly about.
Fortunately, he wanted to make the world into a place where no one would have to worry about Eldritch Killians, or (more recently) the very real threat of the Ten Rings and the real Mandarin. World peace was the most noble of goals.
Unfortunately, he wanted world peace.
Now, instead of obsessively building suits, he obsessively scoured the internet (well, J.A.R.V.I.S., really) looking for ways to achieve such a dream. What he went through with Pepper was not something he wanted anyone else to go through. What he fought on a regular basis was not something he wanted others to have to fight or worry about.
Privatizing global security and taking in ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. members was just the first step into realizing this new goal of his. Engineer Higurashi could help him in the rest, if he was as brilliant as his projects and gadgets showed him to be.
Souta had met Agent Hill only twice during his time at S.H.I.E.L.D. and three times before that. So it was strange for him to be around her so much now, and report directly to her instead of through different channels. But it was a nice change, if he said so himself. Especially since she was a constant in his recently upturned yet again life.
If there was one thing he could say about her, it was that she was dedicated. The job always came first and anything else just didn't matter. Especially if it was personal. And more than that, she was next to impossible to rattle.
"You know, you've been constantly looking over your shoulder this entire week." Seeing her so rattled enough to be doing what he observed was enough to stress him out as well. If something could bother Hill, then it was a serious problem.
She swiveled her chair around to give him a look, complete with a harsh glare. That was something he would have to get used to: she didn't like small talk during work hours, especially under Stark's always watchful eye in the Tower. "You know why."
"Really?" He raised an eyebrow and gave two seconds to thinking about it. "If it's about not having the F.B.I. or the C.I.A. breathing down your neck every time you sneeze, then you really need to get out more."
Her glare deepened and he swore she could probably boil water with it. "No, that's not it and you know it."
"I don't— Oh." But then he remembered.
"Yes." With SHIELD disbanded, for the most part but no one needed to know about that, The Index and the case workers associated with each person on it were, effectively, no more. Everyone on that list was free to roam and do whatever they wanted.
"You're overreacting about it."
"You're only saying that because you would never be in danger."
He couldn't really deny that, but… "I know her, she doesn't hold grudges like that. So stop worrying. It'll just make it easier for her to mess with you when she does get here."
Hill rolled her eyes and swiveled back around to her own work station. It was the clearest dismissal one could get from her. He did the same, but for different reasons. S.H.I.E.L.D. always overreacted with his sister, all because they just didn't understand her and couldn't contain or cross her off. That was why he was in S.H.I.E.L.D. in the first place, as collateral.
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