Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
AN1: Thank you for the support. It means so much to me, the response to this story has been amazing.
June 11th 2016. Avengers Compound.
Early Morning.
(Melinda May, Tony Stark 43 years old, Hope Van Dyne 42 years old)
It's early morning and having gotten a few hour sleep, and now wearing clothes that she borrowed from Natasha, Hope is waiting outside the main entrance of the compound, waiting for the car bringing Rhodey to arrive.
She has been waiting for a little while when a medical transport shows up and Rhodey in a wheel chair is brought out the back.
"Hope." Rhodey says surprised when he sees her.
"Hey, Jim." Hope says, giving him a warm smile.
"You're not who I expected to be waiting for me." Rhodey admits as he wheels over to Hope.
"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure that Tony is currently fighting with the medical personnel." Hope admits.
"Why?" Rhodey asks worried.
"There was another fight, at a place Tony went to to help. Tony had to watch a video of his parents getting killed by Barnes, when he was the Winter Solider. He, Rogers and Barnes fought when Tony found out Steve knew that and didn't tell him. Tony was hurt." Hope explains to her friend, as she starts to push the wheelchair for her friend.
"How bad is he hurt?" Rhodey asks, worry once more in his voice.
"Broken ribs, some deep cuts, and a pulmonary contusion." Hope reveals.
"Damn it." Rhodey says angrily, "How long did Rogers know what happened to Howard and Maria?"
"Since S.H.I.E.L.D. fell." Hope reveals, "Nat knew too, but Rogers told her that he'd tell Tony, and she had no reason not to believe him."
"Damn it Rogers." Rhodey says angrily as they make their way into the main living area.
"I've been saying that for days." A voice says and Hope turns to see Tony, having an oxygen cannula around his nose and pushing an oxygen tank, "How you doing Honey Bear?" Tony asks as he walks into Rhodey's view.
"About as well as I can be." Rhodey responds, "What about you?" he asks Hope and Tony sit down on a couch in front of him.
"I'm fine." Tony responds, "I'm working on a leg braces for you, something to help you walk again."
"Thank you." Rhodey responds, "Why are you here, Hope?" he asks curious, "I've tried calling."
"I know." Hope responds, "I was without my phone for a few days, but then I got the SoS alert, and Mel, Nat and I went and brought Tony home." She explains.
"Mel's here?" Rhodey asks surprised.
"No. She went back to S.H.I.E.L.D said she had something to deal with." Tony explains to his friend, "Hope's agreed to be an Avenger."
"Really?" Rhodey asks, sounding glad.
"Yes, really. I've got to go back to San Francisco for a little while to organize some things, but I'll be back soon." Hope reveals.
"When are you going to leave?" Tony asks curious.
"I'm going to fly out tonight." Hope reveals and Tony nods, "Which reminds me, do you have a copy of the accords I could look after, so that I can give you my notes and sign?" She asks Tony.
"Sure. I should have." Tony says, "Just make your notes for now, you can sign them when you get back, once you start working as an Avenger."
"Sounds good." Hope says with a nod.
"Sir, Secretary Ross said to inform you that he will be at the facility at one pm for Miss Romanoff's disciplinary hearing." FRIDAY informs Tony.
"Thanks FRIDAY."
"Why is Natasha having a disciplinary hearing?" Rhodey asks confused.
"She let Rogers and Barnes escape at the airport, but she did so because she could only see the outcome of someone dying, and wanted to avoid that. She's willing to accept any punishment." Tony reveals.
"Oh." Rhodey says and the three of them drift into silence.
A couple of hours later Natasha and Tony who has removed his oxygen, are sitting in the conference room waiting for Ross to arrive.
"Shouldn't you still be wearing oxygen?" Natasha asks Tony as she sits down next to him.
"Probably. But I can't let Ross see me like that." Tony reveals.
"Can't let him see weakness." Natasha realises.
"Exactly."
"Boss, Secretary Ross is here." FRIDAY responds.
"Thank you FRIDAY." Tony comments, "Here we go." He tells Natasha.
"He we go." Natasha responds and the two of them drift into silence.
A couple of minutes later Ross walks into the room, carrying a suitcase and sits down across from Natasha and Tony.
"Mr Stark, Miss Romanoff."
"Secretary Ross." Natasha and Tony both respond.
"Now, we all know why we're here so let's cut to the chase." Ross comments, "Miss Romanoff, you helped the fugitives Steve Rogers and James Barnes escape capture, a direct violation of your orders and the Sokovia Accords." Ross reveals.
"As you're aware Secretary King T'Challa retracted his statement of the events that occurred. There is no evidence that Miss Romanoff did anything wrong." Tony reveals, knowing that because he had a conversation with T'Challa a few hours earlier.
"Yes, I did get that note, but Miss Romanoff's punishment has already been decided on when I got that." Ross reveals.
"Weren't you obligated to pass that on?" Natasha asks, having a sinking suspicion that she knows exactly what is going on.
"I misplaced the note." Ross responds.
"You mean you purposely lost it to punish Natasha." Tony says, his voice sounding angry.
"Of course not, that would be wrong." Ross says and both Tony and Natasha know that he is lying.
"You bastard." Tony says angrily, and he moves forward, maybe to do something, but Natasha puts her hand on his arm, and pulls him back to his seat.
"What's my punishment?" Natasha asks, her voice completely calm, causing Tony to look at her in surprise.
"For the period of two months you will be confined to this compound, excluding missions that the UN demand your presence necessary." Ross tells Natasha, "You will wear this monitoring bracelet to assure that you stay within the boundaries of the compound." He says putting an ankle monitor on the desk in front of them, "In case you get any ideas if there is any tampering we'll be alerted, though you shouldn't bother as you will not be able to break the material it's made out of." Ross informs Natasha.
"That…." Tony starts to say, but Natasha puts her leg on the table and puts the ankle monitor on.
"Anything else?" Natasha asks, once the bracelet is around her ankle.
"No." Ross responds.
"Good, then I believe that's all." Natasha says, moving her leg back off the table.
"Yes, it is." Ross says, "Good afternoon Miss Romanoff, Mr Stark." He says before leaving.
"Why the hell did you do that?" Tony asks, angrily, the second after Ross leaves, "Why'd you stop me? That was unfair, officially you shouldn't have a punishment." He says, turning to look at Natasha.
"Tony hitting Ross, or whatever you were planning on doing, would have done nothing other than get you in trouble." Natasha informs him, "I don't know what you're planning on doing to get rid of Ross, but I know that the best thing for everything is making sure that Ross has nothing to do with the Accords. So, I'll bite the bullet on this one, I do deserve the punishment after all." Natasha says, having thought tactically and realising that it is the best option.
"I'm going to work as quick as I can but it still might be a while before I can deal with Ross. A while before I can get that thing off you." Tony tells Natasha.
"That's okay." Natasha assures him, as she's been in worse sports, she'll deal with it.
"Okay." Tony says with a nod, "When you have some time can you read through your copy of the Accords, make notes on anything you want changing." Tony requests.
"Already started." Natasha says, standing up, "I'll see you later Tony." Natasha says and as she walks out Tony's phone starts to ring.
Looking down at his caller ID Tony sees "The Kid." And he can't help but smile,
"Hi Kid." Tony answers.
"Mr Stark… wow, you really did give me your number…. This is so cool." Peter Parker's voice responds.
"Of course I gave you my number." Tony responds, "How are you doing Kid? How are you feeling?"
"Better." Peter asks, "I'm sorry that I didn't do more."
"Peter it's fine, you did amazingly well, and…... Do you think we can talk somewhere? There's some things that I don't want to say over the phone." Tony admits.
"Sure. That would be great." Peter says, smiling though Tony can't see it, "Tomorrow's Sunday, I don't have school." Peter reveals.
"How about I pick you up tomorrow at Lunchtime. I can show you the Avengers Compound, and we can talk." Tony offers.
"Really? That would be so amazing, thank you Mr Stark." Peter says, sounding excited.
"Make sure it will be okay with your Aunt Hottie, tell her I'm giving you a tour of Avengers Tower." Tony reveals, not feeling too good about lying to May, but until he has a full conversation with Peter he doesn't have many other options.
"Cool." Peter says sounding even more amazed, and as he does Hope walks into the room, pushing an oxygen tank, "I'll see you tomorrow, Mr Stark."
"See you tomorrow." Tony says before hanging up, "What's with this?" he asks, referring to the oxygen.
"The medical staff is too scared of you so I have to make sure you put this back on." Hope says, handing Tony the oxygen cannula.
"I don't need it." Tony says, rolling his eyes.
"Is that why you're breathing is shallow and your lips are starting to go blue?" Hope asks, raising an eyebrow at Tony, "You can put it on willingly or I can make you. Your choice." Hope tells him.
"Fine." Tony says, rolling his eyes as he takes the cannula and puts it on his face, "So are you seriously going to move here full time?" he asks curious.
"Yeah, I am." Hope assures him, "It might take me a little while to arrange everything, but yeah. I want to be here full time; I want to be an Avenger."
"Good, I'm glad." Tony says with a nod, "When does your plane leave?" Tony asks curious.
"Four."
"Okay, I'll make sure you have a copy of The Accords by then. Make the notes and changes you'd like to propose." Tony explains to Hope.
"I will." Hope assures him, "So, um, do you know how much Scott knew before he helped Steve?" she asks curious.
"Scott? That's the guy in Hank's old suit, the one who became large? Right?" Tony asks.
"Yeah, that's him. He was an idiot for becoming large, we were still working out the kinks of that." Hope says with a frown.
"I don't know how much he knew. He's in a pretty horrible place right now Hope, but I'm going to try to get him out of there, but Rogers will likely beat me to the punch." Tony admits.
"Not surprisingly. You're going to try and follow the law, Rogers isn't." Hope says, then frowning as she realises something, "I'm going to have to talk to Cassie, tell her as much as I can about what happened." Hope says, not looking too happy.
"Cassie?" Tony asks confused.
"Scott's Daughter." Hope explains, "He's been gone so much of her life, and now she's going to be away even more."
"Damn it!" Tony says angrily, "I didn't know." He tells Hope.
"I know."
"Why would people who have family, who have kids, do stuff that would risk them like this?" Tony asks, pain in his voice.
"Same reason we do, they thought they were doing the right thing." Hope explains.
"When people have kids they should think about them more, think about what they are giving up, the price it costs them." Tony says, his voice full of pain and because she has known him so long Hope quickly realises what Tony is really bothered by.
"Do you want to talk about Howard?"
"Do you want to talk about Hank?" Tony counters.
"Not at all." Hope responds, a slightly amused look on her face, "Scott is a better father than Howard, or even Hank. He cares about his daughter Tony, everything he does he does for her." Hope tells her friend, wanting him to see that not every parent who does this job is like their parents, or Melinda's Mother.
"Let me know if there is anything I can do to help her, or her mother, make things better for them until Scott can come back." Tony requests.
"Will do." Hope responds.
"Good, now if you excuse me I have some stuff to build." Tony says before getting up and leaving, knowing that he has to get to work on Rhodey's new legs so he can get them finished as quick as possible.
June 11th 2016. Pym House, San Francisco.
Evening.
After speaking to Tony Hope spend a bit of Time with Rhodey and a bit of time with Natasha before getting a copy of the accords from Tony and heading to the city to get a plane back to San Francisco.
"Hank? I'm home." Hope says as she walks into the house.
"Finally." Hank says, walking out from his study, "You disappear without a word. Where have you been?" Hank asks his daughter.
"Helping a friend." Hope answers, "There are things I've got to tell you." She admits.
"Okay." Hank says, wondering where his daughter is going with this.
"All those years ago when you told me to stop being friends with Tony Stark and Melinda May, I only pretended to listen. The three of us continued to be friends while pretending not to be." Hope admits, "And over the years we became close with a friend of Tony's who's back was just broken and someone Mel used to work with, who Tony now works with, who is actually the person who helped us escape when were kidnapped, we became really close."
"You've been lying to me all these years?" Hank asks surprised and angry.
"Yes, when I was a kid Mel and Tony were the only people I could count on, and I wasn't going to give that up just because you didn't like the idea of me being a friends with a Stark, just because you thought they were bad influences." Hope says angrily, "They're my family, have been since the day we met, and I'm never going to give that up."
"We were wrong." Hank tells Hope, "None of us should have ever told you three to stop being friends, that wasn't fair, or right." Hank says, actually meaning that, "Why are you telling me this now?" assuming that his daughter has a reason.
"Tony asked me to join the Avengers, and I said yes." Hope reveals, "I know we've talked about moving the company which is why I want to move it to New York." Hope explains to her father, "I know you had a lot of issues with Howard, and from what I know you're completely right to have them, but Dad, Tony's not his father. Tony is an incredible man and he is one of the most important people in my life. I'm moving to New York, whether or not you agree to move the company, and I'd like it if you gave Tony a chance to see that he's not his father, because you might be surprised at what you see." Hope tells her father.
"This is important to you, isn't it?" Hank asks, wanting to understand.
"Yeah Dad, it is." Hope confirms.
"Then okay. I'm not sure if moving the company is the right decision, but I will meet with Stark." Hank tells his daughter.
"Thank you."
"Have you eaten?" Hank asks curious.
"No."
"Then how about you stay for dinner and explain everything to me." Hank suggests, wanting to build communication with his daughter.
"That would be good."
June 12th 2016. Parker Apartment, Queens.
Lunchtime.
Even though he was up basically all night working on something to help Rhodey walk Tony asked FRIDAY to tell him when he had to get ready to meet Peter as he didn't want to be late for that, and so, being early for once in his life Tony is walking up to the Parker apartment, and even though he still needs it Tony is doing so without being on oxygen.
Tony only knocks once before the door is opened by May.
"Mr. Stark, this is starting to become a habit." May says as she answers the door.
"A good one I hope, and I told you, It's Tony." Tony responds with a charming grin, trying to hide the fact that he is having a small amount of difficulty breathing.
"Of course, Tony." May says, letting him into the apartment, "Peter's just finishing getting ready."
"Okay."
"Where are you taking my Nephew today?" May asks curious as Tony walks past her and into the apartment.
"A tour of the Research and Development levels of Avengers Tower." Tony lies, feeling a bit bad about that, "I think it will be something Peter will really enjoy."
"Yeah, he really would." May confirms, "Thank you for doing this for him."
"It's my pleasure." Tony says with a smile as he hears footsteps and turns to see Peter walking in.
"That eye of yours is so much better." May says, walking over to her nephew to have a look, "You can barely see anything."
"I guess I heal fast." Peter comments, trying to downplay it.
"Yeah, guess you do." May says, being a little surprised by just how fast Peter has healed.
"I'm ready to go." Peter tells Tony, wanting to leave before his aunt becomes even more suspicious.
"Okay, let's head out." Tony says and he turns and starts to walk away.
"Tony." A voice says and he turns back around, "Have him home for dinner."
"Yes, Ma'am." Tony responds before he and Peter head out.
"Thanks Mr Stark. Am I really coming to the Avengers Compound?" Peter asks sounding excited.
"First, call me Tony." He requests, "Second, yep."
"But what if people see me?" Peter asks concerned, "That could put May in danger and I don't want that." He admits, looking worried.
"Relax kid, I'm bringing you into the private area where only a few people heave access to, and there are three people that I'd like you to properly meet, but we don't have to do that today, we can wait until you're ready, if you ever are." Tony explains to the young boy, not wanting Peter to do something if he isn't comfortable with it.
"Who'd you want me to meet?" Peter asks curious, not agreeing to anything yet as he want to know the details first.
"Three friends of mine." Tony reveals, "You've meet them, two guys who can fly and a woman who dresses in black." Tony explains, purposely being vague, just in case someone is listening.
"I'll meet them." Peter says, after a little bit of debating.
"Okay." Tony says with a smile, as honestly he wants there to be people to watch out for Peter if he can't and Natasha, Rhodey and Vision are perfect for that.
June 12th 2016. Avengers Compound.
Afternoon.
"Wow, this place is awesome." Peter says, sounding amazed as he and Tony walk into the restricted area of the Avengers Compound. Peter having spent most of the driving talking to Tony about all different things.
"Yeah, I'm a fan." Tony responds, "Sometimes." He adds as an afterthought, "I'll give you the proper tour later. I just want to talk to you about a couple things first." Tony says as he heads towards the lounge area.
"Okay, am I in trouble?" Peter asks worried.
"No, of course not." Tony says, sitting down on one of the couches, partly doing it so that he can Peter can really talk, and partly doing it because he's starting to get light headed, "I wanted to say that I'm sorry you were hurt. I thought that if you kept your distance you'd be safe, I thought no one would hurt you. I shouldn't have brought you into the fight, and I'm sorry." Tony tells Peter, completely meaning that as it's something he thought about while he was waiting to be rescued.
"Mr…. Tony." Peter corrects as he climbs over and sits on a couch across from Tony, "It wasn't your fault, I wanted to fight, and I don't regret it, and I'm glad you came to me, please don't apologise for that, you gave me something great." Peter says, looking glad.
"Okay, I won't." Tony says, though he still feels bad, "Now, there's something pretty serious that we need to talk about."
"Lying to Aunt May?" Peter explains.
"Well, that too." Tony admits, "But there's something else. You know the document we talked about when I picked you up before the battle, The Sokovia Accords?"
"Yes, I had to give you my intent to sign once everything was over." Peter comments.
"Right. Now, I know how worried you are about your identity, and something happening to your Aunt because of what you do, which is why I'm going to argue before the UN that considering you are under twenty-five you should be able to sign the accords, once I finish altering them, as Spider Man and that's the only thing they'll know." Tony explains, "To get them to agree, I'm going to volunteer to be responsible for you for any accords related matter. Meaning that, as long as I can get them to agree, you'll be able to continue to do what you do under the Accords, but your identity will not be known until you are at least twenty-five." Tony explains, "If you breach the accords in a minor way I'll take the heat, but in a big way then all bets are off and there may not be something I can do." Tony explains to the young boy, wanting him to be as protected as possible, "What do you think?"
"You'd do that?" Peter asks, a little surprised.
"Yeah, I would." Tony says.
"Would I be an Avenger?" Peter asks, his eyes widening.
"You'd be back up, until you're older." Tony explains, as he wants to try and keep Peter out of another battle like the airport as long as possible.
"I'd like to read the accords first, so I know what I'm agreeing to." Peter tells Tony.
"Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way." Tony assures the teenager, "I'll give you a copy once they've been altered." Tony says, knowing that that it's going to be after Ross is gone because after what he did to Bruce Tony doesn't like the idea of Ross knowing anything about Peter.
"Cool."
"Great, how about that tour now." Tony says, standing up and as he does he finds himself pretty light headed and has to reach out and grab the couch.
"Mr Stark? Are you okay?" Peter asks worried.
"I'm…." Tony starts to say, but the feeling just grows and the small difficulty he had breathing increases, "FRIDAY, get…. Nat…..oxygen…." Tony requests before falling to the ground.
"TONY." Peter yells terrified.
"Yes Boss." FRIDAY's voice responds.
"What's going on?" Peter asks as he hurries to Tony's side, "Who are you?" he asks the sky, "Mr Stark?" he asks, getting to Tony, who is unconscious, side, and starting to shake him.
"Mr Parker, I am FRIDAY Mr Stark's Artificial Assistant. Mr Stark sustained injuries from a fight with Captain Rogers and because of that requires oxygen. Miss Romanoff is on her way with what he needs." FRIDAY explains to the scared teenager.
"Please tell her to hurry." Peter requests, his voice sounding frightened, "Is there something I should be doing?" he asks.
"No."
For about a minute Peter just sits with Tony hoping someone comes soon as Tony needs help, seconds later he hears someone coming and so he turns to see the Black Window coming running towards him carrying something.
"Please help him." Peter says, Natasha being able to hear the fear in his voice easily.
"I will kid." Natasha assures him as she gets to Tony's side and once she is there she puts the oxygen mask on his face and turns on the flow, "Do you think you could help me get him onto the couch?" she asks Peter curious.
"I can do it on my own." Peter says as he easily picks up Tony and lies him on the couch, "Will he be okay?" he asks, turning to look at Natasha.
"He should be. He keeps forgetting that he still needs oxygen." Natasha explains, "I'm sure he didn't want you to have to see that." She admits, "I'm Natasha by the way." She introduces, sticking out her hand for him to shake.
"Peter, Peter Parker." He responds, returning the handshake, "You fight awesome."
"So do you." Natasha responds, looking a little amused, "FRIDAY can you tell Rhodey and Vision what happened." She requests.
"Of course Miss Romanoff."
"You might as well sit back down." Natasha says as she sits on the couch by Tony's feet, "He'll be unconscious for a little while." She reveals.
"What happened to him? How hurt is he?" Peter asks worried, and Natasha can't help but be amazed that even though Peter has only known Tony for a few days he seems to care.
"He's has some broken ribs and some damage was done to his lungs." Natasha explains, "As for what happened, it's not my place to say." Natasha admits.
"He'll be okay? Right?" Peter asks as he sits down on an arm chair near Tony's head.
"Yeah, he just has to remember to keep the oxygen on, at least for a few more days." Natasha explains.
"Good, that's good." Peter responds and the two of them drift into silence.
"What happened?" A voice asks a couple of minutes later and Peter and Natasha turn to see Vision and Rhodey in his wheelchair coming towards them.
"Tony decided not to use his oxygen." Natasha explains simply.
"Of course he did." Rhodey says, not sounding all that surprised, "Hi, you must be the kid who called Empire Strikes back a really old movie." He says to Peter.
"Yeah, um, I'm Peter, Peter Parker." He introduces.
"James Rhodes, nice to meet you." Rhodey responds.
"Hello Mr Parker, it is pleasure to formally meet you." Vision responds.
"Yeah, um you too." Peter responds and before anyone can say anything they hear a moan and Tony opens his eyes.
"Easy Tone, you don't want to collapse again." Natasha tells him as Tony sits up, doing so slowly once Natasha warns him.
"The kid. He was with me, where is he?" Tony asks, his voice being slightly muffled by the oxygen mask.
"I'm right here." Peter says, and Tony turns to look at him.
"Good, that's good." Tony says relieved, "Let's get that tour started." He says, and he starts to sit up.
"You should rest a few minutes first." Natasha says, pushing down Tony's shoulder so that he is sitting on the couch, "And you're going to have to keep that oxygen mask on." Natasha says and Tony just rolls his eyes, "I'm serious Tony, you need it right now and if you don't keep it on I'll chain you to a bed in medical where you'll be forced to keep it on." Natasha says and as she does Peter looks completely shocked, quickly realising that Natasha isn't one to piss of and Tony gives Natasha a look and goes to say something, "Don't even think about it." Natasha warns, having a pretty good idea that she knows exactly what he is going to say.
"You're no fun." Tony wines through his oxygen mask.
"Now we both know that's not true." Natasha says, a small level of amusement as well as something the others can't pick up on in her voice.
"Okay, okay, enough you two." Rhodey says, knowing from experience that Natasha and Tony banter can go on a really long time, "Nat's right Tony. You need to rest before giving Peter the tour. You don't want to collapse on him again."
"No, I don't." Tony responds, "Sorry for scaring you kid."
"It's okay." Peter says with a shrug, though he's still looking worried.
Hours later Tony and Peter are side by side in one of Tony's cars which has just stopped outside Peter's building, or more specifically FRIDAY has stopped the car as even though he has the oxygen cannula around his nose no one thought it would be a good idea for Tony to be the one in charge of the car.
"Here you are, home sweet home." Tony says with an over the top grin.
"Thanks." Peter responds with a grin, "I had a really awesome time today. Everything and everyone was soo cool, well except you collapsing that wasn't cool, but everything else was." Peter informs Tony.
"I'm glad you had a good time." Tony tells Peter, completely meaning that, "And know that you're welcome to come by the Compound anytime you want."
"Cool." Peter says, "I better get upstairs or I'll be late for dinner. Night Mr…... Tony."
"Night Peter." Tony responds and the teenager gets out of the car and hurries inside, "Take me home, FRIDAY." Tony requests once Peter is safely inside.
"Yes Boss."