Chapter 6
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
AN1: THANK YOU TO MOCKING-POINT who helped with this chapter.
THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT. YOU'RE INCREDIBLE.
July 2nd 2016. Avengers Compound.
Morning.
Ever since getting Ross removed from having anything to do with the Sokovia Accords Tony has been expecting him to do something in retaliation and so far, he hasn't. Which honestly has been making Tony spend the time he's not working on the Accords, or Rhodey's way to walk again, or spending time with the Barton Family, or Peter, or his team, trying to figure out what Ross's next move will be.
It's early morning and Tony, having been dragged out of his lab by Rhodey, Vision and Natasha are eating breakfast together, something which they have been trying to do at least most days.
"Got room for one more." A voice says and the group of four turn to see Hope standing in the doorway.
"Hope. You here for good?" Tony asks curious.
"Yep."
"Then pull up a chair." Tony responds and Hope walks over and sits next to Rhodey.
"It's good to see you." Rhodey tells Hope.
"You too." Hope responds, "So, you got rid of Ross?" she asks.
"Yep, we have four months to alter the accords, so you're going to have to help with that, but for now you're going to have to sign the current ones." Tony explains to her.
"Will do." Hope responds with a nod while she grabs the breakfast she wants.
"How'd your Dad respond to all this?" Natasha asks curious as she's heard, more than enough, from Hope about what Hank can be like.
"Surprisingly okay." Hope says, it being clear that she was surprised too, "He admitted that trying to force us not to be friends when were kids was wrong." She says, looking at Tony.
"Seriously?" Tony asks, surprise in his voice too.
"Yep." Hope says with a nod, "He's going to come by at some point. He wants to talk to you, give you a chance, I told you that you're nothing like Howard and he wants to see him that for himself." Hope explains to her friend.
"Okay, sure. Just let me know when." Tony responds, not overly looking forward to that, not that he'd admit it, "Once we finish breakfast I'll give you a proper tour of this place. Do you need anything else specific?" Tony asks curious.
"I wouldn't say no to an office. Somewhere I can work on Pym Tech business." Hope admits, wondering if that's asking too much.
"Done." Tony answers without hesitation, "I'll have something set up for you by the end of the day."
"Thanks Tone." Hope says with a grateful smile.
"I think the five of us should start practicing fighting together." Natasha comments, "We could be called in to help at any time and all five of us haven't fought together yet, it would be good if we practiced some simulations to get some ideas." She admits.
"Would be good, do you and Rhodey want to come up with some simulations today? Then tomorrow we can start to do them?" Tony asks.
"Sure." Natasha answers.
"Sounds good." Rhodey responds, "But I think that at least for a little while I'm going to only remote pilot my suit." He reveals.
"Okay, whatever you're comfortable with." Tony tells his friend, not entirely sure if he's ready to see Rhodey in the suit again, though he knows it's not his choice.
"Has Mel given you an answer yet?" Hope asks curious.
"Not yet." Tony admits, "Last I heard a member of her team just died and thinking about joining the Avengers wasn't exactly high on her list of priorities."
"That's understandable." Vision comments.
"Yeah." Tony responds and the group drift into silence.
A little while later Tony has shown Hope all around the compound and she has picked the room she wants as a bedroom and even the room that Tony is going to turn into her office as well as sighing the Accords.
"And here we are, back in the what's technically a common room, but I prefer the word living room." Tony admits.
"Of course you do. You hated the common rooms at Empire State." Hope responds, remember the complaints Tony used to have.
"That's because they were full of douche bags." Tony comments causing Hope to laugh, "I'm really glad you're here."
"So am I." Hope responds with a smile.
"Mr Stark! I mean Tony, Tony." A voice yells and Tony turns to see Peter.
"Hey, Kid." Tony says, turning to look at him, "I wasn't expecting you today."
"I know, there's something I want to talk to you about." Peter admits, looking excited which Tony has learnt is a pretty permanent part of his personality, "Um hi, I'm not interrupting am I?" he asks, looking at Hope and becoming worried.
"No." Hope answers.
"Peter this is one of my oldest friends Hope Van Dyne, Hope this Peter Parker." Tony introduces.
"It's nice to meet you." Hope says, sticking out her hand for Peter to shake.
"Old friend huh, that's cool, old friends are cool." Peter says, returning the handshake.
"Yeah, they are. I've known Hope since we were eight." Tony explains.
"Cool." Peter says with a grin.
"And she's going to be joining the Avengers." Tony reveals, causing Hope to be a little confused about why Tony would tell a kid that.
"That's awesome. What can you do?" Peter asks curious.
"Well I can become really small, and talk to insects, and they usually listen, do what I ask." Hope explains, "Plus my suit has a few things that I'm very much looking forward to trying out." She admits.
"Cool, so you're like the guy at the airport. The one who became really small and then really big?" Peter asks, looking interested.
"Yes, he was wearing my father's old suit." She explains to Peter, "Which he's demanding back next time one of us sees Scott." She says, looking at Tony.
"Of course he is." Tony says, not at all surprised by that, "So Kid, you're always welcome here, but are you here for a reason?" he asks because usually Peter calls before coming by.
"Um, yeah." Peter answers with a nod, "Schools out for the summer and I was wondering if I could spend more time here, if it's okay. I'd love to help you in the lab, maybe practice with my abilities if that's okay, and um, I know it might be complicated and we'll have to figure out something to tell Aunt May and…" Peter explains, speaking rather fast.
"That sounds like a good idea, but I'm not sure if outright lying to your Aunt about this as well as everything else is a good idea." Tony admits.
"What about telling her that he's got a summer internship here." Hope says, causing both Tony and Peter too look at her, "Look I might be completely out of line here, but it sounds like Peter's the Spider looking person from the airport and his aunt doesn't know, and you're not a big fan of lying to her about that and other things, which is pretty ironic considering what you lied to your parents about, but that's not my point." Hope says, causing Tony to give her an annoyed look, "My point is, if Peter wants to come here and help you in the lab and practice with his abilities then a Summer internship is the perfect cover. Stark Industries does it all the time, and technically it's not even really a lie." Hope explains, "Just an idea…"
"You know I knew there's a reason you've always been the smart one." Tony says to his friend with a smile.
"Please, you're the smart one, I'm the responsible one." Hope corrects, rolling her eyes at Tony.
"Sounds good to me, but what do you think Kid?" Tony asks Peter.
"Sounds great." Peter says with a grin, liking the idea of not completely lying to his Aunt.
"Okay. I'll come by Monday with an information packet for the internship so that your Aunt can look over them." Tony explains.
"But it's just a cover." Peter comments.
"Yes, but unless we want your Aunt to be suspicious it's better to have proof." Tony explains.
"Right." Peter says, completely understanding.
"Do you have to get back to the City or can you stay for a little while?" Tony asks curious.
"I can stay." Peter responds.
"Great, I was about to show Hope something I think you'd like." Tony reveals.
"Cool." Peter says and he follows Tony and Hope.
July 3nd 2016. Avengers Compound.
Morning.
Earlier than he would like as he's once more spent most of the night in the lab Tony finds himself in the gym that's capable of doing simulation in his Iron Man suit, or at least one them that isn't broken.
"Why are we doing this so early?" Tony wines.
"Because you put Nat and I in charge of coming up with simulations to try with. This is when we decided to do it." Rhodey says, causing Tony to roll his eyes.
"Relax Tone, it will be fun." Hope tells him, with a smile that in Tony's opinion is way too big for this time of the day.
"How are you so chipper?" Tony asks his friend.
"I actually slept, in a bed, maybe you should try it sometime." Hope responds and Tony goes to open his mouth to say something,
"Enough." Natasha says, with an annoyed sigh as she knows how long Tony and Hope can fight for, as she walks into the gym.
"Aren't I the leader?" Tony asks, a look of fake confusion on his face.
"Yeah, you are, but before you can lead Rhodey and I have to explain the simulations." Natasha reveals.
"Right, that makes sense." Tony admits.
"Tone do us all a favour and actually get some sleep tonight, in a bed, before Nat is forced to drug you." Rhodey tells his best friend, trying to hide his concern.
"I'm fine." Tony says.
"No, you're not." Natasha, Hope and Rhodey say.
"Where's Vision?" Natasha asks, looking around the room.
"Right here." Vison says, coming through the wall.
"Good." Natasha says, "So, Rhodey and I designed these to simulations to be examples of the kind of fights we're likely to face." She explains.
"I'm going to be using the remote piloting controls for my suit to see if it's possible for me to use it in battle." Rhodey reveals, "If not….."
"We'll figure something out." Tony tells his friend.
"Now something Jim and I realised that at the moment everyone in this team except for me are able to fly, so we're going to use that our advantage." Natasha explains, "Any questions?" she asks and no one shakes their head, "Okay, gear up and I'll turn the simulation on." She says and Hope and Tony both put their masks on while Natasha turns on the simulation, causing the room to look like a city street, complete with buildings of different sizes, with fake civilians and human enemies and robotic enemies.
"Tony, call it." Rhodey says.
"Okay. We want to protect civilians and minimise property damage." Tony says, "Beyond that… let's work together, I don't want to give orders. I want us to work together." He tells the others, "If you see a teammate in trouble, help them, help civilians, keep your eyes open." He instructs, "Move out." He instructs and the group all move out and, Hope making herself tiny as she goes.
For a few minutes the group fights and pretends to save civilians and it goes well, but there are a couple of glaring weakness that everyone realises.
"Okay, FRIDAY pause the simulation." Tony requests, "Did you see what I see?" he asks the others Hope makes herself big.
"We're doing good, but at the same time we're a bit too spread out. We're all too focused on doing our own thing that we're not having each other's back." Natasha realises.
"Exactly." Tony says with a nod, "Rhodes do you think you can do overwatch? Keep the perimeter?" he asks.
"Yep." Rhodey says with a nod.
"Viz, Hope, you're the most mobile. Deal with the ones on the roof while Nat and I handle the ground and then once the roof are dealt with Viz you and me will deal with the others in the sky while Nat and Hope finish up with the ground ones." Tony says, "That sound good?" he asks, looking between the others, his eyes lingering on Natasha and Rhodey for a second longer than the others.
"Yeah, that should work." Natasha says with a nod.
"Yep." Rhodey says nodding.
"Okay FRIDAY turn the simulation back on." Tony requests and the simulation turns back on. As it does it becomes obvious that working in groups works well, as, apart from the initial instructs Tony gives he doesn't need to say anymore as it is like they quickly realise what they need to do, they quickly realise what the others need them to do.
For well over a couple of hours the group of five practice fighting as a team and as time goes on Tony needs to give less instructs as they manage to work well together.
"Pause the simulation FRIDAY." Rhodey requests.
"So, any comments?" Tony asks as he and Hope both remove their masks.
"I think doing overwatch may be the only thing I can do right now." Rhodey admits.
"That's okay." Tony says with a nod, "You being on overwatch works well." He assures his friend, "Just out of curiosity Hope can you do that big thing Scott did?"
"Technically, but it's still not 100% reliable so I'd rather only use it if we really need it until I'm more comfortable with its reliability." Hope explains.
"Fair enough, but keep in mind that we may just need it." Tony tells her.
"I know." Hope responds.
"Nat? Viz? Any comments?" Tony asks them as he wants to have other opinions he wants to know what his teammates think.
"I believe that we have the potential to work very well, but we should be more careful not to cause property damage, that was a big part of the Accords." Vision comments.
"Good point." Tony says, "So we try harder not to damage buildings or vehicles in the future." Tony instructs and the others nod, "Nat?"
"For our first time fighting we did pretty well, there are flaws of course, but considering it was our first time it's to be expected." Natasha admits, "What I'm concerned about is Civilians, there were a couple of times where one of us realised only just in time that a civilian was in danger. We need to do better."
"Agreed." Hope, Tony, Vision and Rhodey say together.
"Okay, we'll take a short break then resume the simulation." Tony tells the others and they all start to head to the door.
"Boss, you've got an urgent call from the United Nations Panel." FRIDAY says, causing everyone to freeze.
"Put it on the screen Fry." Tony says as everyone who was leaving walks back over.
"Mr Stark." A person that Tony recognizes to be the Canadian delegate,
"Mr. Martian." Tony greats, "What can I help you with today?"
"We've got a situation developing in down town Toronto. Intel is indicating that some former Hydra agents are trying to prove that they are still powerful and are using some of the weapons that Hydra has collected over the years, there are civilians in danger. We need the Avengers." He explains.
"Send all the details through to me. We'll be right there." Tony says before ending the call, "Looks like another simulation is going to have to wait." Tony tells the others, "Let's head out." Tony says and the group all hurry out of the room, Rhodey going as fast as he can in his chair.
July 3nd 2016. Canada.
Late-Morning.
"We'll be in the centre in two minutes." Natasha says forty minutes later, all of the Avengers being quite thankful for how fast their jet goes.
"Okay. I'm sending you thought the best place to land." Tony says, swiping across the screen.
"Got it." Nat responds.
"Viz, I want you to get the civilians who are trapped out, I'll help, then we'll join the fight. Nat, Hope, try and get the fight on you and away from the civilians on the street. Hope you have the element of surprise, use it." Tony requests, "Rhodes, cover them and see if you can figure out just what weapons they're using, you'll be on the jet so you can access anything if needed." Tony says.
"Will do." Rhodey responds.
"Landing now." Natasha says and seconds later the ramp opens.
"Remember our goals are to save civilians, stop the enemies and cause as little property damage as possible." Tony says before flying out and after him Vision does then the suit that Rhodey is remote piloting, then Hope, and then Natasha runs out.
"Sometimes I really wish I could fly." Natasha mutters to herself as she follows.
As soon as she runs onto the street Natasha becomes sure that it would be a lot easier with more people, but she knows she can't focus on that and so she just gets to work and starts to fight, not letting herself focus on shocked looks on the Hydra members faces when they get knocked down by something they can't see, something Natasha knows is Hope, but she ignores them and just does the one thing she can do even when everything in uncertain, fight.
"Natasha. You and Hope have a truck full of soldiers headed your way." Rhodey says from his position above.
Twenty minutes have passed since Natasha ran out onto the street, and truthfully the "New Avengers" have gotten nowhere. Melinda said that HYDRA was supposed to have been eradicated, again, so where the hell were all the assholes coming from.
For a little while Natasha has been fighting on her own as she hasn't seen Hope for a few minutes, just a few flashes of Blue and gold and Tony and Vision haven't been able to do much fighting as the weapon being used crumbles buildings so they have been more concerned with evacuating civilians, which is exactly what they should be doing, but fighting with only Hope makes Natasha miss the days of a bigger team, not that she'd admit that.
"This is getting us nowhere." Natasha says through the coms, after she crushes the last man in the truck trachea with her shin, as she puts her hands on her knees to catch her breath.
"Talk about timing." Rhodey says, "Mel's on the line. She's got specs for the weapon." He reveals.
"Thank you Mel." Tony's voice says.
"I'm listening!" Natasha says as a man springs up and charges her, aiming for her stomach but before he can get to her Hope grows big next to her and flips the man up and over her shoulder, and as he hits the ground with an "oomph!" Hope unloads a full blast of stingers into his chest.
"Where the hell are all these dickheads coming from?" Hope asks, using language that would surprise most people but Natasha, Melinda, Tony and Rhodey have known her too long to be surprised.
"Never underestimate the power of money and low IQS." Melinda says sarcastically, "Now, for the weapon. My scientist determined that it's called a Macro-Beam. Fortunately, it's powered by Gravatonium, which is highly volatile. Tony, yours or Visions beams should be able to heat it up to 513 degrees Fahrenheit that will disable the machine, but you've got to be careful, you cannot raise it over 519."
"Got it." Tony says, "War Machine, you continue evac. Wasp, Widow, get to the weapon and keep everyone off us so Vision and I can focus on the machine." Tony instructs.
"Got it." Everyone says in unison and they all get to work doing what they have to do.
Because he moves quickly Tony manages to get pretty close to to the macro-beam in minutes and as soon as he does he shoots at the stupid thing, truthfully he'd rather be rescuing civilians, but it's better to stop the disease than just treat the symptoms.
As he knows he's not alone Tony lands hard, honestly he could do it a lot lighter but the harder landing is better to intimidate the opponents. Working quickly, he blasts one person to his right and then another on his left, allowing his missile-darts to incapacitate three more.
Moving forward Tony gets to the room where the weapon is, a room which has about thirteen men in there.
"FRIDAY Send my cam to Mel, see if she recognizes them." Tony requests, wanting to know if Melinda knows anything that could help him right now.
"Alright lads. You know what to do!" one of the men, the one who is clearly the leader says.
"That's Kebo." Melinda recognizes, "Who is somehow alive even though he was electrocuted in a pool last year." Melinda says and Tony can even hear the frown in his voice but Tony doesn't have long to dwell on that as everyone opens fire on him.
Rolling his eyes, because seriously do they think bullets can hurt him, Tony just continues to walk, not being able to help but remember the Sokovian base and Von Strucker's men.
"Pro… bos….." FRIDAY'S voice says, cutting in and out, "They sem….. oing….for…..the…..eactor…cirt…icaaa…." FRIDAY says before completely going out.
"Shit!" Tony yells as the suit's weight forces him to knees, looking down he sees that the arch reactor now has a bullet lodged in the outer frame.
Before he can even process what that means Kebo smacks him in the head with the rifle, causing Tony to fall to the ground. Not wanting to give up Tony attempts to get up but one of Kebo's men uses his rifle, like a golf club, sending him onto his back.
"Looks like yer pal the good Captain taught the word 'how to kill you rich boy!" Kebo says to Tony, making him realise that he was an idiot for not changing the design after the video leaked, but not being able to dwell on that Kebo hits him again with the but of the rifle, knocking off the face plate.
"Oy! There 'e is." Kebo says, starting to laugh with his men before they start to line up their sights, but before they can do anything they hear the sound of two bullets going on and one bullet goes through his throat, along with several of his men, and the other goes through several more.
As they fall those who are still standing look around and when they realise who fired the bullet they look terrified, and if Tony didn't know better, though truthfully he's not sure he does, he would say that one even pissed himself in terror.
Turning his head, a little to see what has made them so afraid Tony isn't overly surprised to see Natasha sprint up, her face full of fury and vengeance. Truthfully, Tony isn't overly sure he's ever seen her so angry. Once she is close enough to the first guy she grabs his head and drives her knee into his face.
Going through him Natasha tucks and rolls as he hits the ground. As she does another man points his rifle at her, but he was too close. Natasha just kicks to her side, forcing the rifle up, as she takes out a knife and slashes a deep gab into the now exposed abdomen.
Using the man's chest as a springboard Natasha backflip off of it bringing both her feet into the side of another man's head, bringing him to the ground.
Continuing the moment Natasha cartwheels over the last two men, her feet knocking one of the men's guns to the ground, the other she hits with her forearms, putting all her weight against it.
As the man is off balance Natasha drives her elbow into his face, causing him to drop the rifle and then she kicks the second man's rifle from his grip, and she jumps away from the close quarters to get some breathing room.
As she does both men have come down from their daze as they pull out knifes, causing Natasha to smirk.
"Well, this'll be fun." She comments her voice dripping with sarcasm.
From his position on the ground Tony watches, amazed, as one of his oldest friends fights the two men with dances grace. Although Natasha clearly isn't losing it seems like she is far from winning, and as he realises that Tony remembers a conversation that Melinda and Natasha had many years ago where Natasha admitted that she hated knife fighting as it was one of her weaker skills.
"Natasha! Duck!" Tony yells as he manages to get the bullet form his chest, something which he has been spending the last few minutes doing, while he watches.
With the bullet free Tony's suit is working once more, though at a lower power. As soon as they duck Tony uses the two of the miniature rockets to hit them, causing them to fall to the ground as he once more gets to his feet.
Getting back to full height Natasha looks around to study her handwork and as she does she sees Kebo, on his knees, one hand putting pressure on the bullet hole while his other goes for the rifle.
Walking up to him from behind Natasha puts her arm around his neck and twists, causing his body to go limp and as she lets the body fall to the ground she picks up Tony's face plate.
"Here, I think you dropped this." Natasha says, handing it to him, "Looks like it might be time for an upgrade….. and a paint job." She comments as she notices that there are more than a few places where the paint is coming off.
"Thanks." Tony says as he puts the mask back on, "You know, I don't think I've ever seen you so cut throat. I'm surprised you didn't pull a Swayze and rip out an oesophagus." He admits.
"Well, you know." Natasha says shrugging.
"Tony? Vision and I have the machine neutralized." Hope's voice says, the two of them having gotten to the room when Natasha was fighting and so they decided to handle the machine.
"Great." Tony says, "Then we secure it and get the rest of the civilians out." Tony instructs, "Want a lift down?" he asks Natasha.
"Do you think you have enough power for that?" Natasha asks.
"I'll make it work." Tony responds and they both head out to complete the rest of the mission, Tony knowing that he isn't leaving they have gotten very single person whether alive or dead, out.
July 3rd 2016. Avengers Compound.
Late Afternoon.
Having spent a good few hours after the fight doing what they can to help Tony, Natasha, Vision, Hope and Rhodey are only just arriving back at the Compound, all five of them feeling tired and sore.
"Please say that the baths are good here." Hope requests.
"Of course they are." Tony says, "Like I would let them not be."
"Use the spar feature, it the best." Natasha tells her friend.
"You two are making a good bath sound like a great idea right now." Tony admits.
"Boss, a representative from the United Nations panel is waiting in your office to de-brief." FRIDAY informs Tony.
"Looks like a bath is going to have to wait." Tony says with a sigh, "I've got to go play politics."
"Good luck." Rhodey tells him.
"You'll need it." Natasha adds as the group go their separate ways, Natasha, Hope, Rhodey and even Vision going to relax after the fight while Tony heads towards his office, knowing that he is going to have to spend the next couple of hours, at least, justifying every single one of his teams actions.
July 3rd 2016. Avengers Compound.
Evening
Having spent a couple of hours de-briefing with the United Nations Panel Tony is very much looking forward to heading to dinner, but as he makes his way he notices Vision staring out of the window, just staring out at the grounds.
"Viz? You okay?" Tony asks concerned as he walks over.
"I am fine."
"You sure about that? Because you don't seem like it." Tony informs him.
"I should always be okay, just like I shouldn't be able to get distracted." Vision admits.
"Ah." Tony says completely understanding, and being pretty sure that he is the last person who should be talking to Vision about this kind of stuff, but at the same time he wants to try, "You miss her…. Wanda."
"Yes, I do believe that's the sensation I am feeling." Vision admits.
"That's okay, you know that, right?" Tony asks the AI.
"Is it? After everything that happened?" Vision asks curious.
"Of course. She was important to you. It's normal to miss someone important to you when they're gone, even if you're angry too." Tony explains to Vision.
"I am." Vision admits, "Wanda was able to take control of the Mind Stone, but her powers came from it. Shouldn't it be the other way around?"
"Maybe." Tony says, looking thoughtful.
"I believe I would like to study that, figure out how she was able to control, see if I can make sure it doesn't happen again." Vision admits, "I need to know more."
"If you think that's something you need to do." Tony says, having no idea whether that is a good response.
"It is." Vision admits.
"Well if you need help trying to figure it out let me know." Tony requests, very much doubting that, "But for now we're late for dinner, come on." Tony tells the AI.
"I'm don't…." Vision starts to say.
"You need to be around other people right now, come on Viz." Tony tells the AI and they both head towards the dining area, Tony making an internal note to keep a better eye on the AI to make sure he's okay and that he's not suffering too much now that Wanda is gone.