Tony immersed himself in work on his monitoring system and made significant progress before Rhodey came down-wearing his leg braces this time-to needle him into coming up for lunch. Tony grumbled but went with him, well aware that Dr. Mann would alter what he was allowed to do if he didn't cooperate.
He drank all of his coffee but only picked at his food, feeling more tired than hungry, and let the conversation flow around him, absorbing it but not participating. Mercifully, no one commented on his silence.
He was considering whether to return to his workshop or throw in the towel and go take a nap when Lila tugged on his arm. "Are you going to watch the movie with us, Uncle Tony?"
"Movie?" he repeated blankly. Evidently he hadn't been following the conversation as well as he'd thought.
Rhodey explained they were going to put the screening room to good use for once, though the movie chosen would be appropriate for the kids. Everyone else had already agreed to join the Bartons, so Tony thought it would be rude to opt out.
"Yes, I'm coming," he told Lila.
She happily started tugging him toward the stairs, then let go of him to chase her brother down the steps. The smell of popcorn wafted up as Tony followed the stream of Avengers down a floor. Vision was minding the popcorn machine while Wanda handed each person a bag as they passed. Tony declined his and hoped for a back row seat.
Lila waved to him from the front row as he came in, but her Daddy and Auntie Nat were already occupying the seats on either side of her, so all he had to do was return her wave as he went past.
The screening room accommodated up to thirty-two people in its various couches and chairs, all of which could recline for greater comfort. Pillows and throw blankets were available at the front of the room, though Tony wasn't sure if any of them had ever been used. The entire room still had that new furniture smell.
Tony settled into a chair in the back corner and immediately reclined it as far as it would go. If the movie wasn't interesting enough to keep his attention, he could get his nap without anyone being the wiser. Well, Rhodey might notice, being the only other person in the back row, but he could be counted on not to say anything. Probably.
The movie was something animated about feelings, and Tony was asleep within the first ten minutes.
Rhodey noticed about a half hour in and thought a blanket would be a good idea, but didn't want to disturb everyone else with his slow gait to the front of the room and back, so he leaned forward and asked Wanda to fetch one. She, of course, used her powers to float a blanket to him, which was probably the one thing that was more disruptive than Rhodey's walking, since the kids couldn't help but notice a flying blanket. The movie was paused while everyone turned to find out what was going on, and Rhodey had to admit that Tony was asleep.
"Why is Uncle Tony sleeping?" Lila whispered to Nat, loud enough that the whole room could hear.
"Because he's getting better from being sick, and that makes him tired," Natasha told her.
"Oh, okay. Can we watch the movie now?"
The rest of the movie passed without any additional disturbances. Tony was still asleep when it ended, and there was some spirited debate about whether to throw popcorn at him until he woke up. Kinder heads prevailed and everyone but Rhodey left the room.
Tony finally roused a half hour later. Rhodey talked soothingly to him about nothing in particular until his disorientation faded and he sat up. "Shit," Tony said eloquently, rubbing his face wearily.
"Don't worry about it, we all understand," Rhodey reassured him.
"What, that I'm apparently an old man now?" Tony groused.
"That, too," Rhodey teased. "But if you're an old man then I'm ancient, and I refuse for that to be true."
"Whatever, old-timer," Tony said as he got up and offered Rhodey a hand.
"Thanks, Mr. Stank," Rhodey replied.
Tony huffed a laugh. "All right, you win. This time."
"Always. I will always win with that one."
Tony went back to his workshop and Rhodey went with him to make a few comments on the leg braces. After that, Tony showed him the monitoring system he was working on. "I can track all of the usual vital signs, but the markers unique to this particular problem are subtle and I haven't been able to reliably pinpoint them even though I know I must still be exhibiting some of them."
"Could someone with more familiarity with biology and medicine help? Helen Cho, perhaps?"
"I've already sent Dr. Mann a message. No answer yet."
"I'm sure you'll make it work. Maybe you'll even miniaturize something."
"Pepper would like the idea of me coming up with something saleable again."
"The leg braces aren't saleable?"
"Well, yes, but they can't be mass-produced. Mass-produced means more margin, which means more profit, which means happier investors. Personalized medical equipment is great for generating good will, though, and more of that is never a bad thing."
Friday spoke as soon as he finished. "Boss, Christine Everhart has requested an interview."
"Show me."
Tony and Rhodey both read the short message. "I don't know, is it really a good idea to do a video interview right now?" Rhodey said doubtfully.
Tony shrugged. "Of all the reporters who could ask, at least she's been covering me since the beginning. I'll check with Pepper, but I don't see how it could hurt."
He sent a quick message to Pepper asking her to call him when she had a chance, then they moved on to discussing the modifications he was making to the arc reactor shielding. A few minutes later, his phone began to buzz. He put it on speakerphone.
"My dear and darling Pepper," he greeted her.
"Tony, how are you doing? What do you need?"
"I've been better and I've been worse," he said dismissively.
"He fell asleep during a kid's movie," Rhodey added.
Tony elbowed him, hard.
"Hi, Rhodey," Pepper said. "Tony, really? Naps aren't usually your thing."
"Having my coffee consumption severely limited isn't my thing, either. It's fine. Can we talk about what I actually wanted to ask you about?"
"I'm all ears."
"Christine wants to do a video interview. Rhodey thinks it's a bad idea. I don't think it could hurt. What do you think?"
"Well," Pepper started, then hesitated. "If you're going to talk to her, you need someone there to stop you if you start saying something you shouldn't. Rhodey, you might be able to do that. And you're going to need a very good makeup person, Tony. You look pretty terrible in those pictures."
"Wasn't that the point? And give me a break, I spent two days in the hospital after dealing with stubborn bureaucrats for three days. Nobody would look fantastic after that."
"You've got everyone thinking you look pitiful, that's for sure," Pepper said. "It will be interesting to see how the stock fares on Monday." She sighed. "Tell you what. I would like to see you, but I have a meeting I can't miss on Monday. Tell Christine you're available for an interview on Tuesday afternoon. I can arrive Monday evening, and we'll have to hope that's enough time for me to whip you back into media-ready shape."
"You are perfect and beautiful," Tony said. "See you soon."
"Rhodey, keep an eye on him. Tony, please take care of yourself," she said, then ended the call.
"There, see? It must not be a terrible idea or Pepper wouldn't go along with it."
"Or she knows you'd do it whether she agrees or not, and this way she can at least make sure you don't look ghastly," Rhodey retorted.
"I don't look that bad."
"You haven't shaved since before the hospital."
"I wanted to see how it looked with a few days' growth."
"Like a homeless person," Rhodey said flatly.
"Just for that, I'm not going to shave until Tuesday."
"Suit yourself," Rhodey said, throwing up his hands. "At least I can say that I tried."
Friday interrupted. "Captain Rogers wishes to inform you it is time for dinner."
"Tell him we'll be there in a few minutes," Rhodey said.
"What is it with the obsession about food around here?" Tony grumbled as he saved their work.
.
Sam sat next to him at the table. "I sent you the info I mentioned. Is it all right if she comes on Monday to talk to people and do the whole interview thing?"
"That should work," Tony agreed, realizing that not only had he not noticed when that information arrived, he hadn't warned anyone (like the Human Resources people) that this therapist person would be coming to interview for a job they didn't know existed, much less was available.
He leaned over to Sam. "On second thought, to keep the HR people from wanting to kill us both, how about any day after Tuesday? If transportation is a problem, we can take care of it."
Sam nodded. "That should be fine. I'll let her know."
Tony pulled out his phone under the table, quickly located the message, and forwarded it to Hill with a vaguely apologetic note about the situation. He was fairly certain Hill wasn't actually in charge of HR things, but he couldn't remember who was, and she'd make sure to notify the right person. She was good like that.
God, he needed a new assistant if people were going to expect him to do more than just be Iron Man and invent stuff. How he'd managed this long without one was a mystery to him and probably to everyone around him as well.
After dinner, some of the group went outside to play lawn darts. Tony opted to stay inside with the intention of going back down to his workshop with Rhodey, but then he noticed that Steve was on the balcony, standing at the railing and looking down on the game.
"I thought you went down with them," Tony said as he stepped outside, Rhodey just behind him.
Steve smiled ruefully. "I don't really fit in, remember?"
"Bullshit. You're closer to their age than I am, and you've always been a hell of a lot better of a leader than me. You're also way better at making friends."
"That's true," Rhodey chimed in as he sat in a chair near the railing.
"I don't know about that," Steve said reluctantly. "Was there a reason you came out here?"
"To find out why you weren't downstairs with everyone else."
"That's it?" Steve said in disbelief.
"That's it. But if you'd like to talk about something else, I suppose there's nothing stopping you." Tony sank into a chair near Rhodey and waited to see what Steve would do.
Steve took a deep breath, glanced at the game down below, then sat in a chair on the other side of Tony. "I'm wondering about what else will need to be done while you're recuperating, other than the Accords. You seem constantly busy, but I very rarely understand what you're busy doing."
"All right." Tony pulled out his phone and flicked it so the display projected in front of them. "Friday, display all messages received during the past week, grouped by sender. Display them as small icons rather than a list."
Clusters of small squares appeared, so many of them that the display area had to double in size. "Now add all sent messages, telephone calls, and documents edited."
The clusters devolved into sheer clutter across every inch of the display. Tony pinched some together and told Friday what to label them. When he was finished they were left with categories arranged from largest to smallest, labeled Accords, Accords Lawyers, Ross, Ross Lawyers, Avengers, Stark Industries, Inventing, and Iron Man. "These last four took up all of my time before six months ago. Lately I've been busy with other things. Iron Man wouldn't even be here except I was finally working on new armor this morning."
"Finally?" Steve repeated. "You mean you haven't had working armor since Siberia?"
"Nope," Tony said, then gestured at the Ross categories. "This guy is why." He explained briefly what had been going on with Ross' repeated efforts to have him and the remaining Avengers act on his behalf. "I have recordings of everything, if you want to take the time to listen. I don't trust that old snake as far as I could throw him. By the way, well done on the Raft breakout. He wanted me to look into it, but the AV equipment suffered an unfortunate series of malfunctions during the time immediately before and during the prisoner escape. I told him if he'd used Stark tech, it wouldn't have happened."
"Is that true?"
"Not a word," Tony said smugly. "I planted a scrambler when I paid a visit to that ridiculous ocean pokey. As soon as the alarms went off, the scrambler nuked the data. I figured it would be covering my tracks but you beat me to it."
Steve looked dazed. "You would have helped them escape?"
Tony scoffed. "You saw how they were being kept, Wanda especially. That's not what I signed on for. Also, Ross holding them was almost entirely illegal."
"So that's where the Ross Lawyers bit comes in?"
"Sort of. That's all of the interactions I get to have with my lawyers as a result of interactions with Ross. Right now he's threatening to sue me personally for harboring all of you."
"You've got a doctor's note not to have to deal with Ross at all," Rhodey reminded him.
Tony glanced at him, then Steve, before returning his attention to the display. "Yes, but Ross will be a pest until he's gone or we are. Part of the Avengers category is an inquiry I have in with my real estate guy about buying us an island so we aren't subject to U.S. jurisdiction anymore. I still have to run that past the lawyers, though. It might be quicker to wait until someone else is appointed Secretary of State, but . . ." Tony shrugged.
Steve shook his head slowly. "And on top of that is everything with the Accords."
Tony nodded. "Friday, keep the current categories and display the last six months, not just the last week."
The Accords and Ross categories dwarfed everything else to the point that only part of them could be seen on the display. The Avengers category wasn't far behind. "What the hell is that?" asked Clint from behind them.
"Who won?" Tony asked.
"My team, of course. But really, what is that?"
"Tony's life for the past six months," Steve said.
"Without considering eating or sleeping or anything like that," Rhodey added.
Clint whistled. "Shit, man, no wonder you're in bad shape."
"Speak for yourself," Tony protested.
"You should not have had to do all of this alone," Laura said.
"The question is, how can we divide it now?" Natasha added. "Tony is supposed to avoid unusual stress for the next month at least. This all looks like unusual stress."
"I believe the typical method of overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles is to 'divide and conquer'," Vision said.
"Yes," Wanda agreed. "Each of us can pick an area to be responsible for and that will be our job."
"We should all be contributing to the Accords," Natasha said. "It's the best way to amend them in a way that will make everyone happy."
"I have been working with Tony on the Accords for nearly six months," Steve admitted. "But I agree, more eyes can only help."
Tony spoke up. "If I may make one addition? It has been suggested that several hires need to be made as far as . . . support staff goes. If one of you will take point on that, Hill would probably appreciate it." He wasn't fully on board with the idea of splitting everything up, but if he wasn't going to be allowed to do it all, that way might keep more of the balls in the air.
Natasha volunteered for the hiring post, a wicked gleam in her eyes.
"We'll talk about that tomorrow," Tony promised. "And Friday, permission to access, but not edit, all files related to the Accords, Secretary Ross, and the Avengers is granted to all present. Distribute new messages according to these categories and alter the permissions as appropriate."
"Yes, boss."
By the time they went to bed they all had a general idea of what they'd be working on for the next month but, in Tony's words, "You have a lot of homework."
As Tony fell asleep, he wasn't sure if he should feel relieved that things would be taken care of, smug that it would take so many of them to handle the things he'd been dealing with by himself, or melancholy that his life could be so easily compartmentalized and distributed for others to manage.
.
He slept poorly, frequently waking up with things to do or things to tell the others circling endlessly in his mind. He made notes for himself every time he woke so he wouldn't have to worry about remembering it all later, but still sleep eluded him.
Fortunately, this also meant that nightmares were absent; apparently he didn't spend sufficient time asleep for any to take hold.
But the night passed slowly and, when the sky began to lighten outside his windows, he groaned at the prospect of facing the day drowsy and out of sorts.
He was dozing and feeling like this was the time he'd finally get at least a consecutive hour's sleep when there was a light knock on his door that jolted him suddenly and fully awake. He stumbled to the door, cursing all the way. "What the fuck do you want?" he snarled, jerking the door open.
It was Rhodey. "Nobody had seen you yet so I was appointed to check on you," he said. "Bad night, huh? Take your meds and go back to bed. I'll make sure you aren't bothered for the rest of the morning."
"Thanks, man," Tony said wearily.
"Go take your meds. I'm not leaving until I've seen you do it."
Tony sighed. He disappeared into the bathroom to fill a glass with water, then found the bottle and took a pill.
"Is there anything I can do or get for you that will help?"
Tony scratched his scalp, uncertain how his hair had gotten so grimy in the single day since he'd showered. "No, I don't think so."
"I'll come back in a few hours to see how you're doing. Sleep well."
He closed the door and climbed back in bed, curling up with his back to the door and staring at the wall. He started idly contemplating the best way to use Rhodey's suit to support Rhodey's legs and hoped for sleep.
The next time Rhodey poked his head in, Tony was motionless on the bed, his breathing deep and even. He carefully closed the door again and breathed a sigh of relief. "Friday?" he ventured quietly, hoping the AI was integrated into Tony's room despite her absence in most of the rest of the building-Tony had said it was a privacy thing for the other Avengers, but Rhodey knew it was because Tony hadn't really intended to be living here full-time. If he'd planned to live here, his AI would be available everywhere, like Jarvis had been in Malibu and the Tower.
"Yes, Colonel?" she answered, her volume matching his.
"How long has he been asleep?"
"Thirty minutes."
It had been two and a half hours since Rhodey's last visit, so that wasn't ideal, but at least it was something. "Would you let me know when he wakes up?"
"Yes, Colonel."
.
Tony woke with ideas for his new project buzzing in his head, so he got up and went straight to the workshop to test them out on the more robust computer system there.
He had been there maybe five minutes and was already deep in his work when Rhodey strolled in. "I see you didn't even bother to change. Do you have any idea what time it is?"
Tony stared blankly at him for a long moment. "Friday, what time is it?"
"One forty-two p.m.," she said promptly.
"You slept through lunch; we didn't want to wake you. I brought a smoothie," Rhodey said, setting the tumbler on the desk.
Tony grabbed it and took a swig. His eyebrows rose and he took another drink before speaking. "I have no idea what's in this, but it's good."
"Wanda made it for you."
"She can make me smoothies anytime. Friday, add her to the official list," Tony said, turning back to his screens.
Rhodey refrained from commenting on the idea that Tony had an official smoothie-makers list. "I take it you were inspired?" He leaned a hip against the table but didn't try to see what Tony was working on.
"Yes, but I'm not ready to share with the class. Oh, and I had Friday run simulations on the variations for the legs on your next suit. You're welcome to look at the results and let me know what seems most promising."
"Sure, I can do that." He moved to the smaller workstation against the wall and Friday talked him through what he was seeing.
Tony paid no attention after he was sure Rhodey was settled in and returned his focus to the delicate circuitry he was working with. He wasn't worried about coming up with something as far as the larger device was concerned, but making sure it connected in the right places and the right ways would be a challenge. He did love a challenge.
"Tony, is there a reason all of these simulations concern possible injuries?" Rhodey asked after a while.
"Stress testing," Tony said absently. He touched his screen a few more times before looking up. "We're already figuring out the best ways to support walking and standing, and I was concerned that having something like those braces inside the suit would cause additional injury under certain conditions. So I used recorded data about actual damage we've both taken in the suits and used it for the simulations."
"That's . . . very thoughtful of you."
"I do try," Tony said with a brief smirk. He closed out his files and went over to Rhodey's station. "Any clear winners or losers?"
"Not really. They all have pros and cons."
They were comparing designs and discussing how to tweak them when Friday interrupted. "Boss, I've been asked to convey a message."
"Go ahead."
"Uncle Tony, we're going to go swimming now, but after that will you come up and read to me?" Lila's voice came through Friday's speakers.
Rhodey laughed. "She's a determined little girl. She was asking about you while you were still sleeping, too."
"Friday, let her know that Uncle Tony will read to her before dinner. Where is Natasha?"
"Natasha Romanoff is with the Barton family in the pool annex."
"I'll talk to her later, then. For now, a shower and some clothes."
"Don't forget a shave," Rhodey added.
"Oh, no you don't. I'm not shaving until Tuesday, just for you."
"Hobo," Rhodey grumbled as they left the workshop and headed toward the elevator.
"Cripple," Tony jibed in response.
"No fair," Rhodey said. "That's not my fault and I can't change it. You are fully capable of using a razor."
"Ease up, sourpatch, I'm only teasing."
"Yeah, I know. You're a bum like that."
Tony started to leave the elevator. "What are you going to do?"
"I should probably work on all that reading I have to do for the meeting. Or I could just find Rogers and have him give me the short version."
"Start with our annotated version, then skip ahead to the most recent round of lawyer opinions and the version I brought back with me most recently. Speaking of which, I have no idea what happened to it after I got back. Friday, what happened to my paperwork after I returned from New York?"
"Your briefcase is in the office," Friday informed him.
"There you go. It's in the office. I'll have Friday scan it before I go to bed tonight."
"Don't worry, I won't have gotten that far by then," Rhodey said ruefully.
Tony gave him a jaunty wave and finally let the elevator doors close.
As soon as Rhodey couldn't see him anymore, he could feel his shoulders slump. The mere thought of having to face everyone had him wanting to crawl back into bed. Yesterday had been far too much togetherness time; he wasn't used to it and right now he didn't feel able to handle it. Despite ending up with a reasonable amount of sleep (for him), he just felt so goddamn tired.
Well, the shower would help, as would nice, strong coffee. After all, he hadn't had his coffee allotment for the day yet.
Despite his reluctance, dealing with everyone after his shower and coffee wasn't as bad as he feared. Lila provided a convenient distraction at first, and by the time they were finished with the day's chapter, it was like he'd been around all day.
After that, the conversation was entirely speculation about where else HYDRA might be lurking. Steve refused to believe that Rumlow had been the last head of the insidious organization, despite the lack of any discernibly HYDRA-related activity since the incident in Lagos. Tony also suspected there were still loose ends and had a portion of the compound mainframe plugging away at the documents leaked when S.H.I.E.L.D. fell to locate any as-yet-unknown HYDRA operatives. So far, no luck.
He didn't contribute to the conversation, preferring to listen and thumb through the Sunday newspapers that had been waiting for him. Others had obviously read them first, but he didn't begrudge them that. He'd made it clear everyone was welcome to use them, just make sure they remained intact until he'd seen them.
Natasha sat down next to him. "I already talked to Sam about the therapist thing," she said, picking up a newspaper of her own and idly leafing through it. "What other positions are we making available?"
He told her about the PR person, then said, "I'm also thinking about a PA. That is, unless you're available."
She smirked. "You can't afford me," she said. "A PA for you, or for the team as a whole?"
"That depends on how much shit I have to still keep track of once I'm back to my usual slate of activities," Tony said. "Maybe one of each? No, forget it. I don't want to deal with that right now."
"So a therapist and a PR person. Consider it done. I'll let you know when interviews are happening in case you want to watch."
"I'd appreciate that," he said.
Rather than getting up to leave as he expected her to do, she sat and looked at him in that inscrutable way of hers. "If all this-" she gestured with her finger to signal the room and everyone in it, "is too much, you can go somewhere else for a while and no one would be offended." As if on cue, the conversation around them suddenly grew louder; they'd changed topics and were now talking about something politics-related, possibly the U.S. presidential election.
"What happened to being a team player?" he asked sarcastically.
"Knowing and respecting your limits helps the team," she said earnestly. "Especially right now when you're recovering from a fairly serious medical issue."
"Right," he said lamely, appearing to study the paper in front of his nose. She touched his arm briefly, then left him alone.
He continued the appearance of reading the paper for a while afterward, though his mind wasn't absorbing what he was seeing. The conversation changed from politics to food-always a more agreeable topic-and someone started making dinner, judging from the smells that began to emanate from the kitchen area.
When he'd finished skimming the physical papers in front of him, he pulled out his phone and pulled up the online Wall Street Journal to see if they'd released any sort of analysis about what his health issues would mean for Stark Industries. The weekend edition had been published before the news about his release from jail, er, hospital.
There was nothing yet. Tony thought it likely that the stock would dip at least somewhat since he was still majority owner of the company, but it wouldn't take a significant hit since everyone knew he wasn't very involved in day-to-day operations anymore. Time would tell, and he could discuss any needed mitigation when Pepper arrived. The interview with Christine Everhart might even help.
Lila wanted him to sit next to her for dinner, which he agreed to, but when he stood up from the couch he had a bout of dizziness that nearly forced him to sit again. He shook it off and moved to the table, hoping no one else had noticed.
Between Lila on one side and Cooper on the other, they kept up the conversation for the entirety of dinner, so long as Tony inserted short responses and questions in the appropriate places. Afterward, Tony wasn't even certain what he'd eaten, but he knew he'd needed to; he was able to stand up from the table with no hint of the earlier dizziness.
When everyone had eaten and the older kids were put to bed, the Avengers seemed to wordlessly agree that it was time to talk about their newly assumed responsibilities. Each group settled in a different corner of the common room and, from the conversations, it sounded like they had used their mornings to start reading all of the material Tony made available.
Wanda went with Steve and Rhodey to the conference area to discuss the Accords, though she was also going to be working with Clint and Natasha on all things Avengers-related. Some of it was admittedly rather mundane-ordering groceries, arranging for laundry, and the like-but it still had to be done.
For now, Natasha sat with Vision and Sam at the kitchen table to debate Ross and whether what he'd been doing was even legal (it was a matter of concern to Tony's lawyers, as well).
That left Clint as the only Avengers-related group member, which meant he wanted Tony to talk to him about how things were and why they were the way they were. Which meant Tony more often than not felt defensive about his decisions to see to many of these things himself. It was a security issue.
"I don't know, man, it feels like a lot of this could be done by a trusted assistant," Clint said after a while, studying the lists of things and who they were handled by. "The rest could be done by us, especially if it's slow like it's been lately."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "About these trusted assistants," he said. "Do you have one? Because I only ever had the one, and she's got bigger fish to fry these days."
"So we need to find someone else who we think we can trust," Clint said, as if it was that simple. "Nat volunteered for hiring duties, right? She's usually pretty good at knowing who can be trusted."
"I suppose," Tony said reluctantly. The idea of allowing someone new into the Avengers space set off all sorts of alarm bells in terms of risk and possible infiltration, but hell, even the cleaning staff had to pass security checks that were just as rigorous as getting top secret security clearance for the government, so perhaps he was worrying unnecessarily.
He was probably worrying unnecessarily. That was sort of his thing these days.
"Hey Nat, add 'Avengers Assistant' to your list of people to hire," Clint called over to her.
She nodded once and they all knew it was as good as done.
Clint didn't have much else to ask at that point, so he wandered over to listen in on the Ross conversation.
Tony debated going down to the workshop, but after the flood of inspiration earlier, he had nothing more to offer. That, in truth, was as much of the reason he didn't yet have working Iron Man armor as the excuse about Ross; he just wasn't coming up with ideas the way he used to. His mind used to feel like a jumble of plans and solutions and interesting notions that would spill out in the workshop in all of the various things he'd design.
Now his mind felt empty, a well run dry. Certainly there were improvements he could make to the armor, variations he could try for Rhodey, or tweaks he could test on his other project, but it all felt dull, uninspired, useless.
Useless. Why have someone like him around if he couldn't improve the tech, find new ideas, prove himself a helpful teammate? He'd been calling himself an active duty non-combatant to Ross, because really wasn't that all he was? The financier and equipment guru for the team formerly known as the Avengers. The consultant.
The weariness that had been his constant companion for months seemed heavier than ever, and the word the media were now using for him rose to mind: vulnerable. Yes, so very vulnerable. He'd always been vulnerable, why else build a metal suit? But now he was exposed-like a nerve, Bruce had said once-his weakness made known, like a snail without a shell.
And the thought of going back in the armor, as protective as it was, made him hesitate after what had happened the last two times. Why Rhodey didn't share his hesitation was a mystery; him being reluctant to don armor that had left him paralyzed was understandable, and yet he seemed to look forward to being back in the sky once they'd gotten his legs figured out. Maybe he'd ask Rhodey about that sometime.
"Tony?" Steve's voice broke into his reverie. He was standing several feet away. "Would you mind helping me explain some of the changes we've suggested for the Accords? You have a better grasp of their language than I do."
"I think I can manage that," Tony said and followed him to the conference table. "What do you want to know?"
.
The discussion lasted for hours, but was far more productive than any of the committee meetings. Wanda was a quick study, Rhodey had long dealt with government lingo, and Steve had, of course, been working on it for months already. Still, there were questions about what had been meant when the document was first devised (some of which Tony didn't have answers for, not having been there) and at the end Clint, who had joined them at some point that Tony hadn't noticed, asked, "So is this in effect while the changes are being made?"
"The original version is in effect until all amendments are accepted by the subcommittee and presented to the U.N. panel for approval," Tony said, trying very hard to remember the nuances involved. It really was quite complicated. "But, due to the bombing, not many nations officially signed in Vienna. Some have signed since then, but nowhere near all 117 nations that previously pledged support. The U.S. had not pledged support and has not signed. Also, nobody that has signed has actually ratified it, which is what puts teeth into any of the enforcement provisions. Until that happens, it's all an 'in good faith' sort of deal."
"Hold that thought," Clint said. He rolled his chair toward the other table. "Hey, guys, I think you need to hear this. It might explain a few things."
Vision, Natasha, and Sam moved to the conference table and Clint had Tony repeat what he'd just said.
"Is that why you put up with Ross' shit?" Sam asked. "The entire folder is a steaming pile."
"I put up with Ross' shit because otherwise you're all back on the Raft, or worse. He doesn't seem to care about international agreements-ironic, given his position-or about the fact that none of you have done anything illegal according to U.S. law," Tony replied, then added, "Well, Wanda's immigration status is still . . . disputed. They could try to make something of that, but they haven't so far."
"'She's not a U.S. citizen and they don't grant visas to weapons of mass destruction'," Steve quietly quoted what he'd said in Berlin.
"Right," Tony said wearily, casting a wary glance at Wanda, who seemed more shocked than angry. "I have people working on that."
"How long have they been working on it?" Wanda asked.
"Months," Tony said frankly. "Your arrest in Germany set us back quite a bit."
"How soon could that be resolved?" Steve asked.
Tony shrugged. "It depends on a lot of things. My lawyers think the best bet is to file for a work visa under the Avengers Incorporated name, but we have to finalize the incorporation first; that has hit a few snags along the way. Moving our base outside of U.S. jurisdiction would solve some additional problems, but that's more of a long-term solution. I have people working on that, too."
"Is all of that somewhere in the files we have access to?" Natasha asked.
"Ah, yes. I think it's part of the 'Avengers' category."
"I don't remember seeing that," Clint said.
"Friday can help you find it," Tony replied. "Is there anything else you have a burning desire to know? What time is it, anyway?"
It was nearly midnight, so the consensus was that sleep needed to happen before anything else could be reasonably discussed. Rhodey herded Tony off to bed as soon as that decision was made; they could all see Tony was exhausted, though he wouldn't have admitted it. The rest of them stayed put for a few more minutes.
"So what I'm hearing is that Tony has been busting his ass on our behalf all this time," Clint said as soon as Tony and Rhodey were out of the room. "Am I hearing what everyone else is hearing?"
There were nods of agreement around the table.
"Does anyone else feel really shitty about that? I mean, I know I've been giving him a hard time about some things, only to find out we nearly killed him."
"He has always had trouble delegating, so we don't bear all of the blame," Natasha said.
"But we should have seen what was happening and stopped it," Steve said firmly. "We haven't been a team, for a lot of reasons. We need to step up and take care of this, now and going forward."