Chapter 9 A reunion and Veritaserum

Severus's point of view

"What is your full name?"
"Howard Anthony Walter Stark"
"How old are you?"
"Biologically speaking, I should be 91 years old. However, as I was part of Project Rebirth, and I was given the super soldier serum, I'm actually 44"

"Where were you born?"
"Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York"

"OK it's working… Mrs Stark, it's your turn"
"What is your full name?"
"Margaret Elizabeth Stark, née Carter"

"How old are you"

"Biologically speaking, I should be 91 years old. However, as I was part of Project Rebirth, and I was given the super soldier serum, I am actually 44"

"Where were you born?"
"London, England"

"What happened on the night of December 16th 1991?"
"We were ambushed at the end of the street and taken to Wakanda"

"Why did you never make contact or let us know you were still alive?"
"We were cryogenically frozen for 10 years. When T'Challa found out what T'Chaka had done, he was absolutely furious. Shuri told him everything, but T'Chaka died before T'Challa had the chance to confront him. He confronted Queen Ramonda to find out what she knew. He confronted Okoye and Zuri and M'Baku. The entire country of Wakanda shook with T'Challa's wrath."

"Why did you never make contact?"
"Nat found out where we were. She found out that Fury had been trying to find us. She confronted him, she brought him before T'Challa and the Council of the 5 tribes. They banished Fury, they sent him to the Badlands, or at least, they were about to. When I suggested bringing him back to New York and putting him in The Raft, which we did, but you know Fury, he's always been a sneaky, manipulative motherfucker, so… he escaped. I found him and set Wanda and Pietro on him. There's not much left, but I would recommend using Veritaserum on him too before we hand him to the Hulk to turn into bug squash".

"How are you going to motivate Bruce to turn green?"
"Well…" said Nat, "Clint is already noising him up a bit."

Bruce's point of view

"Dude, you should have heard what Fury said about you! He called the Hulk a wimp. He said that The Abomination could take The Hulk, no contest, and so could Thor and actually so could anyone in the Hulkbuster suit, even Pepper!"

"What do you want me to do?"
"Stand up to old eyepatch and wool britches, have the Hulk show him who's boss."

"Maybe let Fury say something to your face, Bruce, see if that gets the big guy mad?"
"Not a bad idea."

"If it doesn't work, I will set Pepper on him… she can be pretty hateful when she gets started on someone."

We went to the training room. Nat dragged Fury into the room by his feet, she forced him to get into the ring.

"What's this I hear about you talking rubbish about me?"
"Well I ummmm…. I ummmm"
"Yeah, not such a big rubbish talker now are you, you coward!"
"Look, I was just saying that stuff in front of Ross — to placate him, OK? You could easily take the Abomination".

"Lay off insulting Ms Potts as well, you hear me? She's my friend, and she's my brother's girl! You leave her alone… or else."
"Bruce, let me handle that"

"Right… go ahead"

Pepper's point of view

I have always HATED going into the ring, but it was necessary this time.

"The next time you try to make me look ridiculous in front of the Stark Industries board of directors will be the last time you do anything, do you understand me, you son of a motherless goat?"

"Ye….ye….yes ma'am"

"If you ever try to humiliate me again, I'll put on one of Tony's suits and I will eviscerate you and emasculate you at the same time, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am"

"If you ever attempt to make me look stupid in front of Tony again, I will take you on a trip to the woodshed which is CLEARLY long overdue, do you hear me"

"Yes ma'am"

"I've already spoken to Councilwoman Hawley about you, and she is as disgusted with you as I am. You are to meet with her at 0800 hours tomorrow morning, and you are going to explain to her why you did what you did. Agent Romanov will escort you to World Security Council HQ so that you cannot wriggle out of this punishment like the slippery snake you are!"

Bruce's point of view

Clint gave fury a subtle but firm nudge into me… that set me off… I turned green and Hulk grabbed him by the ankle and smashed the living hell out of him.

The next morning at 11am we found out, Fury had been dismissed. He was sent to Azkaban, read the riot act by the World Security Council, the Ministry Of Magic For The United States and Canada and the Ministry Of Magic For Great Britain And The Republic of Ireland. Then sentenced to 15 years in solitary.

"Serves the stupid son of a bitch right"

"Amen to that"

"Speaking of Amen" said an overly enthused voice, "Are we ready to go up to the viewing room and watch some memories?"

"If we must"

"Oh, we must"

"You're still sceptical about your parents?"
"Yes"

We headed upstairs.

Howard's point of view

Friday, and Peggy baked some bread and some cookies. Tony was glowering at us.

"You know," he said icily, "when you are a guest in someone's home, you are supposed to ask permission to do things like bake" Peggy's face fell.

"Young man, you were not raised to speak to your mother like that, apologize, immediately"
"HELL NO, I WON'T Apologize! I am not participating any further in this mission, I want these freeloaders out of my tower and out of my life. IF YOU FORCE ME TO PARTICIPATE, I WILL LEAVE AND NOT RETURN."

Tony's point of view

I flew upstairs to the master bedroom, locked the door from the inside, curled up on the bed and scowled at the window. I heard Pepper trying to unlock the door from the outside. Furthermore, I left the key inside the lock.

Bruce came upstairs and took the door of the master bedroom off the hinges. I got up, went to the wardrobe, packed a bag and left by the window in the MK 38 suit. As soon as I landed in California 4 hours later, Metatron was waiting.

"What part of 'I am not participating in this mission' is so difficult for you to comprehend?"

"Tony, I know you're struggling with the weight of your parents being back from the dead."

"I am not!"

"I know you are. The thing is, though, we need you to come back. The whole point of this mission is to stop Thanos."

"What do you want me to do?"
"You need to come back to New York with me"
"Nope"
"Come on Tony"
"I said NO!"
"You don't have a choice."
"I don't care, I am not coming back"

"You have to. If you don't, you're putting your health and Pepper's at risk."

"She could do better than me"