Word Count: 2750
Note: Admittedly it's been a while since I've watched the MCU, so I've probably got the timings of things wrong. So… yeah, don't mind me :P
Warnings: Team Iron Man, so the salt is salting. If that's not your thing, feel free not to read it :)
Iron Man, Yes; Tony Stark, Not Recommended
"Iron Man, yes. Tony Stark, not recommended? So… you're approved, but you're not approved?" Pepper asked, her brow furrowing slightly.
Tony snorted. "They're trying to make me want to be approved, Pep. They think that this manila file will be all that they need to get me under SHIELD's thumb."
Pepper arched her eyebrow and tilted her head slightly. "Ah. Well. Perhaps we should show them why it's never the best idea to try and manipulate you then, shall we?"
Tony grinned a shark-like grin, and they clinked their glasses together.
If SHIELD only wanted Iron Man; they'd only get Iron Man.
…
"Sir, Steve Rogers is in the lobby. He's demanding to see you immediately."
Tony pushed the trolley that he was lying on beneath the car he'd been working on, and sniggered to himself.
"Tell whoever is on reception today to give him the number for my personal receptionist. He can schedule a meeting with her whenever I'm free."
Sliding back beneath the car, Tony smiled when he heard the amusement in JARVIS's tone, as the AI replied, "As you wish, sir."
Putting it from his mind, Tony spent an enjoyable few hours tinkering—for once, he'd had a free few hours, where he was all caught up on SI work, and the suit was in tip-top condition following the battle with the Chitauri—until Pepper joined him in the workshop.
"We have Captain America sitting in the lobby, waiting for you to come out," she said, as she perched herself on the spinny chair by his desk. "Apparently, he thinks that there's been a big misunderstanding. He says that if you know it was him, then you wouldn't expect him to make an appointment."
"I… what?" Tony asked, as he cleaned his hands off with a rag that DUM-E had handed to him.
"Your hands are just getting dirtier," Pepper pointed out, looking over at the robot fondly as it beeped.
Tony looked down at the rag to see that it was covered in fresh oil. He sighed. "Dum-Dum, get me a clean towel, please."
Pepper chuckled when Tony gave her an exasperated look.
"So… Cap thinks that I'll just see him because he's… him?" Tony asked, accepting the clean towel. He checked this one before he set to cleaning his hands.
"It certainly seems that way. I'm not sure who told him that he could expect such a thing, but I think that maybe this is SHIELD's later play. Send in Captain America to get Stark onside, you know?"
"It's almost like they don't know me at all, isn't it?" Tony mused, shaking his head. "Ah well. I'm not going to be held captive in my own tower, just because the frisbee-throwing-icicle has set up camp in the lobby. Care to join me for dinner, Miss Potts?"
"I'd love too… after you've showered."
Tony rolled his eyes. "Anything to please milady. We'll leave in an hour?"
She nodded, and then as she stood up, she leant forward to kiss his cheek. As she walked out of the workshop, her heels clicking on the stone floor, she added, "JARVIS, don't let him get distracted down here. I'd like to eat before midnight tonight."
…
"Tony!"
Tony and Pepper paused in the tracks, as Steve walked over to them.
"I've been waiting for you for hours!"
Tony frowned. "Why on earth would you do that?"
"Well," Steve said, glancing over at the desk. "The lady over there didn't seem to know who I was, and they told me to call someone else to make an appointment to see you, but I knew that if I just waited for you, then we could talk."
Glancing at Pepper, Tony replied, "I'm sorry that you've been waiting out here for so long, Steve, but Pepper and I are just on our way out. You really should make an appointment if you need to see me about something. It's the easiest way for me to have any time for anything."
"But… it's Avengers business."
"I'm not an Avenger."
"Yes, you are!"
"Really not," Tony argued, lightly. "Iron Man is a consultant for SHIELD—and the Avengers by proxy, I suppose—for any battle that requires a heavy hitter, but apart from that, SHIELD decided that I wasn't what they were looking for."
"Are you really going to hold that stupid report against them?" Steve asked, disappointment in his tone, and written all over his face.
"Hey, if you don't agree with it, take it up with them," Tony said, shrugging his shoulders. "In the meantime, we're going to be late for the table we have booked. If you need to see me for anything, then call my receptionist and book an appointment, and if SHIELD has a need for Iron Man, then Fury knows how to contact me. Goodbye, Steve."
"We're not done—"
Tony and Pepper stepped around him before he could continue, and they were sliding into the backseat of the car that Happy had brought around for them before Steve caught up again.
The door was slammed in his face before he could try and argue with Tony any further.
Pepper grinned at him. "That was fun."
…
"Stark."
Tony turned to see Fury walking towards him, and sighed. Why did these people always want him when he was in a rush?
"Make it fast, Pirate, I've got places to be."
"You weren't at the Avengers meeting yesterday," Fury said, falling into step beside him.
"Because I'm not an Avenger," Tony pointed out, his tone mild. "And I'll thank you for remembering that."
"We need you, Stark. The team is a mess, they're all living on the Helicarrier, their PR is a shitshow, and we can't do anything about any of it, because we're not known to the public."
"All of that sounds like a you problem, to me," Tony replied. "If that's everything?"
"We made a mistake," Fury said, sighing as though the confession had been forced out of him unfairly. "Is that what you needed to hear? We fucked up."
"You did," Tony agreed, stopping at his car. "But none of that matters now. It's a moot point, and I don't give second chances often. If you'd trusted me from the beginning, instead of sending a spy in, and injecting me against my will—and also, writing a psych report on me in the middle of dying—you wouldn't be in this mess. But you didn't, so you are, and like I said, that sounds like a you problem."
"You're really going to walk away?" Fury asked. "The world needs you, Stark."
"It does," Tony said, as he opened the door of his car. "And I'll keep helping the world as much as I can, for as long as I'm able. But I won't be doing it through SHIELD, and I won't be taking responsibility for your pet project. You wanted the Avengers, Nick… well, you've got them. Good luck, because I suspect that you're going to need it."
…
Tony managed to save ninety percent of the SHIELD agents put at risk when Captain America decided that it was a good day to leak their data all over the internet, for everyone to see. He worked tirelessly for sixty hours flat, with JARVIS at his back, as he cursed every single person that helped to defrost the Captain from the ice.
He slept for the following fourteen hours, and woke up to Pepper raging, because Rogers had had the audacity to turn up at the tower, with a man who'd stolen the Falcon Wings, and Natasha, and asked for somewhere to 'lay low' for a while.
Tony listened as he sipped his second coffee—he'd practically inhaled the first one—and then shook his head.
"No. Just no. We don't need any part of that mess, Pep. Tell security to escort them away from the building, and if they fight, tell them to let me know immediately, and I'll have JARVIS remove them with the Iron Legion."
She nodded, and stepped away to make the call down to the front desk. IN the meantime, Tony sat thoughtfully at the breakfast bar.
"J?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Start a search for me, will you? James Buchanan Barnes. The Winter Soldier."
"Of course, sir."
Tony nodded, and then wrapped both of his hands around his mug. The footage of his parents being murdered at the hands of the Winter Soldier had been a particularly nasty and unwelcome surprise—not least, because he was fairly certain that that meant SHIELD had, at the very least, been aware of it—but Tony didn't blame Barnes.
The data had included all of the information about the torture Barnes had undergone, along with the conditioning and the Cryo treatment that had turned him into the Winter Soldier—a perfect weapon, when in the wrong hands.
Rubbing a hand over his face, Tony sighed. He suspected that things weren't going to improve for a while yet, and he still had work to do. He'd pulled people out of harm's way, but now, he had to figure out what to do with them.
SHIELD certainly wasn't no longer an option for them, and Tony didn't know if Fury was even still alive, though he suspected that he probably was.
Cockroaches tended to survive things that others wouldn't.
"They left without a fight," Pepper said, walking over to join him at the breakfast bar. "Apparently, Rogers was muttering something about how he shouldn't have expected you to be useful."
Tony snorted. "He really shouldn't have expected anything from me. I don't owe any of them a damn thing, and I'm really not sure why they seem to think that I do."
"Rogers seems to believe that he's entitled to anything he asks for, simply because it's him doing the asking," Pepper replied softly. "And Fury didn't do anything to change that. Now that SHIELD is finished, he's going to learn pretty quickly that the world won't just roll over because 'Captain America says it has to.'"
Tony hummed his agreement, and then wrinkled his nose slightly. "I asked J to start a search for Barnes. He doesn't deserve to spend the rest of his days on the run, or hiding. It… it wasn't his fault."
Pepper smiled a little sadly at him. "You're a better man than the world gives you credit for, Tony Stark."
…
"Sir, there's a call for you coming in from Nigeria," JARVIS said, the movie on the screen pausing.
"Nigeria?" Tony asked, sharing a confused look with Pepper and Rhodey, who was visiting on his leave. "Who do we know in Nigeria?"
"The call is originating from Lagos, sir. Steven Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Sam Wilson have been arrested and are currently facing charges of terrorism, murder, attempted murder, and a host of other, more minor charges. Mr Rogers named you when he was asked who they should call on their behalf."
"I… what the fuck happened?"
The TV switched onto a news station, and Tony, Pepper and Rhodey watched in disbelieving horror, as they saw the explosion, and the subsequent fighting.
"He wore the suit," Tony said, shaking his head. "He invaded another country, and he wore a suit which is basically a walking American flag. Is he really that dumb? JARVIS, are we sure that this footage is real?"
"It certainly seems to be, sir. I can find nothing that suggests otherwise."
"This isn't your problem to deal with, Tones," Rhodey pointed out. "You've told them time and time again that you're nothing to do with the Avengers. Let them deal with their own problems."
Tony glanced at Pepper, who nodded encouragingly, and then nodded himself. "You're right. JARVIS, tell whoever is calling that the Avengers are nothing to do with Stark Industries, and that I apologise that they've wasted their time."
"As you say, sir."
Tony shook his head, and then lounged back against the sofa. "Captain America being charged with terrorism. That's something that you don't see every day, isn't it?"
…
The clanging of the cell door resounded in Tony's head, and he closed his eyes briefly. He'd woken up with a monster headache that morning, but the visit was already set, and he was too busy to rearrange it.
Besides, he wanted to get it over and done with.
Stark Industries had kept him away from home for over three weeks, and he was more than ready to get back to New York, especially since he knew there was someone waiting for him, these days.
"You came!"
Tony arched his eyebrow at the exuberant greeting, and gestured to the table for Steve to sit down. The guards on either side of him shackled him to the table so that he couldn't move, ignoring Steve's rather loud protests.
Tony hadn't believed that they'd managed to find a way to hold him, but he'd been duly informed that, with the amount of enhanced people popping up all over the world, many places had found a way to build specialised prisons that were capable of holding many different powers. Super strength had apparently been one of the easier problems to solve.
"I'm here because you've been driving my staff man," Tony said, his tone flat. "So, tell me why you've been demanding to see me so much, so that I can get on with my life."
"You need to get us out of here!" Steve exclaimed.
Tony sighed. "Why on earth would I do that? You broke the law, you have to pay the price for that. That's how the world works, Steve."
"They blew it all out of proportion," Steve scowled. "We were doing the right thing."
"What were you even doing in Lagos?" Tony asked, though he already knew the answer.
"I, uh. We were looking for… someone."
"Barnes, by any chance?"
Steve froze, staring at him. "What do… how do you know?"
"The data dump had some very interesting footage," Tony said, leaning back in his seat. "Were you ever planning to tell me that your friend murdered my parents, Rogers?"
"You don't let me get anywhere near you, when would I have been able to tell you about it?"
"You could have emailed me," Tony pointed out. "Sent me a text. Told my secretary that you had some important information to relay."
Steve looked away. Tony rolled his eyes.
"The thing is, I don't expect any loyalty from you, because we're not friends. We're barely coworkers, and even that's questionable. It did, however, tell me that I was right not to give into SHIELD. That I was right to not allow the Avengers to take over my life, the way that I believe Nick expected me to."
"You're really just going to leave us here to rot?" Steve asked, glaring at him. "Bucky's out there somewhere, either scared out of his mind, or back under the control of Hydra, and you don't even care."
Tony tilted his head. "He murdered my parents. Did you really expect anything else?"
"From you? No," Steve sneered. "You don't do anything unless it benefits you, do you, Stark?"
Tony snorted and stood up, shaking his head. As he walked over to the bars to call for the guards to let him out, he said, "It might interest you to know that Barnes was found months ago. He's had extensive therapy, and the triggers have been removed from his mind. He's still taking it day-to-day, but he's safe."
Steve opened his mouth, but Tony raised his voice to stop him from talking over him.
"Don't contact me again, Rogers. The numbers of the prison have been blocked on all Stark Industries properties, and any mail sent to me is always checked long before it gets anywhere near my hands. Perhaps, when you've finished your sentence, Barnes will want to see you." He tilted his head. "I wouldn't count on it though. When he saw your trial, and the way you dismissed the lives of those that died because of you, he was quite horrified. Goodbye, Rogers."
Tony could still hear the clanging of the chains holding Steve in his seat, and his angry words being shouted, when he was two corridors away from the cell, but he didn't care.
It wasn't his problem.
…
Bucky was waiting for him when he landed on the landing pad of the tower. Tony smiled as the suit retracted around him.
"You're home."
He nodded. "I'm home. How are you doing, snowflake?"
"Better now you're here."