Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last conversation. You are all wonderful.
We are still in bad timeline 2023. We actually will be spending a bit more time there over the next few chapters.
Continuity note: Remember when I said I would explain how this story diverges from the main timeline in 1955. Some of that explanation will happen in this chapter. This chapter contains heavy spoilers for the first half of AOS season seven, especially episode 7.4. I'm just glad that the show has aired on Disney+ in the UK by this point. It is also on Netflix in the US.
Conversation 27: I apologize for not realizing how different and yet similar these timelines are
Counselor Laura: Tony, I am sorry that you read that conversation. I don't think I realized how different this timeline would be.
Tony Potts: You don't have to be sorry. You didn't know that I didn't know. This is a different timeline, so maybe you assumed that I still found out by some other means?
Counselor Laura: Which is stupid because you shouldn't make assumptions. I should've realized that you wouldn't have known because your relationship with Steve was how other Tony found out the truth.
Tony Potts: His boy killed another member of my family, and Steve kept it a secret. That seems on brand.
Counselor Laura: No. In my timeline, you and Steve started really talking to each other. During one of these conversations, you told him the story of what you thought happened to Ana. Steve recognized that it didn't quite make sense because of his personal experience with similar childhood lies.
Tony Potts: What were these childhood lies?
Counselor Laura: You're going to have to ask Steve about that. Ask him if he has any family in Nevada.
Tony Potts: Fair enough.
Counselor Laura: Anyway, Steve didn't want to be in a position to keep something from you again, so he asked Friday to look into his suspicions. Friday asked Leo, not the original timeline Fitz but the Leo that came from this time to look into it. Because of his time in the framework as Hydra's head, he knew where the bodies were buried.
Tony Potts: I heard about that. It makes sense.
Counselor Laura: That's when we started to uncover the truth regarding Hydra's many assassination attempts against your father, Uncle Daniel, and Aunt Peggy. As well as the unfortunate collateral damage. Although we didn't know the stuff about Daniel for probably another year.
Counselor Laura: Coulson was the one who informed you that Ana was an unfortunate victim of a stray bullet during one of the attempts on your father.
Tony Potts: Uncle Daniel didn't actually die of a heart attack?
Counselor Laura: No, he was poisoned. From what we've uncovered so far, that successful attempt was number seven. The first attempt was in 1955 when he and Peggy were on a break. A contact only known as GR told Peggy that the Russians would try to take Daniel out at a hotel. She flew across the country to save him, and that's when they got back together.
Tony Potts: So, it was Hydra, not Russia?
Counselor Laura: Yes. Daniel suspected that SHIELD was infiltrated by Hydra. Unfortunately, instead of going to his ex-girlfriend, he went to his direct supervisor Wilford Malick. That led to near assassinations at hotels.
Tony Potts: That last name seems familiar.
Counselor Laura: His son ordered the nuke that you flew into a portal. Hydra has been the family brand since before the great depression. Per Leo, Wilford Malick handed one of the ingredients for the supersoldier cocktail to Hydra himself in 1931.
Tony Potts: Before the Great Depression?
Counselor Laura: How much do you know about the cult of Hive?
Tony Potts: Not as much as I wish I did right now.
Counselor Laura: Friday, did Ana 2018 send you essential files regarding Hydra's history from my timeline?
Friday: Yes.
Counselor Laura: Can you put a primer together about what is not known in this timeline?
Friday: Of course, Agent Barton.
Tony Potts: Why do I feel like there's a lot I don't know? I hate it when I don't know stuff.
Counselor Laura: Let's just say my Tony had a very busy two years.
Tony Potts: He's engaged to the less asshole version of Stevie bear. Also, apparently, he is the director of Shield's replacement organization. He also has three kids. Busy seems like an understatement.
Counselor Laura: Acting director, my Tony can't get through a confirmation hearing for being too independent and way too gay. Also, Steve is still a bit of an asshole. It's a universal trait. But he's getting better at acknowledging that in my timeline.
Tony Potts: That is strangely comforting. Is being engaged to Captain America working for or against him?
Counselor Laura: It's a little mixed, mostly because technically, Captain America is now May. Although she usually uses Agent America, the press still calls her Captain America because she has the shield. Steve is Nomad.
Counselor Laura: [image one attached]
Tony Potts: That is such a better costume. Friday, sweetheart, do you think you can do something with that image?
Friday: Yes, because Ana 2018 passed me tactical uniform specs. Although I will need to contact General Okoye for some resources, I've been given an authorization code.
Tony Potts: We probably need to contact her anyway to be on standby.
Friday: I will take care of it.
Tony Potts: I want to know how that happened, but I feel like I need to learn more about Hydra's secret history and the fact that they kept killing off my family members. Also, there is the fact they kept using Steve's BFF to do it. That's just really fucked up.
Counselor Laura: It wasn't the Winter Soldier. It was too much of a risk of triggering his memories and losing the asset. He was the last resort.
Tony Potts: Which if they started in 1955, it took them 36 years to get there.
Counselor Laura: After Daniel survived the attempt in 1955, Hydra didn't try again for a while with Daniel. Mostly because the agent stopped saying things to his supervisor and faked memory loss because of the information GR gave to him.
Counselor Laura: Daniel didn't want to get Peggy involved, so he went to your father, and they started investigating. At least that's what we could piece together from the papers we found in the Krazy Kanoe (it was an old Shield safe house).
Counselor Laura: Every time they got close, there would be another attempt that would slow them down. Unfortunately, one of these attempts resulted in your Aunt Ana being collateral damage. Because of that, your father decided to send you off to boarding school.
Tony Potts: How many attempts? You said there were seven for Uncle Daniel.
Counselor Laura: We uncovered 15 so far against your father only. There may have been more, but some of the records were destroyed. That's just Hydra. There were a few assassination attempts from Roxxon and even one from Obadiah on his own in 1989.
Counselor Laura: As I stated earlier, we uncovered at least six against Daniel, not counting when they succeeded, and at least four against your Aunt Peggy. But again, some records were destroyed, so things are inconclusive.
Tony Potts: I'm not even surprised. You know some of those records may not be destroyed here. We could look into it?
Counselor Laura: That's maybe something Friday can look into when I'm not trying to figure out how to avoid an apocalypse. However, they're working on getting me back on their end.
Counselor Laura: The Genius Princess likes your idea, and I think she's going to convince the others to run with it. Although you probably already knew that because you were reading those messages.
Tony Potts: Actually, I stopped when the Ana stuff came out. It is good to know. This will make operation keep away easier. We can put a list of where all the stones were in 2018. They can do all the tech work.
Tony Potts: Although we are still going to have to give them what we have to make it go faster. They're working on a deadline. We are not.
Counselor Laura: Friday, how many days do we have until they contact us again?
Friday: They will contact us at 2 PM their time, which will be two days and 18 hours from now for us.
Tony Potts: We should probably get busy.
Counselor Laura: Definitely, although I'm not sure if things will work the way we think they are. We don't know when the purple ass hole grabbed some of the stones. The Thanos in my timeline may already have some. Yes, you guys can help us keep him from getting more, but you might need to get some stones from other places to complete your gauntlet.
Tony Potts: You're right. Oh, I'm going to have to call Build-a-Bear.
Counselor Laura: Who is Build-a-Bear?
Tony Potts: Rocket, he kind of looks like a raccoon but don't call him a raccoon. It's offensive.
Counselor Laura: I'll make a note.
Tony Potts: You don't seem shocked by that.
Counselor Laura: I've been warned, and I've been a Shield Agent for a little while.
Tony Potts: So, nothing freaks you out anymore?
Counselor Laura: Talking to my daughter made me cry. I didn't come to you in person because I'm still fixing my makeup. She's scared and terrified. Connor is angry at everyone, and I want to get home so badly.
Tony Potts: That's normal. Also, Melinda says teenagers are incredibly moody. I'm not looking forward to Morgan's teenage years. I don't know why my other self decided to start with teenagers and preteens.
Counselor Laura: They're not great, especially when you're in the middle of a separation/divorce. Connor is also upset because Tony and Clint want to send all the kids to Malta to get them out of the line of fire. At least the ones without superpowers. I doubt Flash and MJ are going anywhere, partially because Flash is 18, and MJ listens to no one except maybe Daisy. She's still MIA with Thor and Loki.
Tony Potts: If operation keep away does work, then it would be better for the kids to be in Malta or at least away from anywhere with the stones.
Counselor Laura: And if we're not successful?
Tony Potts: Then, nowhere in your universe is safe. I was on another planet in a completely different solar system. I still watched Peter disappear in my arms.
Tony Potts: No, I don't want to talk about how traumatic that was ever. I just want to undo it.
Counselor Laura: And maybe make sure nobody feels that loss in my time. I don't want you to feel that. You know that even if you undo everything, the trauma is still going to be there?
Tony Potts: So we've been thinking of doing this with a suit, so we would need particles for each person, but what if we could bring a ship. Then maybe we could bring all the kids here while we're dealing with the purple ass hole. Friday did send over Deke's jump drive work, and I think the team in 2018 can work with that.
Counselor Laura: That could work. It's something to work on before the next call or, rather, text message session. Friday, are they trying to get voice? I really would like to hear my kids.
Friday: Text allows for greater exchange of data through the window. But I will see if video clips can be transferred through.
Tony Potts: We will work with what we have. How did things go with your not a husband?
Counselor Laura: Clint is going to cooperate, but we still need Simmons.
Tony Potts: Who is a drunk mess on a good day. The breathalyzer protocol isn't helping things. She's just staying in her room now to drink.
Counselor Laura: Will knowing Deek is OK help?
Tony Potts: I don't know. But I think I know who will. And now that the kids are with Pepper, we can bring him in.
Counselor Laura: Hunter?
Tony Potts: Yes. This will piss off Pepper because I don't think she wants to take care of both kids for an extended period by herself. Although the big sister is supposed to arrive Friday night, which will help.
Counselor Laura: You should go visit the kids with Steve. That way, you can give Pepper a little break so Hunter can come up and maybe get Simmons to stop drinking.
Tony Potts: I should totally go visit the kids with the May-Rogers.
Counselor Laura: While you're doing that, I will talk to Scott and get a readout of what actually happened with somebody named Ghost five years ago.
Tony Potts: I've only known Scott for a few days, but he seems like an excited puppy.
Counselor Laura: I can deal with an excited puppy.
Xxx
Counselor Laura: Hey, this is Laura. If Tony comes to invite you and Steve to go with him to visit the kids, can you please let Steve go alone? I know you probably want to see your daughters, but they need to work out their bullshit for the love of humanity.
Counselor Laura: Also, Friday received a bunch of files from my timeline's Shield. As the director, you probably need to look at them anyway.
Director May Rogers: I agree. I'm tired of Steve using me to avoid his Tony feelings. They're exhausting.
Counselor Laura: So you're aware of what's going on?
Director May Rogers: I'm well aware Steve is in love with Tony and has been for a really long time. Pepper and I have been trying to figure out for the last year how to set them up.
Counselor Laura: This is why you have always been my favorite godmother of my kids. It makes total sense that you two are conspiring.
Director May Rogers: I am glad to have someone else helping.
Counselor Laura: I don't know if you will be so happy when you read the files, but I'm glad to help.
To be continued…
As we get new medium in the MCU, I will be using that for background and to assist with the characterization of characters in this story. I can tell you now I'm going to have some fun with WandaVision background information. I'm sure the next show will give me more goodies to play with.
Once again, we are in our own branch timeline that started to diverge in 1955 (Although we don't go completely off the rails until 2016 and 2018, respectively).
So, who is GR?