Legends Never Die
Ren knew she couldn’t say no. She could hardly even put up a good fight. Nat knew it too. That’s why she indulged her feeble protests before Ren eventually relented.
But she sure as hell deserved a cookie for this because the mission was heading out first thing in the morning. No time to sleep. They were already shuffling up to the conference room for a briefing. After that, the team was gonna choke down a few protein bars and suit up.
Half asleep staring at the big screen were her, Cap, Nat, Bucky, Sam, and Clint. On the screen were Maria and Fury, laying out the details of the upcoming mission. The Hydra base was 7 hours away by quinjet. While the intel wasn’t entirely certain, it was dire enough that they were going to head out without confirming it.
Fury was in the middle of spewing some tactical jargon for the mission when JARVIS interrupted.
“Pardon the interruption, but I believe you should turn on the television. Channel 5 if you will,”
Everyone stopped what they were doing and saying. Jumping into a conversation was unlike the program that ran the tower, so it must be important. With a few words, Natasha ended the call with Fury and turned on the news.
If the room had seemed quiet before, it was now silent as death. That's what they saw on the TV. Ren could feel her heart drop and her head began to spin.
Tony Stark was dead.
…
Somehow, they had missed it. Everyone had heard about the devastating explosions in passing, but it hadn’t seemed important enough to outweigh Hydra. Apparently, it had been important enough to Tony.
They all sat there in shock as the newscaster droned on, about the destroyed mansion, how Pepper made it out safely, and how they couldn’t find Stark’s body. Despite all odds, that gave Ren hope.
“JARVIS,” Nat yelled, “Call Pepper Potts,”
“Calling Miss Potts,”
…
Pepper was… well Pepper was Pepper. Upset, obviously, but still maintained her quiet sense of authority. It wasn’t hard to tell that she was tenuously keeping her emotions in check, yet the woman did her best. She filled the team in on everything that had been going on. With Tony, Killian, The Mandarin, and Happy.
Ren couldn’t believe Happy was in the hospital, that he’d almost died, and that Tony…
She couldn’t believe none of them had been paying attention. If she had it her way she would rush down there right now to help Pepper. Figure out what Tony had been looking into and finish what he started. Be there for Pepper and Happy too. Judging from the frenzied chatter in the conference room, everyone else wanted the same thing.
Pepper, of course, was far more practical.
“No, no. You guys have your own mission to take care of. Tony would’ve wanted you guys to keep doing what you’re doing, it’s too important. And I don’t want any of you to get hurt,”
“We’re worried about you Pepper,” Ren said. After her months in the tower, she and Ms. Potts had become friends. Even though she had just vowed to stop Hydra, this took precedence, “And it’s not like someone can blow me up. If anyone is qualified to help you with this it's us,”
She pursed her lips, “Please, Ren - all of you - stay where you are and do what you’re doing. Tony would feel better knowing that this Hydra base was being taken care of. I’m looking into the Mandarin on my end, with a friend of Tony’s,”
The team was quiet for a minute, exchanging looks and deliberating. Nat took a sip of her coffee - which Ren was 83% sure had whiskey in it. “You’re right Ms. Potts,” Nat told her, “But as soon as we finish this, we’re coming to help you,”
“Call, if you need anything,” Steve added.
The phone call wrapped up pretty quickly after that. Ren didn’t exactly love leaving Pepper on her own, but the decision had been made and the team had work to do. The window to get the Hydra base was closing.
“We could split up,” Bruce suggested, “Those of us who are best for the Hydra mission can head out to Indiana, the rest can go join Ms. Potts,”
Ren tried to swallow her feelings about Starks death and her concern for Pepper, “As much as we wish we could, and while that's a good idea, we have no idea who this ‘Mandarin’ is, or even where to start looking for him,”
“She’s right Banner. Our intel on Hydra is fresh, we have limited time and can arguably save more lives by stopping them,” Steve advised. “The Mandarin is a terrible person, and if I could take care of him right now I would.”
“I’d kill the bastard,” Natasha mumbled, Ren couldn’t help but echo the sentiment.
“But,” Cap continued, “He’s just a person, and there’s other people out there that can handle him. We are the only ones who can take down Hydra,”
Barnes finally lifted his head. Since the news about Stark, he’d been quiet - attentive, just not participating. “Nice speech, Captain America,” Steve gave him a small chagrined smile.