"Harley!" A voice called from downstairs, immediately putting Harley on edge.
Why, you may be wondering?
Because that's his mom shouting for him to come down,
And instead of her usual loving tone, it's replaced by heart-crushing fear.
He immediately makes sure that his potato launcher gauntlet is firmly attached to his arm and ready to strike as he walks down the stairs at a steady pace.
If he rushed, he could be shot by whatever monster is downstairs making his mom scared.
"Hi Mom," He begins as he walks into the living room where he can see the back of his mom, who stood frozen as if she had met Medusa's snake eyes and been immortalised in stone forever.
His heart skipped a beat as he realized what she was watching.
But instead of Medusa's snake eyes holding them in place, it's mam- Mechanic.
Harley moves closer to the TV, relief all over his face at seeing Mechanic.
Ever since she had disappeared after what the media called the "Civil War", he was so worried that he'd never see his ma- mechanic again and that he'd never tell her that he was really glad that her Iron Queen suit had failed in Tennesse and that he got a chance to have her in his life as his, his mama.
Because that's what she was.
His mama.
And he loves his mom and Mechanic made it clear that she would never replace his mom.
But she just filled the space in his life and became the second parent he and his sister, Abby, (short for Abigail), was missing.
An involuntary smile creeps up on his face as he thinks about the way he and Abby had tried to "Parent Trap" their mom and Toni together.
They would be one happy family, like the ones they show on TV.
But then, his gaze locked on the screen again, and the blood in his veins turned to ice.
He froze, and his breath caught in his throat.
What he saw next was not his mama.
It was Toni Stark—the real Toni Stark—dead.
What?!
His hands shook as the lemonade his mama had been holding slipped from her grasp and shattered on the floor.
“What the hell?” Harley whispered, his voice a hoarse rasp as he took a step back.
The glass of lemonade that Rose Keener, mother of Harley and Abigail Kenner, was holding, slipped out of her hand and shattered on the floor after she saw Steve Rogers, Captain America, lean over Toni Stark, his shield being thrown at Toni but missing and hitting the wall with a resounding clang that sent shivers down Rose's spine. Her hand flew to her mouth, stifling a scream, as she realized the gravity of the situation.
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Why would they do that? Why was Steve Rogers—someone she had always thought of as a hero—fighting her Toni?
Rose flinched and this time let out a shriek of worry at seeing two super soldiers fighting Toni.
Why the hell were they doing that when Toni was so obviously grieving and feeling betrayed?
At hearing a hitched breath, Rose remembered she wasn't the only one in the room and immediately turned to Harley and went to move him out of the room.
“Mom, no. It’s Mechanic. I gotta see what the hell these sick bastards did to her.”
Rose turned to her son, her protective instincts kicking in. “Harley, sugar, you’re too young to be watchin’ this.” Her voice trembled, but Harley wasn’t listening. She saw the fire in his eyes, the need to understand, to fight back.
(Rose Keener was not blind. She was aware of how Harley and Abbie loved Toni and saw her as a parental figure in their lives after she had crashlanded -literally- into their lives and how, in so many ways, Toni had become the missing piece of their broken puzzle.. Rose Keener is also painfully aware of how attractive Toni Stark is and she would not mind living out the happy family fantasy that her children had in mind.)
Rose’s heart thudded painfully in her chest. She wanted to shield him from this horror—this betrayal—but she knew, deep down, she couldn’t protect him from the truth.
The clanging noise echoed in Rose’s ears. She couldn’t breathe. She could barely think.
With a trembling body, Rose Keener steeled herself before she turned to the TV and immediately let out a shout of horror at seeing Captain America leaning over her Toni with his shield in her chest.
Rose, suddenly felt faint, fell onto her knees, gently dragging her son down with her and immediately held him in her arms because she knew that something bad had happened to her darling Antonia and she knew that would cause both the Keeners in the living room to cling to each other in comfort.
(Rose was so glad that Abbie was in school and so angry at the world for making Harley suspended on this very week so that he had to stay home and watch his mama be nearly murdered.)
Then the screen shifted again.
Toni’s icy blue eyes glared at the camera, and Harley froze once more, his heart slamming into his ribs. It was as if Toni could see him. See his grief. His confusion. His helplessness.
In those cold eyes, Harley saw no trace of the warmth he’d always known. No trace of the woman who had once cared for him like a second mom. Instead, it was a hard, unblinking stare, as Toni announced the words that would haunt him forever.
“Toni Stark is dead.”
His mama was dead.
Dead.
The room seemed to spin, and Harley’s breath came in short, shallow gasps.
No.
He couldn’t accept it. He’d seen her just last month, laughing about the Accords, trying to keep her team together, battling to hold everything in place. But now? Now she was gone.
Rose’s arms tightened around Harley’s trembling body, pulling him close. She was crying too, but she couldn’t move to wipe the tears away. Her arms were wrapped tight around her son, the weight of the moment suffocating her.
Her thoughts swirled. Antonia. Sweet, brilliant Antonia. The woman who had changed their lives forever. The woman who had loved them all. She was gone.
And in that moment, as she stared at Christine Everhart’s tear-filled eyes on the screen, Rose knew her anger, her grief, her need for justice—it wasn’t alone. The whole world felt this pain now. And Christine’s words were the fire that would ignite it.