Prologue
Prologue:
It had been four months since the Civil War that occurred causing the Avengers to split in half. Unfortunately this divide could have been avoided if the teams had spoken between each other, instead of there being presumptions. When Toni Stark was left to die in Siberia, Russia, when Pietro and Vision had arrived to save her, she fell into a month long coma.
Since the events that transpired, Team Ironman had been staying in the Avengers Tower. These people being; Pietro Maximoff, her basically adopted son, Peter Stark-Parker and Harley Stark-Keener her adopted sons, Vision, Loki Laufeyson, Thor Odinson, Bruce Banner and James Rhodes. Once the team got acquitted, the others moved in, being; Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers, Wanda Maximoff, Sam Wilson, and Clint Barton and Scott Lang visited when not with their families. Finally there was James Bucky Barnes.
As soon as Toni Stark was awake, she got to work on James Rhodes, legs. As he had lost the function to them after being shot out of the sky, she had been working on prosthetic legs that meant he could move freely. After this, he started working on a new arm for Bucky. She never blamed Bucky for what happened to her parent's. When she arrived in Siberia, she had been confused, upset, and had the death of her mother thrown into her face. What hurt however, was Steve Rogers having lied to her. He had been using her resources for years to find him, but had not once told her. If he had, she would have happily helped him. The reason she started working on his arm, was the guilt she felt for blowing his previous arm off. However, she believes he will be happy with how this one has turned out.
Everyone on team Iron Man in the Avengers tower were worried about Toni. The reason being, she had not been sleeping, often sleeping for a few hours every three days. She was eating generally a piece of fruit a day and one meal every two. She was becoming extremely underweight, where her ribs and collarbones were sticking out significantly, as well as her cheek bones. Her skin still had an olive shade to it, but could see it was pasty compared to normal, and had dark circles around her eyes. Toni had been in non-stop meetings, making payments, speaking to government officials, and finally, getting the Avengers that were part of Team Captain, acquitted. She had also been in her workshop working on Rhodes's legs and Bucky's arm. She had also been working on updating all her Ironman suits.
None had been more worried however than, Loki, Pietro, Peter and Harley. Loki and Toni had become close friends, starting two years after the attack at New York. Loki had come to the tower under the orders of King Odin, to spend time away from Asgard. During this time, Loki and Toni had gotten closer. With Loki being unable to use their powers, they had started visiting Toni in her workshop, no matter how many times Toni told them to leave, they never did, and she got to the point that she stopped trying to make them leave, and instead used them as an assistant and started teaching them what she does. Loki and Toni had both been up one night, both having nightmares, and during that time, Toni had broken down about what she saw when she went through the Wormhole and Loki told her about when they fell into the Abyss, and was getting tortured, and mind controlled into the attack in New York. Since that day, they gotten even closer, where Loki became one of her best friends, alongside Rhodey.
This led to Loki, Pietro, Peter and Harley talking about getting the two teams together, to watch the life of Toni Stark. Who she was. Who she changed to be. What really happened regarding the Accords, and in Siberia.
*****
It was 10am one morning, when Loki had requested the people in the tower, Clint, Scott, King T'Challa, Princess Shuri, Carol Danvers, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and James Rhodes to meet in the movie room. Toni was still in her workshop.
"Hey FRIDAY?"
"Yes, Toni?"
"Can you do an analysis of Bucky's arm? I need to make sure the hand moves correctly, once it is attached to his shoulder and nerves, and I need to make sure it has touch scenes, so when he uses his arm and hand, it is as accurate as if it was a flesh hand."
"I will do it straight away, miss."
"Thanks Honey."
As this was happening, Toni moved over to her suit MARK 64. She wanted to make sure the beginning of NANOTECH still worked with the weapons she would be connecting. Upstairs however, all the Avengers and Co. entered the living room. The two teams stood on opposite sides of the room, glaring at one another.
"What are we doing here?" Snarled Steve. The anger in his tone did not sit well with Team Stark, as well as Bucky, Clint and Natasha. They had not heard that level of anger before, and were feeling slightly uncomfortable.
Loki stepped out of the shadows, and cleared their throat. "I have requested you all to come here. Ever since Civil War, there has been an astounding amount of tension between those that fought alongside Steve and those with Toni. I want to help get rid of this tension, the main reason being, there is another force gaining power, who will cause devastation amongst the entire universe if these two teams cannot work alongside one another. To do this, we need to gain a further understanding of Toni Stark, who she is, and why she has done what she has done, alongside everything she has done in the background that none of you may realise or have appreciated."
"Why are we watching her life?" Wanda said frustrated. She didn't want to watch anything to do with the woman that tried to lock her in the compound, and then got her locked in prison. Steve, Sam and Scott all nodded alongside her.
"As I said, nobody here truely understands what she has done for this team. You are all stuck on the bad things that have occurred, but nothing she has done that was positive, even stuff that you are unaware about. Knowing who she is will hopefully help the bridge between the two teams close."
"Have you told Toni about this?" Nick Fury asked before anyone could interrupt.
"I am going to go to the workshop and tell her by herself. She may not feel comfortable, but this needs to be done," Loki told them. "Get yourselves comfortable, I am going to go get her now."
As the rest of the team sat down, Loki walked out and went into the elevator to get to the floor where her and Bruce's workshops were.
"FRIDAY, can you turn down the music, please?" As FRIDAY did as such, Toni's head whipped up.
"Loki, why is my music off? You know I don't like being disturbed." Toni stood up and walked up to Loki, smiling slightly.
"I have to tell you something, Lady Toni, and I don't think you'll be happy."
"What did you do?" Toni's brows furrowed.
Loki then explained what they had told the team, and they watched Toni's face get pale, and bit her lip uncomfortably.
"Why?" A tear leaked out of her eyes. "I don't want them seeing my life."
"Toni, Pietro, Harley, Peter and I, truely think this will help. I know you miss Clint, and you want to get closer to Bucky. You have done such an incredible thing for him. I also know you don't blame him, but with Steve around, you never get the chance to speak with him. I know you want to thank him for getting rid of Howard, and you are hurt about Maria, but you need to speak with him too. Scott and Sam would understand who you truely are, without Steve's biases, and Pietro wants his sister back, but sides with you. This will help in so many ways."
"Will they see, Afghanistan?" Her voice was trembling.
"They have to Toni, that is when it all started."
Toni turned away, tears leaking from her eyes. "I'm sorry, Toni, but it will help, I know it."
"Okay, I trust you, Loki."
Loki pressed a small kiss to the temple of her head, but brushing her tears away. "Go get ready, we will meet you at the Theatre Room." Toni nodded before walking away.
*****
After Toni's shower, where she broke down, she got changed into ripped, baggy, boyfriend jeans, wore her black stilettos, a tight black tank top and an oversized leather jacket. She carefully dried and straightened her black hair so it reached her waist, before putting on lip balm, made small black wings with her eyeliner and her mascara. She then added her gold earrings, gold ring in her nose, and a long gold necklace with her birth gem at the end, bought from Loki on their two year anniversary. She took a deep breath before leaving her room, making herself a coffee and walking to the theatre room. When she stepped in, everyone went quiet.
Steve and Wanda looked at her in annoyance, whereas Scott and Sam looked at her with distrust. Clint and Natasha looked at her with concern. They could see how thin she had gotten, and although she wore makeup, nothing could cover the black circles under her eyes. Whereas Bucky could barely look at her without guilt. Toni walked past them all, ignoring the stares, except her eyes landed on Bucky. He could feel her stare, and slowly looked up. When they met eyes, he expected to see her glaring at him, however, what he saw surprised him. She looked at him, and gave a small smile, which made his eyes widen. When she saw this, she shook her head slightly and smiled wider, before mouthing, it's okay. He looked shocked before giving her a small smile back. She then went over to where Rhodey was sitting and took a seat next to him, with Harley and Peter sitting in front of her on beanbags, and had Loki sitting on her other side. The seating arrangements were below:
Rhodey, Toni, Loki, Pietro Clint, Natasha, Steve, Wanda
Carol, Fury, Maria, Vision Bucky, Sam, Scott
T'Challa, Shuri, Hope Thor, Bruce
Scott was shocked to say the least, when he saw Hope sit where Toni's team was sitting. He thought Hope hated everything to do with Toni Stark, so all he could think was, why is she there?
As everyone got comfortable, Toni then turned to Team Steve and locked eyes with Bucky once again. He looked at her slightly confused before she smiled again and started to speak.
"Hey Barnes," she said quietly, and straight away Steve turned to look at her.
"Toni..." he said warningly. Bucky however put up his hand to stop him from speaking, before nodding at Toni to continue.
"Can we have a chat during the first break? I have something to show you."
Steve, Sam and Scott sent her a glare, not trusting what she is saying, whereas Nat and Clint looked confused.
"Bucky, I don't think..." Steve started before Bucky cut him off.
"Yes we can, Ms. Stark."
"Toni," she corrected.
"Then call me, Bucky," he smiled. She smiled back before turning to Loki who was nodding approvingly.
"Let's begin," Loki said, and as the movie began, Toni leant sideways to lean on Rhodey.
*****