Chapter 6
Natasha breathed as she walked next to Fury. The revelations in Stark's living room were disturbing as were the implications. She already knew they would be cleaning house with a vengeance but the fact that the world, no the freaking universe, had needed time travel of all things to fix whatever the fuck up in the future was? Yeah, no. It was disturbing. Then to go and realize that reality itself was the one to actually trigger the sequence and travel?! Red Room or no Red Room Stark had just shot to the top of the list of people to keep the fucking hell alive!!
"We will have to ensure that Stark's daughter is born if only to avoid paradoxes unless she's from an alternate timeline and got dropped in ours," Fury muttered, clearly working over the new data as they got in the car and drove away.
"I might not be fully up to date on the risks of time travel and time manipulation but if she does get born we should ensure that she's given some form of the super soldier serum. I have a very low level version of it so if we can make sure my blood is compatible a transfusion should at least set up the basics in her system," Natasha offered neutrally. "If not then finding another Widow with a compatible blood type isn't impossible."
"Noted," Fury said gruffly. "This stays between us. Hydra can never find out about the Stark family or their pet wizard doctor being time travelers. They will land on everyone's radar eventually but if we have to burn all of Shield to protect them..."
"I understand completely," Natasha said softly. She waited a minute or two before speaking again. "From their reactions we might not have made the best impression on them in the previous timeline but they automatically gave us minimal trust. I don't know what happened there but we can use that and close ranks around both Dr. Stark and Dr. Strange. The woman, Stark's daughter, is so completely off-grid with the magic side that I don't know if we can or even should do anything with that."
Fury grunted but didn't belabor the point. He knew that she was right.
Two hours later they were approaching the nearest base and Fury had a decision to make. It would be better if both sides of SHIELD/HYDRA were on board with protecting the Starks, especially since Hydra was likely to become a threat to them sooner rather than later. A memo wouldn't do the trick but a dramatic announcement framed as blackmail from Stark might at least get the idiots to pause before trying to kill off Iron Man or someone he cared about.
Fury waited until he was in his office before officially deciding what he was going to do. Agent Romanoff had split off back to the barracks early on and that, he decided, was a very good thing. Picking up his phone he tapped the sequence that put him on the PA system then tapped the secondary sequence which set a recording of the coming announcement to be passed over to every last SHIELD location and Agent. Even those with a coms blackout on mission would eventually get a copy if only as a transcript.
"Alright people, this is Director Fury," Fury growled into the phone. "New information on Tony Stark has come to light. To put it bluntly keep the genius bastard alive. If you happen to be faced with dealing with an alien invasion or a zombie apocalypse or, hell, even the sudden reappearance of HYDRA with the complete collective of the world powers at their back or keeping Stark alive? Pick Stark. A threat to all of Shield? Pick protecting Stark. The man's father was a founding member of Shield so if nothing else he can rebuild us from the fucking ashes. There is no longer a possible accurate threat assessment as an enemy on Stark. If he ever decides to go classic evil supervillain there is no stopping him from just taking over the world in under six months. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200, understand? He is also the only reason that certain AIs which can pass the turning test have not gone completely Skynet, kill all humans on us. If he dies then the single check on that pre-existing risk is fucking gone. He is also currently the best equipped to deal with it should some other fucker manage to make Skynet and set it loose. I have no doubt that if he's not listening in on this already he'll have a transcript by the end of the day. I hope this satisfies his current need for revenge for the agent shadow he's had until now. This extends to his close circle of friends and anyone he claims as family because if anyone makes him into an enemy we all burn. If he wants access to something give it to him regardless of clearance. If he gets upset over it offer to let him have the lot because he's more likely to make it at least useful and we do not want him going scorched earth, ever. If you want to pass along the transcript of this to other agencies be my fucking guest! The more people willing to keep that bastard alive and sane the more likely the planet survives at least the next decade or two. If you find someone even joking about killing him, put a bullet in their brain. Anything world shaking that he decides to handle on his own you either offer to help or back the fuck off. Now, I am going to have a beer, some ice cream, and put on a movie. Unless you're actively dealing with a live mission take the night off and feel free to get drunk. I know I wish that I could. Fury out."
Elsewhere there were many concerned looks exchanged.
"What the hell did Stark even do?! I mean his electric butler is in his official file but to boost him specifically to holding back the end of the world status after one visit?!" Someone muttered.
"Uh, rogue Skynet isn't a reason for that?!" Someone else snarked.
"I'm more concerned about the supervillain and take over the world references," a third person muttered. "Well, that and his sudden literally impossible to rank new threat level as an enemy."
"Who wants to bet he pulled a Doctor Who thing?" a forth person asked.
"Pass/Suckers bet/Dude, impossible is his thing!" came back at the gambler.
Many an agent took Fury up on the offer to get drunk that night. Three days later, when news of the newly invented element came out, watching Doctor Who suddenly became a very popular off duty activity in an attempt to anticipate what else Stark might find himself in the middle of. It wouldn't be until years later that the surviving agents thanked God that they had run with the Doctor Who "Stark" joke and got everyone up to date on most of the modern episodes. Pandorica and cracks throughout all of time and space eat your fucking heart out.