Chapter 2
Tony had had enough of people lying to him. He tried not to lie in return. Tried to keep himself open and honest about things with his loved ones.
But the truth, well it was often complicated. And sometimes some truths were better kept secret.
To the public, and SHIELD, Ironman was an anonymous man in a high tech suit of armor Tony had built in a fit of paranoia to protect himself from his many, many enemies. A story constructed by the aforementioned public that Tony had just let them run with. The truth was that Tony and Ironman were one and the same.
The truth was, SHIELD had asked Tony to reach out to Captain Margaret Elizabeth “Peggy” Carter. Tony hemmed, hawed, and hacked into their servers in search of the full story.
Carter had popped out of an Einstein-Rosen Bridge in the bowels of a blacksite in New Mexico. She’d slipped out of SHIELD and had holed up in Brooklyn, living like a ghost off of her 70 plus years worth of back pay.
He told them to fuck off. He’d gone to see her to sate his own curiosity. He’d ended up befriending the woman his father had searched his whole life to find.
SHIELD continued to have him consult on various projects. Helicarriers, body armor, weaponry. And some snippet of code that got Tony wondering what they were up to. He’d never been one to trust spy agencies. He’d made that clear at the battle of New York.
He trusted Fury about as far as he could throw him (without the help of the suit). Spies Lied. Lied by omission, lied outright, didn’t matter. Call him a hypocrite, but Tony wanted the truth.
The truth was Operation Oversight. The truth was an eye in the sky, a hand striking before a crime was committed. Guilty before being proven so. Tony leaned back in his seat, biting at his cuticles. “Jarvis?”
“Sir.”
“Open an encrypted channel with Peggy.”
“Right away Sir.”
Tony pushed the car door open, Peggy slid in a moment later. Battered and bruised, favoring her right side. “Tony-”
“Nope.” Tony frowned out the windshield. “Nuh uh.” He hit the gas as soon as she buckled in. “You don’t get to use that tone with me missy.”
“I-”
“You should have called me.”
“I should have-”
“I told you about this in the first place. I built half of that tech-”
“Tony-”
“I had to find out that your Beau was alive and not so well from the news-”
“Anthony-”
“You were going to let him kill you-Don’t even deny it. Natasha, of all people, filled me in.”
“Hydra killed your parents!”
Tony slammed on the breaks, swerving to the side of the road. “What?”
“They brainwashed him.” She was crying. Tony stared blankly at her. Brain refusing to function past the information coming out of Peggy’s mouth. “They turned him into a perfect weapon. Then they set him loose on their enemies... your parents.” Her shoulders bowed inwards, her larger than life confidence crumbling before his eyes. “This is all my fault-”
His chest tightened, his own grief expanding. It wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t his or- He swallowed, throat dry, not ready to face that information yet. Not now. Not when he was staring at a woman who had become one of his dearest friends. “No no. Hey. It’s going to be okay.” She had her arms around him, head on his shoulder. Tony tentatively hugged her back. “We’ll get through this. We’ll fix it. I’ll fix it.”
He was Tony Stark. He could fix it.
In the end it was Peggy that actually found him. In some fishing village in Europe. And the first thing Peggy Carter did once she’d brought her old flame back to the States was this.
“You want me to do what?”
Well not the first thing, she’d had him sequestered Tesla knows where for a few weeks at least. But still.
“I know this is asking a lot.” Peggy trailed after him as he rounded the bar.
“A lot.” Tony muttered, as he snagged a bottle of scotch. “A lot she says, J. She doesn’t even ask for my help with the Project Oversight fiasco- You’re welcome, by the way, for that tip-”
“I can’t help him.” She continued.
“And you think I can?” Tony sniped back, pouring into a tumbler. He’d said he would fix it, help find Steve not help fix Steve. “I fix things, Pegs, not people.”
“Tony.” She sighed, “You’ve been kidnapped, tortured- If anyone can understand even a little of what he-”
“Stop. Carter. This isn’t a game of ‘who wants to see a therapist’.” Tony squeezed the bridge of his nose.
Peggy looked chastised, “I didn’t mean to undermine your experiences-”
“I know.” Tony cut her off, taking a generous sip of the alcohol. Silence sat heavy between them for a hot moment. “He killed my mom.” Tony hated how his voice cracked. Hated how his chest felt tight, tighter than when he’d first gotten the arc reactor.
“That wasn’t him, Tony.”
He knew that, he knew that. But knowing the facts and being able to reconcile with those facts were two different things entirely. “I thought this is what you wanted.” He huffed instead. “The love of your life-your fella-Best guy, whatever-”
“I did. I do. I still love him.” She continued, arms folding around her torso. “But I’m not in love with him. Not anymore.”
Tony took another sip of scotch to stop himself from saying something (else) insensitive. Pepper would be proud of him.
“He’s not-” Peggy inhaled deeply. “He’s not the man that I fell in love with. Just like I’m not the same woman he fell in love with… it would be unfair to both of us if we pretend otherwise.”
“Sir.” Jarvis chimed in. “Mr. Wilson and Sergeant Rogers are in the lobby.”
“Here? He’s here?” Tony blinked at Peggy. “You brought him-”
“I wouldn’t have brought him if I thought he was a threat-”
“He is a highly trained assassin, Peg-”
“A threat to you. I wouldn’t have brought him if I thought for a second he would hurt you.”
Tony swallowed, his eyes drawn away from his friend and childhood icon by the light catching on the red and gold armor standing sentinel in the corner.
“Besides, you have shellhead to watch your back.” Peggy drew even with him, grinning at the armor.
“I can handle anything he throws at me.” Ironman stated, crossing his arms. To a casual observer his movements seemed organic, fluid. Tony could see the slight pause in movements, hear the slightly robotic flow of the words behind the modulator. Autopilot mode still needed some touch up.
“Traitor.” Tony muttered. ‘Ironman’ gave no indication of having heard him.
“Please, Tony.” She looked tired, resigned. “For me?”
Damnit.
The elevator swished open. Rogers stood just behind Wilson, hunched in on himself. His stupid shaggy, blond hair falling into his stupid, sad, blue eyes. Peggy knew how he felt about blonde hair and blue eyes.
Damnit.
Tony finished off his scotch in one final swig. “Gentlemen. Make yourselves at home.”