Chapter 3
The area around Grand Central Station was still a construction nightmare even six months on. Nearly every building down Park Avenues along the corridor that ran up to Stark Tower had been ravaged by Chitauri weaponry and National Guard artillery, the battle having raged in the streets where civilians normally lived, worked, and wandered. It had taken weeks to simply remove the debris from the streets, and some areas, like Grand Central, wouldn’t be open for months still.
Stark Tower, surprisingly wasn’t one of them. Despite the fact that it had been the central focus of the attack by the Asgardian God of Mischief, Loki, the damage to the building itself was relatively minor, nearly all of it confined to the upper most floors, while the lower floors still carried on the day-to-day business of Stark Industries in New York. Peggy side-stepped one busy office worker with an SI badge on managing a tray of steaming, frothy looking coffees as she stepped in through the door, waving her SHIELD credentials at the security guard on duty. He nodded with the briefest of recognizing smiles, Director Peggy Carter of SHIELD being a familiar enough sight on the premises in the last six months that not even the receptionist blinked as Peggy sailed by to the banks of elevators and called the one that lead to the floors under the heaviest construction upstairs.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Jarvis,” Peggy said crisply as she stepped in, the dust of construction materials evident on the carpet of the lift carriage.
“Good afternoon, Miss Carter.” Stark’s artificial intelligence was his ever smooth, polite self, as he was with most everyone who addressed him. But with Peggy - truly, with anyone that the AI had gotten to know well, especially his creator, Stark - there was always a certain warmth in the AI’s generated voices. “How was your meeting with the World Security Council?”
“Tedious, as expected. How is Mr. Stark today?”
There was the slightest hint of hesitation as the AI seemed to consider. “He’s...testy today.”
The AI’s word choice left Peggy arching one delicate eyebrow curiously towards the ceiling. “Testy?”
“I believe you’ll see when you speak to him. He has spent most of it in the lab with Dr. Banner.”
“Well, that’s good I suppose. It gives him something to focus on.”
Whether because he was dubious on Peggy’s statement or because the lift car had come to a stop, JARVIS didn’t choose to comment as the doors opened onto one of the Research and Development floors. Stark Industries main facilities were actually in Los Angeles, in a large, sprawling complex near the heart of the city’s aerospace industry. But it was the main production facility for the company and not well suited for the sort of smaller projects and speculative research that happened in the Stark Tower labs. These were the type of things that were pushing the edge of the technological future, or so Peggy had been told, things that might one day turn into future projects for the company. Their intellicrops had first been researched here, as had much of their robotic work and pieces of their telecommunications software, all before being approved and farmed out to one of SI’s many labs and facilities across the world. But it was one area of the lab that was special and sacred, and that was the part Peggy made her way to at the moment - the part that Tony Stark had claimed as his own.
Peggy couldn’t figure out if it was out of respect by the other scientists and engineers on staff there or just simply self-preservation that kept most everyone out of Tony Stark’s way. For a certainty, it wasn’t his only lab, as he had one in his Malibu home that was his truly favorite lair, but this one was his home away from home. She was unsurprised to see him inside of it as she peeked through the glass windows, hunched in a chair as he studied whatever simulation was dancing across his computer monitor, a finger running along one cheek as the rest of his fingers propped up his chin. He was deep in thought, oblivious to the quietly working Bruce Banner in his own corner, typing away as he glanced over the top of his eyeglasses at whatever he was working on.
“Deep in thought, gentlemen?” Peggy broke the silence softly, but she might as well have dropped an entire tray of flasks in the quiet, causing them both to jump. Stark in particular looked as if she fired off a gun as they both turned to her with identical looks of wide-eyed shock.
“Jesus, Peggy, could you, I don’t know, bother to knock?” Stark was irritable as he clutched the arc reactor in his chest dramatically.
“I could but I figured the security doors and Mr. Jarvis’ announcement would have heralded my coming.” She snorted, wandering to a lab table to deposit her briefcase and handbag, taking off her old-fashioned red Stetson hat - she indulged given the crisp, autumn day outside - and setting it on top. “What has got the pair of you so in depth into your research that I could have dropped a bomb in here and neither of you would have noticed?”
Stark flinched but said nothing as he stood and stretched, clearly having been sitting there a while. “Just...some armor upgrades, trying out some different things.”
“The usual,” Banner shrugged, offering her a somewhat apologetic half-smile. “I may pick your brain later, actually. Tony ran across some of his father’s old notes, Betty and I are cross-referencing them against Erskine’s work and the notes that the army had on the serum. Maybe you can help us parse through some of Erksine’s stuff.”
“Whatever I can do to help,” Peggy offered, with all the reassurance she could muster for Banner’s quest to find a solution for the Jekyll and Hyde like existence he currently lived in. “Was Jane able to connect with you? She said something about some strange readings she was getting on some of her equipment.”
“Yeah, took a look at that this morning. SWORD seemed to think that everything was within normal levels, no alien invasions or cosmic crisis, but you know, am keeping an eye on it.” Banner waved a mild hand to a bank of monitors to his left. “I mean, considering last time someone decided to do something funky in the sky it ended up with a battle in the streets downstairs, I figure it’s an Avengers thing that we keep an eye on it.”
“Yeah, well, guarding the Earth and all that,” Stark cut in, jumping on Banner’s words with an impatience that surprised both Peggy and Banner. “Anyway, weren’t you off meeting with the World Suckage Council or some such?”
His puerile insult effectively shifted the subject as Peggy nodded. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I just got out of a meeting with them. Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of finger pointing, no accountability, and they are throwing Gideon Malick under for it, though frankly he wasn’t alone in the decision. SHIELD’s credibility with the global intelligence and military network is on a knife’s edge and they think that they can get away with simply tossing off the loudest member and that will somehow make it all better.”
“In fairness, he was a dick,” Stark offered by way of a silver lining. “I mean, he hated the Avengers in the first place.”
Banner frowned into middle-space with a bemused smirk. “Wasn’t he the one who likened me to an uncontrolled beast who should be put down and then buried in a vault under the ocean?”
“How would even you even put a vault under the ocean,” Stark followed up, quizzically. “And if you were dead, why would you need a vault?”
“I don’t know, maybe to make a lab experiment out of me?”
“That’s what he’s got Blonsky for, right?”
“Who is technically not his to play with, he’s the US Army’s,” Peggy interjected before the pair could go down that rabbit hole too much further. “My bigger point is that there is a bigger issue with the World Security Council and their decision to override Fury’s order. I’ve had everyone from the President to some senator from Kentucky screaming at me in the last few months, meanwhile the council is still unwilling to fund and fully support the Avengers Initiative.”
Both men exchanged a glance, but it was Stark who shrugged, carefully avoiding Peggy’s gaze as he picked up some random tool on his desk to twiddle with, a nervous habit of his she had noticed. “So...what does this mean for our plans? Did you bring up the proposal?”
“Not to the council, no, they were far more concerned with making nice with the country that is their biggest supporter rather than managing the very thing that saved this planet from almost certain doom.” Sarcasm dripped off her words, her feelings on the council clear. “I did pass the file on to Alexander Pierce, however, who is going to look at it.”
“And you trust this Alexander Pierce to give us due consideration and not try to railroad us into SHIELD’s personal, super-powered monkey squad?” Banner, ever dubious of authority figures for obvious reasons, had been vocal on his doubts about SHIELD’s continued oversight of the Avengers.
“I don’t know if trust is the right word, but Fury believes in Alexander Pierce, as much as Fury believes in anyone, I suppose. Besides, he stands outside of the Council in many ways and while he’s subject to their authority, he has a lot of sway and influence to get things done. Besides, he’s the one who has to cover for them with all of the US intelligence and military brass, after that, they will owe him for pulling their fat out of the fire.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Stark agreed, readily...very readily for him. “I mean, I don’t trust Fury further than I can throw him, but I trust his judgement far more than a group of people who fired a nuclear missile at my ass.”
With that he threw himself away from his monitor, restless once more, wandering across his lab to a kitchen in the corner, perusing a small refrigerator of drinks. “Either of you want anything? Energy drink, soda, canned iced tea? I know that’s right up your alley, Aunt Peggy.”
She snorted, recognizing he was deliberately trying to tease her. “Why you drink such an abomination, I will never know.”
“It’s not so bad. I like the green tea ones,” Bruce offered, mildly, nodding as Stark held one up. “So what is the deal for now, boss? Continue working as we are?”
“For now.” That was the question, wasn’t it? What did the Avengers do when the world wasn’t in dire crises? “I imagine once our role is more finalized with SHIELD and the UN we will have more specific tasks that they will ask us to fulfill. Till then, continue our good work?”
“Well, some of our good work,” Stark snorted, passing Peggy a bottled water, which she took gratefully. “What is it that your soldier boy is up to again?”
“Steve’s working with Agent Romanoff,” Peggy replied, knowing full well Stark was aware of it. She didn’t miss the mild disapproval that flickered for a moment. “In fact I will be offline for most of the weekend. I’m heading down to Washington DC tomorrow to help move him into his new apartment and to visit my family while down there.”
“You just got him back and you are kicking him out already?” Stark was clearly far more interested in discussing her love life than the Avengers, perking up like a gossiping old woman at the idea. “What, trouble in paradise? Does he leave his socks all over the place? Does he lock himself away in his mancave and ignore you for days on end.”
“I think you are confusing Steve Rogers for yourself,” Peggy shot back tartly, earning a snort from Bruce across the lab.
“She’s not lying,” he shrugged at Stark’s vaguely injured and highly insulted glare, smirking. “I mean, just seeing you and Pepper, that is.”
“This coming from the man who literally ran away from his fiancée because of his anger issues.” Stark’s comeback was prompt and barbed, making even Peggy wince. Thankfully, Bruce was better tempered than Peggy was, as he cracked open his can of tea and pulled from it, ignoring Stark’s burst of petulance.
Cutting into the charged atmosphere, Peggy decided to return to the subject at hand. “Anyway, no, I’m not ‘kicking him out.’ We discussed it. This is a new world for both of us, but him especially. I’ve had two years to adapt, to learn the layout as it were and catch up on my skills. Steve hasn’t. He needs training to catch up. What’s more, Romanoff is without a partner at the moment, Barton is on leave and will be for some time yet. Working with the SHIELD STRIKE teams will give him some experience in modern hand-to-hand and tactical techniques and allow him to gain knowledge and insight into the modern geo-political landscape. Besides, he doesn’t have an issue with working with spies.”
She meant the last piece to refer to her, of course, but it only made Stark roll his eyes. “Yeah, because Captain America is well-known for being a man who works well in gray areas. Tell me again how much espionage he did during the war?”
Stark was determined to snipe at everything today, wasn’t he? Peggy narrowed her gaze. “Is there a reason you are being so contradictory today?”
He looked as if it was the first time anyone had ever accused him of that. “I’ve been perfectly pleasant all day till just now, thank you.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Peggy could see Banner arch an eyebrow over his glasses, a silent challenge to Stark’s assessment of his behavior. She swallowed an internal sigh. Stark had been increasingly more...touchy? Perhaps disconnected was a better word. She had noted it more and more, a certain harsh undercurrent to his snappy comebacks and his sarcastic observations, a propensity to use his cutting sense of humor to put distance between himself and others. He’d always had that habit, at least from what Pepper Potts and James Rhodes had told her, but it was particularly nasty at the moment. Certainly, it was getting worse. And if he thought she couldn’t see the dark circles under his eyes or the way he looked as if he hadn’t seen a proper minute of downtime in months, then he was an idiot.
Now was not the time to poke the bear, however. “Anyway, he will be working with Natasha and he will have a place down there for now. It will be good for him, allow him some space to wrap his head around the new world he’s in, give him some time to sift through his own thoughts. He’s barely had a moment for that since he woke up.”
“And how do you really feel about his, Margaret Carter,” Stark persisted, dark eyes gleaming with equal parts curiosity and worry. “You okay with him being down there alone?”
They had discussed it a great deal, she and Steve, before he had agreed to anything. “I think so. After all, our relationship has survived seven decades with him in the ice. What’s a couple of hundred miles in this modern world? A train ride away, less time on a plane, During the war we were entire continents away at times. Besides, isn’t that the way of modern relationships, the ability to be long distance as needed. How often are you in Malibu when Pepper is out here and vice versa, and you still are managing to make a go of it.”
She felt more than saw Bruce’s subtle reaction again, though Stark seemed oblivious to it as he frowned in a non-committal sort of way. “Yeah, I mean...we are. Just, you know, we get so busy we lose track of days, have to schedule one another, which is sad in that sort of stuck up, corporate, white-priveleged elite sort of way. Maybe I should just retire!”
He gave his last pronouncement with the air of wishful thinking, like someone who just wished to go to Mars or visit Neverland. It was a bit ridiculous, even to Peggy. In all the many years she had known Starks they weren’t exactly prone to just walking away and leading quiet lives. “And do what?”
“I don’t know,” he shrugged, sipping from his ridiculously named energy drink. “Pepper keeps carrying on about owning a farm, or at least a house with enough land so she can get into organic gardening. Grow...I don’t know, tomatoes and pumpkins or something. She could work from home most days, I could putter, lead a quiet, simple life.”
“And what is simply for a man who is one of the richest in the world,” Bruce asked, quietly. After all, he was a man who had been forced to give up everything. He knew a thing or two about simple.
“A day when I don’t have to worry that someone is going to do something to cause the end of the world?”
“Wouldn’t that be nice,” Peggy mused, perhaps a bit sarcastically, unfairly so. After all, for the likes of Tony and Bruce, born at the tail end of a war they neither remembered well, their entire childhood and young adulthood had been one long era of peace punctuated by only small incursions of military actions. For Peggy, it felt as if her entire life had been drawn out through one conflict after another.
“Yeah,” Stark drawled, softly, something fleeting for a moment in his dark gaze, disappearing with a shrug and a warning look. “Anyway, all that to say that doing the long distance thing won’t be easy for either of you.”
“No one said it was.” Frankly, Peggy rather dreaded it. For the better part of the last year she had Steve Rogers back and all to herself, with no war, no missions, no conflicts to separate them. It was...rather perfect. Still, as her mother used to say, distance could make the heart fonder. They had already been through so much, what was New York to Washington DC?
“You know that look on your face right now is downright disgusting and I felt you really needed to know that.”
Peggy glared at Stark’s impudent grin.
“He’s right, you know,” Bruce called, good-naturedly. “I mean you two moon at each other when you standing right in front of each other, the fact you do it when he isn’t around…”
“Hey, Bruce, you ever hear the old Captain America radio shows, with the nurse, Betty Carver?”
If looks could kill, Stark arc reactor would have failed in his chest. “Don’t you dare! I am not that...insipid.”
“What, you don’t even bat your lashes a little?”
Peggy resisted the urge to throw a metal tray at him. “I’m leaving. Call me if you need anything. I’ll see you both next week. Maybe one of you will have learned some manners.”
“If my mother coudn’t manage it, I’m a lost cause,” Stark called out to Peggy’s retreating back, delighting in it, frankly. Peggy silently blessed the memory of Maria Stark. Peggy had known both Starks now. One Stark at a time was hard enough to handle. Two would have been madness. especially one who was being deliberately agitating and cutting…
Quietly, she pulled out her phone, sending a message to Banner to keep her informed on Stark’s behavior. She waited till it went through before she stepped towards the elevator banks, one opening for her automatically, clearly the ever efficient handiwork of JARVIS.
“Mr. Jarvis,” she intoned as she stepped inside. “Has Mr. Stark been more...distant of late?”
The AI was quiet for a long moment. “Mr. Stark has been going through a period of lack of sleep. I believe his dreams trouble him. Insomnia is not uncommon with him, but he is spending a good deal of time in his lab developing new and different suits.”
Peggy frowned at that news. “Does Pepper know about this?”
“I am programmed to give information on Mr. Stark when asked, not to volunteer it.”
“She’s yet to ask.” She sighed. Should she say something to her? “If you could, Mr. Jarvis, keep an eye on him for me. If it gets to be alarming, let me know. I can speak with Pepper.”
“I will do my best within my protocols, Miss Carter.”
“Thank you,” Peggy murmured as the doors opened once again. The world had changed in the last six months...and not all of it was for the better.