Chapter 2
Sharon was sitting in front of the O.T. holding Peter's hand (the kid had become important for all of them in just a few days) nervously; they were putting the arc reactor back on his body. They needed a stabilized energy core for extremis which might only be the way to bring her cousin back to life.
Tony never wanted to be enhanced, he always wanted to be a normal human and now he wouldn’t be one after extremis is injected in him. She remembers the doctors asking for her signature as she was his medical proxy to sign the documents for the procedure. She remembers looking at the devastated faces of her family (Peter wasn't there that time since he was at school) and all of them nodding at her since it was the only way Tony could be alive. She remembers signing it heavy-heartedly, she knows Tony would choose to die rather than be turned enhanced but she was selfish, she couldn’t lose him too and that too because of her own mistake.
Howard, she hated that man’s name her whole life. She hated him for making Tony feel like he was useless like he wasn’t worthy of the love, attention, and anything good in his life; she hated him for always wanting Tony to be like Rogers (Steve? He would never again be Steve), she hated him for abusing Tony when he was drunk and the list could go on and on. No one could really blame her for having only a little remorse for seeing the man die.
Aunt Maria, the woman was a literal angel (she would never understand what she saw in Howard). She loved the women like her own mother, she was young when they died but she still remembered her affectionate hugs, she remembered how she would tell her goodnight stories when she came to visit, she still remembered her crying vigorously while hugging her when her son was kidnapped and her husband refused to pay the ransom (Aunt Peggy, Uncle Nick, and Edwin Jarvis were the ones who found him tortured and on the brink of death). So yes she loved the women to death and it was devastating to see her getting strangled by the Winter Soldier, she herself wanted to kill the man when she saw the video.
One thing she now admired about her beloved Aunt Maria is that she never bought into the legend of Captain America, Sharon remembered her telling her one night that Captain America might be a hero but Steve Rogers was a man and he had his flaws and if a man appears too perfect in the eyes of everyone then either that person is not human or there is something wrong about the person. Oh, how she wishes she had remembered that, and it was proven that her aunt was right and Steve Rogers was not the perfect man the world thought he was.
Tony Stark was everything to her; he had taken her under his care when her parents died in an accident when she was 12. He was not the perfect guardian but who is a perfect guardian? He never brought a girl home or drank alcohol when she was living with him, he focused more on his company and raising her until she decided to follow her Grand Aunt’s (who was also his godmother) footsteps and join SHIELD. He was completely against the idea but over time he agreed to it.
Suffice to say Tony Stark was not only her cousin; he was her best friend, sibling, parent (She could hear his voice saying in her head, “no way, I’m too young to be your parent Sherry-Bear, I am your Guardian!”), basically Tony Stark was her whole world and she had indirect involvement in almost killing her world.
She still feels the rage when she saw Rogers trying to lie to Tony and then admitting to knowing Aunt Maria’s death and not telling him the truth and then tony punching him. It was Rogers he wanted to hurt for betraying him in the worst possible way, he didn’t want to kill them cause if he wanted the missiles in his suit would have done it in an instant but he didn’t, and then she saw that traitor smash that vibranium shield (the shield she gave him) in her Tony’s (a man with a history of a compromised chest) chest and then left him behind (no man left behind, even enemy soldiers wouldn’t do that. Hydra would be proud Rogers).
A few days ago her perfect fairy tale walking down the aisle holding Tony’s hand and him giving her away to that worthless scum, well now that’s her worst nightmare. That would never happen because she would kill him if he ever came near her and Tony. A few days ago Steve Rogers was the love of her life but now he was her worst enemy who she would give anything to shoot in the head.
She was growing more nervous every second, if extremis doesn’t work out she would lose Tony forever and she wasn’t strong enough to move on if that happened. Tony, Peggy, Nick, and Hope were her last living relatives and she couldn’t lose Tony a few days after losing her aunt Peggy.
“Um… ma’am, are you alright?”
Sharon looked up to see a handsome man of about 30 wearing a suit and had round red glasses and he was holding a cane (was he blind?). He had a concerned expression on his face (why would he be concerned?). And how was he in this wing, this was privately arranged for Tony and Rhodey and nobody could be in here except for family and friends.
“I am really sorry but who are you?” Sharon inquired.
“Don’t worry Sherry I know them and called them here to help us, you can trust them,” Hope said coming over with a smile on her face, soothing her inner worry of someone hurting Tony which she knew.
Wait, them? She looked behind the man and saw Rand enterprise's owner and superhero (iron fist) Danny Rand smiling at her, then there was Jessica Jones (private eye) she was eyeing her with a soft expression and then Luke cage (the man with unbreakable skin). So Hope called the Defenders. Wait….
She looked at the man in front of her who was still looking at her with a concerned face.
“You’re Daredevil.” Sharon said as a matter of factly. All four of them looked taken aback while Hope laughed and she heard Pepper snort from behind Hope. Peter who was sitting next to her holding her hand had an awe expression on his face which compelled Hope to laugh more (typical).
“How did you?” the man in front of her stuttered.
“Tony Stark raised me and he is excellent at finding things like this. Besides all your team members are here it only makes sense that you’re the fourth one.” She explained.
“Oh my God you’re the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, sir I am a huge fan, and…” Peter started rambling which she saw brought a smile on the faces of all the people in the room but he was cut off by a very pissed-off Coulson and Carol coming.
“What’s wrong?” she asked worriedly standing up, pulling Peter with her.
“Steve fucking Rogers sent a not-so-apologetic letter and a flip phone hoping Tony would call him and I have an idea that he thinks that Tony will fix everything for them. And as soon as this letter arrived we get the news from Ross asking for Tony because guess what Rogers and Romanoff broke out the rogues and now he wants Tony to go find out where they are! I have half the mind to shoot that bastard and then go murder the rogues.” Said a very angry Phil Coulson.
That made the whole happy mood in the room go negative (even Peter looked angry). Sharon though was not angry she was murderous how dare they go free after killing all those people and almost killing her cousin.
Carol took a paper away from a fuming Coulson and started reading it, “Tony, I'm glad you're back at the compound. I don't like the idea of you rattling around a mansion by yourself.”
“What the hell? He’s never lived in the compound; he’s always lived at stark tower and who the hell even told him Tony was at the compound? And for his information, he’s never alone.” Hope said angrily and asked Carol to continue.
“We all need family. The Avengers are yours, maybe more so than mine.”
“Bullshit, they’ve never been his family, if they were his family then why did all of them choose Rogers’s side without even reading them. They’re not his family; his family is with him right now.” Sharon shouted. Obviously, who the hell gave Rogers the right to call those idiot’s her cousin's family.
“I've been on my own since I was 18. I never really fit in anywhere, even in the army.” Carol stopped reading and looked up angrily and asked, “If he was alone since 18 then who is Barnes, an excuse for him to fight and kill innocents? Alone in the army, then who were the howling commandos, Peggy Carter, and let’s not forget Howard Stark, the man wasted his life searching for Captain America and hated his son because he wasn’t like him.”
She was right; the man was really delusional and was either lying or making up his own world. Sharon would have been angry at Carol for talking about Tony’s private life in front of 4 strangers but well Hope trusted them and she’d heard a great deal of the Defenders so it was alright. And they looked like they were angry at Rogers too which was good.
Carol calmed down and continued, “My faith's in people, I guess. Individuals. And I'm happy to say that, for the most part, they haven't let me down. Which is why I can't let them down either.”
“Ok, wait a second, so Mr. Stark wasn’t an individual according to him? And I feel like the second part where he says for the most part individuals haven’t let him down, he’s indirectly saying Mr. Stark let him down.” Daredevil says and everyone nods at him, yeah it did kind of make sense.
“Locks can be replaced, but maybe they shouldn't. I know I hurt you, Tony. I guess I thought by not telling you about your parents I was sparing you, but I can see now that I was really sparing myself, and I'm sorry. Hopefully one day you can understand.”
“Ok, what does he mean by the locks? And he didn’t hurt Tony he almost killed him, and how did he think that by not telling him about his parents he spared Tony? he's not apologizing for the hurt he's caused Tony but blaming him for being hurt in the first place.” an angrily pacing Pepper tells and the people who knew about Siberia nods.
“What is this about his parents?” Danny asks. When all the people who knew looked at each other he just sighed and said, “It’s ok when he wakes up and if he wants to tell us then we’ll know.”
Everyone nodded and Carol continued, “I wish we agreed on the Accords, I really do. I know you're doing what you believe in, and that's all any of us can do. That's all any of us should... So no matter what, I promise you, if you need us - if you need me - I'll be there.”
All of the people in the room just look at the letter silently.
Finally, Jessica said, “I really need a drink!”
Daredevil took the paper from Carol’s hand and said, “We should keep this and the flip phone for evidence in case Mr. Stark wants to press charges or if the rogues are captured and are put on trial.”
“How did you know that?” Sharon asked curiously.
Before he could answer Hope cut in and said. “That’s because he’s lawyer Matt Murdock Sherry and he’s daredevil, this doesn’t go out of this room.” She looked at everyone who didn’t know it till now and they promised to keep his identity a secret.
“Ok, so why we are here is because Tony and Hope approached us a few months ago, he explained to us the accords, and I and he were planning to improve it and build a new team. He told us that he didn’t trust the remaining avengers after the witch was included which we understood since one of us was mind-controlled by a villain. He had a lot of other candidates in mind too but I don’t really know the list.” Matt said looking at everyone.
“The guy is nice, he cares about everyone.” Luke said quietly from where he was standing and all the Defenders nodded.
Sharon smiled a little before turning serious and said in the most threatening way possible, “Ok, but it will take us, especially me some time to trust you considering what happened with his old team. And I promise I will destroy you if you hurt my cousin.”
“I like this one, and we promise not to hurt him, oh and I would love to see what you do to Rogers when he’s finally caught.” Jessica said smiling sincerely and all the Defenders nodded.
They all began chatting about what to do further to calm the people down till the time Tony wakes up but Sharon just moved back in front of the O.T., wishing desperately for everything to work out fine and for Tony to be safe.
“He’ll be fine, He’s a fighter.” Matt said from behind her.
She looked at him and nodded. Tony would get through this, he has to get through for her, for his friends, for his family.