Chapter 18
Tony Stark’s rescue was about as climactic as his disappearance had not been. The breaking news tore across the media with a speed that left Peggy’s head dizzy as the US military was hailed for their perseverance in finding him. Coulson watched the headlines with a bland eye as he sat on a corner of his desk at the Triskelion, thoroughly unimpressed. “Not that an organization like SHIELD needs press, but a thank you would be nice.”
“I think a deeper probe into why the US military dropped the ball would be wonderful, but we can’t all have what we want.” Peggy had flown down that morning as the news broke, a file of Agent Burk’s findings in hand. “How long till he’s on American soil?”
“Rhodes said they are flying him to Okinawa for medical treatment. Nothing major, just weight loss and dehydration, some muscle strain, cuts and contusions from the crash landing he took in the desert. Once he’s cleared to fly, there is a military transport slated to take him to Edwards Air Force Base. His assistant has already arranged for him to go home from there.”
That he seemed relatively unscathed from his trauma was a shock to even Peggy, who had stayed relatively optimistic. “Has he explained yet how it was he got out of there?”
“Not yet, or at least not that Rhodes is admitting.” Coulson reviewed the file Peggy brought with her and the pictures Agent Burk had captured. “It looks like the jury rigged some sort of escape pod or suit.”
“Howard had experimented with rocket packs and the like during the war. Perhaps he remembered that and used something like it to at least get himself out of the situation when the time presented itself. Three months in, chances are high his captors were likely getting lax in their attention to him.”
“Possibly,” Coulson murmured, setting the photos aside. “He’s damn lucky he’s alive is what I’m saying. The more information we get on the Ten Rings, the more I’m shocked he isn’t dead.”
“What have Barton and Romanoff found out?”
“They seem to have a reputation for not particularly caring who gets killed in their long-range efforts. The entire region of the Hindu Kush has been caught in the crossfire between them and other tribal warlords. Entire villages and towns have been reduced to rubble, if not wiped out. The town of Gulmira has been one of the worst hit. It had been a small but relatively thriving population, a center for the local tribes, most of whom raised sheep for wool production overseas. Towns like that have been targeted because it destabilizes the local power base and makes it easier for these warlords, like Raza, to take control.”
“And of course, it all takes weapons, ones that someone at Stark Industries has been supplying.” Peggy pulled out the report in the file for Coulson, complete with Agent Burk’s assessment. “Someone’s been in communication with this Raza, or at least someone in his camp, and they were using Stark’s private network to do it.”
That caught Coulson’s attention. “Do we know who?”
“Not yet. Agent Burk is breaking that down. They encrypted their files, and it will take some time.”
“Perhaps someone who wanted Stark out of the way to cover up their tracks.”
“Or someone who wanted him to take the fall for it should it all come to light. It’s hard to defend your name if you are captured or dead.”
“Whatever the case, some of these transmissions were just days ago, which means that they are still at Stark Industries. Do they know anything yet?”
“Not yet,” she replied, thinking she should at least strategically drop her idea. “I have a plan if you are willing to consider it.”
That she wanted to run it by him seemed to both catch him off guard and please him. “What is it?”
“I’ve sent Sharon in there once. They know SHIELD is looking, and they are likely hiding whatever they got in there to ensure we don’t see it, which means we need to send someone else in who isn’t advertising themself as an agent of SHIELD.”
It clicked with Coulson immediately who she meant. “You want to send Romanoff.”
“She’s far more adaptable to this environment than Barton is.”
Coulson snorted, nodding and shrugging. “Fair. I don’t know if Barton even knows how to type. It’s not her favorite, but I think she will go for it if I ask her nicely.”
That had been much less confrontational than expected. “Which is why I came to you. She doesn’t seem to want to have much to do with me.”
Only the faintest grimace flickered across Coulson’s otherwise pleasant expression. “I did warn you Natasha is a bit standoffish.”
“A bit?”
“A lot,” he sighed, picking up the files.
“She seems to get along with Sharon just fine, and from what I hear, there are others she has no problem with.”
Coulson didn’t seem to have a clear reason why. “It could be...well, you did appear out of thin air. Honestly, time travel is a bit too much to take.”
“I am not denying that, but everyone else seems to just shrug it off as if it was a Sunday walk in the park.”
“Yes...I guess there have been so many crazy incidents that it’s sort of par for the course for us.”
“Such as what? Aliens?”
That hadn’t been what he expected to hear. He paused a step as he rounded his desk before turning to her. “How did you know about that?”
She wanted to tell him Fury had mentioned it but decided to play nice. “Scott Lang mentioned it before we swanned off.”
“Did he?” He looked troubled by that. “As I said, there are much stranger things with SHIELD than just time travel, and knowing Howard Stark’s penchant for strange inventions, for all anyone knew, he could have cooked it all up. I guess it’s not as hard for the average person at SHIELD to believe what I’m saying.”
“But not Romanoff?”
“Natasha is far from average,” Coulson smiled briefly. “I think, though, if you want to get to the bottom of it, you might want to reach out to her yourself. She doesn’t bite.”
“That’s not what I saw,” Peggy muttered but realized he was right. “In any case, having her on the inside, we can perhaps turn up who it is trying to deal under the table with the Ten Rings.”
“I don’t disagree, though I think we also need to have a talk with Stark about his experience and what he knows about any of this. If he’s innocent of arms dealing under the table, we can remove him from all suspicion and move on. If he isn’t, then we know how to direct Romanoff in her search.”
As much as she didn’t think that Tony had anything to do with any of this, Coulson was right. They needed to know that with certainty before they could completely remove suspicion. “Do you want to talk to him when he gets back here?”
“I want us to talk to him,” Coulson amended, much to Peggy’s surprise.
“Us?” Why did it bother her, the idea of seeing Howard’s son? “You are a more than capable agent, Coulson. You don’t need me tagging along.”
“No, but it never hurts to have an extra pair of eyes and ears to pay attention.”
She temporized. “Now that he is back, I had hoped to focus my attention back on the case Fury had me on when this all blew up.”
“I’m not saying you can’t. I’m just asking if you wouldn’t consider coming along.”
It hit her why he was asking. “You don’t want to have to deal with Stark.”
He shrugged, unashamed by that. “Let’s just say I know my limitations. I heard how you got around Stane’s secretary to get to him, a clever move if I must say.”
“Hardly that, I did the same thing to generals and more than one senator during and after the war. Honestly, getting around the guard dogs is the easy part.”
“Think you could get around Pepper Potts?”
Peggy now saw the method to Coulson’s madness. “I don’t know the woman, but I maybe could.”
“She will be your biggest obstacle getting to Stark...though, in all honesty, he might just...well…” He looked her up and down apologetically, his expression a comical twist of embarrassment and practicality. “I hate to put it this way, Director Carter, but you are an attractive woman, and he likes those a great deal.”
She snorted, knowing poor Coulson was right and yet feeling mildly disturbed by it. “Technically, I’m old enough to be his grandmother.”
“Technically doesn’t count for a lot in this situation. I am just saying, he might be more amenable to you.”
“I’m not seducing Howard’s son! That’s just...incestuous!”
Even Coulson could laugh at that. “I got to admit, it’s perhaps my last resort. Who knows, after what he’s been through, he may not care. But you do have a way to get to him that I don’t.”
He was right. Stark had surrounded himself with those he trusted most, people who would protect him at all costs, doubly so now after his experience. Coulson was an amazing agent, with a keen investigative mind and more than a bit of willingness to bend the rules to make things happen, and she liked that a great deal about him. He would have been exactly the type of agent she’d have recruited in her day, diligent, compassionate, and an out-of-the-box thinker, but she doubted he had ever had to get around the aide-de-camp of a general as persistent as a bulldog and built like a brick house.
“Fine,” she agreed. “So when do you want to meet with him?”
“I’m hoping to catch him right when he returns, perhaps set up an appointment with Potts and at least see what she may know. If nothing else, perhaps you can get in to see him while I’m doing that.”
It wasn’t much of a plan, but she could perhaps improvise. “So we are going to Los Angeles?”
“As soon as we get word he’s heading back to the States. The quinjet will beat any military flight in and we can perhaps catch him at his home in Malibu.”
“You want to ambush him at home after he just got back from being held for three months?”
“If we don’t, then he’s going to evade us and we’ll never get through.”
Peggy wasn’t sure if that was the best course of action but she also knew well that Coulson had a point, Starks knew how to hide when they didn’t want the limelight. “We’ll see how successful you are at catching your quarry.”
“All I need is to talk to him, that’s it. And besides, why do you think I am bringing you along, he may be less rude to you.”
Peggy rolled her eyes at that. “I doubt that he will likely be just as rude, I just have a better tolerance for it.”
“I didn’t say it was perfect, only that it was the situation at hand.”
“True,” she replied, catching out of the corner of her eye Sharon waving to get her attention. “Excuse me for a moment.”
Sharon met her with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I know you were in with Coulson, but I wanted to let you know that since the case with Stark is pretty much wrapped up, my supervisor has asked that I come back on duty.”
Peggy didn’t know why it should give her pause, but it did. Ignoring a trill of brief panic she pasted on what she hoped was an understanding smile. “Of course! I mean, you have your work. I’m just glad they agreed to let me borrow you.”
“And hey, we got to hang out more, got to know one another!” Wistfulness and worry underscored her words. “I’m going to really miss your fabulous apartment.”
“It’s there for you to come up any time. I need to learn more about these modern movies you keep wanting to introduce me to.”
“True, we hadn’t gotten into the spy thriller genre yet. I needed your expert opinion.”
“I’m sure that most of it is too fantastical to be real anyway, most of them are.”
None of Peggy’s bravado seemed to fool her niece. “Listen, you got Cassie up there, and Juan and Julio, you aren’t by yourself. And I’m not far away, we can still hang out. And now that I’ve broken the insanity of your existence to my family...you should maybe come down for Memorial Day, come see them. You know, Dad couldn’t believe it, I think...I think it would be more real if you did come and meet with them.”
Peggy wasn’t sure she was ready for that. “Let’s see what a month brings. Right now, it looks as if I’m headed to Los Angeles to help Coulson hogtie Tony Stark into speaking to us.”
That earned a surprised look from Sharon. “The man just barely survived being captured and tortured by terrorists and we are already going to give him the third degree?”
“Yes, well, in fairness it is always best to speak with a witness as close to an event as possible, and besides, we all know that he will likely not want to talk about it the further out he is from it. Best to get it done so he can move on and heal than to keep belaboring the point.”
“If you say so.”
“We’ll see. I’m not making promises any of this will work, mind you, but if Stark Industries is selling weapons to known terrorists, it’s important to know if he knew, and if not what he found out while being kept.”
“And you don’t think the US military isn’t asking that same thing of him right now?”
Now it was Peggy’s turn for incredulity. “Three months since he went missing and it took us to find him? They are dealing with a man who everyone swears is a genius and you don’t think at his worst he couldn’t run circles around them if he didn’t want to deal with them, which if I were him at the moment, I wouldn’t.”
“Point,” Sharon replied, shaking her head. “This world is run by some truly, startling incompetent people.”
“It’s a good thing it has some of us here to try and keep it straight, isn’t it?” Peggy sighed, feeling melancholy at the thought of not having Sharon about even as a friend and confidant. It felt not terribly unlike when Michael left to go to university so long ago, only to sign up for the army and never fully come home. A bit of her life, of someone who understood her and who she was, disappeared and left her behind.
“Hey, you’re here for at least the night, right? Come crash at my place. I can show you around the DC I know, show you how it’s changed...mostly how it hasn’t changed. You still have quite a lot of this modern world you need to learn about.”
“There are still Republicans and Democrats in this town, correct?” Peggy at least could find within her a little bit of tongue-in-cheek.
“Unfortunately, yes, and sometimes they even get things done. Not often, but on occasion.”
“I’m glad then that some things in this world have remained the same,” Peggy mused as she returned to Coulson’s office, finding herself weirdly comforted by as absurd a fact as that.