Motivation and Resolve
Chapter 5: Motivation and Resolve
Evelyn sat between Tony and Steve at the round table they had all been briefed at only a few hours earlier. She was once again in her civilian clothes, the pearl-grey blouse, off-white trousers and darker off-white pumps. Her long hair was open, hanging over her shoulder while her brother held to a few tendrils with a tight grip.
It had been a coping mechanism he had developed when he was small, whenever he felt like he was drowning and needed something to hold on to. For the most part, he had grown out of it as he got older but the need for that comfort came back full force after their three-month captivity in Afghanistan and all the events that followed – his palladium poisoning, her pregnancy, his growing feelings for Pepper, their decision to give the company to Pepper and let her in on the Family Secret. Tony needed something he had associated with comfort and safety and Evelyn was only too happy to give that to him; she saw it as proof that her nephew still needed her, no matter how old he got or what their cover story is, he still needed her just as much as she needed him.
Nick walked up to them with a solemn expression on his face, fiddling with something in his hands. He stopped on the opposite side of the table and sighed heavily; Phil was more than a comrade or an underling, he was a dear friend. He hoped, prayed to a God he didn’t believe in, that he was doing the right thing.
Steeling his resolve for the first time in years, he held up the items in his hand. “These were in Phil Coulson’s jacket. Guess he never did get you to add your signature to them, Captain, like he got Evy to.”
Nick gently tossed the items onto the table, revealing them to be the vintage trading cards portraying Captain America and Lady Dara in various poses that had been distributed during and after World War 2.
They were stained with blood, Phil’s blood.
Evelyn gasped involuntarily, one hand covering her mouth and resting the other on her bump, the babies kicking in response to her emotions. Tony tightened his grip on her hair with one hand while gently rubbing her arm with the other in an attempt to comfort her. Unfortunately, the effect didn’t quite work as it had in the past, his own emotions turbulent and raging beneath the surface.
It was only their years of living among the upper echelons of New York, their upbringing that kept them from completely breaking down while outside the privacy of their quarters.
Similarly, it was only Steve’s military training, no matter how condensed it had been, that prevented him from breaking down in front of the other agents that were working frantically at the computers.
“We’re dead in the air up here.” Nick continued as Steve reached out and gingerly picked up one of the stained cards, looking at it with a mix of sadness and regret. The image was of Steve and Estelle in full costume, standing side by side and saluting. “Our communications, the location of the Cube, Banner, Thor… I got nothing for you. I lost my one good eye.” He shook his head disparagingly. “Maybe I had that coming.” He paused for a moment, looking as though he was collecting his thoughts before continuing, “Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number thought because I was playing something even riskier.” Steve looked up at the Director, confusion clear in his blue eyes. “There was an idea, the Starks know this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could.” He looked between Tony, Steve and Evelyn, piercing each of them with his penetrative gaze that none could hold for more than a few seconds; not even Evelyn was able to and she had been the one to teach Nick the look. “Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes.”
Tony shot to his feet abruptly, letting go of Evelyn’s hair in the process.
“Tony?” Evelyn called softly, looking up at her brother’s back.
Tony didn’t respond, only glancing back at her for a brief second before stalking out of the cavernous room. Evelyn pushed herself to her feet using the armrest of her chair and the table and hurried after him, struggling to keep up with his rapid strides. Behind her, she could hear Nick commenting that this notion of heroes that he believed was rather old-fashioned, but he still continued to believe in it.
She shook her head, ducking around the agents that were in the halls. She knew what Nick was doing, manipulating them and using Phil’s trading cards as a form of motivation to encourage them to fight or something. Evelyn knew this because Phil had once told her that he always kept the cards in his locker while at work, taking them home at the end of each day and then bringing them back the next morning.
Despite knowing of the manipulation, she couldn’t bring herself to be angry with Nick. Though she wasn’t happy about how it was done, she knew that the boys had needed a push, and perhaps she herself did as well. In the past 70 years, she had begun to hide in the shadows, especially after Howard and Maria died, focusing on helping Jarvis raise Tony and run Stark Industries in the process. She had become so preoccupied with her own life, secrets and issues that she had completely neglected her responsibility to SHIELD as one of the Founders, now the last surviving able-minded member of that panel. Perhaps if she had done her job, Nick wouldn’t have felt the need to resort to manipulation and weapons to get the job done.
Sighing heavily, Evelyn shook herself out of her thoughts as she caught up with Tony on the mezzanine that once overlooked the cage. The large cylindrical glass room was gone, leaving behind a gaping and empty circle.
“Tony?” Evelyn called softly, alerting the man to her presence as she stepped next to him.
Tony was staring at the floor vacantly, the opening that the cage had been jettisoned through sealed shut once more. Evelyn put a gentle hand on his shoulder in support, comforting him with her silence. He reached up and squeezed her hand gently, not saying a word. She turned and looked around the room, letting the air currents paint the scene that had occurred between Phil and Loki – she could see where Loki had managed to trick Thor into the cage, she could hear him gloating to his brother about how he had succeeded in using the same trick twice on the blond prince, she could see when Phil had interrupted the gloating session with the prototype gun in hand, she could see how Loki tricked Phil as well and stabbed him in the back with the scepter.
She could see and hear everything that had occurred.
Drawn out of the recent past by the sound of purposeful yet heavy footfalls, she didn’t need to look to know that Steve had found them. Evelyn heard him walk out onto the mezzanine from another doorway.
For a few seconds, Steve was silent, just watching his former partner and her nephew turned brother. In that moment, he could see the similarities between Howard and Tony, both men prone to grieving in silence and bottling everything up except to only a small number of people that could be counted on one hand. Evelyn/ Estelle had been at the top of that list, the only one who could really draw Howard out from his sorrow without him realizing it, letting him grieve but also keeping him grounded in reality and not letting him succumb to his pain.
“Was he married?” Steve asked finally, breaking the silence that hung in the air.
“No.” Evelyn replied quietly, not moving from her position beside Tony or looking away from the floor. “He was dating someone, a concert cellist. I met her a few times, even saw her play once; she was really sweet and was completely in love with him.”
Evelyn had actually been in Portland to watch the cellist, Audrey Nathan, play at the Portland Symphony when Phil had met her. Audrey was in fact being stalked by someone at the time and the police hadn’t believed her though Phil had been sent when SHIELD learned of her stalker and his energy absorption ability. Once the stalker was taken into SHIELD custody and Audrey was safe, Evelyn had been the one to encourage Phil to ask the beautiful cellist out, having seen the attraction between the two of them.
“I’m sorry.” Steve said softly. “He seemed like a good man.”
“He was one of the best.” Evelyn said softly. “He was actually the only one who figured out who I was on his own and once he had gotten over the fact that I was once Lady Dara, he became a close friend and confidant. He was the one spearheading the investigation into my pregnancy, spending every spare moment he had searching for answers.”
Tony snorted derisively. “He was an idiot.” He snapped.
“Why?” Steve asked him. “For believing?”
“For taking on Loki alone.” Tony replied.
“He was doing his job, Tony.” Evelyn said gently.
“He was out of his league.” Tony scoffed. “He should have waited. He should have…” He trailed off.
“Sometimes there isn’t a way out, Tony.” Steve said.
“Right, I’ve heard that before.” Tony said snidely, stalking past Steve.
“Is this the first time you’ve lost a soldier?” Steve asked gently; it was always hard, but the first time was the worst.
“We are not soldiers.” Tony hissed angrily, spinning around and glaring at Steve. “None of us!”
Steve glanced at Evelyn, expecting her to comment on her brother’s remark but instead she just shook her head.
“I’m not a soldier any more than Tony is.” She said quietly, one hand on her baby bump where she could feel the babies’ fluttering movements. “Not even during the war had I been a soldier; I was, and am, a doctor and a scientist.”
“I’m not marching to Fury’s fife.” Tony said firmly, wrapping his arm around Evelyn’s shoulders and pulling her close to him.
“Nor am I.” Evelyn admitted quietly. “Nick may be a friend of mine, and one of the few people I have trusted with our secrets, but I refuse to dance to his tune.”
“I feel the same way.” Steve told the siblings. “Fury’s got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now, we’ve got to put that behind us and get this done.”
“To accomplish his plan, Loki needs a power source.” Evelyn said as Tony’s gaze wandered to the bloodstain that remained on one of the lower panels where Phil had been stabbed.
“If we can put together a list-” Steve said.
“He made it personal.” Tony said, cutting the Super Soldier off.
“That’s not the point.” Steve said, shaking his head.
“That is the point.” Tony argued adamantly. “That’s Loki’s point. He hit us all right where we live.”
“But why would he do that?” Evelyn asked, confused. “To tear us apart?”
“Yeah, divide and conquer is great.” Tony muttered, his mind racing to connect the dots. “But he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That’s what he wants.”
“He’s an egotistical narcissist.” Evelyn supplied. “He wants to beat us, yes, but he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience.”
“Right. I caught his act in Stuttgart.” Steve said, nodding along.
“Yeah, that’s just previews.” Tony said. “This is opening night. And Loki, he’s a full-tilt diva, right? He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered-” He stopped abruptly, looking at Evelyn with his eyes wide, her own orbs just as large.
“Son of a bitch!” The Stark siblings exclaimed in unison.
“What?” Steve asked, completely lost.