Chapter 1
Phoenix smiled as she entered her apartment, bobbing her head to the beat of music from her headphones.
"Hey May " She greeted completely ignoring the billionaire on her couch that had turned seemingly to address her and instead dropped her bag and turned to press her lips to the woman's forehead. "Sorry for making' you wait up for me and thanks for dealing with him until I got here."
The man in question looked completely surprised and she had to hide a smirk. "Go on ahead. We don't want you to be late now do we? I'll deal with this."
The woman gave her a knowing look. "Take care of yourself, okay."
"Of course May." She handed the woman her handbag and hugged her, opening the door for her and shutting it behind her.
When she turned around, the soft caring niece was gone.
"Dr Stark, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. Do you want anything?"
He still seemed shocked. "Uh no. I'm- I'm trying to go clean."
"I never mentioned alcohol." She smirked, placing a long glass full if iced water in from of him. "In any case, I have a feeling you'll need this."
"So, Dr Stark let's cut the pleasantries, why are you here?"
"You remember my PHDs and you go straight to the point, I like you. Right so we're not going to pretend like I don't know who you are. You've heard about what the public is starting to call the Civil War, haven't you? I need you on this. From what I have seen of your powers, they are incredible and you're definitely skilled, you look like you have been trained actually. Don't worry, I won't ask. But my point it, I could really use your help on this."
"I guessed as much. What I need you to know is that I'm more than just my powers; if you're bringing me in this, are you willing to let me actually help you, to hear my input on whatever you're planning to do before you take a step."
He didn't seem to have expected that.
"Okay, you've been frank with me, I'll return the favor. I was just planning to give you some directives and let you loose but since you've managed to anticipate me, I'll definitely take into consideration anything you have to say."
She smiled. "Well in that case, you can count me in. Before we move on to anything else, I have something important to show you."
He said nothing, just removed his glasses, pocketing them. She understood that it was his way of saying that she had all his attention.
"You have to admit that whatever Rogers is doing is wierd. One would think that being the patriotic ass that he is, he would be first in line to sign the Accords. Do you know why he isn't?"
Tony Starks seemed really tired all of a sudden. "He said something about the government restricting us, controlling us."
"It's just a set of laws that needs to be followed by people who want to act as well vigilantes, who thinks they can do a better job than ordinary people. It's just so that the normal population feel safer. I know that even the military had those so why is he so against it, notwithstanding the fact that this was not drafted by a Government but the UN and it will grant mutants and mutates protection, especially those stuck in special circumstances. "
"You seem every informed on the subject."
"I am a mutate Dr Stark, this concerns me. I have been following the process since it's first mention. But Rogers? Did he even read the papers?"
"To be frank, all of them seemed like this was the first time they heard of the documents. I gave Rogers a copy but he refused it after the reading the first page."
She smiled. "It's strange isn't it? One would think that one of the best strategic minds in history would be better than this."
He seemed baffled. "Where are you going with this? You said that you'd give it to me straight. You know something, what is it?"
Phoenix opened her bag and pulled her laptop out. "Rogers doesn't want to sign these documents because it will obstruct his true goals." She didn't let him reply, continuing. "Did you ever take the time to go through the files released from SHEILDRA because I did. I was looking for something...that well concerned me but I found something else. Something that might interest you. It was erased soon after by who - my guess is the Widow - but I had already gotten my hands on it."
She handed him the laptop but kept her hand on the screen. "I need to warn you sir. What you see can be traumatising. You will listen to me before you take any step. Promise me." The last part was most definitely not a request.
He studied her wearily for a few moments before nodding his ascent and finally pressing play.
Phoenix studied him the whole time the video played. How his face paled, how his fist clenched and how his body tensed.
As soon as the video ended, he was up on his feet but so was she. "Sit down Dr Stark. You promised to listen to me first."
She stared him down before he resigned himself that she wasn't going to let him leave and he slumped back in the couch.
Satisfied, she sat back down and push the glass of water towards him. Only when he had taken a big gulp of it, did she speak again.
"I doubt you don't know that James Buchanan Barnes is alive after the events in Bucharest, what I doubt you know however is how he is alive. I'm sure you're aware of his history. When he fell off that train back in the 19's, Hydra captured him. They tortured him, brainwashed him. They made him into the perfect killing machine. They...broke him then conditioned him. They control him by the use of trigger words."
"You seem to know a lot on this. Too much actually. " He seemed just...tired at this point.
"I did my research. Everything was in the SHEILDRA database just encrypted for their own agents. I still have the original documents if you want to take a look. Basically if the undercover agents needed someone assassinated, someone from SHEILD, that seemed like they could create a problem for them, the information was there for them to use; they could just send in a request in a manner of speaking. As harsh as it may sound, your parents were just a mission issued to him. He had no say over whether to kill them or not. Think about this logically, Barnes knew your father, he wouldn't have wanted to kill him, not willingly at least."
Tony ran a trembling hand through his hair, stopping to pull at them for a bit.
"Why are you doing this? What will you gain from this?"
"Isn't the fact that this is right enough? You have a right on this information. They have no excuse for hiding this from you. But at the same time Barnes, while a participant, is innocent in this. He doesn't deserve to suffer like this. I don't know under what circumstances you would have found out, but I thought it would be better if you found out when you had time to process it from someone - well you don't trust me but I'm a neutral party. Point is, any decent person would have done the same as I did."
"Rogers and Romanoff didn't." He said, sounding oh so bitter.
"Well I did say decent people, didn't I?"
Finally, finally he let out a small laugh. "I hope you know that I'm keeping you."
She smirked. "Well I'm not an object to keep, but you seem like a fun person so I'll stick around."
"Looking forward to it."He sighed, once again, looking way too tired before he smirked, putting on his glasses. "I need to introduce you to my Platypus and Pepper. They'll love you."
She mirrored his expression. "Looking forward to it."