Chapter Thirteen ~ History
Chapter Thirteen
History
Fredrich Schulz was staring at a painting on the wall of a winter landscape. Stuck, for his own protection, in the windowless base made him yearn for scenery that wasn’t bricks and mortar. Sometimes the sterling silver framed painting was the only escape he could find. He didn’t turn to acknowledge the door to his office being opened. He stayed where he was until he heard the sound of a chair being pulled and someone sitting down. Finally, when he moved to face his visitor, Fredrich was surprised to find Erik Lehnsherr sitting across from him. “Give me one good reason not to shoot you on sight.”
Erik laughed at the question and folded his hands in his lap. Better people then this man-child who was trying to be like his father and grandfather had attempted to kill him. If it really was a concern to Magneto, would he have shown up unarmed and by himself? “Let’s start with your lack of guns and ammunition, it isn’t wise to waste a bullet on me. Second, your bullets wouldn’t leave the chamber before I crushed every single gun in this base, I refer you back to my first point of how that would impact your group.”
“Very well.” Frederick conceded as he too sat down in the chair behind his desk. “So what can I do for you Mr. Lehnsherr? Because it is very clear there is nothing you can do for me.”
“That isn’t entirely true Fredrich. Are you aware of exactly why the requested shipment did not make it to you?”
“I understand that it was intercepted by the Avengers.”
“And that doesn’t trouble you?” Magneto inquired, knitting his eyebrows at the casual manner the man replied in. “They, along with another group, practically torn your entire organization to the ground and danced upon it’s ruins.”
The current HYDRA leader waved off the concern with a flip of his wrist. “We are HYDRA. All the Avengers did was cut off a head. We cannot be removed from existence.”
Erik looked around the building they were in. First impression told him it was some type of house of worship back in it’s prime. Now, the ancient walls barely were strong enough to hold up the roof. “I believe by your current conditions, they did more then cut off a head.”
“We will regroup. My contemporaries are all over the world posted in a similar way. We wait in the shadows until it is our time.”
Magneto sized the man up. He was prim and polished, not a hair out of place or a winkle in his uniform. Very interesting when the environment they were in was taken into consideration. He obviously took pride in his appearance. Vanity, one of the deadly sins. “Your organization and mine share that burden. Along with other similarities.”
It was almost laughable what Fredrich had just heard. It was widely known that Magneto had throughout his life attempted to assemble a group of likeminded mutants for the purpose of ‘protecting’ his people from the ill intentions of humans. However noble the metal controlling mutant’s objectives were in his mind, he was never able to gain any headway in his ventures. Every time he tried, the X-Men were there to send him right back to square one. To compare that to the grandness of HYDRA was once again, laughable. “Such as?”
“The desire to watch the American government topple and fall in on itself, crushing those who lead it.” Magneto knew how to dangle a carrot as bait.
“What grudges do you hold against the Americans?” Fredrich was very interested in this, it was one thing for the man to agree to secure weapons for HYDRA, but another altogether to share a common interest. “If I had to guess by what I know about you sir, I would conclude that you have more of a likelihood to have animosity against me and my people.”
“That is ancient history, I have moved on.”
“Then what about HYDRA experimenting on mutants?” The new leader may be a novice in his position, but he had seen both his father and grandfather run the organization and had taken notes. If you could find the internal drive of a person, it didn’t matter ally or enemy, then you had them. “Have you moved on from that as well as the slaughter of your birth people?”
“I, admittedly, have not. I am however able to put it all aside for the purpose of forming a short-term alliance.”
Fredrich knew a lot more than Magneto was giving him credit for and made a show of informing the man. “This have anything to do with the list of mutants everyone is talking about?”
“It is a major concern of mine, yes, as it should be yours.”
This time, he did laugh. Now a mutant was telling him what he should be worried about. “How do you suppose that?”
“Because I am not dimwitted, I know the Maximoff twins were not the only successful product of Baron Strucker’s experiments.” Magneto watched the man’s face for any crack in his resolve. There was a brief jerk of the head to the right, that told him the man was surprised to hear that particular fact was out in the world. Perhaps not in the world, but the right person knew, and that person had told Erik. “That list’s reveal will not only hurt my people, but yours as well. It is already well known that your group experimented on people, it is one thing to know the concept, another to know the names and faces. Once that list is public and people are beginning to be condemned for being a mutant, how many of them will blame HYDRA? Instead of embracing their mutant identity, turn around and play the victim?” Using Fredrich’s organization’s own metaphor to make his point, “Tell me, how fast can you regrow your heads if heads are being slashed off from all sides?”
“What do you want from us? Resources, manpower?”
“All of that would be nice, however I will just accept a small token donation. With a small payment, your hands are clean of all of this, and your goals are accomplished without losing a single man in the fight.”
It always came down to money. HYDRA was nothing to similar ideal groups around the world until their bank accounts zeroed out, then everyone wanted to be friends. “How much of a ‘small donation are we talking about?”
“The weapons I was going to sell to you were at such a discounted price, it was practically giving it to you.”
“If you actually gave them to me, I would have to agree with you. Where is this going?”
Magneto stood up and looked down upon the man before the big desk. A desk that was so unnecessary large, that it made him look like a doll seated at it. “I would like the original agreed upon price for the shipment.”
“You are a lunatic.” Usually, Fredrich wouldn’t speak in such a way to a business acquaintance, but the situation did call for it. This man was out of his mind if he thought he was still going to be receiving payment for goods and services that were not provided.
“That being said, now seeing your base,” Erik said scanning the musk scented room. “I have to question if you weren’t going to betray me once I brought you the shipment. It is very clear from what I see, you do not have the money that you promised me.”
“Looks can be very deceiving Erik. We do have the money and if you brought me the shipment, I would have gladly handed the cash over to you.” Fredrich rebuked as he brought both hands up and spun in his chair, gesturing to the ‘grandness’ of his base. “We would have answered your prompt service with prompt payment and had you on your way in five minutes.”
There was no way someone this senseless could become the leader of the formerly biggest and most successful terrorist organization. It didn’t matter his bloodline; this stupid fool of a young man was just playing leader in his father’s old uniform. He was telling Magneto everything he need to hear through his bragging. “So the money is on base?”
“It is accessible. That is all I will say. Moving on, how does any of this help as you say, ‘topple the government’?”
“It is merely the means that are needed to ensure the list is not revealed.”
“While I would love to claim to be the person who did that, such extremes are not warranted in this case.” It was true. A year ago, HYDRA would have been all over this deal. Times had changed. They weren’t as staffed as they were then, and any number of casualties would cripple them further. There was an easier way around the dilemma Magneto presented. “I know for a fact that the list exists. It is known that the Secretary of Mutant Affairs keeps that list close to her at all times. A person would just need to get it from her any way they can.”
“I would like to do this without causing her harm. I will have need for her daughter eventually and being the person who killed her mother isn’t the best recruitment tactic.”
“Unfortunately, that may not be your decision to make. Katherine Bishop was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent prior to her current employment. She and her husband did a lot of things to my organization, and frankly, my family as well.” Magneto didn’t have to look close to see any crack in the man’s face this time. At the mention of ‘family’ the face hardened. “Then you have her husband all on his own. Not only was he an agent, but an Avenger as well. Neither one will be permitted to grow old if my organization rises from the ashes.”
Magneto wasn’t going to get in the middle of family matters. Whatever the Bartons did to the Schulz family, that was on them. “Fine, just leave the children out of it.” Actually, he didn’t care about the ‘children’, just a ‘child’.
“Agreed, we have no intentions of hurting the children.”
It was Magneto’s turn to harden his expression. “Charlotte Barton would disagree with that.”
“As you said, ancient history, we’ve moved on.” Schulz reminded him unconcernedly. “Don’t get me wrong, if I get a chance to take that girl, I will. It would bring an end to the pain the explosion of the Sandbox base caused us. Redeem the organization in a way by saying that base wasn’t a total failure, that we got the golden goose, so to speak, in the end. However, I’m not looking for her.”
“Well, now that we have agreed on who is ‘fair game’ and who is not, I would like to discuss again your ‘donation’.”
“It is a worthwhile proposition, I have to agree.” Fredrich considered as he leaned back in the black leather chair. Unknown to him was the danger forming from behind, the frame of the winter landscape was being pulled from around the picture. “We fund the operation and get exactly what?”
Magneto was broken from his concentration. “You get to keep your organizations name out of the press in association with this list for a while longer and use the time to increase your strength and numbers.”
Straightening up in the chair, Fredrich decided to play a bit with the man, believing himself to be the one in the better negotiating position. “I doubt I am really getting my money’s worth for just that? What else do you have to sweeten the deal?” The man nearly jumped out of the chair when he heard a crash behind him. Turning in the chair he found the painting had fallen on the ground. Fredrich knew something wasn’t right about what he was looking at. It only took a second or two for him to realize that the frame was missing. Turning back to his guest he slowly comprehended what had happened, “What the he…”
Fredrich Shultz was unable to complete his question because the sterling silver frame wrapped around his neck, much like a boa constrictor would to kill its prey. The young man’s instinct of living took over as he tried with all his might to get his fingers between his neck and metal without success. Magneto moved closer, wanting to be the last thing this pretender to the throne of HYDRA ever saw. Waiting to speak until Schulz was desperate for breath and his face was a dark shade of red, not quite yet purple. When the desired shade was reached, and the man’s life was almost over, Magneto moved in closer, “You know what they say about history right? ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’ Well I remember it and will not stand around and allow it to be repeated.” The dying man’s eyes bulged out as oxygen deprivation reached its final stage. When the life of Fredrich Shultz finally ended, Magneto released his control on the frame. When the man’s body hit the ground in front of him, Erik stepped over it to leave the room. “Thank you for your donation.”
~~~
Tony, Bruce and Cooper were all in the smaller lab that was on the mission development and tactical wing of the compound. The lab was mainly used for small stuff like running names or faces and to examine anything they found on a mission before moving it up to the research and development floor for a more detailed inspection. It was handy to have the lab available for last minute repairs on equipment or running intel afterwards without taking up a bigger project’s process. He was currently letting Cooper use the lab to work on his engineering club project. While it had more ‘bells and whistles’ then the lab available to the teenager than at school, it was much less dangerous then the other labs in the compound.
Tony was on cloud nine. Never in his life would he imagine being in a lab with his grandson, helping him with school work. If there was such a thing as the afterlife, he knew Howards Stark was looking down on them with a smile on his face. Really, the relationship he had with all of his grandchildren was something he never thought possible. They actually all liked him. He had a family. Tony was a major part of the ‘village’ that was raising these four, soon to be five, totally different children.
Cooper was probably the child who took after Kate the most. Not physically, that was Charlie. The girl looked just like her mother. Cooper was a perfect mix of his parents. He had Kate’s coloring, but Clint’s facial features. However, the child’s personality was all from his mother. Cooper, like Kate, could put up with and take a lot, right up until he couldn’t anymore, then hell was unleased. The kid also had great timing. Cooper could watch something unfold and wait until no one was expecting it, then hit them with a great observational joke that would have everyone rolling. It was often joked that Charlie took after Kate, but anything the girl did that reminded anyone of her mother was due to imitation. The girl took after her father and grandfather whole heartily despite only meeting them a year ago.
Lila was her own person. She recently had taking up trying to impersonate Kate’s facial expressions. While hilarious when it started, now when it happened, it was terrifying. She was the sweetest, most caring person Tony had ever met. She was always trying to make people happy, but never at the expense of her own happiness. She lived her life under the psychology, ‘I will make you feel good until you make me feel bad’. It was a very admirable life code to live by. It was an incredible tight line she walked almost effortlessly. For a child that no one knew where she came from, it wasn’t a concern to anyone where she was going. She was the one kid that Tony didn’t have any worries about, the girl had her life turned upside down and kept walking.
Nathaniel was still in the process of showing them who exactly he would be. He was a highly spirited child like Charlie. He was very loving and preferred company in contrast to being by himself. He was already showing signs of having a brilliant and inquisitive mind that Tony couldn’t wait to get a hold of. For such a feisty child, Nate was also very patient, he took the world as it came and could wait. Tony had concerns of how the boy would change once he wasn’t the baby anymore. He and Pepper had already decided to make an effort to make sure Nate got the attention he craved after Vee was born.
The analysis of his grandchildren was broken when he heard Cooper ask Bruce a question. “Dr. Banner, do you think it is possible to make a machine that can take a baby’s crying and translate it into English?”
Banner stopped and thought about the question. “That is a very good question Cooper. Anything is possible, it is just a matter of being able to do it. Things that weren’t possible decades ago due to the limitations of information and technology are now running our lives today. To do anything on the scope you are asking about, years of research would have to be done. Hours and hours of recording babies and comparing it to what was done to stop the cries. If you did that, it is possible a device of some sort could be designed to at least give the care taker a suggestion of what the child wants. It couldn’t just be one baby either. You would have to study infants from different backgrounds and in different countries in order to find the common elements in the crying.”
Why hadn’t Tony ever thought of that. Yup, this boy was the future of Stark Industries. “If you start your research now, you may have something for your doctorate dissertation.”
“Grandpapa…” Cooper started while becoming red-faced as a result from the embarrassment. He really didn’t think he was as smart as his grandfather thought he was and any comment regarding his intelligence mortified him, especially with the famous Dr. Bruce Banner in the conversation.
“No, no, your…grandfather.” Bruce still couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact Tony was a father, better yet a grandfather. “Is correct. It is never too early to start thinking about the future Cooper. You are a smart boy. I don’t think it’s unrealistic to predict a doctorate in your future.”
Once Tony had a project, he didn’t let go of it. He was already running down the list of things they would need. “You have your first research subject arriving in a few weeks, you should start planning how you are going to do it.”
“You think mom and dad will let me?” The grandson asked not believing that one of his ideas was actually being entertained by the two scientists.
“Coop, by day three of that baby waking them up all night, they will be begging you to figure out what Vee wants. I am going to have to increase your storage on the compound’s server to store the recordings, but we have time for that.” He then saw Natasha, Sam and Clint walk into the main room of the floor through the glass barriers that separated the lab from the rest of the wing. Walking out to meet them, “You guys made it in great time. We weren’t expecting you for another thirty minutes or so.”
“Yeah caught some speed and shaved a half an hour off our flight.” Sam said nodding towards Clint, impressed by the man’s piloting skills. He pulled the bag that was hanging off his shoulder and pulled out a terabyte drive and handed it to Tony. “That’s the hard drive of what we got, just in case some stuff didn’t transfer. Signal wasn’t the greatest out there.”
Bruce stepped out of the lab and took the drive. “We are running your close-ups of the HYDRA agents through the system, if we get any hits, it will be soon.”
Watching Bruce return to the lab to download the new content onto the server, Tony filled the team in on what they had been doing for the past few days. “Bruce helped me upgrade some stuff around here. One was adding higher filters to the facial recognition programs we use. That means the search is more specific and results are more exact.”
“Hi dad.” Cooper greeted walking out of the lab.
Clint was pleasantly surprised to see the appearance of his eldest child. “Hey Coop, what are you doing?”
“Working on my project for competition next month, then I will start working on my doctorate.”
The father didn’t have anything to come back at that with. “Cool, that’s cool Cooper.”
The elevator that was to the left of the group opened and Steve walked in. “Welcome back, debrief downstairs in five.”
“Can that wait?” Natasha asked the Captain. “You have all the surveillance information. I don’t know how much we can verbally add on top of that.”
Sam added his support to Nat’s idea. “I have been stuck on a jet for four days and three nights. I would like a shower.”
“Actually, I wouldn’t mind checking in on Kate and the kids.” Clint included in the proposal to delay a mission debrief. Natasha was right, they had everything, and anything they supplemented couldn’t be supported yet without the intel being processed, and Steve wouldn’t accept any of their remarks about the mission without proof. “What do we have to debrief Steve anyways? We were talking to you for the past hour and half. Sam actually ended the conversation with ‘well we just landed, see you in two minutes.’ You know everything. Run the intel we collected through the system. When we get a hit, then we can all sit down and talk about the mission with all the facts gathered already.”
Steve wanted to get the information as soon as possible to figure out if they needed to take the base out. That would require another mission profile, briefing, and approval from the committee. The approval would be the hardest part since more people would have to be made aware of their presence on foreign soil and engaging the enemy. “Alright, how about this afternoon?”
Everyone in the room silently agreed to the scheduled meeting and Steve left them to see what Bruce had found so far from the transferred data. Cooper followed the Captain, wanting to see what Banner’s new interface did with the data his father obtained. The remaining group started towards the elevator to access their private rooms. Addressing Tony, Clint asked stepping in the elevator, “How did everything go?”
“Everything went fine. Kate is sleeping right now.” Tony informed looking down at his tablet in his hands, then turned it to show the screen to Clint. Stark was right Kate was sleeping. Tony was showing him the live view from a ceiling camera that was directed towards the bed. Before Clint could say anything, Tony went on, “There was some deal between her and Jade that if she rested until you arrived, then no one would hound her getting out of bed for a little bit.”
Clint chewed on his bottom lip for a moment and digested the two things that were now at the forefront of his mind. “So things weren’t fine. If things were ‘fine’ then a deal would not have been made in order to get her to rest. I know my wife Tony. She wanted something, so she gave up something in return. Moving on to probably the most important question I have ever asked you in my life, why do you have a camera in my bedroom?”
“It was just installed Clint.” Tony rushed, knowing the million fears flashing before the archer’s eyes. Filling Clint in on what happened after he left, the group walked off the elevator onto the main floor. “Wednesday night her blood pressure was still high. Bruce and Hank were more concerned about a stroke or seizure then they were her gamma levels. Kate refused to go to medical and wouldn’t allow Jade to sit by her bed all night. The argument to try to convince her to reconsider was only making it worse. When she took a shower, Cooper and I installed it. It is only on when FRIDAY believes it should be or we manually access it. Nothing is being recorded or stored.”
No one had contacted Clint, and he had spoken with Kate on the phone that morning, so it was safe to assume that what the doctors feared didn’t happen. “Well I’m back so it can go.”
“But you won’t be with her all the time.” Tony pointed out. If Clint was afraid of him spying on the couple during the night, then he needed to stop that train of thought right now. Tony had no interest what so ever in seeing anything like that. “I suggest keeping the monitor in place in case of an emergency.”
“That and it is an added security measure.” Natasha weighed in, reminding Clint that it wasn’t just a medical threat out there that could harm Kate.
Clint stopped walking and considered Nat’s remarks along with Tony’s. “Who has access to the camera?”
“Bruce, myself, Jade, actually, pretty much the entire medical staff here, and Dr. McCoy.”
That was a lot of people. Some of which, Clint didn’t even know. “Tony, you are live streaming my bedroom.”
Tony halted his progression in the communal area as well when Clint did. “Now that you are home, we won’t have to monitor her when you are around. There would be no need for anyone to watch while you are there.”
Anything Clint was going to say was discarded with the arrival of Thor with Charlie on his back coming at them. Thor walked in to greet his returning friends and as he did so, caught a glimpse at Tony’s screen. “Oh are we watching Lady Barton again?”
Tony didn’t even look at Clint after hearing that. He just put his hand up in Barton’s direction. “It’s not what you think.”
Clint was astonished with the violation in privacy for his wife. “You are watching her sleep?”
Thor smiled at his friend and told him, noticeably not seeing any problem with his actions. “I only do it when Tony has it up, and she is usually sleeping. She looks so peaceful in contrast to when she is up. She is always yelling at Satan.”
Tony looked to the ground again knowing that Clint was glaring at him, “Her name is Nurse Conner or Jade.”
“That’s not what Lady Barton told me.” Thor recounted while he was kneeling down so Charlie could jump off his back.
“Hush you.” Tony hissed to the god of thunder.
“So everything was fine?” Clint quizzed the Ironman. “And you are hosting watch parties while my wife,” Then emphasized, “your daughter, sleeps?”
“Cut me some slack. I was a deadbeat dad. The only time I had seen Kate sleeping was when she was in a coma, and that wasn’t any fun. I have heard it is very relaxing watching your child sleep.”
“It is.” Clint agreed, motioning for Charlie to come over to him. “When they are a child. Not when they are a grown woman, that is the kind of shit that gets restraining orders granted.”
“Thor’s right, when she is sleeping, she looks calm, like the world isn’t so heavy on her shoulders and is at peace. For me, that is like crack, and I can’t get enough.” The absentee father justified. “As far as Kate and the nurse go, well Conner has her number and is ruling with an iron fist. Kate doesn’t like it, but there really hasn’t been any problems. Between the nurse always being there and one of us in the living room, Kate has limited choices on what she can do.”
Notwithstanding the camera in his bedroom, it seemed that everything was alright. At least Kate was asleep and following doctors’ orders. “How are things going Charlie?”
“Great, grandpapa said I could play in the gym.” The child breathlessly answered, clearly still recovering from her ‘playdate’. “Thor was in there and he played with me.”
“That was very nice of him.” Clint replied looking to Thor.
“Lady Charlotte is very skillful. She aided me in cultivating my newly acquired abilities of creating lightening without the use of my hammer.”
Now Tony looked at Clint. There was no way in hell the combination of Thor, Charlie, and lightening all in the same room unsupervised could be good. Tony started twice to attempt a sentence but had to close his mouth to rethink his words. He was successful on the third try, “What did you guys do to ‘cultivate’ this ability? Tell us Charlotte,” Tony stressed the full name of his granddaughter “how did you help Thor?”
“Dad told me I should have made a barrier when the Hulk attacked me.” Charlie reminded everyone of the events earlier in the week.
“I did…” Clint hesitantly confirm knowing that his daughter had lived up to her reputation of finding the loophole. They haven’t yet had time to discuss any changes in the rules of when and where Charlie could use or practice her abilities. However, he did tell her that she should have used them when she was threatened. The child was black and white regarding rules but had an amazing ability to justify the black becoming white and vice versa.
“So” the child began as she swung her arms in a casual fashion and looked away from the judging eyes of her father and grandfather. “I was practicing that. I was making different kinds of walls and” Her tone changed to a low mumble and quicken her speaking pace. “Thor knocked them down with a lightning bolt.”
“Aye, she speaks the truth. She is very resourceful to have. I suggested different materials to make these barriers out of and she would create it. I now have a greater understanding of how intense to strike depending on the material the target is made from. Again, I thank you Lady Charlotte and look forward to our next training session.”
“Am I in trouble again? Are you mad at me?”
Thor took two steps towards Clint and defended the child from punishment from her father due to helping him. “There is no need to be upset with the child, she was in no danger I can assure you.”
“I am not mad, and you are not in trouble.” There was too much going on to be mad at Charlie right now. Clint had just stepped off the quinjet after a three-day mission, and this was what he was greeted with. “However, if I was mad and you were in trouble, which would you prefer it be for? Using your abilities without asking first or creating a mess in the gym and leaving it there for housekeeping to clean? The choice is yours.”
Charlie scrutinized her father’s face for any sign that he was harboring any anger at her and was just waiting until they didn’t have an audience to unleash it complete with a matching punishment. Taking the lesser of two evils, she revealed her choice and walked back in the direction of the training gym. “I’ll get a broom.”
Clint provided an approving nod to his child of the correct answer. “That’s what I thought.”
The sounds of running and children echoed down the hallway. Suddenly Nate and Lila were bouncing into the room. Seeing that their dad had returned they bolted in his direction each taking a side of his to embrace. Pepper came running after them. Tony couldn’t help but always have a smile on his face when his wife entered a room. “Pepper, what are you doing here?”
Rolling her eyes at what had brought her there in the middle of the day. It was Saturday, but she still needed to be in the office to catch up on S.I. work. “Kate was screaming at Jade that I am withholding her children and demanded to have them returned.” With a heavy sigh, Pepper moved a few hairs out of her eyes. She wasn’t trying to cause any harm. Pepper thought getting the younger children out of the compound would do everyone some good. She had to go to the office anyway, and Lila and Nate both enjoyed the daycare center at SI. She didn’t like being accused of denying the children from her step-daughter. Those were the actions that easily could get someone labeled as the ‘evil step-mother’. “I wasn’t keeping the kids away from her, I was getting them out for a bit. The daycare at Stark was open so I thought they could go play for the morning.” Tony lifted his eyebrows and motioned behind her. When Pepper followed the cue, she located Clint standing there with his son and daughter watching her for an explanation about what she just said. “Oh, Sam, Clint, Nat, welcome back.”
“Again, everything was fine?” Clint repeated to his wife’s father.
“It was Clint.” Pepper upheld her husband’s previous answer. Even Tony and she moved back into the compound. The reason was so they were close incase Kate needed them, or the kids did. Along with the support of the private nurse, everything was working out very well. Hank McCoy said that Kate was doing much better then he expected at this point in her pregnancy. If her conditions weren’t enough to cause problems for Kate’s health, all the stress of the Brotherhood and Department should have. But it didn’t, even with everything going on, Kate was still doing splendidly. “Kate is just…very…emotional right now. We must understand that and respect her right to show her emotions. Bottling it up won’t do her or Vee any good.”
Tony shook his head at Pepper’s ‘sugarcoating’ of what was the cause of his daughter’s behavior and put it in blunt terms that he knew the archer would appreciate. “Kate is being a bitch and trying to start fights because she is bored out of her ever-loving mind. No one is taking the bait and fighting back which is just pissing her off.” Not liking everyone’s disapproving glare towards him for his word choice, Tony endorsed himself, “She’s my daughter, I can call her that.”
Now that sounded like the Kate Clint knew and loved, and finally believed something Tony had reported to him about his wife’s condition while he was gone. “Sounds like my wife.” Squeezing Lila’s hand that he was holding to grab the child’s attention, “Why don’t you take your brother up stairs and get ready for lunch? I just need a couple of minutes to finish up here, grab your brother and sister, and I will come upstairs and fix something up for us to eat.” He bent down and gave each child another hug and watched them walk to the elevator.
“Sounds more like Tony’s daughter if you ask me.” Pepper observed at the resemblance in behavior between the father and child while she eyeballed her husband.
“No one did.” Tony replied to the criticism. Clasping his hands together, he explained the chaos at the moment between his wife, daughter, and grandchildren. “Anyways, Kate asked to see the kids and Jade told her she would see to visitation.”
“Visitation?” If that was how Nurse Conner was ‘ruling with an iron fist’ as Tony said, then Clint wasn’t stunned at all by the apparent nickname Thor informed him that Kate had for the woman.
“Yup.” Stark bobbed his head with, knowing that Clint now understood why Kate was screaming at people. “And as you can imagine, that specific word set up the shitstorm you just walked into.”
The elevator chimed alerting the group to someone having descended to the ground floor. Clint was ready for it to be Lila coming back to tell him something, but James Rhodes was revealed when the doors parted. The former Colonel stepped off and walked to the right motioning Clint to follow him. “Clint can I speak to you for a minute?”
“Yeah sure.” Ignoring the curious glances of the summoning, he trailed Rhodey to the conference room. “What’s up?”
Pulling one of the rolling conference chairs out from the table, Rhodes turned it towards Clint and sat down. “Have you seen Kate yet?”
Leaving the door slightly opened Clint walked further into the room, “Technically yes, but not in person. What do you need?”
Rhodes looked off into a corner of the room. “Williamson got his wish. A special interest joint committee has been formed.”
“Shit.” With everything going on, he had almost completely forgotten about the Secretary of Defense’s request to Congress. Taking the seat next to Rhodes, Clint adjusted the chair, so they were seated less than five feet away from one another. “When.”
“They are going to be sending her the official request Monday along with a press release to the public. She will be requested to appear on Wednesday.”
“She is eight months pregnant.”
“I know that, you know that, they know that. I suspect it is part of their game.”
“Their game?” This was the health of his wife and child this joint committee was risking, and her Deputy was calling it a ‘game’?
“On Wednesday, the joint committee members will have a little over a week of preparation. They don’t want to do it, they won’t have enough time to do the right research and prepare the right questions to ask Kate.”
It all seemed too rush to Clint. Diana had said it could happen this quickly, but if no one was prepared, then why? “So why are they doing it if they aren’t ready.”
“It’s an election year, politicians do whatever their constituents want them to do at that time.” There was a bitterness in the man’s tone. Probably had something to do with people only doing what the group they worked for wanted a fraction of the time, and the majority of it was spent on their own agenda. “The public is demanding an investigative hearing into this matter. Williamson’s scared tactic worked after all.”
“It doesn’t matter, she can’t go. She is on bedrest. That is a medical reason. An acceptable excuse not to attend. Isn’t it?”
“Yes, and the committee is hoping Kate is going to play that card.”
Clint was never political and before last year it wasn’t a label he would have attached to Kate either. The committee was hoping for Kate to refuse, and honestly, so was Clint. “Then it’s fine.”
Rhodes pressed his right index finger on the table as if pointing to an item on an agenda, “No, because they will postpone it for six weeks after she delivers.” He picked up his finger and stabbed at the table again to stress his next item. “The committee will send another request for her presence.” Rhodes repeated the action once more and stared at Clint, “If she doesn’t go that time, then the next request will come in the form of a subpoena.”
“Have you told Kate this yet?”
“No, I haven’t told anyone. I don’t want anyone to know before I tell Kate.”
“Then I would suggest not having the conversation in our bedroom.” The comment rewarded the archer with a confused expression from the other man. Waving his hand for Rhodey to disregard his remark, “Never mind. Why are you telling me before her?”
Rhodes leaned forward and folded his hands together. “Because I need you to understand why she is going to go on Wednesday.”
Clint immediately straighten up and moved his own arms onto the chair’s rest. “Absolutely not.”
“Clint, I need you to hear me. The committee is holding their breath, wanting Kate to put it off until after the baby is born. That could be three months from now.”
“So?” Again, he wasn’t seeing a problem with a delay.
“So currently as it stands, they only have a week to get ready. That is going to be brutal for her, but she will be alright.” Rhodes said with a bit too much confidence in his statement, like if he said it out loud it would be true. The man also known as War Machine stood up and walked to a corner and peered out the window. “It is nothing compared to what they will throw at her with months to prep. The evidence and witnesses that time allows them to find could very well buried the department.”
“What are they going to find?”
“Clint…”
“I will ask one more time, then I’m not going to ask you but go to Kate.” The husband and father protectively demanded as he also stood up and made his way over to the corner. Forcing the Deputy Secretary to look at him, Clint repeated the question. “What are they going to find? There is a list, isn’t there?”
Looking down Rhodes admitted, “Yes, there is a list. And Kate has it.”
“God damn it!” Clint turned abruptly with his hands folded onto his head. Another secret Kate kept from him. First Charlie thinking Clint didn’t like her for being a mutant, now a mysterious list of mutants that the government wanted being in her possession. A list that everyone wanted, not just the government, if it came out that it really did exist. “I am assuming these witnesses that you are praying they don’t find can corroborate this?”
“I don’t know who knows Clint. As far as I know its you, me, Xavier and Kate. That doesn’t mean it ends there. Somehow Secretary Williamson found out this list existed and no one I just named would give him that information.”
The very fact that such a list existed was dangerous. Everyone would want it, and if the wrong person did, how far would they go to get it. The verification that Kate had it didn’t calm Clint down at all. Something that valuable would be on her always. How large of a threat was this to them when the wrong person got confirmation that she had it? As far as the actual list went, Clint had only one inquiry as to its contents? “Is my daughter on this list? Is Charlie on this list with a description of what she can do?”
“I would assume so.” Rhodes had never actually seen the list. He wouldn’t be able to point it out if someone had a gun to his head. “Xavier created it so he can add anyone he wants. Kate explained the list to me as a ‘roll call’ of sorts. A complete list of everyone who has been triggered by the X-gene and their abilities if he can recognize it. The Professor apparently has this machine where he can see every mutant. That is how they compile the list. It is just names and locations; age and other traits don’t play into if they are added or not. The Professor sees them, they are added.”
“Yes, Charlotte is on the list Clint.” A voice confirmed from behind them. Rhodes and Clint looked towards the source to find that Kate had entered the room. She had apparently been there long enough to hear Clint’s questioning of who was on the list. “Lila told me you were back.” She answered the unasked question of what she was doing there. Kate then requested the important information from her Deputy Secretary. “When?”
Standing at attention with the arrival of his superior, “Wednesday, ten thirty.”
“Is it public knowledge yet?”
Rhodes walked back to the table and offered Kate the chair he was sitting in earlier. “Official request on Monday followed by press release.”
“Well…” She started as she took the chair and rolled seated until her legs were under the table. Leaning onto her elbows, Kate used the palm of her hands to rub her eyes. That gesture made Clint remember that she was sleeping just minutes ago. Lila must have woken her with the news of his return, and knowing Lila and how she behaves when excited, it probably wasn’t a gentle awakening. “If Magneto and the Brotherhood weren’t a threat before, they sure are now.”
Clint was positive that the extremist mutant group would have been taken care of by now. It had been over three days since they were handed the assignment. “The X-Men haven’t caught them yet?”
“Can’t find them.” Putting her hands down, Kate reclined against the back of the chair and put a hand on her stomach. “They aren’t giving up. Scott has been checking out known locations they have been seen at. Logan has been casing out the park incase Magneto is hanging around there looking for Charlie again.”
“Both long shots.” Clint dryly commented about the unsuccessfulness of the mutant group.
Rhodes inclined his head in agreement to Clint’s assessment. “Until we actually see one of them, it’s all we’ve got.”
“Sounds like the X-Men need some help.”
“We can’t call the Avengers in.” Kate disclaimed while shaking her head seeing where Clint was going. “It will just confirm everyone’s theory that they were involved from the beginning. It will do more harm than good.”
“Politically, but not tactically. The more people you have on this, the faster they are found, and the threat is eliminated.” Clint wanted Magneto so bad he could taste it. In the archer’s mind, the man made a fool out of him and endangered his daughter. “This is personal, and you are telling me and my team to stay out of it?”
“The Accords Committee would have to approve it and a dossier of the current status would need to be prepared and presented to the team.” Rhodes outlined looking to Kate, waiting for any spark of hope that she would allow the Avengers to assist.
“Also, the Avengers would have to accept the assignment.” Kate pointed out just one of the problems they had with legally handing the job over to ‘Earth’s mightiest heroes.’ Another in the back of her mind was the X-Men thinking that Kate believed they couldn’t handle it and causing tension in their working relationship. If she didn’t have the support of the X-Men, then what chance did she have to obtain the trust of the mutant community. “Steve didn’t like how everything went down. He wants you guys as far removed from this as possible.”
It didn’t sound like she was saying ‘no’, but she wasn’t saying ‘yes’ either regarding the inclusion of the Avengers Rhodes mentally concluded. In order to bring them into this, a lot of stuff would need to be done. Much more than just the previous mentioned steps and approvals. “Could take at least a day for everything to be prepared to officially brief the team.”
Kate knew Clint and knew that one way or another he would find a way to become involved in the tactical dealings of bringing in the Brotherhood. For Rhodes being able to quickly spit out what would be needed to grant Clint’s demand, Kate concluded that her Deputy also wanted the Avengers on this. She had to admit that additional hands would only be a benefit if the politics were taken out of the equation. “Let me speak to Xavier for a complete update.” The last thing she wanted was to send anyone out with out of date information. “Then I will request the approval from the committee.” Turning to Rhodes, “You can handle arranging the report and briefing them on Monday when and if I can get it?”
“I would have to confer with the X-Men, but it shouldn’t be a problem.” The Deputy Secretary conceded to the newest duties assigned to him. “Monday sounds like the earliest it can be done.”
If nothing else, having the Brotherhood to hunt down would give Clint a distraction from the other issue going on around them. He hadn’t said anything about the hearing yet, and deep down knew that conversation was coming. “I know it’s the weekend, but can you ask Diana to come in tomorrow? We have to prep for Wednesday.”
“Of course.” That was as simple as sending a text to the assistant. Rhodes would have to tell Diana about the week’s schedule anyway, better to do it in person tomorrow.
Just as Kate predicted, at the mention of her saying that she would participate in the request for her presence in D.C, Clint started what she assumed was his fight against it. “Kate…”
“Clint, please don’t start. You just got home, and believe it or not, I am very happy you’re back, so please don’t start. I am going. I know you don’t like it, but you don’t understand.”
“You’re wrong.” He contested back. Rhodes had already told him everything, and Clint had enough time to think about it. He decided that Rhodes was correct. Kate had to go now before something happened. Giving the joint committee additional time to research and ask questions had far greater risks then her just going this week. Congressional representatives wouldn’t aggressively question a pregnant woman so close to her due date. It would make them look worse than if Kate admitted to having the list. It was their only card to play to make sure she got through this. He was letting her go despite his gut instincts telling him to force her to stay. For Clint to reach any sense of peace with this move, certain precautions would need to be taken. “I understand completely. I get it. In addition to Diana, can we get Hank over here as well to prep tomorrow? I would like him on board, literally, I want him on board the plane when we go to D.C. I would like him to check you out before hand in case your medication needs to be adjusted for what I can only guess will be a highly stressful situation.”
Kate was in shock with her mouth open. She didn’t know how all of this was going to end and what the events would do to her, so Clint must be going crazy thinking of the numerous ways all of this could go horribly wrong as well. Recognizing that her husband’s consent took a lot for the man to do and was probably fighting every part of his brain in order to do it, all Kate could do was acknowledge the sacrifice Clint just made. “Thank you and welcome home.”