Chapter 4
How the hell is he supposed to make them pardons when they just keep braking the law!
And Rogers!
The gust the man has, to just show up pretending to be a prince on a white horse come to save the day!
They weren’t damsels in distress in the claws of a big bad! It’s not like they were still in the R.A.F.T.! They were in one of the most comfortable prison money and pleads could by! Both, by the way, done by him to the president himself- to whom he owed a favor now! And what? Did Rogers really think he was going to leave them in there to rot! Rot! Ha! Like they were even mildly uncomfortable there! They had a golf course and an Olympic swimming pool for Christ’s sake!
He just had to make everything worse by ‘saving them’
And he had to use his super strength on the guards, almost killing them, because even the words stealth, discreet and non-harmful are blasphemy!
He sits down on the stairs abruptly after having paced and mentally yelled for the past fifteen minutes. He puts his head in his hand and sighs deeply
God, what is he gonna do?
He rubs his forehead as he thinks.
What can he do? Damage control, first of all. He needs to check how the guards are doing. Offer his help for the medical bills. He needs to get ahead of the press and tell the story differently. There is an easy way to do that, however painful that might be: he has to give an interview. He also needs to call Murdock to help him craft a non disclosure agreement with the guards so that they won’t talk to the press. Obviously he needs give them a big check too, and maybe a job in his company to keep their mouths shut. He needs to contact T’Challa to see if they made it back safely. He needs to call the President and- shit, this is gonna cost him another favor, isn’t it? Fuck. Unless… unless he plays this right.
He takes a deep breath and takes a moment to gather his thoughts
He calls the president
“So, a little birdie told me you have a bit of a problem, sir”
“Stark, if you’re calling to ask another favor, I’m going to have to-”
“Oh no, no, you see, I’m actually calling to offer to pay the favor I offered you” Tony knows he is toeing on a fine line by interrupting the President, but he is forced to at this point
He hears an angry huff on the other side “what are on about Stark?”
Time to throw the bait “Well, it’d make you look like a fool- not that I think you are in the least, sir, but if you let it be known that the rogues have escaped, you’d look like one. So, I’m offering a solution” he says lightly, his heart hammering in his chest with such force he thinks it can be heard on the other side of the line
“And what would that be?” The President asked taking the bait
Tony lets out a breath “well, let’s say, hypothetically, that I’m positive they left the U.S., and I know in which country they are right now. I could contact the country to pay the favor I owe you and make them aware of the rogues being in their country. They’ll detain them and you could say you exiled them, handing them over to the country that currently holds them. You could make it look as if them leaving was by design and legal as opposite to looking like a fool for not being able to contain them”
“And why would I waste your favor for this when I could easily inform the country myself?” He asked
“Well, you don’t know which country it is, sir” Tony said as a matter of fact
The President scoffed “I don’t need to, you are legally obligated to tell me”
“Yeah, I would be, if I knew”
“But you just said-”
“Hypothetically, I said hypothetically. You have no proof that I know which country they are in”
He hears the President muttering curses under his breath “… okay, contact the country” tony mentally pats his own back “but there’s another problem. How do you propose I contain the real story?”
“Well, there’s where I come in. While you’ll tell our version of the story I’ll hold a press conference, the return of Iron Man in the eyes of the public will easily overshadow any rumor of the rogues escaping of their own volition”
“And you’d do this for free?” He can hear the suspicion in his voice
“Well, for an exchange of sorts”
He hears a deep, tired sigh “and what would that be?”
“In exchange for my help with the rogues I’d like the possibility of making my case for their pardons”
“What? How am I even- I’m supposed to exile and then pardon them? The people will want my head!”
“I didn’t say you had to accept” that shuts him up fairly quickly “when in a couple of months the news of their exile will have blown over, I’ll propose the pardons. Now, we both know the pardons will divide the people, as one half will want the rogues’ heads and the other half will want them to be pardoned. But you don’t have to do either: you can just give them probation for a couple of years before letting them free, and if and only if they sign the accords they’ll be able to do the hero gig. That way both will have what they want by reaching a compromise. And you’ll be a hero to both parts. Think about it: Iron Man implores the president for his friends’ freedom, and you graciously let them have it, on the compromise that they pay for their actions. You’ll come out as just and fair, and get my help in this”
He waits with a baited breath as the President thinks it over
“Alright, you got yourself a deal” he lets out a relieved breath “but Stark? You better give one hell of a case for their pardons”
The call disconnects
And so it starts, the endless list of calls he has to do: Murdock, T’Challa, each of the guards’ families, and then he has to call Pepper to schedule an interview tomorrow
Is it weird he dreads more the call to Pepper than the one he just had with the President?
God, how can he even- fuck Rogers, he thinks tiredly but vehemently. Honestly, the man just doesn’t help his case.
Almost two hours later he’s finally ended the last call and he honestly just wants to throw the phone out of the window. Or burn it. Yeah, burning it sounds more like it. He lets himself fantasize about different ways to destroy the phone and let himself disappear from the radar like he has done in the last four months.
He shakes his head. He’s going out of his mind.
As he thinks about the impending interview anxiety crawls its way out of his heart and expands through his chest, making it hard to breathe.
He takes some deep breaths and lets himself fall on the couch with a huff just as Cooper comes back down the stairs. He locks eyes with the kid for a moment, and he asks himself why would the kid decide not to talk. He thinks that maybe, with everything that happened with his father leaving them, the kid must think himself and what he has to say as not too important. Isn’t he lonely? Surely he has friends? But do they know sign language? And then suddenly he remembers something he read who-knows-when about how letting a child teach you something makes them feel important and helps in forming a bond and an idea comes to mind.
“So” he says casually “you like sign language?”
Cooper looks confused but nods
“Would you like to teach me?” He asks simply
Cooper’s eyes get as big as saucers and he throws himself on the couch next to him
He watches, amused, as the boy starts to move his hands animatedly trying to explain… something to him. With the few words he knows he is able to get something about… his family? His… sister? His dog, it’s definitely his dog
He stops the boy with a hand and makes a gesture, mimicking the act of writing. The boy blushes in embarrassment at having forgotten Tony can’t understand him and grabs pen and paper. Tony smiles and watches as the kid writes excitedly all the words he wants Tony to learn.
Then suddenly he stops and turns kind of serious. Tony is about to ask what is wrong when the kid writes something else and hands him the paper. Tony takes it cautiously and sees various words scribbled on it, before he notices the hastily written note at the end
Thank you
He looks at the kid and Cooper gives him a small, shy smile.
His heart melts a little
He ruffles the kid’s hair and smiles too. The kid’s smile gets bigger before he takes back the paper and points to a word, then goes through a motion with his hands. Tony repeats it at the best of his abilities, and Cooper takes his hands and corrects him before repeating the motion. Tony does it again and the kid smiles once again
Tony looses himself in the motions, letting the kid teach him a handful of words before repeating them all again. He ignores the impending interview for now and lets himself relax.
The kid laughs every time he grumbles because of a hard word or cheers when he already knows one and Tony finds himself smiling
For the rest of the time Cooper teaches him, before the kid has to go do his homework, Tony smiles