The Game is Afoot
(Tony’s Office, New Avengers Facility, Upstate New York)
Tony clenched his right hand on the edge of his desk, pointedly ignoring the cheap plastic flip phone that was laying mockingly in front of him. Rogers’ letter was starting to smoke, scrunched up in his trembling left hand.
How dare he?! Tony thought scathingly. What kind of apology even is this?!
Tony took a deep breath and, with great difficulty, let go of the almost burning letter. He’s going to need that later. He folded his hands in front of his face, closed his eyes and tried not to start a fire in his office. Or the whole building, for that matter.
He’s been trying to practice controlling his new powers ever since he woke up. But between designing and trying out new braces for Rhodey’s legs (and secretly finding out a new concentration of extremis to maybe kick start the healing process,) fanning out the media fire on Ross, and trying to placate Peter’s very pissed off Aunt, Tony couldn’t really find the time to do much about his extremis other than recording the extend of his new powers and reporting it to the council.
The Accords Council had accepted his new enhancement surprisingly easily, and Tony guessed it would be because of his report about Rogers’ betrayal on Siberia to the council. Just the enough amount of initial reluctance, request for the videos to be kept out of the public, and admission that he’d rather not have the masses know about the tragedy so soon after he himself first found out, and Tony became the golden boy of the Accords Council practically over night. And the best part? He didn’t even have to lie or manipulate anyone with false grieve to achieve that.
He would rather not have to do a press conference about his parents’ murder anytime soon, that much was true. But, should push comes to shove, he wouldn’t hesitate to throw Rogers under the proverbial bus. Literal one, too, if he was being honest with himself.
He’d told the council as much, stating that they all would need the public’s approval if they were to successfully revamp the accords and salvage the Avengers Initiative. The majority of councilmen and women had been charmed by his ‘dedication to accommodate the wishes of the people of the world’. Up to that point, the whole council was in agreement that the Accords, while in need of several heavy revision, must still go on. How were they going to do it, however, was a whole another problem entirely.
Russian Councilman, General Baranovsky was very vocal in his insistence to ‘completely erasing any good image of Captain America from the public.’ Romanian and Sokovian delegates were more than happy to echo the sentiment, with the rest of European delegates trailing after, albeit a little more politely subtle. It was strange, seeing the whole Europe agreeing on a matter unanimously, EU membership be damned.
In contrast, both ASEAN and PIF member states had already came up with proposals for their own respective teams of enhanced individuals and intergovernmental organizations build around said teams, all under the jurisdiction of the Accords. and they were all quite happy with leaving the rogue Avengers be for the time being. Both ASEAN and PIF had claimed that the two proposal were unrelated to each other, but judging by the suspiciously similar layout of both proposals and the mischievous wink Councilwoman Moore had sent to the general direction of smirking Councilman Sinaga, Tony called bullshit on that. He estimated a join operation of ASEAN’s AERA and PIF’s PIERA in about 2 months after their implementation. Hell, even their acronyms rhymed.
The African delegates had been floundering without the leading voice of Wakanda. Their absence had been the subject of scrutiny during the hearing, but ultimately the Council had decided to accept the excuse of ‘civil and political unrest due the death of the Late King T'chaka.' As it was, the continent seemed to be divided between the Europe’s trigger happy stance and South East Asia, Australia, and Pacific Islands’ more “move on and forget” approach. Both Nigeria and South Africa had been crying for blood during the hearing, while the more politically unstable countries had refused to bring more unnecessary conflict into their midst.
During the whole deal, the US hadn’t been able to do more than observing. Tony’s leak on Ross’ illegal deals had unsurprisingly incited the media’s wrath, but he was still a major political powerhouse with multiple unpaid favors from powerful figures around the globe. As of now, he has only been stripped from his seat in the Accords Council by the majority of vote, but the US Government still hasn’t bent down to public’s demand to take down Ross and put him in investigation.
Tony was under no delusion that Ross wouldn’t fight with ferocity of a cornered animal now. And Tony was doing his best to goat the public opinion against him as subtly as he could. Ross was notorious for using captives and hostages when desperate, and Tony was unwilling to endanger what little family and friends he’s got left by painting himself even brighter target-red.
Tony sighed tiredly. He was starting to feel like the kid from a Home Alone movie; forced to set up traps and clandestine plots to bring down the big bad of the year. He was stretched thin and reduced to using the subtlest method, and Team Cap’s involvement on the “Civil War” (as the media put it) didn’t help his situation in the slightest either. If anything, they just gave Ross an even bigger pool of kids to kidnap from. Both Barton and that Lang guy were fathers (would you look at that… absentee fathers! Surprise!) and their families were all in danger.
Tony had sent drones to the Barton Farm to look for trouble, and so far, his facial recognition software has only been decoding known S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives snooping around the premise. The drones he’d sent to the Langs’, however, had been found broken from the inside out: cables snipped, circuits blasted off, and power cores detached. Tony suspected Dr. Pym hadn’t brought back just the Ant-Man into the fray. S.H.I.E.L.D. data dump mentioned “the Wasp” alongside Pym’s Ant-Man, and Tony’s got a few names for the possible inheritor of the technology. One stood out in particular, and he’s been planning on approaching her in due time.
So that’s two families with at least some form of defense against Ross. Tony’d already tracked down Wilson’s living relatives down to an uncle that lived in fuck-knows-where, Louisiana. Drones had been sent, and once Tony finished restarting the Iron Legion project, a few suits would be dispatched to each household incognito. Same treatment went to Rhodey’s family in Philadelphia, albeit with Mama Rhodes’ explicit permission and blessing after she politely refused his offer to house the family in either the Avengers Facility or Stark Tower for maximum safety.
Said offer had also been refused by Hannah Keener (and by May Parker, although Tony mostly assumed her refusal from all the screaming and tongue-lashing she gave him the last time they met.) Hannah had insisted that nobody knew about Tony’s friendship with the family, and assured Tony that they’d lay low until Ross has been taken out. Even Harley was conflicted about the idea instead of jumping at the offer like Tony had thought he would.
“I don’t really mind transferring to a school here in New York, Tony,” Harley had said, “but Hailey really likes her classmates. She’d be sad if she has to move.”
Tony hadn’t the heart to press the issue afterward. So he just sent out even more drones than usual, hoping that Hannah’s effort to stay anonymous would be enough to fool Ross. Somehow, he was glad that May didn’t want anything to do with him at the moment, even if that meant reduced contact with Peter(reduced even more after May refused to allow Peter out “spider-manning”.) At least the boy and his Aunt would be safe for now.
Tony glanced down at his wrist watch. Still a few hours left before his and Pepper’s scheduled couple counselling. Inwardly, he was wondering when had he became this model of healthy relationship and mental well-being that went to couple counselling and therapies willingly. Only a few weeks ago, Tony would’ve laughed at the notion of him on a shrink’s couch talking about his fucked up psyche.
The playboy’s all grown up now, Tony mused. Only took me four decades.
Casting his glance back at the sorry excuse of a burner phone, Tony steeled his resolves. He was done sheltering them all from their own mistakes. “Fri? Track him down.”
F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s answer sounded gleefully smug. “Already done, Boss. I’ve taken the liberty to triangulate his current and former positions, and match them with the flight manifests from and to those locations.”
Tony felt his mouth tugged into a smile. Seemed like his baby girl was growing up too. “Oh? Let me guess, he’s not with his whole team now?”
“No, Boss. Names are changed all the time, but only one male and one female are accompanying him right now.”
“Wilson and Romanov then? They did like running around together searching for dear old Bucky back in the day. With my dimes, too, if you can believe it,” Tony said airily.
“I’m still on the process of computing his insolence, Boss. I’ll let you know when I’ve finished processing the idiocy,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. deadpanned.
“Ah… the sass! You know, one Irish poet used to say that sarcasm is a mark of one’s intelligence, baby girl.”
“Said poet must’ve never had the pleasure of meeting me, then, boss,” answered the A.I.. “As I recall, he also said that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit in the same breath. I took full offense.”
“attagirl.”
“If I may, boss? The position of Captain Parasite and his two entourage is easy to track. But it seems like I can’t even find the rest of Team Crap on any of the flight manifests. So far, all the names in the flight back to the first one from Entebbe International Airport, Uganda to Amsterdam Airport Schipol, Netherlands checked out as legitimate people. Should I be concerned?” F.R.I.D.A.Y. inquired.
Tony mulled it over. The first known flight was from Uganda, out of all places. Could a handful of American with only one black man to blend in the African nation really pass through an airport security? Let alone purchasing a pair of burner phones to be sent to Upstate New York?
“Boss?” F.R.I.D.A.Y. nudged. “Should I check all flight manifests happening that day?”
“Yeah, you do that, F.R.I.D.A.Y.. Looks like our renegades had help for the first few steps from a certain cat.”
“Checked Boss. Two unidentified males and one unidentified female boarded a different flight to Brussels. The female went on alone to a flight to Edinburgh, Scotland and stayed there. The two males went together to Washington D.C.. Only one male boarded a flight to San Francisco after that, I lost the other male in D.C.,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. recounted.
Tony’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline at that. “Huh, what do you know. Looks like Barton is still a spy at heart. Went through the long way home just to hide his farm’s address. I wonder if he’s already there by now.”
“Checking boss, although I doubt he’s going to show up if he doesn’t want to. Dumb as he is he’s still one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s best graduate.”
“Touche.”
“What about Scott Bang, Boss?”
Tony outright guffawed at that. “Now, now, F.R.I.D.A.Y., there’s a little girl out there that bears the unfortunate name, let’s not make fun of her too, alright?” he said before sobering up. “And to answer your question, I don’t think it’s either of our problem now. The Bartons and Langs got their daddies back, one was sponsored by whatever is left of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the other by Pym. Let’s just say we keep up the recon just in case they decide to stick their toes out of line again.”
“Got it, Boss. What about the rest?”
“Maximoff’s trying to lay low now, I think. Just keep an eye on her location, be ready to report her to the council if she makes something go boom again. As for Barnes….” Tony trailed off. Multiple therapy session and intensive B.A.R.F. therapy allowed him to approach the subject with less touchiness. He was aware now that continuing to blame him for his parents’ death wouldn’t be much different from how Wanda Maximoff continued to blame him for creating (allegedly) the weapon that killed her parents. But god knew it still hurt to remember how he blamed his father for something that wasn’t his fault.
Tony hoped Rogers’ dreams were filled with his dad’s face. Tony wasn’t the only one that he wronged by hiding Howard and Maria Stark’s murder from their son.
“... Rogers probably left him in Wakanda. Good call, maybe their tech could erase those trigger words for real instead of relying on Rogers’ power of friendship.”
“How much of this are we going to report to the Council, Boss?”
“Playing the hardball aren’t you, Fri? Let’s see…. We tell them Rogers send me a care package and we use it to track him down. We’ll use the “we might use them later” card and convince the Rogers hating council members that we can track them down easily at a moment’s notice. That should keep them appeased enough.”
“Even if we’re telling them to ignore Team Crap’s vigilantism?” asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. skeptically.
“We can only sniff out their location, Fri. It’s not like we know what they are actually doing there. Just leave them be for now, we have an international document and a superhero team to revamp.”
Her disapproval was palpable enough through the silence in his office. “… Very well, Boss,” She answered finally. “I don’t think they are worth your silence, Boss…. But－” she stopped suddenly.
“Fri?” Tony called, alarmed.
“... Boss…? I think you should see this,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. said hesitantly.
Wordlessly, she fired up a holographic projection of a news on a website. A news with the title of: ‘IRON MAN’S SON DISCOVERED?’
Harley’s face, much younger than he was now, stuffed with the burger from that hole-in-the-wall diner they both secretly liked, smiled at the also younger Tony in the picture.
Tony was thankful that he decided to pace around away from the desk with the letter and burner phone, because the very second he saw that picture, the air around him combust with enough power to char the floor.
Distantly, he cursed himself for not deleting the picture after it got taken. He fucked up, again, and now a boy has to pay the price. His boy.
Harley…!
(Rose Hill Middle School, Rose Hill, Tennessee)
“Target sighted, ready to engage.”
“Do it.”
She disconnected the line and pocketed the phone inside her dark washed jeans. And she thought smarmy politicians couldn’t hit a new low. Oh well, it wasn’t like she had any moral high ground to stand on either. Here she was, stalking a 7th grader for said smarmy politician. Did she say stalk? She meant kidnap.
Not her proudest moment, but hey, whatever keeps that bastard Ross from her baby brother. If she had to be a monster to keep him safe, so be it.
Besides, the kid’s Iron Man’s son. Supposedly. Probably. That man have been sidestepping pregnant and single moms the day he turned 18, for him to suddenly claim fatherhood for a boy? Weird. But biological son or not, Tony Stark was obviously very fond of this kid. All she had to do was grab the boy, get him to Ross’ basement because apparently he couldn’t get any creepier, and then skedaddle the fuck out of there and let Iron Man bring justice to Ross’ ugly mug.
If all went well, the kid would be unharmed, Stark would kill Ross, and she’d get her brother back.
Easy.
She approached the target, and Jesus, he’s already swarmed by the press. Poor kid. She almost felt better about what she was about to do. At least where he’s going, these vultures wouldn’t be able to come close.
“Hey! Hey! Back off the kid! You want to keep your job, stay within 500 feet away from this kid. Mr. Stark’s order,” she shooed the reporters and journalists and cameramen away with her best official-sounding voice.
She tackled and pushed more bodies out of her way, fished a fake SI ID card from her breast pocket, and knelt in front of the dazed looking kid.
Do it for him. Do it for him. Do it for him, she chanted in her mind.
“Hi Harley, My name’s Tracy from SI’s security department. Mr. Stark asked me to grab you away from here and get you to your family in our safe house near here. He’s told you already?”
“N… No? Where’s… where’s Tony? What about mom and Hailey?”
She scrunched her eyebrow in a faux confusion. “He hasn’t? The situation must be more demanding than he made it sound…. Listen, Harley, more of these people are approaching, we gotta move now before we’re forced to use more inconspicuous method. SI law suits can only do so much.”
True to her lies, the reporters who had been chewed out by the possibility of facing the wrath of Tony Stark were already inching back in closer by the second. The kid must’ve been scared shitless, because he quickly agreed and latched on to her proffered left hand.
Well, the less fuss the better. Report said this kid’s a smart one with a healthy dose of distrust of stranger. But she knew from first hand experience just how much fear can impede one’s judgement.
Her nifty emotion projection was helpful, too. She’d like to stay clear from the mind whammy categories, but emotion projection was fair game, for her. After all, a good public speaker could make the whole room feel the way they want them to feel just using their words.
And she just happened to be better than the best without even opening her mouth.
I’m coming, Cassi. Wait for me.