A New Hope
(New York City Class C Airspace)
Getting his mind away from the tunnel vision he’s been having ever since Harley’s kidnapping was an achievement that Tony wished he could claim for himself. As it stood, however, he owed Peter yet another debt. Naturally, he paid him back by being a dick and yelled at the kid.
Howard would’ve been so proud.
But that’s neither here nor there. For now, he had to start doing this the right way, and stop doing the impersonation of Captain America’s latest handiwork. Really, his only saving grace during all these shitshow was the fact that he, at least, didn’t cause any civilian casualty and property damage. Yet. Pepper deserved a pampering night or two for bringing him to a therapist, but let it not be said that his emotional maturity was still a work in progress.
“Talk to me, baby girl,” said Tony once both the armor and the rescue pod stopped ascending.
“Talking, Boss,” answered his A.I. cheekily.
“Lower the sass, young one, there are little ears around. Notify the council, tell them the enhanced boy will be under the avengers’ protection until anyone remotely associated with Ross is taken out. And call Vision, I need backup.”
“Done, and done. Would you like me to play some Mozart for your little ears?”
What do you know, she might just be even more expressive than J was.
“Ha ha. Why don’t you go ahead and check that boy Cassidy’s vital? Send ‘em over to whoever doctor’s standing by in the facility’s infirmary.”
“Vitals checked. Doctor Rodriguez has been notified, the wee tyke’s going to be in good hands when we land.”
For the first time in a few hours, Tony felt the knot of worry that was squishing his heart began to loosen a little. Oh, he’s still very much mad with worry for Harley, but Peter’s words seemed to flick his switch back to compartmentalizing mode. Now all he could afford to feel was the cold, biting rage for one particular soon-to-be-deposed Secretary of State.
Motherfucker’s going to wish for death after I’m done with him.
“Oh, and tell the FBI to step it up before a certain red-and-blue spandex-clad spider show them up,” he added when Peter popped back up in his mind.
“You don’t think Peter’s going to sit this one down, Boss?”
Tony scoffed. “Have you met the boy?”
“Touche. And Boss…?”
“Yes?”
His baby girl actually hesitated before she finally answered, “I think Vision will be bringing in a certain someone that he believes can help with our… situation.”
Huh. That’s… unexpected. “Oh? The Council actually agreed with him looking for recruits?” he asked, pointedly ignoring the wince he had to give at the reminder of how Vision was forced to do the right things all by himself because Tony Stark was a dysfunctional mess.
“They did, Boss. This one, however, might not be… pleasant for your blood pressure.”
Tony sighed, “Are you talking about our competitor from San Francisco?”
“That’s her,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. confirmed.
“Well, let’s see what Pym Industry has to offer then.”
(Parkers’ Apartment, Queens, New York City)
“Mr. Parker, I hope you know that you are calling at 12.30 in the morning.”
Oh, yeah. Midnight. That’s a thing.
“I’m so sorry Happy, it’s just…. I need a little help right now.”
Happy’s sigh turned into a static noise that made him cringe. “Fine. What’s up?”
“Uh… I just got back from patrol. Did… did Mr. Star－Tony told you? Um… they’ve got this alien tech－”
“Yeah, he told me already, kid. And the FBI. Get to the point, I need to meet with them first thing in the morning,” Happy cut impatiently.
The entire situation was so ridiculous, Peter was tempted to laugh out loud. Here he was, hiding in the toilet from Ned, calling Happy because he wasn’t sure how to deal with his best friend knowing about his… nighttime activity－no, that came out wrong….
Aunt May had promised him that everything was going to be OK, and really, he was somehow relieved that he didn’t have to lie to Ned anymore. But on the other hand, Ned was very… excitable. Peter couldn’t even count how many times Ned had tried and failed to give him a surprise without blurting it all out at least a few hours before the actual surprise.
Mrs. Leeds and Aunt May took care of his birthday surprise after the first 3 attempts.
How much time did Peter have until Ned ask him a question about Spider-man in public? He’s already having his “internship” with SI floating around the school, for god’s sake. He didn’t need another rumor about him being anything other than the nerdy, goody-two-shoes, absolutely ordinary Peter Parker. Especially not with one Eugene “Flash” Thompson around.
Which led him to this situation: risking Happy’s unhappiness (he should probably stop) to whine about his teenage angst.
“My best friend saw me changing out of the suit,” he said after a good inhale or two.
He could almost hear Happy’s blinks of confusion. “So? You want me to make some NDAs for you or something?”
“What? No! I just… I don’t know, I need moral support, I guess?”
“Moral…－” Happy sighed louder and mumbled something about strangling Tony and ‘where’s that kid when you need him’. “Alright, I’m no Harley, but I’ll try just this once.”
“Wait… Harley?” Peter asked, confused, before comprehension dawned on him. “You saw it!”
“Don’t worry, your super embarrassing almost-Stark-bromance bonding session’s safe with me.”
“Almost…－It’s not－Happy!” he scrambled, already distracted.
Happy snorted. “The kid dragged you to his mom like you’re a stray kitten he wanted to keep. Face it, Parker, he’s adopted you.”
“Wha... I don’t…－”
“You are. You’ve told May about this? Tony?”
Still taken aback by the implication, Peter stuttered yet again, “Uh… May, yeah, I told May.”
“Not Tony?” Happy teased. Peter almost missed the aloof, I-don’t-get-paid-enough-for-this man that accompanied him in Germany.
“No, I already messed up big time tonight, Happy. Kinda shouted at him too… I don’t think it’s a good idea to bother him for something like this,” he said, a little dejectedly.
Happy seemed to catch his tone, though. “Well, you did try to chase a laser gun wielding gang with nothing but a spandex on. You could’ve wait until Tony upgrades your suit to be laser-proof, but noo….”
“Alright, alright, I get it already,” Peter mumbled mulishly.
He get a chuckle for his trouble. “You know you can tell him, right? Between you and me, Pep and Rhodey’s been betting on how long it would take until Tony cave in and start visiting and inviting you to his lab once every other week.”
Peter gasped. “His LAB?! No way! That’s… that’s…. No way, he’s not gonna let someone like me in his lab.”
“I was the one who dragged equipment for a MIT-standard chem lab last week, kid. Last time I had to do something like that, I picked Harley and his sister up 2 weeks later.”
Peter was… speechless. Which was concerning because he never shut up. Finally, though, he gathered enough brain cells to answer. “W－well, he might actually need a chem set for himself?”
“Oh please, that man can build another CERN facility if he wants to.”
Well.
Peter cleared the growing lump away from his throat. “What… what about Ned? My best fried, I mean, that’s his name, Ned. I told him to not say anything, but….”
“This Ned kid, is he the one that told people you have an SI internship?”
“Wait, you knew about that??”
“I’m the head of SI International’s security, Parker. I do my job every now and then.”
Peter winced. “Oh. I’m so sorry, Happy, I didn’t mean to cause any trouble. It’s just…－”
“It’s fine, kid,” Happy interjected. “It’s bound to happen sooner or later. Listen, it’s late, just go to sleep and get ready for that decathlon thing you got going on. Tony will take care of Spider-man if your identity ever comes out, you just make sure that friend of yours doesn’t run his mouth off too much. I don’t know too much about the accords, but I heard it’s still pretty fragile right now. The last thing we need is your identity coming out before we have something to protect minor enhanced.”
“Uh… yeah, of course.” He didn’t even want to know how Happy (and Tony, by extension) knew about him being in the decathlon team.
“And please, for the love of god, do not engage the laser wielding DIY falcon. Wait until Tony upgrades your suit, then you can do some reconnaissance, but that's. it. Good night, Mr. Parker,” Happy closed the line without waiting for Peter’s response.
“... Good night, Happy,” Peter said finally to no one in particular.
Well, let’s hope this one goes better than my “internship”.
(New Avengers’ Facility, Upstate New York)
By the time Cassidy finally slept, it was fast approaching dawn in New York. Between the worry for his sister and the adrenaline rush from the flight, the boy was even more hyper than Harley on a sugar high. Tony was almost sorry for Doctor Rodriguez, who had looked like he could use even more sleep than Tony, and he’s been awake for almost 35 hours now.
With Cassidy asleep, however, Tony still couldn’t find it in his heart to lay down to rest too. Instead, he made it a point to search for anything and everything he could about how Ross kidnapped Harley. He even hacked into all the news outlet in Tennessee. Which let him to the discovery of a certain blonde-and-tall cheerleader-like young woman that looked eerily like Cassidy walking away with a shell-shocked looking Harley.
Shit. Does this mean…. Ross, you sick bastard.
Tony groaned out loud, irritated. From what Cassidy’d told him, this Tracy girl seemed to be quite the competent young adult: no-nonsense but snarky, opinionated and tact, able to sense hostile intention within 600 feet radius…. He shuddered at the parallel to another sibling with quick brother and weird sister that had messed with him (and continued to do so in the case of the sister) in the past.
He’s been suspecting a biased opinion from the boy, but the sentiment was true nonetheless. A 22-years-old fresh graduate young woman with no parents or guardians and a 10-years-old brother was bound learn how to take care of her brother and herself first. A young woman in her place with weird superpowers and Ross on her heels, however.
Could he really fault her for doing Ross’ dirty work? Especially with her brother evidently tortured and/or experimented on?
Hell yes, I can, said the vengeful parental part in him.
December 16th 1991, reminded the annoying voice in the back of his head.
She wasn’t even brainwashed! the asshole-Tony roared.
Get Rhodey in Cassidy’s position, see what you’d do, righteous-Tony retorted.
Tony banged his forehead on his desk, hard. He was so tired and sleep-deprived that his own mind was squabbling with itself. Or maybe that’s just how his extremis-enhanced brain deal with emotional baggage now: by making him lose a screw or two.
A smooth voice jolted him from his daydream, “Tony… good morning.”
Blinking, he looked up to see Vision half-phased through the wall with only his head sticking out. “Hi Viz, a little bit too early for morning, Don’t you think?”
“It seems so. Have you rested?” the android asked, smoothly stepping all the way into the room.
“No. No, I don’t think I can rest until Ross’ an oily smear on the ground and Harley’s save with his increasingly panicking mother and sister.”
“I think you will need yourself at full capacity for that, Tony,” Vision reproached, sounding so much like Jarvis, both human and A.I. when he did so.
Sighing, Tony answered noncommittally “Yeah… I’ll think about it. Where’s the guest, Viz? Please don’t tell me you just told a lady to wait outside?”
Vision froze on the spot. “I… believe I might have done so. Would you like me to call her in, Tony?”
“Yeah, let’s hear her.”
Seeing his wan smile, Vision cocked his head to the side, falling silent for a minute. “It’s good to have you back, Tony,” he said finally.
Tony shook his head and chuckled. “Thank Peter for that. Boy’s a magic worker when he’s not being an idiot.”
Vision smiled in agreement and turned to open the door. A brunette in smart blazer and heels stood in front of it, looking very much battle ready despite the tightness in her face and eyes.
“Mr. Stark, I apologize for bothering you at such an hour. My name is Hope van Dyne, you may know my father, Dr. Hank Pym, the creator of the Ant-man suit,” She said calmly, striding purposefully inside.
Tony could definitely appreciate her professionalism. “Pleasure to finally meet you, Ms. van Dyne. I am under impression that you have a… question of sort regarding the accords?”
She nodded. “Yes. I believe you understand that my father and myself are under heavy scrutiny now because of the involvement of Scott Lang in Germany. As of now, the status quo is relatively stable, but we fear that with the inevitable trial and sentencing of Mr. Lang, both my father and I will be implicated to be an accomplish, at the very least.”
To the point, nice. I can deal with that. “And you want to know if you can avoid that by agreeing with the accords?”
To his surprise, she shook her head. “Not quite. We already know that we can avoid legal problems by, rightfully, throwing Mr. Lang under the bus. Believe me, Mr. Stark, my father’s already got half the mind to do it, if not for the fact that doing so would cost more than just Mr. Lang’s freedom.” She paused, eyeing whatever minute changes in his expression Tony was willing to let show. “He’s got a family, Mr. Stark. An ex-wife with her fiance… and a small daughter, not even a pre-teen yet. If we openly condemn Scott for acting against Pym Industries as well….”
“His family will be eaten alive by the media,” he finished, feeling another surge of anger at the injustice of it.
“Precisely,” she said simply.
To some extend, Tony could understand van Dyne’s situation. Right now, she (and her dad) were stuck between saving their own asses, or throwing innocent bystander to the fire. He supposed with Pym Industries’ resources, it would be easy for them to give Lang’s family a new identity and a new life somewhere far away from all this mess. But was that the life that an innocent girl deserve? To live a false life, far away from her father?
Tony leaned back and studied the woman’s face carefully. “And now you want to… what? Sell your service to the devil, so to speak? So Lang can turn himself in without you and your dad in the line of fire?”
“In a sense. Me being an avenger, or at the very least an accords-sanctioned enhanced would clear Pym’s name from Scott’s mess without us having to outright attack him. Bonus point if we can make sure the news about me overshadow that of Scott’s sentencing,” she agreed, eyes gleaming with determination. “Make no mistake, Mr. Stark, I am prepared to be a fugitive if that means keeping Cassie and her family safe. It’s not optimal, considering both me and my father are busy with a… project of sort, that requires much of our attention. But if we have to finish that project on the run, so be it. We already have plan for that contingency.”
Oh? I wonder what that old guy is planning now. Shrinking tech, check. Enlarging tech, check. A quantum tunneling next, maybe?
He shook himself out of his reverie. "Well, I’m obligated to point out that the document you’re about to sign is one that you need to respect and support even after Scott Lang gets his possible house arrest.” van Dyne lifted her brows just a tiny degree at the mention of house arrest, but Tony soldiered on. “The target of your first operation, if you sign, would be the Secretary of State, Thaddeus Ross. I recently stumbled upon the witness of his crime, and with the council’s green light, we’re going to storm the castle today. However, you must keep in mind that what you’re offering is not a one off deal. After this is done, you will still be required to report to the council. Whether or not you accept further mission as an approved signatory of the Sokovian accords, I will still expect you to respect the document and the 117, now 122 countries that signed it.”
Van Dyne nodded. “I will. I don’t plan on pulling a Black Widow on you or the accords, Mr. Stark. I wasn’t implying that I don’t agree with what you stand for, I’m simply pointing out that I don’t need to put myself in the front line with you either.” She looked at him dead in the eyes. “I don’t need to sign this document to agree with it, but I choose to sign regardless. The motivation that tipped my scale was, admittedly, rather self-serving, but you can be assured that I am not a woman of flimsy loyalty. My first priority will always be the people that I care about the most, that much is true, but isn’t everyone’s? I promise you that should there be a situation where I have to choose between my loved ones and my duty as an enhanced, I will find a way to uphold both instead of abandoning ship as soon as I can.” She smiled minutely. “You can see me doing just that right now.”
Despite everything, Tony could hear the conviction in her words. He couldn’t tell if this is all going to blow in his face later, but right now, he needed all the help he could get. As far as he could tell, Hope van Dyne was a different woman than her father. She seemed to be more aware of the consequences of her moves, and was willing to play the hardball. Almost begrudgingly, Tony admitted that he could trust her with a child’s safety, including Harley’s.
“Alright,” he said finally.
“So we’re in agreement? You help us, we help you?”
Tony didn’t even hesitate to answer. “Deal.”
The things I’d do for you Harl… hold on tight, kiddo, I’m coming for you now.
(Ross’ Safe House, Nassau County, Long Island, New York)
“We got an incoming. The council just issued a hostage rescue mission. Iron Man’s coming, Boss.”
“Took him long enough. Prepare the EMPs. Let’s see how well he fights without his beloved armor.”
“Affirmative.”
Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross looked out of the window with a winning smirk on his face and an energy gun he… appropriated from a certain black-market dealer in his hand.
“Think you’ve got the best of me, Stark? Just you wait. Let’s see how well you can grow your limbs back after I shoot them off one by one with this baby.” Taking aim, he shoot the gun at a severed metallic arm hanging on the wall.
Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross grinned maniacally as the arm disintegrated into a puddle of bubbling alloy on the floor.
I’ll have my revenge, Stark. Just you wait and see.