The Loose Ends
(Medical Bay, New Avengers’ Facility, Upstate New York)
Tony walked through the compound with a purposeful stride. Now that Ross had been taken out and Harley’s safe and sound, his mind’s already pacing three miles a second with clear-cut ideas and plans. True, he was wishing for a much later date for his next confrontation with Rogers and company, but like he said in his hearing by the Accords Council - he’s got no intention of covering their asses anymore.
The Council didn’t have to worry about releasing all those sensitive materials for the public, he’d do it himself.
In any case, the Avengers wouldn’t be called to personally deal with them, anyway. Between the Accords’ latest amendments, and the multitude of sporadic superhuman teams all over the globe, the Council had a lot of options for who to give the displeasure of taking the strays in. No need to resort to people with personal beef to settle - people like him.
He couldn’t be more pleased with the progress that they had made so far. Ross’ ideas and secret backdoor within the document were easy to identify and eliminate, and from there, followed the revisions and stipulations, designed to give those unwilling to fight with their powers the same protection and human rights as those who were. Many vigilantes began to request their own personalized agreements and conditions before they sign, mainly dealing with secret identity, and freedom of action vs jurisdiction range.
FBI became the first to organize such agreements between local police force and the vigilantes in question. In fact, the council just called him to inform that 2 new signatories had been deployed to help FBI deal with Vulture. Which was good, because it meant that Peter had no other reason to wiggle his way out of his infirmary bed.
He’s going to shy that kid away from the fray until the amendments for minor enhanced got pushed through. Maybe Cassidy’s case would finally give the final push?
Tony shook his head to clear the errand thought. Those were stuffs to worry about later. Now, he was nearing Tracy Crowley’s infirmary ward, and if he couldn’t switch his mind into objectivity, then at least his poker face had to be perfect.
As he walked nearer to the door, however, he noticed not just Dr. Cho - who he’d expected - but also Vision waiting for him to arrive.
Cho saw him and immediately marched towards him, Vision by her side. “Mr. Stark, I was hoping I could catch you before you go in.”
“Don’t worry, Doc, I’m not planning on maiming your patient. I think.”
“How reassuring. Here, I found this inside her skin when I patch her up,” Cho answered drily while holding a palm’s worth of little plastic chips.
Tracker chips.
He bit his lips. “Where?”
“All over her body. Back, shoulders, upper arms, thighs, anywhere concealed by clothes.”
Tony took a deep breath and pocketed the tracker chips. “Well, now we know why she didn’t tell proper authority. Not that it would’ve done any good against Ross at that time, but…”
“She’s stable now. The cradle was able to reconstruct her abdomen, although I’d imagine she’d still be pretty sore for a while. She’s lucky the wound wasn’t on her longitudinal axis, or her spine would’ve been gone by now.” Cho shuddered a little. “I have to be honest - reconstructing a literal hole in a human’s body wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I developed the cradle technology. She’s lucky her brother’s cells’ regenerative properties are compatible with her.”
Tony nodded along with her, although he was more focused on Vision, who apparently had stared rather intently at Crowley through the window. “So you’ve figured out their deal yet?”
“Rudimentary information, yes,” she answered with a sigh. “The younger brother displays control over electron - down to a minuscule level. His explanation was… childlike and simple, but the general idea is that he could literally overload his neural system and muscle cells with his power, which sends him into a “overdrive” state, so to speak.”
“That’s where the ‘I run fast’ part happens, right?”
“That, and the fact that his muscular strength and endurance is a little of the chart for a boy his age and size. I think his sister has that too, to a certain degree.”
Tony raised his eyebrow. “She’s buff too? How is that fair?”
Cho shook her head absently. “Not to the degree that you’re thinking about. According to my estimate, she’s just very slightly stronger that what a baseline human would be. Naturally athletic, so to speak… at least with a regular human standard. Proportionately, the brother is physically stronger than she is.”
“That’s why he heals fast too?”
“I think that comes with his power. Controlled or not, overloading your nerves and muscles with electricity is bound to cause damage without some kind of regenerative ability.”
Tony hummed, noncommittal. He was about to ask for an update when Vision visibly stiffened.
“Tony, Dr. Cho, she is waking up.”
He nodded in thanks and strode over to the door. Cho, however, reached out and placed her hand on his upper arm. “Don’t kill my patient, Tony. I mean it.”
Shrugging, he went in to the room. “Ye of little faith. Don’t worry, Harley’s pretty dead set on me not killing her.”
(SI Head of Security Office, Stark Tower, Manhattan, New York City)
“Come in,” Happy called lazily when he heard F.R.I.D.A.Y. announcing some accord’s guys’ arrival.
The door opened smoothly to reveal a pair of air force officers - majors, from the look of it. Both looked somewhere between late 20s and early 30s, both carried themselves with the disciplined air of a trained soldier, and both stepped once into the room, but made no further move beyond standing at ease after closing the door.
Happy decided right there and then that he liked these two.
“Majors Leonardo Verde and Naomi Lim from the Accords Council reporting for duty, sir.”
Oh, yeah, I can work with them, alright.
“You’re the new Falcons, right? Aren’t you supposed to report to Rhodey? I’m just the head of security of this company, he’s the one in cahoot with the big league.”
The man, Leonardo, quirked his lips unhappily at the mention of Falcon. “With all due respect, sir, Harrier is not a falcon.”
Naomi nodded at her partner’s words. “We don’t take a traitor’s name. My designation is Peregrine, not Peregrine Falcon.”
Happy nodded, inwardly smiling at their obvious distaste for their predecessor. “And Rhodes? Again, I’m just here as FBI’s go to guy for SI, so I’m not sure why you’re reporting to me now.”
"Our instruction as of now is to coordinate with FBI until Colonel Rhodes accepts, or refuse, his promotion to the rank of Major General,” Naomi answered with one of the most impressive drill sergeant voice he’d ever heard. “Until he does, we don’t report directly to him.”
Leonardo picked up where she left off and said, “We did work with the FBI for a while on this case, but the weapons found in ex-Secretary of State Ross’ residence suggest that Chitauri techs was not the only things that were stolen from D.O.D.C.’s vaults. Several components that was identified as the ones that SI produced had also been found in the weapons.”
Happy wanted to curse. “So either SI got swiped, or we intentionally gave them the parts? Is that what you’re saying?”
He shook his head. “All those components can be found in D.O.D.C. as well, so it must’ve been stolen at the same time. No, we’re suggesting that this vulture, whoever he is, has a sentimental motive strong enough for him to steal easily obtainable parts instead of just buying it from the market for less hassle and risk. We think SI is the specific target of his operation.”
“Figures, who is it this time? Someone Tony drunkenly blew off back in late 90s?”
Naomi shrugged. “We’re still getting to that part. That’s why we’re here. We need whatever information SI can give about anyone who has come into hostile contact with SI in the last few years. Whatever unclassified information would be an improvement to our none, right now.”
Happy grunted and made a gesture at the ceiling. “F.R.I.D.A.Y. will upload the appropriate data. Anything else, you have to ask Tony Stark or Virginia Potts directly.”
Both nodded and, honest to god, snapped a salute at him before turning back and marched out of the door.
Happy just shook his head and huffed a laugh. Hopefully this new position didn’t come with additional paperwork. At least this time it’s a couple air force Majors instead of a fanboying teen. Should come with less stress, right?
(Tracy’s Infirmary Ward, New Avengers Facility, Upstate New York)
“Ye of little faith,” Tony said. “Don’t worry, Harley’s pretty dead set on me not killing her.”
But it wasn’t Ms. Crowley’s health that Vision’s worried about right now. He understood very well that, while Tony was understandably hurt and angry at her, he was very much in control of his action, and thus, was in no danger of lashing out so impulsively.
No, he was worried for Tony. More than anyone he knew that mental powers were bound to be one of the most unstable of them all. Mind was fickle, and stressful situation tend to have unpleasant side effects on psychics.
Physical pain aside, Ms. Crowley had been subjugated to a highly stressful situation in the past few months, if young Mr. Crowley’s stories were to be believed. Waking up to face a person who could rightfully exact revenge on her could definitely scare her into hostility.
“Tony… if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to be there in the room as well.”
The man blinked at him. “Uh, sure? Like I said, I’m not going to hurt her or anything… but if you’re that worried….”
“No, Tony. It’s not her that I’m worried about, it’s you. Mental powers are notoriously volatile, and your… upgraded physiology isn’t really equipped to handle such attack. So, may I?”
Tony’s feature softened considerably and he nodded, seemingly nonchalantly.
Both of them walked (floated, in his case) into the room, which was sparse and very clinical. In the middle of the room was Tracy Crowley, connected to several machines through clear tubes full of various liquids.
As Tony and he came closer, however, the woman fidgeted and tossed her head about, as if she was having a nightmare. Cautiously, Vision raised a mental barrier between her and them.
“You said she’s waking up?” Tony asked, a little uncomfortable with the distress Ms. Crowley displayed.
“She is. Watch.”
As if on cue, Ms. Crowley opened her eyes frantically, and immediately zeroed in on Tony. Vision tightened the mental shield in preparation when the man stiffened beside him.
Amazingly, however, she appeared to deflate at the sight of Tony, even when the discomfort was still clearly etched on her face.
“Mr. Stark,” she greeted softly.
“Ms. Crowley.”
She swallowed visibly when Tony greeted back coldly. “I’m sorry. For kidnapping your son, for causing injury to the other one, and for… giving you that sight.”
Vision furrowed his brow instinctively. She was not supposed to know about Peter… unless….
“Stop peeking at my head, if you’re really sorry,” Tony growled menacingly, “and stay the fuck away from Peter.”
Ms. Crowley flinched back immediately. “I’m trying. Trust me, I usually have to actively read someone’s mind to know details like that…. But it’s kind of hard to do when your mind is practically screaming at me like this. Can you stop, by the way? It kind of hurts,” she said with face pinched from the pain.
What did she mean? Who’s screaming?
“What do you mean by that, Miss? I am unaware of Tony’s mind doing such a thing,” Vision asked when Tony fell silent at her request.
“You don’t know? How?? His mind is literally leaking like a faucet right now, it’s even louder than my own thought!”
“OK, I don’t know what’s your deal, but if you’re just pulling this out of your ass to get out of trouble….”
“No! I’m serious! It’s… Jesus, who did this to you? It’s like… it’s like someone punched their way into your mind, fuck it up, and then pull back out with a power drill or something－This is… this is a wound… and it’s bleeding.”
Tracy Crowley was beginning to hyperventilate, and Tony’s breathing pattern was also beginning to take on a more erratic pattern. Dimly, he felt the woman’s control falling apart in waves of projected emotion. Things were getting out of hand very quickly, and Vision had to rein it in as soon as possible.
He reached out to her forehead, and with his stone, began to assess the situation as soon as he shielded the woman from outside influences and from using her power outwards. What he found, however, almost made him question whether or not an android could throw up: Tony’s mind wasn’t just wounded. It was torn open and left gaping and bleeding for the world to see.
Except he didn’t see it. He was never even aware of the existence of such extensive damage. A quick examination at the injury revealed the reason, clear as day.
The wound was gaping red. No, not red… scarlet.
Of course he wouldn’t feel the wound - the energy signature wasn’t just similar to his, it was also designed to keep him out of the loop. To keep him from knowing of it’s existence.
It was decidedly impossible to throw up without a stomach, but he felt sick, regardless.
“Tony… please don’t panic, but I think Ms. Crowley here is telling you the truth.”
His creator’s eyes widened. “Is it…?”
“I think I know who did that. Would you like to postpone this talk for another day?”
Tony sucked in several deep breaths to calm himself. “No, it’s OK. I have to do this now. Unless she’s out for the count?”
Ms. Crowley shook her head. “I… I’m OK. I think. He’s blocking everything out right now, so you can get it all out of your chest.”
The room quieted, and for almost 5 minutes, no one said anything. The silence was almost overwhelming.
“I wanted to ask you why you did that,” Tony started eventually, “but I already got the gist of it. You’re orphans, only have each other, Ross napped your brother and experimented on him, probably with you there in the room to watch, told you to work for him or else, put all these trackers in your skin,” he jingled his pocket for emphasis. “Did I get anything wrong?”
“That’s our life story in a nutshell, yes.”
Tony nodded, face carefully blank. “The next in order, then, would be to ask you, rhetorically, if you’re sorry. But you already told me that you are, so it’s all moot point anyway.”
Ms. Crowley didn’t say anything, but she nodded at him.
“Well, I already promised my son I’d listen to you first before I do anything. The question is… what else should I hear from you?”
“What do you want to hear?”
“I’m not sure, but your excuses are certainly not welcome.”
Vision watched as Ms. Crowley crinkled her forehead, lost in thought.
“I don’t have any,” she said eventually. “Excuses, I mean. I have reasons why I did what I did, and, save for one, you already know all of that.”
“Save for one?”
“Yes. The reason why you saw Harley’s body instead of mine when I got shot.”
“OK, why is that?”
“I’m not sure,” she answered. “Illusion wasn’t something that I knew I could even do until Harley pointed that out to me. My best guess is that my power just continued running even after that shot made me pass out, so what you saw was my subconscious rendering of what would happen instead of me actively giving you nightmare. I’m sorry.”
Tony appeared to weigh it in for a while. “Alright, fair enough, I guess. Anything else you want to say?”
“Yes,” the young woman answered without hesitation. “I’m willing to go through any investigation and court trial that you deem necessary.”
“You don’t have to state your consent, blondie, I’m reporting you anyway.”
“Oh, I know,” she remarked easily. “I’m simply informing that I will cooperate.”
Tony scoffed at that. “What, you’re telling me you’re going to self-flagellate in front of the judge for atonement?”
“No. I’m telling you that I will tell the truth. I won’t promise that I won’t defend myself, Mr. Stark, I have too much self-preservation for that. But I can promise you that my defense won’t contain any lie - about me or anyone else.”
“Planning on throwing your old boss under the buss, are you?” Tony asked flippantly, to which she snorted.
“Of course I will. I have no lost love for that dick. And if telling them all the details of what he’d done to my brother and me would give me a lenience? I won’t just be dumb if I don’t take it, I’d also be aiding him.”
Tony eyed the young woman for a long time, and even Vision got a little nervous at Ms. Crowley’s borderline impertinent tone.
“Is this how you got that summa cum laude for your PR major?” he asked after a while.
She shrugged. “I’m the biggest party girl in the whole campus, and yet I still graduated with honor. Speaks more about my skill on making people believe my bullshit rather than my academic achievement, really,” Ms. Crowley said without breaking eye contact. “But when I promised you that I’d cooperate and tell the truth, I meant it.
“You don’t have to trust me, Mr. Stark. I’m a manipulative cunt - that’s what I do. Even without my powers, people believe what I say. My words mean jack shit, and I know it. I’m telling you I’d cooperate so you know that when you check all my words and found them true, that’s because I meant it to be, not because I have any ulterior motive whatsoever.”
Vision, who was still shielding her mind, couldn’t help but notice the lack of lie from her words. Those were all facts - she had no intentions against Tony at all.
Apparently, Tony also noticed this, as he simply sighed heavily and said, “Damn it, you’re good.” He glared at her. “As much as I love him, I don’t really have any legal authority to sue on behalf of Harley. His mother, a much better person than I am, also see no point in dragging a court battle against you. With the new amendments to the accords, situations where an enhanced was forced to illegal actions fall under the jurisdiction of the Council, and they seem to be rather sympathetic of you. However, I’m still holding you up to your promise on cooperation, because there will definitely be an investigation and a hearing by the Council. Hell, they might even ask you to testify in Ross’ trial later. You can prove your remorse that way.”
Ms. Crowley pursed her lips. “That’s… not exactly fair for you or for Harley. But thank you.”
Tony waved his hands dismissively. “Don’t thank me, I’m not doing this for you. I simply don’t have the time to add your drama to the mix. I still have a press conference about that damned picture in about 12 hours, an Edward scissorwings to catch, and a few ex-teammates hounding me and my kid. Don’t bother me, and I won’t bother you. We clear?”
“Crystal,” Ms. Crowley agreed. “Want my 2 cents for your press conference? I know I just told you I bullshit my way into diploma, but those written essays and tests are all legit. I’m pretty damn good at what I do.”
Vision was very sure Tony would just reject the offer. “Too soon” would probably be the appropriate reason for the rejection. But Tony proved himself capable of surprising him yet again.
“You know what? I think I do. What do you have?”
(Venezuela)
“OK, Nat, from the beginning. Are you sure F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s gone rouge?”
Steve didn’t need to hear Nat’s answer to Sam to confirm his suspicion. He always knew something like this would happen sooner or later. Ultron was the proof of that.
Both his friends continued to bicker, Nat was insisting that Tony’s A.I. had to be stopped, while Sam was understandably more reluctant. Steve won’t blame Sam if he didn’t want to face off against Tony again anytime soon. He had been so horrified when he saw Bucky missing an arm back in his cryopod in Wakanda, and apologized profusely to him for giving Tony their location.
Sam had spat on everything Tony or SI related after that, albeit with a sensible trepidation and unease. Steve had felt rather bad for Tony - he wasn’t all in the wrong in Siberia. Steve should’ve handled it better, subdue him faster instead of trying futilely to get him to listen. But in the end, he decided not to tell any of his team about the details of what happened there.
Whatever was shown to Tony there was not for Steve to tell. He’s doing his friend (So was I, so was I, so was I) a favor, he knew Tony would appreciate having his privacy intact.
“Nat, Sam, enough,” he commanded, and they listened. “We don’t know for sure that it was F.R.I.D.A.Y. that messed with you. It could be literally anyone else at this moment. We’re wanted, remember?”
Nat huffed at him impatiently. “Really, Steve? Who do you think I am? Your regular Joe Schmo won’t have a chance at finding me. It was F.R.I.D.A.Y. and you know it.”
“It could be on Stark’s order, who knew how far down he’d fall,” Sam seethed.
There it was again. None of his friends ever call Tony by his first name anymore, like they are no longer friends. Family. (So was I, so was I, so was I)
“You don’t know him like we do,” Nat argued, jolting him out of his thought. “He was running on his emotion when we fought each other, but he’s literally so desperate of acceptance, he’d do anything for us. Most likely, he gave his A.I. the green light to track us in case we need back up, but the damn computer went Skynet on him. Again.”
At Nat’s words, he felt his heart swell with affection for his dear friend (SO WAS I, SO WAS I, SO WAS I). That was Tony, through and through. Always looking out for them to the best of his ability. It’s such a shame that he didn’t have them to guide him on how to do it the right way.
“Look, Nat, if you’re right, then Tony’s on our side, and he’s going to find out about F.R.I.D.A.Y. soon. He’d call me, I know he will,” Steve tried to placate his friend, his hand nervously playing with the flip phone.
Tony would call. He had to.
Nat gritted her teeth at him. “I won’t be so sure if I were you, Steve.”
“What do you mean?” Sam asked her before Steve could disagree.
“Remember the business I had to take care of? Harley Keener, the kid that got outed by the media for playing date with Stark, got kidnapped by Ross.”
Several shouts of indignation filled the room.
“Stark’s endangering children now??” Sam hissed.
“W－Why doesn’t he call me?!” Steve sputtered.
“That’s just it, Steve. Either he’s can’t get over his ego to admit his fuck-ups, or he just wants to keep that kid away from other people’s reasonable doubt about Stark.”
Steve swallowed the hurt he felt inside. “This kid, is he… is he really Tony’s son?”
Nat shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. No doubt the kid feels like Stark’s his father figure or something, but I can’t say if Stark’s unwillingness of letting us close to him is a sign of him being overprotective, or just him trying to manipulate the kid.”
“Poor kid, god knows what kind of lies Stark must’ve fed him with,” Sam said disgustedly.
Steve just felt a touch of anger and melancholy at the thought of Tony keeping yet another secret from him - from the team. (Did you know? Did you know? Did you know?)
Steve shook his head. No. He had his reason for not telling Tony about his parents. He just… he didn’t want to open an old wound, and it’s been so long… surely Tony’s already over their death? No. Keeping a secret like having a son figure or ward or anything was way out of line. They were supposed to be teammates - how were they supposed trust each other if they kept secrets like that from the team?
With a sigh, he pocketed the flip phone that he unconsciously pulled out. “Let’s just… let’s leave him alone for now, Nat… lay low. We’re supposed to fight for the betterment of the world, if Tony’s not deliberately fighting against us, then we don’t have to fight him too.”
He could tell that Nat wasn’t happy about his decision, but thankfully she didn’t push.
With a heavy sigh, they all went their own ways. Living on the run provided little in terms of entertainment, but Steve managed. Until Tony saw reason and reached out for the olive branch Steve gave him, he can’t do anything else.
Tony had to be the one to stop all this pettiness.