Chapter 8
After the group hug conspiracy to crash his bones by the weight of 13 people, came the time to introduce the kids.
"Kids, this is-" a quick movement of Natasha's hand saved Captain America from being punched by Harley.
"Well, I guess you know him." Tony chuckled under his hand. "He will be in charge of your-"
Natasha was fast, but Peter's-spider-reflex was faster, and he managed to actually catch the Super Solider's shirt. "Not cool, man." Peter said, his eyes challenging Steve to answer. "Not fucking cool." he repeated, and shot webs from his hands to the cieling floor, jumping away in a perfect backflip.
The realision streaked Cap's face, and he turned his head to Tony. "Is that Spider-" "You can actually see the gears spinning in his brain. How did he managed to keep a secret from you for three years?" Peter cutted Steve. His tone was light, but sharp, and a small smile was glued on his face.
"Sheer luck, I suppose." Tony answered, and Steve had the dignity to look ashamed.
This whole situation didn't last for a while, thanks to Howard. "I'm a GRANDPA?!" he asked, the pure horror in his eyes. "I can't be a grandfather! I didn't even managed to be a father! I'm more of-"
"The uncle that tells crappy jokes and drinks too much in parties?" Harley completed, his eyes moving between Tony and his father. "That sounds familiar." he added, a smile on his face.
"Shut up." Tony mumbled quietly, but he learned to accept the similiarties between his father and himself.
"So this is the famous-" Howard's chest puffed up as he was expecting to hear his name "-Peggy Carter?" Peggy seemed suddenly more interested in the conversation, her eyes stuck on Kamala's. "You're my idol, seriously. You've managed, against all the odds, to save thousands and become the top SSR agent of your time. Tony alway-"
"And... Here I go." Tony quickly got up from the couch, but Natasha pushed him back down. Fortunately, his AI decided to help.
"Sir, Ms. Potts reminds you to attend the press conference in a hour, preferably with Mr. and Mrs. Sousa-Carter." Jarvis stared at the ceiling with shock, and so did Howard, Daniel and Peggy.
"Thanks, J." he turned his head to Jarvis. "Because of your talking inside the tower, I've managed to make the AI's voice identical to yours. That's what happen when you're a father figure to a genius." he smirked, and Jarvis blushed, but no one missed Howard's flinch.
"Well, here I go. Aunt Peggy and Uncle Daniel, my love, get ready. We have a conference to attend. Kamala, darling, please show Peggs Pepper's dressing room. Peter, give Daniel something..." he estimated Daniel's size. "That belongs to Bird Brain. Oh, J, protocol 1936." with those words, he disappeard. Peggy, Daniel, Clint, Peter and Kamala followed. A few seconds after, the floor tended, and everyone else (minus Harley and Natasha) slid out of the room into a big, messy pile of superheroes+time travelers.
Tony smiled to himself and sent the video to Pepper.
***
Tony opened jeep's window.
"Oh, Christine honey, long time no see." Tony gave her one of his trademark-smiles, before he closed the window and the car kept moving.
"Who was that?"
"A reporter that tries her best to be a pain in my ass." he smirked and looked at Peggy. "No, she's fine." he added. "Just a hard working woman, loyal to the truth."
"I like her." Peggy said, and Tony chuckled. "Let's leave that opinion to after the conference."
"Shall we?" Daniel got up from his sit, opening the door for her. She kissed his cheek and passed, closing the door with her boot. Pepper's shoes were comfortable, she had to admit.
"Are you two married?" she asked, and Tony almost spat his drink.
"Married? No, no, we just came back from a break." Peggy gave him a sharp, not convinced glare. "...engaged." he added, and she smirked. "She'll be good for you. You need someone responsible in your life." Daniel said. Tony stopped to put his drink, and quickly narrowed the gap that was created between them.
"Are you saying that I'm irresponsible?"
"What, me? Neeeeever." the three of them grinned. "Hey, just because you know Howard, doesn't mean- okay, maybe it does, but not- okay, I'm irresponsible." Tony admitted. "Sometimes!" he quickly added, and she nodded.
"Just when it's about science." she told him, and he chuckled. "And technology. And-" "HEY!" he glared at Daniel, his eyes becoming sad. "Fine, fine." her husband muttered. "May I?" she asked a man, pointing on a cup of water. He looked at her, confused, and then nodded, walking to a nearby door.
Tony smirked. "You don't need to ask." she frowned. "But it's polite."
He rolled his eyes. "British girl."
"American Idiot." she answered, and his eyes went wide.
"How do you know that-" "Steve told me you put it as his rington." The genius grinned, his face lighting up.
"He still have it? It's been a-" "Uh, sir?" a 20 years old girl asked. "You need to go on stage." he nodded at her, sending a flirting smile.
"Absoloutly disgusting." Peggy whispered at him as they walked. "Hey, I got reputation to make." Daniel sneered and both of them climbed to the stage. Peggy felt... exposed. In the room there were at least 200 reporters, not to mention 50 more photographers, and she knew none of them. She was an easy target, and any sniper with eyes on his face could shoot her down.
Daniel must've felt it, because he held her hand. Tony gestured at blue chairs that were organized in a line, and the three of them sat, Peggy in the middle.
Tony took a strange device- microphone, he said? And coughed.
There was a silence for a few seconds.
And then the hall exploded with questions.
"Mister Stark!" "Stark-" "-Time travel-" "-Paradox-" "-Apocalypse-" Tony raised his hand, and the hall became quiet.
"You." he pointed at a young, black haired man, with sharp jaw. "Edward Ryder, The New York Times. Mister Stark, can you confirm the rumours that the man and woman which are sitting next to you are Peggy and Daniel Sousa-Carter? Did you invent time travel, or are they from another universe?"
Tony nodded. "Yes, they are. The invention of time travel was a-" he hesitated for a moment. "-joint effort between my father and I. My father found a way to preserve minds, using a matter which is named today, at the scientific community, 'Dark Matter'. However, this matter is very sensitive, and we cannot use it today. The stable-" he stopped, and smirked. "Well, not stable, but not-that-bad-" he earned a laugh from the audience. "Was created in an unknown way, so we can't do it again. I, with the help of Loki, managed to stablize and insert the minds into their bodies. Next." he pointed at the blonde woman- Christine.
"Tony-" "Christine, honey, we're not on first name basis outside the bed." he winked, and earned another colective laugh from the reporters, including herself. "Well, I did managed to make you remember and say my name." "Indeed, but your boyfriend told me that you like to scream mine during times that are inappropriate to mention over here." the laugh was louder and a few claps were heard. Peggy and Daniel frowned. "Is it just Stark, or the future?" she asked him quietly. "Probably both." he answered, and she chuckled.
Peggy could see that the woman is holding her probably-sharp-tongue back, granting Tony a smirk. "I would like to continue." "So am I, but you didn't seem to move on." she gave him a warning smile, and he nodded. "Down to business, let's defeat the Huns." another laugh."Well?" "How can you not worry from paradoxes, problems, alternative future and apocalypse?"
"I think I've dealt enough apocalypses to get used to it." another joke, another colective laugh. Tony's face became serious. "But seriously, that thing had already happened. They were back, otherwise I won't be here. They already know everything, so there's nothing to worry. Every action that happens right now had already happened for them, so no one needs to worry. Everything will fix itself."
"A lot of scientists will argue with you." she answered, looking not convinced.
"The last time scientist fought with me he ended up in jail. Like the one before. And before. Next." another laugh, and Tony smirked at Christine. "No, seriously, you know you're my favourite pin in the ass." he winked at her, and she grinned back. "Same goes on you." the reporters kept asking questions, and Peggy let her mind go away.
the next time she looked at her watch, an hour passed, and the conference seemed close to its end. "Mrs. and Mr. Sousa-Carter!" she heard a shout from the end of the hall.
Peggy raised her head, straighting up. "You." she said, not waiting for Tony's approval.
"Nico Hutt, The Washington Post. Mrs. Sousa-Carter, what do you think about the modern times, and especially Civil War? What about your past romantic relationship with Steve Rogers?"
Peggy felt both of the men next to her stiffening, and took a deep breath. She fought with those questions since she showed up in the future. Tony opened his mouth, ready to answer, but she elbowed him.
She had to do that.
"First of all, my romantic relationships are none of your business. However, I'll answer your rude question." she said, coldly, looking at the cameras zone, straight in the eyes of every man and woman who had watched the TV (she didn't really understand the consept, but Tony told her that it's like a radio with pictures), including Steve.
"What I had with Steve, as much as we both enjoyed it, is over. It was a few months long, and it ended when Steve crashed Red Skull's plane into the ice. I had hard time when I tried to forget it, I'll admit- I found out that some of my closest friends-" Howard and Jarvis. "Lied to me about an important detail about him, not to mention the lack of appreciation that I felt in the SSR, due to my relationship with Steve." Cheif Dooly and Thompson. "Two years after the begining of my work with the SSR, I fell in love with Daniel," she smiled warmly at him. "And after another year we married."
silence. "About Civil War? I believe that if it happened in my times, I'll go with Steve." the hall turned into chaos, and she raised her voice. "However, in the year 2018, I'll go with Anthony." it seemed like no one heard her words. A wave of flashes lighten up the stage, and Daniel suddenly took the microphone, standing up.
"You'll listen to me, and you'll listen carefully. You have exactly 5 seconds before I tell the security to kick you out. 3. 2. 1." the hall became quiet again. "Thank you. If some of you had done your homework, you'll probably be wondering where is my crutch. For those who didn't, I'll say briefly. I served as a reconnaissance scout in the Army, during the World War II. Got hit by a sharpenal, had to walk with the help of a crutch. Until today." He took a sip from a bottle of water, which was in front of him. The audience stayed quiet, like everyone always does when Daniel is talking.
Well, except Thompson. But even he sometimes does.
"The truth is, I don't need it anymore. Thanks to Tony Stark, I can walk and be normal again. Hereby, I'm glad to declare the official release of pRhodeys." from a brief look at Tony's face, she learned that it was planned. He stood up, and took the microphone from Daniel.
"The pRhodeys, named after my best friend- James Rhodes, are prostheses, are designed mainly for veterans. Rhodey and I met at MIT, and many people forget that he is an engineer, like me- together, we designed leg braces that help half-paralyzed men and women, making them able to walk again."
Peggy scanned the audience, who was surprisingly quiet. Suddenly, she learned to appreciate Tony- his presence, literally, catched the eyes of all the people in the room. Every single men and women over there looked at him. Some impressed, some surprised, some happy- but yet, everyone did. From the exact one question she'd answered, it seemed impossible to do it.
She sneered- just a few days ago, the Starks did something that seemed impossible, and probably not the first time in their lives.
Tony looked, his face serious and calm, and yet somehow warm and worried. "Rhodey, we did it." he said, looking into the cameras. "You can walk again." he clenched his knuckles, a smile spreading on his face. "We did it, man." he stood there for a few more seconds, and simply dropped the microphone. Without giving the reporters another look, he turned on his heels, and walked to behind the stages.
Daniel and Peggy simply followed. "Nice show." he told to Daniel, and the man nodded. "Thanks."
"Thanks for sharing me in your plans." she said, slightly annoyed, her British accent showing- just like Sergeant Barnes and his Brooklyn accent.
Sergeant Barnes.
She needed to see him again.
"No problem." Tony answered, interrupting her thoughts.
"I want to see Sergeant Barnes." she told him, and he frowned.
"No you don't." he gave her a fake smile and the three of them entered his car, not talking.
"I demand to see Sergeant Barnes." she tried again when they've arrived the tower.
"And I told you no." he answered in a sweet, sickening voice. They entered the living room, just in time to see Steve. "Steve, I want to see Sergeant Barnes." she told him, softly. He looked at her, confused and vulnerable, and she wasn't sure if it's because of her speech or her request. "Uh, sure." he answered, looking at Tony. "Sure as hell not, if that's what you mean." the genius answered, coldly. Steve, wisely, decided to shut up.
Peggy glared, her hand rising to catch Tony's hand and prevent him from leaving. "Anthony Edward Stark, you have exactly three seconds to tell me why-"
Before Tony had time to respond, Peggy found her hand glued to the wall.
"He said no." Peter said, looking bored. "In case you didn't notice."
"I don't know what they are teaching you, but respect your elders." she hissed back, trying to get herself free.
"Don't you even try to free yourself, I've used it-"
"Enough." Tony suddenly said, sounding exhausted. "I'll take Barnes in. Should've done that a long time ago. If I was able to let Rogers back in the tower, I'm sure as hell gonna let Barnes over here." Steve had the dignety to look ashamed. He opened his mouth-
"Don't you dare to apologize, Rogers. I swear to god, or Thor, or whatever, if you'll give me one of your worthless 'sorry' one more time..." his mouth went dry, unable to think about any good enough threat, but Rogers nodded, and coughed, uncomfortably.
"Maybe I should start my training with the-" "Yes, you should." Tony answered. "JARVIS, tell the newbies and Jarvis to meet Rogers at the gym floor. And as much as I'd like to see that, tell them that if they do one thing to him that they won't dare to do to me, they have to eat only meals made by Dummy for the next week."
Peter looked at him with horror. "But-"
"No buts. It's Harley's turn in the lab." Tony answered. Peter sighed and walked out of the room, towards his floor, mumbling something about clothes.
"Auntie, Uncle, you're with them."
Peggy stared at Tony, still processing the nickname. "What? But-"
"No buts, m'lady." Tony grinned and bowed. "Fairwell, Your Majesty." before Peggy could reply, he was long gone.
She took a deep breath.
"This boy will be my death." she muttered.
"You have no idea." grinned Steve, and the group began walking to the gym, Peggy sipping from a glass of orange juice.
"Just be careful on Jarvis, okay? I don't think he's trained." asked Steve, very serious.
Peggy spat her drink and laughed for five minutes straight.