Chapter 16
Tony didn’t exactly have a burning need to go back to Wakanda but he had good news to deliver to the Avengers and a conversation to have with Wanda. T’Challa was delighted to have him back, of course, but Tony was still dreading dealing with the Avengers.
“You know that I will support you, right?” T’Challa says gently.
He opens his mouth to give the obvious affirmative but he considers that for a moment. “No, I don’t know that,” he says honestly. People liked to say that but when he needed help, truly needed it, people tried to make him do what they perceived would help, not what he told them would help. Then they got angry when he reacted badly, because he knew that their solution wouldn’t help, and of course he wouldn’t react well to an ill-advised solution to his problems. People only cared to help him if he did what they wanted, they had no real interest in making sure he was okay.
A flash of hurt crosses T’Challa’s face and Tony waits for the ‘of course I’m here for you, what even made you think I wasn’t!’ speech but it doesn’t come. Instead T’Challa sighs, “given the lack of support you have had for near everyone it was rather stupid of me to assume that you would trust me. But I am here for you, and I will support you, and if I do something that makes you question that please tell me so I can change that. I have no desire to prove you right once again,” he says earnestly.
“Thank you,” Tony says after a moment, unsure of what else to say. T’Challa seems to know that, thankfully, and he lets it go.
*
Steve sits across the room from him and Tony itches to leave immediately. “So we’re acquitted?” Steve asks eventually, raising an eyebrow.
“Not exactly. You’ve been exonerated for the charges you’ve been brought up on but if you want to keep doing the hero thing you’re going to need to sign some version of the Accords, the choice is yours,” he says. He had tried to wiggle them out of that option but he didn’t even believe his own argument and neither did the lawyers and it showed. But he tried, even if he didn’t think it was the right option. “The exception is Wanda, people are still out for her blood and they’re proposing some pretty unfair solutions.” The most popular was wearing a suppressor at all times but the problem people had was a lack of control. If she wore a suppressor all the time there was no opportunity for her to learn control, plus the long-term effects of a suppressor were unknown. Taking away an extra sense with no clue how that would play out long-term was dangerous at best.
In the meantime he was working to point out the considerably dangerous reasoning behind limiting Wanda, namely that it was a Band-Aid solution at best and flat out irresponsible at worst. Treating Wanda like a science experiment instead of dealing with the problem, her needing to learn better control over her power, was an infringement of her basic human rights flat out. Social movements were helpful too, and noisy, so he was using the pressure there to push for her to be allowed… well, to live like a normal person. They didn’t want to stick a suppressor on Steve and he was enhanced too and at this point they’ve caused the same amount of damage. That looked bad on the courts so Tony pressed the point further, hitting where it hurt. Ross was pissed but he could fuck off.
“So you basically did nothing for us,” Steve says bluntly. Tony’s pretty sure he hears one of the Dora Milaje snort loudly behind him but that might have been his own reaction taking up that much of the silence.
“I only got you acquitted of international terrorism and treason charges, no big deal. I mean it only cost me almost a million dollars in legal fees to clean up your mess and you aren’t even grateful for it,” he snaps. “But if what you were so insensitively trying to point out is that you and the rest of the team are where you were with the Accords problem when all this started than yes, that’s true. There’s only so much I can do for you and if you have a problem with the Accords take it up with the rest of the world. It isn’t my job to hold you hand and make sure the rest of the world doesn’t hate you. Do that yourself.” What an asshole.
Steve sighs and looks down for a moment, “you’re right, I didn’t word that well. I do appreciate what you’ve done, thank you. So what’s going on with Wanda? And Bucky?” he asks.
“Well at least we can both agree that you’re an asshole,” Tony says and Steve snorts, his face scrunching as he rolls his eyes and mumbles something under his breath. “If you just said ‘here we go again’ fuck you. Now Wanda, they’re throwing all kinds of stupid ideas around and none of them are any good for her-”
“What, like your solutions are better for her?” Steve interrupts.
“Here we go again,” Tony mocks, rolling his eyes dramatically. “No, they weren’t but at least I gave a shit about her safety, even if I went about it all wrong. They don’t care what happens to her, they just want her gone because they think that’s a solution-”
“Like you did,” Steve points out and fine, that was sort of what he did with her so Tony lets that go.
“And your solution is better, hmm? Don’t act like Wakanda is any less of a prison to her than the Compound was. It’s the same fucking thing, holing her and the rest of the team for that matter, up in a pretty little package with some weird ass birds instead of a pool,” Tony says, gesturing to the odd bird currently walking past the large window. As far as prisons go this was pretty damn nice, nowhere near as nice as T’Challa’s mansion, but nice nonetheless. This, according to T’Challa, was what affordable housing looked like. Wakanda was ay nicer to the poor than America was that’s for sure.
“But hey, when you choose to stick people in pretty prisons for their own good it’s fine. I forgot that these things only matter when I do them,” he says somewhat harshly. The bird by the window continues walking by as Steve turns to stare at it, turning back to give Tony a brief confused look before turning his attention back to the bird.
“It doesn’t look that weird to me. I mean it has a strange beak and it’s got some really long legs but that’s not that weird,” Steve says, shifting the subject nicely away from himself.
“That’s because you can’t see color. It looks like someone vomited a rainbow on that thing; even its legs are colorful. Anyways, Wanda. Unless she’s content to deal with the legal shit on her own then I guess she says here,” he says.
“Then she stays here,” Steve says with a tone of finality.
“I was going to ask her what she wanted given that was what I did wrong last time but fine, if you want to strip her of her right to choose while looking down on me for making the same- admittedly very stupid- mistake then fine. You get to tell her she doesn’t get a choice then and don’t you blame it on me,” Tony says. He doubted she’d leave but if she did than that was her choice to make, not his, not Steve’s, and not anyone else’s. She isn’t a stupid woman; she could make her own choices without him of Steve trying to hold her hand. Neither one of them should have tried that to begin with, it was condescending and if the situations were reversed Tony wouldn’t be impressed. So he figured he’d give her the information and let her do what she would with it.
“That isn’t what I was trying to do,” Steve protests, leaning forward in annoyance.
“And you think that’s what I was trying to do? Obviously we both wanted what was best for her, but that isn’t our choice to make, it’s hers. Would you like it if people started taking away your choices?” he asks. He wouldn’t, Tony knew, because he bitched every time something even remotely close to that happened to him. Tony did it too; so neither one of them had any business making Wanda’s decisions for her.
“That’s what the Accords are doing but you seem fine with that,” Steve says, eyebrow raised.
Tony shoves himself back from his chair and stands, turning and walking a few paces away. “No they aren’t. What the Accords are doing is giving us a certain set of laws that we need to abide, you know, like every other citizen on the planet has. There is no reason for us to believe we should function without laws, without accountability for our actions, everyone else has to do it so do we. I understand your distrust in the system but I’ve been playing it long enough to know things are nowhere near as black and white as you like to make them,” Tony says. “Besides, I didn’t put anyone’s name on the new version of the Accords and I had the choice to do that. I didn’t because that was never my choice to make so don’t act like I’ve somehow wronged you for disagreeing with your opinion.”
Steve’s jaw clenches but he lets it go, thankfully, “and Bucky?” he asks.
“What about Barnes?” Tony asks tiredly.
“Well what’s going on with him, legally I mean?” Steve asks.
“The fuck if I know, I’ve been too busy with you and the rest of the Avengers to see what they’re doing with all of that. You’re free, go make a few calls, America still loves you, I’m sure people will be happy to answer your questions.” Why Steve thought he’d know anything about Bucky he had no clue, he had no interest in the man’s legal proceedings. He still half hoped that Barnes would be found guilty of his crimes even if he knew objectively that Bucky wasn’t really guilty. Torture was a powerful motivator; he’s done some things he wasn’t proud of because he was being hurt too. That didn’t stop him from dreaming about Barnes’ hand around his mother’s throat while she feebly tried to fight him off until she stopped moving.
“You aren’t doing anything about that?” Steve asks, sounding genuinely surprised.
“I spent nearly a million dollars bailing you and the rest of the team out of jail, did you seriously expect me to bail my parents’ murderer out too? Seriously?” he asks, floored that Steve would even think that.
Steve stands fast, nearly knocking his chair over, “it wasn’t him Tony, you can’t let him go to jail for something he didn’t do.” Steve sounds almost panicked and he looked like he was pleading an unsuccessful case.
“You think I don’t know that? I do and honestly that pisses me off even more. I’m never going to get justice, all those other people won’t get justice either, because we’ll never know who made the call. If they’re still alive to punish, even. You want Barnes freed of his charges do it yourself, he isn’t my responsibility. I’ve done enough.” More than enough really, he didn’t need to free the Avengers; he did it because the world had need of them even if he didn’t.
“Tony,” Steve says softly, eyes wide, “I can’t lose him again. I… I already came too close to that with you in Siberia.”
He might have felt for Steve more if he didn’t decide to crush his fucking chest. “So you decided to almost kill me instead, because I’m more disposable to you unless you need me, right? Nice to know what you really think about the value of my life. God, you act like you’re the only one who’s watched your best friend fall knowing you couldn’t do anything about it. I watched Rhodey fall, and Pepper, I was lucky that both of them lived. Sam watched Riley fall too. You aren’t the only one who’s lost someone close. Hell, you aren’t even the only one who’s lost everything. I lost my parents, then I lost someone I considered a good friend when I found out you lied to me for years about how they died because again Barnes was more important to you than me. I lost Pepper, I almost lost Rhodey, I lost Obi, the team, my confidence in the things I build, my fucking sanity. But none of you care about that, you’re all content to ignore my pain but you’ll all be damned if you let me forget you’ve all suffered.”
He shakes his head, taking a few more steps away. “I can’t believe after all I’ve done for you that you’d ask for more as if I haven’t done enough. I feel for you, not wanting to loose your best friend again, but it isn’t my responsibility to make sure that doesn’t happen. You didn’t do anything for Rhodey, you didn’t even ask about him. Sam did, by the way. And in case you forgot I offered to pay for Bucky’s treatment before I found out he murdered my mother. What the hell have you done for me lately besides ride my ass about lying when you spent years lying to me?” he asks. He shakes his head and walks out of the room, T’Challa’s security detail following him out.
“Good for you,” the severe woman says, inclining her head to him slightly. He frowns at her, almost skidding to a stop but he regains his footing quickly. “You do not owe the Avengers anything and what you’ve done for them given the circumstances is commendable. I would not be so forgiving,” she says. Yeah, he got the impression that the Dora Milaje weren’t the most forgiving of people.
*
The cat was something of an impulsive decision but T’Challa felt it was the right time. Plus the cat is perfect for Tony. Shuri gives the animal a very skeptical look, looking between the cat and T’Challa dubiously. “If you think that thing is a good cat choice that has got to be a bad omen,” she says.
“You leave him alone! He cannot help being different,” T’Challa says, defending the poor animal.
“That is one way to put it. I would simply call him ugly,” Shuri says.
“You are cruel and this is why you have no cat,” T’Challa says.
“I have no cat because I am allergic and they know it, not because they are making a judgment of my character,” she says, nose in the air.
“That is what you tell yourself to sleep at night,” he says, “but the cats know.”
“The cats know what?” someone new asks. T’Challa and Shuri turn to find Tony looking exhausted and upset in the door way.
“That Shuri is a bad person. Look what I got you,” he says, gesturing to the cat with a flourish.
Tony looks at the cat and frowns for a moment, “that is the ugliest cat I have ever seen. I didn’t know their faces could get that squished, and its eyes are pointing in two totally different directions. What the hell is going on with its fur? Are they supposed to be shorthaired and longhaired at the same time? Is that like… a health issue?” he asks.
The cat looks at Tony, well, one eye does while the other eye stares off towards the ceiling before it meows. Sort of. It sounded more like ‘mrowugh’. Despite the strange meow and haggard appearance the cat was in good health, it just happened to be… odd looking.
Tony grins at the cat, “I love it,” he says, walking over to scoop the cat up and immediately wrinkling his nose, “oh god you smell like death. Still like the cat though, he’s not like other cats,” Tony says, grinning at the now clicking animal. T’Challa determined that was a purr, not a signal that the cat was tracking prey like a normal cat.
“I knew you would like him,” T’Challa say proudly, giving Shuri a look of superiority. Finally he knew something about his soul mate that she did not and he was proud of that.
“I maintain that thing is a bad omen. You two are doomed to fail as a couple,” Shuri tells him.
Tony clutches the cat closer to his chest, “he is not a bad omen! He can’t help being different!” he protests.
“That is what I said!” T’Challa says happily, glad that they agreed on something. The cat clicks away, oblivious to the conversation about his ugly state.
Shuri shakes her head and briefly checks the time on her phone, “I do not care that it is a terrible time to call Rhodey, I need to tell him about the absurdity of that animal and the fact that you two think it is acceptable,” Shuri says, waving a hand around. She takes off, presumably to fill Rhodey in on the cat situation and T’Challa clicks his tongue.
“You cannot discriminate against him simply because you think he is ugly! That is cruel,” he calls after her. “There is nothing wrong with being ugly,” he tells the cat.
“Damn right, I like his ugliness. What’s his name?” Tony asks.
“Sharkbait,” T’Challa tells him. Tony snorts and starts laughing, some of the tension in his shoulders falling away as he shakes with it. Sharkbait does not mind, he simply continues clicking away, happy to be held.