Chapter Text
Tony visited his Aunt Peg every Sunday.
He usually brought a book with him because often she didn’t notice he was there and she rambled on. Most of what she rambled about were incidents in her past. Tony had learned all about Whitney Frost that way. And Jason Wilkes. Tony kind of wished he’d gotten the chance to meet him. Other times, she was more introspective.
‘I know it was the right thing to do,’ she was currently saying. ‘But I do feel bad for Tony.’
And apparently completely unaware he was the one sitting here. ‘Why?’
‘Well, I made him hate his father for no reason.’ That statement made Tony freeze. ‘I know they already had a bad relationship. If I could have covered it up another way without lying to Tony, I would have. Unfortunately, the most believable lie was that Howard was drunk.’
Her words came back to him. ‘I’m sorry, Tony. He got behind the wheel, drunk. He crashed the car and killed both of them.’
Was he now hearing that she’d lied to him that day? Tony forced his voice to remain composed. ‘What happened?’
‘Oh, there was somebody else involved.’ She nodded her head, somewhat dismissively. ‘Whoever it was, he shot the tyres out of their car. That’s why they crashed. I looked at the bodies. The assassin bashed Howard’s face in – his skull was completely caved in. Maria was strangled. That’s why we nailed the coffins shut for the funeral. It was a pity we had to lie to Tony.’
‘Why did you lie to Tony?’ This time there was a distinct shake in Tony’s voice.
Peg didn’t notice. ‘If it was known that they were murdered, there’d be an enquiry. Why were they killed? I couldn’t have anyone finding out about S.H.I.E.L.D., now, could I? I especially couldn’t risk Tony finding out where a chunk of his fortune goes and withdrawing it. We needed the money.’
Tony slapped his book shut. ‘I have to get back to work.’ He couldn’t stand to be in the room with this woman a moment longer.
‘Well, thank you for visiting.’
‘No problem.’ Tony bolted out of the room.
***
There were two engineer modes on Tony Stark: procrastination and “something-terrible-just-happened-and-this-is-the-only-way-I-know-how-to-handle-it”. The first one had Tony coming out of his workshop to see Rhodey, go party, or look for a flavour of the night.
This was the second one.
Pepper strode into the mansion and headed straight for the workshop. ‘JARVIS?’
‘Yes, Miss Potts?’
‘Has Mr. Stark been down in the workshop since Sunday?’
‘He hasn’t left at all.’
‘But he wants me to come down?’
‘He has discovered something quite…distressing, Miss Potts. It requires urgent attention. I recommend we be prepared to make one phone call to the FBI, one to the CIA, and one to Lt. Col. Rhodes.’
With a frown, Pepper headed down to the workshop. What could be so awful that the two major intelligence agencies of the world would need to be notified? Rhodey, it was obvious. He was Tony’s best friend so he’d need to be called for moral support. Pepper descended the stairs and looked through the glass into the workshop. Tony was sitting at his workstation, glaring at the monitors.
Pepper keyed in the access code and stepped in. ‘What’s going on?’
Tony looked up at her. ‘I won’t be visiting Peggy Carter anymore.’
Oh. She’d died? That must’ve been why Tony locked himself down here for three days. Rhodey had said he’d been despondent for ages after his parents died, and then angry. The original Jarvis had apparently dealt with all the arrangements. ‘Who’s taking care of the funeral?’
‘She’s not dead.’
That pulled Pepper up short. ‘Then why aren’t you seeing her again? I thought she was the only family you had left.’
‘So did I.’ That was a tone she’d never heard from Tony before. Tense, with a trace of hurt running through it.
‘Tony, she has Alzheimer’s,’ Pepper said. ‘What could she have possibly done that was so horrible you’re cutting contact with her?’
Tony quirked a finger at her, indicating she should come over to him. Pepper walked around the work desk and to Tony’s shoulder. Tony then folded his arms and nodded to the screens. Pepper looked at them. The first thing she noticed was that Tony had hacked into some website with a falcon silhouette insignia and S.H.I.E.L.D. stamped across the centre of it. Underneath, the acronym was extended: Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. The data Tony had pulled up made Pepper freeze in shock.
‘Oh, my God…’
Tony had a very good reason to be pissed off.
‘Hm. Do you know dad funded them?’ Tony inclined his head. ‘They’re still using my money. Why don’t we contact the legal team and find out if they can actually do that?’
Pepper nodded and pulled out her Blackberry.
***
The door was answered by Tony Stark’s redheaded PA, Pepper Potts. She led them into the house and into the living room where she picked up the evidence, which had been stacked into manila folders. The two flicked them open and started rifling through them. There was even a USB stick, which was sure to be stacked with even more evidence.
‘This is all of it?’ CIA Agent Harper asked.
‘Yes, sir,’ Pepper said.
FBI Agent Shawn nodded and flicked his folder closed. ‘We’d like to talk to Mr. Stark as well.’
Miss Potts nodded. ‘This way, gentlemen.’ She led them through the mansion and into a large gym located in the back room. There was a large boxing ring set up in the middle of the room. That was where the billionaire was. Tony Stark had a couple of bandages wrapped around his hands as he beat the living daylights out of a boxing bag that was being held steady by a larger middle-aged man.
Of course, in his situation anybody would be angry – far better it be to take it out on an object designed to be punched.
There was another man there, in military uniform – an African American. Lt. Col. James Rhodes if they weren’t mistaken. He was sitting back and watching this with a severe look on his face. He turned his head as they walked in and stood up. Then he called, ‘Hey, Tones.’
Stark stopped and turned around. He looked at them, took a deep, and then came over to the barrier of the ring. ‘I guess you two want to know how I found out.’
‘That is our main concern, yes,’ Agent Harper said.
‘The simple answer is: from Aunt Peg.’
‘Aunt Peg?’
‘Not my real aunt,’ Tony said. ‘But I’ve known Peggy Carter all my life.’
Peggy Carter, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. at its inception until she was forced into retirement. Agent Harper frowned. ‘You’re saying your parents were involved with S.H.I.E.L.D.’
‘Dad, mostly, it turns out.’ Tony hopped down from the ring. ‘He became friends with Peg in World War II. When she turned the SSR into S.H.I.E.L.D. it was with dad’s money. Looks like she took advantage of dad’s ignorance of how intelligence agencies are supposed to work, which is how S.H.I.E.L.D. can now operate the way it does. It was all on dad’s dime.’
Harper and Shawn looked at each other. S.H.I.E.L.D. had existed since the 1950s, and it had always left a bitter taste in the mouth. The rest of the intelligence community had hated them, not because they were better – they weren’t. It was because while everyone else was in the public eye, and subject to scrutiny, S.H.I.E.L.D. had operated in the shadows – unseen and unmonitored – and could do whatever they damn well liked. Now it looked like Director Carter, who always been considered somewhat arrogant, had gotten into this position by manipulating her friendship with a millionaire.
Tony went on. ‘And they thanked him by covering up his and mom’s double murder.’
‘And Carter just told you this?’ Agent Shawn asked. ‘After lying for years?’
‘To be fair, she didn’t realise it was me she was talking to.’
Agent Harper paused. ‘Doesn’t Carter have Alzheimer’s?’
‘Which is why I was dubious about what she said at first,’ Tony said. ‘I considered she might have just been rambling nonsense. But, on the other hand, she could not have been. So I picked up on the organisation she mentioned and I went looking for solid evidence.’ Tony nodded to the folders. ‘That’s what those are.’
‘Did Ms. Carter give you any indication of her reasons, Mr. Stark?’ Agent Shawn asked.
‘Yes,’ Tony said. ‘Her first reason was that she didn’t want it investigated and led back to S.H.I.E.L.D.’
Both federal agents nodded and rolled their eyes.
Tony went on. ‘The second reason was that she didn’t want to risk me pulling Stark Industries’ funding from the S.H.I.E.L.D. coffers.’
Agent Harper nodded. ‘May I then recommend you hold out on that until we have a solid case against them and we can charge them?’
Tony just nodded.
‘Anything further to add, Mr. Stark?’
‘Yes,’ Tony said. ‘There were three people who claimed to have seen dad crash the car, including my EO. Not a single one of their testimonies measure up to that.’ He pointed to the folders. ‘I want an explanation.’
‘You’ve spoken to your EO?’ Agent Harper asked.
‘He just reiterated his old story.’ Tony shook his head. ‘I know it’s not true, though. I want answers – the real ones.’
***
Rhodey sat in the Stark Mansion living room with Tony, Pepper, and Happy. He’d been pretty pissed off when he’d heard. It was even worse to arrive back here and find it was true. What kind of friend was Peggy Carter? You didn’t cover up your friend’s murder, lie to his 17 year old son, and then claim it was for the greater good.
Then, this was just the icing on top of the cake!
‘You know that stuff technically belongs to you, right?’ Rhodey asked.
‘Yes, it does, platypus,’ Tony said. ‘And I’ll be suing for their return.’ He turned to Pepper. ‘Add that on the list of things for Legal to do once the report comes out, Pep.’
Pepper was typing furiously on her Blackberry. ‘Already done.’
‘Good.’ Tony clicked and the holographic screen appeared in front of them.
‘What’s this?’ Happy asked.
‘Well, the CIA and FBI apparently don’t like S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as every other intelligence agency in the world.’ Tony smirked. ‘The reason for that is because while they are all subject to scrutiny, S.H.I.E.L.D. can go around doing whatever they like with no consequence because nobody knows they’re there. The rest of the intelligence community is quite looking forward to sticking them in the public eye like this.’
‘As they would be,’ Rhodey said.
‘I know, right?’ Tony chuckled. He sobered up. ‘Anyway, but because they’re accustomed to completely ignoring the law, both the CIA and FBI are expecting that once this starts, they’ll try to weasel their way out. These are the agents they think Peg’s successor, Nick Fury, is going to send after me.’
Pepper leaned over and picked one of the folders up. ‘Phillip Coulson. Displays clear signs of sociopathy – actual diagnosis unconfirmed.’
‘You’ll find a lot of them are like that,’ Tony said. ‘Their actions, methods, and behaviours have led every other intelligence agency in the world to consider them potential sociopaths or psychopaths. Either way, they all have aspects of antisocial personality disorder.’ He tapped the pile. ‘I don’t know if they’re trained that way or if they’re picked out for those traits.’
‘They’re probably picked out for them,’ Rhodey said. ‘You know, you can lead a horse to water…’
Tony nodded. He rifled through the folders and picked out one. ‘This is the one they actually want me to worry about. He flicked it open.
‘Natasha Romanoff?’ Happy asked. ‘Sounds Russian.’
‘It is Russian,’ Tony said. ‘She was originally part of a top secret Russian spy program called the Red Room and is the current Black Widow. Turns out from 1946 until he was engaged to my mom, the Black Widows went after dad a lot. There were no less than five sent after him.’
‘So they’ll probably send this one after you,’ Pepper guessed, getting a good look at her profile.
Tony nodded. ‘Apparently, they’re not too good at using their creative juices. S.H.I.E.L.D. have a grand total of three tricks: manipulation, seduction, and violence. That’s it.’ Tony shook his head. ‘Hell, by the time the last one came around, dad had taught himself to recognise the Black Widows.’ A statement appeared on the screens in front of them. ‘Look at this. Dad actually got so mad about it that he gave a statement to somebody. I’m not sure who, though. Would’ve had to be somebody outside of S.H.I.E.L.D. or we wouldn’t have it.’
You can always tell, the quote read. They saunter up to you, skirt hitched up, at least an inch of cleavage showing, glossy lips, flicking their hair, batting their eyelashes and getting well within your personal space. If they do play “hard to get”, then the key to it will generally be you showing them what they want to steal. And whatever they’re wearing you can bet it’s gonna both be form-fitting and push their jugs out.
‘Really?’ Rhodey asked. That was the oldest trick in the book! ‘They still do this?’
‘I checked,’ Tony said. ‘Romanoff certainly does.’
‘Hm.’ Rhodey shook his head. ‘No creativity. So we’re expecting some attacks when this all goes to hell?’
‘Yup.’ Tony reached under the coffee table. ‘Seeing as the report’s going to be released tomorrow, I made these. They’re linked to JARVIS and there’s one for each of us.’ Tony opened the box and handed out the wristwatches inside.
‘What do they do, besides the obvious?’ Pepper asked.
‘They beep if a registered S.H.I.E.L.D. agent comes within range,’ Tony said. ‘And I know for a fact that all of their agents are registered. They also send out a pulse if they move towards you in any kind of violent manner. The pulse will blow the agent across the room. If there’s a second attack, they get electrocuted.’
Rhodey chuckled and clipped his on. ‘Nice.’