Chapter Text
"You're sure no more of them are being influenced by Maximoff?"
Loki shrugged – and shit, Loki, Loki was here and known and accepted by these people, Tony was still wrapping his head around that – and shook his, shit sorry, her head. (Mind. Blown.) "Only Barton showed any signs of being influenced, but even that was fairly insignificant. Just a little to make her seem more sympathetic, encourage him to support her. I suppose it would explain why he is fine with her now when apparently he was firmly against mind control and her both when he first heard of her. And as I understand it, he has not been around the others much recently what with having retired."
"Yeah, he's against it because of you."
Loki didn't even bother to look at him. "You have already been informed of my circumstances, Stark. You are aware that I myself was coerced and controlled, and that the invasion was not my own choice. Frankly, I'm insulted that anyone even thought it was: it was a ludicrously bad plan from a tactical standpoint. Purposeful, on my part, in case you hadn't realised yet."
Yeah, Tony himself had had some issues with that plan after he had been able to sit down and actually think it through without having a panic attack. (Though even today he still got those sometimes... Don't tell anyone, he didn't even want to imagine what the rest of the Avengers would think if they ever found out... He hadn't been advertising it. And with no one around in the first place when it had been bad, he was happy to say that he had managed to keep it pretty quiet.)
Rhodey had expressed some disbelief about the whole thing as well: apparently the whole invasion had been picked apart by the higher ups, and some questions had arisen. (Well, what S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't managed to cover up quickly enough had been, and since big aspects of it had been fairly public, that was actually quite a bit) The pair had half thought it was just an Asgardian thing – they were from a different planet, after all, they must have different tactics, surely? (And, of course, 'different' did not necessarily mean 'better'. Despite them being some kind of galactic overlords, or whatever.)
He still found it hard to believe Loki had actually had a trial here on Earth, nor that he had been found Not Guilty and acquitted of all his crimes on grounds of diminished capacity and torture. Or something... (He hadn't been given the details. He'd need to find those later...)
And that Tony had heard nothing about it? He was fairly certain S.H.I.E.L.D./HYDRA (Shieldra? Shieldra.) hadn't known either – it certainly hadn't been in that idiotic data dump. (He didn't think. He had had J.A.R.V.I.S. flag anything to do with both Thor and his brother, though he was still sorting through it (and oh God, J.A.R.V.I.S. was gone... He was still being hit by these moments, and it hurt each and every time even three months later). He was curious, and knew that the human race as they currently were had no chance against what he knew was out there.
'Together'. What a load of self righteous bullshit. Cap was so full of it.
It was a goddamn miracle the 'Avengers' had managed to stop the last invasion.
Clearly, it had given them an overinflated sense of self importance.
It was not likely to happen that way again.
...Admittedly, Tony had probably helped with that over inflation what with all the enabling Pepper had always said he had been doing... He was starting to realise it now himself too.)
He – she – was still paying for the lives she had taken, though, Tony was glad to hear. Working with Earth's leaders with the UN, Loki was helping out with problems that they were, frankly, not equipped to handle. As a sort of community service sentence, apparently.
Case in point, Maximoff. (And Rogers. ...Possibly. It was a little up in the air at the moment, but she was certainly still here because of the good captain.)
Honestly, Tony was so glad that that witch was not going to get away scot free after everything she had done.
When they had uncovered files detailing her 'training' with HYDRA, both from the Dump and what he himself had managed to extract at the Sokovian base before all this shit started... Christ, and Rogers had thought adding that psycho bitch to the team was a good idea, that she was a good girl... He had been hoping Rogers had been being influenced by her.
The reality that he wasn't was... well, terrifying.
Loki turned to him as she finished up her conversation with the CIA agent, and arched a dark eyebrow at him. "Any lingering effects from Maximoff's magic?"
Tony shook his head. "No, I feel much better. Er – thanks, by the way. For, you know – getting her out of my head."
Loki quirked a sardonic smirk at him. "Of course. I despise mind control – it's anathema for a reason. As for Maximoff's powers..." She shuddered, and he somehow knew it wasn't entirely for show. "That is an abomination, a stain upon the universe. She will not be keeping them."
"Er – it hasn't actually been decided what her fate will be yet..." The poor agent quailed (quite understandably) under Loki's glare, and offered a sheepish smile. "I mean, she still has to stand trial..."
"Are you honestly trying to tell me that that bitch will be allowed to keep her powers? After everything she has done – and all of her own free will, might I remind you? And after doing nothing to earn them?"
"Well – well, she does need to stand trial – "
"She can stand trial as you like for her crimes on Midgard, but her crimes against magic and the sacred laws of the universe? No. That you humans have no understanding of, and therefore no say in. You have no authority to tell me that that abomination of tainted power should be allowed to remain free. I will be taking her powers."
"And keeping them for yourself?" Tony couldn't help himself, and earned a disgusted look for his trouble.
Shit, Loki as a woman was hot. (He was probably pretty hot as a dude when not looking like a warmed up corpse as well, admittedly.
Not that Tony had been looking since seeing him – her, again or anything...)
"Why in Hel would I either want or need that? No, Stark, I will not be keeping it for myself. It will be disposed of safely, where the balance can be restored and the tainted power derived from the corruption of the mind stone can never again be wielded by anyone."
"Do you think the powers twisted her?" Tony wasn't sure what answer he would prefer. Had Maximoff been an innocent little flower before getting her powers, as Rogers seemed to believe? (Mind you, the man still seemed to believe she was an innocent little flower. What was wrong with that guy, seriously...)
He didn't believe it. The woman was a terrorist, plain and simple. Even before volunteering to be experimented on, she had reportedly taken part in her country's civil war, and not as a peaceful protester.
Nope, Wanda Maximoff was a dangerous, possibly psychotic terrorist, and there was little anyone – let alone Steve Rogers, with his really dumb view of the world – could do to convince him otherwise.
Unless there was hard, empirical evidence... But no: that was unlikely.
"No." Loki answered flatly. "If anything, she further twisted it."
"Captain Rogers believes – "
"I don't give a damn what Rogers thinks," Loki snapped, cutting the poor agent off once more. "The man is an imbecile, and knows exactly nothing about magic." Unlike me went unsaid, but heard by all.
Which... alright, fair point.
***
Needless to say, Wanda Maximoff did not possess her powers for much longer.
Tony couldn't say he wasn't relieved.
He had no idea if Loki – well, Loka Silva as she was going by currently, apparently, while she was on Earth (and wasn't that a wild idea - ...pretty much all of it, of course: Loki being here, Loki being innocent – to a certain definition of 'innocent'... – Loki being a woman...). Anyway, he had no idea if Loka had bothered to get permission to take them, but however it had happened, it quickly became known that the Scarlet Witch had been depowered, and presumably permanently.
She would still be getting a trial, and it would be held by the ICC: after all, though she was Sokovian and had multiple crimes to answer for there, her long list of charges spanned multiple sovereign borders. And murder, attempted murder, terrorism, and torture were not small charges.
Last he had heard, Rogers, Romanoff and Wilson had all been let go and not actually charged with anything, though they had all been given a firm smack on the wrist.
He knew that there were many people who were not pleased with this (partially including himself, admittedly – he had been getting rather disillusioned with the Avengers, despite knowing they would be needed for what was out there... But would they be? It seemed there was already more going on behind the scenes than he knew of, so maybe their loss wouldn't be too disastrous after all... He wasn't convinced of that though. And he wasn't about to completely give up on them, he couldn't.). But yeah: many people weren't happy about that internationally, and even in the U.S.
After all, all three of them had committed treason, which was usually not something that one just got away with.
However, it was all about politics and looking good for the public: and the politicians in power did not want to have 'Captain America' in jail. It would look bad for them. The other two were let go by association: Natasha Romanoff may think she was God's gift to humanity, but the opposite was true in Tony's opinion – though she shared that delusional mindset with Rogers. Wilson was a lucky bastard to have Rogers as a friend to get him off those charges, as charging him would have meant owning up to the failures of Captain America anyway, and no one high up in America really wanted to do that.
Then again, it was only having Rogers as a 'friend' that was getting him into such a situation in the first place.
And since the majority of the fighting and the damage hadn't been on American soil... Well, a lot of Americans didn't care, nor did the politicians. It was a sad reality, but, unfortunately, that was how the world worked. Out of sight, out of mind, and all that...
As for Vision, he hadn't really done anything, not having been around for most of the situation before the big fight. And he had been a serious help in that. Everyone was still a little wary of him, and he of the world it would seem. Needless to say, people would most likely be keeping a close eye on him in the near future.
However, the whole thing did step up the Accords discussions that had been going on for a while now.
The wider world – because America was not the centre of the universe, as they seemed to like to believe, nor even the centre of the planet – were not happy that these terrorists (as many saw them as) were getting off scot free.
They quite rightly did not trust the Avengers not to do more harm than good in their countries, and they wanted some damn accountability for once.
Tony could understand completely, though he was somewhat baffled as to why and how he was not as hated as the others were – particularly Rogers and Romanoff – in the wider world.
Mostly it seemed to come down to Tony actually taking responsibility for his mistakes, letting the public know what was going on when he could (and why had he not done more during the ULTRON debacle? At least he knew he had been liaising with some people, otherwise how would he have got access to nuclear codes... But Novi Grad? Why hadn't he done something, why hadn't he done more...?!), and actually bothering to stick around both to help aid those affected in whatever ways he (and his quite considerable connections and wealth) could and also to answer questions.
Unlike the others, who seemed to believe that it was alright to just swan off as soon as the actual fighting was done, and not address the public in any way.
In fact, Rogers had always acted like Tony had personally killed his puppy and then danced on its bloody remains whenever he had tried to get the others to do anything even vaguely related to public relations, and actually interacting with the public in any way that was not causing destruction to them and their homes.
(Though Tony had seen those health videos that the good captain had recorded. He, Pep and Happy had sat up with popcorn one night and watched them all, howling with laughter and cringing in second hand embarrassment at the thought of all those poor children who were forced to suffer through those travesties.
Granted, it was not Rogers who had ever admitted to doing those... things, whatever they could be classed as.
Nope, it was Harley, that delightful little shit, who had gleefully put Tony on that particular trail. The boy had barely been able to breathe he had been laughing so hard when he had called when he got home from school after watching his first mandatory one, and it had taken a while to get the goods out of him.
Tony was so glad he had. God, that boy was amazing. A mischievous menace undeniably, but Tony enjoyed spending time with him, even if they rarely saw each other in person. It was... refreshing, and such an honest delight to interact with someone like Harley, and not the vultures and parasites he was usually surrounded by – and that was even outside the Avengers as well.)
So, as things stood now, the Avengers were in disgrace and people seemed to finally be getting the message that Tony was not one, so please, please stop calling him to deal with their problems!
It had also come out that Tony had never actually been on the team in the first place – not even after the Invasion of 2012 had he been promoted past Consultant, and the public was furious when they found that out.
After all, without that 'consultant', that invasion would have ended very differently. Few people were under any delusions about it now, despite some people (Shieldra) doing what they could to cover that up: that nuke would have hit New York had Iron Man not been there. And even if it had hit, it would not have closed the portal, most likely, so what good would it even have done? (Which seriously – how? How had they thought they could possibly cover that up? Did they think people would just not notice or think to ask where a damn nuke had come from? They had watched him fly it into that wormhole on live TV!)
There was public outcry, and a rallying of support behind Tony.
He was... oddly touched. He also had no idea what to do with all that. It was most strange. He was no stranger to being in the public eye, of course, but generally it was because the media loved to hate him.
It was quite unsettling having them say nice things about him. (Though he still received quite a lot of criticism as well, of course. He would have been disappointed if he hadn't, he knew he had made a lot of mistakes around ULTRON... But the courts had cleared him, and not even on technicalities like the other three...)
Harley was loving it.
Harley had also, somehow, inexplicably, convinced him to get a Twitter account.
His PR department had been ecstatic with the idea – because the little shit had bypassed Tony entirely and 'subtly suggested' it to them.
He didn't believe that crap for a second. As if Harley knew the meaning of the word 'subtle'!
He also couldn't believe he had actually gone along with the plan and done it.
(And how did Harley even know his PR department?! How did they know him?! It wasn't a horrifying thought at all... Oh God, the chaos that little shit could unleash with that kind of power...)
It was surreal, really. He had no idea what he was doing, but people seemed to like it.
He had, of course, had one before, but it was generally just used as a promotional thing. Whenever his PR guys said it would be good to do a Tweet on a new product or something, he would do it. But now he was using it more, and Harley was entirely to blame.
Harley said it was because people were seeing a more human side of him. Previously, he had mostly just done press conferences and scheduled interviews – and, of course, the scandals the paparazzi and the media liked to get hold of, particularly in his earlier years when he was sadly more than a little wild. And Obie had been ensuring he got negative publicity, he had come to find... (After all, there were plenty of other celebrities and billionaires who did the same things he did and worse and yet they never ended up getting the negative media attention he had. After that, Tony hadn't really cared enough to stop it like he probably should, and he had calmed down a lot anyway). But apparently, interacting more personally with the public through Twitter – and Instagram, which he also got and which Harley occasionally commandeered for his own use (and mostly to try to embarrass Tony, it had to be said) – made him more relatable, more approachable.
He wasn't too sure how he felt about that, but so far it was going OK.
It was still pretty insane, though.
Currently, Tony was looking forwards to Harley and his folks coming up for a visit from Tennessee. Video chats were all well and good, but he did enjoy having the boy around in person. He had even found he got on well enough with his mother (not that she had been too impressed when he had confessed how he and her son had met and the subsequent events surrounding that... Amanda Keener was scary) and his little sister had been delighted by the replacement watch he had got her – it was the first time he had ever received a death glare from a six year old. What was it with these Keeners and their Stares of Death? She had forgiven him quickly enough after receiving her replacement, though.
And oh, Lord, Harley had his login details for Instagram, didn't he? (F.R.I.D.A.Y. was a little snitch; Harley was devastated at J's death, but seemed to be getting along fine with his newest A.I. – a little too well, actually, Tony was a little afraid for his own sanity...) He already occasionally posted something – screenshots of Tony from their video calls, mostly, with increasingly unflattering expressions – but who knew what he would get up to seeing him in person?! Tony was going to have to watch his back... And could he trust Harley's new sidekick to take down any photos? She was his A.I.! Why would she take orders from a teenager over him?! (He wasn't sure he wanted to test that theory...)
"Boss, Mr Rogers and Ms Romanoff are in the lobby demanding to see you." F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s voice interrupted his musings as he sat in his R&D office in his tower, for once actually working on paperwork for SI. Pep would be so proud...
He looked up in surprise. "What? Do they have an appointment I forgot about?"
"Negative, Boss. They've been told they'll need to schedule one, but they're refusing to move. Apparently, you should just drop everything and come down and see them. They're most displeased they were denied access to the Tower." The disdain in her voice was obvious, and he felt a shiver of unease for a moment – just a moment – as he thought of ULTRON.
But no. ULTRON hadn't been his doing – that hadn't been his programming. He hadn't had any programming, barely even any starting parameters! Whatever ULTRON had been, it hadn't been his A.I.
Having that confirmed had been a huge relief. He had also decided – after much fretting about it, he had to admit – to remove the blocks he had built into FRI's programming before activating her before the fight.
She didn't deserve to be hampered by his – by the Avengers, really – fears of things they didn't understand. It had never caused J to go all Skynet or attempt mass-genocide like ULTRON, and if he ever thought she was going dark he would deal with it.
But his baby was just a baby, and was learning so fast!
"Alright, let them up into the conference room." He had many, but he knew she'd pick the right one. Let her use some initiative a little here... It wasn't a big choice, she had past experiences to extrapolate from. "I'll see them in... twenty minutes? I just need to finish up this part here." Honestly, he needed to finish up far more than that, but he supposed it could wait.
Whatever those two wanted, it must be important for them to come here. He wouldn't keep them waiting too long.
***
"Capsicle. Rushmanoff. What can I do for you?" Tony asked half an hour later, strolling into the conference room F.R.I.D.A.Y. had directed them to, and not at all surprised to be met with the Captain America Disapproves Of YouTM face and eyebrow, paired with You Disappoint Me TonyTM. Seriously, Tony was pretty sure he had his own personal version of that face: it was just a little different from the one most other people would get.
Natasha sneered, but didn't say anything just yet. That threw him off a little: what, no crack about his ego and making them wait?! Maybe she wasn't feeling well...
"Tony. We've been waiting for ages." Yep, there was the disapproving tone too.
"Yes, sorry about that. F.R.I.D.A.Y. did tell you I would be around twenty minutes. As you know, I am a very busy man, however, and cannot always guarantee a meeting to the exact minute. Now, speaking of being busy: what is it you wanted to see me about? I haven't got long I'm afraid."
Rogers fixed him with a superior, mildly disdainful look. He was used to it: they had got off to a bad start and, though they had been able to work together somewhat civilly, after ULTRON their relationship had taken a definite nose dive. "We need to talk about the Avengers."
"What about them?" Tony enquired, holding back a sigh. Christ, would no one get the message to stop bothering him about them?!
"You're cutting funding?!"
"Yes, Steve. As you were already informed."
"Stark, if this is about your ego – " Yeah, there it was. He'd been wondering what was taking her so long.
Christ, the blinders really were coming off for him, weren't they. He was almost (almost) proud of himself. How had he not seen her blatant manipulations for what they were long ago? (Well... Part of him had. He just had... well, not wanted to fall for them, just... He had wanted to be part of something. To be part of this team.
Only, he never really had been.)
"Save it, Romanoff."He cut her off sharply. "This has nothing to do with my 'ego' and you should know that. I told you from the start, neither myself nor Stark Industries can go on funding a group like the Avengers indefinitely. As a private citizen, it is not feasible. Now, I have given you more than enough notice: you have an additional six months to find funding elsewhere. I'm sure there are plenty of branches of the government who will be happy to have you."
"Governments have agendas, Tony."
Tony felt his eyebrow arch at that. "Everyone has an agenda, Steve."
He scowled, obviously irritated before even coming in here. Tony could sort of understand: a lot of things were changing, and the Avengers had been used to getting what they wanted for some time now.
Now that that wasn't going to be happening any more...
Well. They were the ones who wanted him off the team.
Now they would just have to deal with all that that entailed. After all, they couldn't have it both ways. He was either one of them, or not. They either had his help, or they didn't.
He wasn't about to keep being a walking bank account and general dogsbody anymore.
After all, apart from him not wanting to be (he would say self respect, but... yeah, he didn't really have much of that either it had to be said: he was working on it though), legally, he couldn't.
He had sort of been worried about that at the beginning – it was why he had originally turned down hunting HYDRA bases with the three stooges who had dumped American intelligence sensitive information all over the internet for the entire world to see.
And then not seemed to realise the implications of all of that... Seriously, it had been something of a miracle they hadn't started World War Three with that stunt. The global fallout had been immense.
But yeah. Tony was a businessman, and he had been part of the military/intelligence system for pretty much his entire life: he knew what it looked like, a bunch of highly weaponised individuals traipsing all over the globe starting fights and not affiliated to anyone.
Also, he hadn't had a suit at the time. He had, after all, blown them all up.
(Mostly. They didn't need to know it didn't take him that long to build a new one. He was pretty handy at it by that point, what with the fifty-odd he had built before.)
He had done the best he could to deal with such a situation, but he had to admit he hadn't been on top of it all the time.
Add to that SI creating a new (it had been supposed to be temporary... and again, he had been somewhat manipulated into it, now that he thought back) branch and bringing many burned S.H.I.E.L.D. agents into the fold... Yeah, he didn't want a private army thanks.
But that was what it looked like.
Then with ULTRON added into the mix... It hadn't been his fault, but he had been told what it looked like. He knew where he stood with the UN and others right now.
While he was still the highest rated Avenger in public opinion – mostly due to being seen, it had to be said: even before all of this none of the others ever handled the media so he was the one they were most used to – he was also on thin ice just like the rest of them.
And anyway. He had been serious when he had shut down SI's weapon production.
Just because he knew there was something else out there, didn't mean he was about to go back on that. He had been focusing on defensive measures: now that he had spoken to someone about it and they had believed him – well, not brushed his concerns off with ridiculous 'together' nonsense which, while a heart warming sentiment perhaps, was utterly moronic in practice – he wasn't the only one who could do something about it.
He would have other people besides Bruce (who had disappeared after Sokovia anyway, running away from his problems as always... Tony wasn't bitter, he wasn't) to bounce ideas off of, to pull him back in when he got trapped down a rabbit hole of guilt and terror and went on an inventing binge that may end up doing far more harm than good.
This was the planet they were talking about. More importantly, it was the universe he was mildly terrified to have confirmed (he hadn't asked Loki when he had seen him – her, shit! – nor had he asked anyone else as, honestly, Loki hadn't stuck around long. Not that he knew about, anyway).
And six people, regardless how badass, would not be enough.
They had been lucky in New York.
(The invasion had been stacked in their favour in New York. Loki had purposefully led a terrible invasion plan in New York, he hadn't wanted to win in New York...!)
They would need more than that, and for that, the Avengers couldn't afford to work alone.
While the Accords weren't anywhere near ready yet, there was still something they could do about not being a private army, nor a terrorist group.
(Though, unfortunately, many still saw them as such. They weren't well liked outside America at the moment, it had to be said. Especially with them all getting off mildly after everything.
Including Tony. His guilt still made him feel like he wasn't being punished enough.
But he would do whatever he could to be better in the future.
Christ, he was constantly trying to improve, so why did he keep making worse mistakes...?!)
But focusing back on his current meeting, Tony arched an eyebrow and continued before Steve could say anything else. "And as for funding, I wasn't aware the Avengers had recruited any more members. What you have access to should be more than enough for you."
Because yeah. The Avengers had been seriously cut down. With Tony and Hawkeye retiring, Bruce disappearing and Thor off to inquire about his weird ass vision or whatever the hell he was up to off in the stars, the only remaining original Avengers were Rogers and Romanoff.
And with Wanda the Terrorist gone, that was down even more. Rhodey-bear had originally agreed to be a part-time member if they needed a heavy hitter and it didn't interfere with his Air Force duties, and he was still semi willing to do that.
(Tony wasn't an idiot. He knew none of his friend had ever particularly liked the Avengers. But he was grateful for Rhodey being there when he just couldn't.)
As for Vision... well, he was still around, and staying at the Compound with them mostly. But he was also very young, and no one was really sure about him, it had to be said. To have someone who was essentially a baby (a super powerful baby to be sure, but a baby nevertheless...) on potential battlefields wasn't making anyone any more comfortable.
After the mess of everyone being interrogated regarding ULTRON, Vision had decided he would like to learn some more about Earth first, to see what he was fighting for and to learn some more about himself as well.
He was taking online classes, and travelling a bit too.
And Wilson... Well, Wilson had had a bit of a shock when he had been detained for questioning. Seriously, that guy was very lucky he had avoided jail time.
Stealing was a criminal offense, after all.
That was probably one of the biggest reasons Steve was so annoyed with Tony actually, come to think of it.
"How are we supposed to protect the world if we do not have adequate resources?" Romanoff asked sweetly, but oh, he so wasn't falling for that tone. (Not again.)
"You have adequate resources, Romanoff. But tell me, how are you supposed to protect the world with two of you?"
Steve's jaw ticked, and yep, Tony probably shouldn't rile the guy up.
But the entitlement was really getting annoying. And yes, Tony had enabled that entitlement for far too long, but he certainly hadn't been the cause of it. No, that had all been there before he had even met either of these two.
"Vision still lives in the Compound, and Sam helps out too."
"Yes, and that Compound, as you have been told, is not exclusively for your use. Seriously, guys, you're a handful of people. It was never meant to be permanent accommodation. You know this, you signed the paperwork when you moved in. You have rooms for 12 months maximum. After that, you can renegotiate your lease – and you'll be needing to now, anyway with the changes that are coming, rent is an thing you know – or find a place of your own."
He knew very well that Steve probably hadn't actually read the paperwork he had handed him, but he figured the man knew about the lease. After all, who in their right mind would think he was just handing a building like that over to them, free of charge?
Nope.
Steve, however, was blinking in surprise. "What?"
"What what?"
"You said the Compound was ours!"
"No..." Tony studied them both, unable to believe what he was seeing. Surely not...? "Guys, you must have known that the Avengers cannot operate independently. Even before ULTRON, we were always liaising with governments and other foreign bodies. Just because you personally didn't do it, does not mean it wasn't happening. Now, that Compound is for people to work out of to protect the Earth, yes. But that was never going to just be the Avengers.
"Why the hell would a handful of people ever be enough? We got lucky in New York, Loki wasn't trying to win. He failed that Invasion on purpose. We won't get that lucky again."
There was a flicker of surprise on Romanoff's face, before she quickly masked it again. "What are you talking about, Stark? Loki didn't throw that invasion, there's no way he could have."
Tony looked over at her in genuine surprise. Wasn't she supposed to be some sort of super spy, an 'expert' profiler? (He called bullshit on that one, after the report she had written on him. And that wasn't his vanity talking. He had built up a billion-dollar multi-national corporation. If half of what she had written on that thing had been the whole truth, then he never would have been able to do that, even with the help he had had.)
"Wait, did no one tell you guys about this? It came out when the ICC tried him in 2013."
Steve frowned, looking more intrigued and confused now than angry. "One of the agents mentioned that. But we never heard anything about it at the time. Why did you?"
"I didn't. I had no idea. But after ULTRON and the mess with Maximoff, someone mentioned it and I asked some questions. You know how Thor had said Asgard had thought the guy was dead?" And hadn't Thor said that again when he had turned up to find the sceptre? Yet Loki was alive...? Huh. Intriguing. Also currently not relevant. "Well, apparently when he fell he ended up in some lunatic's hands. He was tortured and coerced into that invasion, and did what he could to throw it without tipping his masters off. There was some kind of psychic link thing going on apparently, they could see everything he was doing. That broke when the Hulk Smashed him. You saw the footage, both of you, surely you at least Romanoff saw how shit he looked when he first came through that portal?"
Romanoff arched a perfect eyebrow, but didn't argue. "We had assumed that was a reaction to travelling via the Tesseract." She replied mildly.
Tony fixed her with a disbelieving look. Yeah, he didn't believe that for a second.
"Why was he tried on Earth, though?" Steve was still frowning. "Wasn't he locked up on Asgard?"
Tony shrugged. "I dunno. He was locked up, yeah – though apparently he didn't get a trial there, so no one knew or even bothered to question why he had invaded here." Which... God, that was so fucked up. He didn't know Loki very well, had spent very little time with him apart from being hurled out his own window and then when the guy was pulling malevolent magic out of his mind, but he wouldn't wish that on anyone. Everyone had the right to a trial, it was just common decency.
Apparently, that wasn't a thing on Asgard though. He didn't think.
Not like he was about to ask Loki anything about that, even if he had known how to contact the guy. (He did not.)
"But I don't know how he ended up here. Just that he somehow ended up at the ICC, telling them what had happened.
"And confirming that I was right: there is worse out there, and it's coming for all of us.
"Hence why the Avengers are not enough, Steve. You can fight all day, you can claim we'll deal with it 'together' all you like, which is a lovely little fantasy, but quite frankly is hopelessly naïve. So working with the people and the governments of this planet? That is something that has to be done. Not just to stop you guys from being officially labelled terrorists, but also because that gives us a far better chance of dealing with what's out there."
***
Steve had been rattled by the interrogation he had been subjected to, but his situation hadn't really sunk in when he had been allowed to leave. He had thought that, after they all had said their pieces, they would be let go and allowed to carry on as they had intended.
Because surely they wouldn't hold Wanda! He had heard what that agent had said, but it hadn't really made a difference to how he thought of her.
(When he looked back at his own mindset of that later, he had been mildly horrified by his own wilful ignorance. With everything that had come out at her trial... That woman was a monster, and not at all like his Bucky. He could admit – to himself – that he hadn't wanted to see. He had wanted to pave the way for Bucky, not only in getting him help with his mind control problems, but also because if Wanda could be rehabilitated in the public eye then so too could his best friend.
He had been forced to realise his own thoughts when he had watched her trial in increasing horror, and had acknowledged that he had been very, very wrong about her.
That was no misguided young girl.
The things she had done to her victims... He actually felt a little bad about all those times that he had thought that Tony deserved whatever happened to him when she accidentally lost control of her powers around him.
...She hadn't lost control at all. She had screamed that loud and clear in her trial, she had wanted Stark to suffer.
Lord Almighty, Steve had been so wrong about her...)
But before he had had his revelation about Wanda, there was another uncomfortable truth that was about to rock his world.
When he met up with Sam after they were released, his friend looked despondent.
"Sam? Are you alright? What did they do to you?!"
"I'm fine, Cap. Just... I won't be Avenging anymore, sorry man."
Steve blinked, unable to believe what he was hearing. "Wait, what? Why not?!"
Sam shrugged dejectedly, moving towards the sink to get him a glass of water. At least they were back in the Compound and didn't have to spend any more time in those damned cells... "The Falcon wings. They're not mine."
"Of course they are! You're The Falcon!"
"No, Steve, I don't own them. I stole them. They've been taken back. Apparently, I was very lucky not to be charged with theft. From both the military and Stark Industries."
Steve frowned at that, momentarily confused. "What's Stark got to do with the wings?"
Sam blinked at him. "They were S.I. patented. They made them originally. The wings are their legal property. I could have go into a lot of trouble for stealing them and using them without permission. Especially since they were experimental military equipment. I should have handed them back as soon as we were done with the HYRDA data dump mission."
He had mentioned something about that at the time, but Steve had assured him it was all fine. They had saved the world, after all, and those wings were Sam's. Very few other people could use them. What was the point of them just hanging around in some old warehouse?
"That's ridiculous. I'll talk to Tony, you'll get them back." There was a lot he needed to talk to Tony about. He couldn't believe the man had sold Wanda out, had apparently told the authorities a bunch of lies about her. He owed Wanda after everything he had done to her and her family, the least he could do would be help her out in this horrible situation he had landed her in.
"Steve, Stark had nothing to do with this. I don't think you quite get it, I have avoided a LOT of trouble by the skin of my teeth. CEO Potts was the one who demanded the wings back, apparently, and she's the only reason I'm not being charged with their theft and corporate espionage. Honestly, I'm pretty sure she would have had me charged, but didn't for Stark's sake. And something about the image of the Avengers... I dunno, Agent Green didn't really tell me much. Just that I wasn't getting them back, and that it's only thanks to the political image of Captain America that I'm not being charged with treason and dishonourably discharged." Though that was still on the table... "I'm something of a non-entity to the public, we haven't really done much as Avengers since ULTRON, but if they charged me then they would have to charge you and Romanoff as well.
"And the politicians don't want that."
Sam was studying Steve, and the Captain wasn't sure what he was seeing. "Cap, I don't think you quite realise yet how insanely lucky we are They're right, you know: what we did with the Data Dump, regardless of our intentions, that was treason. We didn't just expose HYDRA, we exposed American state secrets and who the hell knows what else.
"From what Green said, the only reason we weren't all arrested and thrown in jail for good was your political propaganda. Captain America is still a name they want to use: no one wants the bad publicity of throwing him in jail.
"But Steve... we're on thin fucking ice here, man. Just... just please don't make a scene about the wings. Not yet, at least. We should... we should probably lay low for a bit, yeah? At least until Wanda's trial is over. Which, actually, what the hell were you thinking making her an Avenger?!"
Steve blinked, taken aback by the sudden anger in his friend's tone. "What?"
"She's HYDRA, Steve! Why would you try to shelter her from the consequences of her actions? And why the hell did you not mention that before? Have you any idea how caught off guard I was when those agents came in and started on about her?!"
"She's a good kid, Sam," Steve objected. "She was tricked, she didn't know they were HYDRA!"
"She can read minds, Steve."
He scowled. "Alright, she made some mistakes, but she wanted to make up for them!"
"That wasn't up to you, Steve! They said she was already wanted in Sokovia, and then she was helping ULTRON! Even if she was misguided, even if she didn't have a choice, that's not for us to decide. Were you really going to just... just... cover up her crimes? If she really wanted to be an Avenger, then she still should have done it legally. I mean... Christ, why the hell did I never even think of this? Does she even have a visa?!"
This... this was not going how Steve had thought it would.
"Sam, you're overreacting." He said firmly. "I'm sure Wanda' situation will be cleared up soon enough. Stark's rich enough, I'm sure he can get her a good lawyer – "
Sam stared at him in disbelief. "Cap, Stark is never going to help her. Aren't you the one who said he only cares about himself? That he hates her? Why would he help the woman who it has apparently been proven has attacked his mind multiple times?" He shook his head. "And honestly, why should he help her? Would you really ask anyone else's victim to fund their defence? To get them off in court?
"If she is innocent, then the courts will recognise that, and I'm sure she'll be able to come back as an Avenger.
"After all, she doesn't need equipment to be a superhero..."
***
That should have been an eye-opening conversation – Sam had made some good points, and, though Steve hadn't wanted to admit it even to himself at the time, he hadn't told Sam about Wanda's past because he knew his friend would say something.
The two of them had met fighting HYDRA, after all.
But it wasn't until Wanda's trial and the truth of all the horrendous things she had done especially when 'training' her powers that Steve had really started to let go of the story he had told himself about her and admit that she wasn't just a misguided little girl after all.
He just... He had seen himself in her. She had volunteered to be experimented on by a German scientist for the good of her country. She had been alone apart from her brother, she had been misunderstood.
And... well, there was no denying she would have been able to help with Bucky – or at least his public image – when he found him.
And they would find him.
Though Sam didn't have his gear anymore, he was still a capable soldier: just because he didn't have the wings didn't mean he had stopped helping Steve look. And Nat had of course been helping as well.
It had been a little awkward with the other people around the Compound: Steve didn't really know why he had thought that the Compound was just for the five – six if you included Rhodes, but he wasn't around much – of them, but he was realising now that the other people he had seen around weren't all cleaning or other staff after all.
And yeah... He had looked back at the paperwork he had signed, looked for anything like a span of time.
Yep, he had 12 months lease. When he had fumed about it to Nat, she had shrugged. At the time, Steve's lease on his apartment was coming up – it was why he had been looking for a place in Brooklyn prior to all of this – and Tony had been finishing the Compound anyway.
And they had guilted him into housing Wanda, she had pointed out. And since he was housing her, he might as well house the rest of them, right?
She didn't seem too pleased that he was apparently going to be sticking to that year long lease contract. She had been pretty sure that by then they would have been able to get him to do anything for them indefinitely.
Steve... wasn't sure how he felt about blatantly manipulating the man like that. But, then again, that was what they had agreed he was good for. Paying the way and providing equipment.
When he had said he was retiring, stepping back from the team, Steve had NOT thought that included funding them and fixing their gear!
He didn't know where they were going to get funding from elsewhere. Hill was helping: apparently, she too would not be able to stay on at Stark Industries, not with Potts gleefully 'taking out the trash' as she had apparently said.
Steve had never really realised just how little Potts liked or approved of the Avengers. And now that Tony was taking a step back from them... Well. Hill had told him irritably that she was lucky Potts hadn't charged her with corporate espionage, since she had been reporting to Fury (who was still alive, and who really needed to stop lying to Captain America) – and the Natasha was lucky she wasn't pressing charges against her either.
Despite everything that had happened, Steve still didn't believe he would end up in jail. After all, though they had all been told off and been told there would be restrictions coming their way, they hadn't actually been charged with anything. (Except for Wanda, of course...
Thankfully, she had been charged. And apparently Loka Silva had made good on her promise to remove her powers. Steve... couldn't say he was disappointed. That woman had not turned out to be who he thought she was, and would probably have done poor Bucky more harm than good.)
But after all, the agents had said it themselves: no one wanted the negative public reaction of throwing Captain America in jail. So no matter what people might claim he had done, whether justly or otherwise (he still wasn't convinced about that attempted murder charge: he hadn't thrown his shield at Stark that hard), he didn't see how anyone would actually arrest him any time soon.
And even if they did, he could probably get out by himself anyway.
Now he just needed to find a way to fund the Avengers without Stark's bank account, and still find his Bucky...
***
It had been a long road, but Tony was finally starting to feel... not good, per say, but better.
And with the Accords being discussed, he knew that it was only a matter of time before the Avengers had some kind of legitimate oversight as well. He knew that they were currently managing to function on what money he had left them – he wasn't about to cut them completely off, not before they had had a chance to find some alternative source of income! (though why they couldn't just, say... get a job he wasn't entirely sure...) – but it would only be a matter of time before they ran out.
And what with all the extra wee side trips they were going on, that would probably be sooner rather than later.
Not that that was any of his business. He was curious though.
He knew that Hill – who Pep had fired, and he understood, he really did, but he did feel kinda bad... – had been working with them, trying to get them sorted with something.
And not with the new S.H.I.E.L.D. apparently, at least, not on the face of it. Yeah, Tony knew about that. The UN had found out, and had asked him if he had been involved.
He had been so glad to be able to say he had not been.
So yeah: well on his way to more or less washing his hands of the Avengers.
And his relationship with Pepper had never been stronger. Happy and Rhodey too seemed thrilled that he had 'dropped the dead weight', apparently – their words – and he found that their company was far preferred.
He hadn't realised just how bad an environment the Avengers had been for him mentally.
And speaking of mentally... He was actually seeing a therapist, of sorts.
That had been one of the things that had surprised him the most: Loki had brought a bunch of people to Earth, apparently, upon hearing about and seeing the damage the witch had done, and, as she was apparently working with the UN in... some capacity, he honestly wasn't entirely certain, had agreed to help provide aid that Earth just couldn't.
Most of these healers – mind healers, capable of dealing with malevolent mind magic apparently, and fuck his life was so weird now, how had this happened? – were in Sokovia, where the majority of Maximoff's victims (from her training, and wasn't that a horrifying thought. He had followed her trial. He had almost thrown up.) were.
But a couple were still in the states, and Tony knew all the Avengers who were still around had been made the offer to speak with them, as had all the staff at the Compound who may have come into contact with her.
Just in case.
Tony had taken them up on it, but he had no idea if any of the others had. He hadn't asked.
And Ariette... Well, talking to Ariette had actually helped. In the past, he had despised the thought of going to see a therapist: no matter what they might say about morals and ethical codes, he knew that the majority would be able to be bought, and would spill his secrets to whoever paid them.
But Ariette was an alien, and had exactly no interest in the pettiness of mortals. What did she care if he was some big shot, well known guy? She didn't know him. His name and company meant absolutely nothing to her. He was her patient, and that was the extent of her care.
It was refreshing, he had to admit. And very different from pretty much everyone else he had ever known.
She was even patient with his bullshit and avoidance when he forgot he was there willingly, and put up his masks and evasive walls again. She didn't even seem to mind when he had tentatively broached the subject of Loki and his mixed feelings towards the deity. After all, Tony knew he was still messed up from New York and, willingly or now, Loki was a big part of that.
He was very glad the guy wasn't on Earth, actually. When he had heard she was working with the UN, he had been terrified he would have to see her.
But Loki hadn't stuck around long. Long enough to determine the extent of the damage Maximoff had left on the Avengers, to remove the traces of her magic from their minds, and to organise her relief aid with the countries requires – including Dr Cho's staff and everyone else affected by the twins throughout the ULTRON debacle as prior to that it seemed to mostly be in Sokovia they operated, thank god. If they had been let loose on a global scale... He didn't even want to think of the extent of trauma they would have cause, what they had already done was beyond bad enough.
But Loki was away now, back on Asgard doing... He honestly had no idea.
Also, there had been no mention of Thor or what he was up to beyond him being told by an agent that Loki had come over here in reaction to finding Maximoff's influence in her brother's mind.
Tony wasn't sure he wanted to know what the trickster was up to. He had more than enough problems on his plate as it was.
"You got the food?!" He heard a voice call through from his living room, and jolted out of his thoughts with a wide smile.
"Yeah, coming!" He hollered back, and quickly gathered up the various bags he had come into his kitchen to collect. (Neither of them were great cooks, and take out was the best anyway. And, of course, there were the requisite cheese burgers as well.)
"How is this show even still running?" He snarked as he entered the room, dropping his goods unceremoniously on the coffee table and reaching for a carton.
"It's elegant!" Came the expected indignant response, and he grinned at his old friend as they both settled back comfortably on the couch, the opening music of Downton Abbey coming through the speakers.
As much as he liked to complain, he actually did like the show. Probably because it was some uninterrupted time with his old friend, and, speaking of, he reached over to turn off his phone.
He didn't want any distractions now. If it was important, F.R.I.D.A.Y. would let them know.
For now, though it was Happy Time.