Wade Wilson's Epic, Totally True and Not at all Creepy Romance with Spiderman Which Totally Did Not Start with an Attempt to Murder Tony Stark - White_Noise (2024)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

The back room of Saint Margaret’s School for Wayward Children was a haven of booze, money, drugs and weapons, a literal bomb-shelter filled to the brim with every kind of tool its Mercenary clients would need.

It was also safe. Nothing short of a nuclear blast could get through that door if it was locked with the one key owned by the bartender Weasel.

That was why the man in question was in the room, shaking as he tried to collect himself.

Those military douchbags were still out there, trying not to look like military and failing spectacularly. The regulars were eyeing them wearily, not liking the military any more then Weasel did. Then again, a lot of Weasels regulars were ex-military and had very specific reasons for hating everyone in the organisation. The bar had the feel of a whor*house before a cat fight. And Weasel, who had been in his fair share of both bar and cat fights, wanted nothing to do with it. Not even for that kind of money.

Still, that was not what had scared the man. No.

That was the gold card that had been slipped to him by the leading ‘not military’ douchbag. The name that sent shivers down Weasels spine.

As the person who sourced jobs and held money for some of the worst mercenaries in America, Weasel had hundreds if not thousands of names passed through to him. There were very few that he refused. This name was one of them.

He never liked to pass on a death sentence and this was what that name meant. No, not a death sentence for the person named on the card. That was kind of the idea of the cards. No, any person Weasel gave this job too would no doubt come back in a body bag. And well, Weasel was kinda protective of the human weapons who frequented his place. He certainly wouldn’t pass along an obvious death sentence to anyone unless it was for fame, huge monetary gain or the chance to have a date with Blake Lively. Let natural selection and a few good fights sort that sh*t out.

But you couldn’t say no when there was a gun to your head. A gun held by the military who would no doubt immediately throw them all under the proverbial bus should any hint of what was being plotted got out.

Put bluntly, this card was trouble. To give it to anyone outside was to bring a whole sh*t storm down on them. Either the person attempting it would die and no doubt, some very powerful people would locate his bar, people Weasel was happy to watch on TV and never meet in person, or the mercenary would succeed. Even Weasel didn’t want to know what would happen in that case. Apocalyptic level sh*t storm seemed most likely.

But Weasel couldn’t refuse the card, not when a lot of men with concealed weapons were out there waiting for his answer, who had no problem with putting a bullet through his skull. But he couldn’t exactly let someone go to their deaths. Well, that is not true. He did have one man. One man who took these crazy jobs because he couldn’t die. One person who may actually succeed in this hit.

Grabbing his phone, Weasel pulled it out and dialled a number, ignoring the sound of breaking chairs and glass outside of the small back room. He raised the phone to his ear, looking down once more at the card.

“Wade. We have a f*cking problem.” He said into the speaker.

The gold coloured card, gripped in his hand, flashed in the dim light, the black lines forming a name.

Tony Stark

------

So, are you all excited yet?

That’s right. It’s time, ladies and gentlemen for the story we have all been waiting for. My first meeting and subsequent epic love story with the Spiderman.

And yes, I know you have all read that little intro and are now thinking “Wade? How can this be your love story? It’s just Weasel accepting a hit on Tony Stark. Not exactly loving, especially since those assholes writing the MCU seem to hate Tony Stark and take out their anger on him any chance they get by unfairly making him a villain for just wanting the Avengers to not kill people and for his ex-boyfriend Captain Spangles to stop being a dick about everything.”

But trust me. This is gonna be the most epic love story ever. Move over Romeo. Juliette may have been a fox but I got something better. Your love story had dudes in tights and Leo DeCaprio and Claire Danes trying to kill themselves and secretly murder one another. Mine has guns, spandex and me winning the heart of our friendly neighbourhood Spiderman.

I am here to tell you how Weasel making what he thinks is the biggest mistake of his life, bagged me the greatest ass in any Marvel Universe. And that’s no small claim.

Have you seen Captain America’s ass? Or mine? Hell, Star Lord has a nice one under that awesome coat too. And yet, I am the lucky so and so who will bag Spidey. (Yes, ok, he doesn’t know that yet and he’s a little bit jailbait at the moment, but come on! The moment you guys saw his epic flip with Caps Shield in the trailer, you were all thinking of me. I was thinking of me too.)

So stay turned, strap in or strap on, whichever you think is more appropriate and enjoy the ride. Because trust me.

It’s gonna be good.

Chapter 2

Chapter Text

You know what really sucks? Happy endings. I mean, what happens after the perfect ending? Does the fairy tale couple drive off into the sunset in their pumpkin carriage to a perfect life, or are they just going to be like every other sad basket case on this earth, arguing over pointless crap like money or sudden weight gains, raising 2.5 brats on a white picket and occasionally trying to cut each other up with carving knives before the inevitable divorce where one half of the couple mysteriously becomes entitled everything up to and including the others kidney?

Let’s face it, the only way to have a true happy ending is to shoot yourself as soon as the last wedding guest leaves.

As you can probably guess, my fairy tale ending was not that. For one, it was surprisingly devoid of blood in the end, as well as a wedding, which was probably a good thing. When you spent over a year obsessively stalking your girl in between murderous rampages to look hot again, it might be a warning flag that it's not going to work out. Plus, they wouldn’t have let me wear a dress.

That's not to say Vanessa and I had a nasty split. On the contrary, we are still totally awesome f*ck buddies and since I saved her life, even if it was me who originally put her in danger to begin with, she gives me a very nice discount when I visit. She is always quick to call if she needs me to frighten off a client which is always fun and look on the bright side, I have someone who has already promised to attend my viewing party for the new Star Trek series. In all, a perfect relationship without the ring.

That isn't to say I don't believe in romance. I am a regular Casanova. But like every red blooded Canadian male, I have one thing I believe in more. A happy photo finish.

So here I am. On the singles scene again. But hey, I’m optimistic.

--------

Groaning in pleasure, Wade stretched on his bed. Looking over, he grinned at the off white glittery thing on his pillow.

"Thanks fluffy. Let's do it again some time." the Merc said, patting the toy unicorn on the head.

Kicking the blankets off, Wade rolled off the bed, letting out a muffled "Ow!" as he hit the floor. Not bothering to sit up, the Merc reached for his discarded pants in the piles of unwashed clothes and tried to wrestle them over his scared legs.

After several attempts, he was successful, finally climbing to his feet. Grabbing a hoodie, the Merc kicked his bedroom door open and strolled into the controlled chaos of the living room. Like always, guns and lost Ikea pieces littered the floor, never to be completed. Exactly the way Wade liked it.

Grabbing the remote, the Merc flipped the small tv on before throwing it into a corner to be consumed by the mess and lost forever.

The news was on which meant time for Wades daily hero watch.

The X-Men were shown in their matching unitard glory which meant Wolverine was used as a human punching bag again (yay!), more speculation on the whereabouts of Captain America as his ex-boyfriend Iron Man remained mute (Wade was still spearheading Tumblrs fix-it fic-athon over the whole Civil War incident) and some Daily Bugle boss was up in arms over Spiderman being a public menace again.

Wade paid particular interest in this last news report, enjoying the pictures that flashed on screen of the hero. The Bugle always had the best pics of Spidey in his full, spandexed glory. Pure masturbation fodder. Hell! That was the whole reason for Wade’s subscription to the newspaper. Well that and he liked the funnies. Garfield never got old.

The pictures shown were on form and Wade briefly thought about going back to bed. He had already gone a round with Fluffy but it was a particularly naughty monkey today and may need another spanking.

The Mercs plans were halted by the ring of his phone. A quick search unearthed it from under a piece of the Arkelstorp which Al had been working on the night before. Wade checked the call screen before answering.

"Hello Light of my Life, Dispenser of my Drinks and Creator of the Blow-Job." Wade greeted into the speaker.

"Wade. We have a f*cking problem." Weasel replied, rudely ignoring Wades greeting.

"Now when you say 'f*cking' problem, do you mean that new bar girl Tiffany still won't give you her number or that you have run out of the imported booze again?" Wade asked. Weasel really needed to stop using the 'We got a f*cking problem' line. It was becoming as annoying as wolf crying.

"Hey! That last time we ran out was a f*cking problem!" Weasel replied.

"Yes, because we all know that Mercenaries are like Anal Sex. Not enough lubricant..." Wade trailed off.

"And there's blood all over the walls, yes I know Wade! I'm the poor suck who always has to clean up after." Weasel finished. "Look, Wade. A job has come up and I am not sure how to deal with it."

"Well just say No sweetheart. You’re a big girl, he can't force you to do something you don't wanna do." Wade replied.

"Ok, enough with the sex jokes Wade. You need to get your ass down here and help me deal with this."

“Aw. I knew you just missed my ass Weasel.” The Merc replied, grinning.

The phone went dead, Weasel hanging up in a rare of fit of temper. Wade slowly lowered the phone, staring at it in surprise.

He guessed whatever it was that had put Weasels nose out of join must be of some importance.

"Well someone badly needs a blow-job." the Merc finally said, throwing the phone down. He then picked it up again and for old times’ sake, sent Weasel a sh*t emoji.

“Some chocolate yogurt for you.” He muttered before dropping the phone again.

Rising to his feet, Wade retreated back to his bedroom. There was a new copy of the Bugle out and Wade wanted to treat himself before work.

------

“Boss, I feel I must remind you that you have not had any sleep for the last 36 hours.”

Tony started at the voice, FRIDAYs interruption breaking through his train of thought. Blinking, he looked down at the papers scattered over his desk that SI’s legal department had sent through was it 2 days ago now?

Tony honestly couldn’t remember. It felt like he had been reading the same line forever. The list of charges placed against Steve and the rest of the missing Avengers after the sh*t-storm of the Accords debate.

God, Tony never thought he would see the day when Captain America, the symbol of the United States, could be charged with terrorism and murder. But that is what it was. Steve had committed acts of terrorism by aiding and abetting the Winter Soldiers escape from lawful custody. His attack on the UN squad who had attempted to arrest Barnes had resulted in 4 deaths and 9 suffering serious, permanent injuries, all by Steve’s own hands.

Steve was an idiot! Not just for his own charges but for dragging the others into this sh*t storm as well.

Over all, the charges ranged from the minor such as Breach of Parole (Scott Lang had missed 2 important court dates thanks to his decision to follow Rogers) to Theft of Government Property (Sam’s unlawful taking of US military property when he had taken the Wing Suit without permission during the initial escape) to War Crimes (Wanda’s accidental killing of the Wakandan officials was still on the cards, Tony’s attempts to have the charges pulled with the promise that she would be watched and properly trained falling through after Wanda decided to attack Vision and flee the Compound) to even Espionage (Natasha had been treading on thin ice after releasing the Hydra files, her usefulness to the Avengers which had been pointed out during her interrogation on Capitol Hill the only think keeping the government from arresting her as a known and admitted foreign agent. They hadn’t taken kindly to the reveal that she had attacked the King of Wakanda who was also a member of the UN, to aid in the escape of known fugitives)

Even with Tony’s considerable influence with the US government and his very expensive Legal Branch, it didn’t look good. In fact, it looked all but impossible.

Still, Tony was not going to give up on them, even if Steve had clearly given up on him when he decided not to share potentially life changing secrets.

Because a lot of things could be said about Tony Stark (and the media had already said most of them) but abandoning friends wasn’t one of them. Even if Tony had to work himself to death to do it.

Blinking down at the papers, Tony blindly grabbed one. It was a suggested plea bargain for the charges of treason against Sharon Carter, who had been arrested hours after she had aided Barnes, Rogers and Wilson in their escape. The woman, despite supposedly being smart, hadn’t seemed to realise that there had been cameras everywhere in that underground carpark when she had committed the crimes. Maybe her aunt’s legacy had blinded the woman to the fact that it was still breaking the law to pass on CIA secrets and assist fugitives. The fact that the woman had been filmed kissing Rogers was almost certainly going to be used against her.

Tony honestly didn’t know, nor did he care what Sharon had thought she was doing when she had decided to break the law. All he knew was that, as the niece of Tony’s godmother, he owed it to her to at least give her a good lawyer for Aunt Peggy's sake, if nothing else. They could argue about what Sharon had done over Christmas dinner or something later.

Hopefully after Tony managed to get all the others off too.

“Boss?”

Tony looked up again, realising he had once again gotten lost in thought. A buzzing noise was heard behind him. Turning, Tony spotted Redwing hovering behind him, the little red and silver drone doing its best to look questioningly at Tony.

Tony sighed. He had known the moment he had started making Wilson's friend, it had been a mistake giving the thing a basic AI but it had been too hard to resist.

Now the little drone, who Tony had rescued from Ross's people after Wilson had been arrested and thrown on the Raft (Ok, Tony was totally an overprotective dad when it came to his AIs. That was the whole reason why Dummy had yet to be thrown on a scrap heap) spent most of its time hovering around the Compound, following one of the remaining Avengers or in its charging station in Tony’s workshop, its camera fixed on the genius like it was scared it was going to lose another person.

Raising his hand, Tony watched as the drone hovered closer, the tip of its camera touching his palm gently.

“Have you come to tell me off too?” Tony asked. In response, the little drone nudged him harder. Tony couldn’t help but smile even has his head dropped in defeat.

“Ok, ok. The sass squad wins. I’m done.”

Pushing the little drone away, Tony stood up, grunting as his muscles protested. His eyes fell on the clock on his desk. It was already 7pm at night. FRIDAY hadn’t been kidding when she had said Tony had been working for 36 hours.

“What’s for dinner FRI?” the genius asked as Redwing flew in a circle around his head.

“I believe Colonel Rhodes has taken the liberty of ordering you pizza Boss.” His female AI replied.

“Aw Rhodey. I should just marry that man and be done with it.” Tony muttered to himself. Walking to the door, Tony pushed it open and after waiting a moment for Redwing to glide through in front of him, he followed it out to join Rhodey and Vision for dinner.

Chapter 3

Chapter Text

"Hey pumpkin-pie!" a voice said.

Sighing, Weasel dropped the broom he had been using to sweep away the remains of the stool.

"About time." the man muttered, kicking the broom across the empty bar.

Sophie, his waitress for the night was busy ferrying some of the regulars to the hospital, the rest of his normal crowd all leaving for either less noisy drinking holes or to avoid any law enforcement which may want to investigate.

A lot of alcohol had been sacrificed to the mercenary gods (should they exist) tonight and no doubt, those military bastards were the ones to blame, not that they were anyway going to compensate a small businessman. But Weasel also knew that they would be back, and in greater numbers if the hit didn't go through ASAP. He needed to get the proverbial ticking time-bomb away from him and his own.

Walking back to the bar, Weasel watched as Wade took his normal place at the bar, perched on a miraculously unbroken stool. The Merc was not in his normal red and black costume but jeans and a dirty hoodie, his fugly face visible under the hood. Thankfully, Weasel had a lot of time to come to terms with Wade’s disfigurements.

"Silent treatment? Really?" Wade finally asked as Weasel began kicking aside the broken glass from the liquor bottles which had been shattered when someone had been thrown over the bar. A miraculously unbroken bottle of Bourbon rolled out from a corner.

Weasel picked it up and placed in on the relative safety of bar, away from his feet. Unfortunately it wasn't safe from Wade Who grabbed at the bottle.

"So who let the bomb off in here?" the Merc asked, opening the bottle. He took a long drink from the bottle before Weasel snatched it back.

"This did." the bartender and procurer of information said, shoving the gold card into Wades hand.

Wade flipped the card over to read the name. He blinked. He blinked again.

"You’re sh*tting me." the Merc finally said.

"Nope." Weasel replied, mournfully picking up the remains of a very expensive 18 year old scotch he had been keeping for special occasions.

"What happened to your whole 'not accepting fool’s errands' thing?" Wade asked, placing the card face down on the bench.

"Well, it kinda went out the window the same time Booth did. Those military bastards came prepared." the Bartender replied, purposefully not looking at the card. "Come on Wade. You are the only one who can do this."

"Why me? Because you hate me or because I am literally the only person who they can't kill?"

Weasel shrugged.

"....both." he replied. "Come on Wade. You have always said you wanted to meet your favourite Avenger. Stop being a puss*."

"My favourite Avenger is Joanna Lumley. And it's not because you are asking me to murder one half of my OTP. Need we forget this is f*cking Iron Man we are talking about? He's gonna blast me to pieces."

Weasel shrugged.

"Not like to would be the first time." he replied. "Anyway, it's not like the Avengers are going to do anything. They have been AWOL for the last six months. I doubt they are gonna turn up because of Stark."

"And that's why I don't come to you for life advice." Wade muttered. He slammed his hand down on the bar. "Ok. Guess I am up for it. Gather my things Weasel. I know you are packing in here."

Grabbing the card, Wade rose from the seat.

"Where are you going?" Weasel asked.

"To call my driver. If I'm going after a Genius, Billionaire, Play Boy, Philanthropist who also happens to be f*cking Iron Man, I am gonna need all the crap I can carry."

Weasel watched in exacerbation as Wade pulled his phone out and pressed a few buttons before raising it to his ear.

"Yo, Dopinder. How is parole going? Still under house arrest? Cos I got a job for you."

-------

It was a surprisingly pleasant Thursday afternoon, given it was almost December, as Peter made his weekly trip into the Daily Bugle offices near the centre of New York for J. Jonah Jameson’s meeting.

Technically, Peter didn't need to attend these meetings. He was a free-lance photographer, and thanks to the wonders of digital photography, all his work could be done from his computer at home. If it wasn’t for the fact that Jameson refused to understand even the basics of email and that Peter's boss would look at any excuse to stop paying him, the teenager wouldn’t have even bothered.

Also, there was the ever appealing possibility that Peter may actually get assigned to photograph an event instead of just getting sent on coffee runs. And Peter longed for those. Although he was officially the person paid to get pictures of Spiderman (his boss was obsessed with the hero, ignoring pictures of all other heroes in favour of getting something to match with his damning articles about the city’s ‘Menace’, although he had been fairly vocal about the Accords incident, making it known that he did not like the former Avengers) it would be nice not to have to live off Selfies for a little while.

Peter had been working for the Bugle for almost six months now, starting up shortly after the whole Avengers war thing in an attempt to assist Aunt May with paying the bills. Adding to that, his schooling, the Stark Internship which was really a code word for training with the remaining Avengers on weekends and his nights as the city's web slinger and Peters schedule was fully booked.

Not that Peter would ever regret it. He loved being Spiderman and despite the time it took, hanging out with the Avengers and Mr Stark in particular was a highlight. The man had stepped up to a mentor role and if Peter were honest, a new father figure, something which Peter had been missing in the months after Uncle Bens death. Not that Mr Stark could ever replace Peter’s beloved uncle but their shared sorrow, Peter’s at losing his uncle and Mr Stark’s at being betrayed by the rest of the Avengers, had in some ways joined them.

Stark was all too happy to talk with Peter about new scientific theories and even set aside a place in his own personal lab at Stark Tower for Peter to play in. He had helped Peter improved all aspects of his costume and web shooters and had introduced him to the other remaining Avengers, War Machine and Vision, as well as a few freelance heroes Stark had met. Peter even suspected that although Stark had several doctorates in various areas, the man was purposely reading into areas outside his training just to have something to discuss with Peter, a pattern of behaviour, according to Colonel Rhodes, he had started during his friendship with Doctor Bruce Banner.

The other Avengers too, were great. After the fight in Germany, Vision had been the one to help Peter get back to New York while Mr Stark attended to the injured Colonel Rhodes. The android had been reserved but friendly, not prying into who Spiderman was under the mask, while assisting in sneaking the teen back into the USA.

Colonel Rhodes too had been very kind, always ready with a greeting and smile whenever he and Peter happened to be in the same space, even with his dramatic injuries and tiring rehab sessions. It was a deep source of regret that Peter had chosen to sit out the remains of the fight when War Machine had been shot down. Not that anyone blamed him. As Mr Stark had said, had Black Widow not chosen to betray them and allow the Captain and the Winter Soldier to get to the jet, War Machine wouldn’t have been in the air and Vision wouldn’t have been asked to stop Wilson.

Still, even with the friendly greetings from the other Avengers, it had taken Peter many months to feel comfortable revealing his identity to them. Only 2 weeks ago, had Peter finally build up the courage to remove the mask in front of the others. Mr Stark had been supportive of Peter for doing it, making sure the teen felt in no way pressured into doing it but instead was doing it because he felt comfortable.

Colonel Rhodes had expressed surprise when Peter had mentioned his age but other than that, there had been no backlash over the teen being Spiderman (Although Peter had noticed that Vision had occasionally turned up on his patrols in the last two weeks, as though the android was guarding him.)

Hell, there hadn’t even been any backlash over Spiderman being present during the fight in Germany, despite not having signed the Accords, Mr Stark calling up a clause in the Accords called the Maximoff Clause (Named after the Twins), which stated heroes attached to the Accords could call on non-signed, non-trained heroes during an emergency when there wasn’t time for a signing to take place as long as the non-signed hero was working directly under the orders of the signed hero and the signed hero took responsibility for the non-signed heroes actions.

The fact that Peter had later signed the Accords had helped, although Mr Stark had made sure that his copy had several clauses attached that allowed him to keep his secret identity private and sign as Spiderman, as well as an agreement that he wouldn’t be required to attend any incidents outside the USA unless a state of emergency was called. That meant no going looking for terrorists in Lagos for example. Peter had specifically asked for that, just in case something happened, he didn’t want to have to find some excuse to give to Aunt May.

“Parker!” A voice shouted.

Peter blinked, free of his thoughts as he looked around the office. Without thinking, the teen had made his way through the building and into the correct office where the meeting was taking place.

A group of journalists were seated around the table, with Jameson at the head, looming over everyone. All of them were looking at Peter.

“I want you with Duncan for this Stark Industry announcement this Saturday. Stark’s called a meeting out front of the Stark Tower for the first time in six months. Find out what that mad idiot is up to. If he is unveiling some new technology, I want it front and centre. If he is gonna reveal those criminals whereabouts, I wanna know. You two are going to get me something good or you’re both fired.” The man threatened.

Peter nodded, ignoring the threat as the mentioned journalist smiled. It looked like he had gotten his wish.

“And Parker, where are those pictures of Spiderman I asked for?”

------

“Tones, are you sure you are ready for this? It’s only been 6 months. No one will blame you if you want to wait for few more.” Rhodey asked.

He and his best friend were seated in the gym at Stark Tower (The building had been re-named shortly after the Avengers had broken up, Tony making it clear that the building was no longer to be connected to his former friends), the two of them working to remove the mechanical braces from around Rhodey’s legs.

In two days’ time, Tony would be facing the media and unveiling SI’s newest inventions, a range of affordable medical prosthetics and braces that had been inspired by Rhodey’s injuries. This would be the first time Tony had faced the media since Rogers had fled with the Winter Soldier all those months ago and Rhodey couldn’t help but be a little nervous. He had no doubt that, despite Tony’s best intentions, questions would be asked. Questions his friend would not want to answer.

Tony had been working almost non-stop for the last six months since the Accords mess, only seeming to take time off his inventing to work on the legal defence of various former Avengers and occasionally to hang out with and mentor their newest Avenger, Spiderman. Rhodey had seen Tony go into these moods before and knew that the man was burning the candle at both ends. If he didn’t stop soon, the man was going to crash hard. That was not something Rhodey wanted the media to bare witness to.

“Gotta get back out there at some point Honey-bear.” Tony replied. ‘Plus, Pepper is getting tired of covering for me.”

“Did she explicitly say that?” Rhodey asked. He knew that Tony and Pepper, despite still being friends, were not as close as they once were. He also suspected that Tony had purposely hidden the full extent of his injuries from his former girlfriend. Even then, he highly doubted that Pepper would have said as much to Tony. She had known Tony for years and knew the difference between Tony being able to handle things and Tony thinking he was ready to handle things. Tony was not ready to face the media.

“Not in those words.” Tony admitted, as he fiddled with the catch on the brace.

“Then she is fine to handle this.” Rhodey replied.

Tony looked up from his work, his golden-brown eyes meeting Rhodey’s darker ones.

“I need to do this.” He admitted. “I need to put everything behind me and get on with my life. I need to forget what happened.”

Rhodey’s shoulders dropped. So that was what was on Tony’s mind.

He hated what had happened to Tony, the way Rogers had betrayed him. Tony had spent so many years looking over his shoulder, waiting for everyone he knew and trusted to turn on him. And finally, when he had let his guard down with the people he had thought of as friends, Rogers had almost killed him. It was unfair.

“Alright. Whatever you want to do, I will back you up.” Rhodey relented. He wanted Tony to know he had at least one person he could count on. That Rhodey would always be in his corner. The genius flashed him a cheeky smile.

“Oh, I expect you to. You are gonna be my lovely model on Saturday after all.”

Rhodey groaned as the brace was pulled off his leg and the genius rose, holding out his hand.

“I am not wearing a dress.” He replied, grabbing Tony’s hand and allowing the man to pull him to his feet. The doctors had told him he was ready to start taking short walks without the aid of the braces and Tony had insisted on being at Rhodey’s side for every step.

Slowly, they began to make their way around the room, Rhodey resting most of his weight on his friend.

“Awww. But babe, if I remember right, you looked so good in that green one back in MIT.” Tony teased.

“I thought we agreed never to speak of that.” Rhodey grumbled without real conviction.

“No.” Tony said cheerfully. “You agreed and I ignored you.”

“Why am I even friends with you?” Rhodey asked jokingly.

“Because I have all the good toys and booze.” The genius replied, smirking.

Rhodey grinned and slapped the man on the back in a friendly manner, before the two fell into a comfortable silence, content to complete Rhodey’s rehab.

Chapter 4

Chapter Text

It was another surprisingly nice day that Saturday, cold yet clear, as Peter pressed his way through the crowds surrounding the stage set up outside the entrance of Stark Tower. He had lost sight of Duncan almost as soon as they had arrived with their Bugle Press Passes, the journalist disappearing into the throngs of people, looking for a good spot to set up. Peter on the other hand, stayed towards the back of the crowd, wanting to get some shots of the area.

Around him, cameras flashed, journalists muttered into their microphones and recorders and TV crews tested their equipment, all wanting to insure they would not miss a second of the scoop they so wanted.

No one knew what it was that Tony Stark was going to announce. Well, no one but Peter. The teenager had been at Stark Tower just the night before, watching as Mr Stark went over his speech with Vision and Colonel Rhodes.

This was going to be the first time Mr Stark had faced the media in any official capacity since the breaking of the Avengers. Oh sure, there had been times when his face had been on every TV set, mostly in those first few weeks after he had been brought back unconscious and half dead by Vision after his fight with Captain America, when the media had surrounded the hospital and later Stark Towers, looking for a glimpse of the man.

Peter remembered all too well those horrible early weeks where he couldn’t tell if Mr Stark was even alive, the media seeming to change their minds on Mr Stark’s status every hour as the rumours flew. Having not yet known Colonel Rhodes (who had been in a coma at the time) and only knowing Vision briefly, Peter had no connections to the Avengers to find out if Mr Stark was even alive. Those weeks in limbo had been hell, even as Peter had struggled to keep his fears from Aunt May.

Thankfully, the media had eventually backed off after Mr Stark had been released from hospital and the UN had accepted his explanation of events, becoming more interested in the whereabouts of the rouge Avengers instead of the injured ones. During the brief respite, Mr Stark had reached out to Peter offering the Internship and taking Peter out to the Avengers compound for the first time, where Mr Stark had been hiding for weeks.

There, Peter had gotten to see a very rare side of Tony Stark, the caring, protective side. Having grown up seeing the man on TV and hearing of his war mongering ways, it had been a welcome surprise to see the honest Tony Stark, a man who was slow to trust but protective of those he did.

It was also a surprise to see just how hard Mr Stark was working to try and lift the charges levelled against the other Avengers. Peter, like every other American child, had grown up in Captain America’s shadow. It had been a huge shock to realise the man was flesh and blood like everyone else and like everyone else, could make bad decisions.

Despite what the Captain had said to Peter on the battlefield, Peter had found that the Captain had been wrong. Peter had not been on the wrong side like the man had said. He hadn’t been on the side whose leader had abandoned his team, leaving them to be arrested and imprisoned simply to follow a terrorist. He hadn’t been on the side whose leader had almost murdered his friend.

Although Mr Stark had been careful not to let the UN find out the reason for the fight in Siberia, he had been honest with his remaining team, wanting them to know and make their own decisions on what had happened, even if he could lose their support by doing so. He had shown Peter, Vision and Colonel Rhodes the videos of his parents murder and explained his reactions to it. Explained the fight between himself, the Captain and the Winter Soldier.

It had hurt to watch as Mr Stark had laid bare what had happened.

Peter knew loss. He had lost his parents when he had been little and just lost his uncle a year ago. He knew that the hurt wouldn’t go away and if someone had hid evidence of his parent’s death from him to protect a murderer, even someone he trusted like his two good friends Harry or Gwen, Peter knew his reaction would be just as explosive. Nothing had given the Captain the right to keep that information from Mr Stark.

Despite everything, Mr Stark still worked to try and clear the other team, to allow the Captain and his group to return home scot-free. Mr Stark didn’t owe them anything and yet here he was, working himself to the death to insure their freedom.

Not to mention todays reveal. Mr Starks new range of life altering prosthetics, designed to be affordable to even the poorest household, not to mention all the free ones Mr Stark was having shipped to third world countries.

Tony Stark was a man who owed nothing to the world, yet continued to give everything he had.

Stepping to the edge of the crowd, Peter eyed the surrounding buildings, ignoring the murmur of voices as people started climbing into the stage to begin the speeches. There was a noted change in the crowd’s behaviour as Mr Stark appeared, some impatient journalists already shouting questions towards the man before he had even begun to speak. Peter ignored them as walked around the edge of the crowd, noting a raised statue which could give him a good vantage point for his photographs.

Quickly he climbed up, careful to avoid being noticed by any police as he wedged himself in place, pulling out his camera. Working fast, he snapped a few photos, taking a few moments to adjust the lens between shots. Finally, he focused the camera on Mr Stark, zooming in to get the best possible picture as the man began his speech.

The hairs on the back of his neck started to tingle, a subtle warning sign. Peter had long since learnt that this was a warning he couldn’t afford to ignore. Turning, Peter looked around, trying to locate the source of his unease.

“Hey Kid! Get down from there!”

Peter looked down to the police officer standing at the base of the statue.

“Sorry.” He called, following the officers instructions. As his feet hit the ground, another tingle shot through him. Something was about to happen.

Climbing down, Peter quickly ducked into the crowd towards an alleyway, grabbing at his backpack. Inside, his costume was hidden. He had a feeling he was going to need it.

-------

“Ah ah Kiddies! No skipping this part. Time to pay attention.”

Turning away, Wade picked up the sniper rifle he had carried up all those stairs and inserted the magazine into the weapon. Taking the stairs was a vital part of Wade’s exercise regime to insure his fabulous ass and Wade was very protective of said ass.

“Sundays, Mondays, Happy Days!” The Merc sang to himself as he lowered himself to the ground, fixing the scope to the barrel of the rifle. Weasel had managed to procure the weapon for him with only a minimal amount of complaints. The rest was up to Wade.

The Merc had managed to locate a good vantage point, directly opposite Stark Tower where his target was. It was a small building, owned by a bank or something. Wade hadn’t really cared what the business was about once the man at the door had given him access to the fire doors and the roof.

Normally, Wade liked to get up close and personal with his targets but well, Stark hadn’t been in the public eye for months now and beggars really couldn’t be choosers. This press conference was almost too perfectly timed. The fact that Stark had virtually laid himself out on a platter for Wades pleasure was just icing on the cake. And Wade really loved cake.

Adjusting the barrel one last time, Wade looked through the lenses of his mask and down the scope, lining up his shot.

Stark was walking into the platform now, Wade’s target appearing in the crosshairs of the rifles sight. The man’s speech began, blissfully unaware that his head was about to explode, literally.

Shifting slightly, Wade relaxed into the position, his finger resting on the trigger.

“I’m so sorry Tumblr. Please don’t hate me Stony bloggers.” He muttered. “Alright Mr Stark. Just try to relax. Lie back and think of America or whatever gets you off.”

Tightening his grip, Wade slowly applied pressure to the trigger.

A bang echoed through the plaza, the brick work above Stark’s head shattering. Wade blinked in surprise. He quickly looked down at the barrel, expecting smoke or some sort of sign the weapon had gone off. There was nothing. The barrel wasn’t even hot. The weapon hadn’t fired.

“What the sh*t?” He said. Someone had tried to take his hit. What an asshole.

Down below Wade’s hiding spot, screams started to echo, people panicking. Realising he was running out of time if he wanted to claim the money on Stark’s head, Wade quickly lined up the shot again.

On the platform, Stark appeared frozen in shock, his dark hair covered in brick dust from the bullet exploding just inches from his head, even as others on the platform turned and fled into the building behind them. Wade placed his finger on the trigger a second time, his shot lined up perfectly.

This time, his weapon did fire.

A damn split second too late as a dark skinned man barrelled into Stark, sending him to the ground behind the podium.

“Oh COME ON!” Wade shouted in frustration, dropping the weapon. “Well, time for plan B.”

Reaching into his suit, Wade pulled out a trigger. The Merc had never been one for back up plans before now, always content with his half thought out rampages. After all, it had worked for that bag of dicks Francis. But still, knowing who he was dealing with, Wade had decided to go against his own bad instincts for once. That was why he had hidden a lot of explosives under the stage several hours before.

“Time to go boom Stark!” the Merc continued, pressing the button on the trigger.

--------

Peter was just pulling on his mask as the first shot fired, taking the teenager by surprise. The teen’s insides went cold, a wave of panic overcoming him before he managed to push it aside, running out into the chaos, looking around for the source of the shot.

People were screaming and trying to run in all directions, creating chaos.

Shooting out a web, the hero pulled himself up to the side of the nearest building to try and gain a better view of the chaos.

Somewhere above him, a second shot was fired. Peter turned, finally able to locate where the gunman must have been hiding although he could not see anyone even with his enhanced abilities. Back at the stage, Tony Stark had dropped to the ground, Peter unable to tell if he had taken cover or been hit by the bullet.

After a moment, Colonel Rhodes moved from the ground where he lay next to Mr Stark. The man was kneeling by the genius, his body covering the other man, trying to protect him from any more bullets. Even from the distance, Peter could see the Colonel screaming into his Avengers Comm.

Raising his arm to aim a web, Peter prepared to swing across to the Tower to try and get to his fallen mentor.

Suddenly the podium exploded, disappearing from view in a cloud of smoke, the glass and brick of the tower shattering and falling to the ground. Peter stared at it in horror. He couldn’t see Mr Stark or Colonel Rhodes through the smoke and dust.

Suddenly, flashes of silver and red metal could be seen, falling to the ground at speed from the top of the Tower.

The smoke started to clear, the red and silver pieces flying around the destroyed stage before dissapearing. With his enhanced eyesight, Peter could make out two figures, one in Red and the other in Silver appear in the smoke.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Peter recognised Iron Man and War Machine standing in the remains of the platform. A figure appeared in the sky, Vision flying down to stand at Iron Man and War Machines side, the three heroes ready to face any danger.

Turning, Peter looked up at the top of the building. Briefly, the hero thought he saw a figure in red standing on the edge of the building before it disappeared from sight. Quickly, he shot out another web to the top of the building, giving chase.

There was an assassin on the loose and Spiderman was going after them.

----------

“Seriously Author?! What the f*ck? Did you make this guy out of f*cking Vibranium or are you just trying to piss me off?”

----------

Half way across the world, in a little office in the Royal Palace of Wakanda, Steve Rogers sat, drawing pad on his lap and pencil in his hand. A small TV was on in the corner of the room but the Super Soldier paid it no attention, his mind on other things as his eyes scanned the outside forest through the window.

Occasionally, he would look away from the window and down at his note pad or over to the TV. The pad was full of hand drawn pictures the soldier had worked on to while away the time. He had nothing but time after all.

He couldn’t go back to America without being arrested, he couldn’t be a hero without revealing King T’Challa’s help and risking the whole country. He couldn’t face being around the others who were full of questions he didn’t know how to answer or be around the young king, still a starch supporter of the Accords despite his decision to help them. He couldn’t even go to see Bucky, the uncomfortable reminder of all he had given up to save a friend who didn’t want to be around him.

In the end, all he could do was sit in this tiny office and draw of all he missed.

His drawing pad was full of pictures. Of sketches of New York, the Avengers Tower standing like a proud monument in the middle of it. Sketches of the Compound with its huge sprawling grounds. There were sketches of his team in various poses, from fighting to laughing to simply relaxing in the Tower or later the Compound. There were pictures of his team mates. Of Thor laughing at the kitchen table. Of Doctor Banner working in the lab. Of Colonel Rhodes laughing as he explained something to Vision. Of Tony.

Steve supposed that is what hurt the most. It hurt that Steve had been forced to give up a good friendship to protect Bucky, that Tony had been unwilling to understand that Steve had only been trying to protect them all.

Steve hated this silence. Hated that the phone still hadn’t rung. It had been months since Steve had sent it, expecting that Tony would call him, would accept his apology. Because Steve was sorry. He was sorry he had kept the secret from Tony about his parents.

With enough reflection, Steve had realised that he had been wrong. He had no right keeping that information from Tony. He had been a hypocrite during the Ultron incident, so worked up over his belief that Tony had gone behind his back that he hadn’t even thought of what he had been keeping from the other man. Hadn’t thought of how it would affect Tony to keep the secret of Howard’s murder from him.

Looking down, Steve saw the latest of his drawings. It was of Tony, of the time Steve had found the man asleep standing up, his head resting on the coffee machine in the kitchen after he had collapsed during one of his many all-night inventing binges. Steve had managed to wake the man up enough to propel him to the lift where FRIDAY could send him upstairs to his apartment but the image had stayed in his mind long after the genius had disappeared.

Placing the pencil down, Steve sighed, leaning back against the chair. In the corner, the TV flashed. Steve turned to look at it absentmindedly.

He had left it playing a 24 hour News Channel when he had turned it on a few hours ago, partly to create some background noise and partly because he knew there was going to be a press conference. T’Challa had informed him 2 days before that Tony Stark would be holding a conference outside of Avengers Tower that day.

No one was sure exactly what Tony was going to say but the press was clearly expecting something big. Tony had not been in the public eye for months. The last time Steve had seen anything of Tony that wasn’t a speculating headline or old footage had been back in Siberia and Steve didn’t want to think of that.

On screen, Tony was standing in front of the crowds, preparing to address the press. To the untrained eye, Tony was his regular showman self, flashing flirty smiles and playing the press like he was born to it (In a way he had been) but Steve had been living with the man on and off for several years now and been his teammate and friend for longer. Even in the six months since he had last seen the man, he could still see that Tony was struggling. It was the way Tony’s eyes couldn’t focus as he spoke, the way his hands gripped the podium like it was all that was keeping him on his feet.

Putting the book on the table with the pencil, Steve grabbed the remote and turned up the volume as on screen, Tony began to speak, the man’s voice filling the room and breaking the silence. Then he turned his back to the screen, enjoying the familiar voice but ignoring the actual speech. If it was important, someone would fill him in later. For now, he would just enjoy the sounds and try to pretend that he and Tony were not at odds, that he hadn’t hurt Tony in the worst way imaginable. He reached for the book again.

The sound of screaming caught his attention, causing Steve to raise from his seat in alarm, looking around for the danger. Automatically he reached for his shield, a weapon he had not held in 6 months, before remembering that it was not there.

Turning around, Steve scanned the room for the source of the noise before finally seeing the TV. Onscreen, the cameras were shaking, the cameraman trying to focus on Tony. As Steve stared at the screen, Rhodey appeared, crashing into Tony and sending the genius to the ground as a gunshot sounded, the glass of Avengers Tower shattering where Tony had been standing just moments before.

Steve stood frozen in horror before the screen, unable to do anything as what felt like seconds later, the platform Tony had been standing on exploded before the screen went black.

Chapter 5

Chapter Text

Spiderman made it to the edge of the roof top before his communicator flickered to life in his ear, Colonel Rhodes demanding to know what had happened and gather the heroes together.

Quickly, the teen pulled himself over the ledge, relaying what he had seen to the others. The gunshots from two different directions, the flash of red disappearing, a possible assassin making their escape.

The Colonel had demanded Peter return to the group to assist in protecting Mr Stark while he went after the assassins but Peter refused. He knew that if he didn’t act now, the offender would be gone before the Colonel could get there.

Scanning the roof top quickly, the teenager caught another flash of red, a figure running across a lower roof away from the scene. It had to be Mr Stark’s attacker.

Released a web, the teen used it to push himself forward, running after the fleeing figure and ignoring the Colonels voice as War Machine gave up on reining in Spiderman and instead went after the second attacker, leaving Vision with Mr Stark on the ground below.

Under his mask, Peter tried to study the swiftly moving figure before him. It appeared to be a heavily armed male in red and black uniform. For some reason, he looked vaguely familiar, like Peter had seen him somewhere before but the teenager couldn’t remember when or where.

Suddenly the figure ran right off the roof, dropping out of sight as he fell. Spiderman pushed himself to run faster, not wanting to lose the assassin in those brief seconds when the man was out of view.

The teen reached the edge of the roof where the other man had fallen, stopping before he ran out of roof himself.Crouching down, Peter help his breath, letting his Spider-senses work as he scanned the alleyway below, the lenses of his mask assisting him in pinpointing the location of the assassin.

There!

A red figure pulling itself out of an open dumpster and scraping something off the back of its pants.

Even from where he was crouched, Peter could hear the sting of explicit words coming from the figure.

Pushing himself to dangle over the edge, Peter crawled silently along the wall, keeping a keen eye on his target. Below him, the figure started to run again.Right towards a waiting taxi.

Suddenly Peter remembered where he knew the figure from.

Several months earlier, just after Peter had taken on the role of Spiderman, there had been an incident on the news about a figure in red involved in a gunfight in the outskirts of the city. Around a dozen people had been killed and the X-Men’s jet had been seen in the area at the time, sparking another backlash against Super Powered beings that had eventually led to the Accords being pitched. The man involved had never been identified but many had theorised that the man had to be a mutant to get the X-Men involved.

Moving faster, Peter tried not to lose sight of the figure a second time. If the figure was the same one involved in that fight, the Peter could not afford to lose him. The man would try to attack Mr Stark again and given his track record, this time he might actually succeed.

Suddenly, the figure stopped, boots skidding on the pavement. Slowly, almost like he was pausing for dramatic effect, the figure drew two long, thin things from his back. Swords.
The figure was waiting. He must have known Peter was following him.

Well, it looked like Peter had no other choice. Releasing a line of web, Peter used it to fling himself over the figure and flip around, his knees braced for landing, blocking the figures escape.

A red and black masked face looked at him.

“Oh sh*t!” The figure muttered.

------

"f*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck!"

The expletive chat did nothing to sooth Wade as the Merc barrelled along the rooftop. His common senses were tingling, telling him that he had defiantly picked up a tail back there, someone crazy enough to try and come after him. He could practically feel the eyes watching him as he ran to the edge of the roof and jumped off, landing in a conveniently placed dumpster (you are getting my dry cleaning bill author!)

Rolling out of the smelly container, Wade took a second to scarp the horrible wet thing off his ass before continuing to run down the alleyway, his continuous running commentary of swearwords doing little to ease the tension.

Whoever it was chasing him, it had to be a 'hero'. One of the Avengers come to take him in for the victimless crime of trying to murder Tony Stark. Seriously, he didn't even get the guy. To quote his favorite princess Elsa from that Disney movie, couldn't they just let it go?

Spotting the stationary cab at the edge of the alleyway, Wade sped up. Faithful Dopinder, probably going to become a lose end after all this. Oh well. Wade had enjoyed the tales of his love story. The prefect amount of violence and kidnapping to keep him entertained during the long trips to and from his jobs. Guess in fairness to the Merc’s favourite cabbie, Wade would make his death quick.

Something moved about him.

Oh f*ck!

Well, looks like the game was up. Whoever was chasing him had found him.

Skidding to a halt (which took slightly longer than normal given the rotten stuff on his boots) Wade drew Bea and Arthur, his twin katanas from the sheaths on his back, ready to face whoever was stupid enough to come after him. He paused, posing dramatically, waiting for his shadow to reveal itself. He looked up. Something red and blue sailed through the air above his head, the start of an epic hero landing and....

‘Wow! That ass.

And that skin-tight red and blue number….

And….

Hold on….

Wait….

It’s coming to me….’

The figure landed before Wade, cutting off his escape.

‘….Oh sh*t!’

------

Dust and smoke filled the air, covering everything in a grey/black haze that the bright sun was struggling to penetrate. Around Tony, everything seemed to move in slow motion. Bodies lay on the ground, groaning, others running from one safe place to another. Screams echoed in the distance.

Inside his helmet, FRIDAYs screen flashed, calculating figures and facts and talking in her Irish drawl. Tony paid little attention to it, blinking the red out of his eye.

Rhodey had already flown from the ruins of the stage, shouting something back at his friend about going after an assassin. Above them. Spiderman had been briefly seen, disappearing over the ledge of a building for his own reasons. Vision too had vanished, walking off into the wreck to gather the injured and coordinate the first responders who were trying to gain control of the situation, leaving Tony to digest what had just happened.

Someone had tried to kill him.

Turning in the armoured suit, the billionaire gazed back at the wreck of the stage where he had just been standing, Friday already giving him an estimation of how much explosives must have been stashed under the structure to make it explode like that.

Thankfully, it looked like no one had been seriously hurt.

The SI board, led by Pepper, had fled the stage for the relative safety of Stark Tower the moment the first gunshot had gone off and had thankfully managed to get to a safe place before the explosion.

Most of the journalists Tony had invited to the conference had managed to make enough distance after the initial attack to avoid serious injury. In fact, apart from Rhodey and Tony, both of whom had the safety of their armour to rely on, no one had been close enough to the explosion to be seriously injured.

But people had still been hurt. Shaking himself out of his daze, Tony steeped forward to assist a man lying in the street, covered in dust and moaning pitifully. Quickly, Tony shook him out of his daze, the man blinking up at him in confusion. Retracting the helmet to show his face, Tony gave the man a weak smile as he helped him to his feet, directing the man towards the roads where the paramedics would soon arrive. The billionaire turned, looking for any more injured or shocked people, helping them to their feet and getting them to help as slowly, a bomb squad moved in to assess and make the area safe again.

No one approached Tony and so the billionaire turned and made his way into Stark Tower, ignoring the shattered glass and brick covering the floor of his once pristine reception as he made his way inside, looking around at the damage.

The reception was empty, Tony’s employee’s getting to safety away from the explosion. At least they were well versed in emergency evacuations. After the Loki incident Tony had made sure there were plans in place to protect his employees from any attacks on his buildings. Tony had always been protective of the people he employed, even while funding The Avengers and for good reason.

Walking to the front desk normally manned by one of the receptionists, Tony pulled out a chair and sat down, ignoring how the chair creaked ominously under the weight of his armour.

The silence washed over the genius, even FRIDAY taking a brief moment from her constant calculations.

Tony closed his eyes, leaning back to rest his head against the wall.

“Tony? Tony!”

Tony blinked, looking up at the person who was daring to shake him awake. Above him, Pepper was standing, her arm on his shoulder plate. Slowly, the genius reached up, wiping what appeared to be blood out of his eye. He must have been caught by a stray piece of glass in the second between the stage exploding and his armour wrapping around him, protecting him from harm.

“Pep?” He asked, wondering if the woman was really there or just a vision brought on by what Tony suspected was the start of a concussion.

“Oh thank god Tony!” The woman muttered before wrapping her arms around his neck, ignoring the blood and dust all over him. “I thought you had been killed.”

Yep. Not a vision. This was the real deal.

“I’m ok.” The genius replied, wrapping an arm around the woman.

“Tones?”

Looking over Peppers shoulder, Tony spotted Rhodey and Vision entering the tower. Rhodey had his helmet off and looked like he had gone for a run through a dust cloud while Vision looked his normal self. Both were on alert even in the safety of the tower, looking around for any danger.

“You ok, Platypus?” Tony asked as Pepper let him go and helped him rise to his feet.

“I’m fine. I lost one of the assassins. But Spiderman went after the other and now we can’t find him.”

Tony felt himself freeze.

“You lost the kid?" Tony finally asked.

“Mr Stark…” Vision started to say something but Tony ignored him, his helmet falling back into place as he stepped away from the three and out into the confusion of the street.

Within seconds he was in the air, FRIDAY scanning the surrounding area for any traces of the teenager.

“Boss. I have hacked into the surrounding security cameras and I have traced Spiderman’s movements. He was last seen heading north approximately 5 minutes ago in pursuit of a fleeing assassin.”

“Good work FRI.” Tony replied, setting in a course to search for the missing Spider.

“And Boss, I have identified his target. Boss….Spiderman is currently in pursuit of Deadpool.”

“sh*t!” Tony replied, setting his armour to move as fast as possible to help the teenage hero before it was too late.

-------

‘Hey! You guys still here? Holy sh*t, people are actually still reading this. Well, I guess I should kinda let you in on a dirty little secret I have going on with the author. You see, she is very aware that geographically this thing does not work.’

‘Stark Tower is in New York because it said so in the movie. But we also know that my own movie, while probably also meant to be in New York, was actually in my lovely home town of Vancouver. Cool huh!’

‘But mysteriously that happened to be driving distance from both the Professors X Academy where I picked up Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Awesome Name which I think is somewhere in Westchester (And ok, not exactly a long distance, even if the author doesn’t know her way around the US of A) and the Potomac River in Washington DC, where the Cap took a swan dive and left that awesome SHIELD helecarrier I taunted Francis on.’

‘I mean, I know Dopinder is an awesome driver but that is still a long drive stuck next to Colossus (Who, let’s face it, does not smell great up close)’

‘Ok, I am not impressed with the author right now since she is being really mean about not letting me kill Tony Stark but she has promised me a team up with Spidey that won’t end up with (SPOILERS!) me shooting Peter Parker….twice. So I kinda have to make sure her mental state stays relatively good, since there isn’t enough room for two crazy people in this story right now.’

‘So if you guys could not question anything and just say that we can all live together without arguments, then I can get me some Spidey bootie and everyone wins.’

‘Or at least I do.’

Right about ....now!

------

“Spiderman!” Deadpool screamed, dropping his katanas as he began fangirling. “Oh my god! This is awesome! Can you sign my swords? And can we team up to fight baddies on the side? Please!”

Suddenly, he barrelled towards Spiderman, wrapping his arms around the surprised hero in excitement and lifting him into the air.

“Best day ever!” Deadpool screamed.

Chapter 6

Chapter Text

In a locked draw of an old desk in the depths of the Compound where no one visited, something buzzed, a faint light flashing through the gaps in the draw.

{text} Tony? What happened? Please respond. - Steve

{text} Tony, I know things are difficult between us but please answer. - Steve

{text} I meant what I said. I will be there if you need me. - Steve

{text} Please? I need to know you are alright. - Steve

{text} Tony, are you alright? Please answer me. - S

{text} Swear at me, threaten me. I don’t care! - S

{text} I don’t care if you are still angry at me but I need to know you are still alive. - S

{text} I’m sorry Tony. I know I messed up. Please let me help you.

{text} I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I miss you.

The buzzing continued, locked away in a draw where no one would notice it, in a building which hardly anyone entered. Left alone, forgotten.

-------

On reflection, this had to be the 3rd weirdest day in Peter’s memory. Right after the very first time Peter got startled and accidently ended up on the ceiling and the time THE Tony Stark turned up in his messy little bedroom in Queens.

Being bear hugged by a mercenary who had just tried to murder his mentor, only to be dropped onto the ground unexpectedly as the man in skin tight red spandex started talking and waving his arms about unexpectedly was definitely not what Peter had expected when he had pulled on his mask.

There had to be something wrong with this man, judging on how the man seemed to be rambling to himself and flailing around, yelling at someone called ‘Author’ and ‘Best day ever!’ The man had already collected the swords he had dropped and occasionally he would wave one of the swords in a violent cutting motion, the action setting Peter’s spider senses on edge.

Peter didn’t even need to think about it, the teen jumping to his feet and swinging up to the wall, out of reach of the sharp swords and their deranged owner.

“Awww! Come on Spidey! I won’t bite. Well, not unless you want me too. Wait! What? That was not forward at all, what are you talking about?”

Peter pulled himself a little further along the wall, trying to keep the red figure in sight. He didn’t trust the assassin at all the and increasingly erratic behaviour from the heavily armed man was not going anything to easy his nerves. It was time to level the playing field a bit.

Peter waited for the right moment, watching as the man seemed to be involved in an argument with himself, his head moving from side to side like he was looking in different directions as he spoke to non-existent people. The man’s grip loosened on the swords.

Seeing his chance, Peter pushed his upper body off the wall, letting his legs take his full weight to free up his hands. Quickly, he released two webs, the white strands wrapping around the hilts. He gave the webs a hard yank, sending the weapons flying out of the man’s hands.

The mercenary looked down at his empty hands, the sudden loss catching his attention.

“What the…?” He said. Slowly, he looked up at the hero.

“Baby, you are being a bad boy.” The mercenary muttered, his voice dropping dangerously. Suddenly, two guns appeared in his hands. “Daddy needs to teach you some manners.”

------

“FRIDAY, keep scanning the area and find the kid.” Tony ordered as the armour weaved around buildings, trying to give his AI the widest possible path to scan.

“Of course boss, already scanning for him. May I remind you that Spiderman is not your child and that he is more than capable of taking care of himself” The AI replied.

“Don’t sass me.” Tony commented. Normally, Tony didn’t mind. He had designed his AI’s to be free thinkers and to call him out when he was being a dick but he was not in the mood. He was tired, his head was pounding from the hit he had taken during the explosion and he knew, probably better than most, just how dangerous the mercenary known as Deadpool could be.

When the red mercenary had first appeared on the news, the Avengers had still been reeling from Ultron. Tony had been in retirement, still recovering from the incident and suffering the nightmares of his vision and the collapse of his relationship with Pepper, had taken to monitoring the news every day, trying to get a feel of what the general public thought of the Avengers and the other ‘heroes’ popping up.

It had been sadly negative, the general population losing their faith in the Avengers after Sokovia. Adding to that the sh*t that had happened with the X-Men, Daredevil causing a scene over in Hell’s Kitchen and of course the mess of vigilantes stumbling into the limelight. Deadpool’s high profile killing spree had been a media disaster, long before Captain America decided to announce he knew better than the United Nations.

The killing spree had been vicious. One guy had even been killed by a ZAMBONI of all things! (Actually, Tony had been kind of impressed in that last one, not that he would even say it out loud.)

There was no way Tony was going to let Peter face this guy. He had promised May Parker he would take care of her only surviving family, not that she thought Peter would eve face anything more dangerous than a simple lab explosion while in Tony’s care. May might not be Peter’s biological parent but Tony knew she was a total Momma Bear. The intern cover story would not save Tony from the woman’s wrath if her child was injured.

“May is going to kill me if he gets hurt.” The genius said out loud as the suit continued to roar across the sky.

“Boss, I have located Spiderman. He is currently in an alleyway off East 57th Street.”

“Get me there yesterday!” Tony demanded as he redirected more power into his boots, changing course to get to the kid.

-------

“Oh come on! I was JOKING!” Wade whined.

He honestly hadn’t expected Spidey to take his threats literally. Nor had he expected to find himself webbed to the wall, his guns clattering to the ground as he was thrown back by the force of more white fluid them he had ever seen outside of a p*rno hitting him in the chest. Thankfully the white fluid had not soaked into his suit before it managed to solidify, so at least washing it out shouldn’t be too difficult.

Although he had to admit, the webbing wasn’t the only thing getting hard from the sudden action.

“Seriously?” a voice asked.

Wade looked up from the white stuff on his chest and arms, realising too late he had been talking aloud. Oh well. You only got one shot at a First Impression. Unless you were caught in an endless cycle of reboots but honestly, that just seemed too exhausting. Up there with pointless character changes and Weapon XI level dicking around.

Spiderman had climbed down from his hidey-hole as soon as Wade had hit the wall, clearly thinking that he had safe with Wade caught in his web. Well, who was Wade to destroy that theory if it brought that glorious ass closer? The hero didn’t need to know about the extremely sharp knifes within grasping distance of the marc’s bound hands.

“For you baby boy? Always.”

Holy sh*t! Wade could actually see the eye roll under Spidey’s mask! How cool!

“What is wrong with you?” The hero asked, still slowly approaching, not seeming to notice as Wade’s right hand wrapped around the knife, pulling it slowly out of its sheath.

“Me? Oh I’m a whole bundle of mental health problems wrapped in one glorious Christmas package. You can unwrap me if you like. Or I could be your Santa. I’ve even got the red suit and I’ve been told my knee is great for sitting on. Just ask Ryan Reynolds. But enough about me. How about you Baby Boy? Where did those wicked Spider abilities come from? Please tell me it wasn’t some dick called Francis. Cos I already killed him once and honestly, that whole year was a saga I don’t want to repeat. All those nerves about how the public was going to enjoy me and how we were going to keep our ‘R’ rating safe from those MCU dicks.”

Letting his mouth take over, Wade quickly scanned the hero before him. Unfortunately, the hero had stopped just out of Wades reach and was standing there, arms crossed over his chest. And ok, he had nice arms too. The ass was still a thing of beauty but Spidey’s arms were almost as nice. Wade had never noticed it before but boy was he noticing it now. Damn, Wade was crushing hard.

Finally, Wade had to stop just so he could breath.

“….So, I’m going to call the Avengers now.” Spiderman said, raising one hand to his head to activate his ear piece.

Wade could practically hear the scratch of vinyl as his inner monologue screeched to a halt.

“Awww! But they are spoilsports who are only going to ruin our conversation.” He whined as the knife started cutting through the web. Damn that stuff was strong.

“You tried to kill Mr Stark!” the hero growled, hand dropping to form a fist at his side. Ok, Wade might have hit a nerve there. Of course the bloody job would put him at odds with his favourite hero.

“I didn’t!” Wade whined. “Well, actually I did.” He continued, correcting himself quickly. “But in all fairness, I was being paid to do it and well, I gotta pay for Chimichangas somehow. Speaking of, we should totally get food. My treat.”

“You’re insane.” The hero muttered. But he had made a mistake. Spiderman had taken a step forward. He was within reaching distance.

The webs fell away as Wade pushed forward, freeing himself from the wall, his hands’ grabbing the hero’s wrists and dragging him off balance. Using his superior strength and the momentum, Wade twisted Spidey around and dragged him back against his chest, one hand grabbing both wrists and forcing the hero’s arms behind his back, the other hand raising a knife to the hero’s neck.

“Oh baby boy. I am definitely insane.” Wade muttered pressing himself against the hero’s back.

Above the two of them there was a rumble. Wade looked up. A figure in red and gold dropped from the sky in a hero’s landing (Always awesome) A very familiar figure. Well sh*t.

A hand was raised towards him, the palm lighting up threateningly.

“Let him go Deadpool.” Iron Man growled.

“Well, you see…You stand there with your glowey hand of death makes me not want to. Because if I do, who’s gonna stop you from frying my sweet ass….also. You know my name! Today is officially Awesome!”

Subtly, Wade shifted his grip on Spiderman’s wrists. Geeze the guy was strong, almost breaking out of Wade’s hold and forcing him to push the hero’s arms upwards painfully to stop him wriggling around, the knife digging a little too hard into the hero’s neck if the sudden intake of breath was anything to go by.

Turning carefully, keeping Spidey between himself and a pissed off Iron Man, Wade carefully manoeuvred around, getting himself into position for a quick escape. Dopinder was still parked on the side of the street in front of the alleyway, blissfully unaware of the trouble his favourite non-paying customer was in.

Taking a step back, Wade was glad to see that Spidey was also forced back with him. Well, it was either that or dislocate his own arms, something which Wade wouldn’t recommend.

“Now Spidey. Be a good little hero for Daddy Pool and don’t do anything stupid.” Wade muttered where he thought the hero’s ear had to be under the mask.

He took another step back as the hero’s struggles increased. And oops. The knife had defiantly cut through the fabric of Spidey’s suit and punctured his skin.

Oh well. Chicks dig scars.

Behind his helmet, Iron Man growled, no doubt seeing from the front the cut Wade had given Spidey. The hero stepped forward, arm still raised as Wade continued to back away. Almost there….

And NOW!

Dropping the knife, Wade braced himself, his now free hand planted against Spidey’s back. Pushing as hard as he could, he forced the hero forward, sending him crashing into Iron Man as the armoured hero struggled to both catch his colleague and keep his weapon on Wade.

Wade turned and sprinted to the cab, throwing himself into the back.

“Drive!” He shouted at Dopinder, the cabbie, taken by surprise, slamming his foot down on the gas. The cab shot forward, narrowly avoiding another parked car before righting itself and disappearing around a corner.

------

Peter let out an audible ‘Oof’ as he collapsed in Mr Stark’s arms, the air being forced out of his lungs as his mentor only just managing to catch him before he hit the ground.

Thoughts were going through his head at a million miles an hour. How did the mercenary manage to take him by surprise like that? Peter’s spider senses had been going crazy from the moment the merc had started talking and yet the man had still managed to take him by surprised and even worse, take him hostage in front of Mr Stark. Now that was just embarrassing.

“Are you alright kid?” Mr Stark asked, lowering Peter carefully to the ground.

“I’m fine.” Peter replied, trying to save some of his dignity as he climbed back to his feet. He could feel a stinging sensation on his neck but ignored it. He had more important things to worry about. Iron Man seemed to look at him as if calling him on his bullsh*t.

“No you’re not. You’re done.”

“What? No!” Peter protested.

“Stay here!” Mr Stark ordered, stepping away.

“Wait!” Peter shouted as Iron Man took to the air, quickly disappearing from sight.

Peter dropped his head with a sigh. It was Leipzig all over again.

He had been wrong when he said it was only the third weirdest day he had ever had. With all that had gone on, this one was defiantly number one.

Chapter 7

Chapter Text

It was in Tony Stark’s opinion, that Rhodey had the greatest couch ever made. It was a faded cream sofa bed, the fabric so worn and stained in places that it had gained more than a few comments about it being put out on the curb. Not that Tony would ever allow Rhodey to do such a horrible thing.

This sofa had been where their friendship had truly started, back at MIT when Rhodey had found Tony drunk off his ass with a bunch of freshmen egging him on. Rhodey, a freshmen himself on the GI bill had been disgusted by the behaviour and dragged then then underage Stark Heir away from the hangers on and dumped his semi-conscious ass on the sofa in the cheap apartment Rhodey had managed to save up for, leaving Tony to sleep off the alcohol before giving him a stern lecture the next morning, on the very same sofa as Tony nursed a hangover and clung to Rhodey's side, the vomiting and pain signalling the start of a beautiful friendship.

Over the years, the sofa had become a constant, moving to whatever apartment Rhodey occupied while serving the military. It had been the place where the two friends had drunk, watched movies, slept and basically where Tony had lived for a few days after his parents died before Obie had managed to track him down and drag him away to deal with the fallout and Stark Industries.

Now once again it was Tony’s bed, the exhausted genius dropping face first into the musty cushion.

His head hurt, six stitches holding together the cut and stopping the bleeding.

The Tower had been declared unsafe, the bottom level now a crime scene. The constant movement of police in and out was too much of a security risk meaning Tony couldn’t stay there. The house in Malibu had never been rebuilt and since Captain Stacey of NYPD had wanted Tony to stay close to New York for a little while, that had left him with very few options of places to stay. There was the Compound but Rhodey had said no, the big open spaces too much of a reminded of the Avengers betrayal even with Vision still living there. Pepper had veto’d the hotel idea due to lack of security.

Of course Pepper had offered her place to Tony but since her relationship with Happy had started to get serious, Tony wasn’t willing to put any barriers between them. That had only left two places for him to go. When Pepper had suggested the first idea, Tony had immediately glared at her to be silent. Thankfully Rhodey had stepped up, offering Tony the use of his sofa which Tony had gratefully accepted.

“Do you remember the time we built a fort right here?” Tony asked, his voice muffled by the cushion.

From across the room, he could hear Rhodey snicker.

“Yeah. That was the night we did the around the world beer challenge.” The other man replied.

“We almost made it too.” Tony said, turning his head to grin at Rhodey who had settled himself on one of his lounge chairs. “One beer for every country. We should totally do that again sometime.”

“No Tones.” Rhodey replied, grinning.

“Why not?” Tony couldn’t hide the whine in his voice.

“Because despite years of friendship with you, my liver is still healthy and I would like to keep it like that.”

“Spoilsport.” Tony muttered once again burying his head in cushions. Rhodey just laughed.

The apartment they were in was huge with 3 bedrooms on the Upper East Side. But that was no surprise. Tony had been the one to buy it for Rhodey shortly after he had started the plans for Stark Tower. Rhodey had still been in the military and moving around a lot but Tony had wanted to give his best friend a place close by for the times when he could get away and join him in New York.

The apartment had needed to be big to handle a secure vault for the War Machine Armour which Tony had created in one of the spare rooms and a smaller alcove for the Iron Man armour so Tony could drop by unannounced and not worry about anyone trying for a joy ride.

After becoming an official Avenger and taking on lighter duties in the Air Force, Rhodey had started using the apartment with more regularity and after the ‘Civil War’ and his honourable discharge, had taken to living in it permanently when not at the Compound or the Tower. Tony, in response to his best friend’s decision had used some of his time to hook the apartment into the Arc Reactor the Tower ran on and installing FRIDAY to assist in keeping an eye on Rhodey during his recovery. Because of that, the apartment was equal to the Tower and the Compound in security.

“Peter get home safe?” Tony finally asked, rolling onto his side on the sofa, causing the bag of clothes he had placed on the edge to tumble off.

After he had left the kid in the alleyway, Tony had attempted to locate Deadpool. Unfortunately, there were thousands of cabs in Manhattan alone and trying to find just one in the traffic was impossible.

After giving up on locating the cab Deadpool had escaped in, Tony had returned to the Tower to regroup and plan. Rhodey had still been there with Vision and Pepper, Peter also turning up. The kid had somehow managed to get changed out of his costume and turned up at the Tower, his Stark Industry ID and Rhodey’s authority getting him in the door.

The moment Tony had landed and let the armour finally fall free of his body, Pepper had grabbed him, dragging him towards a waiting ambulance to go to hospital to get his head checked out, only giving him seconds to check on the teenager.

“Yeah. I called his aunt once he was back in the Tower to let her know he was safe and then got that cut checked out. Happy drove him home after. May says to say thank you, by the way.”

Tony looked up in surprise.

“Why? I got her nephew hurt.”

“I don’t think she sees it like that. After all, as far as she was aware he was there on assignment for that paper he works for. You just made sure he got home in one piece.”

“He shouldn’t have been there.” Tony argued.

“But he was. And he handled himself well. Like a hero.” Rhodey argued back. It was odd, after all the concern Rhodey had expressed over Peter being as young as he was, that the man was now in the teens corner.

“You didn’t see him when he faced Deadpool.” Tony shot back, finally rising from the sofa.

“I know he came out of a confrontation with a mercenary with nothing but a cut on his neck. Tones, this is a guy who, if your research is to be believed, has a kill count in the hundreds. The kid got out with only a scratch. To be honest I am more worried about you right now.”

“I can take care of myself Platypus.” Tony short back, crossing his legs on the sofa and leaning back.

“And Peter can take care of himself Tony. He held his own against half the Avengers. He took down a giant man with an idea taken from a Star Wars movie. He beat The Vulture. Quit being an overprotective parent here Tones and think about yourself for once. This Merc is gunning for you. And if you don't take it seriously, I'm scared he will kill you.”

“I’m not overprotective. I’m the fun dad. We agreed that years ago.” Tony muttered, ignoring the worry in Rhodey's voice. From his seat, he could see Rhodey drop his shoulder and shake his head. After a moment, he looked up again, staring right at Tony.

“Yeah, we also agreed we would have to get married first.” He shot back, a hint of amusem*nt in his voice.

“We still can.”

Rhodey laughed.

“No Tony.”

“You are breaking my heart Rhodey Bear.”

Rhodey’s laugh continued until it turned to a groan, the former Colonel rising to his feet slowly, the leg braces taking the bulk of his weight.

“The doctor give you the all clear to sleep?” He asked.

Tony just nodded, laying back down and rolling back onto his stomach.

“Ok. Take a nap. FRIDAY’s got the whole place secure and I am going to order food.”

Tony muttered something illegible into the sofa, not even moving as Rhodey dumped a blanket on top of him.

“Love you Rhodey.” Tony muttered tiredly before finally drifting off to sleep.

------

“Good evening Captain Rogers.” T’Challa greeted, looking up briefly from his paperwork as the former Avenger entered his private office.

“You’re Highness. Have you heard?” Steve asked, stepping forward to stand at Parade Rest in front of the Kings desk. He had been on edge since watching the explosion at Avengers Tower and sending his unanswered texts to the burner phone he had sent Tony months ago. The media had gone silent about Tony, only mentioning that he had been injured in the attack.

“About the explosion at Stark Tower? My adviser has informed me.” The King replied, continuing to read from the documents in front of him.

“And Tony?” Steve prompted, his hands clenched tightly into fists behind his back.

“I believe Doctor Stark gained minor injuries but was otherwise unharmed.”

Steve released the breath he was unknowingly holding. Thank god.

“Have you talked to him? Are you sure he is ok? Do we know who attacked him?” Steve asked, his mind spinning.

T’Challa finally looked up from his paperwork, one eyebrow raised in question.

“Captain, I was not aware that your relationship with Doctor Stark was so close, given the outcome of your fight.” The King commented.

Steve winched, T’Challa’s remark hitting him hard. He knew his actions towards Tony had not been friendly during the Accords mess and T’Challa as an outsider who did not know either of them personally, would have only seen their relationship as hostile. And T’Challa had been there in Siberia. He had seen the fallout of the fight.

He wished that there was a way to show the King how much Tony had meant to him and how much he missed seeing the genius and talking to him and even just knowing where he was and that he was alright.

But T’Challa hadn’t seen that. Hell, the world hadn’t seen that. And even the people who had seen it like Clint, Natasha and Wanda seemed to believe that it had been a show, that their friendship had not been real. And that hurt more than Steve was willing to admit.

T’Challa was still watching him intently, like he was looking for some evidence that Steve was lying to him.

After a few moments, the young King leant back in his chair, his intense expression melting into a more thoughtful one.

“What is your plan Captain? You are aware you cannot go back to America.”

“I will if Tony asks me to.” Steve replied. T’Challa had been a good host to them all but Steve wasn’t prepared to lie to him. If Tony called, Steve would answer.

“And if he doesn’t? The United Nations have declared you and your friend’s terrorists. If you set foot in any country subject to the UN, you are to be arrested on sight. Are you prepared to offer up your freedom?”

Steve looked T’Challa in the face, his blue eyes meeting the Kings dark ones.

“I am.” The former solder replied.

T’Challa sighed.

“Captain Rogers. I understand your frustration, but you must understand the risk I am placing my own people in by housing you and your team. Any knowledge that you are here could lead my people to war. I cannot risk that if you are going to become a flight risk.”

“With all due respect, your highness, what are you saying?”

“I am saying that if you leave Wakanda, Captain Rogers, you will not be welcomed back.”

Steve opened his mouth to reply but he had none.

------

Peter lay on his back on his bed, staring up at the white ceiling, one hand absentmindedly rubbing at his neck. Thanks to his healing factor, the cut on his neck was almost healed by the time Happy Hogan dropped him off outside his apartment in Queens.

Still, that hadn’t stopped May from fussing over him, his aunt checking him over for any injuries. Thankfully his hoodie had hidden the cut on his neck from her inspection and Colonel Rhodes had already called ahead, letting her know that Peter had been with Mr Stark and was uninjured.

May had been very vocal in her thanks about Mr Stark taking care of him and Peter had to admit, he was thankful. When the mercenary had grabbed him and used him as a human shield, Peter had truly thought that Mr Stark would either kick him out of the Avengers right then and there or shoot through him to get to the Merc.

Neither had happened, Mr Stark waiting until he was sure Peter was ok before leaving to look for the assassin and even taking a moment to ask him if he was alright before he was dragged to the hospital and Peter was guided away by the Colonel.

Honestly, Peter was just glad that Mr Stark was alright. He had been scared when he had seen Mr Stark hit the ground as the gun went off and then lost sight of him in the explosion. He was also glad to hear that Mr Stark was spending the night at Colonel Rhodes apartment and wasn’t going to be alone. This Deadpool guy was insane and Peter had no doubt he would be back to try again. Peter didn’t want Mr Stark to be on his own until they caught this guy.

Deadpool….

Peter had no idea what he thought of the guy. The hug and then having guns pointed at him. The odd flirting before being taken hostage. The thing that had poked into his back that was defiantly not a gun…

The whole situation had been beyond anything Peter had ever experienced.

There was a ping from his phone, signalling that he had received an email. Sighing, Peter rose to his feet and dragged himself to his desk and opening his laptop.

The email was full of attachments, Peter opening one. It was a picture from the incident, showing the destroyed stage and emergency workers walking around. Quickly, Peter opened another one. A different angle, this time Peter could see War Machine in the corner of the picture. Another, this time with Vision.

Closing the attachments, Peter scanned the message.

‘Mr Parker.
The Boss suggested that you may not have gotten enough pictures for your job today. I hope that these would be acceptable.
~ F’

Slowly, Peter smiled, realising that the pictures were enough to keep his boss off his back. He raised his wrist to his face, pulling the fabric of his hoodie away from the watch Mr Stark had given him.

“Thanks FRIDAY.” He muttered into the watch, knowing that Mr Stark had included a link to his AI into the watch.

He lowered his wrist and opened up Photoshop to being editing the photos to make them acceptable.

------

Kicking the door in, Deadpool strolled into the living room. With a groan, he dropped his bag of goodies and collapsed into the couch, pulling his mask off and throwing it to the floor.

“Well, that was a huge f*ck up.” He muttered to himself, kicking his legs up to rest on the couch. “Guess we are going for Plan B.”

Reaching under the couch, the Merc withdrew a large hunting knife. He raised it to the light and looked at the reflection in the blade. Slowly, he moved it back and forth, letting the metal catch the light.

“Yes. Plan B.” Wade muttered thoughtfully.

Chapter 8

Chapter Text

Turning on his computer, Peter quickly logged on and opened up the internet tab, waiting for it to load. The photo’s FRIDAY had sent him 2 days before had been accepted for the Bugle and even run on the front page of the paper.

Aunt May had been both proud and horrified, thinking that Peter had been too close to the action, not that he wanted her to know where he had really been.

The Bugle had been very busy, Jameson driving everyone hard to cover the Stark Shooting as well as the impending Christmas rush. Several times, Peter had been ordered to different parts of the city to photograph people going about their shopping and Jameson was still demanding more pictures of Spiderman, leaving the teenager rushed. He hadn’t even had time to visit Mr Stark or go patrolling since the incident. Hadn’t had time to look into this Mercenary who had tried to harm Mr Stark.

But there was one thing he could do before he had to once again grab his camera and run out the door.

Once the internet was up, Peter pulled up a search engine and typed in the words ‘Red Suit Mercenary Dead Pool’

He pressed enter and waited a few seconds before clicking on the first link, a link called ‘Iamthemercwithamouth.tumblr.com’

He blinked as the social media profile loaded, showing a picture of the mercenary’s mask. Curious, Peter hit the scroll button to go through the blog. There were a few text posts, mainly expressing a love for Mexican food. Down lower was a picture of Mr Stark and Captain Rogers and….wow. Peter quickly scrolled past that picture. He was certain it was offensive to Mr Stark. Below that were a few pictures of Spiderman, taken from the Bugles website. Peter recognising some of his own photos. More pictures, of Mr Stark and Captain Rogers which Peter quickly scrolled past (they were very much NSFW) and a very long text post, written by whoever ran this blog, claiming that Mr Stark and Captain Rogers were in love and then another picture, an apparent selfie, showing the Deadpool mask.

Absentmindedly, Peter rubbed a hand against his neck where the Merc had cut him during the face off.

It could easily be a joke blog but for some reason, Peter was sure this was the Merc who had attacked Mr Stark. Grabbing his watch, Peter opened a line.

“FRIDAY, I have a job for you that Mr Stark doesn’t need to know about.”

Using his free hand, Peter opened up his own photography blog before reopening the Merc Blog and clicking the Follow button.

“I need you to try and track someone through my blog. Hopefully this will give me a lead on Deadpool.”

--------

Steve sat quietly in the corner of the room, watching as his team. It had been three days now since his discussion with T'Challa and the Kings announcement. Three days since Tony had almost been blown sky high. He had continued to text Tony on the burner phone and was continually met with silence. Sometimes, Steve even wondered if Tony still had the phone or if he had thrown it out.

Thankfully the media had covered the story extensively and Steve now knew that Tony had only received minor injuries in the incident and no one else had been harmed, but it had been a close thing. Someone was out to get Tony. That was clear enough. And that frightened Steve more than he was willing to admit.

The rest of the team weren't talking about the incident, the Civil War, although Steve was starting to notice possible dis-satisfaction among his team mates. Only the other day, Clint in his boredom, had asked for a bow and arrows to practice with, his own bow lost sometime during his arrest and was never recovered. The request had been given to one of T'Challas aids who had referred the matter on, leaving Clint with no answers. Undeterred, the archer had approached the group of scientists working with Bucky to ask for a collaboration to make new arrows. Again, he had been shut down with the promise that his request would be referred to the proper channels.

They had heard nothing more until today, when T'Challa had appeared in the common room the team shared and explained in no uncertain terms that Clint's requests had been refused, that he was not going to supply the former Avengers with any weapons, that he was still in support of the Accords and willing to enforce them and that continued harassment of his staff was not going to be tolerated.

Scott, Sam and Wanda had been stunned into silence while Clint had huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Then he had said something Steve had not been expecting.

"If Tony was here, we would had made three new arrow patents and blown up two ranges in the time you idiots spent dicking around." he had muttered.

Clint had frozen the moment the words had left his mouth, realizing what he had said. Steve couldn't help but notice how the archer had sent a panicky look towards him before looking away at his feet with something like regret on his face, no doubt remembering all times he and Tony had goofed off on the range, how Clint had only to suggest something to Tony and it would be made, sometimes within hours of Clint mentioning it, how excited the two were to test out Tony’s inventions and how often those arrows saved all their lives in battle.

T'Challa had also looked over to Steve in question before turning back to Clint, handling the archer’s bad temper with kingly grace. In an even tone, he invited Clint to leave Wakanda and the protection offered at any time if he was unhappy with the Kings decision but he doubted a wanted criminal would get far. T'Challa had then turned on his heel and disappeared along with his body guards, leaving the silence behind him.

After a moment, Sam sighed.

“At least when we were back on the RAFT, they didn’t try to hide that we were imprisoned with kind words and comfortable rooms to keep us quiet.” He muttered.

That was it. Steve stood up from his place in the corner. Ignoring the eyes on him, the Super Soldier strode out of the room, making his way down to the lab where Bucky was being kept. It was a normal part of his routine, to spend some time with Bucky before going to his room to sleep so no one questioned him as he sat and silently observed his frozen friend. Steve spent a few hours down there, greeting the few scientists who came into the lab but not saying anything else. Then he went to his bedroom and locked the door.

The sun set over the palace, casting the building into darkness. After a few hours of silence, something moved, a figure making its way of a window and to the ground before dashing across the palace gardens and into the surrounding jungle.

Less than 12 hours later, the figure crossed over the border, leaving the safety of Wakanda behind.

--------

"Congratulations Tony."

The voice startled the genius from his work, Tony's head shooting up from the financial report from R&D to look up at Pepper, who was lingering in the doorway of his office, something clutched in both hands. He had finally given into Rhodey’s nagging (Living on the man’s couch seemed to make Rhodey think he was entitled to run Tony’s life. It was getting frustrating) and handed the case of the other Avengers over to his legal department, leaving himself free to actually do his job.

The news from the legal team were both good and bad, the lawyers claiming they could probably get Sharon off by claiming that she was coerced to act by the others. She would lose her job with the CIA but maybe not be imprisoned for life. The same could be said from Sam, Scott and Clint, if they were willing to admit they had not been acting of their own free will. The bad news is the legal teams plan was to put all the blame on Steve (not that he didn't deserve it since he did trick the others into joining his team without telling them it was to protect a terrorist) but Tony didn’t think the guys would go for it. It had been made clear during the battle that Sam and Clint’s loyalty was to Steve, not to the Avengers and not to the people they were supposed to protect. And Scott had probably just gotten caught up in the madness (Tony had been in discussion with Hank Pym when the man had put in a claim on the Ant Man gear and he had, after cursing Tony a few times, admitted that Scott Lang was not the brightest person in the world)

Natasha might get away with her betrayal, if T'Challa was to stand up in her defence but her reputation was never going to recover. Wanda was going to be tricky given her connections to Hydra but they might be able to put her under supervision instead of imprisonment given her status as a refugee and being the victim of unlawful experimentation (As long as no one mentioned that she had volunteered for the procedure in the first place) Getting Bucky free was even harder. Since the disaster of the Accords, a lot of people had been searching through the Hydra Data Dump, unearthing the names of all the Winter Soldiers victims. Unless they could prove that the Winter Soldier was in fact, a separate being from Sgt Barnes, which would require a lot of psychological assessments, there would be no way they could win.

It was enough to give Tony a headache, which was why he was so glad he had finally given into Rhodey’s nagging and handed all this over to his legal team.

Especially after Rhodey had threatened to sic Peter on Tony. Tony had to admit, Peter was for some reason the one person Tony didn't want to disappoint. The kid really did seem to see Tony as a hero, not because of Iron Man but because he was Tony Stark. It was unnerving but Tony couldn't bring himself to push the kid away.

"What did I do?" Tony asked, internally cringing. He didn't know what Pepper had in store for him but her smile was too nice for it not to be something bad. That was Peppers "I have something important to say" look.

"You made Forbes magazine."

Tony blinked. He had made Forbes before, habitually on the list of 100 Richest Businessmen, occasionally on the list of Best Dressed Men and in the occasional puff piece with the Avengers as a side reference.

"Did they release a list of top 100 Greatest Assholes?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.

Pepper just grinned and walked forward, placing the thing in her hands on the desk. It was a magazine, a Forbes magazine. Tony blinked. On the cover was a picture of himself, taken after the incident they were now calling the Stark Industry shooting. He was standing on the rubble, the armour wrapped around him. His body was angled towards his left, giving the armour a nice profile and showing off the new arc reactor. His helmet was off, his face turned completely to the left to catch the profile of his nose and chin. Grey dust was streaked through his dark hair and across his cheek and he could see blood on his face from the cut on his head in contrast to his clean and shiny armour. It was....well it was an impressive photo.

Written across the front of the picture were the words 'Iron Man: The Hero America Deserves'

Feeling his stomach drop, Tony reached out and opened the magazine, scanning the text. It was.... It was damning. Not towards Tony but towards Steve and the others.

The comparison the writer made between the 'Fantasy American hero who had turned his back on the people when they needed him' and the ‘Businessman turned good guy, who gave his own money to help others.’

The writer damned Steve in the article, using his protest of the Accords to call him arrogant, a relic of a backwards time and a terrorist while Tony’s agreement to support the Accords were held up to light as the new and 'human' hero, his dark past full of substance abuse and bad behaviour suddenly serving to make him more 'human' and 'approachable' instead of the asshole he had always been before.

Tony's assistance in the post battle clean-ups had been mentioned, the writer pointing out how Tony had redirected SI funds and even his own money multiple times to aid Sokovia and New York while Steve had disappeared, not resurfacing after New York and Loki until the incident in Washington (the clean-up of which had also been partly funded by Tony. Getting a downed helicarrier out of the Potomac had cost a staggering amount which the US government and SHIELD were never going to pay if they could get Tony to pay out of his own pocket) before disappearing again to look for the Winter Soldier without thought to the dozens of compromised SHIELD agents, the hundreds of injured people or the billions of dollars of damaged property.

Everything about this article was wrong. Tony wasn't a good man, Steve wasn't a villain. Tony felt like scooping up the offending magazine and throwing it as hard as he could.

Finally, he slumped back in his chair, letting the magazine fall closed.

"This is wrong." he muttered.

"This is what the people think." Pepper stated, moving around the desk to Tony’s side.

"But Steve isn't a villain." Tony protested, looking up at her.

"No. But he isn't the hero we all thought either." Pepper replied.

"Well I'm not a hero."

"Tony, Steve Rogers saw a problem, decided he knew better than anyone, attacked anyone who disagreed and ran away instead of facing the consequences. You saw a problem, tried to work to get the best outcome for everyone and when it blew up, you stood your ground and dealt with the fallout as best you could." Pepper stated, crossing her arms over her chest.

"That’s not what happened."

"Maybe. But we none-geniuses are not as stupid as you think we are. And maybe we have finally seen enough of Rogers to realise he should have stayed a silent hero glorified in his comics instead of trying to find a new war to fight. And maybe, just maybe, the real hero behind the Avengers was the one who fought for the people, not just himself."

"Whose to say I fought for the people and not just for myself?" Tony asked.

"Tony, you carried a nuclear warhead through a rip in space to stop it detonating over Manhattan, knowing that you would most likely die. No one else asked you to do that. No one ordered you. You decided to do it on your own, to save a lot of people."

Tony ducked his head. Pepper lent down and placed a hand on Tony’s shoulder, gently kissing the uninjured side of his head.

"A soldier is someone who fights because he is told to. A hero is someone who fights because he cares. Please remember that Tony." She muttered into his hair. “You are not a soldier but that doesn’t mean you aren’t a hero.”

Straightening up, Pepper turned and walked out of the office, her heels clicking on the floor.

------

The map hit the table, a large knife buried into the paper.

“Ok, and after I infiltrate the castle and rescue Princess Peach, then it’s just a quick run over the magic mushrooms to get to the finish.”

The knife was pulled out of the paper and run across the map, empathising each word.

“Yeah, I thought you had called me over to discuss how to kill Stark.” Weasel said, leaning against the doorway of the rundown apartment, hands in his jacket pockets.

“He did.” Al called from her chair. “Then he binged on Mario Cart and forgot his plan.”

“Hey, no I didn’t. I am a master of multitasking!” Wade called, raising the knife. He was dressed in his full costume excluding the mask and had the appearance of a severely deformed, plucked chicken, which was normal for Wade, but one who hadn’t slept in 3 days. His eyes had a certain craziness to them.

They both looked at him, even if Al couldn’t see him.

“You really aren’t.” Weasel replied. “You can’t even hold a gun while eating a Chimichanga. The last time you tried, you almost shot your head off.”

Wade pointed the knife in Weasels direction.

“Shut up you.” He replied. “Anyway, this is the plan. Bowser is obviously a metaphor for Iron Man. The other heroes are Koopa. Keep up.”

Weasel frowned.

“Then who is Princess Peach in this? And if you say me, I will hit you.”

“You wish. With that sweet ass, Princess Peach is totally Spiderman.” Wade replied, looking down at the map once more.

“That tells me more about you then I wanted to know.” Weasel replied. “So where is this castle anyway?”

Wade grinned.

“And that, is the best part.”

Chapter 9

Chapter Text

It had been three days since the condescending magazine. Three days of pitying looks and three days of unappreciated and undeserved sympathy. Tony was sick of it. Sick of the fake sympathy of people who didn’t even know him. Hell, even Christine Everhart had gotten in on the action, her usual ‘Tony Stark is an Asshole’ approach set aside in favour of a puff piece about how great Iron Man is. The bloody ‘Defenders’ had contacted him to express their concerns (Tony was terrified that Jessica Jones was planning to hug him! Her resting bitchface had certainly been less intense then Tony was used to. And Daredevil was one wrong turn away from being recruited into the SI legal team, just so Tony could wipe that smug grin off his face) and even Steven Strange had called to check on him, despite their barely restrained tolerance for each other and Tony already cashing in a favour with his epic facial hair bro.

And to make matters worse, the countdown had begun. No, not the countdown to Christmas. The count down to the worst day of the year, the anniversary of their deaths.

For the first time, Tony would be going through it knowing the truth. Last year had been painful enough, when Tony had been dealing with the fallout of Ultron and the criticism of his ‘friends’. But last year, he had the other Avengers to support him, albeit reluctantly. Last year, he had trudged up the hill to their graves with Steve at his side, the soldier claiming he wanted to pay his respects and offer his support to Tony.

At the time, Tony had been touched. He may have detested Howard and blamed him for his mother’s death but he was still his dad. If Steve had still been able to put aside his anger at Tony over Ultron to support him on that difficult day, then Tony owed it to the dead man to set aside his grievances. At least, that was what Tony had thought at the time.

Now the genius wasn’t so certain. Steve had never made any attempts to visit the graves before so why go now unless he had felt guilt. Yet Steve had been there and had stood at Tony’s side before the graves, knowing the truth behind their deaths even as Tony struggled to hide his emotions. Steve had known and remained mute, refusing to admit the truth, almost like he was laughing at Tony’s ignorance. In hindsight, Tony should have realised.

The moment they had left the graves, Steve had started outlining his renewed plans to locate the Winter Soldier with Sam. Tony had offered his help. After all, he was a genius with millions of dollars behind him and technology most people could only dream of. If anyone could find a 6ft, one armed super soldier, it would have been him. But Steve had refused, point blank.

If that hadn’t been a red flag that Steve had been keeping something from Tony, then Tony didn’t know what was. But Tony in his blind faith, had simply seen it as Steve not wanting to monopolise Tony’s time, instead of something far more sinister.

Sometimes Tony wished he could go back in time and shake himself for so blindly trusting the man who had turned out to be nothing more than a coward and bully.

But he couldn’t. At least, not yet. All he could do was attempt to ride out the fake sympathy and the gut wrenching betrayal and try to prepare for the future. A future that was looking more and more deadly.

Something was coming. Something terrible.

In an attempt to contact Thor, Tony had accidentally contacted something or someone else.

It had been FRIDAY who had picked up the signal, while working on a new code courtesy of Dr Selvig to try and contact Asgard. Tony knew that if anything were to happen, he would need a way to get the message to Thor as soon as possible.

But instead of getting a message through to Point Break, he seemed to get…something else. Some sort of radio transmission. It had been badly distorted but Tony was sure he could faintly make out the song ‘Hooked on a Feeling’ through the static. And every day that he checked out the transmission, it became clearer.

Like the noise was getting closer.

Tony knew he had to investigate further. If this was the mysterious threat, Tony could probably get an estimation of how long before it arrived on earth based on how fast the noise was clearing. If it was something else well…..Tony seriously doubted it was something else.

But to be able to get a proper look at the signal, Tony needed some very specific equipment. Normally, he would go to Stark Tower, since his lab was there. But that was out. The police were still crawling around the site since the explosion and Pepper was not willing to let Tony go there without a serious overhaul of security.

Unfortunately the only other place that Tony knew would have what he needed was the Compound.

So as much as it pained him, it was time to bid Rhodey’s couch farewell and head back to the Compound and the memories.

“Hey FRI, call up May Parker and tell her I need her kid for a few days, order a gift basket to be delivered to Rhodeys, don’t tell Pepper anything and then pack a bag and get the jet ready. It’s time to go home.”

------

Dealing with the Avengers was a study in patience, King T’Challa was learning. When he had first offered a safe place for Sgt Barnes, he had only meant it as a brief respite to heal before the man handed himself in to the UN to face the consequences of his actions. The King had been sure that with Zemo’s confession, Barnes would receive a light sentence and the help he so clearly needed. He had not meant for Captain Rogers to take it as a long term hiding place from his crimes.

Too late, had T’Challa seen his error, only once the Captain had staged his RAFT breakout and brought the other criminals into his palace. Now T’Challa found himself at an impasse.

Technically he had not set a limit on how many people in Rogers team could be brought in, or how long they could stay. And now his honour could not allow him to throw them out where he couldn’t control them. But that didn’t mean T’Challa wasn’t wary. The criminals seemed blatantly unaware of the damage they had caused, almost arrogant in their beliefs that they were in the right. Barton’s demands for weapons and special privileges proving that. And the Captains behaviour….

Rogers had already lied to T’Challa’s face multiple times, when firstly claiming that Tony Stark was unharmed in Siberia which had led to T’Challa's first offer of safety, up to his promise not to try and leave Wakanda to ‘rescue’ the other Avengers from the prison they deserved to be in.

Now it seemed that once again, the Captain had disregarded T’Challa’s hospitality for his own needs, sneaking out of the palace and fleeing the country in some harebrained scheme, leaving T’Challa to deal with the almost certain rebellion of his colleagues.

This had been the very reason for T’Challa’s weariness the first moment the rogue Avengers had arrived on his doorstep, why he had forbid all but his most trusted guards from approached the south wing which the Avengers resided in, why he had set in place a series of rules for the criminals to abide by in hopes of keeping them contained. It was why he had immediately contacted Dr Stark for help in how to safely detain the criminals.

Dr Stark had not replied, no doubt not trusting T’Challa given his actions. But he had sent someone to help him contain the rogue avengers.

Doctor Strange. The man certainly lived up to his name.

The man had arrived in Wakanda 4 days after the criminals had arrived, carefully concealing his presence from everyone but T’Challa and his sister.

The man had explained the situation carefully to T’Challa, pointing out that the rogue avengers were less likely to rebel if they didn’t know they had something to rebel against. It would take work but if they could hide the truth, play along a little to their delusion of T’Challa being on their side then maybe they could be held in place instead of running off to cause more damage. It was a bold plan but T’Challa had no others.

Of course, that meant Strange’s presence needed to be kept secret. Miss Maximoff was a mind reader and that any hint of what Strange was doing in Wakanda could cause friction and danger, should the girl take offence. It was through Strange that T’Challa learnt of how woefully undertrained and overpowered Miss Maximoff was and how much of a time bomb she could be.

Then Strange had gotten to work, placing wards around the south wing where the criminals were being housed. Although not noticeable, they were designed to discourage any of former heroes from leaving, making them believe that it was their own desires to stay instead of magic. Strange had also gifted the King, Princess and their guards and servants with charms designed to prevent Miss Maximoff getting into their heads.

Unfortunately, Strange’s wards could only be so powerful before they were too noticeable and a pigheaded mind could break through given enough incentive. Which is what seems to have happened with Rogers, the man so caught up in himself that he was able to override the desire to stay. T’Challa only hoped none of the others would follow his example.

Even so, T’Challa had upgraded the security to the boarders of his country. Now it was not just to keep people out (A certain Black Widow had been listed among those undesirables. T’Challa did not know of her whereabouts, last hearing of her only through the arrest warrant sent out for her and did not trust that woman to not try to get into his country) but to keep people in. At least to keep certain people in.

T’Challa had always hoped that the start of his rule would be a smooth, calm affair. He never imagined it would be with him becoming a jailer to a group of super powered vigilantes.

Still, one of his prisoners had escaped. T’Challa needed to alert the proper channels.

T’Challa didn’t know where Rogers would be heading but he had a theory. One that could be potentially dangerous to a good man who didn’t deserve the Captain ambushing him.

T’Challa needed to alert Dr Stark.

--------

‘This is the Voicemail of Tony Stark. If you leave a message, there is no guarantee I will even listen to it or get back to you. And if I do, it is only because FRIDAY made me so all credit goes to my girl.’

---------

“If you go into the woods today, you better go in disguise.” Wade sang to himself as he trudged through the thick bush that surrounded the Avengers compound, slowly scouting the area.

He knew that someone was staying at the Compound. Only 3 hours before, he had witnessed a Quinjet land by the side of the building. The Quinjet was still stationary, suggesting that whoever had landed there was not planning to go anywhere anytime soon. And Wade had it on good authority that it was Tony Stark who had landed it there (The word STARK written on the jet was a dead giveaway although Wade was a little disappointed that the Iron Man suit hadn’t made an appearance. Disappointed and a little thankful. He didn’t want to be on the receiving end of the blue hand of death. It had been too close last time)

To be frank, the Merc was in a very good mood. The Daily Bugle photographer who got the awesome Spidey Photos had followed him on Tumblr the day before and the source of information for Iron Man’s whereabouts had been correct (Thanks Author. I owe you a Chimichanga for that)

Wade estimated that if he could find a way inside the Avengers Compound, not an easy task in itself, he could kill Stark by sunset and then head back home to plot to kidnap the Bugle photographer. If he got the photographer on side, he could easily get the guy to take him to Spidey where he could being his plan to woo the Spider with his glorious personality and they could ride off into the sunset like a grand old western movie.

Yep, everything was coming up Deadpool.

-------

It never failed to impress Peter, as he stepped into the reception of the Compound, bag slung over his shoulder. The huge, open room and high white walls, just begging for Peter to get out his web shooters and go for a swing. Not that he hadn’t before.

Peter had been at the compound several times in the last few months, although not without Mr Stark, Colonel Rhodes and Vision.

This time had been a surprise, Mr Stark calling up his aunt unexpectedly and telling her that Peter was needed for a SI meeting for a few days. Mr Stark had even contacted the Bugle, telling them that Peter wouldn’t be in for the next few days.

Peter had done as instructed in Mr Stark’s message, packing his costume up and heading towards Stark Tower before he had been cut off by Happy Hogan and taken to an airstrip to the Quinjet waiting for them. There he had met Mr Stark who had said something about a science weekend before bundling the teen onto the jet.

A short hour’s ride later, the jet had landed outside the Compound. Peter had followed Mr Stark out of the jet, noticing that Vision was not waiting outside for them as he normally did. Colonel Rhodes, he could understand. The man tended to remain in New York most of the time since his doctors and his own apartment was there. But Vision lived here. It was then that Peter realised this was not going to be like their earlier trips to the Compound.

Instead, several of the bots were waiting for them, having somehow gotten out of the lab. DUM-E had immediately rolled up to Peter and used its robotic hand to grip the edge of Peter’s pants, while Redwing had immediately buzzed towards Mr Stark, flying circles around the man as he strode across the tarmac towards the building and into the impressive reception, U racing behind him, trying to keep up.

“You know your way around Spiderling. Go unpack and meet me in the lab in an hour.” Mr Stark said, hefting his own bag over his shoulder. The man flashed a quick smile and wink towards Peter before turning and walking down a corridor towards the rooms he stayed in, Redwing buzzing along behind him and U hot on his heels. After a moment, DUM-E released its grip on Peters pants, gears grinding as the little bot rolled around to follow Mr Stark.

Slowly, Peter turned. He had no idea why Mr Stark had called him here, the genius mute when Peter had asked. And Vision not been here was odd. As far as Peter was aware, this was where the android lived when not on Avengers business and Peter was not aware of anything that would call the android away. Still, Peter knew that in time, he would find out. He trusted Mr Stark.

Leaving the reception, Peter made his way towards his room to get changed. He had an hour. More than enough time to go to the gym and do some webbing before Mr Stark needed him.

-------

The back of the truck was dim, dust kicking up into the confined space despite the tarp draped over it as the wheels bounced over each pot hole in the dirt road. Inside, Steve sat, hunched over, one hand holding a cloth over his mouth, trying to breath through the dust. It was boiling hot and sticky underneath the black jacket and pants he wore and and hood over his head yet Steve didn't dare remove them. He had managed to walk from the Palace to the boarder of Wakanda and hitched a ride in a truck. For the last few days, he had hitchiked, paying the drivers not to notice him and was now travelling somewhere in Nigeria, a country subservient to the UN. Steve had no doubt that if he was recognised here, he would be caught.

The driver of this truck, thankfully hadn't seemed to recognise him, or didn't care when Steve had pulled out the US currency he still had on him, promising to take Steve to a small airfield on the coast. If Steve could get there without being unmasked, he could borrow a jet and hopefully make his way undetected to America.

Steve needed to get back to the United States, needed to get back to Tony before it was too late. He knew that he had promised T'Challa that he would not act without Tony contacting him but Steve was realistic. The phone had remained silent, not because there was no trouble but because Tony wouldn't contact him, even if his life was in danger.

Steve knew stubbornness and knew that he would have to act if he were to protect Tony, as Tony would never ask for his help. Not anymore. He had burnt that bridge.

But danger was coming and despite Tony's stubbornness, Steve refused to let him face it on his own. He would be there or die trying. After all, that was what friends did.

Chapter 10

Chapter Text

‘We are so tied up in the Captain America Legacy, we tend to forget how it started. Steve Rogers was the ultimate result of Project Re-Birth but in the glory of his beginning, we overlook the 300 African Americans who were drafted into the project and the 295 of them who died horrible, painful deaths at the hands of this experiment to create a viable Super Soldier. We never acknowledge Captain Isaiah Bradley, the only survivor of the project still alive, and the horrific brain damage he suffers which only recently, we have learned as a result of that hideous experiment. We never seem to care of the soldiers of Camp Cathcart, whose only crime was being born with the wrong skin colour, who were all executed by our own Government in the name of secrecy for Project Re-Birth. We are so caught up in the Legacy of the Great Captain America, his story of Army Reject to Brilliant Soldier that we overlook the hundreds of patriots who died for him and who were written out of the history books. And it seems, Captain Rogers has also forgotten his roots. It seems that Captain Roger’s refusal to acknowledge what happened is, like his refusal to aid New York, Sokovia or Legos after he bulldozed his way through, a pattern of behaviour that we should have acknowledged from him a long time ago. Despite his claim, Captain Rogers never stood up for the little guy, being it the American Soldiers who suffered and died for him, the SHIELD agents who’s identity’s he so carelessly compromised and left to die or the people on the street whose only crime was they got in Captain Americas way. Steve Rogers placed himself on a pedestal far above us and refused to get down, even when it was being kicked out from underneath him. If he really was the hero, why was it, he never helped the ordinary people? And why was it that it took Tony Stark having to face him down for us to acknowledge that?’ – Exert ‘Iron Man: The Hero America Deserves’ Forbes Magazine, 2017.

--------

There was a certain freedom with being at the Avengers Compound, Peter had found. For instance, he hadn’t had to remove his costume after his web around the Compounds gym before going to meet Mr Stark in the Lab.

The bright side of telling the other Avengers his secret identity meant previously unimagined freedom as Peter walked through the brightly lit halls and downstairs to the reinforced lab where he had spent a large amount of time, his mask off and nothing but a jacket thrown over his costume to cover the red and blue suit.

Mr Stark was already there, talking quietly to FRIDAY and occasionally swatting away a bot that accidentally got in his way.

Redwing in particular was hovering around Mr Starks head as the genius worked, ignoring the man’s grumble of annoyance as he tried to send the flying droid back to its recharge station.

It was surprisingly adorable and Peter couldn’t help but give a snort of laughter and grin as he drew closer, watching as Mr Stark pulled up something on the screen. The noise caught the attention of the genius who turned to look over his shoulder.

“Ah. There is the spiderling.” The man replied, stepping to the side in a clear invitation for Peter to move to the screen. Peter followed the wordless instructions and stepped closer, looking up at the screen. It was covered in wavy lines that Peter didn’t recognise. It was long and complex and Peter could feel himself going cross eyed trying to make sense of it.

“What’s this, Mr Stark?” The teen asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Mr Stark was my father kid.” The genius replied. “I thought I told you 100 times to call me Tony. Or if you can’t manage that, the all-powerful Iron Man.”

“Tony.” Peter replied, watching as Tony gave a comical pout. “What is it? Is this what you were talking about for a Science Weekend?”

That seemed to get the genius back on track, Tony turning to face the screen.

“This is a radio emission that FRIDAY has been picking up from outer space for the last week or so.” The man replied. “This is it as a broken down transmission since sound doesn’t travel through space.”

“So like the sounds of Saturn?” Peter asked.

“You’ve already heard that?” Tony asked, glancing at Peter. The teen nodded.

“Yep. Saturn is cool. It’s Jupiter that sounds really freaky.”

Tony turned away, grinning.

“Well, this one sounds a little different to those ones although kinda freaky in its own way. FRIDAY, play it for the spider”

Peter lent back, listening intently.

The noise stated off faintly, almost lost in what was probably interference. But slowly, Peter could make out a noise.

He blinked in surprise.

“What?” He asked, looking to Tony. The man was no longer grinning.

“You heard it too?” He asked as FRIDAY cut the recording.

“It…it sounded like something was singing but I couldn’t make out any words.” It was the only way Peter could describe it. The noise had been strange, a repetitive “whompa, whompa chunga” sound.

“It sounds like Blue Swede.” Tony replied, a small smile on his face. He turned to see Peter giving him a blank look.

“Nothing? Hooked on a Feeling?” he asked

Peter shrugged. Tony turned back, shaking his head.

“Do your homework kid.” He replied. “Anyway. Whatever it is, it’s been getting closer and clearer as the days go by which is making me think it is coming right for us.”

“This threat you were warned about?” Peter asked. The teen suddenly felt nervous, removing his hands from his pocket to cross his arms over his chest. Tony stepped closer to Peter until his shoulder was pressed against Peters.

“Or something else.” The bearded man replied. “The question is….what?”

Peter slowly turned to look at Tony, his eyes growing wide in horror at the implication.

“Excuse me Boss, Mr Spider-Man, but it seems an unknown person has somehow just gained access to the Compound. I believe their intention to be hostile”

“What?” Tony asked, breaking his gaze to look up at his computer. “FRIDAY, find out who it is, call up our allies and put us in lock-down. And if you value your circuits at all, DO NOT TELL PEPPER!”

“Yes Boss.”

Swiftly, Tony turned to exit the lab. The he stopped and turned back to Peter.

“You fully suited up?” He asked.

Peter nodded, dumbly reaching for his mask.

“Right. Stick to the roof and scout around FRIDAY’s blind spots. Report back everything you see.”

“Where are you going?” Peter asked, already stripping the jacket off and throwing it in the corner.

“To get the Mark 48.” Tony replied before sprinting out of the lab.

------

“Crap, crap, crap.” Wade sang to himself as he squeezed through the air vents. Clearly whoever had made these vents had made them to fit a Hawkeye sized person, not a Deadpool sized one, especially with the twins strapped to his back (Thank you Fanon for giving us this convenient plot device). Because of that, travelling through them was slow going.

Still, it didn’t look like he had tripped any alarms yet. Which was good. He was scared of the magic invisible talking lady he had heard hangs out with Tony Stark. She sounded Irish and bad-ass.

It had actually surprised Wade that he had managed to even get into the Compound, let alone into the vents. Wade had traded in his normal ‘Go in guns blazing’ plan for a subtle ‘Cover himself in dirt and trees and ninja his way to the door’ route. Amazingly, it had worked and Wade could now proudly say that the brown stuff in his pants was in fact, mud. Neither was the brown stuff sticking to the vents as the merc made his way slowly through (Send the cleaning bill to Logan. He’ll be happy to receive it)

Sliding on his stomach the last few meters, Wade carefully wedged himself. There was a grate below him, showing a corridor. If he was in the right place (of course he was. The author would never allow him to be in the wrong unless she either had a seriously good reason or wanted a sword in the skull) then it would mean….yep. The merc could hear hurried footsteps drawing closer to his spot. Stark was approaching and Winter is Coming! (God, Wade loved GOT. So much violence and sexy times and Jon Snow)

Reaching into his pocket, Wade drew a knife and carefully jimmied open the (already unlocked, thanks Hawkeye) vent. If he timed this right, it would be the most badass murder of all time.

A shadow drew near. Carefully, Wade slid his body along until he was at the perfect angle, gripping the knife in his free hand.

Murder in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….

------

Clint was angry. Hell, the archer was fuming. The moment Okoye, the head of the Dora Milaje, had stalked into the common room the former Avengers were all sharing and informed them of Captain Rogers escape, Clint had released this new betrayal.

Rogers had, after leading them on a merry chase, from Leipzig Airport to RAFT prison to this new gilded cage in Wakanda, abandoned them.

Even as Sam had jumped to his feet, loudly protesting at the implication that Steve had left them, trying to size up to a warrior who could take him down in seconds, Clint remained silent, sinking into a chair. He had not come out of retirement for this sh*t! Hell, he hadn’t even come out of retirement for the Accords Mess.

Clint may have been an assassin for an organisation that habitually skirted the UN's legislation, but he still knew enough to agree. He had seen the public outrage over the Lagos incident, the calls to lock up some, if not all of the people involved (namely, Wanda, Sam and Natasha. Steve had somehow managed to avoid being named as a guilty party in that sh*t storm) the demands for accountability for the deaths of those innocent people, the incident in Sokovia and every death attributed to heroes actions.

Hell, after the mess that was ULTRON, Clint actually agreed. If heroes were not prepared to be held accountable for their actions, then what made them different from monsters such as Loki or HYDRA? What made them so special?

And yet when Steve had called, Clint had followed without thinking, playing into the hands of a terrorist.

Clint still didn’t know why he had let Steve talk him out of retirement. He had been safe there, happy even. He may have given Tony Stark a smart ass reply when the man had questioned his involvement but the truth was, he had never planned to come back. He had never planned to abandon his family, even if it was to return to his Superhero one.

So why had he?

It was this question that had given him more than one sleepless night. But at least he had known that Steve and the rest were also searching for the answer.

Or maybe not.

The hard truth was that Clint did not know why he had come when Rogers had called. He tried to tell himself it was for Wanda, for the debt he owed the girl after her brother died saving him. But in his heart, he knew that it wasn’t the whole truth.

Oh, Clint knew why Sam had followed. Sam had followed because he was Steve’s lapdog these days, blinded by the Captain America legacy and the memory of taking down SHIELD. Not realising that Rogers, behind the flag and shield and Supersoldier crap, was a very human man who could and did get things wrong. One who didn’t care for politics or public relations when he could get someone else to do it for him and thought tearing people down when they stepped out of line was the actions of a good leader.

Scott was another lackey, as much as Clint did like the man. Like Clint, he had a family and no reason to get involved in this fight and yet he did. Maybe like Sam he was blind to the truth, or maybe someone had something on him that Clint was unaware of, forcing his hand. Or maybe, like Clint, the man had simply stopped thinking until it was too late to run. Hell, Clint had heard the hurt in Scott’s voice in recent days. It seemed the man may have been coming to regret his actions like Clint was.

And Wanda?...Well Wanda was still looking in some way to get back at Tony Stark. Putting Vision through the floor of the home Stark had gifted them and accusing the genius of treating her like a child sent to her room even as she agreed with Steve using that exact term to defend her against murder accusations was the actions of a spoiled brat. A scarily overpowered spoiled brat who Clint still secretly hadn’t forgiven for her attempts to mind rape him, even as he had tried to defend her in memory of her brother.

Clint was angry. At himself mostly. He had trained for years to make sure he could avoid these sort of traps. A charismatic leader could be your end if not handled properly and Clint knew it. Yet he had fallen into the Captain America bullsh*t and now he was here, separated from his family, hell even separated from some of his friends.

He missed Natasha, his best friend who had sided against him. Nat wasn’t stupid and knew politics better than most. She had chosen to support the Accords for a reason. That action alone should have made Clint sit up and listen instead of allowing Cap’s “They want to turn us into a hit squad” crap to turn his head.

Clint missed his wife and kids. Had Laura been there when the call had come through, she no doubt would have smacked Clint over the head before he could even start packing his bag. She too was way too smart for Clint to ignore.

Hell, Clint even missed Tony. As harsh as he was to the genius on the RAFT (Yes, Clint was willing to admit he had been way out of line there. His attack on Tony had been petty and Clint sorely regretted it in light of what had happened to Rhodey and what Tony had gone through. Tony hadn’t been the reason they had been locked up. They had been locked up because they broke the law) he had never though the man was evil. Their prank wars in the Tower, their good natured jokes on the field, the fact that Tony had always made time for Clint whenever the Archer had approached him with a new idea for an arrow, even while trying to run a worldwide company. Tony was a good man. And Clint had abused that goodness.

Clint wanted to apologise to the man, to all of them. Hell, he needed to. If it wasn’t for King T’Challa mentioning that they were being hunted, Clint would have already slipped away to attempt to get back to New York.

The attempt on Tony’s life had been made. A fellow Avenger was in danger. And here they were, stuck in a tropical paradise, unable to help. And now they had been abandoned by their ‘so called’ leader.

Rogers had abandoned them. And not just that. He had never approached any of them to see if they wanted to assist him. He had not mentioned his escape plan. And he had made it harder for the others to now leave. Clint had no doubt that now they would be watched more closely, that T’Challa would alert the palace guards to prevent anymore escapes. The security of Wakanda meant everything to the King. Even more so then his guests and their freedom.

Sam was still protesting. Now he was bringing up his civil liberties, an irony clearly not lost on Okoye, who looked like she was torn between laughing at him and punching him.

Wanda was also on her feet, her voice louder than it had been in weeks as she protested that Steve would not abandon them, abandon her. A red glow was seeping from her fingers, almost threateningly. Okoye, clearly braver then anyone Clint had ever met, simply glanced unimpressed at the display before dismissing the threat as if Wanda was no more dangerous than a little bird.

Only Scott seemed to be resigned to what had happened.

Clint could feel the headache start.

He rose to his feet.

“SHUT UP!” He shouted.

The room fell silent, everyone turning to look at Clint.

Slowly, Clint released the air from his lungs.

“Rogers is gone! He abandoned us. Wake up for once in your life and realise he is not the man you thought he was.” He stated, glaring at Sam.

“He protected us. He protected Bucky.” Sam shot back.

Clint couldn’t help but laugh. God, was Sam really so wrapped up in Steve’s spell, he couldn’t realise that they were simply hangers on. Steve was only looking out for Bucky. And even then, he had abandoned him along with the rest of them.

“Bucky, Bucky, Bucky! Need I remind you that Steve has left him here too?” He snapped.

Beside Sam, Wanda growled, eyes flashing red.

“Steve saved us!” She spat.

“Saved us from what? You were safe in the Compound, none of you were going to face prosecution over Legos because of Stark. What Steve did was put us in danger, not save us. He SUPPORTED A TERRORIST!”

“He saved Bucky from the UN!” Sam replied, as if this explained everything.

“Did he really need saving? As far as I have heard, the UN had offered him the psychiatric help he so sorely needed after his arrest. But Steve made it out like they were going to drag him behind a shed and shoot him and suddenly we are acting like he should be free to go out as a crazy person and blow up buildings instead of facing the UN. Who said he was better off free to cause chaos? Did he ask for it? Did anyone even think to ask him what he wanted? Maybe, just maybe, he actually wanted the UN's help.” Clint snarled.

“Well let’s ask him now.”

All three arguing heroes turned. Scott was the only one still seated, the former con looking at all three of them.

“What?” Sam asked. Slowly, Scott stood up.

“Let’s go ask Bucky what he wanted. Because frankly, I want to know the answer too.” The man replied before turning to leave the room, heading down to the lab.

Chapter 11

Chapter Text

The gravel crunched under the wheels of the car as it pulled up outside the Avengers Compound, the blond haired woman stepping out to look up at the building. She sighed, her shoulders hunched as the cuff attached to her ankle shifted uncomfortably against her skin. The tracker which the court had ordered her to wear instead of jail.

It was humiliating, handing over her passport, losing her job and wearing the tracker but it was far better than being locked up. She owed Tony Stark and his team of lawyers so much for this. For saving her from her mistake in helping Steve and his friends.

Sharon could admit now that she had been blind to Steve’s faults, falling in love with the character in her aunts stories without actually stepping back and looking at the man behind them. She had wanted so hard to be the heroine in this story, to assist Captain America in his daring quest to save the world that she hadn’t actually seen what was going on. Steve had given the middle finger to most of the free world, killed innocent people and destroyed so many lives, because he couldn’t accept that his friend was a monster who needed to be locked up.

It had been a long few weeks for Sharon Carter, sitting in a lonely cell, watching the tv as it showed the misery that Steve and his friends had caused on innocent people, showed the pain he had caused to her own cousin. That Sharon had caused.

Finally, that morning she had been released, blinking in the sun, to the custody of her bail officer and Tony’s lawyers and to what felt like a new world.

A world that was no longer following Captain America.

And now it was time to face the music, to see Tony again.

Sharon would be first to admit, she was not close with Tony. The age gap between them was too big for them to have much common ground, not to mention that Tony was a genius going to MIT at the age of 17 while Sharon was still learning her ABC's. The fact that Tony was the son of one of those heroes in Aunt Peggy’s story while Sharon was just a niece had also burnt her inside, not to mention him stealing Sharons aunt away from her when he wasn't even real family. Sharon had gotten particular enjoyment in excluding Tony from the list of people invited to Aunt Peggy’s funeral, even though she had known Aunt Peggy still cared for him in her last moments, asking about him even as her life ended (although she had mistakenly called Tony 'Howard', confusing the man for her old friend).

And yet Tony had always been kind to Sharon, even when she didn't deserve it, buying her very first car for her, funding her through college and paying for Aunt Peggy’s treatment before she died so that the Carter family didn't have to deal with the financial burden.

He had never seemed to notice Sharon’s resentment towards him for her aunt’s favouritism or her glee when Agent Romanov had released the scathing assessment on him for SHIELD which had been used by the junior agents to laugh at him. Hell, when HYDRA had been revealed, it had been Tony Stark who had used his money and influence to save those same junior agents when their identity’s had been compromised by Romanov’s data drop while Steve Rogers had walked away in his own self-righteous glory.

It was Tony who had paid for Sharon’s legal defence, something Sharon would never be able to repay. Without him, Sharon would be locked up for the rest of her life. Tony had given her back her freedom, after all she had done to hurt him.

Sharon owed Tony everything. Now it was time to swallow her pride and admit that. To try and mend this bridge she had worked so hard to burn even as Tony tried to put out the fire.

Arriving at the door, Sharon expected it to be locked and for Tony’s AI to be on guard. She didn’t expect the door to open. And she did not expect the alarm to be blaring.

Alarmed, Sharon immediately reached for her gun before remembering that she was no longer allowed to carry one as part of her parole.

“Miss Carter.” A female voice called.

Sharon jumped, looking around wildly.

“Miss Carter. Boss requires some help.” The voice continued with a note of urgency.

Spotting the blue light on the wall, it dawned on her that she as speaking with an AI.

“Please Miss Carter. Boss is in trouble.”

“I don’t have a weapon.” The former agent said in a loud whisper.

“Go to the kitchen. I will direct you.” The AI replied.

Nodding, Sharon turned and ran into the Compound.

------

In the office of Alias Investigation, a phone beeped. Sitting at her desk, her feet perched on the edge, Jessica Jones groaned and threw her head back. She hated the success of Alias Investigations. It seemed that now everyone wanted her working for them. God, people were the worst.

Kicking her foot off the desk, Jessica reached for her phone, fully prepared to throw it across the room. The message caught her eye, halting her action mid throw.

Opening the message, Jessica read it carefully before standing up and stalking towards the door. She briefly paused and turned to grab her grey scarf before leaving the room, the door slamming behind her.

Tony Stark had the best booze and she was not going to let a mercenary kill him if she could help it. She had been raring for a fight for a while now and it was about time the dumbass squad actually did something fun, even if she had to round up the idiots. Plus, Matt might need her scarf again if he wanted to look like an asshole during the smack down.

------

In the New York Sanctum, Doctor Stephen Strange was flicking through multiple books. Thor request for assistance to locate Odin was taking far more time and effort than the Sorcerer Supreme had expected. Adding to that his duties to the Sanctums and to the Kamar-Taj and trying to track down Mordo and Stephen was feelings swamped. Wong had already chewed him out over his increased workload after agreeing to help Thor. Stephen was not looking forward to when Wong found out that Stephen was also helping the Avengers.

Speaking of, Stephen looked up from his book towards the faint buzzing. It was coming from the phone Tony Stark had made specifically for him which he could work even with his damaged hands. Not many people had the number to the phone yet and Stephen guessed it would have to be an emergency for any of the people who did to call him.

Leaving the books, Stephen walked over to the phone and ran his finger across the screen, opening the message. He read over it. Then he turned, grabbing the Cloak of Levitation and throwing it over his shoulders before opening a portal and stepping inside.

------

The pen was a re-assuring weight in her hand, tapping against the tablet on the table as Hope stared approximately one foot above and 3 inches to the left of the speakers head. Pym Technologies Board Meetings were always the low point of the CEOs week.

The topic of the meeting, once again Pym Tech’s bad press from the Scott Lang fallout. Although Hope had done a lot of work trying to smooth over diplomatic ties for the Airport Incident with a lot of help from Stark Industry (despite it almost giving certain members of the board a heart attack to be working with SI) there was still a long way to go to restore their public image given that a known criminal had managed to steal a highly powered suit and attack UN sanctioned heroes with it.

Briefly, Hope wondered what would happen if she threw the pen at the speaker. It was not like she could get in trouble since she was the CEO but it might be worth it just for the shock value. If not that, then something hero related.

Since taking up the Wasp Suit, Hope had been an active member of the Avengers, working alongside Vision, War Machine, Spiderman and yes, Tony Stark, to try and restore heroes credibility and locate the terrorists following Rogers.

Almost like someone had been listening to her, Hope’s tablet flashed an alert. Looking down at her tablet, Hope read the message. She quickly stood up.

“Gentleman, something has come up and I am afraid I will have to leave this for a later date.” She said, cutting over the speaker.

“Miss Van Dyne!” The speaker called, looking alarmed but Hope had already left, running towards her office and the suit waiting for her.

------

“Hi Mr Stark! Look, before we begin, I just have to say that I am a huge fan and no hard feelings, right…? Well some but not for you, but if my baby boy is around….speaking of, does he had a PO box or something. I got some fanfiction I would love him to read” Deadpool rambled from his seat on the prone man’s chest, knife held to his victim’s throat.

Underneath the man’s weight, Tony gasped for breath, his (still healing from the damage inflicted in Siberia) ribs throbbing in agony.

The genius had been taken by surprise as he had run towards his lab, the mercenary falling from the ceiling and knocking him to the ground.

The mercenary was still talking a mile a minute, his words making little sense to the genius in light of the very, very sharp knife at his neck, Tony’s mind racing as he tried to think of a way to defeat the man. Had Tony been at the Tower, FRIDAY would have already armed the defence systems, taking out the Merc. But Rogers had veto’d that idea when Tony was first building the Compound, reasoning that no one would try to attack the Avengers in their own home and playing Tony’s concerns off as unwanted paranoia. As such, all FRIDAY could do was alert the rest of the team to Tony’s situation.

Thankfully Peter had disappeared inside the Compound somewhere, Tony hoping that the kid was not planning to do anything stupid.

Finally able to breathe again, Tony looked around wildly, his eyes falling on his watch. The one that had saved him from the Winter Soldier when Barnes had tried to shoot him at point blank range. All it would take was one moment of distraction and he could blast the merc’s head off.

Suddenly, Deadpools face was too close to Tony’s the mercenary looming forward, covered eyes staring right at Tony.

“Whatever you are thinking of doing, Mr Stark, I wouldn’t. I would hate to make your death painful since I like you but I have a reputation to maintain.” Deadpool whispered, a hairsbreadth from Tony’s ear.

The knife dug harder against Tony’s throat.

“Alright Mr Stark. Nighty night!”

The knife left Tony's throat, glinting dangerously as it was raised into the air above the geniuses head.

There was a wet sound. Deadpool gasped and let out a soft “ouch” before falling on top of Tony, knife dropping from his hand.

“Tony?” A female voice gasped.

Grunting, Tony grabbed the mercs shoulders and pushed the body off, his eyes falling on the knife buried in the back of Deadpool’s head. Slowly, he looked up into a pair of blue eyes.

“Sharon?” He asked in confusion.

There was a grunt from the body.

Rolling quickly to his feet, Tony activated his watch into the gauntlet, aiming it towards the body.

“Where’s Spiderman?” He asked, grabbing Sharon’s arm and directing her behind him.

“What?” The former agent asked as she drew a second knife from her pocket.

“FRIDAY?” Tony shouted.

“He’s on his way boss.” The AI said. “I also have confirmation from Miss Jones that the Defenders are on their way and Doctor Strange has just left the New York Sanctum. Miss Van Dyne is also on route to the Compound. Vision has been informed but is currently dealing with an Accords approved situation in Korea.”

“Cancel them.” Tony barked. “And tell the kid to sit tight. I don’t want him anywhere near this.”

“Unfortunately Miss Jones has now switched her phone off and Doctor Strange is unreachable at the moment as he is currently traveling through a portal. Spiderman has been informed but has asked me to tell you that he will be there in a minute and that he is bringing re-enforcements.”

Tony turned to where he knew FRIDAY’s camera was.

“Will that kid ever listen to me?” He asked, annoyed.

Deadpool groaned loudly as he rose to his feet, his back to his attempted murder victim as he reached for the knife still lodged in his head. Sharon gave a squeal of surprise and grabbed at Tony’s arm as the two jumped back in alarm. There was a flash as Tony’s repulse glove triggered, the blast striking Deadpool in the back and sending the mercenary flying.

Slowly, Tony lowered the glove as Sharon released her grip on his arm.

“What?” Sharon asked as she slowly stepped towards the smoking corpse.

There was the sound of running footprints. Both turned again as a red and blue figure ran towards them, several metal contraptions following him.

“Mr Stark, I….oh!” Spiderman said, slowing to a stop as he assessed the situation in front of him. Behind him, Tony’s bots skidded to a halt, Dummy brandishing a fire extinguisher like it was a weapon (For Dummy, it was), Redwing buzzing towards Tony to check that the genius was ok. Tony pushed the little flying bot away from his face before once again turning towards FRIDAY’s camera.

“FRIDAY, prepare a cell for our guest. I have a feeling his Jesus trick was not a one off.” He said, eyeing the smoking body.

------

The silence of space was vast, all consuming and ….

“Quill, I swear I will fry that monkey brain of yours if you don’t turn that damn thing off!” A voice growled.

*sigh*

“I agree. What was once a pleasant noise is now a pain to my ears.” A second deeper voice added.

“See!” The first voice almost shouted. “Even Drax agrees with me. It goes off Quill.”

“I like it. I feel happiness when it plays.” A third, female voice said.

“If it makes happiness, then I would gladly listen to this torture more. I say continue.” The second voice stated. A loud thud was heard.

“What? Are you kidding me?” The first voice asked. “Drax, how could you?”

“I am groot!” Another voice responded.

“No one asked you!” The first voice growled.

On the bridge of the Milano, Peter Quill sighed and shook his head before turning away, ignoring Rocket’s whining. Clutched in his hands was the Zune, the last present from a father he had refused to acknowledge until it was far too late. On repeat was his song. Blue Swede…

It was only ironic that Yondu’s last gift was also his last job for his son. When Kraglin has handed the device to Peter with the comment that it was ‘what everyone was listening too on earth’ it had sparked a warning bell in Peter’s head.

After Ego’s attempt to take over the universe, Peter had started thinking more and more about his home planet. To find out that others had been there, to his home, was startling. And well….Peter had always thought that Earth was off limits. Earth was his!

He had expressed his thoughts to the Nova Corps and well, the news was not good. Nova Prime had informed the Guardians that their forces had been watching Earth and discovered that another Infinity Stone had been located. Due to some huge incident, involving an attempted invasion of the planet which somehow had been defeated by a group of humans, Thanos had been made aware of the stones existence and his forces were already mobilising to attempt a second invasion.

Because of Peter’s heritage, it had been a no-brainer to employ the Guardians for a mission to the planet and now the team were racing towards Earth to locate the Stone first and get it away from Earth. And Peter was heading home for the first time since Yondu had taken him all those years ago.

What would it be like? Had Earth changed without Peter Quill?

Sighing again, Peter slumped against the bulkhead. He missed Yondu. The Ravager had been a constant in his life, even when Peter had left the nest and when Yondu had placed a hit on him and now Peter felt lost without him. Would the blue Ravager want Peter to go back to Earth?

Hell, the only reason Yondu had kept Peter away from Earth was because of Ego. So technically, the old pirate would have been fine with Peter returning now. But part of him desperately wanted to talk to the man, to ask him what he thought.

A hand rested on his shoulder. Turning, Peter looked at Gamora. The assassin was far too good at reading Peter’s moods and could tell that he was apprehensive about the mission.

“2 more days.” She said.

Peter nodded, hearing what Gamora wasn’t saying. 2 more days to back out. Nova Prime had other people they could send. Thanos was an issue but the Guardians could be used in another way to stop him. They didn’t ‘have’ to do this.

And yet, Peter could not see any way to refuse the job.

Earth was his home, no matter how far away it was. He had to defend it. And he had to find out about how it was defended the first time. No matter how nervous it made him.

Peter Quill was finally going home.

Chapter 12

Chapter Text

It was a strange place Sharon found herself, in a room which she knew, had once been the former Avengers briefing room. The red man (the one who had seemingly shaken off a knife through the brain stem) on Tony's instructions, had already been dragged to a cell meant to hold a Hulk by Sharon with assistance of FRIDAY and Spider Man (Spiderling? Spider Boy? Tony had called the masked hero multiple names in a conversation which had lasted less than 30 seconds, confusing Sharon) although the former CIA agent was not sure what it would do. The red man may have gotten back up after Sharon’s attack but he was looking very dead with half his torso missing.

The agent had then followed the masked kid to this very room where she had been surprised to find was now filled with people. Tony had been in the center of the room, leaning against a table and speaking to a dark haired man with similar facial hair to his, decked out in blue robes and a dramatic red cape that... Sharon had to look around to try and locate the draft that was moving the capes material.

Standing next to the man and clearly involved in the conversation was, and here was a surprise, Pym Tech CEO (the main rival to SI) Hope Van Dyne. The woman had her arms crossed over her chest, her dark hair tied away from her face. She was wearing a tightly fitted suit of blue and silver with a strange metal backpack and was clearly trying not to roll her eyes at something Tony said, even as she sent him a fond smile.

A noise came from behind Sharon, causing the woman to turn quickly as Spider Man left to stand with the trio.

Another group of people were standing in the corner. A large dark skinned man in a navy hoodie was standing with a petite caucasian woman with dark hair and a scowl on her face and a unkempt blond haired man wearing a grey suit. Sharon recognised this man too, as Daniel Rand, the owner of Rand Enterprises, a company which, although not quiet in league with SI or Pym Tech, was still a world renowned company. The three were also talking to each other and seemed to be ignoring Sharon. However, the man behind them was not.

He was looking at her, she was sure, although from what she could tell, the place in his mask where his eyes were was covered by thick red leather, matching the rest of his skin tight suit. By all reason, he shouldn't be able to see her. Yet Sharon had the distinct feeling he was studying her.

Sharon felt herself stare back, unsure of what to do. She felt her palms go sweaty.

"Why is everyone still standing?" a voice asked, breaking the tension. Sharon turned, secretly revealed, to look at Tony who had left his conversation. He approached them, rubbing his chest as behind him, Miss Van Dyne and the bearded man made their way to a large conference table, the Spider Boy shooting out a web and pulling himself up to sit cross-legged on the ceiling.

"I went to all this effort to get nice chairs and everything." the genius continued.

The dark skinned man gave a small snort and stepped forward, past Sharon.

As he drew level with Tony, he gave the genius a smile and clap on the shoulder. The others followed, the dark haired woman giving the genius a playful (although quite forceful) punch on the arm and Rand gave a nod and a grin. The red man (who Sharon now realised had small horns on his head) also walked past although Sharon couldn't guess how he did it with his eyes covered.

Tony gave each of them a fond smile and a nod as they passed before turning to Sharon.

"Come on Share-bear. Party hasn’t started yet." he said to her before turning and making his way to the table.

Slowly, hesitating as she approached, Sharon made her way to one of the chairs at the table. As she sat, she heard Hope say to Tony "I will contact Miss Walters, let her know your proposal"

Tony smiled, not looking at Hope as he looked around the room.

"Thank you all for coming. I am sorry to say the threat has been neutralised, thanks to the lovely Agent 13. But as I had been planning a meeting already and there is no time like the present, I thought I would draw your attention to some troubling matters."

There was a set of footsteps.

"Don’t mind me. I was stuck in a simulator and was running a bit late."

Sharon was the only one to turn to see the blond woman enter the room, dressed in a red and blue suit. A gold star cut across her chest, separating the two colours.

"No problem at all Captain, please take a seat." Tony replied smoothly. The woman smiled and walked over to the seat next to Sharon's, sitting down gracefully. She gave Sharon a friendly smile.

"Who is this?" she asked.

"Right. Knew I forgot something. Carol, this is my cousin, Sharon Carter, also known as Agent 13. Share, this is Carol Danvers, also known as the amazing Captain Marvel. And the rest obviously. You already know Spidey. This is Wasp” He nodded to Van Dyne, “Doctor Strange” This time, he indicated the robed man with the cape, “Jessica Jones and Luke Cage” The dark skinned man waved but the dark haired woman scowled. “Iron Fist and Daredevil.” Rand smiled and raised two fingers to his forehead, giving Sharon a salute but the red man (Daredevil. And wasn’t that an apt name. He man looked like a demon) stared unseeing at her, the small part of his face that was visible was an emotionless mask.

Tony grinned as he named everyone but Sharon saw Carols eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

"You brought a convicted terrorist into the compound?" she asked, turing to look at Tony who winced, smile falling from his face.

"And who has already broken parole, it seems." Daredevil added, looking at Tony as well. Sharon felt the urge to shrink into her chair, under the gazes of the rest of the people at the table.

Tony shot Daredevil an irritated look.

"She hasn’t killed anyone Murdock."

The man shrugged. "Jury’s still out." he replied.

Sharon felt her face flush with anger. She had never killed anyone. How could this man imply such... She paused as an unpleasant thought struck her. She hadn't killed anyone directly. But when she had given Steve his weapons and directed him to the Winter Soldier's hideout when she knew there were plans to take Barnes into custody. How many innocent civilians had been mowed down by the Super Soldier as a result of her actions? She ducked her head.

"Look, just give her a chance. She stopped the intruder when I was stuck and we need all the help we can get" Tony replied, hunching forward like he was preparing for a physical attack.

"With what?" Jessica Jones asked, scowling. Suddenly Hope lent forward, placing a hand on Tony’s arm.

“It’s ok Jess. If Tony says she’s fine, I trust him.” She said, smiling at the genius.

Beside her, Tony blinked in confusion. Sharon realised that in 3 simple words, Van Dyne had completely disarmed him. ‘I trust you’ Tony's last team hadn't ever said such, even going so far as to trust the words of HYDRA agents over him. The others in the room nodded and relaxed, even the Devil and Jessica lent back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Well, if Stark says it’s cool.” She stated. She shot Sharon a smile that held a hint of warning. She didn’t trust Sharon, but she was willing to trust Tony’s assessment.

Beside her, Luke cleared his throat.

“So getting back on track, why are we here? Apart from an intruder in the compound who was already taken care of before we arrived. And why doesn’t this compound have inside security measures? I would have thought FRIDAY would have had something.” He asked.

"And there is the million dollar question.” Tony replied, ignoring Luke’s second comment, clearly still a little surprised at his teams trust in him. “FRI, if you will.”

"Of course Boss" The AI replied.

A hologram lit up in the center of the table, showing a glowing orb. It took a few minutes for Sharon to realise it was the earth.

“Jones, I trust you to fill in Hells Bells on this later.” Tony stated as he raised his hand to the hologram.

On the opposite side of the table, Jessica rolled her eyes while Daredevil snorted.

“Ha ha!” He mumbled.

Tony pinched his fingers in the air, twisting his wrist. On the projection, the globe minimised, the simulation panning out to a small moving dot with a question mark above it. A line showed the dots movements towards Earth.

Carol suddenly stood up, leaning in as if to get a better look at the dot.

“What is that?” She asked, eyes fixed on the dot.

“Best guess” Tony replied, “Some sort of craft.”

“Are we talking another invasion? Like New York?” Cage asked, also leaning in to look at the hologram.

“It’s too small to be an invasion.” Strange replied.

“Doesn’t mean it’s not a scout, sent to test our defences.” Carol stated.

“How sure are we that it’s hostile?” Van Dyne asked.

“No way to tell but how many alien visits to earth have proved good?” Tony asked.

The table fell silent, everyone looking down in contemplation. Finally, it was Daredevil who spoke up.

“How long?” He asked.

Tony shook his head.

“48 hours. Maybe less.”

“Then there is no time to lose.” Carol stated. “We have no way of guessing its intentions just yet but I don’t want to take a chance. We do this together. Tony, can you calculate where it is going to land?”

“Already done.” Tony replied.

“And?” Carol asked.

Tony ran his hands along the table to what Sharon realised was a holographic keyboard. The hologram zoomed in to stop at a set of co-ordinantes. A few more presses of keys on the keyboard and the imaged cleared to a bird’s eye view of a building.

Carol stated.

“Here? At the Compound?” She asked.

Tony nodded. Carol stood up, looking at everyone in the room.

“Anyone who has any meetings over the next two days, I am going to have to ask you to cancel them. I want everyone here and ready to move if this goes south. Hopefully it doesn’t but I am not going to take any chances. Tony, I am sorry but I am going to have to ask that everyone stay in the Compound for now, if you are comfortable with that.”

“You mean, you are actually asking if you can stay. Normally, people just assume and tell me when it doesn’t meet their expectations.”

An uncomfortable silence fall over the table.

“We are not a bunch of five year olds.” Jones said suddenly. “You would have to be a loser to freeload off someone else and expect to be catered to for everything”

“My old team mates…” Tony began.

“Your old team mates couldn’t wipe their own asses without your assistance.” Jessica cut across. “For f*cks sake, they threw a fit when the world told them they couldn’t invade other countries and let that little HYDRA bitch kill a bunch of civilians and then went on killing while trying to say that they didn’t need oversight. Hell, the Star Spangled Ass almost murdered you. They are dead weights Stark. Cut them away.”

“Ok!” Carol butt in, clearly seeing Jess getting worked up. Jessica had a bad history with Mind Control and any mention of the Scarlet Witch's abilities was bound to end in an angry outburst.

“I know Wasp, Iron Fist and Daredevil probably have things they need to sort out before they go off grid. I know I do. I suggest we all split for the next few hours and get our schedules clear for the next few days before re-convening here tonight. Tony, if you can get in contact with Vision and if he is finished his mission, I would prefer he be here. Colonel Rhodes too if he is up for it. ”

The others nodded and rose to their feet.

“I will alert all the Sanctums, make sure they are ready should anything happen.” Strange stated.

“I’ll go with you.” Hope replied. “The New York Sanctum is close to my office. I will alert Hank and start pulling out our defence options.” She turned to Tony. “Pepper and I have been in talks about the some of our plans to apprehend the Rogue Avengers. I am sure some of the plans could come in handy. Rand, if you want in, let me know and I will add your head of R&D to the plans.”

“You have been talking to Pepper?” Tony asked.

Hope smiled.

“Of course.” She replied before walking over to the Defenders who were all standing up. Only Sharon remand at the table, unsure what to do.

Suddenly, Tony reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“FRIDAY will show you to a room. She is already going over the conditions of your parole to try and find some loopholes to allow you to help. I am sure Devil Boy will be happy to take a look too.”

“Suddenly I am working for you Stark?” Daredevil shot back but he sounded amused for once.

“I warned you that I would add you to my pool of Sharks one day.” Tony shot back, grinning. “Anyway Share, FRIDAY will show you the way. And of course the Spiderling. Make sure you have ok’d it with May…”

He looked at the section of the ceiling where the masked hero had settled at the start of the meeting.

“Where is Itsy Bitsy?” He asked.

“Boss, the Spiderling left at the start of the meeting.” FRIDAY replied, speaking for the first time since the ground had arrived.

“Where did he go?” Tony asked.

“Boss, he went down to the Playroom to speak to Deadpool.” The AI replied.

“He did WHAT!?” Tony shouted. Ignoring the rest of the team, the genius turned and ran out of the room.

-------

Less than 2 minutes later, Tony skidded to a halt outside of the cell which Sharon had locked down the body of the dead Mercenary. As he had feared, the door was open and the occupant was gone.

A piece of white paper was stuck to the door. Shaking, Tony grabbed the paper and looked at it. He sagged as he recognised Peter’s chicken scratch, written in Red crayon.

‘Mr Stark. M ok. Have gone t find out who wants u dead. B bk soon. Spider Man’

Underneath it in another hand was written in the same crayon.

‘Starky, me and BB Boy gone to look f Bad Man. Will make them go Ouchy. DP.’

Tony crushed the note in his fist.

“FRIDAY, find them NOW!”

------

“Mr Barnes? Can you hear me?” A voice asked.

Blinking through the white light, Bucky slowly woke up.