27

Chapter 27: Is Blackmailing a Politician Bad?

Chapter Text

Peter chewed on his stick of licorice. He was tucked in on the couch, anytime he so much as twitched it felt like more pillows or blankets appeared. Daisy was curled up on the beanbag she'd dragged home weeks ago. Aunt May had just sighed over it when she'd spotted it. Daisy's laptop perched against her legs. Darcy meanwhile was cross legged on the floor adjusting the new web shooters. Bits of webbing lay around the carpet.

Frowning as he read through the specs on the new suit on his clunky laptop he broke the silence. "Why are there just chunks missing?"

"Oh the gaps in the code?" Daisy checked from her position, she nabbed a new redvine from the tub. "That's stuff Tony put in I cut out. We're not giving an AI access to something called 'instant kill'. Also the suit shouldn't be able to act independently of you."

Peter looked at the...many large chunks of programming just missing. "I can't really help with this."

"I know Itsy Bitsy." Daisy replied. "But I do need your A-ok on what we are putting into this thing."

He scrolled to web cartridges. The new set up would automatically reload, and would change cartridges based on type automatically. "Do you think I could make dendrotoxin webs?"

Darcy hissed as more webbing hit one of the lamps. "Tony's fucking systems are not built for this."

"Dendrotoxin webs?" Peter tried again.

"Kid that's your area of expertise, not ours." Daisy looked up. "I mean all the magic potions and chemical concoctions are your wheelhouse." Her head tilted to one side. "I could give you Jemma's number?

He perked up at that. "Your biochem friend you're always calling?"

"I call her a couple times a week." Daisy corrected. "And yeah she graduated with her doctorates at like seventeen. But she'd actually understand the chemical goop you make for your webs."

"She's got a point." Darcy chimed in. "Tony's and my options for webbing are mechanical, we're changing how the web is shot to create different effects."

Peter hummed. "That'd be cool. You're sure she'd have time to talk to me though? I mean she's head of the labs with SHIELD isn't she?"

"Would you take the time to help a six year old with their homemade rock candy experiment?" Daisy asked, sounding smug.

And yeah, yeah he would. Besides, webs were super cool. "Right, makes sense. Actually side question. What are we calling the AI? Cause it's going to need a name or else I'll feel bad."

"Eventually yeah, it'd be weird to call it a natural voice interface everytime." Daisy winked at him. "What do you think we should call it?"

Peter hummed, letting his head fall back. "Well...she was supposed to be like our babysitter right? Before you yelled at him? So why not...Karen?"

"I can give her a middle aged lady voice." Daisy agreed easily.

"Cool." He clicked away from the Karen program and back to his homework. They were actually on a rabbit trail of horrified realization that international sovereignty was a bag of cats and the Accords would have been a nightmare.

They were all busy with their various projects when Darcy spoke up again. "While I've got you here, we need to talk about our plans."

"I thought you said we were doing good?" Peter looked away from another article by a political scientist professor about the nightmare the Accords nearly caused. "I mean Tony's not trying to support a police state. Steve's back to chasing down Hydra leads, Barnes is in custody and awaiting trial, laws have been passed you wanted, Ross is in jail, the ATCU is in shambles, SHIELD's getting positive press like...what else is there?"

Daisy set her laptop aside. "You want to start making bigger changes?"

"This is why I'm the brains around here on this stuff." Darcy pulled a redvine out from behind one ear and stuck it in her mouth. "Our enemies aren't going to wait for us. We need to be proactive about stopping them. For instance flushing out the Maggia is a good call."

Peter scratched at the bandages around his calf. "Am I going to be able to help with that?"

"Duh, you're my partner." Daisy chucked a throw pillow at him.

He batted it away, but felt a pleased thrill. They were partners. He hadn't ruined it. "Well my partner isn't keeping up with the Spidervids. You've done two."

"I'll do more." Daisy grumbled.

Darcy whistled. "Siblings! Focus. We need a new set of goals, and Daisy keep spying on Tony. I don't trust him not to have a legal stupidity relapse while he's in Malibu. I swear that man needs so much therapy."

"I can do that. And the Maggia investigation is going to take at least another month to rustle up enough evidence. It helps that so far it's off books except for the warrants which no one's noticed so far." Daisy looked at Darcy with a slightly pleading look. "Don't make me do more interviews."

"Not yet, but if you could get me some leverage on the mayor, maybe a few senators that would be useful." Darcy let out a groan. "I'm going to have to start making inroads into society life...joy."

Daisy snickered. "Need some dancing lessons? I can do dancing lessons."

Darcy gave a pointed look at the webbing festooning the room. "Maybe next time." She grinned. "But seriously, PR people. Which is why I signed you up for something you're not going to like."

"What did you sign me up for?" Daisy groaned.

Darcy just looked smug. "Red Nose Ninja Warrior charity run. You run some obstacles like the ninja badass you are and SI donates ten thousand to a charity of your choice for every obstacle you complete."

"I mean I work at a ninja gym. It sounds super fun, but I'm enhanced?" Daisy protested, looking confused. She shared a look with Peter.

He didn't share her confusion just bouncing slightly. "That'll be awesome! And you control vibrations, not anything that would be cheating. Well if you don't use your vibrations."

"But...technically?" Daisy tilted her head slightly.

Darcy's chin tipped up in victory. "I'm a genius. And they already agreed. We're being proactive people."

"Uh besides healing what should I be doing?" Peter asked. He wasn't the hacker, or the publicly acknowledged Stark with a political science degree.

Daisy grinned. "You can help Yuri listen to the bugs we planted in the Maggia offices. You're going to have to take notes, organize audio files."

"I can do it!" Peter didn't care if it was boring. It was necessary.

Darcy beamed. "So I've been thinking, we need to set up multiple spots for 'heros'. Cause all of you living in New York is a horrifyingly terrible idea. Tony and Steve alone will kill each other if left alone for longer than a week."

"Steve's got an apartment in DC. And the trial for Barnes sounds like they're going to run it there so moving them down there just makes sense." Daisy shrugged.

Darcy gave a considering nod. "That could work. Tony needs more Malibu time, maybe he'll chill out, get a massage. Side idea, what are your thoughts on blackmailing politicians?"

"I was hoping you were joking about that." Daisy sighed, but then shrugged again. "But what the heck, let's do it. You're going power mad anyways, might as well speed it along."

Peter looked between his sisters. "Wait, you're serious? Aunt May is so going to ground us and Thanksgiving is coming up and I need my pie. Guys!? May's pie is important! And if we're grounded we don't get it! Guys!?"

////

Steve noticed that something was different about Bucky's room as soon as he stepped into it, Sam on his heels. He stiffened looking around the room. There was….it smelled like vanilla and there were throw pillows, twinkly christmas lights? What? "Bucky..what's going on here?"

"Howards granddaughters and those twins decided to stop by." Bucky was wearing a clean flannel shirt, the empty sleeve tied in a bow, his hair back and...were his fingernails pink?

Steve just…

Sam spoke up. "They railroaded over you then?"

"They're something alright." Bucky looked...less miserable.

Steve spoke carefully. "Darcy brought people with her to check in on you?"

"It was smart, I could have hurt her. But I couldn't have overpowered those three. And I wouldn't want a fair fight with that sister of hers." Bucky turned on the coffee maker.

Steve frowned, but huffed in amusement. "Quake? Yeah she kinda kicked my ass in the sparring ring."

"Not like that, she's like us. She's pulled the trigger. If I'd been a threat to Darcy she'd have put me down without hesitating." Bucky smiled tightly. "These new kids, they're gonna be something."

Sam actually looked interested and not just constipated. "What do you mean?"

"You'll see." Bucky chuckled. "You find any Hydra in Canada?"

Steve let it drop, for now. "Yeah we found some. Not much, it was a bolt hole more than a base. But the more we stomp out the more leads."

"Good."

Steve slowed as he saw Darcy coming out of Hill's office. "Dr Lewis."

"Capsical." She looked delighted as she looked up at him. "How's it hanging?"

He smiled despite himself, dropping his hands on his hips. "What's this about you having a party with Bucky?"

"Dude needs some socialization that's not all doom and gloom. Like I'd be crawling up the walls and I'm a normy not a recovering murderbot."

Steve laughed. "You are certainly not an average civilian. I don't think any of you Starks are."

"Fair, it's our dazzling intelligence and smoking assets." Darcy gave a cocky grin while crossing her arms under her chest in a very...deliberate way.

He felt his cheeks heating as he carefully kept his eyes on her face. "That's one way of putting it. But Darcy, surprising Bucky with people he doesn't know isn't smart."

"Dude needs some socialization. Don't you know anything? It's important to socialize your pets. Or in this case smoking hot boyfriends."

Steve sighed. "Darcy are you ever going to drop that? He's my best friend. And I'm dating Sharon."

"Your denial is cute." Darcy patted his bicep. "And you really should let things...fizzle out with Sharon? I like her, she's a badass but you two together is just sad."

He shifted slightly awkwardly, things had been difficult with Sharon. But he wasn't going to mention that to Darcy. "Darcy."

"Fine, fine I won't meddle. Just know I'm not meddling because we need the conservatives to like Barnes for the trial." Darcy flipped her hair. "And I'm off to go pick up the new Spidersuit."

Steve sighed. "Tell the kid hi for me."

"Totes Capsical!" Darcy waived over her shoulder while bouncing off.

He shook his head. Starks, honestly. Steve kept walking till he reached Hill's office. The door was already open, so he stepped inside. "Hill, do you have a minute?"

"Steve? Of course close the door if you don't mind." Hill was crisp as always, it was still odd to see her out of her SHIELD jumpsuit, but she made the lawyer look intimidating.

He shut the door and took a seat in front of her desk. "Security plans for the trial?"

"Finished, the trial is going to start in December." Hill raised a brow. "Did Darcy mention what she is getting PR to do for the trial?"

Steve felt a soul deep resignation. It was going to be crazy and probably leave him owing her more than he could repay. "She didn't."

"They're using the Stark stocks invested tv stations to push reruns of old Howling Commando specials, and rerunning the old Captain America cartoon." Hill clearly saw the disbelief on his face. "They're reminding the public of how much they love you, and by extension Bucky. It's kind of genius."

He always felt uncomfortable by how people had mythologized him. The reverence people looked at him with sometimes. "She's weaponizing nostalgia and my name to make Bucky sympathetic. That's...do you think it will work?"

"I think it's helping stack the deck. And it's terrifying how she's taken control of SI's lawyers and PR people." Hill flipped through digital files.

Steve shifted forward. "Is Tony going to keep letting us protect Barnes? The files the lawyers found…" He didn't need to bring up the fact Tony had blown out a side of the tower, gone for a flight and then announced he was going to Malibu the morning before Spiderman got hurt. It hadn't gone well.

"If he chooses not to, that's his decision to make." Hill's expression was sharp. "I know this trial is about a lot more than just him whether you want that or not. But no, I don't know of any plans for him to stop helping."

Steve flattened his hands against his knees. "That's...that's good."

"Are you going to stay here or keep chasing Hydra?" Hill asked, and oh she had an opinion, one she wasn't going to tell him. That didn't mean he didn't recognize her opinion.

He straightened back up in the chair. "Do we have a new lead on Hydra?"

"How do you feel about New Mexico?" Hill asked.

Steve's shoulders settled. "Lay it on me."

////

Wanda was reading when she felt the apartment rattle ever so faintly. She smiled faintly and got up. Moving to the window she swung it open and leaned against the sill. "Hi there."

"What up!" Daisy grinned, her vibrations holding her aloft outside her window. "Think you could let me in? I'm not great at holding height."

She watched as Daisy dropped an inch and laughed softly. Stepping back she waved Daisy in.

Daisy shot forward through the window, rolled across the floor and then popped back up to her feet. "Flight, surprisingly difficult. Who knew?"

"I'm pretty sure everyone." Wanda caught Daisy and pulled her in easily. Her smile didn't drop and she felt Daisy's own smile as they kissed softly. More a brush of lips than anything else.

Daisy pulled back slightly, her eyes bright and crinkled in affection. "Hi."

"Hi." Wanda hooked her arms around Daisy's neck. "What are you doing here? I thought you were joining Darcy and Jane for margaritas?"

Daisy just looked amused as she replied. "Darcy got a call and marched off. Pretty sure she's hunting down your brother like a prized pig. So margarita night is postponed."

"Do I want to know why she's hunting down my brother?" Wanda leaned back slightly, raising a brow.

Daisy's lips quirked into a smug look. "She got an invite to some society gala thing and needs a date."

"Date?" Wanda stalled slightly at that. Because what?

Daisy giggled. "She apparently must have a date for social reasons and that leaves the men she knows."

"Which leaves Steve or Pietro." Wanda was surprisingly relieved.

Daisy's smile turned smug. "Yup." She ducked in and kissed her. Pressing against her Daisy was insistent and solid. It was burning, but so were the emotions Wanda couldn't avoid if she wanted to. And they had the familiar consuming all encompassing flavor Daisy's emotions held just under the surface.

She sucked in a sharp gasp, and Wanda felt...she felt. Wanda pressed a hand to Daisy' chest and gently pulled away. "You're afraid?"

Daisy's eyes were blown but she blinked rapidly before stiffening. "I…"

"I'm not going anywhere either." Wanda felt the change in the current of Daisy's emotions at that. She didn't let go of Daisy.

And Daisy exhaled and seemed to deflate, her head falling onto Wanda's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"Um…" Wanda wasn't sure what to say or do to that. But she didn't want Daisy to leave. "Want to watch a movie?"

Daisy huffed. "Yeah, I could do a movie."

Wanda stuck her spoon into Daisy's carton of ice-cream. "You do know we watch American movies in Sokovia, yes?"

"Are you saying you've seen the magic that is Spy Kids before?" Daisy grinned while using the opportunity to steal some of Wanda's ice-cream.

"No, but I could have." Wanda hummed happily around her spoon of stolen chocolate ice-cream.

Daisy pressed an icey cold kiss to her cheek. "See, you just missed the classics."

"I don't think this movie is a classic." Wanda picked a fudge chunk out of Daisy's carton. "But did you have gadgets like these in SHIELD?"

Daisy cocked her head to the side. "Some? Robot look alikes, just got shot by those. Laser ring? Haven't seen one but plausible. Lots of secret doors though. Sunglasses with computer readouts very real, expensive and not widely used. Surprisingly I haven't seen jetpacks but that seems like something that exists."

"And enemies finding the secret base immediately?" Which that was ridiculous. "If it's been a secret for that long it's ridiculous the enemy would just show up."

Daisy shrugged. "Pretty accurate actually. As soon as you go to ground the chances of someone tracking you to your bolt holes goes up."

"Really?" Wanda looked at her curiously. It was just...nice to be sitting next to each other, shoulders leaning into each other.

Daisy hummed. "If you're going to a bolt hole the enemy is already too close."

"We should watch Johnny English after this." Wanda dug into her own carton of butterscotch.

Daisy laughed. "You've seen Johnny English?"

"Again, we do watch American movies in Europe. It's you Americans who don't watch movies from other countries." Wanda chided with a laugh, her eyes crinkling in amusement.

With a huff, Daisy took a giant bite of her ice cream. "That's fair, but ow."

She relaxed, letting her head come to rest on Daisy's shoulder while looking at the screen. This, this was nice. Feeling both her own and Daisy's contentment.

Wanda woke slowly, she blearily rolled further into Daisy. Part of her processed at some point they must have fallen asleep. There was a blanket over her, and she knew Daisy must have pulled it over them. She could feel that Daisy had woken up, but she was drowsy, an almost dreamlike quality to her. "Do you need your cuffs?"

"I won't have a night terror tonight." Daisy murmured back.

She tightened her arm around Daisy's waist. "Good."