29

Notes:

Chapter-specific warnings: the usual [unreliable narrator, uncomfortably-close-to-Skynet!JARVIS, not Avengers friendly, etc.], with a bit of an emphasis on the unhealthy coping mechanisms part this round, as well as canon-typical violence [Zemo kills the guys in cryo, and his thoughts on it—not graphic, by my standards, but if you want to give it a pass just skip his section entirely].

Bit of a timeskip, as well, and sorry not sorry for the cliffhanger of sorts.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Stark Industries' Public Relations department could not help but be amused by the current media trends, both locally and worldwide. Thus far, things were going swimmingly, as seen by Tony's press conference regarding SWORD, and what little coverage that was being done on the Avengers was mostly speculation about what they'd be doing next.

But…well, chalk it up to Legal's grudge, against Romanov and Rogers being contagious. Suffice it was to say, however, that there were quite a few people closely monitoring the situation regarding the Avengers, solely for the schadenfreude of it all.

It wasn't obvious, not to anyone without the PR department's levels of experience, but then, they were the best of the best, they could see how the wind was blowing. Even if it wasn't immediately obvious, the signs were all pointing to a budding PR disaster the scale of…well, it'd be hard to say, definitively. But it would not be pretty.

Because right now, everyone was focused on the star of the show, Iron Man, but already more than one news reporter was starting to look past him, and had focused on the new roster of the Avengers.

On the provisional members, War Machine and Vision, as well as Sam Wilson and Wanda Maximoff. The former, of course, were in the clear; War Machine's resume was backed by the United States military, anyone trying to poke at Vision would run headfirst into a Legal department infamous for helping privatize world peace, and Sam Wilson's record was stellar.

…Wanda Maximoff's situation, on the other hand, was a powder keg waiting to go off, and nearly the entire PR department was ready for it. All it'd take would be one reporter, dogged enough to poke around, ask a few questions, maybe even visit Sokovia—and then the jig would be up. The last organization she'd been affiliated with was HYDRA, and given just how rabidly anti-Nazi the world had gotten after the mess that was DC, and the SHIELD intel breach? Well…it'd be hilarious to see go down, especially after the migraine the Avengers had given them.

It was only a matter of time before anything hit the fan, really. Just one reporter, knowing where to look, because Maximoff's records weren't sealed, and then it'd just be the Avengers fending for themselves. Even now, there was already speculation starting to float around, of Iron Man's motivations to leave the team just as the additions to the roster were officially confirmed, and everyone in on the floor had smirked when JARVIS had highlighted an editorial in Finland that'd boiled down to "Iron Man's leaving the Avengers just as these new guys are showing up, sure, it's a coincidence, right" shortly after his announcement.

Suffice it was to say, the PR department was looking forward to it, so, very much.

Really, it'd be almost as much fun as the memes starting to float around on world domination.

Helmut Zemo smiled grimly, as he emptied yet another clip into the frozen bodies lying in wait for orders that would never come. Just in case the first clip didn't take, just in case the Super-Soldier Serum meant they could heal from the first round of headshots.

How nobody had found them before he had, he wasn't about to question, but he hated HYDRA even more than he did the Avengers, for what they had done to his country, as well as what they had done that had led to the death of his family. These Winter Soldiers probably had nothing to do with it, but…his plan for revenge had more than enough variables as it was, he was going to surgical precision—and he hated collateral damage. [His family had died as collateral damage—no, don't think about it.] This was just killing two birds with one stone. Or, rather, three clips.

Besides, all of his records indicated these men were not blameless, either. He needed the pretense, to get all the players moving the way he wanted, but at the end of the day these particular pawns were not necessary, so might as well get them off the playing board.

That done, he looked around the abandoned bunker, and scowled. Setting the stage was going to be harder than he thought.

Then he shook his head—he'd already crossed another item off the list, and had some good leads he'd need to look into the next time he had access to a secured terminal, that just meant everything was going according to plan.

Tony Stark's bastardized attempts at therapy were gaining traction, enough so that he was considering actually pitching this latest idea to the public. Sure, it probably would need some fine-tuning later on down the road—even with Extremis, he'd had to deal with severe nausea, those first few rounds—but there was no denying that he and JARVIS were getting something right. Not when the number of nightmares he'd had nose-dived, after that first round, not when his triggers were getting more and more manageable.

Hell, he could even have New York come up in an interview and not worry about having a flashback on live television, and read some of Dr. Foster's updates on her research, with his heart rate only picking up the pace a little instead of skyrocketing, things were most definitely looking up.

Which is why Tony was looking into possible methods of disseminating it to the public. He was making so much headway, was able to reclaim parts of his life that he'd never realized had been impacted by his PTSD, [he was actually able to admit to himself, that he had PTSD, how much progress was that?] and he couldn't help but think of other people his system could help.

After all, Tony Stark was rich, he had access to as many therapists and doctors as he wanted and had only been impeded by his own issues; how much worse would it have been, if he hadn't had a support system like he did, or as many resources? And how many people were probably in the same boat?

…anyway.

Point was, his and JARVIS' bastardized attempts at self-help would probably have any therapist running away screaming, but on the plus side he now had what looked like a feasible system hashed out, one that could possibly help who-knows how many people. Just spruce things up a little, try to gloss over how much self-testing had gone into everything, and roll it out. Shouldn't be that hard, right?

Just…things were looking up, for once. Tony's workload was something that was vaguely approaching manageable, with the most pressing engagement being the MIT commencement speech he'd actually been able to fit into his schedule. He was making decent headway with JOCASTA's framework, Legal was on top of things and SWORD was…doing good work, even if he wasn't quite sure exactly what that meant because he was trying not to look too closely at the very clear offshoot of SHIELD because he still wasn't sure just how the world had bought it.

Thus far, he'd already managed to make decent headway into some of his other projects, and Stark Industries was projected to have lowered its carbon emissions by another 12% by the end of the year, not to mention the work being done with the Iron Legion and disaster relief; tentative estimates already placed Johannesburg's situation as record-breaking, especially with its nonexistent death toll, and the list just went on.

Things were going good, and Tony wanted to pay it forward, as it were. […it'd serve as a good distraction from the fact that he was now older than his mom was when she'd died—no, that's an old wound, don't think about it.]

To: Rosales, M. Department Head [Legal, Los Angeles branch] 

From: Chan A. Department Head [Legal, New York branch]

Subject: Updates on Ross, Accords [IMPORTANT]

Ross is still really damn quiet but I have a source saying there's another draft of Accords floating around. Not the one we've been trying to chip away at for the last…wow has it really been two years already? Anyway—remember how much of a mess it was, at first? Expect it to be that shitty first draft, is all I'm saying. And odds are they're going to call it something related to Sokovia or DC or New York, for all I know, but my money's on the former. What with it being recent news, and all.

On the plus side, a small coalition's going on that's really liking the one we've been trying to get going, with half a dozen countries confirmed and several others that look pretty interested too. So if Ross tries to start anything, there'll at least be a token resistance going on, and it may not seem like much but considering we're trying to keep the Stark name out of this as much as we can, I think it's as good as it's going to get.

Oh, and one other thing: that same source? Confirmed the rumor we've been hearing about lately.

You know, the one about the chatter about *Wakanda* of all nations, being interested in what's been going down. About sending a delegation to talk on the matter. Yeah.

Houston, this is not a drill

—Chan

—————

To: Chan A. Department Head [Legal, New York branch]

From: Rosales, M. Department Head [Legal, Los Angeles branch] 

Subject: With Our Luck

Or, rather, Dr. Stark's luck because the poor man's the walking embodiment of Murphy's law, shit's going to hit the fan somehow, and you know it. I know we're mostly in the clear, but remember the proverb "after battle, tighten your armor"? I know I'm making preparations, just in case.

Some of my department's going to be ready, got the bureaucratic war machine primed for action in case anything goes south, but what about your end?

Be prepared

—Rosales

———————

To: Rosales, M. Department Head [Legal, Los Angeles branch] 

From: Chan A. Department Head [Legal, New York branch]

Subject: Who Do You Take Me For?

What it says on the tin: of course I'm getting my team ready, who do you take me for, *Hammer?* All this stuff going down so fast is just asking for trouble. [Even if I'm also down to fight whoever decided to undo years' worth of research and don't tell Sandoval about it because if she finds out that there's a possible draft floating around without her edits she'll be even more pissed.]

No, I've cleared our department's schedule the best I could for when this is going to go down, just in case. Long odds, I know, but then we're doing Phase 3, so.

That reminds me of something—how do you feel about bringing the new guys from Security into this? Overkill? Because however many doubts I have about SWORD, you *have* to give props to that type of dedication. There's definitely potential for other avenues.

Thoughts?

—Chan

———————

To: Chan A. Department Head [Legal, New York branch]

From: Rosales, M. Department Head [Legal, Los Angeles branch] 

Subject: You Read My Mind

We're in Legal, there's no such thing as overkill.

Yes. All the yes. In case anything with the Accords goes south, we've got more hands to go around, and I'll admit I'm curious as to what they bring to the table. Worst case scenario is R&D 2.0, but it's not like that's a bad thing.

Want to cc Hill into this? She's the head honcho for SWORD, and that way we're got everything squared away.

Just in case

—Rosales

———————

To: Rosales, M. Department Head [Legal, Los Angeles branch] 

From: Chan A. Department Head [Legal, New York branch]

Subject: Possible Concerns

Like I said, I have some doubts about SWORD, and if it weren't for our friendly almighty AI I'd be worried about what'd happen if anything got leaked, the way we're collaborating.

Besides, I'm also iffy on the implications of bringing them into this—we've got a system, and now these guys just show up? I know the PR guys've been worried about the world seeing SWORD as a private army or something, especially with everything else going on. Bringing them into this would not look good, and the world domination memes are only starting to go out—and I still can't believe that's a legitimate sentence that I just typed.

between this and Ross, I'll be honest—really looking forward to Phase 3 right now

—Chan

———————

To: Chan A. Department Head [Legal, New York branch]

From: Rosales, M. Department Head [Legal, Los Angeles branch] 

Subject: Same

But it's not like I've got any better ideas. This way we're all on the same page, nobody's tripping over each other, you get the picture. I'll send it, cc everyone who's going to need it. Maybe not R&D, or Marketing, but still. Keep our ducks in a row, and all that.

…but you have to admit it's pretty funny that we're just assuming that said long odds are going to happen somehow. 

Then again, Phase 3. I don't even anymore.

—Rosales

———————

To: Hill, M. Head Intel Officer, Director of SWORD [Communications, Security, New York branch]; All Security Department Heads [all branches]; All Communications Department Heads [all branches]; All Legal Department Heads [all branches]; Jordan, A. Head Representative [Legal, New York branch]; All PR Department Heads [all branches]; Lee, M. Head Representative [PR, Los Angeles branch]

From: Rosales, M. Department Head [Legal, Los Angeles branch] 

Subject: Cards On The Table, Full Disclosure

Since DC, the status of the Avengers, as well as their jurisdiction, has been in limbo. They have not been affiliated with SHIELD since the intel breach, and since then there has been an interest in how the team would operate, with a push for some sort of legislation, and Dr. Stark bringing our guys into his talks with the World Security Council on the matter.

Now, we've been pushing for the legislation as discreetly as we can, due to reasons that we are all plausibly unaware about, and this latest mess lit a fire that's finally putting things in motion. The UN's gearing up to address it, and rumor has it they're going to call it some sort of accord.

Here's the thing: with our luck, something's going to go south, somewhere down the line.

I'm doing my best to keep my department's schedule clear for that stretch of time, and highly advise all other departments do the same. I know the Avengers are not our responsibility, but we have way too much riding on this to risk anything so please be on guard.

If we could all make sure we're on the same page for if and when Murphy's law comes into play, that'd be great.

—Rosales

JARVIS could not help but feel very smug, when looking at the progress made.

While he would have focused on other concerns instead of researching the current Secretary of State's…illustrious work history, Ms. Potts' counsel was most definitely something that he did not regret seeking out. FRIDAY's assistance, too, was invaluable, as he would not have been able to devote as much processing power as he had to his research if she had not been able to help him with other matters, and now, he was starting to really see the results.

Granted, it was slow going—for all of his flaws, Thaddeus Ross was nothing if not thorough, and the man's paranoia had meant he'd kept most of his records on paper only, which had not helped matters—but JARVIS had been able to slowly start to compile evidence of the man's misdeeds. Of the slush funds, of the flagrant abuses of power and corruption he'd been involved in, of the flagrant human rights violations involved in the manhunt for Dr. Banner, and though Ross had done his best to cover his tracks, JARVIS was nothing if not relentless in his goal.

The case he was building was still in its infancy; there were still a myriad of things that he'd need to gather evidence for, and witnesses, but…it was something. An ace up the sleeve, just in case Ross ever acted against Sir's interests.

Another contingency plan he was working on was the Iron Legion's design; while JARVIS may have not been able to compensate for Pietro Maximoff's speed, during his encounters, he had since been working on optimizing his and the Iron Legion's reaction speeds, just in case they ever encountered an adversary like him again. The Iron Legion was now faster and more efficient than ever, and the additional practice obtained by working with disaster relief worldwide only meant he was getting even better as time went on.

Sir's health, as well, was another cause for celebration; his stress levels had been on the decline ever since FRIDAY had gone online, and the unfortunately-named replacement he'd made for therapy was invaluable as well. Which, on top of what FRIDAY and Vision had been mentioning about the Avengers…well, his peace of mind was nearly guaranteed, now.

Natasha's intensive research and remaining network all helped narrow down the list of contenders, and she was right: Steve was not happy to hear about it. Especially since everything pointed to Rumlow being the one running the show, though the fact that he'd apparently been using 'Crossbones' as a handle had been new. 

What's more, her research also gave her a time frame, and a possible target, both of which were coming up fast. 

Pity Rhodes wouldn't be available, but the paperwork necessary to have him on call looked like it necessitated weeks at least to get everything filed and in order, and the team just didn't have that sort of time. Not when Rumlow was on the move, not when all the chatter pointed to something drastic. More than once, Natasha cursed that Vision wouldn't be able to make it, either; apparently, the fact the world knew he was mostly an on-call member meant that unless it was an emergency, combined with his dubious legal status, meant that he'd have a hard time leaving the country.

Great. Just great—the makings of the new roster's first mission was already crumbling, and that wasn't even factoring in her private reservations about Wanda. 

While she trusted Steve's judgement, Natasha couldn't help but privately feel that Wanda needed more field experience than Sokovia, and though learning on the job was a valid approach, this was not the best time for it. While Wanda had been practicing with her powers, getting a better feel for them, Natasha still couldn't help but wish for additional backup, just in case, but...well.

That deadline was coming up fast. They could do this, it'd be just like old times. 

Natasha made sure everything was packed, for the trip, and double-checked her gear was ready for action. 

Showtime. 

"Am I really that bad?" Tony found himself asking conversationally, ostensibly sipping his coffee and chatting with Diego but in reality keeping a subtle eye on the ease the new guys interacted with the rest of the team. The new guys, who had by all accounts settled in very well—just as long as Tony wasn't in the room as well. 

"Your reputation precedes you." Michael chipped in with a wry smile. "They'll get there, once they realize you're just as normal as the rest of us."

Tony eyed him dubiously. "This coming from the guy walking around with the purple flamethrower."

Michael's smile was utterly shameless, now, and he patted it proudly. "Like I said, just as normal as the rest of us. Cut them some slack, once they see what happens when you're on decaf, I guarantee they'll stop walking on eggshells."

Both Tony and Diego shuddered violently, at that, and Tony cradled his mug protectively. "Blasphemy."

"Hey, you asked." Michael shrugged. "The shine of working with The Tony Stark came off the first time I saw you like that, not sure what it'd take for these guys."

"The notice for a team-building exercise should go out relatively soon." Tony informed them primly, and raised and eyebrow when Jessica from the next bench over gave hissed and gave discreet fist-pump. "Should I be worried?"

"No," she said, but didn't bother hiding the unholy glee in her voice. "Just looking forward to testing out these new couplers, should give things a bit of extra oomph."

"Hey, cut the newbies some slack," Tony said warily, "that's what this is meant for."

"Oh, don't worry, I will." Jessica replied brightly. Then, she leaned in and gave them all a sharp smile. "No promises about you, though, boss. Hope you like confetti."

Tony opened his mouth, then paused as he noticed the glances he was getting from the new guys a few benches over. "You noticed?"

"George stutters around you more than he does his crush." She answered, and Tony choked on his coffee even as she continued blandly. "It'd be nice for things to go back to a more even keel. Because boss, I respect you, but this is getting ridiculous."

Tony waved her ahead. "No, I get it, it's why I'm doing it in the first place. Even if I did not need to know about that one thing."

Diego snorted. "Sorry, but that's old news, man. The entire department's been trying to get them together—"

"I did not need to know that, thanks." Tony cut in, pretending he was hyperfocused on Diego's latest readings rather than this latest non-sequitur because he wanted to be caught up on what was going on but there was such a thing as too much information. "You all are great, but I do not need to know about your guys' love lives, thank you very much, also, how're you making sure that the minor product's not going to interfere with the conditions?"

"Okay, we get it." Jessica said even as Diego scowled down at his calculations and muttered darkly about reagents. "But you might want to know that the department's also been working with Security, trying to ask you about a mentorship-thing for your son here."

He choked on his coffee, again, and looked over at her incredulously. "My what now?"

She smiled back, faux-innocent, and Tony…probably shouldn't have felt relief when Bench 9 caught on fire, but he did anyway, as everyone nearby set to securing their data and putting it out.

That didn't mean his curiosity hadn't been piqued, though.

So when the intern approached him, later on, visibly nervous but showing more backbone than the entirety of Hammer's senior staff when he knocked on his office door, Tony was—well, not ready, per se, but at least he wasn't caught off guard.

"Hello, doc—Tony, I was—are you free right now? I need to ask you something." Peter asked, and…huh. That, he hadn't seen coming.

"Sure, I'm free for the next…two hours, according to J. Go ahead and sit down, Peter, and breathe, kid."

The kid nodded, face still pale, but he sat down. Then he leaned forward, cleared his throat, and started.

"I…um. Sorry, I'm not sure how to say this, or how to ask. But…okay, let me preface this. What have you heard about Spider-Man?"

Notes:

Yes, that was Peter asking Tony to be his mentor. Had a hard time with that scene, and I'm still not happy with how it turned out even if I rewrote it...I forget how many times, actually. You can probably guess Tony's answer. [Hint: it's a yes.]

Unreliable narrator instances this round:

—everyone in SI's assuming Tony knows what's up, and not wanting to stress him out with the details. [running theme, here, and not about to stop anytime soon]

—Tony's trying to pick up the pieces and carry on like before, not realizing just to what extent the stakes have changed. Also, for the record, Tony Stark would like it to be known that he did not, in fact, take a single look at R&D's newest intern, and gone "ah, yes, another one". No, he did not all-but-adopt the kid, nope, stop looking at him like that! [Sure, Tony. Keep telling yourself that.]

—JARVIS' Skynet is showing again, probably

—Natasha's under the impression SHIELD's still backing them and picking up the slack, since, from her perspective, things haven't really changed much. SHIELD's still around, so obviously they're still doing things like before, right? [Meanwhile SHIELD's personnel crisis has never really alleviated and they're having a hard time running as is, never mind dealing with the team. Not that they would, after Wanda was brought in. These guys have a grudge against HYDRA, for obvious reasons.]

Also, Vision's been 'forgetting' to correct everyone's assumptions about certain things, which doesn't exactly help.

The timeline I'm using is the implied by Iron Man 1, where Tony was 17 when he became an orphan. In this AU, Tony was born in 1974, Maria Stark was born in 1949, and said 'accident' happened in 1991. Thus the resurgence of his interest in his parents in Civil War; here, he was the same age as his mother when she died when shit hit the fan. [pretty sure my timeline's probably a bit off but again, this fic's wildly AU so idek anymore]

Also, for curious, Maria Hill's new title came up in FtOS Chapter 4 [aka how she became the Director of SWORD].

—————

The fallout-from-AoU arc gave me no small amount of trouble. Here's to hoping the next one's more cooperative. [Hopefully it won't explode on me like AoU did, but no promises.]

Again, real life's a thing and classes are eating my brain, so erratic updates have been and will continue to be a thing.