Chapter 50

July, 2016

The clip begins with a view of an empty podium. Two United States flags hang on either side, and the seal on the podium reads Secretary of State. The room hums with conversation, broken by the occasional snap of camera shutters.

The sound in the room amps up, electrifies, when the door to the right of the podium opens and in walks Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross. He wears a neatly pressed suit, his silver hair is combed back and there isn't a hair out of place in his mustache. He is flanked by three men and one woman, all in suits – members of the newly-formed Accords Committee.

Secretary Ross takes his place at the podium, nodding to the journalists he recognizes. "Good morning," he says, his eyes twinkling. He can be charming, when he needs to be. "Thank you all for coming out today, this won't take long." The last murmurs in the room quiet down as the assembled reporters settle in their seats.

Ross clears his throat. "There has been a lot of debate, recently, about the Sokovia Accords. Most people agree that regulation is necessary, but naturally, there's been plenty of discussion about what form that should take. The Accords Committee is the result of that discussion. It's a newly formed body, unprecedented in its collaboration between multiple governments, militaries, and law enforcement agencies."

He pauses, looking around the room. The assembled reporters perk up, the instincts that got them into their careers telling them that this isn't any run-of-the-mill press briefing.

"The Accords Committee is dedicated to honesty and real, public accountability. In the interest of those ideals, the Committee is releasing the identity of a major participant in the engagement at Leipzig Halle Airport." The tension in the room ratchets up. "This participant has operated under the alias of 'the Wyvern', though the Accords Committee is now at liberty to reveal that her birth name is Margaret Abigail Stark. Ms Stark-"

Ross can't get another word out because at that name the room explodes into noise, reporters leaping to their feet as they fire question after question. There is a flash-bang of lights as the assembled photographers fight to get a shot of the stony-faced Secretary of State. Ross's compatriots seem a little alarmed by the sudden uproar, but the ex-General doesn't blink. He just stares the reporters down, ignoring their disbelief and frenzied excitement, waiting for silence. And after a few minutes of fruitlessly shouting at him the reporters begin to quiet down, because it is clear that he sure as hell isn't going to give them more until they bend to his will.

When the room is silent again, now buzzing with a barely-contained tense energy, Ross opens his mouth again. "Ms Stark was an assassin and agent of HYDRA for twenty-two years, with at least twenty known victims. After HYDRA's fall she became a wanted fugitive, and then a major aggressor against the Sokovia Accords." The audience's tension is palpable, but they remain silent. "She is currently in the custody of the Accords Committee. At this time the United States Government is compiling further information, and considering charges. Thank you."

The room erupts into noise again, some reporters actually walking up to the podium and being pushed back by security, but Ross is done. He nods once at his stunned audience, collects his notes and then leaves the way he came. Just before the clip cuts out, a reporter is overheard shouting:

"Secretary Ross, did you say Margaret Stark?"

A press release was handed to journalists as they were escorted out of the room. Most of them were busy calling their editors and chasing down contacts to follow up the story, but they all checked the release for any further information. The text was exactly what Ross had just read to them, but there were two color photos included with the release.

The first was a still from a shaky video taken the day the Helicarriers fell in D.C. Part of one of the smoking Helicarriers was visible in the corner of the photo, but the main subject was the Wyvern: she was mid-flight, her metal wings cutting a sharp silhouette in the sky, and it was clear even from the poor quality of the photo that she was clad all in black, with red goggles over her face.

The second photo had been taken a few weeks ago, on Maggie's arrival to the Avengers Facility. It looked like a mug shot, framing her head and shoulders against a white wall. Her face was blank, and she was visibly injured – her face was marred with bruises and cuts, her lip was split, and there was a burn mark near her temple. Her eyes were empty.

The reporters took their press briefings and got to work.

The world lost its collective mind.

Maggie Stark's return from the dead was all any media group could talk about. Stark Industries stock dropped, then rose, then dropped again. People the world over started googling 'The Wyvern' and the details of the car crash in 1991.

People naturally dismissed the reveal as a hoax, intended to distract from the contentious Accords and the collapse of the Avengers, but it was hard to argue against the Secretary of State when he had photo proof and, later that day, DNA proof.

So people dug for information. It was sparse, and difficult to find, but it was there – there was footage of the Wyvern flying in D.C., and in Germany. HYDRA information dump analysts started flagging any mentions of the Wyvern, spotty and vague as they were. The general consensus was that HYDRA must have orchestrated the car crash and snatched the young Maggie. Conspiracy theorists the world over were having the best day they'd had since the day Captain America took down S.H.I.E.L.D.

TV and print journalism posted the released images everywhere. One couldn't turn on the TV or walk past a newsagency without seeing the mugshot of Maggie, injured and empty, alongside the archived photos of her as a young girl. Almost everyone agreed that her resemblance to Howard, Maria and Tony was obvious.

People liked to pore over the few details they had, particularly the photos. There were long discussions of her expression in the mugshot – crazy, a few people called it. But most tended to use empty, or damaged. One particularly upset newscaster called it lost.

The public reaction was simply overwhelming. With such an out-of-left field announcement, involving complex issues such as HYDRA, the Avengers, the Stark family and the Accords, no one knew where to start. It did not go unnoticed, however, that Ross had said that a thirty-year-old woman had been fighting for HYDRA for twenty two years. It wasn't hard to do the math.

Behind closed doors, Ross and the Accords Committee expressly forbade the Avengers from commenting on the situation - this wasn't about the Avengers, they said. It was about a now-infamous criminal. Ross tried to forbid Pepper from saying anything either, but she sent him a bitingly polite email informing him that he couldn't expect the CEO of a multinational company to remain silent about something that impacted that very company.

Stark Industries had been flooded with so many requests for comment that F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s processing power dipped incrementally. Pepper arranged a press conference within minutes of Ross's announcement, and at noon that day a flood of reporters filled Stark Industries' LA headquarters press room.

Pepper's briefing was short and to the point, stressing that though the Avengers and the Accords worked in cooperation with Stark Industries, they did not impact how the company ran. She stressed that Stark Industries was still going strong.

Pepper was no coward, and she took questions at the end: the first question was if she was still the CEO.

"Yes," she said mildly.

Another reporter asked her to comment on Tony Stark's reaction.

Pepper's polite façade didn't waver. "At this time I am representing Stark Industries. I may comment from a more personal standpoint at a later time. Thank you."

Because no one had heard from Tony Stark. The normally press-friendly billionaire was absent, and no one was surprised. Speculation about his reaction varied wildly, from 'he's lost it and had to be locked up in the Raft' to 'he's already working on busting his sister out of prison and building her a safe house on the moon'.

Everyone was sure he'd be hiding in his tower's penthouse, or at the Avengers Facility, or in one of his various houses around the world. A middle-aged man in Florida swore up and down that he'd seen Iron Man sitting at the bottom of a lake.

So it was to everyone's great surprise when Christine Everhart, now a reporter for WHIH World News, found Tony Stark at a rest stop in upstate New York. She snuck up on him with her cameraman, catching him in his 'civilian disguise' – a cap and sunglasses – as he ate a grilled cheese in a booth.

He looked up and scowled. "How the hell did you find me, Everhart?"

She didn't dignify that with a response. She crowded in to the booth and lifted her microphone. "Your sister's back from the dead, Tony, and she's got a long career as a HYDRA assassin. What do you have to say to that?"

Tony pulled a face and opened his mouth, clearly about to snap back with a witty remark, but then he sighed and pulled off his sunglasses. "The only reason it's so long is because she started when she was five," he said. He was uncharacteristically grave. "She never had a choice in the matter," he continued. "But look, all the legal and political crap is still getting sorted out. Right now… she's my sister. And I got her back."

That would shut most people up, but not Christine Everhart. "Is she back? Fully? Does she recognize you as her brother?"

"Yeah, she does. She's been a genius all her life, it's not going away any time soon."

Christine's eyes were sharp and focused on him. "And how have you reconciled the fact that she fought against you in Germany?"

Tony shrugged, threw a few bills on the table and stood up. "She once broke my favorite pair of welding glasses by super-gluing googly eyes all over them. I got over that. I got over this, too. Later, Everhart." And with that he shouldered past the cameraman and out the door, climbing into his bright orange Audi after a sloppy salute back at the rest stop.

July 24th, 2016

Research Facility, Wakanda

Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes watched the clip of Tony's impromptu interview on a glass tablet, as they shared a seat overlooking Wakanda's misty forests.

When the clip ended, Bucky handed the tablet to Steve and let his hand fall to his knee, his eyes focused out the window.

He was scheduled to go into cryo today, but the news about Maggie had broken yesterday and he'd been anxiously glued to whatever screen he could find. He hadn't said anything about cancelling the procedure, though.

Steve hated to see him like this – Bucky had always faced his problems head-on, but now there was nothing he could do. Yesterday, when it had all come out and the world exploded with interest, Bucky had turned to Steve with a lost look on his face and said 'she's always been there for me, Steve. How can I just do nothing?" Steve hadn't had an answer, but Bucky knew there was nothing he could do or say to help Maggie.

But now Bucky didn't look agitated, or anxious, as he had since yesterday. Something about Tony's interview had brought a stillness to his features that Steve's protective hovering and offers to talk had failed to achieve.

Bucky seemed lost in thought as he looked out at Wakanda's forests, so Steve took a moment to close his eyes and think about what he'd just seen. He hadn't known what to expect after Maggie stayed with Tony, but announcing her to the public as an assassin and a criminal hadn't been it. He was sure that it hadn't been Tony's idea.

Tony had seemed tired, in the footage from Everhart's interview. Still, it seemed that he and Maggie were alright, and had formed some kind of bond. Steve hadn't dared to hope for that much, after what happened in Siberia.

After a few long moments of silence, Bucky turned away from the window and looked at Steve. "Will you keep an eye on her?"

Steve blinked, and straightened. "I… you want me to-"

"While I'm in cryo," Bucky elaborated.

"You're still…"

"Yes, there's nothing I can-" he cut himself off, closing his eyes for a moment, and took a breath. "I'm dangerous. Steve, I'm asking you… please keep an eye on Maggie. Make sure she doesn't get shipped to the Raft, or get experimented on, or get railroaded by Ross. Please." His eyes were wide, earnest, and his hand rubbed anxiously over his knee.

"I don't think Tony would let any of that happen."

"I know." Bucky ran a hand over his stubbly jaw. "Still. It'll make me feel better knowing that you're looking out for my best girl." He flashed a small smile, and Steve couldn't help but smile back. He clapped a hand on Bucky's shoulder, just over where the remains of his cybernetic arm were covered by a rubber sleeve.

"Yeah alright, jerk," he agreed, as if he wasn't already planning on looking out for Maggie as best as he could.

Bucky's eyes glinted. "Punk."

At that, a technician came out of the main lab and nodded at Bucky. "We are ready for you. Captain Rogers may join you in a moment."

Bucky took a long breath. "She's going to yell at me for this," he muttered.

Steve huffed a laugh. Maggie hadn't seemed to him to be the yelling type, but it was clear that there were many layers to her that he hadn't had the chance to see. He elbowed his friend. "At least you'll be there to be yelled at." Bucky smiled. "And once they work out how to help you, then we can help her, too."

The reminder that Maggie was facing the same problem as him brought steel into Bucky's eyes. He stood up, shoulders straight, and nodded at Steve. "See you in there."

Steve gave him a small salute. "See you in there."

Scott Lang's House, San Francisco

Scott was still adjusting to being on house arrest. The tracking anklet was itchy, the constant surveillance was irritating, and he missed being able to go see Cassie. He was also watching way too much TV. As a consequence he'd bought a bunch of infomercial products that he really didn't need, and also managed to watch Ross's press briefing live.

When it ended, Scott turned off the TV and put his head in his hands. That explained a lot. He did the math and realized that meant the Wyvern – Maggie – had been taken from her parents when she was five. Cassie was eleven, and the idea of her being taken and turned into-

He shook his head firmly. He worried about Cassie enough, he didn't need to be thinking about that. He leaned back on the couch, scratching his tracking anklet, and found himself hoping that Maggie was OK, after what went down at the airport. He'd never heard anyone scream like that.

Suddenly, another thought occurred to Scott. Shit. I showed the suit to not one Stark, but two.

He groaned, tipping his head back. "Hank's going to be so mad at me."

Royal Residences, Wakanda

T'Challa stood on the balcony of his personal quarters, hands clasped behind his back, with the beautiful chaos of Wakanda laid before him. But he wasn't looking at the domed, gleaming buildings or the glimpses of airships on the horizon. He was looking down at the courtyard below, where Shuri was walking back from the labs, speaking to her Dora Milaje guards.

She was energetic, talking mile-a-minute as she usually did when she was working on a project, but there was a solemnity to her face that he didn't usually see. He suspected part of it was the recent loss of their father, but he knew that she was also thinking about her latest charge, Sergeant Barnes. She felt responsible for the World War Two veteran, because every day she didn't find an answer to the mystery of his trigger words was another day he spent on ice.

It was a lot of pressure for a teenager.

T'Challa closed his eyes and thought back to the recent news about the previously-unknown participant at the airport fight. The Wyvern. Margaret Stark.

He had suspected some kind of connection between the winged woman and Tony Stark, after the careful way Stark had given his orders before the fight, and his distress afterwards. The tense ride back from Siberia had all but confirmed it – the two had been utterly silent, their bodies rigid with wariness, avoiding each other's notice, and yet still looking at each other out of the corners of their eyes. T'Challa had apologized to the woman as soon as he realized that she was the same who he'd hurt, but she barely seemed to hear him.

Stark had apparently warmed to his sister since then, if his short interview was anything to go by.

T'Challa sighed. He'd regretted hurting the woman the moment he'd done it, but the knowledge of her identity, the fact that she had a name… it shouldn't have made a difference, but it did. She was a person in her own right, but she was also Tony Stark's little sister, and he had ripped her out of the sky. He knew this would be one more mark of guilt that he would have to bear through his monarchy. Through his life.

He opened his eyes again, and peered down at his sister as she talked her guards' ears off, gesturing wildly. He wondered what he wouldn't do to keep her safe.

Midtown School of Science and Technology, New York

Peter was with Ned when they found out.

It was lunchtime, and they walked into the cafeteria to see every student in the place huddled in groups around peoples' phones. The TV in the far corner was running news headlines. At first Peter didn't think much of it, until he saw Michelle hunched over her own phone, hair in her face as she stared intently at her screen. She usually tried so hard to appear uncaring about everything; the fact that she'd let that act drop was concerning.

"Uh… what's going on?" Peter asked Ned, turning in a circle to get a look at everyone engrossed in their phones.

"Maybe more aliens?" Ned suggested, sounding far too excited about that for his own good. They walked towards the nearest TV screen, and Peter's mouth dropped open at what he saw.

Margaret Stark Alive

There was more information after that, way too much – about Margaret Stark's role as a HYDRA assassin, as the Wyvern, as a participant in the fight at the airport in Germany. Peter could barely take it in. Holy Shit.

He had to sit down.

No wonder Mr Stark had told him not to hurt anyone.

"What's wrong, Peter?" Ned had been jabbering animatedly about the miraculous survival of Margaret Stark, until he realized that Peter was sitting, staring numbly at the TV screen. "Are you okay?"

Peter blinked. "Yeah, yeah, it's just… Mr Stark seems really cool, you know? This is… a lot."

Ned turned back to the screen. "I know, right? Look at her awesome wings!"

"I don't think she has those anymore," Peter murmured. But no one was listening.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Wanda and Natasha were silent as they read about Margaret Stark's abrupt re-entry to the world, and Tony's response. They sat in straw chairs outside a café, sweating under their caps and sunglasses as they sipped iced coffee.

They'd all split up after breaking out of the Raft, to get the heat off their backs, but Natasha had shown up on Wanda's doorstep a week ago with a simple "you've been sloppy. I'm going to teach you how to go on the run properly". And that had been that.

Today Wanda was wearing blue contacts and a blonde wig, and she felt supremely uncomfortable. Reading the news about Ross's latest press briefing didn't exactly ease her discomfort.

After finishing an article that called for Maggie to be put away for life, Wanda put down her burner phone and glanced at Natasha. The other woman was, naturally, blank-faced and calm, but Wanda could sense her disturbance. "You want to be there for him," she murmured, resting her hands on the table.

Natasha glanced up sharply, suspecting Wanda of using her powers on her, but Wanda just met her eyes calmly.

Natasha sighed before replying. "I know your history with him, but… he's our friend, Wanda. He's just gotten his sister back from the dead and now she's about to have all kinds of consequences rain down on her. What happened between all of us… I don't know if anything can fix it. But I hope Tony's okay."

Wanda tapped her phone, pressing her lips together. "I hope they both are."

Natasha cocked her head at that. "You spent time with her, didn't you? What was she like?"

"It was only a few moments before the fight, but…" Wanda smiled at her memory of the dark haired, bright-eyed woman who had promised to tell her a joke. "She was kind. Funny, even."

Natasha smiled knowingly. "I know you picked up more than that."

Wanda leaned back in her seat, meeting the other woman's eyes. "You're right, I looked into her head. Just for a moment, to make sure she was on our side. She was… like most of the rest of us, with a history of pain. But she bore it well." Wanda ducked her head to her iced coffee, turning over her next words. "She and Barnes were together."

Natasha didn't mistake her meaning, and her eyebrows shot up. After a millisecond of visible surprise she smoothed her features again, and shrugged. "It makes sense, they went through a lot together. Were they in love?"

She sighed. "Yes."

Natasha propped her chin on her hand, looking down at the table. "No wonder things got so ugly in the end," she murmured.

Steve had told them about what went down in Siberia, long-kept secret and all. Wanda had been surprised, but she knew she couldn't judge anyone involved – she'd kept her share of secrets, made her share of mistakes. She'd sought revenge for her parents' murder, too, and she knew how intoxicating it could be. There was a long silence as Natasha and Wanda considered the news.

Wanda thought back to that remarkable love she'd sensed between Maggie and Bucky, in their shared glances and comforting touches. "Do you think they'll ever see each other again?"

Natasha eyed Wanda, aware that the other woman wasn't just thinking about Bucky and Maggie. "I don't know," she said gently. "I'm not a fortune teller, Wanda. I only know how to survive."

Avengers Facility, Upstate New York

When Tony walked into Maggie's room at his usual time a few mornings later, she was already standing by the door waiting for him. He jumped, but then saw the way she was biting her lip and frowning at the ground. He cocked an eyebrow.

"What's up, Magazine?"

Maggie looked up and met his eyes, her shoulders straightening. "I need to call a strategy meeting with the Avengers."

He blinked. "Uh, well there's only the three of us-"

"It's a matter of everyone's safety," she interrupted, holding his gaze. "I need you to take this seriously, Tony."

He stared at her for a beat, then nodded. "Okay."

He immediately started asking questions, but Maggie just shook her head. She didn't say another word until, ten minutes later, she was sitting at the Avengers conference table with Tony, Rhodey, and Vision. Pepper was back in Manhattan, but this was going to be hard enough for Maggie to admit to three people, let alone four.

She'd requested the more formal space because she'd made good memories in the common area and she didn't want to ruin them already. Besides, the gleaming tabletop and sleek black chairs made her feel like she was actually holding a strategy meeting, rather than dropping a bomb that threatened everyone's lives.

"Okay," Tony said, "meeting called, Avengers assembled, whatever." He gestured at the room. "What's so urgent, Maggot?"

Maggie lifted her eyes and looked around. It was jarring to realize that yes, this was all that remained of the Avengers – two long-time best friends and their android pal, each broken in their own way. But she would take what she could get.

She took a sharp breath through her nose. "There's something I haven't told you."

Vision and Rhodey leaned forward, but Tony just narrowed his eyes. "What, did Ross also say he was going to arrange a firing squad for you?"

"No, this isn't about Ross." She gave Tony a half smile – she knew that all hell had been breaking loose since the Secretary of State's announcement, with a large part of the burden falling on Pepper and Tony. She hadn't wanted that, but she was currently strictly off-limits to the public and there wasn't anything she could do about it. "I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but it honestly wasn't on my mind, and it's not like you didn't already think I was dangerous-"

"Whatever it is," Rhodey interrupted, his eyes warm, "we'll deal with it. Spill."

Maggie wiped her palms on her trousers. "I told you a bit about how HYDRA used to control me, Tony. But the thing is, that's still… possible. The controlling part."

Vision tapped his chin. "You are referring to trigger words. Like the words that Helmut Zemo used to trigger Sergeant Barnes in Berlin."

Her face twisted at the reminder. "Exactly like those."

A silence fell. Maggie stared at her knees. She couldn't bear to see how the others would look at her, now they knew she was just as much a weapon as they'd always feared.

Rhodey spoke first. "Trigger words? I don't… Triggering what?"

Maggie's jaw clenched. "Triggering me. There are ten words in another language – I won't say what they are, so don't ask – that when I hear them, they revert me back i-into the Wyvern. There wouldn't be any Maggie left, just… just a weapon." She took a deep breath, still staring at her knees. "I don't know if there's anyone left alive who knows my words, anymore. I don't know if they're written down somewhere. I haven't heard them in two years, and I hope I never have to hear them again. But you need to know about them, because as long as those trigger words are active, I could be turned against you in a second."

Rhodey sucked in a breath and glanced sideways at Tony. Tony was listened to her silently, his expression pinched as she talked about her history, but attentive.

Vision leaned forward. "Is there a way to deactivate them?"

She shrugged one shoulder. "I looked for a way for two years, and came up with nothing. I don't really know how they were… established… in the first place. That's where my memory gets patchy, they were wiping me a lot at the time." She took a breath. "So… that's why I called a strategy meeting. I want to help you come up with a way to stop me, if it comes to that."

Rhodey frowned. "Stop you?"

"Stop me from hurting anyone," she replied. "I was thinking… you could program the Manacle, Tony, to go off on a given phrase. That way if I'm all… robot killer, any one of you could say the word and drop me. And if that fails, I know there are emergency protocols for the Facility. We could adapt those to isolate and contain me."

Vision's android eyes were focused on her, considering. "You have put a lot of thought into this."

She shrugged. "Wouldn't you?"

Tony, meanwhile, still hadn't said anything. He just watched her, his expression guarded, with one hand on his jaw and the other tapping a rhythm against his chest. Eventually, Maggie got sick of it.

"What, Tony?" He blinked at her question. "What is it? Are you angry at me for not telling you sooner?" She swallowed. "Am I too dangerous, now? Do you want to send me back to the Raft?"

He rolled his eyes – actually rolled his eyes at her. Maggie bristled, opening her mouth to start arguing properly, but he held up a hand to pre-empt her and sat up straight. "No, you idiot. I was just going to say… I already knew."

She lowered her hackles. "What?"

He grimaced. "I already knew about the trigger words. Kind of. We, uh…" he looked sideways at Rhodey, whose face suddenly lit up with understanding. "We found some stuff."

Her eyes narrowed. Could Bucky have mentioned the trigger words in his notebooks? Would Tony and Rhodey really have read them? "Some stuff?"

Vision cleared his throat. "I believe Mr Stark is referring to a cache of data he discovered at a HYDRA base in Québec, in March of 2014."

Comprehension hit Maggie like a freight train. She doubled over, propping her elbows on the table and resting her face in her hands. "Oh god," she mumbled through her fingers. "I read about that when it happened. You blew the base up." She looked up, and saw them all giving her that slightly exasperated look she often got when she revealed just how much she knew about the Avengers' activities over the last two years. "You found… data?"

Tony grimaced again and leaned forward. "There wasn't much, they'd tried to wipe it all a while ago, but J.A.R.V.I.S. accessed what was left. There was some remaining information about missions conducted out of the base, and an electronic file on the Wyvern Project."

Maggie flinched, and Tony's eyes softened. "It was disorganized, some of it corrupted, but there were scans and logs of your enhancements, a few notes on what they did to your mind, and details about training. There were… videos." His face darkened. "Experiments. Training."

Maggie's stomach was churning. She glanced at Rhodey, who looked as sick as she felt, and then back at Tony. "You've had this… all this time?"

Tony shook his head. "I had J.A.R.V.I.S. put them in a digital lock-box that would only open for your biometric signature. After the whole Ultron thing, the only way you'd be able to access that vault of data would be…" he swiveled on his chair to look at Vision.

Vision inclined his head. "When you are ready, Maggie, you may simply ask."

Maggie let out a long, slow breath. Oh. This was a lot. "I don't… think I'm ready now. If that's okay."

Tony waved a hand. "It's fine, I wouldn't be rushing to crack that baby open either. But the reason I bring it up is to say that I know about the trigger words. There are already procedures in place, you're welcome to look them over later if you like."

Maggie blinked, glancing from Vision to Rhodey. They obviously hadn't had a hand in these 'procedures', but they didn't look surprised. "Oh. Well it's probably best if I don't know. Then I – then the Wyvern, won't know what to expect." She sat back in her chair, a little bewildered at the turn this meeting had taken.

Tony, Rhodey, and Vision seemed to understand her silence. They eased back in their chairs as well, watching her think. Maggie went from staring at the table with a blank look on her face, to chewing her lip as a frown pinched her brow.

"Something else?" Tony asked. "I hope you know the Avengers will be charging you for our time."

Maggie snorted, wondering if now was a good time to bring up her stashed ex-HYDRA funds, then shook the thought away. "Yeah, actually." She looked up, meeting Tony's eyes. "I'd like a psychologist, please."

That took all three of them aback, though Vision recovered a little faster. He didn't answer her request, since she'd asked Tony, but gave her a considering look and a small smile.

Tony scratched his head. "I'm sorry, you want a-"

"A psychologist," she repeated, then folded her hands on the table. "One that I can trust."

Rhodey cocked his head. "For the trigger words?"

"Maybe. I have a feeling I'd need to take a look at that electronic lockbox to get some clues into those. But that's not really why I'm asking." She tipped her head from side to side, not sure how to phrase her next words. "I'm… still flawed. I have nightmares. I get low. At the same time, I'm still very strong – I want to reduce the risk of me getting pissed off and kicking someone in the throat."

Tony snickered. "I wish that was a problem that I had."

Rhodey rolled his eyes. "That is a problem that you have," he shot back, then turned to Maggie. "That sounds like a great idea, Maggie." His eyes glimmered with pride, and she had to swallow back the emotion that clogged in her throat. She was still getting used to having someone other than Bucky be proud of her. She'd do anything she could to be worthy of that.

Tony nodded his agreement. "Sure. I'll look into psychologists and therapists used to working with high profile cases-" Maggie grimaced when she realized he meant criminals – "and see how many NDAs I can throw at them. Sound good?"

She sighed. "Sounds good." Another silence fell, with the two men and the android watching her to see if there was anything else on the agenda. She took a breath, and then clapped her hands together. "Alright, meeting adjourned. Thank you, Avengers. Shall I expect your bill in the post?"