Chapter Text
Everything hurt…and Tony’s head swum.
Maybe that was why it took him so long to notice.
The first thing was a silhouette, standing over him. All he took note off was a broad-rimmed hat and a man that could’ve been tall. But Tony didn’t really know. He blacked out again. When he came to again, he could hear a lot more movement. His body was numb and he hoped it was due to some medication.
‘…tape of his parents’ murder,’ a Norwegian accent said. ‘I’m sure it was Howard and Maria Stark.’
Tony flinched. His mind flashed back to those images. His mom…His dad…for 25 years, he’d believed his dad had been drunk driving and that was what killed his mother. But now he learned the truth. He’d been hating his father for the past quarter of a century for nothing! How many people had known?
Tony felt his chest constrict.
‘Shit!’ A Londoner accent cursed. ‘He’s awake! Chinaza, have you got any of that syrup?’
Tony felt a sticky, coying syrup pressed into his mouth. He reflexively gulped it. ‘Wassat?’
‘It’s an ancient African recipe,’ a Libyan woman answered him. ‘Dulls pain and kills infection.’
An American man – with a truly general American accent – clarified. ‘Basically morphine before morphine was invented.’
‘Cat,’ the Englishman said again. ‘Get that.’
‘Are you trying to reconstruct his chest on the spot?’ a Spanish woman asked. She was from somewhere in the Caceres Province, he was pretty sure.
‘I can’t,’ the Brit said. ‘He had an artificial sternum before. It’s been completely crushed. I’m more surprised that he lived long enough for us to get here. His heart and lungs were already severely compromised. It’s even worse now. I’ll be wanting to put a pacemaker in here.’
‘Which means…?’ A Libyan man pressed, sounding like he knew the answer.
‘No more Iron Man,’ the Brit said. ‘Hell! Even a brisk walk will wear him out after this.’
A woman with an Illinois accent spoke up, bitterly, from across the room. ‘And what are the odds that the clown will pull the “never my fault” card?’
‘If even half of Hazel’s stories can be believed, of course he will,’ the American man said.
Tony was glad for that as he lost consciousness again. He didn’t want to have to wake up to the ass-kissing the entirety of America had for Rogers. So it was nice that not even the Americans of this group were impressed with the bastard. The only downside was that they’d clearly seen the murder tape.
It would be bad enough as it was.
The next thing he was aware of was a vague sense of movement.
It didn’t last long.
And then…peace.
***
Pepper sat by Tony’s bedside. She looked up as the door opened and Rhodey wheeled himself in. Happy was guarding the door along with one of the five men that’d brought Tony home. There was something going on there. Of the five of them, only Professor Indiana Jones and his wife, Marion, had any reason to be out in Siberia. Yet the other three couples not only showed up, but they pulled a hell of a lot of strings.
As a result, Thunderbolt Ross had been removed from his position on the grounds of abuse of power and replaced with someone who owed the Joneses “a favour or three”. The FBI already had their hands on the Starks’ murder tape and an extensive investigation was already underway. All of this would hopefully by done and dusted by the time Tony woke up. He shouldn’t have to deal with that.
Tony was currently in a coma. Dr. Carlos Shields (the only one who’d been there without his wife), had said it was his body’s response to the extensive emotional and physical trauma.
‘How’s he doing?’ Rhodey asked.
‘The pacemaker’s working,’ Pepper said. ‘And all of the other doctors who looked at him agreed with Dr. Shields.’
Rhodey nodded. ‘Won’t be able to even break into a trot without getting winded?’
Pepper nodded and wiped her tears away. ‘I hoped he’d give up Iron Man before something like this happened.’
Rhodey shook his head. ‘Pepper, it didn’t come to this because of any bad guys. It came to this because of somebody who was supposed to be a friend. It came to this because Rogers is nothing but a selfish bastard.’
Pepper let out a shaky breath. ‘I suppose…What did you find out?’
‘Very little,’ Rhodey said. ‘Professor Jones is a freelance field archaeologist who is hired, more often than not, to go out and get highly valuable artefacts for museums and historians. His wife often goes with him. He was in Siberia to look for that HYDRA base and determine if it was actually empty or not. But any data beyond that is highly confidential.’
‘So…is he somebody?’ Pepper asked.
‘I got the impression that he and his family are somebody that the brass and certain factions of the US governments would very much like certain parties not to know about,’ Rhodey answered.
‘Family?’ Pepper asked.
‘Yeah.’ Rhodey frowned. ‘He has a daughter. One Hazel Anna Jones, who seems to be somewhere in her mid-twenties.’
‘Mid-twenties?’ Pepper looked out the window, where Professor Jones was sitting and talking to Happy. ‘He only looks like he’s in his thirties.’
Rhodey nodded. ‘And his wife doesn’t look much older than their daughter. I did bring that up. There was a lot of throat clearing and shifting eyes. Until one of them just said the Joneses look good for their age.’
‘Are they enhanced?’ Pepper asked.
‘That’s what I think,’ Rhodey said. ‘It would explain why they wanted to keep them away from the attention of Fury. They’ve probably been hiding them for years. Tony would be able to dig up far more answers than I could.’
‘I won’t like the idea of him working so soon after waking up.’ Pepper worried her lip.
‘Except this work is the kind of thing he can do without exerting himself,’ Rhodey pointed out. ‘Let’s be honest, it’ll take Tony an hour, if that, to dig it all up.’
Pepper chuckled and shook her head. ‘True.’
They looked over as the Spanish man came over and said something to Jones. The American mashed a fedora on his head and stood up. He said something first to the Spanish man and then said goodbye to Happy before walking off. The Spanish man reached over and shook Happy’s hand with a friendly smile.
‘What about the rest of them?’ Pepper asked.
‘They’re even worse,’ Rhodey said. ‘Kamau Kawar and his wife Chinaza. They live in El Jawf, Libya, with their daughter, Adeola. Sigurd and Ingfrid Dalen. They live in Drammen, Norway with their son, Andor. Leonardo and Catalina Ramon. They live in Trujillo, Spain with their daughter, Elena. Dr. Carlos Shields lives in Nottinghamshire with his wife, Penny Hood, and her nephew, Jordan Hood. And good luck finding any background on them.’
‘Give me the StarkPad.’
Pepper and Rhodey jerked. They looked at the bed. Tony’s eyes were cracked open.
‘Tony!’ Pepper leaned over. ‘How much of that did you hear?’
‘Enough to know that the people who saved my can are practically legal non-entities,’ Tony responded. ‘Give me the StarkPad and I’ll know who they are in no time at all.’
‘You sure you don’t want to rest first, man?’ Rhodey asked. ‘Did they tell you your body’s not capable of getting back in the suit after that beating Rogers gave you?’
‘Shields said that, yeah,’ Tony said darkly. ‘Doesn’t mean Iron Man’s going into mothballs. It just means I can’t get in the suit anymore. And Rogers will learn very quickly how easy I was going on him if I get to him.’
‘So you saw the tape already?’ Pepper asked softly.
Tony jammed his eyes shut. ‘What do you think started the fight?’
‘Hold on!’ Rhodey frowned. ‘So, Rogers and Barnes, the latter of which was actually the killer in the video, decided beating you to a bloody pulp was the most sensible way to deal with your perfectly natural reaction to…that?!’
Tony shrugged and then winced.
Pepper quickly leaned over him. ‘Tony, you need to rest. Let yourself heal, and then I’ll get you the StarkPad. It’s not urgent. They helped us, after all. We’re only curious.’
Tony looked at her. ‘Does this mean you’re not still mad at me?’
Pepper smiled. ‘I was never mad at you, Tony. I just wanted you to stop nearly killing yourself on account of those…people.’
Tony sighed and closed his eyes. ‘Don’t have to worry about that anymore.’