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When Fury heard what had happened in Germany, he was honestly not surprised.
He was however surprised when Romanoff decided to join the Captain’s team. And decidedly not when Barton showed up.
He had known it would probably happen at some point. He had dealt with enough men like Rogers to know it would eventually end badly. Men who thought themselves so great that they believed that they could do no wrong, that everyone should follow their lead and anyone opposed to them was an enemy.
So yes, he knew that eventually Rogers would either get himself killed with one of his ‘heroic’ acts, or someone else. They were always going to end here. He was however mistaken in just how badly it would end.
He looked solemnly through the camera’s in Stark’s room, watching one of earth’s most important defenders lay restraint in a hospital bed, occasionally twitching and showing signs that he would wake up some time soon.
Stark would recover, the doctors had ensured him. It was more the mental state that they worried for. Roger’s had somehow managed to fuck up in every single thing he was supposed to do. Fury had little expectation of Rogers, besides just being a walking piece of propaganda, but common decency was something Rogers even seemed to lack.
Granted, Fury was now cursing himself for keeping the information from Stark about the truth of his parents’ death. When Romanoff had informed him that Rogers knew, and had promised to tell Stark about it, he had thought that would be that.
Only Rogers had kept it from Stark.
What was that saying? To assume makes an arse out of you and me?
And boy, wasn’t that the truth right now.
And that mistake, it had led to this. It had led to Stark getting beaten to a bloodied pulp because the man had for some dumbass reason decided that Roger’s and Barnes were worthy of mercy, through some misplaced loyalty even though he’d just been stabbed in the back by them.
And now Roger’s was somewhere out there with most of earth’s heroes while Stark and Rhodes lay in hospital beds trying to recover from the whole ordeal.
What a fucking mess.
At least he had Potts’ PR team dealing with the media fall-out, in exchange for hiding Rhodes and Stark off the grid in a hospital which did not exist. The two were in a very vulnerable position and with the Vision still gone it left Potts’ with few options.
So that’s what it was now. Rhodes and Stark in a non-existing hospital being overseen by the new SHIELD and Potts’ PR team tearing the Avengers to shreds.
It wasn’t exactly a hard thing to do. The Avengers had done a lot of questionable things in the past. What separated Rhodes, Stark and the Vision from the fire was that they had owed up to their respective mistakes and not only promised in change, but also delivered on it. The other Avengers had only pointed fingers and had done almost nothing to appeal to the public.
And thank fuck for that.
It was so easy to just make them the scapegoats, it was almost laughable.
Going against 117 countries, killing several officers sent to arrest them, dropping a dammed tunnel on civilians. They were absolutely done for.
The only good part about the situation was that everyone loves a martyr, and didn’t Rhodes and Stark make a perfect pair of those.
Stark – a man of the people who fought his own team because they posed a threat to the public and was tragically injured.
And Rhodes – a military man injured in a way many feared and who would inspire many with his strength.
He had absolutely zero concerns about Rhode’s new situation either. As soon as Stark woke up that was probably one of the man’s first priorities. One Fury would greatly encourage. With the unfinished designs Stark had whipped up before going to Siberia there was no doubt that Stark would figure a way to get the Colonel back on his feet within no time. The faster War Machine would be back on his feet, the better.
Not a bad card to be dealt. Not at all.
It could have been much worse.
He wondered if Rogers realized that he had just become obsolete in the wake of what he had done. He’d created the perfect replacements for himself. And ones that could be used as more as just pieces of propaganda or hammers to be used.
Probably not.
Men like Rogers were usually thick like that, convinced that they were important to the point that they couldn’t be replaced and ignorant to the fact that everyone would replace them in a heartbeat when someone as good or better came along.
An alarm pulled Fury from his thoughts.
Stark was awake.
Fury impassively watched the feed. Stark was restraint to the bed in order to minimize his movements. A necessary evil with how screwed his chest was.
Of course Stark freaked out at not being able to move and no doubt having trouble breathing.
He watched as the agent that was stationed in Stark’s room – a young one, to appear as non-threatening to Stark as possible – and saw how the young agent tried to calm Stark down while a nurse prepared a syringe. Stark held it together relatively well, all things considered, and drifted off back to sleep not long after the nurse emptied the syringe into the IV.
Fury picked up his phone and dialed.
“Yes?” Pott’s voice rings irritably from the phone. She sound like she hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep in a while and Fury can count himself lucky it’s good news he’s delivering.
“Stark just woke up.” Straight to the point.
A beat of silence passes. “How was he?” Potts asks, now a lot less ‘I want to kill someone’ to be heard in her voice.
“As we suspected. Held it together rather well, but still had to put him back out again though. He’s back to sleep for now.”
Potts huffs. “When can I come see them?”
“So long as you’re careful, any time you want. Can’t say whether or not they’ll be up though. That’s up to them and the doctors.”
Another beat of silence.
And then, “Any word from the Avengers?”
Fury hums negatively. “None.” And ain’t that a bitch. The public was calling for blood and giving them what they wanted would put all of it to an end.
Potts says nothing again for a few seconds. “I have half a mind to tell Friday to go wild, you know.”
Fury raises an eyebrow, even though he knows Potts can’t see it. “That’s Stark’s AI, right?”
“The very same.”
“Why not?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Why wouldn’t we use whatever means we have? The sooner the Avengers are found, the sooner we can close this off nice and clean. That’s what we both want. Right?”
Another beat of silence passes.
“I can’t involve Stark Industries into this, you know that.”
“Then I would say it’s good we never had this conversation, isn’t it?”
Fury can almost hear the Potts’ smile when she says, “Absolutely.”
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From then it takes no more as a day to find them.
The only problem is, is that they are in Wakanda.
That was a smart move of the Avengers, and an incredibly stupid one of the new Wakandan king.
Didn’t the young king understand that harboring fugitives of the Avengers’ magnitude could lead to a war? What had he been thinking?
After another non-existent conversation with Potts, they had decided that they needed them to get caught as soon as possible. Public tides could turn, and while it wasn’t likely, it was possible.
And neither Fury nor Potts were willing to risk it.
Which brought him to sitting in an location far away from the non-existing hospital with nothing but a laptop provided by Potts.
“Ready Friday?” He looked at the laptop’s camera as he spoke. It had been a bit awkward at first to talk to the AI, since there wasn’t really a set point for him to look. He figured it out eventually.
The way Stark made his AI’s sound so real had been off-putting at first. Until he shook that off and got over himself. He dealt with Norse gods and aliens, working together with computer, it wasn’t that high on the list of weird things he’d experienced.
Goose was still at the top of that list.
“Ready Fury.”
The screen suddenly showed the Wakandan king sitting at his desk, looking through paperwork. Although his screen suddenly turning on gained his attention.
“What is the meaning of this?!” T’Challa demanded furious.
“Good morning your Highness. I-”
“How dare you hack our technology?”
Fury frowned. “My name is Nick Fury, director of SHIELD.”
“I know who you are, what I want to know is what gives you the right to hack our technology.” T’Challa demands furious.
“I know about the Avengers being in Wakanda.”
T’Challa froze for a moment. “You have nothing to base these accusations on!”
“Actually,” He waited a second and Friday pulled up the video footage of Rogers breaking into the raft with a Wakandan jet. “We do.”
T’Challa’s lips pressed together tightly. Fury could see the realization that he was in a though spot in the young king and he let it simmer for a second.
“The reason I am making this call, is to settle this manner in a, let’s call it quiet manner.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Fury held back a smirk. “As you are well aware, the world wants the Avengers to be held responsible for what they have done.”
T’Challa nods, still no expression visible.
“Well, I think no one knows what will happen when it eventually comes to light that they were in Wakanda the whole time. But I think you and I both know that nothing good will come of it.”
“If you are planning to threaten me-”
“That’s not what I’m trying to do.” Fury interrupts. “I’m trying to lay it out for you, just how bleak the future is looking.”
That gets him a sneer from the king.
“But…” Fury draws, “No one wants that to happen. We don’t want any of the problems that will come with the Avengers being found in Wakanda. The last thing the world needs is another war.”
“War?”
Fury wants to sigh, but holds it back. “You’ve been keeping them from getting put to justice. You were there when the tunnel collapsed-” When T’Challa opens his mouth Fury puts up a hand. “Bear with me. 117 countries want the Avengers put to justice. If it comes to light that you’ve not only been keeping them, but have been lying to other nations about it, things could get very ugly, very fast.”
T’Challa huffs in anger. “I never meant for all of them to come. My offer was solely to Barnes. Then Rogers stole a jet and came with the others in toe.”
Fury nods. “And now you’re stuck with them.”
T’Challa sneers again. “Unfortunately.”
“Look,” Fury starts. “You want them out of your country, we want them put to justice, and no one wants anyone to find out that they are in or have ever been in Wakanda. Seems to me like we have a common goal.”
“What do you suppose we do about this?” The king drawls in understanding.
Fury holds back a smirk. “That when I contact them tomorrow, no one stops them from leaving, and you retake the jet they will use to leave the country. They’ll be my problem from then on and no one has to know.”
“Just like that?” T’Challa asks suspicious. “And how do you suppose they will willingly leave the country? They know they are safe here, why would they leave?”
“A false promise that a dead man will make them.” He points to himself. “Officially speaking, I’m dead. I’ll contact them, to inform them that a pardon is in progress but that we need them to come in to get them finalized.”
“And you think they will fall for that?” T’Challa asks skeptically.
Fury nods. “Romanoff might not be fooled, but Rogers will. And two of them have children they want to get back to. At least one of them will fall for it. And where one goes…”
“The others will follow.”
“Exactly.”
The young king ponders the issue for a long moment, before reaching to a conclusion. “Give me some time to discuss this with my advisors. I will give you my answer by the end of the day.”
“Thank you for your time, your Highness.”
``````````````````````````````````````
Later that night he receives a message consisting of only one word, but it says it all.
Deal.
Immediately Fury calls Coulson.
“The operation is a go.”
``````````````````````````````````````````
Steve was spending his afternoon the same way he had been spending most of them recently.
With no missions to go on, no responsibilities and an order to not leave the palace, there was almost nothing else to do. His sketch book had steadily been getting filled while he idly talked to Bucky about all the things he had missed. It was both saddening and frustrating that Bucky had decided to get frozen in again, despite Steve’s pleas not to.
In the end it hadn’t been worth the arguments that it had caused between them, since Bucky had decided to get frozen in anyway.
So now he spent his days making ill inspired drawings and talking to the lump of ice that was his best friend.
It was a bittersweet victory.
The only thing he could really count as victories was that Bucky was safe, and his team had remained free of the Accords.
That was it.
Everything else had fallen apart. Everything he had worked so hard for. the good image that the Avengers had was getting slandered in outrageous ways. He was stuck in a country he didn’t want to be in. His team was steadily loosing hope and had been fighting almost nonstop.
It was a mess, but the most important points had been achieved.
It did however sicken him to see all the good they had done wiped out of existence in a slander campaign. He had little doubt that Tony was behind it. The stories were spun in a way Tony had always accused him of, the slander might as well have come straight from his mouth instead of reporter’s.
And the worst part?
Steve was completely helpless.
He couldn’t go out and spread the truth, that would put them in danger. He couldn’t go to Tony and demand that he stop this insanity, because after the raft Steve had little hope left for the man.
“Give me a break!”
Steve could still hear the echo of Tony yelling that. Now Steve knew that it had been a lost cause since the start. He had tried so hard to form Tony into the hero that the world deserved, only to fail miserably. When Steve pushed Tony to do better, instead of changing his ways, Tony’s solution to the problem was to push back.
That was what he had done now. This was just Tony pushing back, but this time the team was utterly done with him. He could see it in Clint’s eyes when he looked at a picture of Laura, could hear it in Wanda’s voice when she talked about missing walking outside.
Steve had been wondering when it all went wrong. He tried to pin point the problem and when he thought he had it, he would suddenly remember an earlier time when there was a problem too.
The only common denominator was Tony.
It was, somehow, always Tony.
Every argument, every fight, just so many times that Steve had let something go… How often had he decided that a subject was no longer worth the argument? Too often, that was for sure. Had that lead to the team getting stuck here? Was all of this because Steve gave Tony too many freebies?
It didn’t really matter in the end, he supposed. No matter if he did manage to figure it out, it wouldn’t change where they were, and what happened.
They’d still be stuck here. Clint would still be separated from his family. Natasha would still look as grim. Wanda would still not have the life she deserved, away from hate and scorn. Sam would still get glossy eyed when military was mentioned, after what his former fellow soldiers said about him on television.
Things would still be broken.
“Steve?”
“Hmm?” Steve had been so deep in thought that he hadn’t even notices the soft swoosh the door made. He turned around and Scott was standing in the door opening, still uncertain if he could get closer or not.
It brought a smile to his face. Scott was both smart and excited to just be with them. He made a great addition to the team, in Steve’s opinion.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I need to show you something. The others are already waiting. And we best hurry.” Scott rushed out.
“Everything alright?” Steve asked as he abandoned his sketch book and pencils to follow Scott.
“We don’t really know, but it’s certainly something.”
Steve frowns at that.
They end up in one of the bedrooms assigned to them. True to Scott’s word, the others are already there, seemingly gathered around a laptop.
Steve frowns again. “Scott what-”
“Good of you to join us, Captain.”
Steve freezes. He knows that voice, and he knows it well. Only one problem though, he never thought he would hear it again. Apparently Fury had, yet again, deified death and played dead.
“Fury?”
“Like I told the others, we don’t have a lot of time. Any second the program granting me access can be detected, so listen closely.” Fury commands.
Steve nods and pushes the knowledge of Fury being alive to the back of his head.
“You’re not in a good position. But, SHIELD does have some sway. We managed to get you a clean slate. But we need you here to finalize it. The catch is that once you’re here that despite being free of charge, you won’t be allowed to leave until the worst of public opinion blows over. It will be determined by me when that is. I’ve send Lang a file which can be used to gain access to one of the jets in the hangar. Should you take the offer, you will be expected at the given location-”
The feed suddenly starts glitching.
“Fury? We can’t hear you,” Steve starts, but then the frozen image cuts out completely.
The team sits in a stunned silence for a few seconds before Wanda breaks it.
“Does that mean we can go home?” She sounds so hopeful.
“I-” Steve doesn’t know. Does it?
Luckily Natasha seems to know the answer. “It would seem so. Before you arrived, I was able to talk to Fury some. The code words used in said conversation tell me he wasn’t forced to send this message. And if it were forced, our location would already be known by every government. We wouldn’t get a familiar face, but threats of tanks rolling down the palace. As far as I can tell, it’s legit.”
They can go home.
The realization of it doesn’t quite strike home yet.
They can go home.
“I’m going.” Clint is the first to say it. “If there is a chance I can get back to my family, I’m taking it.”
Scott nods. “Same here. I made a promise to my daughter, I’m going too.”
Wanda and Sam look to Steve. “Well, I wouldn’t be much of a leader if I let half of my team go without me, right?” He tries to joke. Clint has a wide smile on his face, it’s the first time since they arrived that he’s smiled, Steve realizes then.
Sam clasps a hand on his shoulder. “And I’ll be joining you too.”
“I as well.” Wanda says determined.
That’s everyone, except Natasha.
“Nat?”
She seems to ponder it for a few more moments, before nodding as well. “I’m in.”
They’re all cheers and everything until Wanda makes the remark, “But what about Bucky?”
And Steve freezes for a second. The cheers die down. “I guess… I guess we’ll have to leave him here. It’s the best option we’ve got.”
And everyone is surprised.
Steve shakes his head. “Look, this might be the only time we get to go home. When would the next time come, if there will be a next time?” Everyone was silent at that. They had all known that was an option.
Steve continues, “And right now, we can’t take him with us, he wouldn’t come. Besides, even if we could convince him to come, he’d be incredibly vulnerable. He’s safe here. And as much as I would love to have him come home with us,” He smiles sadly at the thought, “He can get the help he needs here, whereas at home, he might not.”
“It’s true.” Natasha says, and Steve is glad she gets it.
Steve turns around. “Scott?”
The other man jumps a bit, “Ah, yes?”
“What does the file say? Where are we going?”
It takes Scott a second to find the right file. When he finds it, he says, “Kenya, from the looks of it.”
Steve nods to himself. “Everyone, start packing. We’re going tonight.”
``````````````````````````````````````````
When T’Challa got the news they had fallen for it, he sighed in relief.
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If anyone had told Phil Coulson a few years ago that he would willingly help to set a trap for Captain America and his team, he never would have believed it for a second. To be fair, if anyone had told him that the Captain was responsible for the deaths innocent people, -good people- he wouldn’t have believed that either.
And yet there he was, waiting patiently for hours in a sprung trap he helped set for the Captain and his team.
It was bittersweet in a way. To Phil, Captain America had always been someone you could only hope to become. It was someone America could be proud of, the golden son.
To have it completely fall apart, like a badly build card house made of lies, was somewhat painful to Phil.
But this was what he had signed up for. For protecting the public from threats that the world was not ready for. Unfortunately, the Avengers now fell into that category.
It was quite disappointing, really.
“Sir? We’re picking something up on the scanners.”
Phil snapped into action. The display saw some movement, but there was no vessel truly visible. The jets from Wakanda were something else. They were invisible in a way that made the helicarriers seem like a toy from 50 years ago.
Phil really wanted one.
“Everyone get to their posts!” He commanded. “You two, with me.” The agents he pointed to nodded and fell a step behind Phil as he made his way outside.
It was only when the jet got close to the ground that he could see it. A wind swept up and a second after landing the shimmer that was the outside of the jet no longer flashed and the aircraft became visible.
“Phil?” Barton asked, momentarily stunned. The other Avengers were equally surprised, even Romanoff didn’t manage to mask it.
Phil smiled. “Last time I checked.” He clasped the outstretched hand Rogers extended to him.
“Coulson, you’re…” Rogers started.
“Not as dead as the world would like to believe.” He says amused.
Barton snorts. “You don’t say.”
“And you must be Mr. Lang?” Phil nods to Scott, who was watching the interaction silently together with Maximoff.
“Oh, yeah! I am. Uhm. Quick question, how often is it that people return from the dead in your lives?” Lang asks in confusion while shaking his hand.
“Pretty often. You get used to it.” Clint answers in a deadpan manner.
Phil nods. “Good to have you back. Let’s get inside, the heat is killing me.” And it was. He had been outside for a few minutes, if that, and the heat was already becoming unbearable. “We have air-conditioning inside, thank god.”
“Amen to that.” Barton says while wiping his forehead.
Phil catches Romanoff eyeing him suspiciously. Phil could tell she knew something was off. He could only hope that the spider wouldn’t give them any trouble. He leads them inside where everyone is busy working, only Phil knows that they were ready to shoot their targets with tranquilizers the second they arrived at the agreed upon spot.
The Avengers are cluelessly following him and chatting amongst themselves excitedly. The only ones who are even skeptical in the slightest are Romanoff and Maximoff.
The second Phil steps on the spot, he immediately dashes to the right, following their plan. The next second he hears both confused cries from the Avengers and several pops.
“Phil, what-!?”
“Clear!” Multiple people yell. They had them.
Phil comes out from his cover just in time to see Rogers sinking to his knees, betrayal deep in his eyes. Several agents rush forward to put the restraints on the fallen and unconscious Avengers. Once they are secured, Phil takes out his phone.
Mission succeeded.
`````````````````````````````````
“Let us out of here!” Clint yells for what feels to Steve like the millionth time.
It’s pointless.’
There was never a pardon. It was just a cowardly trap. Steve felt disgusted at both Fury and Coulson. He thought he could trust them.
Looking around at the four very close together walls, he felt the bitterness their betrayal caused. His own allies had stabbed him in the back, for nothing.
Why on earth would they do this to them? Why go through the trouble of tracking them down, only to stab them in the back?
He tried to swallow down the despair he felt at his situation. The cuffs around his arms were tight and prevented him from using his strength to break out of the cell he was in. It was a mess. They had been in the cells for no longer as a day, but Steve knew that somehow, this was it. His only consolation was that Bucky was safe.
There would be no escapes, no hiding, nothing.
They had no where to go, nowhere to hide.
They were finished.
His court appointed lawyer had made that very clear to him. There would be no pleas out, no deals to be made. There was such an overwhelming amount of evidence that there was no hope in fighting it.
It had taken a bit to sink in. What eventually did make it sink in, were the photo’s of Tony that his attorney showed him. It showed the usually cocky and evermoving billionaire laying eerily still while attached to many machines. His face was so bruised that Steve didn’t really recognize him right away. When he did, he felt bile raising in his throat.
Had he really done that?
In the moment, it hadn’t seemed as bad. But Tony was only human underneath the armor. When he truly got to look at all he had done, all the lives he had unintentionally ended; the nurse and her two year old at the tunnel; the recently married man that had been on the arrest team in Romania, just to name a few, it was overwhelming.
It was horrible.
The faces of those people, smiling in pictures and never smiling again because they were dead had hit him hard.
He sat in the small cell and stared at the floor.
What had he become?
````````````````````````````````````````
When Tony wakes up he spends quite some time drifting in and out of consciousness. He tries to take a deep breath but his chest feels constraint and he’s thrown back when he recalls what happened in Siberia.
The heart monitor speeds up. He gasps for air and starts to panic when he can’t breathe.
“Tony, you need to calm down.”
Pepper?
“Look at me. Tony you’re safe. Everything is all right.” Yeah, that’s his Pepper, no one else can sound so sweet but so commanding at the same time. Tony loves her voice, it’s soothing but also gives him no other choice but to comply.
He looks at her and almost cries when he catches sight of those strawberry blonde curls he loves so much.
“Breathe with me, if for two, hold for five.” She tells him.
And he wants to both sob and laugh. They’ve been down this road what feels like a million times. He tries his best for her. In for two, hold for five.
Slowly it becomes easier to breathe and the heart monitor stops it’s annoyingly loud blaring. It falls into a respectably slow, but still annoying, beeping.
After a while he tries to speak. “What-” He manages to choke out before his voice cracks violently and he ends up coughing in a way that makes his eyes water and his chest burn painfully.
“Hold on.” She stands up and for a second Tony worries she’s going to leave. Leave him there in this god awful bed and he can feel the panic rise again. But instead of leaving the room, Pepper stops short at the door, opening it a bit and murmurs something. A second later a nurse comes bustling in.
Tony has so many questions, but right now he is in really no position to talk.
The nurse calls a doctor, who listens to his chest for a while. Tony only complies with it because he knows it’s the fastest way he can get to talk to Pepper.
His dear Pepper, who is standing at the nearest wall. So close that she is only an arms’ ways away, but still manages to stay out of the way of the doctor and nurse.
After breathing in with the doctor listening to his chest, he tells the nurse the bed can be raised. She does so and leaves a cup with a straw in it for Tony and instructs Pepper to let him take small sips of it. She leaves them alone after Pepper nods her understanding. It’s not the first time they’ve been down this road either.
They sit in silence for a few more minutes, Tony getting a sip of water every so often. It feels like balm to his sore throat.
“You were out for a while. Doctors put you in an induced coma. There was some swelling in your brain from the…” Pepper sucks in a breath.
From where either Rogers or Barnes had hit him in the head. Tony’s not really sure who did it.
“You were awake a few times before, do you remember that?”
“Not really.” His voice sounds a whole lot better now.
Pepper nods. “Doctors assured us that there would be no permanent damage. It’ll all heal.”
Tony sighs out some of the tension he’d been feeling since waking up.
“Where’s Rhodey?”
“Physical therapy. Fair warning, he’s probably going to be insulted that you finally fully woke up right after he left.”
At the mention of physical therapy, Tony’s mouth goes dry. This time the coma has nothing to do with it.
“He’s been improving a whole lot, though. He can feel pins and needles in his toes now.”
It still feels like a defeat. Tony knows that that’s amazing, but still. It’s a hard pill to swallow.
“Hey, look at me.”
Tony lift his eyes up and it’s difficult to look her in the eyes while he’s feeling like the biggest scum in the world.
“No one blames you, Tony. None of this was your fault.” She sighs. It’s probably going to take a while before she and Rhodey can manage to beat that into his head. Tony could sometimes be pretty thick about stuff like that. “The only ones to blame are Rogers and the rest of the Avengers.”
“What happened after..?”
“You don’t have to worry about that.” Pepper smiles. “They tried to hide. They failed. All but Barnes were caught, and they’re awaiting trial. The biggest worry right now is who gets to charge them first, Nigeria and Germany are quite vocal about wanting justice.”
Tony’s jaw drops. “How?”
“Just dumb luck of local police in Kenya.” The evil gleam in her eyes tell Tony a whole other story. He’s not going to ask though.
They sit in a comfortable silence as Tony mulls over the information.
He’s pulled from his thoughts when Pepper takes his hand and idly strokes over it. They look each other in the eye. Pepper smiles.
“Everything will be okay.”
Tony believes her.