Chapter Text
What James could describe when he walked in was utter chaos. A brunette woman, who he had never met before was holding a gun and aiming it at Clint Barton's head, and Sharon Carter was aiming her own gun at Steve. A part of him wanted to jump in and attack Sharon for aiming at his childhood friend, but the other part of him reminded him that Steve wasn't a saint. Far from it to be exact. And watching Steve wonder why his girlfriend(or ex-girlfriend?) was pissed made James sigh.
He had taken a wild guess in thinking that Tony and Sharon were cousins, but then again, why wouldn't anyone come to that conclusion? Peggy knew Howard. They were friends. Of course her niece and Howard's son would know each other too. Whether they were close or not was revealed by Sharon.
Tony didn't have to explain himself and he was clearly giving her the space she wanted.
"Laura, honey, sweetheart. Put the gun down." Clint had his hands up.
"S-Sharon, you should do the same." Steve stammered.
The brunette, Laura, must be Clint's wife. He talked about her and his three kids in Wakanda. She didn't seem so eager to see him at the moment.
"Hmm, I don't know sweetheart. I don't feel like it. Just like how you didn't feel like spending a vacation with us, darling."
Clint went pale. "B-But I had to help Steve. He called a-"
"And you abandoned us to the dogs! Are we less important than your 'Captain"?!"
Steve looked at Laura, inching a bit closer to Clint. "Ma'am, what he did wa-"
"Eyes on me, sugar!" Sharon barked at him.
James had never seen Steve's attention snap in another direction so fast in his life.
"How could you be so heartless to your own husband?!" Screamed the witch. Her fingers twitched as if she was trying to control her powers. James glared at those hands of hers with disgust. He remembered being pinned by her in the air. No way to move. No way to escape.
"This isn't any of your business, so stay out of it! You've helped damage my family long enough. Stay away from us, Witch!" Laura shouted back.
Wanda snarled and raised her hands high, the usual red aura swirling around them. Rhodey and T'Challa who were watching suddenly stiffened. James widened his eyes as well.
She wouldn't.
The thing was. Yes, yes she would.
Scott, Sam, and Natasha didn't seem to have time to react. They probably thought it was a scare tactic, but even if she was just going to use it to scare the woman, that was still a terrible thing to do.
"Wanda, don't!" Clint ordered her, but it was too late. She released a burst of energy, aimed at Laura Barton. Laura's hold on the gun wavered as she braced for impact, but James wouldn't let it happen. He dashed forward in front of Laura to protect her from the blast. As soon as he heard Steve shout his name, he shut his eyes tight.
No more innocent people should ever be hurt.
Not again.
It didn't matter if they had a gun or not.
James waited for the attack and the pain from it. But nothing happened. He heard a small gasp when he opened his eyes.
The robot.... Vision was in front of Wanda. He was looking down at her with such disappointment in his eyes that even James wanted to crumble down on himself. That was the look he got from Steve when he didn't remember one of their childish adventures.
So it was of no surprise when Wanda stepped back and almost lowered her head. "H-How did you?.."
"Wanda, did you really think you had any control of the mind stone imbedded in me? It was the very artifact that gave you your powers after all. When Mr. Barton told you to use your powers, two things crossed my mind. Number one, our conversations, our friendship.. Our relationship meant nothing to you and you really would attack me."
Wanda opened her mouth to speak, but Vision cut her off before she could interrupt him.
"Or number two, It would mean something. Our time together cooking, our time together understanding each other, and our time seeking comfort in each other. Obviously I hoped for the latter, but it was a fool's dream."
"N-No, Vision. You have to understand. What I did.. I did it protect my family.." Wanda begged. Her eyes filling up with tears for the hundredth time now.
"Interesting, I suppose I'm not a part of that family of yours."
"Of course you are Vision!" She grabbed a hold of him. "You are a apart of our family. I love you!"
Vision was silent, however, he did pull away. "I cannot bring myself to trust you, Wanda. Not after what you did then. And what you did just now. Your anger controls you and your powers. You cannot attack anyone who simply 'pisses' you off. I was angry at all of you within the limousine, yet I did not attack anyone even though everyone had insulted someone close to me."
"Your 'father' killed my parents!" Wanda cried.
"No, he didn't. He wasn't the one who fired it." He turned to Laura. "Mrs. Barton, Mr. Barnes. Are you both all right?"
James nodded dumbfoundedly and so did Laura. Sharon let out a shaky breath she hadn't realized she held. Once regaining herself, she turned back to Steve. "This is who you put your faith in, Steve? Not comforting having someone like her on your team."
Steve frowned at Sharon. "She's just distraught right now and Vision certainly isn't helping with that new attitude of his."
"I'll show you a new attitude.." Rhodey murmured and T'Challa bit back a laugh, but he didn't hide his smile.
Once Laura regained her composure she looked at Clint with sad eyes. " I want a divorce."
Clint froze.
"What?"
"I want a divorce, Clint."
"But... But Laura.. Y-You can't mean that."
She looked defeated, so much anger inside and she wanted to yell at her... husband for everything her and her kids suffered through the past week. But, she was so drained now. The gun that was once in her hand was left ignored on the ground. She didn't bother to pick it up. "I do, Clint. You promised me you wouldn't leave me unless it was important."
"But it was important!"
"Yeah, Clint.. But so is our family.. Do you even know what happened to the farm?"
"What do you mean? What happened to it?" Clint frowned.
"They burned it down, Clint. An hour after we were brought here, FRIDAY showed us a video of men storming in and destroying everything. Everything, Clint. All those memories.. Gone within minutes."
"All because of Sta-"
"Don't you fucking dare blame Tony! He saved us when you abandoned us! Don't you dare, Clint Barton!"
Clint flinched and looked away. How could his wife be against him? If Stark had just listened, just fucking listened to Steve then none of this would have happened. He clenched his fists. Why couldn't his wife see that? So what if Stark brought his family to his Tower, it was still his fault for starting this stupid War in the first place.
"Here."
Clint almost glared at her until he saw the papers in her hand. "You... Those aren't.."
"They are, Clint. I want you to sign them."
"No."
"You are going to sign in, Clint. We can talk about visitation rights, but I.. I won't have you put my kids in harms way." Laura shook her head. "Not again."
"They're my kids too!"
"Funny, you sure didn't think about them when you ran.."
"I thought about them every second where I was!"
"Good for you, Clint. We can talk about it later while talking about when you you're allowed to see my kids" She shoved the papers into his hands and walked away. Clint was about to protest until he heard the elevator ring. Everyone turned around to see who it was even Laura.
Scott Lang felt like the luckiest man in the world when he saw Hope Van Dyne walk out of those doors. The only thing that would make it even better was if his daughter walked out with Hope too. But he knew he couldn't see her yet. Not until their names were cleared. Scott made a beeline towards her to give her a hug.
The next thing he knew he heard a sickening crunch and he was on the floor. He blinked a few times and groaned when he finally felt the pain hit him. His nose was broken again, what the hell. He looked up at Hope and saw her rub her knuckles. She punched him? Why? Why would she do that?
"W-What was that for?" Scott lifted himself off the ground. He groaned again. He was going to have to see that doctor again in the Tower. How was he going to explain that people liked punching him on the nose for some reason.
"If you don't know then there isn't any hope for us." She stated coldly.
"Is... that a pun?"
She raised her arm and punched Scott in the face again. His poor fucking nose. He heard shouts from Sam, Steve, and Clint, but no one came forward. Knowing Hope, she probably gave them one of her death glares.
"Shit, Hope, please, not my nose! It's suffered enough!"
"And I'm sure Tony suffered enough too, but you don't hear him here complaining!"
Scott flinched and stepped back. "That's.."
"Give me back the suit, Scott."
"W-What?"
"Give me the suit."
"No, I need it, Hope! I have to help Ca-"
"I swear I'm going to punch you again if you tell me it's to help Captain America. Scott, you stupid bastard, the Ant-Man suit was never for you to just take and use whenever you wanted. You broke my father's trust and mine. You joined a fight that you were never supposed to be a part of. Just because a man who didn't want to follow the rules asked you to? You abandoned me.. No, I don't care anymore that you left me in the middle of the night. I've gotten that out of my system, but you abandoned your daughter, Scott. "
"No, well.. I mean.." Scott tried to defend himself.
"You abandoned your daughter and who was the one to protect her now that he father did something wrong and people were out looking for her and her family. What would have happened if Ross found Cassie?"
"T-They shouldn't know about her a-"
"They're the Government, Scott! They have their ways of finding out every little secret! But, no! You didn't think about the consequences and followed a man who told 117 countries to 'go fuck themselves'!"
Steve notably flinched. James almost, almost felt sorry how the few seemed to be attacking him. But who felt sorry for Tony when everyone was against him?
Only a few.
"But Stark is a terrible person, you said so yourself!"
"My father hates Tony Stark because of his father and my father was the one who told you that. Tony and I are great friends. I have nothing against him. Yeah, he was an ass at times, but when it was just us together we always had a blast traveling. He and I were good friends, Scott."
Scott blanched a bit. "But.. You never said anything.."
"Because I didn't want start another argument with my father with you around. Now, back to the topic, give me the suit."
"Please, Hope. I need it.." he begged.
"Oh, no, you gave up the right to use it when stole it." Hope roughly grabbed Scott's arm to take him to the bedroom, but Wanda stepped in the way. Sam immediately grabbed her gently by the shoulder and pulled her towards him. He didn't want another person to make her feel down like Laura and Vision did. He gave her a gentle squeeze when he hugged her. Wanda looked up at him sadly then back at Hope and Scott when they closed the doors behind them.
"T-That's not fair.. He helped us. She can't just take his suit away." Wanda sniffed.
"Apparently you weren't listening. It wasn't his suit. He stole it." Sharon said.
"Sharon.. He's a hero." Steve sighed.
She glared back at Steve. She had never stopped aiming her gun at Steve. "Oh, I'm sorry, dear. I've been neglecting you, haven't I?"
Steve sighed in frustration which James thought that was the worst thing to do when he saw the dark change on Sharon's face.
"Peggy!"
Everyone froze and turned to Steve. He looked around and almost choked when he realized what he had said. Who he had called out. Sharon stepped forward as Steve stepped back.
"What?"
"S-Sha-"
"No, that's not what you called me. What. Did. You. Call. Me?"
"I didn't mean.."
" You bastard!" She grabbed Steve's shirt and was about to hit him until Natasha came up behind her and grabbed her waist. Sharon screamed and kicked around to get out of the other's grip. "You fucking bastard!"
"Ms. Romanoff, put her down!" T'Challa ordered, but Natasha didn't follow.
"She isn't thinking clearly at the moment!"
"And restraining her in such a way will not calm her!"
"S-Sharon.. Please.." Steve tried again.
"I never should have done anything for you, Steve Grant Rogers!" She tried to kick back at Natasha. "Because of you I lost my older brother!"
"Older brother?"
No one was expecting the clanging sound of metal hitting flesh as Sharon reached forward to hit Steve when he was close enough. He had flown back, hitting against Sam and both continued to fly back and hit the wall. She paused and stared at her right hand. She was wearing what looked like Tony's Iron Man gauntlet.
"H-huh?"
Before anyone else could react to what had happened, pieces of Armor flew around and knocked a couple of people down. Natasha was one of them and the other was Steve when he had tried to get up again. Sharon panicked as they all came rushing towards her. She shut her eyes tight as she felt herself being encased by the Armor.
"Hello, Miss Carter. My name is RESCUE which stands for Ronnie's Emergency Suit(in) Case(of) Unexpected Endangerment. How may I be of service?"
When Sharon opened her eyes, she felt disoriented. Everything was dark except for the screen in front of her. She looked down at her body and she was inside a red and gold suit of Armor. "Why am I?.. Why am I wearing Tony's suit?"
"This is not one of Mr. Stark's suits. It is yours, Miss Carter. Specially created for you.
"For me?" Sharon asked, still confused.
FRIDAY decided it was time to explain. "Boss created this suit for you a month after he rebuilt the very first Iron Man suit. He wanted to make sure you were protected at all costs and so as he continued to upgrade Iron Man and War Machine's Armor. He upgraded yours as well, even if there was a chance you were never going to wear or even see the suit, he still made sure you had the best like his because there was still a chance you would wear it."
"He made this for me.. He built this for me..?"
"Yes, even after years of you and him not speaking."
"He.. Built.. this.. For me?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Sharon was happy that her face was covered. She had spent years proving herself as a strong woman. She couldn't bear to cry in front of them. Even after when she had blamed Tony for aunt Peggy's condition. Blamed him for all of aunt Peggy's bad days as well, he still cared. He always cared.
"I'm sorry, big brother.." Sharon whispered to herself within the suit.