Chapter Text
Toni was helping Morgan with fresh clothes. Morgan was starting to be able to get her body parts going in the right direction but wasn’t there yet to do it by herself. She finished the zipping on the overalls. Holding her baby's hand as she toddled to the living room. Morgan’s second hand wrapped around a plush dinosaur which was her current favourite plushie. The older girls were sitting in the living space. Ani doing a jigsaw puzzle and Morgan colouring with her bear
About to open her mouth to ask if they were okay JARVIS set off an alarm announcing.
“Ms Wanda and Agent Rogers are in an altercation in the training rooms.”
“What?” Toni exclaimed, “You three stay up here okay? Do not follow me.”
Running to the elevator she stood on the balls of her feet until she rushed out. Her movement came to a halt when she saw her daughter standing against the wall, her whole body surrounded by red. Steve was just outside the force field looking confused and angry.
“Wanna tell me what’s going on here,” Toni asked, holding her hands up and walking slowly.
“Your daughter bit me!” Steve answered.
The way he called Wanda hers and not theirs didn't go unnoticed but de-escalation was called for here.
“He was scaring me! He had me against the wall! I had to bite him.” Wanda said her voice was uncharacteristically flat.
“Okay, I understand sweetie. Please Wanda move toward me okay?”
Surprisingly she did as Toni said. Steve looked furious now which made Toni's fear grow. She had to focus on her breathing to not rise into a panic. Wanda made her way over, her energy shield falling and Wanda collapsed onto the ground legs at odd angles. Toni ran her fingers through her daughter's hair, it was sweaty and her skin was clammy. It made Toni feel anger rise under her fear.
“Anybody hurt?” Bruce’s voice came.
“What are you doing here? This is a family matter.” Steve retorted.
“Your ‘family matters’ sometimes end up with broken bones,” Bruce said dryly.
“You told him?” Steve’s voice was loud and Toni flinched.
Fuck he was going to hurt her. He could murder her.
“Someone had to set my bones, Steve.” The comeback tumbled from her mouth somewhere between a scream and a whine.
“You can sort that out in court. But what I do need to know is if anyone is injured.” Bruce brought her focus back to her daughter.
“No. I wouldn’t lay a hand on a child.” Steve challenged.
Just your wife Toni thought bitterly.
“The only person who got injured was me when she bit me.” Steve continued.
“I could've killed him,” Wanda said just loud enough for Toni could hear.
Her hands were gripping the hem of Toni’s shirt. She tilted her daughter's head up so their eyes locked. Her poor girl had tears and snot streaming down her face. Toni herself could tell tears were in her own eyes and her skin was sweaty. The urge to rage and sob and fall apart almost overtook her, but she breathed deep and moved her hands to her child’s shoulders.
“My love, stand up, go to Doctor Bruce okay?” Toni said, pulling the girl who was as tall as she was to her feet.
“She’s not physically injured.” Bruce protested “You will be if you stay”
“What are you implying?” Steve spat.
Bruce rippled green, “I told you, Toni, if he hurt the children The Hulk might have something to say about it. And I already let one event pass.”
“You will take my daughter and you will get her to safety. You fucking idiot! She comes first. The girls will always come first. Hulk can come out to protect them or to just deal with your anger some other way. I don't give a damn but you will get her out of here. Steve and I will work this out.” Her voice was steadier than she expected, she was blocking out her emotions.
She couldn’t have them right now, not when her daughter needed her to be brave.
“I hate you sometimes” Bruce muttered but led a dazed Wanda out of the room into the elevator.
“Toni I don't know why you are acting like this is some showdown and not a family disagreement.”
“Oh I'm sorry, are we a family?”
“Toni” Warning in his tone.
“I am going to get a divorce. And I wasn’t sure about suing for custody of the girls. Worried that you might win. But I have to make sure I can be there for them too. I don’t want to hurt you or them Steve. But if this is going to keep coming back here. If we are just going to continually end up with the children so crushed and upset with one of us injured...we can’t keep going like this.”
“You will lose and you will never see them again.” Steve challenged.
“Why? To what end?” Toni asked, her voice starting to waiver.
“If you refuse to be the mother in the family then you revoke your rights to them.”
“How am I not the mother?”
“Breaking up a family we fought so hard to have. I lost everyone I loved and you brought me through it and now we have children. You should stay and push through so we can be a real family! I want to fight and I want to be a soldier. Whatever it takes to keep people safe! But I am owed something for everything I have been through!”
“So I’m not good enough because I don’t want to be with a man who degrades me, cheats on me, controls me, and oh yeah broke my fucking wrist?”
“You make it all sound so violent.”
“And it’s not? You won’t even deny it.” She was frozen but all her muscles felt tense and she was sweating.
A long moment in time passed. The world was too bright right then the blood pounding in her ears was near deafening. But maybe it was better that he didn't deny it. That would probably have been harder to hear.
“I’m not going to lie, I know I haven't always been the best but you don’t make things easy. I have to make you do things correctly.”
“I tried so hard to make this all easy. I already took you back once. I wanted this to work. I wanted to be enough for you, but I never will be. Because even when I do what you ask of me you tell me I'm not enthusiastic enough. Not to mention you had sex with me when you knew I didn't want it. Told me I acted like a dead fish.”
“You never said no.”
“Wow, you fucking creep,” Toni the words rolled off her tongue. The anger that had kept her standing dissipated. The world felt like it was tipping over and her vision blurred.
Before she could deal with that dizziness Steve grabbed her shoulders and pushed her against the wall so hard the world started to tip the other direction and acid filled her mouth.
“You don’t get to judge me, I'm the one who wants this to work. You’re the one willing to blow it up.” Steve yelled as he shoved her again, “I need you to listen, we will work this out.”
“You’re hurting me," was all Toni could think to say.
“It’s because you make me so mad. But you’ll get better and we will be fine.”
No, it won't, she thought. Not when she filed for divorce, maybe even getting one of those things that said he couldn't be close. Sure it only escalated to real damage fourish times but he could fucking kill her.
He was staring at her with bloodshot eyes. His gaze felt like it was burning her. The pressure he applied to the shoulder of the arm already hurt it had moved it out of place. Toni could do nothing but let out a whine. Fresh tears streamed down her face. Toni feared she would be in serious trouble. The pressure let up and she gulped some air as she slid to the floor, her body felt tired and numb. The ringing in her ears and blurred vision had her wanting to disappear.
Steve stepped back looking bewildered. What was he confused about? He shook his head then he left.
Nat came over and Toni noticed a phone in her hand, “I think I got all of it. The fact he can’t even lie about it might support your cause.”
“I hope so.”
“I’m taking you to a non-Bruce doctor.”
“What for?”
“You're bleeding. Also, your arm is hanging at an alarming position. And Bruce is probably Hulked out by now.”
“Kids need me.”
“Not like this.”
“I don’t want to go to normal doctors.”
“Well, I don't want you to have brain damage.”
~~~~~
Natasha helped Toni stumble to the elevator and into the less conspicuous car and made it to an ER.
Nat helping Toni show her licence and then her passport to prove she wasn’t lying about being Toni Stark got her in a bit faster. Also, head trauma that had Toni deeply confused helped expedite the process.
They made Toni do drug and pregnancy tests. And asked her a barrage of concussion questions while they stitched up her head. Then a few scans. Toni spent most of it babbling and wasn’t even crying.
Holding out her hand to Natasha Toni beckoned her over. Nastaha started to step, stopped, took in a deep breath and made her way to Toni. Toni grabbed Nastaha’s hand with a vice-like strength; her expression was beseeching Nastah for comfort
“Львёнок it will be okay.”
“No”
“Okay yeah, overall life is going to be a disaster for a while. But I think your injuries will heal.”
Then Toni started to cry and Natsaha felt a bit better. And she was talking a bit more coherently but it was still a bit disjointed.
Finally, the real doctor showed up.
“Sorry, I wasn't able to come see you and didn’t do any intake. We're a New York ER after all. The good news is it’s a concussion that should heal on its own. There is no bleeding or other visible injury anywhere on the brain. The injury didn’t seem infected but keep an eye on the stitches."
"Now considering you're a superhero this is a dumb question, but what happened? I can see you have a freshly casted injury and a dislocated shoulder.”
He came over to feel Toni’s shoulder and clicked his tongue. Toni froze up as he did it, missing the question of how she was injured at first till he asked it again as he backed away.
“What happened to you, Mrs Stark?” He repeated his question with a level of annoyance that made Nastaha want to punch him.
“My husband broke my wrist because he was angry and...and I got this shoulder and head injury because he banged me against the wall.”
“Why would he do that?”
Natasha bristled at the insulation Toni made him abuse her. Her teammate, someone she really hoped considered her a friend, was sitting there injured at the hands of her husband and this stupid man dared to ask how she brought it on herself?
“Mrs Stark?” He repeated.
“Well, the arm. We got into an argument because my friend punched him for cheating on me. Then he blamed me for it and threatened to take my children from me. So I shouted back, but then he got really angry, grabbed me and then broke it. Then the head and shoulder, ya know, he got into it with my, our daughter about something. And then he was still mad at me for stuff and telling Bruce he hurt me before. And I told him we were getting a divorce i wanted rights to see the kids so he banged me against a wall.”
“We’re talking about Steve Rogers?” his voice was disbelieving, “You must have done something.”
“I don’t know,” Toni said, tears pouring down her face.
The doctor turned to Natasha and. She made sure that her facial expression showed him that she could and would kill him.
“I’m going to call psych.”The doctor mumbled.
Natasha moved over and took Toni’s hand.
“Hey, ”
“ I know they wouldn’t believe me. I’m a fuck up, he’s a hero.”
“If he’s one, so are you.”
“I caused most of my own problems.”
“You didn’t cause the alien invasion or the existence of Hydra”
“People will still take his side.”
“You won’t lose your children Toni. It might be a mess and break our hearts. But you will prevail.”
“I appreciate the confidence.”
“If you have none I will have it for you.”
Toni gave her a half smile before she huffed, blowing her hair from her face. Nastaha looked at the religious medal that was wrapped around her wrist,
“Who’s on your bracelet? You don’t seem the saint medal type considering you only went to church to get married.”
“Steve got it for me,” Toni shrugged.
“Can I look at it?” Natasha asked, she wasn’t sure why but she really wanted to know what Steve thought Toni would need. This gift probably came from a better time. Before everything fell apart.
Toni nodded and Natasha unwrapped it from her non-broken arm and examined it.
The medal read Saint Rita of Cascia . She picked up her phone and googled her name . “ A patron saint of the impossible, difficult, and hopeless causes, distinctly in the realm of marriage, abuse, fertility, parenthood, and disease. ”
Good, great literally a saint who saw over hopeless abuse, parenthood and marriage. Well, at least it was apt for the situation he had pushed his wife and their children into. Though she supposed the saint was supposed to be able to provide intercession when things were this abysmal. But then that would require her to believe in god and the amount of red in her ledger had convinced her there was no god. On the off chance there was, they were a fucking sadist.
A psychiatrist came in looking at the notes on the computer before turning back to face Toni.
“How are you, Mrs Stark?”
“Uh, a bit shit. I have a concussion, stitches in my scalp, a broken wrist and only a few minutes ago my shoulder was dislocated.”
“Fair enough, I wouldn't be doing well either.” The doctor agreed and then turned to Natasha, “Who do you have here?”
“My friend Natasha.”
“Well, we need to have a private conversation. I'd like it if she stepped out. When certain factors are involved it can be good to have it be just us.”
Nat nodded but she desperately didn’t want to leave Toni alone. But she went into the hallway and sighed, staring at the medal. The futility of such an object made her angry, fuck, she was going to need real help.
~~~~~
Toni felt awkward and shifted on the bed.
“So, Mrs Stark”
“Toni please.”
“Toni, due to the nature of your injuries, and your comments, I was requested to come chat.”
A scowl crossed Toni’s face unbidden. She didn’t want to defend herself again. In a hospital bed while still concussed was the last place she wanted to do this, doing it in court would be bad enough.
“That’s okay;” Toni shrugged.
“So tell me what happened that brought you to our hospital”
“My head was bleeding and my shoulder was messed up.”
“That much is clear, yes. I was wondering if you could tell me how you got hurt?”
“Right, sure. The other doctor didn’t believe me. Why would you?”
“I personally am ambivalent about the Avengers. Useful sure, but I don’t care about your personal lives. If you stop the Aliens I don't care. So I'm not on any of your sides.”
“Okay, so you're just going to take it down. Not uh, ya know, tell the police without asking me?”
“You’re an adult, mandatory reporting doesn’t apply here.”
“Okay. Steve Rogers, my, ah, husband, was arguing with our daughter. She’s fourteen and very brave. But he was scaring her so she bit him. He had her cornered against the wall. So I came down and broke things up before someone got really hurt.”
“Biting someone can get someone hurt.”
Toni huffed, they didn’t get it did they.? They were never going to care, she was too stupid and crazy and broken to be believed. Why else would she do this but attention, and Steve was too perfect. How could she be at the wrong end of the fist she was the heartless Iron Queen, he was unarmed. It didn’t matter that she would never put the suit on, she didn’t want to all out brawl with him, and she’d never hit an enhanced human with a repulsor beam yet. Not to mention her suite wasn’t made with vibranium.
“Steve is way more durable than a normal person, not to mention healing faster. She didn’t even break the skin.” Was what Ttoni landed on saying.
“Okay, continue.”
“So I got down there, got them to separate and had her come over to me. Then Doctor Banner came down, he did antagonise us a bit. You see the broken wrist came from a fight with Steve a few days ago and I told Bruce about it so someone could set the bone. And Steve told me to tell nobody about what happened” Toni felt her words slip away. What was the point?
The doctor sat down and put her on Toni’s eyeline. A good gesture but it didn’t mean she cared. "Continue please.”
“Okay well, Steve didn’t like that. I had Banner take Wanda away so she wouldn't have to go through more, she was scared enough as is. Then Steve and I started slinging words. I told him I wanted to file for divorce and that I was going to make sure he didn’t get full custody of the girls. And he hated that. But it was just because before he broke my wrist he threatened to take them away. You know? I mean he was mad that Rhodey punched him, but that isn’t my fault. I told Rhodey to leave it alone.”
“Leave what alone.”
“The infidelity.” Toni sighed, “Steve doesn’t find me very good in bed. You’d think my experience would be enough.”
“Okay. back to the fight that brought you here.”
“He started telling me I wasn't a good mom. And I told him that I did what he wanted. He said that the reason I'm a bad mom is because I want to get a divorce. That I was bad. And that I was upset when he admitted he had sex with me when he knew I didn't want it. Like I’m not even sure what really happened but he was mad so he slammed my head against the wall and held my shoulders. He said stuff and I said stuff. I don't remember and then did it again. My head and shoulder hurt and Nat took me here.”
“Okay. Thank you for telling me what happened. I obviously don’t know for sure what happened. But I will put your story in the notes so should it be needed they will know you came here and got imaging studies right after the altercation.”
“Do you believe me?” Toni asked.
The doctor faltered before nodding, “I do Toni. But my belief won’t be enough on its own.”
“To do what?”
“Get you help, get you away from him.”
“I can’t, we’re Avengers.”
“You are just human, yes?”
Toni nodded and took a breath, where was she going with this?
“He was made super strong, as you stated he is augmented. If you don’t have your metal suit on he can kill you.”
"His shield could most likely break my suit,” Toni mumbled.
“Well, that proves my point. He gave you a concussion, dislocated your shoulder and broke your wrist in the course of a few days. He will kill you, I’ve seen how things go. He could kill you, and he would have unfettered control of those innocent children. “
Toni’s mouth felt dry. It was true, he could kill her. It had crossed her mind already that he could do it. Reminding her that if she was dead the girls would be alone with him. But she had to go check on her daughters before she tried something like a protective order. It was necessary so they didn’t feel like she was controlling their lives without involving them.
However, the fact she wanted to just check on their girls wasn’t going to save her. Nothing she could do would ensure she wouldn’t get hurt again.
“I will make note of my concerns, considering with your reactor-pacemaker thing, you're also medically fragile to start with. I hope to not see you here again..”
Toni nodded as The Doctor left and Natasha came back in.
“You okay Toni?”
“Yeah,” Toni said, holding out her hands and was glad when Natasha came over and held her hands.
“Can we please call Pepper?”
“You can do what you want Львёнок”
She had to sit still long enough they could be given paperwork telling her to rest and come back if she started having worse neurological symptoms. As well as following up to get her stitches out and keeping it all clean. Toni was also not supposed to drive while she took her pain medication.
It was fine she usually had drivers anyway.
Her call to Pepper was put off again as her phone flashed that Professor X was on the other line.
“What’s wrong?” Toni asked, pretty sure he would never contact her without reason. He didn’t want to be linked to her and therefore public.
“Erik Lehnsherr, Magneto, Wanda’s biological father, learned of her. The record he has access to has you listed as her legal guardian.”
“Cool, cool, cool my daughter is now the target of a mutant known to be dangerous.”
“Yes.”
“Well, I guess I have to get my girls and go.”
“Yes.”
“Send the information to me, please.”
“I will. But he will want Wanda alive, he won’t harm her.”
“Kidnapping my daughter is harmful.”
“Do call if there is something I can do. I assume you're not running to us.”
“No, I have a plan”
Getting the girls to the new compound would give them the most defensible position.
They were the most dramatic family in the goddamn world. Crazy biological parents, impending divorce, possible spousal murder, superpowers and god knows what else was about to happen.