Archive of Our Own ^beta

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The second ‘Ms Rushman’ walked through the doors of the gym and he recognized her immediately where she walked up behind Pepper. He bit back a smile. Well, wasn't that interesting? He paused his conversation with Pepper and turned to the other woman.

“And who are you?” Nat looked up at him in slight surprise at that obviously not expecting him to address her directly. She smiled pleasantly, holding out her hand, he took it.

“Natalie Rushman from legal it’s nice to meet you Mr Stark.” Tony turned up his charm as he studied her.

“Ms Rushman, the pleasure is mine” He let his eyes drag over her form appreciatively. He could clearly see the flash of disgust in her eyes at the look he was giving her to mask the fact that he was counting the amount of weapons she had on her. He pretended not to notice. She was good that’s for sure but Tony had worked by her side several times through the years and knew how to read her almost as well as Barton did. “Say Ms, would you like a promotion?” Her eyes flashed in early victory as if that had been easier then she thought and well for her it most likely was, she didn’t know he knew and he intended to make sure she knew he knew who she was. She smiled and nodded. Pepper started to argue and Tony cut her off by sending her and his trainer outside. Pepper huffed in frustration but surprisingly seemed to realise she wasn’t winning that one.

As the two others left Tony's whole demeanor changed. His back straightened, his smile fell and his eyes became sharper. He turned to Natasha and this time he looked at her predatorily. For a moment her mind flashed with how dangerous he looked and for a second she felt fear roll down her spine as she wondered just what made him look at her like that.

“Natalie Rushman, bit on the nose don’t you think?” Natasha stiffened ever so slightly as Tony started to circle her. She figured the best way to handle whatever this was was to play dumb.

“What do you mean Mr. Stark?” Tony paused a grin stretching over his lips.

“What do I mean? I mean that it’s a bit too close to your real name, don’t you agree, Natasha?” To her credit the only thing giving away that she was surprised and her slight fear was the fact that her eyes widened ever so slightly.

“Natasha? My name is Natalie, you must be mistaken sir.” She couldn’t give up just yet her mission depended on convincing Tony that he really was mistaken. Tony just gave her an unimpressed look.

“Really Agent Romanov? Give up, you’ve lost. Now tell me why S.H.I.E.L.D sen’t their second best agent to infiltrate my company. Why are they trying to keep an eye on me?” Natasha had gone rigid now realising that there was no point in trying anymore. When she didn’t answer he continued. “Why? Natasha, why would they wanna keep an eye on me? Could it be that I’m dying? No, they don’t give two shits about that.” He was staring her down now holding eye contact as he circled her. He stopped at her back and whispered in her ear. “Could it be for Coulson's little passion project maybe? What was it Ms. Rushman? The Avengers Initiative?” Nat flinched, spinning around launching a hand to his face. Tony blocked it easily grabbing her hand and keeping ahold of it as he stared her down again.

“How do you know all that?” She practically spat. Tony just grinned wider.

“Underestimating your opponent is always going to be your downfall Вдова” Natashas eyes widened again. “You really haven't done your job right if you don’t know.” He leered. While staring her down he called.

“J, call Fury for me.” He could clearly see the surprise on her face as the number dialed and even more when he actually picked up.

“Stark, what do you want?”

“Ahh, Nick, always a pleasure. Now could you explain why in the everloving hell Agent Romanov has infiltrated my company to spy on me.”

“What.” Tony sighed at the genuine confusion in his voice.

“Listen Fury, I’ll keep her. She’ll be my assistant and all that but you need to keep an eye on your side and notify me of shit like this. You and I both know how this could have ended.” The irritation and exasperation that leaked into his voice could clearly be heard by both of the other spies. Fury sighed and Tony could practically see how he massaged the bridge of his nose.

“Yes, I’m well aware of what could have happened Stark I didn’t authorise this just please let this go. I’ll take care of it on this end-”

“No, you will investigate your ‘company’ and see what the hell else you have missed. There is something going on and I don’t like it. I’ll keep Agent Romanov here and she’ll do whatever her mission is. But. Don’t EVER let this happen again, is that clear Fury?” Fury sighed.

“Understood Mr. Stark.” Tony smiled slightly and relaxed, letting go of Natashas wrist.

“Good, you know where to find me if you need me.”

Chapter Text

Fury did indeed know where to find him. An hour later Agent Zeros phone rang, Natasha looked up from where she was sitting and Tony frowned as he pulled it out answering. 

“Hello” 

“Agent Zero, you have a mission” Tony bit back a grin hell yea. It had been ages since there was a mission he was needed for. “I’ve found information that makes me think we have been infiltrated” Tony felt his heart sink fuck that was bad, Peggy was going to be heartbroken when she found out. He closed his eyes tilting his head back ever so slightly, biting the inside of his cheek. 

“Got it, I assume you’ve sent the file already” 

“Yes, all the information I have is in there, honestly Zero, you’re the only agent I trust at the moment.” Tony grimenced, that was bad. 

“I’ll take a look and see what I can do.” 

“Good report back as usual” Tony smiled ever so slightly. 

“Copy that.” With that Fury hung up. Tony glanced at Nat who was pretending to not be eavesdropping. Fury might only trust him but he had been through too much with Nat and Clint to not trust them. Even so their handlers could very well be bad. He got up all while packing his things up to leave. 

“Where are you going?” Tony raised an eyebrow at the woman. 

“Been promoted to professional babysitter now have you? If you must know, I’m going home early today. Then I'll be in the lab after a long nice nap. Maybe I’ll invite a pretty lady over and have some fun later, maybe I’ll be going out who knows really” Nat glared at him but nodded and let him leave. 

In reality Tony wasn’t even close to going home to sleep. He got home and quickly got changed into his Agent Zero gear and promptly left through the underground evacuation tunnels he, in his paranoia, built into his home. On the ride home he’d looked over the files Fury sent him and Tony had three targets that night. Two of which he had to break into their houses and one of which there was already a confirmed connection to whatever group was trying to infiltrate Shield. His instructions were clear and clean cut. Get in, find information, get out. Get in, find information, get out. Get in, eliminate the target, make it look like an accident, get out.  

Simple really. What Tony hadn’t accounted for when he got to his target was that the man wouldn’t be alone. There standing in the living room was a man. He had a metal arm. That’s the first thing Tony noticed. The second thing he noticed was that the man had his target held up against the wall metal arm around his target's neck. He was really glad Peggy had taught him how to read lips because he actually managed to catch some of what the man was saying as he choked the target to death. He studied the man, his face was mostly covered by some form of mask not unlike the one he himself was wearing. His hair was dark brown and pulled back in a low ponytail. The shorter hair at the front hanging loose framing his face. His clothes were also similar to Tony's own though their weapons of choice were different from one and others. When the man finally dropped dead the man practically vanished. He was quick and got out of there smoothly on his motorcycle. When he was sure the man was gone Tony entered the room. The first thing he did was double check that the man was actually dead. He was and fucking hell it was nicely done. Tony couldn’t help but be a bit both impressed and in slight awe. The room looked like nothing had happened, the only thing out of place was the body on the floor. Tony picked him up easily and moved him to the kitchen. There was minimal bruising on the neck but it was an easy fix. All he had to do to hide them was suck a few hickeys into his neck and they didn’t look out of place. He didn’t enjoy that part of the work but honestly he didn’t really have a choice and he was in a time crunch as it was. He put him on the kitchen floor and forced a piece of chicken down his throat and then placed a plate of it on the kitchen bench. As he was about to leave he paused. He turned back to the man grabbing a washcloth from the bathroom, damping it and lathering it in his soap before wiping down his neck just in case and then he left. When he got back to his house he called Fury and updated him on the situation and everything he’d found. He described the other man and what little he’d been able to make out from the lip reading. It really hadn’t been much other than the man begging for his life and something about being careful and not getting caught. He hadn’t been able to tell what the assassin had replied due to the mask but whatever it had been if he even had said anything at all was the last thing the man would ever hear. After hiding his gear and a scalding shower he fell into bed exhausted over the day's events.

He didn’t like not knowing why Nat was spying on him but then again he didn’t really care either. He was dying. He wasn’t going to live more than a few months at best. That’s why he signed the company over to Pepper, It was also why he’d donated her art collection, to get her to hate him. He knew how distraught she’d been after the kidnapping and he didn’t want her to mourn him. At least not to that degree. So he tried to make her hate him. Besides, she practically already knew exactly how to run the company and quite frankly she was the only person in the world that he trusted enough. The expo might not have been important at least not to her but it was what was expected of him well of Tony Stark at least. Go out with a boom and all that. In a year he would be six feet under ground no longer breathing so if that meant that the last thing he did was kill some possibly Hydra scum then he’d do so gladly. He’d act like everyone expected a dying Tony Stark to. He fought with Rhody and let him take the suit just like he had planned. Leaving his two babies in the only two pairs of hands he trusted. He made three new sets of widow bites for Nat when he passed and several new pairs of arrows for Clint to play around with. He left all of his dads old Captain America things for Agent Coulson and for Nick he left several memory sticks with intel on several different agents who he didn’t trust. He also made the man an eyepatch that both looked cooler and was much more high tech working almost the same as his phone. 

He was ready to die. So when Fury called him down from the doughnut he was genuinely concerned. Tony Stark and Nick Fury did not know each other. So with that he followed the man to the dinner and when he asked Tony to join the Avengers initiative he reacted the way Tony Stark would. He said no, among a bunch of other insults. Fury went along with it seeing as the man knew just how hard Tony worked to keep his two identities separate. Then Nat walked in all professional and in her Shield attire. She knew Tony already knew who she was and so did Fury even so they played pretend. When Natasha said just who had put her there and WHY. Tony froze, turning to stare Fury down. The man at least had the decency to look a little guilty to have lied to Tony's face about it even so Tony let it slide, for now at least. He supposed that Fury had at least been cautious enough to give the job to Nat because he knew Tony would recognize her and therefore not kill her on sight and because if the spy found out about his ‘second job’ so to speak Nat already knew Zero and would keep his identity safe without telling anyone. It was smart and Tony hated that it was so well thought out. Tony really hadn’t been paying attention. Too stuck in his own mind because he trusted these two people so when Natasha injected him with the lithium dioxide he flinched. Fuck he had not expected that. As Fury explained what it did and what he wanted Tony to do he felt his heart sink. Why couldn’t Fury just let him go. He didn’t know that the man had known about his impending death. As the other man held his eyes Tony began to understand. This wasn’t just about losing his best agent, it was about losing Tony. His heart skipped a beat at that. Him and Fury might have a love-hate relationship with each other but it warmed his cold heart to know that the older man actually cared about HIM and not just what he could bring to the table. It was a nice piece of knowledge to have and as fucked up as it was he could hear the slight desperation in his handlers voice as he told Tony to keep trying. They were playing a game he knew because even if Nat knew he and Fury at least knew each other to some degree she didn’t know how much or why and the same went for everyone else who could be watching and listening in. When Fury told him about Howard and gave Tony his things Tony acted like he had no idea that his dad had been involved in Shield. When he was introduced to Coulson he held back a smile especially when the man threatened him. If the other man ever found out about Zeros identity he’d never let the man live down that moment ever. 

Breaking out of his own house was almost funnily easy though maybe that was because he used some of his Zero skills. The fact that he bought strawberries for Pep knowing full well she was allergic to them was an asshole move but he needed her to really hate him so he did it anyway. He’d rather die alone than die knowing it’d kill the people around him. When Nat spotted him she froze for just a split second to stare at him in disbelief most likely wondering how the fuck he managed to sneak out but didn’t say anything. He tried not to think too much about what she’d do when she found out who he was once he died. 

Contrary to popular belief Tony did not want to die. Not really anyway. He wanted to live especially now that he had something to live for. He had Pepper, Rhody and a purpose as both Ironman and as Zero. So when he saw the expo model labelled as ‘the key to the future’ he gave it one last shot. He took it and left. When he got back to the house and Coulson confronted him about leaving he could tell the other man was ever so slightly impressed with him even though he didn’t say it. As the man told him he was leaving Tony wanted to hug his friend because if this didn’t work then the likelihood of this being the last time they saw each other was pretty big.

Chapter Text

Tony did at the last second pull both Coulson and Clint into a tight hug holding both of them for a moment. As he pulled away he could see the confusion on their faces Tony looked at both of them holding their eye contact trying to get them to see to understand what he couldn’t say. He wasn’t delusional, he wasn't certain he could do this yet he hoped he could figure it out and if he did he couldn’t tell them. Nobody could know about Zero so he let them go glancing at him as they did. When they were out of sight he went down to the lab taking a deep breath and getting back to work. It had to work. Please let it work. It did work. It actually worked. He was about to call Fury when Vanko called him and he had to put all of that on the back burner. 

---

He kissed her, he didn’t know why or what caused him to kiss her but he did gods he was an idiot. Rhodey was there too pulling him into a hug glad he was alive. The silence following as the reality of what had just happened settled in stretched between them. 

“You were dying?” Pepper looked at him with tears in her eyes and Tony hated himself even more in that moment for being the reason for it. Tony sighed as he glanced over at Rhodey who looked surprised and slightly scared. 

“Let’s go home and sit down then we’ll talk, yea?” Both of them looked at him, their eyes unsure but then Pepper nodded and Rhodey followed suit. Tony grabbed onto Pepper and then closed the face plate flying home he could see Rhodey following him in his peripheral. As they reached his house he set Pepper down carefully as he got out of the suit she and Rhodey were already making their way inside. Tony caught up and they all sat down in the living room. For a few minutes they just sat in silence. 

“Soo, Tones?” Tony sighed and nodded. He figured it was best to just rip the bandaid of. 

“I’m not dying” That caused both of them to look both relieved and confused. “I was dying though. The short and least sciency explanation is that the Palladium that was powering the arc reactor in my chest was toxic. The one thing that was keeping me alive was poisoning me from the inside and out.” They both looked horrified and he could feel that one of them was about to interrupt so he continued. “You two are pretty much the only two people I trust wholeheartedly so that’s why I was acting like an ass. That's why I let you take the suit.” He looked over at Rhodey and gave him a sad smile before turning to Pepper. “And why I signed over the company to you. I didn’t want either of those things to fall into the wrong hands.” He let his friends digest what he’d just said as they fell into another silence. 

“You said you’re no longer dying?” He looked over at Rhodey with a more genuine smile. 

“Yea cuz I’m not.” Rhodey just raised an eyebrow in question and Tony rolled his eyes. “I was going through some of my dads old shit and found something. Howard managed to in theory find a new element but there wasn't good enough technology back then for him to ‘find’ it. Well he was really fucking paranoid so he hid the molecular structure in the old Stark expo model you know the one called ‘key to the future’ yea I figured it out and well rediscovered the element and now its powering this thing.” He tapped the new arc reactor with a small smile. Both of his friends stared at him in surprise and there was a tiny bit of pride in both of their eyes before they both at the same time tackled him into a tight hug. Tony smiled and hugged them both back with a laugh. 

“God that explains so much, you’ve been such an ass lately. Besides, I know you know I'm allergic to Strawberries. I was so confused.” Tony smiled and reached out to wipe her tears away. 

“Yea I know, I was trying to make you mad.” Both of them pulled away from the hug and frowned at him in confusion. 

“What do you mean you were trying to make her mad, Tony?” Tony sat up not meeting either of their eyes. They could both see how he was staring to close in on himself, how he put distance between them, not looking at them and fell silent. The two of them glanced at each other in concern. “Tony?” The man sighed again, he was doing a lot of that today, noted his friends. 

“I was a dick to both of you. It's stupid I know that but I, I just wanted to make me dying easier for both of you. I know how hard my kidnapping was and I figured. Well I figured that if I got you both to hate me then me dying would be as hard on you as it would have been otherwise.” He rambled still avoiding looking at them, when neither of them answered he chanced a glance at the two of them. Both of them had tears running down their cheeks again. Before he had time to react they tackled him into another hug. 

“For a genius you can be such a fucking idiot sometimes.” Tony chuckled wetly as his own tears started to fall. He wrapped his arms around his friends and pretended not to hear Peppers comment. She was right though, he really could be a fucking idiot at times. 

“So why did you decide that you’d tell us now and not earlier.” Tony's eyes widened as he stared at pepper like a deer caught in headlights. He knew that there was no point in avoiding to answer even so he paused to consider how far he’d get if he tried to run. In the end he knew that he really wouldn’t get far and they wouldn’t let it go. So he sighed, again , closing his eyes not wanting to see their faces when he told them. 

“First I didn’t tell you, Ms. Rushman did. Second, I would have told you earlier if I could but I just managed to finish putting together the new arc reactor when Vanko called me.” Both of them inhaled sharply the double meaning in his words hitting them like a brick wall. 

“You mean that you were still dying just earlier today?” Tony pursed his lips hesitantly as he nodded. Both of his friends just stared at him again before hugging him tighter. “Rhodey, we could have lost him” Pepper pulled back ever so slightly so she could look at him. Rhodey nodded and he looked heart broken, his voice cracking as he spoke. 

“I know Pep. For years I’ve dreaded the day and feared that, that he could have kicked the bucket unless one of us were there.” His eyes flickered to Tony who was avoiding his eyes. “To know that, that day was so close and that we didn’t know.. Fuck Pep this is going to haunt me for the rest of my life. 

“Us, Rhodes. It’s going to haunt us , for the rest of our lives.” They both turned back to Tony and glared at him. “Were you just going to die on us and think you’d get away with it? No, in compensation of not telling us and suffering in silence you are going to do all of your SI work for the next week, paper work and all without complaining you hear me?” Tony just smiled softly at them both and nodded. 

“Yea, I guess I deserve that. Does It help if I tell you I didn’t want to die?” At that both of them seemed to relax. It was as if they both had been debating whether or not he hadn’t told him because he didn’t want to find a solution or not. 

“Surprisingly, it does help” Rhodey smiled at him slightly but Tony could see the shadows dancing in his eyes and he had to look away. His friend didn’t need to say it Tony knew what he was trying to say either way.

It was as if his phone could sense they were having a moment because it just had to go off. Tony sighed and pulled it out as his friends sat up. He answered without checking the caller ID. He really should have checked the caller ID.

“Stark, how can I help you?” He said tiredly. 

“Stark, did you figure it out yet?” Tony tensed at the sound of Fury's voice over the phone. 

“Yea, yea I figured it out.” He could see his friends giving him looks of concern and Rhodey's of intrigue. 

“Good, I need you to make your way to HQ” Tony blinked in surprise, Zero never went to HQ especially not alone. “Check the phone I’m calling you on, it’ll give you a clue as to how you should dress and act.” With that he hung up. He sighed and glanced at the phone. It was his Tony Stark one so it made more sense as to why he was going to HQ. It also made him curious as to why. He assumed it had to do with the Avengers Thing ™ but he wasn’t sure. He put the phone back and turned back to the others and their questioning looks. 

“It was nothing important, just work," he sighed tiredly. They both gave him looks of sympathy and Tony smiled. “Listen I’m really tired so I think I’ll just go to bed.” Both smiled and let him go without much protest but not before they hugged him both good night and goodbye. 

Chapter Text

Tony waited until Friday confirmed that they had both fallen asleep. He got dressed in a pair of clean jeans and band shirt with an old hoodie thrown on top before leaving. He took one of his least suspicious looking cars and definitely didn’t speed to get to HQ as quickly as possible. When he got there and walked into the book store he smiled at the cashier who looked surprised to see him there.

“Snowing here in early lukewarm December, eh?” He grinned and the woman's eyes widened in understanding and motioned for him to follow her. He did and sure he’d been here before but the hidden door never failed to amuse him. Like it was the most basic fictional hidden door he’d ever seen. It worked though so he guessed he really couldn’t blame whoever had designed it. As the hidden elevator door closed behind them the woman spoke up. 

“To what do we owe the pleasure Mr. Stark?” Tony smiled slightly and shrugged. 

“You tell me, Fury just told me to go here and tell you that and really what does that sentence even mean?” The woman looked slightly amused. 

“It’s very old. Apparently it was your dads invention.” Tony schooled his expression not letting his dislike for the dead man show and just nodded. Well the fact that it was Howards idea explained why it was so shit so there was that. When the elevator came to a stop Tony left and the woman went back upstairs. There was another agent that Tony didn’t recognise there that escorted him into another room. It was practically a concrete box that had a table in the middle with Fury sitting on one side of it with a chair across from him. There were several armed agents lining the walls and Tony rolled his eyes. He sat down unceremoniously in the chair across from his boss. 

“Well, well, well, what are we doing here? Is this your office? I've got to say I expected something more, I don’t know, fancy.” Tony grinned and Fury rolled his eyes. They both knew that Tony knew this wasn’t his real office. The discussion went exactly how Tony expected. He played up the Stark persona for the other agents. By the end of it Tony walked off, on the other side of the door was Agent Barton. Tony smiled at him before saluting him and leaving. To his surprise Barton followed him into the elevator and waited for the doors to close before turning to Tony. 

“You know more than you are letting on.” It wasn’t a question so Tony remained silent as the other man studied him. “What do you know?” Now Tony smiled but it wasn’t his Stark smile nor was it a Zero smile. It was a Tony smile. 

“What don’t I know?” Clint's eyes narrowed as he kept studying him. Then he walked to the panel and flipped it open and pressed his hand to the scanner there. The elevator stopped immediately after that and the man turned back to Tony who didn’t even look surprised. 

“You managed to sneak out when you were being watched by Coulson, Romanov said you went home early and then disappeared from her radar completely. Just who are you?” Tony smiled and walked over to the panel. Shutting it and the elevator began moving again. As they reached the top Tony smiled at the agent one last time before turning to leave. He paused for a moment and said. 

“ You know who I am, Barton.” With that Tony kept walking as he walked through the bookstore he could hear Clint following him. His phone rang, his Zero phone rang. He answered immediately. 

“Do you have your gear?” Tony smiled. 

“Yup, it’s in the car, brought it just in case.” 

“Good, I need you to break into a Shield facility for me.” Tony's blood ran cold as he stopped two meters from the door. 

“ What I know, it’s fucked but I need you to see if you can find any of the things in the files i sent you. I don’t trust any of my own agents except you and that’s fucked. I looked into it like you asked and I found shit I really hoped I never would.” 

“Shit, I was right then.” Fury hummed before continuing. 

“You were. But this isn’t just about that. This is also about what I found while snooping.” Tony closed his eyes. He wasn't going to like this was he? “The man, that Agent you saw?” Tony did not like where this was going at all. 

“Yes, what about him?” 

“I know who it was.” Tony closed his eyes staring at the ceiling.

“Who was he?” there was a beat of silence. 

“I was The Winter Soldier.” 

“Shit”

“Yea” This was bad, really bad. Tony got his feet to move again and left the building. Clint was still following him and he’d never hated the fact that the man could lip read more before. 

“He’s supposed to be a ghost story.” Fury sighed. 

“So is Romanov and Barton and yet you have worked with both of them on several occasions.” 

“I know but they” He cut himself off, reminding himself  of the eyes watching him. 

“Are you being watched?” Tony hummed before answering. 

“Yea, but a little bird told me about it.” 

“Shit, Barton. Alright, can you lose him? This is high sensitivity he can’t know.” Tony hated that he could trust his friend but there was nothing he could do right now. 

“You know I can do that. I just reached my car. I'll call you back when I’ve got more information.” 

“Sounds good.” Tony pulled away to hang up when Fury continued. “And Zero?” 

“Yea?” 

“Be careful, I need you.” Tony felt his whole chest warm with the knowledge. He smiled. 

“You know I always am” He answered softly. 

“Good luck Z,” With that Fury hung up. Tony got into his car and made his way towards the coordinates Fury sent him but not before managing to lose the car that was following him. He knew it was Clint and the fact that he had to lose him made his stomach turn. He liked the guy and if it turned out that they were a part of whatever organisation were infiltrating them. Tony had a feeling he knew what organisation it was no matter how much he hated it. Turns out the coordinates were in the middle of nowhere so Tony pulled off the road into the woods and when he was far enough in that it couldn’t be spotted from the road nor the base. He got out and quickly changed into his Zero gear and made his way to the base. It was a 30 minute walk and when he got there it was another secret entrance. 

The base was old and it was almost laughably easy to get inside it. Howard might have been good at making weapons but he wasn’t good with tech. At least not as good as Tony. Once inside he realised that there was barely anyone there. Which wasn’t that big of a surprise considering that according to the files the base was only in use when an emergency emerged. What was surprising was the fact that there were any people at all there, seeing as the files on the place clearly stated that it was currently not in use and therefore should have been completely empty. Zero managed to sneak around a bit until found the surveillance room. When he got inside it was empty much to his surprise. Tony flicked through the different cameras until he found what he was looking for. The Chair. Fury had sent over a picture of it but he still didn’t know what it did. He didn’t know how his boss had even found a picture of it in the first place. 

The room with The Chair also happened to be the most guarded room. Zero didn’t want to have to kill anyone. This mission was supposed to be lowkey which meant no one could die or be knocked out because if they were then The Organization would know someone was on to them and that could put shield at risk and at the very least Fury. 

The room might have been the most heavily guarded but that didn’t mean it was hard to get into. Especially not if you went through the vents. Which was exactly what Zero did. The room was mostly empty except for The Chair. Zero scanned it thoroughly with the help of Jarvis' little sister Friday to be able to study it when he got back to his house. He searched the room for any documentation and found nothing but an old red notebook with a black star on it. He grabbed it just as he heard the guards make their way back to the room. Zero swore and in his haste to leave forgot to leave the book. He didn’t realise he was still holding it when he got back to the car and by then it was too late to do anything about it. He quickly changed back to Tony Stark clothes and left, speeding back to his house. Halfway back he called Fury. 

“Zero, how’d it go?” He could hear the relief in the man's voice. It didn’t matter that it was always there after missions; it always warmed his heart to know that his boss cared about him enough to worry. 

“It went well. Sorry it took longer than planned” It really had taken longer than anticipated. The mission had run 30 minutes over time and Tony hadn’t even noticed until he got back to the car. 

“What did you find?” He sighed knowing that he didn’t have good news. He didn’t even have bad news, he had horrible news. He knew how much effort both Fury and Peggy had put into making Shield what it was. He also knew that it broke both of their hearts to know that it was potentially ruined beyond saving. 

“The base wasn’t abandoned” Fury swore but didn’t interrupt otherwise. “I found The Chair and have a virtual copy of it so I can pick it apart when I get home and figure out what it’s used for.” 

“Good, that’s, that’s good.” The man sighed heavily. “But. I’ll have to wait until tomorrow. You need sleep. A lot of sleep. Get some rest. At least eight hours before you start looking. That’s an order.” Tony smiled warmly at the phone knowing that the other man couldn’t see him. There weren’t many who cared about him but Fury did and Fury knew him better than almost anyone on the planet. The man knew almost everything about him. From how Howard had treated him to Zero's identity. Sure Rhodey was his best friend but Fury was a close second. 

“Alright, I’ll get some sleep. Good night Boss”

“Good night Zero. And good work.” With that he hung up leaving Tony alone with his thoughts. He wanted to get to work now but an order was an order and he couldn’t go against that so instead he turned on some music and tried to tune out the rest of the world. 

When he got back home he snuck back in and much to his relief both his friends were still fast asleep. After dropping off the notebook in the lab he went to bed after a quick shower and surprisingly or maybe not he fell asleep almost immediately. The day he’d had taken more of a toll on him than he’d expected. To think that just a few hours earlier he’d been dying from the palladium seemed pretty absurd. 

Chapter Text

Tony was all but dead to the world for the next 12 hours. He slept so hard he didn’t even notice his friends waking up and leaving. They both left notes and a text saying they had to leave and didn’t want to wake him up. Tony barely acknowledged them other than a quick text back to both of them saying that he was awake and thanking them for the day before. Then after having cooked and eaten breakfast because Fury would kill him if he didn’t eat. He went down to the lab and got to work. 

“Friday, the scans from last night please” She pulled them up and Tony frowned his eyes scanning the small copy. “Life size scale please Fri” The thing grew until it took the size of the chair Tony had seen yesterday. He looked it over, turning it over and looking for clues as to what it could possibly have been used for. He had several theories but the most likely one was one that he really didn’t want to think about but the more he looked, took apart and researched the more likely it seemed. After two hours he closed his eyes and sighed. He needed a break so with that, he turned to his desk and grabbed the book and holy shit was his first thought as he scanned it. Most of it was in Russian and Tony wasn’t fluent in the language by any means but what little he got and the English parts told him tales of pain and blood. He felt nauseous. The book wasn’t much help at that moment but it did confirm his suspicion as to what the chair was used for he just didn’t understand why they had it. No one person could survive such amounts of electricity.  

“Fri, call Fury, now.” The AI could probably hear his growing panic and desperation in his voice because not even five seconds later the man in question picked up. 

“Zero? What’s happening?” Tony took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he leaned against the wall. He swallowed hard. 

“Nick it’s bad, really fucking bad.” There was a beat of silence before he answered but when he did Tony could hear the reassurance in his voice but he could also decipher the growing panic in it. 

“Zero, breath, you’re okay. It’s fine, it’s going to be fine. What brought this on?” Tony relaxed, getting his breathing under control again. 

“I found a book that I took with me in a hurry because I forgot to leave it. It’s in Russian so I can't read it but what little I can understand is enough to confirm my suspicion as to what that goddamn chair was or is used for.” 

“And what is that?” 

“Torture, pure and horrifying torture. Nick, no normal human should be able to survive that shit. It should kill you.” Silence again and Tony closed his eyes again as he listened to the other man's slightly labored breathing on the other side of the line. 

“Fuck, Zero, what are you trying to say? No normal human? Shit, don’t tell me you’re trying to say what I think you are.” Tony inhaled sharply as he opened his eyes staring at the life size hologram of The Chair. 

“Nick, there is no other explanation. There are straps for arms and legs and the amount of electricity. I still don’t know just why you’d torture someone like that, and especally not if the person is enhanced. Surely you’d want them on your side no? It makes no sense. I won’t know anything for certain until I read the book but that’s what I've got so far.”  

“Good work Zero, Try to decipher what the book says but don’t stress it too much. You’ve had a hectic, what? Year? You need to take a break. This isn’t important right now-” 

“There is more” 

“What?” 

“There was one more thing I was able to get from the book.” 

“Okay” Tony could hear the hesitance in his voice and Tony hated himself for what he was about to say because he knew it would not only break the other man's heart but also his Aunts. 

“There was a stamp on the first page of the book-” 

“Zerom get to the point and quit stalling.” Tony sighed. 

“It’s Hydra” The silence following that statement was deafening. 

“What?” Fury's voice sounded smaller than Tony had ever heard it before. 

“Hydra's mark was on the inside of the notebook. Meaning the likelihood of Hydra being the organization inside of Shield.. It’s pretty big.” 

“Shit, oh for fucksake.” Tony tried but he couldn’t help the small smile on his face despite there being nothing fun about the whole situation. “Okay, I’m gonna have to retract my previous statement about you being able to take a break. I’m gonna need you now more than even.” Tony smiled now. 

“I know, I’ll be by your side. I promise. I swore my loyalty, first to Peggy and then to you. I will always be by your side, especially now. I, Fuck Nick I’m so fucking sorry.” Tony could tell the other man was smiling but when he laughed Tony could hear the tears he was pushing down and Tony hated himself a little more. 

“Gods, what would I do without you Z?” Tony smiled at that.

“Drown in work probably, and probably be killed by Hydra when they inevitably try to regain power.” 

“You’re probably right.” They were both smiling ever so slightly. “Okay, how about this, I’ll start digging and see what i can find, see if i can get a feel for how many of ours are Hydra and then when we know we’ll see what we do with them. While I do that. Try to translate that book. We need to know if they have a secret army of supersoldiers somewhere.” He nodded despite knowing that the other man couldn’t see him. 

“Sounds good. Can I make a slight request though?” 

“Always.” Tony smiled at the trust the other man had for him. Neither of them trusted easily so to know that they both trusted each other so wholeheartedly warmed his chest in a way Tony didn’t think was possible. 

“Start digging in Nat, Clint and Phil’s shit first. I don’t know what I'd do if they turned out to be Hydra.” 

“I was already planning on doing that.” He smiled tightly, hoping to all and any gods that their friends could be trusted. “I don’t know what I’m going to do if I find out that one of them is Hydra” He sounded close to crying and it was so unlike the usually stoic man that Tony felt both flattered at being allowed to hear it and a bit freaked out because he agreed. He had no idea what he’d do if they turned out to be bad. He had no idea what he’d do if Rhodey or Pep turned out to be bad either.  

“You should probably check Victoria and Jasper as well in that bunch. Just to be sure.” Tony hated even having to think the thought that one of them would betray them. It made him want to vomit. 

“Yea I’ll do that. Both because they are all higher ups and because they are our friends.” 

“Good, I, Nick, I need to go. I have to translate that damn book and see what I can find. I know that it’ll take time but try to clear Nat first. She’s the only one that’s fluent in Russian. I’ll probably be quicker but still it might be good. She might know something.” 

“Good call. Thank you. Really Zero, thank you. Also about what you said about being at my side, I want. No. I need you to know that it’s mutual. I trust you. And I’ll always be by your side when you need me. I trust you , not just Zero. Alright.” Tony felt the tears burning at the back of his eyes and smiled again. 

“I know. I know” 

“Good, I’ll talk to you later yea?” He sounded relieved. 

“Yea, later” With that Nick hung up, Tony stayed seated at the floor resting against the wall he’d slid down sometime during the conversation. He stayed just for a moment breathing, letting the uneasy feeling in his stomach settle. When did his life become so complicated? What even was his life at this point?

“J, Set up a few lessons with a Russian teacher and download Duolingo for me. He didn’t dislike learning languages per say he knew a lot of them he just hated that they took so long to learn. They weren’t a scientific theory that he could binge until he’d learned it. Thatbeing said, he already thought he knew enough languages considering he was fluent in English, Italian, Chinese and French. He knew a bit of Japanese and he could understand Spanish because it was similar enough to French and italian. So he’d never really considered Russian as a language to learn because he’d never needed it before. Now he cursed himself for not having thought this far ahead.

He didn’t want to put the whole thing into google translate for two reasons, he didn’t trust that no one was spying on him and could see that no matter how secure his servers were. He wasn’t the best he knew that, he knew that overconfidence was the biggest weakness with most people. You could only assume you are as good as you are and no matter what you do there’s a child that can do it better. He’d learned that because he’d been that child with Howard and he hadn’t appreciated that one bit. So now he assumed that there was someone out there that could do what he did better than him. That might have been the base for his perfectionism but now was not the time for that. The second reason for not using google translate or having Fri translate it for him was that he knew that neither them or J were perfect and that things would get lost especially considering the book looked really old. 

So instead Tony grabbed his Russian dictionary from upstairs and sat down on the couch and began to translate the book by hand. It took him three hours to completely translate the first full page of text and the more words that were translated the more Tony wanted to vomit. The page described how they had taken one of their prisoners during world war two and began experimenting on the man. He needed a break. Either that or he’d end up having a panic attack. He should probably call Pepper and ask her how everything was going. That and they should probably talk about the kiss. He didn’t know how to feel about that. 

On one hand, he loved Pepper he really did but then again he didn’t know if he could ever tell her about this part of him. She didn’t understand Iron Man so how could he ever explain that he was a super spy/secret agent. She would want him to stop. He knew that. He wasn’t stupid, she wanted stability and Tony couldn’t sit still unless it promised a rush of adrenaline later on. They had to talk. He just didn’t know when or how. 

He didn’t remember what he’d said to her on that roof, too high on adrenaline and fear to think clearly. Yet somehow he’d ended up with her mouth on his and Tony had a feeling that it’d been the catalyst to what in the future would be a pretty spectacular dumpster fire.

Chapter Text

Two days that’s how long Tony was able to avoid Pepper. Apparently Tony was a fucking idiot when he was high on adrenalin or just high in general (which was one of the reasons he just didn’t do drugs after uni) so he was already in a relationship with Pepper which was something he realized three days after the whole thing with the murder robots happened. She’d come over, dragged him out of his lab where he was still trying to figure out just how The Chair worked and forced him to take her out on a date. Tony knew this was a stupid fucking idea and that it would blow up in his face sooner or later but he did love Pepper, a lot. So, he took her out, for once he let this thing be. It’d either be the best thing to ever happen or it’d come back to bite him in the ass later on. He hoped it’d be the former if not for his own sake then for Peppers. With that in mind. He tried to show her the real Tony without letting too much of Zero show. It was exhausting but also kind of worth it. Cleaning up the mess that was the expo was exhausting both PR wise and the actual physical mess and destruction. Thankfully most of it was paid by Hammer industries because they didn’t really have a choice. The rest Tony paid for out of pocket. With everything going on and Pepper being exhausted and Tony no longer dying they split the work between them. Both of them acting as CEO with Tony taking care of the board and business side of the thing and Pepper taking care of the expo mess. It worked well. On top of that Tony split his nights between spending time with Pepper and researching for Fury as well as learning Russian. 

He hadn’t had a mission for two weeks now and Tony was getting restless. He needed to get one soon or he’d go mad. As if Fury could sense his restlessness he called a few hours later. 

“Zero, I have bad news.” Tony closed his eyes. He’d just left a meeting with all of the department heads and it’d gone well all things considered. 

“One moment” He hurried over to his office, he didn’t want anyone overhearing this. Once he got there he closed and locked the door before leaning his back against it. “Alright shoot” Tony could clearly hear how Nick exhaled shakely and at that Tony felt his heart stop and his stomach churn. 

“I have a mission for you” Tony could tell this was hard for the other man which could only mean one thing. He’d found a Hydra agent and he wasn’t going to like who it was.

“Nick”

“Yea?” He replied weakly.

“Just tell me who it is” The grip on his phone and the door handle tightened. 

“Jasper” Tony felt his world stop for a moment. His mind was spinning screaming the word no over and over again. 

“Fuck” Nick hummed. “Is, Nick, do you have proof?” Silence before: 

“Nothing concrete. Just a trail of breadcrumbs which is what’s throwing me. Jasper is better than. I shouldn’t have been able to find anything. That’s what’s throwing me for a loop. I don’t understand why.” Tony remained silent for a moment thinking it over. Jasper was Zero's friend. They’d known each other for years. They’d fought side by side several times just in the last two years. He was well aware of how skilled the other man was so that he had a trail that you could follow from him to Hydra was weird to say the least. It should not be there unless the man wanted it to be there which was even weirder unless, 

“Whistle blower” 

“What?” Tony hesitated, he hadn’t meant to say that out loud. 

“He could be a whistleblower, He must have known we’d find out somehow and then he left a trail for us to follow when we did. They probably approached him when he was already a Shield agent and he figured that while he couldn’t actively do something about it at the time. He agreed to join because he thought it was an opportunity to gain information.” He sincerely hoped he was right because while he was preparing himself for at least one betrayal he didn’t want to experience one. Nick sighed. 

“I hope you’re right Z, Jasper is one of our best Agents. Losing him to Hydra could be detrimental. I need you to view this whole situation objectively. We can’t let ourselves be clouded by emotions. Now it’s too personal and too important.” Tony sighed letting his legs give way and sliding down to sit on the floor again not unlike in the lab a few weeks prior. 

“I know, I just never imagined what it’d be like to have to fight and spy on my friends , it feels so wrong and I've never been good at keeping people at arm's length the way Nat can. I get too attached too quickly.” 

“Hey, no. None of that. This isn’t your fault. You did nothing wrong and if it turns out one of them is Hydra then they had us all fooled.” Tony could hear the frown on that other man's face and it made him smile slightly. 

“Okay. Just to clarify, my mission is to figure out if Jasper is Hydra or not?” 

“Yes” 

“You are aware this could potentially compromise my identity.” The silence that followed told him that Nick had in fact not considered this. 

“Shit. Would you be willing to do it anyway? It’s up to you entirely.” He couldn’t help the relieved smile that spread over his face. 

“I’ll do it. If I don't, there might not be any reason to keep it a secret much longer.” 

“Okay, keep me posted okay? Like usual.” 

“Always” With that the call ended and Tony was in luck because Jasper already had a meeting scheduled for the two of them in about a week so moving it to the next day wouldn’t be too hard. He switched phones and dialed Jaspers number. He picked up surprisingly quickly.

“Stark, how can I help you?” Tony put himself into Tony Stark mode with the flip of a switch in his brain. 

“Agent, how nice to hear your voice. I need you to move our little meeting next week. You know, I happen to have had something more important scheduled for that same day so how does tomorrow sound to you? How about eleven? Sounds great right?” Tony hated the snobbish and arrogant tone in his voice. It made him feel dirty. The man on the other side of the line sighed audibly.

“Alright, sounds good. Bye Stark” Tony could tell the other man was pissed even if he was good at hiding it. He hung up without another word and while Tony knew that they didn’t know. That it was his own fault. It didn’t mean it didn’t hurt to be dismissed by his friends in the way he’d been by all of them as Tony Stark. It almost made him wish he’d told them. 

There was a knock on the door and when he opened a moment later there was Pepper in all of the gorgeous glory. It made him smile and the butterflies in his stomach fluttered to see her there. 

“Hey gorgeous. What’s brought you here?” She smiled softly at him and kissed his cheek as she entered his office. 

“Nothing in particular. How’s everything going?” Tony smiled and gestured for her to take a seat on the couch. 

“It’s fine, you?” She smiled tightly. 

“It’s a lot- I want to apologise, I never realised just how much work you actually did before everything. I don’t blame you for forgetting meetings and for losing track of time. You were still an ass at times but I’ve slept for a total of ten hours in the last week so I’m beginning to understand that maybe I might have underestimated you a bit” Tony smiled at that. She actually looked ashamed and it felt nice to know that she at least understood what he’d had to do since he was 21 years old. 

“Thank you.” She looked up in surprise. “It means a lot to hear you say that. How about we keep splitting the work even after all this has blown over? I’ll be easier for both of us?” She smiled and nodded but there was something in her eyes that Tony didn’t know what it was. He frowned at her trying to decipher it. “What? What is it?” She looked surprised at having been called out. 

“It’s just, sometimes, it’s like I don’t even know you.” Tony was about to interject and say that she was one of the few people that knew him the best but she held up a hand effectively cutting him off before he even started and Tony shut his mouth with a click. “It’s like, you act like this, all mature, emotionally competent and so on when it’s just the two of us and then when we’re around other people you change. You act like you don’t have a care in the world. You act impulsively and childishly. I don’t get it. Why ?” She was staring into his soul now and Tony had to look away to stop her from seeing that part of him that no one could know about. 

“I have to, It’s a mask. If I can control who they think I am then I can in a way control what they write, what they say and how I act. If they do anything then they do it because of Tony Stark, who they think he is and not because of me. It creates distance and it makes it more bearable.” Pepper just stared at him in disbelief for a moment. “There are very few people both alive and dead that know the real Tony.” For a while the silence stretched between them before Pepper replied her voice slightly awed. 

“Sometimes I forget you’re actually a genius.” Tony smiled at her a little sadly and shrugged half heartedly. She smiled leaning closer to him kissing his cheek again. “Let me get to know the real you Tony.” For a long minute Tony couldn’t speak as he swallowed down the lump in his throat and then he nodded. 

“Okay, I’ll try.” He whispered in reply.  If possible Pepper brightened even more. 

“That’s all I ask sweetheart.” Tony smiled and she leaned in and kissed him for real this time. 

Chapter Text

The restaurant was busy but not crowded. Tony was already seated when Jasper sat down across from him. The other man got down to business immediately and Tony tried to figure out how he was going to do this. The meeting came to an end and they both stood up to shake hands and Tony had yet to get any form of information when an idea struck him. He tightened his grip on Jasper's hand and pulled him closer. If the other man was surprised he didn’t show it. Tony leaned in and whispered in his ear. 

“Hail Hydra Jasper” The man froze but didn’t reply. Tony pulled away to get a look of his face. For a moment he could see pure and unfiltered fear as the realisation of what Tony had said set in. Tony raised an eyebrow in confusion. Jasperes face set into a steely expression and he nodded. 

“With you and Pirce you will forsure succeed.” Tony just grinned. 

“Oh I’m sure we will.” With that Tony left. His heart was pounding in his chest. Pierce? Fuck this was bad. The only positive was that Jasper's case of being a whistleblower grew thanks to the fear in his eyes when Tony had spoken. Half way back home he called Nick, the other man picking up almost immediately. 

“What in the everloving hell did you say to jasper?” He greeted and Tony couldn’t help but blink in surprise. 

“What? What do you mean?” Nick sighed as if he was in constant pain and Tony hated himself a little for being the cause of it. 

“He was pale as a ghost when he came back. He found me instantly and said that we could not under any circumstances trust you.” Tony winced okay so more weight for the whistleblower theory. “Tony? What did you say?” He pressed when Tony didn’t reply. He sighed knowing that he was about to get the lecture of his life from his friend. 

“I may or may not have ended our meeting with a phrase Hydra used quite a lot.” Complete silence and then Tony continued because he could not stand the silence. “I might have told him hail hydra as we said goodbye?” 

1

2

3.. “WHAT?!” Tony winced even if he knew it was coming. “Tony what in the everloving HELL were you thinking ?!” He sighed again before he replied. 

“Listen Nick, it was the only thing I could think of-” He was cut off by the other man. 

“You are a certified fucking genius i don’t belive that for a second you selfsacrificing idiot of a man.” Tony rolled his eyes because he couldn’t really argue with that but he still had to show his displeasure somehow. “Don’t roll your eyes at me asshole.” Tony spluttered. 

“How!? I didn’t, you can’t even see me!” Nick snorted at his reaction. 

“Maybe not but I've known you for longer than any other Shield Agent so I know your tells.” Tony smiled at that because it was true and it was nice that there was someone out there that knew him like that and not just a version of him but the real him. 

“Yea, I know.” Nick sighed. 

“We are getting off topic. You are an idiot and we will be talking about this later but I need to know if your sacrifice gave us something.” 

“Okay, so I have bad news, like really bad news.” Nick sighed again for the hundredth time just this conversation. He was doing that a lot lately around Tony, he felt a bit bad about it even if it wasn’t really his fault in the first place. 

“Lay it on me” 

“Jasper told me that Hydra forsure would win this time around since they would have had both me and Pierce.” Had Tony not been driving he would have closed his eyes but as it were he was driving and he really wasn’t suicidal so he didn’t. 

“Pierce, as in Alexander Pierce” Tony hummed. “Shit, you already have Friday on background check right?” 

“Yea had her on it the second I got into the car. Nothing so far tho.”

“Okay, that sounds good. Tell me what you find.” 

“Nick, let’s not lie we both know what I’m gonna find and what you’re gonna ask me to do when I do.” 

“Yea, you’re right. Keep in touch, I need to go but we’ll talk about you almost getting yourself killed later.” 

“Alright, I’ll call you.” With that Nick hung up and Tony focused back on the road just in time to make his exit onto the road to his house. When he pulled up Pepper was there and to his surprise so was Natasha. Who had kept the job at SI even after the whole mess, why she had Tony didn’t know but it seemed she and Pepper seemed to have become good friends through the whole ordeal and Tony couldn’t help but be happy that his friend and girlfriend seemed to get along so well. He smiled as he got out of the car and smiled as he walked up to them. 

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Pepper smiled and kissed his cheek. 

“Hi love, we just wanted to say hi, Jarvis said you were out so we decided to wait.” He nodded and the thee of them made their way inside. 

“How was your day sweetheart?” Pepper slumped into the couch giving him a tired smile. Natasha sat down beside Pepper and Tony sat down in the love seat. 

“It was long, and boring. Yours?” 

“It was fine spent most of it in the lab and then I had some errands to run, shit to pick up you know?” Pepper eyed him and he could feel Natashas eyes on him the whole time. 

“No honey, I don’t know what you mean” she laughed softly “But. It’s fine I’m not your babysitter” She laughed as Tony rolled his eyes. 

“How about I go order some food? What do you want?” Tony smiled at his girlfriend as she scrolled through her delivery app. 

“Whatever you want works for me” Pepper rolled her eyes but got up to make the call leaving him and Natasha in the living room. When they were alone Natasha turned to give him a razor sharp look. 

“What were you really doing?” Tony rolled his eyes at the woman. 

“I had a meeting with Jasper Sitwell? Shield needed a favour and I’m giving them that.” She didn’t look convinced Tony just rolled him again. He did love Nat he really did but Nat liked the Zero part of him not the Stark part and he needed to keep it that way to protect his identity. 

“Will you tell her?” She sounded protective of the other woman and Tony really couldn’t blame her; he did have a track record and it wasn’t the best. If it was him who was dating himself Rhodey would be equally as protective. 

“Tell me what?” Pepper asked before Tony could answer and he swore internally. He really wanted to keep Pepper away from everything Shield especially now that they didn’t know who they could trust. Natasha gave him an expectant look and Tony could tell she’d done it on purpose. 

“Pep, please sit down” she did, giving him a worried look. “You know how you asked to get to know Tony and not Tony Stark?” He heard Nat snort probably thinking that it was just a bunch of bullshit and he really couldn’t blame her for that either. He hadn’t really given her a chance to see any reason to. Mostly because she was good and he really couldn’t have his identity outed no matter what he told Nick. Pepper nodded carefully glancing at Nat in question Tony smiled glad to know the woman cared enough to ask if she should ask Natasha to leave. “It’s fine, she already knows” Pepper looked a bit hurt by that but didn’t say anything so Tony pushed through. “So long story short, you know how Natasha is really a spy, yea well, her boss asked me to join his little boyband, i said no and then he asked me to become a consultant for Shield and well, he didn’t really give me a choice. That's where I was just now.”

Natasha looked surprised, obviously having assumed he’d lie and just give her another excuse. Pepper looked as if she was rethinking everything she knew about Tony. 

“You really weren’t lying when you said very few people know the real you.” Then she gave him a warm smile. “I’m glad you’re letting me in.” Tony leaned closer to her kissing the top of her head. 

“So am I” 

Chapter Text

Two hours later Tony was standing by the door as Pepper and Natasha got ready to leave. They were chatting comfortably between one another as they put on their coats. They had eaten dinner and honestly Tony had had a better time than he had expected and while he had tried to not let Natasha in too closely the two of them had always gotten along better than anyone expected and this was no exception from that. As they were finishing up their conversation Jarvis spoke up. 

“Sir, it seems we have confirmation and it’s been sent to Fury.” Tony inhaled sharply, biting back all the emotions that washed over him, he pushed down the panic and dread building in his throat attempting to choke him. Natasha was eyeing him with interest, obviously wondering what he was working on for her boss. Pepper gave him a kind of sad look that made Tony's stomach churn with slight guilt. 

“Thank you J, I’ll look into it.” He responded before smiling at his girlfriend and friend. He hugged Pepper and kissed her cheek then he turned to Nat and blew her a kiss too as he waved them off staying to watch as they got into the car and drove off. When they were out of sight and just as he closed the door Fury called him. 

“You've seen it already?” He said as he answered before Nick could say anything, his voice sounding hoarse even to his own ears. He swallowed thickly, he didn’t want to see what Friday had found because he knew it was bad. Everything he’d been pushing down shot right back up and he could feel his hands start to shake and his puls speeding up.

“You haven’t Z?” Tony sighed AGAIN. Seriously was that everything he did at the moment?? 

“No, I had guests. They just left.” Nick hummed in reply, pausing before speaking as if he had to get his thoughts in order before speaking. 

“Okay, so, I need you to kill him. I need him gone. Stat. There’s so much dirt on him. He’s not the highest ranking or isn’t the only one so I need him gone. Don’t bother making it look like an accident. Just in, out, quick and easy.” He sounded tired and like he wanted to cry. Tony genuinely considered asking if he wanted to have a sleepover with the whole nine yards of movies, pillow forts and ice cream. The gods know they could both benefit from it. 

“It’s that bad?” 

“Yea and even then it’s an understatement.” 

“The more we dig the more we find.” 

“Yea” 

The silence stretched as they just settled for listening to each other's breathing. Confirmation that the other was alive. It was enough, for now. 

“You won’t believe the week I've had.” Tony snorted. 

“Tell me about it, it really can’t be worse than mine.” Fury chuckled tiredly. 

“First just all of this, Shield, Hydra. Coulson and Barton have both been an especially pain in my ass this week. Then I ask ‘Tasha to come back and she straight up refuses saying that she needs to stay, which I’m not gonna argue with her.” Tony laughed softly at that as he walked over to his couch and sat back down. “Then I have an agent out on a mission who just so happens to stumble across Captain fucking America who turns out to have been turned into a fucking ice cube and ughhh. Just fuck me” Tony laughed as his friend complained not really letting the words hit him. Until they did and he shut the fuck up. 

“Hold the fuck up. Back up, what did you just say?” The silence between them stretched for about five seconds before Nick answered. 

“I didn’t tell you about that?” Tony could just sit and stare at his wall in stunned silence for another ten seconds. 

“WHAT?!” Nick just burst out laughing. “Oh, oh my gods, you are actually serious, you- holy shit. You found Captain America ?!” Nick composed himself enough to reply shakely. 

“Yea, we are defrosting him as we speak.” Tony put his phone on his thigh gently putting it on speaker rubbing both his hands over his face as he processed what he’d just been told. 

“I can’t believe this.” Nick had calmed enough now to actually speak without giggling like a schoolgirl when he replied. 

“Honestly, neither can I, sorry I didn't tell you, it’s just been so much lately and I genuinely forgot.” Tony just snorted. 

“It’s a bit ironic isn’t it? We find Hydra and then a few weeks later we find Captain America.” Nick hummed. 

“Yea it’s a bit funny when you think about it like that. That being said, I need you to be the first one he meets when he wakes up. I need you, Coulson and Jasper to take him under your wing cuz right now you are the only ones I trust, we can’t have Hydra get their hooks in him as he wakes up.” 

“You’re trying to tell me that not only have you found Captain America but that he is alive as well??” 

“Yea, that's exactly what I’m trying to tell you.” 

“This whole thing sounds like a fever dream.” Nick snorted.

“Can’t argue with that, what even are our lives?” 

“Honestly? A joke.” They both laughed at that. “I’ll try but I can’t promise anything Nick you know that. It’s not like I can just sit beside him and wait for him to wake up. It could take months. Maybe even years or he might not even wake up to begin with.” Nick sighed again and Tony was seriously starting to get annoyed at the sound. 

“Yea I know. That being said. We have gone off topic. Though It was nice to catch up Tones.” Tony smiled and hummed in agreement as Nick continued. “That being said, you should look at Pierce's files and then get on with your mission.” 

“Yea that sounds good” 

“Okay, good night.” 

“Nick?” 

“Yea?” 

“Dinner at mine saturday?” 

“Okay, that sounds good.” Tony could hear the smile in Nick's voice as he replied and then hung up. Tony's mind was spinning. There was so much in that short conversation that he needed to process. Things he didn’t even know how to begin to process. He took a deep breath and held it for about three seconds before he let it go. His mind was being pulled in too many different directions he was too overwhelmed to process any of them at the moment so he focused on what he had been told to do pushing all the other feelings down until they were nothing more than a whisper in the back of his mind. Silently he changed into his Zero gear and left through the underground tunnels in favour of not being spotted. He took his motorbike that had no connection to Tony Stark whatsoever since this was not only high priority but also extremely sensitive and he could not under any circumstances be caught. Friday told him that Pierce was in his mansion so he set up a quick escape and snuck in through a window that had been left open. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he was greeted with voices. 

“I Need Fury dead, you have 24 hours, is that understood?” There was no verbal response so Zero assumed that the man was on the phone. He felt his heart rate pick up at the hit but couldn’t let himself be distracted right now. “Good then leave.” With that there was movement and Zero realised that there was another person, another Agent or Assassin in the room. He held his breath until whoever it was had left and when he heard the unmistakable sound of an engine starting and leaving Zero stepped around the corner to find Pierce with his back to him. He pulled out his gun and aimed for his head. Just as he was about to pull the trigger he turned around. The man Stared at him and he actually looked scared. He was about to speak but Zero didn’t let him. He pulled the trigger before the man could do anything that’d jeopardise his mission. Once he had confirmation from Friday that he was forsure dead he left. He made sure to leave the folder with all the evidence against the man open on the dinner table. 

On his back on the way back he called Fury. 

“Report Z,”

“Mission complete but we have a problem” He heard Nick inhale sharply at that.

“Elaborate.” 

“You have 24 hours to live.” The silence between them stretched before Nick answered. 

“I’m gonna need more than that Agent.” 

“He ordered a hit on you and gave them 24 hours to complete the mission. I do not know who he sent but I’ve got a feeling that we both know. You need to hide. NOW.” 

“Yea I’m moving to a safe hou-”

“No.” 

“What? What do you mean no?”

“What I mean is that Hydra has access to all of Shields safehouses so none of them would be you know safe. “ 

“I see your point. What would you do then?” Tony smiled under his helmet and rolled his eyes.

“I have several safe houses that Shield doesn't know about so I’ll send you the coordinates to one of them and then get J to get it ready for your arrival.” Nick hummed as he moved around on the other side of the line, probably packing the things he’d need to keep working. 

“Yea alright we’ll do that.” 

“Good, I'll send you everything. Please hurry and take a car that Shield can’t track.” Nick chuckled and Tony could tell he was rolling his eyes on the other side of the line.

“What do you take me for, an idiot?” It was Tony's time to laugh this time as he replied. 

“No, just an amature” Nick mock gasped at the audacity and Tony could clearly picture him clutching his chest playing it up.  

“How dare you?!” He exclaimed and Tony just laughed as he pulled into the secret path to his house.

“C’mon Nick just hurry please, I really don’t want you to die on me.” He only sighed in reply but Tony got it anyway. They could joke as much as they wanted to but it wouldn’t make the situation better or easier for either of them. “I need to go, Nick but please promise me you’ll be careful.” 

“I promise Z, I’ll be careful and I’ll call you once I’m safe.” 

“Good.” With that they hung up the call and Tony was once again left alone with his thoughts.

It was in times like this where Tony wished he had people who knew, people who understood and people he could talk to. He didn’t though so he had to settle for working through his thoughts and feelings by himself. So he walked over to one of the whiteboards in his workshop and flipped it to a blank side. He wrote the name Alexander Pierce and underneath he wrote Hydra and did a little drawing of their insignia beside it. Then he wrote Jasper Sitwell underneath and whistleblower slash double agent beside and under that he wrote Winter soldier equals Hydra plus enhanced. Then across from Pierce he wrote Captain America and under that, alive question mark. As he stared at the board he immediately felt calmer having it all written out helped sort through everything in his mind. As his mind sorted through the thoughts and information he doddled small relevant drawings across the board. He didn’t stop until Nick called him two hours later to confirm that he’d arrived safely and that he was fine. When they’d hung up Tony went to bed and fell asleep almost in an instant. He was exhausted both mentally and physically. Yet he still had so much more work to do.

Chapter Text

The next day when he walked into the office he felt Natasha's eyes on him immediately he looked at her with a raised eyebrow but she just pretended that she hadn’t done anything and went back to work. That being said she kept watching throughout the day, more intently than usual and Tony couldn't decide if it had anything to do with Jasper or with Pierce. Tony could ignore it but he had a feeling this was Jaspers doing. If that was the case then he could play into it, so when Fury called him later that day he stayed in the room with her instead of leaving like he would have done usually. 

“Heya Boss, what do you need?” Natasha's head all but snapped up to look at him no doubt trying to figure out who he was talking to. Fury just snorted on the other side of the line. 

“What’s with the greeting, you never call me boss, in fact you are usually pretty adamant that we are on the same level.” Tony bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing. 

“Well, this isn’t really a normal situation is it. That being said, is the house to your liking? If you need anything just tell me and I'll get it there myself.” Nick snorted and Natasha looked slightly pale.

“Your doing this to fuck with Nat aren’t you?” Tony rolled his eyes as he observed the woman from the corner of his eye. She was stiff as a brick and on high alert as he spoke. Very clearly struggling to look like she wasn’t eavesdropping. Tony was almost sad that he’d already shown her part of his hand when revealing that he knew who she was. It would have been fun to see how she would act when she didn’t know he knew. Still though strategically it was better to have her in the know. Especially since she’d obviously dropped her guard ever so slightly. That’s probably why it was so obvious when she now had it raised all the way again. Jasper had definitely said something. The question was just what he’d said.

“Of course, it's just payback, you know how it is.” Natasha looked slightly nauseous at the implication she thought was there but she hid it well, better than Tony expected her to. Nick just sighed exasperated and Tony could just tell he was rolling his eyes, it made him smile slightly at the sound, it was one he was used to hearing. 

“How are you feeling after last night? Also I need you to disappear and focus sorely on the Soldier. He is gonna find me, it's just a question of when and we need to be able to stop him when it happens.” Tony hummed in consideration, his eyes landing directly on Nat now observing her. She noticed and went even more stiff as she tried to act casual. An idea started to form and he pushed down a grin and Nick's voice in his head telling him it was stupid and an unnecessary risk.

“I’m fine, still a bit surprised. Hadn’t really expected to find him like that but otherwise fine. I can’t just drop everything you know that but I can probably get Pep to help me. Pretend she’s sending me on a business trip or something. It’ll be easy, I have her around my finger now.” Nick snorted again and Tony felt disgusting saying it even if he knew it wasn't true and was only to sell the act. 

He had already had a trip scheduled since that morning and had discussed it with his girlfriend. He’d had a feeling this call was coming and Pepper had been completely onboard when he said it was Fury who requested it. Natasha hid her anger well but Tony could still see it burning in her eyes as she picked up her phone to most likely call pepper while he was busy. She left the room and Tony smiled a little glad the woman was such a good friend to his girlfriend. Him and Nick talked for a bit longer and by the time Natasha walked back in Tony had moved so he was looking out the window. He noticed her approaching and decided that this was his chance to test her and set the plan in motion. Despite Nick's orders to drop it for now. So just as she opened the door he cut Nick off. 

“You know Fury,” Natasha froze in the door opening and Nick huffed at being cut off. Tony had formulated the sentence in his head so it would deliberately sound like a question he was waiting for confirmation for. He pretended to not notice Natasha reentering. “Yea, It wasn’t hard to get rid of him.” Nick assumed he was talking about Pierce and Nat was assuming he talked about Fury. He saw Natasha pull out her gun pointing it at him. He grinned. Bingo. “Hey, Nick I’m gonna have to call you back in just a moment.” Then he hung up and turned to Natasha. 

“Please Natasha lower your gun, there is no need for violence and if you decide to shoot you’ll either be killed by my security or Jarvis will kill you and I quite like you and so does my girlfriend.” She gritted her teeth but lowered the gun so it was by her side instead of pointed straight at him. 

“Jasper was right when he told me to be careful around you and that you had a different agenda.” Tony grinned at her as she paled, realising she’d just sold her friend out.

“Jasper huh? He was the one to warn you?” She seemed to recognize there was nothing she could do so she just nodded. “Good.” Tony's grin softened into a genuine smile and sat down gesturing for her to do the same across from him. She did, obviously thrown off by the change in attitude. She looked confused as she opened her mouth to speak but no words came out, she tried again and her voice sounded somewhere between bewildered and desperate. 

“Good? How? Why-?” Tony chuckled before sending his phone over the table. She grabbed it and looked at it. 

“You recognize the last number I just spoke to?” She blinked just staring in confusion and disbelief. Before nodding then she hesitated and clicked on the number so it’d dial and put it on speaker. It only took two rings before Fury answered. 

“What the hell was that about Stark? You better have a damn good explanation.” Tony stayed silent as Natasha stared before she spoke.

“Director,” Fury paused and Tony could see the man's eyebrows shoot up into his nonexisting hair line. 

“Yes Agent Romanov? Is everything alright? Do I need to send in more agents? What happened?” In the brief moment of silence that followed Tony knew his friend was doing everything in his power not to panic. 

“Everything is alright Director it seems Mr Stark was merely testing to see if he could trust me.” She looked up at Tony now, she scanned his face for any information she’d missed before and relaxed when he nodded in confirmation. Fury let out a suffering sigh before he answered. 

“I see, Agent, are you on speaker?” Tony bit back a sigh when Natasha looked at him in question and he just nodded. 

“Yes, Director, he can hear you.” Tony swallowed and prepared himself for the chewing out he was about to receive for going against order. To his surprise it never came. 

“Good work Stark. We have two confirmed safe now. I’m going to assume you didn’t decide to do this just because of the thing with Agent Sitwell as well as convenience?” Tony blinked in surprise at the lack of anger and annoyance in his voice as well as the amount of relief and gratuity in it instead. He held back a smile at that. He knew that this whole thing had been just as hard on Nick as it had been on him himself and it made sense that he was glad one of his closest and best agents were still loyal to the cause instead of part of Hydra.  

“You are right, Director. I need assistance with the book you sent me. While I will be able to crack it at some point we are running out of time especially after what you told me about Pierce. She knows Russian, she can translate.” Natasha looked confused but slightly annoyed and even a bit flattered. She let them talk though without interruption even if it was about her. 

“You’re right. I understand your reasoning just next time, at least notify me.” They both knew that wouldn’t happen but neither commented on that. “Very well then. I’ll let you get back to it, get to work. Both of you.” With that the man hung up and Tony got up gesturing for Natasha to follow him. She did, neither of them said a word until they were both in the safety of Tony's car already half way back to Tony's house. Surprisingly it was Natasha who broke it and not Tony. 

“How did you know about Sitwell?” The question was quiet but in the ear splitting silence of the car she could have screamed it. Tony glanced at her in hesitation. 

“What do you mean?” He asked for her to clarify not because he didn’t understand but because he didn’t know how much she knew and didn’t want to contradict what she already knew too badly and accidentally give his identity away. 

“I mean, how did you know about Sitwell being Hydra? He's good and can cover his tracks well.” Tony sighed. Keeping his eyes on the road as he spoke. 

“I wasn’t the one to figure it out. Fury did that or maybe it was another agent. I’m not certain who could be trusted and who can’t. According to Fury, he knew Sitwell was good at covering his tracks and asked me to try and see if I could get any information of his loyalties out of him during the meeting. I pretended that I was a part of it and he went running to Fury and you. Probably more people too but oh well. Not too much we can do about that now.” I was silent for the rest of the car ride but at least she nodded in understanding after his explanation and seemed to be mulling it over in her head.

It didn’t take long for them to get to the house. He parked and then they went inside and straight down to the lab.