Monsters and Magic

Chapter 19

Stark looked at you confused, the silence in the room was deafening as everyone began to blatantly eavesdrop. That action just put Tony even more on alert that something was going on. That wasn't a good thing. "Yeah, egotistical, self-centered, maniacal, megalomaniac though he was, he was my dad. What of it, kid?"

Shit. Shit. Shit.

You knew it was bad if Bucky didn't want to talk about it, but you hadn't realized it was this bad. No wonder Bucky had wanted to keep this secret.

Fuck.

Too late now.

Tony deserved and needed to know regardless.

You hesitated a moment, tried to find the right words. Stark looked at you expectantly. "D-do you know how they died?" you finally asked. They weren't the right words, but they would get the conversation going in the path you needed it to. It seemed to click then, you could almost hear the gears moving in his brain.

He raised an eyebrow, suspicious. "Car crash. What's this about, Tink?" His tone was defensive, his expression icy. He was going to hate you for this, but it still had to be done. He deserved to know the truth.

"Striga, no. Stay out of this," Bucky protested from behind you.

"He deserves to know, Buck," you glanced over your shoulder to where the horrified Bucky was getting up from Cap's couch.

Stark grabbed your shoulders, turning you to face him again. "Deserve to know what?" he demanded, his voice full of pain. Not rage, not yet, but you saw the glimmer of it in his eyes. He knew whatever you had to say would make him angry. He shook you. "Deserve to know what, Y/N?" He was pissed to use your actual name. Stark never used anyone's real names. Ever.

You looked up at him, meeting his eyes more bravely than you felt. "You deserve to know why they died," you told him, the words spilling from your mouth without filter. You saw the tears of grief in his eyes at the memory of their loss, saw the rage that they'd been taken from him. His expression hardened in an anger you had never seen from him. He didn't move, waiting for you to continue. "Hydra had them killed," more words spilled out. "He was transporting a prototype superserum. Hydra staged the car accident so they could steal the serum and create evil Captain Americas," you explained as fast as the words would come out.

He looked shocked, hurt, confused, angry. The emotions rushed too quickly through his eyes. "How?" he demanded finally. "How do you know all this?" he finally asked, his hands still gripping your shoulders hard enough to bruise.

"I... I spent however long I was there stitching Bucky's mind and memories back together," you started to explain, though you didn't have the words to really tell him about watching that horrible memory through Bucky's eyes.

That was completely the wrong thing to say and enough of the story for Tony to piece together what you were saying. You saw his expression harden and he whirled, shoving you to the side as pain and grief turned to rage. An Iron Man gauntlet assembled around the outstretched hand that was now pointed directly at Bucky. You had no idea where it had come from.

You shot into action as you heard the repulsor activate, before anyone could move. You moved in a blur, placing yourself between Tony and Bucky and grabbing Tony's gauntleted arm as you did, hauling it so the repulsor was pointed directly at you. Without his full suit, you were stronger than him, even though you were tiny. "Stark! No!" you pleaded as the rest of the team jumped to their feet.

No one dared move for fear of Tony shooting you, accidentally or on purpose. It didn't matter, they didn't want you shot. No one moved except of course: "Loki! No! He might shoot Y/N on accident if we interfere!" You caught it out of the corner of your eye when Loki was shoved back on the couch by Thor, who placed Mjolnir on Loki's lap to Loki's protests. The rest of the team was trying to figure out how to get closer or diffuse the situation without risking you getting shot.