If They Knew All About You

We Know What We Know

Tony had made FRIDAY darken the windows completely and instead had her turn the light in the lab all the way up to 100% brightness. It was a different working atmosphere, undisturbed by the changing light outside. It helped him focus, lose himself in the work without any way to tell if an hour had gone by or five. After Clint had left for the Compound, Tony immersed himself in all the files they had secured from the Parker's.

It had been years since Tony had actually worked off of paper documents. While he had FRIDAY scan every single sheet of paper - no matter if a handwritten note or official from - made her categorize them and then browse his own files as well as the internet for any connected data she could uncover, he kept the originals fanned out on the floor of the lab and shuffled through them in the hopes of finding a timeline. There had to be a golden thread. Some of the documents dated back years. There were financial records of different businesses, a restaurant, couple of car dealerships; newspaper articles about trade fairs, a local convenience store going under, a hand full of hit-and-runs; seemingly random files that dated back more than a decade, all based in New Hampshire. Then a clear cut in 2009. There were less than 10 files compiled around incidents between 2009 and 2016 spread out across New York state.

The application made under the Freedom of Information Act was the first of the files he examined. A request for body-cam footage for officers Sinclair and Fagan was filed on March the 3rd 2015 for the entirety of both officers' shifts on April 19th in 2008. The day of the accident. Tony shook his head and scoffed. The "accident". There had been nothing but paper files in the box that Clint had brought back from the apartment though. If the request had been granted then the relevant footage had to be somewhere else either in the apartment or a separate hiding place.

He was so deeply immersed in his thoughts, he didn't even register the elevator doors opening. Only when the footsteps were ganging up on him, did he register that he wasn't alone anymore.

"Cheerful in here." Natasha had her eyebrows raised at him.

Tony just gave a quick glance in her direction, didn't even bother to check Pepper's expression. Her face was bound to still be colored with disapproval after that scene earlier when she had physically kicked him out of the kid's room. His legs were stiff and his back ached but he wouldn't let it show, pushed himself off the floor as gracefully as he could manage. Natasha risking the trip to the Tower meant there was news. Vital information.

"They indicted her," Natasha said before he had even managed to stand.

His left calf was cramping but that was of minor importance now. Not that the indictment came as a surprise. They had expected this. It had been inevitable that it would come to this. Still, certainty was one thing, but the actuality of it happening another.

"Your poker face is shit." The spy didn't move, solid as a gargoyle. "You need to work on that. I've seen you do a lot better."

Tony's hands rubbed across his face then through his hair, not looking at either of them. Pepper stood off to the side of Natasha, her arms crossed in front of her.

"You also need a shower. Something to eat. Rest." Pepper sounded as exhausted as he felt and still, he couldn't help that his stomach ached with annoyance.

Just out of spite he reached for the cup of cold coffee on his workbench and downed it with one chuck, then turned his back for he couldn't help but grimace at the bitter taste. Pepper sighed, then stepped closer to him.

"You don't have to like her. You don't even have to pretend to like her. God knows, I'm not a fan. This isn't about her."

"I know that, Pep."