⤷ april 3, 2014
━━━━━━━━━━━
It's mostly smooth sailing in the days following the collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D. and a majority of HYDRA for them. Despite Steve's discomfort, Barnes was to be kept under until they were in a stable enough environment that could shut him in before civilians might get hurt. Which meant until they got to the newly-built Avengers Tower, he was sleeping soundly.
Steve kept by his bedside when he could, recounting stories of their youth to the unconscious killer, hoping he might hear him so that when he woke up, he'd recognize Steve, and he'd feel safe.
Irina strongly doubted that was how Barnes' awakening was going to happen, but she knew Steve needed the hope, so she kept quiet.
Fury, who after getting into contact with Irina whilst Steve and Barnes were being transported to the hospital was properly decked onto the cement the moment he came face-to-face with her (Natasha only nudged her shoulder, giving a brief look of satisfaction as Fury groaned and squirmed on the ground, stating how he sort of deserved it) reached out to Steve and Sam while she, Natasha and Tony handled backlash from the government.
"Why haven't we yet heard from Captain Rogers?" A committee member demands.
Natasha and Irina share a brief look of exasperation, before the redhead looks back at the older men across from them. "I don't know what there is left for him to say. I think the wreck in the middle of the Potomac made his point fairly eloquent."
"Well, he could explain how this country is expected to maintain its national security now that he and you two have laid waste to our intelligence apparatus," the man says.
Irina grimaces. "HYDRA was selling you all lies, not intelligence," she points out.
"Much of which they seem to be lacking in," Tony mutters to her. Irina bites back a smile.
"Many of which you and Agent Romanoff seemed to have had a personal hand in telling."
"Agent, Ms. Stark, you should know," another older man leans forward in his seat, "that there are some on this committee who feel, given your service records, both for this country and against it, that you both belong in a penitentiary. Not mouthing off on Capitol Hill."
"Excuse you?" blurts Tony, immediately sitting up from where he'd been slouching back in his seat. "I'm sorry, I must be having ear problems in my semi-old age — did you seriously just say with me in the room that you want my little sister in jail?"
"Tony," Irina mutters, stiff in the shoulders. Natasha glances at her, briefly grimacing in apology, to which she just shakes her head softly.
In the aftermath of the collapse, Irina found that another part of the plan was to destroy not just HYDRA, but S.H.I.E.L.D., too. Steve believed even the slightest fraction of the latter left over let loose a chance for the same thing to happen again in another seventy years, so Natasha had dumped all available files, S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA, onto the internet for all to see.
That also included Irina's files.
Every. Last. One.
It doesn't go to say she wasn't not upset when the news reached her, that the whole world now knew just who she was, and what she'd done. Mr. and Mrs. Ramirez knew, Henry knew, Danny knew...the Parkers knew, too. They all wouldn't be able to see Emma Roberts or just Irina as she had been, but Irina Stark, a former stealth killer with over fifty kills in the last twenty years, collateral notwithstanding.
They would know Metatron.
The press was giving her a hard time, attacking her left and right, saying a killer being an Avenger was outrageous to the families of her victims...and she agreed. Tony was trying his best with his PR and Legal team to keep her image good, and keep her out of jail, but both were hard things, especially when she was sound of mind, unlike Barnes, who had undergone deep, extensive torture to mould his brain into that of a perfect weapon's.
Irina inhales deeply, before looking back at the old men on the committee in front of her, some of their hateful glares, the uncomfortable shifts.
She looks at the head member, the man who'd questioned them first. He doesn't flinch, doesn't glare, just stares at her impassively, calculating her and trying to get a read.
"You're not going to put me in a prison," she says, plain and clear.
"Damn right," scoffs Tony, flicking his shades back onto his face while he leans back.
"You won't be putting any of us in a prison," she continues. "Do you want to know why, committee member?"
"Do enlighten us," the man from before scoffs.
Irina tilts her chin up, looking the head committee member dead in the eye, speaking straight to him. "Because you need me. Need us. The world is a fragile place, and we all have a part in why it is that way. No use in denying it. But we, the Avengers, are the best qualified to defend and protect it. America, Canada, England, Russia — hell, even the smallest country in the goddamn world! The moment we hear that cry for help, no matter where we are or why we're there, we'll come running," she says. "So, if want to arrest us, arrest us. You'll know where to find us."
She gets up from her chair, Natasha and Tony following, seeping with elegance and class.
Irina grabs her own shades in the pocket of her pantsuit, flicking them open and placing them over her eyes. "Until next time, government of America," she says to the room, before turning around and striding out. Tony and Natasha follow on both her sides, the former smirking with confidence and glee, as the latter remains stone-faced, though satisfaction gleams in her green eyes.
𓆩*𓆪
"Telling the government to fuck themselves... I've never been prouder," Tony says sentimentally as he drives them to the cemetery they'd be meeting Steve and Sam at.
Irina looks over at him from the passenger seat, unable to keep from smiling. "Wonder where I get it from?" She asks.
Tony grins, slowing the car to a stop once they reach the entrance. Just a small ways away, they can see Steve, Sam and Fury, conversing by the latter's very own grave.
Natasha unbuckles and jumps out the red Tesla Roadster. "I'll get them," she says briefly to the two, before walking away.
Irina watches her leave, before her eyes are back on Tony, who flashes her a slightly strained smile when she catches him already looking at her. She lifts a curious eyebrow at him. "What is it?" She asks.
Tony shrugs. "Nothing, really. Just, well..." he looks back ahead, "...you seem — better. Better than before about the whole..." he waves his hand back and forth in a see-saw motion.
She lifts her eyebrow a bit higher. "What, about Irina Stark?" Tony nods, and Irina lets out a sigh, nodding slowly as she looks back forwards. "I dunno. I guess, slowly, I began to realize me holding onto Emma Roberts was just out of fear that...that if I let her go, I'd get found out and die," she murmurs.
"I think, slowly, my last name, the one I didn't learn until two years ago, was settling in, engraving itself into my mind, and becoming familiar with it. With me. I still don't know about how Irina Stark was before, what she was like... Any memories you had with her — I don't remember them. Or barely do."
Irina looks at Tony, who looks back at her, sorrow in his features beneath his tinted shades. She reaches a hand out, placing it over his and squeezing gently. "But I think I'm starting to become ready to accept the Irina Stark of today...accept the family she has," she says. "It'll still take some more time, but I'm done hiding. Now, I just want to accept what I have now, right in front of me, and enjoy it."
Tony purses his lips, glancing down at their hands. He punches out a breath, and slowly turns his hand over, palm-up, and wraps his fingers around hers, squeezing back. "Yeah... Might be nice," he murmurs. "I'm a shit show myself. I lock myself up in my labs, hardly sleep... I get snippy and defensive — but in a funny way, okay? I'm a born comedian, really —"
"Tony," she admonishes lightly, smiling patiently as she looks at him.
He clears his throat. "Right. Well, again, that there just goes back to my point. We're both fucked up, Nina. It might be a shit show between us, might not. We'll have our ups and downs, probably fight and squabble, but I want to make things right. Between us. I want it to go right," he looks back up at her, face genuine.
"I don't have many people in my corner. There's Pepper and Rhodey and Happy and J.A.R.V.I.S., but that's it. I can count them on one hand. The people I can trust with my life. More than anyone, though, Nina, I want you to be that fifth person. I — I need you to be," says Tony earnestly, pleadingly.
"Because you were the only one in my corner before I had any of them."
Irina frowns, squeezing Tony's hand again, this time more surely. She'd always known Tony Stark as a confident, sarcastic asshole. Even during the incident with Loki, she admitted she still didn't like him in person.
But after, when he'd offered up his number, his home, his expenses, all for her, for the sister he'd known, she began to see him differently. After his incident with the Mandarin, they'd begun texting almost daily, calling on the rare occasion, too. She'd found Tony still had walls built off of his charisma and wit, but underneath it, he cared. He built things to help protect those he cared about, gave away what he could with his money to those who needed it, used his status as a billionaire to offer up homage and security.
Tony Stark was many things, had many faces, but Irina saw the one that mattered most; the one of Irina Stark's older brother. Her older brother.
She smiles at him. "If you need me, I'll be there, Tony," she promises. "All you have to do is call."
Tension visibly seeps out of his shoulders at her words, and his smile is more genuine the next time he flashes it, more relaxed. "Thanks," he exhales. "Jesus, that checks off the top of my To-Do list. 'Get stubborn ass sister to not be a stubborn ass for once'," she elbows him, and Tony devolves into laughter. "Seriously, seriously — you do this for me...but I'll also do it for you," he fixes her with an earnest look.
"Same as you. Just call for me, and I'll come sprinting. Iron Man get up and all. You need me to reach the top shelf? I'm there with a stool. You need me to protect you? I can get the whole Secret Services on it and more."
Irina purses her lips, nodding softly. Her heart warms at the lengths Tony's willing to go to for her, despite how she treated him at first. After a moment, she smiles. "Thank you, Tony," she whispers.
Tony flashes a grin. "Anything for my favourite girl. Don't tell Pep I said that, though. She'll have my head on a spike in front of Stark Industries as soon as yesterday."
She lets out a free laugh as the trio from the cemetery approach the car. Sam and Natasha climb in the back, but Steve lingers by Irina's door, leaning down and smiling at her. "All right?" He asks.
She meets his eyes, hers shining with amusement and affection. "Perfect, Rogers," she murmurs, lifting an elegant eyebrow at him. "Plan on getting in anytime soon?"
Steve shrugs. "If I run, I might get there before you guys," he notes, amusement in his voice.
She snorts, waving him off. "Back seat, Captain," she says.
He chuckles, climbing into the back as Tony lets out a disgusted sound. "God, you two actually make me excited to leave this beautiful specimen of a car," he snarks.
"Drive, Stark. Drive," Natasha huffs with a smirk.
Tony revs the vehicle back up, and stomps on the petal, throwing them back into traffic at dangerous speeds.
"Slow, Stark! Slow!" Sam shouts.
Tony and Irina exchange a shared look, before smirking simultaneously at the panic of the members in the back.
𓆩*𓆪
They pull up to Tony's private jet the same time the escort squad from the hospital began to unload an unconscious Barnes onto it.
Steve jumps out before the car even slows fully to a stop, jogging over to the stretcher they rolled the sleeping man on and staying at his side, asking indecipherable questions to the paramedics that Tony had personally hired to keep quiet about the entire transfer of the special patient.
Sam whistles when he gets a good look at the jet. "Holy shit," he says.
Tony shoves his hands into his pant pockets after tossing the keys to the Tesla to a chauffeur that'd be driving it back to New York after them. "Should do us the trick until we get to the Tower. I've been working on a new one for the Avengers. A stealth jet of kinds," he says off-handedly.
Natasha smirks as she steps up to his side. "Not bad at all," she hums.
Tony grins. "Right. Well, get on before the paramedics and Rogers take five minutes carrying Barnes up and into it. It's freezing out here," he shudders.
Natasha lifts an eyebrow at him. "It's thirty-four degrees out, Stark."
"You forget this man has spent most of his adult life down in California in the scorching hot sun," snorts Irina as she passes the both of them, going for the jet.
They all manage to board it safely within the hour. Barnes is hooked up near the back, medications still heavy on him for the flight. Steve sits at the end of the stretcher, one hand on it as he watches the Soldier sadly, Sam just across from the two.
Tony sets up the coordinates in the cockpit, and Irina pulls out her book once again, reading where she left off as the jet pulls up and out of Washington.
She watches the city get smaller with a hint of sadness, trying to find the area her and Steve had lived in.
Their home.
There's a small shift beside her, someone sitting in the seat beside her. She call tell it's Steve from the overwhelming body heat seeping out of him, making her warmer just by sitting beside him. She doesn't look at him, keeping her eyes glued to the capital with pursed lips.
Steve takes her hand in his, encasing it in warmth while his thumb rubs gentle circles into her palm, assuring her that he's there.
They don't need words, just one another.
𓆩*𓆪
"This is your one and only captain speaking," Tony's voice rings out through the speakers. Irina deadpans. She wondered why he'd hurried out of his seat a few minutes ago, seeming excited about something. This was it. "Well, not unless you count Captain Sparkles there in the back. Hiya, Cap!"
Steve fixes the ceiling of the jet with an amused but exasperated look, unsure where to look to identify where Tony's voice was coming from.
"Scratch that intro from before. This is your one and only genius, billionaire, tied-down philanthropist speaking. If you look to your right, you'll find the one and only New York city honking up at us from the depths of business hell. And if you squint your eyes, you can see just by the Empire State..."
Irina looks out her window, looking down at the city. A smile stretches her face, heart warming. Though leaving Washington was hard, she forgot where she was coming back.
And there, above the towering buildings, is where Stark Tower still stands. Though, it no longer had her and Tony's last name on it.
Instead, her eyes fixate on the shining 'A' that acts as a beacon to the entire city, telling them who was watching over them.
"...the Avengers Tower."
𓆩*𓆪
ACT TWO IS DONE!!! 🗣️🗣️🗣️
GOd, how do we feel?
Me, personally? Thrilled for Act Three >:)
Act Three is def less personal on the aspect of Irina, but it does explore her newfound dynamics with characters she's growing closer with, especially with Tony and our latest addition to the roster... 👁️👁️
Ngl gotta love me that traumatized assassin. Ofc I had to change things up a BIT to keep y'all guessing.
Totally not cause I wanted two hot damaged men pining for my equally damaged girl wym—
Anyways, Act Three of "Puppet" will explore the beginnings of Irina and Bucky's complicated, rocky situation, especially for the first few chapters building up to the main plot of the movie. Of course we have Steve Rogers still in there, struggling to handle not one, but two traumatized assassins.
He's trying his best and we love him tho <3
And I'm def going hard on the sibling dynamics for Tony and Irina now that they've come together again, both moving past their most recent moral challenges in their separate movies, and more mature and healed in their outlook on life and each other than they were in Avengers.
But they're still gonna be chaotic little shits because what are siblings for??
Especially Stark ones.
GOD, Stark siblings would've gone so hard in the MCU.
Bi panic frr.
Anywho, I'll stop ranting and let you move on to the next part now. Just remember the basic warnings throughout the book, but I'll keep giving y'all reminders at the beginning of every part to make sure you remember, bc I myself know from experience forgetting certain tags and then ending up traumatized
Adios for now, dear readers!
And see you in Act Three of "Puppet".