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Oh. Hell. No.
Harley sat on the couch seething with anger.
Those fuckers!
He’d just had the delight of watching Tony spiral into a full-on panic attack as the press happily announced that America would be welcoming the Rogue Avengers back with open arms.
The news had come out of absolutely nowhere and blindsided them all. Fuck the president for being a Captain America fanboy. Fuck all of them for this.
He’d had to sit helplessly as the man he respected, that he saw as a father figure since his own had fucked off years ago, shattered in panic and fear while Rhodey and Pepper desperately tried to stop the spiral.
They’d managed to bundle Tony out of the room to his bedroom and hopefully they were managing to calm him down. Meanwhile, Harley sat staring at the television as the reporters discussed whether Iron Man would be re-joining the team.
No doubt everyone thought Tony would accept this without a fight. That he’d go back to funding the Avengers, building them weapons and being their doormat and punching bag even after everything.
Well, that wasn’t going to happen. Not this time.
He turned his head to look at the teen sitting beside him. Peter hadn’t moved so much as an inch since it all started. He was staring ahead blankly, several shades paler than usual.
“Pete?” Harley called out.
The slightly younger teen turned his head to face Harley.
“We’re not letting this happen. They’re not coming near the Mechanic again.”
After a moment, determination hardened in the other teenager’s eyes.
“They’re not,” he agreed.
So they did what teenagers did best. Caused trouble and riled people up. They even called Cooper and Lila, the pair were eager to help their Uncle Tony and they were still unbelievably pissed with their father.
Time to declare war.
@keenster
This is a fucking joke. We’re expected to just forget everything these assholes have done because the government says so? Not a chance.
@pparker
I know. It’s like they think if they waited long enough we’d forget about Lagos and Bucharest. I mean, hello. Just because they didn’t cause all that destruction in America, it doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen or that it doesn’t matter.
The responses to their messages on social media ranged from an outraged defense of Captain America to agreements and outcries of anger over the lack of justice. Their friends jumped on board to push the outrage higher and higher.
@mjnowshutup
It’s a clear show of privilege. He’s famous. So of course they want to sweep his crimes under the rug. I mean look at what happened with the Scarlet Bitch. She set the Hulk loose on Johannesburg and she didn’t have to face any consequences because ‘Steve Rogers said so’. Dangerous giving one man that power. People say that Tony Stark is dangerous but so far all I’ve seen is him actually facing up to his mistakes. Steve Rogers runs away from his.
@robinhood
Yeah and the rest of the Avengers followed after him like fucking sheep.
@artemis
I don’t want people like that protecting anyone. They scare me.
Harley wondered what Barton would think if he could see his kids siding against him like this. And his daughter outright saying that his side scared her.
He wondered if the man would even care.
@nedleeds
If they can get away with this it means that anyone can. They’ve set a precedent and that’s terrifying.
@spiderman (verified)
If they don’t get in trouble because they ‘did what they thought was right’, what’s to stop the next villain from using the same line?
The conversation thread blew up when Spider-Man made an appearance and the topic rapidly went viral.
By the time the Rogues touched down in America, the public was heavily against them and people were protesting in the streets.
The teens were far from done though.
Pepper and Rhodey had been very busy recently blocking every route the Rogues could use to get close to Tony again. Pepper had refused to fund them through SI and threatened Tony’s manhood if he agreed to fund them himself (he wisely gave in to that threat since she had very pointy shoes on at the time). Rhodey had got the military firmly on his side and Rogers and Wilson were slapped with discharges from the military, handed over by soldiers barely concealing their sneers.
Since Pepper was so firmly in the way of dumping the responsibility of the Rogues into Tony’s lap again, the government had to do it themselves, finding accommodation for the group since Pepper had banned them from Stark properties.
Since they were so stubborn though, the Rogues managed to force Tony to attend a meeting with them through the Accords, using the excuse of them working together even though Iron Man and War Machine were solo acts lately.
Tempers running high from this latest stunt, the kids started plotting again.
Peter glared at the smug-looking Rogues through his mask. No doubt they thought they would be getting their way now that they’d forced Tony into the same room as them. Rhodey was sitting on Tony’s other side and not even hiding his own glare that never wavered from Rogers.
Tony himself didn’t look up from his tablet as the Accord’s representative droned on about unity and something in an attempt to get the three superheroes to join the Avengers.
Fat chance of that.
There’d been a nasty surprise in the form of Vision showing up with them and a flicker of pain in Tony’s eyes gave away how much the android’s decision to side with Wanda hurt him.
Peter didn’t feel bad at all for what they were about to do.
The door to th room suddenly flew open. The meeting was being held at the Compound purely for safety purposes since they didn’t trust this group not to try something if it was held somewhere else, so Pepper had lifted the ban temporarily.
Harley barrelled into the room followed by Cooper and Lila who didn’t spare their father a glance.
“Mechanic!”
“Uncle Tony!”
The genius was on his feet in a moment. “What?!”
Cooper and Harley screeched to a stop while Lila just ran straight into him for a hug.
“I think we added something wrong to the volcano,” Harley was the one to speak up.
Tony’s eyes widened. “Volcano?!”
“Well yeah, mom got us one of those kits where you build a mini volcano but it was so small and boring,” Cooper explained. “So we tried to make it more… exciting.”
“Fuck,” Rhodey summed up the situation.
Peter hid a smile. He knew that it wasn’t as bad as it sounded. Just a lot of red foam.
“Seriously?!” Tony groaned.
“It was still growing when we left so you’ve got to come right now!” Harley insisted.
“Excuse me now-” Rogers tried to interrupt but Harley cut him off.
“Sorry, mom told me not to speak to terrorists.” He didn’t even look at the man as he grabbed Tony’s hand and started dragging him out of the room, Cooper and Lila following.
“Uncle Tony, why do you have to meet with criminals? The government is being really mean to make you do that,” Lila piped up.
“They’re dangerous,” Cooper added. “Don’t ever talk to them Lila.”
And just as quickly as they’d appeared, they vanished, taking a bewildered Tony with them.
Rhodey cracked a smile when they were gone and shook his head. “Those kids are determined to keep him safe,” he sighed.
“What just happened?” Sam asked, stunned.
Clint and Natasha were still staring after Cooper and Lila with wide eyes.
“The kids all got attached to Tony. They weren’t happy to hear that you were coming back.” Rhodey shrugged casually. “So they took the matter into their own hands. You haven't seen their social media accounts have you?”
Peter felt very proud of those. They were still spearheading all the anti-Rogue sentiments. Harley and MJ were the best at riling up the internet. He piped in as Spidey now and then to show his support.
“But now that they’ve got Tony out of the room,” Rhodey turned back to them and his expression darkened. “You assholes think that you won or something. I’m extremely pleased to be the one to burst your bubble.”
The Accord’s representative shifted nervously at his tone.
“Most of the public? They hate you and the fact that you got pardoned and dealt with no consequences for everything you did. For all the lives you took.”
Vision looked away at that and Rhodey felt viciously satisfied. If the android wanted to ignore everything that they did so he could get back together with the witch, then he’d shove the truth in his face. Fuck he was definitely not JARVIS.
“The military? Hates you and considers every one of you a threat that needs watching. The rest of the world? You haven’t been forgiven anywhere else. If you step foot out of America then you’ll be arrested. What good are you going to be if there’s trouble in a country that will arrest you on sight? You’re all useless outside of this country. So go ahead. Parade around like you won while you're trapped in a country you can’t leave. Ignore the daily protests going on from the public who don’t want you here. I don’t fucking care.” He stood up and leaned over the table, braces whirring softly. “But stay the fuck away from Tony. He’s not going to fund you. He’s not going to house you. He’s not going to give you a fucking cent. Neither of us will work with you anywhere but in an emergency,” he shot a look at the representative there. “There is no fucking team anymore. That idea died a gruesome death when you all thought you were fucking better than everyone else on the planet and decided no one was allowed to tell you no.”
He swept his gaze over them. “So, this is the last time we’ll meet if it’s not on the battlefield. Don’t call, we won’t pick up. The next time I see you will be during the end of the world or when you fuck up next and I get called on to arrest you. Which I will do enthusiastically.”
He straightened up and Peter hurried to join him.
“Fuck off, all of you. And tell the Accords that they better not try and force any more meetings between Tony and this lot of criminals,” Rhodey added to the representative. “They’ll be seeing our lawyers if they try.”
He moved to the exit but Peter lingered a moment.
“When we met at the airport, I was holding back because Mr. Stark told me we were just going to talk. You’re the ones that turned it into a fight. I was holding back but I could still stop a punch that the Winter Soldier wasn’t holding back.”
Barnes ducked his head at the words. He hadn’t really looked up the entire meeting. Peter didn’t care though. He just kept remembering the state Mr. Stark was in when he was rescued from Siberia.
“If you try and hurt Mr. Stark again, or if you break the law again, I won’t hold back anymore. And apparently I’m a lot stronger than a super soldier. So maybe remember that. You’re not the only superheroes on the block anymore. You’re actually just a bunch of bullies.”
He turned and left without another word. He wanted to try and catch up to Mr. Stark to see how bad the lab looked after the volcano was done.
He’d bet it looked epic.