Chapter Text
In the days following Tony and Maria’s both Maria and Tony went back to work at Stark Industries almost immediately. They didn’t get much time for rest or recovery and they both could have used it. Maria told Tony about the Yuri call, but because Tony didn’t meet Yuri it seemed less urgent to him than fixing the hack on his armor. If he couldn’t undo what Carver had done to to just his armor, what happened if it crashes his whole system? It would disastrous and Tony and Maria both knew that, and it jus thad to take priority over Yuri and the FBI, but they both knew that they couldn’t stonewall both of these problems forever. This added pressure to Tony that he really didn’t need, and Tony was really struggling to undo the disabling software that rendered his armor useless back in the faction lab.
Maria and Tony were exhausted and paranoid, although they were actually working together quite well. Maria and Tony still hadn’t given statements to the FBI, despite the repeated requests for their presence. But as the two suspected that there was some kind of mole or infiltration with the FBI and the hydra faction that held them captive it became stressful to figure out how to talk to them. This was especially true with Yuri out there. Maria was able to rely on a head injury to keep them at bay, Tony just kept pushing it off because he was a rich guy and they just seem to like him, but the FBI’s patience was wearing thin.
Both Tony and Maria struggled to remember everything that happened. Tony remembered things randomly as he tried to piece together the whole night. Because of his repeated loss of consciousness he sometimes lost his place about where a certain event or thing happened. He had trouble remembering exactly what he had designed or worked on for Carver, the certain aspects or functions he was implementing. Tony was very frustrated by this. He was genuinely worried about the looming issues his inability to quickly solve Carver’s technical enigma presented.
Even though Maria had come back to work, she came back far more casual than she usually looked there. She came to work in jeans and long sleeve sweater and sneakers. She just did’t care because she felt like she needed to be ready for anything in a moment’s notice. Her arms were such a mess from all the grabbing and fighting and defensive wounds that she could not stand seeing them on herself. She didn’t know why it bothered her so much but it seemed like it severed of a constant reminder of what happened. She couldn’t stop living in the past of all the mistakes she had made. She was so reactionary instead of anticipatory, even though Tony and Maria got out the whole thing felt like a loss. Seeing reminders of it on her body felt like some kind of symbol of the loss and her own loss of autonomy that she did not want to display.
Maria and Tony worked to fill in the gaps of their stories and connect what they each experienced into one cohesive account, Maria really struggled to recall things she knew were important. So much had happened in such a succinct amount of time and she really did have a head injury, these first few days back had been brutal headaches coming in waves, she figured some of it had to be stress too.
Returning to work with Tony, it just felt different than before. Like the two had silently bonded over what happened. Even though they had very different experiences. Maria was still trying to figure out an exact timeline of events but everything sloshed together in her mind. She was also tracking Tony’s account but he had a similar problem. It was also hard for Maria to focus with the looming Yuri threat, at least Yuri wasn’t really a problem while she was at Avenger tower. It was pretty safe there… except for a few notable times when it wasn’t.
Tony was very busy trying to reverse engineer the disabling device that had rendered his armor useless in a moment. This was an existential threat to him and his whole company really. He had no idea what would or would not work on and how to stop it.
Tony said something to Maria, but what he said was such advanced scientific nonsense that no person other than himself could possibly understand or comprehend it, Maria completely tuned it out.
“Right?” Tony asked Maria for confirmation on whatever he had just said.
Maria paused and looked up at Tony as she missed it what he said.
“You know I love it when you talk science to me, but…” Maria joked she couldn’t really help him with this issue.
“Yeah..” Tony got it, he knew that was really a question for himself to figure out. “It sure is rough being the smartest man in the world.” Tony jokingly bragged and then sighed to himself and gave himself a little head nod as non verbal pep talk.
“And yet, somehow, it’s still significantly easier than being the smartest woman in the world.” Maria quipped back at him.
Tony went to say something back to Maria but then Pepper walked in. “Speak of the devil.” Tony said as Pepper arrived.
“I’m the devil?” Pepper asked a little surprised.
“Only on your good days.” Tony joked.
“Mmm.. so glad you’re back…” Pepper mumbled.
Unlike Maria, Pepper was professionally dressed in a beautiful navy blue office dress with small gold buttons down the back. Her strawberry blonde hair pulled back in a pony tail, her bangs brushed over her forehead, she was perfectly put together. Pepper sat down next to Maria, and handed Maria a coffee, she looked at Maria and with her eyes silently asked if there had been any progress. Maria shook her head no.
A frustrated Tony muttered to himself, this should have been the one tech from Carver’s little scientist that he for sure could undo, and yet nothing seemed to work. It was kind of shame that that young scientist had been lured by Carver instead of doing something great with Tony. He kept working on reverse engineering Carver’s tech from scratch and he was struggling. It did rattle him that this tech was out there but he was relieved that it was deleted now.
“The FBI has called again to set up a meeting with either of you…” Pepper tried to bring up gently, the Stark lawyers were hounding Pepper over this.
“What do they really need from me? I was barely even awake the whole time. They got there, they saw the scene.” Tony huffed, he was a busy guy and he had a lot to do, and neither he or Maria trusted the FBI right now.
They didn’t want the FBI to know that but they didn’t know what they could safely say. They could tell someone tipped off the faction and there were clearly some sort of ties between the agency and this group. Maria was able to confirm that Carver did work in the FBI at one point and neither Maria or Tony doubted that some secret program was being developed where the government could reign in the Avengers if they needed to. Maria was still trying to figure that out but there was nothing concrete. She really needed to dig into Carver’s background and see, but what Tony and Maria had to do right now was too much for two people.
“It’s a bit of a bummer you deleted everything because doing this from scratch is going to take ages.” Tony huffed to Maria as if deleting everything hadn’t been Tony’s plan and Maria had not told him they shouldn’t do that right then.
Maria thought about what happened in the lab after Tony left, she sat upright from her backward lean, she made a face showing she was not happy.
“I don’t know that I did delete everything.” Maria revealed. Maria had been distracted by Carver and then the lab lost power. She never got back to the computers after that and she and Tony had been so busy in the following days with the medical needs and getting back to work that they hadn’t got to this part of their experience yet.
“What?” Tony asked looking pretty shocked.
“Everything shut down.” Maria pointed out. Tony looked at Maria surprised that she wasn’t the one who shut the lab down, Maria looked just as stunned at Tony.
“You didn’t tell me that..” Tony paused
“I thought you did it…” Maria glared right back at Tony.
“I did not do that, I thought you did that.” He responded.
“How?” Maria responded wondering how Tony would think she could even something like that.
“I don’t know… you cut the lights didn’t you?”
Maria paused she did do that so maybe it was a fair assumption for him to make.
“So… now we have another problem to add to our list of problems…” Tony let out a frustrated sigh.
Maria also sighed as their list was getting a bit long for two people who really need some time off.
“Carver?” Tony asked hoping that would take care of this question.
“No he was in the lab when it happened.” Maria explained
“So potentially, when I overrode the block on the system that kept everything internal…so I could get something out of the system…” Tony was talking to himself but in front of Maria and Pepper. He realized what likely must have happened. Maria also realized it before Tony finished.
“What?” Pepper asked looking at Tony and Maria.
“The internal lock on the system prevented anyone from internally reaching anyone externally but once it was removed if an external actors saw that everything was being deleted they could shut it all down to stop it…” Tony explained to Pepper and Maria sighed again, more frustrating things about their ordeal were constantly coming to light.
Neither Maria or Tony believed Yuri could have been the one to shut everything down, since learning that he escaped his faction, and was allegedly injured, he probably had to get out of there quickly. Someone could have shut down the power when the cell was tipped off, or someone could have shut it down from the outside. As Tony tried to piece everything together now, he realized trying to delete everything to prevent it from getting out there wasn’t the best course action for him and Maria. Maria had been right about that but he wasn’t going to say anything to her about that. Maria, like Tony, was also struggling with lingering on mistakes she had made that night, it was just so hard for both of them to look forward and move on when they really needed to move on.
As Tony went back to figuring his thing out, Pepper started talking to Maria.
“You don’t want to stay here, with us, for awhile maybe?” Pepper asked Maria.
Pepper did not feel very comfortable with the idea that Maria was just going to be out and about with this Yuri guy looking for her. And she was worried that neither Tony or Maria were prioritizing this as from what she had heard from them it was pretty serious. It at least felt like they were both very distracted with these overall looming issues but not really the one that seemed most urgent.
Maria shook her head no, she really did not want to do that even if it was technically safer, she had almost gotten Tony killed once and she needed to remove him from her own situation, it was too much to think about if she involved other people, and so far, Yuri had just called her old number a bunch and nothing had happened.
“Are you staying with your mom?” Pepper wondered, the idea of Maria staying alone was kind of a no go for her so she did need to check on this.
“With a friend.” Maria was staying with Natasha but she didn’t want everyone to know that.
“And it’s safe…for you.. and them…?” Pepper asked again
Maria nodded confidently that she definitely felt safe where she was staying.
“Pepper, I already tried.” Tony chimed in as eavesdropped on them.
Pepper really thought this was a dumb decision by Maria and she questioned Tony’s sincerity in the attempt he claimed he made. Both Tony and Maria were stuck in this ‘why did we do this’ mode and she really wanted to say something to set them straight about it and pointing out they were continuing to make more mistakes like holding off on the FBI and now not going after Yuri immediately. Tony and Maria already had a close one, they did not need another close one. Pepper worried they might not survive it.
“Maybe you two should call some friends.” Pepper suggested, and Tony shot a ‘definitely not’ look at Pepper. “You have so many very capable and very smart friends…” Pepper paused “well Maria does..” She joked. “Tony’s a little more of an obligation.” Pepper and Maria both laughed under their breath.
After hearing Pepper’s suggestion Tony pointed right at Maria.
“I don’t need a Fury problem right now.” He spoke rather accusatory as if she had already done something, and admittedly Maria had thought about it. Maria just put her hands up on the table trying to show she hadn’t contacted him or said anything.
“Every time Fury’s gets involved my problems get twenty times more complicated.” Tony was clearly frustrated and flustered by his inability reverse engineer this disabling software and the idea of also having to navigate certain personalities… well he wasn’t in the mood for that.
“That’s funny because that’s what he says about you.” Maria mumbled and Pepper laughed a bit.
“All the more reason to just keep it simple for now…?” Tony looked at Maria and it sounded like he was asking but it was very clear to Maria it was more demanding. She didn’t know what he was worried about though she hadn’t from Nick at all. Nick was in laying low mode after the fall of SHIELD so it didn’t really surprise her.
“Yeah, okay…” Maria agreed, and when Tony looked away Pepper and Maria exchanged glances.
Pepper sighed she rolled her eyes to herself. She could tell Tony was frustrated but he was just making his situation worse and he couldn’t see his errors because of his tunnel vision, his over tiredness, and apparently some of his ego was also in the way. She wasn’t hearing much push back from Maria, one of the usual right guiding voices in the room and this worried her. Maria was apparently also making choices that didn’t seem.. wise. This whole situation really made Pepper uneasy. Pepper observed the both of them and all she could see were two very tired people.
“Maybe you guys should take a break for awhile…” Pepper suggested but when she did she felt like prey in a lions den, like she was saying something so risky. Neither Maria or Tony said anything to Pepper’s suggestion.
“Tony. You need to take a break because we have a call in 20 minutes so…” Pepper warned at least this would force him to stop doing this for a bit.
“Let’s reschedule it.” Tony proposed.
“This is the reschedule.” Pepper had a frustrated tone in her voice.
Tony took a deep sigh, he wasn’t getting anywhere and he was already frustrated not at any person just his situation. He threw his hands down to himself and then mildly stormed out of the the room leaving and Maria and Pepper behind.
Pepper sighed and looked at Maria “This is going to be fun…” she mumbled. “Are you guys .. I just . ..” Pepper struggled to get what she wanted to say out.
“We’re figuring it out.” Maria admitted softly because she also had her own concerns about everything but she didn’t have anything better to suggest than just working through it.
This wasn’t the most comforting thing for Pepper to hear, and it wasn’t the most comforting thing for Maria to hear herself say either.
“I don’t like this.” Pepper said adamantly. Maria didn’t say anything she agreed but what else could they do. “You’re gonna take a break too?” Pepper asked Maria.
“Yeah, in a while have to go run an errand anyway.” Maria responded not really taking a break but she definitely needed to get out of this building for awhile.
Maria headed to run an errand, a simple quick one to pick up some basics while she was staying with Natasha since she hadn’t been back to her own apartment in days. It was a bit frustrating but it was just a risk not worth taking. She couldn’t believe she had sent her mom there before she knew Yuri was alive.
As she walked through as she walked she just couldn’t shake that someone was following her. She kind of took some unusual ways about, cutting through stores, weird streets, and even a parking garage. It was an impossible feeling to override with the level or paranoia she and Tony had now. It really put her at such a disadvantage because she never knew when the feeling was real or not, her sense felt dulled and now was not the time for that, if anything she needed to be way sharper than before.
It was broad daylight so most places felt pretty safe, but as Maria darted through the parking garage a sleek black car glided to a stop near her. She was ready, had on her gun discretely. It could be anything probably the FBI, but it could even be someone asking for directions. But she weirdly felt something familiar about this, the car didn’t feel intimidating. As Maria waited for the car to drive past or do something a window slowly rolled down revealing Nick Fury being the wheel. ‘So it is a guy asking for directions’ Maria joked internally. With a slight nod a bit of grin, it was clear he wanted to talk.
“Do you need a ride?” Fury asked.
“No.” Maria answered with a slight smirk, but she did get in the car to talk to him. She hadn’t seen him in so long, and actually Nick showing up on her kind of confirmed to her that she had the right sense and her sense was working. Why he didn’t call her on the phone, a true mystery.
Maria thought Nick was going to ask her how she was and about recovering but instead he went straight to get the details from her about what she knew. Obviously Fury had heard something about what happened and was expecting Maria to fill him in with the details. But she wasn’t forthcoming with him to his great surprise. Maria wondered about pulling this head injury line she was using with the Feds but she didn’t want to lie to him. Since Maria didn’t immediately start telling Fury everything, he decided to use a different approach and try to get her to talk about it in conversation.
“How is the private sector?” Fury asked.
“Oh it’s always an adventure no matter where I work.”
“Keeps you ready for when you come back.” He said with a bit of charm and optimism.
“Come back to what?” Maria looked at Nick with genuine earnest look. What job did Nick have for her, what job did Nick even have for himself at this point? Things seemed kind of shaky with him too.
“Wherever I go there’s always have a spot for you.” He confirmed.
“One with stock options or…?” Maria was joking but it sounded serious.
Nick narrowed his gaze looking at Maria wondering if she was serious.
“Plus.. now they make those cars that drive themselves… so what are you even going to need me for?” Maria joked.
“Oh you’re funny.” Nick laughed shaking his head at her.
Maria was conflicted, she knew what Fury wanted to know and she did want to tell him but Tony had just asked her not to. She was trying to figure out how to split the difference between these two men and she was coming up empty. Tony shouldn’t have asked her that, but Nick also shouldn’t have started this trying to play at her loyalty like that. It all just felt so shady, especially right now.
“You don’t have anything to tell me?” Nick asked surprised he even had to dig for it.
Maria was quiet for a minute because this was really difficult.
“You know, I…” Maria paused “I don’t think the information you want can come from me.”
“What?” Nick sounded very shocked
“Maybe you two fully grown adult men can put whatever you need to aside and just figure it out yourselves.”
“It’s not like Stark’s calling.”
“Well the amazing thing about phones is that they can receive and place calls.”
“Don’t be too funny.” Fury cautioned
“I am being serious.”
Nick didn’t understand why this was like pulling teeth. Maria should be telling everything instead she was telling him nothing. He actually couldn’t believe it, what exactly happened between Tony and Maria? And did he have to be worried about it.
“So you’re with… Stark now?” Fury was stunned to have ask Maria this, something he had taken as a given for years. Maria was surprised to hear it, she was kind of offended Nick even asked her, really. Nick and Tony really weren’t that different, putting her in the same position between them.
“We’re all on the same side.” Maria answered some disbelief in her voice that Fury doubted her. But she was in a bind. She had loyalty to Tony now too, and he specifically ‘asked’ her not to do this. They just survived something together, they had a bond now, she didn’t want to drop the trust they had just built together so fast. They needed it for the best working relationship and they finally had it. But she also didn’t want that to come at the cost of her relationship with Nick.
“You’re putting me on the out?”
“I” Maria strongly emphasized, “am not putting on the out.”
“So he told you that you can’t tell me?”
Maria sighed.
“I’m not saying you can’t have the information… but you’re going to need a different avenue to get it.” Maria tried to say diplomatically.
“I thought ‘we were all on the same side?’” Nick asked, this conversation had gone way off from where Nick ever expected it to go. Maria didn’t say anything for a minute, but the situation was making her unusually uncomfortable.
“I mean, just think about it… what if this situation was reversed? I mean you wouldn’t want me to.. so if he doesn’t want me to then… I don’t know..”
“So what if he doesn’t…” Nick responded in a heightened annoyed tone, he was not the same as Tony, and Tony did not spend years working with Maria all the sudden she was just going to make a shift?
There was a tense moment of silence.
“Should I be worried?” Nick asked. Maria looked unhappy, was Nick really asking her this again.
Maria looked at Nick like that question was unwarranted.
When Tony said he couldn’t ‘have a Fury problem right now,’ Maria never imagined that she also would have a Fury problem by extension. Fury had so many people he could ask, Natasha knew stuff, May knew some of it, he could ask Tony himself. It wasn’t like he couldn’t find a way that didn’t put Maria at odds with Tony at a time when she could not be at odds with Tony.
“Is it always going to be games or at some point is this going to be about protecting people again?” Maria asked with a sigh.
“Well… I don’t know…” Nick made a dramatic pause. “I guess that’s up to you and your …’boss,’ huh?” Nick asked with a smarmy tone that Maria did not appreciate.