012 || Sharon Carter || LYING AND SAYING DAY 74 OKAY?

[agentx13]

[ Sharon is far from pleased to find herself back here. She can remember it now, even though she could swear she had gone home. She and Steve, Sam, Rachel, and SHIELD had fought Codename Bravo and Madame Hydra, and- But it doesn't matter now, because she's back, trapped here by forces she still can't understand.

She surveys the house, noting that if nothing else, the Doctor has been here, and finally stops at the a window. She pours herself a glass of water, takes a sip, and then cues up the video. ]

This is Sharon Carter. Again. It seems I'm back.

What did I miss.

[ Oh, damn it. And she'd better do that, too. But- you know what? No. She can track people down and apologize for screwing them in a sex-crazed haze privately. ]

Comments

[agentx13]

So... you didn't inject yourself with Extremis?

And wait, what? Tony- Where I'm from, the Mandarin isn't an actor. He's one of the biggest criminals you've come across. Are you sure that guy was just an actor?

[manofiron]

[ His eyebrow rises and every so slightly, he smirks. ]

Not yet.

Criminal? What? No. [ He adopts a ridiculously over-the-top British accent. ] His name is Trevor Slattery. [ And back to normal. ] He's some drugged out actor who let the dope get the better of him. Real guy's name was Aldrich Killian.

[agentx13]

[ She stares at him for several more seconds before lightly punching him in the arm. ]

You got played, Tony.

[ And that's the nicest way she can say it. ]

[manofiron]

[ He shrugs. He knows it, he doesn't mind her pointing it out. ]

We all did. But it's fine now. Killian's dead. AIM's a mess. Slattery's in prison.

[agentx13]

So that's that, then. [ She's still thoughtful, though. The Mandarin behind bars. If it were her Mandarin, she'd say the only reason he would be in prison was if he wanted it. ]

How'd you leave things back home? How's Pepper?

[manofiron]

Mostly okay. I mean, the president's safe, the vice president's behind bars. I reversed Pepper's Extremis. Rhodey's still Iron Patriot, but he admits War Machine sounds better.

[ Tony himself is still a mess, but Sharon isn't asking about him and he wouldn't want to go into it anyway. ]

Happy's got a girlfriend. JARVIS is bugging me about making him a real body. Same stuff, different day.

[agentx13]

[ Stare. Stare. Stare. Starestarestarestarestare. ]

Maybe we should back up. Because where I'm from, you used Extremis to turn yourself into some sort of highly-advanced computer that could make the Iron Man suit appear at will, Pepper was Rescue - I don't think she ever had Extremis. Norman Osborn was Iron Patriot. Happy... [ Is dead. ]

And Jarvis is just your butler, just like Smithers is mine.

So... back up. Please.

[manofiron]

Really? I did that?

[ It's a little to casual to be innocent and the way he smiles says that if he hadn't already had the idea, he does now and means to run with it. ]

Killian infected her, wanted to make her his trophy... whatever. She wore one of my suits once, but it was because I put her in it to protect her when my house fell down on us. Norman who? I don't know him. Unless he's one of Ozzy's kids and trust me, he's not piloting Rhodey's suit. It was a PR thing. They repainted it red, white, and blue, tried to make it more family friendly. Don't ask, it wasn't my idea.

Jarvis was my butler as a kid. He raised me. JARVIS is his namesake, and arguably my greatest creation. He's my legacy and my friend and whole lot of other things. Happy's my bodyguard. Was my bodyguard. Now he's my friend who sometimes still drives Pepper around and heads up security at Stark Industries.

[agentx13]

Yes, you moron. And it saved your life, or else I wouldn't be telling you now.

[ She taps her fingers against her chin. His world is so... different. So much more than she had thought it was before. ]

You still have Stark Industries?

[ Hadn't Happy died during that time? Some sabotage plot... ]

[manofiron]

Of course. It's my company. Stane tried to take it from me once, but that didn't work out so well for him. Pepper runs it now. She's better at the business end than I am. But it's still mine.

Why? Don't I have it where you're from? What happened to it?

[agentx13]

You... started a new company called Stark Resilient. Trying to make clean-energy cars.

[ She hopes to God she doesn't have to explain more than that. He'd only do that "I'm extremely hurt and scared and worried but going to play it cool as I fray at the edges about my inability to help the people I care about most" thing. She hates that thing. ]

[manofiron]

I make cars? With clean--You mean arc reactors? Arc reactor cars?

[ He stares at her, hoping she's joking and knowing that she's not. ]

What the hell happened to me?

[agentx13]

Yeah.

Well, you stopped making weapons, Tony. What did you think you were going to do? You're too active to retire and too you to let go of a challenge.

[manofiron]

I don't make weapons now either, but I'd like to think we do more good for the world than just making some nifty cars. I can do better than that.

[agentx13]

Well... Back home, you kind of... lost everything. Money-wise. And cars were a way of rebuilding... you.

[ She clears her throat. Sharon isn't good with tact. She doesn't know the right thing to say, and she's slow to pick up on social cues most of the time. She only tries with Tony - to some degree even succeeds with Tony - because they've known each other so long. Well, she's known a version of him for so long. ]

But they were some kind of cool cars. And hey, you helped SHIELD with their flying cars. Though I wasn't such a huge fan of the red and gold color scheme.

[manofiron]

Back home, I lost everything not money-wise. Me and other me are kind of even on that one.

[ Other him has apparently mastered Extremis, too. Other him might be an idiot, making cars instead of more important things, but other him also has the power and protection that Tony wants and doesn't, as yet, have in his possession. ]

And I can still do better than cars. Really? He's modeling them after the Iron Man? [ He shakes his head. ] This is what happens in a life without JARVIS. I see that now.

[agentx13]

Really? Mine still has Jarvis. And Pepper and Bethany, Steve, Reed... And you still have Pepper and Steve, too.

[ And let's just not mention Happy. ]

So really, don't play that "Poor little Stark boy" card with me. I'm wise to what you've got in both worlds, Stark.

[manofiron]

I think what I've got in my world might surprise you, then.

[ It's quieter than the rest, more somber, and then it disappears. Tony can't be too serious for too long. ]

Who's Bethany? And Reed? I don't know them.

[agentx13]

Uh-uh. Tell me what you've got in your world. I've been talking too much in this so-called conversation.

[manofiron]

Minus JARVIS and a couple old robots I was still cleaning seaweed out of, you're looking at what I've got. The company, sure. Money, yeah.

Believe it or not, Agent Carter, there's more to life than money.

[agentx13]

Are you saying that I'm so rich I've never had to go without money?

[ She raises an eyebrow at him and takes a sip of water before going back to teasing him. ]

Tony Stark. I may not be what you consider rich, but I am rather well-off.

[ C'mon, Tony. Mansion homes on the table. ]

[ A slight pause, and she lets the conversation turn serious again. ]

And you've still got Pepper, dumbass. And Rhodey and Happy. And that thing on your face.

[manofiron]

That thing on my face? You make it sound like it's got its own personality. It doesn't, for the record.

[ Although now he's wondering if he ought to act like it does around her. Just to be a pain in the ass. ]

Do you know why I have Pepper? Because I blew up the suits. Because I agreed to pretend to be something I'm not and the minute she finds out that Iron Man didn't go up in a ball of fire just like everything else, she'll be gone. She just won't be with Killian, and thank fuck for that.

[ It's not until he's putting it into words that he realizes how much it bothers him. He said he'd try to change, but the truth is, he doesn't want to. ]

[agentx13]

[ Her fingers trails the rim of her glass as she listens, her frown deepening. Is that really what he thinks? Is that really how he got rid of the suits in his universe? ]

But you'll always be Iron Man. You can't help that any more than you can help being Tony Stark.

And Pepper isn't the sort to bail just because you made a stupid decision, Tony. If she were, she would have left by now, several times over.

[manofiron]

Well, now she can't. She's got a great job and a salary that would make monarchs envious.

[ Shrugging, he polishes off his drink in one large swallow. ]

And the suits, well, they were getting a little outdated. What comes next will be better.

[ He nods toward her. ]

What about you? What've you been up to? Or is that classified?

[agentx13]

[ She shrugs. ] Not really.

A guy named Codename Bravo got caught in another dimension and came back to get revenge on everyone he knew for trapping him in there. Even though he said he came back to make our world perfect. Which is bullshit.

He also wanted to get revenge on Steve, because aparently Steve stole Aunt Peggy from the guy back in World War II. He even figured out how to depower Steve.

So I got to fight Machinesmith on the Quincarrier and then fight Baron Zemo on a space station.

Both of them are creeps, by the way.

[ And judging by her smile, Sharon quite enjoyed beating them. ]

I was thinking of proposing to Steve and ended up here. Just my luck, right?