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]

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?

[manofiron]

[ It's a good thing that he's finished drinking, otherwise he either would have choked or spit it everywhere upon hearing her last statement. Never mind that she just mentioned a bunch of people he's never heard of. She'd been prepared to propose to Steve, and Steve would have... What? He doesn't know.

Because he barely knows his Steve, to say nothing of some other bizarro world's Steve. ]

You—Really? Would he—So you guys are pretty serious, then?

[ And if he feels the tiniest twinge of something, he ignores it. Because there are entirely too many reasons he could possibly experience an emotional reaction of any kind to this news and he doesn't want to deal with any of them. ]

Who's Machinesmith? And Baron Nemo? As in Little Nemo?

[agentx13]

Well, yeah. But I couldn't remember this place there.

[ She shrugs, bowing her head to more easily ignore his reaction. What was so wrong with asking him? He wouldn't ask her. Not again. And she isn't sure she wants to know why Tony is having the reaction he's having. ]

Machinesmith is... He used to be Samuel Saxon. He built robots, and after he died, the robots transferred his consciousness to another robot. Now he can transfer his consciousness from machine to machine. Once, when Steve died, Saxon downloaded knowledge from Steve's brain like it was a harddrive. In this instance, the Avengers trapped him in a tape, and I had to set him free to find out what he knew about Steve's condition.

And Baron Zemo. He's the son of the guy who worked with the Nazis. The plane that Bucky was attached to took off from his place in Britain. I throttled him into unconsciousness. [ Again, she sounds far too pleased with herself. But Zemo was the one who had attacked her men. If anything, she'd gone easy on him. ]

[manofiron]

[ A man who built robots who transferred his consciousness to machines. Tony stares at her as she explains this Samuel Saxon, the gears in his head spinning so fast it almost makes him dizzy. The possibilities for a human if that's possible are endless, and according to Sharon, it is possible.

And all Tony ever has to know is that a thing is possible to make it a reality. ]

I don't know about either of them. Bucky, yeah. We had Bucky Barnes. Saxon and Baron Emo? Not so much. Not that I know of, anyway. I'd say I'd look into it when I got home, but...

[ He frowns slightly. Just for an instant. ]

I didn't remember any of this either. Course, I'm going to work on fixing that.

[agentx13]

[ Sharon knows that looks. She knows that look far too well. ]

Tony, no.

[ But then he moves on, and she draws closer, intrigued. ]

You're going to fix it so we can remember what's happened here?

[manofiron]

[ He knows that tone of voice. He hears it all the time from Pepper. Those same words, too. It's almost like having her here. The hot badass blond version, anyway. Marrying Steve, remember?

Derailing that train of thought before it can get out of the station, Tony tips his head toward her and gives her a lazy, confident smile. ]

Sharon, I'm going to fix everything.

[agentx13]

[ Her elbows go on the table. Is he serious? He seems to be serious. She knows him well enough to know that he thinks he'll actually be able to do it, too. ]

Keeping in mind that we're being monitored, is there anything I can help with in that respect?

[manofiron]

[ Well, if he's keeping in mind that they're being monitored... A slow smirk curves his mouth. ]

I haven't gotten laid in... I don't know, I've lost track. It's been a long time. You want to help with that?

[agentx13]

I'm not a succumb us anymore, Tony. [She frowns for a moment. Now that she's here again, she can remember... Oh, shit. She runs her hands through her hair.]

What if I said yes?

[After all, she's already fucked Ligan here. And Kobra. Jesus.]

[manofiron]

If you said yes, I'd ask if you remembered any of those succubus tricks. You know, since I missed out on them last time.

[ There's a special hell out there reserved for people who sleep with Captain America's almost-fiance. Tony recognizes this. It just doesn't discourage him. ]

[agentx13]

Tony. You're implying my tricks aren't enough.

[ She sighs, her eyes falling to the table. ]

Let's be adults about this.

Nothing we do here affects anything back home. We're... doing something here. So there's no reason not to follow up except moral hang-ups. Which, obviously, only go so far.

So here's my proposal. We can be... fuck buddies, for lack of a better term. But if Steve shows up - any version of Steve - we stop.

[ Because that would be too much, even for a woman who has been willing to kill to accomplish a mission. ]

Sorry if you were hoping for something more romantic.