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Toni’s back popped and she let out a groan. Hunched over paperwork was the bane of her life; she’ll be honest and admit it was part of a reason she passed the CEO touch over to Pepper. There was only so much Toni herself could take of paperwork and the board without wanting to bang her head against a wall.
But this paperwork was important and it had taken nearly two and a half months to get it all. To make sure it was right.
Stane had been right in not using a computer to track his black-market dealings but it was a bitch to sort through. Computer trail she might have found out what he was doing sooner – a paper trail, not so much.
But even then, her heart ached at the thought of him before pushing it aside. Her love towards him should have died when he ripped the arc reactor out of her chest. But every now and then, she’d back to her childhood when he’d bring her a ‘just because’ gift or how he had put himself between her and Howard.
She hated and yet missed him and that made her hate herself a little bit more.
Shaking her head of the thoughts, Toni stood up and grabbed the large stack. All the tracking of a few missiles that had made their way to Sokovia. Steve thought, and Toni agreed, that this might help Wanda. Toni had her doubts – as she vividly remembers trashing her lab after Steve told her about her parents – but it was better to tell her than to keep it from her.
No more secrets.
Taking a deep breath, she made her way towards Wanda new room. It was close to Natasha’s and Clint’s, as they seemed to be the ones to really take Wanda under their wing. Her flats barely made a noise on the floor as she moved towards the West Wing, pile of paperwork close to her chest.
Toni wasn’t sure how this talk would go, but she hoped for the best. She and Wanda needed to have this. Steve and Clint both wanted her on the team and Steve had – quite rudely – refused Toni’s retirement papers.
In fact, he had burned them.
While grinning at her.
Coming to Wanda’s room, Toni paused. What if this only made Wanda angrier? What if this didn’t help her at all? And only hurt her more? The younger woman had gone through so much in her life – even Toni herself could feel for her.
The door opened and Wanda peeked up at her through dark hair.
“You’ve been standing outside my door for five minutes.”
There was slightly amusement in Wanda’s tone, which helped the tension in Toni’s chest. Swallowing, she patted the papers in her hand.
“I, uh, have some things for you.”
“Didn’t I already sign the Avengers Contract?” Toni let out a slightly laugh.
“That’s not what these are. They are. . .” Toni wiggled her nose, brows drawn together. There was no could way to put this. At all. And Wanda looked slightly alarmed. Fuck. “The paper trail about the missile that hit your home.”
Dark eyes widen and in the blink of an eye, the papers were taken from Toni’s hands. She flexed her hands, wondering how.
“Why would you give this to me?”
The big money question. Client or Steve should have one this. Wanda was looking very unhappy. Maybe she had been too blunt?
“To help give you some closure. Steve thought that, well. . .” She was usually smoother than this, fuck. Toni was great at talking to people – didn’t like it much, but she was good at it. But this was different. So very different from business parties. “It’s always better to know the full story about anything. To help get some inner peace.” There was a bit of Bruce in her speech, but she’d blame that on missing him.
Wanda looked down at the papers, moving backwards into her room but keeping the door opened. Toni hesitated for a moment before following, shutting the door behind her. She choose to stand while Wanda sat at her desk, flipping through the papers.
“These are real?”
“Yes. Stane kept every copy of his ‘business transactions’ in files at one of his homes. He had many I didn’t know about so it took us longer to find them. He had no computer trail because-“
“You would have found it sooner.” Her voice was soft as she looked through the papers. Thin fingers moved them gracefully and Toni winced when they formed a fist.
“This says that The Ten Rings sold them to the HYDRA branch that was working out of my county.” Taking a deep breath, Toni moved forward. Laying a hand on the back of Wanda’s chair, she flipping a few pages.
“Stane made sure he knew where all the weapons he sold went. He wanted to track who were top buyers. The Ten Rings sold to HYDRA who then, though their members in the Sokovia Government. . .”
“Bombed my neighborhood.” Toni winced again at the lost tone in her voice. It was easy to forget, sometimes, just how young Wanda was. Just in her early twenties and with a childhood filled with war and death. And to find this out. . .
“I’m sorry, Wanda. The bomb was SI, but I should have kept a closer eye on Stane and my company in general.” White paper slipped through Wanda’s fingers as she gave a sniff. Her dark head turned, tears in her eyes.
“I volunteered for the group that bombed and killed my parents.”
Toni’s heart squeezed and she suddenly found herself with an armful of a crying Wanda. Dark hair floated up with red mist around and while it made Toni nervous, she felt nothing. Instead, she wrapped her arms around the young woman and rubbed her back.
“And I made the bomb that did it. I’m so sorry.”
There were a few sniffs before Wanda peeked back up.
“Natasha. . . she’s been talking to be about it.” There was a quiver to her voice. “There is a difference between those who make the gun and those who fire it. I am getting that now.” Wanda pulled back slightly, but still kept her hands lingering on Toni’s waist. “Those who fired it, they are-“
“Dead,” Toni mumbled. “They were killed when Natasha let lose HYDRA’s data dump.” Which she thanked every God she didn’t even believe in that they called her. JARVIS and she had just barely enough time to keep the real SHIELD agents from getting burned and caught in the crossfire.
There was a slump in Wanda’s shoulders and Toni gripped them when she fell forward again.
“And so is Stane and The Ten Rings.”
“Yes. Did them in myself.”
There was a slight laugh from Wanda. “You avenged my parents before you knew about them.”
“I wanted to avenge everyone who was killed or injured by SI weapons that were sold by Stane.” Toni bent down, on her knees while looking up at Wanda. She was still in her chair, her make-up a little running from her crying. “I just want you to know, Wanda – I only sold to the US. And while the US would sell those ones, they sold them mostly to Japan and South Korea and they were ones for self-defense.”
“Your county’s allies.”
Toni offered a brief smile.
“Yes. And when I found out what was happening, the moment I came back I shut down the weapons department. I stopped making weapons. I went out and destroyed every SI weapon out there.” Using the sleeve of her – Steve’s – sweater, she wiped away some of Wanda’s tears. “And while I didn’t sell it, I still made it. I’m so fucking sor-“ Her voice may have broken a little.
A forehead was pressed against her hers and she leaned into it. It was strange – Steve and Rhodey were usually the only ones she’d let this close to her; but here she was, letting Wanda move into her space. Maybe because Wanda needed it.
Maybe because Toni needed it too.
“I know.” Wanda mumbled, hands moving up to wrap around Toni’s shoulder. “I can feel it so strongly off of you. I’m almost drowning in it. You. . . thank you. For sharing this with me.” Toni wrapped her arms around Wanda’s waist and buried her nose in the younger woman’s neck.
“I hope it brings you some peace knowing those responsible are dead.”
“It does. And I am sorry too, for messing with your mind.” Blinking, Toni pulled back with her brows furrowed.
“When? I don’t remember you getting to me in-“
“In the base. When you grabbed. . .” Wanda’s eyes widened a little bit. “I gave you that vision. I pushed into your mind to take the stone. I-“ Wanda cut herself off, curing in on herself. “I regret doing that, I honestly do, Toni.”
Wanda had given her that vision. Wanda had let her take-
Taking a deep breath, she rubbed her hands up and down and Wanda’s arms. Everyone had blamed her for Ultron – Thor had nearly lifted her up by her neck and Steve had almost thrown his shield at her. The Avengers had nearly broken apart because of that. And while they had talked through it, she could still feel the heavy gazes on her.
“I will tell the others. If you do not know that I did that, they don’t either.” Wanda paused, arms moving to hug herself. “It is only right that I do. Ultron was. . . partly my fault.” Taking a shaking breath, Toni let herself sit back onto her feet.
“I still built him, Wanda.” She said softly.
“But I still-“
“I forgive you.” It hurt, god it hurt so much. Toni had thought she was completely to blame and yet. . . “I forgive you, Wanda. You know better now, right? You’ll be better in the future?”
The nod she got was almost childlike.
“Clint has almost been talking to me about ‘mind consent’. I can’t just enter someone’s mind or push my own thoughts and feelings into them. He had told me about Loki.” Toni flinched. Clint was still having a hard time about Loki, even all these years later. She was glad she had found him the best therapist to help him through it. “I cannot stop the vibes I get, but I don’t push them. While I have control over much of my powers, that I don’t have the best control in. It can get hard sometimes.”
Toni smiled.
“If you want, I know someone.” Wanda looked up, slight confusion on her face. “He teaches a school of young gifted people. He’s a good friend and I think he could help you with that.” Wanda smiled brightly.
“Who is he?”
“His name is Charles Xavier. He’s a mutant and a very powerful telepath. He’s been teaching for a very long time and I know he’d love to work with you.” Wanda played with the rings on her fingers.
“Would I go live with him? Would I still be an Avenger?”
“You’d go to him a few times a week, one of us can go if that would make you more comfortable. And yes, you’d still be one of us.” Charles had actually already reached out to her, sensing something about Wanda. The Avengers themselves didn’t know much about Wanda’s powers or how to help her with the parts she couldn’t control or handle.
Charles would be the perfect fit to help her.
“I think that would be nice. I would like to not accidently do something.” Toni gave her a grin, standing up.
“I’ll call him as soon as I can. His school is only about an hour away from the Compound – less if we take the jet.” Stretching, she heard another bone pop. “Ugh, I’m getting too old to sit like that.” Wanda giggled and Toni smiled at being able to bring that out of her. “You going to be okay?” Wanda took a moment to think before smiling a little.
“I think so. I am. . . not as angry, anymore. I feel peaceful? Thank you telling me the truth.”
“You deserve to know, Wanda.” Toni squeezed her shoulder. “Already, I’m out of ‘share feelings time’. I can only take so much before I want to crawl under my bed and hide from it.” Wanda stood up herself, playing with the hem of her shirt. “How about some food? I know the best pizza spot in New York. And for Toni Stark, they actually deliver.”
“I’ve never had American pizza before.” Toni let out a gasp, hand going to cover the arc reactor.
“That’s a crime and we need to fix it. Friday, place an order for the team’s usual and what Wanda wants. Come one, Wanda. We’re going to pick out a movie and have a fun little movie night.” Wanda said her order to Friday and followed Toni out into the hallway.
Where Toni nearly ran into a solid chest of super solider. He didn’t even look sorry for basically eavesdropping.
None of the team did, in fact.
( She tried to ignore the slight guilty looks on their faces that told her they heard most of the talk. That only meant they would each come to her later and she’d have more ‘talks’ and ugh. )
Natasha and Client stood of to the side, Nat with her usual poker and Clint with a grin but worried expression. Sam looked thoughtful but proud. Rhodey nodded at her, a warm smile on his face. Vision himself looked thoughtful, but Steve.
Steve grinned down at them, placing a hand on one of the shoulders each. “We gonna be okay?” He spoke softly and Toni melted into him, letting him wrap his arm around her shoulder. She looked at Wanda; the younger woman’s answer was something Toni needed to hear.
Wanda smiled brightly, teeth showing and all.
“Yes. I believe everything will be okay.”