oKA Y BUT WHO IS THE REAL CULPRIT. NOW I MUST KNOW.
ahah, you’ve cleverly hit on the reason that particular thing stayed a vague au post. but ill give it thought now (i dont know anything about this stuff wow)
you’d think it would be obadiah, right, but what if the person murdered was obadiah. the CFO of Stark Industries, murdered in cold blood. With his death countless records were recovered from private SI servers, money being moved to secret accounts, proprietary tech sold to less than savory characters for huge amounts of money. SI weaponry uncovered in enemy hands, paper trails leading back to the heart of SI.
Steve stays up late, going through countless paper files, tracing numbers and accounts. He calls Bucky every time something doesn’t add up, “we have this account number which corresponds to a dummy holding verified belonging to tony stark but it doesnt look right, Buck. Ask your guy,” all while he combs dutifully through everything, putting together his case.
Bucky groans and writes down another thing to ask Stark. Why’d you murder Obadiah Stane? No really. Stop lying no one buys it, Stark (I beg to differ, Buckaroo, I think everyone buys that) well everyone is stupid then aren’t they. (Look, the numbers all match up, dont they? 50mil deposited into my off-shore accounts coincidentally corresponding to Stark Industry repulsor missiles in Afghanistan? Coincidences don’t exist) the numbers add up except that the timing is off, why would you deliver the weapons and then get paid. That’s not how business deals work (clearly youre under the impression that i actually ran my own business. stane did, that’s why he’s dead, he got too close) I don’t believe you stark. Look, one way or another I’m getting you outta this, you can help or not. (… [the sound of white noise over a phone line]) Then I’ll do it myself.
stark looks … not bad, bucky doubts he ever really looks bad, but he looks tense, in prison orange. the da proposed that he was a flight risk, and with his money, resources and reputation the courts agreed. that’s fine, that just means he sees a woman exit the visiting center right before he means to go in. The sign-in sheet has an elegantly written Virginia Potts on the line. When Bucky brings her up, Stark lifts his chin like he’s getting ready to defend something, before he checks himself and makes a joke
Bucky starts looking a bit harder and Pepper Potts.
Virginia Patricia “Pepper” Potts is Tony’s PA, on paper. In bucky’s interviews with SI employees, everyone mostly agrees she was acting as CEO by the time Stane’s murder happened. bucky dances around getting an interview with potts, especially behind starks back, but eventually he catches her coming out of visiting with stark and decides, fuck it, he’s gonna do it.
she looks down at him, when he confronts her, asks for her time, and she’s every inch what bucky supposes a CEO would look like: cold, calculating. Then she glances back to were stark is still sitting, behind glass and hand cuffed to a table in front of a shitty phone, and her expression breaks into something else. not gentle or soft, it’s worried, angry, a little desperate. She hands bucky her card and invites him to lunch
stark is suspicious of him this visit. (you chatting up my girl?) bucky doesn’t prevaricate. “Pepper Potts murdered Obadiah Stane, didn’t she?”
Stark looks up sharply at that, tense. And then the rigid line of his shoulders break and he starts laughing. “Oh no, no, Pepper? Hah, I mean, yes she’s deadly in the boardroom and those shoes could probably stab clean through a person, but Pepper?”
Bucky’s not convinced. they go through the same questions again, and again.
Bucky calls Potts’ phone when he leaves Stark. She answers and they set up a date.
Pepper Potts is dressed in a white business suit jacket, in a flattering cut, and a high waisted but business-appropriate black skirt. her heels have to be five inches high. she welcomes bucky and his briefcase into the seat across from hers with a firm hand shake.
Pepper gave her statement to the police shortly after the murder was processed. it’s not that she changes her statement now, to bucky, but little things she says, emphasizes, catch at bucky’s mind.
“Tony’s real protective of his friends,” she says at one point, “He’d throw it all away to make sure they were safe,”
but that doesn’t help, bucky knows stark is taking the fall. presumably for potts herself, and what kind of woman lets her boss… or her beau? they’re relationship isn’t something bucky can define without prying more than he’s ready to… surely her friend, take the time for her? he needs evidence, but she’s clever, and surely wouldn’t incriminate herself.
“He’s generous too,” she says, “to everyone really, even to those who don’t deserve it,” she takes a sip of some fruity iced red drink before continuing, “but he doesn’t have many friends, you know?” bucky kind of figured. the whole nation, heck the world, is reporting on stark’s case. condemning him, celebrating his imprisonment, lamenting his character. But so far, only two names have been signed on his visitor sheet: James Barnes and Virginia Potts. Bucky wonders at it. Just months ago, everyone was proclaiming about Stark’s concept car: fully renewable energy, ran on something called an arc reactor. Now, people liked to say that stark rolled out the clean energy specs just to gain favor before his downfall.
“in fact, the friends he’s got i could count on my hand. and we didn’t get there because we’d just sit by and let him throw himself on the fire for us, mr barnes,” bucky is caught by her stern eyes. she looks fierce and protective and defiant, and bucky raises his hands.
“i never thought that, ma’am,”
“you did,” she says, but she settles back and starts looking contemplative instead, “but you know, it’s been too long since tony has had more than us in his court, so i think i can let that pass. Are we done, mr barnes?”
bucky’s recorded or written down everything he could. a rehashed statement that matches the police reports, some technical insight to the strings of numbers and accounts that only revealed what he knew already. he shrugs, “i guess so, thank you for your time,”
“no problem,” she gets up, “i hope you liked the food. you know, if you ever have time, you should visit monaco, there’s this nice restaurant. it’s one of tony’s favorites,” and then she leaves
bucky scrunches his nose (rich people are so weird. bucky could never afford to go to monaco) but maybe potts did give him a lead. starks generous, protects his friends, and apparently he’s got more close friends than he’d thought. maybe he’s protecting one of them.
he tries to broach the subject with stark the next time he visits. mentions having lunch with potts. Stark makes a joke, but it falls with flat humor. He turns sharp, and makes real sure bucky didn’t harass the lady any. bucky’s trying to get him to name his other friends when he mentions that potts suggested monaco, and well. stark’s face twitches and then shuts down.
bucky wonders when his life became a damn spy novel.
what’s in monaco? the grand prix? he researches online, finds the restaurant potts mentioned. it takes him a good three hours scouring google with such precise key terms like “tony stark monaco” “pepper potts tony stark monaco” “stark spottings monaco” and turning up hundreds of photos of stark in a snazzy racing suit before hitting on a blog article showing stark eating at the restaurant potts names. he’s there with stane, and two other men bucky doesnt know.
he wants to disregard it, but like stark said: coincidences aren’t real.
he has to work backwards. he’s got stark in a cell, protecting at least one of his friends, and–though he’s got no evidence bucky’s gut knows it’s true–taking the fall for a murder he didnt commit. he’s got pepper potts placing stark with obadiah six months before obadiahs death with two unknown faces, right after suggesting she approves of bucky being on stark’s side.
he talks to stark, and stark slowly becomes tony. he’s a funny guy, tony, and he gets real passionate about his work. he’s talking about clean energy and renovating the future, and every time his eyes get bright and he starts trying to gesture with his words his handcuffs pulls his arms short and he seems to realize all at once that, oh yeah, he’s in prison. it’s that, in addition to everything else, that really makes bucky sure that he’s innocent.
tony talks a lot, he can’t seem to help himself, and bucky finds himself looking up a james rhodes, airforce. the man is busy but somehow finds the time to talk to bucky over the phone. this time, bucky is ready for the james bond shtick and listens closely for any clues rhodes tries to give him
after the talk with rhodes, bucky realizes that, maybe, maybe tony is protecting himself, too. both potts and rhodes insist that they watch tony’s back, and wouldn’t let him confess to murder for them (not that they say so explicitly). so, who is tony protecting himself from?
rhodes tells a few anecdotes about his and tony lives. An acceptance speech in Los Vegas, a video conference from malibu to afghanistan, spring of 86. bucky resigns himself to late night googling again.
he comes across a newspaper article about tony starks weapons demonstration in afghanistan. he only takes note because the weapons demonstrated are the same as the ones seized, and currently evidence against tony. is this a clue too then?
but if it is, than what’s the clue? bucky is hanging out with steve. bucky’s talking about his spy-like research when natalie passes by. natalie over hears and butts in on the conversation, like she does. bucky is glad too, because she’s the one who recognizes one of the faces of the men tony was eating with at the monaco restaurant.
Andy Serkis
bucky isn’t a detective, he’s a lawyer, but he guesses he might’ve made a good one with all the sleuthing he’s doing. he finds out that andy serkis is an arms dealer. he’s frustrated because, this is just more evidence against tony. this doesn’t help at all.
he ends up talk to tony about it. (you need to stop thinking that i’m innocent, bucky, it’s really more trouble than it’s worth)
he wakes up in the middle of the night, stumbling to his laptop. that weapons demonstration in afghanistan. he finds the original article, he finds a couple more. tony stark demonstrates repulsor tech missiles… flamboyant and flashy just like he is. comes with a side of alcohol. he went missing for eight hours after the fact and came back with a pretty girl, because even when he was working he found time to play.
coincidentally (they dont exist) there were reports of terrorist activity during the same time period. the same terrorists that ended up with SI weaponry.
bucky is on to something he is… he’s up for almost two days straight before he stumbles into the prison visiting center
“you caught what stane was doing”
“what?”
“stane was messing with the books, stealing money, whatever. you found out. or pepper did,”
tony’s silence speaks loudly enough for bucky now
“stane found out you found out, and thought you were getting too close, he arranged for something to happen at the afghanistan demonstration last year didn’t he?” and tony winces. “but whatever it was you managed to wiggle your way out of it, of course you did youre tony stark,” (youve got to stop thinking im innocent he’d said. bucky doesnt know if he wants to know what happened, but he’s gotta find out)
“you made some kind of deal, you had to have, because suddenly you’re giving more power to your PA, and you’re having lunch with arms dealers.”
“pepper!” he hisses, and then winces again. bucky smirks
“and then stane ends up dead.”
“i had my eyes opened,” tony says, but Bucky can tell he’s scrambling, “i could do everything he was doing but better if he was out of the picture. so i made that happen,”
“you did not. the question is, who would kill stane, instead of you, if you were uncovering everything,”
tony’s jaw tightens
“maybe if it was just you who knew anything, maybe if you weren’t so smart you’d be dead now instead of stane. i wondered, who would have the power to set something like this up, and how did they expect it to work. you being in prison couldn’t have been their endgame. youre too smart to just fall in line like that. i wouldnt have put it together, but i found some photos you know”
bucky pulls out what he printed from his home computer: obadiah stane and senator stern eating dinner at a certain monacan restaurant.
“obadiah was a go between. the senator is getting a lot of poll approval lately because of his aggressive stance towards the war on terror. if that war goes away, stern’s entire platform starts to crumble.”
tony’s face is doing some interesting things, and most of them are speculative
“so stern has stane sell weapons to a terrorist group in an unstable region, creating just the climate stern needs if he wants to have a chance at running for president in the next election. when pepper stumbled across whatever she did to find out about stane and told you. you started making arrangements to dismantle stane’s hold on the company, which he caught onto. he decided you were the threat and planned to take you out with the terrorists he was dealing with,” another wince, what happened in those eight hours? “but you came back, and suddenly you were valuable, right? but you aren’t easy, stark, so of course you were planning on tearing it all down anyways. stern had to have known that, and he couldnt trust stane anymore after he failed to keep everything under wraps, so he became an acceptable loss. stane was murdered in your home, but pepper also frequents there, doesn’t she? so stern’s plan was to frame pepper for murder, and use her as collateral if you started making moves he didn’t like. but god, are you smart, or he was just stupid, because framing yourself? in prison you can’t be expected to hold up whatever deal stern wants you to, and locked away you’re hardly a threat to his plans. and no one outside of si know that pepper is just as competent running si as you are, and even if stern suspected pepper of being trouble to him, it’d start getting suspicious if SI ceos started dropping like flies. so, stalemate.”
tony’s silent for awhile, then rests his chin on one of his hands, “but this is all circumstantial evidence, mr barnes, where is your proof beyond a doubt”
“Look, Tony, i’m not stupid and i’m not playing around. you’re not content to just sit behind bars while some asshole puts himself in position of ridiculous power for the wrong reasons, not while you can fix it,”
“i’m sorry, but do you even know me, barnes”
“I do, and youre the kind of man who gets giddy talking about clean energy for the world in fifteen years. objectively not the kind of guy to sit still while some asshole thinks he can fuck up the country”
“look” and tony leans in, face serious as bucky’s ever seen it, “this isn’t spy vs spy here, kid, i’ve got plans, there are plans, you don’t need to get dirty just because you think you’ve got a duty,”
“don’t belittle me, stark,” bucky leans in just as much, “if you think i’m going to let some sanctimonious prick try and declare himself president of the country i live in, when i can do something about, you’re not as smart as i gave you credit for. besides, i don’t mind getting dirty as long as there’s something nice to look at along the way,”
tony can’t help but laugh, before shrugging, “it’s your career, and possibly life, kid, I guess I can’t choose how you decide to waste it”
((somewhere, steve is banging his head on the desk because his BUCKY IS GETTING IN OVER HIS HEAD instincts are tingling))
It’s a long journey home. She takes the long road. She stops at every place she likes the most, and maybe it’s selfish, but she figures she’s allowed to do selfish for once. She would have brought Tony along, but he would’ve gotten suspicious. In his honor, she eats Gutostozzo’s pizza from 212, and visits some too crazy to be explained by science worlds. When she finally comes back, she puts on her best smile.
“You better hug me, Tony,” she declares appearing in the penthouse, “because I’m about to save your ass once more!”
The days following Tony's last surgery are insane. The amount of people walking in and out of ICU is ridiculous. America barely gets to see him a couple times after the initial five minutes. She manages to make it through the visitors line two more times, but mostly Tony is too tired or spend out from other visits to talk about much. As promised, she waits around. She buys sweatpants in the gift shop from the lobby (she can only be on scrubs for so long) and she installs herself in a corner of the waiting room, watching people come and go. Two days later, Tony is finally taken to a regular wing of the hospital, still to be kept under observation. By then, the superhero traffic seems to have slowed down considerably and she finally gets to spend more time in his room, leaving only to get actual good coffee or pick up pizzas from Gustozzo's. She knows Tony is right about this being far from the worst thing he's been through, but there's something about the very vivid memory of his blood splattering her face, of the other blood covering her body, her hands red up to her elbow... She's not ready to go home. This is better. "There's some SHIELD people out there that wanna talk to you," she announces as she walks in with their third pizza order. "They were just getting though the controls. Nurses wouldn't let them go through with all their guns." @peppermademeablog
America wakes up wrapped up around Tony Carbonell. For a blissful moment, she doesn't remember the day before. She lets her mind be filled by his smell and his warmth and his breathing. As the memory comes back, she cuddles tighter against him, her body sore but not nearly as bad as it had been the night before. She feels better, it's surprising how well she slept, all things considered. She has no doubt it's thanks to him. She smiles and closes her eyes, pressing her lips against his shoulder lightly. Maybe they can just stay here for good, hidden from the rest of the world. @peppermademeablog
