(MCU) Arcs Collide: Chapter 15 – New Information?

Chapter 15 – New Information?

There were a few moments of silence before the three people standing screamed at once, “COULSON?!”

Tony had to hold back his laughter at their faces. Carol and Rhodey showed no such restraint and were obviously taking great delight in the expressions the Rogues were making.

Quill was the first to verbally react, saying, “That’s the legendary Captain America? Glad I was never a fan.”

Carol nodded in agreement and commented absentmindedly, “Tell me about it. The guy is just an asshole.”

Back on the screen, Clint was the first to recover, screaming in confused anger, “WHAT THE HELL? LOKI KILLED YOU!”

Barnes spoke for the first time, his tone carefully emotionless, though Tony thought he heard a hint of impression too. “Hydra was sure you were dead.”

Phil gave his best bland smile and replied, “We went to great lengths to make sure the rumors of my death stuck.”

“We?” Barnes seemed unable to not ask that.

Phil gave a small nod before saying, “Indeed. Nick, Maria, and Tony worked quite hard for it.”

Romanova’s eyebrows flew to her hairline, and Tony wanted to roll on the floor in satisfaction at seeing the master spy losing her composure like this. She took a moment to collect herself before asking wryly, “Stark was part of it? He knew all this time?”

Phil smirked at the redhead, but before he could say anything, Rogers let out a heavy sigh and said in what Tony calls the ‘Captain America disappointed in you’ voice, “Coulson, I understand you tried to make the right decision, but you should have told Nat and me. And again, Tony hides secrets from the team. He really should know better.”

Any resemblance to a smile or carefree expression disappeared from Phil’s face, replaced by a glare and a scowl directed at the former American idol. “You are one to speak about secrets in a team, especially considering the one you kept from him. Or for that matter, tell me, Mr. Rogers, what does your team think happened in Siberia?”

Barnes’s head dropped back down as if someone had just hit him with a brick. Wilson frowned in confusion. Romanova seemed to frown in worry. Both Barton and Maximoff began to grow angry.

Rogers paled for a moment but was quick to latch onto the part of the accusation that allowed him to move the conversation away from the frozen desert. “Those are different situations. Tony kept critical information from the entire team. I kept that secret for his own good.”

Phil seemed to want Rogers to dig his own grave for this one. He raised an eyebrow and asked flatly, “How so?”

Rogers puffed himself up in self-righteousness. “I didn’t want to open old wounds. And I was worried Tony would blame the wrong party, which I was right about!”

Phil hummed for a moment before asking, “So you didn’t want to clear your friend’s name from such an ugly crime?”

Romanova seemed to notice the trap Phil laid for the dumbass and tried to catch his attention to stop him from falling into it. But unfortunately for her, he heard the name Bucky in his head, and everything else faded away.

Rogers’s eyes grew in delight, and he said proudly and with confidence, “That’s exactly what I did. I’m sure that soon enough the world will see their mistakes, and Bucky will become an Avenger himself.”

Phil allowed a small smirk to pass on his lips before he responded calmly, “Funny, your first thought went there. I was talking about Howard.” Rogers had the audacity to look shocked, but Phil wanted to drive the point as deep as possible. “You know the official story was that he killed both himself and his wife by driving drunk. Tony blamed him too, hated his father for killing not only himself but, more importantly, his mother. By keeping the secret, you not only aided Hydra but also solidified the slander on a man you claim as one of your dearest friends.”

Rogers froze in place. Maximoff and Clint looked slightly confused but overall not interested in his personal drama too much. Romanova stared at Rogers with narrow eyes as if willing him to shut up telepathically. Barnes kept his head down and didn’t dare even peek up. But Wilson looked like he had had enough.

Wilson turned to Rogers with a frown and asked, “What’s he talking about, Steve? And what does it have to do with what happened in Siberia?”

Rogers seemed to be thinking very hard about a way out of this that would leave him as the ultimate hero. Eventually, he turned to Romanova, looking for some angle to play, but before the widow could come up with a pretty lie, someone already spoke.

Phil wasn’t about to let Rogers worm his way out of this. With mock surprise, he said, “Mr. Rogers hasn’t told you?”

Wilson switched his gaze to Phil and answered wryly, “Steve told us Stark came as a friend at first, but then he betrayed them and tried to kill Bucky. They disabled his suit and left before he started chasing them again.”

Barton sneered and commented casually, “Typical Stark.” Maximoff nodded along.

Phil’s eyes narrowed, and he said dryly, “I see you learned to excel in utilizing half-truths, Mr. Rogers. Ms. Romanoff must be an excellent teacher on the subject.”

Tony noticed Romanova wince slightly at the jab from her old handler. Rogers immediately jumped in panic and said in a rush, “There’s really no reason to bring it up, Coulson. It’s a private matter I should discuss with Tony first.”

Phil’s lips stretched into the usual bland smile again as he responded, “There’s really no point to it, Mr. Rogers. After all, every person on the face of the planet already saw what happened in the bunker.”

Rogers grew pale at the very notion, but it was Romanova who reacted oddly. She had a small smile on her face and said softly, “You should know better than to try and trick us, Coulson. I’ve been watching the news, and there was nothing like that on.”

The tall blond immediately relaxed. But Phil’s smile turned into a smirk, and he responded in a mocking tone, “Oh, Ms. Romanoff, and you call yourself the greatest spy, but even now you can’t realize what was going on.”

Romanova wasn’t the only one to frown in confusion at the statement. Rogers was about to defend his mistress—oh, Tony meant teammate—but in that moment, the widow seemed to realize what Coulson was implying, and she actually gasped.

Tony couldn’t remember if she had ever done it before, but then again, if there was someone who could get under her skin, it would be Coulson.

All the Rogues (bar Barnes) turned to her with concern. Romanova was staring at Coulson with—was it worry or fear in her eyes?

“Nat? What’s going on?” Barton called softly. It was nice to see the man was still able to use a tone like that; Tony began to think all he had in him were growls, sneers, and shouts.

Romanova turned to her teammate, still with wide eyes, and said in an urgent tone, “Don’t you see what they did? They modified all the information that got to us so we wouldn’t get any real news of what was going on in the world.”

Barton looked shocked. Maximoff looked like she didn’t care much about that. Rogers looked worried. Barnes still kept his head bowed, not reacting to anything.

Wilson looked confused and voiced his internal question, “Why would they do that? We are their guests.”

Phil snorted at that, causing all of them to look back at him even more confused, until Romanova let out another heavy and depressed sigh. She sat down again and said quietly but with enough force so the rest could hear her, “No. We are prisoners.”

Phil chuckled and commented dryly, “Finally returned to reality, I see, Ms. Romanoff.”

Rogers shook himself out of the stammer he was in and asked, “What do you mean, prisoners?”

Phil simply shrugged. “We were aware of your location from the first moment you landed in Wakanda. But after Tony was done dealing with Ross, another solution to replace the RAFT was needed. King T’Challa was generous enough to make sure you are out of trouble until the time comes and are within easy reach once the solution is ready.”

Rogers seemed to freeze once he realized the “betrayal” of the Wakandans.

But Maximoff raised both her hands, and scarlet began to dance around her fingers. She gave a menacing smile and said, “Well, if you are here to take us to this new solution, you are going to be disappointed.”

With that, she sent a wave of scarlet magic straight toward Phil, who just remained in his place.

Wilson started yelling, “Wanda, he didn’t even say that’s why he’s here.”

Romanova nodded in agreement and added, “Coulson was always a Captain America super fan; he’s probably here to help us.”

Maximoff shrugged without any care and simply said, “Another minute and I will release him after changing his memories a little so he won’t remember it.”

Oddly, this was enough to satisfy Rogers, Romanova, and Barton. Bastards.

Wilson and Barnes were glaring at the witch, but before they could say anything, Phil’s voice called, “That won’t be necessary, Ms. Maximoff.”

Maximoff turned to Phil in complete shock, and all she managed to stutter was, “How…”

Phil smirked and said, “There were a lot of changes while you were here. One of them is my promotion to the Director of the new SHIELD, which comes with friends in high places. One of them is a far more experienced sorcerer who made sure none of your tricks would work on me.”

Maximoff clenched her fists, and her eyes narrowed.

Barton and Romanova, for some reason, looked relieved with the news of Coulson’s promotion.

Rogers had this look on his face that usually went with the ‘Captain America is disappointed in you’ voice.

Barnes looked at the man with great interest.

Phil then took a seat and said calmly, “I am here with an offer. If you sit down, I will catch you up so you each can make your decision.”

When all of them took their seats again and the Rogues were sitting in a line across from Phil, there was silence for a short time until Barton broke it with a rude comment, “So Stark finally decided to grace us with a deal. Took him long enough.”

Phil glared at the man and said with a small amount of venom in his voice, “Tony barely got out of Siberia alive. He spent the next few weeks in physical therapy to deal with the results of the fight, not to mention the million other important matters he has to deal with. Unlike what you think, his world doesn’t revolve around a group of people who stabbed him in the back.”

Barton was about to retort, but Wilson was first, and he asked worriedly, “What do you mean, almost didn’t make it out of Siberia? And what was it about physical therapy?”

Rogers glared at Phil and said firmly, “There’s no need to exaggerate, Coulson. Tony was fine.”

Phil looked at him blankly for a moment before he said just as firmly back to Rogers, “First, now that you’re aware of the change, you may address me by my title, which is Director Coulson, Mr. Rogers.” Rogers wasn’t pleased with it and was about to open his mouth again, but before he could, Phil tapped the screen of his tablet a few times while saying, “But you are right. It is a good place to start.”

With that, six holographic screens appeared, one in front of each member of the Rogues. Each of them divided in two, and a moment later the same video that was broadcast in the news was shown to all of them.

Barnes immediately looked away.

Romanova kept her blank expression. Same with Barton.

Maximoff was actually smiling.

Wilson was getting paler by the moment and wincing every now and then.

Finally, Rogers, instead of looking at the video, looked around at the reactions of his teammates. He frowned when he looked at Barnes.

When the video was over, there was another long moment of silence before Wilson asked Phil, “How did he get out of there?”

Phil sighed and leaned back in his chair while explaining, “Fury called a backup for Tony’s team. But that old friend took time to answer, and by the time she got there, it was too late. She found Tony in critical condition and managed to get him to medical attention in record speed. Of course, once he was checked over, it was decided he wouldn’t survive longer than a week with his injuries, so an experimental surgery was performed to save his life.”

Maximoff seemed to giggle behind her hand, even though her eyes showed disappointment that the man survived.

Barton did frown a bit, but Tony wasn’t sure why exactly.

Romanova was looking at Coulson with an emotionless mask on her face.

Wilson was pale and was glancing at Rogers with a new look in his eyes.

Barnes was shaking with tears streaming down his face when he heard the news about Tony’s state.

Rogers just shook his head and said with a hard tone, “Coulson, please stop with those lies.”

Wilson glared at Rogers and exclaimed, “Steve, after seeing this video, you can’t possibly think this is a lie…”

Phil raised his hand and said calmly, “Please, Mr. Wilson, I am not here to argue with a delusional man. And Mr. Rogers, I already corrected you on the way to address me.”

Rogers glared at Phil and said, “I will address you by your title when you do the same.”

Phil did something rare, something Tony had never seen before and hoped he would never see aimed at him. The Director gave Rogers a sadistic smile and simply said, “I have done it so far, Mr. Rogers.”

Rogers’s glare grew harsher, and he held himself from shouting, “It’s Captain.”

The sadistic smile grew, and Phil replied, “Not anymore. Actually, you never were.”

Rogers’s face went red as a tomato. Was it rage, embarrassment, or both? Tony had no idea. But Phil had no mercy for him as he went on to say, “Your title was a fake one given to you during your ‘dancing monkey’ days. Actually, official files show that when asked if you should receive the official title, General Philips and the Howling Commandos advised against it. But be it all as it may, you, along with Mr. Wilson and Mr. Barnes, have been dishonorably discharged. So even if the title was in any way official, it wouldn’t matter anymore.”

Rogers had steam coming out of his ears, and he said through gritted teeth, “Tony went too far with all of this!”

Phil glared back at the muscular blond and dropped the final bomb. “Actually, Tony had no idea it was happening until it was announced. It was the President’s order.”

Romanova narrowed her eyes but spoke calmly, “You expect us to believe this, Coulson? The President is a Captain America fanboy.”

Once again, Phil smirked and tapped the screen of the tablet a few times to show them the President’s press conference on his stand against the Rogues and the former Captain in particular. As they all watched, he said, “You will see this is one of the things that changed. Actually, both the President and his entire administration opposed very strongly the offer I have for you. They want you in a cell. But alas, the current situation calls for difficult compromises.”

Romanova looked lost and worried. Of course, Tony could understand her. She was losing powerful allies she was counting on every passing moment. First, it was Wakanda, then Phil, then he name-dropped Nick on his side, and now the President. The bad news for Tony was that now she would realize he was her best option, and she would annoy the hell out of him, either to entice him back to their side or to try to jump ship again.