Marvel AU fic: We'll Avenge Her, PG

[shinodabear]

Title: We'll Avenge Her
Summary: In the aftermath of the Wall Street Revolution, Captain America and Iron Man are born.
Characters/Pairings: Steve Rogers/Captain America, Tony Stark/Iron Man; gen
Rating/Warnings: PG; alternate universe, contemporary American politics, politics in general, some mild language.
Universe: AU: Dystopia; drawing on bits of canon here and there, mostly film'verse
Beta: None.
Word Count: ~2100
A/N: Written for the "AU:Dystopia" space on my cap_ironman bingo card & Thanks to daphnie_1 being a voice of reason and a sounding board.



Somewhere in between fighting a war (with five deployments, and a stellar record) and trying to get a degree, Captain Steven Rogers took the reins of a grassroots movement and started a war.

Before long, there was a tent community pitched in every major city in the country and with it came signs, protests, and demonstrations. Rogers had originally stuck to home ground; unfortunately, home ground was the center of the movement: Wall Street. He made a name for himself among the crowd, the people, the news, and the police. He was never arrested. He never did anything illegal – but he never quite kept his head down, either. He ran his mouth and made people talk.

They started calling him Nomad because he had a habit of jumping from camp to camp to spread the word about the 99% and the bullies on Wall Street. He spoke about things like fairness, and the voice of the people. He used keywords like liberty, change, and future. And just like that, the movement had a new face. And, just like that, a new nation was born.

It didn't happen overnight – rarely anything does – but it happened so fast that no one was prepared. An entire portion of the population was forced into poverty (and hiding) thanks to some crafty self-styled Robin Hoods, and the rights of the Corporation were destroyed. With the so-called cream skimmed off the top, it was the dawn of a new era. The old wealth was redistributed, not to another 1% as opponents to the movement had predicted, but actually shared across the re-formed Union. The money was in the hands of the Commonwealths, came the announcement, and it was shared among registered citizens. No one went hungry or cold or without medicine. It was the World of Tomorrow. And they all thought it good.

They were wrong.

The new theory was: George Washington warned everyone not to get involved with foreign affairs. If America stuck to her own business, then America would be okay. And, sure, that was pretty sound advice for three hundred years ago but in today's global economy that decision to break ties was disastrous. Did the country's citizens get their jobs back? Yes. The manufacturing industry boomed and Detroit found its Second Renaissance. Absolutely no one was out of work, save those who were sick, injured, or otherwise unable. But there was a bigger picture. You couldn't have any sort of successful society without a bit of staggering; where was the push-pull inspirations? Where was the competition driving innovation? Where was Tony Stark?

Okay so fine, maybe there was something important about the global economy and relations and how all humans should stand together and America was becoming the next North Korea without the dictator, but really JARVIS was trying to be concerned and Tony wasn't paying attention. The point was that no one was paying any attention to him. He hadn't been on the cover of any magazine since a rumored sighting in a gossip rag six months ago. And because no one was paying attention to him, he couldn't do really cool things and because he wasn't doing really cool things, the world was forgetting Tony Stark. The world should never be allowed to forget Tony Stark.

But Tony Stark had to lie low. Happy Land of the Free it was, Tony was still a public enemy of the Union. He'd let the Robin Hoods seize half his estate. (Although, for the record, there was no way in hell they were ever going to be able to break through his firewalls. But as Pepper suggested, it'd get them off his tail and he had more money than he knew what to do with anyway) and sent Pepper away to be safe with Rhodey in the former capital. He'd tried to get Happy to go with her, but he refused. He even refused to take a cut of the remaining funds. Last Tony heard, he'd taken to making independent films, a bit of a passion of his that he'd never had time for before.

Left on his own, Tony kept under the radar. He didn't get out much, but he didn't need to. He still had a work room. Still had JARVIS. Still had his super secret pet projects. See, New York wasn't exactly the safest commonwealth in the Union, especially for a guy like Tony Stark. Especially for a guy like Tony Stark who was publicly known to have a unique heart condition that could kill him. When he went out– for supplies mostly, the typical food, water, toilet paper run - he did so in the filthiest rags he could find, with his hoodie up and head low. Tony wasn't one to push his luck anymore. He'd seen what they'd done to Obadiah and the rest of his board (Wasn't Karma a bitch?). No, when Tony went out, he went prepared.

Some people build nuclear bunkers in the face of the coming apocalypse. Tony Stark built a gold-titanium alloy super suit that was powered by his personal arc reactor. Yeah, he could fly; it was awesome. He could also defend himself and carry his armor with him in a convenient carrying case for on-call protection. (Yeah; he was awesome.)

Maybe, just maybe, Tony had done some shit in the past to warrant such a public opinion. Tony probably had a lot to make up for from his past, but he kinda thought three months in a cave in Afghanistan redeemed him a little. He'd changed. (A little.) So why wouldn't they give him the benefit of the doubt? Surely someone would've given him a chance?

Tony shouldn't have been so surprised that he would get his chance; he shouldn't have been so surprised that it was Captain Rogers who gave it to him.

It was Captain Rogers who led the team that rescued him and took out the Ten Rings – against orders, even. If there was anyone who already gave Tony a second chance, it was him. (Who do you think kept the kid from getting arrested?) They were going to meet again one way or another. Tony just wasn't sure what this meeting was for. So he asked, "What do you want?"

To be fair, he said it rather politely, even inviting the good Captain inside.

"You're not here to kill me, are you?" Tony continued once Rogers was inside. "Because if you are, that's very rude. You have better manners than that. You have send me an invite for a duel or something. That's how gentlemen do it. Or they used to, back when there were such things as gentlemen. What with the fabulous redistribution of wealth and all now, what do I call you? Comrade? Comrade seems like a thing. We're all equals under Big Brother, or something. What are we calling our fearless leader this time? Do we even have a leader? That seems kinda weird, with the whole creation of a self-reliant superclass and all."

Rogers didn't even blink at the opulence of the penthouse, such a contrast to the cookie cutter mediocrity that the country had flattened itself into. "This is not a communist state."

"No, it's an anarchy. Which is just an excuse to call it something because they don't have the first clue about what to do."

"That's why I'm here," Captain Rogers said, and then he explained. He told Tony, in the voice that had roused hundreds out of the tents, that America had lost her way. She'd lost her way a long time ago and it was time to set things straight. This wasn't about politics or the past. This wasn't about red or blue, or rich or poor. This was about humanity, fairness, and the American Dream. "You know why I signed up for Afghanistan?" he asked.

"Because you were a poor kid from Brooklyn who needed money for art school?" Rogers winced at that. Even Tony winced at that. But that was the truth that he heard.

Rogers saw it fit to correct him. "Because I hated bullies. I couldn't stand the way those terrorists had us wrapped around their finger, shaking in fear. We had nothing to fear. We were united. They couldn't hurt our spirits. We were resolved, but, after the Towers fell, nothing was the same. I saw this country change in ways I never thought it would, but I stuck it through. But it started hating itself, attacking itself, and I just wouldn't stand for that. This wasn't what anyone wanted, not my father, not his father, not the Founding Fathers. I thought I could make a change, I thought we were changing things, but that all fell apart. This wasn't what I wanted. It hasn't been for a long time."

"You let it happen," Tony pointed out. Because there hadn't been a word out of Nomad in a long while. It was as if he, too, had gone into hiding.

That wasn't the best thing to say. Rogers tensed. "Everything got carried away! I did what I thought was right! That's more than you've ever done. Stop being selfish and start thinking about something over than yourself."

Tony had heard the kid speak in public, but it was different when one heard him in person, and was on the receiving end. Tony couldn't help but get a bit defensive. "You want me to start waving a flag and talking people into buying whatever replaced bonds? I'm sure any Commonwealth in the Union would be thrilled to see me!"

"Stop joking around." Rogers's voice shut Tony up rather quickly.

"Why the turn around? This was your doing." Nomad was the face of the movement. He was still considered a national hero.

"I told you," Rogers spoke evenly, "This wasn't what I wanted. Just because they put my face on posters doesn't mean I sanctioned their actions and their results."

"People are happy," Tony said.

"But this isn't the United States of America. This isn't my country anymore."

"Not since the name change, no. But, you know, new nation and all." Tony laughed, but this was no laughing matter to Rogers. He so damn sincere, Tony was beginning to buy it. There were two things that convinced him. One, he owed Captain Rogers. Two, things couldn't get any worse.

"Right. There's only one problem. We're only two people."

Rogers raised his eyebrow. He had one hell of a stare. "Are you or are you not Anthony Stark?"

The way Rogers said his name, it was like it almost meant something again. "Right," Tony said. "Where do I sign up, soldier?"





Tony was flying over what was left of a nuclear submarine yard, scouting for materials for, oh yeah, inventing a new element, when his train of thought was interrupted. "Iron Man, can you read me?"

"Loud an' clear, kid," he responded. Steve told him to please refer to him by his codename over the radio in case any unfriendlies were picking up their signal. (Tony'd tried explaining that it wasn't actually made of iron but Steve didn't think Gold-Titanium Alloy Man sounded cool. He's also tried explaining that there was no way any unfriendly could touch the encrypted channel but Steve was old-fashioned and not-so secretly liked that military talk.) "Fine, then. Loud an' clear, Captain America."

"It's –"

"Nope. You get a new one. You're not their hero anymore."

He couldn't actually see Steve but he knew that he was smiling. "Maybe I should call you Iron Patriot, after all."

"Uh uh. Sends the wrong image I'm afraid. Can't be the sarcastic antihero with a name like that." He climbed higher to avoid being sighted. "I'm headed back to Manhattan. Submarines were a bust."

"I'm giving you a detour to your usual path. You are cleared to engage in Operation Avengers Initiative."

(Translation: JARVIS located a promising candidate for their merry band of men; after a few weeks, Steve insisted they have a team. Tony said that he didn't play well with others, but Steve gave him that kicked puppy look so he relented. "Just as long as we're not the 'Howling Commandos.' That is such a stupid name." Steve didn't care for that comment too much as his Howling Commandos "saved your sorry ass in that cave a few years ago.")

"Roger that, Cap."

"Sending you encrypted coordinates. Friendly codename Black Widow. No known tangoes in the area."

"Widow, huh? So we've got a woman coming to the bachelor pad. Permission to woo?"

"Denied."

"You ruin all my fun."

"I'm your commanding officer. Get used to it."