Chapter Text
Betrayal was a feeling Tony was used to, had felt it when his parents died and left him alone. Had felt it when his second father figure tried to kill him, as he literally ripped his heart out.
But nothing had felt this painful, nothing had prepared him for Steve. Steve had known for gods knows how long who had killed his parents. But instead of telling him, he had left him with a shield in his arc reactor in Siberia.
Now here he was, slowly dying as his vision blurred. His fingertips slowly went numb from the cold, breathing became harder. Without the arc reactor, he had no power to move the suit.
He wanted to laugh at this, he had survived invasions, his uncle, Loki and fall from the fucking sky. He thought Ultron was his biggest mistake, but now he knows that trusting Steve was the biggest mistake he could have ever made.
Suddenly his breathing became normal, yeah even easier than before. He could feel his fingers again as they twitched over the soft fabric.
"FRIDAY" Tony called out in hope that he somehow survived, but nothing.
"FRIDAY" Tony shouted again.
"Sir, if you give more specifications I could help you search" Tony's heartbeat stopped for a second, this voice. The voice that had followed him almost his entire life, his most trusted companion.
"Jarvis?" Tony whispered, too scared that his hope would shatter.
"Yes Sir, is something the matter?" Jarvis asked concerned. Only now did Tony allow himself to open his eyes, looking up he was in his old room in Malibu.
"Jarvis, give me a full status report with everything about me" Tony said as he sat up.
"You are currently 35 years old, you are living in Malibu, Stark Industries stocks are record high ever since your appearance as Iron Man. It's about a month since your victory over Ivan Vanko, would you like to know more sir?" Jarvis asked.
"What date is it?" Tony asked to confirm his suspicion.
"It's the 25 June 2011" Jarvis said and Tony could feel how slowly tears started to roll down on his face.
"Sir are you alright?" Jarvis asked concerned now.
"I'm fine, no, I'm even better than fine Jarvis. Please cancel all my meetings for the two weeks and let Pepper know that I will contact her in a week and that she doesn't have to worry." Tony instructed as he let himself fall back on the bed, as Jarvis just hummed in conformation that the tasks were done.
Tony couldn't believe it, how on earth did he travel back in time. He know that it wasn't possible with his tech, so that let only one other option open. God, no, he didn't mean Jesus, it has to be some kind of time god or whatever other miracle existed that brought him back.
He didn't really care as long as it didn't bother him with strange tasks, no, he was grateful for the second chance he had gotten. If he remembered correctly, and he always did, then he had still a year and a half until the invasion.
That also meant he was still far from getting to know the rest of the team, something he was grateful for. Because for once he had time to think, not about enemies that would destroy their planet or about new tech to upgrade his battle power, no, he had time to think about his past and came clean with it.
He will reevaluate every interaction he had with the Avengers and see who could be trusted. Based on their fight during the Sokovia Accords, he couldn't trust many of them. Steve and Clint had been against him in the fight and Natasha had joined them in the end.
Steve's betrayal was without a doubt but was with Natasha and Clint. These two had their own reasons for the fight, but did they betray him? He will have to go through his memories and see to it.
The only person he had met in this life was Natasha as she had spied on him for Fury---
Ah, Fury. He wasn't so sure about the man anymore. The spy on the highest position of S.H.I.E.L.D. was by no means innocent. Fury was manipulative and good at keeping gifted people around him. He would guilt trap them or blackmail others.
In the past, he has seen past these things, since he had known that it was for the greater good. But who decided what would be right and what not? Steve also thought with conviction that he was doing the right thing as he slammed his shield down on him, killing him.
Well, for now, he will give himself two days to come to terms with this whole time travel thing before starting something rushed.
"Sir, miss Potts is calling" Jarvis informed. It had been a productive week for Tony, he had come to terms that he had died, that he had a second chance and that future would be difficult. Not that coming to terms with his death meant that he didn't have nightmares.
"Let her through" Tony said as he stopped working on the upgrades for his new suit. The Nano suit was a new form of technology that will get him a massive headstart.
"Tony is everything all right? You shut yourself in for an entire week." Pepper asked in worry.
"Physically everything is fine, I just needed time to think things over" Tony said as he heard a relieved sigh on the other end.
"Good, that's good. Jarvis and I have cleared everything for the next week." Pepper informed.
"Thanks, I will be back in a week and talk with you personally. Thanks for everything" Tony repeated again before he ended the call.
It had taken him again two more days to go through all his important interactions with the Avengers.
Natasha and Clint were put on maybe trustworthy, their actions in the future would make it clearer.
Bruce and Thor were put down as trusted friends.
That left him with Steve, Wanda and Fury. He already know that Steve was dead to him, though that was already too much. He didn't want any lingering feelings for Steve at all. He just wants to forget him, delete him from his life and move on.
Wanda and Fury, on the other hand, these two made him feel uneasy on another level. Fury was a manipulative little shit, now that he had assessed all their talks. He didn't know where even start with Wanda, she had willingly joined Hydra. Had played with his mind.
If she hadn't played with his fears Ultron would have never happened. Of course, in the end, he was the one who build it and he also took responsibility for it. Yet Wanda was also responsible for, her choice and yet she didn't have to apologize. These were put negative with the reminder that his actions could change them.
The Winter Soldier aka James Buchanan Barnes. Tony had no clue what to do with that guy, he was the killer Hydra had sent to eliminate his parents.
Was he angry, mad, furies? YES, but the question was, are all these emotions directed at Barnes? And the answer was a simple no.
It was the same thing that Wanda did as she blamed him for her parents' death even though hadn't pulled the trigger. The weapon could have been from anyone else, but you don't blame the weapon, no, you blame the person that pulled the trigger and that was not Barnes.
Barnes was just the weapon for Hydra, if it wasn't for him they would send someone else. So, no, he wasn't angry at Barnes at all, he could probably say the opposite.
Barnes was someone that deserved all the pity Tony had left in himself. That man was tortured, his memories wiped, programmed and used for 70 years. Not only that, after he had finally woken up from his nightmare he had to flee. So yeah, he pitied the man.
That was also the reason why he had Jarvis search all over the S.H.I.E.L.D's database for any kind of information for the Winter Soldier. Because this man had not swayed under the torture in 70 years, had not given in to the enemy. He deserved rest, deserved his freedom back.
He had to build his nano suit until then because one thing was for sure. He will never go back to the time when he had to carry his suit around and needed at least a minute until he was combat-ready.
No, that won't do. His life was now even more important than before. With his knowledge of the invasion and the events that would take place around the world. He also wouldn't feel safe anymore.
Either way, it took him another three days before at least the repulsor for his right hand was ready that he hid in a bracelet. He needed more recourses for the rest, something that will be solved very quickly.
He used the remaining days of his two weeks off from work to create FRIDAY again because he missed his little baby girl and she would be very useful in the future.