Won't Wave My White Flag

CHAPTER TWO:

Despite believing her— actually, more like because he believed her— Tony searched Antonia 'Tonia' Stark for anything that could possibly be used as a weapon while Vision checked over her shoulder, examining how bad the injury was. Despite how much blood was on her, the wound wasn't serious, he reported, which brought Tony to one unhappy conclusion.

After getting FRIDAY to ping Happy, he turned back to Tonia, who was sitting down on a chair Vision had fetched for her. She looked exhausted and hollowed out, like she'd already cried all the tears she had left. She'd pulled her knees up to her chest and was hugging them with her good arm.

"So," he said bluntly, not bothering with any sugar-coating, "the blood's not all yours."

Tonia didn't try to deny it, shaking her head as she looked up at him with dull eyes. "There was some resistance to my escape." She said in an emotionless voice.

"You know how to fight, then," he observed and her mouth twisted into a tired smile.

"Yeah, Aunt Peggy taught me. And then... then my partner taught me some more."

"Partner?" He asked, despite already having a good idea about the fate of the partner— if Tonia was anything like him, she'd die before leaving her loved ones behind in a hostile situation. Sure enough, Tonia's face crumpled.

"The rest of the blood." She whispered.

Tony winced.

"You have our sympathies, Ms Stark," Vision said with his careful gentleness. Tonia just nodded and bowed her head down again, resting it on her knees.

FRIDAY notified him when the car arrived— just twenty minutes, Happy must have been speeding. "Hey," he said, softening his voice. "Time to go."

Tonia lifted her head and blinked sluggishly at him. "Time to go," she echoed, seemingly to herself. Vision went ahead to clear a path for them, making sure none of the Smithsonian employees were lined up to gape at Tonia like she was on parade as he led her through to one of the back exits that led on to an employee's car park.

The windows of the car were tinted as he shepherded Tonia into it, waving Vision off to go ahead. She seemed much more awake and less dazed as the car started moving, looking around its interior with wide, fascinated eyes and then out the window, back at the Smithsonian.

"It looks so different," she breathed, true awe on her familiar face.

"Different?" He asked, curiously, and she nodded absently, still staring.

"There's no flag."

"No flag?" He repeated, and Tonia actually flinched, hunching into herself.

"Their flags are everywhere," she told him quietly. "They're smug, arrogant bastards who still want to rub it into our faces, even nearly seventy years later."

Tony did the math in his head and blanched at the implications, his stomach rapidly sinking somewhere down past his feet. "Fuck." He breathed. "Fuck. Please tell me it's not what I think it is."

"In 1947," Tonia said flatly, her hands clenching on her lap, "the United States of America and remaining Allied powers surrendered to the Axis powers, ending the Second World War."

"Fuck," Tony repeated, staring at Tonia with open horror.

"America was split between the Germans and Japanese," Tonia continued, her voice still flat, her eyes bleak. "The former Western United States are now known as the Japanese Pacific States and the former Eastern United States are the Greater Nazi Reich."

It was rare that Tony was lost for words, but this was one of those times. Staring at Tonia, his brain struggled to comprehend the sort of dystopian universe that Tonia had been born to.

"What about Italy?" He finally asked— the Italians had been an original part of the Tripartite Pact, the alliance that had formally taken the name 'Axis Powers'.

"The Nazis helped Italy conquer most of Africa," Tonia answered softly. "After the war, all the more fortunate African Americans in the Greater Nazi Reich were deported to Africa. The unlucky ones were sent to... camps. They didn't come back."

Tony had to close his eyes, feeling horribly nauseous. "What about Wakanda?" He asked hoarsely. "They're the most technologically advanced nation in our universe—" though, of course, Tony wasn't a nation; something which the ex-Avengers seemed to have forgotten and the Wakandan king was too arrogant to consider— "and they never participated in the Second World War." Or any of the conflicts afflicting their neighbours in the years prior and post World War II, be it invasions, famine, epidemics, civil wars, or poverty.

"Apparently the invading armies did get a shock," Tonia admitted, "but for all its advances, Wakanda was defenceless against atomic bombs."

"Fucking hell," Tony shuddered with horror— he may not like Wakanda, but nobody deserved that.

"Wakanda is uninhabitable now," Tonia continued quietly and Tony bowed his head for a minute.

"Japan and Germany, they're the super-powers, then?" he finally asked.

"They are," Tonia confirmed. "The Japanese Empire controls the entirety of the Pacific Ocean and most of the Asian continent, including China and India, as well as Australia, New Zealand, Alaska, all Pacific states of the USA, and the Yucatán Peninsula. The German Empire controls all of Europe, the Middle East, and the Eastern United States. The South American countries, Canada and the former USSR are split between the Japanese and German Empire."

"What a fucking nightmare," Tony muttered, shaking his head again in a sort of horrified disbelief.

"Welcome to my universe," Tonia said with a grim smile, before her attention was captured once more by their surroundings. There was a sort of innocent wonder in her damp eyes as she stared out the car window. "It's all so different," she breathed, her breath actually catching as they passed an idly fluttering flag hanging by the awnings of a burger shop. "Oh my god," she whispered, all choked up and actually reaching out towards it, her palm pressing against the window of the car. "I— I've never seen the United States of America flag outside of my hacking, or the American Resistance to the Nazi Reich."

Tony blanched. "They replaced our flag?" He demanded and Tonia nodded, still staring in broken disbelief and wonder, and all Tony could do was close his eyes and remind himself that the Allies had won the war, that they had won.

+

Tonia couldn't help but stare. So many American flags flying high and proud; she couldn't help but flinch at the sight of every flag, knowing that if anyone had dared display a U.S.A. flag in her universe they'd have been shot on the spot. She kept tensing up in preparation for violence, before reminding herself that this America, its people were free— it felt like she was in some sort of utopian fairy-tale. It was too unbelievable, far too good, too wondrous, to be true.

Her counterpart, Anthony Stark— or 'Tony', as he'd told her to call him— looked sick as he processed the reality of her universe in the seat beside her. She'd think he was an idiot for trusting her word so easily, but when she looked at him, there was just something present, some unspoken connection that felt as natural as breathing (she half expected their hearts to be beating the same rhythm, for each natural inhale, exhale to match). He was her, and she was him. It was an undeniable truth. If Tony Stark was an idiot for trusting her as much as he seemed to, she trusted him just as much so she must be an idiot too.

Still, he'd been cautious enough to strip her of anything that could be considered a weapon, including the 'string' she'd had wrapped around her wrist that was actually a length of vibranium so thin that it had been threaded through a piece of cotton and served as an emergency garotte or restraint.

Tony took her to a skyscraper building that had an incredibly futuristic design, nothing like the traditional style of architecture favoured by the Greater Nazi Reich, and The Vision, who had flown ahead, was waiting for them. As Tony escorted her inside, Tonia noted wryly that the reception was empty and she was directed straight to an elevator, with no chance to look around. She didn't really mind though, not when the elevator stopped at a floor that was clearly some kind of medical wing— she'd never complain, she'd been taught better, but the pain in her shoulder had been getting worse.

A beautiful Asian woman wearing an oriental-style sleek, high-collared white dress with her long dark hair piled up on top of her head in a twist was waiting for them there in the medical wing. "This," Tony introduced, giving the woman a warm smile, "is the brilliant Doctor Helen Cho, a world-renowned geneticist who's currently lending us her invaluable expertise in the squishy sciences."

"In return for very generous funding for my research projects," Doctor Cho clarified, but her voice was as warm as Tony's smile.

Doctor Cho clearly wasn't Japanese and Tonia felt resigned as she wondered just what the apparently brilliant woman's fate had been in her universe— as part of the Japanese Empire but not being Japanese herself, Tonia highly doubted Doctor Cho would have been allowed to get an education as a nurse, let alone any kind of doctorate.

"Helen," Tony continued, "this is Antonia, though she prefers to go by Tonia."

Doctor Cho's eyes immediately lit up with curiosity, and Tonia could see the sharp gleam of intelligence shining in them. She didn't doubt for a moment that Doctor Cho had a fair idea already of the link between her and Tony, through their uncannily similar appearances alone, but she didn't say anything about it or ask any questions, instead the doctor just stepped forward with a friendly smile that even appeared to be entirely genuine.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Tonia," she greeted her.

"And you, Doctor," Tonia forced a bright smile on her own face, even though she didn't feel it ('Starks are made of iron, and I am more than my father was; I am Tonia fucking Stark, I am unbreakable, I will never bow and no one can make me').

Doctor Cho had her sit down on one of the medical cots and performed a swift yet thorough examination of her shoulder. Tonia then got to experience what seemed like it had to be magic, even as her mind raced ahead at the sheer unfolding possibilities— Doctor Cho had created a device she called 'the Cradle' which rebuilt damaged skin, actually creating new tissue which resulted in flawless, undamaged skin where at least a scar should have remained.

"That's brilliant, Doctor Cho," Tonia told her, genuinely amazed, and the Asian woman smiled proudly.

"Thank you. And please, call me Helen."

"While we're here, Helen, we need to run a DNA test," Tony spoke up suddenly, reminding Tonia of his presence.

"Yes, I had a feeling you would," Helen agreed with a wry amusement. "Which is why the submitted sample is already in the system. Results shouldn't take longer than a few more minutes."

"Have I recently mentioned just how brilliant you are?" Tony asked with a playful wink, and Tonia was amused by the flirtatious undercurrent in his voice.

"Flatterer," Helen laughed, a fond look on her face. "Are the results to the test confidential?" She then asked. "I can have Miss Friday bypass myself entirely and send them directly to one of your own devices."

"No, no, it doesn't matter if you know, you've signed enough NDAs at this point," Tony said dismissively.

Tonia was about to ask who 'Miss Friday' was when The Vision suddenly floated through the fucking wall, causing her to let out a short shriek of surprise.

"Viz!" Tony sighed, looking fondly exasperated, "what have we said about phasing through walls when there are guests around?"

"Ah, to at least have Friday give a warning?" The Vision said, sounding sheepish. "My apologies, Ms. Stark."

"Call me Tonia, and don't stress, it's all good," Tonia said, even though her heart was racing in her chest. Then she realised what The Vision had just revealed and jerked her head over to where Helen looked very unsurprised. No, the woman just looked intrigued, leaning forwards slightly in Tonia's direction from where she was sitting down in front of a futuristic computer screen.

"So, are you a clone, Tonia?" She asked eagerly, her eyes bright with curiosity.

"Ah, no, not in the traditional sense of the word," Tonia said hesitantly, glancing questioningly over at Tony, not sure how much she should be revealing.

"She's actually living proof of the multiverse theory," Tony answered and Helen looked even more fascinated.

"Really? You're from a different universe?" She asked, eyes bright. Tonia nodded and was saved from any questions the doctor might have when the computer let out a gentle ding and everybody's attention turned to the screen. "You're nearly a perfect match to Tony's DNA profile, other than the genetic markers indicating gender," Helen confirmed after a moment of examining the results. "How fascinating..."

Hearing that, Tonia was relieved to see Tony relax slightly, the edge of wary caution and suspicion leaving his body. "Right," he said, turning from the screen to face her, "obviously there are questions we need answered, but now we've confirmed you're at least who you claim to be, I think some rest would do you good."

Usually Tonia would argue about being told to go sleep, but she was genuinely exhausted and needed the time and space to process the last twelve hours— in a short amount of time, she'd not only witnessed her lover die and set off an explosion that would have killed a fuck load of her colleagues, but she'd also travelled to a whole new universe— so she just nodded, giving Tony a grateful look.

"A bed sounds really fucking good right now." She admitted.

+

Tony took Tonia up to the penthouse floor, knowing that Rhodey and Pepper would both probably yell at him later for letting a potential enemy into his home, but Tonia was clearly both exhausted and grieving and maybe he was an idiot to, but he did trust her.

"There's food in the mini-fridge and clothes in the cupboard you can change into," he told her, after showing her to one of the three spare bedrooms on his personal floor with an attached ensuite. "FRIDAY will be monitoring you," he added, "but she'll respect your privacy by not reporting anything to me unless you act in a way she considers hostile. You also won't be able to leave the room without getting permission first, but just ask FRIDAY to alert me or Vision."

"Who's Friday? Helen and The Vision both mentioned her," Tonia said, looking around the bedroom cautiously. "Is she some sort of security guard?"

"Well, sort of," Tony explained, realising for the first time that Tonia hadn't interacted at all with FRIDAY yet, "she's my A.I.— Fri, baby girl, say hello to other-me from universe, uh..."

"I call it Universe 76238," Tonia said dryly. Tony's mind focused briefly on the numbers before he snorted, having figured out the simple code.

"Universe SNAFU, huh?" he asked.

"Situation Normal: All Fucked Up," Tonia agreed dryly, before turning curious eyes towards where FRIDAY's camera was located— not on the ceiling, like most people thought. "Um, hello Ms. Friday?"

"Hello Ms. Stark," FRIDAY greeted Tonia, sounding very stiff and reserved.

"Please, call me Tonia— only assholes I hate call me Ms. Stark," Tonia said, smiling despite FRIDAY's near-hostile tone, though her eyes were wet again.

"Did you have an A.I. too?" He asked quietly and Tonia nodded, closing her eyes as her mouth twisted down in grief.

"I couldn't bring her with me," she whispered. "PEGGY told me to go without her, she said she'd make sure that nobody would be able to use my invention to follow me and she'd then enact her... her protocols."

Tony didn't ask what protocols she was talking about— buried deep, deep, deep down in FRIDAY's code, and had been in JARVIS's code too, was a hidden self-destruct protocol. It wasn't a protocol he'd written, but rather his wonderful, brilliant, amazing children had coded the protocol themselves so that they'd never fall into the wrong hands.

"Try to get some rest," he told Tonia instead. "The questions can wait until tomorrow."

"Okay," Tonia said quietly, looking over at him with familiar dark eyes. "Tony, I... I really can't thank you enough."

Tony just nodded awkwardly, not sure what else to say, before backing out of the room and closing the door behind him, knowing FRIDAY would automatically lock it. He didn't like treating Tonia like a prisoner, but until she'd passed the questioning (a prettier word than 'interrogation'), she technically was one.

He re-joined Vision and Helen down in the medical wing, where Helen was packing her things up for the night while Vision held her jacket. It was getting late in the day, past six in the evening, and he knew that Vision and Helen had had a date planned.

"Mr. Stark— Tony," Vision corrected himself with a small smile when Tony gave him a Look, "will you be requiring me to remain within the Tower tonight?"

"There's probably some protocols that say you should," Tony admitted, "but don't let your reservation go to waste— I've got FRIDAY and the suits and Tonia's either going to be sleeping or grieving, I'm not worried about her making trouble."

Vision still hesitated and Tony leaned over to give him a gentle shove. "Seriously, Viz, I'll be fine." He reiterated to his (grand?)son, firm but kind.

"We'll only be a few hours, then we'll return to my place," Helen spoke up and Tony nodded his thanks to her— he'd offered Helen an apartment in the Tower to live in while she was working in conjunction with Stark Industries. Vision had an apartment too, though his was located in the level under the penthouse floor.

Honestly, Helen and Vision's burgeoning relationship had caught him by surprise— Helen had been his doctor after Siberia, and, amongst several other things, he owed her for the fact he still had fingers and toes, considering just how bad the frostbite had been. After, he'd asked her to stay, offering her funding in trade for her expertise in two separate joint projects— one focusing (unsurprisingly) on healing and repairing spinal injuries, while the other far more private project was researching how to remove the Mind Stone from Vision without destroying Vision.

As powerful a weapon as the Mind Stone was, Thor's warnings about the alien artifacts signaling to all the realms that Earthgard was ready for a higher form of war made Tony very, very uneasy, particularly when combined with his reluctance to leave Vision as a walking (floating) target to anyone who wanted to possess the Mind Stone. Vision had agreed with his concerns, and in the months since had spent a considerable amount of time interacting with Helen as they worked in close proximity. He wasn't sure who'd asked who out (Helen, definitely Helen, he had fifty bucks riding on it), but unlike the weird... thing Vision had had with Maximoff, Tony actually approved of the relationship.

In the aftermath of the 'uncivil war' disaster, Tony had finally stopped avoiding Vision due to his (very understandable, as assured by his friends, therapist, and Vision) JARVIS-related issues, and talked things out with the android. In the aftermath of the Talk they'd both moved into Stark Tower, having no interest wallowing in the memories that lurked in the Avenger's Compound— especially, in Vision's case, with the physical evidence left behind by Maximoff's violent temper tantrum during which she'd viciously attacked him.

Tony didn't blame the guy for not wanting to live where his almost-girlfriend had assaulted him. Hell, he'd had to remodel both the Tower penthouse and its lab where Loki and Thor had each assaulted him until both spaces were unrecognisable in order to be comfortable in his own fucking house— well, Tower.

"From what I can sense of Tonia's emotions," Vision spoke up suddenly, with the apologetic expression on his face he got whenever the Mind Stone picked up on stray emotions and thoughts from people (unlike Maximoff, Vision actually tried to respect the privacy of another person's mind), "she is being honest with us. There is a great deal of sorrow and grief within her, but also a beautiful sense of wonder and an immense relief."

"I'd be pretty relieved after escaping the hell-hole of Universe 76238 too," Tony said with a grimace. "And I agree. I think she's exactly who she says she is, but there's still questions she needs to answer— like how she had access to her universe's Tesseract and how she knew our universe existed, just to begin with, because I'm pretty damn sure she didn't end up here by accident."

"You're quite right, of course," Vision said, looking slightly abashed, and Tony shook his head.

"Don't stress, it's all good," he said, only to frown when both Vision and Helen made amused sounds. "What? What did I do?"

"You just quoted Tonia verbatim, from when Vision apologised after giving her a shock when he phased through the wall." Helen told him, with a smile. As Tony stared at her in surprise, FRIDAY obligingly played the audio clip of Tonia's voice saying; 'Call me Tonia, and don't stress, it's all good' which prompted Helen to actually laugh while Vision smiled.

"Oh, shut up, both of you, and just go on your date already," Tony groused, though he found he was smiling too as he parted ways from the pair. "You know, Fri, for what started out as terrifyingly awful 'bad news', this is actually turning out pretty interesting, and not in a bad way." He commented aloud.

"Just promise that you'll keep your guard up, Boss," FRIDAY ordered, not sounding nearly as happy, and Tony gave the nearest camera a fondly exasperated smile.

"Alright, alright, I promise."

+