Song of the Chapter: She Knows, by J. Cole

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄.

After an eerily silent morning with three pairs of eyes trained on the floor, Tony and Charlie boarded a plan to Vienna, for a one-day trip and signing of the Accords.

Steve stayed behind, a stony, resolved look on his face.

Charlie knew her Pops well enough to know he was too angry to just sit by- her high meant he was planning something.

Tony still pressed a goodbye kiss to his cheek nonetheless.

Charlie, now sitting on one of the Stark-Rogers private planes, was stuffed into a tight pencil skirt, heels, a blouse, playing the part of Tony Stark's Assistant.

Tony sat across from her, hand resting on his fist, staring out the window.

"Other hand," Pepper said softly, tapping Charlie's palm.

Charlie quickly switched her right hand in Pepper's lap for the left, blowing on her freshly painted red nails to quicken the drying process. Pepper's fingers were cool and soft, her hair tumbling over her shoulders, catching the sun.

"You look pretty," Charlie said, her voice quiet. It almost felt weird to break the tense silence on the plane right now.

Pepper smiled at her. "Thank you. You do too. That shirt fits you well."

Charlie role her shoulders, her nose scrunching when she felt the tag scratch against her back. "Thanks. The tag is itchy as hell, though."

"I got it," Natasha said from behind them, carrying a martini down the aisle of the plane. She set it down and pulled a tiny, rather sharp looking knife from her sleeve, reaching for the tag and slicing it off. "All gone."

"How the hell did you hide that?" Charlie demanded, staring Nat down.

Nat just smiled, sitting next to Tony, sipping her Martini.

Tony stared at her. "Christ. I'm glad I'm not your enemy."

"You should be," Nat said smoothly. She glanced out the window. "We should be landing soon."

"Yup," Tony said. He didn't sound all that excited, though. The pain in his eyes was palpable; it was  the same thing making Charlie's stomach churn.

It felt wrong to do this without Steve.

"What does it mean," she asked quietly as Pepper walked back towards her seat, Charlie's nails freshly painted. "If Pops doesn't sign? What's gonna happen to us?"

"Nothing is going to happen to you," Tony said, still avoiding her eyes. "As for Pops... I don't know. He will probably have to retire as a member of the Avengers."

The Avengers without Captain America? 

Charlie lay her head back against her seat as Happy's voice came from the cockpit. "We're landing any minute, boss."

Tony nodded shortly, even though Happy couldn't see it. He gruffly ran a hand over his face and reached for his suit-jacket.

"Shoes on, kiddo," He gestured towards the god-awful, four inch heels sitting on the floor next to her. "And the Nano Mask."

Charlie groaned, slipping her feet into the the shoes and lining the face-changing tech mask up with her nose and eyes. She looked into the camera on her phone, wiggling her eyebrows and inspecting her new face.

"Perfect," Tony said, letting Pepper brush at his cheeks with a makeup brush. "You look nothing like my kid."

"Thanks," Charlie said drily, standing.

Tony smirked, looking for a moment like his world wasn't falling apart.

"Remember," Tony said quietly as they entered the loud, bustling room. "You aren't to say a word. If a reporter tries to talk to you, what do you do?"

"Stick with Pep and let her do the talking," Charlie recited.

Tony nodded. "Alright. You head over there, with the other secretaries. I'll meet you right after, got it?"

Charlie smiled at him, hoping she looked reassuring.

She watched her Dad walk away, feeling extremely out of place as Pepper and Natasha approached her. Both women looked as gorgeous and professional as always; so confident and sure of themselves. For being the only two female influences in Charlie's life, they were pretty good at what they did.

"Busy turnout," Pepper remarked casually, exchanging a tight smile with Nat. "Publicity is going to be a nightmare.

Nat lifted a shoulder, scanning the room. "I don't know. Tony might keep quiet on this one, for once. He tends not to feed into reporters when his husband is involved unless it's flirting."

"I don't think he's going to say anything," Charlie said. Her voice sounded different; older with the mask. "There were some heated discussions last night."

She pretended not to notice the concerned looks from both women, instead focus on a figure she'd only seen on television standing a few feet away from them- a tall Black man with a lean, athletic build and a rather attractive face.

T'Challa Udaku, Prince of Wakanda.

She nearly choked on her own spit when his head turned, making eye contact with her.

"Shit," she whispered under her breath. Pepper shot her a scolding look that melted away when she saw Charlie's panic as T'Challa began to walk towards them. "What do I do-"

"I suppose neither of us is used to the spotlight," a low, accented voice said smoothly, and holy shit he was right there.

He was even more stunning in person- good God, what did they put in the water in Wakanda?- and he seemed to stand even taller up close.

Thank God, his eyes only flickered over Charlie for a moment before settling on Natasha instead.

Natasha took the conversation in stride, smiling gently. "Oh, well, it's not always so flattering."

"You seem to be doing alright so far," T'Challa said, teasingly. "Considering your last trip to Capitol Hill... I wouldn't think you would be particularly comfortable in this company."

"Well, I'm not," Nat chuckled.

"That alone makes me glad you're here, Miss Romanoff." T'Challa said, eyes drifting across the room.

Nat tilted her head. "Why? You don't approve of all this?"

"The Accords, yes. The politics, not really. Two people in a room can get more done than a hundred."

"Unless you need to move a piano," said a deeper voice, behind T' Challa.

The Prince turned and Charlie felt like passing out when she realized that now, both the Prince and King of Wakanda were standing only about a foot away.

T'Challa bowed, smiling warmly at his father. "Baba."

"Son," The King nodded at him, then at the women standing by him. "Miss Romanoff. Miss Potts. And... I don't believe I know your name."

Charlie froze, realizing that she needed to say something. Shit, they'd established an alias for her with the mask- "Margaret. Margaret Greene."

T'Chaka's eyes sparkled, shaking her hand gently. "I'm sure it is," he said, his voice far too quiet for anyone but her to hear.

Charlie's mouth dropped open when she realized the amused look both T'Chaka and T'Challa were giving her.

They saw right through the mask, didn't they?

"It's wonderful to make your acquaintance," T'Challa said, smiling knowingly at her. He, too shook her hand. "This must be out of your element as well."

Charlie nodded, her mouth dry. She cleared her throat. "Yeah. Um- I'm planning to... you know... join the Avengers one day. It felt right to be here."

T'Chaka bowed his head slightly. "I have respect for young people being involved in these things. The world will be a brighter place with your generation. My daughter, Shuri, is about your age."

"I hope I'm able to meet her one day," Charlie said truthfully.

"I tend to prefer she stay in Wakanda, where it's safer," T'Chaka said. "But I have faith you'll come visit us one day."

"King T'Chaka," Natasha said, quietly. "Please, allow me to apologize for what happened in Nigeria."

"Thank you," T'Chaka said kindly. "Thank you for agreeing to all this. I'm... sad to hear that Captain Rogers will not be joining us today."

Charlie looked down at her feet bitterly, remembering the tense, not-so-friendly goodbye she and Tony had gotten when they left home this morning. He really, truly did believe he was in the right- to the point that he refused to even try to listen to the people around him.

"So are we," she said quietly, daring a quick glance up to T'Challa.

T'Challa's eyes were soft as he looked at her, full of knowing. She could feel the silent solidarity.

"If everyone could please be seated." There was a voice on the intercom, making everyone look up. "This assembly is now in session."

Charlie squared her shoulders uneasily, trying to plaster a professional look on her face. She searched for a moment and finally spotted her Dad, right up in the front, waving for Natasha to sit in the seat next to him.

"Come on," Pepper said gently, as T'Chaka and T'Challa made their way down the stairs and towards the podium. Charlie dragged her gaze away from them, letting Pepper lead her to stand on the side of the room, down the aisle from where Tony and Natasha were sitting.

"Are you alright?" Pepper leaned down, her voice low as King T'Chaka approached the podium.

Charlie tried to open her respond, but the second she opened her mouth, she wanted to cry. She just nodded, avoiding Pepper's gaze, and blinked back the tears beginning to sting her eyes.

She'd just lost her Aunt Peggy, and now she might be losing her entire family.

"When stolen Wakandan vibranium was used to make a terrible weapon," King T'Chaka said from the podium, his regal accent echoing through the room, "we in Wakanda were forced to question our legacy."

Charlie's fingernails dug into her thumbs, watching her Dad and Natasha. Nat's elbows were resting on the table in front of them, hands clasped, together, while Tony had his hand resting on his chin, leaning back into his chair.

It felt weird watching only one of her parents in such a big meeting.

"Those men and women killed in Nigeria," Charlie ducked her head at that, "were part of a goodwill mission from a country too long in the shadows. We will not, however, let misfortune drive us back. We will fight to improve the world we wish to join. I am grateful to the Avengers for supporting this initiative."

The entire room very noticeably glanced at the only Avengers present.

T'Chaka nodded respectfully at Tony and Nat, who nodded back from the middle row. "Wakanda is proud to extend its hand in peace."

There was a flurry of movement from the corner of the room all of the sudden; Charlie's head darted towards it.

Before she could fully comprehend what was happening, T'Challa was sprinting across the room towards his father, screaming, "EVERYBODY GET DOWN!"

Then there was a deafening boom, and the room exploded into shards of glass and concrete.

Charlie's head was whipped back before she could even scream, her entire body going weightless as she was flung in the air.

A bright orange light blinded her momentarily, and the she was being slammed against the floor, several feet away from where she had been standing.

For a long moment, Charlie just laid there.

Her ears were ringing, her heart beat pounding in her head. Her vision was completely blurred, and she could feel the corners of her nano mask glitching.

What the fuck just happened?

There was muffled screaming to her right, barely heard over the violent ringing in her ears.

Charlie jerked when she realized she wasn't breathing. Air came rushing into her lungs in horrible gasps, but there was dust mixed in with it, and her lungs ached, and nothing was making sense-

Her hand reached out for something to ground herself with, and quickly found that she wasn't alone here on the ground.

Shaking the dust out of her eyes, the ringing in her ears slowly died down to reveal piercing screams echoing through the building. She groaned, her head throbbing.

Then she turned her head to look at the person that had been thrown back with her.

And found cold, empty eyes staring at her through a blood-matted face.

"Oh- oh my God," Charlie whimpered, scrambling to sit up.

The eyes of the secretary who had been standing next to her didn't follow her. She just lay there, and it only took Charlie half a second to realize that a large piece of glass had lodged itself into this woman's head.

She was dead.

She was... dead.

And Charlie couldn't breathe.

The room swam around her- dust in the air, concrete and glass and metal sprawled all over the once rows of chairs and tables, a fire burning in the middle of the room where the wall had been blasted open.

Charlie couldn't move. 

It was like she was frozen, here on her knees, the nano mask on her face glitching and burning the edges of her skin.

Frozen in time, back to when a tall, blonde boy had taken an onslaught of bullets intohis chest, to save her.

His blue eyes staring blankly out at nothing, the weight of his dead body pinning her against the ground, blood dripping onto her clothes-

Charlie- she couldn't do this again.

She stumbled to her feet, having to grip the remains of a desk when her knees started to buckle.

The woman was dead, she was dead, she was dead-

And she wasn't the only one.

Charlie cried out, gripping the table with all her might as she took in the remains of the room.

She could see at least four bodies just from where she stood.

People were screaming, running left and right, climbing over massive blocks of concrete and dodging bits of the glass windows that had shattered. There was a man in the corner of the room with a horrifying disfigured broken leg, another holding a nasty looking gash flooding his suit with red.

"Charlie!"

Charlie turned, her vision blurry, trembling so hard she could barely stand.

Pepper was limping towards her, wild-eyed, her usually sleek strawberry blond hair having slipped from her ponytail. "Oh, God, Charlie-"

Charlie couldn't speak. She just whimpered, glancing back at the dead woman behind her.

"Honey." Pepper's hands were on her face, gently turning it so Charlie wasn't looking at the woman anymore. "Are you hurt?"

Charlie didn't know. She didn't think she was.

Everything was kind of fuzzy.

Pepper, leaning against the table for support, quickly ran her hands over Charlie's arms, feeling for any kind of injury.

The nano mask on Charlie's face glitched, and she flinched.

Pepper's eyes snapped up and she quickly pulled the mask off her, rubbing her thumb over the tiny burns spread along the sides of Charlie's face.

"Pepper," Charlie croaked.

"I know," Pepper said, her own eyes filled with tears. "I know. There was an explosion. You're okay."

It took a second for Charlie to gather her thoughts. The woman's dead eyes flashed in her head, turning into Pietro's, then back again. "Dad. Where's..."

"He's coming," Pepper nodded her head at a blurry figure in a black suit racing over the rubble carpeting the stairs to get to them. "Natasha is with him. They're okay."

Charlie felt nauseous. Her legs felt like they couldn't hold her up on their own, and the dust in the air made her head feel hazy.

"Charlie?" Her Dad's hands were suddenly on her face, cupping her cheeks, and she leaned into him. "Jesus Christ-"

"Dad," Charlie mumbled into her father's hands, feeling detached from her own body. The screams in the room seems to be getting louder. "She's... she's dead."

Tony's thumbs rubbed her cheeks soothingly. His voice was strangely soft. "Who, honey? Who's dead?"

Charlie turned weakly at the woman on the ground. Blood pooled around her neck, eyes still wide open.

Why were people's eyes still open when they died?

"Fuck," Tony sucked in a sharp breath, quickly turning Charlie's head back towards him. "You're okay, bubs. Look at me. I need you to stay with me, okay?"

"I wanna go home," Charlie cried, her visions blurring her Dad's face. "Dad..."

"I know, just stay with me." Tony looked around quickly. "We need to get out of here. Is... can you walk?"

Charlie nodded, shaking, her ears ringing.

"Okay." Tony nodded. "Pep, you okay?"

Pepper's face was screwed up in pain, her skin white. Natasha was kneeling next to her.

"Ankle might be broken," Nat said, looking up from where she'd been inspecting Pepper's injury. "At the very least, a really bad sprain. She's not going to be able to walk."

"I'm fine-" Pepper protested, but Tony shook his head.

"You're not walking on a broken ankle, Pep. Come here." Tony pulled off his suit jacket and knelt down, putting one arm beneath Pepper's knees and the other across her back.

Charlie's lip trembled, feeling all kinds of sick and disoriented.

Natasha was at her side suddenly, rubbing her arm gently. "You with me?"

No.

Charlie felt like she was floating between her body and her brain.

Natasha nodded, her silence enough of an answer. "Okay. Come on, sweetheart."

Charlie let Nat wrap and arm around her shoulders and head her away from the screams and the dust and the woman with the dead eyes.

"She's clear." The EMT turned off his light-pen, turning to Tony. "She might be in shock for a little while. Make sure she eats and drinks, and try to keep her warm. Otherwise, there's just the burns on the side of her face that should heal this week."

Tony nodded, unfolding his arms. He kissed the top of Charlie's head as she stared at the ground, tears and snot running down her face. "Thanks, doc."

The EMT nodded and walked away.

"Pepper?" Charlie asked quietly. The sides of her thumbs were covered in blood under the foil blanket the EMT had given her, her nails pushing painfully into her broken skin. "Is she okay?"

Tony glanced across to an ambulance next to them, through the crows of people and first aid tents that had gone up unbelievably fast outside of the United Nations center. "Her ankle is pretty badly sprained, they think. They're taking her to get an x-ray just in case."

Charlie nodded, numb. She glanced up at the exploded building next to them; still smoking and completely blown apart.

"Why," Charlie croaked, leaning into her Dad. She felt nauseous. "Why would someone do that?"

Tony didn't answer. His lips were pursed.

Charlie leaned back, studying him. "You know something, don't you?"

Tony tilted his head, sighing. "As soon as I figure out what hospital they're taking Pepper to, we need to get back to the hotel. The sooner, the better- the cops can only keep the paparazzi back for so long , and I'm not putting another nano mask on your face over those burns."

He ran a thumb gently over the skin, and another tear dripped down Charlie's cheek.

"Sorry," she said thickly. Before she realized what she was doing, she reached up and swiped away at her wet cheek, leaving a smear of blood in its place.

Tony's face fell and he immediately moved forward, pulling the foil blanket off her shoulders and revealing her bloody fingers and mutilated thumbs.

"Jesus Christ, bubs," he whispered, looking a mix of horrified and heartbroken. "Oh, honey..."

"It's okay," Charlie said quickly. She tried to pull her hands away- anything, to get rid of the look on her Dad's face- but his grip on her palms was too strong, even if it was gentle. "I just-"

Tony shook his head, looking pale. He glanced at her thumbs, as though he personally had been the one do do that to her.

"I'm okay, Dad," Charlie insisted.

"That's not-" Tony shook his head in frustration, staring at her fingers. "That's not okay, Charlie. Jesus Christ. Your hands, baby..."

Charlie glared down at the smeared blood on her hands, tears blurring her vision. "I know."

Tony looked like he wanted to vomit. "I..." he looked around for a moment. "I'm gonna steal an EMT from Pep's ambulance to wrap them up. Wait here, okay? Nat is headed our way."

Charlie nodded, huffing as another pair of hot tears made their way down her face.

Tony looked like he wanted to say something else, but Charlie quickly looked away before he could pull her into another conversation. He started towards Pepper at the same time Nat approached, stopping near Charlie.

"Yeah, I've got her here," she was saying, clutching a phone, looking pale.

Charlie looked up at her- at her disheveled red hair and wide green eyes. She looked uneasy.

"What is it?" She croaked.

Nat pulled away from the phone for a moment, looking at her. "It's your Pops. He..." she paused for a moment. "He wants to talk to you."

Charlie's eyes narrowed at Nat's voice. "What's wrong?"

Nat just shook her head. "He just wants to make sure you're okay."

Charlie slowly took the phone from Natasha's outstretched hand, trembling. She took a shaky breath. "Pops?

"Thank God." Steve's voice was tight on the other end of the call. "Are you hurt? Is Tony okay?"

"No," Charlie lied flatly. "And Dad's fine. Pepper's got a busted ankle, but... we're alive."

"I'm so sorry I wasn't there," Steve said.

Charlie was about to swipe at another pair of fallen tears when Nat grabbed her hand, shooting her a warning look. She set Charlie's bloody hand back onto her lap, staining the white blouse Charlie was wearing, and used her own thumb to wipe her tears instead.

Charlie looked up at the smoking building, surrounded by police and first-responders.

There were body bags being brought out of the front doors, and Charlie's stomach turned.

"No, you don't," she said, her lip trembling.

"Honey-"

"Pops, people died," Charlie said, barely audible. "The woman next to me was dead. Her eyes... it was just like..."

"I'm so sorry," Steve said. He at least sounded it. "That was extremely traumatizing for you. It shouldn't have happened."

Charlie glared at her feet, her heels long forgotten. "We'd barely signed the Accords, Pops. People want us dead that badly. And..." she lowers her voice. "There's something else going on, Pops, but nobody will tell me what it is. It was a terrorist attack."

Steve sucked in a breath on the other end.

"They think... they think it was the Barnes, honey," he said quietly.

Time stopped.

"What?" Charlie breathed.

There was a faint siren coming from Steve's end of the call, just as another ambulance wailed past Charlie and Nat's first aid station.

"They've pinned it on the Winter Soldier and the Asset," Steve said.

There was a something in his tone that she didn't trust.

"Pops, where are you?" Charlie asked, slowly standing up. Her heart thudded in her chest as there was a loud thud on both her end and Steve's.

He was here.

One glance at Natasha told her she was right.

"Honey, I need to you listen to me very carefully."

"Pops," Charlie said, starting to panic. "What are you going to do?"

"You need to stay with your Dad," Steve ignored her question. "Do you understand me?"

Charlie shook her head, her lip trembling. "Pops-"

"Honey," Steve said, his voice pleading, "I've never been more serious in my life. Please, you need to tell me you're listening to me."

No.

"You can't," she said, the reality of what was about to happen setting in with nauseating speed. "You know you can't."

"I have to, honey," Steve said quietly. "I need to get to them before the authorities do. I'm sorry. You cannot know where I'm going, or it's going to put you at risk. Do you understand?"

Charlie moaned. "Please don't, please..."

"Charlie, it's gong to be a group of three super-soldiers. We can handle ourselves. And I don't know what kind of mindset they're in. It's dangerous. I need you to stay with your Dad. It's not safe for either of you."

"Pops," Charlie begged. Her voice was thick as tears blurred her vision, and she could feel herself breaking down. "Please don't. You can't- you can't leave us. You can't leave me, please-"

Natasha had turned away, her jaw pulsing with anger.

"Honey, I just need to get them to a safe location. And I need you to stay safe, right where you are."

"They're safer on their own!" Charlie pleaded.

"They're not, honey. They don't realize they're being hunted. People are after them right now, and they know where they are."

Charlie thought of Becca, with her big brown eyes and long red hair.

The way she was only just learning about the world, the good and beauty that can come from it.

The way she had been Charlie's first friend.

God, she missed her.

But she had loved her enough to let her go, knowing that's what was best.

"I can't lie to Dad," Charlie whispered into the phone, roughly swiping at the tear that had slipped onto her cheek.

Steve hummed into the phone. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, honey. It's not fair. He's going to figure it out on his own in a couple of minutes anyway. Until then, you need to stay safe."

Charlie looked at Natasha, who was looking at her with an expression she couldn't decipher.

"Pops, please don't do this," Charlie was really crying now.

One last plea.

"I love you, honey."

Once again, gone unheard.

A/N

So that was rough. Oops. Anyways-

pushing the becca/charlie agenda once again, because no, i won't stop.

Steve kind of letting Charlie down again, but she understands a little bit how much he's hurting.

Charlie still using really and coping mechanisms, and a bit of PTSD and resurfacing trauma. She and Peter and going to kind of balance each other out, because he wants nothing more than to be a hero, but Charlie's been in the other side of it and knows how painful that can be.

Next chapter will be from Becca's perspective, so buckle up!

Drink some water!