Red Room - Marvel Studios [1]

forty-eight.

+ december 16th +

1991

There was a harsh knock of my apartment door, the noise ringing off of the stone walls of my old studio apartment. I looked up at the front door, the whole house completely silent after the loud noise. I put my book down, standing up from my couch, making my way to the door. I pulled it open, Peggy standing in the stairs, looking rather disgruntled. She held up a news paper for me to read.

HOWARD AND MARIA STARK DIE IN CAR ACCIDENT

"What?" I said, grabbing the paper from her hand. There was a picture of Howard on the front page, a short article that they were found dead in a car wreck. "SHIELD has the scene on lock down" Peggy said to me, still looking rather frazzled. "Can we go?" I asked, reaching behind the door and grabbing my jacket.

"Why do you think i'm here?"

!

I pulled the car to a stop at the bright yellow police tape. I climbed out of the car, slamming the door violently. I held the police tape up, helping Peggy bend down under it before I threw it over my head making my way to the wreck. "Sorry ma'am, this is government property" a uniformed shield agent said to me. "I work with SHIELD" I said, pulling my ID card out of the pocket on the inside of my jacket, flashing it at the man.

"Sorry, thought i recognised you" He said quietly, embarrassed that he just tried to tell a Level 7 agent that I wasn't meant to be here. I looked at the car with furrowed eyebrows, it was smashed up against a brick wall, the front of the car compressed tightly.
Keller was standing looking down at the car talking to a man in a suit, he spotted Peggy, wrapping up his conversation and making his way up to him.

I walked over to the wreck, looking down at the wheels. I crouched down next to the wheel, putting my hand on the top of it. There was a hole, which sent a tear through out the circumference of the rubber. I stood up, walking to the wheel at the front, just to find out it had the same kind of tears.

There was a splatter of blood on the drivers side door, like someone had hit their head off of it. I stood up sharply, walking around the car. I got to the trunk, realising there was a dent of the corner of it.
I turned on my heel to see Peggy still talking to Keller. "Peggy, can I have a minute?" I shouted to her, seeing her walk over to me and leaving Keller by himself.

"This was not a car crash"

!

"There was bullet holes in the tires, like they had been shot out" I said, both hand on the wheel and we drove back to the SHIELD base. "Blood on the door, like someone had bashed one of their heads against it repeatedly. Plus there was a dent on the trunk, like someone really strong had pulled it open to get something out" I explained, I gripped the wheel tightly, my knuckles turning white.

"The serum, he had just perfected a replica of your serum" Peggy told me, wiping her nose on her sleeve.

"I want to see their bodies"

!

"Thanks for seeing us" I said to Dr Morgan, the head of the morgue where both Howard and Maria's bodies were being preserved. "It's a pleasure" he said, sounding a bit creepy. I guess if you hang out with dead bodies all day that's what happens to you.

"Mr and Mrs Stark yes?" he asked me, I nodded me head lightly as he took us into a blue tinged room, two bodies lying in tables with sheets covering them.
He gestured his hand towards them as I took a step forward, grabbing the corner of one of the sheet, Howard Stark lying on the table, lifeless.

I only pulled the sheet down a little bit, enough to reveal his neck. And as suspected, blue and brown bruising covering his neck completely. I pulled the sheet over the body again, turning around and pulling back the sheet on Maria a little bit. Her neck had the identical bruises, as if someone had strangled them.

And that's exactly what had happened.

!

We stood in a ring around a hollow graves that lay in the floors, deep brown caskets sitting in each of them."God, our Father, we entrust Howard and Maria Stark into your hands" The priest started, the light breeze blowing through my flowing black dress.

I personally didn't know that Howard was religious, due to the fact he believed in science so much, but Peggy said that Maria was into it. I looked up from the graves, my eyes falling over a young man, Tony. he had his hands behind his back, his black suit wrinkle free as he looked down at Maria's casket, his mom ripped from his life.

Peggy stood by my side, both Dylan and Josh standing behind her. Tony didn't know about SHIELD, nor did Howard ever tell him about it, so Peggy and I were mainly described as friends from the war. The ceremony went past quickly, the priest drawing it to an end. Tony grabbed a hand full of dirt, taking his place above one of the graves, holding his hand out and letting the soil fall through his fingers.

And this was it.

My old friend, colleague and ally, Howard Stark, was dead.

——

A/N: So, there was a glimpse of Tony in there, just a little cameo as I want to save their real meeting for later.
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