stoneheart ; 𝐭. 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐤 , 𝟐

06 | not much of a plan

— note: take notice of the month here! i don't want any of you guys getting confused. this chapter is during january 2019, directly after tony's call with rhodey. that means that this is before jack's escape attempt in the last chapter, which happens in february. happy reading!

january 2019

WAKING UP FROM a three-hour nap that had to qualify as a full night's sleep, Tony regretted his decision—well, only part of it. The part that included downing a full cup of cappuccino before practically injecting sleeping pills straight into his bloodstream, anything to make him fall asleep. 

He hadn't really wanted to sleep, but he knew that if he pulled an all-nighter(the third one this week), the time spent awake would only serve to talk himself out of meeting with Agent Ross. Tony Stark, it turned out, was exceptionally good at talking himself out of uncomfortable situations and preventing them from happening in the first place. 

It wasn't that he was nervous to show up unannounced at the CIA's headquarters, it was...well, the last time he'd been included in any type of government dealing was nearly three years ago, and it had ended with him running off to help Rogers stop the creation of more Winter Soldiers, like Barnes. 

Little did he know, he'd invited such a soldier into his own home, letting her leech off his past insecurities. 

Either way, his relationship with the CIA was less than perfect, and he wasn't sure he'd even be able to finagle a meeting with Ross upon showing up. The Tony Stark circa 2016 and before was a charming man, able to talk himself in and out of anything he wanted. But now, the Tony Stark that stared at his reflection in the mirror, this man was different. He wasn't a man with a busy schedule, full of things to distract him from the crushing weight of his failure. He was a man that did nothing each day except for think of how things went so wrong. 

This project, this three-month research process had counted as something like a blessing, tearing his thoughts away from his mess of a life and bringing him closer to something he might be able to fix. Someone he might be able to save.

If she was even still alive. 

Months had passed since Steve's voicemail that woke him during the ungodly hours of the night. So much could have happened between the time Barnes had supposedly heard Jack's voice in his head and now. 

How can I know he was even telling the truth? He thought bitterly as he slid his hands in the sleeves of a buttoned shirt. It would't be the first time Steve lied to me. 

"Stop," he grunted, pulling on a black suit jacket over his shirt. "You'll only make it worse." If he was going to do this, he had to trust someone. Even if his only options were the man who killed his parents and the man who'd kept it from him for years. 

And, a small voice in his head reminded him, the woman who stole your heart. 

Tony squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't believe the voice in his head, couldn't believe that it spoke the truth. He wasn't in love with Jack. The only reason she was there was to kill him. And when she failed, she went running. Back to whoever made her. 

And whoever made her, whoever held her now, this Cerberus, they were trapping her. They were killing her, if they hadn't done so already. Time was running out, and whether he liked it or not, he was going to follow through with this.