#*knowing about mitchell carson and doing nothing about him or quitting her job* *telling an SS officer and torturer his work is valuable*

[amarriageoftrueminds]

Can't stop thinking about the idea of CATFA as a propagandised version of the Captain America story which exists in-universe and Steve seeing it and being absolutely livid about how 90% of it represents him.

.

Examples: being furious that it doesn’t mention his mother (his moral compass) anywhere, or his socialist politics pre-war, implies he only wants to fight to be like one of the guys and get a girlfriend?! (barely mentions Nazis),

implies he simply cannot have had any romantic attachments before serum, yet skims right over his disabilities as if his only problem was just being short, posits that Bucky would’ve spent his last night in Brooklyn off on a double date with two total strangers rather than with his own friends and family, (no mention of the Barneses anywhere?), 

has Steve scoffing at the idea of working in a factory (when he’d consider himself lucky to get a job in the times he grew up in), almost his whole relationship with the Howlies relegated to a single silent montage, none of the details of their missions shown except one, not a single girl in his USO tour gets a mention or name, ditto none of the women of the SSR/Army/that the Howlies met in the field, and wastes most of the screen time on that creepy violent nepotism-hire who was convinced Steve had given her some kind of secret signal he wanted to date her (at the time he just thought she’d taken the hint and was trying to beard him??), 

also puts her, Stark and Phillips in places they never went (why would a scientist, an old CO and an intelligence analyst be in Italy, or in the middle of a battle?? that’s not their job!), 

says Steve would waste his last precious moments of contact talking to a woman he’s not dating rather than saying goodbye to the men who’ve been fighting beside him for over a year?? 

And that he wouldn’t even bother to look for Bucky’s body?? (Only thing it got right was how much Bucky mattered to him / being a big part of why he wanted to fight!)

[dorevenge]

where ignorance is bliss - chapter 14: deep in december

SUMMARY: Hank quits SHIELD, and Maria and Howard return to France for their anniversary. [AO3 LINK]

CHAPTERS: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 [14] 15 ☆

July 9, 1989 – Washington D.C., Triskelion

“Hello, Hank” Howard says, standing up from his seat as Hank Pym walks in, on a mission. He is seated with Peggy and Mitchell Carson, the Head of Defense. “You’re supposed to be in Moscow.”

“I took a detour,” Hank replies. He sets down a red vial of Pym Particles on the table in front of the group with force. “Through your defense lab.” He’s upset.

Peggy picks up the vial. “Tell me that isn’t what I think it is.” Her hair is peppered with gray streaks now, the years of serving S.H.I.E.L.D. catching up with her and Howard.

“That depends if you think it’s a poor attempt to replicate my work.” Hank looks at the three of them, rotating between them, challenging them to meet their gaze. Howard doesn’t meet his gaze. “Even for this group, that takes nerve.”

“You were instructed to go to Russia. May I remind you, Dr. Pym, that you’re a soldier?” says Mitchell haughtily.

“I’m a scientist,” Hank corrects him.

“Then act like one. The Pym Particle is the most revolutionary science ever developed. Help us put it to good use,” Howard responds, trying to keep the peace.

“First you turn me into your errand boy, now you steal my research?” He is beyond insulted.

“If only you’d protected Janet with such ferocity, Dr. Pym,” says Mitchell coolly, overly proud of himself for the spiteful comeback. Howard sighs, familiar with Hank’s temper by now.

Hank shakes his head, then reaches around, grabs Mitchell by the back of his head, and slams it down on the table he’s sitting behind. Mitchell cries out in pain, and Peggy grabs Hank’s arm to stop him from delivering another blow.

“Easy, Hank,” she says, always the peacekeeper. Mitchell’s nose is bleeding from both nostrils, and he delicately dabs at the blood.

“You mention my wife again, and I’ll show you ferocity,” Hank threatens, pointing at Mitchell. Mitchell looks to Howard. “I have given everything to S.H.I.E.L.D. Everything. Decades of my life, years of my research, my loyalty, my daughter’s childhood, my wife, and you steal from me? I’ll burn this place to the fucking ground before you replicate my formula.”

“Don’t look at me,” says Howard to Mitchell. “You said it.”

“And I am once again the voice of reason,” mumble Peggy.

“I thought you were better than this, Stark. You, too, Carter. I have been a faithful soldier, spy, and scientist. I play the role of the Ant-Man when you ask me. I have sacrificed too much while you all sit in your safe offices in the Triskelion, mission after mission, sending me to Russia while you undermine the one thing I have ever asked of you,” Hank responds. “I formally tender my resignation.”

“We don’t accept it. Formally,” Howard replies. His face is hard to read. It’s like he wants to crack a joke but doesn’t want to have his nose broken next. “Hank. We need you. The Pym Particle is a miracle. Please, don’t let your past determine the future.” A rare moment of honest emotion.

Hank doesn’t care. It’s written on his face, clear as day. “As long as I am alive, nobody will ever get that formula.” He turns on his heel and walks out of the room. The automatic doors open and close behind him with a whir.

Mitchell says, “We shouldn’t let him leave the building,” his nose finally done bleeding.

“You’ve already lied to him, now you want to go to war with him?” Peggy asks rhetorically, exhausted from juggling all these egos.

“Yes!” Mitchell seethes. “Our scientists haven’t even come close to replicating his work.”

“He just kicked your ass full-sized! You really want to find out what it’s like when you can’t see him coming?” Howard asks. “I’ve known Hank Pym for a long time, he’s no security risk. Unless we make him one. Let’s let him go.”

November 27, 1991 – Monaco, France, Hellfire Club

“Back to where we met for our thirty-first anniversary? How thoughtful,” I say, back in the restaurant of the Hellfire Club where we met. Where Howard first saved my life from Roxxon’s men. I haven’t thought of Roxxon in years. There was that explosion from where they tried to replicate the arc reactor’s unfinished technology, but S.H.I.E.L.D. swooped in and made sure none of the plans made it through the flames. Other than that, we haven’t heard a peep about them.

“Thirty-second. Tomorrow. I know we’re one day early, but I have a few things I want to celebrate with you,” Howard replies, working on the first course in our five-course meal.

“What’s the first thing?”

“One, a break from our twenty-one-year-old child who can’t get a job.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“What’s the difference? He’s the brightest kid of his generation, and he has nothing to show for it besides raiding my liquor cabinet and raising my electricity bill. How old is too old to use the belt on someone?”

“Howard.”

“He just needs some motivation in the right direction, instead of squandering his attention with random chicks and fancy cars. I should cut him off, make him work at McDonald’s to pay for his own alcoholism.”

“He takes after you.”

“Hey, I quit drinking. Three years ago, so anything’s possible,” he defends himself. That much is true. I’m the only one with wine in front of me tonight.

“It’s a good thing he’s just like you. I had to corral you when I met you. Tame the great Howard Stark. Tony will meet someone who understands him and who will make him realize that adventure after adventure is not a real life. It’s not all missions and spying; it’s building a family.”

“Hopefully he’s younger than I was when I realized that.” Howard sighs. “Alright, alright, moving on; number two, thirty-two years with my beautiful wife, who still continues to outshine me in every room she walks into. It used to drive me crazy, you know, how people would get distracted by you, steal my attention, but I’ve come to appreciate it now. Especially since it helps them not notice how old I am now by comparison.” He smiles at me with a wink, and I laugh in response. “Nevertheless, you make me feel as young as I was when I met you.”

“And how old was that, when you practically stole me from my cradle?” I tease him.

He pretends to be insulted, then tries to do the calculation in his head. “Well, I’m 74 now, minus 32… I don’t think I can count that high. I was young at heart, does that count for anything?”

I laugh again. Our second course is brought out, the empty dishes swept away. I have no idea what the dish is, not wanting to ask the waitress for a translation from French to English, but it smells heavenly. Some chicken in some cream sauce, or something of that nature. “Alright, what’s reason number three?”

Howard wipes his hands off on the napkin on his lap before digging into his pocket. He pulls out a small silver box, one you would find in a lab, not in a jewelry store. “I thought it would be only fitting to give you the first positive result, the thing that I’ve been obsessing over for half our marriage.” He opens the box so I can see inside and pulls out a small vial filled with thick red liquid, attached to a thin silver chain. “Project Brooklyn, Project Rebirth, Project Mr. America, whatever you want to call it, is a success. We did it, doll. Without Vanko, without Pym, even without Stane.”

He stands and walks around behind me. The vial falls between my breasts as he clasps the chain behind my neck. He kisses my ear and returns to his seat.

“Is this the Super Soldier Serum?” I whisper, admiring the vial, smaller and narrower than my pinky finger. It feels so delicate in my hand. Decades of work dangling around my neck.

“It is.”

“Why are you giving it to me?” I tuck in under the collar of my dress and look around to make sure no one’s eavesdropping.

“That’s not enough for a full dose for a human. We used half of it on a… On a non-human test subject. I have ten doses synthesizing in the lab at home, under more security measures than you can count. It takes a while for the serum to bond since Vita-Ray technology was found to be unstable, so it’ll be ready to deliver to the Pentagon in a couple weeks. Ah, thank you,” Howard pauses and smiles as the next course is brought out.

“And what will you do after?” I ask once the waiter is gone again.

“After? After the serum is delivered?” he asks, and I nod. “I’m all yours.”

I smile to myself. After thirty-two years, Howard can’t fool me. “I don’t believe it, not for a second. I’ve never known you to not be dreaming up something. You’ll probably try your hand at that reactor again, or you’ll scour the ice for Captain Rogers, or try to commercialize space travel. You won’t sit still.”

“I will. That vial is a promise to that,” he says, then pauses to reconsider. “Okay, realistically, I won’t stop tinkering. I’ll always be inventing, but small-scale stuff. A toaster that won’t burn your bread. A refrigerator that prints a grocery list when you’re almost out of something. But nothing that will take me away from you and Tony again.”

“Well, if you kick him out, it won’t make a difference if you’re home or not.”

Howard shakes his head, picking at the third course before him. “Maria, sometimes I forget that when it comes to matters of the heart, you’re smarter than Tony and I combined.”

Notes: Parts of Hank’s resignation taken from this scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV-k-hO_gKk)