when dakota walked into the room, tony was attempting to help rhodey to walk on his new legs. "i signed because it was the right thing to do." rhodey told tony. "and, yeah, this sucks. this is... this is a bad beat. but it hasn't changed my mind, i don't think." rhodey took tony's hand, helping to pull his friend to his feet.

since the starks had left the lab, they hadn't seen or heard from steve, hazel, or bucky. they could only assume that the three, who were technically wanted criminals, had gone into hiding to avoid getting sentenced to the raft. 

the two starks had gone back to report to secretary ross-- who would certainly be upset to hear that neither stark had any idea where hazel, steve, or bucky had gone. they had stopped, first, to check on rhodey, who had been given new prosthetic legs made with the same material as his suit. tony was helping rhodey to walk in those legs then, holding a hand behind his back. 

"on the bright side," dakota said from behind them, alerting the two men of her presence, "you can dress as lieutenant dan for halloween." the two shook their heads at her joke, looking up at a knocking sound.

a fed-ex driver had knocked on the window, a package in his hand. "are you tony stank?" he asked, reading the label on the box. an amused rhodey and dakota nodded violently.

"yes," kodie said, pointing to her father, "this is--this is tony 'stank'. you're in the right place."

"thank you for that!" rhodey told the fed-ex worker, laughing. "i'm never dropping that, by the way." he warned tony, both he and dakota immediately bursting into laughter as he continued. "table for one, mr. stank. please, by the bathroom."

‎⎊‎⎊‎⎊

kodie sat in the office chair next to her father, who opened the package, pulling out a phone and a letter. leaning over her father's shoulder, dakota read steve's handwriting.

'tony, i'm glad you're back at the compound. i don't like the idea of you and kodie rattling around a mansion by yourselves. we all need family. the avengers are yours, maybe more so than mine. i've been on my own since i was 18. i never really fit in anywhere, even in the army. my faith's in people, i guess. individuals. and i'm happy to say that, for the most part, they haven't let me down. which is why i can't let them down either. locks can be replaced, but maybe they shouldn't. i know i hurt you, tony. i guess i thought, by not telling you about your parents, i was sparing you, but i can see now that i was really sparing myself, and i'm sorry. hopefully one day you can understand. i wish we agreed on the accords, i really do. i know you're doing what you believe in, and that's all any of us can do. that's all any of us should... hazel is staying with me, for now. she wants to apologize to you, also. she was just a kid.'

dakota stopped reading when f.r.i.d.a.y. spoke. "priority call from secretary ross." she told them. "there's been a breach at the raft prison." dakota smiled a little, knowing that steve had probably broken the other avengers out of jail. sure, they'd be wanted criminals, but at least clint, wanda, sam, and scott wouldn't have to suffer through any more time in that place.

"yeah, put him through." tony told f.r.i.d.a.y., leaning over to look at the phone from steve.

ross answered, sounding frantic, assumably because five "criminals" had been broken loose. "tony, we have a problem."

tony held up a finger, hovering it over the hood button. "ah, please hold."

"no. don't . . ." ross was cut off as tony clicked the 'hold' button, looking over at his daughter as she picked up steve's letter to finish reading it.

'so, no matter what. i promise you, if you need us, if you need me, i'll be there.'

🕷️🕷️🕷️

"so," aunt may spoke from somewhere in the parker apartment, "who was it? who hit you?"

peter sat on his bed, a hand on the wound over his eye. "some guy." he fiddled with his wristband, mumbling to himself about how itchy it was.

"what's 'some guy''s name?" may asked from the other room.

peter thought for a moment, not really knowing what to say. "uh, steve."

"steve? from 12-c? with the overbite?" may angrily replied.

the boy shook his head. "no, no, no. you don't know him, he's from brooklyn." his wristband started emitting a red light. frantically, peter slapped his arm onto his pillow to hide the light from may, who had walked into the room with ice for his bruising eye.

"well... i hope you got a few good licks in." may said, sitting on the edge of his bed. "or did dakota stark fight him for you?" she raised a brow suggestively.

peter took a towel filled with ice from may, putting it on his eye. "yeah, i got quite a few in, actually. his friend was huge. like huge." he winced at the cold feeling on his eye. "that's way better. thank you." he thought for a moment before registering may's question. "no, she was busy helping someone else. hey, why did you tell kodie she was my celebrity crush?"

may laughed, shaking her head. "because you're always so cute about it." peter groaned, covering his face with the towel. "well, she thought so, too." peter removed the towel at this, sending may a quizzical look. "she was so flushed before they went into your room!" she told him, watching as he grinned.

"well, i hope she thinks her boyfriend is cute." he replied nonchalantly, putting the towel back over his eye with a smile.

may just nodded and smiled for a moment before realizing what peter had said, turning to look at him. "wait, her what-"

END OF CIVIL WAR