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Mar. 20th, 2026 06:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missizzyAs is my current custom, I watched about two hours of Critical Role last night, enough of it to once again be amazing by Luis Carazo's acting ability. Of course I knew already he was good, but that literal snot fest was a completely new level. Nonetheless the Schemer's table is going to be a bit harder for me to watch, because it's so reflective of the times we're already suffering through in real life. I've just come up on a scene I am not looking forward to, so I'm procrastinating on watching it by posting this, which I finally finished yesterday.
Title: Habeas for Superheroes
Part: 13: Page versus Stark
Fandom: Daredevil/Avengers
Characters: Matt/Foggy, Karen, Tony Stark, Colleen Wing
Disclaimer: Now Disney owns them.
Warning: Discussion of MCU Civil War events
Note: Third installment in my Femme!Foggy series.
Foggy entered the offices of Hogarth, Chao, and Benowitz to find much of the firm gathered in their reception area, eyes on the TV. "...have noticed before," Stark was saying on it, "that Captain Rogers, while viewing himself as a man of the people and perhaps often genuinely being so, nonetheless would see himself as knowing better than them or their elected institutions. I would like to state, for the record, that I believe he was sound of mind and very much believed he was doing the right thing-up until Sergeant Barnes became the primary suspect in the bombing. I am convinced that he then had a rare instance of his feelings overriding his ideals, as well as his basic sense."
As she went to join Marci, as well as both Cheryl and Jose, Foggy took a quick glance over her fellow lawyers. They were generally the type to buy these kind of lines completely, and she could tell that most of them had done so. Even Marci looked a little swayed. The two PAs both had their poker faces on.
"I was invited to visit the Raft by Secretary Ross a couple of days after the airport fight," Stark was continuing. "Of course my priority at the time was Rhodey, so it took me a few more days to get there. Also for the record, that was the first I heard of its existence. You've all heard, I hope, my company's statements that we weren't involved in building it. Also, I wasn't happy when I saw the setup. I even expressed my concerns, as a citizen, to Ross face to face. I think his response is officially classified; it wasn't anything interesting anyway, concerns noted, blah blah blah."
Next to them Jose chuckled. Foggy wished she could do the same.
"Although I'm pretty sure they were already drafting the charges against them by then. In fact, I believe part of Ross' reason for inviting me there was the hope that I could be an influence in possibly negotiating plea deals, though if you've seen the leaked video, you'll know that hope didn't pan out. I didn't talk to them very long." Maybe it was just Foggy's imagination that he cut that sentence off, in order to leave out whatever he then left out.
"As you've no doubt heard, there was a bit of a delay before the government was able to give me the full details about the breakout while it was happening, and given how fast it went, I may not have been able to help much anyway. Rhodey and I had by then moved upstate, where conditions were more ideal for his recovery, and the breaking in of his new legs." He then went a little into Rhodes' progress there, most of which had too much medical/technobabble for Foggy to understand, but apparently he was walking by himself. "That's as much as he's given me permission to disclose," he finished. "I think he's likely to talk to you himself about the rest when he's ready."
By then a couple of people in the office were starting to move off. It made sense; this was definitely seeming like he was going to rattle off a couple more diplomatic lines, and then open the floor for questions. Foggy started to brace herself.
But instead, he said, "There is one more thing I am finally ready to make public, one thing I have already reported to the government, although the timing of things were such that again I was only able to manage it after the breakout. On the day that it happened, I received a package from Steve Rogers." A shocked murmur filled the press room, as well as the reception area, and who knew how many other crowded rooms around the world.
"He returned to me his shield," Stark continued, raising his voice, "and wrote me a letter. I have, of course, allowed the authorities to analyze it. I don't think anyone else needs to know everything he wrote, because honestly, a lot of it was pretty personal and between the two of us. He did make sure to say, however, that he would come to our aid if we needed him. Make of that what you will.
The shield was, of course, made by my father, which I think may be the reason he let me have it. I have kept it in my custody for now, while I consult with an attorney on the matter of possibly being its rightful owner." Foggy heard a couple of snorts. She herself wasn't the biggest expert on public contracts, especially not from the 1940s, but she was pretty damn sure the government had locked down their ownership on every object Howard Stark had crafted for the war effort. Hell, there was no way his son didn't know that. Did he seriously think he could get the better of their lawyers, she wondered, if did he just feel like he had to try?
"That," he finished, "is the last I have heard from any of my former colleagues who have now gone rogue. Like everyone else, I urge them to turn themselves in, though honestly, there's no way in hell they will. If you're listening, guys, I will repeat I really am sorry it came to this, but I can't regret supporting something to reign us in, and if you think about it at all, you should realize why. For those of you who did show up today, you can now ask questions."
Of course Karen's hand wasn't going to be the only one who went up. Even so, when Stark visibly turned his head and stared at one point for a moment or so, Foggy was pretty sure he was looking straight at her; she'd developed a reputation, after all. Then he turned again and called on someone else. This was one battle that was going to be dragged out and paused throughout.
The first two people he called on asked about the future of the Avengers and if he knew whether the government was still willing to make any plea deals. Neither of his answers there were terribly informative. Foggy wouldn't have expected them to be. It didn't even make sense for him to have any knowledge when it came to that second question. Karen would've known better than to ask it.
No doubt knowing he couldn't ignore her forever, Stark called on her next. On hearing her, "Karen Page, New York Bulletin," Foggy heard several of her companions murmur, and Cheryl might have grinned slightly. "You say," she started with, "that you supported the Sovokia Accords because of the provisions it put on you and the Avengers. But that's only a small part of a very large treaty. Have you read the rest of it? Are you aware of all the provisions that apply to every enhanced individual on this planet, some of them regardless of whether their country has ratified the Accords or not, that limit, in some cases, their basic human rights? And do you have anything to say about the common knowledge that they are now being used to deny all superpowered Americans the due process rights our Constitution is supposed to guarantee us?"
"I think I've addressed most of this already," said Stark, which was technically true, but only technically. "As I said just now, I've expressed my concerns about the Raft directly to the Secretary of State. I can't really do much if he won't listen. I certainly don't think we should be depriving every enhanced person on the street of due process, but I think it's a little early to be condemning all the world governments for plans they're still only starting to put into motion, and we haven't really seen yet how they're going to play out."
Oh, tear him apart, Karen, Foggy thought.
Of course, she had to wait to do so; Stark then called on a fourth reporter. Though he probably regretted his choice of which one when a certain Riley Thomas from London's Times promptly asked about the probability that Barnes would've just been shot dead in his home if Rogers hadn't intervened. They all heard his, "We can't know that, especially when they ultimately did take him alive," which sounded just as weak as it would. Also, there was a bit more distress in Stark's voice than one might expect, when Barnes wasn't someone he'd ever actually known.
Indeed, it was three more questions before he called on Karen again, and he probably only recovered during them because two of them were softballs. The third was from a Wall Street Journal reporter who mostly pointed out the likelihood the shield was locked-down government property, to which Stark could only repeat he was consulting with his lawyers about it.
Karen's next question was, "The Raft may have been built without your involvement or knowledge, but now that you know about it, are your taking a look at or reconsidering any of Stark Industries' other contracts with the government, to make sure you are not complacent in anything most people would recognize as unethical?"
The response Stark had to give to that had already been obvious: "That's not my final decision anymore. However, let me remind you that a company cannot just back out of contracts because we've suddenly decided we don't like what our contractee's doing. We will honor our commitments in accordance with common business ethics." He had to know, Foggy was sure, how bad an impression that made with a significant number of this press conference's current viewers.
Someone else then asked a completely uncalled-for question about Wanda, and how had she really been behaving, and had there been any signs of her still being a threat after all. The way that asshole talked about her made Foggy really want to reach through the TV and punch him. To his credit, Stark said that he still didn't think she'd been one before all this had happened, and that what had happened in Laos had very obviously been an accident. "The problem really wasn't any of us individually," he said. "The problem was our all acting with impunity, and honestly, I think we all share the blame for that. Wanda might actually share less of it, since she was very much doing as the rest of us told her."
Foggy saw him look in Karen's direction again, before calling on two other reporters to ask second questions, which was fair enough. The second one asked if he had any idea where Rogers and the others were. Foggy was sure everyone would thoroughly dissect Stark's quick, "Not a clue. Yeah, you at the end."
The woman he'd called on, a reporter from WHiH who hadn't asked any questions yet, asked him if he thought Wanda was being scapegoated by everyone because she wasn't a U.S. citizen. Which was definitely losing a genuine nuance or two from the actual situation. Which Stark probably could've pointed out. That he instead refused to comment got Foggy mad at him again.
One of the reporters who'd tossed a softball got to toss another one, before he let a reporter who was not Karen get a third question. They asked for more details about how he'd gotten the package, and seemed to wonder why he hadn't been able to just tell where it was from. Stark's answer that it had been FedExed and the feds were probably better suited to look into that was fair enough. Though Foggy would've liked it had he addressed whether that would even be his job at all anymore.
Another softball later, he called on Karen again. While commenting that he was running low on time, so this was probably going to be her last one. Foggy thought she heard the slightest of pauses, while Karen decided which question she wanted to ask.
She went with, "This decimating of the Avengers means that even if you never don your suit again, your increased influence on every action they take is indisputable. Have you thought about what you will do if they are ordered to do something anyone with a conscience would recognize as wrong? You can't pretend there's no risk of that, not when the UN and its bodies have done morally wrong things in the past."
Just from the expression on Stark's face, Foggy could visualize exactly how Karen was looking at him. She was daring him to give another obvious answer, the one that would make him sound like a fool at best and a liar at worst.
Perhaps she should've realized Stark would maneuver at least a little during this battle. "I have thought about it," he said. "I have thought about it every day since I first heard the world's nations might be negotiating a treaty about all this. And the truth is, I don't know what would happen. I've been in enough bad situations at this point to say you can only plan so much for them anyway. But I have also seen enough, heard enough, and been through enough to say you can never have a system or arrangement where it's not possible for things to go horribly wrong. Let's face it, it's possible it could even happen to our presidency this November.
So," he finished, with just the right hint of righteous anger and determination in his voice, "is it possible the Sokovia Accords could lead to something truly awful happening? Yes, of course it is. Do I still think they're currently the best option? Yes, I do. Next question."
The last three questions of the conference did at least follow up on Karen's, and Stark's response to it. One excited reporter asked if he really still thought it was the best option considering the whole thing where it was already threatening to deprive people of their due process rights. Stark's shutting her down didn't really make him look good. Riley Thomas asked if he had any even half-plans in place for the Avengers receiving morally wrong orders, and he said something weak-sounding about talking with the others about it. The last reporter naturally asked why they hadn't talked about it already, and he rattled off some talk about focusing on Rhodes' recovery and there not being many of them left at the moment.
When it was done, Marci said, "Is that the first time Karen's gone up against a guy with that kind of profile? I think she did pretty well, when you factor that in." It might have seemed less insulting of her, if Foggy hadn't known her, and known her tones of voice.
The sad thing was, she'd done good work, with her first two questions. She hadn't even done too badly with the third, especially when her fellow reporters had followed up on it. But the only thing most people would remember would be Stark's heartfelt answer to it, the big clipable moment where she would come off as the villain for just presuming him a heartless enabler of the powerful when he really wasn't.
Foggy arrived home with a text from Matt on her phone telling her not to wait up for him. Which could potentially be related to multiple matters he was justified in not talking to her about at the moment. She didn't expect to hear much that night from Karen, either. They'd exchanged a handful of texts after she'd returned to the office and been debriefed by Ellison, who obviously wasn't happy with her, but he wasn't exactly surprised, obviously, and he'd even said he'd defend her, if need be. Which meant she still had to buckle down and do a lot of writing that night.
And Foggy herself also had plenty of professional work to do. The amount of hours she'd recently spent dealing with the Liebermans hadn't helped that situation. She thought she might be awake for Matt's return without staying up purely for his sake.
The first hour or so, things went as expected. She got takeout from the Thai place nearby, and continued to work as she ate. She dealt with several motions, which was good, but then there was one that gave her the start of a headache. At one point a clatter outside made her jump, but a quick glance outside indicated it was just a kid who had knocked some stuff down, probably by accident; nothing to do with Daredevil.
It was just starting to get late when she got a call from Colleen. As soon as she saw who is was from, she hastily picked up with, "Is everything okay? Is Danny with the Liebermans right now? Has something happened to them?"
"Yes, yes, and no," said Colleen. "Well, as far as I know, anyway. Honestly, Foggy, if you're busy right now, I can call back later. This isn't anything important."
Foggy probably should have taken her up on that offer. But something about the way Colleen had said that last sentence made her pause, and instead say, "I can take a few minutes." A break from this kind of legalese might not be a bad idea anyway.
"Okay, it's just that...I just went out. With Danny over in Queens tonight I thought I'd better. Yeah, I don't have any superpowers, but I figured I could at least intimidate some muggers or something; I'm good enough at doing that. I didn't even find anything anyway."
"Are you worried you missed something?" Foggy asked. "Doesn't Danny have stuff set up to monitor Manhattan?"
"He's working on it. It's not running yet. Not to mention we're discussed the ethical implications of his plan, although I don’t think that’s going to stop him, ultimately. But I don’t think it’s even..." She paused briefly. "Danny's been going back and forth about coming forward, signing the Accords, that whole thing. Talked with Jeri about it, though I don’t know just what they'd said to each other. Of course he's got superpowers, so in his case, there’s no question he's supposed to. I think that alone means he’s going to have to."
"Probably," said Foggy. "What with how many people already have some idea of it, especially. I'm sure she's told him that."'
"Yeah," said Colleen. "But meanwhile, I’ve been wondering. What am I doing? I've been thinking a lot of the time I should retire, which would make this easy enough, I know. But I don't know."
"I don"t think you should retire just for that," Foggy found herself saying, because she really didn't. Though knowing what she did about Colleen's history, she didn't think that was what was happening.
Sure enough, Colleen responded, "I wouldn't be. I've been thinking about it anyway. I'm not going to get into it right now, but...yeah, I think I should do it. But..."
"It's hard?" Foggy guessed. "Look, maybe you should talk with Matt about this..."
"I know, I know, he's the one who's been there. But that's the problem, Foggy. His view's hopelessly shaped by that. And Jessica and Luke wouldn't good people to talk to, either."
Foggy saw her point, but she had to say, "I'm not an objective voice on this either, Colleen. I mean, unless you were hoping specifically I'd talk you into it? Not that I think I even would, necessarily." She didn't blame Colleen for thinking she would, though. That would've been her first assumption, too.
"Maybe..." Colleen sighed. "Or maybe I just want you to say I can still do good in more normal ways, even if I'm definitely never going to be a lawyer. I've been thinking of doing volunteer work, that sort of thing. Maybe not entirely unlike what I used to do, except for real this time."
"I'd be in favor of that, definitely," said Foggy. "And if you can't find a place to take you in Chinatown, I can recommend you to ones in Hell's Kitchen. Or Claire probably could to somewhere in Harlem."
"You really have to network to get a volunteer job these days?" Colleen did not sound surprised. Merely very unimpressed.
"I'm afraid so, dear girl." Foggy took a moment to recall of couple of the stories she'd heard of her cousins trying to get volunteer work, and not being wanted anywhere. "I know you've dealt with the horrors of the Hand and such, but now you have to deal with the horrors of the mundane."
"Tell me about it. I was already handling all the paperwork and such related to owning and running the dojo, but I honestly never realized how much the Hand was doing for me behind the scenes. Honestly, don't be surprised if I end up calling you again the in fall for your help in getting me registered to vote, because I kind of really want to do that, for obvious reasons."
Foggy wouldn't be. She’d already heard a little bit about the number of hours Jeri had spent getting Danny registered. "You know," she said, "if you would be required to register for the Accords, you should automatically get to register to vote without any trouble at all. Well, I suppose you still have to be a citizen, but you got yourself naturalized, passed the tests and everything fair and square, right?" Well, she supposed the Hand had probably been involved with getting her into the country originally. But she knew she'd done everything else above board.
How would the world react, she wondered, to a superpowered voter registration drive? There ought to be one, now that there were laws specifically affecting them like this. At least once there were enough of them, and with the increasing number of Inhumans, there might be already.
"I suppose I accepted this situation when I went against my bosses," Colleen was saying. "And right now, it's an improvement. And that's not that likely to change, right?"
"No," said Foggy, because the odds still felt against that. Though she was uncomfortably aware, in that moment, that what with everything going on, it no longer felt impossible that it could.
"Anyway, thanks for talking to me, Foggy. I'm feeling better for it."
"Anytime," Foggy assured her, and they said goodbye.
She kept on working after that, and finished dealing with another motion. But she felt more distracted now, thoughts going to Colleen and Danny both, and how this had to be a very long night for both of them. It left her all the more anxious for Matt to return as well.
At some point she must have nodded off at her laptop, because she woke to Matt gently nudging her awake. "Hey," he said softly. "It's..."
Foggy tapped her laptop to quickly check the time. "12:41," she finished. She pulled herself up and looked her husband over. He was dressed only in sweatpants, so no indication of what he'd been doing there, but he didn't seem to have any blood on him, and he looked neither particularly sweaty nor recently washed.
"Productive night?" she asked. "Or should I not ask?"
"Middling," said Matt. "Come on, get your head on a proper pillow before you get a backache strong enough for me to hear it."
Foggy has her nightdress mostly on when Matt leaned in behind her and pressed his head into her neck, and inhaled. He didn't necessarily mean anything by it, especially not if he'd waited until she'd buttoned almost everything up, but it was still a little sad that it wasn't doing a thing for her at the moment. Which Matt could tell, of course. He stayed there for a moment anyway, no doubt taking comfort from the strength of her scent, which she was still glad for. Then he just asked, "What"s on your mind? The Liebermans?"
"Among other things," Foggy said. Colleen's conversation with her she would keep to herself, of course, but she found herself asking, "Does it makes you feel different from the others, that noone knows who you are? That you're living this mundane life as well, with all its ordinary humdrum?"
"Well, our day life isn't exactly boring, is it? Especially now, though I've never found this job all that boring, unless I've got a truly ridiculous amount of similar documents to read or listen through."
"True, but..." Foggy found herself groping for her point. Maybe she was too tired for this right now. "It's still different. And I feel like it's going to feel even more different now."
"I know." Matt pulled back then, and she turned around as he sat down on the bed. "But even if I could come forward without being arrested, I honestly don’t think I'd want to. I wouldn't want to walk down the street with everyone looking at me and reacting. Well, they tend to anyway, a little bit, but being a superhero is probably much worse than being blind in that respect."
Foggy could definitely understand that sentiment. As she crawled under the sheets, Matt moving to join her, she found herself commenting, "You know, I don't think anyone's even gotten to the conversation about the Accords and privacy rights, except maybe for superpowered juveniles."
"I only wish that could help our cases," sighed Matt. They both knew in the times they were currently living in, it wouldn't.
The press coverage went all too much as Foggy had expected. Every article started with what Stark had said about Rogers contacting him, and ended with the final quote he had given Karen. Even her own article from the Bulletin did so. Foggy considered asking if she'd put it in herself or the editor had, but that just felt like too depressing a conversation to have at the moment. She had, of course, pointed out the weakness of his other answers related to the power of the Accords, but not many other articles did.
She also awoke to an email from Danny. Mostly it was about the Liebermans, and the three of them he had been sent to protect in particular. They were holding up surprisingly well, he said. The son was even behaving better than he had in weeks, according to his mother. He had also sent an email to Matt, with this same information. In his email to Foggy, he had also written, "Thanks for hearing Colleen out last night. I think she's feeling a little embarrassed about it right now, so she might not bring it up, but I know she's grateful. We're probably both going to also talk with Luke about everything." Foggy found herself hoping Colleen would talk with Claire as well.
By the time she got to the office, she was tempted to actively avoid talking to Marci, but she didn't have to; she was busy enough with her own things. Even so, the previous day's conference remained the talk of the firm. Cheryl told her the PAs all sympathized with Karen. Their bosses were another matter.
The biggest surprise of that day was the email from Pepper early in the afternoon. She simply wrote, "For the record, no hard feelings. From either of us." Foggy found she more or less believed her. She even took comfort in the thought that if she had that kind of gauge on Stark’s feelings, that probably meant the two of them were in a good place with each other, at least.
Title: Habeas for Superheroes
Part: 13: Page versus Stark
Fandom: Daredevil/Avengers
Characters: Matt/Foggy, Karen, Tony Stark, Colleen Wing
Disclaimer: Now Disney owns them.
Warning: Discussion of MCU Civil War events
Note: Third installment in my Femme!Foggy series.
Foggy entered the offices of Hogarth, Chao, and Benowitz to find much of the firm gathered in their reception area, eyes on the TV. "...have noticed before," Stark was saying on it, "that Captain Rogers, while viewing himself as a man of the people and perhaps often genuinely being so, nonetheless would see himself as knowing better than them or their elected institutions. I would like to state, for the record, that I believe he was sound of mind and very much believed he was doing the right thing-up until Sergeant Barnes became the primary suspect in the bombing. I am convinced that he then had a rare instance of his feelings overriding his ideals, as well as his basic sense."
As she went to join Marci, as well as both Cheryl and Jose, Foggy took a quick glance over her fellow lawyers. They were generally the type to buy these kind of lines completely, and she could tell that most of them had done so. Even Marci looked a little swayed. The two PAs both had their poker faces on.
"I was invited to visit the Raft by Secretary Ross a couple of days after the airport fight," Stark was continuing. "Of course my priority at the time was Rhodey, so it took me a few more days to get there. Also for the record, that was the first I heard of its existence. You've all heard, I hope, my company's statements that we weren't involved in building it. Also, I wasn't happy when I saw the setup. I even expressed my concerns, as a citizen, to Ross face to face. I think his response is officially classified; it wasn't anything interesting anyway, concerns noted, blah blah blah."
Next to them Jose chuckled. Foggy wished she could do the same.
"Although I'm pretty sure they were already drafting the charges against them by then. In fact, I believe part of Ross' reason for inviting me there was the hope that I could be an influence in possibly negotiating plea deals, though if you've seen the leaked video, you'll know that hope didn't pan out. I didn't talk to them very long." Maybe it was just Foggy's imagination that he cut that sentence off, in order to leave out whatever he then left out.
"As you've no doubt heard, there was a bit of a delay before the government was able to give me the full details about the breakout while it was happening, and given how fast it went, I may not have been able to help much anyway. Rhodey and I had by then moved upstate, where conditions were more ideal for his recovery, and the breaking in of his new legs." He then went a little into Rhodes' progress there, most of which had too much medical/technobabble for Foggy to understand, but apparently he was walking by himself. "That's as much as he's given me permission to disclose," he finished. "I think he's likely to talk to you himself about the rest when he's ready."
By then a couple of people in the office were starting to move off. It made sense; this was definitely seeming like he was going to rattle off a couple more diplomatic lines, and then open the floor for questions. Foggy started to brace herself.
But instead, he said, "There is one more thing I am finally ready to make public, one thing I have already reported to the government, although the timing of things were such that again I was only able to manage it after the breakout. On the day that it happened, I received a package from Steve Rogers." A shocked murmur filled the press room, as well as the reception area, and who knew how many other crowded rooms around the world.
"He returned to me his shield," Stark continued, raising his voice, "and wrote me a letter. I have, of course, allowed the authorities to analyze it. I don't think anyone else needs to know everything he wrote, because honestly, a lot of it was pretty personal and between the two of us. He did make sure to say, however, that he would come to our aid if we needed him. Make of that what you will.
The shield was, of course, made by my father, which I think may be the reason he let me have it. I have kept it in my custody for now, while I consult with an attorney on the matter of possibly being its rightful owner." Foggy heard a couple of snorts. She herself wasn't the biggest expert on public contracts, especially not from the 1940s, but she was pretty damn sure the government had locked down their ownership on every object Howard Stark had crafted for the war effort. Hell, there was no way his son didn't know that. Did he seriously think he could get the better of their lawyers, she wondered, if did he just feel like he had to try?
"That," he finished, "is the last I have heard from any of my former colleagues who have now gone rogue. Like everyone else, I urge them to turn themselves in, though honestly, there's no way in hell they will. If you're listening, guys, I will repeat I really am sorry it came to this, but I can't regret supporting something to reign us in, and if you think about it at all, you should realize why. For those of you who did show up today, you can now ask questions."
Of course Karen's hand wasn't going to be the only one who went up. Even so, when Stark visibly turned his head and stared at one point for a moment or so, Foggy was pretty sure he was looking straight at her; she'd developed a reputation, after all. Then he turned again and called on someone else. This was one battle that was going to be dragged out and paused throughout.
The first two people he called on asked about the future of the Avengers and if he knew whether the government was still willing to make any plea deals. Neither of his answers there were terribly informative. Foggy wouldn't have expected them to be. It didn't even make sense for him to have any knowledge when it came to that second question. Karen would've known better than to ask it.
No doubt knowing he couldn't ignore her forever, Stark called on her next. On hearing her, "Karen Page, New York Bulletin," Foggy heard several of her companions murmur, and Cheryl might have grinned slightly. "You say," she started with, "that you supported the Sovokia Accords because of the provisions it put on you and the Avengers. But that's only a small part of a very large treaty. Have you read the rest of it? Are you aware of all the provisions that apply to every enhanced individual on this planet, some of them regardless of whether their country has ratified the Accords or not, that limit, in some cases, their basic human rights? And do you have anything to say about the common knowledge that they are now being used to deny all superpowered Americans the due process rights our Constitution is supposed to guarantee us?"
"I think I've addressed most of this already," said Stark, which was technically true, but only technically. "As I said just now, I've expressed my concerns about the Raft directly to the Secretary of State. I can't really do much if he won't listen. I certainly don't think we should be depriving every enhanced person on the street of due process, but I think it's a little early to be condemning all the world governments for plans they're still only starting to put into motion, and we haven't really seen yet how they're going to play out."
Oh, tear him apart, Karen, Foggy thought.
Of course, she had to wait to do so; Stark then called on a fourth reporter. Though he probably regretted his choice of which one when a certain Riley Thomas from London's Times promptly asked about the probability that Barnes would've just been shot dead in his home if Rogers hadn't intervened. They all heard his, "We can't know that, especially when they ultimately did take him alive," which sounded just as weak as it would. Also, there was a bit more distress in Stark's voice than one might expect, when Barnes wasn't someone he'd ever actually known.
Indeed, it was three more questions before he called on Karen again, and he probably only recovered during them because two of them were softballs. The third was from a Wall Street Journal reporter who mostly pointed out the likelihood the shield was locked-down government property, to which Stark could only repeat he was consulting with his lawyers about it.
Karen's next question was, "The Raft may have been built without your involvement or knowledge, but now that you know about it, are your taking a look at or reconsidering any of Stark Industries' other contracts with the government, to make sure you are not complacent in anything most people would recognize as unethical?"
The response Stark had to give to that had already been obvious: "That's not my final decision anymore. However, let me remind you that a company cannot just back out of contracts because we've suddenly decided we don't like what our contractee's doing. We will honor our commitments in accordance with common business ethics." He had to know, Foggy was sure, how bad an impression that made with a significant number of this press conference's current viewers.
Someone else then asked a completely uncalled-for question about Wanda, and how had she really been behaving, and had there been any signs of her still being a threat after all. The way that asshole talked about her made Foggy really want to reach through the TV and punch him. To his credit, Stark said that he still didn't think she'd been one before all this had happened, and that what had happened in Laos had very obviously been an accident. "The problem really wasn't any of us individually," he said. "The problem was our all acting with impunity, and honestly, I think we all share the blame for that. Wanda might actually share less of it, since she was very much doing as the rest of us told her."
Foggy saw him look in Karen's direction again, before calling on two other reporters to ask second questions, which was fair enough. The second one asked if he had any idea where Rogers and the others were. Foggy was sure everyone would thoroughly dissect Stark's quick, "Not a clue. Yeah, you at the end."
The woman he'd called on, a reporter from WHiH who hadn't asked any questions yet, asked him if he thought Wanda was being scapegoated by everyone because she wasn't a U.S. citizen. Which was definitely losing a genuine nuance or two from the actual situation. Which Stark probably could've pointed out. That he instead refused to comment got Foggy mad at him again.
One of the reporters who'd tossed a softball got to toss another one, before he let a reporter who was not Karen get a third question. They asked for more details about how he'd gotten the package, and seemed to wonder why he hadn't been able to just tell where it was from. Stark's answer that it had been FedExed and the feds were probably better suited to look into that was fair enough. Though Foggy would've liked it had he addressed whether that would even be his job at all anymore.
Another softball later, he called on Karen again. While commenting that he was running low on time, so this was probably going to be her last one. Foggy thought she heard the slightest of pauses, while Karen decided which question she wanted to ask.
She went with, "This decimating of the Avengers means that even if you never don your suit again, your increased influence on every action they take is indisputable. Have you thought about what you will do if they are ordered to do something anyone with a conscience would recognize as wrong? You can't pretend there's no risk of that, not when the UN and its bodies have done morally wrong things in the past."
Just from the expression on Stark's face, Foggy could visualize exactly how Karen was looking at him. She was daring him to give another obvious answer, the one that would make him sound like a fool at best and a liar at worst.
Perhaps she should've realized Stark would maneuver at least a little during this battle. "I have thought about it," he said. "I have thought about it every day since I first heard the world's nations might be negotiating a treaty about all this. And the truth is, I don't know what would happen. I've been in enough bad situations at this point to say you can only plan so much for them anyway. But I have also seen enough, heard enough, and been through enough to say you can never have a system or arrangement where it's not possible for things to go horribly wrong. Let's face it, it's possible it could even happen to our presidency this November.
So," he finished, with just the right hint of righteous anger and determination in his voice, "is it possible the Sokovia Accords could lead to something truly awful happening? Yes, of course it is. Do I still think they're currently the best option? Yes, I do. Next question."
The last three questions of the conference did at least follow up on Karen's, and Stark's response to it. One excited reporter asked if he really still thought it was the best option considering the whole thing where it was already threatening to deprive people of their due process rights. Stark's shutting her down didn't really make him look good. Riley Thomas asked if he had any even half-plans in place for the Avengers receiving morally wrong orders, and he said something weak-sounding about talking with the others about it. The last reporter naturally asked why they hadn't talked about it already, and he rattled off some talk about focusing on Rhodes' recovery and there not being many of them left at the moment.
When it was done, Marci said, "Is that the first time Karen's gone up against a guy with that kind of profile? I think she did pretty well, when you factor that in." It might have seemed less insulting of her, if Foggy hadn't known her, and known her tones of voice.
The sad thing was, she'd done good work, with her first two questions. She hadn't even done too badly with the third, especially when her fellow reporters had followed up on it. But the only thing most people would remember would be Stark's heartfelt answer to it, the big clipable moment where she would come off as the villain for just presuming him a heartless enabler of the powerful when he really wasn't.
That Evening
Foggy arrived home with a text from Matt on her phone telling her not to wait up for him. Which could potentially be related to multiple matters he was justified in not talking to her about at the moment. She didn't expect to hear much that night from Karen, either. They'd exchanged a handful of texts after she'd returned to the office and been debriefed by Ellison, who obviously wasn't happy with her, but he wasn't exactly surprised, obviously, and he'd even said he'd defend her, if need be. Which meant she still had to buckle down and do a lot of writing that night.
And Foggy herself also had plenty of professional work to do. The amount of hours she'd recently spent dealing with the Liebermans hadn't helped that situation. She thought she might be awake for Matt's return without staying up purely for his sake.
The first hour or so, things went as expected. She got takeout from the Thai place nearby, and continued to work as she ate. She dealt with several motions, which was good, but then there was one that gave her the start of a headache. At one point a clatter outside made her jump, but a quick glance outside indicated it was just a kid who had knocked some stuff down, probably by accident; nothing to do with Daredevil.
It was just starting to get late when she got a call from Colleen. As soon as she saw who is was from, she hastily picked up with, "Is everything okay? Is Danny with the Liebermans right now? Has something happened to them?"
"Yes, yes, and no," said Colleen. "Well, as far as I know, anyway. Honestly, Foggy, if you're busy right now, I can call back later. This isn't anything important."
Foggy probably should have taken her up on that offer. But something about the way Colleen had said that last sentence made her pause, and instead say, "I can take a few minutes." A break from this kind of legalese might not be a bad idea anyway.
"Okay, it's just that...I just went out. With Danny over in Queens tonight I thought I'd better. Yeah, I don't have any superpowers, but I figured I could at least intimidate some muggers or something; I'm good enough at doing that. I didn't even find anything anyway."
"Are you worried you missed something?" Foggy asked. "Doesn't Danny have stuff set up to monitor Manhattan?"
"He's working on it. It's not running yet. Not to mention we're discussed the ethical implications of his plan, although I don’t think that’s going to stop him, ultimately. But I don’t think it’s even..." She paused briefly. "Danny's been going back and forth about coming forward, signing the Accords, that whole thing. Talked with Jeri about it, though I don’t know just what they'd said to each other. Of course he's got superpowers, so in his case, there’s no question he's supposed to. I think that alone means he’s going to have to."
"Probably," said Foggy. "What with how many people already have some idea of it, especially. I'm sure she's told him that."'
"Yeah," said Colleen. "But meanwhile, I’ve been wondering. What am I doing? I've been thinking a lot of the time I should retire, which would make this easy enough, I know. But I don't know."
"I don"t think you should retire just for that," Foggy found herself saying, because she really didn't. Though knowing what she did about Colleen's history, she didn't think that was what was happening.
Sure enough, Colleen responded, "I wouldn't be. I've been thinking about it anyway. I'm not going to get into it right now, but...yeah, I think I should do it. But..."
"It's hard?" Foggy guessed. "Look, maybe you should talk with Matt about this..."
"I know, I know, he's the one who's been there. But that's the problem, Foggy. His view's hopelessly shaped by that. And Jessica and Luke wouldn't good people to talk to, either."
Foggy saw her point, but she had to say, "I'm not an objective voice on this either, Colleen. I mean, unless you were hoping specifically I'd talk you into it? Not that I think I even would, necessarily." She didn't blame Colleen for thinking she would, though. That would've been her first assumption, too.
"Maybe..." Colleen sighed. "Or maybe I just want you to say I can still do good in more normal ways, even if I'm definitely never going to be a lawyer. I've been thinking of doing volunteer work, that sort of thing. Maybe not entirely unlike what I used to do, except for real this time."
"I'd be in favor of that, definitely," said Foggy. "And if you can't find a place to take you in Chinatown, I can recommend you to ones in Hell's Kitchen. Or Claire probably could to somewhere in Harlem."
"You really have to network to get a volunteer job these days?" Colleen did not sound surprised. Merely very unimpressed.
"I'm afraid so, dear girl." Foggy took a moment to recall of couple of the stories she'd heard of her cousins trying to get volunteer work, and not being wanted anywhere. "I know you've dealt with the horrors of the Hand and such, but now you have to deal with the horrors of the mundane."
"Tell me about it. I was already handling all the paperwork and such related to owning and running the dojo, but I honestly never realized how much the Hand was doing for me behind the scenes. Honestly, don't be surprised if I end up calling you again the in fall for your help in getting me registered to vote, because I kind of really want to do that, for obvious reasons."
Foggy wouldn't be. She’d already heard a little bit about the number of hours Jeri had spent getting Danny registered. "You know," she said, "if you would be required to register for the Accords, you should automatically get to register to vote without any trouble at all. Well, I suppose you still have to be a citizen, but you got yourself naturalized, passed the tests and everything fair and square, right?" Well, she supposed the Hand had probably been involved with getting her into the country originally. But she knew she'd done everything else above board.
How would the world react, she wondered, to a superpowered voter registration drive? There ought to be one, now that there were laws specifically affecting them like this. At least once there were enough of them, and with the increasing number of Inhumans, there might be already.
"I suppose I accepted this situation when I went against my bosses," Colleen was saying. "And right now, it's an improvement. And that's not that likely to change, right?"
"No," said Foggy, because the odds still felt against that. Though she was uncomfortably aware, in that moment, that what with everything going on, it no longer felt impossible that it could.
"Anyway, thanks for talking to me, Foggy. I'm feeling better for it."
"Anytime," Foggy assured her, and they said goodbye.
She kept on working after that, and finished dealing with another motion. But she felt more distracted now, thoughts going to Colleen and Danny both, and how this had to be a very long night for both of them. It left her all the more anxious for Matt to return as well.
At some point she must have nodded off at her laptop, because she woke to Matt gently nudging her awake. "Hey," he said softly. "It's..."
Foggy tapped her laptop to quickly check the time. "12:41," she finished. She pulled herself up and looked her husband over. He was dressed only in sweatpants, so no indication of what he'd been doing there, but he didn't seem to have any blood on him, and he looked neither particularly sweaty nor recently washed.
"Productive night?" she asked. "Or should I not ask?"
"Middling," said Matt. "Come on, get your head on a proper pillow before you get a backache strong enough for me to hear it."
Foggy has her nightdress mostly on when Matt leaned in behind her and pressed his head into her neck, and inhaled. He didn't necessarily mean anything by it, especially not if he'd waited until she'd buttoned almost everything up, but it was still a little sad that it wasn't doing a thing for her at the moment. Which Matt could tell, of course. He stayed there for a moment anyway, no doubt taking comfort from the strength of her scent, which she was still glad for. Then he just asked, "What"s on your mind? The Liebermans?"
"Among other things," Foggy said. Colleen's conversation with her she would keep to herself, of course, but she found herself asking, "Does it makes you feel different from the others, that noone knows who you are? That you're living this mundane life as well, with all its ordinary humdrum?"
"Well, our day life isn't exactly boring, is it? Especially now, though I've never found this job all that boring, unless I've got a truly ridiculous amount of similar documents to read or listen through."
"True, but..." Foggy found herself groping for her point. Maybe she was too tired for this right now. "It's still different. And I feel like it's going to feel even more different now."
"I know." Matt pulled back then, and she turned around as he sat down on the bed. "But even if I could come forward without being arrested, I honestly don’t think I'd want to. I wouldn't want to walk down the street with everyone looking at me and reacting. Well, they tend to anyway, a little bit, but being a superhero is probably much worse than being blind in that respect."
Foggy could definitely understand that sentiment. As she crawled under the sheets, Matt moving to join her, she found herself commenting, "You know, I don't think anyone's even gotten to the conversation about the Accords and privacy rights, except maybe for superpowered juveniles."
"I only wish that could help our cases," sighed Matt. They both knew in the times they were currently living in, it wouldn't.
The Next Morning
The press coverage went all too much as Foggy had expected. Every article started with what Stark had said about Rogers contacting him, and ended with the final quote he had given Karen. Even her own article from the Bulletin did so. Foggy considered asking if she'd put it in herself or the editor had, but that just felt like too depressing a conversation to have at the moment. She had, of course, pointed out the weakness of his other answers related to the power of the Accords, but not many other articles did.
She also awoke to an email from Danny. Mostly it was about the Liebermans, and the three of them he had been sent to protect in particular. They were holding up surprisingly well, he said. The son was even behaving better than he had in weeks, according to his mother. He had also sent an email to Matt, with this same information. In his email to Foggy, he had also written, "Thanks for hearing Colleen out last night. I think she's feeling a little embarrassed about it right now, so she might not bring it up, but I know she's grateful. We're probably both going to also talk with Luke about everything." Foggy found herself hoping Colleen would talk with Claire as well.
By the time she got to the office, she was tempted to actively avoid talking to Marci, but she didn't have to; she was busy enough with her own things. Even so, the previous day's conference remained the talk of the firm. Cheryl told her the PAs all sympathized with Karen. Their bosses were another matter.
The biggest surprise of that day was the email from Pepper early in the afternoon. She simply wrote, "For the record, no hard feelings. From either of us." Foggy found she more or less believed her. She even took comfort in the thought that if she had that kind of gauge on Stark’s feelings, that probably meant the two of them were in a good place with each other, at least.
