Then we were two

Addy tiptoed from her room in her father's home in New York. It always amazed her a little bit when JARVIS didn't rat her out but she was not about to question that and ruin it. They'd moved in nearly a month ago and despite many attempts by miss Decro no one had actually come to take her. This didn't keep the little girl from tensing and expecting the worst any time anyone official visited her father.

This fear had led her into her current activities the moment JARVIS had informed her that her father had company. She held her breath as before peeking around the corner only to let it out with an excited rush at the site before her. "Uncle Phil!" The girl rocketed from her position toward the familiar agent, launching herself into his arms for a hug. "How was New Mexico?"

Phil held her on his hip and ruffled her dark hair, "New Mexico was good, hot. How were the streets? Didn't join any gangs in the time it took Stark to catch up, did you?"

Tony mentally insisted he wasn't in fact jealous of the bond they seemed to share. He and Addy were...fine. They weren't great and they weren't exactly making what he'd consider daily improvement but things were ok. He knew she didn't trust him, saw the fear in her eyes with every  visitor. Tony just wasn't certain how to go about mending it. They'd only just begun making  progress before that mistake he tried not to think about. So, yeah, kid didn't hate him but she clearly wasn't eager to go running into his arm. He was definitely not pouting ok!

Addy giggled, the sound only further cementing Tony's, not jealousy, and shook her head. "Is he in trouble again?"

"No, not this time," the man shook his head.

"I'll call a nanny this time shall I?" Pepper whispered with a small grin.

Addy scowled, "nanny? Why do I need a nanny? Where are you guys going?"

Tony cringed and glanced pleadingly toward Pepper, "Uh, agent here needs iron man. We're not having a repeat of the expo."

"I'm sorry kiddo, I've gotta catch a flight to D.C. tonight," Pepper added. "It will be ok, promise. I'll find you someone great!"

"You're leaving me? Both of you?"

Tony visibly paled, "not like that kid, just not putting you in danger again. You'll be fine, I'll check in lots and you'll have Jarvis and whoever Pep hires, promise."

"Fine," the girl sighed, avoiding his gaze. "You'll make sure he comes back? Promise uncle Phil?"

"Promise munchkin," he nodded firmly. "Now, shouldn't you be asleep?"

"She was," Tony muttered defensively, going ignored.

"Really did a number on that kid didn't you Stark?" The man scolded quietly as he boarded the elevator to leave.

Pepper kissed his cheek, "I'll have someone in by morning to watch Addy, try and get some rest yeah? Before you go off heroing?"

"Sure thing Pep," Stark replied, neither of them fooled by the lie.

__________

He shouldn't have been surprised really. Naturally the unattainable mark of perfection, the paragon of goodness and righteousness that he'd found himself held up against and found lacking throughout his childhood would take one look at him and agree with all previous assessments. Why the hell not? Naturally captain perfection would see Tony's every flaw and be repelled.

Tony responded to it as he always did, bravado and sarcasm dripping from every word. If it only served to convince his, apparent, team leader his initial assessment was correct well old habits and all that right?

It didn't help that his mind was elsewhere. He'd video chatted with Addy after they'd brought Loki in. Missing the debriefing and no doubt adding another dark mark against himself but it was worth it. Addy was worth it. Tony was determined to convince his daughter of that fact, Avengers and rest of the world be damned.

Tony stared down at his phone in his lap and huffed a small exasperated laugh.

"It's late kiddo, why aren't you asleep?"

...

Those three tell tale dots danced across the bottom of his screen pausing and beginning again in what he knew to mean addy was starting and stopping repeatedly.

"I saw you on the news." Was the eventual reply.

"Went down fine Addy. We got em."

"Coming home soon?"

Stark smiled, that was probably as close to an I miss you as he was gonna get from his daughter in the near future.

"Planning on joining us any time soon Stark?" Fury snapped, drawing Tony's attention up from his phone. "you're supposed to be locating the tesseract."

"We are, the models locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit you'll have the location within half a mile." Bruce defended.

"Yeah then you'll get your cube back no muss no fuss." Tony finished for him as if they'd been friends for years. "What is phase two?"

Rogers came in suddenly slamming what looked like some sort of giant gun onto a lab table. "Phase two is shield uses the cube to make weapons!" Steve snapped at Fury angrily before glancing towards Tony, "sorry the computer was moving a little slow for me."

Nick approached the captain attempting a reassuring tone, "Rogers we gathered everything related to the tesseract this does not mean..." He began.

"I'm sorry nick what were you lying?" Tony asked as he spun the computer screen around.

"I was wrong director, the world hasn't changed a bit." Steve said disappointment in shield and the world as a whole evident in his voice.

Bruce's head spun to the door as Thor and Natasha walked in, "did you know about this?" He asked the black widow accusingly.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment dr?" She questioned ignoring his query.

Bruce scoffed, "I was in Calcutta I was pretty well removed."

"Lokis manipulating you." Natasha insisted moving to approach Banner.

Bruce eyed her incredulously, "And you've been doing what exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you." Natasha defended.

"Yes and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy." He replied in a tense tone, "I'd like to know why shield is using the tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction?" He asked pointed towards plans now on display on the computer screens.

Fury pointed accusingly at Thor, "because of him."

Thor leveled the director with a baffled stare, "me?"

"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town." Fury stated annoyed at having to explain himself. "We learned that we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor replied still puzzled.

"But you're not the only people out there are you?" Fury insisted, "the world is filling up with people that can't be matched that can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve pointed out.

"Your work with the tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his alleys. It is a signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war!" Thor responded his voice taking on a commanding tone.

"A higher form?" Steve questioned hating the implications.

"You forced our hand we had to come up with something." Nick defended.

"A nuclear deterrent, because that always calms everything right down." Tony put in sarcastically.

Fury turned to him annoyed, "remind me again how you made your fortune stark?"

"I'm sure if he still made weapons stark would be neck deep..." Steve joined in.

"Wait wait hold on how is this now about me?" Tony started. He knew what he'd been, no one could say anything about the things he'd created and how they'd been used that he hadn't already told himself.

"I'm sorry isn't everything?" Steve retorted.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this." Thor scoffed earning himself a glare from Fury.

"Excuse me did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" The director retorted.

"You treat your champions with such mistrust!" Thor snapped in disgust.

"Are you guys really that naive? Shield monitors potential threats." Black widow interjected.

Bruce eyed her in disbelief, "captain America's on the threat watch?"

"We all are." She replied as if it meant nothing.

Tension was growing to a tangible level in the lab and Tony wished he'd left once they'd set the tracking algorithm. He could be doing parental stuff like telling the kid she was up too late and asking what she'd had for dinner. You know, super hypocritical do as I say not as I do stuff.

"You speak of control yet you court chaos." Thor continued to argue.

"Well that's his m.o. Isn't it?" Bruce began in his quiet voice, "I mean what are we a team? No we're a chemical mixture that makes chaos, we're, we're a time bomb."

"You need to step away." Nick said as he stepped nearer to the Dr.

"Why shouldn't the guy blow off a little steam?!" Tony insisted obnoxiously.

"You know damn well why!" Steve snapped, "back off!"

"Oh I'm starting to want you to make me!" Tony replied finally truly becoming annoyed.

Steve began circling him seeming to size him up, "big man in a suit of armor take that away and what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Stark replied smugly. Like hell he'd let this smug bastard get to him.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you." Steve replied. "I've seen the footage the only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play to lay down on the wire and let the other guy crawl over you." Steve continued.

"Personally I think I would just cut the wire." Tony responded logically. Who exactly thought sacrificing people to get over a wire was a good idea? What was wrong with working smarter not harder?

"Always a way out." Steve replied hotly, "you know you may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

A lifetime of resentment seemed to well up in Tony then. "A hero? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle." Tony snapped angrily.

"Put on the suit lets go a few rounds." Steve challenged.

Thor laughed mockingly, "you people are so petty, and tiny."

"Yeah this is a team," Bruce said sarcastically.

"Agent romanoff would you please escort dr banner back to his.." Fury began.

"Where? You rented my room." Bruce replied the resentment at having a cage reserved for him effectively hidden from the others.

"The cell was just.."

"In case you needed to kill me but you can't. I know I tired!" Bruce interrupted.

The room seemed to freeze at his statement, all eyes suddenly fixed on Bruce with varying emotions.

"I got low I didn't see an end so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it back out! So I moved on I focused on helping other people I was good." Bruce defended himself from the saddened expressions directed at him around the room, "Until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk you wanna know my secret agent romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"

Director Fury and Natasha both moved towards their weapons.

"Dr banner, put down the scepter." Steve ordered.

Bruce turned to his hand having not even realized he held it. A dinging sound caught the attention of the entire room breaking the stress everyone had found themselves under. "Sorry kids you don't get to see my party trick after all."

Steve, Thor and Tony began arguing over who was to retrieve the tesseract. Bruce eyed the screen in confusion, "this doesn't make sense. It says the tesseracts right here," he murmured, seconds before their world was thrown into chaos, an explosion throwing Bruce, and Natasha to the floor which prior to the attack had resided below them.