discord among us
Tony groaned, pacing back and forth in the recording room, running both hands through his hair as Steve leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watching him with infuriating patience.
"I swear to God, Steve," Tony started, waving a hand toward the glass separating them from the interrogation room. "I was this close to making Baldie regret every single life choice that led him to this moment."
Steve sighed. "I know, Tony."
"No, you don’t know," Tony shot back, spinning on his heel. "Because if you did, you wouldn’t have stopped me!"
Steve gave him a flat look. "I stopped you because you were about to break every federal law that still keeps this team semi-functional."
"Yeah? Well, maybe the government should give me a free pass on this one," Tony grumbled. "Because that smug, bald bastard sat there and acted like he knew Clint, like he understood him, when all he really did was—"
Tony cut himself off, jaw clenching.
Steve waited, letting the silence sit between them.
Then, Tony let out another groan, dragging his hands down his face. "God, I hate him."
Steve gave a short nod. "Yeah, me too."
Before Tony could spiral further into his rant, the door creaked open, and Bruce walked in, followed by—
"Friends!"
Thor’s booming voice nearly shook the walls as he strode in, armor gleaming, Mjolnir slung casually over his shoulder. His presence was impossible to ignore—big, loud, and clearly oblivious to the tension in the room.
"It is good to see you both," Thor continued, grinning. "Though, by the looks on your faces, I assume much has transpired in my absence!"
Bruce sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, Thor. A lot."
Thor’s smile faltered slightly as he looked between Steve and Tony. "Where is our friend, Hawkeye?"
Tony let out a humorless laugh. "Recovering, thanks to that asshole." He jerked a thumb toward the interrogation room.
Thor peered through the glass, his expression darkening as he took in Robert. His grip on Mjolnir tightened. "That is the man who dared harm our comrade?"
"Yeah," Steve confirmed.
Thor hummed, considering. "Shall I smite him?"
Tony perked up immediately. "See, thank you! Finally, someone who gets it!"
Steve groaned. "No, Thor. No smiting."
Thor frowned. "Not even a small smite?"
"No smiting!" Steve snapped.
Thor sighed, clearly disappointed, but not unconvinced. "Very well. But if this villain requires justice, I am more than happy to—"
"Yeah, yeah, we’ll let you know," Tony cut in.
Bruce sighed. "I’m gonna regret asking this, but can someone fill Thor in before he actually smites someone?"
Tony huffed, rubbing his temples. "Fine, but I’m skipping the part where Steve stopped me from making Baldie eat his own teeth."
"You mean the part where I stopped you from getting arrested?" Steve corrected.
"Semantics."
Bruce groaned again, while Thor simply beamed. "Ah, I have missed this!"
Natasha strolled into the room, barely sparing a glance toward the interrogation glass as she crossed her arms. "Barnes and Wilson are keeping Clint distracted," she informed them. "Sam’s making fun of whatever garbage show Clint’s watching, and Bucky’s eating half his pizza. Should keep him occupied for a while."
Tony huffed, shaking his head. "Great. So now I have to order another pizza. Fantastic."
"Priorities, Stark," Nat deadpanned.
Steve gave her a sharp look. "How’s he holding up?"
Nat’s expression softened, but only slightly. "Like he always does. He won’t say it, but he’s still rattled." She glanced toward Robert, sneering slightly. "That bastard really did a number on him."
"Which is exactly why we need to figure out what his real plan is," Bruce said, adjusting his glasses as he stepped forward. "He obviously has some kind of agenda. He didn’t just take Clint for fun—there’s a bigger picture here."
"Yeah, but what?" Tony muttered. "I mean, what did he think was gonna happen? He snatches one of us, we don’t come looking? Like, what kind of half-baked, idiot-tier plan is that?"
Thor hummed, arms crossed. "Perhaps he wished to cause discord among us. To shake our foundation from within."
Steve nodded. "Divide and conquer."
Natasha exhaled through her nose, gaze locked on Robert. "And he almost got away with it. Clint was actually starting to believe that we wouldn’t come for him."
That sent a fresh wave of anger through the room.
Tony clenched his jaw, pacing again. "Right. Well, we’re not letting him win this one. No way in hell."
Steve straightened, nodding. "Then we need to figure out exactly what he was after. He took Clint, stole his ID, and was planning to infiltrate the tower. But what else?"
Bruce frowned. "The tower doesn’t store anything super classified anymore—not since we moved most of the important data offsite. If he was after tech, there are easier places to hit."
Tony sighed. "Which means whatever he wanted, it had to be us."
They all stood there for a moment, processing that.
"Okay," Nat said, eyes narrowing. "Then let’s start picking this apart. If we’re dealing with someone who thinks he can break the Avengers, we need to know how he planned to do it."
Steve nodded. "Alright. Let’s get to work."
For the first time in a long time, the five Avengers stood together again, ready to tear this plan apart piece by piece.