[REWRITTEN] You Chose The Wrong Side

Six days passed by. While Tony accepted all of them at the Tower, he was like a ghost in the house. He was jumpy, never stuck to one place for too long. He avoided them most of the time. He avoided everyone, even Rhodey. Helen and Laura were the only ones who had clearance to his personal floor and only because Helen is his Doctor and Laura is still his unofficial therapist.

The only person Tony interacted with without any trouble was Friday, who was at first angry and hurt but eventually forgave him, but not before a lot of screaming and before he promised that he would never try something like that ever again.

If he really meant that promise is completely another story.

Friday kept an eye on Tony 24/7. She was like his little shadow but Tony didn't seem to mind the attention at all. Rhodey speculated that he even enjoyed it, which everyone supposes is true because Friday started openly referring to him as Dad, along with Karen, who quickly followed her example. The younger AI also stuck around The Tower for a bit after she fully understood the situation. Peter also wanted to stay and help but he had school and like the others, Peter didn't have access to Tony's floor anymore. Peter was slightly hurt by this but Tony send him a long voice message that tried to make Peter understand that Tony simply needed his own space, and it worked. Peter understood.

Tony also buried himself in his work. He kept upgrading Rhodey's leg braces and even developed a Hard Light Construct Projector for Friday and Karen so they could interact with the physical world like any other human beings. He also focused on further upgrading his Iron Man armor. He gave it a complete redesign and invented a technology that would allow him to combine his Extremis abilities into the Suit as a secondary power source and power booster. He also gave it a repaint in the color scheme. Instead of using his iconic Red and Gold, he used dark blue and silver with menacing red eye lances and Arc Reactor. The whole Mark 48 was redesigned with only one purpose in mind.

Destroy Captain America.

That's right.

After what happened on that roof 6 days ago., Tony's dismay and self-loathing shifted into an undying rage for Steve Rogers. It probably didn't help that Tony overheard Rhodey, Clint, and Hope discussing what happened in Siberia because it came out as if they were pitying him and it made him snap. Tony always hated when somebody pitied him and he took his anger out on Hope, who tried to calm him down. He yelled at her with his eyes blazing with that demonic orange that was in his eyes almost always these days. The broken, hurt, and also mocking words: "Where were you when I needed you before, Little Cousin? You didn't even call when I was dying or when I flew that stupid nuke through that fucking wormhole! Why should I believe that you care now?!" echoed through the whole Tower and it made Hope look as if she was slapped.

That was also the last time Tony left his floor and joined them in the common area.

No matter who tried or what they said, Tony simply refused to leave his floor. He didn't budge, not even to Friday or Karen. The one time somebody else was allowed on his floor except the two women and two female AI's was when Fury came to check up on them. Fury also left that day with a bloodied, broken nose and a big bruise under his eye. There were also some burned marks on his Jacket but nobody commented on it. It wasn't hard to figure out why Tony did it.

Some of them even considered Fury lucky...

****

"So, Tony..." Laura started today's session with a neutral face expression. Why do people consider her a great therapist she will never understand but she likes to help. "How are you feeling today? Did anything change this night?"

"You ask me that every day and yet... you know that my answer won't change, Mockingbird." Tony defensively responded while Laura mentally cursed herself for telling him about her past as a SHIELD agent. "I still have panic attacks. Not as frequent as before, but they happen. General Anxiety is also a bitch. If Friday didn't stay with me during those 2 hours a day I sleep, I probably wouldn't be sleeping at all. I even had hallucinations yesterday..."

"Hallucinations?" Laura repeated with a worried tone. "What did you see?"

Tony looked at her for a moment before he looked down and bit his lips. "Ultron." He whispered so quietly that Laura had to take a double-take to make sure she heard him right. "He was in my lab while I was tinkering with Mark 48. He was mocking me..."

"He is not real, Tony." Laura stated with a firm voice so Tony would really believe that. When he did not meet her eyes she released a heavy sigh and rubbed her forehead. "I think it's time that we acknowledge something." Tony looked at her with a challenging look and she took it as her permission to start. "You keep distancing yourself from everyone except Friday and Karen. You live in complete darkness and listen to really depressing music. That's not healthy and you need to stop."

"Okay, first off." Tony lifted one finger with a face that told her that he is not taking this seriously at all. "Don't hate my music. I know that it might be a bit depressive but it is also calming." He lifted his second finger. "And secondly, this is safer for everyone. You saw what happened the last time someone triggered me off." He let his eyes glow orange for demonstration. "These powers are driven by anger. I could've literally burned Fury's head off. I could've hurt Hope..."

"But you didn't." Laura pointed out. "Sure, those glowing eyes of yours are scary but you wouldn't hurt Hope. Would you?" He shook his head and Laura took it as progress. "You are hurt because she didn't talk to you for years, even when you tried to reach out to her."

"Yes." Tony admitted, letting his eyes return back to their natural brown.

"It's okay to be hurt. " Laura said with a small smile on her lips. "You are only human, Tony."

"Am I?" Tony questioned with disbelief on his face.

"Yes." Laura responded without hesitation. "It doesn't matter what powers you have or what you can do. You were born Human and you will always be a Human."

Tony smiled a bit. "And you wonder why I say that you would be an amazing therapist. Perhaps you could make it official? I can make some calls for you."

"Uhm, nah." Laura waved it off with a Soft chuckle. "You are more than enough as my only patient. Besides, would you accept the fact that you would have to share me with someone?"

"Good point." Tony smirked at her teasing before turning serious. "Thank you, Laura. For everything-"

"I should be the one thanking you." Laura cut him off. "You gave me and my family a new home. The Kids love New York and living here with the others. I think that part of them always silently hated living on the farm but they never said anything because they didn't know the alternative."

"Yeah, well... You know me." Tony waved his hands around him sheepishly before crossing them in front of his chest. "Uncle Tony has to be the best!"

"Then you should probably get back into the game because Uncle Rhodey keeps spoiling them." Laura said with a chuckle when Tony made an offended face. "And he managed to spoil them while also pinning after Helen. It's adorable, actually."

"What?" Tony exclaimed with wide and shocked eyes. "Rhodey and Helen?! That's... Actually pretty nice. I'm happy for them."

"And what about you?" Laura asked with a raised eyebrow while looking slightly apologetic. "Have you talked with Carol ever since you woke up?"

Tony's relaxed expression immediately shifted into his guarded one as he looked away from her and stared at the worktable on the other side of the room. "You know that I didn't." He signed but didn't take his eyes from the worktable. "There is nothing to talk about. What happened wasn't her fault or mine." He visibly swallowed and looked down at the ground. "Its fate. We simply weren't meant to be."

"Do you really believe that?" Laura questioned because she knew that Tony isn't really a believer. "Do you believe in fate?"

Tony shrugged. "It doesn't matter what I believe. It already happened."

"And what is it that you want?" Laure asked with a curious expression on her face, leaning forward and placing her hands together in front of her.

"I don't know." Tony quietly answered in all honesty, while he also places his hands protectively around him. "I simply don't know..."

Laura smiled at him in understanding and sympathy as she stood up and walked to the elevator. "We will be having another Movie Night today. You should come. I'm sure everybody would be happy to see you."

"I will think about it." Tony responded while he watched her get into the Elevator and leave to Clint's floor. That was a lie and they both know it, maybe that's why Laura didn't respond and just gave him a small hopeful smile before the Elevator door closed.

"Fri?" Tony called out and Friday immediately materialized next to him with a questioning face expression. "Play my latest music playlist. We are going to play a bit in the Lab."

"Are you sure?" Friday hesitantly asked as he walked past her. It's not that she doesn't like playing science with him but it's all he does these past days.

"Iron Man needs to be stronger." Tony responded while looking over his shoulder. "I need to make the chest plate even more durable."

"It's already durable enough to withstand a nuclear explosion." Friday softly pointed out.

"I need it more." Tony hissed with gritted teeth while his eyes flickered orange. Like Laura, Friday didn't even blink at this display. She never did. She simply isn't afraid of him and part of him is grateful for it. "I'm sorry for snapping on you. I just need-"

Friday gave him a sad smile and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I understand. We can go tinker with the Armor after you eat your breakfast Laura brought for you." He opened his mouth to protest but she didn't let him. "That's not negotiable."

"You are mean..." Tony playfully pouted but Friday didn't bulge so he just signed in defeat and took the plate Laura left and started eating. "Fri? How would you feel if we rebuild the Iron Legion Protocol? I mean the whole Legion. Not just The Legionaries."

"You mean all of your 47 Iron Man suits?" Friday questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes." Tony answered while taking another bite of his sandwich. "It was a mistake to destroy them. I can see that now." He leaned sat down on his chair and looked at Friday who looked thoughtful. "The Fabricators in the Tower can rebuild most of the Suits on their own, but the original 7 Suits will need to be built with our bare hands, as well as the first new Legionnaire Unit because I deleted all designs and protocols after... Ultron."

"Will it make you feel better?" Friday questioned with a look that made Tony feel like she was looking at his bare soul. When he nodded, Friday released a heavy sigh before looking at him with a daring smirk, terrifyingly remind him of his own smirk. "Under one condition..."

****

Today was Carol's turn to pick a movie and she was already catching up on Star Wars The Prequel Trilogy, so she decided on Revenge of The Sith, and carefully warned everyone with a deadly glare that if somebody dares to spoil anything from the movie to her, she would turn them to ash. Smartly, everyone took this threat to heart and made sure not to spoil anything.

The Boys had a lot of fun watching Carol's shocked facial expression when the scene of Order 66 came. She had the look that practically screamed that her soul just left her body. Then during Palpatine's Senate Speech and formation of the Galactic Empire, she pointed out that Empire is a lot like The Kree Empire and her eyes were dangerously flickering between Yellow and Blue for 5 minutes straight.

"I'm just saying that those yellow eyes look a lot like the eyes of a Sith Lord!" Scott jokingly exclaimed while Clint and Rhodey nodded in agreement.

Carol looked offended by this statement and let her eyes glow yellow again for demonstration. "Excuse you! My glowing eyes look nothing like Palpatine's!"

"You know, I can see why you and Tony dated for so long." Laura chuckled in amusement. "He also keeps flashing his glowing eyes at me all the time during our sessions." She looks thoughtful for a moment and laughs while glancing at Scott. "Now that you mentioned it, Tony's eyes actually do look like those of a Sith Lord!"

"Uncle Tony a Sith Lord?" Young Nate confusingly gasped with wide eyes while looking at his Father who burst out laughing so hard that he almost fell from his seat.

"No, Nate." Clint tried to calm down his laughter and miserably failed. He looked at his almost 2 years old Son and smirked while shifting his gaze at his Wife. "Uncle Tony is not a Sith Lord. Your Mom on the other hand... I'm not so sure."

Laura gasped with a playful and offended look on her face while Nate just looked even more confused, but eventually decided that it would be a better idea to keep himself busy with his toy of The Hulk. Cooper chuckled at the look his Mother send his Father, who was now practically hiding behind Rhodey, who kept staring at Helen, who was still trying to watch the movie along with Hope and Jane.

Lila frowned at the TV and pouted. "I don't like Star Wars."

Carol's jaw dropped as she stared at the younger girl as if she just committed genocide. She playfully put a hand at her heart and shook her head at Lila. "I'm sorry, Kiddo, but we can't be friends anymore."

"I second that!" Scott jokingly added

"Then I guess I will be her only friend." A smug voice spoke from the doorway.

All of them turned and saw a smirking Tony leaning against the wall with crossed arms in front of his chest. Before anyone could process what was happening, Lila leaped from her seat and jumped in Tony's arms, who barely managed to catch her.

“Uncle Tony! You're here!" Lila exclaimed with a cheerful voice while clinging to Tony as if he would disappear if she let go. "How have you been? I’ve been great! Do you wanna come to see my and Coop's new room? Do you want to see all the pictures I’ve drawn? Some of them are of you!”

Tony stared at the little girl for a moment as if she was an Alien. He completely forgot how full of life Lila is and it made him feel like a jerk. Eventually, he managed to find his voice and awkwardly patted her head. “I’ve missed you too, Little Bird, and sure. I will gladly look at your new room and your drawings. Maybe I will even sign them.”

"You will?" Lila gasped and Tony mentally smirked to himself. Kids are easy to please.

"Sure." He said as he picked her up and walked to the others. He quickly let his eyes scan them all before he settled down next to Hope and placed Lila on his knee. "So, what are we watching?"

"Star Wars: Revenge of The Sith." Rhodey answered with a small smile. "Your favorite."

"Aww, you shouldn't have!" Tony chuckled and turned his attention to the TV. He saw all of them observing him but he ignored their looks and focused solely on the Movie. Eventually, all of them turned back to the Movie, and only then did Tony acknowlidge one person of two who was still staring at him. Hope.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you." Tony whispered so only Hope would hear him.

"It's fine," Hope quickly reassured him with a guilty look. "I'm sorry for not reaching out earlier. I just... didn't know what to say."

"Let's start over?" Tony offered with a small smile and title of his head. "No grudges from the past?"

"No grudges from the past." Hope returned his smile and instinctively grabbed his hand while he gave her a small reassuring squeeze. "We are family, after all."

Tony tensed a bit but quickly covered it up with a smirk. "That we are."

****

After the movie ended everybody kinda talked about stupid and unimportant things but it made everybody feel happy and relaxed, even Tony, who still stuck closely to Friday, but didn't run away when somebody spoke to him or looked his way.

Clint watched Tony with one eye the whole time and he finally gathered up enough courage and decided to approach him. "Hey." He greeted with a small smile. "Can we talk? Alone?"

Tony glanced at Friday who gave him a supportive smile before he looked at Clint and nodded. "Sure."

They walked further from the others, almost out of the room when Clint stopped and took a deep breath before looking Tony directly in the eyes. "I'm sorry." He took another deep breath and slightly cringed. "You know I'm not really good at apologizing but I mean it. I'm sorry for what happened in Germany and for what I said to you on Raft. I was a complete dick to you and I apologize for those comments I had." Tony opens his mouth to say something but Clint is quicker. "And I really hope that you know that I didn't know the truth about... Your Mon and Dad."

"I know that you didn't." Tony said while biting his lower lip. "If I thought you did, we wouldn't be having this conversation." Clint nodded in understanding and Tony's eyes softened. "I'm glad that you are here. I'm happy that your whole family is here. Fury told me what he wants from us and while I have my doubts, a part of me sees it working, and that's because of you and your motivational speeches."

"Well, you know..." Clint awkwardly shifted on his leg and looked slightly embarrassed. "When your Wife is a therapist for a Superhero, you kinda pick some things up on the way." He turned serious again and even uncomfortably grimaced. "How can you stand seeing Fury after what he has done to Carol and You? If you don't mind me asking..."

"I already knew about the Afghanistan stuff before I met you." Tony responded with a heavy sigh while his eyes flickered orange for a second. "I found out after I became too interested in SHIELD after my run with Natasha and at that moment I wanted nothing more than to go and shoot Fury in the face. I was planning my revenge but then the Invasion happened and I..." He closed his eyes at the unpleasant memory and spilled it out. " I saw an army and it was beyond anything I could ever imagine. We needed allies and SHIELD was the most suitable one. I didn't like it but it was for the greater good and in time... Fury even apologized to me.

"He apologized to you?" Clint questioned with wide eyes in complete disbelief.

"Well, it wasn't really an apology but it was meant to be one." Tony painfully chuckled and shook his head. "I didn't forget anything. Afghanistan was one of the most traumatic experiences I ever had. I had heart surgery while I was still awake. Twice. The first one was to save my life with an electromagnet and the second was to install The Arc Reactor in my chest. I will never forgive that Fury could've saved me from that experience but there is no taking it back now. That stuff with Carol..." He signed and sadly shook his head again. "That stuff hurts and it hurts a lot. I want to be angry at her but I can't because it wasn't her fault. I am pissed at Fury and that's why I beat him to a bloody pulp and would really like to kill him, but I simply can't. We need him because of The Accords and The New SHIELD."

"Better him than Ross?" Clint offered with a raised eyebrow.

"Better him than Ross." Tony agreed and nodded before an evil smirk came to his face. "Besides, this way I can punish Fury in a different and a lot more annoying way."

"What way?" Clint curiously asked.

Tony's smirk only widened. "The one fate that's worse than death." He dramatically proclaimed and clapped his hands together. "Paperwork."

Clint laughed. "That's... That's really creative." he laughed for a bit more before he turned serious again. "But will it be enough for you?"

"No." Tony answered without hesitation. "Nothing he can do will ever be enough for the life he gave me or the one he stole."

"Maybe you two still have a chance." Clint said in all seriousness, while Tony just looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You and Carol, I mean. From what I saw I think she still loves you. She kept coming down to you every day while you were healing and every time she came out, she looked like she cried for hours."

"I know." Tony whispered before quickly shaking his head. "But the man she loved is dead."

Clint gave him a sad look and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder before he pushed himself away. "Is he?" He didn't wait for Tony to respond and just walked back into the room and joined the others, leaving Tony to his own thoughts.

He is. He died the same day she did.

Or did he?

****

Carol was walking back to her room when a wind picked up behind her and she signed, looking over her shoulder. She already knew what caused it. Or better yet, who caused it. "That's a neat trick you got there."

"I couldn't do it before." Tony said with a steady voice that revealed no emotion. "I'm not as fast as Pietro Maximoff was, not even close to his level, but I'm still faster than a normal human being can possibly hope to be. A two weeks long Extremis bath will do that to you. Apparently, I absorbed a lot of Extremis Levels and it will take time until my body burns it out. But the speed should stick so I'm not complaining."

"So, you are done avoiding me?" Carol asked maybe a little more harshly than she originally intended to.

"You were avoiding me too." Tony pointed out.

"Because you started it." Carol reminded him while she also turned around and placed her hands protectively around herself. "You are the one who kept showing only after I left the room or left before I arrived. Then you locked yourself away completely."

"Can you blame for it?" Tony asked while he leaned against the wall and put his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket.

"No." Carol quietly answered while she bit down on her lips. "I don't blame you for anything. Why would I? Nothing that happened to us is your fault."

"I build that jet." Tony reminded her with a guilty look on his face.

"There was nothing wrong with the Jet." Carol responded with a shake of her head. "The Kree attacked me because of the Cargo I was transporting. The Tesseract."

Tony groaned and his eyes flickered orange for a second. "Why does it always come back to that stupid Alien cube... Red Skull, Loki, Thor, Jane, You, Me, SHIELD, Maximoffs, Ultron, Vision. Everything is circling around these stupid Infinity Stones."

"I don't know what to say to that." Carol simply said with a shrug of her shoulders

"Are you going to stay here?" Tony asked with curiosity on his face.

Carol's heart dropped. "...Do you want me to leave?"

"No." Tony answered without a moment to think about it. He released a heavy sign before a smirk came to his face. "But... If you want to stay you will need to get rid of that ridiculous domino mask. Who even wears stuff like that? It doesn't even cover your face properly."

Carol's jaw dropped in disbelief. "Excuse you?! You didn't recognize me when we fought against Graviton!"

"Because I didn't look at you?" Tony responded in a duh voice. "I burst out of the water and immediately took over the whole fight! I didn't have time to look around to see if a hot blond chick wasn't flying around the skies wearing a stupid domino mask!"

Carol's jaw dropped even lower. "You think I'm hot?"

"We are engaged, no?" Tony countered without even thinking about it before a realization hit his face. "Oh... Sorry about that... I just kinda... forgot?"

"It's fine." Carol waved it off with a warm smile on her lips. "...You are handsome too?"

"Okay..." Tony awkwardly trailed off and continued down his path. "See you on the next team bonding or in the kitchen or.. whatever... See you! Night!" He quickly flashed away from the hall, leaving Carol to stare at the spot he stood only seconds ago with a fond shake of her head.

He is still a lovable adorable idiot...

And her black domino mask is perfect!