Avengers
"You're good on this end. The rest is up to you." Tony said, flying out of the water and heading back to the tower.
"You disconnected the transmission lines? Are we off the grid?" Natasha asked him, and he could barely make out the sound of Peter's excited ramblings in the background. He pulled up a feed and saw his beautiful wife and son.
"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining, clean energy. Are you seriously not going to tell me what mission Coulson sent you on?" Tony asked, she had been on an undercover op when Coulson called her out and sent her somewhere else. She had just gotten back that day, and still wouldn't tell him what it was for. But she had been shaken, so he was concerned.
"Assuming the arc reactor takes over and it actually works?" Natasha shoots back, ignoring his question. He decided to let it go as he flew into view of the tower.
"I assume. Light her up." a smile stretches across his face as he watches the tower light up, ending with his name.
"How does it look?" Peter shouts excitedly.
"Like Christmas, but with more... me." Tony responded, earning a snort from Natasha.
"Yes, because that's what the world needs more of. Hurry back, it's almost time for Peter to go to bed." Natasha said, and he could see her shoot a stern look at their son, before the comms filled up with mumbled whining.
"Tasha, you're killing me. Remember? Enjoy the moment." he retorted, touching down on the landing pad, letting the machinery take his suit off for him.
"Then get in here and I will." Natasha said, causing Peter to add a soft "Ew."
"Sir, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line." JARVIS' voice speaks up in his ear. He rolls his eyes.
"I'm not in. I'm actually out." he claims, walking into the penthouse, not caring why Coulson was trying to get in contact with him.
"Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting." JARVIS replied. Tony let out a sigh.
"Grow a spine Jarvis. I've got a date." he said, taking out his earpiece and walking up to where his wife was checking the power levels.
"Levels are holding steady... I think." she responds, turning into him as he places his arm around her shoulder, and presses a kiss to her forehead.
"Of course they are, I was directly involved. Which brings me to my next question: how does it feel to be a genius?" He asks, with a smirk, resting his hands on her hips. She rolls her eyes, and gives him a smirk of her own.
"Well, ha, I really wouldn't know now, would I?" she responds, pulling away and heading over to the couch where Peter was sitting, doing homework.
"What do you mean? All this came from you." he said, trying to back track.
"No. All this came from that." she said, tapping his arc reactor. He follows her lead and settles on the couch next to her.
"Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself... twelve percent of the credit." Tony said, pulling Peter into his side and ruffling his hair. He hears Natasha scoff beside him.
"Twelve percent?" she asks incredulously, her perfectly sculptured eyebrow raised.
"An argument can be made for fifteen." he retorts with a smirk, finding amusement in messing with his wife.
"Twelve percent? Of my baby?" she deadpans then, giving his shoulder a soft slap.
"Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things. And I'm sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you." He said, pointing at a problem for Peter to correct on his paper.
"Oooooh." Natasha said, a soft smile playing on her face, enjoying the moment.
"My private elevator..." he started, before she interrupted.
"You mean our elevator?" she asked sweetly, which he chooses to ignore, and keep going.
"...was teeming with sweaty workmen. I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?" Tony asks, grimacing. Natasha gives him a smile, one that was too innocent for his liking.
"Not gonna be that subtle." she replies, before turning to Peter. "Hey, bug. You done?" she asked, looking over their sons shoulder at his completed homework.
"Yep!" Peter said with a smile, his grin showing the gaps of his missing teeth.
"Good. Go get ready for bed. Me and Dad will be in there in a minute." she responded, watching her son nod before heading down the hallway.
"He's getting too big." Tony said, pouting.
"He's only 7." Natasha replied with a laugh. Tony just pouted some more.
"Almost 8. That's too big." he said. Natasha opened her mouth to reply before she was interrupted.
"Sir, the telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten." JARVIS says, causing Natasha to look at him with concern.
"Stark, we need to talk." Coulson's voice comes out of his phone, and Natasha raises her eyebrows at him. He waves her off and picks it up.
"You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message." he says, Natasha shaking her head at him disapprovingly.
"This is urgent." the agent's voice replied.
"Then leave it urgently." Tony says impatiently, before the elevator opened revealing a very annoyed Coulson.
"Security breach. That's on you." he says, pointing at Natasha as they both stand up to greet the man.
"Mr. Stark." Coulson starts, walking into the room.
"Phil?" Natasha asks, concerned.
"Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent." Tony jokes, trying to lighten the tension. The two of them looked too worried for his liking.
"We need you to look this over. Soon as possible." Agent says, holding out a folder for him. He holds a hand up and looks at his wife, who has a calculating gaze on her face as she studies Phil.
"I don't like being handed things." Tony says, defensively. He looks at Natasha again, trying to get a read on her.
"That's alright,`cause I love to be handed things." Natasha says, narrowing her eyes at Coulson, before grabbing the file and handing it to Tony.
"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday." Tony said, confused at why this was so urgent, he was just a consultant after all. He remembers reading the report his wife wrote on him, he had felt hurt at first, but once she explained, he understood. She didn't want him to get pulled into SHIELD and have to run missions. Peter already had one parent like that, he didn't need two.
"This isn't a consultation." Coulson replied, and he could tell Natasha was furious.
"Is this about The Avengers?" she asks Coulson, coldly.
"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn't even qualify." Tony cut in, trying to diffuse the situation before it escalated.
"Exactly. I wrote the report. I should know." Natasha said, crossing her arms.
"Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others." Tony replied, still confused as to what was going on, but using his humor to calm himself, and hopefully his wife, down.
"This isn't about personality profiles anymore." Coulson replied, looking at Natasha apologetically.
"Whatever. Tash, got a minute?" he says, interrupting Natasha before she could bite Coulson's head off. He walked over to his holo table and brought up the files display.
"You know, I thought we were having a moment." he joked, hoping it would calm her down.
"I was having twelve percent of a moment." she bit back. Tony looked at her with concern.
"This must be serious. You both seem pretty shaken." Tony asks gently, and watches as his wife lets out a sigh.
"I didn't want you anywhere near this." she said, watching as he opened up all of the files.
"What is this?" Tony asked, before turning and looking at all of the files. He furrowed his brows in confusion before he heard small footsteps coming down the hall.
"Uncle Phil? What are you doing here? Does Mom have to go into work?" Peter asked, walking up and giving Phil a hug, which the agent returned stiffly.
"Yeah, I do Pete." Natasha spoke up, giving him a reassuring smile, before she turned to Tony.
"Your leaving tonight? Why not tomorrow, like we planned?" Tony asked, voice just as quiet.
"You have some reading to do. You need to get Peter somewhere safe. Call Pepper or Rhodey, get him out of New York." Natasha whispered, and walked away before he could say anything else. Which really worried him.
"Okay, Phil let's go. Peter be good, listen to your father okay? Do whatever he tells you to do, no whining." he hears Natasha say, before her and Phil are gone. He whips out his phone and dials Pepper.
"Tony? Is everything okay?" she asks, right as she picks up. Tony lets out a shaky breath.
"I need you to take Peter."
---
You're an idiot, trying to fight Thor like that. -N
Tony smirked down at his phone, as Coulson led him to the bridge where everyone was waiting. It was fun to jump in on Cap's moment to capture Loki, and he was pretty sure his wife thought it was funny too. But, they decided not to let anyone else know about them, that didn't already know, so he had to prepare to see her and try not to give anything away.
"Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?" he hears a voice ask as he walks out into the room, waving a goodbye to Coulson.
"It's a stabilizing agent. Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD." He answers, strutting into the room, turning on his media persona. He risks a short glance at Natasha, who is holding back and eye roll, before he walks up to Thor.
"No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." he says, patting the God's giant arm. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants." he finishes coming to stand at Fury's spot, deciding to have a little fun.
"Uh, raise the missen-mast, jib the top sails." he says, watching as a dozen agents give him unimpressed looks. "That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did." Tony says, catching them all off guard and pointing at the agent in question. He felt a little bad exposing him, but it helped his obnoxious image.
He stood there silently a little longer, covering one eye and looking around all of the monitors. This must be really hard for Fury to see.
"How does Fury even see these?" he asks, turning to Maria, who is giving him a hard stare.
"He turns." she says. And Tony looks at the displays once more, already coming up with plans to make Fury a display that would follow his good eye. He shook his head, he needed to focus, make them believe he was who they thought he was, it's the only way to keep Peter safe.
"Sounds exhausting." he retorts, before walking around the display, trying to find the perfect place to plant JARVIS. He keeps talking to distract the two spies in the room.
"The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density,something to kick start the cube." he says, successfully planting his bug, clapping his hands together. He slightly regretted bringing up Clint, who he knew Natasha was close to, and was the only person Natasha had told about them other than Fury and Coulson. But he had to pretend he didn't know him.
"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Maria asked sarcastically. And he smirked, she really thought he wasn't?
"Last night." he deadpanned. "The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?" he asked, sounding a little cocky. He grimaced internally, he really hated acting like a stuck up, know it all.
"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Captain America cuts in, voice professional. Tony had to physically stop himself from rolling his eyes. He spared another glance to Natasha and saw she was feeling the same way. She kept her eyes focused on whoever was speaking though, so she wasn't looking his way.
"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." the man he recognized as Bruce Banner spoke up. He nodded appreciatively.
"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." he responds, heading over to where the scientist was standing.
"Well, if he could do that he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet." Bruce responded, and Tony let out a breath of relief.
"Finally, someone who speaks English." he replied, seeing the corner of Natasha's mouth quirk up slightly at his antics.
"Is that what just happened?" he heard Steve ask, but ignored it in favor of shaking the doctor's hand.
"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster." he told the man, as he shook his hand. He heard a deep sigh come from his wife, but he saw a glimmer of amusement in the doctor's eyes as he smiled.
"Thanks." he replied, a small smile on his face.
"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him." he turned, to see Fury walk into the room. He gave the man a playful wave, which the man ignored, but it earned him an odd look from the others.
"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon." Steve spoke up, using a voice that sounded to Tony like the man thought he was in charge. Interesting.
"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys." Fury responded, voice hard. He could see Natasha stiffen a bit at the mention of Clint. He made a mental note to check on her later.
"Monkeys? I do not understand." Thor spoke up confused, Tony crossed his arms in annoyance.
I do! I understood that reference." Rogers claimed, a little too excited. Tony didn't stop himself from rolling his eyes that time.
"Shall we play, doctor?" he asks, turning to Banner. The man nods and starts to lead him out of the room.
"This way, sir." the man says, and Tony throws a kiss over his shoulder at Fury with a wink before he followed. He could see Fury roll his eye before he disappeared from view.
---
They were just in the middle of figuring out how to track the cube when his phone rings. He looks down and sees Natasha's contact.
"Excuse me a moment." he says to Bruce, and waits for the other man to wave him off, before heading to the far corner of the lab.
"Hey, where are you?" he asked as he answered, keeping his voice quiet.
"I'm secure, don't worry. Fury's annoyed at your antics you know?" she responded, and he felt his shoulders loosen with relief at hearing her voice filled with so much love towards him.
"I had to. His reactions are worth it." he defended, a soft smile stretching his face.
"Is JARVIS hacking into SHIELD as we speak?" was her next question, causing him to freeze.
"No?" he replied, weakly.
"Mmmhmm. You aren't as subtle as you think. Don't worry, no one else knows and I won't say anything." she responds, a fondness in her voice.
"This is why I love you." he whispers, glancing back to make sure Bruce wasn't hearing anything.
"I thought so. I love you too. Check on Peter for me. I got to go before someone figures out I left." she responds, but Tony speaks up before she can hang up.
"Wait, how are you holding up?" he asks, hoping she knows he's referring to Clint. He hears a sigh on the other end.
"I'll find him." was all she said, before the line went dead. He let out a sigh of his own before glancing at Bruce, who was still focused on the work in front of him. So he dialed Pepper.
"Hey Tony, we just touched down in Malibu." she said, after the first ring.
"Good. That's good. I can't thank you enough for doing this." he said, gratefully.
"I know. I don't mind. Are you ever going to tell me what's going on?" she asks, with a huff.
"I can't yet...just keep your eyes on the news okay? And don't bring Peter back until I tell you." he said, seriously.
"Okay. I'm assuming you want to talk to him?" she asks then, sounding concerned, but trying to hide it.
"Yes, please." he said, meekly. There was a shuffling on the other line, before a small voice spoke up.
"Dad?" Tony relaxed at the sound of his son's voice, he was safe.
"Hey, bug. How's California?" he asked, making his voice sound excited.
"We just got here, but Pepper said we can go to the beach, so I'm excited. I just wish you and Mom were here." Peter's voice started out happy, but quickly turned morose.
"I know, bug. I wish we were there too. As soon as me and Mom are done here, maybe we can all take a family vacation. What do you say?" he said, putting some fake enthusiasm in his voice.
"Okay." Peter replied, still sounding bummed.
"Okay. Make sure to harass your Uncle Happy for me okay?" he said, hoping this would take the sadness out of his kid's voice.
"Okay! Love you!" Peter said, sounding slightly happier than before.
"Love you too, bug. Be good." he said, before hanging up. He took a deep breath before heading back to the table where Bruce was sitting. The other man looked up briefly as he approached before looking back down at his work.
"Girlfriend?" the man asked, curiously.
"Something like that." Tony replied, getting back to work.
---
She pressed the button on her wrist, one Tony made for her, that would scramble any video or audio feed while she was in a room. Fury wanted her to interrogate Loki, and she couldn't be too safe when he had control of Clint. Clint who knew about Peter and Tony. She took a deep breath and slipped into her interrogation mindset.
"Hm. There’s not many people who can sneak up on me." Loki said as she walked in.
"But you figured I’d come." she replied smoothly.
"After. After whatever tortures Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate." he replied, his voice low.
"I wanna know what you’ve done to Agent Barton." she asked simply.
"I’d say I’ve expanded his mind." he said, looking far too pleased with himself. She walked slowly, moving closer to the glass, crossing her arms.
"And once you’ve won. Once you’re king of the mountain. What happens to his mind?" she said, keeping her voice level.
"Ooh..Is this love, Agent Romanoff?" he shoots back then, with amusement in his voice.
"Love is for children. I owe him a debt." she says back, harshly. He raises his eyebrows and smiles slightly.
"Tell me." he says, nodding his head toward her, backing up. She smirks at bit and lets out a breath. She turns around and sits down, before continuing smoothly.
"Before I worked for SHIELD, I uh...well, I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skill set. I didn’t care who I used it for, or on. I got on SHIELD’s radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me, he made a different call." she said, regulating how much emotion she put in the sentence and where.
"And what will you do if I vow to spare him?" he asks then, conversationally.
"Not let you out." she says back simply with a smirk. He laughs.
"Ah, no. But I like this. Your world in the balance, and you bargain for one man?" he asked, amused.
"Regime’s fall everyday. I tend not to weep over that, I’m Russian, or I was." she deadpans.
"And what are you now?" he asks curiously. She stands up.
"It’s really not that complicated. I got red in my ledger. I’d like to wipe it out." she says, crossing her arms again, and coming to stand in front of the glass.
"Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? Drakov’s daughter? Sao Paulo? The hospital fire? What about your husband and son, the danger you put them in day in and day out? Barton told me everything. Your ledger is dripping, it’s gushing red, and you think saving a man no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? This is the basest sentimentality. This is a child, a prayer. Pathetic. You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code something that makes up for the horrors. But they are a part of you, and they will never go away." he monologues, catching her off guard at the mention of Tony and Peter.
The reaction she has to him mentioning them was real, so she doesn't shove it down, and chooses to play on that. Make him think he's succeeding. He continues speaking, and slams his hand on the glass, she lets herself flinch.
"I won’t touch Barton! Not until I make him kill you. Slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear. And then he’ll wake just long enough to see his good work," she turns away, pretending to be horrified,"and when he screams I’ll split his skull! This is my bargain, you mewling quim!" he finishes shouting.
She sniffs a few times, keeping her head hung low, making sure to play it up. This man was insane.
"You’re a monster." she whispers, and he chuckles.
"Oh, no. You brought the monster." he replies, and she's got it. She drops her act and turns toward him.
"So, Banner? That’s your play." she says simply, watching as his face twists in confusion at her lack of emotion.
"What?" he asks, and she turns to walk towards the door. She presses on her earpiece, to allow it to work past the scramblers.
"Loki means to unleash the Hulk. Keep Banner in the lab, I’m on my way. Send Thor as well." she says to Fury. Then she turns, a smirk on her face.
"Thank you, for your cooperation." she says sweetly, and sweeps out of the room.
---
"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" he rolled his eyes at Bruce as he turned to meet Fury's gaze as the man stalked in.
"Uh...kind of been wondering the same thing about you." Tony shot back, raising his eyebrows.
"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract." Fury reprimanded.
"We are. The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile." Bruce spoke up for him.
"And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss...What is PHASE 2?" Tony asked as his computer beeped as the files started filling his screen.
"PHASE 2 is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons." Steve interrupted, storming in with an angry look on his face, dropping a gun on the lab table. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow." he spat, directing it at Tony, who just shook his head.
"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean that we're..." Fury tried to defend, but Tony pulled up the weapon schematics and turned the screen.
"I'm sorry, Nick. What were you lying?" he asked, with a smirk.
"I was wrong, director. The world hasn't changed a bit." Steve said, sounding very altruistic. Tony rolled his eyes, but directed his attention to the door as his wife and Thor walked into the room. Natasha had her gaze on Bruce, which didn't seem the please the doctor at all. Tony furrowed his brows and looked between the two.
"Did you know about this?" Bruce accused his wife. Natasha didn't even blink, which made Tony think that she did. He stayed silent, curious on how she was going to talk her way out of this one.
"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" she asked instead, using what Tony liked to call her spy voice. It made her targets trust her. He didn't know what to think about the fact she was using it on Bruce. He jumped down from the table and crossed his arms, watching the exchange.
"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed." Bruce laughed, bitterly. And it occurred to him that the mission Natasha was sent on was to recruit Bruce.
"Loki's manipulating you." she said, keeping her voice calm. Tony narrowed his eyes at her, trying to figure out what exactly was going on.
"And you've been doing what exactly?" Bruce shot back, causing Tony to raise his eyebrows at Natasha.
"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you." she replied coolly, glancing his way quickly. Interesting.
"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction." Bruce said, pointing at the screen. Tony turned away from Natasha and put his focus on Fury.
"Because of him." Fury sighed, pointing at Thor, who looked offended.
"Me?" he asked incredulously. Tony felt the corners of his lips turn up at that.
"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned." Fury said, not really helping his case, by the looks on everyone's face.
"My people want nothing but peace with your planet." Thor defended in his booming voice.
"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled." Fury said.
"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve asked, crossing his arms with a look of disappointment.
"You're work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war." Thor said, voice getting even louder than Tony thought possible.
"A higher form?" Steve questioned, looking concerned.
"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something." Fury defended. Tony sighed.
"Nuclear deterrent. `Cause that always calms everything right down." Tony said, tiredly.
"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Fury turned on him, and Tony flinched. Low blow. He could sense Natasha's presence shift slightly in his direction like she wanted to comfort him.
"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep-"
"Wait, wait. Hold on. How is this now about me?" Tony interrupted, a tight feeling in his stomach. This was bringing up flashbacks from his childhood, listening to his dad tell him Captain America would be disappointed in him.
"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" Steve shot back, and Tony glared at him.
"I thought humans were more evolved than this." he distantly heard Thor joke, angering Fury.
"Excuse me, do we come to your planet and blow stuff up?" he heard Fury yell. And the next thing he knew everybody blew up and started arguing, him having to listen to Captain freaking America tell him what a terrible person he was.
"You speak of control, yet you court chaos." Thor bellowed next, getting everyone's attention.
"It's his M.O., isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're... we're a time-bomb." Bruce said, his tone steely and harsh. Tony turned to look at him in concern, knowing what these people would do if they thought he would hulk out.
"You need to step away." Fury demanded, looking to Bruce. Tony looked between everyone and decided he needed to try and diffuse the situation. He threw his arm around Steve.
"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" he asked. Steve let out a groan beside him, as he pushed Tony's arm away.
"You know damn well why! Back off!" Steve yelled, his attention now on Tony. Which is exactly what he wanted. He stood more in front of Steve.
"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me." Tony teased, seeing the anger fill Steve's face.
"Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?" Steve questioned. Tony narrowed his eyes, wanting more than anything for Natasha to be able to come hold his hands, which he knew were probably shaking. Having a secret wife sucked.
"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Tony shot back, feeling bad he had to add the playboy part with his wife in the room.
"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you." the righteous Captain shot back, and he could sense Natasha's presence shift again but she still didn't actually move. This was the only time he wished she would break cover.
"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 a wire and let the other guy crawl over you." Steve accused, getting too close for Tony's comfort, but he couldn't back down and seem weak.
"I think I would just cut the wire." he said lamely, not really sure what the point of this conversation was anymore, he just wanted to get out of here. He wanted his wife, he wanted to talk to his son. He was tired.
"Always a way out... You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero." Steve spat at him, his disgust evident in his voice. That made Tony snap, he suddenly felt himself taking a step closer to the taller man.
"A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!" Tony spat, jaw set, voice tight.
"Put on the suit, let's go a few rounds." Steve said, the confidence in his voice making Tony snarl. He heard a booming laugh coming from behind him.
"You people are so petty... and tiny." Thor jokes. This breaks Tony out of his angered reverie, he took a stumbling step back rubbing his head. He didn't know how much more of this he could handle, without completely losing his shit. He glanced at Natasha who had a tight look on her face, but she was avoiding his gaze. He let out a sigh.
"Yeah, this is a team." Bruce laughed, sarcastically. Tony turned his attention to his new friend, hoping he wouldn't bring the attention back on himself.
"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr.Banner back to his..." Fury started, before Bruce cut him off angrily.
"Where? You rented my room." He said harshly. Tony sighed, of course he figured out Loki's cage originally had a different purpose. They weren't very subtle.
"The cell was just in case..." Fury tried to defend.
"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know! I tried!" Bruce all but shouted. Tony felt his heart clench in his chest. He had guessed that Bruce had had a dark past from what he had read and heard about him. But he had grown fond of the man already, and it killed him to know he had ever felt that way. He felt a sad smile grace his face as he waited to see what would happen next.
"I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!" Bruce says, clearly upset, sending a glare at his wife. Tony glanced at her and on the surface she looked unbothered, but he could see the panic in her eyes. He shifted a bit, having to stop himself from going over to her.
You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?" he sneers next, and Tony and watches as Nat and Fury both slowly reach for their guns. He shifts uncomfortably, trying to shoot a look to Bruce to calm down, but sees him grab the scepter. Come on, Bruce, don't prove them right.
"Doctor Banner... put down the scepter." Steve said calmly. That breaks Banner's concentration and he looks down at his hand, then the tracker beeps. Tony looks over, knowing that means they located the cube.
"Got it." he says, watching as Bruce puts down the scepter.
"Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all." Bruce spits, before following Tony to the computer.
"Located the Tesseract?" Thor asked.
"I can get there faster." Tony said, reaching toward his watch to call his suit, before Steve interrupted.
"Look, all of us..." he started, before he was then interrupted by Thor.
"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it." Thor said, which sounded pretty reasonable to Tony, but he couldn't say that to Steve. Plus, he needed to get out of here.
"You're not going alone." Steve said, stopping him by grabbing his arm. Tony was definitely losing his patience.
"You gonna stop me?" Tony challenged, ignoring the look Natasha was sending to him, of course she finally chose to look at him now.
"Put on the suit, let's find out." Steve challenged back, and Tony let out a sigh.
"I'm not afraid to hit an old man." he said back.
"Put on the suit." Steve repeated and Tony was seconds away from calling it, when he heard Bruce say something behind him. The next thing he knew they were being launched across the room from an explosion.
"Put on the suit!" Steve said, when they got their bearings, but this was a serious demand.
"Yep!" Tony grunted, accepting the hand that was being held out to him, hoping Natasha was okay.
---
Tony rushed to where Fury told him Natasha was with Clint. He was supposed to be back in the conference room in five minutes, apparently Fury wanted to give them a stupid speech. But he insisted he check on his wife first.
"Tash?" he called as he opened the door. He saw her sitting quietly next to Clint, as he worked his wrists into his restraints. She looked over alarmed, but stood up to greet him. He rushed over and pulled her into his arms, pressing a kiss to her lips quickly, before pulling away and skimming his eyes over her for injuries.
"Are you okay? Fury wouldn't tell me much but he said something about the Hulk then Barton..." Tony rambled, panic building in his chest. He stopped talking when her hands came up to cup his cheeks.
"Hey, I'm okay." she whispered, stroking his cheeks gently. He nodded, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Okay, okay. I gotta go listen to Fury try and fail to give us a pep talk. You good here?" he asked, glancing over at Clint warily, who still seemed a thousand miles away. Natasha pressed a kiss to his cheek before nodding, a reassuring smile on her face.
"We're good. Go. And make sure to fill me in on Fury's pep talk later." She said, and he nodded, giving her one last kiss before he left.
---
"Clint, you’re gonna be alright." she said as soon as Tony closed the door after him, sitting down next to her best friend. He scoffed and worked his wrists harder into his restraints. She really didn't like seeing him like this.
"You know that? Is that what you know? I gotta go in though. I have to flush him out." he mumbled, and Natasha set a cup of water down next to him.
"You gotta level out, it’s gonna take time." she encouraged.
"You don’t understand. Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and stuff something else in? You know what it’s like to be unmade?" he asked then, looking up at her. She pursed her lips and looked down at him.
"You know that I do." she said quietly, and that seemed to calm him down, and he went slack against the restraints. She took that as a cue to undo them, and set to doing that.
"Why am I back? How did you get him out?" he asked then, watching her carefully.
"Cognitive re-calibration. I hit you really hard in the head." she said with a small smirk.
"Thanks. Did I hear Tony in here earlier?" he asked then, rubbing his wrists gently as she finished undoing them. She nodded.
"He wanted to make sure I was okay." she replied softly, with a smile. Clint nodded.
"Good man." he said, and they fell into a comfortable silence for a few moments, before Clint spoke up again.
"Natasha, how many agents?" he whispered, and she shook her head.
"Don’t. Don’t do that to yourself, Clint. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for." she said sharply, squeezing his hand in comfort. Clint just nodded, and she knew he didn't take her words to heart.
"Loki. He get away?" he asked instead. Natasha sighed, and sent him a sideways look.
"Yeah. I don’t suppose you know where?" she asked, knowing it was a long shot.
"Didn’t need to know. Didn’t ask. He’s gonna make his play soon though. Today." He said though, standing up. She stood up as well and headed towards the door.
"We gotta stop him." she said, determined. She thought back to her interrogation with the man, and how he somehow knew about Tony and Peter.
"Yeah? Who’s we?" he asked then, raising an eyebrow at her.
"I don’t know. Whoever is left." she snapped, causing him to let out a sigh.
"Well, if I put an arrow through Loki’s eye socket I’d sleep better I suppose." Clint said back, with a smirk.
"Now you sound like you." she said with a relieved smile. But he just narrowed his eyes at her.
"But you don’t. You’re a spy, not a soldier. Now you want to wade into a war. Why? What did Loki do to you?" he asked, grabbing her arm and sitting her back down on the bed. She sighed, and focused her gaze on the floor.
"He didn’t, I just-" she started, trying to think of something to say, but he interrupted her.
"Natasha." he said softly, and she let out a breath.
"I’ve been compromised. I got red in my ledger. I’d like to wipe it out." she said simply, and from the look in his eyes, he understood.
---
"I can close it. Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down!" she shouts, hovering the scepter over the crown of the machine.
"Do it!" Cap's voice speaks in her ear, and she moves the scepter slightly closer before her husband's voice stops her.
"No, wait." she pauses.
"Stark, these things are still coming!" Steve argues.
"I got a nuke coming in, it’s gonna blow in less than a minute." he responds, and that's when she looks up and sees her husband with a nuke on his back, flying straight for the portal. "And I know just where to put it." he finishes. And Natasha feels the breath in her throat catch, and she's unable to say anything.
"Stark, you know that’s a one way trip." she hears Steve say, and she blanches.
"Save the rest for the turn J." is all she hears her husband say, which means he knows that, and yet he's doing it anyway.
"Tony, I swear to God, don't you dare." she says, before watching him disappear into the portal, tears running down her face. She holds her breath, watching the portal, waiting for him to make a dramatic reappearance. But he doesn't, and she can see the explosion getting closer to the portal. She lets out a choked sob, how was she going to tell Peter. How was she going to raise him alone? How-
"Close it." Steve's voice breaks her out of her thoughts, and she pushes her emotions to the side, and presses the scepter to the machine and watches as the portal closes with her husband still inside.
She drops the scepter and looks down at the ground, trying to stop the tears.
"Son of a gun." she hears Steve say then, and she looks back up and sees Tony falling from the sky. She worries for a second when he doesn't slow down, until the Hulk jumps into the air and grabs him.
She waits with baited breath, her hand glued to the com in her ear, to hear that he's okay. She lets out a shaky breath of relief when she hears his voice crack a joke moments later.
---
He looks over and sees Clint supporting Natasha as they all head back to the tower after eating food. He just wanted to hold her. She had walked up to him when they gathered at the swarma place and slapped him on the arm, before going back to pretending they were just coworkers. The others had gave them odd looks, but Clint had saved them by explaining that Natasha and him had known each other before this.
But now they were headed back to the tower, where he had offered everyone a place to stay, and he was starting to really feel his injuries. He walked over to where Clint and Natasha were standing and nodded in her direction.
"Here let me help her." Tony said, voice casual, but his eyes pleading. Clint nodded knowingly, and helped him wrap his arms around her. He let out a sigh of relief, and could tell she felt better with him there too. He gave her hip a squeeze, and she rested her head on his shoulder in response. He let a small smile grace his face.
Once they were in the elevator, heading up to the guest floors, his phone rang, breaking the tired silence. He handed Natasha back to Clint and reached into his pocket, seeing Pepper's contact. He made brief eye contact with Natasha as the doors opened, before he stepped out and answered the phone.
"Pep?" he asked, but the broken sobs on the other end told him it wasn't her.
"Dad?" Peter's sobs caused Tony's heart to clench. He glanced warily around for a second, before deciding he didn't care.
"Hey baby, what's wrong?" he asked softly, feeling the odd looks he was getting behind him.
"Pepper had the news on, and-and you flew u-up into th-that hole! But you did-didn't come back out!" Peter sobbed, and Tony frowned, looking at Natasha briefly.
"It's okay bug, I'm just fine. The Hulk caught me, isn't that cool?" Peter's sobs died down a bit after that, until all that's left were soft hiccups.
"Yeah, I guess that's pretty cool. Is Mom there?" he asked then, and Tony grimaced.
"Nah bud, she's not with me at the moment, but as soon as she is I'll have her call you." Tony said, but that seemed to be the wrong thing to say because Peter's breathing picked up on the other line again.
"Wait, she's not with you? Then how do you know she's okay? Where is she? She was all over the TV too!" Peter demanded, sounding on the verge of tears again. Tony let out a sigh and started pacing, glancing at Natasha, who had a pained look on her face. The others just looked confused, except for Clint who was glancing worriedly at Natasha.
"She's okay, Peter. I promise. She's just busy right now." he defended weakly, not even believing his own words. He hated lying to his kid.
"You're lying. Where is she? She's not...she's not dead right?" Peter asked then, too smart for his own good, his voice cracking at the end. Tony sighed, and slumped down onto the couch where the others were sat, putting his head in his hand.
"No, Pete. Mom's not dead." and with those words, he heard Natasha curse softly in Russian, before she stood up. She marched over to him and grabbed the phone out of his hand, before directing her words into it.
"Peter." she said, and he could vaguely hear the relief on the other line, as his son fired questions at her.
"Yes, I'm fine. Your dad wasn't lying, I promise." she responded, her voice soft. Tony took that time to glance around at the group. Steve and Bruce were looking in between the two of them, confusion written all over their face. Thor looked content surprisingly, and Clint was watching the others with a smirk on his face. Tony turned his attention back to his wife.
"I promise. We will see you as soon as you get here tomorrow. Be good for Pepper....I love you too, bug. Here's your dad." she finished the call and handed the phone back to Tony, before reclaiming her seat by Clint, her face blank. Tony laughed a bit, before turning his attention back to his son.
"Pepper says we are getting on a plane as soon as possible. You'll still be there when we get there right?" his son was asking. Tony sighed, he could sense the nightmares his son would have for weeks, already.
"I'll be right here, waiting for you. Now I gotta go, I think we broke some superheros. Listen to Pepper, and bother Happy got it?" he asked, smirking over at the others on the couch.
"Got it. Bye Dad, I love you!" Peter sang on the other end, already sounding happier, knowing both his parents were okay.
"Love you too, Pete." he said, before hanging up. As soon as he hung up, Steve spoke up.
"You're a dad...and she's a...and you two are?" he stumbled, not seeming to know which question to ask first.
"Yes. Tony is a dad. I am a mom. And we are married." Natasha said in a flat voice, with a slight smirk on her face. Steve spluttered, and Bruce just looked inquisitive. Thor let out a loud laugh. And soon, they were all laughing.
And Tony was extremely glad the secret was out, when Natasha scooted closer to him and laid her head on his chest as he wrapped and arm around her waist, telling the story of how they met.
THE AVENGERS WILL RETURN