Chapter 5
"Tony."
"Rogers."
Both jet passengers made their way to meet up the Genius, Billionaire, (Former) Playboy, Philanthropist. The atmosphere became quite dreadful. . .
Until, Scott groaned and started stretching his legs. "Ugh! Jeez, now I understand why you shouldn't sit for so long! Messes up your body. I'm never going in a plane or jet again."
Everybody just stared at him.
"...What?"
"Okay, well. Glad to have you guys back. The Towers been quite lonely ever since." Tony spoke up.
Nat then approached Pepper. She gave her a smile. "Good to see you, Nat." The C.E.O. greeted. Nat smiled back. "You too, Pep." They both shared a quick hug.
"I guess I'm the only redhead now." Pepper joked. Natasha just smirked. She had dyed her hair blond for the past year and a half.
Natasha then walked up to Tony. They both looked each other in the eyes. "Hey, Red. Or blonde." She just stared at him.
Then gave a very unexpected hug. Out of all the people she had missed, she really did miss Tony. Tony sighed then hugged her back. "Good to see you, Tony." Tony gave a small genuine smile. "You too, Nat." They pulled away from each other. Tony then gained a look of guilt.
"Listen. I'm sorry for what I said after the fight in Berlin. You shouldn't arrest your family. That's not right. I'm sorry, Nat." Natasha didn't looked affected. But those who knew her well, she had a look of surprise in her eyes. She then smiled. "As long as you apologized, we're good Tony. For what it's worth, I'm sorry as well." Tony smiled back.
Steve than walked up to greet. "Hey, Tony."
The mechanic eyed Scott for a moment before giving his attention to Steve. Only then, did the captain attempt to speak.
"Tony, I-."
"Save it. I don't wanna hear it." Iron Man interrupted. Rogers recoiled then and there. He stumbled back, trying to say something again.
"Look, I-."
"What part of, 'I don't wanna hear it', do you not understand? You had your chance, no, chances, so many times before to avoid all of this. Instead you trusted a brainwashed assassin who worked for HYDRA, instead of your own teammate."
Taking a few steps forward, as the other took a few back, Tony continued.
"I get why you're here, along with them, because we need to be a team. But, trust? That you'll need to earn back. Because you, and nearly everyone else with you, lost it."
After an intense staring contest, Tony walked away. Leaving Steve and Natasha together, looking down.
T'Challa and Shuri decided to either reintroduce and meet for the first time the people that were formally rouges. It slowed the awkward and tense atmosphere.
"Mr. Stark. Good to see you again, my friend." T'Challa raised a hand to shake and Tony reciprocated. "You too, Your Highness. At least I won't be suffering alone." Tony said half jokingly, halfseriously.
"You're not wrong there." T'Challa chuckled.
Shuri walked up to Scott. Curiosity was written all over her face. "Hi. You must be Scott Lang, right?" Scott had a small shocked look on his face, but quickly relaxed kinda forcefully.
"Yep. Ant-Man. You're Princess Shuri?" Scott replied, politely.
"Yeah. But just call me Shuri. I don't like it when people call me Princess." Shuri corrected. "So, your suit. Hoes does it work?"
Scott thought for a moment. It has been a while since he last used his suit. But he had no trouble remembering how it works. "Pym Particles. They shrink stuff. And grow, if you know what happened in Germany." Scott explained.
"Interesting. We have a substance similar in Wakanda. It is the same material I use for my brother's suit."
Scott looked impressed. "Really? That's awesome. You should talk to the creator of my suit for the information of the suit. They know it better than I do."
Wanda looked relieved to finally be out and about. "Ah, the atmosphere feels nice." Wanda had spent a lot time being known as a criminal. Someone the public hated. Ultron was where she made her debut. She worked under him along with her twin brother, Pietro Maximoff. Eventually, they joined the Avengers in stopping Ultron.
However, Pietro had died saving Clint's life. He was soon named after Clint's youngest child. Things became a bit emotional. Vision had visited her while she was on the run with the rest. Vision had cared about her as much as an android could.
After everything she had been through, Wanda deserved to be happy. Until then, she'll need to try to fix her mistakes.
Pepper then called for everyone's attention.
"Alright, everyone. You know why you're here. You've been temporarily pardoned. We'll also be working on amending the Accords. Until then. This is your home now."
That got some smiling.
"We left your rooms as how they were, before all this. They remain untouched. For those who have no rooms, like Scott and T'Challa, they will choose the rooms that are available." Pepper continued.
"By the way. Someone else is also staying with us. She didn't have any direct involvement, but her technology was provided on Cap's side, which means she violated the Accords as well." Tony added.
Now that got confused looks from everyone.
Vision spoke up first. "Who is it that will be staying here with us?"
Tony just gave a knowing small smirk at Scott. That got him a confused look from the ex-con.
"Hope Van Dyne."
Then, Scott's face just turned pale.
"Who is she?" Wanda asked.
"She and her father, Hank Pym, are the ones who provided Scott of his suit and technology." Tony answered.
"Shit..." Scott muttered. He explained, while on the run, that he and Hope had some sort of thing going on between them. Romantically. Clint just gave Scott a sympathetic pat on the back.
"Man. I'm sorry, Scott."
"You can laugh. I can see you holding back a laugh." Scott deadpanned.
. . .
Clint threw a small laughing fit, while Scott just had a dead look in his eyes.
Before anyone else had spoken up, an explosion could be heard from the inside the building.
"What was that?!" Steve shouted.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y, give me a visual." Tony ordered.
"A controlled explosion has occurred on floor 87." F.R.I.D.A.Y replied immediately.
"Floor 87?" Tony repeated. Why would. . .
Oh.
Oh.
Penny and Riri.
Tony had face palmed internally and immediately went to where the explosion appeared. He momentarily forgotten his kids were still in the lab.
Everyone got into battle positions. They followed Tony to floor 87.
"Tony, do you know what caused the explosion?" Natasha questioned. She heard some muttering of, "I told them not to run tests. And what do they do? Run tests!"
Shuri just had a look of irritation. "The one time I don't pack my gauntlets, something happens! How will I show off now?" No one acknowledged her.
Eventually, they arrived at the area. They then encounter a room full of black smoke. A suit strikingly similar to Tony's. And two girls covered in grained ash.
"Well, that didn't go as planned. . ."
"You think?"
Both girls turn their heads to see a group of people, some of which are aiming weapons and. . . magic, stare at the two girls with bewilderment.
"Um. . . hi?" One greeted meekly.