Hurricane
They were walking to the compound after meeting for breakfast. Apparently, you could still do that with an alien invasion looming over your head. There were no news from Thanos nor his Children, but Rhodey had contacted them that morning announcing they were heading to Wakanda to try to take the Mind Stone from Vision’s forehead without damaging him. Given that Wakanda had even better technology than him (or so they had said), he and Bruce were going to join them there to give a hand. Also, while Wong decided to leave back to the Sanctum, Strange decided that the more people they had to help them in case Thanos decided to come for the Mind Stone, the better. Finally, Thor was leaving that morning with his crew to get some kind of powerful weapon he never finished to explain. All in all, everything was going fine.
“These are great! We should definitely have some as part of the catering for our wedding,” commented Tony munching his donut happily.
“Yeah, about that… I’ve been doing some thinking and maybe we should suspend the wedding,” how could she say something like that in front of his donut?!
“What?! Why? I had it all planned. We marry, I die fighting for some heroic cause and then you get everything just like that,” he said snapping his fingers.
“I think I prefer you take better care of yourself and stay alive… And most importantly, I deserve something better than a fake marriage-”
“Yeah, I know, and you’re right, but hear me out. Once I’m out of the way-”
“And you too.”
“What?”
“You are always so hard on yourself. Why can’t you just find someone you truly love and be happy?”
“I think you already know the answer to that.”
Pepper sighed.
“What happened with Rogers doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be loved.”
“Maybe, but it makes clear that whenever I trust someone like that, I get hurt! Oh God, maybe Strange was right about that one… I do have trust issues…”
“Tony, listen to me. Do you trust me?”
“Yes, but-”
“And Rhodey?”
“Yes…”
“I know this is not the kind of trust you mean, but don’t you think that if that is possible there is also a chance that there is someone out there to whom you can also trust your heart?”
“I think I’ve already assigned that to you.”
“Yeah… I’m glad I won’t have to do that ever again,” she said tapping his chest, “and don’t change the subject, you know what I mean.”
“Maybe. But I need time.”
“It’s been two years.”
“And opposite to this conversation, it didn’t feel like it at all,” he said practically rushing towards the door.
“Tony…” called Pepper, refusing to run after him.
“Maybe I’m just like this donut, perfect the way it is,” he added turning to look at her while raising his shoulders.
“Do you want some coffee with that?”
“Yes please,” he said turning to Strange just in time to avoid colliding with the man. Damn he was tall.
“Right,” laughed Pepper gaining a glare from the billionaire.
Okay, so maybe he did mention that they stayed awake talking until late last night… but that didn’t have to mean anything.
“Good morning, Doctor Strange,” smiled the ever polite redhead as she walked past them.
“Morning,” was all he mastered to answer as he made a cup appear out of thin air.
“Maybe we should get in too.”
“Right. Uh. We might have a situation,” stated the ever so eloquent doctor.
“I can see that.”
“No, I mean… Peter is here.”
“What?!”
And so again, he found him having a conversation with Loki.
“It all started when I went to ask her if it was true that she is genderfluid, as in the myths-“ was explaining Peter after being separated from said deity.
“She?” repeated Tony confused.
“Hey sister,” he heard Thor greeting as he entered the room, “everything ready?”
“You knew about that?” he asked turning towards the blond.
“Of course I do,” was his calm answer.
“Don’t worry Mr. Stark. When in doubt, you can always address her as ‘them’, okay?”
“I know that… And that’s besides the point! You aren’t supposed to be talking to them at all!”
“But-“
“But nothing. And one more thing, why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be at school?”
“There’s no time for that! Thanos is coming, remember? Of course I have to help!” said the kid, but given the glare he was getting from his mentor he had to add: “Also, it’s Saturday”
“He has a point there,” said Strange. Great.
“So I was wondering, how do your portals work exactly? Do you need to know the geographical location of the place or it’s something that you do just by recalling the place in your mind? I mean, I know you have done it before when you took us to the Sanctum, but there is not much known about Wakanda and I’m worried that-” entered Bruce while looking at some information on a tablet.
“I’ve already told you, Dr. Banner, I know what I need to do. You don’t need to worry about a thing,” sighed the doctor while Tony panicked.
“Wait, you are going to Wakanda?” questioned Peter with an excited look on his face.
“Oh no, he has the same look as you,” observed Strange unable to hold a chuckle.
“This is not funny! And no, you cannot come. This is no fieldtrip, kid. We are going there to help Vision and protect the Mind Stone in case Thanos appears.”
“I can help,” of course he was going to say that.
“Isn’t it great? Another mighty warrior joins our cause,” smiled Thor.
“He is not a ‘mighty warrior’, he’s a kid,” argued Tony beginning to regret once again the moment he himself decided to put a fourteen (or was it fifteen?) year old in a battlefield. What was he even thinking?
“A kid that can fight,” answered the blond back, “I saw it yesterday myself! Oh. And also we watched some leaked videos regarding your ‘Civil War’ with Banner last night.”
“You do have to admit he’s good.”
“Really, what’s going on with you?” he said turning towards Bruce with an incredulous face. They really needed to talk about that.
“Maybe he can help evacuating in case things go sideways?” offered Strange knowing that otherwise they would continue wasting time arguing.
“I promise I will be careful,” added Peter while making an effort not to go full puppy eyes on him. He was fairly certain that his mentor probably wouldn’t appreciate it.
Tony sighed, defeated.
“You must listen to every word I say, okay?” it wasn’t really a question, but still he gained an eager nod in response. “All right, kid...” he said walking towards him and making a small gesture with his palm over his shoulders as if he was naming a knight, “congratulations, you're an Avenger now,” he said hearing Thor cheer and soon everyone joined.
They shouldn’t be celebrating something like that.
“Gaining his kid’s approval, smart move,” he heard Loki commenting.
“What? The wizard?” was Thor clueless reply.
“Don’t be mad. Deep down you know is better to keep him close than to leave him to his own devices. At least this way you can keep an eye on him,” was the doctor trying to comfort him?
“I shouldn’t have told you about the suit hacking incident,” Strange simply smiled.
“You were so proud… Of course you were dying to tell me all about it,” he corrected without losing his stupid smirk.
***
Goodbyes were said and soon Thor left with his ‘Revengers’ while they were teleported by Strange to Wakanda.
“We come in peace,” announced Tony raising his hands when they got surrounded by an army of women who were pointing spears towards them as soon as they appeared.
“Mr. Stark, Dr. Banner, I wasn’t expecting you for at least another couple of hours,” received them T’Challa walking towards them, telling the women something in their language that made them put down their weapons.
“Should we bow?” whispered Bruce nervously.
“Nah,” he said dismissively, greeting the king, “long time, no see.”
“Same goes to you,” smiled T’Challa shaking his hand, “and Dr. Banner, glad to finally meet you,” he added offering his hand.
“The honor is mine,” he babbled clearly excited, “I saw a documentary about what you have been doing since you opened up to the world and I must say, I am impressed with-”
“Is this going to take long?” called a younger woman.
“Gentlemen, let me introduce you to Shuri, my sister,” presented T’Challa smiling fondly.
“Well, you might have heard about Spiderman,” he said gesturing towards a surprisingly quiet Peter, “and this is Doctor Strange-”
“Tony,” he froze as soon as he heard his voice, but somehow managed to regain his composure.
“Rogers, I wasn’t expecting you to come…” he gave a quick glare towards Rhodey, who was standing right beside him. He could have mentioned he was going to be there when he called.
“Steve! I’m so surprised to see you…!” another traitor. Dammit, Bruce was a terrible liar, how didn’t he notice before?
“Hi, Bruce,” well, at least he wasn’t the only one feeling uncomfortable right now.
“Nat,” was all he was able to respond.
“This is awkward,” muttered Falcon, putting into words what everyone was probably feeling.
“Sorry to interrupt the introductions, but I believe that it would be in our best interests if we focused on the matter we have at our hands,” intervened Strange brushing his shoulder slightly, “where’s Vision?”
“Right to work… I like this guy,” smiled Shuri, “follow me to my lab”
“Wait, your lab?” even with the mask on, Tony had a clear picture of what Peter’s face was as he said that. God, he was already following her like a puppy.
“Don’t laugh, Fairy Godmother,” he warned Strange as they followed the group while some last quick introductions were being made.
“I’m sorry, but you have to accept that there are certain aspects on which you cannot win against a teenage girl.”
“Tony, can we talk?” asked the Captain stopping them on their way.
“So now you want to talk?” how could a man of his size with that beard still be able to make the face of a kicked puppy?
“Please, I really want to properly apologize to you,” insisted the blond, “would you mind?” he added when he noticed that Strange wasn’t moving.
“Not at all,” the doctor stated coldly, but instead of leaving, he turned towards Tony. He could almost swear Strange was assessing if he would be okay and had to remind himself that that was probably because, at some point of the night before, they ended up discussing some events of the so-called “Civil War”. Given that the doctor commented how he thought they were both acting like morons, his reaction was probably result of him not wanting them to start another fight when Thanos and his Children were already causing enough trouble.
“I’m fine. Go ahead and make sure the kid doesn’t do anything stupid,” once again, he was marveled by how compliant the doctor could be when he wanted to.
“So… now the Avengers are open for magicians too?” well, his timid smile didn’t have the same effect as before. That was something.
“Get to the point, Rogers,” he demanded as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“When Bruce called me, the first thing I thought was that something had happened to you. Fortunately it didn’t, but it meant that I had to face a no less harsher truth. You didn’t want to talk with me. God. I can see in your face right now how you don’t even want to see me. And I know why. I hurt you.”
“Gee, I didn’t know you thought apologizing meant stating the obvious.”
“Yeah, sorry. What I’m trying to say is that for that to happen it would mean not only that I hurt physically, but also emotionally. You trusted me and I broke that trust. For that, I am sorry,” of all the possible scenarios that he had imagined, none of them included the man actually apologizing for that. So of course, he didn’t have an answer prepared for that. “If it serves of any consolation, this last couple of years have been… for lack of a better word, rough.”
“They must have been, considering you were all fugitives,” was the only think he managed to say.
“And I know things can’t go back to what they were, but I hope that someday we can begin again?” This was so unfair.
“I’ll think about it,” he answered, trying without success to stop the smile that escaped from his lips, “now let’s go before they turn Vision into a Transformer”
“A what now?”
***
“The structure is polymorphic,” was explaining Shuri when they arrived.
“Right. We had to attach each neuron non-sequentially,” remembered Bruce with Tony nodding with a bitter taste on his mouth as the memory of Ultron’s creation came to his mind.
“Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?” what was he supposed to answer to Vision’s curious gaze? That he was too frightened by his girlfriend’s mind control tricks that he wasn’t thinking clearly?
“Because... we didn't think of it?” or he could do like Bruce and admit that the kid was smart.
“I'm sure you did your best,” she said mockingly.
“Do you want an internship at Stark Industries?” although he asked jokingly, he admitted that he wouldn’t mind at all if she accepted.
“I think I’m good. But I can always offer you an internship if you want to learn something,” there was a soft gasp, and he didn’t have to be a wizard to know who it came from.
“Not a word, kid,” he warned Spiderman, who just raised his hands in surrender.
“Can you do it?” although he didn’t like her that much, it was touching seeing how worried Wanda was about Vision’s wellbeing.
“Yes, but there are more than 2 trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures. It will take time, brother,” Shuri explained turning to her brother.
“How long?” Steve asked, and Tony could swear he heard Strange scoff.
“As long as you can give me,” was her response as the alarms began ringing.
“Something's entered the atmosphere,” informed a woman, Okoye, if he remembered correctly.
Indeed, it wasn’t fun to almost have a heart attack in the middle of a battlefield when the allegedly gone murderer of your parents appeared out of the thin air, and armed to the teeth. However, his mind was soon wandering in a different direction. Rapidly, he scanned for Peter, hoping he had listened to him for once and left as soon as he finished his task of evacuating any civilian nearby.
“Tony! Are you okay?” he almost jumped when he felt his hand over his shoulder.
“Me? Yes, I’m… I’m fine,” he lied pathetically as Strange stared at him worriedly, “where’s the kid?”
“I teleported him back to the lab, he’s safe,” Tony could feel himself breath again, “maybe you should go too.”
“No, I’m fine,” he tried to smile, “someone has to protect you and that stupid rock you are so attached to,” if he believed or not the smile he was giving, he couldn’t tell, but Strange returned the gesture by letting a short laugh out.
“I’d really appreciate that.”
Although they were managing the Children of Thanos just fine, things definitely changed when the Revengers arrived in the company of a humanoid tree and a talking raccoon. However, soon enough they found out that during his time away Thanos had managed to get yet two other Infinity Stones, the Reality Stone and the Soul Stone.
At least the situation was serious enough to help him ignore the Winter Soldier.
But the distraction could only last so long.
“Didn’t it occur to you to mention Barnes was going to be here?!”
The dead were being counted and the wounded were being treated. The war was over and yet, Tony couldn’t taste anything remotely close victory.
“I did it to protect you!” refuted Steve, furious as if he was the one who had the right to feel offended.
“Tony’s not a child” signaled Strange matter-of-factly.
“You stay out of this! This is between Tony and I!”
“No, he’s right. I’m not a child” it was his time to interrupt him. If he could have Barnes by his side as they speak, so he would have Strange, “how could you do that? How do you even expect me to trust you if every time I do it you pull out shit like this?” he felt sick as the realization hit him, “was this the reason why you were trying so hard to be ‘nice’ with me? Or is there anything else you are hiding from me?”
Surprisingly or not, there was.
“We are engaged,” declared Barnes bluntly.
The last thing heard was the slamming of the door as he left the room.