shards - pietro maximoff

chapter seven ; arguments and apologies

"Tony, she was bleeding out, okay! She was going to die!" Dahlia had enough of his attitude.

"That's not your problem. Do you not realize how deeply those two hurt this team yesterday?" Tony's voice was sharp.

She took a breath, remembering her vision, but then an unfamiliar surge of empathy took place. "They're both twenty four, like me. They're practically children. I can't help but feel like they've been lead the wrong way! It was definitely a stupid decision on their part to join Ultron, but I wasn't about to let them die because of it. You, of all people, should know how capable he is of convincing people of the wrong thing."

"What do you mean, me of all people? Are you saying that I taught him to be a murdering asshole?" Tony growled.

"You know I'm not. All I'm saying is that he'a skilled at convincing people to do things. I don't think Pietro and Wanda know that he's using them." Dahlia may have been terrified of Tony in that moment, but she was enraged as well.

"So now they're Pietro and Wanda? When did we start addressing them by their names? I only think of them as the people we need to take down, and that's how you should be thinking, too."

"They're humans!" Dahlia said, exasperated. "They deserve to be treated like human beings because they are! They're not animals."

An evil smirk crossed Tony's face. "Oh, I know what this is about. You're just a kid who has a crush and you're going to put the whole team in jeopardy for it."

Natasha was two seconds from leaping up and strangling Tony herself, but Dahlia took care of it on her own.

"If that's all you think of me, a girl with a crush, then clearly you don't know me. I care about their lives because that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to be the good guys, but I'm losing faith in that every single day I'm around you." She stood up from the table and turned to leave the room, but paused once more before she did so.

"Maybe they're right about you, Stark. You don't care about anyone other than yourself."

After that, she excused herself from dinner and went to go sit out on the porch. Now that the heat from the argument was gone, it left her shivering outside on the wooden porch outside.

Back inside the house, Tony was getting his ass beaten verbally by Natasha. She wanted it to be physically, but Clint gave her a warning look.

"What on Earth possessed you to do that? You're legally her guardian, you're supposed to support her, Tony! I'm not too happy about what she did either, but if your shame her about it, she'll never trust you again. Honestly, how much of an idiot are you? Do you not know a thing about kids?"

Tony only scoffed and said, "I'm right, and you're all too biased to admit it."

Steve had to physically hold Nat back from strangling him at that moment.

"Anyways, I have to go take care of my daughter because someone," Nat shot a glare in his direction. "Royally screwed up her self esteem and I need to go build it back up."

"Actually, Natasha." Steve started quietly. "Could I go talk to her?"

Nat just stared at him. "Are you sure? Shes pretty terrifying when she's upset."