CARSON STOOD AT THE SIDE OF THE STAGE, pulling at the tie that was around his neck as he found it extremely uncomfortable. Tony had dragged Carson with him to present the MIT students with a new program that he had created in order to fund all of the student's projects, but then again he always brought Carson along to things like this. Normally he wouldn't mind but after the everything that happened at Lagos, he'd much rather be back at the compound with Wanda.
"That's how I wish it happened." Tony began as the projection of him and his parents came to an end. "Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing.. or BARF. God, I gotta work on that acronym. An extremely costly method of hijacking the hippocampus to... clear traumatic memories." Tony continued to explain, attempting to blow out a fake candle, shrugging as he watched the projection start to disappear around him.
Carson's gaze was averted from Tony on the stage as he turned around, hearing a commotion behind him. He watched as two security guards began removing a man from the building, raising a brow as he heard the man shouting and struggling in the security guard's grip.
One of the employee's walked away from the scene that the man was causing and Carson grabbed her attention, calling her over.
"It was MY original design! Mine!" He heard the man shout before being pulled out the doors.
"Who was that?" Carson asked the woman.
"Quentin, I think his name is?" The woman answered. "If you ask me, I think it's good that he's gone. That man clearly has a screw loose."
Carson scrunched his brows and nodded slowly, someone called the woman over and she gave Carson a small smile before leaving. He turned back around and started to listen to Tony's speech again.
"As quiet as it's kept, the challenges facing you are the greatest mankind's ever known. Plus, most of you a broke." Tony spoke, a smile gracing his lips as the crowd of students laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry. Rather, you were. As of this moment... every student has been made an equal recipient of the inaugural September Foundation Grant." Some gasps and low murmuring was heard throughout the crowd. "As in... all of your projects have just been approved and funded."
The audience erupted in cheers and they all began clapping their hands. Tony looked over his shoulder at Carson at the side of the stage and wiggled his eyebrows at the boy. Carson chuckled and began to clap too, proud that Tony was using his money for good.
"No strings, no taxes, just reframe the future! Starting now-"
Carson's smile slowly faded when he noticed how Tony had suddenly fallen silent. He followed where Tony was looking and his eyes landed upon the teleprompter, seeing that Tony was now supposed to be introducing pepper. Who didn't show up.
"Shit." Carson mumbled.
Tony inhaled sharply before speaking. "Go break some eggs."
He wrapped up his speech and walked off the stage and made his way over to Carson, ignoring the faculty member that was pestering him about an idea, something about a self-cooking hotdog... yeah.. anyways. Tony gave Carson a pat on the shoulder and a small smile, signalling for the boy to walk with him, which he did.
"Restroom's this way, yeah?" Tony asked, stopping the faculty member from continuing his pitch.
One of Tony's assistant's ran over to the pair, worry evident on her face. "Mr. Stark, I am so sorry about the teleprompter. I didn't know Miss Potts had cancelled. They didn't have time to fix it."
"It's fine." Tony replied, not paying much attention. "Me and Carson will be right back."
"We'll catch up later." The faculty member said. "Right?"
Carson chuckled to himself as he and Tony left the room and began walking down the hall, knowing that the man wasn't going to see the light of day with Tony at all.
They both skipped going to the mens room, silently agreeing that it was time for them to leave. Tony knew that Carson would want to get back to check on Wanda and Carson knew that Tony was getting angsty about all the crowding that everyone was doing around them.
"What's so funny?" Tony looked at Carson as they made their way over to the elevator.
"Poor guy." Carson shrugged. "You're not even gonna listen to his pitch?"
"What is there to listen to?" Tony scoffed. "I mean come on, A self-cooking hot dog? Please." The pair both laughed quietly as they approached the elevator, sending a quick smile to the woman who was waiting for it to arrive.
"That was nice, what you did for those young people." The woman spoke softly after a few moments of silence.
"Ah, they deserve it." Tony replied. "Plus, it helps ease my conscience."
"They say there's a correlation between generosity and guilt. But if you've got the money... break as many eggs as you like, right?"
Tony half smiled and shared a glance with Carson, both of them growing slightly concerned as they took notice of the woman's demeanour. Carson furrowed his brows when he spotted the button to the elevator hadn't even been pressed.
"Are you going up?" He asked the woman.
"I'm right where I want to be."
The woman reached into her bag and began to rustle around for something. Not wanting to take any chances, Carson used his powers to hold the woman's hand in place so she couldn't move, in case she was about to pull a gun on them. Her head snapped upwards and she glared at the two Avengers.
Carson let out a breath and released his hold from the woman's wrist, realizing that she wasn't doing anything malicious.
"Sorry, it's an occupational hazard." Tony apologized.
"I work for the state department. Human resources." She informed them while taking a piece of paper from her bag. "I know it's boring... but it enabled me to raise a son. And I'm very proud of what he grew up to be."
Carson's facial features softened when he heard the woman talk about her son. He could tell by the tone of her voice that there was something more to this, that this wasn't just a mother speaking highly of her child. She was hurt. He could practically feel the grief radiating from her. And the anger too.
She shoved a photo into Tony's chest, looking over at Carson to make sure he knew that this involved him too.
"His name, was Charlie Spencer." Her voice cracked. "You murdered him. In Sokovia."
Carson's chest tightened as he listened to what the woman had to say. He opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out, but realistically what could he say? Her son was gone because of them and there was nothing they could say or do that would help.
"Not that it matters in the least to you." She continued. "You think you fight for us? You just fight for yourself. Who's going to avenge my son, Stark?"
Tony cleared his throat. "I'm-"
"He's dead." She interrupted through gritted teeth. "And I blame you, both of you."
~~ ᗢ ~~
Kinda a little sorter that usual but hey ho here you go
Adios amigos ;)
[Not edited.]
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𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐄. ¹ | wanda maximoff
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