We Rise, Only To Fall / Steve Rogers

6

Always Angry

Steve followed behind me as I weaved my way through the corridors in silence. I knew where Tony had gone, I could read him like a book. Maybe an encyclopedia, though. 

As predicted, I found him looking down into the chasm where Loki's cell had been; the place where Phil lost his life believing in us and we let him down with a petty argument. Steve and I stepped onto a platform a few feet away from Tony and watched him. I could tell he'd noticed us. But instead, he stared down.

"Was he married?" Steve asked eventually.

"No," Tony replied. "There was a cellist, I think."

Steve bowed his head. "I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man."

Tony looked up at us and gave us both a serious look. "He was an idiot."

"Why? For believing?" I shot back at him.

"For taking on Loki alone," he said as he backed up from the platform.

"He was doing his job," Steve answered honestly but Tony scoffed.

"He was out of his league. He should have waited," Tony argued, coming nearer to us. "He should've..."

Steve and I stepped down and walked closer. "Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony," I said reasonably.

"Right, I've heard that before," he said sarcastically and I frowned at him.

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" Steve asked.

Tony whipped around and glared at him. "We are not soldiers!" he said defiantly. Steve and I looked at him until he backed up a bit. "I'm not marching to Fury's fife."

"I'm not either," I agreed.

"Neither am I," Steve added. "He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now we gotta put that behind us and get this done."

"I agree," I told Tony and he looked down. "Now, Loki needs a power source. If we can as a team put together a list-"

"He made it personal," Tony cut me off.

"That's not the point,"

"This is the point," countered Tony. "That's Loki's point. He hit all of us right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it," I could almost see steam coming from Tony's head as he thought furiously and stepped around Steve and I. "He wants an audience."

"Right. I caught his act in Stuttgart," Steve nodded. I bit my lip, thinking.

"That was just the beginning..." I added and Tony nodded slowly.

"That was just previews. This is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva, right? He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered-"

Tony broke off as we both came to a sudden realisation and looked at each other. "Son of a bitch!" we both said at once.

"That was creepy, but I'm confused?" Steve asked me as Tony stepped off the platform and hurried off.

I grabbed his hand and pulled him along after Tony. "Isn't it obvious, Cap?!" I cried out, using the disheveled looking people as an indication to where Tony had pushed through them and gone.