Too Obvious to See // MARVEL // STONY

2.08 i mean i disagree with tony in this part but i'm still team iron man

I never lose. I either win or learn. - Nelson Mandela

TONY STARK, STEVE ROGERS, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, James Rhodes, Clint Barton, Maria Hill and Helen Cho were gathered in Tony's lab, the only place on this floor that wasn't completely destroyed.

'All our work is gone,' Bruce said disbelievingly. 'Ultron cleared out. He used the Internet as an escape hatch.'

Steve scoffed and shook his head, still taking in the fact that Tony betrayed them. 'Ultron.'

'He's been in everything. Files, surveillance. Probably knows more about us than we know about each other,' Natasha noticed.

'He's in your files, he's in the Internet,' James concluded while walking through the room. 'What if he decides to access something a little more exciting?'

'Nuclear codes,' Maria realized.

James nodded. 'Nuclear codes. Look, we need to make some calls, assuming we still can.'

'Nukes?' Natasha asked confused. 'He said he wanted us dead.'

That weren't is exact words. Obviously, you can always approximately say what someone means, but that's not the same thing. When someone says they carry an umbrella every time it rains, it doesn't mean that when they carry an umbrella it rains. Meaning was important, but words are even more important.

'He didn't say "dead." He said "extinct,"' Steve corrected the Russian.

Clint looked up. 'He also said he killed somebody.'

'There wasn't anyone else in the building,' Maria said confused.

Tony sighed and walked to the middle of the room. 'Yes, there was,' he said as he grabbed a remote and showed everyone the once so beautiful golden program, now a broken light. Everyone was quiet, shocked by the news. Tony walked over to Steve to stand next to him, getting comfort out of just his presence.

'What?' Bruce whispered. 'This is insane.'

Steve sighed. 'Jarvis was the first line of defense. He would've shut Ultron down. It makes sense.' 

'No. Ultron could have assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy. This is-' Bruce explained. 'This is rage.'

Then suddenly Thor walked over to Tony, angrily, and grabbed his neck, holding him high in the air. Steve immediately felt like a lion protecting her cubs. Thor wasn't going to hurt Tony. Steve just simply wouldn't let him. No matter how stupid Tony acted, (which was very stupid in this case,) nobody hurt him.

'Whoa, whoa, whoa!' Steve exclaimed surprised.

'It's going around,' Clint noticed.

'Come on,' Tony said, a little scared himself, 'use your words, buddy.'

Thor only got angrier. 'I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark.'

Steve had to do something. How would he make Thor listen to him? Distraction. But with what? What would Thor care a lot about? The scepter.

'Thor!' Steve started. 'The Legionnaire.'

It worked. The god groaned and put Tony down. 'Trail went cold about 100 miles out, but it's headed north. And it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, again.'

Natasha sighed. 'Genie's out of that bottle,' she noted. 'Clear and present is Ultron.'

'I don't understand. You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?' Dr. Cho asked Tony cleverly.

Out of nowhere, on probably the worst possible moment ever, Tony decided to chuckle. Everyone sighed, facepalmed and even Steve was 112% done with him now. Why did he just stop Thor from hurting Tony again? Why was the smartest person in this room acting the most stupid on the absolute worst moments?

'You think this is funny?' Thor asked angrily.

'No,' Tony answered as he turned around. 'It's probably not, right? This is very terrible. Is it so... Is it so... It is. It's so terrible.'

And of course, ladies and gentlemen, the famous Tony Stark built his walls up again.

Thor groaned. 'This could've been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand.'

'No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. This is funny,' Tony responded while walking over to the blond god. Steve wasn't a fortune-teller, but he knew it would all go wrong. 'It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this.'

'Tony, maybe this might not be the right time,' Bruce hesitated to stand up.

Tony just looked at the scientist, disappointed. 'Really? That's it? You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarls?'

'Only when I've created a murder bot.'

'We didn't!' Tony confessed, giving Steve hope again. 'We weren't even close! Were we close to an interface?'

'Well, you did something right. And you did it right here,' Steve told Tony, walking over to the billionaire. 'The Avengers were supposed to be different than S.H.I.E.L.D.'

Steve was disappointed. Mad. Everything. Anything. But above all, he was hurt. The first ever person he let in, Bucky, was also the first he lost. Then he got Peggy Carter and God how great she was. He lost her. And now, the moment he decided to trust Tony and let him in, he betrayed him. It was all a loop. But a beautiful loop. And the pain was worth it. Damn you, Stark.

'Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?' Tony asked, looking straight into Steve's eyes. 'Saved New York?' he turned to the other Avengers. 'Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space. We're standing 300 feet below it. We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the livelong day, but that up there, that's... That's the endgame. How were you guys planning on beating that?'

Steve locked his gaze with Tony's.

'Together.'

'We'll lose.'

'Then we'll do that together, too.'

Silence.

Then Steve remembered it wasn't about putting Tony in his place, but about beating Ultron and saving humanity. Again.

'Thor's right,' Steve noticed, turning to the others heroes. 'Ultron's calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller.'