"Tony what the hell was that!?" Steve yells, rushing into the gym. "Telling her maybe she won't come back?"
"That was a two person conversation." Tony says turning to face him.
"Fuck that." Steve stares at him. "Leave."
"What?" Tony scoffs.
"Leave. Go see Pepper early, Iris clearly doesn't want you here. Make this her last memory of you. How do you think that would make her feel?"
"You don't know what you're talking about. She's just mad about having to do this-"
"She's pissed at you for not taking her feelings into consideration." Steve yells shaking his head.
"I don't care if you own this building, I am telling you to get out."
Wanda slowly walked into the room.
"Steve- is this really a good id-"
He cuts her off "Just go check on Iris."
Wanda sighs and leaves the room, heading to check on her while Vision follows. Sam then walks in and stands next to Steve.
"Tony what you said, it was messed up." Sam shakes his head.
Tony rolls his eyes and starts walking towards the door. "I'll go pack up. See you whenever." he leaves the gym and Sam turns back to Steve who was staring at the ground. He glanced at Steve's fists. They were held clenched at his sides.
"You alright man?"
Steve raises his head and gives Sam a small nod. He turns and leaves the room silently.
"Shit's getting messy." Sam sighs and follows shortly after.
"I really don't want to talk right now." Iris says as she hears Wanda walk into her room. She sat on her bed, facing the bare wall, hugging her legs to her chest.
"Iris..a lot just happened. I think we need to talk." Wanda slowly walks over and sits next to her on the bed.
"What happened?"
"Tony's being a bitch." she sighs "He made some comment about Steve kissing up to me just to fuck." she scoffs "I just— I don't want to see him anymore right now."
"I don't think you will..trust me." Wanda rubs her back.
"What do you mean?" she lifts her head and turns to face Wanda, exposing her teary eyes.
"Steve told him to leave."
Iris stares processing the information then sighs.
"I'm not stopping him."
"Oh come on, Iris you don't want him to leave on bad terms do you?" Wanda tilts her head "Who knows how long it'll be before you see him again."
"I don't care. It gives him time to think about what he said. And if I die, then it gives him guilt. Win either way." Iris shrugs.
"You're not going to die." Wanda furrows her brows. "You can't think that way! Stay positive like you always have before."
"If it happens it happens." Iris stands and rubs her eyes. "You should probably finish packing." she opens her mouth to say something else, but closes it after a moment and leaves Wanda sitting on her bed.
"Iris!" Steve quickly jogs over to her as she walks out of her room. "Are you ok?" he puts his hand on her shoulder.
She stops in the hallway and slowly turns.
"No." she shakes her head. "Not really. But when will I ever be able to be again?" she shrugs and turns around, continuing to walk.
"Iris wait." Steve grabs her wrist and she stops again.
"Steve i'd like to just be alone right now." she puts her hands on both sides of his face and kisses him. "Please." she gives him a weak smile and walks down the hall.
Steve stops following her, and just watches as she walks away.
Sure enough by the end of the day, Tony was walking out of the building with all of his bags, without saying goodbye to Iris. It had been hours, and no one had gone to see her. They all knew she wanted to be left alone.
Wanda and Vision had finished their packing and were ready to leave the next day. Sam had also decided he was going to leave earlier, to give Iris and Steve some space after all of what happened.
Steve agreed that it would be best to keep it quiet around the facility until it was time.
Sam decided where he was going to go, and made sure to tell Steve where to meet him when he left.
Just like that, early the next morning Sam was gone. Steve, Wanda, and Vision all sat at the table silently, waiting for Iris to wake up. They sat there, sipping at their coffee barely knowing what to talk about. They all perked up when they saw Iris walking out of the hallway. She didn't say anything as she walked. She tucked her hair behind her ears walking into the kitchen, grabbing a cup and making herself coffee. She looked exhausted. Her eyes were heavy and her posture was weak.
Once she made her coffee she went and sat down with them at the table. Each one of them too scared to break the silence.
Steve sighs. "Did you get any sleep last night?"
"Some." Iris answers quietly, and takes a sip of her coffee. "I'm sorry I brought down everyone's mood yesterday."
"Don't worry about it." Wanda smiles.
"It wasn't your fault." Vision spoke up. "We all understand that."
"Thanks." she takes another sip of her coffee. "You guys are leaving today?" she looks across the table at Wanda and Vision as they both nod.
"I'll miss you guys." Iris reaches out and takes both of their hands in hers.
"You helped me adjust to all this. I just hope to see you again."
"You will." Wanda nods "Don't doubt yourself."
"You'll make it back here just fine." Steve cuts in "Just don't think about it too much right now, ok?"
Iris nodded and smiled at them all. "It's all gone by too fast." she shakes her head. "I don't know if I'm ready."
"I'll still train you." Steve looks at her "We have time." Iris nods and finishes off her coffee.
Iris decided to spend the day with Wanda until she had to leave. The two went on a walk around the city, had lunch together at a restaurant and finished up the final steps of Wanda's packing. The hours seemed to fly by and before they knew it, it was time to take them to the airport.
Steve drove the car, Iris sitting in the passenger seat with Wanda and Vision in the back.
"I can't believe you're leaving already." Iris sighs
"It had to happen eventually." Wanda smiles trying to make her feel better. They stood outside the airport doors of the drop off area. Vision had put on his disguise already, and Steve was currently unloading their luggage.
"You're going to do just fine." Vision assured Iris. "We trust you."
"You're putting a lot of trust into me." Iris laughs "I just hope I can pull through." She smiles and Steve walks over, handing Wanda and Vision their bags.
"I love you guys." Iris pulls Wanda in for a tight hug, and Vision joins, hugging them both.
"We love you too." Wanda smiles. "I can't wait to see you when this is all over."
"Stay safe" Steve nods "Remember, you know how to contact me."
"Yes." Vision nods and Wanda smiles.
"We got it." Wanda assures him. "Well..." she sighs "see you later." she waves and they walk into the building and out of Iris and Steve's view.
They stood there together for a moment, then Steve wrapped his arm around Iris.
"Ready to go?"
Iris nods "Yeah."
Steve kisses the top of her head and they both get back into the car. As they drove back to the facility, Steve held her hand in his lap. He could tell how anxious she was and wanted to make her feel as comfortable as possible. He gently rubbed the top of her hand with his thumb as they pulled into the garage. It stayed silent as they got out of the car and went into the building. All staff that worked there previously had left. Tony had them evacuated to keep them all safe. The building was completely empty. It had never been so quiet.
"You sure you're alright?" Steve asks as they walked through the facility to the kitchen.
"I'm fine." Iris takes a sip of a water she took from the fridge. "It's just all hitting me now." she set the cup down and walked over to Steve. She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his chest.
Steve rubbed her back gently, trying to comfort her.
"You sure?"
Iris lifted her head and looked up at him. She nodded and Steve gently kissed her forehead.
"We can start training tomorrow, if you're ready."
"That sounds good." Iris smiles. "For now, I just want you." she says quietly, leaning onto his chest.
"Iris.." Steve said and she looks up at him. He stares at her eyes then looks down for a moment, before taking her head in his hands and pulling her in for a deep kiss. Iris kisses him back, wrapping her arms around his neck.
They both pulled back and took a pause, staring at each other, into the other's eyes. Iris smiles lightly, to which Steve returned a soft smile.
————
The next morning Iris woke up to Steve's arm wrapped around her, and the comforter covering their bodies. She glanced around the room and saw their clothes scattered around the floor and smiled to herself, feeling her face heat up. She then looked at Steve. He seemed so peaceful when he slept. She admired his face, and all his features. He always helped her forget what was going on, and keep her positive and she loved him for it. She watched as he slowly blinked, waking up. He smiled when he saw her staring at him and kissed her forehead.
"Morning." he said in a deep morning voice.
"Good morning." Iris smiles and leans her head on his chest.
"We can't stay in bed forever, we've got you training today."
"Please just a few more minutes, it's still early." Iris groaned.
Steve sat up, making her head fall off his chest.
"Unfair." she sat up as well, pulling the blanket over her chest as she watched Steve get up and start to get dressed.
"I'll go easy today, since you probably aren't a hundred percent." he jokes with a laugh and Iris rolls her eyes.
"I'll be fine." She stands from the bed, wrapping the sheet around her body. She started getting dressed, and stole Steve's shirt and grabbed new shorts from her dresser.
Once Steve had his pants on he turned to Iris.
"I see you stole my shirt." he chuckles.
"I did." she smiles and pulled her shorts up and stretched her back. "Do you want it back?" she started lifting it and Steve shook his head. She took it off anyway and put on a sports bra instead. "Let's train." she walks past Steve and out of her room.
Steve chuckles, shaking his head and follows her out. He found her in the kitchen, filling up her water bottle and throwing her hair up into a bun.
Steve grabbed a water bottle and started filling it once she was done.
"It's odd." she says resting on the counter.
"Hm?" Steve finished filling his water and turned to face her.
"It's so quiet. I'm not used to it."
"It'll be worse when I have to leave." He sighs "Unless I stay, and help y-"
"No Steve," she cuts him off "We've been over this. I have to do this. To protect all of you."
"What if you got rid of your powers somehow?"
"And how exactly would I do that?" Iris raises a brow, resting her hand on her hip.
Steve shrugs "I don't know, put your power into the stone and destroy it?"
Iris sighs. "I can only destroy it with my powers." she shakes her head "There's no way around this, I'm going." she stands up straight and stretches her back. "Now come on we should go get training."