"Citizens of Sokovia march the war battered streets in protest today shouting out two names: Stark and Motter. The Slovakia and Czech Republic surrounded state has been in an uproar over the hero group called the Avengers after their raid on a nearby suspected HYDRA camp. Citizens began protests when Tony Stark's Iron Legion was called into the town, meant to be a form of protection. The bots, designed heavily by Tony Stark's longtime friend and coworker turned girlfriend, Audelia Motter, were said to be damaged during some of the early protests. Sokovians have a long history with the former weapons manufacturers, dating all the way back to-"
A hand placed itself over Audelia's, the screen of her phone flickering to black as video she was watching disappeared under the locked screen. She closed her eyes, letting her head fall back against the back of the co-pilot seat, eyes opening to look over at Tony and where he sat in the pilot's seat.
"The Iron Legion is supposed to keep people safe," she whispered, biting her bottom lip as she looked up at Tony, her fingers interlacing with his. "That was the point of creating them, to bring people to safety. That was the point of changing Stark Industries, of leaving the weapons industry, of becoming heroes, to save people. But they can't forgive what we've done, and now they're still scared."
"Maybe the world needs something bigger than the Iron Legion,"
Audelia and Tony stared into one another's eyes, both knowing exactly what he was talking about. Deli pulled her hand away from Tony's, turning to face the window before her as they flew through the clouds, trying not to think too much about what she knew her love was referencing.
"Thor? Report on the Hulk?" Natasha called out from somewhere in the back of the jet beside Bruce.
"The gates of Hell are filled with the screams of his victims,"
"Thor," Audelia called out in warning, turning around in her seat to look at the god with disappointment in her eyes. "We talked about this, dude."
Thor's eyes widened as he looked back to Banner in his place on the ground.
"Uh, but, not the screams of the dead, of course. No no, uh...wounded screams, mainly whimpering, a great deal of complaining and tales of sprained deltoids and, and uh... and gout,"
Audelia rolled her eyes as she turned back to face the window, shaking her head as Tony let out a small laugh, amused by Thor's attempt at backtracking on his comment.
"Hey Banner," Tony jumped in, turning to look at his friend. " Dr. Cho's on her way in from Seoul, is it okay if she sets up in your lab?"
"Uh, yeah, she knows her way around,"
Deli reached forward, hitting a series of keys on the screen before her as she rose from her seat, looking down at Tony.
"Make sure JARVIS has her prep it all. Clint is going to need the full treatment,"
"I will," Tony called back, peering over his shoulder as Audelia walked away. "Right after I'm done watching you walk away."
The billionaire only let out a laugh as Deli flipped him off, a smirk on her face through as she moved her way across the jet to stand beside Steve Rogers, both him and Thor looking down at the scepter on the table before them.
"Sam called a little bit ago," Steve spoke softly, turning to look up at Audelia as Thor was preoccupied with the scepter before him. "Thank you. It means the world that you're helping me like this, even if I still don't want you involved."
"And you should know by now that you don't exactly get a say," Deli shot back, the hint of a smile on her lips. "You're family to me. I'm going to help you, whether you like it or not."
"It feels good, yeah?"
The conversation was brought to a halt by Tony entering the picture, his arm snaking it's way around Audelia's waist like usual as he looked to Thor. Deli bit her lip, looking at the man she loved. She hated lying to him, but there's no way he'd want her involved with looking for Barnes.
"Finding the scepter, you mean?" Thor questioned as Tony nodded.
"I mean, you have been after this thing since SHIELD collapsed," Audelia popped in with a shrug of her shoulders. "Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy these raiding parties with you all..."
"No, but this...it brings them to a close,"
"Once we find out what else it's been used for," Steve reminded the group before him. "I don't just mean weapons. Since when is Strucker capable of human enhancement?"
"I think the question really becomes what else it Strucker capable of?" Deli jumped in again, turning to Steve. "We didn't know about the human enhancement, sure, but if we didn't know about this what else don't we know about? HYDRA has to have more up their sleeves than just this."
"Which is why you and I, along with our lovely green friend," Tony cut in, his arm winding it's way around Audelia's waist to pull her into his side, as his other arm gestured out toward Bruce across the ship. "Are going to give it a once over before it head's back to Asgard. Just a few days, up until the farewell party."
"Ah yes, the party," Thor hummed, a small smile on his face. "A victory should always be honored with revels."
"Steve?" Deli asked the soldier, her head finding it's way to rest on Tony's shoulder.
"Hopefully this puts an end to the Chitauri and Hydra. So, yes, revels,"
The rest of the flight back to the compound was spent in silence, the team retreating to their own corners of the ship. Audelia and Tony found their way back to the cockpit of the quinjet, taking their respective places in their seats.
JARVIS was manning the plane, allowing Tony's hand to reach across and rest in Deli's lap, her hand intertwined with his own as his fingers moved back and forth across her skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps up her arm.
Audelia looked across to her best friend, the man she had loved her entire life who was now her's. He met her eyes, a smirk on his lips as he sent her a wink before his gaze returned to the sky.
Maybe the world needs something bigger than the Iron Legion...
A feeling of dread settled in the pit of her stomach, bile rising in the back of her throat as she tore her eyes away from Tony, her other hand coming up to her lips as she bit her nails, unable to unhear the words he spoke, knowing the weight they carried behind them.
Even worse, she couldn't shake the image of Tony dying in front of her, the image given to her in that cursed town.
With New York in sight, JARVIS manually landed the quinjet on the landing pad of the tower, the team already waiting outside for them. Audelia rose from her seat, packing up her bag as the back of the jet opened. She watched as Natasha ran off with the stretcher Clint was currently lying on, Dr. Cho and her team speaking urgently as they rushed him off to the medical wing. Thor grabbed the scepter, moving off of the jet and into the tower and Bruce followed closely behind him.
"Lab is all set up boss," Maria Hill called out to Tony as she walked onto the jet, adjusting the ear piece in her ear as she stalked across the ground. After the fall of SHIELD, Maria was immediately brought on to be the head of communications for the team.
"Oh, that one over there is the boss," Deli chimed in, shooting Steve a wink as she pointed at him.
"Yeah, she's got a point," Tony jumped in as he rose from his seat. "Dell and I just pay for everything, design everything, and make everyone look cooler."
Maria rolled her eyes, casting a glance over to Deli.
"The files on Strucker and the two enhanced are being transferred to you right now," she informed the woman who nodded along. "We can meet later and discuss details once you have time to go over them, you've got guests on the way up."
"Not a problem, Hill,"
Steve was quick to lead Maria Hill off the jet and into the tower, firing off a thousand questions pertaining to the mission. Audelia swung her bag onto her back as Tony's arm found her once more, pulling her into his side as they made their own way off the quinjet.
"You know, we finally got the scepter," Tony spoke, wiggling his eyebrows at Audelia. "I think after the party me and you are in need of a vacation somewhere. Maybe back to Lake Bled or somewhere else scenic and romantic."
"While there's an almost four year old waiting for us at home?" Deli shot back with a smirk of her own. "You do understand that we don't need to fly to another country to have alone time, right? We have this entire tower to do as we please."
"And if you understood the things I wanted to do to you, you'd understand why I don't want to do them under the same roof as Rora-"
"MOMMY!"
Tony's hand was halted as it moved down Audelia's back, a sigh leaving his lips as the elevator doors opened down the way, little Aurora Motter running down the hallway and jumping into her mother's arms. The sight warmed Tony's heart, though.
Audelia laughed as she spun her daughter around, kissing her repeatedly on the forehead as the little girl giggled. She smiled at her mom before looked to Tony, gasping and reaching out her hands for him.
"TONY!"
The softest of smile's crossed the billionaire's lips as he reached out, taking the little girl from his love's arms and throwing her around his shoulder's, allowing her to sit up high as he looked up at her.
"Nice to see you too, sleeping beauty,"
"Yeah, she really missed the two of you,"
Audelia and Tony looked up to see Nathan Porter standing in front of them, hands in his pockets as he smiled awkwardly at the pair. Audelia gave him a small smile, walking up and giving him an awkward hug before pulling away, sighing slightly as she looked between two of the most important men in her life.
She understood the relationship here would always be slightly awkward, that it was never going to be fully fixed and happy, but she was hoping by now that everything would be on some decent level. It had been almost two years, with both Nathan and Audelia moving on into other relationships, and yet the dynamic was still strained and awkward to no end.
"Well, if it isn't Jim Halpert," Tony commented under his breath, though loud enough for everyone to hear. He swung Aurora off his shoulders, giving her a kiss as he passed her back to Audelia. "Didn't think I'd see you here. Honestly, was kind of hoping that you wouldn't be."
"You know, you'd think after all these years of that ridiculous nickname from The Office you'd learn it doesn't bother me, yet here we are,"
"I mean, there's a lot of names I could call you. If you'd like me to go down the list-"
"So! Nathan," Deli cut in, sending him an apologetic smile as Rora rested her head on her mother's shoulder. "What brings you here? Didn't think you were dropping Aurora off until tomorrow?"
"Dr. Cho called, said she was coming in to work on Clint and I wanted to get a look at the cradle. Cutting edge technology right there in the medical field," Nathan awkwardly cleared his throat when he saw Tony's eye roll. "Besides, Aurora was worried about you and Tony after seeing it all on television-"
"You let her watch the broadcasts?" Tony jumped in, furrowing his eyebrows. "She's not even four, she doesn't need to be watching that shit-"
"Language," Deli added in, thought Tony kept going.
"-she's too young. I grew up watching missile strikes in Afghanistan, and my bedtime stories consisted of the journal notes from the Manhattan Project. She doesn't need to be seeing any of this right now."
"Well, you're not her father are you, Stark?" Nathan jumped in, narrowing his eyes at the billionaire. "It's not really your decision in the end."
"Okay, enough,"
Audelia stepped between the two men, looking between them as Aurora now slept on her shoulder. She turned to Nathan, handing their daughter back to him as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You need to cool off. He's not her biological father, but he is a part of her life and you need to learn to accept that," she then turned around to face Tony. "You also need to cool it. I can't have the two most important men in Aurora's life fighting like this every single time they see one another. We have more important shit to deal with right now involving the mission, so I'm going to go to the lab and start working on all of it. The two of you need to chill out, because I'm done being in the middle of this."
All Tony and Nathan could do was sigh as they watched Audelia stalk away from them. They looked at one another for a second before looking away, knowing this wasn't going to be easy in the end.
◼ ◼ ◼
Sorry guys, I've been so swamped with stuff lately but updates are coming now that the semester is over!