It's scary what a smile can hide.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
Pepper sighed, clearly tired. "Tony is entitled to his own secrets as well you know? He's completed them since your so called 'fall out'," she answered, emphasizing on the fall out.
"Then he's been making them ever since! Without telling us! Even you!"
At that the four androids, including Vision, glared at the captain. "Didn't everyone try to restrain his limits? Even if he could've done something for the better?" Jarvis says. They flinched. They'd done that even before Ultron. But they didn't have to, because Tony knew the consequences of spreading research that might fall in wrong hands.
"Well it seems you all have something to tell us while we were off planet," Loki drawled, spinning a dagger as he leaned against a post. "Care to elaborate Man of Rhodes? Lady Potts? " Thor, Bruce, and the Gaurdians were looking very clueless and wanted answers.
Rhodey took a deep breath and told everything about their recent fall out. Pepper added the fact that it hurt Tony, making him look more haunted and depressed all the time than before, the nightmares, and Tony's feelings. Rhodey finished it all with the events regarding Spiderman, to which the teenager always interrupted and was replied with a look. "... And we met Doctor Strange by the park, and you already know the rest," Pepper finished, sighing.
Silence engulfed them, some waiting for the other's response. They looked as the Gaurdians, and Thor looked angry while Loki and Doctor Strange remained passive yet if one looked closely, disgust and anger were simmering in their eyes. Banner on the other hand, looked like he was going to burst any moment.
"You hurt him?! For a petty misunderstanding?! And you betrayed him?!" Banner was turning green now, gritting his teeth. "YOU HURT TONY?!" he roared in Hulk's voice. Some who hadn't witnessed Banner's transformation looked surprised while Thor placed a hand on the scientist's shoulder, calming him down.
"Well it seems the heroes of trust, and righteousness are quite trustable," Strange commented. "More trustable than SHIELD,"
Before anyone could say anything, the doors opened revealing a gaurd. "Your Majesty, forgive me for intruding but I came to inform you that Mister Stark has shown signs of waking up," And with that the gaurd bowed, leaving them suprised yet relieved.
Peter smiled. "Let's go see Mister Stark!"
_π_
Loki glanced at the windows, viewing the rising country of Wakanda.
"It's like Asgard isn't it?" his brother says. He nodded absently, marvelling at the futuristic yet traditional country.
"King T'Challa has done his job well," Loki says, a downcast expression on his usually mischievous face. "Unlike us..."
Thor looked at him sadly before looking upnto the blue sky. "We made sure their sacrifice was not in vain. Maybe...they'd be proud up there. Father, Mother, Heimdall, and maybe the rest as well..."
Loki looked at him, a little surprised. His brother has matured and changed. What about himself? The others?
"You've changed a lot brother, so has Banner, for the better," Thor sighed. "My shield brethren on the other hand, has turned for the worse. The fact that they have hurt the Man of Iron until he is like what Lady Potts, and Man of Rhodes say, has hurt me and made me quite enraged at their actions,"
Thor looked down, quite sad. "Man of Iron has changed the most. The events has indeed hurt him the most,"
"Maybe...he was always like this,"
Thor looked at him, perplexed and confused.
Loki sighed, a li'l weary. "Maybe Stark knew all of this would happen, maybe he knew they would fight, and maybe...he tried to deny everything, but then tried to change fate but then fate twists everything up, making it worse," He took a deep breath as he looked at the sun.
"Maybe Stark is more then we thought,"
_π_
The familiar beep of the heart monitor and the whirring of the machines are all he could hear as he waited.
Strange never thought he would live. Even the future, where they had won,
Strange did not see himself there. But after seeing Stark prevail in the hopeless battle against fate and destiny, he could say that maybe hope and faith does have it's little ways.
Strange glanced at the rest who managed to fit into the room. (the room is quite big, with a living space) He could feel the tension, guilt, regret, anger, and sadness.
That is until dull brown eyes opened.
"Mister Stark!" Peter exclaimed happily, clearly the first to see the man awake. The bedridden man turned to see the teen who helped him up.
"Peter? Are you alright?"
Stephen eyes the female redhead spy turn away, clearly not used to seeing this. Maybe he was right. Stark hid so much from them, to the point that the billionaire could be two, or maybe more, entirely different people.
By the time Tony looks to his front, he freezes. That had made all of them alarmed as the brunet shook uncontrollably.
Suddenly the whole place shook as they tried to calm the man down.
He glared at them, the Rouge Avengers at the center of his rage, making them tense.
"I HATE YOU! AFTER ALL THE CRAP THAT'S HAPPENED, YOU STILL DARE COME HERE?!"
Everyone in the Rouge Avengers were gasping for air, an invisible force clearly choking them. The rest were in a grip, stopping them from moving to help.
"Mister Stark! Stop this!" the teenager yelled, resisting.
"Stark! This is no time for petty arguments!" Loki yells, clearly panicked.
Stark eyes them with rage that made Strange flinch at the hostility that he never saw in the sassy genius.
"PETTY ARGUMENTS?! I ALMOST FUCKING DIED BECAUSE OF A PETTY ARGUMENT! AND MY TEAM GOT INJURED BECAUSE OF THE SAME THING! AND YOU CALL THAT PETTY!" His eyes glowed yellow, spiralling in rage. "I WILL KILL THEM! FOR NOT TRYING TO UNDERSTAND AND MAKING EVERYTHING WORSE!"
The choked people were hardly breathing, and the rest panicked (though some would never admit it), Strange turned to the seething brunet
"Stark, you need to calm down before you'll regret what you're doing," he breathes trying to calm his nerves to think clearly. "I'm positive that this is not the right thing to do. So, please stop, drop the hold you have over us, and calm down,"
"Calm down?" Stark laughed like a lunatic, looking at them with a crazed look. "YOU EXPECT ME TO ACCEPT THE BETRAYALS , THE LIES, THE PAIN AND HAVE A FRIENDLY CHAT OVER TEA WITH THEM?!"
They struggled, the hold on their necks grasping tightly.
"Plees degar eht tel!"
Tony went slack, the holds were gone, some gasped for air, and some went to see of their attacker was alright. A cloaked figure appeared by the door, hands outstretched and glowing with power.
The figure looked at them, hands at it's sides. "Greetings, I am Reality," it bowed. "It's nice to meet you,"
_π_
"Has Tony Stark been aware of the consequences for defying fate?"
Around the galaxy themed court room were seated disguised figures whose aura were very powerful. One in a crimson cloak snorted. "We all know that the trials have begun sis. No need for the dramatics about consequences and shit," It shrugged, relaxing in his seat. "Besides, it's been a long time we haven't had a good show,"
"Brother, I'd prefer if that you don't refer the humans as entertainment," the figure in the center says.
The crimson robed man pointed at another figure, now in gray robes. "How come the brat can?! "
The gray figure twitched, agitated. "I'm not a brat you bloodthirsty cunt! "
A fight quickly escalated in the court room, making the figure in white sigh.
"Why do they have the mentality of five year olds... "