The wait is over!
Chapter 4 is here!
Thank you to everyone for the positive, brilliant reviews!
Hope ye like it,
Rachel :)
When I finally woke, everything was fuzzy and hazy, not to mind the pounding pain in my head. Where was I? Everything was white… the floor… the ceiling… the walls…. Everything. Was this heaven? No, you can't go to heaven when your born hell bound. And there was a smell… disinfectant. Great. I was in a hospital then. Where was everybody? Why was I here? …..Oh yea. Loki stabbed me. Loki…. The Avengers knew everything. It was on the news. This meant SHIELD saw it… This meant Fury saw it… I was screwed.
Slowly I twitched my hand, trying to break past the morphine. I hated drugs. Then all the feeling returned and a sharp pains shot across my stomach. Wish I hadn't moved now. I moved over my hand to find my stomach completely bandaged. That meant stitches. That meant a scar. Loki had officially scarred me. Whoop-De-Doo. Sighing, I put back down my hand and closed my eyes, trying to think. The others would have filled in Fury on what I had told them, but he would want a proper debriefing from me the minute he knew I was awake. That was going to be fun. Then the team… they would obviously hate me for lying and not telling them but, over time, they would forgive and forget… eventually. Then, who else? Oh yes, Rhodey. Rhodey wouldn't care as long as he thought I was doing the right thing and all that. What about Thor? He would be all over me, wanting to know what Loki had said, where I had seen him, everything basically. And then… Pepper. Oh god. What would Pep think? She would be furious. Then angry. Then upset I didn't tell her. And then she's cool down and realise the reasons why I did it. And finally she would accept my decisions and give that 'You-have-to-trust-me-sometimes' speech, I will feel really guilty for a few days, and then everything would be grand again. Hopefully.
I faintly remember someone coming in but I was already half asleep. Then someone sat down next to me, and judging by their loud footfalls, it wasn't either of the assassins. Bruce wasn't as quiet as Clint or Natasha when walking, but he was still quiet, so it wasn't him. And Thor would be all laughter and have a loud voice. So it wasn't him. That left either Fury, or Capcicle. "You're fucked when you wake up Stark".
Yep, that was Fury. Steve simply didn't curse. I kept my eyes closed though, just resting. Besides, I wanted to hear what he had to say when he thought I wasn't listening. You learn a lot from someone if they don't realise you're listening to them.
"Seriously Stark. All this Loki business. What the fuck were you thinking?" he asked, "we managed to cover up the press but what you saw on the news… that's been seen by hundreds of people already. All of Manhattan maybe, who knows?" It was silent for another few minutes.
"For FUCKS SAKE Stark, he's the bad guy! WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?" He shouted. I should have known ole Nicky's temper wouldn't last that long. He sighed and I could almost picture him with his head in his hands frustrated.
"He's Loki" Fury muttered, "He's a fucking God. And now he's gone". Silence.
"You should have told someone. Anyone. Instead of going around the place looking over your shoulder for the past two fucking weeks. Then you wouldn't have gotten your bloody guts cut out". Was that…? Was that sadness in his voice? Was he… was he worried about me? I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing.
His head snapped up, and I laughed even harder at his surprised expression.
"You're… Your f-face" I spluttered, tears forming in my eyes from laughing do much. I didn't even care it was absolutely killing my stomach. He actually cared, no how matter how much he refused to. "You… you heard ALL that?" he asked and another outburst of laughter confirmed it. He immediately turned angry, his expression murderous as he started yelling thunderously at me.
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD, YOU WERE AWAKE THE WHOLE GOD DAMN TIME!"
"I… I c-couldn't resist. It w-was… too good to i-ignore" I choked out, wiping the tears from my eyes.
"FOR FUCKS SAKE STARK" he shouted, "WONT YOU EVER GROW UP?"
"I'm n-not throwing… t-the toddler t-tantrum here" I said grinning. This was going to be brilliant.
I was still laughing my heart out, and Fury was still yelling and cursing me 20 minutes later when the other Avengers arrived, minus Thor. "Should we just…? Maybe we'll come back another time" Natasha said, staring at us confused.
"No" Fury snapped, pointing to the other chair in the room, "all of ye. In here. Now".
"You're… Your face" I said again, and Fury growled at me. He literally GROWLED at me. Then he glared and damn, Fury glare was scary. But I couldn't stop laughing.
"You c-cared" I said, "You actually got worried over-".
"SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP. STARK" he hissed and I reduced my laughing to a grin.
"You gotta admit, you actually giving a damn about me is quiet hilarious" I said and he took a dangerous step forward.
"If you tell anyone. ANYONE. About this. Even the Avengers. I swear to god I'll be the one slicing you stomach the next time" he said quietly, his voice an obvious warning.
"Fine, fine, fine. Your secrets safe with me Nicky" I said, raising both hands, "I won't tell anyone".
"Won't tell what?" Clint asked quietly and I started laughing again.
"You've just set off World War 3" Fury hissed, turning to Barton, "Nothing that you need to know. Now Stark better have fucking calmed down when I get back, or they'll be hell to pay". He shot me another death glare before leaving and I quickly shut up. Until the door shut behind him. Then I started laughing all over again.
"What was that about?" Bruce asked staring after the one-eyed man.
"He… He thought I was still unconscious. And he basically poured his heart out to me" I explained, finally calming down and reducing my laughter to a smirk.
"Seriously? Fury emotional? Hard to believe" Natasha said.
"Yep. As you can imagine, I found it rather funny" I replied and she smirked.
"Kind of?"
"Yea… I really should have videoed it… does this place have camera's?" I asked looking around; spotting a small black box in the corner of the room, a red light signalling it was on, "yep. There it is. I'll get Jarvis to send every SHIELD agent a copy".
"You're unbelievable".
"Thanks".
"So what do I owe the pleasure?" I asked after a few silent minutes. They all glanced at each other warily and I sighed, "Spit it out. It can't be that bad".
Clint was finally the one to speak up. "Fury thinks you're working with Loki".
"…Ok, that is bad" I muttered, looking around at each of them. They all looked… ashamed… and avoided my gaze. It was only then I realised. "You've GOT to be kidding me" I exclaimed, "Ye're with him? You think that I'm actually dumb enough to work with Loki?"
"Well… I don't want to, but if the hat fits…." Natasha trailed off.
"Me? With Loki? Can you honestly imagine two completely annoying jerks working with each other?" I asked. They didn't reply. They actually thought…
"What about you Rogers?" I asked coldly, "You're the leader. You kicking me out?"
He looked around uneasily, "I'm sorry Tony. If there wa-".
"Don't" I cut him off, "Don't you DARE say 'If there was any other way'. We both know there isn't. So don't waste your breath". He seemed taken aback by my harshness but who cares? They thought I was stupid enough, dumb enough, and completely moronic enough to work with HIM? Of all people they thought I would work with. Of all the people to presume something like that…. The single 4 people I trusted… And they broke it. They broke the one, single, most important thing they knew I was the most vulnerable about. They broke my trust.
"Go" I heard myself saying.
"What?" Banner asked and I leant back, closing my eyes.
"Just go" I said quietly, "ye don't want to be here. Not with a traitor. So ye can go".
"Tony please, it's not like that" Nat pleaded.
"Go" I said, louder this time, "just… just go".
I heard a few shuffles, then a door opening, and finally, the door closed. I let out a shaky breath, opening my eyes again, and swearing to myself that the tears were from laughing. Not from the fact that my only friends betrayed me. Not sad tears.
After another two days, I was allowed to go home… well… the tower wasn't home anymore. Home was where the heart was. Home was wear your family was. And home was where your friends were. So the Avenger Tower was no longer my home.
The next few days were… rocky… to say the least. The others tried to talk to me. I didn't want to talk. So my answers were blunt and short. And eventually they gave up, and now were ignoring me. Pepper found out what happened, and took my side. She knew how fragile my trust was. She was the first to earn it. And she knew that the others were going on no actual proper proof. So she was on my side. Pepper did talk to them of course, but she was more… abrupt than before, making it obvious she was angry with them.
I spent all my time in the lab, working on random things, the suit, the coffee machine, the alarm clock. Anything to keep me busy. I even slept down there most nights. Pepper would visit every 2 or 3 days and she'd always bring food, pizza one day, taco's the next. And we'd just sit down there, having dinner, and just talk about whatever was happening. Mostly she talked as nothing was actually happening in my life at the moment, and I was content to simply sit back and listen to her ramblings. It became a sort of tradition, a custom. The same thing every week. And it was nice, having someone to talk to, not being totally isolated away from the outside world. And it was all going perfect… Until a certain God Of Mischief showed up.
Another cliff hanger *sigh*
Ah well, the next chapter shall be up and posted tonight as well so stay tuned!
Rachel :)
