Oh my lord, please leave comments. I saw all seven hundred of you new ghost readers last time. I need the happiness feeling back. Thank you so much bored411 as you understand the struggle and often give me the serotonin that I require from this. Your comments are always appreciated as I love your stories too. I'm currently re-reading the Lost fan of Sherlock and I would die for Sam. Normally I like Moriarty as a villain because he's very charming, but you somehow made it so easy for me to hate his guts. But I digress- enjoy the long chapter again and have a happy end of July.
T. Rycbar is really cool (please get me dunkins)
IDon'tOwnMarvel
Tony watched out of the corner of his eye while Lincoln flipped through a folder she had brought with her onto the Quin-jet. She had since changed out of the blazer and heels into what he had to assume was some kind of vigilante get-up with the black hoodie and dark green drawstring cargo pants. The comfort outfit was accessorized with a pair of fingerless gloves and a pair of sneakers. He wasn't exactly sure who she thought she was going to be fighting in that, but it wasn't terrible as far as movement and breathability. Not that...he would ever comment on or need to compliment such a thing.
See, he was relieved at first when she came back, very 'happy' to see that she hadn't died while running from her problems. The second she took that journal out though, he knew they were in for it.
She had that journal on her during the whole Killian issue in 2013, but he hadn't seen her use it any time before then. If he was being honest, he actually couldn't say for sure why she kept it on her during these seemingly important and climactic events, but he could speculate on all the hand-drawn pictures of people. It only got confusing when he got to faces he didn't recognize while snooping through it one boring afternoon. He wasn't a big fan of it. Personally, he was a little unhappy with her need to carry it around now.
Now, on top of being unhappy about the journal she had on her, Tony's relief at her return was nothing in comparison to the growing annoyance and anger he felt when coming to the realization that Lincoln had known Ultron would backfire, and let it happen. She didn't show up three days earlier to stop him. Instead, she showed up for the party and let him believe for a moment that she might've actually wanted to see him after all that time.
That's on me for getting my hopes up. He grumbled internally, turning away so he didn't have to stare at her incessant paper shuffling.
"What are you reading?" Steve asked, being the one to break the comfortable silence in the jet.
Lincoln didn't even look up to reply. "Files."
"About what?"
"Me."
Steve narrowed his eyes at her "Why?"
"So I can confiscate it." Lincoln sat back, flipping to another page. "I did it with SHIELD's electronic info on me too. Now maybe they won't show up at my school when I'm trying to get an education and move on from the ill-timed death of my universe."
Steve watched her for a moment longer, pursing his lips at the bluntness before falling completely silent with a sigh. It was painfully obvious that she wasn't wanting to converse right now, regardless of how she was feeling earlier when the two disappeared together. Then again,Tony couldn't exactly say for sure that they even spoke when they left the main room together since it looked like Mr. America was just scared she'd leave again.
Tony would actually like that very much- If she just left instead of standing around, waiting for everyone else to find the answers when she knew them already. Honestly, if she wasn't going to be helpful, the least she could do would be to disappear magically again like last time.
Okay, that was a bit harsh. He did sort of want to have her nearby after not seeing her for two years, but in regards to caring about her, he was conflicted at best.
He spared a single glance over at Lincoln who had just pulled out the brown journal and started writing.
Tony winced internally at that. Well this oughta be good.
The quinjet landed in a field further from the salvage yard, and by the time Tony had opened the door, everyone was already standing and ready to go. Tony shut down the jet and stepped into his suit while Lincoln spoke to Bruce and handed him the lizard she carried around now.
Tony stuck an arm out in front of her as she tried to follow the group, pushing her back a step away from the exit. "Nice try, Crime Lord, you're staying."
She didn't bother to look up at him. "I think you'd actually prefer if I was there."
Lincoln ducked under his arm easily and marched past him to meet with the rest of the group.
Still recklessly stupid. He rolled his eyes and followed after her.
"Nat, Clint, you go in from the sides." Steve explained, "Thor, Tony and I will meet him head on."
Lincoln didn't pay any mind to her not being in plan and pulled up the pink bandana that covered her nose and mouth. She rocked on her heels a little like she was ready for the action.
Steve must have taken notice of the kid and gave her a very dismissive once over. "Lincoln, you're staying."
"Mr. Stark thought I was too." She quipped back, looking down to readjust her gloves.
Mr. Stark? Tony nodded to himself. Well, at least the pissy feelings aren't one-sided.
"It's not safe."
"I don't think I've been safe since I showed up on this spooky ass planet." Lincoln crossed her arms decidedly. "I'm coming."
He cocked his head right back at her challenge to whatever authority the guy had. "No."
Lincoln looked around at the group, catching each of their gazes for a second, lingering on Bucky for just a little longer, before stepping back and looking over her shoulder at the jet. Then, with a short silence and staring contest between herself and Steve, she walked forward, grabbed Nat's arm and pulled her a few paces away from the group. Tony didn't like how she started speaking in a lower tone to the assassin who nodded and looked back at the group once.
He humored the idea of listening in before brushing it off as his favorite Norse god spoke up.
"What are they saying?"
Tony audibly sighed with an exasperated tone. "We are all standing here next to you. How are we supposed to know any better than you?"
"Feeling a little moody, Tony?" Steve smirked, obviously reading into Tony's uneasy state.
"Sure, Rogers." Tony shot him a small glare. "Maybe I am."
Natasha came back after another minute and a glance in Bucky's direction. She took his arm and nodded him back towards the jet. "Bucky's staying."
"What?" Barnes protested immediately, getting frowns from everyone else. "Nat, I'm fine."
"No, you're not." Nat insisted, giving Steve a look then. "He needs to stay."
Steve looked between Bucky and Nat then with a passing glance at where Lincoln was hanging out by the hanger door and watching them. Tony knew there was no way this wasn't her fault, however, he was also curious as to what supposedly would happen if Barnes went in with them.
Okay, maybe she does want to be helpful?
"Lincoln?" Steve questioned, getting the rest of them to look over at her briefly.
"No." Nat shook her head. "I'm making an executive decision. Lincoln just gave me the facts."
"Why do you get to know the future?" Tony turned a suspicious look to her. "You know, over the rest of us and the literal god. If she wanted Bucky to stay behind, why didn't she just tell him?"
"She bounced an idea off me, Tony." The assassin defended easily. "And we both decided that Bucky should stay because he wasn't supposed to be here in the first place."
Tony went quiet at that as all the eyes fell on the ex-hydra worker. Bucky looked a little on the spot but chuckled lightly to ease the tense atmosphere anyways, taking a few steps back towards the jet. "Got it. I'll just...stay here."
Steve gave Nat another serious look. "That's not all."
"Well, like Lincoln often implies," Nat tilted her head a little. "We can't all know everything."
Tony didn't like being a man down, but he had to agree that having Barnes there when he was supposed to be elsewhere might prove more problematic than helpful. This especially mattered if the fight was going to go in favor of Tony's side and the presence of an outlying variable threw a wrench in those plans. Lincoln had to have known that too. Now he was only curious about what other thing Natasha got to know that he didn't. He could deal with one more secret with her.
When they got inside, it really did not take long for the fight between Tony and his accidental creation to get out of hand. He chased down Ultron, firing shot after shot at the sentient creature with each one frustratingly missing it's mark. At that point, he was pissed enough to just throw himself at the bot, sending it careening into a concrete wall, a good distance from the shipyard.
"Ah, the vibranium is getting away." Ultron taunted with a small 'pained' grunt.
Tony landed in front of the crippled Ultron and aimed a rocket at him. "And you're not going anywhere."
"Of course not," Ultron chuckled with a strained voice, giving Tony the most infuriatingly confident look. "I'm already there. You'll catch on. But first, you might need to catch Dr. Banner."
Dammit. Tony launched the rocket, effectively blowing apart the bot before he took off back towards the Quin-jet. "News or footage, keyword: Hulk."
"No results."
Tony was moving as quickly as possible now. For some reason, the idea of there being no results was a little more unsettling than there actually being some, especially since there was a big city nearby. He did see the Hulk, however, when he neared the Quin-jet again.
"Listen to me!" Lincoln shouted at him, standing not so far away with Bucky standing directly next to her. "She's messing with your mind. You're stronger than her. Don't let her beat you. No one beats the hulk."
Tony didn't intervene, staying hovering nearby, but watched as she apparently was able to calm the beast enough that she wasn't lying in two pieces.
"Have VERONICA come down." Tony ordered, "Natasha we could really use a lullaby."
"I'm on my way. Thor and Steve are down."
"They're big boys, I'm sure they can wait a few minutes." Tony felt his heart sink then with the horrifying roar of the Hulk in Lincoln and Bucky's direction after the latter mentioned puny Banner.
"Right, don't mention Banner." Bucky winced, almost grabbing Lincoln to pull her out of the path of destruction, only for his hand to get shocked at the attempt while she rolled her shoulders back and started to light up.
"Veronica!" Tony looked up, not liking that the inbound was thirty seconds away.
For a few seconds, all that bitterness toward Lincoln drained through the bottom of his suit while he watched on in fear of her life. Bucky looked horrified too since it was obvious that the kid thought she had a chance against Banner's alter-ego. He couldn't touch her either and just shouted to try and get her attention or the Hulk's as she glowed with purple sparks rolling off her shoulders and down her legs. Bucky even took a step back then at the sight of the girl raising a hand at the charging beast. With a quick snap of her arms, a loud crack enveloped the area combined with a bright flash of light that blinded Tony momentarily. It was almost like what she'd done to the Legionnaire, but on a terrifyingly bigger scale.
The shockwave caused a quick glitch to run through Tony's suit, forcing a small drop in altitude from where he was hovering as the shock made his thrusters all fail momentarily. He was disoriented enough that he almost missed the sight of the Hulk collapsing on the scorched ground around him with a loud thud.
"Holy shit." Tony breathed, looking to Lincoln quickly as Bucky held his chest and got up too, a few feet from where he had been standing.
Lincoln stood her ground for a moment, teetering in place before her eyes fell and she dropped too. Bucky made a grab for her at the same time that Tony dropped down, catching her before she fell too far. Bucky caught his breath at the same time, cringing from what Tony detected as a fractured rib in the guy's chest.
"Scratch the lullaby. Lincoln handled it." Tony relayed into the coms before being very careful with attempting to take Lincoln from Bucky.
The soldier hesitated at first, giving Tony a look and tightening the grip he had on the girl he was holding close while Veronica fell around the unconscious Hulk.
"Relax, Trigger." Tony shook his head at the guy, offering out a hand and folding down his helmet. "I'm just taking her inside. Is she breathing?"
"Yeah," Bucky looked down at her again before standing up and passing her over to Tony. "Be careful, please. I happen to like having her around."
"Yeah, message received." Tony rolled his eyes to himself and getting that spite he normally carried for her back as he set her down on a pull-out stretcher.
The others started filtering in then while Bucky placed himself beside Lincoln's stretcher and sat back. Tony was well aware of the protectiveness Bucky held over Lincoln, even in old conversations when they thought she might be dead. The guy was convinced she was fine and insisted strongly that SHIELD kept diligently looking to track her down. There were few explanations for this, but Tony assumed it had to do with the fact that Lincoln was a direct cause for his release and rescue from Hydra. That would explain why Steve had nothing better to do than worry about the kid too.
Ironic, Tony scoffed to himself. Definitely a far cry from Mr. Golden Boy's first assessment of Lincoln.
"Ellie." I poked her arm, "Pst Ellieee."
"What?" She grumbled, not looking up at me from where she was laying.
"It's the start of summer~" I sang, draping myself back over her on the bed. "You know what that means?"
"Get off."
"No," I whined, laying my arms over my face. "You said we'd go swimming at the pond today, remember?"
"I don't want to go." She shoved me off and flipped over so that her back was to me. "I don't feel good."
"You've been sick all week." I gave her a more concerned look before climbing all the way onto the bed with her and sitting criss-cross behind her back. "Are you sure it's not something more serious? You should tell mom."
I was a little worried. She hadn't gone with me to anything ever since freshman year let out. El hadn't even taken me up on the offer to go to the coffee shop down the street and I knew very well that she loved the place more than anything. They had her favorite iced tea drinks with boba.
"I'm sure. I just wanna sleep it off." She actually looked up with a more apologetic look. "Sorry, Linx, I'll go with you another time. There's plenty of days in the summer."
I rolled off her bed and stood over her for a second. "Do you need anything?"
"No, I just wanna sleep."
"Okay," I scratched the back of my neck, giving her a hesitant stare. I couldn't remember a time when Ellie was this demotivated. Normally she'd at least find comfort in obsessive fan-fiction writing. Frowning a little at her unbothered form, I decided to just shrug it off while missing spending time with her like when we were younger. "I can just work on my coding, I guess."
I gasped at the sudden shock of pain to my head and sat up quickly from wherever I had been laying down. The headache clawed at my eyes and the back of my skull when I raised my hands to the side of my head and squeezed my eyes shut in hopes to alleviate it. The start of tears pricked at the corners of my eyes with the pain actually pouring a nauseous feeling into my gut.
"Ow, motherfucker. That hurts." I groaned, pulling my legs up to my chest as a hand came down on the back of my shoulder. I flinched away from the unwelcome touch, making it vanish while I tried to blink my eyes open enough to look at who was there. After a moment, I had to give up. "I can't see you. Who is it?"
"Natasha." A familiar voice replied, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," I sucked in a sharper breath and cringed under a wave of blinding pain. "Just get a bit of a migraine if I pull some dumb shit like...well, like that. Is Dr. Banner okay?"
"He's fine." Natasha replied easily. "Thank you for the warning about the girl. Clint tased her."
"She didn't get you?" I asked, working on calming my voice so I didn't sound so pathetic.
"I'm fine too." She confirmed, pulling my hand away from my head to put two small pills in it. "Ibuprofen."
"Thanks," I accepted them with the water she put in my hand, lowering a leg back down flat on whatever table I was seated on.
I managed to open my eyes enough to drink the water without spilling it on me, keeping my eyes at a squint when I handed the bottle back. I was actually able to open my eyes a little more when Clint dimmed the lights from his place in the cockpit. Almost all eyes were on me with the exception of the guy flying the jet.
I wrinkled my nose at them. "What?"
The eyes fell away suddenly like a bunch of children caught staring at something they shouldn't. My gaze, however, stayed on Steve and he reciprocated the eye contact after a moment, letting me speak up first. "Sorry about...that."
He played dumb. "Sorry for what?"
"I didn't warn you." I clarified, still trying to fight off the pulsating headache that was gripping my skull. "I probably should've."
"I'm not your responsibility." He bowed his head slightly and looked away. "Thank you though. I'll...be alright."
I shook my head at that with a small roll of my eyes before falling back to lay down again on what I came to realize was a low stretcher attached to the wall. Steve frowned at my reaction, while I just continued to be bothered by his ignorance with the situation.
Of course he's my responsibility. I internally scoffed, feeling the familiar scratching of claws along my pant-leg up to my chest with my empathic lizard link being reinstated. I'm responsible for all these super fools. If something happens to them because of a change I do or don't make, it'll be my fault. Now it's my fault that Steve had to go through that horrifying vision because I only managed to warn Nat about hers. That's on me. It's all always on me.
My headache took a little bit to alleviate ever-so-slightly, taking me to about forty five minutes later when I could get up to sit down in a seat with my file. TC had since moved onto Clint's arm while he was flying after spending a little bit being worried about me. Instead of bothering them, I just settled in with the remaining ache in my head and pulled out the journal to work on trying to save Dr. Cho and her team. So far, my efforts at spinning this so they'd live had come up empty, but a few more shots at trying never hurt anyone. It might even save someone if I could just figure out how to keep them alive and have Vision come out the exact same. Easy peasy.
The trip to Clint's house didn't take a whole lot of time after I sat down, so I assumed that I'd been knocked out for a lot longer than I originally thought. And to list out the current issues with how things were going- My head still had a lingering pain behind my eyes, Bruce wouldn't look at me, Bucky wouldn't stop looking over at me, and Tony seemed to be stewing in whatever annoyance he'd built back up again. I didn't know what anyone's problem was since Bruce hadn't torn up a city, and everyone made it out alive. There was no reason for Bruce to be ashamed or for...Bucky to be staring at me like that out of the corner of his eye. Of course, Tony still had every right to be pissed off. That was just his thing with me right now. But I digress, everyone had something off about them and I, being the investigator I was, found myself as the most likely common denominator.
When we landed, I stuffed my journal into the side-pouch I had attached to my suit and tucked the folder back into an overhead compartment.
"What is this place?" Thor asked as we stepped out onto the grass.
Tony answered with another question. "A safe house?"
Clint gave a half smile in my direction, pulling the TC from his shoulder to hand him over. "Let's hope."
We followed after him as he pushed open the door to the house. Laura walked in after he called into the house, and smiled at him while he wrapped her in a hug. "Hi. Company. Sorry I didn't call ahead."
Most everyone else looked slightly scared if not confused. I just looked away when they kissed, feeling mildly awkward about it for no reason.
Tony turned to Thor carefully. "This is an agent of some kind."
"Gentlemen, this is Laura." Clint introduced his wife while she stood comfortably under his arm and still embraced close.
"I know all your names." She looked around at the group with a small smile before her eyes stopped on me. "Lincoln, right?"
I nodded but didn't say anything as a soft rumbling sounded from upstairs
"Oh, incoming." Clint smiled when the two children came running down the stairs and into his arms for a hug too. "Hey, Buddy! How're you guys doing?"
"These are…" Tony narrowed his eyes on them. "Smaller agents."
Lila asked for Auntie Nat and was soon scooped up by the woman. Steve was the first of the others to get over his confusion and shook his head to himself. "Sorry for barging in on you."
"Yeah we would have called ahead, but we were too busy having no idea you existed." Tony added, inspecting the house.
"Yeah, well, Fury helped me set this up when I joined." Clint shrugged, keeping an arm around his son. "He kept it off Shield's files, I'd like to keep it that way. I figure it's a good place to lay low."
Thor started to step back, and I stopped him for a moment with a hand on his arm. He looked at me questioningly until I pointed at the small lego house that he would've crushed. I picked it up and put it on the small table off to the side, so it could avoid such a fate. That was when Lila came and stood directly in front of Thor, giving him the most innocent look.
She quickly took notice of the creature on my shoulder and smiled brightly. "Is that Pascal?" Then, she gasped and grabbed my hand, pulling me down to her level with a shocking amount of strength for a child. "Are you Rapunzel?"
"Uh," I looked at Clint nervously before smiling a little and offering out TC for her to take. "You won't tell anyone right?"
She called me a princess. That thought brought a bit of a warm feeling to my heart.
"No, I won't tell." She shook her head quickly and gently scooped a happy lizard out of my hands. She brought her face close to TC's and whispered. "Flynn isn't bad I promise."
That earned her a lick on the nose and a stifled laugh from me and Laura.
Thor had other things on his mind though apparently and very suddenly turned to walk out of the room. I saw Steve being quick to follow after him and offered an apologetic smile to Laura and Lila before chasing them out too. I did care a bit about Thor and how he was doing. After all, he and Spangles were on my list of 'least likely to file for my death with HR'.
"I saw something in that dream," Thor explained, stopping out on the grass with me and Steve close behind. "I need answers."
"Thor," I got him to look over at me after I got his attention. "Selvig can help. You should find him."
Thor contemplated that for a moment before nodding. "I had assumed as such. He was on my list. Thank you."
As soon as he took off, I turned to go back inside, but stopped before I could take a step up to the porch. Steve was already walking back in, and didn't notice my sudden halt.
I could just leave now. Then they won't have a chance to kill me afterwards. I shook my head at my own thoughts. Pietro might still need my help. And the scientists are not a lost cause.
I couldn't go back inside though. I still didn't know who wanted me dead, and after my issues with Tony, I was damn suspicious of him. I also couldn't run off because I owed it to the scientists and Pietro to stay and try to finish this mission to the best of my abilities. The allowing of Ultron to be created was still on me, so if I were to take off, any casualties are on me too.
After seeing Lila and Cooper so enthusiastic to play around with TC on the kitchen floor through the window, I turned around and decided to just go back to the jet. I worried slightly for my best friend, but I did trust the kids enough to know how to be careful with TC definitely being smart enough to come find me if there was trouble. At the jet, I pulled out the folder on the metal grating and set to work sorting through what I found.
It took about thirty minutes of me scanning stuff and briefly getting distracted, doodling a picture of my favorite autobot, before someone else walked up into the jet.
"I found her." Tony relayed into his watch, inviting himself in. "She's in the jet."
I ignored the small detail that they were apparently looking for me, and instead abandoned my doodle to sort through papers from Mississippi. Quite a few were written by some small news sources around Mississippi that mentioned the appearance of a crime-fighting vigilante with my description. Tony snatched the one I was holding out of my hands, standing in front of me and looking at it.
My eyes went up to him with a scowl growing on my face while he paid me no mind and started reading.
"Crime fighting vigilante in Mississippi…Oh they're calling you 'Wisteria'. How exciting?" His voice dripped with sarcasm before he threw the paper over his shoulder and crouched down in front of me. "You knew."
I looked between his eyes for a moment before nodding and looking back down to the papers to pick up a new one and read it. "Uh huh."
"Then why didn't you say something?" He asked, voice more demanding and peeved than before. It was like he'd been itching to confront me since this all started.
I refused to answer and just went back to pretending to read. Telling him that Ultron had to be created would probably be the last thing he wanted to hear. Plus, he would immediately go on to demand why and I couldn't exactly give him an answer for that.
"Hey!" Tony snapped his fingers in front of my face, making me flinch and earning an annoyed glare from me while he continued, brushing off the flinch as if it didn't send a shot of panic up my spine at the memory of Winnie.
"Why…" Tony started slowly, glaring hard right back. "Did you let...the murder bot...exist?"
I didn't reply, staring hard at him. If it wasn't for your constant access to deadly weapons, I might actually consider you to be the one wanting me dead.
"Answer me."
I didn't bat an eye. "No."
"Why not?" Tony narrowed his at me.
He didn't get an out-loud answer to that either. Because last time I told you something about the future, you yelled at me? Because maybe I don't want to tell the man who hates my existence what my thought process is? That list goes on.
Here's the thing- I know he gets mad at me because, to be broad, he cares a little too much about saving the day. The only problem with this is that I know exactly how that can be done and he doesn't. At least not right away. Nor does he understand my motives all the time, so that makes him either angry or scared, especially when he might be the direct cause of the problem and I refuse to tell him how to fix his own mistakes. Neither unstable versions of him are very fun.
"So you're just gonna sit there while people die?" Tony challenged, bringing out that angry side. "Is that it?"
Don't hit him. Don't hit him. Don't hit him. I took a careful breath and looked back down to my papers.
"Great, have fun with that." He nodded, standing up and walking towards the exit again. "And just so you know- if anyone dies, that's on you now."
Don't hit him. I forced my eyes to stay on my work, avoiding the lump in my throat from being told exactly what I already knew. Of course I know it's my fault. That's all I do know.
Typical of Tony, I huffed to myself, coming up with a reliable excuse so that I wasn't the only problem here. Blaming the first person he can, that isn't himself. I'll be leaving soon after anyways- Perhaps to pay a visit to my very favorite criminal friend who is fresh out of jail. Gotta love Kurt.
Tony was fuming, very much back on the subject of the fact that she knew about Ultron's creation and let it happen. At least, he, regardless of his hand in making it, could not have predicted the outcome that had taken hold. He had no way of knowing that his plan for world peace would backfire, and Lincoln had, sitting back and letting it happen like there weren't actual lives on the line.
She's playing this like a game. Tony glared at nothing. Like everyone in this world is nothing more than a toy in an endless game of manipulation. Got Steve wrapped around her finger, but I won't fall for it. I know how little she actually cares. After all- who's to say she's not just going to just 'jump universes' again if she fucks up this one too bad?
Lincoln...helped though. Tony had to remind himself carefully, ending his quicker pacing so that he was walking a little slower back to the house. But only when she thought it convenient. Her moves are confusing and random at best, and now I'm left in the dark on something I should be briefed on.
After all, if Tony did have a hand in making Ultron, it would make sense that he was part of the problem solving side. Natasha had no need to know little details over him. Tony was her first confidant. He should get dibs when 'top secret future information' starts to get passed around.
"Try to be nice, Tony." Steve's voice chastised again in his mind. "You don't understand what she's been through. What she does isn't any easier than what we do."
"Yeah," Tony scoffed under his breath. "As if being surrounded by your favorite fictional characters is somehow the worst thing to happen to a teenage girl."
Tony knew how she used to look up to him like an awe-struck child. He was ashamed to say he actually started to miss it with the new hardened expression of annoyance and indifference covering her features whenever he came around. The look was more infuriating these days as he tried to get anything out of her that might help. If there was a time to use him like a pawn in her games, she would be doing it around now as she hated his guts.
"You found her?" Steve cut Tony out of his thoughts, standing outside on the porch with Tony walking up the steps.
"Yeah she's in the jet."
Steve frowned at Tony's blunt attitude, having been strangely patient after Tony started a war with a bunch of robots. "What's she doing?"
Tony brushed it off, allowing himself to be the least patient person here and refusing to answer as he walked by Steve to go inside.
Not giving a shit, apparently.