A few minutes later, the entire team were back in the lab together. They were all shaken up and extremely bewildered. "All our work is gone," Bruce finally broke the news to them, interrupting their silence, "I mean he cleared everything and used the internet as an escape edge."
"He's been in everything," Natasha filled them in from where she sat, "files, CCTV footage, databases. He probably knows more about us than we do - and I don't know about you but that freaks me out." Ashley raised an eyebrow from where she sat beside her and leaned on her fist, trying to piece this together in her mind. Whilst the team were talking it out, Christie was silently making her way to the lab extremely wearily with an oversized hoodie on, drowning out her slender frame. As she got closer to the door, she heard someone begin to thunder down behind her in the hallway, and she knew exactly who it was without even having to think about it. She stopped walking and spun around to see Thor marching in the same direction of the lab as well, and could only helplessly shake her head.
She completely understood his frustration to be fair.
"Christie, this isn't good," Thor growled out to her lowly once he reached where she stood, dropping the hammer and taking her by the shoulders to emphasise the severity of it all. Christie let out a small scoff and turned her head away.
"I warned him not to meddle in it, Thor," she muttered bitterly. That damned sceptre was really playing on her mind now, more and more by the second, in fact. "I told him twice and he…he just wouldn't listen to me. Because who am I, right? What have I seen the sceptre do?"
"I know. More to the point - the sceptre is out of our hands once again," Thor grunted as the anger filled his face incredibly quickly. Those words caused Christie's tired eyes to grow wide in disbelief - and she had to physically bite her lips shut so that the torrent of swear words she had lined up for Tony didn't come gushing out at once. She couldn't even find the words to speak and subsequently wasn't saying much, so Thor let go of her and speedily made his way into the lab to tackle Tony instead, causing a whole heap of chaos to ensue on arrival. Christie followed him through with her arms tightly folded, silently entering the room and leaning against the glass wall with her eyes carefully trained on the floor beneath her. Ashley simply stared at her, noticing that her entire disposition had stiffened up in front of her very eyes, whilst Thor was clutching Tony by his throat and was lifting him into the air.
"The sceptre is missing, and now we have to retrieve it - again," Thor grunted dangerously, turning to Steve who was trying to play peacemaker as he threw Tony down again. Christie said nothing - she didn't dare open her mouth, but the anger inside her was bubbling to boiling point, she could feel it.
"I don't understand," Cho suddenly spoke up as she spun round to face Tony too, "you built this programme…why is it trying to kill us?" Much to Christie's irritation, Tony simply started chuckling to himself.
The whole room fell into shock at the audacity of it all.
"Tony," Ashley was the first to mutter quietly, raising an eyebrow, "not the time." Bruce shook his head over at Tony as well, sensing the tensions in that small room get higher and higher by the second.
"Is something funny?" Thor asked Tony in annoyance as the hammer flew into his hand again.
"Actually ya," Tony told him, walking up so that he was practically in his face, "in fact it's straight up comical, that you don't get why we need this."
"Uhh Tony? Maybe this isn't the best time to…" Bruce began slowly - but Christie was now just about ready to explode.
"Oh Tony SHUT UP!" she suddenly shouted, roughly pushing herself off the wall and sliding over to where he stood menacingly. "I told you, in face I begged you not to tamper with something you don't know!"
"If it's something I don't know then how do you know it was so bad in the first place?" Tony argued back. Thor dipped his head, knowing exactly which nerve this seemingly innocent comment was about to hit, whilst Christie stared at Tony in disbelief for a few short seconds.
She was officially unable to believe what was coming out of his mouth right now.
Had they all forgotten the man she was still grieving after that godforsaken mission a year ago?
Clearly. But she hadn't.
"Maybe it's because I watched someone I loved go batsh*t crazy because of it! What's not clicking, mastermind?! I swear, everyone acknowledges whenever I lose my sh*t but nobody ever listens when I try to explain why! You played God, again, Stark, because ya just can't help yourself," she finally hissed whilst hearing her voice crack, much to her immediate annoyance.
This wasn't the time to cry.
"Chris, honey," Ashley murmured as she scurried across the floor to her and held her hand, which was visibly trembling away. Christie felt her cooling touch, glanced over at her, took one look at her pleading eyes and knew she had to leave before she said something that she'd later regret.
But she still had to turn to Tony one last time.
She wasn't done.
"Whatever you f*cking do, Stark - don't try and make this out to be because you tried to do something heroic," she told him weakly, before roughly letting go of Ashley's hand and storming out of the lab again, her slender legs practically quivering too as they carried her away.
The team all looked at each other in the awkward silence that she left behind. Tony stood there frozen with his eyes firmly on the floor beneath him whilst he chewed on the inside of his cheek in thought. His original words may have struck a nerve with her, but hers certainly had a similar impact on him. He and Christie had always been friends. They had a sibling-like relationship, like a big brother to a little sister, and he was so proud of it.
But it looked like he had just managed to ruin that in one swift evening, and he was already kicking himself.
Of course, the sceptre was Loki's. Of course, Christie was once bizarrely in love with him. How the hell could he forget?
"I'll…uh, I'll go make sure she's okay," Ashley muttered to the rest of them, "just let me know the plan and I'll be there." She shot them all a quick smile of reassurance and speedily walked out of the room as well. Once she was out, she began to run down the darkened hallway, knowing Christie couldn't have gotten far with shaking legs like those. It only took her a minute or so to catch up with her. She was crouched on an upturned table in the visibly destroyed party room, misery painted all over her face and pained tears streaming down her cheeks. She looked like a broken and helpless little child.
Ashley tenderly walked up to her and sat down next to her without verbally announcing her arrival.
Christie sniffed, knowing who it was but not necessarily wanting to speak. "Chris," Ashley decided to begin slowly after leaving a few moments of reflective silence, "what happened back there?" Christie let out of a tired scoff and shrugged carelessly.
"Doesn't matter. He's gone and done it now," she mumbled tearfully. She still couldn't look up, but Ashley frowned at her words and reached over to tuck her falling wisps away from her face.
"He's done what? Created Ultron?"
"He used Loki's sceptre to harvest power for Ultron, even though I told him not to mess with it," Christie replied, her voice absolutely rigid. "He used the f*cking sceptre instead of just giving it back - he just couldn't help himself again. You think A.I. that strong could've been battery powered?" Ashley nodded to show she understood - although her mind was still a little confused. Yes, Stark had accidentally done something ridiculous, but nobody bar Christie and Thor seemed overly angry.
"What is it about this sceptre that has you…and Thor…so on edge, Chris?" she asked a little hesitantly, praying that she didn't probe too far. Christie gave another reluctant sniff and scrubbed the tears from her eyes, before giving her shaky answer.
"It turned Loki crazy. I'm convinced that whatever power that sceptre holds is a f*cked up one. He wasn't that bad before I saw him with it and Barton…Barton said he put it to his chest to get him to do what he wanted. It had some kinda mind control property. So…I think Loki was being used by…someone e-e-lse and who knows if they still control it," she told her sister, turning to face her for the first time since she sat down so that Ashley could clearly see the devastation lingering in her eyes.
Ashley's expression softened and she rubbed her shoulders in comfort, suddenly understanding.
"I see…maybe…well, did Tony know about the depths your concerns? Is that why you were so angry?" she guessed carefully. Christie nodded miserably.
"I am just so tired of everyone tiptoeing around me, but nobody actually listening to what I've got to say. Like everyone knows something drove me to that dark place for all that time, but nobody cares about what it was. I'm the weird silent assassin and that's all people really need to know," she mumbled, dropping her gaze again. "I've been through so much and its like…to everyone but Thor, it's nothing. Even Coulson now - nothing. All of S.H.I.E.L.D - nothing-"
"Me - something!" Ashley reminded her with an offended frown, now prodding Christie's shoulder instead. "Christie, I know our teen years weren't the greatest but you know that I'm here for you now, right? Like, forever? And I care, I care so much about whatever you're feeling. When you hurt, I hurt - you don't have to feel all of this alone anymore." Christie shot Ashley a thankful smile and swiftly found herself resting her head on her shoulder as they sat there, just as they did as kids. Ashley kissed the top of her head and brought her arm around Christie's slender shoulders, giving her a little squeeze. "I love you, you pretty white haired weirdo. Please, stop blocking me out." Before Christie could dispute that she was in the first place, Steve had suddenly walked through the broken open doors of the party lounge.
He slowed down once he saw Ashley and Christie in an embrace, giving them a small smile. "Oh, hey honey," Ashley hummed up at him once she noticed him standing there, leading Christie to glance up tearfully too.
"Hey. Just thought I'd tell you that we're all gonna try and get some rest until we're able to solidify Ultron's next movements," Steve told them softly. "This could be a long fight with no end in sight until we figure it out one step ahead." Ashley nodded up at him before squeezing Christie's shoulders again.
"Chris, why don't you come back to our floor and get some sleep? You look like you need it," Ashley encouraged her sister quietly, nudging her to sit up. Christie gave a final sniff and stood up properly, attempting to compose herself whilst Ashley stood up as well.
"It's fine, I'm gonna ride home," Christie politely declined her offer, still a little shakily. "I just want my own bed today, you know?" Ashley and Steve exchanged uncertain glances, like a pair of anxious parents. "Guys I swear, I'm okay. I don't live that far and I'll come in as soon as you need me to, no worries," she promised, attempting to give them a smile before walking off alone. She didn't even want to stay for any of their persuasion tactics either.
She wanted to get the hell out.
Once Ashley and Steve were on their own floor, they were able to discuss the events of that night properly. Ashley was shattered and just wanted to get to sleep, but Steve was most concerned about Christie's outburst on top of everything else. "I just…I guess I thought Christie and Tony were like best friends?" he was frowning in confusion.
"They were sweetie," Ashley mumbled back as she climbed into bed with a tired yawn. "Well, they probably still are. I just think they need to have a proper conversation when this whole thing…blows over."
"I see that Tony was only trying to do good, though. I know you and Christie missed his words before we all left, but Manhattan clearly changed him. He's…well, above all, scared," Steve explained, unbuttoning his shirt and trying to take it off. The last sleeve seemed to get a little stuck at his wrist, and he was tugging at it impatiently to get it off. So Ashley let out a short sigh and swung her legs out of bed again, walking across the carpet to him and taking his wrist in her soft hand so that he'd stop.
"We're all scared, Steve," she murmured, unbuttoning it and pulling it off for him. She ran her fingers across his bare muscular arm, noticing that there was a considerable amount of swelling near his wrist from where he had injured himself in the fight. Their bodies usually ended up pretty battered and bruised after their missions, so it didn't worry her. "But, whether we're scared or not - fear shouldn't lead us to make irrational decisions."
"Fear always leads us to make irrational decisions. It shouldn't, but it does," Steve interrupted her quietly, placing a gentle hand to cup the side of her face. "Your mutation's defence mechanism is literally based on fear and worry, Ash. And I thank God every single day for that. It's a survival instinct - fight or flight. And Tony - well, I guess he fought."
"No, he created something to fight for him so that he could take flight," Ashley corrected him as she nuzzled her cheek into his palm. "He tried to get the best of both worlds."
"Only because he was scared for us as a team," Steve sighed in response. Ashley looked back up at him. That wasn't exactly a lie. "He said we'd lose. Not he'd lose. Tony clearly cares…you know, maybe this is the conversation that Christie needs to be in." Ashley smiled slightly as his words and climbed back into the bed, holding her arms out with a pout on her lips.
"She does, but she's not here. Hopefully, she's asleep, in fact. So come to bedddd, this could be the last time we get to do this for a while, you said so yourself," she battered her long eyelashes at him innocently. Steve smirked and suddenly rushed over to her, pinning her down and peppering kisses all over her neck and collarbone. Ashley attempted to hold in her bursting squeals and giggles whilst squirming to get out of his grip.
But as sweet as that moment was, little did they both know, she was right.
This was going to be the last time for quite a while that anything was going to make sense - for both the entire team, and between the two of them.
