Chapter Seven

"Come on, use your words buddy," Tony groaned, tapping Thor's hand that was wrapped around his throat.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark," Thor replied in a level, deep voice.

I stood uncomfortably, working my mouth open and shut to say words that refused to come out as I clenched and unclenched my hands into fists, looking around the room nervously. I didn't do well in tense situations, so I was just wishing for somebody else to take charge and keep all responsibility a safe distance away from me.

Luckily, Steve stepped forward so that I didn't have to. "Thor. The Legionnaire."

Thor glared at Tony for one second more before dropping him to the ground and turning to face Steve. "Trail went cold about 100 miles out, but it's headed north. And it has the scepter. Now we have to retrieve it, again."

"Genie's out of that bottle," Natasha sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Clear and present as Ultron."

"I don't understand." Dr. Cho looked over the remains of the Iron Legion, shaking her head before turning back to Tony. "You built this program. Why is it trying to kill us?"

Tony tapped his fingers quietly against the table, staring at his computer for a moment before he started to chuckle. Bruce, who was standing next to him, started shaking his head vehemently and mumbling, "Mm-mm," repeatedly. I raised one eyebrow and clicked my tongue, internally questioning if Tony was finally losing it.

Thor glanced at the other Avengers who were all watching Tony with confused and tired expressions before pointing lazily at him. "You think this is funny?"

"No...?" Tony turned to look over the group, skipping over me when I started to wave my hand frantically in front of my neck- the universal signal for him to quit before he dug his grave any deeper. "It's probably... not? This is very terrible- is it? It- it is. It is so terrible."

"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand."

"No!" Tony interrupted Thor in the middle of his sentence, moving to stand in the center of the deformed circle of Avengers, holding his hands out towards Thor. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, it is funny. It's a hoot that you don't get why we need this."

"Hey," I called, snapping my fingers to pull Tony's attention back towards me. "Hon, maybe now would be a good time for you to shut the fuck up."

"Yeah," Bruce agreed, slightly drawing out his words. "Tony, this might not be the best time-"

"Really?" Tony asked in a high-pitched voice, glimpsing at both Bruce and I with exaggerated disbelief before pointing at Bruce. "That's it? You just roll over and show your belly every time somebody snarls?"

"Only when I've created a murder bot!"

"And you!" Tony ignored Bruce's last statement, wagging his finger at me. "You practically designed the entire schematic for Ultron, and you got pissy with me-"

"Pissy?"

"Pissy," Tony reiterated, "-when I was going to make him without you! But the second everyone else says it was a bad idea, you just turn on me like that," he finished, snapping his fingers.

I shook my fists down by my sides, shifting awkwardly on my feet as I whisper-yelled at him, avoiding the stares of everyone else in the room. "I don't like confrontation!"

"Well guess what, Princess!" Tony gestured around the room, defeating the whole purpose of me trying to avoid looking at them. "We are being confronted! You can't always avoid everything just because it doesn't fit into your perfect little image of what the world should be!"

I sputtered meaningless noises, gripping my hair and bending my knees before stamping my feet like a child and pointing at Tony accusingly. "You are such a hypocrite! You can build 100 fucking suits when you don't wanna talk to me, but I can't change my mind when we try to build a robot and it ends up fucking bonkers?"

"We didn't do that!" he disagreed, matching my climbing volume level. "We weren't even close to an interface!"

"Well you did something right," Steve finally cut in. "And you did it right here. The Avengers was supposed to be different from SHIELD."

Tony twirled in a slow circle on his heel, shaking one hand above his head. "Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a wormhole?"

"No," Rhodey shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

"Saved New York?"

"Never came up."

"Recall that? A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space, we're standing 300 feet below it." Tony shouted, looking back and forth at all of us before dropping his hand down and slapping it against his thigh. "We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all the live-long day, but that up there? That's the end game. How were you guys planning on beating them?"

It was quiet for a moment while everyone considered that question, but as the ever-morale-boosting leader of the group, Steve was the one to answer. "Together."

Tony stared at him blankly, with no hope in his voice or expression. "We'll lose."

"And we'll do that together too." Tony watched the Captain for a second longer before turning his back, averting his eyes to the ground as Steve continued speaking to the rest of us. "Thor's right. Ultron's calling us out, and I'd like to find him before he's ready for us. The world's a big place. Let's start making it smaller."

After his small speech, Steve smacked his hands back against the table he'd been leaning on before pushing off and walking out of the lab. One by one, the rest of the Avengers followed in silence until only Tony and I were left standing at least six feet away from each other in tense silence.

This is exactly why I hate non-physical confrontation- nothing good ever came of it. What had started as a seemingly brilliant idea had ended in all of us acting as if we were still under the influence of Loki as we bickered over what was right and wrong.

I'm not good at being serious, or at dealing with situations that couldn't be easily solved by a stupid pun. Thanks, eight years with minimal human contact! Cough, sarcasm, cough.

Unsure of what else to say, I kicked my foot against the ground and sighed deeply before licking my lips and looking up at Tony. "I don't have a perfect image." He looked up from the floor with one eyebrow raised in questioning and his hands shoved deep inside his jeans pockets. I shrugged uncomfortably, pursing my lips to the side. "I don't have a perfect little image of what the world should be. The world is a shitty place filled with shitty people who do shitty things. I know that. I see that. I don't... I don't have a perfect image, I just... I don't know." I scratched a nonexistent itch on my cheek and tucked my hair behind my ear, tangling my fingers in the ends of it. "I like to pretend that I don't see it. There are enough sad people in the world. Sometimes pretending that the bad things aren't there make them easier to deal with."

Tony nodded slowly for a moment, seeming to consider what I had said for a minute before he spoke. "But they are there. All those bad things that you pretend don't exist are out there, hurting people. You're okay with just ignoring that?"

I breathed in a deep, shaky breath with tensed shoulders, averting my eyes back to the ground with dark thoughts swirling at the back of my head. "Sometimes people don't want to be saved."

"Sometimes people don't want to be saved?" Tony scoffed and shook his head. "Wow. That's... that's beautiful, Charlie. Really. Very poetic."

I closed my eyes while Tony marched out of the lab, and I imagined that he would have slammed the door if there was one. People always slam doors when they're angry.

The familiar unwelcome warm tingle at the back of my neck made me close my arms in around myself as it crept down my spine. It had been a long time since I felt so anxious, and more than anything I wanted it to go away. Breathing deeply and evenly, I rubbed my hands harshly across the back of my neck and over my face with a groan.

My buzz had quickly disappeared over the past hours, but luckily there was always more alcohol to be found in Avengers Tower. With everyone scattered to brood over the situation in their own way, I made my way out of the lab and off in search of my favorite vice.