Fire and Ice

•31•

His very presence in the house pulls everyone in and outside it to wherever he is like a magnet. Clint is even shocked to see him, showing how much he shares with people. Kate hopes Steve is realizing she's not that bad — at least, in comparison.

He knew they were here somehow, and it's not hard to guess. Kate shakes her head. "I cannot believe Hill didn't say anything."

Fury smirks. "Mrs. Barton didn't either."

"Laura!"

She shrugs, half laughing. "Sorry." To avoid further confrontation — and to finish dinner — she turns back into the kitchen, Clint and the kids soon following to help.

Tony sits down on the couch nearby, while Bruce leans against the wall. Nat crosses her arms, plopping herself down on the comfy chair. Steve stays near the door. Kate sits next to Tony, leaving Fury with the recliner. He sighs. "Are we gonna talk about this?"

"Talk about what?" Nat asks. "Your grand entrance?"

His mouth quirks, just slightly. "That question wasn't meant for you." His eye finds Kate, who isn't surprised. She definitely isn't thrilled either. He turns to Bruce, too, though Bruce just looks away.

"Maybe nobody else wants to talk about it but you," Kate says.

"Well, you never want to talk at all."

"Pot, meet kettle."

Nat laughs, and Steve snorts. Bruce just shakes his head. Fury sighs again. "Alright, touché. But I'm serious. This isn't Loki; he didn't just drop in from an alien planet and decide Earth was a nice target. You created this thing."

"Well, obviously, this wasn't the goal," Tony says.

"I know. I talked with you already. But this wasn't just your doing."

"It was my idea-"

"And three of you executed it. I seriously doubt the other two were forced, as hard-headed as they can be."

"Just so you know, Kate, that mostly refers to you," Nat jokes, smiling slightly. Kate rolls her eyes.

"That's not the point," Tony argues. "I asked them to help me."

"Okay, fine. But the point is, you all had your reasons. Not just protecting the world — I mean personal, specific reasons. Maybe I can guess 'em, maybe I can't. I just think you need to think about them yourselves. Evaluate."

"What, so this doesn't happen again?" Bruce asks.

"Preferably. And so you can figure out how to do better next time. Your reasons may be sound — at least, to a degree-" he looks pointedly at Kate "- but the execution was bad."

"Terrible, even," Clint adds from the kitchen.

"Once this is over, there's gonna be a next time. Prepare for it before it comes."

There's probably hundreds of ways for Kate to use her reasons, but only in theory. How can she trust herself to execute anything? That's two for two in the failure column. The data is not looking promising on this one. Maybe the only way she can truly make the world better is by not doing anything in it. But that doesn't feel like enough.

At least, for now, she can focus on righting this wrong as much as it can be. But later, it's hard to tell what she'll do. Where she'll end up. This might change the team too much, keep them from going back to the way things were. It was always temporary, but this isn't how she wanted it to end.

Clint walks through with plates in his hands, breaking the silence. "Dinner's ready."

They all move into the kitchen, some sitting, some standing. The kitchen table wasn't made for all these people. Luckily, though, the food was. To Kate's surprise, nobody mentions Ultron while they're eating, though Fury later gets down to business while getting himself a second glass of iced tea. "Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of Vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing."