Avengers: New Blood (Peter Parker)/ A.M

43. A Second Chance

It had been a couple of hours since they had been inside their cells when the circular room's door opened and Tony walked in. He had a black eye and his arm was in a sling.

He walked further inside the room, looking around, while Clint started clapping his hands.

Tony turned to his direction and walked towards his cell, while Clint started talking loud enough for everyone to hear him.

"The Futurist, gentlemen! The Futurist is here! He sees all! He knows what's best for you, whether you like it or not."

"Give me a break, Barton. I had no idea they'd put you here. Come on," Tony said, stopping right in front of his cell.

"Yeah, well, you knew they'd put us somewhere, Tony."

"Yeah, but not some super-max floating ocean pokey. This place is for maniacs. This is a place for--"

"Criminals? Criminals, Tony. Think that's the word you're looking for. Right? That didn't use to mean me. Or Andria, or Sam, or Wanda. But here we are," Clint said, getting up to face Tony.

"Because you broke the law."
"Yeah."
"I didn't make you."
"La la la la la--"
"You read it, you broke it."
"La la la la la," Clint kept ignoring Tony's words.
"You're all grown up, you got a wife and kids. I don't understand, why didn't you think about them before you chose the wrong side?" Tony said, making Clint get up from sitting again and walk near the cell's glass, as Tony started walking towards Scott's one.

"You gotta watch your back with this guy. There's a chance he's gonna break it," Clint yelled, while hitting the glass angrily.

"Hank Pym always said you never can trust a Stark," Scott said.
"Who are you?" Tony asked, almost mocking Scott and not waiting for an answer.

Scott mattered something, but Tony had already passed by his cell, stopping in front of Andria's one.

Feeling his stare lingering on her, the girl, who was sitting on the floor with her head hanging low, looked up to meet his gaze.

Concern was written all over his features and when he noticed the bruise on her right cheekbone, he frowned even more.

"Did this happen here?" He asked and Andria scoffed.

"Why? Were you under the impression that they treated prisoners kindly round here? No. I hate to break it to you, Tony," Andria said, getting up and walking to stand right in front of him, "but this is what criminals get. Because that's what we are, right? Because we broke the law. And breaking the law makes us criminals, so this is exactly where we belong. Where we deserve to be. Ain't that right?"

"You know that's not what I believe. If I'd known this is where they'd put you--"

"What would you have done? Would you have let us go or tried to change 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘴'𝘴 mind to just give us a scolding and then let us return to the compound? Come on, Tony, we both know that's bullshit," Andria pointed out, making Tony purse his lips and look away guiltily.

"You know I used to be the person who would stop criminals. Actually, some of the cells in here are full because of me. I never thought that maybe one day, I'd end up being the criminal behind bars myself. But, look at me now. How the tables have turned, huh? It doesn't really bother me. I honestly don't care about myself anymore. I just wish that the rest could go back to their lives. They shouldn't be here. They don't deserve this kind of life."

"You don't either," Tony said, while Andria sat back down and looked at him with a sad smile.
"That's nice... thoughtful. I just wish it was true."

Tony stared at the girl for a little while with a puzzled look on his face, trying to understand her. He didn't get the chance to say anything else, though, as Sam's voice drew his attention.

"How's Rhodes?"
"They're flying him to Columbia Medical tomorrow...so, fingers crossed. What do you need? They feed you yet?" Tony said, walking towards Sam's cell, but still stealing glances at Andria who pretended she didn't notice.

"You're the good cop, now?"
"I'm just a guy who needs to know where Steve went."
"Well, you better go get a bad cop, because you're gonna have to go Mark Fuhrman on my ass to get information out of me," Sam said, getting closer to the glass separating them, but Andria noticed Tony tapping something on his watch.
"Well, I just knocked the A out of their AV. We got about 30 seconds before they realise it's not their equipment--"
"Why?" Andria asked, getting up and near the glass to see Tony better.

"Just look," he said, turning to her and raising from his watch a hologram of a picture of a dead man, "because that...is the fellow who was supposed to interrogate Barnes. Clearly, I made a mistake. Andria, I was wrong--"
"That's a first," Sam butted in, making Tony turn to him.

"Cap is definitely off the reservation, but he's about to need all the help he can get. We don't know each other very well, Sam, you have all the right not to trust me, but Andria...you do know me," he said, turning towards the girl again.

"I want to trust you, Tony, but--"
"I just need a second chance, Andria," he cut her off, before she could object.
"He's right. Steve will need all the help he can get," Sam agreed and Andria sighed, but nodded.
"Alright, tell him," she said and Tony turned to Sam.
"You have to go alone and as a friend, though."
"Easy," Tony nodded and so Sam told him about Siberia.

As he was about to leave, Andria stopped him.
"Tony!"
Hearing his name, he walked back towards her cell and she leaned forward to look him straight in the eye.
"I just put my trust in you and... it's never too late to fix what's broken. So, don't screw this up. Not again. Won't give a third chance."
"I won't," Tony reassured her and walked out of the room, leaving her contemplating on whether she did the right thing or not.