The Avengers x Y/N Barton

Pt. 5

Lukewarm liquid of unknown color washes the inner side of plastic cup closed in your hand. "Didn't they have anything better?"

"For the fact that you have equipment worth millions here, it's strange that you don't have a single quality coffee machine available."

Stark's attitude stays unpleasant. On top of that it's difficult to deal with his actual physical attendance. You and Bruce are used to work together, your movements are perfectly coordinated like flawless dance but Stark keeps getting in your way and colliding with you.

His idiocy exceeds you expectations when he triggers Bruce with a slight electroshock and starts wondering what the secret of his selfcontrol is. You know Bruce has his emotions sealed with a lid but Stark is straight up ignorant and it grinds your gears.

"Are you nuts?" Steve's in a similar state of mind as you are.

"Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? Y/N?" Stark breaks your focus from scanning Loki's Scepter.

"What's your point, Tony?" You bring his first name. No doctor Barton, no Mr. Stark.

"You think he's hiding something?" Steve's intrigued by Tony's hot take.

"He's a spy. Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets," he looks you up and down then points a finger in Bruce's direction. "It's bugging him, too, isn't it?"

Internally browsing the raised subject, you actually find weird why Tony hasn't been involved in the Tesseract project, too. Or even better - instead of you. Despite his temper he's an animal in the energy business. His building is powered by an arc reactor, a self-sustaining energy source.

"...So why didn't SHIELD bring Tony in on the Tesseract project?" Bruce says out loud what's on your mind.

"You suggest SHIELD has some ulterior motives as to how to turn the energy of the Cube to account?" You put the scanner down, voice stone-cold when Tony confesses in hacking SHIELD's secure files.

"Y/N," Bruce removes his glasses, "tell me none of this smells a little funky to you."

The memory of denied access to the Tesseract files back in the HQ resurfaces in your brain. "You might be on to something. Lately, I've been having issues with entry into my own materials."

"See?" Tony clasps his hands triumphantly.

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them," Steve wants you all to concentrate. "Just find the Cube," he exits the room with an angry glower when Tony keeps insisting on digging up the dirt.

After a while of continuous effort to locate the Tesseract, Tony stops getting in your way and finally begins to sway to the rhythm of your dance.

"I remember you," he startles you in the middle of calibrating gamma radiation sensitive radar, "we were working together when I was in my douchebag phase. You were brilliant whereas I was a dipstick."

"Why the past tense?"

He hands you a cup of actual coffee. "My point is; your knowledge is exceptional. One could say you know too much. I joined this boy band just because I was hooked on your work after its very first paragraph. You should come by Stark Tower sometime, top ten floor are full of R&D."

"What are you doing, Mr. Stark?" Fury enters, full of fire. He already knows about Tony's virus and confronts him.

"What is 'Phase 2'?" You interrupt them when one of the screens shows finished decryption.

Loud clang of a hand-cannon dropped on the desk drives your attention to Steve. "Phase 2 is SHIELD using the Cube to make weapons."

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract," Fury doesn't show any signs of having the wind taken out of his sails.

"Sorry, Nick, what were you lying?" You position the screen to present the decrypted blueprints. "Did you know about this?" You challenge Natasha when she enters with Thor.

She turns a deaf ear to your question, instead she asks Bruce to remove himself from the lab.

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed," he refuses to go. "I'd like to know, why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

"Because of him," Fury points on Thor.

All the team members, the Director, load of arguments, different defences and opinion Exchange are filling the room like a tank.

"Are you really that naive? The SHIELD monitors every potential threat. We all are on the list," Natasha advocates. "Even Y/N is."

"Hold your horses!" You counterattack spitefully. "I didn't drink any superjuice or have a gamma shower. I'm not a trained assasin and definitely not a god. I'm not..." you rest your hands on your hips, chasing the right desrciption of Tony, "...whomever you think you are without your suit!"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

"Everything you store in your brain departement is a threat," Fury taps on your temple.

"We are only lucky that agent Barton sacrifised himself and you're not usurped by Loki. Sure, Dr. Selvig suffices for his play, but this," he draws his finger near your head again, but you smack it away, "could have ruinous repercussion."

All words spoken merge into overlaping hum. Preventing yourself from an outburst feels like swimming in a thick liquid of all the negativity pooling from everyone's allegations. Wait, did Bruce just confess in suicide attempt?

"You want to know how I stay calm?" He's getting closer to the spear. His lid threatens to loosen.

"Bruce," your hand slides to your gun, "put down the Scepter."

The authoritative undertone in your voice dispels the fog clouding his thinking. Feeling the metal in his hand, his eyebrows shoot up in shock. His gaze shifts from yours to a beeping computer. The Cube's location is found.

"Sorry, kids, you don't get to see my party trick after all," he puts the Scepter back on the desk and starts reading the gained data.

Instead of walking over to him to join him, you're forced to fly as the lab turns into a ball of fire, a blast lifts you and catapults you against the glass wall.