Tell Me When You Know

Who is which; How ever shall we know?

"Fury had given that to me! I was the one he had trusted! How is it theft—I don't understand!" Steve's highly defensive voice slowly fizzled out with each word his lips uttered, confusion staying behind like a loyal companion.

Adina seemed to be relaxed but Tony could very well see the tension sizzling beneath that façade. "Did the drive contain confidential data?"

"Yes, but—"

"Did it concern the security of this country and the globe?"

"Yes—"

"Then, why didn't you hand it over to the relevant authorities?"

"Because Fury asked me not to trust anybody!"

"So, you took it upon yourself to investigate? What gave you the authority or the right to withhold classified intel?" Adina abruptly quietened, inhaling deeply before pushing on with a calmer voice, "I understand when you say you weren't sure whom to trust and whom to not. But just as you had taken a leap of faith with Miss Romanoff, couldn't you have done the same with Dr. Stark? You knew he has access to places even Miss Romanoff doesn't. He has contacts. He could have helped you out quietly and without causing as much damage as this fiasco has cost us!"

"I didn't know whom to trust." Steve repeated slowly, like he was talking to a child, and oh boy! Adina's eyes could as well have been blazing with the way she was glaring at him.

"Mr. Rogers. You could trust Miss Romanoff but not Dr. Stark?" Adina asked, her speed of talking just as unhurried. "Your logic behind having faith in Miss Romanoff was that you two fought in New York against the alien invasion jointly. Care to tell me, how this confidence couldn't be extended to the man who carried a nuke through the wormhole?"

Steve threw his hands up in exasperation — Tony never thought he'd see such an animated gesture from the normally collected man. "Even SHIELD had fought in that battle! Anybody would fight against aliens, even if they have less than right intentions when it comes to Earth! HYDRA wanted control of the planet for themselves. Obviously, they'd help against an alien who wanted the same!"

Adina gritted her teeth so hard, Tony could hear it from where he was sitting. "Now, you're just contradicting yourself! How did you assess Miss Romanoff's reliability, then? She could have been HYDRA too. She could have been working as a double–agent for all you knew."

"But she didn't!"

"She could have."

"That's in the past! It didn't happen that way! I don't see what's the point in lingering on past battles when we could be moving forward!"

Tony could have fidgeted in the uncomfortable silence that followed Steve's outburst, but he didn't. Fidgeting meant weakness. And Adina was observant enough to latch on to even a shred of vulnerability that peeked through well–crafted masks.

At this point, Tony knew the ship of damage had already sailed and there was nothing anybody could do to bring it back under control. Not even him.

The problem in working with people like Steve was that they refused to listen to reason when it didn't suit them. Righteousness was one thing, narcissism was another. Tony wondered if Natasha would make the same assessment about the star–spangled man as he. Probably not. They did appear to be chummy with each other. Who knew what happened in the last two years since the invasion? Not Tony, for sure.

He had given all of them his numbers. They had his address. Yet, Bruce was the only person he had contact with and that was because he had practically bullied the man into accepting the state-of-the-art science lab he had personally designed for the other scientist.