Worlds Apart

Chapter 32

A/N (Posting schedule update & poll)

I'm sorry I've been so bad about updating lately 😭 I'm going to put something similar to this at the start of the next IWACBFY as well, but I've decided that I'm not going to attempt to try to follow any sort of posting schedule for a little while. I've been feeling pretty burnt out recently and I think that trying to post once a week for both of my fics is has been stressing me out a bit, and in turn, making me stressed out enough where I don't want to write.

My hope is that by not giving myself any deadlines I'll write on my own time, be less stressed, and possibly even have chapters out sooner because I'm not putting pressure on myself to write them as quickly. Thank you guys for understanding and for sticking around thus far!! <33

Also I just wanted to add that if you're not already following my tumblr page (@lokitheplatypus) you totally should because sometime in the next few days I'm going to put out my first poll so that you guys can help me decide what to do with an upcoming chapter 👀👀👀

I hope everyone's having a great day!

~~~

Despite knowing how everything was going to play out, Max couldn't help but feel nervous when the helicarrier started falling out of the sky. She knew that Tony and Steve would repair the engine before they got anywhere near the ground, but she still found herself clutching the cart beside her as hard as she could.

Throughout the duration of Hawkeye's attack, an agent had been assigned to Max and together, they waited it out in a random room somewhere on the ship. She wasn't exactly sure what the room was for, but given how many crates were in there with her, she had to assume it was some sort of storage space. Max just hoped that for her sake, whatever was in those crates weren't explosives. She would've liked to think that Fury wouldn't have asked for her to be put in a room where she was surrounded by things that could kill her instantly if damaged at all, but she couldn't know that for certain.

Max finally let out a huge sigh of relief when she saw Tony walk into the room without any sense of urgency, signaling to Max that the attack was over. Her relief quickly turned to concern when she saw the look on his face. Judging on that alone, she deduced that Coulson was most likely dead. She knew it was coming, but the notion still weighed on her heart. The only thing keeping her from a spiral of guilt and self-hatred was knowing that she hadn't stayed silent for nothing; the Avengers were going to form and save the world. It was what Phil wanted, after all. It was what he died for.

"Hey," Tony greeted as he walked further into the room. "Are you alright?"

Max nodded. "You?"

"I'm fine," he said solemnly. "Listen, I can't stay long because I have to go talk with Fury, but I just came to tell you that you're clear to leave this room now. Loki's gone and at least for right now, he doesn't seem to be making any attempts to retrieve you, so..."

"Okay," she said. "Thanks. That's a relief."

Tony nodded. "Well, I should, uh...I should probably head up. Don't go too far, okay? You should probably stay within eyeshot of someone onboard just in case he decides to come back."

"I will," Max promised. Tony nodded and turned to walk away, but Max called out to him. "And Tony? Be careful, okay?"

Tony smiled softly and nodded. "You too."

Considering she was most likely going to be on-board the helicarrier for the rest of the duration of the attack on New York, Max really wasn't all that worried, but Tony didn't know that she'd be safe; he didn't know that they were destined to win and that Loki would never see the inside of this ship again.

The fact that he was concerned for her at all after how cold he'd been to her earlier was a weight off of Max's shoulders. She'd never been all that close with Tony, but despite that, she still cared about him and how he viewed her. Maybe it was silly, but even if they didn't interact all that much, she still knew a lot about him from having watched him in the many MCU movies he'd been in, and she hated to think that someone she thought so highly of viewed her as a traitor.