Beautiful Ruins

Chapter 59

"Hi" Tony says, opening my bedroom door and walking in. He glances at the ripped-up photos in the rubbish bin and looks at me. I look away from Tony, I'm sure he's here to yell at me and tell me I'm being unreasonable.

"I'm not in the mood to be yelled at, I'll talk to Natasha later" I reply, inwardly wondering if there's anything I can say to Natasha considering she wants Clover to pay for her actions and I kind of want to pretend the whole thing didn't happen.

"Look, Storm, I won't pretend I agree with what you're saying, but I'm not here to yell at you" Tony says, sitting down next to me. I glance at him, despite everything there is concern in his brown eyes, concern for me.

"I don't want to see her locked in a cell" I admit, looking down at my hands. I know I'm being selfish, but I don't care, I don't want to be walking around Stark towers knowing Clover is locked up in a cell, it was hard enough watching Ashton get arrested.

"Would you feel this way if she tried to hurt me?" Tony asks, I don't look at him, I know the answer. I would probably go out and arrest Clover myself if she had tried to kill Tony, I would want her to suffer for it. "Or Peter?"

"She wouldn't" I say quickly, too quickly. Tony raises an eyebrow. "I just meant she wouldn't go after Peter, they're friends." Peter has done absolutely nothing to cause Clover to want him dead, they were friends. Or at least Clover pretended they were friends, but obviously neither of us meant anything to her. I want to believe she wouldn't go after Tony considering he's my dad, but maybe she would.

I stare at my wardrobe, is Clover's pink sweater I borrowed in there or did she take it before she tried to kill Steve? I close my eyes; how didn't I see the signs? I was trained to read people and I was trained to not trust anyone unless Magneto and Mystique said it was ok, but I trusted Clover almost immediately. It's like everything I ever learnt left my brain when I was around Clover, was it a part of Clover's plan or did it just happen naturally?

"I don't agree with what Natasha said about keeping you in Stark towers, I think cutting you off from school and your friends would have a seriously negative affect with what's happened" Tony says, he's probably right. If I sit in my room I'm going to think about Clover and realise how utterly alone I am. "But we are going to bring in Clover."

"I would've died in that cave if it wasn't for her, doesn't that count for something?" I say, because it must, I need to believe Clover stayed in the cave after Scarlett told her to go because she cared about me, because she loved me. I refuse to believe it was only done so she could use me to get close to Steve, so she could kill him

"She also wanted you to think your powers were out of control, so you believed you killed Steve" Tony says quietly, a little hesitantly. I can't imagine how I'd feel if I woke up and was told my powers killed Steve, that a fire had spiralled so out of control that it killed Steve. I've caused enough innocent people to die, the last thing I want is to be responsible for the death of an avenger. The fact Clover was willing to pin it on me shows she wasn't my friend; she didn't love me. Someone who loved me wouldn't let me spend the rest of my life feeling guilty over Steve's death.

I glance at the torn-up picture, did Clover leave her pictures behind? I guess so, there weren't any memories here for her to keep, it was just an act.

"Did Steve try to get the innocent people off the bridge?" I ask, a small, selfish part of me is hoping Tony says no so that I can justify Clover's anger, but I know Steve. He's annoying and I don't think he's aware he has faults, but he would never let innocent people die without trying to save them, he probably saved a lot of people that day, just not Clover's parents.

"Yes" Tony answers, looking at me. "All of us did, Storm. I understand Clover's anger but if the x-men had gotten that information, so many innocent people would have died. It would've given the x-men access to all kinds of weapons."

The x-men have numerous weapons at their disposal, they certainly don't need more. A single tear rolls down my cheek, I make no attempt to brush it away. I've only known Clover for a short period of time, but I can't imagine my life without her, the thought of living without Clover makes me feel empty inside. How the hell am I supposed to walk around Stark towers knowing Clover is locked in a cell?

"Can't you just let her go? Turn a blind eye this once?" I plead. "I won't try to contact her, I promise, I'll do whatever you want."

"We can't do that, Storm, she's not going to be our highest priority but eventually we will find and arrest her" Tony says softly, placing his hand on my shoulder. I close my eyes, I don't even know if Clover is good at hiding because I don't know what was real and what was fake, maybe all of it was fake.

"I'll give you time to think, I'll get Peter to come up so you're not alone. I'd better get back to the avengers" Tony says, standing up and walking out of the room. He pauses in the doorway and looks back at me. "For what's it worth, I am sorry." I know he feels bad about this, but I don't really care. I'm too busy thinking about Clover.

*Author's Note* Best parent award in this story def goes to Tony.