Destruction ━ Bucky Barnes [2]

16 ━ ENDING AFFAIR

DESTRUCTION.
( chapter sixteen. )

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EDITED 08/07/2025 @8:28 PM

ANDY WAS TIRED. Incredibly so, to the point that she struggled to blink against aching, dry eyes. Sunrise had passed hours before, and she was surrounded on either side by endless files. Her seat at the couch felt more like a fortress, supported by pillars of boxes.

Strucker was dead— killed by Ultron, who had joined forces with the Maximoff twins. The unforeseen alliance and murder meant something bigger. With the discovery that Ultron had shut down and wiped their systems, Andrea's suspicion was only affirmed. The AI was trying to keep them in the dark.

  Ultron was far more intelligent (and dangerous) than Andrea had originally thought. Luckily for them, Stark kept an impeccably organized filing system. Which, now that Andy thought about it, was likely Maria's own doing.

  So, the team had resigned to filtering through it all. It was their safest— and not to mention only— option. Andy was less than ecstatic about the lack of care Tony took with their shared pile of folders. She watched as Stark flung another file, subsequently knocking over her own delicately, stacked pile. She immediately frowned.

  "Go on," Tony said, noting the look, "say it."

  Andrea glared at him, "If you toss one more folder, my foot is going up your ass."

Tony met her gaze from where he sat on the couch across from her. "You know that's not what I meant," he replied.

Andy looked away. She knew what he meant, she just didn't care. To put it simply, Andrea Claire Jones didn't have the time or the effort to be angry with Tony Stark. He was prone to mistakes, as was everyone else on their team.

  And, all things considered, Andrea was the least inclined to judge.

Tony continued, "You don't have to stick up for me, you know."

The brunette rolled her eyes, before her gaze landed back on him. He didn't bother to notice, pretending to be invested in a folder he'd already gone through. After a long silence, Andy finally spoke, "There's no point in us fighting about something we can't change."

It was Andrea's turn to look elsewhere as Tony eyed her curiously, "You're not angry with me?"

She gave an irritated sigh, "Why would I be? It's not like you built Ultron expecting it to become the villain from iRobot." Tony gave a half-hearted smile at the light jab.

Andrea was glad he didn't seem too broken up about it, but she knew it nagged at him. The team butted heads a lot, but this was something different. Ultron was an unexpected variable with unknown consequence.