Tony came back a few hours later, looking absolutely beaten. It was already late, and the others had gone to their room to get ready for the night. Wanda had a feeling she was going to sleep better than ever.
Tony stumbled into the kitchen to get himself a cup of coffee. Rhodey watched in amusement how his friend almost dropped the coffee, like, three times before he could even pour it in his mug.
When he finally got the coffee in his mug, Tony turned around. He froze midway when he saw Rhodey standing right there, sipping his own coffee.
"That bad?" the colonel asked with a smirk. His friend sighed.
"May gave me a thirty minute-speech about bringing her nephew home 3 hours late, making her worry so bad she was literally about to jump into her car to try to find the facility. It was very awkward."
"Ouch," Rhodey responded, totally picturing it in his mind.
"Yeah, and that was after Pepps yelled at me for the exact same reason, only with Michelle."
Rhodey couldn't hold it back anymore. He burst out laughing, doubling over.
Tony casually set down his coffee, grabbed a glass and filled it with water.
Tony casually drank his coffee while emptying the glass over his friend's head.
--
"So," Rhodey asked after he'd dried his head, a grin still on his face. "Anything happen recently?" Tony shrugged, looking at the other side of the room.
"Nothing much," he responded. "You know, I almost died, but hey; what's new?" He nonchalantly sipped his coffee while Rhodey spit out his.
"WHAT?!" his friend exclaimed, Tony quickly shushing him.
"Barnes is trying to sleep, keep it down, would ya?" he said, ignoring the look on Rhodey's face.
"You what?!" he whisper-yelled, harshly putting down his coffee mug. Tony winced at the sound, making it look like it was because of a sleeping Barnes.
Not so loud, please...
Tony ignored his own pleading mind, smiling at his friend.
"Well, turned out there was still shrapnel in my chest, bla bla bla. Coma, hospital, people crying... You know, the normal stuff. I'm fine, though. Got a new arc reactor. It's pretty fancy, actually." Tony said, looking down to 'admire' his new reactor.
But Rhodey knew better. He knew it was because Tony was hurt, and he didn't want to show it. He hated the arc reactor. He had once confessed it hurt with every movement, never numbing, only getting worse every time he hit it too hard. Rhodey knew his friend was scared of it.
"Oh Tones, I'm so sorry..." Rhodey said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. The younger man took a deep breath. When he looked back up again, he had his pain hidden behind his mask again, and he smirked at him.
"Like I said, what's new."
But Rhodey knew better than to trust his friend's facade. It was obvious Tony didn't want to talk about it, however, and Rhodey respected that. He made a mental note to help his friend in subtle ways, just to make him feel better.
--
The two men had come back to casually talking, when the alarm blared. Tony groaned, throwing his head back while emptying his cup of unfinished coffee in what he hoped was the sink.
Steve immediately stormed out into the kitchen, full in Captain America suit.
"God, Rogers. You sleep in that or what?" Tony scoffed. Next came Vision, Wanda and Pietro, but they were all surprised when Tony shooed them back.
"Na-ah, ain't happening kids." he said, pointing to a hologram F.R.I.D.A.Y had put up when the alarm went off. It showed their mission. "It's nothing big, just some kids messing with things they shouldn't. I suggest you two take a nap, you look like you need it. Or Wanda, at least." Tony said, seeing the dark circles under the young woman's eyes. She shot him a grateful smile and hurried back to her room, he brother's arm still around her shoulders. Pietro looked back over his shoulder, and he too smiled gratefully at the billionaire.
"Okay team," Cap said, stepping back into his leading role. "Let's go."
--
The small group (three people) arrived at the coordinates F.R.I.D.A.Y had sent them. It seemed to be a bank robbery. No, actually, it seemed to be a bank. Like, nothing was going on.
Or so it seemed.
Tony was the first to notice the purple glow from inside.
"There!" He pointed. The others immediately came in action. Cap put his ear against the side of the building, walking around, trying to find where the noise was loudest. He found the spot, and pointed a few meters next to it. He quickly jumped away, and Tony blasted the wall.
"I'll pay for it later," He said to no one in particular.
They all hurried inside. The explosion had scared the people away, and they blasted their own hole in the wall.
"Yeah, no. I'm definitely not paying for that," the billionaire said, looking at the destroyed wall. The team hurried back out again, actually quite amused. This was different than most robberies, this was actually exciting. Tony chased after the group of men, actually kind of playing with them.
It stopped being funny once he saw who they had with them.
It was a kid.
Anger boiled up inside him and he saw red.
"-Man, Iron Man, respond. Tony, come in!" Tony ignored the voices echoing through the comms. All he could see was how the men were throwing the kid around, no matter how hard the boy tried to get them off him.
He only snapped back into reality when they saw them attempting to use the teenager as a human shield.
"Hold your fire." He said, voice steeled. It was silent for a while.
"What?" he heard Rhodey ask, confusion evident in his voice.
"Hold you fire." Tony simply repeated, not moving from where he was floating in the air. "There's a kid."
Immediately, his request was yelled around, even though everyone had already heard it. Cap brought back order, telling them his plan.
"Alright, me and Rhodes will draw them out. Tony, you got visual on the kid?"
Silence.
"Tony?"
"Yeah, I got him." Tony said, his voice never changing. It sounded dark, terrifying. Steve couldn't help the shiver running down his spine, hearing his usually positive friend so cold.
"Alright. Rhodes, let's go."
The three men came into action, handling the situation quickly. The men were driven apart, giving Tony a window to catch the kid. He swooped in, landing beside the boy, who looked up at him. Tony's heartbeat quickened and he wrapped his arms around the kid, lifting him up as he shot to a nearby rooftop. He set the teenager down, before landing himself a few feet in front of him.
"What the hell, kid. Did you really think you could just take them all on your own? Why didn't you call the police? Don't you know how dangerous this was?!" He was almost yelling at this point, fear creeping up in his stomach. He threw his helmet back and walked towards the boy.
"Harley, what the hell are you doing out off Tennessee?!"
--
Sorry...? I really like Protective Dad Mode, so this chapter was actually quite easy to write. We have so many ideas for this book, and we're not planning on stopping with this book any time soon.
Tell us what you thought of this chapter in the comments, we really like seeing your reactions!
Chapter written by deborah_ronner
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The End Game | MCU FanFiction
Fanfiction*set after the events that occurred up to Black Panther, but the Civil War has been changed* This takes place before Infinity War -- Michelle Jones has had a hard life. Being an orphan was never easy, of course. But her life had been good, up to a p...
