And then we were two (Tony stark's daughter fic)

Wrong place, wrong time

Tony felt numb. No that wasn't right, he knew numb. Numb was a comfort, numb was the calm when you just couldn't face the pain, numb was a gift; this wasn't numb. Tony was horrified, cold dread settling heavy in his gut and squeezing his heart in a vice. How was he meant to go home and tell his daughter that the man she called uncle Phil was dead?

Their team, or what was left of what was meant to pass for a team sat around a long, glass topped, table in the command center.

Fury looked agitated, his best man and friend having been a casualty, "these were in Phil Coulson's jacket," he snapped throwing a pile of captain America trading cards down in front of Steve, "guess he never did get you to sign them. We're dead in the air up here, no communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor, I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming, yes we were going to build an Arsenal with the tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the avengers initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes."

Tony couldn't bear another moment and stormed from the room. He wasn't a hero. He wasn't trying to play a hero. This wasn't about being heroic, this was about making amends. For himself and his father, the company, all the shit they'd set loose on the world. He just hoped maybe he could do enough in his lifetime that Addy wouldn't have the shadow of his mistakes hanging over her.

Tony stood staring at the empty, gaping, hole that had once been filled with Loki's glass prison.

"Was he married?" Steve asked as he stepped into the room.

"No, there was a, uh, cellist, I think," he muttered.

Steve glanced down sadly, "sorry. He seemed like a good man."

"He was an idiot," Tony snapped bitterly. He backed away from the edge, needing the movement, distance, something to distract his thoughts.

"Why?" Steve frowned, "For believing?"

"For taking on Loki alone."

"He was doing his job," Steve stated calmly.

Tony huffed an indignant breath, "he was out of his league. He should've waited," he motioned, although what exactly he was trying to convey with the motion even he didn't know. "He should've.."

Finally Steve moved to join him, the other man didn't seem to share Tony's compulsion for movement, the need for some sort of action to physically order his thoughts. "Sometimes there is no way out, Tony."

"Right," Tony sighed bitterly, "I've heard that before."

"This the first time you've lost a soldier?"

Tony whirled on him, dark eyes filled with a myriad of emotions, "we are, not, soldiers. I'm not marching to Fury's fife."

Steve nodded solemnly, "neither am I. He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now we've gotta our that behind us and get this done. Now Loki needs a power source. If we can put together a list-"

"He made it personal," Tony interrupted, jerking away from where he'd had his eyes fixed on the bloodstain where Coulson had fallen.

"That's not the point," Steve replied like a teacher becoming frustrated after repeatedly trying to keep a student on task.

Tony ignored him, he was onto something now, the pieces notching into place in his mind, "that is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live, why?"

Steve frowned, "to tear us apart."

"Yeah divide, concur, great but, he knows he has to take us out to win, right?" Tony was back to motioning as he talked, this time somehow more controlled as if physically grasping at his thoughts. He momentarily wondered if that were a leftover habit from all the time spent in his workshop with his holograms. "That's what he wants. He wants to beat us he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience."

"Right, I caught his act in Stuttgart."

"Yeah," Tony mumbled dismissively, "that's just previews, this is opening night and Loki, he's a full tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered," ice settled in his veins, stealing the oxygen from his lungs as he realized where he'd be, the last place tony would want a psycho. The same place he'd left his little girl. "Son of a bitch," he cursed breathlessly and rushed from the room.

______

Addy rolled her eyes as the young woman Pepper had hired, probably all of seventeen, eighteen tops, held up another board game. "Whatcha think Ads, guess who after lunch?" Tessa asked cheerfully.

"I'm not hungry," Addy replied and curled toward the window, trying to tune her babysitter out while quickly checking her tablet again. Tony still hadn't responded. Whatever, he probably had better stuff to be doing. It wasn't like she was a priority. That's what she insisted as her stomach twisted worriedly.

"Hey I get it, I'm a total daddy's girl too. Must be awesome, Tony Stark of all people as your dad!"

"I'm not, he's not," Addy pursed her lips in annoyance. "I'm fine! It doesn't bother me he's off for work....holy shit," the little girl squeaked, eyes widening in terror.

"I'm pretty sure you shouldn't be talking like that," Tessa tisked gently.

"Now is really not the time," Addy huffed and began trying to drag her baby sitter from the main room. She gasped and tugged Tessa into the stairwell at the sight of the man she'd seen on the news. "That's the bad guy my dad went to stop, I'm pretty sure we don't want him to know we're here," she whispered.

Tessa's blue eyes widened in horror and she made half a move to glance back the way they'd come. Addy stopped her quickly with an annoyed glare, "you realize basically everyone who dies in action and horror movies gets there by being a dumbass right? The stats on trying to get another look at him are not in your favor."

"I did not sign up for this," Tessa muttered, near tears, and made a dash for the exit.

Addy didn't wait to see if she made it or not, sprinting the other way. "Jarvis can you let me in daddy's workshop? Please?"

The door clicked open without a word, locking itself again as soon as the girl was inside. She hurried across the room, ducking under one of several work benches and drawing her knees up to her chest. Addy's hands shook as she pecked out a message.

"Daddy hhed heree"

____________

Literally set my phone down (which is what I write everything on lol) and typed that as shakily as I could so yeah that terrible typo at the end is on propose.

I wish it was longer but I'm actually happy with this chapter so yay! Lol hope you enjoyed it. 😁