Heroes Are Made | A Tony Stark series (fan fiction)

The Dark Side

'I won't let you hurt them'

'Are they aware there is more than one beast on this ship'

'I'm not afraid of you'

'But perhaps of yourself'

Monore's pov

I shot up from the couch I had apparently been lying on, hyperventilating. My skin was dampened with a layer of sweat, blinded by the bright glow of my eyes triggered by memories.

"Woah, hey... you're okay," I reassuring hand rested on my shoulder, lightly pushing me back to a laying position. I looked up to find Barton cleaning up my wounds. I winced at the sudden awareness of my condition, panicking once more when I couldn't see anyone else in the room. "Tasha's upstairs getting washed up-"

"Where's Stark?" I interrupted. A simple turn of his head toward the window was enough to set me at ease. If I closed my eyes and focused up, I could hear his argument with Steve. I let out a relieved sigh, "Thank you..."

"Guess we're even now," Clint chuckled at the memory of his mind control episode. Sooner or later, the kids came running downstairs, playfully tackling me. My body must've healed throughout the time it took to get here considering the lack of pain. Nat later came down to inform me about Laura's unborn child.

"She's a he now. That little traitor is in your favor," She informed me as I sat up properly this time. I laughed in satisfaction, seeing as I was right about the gender all along. Natasha nudged me lightly, smiling for the first time since the fight. Speaking of which...

"You know Ultron is trying to tear us apart, right?" 

I forced myself up to the sound of Stark's last line, heading outside before the boys ended up killing each other.

"Well, I guess you'd know. Whether you'd tell us is a bit of a question," Steve lashed out. Before I could intervene, Laura came out from behind me and saved the day.

"I'm sorry... Clint said you wouldn't mind, but our tractor doesn't seem to want to start at all. I thought maybe you might-" 

"Yeah, I'll give her a kick," Tony interrupted, letting his eyes finally fall to mine. "You're awake..."

"So it seems, but I'm-'

"You shouldn't be."

I scrunched my face in confusion, "I'm sorry, what?"

"You're dead."

"But I-" I paused for a brief moment before looking back at Laura, then back at Tony who now had the entire team standing behind him. "Guys this isn't funny..."

Their eyes shifted slightly adjacent to me. I grew curious and followed their line of sight to find a clone of myself, only it was a lifeless corpse staring back at me. I inched closer, examining the figure as my own voice echoed out, "You have to let go" 

I leaned closer to the body as I noticed a part of Tony's suit wrapped around my arm with six stones evenly spread out. I held my hand out, only for it to mimic my movements. I hesitated before stretching a finger out. The second it made contact, screams filled my head. They were all familiar. All in pain. Make it stop... I held my head as I crouched down to the grass as they grew louder. I eventually joined the screams until silence fell abruptly. I looked around to find myself alone, or so I thought.

"Honey..." I spun around to find my mother crouching down to me as if I was a little girl. "You have to let go." Tears stung my eyes at the sight of her again. "Save your family."

"But I couldn't save you..."

"Retract your fangs. Let go," her voice faded as did everything else in my surroundings. My eyes slowly fluttered open with Tony sitting across from the bed. His head was buried in his hands, unaware that I had awakened. I sat up, causing the bed to creak a bit.

"Tony...?" He lifted his head and proceeded to rush to my side, resting his forehead on mine. After a brief moment, I decided to break the silence. "What happened?"

"You took a hit. You tried to pull one on Banner, but he got to you before I could," his tone full of guilt.

"How long was I out?"

"Whole trip here. You were up and running before eyepatch got here, but you passed out when Barton sent his little minx to do his dirty work," Tony hid behind his jokes. So I didn't imagine the first wake. 

"Fury?"

Tony only shared a sad smile as he continued to stay silent. 

"I saw them all dead, Nick. I felt it. The whole world too. Because of me. I wasn't ready. I didn't do all I could."

"Maximoff girl, she's working you, Stark. Playing on your fear."

"I wasn't tricked, I was shown. Wasn't a nightmare, it was my legacy. The end of the path I started us on."

"You come up with some pretty impressive inventions, Tony. War isn't one of them."

"I watched my friends die. You'd think that'd be as bad as it gets right? Nope. It wasn't the worst part."

"The worst part is that you didn't"

I could hear the memory of their conversation. As if it was replaying in his head. He wouldn't let go of that girl's mind trick. Let go...

"Hey... remember the last time we were in a funk?" I started off playfully. Pulling Stark up with me as I stood up from the bed. I let my hand glide behind his neck until my fingers intertwined with his hair. "I think the best way to recollect, is to let go for just a second. No robots, no wars, just you and me." 

Pulling him in for a soft and passionate kiss, I let myself get lost in the moment. I didn't want to think about my awakened dreams, nor did I want Tony to blame himself just as half the team already had. As soon as I felt him fall into the kiss and mimic my movements, I pulled back. 

"I need a shower... join me?" I recalled the exact offer I made way back when. To my expectation, he responded just as he did before. We both knew how much we needed each other at this moment. In our world, this idea is just as promising for us... if not-

"Better"