A Taste of Vengeance

Third Person

Hours later, Steve found Tony standing in Loki’s old containment room. The heroes were scattered and broken. Ash was passed out in her room sleeping her drunk off, Thor had been shot out into the sky, no one knowing if he was dead or alive, Banner had also fallen too the ground with no trace, Barton was heeling in the sick bay, and Natasha refused to leave his side or talk to anyone. And as for Tony and Steve? Well Steve knew they had to fight. He felt it in his heart to keeping fighting. He wasn’t sure where Tony stood.

“How is she?” Steve asked, looking at Tony from across the room.

Tony didn’t turn. “Sleeping it off. She’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure? She seemed pretty bad…” Steve trailed off, remembering how much he drank the night of Bucky’s death. No matter how much he had consumed, he couldn’t get drunk. “I just… didn’t take her as the type.”

“Yeah well I’m sure there are several things you don’t take her for, Senior Citizen.” He didn’t sound rude, but he didn’t sound happy either. “Are you sure you’re able to handle someone like the Black Bane? She’s noting like you, you know. She’s a rule breaker: she kicks kittens, makes rude gestures at nuns, that kind of stuff. And you? The only way you’d break a law is if it was made after your time as a Firecracker Popsicle.”

Steve of course, knew all of this already. He had decided a long time ago that Ash was nothing like him. She didn’t always act on the behalf of her government or her agency, she acted on her emotions and her instincts. She had a bad history with the law, and she had the wit and attitude of a sharpened razor blade. But despite her inability to communicate with people, and her flawed logic in dealing with tragedy, Steve Rogers saw that Ash was pure, and that her lack of emotions was from feeling far deeper than everyone else.

He laughed at himself as he said, “You know, she intimidated me at first.”

“Good,” Tony replied, casting a look at him over his shoulder. “It means you’re not stupid.”

“Yeah.” He fell silent for a moment. “What draws me to Ash, is the fact that even though she thinks she isn’t a hero, or she thinks badly of herself, she does it anyways. Sometimes her decisions are rash and unpredictable, but she knows better than anyone else that you can’t have everything in control at all times… sometimes you have to break the rules in order to save lives. Which is why I did break into secret files.”

“Wow, you’re first big rebellion. Are you below or above angry hamster?”

The conversation died for a moment, falling into silence as they both thought about the slumbering girl. One man was fighting the urge to run to her room and take her in his arms. The other was wondering how the hell he found himself caring for an irritable little brat with a can’t hack it temper.

“Was he married?” Steve finally asked, breaking the silence.

Tony felt his heart fall a little before shaking his head. “No. Although I think there was a cellist.”

“I’m sorry.” Steve leaned against the walls and crossed his arms, his mouth forming a tight line. “He seemed like a good man.”

Tony nodded before making a noise of disapproval, looking at Steve. “He was an idiot.”

This angered Steve. “Why? For believing?” In Steve’s eyes, Coulson was one of the bravest people he had ever met. He had accomplished many things without so much as a single super human ability.

“For taking on Loki alone,” Tony answered, walking away from the hole in the floor. It was clear to Steve that Tony was angry, but not angry with him.

“He was doing his job.”

Tony scoffed angrily. “He was out of his league. He should’ve waited- he should’ve…”

Tony seemed at a loss for words and took his hands out of his pockets, spreading his hands out and shaking his head. He walked down the steps and Steve pushed off of the wall, walking down to meet him. Tony, as much as he liked to pretend, was feeling emotional about his friend’s loss. Steve would make whatever attempt he could to console him as a thanks for helping Ash, and maybe even because he considered him a friend.

“Sometimes there is not a way out, Tony.”

“Please. Like I haven’t heard that before.” He brushed past Steve, not looking back.

“Is this the first time you’ve lost a solider?”

In fact, it was not the first time Tony had ever lost someone in a fight. What was really on his mind was the first time he had ever experienced something like this. The memory was strong, and reminded him so much of Coulson’s sacrifice. Both of them had been stupid, he kept telling himself. Both had taken on something alone they couldn’t have hoped to overcome.

Tony remembered in the days before he was Iron Man, when he had been captured and taken prisoner in the middle east after showcasing his new weapon, the Jericho. That was when Tony was ignorant, selfish, and took no accountability.

A man named Yinsen had saved his life by placing the first electromagnet into Tony’s chest, preventing the shrapnel from entering his heart and killing him. The man was kindly and was smart, and he had helped Tony in more ways than he could have ever hoped. Yinsen had sacrificed himself in attempt to buy Tony time while he armed himself with the prototype of his Iron Man suit. Yinsen had promised that it was what he wanted in the end. That he would be with his family.

“We are not soldiers,” Tony snapped, the anger getting to him. He would not be treated like merchandise, nor would he say that Coulson was a soldier. He was a man and nothing more. Tony looked away from Steve for a moment and tried to gather his thoughts, trying to calm his sudden outburst. “I’m not marching to Fury’s fife.” Is was much calmer than his last comment.

“Neither am I,” Steve amended. “He’s got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now we need to put that behind us and get this done.” When Tony didn’t disagree, Steve continued, “Now Loki needs a power source, if we-"

Tony was already shaking his head. “It’s personal.”

“That’s not the point.”

“That is the point,” a voice called from the hall.

Steve looked up and Tony turned around. Ash had snuck up on them like a silent cat slinking through the night. Her hair was pulled out of her face, and she was in simple drawstring sweatpants and a tank top. Her eyes were a little darker than usual, and she looked like she was borderline miserable, but there was a determination in her gaze that surprised both of the men. They weren’t totally sure how stable she was.

“I’m not going to self combust or something,” she snapped. She looked at Tony and away from Steve who was trying to catch her eyes. “You’re right. It’s personal.”

“It’s his point,” Tony continued. “He hit us all right where we live. He made jabs at all of us- very personal jabs.”

“Loki was going to kill Coulson all along,” she murmured, trying not to feel the sadness that threatened to fill her like a canteen. “He was going to kill Coulson because he needed me out of the picture, drunk and disposable. He knew what I would do. He also wanted to prove that he could turn my powers right back around and force me to subjection… so that’s not a way we can go about taking him down. He knew Banner would crack under the stress, he knew Romanoff would freak out about Barton, and he knew that Steve would be the only one standing up for the idea to continue and Tony… he wanted to make fun of Tony for.. well I don’t really know what. Maybe because you’re funny looking?”

Tony growled. “I’m not funny looking, I was playboy of the year 11 years running. Loki wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience.”

“Like in Germany,” Steve said, nodding. It made sense. Loki was trying to make a show of the avengers, to make them look pitiful.

“This can’t be over then,” Ash continued, nodding her head as she followed her erratic thoughts, still hazy from whiskey. “The episode he just pulled wasn’t in front of anyone… it was-"

“It was just opening night.” Tony nodded, crossing his arms. Ash could almost see the cogs and bolts turning in his head as the genius began to work things out. “He’s a diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered-“ Tony stopped abruptly, realization smacking him in the face so hard Ash thought he would topple over in shock. “Son of a bitch.”

“Holy shit,” the girl muttered. “Loki didn’t want to create an arch reactor!” Tony walked past Steve and Ash and Ash ran behind him, trying to catch up. “He wanted to use yours. That’s how he’s going to embarrass you. That’s what he meant about teaching us how to use power. He’s teaching you.”

“Alright Ash, now you’re speaking Microsoft,” Steve accused catching up to the two. “What are you talking about?”

“The bitch is gonna use Stark towers,” Ash paused, letting Tony run and start yelling at Fury in the command room. She heard him refer to Loki as several unkind names while he told Fury that if they let him touch Tony’s tower he was going to rip them to shreds. It was actually amusing.
“Anyways,” she said, turning away awkwardly from Tony’s ranting. “I wanted to apologize for-"

Steve grabbed her by the arms and brought her in, kissing her. She was so shocked that she didn’t respond for a moment, but when he back to pulled away she leaned into the kiss, not minding that his hands were gripped firmly on her arms, and might possibly bruise her from the force. His scent filled her sense, intoxicating as the whiskey, and she felt as though a soft humming was going throughout her entire body.

Steve ran his hands up her arms to cup her face, moving the hair from her neck. Ash nipped at his bottom lip and rested her hands on his strong chest, adoring the way she could feel his heartbeat, his soul and life against her palms. Ash wanted nothing more than to stay in this moment forever, as their mouths and tongues moved as one. She had never been kissed that way before, and she knew that another person would never kiss her that way again.

Fury’s shouting and ordering to get everyone into position and to begin planning broke them apart. They stood there, breathing hard and looking at one another, shocked by the intensity and magnitude of the kiss. People ran around them, not even caring to glance at the couple holding one another in an intimate embrace, shivers running up and down their spins from the heat and electricity at one another’s touch.

Ash felt drunk from Steve’s touch, and noticed that not one single thought had distracted me or entered my mind. When she was with him, she was untouchable, unreachable. Ash began giggling and then full out laughing, feeling tears sting her eyes as she tried to quiet her laughter by covering her mouth. But the euphoria rising in Ash was incredible, and she suddenly felt like the world had been lifted off of her shoulders.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, tracing her lips with his thumb.

“You’re my cure.”