Chapter Text
Steve struggled to suppress a yawn as his eyes, strained under the weight of several sleepless nights, focused on the CCTV screens in front of him. He was alone in the pitch black room, save for the dim glow emitted from the screens showing a continuous loop of footage focusing on Stark Tower, what Steve once called home.
He'd been watching the footage for days now, but he couldn't find a trace of Tony anywhere. Without definitive evidence that Tony had returned to the Tower, Natasha and Clint couldn't approach Pepper Potts, the terrifyingly competent assistant and loyal friend to Tony. Until he caught a glimpse of those dark chocolate brown eyes or his copyrighted devilish grin (seriously, he actually did. Arrogant little guy, isn't he?) that implied he always had some scheme being thought out in his head.
But most of all, the reason for Steve’s misery?
He missed Tony Stark.
He missed the way he'd say double entendres and innuendos without breaking a sweat, but would turn bright red if Steve complimented him. He missed the way Tony could be so forgetful (he'd forget his brain if it wasn't already in his head) and so thoughtful at the same time, like when he cooked all of Steve’s favourite foods (breaking news, Tony Stark can actually cook. Who would've guessed?) for their six-month anniversary. Hell. He even missed Tony’s unhealthy dependence on coffee.
Usually he couldn't stand it. That tells you just how much Steve missed Tony.
While watching the footage, Steve idly observed this one person, dressed in a navy hoodie and wearing sunglasses, who was hovering outside the Tower, as if he wanted to get in but didn't know how. If Steve was in his normal state, he'd recognise the suspicious actions, but Steve was far off his normal state (at least three light years away, and a couple of bus journeys as well) so he couldn't care less. It was when the character started to walk around the perimeter that Steve finally noticed the obvious. Took him long enough.
Pressing a couple of keys on the keyboard, Steve enlarged the CCTV footage of the man walking around the back of the Tower, watching as the lone figure observed the guards. Then, astounded, Steve gaped as the guards wandered off (it appeared they were headed in the general direction of the nearby doughnut shop) and the figure walked into the garage. The mystery man (as dubbed by Steve in his head – not very imaginative or creative – years spent in the army do that to a man) appeared to shout at the ceiling as he removed his hood and sunglasses.
Steve's heart skipped a beat. Tony.
Unknowingly sighing in relief, Steve immediately took a snapshot of Tony in the garage, looking slightly worse for wear but still his confident (some say egoistical, and they would be right) and dorky self. This snapshot was sent to Natasha and Clint, the only comment saying
“Find Potts. Now.”
~ ~ ~
“Aw dammit Tash, you beat me again! If this continues, I won't be able to feed Phil or Lucky” Clint whined as he fumbled around in his pocket before handing over a crumpled 20 dollar bill to Natahsa, who sat as smug as a cat with all the cream
“Then why continue playing?” She asked slyly
“Well we need to bond somehow, and I'm not getting my ass handed to me on a silver platter because of sparring” Clint retorted while grabbing a handful of chips and shoving them down his throat
“What's wrong with that?” Natasha responded with a grin, she remembered the last time they sparred well
Long story short, they sparred for two hours and Natasha had Clint on the floor over sixteen times while Clint failed to deck her even once. It was made even worse when Clint saw Phil chuckling in the corner, although he will deny it just like he denies that he's a Captain America fanboy (lies, all lies, Clint’s seen his weird shrine dedicated to Steve).
“I still have bruises” Clint murmured, unconsciously rubbing his side while Natasha grinned even more
“Stop that you're making me nervous!”
“But I'm not doing anything”
“Exactly!” Clint exclaimed while Natasha rolled her eyes
Their petty argument (which they had a lot of, leading the majority of SHIELD to believe they were dating – seriously, they're a spying organisation, you would have thought they'd know who's dating who?) was interrupted by the synchronised beeping of their phones. Well. Natasha’s phone was a beep. Clint, ever the immature 5 year old he was, had the cawing of an American Bald Eagle (which gained more than a few weird looks) as Cap’s ringtone.
Glancing at their phones, they saw the text from Steve, with the photo of Tony outside the tower. This was followed by more texts (and more cawing, leading to others in the café believing they were going insane and were looking around for an imaginary bald eagle) with more photos of Tony: proof he did make it back to Stark Tower.
“Looks like Steve finally found him. Knew his Tony-detector would come in handy some day”
Natasha kicked Clint under the table, causing a loud “Ow!”, as she dropped several bills on the table and began to walk out of the café, with Clint trailing behind her, hopping awkwardly as he did so.
“Tash, that hurt me right in the feelings. As well as the leg”
“Shut up. Now get in the car, we need to find Pepper Potts”
~ ~ ~
Tony collapsed onto the sofa in his workshop as he stared at the masterpiece right before his eyes, the lifeless suit of new armour (with a fresh coat of red and gold paint) stood in the corner.
“Its only taken me a couple of days, J, but I've done it” Tony announced to the empty room, save for DUM-E whirring in the corner, probably making a smoothie (hopefully not poisoned this time)
“We are proud of you sir, but I beg you to reconsider your options” The AI informed him
“What other options?”
“Use this suit for good purposes, and not evil ones” JARVIS said, almost pleadingly
There were a few seconds of silence before Tony burst out laughing, his melodic and loud laugh echoing throughout the workshop
“Sir?” Asked JARVIS, who was quite confused
“Oh JARVIS, so naïve” Tony chuckled, while JARVIS was oblivious to the obvious
“Please could you inform me of what you find so dreadfully amusing sir” JARVIS said, a slightly annoyed tone in his robotic voice
“Did you really think I'd be evil?” Tony asked, a grin breaking out on his face
“That is what I gathered, when you announced your intention to be a supervillain” JARVIS responded dryly
“Well. The public will think I'm a supervillain. I'll just be beating up corrupt businessmen and making it look like I'm evil. SHIELD won't be able to do anything else but get involved, which will get Steve’s attention. Who's defenceless now!” Tony yelled as he stood up and threw his arms into the air
JARVIS quietly mused whether now is the moment he should send his creator to the nearest mental institute, but he realised he would have to cope with DUM-E until his circuits eroded away (which wouldn't be for a while) and he concluded that the time to officially declare his creator insane was not today. Instead, he would humour him and go along with his “supervillain” scheme. What else could he do? Ah, the struggles of an omnipotent AI that could made Skynet green with envy.
“If you say so sir. Shall I compile a list of businessmen and businesses with unsavoury actions and connections then?”
“Make it discreet, so it looks like I'm actually evil, when I'm secretly a good guy” Tony decided
“As you say sir”
Tony covered his mouth as he yawned for the thirtieth time (JARVIS had been counting) within the past few hours.
“Sir, I suggest you get some rest. The time is now 11 in the morning, so if you sleep while I compile the list, you can be fully rested in time for this evening, to begin your first endeavour”
“J, I must be really tired, cause that's the best damn thing I've heard all day”