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Something big was approaching – it was the only reason they were all in the same room as each other. The last time the world had truly needed saving (the first time the Avengers gathered and acted as a team) had almost been a disaster because they knew virtually nothing about each other. This time, in preparation for impending doom, the people who were needed to save the world gathered in secret to meet and try to make a game plan.
Tony Stark sat in his chair, talking to Peter Parker. The teenager was telling him about his college classes, though he was keeping an eye on all the newcomers, trying to play it cool, as though he wasn’t thrilled to be in the same room as so many heroes. Vision was talking to Wanda and Stephen Strange. Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, Clint Barton, Sam Wilson, and Natasha were congregated near the back wall, speaking in hushed tones and throwing glances at Tony every so often. The genius hadn’t acknowledged any of them so far and they didn’t know what to make of it. T’Challa was sitting in the chair next to Tony, speaking to no one, while Scott Lang was having an animated conversation with Peter Quill and the rest of the Guardians. It was only when Thor and Loki arrived at last with Bruce in tow that things started to settle into a semblance of a meeting.
“Bruce,” said Tony, standing up and shaking hands with the doctor. “It’s been a while. I heard about your stint as the Big Guy, so I guess I get why you didn’t call. I want you to meet Peter. He’s also a big fan of your work, aren’t you Peter?”
“Dr. Banner,” said Peter, standing up and shaking the other man’s hand. “Mr. Stark has told me all about you. Can I ask you about the Hulk? I think it’s kinda like with my spidey-senses only more green and I was hoping you could give me some pointers –“
“If we could get started,” came the commanding voice of Dr. Strange. “We do have a world in danger, after all.”
“I’m not working with Stark,” declared Clint, throwing a nasty glare at Tony from across the room.
“Then you are excused,” said Dr. Strange.
Clint stared at the man in the cape, spluttering in shock.
“You can’t be serious, Mr. Strange,” said Steve, stepping up to defend his friend.
“It’s Dr. Strange,” corrected Dr. Strange calmly. “And I’m very serious. This is a matter of defending the world against aliens. Quite frankly, we don’t need an archer to do that. And I don’t have time to deal with idiots who have little to offer, so if he is going to cause problems then he may leave.”
There was a long pause while people shifted discreetly. Tony did nothing, not even twitch.
“I have spoken to a few of you and decided that the most efficient way to learn to work together in the given time is to make others aware of our fears,” continued Dr. Strange. “This way, should something occur, we can be prepared to work around it or through it.”
“I do not fear anything,” Drax. “Things fear me.”
“Rocket doesn’t want to become a regular raccoon,” said Peter Quill. “Gamora is scared of that big purple guy. I’m afraid of the sexual tension between us getting big enough to suffocate the world – though that might actually be handy. Maybe it’ll just eat all of our problems.”
“How are the Guardians, a group of aliens, better at communication that the Avengers, who are the same species?’ muttered Scott to Sam Wilson.
“From what I hear, you are a large part of that problem,” said Dr. Strange, cloak swirling. “And you, Mr. Lang, are terrified that everyone is going to find out that the only reason you never see your child is because you can’t hold a job – through your own fault. That is, of course, a fear on top of something happening to your daughter.”
“Hey!” yelled Scott. “That wasn’t part of the deal, I was supposed to share, you asshole.”
“You were going to lie,” said Dr. Strange. “Who would like to go next?”
“I’m afraid of mice,” said Peter Parker, raising his hand as though he was in class.
Steve expected Tony to laugh, but he didn’t.
Bruce was afraid of becoming the Hulk and never turning back. Thor and T’Challa were afraid of becoming terrible kings, Loki of killing more innocents. Sam was afraid of losing his team, Steve of losing Bucky, Bucky of losing his mind. Natasha still feared her past, Clint was scared of losing his family. Vision feared becoming like Ultron – which earned Tony several dirty looks from his former teammates – and Wanda was afraid of being forgotten. Dr. Strange was afraid of losing his magic along with his hands, which left Tony.
For a long second, everyone stared at Tony. When the genius opened his mouth, Clint spoke up.
“Let me guess,” drawled Clint. “You’re afraid of your money disappearing and everyone finding out that there was nothing special about you to begin with.”
“Yes, because money did so much for me when I build the first miniaturized arc reactor and Iron Man suit out of scraps in a cave,” said Tony carelessly.
“Then water,” guessed Natasha.
“I’d say it was watching his best friend fall but already witnessed that,” said Steve, louder than he had intended. Everyone froze, the air in the room seemed to be sucked out.
“Why don’t I just show you?” said Dr. Strange before Tony could do anything.
The room dimmed as the vision Wanda had showed Tony originally, this time with others in the room added, of everyone dead while sinister forms took over the world. And Steve was blaming Tony and when the images faded, no one knew what to say.
“You have quite the imagination, Stark,” said Scott, trying to play the entire ordeal off as a joke.
“I believe the Scarlet Witch – as she is called – showed him that when they first met,” said Dr. Strange.
“Which was why I was trying to make Ultron in the first place,” sighed Tony. “Though I was aiming for something a little less homicidal. I’m still sure I could have managed it if that glowing spear hadn’t destroyed JARVIS and the Point Break pulled a Frankenstein and lightninged the life into Vision.”
“You thought I’d blame you for the world ending?” said Steve, his voice almost broken sounding – but Tony knew better than to believe that Steve had any positive feelings left for him.
“Only you would be arrogant enough to believe that you would cause the end of the world,” scoffed Clint.
“You get told something often enough, you start believing it,” snapped Tony.
“I think Mr. Stark wins,” said Peter.
Everyone turned to the youngest in the room.
“I mean, we all have fears that are pretty self centered,” said Peter in a rush, unsure of what to do with everyone looking at him like he had grown a second head. “I mean, at best our fears involve our family or friends getting hurt. And that makes sense, we love those people and they love us. But Mr. Stark is worried for the entire world and quite frankly, most of the world hates him. Mr. Barton, you are wrong. Mr. Stark isn’t afraid he’ll cause the downfall of the world. He isn’t even afraid of getting blamed – you all are going to blame him regardless. But he is afraid that innocent people are going to die and no one is going to be able to stop them. And I think that’s the best type of person to have on this team.”
“Why do you think that?” asked Dr. Strange. He knew what the boy was getting at but he wanted the others to hear it as well.
“Because Mr. Stark will have been making plans to try and stop it, and we are facing something that wants to stop the world. Plus, since this is what he is afraid of, we all know he isn’t going to ditch out to check on his family or save his best friend instead of a bunch of kids or something. He’s not going to be worried about running from his past and he won’t be afraid of becoming a monster and never turning back. He’s going to do everything – has been doing everything – to save a world that doesn’t even like him.”
Dr. Strange smiled to himself, impressed by the young man who had just finished speaking. Tony Stark looked like he wanted to smack the kid and get swallowed by the ground but the rest of the room ranged from uncomfortable to shamefaced. Several looked like they were just now realizing what was going on.
“So this has been enlightening but I think we should get to the planning portion of the afternoon,” said Tony, clearing his throat.
“What did you have in mind?” asked Dr. Strange.
While Tony launched into several different plans, using visual aids from his tablet to demonstrate different scenarios, the rest of the original Avengers began to wonder if maybe they hadn’t been entirely justified in how they had treated Tony. It was almost embarrassing to be told off by a college age student who had a better grasp of what it was to be a hero than they did. Peter Parker understood the sacrifices a hero had to make that they had forgotten. They had been so caught up in the fact that they had these abilities to do great things that they forgot that doing great things just for the people they cared about didn’t make them great.
It made them selfish.
And as Tony Stark made jokes with Peter Quill and exchanged ideas with King T’Challa, making plans to save a world that hated him – a world he had already saved by flying a nuke into space and evacuating then blowing up a floating island – the rest of his ‘team’ started to see things a bit differently, began to recognize the time, effort, and sacrifices Tony had and was making and they started to think that, just maybe, they had misjudged the genius. Either way, they had a lot to make up for.