Storm ≛ Tony Stark ≛

54.

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'I forgot how grim everything is here.'

'I'm sure that's because we've just been to a funeral, Johnny.'

'No, it's definitely the grey slab we call the sky. I'm sick of the rain. My vitamin D is dropping by the minute.'

Sue shook off her black coat as Johnny closed the door behind them. Their hotel room was heated around the clock and her frosty cheeks were blessed from the wave of warmth that encased her. Johnny kicked off his dress shoes and loosened the black tie from around the collar of his shirt. He threw himself onto the double bed on the right of the room with a loud sigh. He grabbed the remote from the nightstand and turned on the TV that was mounted on the wall. Sue walked around Johnny's chosen bed and headed to her suitcase. Perched next to her own double bed, she crouched down to open the compartment that held the sim card she recently purchased.

'Looks like life's falling to shit back home,' Johnny said, and Sue looked over her shoulder. The TV showed an American news channel the hotel had avaliable to its guests. A recent incident in Lagos, Nigeria, played on the screen and Wanda Maximoff was seen before a fatal explosion erupted. A bomb devastated an entire office building, and the Avengers were being blamed for it.

'Eleven Wakandans were among those killed during a confrontation between the Avengers and a group of mercenaries in Lagos, Nigeria, last month,' the American news reporter informed from the studio. 'The traditionally reclusive Wakandans were on an outreach mission in Lagos when the attack occurred.'

The scene in the studio changed to show T'Chaka, King of Wankanda. The man spoke with pain in his voice at the deaths of his people, and the Storms watched as the man said,

'Our people's blood is spilled on foreign soil. Not only because of the actions of criminals, but by the indifference of those pledged to stop them. Victory at the expense of the innocent, is no victory at all.'

'They are operating outside and above the international law. Because that's the reality, if we don't respond to acts like these,' another news reporter commented back in the studio. 'What legal authority does an enhanced individual like Wanda Maximoff have to operate in Nigeri-'

Johnny pressed the 'off' button on the remote and the TV's screen turned black. The press was always the bane of the Avengers' existence. They focused on the negatives of missions and ignored the countless successes the team had in saving the planet. Sue tried to stay away from news reports and cameras that were shoved in her face when in public, but she was never far from the controversy.

'Steve will sort it out,' Johnny sat up and swung his legs over to the edge of his bed. 'He always does.'

Sue hummed in response and pulled her phone out of her pocket. Opening it's back, she slipped the new sim card into the circuit. Once her phone turned on with the new sim inside, reception bars climbed in the corner of the screen with the Vodaphone symbol displayed beside them. She hadn't had the need to use her phone ever since touching down in London, but she purchased a sim card just in case. When the device was connected to the country's network, she dialled the American area code before typing in Tony's phone number.

'This is your future husband speaking,' Tony's voice answered after two rings.

'Hey. How did the lecture go at MIT?' Sue asked as she stared out the window. Big Ben could be seen off in the distance and the grey sky drizzled with rain. Sue fiddled with the engagement ring that sat on her finger while she smiled at the sound of Tony's voice.

'Would have been better if you were there,' the man mumbled, and Sue sensed a change in his tone.

'That bad, huh?'