Who Am I? » [Stucky]

178. Déjà vu

“Pissed..?” Phil wheezed, his self-restraint crippling and crumpling as seconds passed. “Pissed?!” He roared like a dragon; Coulson’s hand-picked heroes were almost surprised that flames didn’t leap from his jaws as he snarled. He smite the table top in his vengeful fury. “I am beyond pissed! I am furious! You destroyed a square in one of the most historically important and beautiful cities in the world! You practically drained some of the canals, wreaking utter havoc for the locals! And, and!” He paused for a seething breath. “You drew mass media attention to us! Tony, you were sighted! Along with two of our agents, putting their faces on every major network as well as yours!”

“I don’t see how that’s a bad thing...” Tony quipped hopefully, the joke falling flat as a tumbleweed-worthy silence commenced.

“Son, if you’ve got nothing valuable to say, shut your damn mouth!” A few could’ve sworn that Phil’s red-faced yawp shook the glass table and the glassware sitting pretty on it. “Conspiracies, allegations, interrogations – all hell has broken loose across all media channels! You’re being held liable and you’ve put May and Mac in danger!”

Tony was ticking with anger from being pestered; it was an eerie echo of being bullied by his drunkard old man as a child and adolescent. He sprung to his feet, knocking the table and sending water sloshing as he did so. “You know what? I’m sorry for trying to make light of a shitty situation! We’ve all been suffering for two months because endless missions! Narcolepsy! Insomnia! PTSD! Injuries! That’s what the troop has had to suffer these passing weeks! All for the sake of this Herculean task! This wild goose chase you’ve forced on us! We’ve had no say! We’ve all been damaged physically or mentally – one way or another! So don’t you criticise me for trying to find the light in a dark time! All you’ve been doing is sitting back like an overseer, cracking the whip! You’ve done fuck all in the grand scheme of things! Have you taken a bullet like Nat?! Have you been waking up screaming the way we all hear Bucky screaming some nights?! Have you withdrawn into yourself like Skye?! Have you been knocked unconscious like Clint?! No! No is the answer! So don’t talk to me about what I’ve done wrong, don’t you tell me that jokes aren’t valuable! Stop acting like a condescending ass, deal with your issues and stop venting on us!” Tony’s eyes were shining with a thin web of tears, crystals of anguish lining his eyelids.

Coulson had spiralled into a trembling rage. “I am your senior-“

“Give it a rest!” Steve intervened, intercepting their heated conversation before they tore each other’s throats out. “As if this hasn’t been hard enough already... On all of us... Phil, we know you’ve worked hard to pull off this operation, and I know all of you-“ Steve smiled sympathetically at his battered friends: Clint with the purple bulge on his forehead, Natasha with her bandage strangled leg, the magenta circles under Bucky’s eyes and Skye’s catatonic face. “Have never given anything but your all. Bickering like a bunch of toddlers over a toy isn’t going to make the difficult situation any more pleasing, it’s voice to fracture our team spirit and right now, morality is the most important thing. Take it from the man who went around in booty shorts promoting patriotic positive mentality...” Steve gave a coy smirk.

“Can’t believe I missed that...” Bucky exhaled in a yearning angelic voice.

“Phil, back to you. Please, tell us something good?” Steve retired to his seat, snuggling up to Bucky once again, looping their fingers and nuzzling his face in the crook of his fiancé’s neck.

“Well...” Phil croaked in a damaged voice, clearing his throat in an attempt to dislodge the tearful blockade. “Thank Christ for May’s incredible hacking skills, because with that, we have tracked the final Hydra base. In the blur, I think many of you have lost track of your amazing handiwork, but this is the last one. But... What we hadn’t bet on was where it was... This-“