8th Command; Voice

[aggravating]

There's this old adage, Bargians. Secrets, secrets are no fun. Unless you are a part of one. I'd kind of like to add onto that for a minute. So, uh, bear with me.

There are a few things that yeah, they're supposed to be kept secret. No one and their aunt Martha care about your latest bowel movement or who you had a crush on in the third grade. Seriously, they don't. Unless you're loud, obnoxious, spray tan like hell every chance you have, and get into cat fights over who gets the last can of soda. Those are fine. As are the family secrets, things like divorces, fights. I'm not saying "Spill your guts, Bargites, 'cause it's just not faaaaaaair~!" Those aren't the types of secrets I'm talking about.

I'm talking about the secrets that have to do with someone else. If someone knows something about your future that, you know, might be good to know for your own peace of mind, your own well-being, then hey. What the hell are you keeping it from them for? Because I pretty much guarantee that when they find out - and they will - things will be even worse than you imagined.

And yeah, for the record? Lies of omission totally count.

[Private to Natasha]
Coulson's dead, huh? Or did Rogers leave that out of his debrief?

[Private to Arkady]
Gorgeous, I needed to be drunk yesterday.

[Private to Charles]
Give me a reason to actually keep giving a shit, Prof. Because apparently even if I work to come back to life now, I just die again later.

[Private to Steve]
So. Rogers.

Coulson's dead.

I flew a nuke into space.

Loki's a fucking supervillain.

Game over.

Comments

[aggravating]

Yeah, yeah. You either die without even realizing it, you get the long and drawn out one, or you're a incapacitated raisin wasting away in a room getting your diaper changed.

I don't care about people telling me I'm going to die. I've been dealing with that hanging over my head for almost a year, now.

I care about people keeping important information from me. Information I just so happen to give a crap about.

[Okay, dial it back, Tony. Frustration is starting to make actual emotions slip out, now.]

[omar]

Like someone else gonna die, you mean.

[aggravating]

Exactly.

[Sorry, Omar, there's just too much weight in that one word for him to risk expanding on it.

Tony Stark doesn't do emotions well.]

[omar]

[But he shrugs.] That's gonna happen, too.

[aggravating]

Eventually. Death isn't avoidable forever, I get that.

Dying before you have to, though? When someone else can prevent it?

Not gonna happen on my watch.

[omar]

Well, sure. Anyone like to not die if they can avoid it. Only question is if they can.

[aggravating]

I'm the king of avoiding death.

Not counting what got me here, but whatever. Barge doesn't count.

[omar]

Now, why you say that?

[aggravating]

Because I'm kind of curious to see what else I'm gonna live through.

[That? Is a pretty wolfish grin.

Tony Stark isn't suicidal. Tony Stark just likes to challenge death and laugh in its face when he outsmarts it.]

[omar]

Naw, I mean, why you say this place don't count?

[aggravating]

It's a space prison for the rehabilitation of the deranged, psychotic, and apparently socially challenged.

[He shrugs a shoulder] Also, it doesn't count as me dying, it counts as me lucking out. Again. Because once I get out of here I'm coming back to life or whatever.

[omar]

S'pose so... but you still got this bit of Hell you got to get out of, first.

[aggravating]

Yeah. Not really the worst place I've been stuck in.

[Tortured by terrorists in a cave for three months, while recovering from two rounds of open heart surgery takes the cake for that.

In comparison? This is like a vacation.]

[omar]

[He'd been impressed to hear that! He doesn't have anything quite so extreme in his own backlog, but on the other hand, he does have a whole lot of real prison.]

Should be a piece of cake for you, then, huh?

[aggravating]

Kind of prefer, pie, but yeah. Easy as pie.

[Especially now that he's going "fuck alliances, it's easier to work alone and get out of here ASAP".]