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

[Private]

[aggravating]

[What about personally huh Natasha? Tony's pretty sure Steve would wibble at her or be all kicked puppy if she ever tried to be pissed. And he's pretty damn sure even spy training wouldn't fully combat against that.]

... Tesseract? [Excuse him as he just narrows his eyes at you, Widow.] What the hell's the Tesseract?

[Yeah, see, Natasha? That's Tony just bursting out laughing] I'm still just waiting until you get your name blared over the network, Natasha. Where's your inmate, huh?

[Private]

[persuadeyou]

[Spy training teaches you to kick a puppy in the face, Steve can do her no harm. B|

And she's sighing on the inside, waiting for the laughter to ebb and the bitchiness to silence.]

You really don't think there's any way I could be a warden? [She isn't upset or frustrated, she's just curious; the worst he's ever seen her do is lie. She wonders if that's his biggest issue with her, or if it's stemming from somewhere else.]

The Tesseract is...as far as we know, an alien power source. It was found during the search for Captain Rogers. Apparently, SHIELD's going to find out it's a lot more than that.

[Private]

[aggravating]

[In Soviet Russia, puppy kicks you!

The laughter ends, but that bitchiness isn't going anywhere. She should know that by now. Or at least have the files on it. When Tony's pissed, he stays pissed for a while. Especially when it's something that hits pretty damn close to home.]

Considering I'm over here in "unfit for society land" yeah, fine. There's a chance you're a warden. The Admiral seems to be pretty determined to piss on all of us, so it might have happened.

[She's right. Tony has no real reason to hate her, besides the lying. And the lying he'd kind of come to expect, considering she's a spy working for the King of Spies.

He just doesn't want to be the only one of their merry band of misfits that's stuck with redemption stamped on his forehead.]

... Found when during the search for Rogers?

[Because if it was before sixty five, there is no way it's SHIELD property and not a result of a stark expedition.]

[Private]

[persuadeyou]

[In Soviet Russia, you run from that puppy because it will probably eat you before it plays with you. :|

And Natasha is choosing to just...let that discussion go, because either she tells him now or waits for the Admiral to announce it, whenever he gets around to giving her a warden. Either way, it's unpleasant. And though she might be all right with Tony knowing now, she's not so hot with the idea of all the people he'd let it slip to. So, sorry Tony. Secrecy reigns.]

1945.

[Oh God Tony LET IT GO maybe daddy donated it okay, gawd.]

[Private]

[aggravating]

[Which, honestly, he's come to expect from her. She's a spy. She deals in secrets. It's really just her conspiring with Captain America who is, surprise surprise, a root of some of the issues he had with his dad - you know, the whole, paid more attention to a frozen relic than his own son, measured Tony against a dead national icon from the second he was born yadda yadda yadda - that has him really ticked off.]

... Forty five. Uh, yeah. There's no way that's not mine.

[Private]

[persuadeyou]

He gave it to SHIELD, Tony. Ownership is very much ours.

[And because this whole thing is very frustrating to her - and because really, when does Natasha enjoy playing with others - she adds,] You can look it up if you ever get home.