Ch21. How to proceed

"But why?" Natasha couldn't stop herself from asking. "You don't want to help the world anymore?" She blurted out and instantly regretted it. That sounded so wrong and accusatory it made her inwardly flinch.

The last remnants of the good atmosphere among them were utterly squashed with that and the office descended into a deafening silence.

Tony looked at her, his eyes... surprisingly not cold nor angry as Natasha expected and she let out a small relieved breath she didn't even realize she was holding. Tony's gaze was just indifferent and calm.

"Red... while you were flying around with Steve, Sam, and Barton, saving the day and spanking villains, I scrapped the Avengers Initiative and focused on improving the world in the only way that I could. I made technology. I found or helped to find a cure for numerous diseases. I pushed medical development by at least four decades worth of research in under two years. I made leaps and bound in the development of renewable safe energy."

Tony was especially proud of finding a way to install a safeguard that would remotely turn off his arc reactors so the risk of someone weaponizing them became minimal. That made him capable of commercializing them which helped the whole world immensely.

"I funded charities and improved indoor farming, making it both cheaper and more effective while offering poor African states generous long-term loans heavily skewed in their favor so their populace would not go hungry anymore. Speaking of Africa, I funded multiple well-digging projects too."

While Tony never counted himself as a big fan of charity, he did a lot to help those disadvantaged. Just because he was not there personally didn't mean his help was irrelevant. It was his help that put poor African countries on their feet.

"I also distinctly remember Wakanda being one of the countries that took my money as if they really needed it, the pretentious bitches." Tony grumbled, clicking his tongue. "Anyway, I could go on... And that was all even before Thanos showed up."

Natasha felt Tony's meaningful look burning into her but she didn't dare to raise her head. Usually, she wouldn't let something as simple as shame control her but for some reason, she felt quite inadequate right about now.

When he put it this way, then yes, maybe being an Avenger really wasn't the best way to go about helping the world for someone like Tony.

Still, it didn't change anything for Natasha. She was not as smart as Tony. She couldn't just pull some miraculous technology that would save thousands out of her ass.

Tony didn't have to be so unpleasant towards Natasha. He didn't need to start naming off all he did for the betterment of the world and belittle her contribution as an Avenger. He didn't have to put it into a perspective for her that chasing, most often than not, insignificant villains was really not worth his time. He directly trivialized her lifelong effort by doing this and he could have avoided it by being more diplomatic but... why should he?

Yes, after she apologized, Tony decided to be more civil and, dare he say, friendly towards Natasha but that didn't mean they were friends. As far as he knows, they were never friends. They were acquaintances at best.

Tony would return every insult ten-fold. No matter that it was unintentional. Natasha was no Pepper. She was no Rhodey. And she was definitely too slim to be Happy. Even Tony's friends occasionally didn't dodge a brutal verbal dressing down when they pissed him off so why should Natasha be any different?

"And now, let's talk about what happened after Thanos." Tony continued, amusement seeping into his tone as he watched Natasha groan in both annoyance and resignation. She didn't protest and quietly listened to him, probably thinking she deserved it, but Tony didn't care about her reasons to just take his words. He definitely wouldn't mince them. After all, he was speaking only the truth... as he saw it.

"Steve had his meetings for alcoholics... er, sorry, that came out wrong. I mean meetings for those too sad and pathetic to move on without being given a speech from Captain America." Tony snorted, genuinely finding it hilarious. "Banner had his own problems with self-experimentation. And you continued the Avenger work. Or at least, you tried. I know, I kept tabs on you. All of you."

Tony didn't really spy on them. Not much and not often. But... in a world that lost half of its population, rumors about what do the Avengers do spread like a forest fire.

"And while you were doing all that... I was busy inventing and funding projects that would put the world back on its feet. So many fields needed to be adjusted to the sudden drop in the workforce it was not even funny. So many technologies suddenly became useless because there were not enough people to make them matter. So many factories would have had to shut down because they lacked laborers. The world would have crumbled on itself, regressing by a few decades at least without me. It didn't need the Iron Man. It needed Tony Stark."

"I am sorry, Tony. I didn't mean it that way." Natasha mumbled. "I just..."

"Yes, yes. You think you have nothing else but your work as an Avenger." Tony rolled his eyes at her when her head snapped in his direction. "I don't believe it is me saying this but get over yourself, woman. You survived the Red Room, working for SHIELD, Loki, Hydra, Ultron, our little lover's spat among Avengers, Thanos... well, sort of. And all that while being just a normal human. You have determination, Red. Pull your head out of your ass and start doing things you like doing rather than what you think others are expecting of you because you are a good girl." He mockingly stated.

"I have no idea what I like doing though." Natasha uncertainly whispered, biting her lower lip.

"Not my problem. You will figure it out. My offer stands. You want to restart Avengers? I will pay for it. You don't have to decide now." Tony casually shrugged, "Take your time. Just don't count on me to smoothen the political fallout when your little group inadvertently piss of some country by operating on their territory without permission. Any politician trying to complain to me about you guys will get the door shut in his face with the words that he is barking on the wrong tree. I did it once, not planning to do it ever again."

Honestly, Tony would be glad if Avengers came together again without him. They had their role to play. He just wouldn't count on them to deal with everything for him as the world did in his past.

That said, if Natasha decided against putting Avengers back together, he wouldn't try to change her mind. Gathering them before Loki attacks would cause quite a bit of a problem anyway.

The shitstorm Rogers could cause if he got to know about Hydra in SHIELD before Loki's attack... The numbskull would definitely act on it and the world could find itself facing Loki and his army with SHIELD having an internal civil war. Simply put, a disaster.

Tony could care less what Natasha did. There would be problems whether Avengers did have a get-together sooner than intended or not.

"I... I will think about it." Natasha nodded but her earlier plans of following the timeline while fixing stuff she didn't like were completely shattered and she found herself utterly clueless about how to proceed.