Prompt# 366 – Sarcasm - Room for Improvement/ extra - Tekia – Exalted/the Avengers

[tekia.livejournal.com]

Title: Room for Improvement (extra)
Fandom: the Avengers/ Exalted
Prompt: Sarcasm
Warnings: none
Rating: PG-13
Summary: After coming home Exalted, Tony has plans and ideas all but pouring out of his ears. Back in Creation, there was magic everywhere, and a little hard work wasn’t going to stop him from finding those wells of magic in his own world.

White Song held an impassive expression on her face, blinking her eyes slowly as Tony felt his own eyes widen at the question.
No, not at the question, but at the answer that wanted to rip its way out of his throat. He swallowed back the words and forced his eyes closed as he really, truly, thought about going back.
His whole time in that world had him striving to return here, to where he was meant to be. Tony Stark, the famous, infamous, and world renowned. Creator of the world’s greatest weapons, and procurator of world peace. He was loved and hated, and everybody knew his name. He had power, and the wealth to flaunt it. He had a woman that loved him through it all, and he had friends that, despite his many flaws, stood with him, even now, when they waited with bated breath for his answer.
It shouldn’t have been this hard.
He opened his eyes to see that White Song and Iron Dust both were pointedly looking away from him. It was their way of showing the others that Tony had his own mind in this, and they would not sway his answer, either way.
He knew they had accepted their place in this world, unable to even humor the idea of going back. For them, their time there was over, and only the path before them leading into the future mattered.
He glanced at Steve and wondered how he would answer the same question. He knew Steve must hate this time, so greatly different from his own, and still so similar. The pain he must go through, seeing the after image of his world reflected in this one.
But the world Tony had fled had been so much more. The distance between that one and this one was so great that there was nothing for Tony to reach out to, to connect the two worlds. The war he had been forbidden from joining had been lost, and now there was nothing left of that world in this one.
He took a deep breath and remembered what he had been told.
He, exalted, would not only have swayed the war, but perhaps even tip the balance so far it would have changed everything.
This world would not exist.
He shook his head. “No,” he said, his voice thick. “No, I could never make myself go back. There is too much on the line.”
Clint turned in his seat until he faced Tony fully. “I don’t understand. From what you describe, that place is a Utopia.”
Tony nodded and felt his lips stretch into a fond smile. “Yes, it’s pretty awesome, but it’s not perfect. While I was there, there was a war going on. One that, I think, is still waged today.”
Bruce shifted, tugging at the collar of his shirt. “The war between magic and technology.”
“Yeah, and then there’s me.”
Clint’s eyes widened. “Oh.”
“Yes, ‘oh,’” Tony returned, sarcasm dripping from his words.
Steve frowned. “What about you?”
“I’m right in the middle, aren’t I?” He tapped a finger to his temple. “A technological genius. Haven’t met a machine that I couldn’t reverse engineer or recreate, yet. Now add the magic of exaltation to that. I have the smarts and the power to rule that world. I could take it over. Hell, I could even take over the machines that they were fighting against and take the war to their homeland. I could protect that world from ever falling under the foot of the machine god.”
“But at what cost,” Natasha said. She held her hands carefully folded in her lap as she leaned back in her chair, staring hard at Tony.
“Yeah,” he agreed as the others seemed to deflate around them. “Its better not to even give myself the temptation. I’ll stay here, thanks.”