Salut! Here it is, the last chapter and final Avengers!

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And now onto the chapter! Good reading!

Natasha and Steve 2.0

Natasha let out an amused smile when she realized Tony hadn't even noticed they were there. He was absorbed in his conversation with Thor – she didn't even know what made this particular conversation possible but she had no doubt the genius would try and find out.

She heard Steve gasped when Tony surprisingly gave a good advice to Thor about his brother. Then again, out of all people, the one who knew the best about caring being a weakness people would exploit was definitively Tony. Tony who learned showing he could be affected was giving people a way to get to him and manipulate him. He would definitively know what he was talking about.

She rolled her eyes though with his next remark. No one but him would make such a statement to Thor's way of saluting.

Then Pepper was chuckling and Thor was saying goodbye. Steve took a step forward, ready to start talking but Natasha stopped him. It would only put Tony on edge, seeing as he hadn't even noticed them yet.

"Are they all gonna check on me one by one or something? How did Thor even learn about what happened?" Tony wondered aloud as he scratched his temple and made his stool spin towards Pepper.

And finally he saw them, freezing immediately as his eyes widened slightly. He recovered quickly enough and if she wasn't trained to look for those little details, she would have missed it completely.

"Okay, fine, don't answer that. They are going to come one by one." He sighed and crossed his arms. "Natashalie and Stars and Spangles. Hello to you both."

Steve sighed and pinched his nose while Natasha just gave Stark a look. Completely unfazed, he just grinned. Of course.

Well she was going to wipe that grin off his face. She walked confidently toward him, noticing the way his body tense just the slightest bit and his eyes narrowed in suspicion. She noticed the lack of light coming from his chest as well, something that still shook her, despite the fact Clint had told her he didn't have the shrapnel inside him anymore. She had learned to associate the light with Stark being alive and it would take some time before that particular association faded again.

Next thing she knew, she was finally in front of him and her hand slammed on his cheek, hard enough it made his head wipe to the side.

Pepper gasped and Steve yelled her name, but Tony simply stood there, head bowed to the side, with a red mark already appearing on his skin. He slowly licked his lips and finally looked up at her. His brown eyes were unreadable as he stared at her, lips set into something that wasn't quite a smirk, nor a frown. Natasha held his gaze, unmovable, impassible. She waited. She knew he could understand what she was silently telling him.

And then Tony smirked and nodded. "Got it."

"Good," she answered before turning on her heels and walking towards a desk, on which she sat, under the bewildered gaze of Steve and Pepper. She didn't care. The one person who was supposed to understand what that gesture was did, that was all that mattered. She didn't need for anyone to know she had just made him understand that if he pulled a stunt like that one he will have to face her very deadly knifes and other weapons.

He wouldn't last very long then.

She wasn't about to say either she would do that to him because she cared about the man. That was just a big no-no.

"Sooo… The Spider's done, it's your turn, Captain Uptight."

Steve gave him a look at that, but Tony ignored it completely in favor of grabbing the cube still sitting on the desk. He idly started examining it while Pepper shook her head at his antics. "You acted recklessly, Stark. You shouldn't…"

"Have threatened a very dangerous and highly wanted terrorist. Yadda, yadda, yadda." Tony raised his eyes at Steve who stood tense, fists clenched and a disapproving frown on his face. "What? I know that, okay? It was a stupid move, I'm not denying it."

"Then why did you do it? And why didn't you ask for help?" Steve asked, sighing, his body relaxing, knowing Tony wasn't completely unaware of how stupid he acted.

Tony put the cube down and stood up. "Because it could have been avoided. I mean…" He ran both his hands over his face and in his hair before turning to Pepper, who was watching with a small smile. "Happy tried to tell me there was something suspicious about this guy. I could have stopped him. I could –" He deflated and shook his head. "I couldn't bring anyone else into that mess, the mess I created."

Pepper put a hand over his and squeezed his fingers. Steve's eyes softened. "You… We can defend ourselves, Tony. We're more than capable."

"Look, Cap, you're used to this team thing. You were in the damn army. I'm not. What I'm used to is to fix the messes I created on my own. It's not a problem about how I didn't think you could defend yourselves, it's more like… I thought you…" He trailed off and looked away from them, grimacing. He raised his hand up to his chest and rubbed absently the place where the reactor used to be.

"You thought we wouldn't help." Natasha stated, eyes set on him, voice void of any emotion.

His eyes snapped to her and he licked his lips, unsure of how he should answer. "We might have fought together in the end but we… didn't all get off fine at first. Except Bruce…" He scratched the back of his head and shrugged.

"Stark, I…" Steve started, looking like a kicked puppy.

Tony shook his head. "No, no, don't. I mean it's in the past. I am so not dealing with this now. Promise, next time I won't go off against anyone on my own. Alright?"

Steve sighed but figured he wouldn't get anything else out of the genius. "Alright." Then he looked around curiously while Stark grabbed the cube again. He had never been into Tony's house before and she could understand his curiosity.

Natasha narrowed her eyes at him and tilted her head to the side. "Mmh… So without the reactor anymore, how are you going to be Iron Man?"

He stiffened and his hand immediately reached up to the place where it used to be. His brown eyes moved to her as he stared, searching for anything that might help him figure out where she was going with that train of thought. Natasha held her mask as best as she could, knowing Stark could read people well when he wanted to.

"The suit isn't powered with that arc anymore, hasn't been in quite some time." It was smooth, true and sincere, but Natasha saw it. The slightest twitch of his lips as he talked, invisible to anyone who hadn't been trained to watch out for this kind of signs, and even then only the best would have noticed it since Stark was a really good and convincing liar.

"That may be true, but there's something you're not telling us." That got Steve attention who turned to them. Pepper stiffened as Stark narrowed his eyes at her.

"Stark, where… I mean we saw all those suits in Malibu and… where are they?" the soldier asked gesturing around him, at the workshop, empty except for desks, computers, robots and holograms.

Tony sighed and licked his lips. He looked down at his hands playing with a screwdriver that had been lying on the desk. "I blew them all up."

Steve's eyes widened and Natasha was ashamed to admit it, but hers as well. She knew what Iron Man was to Stark, it was his redemption, his way of paying back for the destruction his weapons had caused. He wouldn't have just given up on it, it didn't seem… possible.

"What?" Steve finally managed.

"I blew them all up. Clean slate protocol." He gestured at the lab around them. "They were… It's just a… fresh start. I'm not…" He put the screwdriver down and looked back up, first at her then at Steve, then finally at Pepper. "Iron Man… it couldn't work that way anymore. But I'm not giving it up, guys. I'm still Iron Man." Pepper smiled at him and shook her head while rolling her eyes. "Time off before going right back to making another one."

Natasha looked from Stark to Pepper then back at Stark and his non-shining chest. She smiled the slightest bit and hopped off the desk. "We'll see you again then. We can't stay any longer, but it's good to see you're alright, Stark." She stopped at the door, waiting for the captain to catch up with her. She nodded back at the genius. "Till next time."

"Yeah. See you."

"Goodbye Stark."

"Bye, Cap."

They closed the door behind them and left, not looking back. They walked in silence until they reached the elevator and as they waited, Steve spoke up, without glancing at her. "What do you think?"

She smirked. "I think this isn't the last we see of Stark. Neither it is the end of Iron Man. He said it. A fresh start. Nothing more, nothing less." The doors opened and she stepped inside. Steve stared at her for a moment before following.

It definitively wasn't going to be the last time they heard from Tony Stark.

She couldn't help but be impatient for that time to come.

What do you think of this chapter? Steve and Natasha's reactions ?

What did you think of the whole story?

Thank you again everyone, it's been great to have you all during this story!

Until next time!

AngelShep