Chapter Text
Five minutes.
You looked up from your watch, glancing into the room from the doorway. Tony Stark stood behind the bar in his living room, on the phone to someone. You weren’t sure who Stark was talking to, but they must have been important. Listening to the conversation, it almost seemed as though he knew what was about to happen.
“Listen to me,” he spoke. “This is not a test or a drill, this is an order. You stay where you are, do not move. No matter what happens. Promise me.”
Stark stayed quiet while he listened to the reply, then continued. “I know, but I need you to promise me. Some major shit’s about to go down and I need you safe. I need you to trust me. Cap will come and get you when he’s ready.”
Silence.
“No, you can’t help, kid. Hell, I can’t help. But it will be okay in the end. Just promise me you’ll stay where you are, no matter what happens.”
You heard Stark breathe a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I gotta go. Be safe, kid.”
Four minutes.
Stark placed the phone down on the bar and looked up at you. “Hey there, Y/N.”
“Mr. Stark,” you greeted, entering the room. “I just need you to sign these forms so that-”
“Oh come on, I’m not doing that.” He pulled a bottle out from under the bar. “I’ve got, what, four minutes left to live? I’m not going to spend that time working. Want one?” he held up a glass.
“No,” you responded, your mind racing. He couldn’t actually…
“Yes, I know who you are, Komodo,” he poured the amber liquor into a glass and took a sip. “I’ve known for quite a while, actually.
Your eyes widened, heart rate increasing as you touched the ring on your middle finger, ready to activate it.
“Oh please, you don’t need that,” he smiled. “I’ll never understand you evil organisations and your insistence on killing yourselves the moment you get caught. Though I’ll admit, what you have is an upgrade to the old cyanide pill. I’d call it elegant, even, if it wasn’t so insane.”
“You know what this does?” you asked, holding up the ring.
Stark nodded his confirmation. “I know everything about you,” he mused, wandering out from behind the bar. “The komodo dragon really is a fascinating creature. It doesn’t just hunt and kill it’s prey like most predators. Instead it’s patient. It puts itself in its prey's path and waits for the perfect moment before it strikes. It takes its time. Pulls off the perfect kill before it’s prey suspects a thing. Which is exactly what you do, isn’t it? That’s why you came to work for me two years ago. You were already planning this.”
“How could you possibly know all of this?” You breathed, brushing your ring.
Stark shrugged. “I’m friends with a wizard,” he spoke simply, as if it explained everything.
“If you know I’m here to kill you, then why are you still here?”
Stark smiled. “Because you’re going to fail.”
“No, I’m not,” you responded.
Three minutes.
“Oh no, not you. You won’t fail. I’m a dead man walking - why do you think I’m drinking my most expensive bottle?” he held up the glass. “But ultimately, your organisation will. Cerberus, I believe you call it.”
“You're just gonna let me kill you?”
“Yep,” he grinned, far too cheerfully for someone who faced his assassin. “If this doesn’t happen, we all die. But right now, we can set into motion a series of events which will give us an advantage. Killing me is the first step you take towards saving us all.”
You took your finger away from your ring. If he wasn’t about to capture you, then you didn’t need it. “That’s a lie.”
Stark smiled. “If you say so. I think you’ll find your next target is a little harder for you to kill than I will be,” he took a sip of his drink. “Is it difficult to do your job? I imagine that senseless murder gets to some people. Are you a psychopath? Mentally unstable?”
“I have good reasons for doing what I do.” Your eyes fell to the tattoo on your left wrist. A small raven, serving as a reminder of why you were here. Of what you had to do.
“Yes, well, most people think that,” he took an object from the coffee table and held it out to you. “You’re going to need this.”
You hesitated for a moment, but curiosity got the better of you and you stepped forward to take the card. An Avengers ID. You stared at it. “Why the hell would you give me this?”
“Because I trust Doctor Strange. If the Avengers are to survive, then this is what has to happen.”
Two minutes.
“No one survives after tonight,” you told him.
“Yeah, that’s your plan,” he waved his hand dismissively. “I already told you, it’s not going to work.”
“The execution has been carefully planned. This will work.”
“Execution,” Stark repeated. “That’s what you’re calling it? As if we’re criminals who have committed atrocities?”
“What would you call it, then?”
Stark shrugged. “Cold blooded slaughter, maybe?” He took another drink and cleared his throat. “Cap’s a good man. When you break his heart, try to be gentle. He doesn’t deserve to suffer.”
You shook your head. This man made no sense. This entire mission wasn’t making any sense anymore. It was meant to be simple. Get in, keep him busy for five minutes, then kill him. Not discuss what he believed would happen after his death. “Clearly, you don’t know me at all.”
“I know more about you than you think.” Stark tipped back the rest of his glass and placed it on the bar behind him.
One minute.
“So, how are we gonna do this?” Stark asked. “You gonna shoot me? Poison me? Slit my throat? Ooh, you could chop my head off. That would be dramatic.”
You sighed. Whatever Stark was playing at didn’t matter. You had a job to do, and you were going to do it. Tomorrow you would wake up and find confirmation that each member of Cerberus had succeeded. The heroes would be gone and there would be no more danger to the planet or its people. You could go on living your normal lives. No one would ever go through what you had to because of the Avengers.
You stepped forward and took Stark’s head in your hands.
Stark smirked. “I gotta say, I love a girl who knows how to make the first move.”
You rolled your eyes, watched the timer on your watch tick over to zero, and twisted.