The worst part about Ultron was that they both should have known better. They were two of the most brilliant minds in the world, and all they could do was look at this puzzle they wanted to solve and not on the down sides it could lead to. No, they couldn't know for certain how badly it would all go, but Bruce in particular knew better. It was exactly what he did in the first place to ruin his life, and at least when he did that, the number of people destroyed by it was lower. The second time? Everyone paid. Tony wanted to do the right thing, he had vision and purpose, but it should have been Bruce's responsibility to pause.

The team wasn't really a team to him. The Hulk was on the Avengers, Banner helped in the lab and lived there. They were some outline sketches of a family to him, not that he really put the words into forming that mindset. Yes, Tony was who he was closest to, but he got along well with everyone enough to feel less like looking over his shoulder. He knew what it meant to Tony though. It was everything to him. He poured his heart and soul into the Avengers, he made them his mission, his blood and his sweat.

So something very, very wrong had to happen to change that. It was in every line of Tony's body language right then, telling the story of how they were destroyed. It was a very subtle movement, when Bruce went from leaning on Tony's support, to pulling Tony in a little more, being the support instead. "Tell me. I won't pass out. What happened, Tony?" The Avengers were tarnished by Ultron, but they still stopped him. Bruce couldn't imagine how it went from that to Tony refusing to speak to Steve, and the others being hunted as criminals.