fossilised | For Steve

Tony had other things to do than let Steve Rogers and pals ruin his life. With Steve and Grant gone, and Sam AWOL attempting to find them, Tony had to step up his game a little. It would have been so much easier if Bucky had just mentioned that he did in fact know where the HYDRA Soldier base was, but Tony would get to that eventually, especially after Thor decided to pay them a visit with some sort of crazy alien magic-tech that would lead them to Loki's scepter.

Having to fetch it without Steve was pretty bad. Tony was more ruthless for it, he didn't lead so much as announced what he was going to do and left the rest up to everyone else. No one blamed him. He wasn't a leader. Luckily, Thor did his best to step up but leading human's wasn't as easy as leading his own men. He did not know their skills the way that Rogers did.

And while they did indeed manage their mission, it was not without great consequence. Barton was left injured. Banner had a harder time than usually recovering from his Code Green. And Tony was acting even funnier than usual. Something had happened to him in that HYDRA base but he wasn't talking about it. It was pretty crazy stuff. He didn't even believe it himself.

In the end, Barton would recover, even as Grant began to show the first signs of pneumonia. His lungs felt heavy and thick. His head ached. And finally, a week into their run, he put a hand on Stevs's arm as the other blond was working off of JARVIS supplied sat images. "I'm slowing you down," he murmured, skin clammy and damp.

Steve had begun to feel guilty. He knew that the mission to get the sceptre hadn't been the most successful thing in the world and it had been his fault that Barton had been injured, he should have been there, he was meant to be the team leader. He didn't want to drive all his other friends away, and now Grant was also sick.

"...I think we should take a break for a few days anyway, clear our heads, come back at it when JARVIS has managed to collate some better images."

He clapped a hand to Grant's shoulder, knowing how much he had hated to be coddled when he had been in a body like that, and so still talking to him normally even if he looked awful. He'd have to get Banner to prescribe some antibiotics, treatment for pneumonia was much better in these days than it ever had been when he was a kid.

"Maybe you can spend a few days sitting and working through the possible sightings on a map, seeing if there's a pattern or journey progression? I have some stuff I need to sort out with the team, anyway."

He needed to finally talk to Tony, he needed to thank Sam and everyone else for stepping in for him, and he needed to pick up the mantle of Captain America again.

There wasn't much to do about it save to listen to Steve's advice and go back. No where was home without Bucky and so Grant never considered calling it that. He was moved into the Tower, too sick to really understand where he was at that point, and though. An error did remind them that they had Helen a ho, a real doctor at their disposal, he still checked on the kid as often as possible.

Steve and Sam coming home coincided with Tony's thought about throwing a massive party in celebration for getting their hands back on the weapon Loki left behind and Tony was in fine form of ignoring that anything was wrong as he leaned against the bar and asked Natasha for another drink, more or less ignoring the shop talk Steve and Sam were having just behind him.

Natasha complied, though his Shiey Temple was more virgin than Rogers probably was and no amount of whining that this was his house and his bar would get her to do anything more than smile at him until he wandered off to leave Banner get himself flirted with despite hardly realizing it.

Steve made his way over to Tony, pleased and touched by how well his conversations with Sam and the others had gone. They had been understanding, they said they were glad to have him back, they were all there for him. The underlying sentiment was that they would be there for Bucky too if and when Steve ever found him, probably because Natasha had made sure that everyone had sat through at least a little of the tapes they found. Horrific, but a good way of making people feel compassion.

But Tony was the one he was worried about.

"Hey Tony," he said, first words since the man had been knocked out cold in his arms a week back. "We need to talk. You have a moment?"

"Holy shit. The Steve Rogers! Guess a good party brings everyone out of the woodworks, huh?" He might have been cut off but he didn't need alcohol to be a dick. Steve had abandoned them when they needed him. And this was after he was forced to confront his parents' killer. Twice. In one night. He knew this would happen if Bucky left. The man was a liability. He'd hurt Grant three times now. Arm. That head wound, and now the pneumonia that was keeping him bed ridden in one of the upstairs rooms. Fine. Whatever. Accidents happened. But Bucky was making the world a little darker for his disappearance. And that was on top of the stuff he did when he felt like he didn't have a choice.

So was Tony still sore about all of this? He was. He was, and considering that little flash he had gotten, that little spark of a memory where Steve blamed him for making a mess of things? Yeah. He was in damned way willing to miss and make up with Steve Fucking Rogers right now.

"What do you need? More use of the satelittes? New tech? Put an order in with JARVIS and I'll get right on it."

Alright, well, fine then. Steve could feel the hostility rolling off Tony in waves, but he refused to rise up to it himself. He was here to be the bigger man and offer his apologies, and that's what he was going to do. It might go less smoothly since Tony was aggressive to begin with, but that didn't mean he would back down from it.

"No, I wanted to talk to you and see if we could smooth things out. I haven't been there this last week and I apologise, I've already spoken to the others and given my apology there. I won't let you down again."

That didn't mean he was going to stop looking for Bucky, but he needed to balance it out with his duties so that he didn't lose everyone important to him.

"And I want to apologise for not telling you about your parents. I thought I was doing the right thing to protect you, but it was selfish, I was protecting myself. So, for that, I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," Tony said curtly, as if he wanted nothing more in this world than for Steve to go away and leave him alone. "What you do with your time has nothing to do with me and you and your SHIELD buddies love keeping secrets. I get it. That's fine."

He was trying to be the bigger man here. Natasha had already laid the ground work for it, tried to smooth over the rough edges, but Tony had already been withdrawing. Steve's week long absence hadn't really helped either when he was their glue. He brought them together and led them through it all.

Steve's painful earnestness and Tony's penchant for killing off his liver, however, put the older man in a really tough sort of position. He didn't like to let things go, not when he still had so much to say. "You're not going to want to hear this, Cap, and I'm sure no one else is going to tell you either, but your boyfriend is a god damned liability. HYDRA has the ability to go to alternate dimensions. They are actively seeking out more serum or Erskine or hell, maybe even more Steve Rogerses. And what are you doing? Globe trotting and searching for someone that stayed away from you for so long because you kept hunting him down. You s got a choice to make here. We don't want your sloppy seconds. Save that for that kid you've been dragging around collecting pneumona."

Steve's jaw tensed enough that tendons became visible in his neck, but he still didn't rise to it. He told himself that Tony had a right to his anger, but-- he actually didn't, not in Steve's head. Blaming Bucky for what happened wasn't fair, it was like blaming a rape victim for getting pregnant out of wedlock, or something equally despicable.

"I told you that it wouldn't happen again, that meant I was going to stick to my work here where I'm needed. I'm still going to look for Bucky, but I'll do it on my own time."

He exhaled heavily, but he couldn't just let it go.

"Maybe he's a liability, but if he is then it's not his fault. He's like a shell shocked vet, he doesn't know what he's doing, and he needs our help. I told you that you're going to be my first priority and I don't lie, but don't talk about Bucky like that again. You know as well as I do that he's a victim in all of this."

"And so are millions of other people," Tony shot back. "I'm trying to keep the world safe. I'm trying to keep a lot of parallel worlds safe. You're using our resources to hunt down a guy that doesn't want to be found." Tony's anger had so little to do with Bucky and more to do with Steve being completely blind to what was going on. Steve abandoned them.

Tony really didn't take well to that, so he was prepared to just brush him off. He'd brush them all off and do this himself. He worked so much better that way anyway.

Funny that Steve had accused him in that vision of not doing enough. Tony was the only one here actually trying to keep the world from imploding. "I'm sorry your friend was abused, I really am. But look at the bigger picture, Cap. I don't have time for this. I have work to do. So good luck with it all." A condescending slap with the back of his hand on Steve's chest brought to light that everyone was watching them cautiously. Only Rhodey decided to try to intervene, though.

Tony would have brushed him off too if he hadn't stumbled. "He's drunk, Steve. He has no idea what he's saying."

"I know exactly what I'm saying," Tony growled and took a poorly timed swing at his friend, which Rhodes stepped away from easily and tried to catch Tony before he fell over. He was not successful.

Edited 2017-02-22 21:10 (UTC)

"He knows what he's saying, he's just not listening." Steve shot back, hands on his hips and frown finally pulling his lips down. "If he was, then he'd know I'm trying to keep the world safe too. I apologised for this last week, and I said that I'm working for the team again now."

Tony was an infuriating idiot. How many mistakes had he made in his life? How many that hurt hundreds and thousands? How many that lasted months and years? Steve had let the ball drop for a single week, and he had already gone around and apologised to everybody personally, and he wouldn't let it happen again.

Was Tony really going to hold a grudge.

"Forget it. I said what I needed to say, Tony can accept that or he can keep being angry. It won't stop me doing what I need to do."

"Fuck you," Tony spat at Rhodey picked him up off of the ground. Tony's best friend had no idea what the issue was here. None at all. Natasha might have provided a little insight but she wasn't going to bother with the boys today. Let them fight.

It wouldn't bring Pepper back. She had left two weeks ago while Tony was at the compound, ignoring her calls. He had found out until a day after Bruce came back to help keep him company while Natasha went back to the compound to do damage control.

Just because his heart was broken didn't mean that he needed to take his bullshit out on Steve. So Rhodey dragged him away on his own while Tony commanded everyone to enjoy themselves and drink more. Needless to say, the party was over.

Rhodey sighed and got Tony up to the bedroom, fighting him all the way, and thankfully able to get the upper hand because of just how drunk the other man was. If he knew that Pepper had walked out on him rather than just was elsewhere on business, then he might have understood a bit better and been a bit kinder. But he didn't know, and so he just dumped Tony on his bed and frowned down at him.

"Stay here, Tony. Get some sleep, we can all talk in the morning."

Except they wouldn't.

Because as soon as Rhodey left, all the lights in Tony's room went out except for two glowing spots from the eyes of one of the suits of armour. It made its way over to him and folded around his body, ignoring any protestations or orders, and then flew him out of the window.

A voice piped through the speakers, a low feminine purr from an unfamiliar woman.

"Do relax, Mr. Stark, we have business to discuss but it's rather a long flight until we can."

Though Grant opened his eyes for the first time in almost two days as the Iron Man armor shot across the window, leaving him to sit up slowly in wonder at the sight (and the sight of the city stretched out below the Tower), no one else saw the streak of red metal and blue repulsors leave everyone behind.

Tony was just a tiny bit too drunk to understand what was going on at first and he let the suit take him wherever it wanted for almost ten minutes before it dawned on him how badly this was playing out.

"Who are you?" No really. Inquiring minds needed to know so JARVIS could transmit back to the Avengers what had happened and who was doing it.

"A possible business partner for the future."

Her voice was slightly accented with something Eastern European, perhaps, but her English was so excellent that it was barely noticeable. She didn't sound at all concerned that she was kidnapping one of the Avengers using his own technology.

"We have high hopes for a long and lucrative career together, but this can all be discussed when you arrive. Please, Mr. Stark, take this opportunity to rest and recover your wits. You'll want to be at your best when you arrive."

Tony was always at his best, even when he wasn't. He didn't give into panic or worry, even when JARVIS failed to answer him and none of his systems actually responded. The helmet was exceptionally dark without the HUD on and though he could see through the slits of the eyes behind the switched off LED mesh, he couldn't make out anything but clouds and partial sky or ground.

It was uncomfortable to be stuck there, unsure of where his cushioning was coming from or how to brace for changes in direction. His body was mostly incased and while he could wiggle his toes, he couldn't wiggle his fingers. Or shift his weight into the body of the armor.

That was a problem.

"How do you serve nuts on this flight? And where are the restrooms?" Tony wanted to be by himself and so now he was. He sort of hated irony.

There was no response from the mysterious woman on the other end of the line, and Tony was left in silence and solitude as he flew over countries and oceans. Even with the high speeds that his armour could travel, he would still be in the air almost four hours before it began to descend.

The only thing that would be visible was snow.

As far as the eye could see there was snow, deeper in some places that Tony was tall, and unbroken. No buildings, no footprints, no tyre tracks. Just snow. Eventually the armour was brought in to land at a concealed steel set of doors, which banged close behind him. The repulsors shut off and he would be left standing. The faceplate would be raised, but he would be unable to control the suit still.

"Good morning, Mr. Stark," the same woman's voice greeted him, and now in person she was a middle aged woman with dark brown hair and glasses. "We have a room for you to freshen up in and your requested 'nuts', should you still be hungry. Follow me."

And the armour would.

[Qucikie, heading into the office!]

"You're impressively attractive and scary," Tony said, though his wits still felt dull and his head was starting to ache from the lack of alcohol and his sinuses unhappily informing him that he shouldn't have gone from warm weather to cold without a little bit of medication to keep everything from being congested.

Too late now, of course, and given that he still didn't have any idea where he was (Norway, Russia. Antarctica?) and had no control over his own body (that needed to be addressed with the next model of armor), he wasn't in a position to complain just yet. Or to give away how lousy he was feeling.

Hopefully no one had tapped into the suit's ability to scan the occupant for a biometric reading. He didn't want to have his impairments currently outlined to whoever managed to break into his security.

"Love what you did here. Green lighting is always underutilized in evil villain bases."

"HYDRA has evolved a long way past the roots it had in Nazism, and our recent restructuring has forced a lot of changes." And by restructuring, she means being taken down by Captain America in a humiliating loss of decades of work. "We are not the evil organisation that so many erroneously believe, we wish only for order and peace in the world. Is that not what you are also seeking, Mr. Stark, peace in our time?"

She leads him, by way of the armour, through corridors to a room painted in pastel shades of pink. It's fairly pleasant, if small, with a bed, a desk with a chair, a small attached bathroom, and a bookshelf with a small selection of books. There's no computer, phone, or television.

"I will leave you to get settled in. The armour will release you shortly."

And it would. But it would not respond to his commands, and the door to the room was locked when he left.

"So this is what? A rebranding pitch? Collaboration proposal?" Tony knew better than to decline right off the bat. He needed to let his mind get over the clouds brought upon by too much scotch so he could daringly escape before anyone else on the team noticed or cared, get a location lock on this base, and blow it up. He was a sucker for explosions. He couldn't help it.

Tony unlocked his knees as he was walked down the corridor, unable to turn his head to see more than straight ahead. He liked a challenge but this wasn't much fun.

"Because I've got to tell you, there are better ways to go about this. As far as kidnappings go, and I might be an expert in being kidnapped at this point in my life, but this one isn't too bad. I mean you did hack me. And steal my stuff. And I'm going to have to probably kill most of you for that, but I appreciate the kid gloves."

When the armor stopped moving, Tony tried to made it fall over or do something but it was stuck in place until the woman left. Only then was he allowed to stumble out. He picked himself off of the floor and frowned, turning back to the armor before the metal closed back up. He spent the next half an hour trying to get back in, resorting to book throwing and leaping off of the bed onto it.

No dice.

"I take it back! You guys are terrible at this!"

Tony would be left alone for the next twelve hours. If he explored his little room then he would find a plastic glass to fill with water from the taps, and four paper bags with various foods in them. Nuts, sandwiches, fruit, and some cookies. Nothing particularly exciting, but they clearly didn't mean to starve him here. In the small chest of drawers were also three sets of jeans and several t-shirts in his size, as well as soap, sponge, toothbrush, and toothpaste.

Whether or not he slept in those twelve hours, showered, changed, or did nothing but rant and rave while trying to get into his armour, the door would eventually slide open and a familiar man with one metal arm would step inside. He wore a mask and carried a gun, a man that Tony had never actually met himself, for this was the Winter Soldier.

Alongside Bucky was that same woman from that morning.

"Good evening, Mr. Stark, how are you feeling?"

Tony had showered. Sort of. He'd been fully dressed at the time and tried to get some of the plumbing apart. The shower, like the sink and the toilet, had all of the working parts behind the wall. Everything was on motion sensors and though he tried to pry that out to get the wiring, he was stuck. So yes, he had changed. The Metallica shirt was a nice touch so he wore it over a long sleeve black tee. They were somewhere locked in perpetual winter it seemed, north of the Wall, so he wanted to be prepared. His hair dried naturally and he'd busied himself looking through all of the food for foil or heavy plastic to make into a connection circuit but, again, he was stuck. The mattress itself wouldn't open and give him access to the metal springs and there was only so much he could do with paper when he didn't have the ability to melt the edges.

He exhaled slowly as the doors opened, prepared to let shoved was there have it with some verbal assault meant to demoralize them about the shape of their nose when someone he recognized without recognizing them came in. Tony's eyes narrowed slightly.

"This is why I told you to go back to Steve," he said. But no. Bucky had to go and get himself captured again. "You're the worst assassin. You need to go to Natasha's School for Better Spies. I think even Barton has you beat on smarts and that's saying something. Ever hear the term Birdbrain? That's him. Don't listen to whatever else he tells you about having good vision or something."

The Soldier didn't react at all to Tony's words to him, he just stared through the man as though he didn't exist, finger on the trigger but gun not yet pointed at Tony. He was here as a bodyguard only, he had his orders, and anything the prisoner had to say was utterly meaningless to him.

She came and took a seat on the chair at the desk as the door locked again, legs crossing one over the other.

"The Soldier is not your concern, Mr. Stark, we wish to talk to you about arc reactor technology. There are so many applications for it that may be able to help the world heal, and you are the foremost expert in the world."

They needed him, they wanted his services. Better willing than not, but they could do not if necessary.

"So his name is James Barnes. Commonly nicknamed Bucky, which isn't really an improvement. I'd have gone with Jimmy myself. Or maybe Barnsey but that makes him sound a little like a street artist social commentator." Tony traced the outline of his beard slowly, looking over Barnes with his shoulder to the woman. She probably expected a little respect but Tony wasn't giving it to her.

Instead, he leaned close to the Soldier's face, scrutinizing him. He was trying to see if he flinched. Or if his breathing changed. He needed to see some form of life here.

"I think you have your facts wrong anyway. Not just about his name but about how much of an expert I am In the field of clean energy. I'm not an expert. I'm the only name in the field right now. I'm the only person who's managed to perfect sustainable, near perpetual energy. Unless you want to bring in that car guy conspiracy theorists think had his perpetual motion rig covered up by Big Oil." Tony shrugged, hands in his pockets. "Gotta say I'm not looking to branch out with my IP right now. Lot on my plate. You understand."

There was no hint of recognition or humanity in those eyes, he stared through Tony as if he were nothing and nobody. Though his apparent ease was all a ruse and he could have his gun up and shooting in a literal heartbeat, but having a billionaire inventor up in his face didn't bother him at all.

"Of course we understand. Very well, Mr. Stark, I shall arrange to have you taken home. It was a shame we were not able to work well together."

She smiled, just a hint of the shark about it as she addressed the Asset.

"Find Lopi, tell him to bring in Ms. Potts, Mr. Stark has declined to work with us."

The Soldier turned to leave immediately.

Tony's stomach just sank. He knew immediately what this was about to turn into and he knew that even if he played a long con here, it wouldn't matter. "Did she steal a thumb drive full of secret plans and documents when she left me too?" he asked, turning to face the woman as if this particular line of questioning (well, threat) was just as boring as the last. "You do know she left me, right? Obviously not for another man. I'm handsome and stupidly rich, no matter how much money I routinely give away," he pointed out.

He needed this woman to think he didn't care about Pepper even if it was a game no one was going to believe. He was too much of a good guy. Even if she cheated on him and broke his heart worse than she had, Tony would never want her dead. Or tortured.

"I'm kind of surprised you're even going this route. You don't practice the fine art of turning people into drones that so your bidding anymore? Against waterboarding? The UN should hear about how great you guys are and take a page from your play books."

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