Hello! This is the latest story in my Steve and Tony bromance obsession! All sections in italics are Tony's own thoughts inside his always chatty mind. Enjoy!
Versus. - Chapter 1
Shit. How the hell am I going to get out of this one? I swear, these things only happen to me.
Tony is kneeling on the ground, facing down an opponent he never thought he would ever have to go against. Even with his armor, his advantage of flight, and all his weaponry he knows this fight is not going to be an easy win. Hell, there is a good chance he might even lose, but he's got to try. Everything hinges on him winning for both him and the man he has to fight: Captain America.
You're probably wondering how this all happened. Let's rewind to yesterday for a moment since I am not loving this moment right now.
Twenty-four hours ago, Steve and I were flying out on a mission together. It was supposed to be a quick, easy mission. No super criminals with a screw loose, no high profile targets to protect, no world-ending threats. Just a basic 'get-in-get-out' mission to get confirmation on some intel SHIELD had received on a potentially dangerous drug-cartel based in the Sierra Madre mountain range in Mexico. As soon as I heard "Mexico" I was in. I figured we spy on a bunch of druggies, report said druggies to Fury, boom, I'm drinking tequila on the beach. Imagine my surprise when we fly into this God-forsaken mountain range where the temperature is below zero and it's snowing. SNOWING. In Mexico. What the hell?
Steve was more mission focused than Mexico focused - as usual. The man couldn't relax if his life depended on it. The intel stated that the cartel was preparing to move a 1-ton shipment of cocaine into the states. According to Captain-Do-Gooder, and I quote, 'to stop that amount of drugs from entering the US would be a big blow to the Cartel. It's an opportunity we can't pass up," and he wanted in.
Steve and I had flown into the secluded area that the intel had indicated the cartel was holed up. Old fashioned as he is, Steve had parachuted in and I, being awesome, flew in with my armor. With how protective and secretive these cartels are, stealth was critical in this mission. Steve had that smirk he gets when he thinks he's being funny and said sending me in might have been a mistake. Always sooooo hilarious.
The two men land on the ground and begin to move in toward the base.
"This is so not the Mexico I was picturing when I agreed to this mission," Tony grumbles. "What the hell is this? Snow? Snow and below zero weather in freakin' Mexico."
"We're in the Sierra Madre mountains in November, Tony," Steve points out, ignoring Tony's frustration. "It's cold. Not everywhere in Mexico is tropical."
"The good parts are," Tony pouts. "Not a single tiki bar in sight. It's a damn shame."
"I'll make a deal with you," Steve smirks. "Make it through this mission without flying off on some half-baked, screwball, get-us-all-killed plan and I will let you in on my secret beer stash at the Tower."
"What? Captain America doesn't drink," Tony points out, shocked.
"Captain America can't get drunk, but he most certainly can drink. I've got a stash of beer that Bucky and I used to drink back in the day. Found the brewery after wandering around town after I woke up. Not many people know about it, but it's the best brew around."
"It's disturbing when you refer to yourself in the third person, but you drive a hard bargain. Deal, Captain Morgan."
The two men dodge Cartel members patrolling the perimeter of the compound and eventually get a visual on the entrance. It's guarded. Heavily. Tony's pretty sure he saw a tank lurking around the corner.
"We need to find another way in," Steve whispers while he surveys the scene.
"JARVIS?"
"Sir, I am detecting a possible entry point approximately 200 yards north of your current position."
"Lead the way, JARVIS," Tony orders and the A.I. projects the map on Tony's Hud. They follow the map to the entry point and it's not exactly what either of them were expecting.
"What the hell is this, JARVIS?" Tony stares sideways at the hole that's in front of him.
"An entry point, Sir."
"I was hoping we could at least walk through it."
It'll have to do," Steve dives straight in, wasting no time. "It's our only option."
"Cap! What are you doing? You don't know what's in that hole! There could be vermin! Or ghosts!" Tony calls into the hole.
"You don't believe in ghosts, Tony," Steve yells, his voice barely audible from deep inside the tunnel.
"No, but I do believe in giant, disease carrying rats!" Tony snaps back, but there's no answer or sympathy from Steve. "I forgot how much covert missions suck,"
What the hell...I am crawling through a disgusting, tiny, hole in the ground, following Captain What-Ever-It-Takes into who-knows-where and I'm not even on a beach.
The hole is dark, dirty, and down right miserable, but they crawl and wriggle their way through. A couple spots got real tight and Tony thought for sure they were going to get stuck, but Steve is determined. Tony doesn't even want to think about how long we were in the rocky, God-forsaken tunnel, but they finally broke through into an air shaft and made it into the base. They find cover just in time to avoid a couple Cartel members running down the hall. Another man intercepts them and starts to speak to them in Spanish.
"What are they saying?" Tony asks.
"Shhhhh," Steve orders.
"Did you just 'shush' me?" Tony frowns, thoroughly offended.
"Shhhh!" Steve repeats.
"I can't believe I just got shushed. Twice."
"They're talking about moving the drugs out tonight. Something about their boss wanting to move out ahead of schedule."
The men move along and Tony and Steve venture deeper into the base and find themselves overlooking the main part of the cavern. The base is huge and far more sophisticated than a normal drug cartel. The cavern they're working out of is massive. It looks like they walked in from a desolate mountain range and down into a huge factory straight out of a big city. There are Cartel members running around like ants on the floor below, frantically measuring, packing, and boxing up drugs. More men guard the perimeter and are heavily armed with some serious fire power. It's obvious that this is much more than a small drug operation.
"This is bigger than we could ever have imagined, Tony," Steve whispers while he stares down the scene below. "There's got to be at least 3-tons of drugs down there and I'm guessing these guys aren't going to just let us walk in there and take it away from them. We're going to need back up."
"No time," Tony whispers back. "These guys are getting ready to move out. We need to stop this."
"Tony…"
Steve gives me that look that I am all too familiar with. It's the look that tells me I'm being impulsive and reckless and I'm about to get a lecture. I really hate that look.
"We need to report back to Fury. Our primary mission is to gather intel and I'm pretty sure this counts as intel."
"By the time we climb back out that tunnel and report into Fury it might be too late."
"Fury said not to engage the enemy."
"Fury says a lot of things."
"Tony…."
"Shhhhh," Tony hisses.
"Seriously, Tony? Are you..."
"Shhhhh!" Tony hisses again and Steve pinches the bridge of his nose, frustrated. "See? Not so fun being shushed, is it?"
"Do you have a point?" Steve sighs.
"If we give these guys anymore time we're going to lose them and these drugs will flood the streets. Besides, we've got this, Cap. Those guys don't stand a chance against just me, let alone the two of us…but mostly me…because I'm awesome…"
I can't help but smile when I get the other look from Steve that I always get. It's the look that tells me I'm annoying him. I love that look. It means I'm doing my job. I wonder if Steve knows how easy it is to rile him up and how entertaining it is for me. I can see the frustration fade into acceptance and I know he's seeing things my way.
"Fine," Steve grunts. "But if we do this we do it smart. We need some sort of plan if we're going to get out of this alive."
I could see the wheels turning in Steve's mind as he surveyed the scene. The master Tactician and Strategist is doing his thing. Except a lot of good your tactical skills turned out to be, Cap. Okay, maybe I'm being harsh, but you know what? It's hard to not be harsh when you're facing down a shield that you've seen break bones and cut through steel. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Steve had come up with a good plan. Execution needed some work, but it was a good plan. Cap made his way down to the garage to disable the trucks by cutting the gas lines to the engines to keep any of the drugs from leaving. My job was to place charges at a few key, weight-bearing walls of the base. After we each finished with our jobs we would meet up on the way to the helipad and escape, easy-peasy.
Everything had been going well until the final part of the plan: escaping. There was no way either one of us could have known what we were in for.
"Did you place all the charges?" Steve asks as he runs down the hall and Tony comes along side him from a connecting hall.
"Each one is ready to go," Tony pants. "The trucks?"
"Aren't going anywhere soon," Steve smirks.
"Going somewhere gentlemen?" a voice calls from behind them.
"Just leaving. Don't worry, we'll show ourselves out," Tony snaps as he and Steve slowly turn round to face who's busted them. "Well shit," Tony sighs when he sees who is standing behind them. "Zebediah Kilgrave. What the hell are you doing here? Drugs aren't your deal."
"They used to not be my deal," Kilgrave answers as a smile cracks across his face. "That was before I realized what i was missing out on. And please, call me Purple Man."
"I hate to tell you this, but your mind control pheromone doesn't work on us, Zebediah. Between the high-tech air purification system in my armor and Cap's 'Stubborn-Ass' level of iron will power, we've got you beat."
"I'm well aware of that. It is rather inconvenient that the two of you decided to show up, but I am not concerned," Kilgrave continues to smile his crooked smile.
"Really? Because you should be," Steve grabs the man by the collar of his shirt and slams him against the wall.
"Now you've gone and done it," Tony leans casually against the wall with his arms crossed. "You just made him mad."
"Please put me down, Captain," Kilgrave calmly requests.
"Still doesn't work, Kilgrave. Your powers are useless," Steve glares, but the smile never leaves Kilgrave's face.
I've seen that glare make grown men wet themselves, but Kilgrave looks like he's just won the lottery. This isn't good. He's up to something.
"Well then, let's try something else," Kilgrave holds up his wrist and before either one of them can act, a fine powder sprays into the air. Steve takes the brunt of the spray and he drops Zebediah and collapses to his knees, coughing and gasping desperately for air."
"Cap!" Tony rushes over and puts himself between Steve and Purple Man. "What the hell did you do to him?"
"I'm testing my new product before it hits the streets. Lets see if it will work against your friends so-called 'iron will.' What do you say, Captain? Are you ready to play?" Tony turns to see Steve has recovered and is standing behind him. Any recognition or cognizance is gone from his eyes.
"Cap?" Tony backs up a step. "Hey, are you still with me?"
"He's not. He's with me now," Kilgrave laughs. "Captain, please dispose of our guest. It's time for us to go." Steve swings his fist at Tony with lightning speed. Tony dodges it, but just barely. Steve's fist slams into the wall, sending a spider web of cracks radiating out through the stone.
Whoa, that was close. Steve doesn't hit things that hard, not even the bad guys. He's not holding anything back and he doesn't recognize me. This is bad. This is very, very bad.
Steve rushes at Tony again, tackling him around his waist and driving him into the ground. He's able to shift his weight and get his boots under Steve's midsection and kicks him off, sending him flying back down the hall. Steve catches himself and lands on his feet, skidding back across the floor before he quickly regroups and flips in the air, throwing his shield with all of his forward momentum.
Graceful bastard…You could at least have the decency to fall or trip or break a sweat.
Tony dives to the side, just narrowly avoiding the shield at it slices through the air and lodges itself halfway into the concrete wall behind him.
"Shit Steve! Snap out of it! That thing could have taken my damn head off!" Tony stares back at the shield lodged in the wall before he turns to see Steve's fist before he connects. Hard. Tony is sent reeling to the floor and he tries to shake the stars from his vision, but Steve is on him before he has a chance to recover. He pins him to the ground and reaches up to his shield in the wall, removing it easily like it was lodged in jello and not concrete. He raises the shield, ready to strike the finishing blow.
"Finish it!" Kilgrave orders and moves in closer.
I can see Steve press his eyes closed and grit his teeth. Sweat is dripping down his face from behind his mask. He's fighting. Come on Captain-Stubborn-Ass, use that will power!
"Do it!" Kilgrave screams again. Steve hesitates, but only for a moment. Tony closes his eyes as Steve drives his shield down toward Tony's head. The shield rings out as it's drilled into its target.
Oh God. Am I dead? I'm pretty sure I'm dead. Damn it, Steve! What the hell?!"
Tony finally brings himself to peel his eyes open and sees Steve's shield, inches from his head, drilled into the ground up to where Steve's fist fits into the strap.
"Cutting it a little close, aren't you?" Tony pants and stares at the weapon that nearly killed him before he turns to Steve. He's still pinning him to the ground, but not as aggressively as before.
"Tony…Run…." Steve winces as he fights against Kilgrave's control. His face is twisted and sweaty and his whole body is tense.
"Steve…" Tony scrambles out from under him and onto his feet, not wanting to waste the precious time Steve is buying him.
"What are you doing? Kill him!" Kilgrave spits as he stands behind Steve.
God, there's nothing more I'd rather do right now that punch that ass-wipe right in his stupid, purple face.
"Go!…Get out of here!" Steve orders as he rips his shield out of the ground. His movements are slow and shaky. He's fighting against his mind and body's will to follow Kilgrave's orders, but he can't completely resist. Not when Kilgrave is in such close proximity on top of whatever the powder was he was exposed to earlier.
"I'll be back. I'm not leaving without you, Steve!" Tony promises as he rockets down the hall away from the two men. He feels Steve's shield graze his shoulder before it bounces off the wall and back to him.
Shit. That was lucky. He held back. If he hadn't I'd be short an arm right now. Don't worry, Cap. I'm coming for you.
Steve falls back down to his knees after Tony is safely out of sight. His hands bracing him up off the floor and his vision blurring. The room feels like it's tipping and his breathing is coming in ragged breaths. He can feel his body shaking. He's completely exhausted, but he focuses what's left of the strength into fighting Kilgrave's control.
"I'm disappointed in you, Captain. You've gone and ruined my fun," Kilgrave circles around Steve, undaunted by the fight that just happened.
"So sorry to disappoint," Steve grunts.
"I'm sure you are, but don't worry. I have a plan to help us make sure we have more fun next time."
"I'll fight you next time too, Kilgrave," Steve promises through gritted teeth. "I won't let you control me."
"I would expect nothing less, Captain, but you won't have a choice. You are going to help me take care of your Iron friend before he can disrupt my plans any further." Steve feels a sharp stab go into the side of his neck before he collapses onto his side. His vision flickers in and out and with each blink, Kilgrave lurks closer until he's kneeling in front of him.
"I have big plans for you, Captain." He smiles and Steve's world goes dark.
