Author's Note: I had meant to get this up last night, but we got slammed with a snowstorm last night and lost power when some idot drove into the transform. I will never understand why people feel the need to be out driving in the worst snowstorm since the 90's. Anyway enough of my ranting needs to get this story up and rolling.
Redemption
Chapter 3 - I am you and you are me
"I did it!" he grinned looking down at his chained hands, trying to still the tremble of the right. "You did, but we have a long way to go yet," he looked up at the dead Captain America, a soft smile gracing his features. "You looked so good," he whispered feeling his heart clench. It had been so long since he'd seen him, truly seen him, not a figment of his broken mind. It was heaven and hell being so close and yet impossibly far from the one you loved. Clouded eyes looked at him tenderly, "You ready for part two?" the man from the future nodded, "Let the fun begin."
They had confined him in a small interrogation room, bound hand and foot they had chained to the floor. Fury no doubt waiting for the others to gather before deciding what to do with him, it made him want to laugh the way they treated him like some sort of deadly animal. His job wasn't done yet though. He raised a hand trying to itch his nose, "There's really no need for these," he mumbled pulling at them gently testing the strength, "Probably because of your prior escapade." Tony sniffed, "Sassy pants," he gave an almighty yank with his metal arm, the chain snapping like it was made of plastic.
Free he pulled it out of the floor setting it on the table, rubbing his still real arm flexing his fingers for circulation. "Show off," grinning Tony gathered his dark mop atop his head tying it off his face, "You love it." That done he stood moving around the cheap wooden table towards the locked metal door. Turning to the camera tracking his movements, he gave it a small cheeky salute before yanking the door off the wall and stepping into the hallway.
Somewhere further up the Avengers watched the little episode with mixed feeling, "Sir he's headed here," Agent Hill hurried into the room looking uncertain and panicked. Fury shifted undecided. "I think he's coming up here to talk, we should let him," Steve looked firm, "He did save my life today." The others were doubtful, only Tony was looking thoughtful. Before more could be said the man in black was entering the room.
No one said a word, eyeing the unknown man, he strode forward ponytail atop his head bobbing with each step. Steve could see he was thickly muscled, his arms flexed under they skin tight material of his shirt, chest covered in Kevlar. Settling at the end of the table he looked around with a wistful smile. "Well the eye patch quota in this room just went up," Tony joked wanting to break the sickening tension. Steve looked at him a mix of amusement and exasperation, before turning back to the man all in black he too was smiling.
Clearing his throat he leaned back in his chair, crossing thick arms pinning Fury with a look, "You figure it out?" he asked his voice a husky rumble. The Director steepled his fingers, looking reluctant to admit the truth, "Not yet no." The other shook his head ruefully, "How about we skip the inevitable argument and disbelief and let the DNA speak for itself." Curious piqued Fury nodded to Banner the scientist approaching hesitantly. "Not that side Doc, you won't get anything there," he held out his right hand, tucking his left under the table. Bruce frowned, closer now he was able to get a good look at the man, Stark knew the second he figured it out. Shocked Banner reared back, jaw dropping. "Don't spoil the surprise for the kids," he said softly, the dark headed man nodded mechanically.
The others watched as he pricked a finger collecting the blood in a small device used to quickly verify identity. The small device beeped within seconds, suspicions confirmed Bruce looked from him to the device and back. "Throw it up on the screen," he offered. With a few quick motions he did, uncomprehending silence filled the room. The test was accurate within 0.01%, and currently it was reading 100% match for Anthony Edward Stark.
The looks of stunned disbelief of those around the table where admittedly hilarious, Stark grinned at all the fuss he was causing. "You're loving this aren't you," he glanced at the dead Captain America standing nearby sending him a sly smile. "JARVIS can you run it again?" he watched his younger self at the far end of the room; he had a kind of shell-shocked look about him. Not that he could really blame him; he didn't think he'd believe it either.
"What is going on?" Clint finally ventured bewildered, Bruce was eyeing him speculatively; "I think we'd all like to know that." The man in black tucked his arms inside his Kevlar a habit he'd picked up long ago in cold nuclear winters. "Where to start, " he rolled his single visible eye upwards. "Are you Tony's son?" Steve was having a hard time getting his mind around what was happening, it was the Tony of this time who answered, "No…he is me, the DNA is a complete match." They all turned back to him, the centre of the room once more, "Gold star for you, I am you and you are me…and before we get too existential about it, I am you 100 years in the future."
Not a sound, "How?" Bruce studied him then turned to the other Tony, "You don't look all that much older…just sort of…." He trailed off looking for a diplomatic way of voicing his observations. "Like I've been through a meat grinder? No worries you can say, pretty close to the truth actually." His scarred lips pulled mulishly, "Aside from that yeah, not aged all that much," he focused on his past self over the table, "Spoiler alert, the wonderful properties of the arc include a slowing of the aging process. I'll be a 138 next month."
That floored them and he suddenly felt bad for his past self, he knew intimately the horror that knowledge brought with it. "I'm from the year 2113," he offered, drawing the attention back to his true purpose, "This is all well and good," Fury hesitated, "Stark," he supplied, "Stark, but why are you here specifically?" Here they came to the crux of it, making a snap decision to go with the bitterly honest truth, "I'm here to change the past, in an effort to prevent certain future events." All teasing and jokes aside he leaned forward in the chair arms still tucked away, his face smoothed and flattened hiding away any emotions, burying them as he had learned to long ago. "Tread lightly my love, it will be difficult to swallow," he hummed his agreement not bothering to glance at the other, but taking heart from his imagined presence.
"In two weeks, the Avengers will fail to prevent a massive insurgence of alien life forms. It'll be the end of days, the second coming, whatever the hell you want to call it. The point is we fail, and civilization as we know collapsed in utter chaos and desolation." There was no point sugar coating the truth, the sooner they came to terms with it the faster and more helpful they would be to him and his mission. "Smooth," he ignore the other, "This is a joke right?" Tony asked looking around the table almost frantic, apparently not willing or not wanting to believe. Fury spoke slowly, "The Avengers will fall?" Stark's one good eye took on a far off look, "Without our leader we fell apart," he words shook them all, his voice too pain filled and anguished to be a lie.
"I spent years trying to figure out were we went wrong. I managed to narrow it to three very specific moments in time, within a three week period. Which is why I am here now." He glanced around the table at the varying degrees of shock, and disbelief. "Why? The odds of you succeeding are astronomical," the Tony from the present spoke softly, but it gave the other hope he was perhaps starting to accept. "I know that, I've done the math, run the numbers countless times. In the end though it came down to one stupidly simple thing; hope. If there is even the slightest chance I could change at least one of the outcomes then it was worth it." His good eye settled on Steve then, alive, healthy, if a little dirty and tired looking. "It worked," he smiled at him tenderly, drinking in every movement and expression in those clear alive eyes, "If nothing else I saved you."
Bruce processing what had been said came to the realization first, recalling what the future Stark had mentioned. "Steve was not meant to walk away today was he," the new Tony shook his head mournfully, for the first time the bleakness and sorrow creeping into his features, "Captain America was supposed to die today." The silence was deafening, you could have heard a pin drop. He looked away from the live, beautiful Steve to his own, personal ghost. He smiled softly; trying to once more collect himself, dwelling on what might have been was not going to save the world.
A sudden thought occurred to him then, he was back in 2013…with all the trappings of modern North American society. His lips lifted slightly in an anticipatory grin, "Right well talk amongst yourselves, digest that, I'll be right back." With that he stood and departed the conference room. Hearing the argument erupt before the door closed.
"Well I think you could have handled that a little more delicately," snorting the man meandered the hallways head swiveling this way and that. "Did you want me to lie? People don't time travel to the past to change the future if everything is all rainbows and unicorns." His dead companion laughed, and Stark grinned spotting what he was looking for. He stood before the drink machine, damn close to hugging the sugary beverage dispenser. "I should have known this was what you were after," smiling lovingly he shrugged, "Are you kidding me, after the second wave… I'd kill for a Coke." He reached into his pocket pulling out the clunky metal credits that passed for currency in his time. "Damit!" he cursed, he needed actual money. He turned back to the machine contemplating, "Tony do not break the machine," sighing dramatically he tried to convince his companion, "Ahhh come on love, it's not like they can't afford it. Sides I think my present self can pay for it." The imagined man crossed his arms across bloody chest wounds, shaking his unnaturally pale head.
Muttering and mumbling he glared at the drink machine a few more minutes before he catching sight of Agent Hill pretending not to be following him around. "Prefect, Agent Hill can you spot me a couple bucks?" she came around the corner carefully; he tried to give her his most charming Stark smile. "You look like a sick duck," the amused voice said, he dropped the smile. "Please?" she slowly handed over several dollars. Excited he turned to the machine quickly punching buttons his right hand trembling in excitement. Very carefully he opened the can sipping slowly, his expression one could only call orgasmic. Agent Hill ventured a little closer, squinting at his face. She wasn't quite sold that this was Tony Stark from the future.
Enjoying his first taste of Coke in more then half a century he was slow to realize he was being intently scrutinized. "I'm not sure if she wants to punch you or kiss you," Tony glanced at her, "Probably punch," he mumbled, turning to face the Agent fully. "Yes?" he asked, she cocked her head, "Are you really from the future?" he nodded amused, when her next question caught him off guard. "Is it really that bad?" he paused for a moment, "Not if I can help it." She reached past him feeding more money into the machine, handing him another drink, "Once a hero always a hero." He felt like he'd been punched in the chest as he slowly accepted the drink tucking it in one of his many pockets. "Thank you," he said sincerely, it had been a long time since someone called him a hero. "See the world will never forget their hero's."
"This is insanity, are we really going to believe what this guy is saying?" Clint was all but glaring at the others. "DNA doesn't lie," Banner sat back rubbing his temples. "I believe him," Steve said firmly, using his no nonsense tone. "You believe anything Tony says…even if he's claiming to be from the future," Clint snarked, Tasha elbowed the archer harshly, as the big blonde blushed looking down at his hands. "What about you Tony, you buying this?" all eyes turned to the man who'd been uncharacteristically silent. The dark headed genius was staring at the table, expression closed.
Tony Stark had always considered himself a man of science, one that believed in what he could see and touch. Since being with the Avengers however, he was beginning to realize he needed to start taking things on a little faith. To learn to listen to his instincts, and every fiber of his body was screaming at him, this was the real thing. This was him or at least will be him, and he was telling them that today Iron Man had been too late. Steve Rogers should have died. It made his chest ache terribly, his knees shake, and his hands tremble. Only able to focus on that single horrible thought running through his head; Steve was to die. "Earth to Tony, you with us?" he glanced up realizing all eyes where on him and he hadn't a single clue what they wanted from him. He shook his head, trying to push away the anguish for a moment, "Yes, sorry what?"
Sighing Fury held up his hands, "Look after the crazy shit I've seen…I'm willing to go on a little faith." Just then the door opened, the man, Stark, returning a can on Coke cradled in his right hand. He set the drink down first, "So how's the debate going?" he asked mildly, moving to pull the velcro on his protective Kevlar tugging the vest off he set it on the table before settling once more. Without the thick protective layer, they could see his form outlined in the tight, black material beneath, including a familiar pulsing blue glow. All eyes fastened on it, as he delicately sipped his sugary beverage like it was a fine cognac. "Ok I'm sold," Clint muttered, the man from the future turning to him, "Seriously? The DNA wasn't what did it for you? It was the reactor?" Snorting he shook his head, ponytail bobbing, he cocked his head before turning to look at empty space beside him muttering under his breath.
"Stark, we are willing to go along with you, not saying we believe you, but willing. If what you say is true, then your information is invaluable. I think you should bunk down with the others and we'll meet tomorrow to go over everything you know." Satisfied Fury stood, "Gentlemen and lady," he departed briskly leaving the awkward group. Alone now they all cautiously studied the man as if he might explode. "Well this is all horribly awkward and uncomfortable, how about I stay at hotel or something," he offered, Steve interrupted him, "No! You should stay with us, at the Tower." He blushed wildly as the single visible eye looked at him with a tenderness that took his breath away. "Yes, you're staying at the Tower," Tony echoed firmly, not meeting his eyes for the moment.
Stark couldn't help the warmth that spread through his chest, it was good to see them all again. He had missed them, missed this more then he'd care to admit. "Right well I can meet you there, I have couple things to do…pretty sure I can remember the way." With a small salute he collected his now empty can and headed out of the room mind already moving onto his next objective. Tossing the garbage in the recycling he moved to the locker rooms, first and foremost on his mind a shower.
"I'll stay with him," Steve watched him go avidly, the other's hesitating, "You sure Steve?" Bruce asked seriously, glancing to Tony half expecting him to protest the statement, but the genius looked out of it and confused. "Yeah I'm sure, we'll see you back at the Tower."
