So, a rather long chapter this time. I realize I should apologize for not updating, since I had this chapter finished for three days. My apology: I was lazy!
This time, Tony is again swearing, sorry for that, but, hey! It's Tony Stark!
And Steve's totally nervous :) The russian translations are at the end of the chapter... Enjoy!
Oh, by the way: I don't own 'Lord Of The Rings' (but I saw the trilogy and was also in the Hobbit twice :) ), and the information about the dog comes from hervissa, who asked an expert about that :) Thanks for that! Because I classify dogs this way: Big dog, ugly dog, nice dog, ooooh! a dog, small dog, hairy dog :D
And I have no idea about weapons, so thanks to Wikipedia for the information about the Makarow...
"You are not going to cry, are you?", Tony asked sharply.
"N-no." The moment the word was out of his mouth and hung between them, Steve hated himself for stuttering.
"It's just cold!", he tried.
"Oh yeah.", came the answer.
How long had they been here? It was still dark, cold, partially clammy. By now, Steve had a list of approximately fifty persons he would rather have here instead of Tony. By now, his jacket seemingly didn't provide any warmth anymore. By now, his ankle was swollen. By now, he was fairly certain some guy with a big gun would suddenly enter and shoot them both. By now, he was hungry, and thirsty, and even more cold. By now, he wished desperately for the voices in his head to reappear.
"They are not going to kill us, are they?", he tried.
"Well, go out there and ask them.", came the answer.
He sighed.
"Tony, look, I'm really sorry it went this way. I didn't want to wake up in this time, either."
"Why not? You seem to have a pretty good time, don't you? With my girlfriend for example!"
"I- It's not like that. Pepper and I are just friends."
"I don't like people flirting with my girlfriend."
"I don't flirt."
"Oh, yeah?", came the retort from the billioniare.
"Can't you accept I'm sorry?"
"Doesn't make anything better, does it?"
"That's not the point."
"What is the point then?"
"We have been abducted by an unknown force. We don't know why, we don't know where we are, we don't know what they want to do with us. But if we don't stick together now, we might very well never get out of here.", Steve tried to explain.
"Yeah, fuck you, too."
"That's not what I mean! The Avengers need us!"
"Well, fuck the Avengers? Who cares?"
"The world needs us!"
"Fuck the world, then."
Steve sighed.
"We have to stick together. That doesn't work when all you want is insult me."
"Fuck you, Rogers! I'm not sticking with you!"
"Tony..."
"Tony this, Tony that – No! We don't have to stick together. No matter how high the ransom demand for me is, I'm getting out of here. Simple as that. You have to stick to me in order to get out of here."
"What if they don't want money?"
"You mean, sell Iron Man and Captain America as prostitutes? Your dirty mind, Rogers, your dirty mind..."
"That's NOT what I mean!"
"Then enlighten me with your oh-so-glorious insights, your Highness."
"You are a scientist and a genius, aren't you?"
"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist and scientist? Yep."
"Well, and you are Iron Man and CEO of Stark Industries, aren't you?"
"Oooh, and you are Captain Obvious, aren't you?"
"The Iron Man suit and the super soldier serum. As Iron Man, you know how to make an Iron Man suit. As a genius scientist, you could be able to unlock Erskine's original formula. Then, as CEO of Stark Industries, who manufacture intelligent weapons, you know how they work and how to make them. Our enemy would hold the key to world domination."
Tony groaned. "You're a fucking conspiracy theorist, Rogers! Fought the Red Skull too much, apparently."
Steve sighed.
"Look, Tony, this is a possibility."
"A possibility is also that a little green man will suddenly appear in front of us and take us to mars."
Steve didn't respond to that.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It was probably five years or five seconds since they had last exchanged a word. The darkness, the coldness, the silence – it was crushing. Steve's jacket didn't provide any warmth anymore. It was so worse than anything that had happened to him before.
And then, finally: a noise other than Tony's breathing. It was a key that was turned in its lock. All in all, it were seven keys that were all turned in their locks, one after another. Then a bolt was undone. The door opened without a single sound and a ray of light fell into their cell. Steve didn't even recognize how much his eyes hurt from the sudden change of illumination, he was just glad for the light.
Tony next to him groaned and tried to block the brightness using his arm.
"Вы избавились от наручников. они были слишком неудобно, корректный?", a male voice said.
Steve could see Tony gritting his teeth and wondered what the russian had said. During the war he had heard and even learned some russian, but only single words. Tony on the other side seemed fluent.
"Что вы хотите?", the billionaire asked.
Within seconds, the man was next to Tony and yanked him upwards against the wall, gripping at the billionaire's collar. With his free hand, he pulled a Makarow out of its holster.
Pointing it at Steve, he growled: "Up. Slowly."
Steve raised his hands and stood up, while his brain spit out every information about the weapon. Russian semi-automatic pistol. Produced since 1952.
And, he added for himself, freaking deadly when pointed at your face, Rogers! Focus!
They were pushed outside, were three more men waited, all built like... well, tanks. Tanks in bullet-proof vests and with machine guns.
Steve started chewing on his bottom lip. What did these guys want from them? He hadn't comitted a crime, he had no debts involving russians.
Without words, tank-who-had-opened-the-door opened another door that had only been ajar. And suddenly, all the light of the world was directed at them.
Steve halted, unable to see anything, but a hard blow to his spine – undoubtedly with a machine gun – made him stumble forwards and made his ankle hurt even worse. He was surprised it could carry his weight.
Slowly, his eyes accomodated to the light. They were at the rear of some heavy duty vehicle. A ramp connected the big container on the truck with the ground, and in a semi circle, big floodlights were arranged, the gaps were filled with more of those heavily armed guards.
Another push, and he stood on the grass with Tony next to him.
Explore your surroundings, he told himself. Well, there was not much to explore. The fact that he hadn't even noticed that he had been in a container on a truck meant that said container was obviously very well spring-loaded. There were appoximately fifty guards. After his rebirth, Steve had never considered himself fragile or small, but that was exactly what he felt compared to those monsters of men.
Some of the men gave way and revealed an alley (if you could speak of one; there were no trees, but floodlights as borders). At its end, somewhere in the dark, Steve saw a white shadow, probably a plane.
It was rather obvious what was expected from them, and so he started walking towards the 'alley', hands still high over his head. He could hear Tony following him. His ankle hurt with every step, but he ignored it. There were things that were more important than a hurting ankle; not getting shot, for example.
The semi circle had a diameter of approximately ten metres, the 'alley' was maybe fifty long.
Escape was not an option; there were so many lights directed at them that the air was warm. Every one of the guards had one machine gun with a torch directed at them, another one around their shoulders and a gun on every hip, as well as knives attached to their heavy military-styled boots. Everyone was protected not only by a bullet-proof vest, but also by a large number of other protective items. They were connected through earpieces – everyone had one.
Steve realized that it was not just an abduction, but an abduction planned in detail. By someone who was rich enough to afford a private army – had he just heard a helicopter from above? – with trucks (there were several to the right and left of the 'alley') and a plane.
But why him? Tony, sure. Genius, scientist, super-rich, Iron Man. Steve was neither rich nor super intelligent. He didn't understand a word of Bruce's and Tony's conversations.
So, had he been right after all? Their abductors wanted Tony to make Iron Man suits for them, give them unlimited access to the intelligent Stark weapons, make him recreate the super soldier serum?
A sudden wind, and he shivered. The white shadow came nearer and nearer. It really was a plane, glossy white with a giant sign multiple times on it: a stylized bear holding a hammer and a sickle in red.
Steve swallowed.
A man in a white suit stood before the staircase to the plane. To his sides there were bodyguards that made the other guards look like little children. Every one was holding the leash of a dog. Steve had always liked dogs, even learned so much about them he could identify every single breed, but this ones were more like the Wargs from 'Lord Of The Rings'. Probably a Caucasian Shepheard/Rottweiler mixture.
One of the dogs lifted its head and Steve's stomach clenched. Those were the kinds of dog that just needed one word from their owner, and they would rip you to pieces.
He tried not staring at the dogs. Right now they were lying at the bodyguard's feet, short leashes attached to their collars. Short leashes that could easily be undone.
The man in the white suit extended his arms and smiled a fake smile, showing all of his teeth. They were glittering.
Diamonds in people's teeth?, Steve wondered. What a horrible place the world had become!
"My dear friends!", the white-suited man exclaimed. His voice did not held any accent, his face was free of any remarkable facial features. The black hair was slicked back.
"How wonderful to finally meet you face-to-face. The famous Tony Stark and Captain America himself! I am very pleased to make your acquaintace. You did a good job." The last bit was addressed to the men they had been guided by.
"But now, your services are not longer needed. We will take care of my guests. You are dismissed."
The guards stepped away, and the man strode towards Steve and Tony. Standing behind them, he gently placed a hand between their shoulderblades.
"Be my guests and step into my plane. I am taking you to meet a man that is very interested in you two."
The bodyguards with their dogs followed them walking up the stairs to the plane.
The inside was luxorious, even more than Tony's plane was. It looked like a small version of some ballroom from the nineteenth century. The whole thing was illuminated by a small crystal candelabra! The floor was expensive stone floor, probably carrara marble, there were big wing chairs – three, to be exact. They were arranged in the middle of the room, with a small table between them. Said table was loaded with glass bottles with liquor in them, glasses and a cigar case, all looking very expensive.
The white-suited man waved over to two of the wing chairs that were facing the other one.
"Why don't you have a seat? We will soon take off, and you should fasten your seatbelts before we depart."
Steve exchanged a glance with Tony and started to move towards the chairs.
To be honest, the moment the man in the white suit had greeted them, he had been more afraid than ever since he was in this time. Now, he was sure his legs would give way any second. He blamed his ankle.
They sat down simultanously. Just moments later, their... well, host, probaby, sat down opposite of them.
"Please fasten your seatbelts.", he said, still smiling.
They did as they were told while the plane started. Except from a slight humming, there was no noise.
"Why don't you take a cigar?", he asked, took one and offered them the case.
Steve felt his gaze on him, and he swallowed drily.
"I- uh, I don't... I don't smoke."
"Oh, why not? Please, take one. Just one!"
Hi stomach clenched in fear. This man was way too friendly. He couldn't deal with such faked friendliness. Not in a situation like this.
"I want you to try one. They are very good." The hint of a thread was hanging in the air between them.
Bucky had once made him smoke. They had been sixteen that time, and Bucky had shoplifted the cigarettes because he had wanted to try smoking. After one drag, Steve had had a really severe asthma attack. Bucky had also nearly coughed his lungs out, but whenever the topic cigarettes came up, he would again apologize over and over for making Steve smoke. He hadn't tried it with the 'new' body, but he was fairly certain he was asthma-free. Still, he didn't want to take a cigar.
It was Tony who moved first and took a cigar.
"Cuba, huh?", he asked, grinning. "Expensive as hell, but worth it, I think."
"Looks like you're the gourmet they say you are. Fire?"
Then: "What about you, Mr Rogers? Why don't you take one; they are very good!"
He gave in and reached for the cigar case, fingers trembling. Captain America's fingers don't tremble, he thought distantly. Then their host gave him fire, but before he would have to inhale the smoke, Steve put the cigar away from his mouth, pretending he had taken a drag.
Tony leaned back comfortably, blowing smoke.
"Seems like you know our names. I mean, sure, hard not to know them, if you think about all the media frenzy that's still going on for a bit. But, well, what's yours? I would like to adress you with your name."
Their host smiled. "It's Stefanovka. But, please, call me Wassili."
"Then that's Tony to you."
"Wonderful! Ah, I've longed for so long to finally get to know the famous Tony Stark. I must admit, I would never have dared to dream meeting you face-to-face."
Tony grinned and took another drag from the cigar.
"You'd be surprised how many people say something like this..."
He thought of Pepper, how they had met first. And immediately, he felt a pang of guilt. He was supposed to protect her. And right now, he couldn't. If something happend to her now, he would never be able to forgive himself.
Okay, the translations:
Tank-who-opened-the-door said: You got rid of the handcuffs. They were too uncomfortable, right?
And Tony says: What do you want?!
I hope you enjoyed it, and if you have any ideas what our mysterious russians really want from Tony and Steve, why don't you leave a review? You can also leave one when you have no ideas. *GIANT MONSTER HINT*
*~This is the edited version of the story. It contains minor changes but does not change the general happenings.~*
