A/N: Hello my lovely readers! So, the plan is, I will attempt to do weekly updates, in hopes of having this fic finished in time for the release of Iron Man 3! You can tell there's not much left to do, so that's what I've got!
Also, since I can't write back to my kind anonymous reviewers, thanks for reviewing, and, as requested, there's more Tony-Andy fluff. You're welcome. Enjoy and don't forget to review!
7: Defeat
When you're running through the underbelly of a five-hundred-foot-plus flying aircraft carrier with a seven-foot-tall green rage monster chasing after you thinking you're the reason he nearly got killed, it's not exactly easy to either get a breather or get something that could help make you run faster. Especially since I was unarmed and half-limping because my knees still hurt like hell, so that made the Hulk just come at me even faster. But I did have one advantage, and I was grateful I had made those schematics for the helicarrier a year ago, because they were saving my life right now.
I managed to swing my way just enough ahead of the Hulk that I could drop down to the floor, mostly hidden, and try to snatch a breather. Mina was tracking Hulk, and when watching him stalk around, hunting me, I managed to softly whisper, "What's the status on that engine?"
"Tony and the Captain are working on repairing it," she reported. "Since I didn't detect a missile signature and knowing Barton's with Loki at least for the short-term, I figure it was one of his explosive arrows, high-yield."
I managed not to swear because I heard Hulk's heavy breathing come closer, so I managed to start creeping away, down a slim access that only normal-sized people could fit into. As I did, I heard my SHIELD communication line ping, and I quickly opened the line.
"In case no one's noticed, I'm on one of the sublevels, getting hunted by big-green-nasty for the second time…"
"I did notice," Natashalie whispered back. The softness of her voice meant she was probably right within Hulk's earshot, and I silently decided to be grateful for her right now. "I have your suit, but part of it got damaged in the explosion, hopefully nothing serious."
"So long as the power couplings in the chest aren't damaged, I'll take it," I breathed back, stiffening when I heard Hulk's feet thunder slowly above me. I forced myself to shut up until they had passed, then turned as Mina got a fix on Nat's earpiece and pinned her location on the micro-screen. "I'm under him right now, he walked right on top of me but thankfully didn't see, heading in your direction."
"Just be quiet," Nat insisted, her voice barely audible. "I'll try to hold out in my current location, but he's getting close. If we have to run, I'll pass the suit off."
"Sounds good," I decided before the line closed. Mina still had Nat's position for me, so I kept creeping along, doing my best not to make noise. Stealth training had been okay, but not fantastic, at least sans-suit, so I had to stop and cover a pained wince whenever I heard something shift because of me, because any sound I made –
The grate above me lifted up, and I scooted as fast as I could when I heard an enraged roar sound above me. I managed to get out of the way of a stomped foot, and then next turn I made dumped me back somewhere I could get back on my feet and run. A bright flash of red met me as Nat jumped out of hiding and sprinted with me, hefting the pack with her even as Hulk crashed after us. I barely managed to get the thing into my hands and got the shoulder straps on, still running.
"Split up!" Nat ordered, and since I was in Hulk-handling-mode I complied immediately. Lucky for me, Hulk went for her – probably the red hair – so I had some time to get the rest of the straps and clamps secure before heading back for them, not deploying the suit yet. I could move faster, and quieter, on foot without it, but having the familiar weight on my back was comforting, to say the least. Especially if I needed to plow myself into Hulk with enough force to distract him from Nat.
The problem was, when I finally caught up, was that Hulk was looming over her, and even though I couldn't see her face I knew the famed Natasha Romanoff was scared out of her wits. I got the suit deployed and moved back so I could build up running speed and charge him, but thankfully someone else managed to save her, in a blur of silver and red. I sighed in relief but ran out of my corridor to crouch in front of Nat, her eyes still wide and shaking all over. It was the first time I had ever seen her so vulnerable and almost childlike.
"Nat? Natasha?" I asked, taking her shoulders and shaking her a bit. Her gaze came up to me, even though she looked away again. "Listen to me, Natasha. We need you. We need you right now but you're not doing anyone any good sitting here and shivering in the corner. Pull yourself together, now, come on…"
I kept a hold on her, trying to get her to focus, but nothing worked; for the moment, she was stuck in Natasha-world while Thor and Hulk brawled less than twenty feet away from me. Even though I knew I had other things to do, I stayed there next to her, trying to get her to become sensible…at least until Mina piped up.
"Everyone, the cameras just went dead in the detention level, I think it's Barton!"
"He's going to try and free Loki!" Fury agreed; so Mina had accessed the common band. "Can anyone intercept?!"
I looked over at Nat, and even though a lick of fear was still in her face a familiar determined glint sparked in her eyes at the mention of Barton. I smirked before my helmet close up, and Nat reached up to call in.
"…this is agent Romanoff," she reported shakily. "I copy."
"Agent Stark, copy," I added as Nat jumped to her feet, then closed the common band. "You take him head-on; if Loki's somehow out of his cell, or Barton has guys coming from another angle, I'll cut them off."
Nat just nodded once before darting off, and with Mina's help I managed to find a relatively roundabout route to get to the monitoring station and the back wall of the shaft Loki's cell was perched in. I got lucky. A sudden blast exploded the metal, and a smoking Loki tumbled out practically at my feet, scepter in hand but obviously shaken. He didn't notice me and forced himself to his feet to start running, but once he had gone twenty feet I shot after him through the air, crashing into him with enough force to kill a normal man. Loki just grunted as I pinned him to the floor, clicking my tongue at him.
"Ah ah ah, naughty boy out of your cell," I scolded, and this time Loki did not appreciate the humor. He tried to wrestle me off, but only managed to get turned around so we were face to face, hopefully for the last time.
"How smug you are," he spat, still struggling to get me off him, but I had his shoulders pinned with my knees and had a fist ready.
"Let's see how smug you'll be when you're back in your glass box!" I snarled, slamming my fist down towards his face, but suddenly Loki became insubstantial and vanished, sending a jarring shock up my arm and shoulder and into my skull, but I managed to turn and roll out of the way of the long-form scepter slashing out at me, the flash of blue-violet light making my eyes water at the sudden brightness against the dark.
"You think yourself so superior in your metal armor," Loki spat, but in retort I extended one of my plasma-blades and managed to catch a lunge of his spear, teeth gritted and eyes narrowed. I wasn't going to let him win and escape. Not while I had any ability to fight.
"Not superior," I grunted as I held the lock and got the other blade extended, adding more ghostly-blue light to the dark corridor. "Just well-prepared."
I shoved his scepter away, using my momentum to swing the other blade at him. Loki leaned out of the way, but that gave me range to try and fire a repulsor blast, which he somehow managed to catch and deflect into a wall with his spear. I snarled as I lunged forward, blades swinging as we dueled, lightning-fast and no one managing to break the other's defense. The problem, though, was that, at that speed and against the sort of inhuman strength Loki had, I was winded pretty fast. Even with Mina trying to help me compensate, Loki soon bashed through my defenses, ramming the butt end of his scepter into my collar bone, sending me staggering back. But he followed up faster than I could see, stunned as I was, and I bit down a howl of pain as he managed to stab up through my armpit into my shoulder. That must've been the damage Nat mentioned…and it hurt, both the blade of the spear in my shoulder and Loki's jeering smirk.
"Even your precious armor cannot save you," He hissed at me, siding close as he lifted me, on his spear, off the floor. It hurt like hell, but my uninjured arm started coming up, and I glared right back at him through the eyes of my faceplate.
"I can still…do this!" I snapped, managing to shoot a repulsor into Loki's face. It sent him staggering back, but instead of the spear simply sliding out of the hole it had made it ripped, through skin and muscle and metal, through my shoulder. That was when I screamed, clutching my arm as it fell uselessly to my side, burning in pain. But Loki vanished when I heard movement not far off, and I managed to stagger towards the hole into Loki's cell.
My day got worse when I saw, sprawled against a wall and with a massive gun in his lap, Phil Coulson gasping to breathe while a soaking red stain spread across his shirt, getting redder and redder as it bled out his life. I managed to fight my own pain and hurried to him, right as a medical team and Fury came in after me.
"Loki went that way," I gasped to some of the agents accompanying Fury once I managed to get my helmet off. Thankfully Fury himself kept his silence, heading for the monitoring station, so I pulled the gun out of Coulson's hands and got him to look at me. "Coulson, hey…what happened, how…?"
"Found out what that does," he managed to reply, nodding weakly towards the gun. I managed a smile, but it was shaky. No, no, please, don't let me not stopping everyone cost this man his life….
"Sure did," I told him as bravely as I could. I put my good hand on his chest, horrified to feel that the wound was deep; if it had gone through to his spine, Coulson would be paralyzed from the waist down at least if he made it. He was in shock, I could tell that much, and I tried to keep my voice from shaking. I don't want someone I care about to die. "Just hold on, Coulson, the medical team's here, they'll get you fixed up, no problem…"
"'S okay, Andy," Coulson said, trying to offer me a reassuring smile despite the blood ringing his mouth. "'m not a superhero…"
"Shut up. You're part of this team, as much as…as me, or Tony, don't…"
Don't prove Loki right. Don't let him be right.
"…it's okay. Really," Coulson sighed weakly. "Be like…like going on vacation or something. Goin' back home."
His eyes fixed on mine, and a cold feeling swept over me. He knew something. He knew something that was a secret to me, that Dad – most likely – had left, some clue…
"…it'll make you stronger," Coulson insisted, and I grabbed his limp hand as best I could, swallowing painfully.
"…Long Island? Before Loki?"
"Sounds good to me," he replied with a nod. "Andy…just take care of everyone, okay?"
He could still move his arms, and it was slowly he opened his jacket and managed to pull out his vintage Captain America cards, all of them now a little bloodstained. Coulson pressed them into my own limp hand, making my fingers close around them.
"Maybe they'll never be a team," Coulson breathed, "but…but they need something. Someone. To…"
"Coulson…don't, don't you…" I sputtered, even as he breathed his last right before my eyes, the hand in mine slowly falling away. The cards spilled out as my fingers fell open, and for the first time in nearly thirty years I cried. I was still crying when the medical team made Mina disengaged my armor so they could treat my shoulder, stitch up the tearing and wrap it in a bandage. All the while I cried helplessly, like I was five years old again.
Someone had died to do the job I hadn't done. The person who had virtually brought us all together was gone, because of me. Because I couldn't move fast enough, fight hard enough…. Loki's words came back to me hauntingly when I finally stopped my tears in my bed in my dorm. I had tried to win favor by doing the right thing, and no matter what I did I fell short. I was wanting.
…but Loki hadn't won. Not yet. And when I dragged myself out of my bed, injured arm in a sling to prevent my shoulder stitches from getting pulled, I knew where I had to go. If there was something on Long Island, back in the house I had grown up in, that would help me…it wasn't the time to be mad at Dad, or Mom, for not telling me the truth. Both for Stane and Vanya I had left the secrets to last, when they could have given me strength enough to fight and win. But not this time.
I was looking off into the distance up on the flight deck, in spite of the thin air, when Tony slid up behind me, careful of my shoulder and he hugged me from behind. I leaned back to nestle into his arms, tears threatening to spill out of my eyes again as I reached up with my good hand to clutch his fingers tightly.
"You okay?" he asked quietly, not being a jerk or butting heads with Cap. Just being Tony, my Tony, who had always loved me no matter what. I snuggled back into his chest a bit, and was rewarded with a gentle head-kiss that Tony loved giving me.
"…Coulson died," I managed to say, voice shaking but not cracking. "I – I could've saved him, gotten him to the medics faster…"
"Don't say that," Tony insisted quietly. "You can't blame yourself for that…"
"Yes I can," I mumbled, and he got me turned around to hug me properly, tucking my head under his chin lovingly. He rubbed my back when the tears came back, and I clung to his shirt until they were spent again.
"…he mentioned something about…about Long Island," I mumbled into Tony's chest, letting him hold me a bit longer. "Somethin' there for me, maybe. Dunno, he…he wasn't specific."
"Somethin' to check out after kickin' Loki in the butt, huh?" he asked, but I shook my head. I couldn't fight Loki with one arm useless, much less a few thousand aliens friends he was bringing along for the ride. Maybe whatever was there would fix my damned shoulder.
"…not this time. I – I feel like I gotta handle it before this time."
"What if you don't have the time?" Tony asked, moving back to look at me worriedly. I knew what he was thinking: he didn't want to lose me to Loki because I'd gone running off to do God-knows-what and me being the deciding factor in whatever was going to shake down. I hugged him around the neck a bit, shaking but still confident that leaving to get to Long Island now was a better plan than being dead weight when the fighting started.
"…save a piece of him for me," I insisted, frowning darkly as I let go and rubbed my bad shoulder a bit. I'd make him pay for it if I was fighting fit in time. "I've got a score to settle with that psycho-freak."
Tony still looked worried, so I attacked him with a one-armed hug and a kiss on the cheek so he'd feel better, if only a little. But I had to do this, whatever happened.
"…help me get ready to fly?"
