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Chapter 10: Burned

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Bruce got to the scene first but shrunk himself down back to his human persona before he ran inside the burning business building, followed by Tony, Bucky, and Steve close behind him. Fire raged around the men and screams and crying of the trapped women and children seemed to echo off the flames.

"What kind of place only has women and children in it?" Bucky asked almost angrily as he grabbed three children in his arms and hurried back out with them before running back into the hell fire.

Tony hurried up the stairs with the guys. "If I were to guess, I'd say a daycare center. They had those back in your time, didn't they?"

Bruce was the first onto the second floor and crouched down beside an injured women who looked like her leg might be broken. Steve helped several women out of the building before hurrying back to the guys in time to hear Bucky's answer.

"Back in our day, women stayed home with the children…"

Tony grabbed a falling piece of metal just in time before it could fall on two young girls, giving them the chance to escape the building, the other men helping them along the way. "Spoken like a real old man."

They hurried and helped out the victims of the fire floor by floor, acting like a real team, their differences seemingly having been left at the Tower. They were now on the fourth floor of the building when they were starting to have difficulties. The ceiling of the third floor had caught on fire and was melting under their feet, the smoke increasing and entering the lungs of the other three men who were not wearing an air-tight suit. Tony could hear them all coughing as smoke inhalation began to take effect.

"Come on, we only have one more floor left above us! We need to get the rest of them and get out before this becomes our final resting place!" Tony tried to encourage them, moving quickly out of the way of falling debris.

"Easier said than done!" Bucky ran down the hall and then jumped just as the section of floor gave out from under him. He looked over at Steve who was using his shield as an umbrella as the flaming pieces of ceiling started to ran down on them. "There's no way we're going to be able to get out if we don't get out right now. The whole building's coming down!"

"We need to get the others above us out!" Tony shouted at him, half angrily. "There's still people trapped in here!"

Bruce ran over to a child who was lying unconscious on the floor and placed his fingers on their throat before taking them off and hurrying over to Tony. "We need to get out or we're going to be trapped in here with them, Tony!"

"BUCKY! NO!" Steve suddenly cried out as the floor under the Winter Soldier suddenly vanished and the man fell through.

Steve hurried over to the hole with Tony and Bruce and looked down inside. "He's hurt! We need to get to him before this whole building collapses!"

Tony felt himself breathing fast inside his suit and knew what he had to do. He looked at Steve and Bruce. "You guys get out! I'll go and grab him. I'll be fine inside my suit but you guys are going to get third degree burns and smoke inhalation if you stay in here any longer! GO!"

Steve looked reluctant but he placed a hand on Bruce's shoulder and urged him out of the building, coughing and putting his face in his own shoulder along the way. When Tony couldn't see them any longer, he used the thrusters on his boots to help him get down where Bucky was lying on his back, screaming in pain. Tony landed quickly and knelt down before rolling him over onto his side to see the damage.

"It appears that Mr. Barnes has suffered severe burns, sir. I suggest quick action to remove him from the area and get out of the building…"

"Yeah, thanks, Jarvis. I couldn't figure that out without you," Tony had irritation in his voice but it was only because he could feel a flashbacks coming back now as he picked up the wounded man. He saw the fire on all sides of him and suddenly fell to one knee just as a flash of the burning carnage of New York flashed in his mind, people lying on the ground, charred and bleeding.

"No, no… no! Not right now… no…" Tony pleaded, shaking his head as he stood up again. He forced himself to focus on the man who needed his help. Bucky lay groaning in his metal arms. "Hang on, Barnes. We're getting out of here now!"

He made sure he had a good hold on the man before he jet out of one of the broken windows and then landed on the ground just as the building behind him collapsed into a pile of debris and flames. He hurried over to Bruce and Steve. "He's not going to be walking out of here. I'll fly him to the Tower! It'll be quicker. We'll meet you there and then Bruce can play Doctor on him."

The other two men just nodded in panicked understanding and started off back to the Avengers (formerly Stark) Tower. Tony had made it back there in record time and gently placed Bucky on the straight reclining chair he used for his arc-reactor replacements before rolling him over onto his stomach, his body twitching under his destroyed shirt. He carefully cut the rest of the burned shirt off of Bucky and did what he could to disinfect the area, thinking in terms of what he would do if it were himself.

His breathing was still erratic and he felt like he might have a heart attack but he tried to just focus on the man in front of him, mentally willing Steve and Bruce back. Why should he care about Bucky? He didn't before. He wanted him gone. Then Bruce's words rang in his head.

"We need to be on the same side here. We all need to try and help Bucky and remember who he really is…"

Tony nodded to no one, besides maybe himself, letting the words finally sink in. They really were a team now. Bucky hadn't had any brainwashes inside the building and had even saved a lot of children. He had made an effort to help everyone, at the cost of himself.

His heart stopped inside his ribcage.

The remaining women and children that were still trapped.

The building had collapsed on them and now they were all dead. There was no way telling how many until the firemen could get to the bodies once the fire was put out and the smoke cleared. All those people had died.

Tony gasped for breath now and got out of his suit before he took several steps away from the injured Bucky and closed his eyes, shaking his head.

"Dr. Banner and Mr. Rogers have arrived, sir. Might I suggest you try to take deep breaths?"

"T-Trying…" he barely heard himself answer, his mind in a fog.

Bruce and Steve both ran inside where Tony and Bucky were, Steve running instantly towards where his friend lay and starting to talk soothingly and reassuringly to him as Bruce started to console Tony.

"Hey, what's wrong? Another panic attack?" Bruce placed both hands on Stark's face gently and forcing him to look at the doctor.

"T-They're… they're a-all dead…." Tony spoke distantly, still shaking his head.

"What's wrong with him?" Rogers asked from Bucky's side.

"Shock," Bruce answered automatically. He swallowed hard and gently caressed his companion's cheeks with his thumbs. "Tony, it's going to be okay. Steve! Get him out of here while I work on Bucky…"

"N-No…" Rogers hesitated, looking down at the badly burned back of his friend. "I need to be here for him. I need to help."

Bruce placed his hand on Tony's shoulder now before looking over at Steve. "You can help all of us by letting me work on him! I promise you'll be the first person I come to when he's patched up but I can't work with Tony like this. Please, get him out…"

Steve nodded reluctantly and gently squeezed Bucky's metal hand reassuringly and leaned down to whisper something in Bucky's ear before he put an arm around Tony's shoulders and led him out of the lab. Once Steve had led him into the living room, he shut off the television quickly and set Tony on the couch before crouching down to meet his face.

"It's going to be okay, Stark. We saved most of them…"

Tony blinked but he wasn't really seeing Steve or aware of his surroundings. His mind was still on the scene. "I… I let them all down. They died because of me. I-I should have done more…"

Steve shook his head now. "Tony, you did more than any of us could. You saved Bucky. You went back for him and didn't leave him in there. It was getting to the point where Bruce and I weren't able to stay in there much longer. You were courageous. We got out the majority of the women and children. That's a hell of a lot better than none of them."

He finally looked at Steve, his eyes wide. "I guess… we could've done more. We could've saved them all. There were only five floors! We could've saved all of them. Why didn't we?!" Tony asked in a tortured voice.

Steve shook his head and stood up. "The building was collapsing around us, Stark. Time was of the essence. There was no way we could get them all but that isn't anyone's fault. We got most of them out. Those people are alive because of you, because of us."

Tony went silent now and put his face in his hands as his eyes filled with hot tears and trailed down his face. He grabbed at his hair and he must have blacked out because when he was present again mentally, he heard a familiar voice and a soft hand grab his own from his face.

"Hey, I'm here now, Tony. Can you look at me?"

Tony lifted his head and looked at Bruce before he swallowed hard. He had so many questions but only one made it out first. "W-Where did Rogers go?"

Bruce held Tony's hand tightly in his own and sat down next to him on the couch. "He's with Bucky. I did the best I could but he's going to have some mean scars on his back. The important thing is that he's alive, though, and that's thanks to you, Tony."

Even in the fog, Bruce's voice seemed to come in clearer than Steve's voice had. "How many people died?"

Bruce's eyes were sad but they were also full of love. "Not as many as the ones that survived," he whispered before he leaned in and kissed Tony's temple. "I love you, Tony, and it's not your fault. Do you understand?"

Tony gave a broken smile as more tears fell from his eyes and he looked down at his shaking hands. "I love you too, but… I can't believe that, Bruce. Those people… they were my responsibility, just like… New York, several months ago. They were my responsibility and I let them all down."

Bruce shook his head instantly and wrapped his arms around the inventor, holding him close to him now. "Don't say that. You can't think like that, Tony. Loki was… an unstoppable force until we finally were able to stop him. Fire's the same way. It tears everything in its path. It's going to be okay. We are going to be okay. Try not to think about it."

Tony buried his face in Bruce's shoulder, wrapping his own arms around him, trying to make him as small as possible. He wanted to shut his brain off and not have to think about this anymore, but there was another part of him kept telling Tony he deserved to be ruined with the memories of the dead and his helplessness. He deserved to be haunted by the ghosts of the ones he couldn't save. It just reminded him of the same ghosts of Loki's day of destruction.

The two men held each other until the sun went down and the moon came up, and even then, Bruce was holding his boyfriend tightly to him. He had started to drift off to sleep when he felt Tony's bolt jolt and heard him give out a terrible yell.

"NO! No… we… we need to save them! They're still in there! I need to save them!"

Bruce shook Tony firmly. "Tony! Wake up! It's just a nightmare! Come on, Tony…" He shook him until he forced him to open his eyes and look around the room. "You're okay. You're safe…"

Stark looked around with damp eyes and ran his fingers through his hair and curling his body into himself, starting to cry softly. Bruce felt his heart ache for him; he was suffering and there wasn't anything he could do to help him. It was like That Day after New York all over again. He just ran his fingers through his hair softly as Steve hurried in.

"Is everything all right?"

Bruce nodded. "Yeah, he just had a nightmare. How's Bucky doing?"

Steve's own eyes looked sad now. "He's… in a lot of pain. Is there anything you can do to help him sleep without pain?"

"Yeah, of course. Can you stay here with him?" he asked Steve quietly.

Steve nodded and Bruce attempted to unhook his fingers from Tony's hand, which seemed to be locked in with his own. "It's okay, Tony. I'll be right back. I promise. Steve's going to stay with you and keep you company. It's all right, man."

Tony reluctantly let go of him now and he curled his fingers back into a fist before he sighed shakily, wiping away the tears that had stained his face. He watched as Bruce hurried out of the room and headed towards Bucky's, leaving Steve alone with the billionaire.

It pained Steve to see Tony this torn up. "You tried your best, Tony. None of us could have done anything more to help them." When he saw Tony cringe and start to shake his head, Steve moved closer to him and searched his face. "Stark, sometimes… good things can outweigh the bad. I believe there's something to be said about good things being able to happen regardless of there being causalities in the process."

Tony didn't say anything but Steve could tell he was still awake so he continued.

"All the evil men we took out of power happened because innocent people had to sacrifice themselves. If that sacrifice hadn't happened, those evil men would have killed a lot more people and nothing good would have come from it. You saved the people you could save and if you hadn't saved all those people with us, more would have died."

Tony sat up now and took a deep breath as he lay back against the couch, looking down at Steve. He knew he was just trying to help and he had eased the pain ever so slightly, but he still felt like he was in agony. "If I hadn't saved Barnes, I would've been able to save more innocent people."

Steve's eyes hardened at this now and he stood up. "If that's the way you want to think, then maybe you need to re-evaluate your priorities. Bucky's life isn't worth less than any of those other people, Stark." It was clear he was fighting the urge to walk out of the room. "You chose to save him so you must believe that too, somewhere inside of you."

Tony glared almost coldly at him. "I don't need to listen to this right now. Go back to your boy toy, Cap."

Bruce walked in now and Steve looked back at Stark. "Then I guess I'll just leave you with your own." He looked at the doctor. "Is he asleep?"

Bruce nodded. "I gave him a sedative so he'll sleep for at least the next eight hours and he won't be in pain. I also put another dose of antibiotic ointment for his back and bandaged it up."

Steve nodded appreciatively now. "Thank you, Dr. Banner." He looked back at Tony before he left the room to go back to Bucky.

"How are you feeling?"

Tony clenched his jaw and shook his head. "Like I should've sacrificed my life for those people."

Bruce sighed softly and sat down beside him again. He reached over and laced his fingers with Tony's.

"Your life is as precious to me as all those other innocent lives were to us. Before your suits were hacked by Hydra and we were arguing, you screamed that you wanted to die too." Tony winced but Bruce continued. "Is that why you wanted to go back for those people, Tony? Because you knew that staying in that building would kill you?"

The air suddenly hung thick with tension and soon it masked the whole room. Tony let a stray tear fall now and sighed heavily, looking over at Bruce. "It could be one of the reasons. I just… I didn't want a repeat of what Loki did That Day again. I didn't want innocent people to die anymore. I just... wanted to save them. If it meant me dying for that to happen then… so be it."

Bruce swallowed back the nausea he suddenly felt. He couldn't imagine his life without Tony Stark in it. The man had gotten under his skin and crept into his bones. He had intertwined his muscles and blood with Banner's, and had become a part of him. If Tony died, then Bruce would die with him.

"It… terrifies me to hear you talk like that, Tony. It really does. I love you and I would do anything for you and I can't imagine you not being alive anymore. Tell me what I can do to make all this better? Tell me how I can help you," Bruce nearly begged.

Tony was quiet for a long time before he turned his back on Bruce and lay down again.

"Bring back all those people that died and let me die instead."