Chapter Eleven: Their Mistake
Their first mistake was the handcuffs.
It seemed that every super villain or evil organization underestimated Captain America's ability when he wasn't holding his shield. They seem to think that once they clock him over the head and get his strapped to a chair, he will magically lose all his super strength. A simple pair of handcuffs couldn't hold Steve Rogers any more than they could hold the hulk.
Their second mistake was the guard. Talkative and dumb are not ideal traits in someone watching a hostage. This was just another classic example of underestimation from the enemy. They thought that Steve was only a soldier; a dumb brute with no brain. Steve was a lot smarter than anyone gave him credit for, and could manipulate a person of lesser intelligence as well as if not better than the other members of his team.
Their worst mistake by far was the location. Steve was on the solitary upraised platform- almost a stage- in a wide, flat warehouse. There were several very large windows with murky glass and thin, metal walls that did nothing to keep out the sounds of the city. He could hear the tell tale sounds of traffic and smell the familiar scent of his favorite bakery in Brooklyn.
Three strikes and you're out.
There were five other men in the complex, all of which seemed to be focused on twiddling their thumbs, so Steve didn't worry about attracting their attention. With his plan solidly formed and ready in his mind, Steve turned to the dim witted guard to his immediate right.
"Who are you working for?" Steve saw the guard jump at his voice and knew these were not the organization's best men. Something must have happened to make them rely on this guy to guard Captain America; they were making it all too easy for him.
The guard snickered. "Wouldn't you like to know? I don't have to answer your questions, Captain." He sneered Steve's title as if it were a joke. "I'm glad you're awake though. I was hoping I'd get to tell you the good news before the doc came to pick you up."
Steve glared at the guard waiting for the "good news" that would most likely tell Steve all he needed to know in order to get to the bottom of this.
"You're little friend went for a walk to meet you, after you got off the phone. He was very upset when he saw the blood pool you left behind, let me tell you. Thankfully, our decoy was able to pull him away before he saw your little gash. I'm sure he wouldn't have been too happy about that." Steve felt a cold trickle of fear at the thought of Tony being anywhere near these men. There was a feral, sadistic glint in the guard's eyes that made Steve uncomfortable, though he knew it didn't reach his face.
"Decoy?"
"Oh yes. Looks exactly like you. A perfect duplicate; even has your dimples. He'll be living your life for you while you're away. He may or may not even take care of your little baby problem for you." Steve scowled at the guard, hating the image of Peter in the hands of an imposter. He made a show of jerking against the handcuffs.
"Why?"
"Why do we do anything, Captain? We're just trying to make the perfect human beings. There's no better weapon: that's what doc says." The guard smirked at him smugly.
Steve smirked back. He got what he came for. "You work for Hydra then?" The Nazi's had been obsessed with human perfection too, but their drive was nothing compared to Hydra. The doctor was probably some mad scientist that was trying to replicate the serum that had been used on Steve. It made sense that they'd want to steal Peter; his DNA had been changed after he was born, making him a perfect means of changing people into what Hydra wanted them to be, even if they weren't born that way.
People really underestimated Steve's intelligence.
The guard had paled and sputtered at Steve's question, proving that Steve was right. He had no trouble breaking the hand cuffs and taking the gun from the guard. Being Captain America had some perks, one of which was that, sometimes, your enemies just turn tail and run, knowing in their heart that they were going to die if they tried to fight.
Only one of the other Hydra agents was dumb enough to stay.
Tony decided he didn't want to wait in the living room with the other avengers for Steve to get home and chew him out. He didn't want Peter to see how nasty Steve and Tony could be when they fought. Tony was truly hoping that they could avoid any of that though; Tony could only take so much emotional duress in one day. He just wanted to apologize and then maybe- if he was really, super, duper lucky- have fantastic make up sex.
He impatiently tapped his foot in the elevator and half-jogged out of the lobby onto the street. He walked quickly down the street, taking the least populated route that Steve would most likely have taken. He was spacing out a little as he walked, using a quarter of his brain power to scan faces he passed. He felt that he should have run into Steve already; he would have had to have been closer to the Tower to see Tony flying in.
He stopped dead when he saw a pool of red on the cement and felt the blood drain from his face. He looked around wildly and pulled out his cell phone in one fluid movement. He followed the smears of red as his phone dialed Steve, his heart racing with fear all the while.
Who would attack Steve? How were they able to attack him; that man was more aware of his surroundings than any normal human should be. Tony felt a cold chill run down his spine when he realized Steve would have been distracted and looking at the sky after he saw Tony flying in. Tony distantly heard Steve's phone ringing in the alley that the blood trail was leading him toward.
"Oh god. Steve?" Tony ran toward the alley, a little more fearful than he would ever admit to another human being. He distantly wished he'd brought the portable suit.
Tony stopped dead when Steve walked out of the alleyway. "What are you doing here?" Steve looked a little out of breath, maybe a little rumpled compared to his normal clean cut appearance, but no worse for wear.
"Steve? I thought… what were you doing in there?" Tony tried to mask the adrenaline running through his veins with an angry scowl.
"Following the blood trail. It was a dog. Poor thing." Steve shook his head with a frown that didn't quite reach his eyes. Tony raised an eyebrow, knowing full well that something was off about the shine in Steve's eyes and the rumpled clothes. He chose not to comment.
After a moment of heavy silence, Steve smiled and waved in the general direction of the Tower. "Come to walk me home?"
Tony remembered why he'd been walking out to meet Steve and narrowed his eyes. "Actually, I thought it would be better to keep the yelling away from Peter."
Steve looked confused, his perfect nose scrunching in a very un-Steve like gesture of bewilderment. "Yelling? Oh, the- yeah. Forget about it. I'm not your mother. I'm not going to scold you for doing whatever it was you were doing."
Tony stared at Steve incredulously. "Is this some other form of punishment? Are you trying to make me realize that I secretly enjoy the attention or something? Oh my god you are. Fuck, you're good." Tony glared playfully, but Steve just smiled uncertainly and began walking.
Tony frowned a little but walked with him. The lack of their normal banter made Tony very uncomfortable. "You really don't want to know what I was doing?"
Steve shrugged. "I guess you could tell me if you want to."
"I found their base of operations. They had antiaircraft weapons; can you believe that? I was hoping to get more information out of it, but I really only ended up blowing everything up. At the very least it will slow them down a little."
He glanced over at Steve, who was very tense and stubbornly glaring at the ground. "You didn't get any information? None of their plans or why they wanted Peter?"
"I got a full map of their locations in the United States and some encrypted files. Jarvis was probably done with them when I left; these guys are hardly technological gurus."
Steve nodded solemnly. "I'd like to go over those with you." He gave Tony a somewhat challenging look. Tony raised an eyebrow at him but didn't question. Steve was acting oddly.
As they approached the elevator, Tony abruptly spun around, facing the Captain as he continued to walk backwards a little closer to Steve than he seemed to be expecting. "I was thinking maybe we could postpone work a little and focus on that whole friendship problem we were discussing." He gave Steve his best cocky grin, expecting the captain to laugh at him or maybe shove him against a wall. Either would be nice.
Steve just raised an eyebrow as they stepped into the elevator. "I thought we were friends?" Tony frowned with his eyes, confused and a little hurt. His lips stayed in a smirk as he observed the Captain.
"We discussed this already. You're sending mixed signals; I hate mixed signals." Tony took a step toward the Captain, who seemed very confused. Tony stopped when Steve was pressed against the wall and their chests were touching. Tony's lips were a hair's breath away from Steve's and yearning for Steve to close the gap.
Staring up into Steve's blue eyes, Tony struggled to figure out what was flashing through his mind. It looked like panic. It looked like Steve was scared and confused. Last time they'd been in this position the only thing that had been in those eyes was excitement and, well, love with a sprinkling of apprehension on the side. Tony was unsettled by how cold Steve was; his normal intoxicating heat and scent were missing.
Toy abruptly stepped away, anger rising in his chest. "Seriously, what's wrong with you? I can't keep up." He crossed his arms and glared when the elevator abruptly stopped. He looked at the ceiling. "Jarvis, why did the elevator stop?" Tony snapped.
"Sir, you forbade anyone but the Avengers and select others to enter the top floors of Stark Tower." Tony glared at the ceiling, confused for the billionth time that hour.
"Tony Stark and Steve Rogers are both members of the Avengers, Jarvis." Tony buried his head in his hands and sighed in frustration. Why couldn't he just lock himself up in the workshop all the time? Leaving always ended in tears.
"Sir, the man currently accompanying you is not Steve Rogers."
Don't hate me! I know you'd think it would be spider man villain, but the kid's a baby; I couldn't steal his thunder. He has to have someone to fight when he gets older. Hydra's such a classic Avengers villain and I thought it would make it more real for Steve. Plus they kind of have that mad scientist thing down to an art. So yeah… Reviews and suggestions are great :)