Author's Note:
It's safe to say that after this chapter, there are only two more to go. We're almost at the end of the story! I hope you guys have liked it so far, it's been pretty hectic trying to piece everything together and make sure I didn't mess up on anything; which hopefully I didn't otherwise lol.
Anyways, please enjoy the chapter!
"We need to put an end to this somehow. We need to figure out where these things are, and put a stop to it." Tony stated, tending to Steve's wounds in the process as he spoke. Shortly after the incident between the two, Tony took it upon himself to get the soldier cleaned up. He sent Wanda to S.H.I.E.L.D. so she could get Natasha, Clint and Bruce back to the tower so they could figure out a plan to end this once and for all.
"Do you have a plan?" Steve spoke softly. Tony opened his mouth to speak, but upon looking into Steve's eyes, he closed his mouth. He took the time to not just stare into those ocean eyes of his, but he really got a look at how Steve was feeling. He wasn't kidding when he said that Steve's eyes convey all his emotions, and that he wears his heart on his sleeves. It's not that he was mesmerized by his eyes; which of course Tony usually was, but this time he was speechless.
Imagine this; you're given a serum that enhances your body physically, turning a scrawny, dangerously sick person into the picture perfect face of human perfection. All illnesses simply disappear, you get stronger, faster, your body metabolizes food and drinks faster than a normal person, making it so that you eat more than an average person, and you are unable to get drunk. You don't need as much sleep, you can stay up longer than anybody, you can go longer without eating, you gain super hearing and you never tire easily. As Tony stared into Steve's eyes, he could truly see just how tired the man really was; not tired in the sense that he needed sleep, but tired in the sense that he was being put through so much trauma and he just wanted it to stop.
Being the perfect human, or rather in the case of what the serum was used for, being the perfect soldier, didn't take away from the fact that Steve was a human. It didn't take away from the fact that he was still a man; a man who could still get hurt, who could still experience trauma, the serum can't fix emotional damage, it can only fix the physical.
He didn't know when it happened, but his hands found themselves cupping the side of Steve's face, his thumbs brushing over his cheeks. The soldier grabbed his wrists, his lips forming a small smile before kissing the palm of Tony's right hand. Tony leaned in and closed the distance, surprising Steve when their lips connected, but he kissed back, moving his hands to the geniuses hips, pulling him in so he was between his legs. Tony pulled back slowly, never taking his eyes off of those adorable blue ones staring back at him.
"What was that for?" Steve asked, quietly.
"I just… I just love you so much." He saw Steve's smile widen, a few teeth showing before he looked down out of embarrassment. He looked back up and placed a small peck on the brunettes lips and said,
"I love you too."
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" Steve's smile was replaced by a frown, his eyebrows furrowed as his once happy facial expression turned into one of confusion.
"I…" Tony started. What exactly was he sorry for? Truthfully there were many things he was sorry for, all of which included the feeling of guilt and regret for putting Steve through all of this. He knew it wasn't his fault, but he could have, should have done more for him, which the genius was beating himself up over. He sighed and looked down before continuing to speak. "I'm sorry for not protecting you. I'm sorry that I let all of this crap happen to you. I'm sorry that I wasn't… Good enough to do anything to prevent this from happening to you."
"Tony-".
"No, Steve," he interrupted, "if I had just woken you up and taken you to S.H.I.E.L.D. with me, you wouldn't have gotten attacked. Maybe those things wouldn't have come here, and you wouldn't have been put in danger. If I had just gone on that mission with you, you would've been safe. It's all my fault."
"Hey, look at me." Tony, although reluctant at first, slowly looked up and noticed the soldier had a small smile on his face. "It's not your fault. What happened to me sucks, believe me I know it does, but you shouldn't beat yourself up over it. We can get through this together."
"What if we lose?"
"Then we'll do that together, too." Steve's smile widened, and he leaned forward to peck Tony's lips. "I love you," he said once he pulled back.
Tony sighed happily, the corner of his lips twitching slightly into a small smile. "I love you, too." He pulled his hands back and looked down towards Steve's bandaged arm. He brought the blondes arm towards his lips, kissing the bandage that covered his cuts. Steve blushed lightly, but he thought the gesture was adorable. "We're gonna win, together."
As Steve nodded his head, both occupants heard the sound of footsteps entering the common area. When they looked behind them, they saw the rest of their team; Wanda, Nat, Thor, Bruce and Clint, wasted no time in making their way over to the couch where the two superheroes resided. Tony grabbed the first aid kit off the table in front of him, standing up and walking towards the stairs so he could put the kit back in the medical supplies cabinet he got it from.
"How you holding up, Steve? Wanda told us what happened." Nat asked, once she sat down.
"As good as I'll ever be. Got any ideas on how we're gonna stop these things?" Steve questioned, looking at her.
"Not a clue." Clint answered. "We're not particularly sure where they're going, or where they are, so it's kinda impossible to make a plan." Steve sighed and turned his attention on Thor and Wanda.
"Either of you two know anything about what we're dealing with?" Wanda shook her head and was the first to speak.
"They didn't tell me what they were, they just knew about me and asked if I wanted revenge. They work in small groups, I don't know if that is any information considering there were only three of them at the time."
"Strange," Thor interjected, "that's quite out of the ordinary."
"What do you mean, Thor?" Steve questioned.
"From what we Asgardians know about Axelons, they indeed are a small race of shapeshifting creatures, however, they don't usually work in small groups. Since our new friend Wanda said she only saw three of them, then I fear the rest may be scattered."
"It makes sense when you think about it." Tony said from atop the stairs, coming back into the room once he finished putting away the first aid kit. All eyes were on him as he slowly descended down the stairs. "Think about it; three of them were with Wanda, one of them was still in S.H.I.E.L.D., we captured one of them, and another one of them came here and attacked Steve. They're coordinating what they're doing, and I'm sure that they're already congregating in a specific location."
"New York is pretty massive, there's no possible way we could scour all of it, let alone just Manhattan." Bruce said.
"I think I've got everything pieced together Brucie Bear, so no need to worry about that."
"Spit it out then, Tin Can."
"Calm down bird brain, I'm getting there." Clint rolled his eyes, but stayed silent as Tony pulled out his phone and started to explain once there were holograms in front of him. "So, if you don't already know, these holograms in front of me," he pointed at them, "I took from the security room in S.H.I.E.L.D., and as you can see there's the fake Fury coming in the room to try and kill me. That was one instance that we know of." He pushes the holograms back into his phone and stands up from the couch, facing everyone. "Wanda confirms that there were three of them at the bunker, we've seen one of them at S.H.I.E.L.D. when they were pretending to be Fury, there's another one locked up, Steve got attacked by another one, that's three already, so you'd think it would be over right?
"Let's go back in time real quick. Steve, Nat and Clint went on a mission of reconnaissance that the real Fury administered, but when they captured the Hydra agents, they suddenly disappeared. I'm willing to bet that they were simply there as a means to get information on us. I'm inclined to say they gathered information on all of us and were waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Except we haven't encountered their leader yet, it's just been the little ones giving us hell. There's only one place, or organization that I can think of that would allow them to blend in, in order for them to carry out their operation."
"They're still running around S.H.I.E.L.D. is what you're saying?" Wanda concluded.
"Exactly, but no this is much bigger than S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ. Think about; the whole Loki incident happened right here in the tower, where all of Manhattan got to witness it. If the target isn't here, and there's an infestation of these creeps at S.H.I.E.L.D., then where is the only other place they could go to blend in and look like an agent?"
"The Triskelion," Natasha spoke, "but that's all the way in Washington D.C. Why would they go there?"
"They wanted to keep us preoccupied with what was happening with our Captain so they could go undetected while they infiltrated the Triskelion." Bruce explained. "It's classic misdirection; you're distracted on one specific thing that you're unable to see anything else."
"Sorry to interrupt," JARVIS suddenly spoke, "but I have terrible news."
"What is it, J?"
"Sir, I would recommend looking at your phone. It is quite… Catastrophic." The genius rushes over to grab his phone off the table, holding it at the edges with his thumb and pointer finger, and flicking out a news screen. They watched as people ran for their lives, screams echoing through the air, creatures bounding into the streets, some from the Triskelion and some towards the building. They watched as people were slaughtered where they stood, lumps forming in some of their throats. It was too much to watch and Tony turned off his phone and put it back in his pocket.
Silence stretched and festered in the air between all of them, nobody knowing what to say. That is, until Steve was the first to speak.
"We need to get going and put a stop to this."
"How do you propose we do that?" Tony asked.
"I'll explain on the way there. Right now, Nat and Clint, I need you two to get the Quinjet ready for take off. Once everybody is on and we're in the air, I'll explain the plan." The spies nodded their heads. "Alright Avengers, assemble." With that, they all left the common area. Well, everybody except for Tony. He sighed to himself and turned around to look out of the window which gave him a great view of all of Manhattan. "Tony?"
He turned around at the sound of Steve calling his name. "Yeah?"
"You ok?" He smiled and walked over to him, wrapping his arms around his neck without so much as a second thought and pulling him in for a hug.
"We're gonna win, right?" He felt the blonde wrap his arms around his waist and kiss the side of his head. He pulled back and his own smile was prominent on his face, and it only made Tony smile more when he saw it.
"We're gonna win, and we're gonna do it together."
"You promise?"
"I promise."
Tony kissed him softly, and with need. He wanted to feel the soldiers lips against him one last time just in case either of them didn't come back. No, he shouldn't think like that, they were going to come back, and they were going to put an end to all of this. After they won, Tony was going to spend every passing day with Steve: taking him out on dates, watching movies with him, asking him to teach him how to cook, anything and everything he could think of.
Steve pulled back from the kiss, starting to move slowly away from Tony. Instead of leaving the genius, he simply held out his hand for the brunette to take instead.
"Come on, Shellhead, we got a fight to win." Tony happily took Steve's hand in his, the smile on his face only increasing with each loving gesture he shared with Steve.
"Let's go win."
The two heroes walked hand in hand, neither wanting to separate from each other even when they had to go to separate floors to grab their gear. They stayed with each other, making sure the other had everything they needed for the upcoming fight ahead.