Tony was in his workshop from after breakfast until late that evening, when a call from Pepper got him moving to the Penthouse. He still wasn't comfortable with her being at the Tower while Loki and Steve were there and possibly still a danger.
Yes. He was being overprotective. Yes, he is man enough to admit that. But that didn't change his feelings on the matter and Pepper was hard pressed to make him change his mind.
The inventor had been monitoring the meeting between his teammates and Garrison, then also the session with Cap 1.0. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to Tony, but he also wasn't sure what signs to be looking for specifically.
However, he was totally not surprised when Steve pulled the knife and threw it at the doctor.
He was surprised at the way that Steve had answered all his questions up to that point. Name. Rank. Serial number. Over and over again no matter what question she asked.
The question plaguing all the Avengers was- what was Steve thinking? Why Shield?
It seemed only the Original Captain and possibly even Loki could answer, but neither one seemed interested in sharing with the rest of the class.
Tony also wasn't surprised when Natasha came to him an hour after initiating the privacy settings in Barnes' room (He knew they weren't an item, and debated making a sex joke, but decided ultimately that he liked his balls where they were and refrained.)
He did hand her a set of keys from the garage, checked to make sure she had the StarkPhone he had given her, and reminded her of the private Jet that was available for her use if she needed to fly out of the country.
Tony's quiet "be careful," was met with a small nod and nothing else as she walked out of the workshop and to the garage. Tony went back to making modifications on the newest suit, having Jarvis keep the feed from Loki and Steve's room going in the background as he worked.
A half hour later he sighed and saved the file on his computer. "J, get Shield on the line. I need to talk to Fury."
The conversation that followed was pretty unpleasant for both parties involved. Afterwards Tony went up to the common floor to get some scotch.
He desperately needed a drink.
Dinner that night was just Thor, Bruce, James and Tony in the communal kitchen. Overall it was a pretty awkward experience since none of them really knew what to say about Steve's violent actions from the past two days.
"So," said Tony to the room at large, "Fury is gonna send one more doctor tomorrow. If something happens to them, then he will try to take Steve out of the Tower and lock him in a specialized Shield Prison…"
"Fury can go to hell. He's not taking Steve. Not when I just got him back." Said James venomously.
"I have a feeling that will end pretty… horribly for Fury. Worse than he thinks it will be." Said Bruce, weighing his knowledge of both Steve and Shield against each other. That's not even factoring Loki's reaction into the equation.
"Fear not Shield Brother," said Thor with confidence, "we will not allow the Director to take our other brothers away from us on the morrow. I'm sure if we explain the gravity of the situation then Steven will begin to cooperate with the Shield Doctors."
"Clearly you don't know Steve," muttered Bucky under his breath in frustration. Steve was always doing what he thought to be right and damn the consequences. Tomorrow was going to end with them locked in a battle with Shield over who got to keep Steve and Loki. He could already feel it.
"No, I agree with Point Break on this one. We can't let Shield get a hold of Steve or Loki. Especially if Natasha thinks there is more to this whole situation than we can see right now. I think our best bet would be to somehow get Steve to cooperate with the Doctors. Or- Hey, here's an idea… BRUCE can be his doctor." Tony started working out logistics in his head, speaking a mile a minute.
"Wait, What?!" Said Bruce empathically shaking his head no and interrupting his 'Science Bro,' "Tony, I'm not that kind of Doctor. I don't know the first thing about helping trauma victims who have spent seventy years in space being tortured."
"No, I agree with Bruce. If he says he's not qualified I don't think we should push the issue. Besides he needs to be Steve's medical doctor, not his shrink as well." Said James, also cutting off Tony before he could try pushing the issue more.
"How about a video session, that way the Doctor will not be in danger and can start to establish trust with Steven," suggested Thor.
The others thought it over. "That could work," said Tony reluctantly, "give K-Cap a chance to get to know the doctor trying to help him before attempting to kill them. Worth a shot anyway."
Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose; "we should probably table this until we talk to Steve and Loki. Speaking of, we need to bring them some food."
James was up again before Bruce even finished talking, Thor not far behind. Tony just shook his head and went to make another pot of coffee. He had some more ideas he wanted to try out with the new suit before he tried to get to sleep. Not that he was avoiding sleeping. There was just Science! to be done.
Really.
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"Steve, Shield is just sending one more doctor and if this one ends up like the last two, they are going to try to take you away! Try being the operative word, but I don't want you to be stuck either in the Tower or in a Shield prison for the rest of your life!" James wasn't normally this animated, but he and the others had been going around in circles with Steve for the last twenty minutes. The trio had brought food up for the pair and when Steve had half the smoothies (Bruce was trying to see if he could handle more than four this time) finished, James began his rant about Steve needing to cooperate with the shrinks.
Steve seemed like he was ignoring his friend, which was a first for the Avengers to witness, and just continued to sip his smoothies. James seemed to think Steve was doing it on purpose (he was but that was beside the point) and was getting more frustrated as time went by.
When four smoothies were gone, Steve looked like he wanted another one but was holding back, his stomach probably couldn't handle it very well at that point, he picked up his sketchbook, flipping to a specific drawing. With very careful hands, he pulled the page out of the book and handed it over to Bruce, who was closest to him and subtly trying to do a check up without actually bringing attention to it.
Steve's raised eyebrow of amusement let Bruce know he was being called out on the move.
"What's this?" Bruce looked at the drawing, having never seen the person etched out with a lead pencil in pretty good detail. Steve just pointed to the paper again as he put the sketchbook away and glanced over towards the closet. Bruce fought the urge to turn around because he knew no one was back in that direction since he could see everyone else in the room pretty clearly where he was sitting. Instead, Bruce handed the drawing to James, the other most likely to know who the man in the picture was.
James stared at the page blankly for a few moments, racking his brain as he tried to figure out who this guy was. Nothing was coming to mind at all, so he glanced at his friend. Steve just gestured to the paper again; eyebrow lifting as he again glanced around the room. His hand began tapping against the floor, but he didn't make a move for the StarkTablet that was next to him.
Thor also glanced at the drawing but had no idea who the man was. He shrugged when Bruce and James looked to him in question.
"Jarvis can you scan the picture please? Maybe run it through some facial recognition software?" James held the paper up towards a camera as he spoke.
"Scanning now. I will let you know if there is a match." Jarvis put the sketch on half the T.V. screen, the other half running through possible matches.
James kept his eyes on the paper, like it held the answers to all the mysteries of the universe. Which at this point, he wouldn't be surprised if it did.
Steve, seemingly happy that Jarvis was running facial recognition, began working on another drawing. Although this one was being shielded from view from the Avengers in the room. Not even Bruce could see it from his close position.
"Sirs, we have an 85%... 95% match on the Facial Recognition search." Jarvis said, putting the matching picture next to the sketch. The likeness was almost perfect. Something that wasn't lost on those that weren't familiar with Steve's drawing abilities. "His name is Mr. Sam Wilson, codename Falcon. He was a pararescue-man trained by the military in aerial combat using a specially designed wing pack. He has recently retired from active duty and is currently working at the VA in Washington D.C, counseling soldiers who come back from tours with PTSD."
Jarvis put more information up but allowed the Avengers to read it as they saw fit. He also transferred the data to a StarkTabet that was in James' room, knowing the Sergeant would probably want to review the information further in the next few days.
James was glancing over the information on the screen, a few dots beginning to connect in his mind. However, the glaring question was HOW did Steve know this guy? He was born in New York- Harlem specifically, but other than that Steve wouldn't have had any contact with him since he's been back on Earth.
"What is going on Steve? Do you know this guy?" James turned back to his friend, hoping to get answers other than points and gesturing this time.
Steve had replaced his sketchbook with the StarkTablet. "No, I have never personally met Mr. Wilson."
"Does Loki know him?" Asked Bruce directing the question to the God, the wording of Steve's answer seemed off somehow, but he couldn't place how or why.
"I've also never met this man before. I've not had reason to be in…. Washington D.C since coming to Earth for the invasion, or in my previous visits while Thor was in New Mexico." Loki spoke up for the first time that evening. The Trickster God was enjoying the confusion his friend was causing with his vagueness. He was content to watch the drama unfold on its own. It was always better that way.
"So why-" Thor was cut off from his question as Steve had preempted the question and had a response already typed up.
"You want me to talk to someone. I will talk to him."
James was looking between the picture, his friend and the screen with Wilson's information. "So, let me get this straight. You want to go to Washington D.C, just so you can talk to this counselor, who you don't even know, and not the Shield assigned head doctors, who are better trained for this kind of thing?"
Steve shook his head even as he was typing, "No. I want you to bring him here. Then I will talk to him."
Because clearly that made much more sense.
"How are we going to get him here huh? Kidnapping? Blackmail? Offering him lots of money? And who is going to go down and get him? Bruce? Tony? THOR?" Everyone, even Steve and Loki were looking at James as he ranted.
Realization dawned suddenly on James with their stares. Steve wanted him specifically to go to D.C. to bring this guy back to the Tower. The thought that Steve wanted him gone was squeezing his heart with more power than he thought it would.
Steve was also holding out a folded piece of paper towards his friend. James took it with a frown and very small voice. "What's this?"
"That is for Mr. Wilson. He will come if you give him that." Was all Steve said via the tablet.
James tried to open the paper, but it was sealed shut- almost like magic.
Loki spoke up again with clarification on why the paper was not opening in case the Avengers broke it in their attempts, "I've put a magic shield around the fold, as per Steven's request so that only the man who is meant to see the contents will be allowed to open it."
James was looking at his friend like he had finally gone 'round the bend and was headed straight for a small padded room to call his own.
"Loki," said Thor, "that better not be like the scepter and you are not using the powers of persuasion to bring this man here."
Loki was hurt by the accusation but hid it behind an indifferent mask. Steve on the other hand was glaring so hard Loki was surprised Thor wasn't set on fire. He was typing furiously, "Loki did no such thing. How dare you compare this to that controlling glow stick of death! (The Avengers startled at Steve's using Tony's turn of phrase for the scepter). All he did was seal the paper against tampering by all of you because I knew you would try to analyze it before bringing it to Mr. Wilson. What's on that paper is between me and him. No one else needs to be privy to the information unless HE wants to share!"
Thor had the grace to realize his mistake. He looked ready to apologize but Loki just shook his head and refused to make eye contact.
Steve turned his gaze back to his friend and noticed the pain he was trying to hide at being sent away, "Bucky, I'm not trying to send you away. But you are the only one who can go."
On some level James knew his friend was right. Bruce wouldn't set foot within two states of D.C, Thor wouldn't be able to blend in at all and Tony was probably banned from the Capitol for pissing off two thirds of the governmental branches.
However, that still didn't take away his pain. He knew on some level he was probably being child-ish and was relieved that he had come far enough to actually feel childish, but that still didn't make the squeezing on his heart diminish any.
James just gave a tight nod and suddenly stood, making his way out of the room. Steve followed his path with his eyes but didn't move to go after him.
There was a bit of awkwardness in the room following James' exit, so Bruce and Thor took that as their cue to leave as well.
"Steve, I'm going to leave these smoothies here. See if you can finish them before morning alright?" Asked Bruce as he made his way out of the room. Thor was a few steps behind him, having gotten his tray from his Brother and collecting the empty smoothie glasses as well.
Steve just gave a tight nod of acknowledgement but made no move to drink the smoothies.
In the elevator Jarvis spoke up, "Doctor Banner, you asked for me to monitor Mr. Roger's vital information. I want to inform you that there seems to be something happening that you might want to take a look at, at your earliest convenience."
"Is there something wrong Jarvis?" Bruce spoke up, slightly concerned.
Jarvis hesitated a moment, "I'm not sure. Perhaps it would be better for you to review the information and make a final decision based on your analysis."
Bruce nodded, "Alright Jarvis, drop me off at the lab, I'll take a look at the information this evening."
"Very good Sir."
Bruce glanced over at Thor, "Sorry for the abrupt leaving here Thor, but if Jarvis isn't sure about this, then it's probably better if I take a look at whatever it is."
"No worries Doctor Banner, this seems like it is important. I will take these back to the kitchen and see about trying to contact my Jane again. These time zones seem to be thwarting our efforts to contact one another properly."
"Perhaps Jarvis can help with that," said Bruce slightly distractedly as the elevator stopped at his lab.
"Aye." Was all Thor got out before the elevator closed again.
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"You should go to him again." Said Loki quietly, as to not get picked up by Jarvis' audio monitoring after the Avengers left them alone. Steve just sighed and continued working on his drawing, one hand tapping on his leg almost agitatedly.
"I will probably not get much sleep tonight either way." Loki continued, still keeping his voice low, "besides, I have this and the amusing Tablet to keep me company."
Loki had pulled out the folded paper from his pocket again, spreading it out to look at in his lap. Steve glanced at him from the corner of his eye and turned back a few pages in the book. He carefully pulled out two more drawings, handing them over to his God friend without hesitation.
Loki's eyes lit up at the drawings, his attention focused completely on them. With a careful, yet slightly unsteady hand he traced the outline of each picture tenderly.
Like a parent looking at pictures of their children who were no longer with them.
"I…thank you." Was all Loki could say quietly. Steve reached over with his tapping hand, placing it on Loki's arm in silent support.
Over the next two hours Steve finished the two extra smoothies and another drawing in his book. This one he also carefully pulled out and gently folded into the pocket of his turtleneck. He tapped Loki on the arm and pointed to the door, so the God knew what he was doing. Loki gave him a small nod and quick glance, most of his attention still on the, now three drawings laid out in front of him.
Silently Steve made his way to the door, not sure if Jarvis would let him through again. The A.I surprised him however and opened the door without prompting. Steve smiled to the ceiling before making his way into the hall over to his friend's room.
He hesitated a moment outside the room, debating on what to do. Jarvis however took care of that by opening the door just enough for Steve to sneak into the room like he had the night before.
James was lying on the bed with his back facing the door, breathing even, but Steve knew he wasn't actually asleep. Carefully and slowly the original Super Soldier closed the door and made his way to the front of the nightstand like he had the night before, sliding down against it without a sound, his back to the bed. Jarvis had the lights mostly dimmed, and the shades open like yesterday, so the room wasn't blanketed in total darkness.
Steve didn't have his sketchbook this time, or the StarkTablet to keep him occupied. But that didn't bother him. He was content to just stand guard over his friend like he did for Loki sometimes while they were still up in Space.
After about twenty minutes of silence James let out a deep breath and moved around on the bed, turning to face Steve's seated position on the floor. Carefully James moved from the bed and sat on the floor next to his friend, about an arm's length of space between them. Steve had his head resting on his crossed arms on top of his knees and didn't move a muscle from his position the whole time.
James rested his head against the bed, dozing a little even with the uncomfortable-ness of his seated position. He startled slightly when another twenty minutes went by and he felt something brush against his metal arm.
Steve had closed the distance between them and had put his head against James' shoulder without the ex-assassin noticing.
The position was reminiscent of when they shared an apartment in the late thirties and forties.
Carefully James moved his metal arm so it was wrapped around Steve's back, pulling his friend a little closer to his side to help warm him up. His body's core temperature was still nowhere near what it was supposed to be and that had both James and Bruce worrying.
The fact that Steve allowed the move spoke volumes to James about the trust his friend had in him, even with everything that happened. He felt less like his friend was trying to push him away and more like his friend was trying to reach out for help in the only way he knew how. The how and why were still unanswered, but Steve trusted James enough to be the one to help him, was actively asking James to help him- something that was such a 180 from his normal M.O before the serum… yeah James was not going to let his friend down.
He would go to Russia, China, or the North Pole and back if it would help Steve.
Despite the back-pain James knew he was going to wake up with, he ended up falling asleep after a few hours of comfortable silence sitting with his friend, neither moving away the whole night.
The ex-assassin woke up the next morning with the inevitable back-pain but was again alone in his room. He was about to ask Jarvis what time Steve had left when he realized there was another paper under his metal hand.
However, the Tower shaking suddenly stopped him from looking at whatever Steve had left him. The paper was carefully placed under his pillow- it could wait until they figured out what that earthquake thing was. James didn't bother getting out of his pajamas, just grabbed a few guns, ammo and knives and asked for a status update from Jarvis as he made his way into the hallway.
-end chapter 9-