Steve was walking extremely slowly on the trek up to Tony's penthouse balcony, but Thor didn't seem to mind the pace. Sif seemed irritated, but since Steve had been ignoring her while she was here, it was hard to tell whether or not that was her normal face.
When the trio made it to the balcony, Steve went straight for the middle, completely surrounded by sunlight and sat with eyes closed and his head tilted towards the sun. He had the StarkPad but seemed to forget it was in his hand.
Sif and Thor seemed to be having a silent argument, but Steve was seemingly unaware of the drama happening behind him. The God of Thunder seemed content to lean on the wall, and let Steve enjoy the sun. Sif, after a while went to sit on a lounge chair and ignore the human with them for the time being.
It was well into the afternoon when Thor decided to go through with his plan to help Steve via the Tesseract. Steve hadn't moved much from his seated position on the balcony, and Sif had switched between the penthouse room itself, and the balcony lounger. She seemed troubled with the lack of doing, but Thor wasn't concerned with her behavior. Sif had always been an active member of their group, always moving, even if just a little.
Thor locked eyes with Sif and nodded towards the elevator. She seemed to understand his intent and nodded for him to go.
When Thor had been gone for a few minutes Sif moved towards Steve, "Come Steven, it is time for us to start heading back inside, to share food with the others."
Steve blinked at her looming form and narrowed his eyes slightly, before looking around for Thor, who he hadn't realized had left the balcony. Steve's eyes moved around the balcony in another sweep, seemingly stopping at random intervals, before he started to push himself up.
Sif didn't offer assistance, and Steve didn't seem inclined to ask her for it.
By the time Steve was about halfway through the penthouse, Thor came out of the elevator, holding the Tesseract in the special containment box. When Steve realized what he was holding, a look of pure fear and betrayal overtook his face.
He tried backing away, but Sif came up behind him, not quite holding him in place.
"Do not worry, friend Steven, I only wish to help fix a mistake that shouldn't have transpired in the first place." Said Thor, as he lifted, clicked the container, activating the Tesseract's power.
A beam shot right at Steve, who was too weak to completely dodge the light.
At first, nothing seemed to be happening, and then lightning exploded out from Steve's body- hitting the room around them at random intervals.
Steve's body was also starting to transform. After about a minute, he started screaming- the pain from the transformation so much like when Doctor Erksine and Howard Stark injected him with the serum all those years ago.
The whole process took less than five minutes. By the time the others arrived- Tony through the balcony window, and Bruce, Clint and Loki from the stairwell- Thor had finished healing Steve with the Cube. He lowered the containment case right as everyone burst into the room.
Sif wasted no time in maneuvering around Steve, who was curled on the floor shaking and breathing hard- but seemingly in perfect health.
Bruce, Clint, and Loki all moved towards Steve, while Tony put up his repulsors and aimed at Thor and Sif, "Back up there Point Break. What the HELL was that?"
Thor stepped back from Steve and a little closer toward Tony at the balcony. "I wished to help the Captain's friend before he returned. I knew he was in trouble and didn't wish to go to medical for assistance. The Cube was able to reverse the damage inflicted on his body."
As he was speaking Bruce was trying to get Steve to uncurl a little to check him over. In the ensuing panic from the trio, Sif was able to latch onto Loki's arm, the God was focusing less on his magic and more on Steve when he realized it was his friend who had been screaming. The way Bruce and Clint were standing also helped Sif narrow down where Loki was standing.
"Steve! Hey, come on, I need to check you over." Bruce was attempting to get the super soldier to uncurl from the floor, with little success. Apparently, the Cube had reversed all the damage and brought him back to peak physical condition… and strength.
Sif pulled Loki over to where Thor was standing with Tony, who was realizing that Jarvis was suddenly not responding, and started focusing on his suit- not what was happening around him. She grabbed the other end of the Cube's container and used that to manhandle the other two gods out to the balcony. Before anyone even realized what was happening, she was twisting the container a second time and the trio of Gods were being pulled through space back to Asgard.
Clint took everything in that was happening, from Bruce's panic/anger, to Tony's growing confusion with Jarvis, to the Asgardians abrupt departure, to Steve who was still shaking, breathing erratically, and curled up on the floor trying to make himself into a smaller target, clearly not aware of where he was or who he was with.
Clint decided to deal with the problem that was easiest to fix at this point. He put a hand on Bruce's arm; shaking his head at the doctor when he had his attention, "let me try something. I don't think he's here with us right now."
Bruce moved back some, and let Clint take his spot next to Steve's curled up form. Clint hesitated a moment before taking his hand and covering Steve's arm. He started to carefully tap out the word S-A-F-E to the super soldier, using his own tapping pattern. The archer repeated the word until Steve's shaking subsided and his breathing was back under control.
Bruce suddenly inhaled sharply when he realized what Clint was doing. "It wasn't a nervous tick."
Clint shook his head in agreement with what Bruce said, "it's how he was communicating with Loki."
Steve seemed to slowly realize what Clint was saying through the tapping on his arm. With that realization brought on an understanding of where he was and whom he was with. He slowly started to un-tense his body, blinking his eyes open and uncurling from his spot on the floor.
Bruce noticed the pain was gone from his movement and face, but his one eye was still blood red. /Strange that the Tesseract wasn't able to fix that also…/ the doctor thought, as he watched Steve look around and stand up.
The super soldier's eyes held amusement as he watched Tony attempt to get out of the suit without Jarvis' assistance, his lips twitching up at the corners. Although, his eyes still seemed to be roaming around the room, that much hadn't changed.
For whatever reason, the AI was still offline. Stark was able to get the helmet off, but the body's removal mechanism seemed to be stuck.
Out of nowhere the elevator chimed and Pepper walked out, holding a drink and talking a mile a minute to the inventor, her cell phone in her other hand. "Tony, honestly, what is going on up here? The elevator was frozen for the last ten minutes, and I was in the middle of an important phone meeting with the board, over the mess that was the alien invasion!"
Jarvis was rebooting his system and helping Tony with the suite. Pepper walked towards Tony and was holding the drink out to the inventor. However, before she could get closer to her boyfriend, Steve was between them, pushing the drink out of her hand and twisting her neck with a sharp snap. His eyes were dark with anger; his mouth set in determination and resolve unwavering.
The room was completely frozen for a moment as everyone realized what Steve had just done.
A snarl from Tony was the only warning Steve had before he was being grabbed and smashed against the wall. Tony was holding him against the wall with one hand, a repulsor ready to blast his face with the other.
Steve was grappling with Tony, mostly to not get murder by his friend's son before he could explain the situation.
"Woah! Tony, wait, stop!" Bruce was also trying to get Tony off the super soldier, without actually Hulking out and making it worse. Steve was tapping his hand that he was using to stop Tony from choking him to death again, in the Ironman suit. Clint saw the motion and narrowed his eyes, turning to Pepper's body then back to Steve.
Right when Clint realized what Steve was trying to say, Bucky and the man from Steve's picture- Sam Wilson, dropped onto the balcony and raced into the room.
"Stark! What the FUCK are you doing!?" Bucky went up to Tony and joined Bruce in keeping Steve from being choked to death.
"Bruce, what the hell is goin' on in here?!" Bucky grunted while trying to get Ironman to release his friend, while also noting Pepper's dead body on the floor a few feet behind them.
Sam stood back a bit, not sure what exactly was happening but concerned and wanting to help in some way.
Clint quickly made his way over to Pepper's body, and the glass on the floor. He picked up the glass, sniffing carefully, before realization hit. He put the glass down quickly and started moving his hands over her head and shoulders. He seemed to find something, when there was a click and Pepper's face shimmered and disappeared, turning into a dark-haired woman.
"Tony! Stark! It wasn't Pepper!" Clint joined Bruce and Bucky in holding Tony back from Steve. The archer turned Tony's head towards where 'Pepper' had fallen. It took Tony a moment to realize what he was seeing. He blinked, before suddenly letting go of Steve, looking at the body on the floor with horror. Shock seemed to be setting in for the billionaire as he stumbled back, grabbed his helmet and took off from the room without a word, running to the balcony with heavy steps. When he had his helmet on, he fired up the suit and took off, no doubt on his way to Malibu to check on the real Pepper.
Steve, who was no longer fending off Tony, gasped for breath, before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out. His throat had a darkening handprint from where Tony was choking him; indents had been made where Tony's hand was crushing it.
"Shit!" Bucky and Bruce caught him before he hit the floor, the pair staggering only a little under the super soldier's weight.
"We need to get him to medical," said Bruce, turning to the elevator. Bucky looked torn between agreeing and arguing because of how much Steve was against the idea of being anywhere near the medical floor when he was awake.
"Barnes," Bruce growled, which got Bucky moving with him towards the elevator.
Clint was busy with the body, taking a photo and sending it to Fury via his SHIELD phone, then texting something as well. When he looked up, Sam was still standing there, arms crossed and looking not impressed with the situation.
Clint looked him over, before whistling. "Wow. Roger's drawing was ridiculously accurate."
Sam narrowed his eyes, "yeah, so I've been told. Care to elaborate on that whole ability of his?"
Clint shrugged, "You got one to then." It wasn't a question.
By unspoken agreement the pair held up their own folded sheets of paper, neither ready to divulge what their drawing held just yet. A shared understanding passed between them briefly.
"We're not sure how he's doing it." Said Clint as he put his folded paper back in the hidden pocket he took it from, "I've only just figured out that his nervous tapping twitch wasn't actually a nervous twitch at all and a way for him to communicate with Loki.
Sam scanned the room briefly, "Loki. That the guy that went with Barnes to medical, or did he have something to do with the huge blue light we saw as we were flying in?"
"Blue light." Clint turned to the elevator, "come on, the only way we're getting answers is by being in medical when sleeping beauty wakes up."
Sam followed Clint into the elevator, "Clint Barton, by the way."
"Sam. Sam Wilson," the pair shook hands as the elevator closed and descended to the medical floor.
"Jarvis," said Clint as the elevator was closing, "what exactly happened to your systems back there?"
"It appears an organization was briefly able to override my systems. When I regained control, Sir was in the processes of strangling Captain Rogers. I am working with him to double check the security for the Tower, as well as his Malibu estate. Ms. Potts is also attempting to calm him down over the phone, but he appears to be much too agitated at the moment to hear what she is saying."
The elevator dinged, opening to the sterile smell of a medical facility. The pair could hear Bruce's voice mumbling as he worked to help the doctors set up Steve's room.
"Thanks J," said Clint as the pair made their way down the hall. Clint nodded towards Bruce, "Bruce Banner- aka The Hulk, is the one that's been trying for days to get Rogers to medical. Clearly unconsciousness was the only way that was going to happen."
Bucky, hearing Clint and Sam's arrival muttered, "that's how it's always been with this Punk."
Sam and Clint could both hear the fondness in his voice, under the worry and strain of the day.
"Do we know how long he's going to be out?" asked Sam, as he mostly processed everything that had happened since he and the New Captain America left the helicopter.
"It could be anywhere from an hour to a day," said Bruce, nodding in welcome towards Sam, "the original files I studied didn't have a lot of information that was consistent between each hospital visit."
"That's if he even went to the med tent." Barnes rolled his eyes and grabbed Steve's hand- the one not hooked up to the IV. "He's got at least an hour- maybe more if Bruce is pumping the tranq meds into him via this IV."
"Well," said Clint turning to Sam, "let's get you all settled in a room. If there's anything you need Jarvis can order it for you. Tony's orders- everything for the team gets put on his tab while we're here."
Sam almost made a comment but restrained himself at the last second. As they moved back toward the elevator, Clint was going on about who was on which floor, and his thoughts on the rooms available on each one.
Bruce and Bucky shared a silent look as the voices became muted and the elevator dinged open. Bruce just grabbed a chair and brought it up to where Bucky was still standing, then went back to adding more fluids to the IV and setting up a second one.
Already the pair could see the color changing back to normal on Steve's neck. The marks from before being hit with the Tesseract were long gone, and the new one's from Tony were healing pretty quickly. Bruce was pretty impressed with the healing factor and how well it was working now that Steve's body wasn't in survival mode. Bruce also debated taking a blood sample but figured it would be better to get consent when Steve woke up.
With their luck, Steve would wake up in the middle of a blood draw, and that would set him off even more.
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It was only a few hours later when Steve did wake. He had a moment of complete disorientation before he heard the beeping next to him. He panicked, then remembered they made it out and home. Loki had done it. They were free.
Then he had flashes of the blue light of the tesseract in the penthouse of StarkTower and the panic set back in full throttle, especially as he realized what he was smelling and hearing. He was back on Thanos' ship in the experimental bay. He needed to get out and find a place to hide- NOW.
Bucky heard a slight hiccup of breath- before he felt himself flying through the air and the wall of the medical room Steve was in. /I guess the Punk is awake… / was all he thought before the more pressing matter of the wall ruins pressing down on him took over.
Jarvis sounded an alarm and attempted to speak with Steve to calm him down- but it was no use. His eyes were a little wild as he grabbed the closest thing to a weapon he could find and started making his way through the halls.
The super soldier could hear people speaking to him, but he needed to find a place to hide. Then figure out how he was going to get to Asguard and murder Thor for sending him back to this Hell.
Steve found the door leading to the stairs. He went through, busting the mechanisms behind him so others couldn't open it. He was then going up- down always got him caught. Down were more soldiers and the engines. Every door he came to on his route he broke so no one could use that as a way to get to him.
He needed to find a safe place to regroup and stay hidden.
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Bruce heard the crash from down the hall, where he was speaking with a few doctors about Steve's condition, as well as comparing the data from before to now. By the time he made it into the hall and realized Bucky was crumpled in the ruins of the wall, the door to the stairwell was slamming closed and a crunching sound could be heard.
Bruce ran over to Barnes, who was working on extracting himself from the rubble, groaning about Steve the whole time under his breath, bits in Russian and bits in English.
"James, are you okay?!" Said Bruce when they got him out of the rubble. Clint and Sam joining them a moment later from the elevator.
"Dude- what the hell was that?!" Said Clint, as the archer aimed his bow around the hall, checking for threats. After the day they all had, there very well could've been anything.
Sam was at his six, also checking over the hall, a handgun at his side but in a ready to shoot kind of way.
"Steve's up," said Bucky helpfully. Bruce snorted at the understatement.
"Sirs, if I may," said Jarvis, "Captain Rogers is currently making his way to the roof from the stairwell. He has been breaking and barricading the doors as he goes. I've been attempting to speak with him, but he doesn't seem to be listening. His vitals are also spiked from adrenalin."
"Thanks, J," said Bucky, nodding to the ceiling, "I don't think we should storm after him. Bruce- remember the rain incident a few days ago? I think we should give him a little space and monitor from a distance. Although, I am very much up for storming after him and dragging his punk-ass back inside- just sayin'."
Bruce nodded, "I'm definitely going to be staying back. There's no reason for the Other Guy to make this more horrible than it currently is. But I do think one of you should head up to talk with him. See if you can get him to calm down or even come back inside."
"I'll go," Said both Clint and Bucky at the same time, "No- I'll go."
Sam snorted in amusement at the pair of them. "Sirs, Captain Rogers is on the roof and he has found a place to hide amongst the ruins of the STARK Towers Sign. He's vitals are dropping to normal levels and he appears to be watching the sun set. Although, he is still not responding to my attempts to speak with him."
"I should go," said Clint, "I know the basics of that code he's been using AND jumping all over rooftops is kinda my thing."
"He listens to me," said Bucky to counter Clint's argument, "and I can grab the StarkPad on my way up. Plus, he's my friend- I've known him forever. He's less likely to try to murder me than you."
Clint raised an eyebrow and glanced towards the wall ruins. Bucky growled in response.
"You know," said Bruce, "you COULD just settle this like adults."
"What," said Clint, "a first to 5 fight in the gym? That'd take too long."
"…no…" said Bruce, "Rock-paper-scissor. First to three wins goes up."
This time Sam had trouble holding in his laughter.
Five minutes later, Clint was smugly using his arrows to make it way over to the "A" at the top of Stark Tower, while Bucky was sulking on the penthouse floor with Sam- even though the super soldier refused to admit that's what he was doing.
Clint had grabbed the Starkpad as well, just as a precaution. He figured out where Steve was hiding, then silently made his way over to the area. He didn't sit to close though to give Steve some room. Even with his stealth, Clint was pretty sure Steve knew he was there. Said super soldier let out a huff of air, but his eyes didn't leave the setting sun. Clint put the Starkpad down between them, but otherwise didn't do or say anything for a while.
When the sun was almost set, Steve took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He glanced at Clint and the Starkpad, before shrugging and picking it up.
"Sorry for overreacting downstairs. I didn't realize where I was and I panicked," came from said pad a moment later.
Clint shrugged, "We all have our own troubles with medical. James is fine, by the way."
Steve nodded, "I know." His shoulders slumped a little while he typed, "I guess this means we need to go back inside."
Clint narrowed his eyes at the super soldier, turning to look him over more fully. "How do you know that though? I only just told you."
Steve gave a small secretive smile before tapping the side of his head near his eye- the one that was still blood red around the iris. It was then his turn to shrug.
"Uh-huh," said Clint, eyes narrowed in thought this time. He added the odd gesture to the ever-growing list of weird shit related to the original super soldier. "I guess you also already know Barnes was successful in his D.C mission and your friend Sam Wilson is also here?"
Steve's smile got a little wider and mischievous, before he tapped a quick "yes" on the Tower between them.
"Loki's no longer here. Thor's friend Sif grabbed the pair of them and took them back to Asgard when we heard you yelling earlier." Clint was still watching Steve carefully, so he didn't miss the super soldier's eyes darkening and narrowing in anger- and something stronger.
This time Steve tapped a quick, "yes, I know.," but with more force than was necessary. He glared up at the darkening sky with a growl.
Although, the noise seemed to startle him, because his eyes cleared, and he jumped a hair at the sound. He then touched his throat- realizing the damage was gone- both the original damage and the choking from Stark. "wah?"
The noise was almost a what, but the smile that lit up Steve's face was lighting up the night sky around the pair.
"You were dying," said Clint into the growing darkness, "Thor wanted to help, and the only way was apparently the Tesseract. It's how Sif grabbed Loki- he was worried about you and came to help. I don't think either of them realized Sif would use that opportunity to take him back." The archer paused to look at Steve before continuing, "what happened wasn't your fault- don't even think it was."
Steve's face was the picture of sadness, and his mouth was set in a grim line. He shook his head but didn't tap anything or type into the Starkpad.
"We should head back inside," said Clint after he realized Steve wasn't going to respond, "I think Barnes is about two seconds away from trying to climb the side of the Tower from the penthouse to make sure you are okay."
Steve snorted in agreement, before handing back the Starkpad. He rolled out of his hiding place in the "A" and made his way to the edge of the Tower. He saluted Clint, when he saw the archer was watching, and jumped over the side.
Clint's startled, "Shit!" was echoed by Sam and a totally-not-girly scream from Bucky about 10 seconds later when Steve landed on the penthouse deck and rolled into a standing position practically on top of his friend. He carefully shot an arrow into the roof and scaled his way down the Tower after Steve.
He was met with the sounds of Barnes pacing and yelling at Steve in a few different languages, while said soldier stood with a small smile and an eye roll whenever his friend was looking at him. It seemed to set Barnes off even more- which both Sam and Clint realized was the intended purpose.
The pair shared a look at the super soldier's antics, before deciding to let it go for the time being and made their way inside.
Hopefully someone had either made or ordered dinner by now.
-End Chapter 13-