A/N: I'm sorry I can't answer your comments but I love them all. Fanfiction dit net has been giving me shit for months now. You can reach me on Twitter and Ao3 though, just search Google for my own name ;)
Steve was having no luck and getting worried there was still no news from Tony. If he didn't know better, he would believe what was in the media too. The AIM facilities he had checked out seemed normal, or as normal as high tech industries could look to him anyway. It was one disappointment after another until his mirror called out to him in Hermione's voice.
"I found Tony," she whispered, then shifted her mirror to show him tied up in a dark room, annoying his guards to death with non-stop chatter and mockery. Other than that, Tony looked mostly fine, a bit roughed up around the edges.
"Good. Can you apparate me?" he asked, showing her the AIM facility he was hanging around.
"Sure. I just need to find a hiding spot in this godforsaken place where they won't hear me apparate from."
Steve waited patiently while she navigated the dark, empty corridors until she found an empty room which might have been a wine cellar at some point. Suddenly, she was next to him after two days apart, so he held her close as she apparated him. They would be time for more later, but he would not risk Tony getting hurt, not even to kiss his girl.
"Now Bucky," she said, calling his name in the mirror. "I really gotta figure out how to make conference calls with these mirrors."
To be fair, it was the only drawback to this mode of communication. It could not be traced, or hacked..someone going through their pockets would not think anything of a pocket motor, except maybe that they were a bit vain.
"Heya, doll. I was about to call you," Bucky answered.
"Really? We just found Tony," Hermione replied.
"Yeah, but I found his girlfriend," he answered. "I think they're experimenting on her."
And that would explain why he looked so grim. What should they do? Help Pepper, or Tony first? Pepper seemed to be in more immediate danger, but they were already here…
"You guys go ahead without me," Bucky decided for them. "I'll take care of these freaks."
"Alone?" Hermione asked.
"The Winter Soldier wasn't exactly a team player, doll. Don't you worry about me."
Bucky cut off the communication which was their signal to get a move on before anything happened to their friends. By the time they made it to the room Tony was kept in, invisible save their shadows, the situation had already changed with Aldrich Killian monologuing to a bored looking Tony. This guy ticked all the villain's boxes.
However, Steve had to admit his trick with the little balls he threw on the ground projecting a video feed was pretty neat. What was projected was not: Pepper was tied to a metal contraption, much like Bucky had been most of his life under HYDRA's rule, and they had done something to her… she was in pain. So much pain. And so was Tony.
Killian was proud of it too, rubbing it in Tony's face, until his taunts trailed off when a dark shadow moved in front of the camera, obscuring the woman's anguish and screams. Seconds later, one of Killian's men flew into the camera and the connection was cut.
"Looks like you got a problem there," Tony said.
Killian looked at him suspiciously, but brushed it off.
"Whoever it is won't make it out of there alive. Let's just hope they don't trigger the lovely Miss Potts."
Tony fought against his restraints, trying to throw himself at the maniac. With a squeeze to Hermione's hand, Steve indicated they should move. The bigger threats being the armed guards, Hermione stunned one with a red jet of magic while his shield, strangely invisible, whooshed at the second, knocking him out before it returned to him.
"Looks like you got more problems, pal," Tony mocked when Killian stood frozen in the middle.of the chaos.
However, he quickly returned to his senses and ducked Hermione's second stunning spell. His shield only hit his arm when Killian suddenly changed directions, but it's as if he didn't even register what had to be a very painful injury. Instead, he hid behind the woman and held a syringe to her throat.
"Show yourselves," he ordered.
And give up their edge? Did he think they were idiots? And Steve thought that lady was one of his people as she wasn't tied up like Tony, so why would he care. Hermione was of the same mind, because she had crept her way around the room and shot another spell at him and he went down.
"Finally," Hermione said while the woman scrambled away, hands flying to her neck protectively.
Steve wondered if what had been in that syringe was what had been injected into Pepper and he told Hermione to keep it safely. Then, he went to Tony and hit the edge of his shield against his restraints.
"Took your time," Tony said, but relief was plain to read on his face.
"Forward your address next time."
Tony rubbed his wrists and looked defeated. Steve was about to ask if he needed medical assistance when Hermione and the other woman shouted behind him. Steve instinctively protected Tony, keeping his own massive body in front of him and shielding his head with his arms. He was so defenseless right now. No armour, no superstrength, no magic. The slightest thing could actually kill him. Like… the bullet that lodged itself neatly into his flank, judging by the sound and then familiar pain. Steve let out a grunt.
"Steve?" Tony asked, trying to push his invisible form away.
"Hermione. All clear?" Steve asked instead, not letting go of Tony any time soon if he was being shot at.
"Killian. He escaped. I don't know how he broke my spell..."
Escaped? Well, that was good enough. Steve let go of Tony, and tried to inspect the wound before remembering he was still invisible.
"Hey, a little help here?" Tony demanded and without warning, Steve was visible again, with Hermione by his side.
"You can fix me right up, right love?" he asked.
Hermione pursed her lips but extracted the bullet and healed the wound.
"I swear you get in the way of bullets on purpose," she muttered, but her hands were soft and gentle on him.
"I'm sure glad he did," Tony cut in. "Thanks, Steve. I owe you one."
"We need to get to Killian," Hermione said.
"We need to get to Pepper," Tony retorted. "He's got her somewhere… he did…"
"Yeah, we saw," Steve said. "But don't worry, Bucky found her. That was him on the video feed. Hermione? Want to check in?"
She nodded and called Bucky's name, but he didn't answer.
"Let's give him more time," she said.
Maybe it had not been as easy to get pepper out of there as Bucky had thought. These AIM people, if they were all like Killian, were not normal. Tony didn't like that suggestion, but after the other lady bolted, they were all in agreement it was time to end this.
"Do you think he went to the Mandarin?" Steve asked Tony as they hurried down the passage the other two had taken before they found themselves outside with no clue which direction to go.
"Nope. He doesn't exist. Just an actor set up to take the blame."
"Is he a moron?" Hermione asked, and with good reason.
Everybody knew the Mandarin's face. How did he expect to live past this farce? Not to mention working for terrorists rarely ended well.
"Without a doubt," Tony said, nodding emphatically before pointing at a window. "He's in a room up there with some naked chicks, not that I looked, but I didn't have a choice either. Don't tell Pepper."
Hermione was doing some magic. What, Steve didn't know, but the air thrummed with it and she was very focused on things he could not see.
"He's still up there. There's someone else running in that direction alone," she added, pointing towards the front of the large house. "Probably that lady that was with Pepper at your mansion."
"Maya Hansen, Tony agreed. "I'd run too if my boss used me as a human shield."
"And there's a larger group inside the west wing over there," she said pointing left from the enclosed garden they were standing in. "Four or five men I think."
"We can deal with that," Steve said, trying not to sound as uncertain as he felt. "Just make sure your magic takes a physical form this time? Chains, ropes? That way we'll know when they set themselves free. Tony, you'll have to stay back."
Hermione nodded, but judging by his glower, Tony was having none and he said as much while striding forward like the very squishy target he was. Steve caught his wrist to tug him back into the shadow of the building.
"It's too dangerous," Steve hissed. "You're too vulnerable without your armour."
"Fine. Give me your shield then, Cap, and I'll hide behind it while you clean up my mess," Tony shot back.
Steve thought it was actually not such a bad idea. Tony was too pig-headed to listen to reason and Tony would be at least partially protected, so he pushed his shield into his arms. Tony looked down at it, stunned.
"I was kidding!" he said, pushing the shield back at him in the most ridiculous reverse tug of war,quickly interrupted when Tony's watch started beeping. A kid's bright red watch. Steve stared at it, unimpressed.
"Are you trying to give our position away?" he asked him, and for some reason, Tony looked really pleased with himself.
"Wait for it," he said.
Steve glanced around, finding nothing.
"Any minute now…"
"Tony, we really need to-"
"Right about… now!"
Nothing.
"Now!" Tony repeated.
Something shiny came zooming by at lightning speed. By the time Steve realized what was going on, Tony already had several pieces of his armour sticking themselves on him. It was… really fucking weird to watch. He took Hermione's hand as she stood there, equally as stunned as him, and tugged her back, out of harm's way. Tony struggled with the faceplate trying to whack him in the face and then Ironman was standing there.
"Well? What are we waiting for?" he asked, then cursed when one of his feet malfunctioned, sparking from underneath.
"Guess I'll go by foot like you peasants," Tony said and they followed Hermione.
"Don't make me regret taking a bullet for you," Steve said.
"You're gonna hang that over my head, aren't you," Tony shot back.
"Every chance I get," Steve promised with a grin.
"Who knew Captain America was evil?"
"Me," Hermione said. "Don't play cards with him. He'll cheat and you'll end up naked."
"Oh, gossip. Did you end up naked, Miss Proper?"
"I'm not stupid enough to play against him. Dum-Dum and Morita did. I could have done without that image." Hermione raised her hand, making them pause, then turned to whisper at them.
"They're right behind this door."
Hermione managed to make the door see-through so they knew what they're dealing with, and Steve was still impressed with the variety of spells she had at her disposal when she had her wand.
"Isn't that one of your Ironman suits?" Steve asked although the colours were quite different.
"That's War Machine. My friend Rhodey is inside, and at this rate, they're going to cook him alive. He's too stubborn for his own good."
Tony was right. However they were doing it with their bare hands, it was obvious the armour was heating up at an alarming rate.
"Let's go," Steve decided.
"What? No plan?" Tony mocked.
"That's the plan, attack."
Tony did not need to be told twice. He used all the working propulsors on his suit to barrel himself forward, through the door and into the guy cooking his friend. They tussled while Tony's friend stumbled out of the armor, Hermione went to help him fend off the guards aiming for him, and Steve threw his shield at Killian who did not have time to duck this time, thrown back into a wall. Steve went to retrieve his shield and secure Killian, but he managed to stand back up. He had a really good constitution to be able to do that after a direct hit from the shield. Steve had not pulled his strength either, not after what he had done to his friends. However, Killian faced him, now holding his shield with a mocking smile and gesturing at him to come and fight him. Steve sighed. Villains were all the same, no matter the century. But Tony came out of nowhere, blasting Killian's flank and ripping the shield away from him.
"You're not worthy of holding this," he said and tossed it back at Steve as he stood on Killian to keep him from escaping again.
"Lady Dominatrix, I've got another one for you to string up!" he shouted back at Hermione.
A spell flew by, missing Tony by a hair, but hitting Killian who was covered in thick chains from ankles to neck.
"Tony, I swear, if you call me that one more time…" she threatened.
"Is that all of them?" Steve asked Tony's friend, since he seemed to have been there longer than them.
"Must be more guards around," he said. "They've got fire hands, did you see?"
"Sure did, pal," Tony said. "Still doesn't explain how they caught you."
"They tricked me!"
"That's worse," Tony chuckled.
"Uh, guys?" Hermione said as she pointed her wand at Kilian, raising a shield between him and them.
Fire splashed against the blueish magical shield and by the time it dispersed, Killian was up and at them. Again.
"What is wrong with him?" Tony muttered, blasting him a second time.
But Killian was starting to glow again from within, the rich orange lighting his chest moving up his throat. Wait… he didn't breathe fire, did he? In doubt, Steve took over from Hermione, shoving his shield right up Killian's mouth when fire did burst out of it.
"Holy shit," he heard Tony exclaim and he couldn't agree more.
Whether getting hit by his own flames created a chain reaction, or if he just imploded from using too much of his unstable powers, Steve did not know, but he warned the others he was about to explode.
"Run!" he said.
Although fly and teleport would have been more accurate. They made it out of the mansion in the nick of time, but Killian exploded, and then so did his soldiers. So it had to have been a chain reaction after all. He wasn't all that sorry they were all dead. They apparently had no way of keeping them prisoners anyway.
Hermione spotted Tony and his friend flying around and waved at them. As soon as he landed, Tony confirmed there were no survivors in the west wing, although the fake Mandarin was fast asleep in the main building. There was only the Pepper situation to resolve now, so Steve called Bucky on his mirror, glad that he answered this time.
"Did you get Pepper out?" he asked immediately before Tony had the bad idea of snatching his mirror from him.
"Yeah, but I had to let a bunch of fire breathing maniacs behind. Miss Potts is not doing so well either, but I can't take her to a hospital. They were saying she might implode too…"
Bucky looked shifty.
"Where are you?"
"A secluded place. I'm trying to get her temperature down if that's all I can do for her, but I'd appreciate a hand. Maybe Hermione can magic her better."
Hermione peeked at the mirror upon hearing her name.
"Got a visual for me, Buck?"
Bucky turned the mirror, showing a dark underground room with what looked like an operating table, holding cells and broken cryo tubes that were a bit too familiar.
"Is that an old HYDRA facility?" Hermione asked.
Steve knew it was without hearing Bucky's agreement. They all looked about the same. In fact, this could be one of those they raided themselves, and he would not be surprised if it was. They did contain a whole array of medical supplies and even cooling agents, which, for a person who was burning up, could be life saving. Bucky was smart, but it had to have cost him to go there willingly seeking for shelter.
"Fine, I'll be there shortly," Hermione said.
She turned to look at Tony, eyes fixed on the brilliant arc reactor.
"I'm sorry I can't take you there," she said, then fished out her own mirror from her pocket and handed it to him. "I'll keep in touch."
Tony nodded stiffly, his jaw locked. It had to be hard to accept. Hermione then squeezed his hand, let go and disappeared with a subdued crack in the air.
"I'll deal with SHIELD to clean up this mess," Steve offered. "I'll let you guys head home to wait for news."
Tony nodded, face grim with worry. His friend nudged him along and the last Steve heard, they were discussing stealing a boat to get home.