Spoiler Alert:
If you haven't seen Infinity War yet and don't want any spoilers, you should know there are definitely rather major spoilers ahead!
"Yes, Mr. Secretary, what can I do for you?" Tony said into the receiver. Sarcasm danced in his tone as he plastered a fake smile on his face upon answering the phone, making his tone sound more jovial than he felt.
"I don't have time for your attitude, Stark," Ross shot, causing a smirk to deepen onto Tony's face.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware I had to adapt my attitude to your time table. You called me, what do you need?" Tony asked bluntly.
The long sigh only amused Tony more, and he pulled the receiver away from his ear for a moment. An annoyance at the man burrowed under his skin, and rage burned in his stomach at the man's voice. Any chance to irritate the man, Tony was going to run with it.
He lived to irritate people anyway, but there was something more to this after everything the man had done. Was it because he had lied to him, or was it because of what he had done to Captain America? It was hard for Tony to say, exactly, but if he were going to wager, he'd have to admit it was likely because of what he had done to Steve.
Not that he would admit that to anyone, especially Mr. Star Spangled Man with a plan himself.
"I am sure you've heard about the situation going on in all the major cities," Ross started, his voice cautious.
"Of course, the issue everyone is going 'gee, why aren't they calling in the Avengers?' about, right? Really, we've been wondering the same thing!" Tony retorted, a scathing tone scratching the surface.
"Yes, well, we have our reasons," Ross replied with heat. "However, it might be necessary to call you in. Also, something you might want to know, Steve Rogers somehow escaped our facility."
Tony paused for a moment, taking the time to work up the appropriate amount of surprise in his tone. "What?" He responded after a moment, "how in the world did he escape?"
"We're still trying to figure that out, as of right now the circumstances are mysterious," Ross said dryly. "It seems someone might have broken him out, you have no idea who those people might have been, do you?"
"Why would I know? You know my team are all on the straight and narrow," Tony pushed an offended pitch into his voice.
"Half of them used to be on Steve Rogers side."
"Used to be," Tony emphasized. "What are you doing to find him?"
"Yes, well," Ross moved on, never releasing his obvious skepticism, "we're searching for Rogers now. We're not requiring your help for that, not after the terrible job you did before. It's too personal for you. But your team may well be needed to bring these soldiers in, they're more than anyone else can handle."
"Clearly."
"We'll let you know the details when we can," there was an unmistakable growl in the mans tone, and Tony smirked again. "Goodbye, Mr. Stark." It seemed as if the man was so irritated, he was willing to cut the conversation short.
Before Tony could respond the call disconnected, and left him even more amused that the man was as angry as he was. He had every reason to be, it was obvious his experiments were the ones tearing up the town. And now on top of that, his golden goose had disappeared.
Tony couldn't be happier about ripping that power out of the mans clutches, Steve or no Steve, the man didn't deserve that kind of power. Now if only he could figure out what to do about Captain America, the day might actually go better.
He walked out of the room with a slow pace, turning his thoughts back to the Captain and dreading the idea of going back to actually talk to him.
He had never imagined a day when the man would shut down as he had, he could see why the team were worried about the man who was typically hard as steel. But even steel could break, Tony knew that, and Steve wasn't unbreakable as difficult as it was to believe. Captain America, Steve Rogers, had broken.
How was Tony supposed to fix him when he had a hand in breaking him to begin with? Why would the man want his help when he rejected everyone else? The only answer he could come up with was his knowledge of the events that had broken him to begin with.
It was still not in him to want to help the man. Tony was hurt too, and it was difficult to forgive what the man who had never actually been his friend had done. He still felt bitter, hurt, angry, and perhaps a little broken himself.
Then again, he had always been broken, for so many years he had been. It was hard to remember a time where he hadn't, and maybe in reality he always had been.
Taking a breath, he sat down against the wall in the hallway, pushing his back against it with his head in his hands as he sucked deep breaths into his lungs. Stress building in his chest as he thought of this new burden of fixing an unbreakable super hero on top of fixing everything else. Fixing his other friendships, fixing Ross's problems, failing constantly to fix himself.
Tony wasn't sure he could handle the extra burden that Captain America offered when he was a step away from being shattered himself. But then, Tony was a fixer, what else was he going to do but try?
"I don't feel so good."
Terror shot through Tony Stark's heart as he heard the words erupt from the kid after watching everyone else vanish around them.
"You're alright," he said, and then the boy collapsed into him and hung on with all his might. The teenager clung to him like a helpless child and Tony found he didn't believe his own words. He knew what was happening and so did Peter.
"I don't wanna go. Mr Stark, please, I don't wanna go!" The boy begged. Tony's heart shattered, his mind reeled and his body ached, he wanted to stop it, he needed to stop it. But he couldn't stop it, there was nothing he could do as he clutched the boy and lowered him gently to the ground.
The kid was dying. Peter Parker was fading away in his arms and he couldn't stop it. Helplessness danced in his chest as he stared down at the hero he felt partly responsible for creating. If it weren't for him, the kid wouldn't be here at all. Maybe he would have been okay if he had been at home, maybe...
"I'm sorry," the choked words came and before Tony knew it all that was left was dust flowing through his hands as he grasped the air. His body slumped forward, loss and agony ripping through his chest in a way he wasn't sure he had ever felt before.
Peter was only a child, and he was gone. Everyone was gone and here he was, trapped on the decimated planet of the Titans alone.
Tony had no way of knowing who was left on earth. All he knew was that despite what Strange had said, they had lost and it was over. His worst nightmare had come true, as he had always known that it would.
"Tony?" A voice erupted through the air of the planet and Tony's head jerked to the side, searching desperately for the owner. It sounded vaguely familiar, it almost sounded like...
"Tony!" The voice tore through his mind, jarring him completely awake.
Tony shot up, away from the wall, gasping for air and throwing his arms out, subconsciously waiting for his armor. He froze when he realized he had fallen asleep pushed against the hallway wall, stress and exhaustion getting the better of him.
What a nightmare that had been.
Cranking his neck he stared at the super soldier looming above him, looking down at him with hesitance.
"Are you okay?" Concern was clear on his face as he bit the inside of his lip, looking down at the scientist carefully.
"I... yeah, I'm fine, Cap," Tony muttered, trying to get his bearings back as he stood to his feet in the real word. A nagging voice in the back of his head told him he needed to call the kid and be certain that all was well with him. The vision of him devolving in his hands dancing across his memory and causing him to shudder.
"Did you have a nightmare?" The hesitation in Cap's voice gave Tony pause as he looked at the man. He almost seemed afraid to engage Tony on a sensitive matter, and after everything he had a reason to be a little leery, how could Tony blame him?
"Yeah, it was pretty intense," he admitted, trying to school his features and keep any irritation that might have been bubbling to the surface out of his tone completely.
"What happened?"
"End of the world type stuff, you know how it is," Tony groaned, shaking his head.
"Yeah," Steve agreed, nodding his head.
"How long have I been out? Feels like an eternity," he mentioned, stretching the muscles in his back out. A sore, dull ache ran down his back and he grimaced, trying to rub the pain away.
"I'm not really sure, it's been a few hours since I saw you last."
"What time is it?" Tony asked, glancing down at his own watch and nodding his head. "Geez, it actually has been a while, no wonder my back is killing me."
"Your body probably gave in to exhaustion," Steve said, sounding a bit unsure.
"What, the same way yours is going to give in to starvation?" Tony shot, looking up at the man with criticism and crossing his arms, remembering their prior conversation. The dream bled away from his memory as he focused on the task at hand. Though he determined with himself that he would be calling young Peter Parker as soon as Captain America was out of earshot.
Steve looked as if he were caught off guard and he shrugged, glancing downward at his own form. "I'm okay," he said.
"Cap, we talked about that already, you are not okay," he said, trying to keep an annoyed growl out of his voice.
"What did Secretary Ross want?"
"Don't change the subject!" Tony raised his voice dripping with heat, irritated at the blatant topic shift.
"It must have been important, wasn't it?" Steve shifted, looking down at the floor and studying it.
"Look at me, Rogers," Tony demanded, standing firm and glaring at the man in front of him, willing him to look.
Slowly Steve lifted his head, defeat written on his features as he locked eyes with the man in front of him and bit back a sigh. He pulled his shoulders back, bracing himself, and already Tony could see that the man looked ready for war. War with him, again. It was clear he believed Tony was going to tear into him, and all at once Tony realized he was going to have to be more careful and tactful with the man who had been a soldier. He was used to Tony lashing out and attacking him. It had become typical for him to do so no matter the circumstances, even before their falling out.
No wonder it seemed like they never got anywhere, they honestly never had. It was a vicious cycle between them, one that Steve now all but refused to take part in, that must be why the man had been reluctant to talk to him at all.
"I'm not going to tear into you," Tony defended, looking at him dead in the face. "I want to help honestly, I want to help you, Cap. Can you let me help instead of running me in this same circle you're running everyone else in? You want to start over, don't you?"
Guilt flashed across the super soldiers face and Tony knew his rather manipulative words were hitting their mark as he intended.
"I do want to start over," Steve responded, chewing on his bottom lip. "I don't know what to say, Tony."
Tony let out a long, drawn out sigh, running a hand over his face as he contemplated. "Yeah, I guess I understand that."
Silence extended between the two. Steve shifted awkwardly, glancing over his shoulder and looking as if he wished to be anywhere but where he currently was. Finally the man let out a breath, allowing his shoulders to slump and his lips to thin into a line.
"I'm tired," he supplied, after several moments of silence.
Now that was a feeling Tony could relate to, he knew a thing or two about being tired and he could read between the lines of what Steve meant. He didn't mean he was physically tired, though it appeared he was that as well. He was emotionally and mentally tired, he was drained, he had little to nothing left to give. Tony knew how that felt better than anyone.
"Yeah? Care to expound, Capsicle?" The nickname slipped out before Tony had the time to put much thought into it, but he didn't miss the small flinch that danced across the super soldiers features.
"Are you ever going to call me by my name again?" Came the soft question after a few moments.
"What, Rogers?" Tony shot, giving the man a dry look.
Steve sighed, and after a moment he nodded firmly as he began to trek back down the hallway, leaving the genius a bit surprised and staring after him.
"Where are you going, what makes you think this conversation is over?" Tony remarked, yelling after the man.
"It's over," Steve said, his tone dismal and a sad sounding acceptance etching into his voice. "I'm coming to accept that it's over."
It wasn't hard to hear the double meaning behind his words, and Tony knew he had said the wrong thing. He had made the entire situation worse, again.
But something held him, rooted in place as he watched the super soldiers back as the defeated man slowly trudged down the hallway. Whether it was pride, bitterness, a combination of all of them, he didn't know, but he couldn't bring himself to follow him.
He did know what the man was going through, truly he did, and he felt for him. The entire situation was growing as complicated as the emotions wrenching in his chest. Emotions that should be on opposite sides of the spectrum danced together and made him feel sick.
Anger, pity, bitterness, a feeling that he should be able to help the man that was obviously shattering before their eyes. But a desire to do anything but help the man who had hurt him so badly. He didn't know what it was going to take to win the war that raged in his mind, but he knew in order to fix this he was going to have to fight his own demons first, starting with the easiest solution to the problem.
Finding out if the Winter Soldier was actually dead.
Authors Note:
I'm not gonna lie this chapter was sort of my own therapy after Infinity War. I loved the movie it, was fantastic but it was terrible at the same time and SHEESH it was rough, haha! Especially the scene with Spiderman! Can't wait for Avengers 4, I need answers! But until then, I'll vent my frustrations via fanfiction, the movie was a good motivator for this chapter. =)