Tony drew in hard ragged breaths, ignoring how they whistled in his dry throat, ignoring the crisp air that made his lungs burn, he kept breathing hoping the pain would stop even as Steve and his... friend left, Tony hated that man, if he even was one, He hated James Barnes with every single carbon fiber of his figure, he hated what that man did to him, and it drove Tony mad to think that he had gotten away, he was gone now, leaving Tony to rot as he stole Steve just as he had stolen the lives of his parents, Tony could still see his metal arm, shimmering in the cold air, he could see it coming down, and coming down, and coming down over... and over... and over again, he could see it tearing into the Iron suit he had made, Tony hated a lot of things in life, his past, his present, and now his future, he was stuck on this loop of hate, and he couldn't get out. Tony only ever loved one thing, and that was Pepper, He didn't care if she was halfway across the globe right now in some meeting. He still loved her, even if she had gone away to get away from him.
He let out an exhausted sigh, he just wanted to sleep... and sleep... and sleep again, he just wanted to fall into that lovely abyss he knew as his only escape, from both the world and himself, Tony wanted to let the abyss take him, he wanted to sleep until the world ended, and hopefully, it would take him too, Tony hated that he wasn't fast enough to catch Rhodes, or how Vision had suffered the guilt of losing, he hated that he lost, and he hated that his suit was gone, broken, battered, pattered with his blood that had been forced from his body, he knew the suit had dug into his chest, he knew that there was a wound there, a wound that was both spiritual and real, seeing that he was still coughing up his blood, Tony knew that this wound wouldn't heal until that bastard Barnes was either dead or close to it, and Tony held onto that. The only thing keeping him awake and alive was his hate, his burning hot anger that kept him warm even as the temperature dropped by the hour.
Tony wanted to go home, go home and hug Pepper, hug Rhodes, give Happy a hug, then begin his hunt on the Rogues, as he called them because they were, Avengers that were misleading, Avengers that acted upon that misleading thought, Avengers that injured others with that misleading thought, They hurt him, and Rhodey and Vision, Natasha was on the run, and Steve, Sam, Clint, Wanda, and... Barnes was out there, probably united by now, their quinjet probably already at their destination.
Tony shifted in his spot, his tail-bone beginning to ache, so he could add that to his list of misery, he didn't know how long he sat there, but it went by fast, his thoughts already too cramped to fit in his brain and he let closed his eyes and arched his neck, letting his head clang on the metal wall that kept him upright, it made his head throb and he let out an exasperated moan, trying not to full out sob, god dammit he was Tony Fucking Stark, and he'd go through hell and back before he let tears slip his eyes.
The light from the holes in the walls supplied him with a general sense of time, and he knew that it was beginning to get dark when the room dimmed and he felt fearful for his life, he hadn't been able to move for the last few hours and he knew that it was going to bleed out if he didn't get help soon, He felt his eyes droop and Tony let out a panicked breath, he tried shifting his arms to keep his eyes open, but his fingers didn't seem to work and by the time he got them up to his face to rub the burning out of his eyelids he practically poked himself in the eye trying to shift his hands.
Tony let the night encompass him, and he let out a small breath as the room around him became darker, until he couldn't see his surroundings, the panic that filled him was almost as if someone had injected it into him, he had never been afraid of the dark as a child, fear was silly and only distracted you from the things you need, but after the wormhole, where all he could see was the midnight of space, he never got good sleep, he never did, the fear of a new invasion stressed himself greatly, and he found that he was getting behind in his work because he ran on coffee 24/7 and the sudden fear grabbed ahold of his brain, refusing to let it go even as he reassured himself, took in deep calming breaths, he couldn't stop feeling as if he was about to go down one of those sudden drops on rollercoasters.
Tony knew that the world around him had changed, the aliens that had spilled from the skies was something that everyone remembered, everyone knew it was there, the ominous threat that hung over the shoulders of the world, that someday something would be back to wage war against earth, they knew it was coming back, but it was they're choice whether or not they let this thing keep them scared, they relied too heavily on the Avengers if something were to attack they would lose, it was so easily said that they would be losing to something if it attacked, that ship, was only one ship, and it still decimated New York, that ship was as if the enemy was asking if Earth wanted a sample, or the whole damn scoop, and when the aliens came back, they would be back with more, probably more than they could handle.
He didn't know how long he spent, curled in the corner of the wall, eyeing the space around him lost in thought when he noticed the giant yellow eyes in the far corner, they were huge, staring straight at him, almost as if they were staring straight into him, and Tony felt his heart speed up inside his chest, he could hear its thrums from inside his head, the pounding of it keeping his eyes open but only by a little, he knew if he fell asleep that thing would get him, and Tony urged himself to stay awake.
The eyes followed him even as the creature shifted around him, Tony let out a shuddered breath and he heard it growl, he felt sick, his eyes burning with such intensity that he assumed if he kept them open they would burst into flames, but he didn't dare shut them, the creature was there, and he could barely see it. He knew it would attack at any second and he braced for that, planning on ejecting the armor even if it were painful, and letting the creature attack that instead, but Tony could barely breathe, let alone shift his arms in the slightest, He watched as the eyes moved, almost as the creature was crouching, or resting and he felt his heartbeat faster, what it could do, what it would do if it caught him in its grasp.
His eyes shuddered and he gulped down a breath as he thought of the pain that would soon follow, he was going to sleep, it was going to happen soon, such a sickening thought, and it hurt him to think about, he could hear the creature's breath, almost calming in another situation, the rhythm only aiding in his bodies hope to get Tony to sleep, it was almost as if he was the boulder, preventing his body to sleep, and his body pushing against that boulder with every ounce of strength it had, he knew the boulder would move, it always did, and the amount of melatonin his body was producing just to get him to close his eyes was probably lethal.
He readied himself, letting out a small breath before he felt his eyes droop, his throat closed up and he could almost hear the beast grin, it's menacing gaze blinking only once before he heard snow crunch, and he could feel the hot breath of his attacker.
Tony wasn't ready for the loud clicking of something that burst out of nowhere, the clicking echoed in the room, almost like a melody of something beautiful, and Tony was glad he got to hear it before he died, he was too out of it to think about the source of the noise, perhaps it was Barnes, or Steve coming back to take him, but nonetheless he felt content, even as he heard the beast in front of him stiffen, he could hear its breaths coming in faster now, blowing his sopping hair back until the beast in front of him was no longer there.
he heard the pained yelp it gave as something slammed into it, the skidding of snow as it scrambled to get up, only to be smacked back down, the fear in its breathing seemed to stop as the animal in it took over, the thing roared, blinking its yellow eyes open to attack back, and the creature that hit it first let out a scream, and grunt as the two exchanged hits, he couldn't see anything except for whenever the creatures moved in front of the holes he could barely make them out. It wasn't until he heard the panicked yell of one of the two before it scrambled off, he drifted off, not caring which creature it was.
...
He felt refreshed when he awoke, the burning behind his eyes was replaced with a cool wave, he felt lighter, as if he could stand up, and Tony believed he was dead, the light in his face stung painfully, and he raised a shaking hand to block the bright cold from his view, it was too bright, but snow and sun never was a good mix, whether it was slush that blocked the roads and caused accidents, or it was the blinding light when one exited the house, it hurt Tony to see, but he wasn't angry at this, he was dead, Tony had to be, whatever was in the bunker with him last night killed him, it had turned around right after it chased off the other and killed him, he had died in Siberia, as the Billianare, Playboy, Philanthropist, Hero as he had always been, except for the hero part, no Tony was dead and he died alone, alone without Pepper, or Rhodey, he had died by the hand of a beast, who was aided by Captain America himself.
Tony scoffed at the irony, yeah Mr. Perfect would get some of the blame, seeing that he injured Tony severely, to the fact that he couldn't fight back due to his injuries that he and his friend gave to him, Tony was dead and it was Steve's fault.
It wasn't until the severe back pain that came with aging, and the aches and cramps came back did he realize that he wasn't dead, he blinked his eyes open, mindful of the bright light, and looked around, the room was the same, he had gotten rather familiar with its walls, and the slits filtered in the light that so harshly stung his eyes, he blinked rubbing at them with his hand, It wasn't very painful except for the sharp ache in his chest from his wound every time he took in a breath, Tony sighed with relief, wincing at the pain before a grin took over the lower half of his face, Tony Stark wasn't dead, the shock in that thought overtook him and he stopped smiling, struggling to sit up from where he had laid down, his neck twinging from where it's position had been, bent across the cold metal, and straightened it, ignoring the number of pops that it gave as he did so.
He paused when he looked down at the floor, despite the fresh coat of snow that had settled on the floor there were chops of shiny metal poking through, the ground was littered with jagged scrapes of areas that had barely any snow, and littered with footprints that looked canine to him, he thought back to the events that happened last night, the wolf? Siberia had wolves, didn't it? it definitely wasn't a coyote or wild dog, so he assumed that is was one, the footprints had paw-pads, four of them minus the small circles of snow that had definitely been where its claws had been, he shivered at the thought, god he was so cold, Tonys limbs felt like rubber noodles, rubber noodles that had been stuck in the freezer overnight, he was cold, too cold in the suit but it wasn't much better, Tony didn't even know how he hadn't frozen to death, but he was cold, so very cold.
The clicking came back to him, and as he remembered it he scouted the floor to find evidence of the one who had saved him from his unfortunate demise, the one who had fought off the wolf. That thing, the thing that had saved him left small hoove like prints, they looked almost horse-like, and he waved off the thought, a new one presenting itself in his mind, what was it, something had helped him and he felt extreme gratitude towards it.
It wasn't until the creature shifted in where it lay that Tony noticed it, it lay curled up in the corner of the room, he couldn't tell what it was, or if it was the creature that had tried to hurt him last night, it lay limp in the snow, a shallow wall of snow blocked it from his view, and he looked at it curiously, eyeing the thing like it was a ticking time bomb, it lay still, its figure rising with each breath it took, and Tony looked away, breathing heavily as the pain in his chest grew, he didn't realize there was blood on the floor until he looked down at it, watching the snow that held maroon droplets that scattered across the ground.
He was happy that the vultures weren't here to take pictures of him with their cameras, he was glad that they weren't forcing themselves everywhere to get the scoop, the thing they wanted most, he was thankful that this wasn't being broadcasted everywhere, he didn't need the added sympathy of the millions that supported them, and he sure as hell didn't want the apologies from the two idiots that thought they were doing the right thing, god he hated Barnes, he hated Steve, they had hurt him, they hurt Rhodey, they hurt Vision, they gave him the added grief that he didn't deserve. It was a trap the whole time, a trap that gave him new information, not only had Barnes hurt hundreds but also killed hundreds.. he killed Howard Stark and Maria Stark, one of the most influential couples of the world, Tony clenched his fists, god his chest hurt.
He let out a choked cough, his eyes widening in horror as the noise bounced along the walls of the bunker, sharp and crisp, it rang around the room and the creature groaned, a pair of thin legs were lifted into the air, tan brown, crisscrossed with black stripes running along their length, and they hung in the air, the creature let out a pained groan that sounded to humane for Tony's liking, and he let out a shiver, that turned into a sharp intake of breath as his chest twinged painfully. Tony needed a release, something to let his heart flow freely, keep it happy, keep himself happy and alive, and free. As he did when the pain from his arc reactor woke him from Pepper's side, he would go downstairs, to the grand piano that sat in his workplace, and he would sing, he would sing until he felt wild, he would sing until the pain was gone, he would sing his heart out to the loud echo of his workshop, he would sing to DUM-E and Jarvis, and he would sing.
Tony took in a slow shaking breath, letting it back out with a whistle, and the whistle grew, grew into his tune, his favorite song, "I wish I..." His voice rang through the bunker, echoing with the walls, the walls that he had grown so familiar with, "... Could do better by... you cause that's... what you deserve," His voice was husky and pained as his chest ached horribly, "You sacrifice, so much of your life... just for this to work," Tony slipped his eyes closed and thought of Pepper, his Pepper, this song reminded him of her so much it was painful, he could remember her like he could see clearly, "While I'm off chasing my own dreams..." He could see her, Pepper, rolling her eyes fondly at the sight of him with that god awful rabbit, and here again, Pepper, eyes closed dancing with him in their Mailbu home, humming quietly to 'Put Your Head On My Shoulder' by Paul Anka, "Sailing around the world... please know that I'm yours to keep... my beautiful girl," He pictured her in his mind, laughing, and his voice mellowed into something America's Got Talent worthy, or that's what he thought, well if being a billionaire didn't work out.
His song rang through the bunker, the pitches smoothing out like water flowing down a stream, the hiccups softening into something beautiful filled the air, a feeling, the one he got when he sang, a feeling like you were being sheltered by the strongest shields, and you were safe, no matter where you were, you were safe. He sang louder, letting it echo around him.
God he missed his piano, the grand masterpiece given and taught to him by his mother, her warm smile as he played out the song, sitting next to her, he learned this song years ago, he could picture the keys bending to his will as the tune played out from the piano, the notes coming to him by memory as his fingers, encased in metal tapped out the rhythm that he sang out.
"And when you cry, a piece of my whole dies... knowing that I may have been the cause, If you were to leave fulfill someone else's dream I think I might totally be lost," Suddenly he was crouched on the catwalk, watching as Pepper's hand slipped from his and the encompass of dread filled through his every nerve, the sickening fear he felt as she disappeared into the flames below him, him shouting her name as she fell.
He prepared himself for the next verse, his chest pain easing as he sucked in another breath, "You don't ask for no diamond rings... no delicate strings of pearls, that's why I owe this song to you... my beautiful girl," Tony hums out the melody, his voice filled with such soul and youth it could bring tears to his eyes, the only time he ever cried was when he sang, and he sang. Tony let his head rest against the metal wall with a soft clang as he continued the song, recounting the memories in his past, his fists clenching when Steve appeared in that memory, they were watching a movie in the tower, 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' it had been Natasha's choice, she had always had such great taste in movies, and he sang out as the images flashed through his eyes, they had laughed as King Arthur traveled the land looking for others to join him, Tony dying of laughter when Clint had cheekily said that Arthur and Fury would have gotten together well.
He sang out the rest of his song, letting the tune die on his lips as the song slowed to an end, the feeling drifting off, his eyes staying closed until the last of it rang out through his head. Tony opened his eyes and promptly choked on whatever saliva he had been able to produce, his eyes bugging out at the sight of the creature or rather who had sat up. There was a human, looking straight at him, no not completely a human, well half of a human that was staring at him with brilliant blue eyes, they looked at him with such awe, but this kid, this person had half an equine body under his waist, a tan gold pelt stretching over the kid's body, and it ended at the kid's abdomen that stretched into a normal human, except for the slightly larger ears that stuck out of his curly hair that bounced on his head.
This kid had to have been 7 years old, he couldn't have been much older, the kid's brilliant blue eyes stared into his brown ones and he cringed slightly, this kid, this child was something that came out of a Mythical Beasts book, one that he as a brilliant 4-year-old had owned, Tony as a child had gotten one as a birthday present and he had spent hours up at night, fingers trailing the pages softly as he flicked through them, this kid was a Centaur
"That was so pretty" The Centaur croaked out, his voice pitching at the slight raise in tone that all young kids had, and Tony almost passed out, the warmth in his voice was a vast difference to the way the last person had spoken to him, Tony let out a choked noise, this kid was so young, he was small in size and he looked so tiny laying in the cold snow, his front legs pulled under his body, the others sprawled to the side as the kid eyed him, "I've never heard someone sing before," He said softly, looking down at his side, and Tony watched as his tail flicked, spraying snow across the ground, He looked back up and eyed Tony suspiciously, "So... um what did they do to you?"
Tony blinked at the question, eyeing the small curled up shape that was this kid, and he cleared his throat awkwardly "Uh Pardon?" The little boy tilted his head at the man, and Tony felt stupid. The wind whistled through the hole in the wall and the Centaur curled himself closer to the wall, his pelt twitching at the snowflakes that fell on top of him.
The Centaur giggled, "You talk funny, I meant what did they do to you?"
Tony felt confusion spread through his numb body and he looked up at the kid, "Who?"
He frowned at the question, using a hoof to paw at the metal floor, "The umm, the Scientists, or what did they call themselves? Hydro?" He shrugged it off and scraped some of the snow off the ground, "My Scientist was Richard, he was the one that fused me with the horse and that spider, They called me Project A.S.L.A.N but Richard called me Peter, What was that song you sang? it was really pretty."
"The Girl by City and Colour," He said immediately not really paying attention to where the conversation was going, Tony felt anger rise and he clenched his fists, biting at his lip to prevent himself from swearing colorfully, the disgust he felt towards the organization only rising at the thought of them doing experiments on a fucking KID! he was probably stolen from a family that he loved, and when did they even start? the thought sending bile up to his throat and he swallowed it down, "Peter right?" At Peter's nod, he continued, "How old are you? What is Project A.S.L.A.N?"
"Richard said I was 6 last time I saw him, and then they put me in the tub and I slept for a really long time, when I got out I found you, and one of Mary's Wolves: Tibetus but I fought him off, it was SO cool!, and A.S.L.A.N is what they called me they never told me why, but I'll figure it out, Richard said I'm really smart!" Peter said proudly, raising his arms in excitement as he pointed to his brain, "You never answered my question, what did your Scientist do to you" He crossed his arms looking at Tony's broken suit with a slight distaste, he wrinkled his nose "That is really stinky, smells like bad. Did they do something to make you stinky?"
Tony looked up from Peter's small form and looked at the kid, sudden guilt overtook him and he pulled his gaze away, Tony should have been here earlier, he should have come before all this shit and helped him, this poor kid had suffered because he was too busy with finding the hottest girl to sleep with.
Peter looked at him with a mixture of worry and panic, and Tony felt bad, he was about to say something when Peter cut him off looking stressed, "Did I make you sad?" Peter's lip quivered, "Amy said if I made someone sad they would hurt me, but I didn't mean to! I'm sorry I thought you were like Bucky, please don't tell." Tony stiffened and Peter cowered against the wall, "Please don't tell them, I really am sorry."
"You know Barnes?" Tony croaked out, he couldn't say much more seeing that it just stuck to the top of his mouth and he swallowed, the memory of his arm coming back sharper and unanticipated, and he watched helplessly as the metal, came down... came down... came down...
"Bucky? yeah he helped train me, I was supposed to be a super cool stealth assassin but Bucky said he'd train me later, but the Scientists wanted me to train now, and Bucky said no, he said no and they put him in the tub, because of me!" Peter's lip pouted out as when kids do and Tony felt real, in that moment he felt real like he could help, and Tony straightened up.
"Okay, Kiddo put that pout back in your face," He put a warm smile on your face, "I need you to be brave so we can get out of here, okay?" Peter nodded wiping an arm over his face to stop the trail of snot that threatened to slip down his face, He swiped his tail over the ground and pulled his thin hooves closer to his body.
"Okay mister"
"Call me Tony," He replied smoothly, giving Peter a smirk, "I'm the big metal guy they call Ironman, you heard of me?"
"No, but I think I will soon Mister Tony," Peter said slyly, pulling himself upright, and Tony took in the dappled tan that darkened around the spine, a long stripe going down the length of it, the kid's horse body was slightly bigger than his human side, and Peter shook his pelt, ridding it of the cold damp snow.
Tony smiled and pointed at his helmet that lay close by, having been knocked off during the fight, He knew FRIDAY could contact Happy and Pepper if he pressed a button on the back, and he needed it to get them out, Peter hesitated, god this kid reminded him of Harley, "I need you to pick that thing up and give it to me, you got that?" Peter nodded and took a small step forward, his legs shaking under his weight and he steadied himself before taking another, his hooves clicking on the metal, and along with the crunch of snow he shivered, marching forward before going the rest of the way, he stood halfway over to the helmet, eyeing Tony suspiciously, He paused for a moment.
"Will you take me with you?" He asked, his voice quivering, "And will you teach me to sing?" He added hopefully, his electric blue eyes gleaming against the dull room, Tony nodded, giving him a thumbs-up before Tony began pulling at the armor that surrounded him, the suit snapping open and he gasped out when the metal pulled on his chest, the pain flooding through his body, sharp and white. Peter was by his side in an instant, in his arm held the red and gold helmet that he needed.
"You're bleeding really badly Mister Tony," Peter said pressing a cold hand onto Tony's chest, glancing at the billionaire worriedly, "I can help if you want it."
Tony nodded, taking the gold helmet while Peter worked at his wound, and Tony paused to look at what Peter was doing, watching as Peter pulled out a sticky strand of material from under his wrist, and he applied it gently to the wound that Tony had, looking up at Tony's wide eyes and agape mouth.
"I have this sticky stuff" He supplied, wrapping the strands around Tony as he worked on getting the wound closed, Tony, let out a small breath as he watched the pruned flesh slowly stop bleeding.
"You... keep... doing ergh that kid, I'll get us out of here." Tony pressed the button behind the helmet, hearing the slight click he set it back down and watched as a red beeping light shone through the right temple, "We are... set"
...
Pepper was talking on the phone with her PA when she got the notification: Tony Hurt... Siberia... Chest Wound, She felt her heart quicken as her eyes slid along the text, 3...4... 7 times, until the message seemed to finally hit her brain, and she sat up straight in her chair, leaning against the back of it as she took shallow, and fast breaths, the panic setting in as she abruptly ended the call, much to Leslie's confusion. And stood up, immediately dialing Rhodey, she watched with bated breath as the dial tone set long and slow throughout the room.
The glass windows of her office shown with bright stars, and the full moon almost brightened the room as good as it did during the day, the one lamp she kept on her office next to her laptop, the illuminating yellow light seeming to bright for her, and she closed her eyes, swallowing dryly as she listened to the tone beep, and beep, and beep. the loud noise almost deafening to her and her heart rate picked up when his voicemail came on, She expected his normal, 'This is Coronel Rhodes leave a message' but instead she was greeted with Tony's voice, his voice rang out full of humor and laughter, "This is Honeybear! I would be so happy if you could not call me back because I am a filthy liar" and then Rhodey's voice rang out after a few seconds "TONY GIVE ME BACK MY PH-" The voicemail ended and Pepper was left with wet eyes, and a small choked sob caught in her throat, she gulped it down and set the phone back with shaky hands.
Tony... Tony... Tony was all that rang through her mind, it was just Tony that she needed to her again, Tony that she needed to know he was safe, what had happened, how had it happened, he had a practically indestructable suit on him, and he was hurt, the civil war the Avengers were going through at the moment was bad, it was bad enough that Rhodey was probably paralyzed or that someone could have died, but the side against the accords were what the media called The Rogues, they had hurt others and they should be in jail for it, and they were Clint, Sam, Wanda, and Lang but twenty four hours after they were detained at the raft, the two Captain and Barnes had gotten them out, the quinjet that was stolen from Tony had taken them to the raft and they had set them free, and it was scary to know that this had happened, it was all over the headlines, and according to inside sources, they made it seem as if Tony was coming back, when in reality it was just them, it had been them all along, and the only reason why they got out is because *wanda*
Pepper clenched her fists and picked up the phone, it's sleek black case sparkled with the Stark Industries brand name and she sighed, turning it on and completing the fingerprint scan, she dialed for Happy and waited to listen once again to the sound of the dial tone, but this time Happy picked up.
"Pepper!? Did you get the notification too?" He asked, his gruff voice sounding worried at the thought that Tony was hurt, "I'm on a plane at the moment on my way to pick him up," Pepper let out a sigh of relief, and rubbed at her temples with her free hand.
"Good, okay... um I'll fly over to the compound as soon as possible and get Cho in to help with his recovery, did FRIDAY send you anything else on his condition?" She began packing up her things, her computer screen brightening as she sat down, her fingers furiously typing out Emails to the meetings she had as she was the CEO, Pepper cleared her schedule, while Happy made his way to Siberia.