Search and Retrieve
Part 3
It doesn't take the small group long to be on their way. Tony is settled in the small med bay – Natasha hooks up an IV drip with expert fingers, but Steve still wishes that they had a doctor with them.
"Bruce should have come instead of me." He states with a shake of his head; his forehead is creased with worry as he watches the spy work over the unconscious billionaire. His coming hadn't been a good idea from the start, he hadn't even spoken to Tony since Siberia – to say relations between them were strained was putting it mildly. Bruce and Pepper had been insistent however, and his need to do something had overridden his own common sense.
Natasha doesn't look up as she replies, "Too risky. We all know that the Hulk has a...unique? bond with Tony. Seeing him hurt – or worse, might've been the only trigger needed to bring him back out."
Picturing the Hulk losing his temper on a small ship in the middle of space causes Steve to shudder, and he hums in reluctant agreement.
Turning away from her patient, Natasha offers him a half-hearted smile. "He's stable and the saline is rehydrating him, I'm pretty sure if he survived for as long as he did out here, that he'll be fine with us for a couple more days. Especially once you consider that we have supplies, heat and plenty of breathable air."
"Have you healed him?" A low voice from the front of the ship asks.
Turning, the two watch as Nebula steps out of the shadows. She doesn't move further in, preferring to stay close to the exit.
"Not exactly," Natasha answers, "He'll need treatment once we get back to our planet – but we have friends that can fix the damage."
Nodding, Nebula seems satisfied with the explanation. "He is fortunate, most beings that cross Thanos don't live to speak about it."
"Will you tell us what happened?" Steve asks.
Leaning against the door frame, Nebula crosses her arms against her chest and gives a curt nod. "I will tell you what I know – but not until you explain who you are."
And so, the two humans and the cyborg settle in to tell their stories – with an unconscious genius in a bed beside them and a racoon piloting the spaceship they are all riding in.
Not for the first time since waking up in this Century, Steve thinks about just how crazy his life has become.
Once they reach Wakanda, Steve and the rest of them are exhausted and drained. Once they see that Tony is in the more than capable hands of Shuri and her team, the group finds the closest piece of furniture in sight and collapse into a hard sleep. Steve stays awake only long enough to call Rhodey and Pepper with an update before joining them.
Several hours later, the Captain finds himself being shaken awake by Okoye, who speaks in a quick, measured tone. "He has responded to the treatment and is recovering well."
The heavy weight on his chest vanishes at this news, and Steve sits up, fully awake and alert. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees that Natasha is also up, her hair is slightly dishevelled, but her eyes are focused. "Is he conscious?" He asks, reaching down for his boots.
Okoye shakes her head, "The treatment was extensive and took a toll, Shuri doesn't expect him to wake for several hours yet."
"Right, okay – hey…where are Rocket and Nebula?" He wonders aloud, sharing a look with Natasha.
"Gone." Okoye states, "They departed soon after your arrival." She hands Steve a piece of scrap paper before she turns to leave the room.
"Okoye," Steve calls to her back, his fingers flipping the small piece of paper over in his hand, "Thank you – tell Shuri too, please."
The warrior pauses for a short second, giving him a silent nod before she disappears through the door.
Natasha moves closer to him so that she has a clear view of the note. Steve unfolds it and reads it out loud regardless.
Need to borrow the ship. Business. We'll be back.
-Rocket
"Tony is gonna be pissed when he finds out." Natasha states, a hint of amusement in her words.
"You think they'll actually come back?" Steve questions doubtfully.
"I don't know – hopefully. We could use all of the allies that we can find." Natasha muses, plucking a piece of lint off her shirt before she stands up. "Come on, lets find some food."
Steve nods, his stomach growling loudly in agreement.
"Pepper is having a jet fly in to pick us up." Natasha announces a short while later, "It'll be here in a few hours." It's perfect timing, Shuri had just been to see them herself, explaining that Tony was up and mobile. In fact, Steve thinks, it's likely that the man had spoken to Pepper himself to arrange the ride home.
"Is she coming to meet us?" Steve asks curiously. He's itching to get back to the States, being in Wakanda again so soon after losing, well everything, is tougher than he wants to admit, and he supposes that Tony is anxious to get home too, after everything that has happened.
"No, she…" Natasha cuts off mid-sentence when her phone sounds off again. Frowning, she looks down at it for a long moment, and Steve can guess what it means. "Clint?" He ventures, once she locks the device and stows it away.
"Just got an alert from one of our old boltholes in Singapore – I need to leave right away, think you can manage Stark solo?"
Ignoring the nervous roll in his stomach, Steve nods confidently. "Yes, of course. Go - bring Clint home."
Natasha isn't fooled, but she doesn't call him out on it. Within moments, she's packed and ready to leave. "I'll be back as soon as I can – see you in New York." With that, the blonde departs, and Steve finds himself facing a long flight back to the Compound with only Tony Stark for company.
Well, this should be interesting.
Later that afternoon, Steve finds himself standing beside an SI jet. Already having said his goodbyes to the few people in Wakanda that he knows personally, he finds himself alone. He isn't waiting long before a sound has him turning and he sees Tony, also alone, walking towards him.
It's the first time Steve has seen him since they'd landed in Wakanda.
The other man is slightly pale, and Steve's sharp eyes easily see the careful way the billionaire is carrying himself – but aside from that, Tony looks much healthier then he had in space. He's talking to someone on a tablet, and he doesn't notice Steve standing there until he's nearly on top of him. "…I know, no Pep, it's okay. Yeah, I love you too, I'll see you soon…bye. Oh shit – Jesus Rogers."
Nearly dropping the device in his hands, Tony backs up several paces before he looks around, as if expecting more people to be there. "Where's Natasha and our other lovely companions? I heard there was a talking racoon." He asks casually, if not a little desperately.
Steve leads the way into the plane, answering over his shoulder, "No one told you? Natasha got a lead on Clint and had to take off after him. As for the other two…well, they kind of took off with the ship."
"What?" Tony exclaims, "You mean my ship? The ship I built? That ship?"
Scratching the back of his neck, Steve nods in confirmation.
"Great." Tony mutters as he settles himself into one of the plush leather seats, "Multi million-dollar project, and I hadn't even got to test drive it yet."
Steve takes the seat across from him after a moment's hesitation. "They left a note, said that they would bring it back." He supplies helpfully.
Throwing his hands up in exasperation, Tony rolls his eyes, "Well, of course they will. A space racoon and Thanos' daughter – the most honest thieves in the galaxy. I met their friends and let me tell you, they aren't that bright. Well, Nebula is resourceful, but she's also a terminator psycho with serious dad issues. I'll never see that ship again."
Steve lets him fume for a few more minutes, staring out at the blurring scenery as the jet picks up speed for takeoff. It's obvious that the display is just a show, Tony's way of keeping the subject off more uncomfortable matters. Once they reach cruising altitude, he takes a deep breath and prepares to speak.
Naturally, Tony sees what's coming and interrupts him. "Don't, Capsicle. I really, really do not want to hash out the past right now. We have bigger problems."
"I really th-"
Groaning loudly, Tony sinks back into his seat and rubs at his temples in aggravation. "Listen – I was gonna call you, right before the shit hit the fan. Let bygones be bygones and all that crap. You were right, we should have stuck together, died together – whatever."
"Well, you were right too." Steve answers, "We were in no way prepared for Thanos. He batted us away like we were nothing. It took him about five seconds to walk through us and get the stone."
Tony looks up when he hears the note of self-disgust in the soldier's tone. "Did Nebula fill you in on what happened on Titan?" He asks, trying very hard to not think about just where the Mind Stone had been when Thanos had taken it.
Steve nods slowly, "Yeah, she told us what she knew. She told us about the fight, about the deal Strange made to save your life."
"That's why she came with me when I left the planet, even though the ship was a flying deathtrap. She's convinced that I'm going to think up some brilliant plan to finish off Thanos, or something – I mean, okay, I'm sure with some time I could…but shit, that's a lot to put on a guy. I barely lasted two minutes when I fought that asshole and I had years to prepare."
Tony continues along this line for a few minutes before Steve interrupts him, "She also told us that you fought against Thanos one-on-one – she told us that she has never seen or heard of anyone going toe to toe with him and surviving."
"Still wasn't enough though, was it?" Tony argues, his tone despondent.
"It'll be different next time." Steve responds with confidence.
"Oh really, how's that?"
"Well, for one…you have a much better idea of what you're dealing with. Secondly, you won't have to fight him alone."
Tony's first instinct is to snark back at the Captain - because he hadn't actually been alone when he'd gone up against Thanos. At least, he hadn't been alone at the start of the fight. He stays quiet though, because he knows what Steve is really trying to say.
"Plus, look on the bright side." Steve adds, a small smile on his face when the engineer gives him a curious look, "If Nebula thinks that you're the key to destroying Thanos – she'll definitely be back, probably with your ship."
Tony snorts, "Right – that's a really great silver lining, Rogers. I feel so much better now, thank you. Now on to more important things, who else is at the Compound? Pepper mentioned that Thor left, and obviously I spoke to Bruce and Rhodey, but she said that the place was crowded."
"Why didn't you just ask her?"
"Lost in space for a month Rogers, we kind of had other things we wanted to talk about." Tony immediately answers, a hard edge creeping into his words.
"Right, of course." Steve agrees, feeling contrite. He runs through the names quickly, ticking them off on his fingers. He tries not to wince at how short it is – even when he includes the few SHIELD agents that had trickled in over the last month. When he mentions Scott Lang, Tony sits up in his seat, his brown eyes bright with curiosity.
"Wait – you mean Ant Man? As in, the one that went subatomic? The guy that went to the Quantum Realm, that guy? He survived?"
Blinking, Steve nods, surprised at the intense interest. "Yeah? I mean, I don't know about the…what did you say? Subtomical?"
Tony rolls his eyes theatrically. "You are such a grandpa, Rogers. Subatomic, it's when…well, it doesn't really matter, what matters is that we have Lang."
"Why?" Steve asks, mystified.
A slow, manic grin stretches across Tony's face, "…because I have an idea."
END.
Thank you for reading!
The first half of this story literally flew onto the pages for me, but I really struggled with this last chapter…which is kind of weird because I love writing Tony. Ah well - I just couldn't pick at it any longer. Perhaps I'll revisit another day and tweak it here and there. I think I'll trying something a little more lighthearted for the next fic...maybe and Tony and Groot short story?
The muse is brewing!