Thank you to the reviewers for your patience! You're amazing! And by "you" I mainly mean Kae Richa, PickledCucumbers, arya304, Zenoneel-Sarior, and a Guest reviewer.
Unfortunately, stuff is not calming down. Chapters will be sporadic. I promise this will be finished. Eventually. We're almost to Iron Man 3 so it shouldn't be that long... Hopefully. :P
Anyways, yes I totally underpowered Amora. I don't know the character too well and needed an enemy that would be able to do... stuff. You'll see what and why when you read it. Apologies to any fans of her that are reading this.
Disclaimer: I own nothing under copyright.
Chapter 12: Salt and Pepper
"Go to heaven for the climate and hell for the company."
― Benjamin Franklin Wade
Months went by, and the team beat off villains at every possible crossroads. The Avengers were deployed everywhere from New York (their home base, the city proudly announced) to the DRC (where a lioness tried attacking, Clint killed it, and it ended up being eaten, all on the way to the actual mission). It was hectic.
It was the best of times, Tony thought fondly. Okay, so it could be better. He wasn't too fond of not being able to try that charbroiled lion because he couldn't take off his helmet, and learning how to sleep in the armor was a mission in and of itself. While he could go for days without sleep, that usually led to him running around the lab pantsless and rambling about nonsense, which was unacceptable for Iron Man.
At the same time, it kept him from needing to deal with humidity, mosquitoes, and risk of getting bit by a snake when crouching down to do his business. Yes, that last thing actually happened to Thor. For him it was no big deal, being him and all, but the concept was horrifying… and hilarious. Thank everything for all the filtration systems in the suit.
By the end of each of the longer deployments, everyone but Thor and Steve gave him sour looks. To them, it must have looked like he had it easy.
The shorter ones were usually in New York or elsewhere in the States or Canada. There, it was often 'get in, beat the bad guys, get out'. Those were Tony's favorites. Partially because he could get out of the suit quicker on those, and partially because it meant spending less time with Steve.
What did it say that he loved the longer deployments almost as much because it allowed him to spend time with Steve and feel at least slightly comfortable with him at the same time? In the suit, Tony had a fighting chance, just in case history felt like repeating itself a little. And the others were there too, and likely wouldn't tolerate murder from him.
That being said, Bruce was acting a little weird. From what Nat said, he knew about what happened with Starosta. If anything, he knew more than anyone about what actually happened except for Steve. So why did he look at the man with such unbearable sympathy?
Though he hated it, Tony put his science bro on the list of people to carefully monitor.
That was one of the reasons he went back to Malibu for a while. It had been repaired months ago, but he had been so busy with the Avengers that he had neglected to go back. Stark Tower, now Avengers Tower, had become home until he couldn't stand any of their stupid fucking faces anymore.
Steve had probably covered up a murder, Bruce was on his side, Tony had to hack into Nat's files to find out what she had uncovered since their talk at the charity gala, and Clint was being almost as much of a secretive super spy as Fury. Only Thor didn't get on his nerves constantly. And even he was hiding shit, Tony knew after the third time he came into a room only for the Asgardian to pointedly switch topics with whoever he was talking to.
It took a while to get used to sleeping alone again. Erasing from his mind the puppy eyes Steve gave him when he said he was going back to California alone was a little harder. But Tony managed. He filled his days with work and nights with even more work, and even did paperwork when Pepper asked him to.
There was no better way of getting her suspicious than doing what he was supposed to. It shouldn't have been a surprise that she would show up in his lab after she got out of the office one night, arms crossed and frowning.
"Pepper! Love of my heart, light of my life, what are you doing here?" Tony asked cheerfully, tilting his welding mask up. With a word the music went down to a reasonable volume and he put down his tools in preparation for a long scolding.
"You've been doing paperwork, without me harassing you, and getting it in on time," Pepper stated, waving a packet at him. He recognized his own handwriting on it at a glance.
"Figured I'd give it a try," Tony said breezily.
Pepper knew him too well to buy it. "What's going on?" she asked pointedly.
"I can't win with you," Tony complained mildly, even as he started fidgeting with some components he had been working on. He had never been able to focus too well unless he was doing something with his hands. It had driven his teachers batty.
Thankfully, Pepper had grown used to it. Instead of snapping at him, she pointedly sat down on a stool. She wasn't going anywhere until she had her answers.
Let it be known that it took more than a few minutes of the 'I promise I'm listening, now let me hear all about your man-pain' stare to defeat Tony Stark. It took a full fifteen minutes of it. "Okay, so I'm bored," he admitted when the quiet got to him.
"Then why are you still here and not at the Tower?" Pepper questioned.
There was no way he'd be bored there. Between Thor accidentally destroying his house all the time and science with Bruce, there was always something to do. "I don't feel like dealing with people, so get," he tried, hinting at her to leave.
It was taken as confirmation of problems with his teammates. "What happened with the Avengers?" she asked, unfortunately hitting the nail right on the head. And she knew it.
Tony sighed and leaned on the table. "Don't worry about it," he told her coolly, despite that he knew she wouldn't let it go.
"You know that's beyond my control. Even when you're surrounded by superheroes I worry about you," Pepper said with a patient smile. She was far too good.
Maybe telling someone on the outside would help him get a better view on things. And it would get her off his back. "How much do you know about the Howling Commandos?" Tony prefaced.
It obviously took Pepper by surprise. "Not much, just what I found out in connection to Steve," she said, referring easily to the blonde man she'd become so fond of.
"For once the conspiracy nuts were right, there was a seventh. His name was Anthony Starosta," Tony told her, not sure how he felt about actually saying any of this out loud. It kind of scared the shit out of him. It was kind of a relief.
"What?" Pepper was blindsided. Even as she frowned, obviously wondering about his mental health, she asked, "Why isn't he in the history books? Why aren't there any pictures?" Those were actually really good questions.
"Jay, pull up the pictures. You know which," Tony called to his computerized butler easily.
The projector flared to life, and the quiet music was all that could be heard for several minutes. Both of their eyes were glued to the pictures, one of a man long dead. No matter how many times he looked at them, Tony only ever found similarities.
"Isn't Starosta your mother's maiden name?" Pepper asked when she finally found her voice.
Tony nodded. "A transcript of a letter he wrote said that he was my dad's cousin," he said.
A snort left Pepper before she could control it.
"Yeah, that's what I thought too. It was written from Colditz Castle when it was a POW camp for Allied officers, so I can understand that lie. He probably had to say he was related to somebody important so they didn't shoot him," he explained thoughtfully, "All the letters I found from that time were full of coded messages and references to Barnes, so they were probably in there together." Considering what he knew now, the idea was chilling.
When Pepper looked over at him, her face was puzzled. "Aren't you happy, though? You might have family left. Or at least Steve might have somebody left," she said gently.
This time, Tony's smile was bitter. "Aunt Peggy's still alive, and so are Uncle Gabe and Uncle Dum Dum. This guy died before any of them, December 31, 1944, while they were in HYDRA custody. Barnes killed him," he answered. With a click, he went to the death report.
Pepper's noise of disgust when she got to the method of death was well deserved. "No wonder he was written out of the books," she said, nose wrinkled.
"Steve's best friend kills a teammate, who looks just like me, right in front of him and the guy gets conveniently written out of the history books? You can see why I'm having some issues," Tony said dryly.
As she read more of the report, Pepper's face flipped into a variety of expressions. "What if it wasn't murder?" she asked suddenly. It would have been less of a surprise for her to have started speaking Swahili.
Tony blinked at her. "What else would it be?" he asked. Was this how everyone else felt around him? It was irritating and kind of horrible.
"What if the report wasn't faked? This is the government, and I understand why you trust them about as far as you can throw them, but we're talking two highly trained commandos. If it was murder, wouldn't there be a fight in the reports? Defensive wounds noted?" Pepper pointed out, "This says there was only a tackle and maybe a minute of struggle, and the only injuries were those sustained when they were captured." She pointed at the relevant sections. Being the information wizard that she was, of course she was right when those pieces were read through again.
"It also says there was a fist sized hole in his chest. There are better, easier, ways to die," Tony told her with a snort. Maybe not for him, but certainly for normal people.
That much, Pepper had to concede. Still, she put a hand on his arm and was so sincere as she told him, "Sometimes the right answers are the easiest ones."
"My life is never that simple," Tony let out a forced laugh. It would be so nice, if it were.
"There's a first time for everything," Pepper said.
"It would be the first time," Tony agreed wryly.
"Yes, there's something strange about that report. But take that with a grain of salt. Sometimes a pipe is just a pipe," Pepper advised.
Tony smiled over at her and wondered how he had gotten such a good friend. "Turning into Freud on me?" he teased.
"If you don't think on what I've said and stop avoiding the Avengers, you bet I will," Pepper threatened. Knowing her, she would actually do it.
The choice between facing the team again and therapist-Pepper was astoundingly easy. Tony made a note of how quickly he could wrap up his current projects or export them to New York. At worst, he had another six months to go.
Satisfied, Pepper stood up. In her heels she was a little taller than him, but he was used to that from everyone but Bruce. "Is that all, Mr Stark?" she asked. It was habit.
"You can go, Miss Potts," Tony said, and waved her off. The moment the doors closed behind her, he took another look at the reports. They made no more sense than before, something was still off about them, but he couldn't figure out what.
A wise man once said, "Real life is crazier than fiction could ever hope to be. Fiction has to make sense." Perhaps it was a case of real life just being that mad. His own was a good example of how far that could extend.
Tony decided that he needed some more time on his own, trying to wrap his head around the idea of something being exactly as the package described. Life was never like that for him. It had him all kinds of out of sorts.
That didn't mean that he left his team to the wolves when a call came in. No matter how sometimes he wished he could.
Two weeks later was one of those times. The call came in, and Tony was running for the armor before he consciously processed what he was doing. As it was being fitted onto him, he listened to Steve's report (and privately acknowledged how much he missed that deep voice).
"From what Thor told us, her name is Amora and she's a sorceress. Her power, if you can call it that, is to make any man fall in love with her with a kiss," Steve said with audible distaste.
Immediately, Tony wondered, "What about gay men? Or lesbians?" Shouldn't her powers have some kind of correlation with the target's sexuality?
"No idea. Thor says that she'll aim for the mouth, but any skin will have an effect," Steve continued, before giving the coordinates. It was transferred into the helmet and a map pulled up on the HUD. Dammit, he was the nearest one; she had appeared in Death Valley, of all places.
"Good thing there's no skin for her to hit on me," Tony said with satisfaction. He took off as soon as the suit was fully assembled around him.
There was a pause before Steve spoke again. "Be careful, Tony. I don't want to have to fight you," he said. The line cut out.
The idea of fighting Steve of all people, and possibly the rest of the team too, sent a shiver down Tony's spine. Even he wouldn't live through that.
It was probably the whole reason he landed so far from the woman dressed like a Viking. "Stop right there," he told her, raising a hand.
She was admittedly really hot. Especially when she smiled at him like that. Not as much as Steve, but still.
"What's your purpose here, Amora?" he asked.
"To rule, of course," she answered. Her tone was of surprise, like it wasn't obvious.
"You'll have to find some other planet. We aren't too big on alien overlords here. Didn't you hear about the last guy that tried?" Tony told her mockingly. He hoped she would leave it at that, but knew better than to expect it.
Sure enough, Amora laughed. "Luckily for me, I am not Loki," she said.
"Fine. You asked for it, lady," Tony said, and took off into the air. Into the comms, he asked, "What's your ETA?" He dodged a bolt of bright pink light and fired back with his repulsors.
"Five minutes," Clint answered.
"Five minutes? I can do that," Tony said, mostly to himself, as he dodged again.
Somehow, he did. It was a high stakes game of dodgeball, basically, if flying were allowed. Both of them threw bolts of energy at each other, turning sand to glass with the heat of their missed shots as they danced about.
A bolt of lightning nearly zapped Amora, signaling the team's arrival. Even she appeared to know when she was outdone. Within a few seconds, she was gone through what could only be described as a hole in the air.
"Well that was anticlimactic," Tony commented. He landed beside Thor, surveying the scene. There was no sign of the woman.
"She does not retreat needlessly," Thor cautioned him. Sharp Asgardian eyes roved the landscape.
Before either could move, two guns fired behind them.
What must have been a Norse swear word was hissed in a feminine voice.
Both men spun around and raised their weapons. Both were too slow, Amora darted through the gap between them. Her sword made a screeching noise against the armor.
At the same time, an unfamiliar voice practically yodeled out a war cry to their side. A man about the size of the Iron Man armor was charging them at an astounding speed for how bulky his musculature was. Over his head, he raised a two sided battle axe.
"Who's this guy?" Tony asked as he dodged the incoming strike.
"I am unaware of his name, but I know that he is able to open portals with his axe!" Thor grunted as he tried to hit back with Mjolnir. His strike was dodged.
"Weaknesses? For either of them?" Steve asked. It sounded like a bell rang as he hit the guy's helmeted head with his shield.
Thor took a moment to think even as he fought. "The same as any other Asgardian or human!" he answered.
"Jay, pull up a map of target areas," Tony commanded.
On both of the enemies, bull's-eyes appeared on the vital body parts not covered in armor. That basically amounted to faces, throats, and groins. Why did everyone on Asgard have to have super effective gear?
For a while, there was a stalemate. It was Tony and Nat versus Amora, and Steve and Thor dealing with her lackey, with Clint sniping at both whenever he had an opening. No matter what any of them did, Amora pulling out illusions and transforming objects, and Thor using gravity and wind as well as his usual thunder and lightning, neither side gave any ground. This may have been the most difficult battle he had been in this side of New York, Tony privately reflected. Asgardians really were no joke to fight.
Then Steve announced into the comms, "Bruce, time for you to suit up."
Tony grinned. This was always one of his favorite parts of battles. There was nothing quite like watching the Hulk take anything and everything down to size, all while exhibiting his own form of snark.
A roar announced the Hulk's arrival, and the world suddenly got a whole lot friendlier to the Avengers. They were going to mop the floor with these guys.
Except that the command was enough to show Amora who was in charge. Worse, that he was indeed a 'he' and had some skin showing. She abandoned her current position in favor of speeding toward Captain America.
"Steve, look out!" The warnings from Tony and Clint didn't come in time.
Seeing that woman with her perfect red lips all over Steve's made Tony's temper snap. Maybe it had something to do with him struggling to rip her hands off him before he fell limp. Maybe it was just that somebody was kissing him. Tony wasn't sure, but either way it led to him powering up the unibeam and readying mini missiles.
When Amora finally released Steve, she was smirking like she had just won the lottery. And she kind of had.
In their ears, Clint shrieked, "Captain America down! I repeat, Captain America down! We have a Code Caesar!"
What Code Caesar was, Tony wasn't sure at first. The way all the other Avengers began striking at Amora, her lackey, and Steve, told him quickly. The only one who wasn't firing on the captain was Tony.
"What the hell, guys!" Tony shouted at them. He released the mini missiles at the lackey and satisfaction curled in his gut when a howl of pain erupted as a result.
Before an answer could come, everything went topsy turvy. Steve, who was supposed to be under mind control, punched Amora in the face. From the way she flew several yards and then rolled almost as far, it must have been with his full strength.
Before she could even get up he was on her again. If this weren't an Asgardian, able to take it, he probably would have killed her several times over within a minute. Punching, kicking, kneeing, bashing her with his shield, he was beating on her with a fury like none Tony had ever seen from Steve. It was vaguely unsettling.
"I think she's down now," Nat said mildly. She had just finished business with their axe wielding friend and was currently unwrapping herself from around his neck. This probably wasn't the first time she'd choked out a dude with her thighs.
Cap got in a last kick before he shook his head and walked away. At Tony's side once more, he crossed his arms over his chest. "How about we get these two cuffed and into the quinjet?" he suggested.
Warily, Clint released the tension of his bow. "Thor, is there any way to test for her mind control?" he asked cautiously.
The prince had been checking to make sure Amora was even alive. "She is unconscious. Any control she had over the captain is gone," he said.
Everyone breathed easier after that. It was by now a normal thing for them to use cuffs on the baddies, originally designed for the Hulk but capable of restraining Thor and Cap. Then they were dragged into the quinjet and buckled into extra strength harnesses.
As always, Tony and Thor volunteered to fly back to New York ahead of the jet. There wasn't enough space for them, the rest of the team, and the prisoners in there.
It gave Tony some time to think on what he had seen. While he knew that Steve could go a little crazy, this was a whole new level. The guy nearly had to be kept from bashing the woman's face in! So much for not hitting a lady.
"JARVIS, make a note that mind control seems to be a berserk button for the Capsicle," Tony said, "and that it doesn't seem to work on him." That was a bigger relief than he would ever say.
"Noted, sir," his AI said serenely, "Though I would like to point out that it may not be about mind control."
Luckily they were below most airline traffic. It gave Tony the ability to zone out just a little as he thought about what that could mean. "Okay, so what else could it be about. It's mind control, but it's mind control through…" He blinked in disbelief.
It would be just like Steve to throw a fit not because of attempted mind control, but because that was done through manipulating his feelings. He wasn't exactly a man who took emotions lightly. Even worse, it was through love. Or rather, obsession.
That goddamn ring came to mind, almost exactly like the one Bruce had him examine months ago. Hand-made, anachronistic titanium. Of course Steve wouldn't take something lightly if it forced him to be disloyal to the man he had committed to so strongly, even when it was illegal.
By the time they got to the holding facility, Amora and her lackey were awake and glaring as they were led away. Someone had taken the precaution of gagging the enchantress as well as cuffing them both.
"Good riddance," Tony muttered to himself as he watched.
"Debriefing now?" Nat asked. She climbed out of one of the pilots' seats, right before Clint.
"It needs to be now, yes. I should deliver them to Asgard directly after," Thor said regretfully. From how he wrinkled his nose at his own smell when he went to adjust his cape, he felt the need for a shower just as much as anyone else.
Dirty, sweaty, and victorious, the Avengers tramped into the meeting room where Fury waited for them. Since they won and weren't fighting or anything, he wore only the usual glare. "Look what the cat dragged in," he said sassily, before launching into a critical congratulation speech.
If he weren't in the armor, Tony would be passing notes under the table to Steve or Nat, who sat on either side of him. As it was, he tried his best to sit at attention. It was a thing Iron Man did.
"My question is how you shook off her spell, Rogers," Fury ended expectantly.
"I think I may be of some help," Thor offered, an unusual satisfaction in his voice, "Amora's powers work on any man she kisses, yes, but a man who has already totally and completely dedicated himself to another is capable of breaking it, if he is of sufficiently strong will." He smiled at Steve, and holy shit it was like looking right into the sun.
Displeased, Clint complained, "And you saw no reason to tell us this before?" He fingered his folded bow absently. Two to one odds he wanted to shoot his alien teammate.
Thor blinked, and answered simply, "I did not know that this condition extended to any of us."
In response, Steve held up his left hand and titanium glinted under the flourescent lighting. "I don't just wear this because it looks pretty," he commented dryly.
"Who's got the other ring?" Nat asked. Knowing her, it was going straight in her dossier the moment she was free of debriefing hell.
"Doesn't matter. Dead before I could get the words out," Steve deflected bitterly. Meaning, Starosta but he didn't want to say so.
"Speaking of which, does anyone want to share with the class what Code Caesar is?" Tony asked bitingly.
Awkwardly, Thor shifted in his seat.
Bruce began playing with his pen again, spiraling it between his fingers faster than ever.
There was no motion from Nat or Fury that indicated they were about to say anything.
Clint looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. He opened his mouth to explain.
"It was the plan to kill me if I got out of control," Steve said casually, like it didn't fucking matter that his own team was planning to put him down like a rabid dog, "I assume it was named after the incident where Julius Caesar was assassinated by some of the Senators, including his friend Brutus?" He was strangely calm as he spoke, hands folded across his stomach and one leg thrown over the other. Did it really bother him so little?
In the suit, Tony spluttered. They had seriously come up with this? And thought it was necessary? "Mr Stark will be interested to learn about this," he said, giving himself an excuse to know about it outside the suit.
The way Clint closed his eyes, he didn't look forward to it. That made it more and more likely that he had come up with this convoluted scheme. "It isn't anything personal," he prefaced.
"Because that makes everything better," Tony snarked.
Steve put a hand on the shoulder of the armor. Whether it was to comfort or restrain was unclear. It just made the acceptance in his voice even more horrifying when he spoke. "Let me guess, you or Nat got into my unabridged file?" he guessed.
All the glances in Nat's direction indicated that it was her. "We thought it would be a good idea to plan for the inevitable," she said vaguely.
Okay, that sounded like bullshit.
Before Tony could open his big mouth, Steve blew away anything he could have said. "I take it you're referring to the Austria Incident," he said with an understanding that was almost incomprehensible.
"The one where you were just as much of an indestructible rage monster as the Hulk for three days," Bruce added. The idea was terrifying.
Yet somehow, Tony could imagine it. A blank face and burning eyes, uniform covered in the blood of enemies and friendly fire casualties alike. A super soldier gone mad, never stopping as he cut a bloody path across Europe.
"Yeah, Austria," Steve confirmed, shifting to a more attentive pose as he explained, "I can see why you planned for that eventuality. If I were in your shoes, I would have too. But-" He smiled, and it was not a nice one. "I already have a plan for that."
Tony wasn't sure he wanted to know. He had to, though. "That is?" he asked delicately.
When Steve looked at him, there was fondness and realignment in his eyes at once. "Nothing you need to worry about," he said more softly.
Despite that they were in a full room, it felt like an intensely private moment. Tony didn't like not knowing things, but he found himself believing what he heard. This wasn't something he needed to know.
He'd still find out later.
The conversation quickly shifted gears. Since he was the only one proven to be able to resist Amora's powers, Steve was sent in with Thor to fetch her and her henchman from their cells in preparation for them to be sent to Asgard. They would face trial there, Thor asserted, with a look at Fury that dared him to argue.
"They're your citizens," Fury said, "but anybody else from your realm tries this kind of thing, and we're dealing with them down here." Third time's the charm, indeed.
The Avengers were dismissed and Tony found himself pondering a horrible and fascinating idea. He had been curious about some things Steve said or did for a very long time. The restraint he showed in not snooping in his stuff over a year ago was unparalleled.
That was over as soon as Tony could get away with it.
