Tony stood in the middle of a destroyed highway in front of the Stark Tower. Only the S and T had fallen off at the moment. His suit was nearly destroyed. The facemask ripped off, his chest exposed, and a handpiece was missing, along with a kneecap. He could hear the roars of the Chitauri army as they attacked the city. Natasha was fighting off a pack but she was stabbed straight through the back as she was overcome by five of them at once. Tony let out a yell as she fell to the pavement, her eyes wide open, blood dripping from her mouth.
Thor was shot down, while airborne, by the speeding crafts. He slammed into the side of the Empire building and dropped to the ground, like a squished bug. The large worm-like creatures were tearing the Hulk apart with their jaws. Hulk yells shook the ground until his body went limp and he was spat to the ground.
Hawkeye was thrown off his post, without any arrows to catch his fall. Tony looked away before he saw him hit the ground.
Cap was thrown into the side of a charred bus by a grenade. His head snapped back to the sky and he dropped. He didn't get back up.
Tony looked between the fallen members of his team willing them to get back up and fight, but they wouldn't move, no matter how much he wanted them to. He wanted to run over to them, snap them out of it, but he couldn't move.
'They're okay'. He tried to calm himself. 'They're perfectly fine.' Tony wanted to call out to them but his voice was caught. His throat burned as if someone had shoved a hot coal down it. It took him a moment to realize that he was crying.
'Get up!' He wanted to scream at them. 'Don't just lay there!' But Tony knew no matter how much he wanted them to, they wouldn't. They couldn't. They were gone.
Tony turned his head to see a large Chitauri in front of him. This one was different. It was taller than the others, even with it's back hunched over, it was a bit taller than the Hulk. It was grotesquely thin, it's vertebrae showing through its back and front, and slime dripped down from its body.
The thing leaned closer and Tony stared up at it with wide eyes. It's teeth were sharp and yellow with decay. As it leaned closer, Tony couldn't help but take a step back. This one seemed like was more intelligent than all the others. Its eyes were piercing, it seemed like they burned through Tony's skull just by looking at him.
"Now," It's voice was a low growl, accompanied by a slur from the saliva that dripped down it's jaw. "It's your turn, Stark." It lunged at him, its jaws snapping and Tony tried to yell, but even that was caught in his throat.
Tony woke up with a shout, finally being able to release the fear he had built up in his dreams. He bolted up in confusion and panic. Papers had stuck to his forehead while he slept, blocking the world from his view, which only added to his panic. He ripped them off and threw them on the floor. Gasping for air, he turned around and faced the rest of the lab. It was empty, no one else was there except for himself. Tony let out a sigh of relief, he put his hand to his chest and felt the fast palpitation.
He heard a pounding on the doors and jumped from his seat in surprise. His head whipped around to where the pounding came from and he heard a faint yell on the other side of the door.
"Hurry up, Stark! We have to get going." That was Hawkeye. Tony let out a quick breath and ran a hand through his, already messy, hair. He took another look around the room. It was cleaned up, all of the tools were put away. He could faintly remember doing that. He saw the bottom half of the Ironman suit on the giant metal table.
He walked over to it. The sleek black and yellow design made him smirk. He couldn't remember where he had left off with the suit back at the mansion but he did what he could.
"Jarvis," Tony said as he grabbed a hoodie off the back of his chair. "Have this sent to the mansion as soon as you can. Please make sure, this time, that the delivery boy doesn't just leave it on the doorstep."
"Yes, Sir. Would you like it to arrive today?"
Tony pulled the sweatshirt over his head and looked back towards the suit.
"Have it arrive and put in the workshop while Pepper is out. Wouldn't want to startle her like last time."
"Yes, Sir."
Tony walked out of the lab. He stuffed a hand in his hoodie pocket and rubbed his eye with his other hand. A yawn escaped his mouth as he walked towards the counter, more specifically, the coffee.
"I don't get how he can work on that stuff all the time. It's not healthy. I mean, Bruce, do you lock yourself up in your lab and spend hours upon hours in there?" Tony heard Steve say with his back turned to Tony. Tony grabbed the coffee pot and poured himself a cup, throwing a glance over his shoulder at Steve, mid-rant.
Bruce had seen Tony and glanced back and forth between the two. Tony smirked, put the pot back on the warmer, and turned back towards the group. Steve and Bruce were standing next to the bay windows looking out at the city. Thor was stuffing his face with Poptarts, his favorite Midgardian food. Clint and Natasha were sitting on the couch, pillows had been scattered around the entire floor.
Tony raised an eyebrow, he didn't even want to ask about that.
"Well, I don't have a lab anymore, so." Bruce trailed off awkwardly with his eyes falling back to Tony. Rogers finally noticed that the man in question had entered the room there and turned to face him. Tony ignored him and walked towards his room, calling out behind him.
"I'll be right back." Tony chose to disregard the Capsicle's comments and instead went to his room. It was better to avoid starting something up.
Tony changed into fresh clothing, as he was straightening his tie he noticed his under eyes were starting to darken. He sighed and went to the bathroom to wash his face in hopes to make them go away. He dried his face and, in a lazy effort to look presentable, ran a hand through his hair. When he went back to the main room, they all piled into the elevator.
The elevator ride was making Tony feel sick. The lost hours of sleep were catching back up to him alone with his lack of food. His head pounded against his skull and his stomach twisted. He tried to appease his discomfort by rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger, casually leaning against the side of the elevator to steady himself. To the others, it merely looked like he was bored. Tony failed to notice Bruce's frown.
He seemed to notice that it was a bit more than boredom.
When the elevator finally stopped, it opened to a large waiting room meeting room filled with large overstuffed furniture and a small kitchenette that only held a coffee maker, mini-fridge, and sink. On the other side of the room stood a pair of obscenely large double doors. The group strode through the room without taking in much of the decor and into the meeting room.
Within, the group was immediately struck by the giant floor-to-ceiling windows that showcased the streets of Manhattan. Some of the streets still had debris on the sidewalks and there were cleanup crews everywhere. Cranes stood tall next to some of the skyscrapers and scaffolding created a mini-city that encompassed streets at a time. Works walked across these three stories up like they were skywalks.
In front of the large windows stood the Director, in all his leather-clad glory. Hill was sitting in one of the tall black swivel chairs, looking at a small tablet upon the table. Fury turned around and motioned for the team to come in. Tony was the last one out of the elevator as the team took their seats.
The billionaire sat as far from the rest of the group as he could. Fury sat at the head of the table with Hill to his left and Natasha to his right. Next to Natasha, was Hawkeye and Thor. Next to Hill, sat Steve and Bruce. Tony sat two seats down from everyone, on the left. Fury looked around the table before saying anything. Tony was scratching the back of his neck, as uncomfortable in a meeting as he always was. Finally, Fury let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair.
"I hope you all enjoyed your vacation because now it is time to get back to work." And gee, what a rousing opening Fury. Everybody was almost riddled with anticipation. Almost. "Last time we got lucky. Insanely lucky. Won by the skin of our teeth. We can not have that again."
Tony leaned back further in his chair and watched as the very serious pirate criticized everyone at the table, save Hill, who looked like she couldn't care less. Fury was rather good at persuading people to do things and Tony was perplexed as to why, until now.
It was a military tactic. Used on recruits who each have their own willy wild ways. Tear people down just to build them back up into a perfect soldier. Rhodey told him all about it when he went through basic training.
Back then he thought it was cruel, he still thought it was. Now, with the Director trying it out on the lot of them, Tony couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed. He was not a soldier. He had made this clear in the beginning, he would not backtrack.
The supposed philanthropist learned early on how to tune out the bullcrap and weed out the bare bones. He was a businessman after all. So when he listened to -eyed-wonder talk about their mediocre skill level as a unit, Tony thought he knew where he was going and he didn't like it.
"You each have unique skills. Those skills made you candidates for this team, but if you can't learn to work together as a team, then there's no use."
The group had passing glances between Tony and Rogers. The elephant in the room was quickly making a stink. The atmosphere in the room rapidly grew uncomfortable.
"Rogers," Fury suddenly said, snapping everyone's attention to the man in black. "You seemed to be the silent leader out in the field. I'm putting you in charge of getting this team up to shape. Make sure everyone stays in line."
Tony remained expressionless as Steve gave the Director a sharp nod. His gaze flickered to the billionaire for a moment, but internally he was conflicted. The Captain was a great strategist, there was no denying it, but he was from a completely different world. Rogers wasn't aware of the ramifications his actions could have, politically, socially, or historically. He didn't know what he was getting himself into.
But, surely Fury knew that this was the case. He wouldn't be oblivious to the fact that, with one wrong move, the Avengers could be in the public's disdain and be unable to recover. Trusting the Captain to be the one to speak for the actions of the team, to be in charge of what they do, it was risky. So why would the Director risk it?
All of this occurred to Tony within moments, but he didn't voice any of his thoughts. He could imagine how that would go down. Anyone in this room would say that the pros of Rogers leading would far outweigh the cons. They would see it as him trying to take control. Tony could already tell that most of them were expecting him to act out at any moment.
Natasha was subtle about it, she glanced at him a few times already, after the announcement, but Tony felt each and every one of them. Clint had pointedly avoided any and all eye contact with him throughout the meeting, but Tony could tell that he was waiting for something to happen, he was fidgeting. The strangest part of it all, though, was Bruce. Before the meeting had even started Tony had felt the gaze of Bruce remain fixated on him. It was critical and analytical stare. Tony got the odd sense that Bruce was trying to pick him apart.
He didn't like it.
Despite himself, Tony shifted uncomfortably under Bruce's scrutiny. Unfortunately, Rogers had taken the shift the wrong way.
"Problem with that, Stark?" The Captain bit out sharply.
"Nope, not at all." Tony swiveled to face the director. "Is that all? 'Cause I've got things to do." Even though the question was directed at Fury, Rogers answered.
"One of which is being part of a team. That means sticking around. This team should be your first priority. You heard the Director, we can't go in as out of shape as we were before. Anything else can wait." Not one to let a statement in his favor go to waste, Fury jumped at the chance to solidify Rogers lecture.
"The Captain is right. You all need to be focused on making this team better. Any other tasks that you may have, need to be left on the sidelines." Tony nearly huffed. "Right now the media and a sliver of the people are on our side. You need to show them that you are for the people and that you are there to protect them. Right now all they see is a bunch of broken buildings." The Director gestured wildly to the wreckage outside the windows. "Show them that you're capable of more than flapping around like wingless chickens."
Tony narrowed his eyes. Suddenly, everything pieced together in his mind like a finished jigsaw. He knew why the Director would take such a big risk with Rogers. The Captain was, first and foremost, a soldier. In his mind, a superior's word is law. There was no way that he would deliberately defy an order.
Rogers wasn't the real leader. He was a puppet. A man on a string. Through the Captain, Fury would be leading. He would have the final say so, no matter what. It was all a facade, and it only stood as another reason for the billionaire to distrust SHIELD.
Hill shifted forward abruptly, her hand flew to her ear. Everybody's attention was torn from the Director and fixed onto the right-hand man/woman. In a moment she had snatched her tablet off the table and handed it to Fury. The Director took a moment to read whatever he was being shown and then chuckled. The team looked at each other in curiosity. The leather-clad man shook his head once and looked at the team once again.
"Looks like you've got the perfect opportunity now. A bomb when off on 67th and 5th, next to central park. Contain it, help the enforcement there, and get everyone out."
When this statement was met with silence the Director raised his hand towards the elevator.
"Get going, now."
Just like that, everyone was on their feet and moving into the elevator. Yeah, Rogers was in charge.
The tense atmosphere from the meeting followed behind them. The first to cut through the suffocating silence was Bruce.
"I don't I think I'll be needed this time. The Other Guy would just make things worse." Steve thought about it for a moment.
"You're right. Stark, can we have Banner listen in on the police radio to keep us updated?" Tony nodded.
"I'll get you set up with Jarvis on the main floor." As he said it the door slid open to the communal floor. Tony walked out and over to the counter, Bruce followed behind slowly. "Give me the heads up, J."
A plethora of glowing holograms popped up, each with vivid details and miles of information. Bruce stepped next to Tony and stared, fascinated by the technology.
"This here is the Police radio," Tony said pointing at a screen to his left. "Anything you miss will be relayed over here. Jarvis will filter out any information that isn't relevant to the explosion. If you need help with anything, just ask J and he'll get you sorted out." As he said it, the screens started moving rapidly to filter out all the unnecessary or unrelated information. It was a dizzying array of motion and color that almost overloaded Bruce's senses. Tony nodded towards Bruce and then headed for the car wash.
Tony was rather proud of this invention. The carwash tracked his every movement and assembled the suit around him fluidly each and every time. He was just itching to put another car wash in at his Malibu house, as it was the one he occupied most often.
This time was no different from the last, the suit assembled around him seamlessly once again and Tony felt a swell of pride as he strutted along, as if on a catwalk. By the time he had reached the steps of the overlook he was taking off. Together a shining suit of armor and the dark quinjet headed off towards the rising plume of smoke.
Tony heard Cap's voice on the com unit.
"Thor and Stark, you guys work on lifting rubble to see if there are any people buried. Romanoff and Barton, head into the buildings and evacuate everyone, see if there are any more bombs. Banner, you there?" There was a fumbling noise and a rush of air before Bruce answered.
"Yes, I'm here."
"What have the authorities been doing so far?"
"They are mainly trying to put out the fires and keep people from getting too close. They seem to be spread a little thin."
"Okay, keep us updated, Banner. Let's get to it, Avengers." With that, the coms went silent and the team set to work. Barton and Romanoff immediately rushed into the crumbling building. Rogers went straight to the officer in charge and Thor charged to the large rubble piles. Tony hovered overhead and searched for body signatures. He couldn't see through the rubble very well but it was better than nothing.
Tony and Thor worked together efficiently. Tony spotting from above and helping Thor lift the rubble. The pair had gotten a family and two stragglers out of the rubble before Barton came onto the coms.
"We got a civilian helping with evac." His voice was a bit scratchy from all the smoke and dust in the air. Tony was surprised to hear the frustration in his voice.
"No, not gonna happen, get them out of there. It's not safe for a civilian to stay in that building, whether they're helping or not." Rogers responded. He had moved on from the police and was helping get the wounded away from the burning masses and to proper medical care.
"You tell her that. I've tried to get her out of here for the past five minutes." There was a moment of silence before they could hear Barton's muffled voice. "Hey kid, Captain America is telling you to get the hell out of here."
Whatever the girl's answer was, must not have been what anyone wanted to hear because Barton cursed.
"See? Stubborn as a mule." Tony snickered quietly at Hawkeye's frustration.
"Are you able to bring her out yourself?" Steve asked.
"Natasha and I are trying to get a group out of their office still. They're barricaded inside."
"I can do it," Romanoff interjected. "Just let me-."
"No, focus on getting them out. Stark, is the rubble almost cleared?" Tony turned his attention to his thermographic camera. The landscape was completely blue except for the occasional burst of red from a stray fire.
"I'm not picking up any more heat signatures here. I'd say it's all clear."
"Good, go get that kid out of there and Thor can continue searching the rubble on his own."
"Aye, aye mon Capitaine." Tony quipped and then he was off to find the little vigilante. "Where is she now, Legolas?"
"Third floor. She's been trying to get - shit!" There was a large thud and then more cursing from both Romanoff and Barton. The building groaned and more dust fell from the ceiling. "She's gone. Nat, did you see where she went?"
"Negative."
"That building is going to come down any second guys. Is there any progress on getting those civilians out of there?" Cap asked. Tony could just imagine him staring desperately at the crumbling building with his hand thrown to his ear.
"There's a metal beam in the way." Romanoff said emotionlessly. For a second, Tony felt his heart drop into his stomach. He only hoped that it wasn't a necessary support beam for the building's structure.
"Ironman, get to Romanoff and Barton and get that beam out of the way."
"What about the girl?" Tony asked worriedly.
"Our priority, right now, is getting as many people out as we can. Go to Barton and Romanoff, now." Rogers demanded. Tony recognized that tone. Howard would often employ that tone while addressing him when he was younger. There was no room for argument.
"On my way." He flew through the stairwell in the back of the building and up into the third floor.
In seconds he was there, and he saw the problem right away. A giant steel beam blocked the doorway along with a bunch of debris. He analyzed the structure surrounding for a moment before turning to the two agents.
"When I move this beam, this whole floor and the ones above will be unstable. Is there anyone else above?"
"We don't know. The girl had said that she was going through the other floors but I don't know if she made her way through yet." Barton responded.
"Did anyone check and see if she is out of the building yet?" Tony asked but before anyone could answer, Rogers cut in.
"Get them out of there now, Stark." Cap yelled.
"If I move the beam now, the entire building will collapse. We need to see if there is anyone else above!" Tony argued.
"The building is already collapsing. We don't have time for arguing. Get them out of there, now! That's an order."
With a frustrated cry, Tony addressed the agents again.
"When I move this beam you gonna have a little over a minute to get everybody out, understand? Move fast." With that said Ironman moved over to the beam, he activated the miniature laser on his wrist and cut through the steel quickly.
When the beam began to slide Tony rushed in and hefted it up onto his shoulder with a grunt. Even with the armor taking a majority of the load, Tony could still feel the weight of the two floors above.
Agents Barton and Romanoff got to work right away. They filtered people through the opening one by one and rushed them to the stairwell. The boots of the armor started to dent the floor below and cracks started forming on the ceiling, the whole building groaned ominously. By the time everyone was into the stairwell, Tony was bending down onto his knees in order to support the building. Ironman gritted his teeth, feeling every bit like Atlas.
Tony couldn't help but wonder if anyone else was left on the floors above. He knew that the girl from before was still up there. Where else would she have run off to? He needed to make sure. He wouldn't condemn any civilians to this demolished building.
"We're out, Stark. Get yourself out of there." Romanoff said.
With a grunt, Tony lifted himself back to his feet, the gears of his suit whining and buckling in protest. He placed the beam back onto its stump and used his repulsors to form an ameture weld. It wouldn't hold for long, but at least it gave himself a little more time.
Ironman flew up the stairwell and to the next floor. He hovered in the air, careful to not put any more strain on the beam below. When his thermographic camera turned up with nothing but empty space he moved onto the next floor.
"Stark, where are you?" Rogers called.
"I stabilized the beam for a little while. I'm going to clear the last floors."
"That's not part of the plan. Get out of there. That building is coming down."
Tony ignored him and looked around. It was there that he found the girl and it was then that the foundations started to give away. The building shuddered before settling into a false sense of security.
She was kneeling next to a pile of rubble and wiring, she was pulling frantically at the large slabs of concrete, making little to no progress, as each of the sections easily outweighed her. As Tony moved closer, he noticed a person trapped under the rubble, unconscious, most likely knocked out when debris fell from the ceiling.
"Kid, you gotta get out of here. This place is going down." The teen's head whipped around, like all the other people who were caught in the blast, she was scraped up and covered in dirt. The burns on her arm and the large gash on her head caused for concern, however.
"There's a person trapped under here, though." She replied and returned to trying to remove the rubble.
"I can get him out, but you have to get out of here, now."
"I want to help."
"And you've helped plenty, now get out of here before you put your life in even more danger." She stopped pulling at the rubble for a moment. There was a pause and the ground shook again, more sections of the ceiling started to fall. Tony thought she was about to agree when she suddenly started furiously pulling at the rubble again.
"If you're gonna help, then help me. I'm not going anywhere, so stop telling me to leave." Tony was about to argue further when half the floor gave away and they were exposed to the outside world.
"Stark, get out of there!" Tony heard Barton yelling at him.
For what felt like the fifth time that day Tony let out another cry of frustration. He marched up to the girl and moved her to the side.
"Stay back." He punctuated each word in his no-nonsense tone and focused on the pile of rubble. With a slightly less than graceful move, Tony lifted the debris and held it above his head. "Grab them, quickly."
The girl slipped past him and dragged the unmoving figure out from the rubble. When the two were clear of the pile, he tossed the lump of concrete back.
"Now, get out of-."
Just then, the ground below them fell. The three of them were free falling five stories with nothing to cushion their fall other than a pile of rocks and a bunch of broken electrical work. It was an instant reaction. Tony grabbed the girl under one arm and the unconscious body under the other. He shot out of the collapsing building without looking back.
The moment he landed, Tony was swarmed by officers and medical staff. They were fussing over the two and, in moments, they had dragged them off towards an ambulance.
Behind him, Tony turned to see the last of the building hit the street. The empty road was pelted with debris and a grey cloud of dust rose into the air. All that remained of the building was a grey pile of pebbles and wiring. Small fires were being put out in the park and around the street.
Great, just what this city needed, Another broken building. That should get everybody's spirits up. Tony watched morosely, as rescue workers flooded the ruinous scene, looking for any civilians they might have missed in the last few minutes before the building came down.
When Tony turned back around, it was to the face of Rogers and the rest of the team. Rogers and Barton were outright annoyed, Natasha was indifferent and Thor was grinning from ear to ear.
"My metal friend, congratulations on your marvelous feat! That was a wonderful act of heroism!" Thor slapped him on the back and jostled his shoulder. Tony was thankful for the protection of the suit, otherwise, he was sure, without it, he would have been bleeding somewhere.
"Thank's, Point Break and the same to you," Tony replied somewhat awkwardly. If possible, Thor smile had gotten wider. Tony looked back at Rogers.
"I'm not going to apologize." The words just slipped out of his mouth, without him thinking. His brain to mouth filter had officially shut down.
Rogers just stared at him for a moment before nodding.
"I wouldn't either. Don't do it again. Let's make sure the officers and medical don't need any more help before heading back." That was all he said before turning around and heading straight for the officer he had spoken with when they had first arrived.
The others dispersed as well. Thor to the firefighters, Natasha to medical and Barton with Rogers. With a shrug, Tony stepped out of his suit.
"Send it home, J. I'll catch a ride back on the jet."
"Yes, sir." With that, the suit closed back up and took off. Tony looked around for the ambulance the girl was taken to. He wanted to make sure she checked out alright. He was concerned about the gash on her forehead.
He spotted her off on the edge of the collection of ambulances camping out on 5th. Tony tried fixing his clothes in vain, there were rumpled beyond salvaging at this point, before strutting over.
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So here is the seventh chapter guys! Hope you like it! I stayed up till in the morning to finish editing and make sure everything was correct. Tell me what you thought of it. I would love to hear where you think the story is going. Can you guess what caused the explosion? I'm going to try and keep up with this story. I know I have said this in the past but I am very serious about it now. Anyways, I am working on the next chapter now and I have the next few chapters planned out. I have the story plotted out till half-way through chapter 16 so things should go rather smoothly until then. I'm very excited for the upcoming chapters.
Like it, if you liked, if you'd like. Follow me, or don't, I mean I'd be nice. Leave a comment/review, I love to hear from you guys.
I'll see you guys soon!
~Insiga