Chapter 2: Captain America
Tony woke up with a silent scream on his lips.
As he sat up, he realized that he was soaked in sweat – again. These nightmares came every time he tried to sleep for more than just a few hours and this was part of the reason for Tony's dark circles under his eyes...
He looked at the watched that was on his night table: 3 at the morning, too early to wake up the others. They had decided to search for the Hulk as soon as Hank was fit enough to go with them and today was the day.
Tony left his bed and went into the bathroom to take a cool shower. He let the water run down his face and stood there a while.
After he had finished, he put on his clothes and went into the kitchen where he made himself some coffee. With the coffee cup in his hands he took the elevator down to his workshop to get his thoughts of the nightmare. He didn't know how long he sat there just working on some electronic device he had designed till a voice broke the comfortable silence.
"Don't you ever sleep? And here I thought that I was a workaholic."
Tony set the goggles he wore on top off his head and looked at the person who said it. It was Hank, already in his uniform but with totally uncombed hair.
"Sleep is overrated. What about you? Couldn't sleep anymore or have you slept in your lab?" From the look Hank gave him it was definitely the last option.
Hank walked towards Tony and grabbed a nearby chair. "What are you working on that is so important to stay up in the night?"
Tony looked at the device in his hands and then looked back up at Hank. "It's a new communication device that I wanted to give to Rhodey..."
Hank gave him a small irritated look. "And that is so important because...?"
Tony look back down and tinkered some more on the device. "No real reason. It just has to be done at some point."
"But I'm sure Rhodey would understand it if he would have to wait a bit longer for it and I don't think that he would want you to exhaust yourself..."
Now a nerve snapped in Tony's mind. Why did everyone have to worry about his health, Pepper, Rhodey, Janet and now Hank, even Jarvis would sometimes express some kind of concern and he was an AI for god's sake! "Why does everyone always care about my health? I'm fine, okay. I don't need babysitters. I didn't need them as a child and I definitely don't need them now as an adult!" Tony realised that he had raised his voice with every word that came out of his mouth and that he had stood up. He was also panting a bit – seemed like he needed to change the core if he couldn't even shout loud without exhausting himself.
Hank seemed a bit shocked by Tony's outburst and tried to get the situation under control. He couldn't have known that he would strike a nerve with speaking his concerns out loud. "I'm sorry Tony if I said something wrong..."
Tony took a deep breath. "No I should be the one apologising. I should not have shouted at you... I'm sorry but I need a few minutes to myself."
Hank understood and stood up from his chair to leave. "That's okay. I had planned to go upstairs and eat some breakfast anyway. Will you come also to breakfast before we leave?"
"... Maybe... Not sure."
"Okay... I will see you later." With these words Hank left and Tony pulled up his shirt to remove the arc reactor to change the core...
In the Avengers kitchen:
As Hank stepped into the kitchen he found Thor and Janet already sitting at the table talking.
"Good morning!"
"Good morning Hank."
"Good morning, Ant-Man."
Hank went to the coffee machine and made himself some of the black drink. After that he joined the others at the table and stared into his coffee mug. What had gotten into Tony? He never loosed his calm demeanour since he wanted that everyone sticked to the believe that Tony was a heartless businessman. (Why was another question for later to think about...)
Janet and Thor seemed to realize that something was bothering Hank and Thor spoke up first.
"What is troubling you, my friend?"
Hank sighed. Should he tell them? He was pretty sure that Tony wouldn't want the others to know about his little outburst but something didn't seem to be right with Tony...
Before he could decide if he should answer or not Janet spoke up. "Is it about some project of yours or it about...Tony?"
Hank's head shot up at Tony's name and that was answer enough for Janet but Thor didn't seem to understand.
"What is wrong with our Iron friend?" He looked back and forth between Janet and Hank.
Janet answered first. "Remember the day the Hulk was controlled by the Enchantress?" Thor nodded, of course would remember that. It was only a few days ago. Janet continued: "After the fight Tony excused himself as soon as we had reached the mansion and went down to his workshop. I was worried and went down to make sure he was alright since he had taken massive damage during the fight and there could have been the change that the axe of this Executioner guy had penetrated the armor..."
"Yes, I understand your concern Wasp. ...Now that I think about it he seemed a bit disoriented... But please continue with your narration."
"Well, as I said I went down. In the workshop I found Tony slumped in his chair. He seemed pretty exhausted. I talked a bit with him and when I wanted to leave I realized something didn't seem right with Tony. He was much paler than usual and the circles he has under his eyes seemed even darker than normal. When I asked him about it he said he was 'fine'." As she said the last word Janet made some quotation marks in the air and carried on. "I didn't want to annoy him any further and left him alone to give him some time to himself. That was it for me. The next day he seemed to be back to his normal self so I didn't mention it to you..."
"My encounter with Tony today wasn't that much different. Well, except you let it count that we didn't go into a fight yet and that Tony actually lost his cool demeanour in front of me..."
Thor and Janet looked a bit dumbstruck by that revelation.
"I have never seen our Iron friend lose his composure..."
"Me neither and I know Tony a bit longer than you, Thor. I saw him cracking stupid jokes in bad situations to conceal his actual thoughts but never losing his composure... What did you say to him to make him lose it, Hank?"
"Well, I just told him that I was sure that his friend Rhodey wouldn't want Tony to work on something for him when it was clear that Tony definitely needed sleep and then literally sprang out of his chair and then he shouted ait me. Asking why 'everyone' was always concerned about his health. He wouldn't need a babysitter, never had and never would... He was breathing extremely rapid after that as thought as he would have fought against... I don't know Gravaton or someone like that..."
"Wow, okay that was weird... I mean, you and I were the only ones in the last few days that asked if he was alright, weren't we?"
Hank shook his head. "I don't think that it was only about the last few days. That outburst seemed like he had wanted to shout these words for a long time at somebody..."
"Hm, something is definitely affecting our comrade. Maybe we should confront him about it."
"I don't think that this would be a good idea, Thor. Tony is the kind of guy that really likes his privacy even if the public doesn't sees it like that. All they see is a rich playboy that the boss of a really important company."
"I agree with Hank. If Tony wanted to tell us he would. We should put any pressure on him."
"If that is the best course of action, then so be it."
As soon as they had agreed on that, Tony stepped into the kitchen. He was already wearing his armor except for his helm. "So, who is ready to pick up our missing team member?"
Thor stood up and the others followed his example.
"Lead the way my friend!"
Together they went to the fireplace where they took the elevator down to the hanger.
Janet and Hank took the Quinjet while Iron Man and Thor flew by themselves.
The team followed the trail the Hulk had left behind and ended up in the arctic. Some native people showed them the direction where they had last seen the Hulk and the Avengers continued on their way until they came across the weak life signal of Captain America. Iron Man cut the ice with care with his repulsors so that they could take the Captain into the Quinjet where they could melt the ice.
As soon as Tony was finished it was Thor's turn to lift the ice block, that contained Captain America, and carry it into the plane.
"Ant-Man, Wasp, Thor, I think would be wise call of the search and return to the mansion so that can look what we can do for Captain America."
Everyone agreed and they took off to return to their headquarter. While they were waiting to reach New York City, Tony took off his armor so that in case Captain America would wake up during the flight – which Tony thought as highly unlikely but he had been wrong before – that he would at least see a human face instead of a robot.
When the ice had molten Tony could see that Captain America was coming around and would wake up any second now.
Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America, woke up startled still screaming Bucky name. The first thing he saw as he realized the change of scenery were some people that looked extremely strange. One was dressed in almost nothing but red with a bit of black and a strange helmet on his head. Next to this man stood a man – or woman? – who was taller than the man in red and wearing even stranger clothing and helmet with wings on it.
As soon as he saw them his soldier instincts were kicking in and he threw his shield, that was located at his side, at them.
A male voice let his presence be known from behind the Captain and Steve's first reaction was to ram the table he had laid upon into the person who had spoken up. When he had done that he realised, that he was staring into a face that seemed somehow familiar and at the same time it 'didn't ring a bell' as you would say.
The man he was staring at had deep brown eyes that seemed young and old at the same time. No, not old – tired...
The man opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything Steve interrupted him.
"Who are you? What is this place?"
"I think my comrade could answer your questions better Captain if you would press that table into him..." said the man – and it was definitely a man because of the voice – with winged helmet.
"I agree with Thor. I don't think that Tony will get any air if you pin him down like that." chimed in the other man as he stood up.
Steve returned his attention back to this 'Tony' he had rammed the table into. 'Tony' wore a strange black suit(?) with blue markings on it but it did not seem to be any kind of armor and the man looked a bit ill with his pale face and the dark circles under his eyes so Steve lessened the pressure he had on the table. If they would attack him he would fight back but as long as they didn't make the wrong move...
Tony took a deep breath as soon as he was able to. "Thanks, I really needed that air." He said with one of his famous smirks which fell when he saw that Captain America only waited for him to make a wrong movement so he began to explain everything to the Captain.
As he had finished his explanation they were already landing in the mansion where Tony gave Steve a tour and showed him a room he could use if he wanted to stay. Tony tried to gave Steve a short summary in history and told him that if he had any questions he could ask Tony or one of the other Avengers.
"I know that it whole thing has to be hard on you but I want you to know that – if to – you could always become part of the Avengers...But I won't force you into it. It's your choice."
Before Steve could make a reply Tony's communicator sprang to life. "There's an emergency! You can tell me your answer when we return, alright? Good!" With these words Tony all but flew down the stairs to put on his armor. When the Avengers were ready to leave Tony told Wasp to stay behind in case Steve needed something – and if it was 'only' someone to talk to – and stay on call in case they needed backup.
"No problem, Iron Man. Kick their ass for me!"
"Will do Wasp!"
And then they were already on their way.
The fight against Doughboy didn't go well. Thor's hammer only strengthened the monster and Tony's repulsors weren't really affecting it. Only when Wasp together with Captain America came to help them, they finally found a way to defeat this slimy mud monster.
