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A/N: So, this chapter got away from me, so I had to split it up. We'll now have a Moscow – Part 3 :D
Chapter 10: Moscow – Part 2
Let's go hiking, he said. It'll be fun, he said.
To be completely fair to Anton, he had never specified who would be at the receiving end of said fun. Moreover, he had also never defined the intended meaning of the word fun. Fun for the Russian meant being chased by a cheetah, a tiger, a lion, and a rhino… at the same time. While on an ice rink. Trying to outrun them without legs.
But he had at least warned them of the terrible weather conditions they were sure to face once on Mount Doom, and he had also given them pointers on what to do when facing imminent danger in the middle of a possibly upcoming winter storm, even if it was forecast to hit ten to twenty miles away from their camp. One for the books, as Anton had so cheerfully put it, despite being in the middle of June. One that could be survived only if proper shelter was found before or shortly after it hit. This last piece of sound advice was what made carrying himself, his backpack, Pepper's backpack AND Pepper herself – despite the large, bleeding gash that cut along his left calf – completely worth the pain, the bitter cold, and the crippling exhaustion he could feel deep in his bones.
With the amount of blood that he had, at first, been leaving behind with every step he took, he was surprised that he was yet to pass out. Or attract a random Yeti wandering the area, looking for some easy lunch, for that matter. Because this was what they were both reduced to at the moment. Easy prey. Walking dead. Talking corpses. Future popsicles. Names eligible to be used for new high schools or major boulevards.
Damn it all. All the times that he had made fun of Steve Rogers for being frozen in ice, and he and Pepper were now faced with the same fate. The only difference was that Tony doubted either of them would make it out of it alive, if it came to it.
His arms had been trembling for the past few minutes, unsure if it was more due to the icy winds that pelleted them both with snow or if it was because they were going numb with the weight they carried. It was not as if carrying Pepper was something he had ever struggled with. However, with the added pounds of the backpack and the thick clothes – and the fact that she was yet to wake up – her body was even heavier than it should have been had she been conscious. She was limp and pale-looking. And as much as he wanted to stop yet again to check the bump on her forehead and her pulse, he knew that, at this rate and in this weather, the next time he stopped he would probably not be able to get back up again.
Alas, as the thought crossed his mind, it instantly became evident to him that he would not be given a choice in the matter, after all. As if on cue, his legs suddenly gave up under him and sent him to fall on his knees. He had not realized how much of his cargo his legs had been helping him support, so the moment he hit the snow-covered ground, Pepper nearly slid from his arms.
"Whoa! Hey, I got you, baby," his voice was ragged but he spoke with as much confidence as he could muster. "I got you."
Seeing as his body had decided to force him to stop, Tony readjusted Pepper's body and pressed it even closer to his, hoping to keep hers as warm as he could. The outer layers of their clothes were soaking wet, courtesy of the relentless weather that kept him from finding his way back to their camp. He was sure Anton would be looking for them at some point, as would anyone else the Russian man could recruit for an impromptu rescue mission. But before any of that took place, before the only other person that knew they were in a dire situation made any effort to find them, Anton first had to save himself.
If he was even alive, that was.
Tony hopelessly looked up to the dark sky, the wind howling in his ears without mercy. He doubted that any attempt at finding them was taking place right now – it was too dangerous for anyone or anything to even try. Their entire chance for survival at the moment was to find shelter somewhere – a place to set up their extra tent or a small cave within the mountain itself, and wait until the storm let up. They had enough snacks for a week in their packs, a first-aid kit, a portable heater, and some other basic items that they could use to settle down while they were found. None of it really mattered, however, if they could not find a place to hole up soon.
If there was anything positive about being exposed to the elements right now, nonetheless, was that it had slowed down the flow of blood from his injury, and that it had also made it feel somewhat numb. He was sure that he would probably need to clean it and stitch it shut or, at the very least, wrap it in gauze as tightly as it could be. Walking in knee-deep snow in the middle of a winter storm was difficult enough when enjoying full health. If he wanted to get himself and Pepper out of here, once she woke up, he had to minimize the impact his wound could have on their way back down. The last thing he wanted was to be the reason why Pepper tripped or fell to the uninviting precipice below. Once the weather cleared, all they had to do was find one of those zip lines Anton had talked about – the ones that had been installed for anyone who did not find themselves physically able to climb down.
Tony shook his head violently when he felt his eyes starting to droop. He was uncertain if he had been exposed to the elements for a long enough time to start developing hypothermia already, but he was going to fight the urge to fall asleep either way. This was one particular medical theory he had no interest in putting to the test.
"Just a little more," he reminded himself as he struggled to keep his eyes open and his arms from trembling. "Just need to get to the edge of the mountain. Camp there."
Or go back in time. Keep my suit connected to my ass!
The Mark XLII would have gotten them out of this predicament in a heartbeat. He was sure of it.
He dropped his gaze to Pepper's face and he noticed that a little bit of snow was covering whatever of it was exposed. He bent her upper body a little so that he could somewhat protect her by pressing her against his chest and then brushed snowflakes from her face and hair. The temperature was falling quickly and it was making it difficult for him to move with full capacity of his limbs. He had already transferred two of his jackets to Pepper, in a senseless hope that since he kept moving, he would not be as cold. Nevertheless, the solution had only made Pepper feel heavier and his body feel colder.
"Shit," Tony shook his head when he realized he had closed his eyes for nearly a minute, and then slapped his face a couple of times to regain some consciousness.
Can't sleep… can't… sleep… can't…
With trembling and protesting limbs, he grunted as he stood up with Pepper in his arms. He wobbled in place for a few seconds, dizziness suddenly making an appearance, so he waited until he could feel stabilized. He closed his eyes to force his mind to focus and, once they were open again, he took one step before he collapsed once more.
"Dammit… I… damn…"
He tried to hold his weight up by using his arms, but they went right through the pile of snow, pushing not only him but also Pepper further into the white and frigid dust of death. He then attempted to use his knees to help with the task, but the result became the same.
His eyes fell onto Pepper's face yet again, the unsuspecting redhead pinned underneath him, fear at last striking within him at the sight. She was still out cold, figuratively and literally, and fully dependent on him to make it out alive from this. Yet, he was not strong enough to do anything to help her anymore. Not smart enough and too tired to come up with an action plan. He had been walking them in circles, for all he knew. He could not hope to save her if he could not even save himself.
Oh, the irony of it all: to survive the wrath of aliens and demigods, only to be taken down by frozen water and wind.
If he had had any energy left in him, he would have yelled at the storm to bend over and fuck off. But it was a miracle that his heart was still beating. And it was an even bigger miracle that so was hers.
"I got you," the genius repeated his hollow promise as he was slowly taken away from reality altogether despite his best efforts to stay awake, his eyes closing and his body finally shutting down on him. "I got you, babe."
Question was: who had him?
xxxXXXxxx
"Goodnight, you lucky bastards!"
Anton's wishes were the last thing they heard from the man before Tony zipped closed their tent. It was nearly midnight and they were exhausted, but their curious investor had not been able to contain his excitement at hearing the detailed stories of the adventures of what he had dubbed Team Iron Man. From how Pepper had infiltrated her own company to get dirt on Obadiah, to how Tony had built a particle accelerator in his basement to create a new element. Every single thing the couple had shared with Anton had been nothing short of spectacular and vodka-shot worthy. As far as Anton was concerned, the Starks had the most exciting lives ever.
Thankfully, after hours of storytelling, it was finally time to sleep. And, in just a few hours, their end of the deal would be completely fulfilled and they could head the hell out of this shitty Winter Wonderfuck, once and for all.
"I thought he'd never shut up," Tony grumbled as he slid inside the sleeping bag he would be sharing with Pepper.
"Now you know how I've felt around you for so many years."
Tony gasped dramatically and placed his hand over his chest. "You can't be serious? I can't be as bad as he is!"
"No, you're not."
"Let me guess: I'm worse."
"Hey! You're a mind reader, too!"
"Oh, shush and go to sleep already!" Tony groaned but still pulled the redhead's body closer to his.
"I'm trying, but there's some guy that just won't stop talking."
"Potts, thin ice, OK? Thin. Ice."
Not at all threatened or insulted by Tony's annoyance or words, Pepper smirked, curled her body tighter and then pressed her back flush against Tony's chest. The genius reciprocated the move by tightening his grip around her waist and nuzzling his face into her neck. Neither of them made a move or said a word for about a minute until Tony shivered and moaned.
"Good grief! Why is it SO cold? I'm afraid I'm gonna wake up with frostbite!"
"Same here," Pepper admitted. "Good thing the winter storm is going a different way, huh? Can you imagine those kinds of wind chills? I can't even process what it must feel like. And I'd rather not find out, either."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss the Pretorian heat."
"And I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd rather be in that abandoned warehouse in Dhaka again. It was warm."
"I should've brought my damn suit. I could've used it as a radiator or something."
"Or as a way to get us both out of here while Anton still slept. He'd forgive us, right?"
"At this rate, he'd probably just care that Iron Man gave him a ride."
"Sounds to me like you have a fan."
"You mean: another fan? Because I have plenty."
"You have plenty of everything," Pepper rolled her eyes. "But not of blankets. Not right now. I'd trade your fans for blankets. All the blankets."
"That's a lot of blankets."
"It's a LOT of cold."
"Yup," Tony agreed and then threw his left leg over Pepper's. "But we can't exchange humans for cloth because of the damned human rights activists. So, let's make do with what we have, Potts."
"And what is that?"
"Us."
"Body heat, you mean?"
"Hell, yeah. Body heat."
xxxXXXxxx
The storm appeared to finally be dying down. The time between the presence of wind gusts that almost rattled the tiny, godsend of a shelter was extending to several minutes now. It was still dark outside, and even from the frozen window near the top of the metal living quarters, it was clear that a little bit of snow was still falling. There was no heater inside what could essentially be deemed an unfinished, walk-in closet on the small end of the size scale, but at least not being outside in the middle of a decaying winter storm improved their chances of survival. Nevertheless, being inside the only emergency shelter located on Mount Elbrus – one that she had stumbled upon by accident after being jolted awake by Tony heavily landing on her – had not improved Tony's state thus far.
Her fingers were still red and raw from having to take off her gloves to get a better grip on his damp clothes to drag him inside. She was sure the skin on her face was in the same state, but her entire bottle of body lotion was as solid as a rock. She was shivering all-to-be-damned, but she knew that Tony needed all the clothes and blankets she could spare. Their portable heater was not working – the battery probably dead due to the cold. She had no clue how long they had been out there – she hardly remembered how they ended up out there in the first place. But she was sure as shit that even if it had been only an hour or two, it had been enough. Harsh weather conditions were especially unforgiving to humans. People were just not built to withstand what other species on the planet could brush off without a second thought.
Tony had been practically lifeless since their arrival to the shelter, the Red Fox 5300, save for some random mumbling in his delirious sleep. While everything she could tell from her limited knowledge in medicine said that he was probably going to be all right after she got some painkillers and fever-reducers in his system, he was yet to wake up to confirm this belief for her.
How she had been able to stop trembling long enough to tend to the wound on his calf was beyond her. How he had gotten it, was an even bigger mystery. The last thing she recalled before waking up in a pile of snow with a passed out Tony on top of her was opening her eyes after only a few hours of sleep in their tent. He had been practically crushing her with his grip and it had woken her up. Nonetheless, the confession he had made to her at that moment had pained her deeper than any bear hug of his ever could.
xxxXXXxxx
"Can't… breathe…"
"What? Oh, shit!"
Tony immediately eased his embrace on her. He had not been aware that the fear of the nightmare that had startled him awake was hurting her. But it had felt so real, again. The familiar environment had brought it all back to the forefront of his mind. The bitter cold and bad memories threatened to yet again freeze and break his heart.
"Sorry, Pep! Sorry!"
"It's okay," the redhead assured him with a mumble as her head bent back ever so slightly to try to make out his face in the dark. "You OK?"
"Yeah," Tony bowed his head and pressed his forehead against her neck.
Pepper narrowed her eyes at him even if he was not looking at her. Even as she slowly woke up, she was aware enough to tell that his retort had come out too quickly; too forced – a sure sign that Tony was withholding something important from her. She had thought that they were past that; or at least a little bit more comfortable with showing vulnerability to each other, even if there were still some secrets between them. Yet, whatever he was currently struggling with, was big enough for him to momentarily resort to his old ways. And that scared her – so much – because they had come too far to lose it all again without a fight.
She debated on whether or not to call him out on his obvious lie, but she did not have to waste the time or the energy in doing so. After a long sigh and the tightening of his arms around her, the inventor willfully confessed what had woken him up in the middle of the night.
"I was here, not long ago. On the other side of the country, but I was here. In the middle of the bitter cold, too. Just like now."
Pepper grunted an acknowledgement to let him know that she was awake and listening, but she did not dare speak up, afraid that he would stop letting out what he clearly needed to share with her. With anyone that would listen, perhaps.
"After I realized Cap had been right all along, I ended up in Siberia. Sam told me that Steve and Barnes were headed there to stop Zemo. Do you remember Zemo?"
Their late conversation atop a limousine in Madrid came rushing back to her. "Yeah. I do."
"Well, we… for a moment… Hydra…" his voice trailed until it was barely a whisper.
Pepper slowly turned in place and slid her arms around his midsection when she realized he was struggling to order his thoughts – perhaps hesitant that others would listen to what they were not meant to hear.
"Hey. No rush. We got all night. Just you and me. I can hear Anton snoring from here. He won't hear this."
Tony smirked. "I think that's the wind, Pep."
"Really?" the ginger scrunched up her nose. "That's loud!"
"I guess a little bit of the storm is hitting us after all."
"Think they'll find our bodies tomorrow?"
"If we're lucky."
Following Tony's jesting response, the tent shook violently, making their quipping not as amusing as it had been seconds ago.
"Did you bring your satellite phone?" Pepper asked, a little bit of panic settling in her bones.
"Right by the shoes."
"OK," Pepper breathed hard and shook her head. "Anyway, Hydra?"
"Yeah," Tony shuddered. "Hydra."
He told her about the other super soldiers. About how they were made, brainwashed, and forced to commit terrible crimes against their will. About how Hydra's standards and expectations for bettering the species were opposite to the principles Captain American had been born out of. About how Zemo had led them all by the nose to the Hydra base in Siberia. About how, for a brief instant, they had all feared that Zemo's plan was to revive and unleash these beasts into the world.
"He'd killed them in their sleep by the time we got there. All of them. They were shot in the head."
"He killed them? But… why? Why would he…"
"He wanted revenge on us, so he used them."
"But he had a way to control those other super soldiers, right? With the book you mentioned? He could've used them to attack all of you."
"He could've, for a while, but he didn't want any more of them around. Of us. He wants all superpowered freaks to go."
"So, why not use the soldiers to kill you all then and there and then brainwash them into killing themselves? I mean, I don't want to give the man ideas or want you dead, but it makes more sense than what he did. He went through a lot of trouble finding these soldiers just to kill them in their sleep."
"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within… That's dead forever."
Pepper furrowed her brow at Tony's words. "What?"
"That's what he told us before… before he did just that."
"Did what?"
"Try to break us apart… from within."
Pepper's squinted her eyes even further. "Try to break you apart? But you said… I don't… I thought you and Steve were OK?"
"We are now. I have a better picture now. But at that moment, when Zemo had us there and he showed me the truth…"
"The truth?" Pepper briefly closed her eyes to try to focus her energy on Tony's cryptic responses. "I don't follow."
"Zemo's plan all along had been to destroy the Avengers from inside. To make us fight and hate one another. To crumble an empire from within."
"Well, you were fighting a little, right? Because of the Accords? Everyone fights. But to want to kill each other? After everything you've been through together as a team? That's not gonna happen."
Tony grimaced at her words. She trusted him so much to do the right thing. Or to at least fix his mistakes once he realized he had made them. The confidence she had in him hurt him sometimes.
"That's the thing, Pep," he continued. "It almost did. It was down to just us three. And I… I wanted to kill Barnes… and then Steve."
"Why?"
"Because… the truth… the truth is that…" Tony's body began shivering and Pepper doubted it was just because of the cold. "Because Barnes… Steve's friend… he… he killed them, Pepper. He killed them in cold blood."
"Who? He killed who?"
Tony's eyes clench shut and he let go of a shuddering breath, the video of the murder playing in his mind. "My parents. Hydra. Hydra sent Bucky Barnes to kill them."
xxxXXXxxx
His incoherent mumbling turning into a long groan, followed by a string of creative curses, made her look up from her bag to see Tony slowly sitting up on the single, small plank attached to the wall that was supposed to be a bed. Under any other conditions, she would have probably given him a minute and space to find his bearings before speaking to him. However, he had been asleep for nearly three hours since she had brought him here, so holding back her relief was not an option at all. The rising fear that he was never going to wake up prompted her to take the one step that separated her plank from his, and she all but threw herself at him.
"You're awake!"
It took him a moment to realize that it was Pepper who was clinging onto him as if her life depended on it. The instant this knowledge hit him, he exhaled in relief and thanked the universe for whatever help had been sent over in their time of need. He was not sure what was happening and when she had woken up, or why he had been asleep in the first place, but he was grateful for the chance to see, hear and feel her again. As he tried to return the embrace she was offering, however, he felt aches he could not immediately account for and that made him physically flinch.
"Ow, ow, ow! Easy, Pep. Shoulder hurts. What the hell? Ouch!"
"Dammit," she said under breath and pulled away to examine the injury with him. "I thought the frame hadn't hit you that hard."
"Frame?" Tony shook his head slightly to try to clear the fog in his brain. "What frame?"
"The door frame. It's a really sharp turn from the first door to the second. Clearly, you didn't build this thing. You probably would've made the doors automatically shift positions once inside. User-friendly and all."
Tony's eyes blinked repeatedly as he stared at her in the near dark, a look of utter confusion on his face.
"What?"
The redhead's distress was evident in how she managed to respond to his simple question without stopping take a breath, all the while her hands gestured wildly in the cramped space.
"I don't know exactly where we are, but we're in some emergency shelter on Mount Elbrus. Or at least that's what that posted sign over there says. And I-I don't know what we were doing outside, but you were passed out and I brought you in here. You wouldn't wake up. I have a bump on my forehead that I don't know how I got. Your leg is cut but I cleaned it up. I don't know if anyone knows where we are or if they're looking for us. I can't find the satellite phone. There's no heat or power in this thing. And you were both cold and burning up for a while – thought maybe the cut on your leg got infected. I didn't know what else to do. I've been waiting forever, sitting here... hoping… And I… I thought you were… that you weren't… I thought you were gonna leave me! I thought you were gonna die in your sleep!"
At the end of her rant, the redhead pressed her fingers against her closed eyes and breathed hard through her mouth.
"No, hey," he hugged her, realizing by her rambling that she was at the end of her rope, "I'm fine. I'm OK. Not dead. I'm just… yeah, I'm in helluva pain but, what else is new, right?"
She nodded, sniffled, and then slowly ran her hands down his chest.
"Are you hurt anywhere else?" she looked up at him then, her eyes full of worry, "Can you walk? Can you move your legs? Wiggle your toes? Did I crack your shoulder? I didn't mean to hurt you. I just… you're just so heavy and it's so dark and–"
"I'm fine, Honey," he pulled an inch or two away only so that he could briefly press his lips against hers, not even thinking about the implications of the gesture at all. "You did great, OK? We're gonna be fine. You saved me. So, now I can get us out of this, all right?"
Pepper's lip trembled and she closed her eyes without uttering a reply.
"All right?" the genius repeated, more confident this time, wanting nothing more than to give her the hope of survival and success that she clearly did not have. "Sweetheart?"
When she did not instantly reply, Tony returned his lips to her face. He pressed them against her temple, her brow, the tip of her nose, and then her lips once more. This time, the slow and thorough kiss lasted nearly a minute, leaving them both wishing for more than just a short-lived lip lock.
"OK," she finally nodded, more to convince herself than him. "I did fine. You're fine. We're gonna be fine."
"We are, Sweetheart. We are. I'm sorry I scared you. But I'm OK. Thanks to you, I'm OK. You saved me. You saved me. In your own way. Like you always do. Now we're gonna save ourselves."
Pepper bit her lower lip and nodded once more before she rested her forehead against his chin, selfishly clinging onto the heat he radiated, mostly due to the mild fever she knew he still had. She felt his hot lips place a lingering kiss to the crown of her head, which pulled a quivering breath of partial relief out of her.
"I don't remember much," she began, "But I think you saved me first. You always save me first. Do you remember… what happened? How we got here?"
Tony swallowed hard and closed his eyes before responding, "Yeah. I do."
xxxXXXxxx
Pepper's eyes widened and she swallowed hard. "What… who… That can't be… How? How do you know that's true?"
"Son of a bitch had a video of it. The night of the accident. Security footage that was kept secret. Barnes, he punched my dad in the face until he died. Then, he broke my mom's neck while she was still inside the car. That's… that's what Zemo showed us. That's what he used to pit us against each other. That's why I almost killed Barnes and Steve. Barnes for murdering my parents. Rogers for keeping it from me. And for keeping me from killing Barnes for it."
Pepper gasped and felt tears practically burst out of her eyes. For all his bravado, she knew that the absence of his parents was an extremely difficult subject for the billionaire. He had always expressed regret for what he had not said and what he had not done the last day he had spoken to them, so she could not imagine what it felt like to learn that their lives had been deliberately snatched away from him before their time. There could have been more to them. They could still be around. They could have had the opportunity to see the wonderful man their son had become.
Tony's life could have been so different. He could have had a better life. A fuller life. With them.
"Tony… oh, Tony…"
His head was suddenly thrust onto her shoulder and his entire body was pressed against hers, leaving no inch of skin untouched. Her right hand gently combed the back of his head while the left one desperately fisted his sweater, the ginger suddenly feeling incapable of providing enough physical comfort to him. Thoughts of how devastated Tony must have felt at finding out the truth about his parents' deaths, in such terrible conditions at that, made her want to cry a river for him.
"I'm so sorry, baby," Pepper kissed the side of his face. "I'm so sorry about what happened to them. I'm so sorry it had to be that way. I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you. I–"
"You're here now," he whispered, his eyes still closed and his heart breaking all over again, as if he were finding out the truth for the first time once more.
"Yes. I'm here now."
xxxXXXxxx
The light he was shining on her eyes hurt, but pain, in this case, was a good sign. Her eyes hurt because her pupils were dilating, responding as expected to the sudden changes in light.
"I don't think you have a concussion," he turned off the small flashlight in his hand. "You passed out on me but you've been awake for a while. If you don't get a horrible headache in the next few hours, I think you're out of the woods."
The redhead placed her palms against his cheeks in a poor attempt to measure his temperature.
"I think your fever is going down, too. But you should take more of those pain killers in a couple of hours or so. I wish we had antibiotics. The gash looked pretty red."
"Cold will keep it from getting too infected. Or at least slow down the spread of it."
"Still," she worried her bottom lip. "Take the pills, all right?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Feeling somewhat relieved that their injuries were not as life-threatening as they could have been, Tony placed what he hoped was a placating kiss to the redhead's forehead before standing up and walking towards the metal plaque by the entrance of the shelter to read the contents of it. If he wanted them to have a chance to survive this, he needed to internalize the facts of their current living quarters and quickly. He had already wasted enough time being unconscious.
"Rules of behavior," the inventor began, "For rescue in bad weather… don't leave garbage… possibility of combustion products poisoning… close both doors… inform emergency ministry about your location as soon as possible… shelter's not heated… no ventilation inside. Well, that's fucking nice."
"Better than being outside," Pepper mused.
"I'm not totally convinced of that right now," Tony grumbled.
After Pepper shrugged as a response, Tony began making himself familiar with the rest of their surroundings, his mind demanding that he made sense of what was available to them, which was not much. The shelter resembled a metal shipping container, its dimensions not being larger than 5x6 feet, barely fitting him, Pepper and their mere belongings. The parts inside the unit were sharp and jagged, including the three planks that were meant to be used as bunkbeds – one on the right side, and two on the left. The internal walls and top windows were covered in ice, confirming the notice that there was no electrical power in the unit, as well as his main concern that there was no available ventilation within.
No ventilation meant that, with every breath he and Pepper took, the amount of oxygen was slowly being replaced by carbon dioxide. To replenish their oxygen supply, they would have to open the doors. Opening the doors would allow the cold to come inside. And letting the cold inside would eventually lead them to their deaths.
"You said you didn't find the satellite phone?"
Pepper shook her head from side to side.
"OK."
Tony's gaze locked on the floor, silently wondering what else had been misplaced during their tumbling. The satellite phone was one of the most important things to have, and that was certainly gone. The first-aid kit was still present, and that was great, as was the portable heater, some of their snacks and a few of their clothes and blankets. But these items alone were not enough to call for aid or to help them survive. In fact, he would happily trade them all for the satellite phone.
Realizing that he needed to know exactly what else they had available, he walked towards his backpack, opened it, flipped it, and then began unceremoniously emptying everything inside.
"Let's see what else we've got."
Without needing to be told, Pepper quickly joined him in the task.
xxxXXXxxx
Tony opened his eyes when he felt the tent rattle, but he immediately closed them again when the shaking stopped. With how many times he had fallen asleep and then woken up again, this was turning out to be the longest yet the most unrestful night of his entire life. It was as if he was taking power naps that only served the point of keeping him awake for a moment of dullness until he was due another quick nap that would prove fruitless in the end. He was going to be grumpy and tired all day tomorrow. But he would at least feel free of carrying yet another heavy burden of his on his own; all thanks to the slumbering woman in his arms.
At some point after ending their conversation about what had happened to him in Siberia, his fight with Captain America included, they had both fallen asleep in each other's arms. He could not recall the exact moment they had both conked out, but he did remember how she had showered him with affection and kind words as he had recanted the entire ordeal to her, while simultaneously apologizing to him for what neither of them could have done anything to prevent. She had practically made love to him with her soft caresses and her whispered words, yet they had not removed any piece of clothing at any point.
Telling her the truth about his parents' deaths had been both relieving and excruciating for him. It was one more thing he had been able to be open up to her about – a major pain point of his that he had finally shared with someone he loved. But reliving the details of the video and how he had fought tooth-and-nail to try to brutally murder a man that he had wanted to protect just minutes before seeing the video had made him angry at himself all over again.
He had known, just as she had told him before falling asleep, that he had just reacted like anyone in pain would have at finding out something devastating about their past. That while he, in retrospect, had gone overboard and he had almost given Zemo what he had wanted, no one could really claim that they would have not done the same in his position. And anyone who dared to make such a statement was just full of shit.
He had also agreed with her thoughts that, as much as people wanted to believe and say that they were above their basic instincts and that they were civilized, it only took one sucker punch to the gut for the biggest pacifist on the planet to lose his shit. Deep inside, everyone was still just an animal pretending to be something more. And animals reacted with unbidden aggression when drowning in anger or fear. Tony had attacked Bucky and Steve in anger – and the pair had fought back in fear. It had been both as simple and as complicated as that. Just as it currently was to want to sleep but being unable to do so.
Tony opened one eye when the tent shook yet again and he then heard a snap coming from outside. The increase in shaking of the fabric of their tent made him open his other eye and lift his head, just in time for him to witness what followed.
One by one, and in a swift motion, the pegs that held their tent together were pulled from the ground by the unforgiving wind gusts. The top of the tent began both sagging and swaying to the side the breeze pushed it to, warning him of the impending collapsing of the only thing providing them with some sort of protection from the cold. He sat up inside the sleeping bag in an attempt to stop the tent from falling on them, but Mother Nature had other plans for him.
"FUCK!"
As he struggled to free his legs from the bag to spring into action, he heard Pepper slowly coming to, asking him what was going on, only to then hear her shriek when the tent became a half-assed, life-size version of a hamster ball to them. Before he had a chance to hold on to the ginger, the tent began shifting away from camp, rolling and spiraling them towards the unknown, leaving them to become an amalgam of limbs and grunts that could not stop their awkward motion down the mountain. Tony recalled that they had camped right smack in the middle of the pathway, but he could not tell if they were being tumbled closer to the mountain or to the edge. His sense of direction was shot, and his fear for their lives skyrocketed when he heard Pepper huff out a groan of pain.
The little pants of distress that had been coming from her immediately stopped. Her attempt at stopping her fumbling movements ceased, and his eyes widened in fear at what could have caused her to pass out. The sound of ripping fabric told him they had hit something sharp, probably one of those jagged rocks they had hiked by earlier, and the tent suddenly tore apart, finally putting an end to their rolling.
As he untangled himself from the tent, he felt a piercing pain rush up his left leg and he cursed. He did not have time to find his limb in the dark to see what had happened to him, however; all he wanted to do was to get to his wife, find a pulse on her, and then find their way back to camp.
As he slowly dragged himself towards Pepper, he took stock of their situation. Their belongings were scattered. Their tent was ripped. They were half-dressed and being snowed on. They were both injured and away from the only other person that could help them. It was dark and windy, and he had no idea which way was up. They were up on a mountain, in Russia, with no communication with the outside world unless the satellite phone could be found.
Why the hell had he not put the damn thing back into his bag? He was never going to find it now!
Despite their odds, he smiled and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that Pepper's heartbeat was strong. He pulled her out of the snow and held on to her as his eyes located whatever could help them make it out of this. Their backpacks were still there, as was their sleeping bag, and he could spot their shoes, too. Maybe the situation was not as bad as it seemed. Maybe he could get them back to camp all on his own. Maybe he could scream Anton's name loud enough to be heard above the noise of the storm.
But he first needed to get their belongings together. First, he needed to get his own mind straight.
xxxXXXxxx
"What?" Tony said with a sly smirk as Pepper gave him a strange look. "What, Potts? Did you never build a fort as a kid?"
"Of course, I did. With chairs, towels and blankets. Not with… with…"
"It's a high-tech fort," Tony shrugged. "Well, sorta high-tech. I do what I can with what I have."
And what he had built had her in awe.
It had taken a couple of hours and some teamwork, but they were finally warm enough despite the bitter cold inside the shelter. Tony had insisted they created their cocoon of warmth with the doors open to circulate and refresh the air. He had promised that they would be warm again in no time once he got the portable heater to work again, and delivering on his promised he had.
The room felt even smaller now that their clothes, extra tent, blankets, and sleeping bags had been propped around them, resembling a child's version of a fort, but it had all ended being a blessing in disguise. The smaller the place was, the easier it was to heat up.
During his scouting of the shelter, Tony discovered that the single plank he had been sleeping on could be folded back onto the wall. This left them with enough space to build a nest on the floor on which they could both lay down together, increasing their chances of remaining warm by cuddling up.
"Now, if I can just get one of these damn phones to catch the signal of our Stark satellite, we're as good as rescued."
Pepper yawned, shifted her position from sitting cross-legged in front of Tony to stretching her legs beside him. "You do that. I think I'm gonna…" she yawned again.
Tony stopped his tinkering with the phones and eyed the ginger from the corner of his eye. "You alright, Pepper?"
"Yeah, just tired."
"Cold?"
"No."
"Head hurts?"
"No. Just… didn't sleep well before. Stayed up while you were asleep. All this moving around. Trying to stay warm. It's catching up on me, I think."
"It's the power of the fort," Tony returned his eyes to the device in his hand. "You rest, Pep. When you wake up, it's gonna be just in time to be rescued."
"OK," Pepper mumbled and gave him a lazy nod before she curled up next to him and closed her eyes. Tony's eyes stayed on her for almost a minute, if just to make sure that she was breathing normal and that she seemed relaxed. After accepting that the redhead was indeed just resting and not sleeping herself into a coma, Tony returned his full attention to his cell phone once again, even if he was fully aware that his efforts of the past few minutes were a lost cause unless he did what he knew needed to be done.
Come on, you piece of shit, Tony held back a groan. Fucking find my damn satellite!
For the life of him, Tony could not find anything wrong with the device itself, which had further confirmed for him his suspicions that the issue was not the technology, but their current whereabouts. He had figured this out about half an hour ago, but he had not wanted to say it aloud in front of Pepper. She would worry needlessly and perhaps lose the little hope she had in being found, so he had kept himself from stating the problem or carrying out the potential solution… until now.
He knew that the shelter itself was preventing the phone from finding the signal it was searching for. The reinforced materials that had to have been used to build it to sustain the weather were thick and strong enough to interfere with the satellite's reach. Even the most advanced cellular phones lost reception when the user rode an elevator or went through a tunnel, and his advanced tech was not exempt from that. For the phone to work as expected – for it to find the Stark satellite and send a distress signal to his suits and to everyone he knew, he had to go outside.
It had taken them so much time and effort to build their fort and for the heater to do its job, that he had not wanted to open the doors yet again. It would only be a matter of time before his impromptu solution to fixing the portable heater crapped out, leaving them to become freezing cold yet again. He knew that the constant change in body temperature was as bad as being exposed to a constant wave of heat or cold, so he had wanted Pepper to avoid being exposed to either as long as he had a say in that. Nevertheless, the time had finally come for him to sneak out and walk in the snow as much as he needed to find a signal. Whether that would be a few steps or a few miles, he had no way of knowing the answer ahead of time.
Tony closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, silently resigning himself to what he knew was to come. Most of the blankets and clothes had gone into building their protective cocoon; their tent hanging from the ceiling and cascading towards the ground. He would be going outside in fewer clothing items that he had had before, and there was nothing to be done about that. They had used their thick coats as a makeshift mattress beneath them to give them a comfortable place to sleep, as well as acting as a buffer between their bodies and the cold floor of the shelter. Their backpacks were their pillows. Their thick sleeping bag had become their only blanket. And the remaining gloves and scarves he had forced upon Pepper after seeing how much damage she had done to the skin on her hands and face while she had dragged his unconscious ass in here.
He had been both shocked and grateful that she had not gotten frostbite out of her heroic deed. And that realization alone had served to push himself even further into wanting to do whatever he needed to save her life – including lying to her about what the real problem with the cell phone was. If he had been smart enough to put away the satellite phone before they had gone to bed at their camp, he could have almost guaranteed finding some signal by simply getting close to the single window in the shelter and nothing more. But seeing as all he had was his regular cell phone…
He knew that she hated it when he lied to her. He knew that his lies had gotten them into this separation mess in the first place. He knew that not telling her about his plans would probably undo some of the remarkable progress they had made in the past few weeks. That, if they both somehow managed to survive this, he would probably lose the trust he had been earning with her. But how could he be expected to just sit here and allow her to freeze or starve to death if there was a chance that he could keep her from meeting either fate, no matter the cost?
Truth was that he could not. Not in a million years. Even if saving her life meant losing his.
Maybe he was meant to die in the bitter cold, anyway. Maybe this had been the reason why he had found out the truth about his parents' demise while in similar weather conditions and while being in almost the same damn corner of the world. Because it was his destiny that he died here; surrounded by the harshest weather conditions imaginable in his quest to save the woman he loved.
Just as his parents had been killed by the Winter Soldier, Tony Stark would be bested by Sergeant Cold.
Despite the grim conditions, his last thought made him smile. That had been a good, albeit a little morbid ironic pun. And no one would know it had crossed his mind.
Sarcasm is a metric for potential, his father had told him many times. Although what kind of potential, he had never specified.
Potentially stupid, he knew Pepper would have said to him, had she been awake right now and aware of what he was about to do, right before she would have either found a way to keep him inside or would have forced her way outside with him, putting them both in danger by either doing nothing to save themselves or doing something stupid as a team. Which was why he had made sure he tired her with the building of the fort. Which was why he had waited for her to be completely passed out.
Just as she was now.
Finally opening his eyes again, he leaned over her slumbering form and placed a kiss to her forehead. He was glad to see that the gesture did not even register for her, and neither did it when his hand squeezed hers for an instant before he lifted it towards his lips and kissed the back of it. He took a moment to bask in her company one last time, smiling widely at the realization that the powers that be, the same ones that had taken his parents and had kept him in a filthy cave in Afghanistan against his will, had bestowed him with her presence in his life. If anything – if he died today – he would take with him every single smile, caress, kind word and sweet moment he had had with her. He would expire with a smile on his lips and a comforting heat in his heart at having known her. He would remain awake as long as needed to do his job. And he would do it without a doubt or regret because it would guarantee her coming out on top from this.
She would hate him for it for years to come; curse him for his final act of selflessness and idiocy. Tell his lingering and wandering spirit what he could have done instead. But she would at least be alive to do all these things. And maybe one day he would see her again. Hold her again. Hear her tell him how stupid it had been to sacrifice himself for her. Make him apologize for leaving her alone for so long.
Maybe…
He inwardly groaned at his foolish thoughts, reminding himself that he did not believe in a higher power that granted eternal life after death, so his hopes were dumb and unfounded. He firmly believed that once the body expired, that was all she wrote. That once you became worm food, you ceased to exist forever. That just as his parents had not done so to their only son, he too would not have an opportunity to show his presence to Pepper from the next world.
Tony Stark was many things, yet a follower of religion or practitioner of spiritual faith he was not. He knew what he would find once outside. He knew what this little trip of his would do to him. He knew that there would be no white light at the end of the tunnel of his life. No angel that would come for his sorry soul and offer safe passage to worlds unknown. No salvation after death for those who repented in their final moments and asked for forgiveness and mercy from God.
He was aware that Pepper believed all of that, much to his surprise. But he? He simply did not.
Nonetheless, and for the briefest of instants, as he stood up from their would-be bed and began quietly heading towards the exit of the shelter, he allowed himself to believe it all. He allowed himself to buy into it. Every bit of it. To be as expectant as his redhead was when it came to that. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe he would meet his maker today and be proven to have been incorrect all along. Or maybe he would not high-five his maker because God himself would spare his life and would instead send him help before he froze outside.
Maybe help was already on the way and he would just run into it when he opened the door.
Maybe…
As quickly as that moment of respite came to him, it was gone.
Not wanting to waste more time, Tony shook his head to focus his thoughts. His hand then landed on the lock of the first door before sparing the cocoon of warmth one last glance.
As long as I get to send a call for help, Tony sighed. As long as she gets found…
As long as she made it, he would gladly die.
A/N: Y'all probably get tired of reading it, but I don't get tired of saying it: thank you all so much for your patience, your kind words of support, and your commitment to this story (even if it takes forever for me to update). I hope it's still meeting your expectations and giving you a good dose of Pepperony ^_^