A/N: Hey everyone! This chapter is out later than expected, but no big, because it's done now! I hope you all enjoy!
Warning: trigger warning for the description of a panic attack
Chapter 15
"Thor, get Bucky to safety! Hawkeye, stay with him and provide cover if you can," Cap calls.
"On it," Hawkeye responds. He and Thor quickly leave the area to find a safe spot for Bucky.
"Cap, do you think we'll be okay without the comms?" Tony asks, feeling worried.
"We'll figure it out," Cap responds in a neutral tone.
Tony hates that tone. He feels as though Cap is dismissing his concern because Skull is the only thing on his mind.
The billionaire looks away from Cap, and glares at the villain from behind his faceplate. He hates Skull, but more importantly, he hates what the man does to Steve. The villain brings Steve back to his time, causing him to remember the anguish and the pain he suffered. After the Skull's first appearance, Steve awoke every night for a week screaming Bucky's name. He never wants to watch someone he cares for relive that kind of horror again.
"Cap, what's the plan?" Natasha asks cautiously.
"Clear out as many of the soldiers as we can," Cap responds. "If we can get Skull to come down from his pedestal, I can take him out."
Tony sucks in a breath. He knew that Cap was eventually going to go after Skull on his own, but he didn't think the blond would actually announce it. Part of Tony wishes that the blond would realize that he doesn't have to do this alone, but then again, the other part knows that he has a personal score to settle. While the brunet doesn't want to interfere, he knows that he's going to have to keep a close eye on Cap to make sure he doesn't do anything reckless.
Hulk roars, and charges for the enemy soldiers. Cap and Natasha follow the man's lead and quickly find themselves engaged in battle.
Mjolnir flies by Tony's head and takes out several soldiers. Thor moves to stand next to Tony, holding out his hand and calling his hammer back to him. The mystical object flies back to Thor and the God encloses the handle between his fist. "What is the plan of attack?"
"The plan is to attack," Tony responds as he surveys the scene. He glances at the Skull hovering above, feeling a burst of anger surge through him. "Do you think you can hit Skull with lightning?"
"Are you underestimating my abilities, Man of Iron?" Thor responds with a small grin. He raises Mjolnir to the sky, watching storm clouds appear overhead. The blond aims his hammer for the villain and a deadly bolt of lightning descends from the heavens, only to strike a bubble around the villain that was previously unseen.
Thor lowers his hammer in confusion before turning to the man standing next to him. "Is it some kind of force field?"
"Looks like it," Tony responds. "I'll have JARVIS analyze it and see if we can break through."
Skull laughs whole-heartedly at the failed attack. "Did you really think I was going to make it so easy? How pathetic do you think I am?"
It takes all of Tony's self-restraint and a knowing glance with Thor to prevent him from answering that question.
"What do we do?"
Thor shrugs. "We join our comrades in battle."
"Yeah, let's," Tony responds before he and Thor take to the skies.
The Avengers have been fighting against Red Skull for what feels like hours. At some point, Skull began firing consecutive laser attacks from the headlights on his hover scooter, with the purpose of preventing Thor and Tony from being airborne for too long. The forcibly grounded Avengers occasionally try to break the force field around Skull with no luck. It doesn't help that JARVIS hasn't found a way to disarm the villain's shield either.
Tony sighs as he knocks away two more enemy soldiers with his gauntlets. The brunet knows he'll eventually figure out how to disable to force field—it's just a real annoyance to deal with especially since Skull is right fucking there and the team can't do anything about it at the moment.
Out of the corner of his vision, Tony sees Cap being surrounded by enemy soldiers. The brunet blasts away the enemies near him before taking to the skies. He dodges the Skull's constant laser attacks, and pulls the Captain out of the center of a sea of soldiers.
"What the hell are you doing?" Steve shouts to the other man.
"Helping your ass," Tony responds. He flies to a less populated area near the main battleground. Tony releases Cap, watching as the man immediately engages the lingering enemy soldiers. The brunet lands, and helps Cap take out the rest.
After the stragglers are no longer an issue, Tony turns to talk with Cap only to see a deep frown on the other man's face. The genius sighs to himself waiting for the other man to list the reasons as to how he fucked up this time.
"Are you out of your mind? You could've been killed," Steve begins in a hushed tone.
"Oh, well, excuse me for trying to help out my teammate." Tony winces. He didn't mean for that to come out so sarcastic and rude.
"What the hell has gotten into you?"
"Me? What has gotten into you? Suddenly, Skull shows up and it's "Oh, I'm Captain America. Let me prance around and show off my prowess by doing everything by myself.""
"You got a lot of nerve questioning my character, Stark."
"So, we're back to last names now, Rogers?"
"Will you two cut it out? You sound like an old married couple!" Widow says as she delivers a roundhouse kick to the head of the enemy in front of her. "Wait a minute; I can actually hear you two!"
"Our Shield brothers must have fixed our communication devices," Thor adds. "This will make our fight much easier."
"Look around, okay?" Tony blurts, causing Cap's attention to return to him. "We're a team. That means we're all here for you—every last Avenger. Hell, even Loki is on your side."
Tony feels a surge of pride when the blond gives a small smile at his comment. He sighs before placing an armor-covered hand on Cap's shoulder. "You may have had to do it alone before, but you don't have to now."
Cap hesitates for a few moments before sighing. "Tones," he begins in an apologetic tone.
"Hey, it's cool," Tony says, patting the other man's shoulder. "I get where you're coming from, I do. But, we have your back, Cap."
Cap gives Tony a fond smile. "Where would I be without you?"
The brunet shrugs, leaving the question unanswered. He doesn't want to have to admit that the first words that went through his mind were "probably dead."
"OH MY GOD! I found it! I found the Holy Grail!" Hawkeye screams over the comms in delight. "Oh shit, where did it go?"
Tony rolls his eyes. Of course, the archer would lose the damn thing as soon as he found it. The man nudges Cap in the arm. "Come on, we've got work to do."
Iron Man fires up his jet boots and takes off, without waiting for a response. He flies back into the battle, knocking over soldiers with his gauntlets. The brunet lands, and fires a repulsor blast to his right, clearing a path for the Widow to escape from the soldiers surrounding her.
"Thanks for the assist, Stark," she chirps over the coms. "Keep an eye on your six."
Tony turns to deal with the men trying to sneak up on him when Cap's shield flies by, striking both men in the head for an instant knock out. The brunet nods in Cap's direction, watching the man effortlessly catch his shield and return to the battle.
The brunet fires another repulsor blast into the crowd, and sighs when the gap he made quickly refills. He sighs. "Fucking Hydra. Whenever we take out one soldier, a gagillion more take its place."
"Is 'gagillion' even a word?" Hawkeye asks.
"It is in The Official Tony Stark Dictionary."
Widow sighs as she as takes down another three men. "You know what we need?"
"French fries?" Hawkeye offers.
"What? No. We need something big to take these guys out . . . like a bomb or something." Widow dodges an attack. "Stark, can you make a bomb?"
Tony raises an eyebrow. "Are you asking, or ordering?"
"Both."
"Yes, I can, but—" Tony cuts himself off as he blocks an attack before knocking the soldier to the ground. "It will be hard to make an attempt under these circumstances."
"Then, what are we going to do?" Hawkeye asks, with a sliver of worry in his tone.
The sound of Quinjets rapidly approaching the area is heard. Twin laser beams descend from the skies before causing a massive explosion that nearly wipes out over half of the Hydra soldiers.
Widow hums to herself. "That'll work."
"Sorry, it took so long," a new voice, announces over the comms. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to track Stark Tech when it doesn't want to be found?"
Fucking Coulson.
"It's a damn good thing you had uploaded JARVIS to our servers," Coulson continues. "He's the one who helped us find you."
Tony sighs, failing to stop the smile that's spreading across his features. "Thanks, JARVIS."
"It is my upmost pleasure."
"Fury sends his love," Agent Hill pipes up as her jet hovers next to Coulson. "Well, he didn't put it in those exact words, but I think you get the idea."
"Aw, Fury really does care," Tony says.
Hawkeye snorts.
"Now that we're all here, let's finish this," Coulson says. He and Hill unleash a combo attack that obliterates another large chunk of the enemy soldiers. Their joint attack springs the Avengers into action, and the team resumes their battle.
Skull scowls as he watches his army rapidly deplete with the arrival of Shield Agents. He releases a frustrated sigh before banging his hand against the hovercraft scooter. "What the hell is wrong with you people? I am not paying you to fuck everything up! I do not want another Dennis, do you hear me?"
Dennis? That name sounds familiar. "As in Dennis Smith?" He says, directing his question to the villain.
"Dennis Smith," Skull repeats. He pauses before smirking. "Yes. He was a fine young lad. Absolute shit at undercover jobs, but a hard worker none the less."
Tony bites his lip. He has a feeling he knows exactly where this is going.
"Man of Iron! What is the Skull referring to?" Thor asks.
"You didn't know? Well, let me educate you," Skull says. "Dennis Smith was a soldier, who worked for me. His job was to go undercover, find out who chased me out of Zima back in the seventies, and where they were located." He smirks. "He led me right to you, Winter Soldier."
"It was a lie," Bucky says in a small voice.
"Buck . . ." Cap begins before trailing off.
The villain shrugs. "I have got to give you credit though; you almost caused me to abandon my current plans when you chased me out. Almost."
"Bucky, don't listen to him," Cap responds over the comms. "He's trying to mess with your head!"
"It was a lie," Bucky repeats. "All of it."
"Cap, I think he's going into shock," Hawkeye says over the comms.
"What else have I been lied to about," Bucky says, sounding like he's addressing his question to Clint. "Tell me!"
"Oh, what do I do?" the archer asks, in a desperate tone.
"Try and keep him calm," Natasha responds.
"How?"
"He likes baseball," Steve interjects. "Talk to him about that."
"But, I don't know anything about baseball," Hawkeye responds.
"Make something up, then. He loves proving people wrong," Cap says.
The pace of the battle increases after those words were spoken. Red Skull lets out a frustrated huff of breath at the incompetence of his army. "If you want something done, you have to do it yourself." He hops down off his hovercraft scooter, landing a few yards away from Cap, noting that the man is oblivious to his presence.
Skull smirks before reaching down and picking up a discarded weapon. The red villain slowly walks towards the man, taking careful steps so he doesn't alert the Captain of his presence. Skull raises the weapon into the air, and strikes the Captain in the back of the knees.
Cap lets out a startled shout, and falls to his knees.
"Cap?" Tony asks, concerned.
"I'm fine," the blond reassures. "I'm fine."
"You may be 'fine' now, but you won't be for long."
Cap quickly stands and whirls around, facing Red Skull. He smirks. "So, you finally decided to make your official appearance?"
"Yes" the villain responds. "I want to make sure that my soldiers don't kill you . . . that's my job."
"You're about to become unemployed," Cap responds.
Skull raises his arm to hit Cap again, when the weapon is knocked out of his hand. Angered, the villain turns to his left, and sees Black Widow standing with a knife in her hand and unconscious bodies at her feet.
"Cap, you're not doing this alone," she says without taking her eyes off the villain. "Okay."
Cap hesitates before ultimately nodding. "Okay."
The battle continues with Agents Coulson and Hill proving they are two of the best things to happen to the Avengers right now. With their help, the Skull's unnecessarily large army is almost completely eradicated. Since Cap and Natasha locked tight into battle with Skull, himself, it frees the skies open for Tony and Thor to take out the last few dozen men.
Iron Man fires a repulsor blast, watching as the attack blast away several soldiers. Through the faceplate, Tony can see Thor raising his hammer to finish off the last of the stragglers. Knowing the God is going to wait for him to land, Tony begins lowering himself to the ground, so he isn't electrocuted like last time.
That was an interesting day.
"Tony!"
The desperate shout of his name is the last thing Tony hears before his armor is directly hit by a blast that he can't see. The brunet screams as the armor constricts in on itself, causing the metal to dig into his skin. He feels a wet material sliding down his face, slipping into his mouth, and overwhelming his senses with the taste of iron. His shouts of agony continue as the armor's creaks and groans barely register over the white noise in his ears.
The suit's power begins flickering in and out, and Tony knows he's going to be trapped within the metal with no escape if he doesn't do something soon. He tries moving his arms so he can press the armor release button tucked away under his helmet, but the slightest movements cause large bursts of pain throughout his body.
"JARVIS? JARVIS, can you hear me?"
"Sir, we're . . . altitude—"
A pang of fear explodes through Tony's body. He's losing altitude fast. His eyes scan the flickering screen in front of him as he digs into the vast depths of his mind, trying to think of a way to fix everything.
He can't.
Tony can feel his breaths coming out in spurts now, his heart rate increasing rapidly. A cold sweat blooms over Tony's skin, and he's shaking—he can't control it. He feels like he's on fire and he's covered in ice. No, water. Ice water. He's being dipped into a tub of ice water. There's men screaming around him—he can't breathe. He's drowning.
"No, no, no. Not now, not now."
Tony takes a breath to try to clear his head, but to no avail. He knows he's having a panic attack and one of the worst ones he's had since the Battle of New York. Since, Steve came into his life. Since the portal, that fucking portal in the sky. Since, the darkness surrounding him—consuming him—
He's going to die.
He's having a panic attack, and he's going to die. He knows there is nothing he can do, and he's going to die. He's never going to see Steve again, and he's going to die.
"JARVIS! JARVIS, please!" Tony calls desperately to his AI. He feels more wetness sliding down his face, clinging to his eyelashes and catching against his lips. He can't tell if it's tears or blood. "I don't know what to do—I don't—I don't . . ."
"Sir, I think . . . failing . . ."
Tony's eyes widen further as his labored breathing worsens. "No, no, no. JARVIS, no, buddy, you can't leave me. Not now. Not now. Please not now."
"Sir, I—" are the last words Tony hears before everything goes black.
"T—"
"To—"
"Tony!"
Tony's eyes flicker open and he groans. The only light in the suit is coming from the arc reactor. Tony breathes a sigh of relief that the damn thing is still working. He's so glad that he upgraded the suit so it ran on power independently from the battery in his chest.
The genius's eyes start to flicker close before he jerks, forcing his eyes to remain open. His foggy mind tries its best to gather its bearings, and it takes longer than it should have. He remembers fighting Red Skull. Hill and Coulson showed up to provide support. He was hit—he panicked—and now he's regretfully awake.
The soreness hits Tony like a freight train and he groans, regretting the sound as it makes his body hurt even worse. He tries moving his arms and legs, but even the slightest of movements causes agonizing pain to shoot up from Tony's limbs.
"J . . ." He begins in an attempt to speak, finding the task extremely difficult. Not only is the armor weighing heavily down on his chest, but he probably has a few broken ribs as well.
He tries again. "J . . . JAR . . ."
Tony winces as the pain finally registers, prickling against every muscle and bone in his body. He feels a headache forming rapidly and concludes that he may have a concussion.
The billionaire keeps hearing a voice calling his name in the distance, making his head throb even worse. He wishes that the voice would shut up and continue talking at the same time. The tone is familiar to Tony, but he can't pin down exactly who it is; his mind is still too foggy for that level of thinking.
Tony opens his mouth to speak only to let out a horrible high-pitched croaking noise. He swallows and tries again. "Ste . . ."
"Tony? Tony, can you hear me?" the voice calls again.
He hears the sound of his armor groaning, followed by the sound of swearing.
"I can't get you out the armor!" the voice calls again desperately, beginning to sound louder with every passing minute. "I've been trying, and I can't get you out of the armor! Ебать!"
Natasha?
The assassin pauses. "Agent Hill, that is not of importance right now. There are matters that are more urgent. I need Steve and Thor with me right now."
Tony can't hear Hill's response, but he can feel the anger radiating off Natasha.
"I don't give a shit about Fury, or his orders! Tony is trapped in his fucking armor. I need Steve and Thor to come and help me right fucking now,"Natasha screams—actually screams.
The shock of the normally collected assassin losing control for a second is exactly what Tony needed to jolt his mind out of the fog. Tony groans and he can almost hear Natasha whip her head towards him.
"Tony?" she asks curiously.
Two horrified exclamations come from somewhere on Tony's left.
"Brother Stark!" Thor.
"Oh, God! Tony!" Steve.
"It's about fucking time," Natasha swears harshly, having no kind words to spare. "I found the armor release button, but it won't work. He's going to have to be pried out."
Tony can feel the metal directly over his face groaning and he closes his eyes. He feels the material being ripped away, exposing his face to the sunlight, and the fresh breeze sweeping over the land. The brunet opens his eyes, seeing the worried faces of three of his teammates in his immediate field of vision. He tries cracking a smile, but it comes off as more of a grimace. "You guys," he begins before taking a breath. "Look like shit."
Natasha snorts while Thor and Steve both let out relieved chuckles.
Tony tries moving his limbs again, only to feel bursts of pain shooting through him. "What happened?"
Natasha, who is sitting by Tony's head while the two men carefully remove his armor, speaks up. "Skull hit you with some kind of attack; I don't know what the hell it was, but it was powerful. It blasted you back into the woods."
The brunet looks around again, noting the woodsy area for the first time, before turning back to Natasha.
"I followed you. When you landed—" she cuts herself off before speaking again. "You landed hard; you weren't moving. Hell, I didn't even know if you were breathing."
Tony fights the pain and lets a small smile cross his features. "You like me."
"No."
"You stayed with me and tried pulling me out of my armor, even though you knew you wouldn't be able to."
"No."
Tony is wearing a full-fledged grin now. "You like me."
Natasha crosses her arms. "I was indebted to you. That's all." She tries sounding nonchalant about the whole ordeal, but Tony knows Natasha better than she thinks he does. The assassin must have figured that out too, for she uncrosses her arms and lets a genuine smile play over her features. "I'm glad you're okay, Tony."
The brunet smiles back before confusion falls over his features. "And where is Skull now?" Tony asks curiously.
"Gone," Coulson answers as he arrives in the area. "He retreated, thankfully, without the Holy Grail. Barton had secured, and hid it."
The last of the armor is peeled off and Tony sighs in relief, throwing himself a mental party. "Thank you."
"It is our pleasure," Thor responds as he sits back on his heels.
Tony looks to his left and sees Steve's stricken face continuing to scan his body for any visible injuries other than his head. "I love you."
Steve's face softens and the corner of his lip upturns. "I love you, too."
Coulson clears his throat. "You and Barnes need medical attention. Can you move?"
Tony tries and winces at the pain that shoots through his body. "No . . ." he says without taking his eyes off Steve. "Carry me?"
The blond looks torn between complying and resisting Tony's request. He gulps. "I don't want to hurt you any more than you already are."
"You won't," Tony answers in complete confidence.
"Tony."
"Please? I just . . ." need to be assured that I'm alive and that you're here, alive, with me.
Steve's eyes scan Tony's face for a moment before he nods his compliance. He passes Natasha his shield and the redhead straps it to her back as she did before. The blond carefully slides his hands under Tony's middle back and knees before carefully lifting the man into his arms.
Tony sighs, feeling Steve's warmth surround him. He places his face the crook of Steve's neck, feeling a lazy smile cross over his features, despite the pain.
Natasha snorts. "You look like a happy cat."
"If I start purring, don't be surprised," Tony responds, feeling the vibrations of Steve's amused chuckle. "Wait, what about my . . .?"
"I have your armor, Man of Iron," Thor responds.
"I made a makeshift sled out of some broken bark and some rope that I had," Coulson responds.
"Hmm, how creative of you," Tony responds, surprised that he sounds only slightly sarcastic.
The group of five slowly makes their way back to the rest of the team, with Natasha and Coulson leading the way. Steve, who's carrying Tony, is following the two Shield Agents. Thor is bringing up the rear while dragging Tony's armor on the sleigh behind him.
Ten minutes into their walk, Natasha pauses in her stride.
"Agent Romanov?" Coulson asks, curious.
Natasha quietly shushes him before placing a hand against her ear. "This is Widow." Her brow furrows. "Rhodey, what . . .?" The assassin trails off listening intently, her expression becoming more guarded by the second.
"Natasha, what's going on?" Steve asks, concerned.
"That was Rhodey; he called me on my private channel," she begins, remaining vague.
"And? What did he want?" Tony prompts.
A grim looks falls over her features. "Stark Tower is being attacked.
A/N: Shit's getting real.
Translation:
Ебать—fuck