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IMPORTANT NOTICE: I will be taking a break from updating in favor of Camp NaNo. Don't worry though, I'll be back with a new chapter on the first Wednesday of August!

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Chapter 11: Bed Rest

"I'm not afraid of death; I just don't want to be there when it happens."

― Woody Allen

When Tony thought about it later, the beginning of the end was a single point. It wasn't a slow descent like the Fall of the Roman Empire, but a single event that proved to be the gateway to the downward slide.

That event happened on February 29, 2020. Leap day. A unique day for an occurrence that would feel all too common, but be singular in that it was the marker for what would happen next.

Not that anyone knew so. It wasn't until Tony woke up for breakfast that he got the news: Gipsy Danger was down. No, not just down, it was completely and utterly wrecked, like his parents' car. Yancy had been eaten alive and Raleigh was lucky he hadn't died solo piloting the jaeger back to land.

The kaiju threat was more potent than ever, or else Tony would have demanded that he and Steve be allowed to visit their fellow pilot in the hospital. As it was, he sent a fruit basket with a note demanding that they video chat when he was feeling up to it. That took several weeks.

When Raleigh finally did call, it was a little after breakfast on April 17. "Did you hear about the defunding?" he asked grimly.

"Don't even get me started on that," Tony grumbled. The minute he heard he had started bitching about the stupidity. Passive defense was useless in this kind of scenario; maybe if the wall was a delay tactic so that damage could be minimized while the jaegers were scrambled, he could appreciate it.

"They're panicking after what happened last month. They want to try something different and hope that it gives them better results," Steve said, shaking his head. He got up from where he had been lounging against a wall reading the newest Song of Ice and Fire book, in favor of being in view of the camera.

"Are you really trying to defend this?" Raleigh asked doubtfully.

"Just getting into their brains," Steve denied.

"He's a tactician. It's what he does," Tony explained, waving it away, "Either way, it's stupid. They're going to get us all killed with their willful blindness." It reminded him far too much of what happened after the Battle of SHIELD, when the government buried their heads in the sand after they heard about HYDRA. They couldn't see it, it didn't exist.

"Looks like you two will be out of a job soon enough," Raleigh told them with a tight smile.

All it took was a look to know what Steve was thinking. After so many hours in each other's brains, they barely had to say a word anymore. Right now, he agreed but wasn't willing to be quite as rude as Tony.

"If they can take us down before we can get a nuke through that portal," Tony refuted. He excelled at games of chicken like this.

"Just like I said last year," Steve reminded the former pilot.

The grave nod he got was enough. Raleigh had got the message.

"How you holding up?" Steve asked. He had always been the better people person between them.

Raleigh grimaced. "The doc says I'll live," he reported stoically. Under the harsh fluorescent lights he was washed out, with dark bags under his eyes and hair shining in the way that only days without a shower did. He was a little thinner and visibly wilted since they last saw each other in November.

"Good to hear," Steve said approvingly, "We might need you soon."

For the first time this conversation, Raleigh focused completely on them. "What're you planning?" he asked.

With a look between Tony and Steve, the inventor started talking. "Advisory panel. As the war keeps going, the jaegers are going to get damaged. We need someone to work with R&D back in New York and give the upgrade designs an initial check to make sure they would be functional for the pilots. You up for it?" Tony asked. He hoped so. From what he had heard and read, the Beckets were the best before… this. The knowledge of such a veteran pilot would be priceless.

Before Tony even stopped talking, Raleigh was shaking his head. "I can't handle it right now," he said, unable to hide the pain in his eyes, "Not so soon." The look he had now was similar to what Steve looked like in the immediate months after Loki's attempted invasion, probably even more intense in the few weeks he had been defrosted before that.

A flash of memory came forward of an empty boxing gym late at night. The memories, the anger, the despair that flowed through Steve as he took it out on the bags only to find that it didn't help… Yes, the captain knew that feeling well.

"Some advice, one vet to another?" Steve offered.

Raleigh looked politely interested.

"The minute it doesn't feel like someone's carved a hole in your chest with a plasma cannon, get back out there," Steve told him, "It doesn't help to lock yourself up in the past. I would know." He gave the younger man a tight smile through the camera.

"Thanks," Raleigh said roughly. That he didn't reject it outright was a miracle. Jaeger pilots could be tricky about things like emotions, to outsiders at least.

"Okay, getting back to business," Tony said, cutting through the heavy meaningful stuff, "If you do get back in the game, head to SI and tell them I sent you. They'll get a hold of me and we can go from there. For now, what's Gipsy looking like?" He needed to know the operational status of every jaeger possible, if this madman's gambit was going to work.

Again, Raleigh looked like he was in pain. From how he rubbed his left arm absently, he may have been. "Left arm is gone, hole right above the reactor, conn pod ripped into," he reported in a grunt, "Why?"

This time Tony needed to see if Steve was on board with telling about this. The nod he got told him to keep talking. "Pentecost is going to ground once funding runs out on the jaeger program," Tony said with a startling amount of approval, considering this is the military he's talking about, "He's going to need funds, he's going to need jaegers, to keep going. We've got one, we need to know if we can get the other." It would be more cost effective to repair a damaged jaeger than fabricate a new one. Maybe not easier, but right now that wasn't the concern.

"The eggheads said there's no hope of restoration. They sent her to Oblivion Bay," Raleigh said. It sounded like he had lost more than a machine when they took her to the jaeger graveyard.

Even after just one fight, Tony knew he would feel the same way if Iron Patriot met that fate. He swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. "I'll get in contact with Oblivion Bay, see if I can get her back and running," he said. If it were at all possible, he would.

There were no words, Raleigh just swallowed and nodded jerkily. For a minute Tony thought he would excuse himself, and he wouldn't blame the guy. Instead he said, "I see him sometimes. Yancy."

This was worse than any of the super yucky emotional stuff before it, but Tony would try. Or at least he would try to not put his foot in his mouth.

"For a while I would sometimes see Bucky out of the corner of my eye," Steve shared, "I like to think he was still there, trying to make sure I didn't get into any trouble I couldn't get myself out of. Maybe Yancy is trying to do that for you." The situation was different; Bucky was alive, in this universe and at home. But maybe it would help.

From the shaky laugh Raleigh gave, it did. "Yeah, that would be him. He always was the level headed one between us," he agreed.

Steve grinned dopily at the camera. "You're not going crazy, Raleigh," he assure the other man.

It seemed to be exactly what Raleigh needed to hear. When he signed off a few minutes later, he seemed the slightest bit happier.

"Item one on the to-do list down," Tony mumbled to himself between calls, "Now for number two." He clicked the call button on Stacker Pentecost's contact.

"It was good to see him… alive," Steve said. He couldn't exactly say 'living', that was too far off the mark for now. But this was better than nothing.

Before Tony could do more than give a hum of agreement, the Marshal picked up. "Look who it is," Pentecost said, raising an expectant eyebrow. He obviously had shit to do.

"After your government funding is done, you're heading off the grid, aren't you," Tony said. He gave a little smirk at the serious but exasperated look he got.

"Are you in?" Pentecost questioned. He didn't even ask how they knew, just accepted it. The man could almost match Thor in terms of rolling with it.

Tony couldn't hold in his snort.

More respectfully, Steve said, "Yes, sir. We even have an offer for you, if you're interested." He stood straight, shoulders back and hands behind his back, classic military. It was kind of adorable and kind of hot.

"Is it an offer I can't refuse?" Pentecost asked seriously.

If it weren't for the situation, Tony would have keeled over laughing. If anyone had told him two years ago that he would have an in-joke with a military guy who wasn't Rhodey or Steve, he would have used them as target practice for the Iron Man suit. "You can, but it would be a very bad idea," Tony answered once he was sure he wouldn't crack up, "I went over the budget at SI and we can fund you to the tune of 1.3 billion dollars annually plus repair of one to three jaegers per year, depending on how extensive the damage is."

The eyebrow was joined high up on the Marshal's face by its twin. "Not what I expected from you, but I'll take it," he decided, "When does this start?" He pulled a pad of paper and a pencil over to him and began scribbling on it.

"As soon as I can shove the paperwork through," Tony promised, "Should be in about a month. Any ideas what jaeger we should start on?" He hoped Gipsy Danger, but others would give him a decent enough challenge.

"Diablo Intercept, if you can get Chile's permission to work on it," Pentecost answered after a small amount of thought, "The reactor was destroyed but otherwise it's functional. We've already got plans to handle Gipsy Danger." The smile he gave was shark-like.

"Don't try getting him back in the pilot's seat too soon," Steve cautioned the man, "He's not doing so well. Might be a good idea to try to find new pilots instead." He didn't look happy about it, but there was no denying the sense in that.

"I'll worry about Becket. You handle yourselves," Pentecost told them in the voice he usually used as Marshal. It was accompanied by a pointed look that reminded Tony very much of if Pepper was in Fury's body. Now there was a thought he could live without.

"Let us know when you need us, and we'll be there," Steve said, ever the soldier.

With a nod, Pentecost cut the call off.

Left on their own once again, Tony leaned back in his chair and Steve went back to resting against the table. The room was quiet, only the footsteps outside the door and their own breathing keeping it from dead silence. "That went better than I thought," the inventor said idly.

"You didn't insult anyone. Color me impressed," Steve commented sarcastically. He knew how slick his boyfriend could be when it was necessary.

The screen lit up with an icon of a phone ringing. The name above specified that it was Nat.

"Really?" Tony grumbled, "Better get it out of the way." He jabbed the green icon to pick up.

When the image came through, it was of a similar concrete room but with bunk beds rather than one large bed. In the focus of the camera, Nat wore black workout clothes with her hair tied up. "This has to be quick, we're between training rounds. No signs of the Soldier over this way, but we'll keep looking," she said, calm as ever.

"Thanks. Keep us up to date," Steve said with a sharp nod.

"Of course," Nat agreed before she hung up.

Immediately Steve deflated, looking disappointed. He took a deep breath and nodded to himself.

It was no surprise that Old Man Winter was hard to track down, Tony thought. One didn't become a ghost story by being easy to find.

"We'll find him," Tony assured his boyfriend. It was instinct to put a hand on the other man's knee to try and offer comfort, but it was also instinct to retract it quickly to keep from being told off.

Steve put a large hand over his, keeping it there. "I know. It's just… He's been suffering for seventy five years. He doesn't deserve that," he murmured.

At first, the two admittedly had their problems, but after Tony saw the files detailing all the torture and brainwashing Bucky had gone through… It was HYDRA who killed his mom, as far as he was concerned. Bucky was just one of the more tormented victims of theirs.

In fact, as of his getting sucked into this alternate universe, Tony had launched phase one of their joint plan to reveal to the world that Steve and Rhodey were not the boy scouts everyone thought of them as. It involved rubber ducks and hot sauce. Hopefully Bucky had held back on the rest of their nefarious plot.

"All the better for us to be here and help," Tony pointed out. Maybe that was one of the reasons they were here. If he believed in a higher power, he would say this was part of its plan.

It took a moment for Steve to give the same sort of jerky nod that Raleigh had earlier. He was getting sucked into his head again. That wouldn't do.

All the better for Tony to kiss him out of it. He pulled his boyfriend down to sit on his lap and ignored the squeak of protest the chair gave at the added weight. In contrast, their lips were gentle.

By the time someone knocked on the door to call them out for lunch, not much was on their minds except each other. And maybe a quickie here in the lab. Everyone knew to stay out unless they were called in, after the second time someone walked in on them.

It was better than Steve moping.

Years passed and as other jaegers fell, Iron Patriot's star only continued to rise. They were one of six that went undefeated into 2024. Six out of over a hundred.

There was Cherno Alpha over at Vladivostok; Striker Eureka down under; the Widowmaker in Nagasaki; Crimson Typhoon of Hong Kong; and Mammoth Apostle sharing the LA shatterdome with Iron Patriot. The pilots all ended up working together at one point or another and quickly learned how to best fight together. To that end, the Widowmaker and Cherno Alpha were almost as lethal a team as Iron Patriot and Striker Eureka. No one could beat the combination of the Widowmaker and Iron Patriot, however, a singular point of pride for both teams.

The pilots themselves grew ever closer but harder as they struggled to keep the coasts from being plundered and walls from being breached. The Kaidonovskys were as cold as their homeland, the Hansens brash and hot tempered, the Wei triplets secretive. Not that the Esparzas were easy to get along with either, but Tony was used to them by now.

Looking back at their days in the academy, Tony could see why the training was so rigorous. At first it was excessive, but since all the other jaegers were gone… The remaining pilots were being pulled from their beds and meals more and more often.

Some of those jaegers were able to be repaired to fight another day, but the pool of pilots was dwindling too fast. Diablo Intercept was repaired twice, Nova Hyperion once, before there were no more pilots left for them. It was just the current batch left.

Lucky Seven fought until they couldn't anymore. The pilots' careers ended when Concepcion's back was broken and she was paralyzed from the waist down; Bryan refused to take another pilot. Instead he did the one thing that could surprise her: he asked her to marry him the minute they left the hospital. Again due to kaiju attacks none of the Avengers could go to the wedding, but they were able to see it through a video chat, at least. Last Tony had heard, they were living in Concepcion's hometown in Ecuador and thinking of adoption.

The Winter Soldier had been found in 2023, but he went on the run the moment he was free. It was impractical at best for the Avengers to hunt him down with the kaiju threat, so they had to settle for knowing he would be alright by himself. Their Bucky had done it, after all.

Things were looking desperate at best. Then Insurrector came.

It was polite enough to come straight to them in LA, and even made its appearance between lunch and dinner. What it wasn't nice enough to do was die right when it was needed.

"Is it me or is this thing heat resistant!" Tony shouted when the repulsors had little effect on the kaiju's thick hide. They'd already expended the shoulder rockets, or else he'd use those.

Helpfully, JARVIS put in, "It does appear so, sir. Perhaps the unibeam is worth a shot?"

In the back of his head, Steve gave the go ahead. Out loud he swore as he pummeled it with stun spikes and the roll of nickels alike.

"Go ahead, JARVIS," Tony ordered through gritted teeth. He was holding Insurrector in place so that its head could hopefully be smashed in, and praying it would be over soon.

The roar from outside gave them a feeling of satisfaction and relief. Finally they had a weapon that worked.

A clawed tail grasped at them and they had to dart away to avoid further damage. The screen was already showing a good deal of armor torn off the torso and left arm. They couldn't afford to lose much more.

"The unibeam works but everything else we've got is useless!" Steve reported. Only his enhanced body was allowing him to keep up.

Tony was wearing out fast; he really was getting too old for this shit. "What you got, Clintasha?" he asked, praying for a miracle.

"Missiles are gone, it sounds like the pulse gauntlets won't be any help, but we have the unibeam and the plasma cannons," Clint answered. Exactly what Tony had hoped not to hear.

Again, Steve swore. The past few years had been quite the eye opener where he was concerned; he was an army man and it showed.

A decision was made and Tony knew exactly what was going to happen. He was okay with it, if it meant Nat and Clint would get through this. Anyone else would be running for the hills.

When he felt Tony's agreement, Steve sent over a pulse of relieved regret. It was the only thing he could think of. "We'll hold it in place. You guys blast it with your plasma cannons," he instructed the other pilots, like it was a normal day of saving the world.

"What are you doing! That's suicide!" Clint shrieked in their ears.

Headquarters' commands were ignored. Mammoth wouldn't be scrambled in time to be of any help here.

"The plasma cannons are too slow to load, we need to buy you time," Steve answered as they dodged an attack and swung a fist into the kaiju's face. They danced around, using its own weight and momentum against it.

"We're laying down on the wire," Tony said, remembering the helicarrier conference room all those years ago.

Yet another pulse of regret, and an apology, were sent his way. I was wrong. You really are a hero.

Assurance and forgiveness were returned. Truthfully, Tony felt there was nothing to forgive. At that time, Steve had been right.

There was quiet on the other side of the comms. Only the roaring of the kaiju broke what would otherwise be complete silence. It was a ghostly moment, everything felt like a dream.

"What do we need to do?" Nat asked, deadly calm.

"Plasma cannons, unibeam, everything you've got," Steve instructed, love and gratitude for his team flooding the neural connection with such strength that Tony had to blink moisture out of his eyes, "We'll hold it." He shifted his stance, preparing for it to rush at them.

Without thought Tony moved with him. Time to die as they'd lived the past few years: together, as heroes.

The kaiju charged; Iron Patriot met it. And as they struggled, there were noises of plasma cannons charging, then firing, and Clint was chanting, "Die, die, die!" A shrieking, tearing noise erupted from the conn pod above them. Pain and alarm rushed through Steve and into Tony, a warning to disconnect himself because he could feel his head was split open- and then he was gone and there was blackness.

"Steve! Wake up! STEVE!" Tony shrieked as he watched the right hemisphere lose power.

The shatterdome was screeching in his ear to unhook himself; Steve's brain scans were showing no meaningful activity. He was piloting solo.

No matter that Steve was gone and Tony would hemorrhage soon, they still had a damn job to do. It would get done, no matter what. Nat and Clint and the world were counting on them.

"JARVIS, give me the reigns! All of it!" Tony snarled, holding Insurrector with the one hand he did have control over right now.

"That will certainly result in brain da-" JARVIS began to point out. If an AI could be worried, this one was.

"I don't really care," Tony snapped, "Do it!" The pain wasn't just in his head anymore, it was in his chest, right under the arc reactor. If this was what a broken heart felt like, he was glad he wouldn't have to live with one much longer.

Then JARVIS gave him full control and it burned. Everything burned, from the tips of his hair to his toenails. The pain was ignored in favor of doing exactly as he'd promised, holding Insurrector where it was. A thought activated the unibeam.

Blood dripped down his face and it felt like his skull was being crushed from the inside.

The kaiju's torso burst like a rancid meat pinata. With a final, weak sound like a whimper, it fell.

Tony drew back to a standing position and started walking. This was wrong, he was still alive. Why was he still alive?

"Where are you going?" Clint called over the intercoms.

"Back to base. I'm tired," Tony answered shortly.

The trip was far too long and short at the same time. It was just across the city. If only it were longer, maybe he would have descended into unconsciousness rather than witness the emergency personnel surround Steve and him. JARVIS must have called them.

Traitor, Tony thought mildly as he stood, dazed in the crowd.

Numbly, he allowed himself to be unhooked from the harness. "JARVIS, fold up the suits," Tony called without realizing what he was saying. When he was in his clothes again, he was loaded onto a gurney and wheeled out of the conn pod after Steve.

Why was he still alive?

The question screwed with him even as he lost track of where he was. Hallways and faces and voices all blended together as Tony gratefully lost consciousness. Somewhere in the back of his mind he could feel a bright spot he only knew as Steve, and he curled his full awareness around that precious bit of light in his otherwise dark mind.

He never wanted to leave.

It could have been minutes or days before Tony came back to himself. Either way it was unwilling, kicking and screaming to go back to that place where he could feel like Steve was still there. Without his permission, his eyes blinked open and body moved. Everything was stiff.

There were voices and then Nat's face warbled into being above him. "Tony? Can you hear me?" she asked, concern in her usually blank voice.

"Cool your heels, vixen," he snapped. His voice was weak and tongue swollen with thirst.

The smile she gave made her beautiful, even with worried eyes. "Open your mouth, I've got a sponge with some water for you," Nat instructed. She held what looked like a lollipop, but it was made of blue foam.

Automatically Tony did so, obeying his body's screams for liquid. It felt heavenly on his tongue and he smacked his lips with a sigh of relief.

Then he remembered why he was in the hospital and any feeling of contentment left him. Steve was gone, he couldn't feel his super soldier. He had piloted solo after Steve went, helped finish off Insurrector.

Why was he still alive?

A doctor appeared with Clint in tow, and Bird Brain actually looked relieved to see him awake. "You gave us all a heart attack, man," the archer complained.

Though Nat gave him a look, she didn't refute it.

"It seems that jaeger pilots are made of sterner stuff than anyone would have thought," the doctor said with a smile, "I am Doctor Solange Kavanagh. How are you feeling, Ranger Stark?" She was a pretty middle aged woman with silver streaks in her dark hair that reminded him of Bruce.

A pang went through Tony. He'd never see his science bro again.

But Steve was gone.

"Why am I here?" he asked quietly.

"You do not remember?" Doctor Kavanagh asked, getting ready to jot things down.

"I piloted solo. That generally kills people, right?" Tony questioned. As far as he remembered reading in his research to design Iron Patriot and the Widowmaker, the only solo drift survivor had been Pentecost, when his copilot was knocked out in Tokyo. Now there was Raleigh, and apparently him.

Behind the doctor's back, Clint and Nat had one of those wordless conversations that had gotten so much more common since they started piloting. It was all worried looks and determined nods, probably talking about him in their heads. The assholes.

On the other hand, Doctor Kavanagh nodded and jotted down a note happily. "You're the third solo drift survivor we have," she half-confirmed, "You're lucky." She surveyed him over wire rimmed spectacles with a smile.

When Tony looked, he was the only patient in the room. It made sense to put a body in the morgue, but part of him had hoped…

No, he was being silly. Even a super soldier couldn't survive having his head split open. Awareness faded again.

A few times Tony came back to himself. Mostly he stayed in the darkness of his own mind, trying to find that spark of Steve that had stayed behind. When he only found the inky blackness of his own mind, he panicked and spiraled downward.

And down.

And down.

And hoped he didn't wake up.

When Bruce came back into the conference room, it was both for a status report and to see what was happening in the other universe. There had been a few supervillains trying their luck since Iron Man and Captain America were out of town, but the new team had beaten them back.

It had only pissed off Bruce even more handily, since that interrupted his research. The Hulk smashed everything in sight with glee and restored his scientist alter ego to the fore faster than ever, wanting to get 'Tin Man' back as fast as possible. The sudden display of affection was baffling and wonderful.

After a combined argument from Thor and Loki of all people, the Asgardians had begun to consider helping open a portal to this alternate universe. It also helped that Bruce had demonstrated their ability to receive camera signals from wherever the other Avengers were. The final meeting had been between Odin and Fury, and it was unreal to look at two men who were so opposite yet the same.

The scientists sent from Asgard to assist in bringing their heroes home were brilliant. Nothing less could be expected from a people who built the Bifrost. Working with them was a dream come true for Bruce, and when he made a connection that they hadn't… Respect was a wonderful thing.

When he got in, Bruce immediately knew that this wasn't the right time to report. The air was too tense, those in the room (Sam, Bucky, and Rhodey) so focused on the screen that they barely noticed his entrance.

On screen was a news report. According to the date, it was July 5, 2014- the day after Steve's hundred and sixth birthday as counted in that universe. It was labeled as Los Angeles, with banners under the main screen showing little trivia facts about the two jaegers shown beating on a kaiju.

A lump rose up in Bruce's throat and he silently took a seat when he saw that the Widowmaker was piloted by Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff. After all these years of fighting monsters, she was fine.

In the footage, the red and blue jaeger pummeled the kaiju (labeled Insurrector) while the black, red, and purple one took pot shots with missiles, electric fists that reminded Bruce of Nat's widow bites, hand cannons, and what must have been a unibeam. None of Iron Patriot's weapons beyond missiles seemed to have any effect.

"We have audio coming in," the news announcer said, shock in her voice.

The sound was full of popping and crashing, but the voices were distinct. "We'll hold it in place. You guys blast it with your plasma cannons," Steve panted into the mic.

"What are you doing! That's suicide!" Clint screeched.

Bucky visibly stiffened. The way he crouched forward was like he wanted to launch himself through the screen.

The explanation about the plasma cannons being too slow made the maneuver make sense. Steve and Tony could politely be called reckless, but only if there was a good reason for it. They weren't suicidal.

"We're laying down on the wire." The words Tony spoke sent a shiver of dread down Bruce's spine.

"They don't expect to live," Sam said, horrified, as they watched Iron Patriot grapple the kaiju. It ripped into the armor with hands and a clawed tail alike as it was held in place.

It seemed Nat knew it too. Her voice was deadly as she asked what they needed to do.

What followed was one of the most terrifying things Bruce had ever witnessed. The kaiju roared and struggled to get away but Iron Patriot's grip was too strong, and they were determined to keep it in place. At its back Clint and Natasha fired, the archer screaming at it to, "Just die already!" Even as Insurrector was in its death throes, it kept fighting.

Two screams that Bruce recognized all too well echoed through the television. "Steve! Wake up! STEVE!" Tony's voice showed all the agony and fear in the world.

"Stark, disengage! Now!" shouted a heavily accented female voice, "There's no brain activity! He's gone! Get out of there, you've gone solo!"

"No no no no no no NO!" Bucky screamed at the tv, "Don't you dare die over there, you stupid punk!"

Sam pulled the Winter Soldier back into his seat. "Wait, we don't know if it's the equipment," he advised in a shaking voice.

Bruce hoped it was. Adrenaline spiked and in any other situation he would worry about the Hulk making an appearance. As it was, all he could do was watch and pray.

"JARVIS, give me the reigns! All of it!"

"That will certainly result in brain da-"

"I don't really care! Do it!" Tony was disobeying every order being shouted into his ear, from headquarters and his teammates alike, in continuing to hold the kaiju in place for Natasha and Clint. Even worse, he was completely ignoring the fact that his brain would be fried after this.

The sudden thought struck Bruce as he watched Insurrector get blasted apart that Tony had given up. From how his friend kept going, walked the jaeger back to the hanger even with his brain burning under the strain, he wanted to die. But he didn't get his wish.

There was a sudden cacophony of voices, probably rescue personnel. "No signs of awareness for Rogers." "Jesus, I can see his brain." "Stark is dazed but awake." The reporter on screen looked as horrified and sickened as Bruce felt, listening to the medical stats being poured into their ears.

One voice rose above the rest, a young man. "Holy shit! Rogers is still alive!" he shouted.

Hope almost choked Bruce. Was it possible that Steve could make it through this? The troubling thought that he might not recover the whole way was shoved aside.

"The pilots of Iron Patriot are being rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Status updates will come when we get them," the newscaster promised, "For now, we have a statement from Marshal Vilaro of the Los Angeles shatterdome." She looked expectantly up at the camera before the view switched to a Hispanic woman in a precise blue dress uniform.

Now that the main excitement was done with, Bruce saw fit to share what he originally came in to say. "We might have a theory as to how to open a portal over there," he said.

Bucky and Sam, who had slumped down in relief, turned their heads to look at him. "Good," the latter man said tiredly, "When they get back, I'm gonna kill them both for this." He looked like he meant it.

"Get in line," Bucky grumbled. He gave the screen the evil eye from where he rested his chin on his arms.

With a sigh, Bruce left the room. It was time to get back to work, he had been gone too long.