Title: Timelines
Author: Quietshade
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Eventual Steve/Tony, Tony/Pepper, past Steve/Peggy, Howard/Maria, Clint/Natasha, Thor/Jane.
Universe: Movieverse (Earth-199999)
Warning: Slash, M/M, Strong Language, World War II topics.
Disclaimer: All Marvel characters and reference belong to them not to me.
Summary: Tony is a man of the future who can't manage to accept his past and Steve is a man of the past who have a hard time accepting his future because of this they understand each other and help one another come in terms with their times.
AN: Huh, I'm sorry, really. I would like updating more often but college don't leave me with much free time these days. So... I'm officially looking for a Beta reader. If any of you guys is interested, I'll be more than glad to have your help.
Also Someone asked me in a guest review to publish this in AO3 or Tumblr. The fic has been on Tumblr since day one, you can find it here. Now about AO3, I've been planning to upload it there but only after I get a Beta.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed and follow the story. Gracias también a aquellos que dejaron comentarios en español.
Timelines
Chapter nine
When the darkness started to subside it was replaced by a dense sense of confusion and disorientation. For a moment he could feel nothing, all his senses were too numb to work and his mind too tired to be awake. From amidst the fog that clouded his thoughts he tried in vain to recall his last memories, but his mind was too gone and his body a dead weight.
Slowly he waited for his senses to come alive. He waited until he felt the humid and cold floor touching the palm of his hand, and an equally cold surface pressing on his back. There were buzzing voices all around him, it made him want to grab his head and tear his ears. After a while a strong chemical scent invaded his nostrils and he choked on nothing as the fogginess started to leave him.
He blinked and saw nothing but a big blur of everything. His unfocused gaze landed on an immense human shaped shadow and he stared at it as the shadow turned into an android abomination with a screen on its center.
"Da fuck are ya?" he said with clumsiness, his gaze fixed on the smiling face of the old man in the screen. His tongue felt heavy inside his mouth and he frowned at the human shaped thing, both in annoyance and confusion. He looked around and found himself in a room a lot like the one he had been the last time he was captured.
"Nice to see you awake, Mr. Stark." the thing said in heavy accented English. He frowned even more deeply, wondering if the thing was supposed to be a mocking German version of JARVIS. "And I fear that what you should be asking is not what I am but who I am."
He stared dazzlingly at the old man's face in the screen. He got the feeling that he had seen it before, but he couldn't recall where. Just when he was about to ask, a tall figure approached the android's side getting his attention.
"You." He said with venom, finally remembering how he had ended in that situation. The tall blond man to the android's side looked down at him and creased his nose, as if the sight of the engineer caused him disgust. Tony could see it in his eyes now, the loath and anger that consumed the man's soul.
15 hours ago
He closed the car's door with small smile, he then neared his face toward the passenger's window and Happy lowered the glass for him. "Pick me up in an hour. Go buy yourself lunch or something." Happy nodded and answered with a curt "As you say boss." before leaving. When he entered the coffee shop he looked around, his gaze searching for the tall German blond that had become familiar to him. He spotted him sitting on a table to the far right of the shop.
The blond had a book on one hand and a coffee cup in the other, just like every time they met there. He was wearing a blue shirt with a tie and black dress pants. He looked amiss in the small coffee shop; his clothes contrasted with the others people casual wear. Tony was no better himself. He was wearing a white shirt with a black tie and some dark blue pants.
He sighed tiredly and walked toward his evening companion. He wasn't fond of spending time with the blond, despite the fact that he was somewhat polite and smart. Tony just couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something fake about the man. He had rather spend the evening with another blond, one friendlier and equally respectful.
When he approached the man's table, the blond looked up at him and smiled politely. "Good evening, Mr. Stark." he said with a slightly mocking tone that made Tony want to cringe. He nodded courtly and took the sit in front of the blond. "It is good to see that you arrived on time today." The corner of the man's mouth turned up slightly making his smile look less respectful.
He refrained from frowning at the man's flippant tone and instead gave him a carefree smile. "I like to see the people's face when I arrive on time. It's priceless."
"Always the funny man. Aren't you?" The blond said with a chuckle. "Anyway, I got the report I promised you." He reached for a bag on the floor to his left side and handed a folder to Tony. The engineer grabbed it and looked at its contents. Inside the folder were many papers detailing the effect that gamma radiation had on different subjects.
"How did you get this?" The man smiled at Tony's surprised tone.
"The subjects were exposed to gamma radiation when a major experiment on cold fusion went awry. I just happen to be friend with the scientific in charge of the experiment."
The engineer narrowed his eyes at the blond German. "I can't imagine a cold fusion experiment that would produce this amount of gamma radiation."
"I said the same thing, but they denied me any information regarding the experiment." the man answered with confidence, seemingly expecting the statement.
Tony looked back at the papers and started going through all the subjects. All of them had died, just like Bruce should have when he was exposed. When he reached the last paper he was surprised to find that the last subject hadn't died because of the radiation.
"What about this guy, did they research why he didn't die?"
"It is on the next page." Tony turned the page but to his dismay that was the end of it. He threw the folder across the table for the blond to see. The taller man frowned at it.
"I'm sure there was a page about it. I must have left it at home." Tony sighed with disappointment. He had the feeling that the blonde had left it on purpose, perhaps to make them meet again. "Why don't you order something to drink, so we can go over some business?" Before Tony could reply he made a sing for the waitress to come.
It had been two weeks since he met the blond and this was the sixth time they talked. Ever since their second meeting the blond had insisted on having stark Industries fund one of his projects, something about alternative energy for the vehicle industry. Up to that point Tony was still confused about the man intentions. He acted just like any other business men Tony worked with, but Tony couldn't shake the feeling that everything the man told him was a big lie.
"I'm not thirsty." Tony replied with a little hint of annoyance, never liking the way the blond liked to control him.
"Come on. It is on me, let me invite you." He was about to decline when the man continued. "I insist."
"Fine." The man didn't seem like he was going to give up and the sooner he finished that, the better for him.
He ordered a cold cappuccino and heard the blond go on about the project. It proposed energy based on hydrogen and the design looked better than some of the projects Tony had seen from the hands of Stark Industries Development Department. "I think it has potential but the problem with this one is that the cost to produce it might be higher than the benefit. We should redesign the hydrogen pump. I think this design might not be able to exploit the hydrogen's energy at it maximum. If you want I can take this home and run a simulation of it to see how it works."
"Why don't we pay the company's lab a visit? I'm sure we have a working prototype of the pump. We can even go to my house on the way and pick up the missing page." Helmut offered with a friendly smile.
Tony hesitated, being attracted by the proposal, but knowing better than to fall into the man's trap. "I'll pass. I have many things to do today." He grabbed the folders of the experiment and the project, ready to stand and leave. Before he could stand the man was right beside him and the sickening sweet scent from a few weeks ago was back in full force.
"I insist." Said the blond with a tone darker than any other he had used before. Tony looked up at him and from his seat the man looked like a giant, incredibly broad and imposing. His eyes were a shade darker than the engineer remembered them being. It made him felt insignificant and he swallowed trying to summon a protest, but all his effort died in his throat and what was supposed to be a complaint came out as a pathetic grunt.
"Can I help you with anything?" They both looked at the brunette waitress that appeared out of nowhere. Tony looked at her with what he thought would be nervous eyes, hoping that she might realize that there was something wrong with him.
"No, that will be all." The phrase on itself was nothing special, but the open polite smile that accompanied it was enough to make the waitress flinch. It was a dark smile that showed too much pleasure to be good. Like the smile of a hunter that was about to get its prey. The blond German offered the waitress some money which she took with open uncertainty. "Keep the change."
The slender brunette woman nodded and retreated with a timid pace. Tony looked at her back as she walked away, feeling as if he had just lost a big chance. Suddenly there was a strong hand on his left shoulder and his gaze returned to his companion. "Should we leave?" He offered his hand to Tony and he took it with a shaking wet hand, his eyes unable to leave the piercing cold blue ones of the blond.
His companion pulled him up and threw an arm around his shoulders, making the scent become stronger and the engineer mind started to cloud. Every second that passed made it harder for him to fight the unwelcome sensation of not being able to control his actions. He allowed himself to be dragged out of the coffee shop onto the enigmatic blond man's car and after that all he could recall was a blur that ended in darkness.
present time
"Oh, you need to be formally introduced to Helmut." interjected the old man's voice with obvious joy. "Mr. stark, this is Helmut Zemo, son of Heinrich Zemo and current leader of HYDRA." The human shaped thing stared at him expectantly, as if he was waiting for Tony's reaction.
Baron Zemo he thought mocking himself. He had never considered the fact that the son would take the mantle for the name. He always thought of Baron Zemo as an old man that for all he knew could be in a tomb many feet under the earth.
"What did you do to me?" He asked the blond man, remembering the odd sensation and the inability to reject the villain's command. The face on the screen smiled, obviously pleased about the question.
"That would be my work." The android stepped forward and grabbed something from his utility belt. He then showed to the engineer a small tube full of a blue liquid. Tony stared at it nonchalantly not getting what it was supposed to be. "This is a creation of my own, a potent pheromone that makes the receptor docile to the will of the transmitter. It has proven to be quiet useful and effective."
Tony closed his eyes in consideration, looking back that explained a lot of things. "And who exactly are you?" He looked at the android and then at the blond who was frowning at them, looking a little bit exasperated.
"I am an old acquaintance of your dad and that blond Captain of yours. The name is Armin Zola." He couldn't even hide his shock upon hearing the android like thing's name. Zola was the Red Skull's right hand, he had been on his forties by the time they captured him. How that android be him? "Ah, I see your surprise. This is another creation of mine. You see I have never been fond of death, and in this form I can elude it for as long as I want. Clever don't you think?" He couldn't say what he felt more, disgust or amusement.
"Cut it out Zola. We don't have time for you blabbering, nor do I have the patient for it." Zemo stepped forward and glared at Zola with annoyance.
"My bad. Well Mr. Stark I believe you know most of our plans, so let's make things short."
Tony smirked lightly in a mocking way. "You don't believe that I'll just go and do what you order, do you? That didn't work right for the last two guys. By the way you did a sloppy work capturing me last time."
"That's wasn't our work." Zemo interjected with chilly calmness.
"You see Mr. Stark when you have and organization as big as ours it is hard to keep everyone from doing as they please. Some men are so eager for a piece of glory that they would end up doing petty things." Tony didn't need Zola to tell him that, he knew firsthand how hard it was to keep your employees from being stupid. His thought ended in Stane briefly, and he tried to dismiss the filth taste that usually accompanied his thoughts of the man. "We could use the pheromones on you again and save us some work, but as you see it clouds most of the cognitive functions."
The blond villain extended an arm in front of Zola, stopping him from continuing his blabbering. "That's why we have an offer for you. You give us the design for a feasible unlimited energy source and we will give you all of our researches about gamma radiation and the gene that allowed that monstrous friend of yours to live. " Tony narrowed his eyes at the blond villain's word. If he hadn't sold himself when the price had been his life, he wouldn't do it for a little piece of information, as tempting as it could be.
"Well I have an answer for you. Go fuck yourselves." Zemo's face turned red out of rage and he gave Tony a glare that could put any enemy into fear.
"This is a waste of my time. I'll leave him in your hands Zola." With that the man turned around and stormed out of the room. The android looked at the retreating man with an unreadable expression.
"He is so much like his father, such an impatient man." He then looked at Tony with a little smirk. "I bet they say that to you too. That you are a lot like your father." Tony glared at him ready to answer with a mocking remark. "But I bet that what they don't tell is that you are just like your mother too."
That did take him by surprise. He was right; no one had ever said he looked like Maria at all. They always wanted him to be like Howard, never like his mother. When the initial shock wore off he narrowed his eyes more, looking suspiciously at the old man. "Oh, there it is. That expression is just like Mrs. Stark. So fierce and determined, just like before her death."
"What did you just say?" The man smirk widened and Tony knew he was falling into his game. He was reacting just like the man wanted.
"Didn't I tell you? I watched your parents die. Sad thing it was, Howard shouldn't have crashed his car. To think he would prefer to end both his life and his wife's before working for us." The man's tone was flippant and full of arrogance. "Your mother was quite the woman though, didn't beg him to stop. She bore the pain while she died with the same fierce look. Even when the iron pierced her lugs she kept looking at us with that defiant glare, as if telling us that we wouldn't have it our way."
Tony closed his eyes tightly, trying hard to get the image of his mother's bloody face from his mind. His jaw shook with rage he tried to block the old man's words. He repeated in his thoughts that it was all a game to break him that he shouldn't listen to it. But all that kept coming to him were memories of his mother, moments that were more valuable to him than all the money he owned, but that at the time caused him more pain than joy.
"But in the end they didn't win either, did they?" He smirked at Tony, and he knew that they had him on their hands. They knew how to break him, in a way that few people could.
"Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you." He chanted through gritted teeth, feeling powerless against the man's ill words.
Zola gave him a sad smile, as if he really felt pity for the engineer and that made him feel even more disgusted of the villain. "I hope you don't do the same with that red headed girl of yours. It is always a shame for the ladies to die." That was the last thing the old man said before leaving the room, closing the door after him and leaving Tony alone in the dark to deal with his demons.
He could feel the dampness in his shirt, from where Pepper had burrowed her face. He looked down at her, not sure of what he was supposed to do. If he was bad speaking to women he was even worse trying to comfort them.
"How did it happen?" he asked, trying to keep the fear out of his voice, if not for his sake then for Pepper's. Happy eyes looked to the side briefly, his face a mix of sorrow and shame.
"I left him at the coffee shop this evening, and he told me to pick him up in an hour. When I went back to get the boss he was nowhere to be found. I asked the waitresses and one told me that he left with a blond man in a car. Then I called him but he wouldn't pick his phone, I-I didn't know what to do. I tried searching around for the car the waitress described and I asked some people but I found nothing." the despair in the broad man's voice was evident; it looked like it pained him to even talk of the matter.
Steve inhaled deeply, trying to suppress his growing rage, as he remembered how much Tony had insisted on leaving him behind every time he went to meet that client. He had failed to protect the stubborn engineer once again. The worse of it was that he had the feeling that Tony knew all along that things would end up that way.
"Damn him and his inability to keep promises." he whispered with suppressed anger. He had promised Steve that he wouldn't act alone. He was to tell Steve all of his plans, to find a solution together, but once again the engineer had done as he pleased.
"What promise?" a low but steady voice asked and he looked down startled at Pepper, knowing that he had just slipped. When he failed to answer immediately the woman's gaze turned harder. "Steve, what promise?" she asked stronger this time.
He sighed defeated and pushed her aside lightly. He moved to the couch and let himself fall into it, suddenly feeling too tired to be standing up. "We had been chasing down the responsible for Tony's last kidnap for the past few weeks. I told him not to act alone, to be careful, but damn him. I think he walked right into them." He let his head fall into his hand, not even bothering to look at the CEO's reaction.
When he felt the couch shift under someone's weight he looked to his side, to find Pepper looking even more defeated than before. "Tell me what you two have been up to these past few weeks." despite her defeated look, her voice was firm and imposing. Not for the first time on that week Steve understood what Tony saw in Pepper Potts.
The blond soldier explained to his companions, his and Tony's journey to uncover the true about Howard's death. More or less in the same manner the engineer had told Rhodey a few days before. Pepper's expression remained blank for as long as the blond spoke, on the other hand Happy's face showed openly his reaction to every bit of the story.
"I can't believe you two." Pepper said after a moment of silence, her voice low like a whisper. "You should have told me before."
"We didn't want to worry you." Steve answered with guilt, knowing that it wasn't the entire true.
"Because this is any better!" She raised her voice more out of frustration than out of anger.
He knew he owned her an apology, but it wasn't for the reasons she wanted it for. He regretted not being able to protect Tony. Not telling her about their plan wasn't something he would have changed. "I didn't want it to end up this way." He said instead and that seemed undo her.
"I know." She whispered with a defeated look.
Happy stepped forward and placed a hand on Pepper's shoulder reassuringly. The man looked just as guilt stricken as Steve felt. There was no arguing that the chauffer was feeling somewhat responsible for his boss' kidnap. "Shouldn't we alert the police?"
Steve shook his head at Happy's suggestion. "If HYDRA has Tony, sending the police out for them won't work." He ran a hand through his hair, remembering Erskine's death. "They used to have people in the government. Why wouldn't they have some in the police?"
"What about the other Avengers?" He wasn't thrilled by Happy's idea, more so when he thought about all the things Fury had been hiding. Nonetheless rescuing Tony was his priority.
"Maybe we could talk to Bruce."
"Tony always has a tracker on him." Pepper said suddenly, cutting through the men's conversation.
Steve looked at her with mild surprise, feeling relieved of finally hearing some good news. "Can you check his position?"
"JARVIS, would you?"
"Of course miss Potts."
A holographic earth globe appeared in front of them, out of thin air. The holographic globe had a series of small red dots distributed through the country, with no apparent pattern. Steve stood from the couch and neared the hologram, while still feeling surprised by the future's technology. Studying the globe closer he could see many dots in New York, which were labeled MKI, MKII and so on. There was also a single dot that was moving at high speed through the country, labeled War Machine. He looked at Los Angeles, where four dots were together in one place, those were labeled Pepper, Happy, Cap and MK VII.
"When did he?" He glared at the dot labeled Cap, trying to remember a time in which Tony could have slipped a tracker on him.
"I have one on my watch." Happy said showing him his wrist. He looked at Pepper who showed him a ring on her left middle finger. He was almost sure that his trackers was on his suit, Tony probably had slipped it there on one of his upgrades.
He looked back at the map and spotted the dot labeled Tony. "Do you know where this is?"
Happy nodded and moved to Steve's side. "That's not far from the coffee shop. Can you show us the map, JARVIS?" The globe changed into a map of the city. Steve looked at it closely, taking in every detail, before stepping back.
"I'll go check it."
"I'll go with you." Happy said hurriedly.
"No, you will stay here and try to contact Lieutenant colonel Rhodes." he said using his best Captain America's voice.
"You can't go alone. It could be dangerous."
"That's exactly why I'll go alone." He wasn't about to let the man get hurt because he felt he needed to atone for letting Tony be kidnapped.
"Bu-"
"Happy." Pepper grabbed the man's arm and looked at him with pleading eyes. "He is right. It's best if he goes alone." The chauffer lowered his gaze and nodded lightly, still Steve could see his clenched fists trembling. The blond could sympathize with the man. He knew the sort of things feeling useless did to a person.
"Don't worry, I promise I won't rest until we have Tony back."
He patted the other man's shoulder before heading upstairs to change into his Captain America suit. He put on a long light coat to disguise the suit and a hat to match. Malibu wasn't as cold as would have wanted, but the heat of the coat wasn't unbearable. He grabbed his shield and put it inside an art portfolio. Hopefully he looked like an eccentric artist, and not like the mafia guy he thought he looked like. When he went back downstairs, Pepper was waiting for him at the door looking more composed than before.
"Here." She handed him a small earphone like device. "JARVIS and I will assist you with this. JARVIS can give you pretty much any info you ask him."
"Thanks, it will be of a lot of help." She nodded and chewed at her lower lip, before giving him a brief hug.
"Be careful. I'll have Rhodey be here as soon as he can." He nodded and walked past her towards the door. Outside Happy was waiting for him with a grim face, beside a red car.
Steve smiled apologetically. "I think I'll walk. Goes better with the cover." He motioned to his outfit.
"Oh, right." Happy managed to look bluer after that, making the blond feel slightly guilty about rejecting the chauffer's offers.
The captain exited the Stark domain and headed for the city. He was trying to go over a variant of plans for many scenarios. In the best case, he would be able to rescue Tony without confrontations. In the worst case… he didn't really want to think about it. There was no time for him to dwell into his feelings or anything non tactical. He needed to be focus, he needed to be clear.
After a while the green pasture that accompanied him since heading out of the mansion, changed into a complex urban fabric. The pale light of the moon that had reflected on the surface of the endless water was replaced by the colorful lights of the city. He walked along the shadows, not wanting to be seen and few spared him a glance. It wasn't long before he arrived at his destination: a lone dark alley.
"Is this the right place JARVIS?" He said to the communicator.
"Affirmative, Captain."
Steve frowned at the ally and took some steps forward. He was somewhat expecting some HYDRA agents to drop out of nowhere and seize him. When nothing happened he looked around the alley, and inspected the walls of the building to its side.
"JARVIS, can you show me the exact position of Tony's tracker?" A holographic map came out of the device on the blond man's ear. A blue dot showed the captain's position and a red dot marked Tony's. According to the map the tracker was a few feet away from the blond, somewhere near the right wall. He walked to where the tracker was and kneeled in front of it, picking up the small button of Tony's shirt.
He stared at it for a while. He had been expecting to find something more significant, but he wasn't in any position to complain. "They can't be that far away."
He looked more carefully at the alley, trying to see anything he could have missed before. To his side he noticed an almost nonexistent trail, most likely leaved by the tires of a car. He looked closely at the trail and the story behind the button unfolded itself in front of him.
The car must have arrived at that alley, Tony and the mysterious client dismounted. Tony perhaps resisted his oppressor and the button was ripped in the encounter. Maybe Tony had dropped it there knowing that Steve would go looking for him. Either way the button was the proof that Tony had been taken unwillingly. They would not risk going through the street, not when Tony could escape or alert someone. That leaved one way for them to go.
He looked up to the end of the alley, where a maze of passages started. "They can't be that far away." he repeated with more determination.
He walked through the labyrinth of alleys, searching for the right place. After walking them twice, he was yet to find any trace of Tony. By the third time he walked them he was growing restless.
"Captain, after analyzing the structure of the adjacent buildings, I discovered that one of them has many underground levels and a hidden access from a nearby alley." Just to make his point, a holographic model of the surrounding appeared, highlighting the building JARVIS was talking about.
"How can I enter this building?"
"An EMP bomb would prove useful here, but given the circumstance I suggest waiting." Steve mouthed the word EMP trying to remember it, to ask Tony later.
"Waiting is it."
He walked to where JARVIS had marked the hidden entrance to the building and looked for somewhere to hide. If there was anyone there, someone ought to enter or exit the building at some moment. Steve was willing to wait as much as he needed to. Roughly half an hour passed before he heard a mechanic sound coming from below the roof he was hiding in. He looked down over the edge of the roof, to see three figures coming out from the building. Steve didn't think it twice before taking his shield out of the portfolio and jumping off the roof. He slid through the wall, somewhat slowing his fall and ultimately landing on one of the three figures.
First thing he noticed was their outfit. They were dressed in a strange green full body suit, with yellow stripes. If that was HYDRA's new uniform, it was a total downgrade from the last one and it certainly made him grimace. The second thing he became aware of was that apart from the three guys he had seen outside, there were at least a dozen more of them inside of what seemed to be a storage room. There went his cover.
In a blink, the silence of the night was killed by the beat of the shooting guns. Steve hit the two agents that were standing to his sides and then dashed to the inside of the building, hiding behind his shield all the time. He didn't have time for plans. He didn't have time to think it over. There were too many of them and he needed to survive. He let the years of training and combat to take over, starting a dance he knew by soul.
Hit them first. Dodge what you can. Block what you can't dodge. Counter what you can't block. Don't lose the upper hand. Take down as many as you are able to. Don't let them surprise you and win as fast as you can. The problem with those guys was that for every one he took down, two appeared to take its position. He was sure that if things keep up that way he was going to lose.
"Stop!" one word and the night became silent again. Steve looked at the speaker as the crowd opened the path for the man. "Well, well. Look who we have here, the infamous Captain America."
The man with the German accent was wearing purple from head to toe. His head was adorned by a golden crown, and his eyes had a hint of cold cruelty in them. He assumed that the man thought himself a noble, his outfit resembled as much. To Steve he looked like the shadow of a tyrant.
"You seem to know me, but who are you?"
"The man who will become your worst nightmare." That was all the warning Steve had before the man launched himself to attack. He blocked with his shield a rain of blows from the nameless man's sword and then used his body to push the man away. The villain took two steps backward and Steve tried to sweep his feet, but the man jumped away. Another blow came to his shield, this time more powerful and focused. He tried to hit the man with the shield, but it was futile. They were on equal footing. It was a matter of who made the first mistake, but even then Steve was losing in numbers.
He almost missed the imperceptible misstep in his enemy's dance. A small opening that gave him opportunity for big actions. He wasted no time taking the chance and charged at the man, taking him down. The nameless man hit the floor with a painful expression that was visible even with the mask. The blond raised his shield ready to knock his enemy and finish the fight, but the second he raised his arm he felt something hit the back of his neck.
The electric current that ran through his body made his vision blur, and his knees tremble. He barely heard his shield hitting the floor at the same time his knees hit it. He tried to focus past the pain and looked at the purple man already standing from the floor. He tried in vain to reach for his shield, before his eyes meet the outraged ones of his enemy. "Verdammt, american."
His body was still too shock to feel the blow when it hit him, but he saw the world spinning when his head hit the ground. There was a moment of silence before realizing that he had failed his mission. He closed his eyes trying to keep any weakness from showing in his face. He prayed that Rodhey wouldn't make the same mistakes he did.
He woke up to a stabbing pain in his left arm. He opened his eyes alarmed and tried to move away, only to realize he was trapped in a metallic bed secured by leashes. He looked up at his surrounding and his gaze felt on a robot that was giving him its back. The robot was fumbling with something on the table to its front, unaware that the blond was awake.
"What is that?" He whispered, words coming out sluggish in his hazy state of mind. Apparently he spoke loud enough to catch the thing's attention, as the robot turned around to look at him.
"Can't you Americans start a conversation without asking what am I?" He stared at the thing, in a completely state of shock. In the center of the robot's body was the face of one of the men he loathed the most.
"Zola?" The abomination gave him a wicked smile, and Steve felt a wave of rage and disgust consumes him.
"Right. A prize for the captain." His smile widened as he showed Steve a small blood vial. "By the way, thanks for your cooperation." He felt his cheeks burn in rage as he realized what Zola was holding. He couldn't allow them to put their hands on Erskine's formula, not when the man had given away everything to protect it from those people. He tried to break free and gave his restrain a good shake. The leashes didn't budge but the momentary fear in Zola's face was almost enough to make Steve grin. "God, you are like a furious caged animal." He walked toward the room's exit and stopped before the door. "Keep him out until I come back."
He never stopped looking at Zola's back as the android abomination retreated from the room. He didn't even flinch when an agent injected the sedative. He was too occupied planning a way out to even notice when he passed out.
"…aptain. Captain. Steve."
Something hit his left cheek and he grunted at the sting of it. He moved his head slowly from side to side, either trying to wake up or to stay away from his attacker. Someone sighed in relief and a hand touched his abused cheek, as if trying to soothe its pain. When he finally opened his eyes, he was greeted by an unexpected sign.
Natasha's face showed nothing more than relieve, but there was a slight curve in the corner of her eyes that struck Steve as contentment. Although it wasn't Natasha's emotions that made the odd scenario, it was Natasha's presence itself. Somehow she was there saving him from HYDRA when she was supposed to be all the way to the other side of the country.
"How did you?"
She shook her head slightly while she said "No time". She unfastened the leashes that trapped him, and he stumbled forward, barely being able to keep upright. "Can you fight?"
"Yes." He just needed enough time for the sedatives to leave his system.
"Good." She unclasped his shield from her back and handed it to him. He ran a hand through its surface and looked at her with gratitude. "Follow me."
"Wait! Where's Tony?"
"Clint and Thor are getting him." He nodded slightly and followed her outside the room. Outside was a battle field full of screams of pain and exaltation, where dozens of SHIELD agents and HYDRA agents fought for their causes. Steve looked away from it. He remembered to well a similar situation, and it brought the bitter knowledge that nothing has changed, even after all this years and the death of so many people.
"We need to find Zola. He took my blood sample." Natasha stopped briefly to look at him with a frown.
"Do you have any idea where he might be?"
"Knowing him, he's probably getting as far as he can from here." The corner of Natasha's lips twitched in displeasure.
"There's a control room near here. We might be able to check his position from there." She turned around and Steve followed her through the many corridors, taking out any HYDRA agent that dared cross their path. He ignored the small voice in the back of his mind that yelled that the setup was too much like Tony's last kidnap. He just hoped that this time Tony was unharmed.
When they arrived at the small control room, Natasha wasted no time before she started hacking the mainframe. A few minutes later they had Zola's position. The old man hadn't managed to get out of the building in time. He was running to what seemed to be a secret underground exit on the right wing of the building.
They shared a brief look before Natasha opened her comm.'s channel. "Commander Fury." The assassin said through her communicator. "Arnim Zola is on the right block of the building's bottom level. He is presumably carrying a vial with the captain's blood." There was a brief silence before Natasha spoke again. "Roger that. Widow out." She took her fingers away from the communicator and turned to Steve. "Fury will take care of Zola. Let's see if Clint found our genius."
They made their way back to the main room, all the way there Steve was feeling excited. Fury wouldn't let Zola get away with his blood and Tony was most likely fine with Clint and Thor. Even if he had failed his mission, everything was coming out well. The both of them searched around for Clint, checking every room they came across and asking every agent they encountered, but they found no sign of any of the other avengers. As the minutes passed Steve grew more anxious, letting his imagination grow wild, his mind going over countless of scenario were his friends might had been injured. He shook his head and reminded himself that no one in HYDRA could beat Thor.
An acute shriek caught their attention in the midst of their search. Steve was running toward the sound before he could even register the thought, and he didn't need to look back to know that Natasha was right behind him. They followed the sound until they arrived at the same room in which Steve had first encountered the agents. In the middle of the room was the nameless villain with his sword in the air ready to kill. Later he would feel guilty because of the immense relieve he felt, when he realized that instead of one of the avengers the one kneeling in the ground was Agent Maria Hills.
"You should have stayed out of this, foolish Americans." He barely made in on time to deflect the blow that was meant to cut the woman's head. The all purple man looked at him and laughed mockingly. "We meet again Captain." The villain stripped the word of all of its honor and managed to makes it sound like a curse, of which Steve should be ashamed.
He looked from behind his shield at the unreadable face of the masked man. "You won't get away this time." He said before he swung his shield at the man to restart the battle that had been stopped before, although this time the situation was in his favor. Just like the last battle each of them was close behind the other, never getting too much advantage in the battle. Steve knew Natasha wouldn't intervene unless strictly necessary and Hills would be safe with her. Thus he let himself enjoy the excitement of fighting someone who was in par with him, feeling every muscle of his body rejoice at the opportunity of testing the full of their ability. Each blow reminding him what his body was meant to be used for, each blow bringing him nearer to a state of mind in which he could finally forget where he was and were he wanted to be.
"Zemo!" The outraged yell cut through their battle and they turned startled to the source of the shout, to find Tony facing them. He was wearing the same clothes in which Steve had seen him last, and his right arm was extended toward them with his repulsor gauntlet ready to fire. Steve had just enough time to get away from the masked villain before the repulsor beam hit him right across the chest. "Payback Motherfucker!"
The blond captain stared for a short moment at his adversary, as he lay down on the floor unconsciously clutching his burned chest in pain. When he looked at Tony, his relieve was cut short as he realized how furious he was just by the wildness in his eyes. He had never seen the engineer so mad before.
"Tony…" He walked toward the engineer but when Tony looked at him his gaze was chilly, full of rage and many other emotions. He took a step back when the engineer walked forward.
"You… I told you to leave them out of this!" Tony yelled. "You didn't need to involve SHIELD!"
"What…?" the captain replied dumbfounded. "You think I… I didn't tell anyone! I don't know how they got here." Tony looked like someone had just drop a bucket of cold water on him. His mouth was slightly open and his eyes got wider as the seconds passed. Slowly he turned his head, looking past him right at Natasha.
"You… all this time you knew it." He said in low and dangerous tone. Steve looked at the red headed assassin just in time to see the small micro expression that betrayed her almost perfect façade. "How could you?"
"Leave Romanoff out of this, she was following my orders." They all turned to Fury who was coming up from some stairs, with two agents behind him restraining Zola. It was then that Steve realized that the ruckus before had attracted some attention. Thor and Clint were walking toward them, coming from the same direction the engineer came from. Bruce had return to normal and was standing at entrance of the room, looking at them curiously as he grabbed his stretched pants to stop them from falling.
"How long?" Tony demanded continuing the conversation that only Natasha and Fury understood.
"Always." Fury replied, with a small smile that seemed to drive Tony over the edge.
Without further notice Tony took five long strides toward the head of SHIELD and grabbed him by the collar. His gauntlet glowing as he aimed it to the man's face. "I swear to you that I'm going over every good reason I have to keep you alive."
"Tony put him down!" Steve yelled alarmed at the same time Barton shouted "Stark let him go." Tony looked at them with a small frown and then he threw Fury to the floor.
"Tell them. Tell them how you used them all. Tell them how you used me to get to HYDRA. How you used Thor to get to his brother."
"What?" Steve said as he looked at Fury unmoved face and then at the other avengers. Thor was frowning at the accusation and Bruce looked surprised, but Clint was looking to his side with clear remorse and Natasha -while not as obvious- was definitely feeling guilty about something.
A vile laugh echoed through the room and their gaze fell on Zola. "You were never as good as Stark, Fury. You never quite got his way of knitting lies." Something about that sentences made Steve's stomach stir.
Tony looked at the doctor with disgust and the turned to them. "He had been using the Avengers since day one, ever since Loki took the Tesseract from SHIELD." Thor took two steps forward and looked at Fury with rage.
"It is my brother who has the Tesseract? Do you have the slightest comprehension of how dangerous he is with that sort weapon in his possession?" the thunderer's voice practically boomed all over the place.
Fury stood unfazed by any of the accusation. "I'm not stupid son. I know firsthand the power of the Tesseract."
"You should have told us about it. Neither my brother nor any mortal should have it in their hands."
"Your brother isn't the first of my worries. He can't use the cube. He wasn't able to when he stole it and he wasn't able to when you faced him."
"How do you know that?" Tony asked, looking as if he didn't believe Fury at all.
This time it was Natasha who took a step forward. "When we fought against Loki, I had the mission to retrieve the cube. I failed to bring it back but I noticed that he couldn't get the cube to do what he wanted. He has no power over it."
Tony looked from Clint to Natasha with a guarded expression on his face. "You only joined us to get back the cube." There was an almost imperceptible hint of sadness in his voice that made Steve realized just how hurt he was by the situation. Not that Steve was any better knowing that everything SHIELD had done was a web of lies.
"Sorry man, orders are orders." Clint said finally and the engineer looked down upset.
"I have heard enough." They all looked at Bruce, who was a little bit greener that he should be. The brunette walked across the room in silence and made his way outside, most likely toward the Helicarrier. Steve knew that there were still many things left to be said, but perhaps the doctor already knew the deep of it all. He had the same ability as Tony of knowing things before they came.
"So correct me if I'm wrong, which I know I'm not." Tony started while walking toward Steve's side. He looked calmer, but there was something about his calmness that was as unsettling as the rage before. "You sent two of yours assassins to play with the avengers in order to bring the cube back to you, all without us knowing about it. In the end you couldn't recover it but it didn't matter because Loki was beaten and you knew he couldn't use it. Besides you had a bigger problem. Steve running around as Captain America would get HYDRA's attention. You thought they would try to capture him, but they surprised you when they went for me instead. You thought they had left behind their obsession with the arc reactor and the Tesseract, but they hadn't. Furthermore HYDRA's plan had an unexpected result. It got me closer to the true. A true you had made sure to keep well hidden, so well that I had to hack into your database to get any real hint of it. " He stopped then to look at Natasha. "How did you realize it was me?"
Natasha looked away to the side but answered nonetheless. "Not many people can get through our security and get what they want without leaving any trace. Of those people only you knew my ribs were injured." Tony smiled at that, but it wasn't the kind of smile that meant he was happy.
"And I assume that after realizing that I knew about HYDRA you decided to use that to your advantage. You used me as a bait to get to them." Tony finished and the room remained in a heavy silence that only helped confirm the engineer's accusation.
"All this time you knew HYDRA was after us and you said nothing. You did nothing." He was mildly surprised when he spoke, even more surprised when he realized how upset he sounded. He could think of so many ways for Fury's plan to go wrong and he knew he wouldn't forgive the man if something had happened to any of them. For some reason he remembered how disgusted Peggy was every time they talked about Fury and a monstrous idea formed in his head. "It's that how Howard died? You used him as bait and couldn't save him before they got him?"
The lack of surprise on Tony's face told Steve that he had thought about it too. The ones who did look surprised were Clint and Natasha. The Colonel wasn't one of Steve's favorite people at the moment. Even so he couldn't overlook how much the idea of being responsible for Howard's death disturbed Fury. It was painted all over the man's face.
"With all due respect Captain. You know nothing of me and you know nothing of Howard Stark."
"And whose fault is that? Who's the one keeping us from the true?" Tony said with renewed anger. Fury looked at the engineer briefly and before he diverted his gaze from them, Steve was able to see Fury's walls crumbling from behind his eyes. The colonel turned around seemingly heading toward the exit. Before he could take more than two steps forward, Thor was right in front of him, grabbing his arm with a determinant look.
"We are not done yet mortal." Fury looked up at the godly blond without any sign of fear. He tugged his arm free and looked back at Steve.
"I did what was needed to be done. That won't change, even if you disagree with my decision." The colonel then turned toward the engineer. "I can't talk about Howard… but I can give you something that might answer your questions." He turned around again and walked past Thor, not even looking at the annoyed deity. "Debrief in two hours. We can go over the Loki situation then."
Steve looked over at Tony, who in turn looked at him. There was a mix of many emotions in the engineer's eyes, but thankfully none of them was the rage that had consumed those eyes before. He knew what Tony's eyes were trying to tell him. They had finally reached the end of their search. They were a step apart from knowing what really had happened to the man that had once been Steve's friend. They were a step apart from revealing what led that man to become the cold parent the engineer remembered.
For that they were willing to put aside their growing distaste for the one eyed colonel.