Ooh, sorry this one took me a little longer to get out. Life's been getting busier than ever and I have multiple projects going at the same time. But I am absolutely determined to fight through the rest of this story and hope that you all continue to enjoy it and like how it's going to end. Wait, what? It's going to end?! But it feels like we just got started! *cries* Big thanks to everyone who put up with me over the last few weeks: kittygirl998939, I'm a Nerd and Proud, kingdomheartslover13, brightsidetolife, Black-Luna, ramen-is-my-goddess, Silver wolf, and RawR! You guys are amazing!

Chapter 11

The drive to Connecticut was a tense one. No one spoke very much—not even Tony—and what was said was all in relation to their upcoming operation. The few hours in the car did give them the time to mentally run through a few different scenarios about how they would act depending on what they found. It all came down to the same basic set-up though: Steve and Thor would run in on the front line with Clint and Natasha backing them up from a distance and Tony and Bruce would handle whatever sort of technological aspects that cropped up, anywhere from communications to hacking into computer networks or security systems. If shit hit the fan, they were to join Steve and Thor and help fight.

It wasn't a great plan and the only comforting part about all this was that they had worked so closely together for so long that they not only knew each other's strengths and weaknesses, but they knew how each other worked and how they would be the most useful in the field. And no one knew all of that better than Steve which was why Tony was only too happy to put his alpha-pride to the side momentarily and let the Wolf call the shots. At least until they found Hammer. Tony wasn't going to let anyone take that from him.

When they made it to the general location Tony and Bruce had traced the email origin to they all piled out of the car. They had no interest in alerting any possibly armed, military trained men to their presence before they absolutely had to. Leaving the SUV tucked behind a sprawling thicket of thorny brush, Steve led the way towards the abandoned industrial center with an actual compass and the mental map he had apparently memorized. The hike wasn't easy, especially as it began to get dark, but they weren't willing to take advantage of the road dirt Tony knew led up to the old buildings. They'd be far too easy to spot that way. Their choice in paths would have been hard for even the most athletic of humans but it was manageable for Shifters.

After about twenty minutes of trudging through the woods, the trees started to clear enough for them to make out the shape of a concrete structure in the distance. Clint was of course the first one to spot it and in the blink of the eye he was climbing up a tree to get a better view. Natasha was close behind him and Steve walked up to the base of the tree trunk, craning his neck to watch them tuck themselves up into the foliage in the top branches. "What do we have?"

There was a moment of silence and Tony and Thor both paced up as far ahead as they could without exposing themselves too much to whatever sentry might be keeping a look out. Meanwhile Clint was leaning out on the furthest branch that could hold his weight while Natasha pulled out a pair of Stark-designed, collapsible binoculars out of a pouch on her belt and switched over to the heat scanner vision. Over the years Tony had streamlined the video technology he had created back when the pack had first gotten together so there were no more clunky cameras to worry about. Now it was integrated into said pair of binoculars and he had made one for everyone on the team. Clint never bothered to carry his—claiming his vision was just fine without—but Natasha did so religiously, as did Steve. The alpha Wolf just couldn't hoist himself up into a tree as easily as they could.

Natasha answered back quietly after another moment of silence, making great use of their new communication ear pieces as she whispered into it. "There seems to be four buildings still standing but as far as I can tell only one of them is in operation. The largest one, looks to be three stories, partially hollowed out in the middle of the structure but fully equipped with electrical and plumbing."

Tony saw Clint nodded his agreement, the Hawk squinting off into the distance. "We've got movement outside and two, maybe three targets walking around the ground. They don't seem to be on guard but by the way they're walking they're definitely trained and probably carrying weapons."

Frowning, Tony tried to see anything of what the two of them were seeing but failed miserably. When the wind blew just right he could catch the faint scent of human on their air but that was about it. "We can't rule out that they do have someone on guard and we just can't see them. But, hey, on the bright side, did anyone notice how amazing the sound is on these things?"

Amongst all the tension it was almost a relief to hear the exasperated sigh from Steve. "Tony..."

"What? If no one else was going to say it, I was."

Tony heard a snort and saw Natasha shimmying back down the trunk of the tree. A second later, a soft rustle was the only warning Tony got before Clint jumped out of the tree and landed right next to him in a graceful crouch. Damn Birds.

Steve was too far into battle mode to let either Tony's quip or Clint's sudden reappearance phase him. His blue eyes were narrowed and Tony could see his brain running through all the different scenarios in his mind about how they should handle this. Aside from going out to try and rescue Peter, this was the first time Tony had really seen Steve in action in years and it never ceased to amaze him just how absolutely amazing his mate was. Humans could say what they wanted on the news about Shifters, alphas in particular, not being the brightest crayon in the box but Steve crushed all of those stereotypes. Tony knew he did too, hands down, but Steve was brilliant in a different way. He couldn't run through formulas like Tony or Bruce could but there was a certain spark in the Wolf's eyes when he began to plan, a real, natural intelligence and understanding of how people worked with each other and their environment that never ceased to amaze Tony.

It only took another second for Steve to motion them all in close. "Okay, new plan. Because of the way the building is set up and all of the unknowns, here's what we're going to do: Clint, you're going to go in with Thor and Natasha, you'll be with me. Both teams will walk around the perimeter and look for entry points. Tony," Tony felt himself subconsciously straighten up, "you and Bruce hang back until we get a closer look. Everyone remember: communication is key so we have to be constantly talking to each other."

Tony wasn't thrilled with the idea of him getting split up from Steve but understood his mate's logic. They needed to spread their strengths—and their alphas—out. But that didn't mean he had to like it. Natasha didn't look one hundred percent certain either but it wasn't until she opened her mouth that he realized what was bothering her. "Is the radio line secure?"

He could answer that one. Stepping forward, Tony crossed his arms over his chest. "One hundred percent."

Clint raised a brow, a smirk flickering onto his lips. "Are you sure?"

Clint knew damn well from his tone that he was sure. "One hundred percent. My tech, my own communication system running on Stark Industry lines using Stark Industry satellites. It's impossible for anyone but me—okay, me and Pepper—to even set up a connection and I don't think Pepper's going to sell us out any time soon. She has too much invested in stocks at this point."

Before Clint could come back with a smart response, Steve cut in. "Okay, so it's confirmed. The communication is secure so let's not forget to use it."

Thor wasn't about to give Clint the chance to response either and rested his hands on his hips. "We will remember to use Tony's creation but now it is time for action. Come Clint, we shall circle around to the western edge of the property and see if we are able to find a weak point in their defenses!" He remembered to look for Steve for a final confirmation before the Lion was bounding off.

Clint rolled his eyes before giving all of them a loose wave. "See you on the other side."

Shaking his head, Bruce adjusted the bag on his shoulders and watched as the Hawk raced off after the alpha Cat. "Let's hope he meant the 'other side of the mission'."

"Sure," Natasha strapped her binoculars back onto her belt, "let's go with that. Ready to go, Steve?"

Steve nodded. "Absolutely." But before he stepped forward, he leaned back to press a quick kiss against the side of Tony's head. It was over too quickly for Tony to even really react, Steve pulling away before Tony could so much as kiss him back. "Stay safe, Tony."

"Yeah. You too, big dog. Remember to follow your own advice. You see anything funny in there, you'd better call us before charging in on your own."

That brought a grim smile to Steve's face before Tony lost sight of his expression as the alpha Wolf turned away to head towards the east with Natasha. "I'll do my best!"

"That wasn't a 'yes'!" Tony's shout fell on deaf ears as he and Natasha quickly disappeared into the trees, leaving Tony alone with Bruce. Turning to the beta, Tony shook his head. "And, surprise, surprise, we get left behind."

Bruce raised his brows. "Honestly, I'm okay with that."

"You're kidding."

Shaking his head, Bruce glanced back then took a seat on a rock sitting on the ground behind him. "It's not like we're being kept out of the mission all together, they're just making sure that it's safe for us. You have to admit, we're not the best team to send out on the front lines."

Tony growled and paced in front of Bruce. "I might be getting older, but I'm not that old, Bruce. I can still do anything Steve and Thor can."

The tilt of Bruce's mouth said that he might disagree with that but Tony was thankful when he chose to leave the statement alone. Tony's ego was bruised enough as it was, he didn't need to hear Bruce call him on what might have been a pile of bullshit. "Even so, you're not exactly in peak condition right now. And I never am so, there you go. Besides, we are pretty much the only members of the team who can assist remotely—"

"—Tony," Natasha's voice over their earpiece interrupted their conversation and Bruce gestured pointedly at Tony. "We've found a spot that isn't being manually guarded but it looks like there's some sort of electronic security grid canvassing the grounds and the building on top of the men doing rounds. We're going to need to shut it down."

Alright, so Bruce might have just proved his point. Rolling his eyes, Tony snapped his fingers and motioned for Bruce to grab his tablet and hand it to him. "That was quick. As fantastic as I am, I'm going to need a little more information than that in order to come up with a solution. Send me a picture so I can see what we're dealing with."

Bruce pressed a tablet into his hands and a second later a message from Natasha's phone popped up with a zoomed-in photo of the side of the building. There were cameras and sensors in key locations across the entire side and though he couldn't make out any details through the image, he could guess what he had to work with just by looking at the set-up. There was likely a single control panel linking that managed the feeds and triggers for the whole system. There were wires threading down the building's exterior masonry walls and looked like they ran around the corner rather than through a hole drilled in the side of the building so they probably had the panel outside. But somewhere protected. He had been hoping that it would have all been set up on some sort of wireless network but he wasn't going to get that lucky. "Yeah, that's going to have to be done in person. Keep your eyes open for anything that looks like a control panel. It will probably be tucked out of the way someone with one of these guys guarding it."

Clint's voice crackled through the line "We see something that looks like it could be a control panel. Just sent you a photo."

Tony glanced down at his tablet again and saw a new message pop up onto the screen courtesy of Clint. They looked like they were pretty close to the building, closer than Tony would have figured Clint would want to get. Then again Thor was with him so they were luckily the two of them hadn't stormed the building yet, triggering all the alarms in the process. The picture showed what looked like the edge of a metal box within what could only be described as a guard post. It was a reinforced structure the size of a small shed and the photo showed that there was one man sitting inside it looking at a wall adjacent to the metal box, likely a panel of security monitors. "Yeah, that's probably it. That looks like it's about, what, ten, maybe twenty feet from one of the entrances to the building?" Which meant that it wasn't exactly a safe place for him and Bruce to be traipsing up to.

Before Clint or Thor could even confirm Tony's observation, Steve had already jumped on the line. "Alright, we're going to need to get Tony and Bruce in close. Let's switch up the teams. Natasha, you and Clint run interference."

That would leave Steve and Thor to go solo for a few minutes but, then again, if Tony couldn't trust Steve not to get himself killed within the span of ten minutes then they were all screwed. Tony nodded at Bruce and the Wolf hopped back up onto his feet. "Are we going to get some sort of signal or what?"

It was Thor's chance to chime in. "I have an excellent view of your destination. I will maintain my position and alert you when it appears safe for you to approach!"

"Works for me." Switching off his earpiece, Tony waved at Bruce. "Let's go. We need to get closer. Knowing how fast Clint and Natasha work their 'interference' it should take all of ninety seconds and I don't know how big of a window they'll be able to give us."

At Tony's urging, the two began to follow the path taken earlier by Clint and Thor. It wasn't hard to follow them and when Tony lost the trail for a few seconds, Bruce picked it back up, easily tracking their scents. Tony felt his body protest a bit at the sudden burst of movement but pushed through it, intent on doing what he had to in order to make this mission work.

Bruce trotted along behind him and though he had gone on more missions recently than Tony had, the difference in the stamina of an alpha—even an injured one—versus a beta began to make itself known. That wasn't to say that Bruce was out of shape, he would still be running circles around a human and would probably have been able to keep up his pace for another twelve hours, but something inside Tony just kept pushing him to go faster. "Come on, Bruce, hustle!"

Bruce scoffed and gripped the bag he was carrying a little tighter. "This is me hustling! Not all of us are alphas with strong running abilities."

"We're going to get out of the lab and into the gym more after this." Tony definitely meant the 'we' part. If he was already getting a bit winded just from this, he was the one who was out of shape. But they both had been spending too much time in the lab recently.

"Let's just focus on 'this' first."

Tony didn't hear any movement from the others as they approached the old brick building but he didn't expect to. In fact, the amount of quiet he was hearing probably meant that Natasha and Clint were doing their job. They were both master assassins and if they wanted to kill someone silently you could be sure as hell they'd be able to do it. The way the men patrolling the yard were spread out would just make it easier for the two of them to clean up.

Sure enough, it took less than three minutes for Thor to speak up again, whispering into the microphone for once. "The guard in the booth has left, undoubtedly to investigate why he has not seen any of his men on the screens. You should move in now! I shall keep watch and ensure your safety."

"Alright, here we go." Although he had come to trust Thor's judgment, Tony still checked around before he led Bruce out from behind the trees and into the clearing that had been cut away after years of manufacturing and then had started to retake the facility after years of neglect. His alpha instinct forced him to make sure Bruce was beside him and a little bit behind so that Tony would take the brunt of any possible attacks as they stepped out into the overgrown grassy field. For half a second Tony thought about trying to be sneaky about it but then decided to say screw it and just ran. He heard Bruce bite back a curse then raced after him.

By some miracle they managed to get to the booth without getting riddled with bullet holes and Bruce scowled at Tony as they both squeezed inside. "Thank you for warning me before taking off. Now, do you have a plan or are you just going to wing this?"

Smirking, Tony glanced back over his shoulder to make sure there weren't any humans with guns running at them yet. "You know me, what do you think?"

"That's what I thought."

Tony's smirk only grew and he sat down at in the chair the guard abandoned, his hands immediately moving to the keyboard. It was a pretty advanced system for an old building out in the boondocks and it took Tony a few minutes just to get to the main screen and pull up the programming code. His tisked as he wasn't able to get as far into the system as he wanted and scooted the chair over to the box on the wall. Flipping the latch up, Tony pulled the front panel open to expose the circuitry underneath. "Alright, now we're talking…Oh god!"

Bruce whipped around to face him, his whole body tense. "What's wrong?"

"Look at this!" Tony waved accusingly at the inside of the panel. "A monkey did this, that's the only explanation. Hammer was trying to save money and he had a monkey do his wiring. Look at this, Bruce!" He wasn't just making a scene to hear himself talk; it was really terrible. Tony had done better work when he was six years old at he had done some shoddy work back then.

"Focus please!"

"Look at it!"

Bruce heaved a long-suffering sigh and made a point to bend over and look. Tony would have almost felt a bit juvenile about forcing Bruce to look at it before he was vindicated as Bruce let out a light snort. "That really is bad. Now focus. The others are waiting on us."

"You think I don't know that?" He pulled his StarkPad back out and motioned for Bruce to turn around. The beta did so with a huff and Tony quickly pulled out a cord from one of the smaller pocket on the bag Bruce was carrying. He would have to do a few quick alterations to the wiring to connect it up but it was possible and it would be the most efficient way to take control of the security network. "Let's see if we can't speed things up a bit. Here, plug this in."

Bruce crouched down in front of the monitor Tony had been working on and actually lent a big hand by turning back to the code as Tony began to fiddle with the circuits. "You're not worried about attracting security?"

"Are you kidding? This is Hammer Tech. I'm surprised the network is still up and running."

He watched as Bruce bit back a smile. "Well, it looks like you're into the system. I'm rerouting the network now to try to connect up with the StarkPad. There's a pop-up that says it's going to take…four minutes and thirty seven seconds to make the change. Hopefully we can shave a few minutes off of that…"

"Right." Tony went to move a stray wire to help strengthen the connection but the movement caused a tiny piece of metal to touch a bad thing and a burst of sparks flew out as a sharp snap of electricity bit at his fingertips. "Ow! Shit."

Bruce's fingers froze, hovering over the keypad, then he looked up to stare at Tony. "Did you just electrocute yourself?"

Tony shook his hand out and hissed. "Only a little."

"I know I don't have to tell you that electrocuting yourself when you're recovering from major heart surgery is not a good idea."

Yeah, no kidding. "I didn't do it on purpose. Now how long until you can get in?"

"It just updated to one minute thirty-seven seconds."

Well, it was getting better. But Tony wanted to make sure that this worked the first time. If they botched it up there was a chance that it would end up triggering the alarm. By now there was a chance that the men were already becoming aware that something was going on since Clint and Natasha started to work but there was no point in making things easy for them. Besides, if Tony and Bruce could get control over the security network they would be able to cut off the feed from the cameras which would give them a decent advantage. "Give me another full minute and then try to boot it up again."

"Just make sure you get your fingers out of there first. You don't need any more shocks today."

O~O

Steve kept his ears peeled and his head low as he waited to hear back from Tony. He had forgotten how tense he got when Tony went out on missions with them. It wasn't that he didn't think his mate was capable—Tony was absolutely able to handle himself in the field and Steve still honestly believed he was the best at what he did. No, it was because Steve had a very difficult time remaining focused on the mission when he knew Tony might be in danger. It was an anxiety that had no basis in fact, rooted solely on his instinctual desire to protect his mate, and it was hard to shake.

He was hyper aware of the noises around him as Tony and Bruce made their way up to the tree line. From his position he was able to spot them running across the open ground to the guard station for just half a second before they disappeared from his line of sight. Seeing them sprinting through the grass didn't do anything to help his nerves but it was very much in character for Tony. Steve didn't know why he would've been expecting anything less from the Cat. He was going to owe Bruce one once this was all over.

Edging forward, he was about to go out and check on them himself when he finally heard the call he had been waiting for from Tony. "Alright, I own their security network now so do whatever it is you're going to do."

A mirthless smile formed on Steve's face and he switched his earpiece back on so the others could hear him as his mind raced with the possibilities. One thing was clear though: if these men were professionals their actions were sure to have been noticed by now, even without an alarm sounding so they had to move fast. But without their security systems in place they wouldn't know who was coming for them or how many Steve had on his team which was a big advantage for them as they moved in. "Let's reform our groups. Natasha, you're back with me; Clint, you're with Thor. We'll each find a way to access the building and then on my mark make our move inside. Remember, when we go in our main priority is to find Hammer and take him into custody. That being said, we can't expect that anyone in there will be happy to see us and—given the weapons they may have at their disposal—assume that everyone you come across is armed and highly dangerous."

He was answered by a round of confirmations and thirty seconds later there was a rustling in the bushes at his side before Natasha stepped out to join him. She looked entirely composed and Steve had to wonder how many men she had just killed. Her skills never ceased to amaze him. Together they began circling back around the building. Steve had noticed a plain looking door leading out to what at one point might have been a loading dock that was now completely taken over by weeds and brush. As they moved, he whispered back to her, "How did you do?"

She tilted her head. "Did you hear anything?"

"No."

"Do you see anyone?"

"No."

A dangerous sort of smile spread across Natasha's face and she shrugged. "I'd say we did pretty well then."

O~O

Thor looked over at Clint as the archer reclaimed his position at his side. There were a few arrows missing from his quiver but it seemed as if he had recovered the great majority of them from whatever silent battle he had just returned from. Smiling, Thor motioned over to the main door of the facility. "Are you ready, Clint? We shall make them regret the day they crossed paths with our pack!"

From his observations it appeared to serve as the main door for the mercenaries as well and was certain to have a good number of men directly within. He knew that Steve would pick a strategically sound entrance route of his own but Thor was interested in a more direct route himself. Once they made their way inside, their mission would no longer require any sense of stealth and Thor preferred immediate and open engagement with the enemy rather than slinking down corridors waiting to encounter someone. In that sense, Steve had chosen his partner well for he knew Clint could often be of the same mindset.

Clint eyed the door for a moment before returning his smile. "That's the least we'll do."

They didn't have long to wait for Steve and Natasha to get into position and Clint knew that they had arrived at their location as soon as he heard the radio give a small click in his ear. Half a second later Steve's voice came online. "We're in place. Thor, Clint, are you ready to move?"

Clint looked up at Thor and the Lion answered back. "We are simply waiting for your signal."

"Good. This is it. Move in. Tony, Bruce, you two stay put and use that security system to our advantage."

Clint nodded up at Thor and then they were moving. He didn't have the time to check if the front doors were locked before Thor sprinted up to the door and with one swift kick slammed the doors open so hard that they nearly snapped off of their hinges. The Lion didn't stop, taking advantage of any surprise he might have caused by barreling right through with Clint hot on his heels.

As soon as Thor burst over the threshold into the building, Clint's eyes scanned the room even as someone started shooting at them. The front room was perfect; open, two stories tall, with raised, exposed beams in the rafters. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel. Leaving Thor to take care of the gunman, Clint scrambled up the wall, the exposed bricks eroded enough to form just the shallowest foot and handholds. It would have been nearly impossible for a human but Clint scaled it quickly without any fear of falling, knowing that he was his own safety net.

Once he was situated, his eyes flew back down to the floor and saw that the man who had been shooting at Thor had been carrying a military-grade semi-automatic handgun but that the Lion had already had him disarmed and incapacitated, probably in the same blow. But he was about to get more company as more men ran into the room and they were a little more prepared.

Clint's grip tightened on his bow, slipped an arrow from his quiver, and notched it as he called down. "You got three coming on your left and a single man coming around on your right to try and flank you. All of them have guns." One had another handgun but the other three had assault rifles. He didn't doubt that they had bigger weapons than that but they would have been insane to use them in a confined space like this in such close quarters. Thor's head snapped up but by then Clint already had his bowstring pulled back let an arrow fly. "Make that two on your left."

O~O

As Steve and Natasha ran towards the service door, Steve heard a loud bang followed by a volley of gunshots and knew that Thor and Clint were inside the building. He hoped that they were alright but knew that they had handled worse. Also, they were creating an excellent distraction that would give Steve and Natasha the window they needed to sneak in without being ambushed.

When they reached the side door Steve wasn't surprised to find that it was locked but made short work of snapping off the lock. Then he and Natasha were inside, his senses sharpening as they stepped into an eroding hallway. It seemed like the building's new owners were using it for storage because the space was filled with boxes of canned food, cases of water, and what looked like a few large bottles of vodka.

Hearing footsteps hurrying by, Steve held out his hand to stop Natasha and both of them pressed back up against the wall. He could see shadows sliding by from around the corner and tried to count how many people they were dealing with. Five, maybe six decent sized humans wearing heavy boots. Gesturing silently for Natasha to follow closely on his right, he snuck forward with his gun raised and ready. He took a deep breath to steady himself then whipped around the corner with Natasha right at his side and focused on the place where the shadows had originated from.

The men had their backs to Steve and Natasha as they ran off but the one at the end of the line seemed to sense movement behind him and glanced back over his shoulder. He skidded to a stop as his eyes connected with theirs and he shouted at his compatriots as he whipped a gun from his belt. "Hey, two more over here!"

Steve heard the others stop in their tracks but before the man who had spotted them was able to fire a round off, Natasha was already racing forward and with one swift, efficient cut, sliced a blade across the man's throat. She had been using a sort of Taser weapon embedded in a bracelet she had dubbed "Widow's bite" recently, but those were SHIELD issue and only given to her during a mission because of how deadly she was with them. If Tony had had a bit more time and had been in better health, Steve was sure the Panther could have whipped out a newer version but she was doing alright with her knifes.

The four other men who had been in the hall rushed at them and Steve shot one of them in the shoulder before running in to join Natasha. Dropping his shoulder, Steve rammed into the man he had shot and sent him flying back into the brick wall, the impact strong enough to knock the air out of him. There was a loud bang and Steve felt a bullet skim by his ear. Reaching back, Steve grabbed at the man who had fired the shot and snapped his arm back, then pulled him down and kneed him in the stomach. His aim was a bit off and Steve heard a rib crack so he let the man drop to the floor. When he looked up, Natasha had already taken care of the two remaining men and they were surrounded by bodies sprawled out on the floor.

Steve tilted his head then looked up at Natasha. "Let's go see where they were going."

"After you."

Leading the way down the corridor, Steve kept his gun up as he quickly followed the path the men had been trying to take. There was another door opening up into a larger room that appeared to have been used as some sort of manufacturing area. It looked to be about three stories tall and most of the space was filled with heavy machinery that looked like it hadn't been turned on for fifty years. There were windows up on what would have been the top floor but they were so covered in grime that only the barest amount of light from the late afternoon sun were able to seep in, casting an eerie orange glow over the scene. There was so much to look at and so many odd shadows being cast around, Steve switched his focus to his sense of smell. He lifted his nose and scented the air but all he could get was the smell of metal and old grease, all the human smells faded as if no one had been through the room in a few days. But his instincts told him they weren't alone. "Can you feel that…?"

He wasn't specific but he knew he didn't have to be. Natasha nodded beside him, her eyes darting around. "Someone's here."

"I can't catch their scent—"

"Wait." Raising her hand, Natasha cut Steve off. He watched as she closed her eyes and a second later she whipped her head around and stared at a bulky machine the size of a train car. "There!"

As if waiting for a cue, as soon as the words left Natasha's lips there was a loud clanking noise and movement behind the machine. Steve and Natasha both instinctively took a step back and they watched as a human-formed shape emerged from the shadows. It quickly became obvious to Steve why he wasn't able to smell it as he got a better look at it, even if he wasn't quite sure what he was seeing. "What is that?"

Natasha raised a brow and in one smooth movement slipped her daggers into her belt and pulled her gun out. "I'd say it's a man in an armored suit with a flame thrower."

That's what he thought. Steve's jaw tightened and he gritted out a sarcastic, "thanks," before picking up his own gun and racing towards the newest threat. He expected them to have some large weapons but hadn't expected them to be literally so heavily armed but it made sense if they had raided Hammer Industries like Tony had said they did. The metal on the armor looked pretty thick, thick enough to stop the sort of rounds they were using, and Steve knew that a flamethrower would be a ranged weapon. So the way he figured it, the only way to beat him would be to get up close.

Hitting the armored man was a bit like punching a concrete wall. Steve managed to push him back one, maybe two feet but then the man inside the armor lashed out with his arm and hit Steve right in the side of the head. The blow stung and made his ears ring but Steve shook it off and resumed his attack, looking for any weak points in the metal, all the while staying close enough so that the flame already burning at the end of the man's flame thrower couldn't reach him.

Quickly glancing back over his shoulder, Steve looked back to see that three more men had entered from the far end of the room. One of them was another man with a flame thrower and the two others were no less threatening. One was carrying a high-powered automatic rifle and the third made Steve's stomach dropped because it looked an awful lot like he was carrying some sort of grenade launcher. Natasha had seen them too and ran over to engage them but Steve's focus was torn back to the man in front of him before he could see how she was able to manage it.

The armored man swung back at him but this time Steve dodged the blow and twisted around his back to face the tank containing the fuel that ran the flame thrower. He hadn't been able to spot a chink in his armor but for all the strength it gave him, the suit slowed the man down significantly and Steve took advantage of that. Seeing an important looking valve on the top of the tank, Steve brought his gun up and instead of firing off a bullet—and risk igniting a small explosion—Steve flipped the gun over in his hand and slammed the grip down onto the valve, snapping the metal piece off. Something in the gun snapped too but Steve considered it as a successful move as fuel bubbled out and streamed down the man's metal back, pooling up around his feet.

Knowing better than to stand in a puddle of gas while there was still an open flame burning, Steve dove off to the side and rolled behind the same machine the armored man had hidden behind earlier. The armored man flailed, able to feel that Steve had done something to his suit but didn't know what. As he moved, what Steve feared would happen happened and a small spark popped from flame thrower and caught on the gas on the floor.

O~O

Tony's head snapped up as a small explosion rent the air and he and Bruce both started to their feet as voices sprang up over the radio line.

"Steve, I'm losing visual contact!"

"I'm fine, Natasha, you focus on the guys in front of you."

Tony's eyes narrowed and he switched on his own mic. "What's going on?"

Natasha was the one who answered. "These guys are good and they keep coming. They're separating me from Steve."

Shit. "Where are Thor and Clint?"

"We're a bit busy at the moment!"

Tony met Bruce's eyes and then Tony was scrambling for the door. "I'm coming in."

He finally heard from Steve but he already knew what his mate would say. "No, Tony, you stay—!"

Tony didn't give Steve to finish and muttered out a quick, "not happening," before muting his mic again.

Bruce looked like he wanted to protest but knew Tony well enough by now to tell when his comments would fall on deaf ears. Instead, he shook his head and reached back to dig through his bag. He pulled his hand out a second later with his fingers wrapped around the grip of a handgun which he quickly passed over to Tony. "Be careful. I'll help as much as I'm able from here but call me if it gets really bad."

Tony nodded. He didn't put too much faith in how much Bruce would be able to do from the booth. They had both been sitting there for the past five minutes so Tony knew just as well as Bruce did that most of the cameras were exterior ones. It was good to be reminded that they had an ace in the hole though. But things would have to be pretty bad before they called in the Hulk.

From watching the monitors, Tony knew which door Steve had gone in through and ran around to the back of the building. He ran through the open door, his heart pounding as voices rang out over his earpiece as he moved.

"We got four more coming towards the front. Thor and I are keeping them under control but they're coming from some other part of the building. There may be more heading your way!"

"Noted. Two more just came into the room. We've got one with a flamethrower still active and one with a grenade launcher. The flamethrower is retreating towards your location and I'm giving chase. Steve's dealing with the grenade launcher and the two that just entered."

Tony swore as he jumped over a small pile of bodies blocking up the hall and picked up his pace. There was a hallway left but at the other end was a larger room and he could see containers that Steve had to be on the other side of. He was almost there. Relief flooded him as Steve came into view, the other alpha raising a hand to his earpiece as his gaze locked on something on the other side of the room.

"Natasha, aim for the tank. Clint, Thor, lock down the front door and try to push your way in!"

"Copy that!"

"The two newcomers are down, grenade launcher still active—damn it! Brace yourselves!"

Racing down the hall towards the main room, Tony let out a shout as there was sudden, thunderous sound so deep it made the air shake. It wasn't the sudden change in the air pressure that tore the cry from his throat, though, it was seeing what caused it. The fucking wall had just been blown down and Steve's dumb ass had been right underneath it. "Steve! Steve!"

Racing over, Tony skidded on the dust and rumble then fell to his hands and knees and tore the bricks away from the last place he had seen Steve. He threw one brick, then another, then found a flash of dirty blond hair and his breath caught in his throat. "Damn it…Steve!"

Steve had curled up on himself, his arm flung over his face and he let out a moan as Tony removed the last brick from on top of his head. Reaching into the mess, Tony grabbed onto Steve's arms and hauled him out, resting the Wolf's head in his lap. "Steve! Steve, talk to me. Say something!"

There was a pause before he heard the most beautiful, drugged-up groan Steve had ever emitted. "Tony…?"

Tony heaved a breath of relief. Thank God. Thank God Steve was alright. Or, maybe not alright, he looked a bit dazed still, but he was alive and they could figure the rest out later. Tony caught a subtle movement behind a huge antique generator out of the corner of his eye and his gaze snapped over as a growl rolled up in his chest. That wall hadn't come down on its own and he had just found out what did it. Or "who" did it. It looked like the man had just spotted Tony as well and now had his grenade launcher pointed at him. And he had the balls to look smug, like he thought he had the upper hand. His mistake.

Tony kept his eyes locked on the man who was watching him just as carefully as he carefully moved Steve's head off of his lap. "Hold on, Steve. I've got a pest problem to take care of…"

Steve might have rumbled out some sort of protest but Tony was already rising to his feet. He felt the muscles in his arms and back tense, his body already priming itself for a fight as a growl settled in his throat. The man with the grenade launcher loaded up another round but it wasn't going to do him any good; Tony wasn't going to even give him the chance to pull the trigger. Nobody fucked with Tony Stark's mate and got away with it.