Well, here we are...chapter 2! Sorry for the long wait —stuff popped up that needed to be dealt with.
Special thanks to Happy, Poodle and Guest for reviewing; it made my day and gave me the extra nudge to get this chapter written! :X
Disclaimer: This story is inspired by Captain America & Iron Man #633-635, written/artistically developed by Cullen Bunn, Barry Kitson, Javier Tartaglia, Jay Leisten, et. al. This rendition of the original story contains a good percentage of the original dialogue (spoilers for anyone who has yet to read this series) and contains some yaoi elements. Enjoy!
Chapter 2
Anthony Edward Stark has never been a man without words, but this situation has left him speechless.
Tony continued to stand in place in the hotel room, fighting an uncomfortable flush from rising to his face over the fact that the hotel room that Steve booked happened to be a honeymoon suite. It was bad enough that he was developing an attraction towards one of his oldest friends, but to be placed in such an awkward position that threw the attraction in his face was worse. He began to twist his head around the room, hoping that the sofa might be comfortable enough to sleep on (or if there was a god, there would be a sofa-bed) when Steve gulped and swiftly left the room throwing the excuse that he had an errand to run. If the situation hadn't left Tony ill at ease, Steve's sudden exit left him baffled.
Steve knew that his excuse to leave the room was lame, but he couldn't help it. After having Tony fall into his lap on the plane, Steve felt unexpected feelings developing towards his friend. The last thing he needed was to complicate his fragile friendship with Tony by fostering affections for him. Steve continued to wander the shady streets of Madripoor to clear his mind, hoping that his emotions would calm down or possibly try to forget them.
By the time Steve returned to the room, Tony was engrossed in working on a project. How Tony was able to get foreign mechanisms pass Madripoor's Customs and Immigration was beyond him. "What are you working on?" he asked, making Tony jump from the sudden intrusion on his work.
"Oh, you're back…" Tony started, looking up from the gold sphere he was working on. He looked back down on his invention, small soldering gun being shut off. "This is an engine that's like a miniaturised factory that's supposed to be able to produce up to a million hornet drones."
"Why would you develop something like that?" Steve questioned; to him this invention sounded like it could be a weapon.
"If you think that it's a weapon, it's not." Tony pouted. "It's actually a project that Hank Pym and I have been developing. The bastards at the Expo tomorrow might see the destructive possibilities of mass-producing this little guy for warmongering potential, but its concept is actually for tasks like fertilising crops or delivering medicine to disease-ridden nations."
Steve released a low whistle. "That's amazing." He was truly impressed. "Something like that could end famine and cause economic growth for nations within Africa…"
"That was the plan…" Tony said as he returned his focus on the 'factory'. "You go ahead and sleep, I'll be busy tonight working for tomorrow's presentation."
"Tony…" Steve was ready to lecture Tony on his lack of sleeping habits. "I need you to be alert for the operation tomorrow."
Tony looked up at Steve, almost pouting. Seeing Steve shift uncomfortably, Tony realised his demeanour was sending mixed signals. They were finally acting normal again and the last thing they needed was for him to fuck it up by unintentionally flirting. "Don't worry about me, Cap." He finally responded, looking away to scrutinise his work. "I'll be okay to assist you when the time comes. I'll rest on the couch when I'm done…"
Steve only gave him a sceptical look and headed towards the bed to try and gain some sleep.
Come morning, Steve woke up to see Tony in an uncomfortable position on the couch, hands gripping around another small devise, but at least he was sleeping.
The super-soldier tried to quietly use the bathroom; Tony looked very restful while sleeping and he didn't want to wake him. As he got out of the bathroom and started to pull on his uniform, Tony stirred awake, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"What time is it?" Tony yawned. He sat up in the couch and settled his new invention on the side table.
"Almost zero-six-hundred." Came Steve's reply. Seeing the confused look on Tony's face, he replied, "That's almost six in the morning in military time."
"I knew that…" was Tony's tired response. "I just don't do army jargon first thing in the morning before my first few cups of coffee."
Steve smiled at the remark. "You could always go back to sleep for a while." He suggested.
"No." Tony clipped. "If I go back to sleep, I'll end up being late to the Expo." He got up from the couch and headed for the bathroom. Once out of the shower and finally dressed in a shirt and slacks, Tony joined Steve in the kitchenette of the room, accepting the offered cup of coffee, humming as he took the first sip.
Finally out of his sleepy haze, Tony looked at Steve in full Captain America regalia. "Oh, no…"
"What?" Steve asked, thinking Tony might have forgotten something.
"You, sir…" Tony pointed at Steve. "You are so not doing a covert mission in Madripoor in your uniform."
"I'm wearing this underneath my clothes, Tony." Steve rolled his eyes. "What I'll be wearing is laid on the bed."
"Thank, God." Tony mumbled as he continued to sip his coffee. He headed towards the bed to see a black suit with matching tie and a white dress shirt laid flat. "You're kiddin' me, right?" he gingerly lifted the tie to eye level, scrutinising the plainness of the chosen attire. "You're going undercover at a Weapons Expo wearing this?!"
Steve sighed, ready for Tony's rambling. "It's a suit and it's clean and it's been pressed."
"And you're planning on walking into the Expo dressed in that and what else as your disguise? Because the second someone recognises Captain America there, it's going to be pandemonium." Steve had an almost sheepish expression; most of his other secret operations where he simply donned a suit, there had never been an issue of someone recognising him.
"There shouldn't be a problem." Was Steve's weak defence. "Besides, what's so different to wearing my suit and shirt to your selection?"
Tony scoffed. "First of all, my suit is an imported indigo-coloured suit made of Irish linen and the shirt's actually cream, thank you very much— not something that was pulled out of Men's Wearhouse or Sears." Steve was ready to argue but Tony had already sauntered to the side table in the living area and picked up three small devices. He pocketed one and handed the other two to Steve. "Here. These will come in handy for today. The instructions to use them are on the side table" He grabbed his jacket and put on a red tie. After slipping on his shoes, placing his hornet factory in a travel case and holding the case like it's the most precious thing in his life, he turned to Steve. "Please check the extra suits and shirts I carried to see what could fit you. When we return home, we're going over a lesson of properly developing disguises for covert operations." Before Steve could retort to Tony's quip, the dark-haired man left the room.
As Tony gave his presentation, he felt bored. Yes, his hornet drones were impressive, even with the few dozen of them flittering about in the room. 'Should've stayed with Cap.' He thought. 'It would've been much more entertaining than trying to impress these warmongering assholes.' With the presentation finally over, Tony placed his invention back in its travel case and allowed security to lock it away.
"So? How'd it go?" Came a familiar voice in Tony's head. He smiled at the amused tone of his Steve's voice. "Did you get a standing ovation?"
"With this crowd?" Tony asked, slight humour in his voice. "I just like to get them riled up...to give them something to complain about."
"Well, I've gotta hand it to you..." Steve said as he wandered in a separate location of the expo. "…you're the only person I know who goes to a Weapons Expo to demonstrate technology intended for peaceful purposes."
"If I don't rattle the cages of the status quo, who will?" Tony asked, wandering himself into the armaments displays. "Besides, I'd never sell my tech to any of these people. I mean...unless they really stroke my ego and supply me with obscene amounts of money. Kidding. Mostly."
"Good to know..." Steve tried to maintain an impassive expression as he walked the room, to avoid revealing his cover. "Because I've already spotted a couple of suspects in International Crimes, some beyond corporation middle managers, and one of Hydra's chief weapons designers. Nice group of attendees."
"And just think...you haven't seen the good stuff yet." Tony smirked, catching the attention of two models working the expo. "Are we having fun yet or what?"
Steve tried to school his expression as he headed towards a security check point. "You mean besides getting a headache from your voice booming in my skull?"
"Side effect of sub-vocal mics." Tony whispered, trying to keep the models entertained while maintaining his conversation with Steve. "I figure...why should telepaths be the only people to hold private conversations in crowded rooms?"
"You should be doing this." Steve felt like scowling at the security guards dressed in the very same suits he was planning on wearing in the first place; the suit he borrowed from Tony was nice, but it wasn't his thing. Neither was the gadget he was using to hide his appearance. "You could be using one of these image inducers."
"Modified sub-dermal image inducer, thank you very much." Tony quipped. Two of his drones finally caught up to Steve; they were his eyes and ears during this mission. "Half the people in the room are using similar devices. The other half are equipped with countermeasures so they can be certain who they're talking to." If it wasn't for the fact that Tony had tinkered with the drones to follow the frequency of Steve image inducer, he would have never recognised Steve as an Arab clearing that security check-point. "Your image inducer has more than enough fail-safes and redundancies built in. You look marvellous, by the way." Tony was impressed that his other indigo suit was able to fit Steve perfectly. The mustard dress shirt and the two-tone black tie looked really good on Steve's disguise."Very cosmopolitan." The moment the words slipped, Tony wanted to kick himself. 'Really?!' He thought. 'Again with the auto-flirt? I really need to get my head checked.' He sighed, trying to get his mind back on the task at hand. "Besides...I'm much more valuable to you out here. Let's not forget, this is your operation. Not mine."
"Something tells me you're having more fun than I am."
"Nonsense." Tony practically purred. "I'll admit. There's a certain pleasure to walking this floor again. Out in the world...the real world...there's a large percentage of people who still look at me like I'm some sort of villain." Steve felt a pang of guilt and shame of hearing those words from the billionaire. "But not here. Here, I'm Tony Stark. I'm a hero here. These are my people."
"Your people, huh?" Steve almost bristled at the fact that Tony would place himself with such sordid groups. "Tell me something, Tony...how many years have you been coming to this semi-legal gathering of warmongers, criminals and terrorists without ever bothering to mention it to your teammates?"
"Come on, Cap." He said as he examined a prototype of an upgraded SR-15. "I've gotten a lot of leads from this place. I've done a lot of good by coming here. You may be happy busting down doors and scaring the red, white and blue out of stool pigeons, but I have a more subtle approach. And out of everyone on the team, I'd never expect you to judge me."
"We are all flawed, Tony." Steve couldn't help feeling guilty again for the accusatory tone he gave. "I'm in." He said after clearing security and trying to change the subject to the mission at hand.
"You'd better be. I had to call in more than one favour for that invite." Tony suppressed a shudder, thinking of the creepers he had to smooth-talk for the invite. "Of course, once upon a time I was on the guest list. Don't worry, though. I'm with you." Tony said reassuringly. "The drones are equipped with surveillance equipment. I've got eyes everywhere."
"You sure she'll be here?" Steve questioned.
"Sure? No." Was Tony's honest response. "But I picked up the name you gave me — Kashmir Vennema—among some chatter related to this event."
Steve reached another security point where he had to pass metal detectors. Removing his watch, Steve thought: 'This is just as bad as at the airports…' "Chatter?" Steve questioned, refocusing on his conversation with Tony.
"I do chatter." Steve had to school his features to avoid smirking at the pout that Tony might be sporting now. "And if she's some sort of illegal weapons dealer, like you suspected, this place must be her nirvana."
Once passing the second security point, Steve got his watch back from one of the guards. As he was placing it back onto his wrist, a beautiful woman in a black dress caught his attention.
"Excuse me, sir. Would you mind?" She asked, holding up her necklace for him to clasp for her.
"Not at all…" He said, clasping the necklace for her. Upon looking at her face, he paled. "…Kash?!"
"I'm sorry? Do we know each other?" The woman – Kashmir Vennema – asked. "I'm usually very good with names and faces."
"We met briefly…uh…while you were working with Archstone." Steve hoped that his excuse sounded believable; he was completely caught off-guard to deal with his mark face-to-face so soon.
"Ah, I see." She smiled. "My apologies for not recognising you straight-away, Mr…"
"Azud." Steve responded quickly; he couldn't afford to blow his cover now, especially after all the work Tony did to get him here.
"Well, Mr. Azud." Kashmir's smile turned into a mischievous smirk as she sauntered away. "I hope you enjoy the rest of the show."
"I'm starting to see why you're so determined to find her." Tony released a low whistle from the woman's features that he viewed from his drones. "That's Kashmir Vennema?"
"Something's not right." Steve scowled. "She's different."
"Well…she carries herself with this kind of regal confidence that's uncommon, but I've seen it — Wait." Tony paused, puzzled by Steve's comment. "What do you mean, different?"
"It's hard to explain." Steve scrunched his features, realising that something was off. "Her mannerisms…her speech patterns…the way she moves…"
"I can appreciate watching the way she moves, but she barely spoke to you." For reasons unknown, Tony felt something…almost like jealousy ('Which is ridiculous.' Tony thought)…towards this woman."I'm sure the time the two of you spent together was truly magical and all, but I doubt it made you that much of an expert on the totality of her being."
"I know what I'm talking about, Tony." Steve said, annoyed with the implication of Tony's words. "Something's —"
"Distinguished guests —" A scientist proclaimed, ready to begin with a clandestine auction. Steve wasn't paying much attention to him, his focus being on the shady characters, particularly Kashmir Vennema, than to the technological devise that was up for bid. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the only known copy of the Harvester Protocol!"
"Wait." Steve could hear the apprehension in Tony's voice. "What did he just say?"
"The Harvester Protocol." Steve answered, unimpressed by the so-called technological wonder; he has seen Tony develop more remarkable mechanisms running on an hour's rest within ninety-six hours. "Whatever it is, it's definitely gotten the attention of this group."
"Cap…" Tony whispered, dread evident in his voice. This caught Steve's attention. "We've got a big problem." As the scientist began to explain the uses and features of the Harvester, Tony said, "That's dangerous technology, Cap —unstable at best."
Just as the scientist was about to commence the auction, the sound of shattered glass came from above them – Steve quickly turned his attention to the broken skylight to see a quartet of villains fall through the opening – the female of the group threw a dagger into the scientist's hand, making him release a blood-curling scream.
"My apologies, madames et messieurs! But there will be no auction today!" The man dressed in a purple jumpsuit said; he was obviously the leader of the group. "Batroc and his brigade will be taking that disk, if you do not mind! And even if you do mind, I'm afraid you take your life in your own hands!" One of Batroc's lackeys, a blond man with a machine gun as an artificial arm, began to shoot several rounds at the bystanders.
Without thinking, Steve pushed aside an elderly gentleman from harm's way. "Get down!" After making sure that the civilian was okay, he released a frustrated sigh as his image inducer failed and glared at the group's leader. "Batroc."
"Batroc?!" Tony questioned.
"That's what I said." Steve responded as he removed his jacket and dress shirt; it would only get in the way – and technically he borrowed it from Tony and if he got it ruined Tony would have a conniption.
"Steve Rogers! Captain America!" Batroc gave a sinister smile. "What a beautiful day it is in Madripoor!"
"You're wrong, Batroc." Steve said as he activated the hard-light shield from his watch to block the bullet's from the gun arm. "Your day's about to get really bad —" He swung his arm to incapacitate the gunman "—really fast!"
"Hang on, Cap!" Tony called out as he allowed his body to be encased by the Bleeding Edge armour. "Don't get killed!" Once the armour was in place, Tony took to the air to fly to his friend's aid. "I'm on my way!"
"Take your time." Steve said. "I've got th—unnf!" Obviously, he spoke too soon, with Batroc knocking him down with a swift kick.
"Ah, Captain! I wish we had more time to spar!" Batroc performed a somersault into the air, heading towards the stage, allowing his team to continue the fight. "But I'm afraid I am on a very tight schedule!"
"It seems a shame to me…" The masked man with a scythe said, ready to fight. "Killing Captain America when he's not even wearing his full uniform!"
The female, known as Machete, smirked as she ran towards Steve with her swords. "I can live with the disappointment."
Steve was able to dodge the brash attack while knocking the scythe from her companion, Zaran, knocking him out of the fight. "I'll try to make this sporting for you!"
While Steve continued to block the swords, Rapido, the gunman, prepared to attack him again. What he did not expect was for Iron Man to knock down a wall and send him flying across the room with a low-level repulsor beam.
"Cap!" Iron Man called out. "The Harvester — the virus! We have to secure the virus!"
"Batroc!" Steve shouted towards Tony. "Stop him!"
"The jumping guy?" Tony turned to see the Frenchman land on the stage where Kashmir seemed to have gotten her hands on the Harvester. He immediately took to the air to stop Batroc. "Seems like overkill, but consider him stopped."
"I'm sorry, Belle." Batroc leaned towards Kashmir, intending to intimidate her. "But I'm being paid a pretty penny to collect that."
"Don't be an idiot." Kashmir rolled her eyes. "Who do you think is paying you? The mission code is jumpstart-tango-leapfrog-zebulon." She focused her attention on the small devise. "The parameters of your mission have changed. Make sure I get out of here safely, and you'll be paid double."
With the promise of more money, Batroc turned attention to attack Iron Man with a swift kick to knock him to the ground. "As you wish, Belle!"
Kashmir frowned at the condescending term as she turned on the Harvester "And don't call me belle."
Watching Batroc ready to attack him again, Tony stayed low to the ground, raising an arm with a low-level repulsor beam ready to go. "One wrong move, pal, and your leaping days are over."
Suddenly, a crackle of energy sparked in the air, affecting the drones to attack Steve. His shield was protecting him from the wayward drones until it dissipated out of thin air. "Hard-light shield infected! It's useless!" His concern for his weapon soon vanished as he heard the pained screams from Tony. What had him worried was the sudden extraction of the armour back into Tony's body; at that moment, Machete decided to make her move on Tony. "Tony!" Steve called out, trying to run towards his friend to protect him, but he was caught in a headlock by Zaran.
"Not such a big man without your armour." Machete said as she neared Tony, ready to execute him. She roughly grabbed him by his hair, glaring. "Let's see how you do without your head!"
Tony was scared, but tried to ignore that fear, hoping to talk some sense into the woman. "I don't — I don't guess you want to talk this over."
Machete's glare intensified. "Do I look like I have anything to say to someone like you, Stark? You think your armour…your fame…your money…make you better than everyone else." The blade of her sword was near his neck. "Your final thoughts should be about how wrong you were."
"I just hope you understand the gravity of your actions, Machete." Tony glared back. "The goatee alone is insured for a couple mil."
Frustrated with the direction that the fight took, especially with the chaotic buzzing of Tony's drones, Steve tossed Zaran over his shoulder, ready to make another attempt to save Tony.
"Not bad, Captain, but not good enough to impress me, either." Batroc gloated, blocking Steve's path. Zaran quickly joined him, brandishing a pair of sai. "You still have to get through Zaran and I if you want to save your friend."
The chaotic patterns of the drones seemed to take on a formation around them, as though they were fighting the effects of the Harvester. Steve took this as a good sign that they were going back to normal. "You know, Batroc, you might want to consider talking less and ducking more." He quickly dodged the drones as they circled in for an attack.
"Come now, Captain!" Batroc teased as he leaped into the air, dodging the attack."You should know by now that Batroc the Leaper does not duck!" Unfortunately for Zaran, he took the blunt of the swarm's hit, knocking him out of the fight again.
Machete was not impressed with the lack of fighting skills from her male comrades. "You've got to be kidding —" The swarm attacked her as well, releasing her hold on Tony.
With his attacker distracted, Tony tried to summon his armour again. "Armour's compromised. Gotta shut down the virus. C'mon, Tony, think fast." With the armour encasing his body once more, Tony screamed in pain.
Steve tried to reach Tony's side, concerned at how quickly Tony had to disengage the armour again. "Tony!"
"You should keep your mind on what you're doing, Captain." Batroc jumped in Steve's path, ready for another series of attacks. "I deserve your full — Sacre bleu!" He shouted as he dodged Rapido's barrage of attacks.
"My arm!" Rapido's panicked. " I can't control it!"
During the confusion, Steve was able to get the hard-light shield activated again and blocked most of the bullets from hurting more civilians.
"All right. I'd say that was a sufficient test for the Harvester." Kashmir smirked as she deactivated the device. "No need for going global just yet. That's a privilege reserved for paying customers." She turned her attention to the fools that she regrettably hired. "Batroc! Wrap it up!"
Rapido was freaking out over the damages to his robotic-machine gun arm.
"With what we're being paid, Rapido, we'll buy you a new arm!"Zaran tried to sound blasé, but had some sympathy for the man.
Finally free from the brigade, Steve reached Tony's side, helping him to his feet. "You all right?"
"Don't —" Tony grunted "— worry about me. Another couple of minutes and I would've charmed my way out of trouble."
Machete tried for another attack on Tony but was quickly knocked down with a right hook by Steve.
"And they say chivalry is dead." Tony patted Steve's shoulder in thanks.
"No offense," Steve said, glaring down at the cataleptic woman. "But I don't think your dance partner was gonna fall for your swagger."
"Did you just say swagger?" Tony questioned. "I know you were frozen in ice for a while, but what year do you think it is?" He tried to shake the effects of the Harvester by going after Kashmir and her hired goons. "Also, please don't try to be hip. It's creepy. And...just so we're clear…I like your girlfriend even less than I like the chick with the knives." They made their way towards the villains, who were about to make their escape.
Kashmir glared at Batroc as he fumbled with a transmitter. "I'm not paying you to keep me waiting."
"I was only waiting until it was safe to activate the transmitter, Mademoiselle Vennema." Batroc smirked, patronising her. "Now that there is no danger of interference from the virus, your wish is my command."
"No, you don't — " Steve rushed towards Batroc.
"What was that you were saying about ducking, Captain?" Batroc leered as he set off an explosive as Kashmir and his brigade strapped on jet packs.
Steve refused to give up the fight. "You're not going anywhere." He said as he approached them again.
"I'm sorry, Captain! I truly wish we had more time to spend together." Batroc kicked Steve down as he activated his jet pack. "But for now this is au revoir!" The group escaped through the broken skylight, leaving the Avengers' leaders to glare at the retreat.
"Y'know…" Tony said, trying to regain his balance. "I kind of hate that guy." He worked his way back to the main exhibition hall and started to gather weapons that seemed more or less intact.
"What are you doing, Tony? We're losing time." Steve followed him, impatient of the lapsed time from the escape. "If what you said is true —"
"It's true all right. 100% grab-your-ankles true. I only wish the Harvester was a traditional virus." Tony responded, barely pausing in his collecting. "It's nano-ware, tiny little robots with one serious bite. They do all the dirty work. It's designed to spread fast…not waiting for someone to open a suspicious e-mail or click on a link to the latest celebrity sex video. It compromises systems completely…causing them to go haywire…rendering them useless…and it doesn't even need to be connected to a network. If it's tech and it's powered on, the Harvester can have it's way with it. With what just happened here…the Harvester was let off the leash for less than three minutes. Imagine if it hadn't been shut down. The devastation would have been staggering." Tony wasn't sure if Steve was following what he was saying, but he really didn't care much; he was focused on collecting what he could salvaged from the Expo. "To make matters worse, in a matter of seconds, it collects detailed schematics on any tech it contaminates…and then it delivers that data to a central location. With the proper equipment…which we can assume your friend Kash already has…they can duplicate any technology the Harvester touches." His voice became tight, thinking of the brief moment that he was compromised. "All the Bleeding Edge weaponry we saw today…it would be ready to be mass-produced in a matter of hours. All the power. None of the discipline."
"It infected your armour." Leave it to Steve to state the obvious.
"You think I'd forget about that?" Tony was livid with that fact being thrown in his face. He began to wobble, ready to pass out until Steve caught him. "Just a little high-tech arthritis." Tony pushed him away, trying to regain his focus. "When it's not in use, my armour's compressed and housed in my bones."
"And the virus?" Steve asked.
"The Harvester is still in my system. Literally, I guess." Tony began to sweat, looking dizzy. "My armour's trying to expunge it…but I need to hold on to it…try to track the signal back to it's source. But it was compromised…infected…and to some degree it still is. It's like I need to sweat it out of my pores. But I'm forcing myself not to…at least not until we find it."
Steve was concerned, but tried to keep his mind on the mission. "I need to move quickly…before Kash goes into hiding again."
"I'm running the trace as we speak." Tony said, going back to his tasks. "But it takes time…time I need if I'm going to be any use to you out there."
"No. You're not coming with me." Steve said grasping Tony by the shoulder. "Sit this one out, Tony. You can't rely on your armour. You have no weapons, no defenses."
Tony narrowed his eyes at Steve. 'What the hell?!' He thought. 'Where the fuck does he get off treating me like some helpless damsel?!' He knocked the offensive hand away. "If the next words out of your mouth are You'd only get yourself hurt, you might start another Civil War." He didn't like throwing the war in Steve's face the way he did, but he needed to make sure he had the man's attention. "I can handle myself, Steve, with or without the armour."
"I didn't mean to insult you." Steve raised his hands in a defensive manner, knowing he did insult Tony. "But now's not the time for a debate. I need you to work on finding Kash." He moved towards the exit, figuring that some distance between him and Tony might prove to be more beneficial. "In the meantime, Madripoor's full of people who either commit crimes or know something about crimes that are being committed. While you work the tech angle —I'll ask around."
Heading towards his Madripoor safe house in full Captain America regalia, Steve felt a little more comfortable. Granted, Kashmir's escape with Batroc's group still had him quite irked, but the comfort of his uniform had him feeling a little better; and with Tony out of harm's way was a minor victory.
Now inside the small dilapidated building, Steve made his way to his apartment and moved a piece of artwork and entered a code for the hidden safe.
"Bonjour, Captain!" Steve suppressed a groan and rolled his eyes at the interruption. Figured that Batroc stalked him here. "As I'm sure you anticipated, my employer asked my brigage to keep an eye on you. It seems she didn't trust you to leave well enough alone. I knew this would lead to a confrontation between us. And there was no point in further delaying the inevitable, no?" Batroc jumped into the air, ready to deliver a flying kick. "But such a dreary place for us to continue our melee? Like you, I have a number of safe houses around the world. Mine are, however, more comfortable. More stylish."
Steve was able to block the kick by raising his arms, the impact bouncing of his forearms. "Privacy was more important than fashion. Besides, I think it's as good a place as any to beat you down!" With a powerful punch to the face, Steve knocked Batroc to the ground, but wasn't expecting the follow-up ground kick to the face. He tried to shake it off. "Is that all you've got?"
"Not at all, mon ami!" Batroc boasted, making another jump kick, thumping against the wall and forcing the safe open; the vibration on the wall coerced Steve's shield to fall and ricochet off some of the surfaces in the room, eventually finding it's target – Batroc's face. "Merde!" The curse fell off the Frenchman's lips as the impact of the shield knocked him through the door and into the hallway of the building.
"Hard light shields are fine." Steve repressed a smirk as he caught his shield from rebounding off the wall. "But you just can't beat the classics."
"Classics?! You mean old and decrepit." Machete snorted. 'God, how I can't stand this girl.' Steve thought as he heard her running behind him. "I've mugged elderly nuns who were tougher than you." She unsheathed her daggers, ready for the kill. "Still, your shield-throwing arm will make a nice trophy. I'm gonna hang it from my rear-view mirror."
"Young lady," Steve suppressed a groan, waiting for the sloppy attack. "If you've got the brass to back up those words, I suggest you stop talking and start fighting."
"How's this for brass?" Machete questioned, as she swung her weapons at Steve, only to be blocked by his shield. Displeased with the foiled attack, she continued her attacks, her blades eventually making a cut across Steve's side.
"It would please me to accept your surrender now, Captain!" Batroc teased as he and Zaran joined Machete in the fight. "You're badly outnumbered! You cannot win this fight!"
And I will end things here…
The next chapter will have more Madripoor mayhem; until next time!