Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. There are also references to canon misbehavior and AU-centric sexism. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: And now for the much-awaited sequel for my Lines series.

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Submitting Info:
Stacked with: RAVEN (2023); MC4A (Su-Y6)
Individual Challenges: Red Instead; Condiment Shelf; Xs & Os; Pet Food (Y); Me Matey; Colors of the Sky; Metahuman MC; SHIELD MC; New Fandom Smell; Sandbox (Y); Crossing Over; Reader; Cinematic; Binger; Graphic; Gamer; Alpha & Omega; Tossed Chum; Elder Berries; Artist MC; Criminal MC; Military MC; Disabled; Ethnic & Present; Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion; Short Jog; Stand Alone; The Story Goes On; Eating Cake (Y); Exchange; Greatest Gift; Green Ribbon; Two Cakes (Y); Salt Wrench; Zed Era; Rainbow Connection; Hold the Mayo
RAVEN Challenges: Set [71](Hallway); Items [152](Wristwatch); Colors [145](Tea);
Other MC4A Challenges: S AU [1C] (RPG World); SuB [2D](Camping); Ship (Worth Dishonor)[SpMic1 (Omegaverse; Fusion/Crossover); SuMic1 (Turned Left Instead; Fusion/Crossover); SuMic2 (Blue)]; Chim [Teasel]("Wait for It" – Hamilton; Turned Left Instead AU; Race Bend); Hunt [Su WD (Major Heart Condition)]; Fire [x3](Titanium); Garden [Melancholia (I Can't Hear the Music)];
Representation(s): Filipino Tony Stark; Civil War AU; ABO AU; Omega Tony Stark; Alpha Steve Rogers; Background Ana/Edwin Jarvis
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Grease Monkey; Lyre Liar; Muck & Slime; Rock of Ages; Abandoned Ship; Head of Perseus; In the Trench; Second Verse (Persistence Still; Middle Name; Mother Hen; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; Brooms Only; For the Vine; Lovely Coconuts); Chorus (Pocky Pockets; Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Tomorrow's Shade; A Long Dog; Eternal Boredom; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Wind Beneath); Demo 1 (Under the Bridge); Demo 2 (Sitting Hummingbird)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Toad); SN (Rail; Negate); FR (Satisfaction); O3 (Oust); HoSE (Schooner; Keen); Once (Santa Fe); War (Monomania; Sanctuary; Ennui); TY (Kulonbozo; Ntaiv)
Word Count: 1300 words

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Between the Lines
Part 1: Endless Uphill Climb
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Tony Stark was not usually caught flatfooted on things. Howard had spent a lot of time hammering home the need to be informed about all political things that could affect business. Obie had almost been worse about it, and something about that still ached. No amount of metallic coconut would ever cover the bitter taste left in his mouth even eight years after the man had revealed his betrayal.

Despite the lack of murder attempts, finding out that his father and grandmother had helped found a shady spy organization that was only barely a legal government agency had a similar flavor. Both of them had repeatedly demanded (in their own ways) that there shouldn't be secrets between them. But until Fury's little delivery while during SHIELD's attempt to keep him in captivity, Tony had had no idea that their spy days hadn't been well behind them.

The Jarvises had at least told him not to investigate any scenarios of them being more than just household help for the Stark family. They had also done more than anyone other than Rhodey to make sure that Tony was prepared to handle most types of dangerous situations. Ana had taken the lead on teaching Tony to fight, under the thought process that her omega frame would have more in common with a child's size than Jarvis' gangly limbs.

Jarvis focused on giving more practical skills, especially after Tony had presented as an omega instead of the alpha that Howard had wanted as his heir. Jarvis had taught him how to manipulate an alpha's instinctive responses to achieve specific ends as well as the thing that had proven its value repeatedly much to the annoyance of many an alpha. He had taught Tony how to ignore the alpha voice so thoroughly that it rarely even registered. It had pissed off as many alphas as it had impressed.

So, Tony had many advantages that other omega, even of his own social class, did not have. It meant that he was rarely caught unawares by social moves that people made. There had been notable exceptions over the years, of course, and just as many positive ones as there had been negative ones.

Tony rubbed his forehead as he tried to figure out if the current situation counted as a surprise or not. If he was honest with himself, he wasn't surprised that Steve had rushed into a situation with barely any intel. It was what he had demonstrated as an MO in the six years since they had met. Tony felt more than a little cheated to discover that the whole Man with a Plan schtick was just propaganda and nostalgia.

He was still a little surprised that Bucky Barnes had summarily handed Steve's ass to him before dumping into the hallway outside of the apartment where he was living. But that had a logical explanation. The residence had a declared nest warning that Steve had ignored. Then Steve had actually thought to lay hands on the in-heat omega partner of another alpha. The fact that Steve had only been knocked unconscious and tossed out like trash was a testament to a very measured response, honestly.

Rhodey had put Ty in the hospital when he had broken into their nest after Tony had broken up with him. And they were just platonically nesting together, not mates like these two.

"Look," Tony tried again after dropping his hands, "I'm sure that Gabrielle told you that Romania is willing to drop the charge of illegally entering the country. All that you have to do is tell the investigator who told you where to find Bucky."

Tony had learned quickly that trying to explain the idea of classified information and why it was a crime to share it with unauthorized people wouldn't get him anywhere. Steve didn't operate logically. He only reacted emotionally. It was something that Tony had grown up knowing about the man, because it was in all of the stories from Howard and Aunt Peggy.

Steve Rogers had been best friends with Bucky Barnes. Steve had started his combat zone career by getting himself dropped into an enemy stronghold against direct orders. All because Bucky Barnes had been a POW in that stronghold. After Barnes fell from that train, it became clear to anyone reviewing the mission reports that Steve had been more motivated to perform foolhardy exploits alongside his best friend than any of the actual mission objectives.

Steve had been willing to destroy the very organization that he was working for just because Barnes had shown up. Steve had been hunting Barnes' ghost ever since. If the reports were to be believed, that included why Steve had dragged a selection of Avengers into the latest PR nightmare of Lagos in the first place. That was before considering how he had hesitated just because Crossbones had mentioned Bucky Barnes.

"They were going to kill him!" Steve yelled, as if it was any more of a counterargument than it had been the first dozen times he had done so. Tony could feel his migraine threatening to return in full force at the force echoing in the shout, even muffled by the barrier as it was. At least Steve was saying something to them. Sam was giving them the silent treatment. "They had orders to shoot him on sight!"

"Who issued the orders?" Tony asked yet again. He had started this interview with attempting to explain how this claim couldn't possibly be true. No amount of pointing out the presence of an Omega Negotiator (after confirming that Steve knew what that was) or how utterly stupid it would have been to kill a known Enhanced who was declared the primary person of interest in an attack on a UN summit. Tony wasn't expecting any kind of useful answer this time either.

"Does it even matter? They were going to kill Bucky!"

"It matters because the UN wanted him brought in for questioning," Tony said tiredly as his temples throbbed in a tempo fit for a tango. He had already explained this. He adjusted his wristwatch to keep from rubbing his forehead again. "If an agency decided to go rogue, the UN needs to know."

Before Steve could reply with no doubt another repetition of the same things he had been yelling for the last hour, there was a knock on the door. It was quickly followed by someone sticking their head into the hallway before Steve's secure cell. For a fleeting moment, Tony saw a younger version of his mother imposed over the woman, back before she started bleaching her hair to make herself look less Filipino in order to fit in better with the wives of Howard's friends. Tony shook his head to clear away what had to be a side effect of using BARF the way he had just before coming on this trip. The young woman glanced at Steve's incensed face before focusing her tea brown on Tony again.

"Excuse me, Dr. Stark," she said, "but there's someone here asking to speak to you." She hesitated, glancing back at Steve again, before she continued. "It's about a time sensitive situation."

"Thank you," Tony replied. "I'll be right out." He turned back to Steve. "Look, I get that you don't think there's any reason to cooperate with authority. Any other time, I might even agree with you on that. But right now? This situation? It's not a good time or place. Rebellion just for the sake of rebellion doesn't serve anyone. I'm gonna send Gabrielle back in, and you can tell her the name of your source or not. Either way, I can't keep wasting time trying to talk you into doing the right thing."

And with those words, Tony left the super soldier behind.

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To be continued
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