"Higher, kick higher!"
She lands with a thud and wobbles.
It goes silent.
She never wobbles.
Her choreographer looks at her with a harsh narrowed gaze. "Explain."
She tries not to get annoyed. "It won't happen again."
"You wobble."
"I'm not perfect!" She snaps, then gets back into first position, "start again."
She can feel the tension of the entire dance group weighing on her.
How was she supposed to care about their performance for the Ambassadors when Steve was still missing and Tony was being held by terrorists?
"Fine." The sharp woman snaps, "begin again."
"How are you feeling?" Morita asks.
"Like shit."
"Nice."
"Fuck off, Blaze."
"Bite me, Barnes."
He glares at the blonde who glares back.
"You need to cool it," Clint hisses, sitting down beside him in the chopper that was about to take off.
"He's the one pissing me off."
"No. Morita asked how you were doing and you were pissy and Blaze called you out. It's different."
The heat of the dessert is cooling as night is settling in.
"I'm about to be pissy with you if you don't leave me alone."
Clint snorts and then shakes his head, "geez. It's like talking to a 14 year old. Pull it together would you?"
He glares at Clint who rolls his eyes and goes to sit next to Castle in the cockpit.
The last text from Natasha blinks up from his phone screen.
Everything okay?
He sighes, leaning his head back with a clunk against the metal.
No. Everything is not okay. But he didn't want to worry her more. So he lies.
Everything's fine. Going out to look for Steve. Keep you updated.
Tony scrubs dust from his eyes and chugs a drink of water before yawning and stretching his neck. His chest aches strangely, but the new arc reactor was more of a pleasant hum and feeling than the car battery had been.
"Rested?"
Tony huffs in wry humor, "yeah sure. Cot does wonders."
Yinsen laughs and hands him his usual tool set. "Ready for another day in paradise?"
"You're full of jokes today," Tony grouses back.
"There is much to be said about a positive spirit," Yinsen says with a smile.
"Don't tell me you're talking about the power of positive thinking."
The sly grin on Yinsen's face makes him chuckle.
"There will come a time when positive thinking may save your life, young Stark. Do not underestimate it."
"How about you positive think for the both of us while I get to work. I'm almost finished with the separate pieces of this gauntlet. Once I start assembling… There's no hiding the shape."
"Then let's not waste any time shall we?"
The old man raises a fist and Tony lets one side of his mouth raise up in amusement. He bumps the old man's fist with his own. "Damn right."
They walk for several hours. The mother had packed a bag of food and some sort of water container that he had immediately taken and carried despite her arguments. Broken arm or no, he would die before letting her haul that heavy thing around after helping him, no matter his state.
The daughter is walking between them, chattering to her mother and smiling at him.
He must look like some sort of horror character but she is unphased which puts him more at ease.
Finally, another structure comes into sight and she leads him down the long dusty pathway and up stone steps to another long and low bungalow type structure. She raises her hand to knock and then pauses, hand hesitating. The daughter asks a question and she wrinkles her nose. Then she turns to him and looks apologetic, but she points to the ground and motions for him to sit down. He complies immediately, holding the water jug in his one free hand and sitting on the warm stone steps. Her head bows in gratitude and then she knocks and waits.
A voice calls and she winces. She knocks again and there seems to be sort of grumbling until the door swings open.
He looks at her and smiles before catching sight of him and staggering back, hand clenched to his chest.
The woman speaks low and calmly, words sounding rushed as she (assuredly) attempts to explain his presence. The man makes harsh comments in return and the woman pleads with him.
He hears the word Raza and knows he could be in bad territory.
Then he hears the word Stark and his blood runs cold. He shifts up onto his knees. But when he tries to speak, he still can't manage anything. The lack of muscle control on one side of his mouth, the shattered and poorly healing jaw bone and gaping hole out the other side makes it impossible to speak clearly.
They look at him strangely and then the woman speaks in hushed whispers. The man is shaking his head and waving his hands.
The little girl sits beside him and pats his knee.
The little girl says something to her mother and the mother nods. She turns back to the man and asks something firmly.
The man sighs and nods, gesturing for them to follow him. Steve stands slowly, the chains still wrapped around him, and he walks behind them into the small abode.
His eyes adjust to the dimness and the man disappears into a room before coming back and holding out— Steve chokes out a sound of relief— an old cell phone.
The man hands it to him and he uses his one good arm to dial Castle's number.
No answer. Not only that. It doesn't ring or transfer to voicemail. Nothing. Which means he's comma dark.
He curses internally, but tries Clint's, then Bucky's, then Blazes, then Morita's. Each is the same. That curdles his blood and he prays silently that it's because they're out of service or comms dark for another reason.
So he calls the person who would know if something had happened to them.
Howard picks up on the third ring.
"Hello? Who is this? How did you get this number?"
Steve tries to speak but the garbled nonsense is barely audible and not understandable.
"Who the hell is this?"
He panics, gesturing for one of the people to speak. If he can keep Howard on the phone then he can figure out how to communicate.
The woman looks terrified so he holds it to the man, waving his hand as if to say, 'say something.'
The man shrugs but then starts to speak, the language still unfamiliar to Steve.
Howard is quiet for a moment before exploding, "Is this some sort of sick joke? You think this is funny? Listen, when I get my son back, I will find your entire operation and blow it sky high, you hear me!? You think you can mess with a Stark and there won't be consequences! You mark my words! You tell that son of a bitch, Raza, that I won't stop hunting him till his head is on a pike! You hear me! You hear me! I'm tracking this phone call right now you bastard! You better run but you can't hide!"
Steve stares at the phone in disbelief. Howard sounds insane, still ranting and raving over the connection but Steve can't process it. His head is still ringing with earlier words.
—when I get my son back—
—Raza—
He hangs up, hands trembling.
Somehow Raza has Tony…
They look at him wide eyed. Maybe they hadn't understood what Howard said but they could understand the tone.
The little girl looks at him with sad eyes.
Steve doesn't know what to do for long seconds. But then his mind starts to tick.
Tony had said he would be close-ish. And the train ride would have been bringing him closer to Raza.
Now Raza has Tony.
Probably because Raza was denied Steve. Somehow he figured out their connection…
His heart clenches and he feels sick. This is his fault.
He needs to rescue Tony.
And The Ten Rings were close by.
Which means…. Potentially Raza is nearby or someone who knows where Raza is.
He turns to them, who are watching him quietly. He motions writing again and the woman asks the old man. He nods and fetches a notepad and pen.
Steve writes one word Raza then he points to it. The man and woman grimace. Steve gestures to the surrounding area outside the house, then he draws 8 arrows and maps them out, marking them N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW and a giant question mark. He orients the notepad so the N was pointing north and then he pointed to the name and then to the man and woman, using his finger to circle the 8 options and then ending on the question mark.
The woman shakes her head and finger but he nods, insisting.
The old man points at him and then draws a line across his neck, as if in warning of what they would do to him.
Steve huffs. Quickly drawing the Stark industries logo. Their eyes go wider and he jabs his pointer finger at the map. Using his eyes to beg for the information.
The man sighs and reaches but the woman shakes her head again and admonishes the man, shoving his hands away. She uses the same fist to fist motion she had early and wags her finger in fear.
But Steve lifts the pad to the man, nodding and urging him to point him in the right direction.
The man ignores the woman's stern pleas and points to the SW.
Steve bows his head in gratitude and then bows again to the mother and daughter. He starts to leave when he feels a tug on the leg of his pants. He turns and the little girl is staring at him, shaking her head 'no'. Then pointing to his jaw as if to prove her point.
He crouches down and looks at her at eye level. He rests a hand on his chest and then holds it out for her to shake. She frowns at it for a second before hesitatingly reaching her hand out. He grasps her tiny hand in his large one and shakes it.
Then he raises it to his forehead and presses the palm of her tiny hand there. He wishes he could speak, say thank you, but the gesture will have to do.
Then he's standing and dragging his chains behind him as he walks out of the house and in a new direction.
"Faster."
"Barnes, I swear—"
"Move faster, Morita!"
"Bucky, lay the fuck off."
"Clint, don't start with me."
"You're being an asshole. So yeah, I will start with you."
Bucky's fury rages, clear in his expression, but Clint doesn't back down, glaring straight back at him.
"Cool your jets, kids," Castle snaps mockingly at them. "It's been a long hot day. Go dunk your heads in ice." He lands with a thud on the ground and then disappears into the main building.
Bucky grumbles something as he starts to walk away. Clint rolls his eyes. Steve had had these mood swings but they'd been different. Bucky's were more volatile. Anger that spread instead of collapsing internally like Steve's usually did. When he'd watched Bucky kill those guys at the train station it had been a violent reminder of what anger unfettered could evolve into.
Clint grabs his rifle, ready to hop off the chopper when his phone dings loudly at the same time as three other phones ding simultaneously.
He glances up, catching Blaze's matching confused expression.
"Are comms up?" He asks Morita.
"Yeah, they switch to Comms Up when we land and connect to base."
He pulls out his phone from his pocket and sees a missed call from an international number he doesn't recognize.
"I got a missed call," Blaze says, "from an unknown number."
"Me too," Morita says slowly.
"Me too…" he looks over where Barnes is walking away. "Bucky!" The man turns, glaring at him. "Did you get a missed call?
Something about his tone must tip Bucky off that something is different. So he shifts his rifle and pulls his own phone out. "Yeah. But I don't recogni—" his eyes widen and he looks up.
"Call it back," Clint instructs Morita. "Call it back right now."
"Uh-huh," Morita says without hesitation, reaching back to the chopper's comms line and plugging in. He types something on the heavy duty laptop while he dials and Clint knows he's going to try to trace the call.
"Get Castle!" Clint yells to Bucky, "and then we need to fuel up and get the hell back on this chopper!"
Bucky goes running.
"He'd tried to call us. Or we think he did."
Natasha nods, "that's good. That means he's still alive."
"Right. We're refueling and heading back out. It's further away than we expected."
"What is?"
"The location the call came from."
"But how long ago did he call?"
"We don't know. We were Comms Down when we were flying to avoid detection. He could have called anytime that day."
"So what if he's gone now?"
She can hear the grating annoyance in Bucky's tone. Not at her just at the situation. "Well someone let him use their phone. At least we have a lead." He sounds about ready to say something else when he pauses, "oh— wait Howard's trying to call me. I'll call you back when I can, okay?"
"Okay, love you."
"Love you too."
Natasha hears the beep and she clutches the phone to her chest. After a few minutes, she dials another number and waits.
A groggy voice answers, "hello?"
"Lena?"
"Nat?" The voice changes to alert almost immediately. "What's wrong? What's been happening with Steve? Why is Sam a mess?"
Natasha winces, "Sam's a mess?"
Her voice is hushed but clear, "he hides it pretty well. But I remember when Steve was sick. I know the way his eyebrows pucker just so when kids mention his name, wondering why he hasn't called. Why hasn't he called?" She hears a 'shhh' then a whispered, 'who's that?' Yelena whispers back, the phone muffled, "it's Nat!"
"Nat!" Wanda's voice appears, "we miss you!"
"I miss you too," she smiles. "How's Pietro?"
"Tall, the jerk," Wanda says with a quite humored huff, "where's Steve?"
She grimaces, "so everyone's caught onto that?"
"Sam's pretending everything's fine. But he did that when Steve was sick too."
"Right." She sighs, "he's out on a mission. He'll be back soon."
"If he was just on a mission, Sam wouldn't seem so stressed."
"Just…" Natasha sighs, "We should know more soon."
"But he's okay?"
"We—-" she hears the silence. They trust her. Whatever she says matters. And she won't lie. "We think so."
"Mr. Stark has been here a lot though and he seems really worried."
They don't know about Tony. Or at least she thinks they don't. So his worry about Tony is bleeding into Sam's worry about Steve. What a mess.
"You know how he is about Steve. We all are."
"But you called," Yelena seems to remember, "what's up?"
"I just miss home. I miss you guys. I miss doing homework in a group in the living room with Daniel tapping away at his laptop. I miss Rebecca sleeping over and drinking Sarah's perfect coffee. I miss Peter's chatter about things I can't possibly understand and Steve's little sound he would make when he fell asleep on the couch at the wrong angle back when he fit on the couch…"
Yelena's voice is sad, "we miss all those things and you too."
"I'm going to come visit soon. okay?"
"Okay, can't wait." Wanda echoes the sentiment and Natasha smiles.
"Go back to sleep. Love you guys."
"Love you too, night."
Even though it's not close to her usual bedtime at all. Natasha closes her eyes and feels exhaustion take her under.
"It's almost ready."
Yinsen nods, his hands carefully placing a wide he will solder down.
"You'll have to stay behind me. I need you watching your own back."
"And yours."
"I know."
"It's a long tunnel system—"
"That's true, but we're going to make it. Alright?"
Yinsen just nods again.
Tony eyes the machine that they've created. It started out as a gauntlet, but the stress of escape has not allowed him much sleep and his nervous tendencies and anxiety exploded into hours of manic work.
Now he has a chest and back plate, boots that may or may not be able to fly (he's pretty sure they will. He and Yinsen did the calculations 20 times). And a helmet that will protect his face. So all his vital organs are covered. He'd offered to delay escaping and build some for Yinsen too but the man had vehemently refused. "I would rather lose a limb than stay here a minute longer than needed."
So they'd devised a plan. Tony will lead the way, wreaking havoc on the Ten Rings, Yinsen will follow behind. Guns in hand, protecting their backs. Then hopefully the arc reactor can power him and Yinsen into the air long enough to see some life and head that direction.
It will be a strain on his heart and the device. He knows that. But they can make a new device if they get free. They just need to get free.
"Timeline?" Yinsen interrupts his thoughts.
"Less than 6 hours."
Yinsen nods, his jaw tight with nerves as well.
"We're going to make it out."
Yinsen huffs an amused chuckled and wipes his sweaty brow, "I've learned to never doubt a Stark."
Tony grabs a wrench and starts fighting final bolts, "Damn straight."
—
Steve walks with a single minded purpose.
Tony and Howard have saved his life in so many ways. They've saved his house, his home. Peter, Nat, Clint, Yelena. Without them he would have never met Sam or Sarah. Wanda and Pietro and Daniel and the others would have been left to the Schmidt's.
It doesn't matter that his jaw is now healing incorrectly and painfully. It doesn't matter that his arm is still wrecked and wrapped in chains or that those very chains are rubbing more and more bloody sores along his wrists.
What matters is that Tony is in trouble. And it's because of Steve.
So the very last thing he's going to allow to happen is for Tony to suffer because of him.
It's not an option.
Now that he has a direction to head, he focuses on landmarks and features that make sense for an encampment or place to hide out. He has no idea what sort of setup Raza will have. But he knows it's going to be one man against many.
Fine by him. Even with one arm down and dust filtering through the gap in his face, there's so much anger and determination fueling him that he's positively sure he can take whatever is to come.
For Tony. For Howard.
—-
The man looks at all of them in fear.
Morita is having a hell of a time trying to translate the regional dialect.
Bucky holds out his phone with a recent picture of Steve and the man squints at it before his eyes widen and understanding crosses it.
"You've seen him?" Bucky asks, "when?"
Morita tries to ask when and they talk back and forth for a while before Morita looks at them, "I think he's saying yesterday morning…"
Clint swears and he agrees. That means they flew around all day yesterday, comms dark, and missed him. And now with refueling and Castle ordering of a few hours of sleep, they were chasing his ghost again.
"Ask him if he said anything? Or where he was headed?"
Morita attempts and the man gestures to his jaw strangely and they don't understand what he's trying to say. Then the man tries to explain again before making a gun with his fingers and holding it to his h ch eek. He "pulls the trigger" and makes a gun sound affect. Then uses his hands to mimic his jaw hanging down.
Bucky's blood runs cold.
What's wrong with his face?
That grainy picture of Steve had shown something wrong.
Castle looks at Morita. "The sniper shot from the roof. It must have pierced through his jaw."
Clint and he are silent.
"And he's still ripping chains from walls and moving…" Blaze comments quietly.
"Where?" Bucky asks, "where did he go? Why did he leave if he's injured?"
Morita asks and the man walks off for a moment before returning, unfolding something crumpled.
He flattens the paper out and hands it to Castle.
Castle's lips press together.
"What is it?" Clint asks, trying to see over the taller man's shoulders.
"Shit." Castle curses quietly, but Bucky hears. Then he looks up at the man, "Morita, ask him which direction he told him?"
The man listens to Morita then points to the paper. Bucky gets his first glance and recognizes Steve's handwriting. "He went south west from here." Castle says, "let's move." Then he turns to him and Clint. "Call Howard Stark. Ask about Tony."
Clint tilts his head, glancing at the paper and Bucky's eyes catch the same thing. Steve's drawing of the S.I. Logo.
"Why?" Clint asks hesitantly.
Castle sighs and shakes his head. "It's time you were told. Call him. And we need to move."
—
Steve spots a part where the mountains have long sloping bases that come together near their base but don't quite touch, hiding a well camouflaged space between them.
He is dehydrated, sweaty, grimy, and starving. But it all goes ignored since he knows he has one goal. Save Tony.
The arid landscape doesn't leave much room to hide but he finds an large pile of rocks that he can set up behind and watch.
Not even an hour later a car drives out of the space between the mountains and something settles in his gut that this is the place.
So he starts to formulate a plan.
—-
"Hello?"
"Howard? It's Clint."
"Clint? Are you alright? Do you have an update on Steve?"
"Yes, we do. But…"
Howard's voice racks up three levels of panic, "but what?"
"But Castle told me to ask you about Tony first."
There's a long pause and Howard's voice is strangely detached when he asks, "why is he telling you to ask me about Tony?"
Clint looks at Bucky who is standing beside him while he has his phone on speaker. Bucky shrugs and he matches the gesture before explaining.
"We all got calls from this random international number and we traced it and figured out that Steve had somehow found a house and used an unknown man's phone to try to call all of us, but he can't speak because he—" Clint forces out the words, "think he was shot through the jaw by his original captors. And when we got to this man's house he has this thing with Steve's handwriting and the Stark logo. It also has Raza's name, the leader of the ten rings guy, and a compass. The man pointed Steve in the—" he flicks his eyes to Castle who is also listening and makes a guess. "Direction of Raza—-" Castle doesn't correct him. Fucking great. But why would Steve go after Raza? And what does it have to do with Tony?
A choked sound makes both him and Bucky blink in surprise as Howard seems to lose it on the other side of the line.
"Howard?"
Suddenly Castle is standing there his hand outstretched for Clint's phone. He hands it over slowly and Castle nods.
"Mr. Stark, I need you to tell them now. We're past the point of holding off."
Clint furrows his brow, "tell us what?"
"It was him?" Howard's distressed voice says, "it was him? The number that called me was him?" Then his voice shifts to manic and panicked, "Castle! You have to find him! He'll go after—" Howard's voice cracks, "he's already going after him isn't he."
Castle sighs, "yes. I believe so. That's what I've concluded."
The distressed noises are back and a sinking feeling appears in Clint's gut.
"Go after who?" Bucky asks, not having caught on yet.
Castle turns to them and says softly, "Raza took Tony Stark hostage the day after Steve went missing. And now Steve is going after him."
Bucky's eyes widen and Clint hears his pulse in his head.
Then Castle puts a hand on each of their shoulders. "And now we are too. Let's go."
—-
Sam and Howard look out at the street in front of the house.
Not a word had been spoken in the last 20 minutes.
A car drives by and the street lights turn on.
He hears Howard's cell phone ring and the man does glance at the screen, but the call goes ignored.
Finally Sam takes a deep breath, "you couldn't have known it was him."
Howard buries his head in his hands again, "I don't know how much more of this waiting I can handle. My jet is sitting on the tarmac. I should go."
Sam rests a hand on his shoulder, "you turned Steve into something unbelievable. He is stronger than any of us. He'll make it out. And with any luck, he'll have Tony along with him."
"I don't think any of our luck is that good."
"Howard," Sam says sharper than he means. "Stop expecting the worse. Not when it involves our sons."
Howard's throat is rough when he responds, "sorry. I'm sorry, I just…."
"You want them to come home safe."
Howard nods and looks up at the setting sun.
Sam hears the kids just inside, chattering and doing homework and laughing and living.
His voice is quiet when he responds.
"Me too."
—
Morita watches the two of them.
They sit side by side in the chopper, silent and both with thousand yard stares.
The news about Tony Stark has shaken them. He'd almost expected them to start yelling at Castle for keeping it from them, but they'd gone deadly silent instead.
They only had the direction south west to go off of. Which wasn't much but they were going to start scanning the landscape and the mountains as soon as they got to base and refueled.
But by that point, Steve will have had over two days head start…
Morita leans back in his seat, closing his eyes and picture the way the guy had sat in that cave, crying and holding out his hand for comfort.
Steve was just a kid. Not even 20 yet. And he was shot in the face and heading towards a terrorist organization that would kill him if they got the chance.
And he was doing it to save a friend. Just like when he put himself through hell to save each one of them in his first encounter with Raza.
Something sunk deep in Morita's gut. A sickeningly sharp feeling that maybe this time Steve wouldn't be so lucky. But he sure as hell wasn't going to say that to the two across from him.
—-
Peggy glares at her notebook.
She glares until the teacher is dismissing them and blinks up in surprise that she's missed the entire class without having listened to a single word her professor has said.
Did you know Tony's been taken hostage by the 10 rings? And we figured out where Steve's headed. He's going after Tony. We're going after him. Will update when I can.
That text reverberates through her head.
She swipes over to the last message she'd received from Steve over two weeks ago.
Mainly, just info gathering. And yes I miss you too. Also... I know what I want to get you for your birthday and I don't care that it's over a month away. I hope I get a few days leave to come see you. You'll be 20! Can you believe it?
She'd texted back a few hours later but hadn't received a response. She hadn't been worried since he was usually not able to contact her during missions.
Then her world had been flipped upside down.
She gathers her things and walks slowly to her dorm room. She feels her phone buzz and she pulls it out hoping for good news. But it's Michael.
She swipes 'answer'.
"Hello?"
"How are you? Any word?"
She feels the emotion stick in her throat immediately. "No," she barely manages out without tears. "But at least they don't think he's dead."
"Oh, Pegs. I'm sorry. I've been listening to the chatter on our military feeds and haven't heard anything either. But multiple militaries have their eyes out for the Stark kid. And maybe they'll find them together…"
Michael hasn't met Steve officially. Only over face time. But he'd been supportive of Peggy's insistence that she was going to marry the "frail dying boy", that's what her parents called him, no matter what her family said. Then he'd been confused but willing to listen to Steve's "resurrection" and changes. And then he'd seen the differences over pictures and he been wide eyed in disbelief that she'd actually been telling the truth.
"That's my hope," she says softly, "that they'll be found safe together."
"I'm sure they will."
She doesn't respond and her brother sighs, "I'll be here for you. If you need to call. If you get—" he clears his throat, "bad news."
The thought rolls in her stomach and she can't find the words to answer.
—-
Natasha looks out the window. It's snowing and she watches the snowflakes fall.
Dottie has some music playing but her brain isn't able to hear it. All she can hear is Bucky's voice.
"You knew? You knew Tony had been taken and you didn't tell me?"
She'd tried to explain how Howard and Sam had thought it was for the better but when she had to put it into words to the two people who had been with her through everything with Steve and Tony… it had fallen flat.
"I should have told you," she'd said, "I was just so scared. I feel so useless."
Bucky had sighed and responded quietly, "I wish you had. And you're not useless. I'm just glad that you're safe and far away from this."
They'd talked for a bit more then he'd had to go and she couldn't sleep.
So here she sat. Her phone set in front of her. Waiting and hoping for a call with good news.
—
Tony hears the bang on the door that signals mealtime. They're here earlier than usual. He looks up at Yinsen who has wide eyes and he curses. "We need more time!"
"I'll distract them!" Yinsen offers, standing and heading towards the door as Tony hits the 'execute' button.
"Yinsen!" Tony hisses, "get back here!"
But he can't move. The boots with the jet repulsors are still programming and without them they're screwed.
An explosion that sounds very far away startles him and he looks over his shoulder towards the door that's just now being opened.
His eyes flick down to the old laptop screen.
89%.
He hears someone yelling and Yinsen trying to stall.
93%
Multiple sets of boots are heading his way. He can hear the angry steps and he swallows thickly, willing the bar on the screen to move faster.
Shouting commences as the men see him and their eyes widen in shock.
100%
He grins, whipping his right hand up and activating the repulsor on his palm. The blast knocks them back and sends Tony crashing into the wall behind him.
Suddenly he's being hauled up, dazed and off balance.
"Well that worked," Yinsen says with a grin.
Tony grins back, feeling dizzy, "powerful."
Yinsen chuckles and gets him to his feet, "we need to move now, Tony. We've got very limited time."
He nods, his bearings returning. "Let's go."
—
Steve is still in the clothes he was in on that rooftop with Rosalia. It's just now covered in dried blood, sweat, and dust. He thankfully doesn't stand out too much against the landscape, so after the first truck exits the canyon he steels alongside the base and is able to make it into where the mountains don't quite meet without being seen.
He makes it a long ways before something comes into his sightlines.
An encampment greets him maybe an hour later. Huge canvas tents, stone structures with wooden roofs and hundreds of wooden boxes fill the area.
But what catches his eye is the three man guard in front of the mouth of the cave.
That must be where they're keeping Tony.
He crouches behind where he can't be seen and waits for a bit to understand how the encampment works.
He hates the feeling of the wind that slips through the canyon and passes through the gaping flesh that is the mess of his jaw. He can barely swallow as the wind steals all his salvia.
The chains are what he knows could be a major hindrance. They could be caught or pulled and he can't risk that. So his broken arm, now healed horribly and practically unusable at the moment, is wrapped and secured against him with the chain attached to that wrist. The other chain is wrapped and secured along his belt loops but with enough leeway he could fight hand to hand.
After an hour of watching he does not feel any calmer. There's so many men. How is he going to get past them undetected and also get back past them with Tony in tow?
He creeps closer, trying to see things better and understand their layout when the stacks of wooden crates catch his eye.
They make his stomach sick.
Hammer, AIM, and Stark Industries are the three most prominent names painted on the sides.
Some are open, revealing the weapons nestled inside.
Was Howard selling weapons to terrorists? Did he know about this?
In his gut he hopes not. He can't imagine he would.
But then how had these gotten here?
Someone passes by his hiding spot and he goes still, careful to not shift or breath.
When the coast is clear, he creeps further along, hiding behind whatever he can find and making it almost into the cave's entrance by hiding along the edge of the stone ledge.
But there's no way he'd get past the guards without causing a ruckus and alerting everyone to his presence.
So he needs a distraction.
His eyes catch on an open crate and he smirks at its contents.
Grenades.
He grins and his hand reaches down to snatch two up.
He waits for the right moment, pulls the pin on one of them and throws it towards another large section of wooden crates.
Hopefully he doesn't blow up the whole mountain.
He hears the thunk of it landing and he doesn't wait, jumping up and sprinting towards the mouth of the cave.
Shocked faces only have a second to react before the tiny click hits his ears and heat sears his back. But he's shoving through and past and the area behind him starts exploding.
—-
Tony's hearing shouting and more explosions rock the ground.
"What is going on out there?" Yinsen asks as they move past another guy Tony has blasted back and into unconsciousness with his repulsor.
"Maybe the cavalry is here," he huffs, the weight of the heavy boots wearing on his tired heart. "Perfect timing, huh?"
Yinsen doesn't answer as they round another corner and find more men. They fight as best they can but Yinsen takes a hit and goes down.
"No!" Tony cries, blasting the last man back up and going over to the scientist on the ground.
Thankfully he's breathing and coherent.
"Let's go," Tony urges, "we need to get out of these caves!"
"Mm-hmm." Yinsen agrees, pain telegraphed across his features. Tony starts to drag them both forward. His little power indicator dips.
Worry abd anxiety bubble through him. He had a limited amount of power and he wasn't supposed to be carrying Yinsen's weight until they were flying.
The thought of getting trapped again and pulled back into being a prisoner makes him shudder. He has to try.
They have to try.
It dips down another point and he ignores it, hauling the man around the next corner.
—-
He follows the cave system until it comes to a fork and the side with more guards is his cue. He slams into one, sending him flying and then turns and fights one handed with the other. Thankfully he's too close for the man to use his gun and soon the other man is a crumpled heap on the ground.
Three more times he meets men and they grapple or fight. He gets grazed by one bullet but that's it, and it seems almost too easy.
He hears another rumble and knows his antics have set off a partial chain reaction. Thankfully the strength of the cave system seems to be holding so he doesn't stop. Taking the next left he comes face to face with the hand of a robot.
There's no time to react as heat and power blast him backwards. He slams into the side of the cave wall and crumples into a heap.
—-
Tony, with Yinsen being held against his side, turns a corner and sees a shadow in the dim lighting.
Without a thought, he raises his repulsor and fires.
Wide eyes and a massive frame is the only thing he sees as the massive guy goes flying back and slams into the wall, hitting the ground with an echoing thud and rattle of chains.
He's running past when he hears Yinsen tap at his chest.
He looks down , "what!"
"Strange," the man comments, "he is wrapped in chains."
Tony turns to see that the scientist is right. Small chain links wrap around the massive figure and he wonders if it's another prisoner.
Dread curls because he definitely doesn't have power to carry them both. But he stomps quickly over anyways. The hydraulics of his suit whir as he crouches down. Dusty glowing hair is the only thing he can see in the dim lighting as the face is in the dirt.
He grabs the face with his free hand, and his fingers pass through air before gripping what is definitely teeth and tongue.
"Gah!" He gasps, yanking his hand back. "What the hell?"
Then his chest starts to pound. Why does this hair color look familiar? Why does the size of this person look familiar?
Before he can register what he's doing, he's turning the man over and staring into the brutally misshapen face of Steve.
—
He blinks back to life to stare at the worried face of Tony.
He tries to say something but can't.
"Steve!" Tony's voice is panicked. "What the hell!"
He sits up and blinks, his senses returning.
"What the hell!" Tony shouts again "what are you doing here? What happened to your face?"
Steve stands, the chains clinking, while his friend staring at him with wide eyes.
"Tony?" A voice he doesn't recognize says softly.
He turns to see a slim man beside Tony and he tilts his head. For a brief second the man reminded him of Erskine.
"Steve," Tony tries again, "what is going on? Is the team here?"
He sighs, shaking his head "no".
Another explosion and shouting makes them all startle.
"Explanations later," the man says clutching at his bleeding shoulder, "we need to keep moving."
Steve eyes the man and without asking loops his good arm under the man's shoulders and takes more of his weight. Tony looks at him, still in complete surprise but he doesn't have the time for his friend's disbelief, so he just waves for him to follow
—
Tony is reeling as a grimy and beaten down Steve leads them back through the caves. He's even carrying Yinsen which helps massively
Why is he here? Why is he in chains? What happened to his face? Where is Bucky and Clint? Why is he alone and clearly a mess?
They make it to the mouth of the caves and the light of the sun causes him to audibly gasp in pain. He hasn't seen it in so long.
But the next thing he notices is the heat. Fires burn in pockets and it's pandemonium out here.
"Was this you?" He asks in incredulity as they stare at the sight.
Steve looks back with an eyebrow raise and nothing else.
"We need to go—" Yinsen says clearly in pain.
Gunfire cuts Tony's reply off and they duck to the left, hiding behind a stack of crates and then he stands, sending a small missile back in that direction.
Another blast waves heat over them and he feels a tug. Steve is still holding Yinsen and his eyes say 'we need to go'.
They start running.
His heavy boots slow him down but he blasts everyone they come in contact with his repulsor. Steve has to drop Yinsen and fight a few times but each time they make it further and further away. Tony is relieved Steve is there as they would never have made it out of the caves or encampment without him.
The chaos he caused also helps, as men are more concerned with not getting blown to pieces by weapons crates catching on fire and igniting than they are Tony escaping.
And they actually make it far enough away from the encampment and around a huge rock ledge that Tony allows himself to hope.
So of course that's when everything goes wrong.
—-
Steve hears the roar of an engine approaching them from where the mountains don't quite meet and he looks around for a place to hide.
But of course, there is none.
Tony looks at him in worry but there's nothing to do.
Steve hands Yinsen over to Tony and unwraps the chain from his waist and lets it rest on the ground. If this comes to a fight he'll need all the help he can get.
A truck peels around the final corner and accelerates towards them. "Run!" Tony shouts, throwing himself and Yinsen sideways as Steve does the same, barely escaping being rammed into. Steve hits the dirt, his broken arm complaining when he hears the truck squeal to a stop.
He struggles to get his feet under him but manages just before the man can fully exit the vehicle.
He lilts slightly, the pain arching up his shoulder. Steve watches as one man lifts a pistol. He doesn't think, just runs, yanking the chain up and whipping the man in the face with it. Thankfully he goes down.
But then he hears the register of a pistol and a "gah!" of pain. He runs around the truck and stops, frozen at the sight.
The slim man is kneeling, hand now clutching his gut, blood seeping through his fingers. With a figure gure looming over him. Tony stands off to the side, blood dripping from a scrape on his chin and his eyes glaring at the man left standing.
Which is when Steve finally looks at the man's face.
His heart catches in his chest.
Raza.
It's quiet for a moment. Only the sounds of fire and shouting they'd left behind echoing in the canyon.
"We're leaving," Tony says. His gauntlet pointed at Raza while Raza's pistol is pointed at Tony.
"You think you can escape me?" Raza growls out, "I'll make you pay for what you've done." He clicks back the hammer and points it at the slim man's head.
Tony raises his gauntlet higher, letting the energy die as he says, "no, don't!"
Raza grins, then turns catching sight of Steve. His eyes widen in shock. His entire countenance shifts, anger turning to disbelief. "You! How…?" His genuine shock at Steve's presence confuses him. Why is he acting surprised that he's there? But there's no time to decipher that.
Raza looks at his face, his eyes studying his jaw before looking back at Tony. "The Americans sent you, alone and injured, to rescue Tony Stark?"
Steve shakes his head 'no'.
Raza's eyes dash around, "you're not alone?"
Steve huffs, then gestures to the small man who is grasping at the wound in his stomach and kneeling stiffly with a pinched expression.
Raza looks back to him, "you think I will just let you walk out of here? After all you've done? All the men of mine you killed at the train station?"
Steve furrows his brow, tilting his head in confusion. He has no idea what that is in reference too.
Then Raza's eyes seem to catch on the chains and his eyes flick up to Steve's face again, as if he's understanding something. "You were not sent here."
Steve shakes his head "no."
Raza's eyes widened, "you came of your own choice?"
Steve nods his head slowly.
"To confront me?"
Steve repeats his "no".
"To save Tony Stark?"
Steve nods "yes".
Raza frowns, "why?"
"Enough with the questions already." Tony steps forward a bit, "Let us go, and I won't blast you to pieces."
"Your weapon makes a noise. You aim to kill me—" he points his gun closer to Yinsen's head— "he will be dead, brain splattered in the dust before you can save him."
Steve moves forward and Raza points the pistol at him. "Not another step, American cockroach."
So he makes a choice.
Tony and Yinsen had clearly been trying to escape when they'd ran into each other. Steve eyes Tony's metal boots and just knows they're able to fly. He's seen the designs from Tony's suits and recognizes them. So that was their escape plan. But there's no way it would carry three of them. Especially with Steve's size.
So their original plan it is.
Steve motions for Raza's attention, then he kneels, gesturing to himself and points to Yinsen, offering a trade.
—-
It takes Tony a long moment to understand why Steve kneels down willingly and gestures to Yinsen who is starting to look pale.
It's only as Raza's eyebrows goes up in shock and he says, "you offer yourself as a trade?" That it hits him.
Tony chokes when Steve nods. "No way in hell!"
Steve glares at him and shakes his head, gesturing to Yinsen.
"S—" Tony, thankfully smart enough to catch himself from saying Steve's name, grabs at his chest which beats too fast and aches something fierce, "stop this. No. I'm not leaving you here!"
Steve looks at him with sympathy in his eyes but then turns back to Raza, gesturing again.
"What's to stop me from killing all three of you?" Raza counters.
Tony initiates his palm repulsor again, hearing the whine echo and Raza glares at him, repositioning it behind Yinsen's head.
"Why would you trade yourself for this man?" Raza asks Steve. "Tony Stark, I understand. But this man? He is of no consequence."
Tony hears an annoyed sound as Steve attempts to speak. But his gruesome looking jaw doesn't allow for much more than a growl.
Steve stands and walks slowly closer to Raza who shoves the gun back against Yinsen's skull, "try anything and he dies!"
Tony's eyes catch movement. Men are starting to approach them from around the stone ledge and soon they'll be outnumbered.
Steve looks back at him as if he's already realized this too. He raises an eyebrow as if to say "Will you behave?"
Tony chokes out a frustrated groan, "I'm not leaving you here." Steve kneels beside Yinsen and gestures for Raza to point the gun at him.
"I could kill them both right now." Raza says calmly.
"Then I'd kill you," Tony says harshly, "blow your brains out and blast the rest to pieces." He initiates the second and last tiny missile he has which pops up over his forearm ready to be launched.
Raza watches with questioning eyes, "why not just leave them both? You're free. Run, little war machine. Leave these two to me."
Tony snarls out a sound of anger, "I am well aware you treat life like a commodity. A cigarette to be thrown away when you're finished but I'm not like you!"
Raza's calculating expression belies the fact that he's stalling for time. Men are coming, shouting and stomping. Tony can't see them yet but he knows they're getting closer and it's about to get ugly.
Steve's eyes flick to Tony's boots and then to Yinsen. Then he taps his wrist as if to say, "hurry it up".
And it clicks. Steve knows they were planning to escape. He also knows that there's no way his boots could carry all three. Or even Tony and Steve since the propulsors had been calculated to his and Yinsen's weight.
He is out of options. Guilt sits heavily in his chest.
"If you don't want me to blast that ledge with this—" he gestures to the small missile, "— which would kill us all and most of your men, give me Yinsen."
Raza holds the gun to Steve's scalp and kicks Yinsen. The man collapses forward and Tony, keeping his missile pointed, reaches down and grabs him. He hauls the weak shaking man up and looks back at Steve. "I'm coming back for you."
Steve just blinks, pointing to the open area behind them.
Raza shouts something to the men behind who are running, now appearing behind the ledge. Tony sees multiple rifles begin to lift their muzzles.
Steve points at him and glares, gesturing him to go.
Tony feels sick. Like he's being torn in two.
But he has no choice. If he stays they'll all die.
So he kicks on the boots and feels them lift him and Yinsen into the air.
He soars higher, bullets flying after them, one zinging against the metal plate on his back.
He looks down to see relieved blue eyes watch him fly away.
It's the worst feeling he's ever had in the entire world.
—-