The Futurist With No Future

  Something told Steve that Tony was mad.

  Light bulbs would explode throughout the tower. Dishes would fall off if tables and break. Doors would slam shut. If you stood near the coffee machine to long, you got a migraine. Certain door handles felt like fire.The one thing Steve hated the most was that the atmosphere of whole tower felt like a giant freezer.

  The team was all sitting together, to stay warm, by the giant fireplace that had been added to Stark Tower on account of all the times Clint would get a cold over the winter.

  “Something is definitely wrong with the heat.” Natasha growled.

  What sounded like a whisper flowed through the room and extinguished the fire.

  Thor made a sound similar to a whine as he pulled the blanket over his shoulders tighter. Clint was shivering uncontrollably and his teeth chattered together loudly as he sat in a ball with a heated blanket over his head. Natasha was nursing he unexplained migraine with a mug of hot tea, before that she had several cups of coffee to try and stay warm under the two blankets she had snatched from Clint when they were brought out.

  Steve, who had a sweater,a hoodie, a hat, a comforter, and his favorite fuzzy socks,(Snickering provided by Clint.) turned his head to look at the hallway that lead to Tony's lab.

“Yea.. the heat.”

  No one seemed to notice Steve's sour mood. Either that or they assumed it was another mood that Captain America got into. Sure they cared about him, but they never saw him as a guy with issues.

  Steve took a shaky breath in as he pushed past the thought of Tony raging in his lab. He was obviously angry enough to cause all of this commotion, so that's why Steve was back to avoiding that room. Only this time it hurt a lot more, to walk by that door and know his friend needed help. But, Steve didn't know how to help. Tony mentioned a plan. It sounded like he meant that he had prepared for his death. Maybe that did mean if Tony could remember, he'd move on.

  ‘Or better. Come back…’

  Steve shook his head at his thoughts. That's ridiculous. No one can come back from the de-. Well technically he did. But that was different. Or was it? Steve wanted to scream as he over thought everything. Thinking lately was the worst. It had become something he dreaded. He didn't want the time to be alone with his thoughts. His thoughts always lead back to the genius who was losing his spiritual mind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  By five o'clock that afternoon, the team had decided the tower wasn't safe anymore. The decision was made after Steve went to turn on the light in the kitchen and was electrocuted.

  Steve was sitting on the couch, arms wrapped around himself, while his newly enhanced nerves, had him on edge. He was jumping at every sound, twitching every few seconds, and he had become unable to sit still.

  “That's it, we're going somewhere else for the night!” Natasha yelled.

  “This house, it's got dark magic. Perhaps it's a new foe.” Thor inspected the ceiling with an eyebrow raised.

Clint walked into the room, dragging an overnight bag behind him. “Fuck magic, I'm out. Besides we aren't in the middle of a battle right now, so we have no reason to stay.”

  “Steve? What do you think?” Natasha tilted her head at the noticeably calmer Captain.

  “Yea. It's smart. We'll meet up if we're needed again.” Steve wasn't one hundred percent sure on what what he was agreeing to, considering he was still out of it from the shock.

  With a loud mechanical hum the lights, that remained, grew brighter until the Avengers below them had to cover their eyes. With a pop the lights went out and glass fell everywhere.

  “Good luck packing in the dark, guys.” Clint’s shaking voice could be heard somewhere in the dark.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Steve didn't go directly to his room to pack. He went down the hallway where Tony’s lab resided. Once he reached the door that entered into the unknown, Steve felt his heart skip a beat. His mind began to fear what Tony would look like or say. It was obvious that something was off about the genius. Steve dd notice that the room sounded quiet from the outside. Almost as if no one was there. Slowly Steve placed his ear against the cold door, to have a better chance of hearing what Tony was doing.

  Silence. Steve's heart raced in his throat. He waited and waited for anything to happen. He waited for a sound. For a cold breeze. Anything would have calmed his nerves.

  Anything, but what actually happened.

  As Steve backed away from the door, a pale hand reached through the door and grabbed his throat. It felt ice cold and like burning fire at the same time. The hand pulled him closer to the door, until his face was up against the it,  and suddenly the hand threw him backwards with enough force to have him fall to the floor.

  Steve's mind went blank as he frantically stood up and backed up against the wall. His breathing became loud irregular gasps as he stared at the door in front of him.

  “Run. Just run. Keep running and never look back.” Steve told himself, out loud.

  Naturally he slowly walked forward and reached for the door handle with a shaky hand. Once his fingers wrapped around the handle he closed his eyes and opened the door.

  One word described the room in Steve's mind. Blue. Blue like the arc reactor Tony had. Blue like the Tesseract that reared it's ugly head five years ago. The object that caused Tony to lose his life. Steve now decided that he hated that color blue. Yet he wore it every time they went into battle, like it was something to be proud of. Steve was slightly surprised the room didn't look different, as far as he could tell considering there was so much stuff in the room it made it hard to remember where everything was.

  “Steve..”

  The whisper sounded scared. Maybe even hurt.

 “Tony? Where are you?” Steve felt his spine shiver at the thought of Tony being scared.

  Then, almost like he was an electrical current, Tony appeared looking more alive than ever.

  “Don't worry Cap. Tony’s right here. Not going anywhere if I recall correctly.” Tony might look more alive but he looked sick. Almost like a shell of himself. Steve felt his stomach get queasy when he realized it looked like Tony was actually just his dead body, being controlled by a demon.

  Tony laughed at Steve's silence. It wasn't a genuine laugh either. This sounded evil. Demonic in a way.

  “I see you noticed that something different, Cap. Well let me explain something. Being dead isn't a black and white situation. There's not just heaven or hell. Right now your previous Tony Stark is going through a war. Either he moves on as himself, let's say the good guy, or he stays and fucks shit up as me. It's all based on if he'll fight for himself.”

  Steve raised an eyebrow at ‘Tony.’

  “So if you're not Tony, who are you?”

  “Oh I'm still Stark. Technically. I'm just how you say his dark side. Everyone has one. That's how it works when you die. Your two halves fight and if you don't move on you become the darker half of yourself. Explains why people are scared of ghost. They usually aren't nice.” Tony grinned mischievously.

  “What about the rare ones that are nice?” Steve asked with a concerned tone in his voice.

   “You don't hear about what they do after they make you think they're nice. Besides none of that matters. Your Tony, the one you know and love, is still so confused by death, he's not even putting up a fight and I've been having the time of my life messing with you guys.” Tony laughed quietly in his chest.

  “Steve..”

  There it was again, the scared whisper.

  “Leave him alone!” Steve yelled, even though he knew there was nothing he could do to stop Tony’s dark side.

  “So sweet. The great Captain America is here to save Tony Stark from himself. If he can't save himself, how are you going to save him?” Tony looked angry now.

  “I don't need to. You think he won't fight but I know he will. He already is.” Steve's hands curled into a fist.

  Tony chuckled. “I like how you act like you know what you're talking about. You found out about Tony, what, two days ago? He's been dead for five years and you haven't been in this room once. That doesn't show you guys care. That shows you never did care and after all the time Stark wasted on liking you and wanting everyone's approval, I'm surprised he didn't end his own life.”

  Steve stared at Tony with disbelief in his eyes.

  “That's..you're lying..” Steve's voice shook slightly.

  Once again Tony laughed. His bone chilling laugh was cut short by the scared whisper.

  “Steve.”

  “Tony?” Steve nearly jumped out of his skin. “Don't worry, I'll help you. Somehow…”

  “Stop! He can whisper all he wants, that's not going to change a thing. Besides, you shouldn't worry about Stark. You should be worried about yourself.”  Tony's eyes went red like they had before. He looked possessed. Like he was turning into a monster, as he shot forward at Steve.

  Steve threw his arms up to protect himself but it didn't help one bit, as Tony moved through Steve's chest and disappeared. Steve's heart felt cold. He couldn't breathe. It felt like hands were clawing the inside of his throat. Slowly, he sunk to the floor as he pulled on his shirt, trying to claw at his chest. His vision started to grow dark as tears fell down his face. Once he hit the floor he felt the air in his lungs leave and his mind go blank. All he could hear was Tony, the real Tony, yelling out his name and the other Tony laughing in his ears.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  “Steve.”

  Everything felt like ice.

  “Steve!”

  Blue eyes shot open. Sweat covered Steve's face and breathing was a labored activity. Quickly, he sat up and looked around the room as the memory of what just happened came flooding back.

  He let out a sigh of relief. He was still in the lab. Only the room looked different. There was what looked like fog covering the entire room. Steve felt a hand being placed on his shoulder. His head snapped back to see who or what it was.

  “Tony? Please tell me it's really you.”

  “It's me. I promise.” Tony smiled. He didn't look dead. Like at all. He looked like he was really there. Steve's eyes shifted to Tony's hand that was on his shoulder. His hand didn't feel cold. He felt warm.

  “Tony! I can't feel that! What's going on?”

  “Steve-”

  Steve stood up and started walking towards the door.

  “How long have I been here. The others must be worried. I have to tell them I'm okay. I'll be right ba-” Steve smacked into the door. Or what he thought was the door. He reached forward to touch it and an invisible barrier prevented him from doing so. Steve spun around and looked at Tony with fear noticeable on his face.

  “What is this?”

  “..you, technically, left two hours ago.”

 Steve continued to stare.

 “I think my dark side or whatever.. I think it won… and possessed you..”

  Tony hid behind his hands. Steve just stared at him, not sure of this was real.

  “So what you're telling me is that thing is controlling my body?”

  Tony winced at Steve's words. He threw his hands down to his sides from anger.

  “That thing is me! Just because I only showed a fraction of it, that's me at my worst. That's all of my negative thoughts that I battled with everyday.” Tony sounded furious now.

  “Tony… I'm sorry. I forgot.”

  “Whatever. This is perfect. You and I are stuck here. We can save anyone from possessed you because of it. No one even knows we're here.” Tony was panicking now.

  Steve ran over and pulled Tony into a strong embrace. Tony froze. His hands shook as he returned the hug.

  “We'll figure this out. I promise, Tony.”

  “How are a dead guy and his temporarily dead friend going to fix this.” Tony rolled his eyes.

  “You're going to fight. The other side of you hasn't one yet if you're still here.” Steve smiled.

  “Fight how?” Tony questioned..

  “We're going to make it to where you can affect more than just pencils. Hate to say it Tony but you're gonna have to train.” Steve laughed under his breath.

  “Great. I don't know which emotion will work. If anger his that Tony's, then what's mine?” Tony got annoyed again.

  “Probably the opposite.” Steve said has he placed a hand on Tony’s shoulder.

  Tony tensed at the sudden contact and behind him a box practically exploded behind him. After a moment of shock, the two men made eye contact and Steve was fighting the urge to smile at Tony. Maybe the dark side of the genius was right. Maybe Tony liked him.

  With a glare, Tony moved out from under Steve's hand. “Shut up.” He warned before he walked away, earning a laugh from Steve.