APRIL, 1944
Howard Stark wished he didn’t need sleep because then he could dedicate time to being in his lab or inventing things. But he needed sleep, just like everyone else. And after two days of working in his lab, he got some much needed rest. He could lay in bed after waking up, let his mind wake up slowly and drink only one cup of coffee. His usual amount was about three.
Cap had commented on his addiction, which wasn’t an addiction he might add. It’s not his fault that the SSR has him doing so much, along with Stark Industries. Howard was lucky if he got five hours of sleep every few nights. At least his body adjusted to the change. Plus he was rich so he could afford all the coffee he pleased. He so badly wanted to get Rogers addicted to coffee just to rub it in his face.
Can Rogers even get addicted to something? Maybe the serum would help with that. Whatever, it didn’t matter.
It didn’t matter because someone was pounding on his door and yelling. Howard thought it was a bad dream or hallucination or something until he fully woke up to realize the full extent of what was happening.
“Mr. Stark! Sir! Someone broke into Stark Industries! Sir! Someone broke into your lab!”
So much for the calm morning he wanted to have.
——
McGinnis. It had to be General McGinnis. It just had to be McGinnis. Very few people knew about Midnight Oil, and all the samples and notes on it were taken. Even if McGinnis never stepped foot in Stark Industries, it had to be his guys.
Howard was pissed off.
The data Stark had gotten from the initial test runs proved to be…for a lack of words, a train wreck. The rats he exposed the gas to all killed each other. Violently. It was originally designed to keep soldiers awake for days. Clearly McGinnis hasn’t heard of coffee. But Howard still tried to make it successful, which he failed at. He called it Midnight Oil. It has severe side effects. Those who are effected suffer from the effects of psychosis. Anyone that gets exposed gets sent into a blind rage, attacking anyone and anything in sight. Once Howard saw how the rats got affected, he shut it down immediately and never wanted to let anyone get their hands on this stuff.
But of course General Asshole didn’t listen. Howard never explained what happened to McGinnis, just that the experiment was unsuccessful and he wouldn’t be able to make what he wanted. But did McGinnis listen? No.
And now Howard was standing frozen at a battlefield in Finow, Germany that was covered with bodies. All of them, dead. It was a bloodbath. He promptly wanted to throw up because this was…awful. Awful wasn’t even the right word. Disgusting? Vile? There weren’t even words to describe this.
“No,” Howard said to himself, automatically blaming himself. It was his fault. He made this stuff. And it killed people.
Allies. McGinnis did this to Allied soldiers. After seeing the field, Howard didn’t even want Hydra to get exposed to this monstrosity of a creation. It was awful.
Stark stood frozen. For how long, no one knows. But when he saw General McGinnis he snapped out of it.
And Howard was pissed off. The bastard couldn’t take no for an answer, could he?
“What did you do?” Howard asked as he stormed over to McGinnis with a glare that had people quickly moving out of the way.
“Stark? What are you doing here?” McGinnis asked before seeing his glare. “Trying to win the war, clearly.”
“Clearly,” Howard practically growled.
“Wanted to give the Russians an advantage,” General McGinnis explained.
“An advantage? You call this an advantage? What the hell is wrong with you?!” Howard yelled before shoving McGinnis.
McGinnis stumbled back and before he could even react, Stark threw a punch. Thinking back, Howard probably shouldn’t have done that, punching a General with all of his men watching, but making bad decisions was something he was apparently doing today. So he didn’t care at the moment.
“Stand down, Stark, or you’ll regret it,” McGinnis said lowly.
“You killed them,” Stark said with a glare.
“No, I didn’t. You did,” McGinnis said before Stark threw another punch.
The punch didn’t do much, except piss off the guy enough to punch back. And Stark fell on the ground before blacking out.
“Get him out of here!” General McGinnis yelled, causing a few men to run over and drag an unconscious Howard Stark away.
——
Howard woke up with a blinding headache. He opened his eyes slowly and got blinded by someone shining a light in his eyes. Howard automatically flinched.
“Mr. Stark, you’re at an Allied camp in the medical tent,” someone said.
Howard took a few minutes to get control of his vision and body. He sat up and immediately noticed that his arms were restrained to the bed. He looked at the nurse for an answer, not trusting his mouth, and she gave him a sad look.
“The general, McGinnis, ordered you to be handcuffed,” she replied quietly. Howard stared at the nurse and noticed she was young, maybe even younger than Rogers. “So you don’t ’wander around’ or ‘hurt yourself’, that’s what he said.”
“Where’s the key?” Howard asked. He tried to keep the anger out of his voice. Howard knew the only reason he was handcuffed was a not so subtle message from McGinnis telling him that he’s in charge.
“I heard that someone is coming to pick you up. Then you’ll be unlocked. General McGinnis’ orders. Sorry…” she mumbled.
“Who’s coming to get me then?” Howard asked.
“Captain America and his team,” she replied before she put her hand to his neck to feel his pulse. She grabbed the clipboard and made a few notes. “You have a concussion and a bruise from when...” The nurse stopped talking and took a breath. “The bruises will heal in a few days.”
“Great,” Howard said before he leaned back on the bed. “Fantastic day so far.”
——
“So what kind of ‘trouble’ do you think Stark got himself into?” Steve asked as his team arrived at the base where Howard apparently was.
All they had been told by Colonel Philips was ‘Stark got into some trouble, go get him out, here’s the location’. Colonel Philips had also said ‘don’t do anything stupid, Rogers’, which prompted a few snickers from the Howling Commandos. They got a plane ride to the base and now they needed to find Howard.
After asking around a few times, someone pointed them all to the medical tent. Steve tried his best to breathe but he tended to get stressed out when he didn’t know what was going on. Something didn’t feel right about any of this, and the rest of his team agreed.
“Does something feel…wrong?” Bucky asked quietly as they walked toward the medical tent.
“Yeah, definitely,” Steve said.
“Everyone keeps on looking at us weird,” Dugan said.
“People tend to look at Cap but this is different,” Falsworth pointed out.
“What do you think Stark did?” Gabe asked.
“Who knows?” Steve asked. They walked into the tent and Steve instantly felt like something was wrong. It was too empty, only Howard with a nurse. “Stark.”
“Hey, how’s your day?” Howard asked. He flashed a smirk and Steve noticed the bruise on his face. Steve then noticed the handcuffs on his wrists.
“Um-“ Steve started to say before Howard interrupted him.
“Now that he’s here, can I get unlocked now? I’ll behave,” Howard said. The nurse grabbed the handcuff keys and unlocked him. Howard quickly climbed off the bed as the nurse left.
“What did you do?” Dernier asked.
“Were you flirting with someone you shouldn’t have? Is that why you got handcuffed?” Morita asked. “Because if so, you kinda deserve it-”
“Stark,” one of the soldiers came into the tent with a glare.
“I got it. Tell McGinnis I got it. Lesson learned,” Howard said as he left the tent. Steve stared and was almost frozen as he tried to process being confused about everything.
“What the hell happened here?” Falsworth asked quietly after the soldier had left.
“I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out,” Steve said stubbornly.
——
Howard sat in his chair and fidgeted with the screwdriver in his hands. The Howling Commandos kept alternating looks between Howard and Steve.
Bucky lightly kicked Steve’s leg and gestured to Howard. Steve sighed and made his way over to Howard at the table. Thankfully the lab was empty, besides his team, since it was so late in the night. But none of his team wanted to sleep since they found Howard bruised and handcuffed in an allied base. They all just wanted answers, and since Howard was more likely to reveal what happened to Steve of all people, Steve sat down across from the scientist.
“That looks like it hurts,” Steve said hesitantly as he gestured to the bruising on Howard’s face.
“I’m fine,” Stark replied.
“What happened?” Steve asked. He saw his team get closer to them to try and listen. Super subtle. He ignored them and focused on Howard.
“This can’t be repeated to anyone, okay? I’m serious, Rogers,” Howard said with a glare, the bruises on his face making his expression statement more serious. Steve nodded. Howard took a breath. “So…General McGinnis had me…make something. He wanted something that would keep soldiers awake for days.”
“Can’t imagine how that could go wrong,” Steve mumbled.
“And I…I made something, a gas. I called it Midnight Oil. The tests…the tests proved that this stuff should never be used. It makes you go crazy, you attack everything and everyone. I told McGinnis that I couldn’t give him the samples, didn’t tell him why but I told him.”
Howard rubbed his eyes and winced when he touched the bruises. He downed a glass of whiskey and took a breath.
“McGinnis had his guys break into my lab,” Howard said suddenly.
“What?!” Steve said loudly. Howard made a face at the yell and Steve got quiet again. “Sorry.”
“They stole the samples and…dropped them on the Russians at Finow,” Howard said. Everyone stared at him as they walked closer. “They all killed each other. Those people are dead, all because of me.”
“No, no. It’s not your fault,” Steve said vehemently. “McGinnis is to blame for this whole thing. You did what you were told to do. You made the stuff but you didn’t expose anyone to it. That’s McGinnis’ fault.”
“Appreciate that, but I still made the stuff,” Howard said. “Keep this between us. I don’t…I don’t want anyone hearing about this.”
“Stark-” Bucky started.
“Swear it,” Howard said sternly.
“Okay,” Steve said quietly as he stared at the floor.
“I heard about the break in and knew it had to be McGinnis. So I went there…saw the…aftermath. And…punched McGinnis in the face. Obviously he punched back,” Howard said. He gestured to his face.
——
JANUARY, 2015
Steve lifted up another box and moved it towards the table where Tony was sifting through the stuff. According to Tony, he needed Steve’s help going through some of Howard’s things that were left behind.
Months ago, Steve would have assumed this would be incredibly awkward, given how Steve had found out Bucky, Hydra, had killed Howard and Maria. But the three of them got past that. So now Tony was taking pleasure in the opportunity to listen to any embarrassing stories that Bucky remembered. Steve was forced to lift all the heavy boxes, which Bucky found amusing from his spot on the chair.
“And…and I remember…there was this cat…Steve brought inside,” Bucky said. Tony gave him a confused look. “It was raining outside, right?”
“Oh, that,” Steve said before his face got red. Tony smirked, knowing that Steve was most likely embarrassed by the story. “Yes, Buck, it was raining. The cat was white.”
“Yeah,” Bucky said with a smile as he shifted in the chair. “And you found out you were allergic to cats. And you were trying to get your mom to let you keep it, but your face was puffy and red and you were coughing.”
Tony started laughing while Steve tried to hide his embarrassment.
“Are you allergic to cats still?” Bucky asked as Tony quieted down from laughing. Tony handed Steve a crowbar and gestured for him to open the box.
“No, the serum fixed that,” Steve said. He started to open the box and put the stuff on the metal table in front of him. “Thankfully.”
“Can you imagine Hydra trying to kill you by throwing a cat at you or something?” Tony asked with a laugh. Bucky snorted and Steve smirked.
“You were small, before the serum,” Bucky said seriously. “I…I remember that.”
“Yeah, I was. The serum made me grow taller, and I got some weight and muscle mass too,” Steve said before he picked up a weird metal canister.
“I had J.A.R.V.I.S. show me a picture of you after I remembered. You remind me of an angry asthmatic chihuahua before you got the serum,” Bucky said. Steve started laughing and accidentally dropped the container on the ground. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just dropped the…” Steve trailed off before he saw the label. “Oh my god.”
“What?” Tony asked, both him and Bucky noticing the panic. Bucky heard a low hissing sound and Steve started coughing.
“Chemical contaminant detected, quarantine procedures initiated,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said as the doors to the lab locked and the vents got covered up.
Steve kept coughing as he quickly scrambled away from the canister.
“Steve?” Bucky asked in a panicked voice.
“Get back!” Steve yelled as he collapsed on the floor but remained conscious. He kept coughing and got startled by J.A.R.V.I.S. activating the sprinklers.
“Cap?” Tony asked anxiously. “Steve?!”
Steve gasped for air and took a few breaths. He shivered and stared at the floor.
“Steve?” Bucky asked as Steve made a whimpering sound. “Hey, it’s Bucky.”
“Stop talking!” Steve yelled. Bucky flinched away. Steve shivered again from the water.
Steve closed his eyes tightly, remembering what Howard had said to him years ago. He hoped that as long as he closed his eyes and didn’t hear anyone, he wouldn’t attack anyone. Steve would never forgive himself if he hurt or killed Bucky or Tony, especially while being infected with Midnight Oil.
“I’m fine…I’m…” Steve whispered to himself as he felt the floor to try and ground himself. All he felt was water though, which didn’t help. “I’m fine, I gotta be…I’m…” Steve coughed again. “I’m okay.”
Steve panted and opened his eyes. He slowly turned to where Bucky and Tony were staring at him.
“Midnight Oil,” Steve rasped, his throat dry and scratchy. He coughed again.
——
“Here,” Bucky said as he handed Steve another cup of tea. Steve smiled and took a few sips. He was still scared of going crazy and hurting someone.
“J.A.R.V.I.S. said you only got exposed to a small amount of that stuff,” Tony said. “Because of the serum, you didn’t get affected. Bruce is still working on the bloodwork but you seem to be okay.”
“Good,” Steve said seriously.
“What is that stuff? You called it Midnight Oil,” Tony said. Steve flinched. Of course Howard never told Tony. They had all agreed that night to never tell anyone.
Steve sighed and put the mug down on the coffee table. Thankfully he was in dry clothes, same as Tony and Bucky, so he wasn’t thinking of the plane anymore.
“During the war, Howard made something called Midnight Oil,” Steve said. He ignored Bucky’s twitch at the mention of Howard. Tony adjusted his posture and just from a look Steve could tell Tony was preparing to hate this conversation. “General McGinnis made him make the gas. It was supposed to keep soldiers awake for days, but it had some…other side effects. McGinnis had his soldiers break into Howard’s lab to steal the samples and…and drop it on the Russians at Finow.”
Tony and Bucky stared with their eyes wide. Steve took a breath.
“They killed each other,” Steve said quietly. “It makes you go crazy, makes you attack everyone. I…I closed my eyes, hoping that if I didn’t hear you or see you then…then I wouldn’t attack you two. I’m sorry for freaking out, I just panicked. I-”
“Hey, no, no,” Tony said seriously. He got off the couch. “You have a right to have freaked out after getting exposed to that. Stop apologizing and stop being stubborn.”
Steve smirked slightly and Tony rubbed his eyes. He walked over to the kitchen and poured himself a drink.
“Howard got into a fight with General McGinnis after Finow. He went there and punched McGinnis in the face, in front of all of his men,” Steve said after Tony came back to the couch.
“Clearly he had to have been spending a lot of time with you for him to have punched the guy. You rubbed off on him,” Tony said. Steve’s mouth twitched upward.
“McGinnis retired a few weeks later,” Steve said. “I remember, I kept tabs on the situation. No one knew that I did that, but I did.”
“That’s enough emotion stuff today. I’ll be in my penthouse. Thanks for flooding my lab, by the way,” Tony said. He left the room and Steve yawned.
“Are you okay?” Steve asked Bucky quietly. “I’m sorry for yelling at you. I saw you flinch when I yelled.”
“It’s okay,” Bucky said quietly. “I’d rather you yell at me than attack me.”
“I’d rather not do either,” Steve said stubbornly. Bucky smiled. He yawned again and closed his eyes. “I’m so tired.”
“So sleep,” Bucky said dryly.
“Oh, I never thought of doing that. Thank you, Bucky,” Steve said sarcastically as he leaned against the back of the couch. Bucky smirked.
“You’re welcome,” Bucky said with a smile as Steve went to sleep.