Chapter 6
They all froze for a few more minutes, before they all sprung to action suddenly.
“What the hell just happened?!” Tony uttered, as he stared with pure shock at where their attackers where just a few seconds ago.
If it wasn’t for the chaos in the room and the fallen soldiers strewn around, he would have thought that they imagined the whole thing.
“Cas!” Dean exclaimed as he rushed towards the angel, who collapsed to his knees immediately after their attackers disappeared into thin air.
“I am fine.” He ground out in both pain and frustration, when Dean grabbed at him in worry. “Erik, Clint and Hank are the ones that not alright; they were hit by the debris when I crash landed here.”
“Fuck!” Steve cursed as he rushed towards the fallen Erik with a frantic Charles by his side. “Natasha, check on Clint. Sam, check Hank.”
“Yes, that’s the couples thing I wanted to experience in the night before my wedding.” Sam muttered bitterly as he did what he was told.
“How is he?” Steve asked Charles as he kneeled on the floor next to them, panicking a little as he saw Erik’s face covered in blood.
“He hit his head hard.” Charles answered bitterly, as he wiped the blood from his husband’s face and head to check on the wound. “I don’t think it’s serious, but it was enough to knock him out immediately.”
Steve exhaled as he looked around their ruined home, feeling fatigue fall over him from the sudden turn of events. The fight may have taken only a few minutes, but it was enough to ruin their night. Maybe even their entire year.
He saw as everyone spread around the room, checking for survivors in the sea of fallen soldiers around. Dean helping Cas back to his feet, who looked frustrated and angry more than pained. Natasha was checking on Clint, who managed to get a dislocated shoulder from the debris falling on him, while Sam was with Hank, who looked thankfully alright despite the debris that hit him in the back. Angel was coming out from under a table, where he was hiding during the whole fight, looking terrified,
Tony just remained standing in his place, still in his suit but with helmet off, a deep frown on his face as he seemed to be thinking hard about the whole thing.
He looked back at Charles, who was watching him with careful eyes after he managed to wipe away as much blood as he could from his husband’s face and wound.
Steve gave him a faint smile, deciding to just direct his jumbled thoughts towards the telepath instead of voicing them, finding it easier that way, as he proceeded in bandaging the metal binder’s head, when Natasha brought him the first aid kit. Thankfully, the wound wasn’t deep or serious. Hopefully, Erik will wake up soon, since they couldn’t afford to deal with this without him. They need all the help they could get.
Now, that the fight was over, he finally allowed himself to think about the things he put aside while fighting.
Like the fact that he fought someone who fights exactly like him with a replica of his shield. The fact that a fucking replica of his husband’s Iron Man suit appeared and fought them. Not to mention the winged one, who suspiciously almost over powered Castiel, while sporting a very familiar pair of wings.
However, he had no idea what their leader is. They were really strong and skilled that they managed to not even be bothered by Natasha and Dean’s attacks.
These two were one of the best fighters ever. If they couldn’t defeat him, then they were all in trouble.
“Hey, Steve?” he looked up at Charles when he called out to him, only to see a hesitant look on his face. “I am sorry, I completely forgot to mention something in my haste to treat Erik.”
“What is it?” Steve frowned, as he stared at the telepath in confusion.
“There was a fifth masked person. Erik and I knocked him out, tied him with their own swords and hid him so his comrades wouldn’t notice his absence soon enough.”
Steve blinked back at his sheepish friend, not sure how to react to this delayed information.
“I should have mentioned before, shouldn’t I?” Charles winced in guilt at the captain’s look.
“Uhm, yeah kinda?”
“Sorry?”
***
“I can’t believe you actually build an entire floor of glass dungeons.”
Dean muttered as he trailed his eyes over the impenetrable, steel enforced, large glass cubes that lined next to each other in the entire floor, acting as a highly qualified prison that could make even SHIELD jealous.
“What? You have a dungeon in the bunker, why can’t I build one too?” Tony frowned indignantly, like Dean was denying him the last piece of pizza or something. “Besides, the Avengers should have a dungeon for situations just like this. Yours is for locking up supernatural beings, while this is for super villains and aliens. See? Important!”
“Hey, I don’t care even, if you decided to build a sex dungeon.” Dean sighed in defeat to silence the loud rambling of Tony’s voice.
The genius frowned in thought at that and was about to replay, but Steve cut in.
“No, Tony, you are not building a sex dungeon.” Steve raised an eyebrow at him warningly.
“I wasn’t planning to! You can at least give me the option.” Tony pouted petulantly, making the two men sigh with a shake of their heads.
“Anyway,” Steve rolled his eyes, before he landed his gaze at the glass prison that held their only current prisoner, still unconscious on its floor. Damn he was too fucking tall, it was a miracle the large glass cube fit him at all. “Did anyone try to remove their mask?”
“It won’t come off.” Dean frowned in frustration, as he glanced at the complicated looking mask on their unconscious prisoner. It covered their entire head, not just the face. “We tried everything, it just refusing to budge.”
“Damn.” Steve sighed then turned to Charles, who was silent the entire time since they rested Erik in the med bay with a very nice concussion. Bruce assured them that he will be waking up soon though.
He blinked for a second, he was sadly still getting used to the fact that he no longer had to look all the way down to glance at the telepath. Having him walking around more easily as the days pass, as much as it was a blessing, it still needs getting used to.
“Charles? Are you getting anything from their mind?”
“No.” Charles muttered, looking frustrated as a deep frown marred his face. “Nothing.”
“How is that possible?” Tony blinked at him in confusion. “They aren’t even dreaming? Their brain shut down completely like that?”
“No, it’s not like that.” Charles sighed in defeat, looking exhausted and a little pale. He was pushing himself too far in insisting to keep standing and walking, refusing to sit and rest his still healing legs. “I couldn’t get anything from the minds of the entire army. It frustrated me, until I finally figured out why, when I removed the helmet of one of the fallen soldiers.” He turned to look at them with a serious troubled look on his face. “The helmets and in addition, the full headed masks, are all made of the same material that made up Erik’s old helmet, that he used against me once upon a time.”
“Wait, the helmet that stopped your powers from reaching him?” Tony asked with wide eyes, understanding dawning on him.
“Yes, that’s the one.” The telepath muttered with a displeased frown. It’s a part of his life that he wished to forget.
“So, they were prepared for you.” Steve murmured with furrowed brows.
“Who are these people?” Dean glared at the unconscious body, like they were offending him by just existing. “They just march in into the tower like they own it. Managing to bring down fucking JARVIS, while they seemed to know us inside out and prepared to each one of our fighting styles.”
“Not all of us.” Charles shook his head, and they turned to him in surprise. He gestured towards the fallen body. “That masked thing seemed to be confused from Erik’s presence for some reason. Actually, they all were. If they knew about him, they wouldn’t have come armed by metallic weapons and bullets. They seemed to completely forget about Erik. He was the only one they didn’t take precaution against.”
“That’s weird.” Steve murmured in confusion. “Erik isn’t exactly subtle. Especially with his powers. If they know about you and prepared against your telepathy, they should, obviously, know about Erik. That doesn’t make sense.”
“This is getting more confusing with each passing second.” Dean sighed tiredly.
“So, I am guessing we have to postpone the wedding?” they turned at the dismayed voice of Sam, who appeared in the large metallic door that led into the dungeon, Natasha at his side.
“Yeah, I am so sorry, guys.” Steve glanced at them sadly, while Tony and Dean looked away with deep frustrated frowns on their faces. “Just until we find out who these people are and what they want.”
“And what are you doing to find exactly that?” Natasha asked with a raised eyebrow.
“So far, nothing.” Tony muttered as his eyes rested on the unconscious body. “I just managed to bring JARVIS back online and he is looking into how the hell did they manage to bring him down and through our defenses like that.”
“Also, whoever they are they surely know us pretty well. So, I think we should send Bobby, Jody and Pepper as far away from here as possible.” Steve stated firmly looking over at Sam to handle that.
“I don’t think Bobby and Jody will be okay with that.” Sam frowned in deep thought.
“Until we figure out what these people want, nobody is safe.”
The younger Winchester just nodded with a sigh, then bend down to place a soft kiss to Natasha’s lips, before leaving the room. She stared at his retreating back with a momentarily sad look in her eyes, then looked back at them.
“How did that winged thing was as strong as Cas?” she asked bluntly, looking deep serious, as she obviously was trying to hide her disappointment and sadness in postponing the wedding. “Obviously, I know that Castiel isn’t the only angel in the world, but he isn’t weak either, so if something as strong as him, then we are in trouble.”
“Not to mention their leader who managed to overpower you and Dean.” Charles commented, looking deep in thought. “But have you noticed how their leader immediately retreated when Castiel injured the winged one? They seemed to be really panicked.”
“What’s your point?” Steve asked curiously, trying to follow Charles’ line of thought.
“I don’t know, that leader seemed cold hearted and a vicious monster, why would they panic like that, if one of their soldiers was injured? They didn’t seem to care about the soldiers who had fallen. I don’t even think they noticed the absence of our current prisoner.”
“Do you think that leader only cared about the winged one?” Tony questioned in surprise.
“It’s just a thought. I can’t be too sure since they blocked my powers then, but that what it looked like.” The telepath just shrugged.
“I find it hard to believe that this monster could care about anything, if they decided to crash in and shot at unarmed, innocent people.” Dean muttered bitterly, anger bubbling in his eyes at the whole situation.
“Well, I think we are about to find some answers.” Steve announced, as he straightened up suddenly as he stared at the only occupied cell. “Our prisoner just woke up.”
***
Somewhere in New York on top of a skyscraper, stood four black figures, unseen in the night from their black clothes and masks that covered their entire heads.
One of them was holding their middle tenderly, before straightening up to face the other three unflinchingly.
“The angel was stronger than we anticipated.” The leader stated grimly as he looked at the injured winged figure.
“Next time, he won’t be so lucky.” They countered with cold, steely voice.
“I told you we should have waited until we are ready.” The one in a metal suit growled in anger, as he stared at the two of them through their helmet. The one with the shield stood next to them, frozen like a statue.
The leader raised their hand to press the side of their mask.
The mask disappeared from around their head to reveal their face.
The face of Dean Winchester of all people.
“Opportunity knocked in the form of a pre wedding party.” The Dark Dean stated in a cold as ice voice as he stared at the armored one. “We answered.”
“Opportunity knocked and you answered.” The armored one scoffed in sarcasm, before also removing their helmet. Revealing a much darker version of Tony Stark. “And now because of your recklessness we lost Prometheus! They could be questioning him right now, or might even remove his mask. It will blow our cover! Only because you are a-“
Dark Dean’s hand shot up to grip dark Tony’s throat in a harsh grip, ignoring his startled choked gasp.
“Watch your tongue while you speak to me.” He ordered with a voice dripping with ice, no ounce of emotion on his face. Dark Tony was staring at him with wide eyes. “Don’t forget your place, Stark. I made you. Which means I can end you as well.”
“You two are directing your anger and power in the wrong place.” The winged one stated, a hint of amusement in their cold voice, as they and the one with the shield removed their masks. Castiel’s and Steve Rogers’ faces were revealed, with so much cruelty and coldness in their features, that at any other time would have looked completely out of place. “We will have another chance to achieve victory.”
Dark Castiel’s eyes trailed towards the far silhouette of Avengers Tower, gaze piercing as ice.
“And when we do.” He continued with a cruel glint in his eyes. “We will kill every last one of them.