Chapter 11
“This is frustrating.”
Hank muttered as he and Bruce joined up with Tony and Dean to help tracking dark Castiel, but it was proving to be more difficult than they thought.
“Dark Castiel’s blood is filled with solar radiation. More than it should be, but if we could try to get that to act as a kind of beacon.” Bruce murmured as he stared at the screen Tony was working on, pointing out to him what he means.
“Are you going to help?” Erik asked Dean, who just sat next to him on the couch, watching the geniuses around the room as they worked, while eating the food Steve and Castiel, mostly Steve thankfully, made earlier.
“I am the new Hitler in another world, man. I am never helping your normal asses ever again.” Dean grinned around a mouthful of food, managing to make every eye in the room turn to him with raised eyebrows. He had been like this since Steve and Castiel told them their theories of Dark Dean trying to walk in Hitler’s footsteps.
“Yes, I could see the greatness and viciousness leaking out of you.” Erik said dryly with a straight face.
“You are just jealous because you are Jewish and the thought of Hitler makes you queasy.” Dean rolled his eyes as he took another mouthful of food.
“Is he drunk?” Charles asked the room in general as he couldn’t help but eye Dean carefully. “Did he get spontaneously drunk or something? That is not normal.”
“Aha!” Tony exclaimed in victory suddenly, interrupting Dean’s retort. They all turned to him expectantly. “Whatever is going on with Dark Castiel’s blood it’s intensifying.”
“Worse for him, better for us.” Hank said excitedly.
“Better for us for tracking him at least.” Bruce muttered as he watched Tony working fast. “We have his location any minute now.”
***
Sam was staring off in the distance as he stood in front one of the large windows in the penthouse. Well, one of the few not broken ones anyway.
Even with how deep in his head he was, he still felt Natasha approaching him and burrowing to his side, while wrapping her arms around his waist. He gave her a faint smile as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
The height difference between them will always catch him off guard. Twelve inches difference was a big number. But it never bothered either of them. They always fitted together perfectly, with her head finding its usual spot on his chest as they snuggled close together like this. Like puzzle pieces that waited too long for each other.
“What are you thinking about?” she murmured, while staring through the window too at the loud, big city in front of them.
“Today was supposed to be our wedding.” He whispered, unable to keep the disappointment and sadness off his voice.
It’s been eighteen hours since the attack in the Rehearsal Dinner. Hours that were supposed to be spent in the wedding. They could have been getting ready to be officially married by that time, if their lives weren’t such a bitch to them.
“I know.” Natasha sighed tiredly, as she buried her face in his chest. “I am sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing? It is not like my life is normal. If it wasn’t Nazis 2.0, it might have been a demon attack or something.” He chuckled bitterly as he shook his head. “Our lives just suck like that.”
“We will get through this. We will show them whose wedding they just ruined.” She said firmly, anger was showing on her face.
“How do you know?” he murmured quietly with a sigh.
“Because you are not dealing with this alone.” Answered a voice from behind them and they turned to see Steve approaching them with a soft smile and tired eyes. “We are getting close on a location.” Then he sighed and looked away. “Look, guys, I am sorry. This is not how this week was supposed to go.”
“We can’t think about that right now.” Natasha muttered quietly with a sad twist to her lips.
“You should. We fight to protect the people we love. So, you guys recognize what you have. Recognize it and cherish it. Let it make you stronger, because if you do that, you will always find your way back to one another.”
“Yeah, I have been living with Dean and Cas, then you and Tony long enough to believe in that.” Sam smiled at him gratefully. “Thank you, Steve.”
“Yeah.” The Captain murmured with a soft smile.
“Guys!” Tony voice sounded loudly in the room as he rushed towards them. “We got them! They are at a shipping depot outside the city.”
“Alright, we will split into teams.” Steve immediately went into Captain America mode as he turned to Sam and Natasha. “We can’t leave the Tower unattended. They might be waiting for us to do that. So, Team A that will include me, Tony, Dean, Castiel, Natasha, Bucky and Clint, will go to the shipping depot. The rest of you, Team B, will hold down the fort here.”
“I am coming too.” Charles announced as he approached them, making the four of them turn to him with wide eyes.
“Charles! Are you crazy? You-”
“Charles, I can’t-“
“I am not an invalid anymore.” Charles interrupted them with a raised eyebrow. “Even when I was, you let me come with you to space, where I saved your asses, in case you don’t remember. Just let me help. Erik is out of commission because of his injury, so let me help. Please.”
Tony and Steve exchanged a hesitant look.
“You do realize that Erik will have our heads for this, right?” Steve stated with a raised eyebrow.
“I am quite aware of that fact.”
“Fine. You are on Team A, but you will stay away from the actual fight.”
“Now, go suit up in the awesome suit I made you.” Tony sighed in defeat as he waved him off.
“Thank you.” Charles smiled at them gratefully, before running out of the room. Or more like fast walking, since he couldn’t quite run properly yet.
God, Steve was hoping he didn’t just make a mistake.
“Spread the orders.” Steve said as he turned to Sam and Natasha, who nodded before rushing out of the room.
He turned back to Tony, who immediately pulled him down for a quick kiss.
“Be careful out there.” He murmured against his lips.
“You too.” Steve whispered back as he pressed one last kiss, before stepping back completely.
***
Ten minutes later, Team A landed on the roof of the shipping depot outside the city.
Tony carrying Steve, Charles and Natasha, while Castiel carried Dean, Bucky and Clint easily like he was carrying three shopping bags instead of three, fully grown men. They forgo using the Quinjet to not bring attention to themselves.
After waiting for the few minutes that took both Dean and Bucky to stop throwing up this time, they began to move.
“Where did Cas go?” Dean asked, after he straightened up and looked around for his husband.
“He is sweeping the perimeter.” Steve answered as he looked around.
“It’s done.” Castiel announced as he landed lightly next to them. “It’s wall to wall New Nazis in there.”
“Alright, Clint, Bucky and Natasha you will take up breach positions on the northeast corner.” Steve ordered, as he looked at the mentioned three.
“Aye Aye, Captain.” Bucky saluted with a grin, before he sprinted with the other two to their positions.
“I think they converted the sub-light generator, the prism they had stolen, into some kind of super weapon.” Tony said grimly as the remaining five made their way on the roof.
“Honestly? Their Castiel is the biggest threat.” Dean muttered with a displeased frown.
“Agreed. We need to take him out first.” Steve nodded in agreement with a carefully set face.
“Dean.” Castiel murmured, as he stopped Dean with a gentle hand on his wrist.
Dean stopped and turned to him curiously, the other three exchanged a look before taking a few steps away to give them a moment.
“Cas, what is it?” Dean asked in concern as he stepped closer to his husband.
“I am just worried. I don’t know what we will face in there.” The angel just sighed and looked away.
“That’s not the first time we go blind into something, babe.” Dean smiled reassuringly at him, as he leaned in a little to catch his eyes again. “Sure, we are facing our overly evil selves, but we have been in crazier situations. It will be fine.”
“Just be careful, alright?” Castiel whispered as he met Dean’s eyes with his concerned ones.
“Always, Cas.” The hunter grinned as he pressed a chaste kiss to the angel’s lips, before stepping away to rejoin the others.
“How did you convince Erik to let you come with us?” Tony asked curiously as he turned to Charles.
“Oh, I just told him I am coming with you on a mission from the door of the room, then rushed away before he had a chance to respond or even move.” Charles answered with a sheepish smile. “He is probably pissed now.”
“Oh, God, Charles,” Steve and the other three groaned in unison. “Erik is going to kill me! I can never go back to the Tower now.”
“None of us can.” Dean winced as he imagined Erik’s current face. “He is going to murder us all.”
“Sorry?”
***
Charlie, Raven and Sam were in the computer lab, Tony build specifically for Charlie months ago, the former watching intently the dozen screens in front of her, which showed the shipping depot and several places in the Tower.
“Are you worried?” Raven murmured as she turned to her lover, who was quiet for a long time now.
“Yeah.” She answered with a sigh, her eyes trained on the screens. “I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling that I can’t shake.”
“It’s going to be fine.” Sam tried to reassure them both, even though he himself was feeling more tense and worried than usual. “We dealt with worst situations. Don’t worry.”
Those Nazis were planning something. It wasn’t a super weapon. He was positive it was something worse, but he wasn’t sure what it was.
“Mustard!” Thor’s voice thundered in the room suddenly, making the three of them jump as they turned to the Demigod, who had a sandwich in his hand and a displeased look on his face as he entered the room. “You people have breaches to other worlds, but no mustard?”
Sam turned a blank look to the two women, who were giving Thor raised eyebrows.
“See? Even Thor is not worried. It’s going to be fine.”
***
Steve and Dean made their way carefully through the corridors of the building, following the sounds of the soldiers.
When they got closer to a huge space, filled with twelve soldiers moving huge boxes around, Steve turned to Dean and gave him a signal, before they both charged into the room.
“Hey!” one soldier shouted at them, as he and the other eleven soldiers turned to them with their rifles pointed at them.
Before Dean could even move, Steve threw his shield, knocking down almost half of them on the rebound, and then brought the remaining ones to the ground with hits that even Dean didn’t have time to see it.
Dean eyed the soldiers, unconscious on the floor and raised an eyebrow at the captain.
“Couldn’t have left one for me?” the hunter asked in frustration as he made his way towards him.
“I am saving Evil you for you.” Steve pointed out with a grin, as he caught his shield when it rebounded back to him.
“There is no sign of the prism.” Natasha announced as she, Clint and Bucky appeared from behind them from another corridor.
“Well, it is got to be around here somewhere.” Steve muttered as he looked around the huge space surrounding them, eyeing the hundreds of wood boxes that filled the space.
“We got incoming.” Clint announced as he grabbed his bow, body tense.
“Stay where you are!” a soldier ordered while pointing a rifle at them, then suddenly, hundreds of soldiers filled the room, surrounding them completely while all pointing their weapons at them.
From somewhere, a black shield flew towards them, almost beheading them, if not for their quick reflexes as they immediately ducked down and away.
Steve watched the black shield rebound and go straight back to its owner, who caught it easily.
“Found my target.” Steve growled, as he sprinted towards his evil doppelganger.
Natasha, Bucky and Dean immediately pulled out their guns, Clint readied his bow, and started shooting at the soldiers, who immediately shot back at them. Meanwhile, Castiel and Tony crashed into the room, just as their respective dark doppelgangers made their appearance.
The room went into chaos as the heroes and the black army engaged in a heated fight.
“I see their Iron Man, their Captain America and their Guardian Angel.” Natasha observed as she shot three soldiers down, then moved to pull out her knife from her boot to attack a soldier behind her.
Beside her, Steve and his doppelganger were in a heated fight that neither of them was planning to back down from.
“Yeah, I see them. They are kinda hard to miss.” Dean snarked as he brought down a group of soldiers and turned to the group that were charging towards him, all while eyeing his husband, who was flying around the high roof, chasing his doppelganger.
“Where is their Righteous Man?” Clint asked a very good question, but they had no answer.
Dark Dean was not in the fight.
***
Outside the Avengers Tower, a black, masked figure, carrying a bow and a sack of arrows on their back, made their way confidently to the huge building.