Chapter 18
“You seem a lot calmer now.”
Tony pointed out soothingly, as he sat cross-legged on the floor of the dungeon floor next to Dean. Bucky and Natasha sat on the other side of them, while Clint and Charles sat away against a wall.
AU Steve was still chained on the chair, for his own safety more than anything else. They were now sure he was completely back to himself. The mind control was destroyed the moment Charles messed with his brain.
The soldier was finally calm enough to at least hold a proper conversation. He was still hunched on himself and avoiding everyone’s eyes, but at least after they explained the situation to him, he could now look at Tony and Dean without losing his shit.
That was as much progress as they could get.
“Yeah.” AU Steve murmured, looking at Tony from the corner of his eyes. “You really are not him, are you?”
“We might have the same face, but we are absolutely not the same person.” Tony grimaced in disdain, feeling raw hatred fill him at the thought of his doppelganger. “No one here will hurt you, Steve. You won’t have to go through that hell again.”
AU Steve turned a little towards him, still not meeting his eyes, but his eyes trailed over him carefully, pausing at the wedding ring in his finger for a second.
“What did they do to you?” Natasha murmured carefully, trying not to spook or trigger him in any way.
He flinched at her question and looked away. A look of agony marred his face. A look that should never be on that face.
No version of Steve should look like this.
“He-he found me in the ice.” He started in a frail, choked off voice, that they had to strain forward to listen to it properly. “He was the first person I laid eyes on in this era. A face that was marred with so much cruelty and hatred, that it scared me even then.” His eyes moved towards Tony, studying his face for a second.
“You have the same face, but you look nothing like him. How is that possible?” AU Steve murmured in wonder and confusion; his eyes trained on Tony’s face.
“Oh, this Tony is an asshole, but he will never be anything as close as that bastard in any lifetime.” Dean shrugged, like he was saying the most obvious thing ever.
Tony turned to look at him in surprise, not believing that Dean actually complemented him with minimum insults for once.
“Wow, Dean. I will start to think you actually like me.” Tony grinned cheekily at him, nudging his shoulder with his.
“I don’t like you. I tolerate your existence.” The hunter rolled his eyes at him with a slight pout on his face.
“Oh, you don’t like me. You love me. I am the brother you always wished for. I am the peanut to your butter. The apple to your pie. The-“
“-the pain to my ass.” Dean glared at him, trying to shut him up.
“Oh, no, I will never get near your ass. It will be like incest or something. Disgusting.”
“Seriously, this will be the last time I will ever complement you.”
“So, you admit it was a compliment! You like-like me. Let’s ride hand in hand with our husbands to the sunset.”
“Guys.” They looked up at Natasha’s disapproving voice, to see her and Bucky raising an eyebrow at them. Charles was smiling softly, while Clint was pretending to throw up. “Not exactly the right time or place for your kindergarten quarrels.”
“He started it!”
“I did not! Shut up!”
The entire time, AU Steve was watching their exchange with wide, awed eyes. Like he couldn’t believe the contrast between those two and the ones who ruined his life.
He looked down at the floor, a tear slid down on his face as everything that he went through hit hard, draining him.
“Hey, ignore those two.” Natasha said softly, placing a hand on his knee. “Continue your story. What happened after he found you?”
“He, uh, he-“ his voice choked at that, looking firmly down at the floor, as he tried to say the next part. “He needed to break me enough to be able to control my mind. So he-he took-“ a shuddering breath as he apparently relived all that. “-took advantage of me. Several times. Repeatedly. Until I was a mere broken shell. The rest is history.” Another tear fell from his eyes as he clinched his teeth. “The worst part was that I was aware of everything I was doing while under the mind control, but I couldn’t do anything to stop my body from doing all those horrible things. I couldn’t do anything; I was too weak. Broken. Worthless.”
A sob ripped out of his throat, as silence fell on the room. Everyone watched him with feelings of anger and sadness.
Even though this wasn’t their Steve, it was still painful to see him in this state.
Also, the fact that their own Steve might suffer the same fate, wasn’t exactly comforting to them at the moment.
“He will pay for this.” Dean said in a strong firm voice, making the soldier look up at him in surprise. “All of them. They will pay for everything they did to this world.”
AU Steve looked between him and Tony silently, looking conflicted and wiped out.
Charles stood up, while trying, and failing, to hide his wince at the pain in his legs and lower back at the constant effort he was making. He made his way towards the chained soldier and kneeled in front of him.
“Hello.” He greeted with a kind smile. “You probably don’t know me-“
“Charles Xavier.” AU Steve cut him off with a soft murmur, not exactly looking at him. “I was the one who dragged your version to him. I saw what he did to him and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.”
“You are hardly to be blamed. You weren’t in control of your own mind and body.” Charles said kindly, his smile never faltered. “You should never blame yourself for anything from the moment you woke up in his era. You endured too much. No one will hurt you now. Not anymore.”
AU Steve was looking at him in awe the entire time. “You were the one who broke the mind control?”
“Yes. I can help you more, if you allow me.” Charles raised his hand towards AU Steve’s temples. “I know your mind is a jumbled mess at the moment. I can hear it. If you let me, I can try to clear things for you.”
The soldier’s eyes trailed from his face towards Tony and Dean, who were watching him with sad looks on their faces, then back to Charles.
“Do it. Please.”
Charles placed his fingers gently to AU Steve’s temples and closed his eyes.
As the seconds passed on, the soldier’s face relaxed more and more, his shoulders losing their tense posture slowly.
After five minutes, AU Steve’s head fell on his chest and seemed to be in deep sleep. Charles opened his eyes and looked over at Tony.
“He should be a little better when he wakes up.” He whispered softly.
“Thank you.” Tony gave him a grateful smile.
They finally noticed a presence by the doorway. They all turned to see AU Erik by the door, watching them with an unreadable expression. They weren’t sure how long he was there.
His eyes were trained on Charles, and before anyone could say anything, he turned away and started to leave.
“Gather in the meeting room in one minute.” He ordered firmly, before leaving them behind, confused.
***
“One hour.”
AU Erik announced firmly as he faced them all in the meeting room, a huge map was spread over a long table, where AU Raven and Logan were standing, watching their commander with soft looks in their eyes.
“I will give you one hour to open the gateway and get the hell out of our world.” The commander continued, giving them a mix between a firm and threatening look.
“Thank you.” Charles smiled gratefully at him, feeling hope shine inside him again. “You won’t regret this.”
“I know I will regret it. I already regret it.” He scoffed before turning away from them.
Dean and Tony grinned at each other, while the others shook their heads with soft smiles.
***
“Now, you referenced 100 guards. I assume most of them are around the perimeter?”
Dean asked seriously as they all gathered around the huge map, looking expectantly at AU Raven and Logan.
AU Erik was standing a few feet away, watching them with a deep scowl on his face.
“Correct.” The shapeshifter nodded in confirmation.
“Alright, so we fight through them outside. We access the main corridor. What is security like inside the hangar?”
“The entire facility is surrounded by vital and mutant dampeners like the collars they had around their prisoners.” AU Logan reported with a deep frown. “No one can get in without a specific badge that protects them from the effects. Otherwise, no powers can work in there, and normal humans will be drained within a few minutes.”
“Okay, we can’t take that hangar in this state.” Natasha stated with a frown.
“These satellites indicate a control room off the hangar.” Tony announced as he looked over the data in a tablet, he borrowed from AU Raven. “That must be where the dampener is.”
“We can’t take that control with our strength draining out of us, and we don’t exactly blend in here.” Clint announced with a frustrated sigh.
Dean stared at the map for a long minute, before exchanging a look with Tony.
“I think I know how to get in.” Dean announced firmly, meeting everyone’s eyes, then stopping on Tony. “But you have to talk to AU Steve about it.”
***
When the team dispersed to get ready, after Dean announced his plan, AU Raven approached the silent AU Erik carefully.
“I know, I know what you are thinking, but-“ She started, but he moved suddenly and got his face close to hers.
“If they don’t make it to through the gateway, I am not giving you anymore time.” He said in a cold, harsh voice, his eyes boring into hers. “I will blow that place to kingdom come.”
With that, he turned and left her with a pale look on her face.
***
Back in the Tower, things weren’t looking good for Castiel.
Dressed like a surgeon, Dark Tony approached him to check his progress. In another hospital bed, laid Dark Castiel, with Dark Dean standing next to him.
With both Castiels dressed in a hospital gowns, it was almost hard to distinguish both of them from each other.
“Red light saturation is complete.” Dark Tony announced after checking Castiel’s vitals and statues. He looked up at Dark Dean with a smirk. “He is cooked.”
Castiel breathed heavily, trailing his eyes between them with too much effort. Feeling the weakest he had ever been in his entire life.
“You will wake up stronger than you have ever been.” Dark Dean said confidently, looking down at his dark angel.
“See you soon then.” Dark Castiel nodded at him with a small smirk.
Dark Dean placed a kiss to his forehead, before placing an oxygen mask over his face and the dark angel went under almost immediately.
“Unfortunately, for you, we need you awake for this procedure.” Dark Tony mocked as he pulled open the angel’s gown, revealing his chest.
“My-my family. They will find you.” Castiel let out weakly, as he looked defiantly at the man. “They will-will make you pay for this.”
“Your family, you say?” Dark Tony let out a mocking chuckle, grabbing a medical saw from the table. “The family we are holding like rats in the cells? Or the ones we executed in our own world? Face it, angel.” He turned on the saw, which let out a loud whirring sound. “No one is coming for you.”
***
“They are starting the surgery!”
Raven announced in panic as she turned to Charlie, with wide eyes.
They were in the computer room, which was thankfully a hidden room in the tower. Tony made sure of that when he built it.
They were watching what was happening to Castiel on one of the screens, while Charlie was working frantically on a holoscreen,
“I am working on it!” Charlie bit her lip, as she continued to work twice as fast.
***
The saw continued to whir loudly, as Dark Tony approached Castiel with a sadistic smile on his face.
Castiel watched helplessly as the genius leaned over him with the saw, inching it towards his chest.
Then suddenly, the electricity powered down, leaving the room in complete darkness, except for the red light that still shines over the two angels.