Maybe You Weren't the Villian After All
Steve sat in Stark’s living room staring out the window at the landing base. Sam and the others should be arriving any minute now and Steve couldn’t ignore the anxious pit growing in his stomach. He had assured Peter that they would help but Steve couldn’t ignore the rage and betrayal everyone had expressed after Germany. Steve’s super hearing caught the sound of the engine before the plane came into view, he twisted his hands turning his knuckles white, it was time no turning back now.
Steve stood in the entryway and watched as Sam, Natasha, Clint, and Bucky exited the aircraft. They all looked a little worse for wear, but they were here, now came the hard part, getting them to stay.
Sam caught sight of Steve and he slung his duffel over his shoulder. “Alright Rogers, we’re here, what’s the big emergency?”
Steve gazed at his friends and gestured for them to follow him inside. The Rogue Avengers took a seat and waited for their Captain to debrief them. Bucky studied his friend as Steve began to pace a hole into the rooms floor. Steve was flushed pale and his eyes were shadowed by dark bruises caused from lack of sleep. Whatever was going on had stressed his friend to the max. He hadn’t seen Steve this worked up since that day in Siberia when Tony found out the truth of his parents’ death. “Steve get on with it.” Bucky urged.
Steve clenched his teeth and balled his hands into fists. “First I need you all to promise you will stay and hear me out. Let me finish before you cast judgment.” The team members past bewildered looks to one another before giving hesitant nods.
Steve sucked in a deep breath. It was now or never. “I called you all here because Tony is in trouble and needs our help.” Steve hunched his shoulders as his ears were assaulted by protests.
“You can’t be serious Steve, why on earth would we ever help him?” Sam shouted as he shot up from the couch.
“I’m sorry Steve, I have to agree with Sam here. After everything that happened, after all these months on the run…” Clint trailed off with a shake of his head.
Natasha studied Steve carefully, her eyes steely. “I don’t get it Steve, you of all people.”
“Enough!” Steve shouted, slashing his hand through the air. “You promised to hear me out.”
Sam clamped his mouth shut and sank back to his spot on the couch. “Fine, but this better be really good.” He gestured for Steve to continue.
“After everything that happened in Germany and Siberia, I had given Tony a phone to use to contact me if he ever needed help. Yesterday I got a call from Tony’s son,”
“Tony has a son?” Clint interrupted then held his hands up in apology at Steve’s look.
“Peter found Tony’s lab ransacked with blood on the floor. There was a note that claimed vengeance on Tony.”
Natasha held up her hand to stop Steve. “I am still failing to see what this has to do with us. So far this to me sounds like Tony got himself into a mess and he needs to get himself out.”
“The point is that Tony has been working nonstop to bring all of us home. He went against the Accords for us! Ross took him and is doing God knows what to him. Tony needs us!” Steve shouted trying to get his point across.
Natasha’s eyes flashed dangerously at Ross’s name. “What did the note say?” Steve held the note out to her. Natasha took the note and read it quickly, slamming the note onto the coffee table she stood and headed to the window. “Ross is a ruthless politician that will stop at nothing to further his cause. If he has Tony, there is no telling what he will do.”
“Shit,” Clint said, tossing the note. “That crazy son of a bitch took on Thaddeus Ross by himself. He’s smart enough to know that something like this could happen.”
Steve dropped Tony’s file onto the coffee table with a loud thump. “He was taking this all the way to Washington.”
Sam sat forward and began shifting through the papers. “Ross and his followers will look at this as treason! What the hell was he thinking?” He cursed.
Bucky clenched a specific paper in his hand his heart pounding in disbelief. “He was demanding a full pardon for me.” His eyes shot over to Steve. “Why would he do that after everything I did?”
“Because he isn’t the heartless man that everyone likes to paint him out to be.” Peter stated as he entered the room.
Steve turned to look at the boy. His eyes were red and his hair was a mess. Steve swore Peter looked worse every time he saw him. Peter glared at the Avengers in front of him and crossed his arms. “So, are you here to help or degrade my father even more?”
Clint let out a low whistle. “Easy there pint size, we are all on the same side.”
Peter flashed the archer a venomous look. “Are we? It didn’t sound that way earlier.”
“Peter, please,” Steve sighed. “They just needed a moment; I promise they are here to help.”
“Then answer me!” Peter hissed, pinning the Rouge Avengers down with a hateful glare. “Are you here to help?”
Bucky looked from the boy to the paper in his hands. Setting it down he stood up from his seat. “I will help you.”
Natasha turned from her spot at the window. “Your father doesn’t deserve anything that Ross will do to him. I will help you.”
Clint moved from the couch and stood in front of Peter. Peter stood unwavering under the man’s gaze and only slightly flinched when Clint placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. “You have my bow, kid. Every son needs his father even if they are a huge pain in my ass.”
Sam gave his friends a look of slight disbelief before throwing his hands up in defeat. “What the hell, if we go down, we go down together, right.”
Steve let out a breath that he didn’t even know he had been holding. “Thank you, guys.”
“Ok, now that the team bonding stuff is all done can we get started?” Peter huffed out shrugging out from under Clint’s hand. “When you are finished with the mushy friendship crap I’ll be in dad’s lab.”
The team stared after the kid in confusion. “Damn Steve, I know his dad is missing and all but what is with the attitude?” Clint asked.
Steve sighed wiping a tired hand over his face. “He was there in Germany.”
“What do you mean he was there? I never saw him….” Natasha started. “The Spiderling?”
Steve nodded. “He is Spiderman.”
“So, he saw a rough fight, but he is acting like we are the ones that are torturing his dad.” Sam huffed out with a little indignantly.
Steve pinched his nose trying to will away his growing headache. “There is more to it Sammy. Tony got real hurt in Siberia. He almost died. In Peter’s eyes we did torture his dad, we almost killed him. Now he is missing, and it is because he was trying to bring us home. If I was in his shoes, I think I would hate us too.”
Bucky placed a comforting hand on Steve’s shoulder. “Then lets not keep him waiting lets go get Ironman back.”
~Tony
Tony hung limply from his chains, his wrists and shoulders no longer felt the pain from straining to hold his weight. He no longer felt hot or cold. It was possible his body could only feel numb from all the blood loss. The only sound that filled the room was that of his ragged breathing. Tony closed his eyes and concentrated on his heartrate willing the extremely erratic rhythm to slow. Over the course of the day he could feel his heart rate accelerate and suddenly drop causing insurmountable pain. Tony had been counting the beats his heart skipped the past few hours and the number was increasing. A small tear escaped his eye when Tony's thoughts shifted to Peter he could feel himself slipping, his heart quickly giving away. He didn't want to leave his little boy alone, he had made a promise to always come home but, Tony groaned when he felt his chest tighten and his heart give a hard thump as it tried to recover from its skipped beat. Another tear leaked down his face and Tony let out a shaky breath. "I'm so sorry Peter but I don't think I can keep my promise this time."