Something kinda big... or was it small?
“Tony? Everything in place?” Bruce checked, finishing the last of his toast.
“Yup. Everyone ready?” He asked over their comms.
Everyone confirmed. Tony gave the sign to finally put this thing into motion.
Tony walked up to Steve, “Heya Cap. I had an idea which I think will fit right up your street.”
Steve motioned for Tony to explain.
“JARVIS and I’ve been working on an algorithm to track and learn the way a person moves. I want to be able to use it for analyzing fighting styles. That way we can predict what punches the other guy throws before he even throws them. It should be able to prevent a whole lot of fighting, injuries and collateral.”
“Okay.” Steve nodded, processing what the algorithm would mean for them, “How can I help?”
“I want you to fetch Bucky and meet me in the gym in half an hour. I’ve asked Natasha and Clint to join in too. If you could all spar for a little, show some of those combat moves, I could test the algorithm properly. It’d be a test run.”
Steve nodded, “Sure, Tones. We’ll be there” Steve smiled.
Sweet, naive Steve…
~
“So, I told that guy to either drop his gun or eat my-, hey, where is everyone?” Steve asked, pointing at the empty gym.
“I didn’t clamber out of bed for nothing, Stark.” Bucky warned, irritated he had left Steve’s room for this nonsense.
Tony walked over to the two men, arms raised and smiling, “They’re on their way. You’re just punctual. Blame Captain Courageous.”
Steve pulled a face at Tony.
Right then, Natasha strolled in too. She looked at the three men and wondered where Clint was. Tony noticed and shrugged, “He’s late, Nat. What’s new?”
The three other Avengers seemed to take that as a pliable answer.
“Let’s get started.” Tony clapped his hands once, “First, get warmed up as usual. Don’t want you to get hurt. After that we’ll get to sparring. I’ve got JARVIS running the algorithm, so no worries.”
The threesome nodded and started warming up their muscles, getting ready for some friendly hand to hand combat.
“Alright, all warmed up?” Tony asked, looking expectantly at the trio.
“Yes. But where is Clint? Do you need me to fetch him?” Steve asked.
“Don’t mind him. You know how he is. I’ve got JARVIS on it already.” Tony moved onto the next subject, stating, “Let’s fight.” Before walking onto the mat, taking his position.
“You don’t have your suit, Tony.” Natasha said.
“No shit, Sherlock.” He retorted.
“You’ll get hurt fighting us.” Steve reasoned, shaking his head.
“I won’t. Not with- never mind. You’ll see. Now come on.” Tony encouraged.
“What, Tony?” Natasha asked.
“Nothing important. You’ll see after I've kicked your asses.” Tony said.
“Alright.” Bucky huffed, annoyed at the cockiness Stark exuded, “That’s it.” He exclaimed, throwing a punch at Tony with his metal arm.
Tony caught the metal arm in his hand and managed to pin the arm behind Bucky’s back. “See?” Tony said, releasing Bucky from his grip and putting some distance between them.
Natasha, Steve and Bucky looked incredulously at Tony, stumped, before Steve spoke up, “Tony, what have you done?” He glared at Tony’s hand and back up to Tony’s face.
“It’s a funny story, really. If you think about it.” Tony started, flexing his hands.
“Explain.” Natasha ordered.
“Okay, no need to get scary.” Tony huffed before continuing, “Bruce and I were working on this project. And no, we weren’t using Gamma radiation. Bruce wouldn’t let me. Sourpuss. But anyhow, something went sideways.” Tony flexed his fingers and studied them for a beat, “The components got explosive, sort of. Bruce’s alter ego took over, which caused much more damage than the explosion did, but I- well, let’s say I wasn’t wearing my suit.”
“Jesus, and you’re telling us this now?” Steve worriedly asked, “What happened?”
“I’m hoping there’s more, really, but right now all I’ve got is super strength. I’m practically like you guys,” Tony pointed at the super soldiers, “Except smarter.”
“Tony, this could be dangerous.” Natasha glared. She looked calm, but only to the untrained eye. Both Steve and Bucky could feel the tension radiating off of her.
“Please, it’s fine. It’s like there’s this force inside of me. That awakened. Maybe I can even…” Tony squinted his eyes and focused on Natasha, “control it from here.” He finished, strained from focusing all of his energy on one person.
Just as Tony finished his sentence, Natasha felt her arm being pinned behind her back, the same way Tony had pulled Bucky’s arm behind his back. The only difference was that Tony was standing a couple of feet in front of her.
“Tony!” She hissed, wondering what the fuck was going on here.
“Tony, what did you do?” Steve shouted, rushing towards Natasha.
“I just thought about pinning her arm. It worked!” Tony said, proud of his accomplishment. He let Natasha’s arm go.
The others didn't share Tony’s enthusiasm.
They were worried.
Just when they were gonna bomb Tony with more questions, Clint came barging in through the door behind Tony.
“Guys, sorry I’m-“ But before he could finish his sentence he was swept off of his feet, slamming onto his back on the ground.
“Don’t scare me like that! I’m sorry! I can’t control it!” Tony yelled, trying to get away from his teammates. “Get away!” Tony shouted, watching with terror as he saw Clint slamming into the ground again when he tried to get up.
“Tony! Let us help.” Steve tried, fear written on his face.
That’s when Bruce ran in, “I heard yelling, something wrong?”
“What have you done to him?” Natasha yelled, seeing Clint being dragged across the gym by the unknown force coming from Tony.
“We – we named it Scott!” Bruce answered seriously, adjusting his glasses.
“Scott?” Bucky repeated slowly.
The force let go of Clint and suddenly a man in a weird-looking suit seemed to grow up besides Clint. The man waved and introduced himself, “Hey, guys. I’m Scott. Pleasure to meet you.”
“What the f-“ Bucky tried to mutter, but his words were lost in the wave of laughter coming from Tony, Clint and Bruce.
“You-, You should’ve seen your faces!” Clint hiccupped.
“You-..” Steve started with a frown but quickly got interrupted by Tony.
“We got you guys good!”
The three men roared with laughter while Steve and Natasha stood by, looking irritated. Bucky had stomped out of the room. Probably to get back to Steve’s comfortable bed.
In the end, Clint, Tony and Bruce had finally gotten what they wanted. Sweet revenge on their teammates.
And Scott got to meet Captain America, which was only slightly awkward. Scott also insisted on leaving his number, just in case they needed him for anything Avenger-y, he had said.
He really hoped they would, some day.
~
“That guy really liked you, hmm, Steve?” Bucky said, lying next to Steve in bed.
“Yeah, I guess. He was a big fan. He was nice though.” Steve responded.
“Hmm.” Bucky just grunted. Looking a bit annoyed at the thought of Scott.
Steve looked over his book at Bucky. He lifted Bucky’s chin up with a finger so he was looking at Steve, “Now don’t tell me you’re jealous, doll.” Steve smirked.
“Then I won’t.” Bucky huffed.
“Buck, no need to get envious!” Steve snorted, then softer, “You know I’m yours.” Steve cooed.
“I do. Just as much as I am yours, Stevie.” Bucky whispered, his face close to Steve’s.
Steve smiled and leaned in, making sure that Bucky had heard and felt that his words rang true.