Chapter 9
Tony came to the gym just in time to see Jarvis on his back. Steve moved his hand forward, ready to help the man up-
And suddenly, Steve was lying on the ground, Jarvis on the top of him.
Tony laughed, which revealed his presence. "He's the most dangerous when he's on his back, y'know." Steve just stared at Jarvis, but Peggy's eyes were piercing him. "Have I told you this story?" she asked, curious, and he nodded.
"You've told me everything about your adventures; with Jarvis, and dad, and Uncle Jack."
Peggy gasped, and Daniel just laughed. "I knew he'll stick with us for a long time." he said, and she nodded, still looking surprised. "I guess it's because of the Red Room situation or something."
Tony frowned. "The Red Room?" he asked, confused, ex-changing looks with Steve.
"Protocol Red Room is also known as Protocol Carter." Kamala pointed out, and Peter stared at her. "Really? They should've called it..." he had a smile on his face, and he catched Tony's eyes.
"PROTOCARTER!" the man and the teen shouted together, and Peter laughed. "Oh, man, those names get me every time." Tony smirked as a comment, and then his face became serious again when he looked at Steve.
Sometimes Steve misses that smile, flashing at him.
"Is it why Nat likes..." Tony began to ask, and Steve nodded, from beneath Jarvis. "I guess." he said, taking a deep breath.
"Jarv, I think that's enough." Tony grinned and lifted Jarvis, or at least tried to. The man was taller than him in (at least) 6 inches, and Tony was more interrupting than helping. Somehow, in the end, Jarvis and Tony were standing on their feets. Steve got up a few seconds later, on his own.
BOOM.
Well, not anymore.
"Sir, security breach on 1#2.9." said JARVIS, making everyone freeze for a moment.
"MOVE MOVE MOVE!" Kamala shouted, and pushed the red alarm button.
The alert started playing, and this was enough to get Tony out from his thoughts.
"J, suit, sitch!" he ordered, and turned on his com, beginning to give instructions.
"Falcon and Hawkeye, meet Pete and Kam in the living room, keep seniors safe."
"Nat, don't let Wanda operate. I repeat- don't let her, at all costs." Steve wanted to protest, but the suit just showed up. Tony got inside, catching Cap from his shirt. Both of the men flied through the corridors, fast enough to make Steve's Super-Stomach to swirl. "J, the shield." he said. Steve looked, shocked and reliefed, as the shield appeard from Tony's back.
"Is it okay-" "Yes, Cap, I'm fine." he answered shortly, taking a sharp turn, as a missle hit the house.
"We're on 96%, Sir. The house took some serious damage, and I identify many living creatures in room 5.6, in addition to 2.9. My best guess is Hydra agents."
Like a sign, the Agents appeared from the edge of the place. Tony dropped him, firing at the agents. It was... beautiful. The agents were blown from the shock, without any noise. The repulsors were shooting pulses of energy, which flied straight to their targets. All Steve could do was throwing his shield at one agent, who fell down.
"Kill count: Tony- 12, Rogers- 1." Tony said, and Steve could already see the smug smile on his face, even with the mask on.
A quiet hiss caught Steve's attention; too quiet to hear without his super-hearing.
"DUCK!" he shouted, pulling Tony from his mask to behind his shield. There was a loud noise when a missle hit the ground, not far from them, and Tony and him were blown off, into the hard walls.
Steve was the first to get up, after almost a minute, which in fight-times was a very long time period. He looked around him, and then at Tony, who's mask was missing, his eyes closed. Tony's face plate was in Steve's hand, crumbled from the pressure. Steve managed to get most of his body behind the shield, but Tony fell from the sudden pull, which left his legs out.
Crap. "TONY!" he shouted, shaking his shoulders.
Tony's eyes slowly opened up. "S... Steve?"
It's good- Tony remembers, and can talk. "You need to get up, we have to fight." he said, not waisting time on any questions about Tony's health.
It wasn't like he'll answer, anyway.
Tony's face streak with realisation. "Oh, fuck, how long was I out?" Steve helped him up, and Tony held him, waiting for the known noise of Tony's engines begining to work.
Which not happened.
"Uh- Tony?" he asked, impatience. They needed to go, and they needed now. "I'm trying, Cap." he answered, looking at his feet. "Shit." he heard the genius saying. "I can't fly. Damage." Steve clenched his hand into fist. It's going to be a tough fight without Tony's air support.
They ran as fast as they could, sneaking through passages that Steve never saw before. He followed Tony's lead. "Seven Agents in the next room." Tony warned and opened the door, Steve immediately throwing his shield. It hit one agent, and Tony pointed with his glove at another agent, shooting him down. Steve caught his shield from the air. One of the agents caught his hand, pulling him back. Steve used the momentum, letting himself fly backwards, and then kicked the agent in his face, jumping forward and hitting two more agents in the way. Tony caught the last two with his metal hands and knock their heads on each other's.
Steve didn't want to be them when they'll wake up.
"15-5." he panted, and Tony nodded. Without talking, they moved to the next room, Tony leading while Steve was keeping on his back.
Tony didn't trust him, based on his fast head-turning in response for every small noise.
When they entered a blue and red painted room, which looked like a teenager's, Tony looked very glad that everything was good. "You look glad." Steve pointed, and Tony stared at him. "Can't you just fix the face plate with your super-streangth, or it's just for destroying?"
Steve decided wisely to shut up.
The next room was the pool- nine agents were jumping at them, but a small throw of a shield dropped all of them into the pool, one after another. Tony inserted his index finger into the water, and released an electric shock which made all of them pass out (hopefully without dying).
They heard a shooting voice from the gym, where they left the kids+the elders. Without thinking, Steve threw his shield through the glass wall. Tony and him ran inside, just to find Natasha, Clint, Peggy, Daniel, Jarvis and the kids, kicking the bad guys' asses, literally.
It was beautiful to see- Daniel, with a gun in his hands, shooting every close moving enemy agent, Kamala tripping them for him, from a safe place behind him. Clint was shooting the far agents down, blowing the bombs which were heading them midair (which probably caused the big hole in the wall), covering for Daniel and Kamala. Natasha and Peggy were amazing- somehow, during the fight, Peggy learned how to use Natasha's old bites- both of them were jumping from one wall to another, shooting and kicking the Agents down, not afraid to get support from each other.
Steve stared at them with admiration in his eyes.
They were fighting... perfectly.
"Come on, Cap, we're going to miss the party." Tony mumbled at him with a smirk, and both of them began fighting, side by side, without any further talking. That was the thing he liked the most about fighting with the 'new' Tony- they didn't need to communicate a lot. It wasn't the same in the old times- he remembered all of the fights, the endless argues. However, two months after Civil War, Tony came back, stronger; better.
Equipped with the best (business) suit that the world has ever seen, the world suddenly had its genius back again. Steve followed with interest and jealousy as SI released a new product almost every week, each better then the one before. From the small talks he had had with King T'Challa, he'd learned that Tony's company shares almost doubled itselves. Almost a year after their fight, Tony came back into the army business, leading a new project which ended with many lighter bulletproof vests, helmets, boots and etc, all under the famous quote of his father.
Peace means heaving a bigger stick than the other guy.
He seemed to stick to this mentra, not just physically, but also mentally. From what it looks like, everyone in Tony's little family were hating him. He was the other guy. Tony's actually fathering three children (Steve saw them a lot on TV, and was pretty sure it was a joke until he got to the tower), and Steve- zero. Tony has a wife, and Steve- only a one night stand with the niece of his love, which has been a mistake.
He realised that he should be more focoused on the fight when a bullet missed his arm only by a sheer luck, leaving a red cut all over it. He quickly threw his shield, protecting Tony from getting hit by an RPG. The shield hit it with a loud noise, which changed its way. The shield flew straight through the hole in the wall, falling down.
"Well, fuck." Tony said, as he followed the shield's orbit with his eyes. When Steve and Tony removed their eyes from the shield, a metal silver arm appeared in front of them, blocking a bullet only half a meter from Steve's heart. His eyes followed the arm into the face of a man...
Edwin Jarvis was punching Hydra Agents with panic all over his face, without any idea of what should he do. "I found this in your lab, Young Master Stark!" he shouted at them, a smile spreading on his face as he saw Tony. "I'm sorry that I've sneaked in!"
Tony looked at him, shocked, but then grinned. "No prob, Jarv." Their fight dynamic has changed- instead of fighting in the front, Tony and Steve walked a few meters behind Jarvis, hitting every agent that seemed as a threat to the Butler's health.
"Did you built this arm for-" "Yup."
"Do you want to talk about-" "Nope."
"When were you going to tell me?" Tony threw a glare at him. "I'm gonna pretend that you didn't ask that." he said, and Steve kicked backwards as he felt something sharp between his ribs.
"Fuck." he said, looking at a knife which was lying on the floor right now. "Are you okay?" Tony asked, and Steve nodded. "Just another cut." he said, looking at his new collection of bruises and cuts. This shirt was new, and the jeans was only two months old. He swore to never fight without his suit again, even if it means that he'll have to shower with it.
A helicopter appeared in front of the tower, and at least 60 more agents entered the tower.
"Spidey, we need the big guns." Tony said into his helmet. Steve wasn't able to hear the answer, but he was hoping that that boy will bring the big guns, whatever it is.
Tony smirked and shot a big electromagnetic pulse towards the helicopter, which caused some of the agents stumble in surprise as their earphones weren't working anymore. However, the bigger difference was that all of the helicopter's systems were off now, and it began crashing down.
Out of nowhere, Sam flied around the helicopter, a thick cable hanging from him was the only evidence that Spiderman was out there. Sam turned around quickly, and Steve got a gaze on the teenager, who wrapped the helicopter in a thin net. the helicopter changed its orbit and the small superhero left Sam, shooting a web on nearby building. It looked like his arms were going to be turn apart, but slowly the teen managed to make the helicopter, full of agents, rest against the tower.
From then, it was just a small amount of agents. With Sam and Peter's help, Steve and Tony could only watch as the team was working.
"I have stopped counting." admitted Steve, as he tried to open a conversation.
"So have I, but I've probably won."
A laugh.
Silence.
"The team is working perfectly."
"Thanks. Your team is pretty good, too." replied Tony, his voice unsure.
Steve thought for a while. "I meant our team." he quickly said, before he could regret.
Tony looked surprised, but a small smile has appeard on his face. "Our team." he agreed.
"I still don't understand why the agents had attack." Steve said. Tony frowned, biting his lip (like he always did while thinking). "It had to have something to do with..." the words died on his tongue, as he and Steve arrived the same conclution.
"HAS ANY OF YOU SEEN HARLEY AND HOWARD?!" he shouted, desperate. All of the team members shook their faces.
Tony cursed. "Well, shit. J, Where the fuckity fuck are my father and Harley?"
"Both in 2.9, Sir."
"Freaking hell, that's the front!" without waiting for anyone else, Tony began running to 2.9, the balcony, ignoring Jarvis' protests and warnings about only 23% of the suit power, and used explosions that he created from his repoulsers to make him move faster.
He felt two big, strong hands catching his shoulders.
He didn't have time to fight with Steve right now.
Iron Man and Captain America were now moving, through the walls, towards the balcony, hoping that they aren't too late.
They can't be.