Chapter Text
Tony frowned when he heard the front doors bang shut. With Pepper and Rhodey back in school, his dad at Stark Enterprises and Bruce unofficially working for the same, there weren’t many people who would just walk in like that could make it past the security system. It was probably just Steve, but Tony primed Extremis to send for the armour just in case.
“Hey Tony!”
Or maybe Tiberius had decided to swing by for a visit. That could be it too. Toy relaxed and said, “Hey Ty,” barely looking up from the tablet. “Finally decided to come check out my new digs?”
“As if I wouldn’t.” Ty looked like the epitome of business casual in his grey suit jacket, wine red button-down and barely-loose slacks. He leaned against the counter with his hands in his pockets, looking for all the world like he ruled it. “But I’m not just here on pleasure, unfortunately.”
“Oh?” Now Tony did look up, away from where he was trying to sort out how to make the perimeter and house security systems sync up with Jocasta. It was proving to be a bit of a mess in the code, but Tony was confident he could solve it. “Ah, don’t tell me: more on your virtual-reality pods? I’m telling you, Ty, it’s too dangerous. Digitally connecting two minds together isn’t a good idea, it’s too dangerous. And this coming from me, the guy who flies around in a high-tech suit of armour fighting bad guys.” The Controller had proven that much.
“That’s why you should help me out!” Tiberius wasn’t whining, but it was a close thing. “Help me make it so that it’s not so dangerous. Just think: if we could join two minds together, there would be no lies between them, no barriers. Think of what they could achieve together!”
“Yeah, but even if you could iron out the problem with connecting the two, in all likelihood one mind will dominate over the other, possibly to the point of completely erasing the other person’s sense of self. There wouldn’t be a second person, just an extension of the first.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
Now Tony was frowning. “It is a bad thing, Ty. Look, I’m sorry but I’m not interested. Maybe try talking to Dr. Richards? This seems kind of like his thing-”
PAINpainpainpainohgodwhatisgoingon-
On some level, Tony was aware of the tablet falling from his senseless fingers, the way his body dropped out of the chair and onto the floor. On some level he was aware of the fact that Extremis’ connections were shutting down one by one in rapid succession, but all he could really process was pain and why.
A pair of legs appeared in Tony’s field of vision. He followed them to where Tiberius was smirking down at him, holding what looked like a remote in one hand. “Why,” he gasped hoarsely, “Ty-”
“That’s too bad, Tony,” he said nonchalantly, as if there had never been a break in the conversation, as if Tony wasn’t writhing on the floor. “I really would have liked to have you in on this.”
Tony felt the tip of a needle slide effortlessly into his carotid artery. “Maybe we can work something out,” Ty said with a panic grin as he depressed the plunger.
He tried to do something, anything, but Extremis wasn’t there and it was so dark-
- - -
“Tony? I’m home!” Grinning, Steve shut the stupidly overlarge door closed behind him. He’d opted to come in the front doors since he’d taken the main path up to the mansion, but that also meant he was a fair distance away from the kitchen.
When there was no answer, Steve assumed that Tony hadn’t heard him. Just in case, Steve peeked into the so-called closet currently housing the basic Iron Man suit as he walked past. Maybe he’d been called out on a mission.
Nope, still a suit of armour in the room that was nearly the size of Steve and Bucky’s old apartment.
“Tony?” he called out, frowning a little as he entered an empty kitchen. “Tony, are you here?”
Silence. Steve tossed the bag of food into the fridge and picked up the apparently-abandoned tablet. Maybe Tony had wandered off in search of some part he thought he needed. It had happened before.
He swiped a finger across the security pad on the back and blinked at the page of words that popped up. It looked like gobbledygook to him, but Tony had said it was computer coding and explained that languages like it were what operated computers nowadays.
Setting the tablet aside, careful not to touch anything on the screen, he picked up Tony’s phone instead, which had been left on the counter near where Steve usually left his wallet. That was much stranger; Tony hardly went anywhere without his phone. Now Steve was getting nervous.
He hit the call button twice and held the phone up to his ear. “Hey Jocasta, it’s Steve. Any chance you can tell me where Tony is right now? Or at least what he was doing on his tablet before he left it here?”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Jocasta's voice always seemed clearer on Tony’s phone than any other StarkPhone. He wondered why. “Sir was attempting to insert me into the Mansion security systems, and my presence on the tablet was causing difficulties. As well, his phone is quite obviously on your person, and he has not entered either the Armoury or any part of the Tower apartments equipped with my sensors. Shall I pull up sir’s Stark Enterprises schedule for the month?”
“Please.” Steve switched to speakerphone and set it on the counter, waiting for Jocasta to project the agenda. She could just as easily pull it up on the phone, but Steve preferred the projection to reading off the little screen.
The air above the phone finally lit up with blue and white lines. Steve chewed his lower lip as he scanned through the dates.
“September 27th, investors’ meeting at 10 A.M., scheduled for two hours” he read aloud. “And it’s... 10:26 right now.” Something in him relaxed slightly. Tony was pretty good about Stark Enterprises business, although he really disliked the investors meetings for some reason. Howard had probably called and reminded him to show up on pain of pain, likely just minutes before the meeting was supposed to start, and Tony had forgotten his phone in the ensuing rush. He’d doubtlessly be regretting that now.
Mystery solved, Steve fetched his own sandwich out of the fridge again and made for the room down the hall. They never did get around to cleaning it up after their first night in the mansion...
- - -
The restaurant was a quiet affair, cloistered and closed in and nothing like the cafe he and Steve had visited. Tony sipped at his coffee as Tiberius raved on about his brilliant invention, the ultimate combination of entertainment, creativity and technology.
“It’s still a few years from mass production, but I’ve got three working prototypes and potential investors willing to shell out a few bucks for some engineers to help cut down the physical size of the Dreamvision so it’s easier for people to fit into their homes.”
“That’s great, Ty!” Tony enthused, “I know there are some fairly primitive VRs out there, but it sounds like Dreamvision is in a class of its own. I’m sure it’ll be a hit.”
“No doubt,” Ty smirked, “but that’s not what I really wanted to talk to you about.”
The table they sat at was set off by itself in an empty dining room, and it seemed eerily quiet outside of Tiberius’ boisterous explanations. Their meals had been long since cleared away, and Tony’s coffee was starting to go cold.
“See, Tony, when I was working at marrying the Dreamvision’s code to the physical unit, I discovered something,” Ty’s eyes were alight with something akin to unholy glee. He licked his lips and said, “I discovered how to not only download a person’s mind into the machine, I found out how to join two minds together.” He linked the fingers on both his hands together. He was probably trying to demonstrate the joining of two minds, but all Tony could think of was the way he had laced his fingers with Steve’s, and just how good it had felt.
Ty’s face twitched oddly. “But I can see that this is boring you. Why don’t I just show you?”
Wait, Tony thought, this isn’t how it goes. His mouth said, “Sounds good, Tiberius. Your place?”
The blond man’s smile was positively feral. “I think that’s a good idea.”
- - -
1:14 P.M., the clock said when Steve next looked at it. The mansion seemed quiet and empty without Tony thumping around, trying to fix or improve something or other, but he wouldn’t be that guy, the one who wouldn’t let his... partner out of sight. Tony probably went up the labs and was geeking out with Bruce, and without his phone he probably wouldn’t remember to call or text anyone, let alone Steve.
Still. It would be nice if Tony had remembered.
The phone buzzed in Steve’s pocket, then, and he had to stifle a grin. Speak of the devil.
On the roof of the mansion, Steve had to cup a hand around the phone to keep the wind from drowning out the speaker. “Tony’s phone.”
“Afternoon Steve, it’s Howard,” Steve’s gut wriggled oddly at his voice with something like nervousness or anticipation. He kept waiting for Howard to give him the ‘you’re not good enough for my child’ speech, but so far, nothing. “I just wanted to remind Tony that while he may not enjoy investors meetings all that much, he’s not supposed to skip out on them without a good reason.”
The wriggling solidified into a ball of ice. “What?”
“Sorry, is the reception bad on your end? I said-”
“I heard you,” Steve’s heart was racing, but that didn’t stop him from saying, “I thought Tony was at the meeting; he wasn’t here when I got back from buying breakfast.”
The elder Stark was silent when Steve paused for a breath, so he plowed on. “His phone was on the counter and his tablet on the table, like he just left it there. The suit’s still here and there wasn’t any signs of struggle, so I’d assumed he’d just forgotten both of them when he remembered the meeting.”
“...oh, god,” Howard’s voice sounded sick and shaky, but immediately firmed up as he said, “Connect Tony’s phone to the security center - has he shown you how to do that?”
“No sir,” Steve replied, “but I can probably figure it out. If you can walk me through it.”
He was already inside and hauling ass for the first floor before Howard’s reply came through. “I’ll do that, and I’m already on my way over. I’m grabbing Bruce on my way out and am messaging James and Pepper as we speak.”
“We’ll find him,” Steve said, absolutely believing it. He had no clue how to make it happen, but he believed it. He had to.
- - -
“Isn’t it beautiful, Tony?” Ty’s voice bordered on something like reverence as he stroked a hand over the chrome-and-glass pod.
“Sure, Ty.” It looked a bit like a coffin to Tony, and the whole place was creeping him out more and more by the minute.
“So? Ask me how I did it, Tone.” The manic voice was back, the one that made sweat run down Tony’s neck. He couldn’t do anything about it, though. Couldn’t do anything, really, couldn’t move or think, but at least he could speak.
“I really don’t care anymore, Tiberius,” Ty scowled, whether at the name or the fact that he spoke out of turn, but Tony couldn’t stop himself. “Whatever you’ve done, Ty, it’s wrong. This can only end badly. You need to stop, Ty, while you still can.”
The other inventor blinked, as if Tony had provided him with a logic puzzle that had no apparent. “Stop? Why would I want to do that? After all,” and now he was walking forward, into Tony’s personal space, sliding their bodies together and resting his arms on Tony’s stiff shoulders, “I’ll have your smarts, your brilliance.”
He pushed his face in close, close enough for their lips to brush. “Your love, your devotion. Why on earth would I want to give that up?”
“Because,” Tony said lowly, “this isn’t real, and I. Don’t. Want. You. And if force my consciousness down, all you’ll have is a mindless husk.”
“Ah, but I’ll still have your intelligence,” Ty breathed. “And that’s more than enough compensation for me.
- - -
Fifteen minutes, Steve thought as they watched the recordings for a third time. It took me twenty minutes to get to the deli and back. It took them ten to kidnap Tony from right under our noses.
The scene unfolded the same way it had the first two times: just minutes after Steve had left, a stretch limo pulled up to the gates. Stone stuck his head out the window and gave his name to the near-invisible security bot. Voice and appearance confirmed, the gates shrieked open and the limo pulled up to the front doors. Tiberius got out, entered through the front doors, and then the video switched to the surveillance pulled from the kitchen.
Tony sat at the kitchen table, tapping away at his tablet. Tiberius approached from the main hall, greeting getting little of Tony’s attention. When Tony did look, barely a second’s worth of a glance, Stone pasted on a relaxed smile before breaking into a scowl once Tony’s eyes were off him. The smile was back once Ty started talking again, however.
Tony spoke. Something about joining minds and dream visions? No, singular ‘vision.’
“He’s talking like it’s a product of some kind,” Howard mused.
“A dangerous one,” Bruce added, cupping a hand over his mouth.
On the screen, Stone pulled what looked like a small remote and hit a button. Tony collapsed on the ground with a cry of pain. Stone crouched down next to him and said something unheard by the security cameras before injecting Tony with something that immediately knocked him out.
Rhodey crossed his arms and glowered at the screen. It was a particularly intimidating pose. “So Tiberius knew about Extremis. I mean, that’s what his little gadget did, right? Disable Extremis. Else Tony would sent us something, because I know he can both call and text with his brain. So. How did he find out?”
“Not many options,” Pepper replied as two strange men came in through the kitchen door and hauled Tony out. Stone followed them, smirking all the way. “There’s us, but unless one of you guys mentioned it - yeah, I didn’t think so,” she said as the rest of the room fixed steely looks on her. “Then there’s SHIELD, but not many of their agents knew the details of the Extremis project, and there were even less who knew that Tony had taken the diluted form of it.”
“On the other hand,” Bruce broke in, “who would have had access to all of SHIELD’s files, even the stuff that doesn’t legally exist?”
“Talbot,” Steve finished, fingers digging into his biceps. He watch impassively as the view switched again, as Tiberius climbed into the back seat of the limo and Tony was bound hand and foot and tossed in the trunk. “Is Stone working for him, do you think?”
“Could be, but I don’t recall his name coming up in any of the documents we received,” Howard said. He’d already written down the license plate of the limo the first time they watched it drive away from the mansion, but it had turned up nothing. “That doesn’t mean it wasn’t there, or that it an off-the-books kind of deal. We won’t know until we look further.”
“Jocasta, have we got a location?” Pepper asked the tablet propped up against the television monitor.
“I have narrowed it down to several possibilities and I believe I can further isolate a possible location that sir might have been taken to,” Jocasta answered promptly. “Five minutes.”
“I’m going to try hacking into Stone Media’s private servers, see if I can find something under the name ‘Dreamvision,’” Bruce said suddenly, whipping over to a laptop.
“I’ll call Gerard, see if he has any idea what Dreamvision might be,” Howard put in.
That left the remainder of Team Iron Man and Steve. Pepper and Rhodey looked at each other and shrugged. “I’ll try the FBI database, they might be investigating Tiberius on the sly if he’s up to something shady,” the redhead announced and took to her own laptop.
“I’ll get the suits ready,” Rhodey said, and pushed past Steve with what was probably supposed to be a reassuring shoulder bump. It didn’t really succeed.
Standing in the middle of the security center, a relic amongst the best this day and age had to offer, Steve made a decision as well and followed Rhodey out the door.
- - -
Tony himself could barely remember the groundbreaking ceremony that preceded the two years spent building Stark Tower, but it seemed that Tiberius had completely recreated it from Tony’s memory, down to the placement of loose pebbles. Dreamvision really was a marvel.
“Isn’t it?” Ty’s hand settled on Tony’s shoulder, rubbing at the dark fabric of the suit the younger man had worn to Howard Stark’s funeral. “It’s not too late, Tony. We can still do great things together. Or are you afraid of leaving those friends of yours behind?”
Laughter drifted through the air, horrifyingly familiar. Gravel crunched underfoot as figures began to melt out of the shadows and into the street. Tony stared straight ahead, refusing to acknowledge the existence of his loved ones’ false reflections.
they’re not real they’re not real they’re not real
“You shouldn’t. They all leave eventually,” Tiberius murmured lowly into his ear. The phantoms turned away, walking into the distance and out of sight. He nipped Tony’s ear, but Tony didn’t even flinch. He stared up and ahead, thinking of blue eyes and warm hugs, of his friends and how they’d never given up on him.
He took a deep breath. “You need to stop this, Tiberius. You need to turn this off and let us out before one of us gets hurt.” Because I will not surrender went unsaid but not unheard.
A sound of frustration. “You never make anything easy, do you Tony?” Ty snarled, and then the suit’s systems were failing and he was falling-
- - -
The flight of stairs up to the second floor seemed strangely long, and the doors between him and the one hewn from solid oak had apparently multiplied. When Steve finally reached it, he had to lean his forehead against the wood and just breathe.
If you need it, Tony had said, if you think the world needs Captain America again.
Well, this wasn’t the world in need, precisely, but it was pretty important. Steve steadied his breaths, trying to work up the courage to put his hand on the door knob.
Tony does not need me to rescue him, he thought, but I’m damn well not going to be left behind. Not this time.
He pushed the door open.
The lights came on automatically this time, no fumbling for a light switch necessary. The clear walls around the uniform Tony had so carefully created for him slid away at the first touch of Steve’s hand against the glass. He ghosted careful fingers across the fabric, allowing himself just a moment of nostalgia.
The original Captain America costume had been just that – a costume. A gimmick. It had been born when Bucky had been cracking wise, saying they should paint Steve up in the stars and stripes so the Nazis knew exactly who they were dealing with. They’d laughed then, but the idea clung to Steve like a limpet, until he was drawing out designs on scraps of paper during downtime.
Unbeknownst to him, his fellow soldiers found one of those designs, and thus began the biggest open secret amongst the close-knit Commandos. Fabric was purchased wherever it could be found, pieces hastily sewn together by firelight and during long trips in the backs of rickety jeeps on bumpy roads. The Commandos had presented the darn thing to him on his birthday, when he’d been feeling rather low. While he’d never said it out loud, that loud, poorly made eyesore had done more to lift his spirits than any soft bed could have.
They’d cajoled Steve into actually wearing it, at which point he’d given up on all pretense of dignity and just started showing off like a particularly shameless burlesque girl. That would have been the end of it, had a secret HYDRA convoy not passed by with enough munitions to blow a city sky-high. Then there hadn’t been enough time to think about what he was wearing, and a journalist snapped a photo of him, which wound up in the papers back home, and – well, apparently the rest was history. When the Commandos arrived at the next base, Steve had been presented with a properly-fabricated uniform in a familiar red-white-and-blue, along with a certain vibranium-adamantium alloy shield. What had started as a joke had unwittingly become a national icon.
The suit Tony created was anything but a gimmick. It was form-fitting but not tight, allowing for a complete range of motion. The fabric was stretchy and strangely slick, matte and hard to grip. His gloves and boots were some kind of faux-leather and reinforced without being too bulky. Steve opted not to put on the cowl, so it hung behind his neck like a strange sort of hood.
He straightened, exquisitely aware of the intangible weight that had settled on his shoulders the moment he put on the uniform. Steve Rogers may have entered that room, but it was Captain America who walked out of it.
- - -
“But here’s the thing, Tony,” Tiberius, no, Ty was not a giant fucking caterpillar, “I don’t need to sublimate you. Because this is my world, and you’re already a part of it.
“Haven’t you wondered how I’ve been able to control you this whole time?” The Tiber-pillar crawled around him in lazy circles, occasionally catching its hand on the blue and white pinafore dress the real Tiberius had imagined Tony into. “I mean, you’re smarter than I am, aren’t you? More clever, more insightful.” The Tiber-pillar’s face twisted into a hideous sneer. “You’re supposed to be better than I am, aren’t you? So why can’t you escape?”
Tony didn’t answer. He couldn’t answer, not anymore, because Ty had taken that from him too, with a pretty white ribbon over his lips that seemed heavier than any weight.
“All I have to do is think,” and oh god Tony was going to have nightmares about bugs after this, he had no desire to know what it was like to hug a giant caterpillar, “and you’re at my mercy. Isn’t it swell?”
- - -
“So, anything?” he heard Pepper ask, her words echoing down the hall.
“I talked to Gerard.” Howard’s voice was terse and stressed. Steve didn’t blame him. “Two things: apparently, Dreamvision is some kind of VR simulator, but Tiberius has also been working on another, private project, related but not under Stone Media purview. Gerard said he thought Tiberius might be trying for a corporate takeover. Bruce confirmed the Dreamvision thing, but he’s still looking for any ghosts that might lead to something more.”
“Well that’s just great,” Pepper said shortly. Steve stood just outside the door, waiting for the others to finish their conversation before entering. “Jocasta, locations?”
“Cross-referencing the specs of the Dreamvision against my list of suspected locales. I have one result remaining: a warehouse rented under the name Smith, T. A. It appears to be drawing the requisite amount of power necessary to power at least one of the Dreamvision apparatuses while also producing the requisite heat and energy signatures. A warehouse in Queens.”
“A warehouse in Queens? Talk about unoriginal. What’s security like?”
“Doesn’t matter.” Rhodey’s voice. “Stone will be expecting Rescue or War Machine or both, maybe even Iron Man.”
“So let’s send someone he doesn’t expect,” Steve said, firm and confident as everyone looked at him, startled twice over by his sudden entrance and his appearance.
“Steve!” Bruce blinked owlishly at him. “You’re, uh-”
Steve smiled at him. “Suited up and ready for action, sir. I sincerely doubt he’s managed to connect the annoying blond guy who stole Tony away from him with Captain America, do you?”
“The public doesn’t know you’re back,” Howard said, looking more heartened than he had since this mess had started. “He couldn’t possibly expect you. This might just work.”
The other three looked uneasy. “Steve, are you sure about this?” Pepper asked hesitantly.
Steve - Cap, he might was well embrace the image lock, stock and barrel - gazed at her, feeling the calm that years at war had instilled in him. “I’m quite certain. Tony,” and here Steve took a breath, “Tony made this for me, in case I ever felt Captain America was needed again. And goddamnit, if I can’t use what Erskine gave me to save the man I love, then what’s the point?”
If anyone was shocked to hear his declaration, no one commented on it. “I’m in,” Rhodey said finally, “but you’re gonna need back up.”
“I can have the Hulk at the ready,” Bruce said.
“Rhodey and I’ll suit up, Mr. Stark can co-ordinate from the Tower,” Pepper threw in. Then she winced and said to Howard, “Only if you want to, of course.”
“I’d much rather get in a suit myself,” Howard mused, quirking a grin, “but you’re right. Someone needs to co-ordinate this and keep SHIELD off our backs for the interim. At least until we know the leak isn’t in their ranks.”
“Then let’s get going,” Steve said. “Time’s running out.”
I just hope we’re not too late.
- - -
“Here’s the thing, Tony,” Ty stroked a hand over the naked skin of Tony’s back. “The thing is, I’ve already won. Your father can’t save you. Your buddy Rhodes can’t save you. Your little boytoy certainly can’t save you - and might I mention how flattered I am, by the way? You picked a fuck buddy who even looked like me, I appreciate it.” His lips curled up, but it certainly wasn’t a smile that graced his face. “I’d have appreciated it more if he’d left us alone, but I can roll with the punches.
“I’ve disabled your Extremis - and yes, I knew about your ace-in-the-hole, I really have to thank Glenn for that sound bite. I’ve taken you, body and mind.”
He cupped Tony’s face with a gentle hand, stroking his cheek with a thumb. “Just submit, love,” he crooned. “Submit to me. I’ll be so good to you, I swear. You’ll never want for anything. Don’t you ever just want to turn it off up here?” He tapped a finger against Tony’s temple. “I can make it happen. Just give into me, Anthony. It’ll be so good, don’t you think?”
- - -
Steve hid in the dark crevices of an alley, staying low to minimize possible detection. Steve’s shield was a comforting weight on his arm, and the not-actually-a-backpack wasn’t too heavy either. Nothing that would keep him from getting into the warehouse, at least.
The warehouse itself was completely innocuous, standing amongst its brethren and looking particularly shabby. Howard had hacked and remote disabled the security system, so it was just a matter of getting in undetected by human interference.
Which wasn’t too difficult. There was only one guard that either Steve or Howard (who was studying heat signatures) could find. He was taking a smoke break on an upper balcony, likely secure in the knowledge that he was perfectly safe. After all, who could scale the sheer side of an aluminum-sided building?
That’ll teach you to choose your employers wisely, Steve thought as he dropped down from the roof and dispatched the man with a quick knock to the head. Especially employers who kidnap geniuses with super-soldier boyfriends. He handed the guard off to an invisible Rescue, who would drop him off by the War Machine.
Luckily, the balcony door was unlocked. Steve eased it open, taking care not to make it squeak. “Take the first left you find,” Howard’s voice sounded from his earpiece once the door was shut again, “and then go as far in as you can. That should take you right to the Dreamvision machines.
Howard was right; less than two minutes later, and Steve was on a catwalk above a wide-open room. Below, the center of the room was occupied by two metal pods set head-to-head against each other, while a large bank of computers blinked and flickered ominously.
When Howard gave him the all-clear, Steve dropped down next to the pods to get a closer look. He knew that on some level, he shouldn’t have been surprised, but the ex-soldier’s heart still leapt to his throat when he saw Tony’s face beneath the thick glass. A quick glance confirmed that Tiberius was in the other pod.
“Stone’s got himself and Tony hooked up to the Dreamvision machines,” Steve hissed into the tiny mic that rested against his cheekbone. “There’s some kind of computer by the wall, you might want to deploy the camera to get a better look.”
“Deploying drone,” Jocasta intoned, and a little puck-shaped robot detached itself from the backpack. It hovered just over Steve’s shoulder before flying over the console bank.
“That terminal isn’t connected to the network,” Howard said, frustrated. “Nor anything wireless. And I don’t want to risk plugging the drone in just in case Stone left some surprises in the system. Think you can be my hands, Captain?”
“Absolutely,” Steve replied. He only risked one glance back at the pods, at the one that had become so dear to him. Hang in there, Tony, he thought grimly, we’re getting you out of here.
- - -
The thing was, Tiberius overestimated how clever he was. Tony knew this, because he could feel Extremis as it came back online, piece by bit by inch. It was a warm buzz at the base of his skull, a gentle touch prodding at his brain. All it had taken was a stall for time, and Tony’s ‘ace-in-the-hole’ was back to full functionality.
Just in time, he thought. He didn’t smirk, but it was a close thing
“You know what I think?” Tony said, to Tiberius’ obvious and utter surprise, “I think you’re way too full of yourself, and that I should have listened to Rhodey when he said you were a jerk. ‘Cause not only are you a jerk, you are fucking insane.”
Ty reeled back as if he’d been struck. “How dare you,” he roared, but Tony had finally had enough.
“What do I think, Tiberius? What I think is that you let your arrogance twist you into something terrible. Because yeah, you might be attractive on the outside, but up here?” And even though it felt like his limbs were made of cement and he was dragging them through molasses, he reached out and tapped a finger against Ty’s temple. “Up here, you are a fucking disaster.”
It was Tony’s turn to grin as Tiberius stared at him with something akin to horror, because Tiberius finally got it, finally understood that he’d lost, that he’d never had a chance at winning in the first place. Not while Tony had Extremis on his side.
Tony did smirk, then. “Shall we take a look?
- - -
Rhodey had been right. The system was booby-trapped; not only did it have a virus planted and set to go off if it detected interfacing from one of the suits (the most expedient method of hacking), there were no less than five hidden camera triggers set to do... something if they identified anything resembling Iron Man, War Machine or Rescue. They hadn’t figured out what that something was yet, but Steve was content with not knowing.
Unfortunately, all they’d learned from the terminal was that there was sweet fuck all they could do to help get Tony out. “It’s been overridden to respond to the thoughts of whoever’s in it,” Howard said, frustrated. “All we can do is wait and hope for the best.”
So Steve had abandoned the console to stand next to Tony’s pod, a hand resting on the glass.
“Tony,” Steve said, completely out of ideas. “Tony, I don’t know if you can hear me, but - please, please wake up. I’m not sure I can do this without you.”
- - -
Tiberius screamed as the dark void around them tore away into violent colour. The sound made Tony hesitate. This man had been his friend, once. Hadn’t he?
That was a mistake, because Ty immediately surged forward and tried to take back his control. It took some desperate maneuvering to keep him from obliterating Tony completely. He willed himself into his armour, feeling more confident when metal closed around him, even if it wasn’t real.
“I don’t know what your problem is, Ty,” Iron Man’s modulated voice rang out in the chaos surrounding them, “but this ends now.”
“My problem? My problem?!” Tiberius howled as his body melted into the ether. Tony dodged wildly as a fleshy appendage materialized mid-punch. “My problem is that I REFUSE TO BE BESTED BY YOU!”
The technicolour hurricane finally came to a stop, which was good because Tony was starting to get seasick. A red-orange sky bloomed over a metal-garnished wasteland while a particularly pointy citadel rose up beneath Iron Man’s repulsors. And just in case Tony hadn’t collected enough nightmare fuel to last him the next decade, Tiberius’ overly-massive head and torso appeared to be fused to the citadel’s highest tower, skin and sinew melting into unyielding steel. Cords and cables pierced his flesh, like worms in an old corpse.
“ALWAYS, ALWAYS I HAD TO LIVE WITH THE KNOWLEDGE THAT YOU WERE SMARTER THAN ME, FASTER THAN ME, WORKED HARDER THAN ME.” The Tiberius-thing swiped at Iron Man with an arm that seemed to be half-repulsor gauntlet. Not the shooting half, luckily. “ANYTHING I DID, YOU DID BETTER! YOU WERE THE OBSTACLE THAT PREVENTED ME FROM ACHIEVING THE RECOGNITION I DESERVED.”
The creature’s eyes were blank and white over his insane, frothing grin. “NOT ANYMORE. TODAY, THE GREAT ANTHONY STARK FALLS!”
Tony blasted a spire that suddenly came to life and tried to stab him. “Ty, I don’t understand!” he cried out sincerely. “I never did any of that! I mean, if I invented something before you got the chance, then I’m sorry! But I never tried to upstage you, I never wanted to make you feel like you were less than me! Hell, all I ever wanted was to be more like you!”
Tiberius either didn’t hear him, or no longer cared about what he had to say. The tower-creature shrieked wordlessly, and Tony felt the world around them shudder. He’s losing control over the simulation.
Tony closed his eyes. I’m sorry, Ty, but I won’t die for your neuroses.
Then he reached with Extremis, down into the source code of the Dreamvision, found the lines he was looking for and broke-
Ty’s despairing wail was the last thing Tony heard as he fell up into darkness.
- - -
“Please, Tony, please. Wake up now.”
And wonder of wonders, Tony did.
It was not a gradual thing; one minute his eyes were closed, and in the next, bright blue orbs were staring up at him, looking as surprised as Steve felt.
“Tony!” Steve cried, and then the glass slid away and Tony was launching himself into Steve’s arms, hale and whole.
“Steve! Jesus fuck, I did not expect to see you here.” He looked Steve up and down in obvious delight. “My my, look at you. It fits better than I expected, Cap.”
“Is that Tony?” Howard asked excitedly, and Steve winced. He’d forgotten about the earpiece.
“That it is,” Steve replied, and politely ignored what might have been classified as a sob of relief. “I’m handing over the armour, we’ll be out ASAP.”
“You brought my backpack? Gimme, gimme!” Tony made grabby hands until Steve gave him the backpack under the watchful eye of the drone’s camera.
Camera. Armour.
“Wait, Tony-!” Steve yelped, but it was too late, metal plates already sliding over skin and locking into place.
Which, of course, set of the terminal’s security system.
“Oh, great,” Tony said in Iron Man’s measured tones as security bots suddenly started pouring in from all directions. Their own drone beeped in alarm. “I see Ty arranged for us to have some playmates. That was nice of him.”
“Did he hurt you?” Steve demanded as he bashed a couple of bots. It was very cathartic. “Stone. Tiberius. Did he hurt you?”
“No more than any other villain has.” It was strange hearing Iron Man speak over the clamour at the same time Tony’s voice said the same thing in his earpiece. “In fact, he hurt me a lot less than, say, Justin Hammer, so he’s one up there.”
“That isn’t really what we want to hear, Tony,” Howard still spoke with a note of relief. “Repeat after me: the bad man didn’t cause any permanent damage.”
Iron Man blasted another robot and wound up back-to-back with Steve. “I’m fine, guys,” he said. Steve could almost hear his smile. “I promise, I’m totally okay.”
The shield tore another three security bots apart. “You’d better be,” Steve said, “because if not, I’m going to sit on you while Pepper and Rhodey tear you a new one.”
“Is that a promise?”
War Machine crashed in through the ceiling, downing a dozen new robots in a haze of bullets. “No flirting over comms, please,” Rhodey groaned. “It’s bad enough when you two do it public.”
“I think it’s cute!” He couldn’t see Rescue anywhere, but judging by the pile of broken machinery that was slowly building in a corner, Steve could assume that Pepper was somewhere in the room.
The ground shook suddenly. “I’m guessing that’s the Hulk?” Tony asked.
“You guessed right, Tin Man,” The Hulk’s grey face peered in through the hole in the ceiling. “Need a hand in there?”
“No thanks,” Steve grunted. He flung the shield under Iron Man’s outstretched arm and punched another bot in the head. “I think we’ve got it.”
Hulk nodded and disappeared. A short lull in the fighting gave Tony enough time to retract the faceplate and grin at Steve. “Ready to finish up here, Captain?”
Steve felt like he was flying. He grinned back. “Only if you can keep up, Shellhead.”
“‘Only if I can keep up,’ he says.” The faceplate snapped shut again. “We’ll see about that!”
- - -
They retreated to the Tower at Howard’s insistence. Not that anyone fought him over it, but Howard shown up onsite specifically to inform the NYPD that all parties involved were tired and in need of medical examination, which the facilities at the Tower were more than prepared for. Luckily, the cops in question were fond of Iron Man and only gave them a little shit about calling firefights in beforehand.
The trip back had been quiet. Howard drove himself and the newly de-hulked Bruce back on the motorbike the elder Stark had rode in on. The three pilots, of course, flew themselves back, and Steve and Tony had exchanged one look and silently agreed that Iron Man would be carrying Captain America for the duration. That was a little awkward - ultimately they settled on a sort of hug-and-fly position, Steve’s arm around Tony’s shoulders and Tony’s arm around Steve’s waist as he balanced carefully on one of Tony’s boots - but it was not nearly enough to make Tony willing to give up the closeness he so desperately wanted.
When they got back, Bruce changed into some new clothes while Tony endured the motherhenning of his father and friends.
(Well, if anyone asked Tony would say he was enduring it; in reality, he was more than happy to be motherhenned.)
Steve - Cap? - had only unglued himself from Tony’s side just long enough to throw back his cowl, strip off his gloves and set the shield off to one side. Currently, the blond was standing next to the examination bed Tony was sitting on, one of Tony’s hands clasped carefully between both of his bigger hands.
Pepper and Rhodey were there, too, having dragged a couple of comfy chairs into the room. Pepper was asleep already, and Rhodey looked like he wasn’t far off from the same. Howard was with Bruce, both of whom entered the room just as Tony started dozing off against Steve’s shoulder.
“What’s the verdict, doc?” he asked sleepily as Bruce took a look at some of the machines Tony had been hooked up to.
“The verdict is that I’m gonna have grey hairs by the time I’m twenty-five because of you, that’s the verdict,” Rhodey said.
Bruce smiled. “Looking good, so far,” he answered, “though I’m going to ask Steve and Jocasta to keep an eye on you overnight, and to let me know if any abnormalities crop up while you sleep. Are you sure you can’t get me a copy of the Dreamvision’s altered software? I’d really like to make sure that it won’t affect Extremis, at least.”
“Sorry, doc,” Tony leaned further into Steve side and squeezed his hand. Steve immediately squeezed back. “You’ll just have to take my word at it, ‘cause first I’d need a hardline into the pods, and then I’d have to go back and undo all the damage I did, which, no.” His stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly, making Tony wince. “Any chance of food in the near future?”
“Food’s on its way.” Howard had taken the spot on Tony’s other side and wrapped an arm around his son’s shoulders. “And I have to agree with James, in that you scared the crap out of us, son. Me especially.”
Tony didn’t really need to respond to that with anything but a smile for his father. A few weeks after being freed from the Mandarin, Howard had mentioned how one of his greatest fears had been that Gene would grab Tony to use as a tool against Howard. The past twenty hours had basically been the culmination of the elder Stark’s worse nightmares, and Tony could see that his father was far more affected by it than he let on. Back to weekly therapy sessions again. Sorry, Dad.
“What’s gonna happen to Tiberius?” he asked, trying to get his father’s mind onto other things.
Predictably, Howard frowned. “NYPD said they’d deal with him, but in all honesty I don’t give a rat’s ass what happens to him other than that he gets put away for a long time. I’m much more concerned about you, Tony. Speaking of, Bruce, any other news for us?”
There was discussion over the details of Tony’s condition, but he didn’t bother paying attention. Food came shortly after that, which Steve and Bruce practically inhaled. Tony ate his fair share, too, but about halfway through the meal he started dozing off. He never really fell asleep, but the chatter of the over-crowded examination room was a distant thing beyond the warmth of Steve’s body.
At some point, he was vaguely aware of being lifted (carried?), and then there were soft sheets being tucked up to his chin.
“Steve,” Tony whimpered without opening his eyes. The man in question shushed him soothingly and crawled under the covers as well.
Tony sighed contentedly and snuggled into the circle of Steve’s arms, who chuckled and said, “Sleep now, Tony, I’m right here.”
He did. For quite a while, actually, because while the red light of dawn had been creeping along the horizon during the flight home, the skylights in Steve’s bedroom - and it was Steve’s bedroom they were sleeping in, wasn’t it? - were dark again.
Steve mumbled something against Tony’s shoulder, and he couldn’t help but smile. This is nice. We should do this more often.
“Hey,” he whispered, because they probably needed to eat at some point, “are you awake?”
His bedmate groaned and stretched, pressing their bodies together in a way that would be positively delicious if Tony hadn’t felt like an over-wrung cloth. “I am now,” Steve rasped and opened his eyes, naked affection making them shine.
Tony swallowed reflexively. “So, does Dad know I’m here?” he asked, mostly teasing.
“Of course.” His boyfriend rubbed a hand down Tony’s back, comforting and oddly not distracting at all. “He helped me get you undressed, after all.”
Which of course had Tony automatically looking under the covers, but both he and Steve were still wearing boxers and, in Steve’s case, an undershirt. “Well that’s not embarrassing at all.”
“Not at all.” Steve sunk his free hand into dark hair. “No one wanted to wake you up. You’ve had a rough day, after all.”
“So’ve you,” Tony replied, bucking his head into Steve’s hand to encourage petting. Steve hummed and obliged to Tony’s unspoken request.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, lying chest to chest, wound together like they would never come apart. Finally Tony had to ask, “Why’d you do it?”
“Why’d I do what?”
“You know. Put on the suit. You didn’t have to, I know that you weren’t keen on becoming Captain America again.”
Steve’s hands stilled, and Tony felt a spike of panic rise in the back of his throat. Before he could take it back, though, a large hand came up to cradle Tony’s cheek as the ex-soldier said, “You told me that the suit was there if I felt that Captain America was ever needed. The thing is, Tony, me becoming Captain America was completely accidental. Captain America was created during a series of odd events, nothing more. But eventually, that title started weighing me down. Some days it felt like I had the hopes of an entire nation resting on my shoulders, which was both stupid and arrogant in retrospect.
“But,” Steve said over Tony’s protests, “but the weight was there, and it felt like more than I could bear some days. But I did, because I wanted to make a difference in the name of my country. I wanted to do my best to show what America stood for: freedom, justice, honour, all of that. Which was why I didn’t want to try to shoulder that weight again when you woke me up and I found out that our country - or at least, our government and the Army - held none of that sacred anymore.
“However. When Tiberius took you, I realized something: Captain America was whatever and whoever I made him to be. I don’t have to force myself into a role I think Captain America should fit; I’m going to act the way I think Captain America should act, and make the world’s idea of who Captain America is shift accordingly.”
“And who is Captain America?” Tony asked softly.
Steve smiled at him just as softly and brushed his thumb across Tony’s cheekbone. “Captain America,” he said softly, “is a man who won’t stand for injustice. He’s a man who wants to see wrongs set right, a man who seeks freedom for all, not just some. Captain America,” and here Steve pressed his lips to Tony’s forehead, “is a man who loves another man very much, and will do just about anything to see him safe.”
Oh. “Oh,” he breathed, because it felt like all of the air had suddenly rushed out of Tony’s lungs.
“Oh?” Steve parroted, and it took the younger man a moment to realize his boyfriend was teasing. “That’s all you’ve got to say, ya mug?”
Which of course sent Tony sputtering with laughter. “Well what else am I supposed to say, dork? And really, who even calls anyone mug anymore, c’mon, I thought we got you all caught up on today’s slang, Steve, I am disappointed-” Tony laughed even as Steve’s smiling lips crashed against his own.
One of Tony’s hands cupped Steve’s face as they parted, mirroring Steve’s hand on his own. “I love you too, you know,” he said sincerely, eyes never straying from Steve’s baby blues.
Steve smiled right back and murmured, “I know, Tony. I know.”