Chapter Text
Tony takes a deep breath and finally hits record. It takes him a few agonizing moments to start saying what he’d rehearsed. “So if you’re watching this, I’m probably dead. Because if the mission goes well tomorrow, the first thing I’m gonna do is erase this recording.” He winces. He’s already off script. This is just a precaution, like the one he’d deleted when he actually made it back alive from space. For the second time. He hadn’t had a chance to record anything when he flew through the wormhole hanging over New York City, but he’d been trapped on that floating hunk of junk with Nebula for more than two weeks. And in the morning he was going to travel back in time to New York City in 2012 and steal a couple of Infinity Stones. So. A message. Just in case.
“My will is very legally binding and specific, so I’m not going to mess with that. But what we’re doing tomorrow is crazy and dangerous and I guess I just wanted a chance to say some things, in case I don’t make it back.” Tony runs a nervous hand through his hair and takes another deep breath. “I know it isn’t something I’m supposed to say, but fuck it I guess, since I’m dead you guys can’t be mad at me. If someone doesn't get to come back tomorrow, I hope it's me. I hope everyone is sitting on the couch and sad as hell about it, but if one of us has to go to win, I want it to be me.”
Tony thinks back to the look Dr. Strange gave him when he said there was only one scenario where they won, and if Tony is right, he knows what he has to do.
“Rhodey, I’m sorry I let the end of the world split us up. I should have been a better friend, not just hid in my cabin trying to find some magical fix. You were out there trying to maintain some kind of order, and I was in my lab talking to a couple of robot arms.” He’d come back from space with a new alien friend and an anger he couldn’t shake, one he didn’t want to touch the lives of the people he still cared about. He’d isolated. Tried to invent time machines and Thanos killers and hell, he’d even tried to learn magic. The magic part had been a particular low point. He’d just drunkenly sat there and tried– no help, no books, no guide, just waving his hands like Strange had and begging the universe to make something happen. Anything.
“Happy. Take care of yourself. And if we are successful, take care of the kid for me. He likes you.” Tony’s voice cracks. “And Peter, if you’re there, I’ve left you a full ride for any school you want to go to and an internship when you’re ready. No fussing about the money. Take it and tell Happy and Pepper thank you and be the hero none of us could be. You’re the best of us, kid, and god, if you aren’t there I’d better be dead.”
Tony almost pauses the recording, but if he stops now he won’t finish. So he wipes the leaking moisture from his eyes and keeps talking.
“Pep. I know I’m leaving things in good hands. You’ll take care of my baby for me. The business, I mean. Money can finally exchange hands. There is no secret Stark kid out there to swoop in and inherit the fortune, I know a lot of you have placed various bets on it.”
He sits. He’s nervous. “Fuck, Pepper, I’m just so sorry. I promised not to die on you, but that’s just one more promise to you I’m gonna have to break.” He’d tried so hard not to be Iron Man for her, promised to get the arc reactor removed, along with the shrapnel. But he’d rescheduled the surgery again and again, and after the third time he chickened out Pepper had said ‘the suit or me.’ And all of that metal was still in his sternum nearly eleven years later. “It was never gonna work between us, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have regrets. You were always out of my league. I’m just glad for the time we had and that we called it off before it ruined our friendship for good.” They were never quite as close after the breakup, but Pepper and Rhodey were still his only family. He’d love them forever.
Who was left? He’d made a list. Where was the list? Well fuck.
“Cap. I don’t forgive you. My death doesn’t make us square, but don’t let it torture you, either. You don’t get to use me to be a martyr or whatever bullshit you’re guilting yourself into right now.” The anger Tony felt building disappears in a sad little shudder. “We could never get on the same page, huh? Always just a few steps out of synch. I hope I saved your ass and died a tragic, heroic death, and I’m the only reason you got your people back. And you’ll spend the rest of your super soldier life thinking about the what ifs. Fuck. FRIDAY, delete that last sentence. No wait, don’t. I meant it.”
Tony looks directly into the little camera on his desk. “Mourn me, maybe put up a couple of cool statues, and then move on. But never forget, all of you, that I’m the one who invented time travel. I’m the one who saved the goddamned universe. And when the next Thanos shows up, I guess you guys are screwed.” He turns the recording off and kicks his chair across the room.
“Boss,” FRIDAY says, “Captain Rogers is outside. Should I let him in?”
He hears a knock and Cap’s muted voice through the door. "Tony? Is this a bad time?”
“Fuck!” Tony steps towards the fallen chair, pauses, fixes his hair, and takes another one of those deep breaths that don’t seem to really do anything. “Ugh, let him in before he thinks something is wrong.” Of course Steve is here. Now. Tony is still rolling the chair back to its proper place at his desk when the door opens, and he doesn’t bother to turn around. He knows what Steve looks like.
“Hey.” Captain America’s voice isn't meant to sound unsure, but it does. "I just wanted to…” He trails off and sighs deeply. “I just wanted to thank you. In case we don't get to say it later.”
“Oh?” Tony keeps his tone clipped but casual. He’s keeping his cards plastered to his chest. He moves the chair a couple of inches to the right, and then a few to the left. “Is that all?”
“Jesus, Tony. Can you just look at me for thirty seconds, so I can get this off my chest? Then I promise I’ll leave you alone until the mission.”
Tony whips around, hands shaking now that they aren’t holding on to anything. “Oh how terribly gauche of me to inconvenience Captain America for five fucking seconds. Oops, sorry ‘bout my language, Cap.” How is he supposed to remain calm and rational when everything Steve says just sets him off?
He catches Steve just as his expression hardens. He rushes his way through a speech he clearly rehearsed. “Thank you for not giving up. When I came to you with Scott Lang, you had every right to say no, but you didn't. You showed up, and you made it happen. This is all because of you, so thanks.” He turns stiffly on his heel to leave. “That was it.”
Oh, godammit. Tony really is the biggest asshole on the planet.
“Wait!” They can’t leave things like this. Not when Tony isn’t planning on coming back. “Steve, I’m just being a dick. Don’t- don’t storm out.”
“I wouldn't want to inconvenience you, Mr. Stark,” Steve says. He sounds extremely bitter, but he does turn back around.
He looks tired. Tony can’t recall Captain America ever looking tired. There’s a weariness around the eyes, a slump to his shoulders.
“What are we doing?” Tony says, feeling every fucking year of his life all at once. “Why are we like this?”
“If we knew, we’d probably have fixed it by now.” Steve lowers himself into a chair, and stares at his hands, like he’s miles away. Or maybe it's years.
“Jeezus,” Tony laughs. It sounds dry and sad. “I’d blame it on the alcohol but I’m two and a half weeks sober. Come to think of it, that’s probably not helping with my attitude problem at all.” He hasn’t had a drop since Steve showed up on his perimeter cameras and Tony did a shot for courage before opening his front door.
“Probably not.” Steve doesn't smile exactly, but the corner of his mouth turns up just a little. “When this is all over, I think we deserve a vacation.”
“FRIDAY, when we get back, book this man as many tickets as he wants to wherever he wants. He deserves to sit on a beach and drink something with an umbrella in it.”
“I think I’m more of a quiet cabin and a book kind of guy. What did Sam call it? A staycation?” Steve huffs a little laugh. “But I’m only going if you promise to take a break too.” He almost sounds normal when he brings up Sam Wilson. Almost.
“Oh, I’m retiring.” Tony hasn’t told anyone else, and has no plans to. He doesn’t want to hear anyone’s opinions on the matter. Not when there’s so little time left. So why is he telling Steve? “This is my last flight, so to speak.”
Steve looks up at him, surprised. It's the first time in a long time they’ve held eye contact this long. He looks like he’s searching Tony’s face for an answer. He finally smiles, but it really just highlights how damn tired he looks. “That's great, Tony. That's really great. I'm sure Pepper is thrilled.”
Ouch. Tony feels himself closing off and he can’t seem to do anything about it. “It’s back to the lab for me, I guess. About a decade too late for her liking. But I’m not taking the company back. I just want to tinker in my lab and hang out with my robots.” Lies. All lies. He’s gotten pretty good at them these days. “The stocks will finally settle. She deserves that.”
“You should settle down, too. I've heard you get used to it after a while.” Steve stands. “Well, I’d better at least pretend to get some sleep. If this is your final flight, I’m glad I get to see it.”
Settle down? Tony wants to scream. With who? Pepper was happy. He couldn’t fuck that up again. His playboy days were long over. There had been a moment, just a moment, in between his breakup and the fall of SHIELD where there might have been the faintest spark of something. But that had been extinguished by Steve’s past coming back to haunt him. There’s no one, and that’s fine. It’s useless to cry about what can't be. He forcefully swallows the venom building in his throat and tries to smile. It probably looks as tired as Steve’s.
“Let’s just take things one step at a time. Eggs and hatching and all that.”
For a second it looks like Steve might put a hand on his shoulder, but he doesn't. “It's going to work, Tony.”
“Oh, It’ll work. I built it. But we still have to pull off six separate heists.”
“It's going to work.” He says again, in that stupid, sincere way he always does. It drives Tony crazy that he almost believes it.
“I- thanks.” Steve is trying to trust Tony. With everything ahead of them, the least he can do is acknowledge it. “Just thanks.”
“We’re a team, right?” Steve turns to leave with a wave. “Hey, FRIDAY. Make sure he closes his eyes for a little bit, okay?”
“I’ll certainly try, Captain Rogers,” FRIDAY lilts from the ceiling.
Tony tries to say something else, anything. But he just stands there, frozen, as Steve leaves. He lingers for several minutes, second guessing all of his carefully thought-out plans, before finally making his body stagger over to the little couch in the corner of his lab. He curls up there and tries to get some sleep, but he never does. In the morning, he’s going to do the most selfish thing he’s ever done. One far-too-late thank you from Captain America isn’t going to change anything.
*****
The moment Steve sees the look on Tony and Scott’s faces, he knows something went wrong. His body still aches from falling a few stories in the fight against his younger self, but he made it out, scepter-in-hand.
The pair are sitting in a trashed car, in the decimated streets of New York City, looking just as defeated as their surroundings. Steve doesn't miss the fresh cut on Tony’s brow.
Tony sighs, already on the defense. Why is he always so defensive? “Give me a break, Cap, I just got hit in the head with a Hulk.”
Scott turns to Tony, slamming the car door behind him. “You said we had one shot. This. This was our shot. We shot it! It’s shot!” He sounds like he’s on the verge of a breakdown.
They bicker back and forth while Steve wracks his brain for a solution. Loki escaped with the tesseract, which is really bad news. Their plan hinges on three stones being in New York. Without the space stone contained inside the glowing cube, everything falls apart. Even if everyone else was successful, and they gathered the other five stones, it wouldn't be enough power to bring everyone back. To bring Sam back. To bring Bucky back.
Steve cuts them off mid-fight. “Are there any other options with the tesseract?”
Scott doesn't even wait for him to finish. “No no no! There’s no other options. There’s no do-overs, we’re not going anywhere else. We have one particle left. Each. That’s it, alright? We use that, bye-bye, you're not going home.”
Steve grimaces. "Well if we don't try, then no-one else is going home either.”
The list of names plays in his head. It's haunted him for five years.
Sam Wilson, Wanda Maximov, T’chala, Shuri, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Peter Parker, and the ones Steve didn't get to meet, like Steven Strange, or Rocket and Nebula’s family. Too many names. Too many people, lost.
Bucky Barnes.
“You need to get the Mind Stone back to the team. I have an idea of when there’s Pym Particles and the Tesseract in the same building.” Tony has that look in his eyes that means he’s found a solution and no one’s going to like it.
“What? I can’t just-“
“Scott,” Tony cuts him off, stepping into his space and turning on the charm. “If Cap and I don’t succeed, then we’ll be just as fucked as we are now. But none of that matters if you can’t deliver the scepter back to the team. Can you do that?”
“What? No!” Scott says, even as he takes the scepter when Steve offers it to him. "I can't leave you guys. Where are you going? When are you going?”
“Tony’s right.” Steve says. He thinks he knows what Tony’s getting at. "The most important thing is gathering the stones we do have. We can't risk losing it.”
The last time Steve and Scott worked together, Tony was on the opposing side. It's different this time.
“I trust him. We'll be back before anyone knows we’ve gone.” Steve shoots him his best Captain America smile.
Scott doesn't look entirely convinced, but he nods anyway. "Okay, Cap. Captain. Steve. Sorry, America. Rogers.” Someday he was going to have to get over the star-struck thing. “But look, if you do this, and it doesn't work, you're not coming back.”
Tony shrugs. “That was always the risk. We’re just rolling the dice an additional time. Get going, I’ll have Captain America back to you guys in literally no time.”
“Alright.” Scott concedes. “Good luck.” His time suit envelopes him. He hits the button on his wrist, and shrinks into nothing, with the scepter firmly in his grasp.
Steve turns to Tony with a frown. Something about that last statement doesn't sit quite right with him.
“So, New Jersey.” He raises an eyebrow. “Do you know the year?”
“Yeah, punch in what I tell you,” Tony nods and smiles, but his eyes never fully make contact with Steve’s. “Zero four, zero seven, one nine seven zero.” Tony hits numbers into his own device, but they aren't the same ones he’s given Steve.
Steve stops before the last digit, and drops his arms. “What are you not telling me?”
“What? Cap, that’s the date to get to the SHIELD facility in Jersey.” Tony sounds reasonable, but there’s a little crinkle around his eyes, and he still won’t look Steve in the face.
“So then where are you going, Tony?” Why did he always have to do this? They’d talked last night. They were on the same page, weren't they?
“You have your mission, and I have mine. All you have to do is get the Tesseract back. Why can’t you just do that?” All the facade crumbles as soon as Tony gets angry. He’s typing faster.
“That wasn't the plan. I thought we were doing this together.” Steve takes a quick step to close the distance and grabs Tony’s wrists. His instincts scream that he has to stop him from leaving.
“You don’t understand!” Tony panics the moment Steve touches him, thrashing in his grip, voice shrill. “Don’t! It’s the only way! A stable time loop was never going to work!”
“Then what have we been doing this whole time?” Steve feels anger roar to life inside him. The kind that only Tony can inspire. He holds tight. “Just stay here and explain it to me!”
“This isn’t the one! I saw his face right before he turned into dust! Something clued him in that the win condition was already gone! Goddammit Steve, I have to go back and make sure we go to that battle with different variables! You have to let me go!” He looks like he did in Siberia, wild-eyed and manic. Desperate.
No. Please no. This can't be happening.
“Who? Strange! Tony, you can't know that. We have to stick together. That's how we win! Bruce said we have to put everything back where it was. If you change things the timeline will branch and…” Realization dawns on Steve. "Damnit Tony! Are you seriously trying to run away?”
Tony snarls, “Oh, fuck you Steve!” He swivels his wrist, and tries to shoot a repulsor blast in his face.
Steve brings his shield up in time to block it, but he loses his grip on Tony’s wrist. Once free, Tony takes a step back, and Steve sees his hand moving towards the button, almost in slow motion.
He springs forward, hoping to knock him to the ground before it’s too late. He feels himself colliding with Tony, but they don't land on the street. There's a sensation, like hitting the big drop on a roller coaster, like your stomach might come out of your mouth, and then everything goes white.
*****
Tony’s in the suit. It’s an older model, heavy and not made of nano-tech. He’s flying through snowy trees at a breakneck pace, luckily on autopilot because otherwise he would be wrapped around a trunk and sliding into the snow.
“FRIDAY, report,” he barks, trying to determine what the fuck is going on. There’s an explosion behind him. Shouting. Combat. Where the fuck is he? Where’s the time travel suit?
“Sir, you have not installed FRIDAY into the Mark Forty Three,” the cool, clipped voice of JARVIS answers. “What do you require?”
“Oh fuck, JARVIS,” Tony sobs. It’s been so long since he heard his beloved first child. “Hey buddy, can I get a status report?”
“On the situation or your current state? Sir, your pulse and respiration are rapidly increasing.”
“Situation, Jarv,” Tony gasps and blasts a vehicle full of hydra goons. He knows when he is now, but why the fuck is he in his old suit? And where is Steve? He takes over the piloting systems and blasts off towards the Hydra compound.
“The team is making steady progress towards the compound and eliminating the ground assault teams. Sir, there appears to be an energy barrier surrounding-“
Tony is used to a far more advanced suit and when he tries to make a sharp turn to avoid the edge of the barrier, he beefs it and smacks into the invisible shield and goes careening into the snow. “Shit! Fuck!”
“Tony! What the hell is happening?” He hears Steve’s voice on the comm.
“Loki’s scepter must be here.” He hears Thor’s booming voice. "Strucker couldn't mount his defense without it. At long last!”
Language. Cap is supposed to say “language” there.
Oh shit oh fuck Future Steve is in Past Steve. That means Tony is somehow in Past Tony. Tony might be having a panic attack because he opens his mouth and says, “Gosh, Cap! Language!”
“At long last is lasting a little long, boys.” That’s Natasha.
There’s an explosion in the direction of the forest. “I think we’ve lost the element of surprise.” Clint always was a sarcastic bastard.
“This isn't over yet.” It would sound normal to the rest of the team, but he knows Steve is speaking directly to him.
“Not by a long shot.”
It's easy to bypass the shield when he already knows how to do it, and even easier to get into the lab. Tony knows exactly what he’s looking for, so he doesn’t bother. He also doesn’t step out of the suit and leave himself vulnerable to Wanda.
“JARVIS, mute my team comms on both ends and amplify the exterior voice from the helmet,” Tony orders as he heads into the lab where the Chitauri Leviathan corpse hangs from the ceiling and steps straight up to the sceptre. He takes a deep breath before he speaks. This was further back than he’d made plans for. He’d have to improvise and hope for the best.
“Wanda,” his voice echoes through the facility. “I know you’ve got quite the grudge built up, but I’d love to have a chat with you and your brother about your options, before you do anything you might regret later.” He just has to hope she’ll be curious enough to investigate and not go straight for the mind whammy again.
“Have you ever done anything you regret?” Wanda’s voice echoes through the room. It's cold, and hateful, and he can't tell where it’s coming from. He shudders a little when he thinks about the kind of power she wields, and is grateful she doesn't know what to do with it yet. “Do you even know what that feels like?”
“Wanda, I’ve got about a solid twenty years of nothing but regret,” Tony laughs, self deprecating and sad. He needs her to see that he really means it. “And another twenty of trying to do anything and everything I can to alleviate the guilt. It won’t ever be enough, I know that, but I can’t stop trying.” He’s left his whole life, his whole timeline, everything behind to try and make up for his mistakes. “Listen,” he reaches out with a gloved hand and takes the scepter down from its stand. “This grudge of yours, it's personal. Let’s deal with it like adults. There’s no need to drag all of my coworkers into it.” The last time he’d held the scepter, Tony was manic. Wanda’s magic had done a number on him. But this time he knows exactly what he’s holding. And he won’t make the same mistakes again. It can’t go to Asgard, and it can’t make Ultron.
“What could you possibly know about our grudge?” It sounds like she whispers it into his ear, but when he turns, there’s nothing there. Her cruel laugh rings around him. “Are you afraid yet Mr. Stark? Maybe we should see what you're really afraid of.”
“You know you could just ask,” Tony starts backing up towards the exit. He keeps the helmet up, but he has no idea if it will really protect his mind from her. “I’m terrified of being submerged in water. Waterboarding will do that to you. I’m terrified of space. It’s way too fucking big and full of things far more powerful than us.” He swears he can see a flash of movement in his periphery, but his sensors aren’t picking up anything. “I’m super duper terrified I’m going to be alone forever and it’s all my fault. It’s quite the list, I could keep going.”
“Why don't you show me?”
Tony feels a tap on the side of his helmet, and of course her brain bullshit goes right through the suit. Why wouldn't it?
He’s expecting it, so he thinks really hard about a specific memory. Sand. There’s so much sand. Shouting, screaming. He’s pressed against a ditch and there’s gunfire and explosions and screaming. Then, a whistling noise. A thunk. His own name staring back at him. A gift from old Uncle Obie. He stares at that missile for much longer than he did when it actually happened. It doesn’t explode so much as he’s suddenly sliding into a cave. The shouting is different this time, vicious and demanding, even though he can’t understand a word, and god, his sternum hurts. He clutches the car battery to his chest, begging an indifferent universe that when they stick his face back in the bucket of water none of it splashes on the battery. His head goes in, and suddenly he’s cold, staring up at an infinite sea of stars.
Tony shudders. He’s sitting in the Guardian’s ship, waiting to finally run out of oxygen, or maybe he’ll die of dehydration first. He isn’t sure which one is worse, but he’s just so tired. Maybe it’s a good thing. He lost, after all. Strange tried to tell him something before blowing away on the wind, and Tony just knows he’s failed. It’s over. He’d tried. Maybe he could just drift away as well.
When Tony opens his eyes again he’s back in Strucker’s castle. Wanda is standing across the room from him. Her brother tries to zip by her in a blur, but she holds her hand out to stop him, as if she could sense him coming. She regards Tony warily, before dragging Pietro away.
“Great chat!” Tony calls after her. “Let’s do it again sometime, okay?” He clutches the scepter tightly and charges up the stairs.
*****
“Clint’s hit!” Nat calls over the lines.
Before Steve can respond he’s knocked off his feet. Oh right. Pietro and Wanda were here.
“There’s enhanced on the field!” Steve says. "Two of them. One is super fast, and the other has some sort of mind power.”
Damn. He’s already changing things. It’s not like he can remember everything that happened in a battle he fought eight years ago! Once he gets to Tony he’ll figure out how to get them back to their own time, and none of this will have ever happened, but Steve still can't stand to let his team get hurt when he knows what’s coming. Everything they do here without a reliable way home risks creating a branch timeline, if he understood correctly.
“Clint’s hit pretty bad, guys! We’re gonna need evac.”
Steve runs into Thor. "I can get Barton back to the jet. The sooner we’re gone, the better. You and Stark secure the scepter.”
“Sure.” Steve resists rolling his eyes.
Tony’s been awfully quiet on the comms, probably going solo like he always does. Why did Tony want to come back this far? What was he planning?
Steve is too distracted. He almost takes a blast from a scepter-enhanced weapon right to the chest. Maybe unraveling Stark’s hair-brained scheme can wait until the shooting dies down. Once Thor has helped him take out a squad of Hydra soldiers, he flies off to pick up Clint.
They finish picking off the last of the Hydra forces. Eventually Nat asks him if she should go get Hulk. Steve almost forgot that they still had to babysit him at this point.
Then he’s off to the castle. He has to secure Strucker, who he knows is going to surrender. By the time he’s in hand, Steve still hasn't heard a peep from Tony. If his memory is correct, around this time was when Wanda started taking out the Avengers, but there’s no sign of her.
If he hurries, he might get some answers out of Tony before this whole situation goes to shit.
Tony’s voice comes over the comms. “Scepter acquired. We should book it.”
Moments later Steve sees Tony hurrying down the hall in his direction. The clanging of his suit is impossible to miss. It’s one of the older suits, but then again, Steve’s in his old suit too.
Steve reaches for the communicator in his ear and turns it off. The team is safe at the quinjet. They’ll be fine on their own.
“Tony, what the hell did you do?”
The faceplate slides open and Steve is looking at a much younger Tony. He hadn’t really noticed how much Tony has aged over the last few years until just now. “I have no idea!” Tony hisses. “This is your fault! This isn’t the time I punched in, and I have no clue where our bodies are!”
“I think it's pretty obvious we’re in our old bodies. I thought that wasn't supposed to be possible. How do we get back?” Steve frowns. It was already hard enough to follow all this time travel hogwash. Now it wasn't working the way they’d expected.
“Let me say this in a way you might understand: I have no fucking idea. What happened is incalculable. And since it’s already happened, unmeasurable. Now, can we walk and talk because if we stay too long Wanda might come back for seconds.”
Steve turns to move towards the exit. The authorities are there, taking Strucker and his men into custody. They won't have long. “So what are we supposed to do? You've already changed things.”
“Well unless you want me to fly back to the Tower and make Ultron again, there is no going back!” Tony grips the scepter tighter. “In the time it would take for me to build a quantum tunnel alone, it would be too late! We’re in a branched timeline now, anyway. There is no going back. Back doesn’t exist for us anymore!”
“That can't be true.” Steve stops dead in his tracks. “Tony, that can't be true. They need us! They have no way of getting the tesseract now!”
Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Wanda Maximoff, Nick Fury…
“That’s why you weren’t supposed to come!” Tony says far too loudly. Agents are noticing their fight. “This is our new timeline now. This is it.”
“Oh, like this is my fault?” Steve hisses. He’s trying to keep the volume down, but he’s furious. “That's rich Tony. That's real rich. If you had stuck to the plan we would be hugging our friends right now. You always do this! You always think you know better than everyone else.” He should stop. He should really stop. “How’d that work out with Ultron? How’d that work out in Siberia?”
Tony jerks like he’s been slapped. He stares at Steve for a long few moments, shock and hurt clear as day in his expression. “You want to be mad at me? Fine. Be mad at me, that seems to be your default. You may not like it, but our future is the past now. This is the new present. You can either get it together and help me save this timeline, or fuck off.”
With that, the helmet slides closed with a metallic snap and Iron Man’s voice comes over the comms. “I have the scepter but Thor, buddy, we’ve got a problem. I don’t think this thing is going to be safe on Asgard.”
Clint’s pained voice says “Guys, can we talk about this on the way?”
What else can Steve do in this situation? He follows Tony.
*****
Once Clint is set up on a gurney, with an IV drip to keep him stable, the Avengers take off. There’s a nervous energy that Steve doesn't remember, thanks to Tony’s announcement.
Steve isn't dumb enough to start telling everybody he’s from the future before he figures out what Stark is up to. He tamps down the rage and betrayal swirling around inside him, and tries to do whatever it was he did last time.
Tony is flying, because God-forbid anyone else gets to steer the ship. Literally or metaphorically.
There's an odd quiet amongst the team until they’re under way. Everyone waits expectantly. Thor is the first one to break.
“What have you learned, Stark?”
Steve wonders what bullshit Tony will come up with. There's no way he’s going to let an Infinity Stone leave his supervision.
“When I touched the scepter I saw something. No, I did not touch it with my bare hands and you're all welcome to check that my eyes are not blue. I’m going to call it a vision, despite how crazy that sounds, but I saw what I saw.” His performance is good. Steve wouldn’t second guess it, if he didn’t already know that Tony is lying. “There was a big room, lots of weird looking items on pedestals. The Tesseract was there, and the scepter next to it. Then Loki strode in and scooped both of them up.”
“Loki?” Natasha sounds incredulous from her perch next to Bruce. “He’s confirmed dead.”
“I have thought so before.” Thor says gravely. “But I saw his body with my own eyes.”
Steve resists the urge to scoff. The only way he would believe Loki had actually died was fighting Thanos.
“I don’t think it was pulled from my memories because Loki was wearing something different. Fancier? And he had a big spear-thing. It was gold.” Tony continues. “I’ll admit, Wanda Maximoff did something brain-screwy to me as well, but she didn’t arrive until several minutes after I grabbed the scepter.”
“A golden spear? Gungnir?” Thor looks sick to his stomach. A strange look on a God. "That spear belongs to the King of Asgard! It belongs to my father!”
Ah. So Tony was trying to convince Thor that the scepter was safer on Earth. If Steve remembers correctly, Loki was posing as his father on Asgard at this time. What year were they in again? It’s right before Ultron and Sokovia, so 2015.
“I don’t think it’s fake.” Bruce has his headphones around his neck. “Or at least, it isn’t a figment pulled from Tony’s mind. There’s too many new details that aren’t from Tony’s past experiences with Loki.”
“Gonna say I agree with Bruce on this one,” Tony calls back. “Especially when I compare it to what Wanda did. She basically dropped me in a speedrun collection of my worst memories. It was fast, and blurry at times, but it was all things I’ve already experienced.”
“Is that one of the enhanced? Wanda?” Clint coughs. “Cause when I get my hands on that speedy bastard…”
Steve winces a little. They didn't know Wanda and Pietro’s identities at this point.
“Well she introduced herself pretty thoroughly,” Tony quickly covers up his error. “Called the other one her brother. They seem to have some sort of personal grudge with me.”
Shocking. Who could possibly have any problem with The Great Tony Stark?
“If there is any possibility that my brother is alive, I must investigate at once!” Thor looks a little sad. "I thought he had truly changed in the end, but if your vision is true, he may be plotting to resume his campaign for Midgard.”
Steve can sympathize. He knows exactly what it feels like to think someone has changed for the better, and you finally learn to trust them again, only to get burned.
“Well, it can’t go to Asgard until we get this sorted out, and I’m not handing it over to a government,” Tony continues. “The last time we did that, they just immediately started using it to make weapons.”
“That wasn’t the government, that was Hydra.” Nat points out.
“And SHIELD." Steve speaks for the first time. He really ought to leave Tony to fend for himself after everything he’s done, but if there is still any hope of going home, he’s going to need Tony’s knowledge.
“And SHIELD, thank you, Cap.”
“Tony’s right,” Bruce stands and walks towards the cockpit. “It should stay with us, for now. We have time to decide what the right course of action is, here. Especially if those enhanced siblings want it, too.”
Well, Steve’s already come this far. He might as well keep up the act. Unlike Tony, he knows when to shut up and stick with the team.
“We’ll keep it safe for you, big guy.” Steve claps Thor on the shoulder.
“I shall leave for Asgard as soon as possible.” Thor says.
Steve looks at Tony. Is this what he wanted? Keep the scepter, and keep Thor out of the way?
“Keep in touch, and let us know if you need any help,” Tony looks up at Thor. “We’re here for you.”
“Likewise my friends!” Thor puts on a brave face, but he’s terrible at hiding his emotions. "I shall ask Heimdal to keep careful watch over Midgard while I am away.”
“Are you going to head out immediately? Or will you stay for the party?” Tony asks. “Maybe you should stick around until I can at least get a preliminary scan of the scepter, see what we’re dealing with.”
Thor looks a little dubious before he concedes. “This is a great victory we have won today. We should revel in the spoils.”
“Right.” Steve concludes. “We destroyed the last HYDRA base, captured Strucker, and reclaimed the scepter. That's something to be proud of.”
His team had done good work. They deserved to hear it from their leader, even if said leader felt totally lost, and way in over his head.
Tony nods in agreement, but doesn’t say anything else. His brow furrows as he concentrates on the flight controls. Steve has seen that look enough times to know that Tony is deep in thought. What is he planning? It’s so frustrating that he can’t just ask him outright.
When did things get so bad between them? Steve couldn't say for sure. They had been teammates, friends even. There was even a point when Steve felt like there could have been more, but they always ended up on opposite sides.
Steve really does have the worst timing when it comes to love.
*****
The asset is alone. He’s been alone for weeks now. He’s not meant to be alone, he’s not meant to be out of cryo this long. Normally he would be recalibrated after the mission and put back under, to wait for the next mission. This time, he did something he’s never done before. He failed.
Now he has nowhere to go. As best he could tell, Hydra was gone. Was it gone because he had failed, or had he failed because it was gone?
The asset wasn't made for finding answers, he was made for providing solutions. He had no need for thinking, but he couldn't seem to stop himself.
He kept thinking about the man on the bridge. On the helicarrier. In the river.
Captain America, the museum exhibit told him. Steve Rogers. Everything there had felt a little familiar, like he’d seen it in a dream. Could assets dream?
There was another man in the exhibit. He carried the name that Captain America had called the asset. It was like looking in a mirror. But the Winter Soldier is not that man. He is an asset.
The asset needs to be recalibrated.