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cap_ironman2010-05-14 03:16 am
(FIC) Mouths of Madness ch.3
Author: GlasgowSmiles
Rating: R
Warning/Spoilers: AU (multiverse)
Pairing: Steves/Tonys (and Steve/Natasha, and eventually a touch of Stephanie/Tony...)
Word Count: 1,752
Beta: The fantastic ellyr_in_ink and any mistakes are mine
A/N: The promised sequel to 'You Were Made For Me'
Summary: Hey, remember how Anthony shows up with a dire warning and then it's practically a romantic freakin' comedy and nobody fights any aliens? Yeah, I didn't forget about that. This time there's action.
NOTE TWO: Ack! I'm sorry, I forgot to link to chapter one when I posted chapter two. Here's links for both:
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
“They have to be coming from somewhere.” Hank slammed his hand down on the table.
“The other side of the rift?”
He glared reproachfully at Steve. “I mean, something has to be... producing them, something on the other side. A queen, if you will. Well, it’s my best guess, anyway.”
“One problem,” a Logan said grimly. “None of us can survive on the other side.”
Tony frowned. Logan had a point—he’d been fastball special-ed into the rift, just a little harder than was probably intended, and what they got back was barely recognizable, just enough left to start regenerating. Even now, an hour later, he was inside listening in on the strategy meeting instead of outside slicing and dicing, and that spoke volumes.
“Strange might.” Hank looked between the rest of the small group.
“I’ll ask him.” Tony nodded. He didn’t know how many Dr. Stranges were currently working in this universe; he just knew he only ever saw one at a time, always in the same place. He assumed there were, at a bare minimum, two of them and that they switched out when he was someplace else. “If we can shut down whatever creature, process, or factory is making more of them, then we can all go home a little faster.”
Logan had at least finished regenerating—they no longer had to watch flesh re-knit itself in gruesome layers over gleaming metallic bones. He stretched, winced a little, and popped something into place. “I’m heading back out with you.”
“If you’re sure—“ Hank started.
“Just today this arm’s been chewed off three times.” He shrugged. “Fine now. Be fine when it’s over.”
They moved out as a group, leaving Hank behind, and the Logan was good enough to pretend he didn’t notice if Tony and Steve walked a little closer to each other than they had to. Or he just didn’t care enough to say anything.
A few more people joined them in the hallways between the strategy session and the door. A few X-Men, some doubles of each other—although, Tony reasoned, didn’t they have a guy who did that?—one Peter Parker, not the one who’d called him out on his Red Dwarf reference before. A stunning blonde Amazon goddess that Tony glimpsed briefly because she stood maybe a head and a half taller than Logan. He had no idea who she was, until she paused at the door to pull up her cowl, until Logan kept walking and Tony saw the shield on her back.
He nudged Steve in the ribs. “You do not get to make fun of me for having an alternate-universe female self. You even make a hotter woman than me.”
“I don’t see it,” Steve sighed.
“What? Look, one hundred percent gay or not, I mean, you’re cognizant of the, the gorgeous blonde hair—“
“I like brunets.” Steve flashed a playful smirk at him.
“Okay, but you’re also cognizant of the—wow, what is she, thirty-six, twenty-four, thirty-six, what a winning hand?”
“It’s not polite to ogle. Especially in front of your boyfriend.”
“I’m not ogling. I’m very adept at measuring volume and radius. And she is my boyfriend.”
“Okay, but I wouldn’t try guessing her mass, because she’d probably punch you in the face.”
“Wouldn’t want that. I’ve gotta go talk to Strange. Be careful out there?”
“Every single time.” Steve smiled anyway, leaning forward and brushing a quick kiss to the gleaming faceplate. “You, too. You’re up closer than I am.”
“I’d kiss you back, but...”
Steve could imagine the deprecating smirk as Tony shrugged, then took off.
The female Captain America smiled at him—weary but friendly—and jogged over to take up position nearby as they moved towards the fray.
“Some people probably think it’s a lot to get used to,” she said. “The gender thing. But I guess I’ve always been one of the boys anyway, so it doesn’t surprise me to see it’s literally true in some universes.”
“Guess it shouldn’t come as a shock. I mean, after the thing with Tony and Natasha...” He chuckled softly.
“I met Natasha. Well... I met one of them. I guess there are... maybe two?”
“Really?” Steve automatically offered her a hand in getting over some debris, only to be surprised when she pulled him along after her. “Uh, thanks.”
“Yeah. There’s the one who belongs here, with the more... curvy armor. And then,” she nodded up towards where Steve could see Tony in conversation with Strange.
“No, that one’s Tony. I mean, one of them. A Tony. He’s... you know, a man and all. He’s usually a man. Usually it doesn’t seem to stop me any.”
“Guess it didn’t stop me,” she laughed. “I think there’s still another Natasha, though. Hey! Incoming!”
There wasn’t much time to talk after that.
---/-/---
“Strange is going in.” Tony landed next to Steve, casually blasting one of the things out of the way as he did so. “Wanda Maximoff is doing something weird that makes that possible; thinking about it gives me a headache.”
The female Captain America frowned slightly. “Usually gives me one, too.”
“Really?” Steve bashed into one of the creatures with his shield. “I usually try to just shrug the weirdness off.”
Tony was rolling his eyes inside the armor, and Steve was aware of it. “You treat magic and technology as essentially interchangeable.”
“Asimov’s law.” A Peter Parker dropped in between them, slinging a web at one of the oncoming blurred mouths, giving Logan the opportunity to get the drop on it.
“Bad scientist!” Tony shouted after him. “No cookie!”
The female Cap shook her head. “Our Wanda... something happened with her. That’s all I want to say about it.”
Tony let it go. The universes seemed pretty well split on the subject—in about half of them, Wanda went crazy, in about half of them, she didn’t. Steve’s expression hardened briefly and he nodded. Then they were fighting the teeth again and it was like the conversation never happened.
Tony rejoined the aerial attack, and was blown back when something from behind the rift erupted. It was bright, in colors he never knew existed, and when it was over, his helmet was gone and Steve was holding him.
“Was it full of stars?” Parker’s voice, but Tony couldn’t see him. It was all he could do to focus on seeing Steve.
“What happened?” Steve asked, blurring at the edges. Tony also had the irrational impulse to try to dial down the color value. Everything past Steve was definitely way too bright, and even Steve seemed to be vibrating slightly.
“The queen is gone. The things are... I think they’re—I think it’s over.”
Tony sat up a little, struggled to take everything in. There were a few left—the universe’s native Hulk was smashing some, a couple of Wolverines slicing through the others. And then, just like that...
“It’s over,” he echoed, feeling dazed.
“Come on. Let’s get you inside and get you looked at. That was some fall, Tony.”
They all started back towards the mansion—the incredible structure still standing, though several buildings nearer the rift weren’t. Some people were running, some limping. Moods ranged from jubilant through relieved to anxious as people sought each other out. Tony had Steve, though, and that was all that was important.
Word spread, organically and efficiently, and everyone met on the roof. With no walls, all the survivors not down in the makeshift hospital fit there and nowhere else. Natasha Rogers had her palm-sized computer out and was lining people up. When she addressed the crowd, her voice carried to everyone. Amplified, Tony realized, even if the microphone was invisible from the distance he found himself at.
“I have a full list of everyone who’s currently downstairs in the hospital. The medically trained, the wounded, and of course, the Hulks.”
A nervous titter travelled through the crowd, along with weakly murmured and morbid jokes about the roof’s weight capacity.
“Trust me.” She didn’t seem amused, but neither did she seem completely un-amused. “The roof will hold. Indoors, there are areas labeled for every universe. Each area has a full list of the people from that universe who are currently in the infirmary. As I read out identities, if it’s you, come forward. Once I have the survivors cataloged, you’ll be free to move downstairs into your waiting area. Reconnect with your loved ones, start forming groups for the trip home. Remember, ten at a time, no more. Starting with Ant Men. If you’ve ever been an Ant Man, please come up to the front now. No fuss about how you’re called Giant Man or Goliath or Yellowjacket or what-have-you now, if you have ever been an Ant Man, I want you lined up here.”
Steve and Tony rested against each other as code names were called, in a rough approximation of alphabetical order.
“Captains America. If you have ever been a Captain America, please come up to the front now.”
“Guess that’s my cue.” Steve kissed Tony quickly before moving to the front, where Natasha cataloged her way through the group.
“That’s everyone.” She looked relieved. “Everyone who isn’t downstairs in the hospital is here. Good job. You all... You all made it.”
Steve felt a momentary pang remembering that, for him, anyway, it had all started with a universe where he hadn’t. But still, wasn’t it miraculous enough that here, in this universe, among this group, there weren’t any casualties?
He looked around at the group and noticed it wasn’t all Steve Rogers. Rogerses? But there were two women there, plus one Bucky, proudly holding the shield. Steve smiled. It was a good look for him.
As they headed for the stairs down from the roof, Steve could see the extent of the destruction, the smears of dirt or of blood on everyone’s faces and the grins of exhausted relief. The sun was setting, her final, low-slung rays throwing some of the figures on the rooftop into silhouette and gleaming on the shield in Bucky’s hand.
He went downstairs to find his waiting room. Eventually, Natasha Rogers would call for Iron Men—and Women, she’d probably add ‘and Women’—and with any luck she would be able to proclaim no losses, but even if there were, his own Tony wasn’t one of them. They’d meet up and go home and...
And oh. They would make love.
Well. He was looking forward to that.
---tbc---
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“Bad scientist!” Tony shouted after him. “No cookie!”
Mad giggles at this and the "Was it full of stars?" line. XD
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I enjoy having Peter swing through just to say something dorkeriffic...
And Tony *would* take umbrage at Asimov's law, what with his disdain for all things magic. *pets Tony* Sure, honey, you can tell the difference between sufficiently advanced technology and magic. Whatever you say.
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(there's such a long list of things Marvel could do if they want my money. Like 'just keep publishing comic books'...)
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Also, I enjoy your icon.
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Oh, now I want more information on Stephany (I assume that's her name) Rogers and Bucky Cap.
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I did write more Stephanie Rogers, though.
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Looking forward to reading the next chapter!
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Thanks much! Also, your icon, it makes me all gleeful.
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Also, yay for gleefulness. I swear, the producers must have named the characters with those initials in mind. I fanboy squee'd when I noticed it.
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