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cap_ironman2010-06-01 01:59 pm
3490 AU fic part 4
Anyways, I'm not sure about this part. I made the exposition for "WHO'S THE MOTHER", but it didn't turn out as I wanted, exactly. Though from here, I think I can nudge in a lot more Steve/Tony.
Thank you so much for the supportive comments 8D I'd never have written so feverishly without them. Really though, comments make all the difference, so thank you!
Warnings are whited out to make sure there's no spoiling. Just highlight em if you want spoilers, anyway.
Title: Bridged Gaps (a 3490 fanfiction)
Author: Mozzarellaroses
Rating: For now, PG.
Warning/Spoilers: Alternate Universe, Original Characters and Stark-Rogers kids. And partial canon Pym-bashing and character death. And soon to come, incest and rape mentioned. Yeah, like Oedipus didn't already give it away.
Pairing: For now, seemingly one-sided Steve/Tony
Word Count: 4087
Beta: None. Mistakes are all mine, though I pride myself in making as few as possible.
A/N: Just to be clear, this is post-Civil war, post-Invasion, post-Dark Reign and such, and Hank's already Scientist Supreme to a degree that isn't all that important, near the Heroic age, although let's slap continuity in the face and pretend Steve's still Cap. Also, Clint's back to being Hawkeye, although the mighty comics haven't told me what'll happen with two Hawkeyes. A little Steve/Tony here, though I'm terrible at that xP Also, Hank.
Summary: A hero codenamed Super Soldier appears out of nowhere from another universe to stop her world's Hank Pym. Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one who took the bridge. Now the super computer, "Oedipus REX" is causing trouble in the multi-verses.
Enjoy!
Part 4: "Of anonymity time cannot raise." --Hart Crane, "To Brooklyn Bridge"
Tony found James in the gym, startled by how similar he was to Steve. He was working the punching bag, using the same moves that Steve would use, such a focused look on his face that Tony was surprised when James noticed him at the door.
“Hey. Sorry for interrupting.” Tony said, not knowing what else to say.
“No, it’s all right.” James said sharply. His tone didn’t match his sentiment, but the gaze he kept with Tony’s made it clear that he meant it. “I was going to find some time to talk to you after all.” James said.
“Maria told me about you. Well, not much about you, but… are you really…” Tony began. Damn it, Steve owed him for forcing this father-son relationship guilt on him.
James turned away. “I know what Maria told you, and…. You’re not my father.” he said slowly, as if weighing every word that came out of his mouth. Tony stared for a long time, trying to get over what he was feeling. Shock? Relief?
“Why would she tell me that, then?” Tony asked. He wasn’t angry, although somehow he felt like he should have been.
“You’re a very important person to me. To both me and Maria, even. You helped raise me, even when you weren’t supposed to.” James explained. “Maria is… well, she isn’t a liar, but she’s a veteran at withholding truths. She can twist her words enough to tell you the truth while making you believe a lie. I’m telling you this for your own sake; don’t trust everything she tells you.”
“I assumed you two were close.” Tony said, amazed at what James was telling him. “We are. I’ve known her for about ten years now, and I trust her. I also learned never to trust what comes out of her mouth.” was James’ response, in a tone which Tony guessed was an attempt at affectionate.
“Stark… Tony… You’re not married in this world?” James asked. Tony shook his head. “Settling down has come up, but it isn’t something I have the luxury to think about, with all that’s happened.” he replied.
“Well… you’d make a great parent.” James said uncertainly.
“I’ll trust your judgment. Now, there was something else I wanted to ask you.” Tony said, changing tone. “About that armor…”
Steve was a little surprised to find that Tony wasn’t alone in the workshop. “This is amazing!” Tony shouted over the whir of miscellaneous machinery Steve couldn’t identify. “You designed it!” James shouted back.
They were working—both of them—on different parts of James’ armor, spread out all over the workshop, the designs stimulated by Tony’s projectors. They were both so engrossed in their work (James seemed to know his way around) that Steve had to wait about ten minutes before they were aware of him. As expected, James noticed him first.
“Captain.” James said, looking slightly guilty.
Tony looked up. “Junior… you take care of realignment. I’ll be right back.”
James mock saluted, something that looked way too serious coming from him. Tony dragged Steve out by the sleeve.
“Well guess what, Cap?” Tony said as soon as they reached the elevator.
“You look like you’re getting along fine.” Steve observed. “That may or may not be a good thing. He’s not my son.” Tony said.
Steve’s brows furrowed. “What do you—” “He told me. I helped raise him, but I’m not his dad. I’d guess that he’s your kid, but that’s too easy. Considering we have no idea how Maria got to look like that, his parents could be anyone.” Tony continued lightly.
Steve nodded, taking in what Tony told him. “It’s… actually, Steve, you may not believe this, but I wish he was my son. He actually understands his armor, he knows his way around the technology. He’s an engineer at heart, though he’s a little rusty. Maybe he hasn’t been doing it all his life like I have, but we can connect. I think that’s why Maria told me he was my son.”
Steve shook his head. “I know what you’re thinking, Tony. You know you’re not alone in this. James or no James, you still have friends.”
Tony smirked dryly. “Yeah? Any friends who don’t want to kill me?”
“Me.” Steve said without hesitation. “And… the Fantastic Four, and even Peter and everyone.” he added weakly. Tony shook his head. “You’re just unbelievable, Steve. What the hell did I do to deserve you as a friend?” he said in something akin to awe, nodding to Steve as the doors opened on the upper floor. He stepped off there, leaving Steve alone as the doors closed again.
“You could be so much more than that.” Steve whispered, ultimately, to nothing.
“Hey, Dad.” Maria greeted cheerfully. She was clambering up the climbing rope at a steady pace, rolling her position as she reached the top and sliding down. It was all done uniformly, with little exhibitionism on her part.
“That was nicely done.” Steve complimented. “Thank you. I mean really, thanks, I got way tired of the ‘Mayday can do it better’ comments a looong time ago.” Maria responded, catching a towel. Steve didn’t ask, allowing Maria to take a drink before the girl spoke again.
“Why did you lie?” Steve asked. “What?” Maria raised an eyebrow questioningly. “About James. You told Tony that James was his son, but James told us that Tony is not his father.” Steve said. His supposed daughter lay the bottle down slowly, picking up the conversation as she did.
“Yeah. Tony is not his father, but Tony has treated him like a son. Raised him, to an extent.” Maria said softly. “James was given to the Winter Soldier when he was little. When I was little. The Initiative was enacted in our world, successfully. It brought a fair amount of peace. Everyone knew you were Captain
“Everyone knew who you were married to. Security measures aside, your identity attracted quite a few extremists. When I was six years old, and James was four, we were attacked in our own home. The Avengers tower.”
Maria looked at Steve, waiting for him to say something for a moment before continuing. “M—Tony saved us. You were off on a mission, and they had planned it for months. The thing was, though, no one knew James, or Junior, as you called him, existed, save for a few friends. He was a sickly kid, so he stayed in the tower, which was how Tony was able to take part in raising him. When they attacked, they were planning to take me, but they figured one kid was good as another. Tony had to go through all the pains of tracking him down, rescuing him, destroying their headquarters, everything. When everything settled, you decided to send James away for his own safety. It would be fine, since no one knew about him. I was already a big name in the press, daughter of Steve Rogers and all, but we kept Junior safe.”
“You gave James to Natasha Romanov and James Barnes, had them hide him and take care of him. He became a healthy kid after a lot of training from Winter Soldier, but he didn’t know about his parents. All soldier-like, James Barnes told him he’d be able to see them when he was older. Tony didn’t like that, though.”
Maria smiled. “Tony kept in contact with James, anonymously. Instant messaging through some special StarkTech that James kept with him at all times. Tony was practically James’ best friend even though he had little to no idea that he was actually talking to Tony Stark on that private line. James isn’t exactly what you’d call a cheerful person, but Tony made him happy.”
Steve closed his eyes. “So that’s why you told Tony that James was his son. Because he was, more than he was ever mine.” he murmured.
Maria nodded, taking another drink of water.
“James is more engineer than he would ever be a soldier, appearances aside. Tony may as well have been his dad.” she said. Steve nodded, suddenly finding himself wanting to ask another question. “Is Tony a father? I mean, to other children.”
Maria shook her head. “No. No he isn’t.”
Steve frowned, but said nothing.
She was lying. Tony had told him what Maria had said, when they had talked before. She had said ‘kids’, not just one, so she couldn’t have just been talking about James. She was lying, and somehow made it so convincing without trying.
But he didn’t bring it up. He didn’t say it. He just hoped that this was all Maria was lying about.
“So, would Captain
“You want to spar with me?”
Reed Richards looked at the data he had gathered from breaking down the different base systems of the hybrid extremis Maria had given him, and the comparison to the living metal they had been able to recover from their previous encounters.
Interestingly enough, the technology encoded the genetic signature of its host or user, and Reed was a little shaken by the time the discovery hit him in full force.
The identifiable genetic material he had taken from Oedipus was nearly identical to that of Tony Stark, except—
Except for one minor detail—something he was sure he could cross-reference with previous analyses based on what he’d found out about Maria’s home.
Maybe he should call Tony……
Later. Only when he was sure.
“I’m amazed you’ve kept this from my dad for so long.” Maria murmured. She noticed vaguely how clean the ceiling was and wondered who would put in so much effort to keep a ceiling clean.
“He’s perfectly aware of the Avengers Revival Initiative for Sanguinolent Evolution, Miss Rogers.” the scientist to her right responded. His name was Phil, or something. He was kind, and assured her of all the facts during every injection.
“If he were perfectly aware, he’d know his own daughter is the main test subject.” Maria said.
“One of,
“Who is it this time?” Maria asked impatiently. “Henry Pym.” another one of the scientists responded. “Oh. Right. Everyone who was an Avenger. Right.” Maria murmured.
“We’ll put you out for now. Rest.” Phil said.
“Wait, Phil. What happens if the blood is passed on?” she asked. Her eyelids felt heavy. How the hell did they drug her without her noticing?
“Then we have a problem.” Phil said truthfully.
“We…we have a prob…” Maria fell.
They had been sent to survey the area where Hank, with the help of Amadeus Cho, had closed on Oedipus’ position. Ironman was partnered with Iron Warrior, the two armored heroes scanning the streets. For now, they were handling surveillance, nothing more.
“I don’t believe this.” James said grimly. “I’m picking up Oedipus’ signal, right below us.” said Tony. “That’s not all I’m picking up.” James told him.
Tony observed the stream of data James’ armor sent him. Underneath layers of useless equations and random coursing characters, Tony easily recovered the base message.
S.O.S. OEDIPUS COMPLEX SYSTEMS IN CORE SPHERE OUT TO THREE STREAMS
James was silent. Tony sent out a distress signal to the rest of the Avengers. “New development, people. We move in now.”
~~~
“It said three streams, meaning there are three areas we can infiltrate to get to the core sphere. Power concentrates there, so we take it out, we take out Oedipus, free its host.” Tony explained. “We can’t distract Oedipus so there’s no point in trying to divert its attention. We need to focus our power on our attack. Oedipus can’t interface with a new user spontaneously. According to Pym’s research, it would take a full week in the very least to get interfacing capacities to that level, in the presence of the host, so we don’t have to worry about being used as power cells.”
“No, we only have to worry about the usual things. Maiming and death by artificial intelligence.” Peter muttered.
“We’ll need Iron Warrior and Super Soldier to lead the charge, since they hold the technology which can counter Oedipus. We still need a separate team, though, to retrieve the host. Spiderman will lead that line of attack.” Steve continued from where Tony left off. Peter nodded.
“We’ve been able to evacuate. Wiccan is keeping a perimeter shield up in case Oedipus tries to escape. Any later than now and we’ll lose it again or risk Oedipus getting stronger.”
“So…. I suppose we should…”
“AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!”
Subtly was no longer an issue at this point, since Oedipus had probably noticed them a mile off. The fight was brought underground, since Oedipus had shown another point of weakness: it needed its host in the front line. The entire time, it could not pull in the feminine form of the one who was Maria and James’ mother. As of that moment, it was the form which seemed to be controlling the barrage of living metal attacks.
There were dozens of them, though, that were attacking the well-protected form. Super Soldier, Iron Warrior and Ironman were able slip past. Whether noticed or not, the three weren’t harassed by living metal, perhaps because all power was too focused on the others.
Super Soldier and Iron Warrior didn’t seem to want to go on when they slipped past the mother-head that was the first and heaviest line of defense. “Trust them. They can do their job. We need to move.” Tony said urgently. They blasted their way through the inner confines of Oedipus’ systems, reminiscent of spider webs stretching and dripping, all living metal, but much less active than the stuff that had been used to attack them.
The defense was somewhat weak, watery, easily rivaled and repulsed. Maria held a hand to the wall, her suit tracking their position in reference to where the core sphere was.
“Let’s go. We shouldn’t be troubled from here.” she said.
The sphere was hardened metal, dripping with the living material that coated everything else around them. Maria put her hands to it, her entire suit suddenly lighting up as it scanned. She then took out her gun.
“I never thought it’d be this easy.” she murmured.
“Simple, not easy.”
Tony looked up just as his entire suit was overridden. Damn, and there again was the pain. From what he could see, James was having the same problem, but to a lesser extent. The younger man tried to raise one of his gauntlets, but something overwhelmed him.
Machines, unlike the living metal which took any form it could. These were plated and armed with various artillery pointed threateningly at their heads.
“Lost interest in me so quickly. I’m hurt.”
Hank Pym, or an older version of him, Tony noted, was standing over Maria’s slumped over form, a gun pointed airily in her face.
“But I didn’t forget about you so quickly, Maria. In fact, I primed Oedipus for this attack, so that he’d…. dumb down his systems just a little to let you get this far.” he continued.
“Just so you can kill me? That’s stupid super villain whimsy.” Maria muttered venomously. “Oh no. I’m not going to kill you. Oedipus wanted you, and I’m delivering.” Pym said. He was smiling coldly, and Maria couldn’t seem to move. Pym tapped the sphere, stepping aside when it opened.
Tony was struck with realization. Their mother isn’t the only host.
A young man was housed in the sphere, lying back like a mummy in the throng of glowing material. He had strong features, brown-black hair and blue eyes, somehow familiar in a way Tony couldn’t place. He tried to struggle, but his armor wouldn’t respond. Damn it, why now!?
Maria was lifted by the shifting floor, unable to move on her own but made to stand before the young man who looked at her with a smile, colder than anything Tony had ever seen. “Oedipus?” Tony muttered.
The young man was saying something to Maria, too quiet for him to hear. Beside Tony, James was attempting to override the armor, trying to get it off if necessary.
Maria’s eyes widened, and suddenly she was struggling, obviously using up whatever power she had left in her limbs, but to no avail. The one before her kissed her forehead, mocking eyes dancing with the light of Oedipus’ base systems.
Tony tapped into his comm., finally. “Anyone!? We need help, now! Maria—”
The pain shot through his body, ten times more intense than it had been previously.
Steve was focused on extracting the woman without hurting her, which was much more difficult since she was attacking them so vigorously.
Tony hadn’t called in, and he was getting worried. He, Maria and James had slipped past the host so quickly, but whenever anyone else tried, the defense upped at alarming levels. It could have done that sooner, but it didn’t. As though it had wanted the three---
Steve threw his shield and attempted to get past the mother head. He was assaulted by a number of limbs, but he dodged, fought them off. Then, the mother head herself appeared in front of him, blocking his way. It—she grabbed his neck and lifted him off the ground, hand tightening threateningly, but only in warning.
She was hesitating.
Steve reached for where her face should have been, trying to scrape away the living metal coating it. It was a long shot, but somehow, it seemed to work. It was melting off, revealing parts of a face, a blue eye.
A blue eye which widened considerably when, for the first time, the host saw who she was holding.
“Steve.”
She let go.
Steve caught himself as the attacks stopped. He head the mother muttering something under her breath, something that sounded suspiciously like override codes.
The living metal melted away, powered down. The host had risen high above them, supported by fast-shifting metal. Then, she fell.
“Spiderman!” Steve called out. Peter caught her naked form with a web, wrapping around her form and extending to the walls, safely securing her.
Steve only had a second to breathe easily; his comm. received a message from Tony right after, calling for help then cutting off.
“Ironman! Are you there, Ironman!?”
Systems offline.
“What do you mean, it disappeared?”
“Everything. We tracked Oedipus to every point its living metal had reached, but as soon as you got everyone back, it disappeared. It wasn’t supposed to; once you separated the host from the system, it was supposed to shut down completely.”
Steve breathed in deeply, looking Reed seriously in the eye. Hank was sitting down, head in his hands. “I don’t understand.” he muttered. “Maybe you were wrong.” Steve said cautiously.
“I wasn’t-”
“He wasn’t.”
Steve looked from Reed to Hank. Even they looked shocked that they had agreed on something.
Getting over that, Reed continued. “Perhaps there was more than one host. Our scans must have been countered by the sphere. We assumed they would keep their main power source out of reach, so perhaps Maria and James’ mother was a ploy.”
Steve nodded. “How are they?” he asked Reed.
Reed frowned. “I’m…. well, I need to show you something.”
They passed the medical bay on their way down. Through the window, they could see that James and Tony were lying still, stable but not by much. Maria and her mother on the other hand…
The living metal had encased her mother, not allowing anything to touch her. The only openings were through her nose and mouth, to allow respiration. Maria’s suit, as well, was protecting her from any outside interference. The medics were trying as hard as they could, but neither suits seemed to want to give in.
Reed continued to one of the labs and handed Steve a folder. “I took the liberty of sampling their genetic material when they were taken into the medical bay. What exactly did they tell you and Tony about their heritage?” he asked.
“Maria told me that I’m her father, and that James was Tony’s son, but she was lying about James. James himself told me, after Tony did, that I’m his father.” Steve said, recalling exactly what they had said to him. Reed shook his head.
“Maria wasn’t lying.” he said. Steve glared. “What do you mean?”
“You see, Steve… Maria and James are brother and sister, as you know, and it’s not difficult to guess who James took after physically. Maria, though, took after her mother.” Reed said, knowingly building up to his point.
“I was able to take her mother’s DNA from the living metal, and I found out that her genetic material is an exact replica of someone in our world, except for one chromosome.”
Steve looked at him expectantly. “Steve, James and Maria are your children. They are also Tony Stark’s.” Reed told him.
Steve balked. “What do you mean by—are they clones?”
“No. Not at all; they were born naturally. I suppose I should explain though. I used the bridge before to scan different universes where there was a peaceful end to our Civil War. I found one, designated 3490, wherein Tony Stark was born a woman.”
Some files appeared on the screen behind Reed. “These are data streams I picked up from the portion of Maria’s suit that she gave me for study. Memories, you might say, although at a much more artificial level.”
A picture appeared on the screen, the face of a woman who looked all too familiar but for a few small details.
“Natasha Stark. Her entire life follows almost the exact pattern Tony’s did in our universe, with two major differences. One is that… well… she married you.”
Steve looked at the screen disbelievingly. There were pictures, a wedding done in costume, a little girl on her father’s shoulders, a woman at the workshop sporting the same oil-stained, sweat-soaked look that Steve knew too well.
“Another is that she never had the Civil War. Full support of the SHRA was given in a majority of the superhuman community since both of you supported the Registration. She was only recorded to have one child publicly, but according to Maria’s files, she had nine.” Reed explained. “Would you like me to continue?”
Steve didn’t answer; for a moment he couldn’t think.
His…. his children with Tony.
“Thank you for telling me, Reed.” he said unsteadily. He retreated slowly, making his way to the medical bay.
Lovely. Things just kept getting better and better.
“It’s a boy! Maria, it’s—Maria!”
“She can take it.” the midwife said, cleaning the baby that
The twelve-year old twins backed off as the midwife cleaned their sister.
“We should call James.”
“Hey, hey. Don’t argue.”
“Maria!” The two exclaimed, hurrying to their older sister. She looked all right, albeit covered in her own blood. She had seen worse battles.
“Where is he?” Maria asked weakly, her voice rougher than it usually was. “Where’s my…”
The midwife handed the child over. It was crying healthily, taking hold of Maria’s finger when she touched his face. The Beths looked in awe. “It’s…ugly.”
Maria laughed. When she did, the baby stopped crying. It looked at her with wide blue eyes, as if realizing in its newly formed mind who this woman was. “I think… I’ll name him Nathaniel. What do you think?” Maria asked the others.
“Baby Nate? I like it.”
“Nathaniel James, then.” Maria said, kissing the baby on the forehead. It gurgled, grabbing at Maria’s face. He scratched her, blood dripping from where nail met skin.
The Beths were stunned. “He just…”
Maria simply kissed the child again, on the fuzz of brown hair on its head.
“It’s okay. It’s okay.”
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Loving this, and I can't wait for the next chapter!
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Oh yes ;D
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But her baby will be important o3o
The Oedipus thing is in relation to that scene :)
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This really is a very interesting story, and I can't wait to see where you take it!