Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tony wakes with a start. Panic is the first thing that sets in, as it usually does when he falls asleep somewhere he doesn’t know where he is when he wakes up, but he forces it to the back of his mind to focus on his situation.

Looking around, Tony takes in where he is.

First off, he’s strapped into a frankly ominous-looking chair, and his chest still hurts from having Rogers bludgeon it with his shield. He’s pretty sure a couple of ribs are broken.

Tacky dried blood is still smeared about his face and head, and it’s somewhat annoying to feel, but definitely not his biggest problem at the moment.

The biggest problem would have to be that he’s completely out of his armor, with none of his gear in sight in the dreary gray concrete walls of the room he’s in. And it’s cold in here, his breath fogging in front of him.

He turns his attention to the metal restraints keeping him in the chair. Both his arms and legs are restrained without any real leeway to move.

“Well fuck.” Tony mutters as he tries to move his arms or legs.

He forces his breathing to stay as even as it can, even against the panic slowly starting to build up in his mind. There’s nothing he can do, so he might as well investigate his surroundings.

His breathing rattles in his chest and he winces. Yeah okay damn definitely a few broken ribs, it kinda hurts to breathe right now. Thankfully his armor had been there to protect him from Rogers slamming the vibranium shield into his chest. Oh, and into his face. Repeatedly. Otherwise, he would be very dead.

He hears a door open somewhere behind him, and while he wants to turn to look, he puts on his unbothered persona.

“Oh? And here I was thinking that I was going to be left to entertain myself for a while longer.” He drawls.

He hears steps approach him at a leisurely pace, and he can’t help but wonder who exactly has kidnapped him this time, and what they want.

“I never thought I’d miss your snark, Tony, but I suppose you could color me surprised that I missed a lot more than just your snark.” A horrifyingly familiar voice says.

Steve. Fucking. Rogers.

“Huh? What trying to kill me isn’t enough? Had to kidnap me too, Rogers? What could you possibly even want?” Tony snaps.

There’s a soft chuckle, and then Steve Rogers comes to step into his line of sight.

Tony’s mind blanks out for a moment and then the anxiety triples in his minds. Rogers is wearing a black and red outfit similar to his usual uniform, except in the center where the white star typically is, there’s a HYDRA symbol. Tony’s tongue suddenly feels like lead in his mouth.

Rogers smirks for a moment, before doing a slow turn so Tony can see his entire uniform. He even has a vibranium shield with the HYDRA symbol on it on his back where he usually stashes it when he’s not using it.

“Okay, hallucinogenics must be in my bloodstream.” Tony remarks as the supersoldier turns back to face him.

Rogers’s smile grows, and he steps into Tony’s space. He reaches out a gloved hand and gently takes Tony’s face in his hands. Tony jolts at the touch.

“Hey paws off -” Tony starts, but Rogers tilts his head up to look at him.

His blue eyes are fond, but they have an unsettling edge to them.

“I missed you, Tony.” He murmurs.

Tony scoffs despite the painful twinge it causes in his ribcage.

“Ah yes, you missed me a couple of hours after you tried to kill me and left me for dead in Siberia. And then apparently joined HYDRA, somewhere along the way.”

Rogers’ eyes crinkle with amusement as he smiles down at Tony.

“I should have reprogrammed you in my world; I shouldn’t have killed you. That’s something I regretted every day.”

Tony feels like the breath has been stolen from his lungs and his mind races.

Wait – could this HYDRA Steve Rogers be from an alternate timeline? That’s just a theory though, there’s never been any proof of those existing.

Until now, it seems, possibly.

“W-What are you talking about?” Tony demands, cringing internally at his stutter.

He doesn’t fucking stutter, what the hell?

Rogers’s smile is not friendly, even as he leans down and kisses Tony’s forehead. When Tony opens his mouth to snark at him, Rogers tightens his grip on his jaw, keeping it open as he forces some mouthguard from hell into Tony’s mouth., The chair starts doing something, and Tony watches in horror as things begin to spin around his head. As pain erupts in Tony’s mind, the last words from Rogers that Tony makes out are:

“Relax, Tony. You won’t have anything to worry about soon.”

Tony screams as well as he can past the mouthguard from hell as it feels like his brain is thrown in a blender, Rogers’s smile wide as he watches him.

------------------------

The return to Midgard isn’t as bad as Loki thought it might be. He had half expected that the governments of the world would fire at their ship as soon as they entered the atmosphere, that they would somehow know he was on the ship. Which is frankly ridiculous.

Midgard isn’t that technologically advanced.

Thor has the ship be flown to where he says the Avengers compound was set up, and Loki mentally prepares himself to have a variety of weapons pointed at him as soon as he shows his face.

Bruce Banner paces back and forth next to Loki as Thor has the ship be landed. He’s no longer in his giant form, and hasn’t been in his giant Hulk form for about half the trip back to Earth. He seems even more nervous than Loki secretly feels as the ship touches down in front of a large building surrounded by trees and grass.

Thor approaches the two as they stare out the window that opens up into a door, slapping his hands on both of their shoulders.

“Don’t be nervous, our Avenger comrades will surely welcome us.” He says cheerfully.

Loki sighs through his nose.

Welcome. Sure.

Maybe for Thor and Bruce they will be welcoming. Hel, probably even for the Valkyrie they’ll be welcoming. But for Loki? He did try to take over their world a little while back.

Sure, he was mind controlled by Thanos, but did anyone realize that except for him? No, no they didn’t. And to this day, nobody knows that fun little fact except for himself.

As the door to the ship opens and the ramp to exit the ship slides down, Loki notices a part maroon and part green-ish skinned individual floating across the grass towards the group. That’s new. Loki is pretty sure he would remember such an individual had they met before.

Thor raises a hand in greeting, already leading Loki, Banner, and Valkyrie off the ship. Thor had previously decided the people would wait on the ship until they got Stark’s consent to have them roam the compound freely.

“Ah, Vision, good to see you.”

The so-called “Vision” nods his head in hesitant greeting.

“Thor. Bruce Banner.” His eyes gaze over the group, quickly locking onto Loki and Valkyrie.

Thor gestures back to the two who Vision clearly is uncertain about.

“This is my adopted brother, Loki. And this is Valkyrie.” He introduces.

Vision nods slowly, ever so minutely.

“I am familiar with the records of Loki. However, I do not have any knowledge of this Valkyrie.”

Loki notices that Vision is the only one who has come out to see the ship on the compound, and he furrows his brow, feeling like that’s a bit odd. Where is Anthony Stark?

“Are the others out on a mission right now? It’s really quiet here.” Bruce remarks.

Vision winces.

“Ah. In the past year, there have been...Many events. The Sokovia Accords on top of some other events caused the collapse of the Avengers that you once knew.”

His steel gray eyes gaze into the distance, unseeing the group before him for a moment, before he seems to come back to himself while Bruce and Thor both stiffen at his words.

“W-What are you talking about?” Bruce stammers.

Vision exhales shakily.

“There was...A civil war among the Avengers. Most of the former members are on the run or in house arrest. At the very end of the civil war, Tony went missing, and was eventually declared dead after several months passed with no sign of him anywhere.”

Loki blinks, shocked by this revelation. The Man of Iron, or the Iron Man rather - Anthony Stark - who had stood up to him and helped stop him from conquering Earth when Thanos has mind controlled him had been...Killed? Possibly by his own teammates in some sort of civil war?

He grimaces.

Thor’s face falls, and Bruce’s knees buckle, causing him to kneel on the ground. Valkyrie lets out a soft sound, and starts to help Bruce up, but he holds up a hand.

“I...I just need a moment. One- One second.” He pants, wiping a hand over his face, and looking green, but not in the Hulk way.

Loki’s attention snaps over to a wheelchair-bound man wheeling across the grass.

“Well I wasn’t expecting an alien spaceship to drop in today, but it’s good to see it’s not an invasion this time.” He calls out as he nears the group.

Vision snaps his attention over.

“Colonel Rhodes, I believe I have caused Doctor Banner distress. I think perhaps you would be better suited to assisting the group.” He says, his tone remorseful.

Bruce holds up a hand, before pushing himself to his feet, very slowly.

“I’m okay. I just, I just needed a minute.”

Colonel Rhodes smiles at him grimly.

“Well if you’re going to turn into the Hulk, you’ll have to sign the Accords first.”

Then the wheelchair-bound man glances around the group, his eyes focusing on each of their faces in turn.

“Welcome back, Thor and Doctor Banner. And you as well, Loki, assuming you can behave yourself this time.”

Then he turns to look at Valkyrie.

“And welcome to our planet, as well. I wasn’t over here fast enough to catch your name.”

Valkyrie nods to him.

“You can call me Valkyrie.” She introduces herself.

Colonel Rhodes nods thoughtfully. Then he gestures back towards the large white building he’d wheeled out of.

“Well, you’re all welcome to stay in the compound. Including Loki here, assuming someone keeps an eye on him.”

While he’s still talking, Loki notices movement out of the corner of his eye, and tilts his head to see a red and blue-clad figure swinging using a rope of some kind from the roof of the compound. He lands smoothly in a crouch next to Colonel Rhodes, and the wheelchair-bound man doesn’t even seem surprised.

“Ah, hey Spiderman. Let me introduce you to Thor, Bruce Banner, Valkyrie, and Loki.”

The so-called Spiderman rises to his feet quickly, looking between the entire group with surprising vigor.

“Oh my gosh, hi, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I saw an alien spaceship landing at the compound, but I wasn’t expecting this. It’s really nice to meet you all! I’m Spiderman, I don’t live at the compound full-time, I just stay here sometimes.” He quickly chatters, and Loki is struck by how young he sounds.

Spiderman looks between their ranks again.

“Wow, I just. Wow. It’s an honor to meet you all.” He continues.

Loki lets out a slight sigh at that, and Spiderman’s attention is drawn to him.

“I know you’re the one who invaded New York, but I think second chances are important, so I want to welcome you back to Earth. I think you’ll like it here.”

Then Spiderman extends a hand to him and Loki stares at it for a moment, trying to recall the Midgard protocol for this. After a few awkward seconds pass while he recalls it’s a handshake, Loki slowly takes his hand and shakes it.

“Thank you.” He says awkwardly as the handshake finishes and the two pull back.

Thor gestures back to the ship full of the Asgardian survivors and refugees from Sakaar.

“I should probably mention that all of the survivors of Asgard alongside others who helped us escape from being held hostage on a planet are on that ship. And while this compound appears large, I do not know if it has the facilities for quite so many people.”

Colonel Rhodes mutters several swears under his breath.

“What happened to Asgard?” He asks.

Thor sighs and exchanges glances with Bruce.

“It’s been obliterated by Surtur, who we had to bring back in order to take out my sister before she could spread her evil.” Thor finally summarizes, and Colonel Rhodes stares at him for a long moment, before looking at Bruce.

Bruce sighs and runs a hand through his hair.

“It’s ah, been exploded. There’s nothing left of it.”

Colonel Rhodes nods sharply at that.

“Alright, I’ll make a few calls. Vision, Spiderman, take these four to the compound and get them some spare rooms please.”

Thor raises a hand.

“I’ll stay on the ship with my people.”

Valkyrie also agrees.

“I will stay with them as well. I do not wish to leave them just yet.”

Colonel Rhodes lets out a hum as he fishes his phone out of a small bag he’s carrying on his person. He points between Loki and Bruce.

“Are you two going to stay on the compound, or with the ship right now?” He asks.

Bruce steps forward.

“I’ll stay in the compound.”

Loki takes a step forward as well, nodding.

“As will I.”

Colonel Rhodes gestures to Vision and Spiderman.

“Alright you two can show them to two spare rooms then.” He says before starting to dial someone using his phone.

------------------------

Doctor Stephen Strange steps out of a portal, into the main lounge of the Avengers compound. His magical-detecting wards had informed him of traces of Loki’s magic in the compound, so he came to investigate as Loki is on his list as a potential threat to Earth for fairly self-explanatory reasons.

Spiderman and Vision exit one of the spare bedrooms, and Stephen’s gaze falls upon the two people they’re showing around – Doctor Banner and Loki.

“And this is the lounge – oh hello Doctor Strange.” Vision stops what is clearly a tour around the compound to the two, to look at the Sorcerer Supreme.

Vision doesn’t seem especially surprised. Stephen raises a hand in greeting.

Loki watches him carefully as Levi floats him towards the group. The cloak sets him down a few steps away from the group.

“My magical-detecting wards picked up on traces of your magic, so I came to investigate. However, if the Avengers are keeping an eye on you, I feel my interference might not be necessary after all.” Stephen explains.

Then he clears his throat.

“However, should you become a threat, I’ll take care of you myself. Are we clear?”

Loki looks unimpressed, and coolly responds with a wave of his hands.

“I wasn’t exactly in my right mind at the time of the invasion of New York. I have no plans for world domination now.”

Stephen decides to accept this answer for now, and nods. Spiderman decides to jump into the conversation now.

“Doctor Strange! I wanted to ask you something, actually.”

Stephen blinks and turns his attention to the superheroic teen.

After Tony Stark’s unfortunate disappearance and eventual declared death, Stephen had accidentally taken Spiderman as his mentee of sorts, mentoring him through the world of superheroics, and taking on the role that Iron Man had apparently filled in for him previously.

The way Stephen met the kid was less than ideal.

Spiderman had literally been sent flying into the sorcerer while the kid was fighting the same criminals that Stephen had come to take care of, as they had stolen a particularly powerful magical artifact. And Stephen hadn’t been able to leave well enough alone when he realized that it was a literal kid fighting crime under the mantle of Spiderman.

And now, he’s mentoring Spiderman with no clue of the kid’s real identity, as Stark had taught the Spiderkid well to hide his identity. And Stephen isn’t about to force the kid to reveal his identity either.

“Alright, what did you want to ask?” He questions.

Spiderman nods and starts to gesture as he speaks.

“Now, I know you aren’t as familiar with tech as Mr. Stark is – was, I mean – but there’s been a lot of weirdly powerful weapons that the criminals I’ve been busting have been carrying on them lately. And they’re like, really, really technologically impressive weapons that the bad guys have been hauling around.”

Stephen sighs, shaking his head helplessly.

“You’re right; I’m not nearly as familiar with tech.”

Spiderman deflates.

“Yeah, I know. It’s just weird, because these weapons self-destruct when I get my hands on them to inspect them. It’s like they know that I’m not meant to have them. I wish Mr. Stark were here; he’d be able to figure out their deal…”

Then Spiderman stands up straighter, gesturing frantically.

“Oh! Not that you’re not a good mentor, I just...I miss Mr. Stark. A lot.”

Vision clears his throat, drawing Stephen’s and Spiderman’s attention.

“These weapons may be the work of the mysterious, inseparable duo of HYDRA operatives that have appeared in the past six months – the Mechanic, and Captain Hydra.”

Spiderman lets out a thoughtful hum, while Stephen blinks.

“Come again? I’ve been a bit distracted with other threats, so I haven’t heard of these two.”

Vision nods.

“Very well.”

Having said this, he pulls out his phone and quickly taps on it, until he uses it to project images and videos of a shockingly familiar duo, just wearing different colors from their usual. A man wearing red and black robotic Iron Man-esque armor with the HYDRA logo on the back, alongside a Captain America-type shield-bearing man also wearing a red and black HYDRA uniform.

“Not much is known about these two, other than the fact that they’re inseparable, and that they take heavy inspiration from Iron Man and Captain America in their fighting styles and uniforms. They have apparently been selling illegal, but extremely powerful weapons to certain groups of criminals, among other things. Mostly assisting criminals that sympathize with HYDRA.”

Stephen furrows his brow as he watches video of the two taking down some sort of foreign law enforcement without mercy.

“Are you sure they aren’t Iron Man and Captain America being controlled by HYDRA?” He asks after a moment.

Vision shakes his head.

“Steve Rogers has been sighted across the world from the duo at the same time the Mechanic and Captain Hydra were seen fighting law enforcement. And Tony Stark has been declared deceased for about a year now.”

Stephen glances over the still image of the two HYDRA agents standing back to back as they fight off law enforcement.

“Well, that certainly looks like Tony Stark’s handiwork. Maybe HYDRA got ahold of the Iron Man suit whenever he disappeared. Or maybe HYDRA somehow got their hands on Tony Stark himself. Regardless, something about doesn’t feel right.” He remarks.

Then, he pauses for a moment. He doesn’t want to get Spiderman’s hopes up, but…

“What if Tony Stark isn’t dead?”

Chapter Text

“Alright, is everyone ready?” Steve quietly asks through his earpiece as the group has finished splitting up around the warehouse where they intend to stop the massive black market weapons deal that’s occurring currently.

There’s silence for a moment, then Nat’s voice comes through.

“I’m always ready to stop the bad guys from getting their hands on super powerful weapons.”

Steve smiles at that, and Sam’s voice comes through the comms next.

“Yeah this place is bustling. It’s like a farmer’s market. But like…For illegal weapons.”

He hears Bucky clear his throat over the comms and then say,

“Ah yes, farmer’s market. Totally what this reminds me of.” He drawls sarcastically.

Wanda notably hasn’t said anything, so Steve decides to ask her.

“How’s it on your end Wanda?”

Silence for a moment longer, then.

“Sorry, I was talking with someone. Some idiot wanted to flirt at an illegal weapons convention.”

Her voice is filled with disdain, and Steve nods. He can understand being annoyed by that for sure.

Steve hesitates for a moment, glancing around his surrounding area casually. He’s wearing a maroon baseball cap and a black mid-length sleeve shirt alongside a pair of jeans to help him blend in with the hoards of casually dressed criminals in the warehouse. He keeps his head down but still being very aware of his surroundings as he settles in an isolated corner.

“Don’t forget the two HYDRA agents, the Mechanic and Captain Hydra are supposed to be here heading this weapons deal today. If we can take them down, we can protect a lot of people.” Steve murmurs into the earpiece.

He gets mutters of agreement, and then Nat speaks up.

“A bit strange that these two HYDRA agents are basically HYDRA copies of you and Stark.”

Steve’s mind trails off to Tony for a moment, and the unfortunate way they parted terms – having to beat him down in order to protect Bucky was never something he wanted to do. And to make matters worse, apparently Tony never made it home after the bunker, and no one ever found him either.

His heart feels sick at the thought.

He and Tony were close, and Steve can admit that he liked Tony maybe a bit more than friends do typically, even if they constantly butted heads. So to carry the weight that it was him that led to Tony’s death? It makes him feel a bit sick.

Steve leaves the corner he’s in, wandering through the crowd and stopping every few feet as if he’s inspecting the weapons on display. He tunes back into the conversation going on in his hidden earpiece.

“Yeah maybe we can ask them their deal, cause I’m sure that’ll go great.” Sam remarks.

Steve notes a less crowded hallway full of boxes and walks over towards it. As he gets closer and eases past some precariously stacked boxes, he catches voices on the other side of some boxes before him, and comes to a halt.

“It’s good to see that HYDRA has so many willing applicants.” A voice that sounds eeriely like Steve’s own voice remarks from behind the boxes.

Steve crouches down between the two piles of boxes where no one can see him, peering around the corner of the boxes in front of him where the voices are coming from. Standing very close together are the infamous HYDRA operatives - Captain Hydra and the Mechanic. He presses the button on his earpiece to broadcast what he’s hearing to the others’ earpieces.

“Ugh, Cap, I’ve got a killer headache. I’m definitely going to need the chair when we get back to base.” The man in the red and black Iron Man like suit sighs.

His voice is a bit deep but the inflection of the words is oddly familiar. Yet, Steve is certain he’s never heard this voice before.

Captain Hydra reaches over and places a hand to tilt the Mechanic’s robotically protected head to look towards him.

“I thought you didn’t like the chair?” He asks, his voice soft.

The Mechanic groans, placing a metal hand against his armored head.

“Yeah, the chair hurts. Like a bitch, in fact. But I always get this persistent headache after I’ve spent too long out of the chair. Therefore the pain is a necessity – otherwise I’m going to have a headache 24/7.”

Captain Hydra laughs quietly before he leans in and places a kiss on the Mechanic’s faceplate.

“Language. But thanks for telling me. I’ll ensure to make breaks between missions so you can get in the chair before you have headaches.”

Steve prepares to creep away so he can discuss with his team – he remembers Bucky had mentioned a memory-wiping chair from when he was forced to be part of HYDRA, and he wants to see what he thinks of that conversation.

Before he can get far, however, he hears a sharp intake of breath and then hears the Mechanic tell Captain Hydra,

“I was a bit distracted by our conversation and my headache, but my sensors detect someone eavesdropping on us.”

Well, there went his cover. So much for blending among the criminals.

Steve huffs out a sigh and stands up to confront the two. Captain Hydra sneers at him.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the disgraced Captain America.” He remarks, seemingly oddly unsurprised.

Steve, meanwhile, stares in horror at the so-called Captain Hydra. His face, despite being marred by a hideous sneer, looks just like Steve – even though part of his face is obstructed with a helmet. But the helmet is just like the one Steve used to wear in his Captain America uniform, except this helmet is HYDRA red. Captain Hydra’s voice is just like Steve’s as well.

“What kind of twisted mirror am I looking at?” Steve mutters, which is apparently the wrong thing to say as the Mechanic immediately fires a repulsor beam at his feet.

Steve jumps to avoid the laser, filing away the fact that the suit also fires beams out out the hands like Tony’s did.

“Don’t compare yourself to someone who is obviously superior.” Captain Hydra scoffs as he removes a red vibranium shield with the black HYDRA symbol on it from his back where Steve used to stash his own shield.

While Captain Hydra stances up with the shield on his arm, Steve triggers the shock gauntlets he’s wearing, similar to the ones Nat uses.

“Oh? I didn’t realize that cheap copies could be better than the original. I would say I’m flattered to be copied, but I don’t think I am.” Steve remarks.

The Mechanic, who had been silently standing off to the side during this entire exchange after firing the first shot finally speaks up, keeping his hand repulsor pointed at Steve.

“A quick biometrics scan across the warehouse shows that we were infiltrated by more than one of these Rogue Avengers, alongside the former Winter Soldier.”

Damn. The Mechanic is smart too. He supposes if someone managed to salvage Tony’s suit after Siberia, they’d have to be at least some level of hyper-intelligent. Makes him wonder why he joined HYDRA, or if the chair wiped his memories and he was forced like Bucky was.

Captain Hydra throws his shield at Steve with intense force, and Steve dodges out of the way once again. The box the shield had hit explodes, and sends Steve flying into another wall.

Right, this is an arms deal. And these weapons have been reported to be explosive when they get into the hands of anyone on the good guys side.

Steve quickly pushes himself to his feet, and the suddenly, the Mechanic’s voice comes over the intercoms all across the warehouse.

“We’ve got some uninvited guests to the party everyone! The Rogue Avengers are here. Anyone who manages to kill one of these so-called Rogues, will be given free weapons. And for now, I’ve made it where all the weapons can be freely used; though they will detonate if you try to take them beyond the warehouse without my permission. Cheers!”

Almost immediately, Steve hears chaos start in the main warehouse – regular gunshots being fired alongside what sounds like energy blasts.

Steve dodges as Captain Hydra throws his shield once again, only this time, he throws an electric magnet on the bottom of the shield as it flies back to the HYDRA operative. When Captain Hydra catches the shield, he’s hit by the electro shocks and he jolts backwards, dropping the shield instictively. The Mechanic steps in again, shooting a small laser at the device on the shield to destroy it. Diving for the now shock-free shield, Steve grabs it, using it to block another energy blast the Mechanic aimed for his head.

Steve’s head snaps over to look at the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps, before he relaxes at the sight of Bucky charging over to help.

“How do you always get yourself in the middle of every major confrontation, punk?” Bucky huffs as soon as he arrives.

----------------

Bucky immediately squares off against the Mechanic, while Steve, who’s wielding Captain Hydra’s vibranium shield, charges for the so-called “Captain”. The Mechanic fires a repulsor beam at Bucky’s face drawing his attention back to him, and he dodges, swiping for him with his robotic left arm.

The scientists of Wakanda were kind enough to rebuild him an arm after he woke up free from the mental programming that HYDRA had subjected him to. Now, no one could read those damn words from that stupid book to bring back the Winter Soldier. And if they tried, then nothing would happen – the Wakandan scientists tested it with his permission, to prove that he was truly free.

“So, how did you get ahold of Stark’s technology?” Bucky asks, hoping to distract the other to create an opening to attack.

The Mechanic makes a scoffing noise through his armor, his voice deeper than Bucky was expecting – and he shakes himself mentally. Right, it’s Iron Man-like armor, but that’s not Iron Man in it.

“Bold of you to assume I stole this tech. I salvaged it from some metal and parts Cap brought for me from somewhere. So I built it myself.” The Mechanic sounds proud of that fact.

Then he fires both repulsor beams from his hands at Bucky as if accentuating his point. Bucky sees an opening in the Mechanic’s defense and flings himself forward, sending his metal fist to hit the edge of the Mechanic’s red faceplate.

The piece of red metal flies off, clattering onto the ground a few feet away.

“Now that’s just rude.” The Mechanic snaps, narrowing his whisky brown eyes at Bucky.

Bucky, meanwhile freezes. Tony Stark stares back at him from the HYDRA suit of Iron Man armor.

But his eyes have no malice in them, no recognition at all. Nothing Bucky would expect to see from someone who he and Steve left behind in Siberia after beating the shit out of him (and having the shit beat out of them as well, hence why Bucky needed a new arm). He recalls the discussion Steve had broadcast to their earpieces, the Mechanic discussing how he needs “the chair” to stop his headache.

Shit, Tony Stark is in a Winter Solider situation, it seems, only he’s been allowed a bit more of his personality to shine through.

“Get that faceplate back on now, Mechanic! That’s an order!” Captain Hydra shouts, wrestling for his shield again, and Stark turns to look for where the faceplate landed.

Bucky finally gets himself moving again. He can panic later, but right now, he needs to try to restrain Stark, so they can get him help. He’s not going to leave anyone in a Winter Soldier situation if he can help it.

“I’m working on it, Cap. No need to panic.” Stark sasses back, blocking a hit from Bucky’s metal arm with one of his own metal arms.

And of course, hearing his voice without the modulator in the suit that deepens it dramatically, Steve recognizes the voice. He whips around to look at Stark, his blue eyes widening.

“Tony?” He exclaims.

Seeing as Captain Hydra takes his distraction to yank the shield away from Steve, Bucky calls out a warning. His friend turns around, just to be kicked into a crate, and Bucky charges for Captain Hydra, deciding that Stark is distracted enough trying to get the faceplate back on. If Bucky can take down Captain Hydra, then they should be able to get Stark taken down too, and take him to safety.

Before Bucky can reach the HYDRA operative, pain lights up his side and he’s flung into the wall.

“Nuh-uh-uh.” Stark scolds, like he’s talking to a naughty child, his hand still raised from where he blasted Bucky.

His red faceplate is back on, like it was never removed, so his voice is back to that deeper tone, but if Bucky pays attention, he can still make out Stark’s true tone through it.

“Retreat back to base, Mechanic.” Captain Hydra commands Stark.

Stark turns to look at him.

“Wha- Why? We can take them!”

Captain Hydra levels him with a look and Stark shrinks back.

“Do as I say now, or I’ll knock you out and haul you back to base. And I’ll leave you in the chair overnight.”

Shit, it is the chair that fucked up Stark.

Stark visibly flinches as Captain Hydra steps towards him.

“I’m going, I’m going.” He quickly says, holding up his hands in surrender.

The intercoms in the warehouse spring to life once again as Stark speaks through his disguised voice.

“All the weapons are rigged to blow; I’d advise you to drop whatever weapon you are using and run.”

And with that, he blasts off. Captain Hydra takes one look at Bucky and Steve who are getting back to their feet, and smirks.

“Hail HYDRA.” He says, his voice horrifyingly like Steve’s voice.

And then he vanishes, as if he just stepped out of reality into nothingnness.

Bucky winces as he helps Steve up, the beeping from the devices starting off slow, but rapidly picking up speed as they get closer to detonating.

“Go go go!” Steve shouts as they both sprint for an exit.

The beeping is at a frantic pace, when Bucky spots a window, and he and Steve exchange only a glance, before detouring for the window. They jump through, the glass shattering around them, right as the building combusts into a massive fireball, sending them flying even further.

They land on the concrete parking lot about ten feet from the building, and Bucky lets out a groan as he rolls over onto his back.

“Well, things just got much more complicated.”

Chapter Text

Captain Hydra steps into the base he shares with Tony, balancing a box of donuts in one hand, and a bag full of machinery parts in the other.

When he had stepped out of this world back to his home world in order to escape from this world’s Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, he decided to go pick up a box of donuts alongside some scrap parts that Tony can use to fix or upgrade his suit further. In his world, he’s a hailed hero, and so he he can take whatever he pleases from his home world to assist in the campaign to spread HYDRA’s glory to this new world.

He smiles at the thought of how happy Tony will be to see the box of donuts. He’s truly very easy to please – a box of donuts is like a birthday present to him with how excited he gets when Steve brings some home.

Steve pauses midstep at his thought. Home, huh?

He supposes wherever he has Tony where he’s happy to see him is his home. His home universe doesn’t have a Tony, not after he killed him. But now he’s got a second chance, and it’s going smoothly. He’s fighting side-by-side with Tony to spread the glory of HYDRA and he couldn’t be happier.

Pushing open the door to Tony’s lab, Steve watches Tony as he works to fix the dent in the faceplate the former Winter Soldier had caused by punching off his faceplate earlier. Steve places down the box of donuts on a table and silently approaches Tony from behind. Once he’s in range, he leans down and presses a kiss to the back of Tony’s neck. Tony jumps and lets out a startled squeak, and Steve smirks as he leaves another kiss on the side of his neck.

Wrapping his arms around Tony and pulling him against him in a snug hug, Steve lets out a chuckle as Tony turns his head to pout at him.

“You scared me.” Tony huffs.

Steve presses a kiss to his cheek.

“You were very focused on your work, I know. But you’ve gotta get in the chair if you want your headache to leave you alone.”

Tony sighs and Steve steps away to release him from the hug before he gently leads the brunette away from his workstation, towards the room where the chair is situated. Tony has a conflicted expression on his face, and Steve stops walking.

“Tony, what’s on your mind?” He asks.

Tony looks a bit embarrassed at having been read so easily, but he acquiesces.

“Why did those rogue Avengers recognize me?” He asks after a moment.

Steve frowns. Well, time to spin the story he had planned on using in case this scenario ever came about.

“Well, I’ve told you before, but I know you have forgotten each time, but I’ll tell you each time you ask. You look like their Tony Stark, but you’re a clone made by the glorious HYDRA many years ago. They’ll keep mistaking you for the friend that they killed, but you aren’t him; you’ll never be him.”

Steve sighs before leaving an open-mouth kiss on Tony’s neck again, relishing in how Tony shivers.

“You need the chair in order to keep your brain from collapsing in on itself. That’s not your fault, but when you were created, things weren’t done perfectly, which is why you need the chair so often. Otherwise, you would go insane. That’s what the headaches are warning of.” Steve continues.

Tony nods at his words, his breathing a bit shaky, and Steve continues leading him towards the chair. When they reach the room where the chair is, Tony sits in the chair of his own accord. Steve locks his arms and legs to the chair in the metal bindings so he doesn’t injure himself trying to escape when the pain kicks in.

Once Tony is fully strapped in, he tilts Tony’s face up and pulls him into a kiss. When he pulls back, Tony chases after his lips a bit and Steve smiles down at him.

“I’ll be back in an hour, and then we can have donuts, alright?”

Tony weakly smiles back up at him.

“Promise you’ll remind me afterwards? You know how much the chair scrambles my mind.”

Steve picks up the mouthguard that protects Tony from biting off his tongue due to the pain.

“I promise.” Steve replies, placing the mouthguard securely in Tony’s mouth.

Having said this, Steve starts up the chair, and steps back. He ensures it’s going, waiting for the pain in Tony’s small frame to become evident before he leaves the room, heading back for Tony’s lab. Settling himself into a chair, Steve lets out a hum as he tunes out Tony’s muffled screaming.

They should probably move bases again. This time, they’ll move out of Siberia’s icy expanses. Maybe to the United States. He’ll pull up a list of abandoned SHIELD bases they could move to later. Of course, they’ll have to move the chair too, which is a pain, but certainly not impossible. He just has to be absolutely certain that nothing happens to the chair, otherwise keeping Tony in line will become basically impossible.

Thankfully, they have a Quinnjet that they stole a while back, and it’s constantly in stealth mode, so they’ll be able to load the chair into the aircraft whenever they do move.

They aren’t in the same bunker that the Winter Soldier was kept, so the former Winter Soldier won’t be able to track them here from his memory at least. However, it would be smart to move places, and send out a decoy signal to send whoever might be looking for them on a wild goose chase.

If this universe’s Steve Rogers is anything like himself, then he’s going to be looking for Tony. So if the chance arises, they should absolutely take out this universe’s disgraced Captain America.

Another idea hits Steve and he ponders it for a moment.

Should he put this universe’s Tony through the experimental treatment that allowed him to have the ability to step between his home universe and this other universe?

Steve shakes his head with a sigh. No, that’s a bad idea. He was the only survivor of the world-hopping experimental treatment, and he couldn’t bear to lose Tony. Not after all the effort he’s put into ensuring he stays by his side.

Hopefully the excuse he came up with for why others would recognize Tony will continue to work. He’ll have to keep telling the lie to Tony every time someone recognizes him, as the chair will probably wipe the conversation from his memory each time.

--------------

The chair is finally stopped, and Tony sags against the backrest, his mind reeling from the pain he had endured. His throat feels shredded from screaming past the mouthguard in his mouth. He feels as the metal bindings holding his arms and legs in place are unclasped. Someone is talking to him, their voice gentle, but he cannot make out a word they’re saying.

A strong arm helps lift him to his feet, and he leans heavily on the firm chest of the person assisting him, his knees week like a baby deer’s. He can hear their heartbeat, calm and steady, while the world spins around him, nothing like Tony’s own wildly hammering heart.

The person keeps talking, and Tony gets the feeling they’re aware that he cannot understand what they’re saying. It’s quite soothing however.

Tony closes his eyes, hoping that the dizziness will dissipate if he does so.

Taking deep, centering breathes, Tony eventually opens his eyes, focusing on his surroundings. He’s in the chair room. The rest of the room is mostly barren of objects, as this isn’t a room Tony enjoys spending time in. There’s none of the mess that’s in his lab, or the knickknacks that are in the bedroom he and Steve share.

Speaking of Steve…

Tony turns his gaze to look at who he’s leaning against, and shoots Steve a smile.

“Hey there, Cap.” His voice is wrecked from screaming in pain and he winces at the sound of it, but Steve smiles back widely, pulling him into a bruising kiss.

Then, Steve pulls away after a few seconds, and his smile softens.

“Come on, we’ve got donuts, Tony.” He says gently.

Tony immediately perks up at that, despite feeling like death warmed over. He takes a tentative step and his knees buckle beneath him. Steve is there to catch him, and the tall blonde pulls him into a bridal carry. Tony’s face flushes despite the fact that this is far more innocent than a lot of things he and Steve have done.

In fact, this isn’t the first time Steve has had to carry Tony after some of their...Activities. That’s something the chair has let him remember, maybe because they’re like core memories of Steve or something? He’s not sure how exactly the chair works – why it removes some things and leaves others.

But Steve has made for certain he remembers not to mess with the chair, unless he wants to be left in it overnight. Which, no thanks. The usual hour is plenty painful, thank you very much.

And if he was left in it overnight, he might forget everything, even Steve and his own name, he suspects.

Steve carries Tony to his lab, and settles him in a wheeled chair, next to the box of donuts, which Tony wastes no time popping open and grabbing a cherry icing one with sprinkles. The cherry ones are Tony’s absolute favorite, and wherever Steve usually goes to get them when he’s alone seems to be the only place that has them. Because whenever they drop by donut shops together after missions, there’s never any cherry ones.

Steve places a bottle of water next to Tony as well, and Tony beams up at him.

“Have I told you I loved you since I’ve been out of the chair?” Tony asks as he opens the bottle to take a large drink.

Steve lets out a thoughtful hum.

“I don’t believe so.”

Tony smirks.

“Well I am seriously considering it.”

Tony lets out a content noise as he takes a bite of the cherry donut, colorful sprinkles falling to the ground with the bite.

“So, what caused me to need the chair’s services this time?” Tony asks in between bites of the donut.

Steve nods, like he was waiting for Tony to ask.

“You get pretty bad headaches when you’re out of the chair for too long. I guess your brilliant mind has too many things going on at once and only the chair can help settle it.” He teases lightly, and Tony rolls his eyes before quickly regretting it at the wave of dizziness that slams into him.

Right, just got out of the chair, that was a stupid idea. He closes his eyes for a moment, and then blinks them open at the feeling of a hand on his face. Steve’s steel blue eyes stare back at him, cupping his face in his hands.

“I’m alright, sorry, just got dizzy.” Tony says.

He recalls the conversation they were just having and decides to not let Steve get the last word.

“It’s a lot to think about, keeping our weapons manufacturing going efficiently and ensuring my suit stays functioning too.” He says flippantly.

Steve releases his face and nods.

“Oh right. We need to move bases again.”

Tony lets out a groan.

“Well damn. Who tracked us this time?” He pouts.

Steve shakes his head.

“Language. And it’s more of a preventative measure this time. On our last mission, the rogue Avengers and former Winter Solider managed to infiltrate the event. Knowing them, they’re going to want to “cut the head off the snake” of the weapons manufacturing facilities we have running around the world. That means they’re going to target you, and I cannot have that.”

Tony takes the last bite of the donut he was eating, chewing thoughtfully.

“Well, if we’re leaving, then we could leave them a present behind for them to find when they inevitably find this base.”

Steve grins at Tony.

“Have I told you how much I love you since you got out of the chair?” He asks.

Tony puts a finger to his chin, dramatically pondering it.

“No, no you have not. Though the donuts were pretty close to that. Seriously, where do you find these cherry donuts? They’re like unicorns in the wild – impossible to find.”

Steve laughs at that.

“I love you Tony.”

Tony grins back.

“Right back at ya, Cap.”

Chapter Text

It’s been a week since the government of the United States found a place for the refugees of Asgard and Sakaar to reside. Loki, on the other hand, has thankfully not been mentioned to said government, and has comfortably settled into living in the Avengers Compound alongside Bruce Banner, Colonel Rhodes, Vision, and the Spiderling, who comes and goes.

Thor comes and goes too, split between staying with his people to help guide them, and coming back to the Compound to check on Loki, presumably to ensure he’s behaving himself. And Valkyrie entirely stays with the refugees, not ever dropping by the Compound, which certainly doesn’t bother Loki at all.

Loki hums quietly to himself as he uses his magic to levitate a tray full of drinks into the meeting room while he sips on his own cup of coffee, walking beside the tray. The tray has coffee resting on it for each member of the “Find Captain Hydra and the Mechanic” task force, except for the Spiderling, who gets hot chocolate with marshmallows.

Each member of the task force takes turns preparing drinks for the group, and while Loki was startled the first time he was asked to take a turn, he found he didn’t mind the implicit trust they put in him not to poison the drinks. Being trusted, even with something as small as that, feels nice.

He opens the door to the meeting room and steps in, levitating the tray of drinks onto the table, next to where Colonel Rhodes is in his wheelchair.

“Thanks Loki.” The man says as he grabs a coffee off the tray and takes a sip of the black coffee.

For simplicity’s sake, Loki brings not only the coffee but also the creamer and sugar on the tray, having discovered each person is wildly different about how they take their coffee.

Vision shoots him a small smile from where he’s currently assisting in trying to pinpoint the exact location of Captain Hydra and the Mechanic’s base alongside Banner and the Spiderling. Banner glances away from the charts on the screens for just a moment to fix up his own cup of coffee with a dash of cream and sugar. Then he’s right back into trying to assist in narrowing down where the two HYDRA agents could possibly be.

Thor reaches across the table to grab a coffee as well, dumping copious amounts of cream and sugar into it.

“Thank you brother, it is appreciated.” He says as he takes a swig of his mostly-cream coffee.

Loki rolls his eyes at that, but nods curtly. Stephen Strange comes out of his meditative state where he’d been floating in the corner with his apparently sentient cloak to float one of the coffees over to himself, giving Loki an appreciative nod.

“Oooh hot chocolate! Thanks a lot Mr. Loki!” The Spiderling cheers as he pulls his mask up ever so slightly to get a sip of the drink, but not enough to reveal his whole face.

Loki shakes his head fondly. The Spiderling is really quite a polite kid.

“You are welcome, Spiderman.”

There’s a loud ringing noise of a phone and the group falls still as they try to determine the source of noise – all except for Colonel Rhodes, whose face hardens. He wheels over to a plastic container on a table in the corner of the room, opening it and fishing a brick of a phone out of the container. He flips it open and puts it up to his ear, clearly accepting the call.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve to call here, Rogers.”

A tension falls over the room at the Colonel’s words, and he sits in silence, clearly listening to the Man Out of Time speak. A few seconds of silence pass in the room, suddenly broken as Colonel Rhodes tenses up and starts to swear profusely. The call goes on for about a dozen seconds after that, and then Colonel Rhodes ends the call, wiping a hand down his face wearily.

Turning his wheelchair to face the group, Colonel Rhodes sighs.

“Rogers and his team ran across Tony. You were right, Dr. Strange. He’s not dead, but he’s not himself either – he is the Mechanic. And apparently, he’s in a Winter Solider type situation, according to Sergeant Barnes, the former Winter Soldier.”

Loki frowns at that.

“What does that mean, exactly? A “Winter Soldier type situation”?” He inquires, his tone cautious.

He takes a sip of his coffee, and Colonel Rhodes sighs with a nod.

“That’s a fair question. The Winter Soldier was a HYDRA assassin who was forced into becoming an assassin by being ‘reprogrammed’ by HYDRA. Apparently HYDRA has some kind of chair that wipes a person’s memories, and Sergeant Barnes had said over the call just now that Tony had mentioned a chair to Captain Hydra when Rogers and him stumbled across the HYDRA duo.”

Bruce lets out a hum.

“And they’re sure this is, in fact, Tony?” He asks.

Colonel Rhodes takes a drink of his coffee.

“Rogers and Sergeant Barnes both confirmed that they saw his face during a fight against him and Captain Hydra. Apparently Barnes knocked off his faceplate and so they saw his face.”

Loki frowns.

“And what are the odds that they’re lying? Trying to feed us false hope, or to ease their conscious from the fact that they killed Anthony Stark?” He asks.

Rhodey looks uncertain and opens his mouth to speak, right as there’s a shrill beep, coming from where Bruce, Vision, and the Spiderling have been working together to track the base of the two HYDRA operatives.

“My apologies for interrupting, but we seem to have gotten a hit on the location of their base.” Vision remarks, looking between Colonel Rhodes and Loki.

Loki looks at the holographic map they have pulled up. This could be where possibly Anthony Stark and the so-called Captain Hydra have been hiding out, assuming the Man Out of Time and Sergeant Barnes are telling the truth that Anthony Stark is alive.

“It appears to be in Siberia.” Vision remarks, looking over the map.

Loki quirks an eyebrow at that, not especially familiar with the geography of Midgard.

“It’s a snowy, insanely cold tundra.” The Spiderling explains upon seeing his puzzled expression.

Thor rises to his feet.

“Very well, we shall brave the coldness of Siberia with the hopes of bringing Tony home.” He announces.

Stephen Strange also stops levitating in the corner, standing up and taking one last sip of his coffee before he sets it on the table.

“Let’s hurry then.”

The Spiderling downs the rest of his hot chocolate in a few big gulps, and then wipes his mouth with a napkin resting on the table in case of spills. Then he pulls his mask back down.

“I’m ready!”

Stephen Strange whips around to face the Spiderling.

“Absolutely not, you’re not going. This is probably going to be incredibly dangerous, going into an enemy base.”

The Spiderling shakes his head frantically.

“No, no I’m going. You don’t understand - if Mr. Stark is there, I want to be on the team to help rescue him. It’s the least I could do for him.”He argues.

Stephen Strange sighs wearily.

“And what about the strong possibility that Tony won’t recognize you? That he might try to kill you?”

The kid shrugs.

“Well, he probably won’t recognize any of us… And if he attacks me, I’ll just have to dodge.” He says simply.

Loki steps forward.

“I will also do my best to protect you, if it comes down to it.” He says.

The Spiderling turns to him and gives him a thumbs up.

“Thanks Mr. Loki!”

Colonel Rhodes nods.

“Okay, so the team thus far will be Thor, Loki, Spiderman, Dr. Strange...Vision, Bruce, are you going? I assume you’d rather not, Bruce, but just thought I would double check. Unfortunately, I cannot go for obvious reasons, much as I would love to go help.” He says, gesturing to his wheelchair.

Vision steps forward.

“I believe my assistance would be most beneficial in saving Mr. Stark.” He confirms.

Bruce, meanwhile, shakes his head.

“I, ah, don’t really want the big guy to come out again.” He admits.

Stephen Strange studies the map where the ripples showing the location are coming from.

“Is there a way for us to have a picture of the base? Even a satellite picture will do.” He asks after a moment.

Bruce Banner taps a few things on the device, and then a picture of a snowy field with a grainy picture of a concrete snow covered structure appears on the screen before Bruce Banner.

“That...Should do. Let’s go to the training room. I can open a portal directly there so we don’t have to worry about taking a Quinjet.” He offers.

Colonel Rhodes looks thoughtful.

“Very well. Stay safe, and hopefully you’ll return with Tony.” He says.

Loki takes one last sip of his coffee before setting it on the table, and follows the group that’s going, heading out of the meeting room. Once they all make it in the training room, Loki watches as Stephen Strange opens a golden portal to a snowy field.

“Alright, let’s head out.” The human sorcerer remarks calmly.

The Spiderling is the first through the portal with an excited “Whoop!”. Loki fondly rolls his eyes before he follows after. Stepping through the portal, into the cold, Loki notes that the Spiderling has stopped and is looking down at his suit.

“Is something the matter?” Loki questions.

The child looks up at him.

“I never realized Mr. Stark equipped my suit with a heater for intense cold such as this. But there’s definitely a heater in this suit.” He says, his voice quietly awed.

Loki nods, unsure how to respond. The cold does not bother him one bit due to his true bloodline, but he is aware that’s not normal for anyone else he’s met.

There’s a hand clapping down on his shoulder, and Loki suppresses the urge to hiss at his annoying adopted brother.

“Let us find a way into this bunker!” Thor exclaims.

Loki takes a moment to study the building they’re trying to get into, and finds it’s made of concrete and half buried in the ground. It’s hideous, and nothing like the Stark Tower or even the Avengers Compound Loki has seen where Tony had previously stayed.

“Can’t the wizard just portal us in?” Loki drawls.

Stephen Strange sighs.

“Unfortunately, I need to have seen the place I’m portalling to, whether it’s a picture or the place itself. Otherwise there’s no telling where we’ll end up.”

The group trudges through the snow towards the bunker. There’s no obvious door on this side of the bunker, but Vision seems to spot something no one else does. He floats forward, phasing through the wall, and then all of a sudden, the wall before them opens up.

“I could tell this was one of those doors that only opens from the inside.” Vision remarks as he stands on the other side of the door.

Loki frowns at that, and Thor asks.

“How do they get into the bunker if the door only opens from the inside?”

Stephen Strange readies magic in his hands as they enter the bunker.

“Simple. There must be another, more often used entrance they are aware of. However, we’d freeze before we find that entrance, so we have to go through the front door.”

The room is empty, except for an elevator that leads downwards and a stairwell that also leads up and down beside it, presumably there in case the elevator stops working.

“I suggest we use the stairs rather than the elevator.” Vision remarks.

The Spiderling nods.

“Yeah there’s no telling if the elevator has been trapped by Mr. Stark in case this place was ever discovered.”

The group heads to the stairwell, completely avoiding the elevator.

------------------

The descent down the stairwell is silent, unnervingly so. If there’s one thing Stephen knows about Tony Stark from what he’s seen in the media – Tony Stark doesn’t do quiet.

But then again, this isn’t entirely Tony Stark anymore, is it?

Being thrust into a Winter Solider type situation where he’s apparently being mind controlled, or otherwise coerced into working for HYDRA isn’t a great situation for anyone’s personal autonomy.

They open the door at the bottom of the stairwell, into the main part of the bunker. There’s crates of weapons scattered about seemingly randomly around the interior, with the occasional blaster gun just lying on the ground haphazardly.

With his magic resting in his hands and ready to defend or attack if necessary, Stephen takes in the room’s appearance.

Lots of barren concrete walls, many concrete pillars that are keeping the base upright, and not a sign of a single soul. There’s a spot on the ground further in where it looks like something heavy was once sitting, but has since been moved. There’s no spark of personality anywhere in this area, and the weapons are the only sign that Stark was even here recently as they look far too advanced for HYDRA to come up with on their own.

“Let’s split up and search.” Stephen suggests.

Thor nods and directs Loki to go with him, while Vision floats off further in by himself. That leaves Stephen and the Spiderkid.

“How are you holding up?” Stephen asks the kid absentmindedly while they head in a different direction from the others.

They enter a room that is probably Tony’s lab, with mechanical parts scattered around helterskelter.

“This is all a bit unsettling, but I’m fine. I just hope Mr. Stark is okay. Well, as okay as someone can be while under HYDRA’s control.” The Spiderkid sighs.

There’s a large, extremely old box TV in the middle of the lab, and it suddenly turns on as soon as they step past the threshold, into the lab itself. The screen flickers to life, and a whirring noise comes from it as a video starts to play.

Captain Hydra stands with Tony Stark, or the Mechanic, completely unmasked beside the significantly taller man. And Stark…Looks about the same as ever, oddly enough.

“Congrats on finding the base, Rogue Avengers, or at least that’s who I assume has tracked us all the way to Siberia. This is a prerecorded message, which means you just missed us.” Stark shrugs.

Stephen glances over at Captain Hydra, who despite the TV not having very high resolution, looks an eerie amount like Steve Rogers – from his face partially obscured by the helmet he’s wearing, to the way he’s carrying himself as he stands next to Tony. Even his outfit is remarkably like a HYDRA-ified version of his previous Star Spangled uniform before he was sent on the run.

“Better luck next time.” Stark continues, and the screen goes black right as there’s a resounding boom in the air, followed by more explosions.

Stephen and the Spider-Kid sprint out of the room to see what’s exploding, and the former surgeon swears at the realization that the weapons weren’t placed haphazardly around – they were placed strategically, to bring this whole base down on any intruders.

These are those weapons that Peter had told him about, and he’d forgotten that they explode, and now it’s come back to bite him. That tape finishing must have been the signal for the explosions to begin.

“Dr. Strange?! What do we do?” The Spider-Kid exclaims as they watch a box of weapons explode, not too close to them, but enough to bring down one of the pillars and bring smaller pieces of rubble down from the ceiling near them.

Without a word, Stephen uses his sling ring to open a portal back to the training room and causes the portal to swallow the kid before closing that portal so the kid doesn’t rush back through.

“Levi, quickly, let’s find the others.” Stephen tells the Cloak of Levitation.

The cloak quickly lifts him off the ground and they flit through the bunker, weaving around the pillars until he sees Thor and Loki booking it back for the main room, narrowly dodging falling rubble. He opens a portal next to them and has that portal swallow them as well. Three are back in the training room, now he just needs to get Vision and himself out of here.

Vision phases through a collapsed wall far to Stephen’s left and he turns to open a portal for Vision. The android flies through and Stephen closes that portal as well. He opens one last portal for himself and quickly steps into the training room, sealing that portal behind him.

Stephen looks around at the group as his heart calms from the sudden adrenaline spike. The Spider-Kid is sitting on the ground, clearly stunned from being suddenly portaled like that, while Loki is pacing back and forth. Vision frowns, looking deep in thought and Thor looks vaguely unsettled.

Stephen sighs.

“Well, this might more difficult than first expected.”

Chapter Text

Steve knows that him and the group staying in New York is like playing with fire. Even if it’s not New York City, it’s awfully close to the Avengers Compound. But Natasha was able to rent them a house in New York under a false alias, and so Steve agreed that they could all return for now.

However, sleep has evaded Steve since they’ve made it to the house. Hell, sleep has been evading him for a while now. Seeing Tony alive, but in a Winter Soldier situation has been haunting him and chasing sleep away from him.

Huffing out a sigh, Steve pushes himself off the couch in the living room. Bucky stirs on the other couch at his sudden movements.

“Where are you goin’?” The brunette asks, his voice heavy with sleep.

Steve runs a hand through his dirty-blonde hair wearily. He glances at the clock. It’s four thirty-seven in the morning.

“I’m just going to go on a run around the property. I’ll be right back.” He reassures Bucky.

Bucky lets out a grumble.

“You’d better not do anything stupid.”

Steve laughs quietly so as to not wake up the others, who are scattered about the house sleeping in different areas.

“It’s just a run. I’ll be right back.”

Bucky hums, but says nothing else, and Steve slips on a pair of shoes he had resting on the floor next to the couch he was lying on. Since they’ve been on the run, they haven’t really been worried about wearing pajamas to sleep in, simply choosing to go to bed in clothes they can flee in if it comes down to it.

He heads to the back door and opens it as quietly as he can before he steps out. He shuts the door behind him stealthily, deeply inhaling the cold morning air. The stars twinkle overhead and he stretches for a few minutes before he starts jogging, following the running trail around the area.

As he runs, he can’t get Tony’s voice out of his head. How he called Captain Hydra “Cap”, just like he called Steve that when they were on the same team. Hearing Tony’s sass for the first time in months after believing he’d killed him was both a weight lifted off his shoulders, and having the weight of the world slam him down.

It was his fault that Tony was trapped by HYDRA. If things in Siberia hadn’t gone so south – if he’d told Tony what really happened to his parents sooner – Tony wouldn’t be in HYDRA’s clutches. Hell, maybe he and Tony would have become something more than friends even, instead of breaking Tony’s trust so massively and thinking he’d killed him for months following their last encounter.

And then that Captain Hydra, who looked so much like a dark mirror of himself. Steve recalls the ugly sneer he’d faced Steve with, contrasted to the kiss he placed on Tony’s faceplate before he was aware of Steve’s presence. Steve’s stomach churns at the thought. Captain Hydra clearly has a...Thing for Tony.

Apparently, not enough of a thing to prevent him from threatening Tony with leaving him in the “chair” overnight. Presumably the same chair that messed up Bucky’s memories, if Steve had to hazard a guess.

But how does Captain Hydra look so similar to him? Some sort of HYDRA cloning initiative? He supposes it’s not out of the realm of possibility, but it doesn’t feel quite like the correct answer here.

He arrives back at the back door of the house and opens the door, stepping inside. Bucky is no longer on the couch in the living room, and he can hear the shower running, which quickly soothes the worry that something has happened. He waves at Sam who is drinking coffee in the living room, the TV turned on but on mute.

Sam waves back with one hand, the other holding his mug of coffee. Natasha emerges from the room she and Wanda shared, stretching with a yawn.

“Morning Nat. Morning Sam. Is Wanda still asleep?” Steve greets.

Natasha smiles back at him.

“Yeah, she should be getting up soon though,” She responds.

The doorbell rings, and the entire group freezes in place. They all exchange silent glances, and Steve quickly picks up and straps the shock gauntlets on his wrists just to be safe. Natasha readies the pistol on her thigh holster and Steve nods at Sam to go wake up Wanda and get Bucky to get out of the shower, just to be safe. Sam quickly leaves the room.

Steve cautiously approaches the door, gauntlets with a low stream of power flowing through them. The doorbell goes off again.

Inhaling deeply, Steve peeks out the window in the door, and is greeted with a man with salt and pepper hair, a red cape, and pale blue eyes that lock onto his immediately, alongside the kid that Tony brought to the airport fight – Spiderman, if he recalls correctly – wearing his red and blue suit.

“I’d advise you open the door, unless you want us to draw attention out here.” The man wearing the red cape calls.

Steve cautiously opens the door, his shock gauntlets ready to fight. To his surprise however, neither of the people on the doorstep rush him in an attack.

“Hello Steve Rogers. I am the Sorcerer Supreme of this Earth, Dr. Strange. We need to talk.” The man with the red cape says, his voice perfectly calm and collected.

Steve doesn’t let his stance drop fully, but he does let his shoulders relax a bit.

“About Tony, I take it?” He asks.

Dr. Strange nods.

“We’ve come to see what information you could tell us about your encounter with the two HYDRA agents, Captain Hydra and the Mechanic.” Dr. Strange continues.

Spiderman steps forward.

“We’re not here to apprehend you or anything. We’re just here to gather whatever information we can get.” The kid quickly explains.

Steve glances behind him as Wanda and Sam come into the living room. The noise of the shower is no longer going, so Steve is certain Bucky is coming as quickly as he can.

Steve makes eye contact with Natasha.

She nods, slowly and hesitantly, and Steve cautiously opens the door. The man wearing the red cape floats in using the cape, and Spiderman follows after. Steve shuts the door once they’re in.

Spiderman immediately starts to speak, gesturing rapidly with his hands.

“So basically, we went to investigate the HYDRA duo’s base, after Dr. Banner and Mr. Vision and I managed to track down their most recent base. Once we got to the base it was deserted besides the weapons that I assume Mr. Stark has been making, but I kinda forgot that they explode which was a mistake on my part – ah I’m getting off track. Right, so anyways, there was a TV in a room that showed a recording of Mr. Stark without the Mechanic’s suit on, and next to him was Captain Hydra in his HYDRA outfit, who looks really, really disturbingly like you, even with the grainy footage of the tape.” Spiderman rambles off, pointing at Steve to emphasize who he’s talking about.

Steve blinks as his brain digests the kid’s quickly spouted information.

“Well I hate to break it to you, but it wasn’t Steve who kidnapped Stark. Steve and Bucky both fought against Stark and Captain Hydra when we did what you Avengers should be doing, and busted an arms deal run by the HYDRA duo.” Wanda says, her hackles raised.

Dr. Strange sighs through his nose.

“Our intention is not to come here to accuse you of kidnapping Stark. I have a theory that I’m gathering evidence for.”

Natasha hums thoughtfully.

“Do you happen to have a copy of that footage that you saw Stark and Captain Hydra on?”

Dr. Strange grimaces at her question.

“No, I’m afraid not. It was presumably destroyed alongside the base which had been trapped by the HYDRA duo and rigged to collapse by those weapons exploding and bringing it down.”

Steve also grimaces at that. That sounds familiar, considering what happened at the black market arms deal they tried to bust.

“Seems like detonating places is this duo’s MO.” Sam sighs, taking a long sip of his coffee.

----------

Bucky quickly towel dries his hair as fast as he can. Sam had told him that someone had rung the doorbell and to be prepared to flee if they have to, so he’d quickly washed off the last of the shampoo in his hair and gotten out of the shower.

He opens the door of the bathroom and steps out. He immediately hears an unfamiliar deeper baritone voice coming from the living room. He debates trying to stealth to the kitchen for a knife, but decides against it as he hears Steve’s voice say something as well. Steve doesn’t sound angry or confrontational, so maybe things are fine.

Entering the living room with still damp hair, Bucky’s eyes fall on the kid in the red and blue elastic looking suit that Stark had brought with him to the airport fight, and another man wearing a flowing red cloak resting on his shoulders atop some rather...Interesting attire. Clearly, they’re both not exactly civilians.

The two turn their heads to look at him as he enters the room.

“Ah. I take it you managed to track the phone we used to call about Stark’s situation?” Bucky asks, keeping his tone light.

The two strangers exchange looks but neither confirm nor deny his question. Steve turns to Bucky.

“Bucky, this is Dr. Strange, and Spiderman.” He explains.

Bucky nods.

“Got it. So why are you two here today? I take it you’re not here to bring us in, unless you’re trying to distract us for long enough for reinforcements to arrive.” He asks.

Dr. Strange shakes his head.

“Merely trying to confirm a theory I have about who Captain Hydra is.”

Bucky blinks in surprise at that.

“Well I can assure you that none of us here are Captain Hydra. The guy might look horrifyingly similar to Stevie here, but aside from having none of the charming personality, he also has the ability to teleport or something similar.”

That gets Dr. Strange’s attention, while Steve nods thoughtfully.

“I’d nearly forgotten about that. When he sent Tony away from the warehouse we were attempting to stop the black market weapons deal in, he also phased out of reality, or teleported, or something similar.” Steve confirms.

Dr. Strange rubs his forehead, looking weary.

“That all but confirms my theory then.” He sighs.

Nat speaks up.

“Backing up a bit, you’d said Dr. Banner helped you track down the HYDRA duo’s base? He’s back?” She asks, her voice cautiously hopeful.

Spiderman nods.

“Yeah, he was apparently in space the whole time? It’s a pretty wild story.” He confirms.

Bucky raises his eyebrows.

“Space?” He asks.

He’d heard about how Dr. Banner had flown off still Hulked out into who knows where after the whole Ultron incident. The fact that he’d gone silent for so long and him actually being off planet actually make a weird sort of sense combined together.

“Yes. Thor returned with all of the survivors of Asgard and some other planet that he’d apparently become trapped on for a time, and among those on board the ship was Dr. Banner.” Dr. Strange explains.

Steve furrows his brows.

“Survivors of Asgard? What happened to Asgard?” He asks.

Spiderman looks over at Dr. Strange as if looking for permission to speak. Dr. Strange shrugs, and Spiderman looks back at the group, gesturing wildly as he speaks.

“Okay, so Mr. Thor and Mr. Loki explained that they apparently had a sister named Hela, who was the goddess of death or something. Anyways, she took over Asgard, and flung them to some other planet somehow, and that’s where Dr. Banner was a champion of the planet’s fighting ring. Long story short, they ended up starting a revolution on that planet and then returning to Asgard to fight Hela, realized they couldn’t beat her, and had to let some fire demon or something destroy their home, which also killed Hela and prevented her from following the survivors’ ship. And then they came to Earth.” Spiderman rapid-fires information at them, and silence follows his explanation for a long moment.

Then, Dr. Strange nods.

“Pretty much sums it up.”

Natasha stares at the two, her gaze steely.

“I’m sorry, did you say Loki? As in the same one that tried to take over Earth years back?”

Spiderman waves his hands at her words frantically.

“Yeah, but he’s actually really cool! He hasn’t tried to do anything nefarious again; I think he’s chilled out a lot since then. Plus all the Avengers are keeping an eye on him just to be safe. But he helped us look for Mr. Stark in Siberia when we went to the base that Mr. Stark and Captain Hydra were in.”

The room seems unconvinced, but Dr. Strange merely sighs.

“We’re getting off topic. Back to Captain Hydra – was there anything else you noticed about him that you’d like to share? Any information could help.”

Steve and Bucky look at each other.

“Well, he sounded and looked a horrifying amount like Steve, that’s for sure.” Bucky says.

Steve nods.

“It was like staring into a twisted mirror of everything I hated and would never want to become. And that dark mirror now has his mitts on Tony.”

Steve exhales shakily.

“I never meant to trade one friend’s safety for another. I thought when I helped carry Bucky out of the bunker and left Tony behind that he would find his way out of the bunker. That he’d make it home safely.” He continues.

Spiderman and Dr. Strange go quiet for a long moment.

“You two are the only ones that saw Tony in the last moments when he was still Tony, before he was kidnapped. So I think it would be beneficial to ask – what exactly occurred in this bunker you speak of?” Dr. Strange asks after the silence has started getting uncomfortable.

Steve deflates.

“This is going to be a bit of an unhappy discussion.”