We Rise, Only To Fall / Steve Rogers

31

The Airport.

The others waited behind as Steve and I made our way across the airport, towards the helicopter I'd be flying. We kept up a brisk pace, anxious about who was around and then a familiar bit of tech landed on the chopper, rendering it useless.

We looked up and there was Tony, in his suit, arm outstretched. He angled down, flying toward the ground with Rhodey hot on his heels. They landed in front of us.

"Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport," Tony began coldly, removing his helmet. He asked Rhodey, "Don't you think that's weird?"

"Definitely weird," Rhodey replied.

"Hear us out, Tony," Steve said calmly. "That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this."

Before Tony could reply, a figure jumped out of nowhere, landing gracefully. The Black Panther - King T'Challa. 

"Captain," he greeted. His head angled slightly to me, "Miss Stark."

"Your Highness," Steve and I said in unison, bowing our heads slightly. 

"Anyway," Tony said, never one for greetings. "Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in. That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out? Or your actual brother?" 

My heart twinged at being stuck between the pair of them as Steve said, "You're after the wrong guy."

"Your judgement is askew." Tony's face was set. "Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday."

"And there are five more super soldiers just like him." I replied, trying to bargain. 

"I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony," Steve added. "I can't."

"Steve, Rose," Natasha appeared from behind us and we turned our heads and watched her. "you know what's about to happen. Do you really wanna punch your way out of this one?"

I bit my lip as I looked at her. Her face was just as pained as I knew mine was as we turned back to Tony.

"All right," Tony said. "I've run out of patience. Underoos!" 

A web-like substance shot out of the air and attached itself to Steve's shield, lifting it up and landing in the arms of a figure. I looked down to see Steve's hands bound together by the web thing and frowned. The figure with the shield rose slowly and I took in the spider costume.

"Nice job, kid," Tony told him. 

"Thanks," came a surprisingly young voice from the spider-thing. "I could have stuck the landing a little better, it's just...New suit. It's nothing, Mr. Stark. It's perfect. Thank you."

"Yeah, we don't really need to start a conversation," Tony replied. 

"Okay," the spider replied. "Cap. Captain. Miss Stark. Big fan. I'm Spider-Man."

I suppressed a laugh as Tony said, "Yeah, we'll talk about it later. Just..."

"Hey everyone."

"...good job." 

"You've been busy," Steve called to Tony. 

"And you've been a complete idiot." Tony's eyes flicked between the pair of us. "Dragging in Clint, "rescuing" Wanda from a place she doesn't even wanna leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep..." He sighed. "I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart."

"Tony," Steve said softly. "You did that when you signed."

"All right, we're done." Tony raised his voice, "You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us, now, because it's us. Or a squad of J-SOC guys with no compunction about being impolite." He added quietly, "Come on."