Lambs for Slaughter Part 2

Chapter 10

 Say what you want about Tony Stark, but he was someone who always sought to rectify his mistakes. When he learned about Obie's betrayal and the thousands of deaths on his hands from mishandled weapons, Tony shut down the Weapons Division of SI and began building a Green Energy empire. When he and Cap had a knock-out, drag-out fight when his boyfriend told him about Bucky Barnes murdering Tony's parents, he put his pride aside and helped track down the super-soldier. Tony even ended up consulting with some of the world's top neuroscientists to fix the mush that was trying to pass itself off for Bucky's brain.

His next colossal mistake came in the overly attractive, flannel-clad form of Dean fucking Winchester. It might have been the months of resentment stewing, but the moment he met those burning green eyes with his own, a fierce wave of frustration knocked him off center. When he saw the video of what transpired in Kansas, and Agent's subsequent ghost protocol on these so-called "experts" that were handling it, Tony knew something terrible was coming. JARVIS had never failed to obtain information for him, but Agent had been awfully careful to keep the identities of these Winchester boys a secret.

Judging by the strange feeling of familiarity when he heard their names and saw their stupidly handsome faces, he thought maybe that was the entire point. Tony knew he was missing something big, but his anger at the sheer selfishness of Dean Winchester was fogging up his train of thought. Coulson had reached out to this asshole six months ago, only to be turned away. They apparently hadn't been able to do jack shit to stop the Big Bad, because now they came running back to the Avengers when innocent people ended up dead.

Not that Dean seemed to have any idea of who they were. The others, the tall one with the puppy dog eyes and the two suits, were obviously aware based on their reactions. It was normal for Tony to be met with star-struck fans who wanted to bask in his awesomeness, because face it - who wouldn't? And sure, there would occasionally be the people who still thought he was a War Profiteer, the Merchant of Death, etc. etc., and there would subsequently be hateful comments spat at him, only to roll right off his thousand-dollar suit because Stark men are made of iron.

But borderline confusion? That was a new one.

Dean looked like he had vaguely heard of the Avengers before, but hardly gave them a passing thought. Which was...odd. But certainly not odd enough to be the last match that lit the powder keg of Tony's emotions. It also probably wasn't in his best interest to insult the consultants that Agent had brought in the moment they walked through the door, but Tony found that he couldn't help himself.

And then these "experts" had started spinning a tale of angels and demons? Of Heaven and Hell? There was no fucking way.

Tony never put much stock into religion. Partly based on the fact that he was a man of science. If he couldn't hear, touch, taste, smell, or see it, then it didn't exist in his realm of possibilities. Thor was real, because Point-Break dropped in on them from his rainbow bridge at random times and would clean Tony out of his pop-tarts supply. Magic was real because Tony had seen Loki put Barton under his mind control when the Chitari attacked and Dr. Strange would portal in and out of that stupid Sanctorium just to screw with Tony while he was drinking his morning coffee.

But God? Much less his sister? There was no evidence. No proof.

And if these lunatics were right and all of that crap did exist? Then Tony was screwed, with a capital S. After all of the shit he'd pulled in his life, there was only one place that he'd end up. No, no thank you. He'd much rather continue believing that there was no life after death. His sanity depended on it.

Dean revealing the strange tattoo on his arm and the fact that he was dying threw Tony for a curveball, knocking him off balance in a way that had his head spinning. All of the anger that had built up over the last few months suddenly deflated, because Tony remembers exactly all of the self-destructive bullshit he did when he thought he was racing against the clock. He physically recoiled from the black lines tearing away from the strange tattoo, and his only thought was shit, that's definitely infected, before Dean was pulling out his phone and giving someone the address of the super secret SHIELD facility.