Tony rolled his eyes, "I'm not building you anything."
"Who said anything about building? All I want is Project Perniciem." He looked at the billionaire with fake innocence.
...
"Well, you aren't getting it. If you truly know what it is, you know th...
WARNING: Mentions of past suicidal thoughts and actions.
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Day 16
Natasha
She stared, not knowing how to respond. Watching a brainwashed Captain America jump off a bridge hadn't really been on her to-do list for the day.
She rushed over to the edge and looked down, but she couldn't see anyone. The water below was still. Too still. She should have been able to see something, but she couldn't. Not Cap, and not the Winter Soldier. She felt a moment of panic, and the idea that they were both dead flitted through her mind.
No. They couldn't be dead. He couldn't be dead. They were stronger than that. A little water couldn't kill them.
"I'm going after them," Tony said, sounding panicked.
Just as Iron Man was about to dive down, the two soldiers' heads broke the surface of the water, and the Avengers felt a moment of relief, which was quickly followed by one of terror.
Without any warning, several helicopters rose out of the trees down below and came to hover over the super soldiers. A rope dropped down and Cap, holding tightly to the Winter Soldier, grabbed it and began to be pulled up.
"Stark!" Natasha yelled, but the Iron Man was already in the air.
"On it."
Several Hydra agents appeared and began firing on them. Iron Man was hit and began spiralling towards the water. He was able to regain control of the suit, but not before Cap and the Winter Soldier were long gone.
The team was spread too thin. Cap was MIA, Thor was off-world, Bruce was still in the Quinjet, and Tony was grounded. Clint and Natasha were the only ones left. They were familiar with fighting their way out of a corner, but even so, it was hard work. They regretted killing the agents - maybe one of them could have led them to the base - but they didn't have much of a choice.
The Hydra agents had extracted whatever the special weapon was. the Avengers had lost Cap, again, and Iron Man had sustained too much damage to follow the helicopters.
The mission had been an utter failure.
~A~
Tony
The flight back was tense. There were only four of them, as Thor's return to Asgard had been just wonderfully timed. Tony wasn't even sure how he had left. Wasn't the Bifrost thingy broken? Whatever, it didn't matter.
Tony was tired and hung over. Not to mention sore. Sure, his suit offered him protection, but taking a weird energy blast thingy to the chest really didn't feel great.
And Bruce kept staring at him. It was really unnerving.
"Would you stop that?" he finally snapped, as they were about five minutes away from Avengers Tower.
