Chapter Text
Four hours later, J.A.R.V.I.S. woke Tony from a restless sleep. Tony took just enough time to empty his bladder, completely ignored his spectacular case of bedhead, and bolted back to the labs.
"Tell me we found him," he blurted as he barreled through the doors. Bruce looked up sharply in surprise, but Reed didn't even twitch.
"We would have had J.A.R.V.I.S. wake you sooner, if we'd found him, Tony." Reed stretched an arm across to tap at Tony's primary display, and then sent an update to the screen. Tony settled into his chair and reached for a can of Red Bull, popped it open, and sipped at it as he read through the updates.
"No transponder hits at all," he muttered. "Damn it. Damn it. Seventeen hits on vibranium, so hey, possible mining opportunities, but... Fuck!" He shoved his chair backward and threw his stylus across the room.
Bruce chewed on his lip. "We have some more data on who took him," he ventured. "J.A.R.V.I.S. gave us some enhanced video footage from a CCTV in the area."
That got Tony's attention. "Show me."
Bruce sent the window to Tony's main display. One half of the window showed a short video clip on repeat. The other showed a still shot, cropped and magnified. Tony squinted at it, enlarged it further, and then swore viciously in several languages. He reached up to tap his earpiece as Bruce and Reed stared at him.
"Fury. We know who has Cap." He zoomed the image in further. "It's Red Skull."
****
Steve floated in and out of consciousness, drifting between hazy oblivion and pain so severe that all he could do was shake and try to scream. His voice was long since completely gone, and Schmidt wasn't leaving him alone long enough for his throat to heal.
During his more licid moments, Schmidt taunted him, gleefully reminding him that his friends were dead. He tried to tune it out, but Schmidt was very good at inflicting just enough pain to break his concentration - not quite enough to make him pass out. He started deliberately shifting his wrists, hoping to cause enough pain to drown out Schmidt's voice.
"Now, now, Captain," Schmidt's gloved hand grasped his chin, forcing his head up. "Why are you trying to deprive me of my enjoyment?" Fingers patted his cheek almost gently, and he pried his eyes open, tried to work up enough saliva to spit in Schmidt's face.
He couldn't manage it, of course, and Schmidt just laughed at his attempt. "Your true nature is revealed, Captain! You are as base as any man, reverting to barbaric attacks when your weapons are removed."
"I'm not... the barbarian," Steve rasped, his voice nothing more than the harsh whisper of sandpaper over gravel. "You..." he coughed and blood flecks dotted his lips. "Torture. That's... barbaric."
Schmidt's smug smirk faded and he reached out to yet again backhand Steve's jaw. "You are beneath me!" he snarled. "Unimportant. Unworthy!" Another blow landed, harder than the first, and Steve's vision swam. "You do not deserve the gift you were given!"
Schmidt stepped back and toggled the electric current on, then dialed up the intensity. Steve's back arched away from the table, and he opened his mouth in a nearly silent scream. His body convulsed and bloody foam flecked his lips. Schmidt snarled and turned the intensity up again. White light flared behind Steve's eyelids, and his whole body seized. Then everything went dark.
****
"Report." Fury wasted no time or words, demanding details as soon as Tony, Bruce and Reed came into the room. That suited Tony just fine. He walked right up to the closest large-screen display and threw data from his PDA to the screen. The enhanced image filled the display, and Red Skull's face appeared, somewhat pixelated but still recognizeable.
"Schmidt has him," Tony stated bluntly. "I have no fucking idea if that's Schmidt from our Earth or not, but it's definitely Schmidt."
Fury planted his hands on his hips and glared at the image. "Any information on Cap's location?"
Tony shook his head, and Reed spoke up. "We've enhanced the search algorithms to account for-"
"Excuse me, Doctor Richards." J.A.R.V.I.S.'s smooth voice interrupted Reed just as Tony's PDA started beeping loudly and flashing a red alert box. "Our search has returned a hit on both Captain Rogers' transponder and his shield."
Tony's fingers flew across the PDA's screen, and the search's status was suddenly displayed in place of Red Skull's face. Reed stretched his head over, nodding as he looked at the results. "I can get us there."
Fury reached for his earpiece. "Hill. Get the Avengers and the Richards' team together, and scramble Major Sheppard's team. We have a location on Rogers."
Forty minutes later, eight Quinjets - carrying the Avengers, the Fantastic Four and a S.H.I.E.L.D. special ops squad - took off in sequence, flanked by Iron Man and the Human Torch. As soon as they were all clear, the lead Quinjet deployed a specialized transmitter that opened a portal very similar to the portal through which Steve had been taken.
There was a landscape of sand on the other side.
Iron Man was through first, followed by all eight jets and the Torch. The portal spiraled closed behind them.
****
The fight was fierce but fairly short. Clearly, Red Skull had not expected to be discovered, or at least not so quickly. Eight fully armed stealth jets and two flying soldiers - three once Thor also took to the air - overwhelmed Red Skull's forces without losing any jets or men. Once it became clear that they were completely outmatched, they began to either surrender or flee, nowhere near as loyal as Schmidt's wartime HYDRA forces had been.
Tony didn't wait for anyone's all-clear. Once he had a clear shot into the bunker - once he'd created a doorway - he left the battle outside and followed his tracker towards Steve's transponder signal.
Automated reflexes and J.A.R.V.I.S.'s assistance kept Tony from slamming into walls as Iron Man flew through the bunker's corridors. He heard the team over the comm channel, and grinned viciously when they reported that Johnny Storm had taken down what appeared to be Schmidt's escape vehicle.
He finally landed outside an armoured, locked door deep in the bunker complex. The electronic lock was no problem at all for J.A.R.V.I.S. and in seconds he was pushing the door open, one arm raised, palm out with the repulsor primed.
There was on sign of anyone at all in the room, except-
"Steve! Jesus fuck!" Tony retracted the armour's faceplate and yanked the helmet off, dropping it on a table as he sprinted across the room to where Steve still hung upright, naked and shivering uncontrollably, whipped bloody, his manacled hands and wrists swollen and purple.
Steve tried to lift his head when he heard Tony's voice - Iron Man's voice, really, distorted by the voicebox in the armour. His eyes were nearly swollen shut, again, but he could make out the red and gold blur reaching for him.
"Tony?" he said - tried to say, but it came out as a nearly soundless wheeze.
Tony swore violently, his voice and expression blazing with anger, but his hands were infinitely gentle as he reached to cup Steve's bruised face. "Yeah, babe. It's me," he whispered. "It's me, I'm here. The whole team is here. You're going to be all right, now."
"Red..." Steve began, and Tony touched a gauntleted finger to his bloody lips.
"Shh, I know. I know. Storm took down his plane when he was trying to escape." Tony started searching for releases on the manacles, but found none. "J.A.R.V.I.S.?"
"Step back, sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. responded. "I have control of the restraint system, but I must level the platform first."
Tony stepped back, and the platform shifted instantly, rotating back to horizontal. Steve made a choked sound as his weight came off his wrists.
"Sir, I have disabled the cooling units in the restraint system," J.A.R.V.I.S. said, sounding completely calm when Tony felt anything but. "And the restraints have been released."
As he spoke, all of the restraints clicked and released. Tony stepped forward to ease them off. "Cooling system. Jesus. No wonder you're shivering. Steve? Steve, babe, stay with me, here. Come on." He cuppsed Steve's face with one gauntlet and patted gently. "Steve? Damn it. J.A.R.V.I.S.?"
"Captain Rogers has passed out, sir. I have alerted the others. A medical team is already on the way."
****
Tony paced in the waiting area of the medical unit. He had flat out refused to go to the debriefing, even under threat of being denied access to the infirmary. The rest of the team filtered in as the debrief concluded, Hulk once again Bruce. Even Richards' team stopped in. Tony didn't give a damn who was there. He wanted to be in with Steve, or better yet to have Steve walk out, hale and healthy.
At least, Tony told himself, Fury had brought the doctors onboard who had been working with Steve since they'd pulled him from the ice. They were more familiar with his unique biology and physiology than anyone else.
"He heals quickly," Bruce said queitly, when Tony paced close enough to hear him. "If anyone can pull out of this..."
"Red Skull was freezing him," Tony bit out, snarling at Bruce even when his anger was really directed at Schmidt. "He was fucking freezing him! He beat the shit out of him, whipped him bloody, put him in adamantium shackles and left him hanging by his broken fucking wrists, and-"
He broke off abruptly when the door to the infirmary opened and one of the doctors stepped out, pulling off his gloves. "Mister Stark? Captain Rogers is asking to see you, sir."
Tony was through the doors before the doctor finished speaking. "J.A.R.V.I.S., which room?"
"Down the corridor to the left, sir. Captain Rogers is in the second room on the right."
Tony pushed past several nurses, took the corner too fast, and skidded to a stop at the doorway in question. "Steve?"
Three hours had already done a hell of a lot, given Steve's enhanced metabolism. His eyes were no longer swollen shut, though the bruising across his cheeks was still purple-black. His chest was bandaged, and as disconcerting as the white bandages were, they were still much less disturbing than bloody welts. Both of his arms were encased in plaster, white over blue, to mid-forearm. An IV line trailed from the inside of his left elbow, and a clip on his left forefinger monitored the steady beat of his heart.
His smile, despite his still-healing lips, was quite possibly the best thing Tony had ever seen.
Tony stepped into the room, started to reach for Steve's hand, and then stopped himself with a little frown. He shoved his hands into his pockets instead, rocked on his heels, and put his smile back in place. "Hey. You look better. Still kind of like raw ground beef, but better."
Steve's eyes narrowed in amusement, and he lifted his right arm, cast and all, towards Tony. "Kinda feel like raw ground beef," he rasped, his voice still hoarse and rough. "C'mere?"
Tony chewed on his lower lip, but stepped closer to the bed and threaded his fingers with Steve's. "Sorry. I don't want to hurt you."
Steve smiled again. "You won't. Besides, they have me on the really good drugs. I'm kinda really high, right now."
Tony gave a choked laugh, and then leaned forward to press his forehead against Steve's shoulder. "Fuck, Steve. Fuck. Don't ever fucking get kidnapped again. Jesus." He was not going to tear up, damn it all to hell. He wasn't.
Steve turned his head to press a kiss to Tony's hair. "Sorry," he whispered. "Didn't mean to. M'okay, Tony."
Tony squeezed his eyes shut and took a shaky breath. "I know. Anyone but you, they'd probably be dead." He lifted his head and dragged the back of his wrist across his eyes. "But I guess Red Skull knew you could handle a lot more than anyone else."
Steve winced. "Did you catch him?"
Tony sighed and shook his head. "No, damn it all. The son of a bitch had a personal-sized portal generator. His supposed getaway craft was a decoy. Richards and J.A.R.V.I.S. both noted the portal when it opened, but it was somewhere inside the bunker. Nobody could get there in time to stop him. Or even follow him."
Steve's fingers twitched where they were laced with Tony's. "Tracking? Can we find him?"
Tony remembered just in time to not squeeze Steve's fingers in return. "We're working on that, yup. Same way we found you, kind of. No transponder to track, but we'll figure something out."
Steve nodded gingerly, and closed his eyes for a moment. "He told me you were dead. All of you."
Tony shook his head and brought his free hand up to Steve's cheek. "No, hey, no. He was just trying to get to you. Nobody else was even hurt. Everyone's fine, babe."
Steve's lips twitched up into a relieved smile. "Figured that. Mmh." He opened his eyes and turned his head a little into Tony's touch. "Knew you'd find me. Wow, I'm really high."
Tony blinked and then a bark of laughter. "I think I'm jealous. You should rest, though. Even with the good drugs, you need sleep so you can heal."
Steve hummed in agreement. "Mm hmm. Tired. Hey, wait." He widened his eyes, trying to stave off sleep. "You're gonna stay, right?"
Tony leaned down to press a light kiss to his lips, had to force himself to draw back, to not deepen the kiss. "You bet, babe. I'm not goin' anywhere. Promise." And heaven help anyone who tried to make him break that promise.
Steve gave him a sweet, sleepy, dopey smile. "Good. Mmh. M'sorry I scared you." He blinked hard, but his eyes kept closing. "Love you, Tony."
Tony kissed him again. "Love you too. Jesus, Steve. So much. Sleep, babe. I'll be here when you wake up."
Steve's fingers twitched in his, again, and then went lax as sleep dragged him under. Tony stayed where he was for a moment, and then let go of Steve's hand just long enough to pull a chair closer to the bed. "J.A.R.V.I.S., let me know if anyone's coming."
"Of course, sir." Even J.A.R.V.I.S. sounded relieved, now that he knew that Steve was home, safe and recovering. "Might I suggest that you rest, as well, sir?"
Tony huffed softly. "You may suggest," he conceded. "I might even listen." He curled his fingers loosely with Steve's again, and shifted so he could rest his head against his other arm, on the bed. He closed his eyes, reminded himself that Steve was home, that Steve was going to be all right, and let the soft, steady beeping of the heart monitor lull him to sleep.