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Steve knew he was going to be fine. He’d managed to hit his emergency beacon just before the aliens swarmed him and since he’d been in the process of scouting out their … lair? The Avengers weren’t going to have to make too much of a leap to figure out where he’d been taken. They would come for him. Tony would come for him.
In hindsight, coming alone was probably a bad idea, Tony was definitely going to be smug about this for a while, but everyone else had been battered from their last encounter. He wasn’t going to get that close to the base. He figured he’d be fine.
And he was fine. Mostly. He’d be fine.
The creatures were strong and surprisingly durable. They were almost a match for Steve one on one; he hadn’t done well against a squad of them.
Steve shifted gingerly, hissing against the pain as he tried to find a more comfortable spot against the wall he was chained to. He was pretty sure his leg was broken. During the skirmish, one of the aliens he’d put on the ground had caught his calf while another hammered a blow into his thigh and Steve had never really recovered from that.
He could feel himself healing, but it would take time, and in the meantime it was agonizing.
He took a deep breath and tried to settle into a kind of meditative state he’d learned during the war, alert enough to notice a change, away enough that he could hopefully get some rest before the next thing happened.
There was nothing he could do but wait.
–
Steve’s first warning was a rumbling in the walls. He couldn’t tell if it was their version of alarms, or explosions in the distance but something was definitely happening. A rattle at the door had him sitting up straighter, trying to prepare for whatever came through.
It was, unfortunately, the aliens. His guards pushed their way in yelling angrily, and Steve gritted his teeth and pushed himself upright, determined to die on his feet if nothing else.
But just as he braced himself to fight, the wall next to him exploded. There was a brief moment of dusty chaos and when it faded Steve found himself staring at the gleaming red and gold of Iron Man.
Steve felt a giddy rush as he slumped back against the wall. It was probably the adrenaline. Maybe a little bit of it was the way Tony looked as he stood between Steve and the aliens, shoulders wide, legs braced. But this wasn’t the time for that.
“Move the fuck away from him and I am absolutely going to fuck your shit up.”
Tony… didn’t sound happy. Steve didn’t think he’d been gone that long. “I think you’re supposed to have an ‘or’ in there, Shellhead.”
Tony tilted his head in Steve’s direction, cocking it in a way that probably meant he was running some scan on Steve. Then Tony turned back to the aliens. “Nope.”
Steve closed his eyes against the light as the unibeam powered up.
It was a short fight. No one got close to Steve and for all Steve valued his independence, he was tired and in pain. It was nice to not have to do anything right now. It felt good to be rescued.
Aliens dispatched, Tony turned back to Steve, and let himself slump into the warm metal as Tony deftly cut the chains holding him to the wall.
“Leg broken?”
Steve raised an eyebrow, Tony knew full well what his condition was, probably better than Steve. They probably had full scans at medical by now.
Tony popped open the helmet long enough to grin back at him, utterly unrepentant. “So, given the leg, I guess there’s only one way to get you out of here.”
“I suppose.” Steve grinned as Tony scooped him up, cradling him carefully in his arms.
“Come on then, Winghead. It’s time to get you home.”