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If there was one thing Steve hated more than being tied down to SHIELD, it was knowing that being tied down to SHIELD meant he was, inadvertently, allied with people like Aria T’Loak, the scumbag asari leader of underworld Omega. Really, Steve did his best to think highly of the other races within the galaxy – they were sharing the space, after all – but even he knew there would always be exceptions and Aria was definitely one of those exceptions. It didn’t help that she was forcibly requiring him to meet with her when she wasn’t even his prime target. He was looking for the Iron Man, but of course the man was currently nothing more than a rumor on a piece of paper. Intel at SHIELD had pinpointed him on Aria’s little ragdump of a station with all sorts of word on his weapons and vigilante expertise.
“Everybody just try to keep your mouth shut and let me speak with Aria in here,” he told his crew, which currently consisted of the two SHIELD agents he had gained on the Stars and Stripes alongside the acquisition of the ship. Natasha and Clint were, Steve suspected, the best way for SHIELD to monitor his activity while giving him the freedom necessary to get their job done. He still wasn’t completely comfortably walking around with just these two, but his only other options had been Thor or Bruce, and neither were really suitable for a sensitive mission with the Omega underground. Thor tended to be loud and quite frankly a little too self righteous even by Steve’s standards, and Bruce? Well, Steve couldn’t exactly risk loosing the Hulk on a space as small and delicate asAfterlife.
Clint and Natasha confirmed with barely a sound between them and followed him into the dark, beating club. Of course his latest intel would have pointed him to the lowest bowels of space. He could have guessed by reading the dossier that the Iron Man could only be in a place like Omega, but did he really have to bury himself elbow deep in its grime? Steve approached the asari as quickly as he could, hoping to avoid unnecessary brushups with the dancers and schmoozers on the floor. Clint and Natasha followed gracefully behind, avoiding two people for every one that Steve bumped, but he couldn’t afford to let that unsettle him at the moment. He had to get to the asari and get his intel so he could get back on his ship.
“That’s close enough,” a woman’s voice called as Steve finally approached the back stairs. He suddenly found himself face-to-muzzle with the gun of a nearby batarian, so he halted and lifted his hands as a peace gesture. He could hear the weapons of his teammates behind cock, but he didn’t turn to see where they had them aimed. The woman who stood alone at the top of the stairs turned to give him a level stare before nodding to the batarian, who lowered his gun and pulled out a body scanner instead. Clint and Natasha behind him lowered their own weapons as well, based on what Steve could tell.
“We’re well armed,” Steve told the alien, but he wasn’t even looking at where Steve was revealing the pistol on his hip.
“We’re not worried about what you might be packing, Rogers,” the woman – this was Aria, no doubt – said as she descended the stairs to him, “But anybody could be walking around pretending they were you. Last thing we heard, you and your little spaceship had gone down in the blaze of battle. Imagine my surprise to hear you’re not only walking around again, you’re actually back in your damn ship.”
“It’s not the America,” Steve argued, and the remaining commandos would vouch that in a heartbeat, “but I am Commander Rogers.”
The batarian scanning him finally pulled away and nodded, so Aria gestured for Steve to follow her. She made herself comfortable as she gave him a once over. “So it seems, Rogers. Still, there aren’t a lot of things here on my Omega that you and SHIELD could be looking for. You do know we operate on a strict rule here.”
“And what’s that?” Steve asked, crossing his arms as she continued to smirk up at him.
Aria’s smirk grew . “Don’t fuck with Aria,” she said, and a cheer rang out through the men stationed around them.
“Sounds easy enough,” Steve replied steadily. A rule like that told Steve everything he needed to know about the alien in front of him. Pissing her off wasn’t going to be doing him any favors. “I’m just looking for information, ma’am.”
Aria gave him a level stare, then gestured to the seat beside her. Steve smiled and sat, glad to finally be on the right track. “I’m looking for the Iron Man,” he said, clasping his hands together and leaning forward. “I need to find him.”
“You here to kill him too?” she asked, although the topic didn’t seem to warrant much alarm from her. She was now examining her nails in the same way a human might when examining their own, and Steve briefly wondered just how similar they really were.
What she was saying was more than interesting though, and Steve found himself asking a sharp, “What?” before he could really stop himself.
“Half of Omega wants him gone. The man – at least, you can assume he’s a man if the name means anything – showed up one day and has been doing his best to piss everyone off since. He’s finally dug himself into a hole he can’t escape.”
“Sounds like he’s got dedication,” Steve commented. The Iron Man’s habits weren’t something he was totally unfamiliar with, but it was mildly surprising he had managed to get himself so deep.
“Dedicated to digging his own grave. I wouldn’t go commending the man around here if I were you, Rogers,” Aria cut in quickly, “He’s in a bit of trouble right now and you probably don’t want to be involved.”
“What kind of trouble?” Steve asked, although he already had his suspicions.
Aria actually let out a laugh. “Pissed enough people off. Got the local merc groups teaming up just so they can take him down. They’ve had him cornered for a while now but they’re apparently having difficulty finishing him off. They’ve been letting anybody that can fire a gun take a shot at him, and they’re taking everybody. You’re welcome to join in, of course. They’re running recruitment right out of Afterlife if you’re interested.”
“So they’re just taking anyone?” Clint called from down the stairs. Both he and Natasha had their arms crossed, and were looking at Steve and Aria intently. “Sounds like that might be our best option here.”
“Unless you end up killing him,” Natasha replied, though it was pretty quiet. Steve hoped Aria hadn’t heard her, and scrambled to cover it. Aria didn’t seem to care that Steve was more interested in finding the Iron Man than killing him, but he didn’t really need the word getting around to the other mercs either way.
“That’s all I needed,” he said quickly, standing and taking a chance by offering a handshake to Aria, “Thanks for the help.”
Aria stared at his hand before that damned smile reappeared on her face. “Anytime, Rogers,” she said, although she never moved to complete the handshake, choosing instead to give him one more lookover. “See if you’re still thanking me when those mercs find out you’re trying to help him rather than put a bullet in his brain. A real waste of SHIELD assets if you ask me.”
Steve scowled and dropped his hand awkwardly. He nodded to Aria and turned, ready to be out of this club as quickly as possible. He waved Clint and Natasha to follow, because it seemed they were looking at a time limit for finding the Iron Man.
—
Signing up for the trip with the collected gangs wasn’t hard work, with Steve’s physique and Clint and Natasha’s deadly accuracy. Natasha had received some slack in the beginning from one of the recruitment reps, but she’d silenced him quickly by putting him on the ground and pointing one of her plasma guns centered between his eyes. Steve and Clint had to run interference when the man (seriously, was it always batarians?) had called her sweet and then tried to put her in her place, but they had eventually been recruited. Clint had even sabotaged the gun of a kid that had followed them in. Steve hoped it was enough to deter the teen, but he suspected the punk would still find a way in. There was something about this station that just made him want off of it as quickly as possible, and it was a feeling that wasn’t dissipating the deeper they got into Omega’s territories.
“Whoa. Get a load of their artillery,” Clint whispered as they neared the location, the shuttle humming as it touched down. “I figured they were fighting dirty, but this is awfully extreme for just one guy.”
“And it’s going to be a bigger issue when we try to get out of here with him and they’re aimed at us,” Natasha reminded him, “We should probably see if we can get them disabled before we consider that.” Steve nodded his agreement alongside Clint.
“Natasha, I’m putting you on that while Clint and I try to figure out what the exact plan is,” Steve whispered to her. The door for their cab opened at this time and Natasha slipped out, heading down a nearby corridor before the batarian at the door could notice her.
“We’re here for the job,” Clint said to the alien, much more practiced in both mercenary and undercover work than Steve.
The batarian nodded easily, stepping up to them to deliver basic information on the mission to their datapads. “Good thing. We’re just about ready to begin the next wave.”
“Next wave?” Steve verified, already browsing the data and taking in as much of it as he could.
“Yeah, we’re having to run these missions in waves now. The Iron Man is has a safehold at the end of the boulevard here and a far superior position. We’ve got a number of mercs in there already trying to reach him but we seem to be having no luck actually getting to him.”
“At the end of the boulevard?” Steve interrupted, looking towards the area the batarian had gestured, “There’s a bridge there, and he’s at the end of it?”
“Pretty much,” the batarian continued, unpeturbed. “A very exposed bridge. Anytime somebody goes in it’s like they’re a sitting Volus. A completely useless route.”
“Is there no other way to get in there?” Clint pressed, also staring towards the bridge, now so heavily fortified on their end that it could have served in a war. Hell, it apparently was based on the intel they were looking at. “No bottom routes or overhead vents?”
“Oh, there were. But he managed to seal off the lower levels of the entire block in some kind of coding nobody has been able to break. We have a number of hackers working on it but they’re going way too slow. I’ve never even seen the coding he used, so there’s no telling how long it’ll take to break it. And the overhead vents are a bust. We sent in a gunship to try to make a drop and he knocked it out of the sky before we could even get the barrel loaded or the ladder dropped. Knew exactly where to hit and how hard that the ship went down without even putting up a fight.” The batarian took a breath as Steve and Clint both exhaled in surprise. “We figured at this point the best way is to try to distract him with fodder on the bridge while the guys we did manage to get in got him from behind.”
“And let me guess, we’re going to be the fodder on the bridge.” Steve crossed his arms, looking exasperatedly at the alien in front of him.
“Exactly. Look,” the batarian muttered, clearly irritated, “If you’re not interested you can go home. But you’re not getting the deposit on the hit back and the Iron Man is just going to keep knocking all of us until somebody takes care of the issue. Besides, your weapons and armor look like you can handle this situation no problem. We just need distraction long enough to get our guys in from behind.”
Steve didn’t like it, but there didn’t seem to be any other way of getting to his target. He couldn’t exactly go running across the bridge now, especially without risking getting shot at himself, and he couldn’t tell these mercs what he needed. He just had to hope he and his teammates could survive long enough to actually get to the Iron Man before the others. He suspected a lot of the issue rode with Natasha and her ability to sabotage the tech, but there was still a lot more to the situation. Hesitantly, he nodded curtly and the batarian let out a pleased noise.
“Excellent,” he continued, “We’ll have him out soon enough. He’s been making more mistakes lately, must be getting tired. You don’t look like you’ll need it, but you have my confidence that you’ll be fine and we’ll all be out of here soon. Now get to Sergeant Cathka by the bridge and he will signal you when to leave.”
Steve nodded one more time, and he and Clint shuffled away from the batarian. He still wasn’t comfortable with the plan so far, and the idea that they may have already worn down the Iron Man was not a comfort. There seemed to be a resting space for the different squads as soon as they entered the space just behind the bridge, and Steve waved Clint off to look for information as soon as they were in. Clint nodded and disappeared just as quickly as Natasha, allowing Steve a moment to assess the area. There were clear divisions in the break rooms, with the armor of the Blue Suns covering the area nearest the bridge and separating the other two main parties. To the left, Steve could see where Clint was already mingling with a number of Salarians. He didn’t even look back at Steve as he worked, a trait Steve had to admit he was impressed with. The other group was a number of vorcha surrounding the lone Krogan in the room. Steve suppressed a shudder; the vorcha were not a species he was used to seeing, and they always were just close enough to the chitauri that it made him nervous. It wasn’t as though he confused them: the vorcha were a pest of the galaxy, scavengers that could live virtually anywhere whereas the chitauri were clearly a mechanized race, but it didn’t make the physical similarities any less unsettling. Steve chose instead to address the Blue Suns in the middle, busy getting lectured by a batarian clearly leading the pack.
Steve browsed his datapad, hoping to pick up information on the batarian before Natasha interrupted him. “He’s name’s Tarak, and he’s the leader of the Blue Suns,” she explained before handing over her own datapad. “I managed to hack into all the mech systems visible, so they’re in for a number of surprises if they think they’re going to be useful in these fights. I also managed to find another piece of information I thought you might appreciate.”
Steve accepted the information and browsed it, stopping at a note that looked particularly important. “This is interesting,” he muttered, reading the note thoroughly before handing the device back to her, “Aria will want to know that the three groups are planning on going for her next.” It was true: a number of e-mails had already been passed around detailing the three groups’ next steps towards dominance on Omega. Normally Steve would have applauded the entrepreneurial efforts, but he suspected it was Aria that was really keeping everything here on Omega from complete chaos. If it meant sparing the station, Steve was willing to help the asari out. “Nice work, Natasha.”
“Don’t butter her, she’ll get spoiled,” Clint commented with a smirk as he approached the two, also handing over the information he had gathered. “Fifty credits says I got more anyway.” Steve grinned as he combined the information, glad to know that even the SHIELD agents could be human sometimes. He assessed the amount carefully before determining the jobs to have been a tie.
“It’s still not more, Barton,” Natasha said coyly as Steve finished, and Barton scowled, looking to him for support. He merely shrugged.
“So it looks like everybody here has a personal vendetta against the Iron Man,” he cut in, drawing both of them back to the mission. “Eclipse, Blood Pack, even the Blue Suns seems to be personally insulted by this man. But we don’t have any more concrete evidence?”
“He’s definitely human,” Clint confirmed, “At least, that’s what the Blood Pack claims. And damn annoying too, but that’s their words, not mine. The Salarians in Eclipse can vouch it though, and I think the raids he’s been running on the Blue Suns would have them agreeing.”
Steve hummed thoughtfully. “Then we’ll have to act extra quickly, if he’s really already pissed them off this much. Sometimes a smart mouth is more lethal than a closed one.” He would have said more, but the sergeant leading the freelance contractors was calling out for them. Steve tilted his head and the three made their way towards the main bridge entrance, each preparing their weapons and taking deep breaths.
Jumping the barrier separating them from the bridge was like jumping back in time. Steve suddenly found himself on a very different battlefield, and had to take a few deep breaths to remind himself of his location and his mission. Both Clint and Natasha were patiently waiting for him to make the first move, and he did so by carefully aiming his shot at one of the freelancers in front of him and incapacitating the man by shooting him in the back of the knee. With that shot, Steve suddenly found himself in the zone and was able to concentrate on the steady sound of the shots fired around him and the thumping of both his feet and his teammates’ feet behind him. The moved in formation straight down the bridge, incapacitating those that they passed and ignoring the cries that came from the other freelancers.
In no time, Steve found himself staring at the entrance of the small housing unit, having suffered only a few scrapes and maybe taken a few concussive rounds to the armor. He found that highly suspicious, considering the Iron Man had been taking out freelancers for over a day now, but he wasn’t going to look that gift horse too hard in the mouth. They had a job to do and some kind of luck had guided them through to do it. Steve signaled Clint and Natasha and the three pushed through the door, finishing off the remaining freelancers hovering behind them as they closed it back. They practically tiptoed up the stairs into the second floor’s main lobby, training their guns as they rounded the corner and approached the Iron Man from behind. He turned to face them, one arm raised, but he lowered it quickly.
“Shit,” the Iron Man said, plain and simple, as the faceplate clearly sized up Steve. “Shit, shit, shit, it is you.” It was something of a slow wait, but Steve maintained patience as he watched the man – it was definitely a human, he could tell when they up close like this – do a few paces trying to decide what to do before finally halting and beginning to remove his helmet.
“You’re supposed to be dead, Cap,” a familiar voice rang out suddenly, and Steve was shocked to find he was staring in the face of Tony Stark.
“That’s Commander Rogers to you,” Clint snapped at the man, but Steve held up his arm in a halting manner and nearly rushed Tony.
“And you’re supposed to be at the Citadel, getting fat off of weapons sales,” Steve replied cooly, though it was clear that was definitely not what Tony had been doing in the past year.
“Would you believe they cut my funding?” Tony replied immediately, almost too casually.
“Stark dropped all his company’s weapons manufacturing almost immediately following your death, Commander,” Natasha supplied from behind him, and Steve stared wide-eyed as Tony looked away. “He put the majority of the stock into the development of a weapon that would hold off the Reapers, but the idea fell through shortly after due to lack of commitment.”
“Actually on somebody else’s part, not mine,” Tony cut in, but Natasha continued anyway.
“Tony went missing when his company nearly crashed the Citadel’s markets, and SHIELD lost track of him shortly after the Mass Relay. Not an easy feat might I add, Mr. Stark.”
“So that’s when you became the Iron Man?” Steve asked.
“No, no, it’s just Iron Man. I became Iron Man. And the answer is yes, it was, because I can do a hell of a lot more shooting down scum out here than I can producing weapons for aliens that are just going to fire them at each other.”
“And you shot me,” Steve quipped, crossing his arms light heartedly and grinning at Tony. The man gave him a scathing look.
“Yeah, well, I thought I had seen a ghost. It was a little strange seeing that armor again, by the way, but you’re lucky I thought I recognized you or it would have been a lot more than some light repulsor blasts.”
“Repulsor blasts?” Natasha asked.
“Can look just enough like real firing without hurting too much. Of course they can also get the job done when I need them to,” Tony replied, showing them the front of the gloves, where glowing blue brightened and faded. Then the suit shifted and Steve was looking down the barrels of more missiles than he could immediately count. “And I have real fire power, too. But I find the repulsor tech works much better, especially since I’ve been developing it further while here. And no, you can’t have it.” He ignored Natasha’s glare and pressed on. “Now tell me Cap, what brings your dead self to this quadrant of the galaxy?”
“I was looking for Iron Man, because I had reliable intel that said he’d be able to help us out. If I had known it was you I would have come looking much sooner.”
“I’ve been working alone here. Can get a lot more done when it’s just you telling you what to do.” Tony glanced away from Steve to get a good look at the two standing behind him. He could understand Tony’s discomfort: the two were completely decked out in SHIELD gear, practically leaking the bad vibes Steve got from them. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust or like Natasha or Clint, it was just that he was still nervous about SHIELD and whether he was doing the right thing with them. Tony wasn’t ever very comfortable working under somebody, especially the likes of SHIELD, but Steve couldn’t afford for him to be antsy about it.
“Look, word out there now is that there are chitauri snatching people up and carting them to who knows where. Thor swears that his indoctrinated brother wasn’t involved, but you know how Thor can be, and you saw Loki for yourself. But whether Loki was or wasn’t involved isn’t even the issue anyway because the problem getting bigger than even we anticipated. Thousands are missing at this point and then numbers are going up every day. We have to find out what’s happening, and we have to stop it. Tony, what you’re doing here is good but it’s going to get you killed no matter what. Come back with us to the Stars and Stripes and help me fight the Reapers. At least then you have a chance, and you’re giving everybody else a chance, too.”
Tony stared at Steve a moment, biting his lip as he considered the offer. “You know, that’s one hell of a percentage you’re working with there, Cap,” he said, but there was the barest hint of amusement there, and it was followed by a sardonic chuckle. “Still, guess I can’t say no. It is what I was doing on this lousy planet in the first place.”
“Hate to burst your little reunion,” Clint called from the front window, “But we’ve got a little bit of company.” It seemed, in the nostalgia of old comrades, that both Steve and Tony had forgotten they were in the middle of a super, multi-gang battle.
“Well, I guess we should give them a proper greeting, huh?” Tony replied with a grin, and he replaced his helmet, the faceplate dropping back to cover his face. Steve prepared his own gun and parked himself behind the barricade Tony had prepared. It seemed they had a long series of gunfights in front of them, but Steve was already feeling better about the mission. Tony was an even more welcome addition than Iron Man, assuming they could all get out of the housing unit alive. The Iron Man suit helped Steve feel more confident about this, though, especially as he got a good look at it closer up. It was much sleeker than a typical space suit, and entirely made of some kind metal instead of the usual polymers. It was amazingly flexible considering, but it was the firepower Steve was most impressed with. The suit could down six troopers in a second, and he suspected that wasn’t the best it could do.
“So how did you manage to get yourself stuck in here?” Steve called over the roar of the fight. Tony’s faceplate turned to look at him and Steve could feel the exasperation rolling off the other man as he placed one more shot before answering.
“You know me, I can’t resist a good temptation. Didn’t know they were going to manage to hole me up in here for so long, though. I have to admit, even I’m impressed they’ve all managed to work together. I thought surely the Blue Suns would try this by themselves, or maybe with the Blood Pack at best. Nice to know I’m such an inspiration. Next thing you know they’ll figure out how to actually work together to get in the back door.
“Too late on that one,” Natasha called from her position. Steve turned to see her with her guns aimed at the entrance, where somebody was slowly working the door open. It burst open with a great and sudden force, and the krogan from before was in the doorway, looking around the room wildly. He focused on Tony almost immediately, letting out a war cry and surging forward towards Iron Man. They collided with the clash of metal and a great oomf from Tony, and went over the edge of the balcony.
“Tony!” Steve called, putting a bullet into the nearest merc while Clint managed to nail the Salarian who had taken down the door’s locks between the eyes. The two men hit the edge of the balcony while Natasha covered the door, and took aim against the krogan circling Tony on the floor below. “See if you can get him to hold still, Iron Man.”
“No need, Cap, I got this one covered.” And it seemed as though Iron Man did, because it only took him a few minutes to knock the krogan out of commission. He waved up confidently at his backup as he stood up from where he had been holding the larger alien down, and again Steve could feel Tony’s grin even through the face plate. He saluted back, but nearly lost his balance over the edge as the entire housing unit shook.
“What—“ he began, but the answer was obvious almost as soon as the word was out of his mouth. In the far window, a gunship was hovering, missiles at the ready. It fired two before Steve could even process its presence, and the four scrambled for cover almost as a reflex. Steve dove behind the nearest table alongside Clint, watching as Natasha took cover around the corner wall.
Both explosions lit just beyond the balcony, however, and Tony’s cry of pain had them all moving again to take action.
“We’ve got range, Rogers, get to Iron Man,” Clint called as he and Natasha dove from their respective spots and immediately pushed forward towards the gunship beyond the window.
“Affirmative,” Steve called, jumping the balcony to the stair landing below and immediately spotting the Iron Man suit laying prone on the ground. He rushed down the remaining stairs, sliding into a kneeling position as he approached. The suit was cracked and smoking, and there was a large chuck missing out the side of it. Steve delicately placed his hands along the seam, trying to see what the damage underneath the suit could be, but Tony let out a miserable moan as he was jostled. The faceplate lifted, though, and Steve could see that Tony’s head seemed mostly uninjured, except that the other man appeared to be unconscious. At least he was still breathing.
Steve decided it was probably an assessment better made in the safety of the ship, and moved instead to pull Tony’s prone body into the cover of a nearby corridor. Steve shot down the remaining mercs hovering in the doorway and waited for word from the SHIELD agents upstairs, trying to tune out the miserable sounds coming from the unconscious Tony.
The halt of gunfire upstairs came quickly, and Steve listened over the comms for his teammates over the rumble of the housing unit. There was one last large explosion nearby before Natasha’s voice finally rang out in his ear.
“Blue Suns are and gunship are down, Commander,” she called, “And it looks like the bridge is clear now. We’re good to move for the next few minutes.”
Steve nodded before remembering they couldn’t see him and instead hurried a reply into the comm. “Let’s get a move then. Come on down, I’m going to need help moving Iron Man. His vitals seem okay but we’re going to need to get him back to the Stars and Stripes quick.”
“Roger that,” Clint confirmed, and he was relieved to hear their familiar footfalls coming down the stairs.
—
Steve paced the crew deck for what felt like days, waiting for the med bay doors to open. They finally did late in the evening of the day following the team’s return to the ship, revealing Dr. Chakwas as she marched fretfully out. Steve stood to approach the good doctor, who was wringing her hands thoughtfully. He had picked up Dr. Chakwas for the America shortly after receiving the assignment, almost entirely because of the glowing recommendations from the man who had help with most of his enhancement implants, Dr. Erskine. After learning that Dr. Erskine had been lost during the first battle over the Citadel, Steve was only too happy to find out Dr. Chakwas had survived and was willing to come aboard his SHIELD-owned ship. He wouldn’t have tolerated any other doctor. Still, her unhappy face made him nervous.
“Commander Rogers,” she finally said, looking up to the Commander and trying her best at a small smile, “It was very touch and go there, but I think he’s going to be okay.” Steve let out a gust of air he didn’t know he’d been holding, catching it again as Dr. Chakwas raised her hand to pause the man from speaking. “I have to warn you now, Commander, that he was in very bad shape. There were a number of complications…” the doctor halted, and ever muscle in Steve’s body was tense, “We had to replace a number of parts, much like you, but there were already so many implants that it was hard to work around them. Much of his body was so modified that there was very little we could do with it –“
“What did you have to do?” Steve asked, but he ignored the rest of what Dr. Chakwas had to say, choosing instead to practically shout his question as he pushed past the woman and into the ship’s main medical bay. He was relieved to find Tony sitting up, but the man looked very much the worse for wear, and was clutching something at his chest.
“Actually, I did most of the work, Cap. So what do you think? I think the glowing sort of matches everything else.” It took a moment for Steve to realize what Tony was saying, but it might have been because of his overwhelming relief to see Tony speaking at all. Once the initial release passed, however, Steve assessed what he was looking at: Tony was sitting on one of the medbay beds, and he was referencing his chest area, where there was now a glowing blue sphere.
“It’s… what is it?” Steve asked, trying at first not to stare but giving up as he found he couldn’t really look away. Tony let out a laugh.
“Implant enhancement. Chakwas here was mostly right, the explosion rattled a lot of the implants I had and it’s usually pretty difficult to work around them. Fortunately I installed most of these and perform the upgrades myself, so as soon as she got me stable I was able to help.”
Steve wasn’t following most of what he was saying, but he nodded anyway. Seeing Tony unconscious on the floor after having just found him was still fresh on his mind, and seeing the man talking so animatedly over his equipment again was a comfort in of itself.
“Anyway, we were able to get most of them repaired and updated, and I even got the chance to get a few new parts. Like this guy right here.” Tony tapped the glowing piece in his chest again, face proud. “I’ve had this guy designed a while but never really had the courage to go into the cavity, right? Chakwas working in there was the perfect excuse to try it out.”
“Yes, well, it’s nice to know somebody was looking at the situation for its silver lining,” Dr. Chakwas replied, crossing her arms and giving Tony a dark look. “I would have rather preferred not having to perform heart surgery on such short notice.”
“You had to perform actual heart surgery?” Steve asked, bewildered, and turned to stare at the doctor. She shrugged.
“To a point. It would have been much easier and faster if Mr. Stark had not insisted on helping.”
“Look, my tech is the best in the galaxy. You can’t deny that you were thrilled to get your greedy paws in on its installation, doc. Besides, knowing you we would have had it upgraded eventually, anyway.”
“I suppose you’re right, although next time let’s do it without the knock of death at the door, shall we?”
“I’ll put it on my schedule,” Tony smirked, winking at both Steve and the doctor and activating something on his sentry interface. The screen in front of his eyes glowed brightly before fading back to near invisible and Tony stood from the table.
“Mr. Stark I must insist you get a little more rest before you start moving around the cabin,” Dr. Chakwas called, although even she knew the request would be ignored by the weapons technician.
“I gotta get back into the swing of things, doc,” Tony said, confirming Steve and the doctor’s suspicions. “You know, get back into the practice of working with the Captain’s crazy team.”
“The Commander’s, you mean,” Steve corrected half-heartedly, although he too knew the suggestion would be ignored. Tony would never stop referring to him as Cap, and he wasn’t sure it actually bothered him.
“Cap, Com, whatever you want,” Tony waved him off, “I have to get used to this new team. Don’t think I didn’t notice you’d gained some smoking new additions.”
“Of course,” Steve replied easily, extending his hand for a welcome handshake with Tony. The other man took it with a smirk. “Welcome to the team.”