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chapter twenty eight

28 x capture but definitely not release

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[ Different Third Person POV ]

The clang of vibranium against not-indestructible metal was ringing in Steve and Bucky's ears as they entered what appeared to be a control room.

A control room that contained one Red Skull, who looked considerably surprised that Captain America and the Winter Soldier had actually made it through all his defenses. "Just the two experiments I was wanting to see," Red Skull said, his accent seeming thicker than either soldier remembered in the past.

Bucky chalked it up to the realization that he'd actually lost, while Steve looked ready to throw his shield in an attempt to take the Red Skull's head off. "Stand down now, and no one needs to get hurt."

Right as the Red Skull was opening his mouth to respond, in came Iron Man, landing with his usual dramatic flair. As he straightened, his faceplate lifted up and he looked between the two soldiers, "Seriously? Starbucks beat me?"

"You expect any less?" Bucky asked, raising a brow.

"I was kind of hoping I'd get to be head of the pitchfork-and-torch mob on this one," Tony admitted with a shrug, before turning to the Red Skull. "Did he accept your surrender yet, or is it still pending?"

The Red Skull gave Tony an unamused look. "As big mouthed as your father," he scoffed, shaking his head.

"Now that," Tony said, "is an insult to my dad. I clearly have the bigger mouth in the family."

"I don't think that's something you can prove, Stark," Steve muttered, giving the billionaire a skeptical look, though his arm was still raised in a defensive position. He was very much intending to knock the Red Skull out at any moment, distractions bar none.

"Probably could in this day and age," Bucky actually disagreed. "Though then again, I don't see why you'd know that . . . old man."

"I believe that is my line," a Sokovian accent volunteered.

Bucky and Tony both turned to see the rest of the team standing in the door way, or already making their way into the room, headed by Pietro and Megan, who were both watching the Red Skull apprehensively.

"You're older than me, anyway, Buck," Steve pointed out absently.

"Realistically," Vision began, "you are all older than I am. Strangely enough, I am the youngest one here."

Red Skull let his attention drift from Captain America to the odd android, clearly not having heard of this member of the Avengers, as he surveyed the red-and-green anomaly in detached interest. "It would be a waste of breath to ask why you are here," he said then, silencing everyone, "so instead, I will point out it takes all of you to take down one of me. This does not bode well for you, and any other future villains you must face. Especially given there is no prison cell that can hold me."

Tony was quick to retort, "I beg to differ."

"You're a differ begger?" Megan asked, though it was more of a sideline comment than anything.

"You are all the most incompetent heroes I have ever encountered," Red Skull declared then, zeroing in on Steve. "You have stooped very low, Captain. You were once a nearly worthy opponent." Then, seemingly out of nowhere, he produced two tesseract guns. His targets were those two closest to him -- Steve and Tony.

He didn't get a chance to fire off a shot, though, because right before he could, a very large projectile weapon launched itself at his chest and sent him crashing into the various computers set up behind him, sending the whole system falling over with a loud crash.

"There is a good chance -- no, a very good chance," Rhodey corrected himself from within the War Machine suit, "that that missile is going to blow up."

"Time to go!" Peter declared, yanking Ev off her feet and entirely prepared to go rushing out of the underground facility as fast as his legs could carry him. He wasn't the only one doing that, either, Pietro had scooped up Megan, Tony looked like he was going to make a run for it, and Sam pretty much ran into Vision, when Wanda spoke.

"Or," she said loudly, "perhaps not."

Then everyone paused, and attempted to look a little less chaotic (as if their reputations mattered in front of the lone villain) as the witch lifted a hand and displayed that the missile was encased in red energy. After a moment, she dropped it, and though Pietro flinched, everyone else remained relatively still.

"Now then," Wanda smiled, "does anyone have handcuffs?"

Sam gave her a skeptical look. "Super hero hand cuffs? I mean, the guy's got Cap's strength, he can break regular-people handcuffs."

"Duly noted, Sam," Wanda said dryly. "Stark?"

"What're you looking at me for?" Tony asked, pulling his best look of innocent in attempt to mask the fact that he had never considered making super hero handcuffs before, but actually considered it a good idea. "I've got nothing. I can blast him, if you want."

"Most of us in the room can do that," Rhodey said. "And really, Tony, you should work on the handcuffs thing."

"I volunteer to blast him," Megan raised a hand, eyes flickering to gold for a second as she smiled widely.

"No one's blasting him," Steve disagreed quickly. "We made arrangements, remember?" That silenced everyone, given Red Skull was now unconscious, and couldn't hear the news to be surprised, anyway.

Then, Evangeline spoke up (after prying herself out of Peter's persistent grip), "How about superhuman plants?" she asked. "Probably as strong as, um, super handcuffs."

Megan smiled encouragingly, and Peter was grinning ear to ear, though no one could see it.

"Don't see why not," Steve shrugged. "Go ahead and do the honors, miss," he allowed, though he did walk her over through the rubble . . . and stand there to ensure she wasn't caught off guard on the off chance that their enemy woke up.

But he didn't.

And miraculously, all of the Avengers boarded the quintet headed home together, with no injuries, and no disasters, and no odd detours.

Each and every one of them could honestly say it was the most relieved they'd felt in a while.

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A/N: double update! enjoy!