What Are the Odds? (Stony Au)

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen: Possession or Obsession?

"I don't know about this," Tony admitted from where he stood on the third floor, "Jarvis, how many people are in the building?"

"Four, sir. Counting you and Mr. Rogers."

"Can you ID the other two?"

"Abner Sallows and Phil Coulson."

"Uhh, did you just say Phil Coulson?" Steve clarified while trying to clear the first floor.

"Yeah, there must be some sort of switch up. Phil's in Florida," Tony exited the floor, "And Abner is definitely not on the third floor."

"He's not on the first either....It seem a little odd to you that no one else is here?" Steve crept up the staircase, hating how it was enclosed, "It's a Thursday night in a college."

"No, Steve, I didn't find it suspicious at all that the library Alveus might be after is completely empty," Tony retorted, landing beside Steve.

Neither made an effort to move, but the phone behind the desk could be heard ringing. Steve turned to Tony, knowing that this had to be where the target was, "I'll take the right, you take the left?"

"Yeah, maybe Abner is peaceful," Tony thought aloud, taking his side with his lasers ready to fire, "Maybe he's secretly a huge avengers fan, and he'll come willingly."

"Maybe," Steve muttered, turning a sharp corner to an empty row, "Maybe not."

"Or maybe, Alveus has already gotten him and we're screwed," Tony paused, "Yeah, that's much more likely."

"Wait, I think I hear something," Steve whispered, peeking past the shelf to spot the silhouette of a man with a gun.

"It's probably that annoying goddamn phone," Tony huffed, "Hey Jarvis? Connect to the landline on floor two and answer the phone."

Tony waited until he heard the 'click' signifying that he was on the line, "Hello caller! Stop fucking calling! The librarian does not want to talk to you!"

"Tony, get down!"

Tony's face paled as he recognized the voice on the other end. It was Bruce's.

"Alveus is in the building with you, you need to get down!" Bruce yelled, looking at Tony through the security cameras, "I said get down!"

Steve followed the man carefully, but he also kept his distance. It wasn't until the man finally circled back to where he was before did he finally put his gun into his holster.

Steve took that as his chance to finally speak up, "Excuse me, sir, are you Abner Sallows?"

"Captain?" the man turned around and pulled Steve into hug, "Thank God! We have to go, Hive is here!"

"Coulson?" Steve stood in shock for a moment, "You're supposed to be in Florida. And what do you mean Alveus is here?"

"Well, he's not here yet," Coulson paused, "But he will be soon, I-,"

They were cut off by a loud crash that had to have come from the other side of the room. Steve immediately started to run in that direction, but Coulson stopped him.

"Wait! That's our plane," Coulson explained, "It's a diversion to lure Hive in, and there's a series of bombs planted to go off in twenty minutes. We've already evacuated everyone but you."

"You're sure?" Steve glanced over, barely seeing the top of the plane crash, "Because we just had people in here."

"I'm positive. Bruce has Tony, and Abner is in the plane waiting right there," Coulson pointed to where Mack was flying, "We need to evacuate."