And then we were two (Tony stark's daughter fic)

Feral

"The energy signature just...blipped..." Bruce frowned.

Natasha frowned and glanced over her shoulder. Nothing could ever be simple could it? What did that even mean, blipped? Her expression must've asked as much because he cleared his throat as he typed at the computer before him. "She's back in the states..."

"We'll need to stop for fuel," Natasha sighed as she made the changes to their destination and flicked on the autopilot. "Jarvis, any news on Stark?"

"Mr Stark with Captain Rogers is on his way home."

"Least that's something," Clint sighed.

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It would've been. Sadly, as tony would've said most things in his life went, nothing could ever go smoothly. He veered suddenly north, seemingly unaware of Steve's shout of surprise. A moment later he lost altitude, dropping as if he'd lost power or forgotten how to stay aloft.

Their feet, more Tony's than Steve's, dragged along a mountain's rocky peak, metal scraping against stone, throwing sparks and pebbles as they went. Tony grunted and they shot up again.

"Tony! Stark, take us down, now! Stark!" Steve clung to the arm, cursing under his breath as the seams closed off beneath his fingers, a defense mechanism he didn't generally use when giving Steve a lift. It made it harder to get purchase on the suit, making it harder for Steve to hold on.

Aside from the suit's response to his scrabbling fingers Tony didn't respond which only served to worry the captain further. "Jarvis are you with us? What's going on, can you take control?"

"I'm sorry captain, mr Stark is not responding and I've been locked out..."

No sooner had the AI spoken than the suit jerked again. Steve wrapped himself bodily around the armor moments before they broke the sound barrier, hurtling off at a sickening pace. It didn't help matters at all that Tony's erratic behavior never ceased and, quite without warning, they were falling. This time, despite Steve's shouts, Tony didn't pull out of the dive.

Falling, falling, falling, unable to even judge where and when they would hit in the darkness. Steve braced for impact and just hoped that the suit would protect his more fragile, physically at least, teammate. He leapt away at the last second and tumbled in a heap, unconscious.

When next Steve's eyes flickered open the sun was beating down on them, though it wasn't providing much warmth. He shuddered, breath coming in a sharp gasp at the icy snow that dusted his skin. "Don't have time for this. Find Tony," he ordered himself through teeth clenched so tightly he almost thought he heard a crack.

Their, for lack of a better term, crash sight went off in two directions. A smoothed our ditch from where Steve had slid across the frozen terrain on his shield, and the small crater that held the still and silent iron man armor. It was eerie, something containing tony stark, to be that still, and Steve felt his breath catch in his throat as he slid down the rough embankment to reach him. "Stark! Respond!"

Nothing moved, the reactor was dim. For a moment Steve felt like he'd been kicked in the breadbasket and reacted to it like he would've before the serum. Much like after the battle of New York he reached out and ripped the helmet's faceplate from his face.

Tony made a small sound of unease, his eyes dilated huge, beyond what they should've been for the brightness of the day as they flicked frantically from side to side. They seemed to take in everything at once, Steve, the surroundings, everything. That wasn't uncommon from Tony. He only played the fool, Steve had realized that early on. Tony noticed everything and everyone, he only made it seem like he didn't, like it didn't matter. That was exactly the problem here though, wasn't it? He wasn't hiding anything. Tony stark was the master of the misdirect, a man of shields and masks and coping mechanisms and, if his current expression was any indication, he'd been stripped bare for the world, or in this case Steve, to see.

"Tony? Are you hurt?" Steve frowned worriedly as his fingers scrabbled to find the manual releases on the suit. After some of their recent disagreements it was a shock Tony hadn't changed those. His trust was a precious commodity he did not hand out unearned. Steve was shocked to discover, as far as he could tell from the suits makeup, he still possessed that trust.

Even so, tony had yet to say a word and that, more than nearly anything else could've been, was worrisome.

The instant the suits releases clicked Tony was a bundle of movement, all wiry, panicked, limbs and...was he snarling? Steve stared up at him where he was crouched atop his chest and froze. "Tony...tony, it's Steve...Cap...you know me, we're friends.." wasn't that just the worst? If he went the rest of his life without having to try to convince someone they were his friend he thought he might die, if not happy at least maybe content. "Tony, what's happened?"

Steve started to reach up as if to touch him and Tony recoiled quickly, he tumbled into the ruined shell of his suit and scrambled back on all fours, pressing himself to the edge of the embankment and snarled. Steve hated it. There was something inherently, viscerally, wrong about Tony Stark, the man who's brain and mouth and hands never stopped, being reduced to...instincts? Base instincts at that. Sadly, Tony's bare instincts, seemed to center around fear and mistrust.

Cap inched nearer, hands held out placatingly. "We're friends...I promise, Tony. I only want to help you, alright? Are you...are you hungry?" He started to offer out an MRE but caught himself as tony began to stiffen, the words, 'I don't like being handed things,' echoing in his mind. He'd thought he was being a spoilt jackass at the time but, if that remained the same, even when Tony didn't know him, perhaps there was more to it. "Here, I'll set it down," he offered and placed it, open, between them. "It's isn't the best but, you should eat something. You're probably starving by now..."

He kept up a steady litany of anything and everything that came to mind as he slowly inched nearer until he could settle gingerly down beside tony. Steve breathed a sigh of relief when he leaned into him, rather than pull away, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "What'd they slip you, Stark?" He sighed worriedly. "Come on, we can't stay here. Can you walk? Can you come with me?"

He stood slowly and, when tony followed his action, sighed again, this time in relief. "Alright, lets get out of here so we can get that genius mind of yours back online. Come on, Tony."

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Hopefully you caught my little hint that something was coming in the last chapter and this didn't just completely blindside you lol. Hope you enjoyed my lovelies 😁😘