Bet you weren't expecting such a recent update! Anyways, here is the final installment; I'll do my best not to botch up the ending, but as always, no promises!

Tony was the first to wake up. He assessed the situation and possible ways to escape. So far, Steve was still unconscious, they were shackled, the floor was cold and damp, and he could hear running water somewhere in the distance. The room they were in felt cramped and the door straight ahead was probably locked.

Tony was careful taking out the tranquilizer darts from Steve's body; he didn't want to think about the slowness of his heartbeat, or how quickly his temperature was dropping. Tony simply picked the darts out and threw them as far as he could in the dark room. He struggled a bit when it came to moving Steve's body into a comfortable position on his lap, but he managed.

For the next two hours he carded his fingers through Steve's soft hair, the only comfort to his hypersensitive nerves. The random creeks, every scurry of a rat, and the constant running of the water kept him alert and on edge. Every ten minutes he took note of Steve's changing heartbeat, he monitored his breathing, and he did his best to keep him warm.

Steve regained consciousness slowly, the first thing he noticed was the rhythmic combing of his hair; it felt great against his scalp. He stayed in that content limbo for the next two minutes until his other senses kicked in. His hearing picked up a mechanical hum and a thudding heartbeat, there was also the sound of water and other, softer sounds. His sense of smell felt dulled, but he was able to make out the scent of the stagnant air. They must be underground… why would they be undergrou-

Then it hit him, like one of Hulk's punches.

"Shh, shh, slowly. You were shot with a million tranq darts, no need to jump." Tony's voice came in scratchy and disconnected as if he were speaking through the radio… or crying.

Steve looked up at the recent tracks illuminated by the arc reactor's glow. How many times had his involvement with Tony caused those? He needed to take better care of the person he said he loved.

"What's going on?" Steve asked. He knew Tony would understand that he meant status report, not that he'd suddenly forgotten everything.*

"We were captured, like you had said, we were under attack." Tony stilled his hand and looked into the distance, then resumed his movements once his thoughts were complete. "I woke up about two hours ago, I can't imagine how long we've been here, but judging by my lack of hunger, probably no more than six hours."

Steve tried to swallow the cold fist of fear that had lodged itself down his throat; he'd left Tony to fend for himself for the past two hours… he wanted to ask if Tony was okay, if he'd been hurt.

"Any sign of him?" Steve asked instead.

"Not yet, I have been able to surmise our location based off the sounds." Tony said looking up again as if he saw something Steve couldn't.

"Tony, look at me. It's not like that anymore, you are not alone – Steve made an effort to sit up – I'm here, whatever that means, but you are not alone understand?" Steve said, his entire body protectively shielding Tony from all the terrors his broken mind supplied.

"Damnit Steve, don't you ever scare me like that again! Fuck, I thought I'd lost you." Tony scolded, burying his face deep into the space where Steve's neck met his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'll try not to let it happen again, I swear." Steve whispered softly. Now it was his turn to card his fingers through Tony's hair and provide a semblance of comfort in these troubling times.

"I should have accepted your offer when I had the chance." Tony mumbled.

"What's that?" Steve asked. They had fallen into an unintentional silence, and he was still fighting the remnants of the tranquilizers' effect.

"Your offer to… you know-

"Oh, that! Don't worry about it. It wasn't that important anyways."

"Yes it was, I'm gonna die dissatisfied and you a virgin, see what my selfishness has cost us?" Now Steve had two ways he could react to this, he could pretend to be offended and chastise Tony for making light of such a serious situation (the one they were in) or he could laugh, which was probably the one Tony wanted but was not expecting.

"Why are you laughing, it's true!" Tony said, laughing himself. Steve felt as if he had won a little battle by making Tony laugh, it meant that he had taken his mind off the more horrific parts of their circumstance and now they could focus on what was important.

"I take it we're underground then?" Steve asked, a segue into the crux of the matter.

"What? Oh, right, yes. Probably an abandoned sewer, if you pay close attention you can hear the tiny feet of the little rats; due to the amount of activity over our heads, I can safely conclude that New York has been plugged back in." Tony said, his calculative brain connecting the dots in their current case.

"And Tiod is still nowhere to be found." Steve stated.

"He left us alive for a reason, he wants something." Tony speculaed, he spoke as if he were thinking aloud. "But what?"

It was as if Tony's question were the key to a lock no one wished to open. A loud sound rushed through their ears, they covered them to shield away as much of the sound as they could. A thrum could be felt under their skin; it vibrated deep within their core and caused their bodies to shake uncontrollably.

Moments later, Steve and Tony were two heaps on the floor, the only sign of their continued existence was their subtle intakes of breath.

Natasha was the first to burst through the doors of the Tower; she held a pistol in one hand as she quickly ascended the flights of stairs required to make it to Tony's lab. She kicked down the glass door, the entire frame shattering under the pressure. Nothing.

She ran upstairs and into their shared apartment. She didn't even have to open the door to their room. They were not in there.

Natasha ran back downstairs where the others were scampering around for something to do.

"Has anyone been able to get Jarvis back online?" Natasha asked with a no-nonsense tone to her voice.

"Not yet, it'll take a bit. Loki's downstairs repairing the reactor core and Thor went to the backup generator to see if he could kick-start it. Until then, I can't do anything." Bruce said, pulling on a new pair of pants. In moments like these (of great danger) modesty was not their primary concern.

"What can Loki do with the reactor core? He doesn't know the first thing about engineering!" Pepper interjected, her protests silenced by the burst of lights. "I stand corrected."

"Okay Bruce, on to it. Clint!" Natasha called.

"Yes?"

"Status report, please tell me they were fucking around in the gym." Natasha begged.

"As much as I would hate to walk into that scenario, right now it would be better than nothing. They're not here Nat, Tiod has tricked us again. His little faux emergencies have led to the capture of our teammates." Clint said, referring back to the earlier call that they had received. Red lights had appeared all over the map earlier that day. By the time the team realized it had all been a set-up, that none of the emergencies were real, they rushed back to the Tower to find it dead and the two inhabitants that were always left behind, gone.

"I know, we'll find them. If it's the last thing we do. Bruce, how's Jarvis coming along?" Natasha asked, her head pounding with pent up adrenaline.

"Almost there, he has to run through the entire database first and make sure to fix whatever had corrupted him in the first place, then he'll be back online; 'til then, we wait." Bruce informed her.

"That is something we can't do." Natasha said urgently. Loki walked into the room with Thor at his heels.

"The reactor core will hold for about two hours, I do not have Stark's expertise in the matter. After that, the backup generator will have to do." Loki told Natasha directly.

"Thank you Loki, any other useful information?"

"Not at the moment, no."

They waited patiently for Jarvis to boot back up, the ten minutes it took felt like ten years.

"Jarvis, are you able to track Tony and Steve?" Natasha asked, streamlining the conversation into a possible solution.

"The person/s: Mr. Anthony 'Tony' Edward Stark and Captain Steven Grant Rogers are not in this general vicinity. Please expand your search Agent Natasha Romanoff."

"Why is he talking like that?" Natasha asked.

"The hard shut-down must have scrambled his speech-output algorithms. I believe he is no more useful than a GPS at the moment, he'll need a little bit more time to adjust his speech." Bruce said from behind the computer.

"A GPS is better than nothing; I've tracked people with less. Do as he says and alert me when you find so much as a trace. Thor, use your wonderful portal to see if you can't locate them faster. Loki, monitor that reactor core, I don't care if you don't know how to fix it, just keep it from breaking." Natasha ordered. "Pepper and I will search their rooms to see if they left a note or something, anything. Clint… just stay where you are."

The team members did as they were told; they separated and began the frantic job of finding their lost companions.

"How many times are we gonna get knocked out before we meet this guy?" Tony groaned unable to massage his head due to his arms and chest being held tightly by a rope that surrounded them and kept their backs pressed to a pole. This time they had woken up in a mad doctor's wet dream. Surgery equipment lay strewn across the place, scalpels, monitors, gurneys, fire-extinguishers, and a disturbing amount of red tarps took up most of the space.

"I don't know, but I'm getting really sick and tired of this game he's playing." Steve ground out, fighting against their restrains. He hated the fact that he couldn't see Tony's face, couldn't judge his emotions (how he felt) at this current moment. It was starting to piss him off.

"I feel more sick than tired, that sound wave was massive. How could he have possibly generated that much and not destroyed the foundation of the entire block." Tony asked a bit awed.

"I don't care about the 'how's'; I need for us to stay focused so we can get out of this literal bind. Are you able to reach any of the tools?" Steve asked, his tone colder than he intended.

"No, it seems that they're perfectly out of reach." Tony replied a bit more subdued than before.

Steve realized this and went to apologize immediately. "I'm sorry; I'm just really tired of the whole situation. He's been playing villain for the past four months and yet, he doesn't have the decency to show his face. I'm just…"

"I know, I am too." Tony said. He looked around for anything that might aid in cutting the ropes.

Tony was facing the door, so he heard the footsteps first. He braced himself; Steve automatically did as well, though there was nothing either of them could do if Tiod were to attack.

Tiod opened the door slowly, even knocking as he did so. A travesty to the situation they were currently in.

He was nothing like what Tony had expected. To be quite honest, Tony didn't know what he had been expecting. Large horns and a green tail? Probably. But no, the man had muted shade of grey for skin, pointed ears, dark brown hair and a black suit. The only things noteworthy were his pupil-less red eyes and a perfect black line that ran down his face.

"Tiod Agmis, at your service. Pleasure to finally make your acquaintance."

"Natasha!" Clint called as he stared at the red dots appearing all over again on the screen. This time, the quantity had doubled.

She ran downstairs as quickly as she could, taking them two at a time even. "Did you find them?" She asked just as quickly.

"No, worse. What do we do about these? What if it's just another trick?" Clint asked.

"Then ignore them and keep searching!" Natasha snapped.

"What do you mean 'ignore them!' There could be lives at stake here-

"I don't think you heard me right-

"No, I don't think you heard me right! We are Avengers; we fight for the people who can't do it for themselves, if Steve saw you now he would be disgusted." Clint retorted.

"Well at least he'll have a chance to be disgusted once we pull all our efforts to find them!" Natasha snapped, her eyes shining with unwanted tears.

"I care for them too okay, but shucking our first responsibility is getting us nowhere. Give me the Avenge-Jet and I'll make sure that everything is safe. Just in case." Clint said, his sharp eyes boring holes into Natasha's own.

"I'll go too." Bruce said.

"Absolutely not, I need your knowledge to fix Jarvis." Natasha said.

"Then I'll go, I'm not doing anything you can't do by yourself." Pepper offered.

Natasha almost refused, but then she remembered the face of a little girl scared half to death at the prospect of dying…

"Go, but if nothing turns up again, do not linger to find out if it will. We need all the fire-power we can get." Natasha said, her tone that of a tired woman.

"Thanks Nat." Before Clint was able to run towards the roof, Bruce stopped him.

"Wait, the dots disappeared." Bruce stated, perplexed.

"What?"

"My apologies Mr. Barton, those were the local law enforcement emergencies, my algorithms have yet to filter out the Avenger-related ones." Jarvis apologized, his voice now back to normal.

"Jarvis!" The Avengers in the room exclaimed, happy to see that something was going right in their seemingly clamorous world.

"Are you able to fix the reactor core?" Natasha asked first.

"Yes, remotely; Mr. Laufeyson is now able to transport his services elsewhere." Jarvis replied.

"And the missing Avengers?"

"I am sorry to inform you that they are still not trackable, however, I can assure you that they have not left the state of New York." Jarvis assured.

"How can you be so sure?" Natasha asked skeptically.

"The arc reactor in Mr. Stark's chest has a special chip that sends live feed-back of his heart; it is non-traceable unless it is removed from his chest. Then the machine will send continuous reminders to the Tower and me to you. And as for travel, one ping is sent to the Tower if he has crossed any state borders." Jarvis said.

"Great, so Tony has to be in great peril in order for us to get his location." Natasha summarized, a loud crack of thunder broke over the sky and Thor crashed through the living room window.

Loki was the first to his aid. He held his beloved close as Thor regained his composure.

"Thor?" Natasha asked, hoping that his little charade had an explanation.

"There is a large barrier surrounding the innermost part of the city. I tried to enter but I was not allowed access. I then tried to blast through it with Mjolnir and ended up blasting through here instead." Thor said, holding the cut on his head. Loki swiped his fingers across the cut and healed it; Thor provided a little smile as a thank you.

"What about other people? Did it reject them?" Natasha asked, running through scenarios as to how she could penetrate the barrier.

"No, the citizens of York the New seem to be oblivious to the barrier's existence." Thor replied while rising from the floor. He dusted himself off and picked up his hammer.

"Then it must be specific to us…" Bruce supplied.

"Is there any way to get around that?" Natasha asked the scientist.

"Unless you propose we change the chemical composition of our DNA and the make-up of our genes, then no, I can't help." Bruce said solemnly.

"There wouldn't be a need to change, rather, disguise your… DNA." Loki said.

"But fundamentally we would still be the same." Bruce argued.

Loki gave him a look, he then turned around and stomped into the kitchen, he returned with an apple and set it on the table.

With a slight touch the apple shimmered and green swirls surrounded it, once they dissipated the apple still appeared as it was, an apple.

"Sir Jarvis, could you please tell me fundamentally what this is?" Loki asked the AI.

"A loaf of bread."

The other team members (except Thor) gasped at Jarvis's answer. If Loki's magic could trick the highly intelligent AI then it could trick Tiod's barrier.

"Yes, but a human being is more complex than an appl-

"Enough with the and/but/or's, we have a job to do and this is our best start. If it doesn't work we'll find another way!" Natasha exclaimed, her blue eyes alight with an inner fire she mostly reserved for battle or really intense sex.

"Understood." Bruce said, cowering under her stare.

"Where are our manners, you must be thirsty, hungry? We could get you some cockroaches a la sewer; it is a specialty down here." Tiod said, popping one of the live cockroaches in his mouth. "Absolutely delightful."

Tony gagged but was able to keep the bile down. "No chance in you letting us go then?" Tony asked, producing a ten-million dollar smile.

"Dear Mr. Stark – at this time Tiod moved towards Tony like a slinky, his entire back curved and his legs coming out in front of him like sticks – there is something we need of you, something of great import. We'll save you the proverbial speech, the gist is this: we've been tracking your energy for a while; our creation needs it in order to function at its maximum strength. We tried borrowing your large energy machine but it blew in front of our faces. Barely survived that one.

"Then we realized, why steal it, when the man we want could build it for us in the comfort of our own cave. The perfect plan for the perfect plan." Tiod said.

"You have one very important part missing from this grand plan of yours." Tony replied; smile still firmly on his face.

"Oh yeah, and what was that?" Tiod asked, his smile mimicking the style of Tony's but never its grandeur.

"What makes you think I'll cooperate?"

"We have ways of dealing with that too." Tiod said, his red eyes darkening.

"I can't help but notice that you speak in the plural, is there another guy behind the scenes?" Tony asked looking around for the secret culprit.

"No, it's just us. But be thankful that he's gone away to sleep – Tiod leaned in as close as he could to Tony's face, Tony congratulated himself on holding his ground and not flinching away – you wouldn't like him when he's awake."

"I don't respond well to threats." Tony ground out.

"Don't worry; we have a way of making sure you do." Tiod replied nonchalantly. "Oh, and Captain, don't think we've forgotten about you, just because you kept silent doesn't mean your fate is any less sealed."

Tiod exited the room and Tony listened to his retreating footsteps until he could hear them no more.

Tony let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"Tony, I think we're dealing with two sides of crazy here." Steve stated, shaking his head.

"I think this is beyond crazy, but at least we know his objective. He wants my arc reactor. When he was tampering with the core Jarvis must have performed a hard shut-down. I can't even begin to think what that has done to the algorithms. I just hope that the others have returned and restarted him. Bruce knows what to do, I taught him enough just in case something like this happened." Tony looked up at the ceiling, had they changed locations? Or had this secret room always been there, lurking beneath the shadows of the tunnels.

"What do you think he meant by making me?" Tony asked, his tone was silent and it was hard to hear him because of it.

"What do you think Tony; he's going to hurt you in order to get what he wants." Steve said.

"No he's not; he's going to hurt you… that would be the only way he could get to me." Tony corrected.

"Tony, listen to me. Whatever happens to me today, you need to move on and get out, find a way to fight back. Don't let me be your handicap." Steve said seriously then mellowed out at the end. "Whatever happens, promise me that Tony."

"You talk as if your death would be final."

"Promise me Tony."

"I can't, can you not see that I can't! It's quite difficult for me to give you up now Steve, you've taken everything away from me and made it your own, you stupid bastard, how did you do that?" Tony asked, borderline angry.

"I don't know, I guess being stuck together has its perks." Steve supplied.

"Shut up… now listen, if we happen to make it out of here alive, or you do anyways, I need you to remember this number: 0-7-0-4-1-9-2-0." Tony said, a soft blush covered his cheeks as he recited the number.

"More secrets Tony?" Steve asked, admittedly unsurprised.

"Yeah, just um, something I've been working on, you know… just in case." Tony said clearing his throat of the unnecessary emotion. It had been just a random set of numbers, nothing special about it… nothing at all.

ooOOoo

More hours had gone by, so far they were thirsty and their hind-quarters were numb.

"Movies get the idea of being captured all wrong, it's not fast-paced and action packed at all. More like sitting around waiting for something to happen, and I do believe that's where the true terror comes in. But by now, I'm just bored." Tony said, sick and tired of the never-ending silence.

"It does make you wonder what he's doing while he's away." Steve mused.

"I'd rather not know."

The remaining Avengers were able to infiltrate the barrier; it surrounded an abandoned building in a seemingly prosperous side of town. They entered the facility but found nothing more than a large thing.

"What is that?" Natasha asked no one. There was a giant hole in the center that looked as if it could fit a small house.

"Dr. Banner, if you would be so kind as to place one of the scanners on the object, I will be better able to inform you." Jarvis spoke up from the touch-screen device Bruce carried. Bruce did as he was told; a large net of blue tendrils superimposed themselves onto the device and just as they had appeared, quickly disappeared.

"It seems to be a carrier for some form of great energy, the plans are now on your device Dr. Banner, I am unable to make out its purpose, but if I were to guess – it is nothing good." Jarvis informed the team. "It has a name… Project Ultron."

"What do you suggest we do Natasha?" Clint asked, the temporary leader of the team thought it over; she looked over her resources and sighed.

"Clint, you and Bruce stay here, if all else fails in the search party, we will return immediately, keep your coms open, if we need you leave the machine behind and we'll deal with it later. The rest of you, come with me. If there was one barrier protecting this machine thing, there must be another shielding us from our teammates." Natasha ordered. She could feel a strange excitement in her skin as she felt much closer to her next strike. Soon, they would rescue them soon.

"Do you think he plans to starve us out? He doesn't seem that bright, and he's halfway to the madhouse as it is." Tony mused.

"He was bright enough to trick us in our own home." Steve reminded.

"I don't think that was his idea. Whoever this 'we' person is, is probably the brains of the operation." Tony said. "How do you think the others are doing?" He asked as a distraction. The sitting, the waiting… It was too much.

"Probably out looking for us; I'm willing to bet that Natasha has assumed command, and is hurdling orders left and right. She would have made an excellent drill sergeant if she wasn't so deadly." Steve said, a small smile coming up at the corner of his mouth.

"Poor Barton, I know he's itching to get into your pants, and not in that way. No, that's my job." Tony said squeezing their hands through the binds.

"You know Tony, if you would have said something like that to me back in the 40s… I would have probably taken you up on it." Steve said.

"You talk big game Steve; now, is this pre-serum or post?" Tony asked curiously.

"Both, though we really wouldn't have had much time post, what with a war and all." Steve replied.

"You have a sense of humor, there's a lot of seriousness to dig through, but it's there." Tony state matter-of-factly. "I just wanna know something; did my father ever hit on you?"

"Howard? Well if he had, I probably didn't pay much attention… I mean, there was that one time, but he was drunk and I don't think he realized it the moment he did it."

"Which was what, exactly?"

"When we get out of this, I'll let you know."

"That's cruel." Tony retorted.

"You leaving me would be cruel, this is just mean."

Tiod paced the small room, how would they go about extracting the energy source from Tony Stark. It was so large, and the information so complex. Stark needed an incentive, something to motivate him.

If only they could obtain a sample of this energy…

Tiod could have smacked himself.

Tony looked up as the door opened again. Tiod hadn't changed in appearance, but his motives had.

He had a newfound purpose.

"That thing in your chest, what does it do?" Tiod asked. Both Steve and Tony jerked at the question, Tony had always cursed his handicap, it was so simple to render him useless when he wasn't wearing the suit.

Tony refused to answer; he believed silence was the best policy at the moment.

"I'll ask again then," It all happened so suddenly, everyone had been waiting for something to do, something to happen. Then, everything seemed to move in fast-forward. Tiod reached beyond the rope and Tony's shirt to grip the arc reactor with a deadly vice. "What is the purpose of the object in your chest?"

Using his natural affinity for Nickle, he was able to detect the traces of it and mold the arc reactor out of Tony's chest. Tony could feel every pinprick of flesh tearing away from the reactor core, Tiod's fingers scraped against the top of his sternum and Tony fought the urge to puke. The pain was otherworldly, and the sound… the sound the metal made as it crushed and morphed in Tiod's hands; it left a sickening echo in his ears, he could only imagine what Steve was feeling at the moment.

"It's my… iron-heart." Tony spat out though the pain managed to supersede anything he had felt before. He didn't know something like that could ache so much. His entire being convulsed at the final yank of his reactor.

"And I take it works quite the same as the energy in your tall building. This will do, a sample is enough." Tiod said cheerily. Tiod's entire hand was covered in Tony's blood; once he removed the reactor, a slow trickle began, staining Tony's shirt as it made its way to the floor.

Tiod walked over to a nearby desk and placed the reactor flatly on it with no respect for its delicate structure, it made a thudding noise that echoed throughout the room. Tiod walked away with a smile on his face and a skip in his step.

"Tony, please… tell me it isn't, tell me he didn't take it… please." Steve begged softly.

"Bingo, ah." Tony replied.

A cold rage overtook Steve, the only thing keeping him back were the absurdly tight restrains and the fear of jostling Tony.

"I'm going to kill him. Fuck, I'm gonna kill him." Steve shouted into the sill air.

Pain gripped Tony's heart but he smiled regardless, he would've made a comment about Steve's newfound vocabulary but he was quickly running out of time and words to say.

"Steve… listen to me… I need to tell you s-something." Tony tripped over his tongue as he realized his mouth was dripping blood. Oh god. Dread, cold and quick, overtook his entire center as he noticed just how much damage Tiod had done to the center of his chest. Tony drew strength out of Steve's hand; he looked over at the table where his salvation lay in a broken and dead mess.

"I know what you're doing Stark, this is not a farewell, this is not a goodbye damn it." Steve's voice cracked towards the end, hot tears fell fast and furiously from his lashes and he fought hard against his restrains.

"Listen, why don't ya?" Tony said a little harder. "I don't know how you did it… but you, ah, you made me lo-ve you. Harder and stronger than I'd ever loved anything before, including myself." Tony struggled to find the words to express his feelings, these last few minutes were precious to him, he couldn't waste them getting tongue tied. "And… I want you to remember that number I gave you… just in case."

"Tony, don't give up just yet, I love you. Don't leave me." Steve begged.

"I'm glad I'm getting to spend my last… uh, moments with you. Even if I can't see your face…" Tony was drifting fast, if he didn't die from the shards attacking his heart every time it beat, then he would die from blood lost.

"Tony." Steve begged and moaned for Tony to keep awake. "Please, just breathe; stay awake a little longer, please."

"I love you too; don't think about it too hard okay?" Tony heaved one big gulp and coughed. "Oh dear, that's a lot of blood."

"Damn it Tony, this isn't the time!" Steve snapped, but he quickly realized the last thing he wanted was to part on shouting terms. "Just focus on staying alive, don't give up just yet-

Steve was interrupted by a large crashing sound next door. The sounds got louder as the parties got closer to the door. The door was kicked down and four Avengers ran into the scene. Tiod was backing up slowly; he was on his knees and blood dripped from his face at odd angles.

"God, have mercy, we were only doing a duty. These worthless Midgardians do not deserve half of what they have, you can admit that." At first it seemed as if Tiod were speaking to Thor but, instead, Loki was his center of attention.

"Maybe at one point in my life I would have agreed, but these undeserving creatures are under my protection. You have wronged this world times too many, it is time you face Asgardian justice. Your brother will be happy to know you have been dealt with." Loki stated coldly.

"We were doing our duty!"

"A misguided one at that." Loki grabbed hold of Tiod's neck and they disappeared into the Nether. During this procession, Natasha and Pepper had been hastily untying Steve and Tony.

Tony was incoherent and unresponsive to anything and everyone.

"This reactor is shot, and his core has been forcefully removed… he's barely breathing." Pepper informed them. Steve was also unresponsive; he clutched his beloved closer to his chest as his fading heartbeat and thickening blood washed over his senses.

"Thor, we need you to fly them to the Tower, once there go straight to the lab, Jarvis is ready to receive them. Don't interrupt, and for the love of God, don't get in the way." Pepper ushered Thor. He nodded and helped Steve up.

"Come on comrade, do you wish to save Stark or not?" Thor tried to be as gentle as he could while they flew through the air, it was quite difficult and a supposed blessing that an entrance the relative size of their bodies had been made earlier.

They ran into the lab and Thor was vehemently shut out.

"Jarvis, what do I do?" Steve whispered into the sky as he looked at the limp body of his dearly beloved.

"The number sir." Jarvis said; his normally cherry voice subdued and clinically professional.

"0-7-0-4-1-9-2-0." It suddenly clicked why the numbers sounded so familiar to him earlier. He looked down at Tony's pale face. "Don't die on me. You have to explain to me why you'd use my birthday as a passcode. You fucking idiot." Steve sobbed into the seemingly unhearing body.

"Sir, the solution is ready." Jarvis interrupted, a tray had been wheeled out with three items, the reactor, the core, and a large cylinder with a menacing needle attached to it.

"Mr. Stark had wished to be rid of his reactor, but his heart is too weak now. I would suggest we work fast… we do not have much time." Steve looked at the monitors over his head and noticed how slow the heart was beating. With the help of the robotic servants he was able to disinfect the area and perform major reactor surgery. Once in place, the newest model shone like a new toy, but Tony's heart was still failing.

Steve picked up the cylinder and read the label.

"Where did you get your hands on some Extremis?" Steve whispered, shaking his head. He placed the large needle close to one of his veins then thought better. He jammed the needle straight into the center of Tony's heart a la stake-to-the heart style. Once the cylinder read empty he ducked.

He had seen the videos he knew what would come next; he'd rather lose an arm than his entire life. But after ten minutes of cowering from the inevitable, he slowly stood back up. Tony still remained immobile, but the Extremis started forming an orange circle around his heart.

"Jarvis… is it working?" Steve asked, afraid to sound hopeful.

"Right at this moment, it's too hard to tell. But his heartrate is increasing, we'll have to wait and see." Jarvis replied.

"That's all we ever do uh, wait. It's what got us in this mess in the first place." Steve spoke softly to the warm body beneath him. "Don't die on me yet; just wait a little longer to die."

Thankfully, it seemed that the other Avengers had an unspoken rule of not interrupting Steve while Tony healed. They were able to disassemble Project Ultron and Loki tried and executed Tiod under the Asgardian sun. Then, when they were once again congregated, they sat and waited.

The first day Steve sat there staring at Tony's pale face; the shallow breathing did nothing to calm his nerves. The reactor was dull and every flicker of bright light quickly disappeared. The Extremis remained pooled in one area for hours; it worried Steve that he hadn't pushed the needle far enough. He was afraid to touch Tony; he felt that any more jostling would interrupt the healing process. Though that was probably just his paranoia speaking.

So he sang to him, light songs at first; lullabies, melodies, old hymns he still recalled from his childhood. Then he started telling him old war stories, how hard it was being the little guy, the serum, the shows, the chance to finally prove he was worthy of being the soldier they wanted, the final showdown with Red Skull, and his temporary demise into the ice. He also went further back, the days when both his parents were still alive, his best friend Bucky, the neighborhood dog Skip, his natural affinity for art, and his love for music.

It was a rough first day, when the sun went down and Tony still wasn't awake, Steve laid his head down on the metallic surface and looked at his beloved's face.

He had a maximum of two hours sleep, his back ached and his knees popped when he stood back up.

The monitors still looked about the same, but the glow had spread. Tony's arc reactor was now surrounded by the orange and it had a steady blue glow, his cheeks were regaining color and his hand felt warm to the touch.

Steve sighed, a small and hopeful sigh. This was a small step in the recovery process, but it was better than nothing.

He sat back down again, too drained to speak, and just looked at Tony's face. If he ignored the situation, it just seemed like he was sleeping- peaceful and calm.

"You know, if you really want to know what happened between your father and me, you should really wake up. It's quite hilarious, and I know you can't wait to hear it." Steve teased Tony's still body. There was a slight spike in the heartrate and Steve took this as a sign to continue talking.

"I just realized it's almost Christmas, if you want to keep your promise I'm gonna need you to be awake for that. We can't let a year pass and we're still in the same bind. Not that I don't enjoy the time I spend with you, but it's great to have our own space sometimes. Don't you think?" Steve asked, by now he was just blabbering, words spewed out of his mouth and every couple of sentences Tony's heart would beat a little harder and his heartrate would increase.

"I'm sorry I waited so long to say 'I love you.'" Steve whispered, his entire body dragged downwards by the weight of his own guilt. "I've loved you for a long time now, even longer than I'm willing to admit. I'm sure you know that by now… and if you don't wake up…" Steve didn't finish the sentence; he just stared at the monitors as the slow-moving potion worked its magic.

ooOOoo

This time he was able to sleep a full four hours, his back didn't hurt as much but there was a kink in his neck that he couldn't quite get out.

Someone knocked on the door of the lab, scaring Steve half to death. He ushered the intruder in surprised to see Pepper enter.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, is there anything we can do? Do you need some food?" Pepper asked silently, trying her best to discreetly peek at her best friend.

"You're not interrupting… I had forgotten the others were here." Steve said more to himself than to her. "No, I'm not hungry, thanks." Steve's answer was dismissal enough for Pepper.

The seconds ticked by like hours, he rubbed small circles into the back of Tony's right hand, the hand he hasn't been able to properly use for months now. The one that had squeezed him tightly as his life was forcefully taken out of him.

Steve stopped that train of thought; he didn't want his thoughts heading in that direction. He needed to focus on the positive side of things. He could be looking at a grave rather than a breathing body if life were truly unfair.

Steve drifted off on the edge of Tony's makeshift bed, the hours passed quicker if he wasn't awake to greet them.

Half an hour later, Tony's heart kick-started and the Extremis flowed quickly through his veins and settled mostly into his liver where it repaired years of damage and misuse. It wrapped itself his limbs and core creating a bright glow from within.

Tony took the first deep breath he had taken in days. His entire chest expanded to allow all the air to enter his lungs. As he did that, the Extremis flooded his arc reactor and for a bright second the normally blue light shone a luminous, fiery orange. His body calmed down after that, returning his heart to a regular pace.

Tony's eyes opened slowly, the brightness of the monitors hurt his eyes as he tried to adjust. He sat up a bit looking around his lab. They had made it out! He looked down at his brand-new reactor and the faint puncture wound above his heart.

The Extremis had worked.

Tony looked to his right, a mop of blonde hair rested on the edge of the table. A large smile blossomed over his face when he saw Steve just lying there, like a little angel.

"Ja-rvis." Tony cleared his throat and tried again. "Jarvis, you can wake the other's and tell them I'm awake."

Tony ran a hand through Steve's hair waking him up slowly. Steve's head snapped up and his big blue eyes filled with wonder. "Miss me?" Tony teased. He was quickly assaulted by a ferocious kiss, his hips were dragged to the edge of the table, and his legs were wrapped tightly around Steve's waist.

Steve kissed Tony strong enough to bruise but the Extremis in his system worked quickly to heal any superficial wounds. Steve ran his free hand through Tony's hair, he ran the pads of his fingers down his back, and traced lines up and down Tony's abdomen.

They separated for air and Steve quickly latched his mouth on Tony's neck sucking and biting with abandon. Tony held him tighter, the bottom of his stomach filled with knots until he heard the tumultuous footfalls of his teammates and remembered that he'd told Jarvis to proclaim the good news.

It took Steve a second longer to hear them, so by the time he could separate his mouth the others barged in disregarding all forms of boundaries and enveloping them into a hug.

Everyone was cheering and laughing, they jumped up and down with joy, all except for Steve who was squeezed into Tony and sported a spectacular shade of scarlet on his cheeks. "Later." Tony was able to whisper before the others could get any closer.

Steve ducked his head with embarrassment at the prospect of what 'later' would imply.

ooOOoo

Tony woke up at 2 PM on Christmas Eve. By 3 PM his tower was filled with people he hadn't seen in years, and some he wished he could avoid.

"Coulson! How wonderful to see you. Hey, does Fury miss me yet?" Tony mocked him from across the room.

"He's doing well Stark, and he weeps everyday by an altar he has erected of your memory and greatness." Coulson said in the same breath.

Tony laughed merrily, for it was the season. Some of his other friends were there as well, Happy, Rhodey, Maria Hill. And some he didn't expect, like Mama Frigga.

ooOOoo

By the time the party died down and it was only the Avengers that remained, it was ten o'clock. Loki clocked out early but Thor remained a little longer to converse with his comrades.

"You gave us quite a scare there young Stark." Thor said as a starter.

"I wouldn't be me if I didn't scare you half to death before breakfast." Tony replied sighing dramatically.

"No, but seriously, we're glad you're okay. Heaven knows what we'd do without you." Pepper said sincerely.

"Yeah, like help you decide a name to replace that cliché X on your chest." Tony teased.

"Oh yeah, if it's so cliché, what would you suggest?" Pepper asked haughtily.

"How about something subtle yet unique, like… MisstreX." Tony replied.

"How about no, I think I'll keep the X for now." Pepper said in between her laughter.

"We should take a break from Avenging for a little bit." Tony suggested a couple of minutes later.

"We? Last time I checked, you and Steve stay here and watch movies. Have you even made a bit of progress in un-latching?" Natasha asked skeptically.

"We're working on it, sheesh, so hostile." Tony said. "Hey Pepper, we're Extremis siblings now, should we call ourselves twins?" Tony teased.

"Ha ha, very funny Mr. Stark." Pepper retorted, rolling her eyes.

Steve was oddly quiet through the conversations that took place. He watched the flakes slowly descend above New York; it reminded him how close to death each of them had once come. There was a time where he thought he was gone as well. There was darkness, a perpetual bliss of nothingness. And then he woke up. Right this moment, if this was also all a dream, he would wish to stay asleep forever. He wouldn't want to wake up to find himself alone and scared again. Not for anything in the world.

"Well I'm a dead man walking; I need to go to bed. Steve?" Tony asked, locking eyes briefly. A hot flash of pent up desired passed through Tony's eyes as looked up.

"Yeah, sure. I could sleep." Steve said. The others agreed and dispersed to their respective rooms.

Tony walked as normally as his sensitive body would allow him. Every step brought them closer to their final destination. And that could be interpreted two ways.

Steve's heartbeat quickened with each second that passed, each stair step made his heart thud hard against his chest as if it were trying to escape its confines. He was nervous, yes, but he was also incredibly excited to get this over and with- to consummate this relationship, to form a bond stronger that blood, etc.

"That was a long party don't you think?" Tony asked, stepping slowly into their shared bedroom. He was quickly turned around as soon as the door shut and pushed against it with a loving force.

Steve kissed him sweetly, sugar couldn't compare. Tony let this go on until their bodies started gyrating against the door and shaking the frame.

"Do you plan on making love to me against the door?" Tony asked coyly, he bit his swollen lips and pushed his body closer to Steve's.

Steve shook his head with a little smile and picked Tony up by the waist. He slowly undressed the man below him, each button was like a tiny present getting larger as he descended Tony's abdomen and finally removed the dress shirt.

"You know Steve… I've never done this with anyone else." Tony said.

Steve was about to make a comment about the other women when he realized that they were both male. "What do you mean?"

"As in, I've been with men before yes, but I've never been the submissive type… until now." It took a second for that sentence to click in Steve's lust-muddled mind. When it did, he nodded softly.

"If you want we can-

"No! No, what I mean is be gentle." Tony clarified. The idea of topping Steve was exciting and all, but right now, he wasn't in the mood.

Steve continued undressing them, once fully nude they went beneath the covers and kissed, getting used to each other's bodies. Steve went slow, kissing a wonderful pattern of kisses straight to Tony's cock where he licked it once then continued trailing kisses down his thighs.

Tony sighed shakily as his free hand grabbed the sheets around him and his other squeezed the blood out of Steve's hands.

"Have you been practicing without me?" Tony asked in a matter that wouldn't make him seem breathy and needy, but he failed miserably. His eyes were twin pools of black as he stared up into the ceiling and then down as Steve continued his ministrations.

Steve looked up and smirked; he loved to break down Tony's walls of superiority, reduce him to a pool of whimpering lust, and for no other reason than that it excited him. He paused for a second going into Tony's drawer for the lubricant.

"Jesus! When'd you find that?" Tony swore, his eyes widening.

"About a month ago, what exactly do you do with this?" Steve asked curiously.

"Ah, I haven't used it in forever now but I, um, would ah, prepare myself, for no one in particular mind you. It just felt good and-

Steve kissed him something fierce, stopping him mid-speech. "Did you ever think of me?" Steve whispered hotly into Tony's ear. Tony nodded slowly, his cheeks burning hotter than a furnace.

"I thought about you too, more times than I probably should've." Steve confessed.

"Well enough with the past, do you want to make our dreams a reality or not?" Tony asked; his entire body ready to be consumed by Steve's all-encompassing passion.

Steve was extremely careful when it came to preparing Tony, he provided him with a reasonable distraction as his fingers intruded Tony's most private area. They weren't in a rush, and all this was familiar territory.

Steve covered a light trail of kisses upwards towards Tony's lips. Tony's mind was so overcome with love, lust, and passion that it took a moment for him to register that Steve was kissing him.

"Tell me when it hurts and I'll stop immediately." Steve promised. "And if it's too much right now, we don't have to-

"Steve, if you don't fuck me right now there's going to be a very angry billionaire in the building. You wouldn't like that would you?" Tony asked, his bright eyes shining in the dim light, his arc reactor flashed orange as his excitement grew in parameter.

Steve moaned, mashing their lips together and positioning himself so he was properly aligned with Tony's entrance. He pushed in slowly, the tight heat going to his head and all he wanted to do was thrust in with reckless abandon, but he had enough self-control and discipline to restrain himself.

"Ah, shit, not so fast. Give me a sec." Tony breathed out, Steve was bigger than he'd originally given him credit for, that, and the fact that he had never done this before. Steve stopped immediately, he looked for any signs of great discomfort in Tony's face but Tony kept his eyes sealed shut.

"Okay, you can proceed." Tony granted Steve the ability to continue, this time he went even slower, which Tony couldn't tell if it hurt or helped his case. Tony took deep breaths and tried his hardest to relax his tense muscles. Hopefully in the future, this process won't take as long.

After a couple of minutes Steve was sheathed at the hilt, he waited for Tony to adjust to his size, he couldn't help but rut once or twice against that smoldering heat; the waiting was like smelling the wine but never tasting it.

Tony was (surprisingly) the first to move, his hips gave the indication and Steve obliged, leaving them both breathless as they started moving in unison.

The tempo was slow at first, like the beginning of a symphony each key stroke gaining momentum with each second that passed by. But like a symphony with an increasing BPM, their lovemaking reached a rhythm equitable to the pounding of drums.

They kissed, Steve bit Tony's lower lip and as Tony gasped Steve shoved his tongue deep into that warm, wet cave. Their desire elevated in stages until finally they reached the summit.

Tony was never truly a vocal person in bed when he'd been with other partners, that required trust and a little bit of embarrassment. But with Steve… it was different. Every thought, every emotion, and every sensation – he would vocalize, and it left him feeling vulnerable but at the same time protected, knowing that Steve would never tease him for being so open and honest.

Though they weren't under two moons in the middle of a storm covered in mud, Tony still felt as if their passion could be felt underneath the earth. Climaxing felt like the heavens had opened up and rained blessings on both their heads. By the end of it they were both gasping for breath, sweating, and quaking from the aftershocks of such a powerful orgasm.

"So you mean to tell me you've never done this before?" Tony asked breathlessly. He looked up at Steve's glowing face and smiled at him.

"Never, was it bad?" Steve asked a bit scared.

"Oh yeah, terrible." Tony pulled his head down for a post-coital kiss. Better than any whiskey that ever existed in the face of this earth.

"I'm sorry." Steve said which contradicted the huge grin on his face.

"You should be, after all the things I taught you!" Tony chided lovingly.

Steve moved over to his side of the bed and Tony snuggled closely to his side.

"So… my father?" Tony was avoiding the larger question, for now at least, and Steve new it too, but he entertained Tony's question regardless.

"Oh, one night, after we'd won one of the battles we had a celebratory drink." Steve started looking up at the ceiling and trying to remember the exact details. "Howard had had one too many drinks."

"As usual."

"And late that night I found him in my bunk-

"Oh god."

"-naked-"

"-are you fucking serious?!"

"Let me finish!" Tony made a zipping motion on his lips with his free hand. "Thank you, as I was saying, Howard made some pretty lewd suggestions, which I didn't gratify. I had to wrap him up in some blankets and carry him to his bedroom. I think he was disappointed. I don't think he remembered much the next day, but he did seem a bit embarrassed around me for the following week." Steve finished.

"Huh, I'm not quite sure how I feel about that, I guess I should say 'like father, like son.'" Tony replied.

They stayed silent for a little while, the muted noise of the city washed over them like a calming wave. It took great courage, but finally Tony was able to speak.

"Do you think it worked?" Tony whispered while simultaneously tracing a pattern on Steve's chest. "Only one way to find out…" Steve said, his heart beating irregularly at the prospect of it not working.

They lay there for a couple more minutes before lifting their latched hands. They both shook the tiny tremors visible in the dim light. An invisible hand closed around both their throats as the anxiety overtook their system.

Slowly, they pulled their arms apart.

Loki was having a pleasant dream, it was one where he flew on the back of a beast the size of an ocean; unrealistic, yes, but dreams seldom made sense. It was a peaceful dream, something he hadn't had in years (or at least it seemed that way).

Suddenly, a huge shockwave coursed through his system and he jolted awake. At first, he though Thor had placed some mean trick on his body but Thor was fast asleep at his side, slowly waking up to find out what was wrong with Loki.

Then it dawned on Loki what the shock meant.

"Brother, are you quite alright?" Thor asked pulling Loki close against his chest.

"Am I quite alright?! They've done it; by Odin they've done it!" Loki exclaimed giving Thor one big kiss.

"Done what? Who has done what?" Thor asked perplexed.

"They've done it!" Loki exclaimed again, he shook his head and dropped his head upon the pillow contentedly.

"I take it they've done it." Thor stated, still confused as to who 'they' were.

"Yes, they've finally done it." Loki said again.

Tony remembered the first time his hand was free, the panic and cold dread he had felt that day made him cringe and shudder at the thought. But now, now that he could freely look at his hand again, the only thing overtaking him was the sense of accomplishment and undeniable happiness. Steve was still in shock, he looked at both his hands as if he hadn't seen them alone at all. It was a lot to take in in one session.

"We did it." Tony said silently. He rubbed his hands together trying to shake the feeling of nakedness that overtook him.

"Yeah, we did." Steve had the same feeling, after sharing an arm for so long… it felt like something was missing.

"Hey, would you look at that. It's Christmas." Tony said looking at the clock to his left. "Merry Christmas."

Steve shook his head and grabbed both of Tony's hands into his. He kissed them adoringly, sending small shivers straight through the genius's spine.

"I love you." Steve said.

"I think you've proven that already." Tony said wittily. He looked up into those big baby blues and smiled. "I love you too by the way, if you hadn't noticed."

Steve laughed at that, bringing Tony in for a large and proper hug. They went to sleep like that, wrapped up in each other's arms.

The next morning the other Avengers sat around the round table and had their breakfast, they spoke about what they would do on this Christmas morning. They looked up momentarily as Tony and Steve walked into the room and grabbed their plates. They continued their talk, all except for Loki who looked confused at the two still latched individuals.

He could have sworn that they had separated last night!

Steve and Tony walked towards the table and sat down grabbing some food and eating. Loki tried to catch Tony's eye and when he finally did silently asked him what was going on.

The sides of Tony's mouth quirked up a little bit as he looked away from Loki and to Steve.

"Hey, can you get me a cup of coffee – black, two sugars." Tony asked Steve silently. He nodded and got up to get the coffee. Everyone and their mother fell silent as Steve went to prepare the coffee; they were still silent when he returned and placed the mug in front of Tony.

"What?" He asked feigning confusion.

"You naughty dogs, I know what you two were up to last night!" Clint exclaimed prompting the others to cheer, laugh, and congratulate.

"Oh, like you guys didn't know we would do it eventually." Tony said as his comrades embraced them both. Loki shook his head but smiled alongside the rest.

"So did you pitch or catch?" Bruce asked Tony, a revenge of sorts for a conversation they had earlier.

"I'm not saying anything!" Tony defended, his cheeks turning red.

"Ah! He caught!" Clint teased, the others laughing at Tony's expense.

"Stop, the imagery, no." Natasha said, shaking her head to clear the pictures. Thor and Loki still looked confused and Steve finally caught the meaning behind the baseball references.

"Congrats to you both, really, we're all truly happy." Pepper said sincerely.

"Thank you Pepper, it means a lot to us." Steve said giving her a small smile.

"Yeah, yeah, Steve got laid, whatever. Does anyone know what day it is?!" Tony asked the people around the table.

"The 25th?" Thor answered warily.

"Exactly! Christmas! And do I have a surprise for you-

Tony was interrupted by the sound of the alarm going off.

"-and that was not one of them." Tony finished. Steve and Tony had gotten so used to staying behind that as the others got up they stayed put, half a pancake was in Tony's mouth before he looked up at his teammates. "What?"

"Are you just gonna sit there and eat, or are you gonna suit up and come with us?" Clint asked sarcastically.

"Oh, right." Steve and Tony said in unison.

The others shook their respective heads and ran off to suit up.

"Ready for this?" Tony asked as he ran into the lab and pulled out the Iron Man suit from its hole-in-the-wall.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Steve said picking up his shield and pulling on his suit.

"Here." Tony gave Steve a small peck before pulling down his faceplate. "For good luck."

Being back in battle was like riding a bike. You never truly forgot.

And damn if it didn't feel good to pedal again!

Epilogue

A couple of months later

"You know, after all this time I really didn't mind being latched to you." Tony said absentmindedly.

Steve and Tony were currently in the living room lying on the couch. Steve was watching a movie and Tony was on his tablet. Loki sat in the recliner and raised his eyebrow.

"Oh really? Even after all the times you complained about no privacy." Steve retorted.

"Apart from that, I enjoyed it. I really wouldn't mind if we were latched forever." Tony said lacing their fingers together.

"Mmhm, I'm sure you'd appreciate that a lot." Steve said rolling his eyes. "What's with the nostalgia all of a sudden?"

"I don't know, feeling reminiscent I guess." Tony replied.

"I may have to agree with Mr. Rogers on this one. 'I'm sure you'd appreciate that a lot.'" Loki interjected with a small smile. He got up and walked away.

"What does he mean by that?" Tony said trying to remove his hand from Steve's and return to his work, but found it quite impossible. "LOKI!"

Steve chuckled and ran his fingers through Tony's hair. "At least we know what to do about it now." He said to the disgruntled man lying on top of him.

Tony sighed and pushed his head against Steve's chest and looked up into his eyes. "I guess we do." A large smile blossomed on his face and he shared a small kiss before returning to his tablet.

The End.

…For now. :)

Last words, oh dear… it's done, it is TRULY done. Latch, a small project I started almost two years ago, is DONE. Rejoice with me!

Okay, so I have a couple of people to acknowledge, my best friend (you know who you are) who helped me brainstorm through the rough patches and provided words of encouragement when I beat myself up over horrible writing, the wonderful people at Marvel for giving me something to write about, if it weren't for their awesomeness what would this story even be about? And last, but definitely not least, you guys. Every single one of you who stuck by and read even though I know you had better things to do. The ones who reviewed those pulchritudinous words of praise and thanks, it gives me immense pleasure and an inflated ego sometimes but I really couldn't have done it without you guys. Also to the silent reviewers who never write anything, I know you guys still care enough to read and fav/follow. (Trust me; I know how hard it is to send a review.) So yeah, no words I write will be able to express how much I care for you guys, so thank you. A million times thanks.

*This one's for you best-friend! ;)