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Cold Sacrifice - Chapter 1

The arctic. Why did it have to be the arctic?

Bodies are laying everywhere. Some familiar faces and some complete strangers, but there are mounds of them. Steve sees men from his unit that are standing in front of him. He tries to run to them, but they're all shot down, ripped limb from limb, or just disintegrated by the ruthless Hydra weapons before he reaches them.

Everyone is gone. Steve falls to his knees in grief as darkness and cold surround him. There are no bodies anymore. No light. No sound. There's only the fear and panic rising in his chest as he feels himself sinking deeper and deeper. His body is frozen, not able to move at all and his he cries out for help, but no sound comes. He's powerless to stop his fate and there's no one there to save him.

Even through the darkness, his senses tell him that his world is spinning until his vision lands on a small circle of light that is distorted by ripples and waves as it breaks through the blackness. He wants so badly to return to the sun and it's warmth, back up to the surface, to life, but it starts to drift farther and farther away as Steve is struggling to return to it. Despite his fighting, he's only dragged further and further down and away from the surface.

"Rogers!" Someone shouts his name and shatters the cold abyss surrounding him only a second earlier.

"Wha?" Steve asks, startling him out of his waking nightmare. He shifts his gaze from the window of the Quinjet to Tony who is sitting next to him in the pilot's seat.

"I said, 'Why so quiet, shrinking violet?'" Tony asks with a raised brow. Steve looks confused. "What's wrong?" he asks more directly, clearly seeing that his witty rhyming comment is totally wasted on Steve.

"Nothing," Steve says simply, returning his eyes to the window and the flurries of snow.

"Well that was super convincing," Tony says sarcastically. "You know, you can keep up the one word answers, but you and I both know that there's something bothering you. And you know that I can keep this conversation going even without your assistance. Maybe you've got a bad case of indigestion? Does Captain America get indigestion? You know we have modern medicine now that takes care of things like that. The doctors don't use things like leeches and saws anymore to treat people. But I am pretty sure that Captain America doesn't get sick, so it must be something else. Girl problems? No, you'd have to have a girl to have girl problems. Financial concerns? You know I can help you with that, since I'm a billionaire and all. If you need a buck or two Steve, I am there for you. Except that you don't care about material possessions and you live in my house, so you obviously have no housing problems."

"Tony!" Steve groans and leans his head back against the seat while he runs his hands down his face, no longer able to ignore the man's obnoxious one-sided conversation.

"Are you nervous about the mission?"

"No" Steve sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, fighting off a Tony-induced headache.

"You haven't said a word since we left the Helicarrier."

"Not everyone talks as much as you do, Tony. Some people like quiet."

"And that is why the world needs Tony Stark. I make life interesting." Tony smiles. Steve stares at Tony for a moment and goes back to staring out the window. "Hey," Tony starts again. "Listen, this Zemo character has got nothing on us. I know he was some big baddie back in your day, but he doesn't stand a chance against the Avengers. We're going to go over there, kick ass and take names, and throw his hooded face in a SHIELD cell for good."

"That's not it and it's not going to be that easy," Steve warns. "I've fought this guy before, Tony. He's ruthless, dangerous, and pure evil. There is no hesitation, no mercy, no second thought with him. He won't hesitate to destroy everything if it gets him what he wants. He murdered his own people in his selfishness back in the war."

"It is that easy, Steve." Tony says with his usual confidence. "Any kind of tech or weapons this guy has, he's got nothing on me. Plus we've got a thunder god, 2 master assassins, a giant green rage monster and Captain America."

"Captain America may not be enough with this one," Steve says, his eyes distant again. "He's not been enough more than once in the past with this monster."

"Well, he was going at it without the Avengers the last time," Tony replies and puts a fist on his hip, smiles a cocky smile, and sticks his chest out in a display of manly bravado while still piloting the ship. Steve stares at him blankly with an eyebrow raised, clearly not in the mood to deal with Tony's usual antics. "Are you sure that's all that's bothering you right now Captain Uptight? You're even more humorless than usual today."

"I'm not bothered, Tony." Steve snaps back, obviously annoyed. "I'm just thinking."

"About the ice?" Tony's remark is blunt and to the point, as usual.

Steve shoots Tony a surprised and slightly hurt look. Tony was a goof, but he had gotten to know Steve and his subtle tells and he wasn't afraid to call him out.

"You and Clint aren't the only ones who reads files. I was there when we pulled you out of the ice. I've read your psych evals and it doesn't take a professional psychiatrist to know that the ice still gets to you."

"It's not a big deal. I've got it under control," Steve says and Tony is trying to decide if he's trying to convince him or himself.

Steve is very thankful that the rest of the flight is done in silence. They're getting ready to land a short way from the coordinates that SHIELD's intel had said Zemo was hiding out and possibly starting to create weapons for his war. The cloaked jet lands and the back hatch of the jet opens. Instantly, a bitterly cold wind and snow rush in and steals away every drop of warmth in the Quinjet.

Steve's body instantly tenses and shivers as soon as the unforgiving, cold air hits him. Steve does his usual man-up-and-deal-with-it routine and tries to gather his thoughts.

Since Thor, Tony, and Hulk aren't exactly stealthy, Steve, Clint and Natasha make their way toward the base to try to scout out the terrain. After what feels like an eternity of walking in the thigh deep snow through the dense forest, they find the compound. It is nearly impossible to see through the blowing snow and wind. The three Avengers drop to a knee and try to get a plan together.

"Lots of patrols down there," Clint frowns as he scopes out the facility with his binoculars. "Not much cover either. It's going to be damn near impossible to get in there unnoticed."

"Difficult, but not impossible," Steve stands. "I can get in."

Clint and Natasha agree to wait while Steve goes in on a scouting mission. Once Steve is down the hill, he makes his way through the trees and stealthily heads toward the compound, careful to avoid the eyes of the patrolling soldiers. He silently and skillfully ducks, rolls and runs between buildings and jeeps and stacks of wooden crates to get closer and closer to the heart of the compound.

He spots a building that a large group of soldiers are going into with at least sixty people in chains. The prisoners are thin and poorly clothed against the harsh weather. One of the guards shoves the butt of his rifle into the back of one of the men that he thought was moving too slowly. Judging by the bruises and cuts on the other prisoners, this isn't the first act of violence committed against these people.

Steve's mission is supposed to be to gather intel and return to his team, but harming defenseless people is something that he can't and won't ignore. He focuses his anger and quickly makes his way over to the building. The extreme cold is beginning to soak through his suit and he can feel it starting to touch his skin. He shivers and pushes back the memories of the cold ocean creeping up in his mind. He pulls off his shield and holds it at the ready, preparing for a fight.

Steve cautiously enters the building and walks into the dark room. Ahead of him is a large window and two guards are sitting in seats looking at something beyond the glass. With one swift move, Steve slams his shield into the first soldier, immediately sending the man to the floor. The second quickly stands and charges, but a lightning fast right hook makes short work of him.

With the two soldiers down, Steve peers through the window and nearly drops his jaw at what he sees. There are a dozen prisoners in four separate, clear, glass chambers and the rest are lined up against a wall with a row of guns trained on them. Zemo is pacing arrogantly behind his line of soldiers. The warehouse is huge, at least the size of two football fields and there are wooden crates everywhere. Steve presses a comm-link button on the control panel in front of him so he can hear what he's saying.

"….and sacrifices must be made for a greater good," Zemo's voice comes through the speaker in the observation room, still as cruel and heartless as it was 70 years ago. "You have the honor of making that sacrifice today. Your deaths will help push our vision forward by helping us test our new weapons that will be used against our enemies. These weapons have been painstakingly developed by our scientists to take down our number one threat. The man who stands between us and victory!"

Zemo gives a soldier near the clear chambers a nod and instantly a thick, red gas fills the space. The people inside instantly collapse into heaps on the floor. Steve can't believe how potent the substance is to kill that quickly. Zemo raises his hand as the soldiers take aim at the remaining prisoners. Steve acts out of anger and instinct and crashes through the window, landing gracefully to the floor below.

The soldiers and Zemo instantly bring their stare to the Super Soldier with shock and surprise on their faces. Steve throws his shield down the line of soldiers, knocking the weapons out of half of the soldier's hands. The shield ricochets off of a wall and Steve catches it as he sprints towards the enemy. He jumps and launches himself into the line of enemy soldiers and knocks three of them down.

The hostages instantly scatter, trying to find cover and a way of escape. Zemo's men instantly swarm him and he throws calculated punch after punch and his shield is ringing as it makes contact with it's targets. Captain America dodges and blocks each feeble attack that the enemy throws at him. He makes short work of the firing line, but is suddenly knocked back into a wall by an unseen force. His left arm is burning and he looks down to see that a large portion of his sleeve on his upper arm is gone and his skin is a mixture of red and black with blisters popping up throughout the wound. He struggles to his feet and turns to see what hit him. Zemo is standing in front of him with a large gun with smoke slowly rising from the barrel.

"Welcome Captain," Zemo says from behind the gun, his eyes twinkling through his hood, cruel and twisted. "I was not expecting you so soon, but it matters little. I am so glad that you have decided to bring yourself to me instead of me having to lure you here. What do you think of my new weapons. Affective, are they not?" He nods over to the bodies in the chambers.

"What are you planning, Zemo," Steve yells as he stands to his full height, shield ready. "What kind of sick plan has you killing helpless hostages?" Steve's voice is full of fury. There's little else that makes him angrier than killing innocents.

"Oh, Captain," Zemo smirks. "This is all for you." He lifts his one arm up to gesture at the large warehouse and crates that are undoubtedly filled with more weapons while keeping the other arm on the gun trained on Steve. "All of this just to help me develop weapons to take care of you; the perpetual thorn in my side, but I had to test them to make sure that they are as deadly as my scientists say they are. If they are able to inflict half the devastation they bring to a normal human to a super soldier, I will be very pleased. Based on the lovely state of your arm, I think that I have a success on my hands. But don't worry, Captain. I don't want you dead. Yet. Just a little more cooperative."

Zemo grabs a device off of his belt and throws it at the soldier. Steve raises his shield in defense when it bursts into the red gas that was in the chambers of the prisoners. Steve coughs and falls to his knees. The room is spinning as he tries to catch his breath. His vision is blurring and darkness starts to creep into the edges of his sight. Zemo stands over him, obviously pleased.

"Not even you can metabolize my knock out gas fast enough to fully block its effects," He laughs. "As I am sure you saw, it is rather potent and kills those who aren't super soldiers quite quickly, but with you it should be just enough to keep you down until I can harvest what I need from you to create my own super soldier army!"

Steve vaguely hears a wall crumble across the other side of the vast warehouse as the Hulk stomps in. With a mighty clap of his hands he sends soldiers flying back. The force of the attack also dissipates the residual knock out gas surrounding Steve and fresh air is finally brought into his lungs. Clint and Natasha are in next, arrows and bullets fly into the air as the soldiers scatter to find cover.

"We got tired of waiting for you, Rogers," Clint says over the communicator. "Decided we would invite ourselves in."

"Glad you decided to crash the party," Steve coughs.

Zemo is angry. Steve can tell and that brings a smile to his face. He ignores the tilting floor and the overwhelming urge to just lay down and sleep and drives his shoulder into Zemo as hard as he can, tackling him to the ground. Zemo quickly recovers and kicks the Super Soldier back. He picks himself up and draws his sword. Steve skids back and raises his shield. Zemo rushes him and strikes the shield, sending a ringing through the room. Steve drops to a knee as he struggles to hold the shield up against the force of the strike. His reaction time has been slowed and his strength is wavering from the gas. He knows he needs to finish this quickly, but before he can make a move, Zemo pulls his sword from the shield and takes a swipe at Steve and he barely avoids the blade.

Lightning streaks from the sky and sends Zemo flying back, breaking off the unrelenting attack. Steve looks up to see Thor flying past over head and landing roughly into a large group of enemy soldiers across the room.

Iron Man blasts into the building through the ceiling, repulsers firing, missiles shooting. Tony is always good for a flashy entrance whenever possible. Zemo sees that he is being over run and that his odds of winning this battle are clearly declining.

"You have made powerful friends, Captain. I was hoping to capture you today, but clearly I am being denied of my desire and, yet again, it is because of you."

"Always happy to be of help," Captain America smiles. Zemo suddenly smiles back and makes a mad dash back to the door to the observation room. Something isn't right. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a flashing red light shining through a gap in the panels of one of the wooden crates. Steve wills himself to stand and brings his hand up to his communicator in his ear.

"Clear out!" He orders. "Everyone, get out of the building. Now!" The Avengers stop what they are doing and look in Captain America's direction. "Hawkeye, Widow, gather up as many of the hostages you can and get them out of here. Call SHIELD for back up and emergency evac for the hostages! Thor, give him some cover. Hulk, clear the way for them! Iron Man, give them some air support!"

"What about you?" Iron Man yells over the noise.

"I'm going after Zemo."

Zemo has made his way toward the door through all the chaos. His hand reaches for the latch when a blur of red, white, and blue flies into the handle, shattering it. Zemo turns and sees Captain America running at him as he catches his shield. The Soldier throws a punch at Zemo's face, but he ducks and the hit misses it's mark. Zemo draws his sword and the two circle each other, each on their guard.

"You know, Captain," Zemo starts as he holds his sword up and points it at him. "I am getting tired of you constantly standing in my way. I think I am going to have to do something drastic to take care of this little problem between us."

"You can keep trying, but be sure to bring your worst, Zemo," Steve glares. "Because I'll be here. I'll always be here to stand between you and the people you mean to harm for your own selfish motives."

"See, that is why I simply can't allow you to live any longer, Captain," Zemo pulls out a gun and fires at Captain America, but the bullets are no match against his shield. Steve lowers his shield and prepares to attack, but is caught off guard when Zemo charges at him. His sword swings and Steve jumps back to dodge the sword again, but this time he knocked off balance and Zemo jumps and knocks him back onto a large metal grate on the floor. Steve lands roughly on his back and before he can recover Zemo is on him as he drives his sword into his shoulder. Steve cries out as Zemo drives it deeper still. He ignores the burning in his shoulder and kicks Zemo off of him, but he's pinned by the sword that was driven deep into metal grating under him. Zemo circles him with an evil smirk.

"You see Captain," He smiles and plants his boot in the middle of Steve's chest and leans over the injured Soldier. "I am determined to get what I want and you, unfortunately, are in my way. So, that means that you must be destroyed. That shoulder might heal quickly with your super solder serum, but the poison the blade was dipped in will not be so easy to bounce back from."

Steve tries to pull himself up from the grate, but winces in pain as the sword pulls on his shoulder and Zemo presses harder with his boot to pin him down.

"But just in case you somehow survive my poison, I will give myself a little insurance." The hooded man drives a direct punch into Steve's ribs and the wind is knocked out of him. Steve can hear Tony yelling something at him in the background. Everything is seems like it's in slow motion and the noise and chaos sound dull and muffled. Zemo looms over him as Steve struggles not to pass out, but cries out when a sharp pain hits his lower left side as a dagger is shoved into his flank.

"Your constant meddling and the unforgivable crime you committed against me in Germany all those years ago must be punished, Captain," Zemo growls and twist the blade. "Are you prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice yet again?" Steve looks up with half-lidded eyes to see the barrel of a gun pointed in his face when a blur of red and gold flies past and Zemo is thrown through a door. Iron Man lands in a three-point stance that shakes the ground between Steve and Zemo.

"Iron Man," Zemo hisses with a smirk on his face. "You were not invited. This is a private affair between the Captain and I."

"Sorry, I decided to crash the party," He says and slowly stands from his landing. "Normally I require a two week advance notice to show up at an event, so you should be thanking me really."

"Here," Zemo says and takes a step forward. "Allow me to give you a parting gift for your generosity." Zemo hits a button on a remote he pulls from his belt. Boxes throughout the warehouse begin to explode and Zemo disappears through the broken door with an evil laugh to make a clean escape. Tony considers going after the man, but another box blows, blocking his path. Instead, he quickly rushes over to Steve.

"Hey. You still with me?" Tony asks as he studies the sword sticking out of Steve's shoulder.

"Not getting rid of me that easily," Steve replies through ragged breathing. Tony grabs hold of the sword and Steve inhales sharply. "This is going to hurt. A lot," Tony warns as he grasps the hilt of the sword. "Are you ready?" Steve closes his eyes, grits his teeth and nods. With one swift motion, Iron Man pulls the sword out of Steve's shoulder as a rush of blood starts to flow out. Steve yells through clinched teeth and breathes in sharp breaths as his head fall back against the grate.

"So does this mean that I'm king of Camelot now?" Tony asks, throwing the sword aside and pressing down hard on Steve's shoulder.

"Ugh, try to be funny later when I'm not hemorrhaging," Steve groans.

"Try to be funny?" Tony frowns with a mock-hurt look. "I'm always funny."

"That is debatable," Steve pants.

More boxes explode, interrupting their banter. Fire is spreading through the warehouse. A hanging catwalk has a few of its supports blown by one of the explosions. The burning mass of metal threatens to fall, crushing the Avengers below who are leading the hostages out as they fight through the army of soldiers that have flooded the building. The fire is advancing toward them and the enemy is not letting up. Thor is fighting to keep the relentless wave of enemy soldiers at bay. Clint and Natasha are protecting the hostages from the constant attack that is pinning them against a wall. Hulk is a couple hundred yards away trying to keep a large tank from advancing toward the group as he pushes it back and bends the barrel of the tank.

"Tony," Steve groans as he struggles to his feet. "Go."

"No way. You need medical and I'm not letting you pull some "self-sacrificing" bullshit right now."

"I can walk. I'll be right behind you. You need to help them or they're going to be crushed. Now Go!" Steve orders.

Tony reluctantly blasts across the building and catches the catwalk before it falls on the hostages. He turns back to see if he can see Steve across the warehouse. Another explosion rocks the building as a corner of the building goes up in smoke. Hulk tries to block the people and Avengers from the flying debris as he continues to hold the tank at bay. A large piece of concrete hits Iron Man and knocks him down to the floor. The catwalk rains down metal debris from above as both Avengers and hostages try to avoid the metal chunks. To make matters worse, fire is quickly spreading through the wooden crates in the building, setting off multiple smaller explosions.

"Hulk!" Clint yells as he fires his last arrow and pulls out a pair of daggers from behind his back. "Quit messing around with that thing and finish it. We need a door over here!"

Hulk strains as he starts to lift the tank off of it's treads and flips it on its back in a final push of strength. The green rage monster roars and makes his way back to his teammates and obliges Clint with a door as he punches out a large hole in the back wall. The hostages start to flood out and the remaining Avengers continue to hold off the attack to cover their escape.

Tony has made his way out from under a pile of rusted, burned metal and tries to gather his bearings. He spots Steve about 150 yards away struggling to make his way back toward his team when another explosion rocks the building, knocking Steve off of his feet and onto his knees.

"Get everyone out of here, Iron Man," Steve's strained voice comes over the comm-link. "This place is going up, keep them covered as they're exiting the building."

"We're not leaving without you, Rogers," Tony yells back.

"I'm on my way out. Keep your focus on the hostages. We don't know if there are more soldiers out there waiting for them!" Steve demands. "They're sitting ducks out there!"

Tony lets out a frustrated sigh as he blasts out of the building where hostages are scattering from a small group of armed soldiers. He fires missiles and repulser beams at the soldiers, trying to cover the escape of the people as much as possible.

"Avengers," Tony comes over the communicator. "We need crowd control out here. Our people are getting vaporized!"

Clint and Natasha exit out the building and start gathering the hostages again and leading them to the cover of the tree line. Iron Man keeps the soldiers off their backs and continues to fire. Hulk, after finishing off the remaining army in the warehouse, finally jumps on the scene and starts doing what he does best; smashing. Thor is by his side, taking out soldier after soldier. The other Avengers have the situation under control and Tony returns to the burning building to help Captain America. He blasts in from the ceiling and the fire and smoke have intensified. The warehouse if foggy with smoke and the heat is severe.

"JARVIS, where's Captain America?"

"Approximately 40 yards behind you sir," the AI informs. Tony quickly turns and sees Steve stumbling through the smoke with his injured arm held tightly to his chest.

"Steve," He yells as he flies over.

"Did we get everyone out? Where's the rest of the team?" Steve coughs through the overwhelming smoke.

"They're all outside and we've gathered as many of the hostages as we could find. Let's get out of here before this whole place goes up."

As they are about to blast out of the burning building, another blast knocks them off their feet. Iron Man takes the brunt of the blast as he shields Steve. They both fly back into a nearby wall. Iron Man pulls himself up and grabs Steve up off of the floor. Tony tries to fire the suit's thrusters, but nothing happens.

"JARVIS," Tony yells.

"Sir, the thrusters and multiple internal systems were damaged by the last blast"

"Great," Tony grunts. "Come on Cap, we need to haul ass here."

"Tony, look out!" Steve warns as a huge heating duct comes crashing down from the ceiling. Steve pushes Tony out of the way and raises his shield to block the huge structure as it crashes down on him.

"Steve!" Tony yells, picking himself up off the floor. He rushes over and starts digging through the burning debris. "Dammit, Steve. Where the hell are you?" Tony lifts a large chunk of metal duct work and throws it aside and catches a glimpse of red, white, and blue peeking out from under the metal debris. He digs deeper and finds Steve knocked out, but alive thanks to his shield. "Come on, Spangles. We need to get out of here." He throws Steve over his shoulder and the two run for the exit. They make it outside just as the building goes completely up in smoke and fire.

Outside the air is frigid and windy. The other Avengers have made it to the tree line and the hostages are being loaded into the awaiting Quinjets that were called in for evac.

Another huge explosion rocks the ground and the building is demolished. The blast throws the two Avengers forward into the snow. Tony groggily looks over to his right and sees Steve with his face laying in the snow. As he comes to his senses, Tony pulls himself up to his knees and cringes when he hears a crack in the ground under him. Another loud crack and the ground under the two men shakes.

"You've got to be kidding me," Tony grumbles. He grabs Steve up again as the now semi-conscious soldier groans. "God, Steve," Tony shouts when he sees the hilt of the dagger sticking out of his side. "You got yourself stabbed twice?"

"It's been bad day," Steve mumbles and starts to pass out again.

"Don't give up on me now, Soldier! We need to move it! Now!" Tony pulls Steve up and starts to go as fast as he can with the lethargic Soldier.

The two run across the ice to the other Avengers as the ground beneath them starts to fall away, revealing the large underground ice cave that the compound was unknowingly built on top of. The intense heat and the force of the explosion has destabilized the roof of the cave. The other Avengers realize what's happening and Thor quickly swings Mjolnir and flies toward the two men, but before he can reach his teammates, the ground breaks open and they disappear into the ice cave below.

"No!" Thor yells as he reaches out to Tony, but misses by inches. He watches helplessly as the two men fall into an under ground river flowing through the ice cave. He tries to dive down to grab them as they are swept down river, but he's blocked by falling debris and ice.

Steve and Tony hit the freezing cold water and are swept down stream. Tony struggles to keep himself above water and he's lost track of Steve.

"Cap? Cap! Steve!" Tony shouts and scans the rushing river for any sign of the Soldier. The river is flowing swiftly and he is dodging small spikes of ice jutting up out of the water. He tries to make it to the edge, but the water is too fast.

He finally spots Steve ahead of him, fighting to stay afloat against the current sweeping him under. Suddenly, Steve is gone and Tony sees why; a huge water fall is coming up faster than he can escape. He flows over the edge and free falls into the pool of water below. Tony frantically swims back to the surface and searches for Steve.

"Steve!" Tony shouts as he struggles to tread water in his armor. "Damn it, Steve! Where the hell are you?"

After a few tense moments of searching, his eyes catch sight of red in the crystal clear, blue water. He follows the red trail and finds the other man barely hanging on to a chunk of debris floating in the gentle water.

"Steve!" he calls and quickly swims over to his side, but there's no response.

Steve had managed to pull himself half way out of the water onto the debris and the rest of his body drifts in the icy water. The dagger is still buried in his side and the wound on his shoulder continues to bleed into the water. His head is tipped to the side and his arms are flung up over his head. He's water logged and his breathing is ragged and short as his body shivers.

"Hey, Spangles," Tony finally makes it to Steve and throws a couple fingers over Steve's pulse point under his jaw. "Steve, wake up. Come on, rise and shine, Soldier." The Billionaire shakes Steve's lifeless form to try to bring him to his senses. Steve's face scrunches and moans softly as he starts to come around. "Thank God," Tony sighs.

"Really bad day," Steve mumbles, never lifting his head from the debris or opening his eyes.

"Tell me about it," Tony smirks, relieved that Steve hasn't lost his sarcasm. "You going to help me swim across this long-ass lake? Steve?"

"Mm-hmm," Steve hums, but makes no attempt to move.

"Alright, lets go, Cap," Tony grabs onto the debris and starts to swim the distance to the edge of the lake. Half-way across, the injured Super Soldier starts to slip off his small life raft in the drift of the water. "Whoa, whoa, easy. I've gotcha," Tony catches and holds onto the unconscious Avenger and swims them both to the shore. He pulls Steve's drenched and battered body from the icy water and they both collapse on the rocky shore.

Tony lays there for a moment, trying to catch his breath as he stares at the ceiling of the cave. It's full of giant icicles and has an amazing range of deep blue shades. It would have been beautiful if it were not for their current predicament. He turns his head to check on the injured Captain America next to him, relieved to see the shaky, slow rise and fall of his chest.

"Okay, maybe that guy was tougher than I though," Tony admits to Steve. "Let's not throw around words like "wrong" or "I told you so" or anything like that. Instead, lets just lay here for a minute." No argument comes from Steve, and the two lay on the rocky beach for some time.