Notes

AN: Alright, to the inevitable Team Captain America fans that will read this: I don't agree with what happened, I see a pattern. Tony makes a mistake he's crucified, others 'make mistakes' it's all okay and that's not right. A woman who raped his mind and ultimatly had a hand in the creation of a murderbot and her brother's death is let on the team ect, ect. She volunteered for her enhancements, she's no child damn it. Being told to stay inside to keep her safe isn't being held a prisoner.
If you read this and choose to troll, well I'll address that at a later point. I've seen some despicable behavior on other fics.

On this story: I'm letting it direct itself. I set out with one idea, but it morphed. I'm also using it's wordcount for NaNoWriMo. Normally I write on my original works but this month I've been held hostage by this plot bunny, had a vacation, been sick and had a sick child. I'm behind so if I want to finish then the work I've done of this counts lol

This is a Cross-posting from my AO3 Account- ToxicAngel13. So if you see this don't freak out. Someone Hasn't stolen another one of my stories.

Now Onto The Story

Steve looked at the mad man who wore his face defiantly, as he crouched over a disabled and wounded Stark, protecting the other man with the very shield that had struck him down. Or at least a version of it anyways, seeing as there was a man wearing his face who had one of his own that he had been using to pummel Stark to death while he was flat on his back standing in front of him. He hadn't seen what started the fight, but he had arrived and saw enough to know that Stark wouldn't survive too many more hits like the ones he already taken. And damn it, Tony hadn't tried defending himself from what he could see- the other men involved in this fight were barely injured beyond a missing metal arm and cuts from flying debris. It was clear that the suites repulsors had been fired during the altercation, but they hadn't been used in a way that would harm the attackers in a serious way. One well placed shot from Tony's gauntlet would have ended the attack when it had began after all. It was obvious that while Tony had been fighting back, he hadn't wanted to truly hurt them. That made Steve wonder what the hell had instigated the fight- and curse the fact that Tony's attacker's hadn't had the same intentions of not killing the other man during the assault. They had to have done some major damage if they had gotten Tony prone on the ground and the other man wasn't making a move to get up now while he was providing some sort of distraction.

The crazed version of himself dropped his shield in shock as metal finished hitting metal- the loud noise echoing in the empty bunker in an accusing manner. Steve snorted at the abrupt stop, and took the chance to re-position himself so he could protect the fallen man better if he needed to. He didn't know what the hell was happening here, but he wouldn't let any version of his team mate be murdered by himself. This was a special kind of hell that he had found himself in considering how much he had mourned the loss of his Tony and he cursed Reed mentally, wondering just what kind of experiment the other man had been running. He found himself wishing he had listened to the other man a bit more before charging in blindly to stop the overloading experiment. The reality displaced man stiffened as Bucky shifted from his slumped spot, but instead of going to Rogers' side he joined Steve in front of Tony without a word- glaring at the other man is disapproval even. Rogers flinched at the sight of his friend defending the man from him.

"Fuck. That shield must have done some major damage. I'm seeing a Rogers' double and his bestie protecting me from himself. Gotta get my head fucking straight, considering he's trying to kill me. Wishful concussion hallucinations are all this is. Rogers' hasn't felt the fucking need to defend me in years, if ever. Can't think this is real, it'll only hurt me more when the truth of the hallucination comes out." Steve heard Tony mutter, his voice hoarse and broken sounding as he scolded himself for seeing someone protect him. He gripped his shield tighter, even as he watched a pained look pass over his now not so insane looking double's face. The man actually looked hurt by what he had heard, but Steve didn't believe it for a second, if the other man cared for Tony in any way, they would have never been in this position.

"Tony, I can tell your suits disabled, and heard possible head trauma mentioned in your muttering. What are the seriousness of your injuries, and can you call for a medical evacuation?" He asked the fallen man, deciding to ignore his double because he doubted anything sensible would come out of him after what he had stopped, and he hoped that Bucky would have his back if his double decided to attack again. There was worry clear in his voice, and he hoped that Tony could understand that it was real, not something his concussion was cooking up. Tony snorted, then groaned in pain. Steve heard the armor shift slightly as the other man tried curling in on himself.

"Definitely a hallucination, but my skull hasn't been crushed, so I'll take it. Okay, Steve the delusion, even though you should probably already know this since you're in my head. I'm pretty sure I'm concussed, as proven by your presence, suit is buckled in from direct blows to the chest area- it's disabled from the external arc reactor being crushed. I've got a couple broken ribs in the least from the blows to my chest, but since a lot of the force went to where my internal arc reactor used to be. I don't have high hopes for the false sternum that replaced it, if it's shattered then I'll need another reactor implanted again in the very least." Tony replied, his voice noticeable weaker, and there was a wheezing quality to it that spoke of lung damage. Steve couldn't help it, he looked back at the prone man with wide eyes. That kind of damage meant that he needed to get Tony to medical help as soon as he could, so wasting time with the double that had done his best to kill the broken man couldn't happen. His attention centered on Tony, dismissing his double completely- if he attacked he would put the other man down without any hesitation. And a small but vicious part of him hoped that happened, and that he'd be fighting with Bucky by his side because taking on both of them was a bad idea- as seen by Tony's state.

"Tony, babe. Your Emergency transponder has it's own power source right? And it's located in your upper right arm plating?" He asked, since the suit was disabled, so were communications, and that was the only alternate source of help the other man had. Not that he could reach it on his own with the suit locked up and without power. He was trying to keep his voice, and himself calm, but it wasn't working well. His Tony was gone, he hadn't been able to save him from what he had done to bring back half the universe. Steve couldn't watch another die, it would be enough to break the fragile will he had to keep fighting. Not when there was a chance of saving him.

"Another point to this being a figment of my blow addled brain, because there is no way Rogers knows that. You're correct Steve the delusion." Tony coughed, sounding resigned at the confirmation. Steve reached down as he finished speaking, and his fingers searched until he found the hidden switch. Once he felt it, he flipped it without hesitating, praying to god that someone who could help was nearby so they could get Tony someplace safe to start working on him. He didn't even care how he'd explain the fact that there were two of him right now. His head turned quickly as he heard movement. His other self had shifted, and was looking at Tony helplessly, like he couldn't believe what he was seeing or hearing. That was another point towards him being addled if there was need for it. The man couldn't expect everything to be fine with his victim after that attack.

"He attacked Bucky… I didn't mean…" His double muttered "We need to get Stark help as soon as we can." He spoke softly, sounding as broken as the man laying on the ground. Steve's eyes narrowed at the tone. There was no way in hell that this man was a victim, not after what he had done to his team mate. Whatever he tried to say, Steve knew even brainwashed Bucky could and would defend himself, so Rogers beating Tony to death because of an attack held no water. And if Tony had wanted to kill Bucky, then Bucky would have been dead plain and simple

"Help is on it's way Tones, you just hold on okay? God Rogers what the hell happened here? Tony is your damn team mate if things are like where I came from. Teammates don't kill each other. Period." Steve snarled in return to the weak defense after trying to reassure the fallen man that this wouldn't be his end. Tony groaned when Steve's double just looked at him in stunned silence.

"The accords… Roger's broke off from the Avenger's with the majority because of them, and that's not been well received. I came here to try and help and let him know what I was doing to fix the damn things, but he didn't want to listen to me. I found out Barnes killed my parents and lost my temper. I attacked Rogers when I found out he had known, Barnes jumped in to defend him and went for the reactor. I automatically blasted his artificial arm off. Captain didn't like that too much, but you should know that delusion." the down man explained tiredly. Steve felt his stomach drop. He remembered the Accords… but it hadn't gone this way back home. They had trusted Tony, listened to him and when he said he was going working on making them better because politics were the man's second nature. And god… Tony's parent's. He had told the other man about what Hydra had done the moment he had found out about it. His Tony had raged, but by the time he met Bucky he had understood the man had been used as a weapon, and the deaths were not his fault.

"You're a damn idiot. You broke up the Avenger's for something Tony could and is fixing from what he just said, I know he can do it, I've seen him do it. Without him working on them, the travesty that would have been pushed through would have hurt every enhanced and hero out there- don't you see that?! I'm not even going to try to understand what you were thinking in not telling him about his parent's and the fact that you expected him to be calm when he found out? That's about as insane as I think you are. No one would be calm when faced with the hands who killed their parents. But finding that out then having to defend himself and almost getting killed for his efforts… What kind of twisted hell did Reed's experiment dump me in?" He muttered, feeling sick to his stomach at the fact that any version of himself could be so wrong. Tony chocked at his statement, and Steve's eyes shot to him, worried that he'd chocked on something like blood and was in need of help.

"Reed. Reality.. Shit. You might not be a hallucination. Go figures though. Rogers actually likes me somewhere." Tony wheezed, looking devastated and Steve wanted to punch himself for making any version of Tony look like that. He knew what kind of childhood his Tony had with Howard, knew the minefield that his being defrosted had been to the old wounds his friend had carved in his child's mind. It was like this Rogers hadn't had the sense to shut up and look at what his old friend had done to his child while lost in his obsession to find him. Tony's pained groan broke the silence that had followed his declaration, his eyes landed on the man who had tried his best to kill him and a bitter smile passed over his lips.

"You might want to run. I did my damn best to make sure Ross had no idea I was coming to help, but that transponder sends an all hand on deck broadcast." He wheezed softly. Rogers looked at Bucky in alarm, before grabbing his remaining arm and trying to take him away. Steve watched his double in disbelief, not knowing how any version of himself could leave a team mate behind while he was this injured. Bucky wasn't moving though, his eyes locked on the prone man, guilt clear in the blue orbs. That was something Steve could compare to his own world, something familiar that he was glad to see wasn't changed by whatever force had decided to twist this world the way it had. Bucky never got over being used to hurt Tony, and he never took to Tony being hurt because of him well.

"We have to go right now Buck, there's no telling when someone is going to respond and we can't be here when that happens." Rogers growled, annoyed that his friend wasn't coming with him, Bucky grunted, standing firm and resisting moving from where he had positioned himself in from of Stark. Stevie may not be trying to kill Stark anymore, but they had done more then enough damage during their attack, and they needed to see this though. Abandoning the man that was lying broken and bleeding solved nothing, and actually made the former assassin sick to his stomach. If Stevie was willing to leave someone that he had called a friend with some supposed double of him while said friend was broken and bleeding then something in the other man had changed since they had been separated by the ice and Hydra. Maybe Stark wasn't the wrong side of this disagreement if this was how Stevie treated people now a days. Lying to them, using them… all in the name of his cause.

"You want to leave Stark alone with an unknown element in his state? With a version of yourself, who while could be from another reality could also be part of some plot to get Stark? Hydra would love to get their hands on him. I… the soldier has standing orders that if it ever became possible that taking Stark is a high enough priority to postpone a mission." Bucky hissed, sounding as disbelieving as Steve felt. Rogers looked like he was about to be sick at being called out on his willingness to abandon Tony with someone he didn't know, and the standing order if Steve read himself correctly. But that didn't change his mind, he tugged on his friend's arm again.

"I need to get you somewhere safe Bucky- can't you see that?. This guy… He knew where a fail safe was that even I had no idea about and how to activate it. Stark will be fine with him, but you won't be if they get their hands on you. Remember the kill order Sharon said was out? With how injured Stark is.. I don't think they will even stop to see if you're hostile or not before putting you down." He protested again, sounding desperate for Bucky to move so they could get out of here. The Winter Soldier snorted, looking at Steve. Once their eyes connected, he nodded once, seeming to find something that he was looking for in his gaze, and relaxing in Rogers grip.

"You get that Punk to safety, and you keep his ass alive Rogers. I knew he deserved a hit or two after what I've done, and I should have had more control then to go after his weak spot, but I haven't worked all of my kinks out yet and my response was more Winter then Barnes. He got rid of the weapon that was threatening his life, and I can't blame him, losing the arm don't harm me none. Wish Stevie would have seen that but seems like I've got to pull his head from his ass or something." Bucky grunted, sounding more like his version then Steve had expected from a Bucky fresh out of Hydra's hands. He remembered what his friend had gone though to shake the programming vividly still. And it seemed like he had a soft spot for Tony, just like the his other self if his order to care for the injured man was anything to judge by, he nodded at the other man and Bucky let himself be pulled from the room by his cowardly friend when he tugged on him this time.

Steve's attention went back to Tony as the two others left them behind to wait on their call for help to be answered. He set his shield down and looked over the prone man, who was staring at where Bucky had been standing in shocked confusion. Understandable since Tony had apparently taken his arm off, so the other man caring about him would be a shock. Smiling softly in an attempt to project a calmness that he didn't feel so Tony stayed calm himself while they waited, he touched Tony's cheek, drawing his attention back to him.

"You're going to be alright Tony. I'll make damn sure of it. Once transport is here, I'll make sure JARVIS has a reactor waiting at whatever medical facility they take us to." he promised, cursing his other self and whatever was going on in his head. Bucky had a reason to be messed up still, but Rogers had been in this time and unfrozen for years now. He should have had any issues from before the freeze shrinked and put away by now damn it. Or at least have them under control enough not to be the obsessive mess that he was now. Lord knows Steve had resisted Tony's suggestion for therapy for a little while, but it had helped him adjust to this time and losing his friends and family in the end. With how this reality was going so far, he wouldn't be surprised if his other self had been dismissing Tony's suggestions and holding onto the pre-freeze stubbornly and that was a cause for this mess.

He took the time where he wasn't on alert to an incoming attack from himself to visually take in the damage that was visible on Tony's body. The ruined reactor was caved inwards, making Steve sick to his stomach as he realized the damage that must be under there. Tony was right in his assessment, the false sternum was probably just as damaged as his suit was. The blows had hit that area at full force because Rogers hadn't been holding back in any way. Tony's face shuttered at the mention of JARVIS, and that made the blonde still in his look over, his stomach sinking at the implications there.

"It's not JARVIS anymore. Friday's my girl. JARVIS was destroyed by Ultron. Fucking Wanda and her mental fuckery. I thought I could protect them then and it went so wrong." Tony murmured, grief mingling with the pain. Steve clenched his fist. Tony had lost JARVIS- the one being that would always be there for him, and the majority of his team was as insane as Rogers. He was not liking the picture that was being painted of this reality. A Tony Stark without support, without his self built family was a recipe for self destruction in the very least. And he couldn't stand seeing Tony destroy himself any better then being killed- he would fix this somehow. He tucked a piece of almost frozen, blood caked hair away from the genius' face gently, needing Tony to understand that he wasn't in this alone.

"Friday then. I'll make sure she has the reactor waiting for us. You were an idiot here today babe, if someone, former friend or not, is trying their best to kill you, then you disable them before they get the chance to make good on their intentions. A well placed medium pulse would have done enough damage to stop him before he injured you this badly, and once his frenzy passed, it looks like Barnes would have stood down." He scolded, needing to do something to make sure the genius knew that this wasn't acceptable. After a moment, the reality displaced captain tore part of his suit off so he could wipe at the blood on the fallen man's face. Tony was staring at him with the same confused look he had given the spot where Barnes had been, and that hurt. This Tony was so battered- both internally and externally and after the remark he made about the Red Witch he knew he had to get someone to look at his mind and make sure there was no external forces at work still.

Wanda was a vengeful being, even now she wasn't trusted completely and was only called on when her talent was needed, her brother was there to stop her from going to far, and there were safe guards in case he couldn't or wouldn't stop her. Tony wasn't alive anymore but they still knew better then to bring her into the fold. They had seen the results of her work too many times to trust her not to slip up, and he wondered if this world had been smart enough to take the same approach. Probably not with what he had seen, so he would have to be on the look out for the mind manipulator. If she had something on Tony still, having it removed would alert her but the other man couldn't go on living under her work.. The insane Avengers proximity to her and what could be at the root of their twisted behavior didn't cross his mind, not yet. He had more important things to worry about, like the man in front of him.

"You keep calling me Babe.." Tony suddenly croaked, sounding distressed. Steve stopped his ministrations and smiled awkwardly. He hadn't realized that was slipping out, but he knew where it had come from. He'd loved Tony, before they lost him, and the stubborn part of his mind refused to hide that fact no matter if this wasn't his Tony. Steve was scared at how badly injured the version of one of his lovers was and it was showing in the terms that he was unconsciously using.

"It's habit. You and I were dancing buddies back home before I lost you." He told the genius gently, since he knew that hadn't happened here, not with the comments Tony had made and what his other self had done today. Or if it had he had even more reason to kill Rogers. Tony blinked in shock, and for a second Steve didn't know which part of his statement had caused it, then he spoke.

"How did I die?" Tony asked, his voice thin and so afraid of the answer but wanting to know all the same. Steve grimaced, wanting to avoid answering, but knowing that Tony needed to know, and unwilling to lie to him.

"You died in the process of reversing the deaths that happened while Thanos was on his warpath. I don't understand how this happened.. this insanity I've seen of this world so far. I told you about what Bucky had been forced to do when I found out in my world. I knew you wouldn't take it well, but that you would need time to process it. This idiot hid it, and it was used as a weapon against all of you. Then there's the fact that the Avenger's split because of the Accords here. We trusted you, and we stayed true to the plan you had in my reality. We were never on the run." He murmured. Tony paled more then he had been due to blood loss at the name, and he knew the other man was thinking about the ships he had seen.

"I die in the coming invasion?" Tony whispered, sounding void of all hope, like he had expected that to be his end. Steve hand went to his face again on instinct, making sure that Tony's eyes were on his. That wasn't something he was going to let happen here- even if he had to stay until after everything was done. He wouldn't let Thanos claim another Tony Stark's life, anymore then he would let his double kill the man next to him. He couldn't.

"Not if I have anything to say about it babe. Just keep calm." he tried soothing him, wondering again what hell Reed had sent him to. So far Tony was painfully identical to the one he had lost, but everything else was twisted and ugly. Tony closed his eyes, when he couldn't look away.

"I must be a better dancer there, wish I was as good as I was in the dreams I used to have. Everyone leaves or betrays me in the end here, made the dreams hurt. I might like them back after this though, at least I'd be loved sometimes." Tony whispered, his voice paper thin as he slumped, losing his battle to stay awake. Steve felt something inside of him snap as the words faded into the cold around them. Where he had been planning to make sure Tony lived through the invasion, a resolve that he wouldn't be another person to leave Tony formed, and he knew he couldn't stay in this hell with him. Tony may accept the Avengers and Rogers back after all of this was said and done, but he would never feel safe, feel accepted again. They had shown their true colors with this temper tantrum and the genius would never be able to forget that they had all chosen to leave him. He'd be trapped in hell and would make himself accept it because Steve could tell he thought that was the norm, that Tony didn't think he was worth someone showing an ounce of damn loyalty to.

"You and me babe? We're getting out of this hell in one piece, I promise you. So you just stay strong. I've got your back now, you're not in this fight alone, you won't be ever again." He murmured to the unconscious man, hoping that he was having one of those dreams that he had spoken of so fondly before he passed out. He knew Tony hadn't heard his promise but once they got out of this base and Tony was fixed up he'd repeat it, and make sure that the man understood what he meant. He settled closer to Tony to keep his exposed skin warm while they waited for help to come, and tried to figure out how he would prove that he wasn't Rogers to whoever found them. He didn't want to leave Tony alone for a single moment, but he didn't see them letting him stick around while they thought he was an insane fugitive that had put him in the condition he was in.