Of Arc Reactors, Captains, Angels and Demons (1/?)
Fandoms: The Avengers; Supernatural(CW)
Pairings: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark; Dean Winchester/Castiel; Gabriel/Sam Winchester
Warnings: None
Spoilers: None really, mentions of Season Five stuff for Supernatural and nothing for Avengers since the movie isn't out and I borrow more general stuff from Iron Man(movies) and the comics. This should be readable so long as you have a basic knowledge of the characters.
Summary: Dr. Doom messed up again and Tony and Steve get caught in the crossfire of his latest blunder, sending them to an alternate Earth where superheroes do not exist outside of comic books and monsters are very real. Also, there is currently an Apocalypse going on and the only ones fighting against it are two brothers and their angelic partners.
A/N: For
bballgirl3022! Happy Birthday hun! Love you and hope you like! Links to the next parts included at the end of each chapter.
For anyone who would rather read this on AO3, which is recommended because it looks better and has image dividers instead of text dividers and is slightly easier on the eyes to read, just click HERE.
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"We seriously need to start getting some form of hazard pay." Tony muttered, the complaint lost to anyone but himself considering the Armor was offline and he was trapped in it. Finally, after a bit of straining and tugging, the Armor was stupidly heavy when not moving under its own power, Tony managed to get off his helmet and take a look around. The first thing he did was look about for Steve, not even caring where they were so long as Steve was near by.
They'd been right next to each other when Doom's machine exploded, it would have taken out Steve too so he had to be around here somewhere. It was hard to tell though, there was bush and vegetation everywhere and it didn't look disturbed except where Tony had crashed through before hitting ground. God, he was going to have to take off the Armor in order to find Steve if it was too damaged to come back online. That was not good, Tony was only human and without the Armor he would be nearly defenseless while bumbling around wherever Doom's machine had blown them. Hell, where might not even be an issue compared to when it could have put them. The machine had been built of tech and magic and those two things did not mix well, one would think Doom had learned by now. Either way, there was a possibility that the blast had not only taken them to a different place but a different time too because they'd been fighting in New York, not this jungle.
As if answering Tony's quiet worry, the Armor beeped and began to whir to life, holo-screens popping up with scrolling code and graphs. "JARVIS!" Tony grinned in relief, "how are we doing buddy?"
"Armor power is down to 23%, recommend re-charge."
"Yeah, I figured as much, scan surrounding areas for human-shaped life, Steve's got to be around here somewhere."
"Of course, sir."
While JARVIS took care of that, Tony tottered to his feet, the Armor sluggish but responsive. At least it wasn't a total loss but it wasn't in any condition to go fighting this thicket. He'd had to take it off anyway because there was no way he was wasting power now in case something came up.
"JARVIS, reroute the coordinates to my phone once you've found out where we are and where Steve is. I'm packing up the Armor."
"As you say, sir."
Following his coded command, the Armor fell in pieces and re-arranged itself into the Armored suitcase, armed with a handle for convenient carrying. It was at small moments like this that Tony felt a true moment of pride in himself because, really, how cool was that?
Fastidious as ever, Tony patted himself down carefully even if his clothes weren't of an expensive wear. He'd been in his workshop when the Avengers call went out so Tony had donned the Armor in only a grease spotted undershirt and comfort worn jeans but it was habit really, to try to look better. Fishing out his Starkphone, Tony patched it through to his AI and lifted a brow at the coordinates JARVIS was showing in holo-letters above the phone, a glowing green set of letters and numbers that read: Closest known location; 39 38'9"N, 85 55'44"W.
"Really? Liberty, Indiana? Of course, why not. I hate irony, I really do. Fine, if we're close to there where is Steve to us?" In answer the screen of his phone changed to project a radar screen, a single green dot blinking off to the left of their location. "Well, alright then. JARVIS, contact the other Avengers with Steve's location and a pick up request. Tell them if they crash the quinjet I'm not making another."
Tony set off through the undergrowth while JARVIS took care of that, following the blinking dot and keeping his eye out for anything moving that shouldn't be. Suddenly the phone beeped and JARVIS' voice came through, somewhat timid in a way only Tony's AI could manage.
"Apologies sir but contact could not be made, all communication channels to Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D have been erased. This includes the disappearance of all Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D satellites. In fact, internet searching shows a distinct lack of anything Stark or S.H.I.E.L.D related."
"Wait, wait, wait," Tony stopped and stared down at his phone, "are you telling me we've been wiped off the map? As in not supposed to exist?"
"So it would seem sir."
"What the hell did that damned Doombot do! Jesus Christ, as if we don't have enough to worry about on a daily basis to be concerned over getting existence erased!" Tony was so busy fuming, all of his work everything he fought so hard to accomplish gone all of it gone how, that he didn't notice the green dot had been converging steadily on his position and was now too close. "Keep looking JARVIS, there's got to be something left. Nothing can just disappear like that!"
"Tony?"
Startled, the genius spun around, Armor clutched close to his side in panic as his body reacted slower then his mind. "Steve!"
Sure enough, Captain America, in full superhero garb and looking none the worse for wear, was standing a few feet away next to a tree.
"Are you okay?"
"You alright?"
They blinked after speaking over each other and grinned, Steve striding closer and pushing down his cowl. "I'm just fine, Tony."
"Same here but that blast of whatever drained the Armor, I'm afraid I won't be of much use unless I can get it charged."
"You're always useful." Steve countered easily before looking around, "so what's our situation?"
Tony winced, "well, it's not pretty."
"Sir," JARVIS interrupted, "further research has yielded...disturbing results."
Tony waved his phone as if to emphasis his prior statement and sighed, "give it to us."
"Further investigation has revealed the existence of Iron Man, Captain America, Stark Industries, S.H.I.E.L.D, the Avengers and Steve Rogers to be limited to popular comics, cartoons and television movies."
"Well...disturbing is certainly a good description." Tony said with a frown. Seriously, cartoons?
"Indeed, sir."
"I don't understand." Steve said, running a hand over the edge of his shield, "what's JARVIS talking about? Where are we anyway?"
"Small forest outside Liberty, Indiana. And basically, JARVIS is saying that Doom's explosion blasted us either to another version of Earth where we evidently don't exist, not really, or literally wiped everything we know about and everyone we knew off the planet somehow. Considering we survived the blast despite being at it's center I'm guessing the former and not the latter. Besides, if Doom knew he had the power for the latter he'd have done it by now to erase the Fantastic Four. Actually, I'm almost certain he didn't even know it would do this, whatever this is."
Steve was nodding, mostly stoic except for his thinking face, which was a very attractive face if one were to ask Tony Stark, not that they ever did. "Alright. So, if we're on a different Earth, how do we get back to ours?"
"That, my blonde Adonis, is the billion dollar question because I have no idea. Yet, anyway. With any luck, someone, mostly likely Reed, will realize what happened and reverse engineer the effects to pull us back where we belong. But who knows how long that could take so I suggest getting out of here and someplace safe and I can re-charge the Armor." Tony gave a thoughtful hum and poked at his phone a few times.
"But if we don't actually exist here, then nothing of yours is still here either, right? So where can we go?"
"Oh, Steve." Tony turned to lean against the Captain, letting him take his weight for the moment with one arm around his shoulders as he gestured with the hand holding his phone, "I built a fully functional suit of armor packed with a small arsenal in a desert cave with nothing more then metal scraps, a fire and a few explosives. I am nothing if not resourceful, in fact, resourceful should be my middle name!"
Steve laughed, winding an arm around Tony and holding him still, "yes, okay, you are quite something. Though I think a better name for you should be pain in my butt."
Tony squirmed to rub against Steve and leered, "is that an invitation?"
"You wish." He said with an amused grin and shook his head, "but I think first we should focus on getting out of here."
"I dunno, Steve...jungle sex kinda has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" That got him to laugh again and Tony beamed, always proud when he was the one who made the blonde smile like that but Steve was quite serious and he was only kidding anyway so Tony pulled away to focus on his phone. "Alright, JARVIS, wanna point us toward Liberty?"
"Of course, sir." Instantly the radar gave another dot, further away and Tony looked at Steve.
"You ready to start walking?"
"Whenever you are."
"Right. Say, how would you like to carry me?"
"Not a chance, Tony, you could use the exercise."
"Oh, well if Captain America says..." the genius said teasingly and Steve shook his head, amused and fond and just glad to have Tony here.
"Get walking already."
"Aye aye, Captain!"
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Liberty, Indiana was a small town with a population only a bit passed the 2,000 mark, at least according to the last national census. It was a small town without a lot of violent history and the only truly negative mark against it was that it housed a KKK leader at one point. So there was even less reason for supernatural things to be going here then anywhere else, which meant that since something was clearly going on, it had to be about the End of Days.
That was Dean's reasoning anyway and Sam wasn't inclined to argue with him. Sure, there seemed to be pretty obvious signs of demon activity but honestly, he wasn't about to assume anything. Looked like demons but could just as well be angels trying to trap them for all he knew. Still, they had to check it out, there was no other choice. They couldn't send other hunters there, this was their problem, their fault so they had to fix it and they weren't about to send others into what every well could be a trap.
And after the disturbance that just happened in the middle of day? Definitely their kind of job.
Sam had been in the hotel with Gabriel doing what research he could through the web even though there was very little to be found about such a small town, when something rocked the whole room like an explosion had gone off right outside their room. Sam had found himself crouched over his laptop on the bed, practically squashed on it really, with Gabriel heavy on his back to protect him. Only nothing happened. They weren't attacked, the door stayed closed and it remained just the two of them but Gabriel was still very still for several long moments while Sam barely dared to breath for fear of disturbing the angel in case he was doing something.
Finally, after what had seemed like several minutes, Gabriel had let him up and only shrugged at Sam's look. "I have no idea what that was, Sammy."
Here's a hint, when an Archangel doesn't know something, odds are that the something not known was very much not a good thing.
"Call your brother back and tell Cas to be careful and keep an eye out."
Sam nodded and grabbed for his phone, only to have it ring even as he picked it up. "Dean? Man, are you okay? Did you see anything?"
"Yeah, we're fine but didn't see what happened. We were still in the police station and Cas doesn't have a clue. What about Gabriel?"
"He doesn't know either but you better get back here, he wants Cas to keep a look out on the way."
"Already headed out, catch you in a few."
Sam hung up and looked over at his angel, "this isn't good is it?"
"I don't know, Sammy." Gabriel said, serious in a way he usually wasn't and leaned over to ruffle the hunter's hair. "We'll figure it out though." He said certainly before kissing him with what felt like just as much of a promise as it was an assurance.
"Yeah."
Dean and Castiel returned about ten minutes later, longer then Sam had really been expecting but the reason became clear instantly given that Dean was carrying a take-out bag from a local diner. Typical Dean.
"So, we have any ideas or theories?" Dean asked as he dug through the bag and pulled out a Styrofoam container that he passed off to Sam.
"Well, I can rule out angels and demons." Gabriel said dryly, summoning a Snickers bar with a snap of his fingers.
"And that's helpful how?"
"Dean." Castiel muttered lowly, just enough to get the elder hunter's attention in a gentle admonishment. He had a bad habit of antagonizing Gabriel, who would respond in kind and the last thing they needed was another fight between the two.
Dean scowled but relented and unwrapped his burger instead of whatever he was going to say.
"If it's not angels or demons, what are the odds then that it has anything to do with the Apocalypse?" Sam asked.
"Depends." Was Castiel's response, "if the explosion was not of angel or demon origin it could either be another supernatural problem or..." he trailed off and Gabriel nodded.
"Or something new. I've never sensed anything like that, not ever."
"So what do we do?"
Castiel and Gabriel looked at each other and Gabriel shrugged, biting a chuck of chocolate. "We go take a look, track down wherever the explosion happened and see what's left. It was close, to give off a concussion blast like that directly over the town. If I had to guess, whatever got blasted ended up out in the forest so we start there."
"Alright then." Dean settled a bit more comfortably in his chair at the table, relaxed now that they had a plan. "We'll do that right after I'm finished eating."
Sam rolled his eyes but didn't argue and only kept eating his salad, for once he was with his brother on this one.
"Whatever Dean-o. Gather your strength then, you'll need it."
"Gabriel."
No one pouted quite like an angel of the lord.
Chapter One >> Chapter Two