Avengers fic - Another Day Like Today - Chapter 7
Title: Another Day Like Today
Fandom(s): Avengers MCU, Doctor Who
Characters: Steve Rogers, Eleventh Doctor, OFC
Pairings: None; Steve & Tony friendship
Rating: Teen
Warnings: None that I can think of
Spoilers: Any and all MCU movies through The Avengers (2012) are fair game, as is anything through Series 6 of NuWho (though there isn't much spoilery of the latter)
Chapters: 7 of 9
Series: Part One of Only Time
Word Count: 1638
Summary: Steve and the Doctor must reach the roof of Stark Tower and recover the TARDIS in order to stop the aliens that threaten New York.
Beta: cygna_hime -- Thank you! <3
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Steve pulled his motorcycle up in front of Stark Tower. The architecture, with its smooth, futuristic lines and its integrated electronics everywhere, was in some ways a clearer signature of Tony Stark than the giant lighted letters had been. That made it strange, and a little eerie, to see the building entirely without power. Lit only by the sun, it seemed empty and dead, like a dried-out seashell.
The Doctor hopped off the back of the motorcycle behind him as he parked on the sidewalk, and they both headed for the main entrance. The glass-paneled door swung open as Steve reached for the handle, and a dark-skinned woman in a business suit nearly walked into him, as she was too focused the mobile telephone in her hand to notice him right away. Her head jerked up, startled, at his, "Excuse me, Miss."
"Oh, sorr- Oh!" She looked from his face to his conspicuously iconic uniform and shield. "Captain America? Is something wrong - does it have to do with the blackout? Are we being attacked again?" Her eyes were wide, and she gripped her telephone tightly.
"Everything will be fine, Miss." He took her arm and gently guided her out of the doorway. "I'm going to take care of it now. Can you tell me what's going on inside?"
He managed to inject the right combination of calm and urgency into his voice to steady her; she took a breath and nodded. "There's no power anywhere in the building. Everything is down: elevators, land lines, even the emergency lighting. None of the backups have come on. People are nervous, but I don't know of any emergencies yet. It's mostly only repair crews and a skeleton staff on the business levels right now. I came outside to try and get cell reception, to contact Mr. Stark or Ms. Potts; reception is awful in this building."
Most of what she told him, Steve already knew, or had guessed, but he quickly picked out the most important bits of information: no one was seriously hurt, and this woman was important enough to have a direct line to Stark and Ms. Potts. That meant others here would take orders from her. "What's your name?"
"Sumati," she replied automatically.
He nodded. "Okay. Sumati, here's what I need you to do. Come back inside with me, and make a round of every occupied floor. Tell everyone to stay calm, keep away from electrical equipment and outlets, and sit tight. People are only going to get hurt if they start stampeding down the stairs when there's no immediate danger. Reassure them, and keep them busy. I'm going up to the roof to deal with what's causing the problem."
She stood a little straighter. "I can do that, Captain." She turned and preceded him back inside the building. "If you're headed for the roof, you'll want the red stairwell; it goes straight up to the living quarters. The entrance is on the tenth floor, in R&D. If you take this staircase," she pointed at a blue metal door tucked into a small alcove beside the bank of darkened elevators, "you can get up to floor ten. Normally you need an access card for the red stairwell, but with the power out," she shrugged, "you'll probably need to break past the emergency deadbolts."
"The doors won't unlock with the power off?" Steve asked.
Sumati shook her head. "The regular locks are magnetic, but the emergency deadbolts run on a pneumatic spring; an electromagnetic switch keeps them disengaged. When the power is cut off, they lock down the doors automatically. The same locks have been installed on all the sensitive laboratories. Mr. Stark takes security very seriously."
Her comment about the laboratories caught Steve's attention. "Are there people trapped in the labs? Will they be all right?"
Her mouth narrowed to a thin line. "If you're fast. There's no power to the ventilation system, but the labs have high ceilings. They should be safe for several hours, at least."
"Good. Then we've got work to do," Steve said, heading for the blue stairwell door.
Sumati gave him a tight smile. "So do I." She headed down the main hallway, her heels echoing on the linoleum floor. Steve had just opened the door to the stairs when he heard her footsteps pause, and glanced back at her. "Try to find some light," she called to him. "I nearly broke an ankle coming down those stairs!"
"Will do," he replied with a wave, "thanks!"
When the door swung closed behind him and the Doctor, Steve found that her advice had been more than apt; with no windows other than the small one in the stairwell door, and no artificial light sources, it was like walking into a cave. He paused, letting his eyes adjust to whatever faint scraps of light existed, and the Doctor immediately bumped into his back.
"Sorry. It's a bit dim in here," the Doctor said, and a whirring sound made Steve glance back over his shoulder. The Doctor's face was illuminated by a faint green glow emanating from the tip of his screwdriver. "No, not quite enough," he said, fiddling with the buttons on the side of the device. The glow brightened noticeably. "That's better!" The Doctor held the screwdriver out at about shoulder level, its light revealing the staircase. "There. It's not quite a torch, but it'll do." He looked at Steve. "You said there'd be running?"
Steve nodded. "Let's go." He charged up the stairs. The serum had improved his night vision, but he was neither a cat nor one of those infrared lenses Barton talked about using on stealth missions, so Steve made sure to stay within the circle of green light cast by the Doctor's screwdriver. Fortunately, the other man was keeping up a fair pace.
At the end of nine flights of stairs, that pace was starting to flag, at least for one of them. When Steve pushed open the door marked "10," the Doctor leaned heavily against the doorjamb, the arm bearing the screwdriver drooping. "You doing all right, Doctor?" Steve asked.
"Sure," the Doctor managed between labored breaths, "It's just that most of the time when I'm running, it's more," he gestured sloppily with his free hand, "horizontal."
"Well, you can take a breather, since I'm gonna have to break through the deadbolt on the door into the other stairway. When I find it," Steve added, casting a glance down the hallway they'd emerged into.
"Might be able to help," the Doctor offered, waving his screwdriver. He took a few deep breaths; it seemed that he was already starting to recover.
"Doing better?"
The Doctor patted his chest. "Two hearts," he explained. "Makes this sort of thing a little easier."
Steve looked at him and grinned. "You know, when all this is over, I'm going to start actually thinking about all the things you've told us about yourself, and be very confused. Come on," he said, striking off down the corridor. "We should keep going."
"Right!" The Doctor pushed off from the door-frame and followed Steve, holding the screwdriver out in front of them as they went.
One right turn and about twenty yards later, Steve noticed something, and held out a hand to stop the Doctor. "Wait. What color is that door?" He pointed at one that was a different shade than the rest of the doors they'd passed; in the green light of the Doctor's device, it looked an unflattering brown.
"I think this is our stop," the Doctor replied, crouching beside the door handle. He gave it a tug, and met with solid resistance. "That's the one, all right: pneumatic bolts. Give me half a tick." He bent over the screwdriver, pressing buttons in rapid succession. The light dimmed back to its usual levels, and the whirring sound it emitted rose and fell in pitch. "Just a second... Ha!" Steve heard a metallic clanking sound from inside the wall, and the door swung slightly ajar.
Then they were running again. The Doctor had the green light from his screwdriver shining brightly again halfway to the eleventh floor. The walls reflected the same muddy brown as the door, a color that Steve's eyes were learning to interpret as "red." The only sound in the stairwell was the rapid rhythm of their feet pounding the metal stairs as they climbed from one floor to the next. As he rounded a landing to reach another flight of stairs, Steve glanced behind him at his companion; though the Doctor didn't seem as tired as before, his mouth was set in a grim line, and a crease had appeared between his brows. "What's wrong?"
"The TARDIS." The Doctor's voice thrummed with tension. "I don't know how much longer her shielding can hold out - if it hasn't collapsed already." There was a pause that Steve didn't think had anything to do with the strain of their ascent. "This could kill her."
Steve wasn't sure how to respond to that; rather than try, he kept running. Still, something confused him about what the Doctor had said, and his mind wouldn't leave the question alone. "The TARDIS, it's a machine, right?" he asked after another couple of floors had gone by under their feet. "You talk about her like she's alive."
"She is," the Doctor replied. "TARDISes aren't built, they're grown." After a moment, he continued. "Rather, they were. She's the only one now." They passed another two floors. "She's all I have left of home. She's been with me since the beginning; the only one who's never left. There were times I thought she was gone - lost, taken, even destroyed - but she always came back."
"We'll get there in time, Doctor." It was the only thing there was to say.
Chapter 8
Fandom(s): Avengers MCU, Doctor Who
Characters: Steve Rogers, Eleventh Doctor, OFC
Pairings: None; Steve & Tony friendship
Rating: Teen
Warnings: None that I can think of
Spoilers: Any and all MCU movies through The Avengers (2012) are fair game, as is anything through Series 6 of NuWho (though there isn't much spoilery of the latter)
Chapters: 7 of 9
Series: Part One of Only Time
Word Count: 1638
Summary: Steve and the Doctor must reach the roof of Stark Tower and recover the TARDIS in order to stop the aliens that threaten New York.
Beta: cygna_hime -- Thank you! <3
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Steve pulled his motorcycle up in front of Stark Tower. The architecture, with its smooth, futuristic lines and its integrated electronics everywhere, was in some ways a clearer signature of Tony Stark than the giant lighted letters had been. That made it strange, and a little eerie, to see the building entirely without power. Lit only by the sun, it seemed empty and dead, like a dried-out seashell.
The Doctor hopped off the back of the motorcycle behind him as he parked on the sidewalk, and they both headed for the main entrance. The glass-paneled door swung open as Steve reached for the handle, and a dark-skinned woman in a business suit nearly walked into him, as she was too focused the mobile telephone in her hand to notice him right away. Her head jerked up, startled, at his, "Excuse me, Miss."
"Oh, sorr- Oh!" She looked from his face to his conspicuously iconic uniform and shield. "Captain America? Is something wrong - does it have to do with the blackout? Are we being attacked again?" Her eyes were wide, and she gripped her telephone tightly.
"Everything will be fine, Miss." He took her arm and gently guided her out of the doorway. "I'm going to take care of it now. Can you tell me what's going on inside?"
He managed to inject the right combination of calm and urgency into his voice to steady her; she took a breath and nodded. "There's no power anywhere in the building. Everything is down: elevators, land lines, even the emergency lighting. None of the backups have come on. People are nervous, but I don't know of any emergencies yet. It's mostly only repair crews and a skeleton staff on the business levels right now. I came outside to try and get cell reception, to contact Mr. Stark or Ms. Potts; reception is awful in this building."
Most of what she told him, Steve already knew, or had guessed, but he quickly picked out the most important bits of information: no one was seriously hurt, and this woman was important enough to have a direct line to Stark and Ms. Potts. That meant others here would take orders from her. "What's your name?"
"Sumati," she replied automatically.
He nodded. "Okay. Sumati, here's what I need you to do. Come back inside with me, and make a round of every occupied floor. Tell everyone to stay calm, keep away from electrical equipment and outlets, and sit tight. People are only going to get hurt if they start stampeding down the stairs when there's no immediate danger. Reassure them, and keep them busy. I'm going up to the roof to deal with what's causing the problem."
She stood a little straighter. "I can do that, Captain." She turned and preceded him back inside the building. "If you're headed for the roof, you'll want the red stairwell; it goes straight up to the living quarters. The entrance is on the tenth floor, in R&D. If you take this staircase," she pointed at a blue metal door tucked into a small alcove beside the bank of darkened elevators, "you can get up to floor ten. Normally you need an access card for the red stairwell, but with the power out," she shrugged, "you'll probably need to break past the emergency deadbolts."
"The doors won't unlock with the power off?" Steve asked.
Sumati shook her head. "The regular locks are magnetic, but the emergency deadbolts run on a pneumatic spring; an electromagnetic switch keeps them disengaged. When the power is cut off, they lock down the doors automatically. The same locks have been installed on all the sensitive laboratories. Mr. Stark takes security very seriously."
Her comment about the laboratories caught Steve's attention. "Are there people trapped in the labs? Will they be all right?"
Her mouth narrowed to a thin line. "If you're fast. There's no power to the ventilation system, but the labs have high ceilings. They should be safe for several hours, at least."
"Good. Then we've got work to do," Steve said, heading for the blue stairwell door.
Sumati gave him a tight smile. "So do I." She headed down the main hallway, her heels echoing on the linoleum floor. Steve had just opened the door to the stairs when he heard her footsteps pause, and glanced back at her. "Try to find some light," she called to him. "I nearly broke an ankle coming down those stairs!"
"Will do," he replied with a wave, "thanks!"
When the door swung closed behind him and the Doctor, Steve found that her advice had been more than apt; with no windows other than the small one in the stairwell door, and no artificial light sources, it was like walking into a cave. He paused, letting his eyes adjust to whatever faint scraps of light existed, and the Doctor immediately bumped into his back.
"Sorry. It's a bit dim in here," the Doctor said, and a whirring sound made Steve glance back over his shoulder. The Doctor's face was illuminated by a faint green glow emanating from the tip of his screwdriver. "No, not quite enough," he said, fiddling with the buttons on the side of the device. The glow brightened noticeably. "That's better!" The Doctor held the screwdriver out at about shoulder level, its light revealing the staircase. "There. It's not quite a torch, but it'll do." He looked at Steve. "You said there'd be running?"
Steve nodded. "Let's go." He charged up the stairs. The serum had improved his night vision, but he was neither a cat nor one of those infrared lenses Barton talked about using on stealth missions, so Steve made sure to stay within the circle of green light cast by the Doctor's screwdriver. Fortunately, the other man was keeping up a fair pace.
At the end of nine flights of stairs, that pace was starting to flag, at least for one of them. When Steve pushed open the door marked "10," the Doctor leaned heavily against the doorjamb, the arm bearing the screwdriver drooping. "You doing all right, Doctor?" Steve asked.
"Sure," the Doctor managed between labored breaths, "It's just that most of the time when I'm running, it's more," he gestured sloppily with his free hand, "horizontal."
"Well, you can take a breather, since I'm gonna have to break through the deadbolt on the door into the other stairway. When I find it," Steve added, casting a glance down the hallway they'd emerged into.
"Might be able to help," the Doctor offered, waving his screwdriver. He took a few deep breaths; it seemed that he was already starting to recover.
"Doing better?"
The Doctor patted his chest. "Two hearts," he explained. "Makes this sort of thing a little easier."
Steve looked at him and grinned. "You know, when all this is over, I'm going to start actually thinking about all the things you've told us about yourself, and be very confused. Come on," he said, striking off down the corridor. "We should keep going."
"Right!" The Doctor pushed off from the door-frame and followed Steve, holding the screwdriver out in front of them as they went.
One right turn and about twenty yards later, Steve noticed something, and held out a hand to stop the Doctor. "Wait. What color is that door?" He pointed at one that was a different shade than the rest of the doors they'd passed; in the green light of the Doctor's device, it looked an unflattering brown.
"I think this is our stop," the Doctor replied, crouching beside the door handle. He gave it a tug, and met with solid resistance. "That's the one, all right: pneumatic bolts. Give me half a tick." He bent over the screwdriver, pressing buttons in rapid succession. The light dimmed back to its usual levels, and the whirring sound it emitted rose and fell in pitch. "Just a second... Ha!" Steve heard a metallic clanking sound from inside the wall, and the door swung slightly ajar.
Then they were running again. The Doctor had the green light from his screwdriver shining brightly again halfway to the eleventh floor. The walls reflected the same muddy brown as the door, a color that Steve's eyes were learning to interpret as "red." The only sound in the stairwell was the rapid rhythm of their feet pounding the metal stairs as they climbed from one floor to the next. As he rounded a landing to reach another flight of stairs, Steve glanced behind him at his companion; though the Doctor didn't seem as tired as before, his mouth was set in a grim line, and a crease had appeared between his brows. "What's wrong?"
"The TARDIS." The Doctor's voice thrummed with tension. "I don't know how much longer her shielding can hold out - if it hasn't collapsed already." There was a pause that Steve didn't think had anything to do with the strain of their ascent. "This could kill her."
Steve wasn't sure how to respond to that; rather than try, he kept running. Still, something confused him about what the Doctor had said, and his mind wouldn't leave the question alone. "The TARDIS, it's a machine, right?" he asked after another couple of floors had gone by under their feet. "You talk about her like she's alive."
"She is," the Doctor replied. "TARDISes aren't built, they're grown." After a moment, he continued. "Rather, they were. She's the only one now." They passed another two floors. "She's all I have left of home. She's been with me since the beginning; the only one who's never left. There were times I thought she was gone - lost, taken, even destroyed - but she always came back."
"We'll get there in time, Doctor." It was the only thing there was to say.
Chapter 8