"Tony." Steve was so relieved to hear his voice but scared at the same time. Was Tony calling because something occurred? Did he need his help? But they were still 7 hours out…

"Yo Cap. Are trying to make everything more complicated for me?" The flippant tone of his voice startled him more than the words.

"Tony. Are you ok? What’s happening?" He asked. Everyone in the jet looked towards him curiously.

"Cap. I don’t really have time to explain things to you now, but you need to stay away from New York. I know your coming. Stay hidden and I’ll talk with you later."

Before Steve could get in another word Tony hung up on him. He closed his eyes in frustration. He looked at his phone again and dialed.

"You can’t keep hanging up on me Tony!" He said as soon as it connected.

"And you can’t keep doing things your own way!’ Tony growled at him. ‘Do you even know what’s going on here? Why the hell are you forcing your way back?"

Steve cut him off. "I don’t know what’s going on! That’s why you have to tell me! I’m not a psychic. I need you to tell me the situation so that I can act accordingly!"

"And why the hell do I have to tell you anything? You didn’t last time! You thought I wasn’t going to side with you and left me in the dark! I took one look at the evidence and agreed it was Zemo. But instead of telling me you ran off! And Ross gave orders to shoot on sight! If I had known I could have persuaded him and the UN differently! And don’t give me bull shit of not enough time! You had time to contact Clint and Lang. You had time to contact me!" Tony yelled so loudly that the other occupants in the Jet flinched at his tone.

Steve yelled back. "You wouldn’t have agreed with me! You were so focused on passing the Accords you would have ignored the evidence!"

"What the hell are you talking about? Me ignore the evidence? Oh my god Rogers! Who the hell do you think I am? I’m not some government official that uses situation to my advantage! I came for you and Barnes in Siberia didn’t I?"

"Tony! Once you set your mind on something your immovable!" He growled. Why couldn’t he see why he had to act the way he did.

"Are you calling me stubborn? Why yes Rogers I am! But at least I have the guts to admit I am! But you know that describes you to the tee also! And guess what? I wasn’t ‘immovable’ last time! I broke the accords to go help you!"

Steve let out a frustrated breath to try to calm himself. "That’s not what I’m talking about and you know it."

"Are you talking to me about my parent’s murder? You really want to go there?" Tony became deadly silent.

"You would have killed him if I didn’t stop you." Steve replied silently also.

"Are you calling me stubborn for raging against the person I had just witnessed kill my parents?"

"You weren’t only raging. You were going to kill him."

There was silence on the other line. Steve feared he might just hang up again. Damn. He had wanted to talk with Tony not fight again. Why was it so hard to just talk?

"Tony. That’s why I called. Your right. We made tons of mistake last time because there was no communication between us. I was wrong in keeping you in the dark. So let’s not make the same mistake again. Let’s not let our egos get in the way."

Steve heard Tony scoff.

"So you’re admitting you have an ego you righteous bastard?" Steve really had to try hard to stop himself from snapping back.

"Yes Tony, I am. So please tell me what’s going on."

"No. I’m not going to tell you anything. You’re no longer an Avenger. Actually you all are fugitives. If I see you anywhere near New York I’m going to shoot on sight. Stay away Rogers. And call me once more and I’m going to trace the call and send the US army your way. This is the end." And the line went dead.

Steve crushed the phone in his hand.

XXX

Tony let out a long breath. He can feel the unshed tears and wiped them before they had the chance to drop. Damn him. He should not have called. He should have let them come and be caught by the authorities. He had nothing to do with them anyway.

He couldn’t stop himself this time.

Tony threw the phone as hard as he can on the ground and loved the crushing sound it made. He had too much to do to think about the self righteous bastard! Tony turned around to leave but was startled by the person waiting for him by the doorway.

"Hank." Tony whispered. "When did you get here?" He was shocked he had no idea the older man had entered his room.

"From the beginning." Hank looked tired as shuffle his way inside and sat down on one of his sofas. Tony watched Hank look at the broken pieces of the phone. "You’re an idiot."

Tony sighed once more and groaned. "Not you too." He stated quietly. He didn’t have the energy to this again.

Hank looked at him. "You should have broken that thing the moment you got it."

Tony couldn’t help it. He laughed out loud. He laughed for a long five minute before he could finally control himself. Hank during the time got off the sofa and went towards his desk to look over all the research he had been doing. He calmly waited until he was able to settle down.

"Why did my father hate you? I would have loved an uncle like you when I was younger." Tony stifled the laughter fighting its way out.

"Oh he didn’t hate me. I did. Actually I hate all Stark that includes you. So get back to work. Cause that’s the only redeeming part of you." Hank said as he pushed the papers he deemed useful towards Tony. "The others are waiting. We need to figure out the situation before other things can get in the way." He headed out and paused for just a bit when Tony spoke.

"Thank you Hank."

XXX

"Doctor Pym!" Peter exclaimed when he noticed the two people enter the labs.

"Peter." Hank nodded in greeting. He looked towards T’Challa and also nodded his way. "So do you know anything that might help us? The Extremis program we have been working on will not be ready in time. But maybe if we know why his brain in deteriorating so fast we might be able to find a quicker cure." Hank asked as he made his way to his chair.

Tony made his way and opened up the current MRI. It was getting worse by the hour.

"I don’t know. The last time we had checked it was not this bad. My scientists believed it might have been something to do with the world crossing. But there was no way for us to collect any data in that area."

"Have you ever tried contacting Eric Selvig?" Tony asked this time. "After the appearance of Thor he became the leading scientist on world crossing."

"Yes My scientist did get in contact with him. But from what he understood the crossing of the universe he knew was only that of Yggdrasill. He had no idea of any that there might be a whole different universe from ours." T’Challa answered.

The others in the room watched the two older scientist as they silently sat to think.

"Maybe Thor will know more? After all they are the ones who uses the Bifrost to travel to multiple worlds." Tony asked Hank.

"Maybe. But didn’t you already ask Thor about world traveling before? I remember reading it in your files."

"I did. But Thor is not the sharpest Hammer in the world yeah? Maybe someone else in Asgard might have a different answer?"

Rhodey groaned. "Please don’t say Loki."

"Wow you really are getting to know me really well Rhodey! Loki knew ways of traveling between worlds even Heimdall didn’t know about. Who better to ask?"

"The last I heard he was imprisoned in Asgard prison. How the hell are we suppose to ask him?" Rhodey asked once more.

"Hey we aren’t going to ask him. Thor is." Tony stated smugly.

"Their sibling rivalry is much greater than your fight with Steve. I really don’t think Loki will say a single word." When Rhodey finished talking Tony stayed silent and Hank answered for him.

"The traveling of universes might not even be what affected the other T’Challa. Let’s focus on cures. Extremis is still too new for human experimentation. It’s going to take at least another 10 month before any of us can deem it safe for any live organism experiment. I heard you contacted Stephen Strange. What’s his ETA?"

"Actually he should be here any moment. But even with Strange’s skill we will only be able to prolong his time a little bit." Tony said as he once again looked over the test results.

"Well we need to alleviate his brain and we will put him back into Cryostasis. And you." Hank looked towards T’Challa. "You need to be constantly checked. Strange might be able to help you right now. It is in a place that’s hard to operate on but maybe Strange can pull off a miracle." T’Challa nodded and the look of relief was noticeable to everyone in the room.

"Boss Doctor Strange arrived on the Helipad." FRIDAY notified them.

"Great! Peter can you do the honors and welcome the good doctor in?" Tony asked and Peter jumped up eagerly

"Of course!" and the teen eagerly left the room.

XXX

"I take it the conversation didn’t go well?" Scott asked awkwardly. Clint gave him a sharp look.

"No shit Sherlock." He quipped harshly.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Scott raised his hands in surrender. "Hey I don’t know what went on in Siberia but why did Tony try to kill Barnes? He seemed awfully defensive for a person who tried to kill another person."

Steve stood silently before he faced his team. "Tony tried to kill Bucky because he found out Bucky killed his parents when he was brainwashed."

Everyone took a moment to comprehend the situation.

Clint spoke first. "So Tony couldn’t forgive that Barnes was brainwashed to kill his parents?"

"…He couldn’t forgive that I didn’t tell him." He answered truthfully.

Wanda frowned. "You knew Barnes killed Stark’s parents? And you didn’t tell him? Then how did he find out?" She asked.

"Zemo found a footage of the killing and played it for us."

Sam frowned in understanding "How graphic was the footage? I know even strong men can’t handle their love runs being killed in front of them."

Steve frowned with him. "It was pretty graphic. But Bucky was brainwashed. Tony should have understood."

"Well… yeah I guess. But It’s understandable. Even I would be raging if I saw any of you being killed never less my parents." Sam stated.

"I know I would have too." Scott replied right after.

"I’m assuming Tony didn’t stop his raging even after you tried to stop him huh?" Clint asked. He knew Tony couldn’t see reason when he was angered. Telling his home address to known terrorist was one example he could think of on the top of his head.

"I tried stopping him. But once he found out I knew but didn’t tell him he hit me and started attacking Bucky. I couldn’t stop him even when I punched him." Steve told the rest of them.

"Wait…" Sam frowned deeply. "Did you say you punched him?"

"Yes. I saw no other way. He was in his Iron Man suit and ripped off Bucky’s metallic arm."

"You’re saying you punched a man who was enraged because he just saw his parents being murdered?" Sam asked once more.

Steve looked at Sam questioningly and nodded.

"Steve. Man. If your enraged and someone punches you in the face does it calm you down or make you more angry?"

"I… There was no other way. He would have killed him"

Sam watched him with mouth agape. "Dude, you don’t punch a man your trying to stop him from going berserk! You hold him down and make him take his breath! That’s like logic." Sam stated as he stood up from where he stood. Sam couldn’t believe Cap had done something so stupid. Who the heck believed punching a mad man will calm him down?

"I tried to reason with him! He wouldn’t back down. So I had to cut off his power supply for the Iron Man suit! That was the only way we could stop him."

"So afterwards you did try talking with him right? To get him to see reason? And what… Tony left the two of you because he didn’t want to speak?" Sam asked once more as he continued to paced around the Jet.

"No… I left with Bucky first once he suit was stopped." Steve replied quietly.

"You left after you finally managed to stop him from raging!?" Sam yelled. "You didn’t try to reason with him again? You just left? You didn’t have to worry about him killing you two anymore! Your suppose to talk stuff like this through! I thought you consider him your friend?"

"I do consider him my friend!" Steve yelled back.

"You chose one friend for another! You left him there! Don’t you know? The more and more you have time to think about something the angrier most people get! You should have made him see reason when you had the chance." The rest of the people looked on with wide eyes. They have never seen Sam get angry with Steve. He always seemed to agree with what the Captain did.

"I sent Tony a letter explaining why I did what I did. I hoped he would see reason through it. But it seems he didn’t. I sent him a phone as a sign of my apology to him. I told him I’ll be always there when he needed me." Steve sounded anguished. "That’s why I need to be there for him now! I saw him being attacked. But he’s too suborn to ask for help. I need to help him because he’s too stubborn to ever willingly say he needs help! That’s who he is."

Sam calmed down a bit at the pleading look on Steve. "Steve. I don’t know how brutal the fight between you two were. But I know Tony went to Siberia to help you. He begged me Steve. Begged. That man you’re saying is too stubborn to ask for help begged for my help so that he can help you. I’ve worked with many PTSD veterans who saw their comrades die in battle. I saw my friend die. It’s a hard thing to watch. You should have understood him more. I know Tony would have been enraged. But how you try to solve the situation was all wrong. Steve. You were wrong. If you were his friend you wouldn’t have abandoned him after the fight. You would have brought him back with you." Sam ended as he frowned and waited to see if Steve would respond back. When he didn’t Sam shook his head in disappointment and went towards the farthest seat on the plane and sat.

Steve stood in shock. Why did he leave Tony there in Siberia? Why didn’t he talk with him? He thought it was because Tony wouldn’t understand. Maybe if he tried harder he would have made Tony understand. Why did he drop the shield? He dropped it without a second though. He thought it was because he did not deserve it after taking Bucky’s side even after he witness Howard’s murder like Tony stated. But… maybe he dropped it because he was being childish. Maybe he had dropped it because he wanted to prove to Tony he didn’t need the damn thing…

He looked up at the others. They all tried their best to not stare at him. He could see they were awkwardly trying to do something. None of them spoke up for him when Sam had reprimanded him. Maybe he really was in the wrong in this. And small part of him… agreed with them.

XXX

Peter had went up to the helipad eager to meet the renown surgeon. But when he had tried to greet the older man the man rushed past him. Peter stood in shock for a moment before he had to run to keep up the much taller person.

"Doctor Strange welcome to Avenger Tower." Peter quickly stated as he had to semi-run to be walking at the same pace as the surgeon.

The Doctor didn’t spare even a single glance as he just walked into the elevator. When they were both inside the elevator was the first time the man spoke when Peter awkwardly stood next to him.

"Well aren’t you going to push the floor? I don’t know where Stark is." The Doctor sniped

Peter felt irritation arise. He sure had walked as if he knew everything. (Who did he think he was?)

"Ah… yeah here." Peter reached and pushed the floor where the labs were located. Any other time Peter would have tried to make conversation but he didn’t want to talk to this arrogant man (Ugh!).

The man also seemed uneager to make conversation so Peter silently pouted behind the man began making faces at him. It was when the elevator stopped the Doctor spoke once more.

"You do know I can see your reflection. I don’t know why Stark will use a intern like you." And the man left leaving Peter red faced.

How dare he call me an intern! (well technically he was an intern…) Peter huffed as stomped after the tall man.

"Strange! How are you?" Tony welcomed him warmly. Peter growled internally as he watched the man warmly greet Tony and shook his hands. He felt his irritation grow when the Doctor warmly greeted everyone but him! (How dare he look down on him!) If only this man knew he was Spiderman he would have acknowledge him also!

"Doctor Pym, it has been a while." Strange stated as he shook the older man’s hands

"Yes. It has been what… seven years? Your presentation during the seminar was excellent." Hank replied.

"Ah. It wasn’t as good as your seminar on subtomic particle." Strange replied with a genuine smile.

Peter huffed on the side which went ignored by everyone except Colonel Rhodes. Peter saw him smirk at him and he felt his face turn red and he pointedly ignored the Vet.

"So how does it feel to be in my shoes?" Rhodey asked as he watch Peter ignore the interaction between the older men.

Peter decided to act more childish and decided to give him the silent treatment with a glare. Rhodey laughed and left the teen wallow in his own embarrassment.

After the greetings were shared the group began talking about the condition of the patient.

Strange took one look at the MRI and knew why the group had decided to call him. It really was a difficult surgery.

"I can clear the aneurism up here. But any work done in these region will risk his life." Strange stated as he pointed at the test.

"We had assumed." Hank said thoughtfully.

"We are already looking for alternative cure but at the rate he’s going he might not last three days. We were hoping maybe you can alleviate the pressure?" Tony asked

"Yes that won’t be hard. But even if I do release the pressure now it won’t be long before it becomes inflamed again." The surgeon replied honestly. He noticed that the King of Wakanda look distraught.

"How hard would be this surgery?" Tony asked as he handed Doctor Strange another set of results.

Strange saw that the conditions were very similar to the previous patient. But still…

"This would be a hard surgery also. Because it is in the under layer of the frontal lobe the chance of losing mobility is very high." He answered

"Even with your skills?" Hank looked at him critically.

"I will be the best chance they got. Even then I can only guarantee 37% chance of total successful surgery."

T’Challa sighed. He had known it was impossible but to hear it from the world renown surgeon was hard.

"Ok well the first patient is very urgent now so can you start the surgery immediately? I’ll get the Cryobed ready as your are in surgery." Tony stated as he got up to show the Doctor the surgery room he had prepared for him.

Everyone followed his lead as Tony opened the door.

Strange took a moment when he was faced with his patient, startled to meet the face of the man standing next to him. The other looked expectantly at him, but Strange said nothing and strode his way in front of the glass cell.

"Let’s do this."

XXX

When the group arrived secretly in Cuba the mood had still not improved. Sam still refused to talk with Steve and everyone tried to ignore both of them.

Steve finally decided it was enough and tried to make truce.

"Sam I know what I did was wrong. That’s why I’m trying to make up for it. Please help me make it up to Tony." Steve pleaded

Sam turned to Steve for the first time since the incident and spoke. "Cap. I love you man… And I’ll run with you till the ends of the earth." Sam sighed. It was true. No matter what mistakes Steve made… He knew in the end he will follow this man till the end. He just had to help him to not make such mistakes again.

Steve smiled and nodded. He looked towards the other and gave his orders.

"We will stay here and make base until we know what is happening in the Tower. Right now it seems the situations died down but when we are needed we will go. Scott contact Doctor Pym and see if you can get more information on what’s going on. Clint can you contact your sources and see what they know of the situation?" Both men nodded at their orders and headed out.

"What do you want me to do?" Sam asked.

"Nothing for now. We need more information before we do anything." The remaining two nodded.

And when Steve finally thought he could settle down to think of a plan the missile hit where they stood. In a split second he was able to read the Stark Industries on the side of the missile before he braced himself for the explosion.

But it never came. He opened the eyes he had unknowingly closed. Before him Wanda and used her power to contain the blast of the explosion like she had months before. This time when she lifted the explosion up she was able to throw it high enough that the people on the ground could only feel the heat of the blast.

Before any of them could relax though, they were surrounded. Steve watched as the Wakandan soldiers lifted up their guns and the heavy machinery were all faced towards them.

"If you do not surrender we will shoot to kill." One of the commanding officers yelled their way.

Steve raised his hands signaling his surrender and the other two followed suit. They allowed themselves to be handcuffed and were dragged away to wherever they were going to hold them.

XXX

Peter watched the operation in awe. He had never watched a live surgery before but even without the need of comparison he could tell Doctor Strange was doing a phenomenal job. The others in the room were watching critically at the steps the Doctor took.

Peter shook his head in wonder. The man was a douche but… like Tony said… He was one amazing surgeon. Tony had given an estimate on how long the surgery might take before Strange started, but it was half of the estimated time when the man started closing up. The teen watched as the other scientist in the room appreciate the doctor’s skills with a approving nod.

"With this he won’t be in immediate danger. But we still need to hurry and put him in Cryostasis.’"Hank told T’Challa as they stood up from the chairs they were sitting. "FRIDAY is Tony ready with the bed?" he sternly asked the AI

"Boss says it is ready and that he is brining it up as we speak."

Hank nodded as he went inside the surgery room. Peter was alone with T’Challa and saw the relief that passed through his whole body.

"Are you ok?" Peter asked softly.

"Maybe… maybe there will be a hope for me" T’Challa stated more to himself then answer his question.

In moments the door to the operation room opened once more with Tony and the bed in tow. The three people in the room quickly place the patient in bed. Once the bed was closed the teen watched as the frost set through the glass. They were finally done with phase one. Now they had to look for a cure.

The two scientist and the surgeon came out of the operation room with smiles on their faces as they gave T’Challa the good news.

"Your highness I was able to alleviate not just the pressure but also one of the bigger aneurism. Due to this the brain should deteriorate slower and within the Cryobed it should be completely stopped until we bring him out again." The Doctor spoke.

"I am very grateful Doctor. Thank you." The King replied with a strained voice.

"Your highness won’t you come with me? I think it’s time we need to talk about your status." Strange stated as he gestured for the King to follow him for privacy. T’Challa followed him.

When Peter was finally alone in the room with two of his favorite people he finally asked.

"How likely is it that he’s going to survive?"

"that depends on how quickly we can finish Extremis. So no more dilly dallying" Hank grumbled.

The teen smiled. Now this felt normal. No more arrogant kings or the douche of a doctor. Just him, Tony, and Doctor Pym. With Colonel Rhodes waiting for them and Vision… by the way…

"Where’s Vision?" He asked in confusion. He had not seen him after he had passed T’Challa along to him…

Both Peter and Hank looked expectantly at last occupant in the room.

Tony shrugged but replied.

"I thought he might need a rest and sent him to more tropical place than here." And he left the room quickly before they could ask more question.