The Corrupt and the Pure; Chapter 5: The Duel
[INFO]Title: The Corrupt and the Pure
Author: Del Rion (delrion.mail (at) gmail.com)
Fandom: The Avengers & Captain America (MCU)
Timeline: post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Genre: Drama, action, hurt/comfort
Rating: MA / FRAO
Characters: Steve Rogers (Captain America), Tony Stark (Iron Man). Also: Bruce Banner (Hulk), James “Bucky” Barnes (Winter Soldier), Clint Barton (Hawkeye), J.A.R.V.I.S., James “Rhodey” Rhodes (War Machine), Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow), Thor, Sam Wilson (Falcon)
Pairing: Steve/Tony
Summary: When the Steve Rogers from an alternate universe appears in the middle of the Avengers Tower, two worlds are about to collide: one where Captain America became the tool of HYDRA and fell into a relationship with the hero Iron Man - and one where Tony and Steve are tentatively getting along. The latter are forced to reconsider their relationship when the Commander kidnaps Tony to replace his dead lover.
Complete.
Written for: A story commissioned by Susanne (ChickenHax @ AO3 / starkred @ Tumblr).
Warnings: Rape/non-con, major character death (alternate universe), graphic canonical violence, M/M sexual content, language.
~ ~ ~
Chapter 5: The Duel
From the second he’d wedged himself between Tony and his counterpart from some alternative reality, Steve had known it was going to come to blows. He wasn’t looking forward to it, but the other man was out of line and seeing Tony go on the defensive made up Steve’s mind for him.
Steve was hyper-aware of the tight grip the Commander had on Tony’s arm. Despite his warning, the other man wasn’t letting go, and for some reason it felt like he really didn’t care for the Tesseract at all. Steve wasn’t certain why exactly they were fighting - or what the Commander really wanted - but he was going to take him down and ask those questions later.
It wasn’t chivalry that made Steve act, although he would have always defended a dame being handled in such a way. Tony was no dame, but he was his teammate and this HYDRA agent wearing his body was a threat. Until Tony got into one of his suits, Steve was going to look out for him, knowing he was at a disadvantage.
Every time the other Steve spoke about his life - and his obvious connection to Tony - he got a feeling akin to taking a punch in the gut. Steve wasn’t innocent; he understood what lay beyond the insinuations, and they made his skin crawl. He stayed out of it, listening and trying to learn their enemy that way, knowing that Tony was the one with words and would eventually make the Commander reveal his true colors.
Indeed, it did not take long before Tony hit a nerve of some kind, and the Commander’s grip must have tightened if the sound of pain coming from Tony was any indication. Steve knew his own strength - that he could crack bones when he wanted to - and he pressed his shield more firmly against the Commander’s body, trying to put an extra inch between him and Tony. “I told you to let go of him,” Steve reminded, readying himself for a fight. “I won’t ask again.”
“Your time is up, Captain,” his scarred copy replied in a snarl, but instead of issuing some threat, he returned to the one topic that kept throwing Steve off: “You wasted your chance with him. I won’t make the same mistake.”
Steve almost missed the shift in the other’s balance, the Commander’s free hand coming up to strike him, but Steve lifted his shield just in time, slamming his hand up and then thrusting forward, smashing the shield into his copy’s face.
Tony wrenched himself free behind him, falling back. Steve was just about to check on him, to make sure he was okay, when the Commander recovered faster than he thought he would, spinning and kicking Steve high in the chest, sending him flying backwards; he crashed on top of some piece of upended furniture that cracked beneath his weight and collapsed like a house of cards.
His muscles singing with readiness, Steve rolled back to his feet, eyes on his target. “Tony, get out,” he called through the ache in his chest, not wanting Tony to get caught in the middle - holding the Tesseract of all things.
“Just let me get rid of the Tesseract and I’ll help you beat him up,” Tony replied, much as Steve should have expected.
He nodded his agreement, eyes still on the Commander who was slowly removing the shield from his back - a motion Steve was quite familiar with. The body armor was much like his stealth suit had been, designed by S.H.I.E.L.D. - or possibly by HYDRA, as it turned out. No wonder there were similarities…
The Commander let out a scoff, like he was disappointed with his adversary, and Steve moved forward, to show him just how wrong he was. He was not going to lose to a version of himself that was part of HYDRA - not when there was still fight left in him. The other might not be from their world, but wherever he came from, taking him down would be for the better.
As Steve rushed into an attack, the Commander stood his ground - then shifted at the last moment, trying to attack Steve from the side. Predicting it, seeing as it was a tactic he often used, Steve twisted accordingly, bringing up his shield to block the impending attack.
The collision of vibranium against vibranium felt like it was going to grind into Steve’s bones, pain radiating down his arm. It took him by surprise, having never experienced it before.
His counterpart either shook the shock of the impact faster or didn’t feel the pain, socking Steve in the jaw with a fist that felt like it was metal covered by flesh. Steve flew back, reflexively blocking the next strike and trying to get in one of his own, but the Commander was just as fast.
They circled each other viciously, throwing punches, blocking them, testing each other’s fighting styles, finding them nigh identical. Steve noticed the Commander was fractionally less agile, perhaps due to some old injuries seeing as he had been awake longer, and he decided that would give him an edge.
“Nice try,” the other growled after Steve had rolled to the side, kicked back from a wall and managed to elbow the Commander in the juncture of his neck and shoulder. “You’re running out of time, though.”
“Better make this fast, then,” Steve spat back. “I’m not the one going down.”
“Oh, but you are,” the Commander informed him, as if he knew it for a fact.
“How d’ya figure?”
“Because you have nothing at stake in this fight.”
Steve stilled for an instant. “I can think of plenty -”
“Bullshit,” the other hissed. “You’re fighting me because you think that’s the right thing to do. I’m fighting for something I love.”
Tony…
“He’s not the man you knew,” Steve told the other, slowly positioning his body in between the Commander and the lab where Tony had disappeared. “I’m sure you came here with a purpose, but he isn’t it.”
“You have no idea,” the Commander snapped and moved forward, throwing in a punch. Steve blocked it easily and kicked the other in the head, making him drop his shield. Knowing his chances had just improved, Steve moved forward, following the Commander’s attempt to evade his attack - then heard a familiar slip of metal from beneath him a second before his foot landed on his opponent’s fallen shield. The Commander gave it a shove, upsetting Steve’s balance, and in a fraction of a second he was going down, the other’s elbow following him, banging his skull into the floor.
Steve’s ears rang, skull throbbing painfully, blood flooding his mouth. He struggled to get up and received a vicious kick in the gut that felt like it might just come out through the other side. The force behind the kick made him roll a few feet to the side, leaving him sprawled and disoriented on the floor.
“I know you learned to play dirty in the war. Seems like you forgot the beautiful art of deception and taking a few punches to land the most important one,” the Commander sneered at him as he strode over and then bent down to pull Steve up by his hair - then punched him right in the face. Before Steve could see through the spots filling his vision, a hand was on his throat, painfully tight, lifting him up with all the strength he knew he possessed and then some.
Steve struggled, trying to land a kick of his own, but found his body slammed backwards into a wall and the fingers replaced by a forearm on his throat, threatening to break his neck and depriving his lungs of air. A countdown started in the back of his mind, telling him how long he had to land a punch and get himself free before he no longer could, but the Commander was pressing his body just close enough to make his struggling ineffective.
“Tony, come out,” the Commander called out, voice strained as Steve tried to twist himself free one more time, his legs working to hit something that would make the other’s stance falter. He was fighting himself, though, and it was starting to dawn on him that all the tricks he had up his sleeve were known to his opponent. The Commander wasn’t trying to punch the daylights out of him, but instead waited for his body to shut down on its own from lack of oxygen.
Steve’s eyes searched the room wildly, trying to see an out - to see whether Tony was taking the bait. He ached to tell him not to, but Tony was notorious for following his own instincts, and seeing as Steve had just about lost the fight…
A door opened farther down the length of the room; it wasn’t the lab Tony had entered, but it put some distance between them as Tony took off running towards the windows.
The Commander pushed away from Steve, letting his body drop to the floor like a discarded toy. Steve’s lungs struggled to draw in air and keep himself from falling unconscious. He kept his head up even though his vision was still spotty and realized that no matter the head-start, Tony was going to be caught.
“Tony!” Steve called out in warning, not knowing where he was headed but knowing he wasn’t going to make it.
Tony, the idiot that he was, turned to look over his shoulder - then stopped entirely, calling out to the computer-voice. He turned towards the Commander who promptly came to a halt, seeing as his prey was no longer moving. They faced each other, Tony looking like he was going to fight, which made Steve struggle to get to his feet, knowing his teammate was outmatched out of his armor.
He heard bits and pieces of their exchange, Tony’s retorts sharp while the Commander was trying to convince him of what had passed for truth in his world. Steve was glad for Tony’s quick wit because he would have had no idea what to say to the man in response to his claims.
Heavy footsteps from the far side of the room made Steve fix his gaze in that direction, and to his relief he saw Tony’s armor begin a steady approach; Tony suddenly seemed more confident while the Commander grew wary.
As the two of them spoke, Steve focused on getting his body under his control again, knowing that time was of the essence but that he also needed his wits about him if he wanted to win against the Commander. Failure sat ill with him, after all these years, and if anyone asked Steve, he was far from finished.
Problem was, as much as he could do this all day - so could his opponent, most likely. He needed to be aware of that and think of alternative ways to defeat him, and that was where teamwork entered the picture: with the armor in play, Tony could tilt the scale in their favor. Steve wasn’t about to leave Tony to battle the Commander alone, though, and he began searching for his shield in order to get back in the fight.
Locating the metal disc with his eyes, he pushed himself up and proceeded to walk over to his trusty weapon, carefully bending down to retrieve it, not making a sound.
The Commander’s attention was completely aimed at Tony, his hand reaching into his pocket for something - a weapon, perhaps - and Tony was retreating towards his armor which was opening up at the front in a very complex-looking way.
It was definitely a warning sign that Steve had difficulty focusing on their conversation, even though it was getting easier by the second. When he heard Tony use the words ‘Avengers’ and ‘team’ in the same sentence, he knew the other was expecting him to join the fight. It wasn’t like Tony to ask for help, but Steve knew they should not underestimate the Commander - especially when he had boasted that he had extensive knowledge of Tony’s armor and fighting style.
Steve ordered himself to move, sensing they were running out of time. It didn’t matter who made the first move because the other two would adapt to it, but he still had a feeling they shouldn’t let the Commander set the pace of the fight any more than he already had.
As he approached, eyes moving between the Commander, Tony, and the armor, he saw the Commander removing his hand from his pocket, an item between his fingers. It was small, the shape and size of a coin, but he didn’t get a good look at it before the Commander launched towards Tony.
Instinctively, Tony moved back to get out of the way, which made it easy for the Commander to move his foot and unbalance Tony. The Commander swiped Tony’s legs from under him - just as Steve expected he would - but instead of immediately going after him, Steve’s alternative counterpart rushed the armor instead, his weight tackling it to the floor as if the suit didn’t have full control while still waiting for Tony to get inside.
The Commander turned back towards Tony, who was trying to move away as quickly as possible, but the super-soldier was faster, yanking him back by his shoulder. Tony’s elbow almost caught the Commander in the face before the man pressed down on Tony with all his weight, hands reaching for his face.
Steve forced his feet to move faster, sprinting forward. His first instinct was to throw his shield but he didn’t want to let go of it when their enemy could handle it with the same knowledge he did. He came to regret it a second later when the Commander reached his goal and pressed the tiny disk-device against the side of Tony’s face.
The effect was immediate: Tony screamed and jerked, then went completely still.
Steve had led troops into battle in dozens of missions before his long sleep in the ice. He knew the signs when victory began slipping from their grasp, the momentum tilting in their enemy’s favor - and losing his only advantage in this battle was a sure sign that if he did not act swiftly, they were not going to recover.
With a yell of determination, Steve tackled the Commander, forcing the man off Tony’s unmoving form. His opponent grunted and hissed, rolling to recover his balance, and Steve quickly did the same, backing up, shield raised between them as he remained crouched beside Tony.
He chanced a quick look at the man. “What did you do to him?!” he demanded, eyes on the Commander; he could not afford to let him out of his sight, knowing such a mistake would cost him dearly.
“He’s merely unconscious,” the Commander replied, rising to his feet. “I didn’t come here to fight you, but if you refuse to get out of my way…” he threatened, taking a few slow steps towards Steve.
Knowing that he needed to even out the playfield, Steve got to his feet. He could do nothing for Tony right now - not before he had subdued the threat standing before him. “If you know me at all - which I think you do - you’ll know that I won’t budge an inch,” Steve promised.
A hard smile countered his words. “We can do this all day,” the Commander agreed. “However, I don’t intend to make this last.”
The fingers of Steve’s shield arm tightened into a fist. “We’ll see,” he vowed.
With a sneer, the Commander attacked. Steve met him head on, thrusting his shield and shoulder up as he dodged lower, throwing the other’s body up and over. Most men would have crashed down, but the Commander reacted just in time to grip the edge of Steve’s shield. That resulted in both of them falling down, Steve’s left forearm flaring with pain as his opponent used the shield to twist his arm while his legs wrapped around Steve’s body.
Knowing he needed to get free and fast, Steve wriggled his arm free of the shield’s straps and fought to turn around in the other’s hold, punching before he could even see his target.
The Commander parried the strike but wasted precious seconds tossing Steve’s shield to the side, unable to block the next punch. Steve didn’t let up, his advantage shaky at best. Beneath him the Commander snarled, trying to catch one of his hands - then Steve felt his lower body shifting and the Commander boosted his lower half off the floor, one knee almost catching the side of Steve’s head.
Rolling to the side to avoid being caught in a hold that might break him, Steve struggled to his feet and advanced, knowing that he had the upper hand until the Commander got to his feet. He fully intended to use that against him, but the Commander surprised him by not even attempting to get fully upright, instead ramming his body towards Steve’s while he was barely on his knees, almost tackling him back to the floor.
He kept his footing but something seriously hurt in his gut at the impact, signaling to Steve that he probably had injuries from their first round that required medical attention. Hell, it was possible the shotgun wounds were still acting up, seeing as it wasn’t that long ago he was lying in a hospital bed.
With his reaction time lagging, the Commander seized the opportunity and without hesitation or a flicker of sympathy elbowed Steve in the groin. Without a uniform to absorb some of the blow, the pain brought Steve to his knees - just in time for the Commander to stand and deliver one last kick to his head that sent him to the floor, the world spinning violently.
“You got in my way, Captain,” the man told him, almost as if he regretted their fight. “Should we cross paths in the future, do not make the same mistake.”
Steve saw his boot swinging towards him before he felt the heat of pain on his face and neck and everything went dark, swallowing the pain with it.
to be continued…
Story info
Author: Del Rion (delrion.mail (at) gmail.com)
Fandom: The Avengers & Captain America (MCU)
Timeline: post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Genre: Drama, action, hurt/comfort
Rating: MA / FRAO
Characters: Steve Rogers (Captain America), Tony Stark (Iron Man). Also: Bruce Banner (Hulk), James “Bucky” Barnes (Winter Soldier), Clint Barton (Hawkeye), J.A.R.V.I.S., James “Rhodey” Rhodes (War Machine), Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow), Thor, Sam Wilson (Falcon)
Pairing: Steve/Tony
Summary: When the Steve Rogers from an alternate universe appears in the middle of the Avengers Tower, two worlds are about to collide: one where Captain America became the tool of HYDRA and fell into a relationship with the hero Iron Man - and one where Tony and Steve are tentatively getting along. The latter are forced to reconsider their relationship when the Commander kidnaps Tony to replace his dead lover.
Complete.
Written for: A story commissioned by Susanne (ChickenHax @ AO3 / starkred @ Tumblr).
Warnings: Rape/non-con, major character death (alternate universe), graphic canonical violence, M/M sexual content, language.
~ ~ ~
Chapter 5: The Duel
From the second he’d wedged himself between Tony and his counterpart from some alternative reality, Steve had known it was going to come to blows. He wasn’t looking forward to it, but the other man was out of line and seeing Tony go on the defensive made up Steve’s mind for him.
Steve was hyper-aware of the tight grip the Commander had on Tony’s arm. Despite his warning, the other man wasn’t letting go, and for some reason it felt like he really didn’t care for the Tesseract at all. Steve wasn’t certain why exactly they were fighting - or what the Commander really wanted - but he was going to take him down and ask those questions later.
It wasn’t chivalry that made Steve act, although he would have always defended a dame being handled in such a way. Tony was no dame, but he was his teammate and this HYDRA agent wearing his body was a threat. Until Tony got into one of his suits, Steve was going to look out for him, knowing he was at a disadvantage.
Every time the other Steve spoke about his life - and his obvious connection to Tony - he got a feeling akin to taking a punch in the gut. Steve wasn’t innocent; he understood what lay beyond the insinuations, and they made his skin crawl. He stayed out of it, listening and trying to learn their enemy that way, knowing that Tony was the one with words and would eventually make the Commander reveal his true colors.
Indeed, it did not take long before Tony hit a nerve of some kind, and the Commander’s grip must have tightened if the sound of pain coming from Tony was any indication. Steve knew his own strength - that he could crack bones when he wanted to - and he pressed his shield more firmly against the Commander’s body, trying to put an extra inch between him and Tony. “I told you to let go of him,” Steve reminded, readying himself for a fight. “I won’t ask again.”
“Your time is up, Captain,” his scarred copy replied in a snarl, but instead of issuing some threat, he returned to the one topic that kept throwing Steve off: “You wasted your chance with him. I won’t make the same mistake.”
Steve almost missed the shift in the other’s balance, the Commander’s free hand coming up to strike him, but Steve lifted his shield just in time, slamming his hand up and then thrusting forward, smashing the shield into his copy’s face.
Tony wrenched himself free behind him, falling back. Steve was just about to check on him, to make sure he was okay, when the Commander recovered faster than he thought he would, spinning and kicking Steve high in the chest, sending him flying backwards; he crashed on top of some piece of upended furniture that cracked beneath his weight and collapsed like a house of cards.
His muscles singing with readiness, Steve rolled back to his feet, eyes on his target. “Tony, get out,” he called through the ache in his chest, not wanting Tony to get caught in the middle - holding the Tesseract of all things.
“Just let me get rid of the Tesseract and I’ll help you beat him up,” Tony replied, much as Steve should have expected.
He nodded his agreement, eyes still on the Commander who was slowly removing the shield from his back - a motion Steve was quite familiar with. The body armor was much like his stealth suit had been, designed by S.H.I.E.L.D. - or possibly by HYDRA, as it turned out. No wonder there were similarities…
The Commander let out a scoff, like he was disappointed with his adversary, and Steve moved forward, to show him just how wrong he was. He was not going to lose to a version of himself that was part of HYDRA - not when there was still fight left in him. The other might not be from their world, but wherever he came from, taking him down would be for the better.
As Steve rushed into an attack, the Commander stood his ground - then shifted at the last moment, trying to attack Steve from the side. Predicting it, seeing as it was a tactic he often used, Steve twisted accordingly, bringing up his shield to block the impending attack.
The collision of vibranium against vibranium felt like it was going to grind into Steve’s bones, pain radiating down his arm. It took him by surprise, having never experienced it before.
His counterpart either shook the shock of the impact faster or didn’t feel the pain, socking Steve in the jaw with a fist that felt like it was metal covered by flesh. Steve flew back, reflexively blocking the next strike and trying to get in one of his own, but the Commander was just as fast.
They circled each other viciously, throwing punches, blocking them, testing each other’s fighting styles, finding them nigh identical. Steve noticed the Commander was fractionally less agile, perhaps due to some old injuries seeing as he had been awake longer, and he decided that would give him an edge.
“Nice try,” the other growled after Steve had rolled to the side, kicked back from a wall and managed to elbow the Commander in the juncture of his neck and shoulder. “You’re running out of time, though.”
“Better make this fast, then,” Steve spat back. “I’m not the one going down.”
“Oh, but you are,” the Commander informed him, as if he knew it for a fact.
“How d’ya figure?”
“Because you have nothing at stake in this fight.”
Steve stilled for an instant. “I can think of plenty -”
“Bullshit,” the other hissed. “You’re fighting me because you think that’s the right thing to do. I’m fighting for something I love.”
Tony…
“He’s not the man you knew,” Steve told the other, slowly positioning his body in between the Commander and the lab where Tony had disappeared. “I’m sure you came here with a purpose, but he isn’t it.”
“You have no idea,” the Commander snapped and moved forward, throwing in a punch. Steve blocked it easily and kicked the other in the head, making him drop his shield. Knowing his chances had just improved, Steve moved forward, following the Commander’s attempt to evade his attack - then heard a familiar slip of metal from beneath him a second before his foot landed on his opponent’s fallen shield. The Commander gave it a shove, upsetting Steve’s balance, and in a fraction of a second he was going down, the other’s elbow following him, banging his skull into the floor.
Steve’s ears rang, skull throbbing painfully, blood flooding his mouth. He struggled to get up and received a vicious kick in the gut that felt like it might just come out through the other side. The force behind the kick made him roll a few feet to the side, leaving him sprawled and disoriented on the floor.
“I know you learned to play dirty in the war. Seems like you forgot the beautiful art of deception and taking a few punches to land the most important one,” the Commander sneered at him as he strode over and then bent down to pull Steve up by his hair - then punched him right in the face. Before Steve could see through the spots filling his vision, a hand was on his throat, painfully tight, lifting him up with all the strength he knew he possessed and then some.
Steve struggled, trying to land a kick of his own, but found his body slammed backwards into a wall and the fingers replaced by a forearm on his throat, threatening to break his neck and depriving his lungs of air. A countdown started in the back of his mind, telling him how long he had to land a punch and get himself free before he no longer could, but the Commander was pressing his body just close enough to make his struggling ineffective.
“Tony, come out,” the Commander called out, voice strained as Steve tried to twist himself free one more time, his legs working to hit something that would make the other’s stance falter. He was fighting himself, though, and it was starting to dawn on him that all the tricks he had up his sleeve were known to his opponent. The Commander wasn’t trying to punch the daylights out of him, but instead waited for his body to shut down on its own from lack of oxygen.
Steve’s eyes searched the room wildly, trying to see an out - to see whether Tony was taking the bait. He ached to tell him not to, but Tony was notorious for following his own instincts, and seeing as Steve had just about lost the fight…
A door opened farther down the length of the room; it wasn’t the lab Tony had entered, but it put some distance between them as Tony took off running towards the windows.
The Commander pushed away from Steve, letting his body drop to the floor like a discarded toy. Steve’s lungs struggled to draw in air and keep himself from falling unconscious. He kept his head up even though his vision was still spotty and realized that no matter the head-start, Tony was going to be caught.
“Tony!” Steve called out in warning, not knowing where he was headed but knowing he wasn’t going to make it.
Tony, the idiot that he was, turned to look over his shoulder - then stopped entirely, calling out to the computer-voice. He turned towards the Commander who promptly came to a halt, seeing as his prey was no longer moving. They faced each other, Tony looking like he was going to fight, which made Steve struggle to get to his feet, knowing his teammate was outmatched out of his armor.
He heard bits and pieces of their exchange, Tony’s retorts sharp while the Commander was trying to convince him of what had passed for truth in his world. Steve was glad for Tony’s quick wit because he would have had no idea what to say to the man in response to his claims.
Heavy footsteps from the far side of the room made Steve fix his gaze in that direction, and to his relief he saw Tony’s armor begin a steady approach; Tony suddenly seemed more confident while the Commander grew wary.
As the two of them spoke, Steve focused on getting his body under his control again, knowing that time was of the essence but that he also needed his wits about him if he wanted to win against the Commander. Failure sat ill with him, after all these years, and if anyone asked Steve, he was far from finished.
Problem was, as much as he could do this all day - so could his opponent, most likely. He needed to be aware of that and think of alternative ways to defeat him, and that was where teamwork entered the picture: with the armor in play, Tony could tilt the scale in their favor. Steve wasn’t about to leave Tony to battle the Commander alone, though, and he began searching for his shield in order to get back in the fight.
Locating the metal disc with his eyes, he pushed himself up and proceeded to walk over to his trusty weapon, carefully bending down to retrieve it, not making a sound.
The Commander’s attention was completely aimed at Tony, his hand reaching into his pocket for something - a weapon, perhaps - and Tony was retreating towards his armor which was opening up at the front in a very complex-looking way.
It was definitely a warning sign that Steve had difficulty focusing on their conversation, even though it was getting easier by the second. When he heard Tony use the words ‘Avengers’ and ‘team’ in the same sentence, he knew the other was expecting him to join the fight. It wasn’t like Tony to ask for help, but Steve knew they should not underestimate the Commander - especially when he had boasted that he had extensive knowledge of Tony’s armor and fighting style.
Steve ordered himself to move, sensing they were running out of time. It didn’t matter who made the first move because the other two would adapt to it, but he still had a feeling they shouldn’t let the Commander set the pace of the fight any more than he already had.
As he approached, eyes moving between the Commander, Tony, and the armor, he saw the Commander removing his hand from his pocket, an item between his fingers. It was small, the shape and size of a coin, but he didn’t get a good look at it before the Commander launched towards Tony.
Instinctively, Tony moved back to get out of the way, which made it easy for the Commander to move his foot and unbalance Tony. The Commander swiped Tony’s legs from under him - just as Steve expected he would - but instead of immediately going after him, Steve’s alternative counterpart rushed the armor instead, his weight tackling it to the floor as if the suit didn’t have full control while still waiting for Tony to get inside.
The Commander turned back towards Tony, who was trying to move away as quickly as possible, but the super-soldier was faster, yanking him back by his shoulder. Tony’s elbow almost caught the Commander in the face before the man pressed down on Tony with all his weight, hands reaching for his face.
Steve forced his feet to move faster, sprinting forward. His first instinct was to throw his shield but he didn’t want to let go of it when their enemy could handle it with the same knowledge he did. He came to regret it a second later when the Commander reached his goal and pressed the tiny disk-device against the side of Tony’s face.
The effect was immediate: Tony screamed and jerked, then went completely still.
Steve had led troops into battle in dozens of missions before his long sleep in the ice. He knew the signs when victory began slipping from their grasp, the momentum tilting in their enemy’s favor - and losing his only advantage in this battle was a sure sign that if he did not act swiftly, they were not going to recover.
With a yell of determination, Steve tackled the Commander, forcing the man off Tony’s unmoving form. His opponent grunted and hissed, rolling to recover his balance, and Steve quickly did the same, backing up, shield raised between them as he remained crouched beside Tony.
He chanced a quick look at the man. “What did you do to him?!” he demanded, eyes on the Commander; he could not afford to let him out of his sight, knowing such a mistake would cost him dearly.
“He’s merely unconscious,” the Commander replied, rising to his feet. “I didn’t come here to fight you, but if you refuse to get out of my way…” he threatened, taking a few slow steps towards Steve.
Knowing that he needed to even out the playfield, Steve got to his feet. He could do nothing for Tony right now - not before he had subdued the threat standing before him. “If you know me at all - which I think you do - you’ll know that I won’t budge an inch,” Steve promised.
A hard smile countered his words. “We can do this all day,” the Commander agreed. “However, I don’t intend to make this last.”
The fingers of Steve’s shield arm tightened into a fist. “We’ll see,” he vowed.
With a sneer, the Commander attacked. Steve met him head on, thrusting his shield and shoulder up as he dodged lower, throwing the other’s body up and over. Most men would have crashed down, but the Commander reacted just in time to grip the edge of Steve’s shield. That resulted in both of them falling down, Steve’s left forearm flaring with pain as his opponent used the shield to twist his arm while his legs wrapped around Steve’s body.
Knowing he needed to get free and fast, Steve wriggled his arm free of the shield’s straps and fought to turn around in the other’s hold, punching before he could even see his target.
The Commander parried the strike but wasted precious seconds tossing Steve’s shield to the side, unable to block the next punch. Steve didn’t let up, his advantage shaky at best. Beneath him the Commander snarled, trying to catch one of his hands - then Steve felt his lower body shifting and the Commander boosted his lower half off the floor, one knee almost catching the side of Steve’s head.
Rolling to the side to avoid being caught in a hold that might break him, Steve struggled to his feet and advanced, knowing that he had the upper hand until the Commander got to his feet. He fully intended to use that against him, but the Commander surprised him by not even attempting to get fully upright, instead ramming his body towards Steve’s while he was barely on his knees, almost tackling him back to the floor.
He kept his footing but something seriously hurt in his gut at the impact, signaling to Steve that he probably had injuries from their first round that required medical attention. Hell, it was possible the shotgun wounds were still acting up, seeing as it wasn’t that long ago he was lying in a hospital bed.
With his reaction time lagging, the Commander seized the opportunity and without hesitation or a flicker of sympathy elbowed Steve in the groin. Without a uniform to absorb some of the blow, the pain brought Steve to his knees - just in time for the Commander to stand and deliver one last kick to his head that sent him to the floor, the world spinning violently.
“You got in my way, Captain,” the man told him, almost as if he regretted their fight. “Should we cross paths in the future, do not make the same mistake.”
Steve saw his boot swinging towards him before he felt the heat of pain on his face and neck and everything went dark, swallowing the pain with it.
to be continued…
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