Sentinel/Guide AU for starkingenuity

[starspangledspandex]

Things have been going remarkably well between them. Even if the beginning was somewhat rocky, their compatibility was obvious and not just to them. Steve was old-fashioned and though his instincts made it clear what they wanted, he did things the "right" way. There were dates and gifts and just general wooing. They talked about it and they were ready.

He smiled at Tony, watching him as he worked and couldn't stand it anymore. "Tonight," he said, then added, for clarity, "We should bond tonight."

Maybe not the most romantic proposal but he figured he shouldn't smother Tony in it anyway or the man would get sick of it. No the rarity made it special.

Comments

[starspangledspandex]

Hydra acknowledges Steve's abilities but without the shield, parkouring off a fifteen story building becomes a lot more dangerous and bullets kill people, quickly. The Soldier might play off of him well because of the bond but the rest of the team just wouldn't adapt fast enough. It's easier to do this.

A trap. It's a trap. His handlers had warned him that people would say things to trick him, to catch him off guard and this man is between him and his mission.

The voice... does he know that voice? His gaze shifts slightly, trying recall, but he doesn't know anything so Tony gets a grenade instead.

[starkingenuity]

Really? A grenade? Well it wasn't like he could just use his repulsors on it, the damned thing would blow up! He grabbed the weapon and shot up through the roof before he threw it upward. It would cause far less damage than inside, but it would leave the vault wide open.

Luckily, the rest of the group had managed to overpower the Soldier-- And no matter his training, the Soldier was the Captain's Guide...and the Soldier was in a lot of trouble now, held down by Mjolnir.

[starspangledspandex]

He started forward, toward the open door and then the desperate wash of danger came rushing through the bond. His Guide needed him and no matter what torture Hydra put them through they couldn't remove the instinct of a Sentinel to go to the side of his Guide.

The Captain is near feral when he hits Thor, snarling because he recognizes the hammer and he doesn't like that it's trapping his Guide, not one bit.

[starkingenuity]

Thor flew through the wall again, which he was starting to find pretty unappealing, leaving the trio from before to handle Steve. Though all three were Guides, the Super Sentinel did not have the same issue as other Sentinels did hurting them. And it certainly didn't help that Steve was obviously on the edge of a full out berserk.

There was only one option here, and that was to make the Soldier and the Captain flee-- Bruce was called in on a Code Green, and while it wasn't ideal, by the end of the day they did manage to save the diplomats.

And locate Steve.

Their handlers weren't happy at all with the pair, but wisely, allowed them to stay together for the time being. They couldn't keep Steve in line without Bucky, and they couldn't handle Steve at all right now.

[starspangledspandex]

Once the Hulk shows up, they have to leave. They didn't have have a choice. The two of them were good at being ghosts and assassins, but they couldn't handle the Avengers in their own.

Steve stuck to Bucky like a magnet, still a little wild and jittery as they made their way back to the safe house and he snarled at the first Hydra handler that thought about separating them.

He paced in their room, keeping himself between the door and Bucky, while he tried to work off the adrenaline of defending him. Luckily for everyone, he didn't berserk easily and was still lucid but it was a very near thing.

The Captain knew they were being watched, knew their handlers were listening and so, for now, he stewed on the man in the metal suit. His voice... it was so familiar. It made his bond feel uncomfortable. He wasn't sure he liked that.

"Status?" he demanded of his Guide, even if the man was also Sentinel, his instincts clearly focused on the Guide portion.

[starkingenuity]

The Soldier was quiet for a moment and tried to focus on any pain that might have been numbed out by training or the virtue of the serum he had been force fed for years.

"Two ribs have been broken and the arm needs to be repaired." His middle finger wouldn't rotate properly. It was minor all together.

The Soldier removed his mask and the carefully reached towards the Captain to do the same. He couldn't express himself properly through words or outright emotion but the bond was there--

And it was wavering.

Why?

The Soldier grimaced. "I am not adequate for you?"

[starspangledspandex]

His Guide's injuries made him unhappy. It meant their handlers would have to come in and get close to patch up his ribs, but also to fix his arm. It might be minor but the Sentinel wasn't thrilled regardless.

The Captain held still so the other man could pull off his mask and his forehead creased slightly, gaze shifting away and back again. "The man in the suit," he said, shaking his head, it didn't answer the Soldier's question. He didn't really have an answer.

"I don't know."

[starkingenuity]

The Soldier felt something that he wasn't use to. His head felt like someone was pushing in on it or trying to push it's way out and his chest was tight too. Not from the ribs. There was a quiet anguish through the double ended bond he shared with the Captain. No amount of brain washing could take that from him. Not when it was so firmly anchored into his being like the need to breathe.

"It is a secondary target. Iron Man. He was not on the list today to take out but if we see the armor again, it should become a priority to destroy it."

[starspangledspandex]

"I knew him..." he whispered even though it didn't make sense. How could he? He was a weapon. A tool. All he knew was his current mission and his bondmate.

There were stirrings in the hallway outside the room. He could hear the handlers and he wasn't sure why they were scrambling a little but he didn't like it.

[starkingenuity]

"You only know him as a secondary target," the Soldier insisted. He knew what happened when memories other than missions or each other resurfaced. It had been branded into him. He learned to fear it. He might be the designated Guide, but The Captain also had Guide in him and the Soldier feared for his safely.

If the blond kept insisting on this memory, it would be pain for them both. Bucky smudged the masking makeup around his Captain's eyes.

"Confirm target status of Iron Man, Captain."

[starspangledspandex]

The Captain doubted, which wasn't necessarily new, but it was The Soldier's job to keep him grounded and placated. Hydra was wary of doing the wiping procedure too often. They didn't want their prizes put out of commission.

Yet, if he continued this they would have to go through it again.

He hesitated, eyeing the man and feeling his fear. If it was only him, he might have pushed but they were linked together and he couldn't bring himself to cause his Guide pain.

"Iron Man secondary target, confirmed," he said, though it felt wrong. He would do what he needed to in order to keep The Soldier safe.

[starkingenuity]

"He was so close," Tony whispered into his glass. The man spent more time being drunk and on missions to find Steve than anything else. Luckily, his company pretty much just ran without him.

There was so much bitterness that most of the Avengers tended to steer clear. Tony was not the man he had been. But what Guide was who lost a Sentinel? They didn't have the luxury of going insane and dying. They just tended to fade away.

Sam knew how that was. He still struggled. And Tony wasn't as low as he use to be so he just listened to him talk for now.

It wouldn't be too long until HYDRA decided to play pick off the UN one by one. Diplomats were dying, not the way they had hoped in one blow but it was getting there. The Avengers tended to show up too late however... But not late enough for the Captain not to catch glimpses of the one he seemed to know but no remember.

It was straining their perfect unit. Or had been. At least until HYDRA decided to take out the reason that the Captain was becoming more difficult to keep in line each time.

Iron Man was no longer the secondary target. He was the primary target. And the Soldier and the Captain were sent out expressly to destroy it.

[starspangledspandex]

In the back of the armored van, he raised his mask to fasten over his face. He wasn't as stable as Hydra would like but they didn't have any other options. They couldn't send one without the other. It didn't work well. They were their best team.

Hydra didn't know just how much Tony had said to their Captain.

If they killed the man, he would never know for sure why he bothered The Captain so much. Steve Rogers. The name lingered in his mind. Hydra didn't know he knew it. His gaze was distant as he thought about it. He was conditioned to not want to remember but he just... Had so many questions.

His gaze shifted to his Guide as the Captain strapped weapons on himself. They were upgraded. They were just men against a metal suit. They needed something to give them an edge.

[starkingenuity]

A metal suit and the security of one brilliant and troubled mind who surrounded himself with hi tech toys and a plethora of AI.

That was why they were going in early in the morning, when their target ought to be asleep or, according to intelligence, passed out from drinking. The Soldier went first as always, recon. The Captain was dropped on the roof. The terrain would be familiar in an unfamiliar way.

HYDRA monitored them closely until the Soldier manually cut the transmissions. There was too much interference with Stark's security systems. He moved quickly through the building to the penthouse, alert, while Tony sat in his lab playing a all of Duty.

[starspangledspandex]

He crouched, disarming a number of traps in his vicinity as he landed on the roof, then kept moving. The Captain listened to the chatter but it went through one side and out for the most part. He only kept relevant information and update.

The Captain set up and positioned himself to jump when the Soldier gave the word. The windows to the penthouse were solid, breakable panes of glass. He intended to smash right through them to surprise their target. So far, everything was going off without a hitch.

[starkingenuity]

"Proceed," the Soldier told his Captain as he took out civilians on the floors below the Penthouse and barricaded the hangar from opening. There would be no way for the Avengers to rescue their teammate save by flight and so he set himself a task of diverting the outer power cells into weapons.

He would give the Captain the time he needed to kill their Target. And because of the wipes, it didn't occur to the Soldier that he ought to be the one on point here with the Captain as backup.

So when Steve came barreling through the window, Tony merely held up one finger and sighed. "Let me save this, Steve."

[starspangledspandex]

He hit the ground in a roll, shrugging off the ropes and raised his weapon to the man that was decidedly not sleeping right now. Poor Intel, though not surprising. Iron Man tended to make his own rules.

The utter nonchalance startled him. Who would be so blase about someone pointing a gun at them?

He shifted slowly, putting himself between their target and the door. He kept his weapon trained on the man. No armor was good. He should just shoot him, right now, but he hesitated.

[starkingenuity]

So yeah. If Steve was going to shoot him, he would have done so without letting him say anything. He could have shot while breaking his window. This stupid Tower was such a waste of money sometimes! He replaced so many windows lately!

Tony exhaled and put the controller down before he stood slowly and turned to face his Sentinel.

"I was hoping to see you again. You keep leaving before I can tell you something. Steve--" He expected to be cut off with that name but he didn't care. "I love you. I should have told you that long before now."

[starspangledspandex]

He watched the man stand slowly and he was on guard for any sudden movements. When the man started talking, he let Tony finish without interruption. His mouth twitched behind the mask at the name but he said nothing until the end.

"I have a mate," he said, because that was true and he didn't remember anything else. "And I am not Steve. I am Captain."

[starkingenuity]

"I know you have a mate," Tony spat because this was probably pointless and he was probably going to die so he didn't really give two shits right now. There was an anger and a sadness there. "But you were suppose to be mine. You were mine, even if I was never yours."

But he was digressing.

"You're both Steve and the Captain you know?" Tony moved to the bar to make himself a drink. "Captain Steven Rogers of the US Army. Never any finer."

[starspangledspandex]

He just looked confused now because he didn't understand and didn't remember and this was probably all a trap.

But he knew him.

It was a feeling the Captain couldn't shake. Every time he saw the man, even in his iron suit, he got the same feeling. If they were meant to be bonded, it would make sense that he would have some kind of reaction to him. He knew the name too. It was familiar somehow.

No. No

"You're my mission," he said, instead of sharing the doubt through his scattered and confused mind. His grip on the gun shifted like he didn't have a good hold on it even though he certainly did.

[starkingenuity]

"Your mission to do what? Break my windows? Chat with me? It can't be to kill me. I know you're one of the only Sentinels alive capable of killing a Guide, but you're not exactly shooting me."

He poured himself some scotch and turned to lean back against the bar.

"JARVIS? His about you play some home movies? Steve's last birthday." Tony had kissed Steve in more or less public for the first time last July. He knew his cameras caught it because he'd been watching old footage for months now, remembering how Steve had been.

And they had danced too, as the fireworks went off. They were happy.

[starspangledspandex]

Steve watched, because it was there and in his face. The man in the video was laughing, eyes warm as Tony dragged him from his seat and he wrapped his arms around him as they kissed, loving and romantic. It was completely the opposite of his own bonding and renewals.

"Stop it," he snarled, confusion and panic mounting in tandem. It was undoubtedly easy to feel through his side of his bond with the Soldier. He fired a number of warning rounds into the floor by Tony's feet. He should kill him. Why isn't he killing him!

He wasn't allowed to remember. It would hurt him and the Soldier. Hydra liked how quickly pain taught someone a lesson, especially on the scale they needed for a wipe.

[starkingenuity]

"Or what? You'll kill me?" Tony honestly wasn't buying it, not when his feet were shot at. How ridiculous. Steve wasn't even aiming. Tony, thankfully, didn't tease him about it.

Tony took another drink and turned his eyes towards the screen. He knew the Soldier was on the way. He was pretty sure that JARVIS had already managed to begin the emergency lock down protocols. Let him try to pound through six inches of steel.

"Go ahead. Kill me. I don't usually have a death wish, but it's killing me not being with you anyway."

[starspangledspandex]

The Sentinel snarled at him again. His mind was desperately unraveling and it was a horrible feeling. His handlers were going to put him back in the chair. Thanks to the bond, it would torture them both.

"Shut up," he demanded. He could feel the Soldier moving toward him. He could also hear the lockdown mechanisms firing and the steel plates came down over the windows.

He discarded the gun to lunge for the man.