Tony ran a hand down his face, blinking the tears out of his eyes before they came.
“Tony, I’m sorry!” There was a note of desperation in Cap’s voice there. Not willing himself to plead, but the unsaid shit hung in air anyway.
“Screw you…” Tony said again, mostly to himself. Somehow, they had ended up in an apocalypse where everything had gone to shit in a matter of days, over goddamn mushrooms for fucks sake. Of course, leave it to good ol’ Nazi punching Steve Rogers to get reckless at a time like this where one bite would cause you to lose your mind.
His mind is all Tony had, barely hanging on to the scraps of Jarvis and all his other inventions to keep himself protected. Rogers just hit things hard, and healed better than most, and had a death wish the size of a continent when no one was looking.
Figures Rogers to decide to check out early when most convenient, saving a few civilians, death by the hand of his friend.
Well, Tony wouldn’t let him. Not unless he had to. Steve had the serum, so he didn’t think he had to, yet.
Tony turned to Bruce, keeping his eyes there and ignoring the sad-eyed American hero wishing the doctor would just put him down.
“Monitor him. Stash him somewhere, keep him chained to a bathroom, I don’t care. Just- let me know if- if anything changes. Or if nothing changes.”
Bruce just looked sad. They had all been scared to death by the idea of an infected Hulk running around the place. What would they get with an infected super soldier?
“Okay Tony, I’ll-… I’ll do what I can.” Bruce said. “But if he-“
“Then we’ll deal with it.” Tony turned to Steve. “You hear that Rogers. Well deal with it. But not before.”
Steve looked a little vacant, staring down at the bloody mass beneath his torn glove.
“Will it hurt?” He asked.
The thing was, Tony didn’t know. Rhodes hadn’t said a god damn thing before it happened. Back then Tony hadn’t even known to look for something wrong.
“Let’s just hope we never have to know.”
I am CONSUMED by this au idea!
- takes place somewhere slightly pre- CA: Winter Soldier. (So around when the game has the outbreak set)
- Tony is in his post Iron Man 3 era. He and Pepper were in separate parts of the states when the outbreak hit, so he’s not entirely sure where she is or if she’s alive. His goal is to find her.
- Tony, Bruce, and Steve are a main team in this au. Got separated from Clint and Natasha a while ago. Clint’s been trying to take care of his family.
- once Tony and Bruce figure out that Steve is immune to getting infected, their big goal is to find a cure through that, ei, using the serum as a potential blueprint to fight cordycepts. There’s a lot of failed attempts though and they’re not sure if it would only be a preventative, or if it could be administered after the fact. Or if they can figure it out at all, mass produce it, and avoid a lot of nasty side effects that came with Steve’s initial run of serum, yk, from the 40s.
- Sam Wilson gets involved in this AU somehow. (Cause I love him) he and Steve met me thinks, just before outbreak, so like, that beginning of CA:WS and Cap is out and running? That happens and he and Sam meet. Ounce outbreak happens, Steve and Nat hide out in DC a bit, using the VA office Sam works at as a shelter. Of course it all goes to shit and they get overrun with infected.
- Steve gets separated from Sam and Nat, and is trying to find them again. Nat is trying to find Clint who was with his family last she knew. Tony and Bruce, who were in New York, had to flee cause the government started bombing all the major cities to stop the outbreak. Rhodey died there :( (I’m sorry, some of you have to go, you can’t all have plot armor. Nick Fury, you’re also on that list) Pepper was in LA at the time. Tony thinks she got out before they started bombing it. He hopes.
- Steve meets up with Tony and Bruce.
- Nat and Sam meet up with Clint. And Sam also eventually finds this straggler in the outskirts of DC. A man with a metal arm absolutely covered in infected bites. But he’s not infected himself. Nat recognizes him as the Winter Soldier and doesn’t understand how he can be here.
- bruh, imagine coming out of Cryo-freeze for some “taking out the commander or SHIELD” mission and then the world literally goes apeshit right in the middle of it and people start going fucking nuts.
- hey Steve, it’s okay. I know it feels like the world is falling apart around you, but guess what! Your best buddy you lost 70 years ago? He’s alive! And he doesn’t know who he is, and has been fighting infected Hydra all the way here to see you!
- Also Thor is here. He was just in England visiting Jane, but now there’s a very hazardous infectious outbreak on Midgard so it’s unsafe for him to return to Asgard. I can’t decide if Asgardians are susceptible to Cordycepts. Maybe they are, it’s just they can get infected but they remain sane. The fungus just eats away at their flesh tho, so it’s a very slow death. Not fun for Thor. Since post Thor:TDW Loki is ruling, I bet there’s some low level guilt at leaving his father to live on an infected world, and now his brother, who doesn’t know his father is down there, and that Loki is alive… posing as his father…. Guilt.
Honestly, I just live dreaming up shit for this concept, this might be an on and off spitball of ideas for me. If anyone else wants to take this concept and run with it, feel free, I’d love to see other takes.
My other adjacent post to this is here, probably a direct aftermath of this current bit.
yousharknotpass
dailybridgerton
tangentwithtanner
annaxmalina
baratheonpilled
pixelskylines
dededos
vaporwave
