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[starkingenuity]

Tony had planned to run for a very, very long time. After his parents had died and he was no longer under their protection to skip annual screenings, he had started to make plans to leave. The trouble was, having a silver spoon in your mouth at all times made the thought of leave the known world pretty awful and Tony, a creature of comfort by then, did not want to leave his home and his riches and his toys.

Uncle Obi shared his secret and together they kept the Stark Empire afloat. Tony was rich enough to pay off the yearly census. For awhile at least.

But that was before the Chitauri came and did what no one in the world thought was even possible in the days before they attempted to take over. They released bombs to kill Guides, specifically. Just like that, millions of Guides around the world perished.

If it hadn't been for the Iron Man armor, he would have died as well.

He'd only just met Steve Rogers, one of his father's friends during World War II, for mere moments before the hellicarier went to hell. He'd seen the way the Captain had looked at him, had smelled the air... It would have been impossible for a Sentinel to have known what he was outside of heat, but Steve was not just a Sentinel. And Tony knew he was in trouble even while he fought alongside the Captain.

Was it any wonder that Tony Stark was mysteriously gone before Loki was even captured or taken back to Asgard?

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[starkingenuity]

That was all Tony's fault. He was not as careful as he should have been because he didn't think anyone would come looking for him. He was eccentric. He lived alone in his mansion in Malibu or in the Tower. He let no one and nothing in. He was an inventor. He was an engineer. He was important but he had never tested out as a Guide and therefore, he wasn't part of the mandatory recall to shelters with whatever Guides were left.

They didn't need him. He wasn't important.

And so hanging out in Brazil at a posh, high end hotel drinking mai tais and watching the horrors of what was happening in America and the southern edges of Canada was how he spent his days. He was watching a program about bringing comfort Guides from Russia and the UK over to try and stop the civil war about to erupt between normals and the Sentinels in America when the lights went out.

It was Rio. These things happened. But it still made him stand up slowly and close the shutters on the balcony.

hehe!

[starspangledspandex]

Steve would have preferred less pomp and circumstance. SHIELD sent a whole team with him to search the area. Once a Stark, always a Stark, it seemed. If the man went underground in the middle of nowhere, he would have been significantly harder to track. Of course, the only real tracking that Steve did was standing in a place and confirming that Tony had been there.

He was growing more restless and agitated the longer it took to find him. They might be in another country but laws were different in the rest of the world. He didn't want to risk his Guide being claimed by anyone else. The team that was with him were either normals or bonded. SHIELD knew better than to send any other Sentinels with him.

"He's here," Steve confirmed and they shut down the power. The man wouldn't have given his real name so he didn't bother demanding his room number. He didn't need it anyway. His scent was clear as day. They set up. Surrounded the area. If this went Steve's way, they would have to keep the perimeter set up for a few days though honestly, the first time was all he needed to secure the bond. The rest would cement it but the first would keep anyone else from taking him.

His footsteps were almost silent as he made his way down the hallway and he stopped in front of Tony's room. He didn't bother knocking. He kicked the door in.

[starkingenuity]

Wow. Tony knew things were bad but he really had thought it would all blow over. He was an important man, even if SHIELD had never been too interested in him after he blew them off the first time that they came sniffing around. He honestly had no idea that SHIELD knew what he was...Tony didn't even really know what he was. He just followed his cycles, stayed inside for the few days he went into heat once a year and otherwise, he lived normally.

The documentaries he had been watching told him all about the Guide system. Paired up. Given purpose. Serving Sentinels near and far. Everyone had to do their duty to keep America safe-- It was bullshit. Tony had done his duty for twenty years thank you, without being tied down to a Sentinel.

He intended to keep it that way, even if he knew some pretty well built Sentinels in his day!

He'd just gone into the bathroom to take a piss while waiting for the lights to come back on when he heard the front door be kicked open and froze. No one did Guide Hunts these days. It wasn't the fucking Middle Ages! "J? Get the suit ready."

What was this?

"That's not coming out of my bill!" he called, zipped himself up, and went to see what the hell was going on. He really hoped there weren't riots.

[starspangledspandex]

Guide Hunts happened in every era. It was the reason the registration and census existed. It made compatibility searches easier. It gave people legal ways to be hooked up with a Guide. In Steve's defense, he tried to do it that way. He just wasn't going to be denied.

There were definitely Hunts while he was overseas during the war. He didn't get involved with them--Captain America reputation and all--but he heard the stories. He might have spent more than a few nights and showers envisioning his own Hunt.

He could hear what Tony was up to and he shut the ruined door behind him. Steve would give him a single chance to willingly submit. He was nice like that. He leaned against the wall as he listened to Tony come this way.

[starkingenuity]

With his cellphone held up as a flashlight, Tony was noticeably shocked to see Steve Rogers standing in the front hall of his hotel room. It did actually make him feel relieved. "You could have knocked," he said, glancing at the door, before a really terrible feeling started to settle over him.

Why would they chase him all the way here? It made absolutely no sense. Okay, there were a severe depopulation of Guides but... He was in South America.

It hit him quickly, all at once, and his pupils dilated. This wasn't a social call.

Tony keyed a few things into his phone and waited for two breaths before throwing the phone at Steve's head. It would detonate upon impact. Tony was already running to the balcony.

"J! I need the armor!"

[starspangledspandex]

Tony Stark wasn't a stupid man and Steve was well aware of that fact. It didn't take the man long to put together just why he was here. He could see the exact moment realization hit him and Steve opened his mouth to make the offer, only to find himself smacking Tony's phone away from him.

They were too close for him to avoid it. He wasn't entirely aware it was going to explode but he was already starting forward when it went off behind him. For a phone, it caused a surprising amount of damage. He could feel glass burrow itself in his back and arm. He was definitely bleeding and singed, but Steve ignored it. Tony was his target here. He needed to get to him.

He jumped the couch and sprinted for the balcony. Tony was giving him just what Steve wanted anyway. A proper Hunt.

[starkingenuity]

No! No Tony was not giving Steve anything but a boot up his ass if he got any closer. In desperation, Tony actually dived off of the balcony. He on the fourth floor, but the canopy of the partial roof belong him broke his fall. Yes, it hurt, but nothing was broken and he shimmied over the peak towards a column. But then, the suit of armor was actually ready and much as it had done while he was battling Loki, it shot out over Steve's head and tried to catch up with it's owner.

It was all very exciting for the people watching, one man in a linen suit with a pink shirt suddenly enveloped by the Iron Man armor, another in the obvious Captain America uniform giving chase.

Of course, given what had happened a few months back, they were sure that they were working together, not that one was running from the other. Tony headed for the woods, for the jungle. He ought to have just headed up, but he thought radar might pick him up.

[starspangledspandex]

Four floors up was nothing to Steve. He leapt off the side of the balcony without hesitation and growled when Tony managed to get in his suit. He knew this wasn't going to be easy but that didn't make the suit less annoying.

"Prepare the jet," he said into his comms and there was a bike waiting for him to use to meet the jet. He tore through the town to the outskirts and boarded the jet in question. Tracking Tony in the suit was hard. He let them pull glass out of his arm and back while they tore through the air toward the jungle.

This time he was going to take his shield. He really didn't fancy getting hit by the repulsors too many times. "Please surrender yourself quietly," one of his SHIELD agents offered over the megaphone and Steve scoffed. He wasn't going to give himself up when he knew what was going to happen.

[starkingenuity]

"Fuck you," Tony shot back, commandeering the speakers. "Fuck all of you." He didn't exactly expect them to just fly away, tail between their legs, because of that reprimand, however.

He had no idea where he was. SHIELD was jamming JARVIS' nagivation but they hadn't pinpointed him yet and so Tony decided to take to ground.

It was not a very pleasant thought really, but he dived down through the mucky, silty jungle floor and let the repulsors bury him.

He was trying to rewrite programming as the suit did the work. The army had an armor afterall, taken from him by one of his best friends.

That meant that they might be able to find him.

"Sir?" The pilot was putting the plane down as far as she could. "He's two kilometers to the northwest. Look for the dirt plumes." Steve would have tp jump.

[starspangledspandex]

Fiesty. So fiesty. Steve liked that about Tony. It was never boring when the older man was around. He was going to be a great Guide. Of course, there were going to be sacrifices to forcing someone to bond him. SHIELD was currently refitting his quarters, just in case. Tony could make things incredibly difficult.

"Be ready for a pick up," he told her because so long as Tony had the suit, he was a flight risk. "Keep me updated."

Steve jumped, again with no hesitation and he rolled as he hit the ground. It was impressive and a good reminder of how dangerous the Sentinel was. He checked his compass and started running. It was hard moving through the underbrush and the muck, but he was fit and strong. He moved faster than most people so he covered the distance well.

It still took time and he was sure Tony would be preparing, but that would just add to thrill.

[starkingenuity]

The trouble with jamming JARVIS' signals was that...well. They were jamming everything. Tony had absolutely no idea, in the dark, that something was approaching and he was caught completely unawares until Steve was close enough to catch a glimpse of him in the corner of his eye as the suit sent him the full area in three dimensions.

The moment he was grabbed, he started to fight. This wasn't elegant and he already knew that Steve had the strength to rend the armor apart. He fought like a scrapper, blasting and punching the whole while.

"You don't have to do this! Captain, you really don't have to do this!"

[starspangledspandex]

His hand clamped around one of Tony's armored wrists. He knew just grabbing him didn't mean anything. Steve still needed to get him out of the suit which was a pain. If Tony couldn't behave, he wasn't going to need it anyway.

"I was going to give you a chance to submit to me," Steve told him, crushing and tearing pieces of the armor off. He cast them aside and grunted when Tony got a particularly good shot in. It didn't make him let go. "And I tried to go through the proper channels but you're not registered."

He twisted, throwing his weight and his strength behind the movement to get Tony on the ground.

[starkingenuity]

There were a lot of things that he had been expecting, but to be honest, this wasn't one of those things. To learn that Steve Rogers wasn't just going to collect him, drag him back to America and make him submit for testing and pairing...

That made this fight so much more desperate. A pairing would require a Guide's consent, in theory. That's what the television kept spouting. Anyone submitting could have their choice of Sentinels--

Tony could have a long legged, big breasted Sentinel and that wouldn't be so bad...if he was caught.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," Tony grunted, blasting at the Captain's face with his free hand. The other...well, the other was bare now, but that hopefully would make the Sentinel more careful not to break him. Tony tried to get a foot in his crotch next.

When that didn't work, he bounced off of the ground and kicked back, hoping the repulsors would shoot him from underneath Steve. He might go into a tree but a tree was better.

"I'm not the submitting type. You want a cute twenty-something. Trust me. More willing to go 50 shades with you!"

[starspangledspandex]

Oh no, there wasn't going to be any testing and pairing for Tony. Steve and SHIELD already knew that he was compatible with the super Sentinel. Maybe it was only gut instinct on his part but that was all people used to work on.

What the television and the media was spouting, was true for the most part. They were making it up to the Guides. However, they really weren't setting up repercussions for the Sentinels that took their Guides before the emergency procedures were implemented.

He snarled at the blast to his face. That hurt. He scrunched his eyes closed and shook his head, trying to clear it.

When he was yanked forward by the repulsors, he let go. He didn't want to break Tony's arm and where was the man going to go? Part of his armor was missing. He didn't suppose that flying would be easy or fun with one hand gone.

"All Guides are the submitting type," Steve told him as he stalked toward him. "Even if they like to pretend they're not. It keeps it interesting."

[starkingenuity]

"Oh, and you're suddenly a Guide ex--" Tony ended up getting his face smashed into a tree after all. The helmet took much of the shock but it was still enough to leave him utterly reeling. He clung partially to the tree he had hit, felt bark scrapping against he bare hand, and finally had JARVIS unload his missiles.

"I am sorry, Sir. All weapons are jammed."

"WEll un-jam them!" Tony didn't shriek, he wasn't quite there yet but he was getting to that point. He stood, facing the super Sentinel with his armor scratched up and his face set.

This wasn't how he intended to go out but sometimes you couldn't help it.

"I'm going to have to kill you, Cap. I didn't want to. But I'm not going to let you try to cozy up with me. I'm not the Guide you're looking for."

[starspangledspandex]

It was in a Guide's nature to submit to their Sentinel, at least eventually. There was nothing wrong with pretending otherwise. Rough and tumble was fine by him. SHIELD had brought him a handful of Guides. They were all sturdy agents that walked away with more than a few bruises but they were willing--and probably hopeful that Steve picked them to bond with him--but none of them fit.

Tony, however, caught his attention and kept it.

Steve slipped an EMP disc or two out of his belt. He doubted they would completely disable the suit but it might damage it and hopefully it would keep Tony from doing whatever he was planning.

"You don't think you're anyone's Guide," Steve snapped back, tossing both of the discs toward Tony. "How selfish can you be? You know what will happen to me without a Guide."

[starkingenuity]

"This is my life. Let me tell you how much I care what happens to you!" Tony deflected the first disc with the lone repulsor left in his gauntlet. The second clung to it and immediately powered down the arm. That left his legs and one bare hand. Great. He was going to need to get a hook or something.

It was hard to be a play boy with a hook for a hand!

Tony told JARVIS to manually release the plating on his back and with his still useful hand, he ripped out a missile to throw somewhat pathetically at Steve. It would still explode on contact at least.

The explosion kncoked him back and he groaned, unable to really push himself up as quickly as he might like.

[starspangledspandex]

Tony was just drawing this out now. The majority of his suit was no longer functioning and Steve, while injured, was far from immobile. He wasn't going to lose this fight. He wasn't going home without a Guide.

Steve swung his shield out from behind him and raised it to the thrown missile, crouching to protect as much of himself from the explosion as he could. It still knocked him back and off his feet, but well, he's definitely not dead.

He pushed himself to his feet with his shield and made his way toward Tony again. He was unhappy. Steve should have just had a sniper tranq him so he could abduct him. It would have been boring. He wouldn't have been as aroused by that kind of Hunt but he wouldn't have had to deal with the Iron Man suit. He appreciated it when he was fighting next to it but not when fighting against it.

[starkingenuity]

The whole of the moment was ridiculously awful. Tony was left to scrape along the ground in the jungles of Brazil catching who knew how many diseases and a man who had been a friend of his father's, whom he had found along beside, was about to do something truly terrible to him.

Tony could actually feel the armor being pulled off of him when Steve got right down to it and his mind immediately went to counting figures and expenses. And yes. He knew that was ridiculous considering what was going to happen to him here--

Tony closed his eyes and made one last ditch effort. "Clean Slate, J. Self destruct." The suit might...maybe...possibly...keep him alive.

[starspangledspandex]

Tony really wasn't getting anywhere. Steve might have been leading him on a little there which was clearly a mistake but he was a predator. He was taking some delight in what was about to happen. He cursed in his attempt to get the pieces of the armor off, was Tony insane?

Steve went for more of the discs, snapping and shoving two or three of them up in the wiring of the suit, behind Tony's neck. He was risking hurting Tony a little but they weren't strong enough to kill a person. They were created as a localized EMP and to paralyze the target. He could only hope they would override the self-destruct. He couldn't have his Guide dying just because he thought he didn't want to bond Steve.

He knew he didn't have long so if that didn't work, he supposed he would just start ripping out wiring and throw everything as far from them as he could, in the hopes he would pull out whatever was in charge of blowing them up.

HAHA! Is that the eyeroll icon? I love it. Shoukd get Tony some newer ones.

[starkingenuity]

Luckily for everyone, the EMPs worked on the suit but did not short out the arc reactor. Having Tony die while keeping him from dying would have been a genuine tragedy, considering just how precious he was as a viable Guide and for his mind.

Tony was forced to lay still. He could speak and yell, but nothing escaped the suit with the systems all down. That should give Steve all he needed to get Tony up and carried off if he wanted to go somewhere else for this.

So long as those discs were attached, Tony was literally going no where.

Haha! Yeah! "You just haaaad to ask"

[starspangledspandex]

It would have been a tragedy. Steve wasn't thinking about the reactor or it worked, but the suit must have shielded it enough to keep it from dying. He was thankful. He ignored any yelling from within the suit. He already knew Tony wasn't going to be happy about this turn in events.

Oh how the Sentinel in him would love to just have him right here. He was properly won. He would only really have to remove a few pieces of the armor. However, it was muddy and filthy. It would take a few days for the whole process to be complete and he wasn't entirely convinced there weren't other predators out here.

No, it was better to take him somewhere else.

"I'm bringing him in. Make sure my room is ready," he radioed and this wasn't going to be fun at all. He was going to have to carry Tony and the dead-weight of the suit out of here. It was probably easier than dragging a kicking and screaming Guide out of here, but only just. He did stop to rip Tony's other gauntlet off.

"Up you go," he muttered and he hauled the man in the suit over one shoulder with a grunt, then started back toward the jet.

[starkingenuity]

Inside the helmet, Tony was huffing and puffing. He could feel the condensation of his breath. He could feel his own fear. It was enough to leave him ready to vomit, and while it would have been fun to have Steve deal with that, Tony would have to deal with it even longer and so he held it in.

His whole body shook, contained within that suit, as Steve lifted the massive weight of the armor and himself inside of it. Once in the plane, he was rolled onto his back and the agents made preparations.

"Are we going back to New York or Rio?" Both rooms were ready.

[starspangledspandex]

He sat heavily in one of the seats on the plane after he dropped Tony onto the floor of it. Steve set his shield down and stripped off the top of his uniform. The jungle was hot and he might have spent the whole time back thinking about how much fun this was going to be for him. He could have made it fun for Tony but well, he tried to blow him up and Steve was very much over caring about the man's opinion.

"New York," Steve said, eyeing the suit on the ground. He could wait that long. Anticipation was only going to make this better. Plus, they wouldn't have deal with transporting him again which was a definite bonus.

YOU HAVE THE BEST ICONS

[starkingenuity]

SHIELD was accomodating. With the Guide crisis in full swing and war about to break out in the counter, it was incredibly important that Captain America be placed. The room was ready to Steve's specifications and a multitool was provided as well.

Everything Steve would need to do this, from cracking Tony out of his suit, to nesting material, to bottles of water and lubrication, were all right within reach.

Tony had been sleeping until he was lifted again, not by Captain America but by a team of bonded Sentinels...the lucky ones really. They joked with their Captain about the festivities to come.

"It's all right if he cries," one was saying. "The fear doesn't last too long so enjoy it while you can, Captain."