The Dead

[starkingenuity]

It might seem counterintuitive for the most connected person on the planet to be the last to know something is happening, but when Tony Stark is working, Hell could swallow the world up and he would make an off handed, disinterested remark that he would have to check the AC. Up in his hi-tech Tower, where he had meant to spend the week finishing up boxing the more precious pieces of unfinished projects, Tony had gotten himself caught procrastinating the only way a man like him is capable of procrastinating: by rebuilding hardware to help him finish a gadget rather than packing that gadget away.

FRIDAY had already been installed in the compound Upstate, though she never left his back pocket really. Tony didn’t hear her alerting him, therefore, when people started dying. How could he with the sound of heavy metal playing and the grinder in his hands?

Tony had stayed in his mostly disassembled, partly reassembled lab for thirty-two hours before deciding he was hungry enough to stop making do with granola bars and dried fruit and call in some pizza.

The alerts on his phone are terrifying when he finally sees them. The number of missed calls leave his mouth dry.

Despite everything, Tony’s first thought is to call Steve Rogers of all people, even before he puts the armor back on. He has no idea that Captain America fell with the rest of the country he loved hours ago.

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[starkingenuity]

Rolling his eyes, Tony huffs loudly under his breath and gestures to the open armor. “Just get in.” There’s a reason Tony doesn’t teach, though MIT has been on him for years. The occasional talk he gives is bad enough. Someone always complains, usually because he can’t help but be superior to just about everyone. His brain is wired differently. “You’ll see. It’s intuitive.”

And he doesn’t have to try and figure out which words Bucky knows the meanings of.

The inside of the armor is dark, and hardly inviting. Tony isn’t claustrophobic and he takes for granted what it must be like for someone to be enveloped in armor. The fear would only be temporary of course. Once the helmet is in place, the face mask comes to life and the view is better than the regularly binocular vision of a standard human.

[endof_theline]

Bucky is about to narrow his eyes at Tony, but he catches himself before he does so. Tony doesn't deserve that. No matter what happened, he has every right to be angry, to be short with him- and he really hasn't even been.

Bucky's grateful for that, now that he has a moment to think about it.

"Intuitive..." he mutters to himself, coming back around to the front of the suit. He presses his lips together, then gets into the suit, eyes on the other man once he does so. He doesn't know if he's claustrophobic or not, but he hates this, so maybe he is. It wouldn't be surprising, considering he went from cryo, to being strapped down in a machine, or tossed into a small, dark cell.

His breathing speeds up as he looks over at Tony, trying not to freak out. "I don't know if I can do this."

[starkingenuity]

Is that…panic? Tony doesn’t intend to be heartless but he also revels in Barnes’ dismay and discomfort. The gauntlets around his hands and arms dissolve so he can tap the chest plate on the other armor and watch it zip itself up around Barnes. “Sure you can.”

The armor closes quickly, bathing Bucky in black for almost a full five seconds before the helmet’s dim blue light flashes on and the screen spread across Bucky’s vision. “Hello, Sergeant Barnes. Please give me thirty seconds to calibrate to your specifications.” FRIDAY is professional, even if Bucky is panicking.

[endof_theline]

Bucky wants to scream. Giving such a full blown weapon with armor to a broken super soldier who has been tortured for decades might not be the smartest thing. When everything goes black he considers punching right through it, his eyes squeezing shut as panic starts to take over.

It's five seconds and then the darkness is gone, but it doesn't feel that much better. The voice that sounds like it's in his head makes him jump in the suit, and he tries to move his arms.

How does this thing even know what his specifications are?!

"Stark!"

[starkingenuity]

“One moment, Sergeant,” FRIDAY insists, each of the screens coming online showing Bucky far too much information. He can literally see completely around his head, darting eyes switching the view until FRIDAY can calm his erratic twitches by turning down the screen sensitivity. “Weapons will be offline until the security clearance is given, but you can try to walk now. I will need to test your balance.”

Outside of the suit, Tony takes a step back. The lock on the limbs should be just about over and he doesn’t want to catch a super powered punch to the chest.

He vaguely hears Bucky’s voice from inside the helmet, and he tilts his head in front of the other helmet. “FRIDAY, visor up.”

[endof_theline]

One moment feels like another decade of being trapped in a thing where he can't think or move and he does try, but the whole suit seems solid around him.

He's seconds away from thrashing around, but then the visor on the suit goes up, and Bucky looks at Tony with wild eyes. He doesn't even register the voice in his head telling him that he needs to walk around and test his balance.

"Get me outta this thing. Get me out!"

[starkingenuity]

Well. This isn’t going as planned. Tony snaps in front of Bucky’s face to get his attention. He understands all about panic attacks. He often is pretty sure he’s about to die from the simplest of triggers.

“Need you to focus here, all right?”

He doesn’t wait to be acknowledged.

“All you have to do is think about the armor opening. Okay? Deep breath and think about it splitting down the middle.”

No way is he getting close enough to tap the external latches again. Barnes could knock his jaw off.

[endof_theline]

Tony snaps, and it works, somewhat. Bucky's still panicking, but his attention snaps to Tony. He looks a little unhinged, confused- unfocused until Tony orders him not to be.

He takes a deep breath and does what Tony says, then thinks about the armor opening. It splits down the middle and he practically tumbles out, backing away from the armor, nearly backing into Tony.

"Sounded like it was in my head."

[starkingenuity]

“FRIDAY? No. She’s talking to you from a speaker. Like a radio. They’re…” he approaches the armor and points to each side of the split helmet. “Here and here. To give you surround sound.”

Touching the split star, the armor zips back up again and Tony pushes and prods at one of the armored gauntlets before it comes off in his hands. He carries it over to Bucky.

“Here. At least armor up the other arm before we go visit the neighbors.”

[endof_theline]

He eyes the armor suspiciously, gaze darting back and forth to the speakers Tony points out. It's better if he knows the details. If he can see what he's getting himself into. It's just high tech stuff that he's not used to.

Bucky is still tense, but he accepts the arm part of the armor. This is more familiar, at least.

He looks into it, then slides his arms in, and it fits him like a glove. He can move his fingers inside and it doesn't feel as suffocating. This part he can handle at least. Once they secure the neighbors and get ready to head back out, maybe he'll try the suit again.

"It's probably better they see me without the armor anyway."

[starkingenuity]

“Iron Man is still a friendly face,” Tony points out, scoffing. He knows Bucky doesn’t mean it that way. But perhaps it is better just to show their faces. At least they won’t be noticeably rotting away, and hopefully, more trust worthy to the people still living in the building. “Got the weapons switched off by the way,” he reminds Barnes. “So don’t worry about accidentally thinking about blasting anyone. Let’s work out way down. How do you feel about a little B and E for the people that don’t answer the door?”

Personally, he doesn’t need to be on the news kicking down doors.

Not that there is a news anymore. That it a fact pretty hard to sell to himself as reality.

[endof_theline]

"They don't know what's hiding under the armor," he says quietly, eying the gauntlet on his arm, definitely worried about how this thing works until Tony clears it up for him. The last thing he wants to do is hurt anyone living.

Bucky nods, looking at Tony again. "Yeah. We need to clear the apartments." His eyes aren't wild anymore. The panic has subsided. Tony probably hates explaining things to people, but it definitely helps.

"And we should- stick together." As much as they're probably the last people in the world who want to stick together.

[starkingenuity]

“Weird pairing,” Tony says, oblivious to Barnes understanding that or not. “But any port in a storm.” The other man will just have to get use to him and his constant innuendo. A broody ex assassin and a basket case genius ought to make everyone they come across feel very safe and protected.

The process is a surprisingly quick one. Barnes is the muscle. Tony tells FRIDAY to make a note of each layout out as they go. The top floor only has three apartment units, large and well furnished. The Section 8 portion towards the lower floors fits many more units into the same footprint, and the hallways are more narrow and less appointed. They find no one in the first couple of apartments beneath the roof, making Tony frown.

“This is best case scenario, but I was hoping for a cute old Asian couple or a bratty teen to join the group.”

[endof_theline]

It is weird, but Bucky doesn't feel the need to add to it. Tony seems perfectly fine talking even if nothing is said back to him. Tony will just have to get used to that too.

Bucky strongholds his way into the apartments after listening for any activity inside and hearing none. Although he's not sure he would answer the door at this point in time, knowing what he now knows. The problem is, news broadcasts went off the air so quickly that most people probably didnt even get properly informed.

There's no one on the top floors, just as suspected, and Bucky can only imagine their horrible fates.

He looks at Tony grimly. "One of the couples downstairs is asian- but I don't understand what that has to do with anything."

They try more apartments- Bucky does a supply inventory while they're in each place as well. At least people these days are able to stay more stocked up with essentials than in the 1940s.

[starkingenuity]

Tony snorts and doesn’t answer the question. He also doesn’t mention that, he really might take over the middle unit on the top floor until they can figure out their next moves. He’ll pay the actual owner for it. If that owner is still alive.

“What floors are the people on?” Tony asks. They could just skip right there, especially if there is any hope of saving anyone.

He knocks absently on the door they’re in front of, only to hear a snarl in return. His face turns grim.

[endof_theline]

He hopes they'll find enough survivors to fill the apartment building, but then they have to figure out what to do after. How can they stay here? Is there any place that's safer?

He thinks about all of this as they look through each apartment.

"Third floor has two couples and there's a single man and woman right above them on the fourth," he says, right before Tony knocks.

The growl has Bucky on full alert, his gaze darting to Tony's face. "Close your suit." Bucky pulls a knife out, ready to engage if they have to. "We can keep in, or take them out... Or maybe it's just a dog."

God let it just be a dog.

[starkingenuity]

The noise had caused Tony to flinch and back up, partially into Bucky. He’d not been around the zombies long enough to know what they sound like and the videos he’d watched hadn’t been that helpful. His eyes dart towards the other man, and he does what he’s told, double tapping his chest for the armor to form around him.

He steps back, one hand raised and ready to blast whatever is inside.

“Will it stay in there?” Unfortunately, he can’t really whisper inside of the suit and the metallic vocalization causes whatever is inside the apartment to throw itself against the door.

[endof_theline]

Tony makes a lot of noise. He's noticed that since Tony came flying toward him with his megaphone thing or whatever the hell that was. It's too much, and Bucky shakes his head, pressing a finger to his lips.

Too late.

"I don't know if it will, but we can't afford to find out," he says quietly, lifting his knife. His gun might be more effective, but Tony's got his blaster and he'd rather not have the first thing Tony sees being him blowing someone's head off.

"I'll knock the door down, you blast its head off- yeah?" They have to work together on this. It's the only way.

[starkingenuity]

Tony doesn’t play well with others. Surely Barnes knows this. There is no way for the engineer to give the other man an eye roll through the faceplate of his helmet though, but he hopes that eye roll is implied by how the armor sags a little at the shoulders while its hip juts out.

He makes a little rolling gesture with his wrist to indicate that he his prepared before tensing back up again.

“FRIDAY,” he says, voice encapsulated by the helmet. “Any heat signatures?”

“Sorry boss. Getting nothing through the wall.”

[endof_theline]

Bucky doesn't really know a damn thing about Tony, other than what he had seen when all of them were beating the shit out of each other. He's not really all that familiar with social cues or emotions either. The best bet with Bucky is face value. Being clear.

Right now, all he needs is for Tony to be clear about what's about to go down.

Bucky's got both metal arms up and ready to block. He looks at Tony and gives a nod, then kicks the door in. The zombie is momentarily stunned, taking a few haggard steps back, but Bucky is already moving forward to corner him in the apartment, knife at the ready in case Tony misses.

Tony won't miss, he knows it.

[starkingenuity]

No.

Everyone knows everything about Tony Stark. He’s the center of the universe. There are college courses about him. He’s on everyone’s coffee table. He refuses to believe that ten minutes in his presence isn’t enough for someone to just get him. At least, the mask of him that he puts forward.

At least Barnes does know that he isn’t apt to miss his shots. FRIDAY assists with that, though it does take her several moments to calibrate for the enemy she could not see through the wall. One well aimed shot in the chest is enough to down the zombie.

Just not for long.

In a tattered t-shirt and oversized orange shorts, one slide still on its foot, the once human groans. It doesn’t get to its feet. It leaps. “Woah! Stay down buddy!”

No one ever listens to him.

[endof_theline]

Bucky barely understands himself, let alone the people around him- and it seems like his journey of self discovery is going to have to be put on hold now. Extenuating circumstances and all.

Tony aims, fires a blast and Bucky hopes it's enough to take the zombie down. He's almost hopeful, except then it's airborne and headed straight for Tony. Bucky lunges in front of it, smashing it across the face with the Iron Man gauntlet, then with the knife in his actual metal arm he slices it across the neck.

"Blast the head!" He's pretty sure they only go down when their heads are detached from their bodies.

[starkingenuity]

Close combat fighting in a full suit of armor is not ideal. Tony is a better shot at a distance, but in this regard, he can do nothing but stride into the fray. Bucky holds the zombie at bay and Tony is able to wedge himself into the mix, gauntlet closing around the once living man’s head.

When the repulsor goes off, it’s explosive. A smattering of blood and brains speckles his arm and chest. Thank goodness it’s easily cleaned up.

“All right, Barnes?”

[endof_theline]

Bucky has seen Tony in close combat fighting and he thinks he's just fine. Fine enough to almost blast his arm off. He's pretty damn sure he can manage a zombie head.

The blast is mighty and then there are pieces everywhere. The smell is like rotting flesh on fire. He'd gag if he wasn't used to remaining completely non-reactive in a situation.

"Yeah- alright." As much as they can be. "Let's hope this is the only one." Now Tony has really seen one up close, though. He sees the threat they're facing. These things don't go down easily, but they worked together and finished it.

"Let's get to the known survivors. Set them up together. Then we need to head back out." Maybe this time he'll try the suit without panicking- now that he knows what he's in for.

[starkingenuity]

“Done clearing already?” Tony asks, eyebrows arching behind the stoic mask. “Probably for the best so we aren’t ruining everyone’s carpets.”

He opts to let Bucky go first. He knows who to talk to, what apartments to visit. He isn’t sure how infectious the blood on his armor is either so best act as backup.

The Asian couple seem all right, unmoved by what’s been going on. The televisions might be down but there’s the internet and their kitchen window to look out from.