Chapter Text
Tony was stuck. Maybe it was the 38 hours he had gone without sleep, maybe it was the rut simmering in his veins, but the newest iteration of his suit was just not coming together. He pressed the heel of his hand into his eyes, trying to ease the headache that was slowly building and tossed the wrench he was holding onto his work table.
There was a chirp from next to him, and Tony looked out the corner of his eye to see a certain bot creeping closer, fire extinguisher in its claw.
“Not now, Dum-E,” he grumbled.
Tony absolutely hated pre-rut. Like clockwork, it never failed to have both horrible timing and annoying symptoms. He could function, sure, but he didn’t have to be happy about it.
It felt like his skin was stretched too tight across his joints, and his glands were throbbing with every inhale. He’d had the lab pretty thoroughly scent-neutralizing, but it didn’t help him so much on the edge of his rut. It’s hard to clear out the scent when he’s constantly releasing it no matter how much he tries not to. Honestly, he should probably make his way to his den up in the penthouse already, but he had been getting antsy and thought some lab time would take his mind off his slowly boiling blood.
“JARVIS, pull up the schematics for the Mark XV, this isn’t working.” He batted away his current blueprints that had been hovering beside him. After a few seconds with no response, Tony looked up towards the ceiling.
“JARVIS?”
“Sir, you have a visitor. Several, in fact.”
Tony groaned and gripped his hair in his hands. “Tell them I’m busy, JARVIS. And pull up the schematics.”
“I apologize, sir, but I do think this requires your immediate attention.” JARVIS almost sounded like he was dreading what was to come.
There was a click of a lock and the door to his workshop slammed open. Tony groaned.
“Come right on in, why don’t you,” Tony said with a sweeping gesture, getting to his feet. “Please, lab’s all yours. Can I get you a sparkling water? Or maybe you’d prefer my foot up your—“
“Stark.” Fury’s tone held no levity, but that was pretty par for the course for the man. His coat fluttered in the air as he stomped forward. Tony was momentarily distracted by the bitter scent wafting off of Fury that he almost didn’t notice his trail of ducklings. Natasha poked her head around the towering man and made eye contact with Tony.
“Miss Rushman! It’s been a while.” He tried to pull his face into a smirk, but judging by the unimpressed look on Natasha’s face, he didn’t exactly succeed.
“Stark.” She gave a small nod, her lips curling up briefly. As she moved, Tony caught a faint whiff of her cloyingly sweet omega scent. It made his head throb and he tried not to wrinkle his nose. Natasha always had a faint chemical smell lingering in her scent, a remnant of her time in the Red Room that she never could shake. Usually he wouldn’t have noticed, but today he must’ve been just too close to his rut to do anything but.
Tony glanced behind her and took in the group that followed—Steve, Maria Hill, and a dark-skinned beta man, judging by his faint scent, who was letting Steve use him as an arm rest. Speaking of Steve—
“Wow Rogers, what happened to you? You look like you’ve been cliff diving into a pool of sharks.” He bared his teeth at the other alpha in a semblance of a grin.
Steve groaned unintelligibly and looked heavenward as the beta man huffed out a laugh. “More like he got punched off a helicarrier straight into the ocean.”
Tony blinked, grin faltering. “He what?”
“Haven’t been watching the news, have you Stark?” Maria chimed in as she stepped around the groaning Steve to stand next to Fury.
“I’ve been a little busy.” He gestured around the workshop and at himself. “I’m not exactly that tuned in when I’m on the verge of rut.”
Maria opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, the beta man sucked in a sharp breath. His eyes had gone wide.
“Shit, man, you’re in pre-rut? Talk about timing.”
Tony stared at the man for a second.
“Sorry, but who are you?”
“Oh, my bad. I’m Sam. I got caught up with Cap here in D.C.” He looked over at a very downcast Steve before continuing. “I’d offer a hand but they’re a little full of super soldier at the moment.”
“Riiiight, okay so that explains nothing to me—“
“Sit down, Stark, this is going to be a long conversation,” Fury huffed as he pulled out a stool at the neighboring workbench.
Tony narrowed his eyes at the man, unknowingly letting a little bit of red bleed into his eyes for a moment.
“Fine. Go ahead.”
—
“So you’re telling me that your pal from the forties murdered my parents and you want me to help look for him??” He stared at Steve in disbelief. He turned to look Fury in the eye. “To help recruit some feral alpha so we can work with him?” He could feel the rut simmering in his veins flare with the steadily building anger.
“Listen, Stark, the man has gone rogue at the moment. He has no handlers and it’s the ideal time for extraction. Shield would benefit from—“
“No, you listen Nick,” Tony said lowly. “I don’t give a fuck about what’s good for Shield right now. You said Shield was Hydra. You want me to help you with my money, my parents’ money, to aid their murderer? And you demand it while you’re in my territory? You’re out of your goddamn mind.”
“Tony, it wasn’t Bucky’s fault,” Steve pleaded.
“ENOUGH!” Tony shouted, slamming his hand on his workbench. His neck glands were aching against his scent patches now, threatening to slip past and fill the room with his angry, acrid scent. “How can you try that with me, Rogers? Huh? Your buddy killed my mom. I don’t care if it ‘wasn’t his fault.’ My parents are dead. He made his choices.”
“It wasn’t a choice, Tony. If you would just listen, you’d understand he wasn’t—“
A growl tore its way out of Tony’s throat and his eyes flashed red.
“Nope.” Sam shot to his feet and began pulling Steve to the door. “My nose may be dull but even I can tell this is not a fight we wanna have right now. You too, Nat. Let’s go.”
Sam pulled at Steve’s arm, but he refused to budge. Natasha eyed the men warily, glancing over to the Shield agents where they sat in stony silence. Tony’s eyes narrowed as he gritted his teeth through another growl.
“Get. Out. All of you.”
Tony whirled around and began stalking towards the back of the lab where he had a makeshift hideaway set up, a few blankets and coats draped across chairs and lab tables. Before he could take another step, Steve’s next words had him stopping cold.
“Bucky is an omega.”
Tony’s mind screeched to a halt. It felt like he had been doused in freezing water, ice trickling down his spine and dread clinging to his shoulders. Bucky, the famed alpha Howling Commando who fought side by side with Captain America, an omega? Howard had told stories about the two, and never once had he even hinted that the man was anything other than an alpha. Hell, Tony was pretty sure that the exhibit in the Smithsonian even labeled him as such. Was it all a cover up? Why would they go to the trouble when they thought he was dead?
Steve let out a pitiful whimper before clearing his throat.
“It was an open secret, in the Howlies. We all knew, but no one wanted him singled out just because he was an omega. Peggy helped him disguise his scent whenever there was an inspection.” Steve’s gaze shifted to the floor, unmoving. “Howard never knew. No one but the Howlies and Peggy. And the Howlies only ever knew because it got out when they were captured in Azzano.”
Tony looked at Steve then, taking in the man. He was dirty, injured, his gaze dull. He looked like a man on the verge of breaking.
“Why?” Tony breathed.
Steve’s gaze shot up and he glared into Tony’s eyes.
“You’ve read the history textbooks. You know how dangerous it was to be an omega back then. And an omega hiding their designation in the army? He may as well have signed his own arrest warrant.”
“Why would he have joined if there was that much of a risk? You telling us he had the same level of self-preservation as you?” Sam asked, eyebrow ticking up.
Steve startled as if he had forgotten he wasn’t alone in the room with Tony. He closed his eyes a second and squared his shoulders.
“Bucky’s ma raised him as an alpha. I was there with him, when he presented. With him and his ma. She swore me to secrecy and registered him as an alpha as soon as she could.”
Tony took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The pre-rut was like a thick cloud weighing down on his head. Steve’s scent had begun to bleed into the air, meeting his own head on. He couldn’t think like this.
“Out, all of you,” Tony repeated, softly this time. “I need to think.”