MCA #9, Wednesday Night

[screwyoumarvel]

It was late, and Steve was, like any sensible person, sound asleep in his bed, dreaming of sugarplums fighting AIM agents. And polar bears wearing snuggies.

This state of affairs was probably not going to persist.

((For that guy. Intruder and intruder's unconscious friend's identities NFB.))

Comments

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"I finished with them!" That made it okay, Steve. God. "They had this arms dealer coming in from Africa. It was all over SHIELD and the FBI chatter!"

Which somehow meant Tony had to deal with it.

[screwyoumarvel]

"So SHIELD and the FBI knew about it," Steve pointed out, "and were probably handling it, so I hope you didn't manage to ruin it for them." You didn't, did you, Tony? Steve would be very disappointed if you had.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"No." Maybe. "He was following them too," Tony added. Because you should blame the guy in the cat costume. "I--might have thought he was AIM's contact. He attacked me when I was just doing a stake out."

One that didn't necessarily involve fighting!

[screwyoumarvel]

"Why were you even--no, you know what, never mind. You never learn. Nothing I say is ever going to get through your head." Steve might have been projecting issues with more than one Tony Stark there. "So now you've brought me--Black Panther, I assume, unless Black Cat is really different in your universe."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"...is that what his name is?" Tony asked, tilting his head for a moment as he looked at the man. Then--very carefully--pulled the mask off the unconscious man.

Man might have been a little kind. He was probably only a few years older than Tony.

[screwyoumarvel]

"I assume so. He could call himself something completely different." Universes were weird. Some people were kids, other people were actors. "So what did you want me to do about him?" Especially now that you took his mask off, Tony. Well, at least Steve could tell more easily that he wasn't just dead now.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"...something?" He didn't know! "You've actually done this kind of thing before," Tony hissed.

A beat.

"Wait. I've seen him before. He's that prince from--" An African country that no one knew because they were soooo isolated.

[screwyoumarvel]

"I don't usually bring unconscious strangers to other people's houses, no." Steve sighed. "...Wakanda. He's the prince of Wakanda." Unconscious royal strangers.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

Tony stared at Steve for a moment and then at the newly dubbed Prince T'Challa.

"Well. That explains how he was able to cut through the suit."

[screwyoumarvel]

Steve glanced over the suit. "It looks fine to me."

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

Right. That.

"Different suit." Damn you, Vibranium! "The claws are probably made of the same kind of thing as your shield..."

Tony, don't get ideas.

[screwyoumarvel]

"So you put on another suit and went right back out. Of course." Steve resisted the urge to facepalm again, or to correct Tony on his shield's exact composition. But, "Don't touch my shield." A beat. "Or his claws." That one should have been obvious, but with Tony you could never be too careful.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"You already hit me with your shield," Tony grumbled. He was going to have a spectacular bruise over his nose that he'd claim happened in a fight. And not being too dumb to knock.

[panthersprey.livejournal.com]

Somewhere in this would be when the unconscious man on the couch became distinctly more conscious. And angry.

But angry might have been his default state of being.

[screwyoumarvel]

"And he cut your armor with his claws but that is not the same thing and you know it." Don't play obtuse with Steve, Tony. He'll frown at you.

Steve did not spare a glance for the more conscious gentleman on the couch, as he was too busy glaring at Tony.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"If I can study it, I can make sure that doesn't happen again!"

WITH SCIENCE. Science that also didn't notice the angry prince on the couch. Oh, Marvel.

[screwyoumarvel]

The angry prince was just not that important in the overall scheme of things right now. Not when there was arguing with Tony to be done.

This was probably a new sensation for him.

"Or you could stop running around getting yourself into trouble with the armor in the first place." To say nothing of how the properties of vibranium made that unlikely.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"I have to do this to help people! It's not like SHIELD is doing anything to stop AIM," Tony snapped. Like the angry teenager he was.

Maturity.

[screwyoumarvel]

"You don't know that because you do not know everything SHIELD does." If Nick Fury was in charge, half of SHIELD didn't know what SHIELD did. "You already said SHIELD and the FBI were chattering about this arms dealer!"

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"And not stopping them! They couldn't even stop that laser idiot!"

[panthersprey.livejournal.com]

"Who are you people and where am I?" T'Challa demanded, apparently having enough of this petty argument.

[screwyoumarvel]

Oh, good, he wasn't in a coma. That was a good sign. And he wasn't attacking them! Also a good sign. "How many fingers am I holding up?" Steve. Snapped at him. Holding up three fingers.

[panthersprey.livejournal.com]

T'Challa did not have need of your help, Steve!

"Get your hand out of my face," he said, grabbing for his mask as he stood up to try looming over Steve. It... did not work. But he was taller than Iron Man. Which made up for it.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

"Whoa, no need to get rude!" Said the guy who had been getting close to a shouting match with Steve previously.

[screwyoumarvel]

Looming over Steve was frequently a losing proposition, it was true. "We're just trying to help you, son," Steve told him. "Iron Man here...brought you back to my apartment." Thanks so much again, Tony.