Infinite Paradox
All characters belong to Marvel Comics
Do me a favor and walk away from this...
Afraid I can't do that, Tony, he's my friend.
Things had changed at the point of no return. At the moment Steve's shield clanged on the ground, everything was buried. Tony watched Steve limp away with on arm securing Bucky as they both left a trail of blood. A good man walked from his reach, a friend, and commander who took defense on a broader scale.
Tasting the blood paste of over his split lip, Tony was left behind to find direction for a new road. In some way, he knew that his trust had been revoked from Steve's heart.
Like a slow burn of vodka, blood dripped further into his throat, obstructing air as he fully became dismantled. He couldn't repair what his remorse had led him to accomplished. It felt terminal. The shield was left from him to pick up, but he just stared at the silver star, the claw marks that scraped into the red paint.
He wanted to touch it, and return it back to Steve, end the division and make amends to Barnes. He wasn't brave enough to face them. Maybe tomorrow, he would prove that he could be genuine with forgiveness.
Not today.
Steve faded away. There was a brief swell of tears and echo of pain, the hollow ice of chamber held every sob he released in that slow moment of time of being alone to pick himself up again. Tony winced, his shaking fingers shadowed over the shield, testing the firmness of his clutch, he felt a searing cold enter his bones. The choice was impossible to avoid. He detested everything, and eased back, glaring back at the smears of red- imprints betrayal. "I can't do it," he whispered in a protest, those words drilled into his heart.
The aftermath of his rage war had torn them apart HYDRA was the root of evil, the ones accountable for the deaths of Howard and Maria Stark. Bucky was a puppet on strings, compliant to follow orders. He was a ghost trapped inside a reactivated machine.
Under better emotions, he could have reasoned with grief and found a logical solution to look harder between the negatives of that collected footage of the crash. Instead, Tony isolated all sentiment and allowed every surge of escalated hate to control his actions. He had Captain America's blood on his hands.
Zemo turned each them into gladiators, a fight to the death, to end the Avengers. Steve had rammed the shield into his arc reactor, damaging his chest as he felt the weight of it crushing into his ribs. He wondered if Steve's intentions were meant to immobilize him.
Red dripped over Steve's clenching knuckles, a color that poisoned his mind with searing rage, as he settled an intent glare on the torn leather of his gloved hand, Steve watched the blood run down Tony's battered face, gashes were engraved into bruised and welted skin, as red smeared over his goatee and neck. The billionaire was underneath Steve's unyielding weight, fully immobilized with utter shock, as his dark hazel eyes glinted back refractions of light, breath drew up into a heavy wheeze from his swollen lips.
One pulse of unrestraint and Steve was saddled over his armor, teeth gritted and driven by cold rage as he allowed anger to control him: there was no resistance reflecting back, just pure remorse. He wasn't Captain America, just a soldier executing an order to take down the enemy:the one who threaten to breach his home.
He lifted his shield and prepared to ram into the arch reactor. The glow reflected in his livid blue eyes, there was no holding back, lines had been crossed and the war needed to end.
"This is for Bucky…" He unleashed a raw and throated scream, tearing his heart into shreds as the vibranium clang into Stark's chest, leaving a dent in the wake of its hard descent.
Steve stumbled off, gravity forced him into a kneeling position as he drove the brutal force of shield into Stark's reactor, damaging the protective barriers of alloy and Tony felt his heart jolt as it the sleek rim collided into his ribs. Steve was relentless, never hesitating to deliver another surge of pain as jet blood sloped over his bruised jaw. "You hear me…This is for Bucky!"
His hand was a centimeter or so away from the shield. He knew it would be heavy to lift.
"No..." He was haunted by the recollection that he had been on a rampage, he could have killed Bucky Barnes, became the harvester of death just like how the world once viewed him, but something prevented him from aiming a heated blast into Bucky's chest.
In those last seconds when his heart thundered in his chest, he surrendered his unresolved grief to mercy and allowed the murderer of his parents to walk away.
Tossing his dented face plate, Tony slammed his fist into the cement, sucking back a heavy breath. He denied strength in his hand and collapsed flat on the cold surface, listening to the ice crackle around him. He was falling into the abyss. "Was he really my friend?" he asked in seized of painful breaths, exposing an uncertain throb as it seemed constant in his chest.
He closed his eyes, wanting to purge the nightmare that felt inescapable to awake from.
"Why did I make him bleed?"