A/N Thanks for all your messages of support and predictions.
Just a little early reassurance that there are no Endgame spoilers here - I've seen it but I won't say anything about what I thought. (You can all tell me what you thought in a review though!)
Hermione took absolutely no pleasure in confunding the Task Force agent that showed up at the hospital to offer 'protection' just like Natasha had warned. She knew the spell would cause no harm or leave any damage behind but it still left her feeling uncomfortable to perform magic on the young man who was just doing his job.
She used her influence to make him believe that he was to escort her to Berlin to meet those in charge of the Task Force and he was fully under the impression that Sam and Steve were with them the entire time. In truth, the two men had portkeyed to Bucharest before the agent had even arrived at her hospital door.
Thankfully, the young agent was very adept at his job and was able to efficiently see her onto a flight to Berlin with the appropriate clearance of someone working with the CIA and the joint Task Force. There was even a car waiting to pick her up when the plane touched down.
Hermione nervously kept checking her phone for an update from Steve or Sam but after they'd told her they'd located Bucky's empty apartment, all was quiet as they waited for him to return home.
She was having more success on her front, though, after getting in contact with the man who had held the position of US Secretary of State before General Ross. General Cadmus and Hermione had worked very closely for a few months and she had developed a very good relationship with him, which allowed her to pull a few strings with him to not only give her details of those in charge of the Task Force but also to get Cadmus to set up a meeting at the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre building with her posing merely as an asset with knowledge on how to help with the Barnes case.
This vague cover didn't last long once she was inside the headquarters but she didn't intend for it to: she might have needed subterfuge to get herself inside, but there wasn't time to beat around the bush when things could kick off in Bucharest at any moment.
Everett Ross, the Deputy Task Force Commander, didn't look happy to be taking the time out of running his operation to meet with her. "You're the asset Cadmus recommended?" Ross (apparently no relation to the new Secretary of State) asked her impatiently, giving her stomach a long glance.
"Yes, sir," Hermione replied politely, holding out her hand. "Hermione Rogers."
It was obvious that his attention hadn't been focused on her, probably because he didn't see how she could be of any use to him, but the moment her name fell from her lips, Ross stared at her intently and his hand paused in her grasp. "You're… aren't you?" he asked, eyebrows raised in surprise.
Hermione nodded, knowing what he'd intended to ask. "Yes. I'm here to help."
"Jesus Christ," Ross swore, dropping her fingers and putting his hands on his hips as he frowned at her. "It's been made very clear that you don't have clearance to be involved in anything like this anymore."
"I'm here to offer you advice," Hermione stated calmly, "and my services should you choose to use them."
He gave her stomach another speculative look before glancing at his watch. "Well, that I can't do as you very well know, Mrs Rogers - not unless you've signed that bit of paper since this morning. I'm sorry you've wasted your time." He started to back away from her.
"I can see inside his head," she continued unperturbed and Ross paused. "To my mind, Barnes wouldn't have carried out the attack this morning unless he was under the sway of someone else through his previous brain-washing. If you kill him, you'll have no chance of finding out who's really responsible - the trail dies with Barnes. If you let me try, we could find who's really behind this."
Ross watched her closely, chewing over her words.
"And you do realise that if the Winter Soldier is under someone else's influence, James Buchanan Barnes, the man within, is not guilty of this morning's bombing," she pressed.
Ross laughed with little trace of amusement. "That doesn't make him any less dangerous."
"I am more than aware of that, sir - I encountered him two-and-a-half years ago when he was under the sway of HYDRA and I all but died," Hermione told him.
"And you think I shouldn't seize the opportunity to take down such a deadly assassin?" Ross asked skeptically.
"Please, sir, I'm begging you to do whatever's in your power to keep him alive," Hermione said earnestly. "He's much more useful to you alive than dead."
Ross surveyed her again and Hermione held her breath. He eventually sighed and beckoned for her to follow him, which she did with as fast a waddle as she could manage. "Don't think for a moment that I'm unaware there's a huge personal motivation behind your pleas," Ross muttered as he escorted her deeper into the building. A light frown creased his face as he glanced over at her. "You know, I'm surprised your husband's not here leading the case himself."
Hermione tried to give nothing away as she said, "The two of us coming here together might be viewed as an attempt at intimidation. I'm the one with the skillset to help Barnes in this situation, not Steve."
A figure came running down the corridor towards them, thankfully drawing the attention of Ross away from Steve. "Sir, Special Forces are starting their final approach on the building."
Ross increased his pace and glanced over his shoulder as they entered a large room that appeared to function as their command centre. "Don't touch anything - I'm still not convinced that I should be letting you in here."
"But you'll rescind the shoot-on-sight order," Hermione reminded him. The lack of communication from Steve and Sam was making her anxious - had they already engaged Bucky? Were they still waiting for him to show up? If the German forces were in the tower block too there was a very real possibility that Steve or Sam could be mistaken for Bucky instead. But if Ross followed through, she could get a message to Steve and then he wouldn't need to get involved at all, which was obviously the optimal outcome.
"When I've assessed the scene," Ross answered vaguely and then strode over to a wall that showed various viewpoints of a grubby tower block.
No one was paying her any attention so she quickly retrieved her phone, typing a message as quickly as she could that told the boys of the approaching forces and the possibility of Ross cancelling the use of deadly force. She only hoped that some good would come of her message and they'd get out of harm's way.
"How's it looking?" Ross asked his team as they watched the screens and typed messages on their computers.
"Perimeter has been set," someone replied and Hermione glanced up at the screens. To her dismay, she saw that the German forces were probably less than a minute away from commencing their assault. But worse, far worse than that, was the screen that was showing the output from a thermal imaging camera...
"There are two hostiles in the apartment," Ross said urgently into a microphone on the table in front of him. "I repeat, two hostiles."
One of the figures was Bucky because the thermal image showed the difference in temperature with his metal arm and Hermione knew exactly who the other figure had to be, but they were just standing there, not fighting at all. She had no idea what was going on.
"No," Ross ordered into the microphone, "Proceed. You have the authority to take them both out with whatever means necessary."
"No!" Hermione cried. Her loud shout caused a few heads to turn in her direction.
Ross didn't look particularly sorry for going back on his decision. "The situation necessitates it," he stated.
"No, you don't understand," Hermione said desperately even as the stun grenades were shot through the windows of Bucky's apartment. She raised a trembling finger to one of the thermal figures on the screen. "That's my husband!"
Ross stared at her for a moment, his forehead creased in confusion. "What? But I thought he was…" Realisation suddenly dawned in his eyes and his face contorted with anger. "Are you shitting me?! Christ almighty!" Ross turned back to the screens, seeing with his own eyes the blurred but unmistakable shield of Captain America as it slammed into one of the body cameras worn by the German forces. "Somebody get her the hell out of here," Ross roared, pointing at Hermione without even looking at her.
Not even bothering with the courtesy of knocking, Tony couldn't resist letting out some of his irritation by pushing the door open with a much stronger force than was necessary. "Didn't you once tell me that you got some of the highest test scores your magic school has ever given out?" he remarked agitatedly in way of greeting the young woman sitting in the bed. "How could you be so stupid?"
Hermione glared at him. "They were going to kill him."
"He bombed the United Nations!" Tony retorted firmly.
"You know it's not that simple when it comes to Bucky," she argued. "His mind is susceptible."
"You don't have the authority to make those sorts of decisions anymore," Tony reminded her testily, ignoring her justification. "How do you not get that?"
She sighed and looked away from him, her hands resting on her large stomach. "We knew what we were doing," she admitted quietly. "We knew the potential risks."
This did not improve Tony's mood. "So, you were being arrogant and pig-headed, as well as stupid." She continued to stare out of the window and this only irritated him more. His relationship with Hermione was an unusual one and they'd certainly been through their ups and downs. He didn't admit to it often but it was an open secret that he cared for her very deeply but, man, if she didn't push his buttons sometimes! Despite everything that she had been through, she was still burdened with a sense of self-righteousness that often left her unwilling to see the world as it had to be; prevented her from seeing the necessary, hard decisions that people in authority were required to make. She didn't want to see that her, Steve and Sam's actions (which she obviously believed to be fully justified) had serious consequences beyond just the three of them, but he wasn't going to indulge her sanctimonious air - he was going to make her see exactly what she'd helped bring about.
Tony noisily pulled at the chair next to her bed and made a show of sitting down, propping his feet up on her mattress as he took out his phone. "Rhodey sent some images over from Bucharest," he said, flicking the device to bring several stills up above them of a severely damaged tunnel and several wrecked cars. "F.R.I.D.A.Y estimates repair costs of at least half a million dollars. German special forces have reported that seven of their operatives are in hospital, two are critically injured. There also seems to have been some civilian casualties after the frenetic chase through the tunnel - none fatal as far as I know, so that's something, at least."
"I'm not pleased about the suffering others have experienced but you're not going to make me feel guilty for saving a man's life, Tony," Hermione maintained.
"You think that's all that you've jeopardised?" Tony asked, flicking his phone again to dismiss the images. "Let's forget for a moment that Secretary Ross is probably going to demand that all three of you be locked up - " Her eyes flashed to him in concern but he barrelled onwards. "Whatever goodwill your appearance generated at this morning's UN meeting has surely been wiped out by your impetuous actions - months of your hard work and diplomacy thrown away in a moment because you think you know better. You might have won the battle for Barnes's life, but I hope for yours, mine and everyone's sake that it's not going to cost us the war against Thanos."
Hermione flinched at his words but he was pleased to see that she finally showed some comprehension of the damage that she'd done. However, when tears started to show in her eyes, he couldn't prevent his anger from deflating. He knew that, in truth, he was more disappointed in her than angry. Her heart was too big for this life, he'd thought so as soon as he'd met her, and she finally seemed to be realising that she couldn't please everyone despite her best efforts. Compromises had to be made and he had to get her to see that for her own good and for the sake of her new family. Tony knew that, in terms of the Accords, Steve was almost too far on the other side to reach but Hermione was trying her best to have a foot in both camps: if he could get her fully on-side then she could act as a bridge to Steve, and then the Avengers might actually be saved from being ripped apart after all.
But he didn't just see her as a means to an end. The Avengers were a strange, distorted family and Hermione was the heart of it. The prospect of her not being there to have his back, roll her eyes at him or impress him with her dedication left a hollow feeling within him just like he'd experienced when she'd been missing for all those months. She was his little sister in all but blood. He didn't want to lose her again.
"I'm still committed to the fight against Thanos, you know that," she said, her voice shaking a little.
"I'm not the one you need to convince, am I?" Tony replied. "You need to prove you can be trusted - that you'll toe the line - and the sooner the better."
Her anxious gaze hardened, perhaps anticipating where he was heading. "Tony, I can't," she sighed despairingly. "You know I can't sign the Accords."
"But I know you want to," Tony countered. "If you didn't have your world to protect, I know you'd have signed already."
"That's a moot point and you know it because I do have the magical community to protect," Hermione said irritably. "Malfoy swore that the Confederation would be informed if I signed something that risked magical people and you know how close I came to imprisonment last time."
"You're at risk of imprisonment now," Tony argued. "You infiltrated a CIA building - "
"Cadmus set up the meeting," she interjected. "That wasn't illegal. Ross invited me in further after I made a genuine offer of my services - an offer that still stands."
"Right, so you're just going to skip over the part where you tricked a CIA agent in Vienna into believing that Cap and Wilson were with you the entire time?" Tony said. "I know you had to have used magic to make that stick."
Hermione pursed her lips together, saying nothing.
"I'm not even going to ask you how you found out about the Bucharest location but I also know you would've used a portkey to transport them across Europe," he accused. "So we can add an unsanctioned crossing of sovereign borders to the charge sheet as well as aiding in an illegal operation that compromised an international task force. Now, you say your arrival in this building was perfectly legal but I'm sure someone like Secretary Ross would argue that you entered under false pretences given your knowledge and choice to deliberately withhold how the operation was set to be disrupted. And, to top it off, you then refused to be escorted from the room."
"You think I was just going to leave when people were attacking Steve?" she asked him as though he was stupid and Tony resisted the urge to hide his head in his hands in disbelief. "I needed to see what was happening! I needed to see that everything was going to be OK."
"Well, it wasn't, was it?" Tony snapped. "You saw your husband and his friends get arrested."
Hermione shook her head, looking troubled. "At least no one died," she said quietly.
Tony shook his head. "I don't understand why you let Steve endanger his life and your liberty like that when, you know..." He gestured to her stomach.
Hermione's eyes searched his face, making him feel uncomfortable. "Do you not have someone in your life that you'd risk everything for?" she asked softly and Tony's level of discomfort increased as her eyes continued to pierce into him.
"I've put my life on the line when there's been no choice," Tony said defensively. "But that's not what this was. There was a choice: if Steve had signed the Accords this could have all been legit," he pointed out. "And it still can be if you guys are smart about this. I haven't heard from Secretary Ross yet but you know he's going to be asking for your heads."
"You think we'll be prosecuted?" Hermione asked, biting her lip.
Tony looked at her seriously. "Secretary Ross dislikes what can't be controlled - not only that, he fears it. And you, above everyone else, probably scare him the most because of your capabilities. If he sticks you in a cell, you can just pop yourself out of it again. The only way he can control you is through others - through those you care about. You've presented him with an opportunity to get just what he wants and don't think that your pregnancy will make him go easy on you."
Hermione looked at him wide-eyed. "And you honestly think signing the Accords, gifting him authority over me and my family, would be the smart thing to do?"
"Friends close, enemies closer," Tony reminded her. "If you're in the system I can watch out for you, protect you. As long as you both toe the line from now on, he can't get anything on you without breaking the terms of the Accords. But if you guys don't sign, I think he'll come down as hard as possible to prove that he can."
Hermione momentarily closed her eyes and let her head fall back onto the pillow. "I can't just pop out of a prison cell right now, can I?"
Tony cleared his throat, his eyes following her hands as they moved over her stomach. "No, I know."
"Does Secretary Ross?" she asked anxiously.
"I don't know," he replied honestly. If Ross knew that formally detaining Hermione now would be a distinct possibility, would he be ruthless enough to do it? Tony liked to think not but the General had gotten where he was today because he was prepared to make those tough decisions. "But I would do everything I could to stop that from happening, kid, I promise."
She blinked rapidly but her face screwed up as the tears began to fall down her cheeks. "W-would they try and take the baby away?" she gasped. "If I go into labour whilst I'm in custody-"
"I won't let it happen," Tony vowed, reaching for her hand reassuringly, but his insides twisted nervously because he didn't know how far Secretary Ross was prepared to go. Tony hadn't meant to upset or scare her but, unfortunately, there were possible consequences that had to be brought to her attention.
She suddenly made an indescribable noise, cutting off her tears, and she looked down at her covered stomach. Tony followed her gaze and felt his jaw drop at the way her tummy was slowly rippling. He'd never seen anything like it and he was equal parts fascinated and disturbed. "Are- are you sure you're not giving birth to an alien?" he asked her, his eyes still following the hypnotic movements beneath the stretched cotton.
Hermione laughed tearfully. "A doctor actually got a good look at Pickle for the first time today and he seemed happy with what he saw."
"That's a relief," Tony said seriously, trying to push every sci-fi clip of alien births he'd ever seen out of his head. They continued to watch the movements of her stomach for a few seconds and then Tony stood up.
"I've got to go," he said. "I need to try and fix this mess."
Hermione brushed her cheeks to get rid of the tracks of her tears. "Where are they now?" she asked, looking over at Tony tiredly.
"They should be touching down in Berlin in the next few minutes," he told her.
"They're not going to let me see Steve, are they?" she said.
"Probably not," Tony agreed. "I expect they think, given an opportunity, you'll cause more mischief together." She smiled weakly. "Natasha will be here soon - I'll send her your way."
"Thank you."
He nodded. He tried to think of something to say but he was aware that she already knew what he thought the solution was. There was nothing more he could do: the ball was in her court now.
He opened the door with a lot less force than he had entered with but before he could take another step Hermione called his name. He looked back and saw that she was deliberating over what to say next. He raised an eyebrow at her and eventually she said, "Draw me up a version that I can agree to."
Relief coursed through his body but he played it cool, showing no outwards sign. "OK."
The next thirty minutes were extremely busy as Tony tried to resolve the damage done in Bucharest and attempted to put together a form of the Accords that Hermione would sign and yet still be acceptable to the UN. He knew that the likelihood of her putting pen to paper decreased with every minute that ticked by. Most of the phone calls he put out were positive in nature as those in power were eager to have the Sorceress on side. Secretary Ross, though, was not quite as easily pleased.
The General had been in a long meeting during the operation in Bucharest and had only recently found out about the debacle. He was still hopping mad when he spoke to Tony and, as predicted, wanted the book thrown at Sam, Steve and Hermione. Even Hermione's tentative agreement to sign the Accords didn't lift his mood much.
"Every country in the United Nations agreed to those conditions," Secretary Ross growled down the phone to him. "Why should we make exceptions for her?"
"Sir, I could talk to you for an hour about how often my technology has been used against me and Grang-, er, Hermione has been lecturing me on it since the day we met," Tony replied, keeping his voice calm and respectful. "You have some idea what she's capable of, sir, so imagine how much damage could be done if the wrong people get hold of her DNA and unlocked her magic for themselves."
Ross merely grunted.
"We'll keep the amendments quiet, sir," Tony continued, "Only those who need to know will be aware. The UN Secretary-General spoke favourably about the proposal."
Ross grunted again. "Forward me any version you draft before you put it in front of her, Stark."
The arrival of the detainees from Bucharest only increased the tension inside the Task Force building. Steve and Sam entered the control room as Tony was finishing off his conversation with Secretary Ross.
Steve was looking at him with a mixture of hope and wariness. "They won't let me see Hermione," he said anxiously as soon as Tony was finished on the phone.
"Maybe that's because last time you were together you concocted a plan that broke several of the laws outlined in the only hours-old Accords," Tony said sarcastically.
Natasha stepped forwards and put a reassuring hand on Steve's arm. "I've already told you, she's fine. They've got her resting in a bed a couple of floors away."
"The quicker you sit down and let us try and fix your mess, the sooner I expect you'll get to see your wife," Tony advised, motioning to some seats.
"Her blood pressure has been high," Steve persisted. "Has someone checked it?"
Tony very much wanted to make a comment about how he doubted Hermione's blood pressure would be so much of a concern if Steve hadn't hopped across Europe to take on a deadly assassin, but he managed to choke it down. Bold home truths had managed to push Hermione to the brink of signing the Accords but he doubted the same tactic would work quite as well with Steve. "I'll get someone on the blood pressure," Tony said smoothly. "I know you're concerned but you don't want to go making things worse - Secretary Ross wants you both prosecuted."
"That's not going to happen though, right?" Sam asked.
Tony shrugged. "You guys caused a lot of damage, and not just in the literal sense. There's got to be consequences."
"For Hermione too?" Steve asked concerned. "They're not going to lock her up, surely?"
Sam and Natasha watched Tony closely, almost as anxious about Hermione's fate as her husband was. "I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen," Tony replied truthfully.
Steve held his gaze for a moment and then nodded solemnly. "Thank you, Tony."
It was some time before Tony was able to free himself from the seemingly endless series of phone calls to find time to sit down with Steve one-to-one. Hermione was still mulling over the version of the Accords that sat before her but Tony had gotten the grudging acceptance of Secretary Ross and some of the key players at the UN for the proposed modifications. Now he only hoped that she would sign it - not that he would be telling Steve that any time soon.
Keeping Hermione and Steve apart was actually playing to Tony's advantage because he strongly suspected that she would be less likely to put pen to paper if she talked it over with her husband. He also sensed that telling Steve how close she was to agreeing would push him further away from doing the same. He knew very well that he was manipulating his friends but he was doing it for their own good.
Steve glanced up at him as he entered the conference room, its glass walls showing the activity around them in the control room. Steve opened his mouth to speak but Tony beat him to it. "She's fine," he told him. "Blood pressure's been checked and there's no real change. Contact has also been made with the doctor that saw her in Vienna and all medical notes have been passed on. Apparently the doctor wasn't best pleased that she ignored his advised bed rest and took a flight less than two hours after being knocked unconscious by an explosion in order to put herself in another highly stressful situation."
Steve grimaced and glanced away, obviously sensing the disapproval in Tony's voice. There was a lot more that Tony would happily say on the matter but the situation called for him to try and restrain himself, so instead he gently wiggled the small box he was holding and said, "You wanna see something cool? I pulled something from Dad's archives. Felt timely." He pulled the lid upwards and put the presentation box down in front of Steve so he could see the two fountain pens resting inside. "FDR signed the Lend-Lease bill with these in 1941. Provided support to the Allies when they needed it most."
Steve shook his head once. "Some would say it brought our country closer to war."
Sometimes, Tony swore that Steve would say things just to get under his skin and piss him off. "See? If not for these you wouldn't be here. I'm trying to…" He gestured to the pens before taking a seat. "What do you call it? That's an olive branch. Is that what you call it?"
"I know you're trying to make peace - " Steve began and Tony frowned.
"Aren't we all? Isn't that why we do what we do?"
"But peace that demands the surrender of your liberty isn't a peace at all," Steve argued.
Tony could feel himself getting agitated. "You think you're the only one in a difficult position; the only one who has to make decisions for the people you love?"
Concern showed on Steve's face. "How are things with Pepper? Are you guys back together?"
Tony briefly covered his mouth with his hand, hiding the pain that stabbed in his chest. "Did Hermione tell you why we're taking a break?" Tony had avoided the topic with her at all costs but he knew that Pepper would have confided in Hermione.
Steve shook his head. "No, she would never."
Tony shrugged. "It's nobody's fault," he said, his tone of voice lighter than he truly felt. "A few years ago when I almost lost her, I trashed all my suits. Then, Granger disappeared, we had to mop up HYDRA… and then Ultron. My fault," he admitted calmly, followed by a sigh, "And then we hear about magic and Thanos, and then, and then, and then," he said quickly, "I never stopped. Because the truth is I don't wanna stop... I don't wanna lose her. I thought maybe the Accords could split the difference.
"In her defense, I'm a handful," he joked, reaching his limit on the serious, personal discussion and getting to his feet to look contemplatively out into the control room. "Yet, Dad was a pain in the ass, but he and Mom always made it work."
"You know, I'm glad Howard got married," Steve said fondly. "I only knew him when he was young and single."
"Oh, really? You two knew each other?" Tony commented sarcastically, turning back to look at him as he picked up his suit jacket. "He never mentioned that. Maybe only a thousand times. God, I hated you," he muttered, shrugging on the jacket. His bitter tone must have caught Steve by surprise because he could feel his big ole blues gazing at him with compassion.
"I don't mean to make things difficult," Steve told him.
"I know, because you're a very polite person," Tony replied easily.
"If I see a situation pointed south… I've never been able to ignore it," he admitted. "Sometimes I wish I could."
"No, you don't," Tony retorted.
"In the past, I didn't," he agreed with a wry smile. "But now, for the sake of my wife and child, I do," he stated firmly. "And I was willing to but she..." he trailed off and shook his head with that damn wry smile again. "She knows me."
Tony resisted the urge to drag a weary hand over his face. "She convinced you to go." He'd previously believed Steve to be the instigator behind the mess in Bucharest but apparently it was the other member of Team Rogers that was to blame.
"You know how important friendship is to her," Steve pointed out, "To us both."
"God you two really get on my nerves sometimes," Tony muttered truthfully and then sighed. "But I don't want to see you gone. We need you, Cap. Both of you. So far, nothing's happened that can't be undone, if you sign," he said, motioning to the pens. "We can make the last twenty-four hours legit. Barnes gets transferred to an American psych center instead of a Wakandan prison. You and Hermione prepare for the birth of your child without the threat of incarceration hanging over your heads."
Steve picked up one of the pens and stood, looking at it solemnly for a few moments before glancing up at Tony. "I'd have to talk to Hermione first - I'm not doing anything without seeing her."
"Of course," Tony agreed, "I'm working on it."
"But, if I were to agree, there'd have to be safeguards in place - I need to protect my family, Tony," he said firmly.
"Sure. Once we put out the PR fire, those documents can be amended." Tony doubted that Secretary Ross would agree to two altered versions of the Accords in the same day but when things had calmed down he was sure he could get the go ahead. "I'd file a motion to have you, Hermione and Wanda reinstated-"
"Wanda?" Steve interrupted. "What about Wanda?"
Tony immediately knew that he'd said something that he shouldn't have. "She's fine. She's confined to the compound, currently. Vision's keeping her company."
Steve's face creased with disapproval. "Oh God, Tony! Every time. Every time I think you see things the right way…" Steve protested, pacing up and down.
"What?" Tony defended agitatedly. "It's a hundred acres with a lap pool. It's got a screening room. There's worse ways to protect people."
"Protection?" Steve repeated. "Is that how you see this? This is protection? It's internment, Tony."
"She's not a US citizen -
"Oh, come on, Tony," Steve scoffed.
"- and they don't grant visas to weapons of mass destruction."
"She's a kid!"
"Give me a break!" Tony snapped, finally losing his temper. "I'm doing what has to be done," he said more calmly, "to stave off something worse." Steve stared at him and Tony struggled to maintain the eye contact under the intense scrutiny.
"You keep telling yourself that," Steve replied lowly.
Tony hit the table in frustration. "This is not the fight that we need to be having. Have you forgotten who our true enemy is?" Tony argued. He didn't have to say the name because he could see by the increased tension in Steve's posture that he knew who Tony was talking about, but he said it anyway. "Thanos. That bastard abducted your wife, tortured her and damn near had her killed but you'd rather have us squabbling amongst ourselves when he turns up to finish the job he gave to Loki. We're talking about the fate of the entire planet, Steve, and I reckon the only way we stand a chance of defeating him is if we're all together."
Steve said nothing.
"Your friends safe, the freedom to be with your family, and a united front to protect the people of this planet from the greatest threat they've ever faced," Tony proposed sombrely. "The way the lay of the land's looking, you're either going to get it all or none of it. The choice is yours, Steve..."
It felt like Steve had been staring at the copy of the Sokovia Accords (that he suspected Tony had 'accidentally' left on the table) for hours. It was an extremely intimidating stack of paper and, as the minutes ticked by, he had a growing sense that he might have to do something that he didn't want to. If he only had himself to think about then he knew that he'd still be able to dismiss the Accords despite the mess that had occured in Bucharest. But it would be selfish of him to only think about himself when he had a very pregnant wife. The same arguments of the last few days chased themselves round and round his head. The tentative impasse they'd reached in agreeing to wait until after the baby had been born had been torn away from them. Life, it seemed, wasn't going to let them have things their way - but when had it ever done so before? Fate was forcing Steve to make a decision and it felt like it was tearing away at him from the inside out.
He had to speak to Hermione. That was imperative. No decision would be forced from him before he spoke to her and then they could take the next step of their journey together: as a family.
Sam tapped him on the shoulder, breaking him out of his contemplation. Steve sent him a questioning look and Sam nodded his head towards the large screens on the wall outside the glass office they were being held in.
"The interview with the psychiatrist is starting," Sam said.
On some of the screens, Steve could see Bucky from various angles, still restrained in his special protective pod. As he watched, a man took a seat at a table opposite to Bucky but he could hear nothing. Apparently Tony and the Task Force didn't want him to know what was being said.
The door to the office was opened and Sharon Carter walked in, piece of paper in hand. "The receipt for your gear," she told Sam as she passed it over. She sent a sympathetic glance Steve's way then focused on the assortment of screens too.
"Bird costume," Sam said distastefully. "Come on."
"I didn't write it," Sharon replied unbothered.
Steve continued to stare at Bucky's image, noticing how understandably tense his best friend looked. At least he's alive, he told himself. Whatever repercussions that followed on from Bucharest, at least his best friend was still alive. He was sure that the real Bucky was in there somewhere and he wanted to believe his friend when he'd said that he didn't plant the bomb.
"I'm not here to judge you," a male voice suddenly said into the room and Steve realised the audio had been authorised. He glanced over at Sharon and saw her hand near the control panel but she showed no reaction to the change in the transmission.
"I just want to ask a few questions," the voice (which obviously belonged to the psychiatrist from the UN) continued. "Do you know where you are, James? I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James."
"My name is Bucky." It still felt so strange to hear his voice again. It was both the same and different from the one he'd grown up with.
He glanced down at a photograph on the table showing the CCTV footage of 'Bucky' moments before the bombing in Vienna. Something was niggling at him if Bucky truly was as innocent as he claimed. "Why would the Task Force release this photo to begin with?" he asked Sam and Sharon.
Sharon shrugged. "Get the word out, involve as many eyes as we can?"
"Right," Steve agreed. "It's a good way to flush a guy out of hiding. Set off a bomb, get your picture taken. Get seven billion people looking for the Winter Soldier."
"You're saying someone framed him to find him," Sharon said and then glanced away, clearly thinking about the possibility.
"Steve, we looked for the guy for over two years and found nothing," Sam reminded him.
"We didn't bomb the UN," Steve pointed out. "That turns a lot of heads."
"Yeah, but that doesn't guarantee that whoever framed him would get him," Sharon argued, "It guarantees that we would." She paused and turned her eyes back to the screen, her gaze narrowed on the psychiatrist.
Steve did likewise, the sense of unease in his gut increasing. "Yeah…"
"Tell me, Bucky," the evaluator continued. "You've seen a great deal, haven't you?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Bucky replied a little hoarsely.
"You fear that if you open your mouth, the horrors might never stop. Don't worry," the psychiatrist said, seemingly paying more attention to an electronic device on his table than to Bucky. "We only have to talk about one."
Steve turned back to Sam and Sharon. "Does anyone else have a bad feeling about this?"
Sam nodded. "Something definitely feels off."
Sharon was frowning and seemed to be deliberating with herself whether to speak. "There's something else," she told Steve and whatever it was, he knew it wouldn't be good news. "Your wife - she's just outside the holding area. My boss agreed to let her use her magic to look into his mind when the evaluator is finished."
Steve started forwards in alarm, dread flooding through his body. "Get her out of there," he urged.
"She wants to help - " Sharon started to say but Steve cut across her.
"I don't care. If something happens - "
And that was when the power in the control room suddenly went out.
A/N Cliffhanger!
Let me know what you thought of the chapter and, just as importantly, let me know what you thought of Endgame if you've already seen it!
Love,
Lil Drop of Magic