Chapter 10

Reminiscing

"What's gonna happen to your friends?" Bucky asked, sitting in the back seat of the jet. The two had managed to escape from Tony and Rhodey.

Steve took a deep breath. "Whatever it is… I'll deal with it."

"I don't know if I'm worth all this, Steve." Bucky said.

Steve was silent for a long moment. He wasn't sure what to say at first, but he wanted to offer comfort to his friend.

"What you did all those years, it wasn't you." Steve reassured. "You didn't have a choice."

"I know," Bucky replied. "But I did it."

~jb~

As Jenny looked out into the sea, she could sense the cold rain. Wherever they took Summer, this was not the environment for her. Jenny sat in the chopper as Tony continued his research. It turned out that Bucky had been framed for setting off the bomb in Vienna. There was a man who looked strikingly like him, and he was the culprit. Now there were more people like Bucky, who could do terrible things.

"The fake doctor is actually Colonel Helmut Zemo." Friday continued. "Sokovian Intelligence…" Tony held up the screen, so Jenny could see. "Zemo ran Echo Scorpion…a Sokovian covert kill squad."

"What happened to the real Broussard- the physiatrist who was supposed to evaluate Barnes?" Tony asked.

"He was found dead in a Berlin hotel room, where police also found a wig and facial prosthetics approximating the appearance of one James Buchanan Barnes." Friday replied.

"Son of a bitch." Tony scoffed. "Get this to Ross."

"Yes, Boss." Friday answered.

"Are you okay, kid?" Tony asked.

Jenny nodded.

"I'm sorry about your friend." Tony continued. "Is she the only one?"

"No…" Jenny whispered. "Now I'm afraid they'll try to find the rest of them…they're going to take my friends away from me, Mr. Stark…they're going to experiment on them and treat them like freaks… all because Summer couldn't lay low…"

"This is Raft Prison Control." The radio interrupted. "You're clear for landing, Mr. Stark." Jenny could see lights in the water. Suddenly, a large building pushed itself up out of the waves. The chopper landed on a pad, and doors covered above them. Now inside the compound, Jenny and Tony exited the chopper, and were greeted by The Secretary of State. Jenny could only glare at him as he approached.

"So, you got the files?" Secretary Ross asked.

"Let's reroute the satellites." Tony replied. "Start facial scanning for this Zemo guy."

"You seriously think I'm going to listen to you, after that fiasco in Leipzig?" Ross replied.

"You better listen to him!" Jenny snapped. "If it weren't for him, Manhattan would have been blown to bits and it would've been on your head!"

Fast as lightening, Jenny felt the harsh sting on her cheek as The Secretary slapped her cheek. "Remember who you're speaking to." He snapped back at her. "You and Stark are lucky you're not in one of these cells."

Tony put a hand on Jenny's shoulder and gently pulled her away, glaring daggers at The Secretary. Once the tension had toned down, Ross led Tony and Jenny to a room with cameras, showing all the cells their friends were in. Jenny gasped, seeing Wanda in a cell with a straight jacket. She felt horrified at the sight, but at the same time, glad Vision wasn't there to see it. They were allowed to see the cells. It was a circular room. Everyone had been forced to wear a blue uniform. Someone began to clap.

"The Futurist, gentlemen!" Clint shouted. "The Futurist is here! He sees all! He knows what's best for you, whether you like it or not."

"Give me a break, Barton." Tony retorted, walking up to Clint's cell. Jenny looked around the room, finding Summer in her cell, also wearing a straight jacket. "I had no idea they'd put you here, come on." Tony continued.

"Yeah," Clint spat. "Well, you knew they'd put us somewhere, Tony."

"Yeah, but not some super-max, floating ocean pokey." Tony defended.

"This is what they meant by 'retirement'." Jenny added.

"This place is for maniacs…this place is for…" Tony continued.

"Criminals?" Clint finished before standing up. "Criminals, Tony. I think that's the word you're looking for, right? That didn't used to mean me. Or Sam, or Wanda. But here we are."

"Because you broke the law." Tony argued.

"Yeah." Clint retorted.

"I didn't make you." Tony added. "You read it, you broke it." Tony raised his voice a little while Clint began a little song of his own. "You're all grown up, you got a wife and kids. I don't understand, why didn't you think about them before you chose the wrong side?"

"You gotta watch your back with this guy." Clint shouted again, banging on the cell door. "There's a chance he's gonna break it!"

"Hank Pym always said, you can never trust a Stark." Scott cut in as Tony walked past his cage.

"Who are you?" Tony asked, before he continued walking.

"Come on, man." Scott grumbled.

Jenny walked over to Summer's cell. The red-head was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. Jenny knelt to her level.

"You look good in blue." Jenny said.

"Shut up," Summer hissed. "Don't talk to me."

"Summer…" Jenny hesitated and took a deep breath. "Do you remember what Sensei said?"

"He says a lot of things." Summer replied.

"He told us that we are ninjas, and that we should always practice the art of invisibility." Jenny began. "And he meant all of us…even me. Remember when he said the outside world would beckon our young minds? He said they wouldn't understand…"

"Their world can never truly be ours." Summer finished, recalling her teacher's words.

"But maybe it can." Jenny continued. "There's just…there has to be a better approach."

"Still…" Summer turned to Jenny. "How could you just turn your back on us?"

"You really think I could forget about you guys?" Jenny asked.

"I don't know." Summer sighed. "I just wanted to be appreciated. For once. I wanted someone to like me for who I am."

Jenny nodded. "Try telling your friends who do like you, when they also get arrested and brought here for having super powers."

Jenny stood and walked away from the cell.

"How's Rhodes?" Sam asked Tony.

"They're flying him to Columbia Medical tomorrow…so fingers crossed." Tony said. It was silent for a moment before Tony continued. "What do you need? They feed you yet?"

"You're the good cop, now?" Sam asked.

"I'm just the guy who needs to know where Steve went." Tony replied.

"Well, you better go get a bad cop." Sam retorted. "Because you're gonna have to go Mark Fuhrman on my ass to get information out of me."

Tony took out his watch and pressed a few buttons.

"Well, I just knocked the A out of their AV." Tony said. "You've got about thirty seconds before they realize it's not their equipment." Tony pulled out a small screen from his watch. "Just look, because that is the fellow who was supposed to interrogate Barnes. Clearly, I made a mistake, Sam, I was wrong."

"That's a first." Sam said.

"Cap is definitely off the reservation, but he's about to need all the help he can get. We don't know each other very well. You don't have to-"

"Hey, it's all right." Sam interrupted. He took a deep breath. "Look, I'll tell you, but you have to go alone, and as a friend."

"Easy." Tony said. "What about the kid?" He gestured to Jenny.

"Take the ninja kid with you, then." Sam said. "I don't want her to be left in this place if we can help it."

~jb~

"Stark?" Secretary Ross called out as Tony and Jenny walked toward the chopper. "Did he give you anything on Rogers?"

"Nope. Told me to go to hell." Tony replied. "I'm going back to the compound instead, but you can call me anytime. I'll put you on hold. I like to watch the line blink."

"Tell the kid to watch herself." Secretary Ross added.

"Hey, someday, this kid is gonna rule a country, so…maybe you need to watch it." Tony sat and winked as he and Jenny took their seats and the door began to close.

As the chopper flew through the ocean, Tony began to remove his arm-brace.

"Time to suit up, kid." Tony said.

~jb~

Steve landed the jet onto the snowy lands. He and Bucky got ready and stood at the gangplank as it slowly opened, revealing the snowy landscape. The cold wind bit at their exposed faces.

"You remember that time we had to ride back from Rockaway Beach in the back of that freezer truck?" Steve asked.

"Was it the time we used our train money to buy hot dogs?" Bucky asked, smiling at him.

"You blew three bucks trying to win that stuffed bear for a redhead." Steve teased.

"What was her name again?" Bucky asked.

"Dolores." Steve replied. "You called her Dot."

"She's gotta be a hundred years old right now." Bucky said.

"So are we, pal." Steve added, padding Bucky's shoulder.

Okay, it's about to get REAL now! I think the friendship between Summer and Jenny will be fine. Summer just needs to work some things out for herself. But believe me, as their creator, this isn't the first time Jenny and Summer had an intense fight. Summer likes to argue with everyone. But it looks like Summer might be on her way to become an Avenger. Just wait and see! I can't believe this one is almost all published! We're getting close to the end! DUN! DUN! DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!