NEW YORK COURTHOUSE JAIL

Barnes sits in the mobile containment cell, fuming. The day had turned to sh*t when the prosecution began their arguments. Their team had begun by going down a list of the Winter Soldier's (alleged) victims. Your lawyer had tried to object but had been overridden, and hadn't complained again. It was a long list. The people in the audience were staring at you.

Iron Man was there, standing by the judge's bench on the side away from the witness stand, watching you too. He wasn't wearing the helmet, but just having the red and gold suit there was distracting. Between that and the other lawyer talking about your missions (if he only knew), and the guard you killed two days ago, you were struggling to keep still. Tune out the talking until "…killed Captain America!" The crowd is staring at you and whispering.

"I would like to call Sam Wilson to the stand, your honor." Look up and see Sam, he glances at you and frowns, gives a little nod. What. Sam sits and the opposing lawyer looks at him. "Did you find Steve Rogers, also known as Captain America, after the helicarriers shot each other out of the sky?

"Yes."

"What was Roger's condition?"

"He had no pulse or respiration."

"Why? Steve Rogers was a super-soldier, who had survived many terrible injuries during the war. What happened to him?"

Pause. "He had been badly beaten, shot twice and stabbed, before falling a few hundred feet from a helicarrier into the Potomac."

"Mmm. How did you find him?"

"Natasha Romanoff and I were in a helicopter, searching for him, when we saw a man pulling him from the river. We knew it was Cap by the red, white and blue uniform. The other man walked away before we could get there. I went to help Cap, and Natasha followed the man's tracks."

"And who was the other man?

Another pause. "A HYDRA assassin known as the Winter Soldier."

The lawyer smirks and walks closer to the containment cell. "And is this him? The Winter Soldier?"

Sam pauses. "No, that man is Sergeant James Barnes."

It's like everyone explodes. The audience is shouting at Sam. Shouting at you. The judge bangs his gavel and calls for order in the court. The people quiet down while the lawyer stares at Sam. It's almost quiet again when he leans toward Sam and yells almost right in his face "No, this man is A MURDERER!" He does a quick walk to the containment cell and stares at you. "This man, THE WINTER SOLDIER, worked with HYDRA to murder HUNDREDS, to MURDER CAPTAIN AMERICA, and will be proven GUILTY!"

The courtroom erupts again, the judge can't be heard over the noise. Take a deep breath and try to be calm, try not to look at the angry faces. Wish to be anywhere but here. Despite the judge banging the gavel and shouting, the audience has turned into an uncontrollable mob. Start to shake from the stress of keeping yourself from breaking out, breathe, один, два, три… Steve, please…

The judge then declares over the din that the trial would resume tomorrow and security escorts him out. Other guards slowly clear the courtroom and return you to the cell block. One look at you and the guards prepare to release the gas again.

When they're happy you're in the cell and fed with no violence, it gets quiet. The guard on suicide watch is quietly watching a small monitor, he's sitting behind it but all he has to do is look up to see you. Sigh. Recover from the gas and do exercises until you start to sweat, then lay on the cool floor. Hear a small sound, it's not the guard, it's from the wall again. The guard doesn't seem to hear it. Move to sit on the bed, lean your head against the wall to hear better. Put your metal hand behind your back again, ready to tap.

– • – • – – • – – • – • – – • – – – • – • – – • – CQCQCQ SEEKING YOU SEEKING YOU SEEKING YOU

• – • R ROGER, RECEIVING

• • • – • – – • • – • • • STATUS

• • • • – • – – – • • – –• • – • – • • – • – • • • – • • HYDGRDKIL HYDRA GUARD KILLED

• • – • - - - INOUOK I KNOW YOU OK

– • – – – • – – • – • • • • • • • • – • • NOPNSHD NOT PUNISHED

• • • • – • – – – • – • – – – – – – • – • – • • SAWCOORD SAW COORDINATES

• – – • • • – • • – • – • • • • • – • – – • – • – • – – – • – • – WILCHNGCORT WILL CHANGE COURT

– – – • • – – – • • 88 LOVE AND KISSES • • • – • – SK END

Frown and grin a little. Love and kisses. Hmm. They saw where I was kept. Focus on the guard. He's watching you with a frown. What. Stare at him. The guard stands up and comes closer to the bars. Shift your arm around to your side. It's the guard who was nice that day.

In a low, quiet tone, the guard asks "I pulled your hand off your throat."

Stare at him. "Why."

He looks down. "I didn't want you to die." Pause. "Why did you kill Eric? The guard?"

Frown. Eric? Look at the guard, note his non-threatening stance, see no animosity in his eyes, only curiosity.

"He was HYDRA."

"HYDRA! How did you know?"

How did I know. Remember all the little tells 'Eric' had shown. "I just did."

The guard asks more questions, but ignore him. He goes back to the desk, picks up the radio and walks down the hall with it, talking. Sigh. Look at the desk. The notebook the guard writes in is laying there, pen on top.


The next day begins much the same, but decide not to go through the gas procedure this time, the fatigue it causes makes you feel . So cooperate with the guards and sit in the metal restraints, fearful, angry, tired. See Tony in his red and gold Iron Man suit, standing beside the judge's bench. Wonder where Natalia is. Remember a comforting presence. Steve. I wish you were here…your smile, your blue eyes, eyes that glared at me for laughing at you, your hair that never stayed down. Like you. Until I…

Shake your head. Don't go there. Focus. The lawyer for the prosecution is telling the jury that you are dangerous, and to prove it he says "The Winter Soldier is a weapon, not a person, anyone can tell him who to kill, and he'll complete the mission, no matter who, and no matter what it takes. He's a machine."

Frown. Not true. Only handlers can give me orders.

To his credit, your lawyers stands up and objects.

The lawyer stops pacing and looks at you. "Some people say that this man has been brainwashed, but that is far from the truth. The Winter Soldier kills because it's what he's good at, he doesn't feel anything, he doesn't care who, he kills men and women without hesitation," he turns to address the jury and stresses, "even innocent children. He killed on command, anyone his employer asked him to. He's a killer, as cold as his name."

Feel your heart rate increase, is he going to say the words. The lawyer looks at you, grimaces and asks the court to play 'the video'. He warns "These are very graphic, please leave now if seeing people and children murdered will upset you". There's a wait while the crowd shuffles, a few leaving but most keeping their seats. A large monitor mounted on the wall across from the jury starts up.

The lawyer says, "We here in this room will be some of the only people in the world to see the Winter Soldier at work and live to tell. He always killed witnesses, no matter who, no matter how old or how young. So these random shots, caught accidentally, are all we have. Be warned, they are not easy to watch. This first video, an assassination, from December 1980, the victim was Sultan Ibraimov, the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan." A security camera view shows a man standing beside a car, wearing white robes and talking to his driver, then spinning and falling, presumably from being shot. Then the driver falls. Quiet comments rustle through the crowd.

The next video starts. The scene is a party, the camera being held, or rather waved around by a happy party goer, filming other happy people. The lawyer says "This was in 1986, in Sweden. Olof Palme, the Prime Minister of Sweden." Suddenly one of the happy party goers is shot in the head and falls, the camera view jerking to the floor, people screaming.

The next one…but his own lawyer interrupts, he objects, saying they have no proof it was the defendant, local militant groups had been charged with these assassinations long ago. The judge agrees but the other lawyer says "One more, please allow us to play one more video that proves it was the accused beyond all doubt". The judge nods his ok, the video tech adjusts the playback and the next video starts.

You remember that road. Remember following that car, a gold 1991 Cadillac, the target…Look down, remember that mission, the briefing, the motorcycle, the blue bags of serum. Hear Tony say loudly, "What is this?" The lawyer stops the playback on a scene showing a man dressed in black with a metal arm walking towards the fallen driver. "This man is undeniably the Winter Soldier, the same man who is here, secured in this very containment cell." The lawyer gestures at you, sneering, as he nods to the tech to continue, the audience murmuring.

You don't have to keep watching to know what happens, but you see something you don't remember. The driver called me Sergeant Barnes? Me? He knew me? I had to kill him, the mission was extract, no witnesses… Stark, Tonys father? I didn't know… He helped us…in…the war. I didn't remember, my orders were no witnesses. Oh no I'm sorry, sorry…mission was to recover the serum, and they were witnesses, orders were sanction and extract, no witnesses…

Tony grimaces, he's holding onto the wooden judge's bench, staring at the screen. "Howard!…" Remember how quickly and easily she had died, her throat crushed with his natural hand. I didn't know... Bam, a gunshot takes out the camera and the video goes to static. Tony turns and takes a step towards you, tighten against the restraints and watch him, a cold stab of fear in your stomach. Here we go…

"It wasn't him, man, HYDRA tortured him…" Sam. Sam had moved through the crowd and is reaching out to Tony, raising his voice, trying to get his attention, which is focused on you like a laser.

Tony interrupts Sam, his eyes wild with emotion. "I don't care. He killed my mom." Tony advances to the containment cell but Sam gets in the way. "Tony…"

Tony stops, red-faced, barely holding his emotions in check he glares at Sam. "Did you know."

Sam pauses, "Yes, but…" Tony looks down and away, his jaw clenching, and without warning he swings and hits Sam hard in the face, making him flip over a table and crash down behind it, scattering people and paper in all directions. Chaos erupts, everyone jumps up at once and it seems like each person tries to run in a different direction. Guards rush the judge out a side door as you start crushing and ripping the restraints apart to get free.

Tony charges the cell, but a guard, the nice one, steps in between them, holding up his hand. Tony comes to a stop, his metal chest touching the guards hand. "Move." The guard argues with Tony as you rip more of the clamps off. Tony shoves the guard down and steps over his body, gets a grip on the cell door and tears it off the frame, looks in at you and raises a glowing hand. Rip off the last restraint and launch yourself at him just in time to knock his arm to the side so the shot goes wild, through the cell window and into the courtroom's far wall. People are running, screaming, trying to get out.

Roll out of the box and past Tony, jump over the fallen guard and spin around but Tony catches you by the neck and flies across the room, smashing your body to the floor under his armor. Grunt with the impact as Tony tries to aim his right-hand repulsor at you but you catch his metal hand with yours and crush the repulsor.

You manage to shift under him just as a small rocket burns past your face and explodes against the far wall, bringing down the wall and chunks of the ceiling, and then the whole area is engulfed in flames. A large pillar next to the wall starts to fall over, bringing beams and burning ceiling parts down with it.

The pillar falls against both of you, bashing Tony to the side, setting you free. Ignore the bits of debris still falling as you catch the motion of several STRIKE team men running in. Lower your chin and advance on them, deflect their shots with your arm and take them down. Feel yourself falling easily into the reactions and moves trained into the Asset. Take a rifle and a fighting knife from one of the men as you head for a door, everything goes fast and smooth, until the doorway ahead of you explodes in a blast of wood and sheetrock.

Turn and use the M4 to fire on Tony, the shots jerk him back but the suit protects him, even from multiple rounds directly into the arc reactor, a glowing target in the center of his chest. Tony forces you back with a blast from his left hand and rushes you, tries to pin you against the wall but you fight him off, landing good strong blows with your metal arm but he fires another beam from his hand.

You try to twist away but the blast burns across your ribs, burning a hole in the jumper and stetting it on fire. Grimace in pain and turn to attack but he pushes you off-balance and gets an arm around your neck. He flies up off the floor a few feet, holding you up by your head, his metal arm around your neck, choking…fight to get free, no leverage, gasp for air, Tony growls through his mask into your ear "Do you remember them."

Yes. Brokenly growl "I…remember…" Beginning to black out, gotta get him off…pull at the arm around your throat with your metal hand, and slide the stolen knife from the hip pocket on the stupid prison jumper with your right hand, flip it so the blade is against your arm and run the edge behind you down Tony's armor. Feel the blade slide over the smooth metal, feel it drop into the space near his crotch and shove the blade in, hard.

Tony shouts in pain and you fall. Land on your feet, gasping in huge breaths of air. Tony pauses, hovering in mid air, the shining eyes of the suit watching you. He raises a hand and fires. Deflect the repulsor shot back into him with your metal arm, the beam hitting Tony right in his faceplate. Run at him as he falls to his knees on the floor, stunned. Punch him repeatedly, Tony tries to counter but his hand-to-hand isn't good enough to defend against your attack.

Tony fires again but you catch his arm and hold it away so the beam cuts the ceiling. Force him back against the wall and hold him there with your right arm against his helmet, fasten your left hand on the bright arc reactor and put all your strength into destroying it.

Forget about escape, forget about everything except trying to stop Tony. Let your pent-up frustration and anger blaze out like a jet engine, anger from years of fear and torment and Steve releasing into your one goal of tearing the arc reactor out of Tony's chest. Snarl as you put your full strength and body weight behind your arms to destroy Iron Man.

Suddenly the world goes white, a blinding white hot pain in your metal shoulder takes over your whole body as you're thrown back and roll to your knees on the floor. Turn your head to see your metal arm, to assess the damage, but it's gone, glowing hot ripped metal edges and sparking wires on your shoulder are all that remain. Shock, my arm… then agony as Tony blasts you in the side under your missing arm and sends you flying back, crash down to the floor and fade into blackness.


Tony feels himself pinned to the wall, the Soldier is trying to pull out the arc reactor! The bionic arm is crushing it, he thinks. Enough! Quickly decide and focus the unibeam in his chest to burn the Soldier off him, to kill him. Watch the man as he's thrown back and lands on his knees, his metal arm gone. Still alive. Hit him with another repulsor blast and send him tumbling away, his body rolling limply to a stop.

Take a step towards him but someone gets in the way. Sam. "Sam. Move."

Sam is back, bloody, his arms out, trying to stop him. "No, man, HYDRA had control of his mind, he didn't have a choice. Don't do this."

Walk around Sam. "He killed my parents, and he killed Steve."

"Please, Tony, stop! This is murder!"

Turn and raise the hand repulsor to Sam. "Get out, Sam, I won't ask again." Sam's face is streaming blood from your hit, but you don't feel any remorse.

Something grabs your leg, the Soldier has your ankle. Jerk away, spin and kick him in the face. He edges away on his back but follow him, notice he's holding up his remaining hand, something white in it, but ignore it as not-a-weapon and stand over him, arm stiff, ready to fire.

Look at the Soldier's bloody face, into his incredibly blue eyes. "You killed my mom." The Soldier's mouth opens but you don't want to hear it. Fire into the Soldier's chest, point blank.

His body jerks up and convulses, forcing him onto his side, the blasted hole of his shoulder still sparking. Watch him gasping, writhing in pain. Hold Sam back with one arm, he's yelling something. Feel nothing, except satisfaction. The Soldier, twisting in agony, gasps out "Nat…" and jerkily extends his right fist, with the white paper. Don't take it. The fist falls. The Soldier's head rolls back, his body relaxing on the floor.

Tony can barely hear him when he breathes out "Ssteevve…end of…line… his eyes close as his head turns away and stops, and doesn't move again.

Tony stands there breathing hard, looking down at the body, the killer, motionless except for the still-sparking wires in the shredded metal shoulder. "Stay dead." he says. Sam curses as he finally gets around and falls to the floor beside the Soldier, feeling for a pulse, anything. Bend down and touch the body, ask JARVIS for life signs. In a subdued voice, JARVIS reports "None, sir."

Natasha appears out of the smoke, but she just stands there, looking at him, but if looks could kill...

"A little late now, what kept you?" Tony snaps at her.

Her expression and stance change to one that conveys the promise of a quick death. Tony unconsciously takes a step back, his hand jerks to come up but he takes a breath and forces himself not to as policemen come in cautiously through the debris and smoke, breaking the awkward moment. They ask him if he's ok. Open the helmet. "Yeah, yeah, I'm ok, check those men over there." he says, pointing in the direction of the downed STRIKE team. His hip hurts like hell, but the suit has stopped the bleeding and is holding him up for now.

Sam's in tears, holding the Soldier's hand. Natasha is next to him with a hand on his shoulder, and whispers something to him. Sam gives her the bit of torn paper that the Soldier had tried to give Tony.

"What is that?" Tony asks, pushing forward, curious now. Natasha looks at him, unreadable, then tilts her head to the side. "A little late now, don't you think?" and gives him a smirk that is somehow shows both contempt, and a dare.

"Nat, come on, I just fought the…" He pauses, turning his head and choking back what he was going to say. "You're lucky I don't have you arrested right now."

A loud crash makes them all turn, more of the roof is collapsing, the fire is out but firemen are working to check the building and search for victims. "Look," he says, turning back, but that's as far as he gets because Natasha has disappeared, like smoke in the wind. Sam is still there though, glaring.

"Well crap. Sam, what was on that paper?"

Sam just stares. "Really?"

Just then a team of firemen come up, and Sam stands back as they check the Soldier and struggle to lift his body onto a stretcher. "I'm not leaving him, so you know where I'll be. I hope you're happy now." Sam pauses like he's going to say something else, then just turns and follows the firemen out.

Tony stands in the smoking rubble. He's dead. It's celebration time, I need a drink and a doctor. The police report can wait.