Stopping by Woods
When his private jet landed in Ivalo, Finland, Tony Stark found a limousine waiting for him as arranged.
"The driver speaks English right?" he asked the attendant at the foot of the steps. "Because the only thing I can say in Finnish is 'Vodka.'"
The attendant smiled at the joke. "He does, sir, I checked," the man assured him in a strong Finnish accent. "And he knows where the hotel is."
"Good. Thanks." Tony was distracted by urgent beeping on his tablet, but he remembered to tip the attendant. The Finn gaped at the day's wage in Euros, then leaped to open the limo door. Tony slipped into the back seat, eyes on his screen.
"You do know where we're going?" he asked the driver without looking up.
"Yes sir!"
"Good. Make it so." Tony waved vaguely in the direction the car was pointed.
They drove for a while in silence, passing through the quiet, snow-covered forest, heading toward the exclusive luxury lodge where Tony's conference was being held.
When they were alone on the road, the driver pulled into a lookout point with a magnificent view of the snowy valley and said conversationally, "Did you know they build hotels out of ice in this country? Why would anyone in their right mind stay there?"
The driver's voice held an accent, not Finnish but pure Brooklyn — a familiar Brooklyn accent!
Tony's head shot up and, in the rearview mirror, he saw familiar blue eyes regarding him from beneath the chauffeur's black cap.
Tony swallowed. "I ... your eyes do have green in them, but I don't know why Zemo called it a flaw," were the first words to break through the logjam of shock.
The eyes crinkled in humor, yet looked a little sad, too, that Tony's mind immediately flew back to the bunker in Siberia. Steve Rogers shifted around to look into the back seat, his dark jacket straining at his broad shoulders.
Tony's eyes narrowed. "Am I being kidnapped?" he asked, not very seriously.
"Nah, that always turns out poorly for the kidnappers. I can learn from history," Steve answered.
"Because you are history," Tony snarked back. The banter felt achingly normal. He'd missed it. They'd both missed it.
"What are we doing here, then, Cap?" Tony asked.
"I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to tell you everything I knew about Hydra and your parents. Then you can beat me up again if you want," Steve answered a little sadly.
"Or I can kidnap you," Tony pointed out.
"You can, but Finland is one of the countries that didn't sign the Accords. They remember being the battleground between Sweden and Russia, and apparently there was a group of Finnish aid workers among the people we evacuated from Sokovia, so ... Their ambassador said they were not so ungrateful as to bite the hand of the people who saved the planet."
"But they don't know you're here?"
Steve shook his head vigorously. "I don't want to get anyone in trouble if I can help it. Don't want to get anyone else in trouble," he amended sadly. "I sneaked into the country."
"You're getting awfully good at sneaking for someone who's practically a live action Dudley Do-Right."
Steve ignored the reference. "I have sneaky friends," he reminded Tony. "They're teaching me."
Tony thought of Natasha and Clint and nodded. He didn't know Sharon Carter was doing most of Steve's training. Sharon had specialized in undercover protection and surveillance. She had perfected the art of being the girl next door, average, unnoticeable. Unnoticeable was exactly what Steve needed to learn.
"So, Cap, you sneaked into Finland so we could talk?" Tony asked doubtfully.
"I hoped we could talk," Steve said hesitantly. "Seems like we never were any good at it." He sighed and bumped his head back against the headrest, but continued to meet Tony's eyes in the rearview mirror.
"No, we weren't," Tony agreed. He settled back, making himself comfortable, looking less like he expected to fight his way out of a kidnap attempt, though his left hand continued to fiddle nervously with the "bracelet' on his right wrist. "You lied to me, Rogers," he said plainly.
Steve winced, but nodded. "A lie of omission, but those can be worse sometimes."
Both thought of Ultron and agreed.
"But I swear, I didn't know the Winter Soldier had anything to do with Howard's death. I found out the same time you did," Steve said.
"But you knew Hydra did," Tony accused.
"Yes ... sort of. Argh, it's complicated," Steve said in frustration. "Zola implied that Hydra had Howard killed, but he was a Nazi, Hydra computer brain who was trying to keep Nat and me distracted so SHIELD could kill us." Steve saw Tony's frown in the mirror. "See, complicated!" Steve said.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Tony demanded with pain in his voice. "They were my parents!"
Steve sighed. "Things got so confused. I got distracted by homicidal helicarriers and my best friend returning from the dead."
"You should have told me right after Insight, Cap," Tony said sternly.
Steve couldn't help it. He laughed. "Sorry. I think I might have tried. Tony, you have repeatedly made fun of me for how loopy I was when you visited me in the hospital."
Tony's lips twitched in amusement as he remembered. He'd gotten into Cap's hospital room when the Super Soldier was recovering from a second surgery to remove bullet fragments missed during the first frantic rush to save his life. Steve was coming down from an opiate high. He'd been happy to see Tony and had babbled a confused story about Hydra and helicarriers and a computer with a human mind. It hadn't made a lick of sense, but Tony had pieced together most of the story a few days later using official reports and leaked information. Tony had never gone back to see the injured man again. By the time Tony had a chance to go back to DC, Steve was mostly healed and off searching for his bestie.
"You did say something about Howard," Tony remembered. "I thought you were just getting me mixed up with dad again."
That slip of the tongue had happened a few times, embarrassing both men.
"You never liked me to talk about Howard. I got used to avoiding the subject," Steve said. Even under these circumstances, Tony twitched when he heard that name from Steve's mouth. He caught himself doing it.
"OK, fair enough. So tell me now. Tell me everything," Tony demanded, steeling himself. "And no excuses."
"I'm not going to make excuses. I just want to explain what happened and when and why. I confess that I was wrong. I didn't tell you everything, but I'm not the only one guilty of that. All of the Avengers had secrets."
Tony knew Steve wasn't just talking about Howard's death, or Ultron's birth, but Barton's family and Tony's breakup with Pepper and all the other personal things the individual Avengers had kept private.
"Maybe none of us were friends, just colleagues," Tony said sadly.
"Almost friends, proto-friends," Steve offered.
Tony snorted at the word. "Kinda 'sciency' for you, Rogers."
"Maybe I'm not as stupid as you always thought I was," Steve answered with a little bite, but then shrugged. "Compared to a Stark, most people seem stupid," he accepted.
"It started when Natasha and I tracked a computer program to an early SHIELD base in New Jersey."
He explained how they'd found the ancient bank of computers in a hidden room, how the computers came alive with the personality and memories of an old Nazi scientist.
"Real science fiction stuff," Tony commented. He was leaning forward listening intently.
"Says the guy who flies around in a suit of armor," Steve retorted with a small smile. "Zola told us that Hydra had grown inside SHIELD from the beginning like a 'beautiful parasite.' And if anyone got close to discovering the secret, accidents would happen. Pictures flashed by on the screen, Tony, including Nick Fury's death notice and a newspaper article about Howard's death in a car accident." Steve turned to look Tony in the eye as best as he could. "I swear, Tony, I never associated the Winter Soldier with Howard's death. All I knew about him then was that he was a shooter. He shot Natasha; he shot Fury right through my wall! A rigged up car accident didn't seem to be in his skillset."
Tony nodded. "OK, but you did know Hydra killed my parents."
"That's what Zola said. But he was stalling, to send a message to SHIELD that we were there, so they could fire a missile at us. I wondered for half a second if the whole thing had been fake, just a trick to hold our attention, and then the roof fell in."
"Lucky you weren't killed."
"Well, it was a Cold War era bunker, meant to withstand an attack. The modern missile blew a hole in it, which just helped me dig out quicker. Then I was on the run from Rumlow and his gang, getting help from Sam, breaking into a military base, kidnapping a SHIELD officer, finding out about Project Insight and then finding out that the Winter Soldier was Bucky. And then came escaping from Rumlow, finding out Fury was still alive, breaking into the Smithsonian, breaking into SHIELD, sabotaging two helicarriers, fighting with my best friend, who shot me four times, and falling out of the smoking wreckage of the helicarrier into the river."
"OK, I get it. You were a little busy," Tony accepted.
"And the news clipping about Howard went to the back of my mind. I didn't think about it until months later, when Sam and I were taking out a small Hydra cell. I thought I should call you, tell you what I'd remembered. But it had been so long by then that I chickened out. I figured you'd find the info in the Hydra files that Nat released, even though I knew there were millions of files to go through and you probably wouldn't find it unless you searched for Howard specifically."
"Which I didn't," Tony sighed. "I was looking for more recent information, looking for the Scepter, not for 20-year-old information about my parents."
"Right, and then we had the Scepter, and Ultron and building the New Avengers and I let myself get busy and forget," Steve said guiltily. "Any time I thought of it, I couldn't think how to start that conversation. Hey, Tony, guess what I found out …" he said, too brightly.
"Not very heroic, Cap."
"I never said I was perfect," Steve said sadly. "And then came Lagos and the Accords. I was off my game with Peggy dying. And then Bucky was accused of bombing the UN. I believed him when he said he didn't do it. He'd kept ahead of Sam and me for two years. I knew if he had bombed the UN, he'd never have been so sloppy as to get caught on camera. I needed to help him. He was my friend."
"Why is 'Bucky' your best friend, Cap?" Tony blurted. "Why is he so much more important than the rest of us? You'd dump half your friends and lead the rest into disaster to help him?"
"Except for Sam, they didn't come to help Bucky. They came to stop more Winter Soldiers — who did exist. You saw them," Steve pointed out. "They came to help when the government, and you, wouldn't even listen."
Tony waved that sidetrack away. "But you, you ran off the rails, fought the police, broke the law, all for Barnes. He almost killed you like three times, Cap! Why is he more important than everyone else?"
"He calls me Steve," the Super Soldier interrupted Tony's rant.
Tony gawked as if punched in the gut.
"Everybody else is friends with Captain America. Bucky is the only one who knew Steve, who sees Steve, who believes in Steve! You've called me Cap six times in this conversation and you're the one who said I didn't deserve the shield!" Steve said passionately.
"Maybe Captain America stopped the Red Skull's plot and saved the country, then 70 years later helped the Avengers fight an alien invasion, but none of that would have happened if Bucky Barnes hadn't saved Steve Rogers a dozen times over. Bucky was always there for me when I needed him, whether I was fighting a bully or pneumonia. The one time he needed me, I let him down. He fell. He lost his arm. He was captured by the enemy and tortured and brainwashed for 70 years, because I couldn't grab him in time. I will not let him down again!"
Steve paused to catch his breath, then went on more temperately.
"Sam's a good friend, but he knew Captain America long before he met Steve Rogers. He got back into the fight because 'Captain America needed help.' Captain America is a figment of Senator Brandt's imagination. I am Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes is the only friend Steve has. He's the only friend I have."
Steve clenched his teeth and swallowed hard to stop the flood of words, then he went on with more control.
"We both approached the Accords from a place of fear, didn't we?" he said. It wasn't really a question. "You were afraid of what the Avengers might do, of what YOU might do. I was afraid of losing the only tie I have with Steve Rogers, that kid from Brooklyn. But I'm also afraid of what the government might do. Tony, I've seen what happens when the government starts sorting people by their ethnic group or their religion. I grew up in an age where you'd still see help wanted signs, 'No Irish need apply.' The Howling Commandos helped liberate a concentration camp, Jewish civilians with numbers tattooed on their arms. And don't say it can't happen in America," Steve warned. "Jim Morita's family was in an internment camp in the desert. One of his uncles committed suicide out of shame. Just because they were Japanese Americans. And look what Ross did with his power, sending cops after people who violated a law that hadn't even been ratified yet."
"You should have stopped," Tony said.
"You should have listened," Steve retorted.
Tony swallowed his fruitless anger. "If only we'd learned to actually talk to each other," he said, echoing Steve sentiment from earlier.
"Yeah, we never were any good at it."
"But at least we're practicing now," Tony offered.
"It's a little late," Steve said, smiling faintly.
"Never too late to learn. Old dogs. New tricks. The old dog, that's you," Tony said with a semblance of his habitual breeziness.
Tony's cellphone rang before Steve could reply. The caller ID listed the name of the hotel.
"Hey," the billionaire answered.
The phone wasn't on speaker, but the Super Soldier's enhanced hearing let him pick up every word.
"Are you all right, Mr. Stark?" asked the director of the conference. "We were getting worried. We expected you for the opening reception."
Tony winced. Right. The award. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry. I had an inspiration. I made the driver stop while I worked on it."
"That's a relief. We were afraid you'd had a breakdown."
For half a minute, Tony thought the man was being awfully personal, then he realized he was talking about a car breakdown.
"No, no breakdowns here, just a beautiful view of a lake that I've been shamefully ignoring."
"Where are you?"
"Where are we?" Tony asked Steve. He jolted to hear Steve answer with a Finnish accent. Damn, Cap was learning spycraft!
"We're at a turnout overlooking Pitkajarvi Lake, sir," Steve said humbly. "We're about halfway to Saariselka. We can be at the hotel in 15 minutes."
Tony relayed the information to the organizer. "We'll get on our way now. Sorry about messing up your schedule."
Steve started the car and pulled back onto the highway.
"Inspiration waits for no man — or conference," the organizer joked. "That is what our conference is all about, after all. And I'm sure no one minds an extra 15 minutes of appetizers and cocktails."
"If you'd said cocktails first, I'd have been there by now," Tony joked. After a few more pleasantries, he ended the call.
"Thanks for not saying your driver hijacked you," Steve said in his normal Steve voice.
"Thanks for not kidnapping me."
There were a few moments of silence, then Tony cleared his throat. "I was wondering — oh, thanks for the Christmas CD, by the way, we enjoyed it. Rhodey played it every day until New Years and Friday, I swear, Friday cried AI tears of joy that you sent her personal greetings."
"I'm glad," Steve replied. "We … we miss you guys."
"We couldn't send anything back because, darn it, you forgot to include a forwarding address, but Vision visited the children's hospital on your behalf and Rhodey helped out with that disabled veterans Christmas party Wilson usually volunteered at and I treated a foster kids group to a shopping spree and a visit to the zoo. Because, uh, we miss you guys, too."
Steve's grin was as bright as the sun. "Thanks, Tony. I worried about the kids in the hospital and I'll make sure to tell the others you guys subbed for us. That's great."
Tony looked a little embarrassed by Steve's effusive gratitude. "But, as I started to say, I wondered why Barnes didn't sing on the CD, too."
He held his breath, worried that Steve would say his pal had died of his injuries. In the mirror, Steve's eyes looked sad.
"We made a CD for Bucky, too," he explained. "It was a gift for all our friends we couldn't be with over the holidays."
"So, he's not with you?" Tony was surprised but relieved Barnes wasn't dead.
"No, he … had himself locked up so he can't hurt anyone else. He's … afraid of himself after what Zemo did."
"Where…?" Tony stopped himself before he could say more.
"I won't tell you where, Tony," Steve said. "And don't make me try to lie. I know you could find us if you really tried. You're a computer genius and you have Friday and Vision. We can't stay hidden from every camera out there. If you really wanted to find us, you could. So, since you haven't shown up on my doorstep, I'm assuming you're not trying very hard."
"No. Not trying at all," Tony agreed. "And Vision and Friday go and mess up all of Ross' searches just for fun. You're safe from facial recognition at least. It's the least I can do after I messed everything up."
"Don't take too much credit. We were both not thinking straight, losing Pepper and Peggy. We messed it up together," Steve answered.
"At least we did something together," Tony joked weakly, as they pulled into the hotel driveway.
"Thanks for everything, Tony," Steve said. "Call me if you need me. I really mean it."
"I'll do that," Tony answered, as a bellman opened the car door for him. "Thanks for the ride and the conversation."
"You're welcome, sir," Steve answered in his Finnish accent.
Tony stuffed a wad of Euros at Steve, the same year's wage tip he'd given the man at the airport. "Thanks for everything," he said, as he was ushered into the hotel.
"You're welcome for everything," Steve said to himself, as he watched his friend turn away.
Tony hesitated, then turned back and leaned into the driver's window.
"Bye, Steve. Nice seeing you again," he said quietly.
Steve smiled. "Bye, Tony," he answered just as quietly. "I hope to see you again soon."
"Under better circumstances," Tony agreed, then he went into his conference to receive his accolades and Steve drove away to resume his life as a fugitive.
The snowy forest passed, reminding Steve of a poem. "These woods are lovely, dark and deep," Steve quoted to himself. "But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep."
Steve grinned and pressed the accelerator to make those miles pass faster, because he had promises to keep.
A/N: I was watching a Travel Channel program about ice hotels, that's why this happened in Finland. The poem is Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." It was published in 1923, so Steve could have read it as a child.