Flight square: a space where a piece can move to escape a threat.
This wasn't the first times Rhodes and Vision had been on a mission together since the accident at Leipzig Airport. It wasn't even the first time it had been just the two of them without Tony. But this time seemed different. Vision seemed different. More quiet and distracted than usual.
Their interactions were always polite. Rhodes had never blamed Vision for the accident, unlike Tony. Tony had never been a soldier, and had very little understanding for friendly fire. But even before that incident, the two of them had never been all that close.
Their current mission had taken them to a rugged, densely forested spot deep in the Darién Gap to intercept a dangerous gang of smugglers called the Charon Network.
The Charon Network smuggled drugs, guns, and looted artifacts, and had recently branched out to selling stolen cutting-edge technology on the black market.
Rhodes was grateful the War Machine suit had a cooling system, because he was sweating just thinking about the humidity as they flew over jagged hills carpeted in green trees and festooned with misty clouds.a
"The most desirable outcome is to retrieve the Ceciliano intact, correct?" Vision asked.
The Ceciliano was the Charon Network's codename for a tunnel-digging machine that would allow them to bypass the riskier ocean and air routes to get their contraband across international borders undetected. Law enforcement agencies were very interested in figuring out how it worked and who had invented it.
"Yes."
"And the second-most desirable outcome is to destroy it," Vision continued.
"That's right."
"What level of risk are we willing to undertake to secure the most desirable outcome?"
Rhodes frowned. He wasn't sure how to quantify those scenarios. "It will probably be less risky to steal it than to destroy it. If you were caught in an explosion in a tunnel...I don't know what that would do to you, and I don't think we should try and find out."
"What I mean to ask is if stealing the technology intact would be valuable enough to justify risking avoidable harm to the combatants."
"Those are hardened criminals we're dealing with. These smugglers have murdered dozens of Coast Guard officers, C.I.A. agents, and police officers in five countries. They supply cocaine that kills and ruins the lives of innocent people, they sell guns to drug lords, they've destroyed archeological sites, and they will kill us if we give them the chance."
"Do you mean to say they are expendable?"
"I mean keeping them from getting hurt isn't high on our priorities list. We have to stop them from finishing this tunnel. A lot of lives depend on that. And if we have to kill them to stop them, no one would blame us for it."
"Their families and friends very well might. There may be hundreds of people who rely on this operation for income, for sustainance. If we take out one criminal organization without helping those who rely on them, others will be driven to turn to crime. No matter how many criminals we arrest or kill, there will be others desperate enough to take their place."
Rhodes stared at him, wondering if this was the reason he'd been so quiet and elusive lately. "Not everyone is a good person. Some people are greedy, selfish, or just cruel."
"I believe everyone is born good," Vision replied, "and so those who do not end up that way, something happened to change them."
"Maybe," Rhodes conceded, not wanting to argue philosophy right before a battle, "but our job is to stop bad people, not keep people from turning bad. That's not our responsibility."
"It seems that is a responsibility no one is willing to accept," Vision said.
That was a hard point to disagree with. "You going to be okay with executing this mission?" Rhodes asked, realizing his poor choice of words even as he said it.
"If I may," Vision said hesitantly, "I believe a slight alteration to the plan may minimize casualties."
The plan was Rhodes would draw the fire of the 30 or so smugglers their intelligence indicated were working on the tunnel while Vision stole or destroyed the tunneling machine. It was a simple plan. It surprised him that Vision would suggest a change; he rarely involved himself in mission planning.
"What kind of alteration?"
"If I draw them into the terminal tunnel, you would be able to destroy the bridge, which would trap all of them. I could then disarm them all, and when reinforcements arrive, they will be able to apprehend the smugglers without a struggle. There is a risk of some of our adversaries being injured or killed by their own bullets, but it would be safer for them in the tunnel than on the bridge."
What he meant was they would be safer with Vision than him, Rhodes thought.
"That ups the risk they destroy the Ceciliano themselves if they don't want us to get our hands on it," he said.
"True. But that is a risk I am willing to accept. Are you?"
This level of questioning authority was a sharp departure from Vision's usual mindset. Rhodes didn't know what to make of it. The plan he was proposing also entailed much more risk to himself.
"If you want to see how indestructible you really are, then sure, let's go with your plan."
"Thank you."
The Charon Network's tunnel-making machine was capable of drilling continuously underground for miles, but in such a rugged landscape as this, the ground rarely went that far. To keep above the water table, the Ceciliano had to tunnel through mountains, which required occasional bridge connections between the mountains. These bridges were the weak points. Satellite images had spotted some of them, which had been used to estimate the speed and trajectory of the tunneling operation.
Rhodes and Vision made their way to the newest bridge, a narrow span between two steep, densely forested slopes. Rhodes set his visor to binocular mode and focused in on the tunnel entrance on the far slope. It was hard to see in the deepening dusk. He switched to infrared and could make out human activity in the tunnel.
"Okay. We're good to go. As soon as you engage the workers in the tunnel, I'll blow up the bridge."
Vision nodded sharply, and flew off. He was soon out of sight as he phased through the rainforest trees and into the mountain.
Rhodes watched and waited. He knew Vision was strong, that his vibranium-infused skin could withstand any bullet when he was solid, and a bullet would pass harmlessly through him when he phased, but he was about to face a couple dozen guns aimed at him. What would happen if he were shot while he was in the process of solidifying? They'd never dared test that in training. What would happen if he were caught in an explosion? The more time passed, the more he questioned the wisdom of this altered plan.
He heard gunshots from the tunnel, and saw flashes of light as Vision shot back. He flew into action, flying across the gorge and taking aim at the bridge.
It was sturdier than it looked. The War Machine's first anti-tank rounds tore holes in the side, but weren't enough to bring the bridge down.
By the flash of his shots, he could see the bridge was made entirely of intricately interwoven beams of wood, rather than the steal he'd expected. That partly explained how the Charon Network was building them so fast: the raw material was all around them.
Rhodes flew closer to the bridge and fired at the underside, hoping to take out enough supporting beams to collapse it under its own weight. Then he felt something impact his suit.
"Incoming fire," FRIDAY reported.
There were flashes of automatic weapons fire from both sides of the gorge. He returned fire. He switched to infrared again, but couldn't make out the human figures from the background glow of vegetation. He landed on top of the bridge to get a better beat on them.
That's when the explosions hit. There had been several charges set inside the bridge, set to detonate simultaneously. The shockwaves hit the War Machine suit from the back and then the front, and a second later the wood beneath his feet disintegrated and he was pelted with chunks of debris from all directions.
"Fuel line leak detected. Thrusters at sixty-five percent."
Rhodes hit the thrusters for all they were worth, trying to slow his fall while he had the chance. Flames sputtered around his suit.
"Thrusters at fifty-one percent. Forty-eight percent."
"Shit."
For a moment he flashed back to the fight at Leipzig, falling helplessly. But then he grew calm as years of military drills and discipline took over.
Test pilots expected to die in crashes, after all.
He aimed toward the nearest hillside and turned his thrusters on full blast. He would get enough inertia out of them to have a nonfatal crash landing, or he wouldn't.
He didn't.
He could picture the arc of his trajectory curve downward as his thrusters gave out, and for a second was in freefall in darkness.
And then something slowed his fall, then reversed it, carrying him to the far side of the gorge, then settling him into the roots of a tree growing at an angle from the mountainside.
Once Vision made sure Rhodes was secure, he looked back to see if the snipers knew their position. Even if they had seen where they'd landed through the smoke lingering from the explosions, they were well out of range.
"Are you injured?" Vision asked, urgency tinging his voice.
"I don't know," he answered. "If I am, it's below where I can feel." He pressed a button to automatically release the suit, and was relieved when it worked.
"You don't appear to be bleeding," Vision noted.
"No. I think I'm okay."
"Reinforcements will be here in an hour and twenty minutes," he stated. "There will be medics with them."
Rhodes chuckled lightly at Vision's concern. "I'm fine. FRIDAY, how are my vitals?"
"Breathing and heart rate elevated. Blood pressure normal."
"See?"
"I will still feel better after you are x-rayed," Vision said. "I am sorry. I should not have changed the plan..."
"Is the machine intact?"
"Yes."
"Were you able to disarm the smugglers?"
"Yes."
"How many of them died before you could disarm them?"
"I don't know. Several were struck by ricochets. I didn't notice any fatalities."
"My bet is at least one of the people now trapped in that tunnel is an engineer who knows how they built that bridge, and maybe how that tunneler works. If our side can convince them to work for us, that would be valuable knowlege to have. Their lives are worth saving if we can. You were right about that."
"But not worth your life," Vision said.
The guilt was practically dripping off him. Rhodes didn't know how to assuage it.
"Then it's a good thing it didn't cost my life. I'm fine." Because Vision had saved him, but it seemed almost uncouth to point out something so obvious.
They both fell silent. The sounds of tree frogs and distant howler monkeys grew more salient as the night deepened.
"I've been thinking about what you said, about people not always having a choice," Rhodes said. "It got me wondering: are you thinking of quitting?"
Vision seemed startled by the question. "The possibility has crossed my mind. I sometimes feel I am simply not...temperamentally suited for these sorts of missions."
Rhodes had worked so hard to convince everyone he was up for field missions again after the accident that it was hard to understand someone would choose to walk away from this work, even though he intellectually knew it wasn't for everyone. He loved the thrill of it, the challenge of it, the feeling of making a concrete difference in the world. Even now, he wouldn't trade it for anything, and he found it hard to imagine how Vision, with his powers and near invulnerability, could want to leave.
"What else would you do, if you don't mind my asking? You can't exactly go incognito."
Vision looked at him pensively for a moment, then looked down. His face rippled and flowed. It changed right in front of him. He looked back up, and it wasn't Vision's face, but an ordinary looking human with blond hair and blue eyes.
"Actually I can."
It was weird to hear Vision's voice from a stranger's face.
Vision reversed the transformation in a moment, returning to the appearance Rhodes was used to.
"When did you learn to do that?" he asked after giving himself a second to convince himself he really saw what he just saw.
"When Wanda, Sam, and Clint were imprisoned, I was contemplating helping them escape. I experimented with my phasing ability in an attempt to effect a disguise."
"You were planning a jailbreak?" Rhodes asked, legitimately shocked.
"Yes."
"Then the things you said about how dangerous you thought Cap's side would be if we tried to arrest them...that was posturing for Ross?"
"For all of you," Vision admitted. "Now that Tony knows, I feel it is only fair that you know as well: I have been in contact with them since their liberation."
It was just one shocking revelation after another. Rhodes was a little peeved that Vision had told Tony first. He also realized that Vision told him Tony knew because he knew Rhodes would never risk revealing this information if it meant putting Tony in danger. "So those times when we went to the compound and you weren't there..."
"I was with them. Specifically...I was with Wanda. I've been seeing her. We're seeing each other."
Rhodes was ashamed of how long it took him to come to grips with that sentence. He thought he was pretty good at thinking of Vision as a person, but the thought of him being with someone instantly raised several questions, some of which were absolutely none of his business and he really didn't want to know the answer to.
"You mean you're dating Wanda?" he asked, just to make sure he hadn't misunderstood.
"Yes. We're dating." The way he said it made it sound like he'd never said it before, and had just realized that was the right word.
"So that's why you've been thinking of quitting," Rhodes realized. "A long-distance relationship with a fugitive you're supposed to be tracking down is one epic 'it's complicated'."
"I have not spoken to her about it yet, but I have been making preparations, just in case. I'm telling you now because, if I don't come back, I wanted you to know the reason."
Was Vision worried that if he left without explanation, Rhodes would think it was because of him? Would he have?
"Thanks for telling me," he said.
Vision nodded solemnly.
Rhodes leaned back, wondering if the Avengers would really be over if Vision left. There was the spider kid, and who knew who else they'd be able to recruit if something came up that required a team of Avengers again?
"I have no idea what we'll tell Ross if you just disappear," he mused.
"You could tell him you put me in storage for emergencies," Vision said.
Rhodes couldn't quite tell if he was joking or not.
"He'd probably believe it," he said. "Or we could say you decided to explore the galaxy and the last time we saw you, you were flying straight up into the sky."
"That is more plausible," Vision said with an amused smile.
In a few minutes, they heard the helicopters signalling the arrival of the U.N. force, coming to arrest the smugglers, take custody of their tunneling technology, and provide medical attention to the wounded.
"In case I don't get a chance to say this again, it's been an honor serving with you," Rhodes said.
"Likewise, Colonel," Vision replied.