"Jesus Christ Steve," You groan, falling into the co-pilot seat, "That was…"
"I know," He responds through a clenched jaw.
"What's gonna happen to your friends?" Bucky asks.
"Whatever it is… I'll deal with it."
"We'll deal with it," You tell Steve firmly.
"Yeah? So now that the Avengers are finished you finally want to be one of us?" You recoil as if he had physically slapped you. You bite the inside of your cheek to stop the bitter retort that threatens to escape your lips before you stand up.
"I'm gonna go patch myself up," You force your face and tone to show no emotion as you walk past both of them to the back of the jet.
You open the first aid kit-which was in desperate need of replacement. It had been heavily picked through and only scraps remained. You supposed it was a hazard of the job. In the bottom of the locker it had been in was a dirty rag and you grabbed it with a sigh. Dumping a bottle of water over it to wet it you wipe the blood from your arms and face.
You're sitting with the blood soaked rag clenched in your hand when Bucky takes the seat next to you. "He didn't mean it."
"He's right," You shrug and lean back in your seat. After a moment you sit back up and throw the rag which smacks into the far wall with a wet thud and then slides to the ground. "Assuming we survive this, and don't end up in prison, both of which are long shots, I've got to admit, what are you going to do?"
"I don't know. Go somewhere where I can't hurt anyone I guess."
"I guess you are past retirement age," You smile weakly, "Guess I am too. Maybe we can retire together. Start a farm or something."
Bucky stares at you for a long second before chuckling, "Uh-huh. You could've laid low this whole time, even if you were looking for me. Instead somehow you've teamed up with my best friend and have been saving the world."
"Your point?" You ask drly.
"My point is you love this life, the adrenaline, the danger, the thrill. I don't see you giving it up anytime soon. Me? I'm tired of it all. I just want it to be over."
"I don't know… I'm tired of not knowing if I'm doing the right thing or if I'm just doing someone's dirty work."
"Well if you stick with that guy up there, I can tell you you'll always be doing the right thing. Steve is incorruptible," Bucky shakes his head, "It's incredible. He's always been like that."
"I don't know if that's possible," You say carefully. "Or a good idea," You add.
"You do have a crush," Bucky replies, mercifully quiet.
"I do not. I'm a highly trained assassin who's been biologically enhanced. I do not get crushes."
"Feelings, on the other hand…"
"There could potentially be some of those. Maybe. I haven't really put much thought into it, seeing as I've been spending all of my time preventing world ending catastrophes and trying to find your sorry ass."
"Huh." The corners of Bucky's lips quirk up, "I never would've thought. I mean, Steve's great, just like a really good person. And you're...you."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing!" Bucky holds his hands up, "Maybe you've got a bit of a temper? Kind of… prickly? Not great with people?"
"And this is coming from you?"
He shrugs and you shoot him a dirty look, it doesn't have much venom to it though; he's probably right.
"Guys," Steve's voice startles you out of your thoughts, "Found his truck. Coming in for landing now."
You rise to your feet as the jet lands, checking your weapons and ammo while Bucky looks through Romanoff's gun rack before selecting a machine gun. Steve joins you and the three of you stand in a row waiting for the exit ramp to descend.
"You remember that time we had to ride back from Rockaway Beach in the back of that freezer truck?" Steve asks.
"Was that the time we used our train money to buy hot dogs?" Bucky responds and you glance over at him surprised. He really had started to remember things.
"You blew three bucks trying to win that stuffed bear for a redhead," Steve chuckles.
"What was her name again?" Bucky asks.
"Dolores," Steve tells him, "You called her Dot."
"She's gotta be a hundred years old right now," Bucky says with a shake of his head.
"So are we pal," Steve clamps his hand down on Bucky's shoulder and you follow behind them, your lip clenched between your teeth.
"He can't have been here more than a few hours," Steve says as you enter the building.
"Long enough to wake them up," Bucky responds darkly.
The three of you maneuver around the bunker, your hand clenched around the grip of your gun, knuckles white. A loud thud sounds behind you and your turn aiming down the corridor at a set of double doors.
"You ready?" Steve asks.
"Yeah," Bucky nods while you cock your gun in response. The doors are forced open and your mouth falls open as Tony appears behind them, fully suited.
"You seem a little defensive," Tony says, the helmet flipping up. His eyes are focused on the barrel of your gun. Neither you nor Bucky lower your weapons as Steve slowly approaches, his shield covering his body.
"It's been a long day," Steve tells him.
"At ease soldiers," Tony calls over to the pair of you, "I'm not currently after you."
"Then why are you here?" Steve demands.
"Could be your story's not so crazy," Tony says, "Maybe. Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise I gotta arrest myself."
"Well that sounds like a lot of paperwork," Steve lowers his shield, "It's good to see you Tony." You let out the breath you had been holding and holster your weapon.
"You too Cap," Tony looks over your shoulder at Bucky, "Hey. Manchurian Candidate. You're killing me. There's a truce here. You can drop the gun." You nudge his shoulder with yours and he slowly lowers his gun.
"Well, come on boys. The anticipation is killing me," You smile darkly, "I just want to see what kind of trouble our friend is stirring up here."
Tony takes the lead as you start walking again, the four of you silent until Tony announces that he's got heat signatures.
"How many?" Steve asks.
"Uh...one?" Tony responds. Steve pauses a moment and then steps into the chamber ahead of you. As the lights come on you see the other enhanced soldiers all within their capsules. You look around, confused and then your eyes settle on the gunshot wounds all of them share.
You swallow, your eyes meeting Bucky's. You were lucky the two of you weren't there too with bullets in your skulls.
"If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep," A voice says suddenly over a speaker, "Did you really think I wanted more of you?"
"What the hell?" Bucky asks quietly, while you pull your gun.
"I'm grateful to them though. They brought you here," You don't recognize the man that steps into view from the control room, but your companions clearly do. Steve launches his shield but it just bounces off the glass. "Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch of UR-100 rockets."
"I'm betting I could beat that," Tony tells him.
"Oh, I'm sure you could Mr. Stark, given time. But then you'd never know why you came."
"You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?" Steve asks, sounding slightly sick.
"I thought about nothing else for over a year. I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here, I just realized. There's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw."
"Alright, I don't have all day," You snap, "You've got us here, now what the fuck do you want?"
"You're Sokovian, is that what this is about?" Steve demands.
"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell," The man says dismissively, "No, I'm here because I made a promise."
"You lost someone?" Steve asks after a pause.
The man clicks his tongue, "I lost everyone. And so will you." A screen comes on next to you and you look over to see an image of a secluded road with the date 12/16/1991 overlayed on it, "An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again," The man continues, "But one which crumples from within? That's dead… forever."
"I know that road," Tony says suddenly, "What is this?"
As the video begins to play you watch a motorcycle force a car off the road and into a tree, and suddenly you know exactly what you're looking at.
"Tony don't watch," You almost beg, stepping into his field of view, "Please. Don't. It's not-" He pushes you out of the way and now you watch, feeling sick as the Soldier climbs off the motorcycle and you put down the kickstand, leaning against the bike while he pulls the man driving out into the road. You watch yourself wrench the trunk open and grab the cargo within while he takes care of the woman.
The video ends as the Soldier shoots the camera, and after a beat of silence Tony lunges towards Bucky. Steve is there immediately, trying to calm him.
"Tony, Tony," Steve tries and Tony rounds on him, his face red with emotion.
"Did you know?" Tony demands, tears in his eyes, "Did you know that your two best buds murdered my parents?"
"I didn't know it was them," Steve says.
"Don't bullshit me Rogers! Did you know?"
"Yes," Steve says finally, his voice tight.
"Please, just think about this," You rush out the words and his eyes slide in your direction. "This is what he wants Tony, but I need you to listen to me. We didn't have a choice," Your voice breaks on this last word and you see him falter for a moment; before his eyes shift to the blank screen as if it's replaying only for him.
"I trusted you!" Tony growls suddenly, "I opened up to you," He takes a step towards you and you take one back, "All those nights, you never could have mentioned the fact that you and your psycho pal murdered my parents?" Even when he engaged his helmet you were laboring under the delusion that he wouldn't attack you until he did; one metal fist connects with your jaw and in your surprise you don't manage to react until he gets a second hit in. You start to raise your hands to defend yourself when his hand is around your throat. For a moment you're back in the vision Wanda had induced, the Soldier's hand wrapped around your throat and then your back, your fingers prying at the finger's of Tony's suit.
Gunfire erupts and you can hear the bullets ricochet off of his back, Steve yells something but you can't decipher it over the sound of your heartbeat echoing in your ears. With a roar of anger, Tony throws you across the room; your lungs greedily suck in the air until you hit the wall with a loud crack, your head bouncing off of it with a sick thud.
You scramble to your feet at the sound of a loud metallic screech before a wave of dizziness has you reeling back against the wall. The other three are nowhere to be seen but you can hear the fight going on underneath you, you must have been out for a few minutes. You bring your hand up to touch your scalp and immediately pull back your bloody fingers with a hiss; you weren't sure how bad it was yet but it was definitely painful and definitely a bleeder. You'd had worse though.
Steeling yourself against both the pain and the situation you jump down below, landing unsteadily on the ground. Your eyes trail over the carnage in front of you; Bucky is down, metal arm blown away while Tony stands over him. Before he can deal a finishing blow Steve rushes him with his shield and Tony fires at it sending Steve skidding across the ground where he lands next to the Soldier.
"He was my friend," Steve tells Tony weakly.
"So was I," Tony says, cocking his fist back. You throw yourself at him, landing on his back neatly; Stark lets out a yell of frustration before reaching back to grab the back of your shirt, throwing you down next to Steve. "Stay down. Both of you. Final warning."
Steve struggles to his feet, his face bloody. You can see he's dead on his feet; you couldn't remember the last time you had gotten a good night's sleep. He raises his fist, staring down Tony, "I can do this all day."
You spring up as well, ignoring the dizziness and the blood running down your face, "You don't want to do this," You tell him, "Please." There's no warning before a beam of light shoots from his hand, hitting you in the abdomen. The pain is immediate and you're forced into a half spin from the impact before you crumple. You draw in a ragged breath, idly wondering if your ribs were broken or if it was something worse.
This wasn't going to stop until one of you was dead, you realized with growing horror, if you got up again that was it; you'd have to kill Tony. There was no other way. And you couldn't do it.
Just before Tony could shoot Steve the Bucky reaches out and grabs his leg, giving Steve a chance to attack while Tony rounds on Bucky. This time Steve manages to get him down, his shield sticking out of Tony's chest plating. But you're all still breathing, and that was more than you could have hoped for.
You pull yourself to your feet as Steve rips his shield from Tony's chest, clutching your abdomen as you try to ignore the pain. Steve helps the Soldier to his feet and you limp over, hooking his remaining arm over your shoulder as Steve wraps his arm around his waist.
"That shield doesn't belong to you!" Tony shouts as the three of you head towards the exit, "You don't deserve it! My father made that shield!"
Steve pauses, shifting Bucky's weight more firmly onto you and then drops the shield. You can still hear the echo of the vibranium hitting the ground when you step out into the fresh air.