Taking Them Down!
(Steve POV)
"What's the plan Captain?" Sam spoke after a few minutes from shock and silence. "It's not Captain anymore..." Steve bitterly announced, "like I said, we're going to take them all down once and for all."
"How are we going to do that?" Wanda asks.
"First, we gotta get out of here."
"Where are we going to go? There's no way we can stay at one of the safehouses." Sam asked.
"No...is that cabin of yours still secluded?"
"Absolutely." Sam answered with a smile, "what about Bucky?"
"I'll call him, let him know to meet us there." Steve replied before Sam wrote down the address.
Steve found an old phone booth and called Bucky, he had given him a burn phone before he went to rescue Sam and Wanda, the only way to communicate safely until they reunited. He followed Sam to the cabin. The place was indeed very secluded, they went inside very slowly. "Buck, you here?" Steve called out as Bucky emerges from the shadows.
"It's about time." Bucky smiles as they hugged and after they pull away he nods to Sam and Wanda, which they do back to him.
"Are you sure no one will find us?" Wanda asked looking around.
"Positive, no one knows about this place." Sam insisted.
"I see that everything worked out okay." Bucky said.
"...Not exactly." Steve revealed quietly.
"What happened?" Bucky asked quickly.
"We're still wanting to know that ourselves." Sam chimed in.
"I would like to know that too." A unknown voice spoke out, all three men draw their guns while Wanda starts using her powers, ready to attack to where they heard the voice, it's at the front door.
"Nat, what are you doing here? How did you find us?" Steve asked lowering his gun.
"After I let you guys go?...Well let's just say they're after me now too, every government agency is looking for me. I saw the two of them leaving The Raft when you broke them out and well...what can I say? I am a spy." She explains.
"I never got the chance to say thank you for that...and I'm sorry, this is all my fault." Steve said.
"No, it's not. I chose to let you go, I knew what I was doing...I made a mistake, I thought the accords could keep the Avengers together but it didn't and...someone got hurt."
"Is Rhodey okay?" Sam asks softly.
"He's alive if that's what you mean...but he's paralyzed." Both Sam and Steve close their eyes lowering the heads devastated hearing this new, Steve never wanted anyone to get hurt, it's making his anger towards Ross grow even more. "Now, what's going on?" She finishes.
"Have a seat, this is not going to be easy to hear." Steve instructed, he knew they were all going to take it hard, he had to prepare them, "Ross...is Hydra, has been this whole time." He revealed.
"What? What are you talking about?" Sam asked urgently.
"I overheard him talking to someone after I broke you out...he orchestrated everything, he found and gave Zemo the idea to tear the Avengers apart within...and it worked."
"But if that's true then why didn't any of this leak out when Shield fell?" Natasha questions.
"I have no idea." Is all Steve could say, "his plan is to find and brainwash me like he did Bucky. It's brilliant actually, turning the guy that brought Hydra down 70 years ago into your own personal killing machine...and along side his best friend, The Winter Soldier." He finishes saying as he looks at Bucky who was emotionless.
"This can't be happening." Natasha sighs, she feels so responsible because she followed him and signed the accords, actually trusting that he was trying to do what was best and the right thing. How could she not see it and be so blind?
"That's not all either..." Steve replies, he didn't know how to tell them this last part. "What now?" Sam asked annoyed. "...They're having Iris followed and monitored, waiting for me to approach her, once they get me they will kill her...I tried to go get her before we met up...I already saw 3 men outside her apartment waiting for me...it was a trap. She had her friends there." He tried his best to explain without getting emotional, inside he's seething.
"Well let's go get her...there are more of us now, we can take them all." Natasha responds starting to get up.
"No! We can't!" Steve very sternly shouts.
"Steve, she's in danger."
"Yeah Nat, I know. It's not safe."
"But..." Wanda started to speak out.
"They can't risk something happening to her before they get me and I am not going to have that. As long as I stay away, she'll be safe."
"But she's still being followed and monitored, how is that keeping her safe?" Sam mentions.
"I know and that's exactly why I can't go to her, they said they won't approach or do anything to her until I show up." He explains more firmly.
"Well, can't we just tell someone that Ross is Hydra." Wanda wonders out loud.
"Tell who? Natasha said it herself, every government agency is looking for us, we can't even get within 10 feet of the building without being swarmed by men, they won't believe us...and after everything that happened with Tony...well he won't believe me either or even try to help us." Steve explains sadly, "...we're completely on our own."
"What can we do then?" Wanda asked.
"Like I said before, we take Ross and the rest of them down."
"How?" Sam wonders.
"I don't know..."
"She's got a point from before, there's no one that can help us? No one that will believe us?" Sam asks.
"I think I know who can help." Natasha spoke out with a smile, "I just need to make a call." Everyone was confused as to who this person could be. They didn't know who to trust that would not only put them in jail but would help and believe them.
As they wait for Natasha to finish her call Steve's pacing back and forth, Bucky comes beside him and pats his shoulder like he did when they were kids. "I'm sorry about Iris." He could only say.
"Thanks."
"You really love her, don't you?"
"Yeah..." Steve spoke with a smile, thinking about her.
"What's she like?" Bucky asked trying to easy Steve's mind.
"She's...beautiful, strong, determined, funny, passionate, feisty...and a complete pain in my ass." They both chuckle. "...She's going to hate me."
"I'm sure she'll understand..."
"You clearly don't know Iris..." He sighs to himself, "...she's going to think I abandoned her...let's just say she's been through a lot in her life...and..."
"Hey, you'll get back to her, everything is going to work out." Bucky interrupts as he pats his shoulder again, Steve just gave a sad smile, hoping he was right.
"Thanks Buck..."
Bucky took a hard breath, "Steve...I can't stay here. I am too dangerous."
"Buck, that's not you anymore."
"I am too dangerous, Zemo was able to trigger me just by saying those damn words...you haven't been brainwashed yet but I can still be controlled. It's not safe for you, your team or Iris...I just don't know where I could go..."
"I think I do. You'll be safe and maybe they can help you get that out of your head." Steve explains as they see Natasha come back.
"Okay, it took sometime to explain but she believes us and wants to help. She's meeting us here in 3 days." Natasha informs them all.
"Who?" Sam asked confused.
"Maria Hill." She answers with a smirk.
Wakanda
As they waited those 3 days for Hill to meet them at the cabin Steve took Bucky to Wakanda where they had him go back to being frozen just until they came up with how to de-program his mind, it was Bucky's idea to go back into ice until they did. "Are you sure about this Buck?"
"Yes...I can't trust my own mind...I can't put anyone in danger again." He tells him.
"...okay." Steve gives a sad smile as Bucky gave him a reassuring one as the box fills with frost. Steve steps away and stands next to T'Challa. "Thank you for keeping him safe here." Steve responds as he continues to watch Bucky in the pod.
"Your welcome...we will do our best to cure him." T'Challa said as Steve pats his shoulder.
"I know you will."
"I can't believe Ross was behind killing my father." T'Challa suddenly spoke out after a few minutes.
"I'm sorry but it's true."
"I would want nothing more then to help you bring him down...but my kingdom and people needs me."
"No, I get it." Steve understandingly agrees.
"Are you sure you guys don't want to stay here too? You guys are more then welcome."
"Thanks but we can't stay here. We are still waiting to hear back from Maria Hill...I can't take them down here." Steve informs him, "we also need more allies. Ross can't know that your onto him and he certainly can't know that I know...if he does...Iris is dead, he'll have no use for her."
"I understand...and you do have an ally and a friend." He replies as he extends his hand for Steve to shake.
"Again thank you." Steve softly grinned.
"And Captain, make sure you bring that bastard down...my father won't die in vain."
"You have my word." Steve responds with conviction as he left to go back to the cabin.
3 Days Later
Maria Hill found the cabin, she had spent the last 3 days finding any kind of information, she also had to be careful, to make sure no one become suspicious of her and knew it wouldn't be a good idea to go to them right away. She walks in slowly.
"Hill, you finally made it." Natasha smiles as they give each other a little hug.
"Are you sure you weren't followed?" Steve asks also giving her a hug.
"No, absolutely not...I just can't believe this is all happening...Ross..." She couldn't finish her sentence. "Believe me, I was shocked as you are." Natasha strongly sighed in frustration. "Where did you find this place?" Maria asks looking around the cabin.
"It use to be my parents, we came here every summer when I was kid, after I joined the Avengers I told Steve about it." He explains.
"It's a little small don't you think?" Maria mentions. "I know, when my sister and I were little we had to share the fold out couch and as we got older we would bring a blow-up mattress." Sam told her, Maria nods her head.
"What happened to Clint and Scott? Are they okay?" Steve suddenly asked.
"Yeah, they're fine. They both took deals and are under house arrest." As hard as it was to hear Steve was grateful that they weren't still at that terrible prison and were with their families. He had Maria sit down so she could go over the information that she found, they too all sat down at the table "everyone is looking for you guys, all four of you."
"We knew that much but what else?" Steve impatiently spoke.
"I couldn't find anything that links back to Ross..." Maria starts to say, everyone was disappointed, "but I did find a base in Germany." She finishes with a smile.
"Is it active?" Sam asked.
"I am not sure if it is now but about a year ago their was activity." She informs them.
"Then that's where we're going." Steve blurts out as Maria hands him the envelope with the location.
"What should I do?" Maria asks.
"You stay right where you are, you can't let him know your on to him, I don't want you getting hurt. We also need someone from the inside. Ross brought in spies to keep tabs on us, well so are we." He instructed with a grin. "...Now you guys don't have to come with me. I can do this myself."
"We know you can...but we're coming with you. We all want to make Ross pay and just maybe once we do...they will disband the accords...and we won't be fugitives anymore." Wanda replied with a smile, they all nod their heads in agreement.
"That's what I'm hoping for too...thanks guys." Steve sighed.
They were all gearing up. Steve still had his Captain America suit from when he fought Tony. He looks at himself in the mirror and didn't like what he saw, he had betrayed Tony and felt terrible about the decisions he made and now he was going to hurt Iris, he knows she will not understand and this was going to make her think that he didn't love her, he was seriously going to hurt her and that was killing him. He glares at himself in the mirror and rips the star from his chest, knowing he doesn't deserve to wear those anymore. Afterwards he knocks on the door that Natasha was getting ready in. "Are you ready?" He asks her.
"Yeah...Steve we can still try to get her." She said softly to not make him mad like before, she sits on the bed, he comes beside her and sits next to her.
"Nat...I am not going to put her in danger...I want to do this where not only can she and I be truly safe but...I don't have to change her life either." He explains.
"Is that what this is all about? You think she'll resent you or regret it? Your worried she wouldn't choose to go with you, do you?"
"No, I know she would, that's why I can't let her! I am not going to let her abandon her whole life to live on the run in fear. She has come so far and...she's finally happy and I am not going to take that away from her." He spoke softly but with conviction, "I will find proof Ross is Hydra and I will destroy him and Hydra all together, so that not only can she and I be finally safe from them but we can live a normal life."
"Okay Steve...I get it." Natasha responded before she pats his shoulder.
They all start walking to the front door to leave and all geared up. "Good luck, I'll keep you posted, we'll work out someway to communicate with each other," Maria instructed.
"Thank you..." Steve said as Sam, Wanda and Natasha walked out of the cabin, "stay safe." He strongly demanded.
"You know I will." She gave him a hug
"...And I just have one last favor Maria." He whispered in her ear.
"What?"
"Please make sure she's safe...look out for her." He requests softly, she knew exactly who he was talking about, she gives him a understanding smile as he pull away.
"I will...if I sense that she's in any immediate danger I will let you know." She answers softly but firmly, he didn't say a word he just nodded his head and walked out.
I hope you liked this chapter! I wanted Bucky and Steve to have some bonding time and him know more about Iris, I also wanted to explore more of Steve's mindset with the decision he made to stay away from Iris.
