Well, hello my little darlings. We're back with chapter three of our lovely journey, so why don't we see what our favourite people have been up to?
As always, all Marvel places, persons and things etc belong to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No copyright infringement is intended, and no money is being made from this story.
Chapter Three- Confrontation
All the anger, pain and hurt that Tony had been bottling up for so long finally spilt over a few days later. He was down in his workshop, naturally, when his AI had notified him that Barnes was in the elevator on his way down. Tony sighed and put away the equipment he had been using so he wouldn't be tempted to throw any of it at Barnes' head. Which was really a testament to how seriously he was taking his promise to Clint, despite his desire to put on the suit and go a few rounds with the Winter Soldier.
The soldier stepped out and nodded in his direction. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I'm having some issues with my arm."
Tony snorted. "I'm not a doctor, Barnes."
"My metal one," he clarified, his lips twitching ever so slightly.
Oh. Right. The bionic arm. The one thing that would be in Tony's area of expertise, and meant that he wouldn't be able to bow out of helping him. Because that would only bring Clint and Natasha down on him, and he couldn't handle the spy throwing him that disappointed look she got when he did something that she didn't agree with. Or Clint giving him the sad face if he broke his promise, which left him with one option.
"Fine. Sit down."
Tony grabbed his tool kit, and pretending to not be a little eager at finally getting to look over the arm that had both haunted his nightmares and gave him wet dreams about such an amazing piece of technology. A first look over told him that it was made of a variety of durable alloys, nothing that Tony could pin down to one specific metal, but it was definitely like nothing he had ever seen before. And to say it had been repaired, it looked exactly like the original. Which begged the question, was it a whole new arm, or had someone rebuilt it from what was left?
And that brought more questions, because the only people Tony knew had this technology were HYDRA agents, and if that were true, then how had Steve gotten them to rebuild the arm without having Barnes brainwashed to becoming the Winter Soldier again? But, if that weren't the case, who the hell had that kind of technology? Tony might brag about his intelligence, but he had reason to. He was one of the smartest people on the planet.
But they were all questions for another time, right now, he had a bionic arm to repair. Each groove in the metal was specifically spaced out to give him maximum movement, and flexibility given he was carrying an arm that was a damn sight heavier than his right one. Tony guessed that being a super soldier, with super serum meant that carrying a metal arm around all day was nothing out of the ordinary for Barnes.
The arm responded to every need that Barnes had, it functioned like a regular, flesh and blood arm. With the added bonus of strength, durability and so much amazingness that Tony's brain was in danger of short circuiting in his desire.
"Exactly what problems are you encountering with it?" Tony asked brusquely, pulling out a couple of screwdrivers from the kit, a miniature soldering iron and some pliers.
Barnes shrugged. "I think it's something to do with the receptors in it. Sometimes I go to pick something up and either it grabs so hard the item is crushed, or it just sweeps out and knocks things to the floor."
Tony nodded and found the seal that would allow him to lift off the cover and check the circuitry. It wasn't as easy as Tony had imagined it would be to jimmy the metal covering open. It was delicate work, Tony couldn't take the risk of his screwdriver ploughing into the arm and damaging the wiring. There was no telling if he had the parts needed to do that kind of repair work.
He nearly started foaming at the mouth when he saw all the circuitry, and Tony couldn't see anything that might have been misfiring. But the wiring itself was vastly complicated, and there was so much going on at once, he was amazed nothing had gone into power shortage. Next he checked over the receptors, pressure pads and came across the part of the arm that he been designed for it to filter touch and send the signals back to the brain.
"Uh…so you can feel things with this hand?" Tony asked.
Barnes nodded slowly. "Yes, I can feel warmth and cold, I can differentiate between most materials on touch alone. However, I register no pain in the arm, so if you were to pour boiling water on my hand, I wouldn't be in pain."
Tony had to admit he was impressed with the technology. There shouldn't be anything this far advanced in the world but there was, and Tony was working with it. Just a shame it was attached to someone he hated. But, he was a mechanic through and through and he had to see how it all worked, which meant he was going to have to fix Barnes.
Small price to pay to learn about the arm itself and how it functioned. "From what I can gather, there's some sort of connection problem with your pressure receptors. So I'm going to attempt a recalibration, and if that doesn't work, then I'll have to consider putting in new ones. Now, obviously, that kind of tech isn't something that I have just lying around, so there's a chance you're going to have to put up with it for a little longer until they get here, but let's try the recalibration for now, and we'll go from there," Tony explained, feeling oddly generous and not using full Tony-tech-mode language.
Barnes didn't even bother to make the attempt to pretend he fully understood what Tony meant, if the confused expression was anything to go by. Tony grabbed a hand held machine, attached it to the receptor pad, ran the calibration and kept his gaze anywhere but at Barnes' face while the test ran. A small beep signified the end and Tony gave a small nod.
"I want you to squeeze my fingers with increasing pressure until I tell you to stop," he grumbled.
The soldier did as he was told and took Tony's hand, squeezing bit by bit until the mechanic told him to stop and his hand was released as if Tony had been scalded. "Thank you."
Tony replaced the cover the protected the very complicated wiring, locked it all in place and made sure that Barnes could flex his fingers slowly, pick things up with any problems and that the arm hadn't become slugging to respond with his tinkering.
"So you can feel the warmth of my hand, can you tell if it's skin, if you weren't looking?" Tony asked, unable to keep his curiosity contained any longer.
"Yes, I can."
Tony scowled at him and all but yelled at Barnes to get out of his workshop. Barnes went silently, a hurt expression on his face, but at least Tony had helped him, and it was probably more than the soldier had expected. His eyes held something thoughtful, that Tony had asked more questions about the arms capabilities than he had thought the man would.
"Boss, it's been several hours since you last ate. I must insist that you go find sustainable food," FRIDAY spoke once Barnes had disappeared from his sight.
Tony swore and threw down the screwdriver in his hand and shoved his stool under the desk. "Alright, mother."
He headed for the kitchen and pulled out some left over pizza, shoved it in the microwave and rolled his eyes when Steve walked in. Seemed like the only safe place was his workshop and FRIDAY enjoyed kicking him out of it on a regular basis. God damned AI needed to have her protocols looked at, he was sure that he never programmed her to be this commanding of his ability to get himself food.
The microwave pinged and Tony had to temper down the urge to jump at the sudden noise. He sat down with his pizza and did his best to ignore the presence of Steve in his kitchen, which really wasn't too easy considering he was eyeballing Tony as he ate. Tony made it through one slice before his temper got the better of him.
"What the fuck are you looking at?" He barked.
Steve flushed and looked away. "Sorry…it's been so long since I've really seen you, I guess I was just making sure you're okay."
Tony looked at him incredulously and burst out laughing. "Okay? Okay?! You fucked off out of my life with that bastard, sent me a shitty letter and a phone, reappear after a year asking for my help and then have the audacity to check that I'm okay?"
The super soldier blinked rapidly, blue eyes sad and just not something Tony wanted to deal with right now. "Tony…please…I know you're angry with me, and you have every right to be…"
"You're damn fucking right I do! You left me! In Siberia! Without even a backward fucking glance! You ran off with that fucking murderer and blew our friendship out of the water like it was nothing! And let's not forget about the fact you went nuts with that shield and almost took my goddam head off!"
Steve ran a hand through his hair and leant against the counter, his face weary. "Tony…our friendship means the world to me. But please, try to understand where I'm coming from. Bucky has been forced to do some seriously terrible things, and he wasn't in control. I know he killed Howard and your mom, and I understand the absolutely shattering pain you must feel at that, and it hasn't helped that I didn't tell you."
And that was the brunt of it all, wasn't it? That was the cause of all Tony's anger and hurt. Steve had known all along that Tony's parents had been murdered, knew that it hadn't been a simple car accident that no one could have seem coming, not a bad night for driving and their car just span out of control. No, that was all a lie, and Steve had known.
"Hasn't helped? Did you think it would be all hunky-dory that you kept that little morsel of information from me? That I wouldn't mind, or that I might understand?" Tony hissed.
Steve sighed in frustration and banged his hand on the counter. "Damn it, Tony, yeah! I thought that eventually you might calm down and realise that even though I was wrong, that I'd done it to protect you!"
"Protect me from what?! From knowing the truth behind how my parents died? That someone put my mom and father on the HYDRA hit list? Because it hurt me a lot fucking more that my best friend knew all about it and didn't tell me until he had no alternative but to!" Tony yelled.
The blonde lowered his gaze. "Tony…I know I shouldn't have kept it from you. But I thought I was doing a kindness in not reopening an old wound."
"You did me an injustice, Steve. I had every right to know the truth behind their deaths. That HYDRA had them killed for a reason I still have no clue about. Your Bucky," he spat. "Beat my father to death, smothered my mom and he remembers all that, but he doesn't remember why he was ordered to kill them? Were you ever going to tell me?"
The look on Steve's face and the pause he took before forming an answer was all Tony needed to know that if Steve never had to tell him, he would have taken it. "If I could have avoided it…no, probably not. I didn't want you to have to experience the truth that your parents had been killed. You had already reconciled years ago that your parents were in a horrible freak accident, and the last thing I wanted was to rehash all of that for you. All of that pain and sadness."
Tony's face was red, his eyes blazing in his anger, and his lips pinched to a thin, white line. "You don't get to decide that. All the time you kept that information to yourself, I could have already found out who put them on HYDRA's hit list. Instead, the person who did it might already be dead, have escaped or wiped all trace of themselves ever being linked to the crash."
His voice was soft, barely above a whisper, and the only indication of just how furious he was. There was only one other time that anyone had heard that tone of voice, and he wasn't in the Tower.
"Tony…I'm sorry…please…I did what I thought was best at the time," Steve pleaded desperately.
Tony stood slowly, almost calmly. "You do not get to make decisions about another person's life."
Steve raised his hands defensively, standing straight. "I know, and I'm sorry."
The genius advanced, his movements stiff, as if he were calculating each one of them. But it was the exact opposite. "How many other secrets have you kept? How many other people don't know the entire story of their life because you hid something from them?"
Steve didn't see the blow until it connected with his face. Tony punched the super soldier in the face with everything he had, snapping his head to the side and an angry, red welt appearing. "Tony, please…no one knew it was about the serum!"
Tony froze mid-swing in a second punch. Serum? It was about the serum? "What?"
Steve paled and struggled to find his words. "Well…I mean…it…your parents were targeted…because of the serum Howard created. The serum that created me."
Pain filled Tony's face and his brown eyes dulled, as if losing the life from them. "My mom was killed because my father had to play hero? My mom died for some fucking serum that HYDRA wanted?"
Steve nodded. "Bucky told me, after we left Siberia. He remembered why he had been sent on the mission, and what he was to retrieve."
"Just another time you didn't call to tell me what was going on. Didn't tell me the truth of the situation."
The super soldier sighed and tugged on his hair in frustration. "Tony…I don't know how many times I can apologise before you'll start to believe me."
Tony delivered a series of punches to Steve's face and panted harshly at the exertion, his knuckles already bruising and starting to swell. "I will never forgive you for this!" He hissed and walked away.
Natasha tried to stop him in the hall but he pushed past and went straight for the elevator. But instead of heading for the workshop, he went to the eighty-fifth floor, got out, and went up to the roof. Only once he was safely ensconced outside, with the wind to drown him out, did Tony let out his scream of pain, tears falling from and arms wrapped around himself.
From behind the glass, Barnes watched as the man fell apart, and his own heart broke for the pain he had caused. There was nothing he could do that would make up for what he had been forced to do, no amount of regret that could ever bring Howard and Maria Stark back to life. So instead, he cried, silently, with the mechanic screaming in agony outside.
So there you have it my sweet darlings, chapter three of our journey. I do so hope you're enjoying the ride. You've all been so wonderful with your reviews, they give me so much motivation to work on this it's unbelievable. So thank you
Until next time, my lovelies.
