15.

New York City, 2016

"Man, that invisi-tech always gets me," Tony said, jumping when Kass appeared on the balcony of Stark Tower, seemingly from nowhere. She had her gun pointed at him. He held up his hands in surrender and removed his mask. "You can put that away."

"Can I?"

"Of course you can, Kass."

"Just wanted to be sure that your government friends wouldn't pop out and arrest me."

"It's just me."

"Good." Finally, she lowered and put away her gun. "That was a total shit show back there."

"Yeah, it was."

"How's Rhodey?"

Tony sighed. "He's alive, that's what's important. But he won't walk again."

"I'm so sorry. I felt so bad ducking out of there, but-"

"Honestly, I'm glad you did. I wouldn't want to see you locked up in one of those cells."

"That bad huh?"

"Yeah. Can I hug you, would that be weird?" He extended his arms.

"Just come here." She wrapped him up in a tight hug. "I'm so sorry."

"Me too." They pulled away but still stood close. "So what's this urgent message?"

"I'm sending it to you." Kass tapped the little screen on her gauntlet, and an image flashed up on his gauntlet. "This is a priority upload from Berlin Police. The task force called for a psychiatrist as soon as Barnes was captured. The UN dispatched Dr. Theo Broussard from Geneva within the hour. He was met by this man-" Kass pointed to the image. "-Turns out, the fake doctor is actually Colonel Helmut Zemo, Sokovian intelligence. He ran EKO Scorpion, a Sokovian covert kill squad."

Tony sighed. "So what happened to the real Broussard?"

"He was found dead in a Berlin hotel room. Where police also found a wig and facial prosthesis approximating the appearance of one James Buchanan Barnes."

"Son of a bitch."

"Yeah, Cap was right, Barnes was framed."

"Where were he and Barnes headed?"

"Siberia."

"Then we've got to get there too, and fast. F.R.I.D.A.Y., fire up the jet."


Siberia

December 16th, 1991

The video clip was fuzzy security camera footage, but the picture was clear - clear enough anyways to do the damage. The intended damage.

Kass winced as the car slammed into the tree, one of the passengers dragged out.

"S-sergeant Barnes..." said the man. "It's me, Howard-"

But Barnes didn't answer.

"Howard!"

"Not my wife-"

"Howard!" came Maria's cries from the front seat. She wasn't able to see her husband's death, which was a good thing, as it was pretty brutal. "Howard!" But Barnes quickly silenced her as well by strangling her.

The video clip ended by Barnes shooting out the camera.

Kass placed a hand on Tony's arm. Even through the armour she could tell how tense he was.

He turned to Steve. "Did you know?"

"I didn't know it was him."

"Don't bullshit me, Rogers. Did you know?"

A pause before, "Yes."

There was a tense silent moment before Tony backhanded Steve, setting off an intense confrontation.

Barnes held up his gun, but Tony blasted it out of his hands, charging towards him, his parents' murderer.

"NO!" Liv dove in, attacking Tony. Kass wasn't sure why her blonde American doppelganger was so defensive, but would later learn that Liv Sword was a fake cover name being used by Karen Granger, Barnes's girlfriend from the war days, somehow alive and well, having not aged a day even all these years later.

"Stop it!" Kass practically tore Liv off of Tony. He broke free and took off after Steve and Barnes while the ladies fought each other.

Liv shocked Kass with one of her electric bracelets, stunning her just long enough to take off after the fighting trio.

As she was recovering from the shock, Kass noticed Zemo escaping down the tunnel. She was torn - she couldn't let the others kill each other, but she also couldn't let that bastard escape.

Taking her gun, she took off after Zemo, the mastermind behind all this.

As she was nearing the door of the facility, she heard a gunshot. Picking up her pace she ran out into the snow to find Zemo, restrained by Prince T'Challa.

"You can stand down," The prince told her. "I have apprehended the culprit."

She kept her hand on her gun at her belt as Prince T'Challa escorted Zemo to his jet to take him to the authorities.

As he was locking Zemo up in the jet, another jet zoomed over them.

The prince must have had enhanced eyesight. "Rogers, Barnes, and Sword."

Kass's heart leapt. "But then where's Tony?"


They wouldn't have left him for dead - would they have?

"Howard!"

"Not my wife-"

"Howard! Howard!"

Bang!

She shot the screen, destroying the machine and cutting off that awful video.

"Tony!" she yelled. "Tony!" But only her own voice echoed back to her.

The base was in rough shape following the confrontation, and it looked like the only way the fight could have gone was up.

So she climbed up the tower via the ladder, calling out Tony's name. Still, only her own voice responded.

Finally, she made it to the top of the tower, wandering around the platform. Something crunched beneath her foot - red metal.

Tony's suit. A piece of it.

Chips of gold and red metal were scattered around the floor. It must have turned into one hell of a fight in order to do so much damage to the latest version of the Iron Man armour.

Then she saw him. Finally, she had found him.

His suit was torn and he was lying still in the middle of the stone floor, blood splattered on the ground around him, his helmet smashed off.

"Tony!" She rushed to his side, dropping to her knees beside him. "Tony, oh my God, TONY!" Blood trickled from his mouth, pouring down his chin. How could they, Cap, Barnes, and Liv? How could they have done this to him?

A sudden cough and shudder through him startled her, but then filled her with instant relief - he was alive.

He appeared startled to find her there next to him, but, like her, startled but also relieved.

"K-Kass..." He heaved out.

"Shh, don't move, you're hurt." He tried to say something else. "Shh, yes, I'm here. I'm not leaving." Not again.

She wiped the blood from his chin with her thumb. "I'm so sorry."

"Ms. Konstantin." She turned to see Prince T'Challa standing there at the top of the ladder.

She looked at him desperately. "Will you help us?"

Now we're moving into a more linear timeline, not jumping back and forth!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed as always! :)