They made it to Cleveland, Ohio in record time from upstate New York. Bucky went to the front door with Steve and Natasha right behind him, as Wanda, Tony, and Rhodey made their way around to the back door and Vision and Sam watched from above.
Bucky tensed up, took a deep breath, and punched through the wooden door easily with his left arm. As he tore it from the hinges, he threw it into the room toward Vasily, who was trying to make a run for it only to get slammed with the door.
Bucky marched in and slammed him against the wall by his neck. Steve aimed his shield at him. Natasha leveled her gun. Tony, Rhodey and Wanda busted through the back door and met them with their own weapons drawn. Vision came through the wall behind him and held him in place.
"Don't move if you want to keep breathing," Vision threatened.
"We got him, Sam," Steve said into his com.
While Sam calmly walked in through the front door, Bucky demanded, "Where's the red notebook?!"
"I don't know," he answered.
Tony demanded, "When did you last have it?"
"About a year ago," he confessed, "I took it out of Siberia after Hydra's files leaked but Rumlow busted through here, not unlike you, and stole it from me."
Steve asked, "Are you lying?"
"I'm scanning the building now," Tony said as he looked around, "I'm not finding a book that's the right size and shape, even in the hidden rooms of this house. There's a lot of weapons though, probably not legal."
Bucky asked, "When exactly did he come here and get it?"
"It's been 13 months now since I last saw him," he answered, "And before you ask, I have no idea what he plans to do with it or where he is now."
Rhodey said calmly, "I think he's telling the truth."
"So do I," Steve said, lowering his sheild.
Bucky punched Vasily in the face hard, letting him in the ground as he bled.
Sam asked, "What are we going to do now?"
Natasha asked, half jokingly, "Death penalty?"
"No," Bucky said coldly, "he deserves to suffer."
"F.R.I.D.A.Y.," Tony said, "call the police to this location."
"So a bad guy goes to jail," Sam said, "but we're right back where we started."
"We have to find Rumlow," Steve said.
Back at the avengers headquarters, Bucky sat on a chair on the back patio and looked out over the green scenery that surrounded him for miles. Steve came out with two hot coffees and placed them on the table as he said, "We'll find him."
"The government has been looking for him for years, Steve," he said solomly.
"They also have hundreds of other cases they're looking for at the same time," he added, "we're only focusing on one problem right now." He paused and took a deep breath before asking, "How did Alexander Pierce treat you?" He looked down and then finally got the courage to glance at him.
Bucky answered, "He taunted me; asked me questions I couldn't answer, which he knew."
Steve asked, "Like what?"
"He asked once if I wanted milk," he said, "Hydra trained that kind of thinking out of my head early. He wanted to know if I like his new suit once. Whenever I started remembering things, he'd come in and he'd slap me across the face and demand absolute obediance. He'd lie to me; tell me I was helping humanity and that I was a hero." He hung his head in shame as he remembered.
Steve said sympathetically, "And you believed him."
"I was programmed to," he said sadly.
Steve grimaced at that word "programmed" again but simply shook his head and said, "That's terrible."
"The worst part is," Bucky continued, "there was a time when I believed he actually cared about me, at least, compared to everyone else I always dealt with."
"They made you believe that," Steve corrected.
Bucky explained, "It's more complicated than that. He's the one that suggested that black mask that made it hard for me to breathe. Not only was it bullet proof, but it made it harder for people to identify me in case they saw what I did. He's the one that got the camouflage paint. When I broke my tooth after bashing me teeth so hard when I screamed as I was getting electrocuted he's the one that told them to get a mouth guard for me. One day, I was chasing after a target. He ran down an alley and turned right. I caught up to him and the glare from the sun was so bright I couldn't see. He shot me in the neck, right here." He pointed to the right side of his neck. "When Pierce saw that, he demanded I wear a higher collar and got me those special glasses you saw me wear for hunting targets in daylight, so I wouldn't get hurt again."
Steve said, "That's a lot."
"It took a while," he confessed, "but I finally admitted to myself once I was free that he truly didn't care. He only wanted to make sure I didn't die under Hydra's control." He put his head in his hand, propped up on the table.
"You can't blame yourself for that," Steve assured him as he padded his back gently, "they manipulated you to think that way so you'd work for them."
Bucky sat up and replied, "I know. Thank you."
Sam walked out of the building behind them and said, "You guys, you're not going to believe this."
They turned around to face him. Steve said, "I'm listening."
"The Winter Soldier," he said in disbelief, "just bombed the UN in Austria." He glanced at them back and forth and brought out his phone to show them the news headline. The three of them looked at each other in confusion.
Inside, the tv was turned onto the news as images appeared of the half collapsed UN building in Vienna. Smoke poured into the sky and countless firemen and rescuers were carrying people to safety as fast as they could. Everyone stood in front of the screen and watched in horror.
"Over two dozen dead," Wanda said sadly, "and they're still finding bodies."
Steve pointed to the tv in shock and asked, "How do we convince S.H.I.E.L.D. that Bucky didn't do that?"
"They have pictures," Tony said, "look." He brought up a hologram in front of them and brought up the screen shots he had F.R.I.D.A.Y. take of a man dressed in all black, wearing a mask and dark glasses, with a metal left arm, walked toward the building from a side entrance.
Steve whispered to Bucky, "Could it be one of the other soldiers?"
Tony, standing directly in front of them, turned around and asked, "What other soldiers?"
"They're dead," Bucky said, "the other winter soldiers are definitely dead, Steve. I made sure of that."
"What are you talking about?" Tony asked, "What winter soldiers? There are more of you we have to worry about?"
"No," Bucky said as confidently as he could, "there was a time when the Russians tried to make more super soldiers like me, but it ultimately failed and I killed them a couple of years ago. Besides, none of them had a metal arm. They had nothing to do with this."
Sam asked, "How did they make their own super soldiers?"
Rhodey said, "That's just what I was going to ask. Where did they get serum to do that?"
Steve interjected, "They tried to make their own." He glanced around nervously.
Appalled, Tony asked, "Are you lying, Cap?"
"No," he said, unable to look at him.
Tony bypassed him and demanded, "Where did they get the serum, Barnes?"
"From," Bucky stepped backward away from the group and confessed hesitantly, "Howard Stark."
"I don't believe that," Tony said angrily, "not even for a second. My father's life work went against everything Hydra believed in. He didn't like the Soviets, that's for damn sure! Why would he make super soldier serum for them?! You better start talking!"
Bucky took in a shakily breath and said, "They took it from him...forcefully. You're right, he never worked for Hydra, at least, not willingly."
Rhodey asked, "What the hell is that supposed to mean? They used him like they used you?"
Bucky walked backwards some more and said, "No, not like that."
"Back off," Steve demanded, stepping between them, "why is it so hard to believe your father inevitably worked for Hydra, Tony? Hydra was S.H.I.E.L.D. for over 60 years and no one noticed, not even Howard."
Tony walked around him and asked, "When did they steal the serum from him? You have to know, you would have noticed if other super soldiers showed up suddenly, yeah? You couldn't have been that oblivious."
Steve lied, "He doesn't remember."
Vision asked, "Why don't you let Bucky do the talking?"
Still walking backwards nervously, Bucky lied, "I don't know. I can't remember." He avoided their stares and backed into a wall.
"It's obvious he's lying," Sam said.
"Sam," Steve said angrily.
"I'm not trying to be against you right now, Cap," he said, "but he's obviously hiding something, and I have a feeling you are too."
Natasha walked around all of them and asked Bucky softly, "When did Hydra get the super soldier serum from Howard?"
"1991," he whispered.
Tony demanded, "What part of that year?!"
"December 16th," Bucky rattled off, "1991."
Horrified, Tony said, "The day my parents died. Are you saying Hydra had something to do with their death? Answer me!"
"Tony," Steve pulled him away hastily said, "don't do this to yourself."
"I killed them," Bucky confessed sadly, "I caused their car to crash. I killed Howard and his wife, and took the super soldier serum from his car and gave it to Vasily Karpov." He closed his eyes.
Steve said, "There! It's out in the open now. You got exactly what you wanted from him, Tony. Are you happy now?"
"No!" he shouted, "I'm not! What is wrong with you? Why would you tell him to keep that to himself? You pretend you're so righteous and so much better than everyone else, Cap, but you're not. This is proof! I want to see what you did, Barnes! I want to see exactly how you killed my parents. I know you remember so don't start with that memory nonsense you've been trying to pull!"
Natasha said sympathetically, "That's not a good idea, Tony."
"I agree with Miss Romanov," Vision said, "there is no logical reason to see and experience such trauma."
Bucky said, "You don't want to see them die."
Tony pointed the screen behind them and said, "Either show me what you remember or I turn you into S.H.I.E.L.D. and even though I know you didn't just bomb Vienna I sure as hell know you did a lot of terrible shit over the years where you deserve prison time and death."
