Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Arrowverse or Marvel Cinematic Universe, DC Comics, Marvel Comics or any characters or elements pertaining to the mentioned franchises or anything else you may recognize.
"So, Director Michaels, can you tell us who was that guy that was posing as Broussard?" Tony asked as he flew in his suit to Siberia, while Steve, Steele, Matt, Barry, Oliver and Bucky were in the plane.
"That man picked Broussard at the airport, when he arrived to Washington." Lyla said, showing them the footage. "Facial recognition identified him as Colonel Helmut Zemo of Sokovian intelligence. He led EKO Scorpion, Sokovian covert kill squad."
"And the real Broussard?" Oliver asked.
"He was just found dead in the hotel in D.C. Alongside with a wig and a facial prosthesis that would make one look exactly like Bucky." Felicity explained as they saw on the computer screen Broussard dead in a bathtub.
"That doesn't make any sense." Barry said. "I doubt he'd be that sloppy to let Broussard be found dead, considering how much work he put into getting to Bucky and setting him up."
"It's like if he wanted us to find it. Why?" Matt agreed.
"I guess we're about to find out." Steve said as they landed in Siberia and went out from the plane as he turned to Bucky. "Remember that time we had to ride back from Rockaway Beach in the back of that freezer truck?"
"Was that the time we used our train money to buy hot dogs?" Bucky remembered.
"You blew three bucks trying to win that stuffed bear for a redhead." Steve said as Bucky chuckled, while everyone else smiled at the banter between them.
"What was her name again?" Bucky asked, trying to remember.
"Dolores. You called her 'Dot'." Steve reminded.
"She's gotta be a hundred years old by now." Bucky noted.
"And aren't we too, bub?" Logan noted as he, Bucky, Steve and Steele laughed, while the rest chuckled before going out and entering the base, noticing that the entrance was just opened.
"Looks like he just opened it." Oliver said, examining the door.
"He can't have been here for more than three hours." Steve said.
"Long enough to wake them up." Bucky said.
"I'm not sure. I hear only one heartbeat inside." Matt said.
"So, what does that mean? Are those Winter Soldiers dead? Or he just hasn't awakened them yet?" Barry questioned.
"Only one way to find out." Tony said as he landed and followed them.
"I think someone's following us." Matt realized.
"Who?" Steve asked.
Matt spun around and threw the billy club before Black Panther caught it as everyone prepared to fight.
"You've been following us, Your Highness?" Steve asked.
"I intercepted the transmission from Miss Michaels. I know you were framed. I apologize for what happened earlier." T'Challa said.
"You had your reasons. Let's leave it at that and find that guy." Bucky said as they continued to walk down the facility before they entered the chamber, where the Winter Soldiers seemed to be still in cryostasis, sleeping in their chambers before Matt noticed their hearts were not beating and the rest saw the flatlined heart monitors.
"They're all dead." Steele said as they noticed that each Soldier was executed with a gunshot to the head.
"If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep." Zemo's voice echoed throughout the chamber through P.A. "Did you really think I wanted more of you?" He asked Bucky mockingly as Bucky was readying his rifle.
"What the hell?" Bucky whispered.
"I'm grateful for them, though. They brought you here." Zemo continued as the light turned on, revealing Zemo behind an iron chamber. Steve threw his shield but it bounced off the glass, behind which was Zemo, back to Steve, who caught it.
"Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets." Zemo gloated.
"I'm betting I could beat that." Tony taunted.
"Oh, I'm sure you could, Mr. Stark. Given time. But then you'd never know why you came." Zemo said in a condescending tone.
"You killed innocent people in D.C., just to bring us here?" Steve demanded as T'Challa froze, while Steve neared Zemo.
"I've thought about nothing else for over a month. 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." Zemo said, smiling. "How nice to find a flaw."
"You're Sokovian." Steele noted as they all noticed that Zemo was speaking with the same accent as Wanda and Pietro.
"Is that what this is about?" Steve inquired.
"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell." Zemo sneered as he shook his head. "No. I'm here because I made a promise."
"You lost someone back there?" Oliver asked, seeing the loss in Zemo's eyes.
"I lost everyone." Zemo said. "And so will you."
They turned their heads to see a monitor turn on with a video.
"What is that?" Barry demanded.
"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one, which crumbles from within, that's dead, forever." Zemo said as they watched the footage, seeing a road and the footage dated December 16, 1991.
"I think we shouldn't be watching this." Oliver said.
"Yeah, it's what he wants us to see." Barry agreed but Tony ignored them, not able to take his eyes off the screen.
"I know that road." Tony said, dread filling him as Matt sensed how disturbed he was, while Tony turned to Zemo. "What is this?!"
Zemo just looked coldly as Tony continued to watch and saw a car crash, his face turning paler with each second as he realized what it was before a bike driven by the Winter Soldier appeared, while Bucky looked down, ashamed and then Steve, Logan and Steele realized what were they watching and what really happened to Tony's parents as Steve remembered Zola's A.I. gloating about the deaths of Howard and Maria Starks but he did not have time to look into it deeper.
"Help my wife." Howard said, crawling out from the wreckage. "Please. Help."
The Winter Soldier grabbed Howard by his head as Howard took a closer look at his face, shock filling him upon recognizing him. "Sergeant Barnes?"
"Howard!" Maria wailed.
Tony breathed out as Matt sensed his heartbeat getting faster, while Tony glared at Bucky, who had on his face nothing but shame and guilt as everyone felt a lot of pity and sympathy for Tony and Bucky. No one deserved to see their parents murdered in cold blood and Steele himself felt a lot of sympathy for Bucky, since he himself had been brainwashed by H.I.V.E. to hurt innocent people.
The Winter Soldier punched Howard with his metal arm twice before letting go of his lifeless body.
Tony looked more and more devastated with each second passing by as he kept watching the video.
The Soldier positioned Howard back into the driver's seat, as if Howard had been killed in a car accident. Maria breathed out, terrified before the Soldier grabbed her by her throat, choking her to death with a cold, emotionless look on his face. As soon as Maria drew her last breath, the Soldier neared the traffic camera and shot it as the screen turned black, covering all tracks of his involvement in the Starks's deaths.
Tony was filled with rage, about to lunge at Bucky before Steve, Logan and Steele held him back.
"No, Tony." Steve said as Tony turned to him, anger and betrayal on his face.
"This is exactly what Zemo wants. To kill Barnes." Logan tried reasoning with him.
"Did you know?" Tony growled.
"I didn't know it was him." Steve tried to explain.
"Don't bullshit me, Rogers. Did you know?" Tony demanded, angry beyond any reason now, not that anyone blamed him, considering what they just saw.
After some hesitation, Steve nodded. "Yes. But I didn't know it was him."
Tony stepped back, shivering with anger as Matt neared him, trying to calm him down. "Tony… before you do something you might regret—"
Before Matt or anyone else could do something, Tony hit Steve, sending him flying back and blasting Bucky's rifle away. Bucky tried to punch Tony but Tony grabbed his metal arm before Logan and Steele grabbed Tony from behind, restraining him, while Zemo ran away.
"Stop!" Steele ordered.
"Calm down, Stark!" Logan ordered.
"Get off me!" Tony snapped.
"It wasn't him, Tony!" Steve pleaded, trying to reason with him as he stepped up in between Tony and Bucky as Tony tried to free himself from Steele's and Logan's hold.
"Let me go, now!" Tony yelled.
"We're stronger than you! You can't struggle out!" Logan said.
"Tony, I understand that you're angry but you need to calm down." Barry pleaded.
"You're not a murderer." Oliver tried to reason.
"Tony… please. Give me a chance to explain. It doesn't have to be this way." Steve said as Tony breathed out, realizing he was unable to do anything, since he was alone and outnumbered, and besides, Steve, Bucky, Logan and Steele were physically stronger than whatever suit he would put on and he would also have to deal with Oliver, Barry and Matt as he breathed out heavily. "If you don't like what I have to say, if you still want him dead, well, you'll have to go through all of us and I think we all know this isn't a fight you're gonna win."
Tony breathed out and relaxed, realizing he could do nothing but listen.
"Well? As you can see, I'm all ears, Cap." Tony said sarcastically, although it was obvious he was not exactly filled with patience at the moment, due to how angry he was as Steve took a breath.
"Two years ago, when we exposed Hydra, Nat and I found an old S.H.I.E.L.D. base in the camp, where I trained. And we found in that base hidden an A.I. version of Doctor Arnim Zola." Steve said.
"The scientist working for Red Skull?" Steele remembered and Steve nodded.
"He told us about Hydra being responsible for many deaths over the last seventy years and he also showed us the news article about your parents' death." Steve said.
"So you knew it was Hydra?" Tony demanded, rage filling him again.
"Zola implied as much but Nat and I didn't exactly have time to look deeper into the matter, because a moment later he revealed that he had been stalling and before we had any time to look deeper into it, Hydra sent a missile to blow the place up. Nat and I barely made it out alive, so that's why I didn't look into it deeper." Steve said.
"Then why didn't you tell me? You had two years to tell me!" Tony snarled angrily, wanting to beat Steve to a pulp but he was unable to free himself from Logan's and Steele's grip.
Steve sighed, trying to think. "I… guess I convinced myself that I had been sparing you of the pain by not telling you the truth about your parents. I thought I had defeated Hydra, when I beat the Red Skull. But now I realize that I was really sparing myself. I'm sorry." He said honestly. "I'm not asking for you to forgive me. I just hope that you'll understand."
"So what happens now?" Tony demanded, still angry but more understanding.
Since Steve had not known the truth, that did not make Tony feeling any better but still, he could not fault Steve for what he had done, since Tony himself probably would have done the same thing if their roles were reversed and it was Rhodey in Bucky's place as Tony glanced at Bucky. Hydra may have been the true murderer of Tony's parents and Bucky may have been just the weapon they aimed at them but since Hydra had been beaten, there was no one to take his anger out on.
Tony breathed out and flew out as soon as they let him go, snarling in rage.
"Where did he go?" Barry wondered.
"Process this anger." Logan said. "He's pissed right now but I think he'll understand."
Outside, Zemo just stopped listening to the voicemail recording of his wife as he deleted it, while T'Challa neared him from behind, while Zemo pulled out a pistol.
"I almost killed the wrong man." T'Challa said, putting down his mask.
"Hardly an innocent one." Zemo countered.
"This is what you wanted. To see them rip each other apart." T'Challa realized as Zemo stared.
"My father lived outside the city. I thought we would be safe there. My son was excited." Zemo said. "He could see the Iron Man and Superman from the car window. I told my wife, 'Don't worry. They're fighting in the city, we're miles from harm.' When the dust cleared and the screaming stopped, it took me two days until I found their bodies. My father… still holding my wife and son in his arms." He said, reliving the pain as he scoffed. "And the Avengers? They went home. I knew I couldn't kill them. More powerful men than me have tried. But… if I could get them to kill each other…"
T'Challa looked at him in sympathy, realizing how much he had been letting his anger consume him, just as much as Zemo allowed it to consume himself and how it almost consumed Tony.
"I'm sorry about your father. He was a good man. With a dutiful son." Zemo said with honest remorse.
"Vengeance has consumed you. It almost consumed them." T'Challa realized. "I'm done letting it consume me." He retracted his claws. "Justice will come soon enough."
Zemo scoffed. "Tell that to the dead." He put the gun to his chin but T'Challa covered the barrel with his hand, preventing Zemo from committing suicide as T'Challa held Zemo in chokehold, restraining him.
"The living are not done with you yet." T'Challa said.
The Russo's confirmed that Steve had no idea about Bucky's involvement in the death of Tony's parents, he only knew that Hydra was behind it. Steve himself made a subconscious decision not to look deeper into the matter, since Zola revealed that he had been stalling, when he told Steve and Natasha the truth in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and that prompted Steve not to look into the matter of Tony's parents deaths any deeper. It is also possible that he was trying to spare himself of knowing the truth as much as Tony but that is far from the unforgivable sin some of the too excited Team Iron Man believe from Steve not telling Tony the truth.
And Tony in the film didn't stop trying to kill Bucky despite Steve trying to reason with him, because Tony had lost all reason already because of what had been already going on with the Sokovian Accords in Civil War but that is not happening in this story, just to explain that Steve was able to talk Tony down, rather than having to subdue him by destroying the arc reactor powering his suit.
One or two more chapters before the ending.
So, what do you guys think?
Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.