Rhodey: Steve, Tony's back.
Steve: It's been two days since the Raft. Where else did he go?
Rhodey: … He was in the Raft all along. They had him.
Steve: … It wasn't just a meeting, was it?
Rhodey: God, they worked him over good.
Steve: Is he OK?
Rhodey: He's… still sleeping. We found him a bloody mess in the backyard. Someone tossed him there from a moving vehicle, looking at the tracks.
Steve: How bad?
Rhodey: Water in the lungs. He's showing early signs of pneumonia, but we've taken care of that. Multiple contusions and lacerations over non-vital areas, nothing life-threatening. A bruised kidney. Dislocated shoulder. Fractured tibia. He'll live.
Steve: … Did he say anything?
Rhodey: … If he did, he'd be walking through the front door instead, wouldn't he?
Steve: Jim?
Tony: It's me, Cap.
Steve: Tony, are you all right?
Tony: … Now my head feels like it's stuffed with cotton.
Steve: Take it easy. I'm glad you called. Back in the Tower?
Tony: … The mansion. Woke up this morning and Rhodey said I'd been suspended from active duties. Then I looked around and what d'you know, they'd already flown me here. I have no say in anything anymore, do I?
Steve: … Tony, this can't continue. This could be the beginning –
Tony: Yeah. So? I can't leave. If I go, they'll just put someone else on the rack.
Steve: No.
Tony: Better me than them.
Steve: [Violent assault, withholding of a person]
Tony: Steve…
Steve: This isn't about being an 'upstanding, Accord-abiding enhanced individual' anymore. This is about protecting yourselves.
Tony: I can't leave now. Not yet.
Steve: You're just a man, Tony. Don't take this the wrong way, but how much more beating can you take? This has to stop. It's killing you.
Tony: … Then, so be it.
Tony: G'morning, Cap.
Steve: Morning. Sun shouldn't be up over your side.
Tony: It's… oh-three-hundred, so technically, still morning.
Steve: … Can't sleep?
Tony: … No.
Steve: Something else woke you up?
Tony: … How's Manchurian Candidate doing, anyway? Haven't heard about him since forever. Which means good news, I suppose.
Steve: They put him back on ice.
Tony: Wow. After all that'd happened, you let them put him back on ice?
Steve: He wanted it. Said he couldn't control his mind.
Tony: … Steve, I'm sorry. It's long overdue –
Steve: If there's one thing I could do over, it's being honest with you. I was selfish, and for that, I'd hurt you.
Tony: I wasn't – if you didn't stop me then, a Hydra victim would've been dead instead of rehabilitated, and I'd been a murderer.
Steve: It wakes me up at night, sometimes.
Tony: I bet you've plenty other Lovecraftian things to keep you up at night. I don't have to add one more.
Steve: I worry for you.
Tony: …
Steve: It's strategic. They'll wear you down, break you from the inside out. I'm not talking about your bones and flesh. They mend. Some things don't.
Tony: No kidding. Have you seen Barnes?
Steve: Tony, if I don't know you, I think… you're planning something.
Tony: … Wowzies. Am I that transparent?
Steve: And everything is going according to plan.
Tony: … Stop, Steve.
Steve: I'm telling you, stop. Before it's too late.
Tony: I won't. This is the only way to end this, Cap. You know it, too, so help me –
Steve: I'll pull you out myself if I have to, Tony – that's not how it's supposed to be –
Tony: Then what, huh? If you've a better way out, I'm all ears! Nat was right, remember? We should've stayed together. Doesn't matter how we do it, but we should. But it's too late, Steve! You're there, and I'm here, and there's no way around this but forward. And there's only one end for me –
Steve: … I'm not watching you die, Tony. Martyrdom isn't the answer.
Tony: "The price of freedom is high, and it always has been. And it's a price I'm willing to pay."
Steve: Please –
Tony: "And if I'm the only one…"
Steve: … It's not worth it.
Tony: Your life and mine aren't priced any higher than Wanda's, or Clint's, or even Ross'. You took up the shield to protect. Let me do what I'm meant to do. I still stand by what I said, Steve, that the Avengers needed to be kept in check. I was wrong about "whatever form it may take". It's my screw-up. This isn't Hydra, or some phoney Mandarin. This is our government, and short of committing highest treason… this is it, Steve.
Steve: It's not worth it, Tony. Reconsider, please.
Tony: … Better me than you, Cap. Listen, there'll be ramifications, after… after this is over. They'll stop coming on to the Avengers so hard, and Vision will hold down the fort here as long as he can. My instructions are clear: wait for Steve Rogers. You have to come back and lead these kids. Liaise with the government, work with them instead of backing out – don't repeat your mistakes, Steve. And finish what I couldn't.
Steve: … I hear you.
Tony: Yeah?
Steve: You're a good man, Tony. It's been an honour.
Tony: From Captain America himself? I can die happy.
Rhodey: Tony? What happened – oh God, somebody get the docs!
Steve: … Tony?
Tony: Yeah. Ah… I… kind of… there's blood, dunno where it comes from –
Steve: Tony, stay with me, stay with –