There were mixed feelings about the previous chapter's ending. But that's okay because for the first time in my life I actually felt as though my writing makes an impact on people. It's not much, it's just fanfiction after all, but it really made my day when people reviewed and let me know what they thought. Don't stop doing that, honestly, I really like it!

So, a special thanks to love . fiction.2017, lovingvamp345, Goldenfightergirl who all reviewed! :D

Make You Feel My Love
~Book IV~

Disclaimer: I do not own Civil War or any other Marvel characters in this story. All I own is the story I've come up with and my own characters.

Chapter 22

"What's gonna happen to your friends?" asked Bucky, sitting in the back of the quinjet they had just stolen, his eyes staring at the back of Steve's head. Shame was twirling through his eyes; shame and regret. Behind him, an empty seat existed, one he knew Steve wanted to be filled by Maria. But she was not there.

"Whatever it is... I'll deal with it," replied Steve seriously, nodding his head while slightly turning his head towards Bucky to acknowledge his words.

A sigh escaped Bucky's lips, "I don't know if I'm worth all this, Steve."

"What you did all those years... It wasn't you. You didn't have a choice," said Steve, shaking his head, staring down at the controls in front of him. The plane was on autopilot for the moment, though the air around Bucky and Steve was so tense that he could not bear himself to look back at him, and so he pretended he was still piloting. His heart ached, and Bucky knew why.

"I know. But I did it."

"You did…" breathed Steve. "If Maria was here, she would say that she too did it. But she walked away from that life and now, now she's saved twice the amount of people she killed," said Steve, finally looking back at Bucky and offering him a genuine smile. "She would also say that whatever you're feeling about all of this is not going to go away ever. But that you'll be able to live with it after a while. Because you have to."

"If Maria was here…" breathed Bucky. "Steve, I'm so sorry."

Steve turned back to the controls again, closing his eyes as the images of Maria lying there on the ground in a pool of blood reappeared before his eyes once more.

"I'm truly not worth sacrificing her," said Bucky and Steve shook his head.

"She would disagree," retorted Steve.

"But do you? Do you disagree?"

Silence entered the aircraft after his question. Steve honestly had no good answer to that. He wanted to be there for the both of them.

"This is bigger than you and me. This is bigger than… Than her and me," replied Steve seriously. "It's about stopping those super soldiers."

As they flew over the airport, Bucky and Steve had visibly seen Maria lying flat on the ground, bloody and pale. Wanda had been trying to push her way towards Maria, though Vision kept her in place since Wanda clearly was wounded herself. Steve wanted to be there with Maria. She had not been well lately and now, she truly did not look well. Although he knew she could heal, he still worried about her.

Though on the other hand, Bucky needed his help and Bucky was almost as dear to him as Maria was. The whole point of Maria ever pushing herself past her limits had been to get them both to the jet so they could take off and save the world… and Steve would be damned if he did not finish what he had started – if not for Bucky or the world, then for Maria and the pain she had gone through.

"I don't, by the way… I don't disagree," said Steve after a while. "We're friends, Bucky. This is what friends do."

"Friends leave their girlfriends bloody on an airport for each other?" he asked, a soft air of sarcasm around his words, even though neither of them took his words as a joke.

"You'd be amazed by how strong she is," said Steve, a soft smile appearing on his lips. "She's been through death and more."

"I like her," said Bucky, rather out of the blue. "She's right for you, and you're right for her. You're both rather sweet, though Maria is more impulsive and emotional than you, which makes you perfect for her while you could use a little more emotions in your life."

"Thanks," smiled Steve, the air of sarcasm in his words this time also lifting the mood in the aircraft.

"I mean it," said Bucky. "I really like her. I don't want her getting hurt."

Steve sighed, "Neither do I."

Raft Prison, location anonymous.

"Maria? Maria?"

Slowly, she opened her eyes. Her body felt better and for a moment, she thought she was in her bed, the way she felt re-energized and ready to take on whatever came her way. Though as her vision became clearer, she realized that she most certainly was not in her bed – even though she was in a bed. The memories of what had happened before she passed out from the pain came back to her and she grunted while she sat up, kicking the thin blanket off of her and looking around herself.

She was in a cell…

Hands touched her face, wiping away warm, sticky liquids from her face with effort. She had not fallen unconscious yet, though she was wishing she had. The pain was so breathtakingly sharp and real that she could barely breathe. Her lungs forced her to do so though, and she could hear herself taking in little gasps of air from time to time. The cool blade of her sword was pressed against her hand from how she had fallen after she had let go of the debris. It was currently, apart from the hands on her face, the only other thing she could feel. Everything else was numb or just pain.

Her eyes turned painfully towards the left to take in the face of whoever was there caring for her and she could feel her heart fluttering with relief as she saw the kind face of Wanda.

"Don't fall asleep. Stay with us." The words Wanda uttered felt far away from her, though she still heard them and tried her best to follow the orders Wanda gave her. Yet it was hard… all she really wished for was unconsciousness. "What happened to her? This does not happen to me when I use my powers."

Vision came into view, his eyes scanning her body as though he were still Jarvis and able to indeed scan a body. "Her body is somehow broken. There's something keeping her powers occupied… I don't understand."

Wanda opened her mouth to ask more questions, though someone else neared them and caused them both to stand up and disappear out of view. She heard voices talking, yelling at each other and then Wanda sighing a defeated sigh. Names were mentioned, accusations were made…

"If he doesn't make it – If Rhodes doesn't… I will personally make sure that you are all punished for his death."

She wanted badly to call out for Tony and ask what had happened. Though she couldn't. Her body would not comply.

With still shaky legs and a tired mind, Maria forced herself to stand up and walk over to the bars. Relieved murmurs were heard as she pressed her face against the bars to see better, though all she could see was a corridor with several other cells along it. Hers had to have been positioned in the middle of the corridor as she neither saw a door leading out of their prison hallway, nor any windows letting in sunlight, or moonlight depending on what time of the day it was.

Across from her, Sam was standing against the bars in a similar way she was. To his left was Wanda and to his right was Scott. She noticed the strange clothes Sam wore and noticed that she herself had the same attire on; some simple shirt and sweatpants colored a strange beige color.

"Who undressed me?" she asked with a hoarse voice, causing Sam to let out a dry laugh.

"Really? That's your first question after you've been unconscious for who knows how long…?"

"Has it been hours… days?"

"I'd guess hours but uh… Hard to tell WITHOUT A CLOCK!" Maria watched as Sam turned around, staring menacingly at something behind him. She mimicked him and saw what she supposed he was staring at as well though inside of his cell; a security camera with a little red light beside its lens telling her it was recording her every movement.

"Stark… He took us in," she breathed.

"He sure did," sighed Clint's voice. It came from the right of her and she assumed Clint's cell was there, though she could not see.

"What the hell have they done to Wanda? What are we, some sort freaks!?" Wanda glanced over at her from where she was sitting on her bed, tied up in a straightjacket. "As if they think she can't use her powers without theatrical movements… pfft…"

"How're you feeling?" asked Scott, causing her to sigh.

"Like hell…" she mumbled, curling her fingers around the bars she was holding on to, her gaze going down to the floor outside her cell. "Like I've been running for days without taking a break… Just weak."

"M, you were bleeding from places I didn't even know we could bleed from. Something's seriously wrong."

"I pushed myself too far, that's all," sighed Maria.

"Not… too far, I hope?"

A hand unconsciously moved to her stomach and she shook her head, remembering the feeling of the blood... "I don't know…"

Suddenly, the sound of a door opening caused everyone to tense up. Maria tried to see what was happening, though could not. However, Scott and Wanda seemed to be able to and the way they looked away in annoyance caused Maria to have a hum of who might have entered. Either secretary Ross, or one of the other heroes who had captured them.

The sound of slow clapping echoed against the metal walls from Clint's cell. "The Futurist, gentlemen! The Futurist is here! He sees all! He knows what's best for you, whether you like it or not." The sarcasm literally dripped from Clint's voice as he announced who had entered as though he was part of a circus. Maria immediately knew who it was. Clint would never have reacted that way had it been secretary Ross.

"Give me a break, Barton. I had no idea they'd put you here," said Tony's voice, his left shoulder coming into view of Maria as he placed himself in front of Clint's cell.

The sound of someone spitting caused Maria to furrow her brow as her heart ached, "Yeah, well, you know they'd put us somewhere, Tony."

"Yeah but not some super-max floating ocean pokey. You know, this place is for maniacs. This is a place for…"

"Super villain criminals? Like the Joker or-or Quinn?" spat Maria.

"Criminals, Tony," repeated Clint before Tony had the chance to move towards Maria's cell. "Think that's the word you're looking for. Right? That didn't use to mean me. Or Sam, or Wanda. But here we are."

"Because you broke the law," tried Tony, his voice barely above a whisper.

Clint scoffed out a 'yeah' while Tony continued talking. Though all Maria could hear was Clint's mocking 'lalala'. She moved away from the bars, conflicted. She was mad at Tony, yes, but he was still her family; her friend. Somehow, she just would not let go of their relationship even after everything he had done to her… It reminded her a lot of what she used to feel towards her mother… It reminded her of a poisonous relationship and that only hurt more.

"Alright," growled Tony suddenly, shutting up Clint. "You're all grown up! You've got a wife and kids. I don't understand – why didn't you think about them before you chose the wrong side?"

Tony turned, his shoulder disappearing out of view for Maria before suddenly he walked past her, seeming to be pacing back and forth.

"Hank Pym always said you never can trust a Stark," said Scott, confusing everyone in the room.

"Who are you?" asked Tony to which Scott looked rather pained, as though his pride had been stripped from him by that question.

Tony stopped in front of Sam's and Maria's cells, turning his head to look at Sam once before turning to Maria fully.

"How are you doing?"

She squinted his eyes at him, not replying to him as she felt both hurt at him suddenly changing demeanor around her, while at the same time also wanting to tell him everything; confide in him the way she used to be able to. Once more, she placed her forehead against the bars, her eyes tearing up.

"Okay, no chick-flick moments. I just want to know if they've fed you and stuff. I may not be on Ross' Christmas card list at the moment, but at least I still have some say in this matter," he said, holding up his hand, the other one stuck in a sling as he had hurt himself during the fight.

"Doesn't matter what we feel at the moment, does it? Doesn't matter if they feed us or not… We're locked up. We've been stripped of our freedom, everything that Steve has ever worked for and stood for, we've lost. Because of you."

Tony rolled his eyes at her, "That's in no way true-"

"Yes it is. Had you simply understood that for the greater good, we should have been allowed to keep our hands untied, none of this would have happened."

"In what way is it for the greater good to have you guys running around freely doing whatever the hell you want?"

"In what way is it better to have us locked up?"

Tony let out a dry chuckle before turning away from her, though he did not look at Sam to speak to him. Instead, his head was bowed down and he seemed to be thinking about something.

"You all think he's so special, right? Steve Rogers, the first Avenger, fighting for the world's freedom and safety. The guy can't even fly."

"That's not what makes him special-"

"Everything special about him came out of a bottle!"

Tony had whirled around as he said that, staring at Maria with wide eyes.

"No…" she whispered gently. "You know, for a smart guy, you're really stupid. Your father made that serum, and you don't even know the big secret behind Captain America becoming Captain America and not some crazed super soldier ready to destroy the world? Like the Red Skull?"

"What do you mean?"

"Really?" scoffed Maria. "For the serum to work, it doesn't take a lot. Whoever you are, it'll work as long as you've got the right serum and the right amount of radiation. But with such power, most people turn evil. What Steve had in his heart, his personality, made him Captain America. He stayed himself because he stayed true to his heart, and his heart was good."

"You should work for Disney, they like stories like that," joked Tony dryly.

"What I mean is that yes, his strength came from a bottle. But that's not what we like about him – love about him. It's what is actually special about him. His heart. His goodness. His mental strength. He'd never give up as long as he fights for what he believes in."

"Is that it? Is that what he's doing now?" asked Tony quietly, his eyes seeming to have taken in what Maria said. He neared her cell, looking her straight in the eyes. "Fighting for what he believes in?"

"Look," said Sam from his cell, though Tony kept staring at Maria. "For us to tell you where Steve went, you're gonna have to pull off some pretty bad-ass bad-cop routines. We're not telling Ross anything."

Maria pointed back to the camera, turning to glance at it once when she noticed something strange. Tony smirked as she realized the little red light beside the lens was out.

"Yeah, I just knocked the 'A' out of their 'AV'. We got about 30 seconds before they realize it's not their equipment," said Tony, showing to everyone a small device he had hidden in his hand. He rolled up his sleeve to reveal a watch (which earned a rather annoyed look from Sam) to show to everyone a holographic image of a man with dark hair and glasses. "Just look. Because that is the fellow who was supposed to interrogate Barnes. Clearly, I made a mistake. M, I was wrong."

"That's a first," commented Sam under his breath.

"Cap is definitely off the reservation, but he's about to need all the help he can get. Just… Just tell me."

Maria and Sam shared a glance over Tony's head. He was finally listening, finally understanding what was actually going wrong.

Maria nodded her head.

"But if you go… You don't go as one of Ross' employees," she warned him.

"And you have to go alone. Alone… And as a friend," added Sam.

"Easy," replied Tony with a shrug.

Both Maria and Sam proceeded to quickly tell Tony where Steve and Bucky were going. Scott kept his eyes at the security camera in his cell, making sure the red light did not come back before they had finished talking. And as Tony, hurriedly, moved away from them, Maria hoped they had done the right thing… That they had not just caused Steve even more troubles.