Venus | James B. Barnes✔️

liii. 𝚌𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚕 𝚠𝚊𝚛

Tony wanted to believe her. His helmet fell shut to hide his emotions—because maybe he was wrong. Maybe. Rhodey rose his hand at her, preparing to blast. "You can't argue that this was ever going to end a different way. The sides were chosen as the bomb went off and his name was spoken."

"All of this is pointless. There never should have been sides to pick, but I'll be damned if I let any of you hurt a hair on my husband's head," Evelyn sneered before saying, "I'm sorry."

Taking out her knife, she managed to send it straight into Rhodey's blaster—causing it immediate malfunctions. She saluted them once before rushing off to her best friend and husband. Tony flew off to fight Sam as Rhodey went after Evelyn.

"Clint, can you get him off me?"

"Buckled in?" Clint asked Scott. Evelyn smirked as she slid on her knees to avoid a hit from Natasha. Natasha smirked right back.

Evelyn saw an arrowhead go straight to Tony with Scott riding on it. She used her knife and turned it into a staff as she said, "Our third fight in only like two years? We should up our game."

Natasha grinned. "If only I could see you more."

"Well, after this, you may never see me again," Evelyn spoke realistically as Natasha went for the first blow. Evelyn knocked her back with the staff just as she heard Scott talking to Tony as his conscience.

Evelyn managed to knock Natasha Wanda's way, enough for Evelyn to rush off to Steve and Bucky. The two supersoldiers were hiding as Bucky said, "We gotta go. That guy's probably in Siberia by now."

Steve nodded. "We gotta draw out the flyers. I'll take Vision. You and Eve get to the jet."

Sam yelled, "No, you get to the jet! All three of you!" He paused with a strained voice. "The rest of us aren't getting out of here."

Evelyn did not like to hear that. Bucky grabbed her hand.

"As much as I hate to admit it, if we're gonna win this one, some of us might have to lose it," Clint agreed.

"This isn't the real fight, Steve," Sam said, and that made Steve nod. They had to go.

"All right, Sam, what's the play?" Steve asked.

Sam was a bit out of breath as he replied, "We need a diversion, something big."

Scott grew excited. "I got something kind of big, but I can't hold it very long. On my signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half—"

Bucky gave Evelyn and Steve a questionable look. "He's gonna tear himself in half?"

"—don't come back for me."

"You're sure about this, Scott?" Steve asked him.

"I do it all the time," Scott said before correcting himself. "I mean once... in a lab. Then I passed out," he took a deep breath. "I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the BOSS!"

Evelyn's eyes widened as she backed up slightly. In front of them, Scott Land suddenly grew ginormous as he grabbed Rhodey's leg. He let out a menacing laugh, and Evelyn could not help but laugh as well.

"That's pretty fucking cool, Scott," Evelyn stated with wide eyes as everyone on Iron Man's team gaped at the large man.

"I'm having the time of my life, Mrs. Venus... or Stark... Barnes? Evelyn, ma'am. I'm just going to stop talking. Get to the jet!" Scott stammered.

Sam laughed. "Way to go, Tic Tac!"

Steve, Evelyn, and Bucky ran as fast as the serum allowed to get to the jet. She felt Bucky tugging her to go faster, and all three pushed themselves. As they neared the jet, Evelyn winced as Vision's energy went through a tower right before the opening. The rubble began to fall, and she breathed out in relief when Wanda appeared on her knees to be holding it up with her magic. Evelyn nodded at her as they took off faster. Wanda did not last long when Rhodey showed up, and the rubble began to fall again. Evelyn felt Bucky hold her to his chest as he jumped through the rubble just as it would have landed on her. Steve, Bucky, and Evelyn slowed to a stop when they saw Natasha standing there with her arm extended.

"You're not gonna stop," Natasha whispered.

"You know we can't," Steve told her.

Natasha winced as she said, "I'm gonna regret this." Evelyn flinched as she sent an electric disk behind them. She noticed T'Challa had been sneaking up on them. "Go."

Evelyn whispered, "Thank you," to the woman as they passed. Steve jumped into the pilot's seat as Evelyn and Bucky sat behind him. Steve began to fly the jet out of there as fast as he could.

They could see Rhodey and Tony trying to blast the jet down, but Sam was doing his best to distract them. Evelyn watched as Vision sent an energy blast blindly, missing Sam and hitting Rhodey. She gasped as Rhodey began to fall from the sky. Turning back to face the front, she shook her head—they had to go. They had to find the psychiatrist. They had to stop him.

She clenched her fist just as Bucky asked, "What's gonna happen to your friends?"

Steve sighed, shaking his head a bit. "Whatever it is... I'll deal with it."

"I don't know if I'm worth all this, Steve," Bucky said softly. Evelyn glanced up with wide eyes as Steve turned to look at him for a moment.

"What you did all those years, it wasn't you. You didn't have a choice," Steve reminded him.

"I know," Bucky said with a light mocking smile as he thought of all the misery he went through and that he caused. He just wanted it to be over. "But I did it."

Evelyn reached over to grab his hand. "Don't be so hard on yourself, James," she whispered. "We're going to end this. Once and for all."

He squeezed her band back. "I hope so," he replied softly.

"We will," Steve said. "Whatever it takes."