Prodigal Son's Prayer

14

"Help my wife," Howard said. "Please. Help." The Winter Soldier and the Cataclysmic Eclipse walked over and the former hoisted him up by his hair. He stared at Howard's bloody face. Howard stared back pleadingly.

"Sergeant Barnes? Nurse Rogers?" Howard realized.

"Howard!" Maria called. Tony glared at Lottie and Bucky. The Winter Soldier pounded Howard hard in the face with his metal fist while the Cataclysmic Eclipse punched Howard in the chest.

"Howard!" In grief, Tony closed his eyes for a moment. His father slumped dead. The Winter Soldier put him in the driver's seat with his face against the steering wheel. Tony stared in horror. Maria was in the passenger seat with blood streaking down her face. The Winter Soldier and the Cataclysmic Eclipse walked around and the former gripped her throat. Expressionless, he strangled Maria while the Cataclysmic Eclipse held her down. Tony watched the screen, stunned. Bucky and Lottie watched with tears in their eyes, ashamed by what they'd done. The Winter Soldier and the Cataclysmic Eclipse walked up and aimed a gun at the surveillance camera. Steve and Daniel watched Tony anxiously. Tony lunged towards Bucky and Lottie, but Steve and Daniel stopped him.

"No, Tony," Steve and Daniel said. "Tony."

Tony, consumed with grief and tears glistening in his eyes, turned and looked at Steve and Daniel before asking, "Did you two know?"

"We didn't know it was them," Steve answered.

"Don't bullshit me, Rogers! Did you and your brother know?"

"Yes."

Tony stepped back, his chin jutting upwards and twitchy. He reengaged the Iron Man helmet. He punched Steve and Daniel to the floor and deflected gunfire from Bucky, disarming him. He grabbed Bucky and Lottie and they flew across the chamber. He slammed them onto the floor, then jumped on their arms. Steve's shield hit Iron Man, distracting him. Steve and Daniel barged him backwards. Iron Man shouldered them to the floor and shackled their ankles. Bucky and Lottie punched Iron Man who just lifted them and slammed them against a machine. Iron Man raised a fist, but Bucky twisted it. A rocket shot out of Iron Man's arm and a fireball exploded. Steve sliced his and Daniel's shackles as a towering structure of pipework collapsed. Tony, Lottie and Bucky were thrown down a level as twisted metal fell around them, showering sparks.

Steve said to Bucky and Lottie, "Get out of here! Danny, go with them!" As Bucky, Daniel and Lottie bolted, Iron Man fired, but missed. Steve landed in front of him. Bucky hit a control panel and the silo-styled door overhead started to open. Steve continued. "It wasn't them, Tony. HYDRA had control of their minds!"

"Move!" Tony ordered.

"It wasn't them!" Steve yelled before he grabbed Iron Man's ankle in mid-air and smashed it. Iron Man blocked Steve by shooting down rubble, then falteringly flew up the tower.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. said, "Left boot jet failing. Flight systems compromised."

"Ah crap," Tony muttered.

Above him, Bucky, Daniel and Lottie leapt from platform to platform. With stuttering jets, Iron Man gave chase, then kicked Bucky, Daniel and Lottie and took aim, but the energy bold rebounded off Steve's shield onto himself. Iron Man dropped like a stone and landed on a lower platform.

"He's not going to stop," Steve told his friend, sister-in-law and brother. "Go."

As Iron Man soared upwards, Steve leapt and shot a wire which wrapped around Iron Man's neck and dragged him back down. He deflected Steve's shield, then tried to target Bucky and Lottie.

"Come on, come on," Tony said.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. informed, "Targeting system's knackered, boss."

"I'm eyeballing it." His helmet retracted and he shut one eye, taking aim at the opening hatch. He fired and hit the giant hinge which exploded, cutting of Bucky, Lottie and Daniel's escape route. Bucky, Daniel and Lottie fell, the husband holding his wife to shield her fall. Iron Man flew up, blocked two swings from an iron pipe from Daniel, then grabbed Lottie and Bucky around the neck from behind. "Do you even remember them?"

"I remember all of them," Bucky and Lottie replied as they pushed them from the walkway.

Steve jumped into them to deflect their fall. Daniel jumped down to join the group. Bucky and Lottie landed on a platform while Tony and Steve landed on the concrete floor beside an opening in the wall where snow drifted in from outside.

"This isn't gonna change what happened," Steve and Daniel said.

"I don't care," Tony retorted. "He killed my mom. Lottie held her down."

They traded punches and Iron Man ended up pinning Steve and Daniel down. Bucky picked up Captain America's shield and he and Lottie leapt down to help. As the Super Soldiers fist fought with Iron Man, the shield changed hands between them until Tony managed to zap Steve and Daniel who were thrown back into the wall. Bucky and Lottie struggled to hold Iron Man at bay as he unleashed an energy beam, then Bucky forced Iron Man against the opposite wall and gripped the glowing core in the chest of the Iron Man Suit. A blast of energy knocked Bucky down, metal arm completely blown away. Daniel ran to Bucky and Lottie's side as Tony zapped again, and he got hit. Steve rushed him with his shield up and Iron Man fired right at it.

---

Zemo was outside, listening to a phone message from his wife. "You should've seen his little face. Just try, okay? I'm going to bed. I love you."

T'Challa snuck up behind him and said, "I almost killed the wrong man."

"Hardly an innocent one," Zemo replied.

"This is all you wanted? To see them rip each other apart."

Zemo deleted the voice message. "My father lived outside the city. I thought we would be safe there. My son was excited. He could see the Iron Man from the car window. I told my wife, "Don't worry. They are 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. 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... I'm sorry about your father. He seemed a good man. With a dutiful son."

"Vengeance has consumed you. It's consuming them." He blinked ruefully and retracted the claws in his gloves. "I am done letting it consume me. Justice will come soon enough."

Holding a gun, Zemo smiled thinly. "Tell that to the dead." He tried to shoot himself, but T'Challa grabbed him just as he fired.

"The living are not done with you yet."