ᵈᵃʳᵏⁿᵉˢˢ ▸ 𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒⁴ ✓

thirteen.

Caroline stood at the end of her cell as she was approached by the man, her arms crossed over her chest. She waited for him to say a word, before she started to run her mouth at him. She wanted to let out all the emotions she had been feeling since the start of this civil war, all the pent up aggressions that she managed to keep below the surface that needed to explode at the moment; at Tony.

"What are you going to do, Tony? You tore apart the Avengers, so what's your big move now?" Caroline said softly, completely ignoring Barton's continued pleas to stop talking to Tony.  "God I can't believe that I trusted you at one point in my life! Are you going to kill Steve?  Or are you going to kill my sister? I need an answer, and I'll know if you're lying to me."

"No, Caroline.  I'm not going to kill Steve.  That was never my plan, you should know that."  He took a step forward, but Caroline reset her stance and he stopped. 

"Convince me." She barked as she turned her back to him.

Tony reached down and tapped a few commands into his watch and waited, looking back to Caroline after a moment, "I've just taken the 'A' out of their 'AV'.  We've got about 30 seconds before they realize it's not their equipment.  Look." 

Caroline turned around surprised at his actions, as a hologram of a man lying dead in a bathtub appeared in front of Tony, and he watched for her reaction.

"Who's that?"

"That is the man who was supposed to interview Barnes.  Sweetheart, I need to know where Steve is.  Maybe his story isn't so crazy after all, and if it's true, he's gonna need all the help he can get."

Caroline was torn between wanting to incapacitate Tony to keep him away from Steve but at the same time wanting to help him to make things right.  If Steve was in more danger than what Tony himself could bring, Caroline wanted to help. She wanted to believe him, a man she trusted with her life before, and when she finally allowed herself to look up at him again, the look in his eyes gave her the answer.

"I'll tell you where he is, but with conditions."

"Go."

"You go alone, and as a friend." Caroline says

"Easy."

"And you take me with you."

[•]

Steve, Kiara, and Bucky had been searching the frozen base for a short time before Caroline and Tony arrived. The three of them stopped when they heard the heavy metal doors behind them begin to shift and crack open.  Bucky swung around and held his rifle steady with Steve bringing the shield up to guard them from whatever was on the other side, and Kiara pulled her staff out to the side ready to launch forward. The metal scraped and groaned at the force of Tony's hands prying it apart, and Caroline tried to cover her ears from the painfully piercing sound of the heightened sound. 

When he finally had them open, she had a clear view of her family, who all looked as equally surprised to see Caroline before them after the battle.

"Captain, you seem a little defensive," Tony began, slowly walking towards the pair.

"Well, it's been a long day."  He had his eyes on Tony until he caught sight of Caroline, now he was lowering the shield and taking a step forward to hurry to her side once again, but Tony raised a hand to stop him. 

"Caroline, are you okay?"

"I'm fine now."

"Why?  What do you mean now?"