The Man My Father Always Talked About • A CAPTAIN AMERICA STORY

37

"Rhodey!" Tony yelled through the comms. Clara ran as fast as she could, though she knew there was nothing she could do because of herlimits. With no suit or boots, she couldn't fly, at least above three feet.

"Tony, I'm flying dead stick." Rhodey said. Clara continued to run past all of her other friends, who stopped their fighting and watched in horror as one of their own plummeted to what could be his death. Cold wind hit Clara's face like a brick as tears continued to ran down her pale cheeks.

"Rhodes!"  Tony yelled in fear. Clara stopped in her tracks as she watched the grey iron suit smack to the ground and create a dent in the earth's surface. She fell to her knees as she watched Sam land across from Tony, who checked the vitals of his friend. She bowed her head, clenching her eyes shut as she tried to hold in her sobs. She looked up to the sky with blurry eyes as she saw the jet getting away before she looked down to meet Tony's gaze.

***

Clara chewed on the inside of her cheek as she watched her friend go though a CT-scanner. Tony stood beside her, and she noticed his black eye seemed to be getting worse. "How did this happen?" Tony asked Vision.

"I became distracted," Vision answered from beside Tony.

"I didn't think that was possible." Tony said and Clara furrowed her eyebrows as they thought the same thing.

"Neither did I," Vision said.

"We need to talk." She glanced over to see Tony as he nodded his heard towards the doorway. Clara followed Tony onto the balcony on the side of the compound. They stood in silence, Clara's hands resting on the cool metal railing,

"The doctors say he shattered L4 through S1. Extreme laceration in the spinal cord. Probably looking at some form of paralysis." Tony said, breaking their silence.

"That's not why you wanted to talk," Clara replied sternly. Tony wouldn't look at her, he only stared in front of them.

"God I hate when you know what I'm thinking," Tony started, but Clara cut him off almost immediately.

"Steve's not gonna stop." Clara said, cutting off Tony immediately after so he couldn't say anything else. She turns to face him and he finally looked at her. "If you don't either, Rhodey's gonna be the best case scenario."

"You let them go, Clar." While Clara stared daggers at Tony. He couldn't get over how his sister, who was supposed to stick with him, betrayed him and his beliefs.

"I had to." She replied, looking down at the railing rather than her brother.

"And why's that?" Tony asked, leaning on the rail to look at his sister as she was the one now trying to avoid eye contact.

"You let your own ego stand in the way of a bigger issue at hand. You wouldn't listen when Steve told you about the super soldiers and now the best people to have defending the world are all locked up," Clara defended.

Though she just insulted him, Tony didn't seem to care. He was pressing her for for something else. "Really? Is that the only reason?"

"Why ask if you already know the answer." She said quietly. She looked back up at him to meet his brown eyes. They had once been comforting to her, something that made her feel safe knowing her brother would protect her. Now, all she could see was judgement.

"You can't win wars with love Clara, that's not how it works. You can't just turn your back on your team!" Tony raised his voice slightly as he glared at her.