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

46

~46~

Bruce admired the facility, having not seen it since it was built. As Clara walked through the portal, her suit began to deactivate and return to her bracelet. Bruce noticed how far Clara had gotten before he quickly caught up beside her. Upon entering, Bruce stared in awe, having been absent for it's building. He took notice of how dead it seemed. "So, everyone's gone?" He asked, fiddling with his hands and he followed Clara down a hallway.

"Not everyone," Clara answered, walking into the living area to see Rhodey watching the news. "I'm glad I didn't drink that third glass of champagne last night," Clara said, gaining Rhodey's attention. "Or else I'd be paying for it." Rhodey gave her a smile before it quickly faded away.

"Where's Tony?" He asked. Clara pointed to the footage of the ship playing on the news. "Why?"

"He's Tony," the brunette sighed. Rhodey gave her a sorry look before pulling her into a hug.

"It's good to see you in one piece."

"Brought an old friend," Clara smiled as she pulled away from Rhodey to reveal Bruce. Rhodey gave Clara a look of confusion as Bruce gave an awkward wave to his old friend. "If you thought New York and Sokovia were crazy..."

"You don't mean..."

"A big angry Titan decided he wanted to add to his jewelry collection," Clara answered. "A wizard told me that before two aliens attacked the city." Rhodey looked at Bruce like what she had just said was crazy, but Bruce nodded. "I know I sound crazy, but we need to find Vision."

"I'd love to help, but Vision hasn't shown back up. He turned his tracker off."

"Damn," Clara huffed.

"I'd love to catch up, but Secretary Ross has ordered a conference." A beeping sound went off in the office and Clara politely excused herself due to her hatred for Ross.

"I'll be in the library." Clara nodded her head towards the library. She waved a 'goodbye' to Rhodey and went into the small little library she insisted Tony to put in. She didn't realize Bruce followed her until he closed the door.

Clara sat down and Bruce immediately sat across from her. "You said the Avengers broke up. Now what exactly does that mean."

"It's a long story Bruce." Clara sighed. Bruce looked down at his watch as if he knew something she didn't.

"Well we have a little time." He said, sitting in the chair across from her. Clara took a deep breath and began rambling about the incident that occurred two years ago. "So was it so hard to work it all out?" Bruce asked after she explained the Accords to him.

"You weren't there Bruce. The government wanted to have full control over the Avengers. The team was split and instead of working it like adults, they...I mean we..." Clara caught herself before starting again. "We turned into each other's enemies. We fought each other like we were our biggest threat when in reality there was someone trying to tear us apart."

"What about Nat? Wanda? Steve? Why isn't Steve here?" Bruce asked, raising his eyebrows in suspicion. "Is he..."

"Technically Steve Rogers is a fugitive." Clara answered, the word that described him seemed to leave a sour taste in her mouth. Never in a million years would Captain America be a fugitive, but that's how society saw him now. "They're all fugitives."

"What happened...I mean I know you two..." Bruce dragged on is sentence, not really finishing it before Clara answered again.

"Steve ended up choosing his friend over us." She looked down at her hands as she continued, "looking back at it now I can't say I blame Steve. Bucky was his only connection to his old life. But he chose his old life over his new one with us." Clara had come to understand why Steve had hidden the truth from her and Tony. She knew that he was only trying to spare their feelings. What hurt her was how he hid it for so long. She could have been with him till her dying breath and he still would have never told her.