EVELYN WATCHED Steve gently land the jet as she unbuckled her seatbelts. She stood shakily as Bucky stood next to her. He opened a rack full of guns, and Evelyn smiled fondly at Natasha's name on them. Bucky handed her one with a slight smile. She nodded thankfully at him as Steve began to open the hatch.
As they waited for the ramp to open fully, Steve glanced over at Bucky with a fond smile. "You remember that time we had to ride back from Rockaway Beach in the back of that freezer truck?"
Bucky glanced over at him with a grin moving onto his face. "Was that the time we used our train money to buy hot dogs?"
"You blew three bucks trying to win that stuffed bear for a redhead," Steve told him. Evelyn smiled slightly at how Steve and Bucky were interacting. It felt like before. She felt Bucky grab her hand.
Bucky nodded. "What was her name again?"
"Dolores. You called her Dot."
Evelyn snorted a laugh. "She's gotta be a hundred years old right now," Evelyn admitted to the pair. Steve nudged her with a smirk on his face.
"So are we," he replied cheekily as she laughed and jumped from the jet. Steve placed a hand on Bucky's shoulder. "Let's end this."
Bucky nodded with a small smile toward his best friend.
They jumped off to follow Evelyn. She had already made it to the secret entrance that was set between rocks. She turned, noticing the pain in Bucky's eyes for having to be back there. She glanced at Steve to see he had placed his helmet on.
She gestured to the open door. "He can't have been here more than a few hours," she told them.
Bucky clutched his gun tighter. "Long enough to wake them up."
Evelyn had her helmet direct a light so that they could see. They walked forward through the bunker, and she almost could picture Bucky there—fighting to stay alive. She hated that he was alone all of those years.
They quickly found an elevator, and Bucky nodded for them to go inside. The elevator worked as it began to bring them lower into the bunker. It stopped suddenly, and the doors opened menacingly. Steve nodded to Bucky, which he pulled up the heavy cage door and pointed his gun. They walked through the hallway, about to go up some stairs when they heard a loud thud. The three supersoldiers turned, preparing to fight.
"You ready?" Steve asked them quietly.
"Yeah," Bucky replied while Evelyn stayed quiet.
Evelyn watched the double doors ahead of them begin to peel open forcefully. Evelyn's hands shook as she prepared to fire, and then, she saw the familiar mask of Iron Man. Steve watched as Evelyn and Bucky kept their guns raised. Tony walked forward, opening his helmet to stare at them.
"You seem a little defensive," Tony said to them with a slight teasing tone.
Bucky kept his gun pointed while Evelyn lowered hers slowly. Steve walked forward to meet Tony halfway.
"It's been a long day," Steve told him in response.
Tony glanced at Bucky with a roll of his eyes. "At ease, Soldier. I'm not currently after you."
Evelyn kept her gaze hardened with the grip on her gun not faltering despite it being lowered. "Then why are you here?" she asked him.
Tony shrugged. "Could be your story's not so crazy. Maybe," he said before glancing at Steve. "Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself."
Steve smirked. "Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork." Steve lowered his shield as Evelyn let her tense grip on the gun release as a small smile went to her lips. "It's good to see you, Tony."
"You too, Cap. Auntie," he said with a smirk before he looked at Bucky again. "Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me. There's a truce here. You can drop..." Evelyn turned and lowered the tip of Bucky's gun. "Thanks, Lynnie. Why don't we take this inside?"
Bucky watched Evelyn's shoulders tense at the nickname. He remembered it well.
Tony let his helmet slide back into place as he decided to lead the way. Bucky said nothing as he stayed close to Evelyn with their guns ready at any moment. When Tony got to the next set of double doors, he hummed a bit apprehensively.
"I got heat signatures," he said after a moment when they managed to get the doors open. Evelyn's eyes began to focus in the darkroom.
Steve tightened his grip on his shield. "How many?"
Evelyn watched Tony's head move slightly as he said, "Uh, one."
At that, the lights in the large chamber came on. Evelyn's eyes widened at the large capsules with humans inside of them. She became even more confused at the sight of the bullet right through each of their heads. Bucky tensed up as a speaker crackled and a voice began to speak. The psychiatrist.
"If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep," Zemo spoke. Evelyn finally saw the man sitting far away behind glass as he stared at the four of them. "Did you really think I wanted more of you?"
Bucky stepped forward, seeing the people he had trained with once before—all dead. "What the hell?" he murmured to Evelyn and Steve. Evelyn bit her lip as she tried to think of what Zemo's plan of action was.
"I'm grateful to them, though. They brought you here." Steve finally noticed Zemo in the control room. He sent his shield flying, but it only reflected off of the glass. "Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets."
Tony lifted his hand. "I'm betting I could beat that."
Zemo seemed to smile. "Oh, I'm sure you could, Mr. Stark. Given time. But then you'd never know why you came."
"You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?" Evelyn yelled, eyes flaring with anger.
"I thought about nothing else for over a year, Mrs. Barnes," he said, and Evelyn did not like how her name came from his mouth. Steve walked forward angrily, ready to fight as always. Zemo spoke to him, eyes staring at each other. "I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here, I just realized, there's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw," he said with a mocking chuckle escaping his lips.
"You're Sokovian. Is that what this is about?" Steve asked him.
Zemo shook his head. "Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell. No. I'm here because I made a promise."
"You lost someone?"
Zemo paused before saying, "I lost everyone. And so will you." Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows as a small television screen lit up. Steve walked back over just as the video managed to clear up. It was of a street—empty. Evelyn felt Bucky tense next to her. "An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within? That's dead... forever."
Evelyn stepped up when she read the date. December 16, 1991. She had memorized that date.
Tony breathed out shakily as he murmured, "I know that road." He glanced at Zemo and yelled, "What is this?"
Steve glanced at Bucky to see a hard look in his eye as Evelyn watched the video.
She watched as a man on a motorbike forced the car off the road to crash into the nearest tree. She saw the metal arm reflected in the moonlight. Her breath caught in her throat as she watched the Winter Soldier turn and park right next to the car. Evelyn's hands began to shake as she watched the recognizable face of Howard Stark fall out of the car onto the ground.
Evelyn knew what was coming before it happened. She could hear Arnim Zola's words as he showed the newspaper clipping of Howard and Maria Stark's accident. Accidents will happen, he had said. She just did not know Bucky was the one to do it.
"Help my wife. Please. Help," Howard's voice pleaded. Evelyn felt a tear leave her eye.
The Winter Soldier grabbed Howard by his hair, hoisting him up to stare at him. Howard's eyes widened. "Bucky? James—" Howard began, recognition flowing through his eyes at the man he had known so long ago.
"Howard!" Maria yelled.
Evelyn watched the soldier punch Howard repeatedly in the face until he was dead. There was no denying the impact of Bucky's metal fist when he was like that. Evelyn watched Tony turn his head slowly to glare at Bucky.
"Howard!" Maria yelled again, and Evelyn did not realize she had dropped the gun to her feet at the sight of her brother lying dead. The soldier put him back into the car with his face against the wheel as he slowly made his way around the car. Without any remorse, he strangled Maria until she was dead as well. The soldier quickly walked around the car and lifted his handgun to shoot the surveillance camera—ending the video abruptly.