Bucky paces relentlessly across the floor of the Quinjet.
His mind won't put him to ease, his body is locked tight, taut, tension all across his shoulders and back.
"I shouldn't have left--back then, now, ever. I'm not going to leave again."
He'd promised her.
Laying on the cold wooden floor of his bare apartment where his arms had wrapped around her, his fingers had stroked her cheeks, wiping the tears that fell.
"Spokoystviye. Spokoystviye." He repeats, shutting his eyes and letting his worries melt away into something deeper, something colder.
Calm. Calm.
His training is demanding him to go back.
Go back and get his Dark Witch. Go back because he left her behind when he shouldn't.
"Bucky?"
Bucky raises his head at the mention of his name, realizing that Steve was glancing at him from where he sits, hands on the control wheel. "You alright?"
The former Winter Soldier could only look away, unsure how to respond only that there was a growing hole in his chest.
"I know you're anxious," Steve began as he swipe at a couple of controls and set it on autopilot. He's scratching the back of his neck as he stands, facing Bucky whose pacing hasn't stopped.
"What's gonna happen to your friends?" Bucky asked instead, dark eyes glistening with remorse.
Steve stares ahead. Bucky can see the weight of the burden pulling him in from the way his frown deepens.
"Whatever it is... I'll deal with it."
Bucky frowns, unsatisfied with the vague answer.
"I moya ved'ma?" He asked out loud before blinking at once.
And my Witch?
Steve nods in understanding waiting for Bucky to lapse at his own pace. He'd spoken Russian again.
It's tough to find the words, to form them, and to explain the exact emotions he currently felt. Bucky takes a couple of moments to make sure his next words wouldn't come out in a different language, but when he speaks, it's simple, it's direct. It's a name.
"Lorelie?" He repeats himself with a sigh.
The name causes Steve to flinch. The Super Soldier doesn't even meet Bucky's eyes.
What could Steve say? What could either man say?
Bucky remembers the way she stood in their way, shouting at them, at him, to just run, leave her, because it didn't matter if they stopped the fake doctor. She'd risked her own life, her own freedom, and her dignity, if only to save everyone else.
What did he do in return?
Nothing.
He left her.
Bucky knew he was no better than Steve, no better than everyone else in this divided team, because when Lorelie looked at him with those eyes, he'd simply ignored it, choosing instead to do what he thought was right, but what is right in this situation?
Nothing was ever black and white.
Actions have consequences. Choices have ends. Decisions have conclusions.
No one is ever right or wrong.
Just like Steve when he allowed her heart to break open, to shatter like a hammer to glass. Just like himself, when he chose to follow the Super Soldier.
Confusion, frustration, utter helplessness.
These emotions seem to swirl into Bucky's throat and the hole in his chest deepened, caving in like sand.
She would have never been able to return home if he allowed her to risk her freedom for him. She would've been cast aside, treated like a rabid animal, and locked up somewhere with no sunlight.
That's why he wanted to stop the Doctor. That's why he left her behind.
He was doing this for her.
Yet...
"For once in your life Soldat, be selfish, be cruel, just run, leave me behind, and get the hell out of here!"
"Did we make a mistake Steve?" Bucky asked softly, needing to see from his own eyes if his thoughts were true.
Steve doesn't respond. He looked like he wanted to, but after several moments and nothing came, he simply went back to the controls, sat down, and remain silent.
Bucky watches the back of Steve's head from where he stands, metal arm clenching. His anger is palpable, so much so that he felt it take over him, sinking deep into his bones like lead.
A part of him wonders why he's so angry, why he's so torn at Steve's silence until he remembers that despite the connection Bucky shared with his Dark Witch, Steve also held a place in Lorelie's heart.
And that... that infuriates him.
"Steve."
It was only a name.
Yet the tone that comes out of Bucky isn't something to be ignored.
Steve straightened in his seat at that. Bucky could see his fists clench around the controls.
The former Winter Soldier steps forward, his presence ever looming.
He needed to know.
He needed Steve to give him a reason.
That his Dark Witch didn't suffer for nothing, that all this, the hunt for the fake Doctor, had meaning, had a point, had an end goal.
"Bucky," It was a quiet sigh. Steve glances at Bucky with the corner of his gaze, mouth turned down. "Don't."
Don't ask questions, don't do anything, we've come this far, there's no point going back.
Maybe Steve was mourning in his own way, maybe his silence is a way for him to think, or maybe, he was just too damn scared to admit all the wrongs he's done.
Different people react differently, right?
The air turned frigid and cold as both men say nothing.
Bucky could feel the rage building, he could feel the Winter Soldier surfacing, a person that was him but not him at the same time.
No. This wasn't enough. This wasn't... what he wanted.
Steve had to give him a reason, it's why he chose to follow him in the first place.
But standing there now, in the large Quinjet Bucky felt as though dozens of eyes were on him, reflecting back the choices he made that led him here.
Because at the end of the day, it was his choice. His choice to leave her.
His choice.
Silence passed between them, neither one of them saying anything for fear of hurting one other. Bucky finally released his fists, letting the turmoil run him over because there was no point holding it back.
"She was right." He says. "You should've let me go."
That got a reaction. Steve whipped around to face him, glaring motionlessly. "I did what I had to."
"She tried to stop you, Steve," Bucky sighs, sounding incredibly tired. "Somewhere along the line, you must've realized she isn't doing this for herself."
Because from the beginning to the end, Steve's fear of Lorelie choosing against him had ruled his thoughts and made him angry, made him fearful, and made him a completely different person.
But the person standing between Tony's team and himself today proved just how wrong he had been.
She wasn't against him, neither was she against her brother.
She'd just been someone who saw things the way they should, and that was the fact that they were all family to her and she'd do anything to fight for them, even if that meant standing against them.
"I don't know if I'm worth all this, Steve." Bucky lets his head fall and pain grits his heart at the thought of how much his Ved'ma must be suffering now.
Steve stiffened at the broken words Bucky mentioned and remain stoned-faced.
"If there's one thing I know about Lorelie she would disagree with you," He tells him. "What you did all those years... It wasn't you. You didn't have a choice."
Bucky looks away, his tone lost. "I know. But I did it."
His mind became haunted by the memory that's been playing on non-stop repeat every time he looks at Lorelie.
December 16th, 1991.
The root of all their problems.
"Did we make a mistake Steve?"
Bucky's words rang clear and Steve felt his emotions waver like a crackling building.
Yes... Yes, we did.
;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;
Tony felt like his whole world was slowly sinking.
Like he was on a ship with no lifeboats.
Like how he felt back in Sokovia when he saw the vision of everyone he loved, dead.
He approaches Vision who's been standing behind the glass, looking at an awake Rhodey as they scan him through the CT scanner.
"How did this happen?" He whispered, tone accusing.
Vision doesn't break eye contact with Rhodey. "I became distracted."
Tony stands beside him and crosses his arms over his chest.
Rhodey could've died today and it would've been their fault.
It would've been all his fault.
Said a nasty whisper at the back of his mind.
"I didn't think that was possible." Tony looks at Vision as the man-machine grimly shook his head, saddened by the very idea of it.
"Neither did I."
But that was the precipice, that was the grim reminder, that they were all human, not just superheroes, not just beings with powers, but humans who bled, think, and act in their own unique ways.
Tony walks away, leaving Vision behind in the waiting room. He needed peace and quiet right now, somewhere to stand or sit for a while so he could arrange his thoughts.
The fight had been a brutal one.
He had his left hand in a sling and his face was bruised up.
None of them escaped the battle without anything to remember.
The scars were probably more mental than it was physical.
Tony is about to go to his office when he spots a familiar redhead in the corner, looking at him with an expectant gaze. He sighs bitterly before following after her and stopping just beyond the arch balcony in the Avengers facility.
From up above he could see the staff that kept the Avengers facility up and running, all busy packing up and arranging. After what happened in Lagos, there was an influx of resignation letters.
When the battle at Leipzig Aiport occurred, his stocks promptly deteriorated but as of right now, he could hardly give a shit.
There were better things to look at. Better things to give a shit about.
Like Rhodey, like Steve and Bucky, like--
He stopped, cutting that train of thought immediately.
Natasha was still waiting for him to speak. He should just do one thing at a time right now, god knows he couldn't do anything else.
"The doctors say he shattered L4 through S1. Extreme laceration in the spinal cord." He stops and takes a deep breath, guilt eating his heart.
"Probably looking at some form of paralysis. It would've been worse. He could've died if Blue--" He cut himself off at the mention of his sister and looks away.
It hurt. It hurt like hell.
Natasha was still looking at him. She hadn't once looked away. The pressure of her gaze makes the back of his neck itch.
He knew she was reminiscing about what happened at the Airport. At how he'd left Lorelie for the police, practically handed her over to them on a silver platter.
The emotions he'd felt at that moment had been chaotic, destructive, and filled with absolute rage.
But it was just that moment. It was just that.
Yet it had already been too late.
She was taken away together with the others to be locked up.
Now, hours later, he starts to feel it.
The guilt.
Lorelie saved Rhodey, yet Tony let his anger get the best of him. She didn't fight back. She just... let them take her away.
With the way Natasha was looking at the Older Stark now, he knew she was probably fantasizing between boiling him alive or shooting him between the eyes.
"Steve's not gonna stop," Natasha tells Tony, straight on. He doesn't respond.
Natasha furrowed her brows in frustration at his silence but continues to speak regardless.
"If you don't either, Rhodey's gonna be the best-case scenario--"
"You let them go, Nat." Tony scoffed, not wanting to listen. His anger springs out from the depths of his chest, stunning Natasha who bit back a snarl.
"We played this wrong." Natasha retorted. "Riles was right. We should've listened to her before we did all this--"
"'We'?" Tony refused to acknowledge what Natasha said. "Boy, it must be hard to shake the whole double agent thing, huh? It sticks in the DNA."
Natasha glares at Tony, her green eyes sparkling with anger.
"Are you incapable of letting go of your ego for one goddamn second?" She demanded harshly, clenching her fingers.
Tony remained motionless as the Russian held back the urge to punch him in the face.
"This is where we all went wrong," She hissed. "This is why Lorelie's locked away."
Tony released a sharp exhale and looks at the Russian carefully, not wanting her to see the level of hurt she gave him.
"T'Challa told Ross what you did," He says this plainly and Natasha stared in disbelief, confused, then enraged. "So... they're coming for you."
Natasha uncrossed her fingers and looked at her friend, one last time. "I'm not the one that needs to watch their back."
Turning on her heel she leaves Tony behind and Tony could only watch as his last ally left him behind.
"You know I'll always be there for you right?"
Tony shook his head and rubbed his chest, feeling Blue's words hit him harder than expected.
He released a shaky breath and ran a hand through his hair, unable to stop the pain that he was feeling.
Who is at fault? Who is the person he should be blaming?
The frustration was clawing at him, the anger was mounting, and the guilt was unbearable.
It's her fault for not choosing. It's her fault for not saving Rhodey in time. No, no, it's not her fault, it's no one's fault, it was just an accident.
He hated himself for feeling this way.
It wasn't right.
The thoughts were overbearing, his mind working overtime to try and make sense, but it wasn't making sense, none of it was. Tony needed someone to blame, he needed something because the truth was he can't bear to think it could have been his fault all along.
Blues was the only family he had left and he was throwing that away.
She never did anything wrong.
Maybe the one wrong thing she's ever done was having a brother like him.
Tony released a pained sigh and bowed his head, clasping his temple with one hand.
He had promised to be there for her and he failed.
Instead, he just handed her over like she was nothing.
Nothing.
He made a mistake.
By god, did he make a mistake?
His wrist monitor started to beep loudly, jolting him from his reprieve. Annoyed, he pulled it up, tapping twice for the images.
A holographic image projected itself on his wrist, and a picture of a dead body in a bathtub appeared to greet him.
"What am I looking at FRIDAY?" He asked his AI, confused.
"Priority upload, from Berlin Police."
He stares at it more closely before an almost comical expression crossed his face.
"Fire up the Chopper."
He left the Avengers Facility and got on his chopper, allowing it to fly out in the stormy sea.
Tony made himself comfortable on the leather chairs as FRIDAY took control of the Chopper, flying it perfectly through the storm.
"The Task Force called for a psychiatrist as soon as Barnes was captured."
Tony watched the holographic images with interest on his monitor as FRIDAY continued talking.
"The UN dispatched Dr. Theo Broussard from Geneva within the hour. He was met by this man."
The video showed the supposed, Dr. Theo Broussard being approached by another male.
"Did you run facial recognition yet?" Tony asked out loud, thinking it over.
"What do I look like?" FRIDAY exasperatedly comments and Tony could almost picture her expression.
"Uh, I don't know. I've been picturing a redhead." It's something Natasha would say back to him and Tony grew more pained just thinking about her last look. He hurt everyone he ever cared about.
"You must be thinking of someone else."
Tony sighed. "Must be."
"The fake doctor is actually Colonel Helmut Zemo," Tony's heart plummets.
Then everything that's happened, the fight, the argument, the battle...
Steve had been right.
Now he felt like an idiot for not trusting either of his teammates.
Switching his fingers, he projects the images in front of him and saw Zemo with his team, holding onto an artillery rifle.
"Sokovian Intelligence. Zemo ran Echo Skorpion, a Sokovian covert kill squad."
Tony shifted in between the leather seats, holding onto the upper rail to get closer to the images of Zemo and his past missions.
"So, what happened to the real Broussard?"
FRIDAY switch out the images and returned back to the dead man Tony saw in the bathtub.
"He was found dead in a Berlin hotel room. Where police also found a wig and facial prosthesis approximating the appearance of one James Buchanan Barnes."
The man Lorelie and Steve tried their best to protect.
Tony bit his lip and his anger grew in outrage. He was an idiot. A complete an utter idiot. Now his sister and the rest of his teammates are suffering.
"Son of a bitch. Get this to Ross."
"Yes, Boss."
He settled in his seat and rubbed his eyes, a headache pondering in his mind as FRIDAY drove the Chopper closer to wherever the hell Ross's coordinates tell her to.
"Boss, I've archived some video files on the day Ms Stark escaped the facility, I think you may want to take a look."
He peers through his fingers and frowned upon seeing his sister, dressed up in uniform.
She probably stole it.
The footage switches out to her, going down the basement and heading to the weapons inspection area.
He pulls his fingers away and watches the footage in interest.
Lorelie was speaking to a man who was carefully inspecting a gun but he couldn't quite hear what they were speaking about.
"FRIDAY, turn up the volume."
The footage became clearer for him to listen to.
"But hey, since she came here I'm sure you had a chance to inspect her belongings right? Did she have any bombs that connect her to Vienna?"
Tony narrowed his gaze when Lorelie began to speak in third person, it was only then he realized that she was purposely, fishing for information.
Pretending to be interested when he knew for a fact she was looking for her belongings.
The man glances up at her in boredom before nodding.
"Yeah, I've inspected her gear."
He leaves his seat and falls out of view from the camera before returning with a briefcase. He sets it on the table and Tony leaned closer, his eyes scanning the case for anything of the sort.
Instead, only her suit, a couple of daggers, and a few attributes were left there.
That didn't catch his attention. It was the one purple liquid that did.
"FRIDAY, that vial, what is it?" He asked and FRIDAY began to scan over what Tony meant.
He's seen it before. It looked familiar.
Meanwhile, the footage was still playing.
"No explosives?"
"Yeah, but Secretary Ross wants me to plant a similar tech to the bombing of Vienna."
"Boss, it seems to have the same signature pattern as the one you created 8 months ago. When you were testing the Scepter."
The footage and FRIDAY's words came out almost at the same time and Tony's shock was visible.
Ross would've framed Lorelie if she didn't sign the Accords.
It didn't matter either way cause they would've never won.
FRIDAY's answer seems to bleed out of his mind, disappearing off its course.
His features darkened, deciding on the latter as he looks away from the images, his mind becoming blurry with murderous intentions. He clenched his fingers in anger at what the Government would've done to his sister.
"FRIDAY, full power." He growls.
He could feel the Chopper speeding up, fighting everything in its way against the storm that roared back.
~~@ @ @~~
A/N
Well, well, big brother Tony is on his way to own up to his mistakes.
Urgh, why couldn't he listen to FRIDAY, when she explained it?
Looks like it'll have to stay that way for a while.
Have you forgiven Tony yet? What about Steve? Will Lorelie forgive them?
We have a few more chapters and then after that...
The end.
Vote and comment!