2016 ― Germany
"I lost everyone, and so will you."
When Steve, Katherine and Bucky approached the entrance of the underground bunker where the other Winter Soldiers were kept, the door was already cracked open. Indicating that the fake doctor was already there. Three against one, should be easy? Katherine was thinking, but they don't know much about this guy, and they don't know what he's capable of.
"He can't have been here more than a few hours." Steve said.
"Long enough to wake them up." Bucky said as the trio made their way inside. Weapons ready. When they got off the elevator, Bucky led with his gun pointed, while Katherine also decided she was going to use her guns in this situation.
The three cautiously made their way through the hall, weapons drawn and ready to use. Bucky leading, Katherine in the middle, Steve behind her. They all heard a loud thud when they were climbing up a short set of stairs and they all turned around, Steve holding his shield up to protect himself and his wife just in case, and Bucky up top, ready to shoot whoever came out.
"You ready?" Steve asked Bucky.
"Yeah." He said, as they heard the door creak. The door opened and Katherine immediately saw Tony's Iron Man suit.
"Wait, don't shoot." She said, peeking her head out from behind Steve. Tony let his mask fall so he could show his face, and Steve stood upright.
"You two seem a little defensive." Tony said, as he was approaching them. Katherine and Steve were also approaching him.
"It's been a long day. . where are our kids, T?" Katherine asked. Tony looked at her, but didn't answer. He didn't know how to tell them that Ross had put Clint, Sam, Scott, Wanda, and their kids in what looked like jail cells for supermax criminals. "Where are our kids, Anthony?" She repeated.
"They're fine. They're with Clint, Sam, and Wanda." He said.
"You're not telling me the whole truth. Where are they?" She asked.
"Ross locked them up." He said, and then he looked back at Bucky. "At ease, soldier. I'm not currently after you." Tony said.
"Then why are you here? And did Ross hurt our kids?" Steve asked.
"No, no one hurt them. . I would never let that happen, you both know that. As for why I'm here, it could be because your story's not so crazy. Maybe. Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself." Tony said.
"Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork." Steve said, which made Tony laugh a little. "It's good to see you, Tony." He said, and Tony nodded his head.
"You too, Cap." He said, and then he looked at Katherine. "You knew it wasn't personal, right?" He asked, and Katherine walked over to him, and kissed him on the cheek.
"You got me for life, Tony. Nothing you could do would ever change that." She said, before walking back over to her husband, and then Tony looked back up at Bucky who still had the gun pointed to him.
"Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me. There's a truce here. You can drop. .-" Katherine cut Tony off and looked back at Bucky.
". .-It's okay, Buck." She said, gesturing for him to lower his gun, which he nodded his head and did so. Now the four of them carefully and quietly made their way through the facility, trying to find the fake doctor and what they might be doing, but they also had no idea.
T'Challa had followed them there.
"We got heat signatures." Tony said.
"How many?" Katherine asked.
"Uh, one." Tony said. When they walked inside of the room, chambers lit up, and it looked like there were still bodies inside of them, but whether they were live bodies is what they didn't know. Then they heard a voice through the PA speaker.
"If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep. Did you really think I wanted more of you?" Zemo's voice rang out.
"What the hell?" Bucky asked.
"I'm grateful to them, though. They brought you here." He said, then a small space lit up, where they saw Zemo sitting. Steve tried to throw his shield to break the glass, but it came bouncing right back to him. "Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets."
"I'm betting I could beat that." Tony said.
"Oh, I'm sure you could. Mr. Stark. Given time. But then you'd never know why you came." He said.
"You killed innocent people in Vienna, just to bring us here?" Katherine asked, as the three of them were still approaching the place he was sitting in. Steve stepped up front as Zemo looked directly at him as he spoke.
"I've thought about nothing else for over a year. 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." He said.
"Already knew that." Katherine said.
"How nice to find a flaw." Zemo said.
"Depends on how you look at it." Katherine said, and Tony nudged her arm. They both fed off of sarcastic humor at the wrong moments.
"You're Sokovian. Is that what this is about?" Steve asked.
"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell. No." Zemo said, shaking his head. "I'm here because I made a promise." He said.
"You lost someone?" Steve asked.
"I lost everyone, and so will you." He said, and then he turned on a TV that was outside where they were. Steve and Katherine peered at the TV curiously before Tony and Bucky also walked over to see what was going to be displayed. "An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within? That's dead. Forever." Zemo said.
Bucky kept his gun pointed on him moving away from the screen, while Tony, Steve and Katherine all watched. "I know that road." Tony said, and then he and Katherine both looked down at the tape, and saw the numbers 16, and 1991, and it didn't take long for Katherine to piece it together as Tony looked at Zemo.
"What is this?" He asked.
They both looked back on the screen right as the car crashed. A motorcycle came back and someone got off of it and went to the trunk. Howard was seen falling out of his car, and Bucky picked him up by his hair. "Sergeant Barnes?" Katherine flinched hearing Howard's voice again. It had been so long since she had.
"Howard!" Maria's voice rang.
Katherine had tears in her eyes as she watched as Bucky repeatedly punched Howard in his face until he fell dead while Maria yelled out for him. She covered her mouth and turned around, letting the tears fall from her eyes. Steve laid a hand down on his wife's shoulder, but she shook it off. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Steve sighed as he looked at her.
"Kath. ." He whispered. Katherine shook him off, as more tears started to fall. She flinched when she heard Maria gasp for air, figuring that Bucky choked her to kill her, but she couldn't watch it happen. When she wiped her eyes and turned around, she saw Tony about to lunge for Bucky but she grabbed him.
"T. . wait." She said.
"Katherine, I'm only going to ask you this once. . did you know?" He asked her. Katherine took a deep breath, the tears coming back to her eyes.
"No... I didn't know..." Katherine whispered and then she turned to Steve. "Did you know?" She asked and Steve remained quiet. "Steven Grant Rogers, answer me... did you know?" She repeated.
"Yes..." Steve said.
Her heart broke as a loud gasp emitted from her lips. She knew Bucky wasn't in his right mind, but it doesn't change the fact that she watched him on tape, murder her best friend. Howard, who saved her from her father, saved her from herself. He was there for her through everything. And after decades of digging.
She finally knew the truth about his death.
Then she looked over at her godson whose features had fallen, she could see the hurt and pain all over his face, which hurt her even more to see. Tony had the same heartbreak in his eyes as he looked back at Katherine.
"You drove yourself crazy, for nearly 20 years trying to find out what happened..." Tony said and then he turned to Steve. "And you found out and didn't tell her? Or me?" Tony asked.
"I didn't know how to tell either of you... I didn't know how to handle it." Steve said.
"You might not know how to handle it, but I do." Tony said. Katherine frowned, not knowing what he was about to do, but Tony let his mask back on his face and in a split second.
He had punched Steve in the face.
―
Okay, it's really about to go down now. Whose side do you think Katherine is going to fight on? Her husband's, or her godson's?
Don't forget to vote/comment.
xoxo.