AMERICA'S POV
"It's cold," I mutter as we march off of the Quinjet into a mini blizzard. Snowy winds whip my hair around and rattles the door to our entrance.
"He can't have been here more than a few hours," Steve thinks out loud.
Bucky shrugs. "Long enough to wake them up."
Our footsteps echo down dark hallways as we ride down a caged elevator. No one speaks a word. I swallow as I glance around, looking for anything I recognize. It's all familiar, but nothing jumps out at me.
A loud thud startles us all. I grip my dagger and duck behind Steve's shield as Bucky raises his gun.
"You ready?" Steve whispers.
"Yeah," Bucky and I whisper back in unison. Not again.
The metal set of double doors screeches as someone forces them open, someone I didn't expect to see.
Tony.
He walks toward us casually, retracting the helmet as he does. "You seem a little defensive," he comments.
Steve doesn't let the shield down, but he does approach Tony. "It's been a long day."
"At ease, Soldier. I'm not currently after you," Tony calls out to Bucky. "And you. Put the knife down, it's not getting through the suit anyway."
"Then what are you doing here?" Steve asks sharply.
"Could be your story's not so crazy. Maybe." What? He believes us? "Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself."
"Sounds like a lot of paperwork," I sneer, not ready to forgive him for all he's done to us. To me.
"Mer," Steve rebukes before addressing Tony again. "It's good to see you."
"You too, Cap. Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me. There's a truce here. You can drop it." I nod to Bucky, and he lowers the gun.
The four of us walk together now as quietly as we can, glancing down hallways and starting at any moving shadows.
"I got heat signatures," Tony mumbles.
"How many?" Steve asks.
"Uh, one."
We enter a large chamber cloaked in darkness. I grip the knife tightly as dim lights come up. On the outside of the wall are capsules. My stomach turns as I realize that the hazy yellow mist hides people. The soldiers. We were too late. I put my fingers to the glass, turning to Steve in shock.
"If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep. Did you really think I wanted more of you?" A vaguely familiar voice says over speakers.
"What?" Bucky mutters under his breath, holding the gun up again.
"I'm grateful to them, though. They brought you here." Lights come up on the control room, revealing a man I don't think I've ever seen before. Steve hurls the shield at the glass, but the strongest metal in the world doesn't even put a dent in it. "Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets."
"I'm betting I could beat that," Tony snaps.
"Oh, I'm sure you could, Mr. Stark. Given time. But then you'd never know why you came."
Steve approaches the glass and says, "You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?"
"I thought about nothing else for over a year," the man replies quietly. It's unnerving. "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."
"You're Sokovian," I say. "So am I. Is that what this is about?"
"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell. No. I'm here because I made a promise." He shakes his head as his gaze lands on me. "You weren't in my original plan, but I must say, it is nice to have you here, Night Wind."
"It was you." My voice wavers, and I take a step back. He has my trigger words. That realization is one of the most chilling and terrifying ones I've come to in a long time. That even though Hydra is gone, they're still out there. "You're the one who turned me back."
He nods. "You were a very nice diversion."
"You lost someone," Steve says.
"I lost everyone. And so will you." A surveillance tape plays on a monitor. I read the date in the corner: December 16, 1991. "An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within? That's dead... forever."
"I know that road," Tony says, voice uncharacteristically sharp. "What is this?"
We all walk toward the screen to view a video I never wanted to see. I watch as Bucky brutally kills Howard Stark, and shut my eyes right before he chokes the life out of Maria. After a few seconds, I open my eyes to make sure it's over.
"Tony," I say quietly, my eyes still transfixed on the screen in horror. "Tony, I-"
"Did you know?" His growl is low and full of pain. Grief-filled tears fill his eyes. "Did either of you know?"
"No," I whisper, shaking my head rapidly. "No."
"I didn't know it was him." My head whips to Steve.
"What?" I whisper hollowly at my husband, who only shakes his head at me. He keeps his focus on Tony, who glares.
"Did you know?"
"Yes."
Tony backs away, betrayal in his eyes. Within two seconds, his Iron Man helmet reforms and he punches Steve, who slams against the floor. Bucky immediately tries to shoot, but in one swift move, Tony deflects the blast and disarms him. I aim a kick at his reactor, knowing my knife is indeed completely useless, but he grabs me by the throat and throws me against the wall.
When I regain consciousness, everything is fuzzy. Concussions for the win. I squint to see Steve and Tony disappear on upper levels. Someone pulls at me.
"Come on, we need to go," Bucky mutters, getting me on my feet. We work our way up to find Steve and Tony engaged in an intense battle.
"Tony, this isn't going to change what happened!" Steve yells.
"I don't care. He killed my mom."
"Tony!" I screech, trying to get him to stop. He completely ignores me, firing a blast at Bucky, who dodges. The blast hits my hand. It fills with searing pain, pain unlike anything I've ever felt before, including all of the times I've been shot. An agonized yell escapes my lips. Steve glances at me for a split second, a long enough second for Tony to shove him over. I dash to the side and wrap my hand in a scrap of my jacket, refusing to look. They need help, but because of my head, I'm still unsteady on my feet. Steve tosses me the shield and I whip it at Tony with my good hand. It dents the armor, but he fires another blast. I duck and run, but he fires again, blasting me backward. The concrete floor scrapes my cheek, and when I try to push myself up with my hand, I groan and fall back down.
Everything moves in and out of focus. At some point, I see two Steves. I can barely hear their conversation over the howling wind and the ringing in my ears.
"He's my friend," Steve says weakly.
"So was I."
I know when to stand down, but that was never something Steve believed in. Bloodied, beaten, bruised, he staggers to his feet, hands held in fists. "I can do this all day."
I briefly lose consciousness again, only brought back to reality because someone won't stop shaking me. "Mer. Mer, come on. Open your eyes, please." I listen to Steve, who sighs in relief and pulls me to my feet. I almost trip instantly, overwhelmed with dizziness. I lean heavily on him. "We're leaving."
Tony lays on the ground, and Steve takes the shield as we move, Bucky on Steve's other side.
"That shield doesn't belong to you. You don't deserve it. My father made that shield!"
Through my blurry vision, I see a faint glimmer of tears in Steve's eyes. He drops the shield behind us without a word.
We stumble back to the Quinjet in silence.
It's been a few days, sorry. Bright side: Mer did not get shot this time.