The sky was dark, almost pitch black, as the helicopter carrying both Tony and Audelia flew through the storm. The ocean beneath them rocked with mammoth waves, sounds that could be heard from inside the chopper.
Tony was looking down at the information screens in front of him, both him and Audelia sitting on opposite sides of the helicopter, barely speaking a word to one another.
"Back during Barnes interrogation...did Nathan say that it wasn't Broussard interrogating him?"
"Yeah, he took one look at the screen and realized it," Deli cocked an eyebrow as she saw Tony mutter a 'shit' under his breath. "What is it?"
With a tap of the screen the image was enlarged, allowing Audelia to watch as FRIDAY spoke to the pair.
"The Task Force called for a psychiatrist as soon as Barnes was captured. The UN dispatched Dr. Theo Broussard from Geneva within the hour. He was met by this man,"
FRIDAY indicated that the man that actually interviewed Bucky was the man that intercepted the Doctor. Audelia sat up on the edge of her seat, inching toward the screen as she took in the information.
"Did you run facial recognition?" she questioned.
"The fake doctor is actually Colonel Helmut Zemo, Sokovian Intelligence. Zemo ran Echo Skorpion, a Sokovian covert kill squad,"
"What about the real Broussard?" Tony asked, ask the screen flickered to the new photo.
"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,"
"Son of a bitch," Tony muttered, running a hand down his face. "Get this is Ross, immediately."
The helicopter went silent once more as the screens went dark. Tony contemplated his next step for a moment before he moved to sit beside Audelia. Quietly, he took her hand in his, his fingers finding the ring immediately.
"I should've trusted you, and Steve. I'm sorry,"
"Save the apologies for later, we have a psychopath to stop,"
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The Raft was one of the United States most high tech and highly policed prisons, located in the middle of the ocean to ensure that no one would ever escape from it.
Tony and Audelia stepped off their helicopter, being met with Ross before them. Audelia helped Tony adjust the arm brace around his arm before turning to face Ross.
"So? You got the files? Let's reroute the satellites, start facial scanning for this Zemo guy," Tony spoke, only met with a blank stare.
"You seriously think I'm gonna listen to you after that fiasco in Leipzig? You're lucky you're not in one of these cells,"
"The people in those cells are still the Avengers, who were fighting to ensure that this man was brought down after you all let him slip through your security and through your fingers," Audelia countered, narrowing her eyes. "Not a single one of them should be locked up like an animal right now."
"I'd watch your tone before I throw you both in there with them,"
The sight that laid waiting inside the cells broke Audelia's heart. She was right, their team was caged up like animals. The sight of Wanda broke her heart as Audelia walked up to the glass kneeling before it.
Wanda looked up at the woman, her eyes dead and almost lifeless. Audelia placed her hand on the glass, mouthing the words 'I'm sorry' to the girl. She held a smile for just a nanosecond before she turned back to the wall emotionless.
"You gotta watch your back with this guy. There's a chance he's gonna break it,"
The comment from Clint had Deli flinching, and no doubt Tony as well. She got back to her feet, looking around at her team before joining Tony's side, sliding her arm through his as they stood in front of Sam's cell.
"How is Rhodes?" He asked from beyond the glass.
"They're flying him to Columbia Medical tomorrow, but he's alive," Audelia spoke softly.
"What do you need? They feed you?"
Sam scoffed at the question from Tony, walking up to the glass as he glared at the man.
"What, you're the good cop now?"
"I'm just a guy that needs to know where Steve Rogers went,"
"Well, you better go get a bad cop, because you're gonna have to go Mark Fuhrman on my ass to get information out of me,"
Tony fiddled with his watch for a second before looking back at Sam.
"Oh, I just knocked the 'A' out of their 'AV'. We got about 30 seconds before they realize it's not their equipment. Just look," Tony displayed the photo of the dead Dr Broussard from his watch to Sam. "Because that is the fellow who was supposed to interrogate Barnes. Clearly, I made a mistake. Sam, I was wrong."
"That's a first,"
Tony sighed as Sam stepped away, turning his back on the pair. Audelia slipped his arm off of Tony's, placing a hand on his shoulder as she stepped away from him and up to the glass.
"Sam," the man hesitated, before turning around to look at the woman. "If you can't trust Tony right now, then trust me. You know all I've wanted to do is help them, and right now Steve and Bucky need us, they are going to need our help. We don't know what this man is capable of, so please, just tell us where they went."
It wasn't even five minutes later that Audelia and Tony were walking out of the Raft control center and toward their helicopter, climbing into it. Deli took her seat as Tony climbed up onto it.
"Stark, Motter? Did he give you anything on Rogers?" Ross called out from behind the pair.
"Told me to go to hell. I'm going back to the compound instead, but you can call us anytime," Tony commented as he took a seat next to Deli.
"We'll put you on hold, we like watching the line blink," she shot back with a smirk, taking the high five from Tony.
The helicopter pulled back up into the air and into the storm, flying back toward the compound. Tony rested for a moment before ripping the brace off oh his arm and sitting back.
"If you would like to take a lesson away from all of this," Audelia began with a smirk. "It's that maybe you're not always right, and maybe I'm the one who is always right."
"One time doesn't mean you're always right, I still outweigh you there," Tony shot back as he looked over at her. As he looked at her, the weight of the situation falling away, he saw her in the same light he always had. His beautiful Audelia Motter, the love of his life, his forever. Through all of this, she was still here. "When this is all said and done, we're going to take a break from this life. Things...they're going to be different."
Deli's gaze faltered for a moment as Tony reached down to grab something from the floor. She prayed their life wasn't different, she prayed that she never had to tell him the secrets she held inside. But she had a feeling that she wasn't going to be so lucky.
"Ready to go save two hundred year old men's asses?"
A small smile lit up Audelia's face for a second as she looked at him.
"With you at my side? Always,"
The pair pressed the buttons next to their seats simultaneously as their suits rose up, enveloping their bodies slowly as they laid back in their seats, their suited up bodies being dropped from the helicopter and into the storm below. Their jet boots kicked on as they flew side by side toward Siberia, toward their family.
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I...I'm going to apologize now.