STEVE RUNS THROUGH THE UNDERPASS quickly, now dressed fully in his Captain America uniform. He jogs quickly over to where a private runway is hidden from the majority of sight, making sure that he isn't likely to be seen by others. He quickly makes his way over to a ground helicopter sitting on the tarmac, only for an electro-disabler to be hit at the chopper, frying the mechanisms. Steve skids to a halt, looking up at the two suits of armour hovering in the sky, descending to the ground. One red and gold - Iron Man - and the other silver and dark blue - War Machine.
"Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport." Tony chuckles, looking at Rhodey, his feet hitting the ground and the helmet retracting. "Don't you think that's weird?"
"Definitely weird." Rhodey replies jokingly.
"Hear me out, Tony." Steve argues. "That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this." He comes closer to Tony.
As he walks, suddenly T'Challa jumps down from a truck, the claws of his uniform extended. He looks over at Steve, his mask still fully on. "Captain." He greets, his voice even and formally, such a stark contrast from Tony's manner.
Steve nods his head slightly out of respect. "Your highness." He says before his eyes draw back to Tony in a harsh glare.
"Anyway, Ross gave me 36 hours to bring you in." Tony informs Steve, looking at the man in exacerbation. "That was 24 hours ago. Can you help a brother out?" He forces a smile.
"Your judgement is askew." Tony says harshly. "Your old war buddy killed innocent people yesterday."
Sasha goes to say something in response when Steve cuts her off with a hand. "And there are five more super soldiers just like him…" He points over to the girl. "…like her. I can't let the doctor find them first, Tony. I can't."
"Steve…" Natasha says softly. "…you know what's about to happen. Do you really wanna punch your way out of this one?" She tilts her head to the side.
"All right, I've run out of patience." He sighs before cupping his mouth. "Underoos!" He calls and suddenly a web shoots out and attaches to Steve's shield, flinging it away from him before another comes and binds his arms. Peter, dressed in a red and blue more updated Spider-Man suit flips down, the Shield held in his arm tightly. "Nice job, kid."
"Thanks." Peter answers. "Well, I could've stuck the landing a little better. It's just the new suit…" He trails off, his eyes widening. "Well, it's nothing, Mr. Stark. It's--it's perfect. Thank you." He rambles.
"Yeah, we don't really need to start a conversation." Tony cuts him off.
"Okay." Peter says quietly. "Cap… Captain. Big fan, I'm Spider-Man." He informs him, happiness in his voice, not really getting the whole context of staying quiet in such tense situations.
"Yeah, we'll talk about it later. Just…" Tony groans.
"Hey, everyone." Peter greets, his voice childish and gleeful.
"…Good job." Tony says softly before his eyes trace back over Steve.
"You've been busy." Steve remarks.
"And you've been a complete idiot." Tony retorts. "Dragging in Clint. 'Rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep…" He sighs, looking away for a moment. "I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart."
"You did that when you signed." Steve argues with him.
"Alright, We're done." Tony answers. "You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us. NOW! Because it's us! Or a squad of J-SOC guys…" He reminds him. "…with no compunction about being impolite." Steve looks aside, away from him." Steve looks away from him. "Come on."
"We found it. Their Quinjet's in hangar five, north runway." Sam says over the radio.
At this, Steve lifts up his bound hands and an arrow wizzes through the air, slicing the webbing in half before he lowers his arms back down. "Alright, Lang." Steve says.
Peter turns his head slightly, his spider-sense acting up, warning him of an invisible threat. "Hey, guys, something…" His eyes dart around and before he can finish speaking he's knocked back by a small figure.
"Whoa." Rhodey gasps, watching as the small figure enlarges, landing down onto the ground with the shield in his hand. "What– what the hell was that?"
Scott holds the shield in wonder before throwing it back over to Steve. "I believe this is yours, Captain America." He says.
Tony groans, gripping his hands. "Oh, great." He complains before looking around, his helmet scanning the surrounding areas for life-signs. "Alright, there's two on the parking deck. One of them's Maximoff, I'm gonna grab her." He looks back over at War Machine. "Rhodey, you want to take Cap?"
Rhodey looks away. "Got two in the terminal, Wilson and Barnes." He explains.
T'Challa glares. "Barnes is mine!" He says harshly before sprinting off. Yawa glances over at Tony, nodding to him slightly before running into the terminal, running past where Steve has stopped the king in his tracks.
Peter waits for a few minutes, slightly unsure. "Hey, Mr. Stark, what should I do?" He asks carefully.
"What we discussed." He answers firmly. "Keep your distance. Web 'em up."
"Okay, copy that!" Peter answers, leaving.
T'Challa looks at Steve in annoyance, gripping his clawed fists. "Move, Captain." He says in a firm voice. "I won't ask a second time."
— — — — —
Scott looks over at Natasha with a hint of guilt and shame on his face. His finger's brush over the buttons on the side of his index fingers, ready to go on the defence at a moment's notice. "Look, I really don't want to hurt you." He admits, his voice anxious and scared, never really having fought someone like her, with her type of training and skills.
Natasha looks barely unfazed by his worry. "I wouldn't stress about it." She remarks dryly before kicking him in the groin before he even had the chance to react to her attack or words. Scott quickly miniatures, running at Natasha and grabbing her arm, flipping her head over heels and onto her back with the increased strength. She quickly spots the fast moving form and zaps him, throwing him off of her wrist and into a nearby truck, a sizeable dent being left in the metal.
— — — — —
Bucky hears sounds coming from the glass wall, his movements slowing to a stop. He looks up at the glass, seeing Peter in his Spidey suit on the glass, his hands and toes freeing against it as he looks on in. He tilts his head slightly in confusion. "What the hell is that?" He asks, shock obvious in his voice.
Sam chuckles half-heartedly. "Everyone's got a gimmick now." He remarks.
Peter bends his arm and attaches a web to the outside frame of the window before building up momentum on the glass, seconds after he uses it to smash through the window, his legs hitting Sam square on the chest and sending him backwards into the wall. Bucky looks over at him and runs at him, swinging his arm at him with speed, only for Peter to catch it to the man's shock.
Bucky looks at him, his eyes confused, watching as Peter bends his arm slightly as if it was nothing, as if this was normal. "You have a metal arm?" Peter says in his childish manner, distracted as he examines it. "That is awesome, dude!" He keeps staring at it, getting caught off guard when Sam comes up and hits Peter, drawing the teen out of his daydream. "You have the right to remain silent!" Peter calls as Sam drags him upwards with his wings, Peter flails his arms, dropping off of him. He doesn't hesitate, quickly swinging after Sam as he flies.
— — — — —
Out by the tarmac, Iron Man hovers in the air and looks at Clint and Wanda, his face under the mask looking distraught at the scene before him, not wanting this to have happened, but not able to change what did. He raises the rockets coming from the shoulders of his armour, pointing them near the two of them and firing them, the rocket's coming out and exploding just beyond where the two of them are.
— — — — —
Meanwhile, Steve is fighting hand and hand with T'Challa, trying to find a way to get past them in order to get to the Quinjet and out of the airport. He focuses heavily on the king, blocking his movements and fighting back, but trying his hardest at the same time to not hurt the man.
As they fight, War Machine stands just off to the side, his targeting system locking onto Steve. "Sorry, Cap." He apologises softly, even though the other man won't be able to hear him. "This won't kill you but it ain't gonna tickle either."
— — — — —
Tony continues to hover over the grounds. "Wanda, I think you hurt Vision's feelings." He says, trying to reason with her, his hands up, both ready to defend but also ready to attack if needed. He knows it's needed, he doesn't want to think about it, doesn't want to hurt her.
"You locked me in my room." Wanda says softly, her voice menacingly calm and collected.
"Okay. First, that's an exaggeration." Tony argues, pointing a finger at her. "Second, I did it to protect you." He looks away, turning his head to look at the archer. "Hey, Clint." He says, his voice not so kind as it seems to be.
"Hey, man." Clint replies.
"Clearly, retirement doesn't suit you." Tony remarks dryly. "You got tired of shooting golf?"
Clint chuckles slightly. "Well, I played 18, I shot 18." He answers, readying his bow, pointing it up at him. "Just can't seem to miss." He fires an arrow.
Tony deflects the arrow with ease and smilies under the helmet. "First time for everything." He retorts, smug.
Clint shakes his head. "Made you look." Clint laughs as a car slams past Iron Man, causing him to waverer in the air slightly, the gyros recalibrating. Tony looks up as multiple cars come crashing down at him, coated in a red glow. He looks over at Wanda, her head tilted to the side, her eyes and hands glowing, burring Tony underneath the large pile of cars.
"Multiple contusions detected."
Tony groans, slowly starting to push the cars off of him. "Yeah, I detected that too." He says weakly, his face contorted in pain.
— — — — —
Peter swings through the rafters of the terminal, quickly gaining on Sam who is now flying backwards, firing at Peter to try and stop him, only for the teen to stop on a high beam, looking down at them. He glances at the other end of the terminal, watching as Yawa starts to run down the terminal but still a fair amount away from them. He looks back at the two near him and gulps, thinking to himself.
His mind is drawn out of the thought when Bucky throws something at him. "Oh god." Peter gasps before quickly grabbing it, and without even sparing a glance to find out what it is, he throws it back at Bucky. "Hey buddy, I think you lost this!" He jokes, his face smiling, a smile that quickly falls when Sam kicks him off of the beam. Peter instinctively fires a web which sends Sam crashing to the floor. Peter quickly webs Sam's hand to the railing and examines the wings of the falcon suit. "Those wings carbon fibre?" He asks, his geek mind coming into play.
Sam ignores his question, looking at the webbing in disgust. "Is this stuff coming out of you?" Sam says, confused.
Peter doesn't react, still examining the wings. "That would explain the rigidity-flexibility ratio, which, gotta say, that's awesome, man." Peter says, a big smile on his face underneath the mask.
"I don't know if you've been a fight before but there's usually not this much talking." Sam recommends to him, his voice softer.
"Alright, sorry, my bad." Peter apologies. He quickly swings down but Bucky jumps in front of Sam, taking the brunt of the hit, both of them quickly falling through the glass and down onto the floor below them. They go to get back up but Peter comes down and webs the two of them up. "Guys, look. I'd love to keep this up but I've only got one job here today and I gotta impress Mr. Stark, so, I'm really sorry." He admits, his hands up in defence. He goes to continue talking but Redwing comes through, dragging Peter through the glass wall with a screech.
Bucky looks over at Sam with a glare. "You couldn't have done that earlier?" Bucky says, annoyed.
"I hate you." Sam retorts, laying his head back as Yawa comes walking up to where Bucky is, ignoring Sam even being there on the ground.
She looks down at him with distraught and shame. "Why are you doing this?" She asks, shaking her head, looking at him in displeasure, her arms crossed over her chest as if she was talking down to an unruly child.
Bucky looks away from her. "Siberia." He says, his voice low enough that only she hears what he had said, her eyes widening in shock. "Signing will just stop us from stopping them. Remember what you promised." His voice is soft, even, his eyes gazing back over at her.
Yawa hesitates before bending down beside him and reaching out for the webbing, tearing it off. "You go." She whispers into his ear. "I'll try and get Tony on board." She backs away from him, the webbing now completely gone from his hands. She watches as he stands back up but he doesn't make another move to leave, standing there, eyeing his movements. "Go, before I change my mind."
— — — — —
Back outside, Steve retaliates against Rhodey, kicking with enough force that it sends him out of the air and barreling into T'Challa, the mace breaking as it happens. Rhodey looks at the broken weapon and groans. "Great." He grumbles.
"Hey, Cap, heads up!" Scott calls out, throwing a miniature truck towards Steve before showing him a small disk. "Throw it at this." He orders before throwing the disk. "Now!" Steve throws it at Rhodey and the truck enlarges the moment it makes contact with the small disk, crashing into Rhodey and exploding.
"Oh, come on!" Rhodey groans, getting back up.
"Oh, man." Scott groans, looking slightly ashamed as he watches the ball of fire rise. "I thought it was a water truck. Uh . . . sorry." He apologises sheepishly before quickly running off with Steve.
"Alright." Rhodey huffs, coming towards them. "Now, I'm pissed."
— — — — —
Natasha walks over and helps Tony back up. She looks at him with a slightly annoyed expression. "Is this part of the plan?" She asks, tilting her head.
"Well, my plan was to go easy on them." Tony admits, glancing around at how wrong his assumption was. "You wanna switch it up?"
— — — — —
Clint looks over at Wanda and points to the Quinjet hidden in the hanger. "There's our ride." He tells her, his voice quiet enough that most can't hear them.
"Come on!" Steve orders, swinging his arm around in a follow motion.
Steve and his team are running over a vast airport runway, heading towards where the Quinjet is being hidden in one of the closed off hangars. Suddenly, a fizzing stream of energy slices across the runway, causing them to stop in their tracks. Steve looks up and sees Vision hovering overhead, coming closer to the ground. "Captain Rogers." He commands with a steady voice. "I know you believe what you're doing is right. But for the collective good you must surrender now." His feet come down and touch the ground, walking a few feet and stopping, watching their movements but stopping them from trying to leave.
Sam glances over at Steve. "What do we do, Cap?" He asks hurryingly, glancing behind him and Vision.
Steve looks at the android, before turning around at the other people walking up to them, his eyes widening in betrayal at seeing Sasha standing by Tony and Natasha, standing between them in her old gear. He takes a thick swallow. "We fight." He said firmly.
Natasha scoffs slightly, walking towards where team cap are. "This is gonna end well." She says sarcastically. She comes closer, her face set firm in determination, an expression matched by nearly everyone else.
Peter's eyes widen underneath his mask. "They're not stopping." Peter says quickly.
Tony comes closer to them. "Neither are we." He says before breaking into a sprint, the others follow suit. These large groups start to fight each other mercilessly.
Steve throws his shield up, blocking a punch coming in from Tony. Clint knoks his bow and aims over at Vision, waiting a few seconds before firing it at the android but the arrow misses and strikes over at Tony instead. Rhodey looks over and flies after Falcon with speed. Bucky starts to trade blows with T'Challa, having to stay on his toes to dodge the blows coming from the king. Natasha throws Scott off of him, his barreling into where Yawa was running towards Yawa, the bullet from her gun veering off course and striking the wall instead of Wanda's leg. Wanda uses that moment of hesitation to start projecting cars towards Peter, causing the teen to swing through the air and start moving quicker than ever before, struggling at the large onslaught.
Clint and Natasha battle with batons, their movements more like a ballet than a battle. After a good amount of exchange, Clint manages to pin her down with his bow pressed against her neck. "We're still friends, right?" Natasha asks, a sly smirk on her face.
Clint chuckles. "Depends on how hard you hit me." He remarks, but he doesn't get a chance to say more because Natasha grabs his legs and spins him around, but just as she aims for his head, her foot glows red and she's thrown down by Wanda.
Wanda looks back over at Clint, noticing something. "You were pulling your punches." She realises and Clint can do nothing but nod sheepishly.
— — — — —
Bucky looks over at T'Challa, his hands gripping near the other man's throat. Bucky glares at him, but there's broken eyes behind the deathly focus. "I didn't kill your father." He argues, almost pleading with the man.
T'Challa makes a sound akin to a growl, running at him. "Then why did you run?" He sneers before swiftly pulling Bucky's arm off his neck without a care about the cracking it makes as he spins him around. He uses the momentum to kick Bucky in the back, sending him realling to the ground. In the assassin's moment of distraction, T'Challa runs at him and sprouts his claws, aiming for his neck. His movement is quickly stopped with a glow of red that sends him flying into a passenger gangway.
Yawa stands there unsure, looking between T'Challa and Bucky, confused on what she should risk, her freedom or the only man that ever protected her.
— — — — —
Peter swings past quickly, only to be sent tumbling when Steve cuts the web with the edge of his shield. Peter looks over at the shield, confused. "That thing does not obey the laws of physics at all." Peter chuckles, coming closer to Steve.
"Look kid." Steve sighs, raising his hands slightly, trying to talk some mis-guided sense into the teenager. "There's a lot going on here that you don't understand." His voice is soft, but underneath there is an obvious sternness to it.
"Mr. Stark said you'd say that." Peter answers, acting innocently. "Wow." He shakes his head slightly before raising his hands and firing out his webs, one sticking to Steve's shield, the other sticking to his shield. He jerks his arms back and Steve slides towards him, a gasp escaping from his lips at the sudden movement. Peter kicks him backwards, then rolls clear. "He also said to go for your legs." He chuckles. As Steve runs to get his shield which was laying on the ground, Peter webs his hands and pulls. Steve grits his teeth, spins and somersaults, propelling Peter through the air.
— — — — —
Sam ducks down, dodging a hit that was sent out by Iron Man. He shakes his head, steadying himself. "Clint, can you get him off me?" Sam asks quickly, his voice filled with desperation.
Clint stands by the ground, near the stair. He looks down at his arrow. "Buckled in?" He asks the small figure gripping onto the rivets on the edge of the arrow.
"Yeah." Scott answers, though his voice betrays his slight hesitancy with the answer. "No, I'm good. I'm good, Arrow Guy." He repeats, egging himself up as he looks straight forward. "Let's go. Let's go!" He says, holding on tighter when Clint shoots the arrow. The tip splits and iron man shoots at the shards, the distraction allowing for Scott to dive in between the plating of Iron Man's shoulder joints, making his way deep inside the mechanics of the suit.
— — — — —
Steve catches a web that Peter had fired and tugs it, pulling Peter towards him before holding his shield out and knocking him down with a thud. Peter recovers quickly and pulls himself up on top of a gangway. Steve looks up at him, his arms at his side. "Stark tell you anything else?" He sneers, almost mockingly.
"That you're wrong." Peter answers, completely serious. "You think you're right. That makes you dangerous." He swings down and Steve leaps to kick him backwards onto the gangway's leg.
"Guess he had a point." Steve chuckles halfheartedly before he throws his shield at the gangway, bashing into one of its legs, causing it to fall. In a split second, Peter lifts his arms up, the elbows bent slightly to spread the weight as he catches it. "You got heart, kid." Steve says, as if he hadn't just done that. "Where're you from?"
"Queens." Peter answers, straining ever so slightly.
Steve nods slightly. "Brooklyn." Steve replies before leaving Peter alone.
— — — — —
Clint fires the arrow towards where Tony hovers in the sky when his arm-lasers start to malfunction. "Friday?" Tony asks, confused.
"We have some weapon systems offline."
"They what?" Tony asks, sounding confused.
Inside, Scott is messing about with the wires inside the suit, removing some of them from their connection ports. "Oh, you're gonna have to take this into the shop."
Tony's head tilts to the side. "Who's speaking?" He asks.
"It's your conscience. We don't talk a lot these days."
Tony groans. "Friday?" He says softly.
"Deploying fire suppression system."
"Uh…" Scott's voice trails off and he turns his head, seeing a white mist coming towards him and he runs through the narrow banks of the components. "-oh. Oh boy. Whoa!"
The white mist exits from the suit, and a small figure - Scott - comes flying out of the small gap in the armour, going flying to the ground with a grunt.
— — — — —
Bucky looks over at Steve. "We gotta go." He warns him. "That guy's probably in Siberia by now." His voice is urgent.
"We gotta draw out the flyers." Steve reminds him, looking up at the sky. "I'll take Vision. You get to the jet." He orders.
"No, you get to the jet!" Sam shouts, continuing to run, his wings extending as he does so. "Both of you!" He says, going upwards as he is chased by Rhodey. "The rest of us aren't getting out of here."
Clint nods. "As much as I hate to admit it, if we're gonna win this one, some of us might have to lose it." Clint admits.
"This isn't the real fight, Steve." Sam says sadly, dodging another attack from Rhodey, spinning to the side, making sure to divert his attention to give Steve and Bucky a fighting chance at completing the actual mission.
Steve nods slightly, resigning to the fact even though it doesn't settle with him. "Alright, Sam, what's the play?" He asks.
Sam thinks for a moment. "We need a diversion, something big." Sam says.
"I got something kind of big, but I can't hold it very long." Scott replies over the comms. "On my signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half…" There is a moment of silence. "…don't come back for me."
Bucky looks confused and shocked. "He's gonna tear himself in half?" He says, looking at Steve for guidance.
Steve ignores the expression on Bucky's face and presses his comm. "You're sure about this, Scott?" Steve asks.
— — — — —
Scott hesitates slightly. "I do it all the time." He waits a few seconds. "I mean once…" He corrects, sounding unsure. "…in a lab. Then I passed out." He stretches his arms, trying to get rid of his nerves. "I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss. I'm the boss." He repeats to himself, getting ready. "I'm the BOSS!" He shouts before leaping from the stairs, landing on War Machine's back as he flies past him. Scott grips on tightly before operating the screen on the wrist of his suit. He shuts his eyes for a few seconds before pressing the button, his body quickly growing, towering over the ground as he stretches out and grabs Rhodey by the leg, a giant smile on his face.
Peter looks over from where he is swinging. "Holy shit!" He calls out, his eyes widening underneath his mask.
Rhodey's eyes widen and he gasps, looking down at Scott in shock. "Okay, tiny dude is big now." He says, not fully believing it, his mind still wanting to stay with a time that was more normal. "He's big now." His voice is still uneven.
Steve looks in awe at Scott. "I guess that's the signal." He replies, his eyes wide, nodding to himself slightly as he takes it in.
Sam cheers. "Way to go, Tic Tac!" He says, laughing.
Tony starts to fly towards Scott, his thrusters increasing power. "Give me back my Rhodey." He shouts, almost as if he was talking to a big kid rather than a full grown - and then some - adult.
Sam flies towards Tony's feet, knocking the man of course. Peter looks over as it happens, his eyes glancing over to where Scott throws War Machine as if he were a mere plaything. Peter quickly strings a web, heading towards him. "I got him!" He shouts before shooting a web at him, catching the man before he manages to hit the ground.
Scott kicks a bus towards T'Challa, but just before it can hit him, Vision comes down from where he was hovering and braces himself, splitting the bus in two with ease, protecting T'Challa from getting hit by it. The king looks over and spots the two rogue super-soldiers running past in the midst of all action and ambush happening, quickly running off after them with ease.
Tony sighs, watching this all play out. "Okay, anybody on our side hiding any shocking and fantastic abilities they'd like to disclose." He tilts his head slightly, groaning at the way this has all headed. This is not what he wanted, he had hoped it was going to go smoothly. "I'm open to suggestions." He continues before he turns his head at the sound of fast moving air, watching as Red Wing comes straight towards, cracking into his helmet.
— — — — —
Scott bends down slightly, his large arm outstretched and blocking T'Challa's path as the man runs, trying to get to Bucky and Steve. He looks down at him. "You wanna get to them…" He says, his voice is more powerful than it was originally. "…you gotta go through me." He sweeps his gigantic foot through the crates on the ground, including the ones that T'Challa was mounted on top of, the crates smashing to pieces easily. Scott goes to attack again when he is suddenly engulfed in an explosion - though it doesn't do much to harm him it distracts him long enough that Peter, who had been hanging on by a web to Rhodey's foot, manages to web his hands up.
Back down on the ground, Clint fires arrows at T'Challa, the king catches the two arrows, letting them explode beside him, not moving, before dropping them onto the ground at his feet. He then rises back up to a standing position, extending his claws. Clint looks him up and down and flattens his bow, spinning it around, holding it in one hand as he comes closer to him. "We haven't met yet." Clint said, holding his hand out for him to shake, trying to be polite. "I'm Clint."
T'Challa lowers his head slightly, his arms outstretched, primed to attack. "I don't care." He says dangerously. At this, Clint's eyes widen and he clutches the bow like a staff, running at and attacking T'Challa, only for the king to duck underneath him with the agility of an acrobat. T'Challa spins and counters with a high kick.
— — — — —
Giant Ant-Man punches War Machine in the air and swings a gangway towards him as he recovers as if it was just a normal bat. Rhodey looks over at it and quickly opens fire and the gangway disintegrates before it manages to hit him. Scott looks down and raises his leg and tries to stamp on War Machine who dives clear before evading a lunge of Scott's hand, trying to sweep at him. He stops for a moment thinking he's okay when he's struck by something coming from behind. "Ahhh!" Rhodey groans as Wanda waves her hands, continuing to fling vehicles into War Machine's path, causing the man to have to dodge.
"Get off." Scott shouts, trying to get Peter to get off of his head, the distraction causing him to miss Vision coming towards him and hitting him with an increased density. Vision then spots Steve and Bucky approaching the hangar as their pace quickening. He simply floats through Ant-Man's chest. "Something just flew in me!" He says, his hands over his chest, looking down in confusion. Vision fires a shining beam of energy from his mind stone at the control tower, causing it to go crashing towards the entrance of the hangar. Wanda struggles to slow its collapse. Then War Machine descends behind her and fires a sonic disruptor causing Wanda holds her head and screams.
— — — — —
The tower topples to the side, but Steve and Bucky manage to make it into the hangar, skidding underneath it, narrowly missing being hit by the falling rubble as they enter. They quickly halt in their tracks, seeing Natasha standing there, her arm raised, the widow bites activated and ready to fire, her face drawn in a firm line, determined. Natasha sighs, looking at them. "You're not gonna stop." She says quietly, her eyes set on him.
Steve shakes his head slightly, almost in regret and guilt. "You know I can't." He tells her, taking a small step forward.
Natasha hesitates slightly. "I'm gonna regret this." She says quietly before moving her arm to the side slightly, firing it at T'Challa who had managed to enter in silently into the room. T'Challa's footing wavers slightly, groaning as his suit absorbs the energy of the hit. Natasha glances at the other two. "Go." She orders and they quickly run, not needing to be told twice.
— — — — —
Peter looks up at the now enlarged Ant-Man is standing in the middle of the tarmac. Peter thinks for a moment, thinking of a plan. "Hey, guys, you ever see that really old movie, Empire Strikes Back?" He calls out, a smile on his face underneath his mask.
Rhodey groans, his head turning to face Tony. "Jesus, Tony, how old is this guy?" He asks, his voice filled with a hint of shock.
"I don't know, I didn't carbon-date him." Tony lies smoothly. "He's on the young side."
Peter quickly swings over to where Ant-Man is, his arms spread out as the webs fly. "You know that part…" He swings down, starting to wrap his webs's around Scott's legs. "…where they're on the snow planet…" He swings around again, the layers of webs getting tighter and stronger the more he goes on. "…with the walking thingies?"
Tony thinks for a moment. "Maybe the kid's on to something." He admits.
"High now, Tony. Go high." He orders, flying to one side of Ant-Man's large frame.
Peter continues to swing round and round, before going off the side, watching as Tony and Rhodey power towards his head, their fists outstretched, quickly landing a blow to the temple. "YES!" Peter cheers. "Ha ha! That was awesome!"
Giant-Man starts to topple, his bound legs not letting him be able to stop his fall. His arms flail out and bangs into Peter, causing him to go flying as Scott crashes to the ground, landing on his back with a grunt. He reaches his arm out and presses the side of his helmet, it opening up to reveal his scrunched up face. Scott groans, shifting on the ground, his eyes closed in pain. "Does anyone have any orange slices?" He calls out.
— — — — —
Tony quickly lands down where Peter is laying down in a heap, his hands spread over his head, his mask half up, curled at the bottom. Peter gives a sigh as he watches Tony retract his mask. "Kid, you alright?" Tony asks carefully, reaching to help Peter up.
Peter's arm jerks up, trying to push him away instinctively, his mind barely even thinking. "Hey! Get off me!" He says quickly, pushing him away.
"Same side." Tony replies kindly, gently taking his small wrists, moving them away from him, looking him in the eyes, letting him see the familiar face. "Guess who. Hi. It's me." He smiles softly.
"Oh." Peter relaxes, laying his head back down. "Hey, man."
"Yeah." Tony answers, bending down slightly.
"That was scary." Peter admits, his breathing quick but steadily slowing down.
"Yeah." Tony acknowledged, he glances away at the scene going on behind them before looking back down at him. "You're done. Alright?"
Peter looks confused, looking up at him in shock. "What?" Peter said quietly.
"You did a good job." Tony informs him, watching as he tries to get up. "Stay down." He orders.
"No, I'm good." Peter argues. "I'm fine."
"Stay down." Tony repeats, his voice more firm.
"No, it's good I gotta get him back!" Peter defenders, trying to get back up.
"You're going home or I'll call Aunt May!" Tony almost yells, his voice stern and without room for argument. "You're done!"
"Wait. Mr. Stark, wait!" Peter calls, but Tony walks away, ignoring the minor's sounds of protest. "I'm not done, I'm not…" He slumps down onto the ground, his eyes half closed. "Okay, I'm done. I'm done."
— — — — —
Natasha stands in the partially wrecked hanger, her arm up and facing the entrance where T'Challa is staggering, attempting to come closer, his eyes looking up as the Quinjet starts to rise. He quickly leaps, moving past Natasha in seconds as he grabs a hold on the Quinjet as it starts to fly out, but his hands slips when it's given a boost and he falls to the ground. He looks over at Natasha, his faced confused under the mask. "I said I'd help you find him, not catch him." She repeats, his voice even. "There's a difference."
— — — — —
Vision kneels down on the ground, just beside where Wanda is situated. He carefully holds her in his arms, one hand on the back of her neck, supporting it as she pants, trying to catch her breath. "I'm sorry." He apologises, looking her in the eyes.
"Me, too." Wanda admits, looking away slightly in shame.
"It's as I said. Catastrophe." Vision reminds her, his hands stroking her hair softly in a comforting gesture.
— — — — —
Steve pilots the Quinjet with ease, his eyes tracing about the sky for anything coming his way. He spots War Machine starting to come closer to the Quinjet, coming up from the right side of the aircraft. Seeing this, Steve quickly increases the power going to the trusters of the craft, watching as Iron Man flies beside War Machine, Falcon quickly on their tail.
"Vision, I got a bandit on my six." Rhodey says quickly before quickly dodging slightly when Falcon starts firing small explosives towards him, quickly engulfing but not affecting the structure of the suit. "Vision!" He repeats, sounding more panicked by the second. "You copy? Target his thrusters, turn him into a glider." He orders.
Vision quickly takes aim, analysing their movements before firing his head laser. The bolt of energy goes through the air and Sam quickly tucks in the sky, dodging the blast. The laser overshoots the man's body and slices through thee chest plate, and arc reactor, of the War Machine suit, quickly causing it to loose power, Rhodey going into a spinning free fall.
Tony's eyes widen as he starts to dive, Sam quickly falling suit. "Rhodey!" Tony shouts, even though it's unlikely that he can actually hear him.
"Tony, I'm flying dead stick." Rhodey panics, his eyes wide behind the darkened hud. His suit plunges, emitting black smoke from it's back as it tumbles towards the ground. Rhodey sees Tony diving towards him, hoping, begging to reach him in time but Rhodey doesn't wait to see, his eyes starting to close.
Tony watches as a figure speeds towards the suit as it crashes, taking some brunt of the fall, tumbling on the ground, panting, even with the help, it's obvious that the suit was still down, still damaged. "RHODES!" Tony shouts, watching the grass settle as he lands, his mask retracting as he sprints to the man, ignoring the person who helped break their fall, bending down and taking off the face plate. His head lays on Tony's armoured lap, his arm cupping his head. Rhodey's eyes are closed, his breathing shallow, blood sliding down the side of his face. "Read vitals." Tony orders.
"Heartbeat detected. Emergency medical is on its way."
Sam flies down, swooping onto the ground, the wings retracting as he feet touch down. He looks over where Tony is and makes his way over, his movements trying to seem unthreatening. "I'm sorry." Sam apologies, sounding guilty. That blast wasn't for Rhodey, he knew that, he knew it was his fault. He tries to come closer but Tony zaps him with a blast of energy from the palm of his suit, only for it to hit Vision as he lands in front of the man. Tony looks away, stone faced, his hands holding onto Rhodey like a lifeline.
— — — — —
Over in Siberia, Zemo dials a number into his phone, pressing it up to his ear. A voice comes over, it is feminine and kind, softly spoken.
"Guten Morgen, Zimmerservice? (German: Good morning. Room Service)."
"Guten Morgen Frau Leiber. Zimmer 201 hier. (German: Good morning, Mrs. Leiber. This is room 201)."
"Ah, Herr Müller. Speck und schwarzer Kaffee für Sie, ja? (German: Ah, Mr. Müller. Bacon and black coffee again today?)"
"Wie gut Sie mich kennen. (German: You know me so well)." Zemo replies.
After a few minutes, over in Germany in the hotel room, the innkeeper knocks on the door of room 201. "Hallo? Ihr Frühstück ist hier. (German: Hello? Your breakfast is here)." She doesn't here a reply and knocks again, pushing the door slightly. "Darf ich mich reinlassen? Herr Müller? (German: May I let myself in? Mr Müller?)" Still no reply. "Herr Müller? (German: Mr Müller?)" She repeats, her voice more on edge as she comes into the room, placing the tray down and walking through the find him. She walks into the bathroom and notices blood dripping onto the floor beside the bathtub, inside the dead body of Dr Theo Brossard is laying there. "Oh mein Gott! (German: Oh my God!)" She gasps.
— — — — —
A quinjet, the one that had been perviously stored in the hanger, soars through the dark blue skies, the cloud being cut through with ease from the metal wings. It flies towards a marriage of large snowy mountains, lined up neatly against the sky. Steve watches from inside, his fingers gripping the controls with steady hands. He glances over at Bucky who is currently sitting behind him, fidgeting with his hands, looking slightly guilty over what had happened just moments ago.
He hesitates, opening his mouth slightly. "What's gonna happen to your friends?" He asks quietly.
Steve stares ahead, not able to give the man a glance, he looks heavyhearted, his face low, his hands gripping just that ever more so against the controls. He sighs and shakes his head. "Whatever it is…" He says slowly, looking down. "I'll deal with it."
Bucky looks thoughtful, looking out of the window, the smallest hint of shame on his face. "I don't know if I'm worth all this, Steve." He admits, his voice small.
Steve glances over at Bucky, looking at the expression on the ex-assassin's face. "What you did all those years…" He says kindly, trying to sound reassuring. "it wasn't you. You didn't have a choice." He reminds him, trying to brush the man's thoughts right out of his head.
Bucky sighs, looking towards him, taking his hand carefully, his fingers brushing over the knuckles. "I know." He says softly, leaning closer towards Steve, his mind drawn towards his well-sculped face. "But I did it."
— — — — —
Back in Germany, Rhodey is laying down on the bed of a CT scanner, his suit having been replaced with a blue hospital gown, his eyes drifting up as his body is brought inwards. On the other side of the glass, Tony paces over to where Vision is watching it with a grave face. Tony glares at Vision even though he knows that it wouldn't effect the android. "How did this happen?" He asked, almost harshly.
"I became distracted." Vision admits, his voice almost sounded guilty. Almost.
Tony looks slightly confused. "I didn't think that was possible." Tony replies.
"Neither did I." Vision says softly, his looks to his side but Tony has gone, walking over to the window overlooking outside where lands of green meet the pearls of blue.
Natasha is standing there, her hands on the bars of the balcony, her ears drowning out the sounds of the busy hospital. Tony looks around slightly before walking up to Natasha. "The doctors say he shattered L4 and L5, his S1 is heavily bruised." He explains. "Laceration in the spinal cord. Probably looking at some form of paralysis." He says it quickly, almost as if he didn't want to think about it being a possibility. "Said if Yawa didn't help break his fall it could have been worse, but…" He looks away. "It's already bad."
"Steve's not gonna stop." She warns. "If you don't either, Rhodey's gonna be the best case scenario."
"You let them go, Nat." Tony says harshly, his eyes hard and dark. "How's Yawa?" He asks bitterly.
"Sprained her neck, dislocated shoulder, a few cracked ribs, hairline fracture on the right leg. But she'll be fine in an hour or so." She summarises. She tilts her head slightly as she thinks. "We played this wrong." Natasha says quietly, looking at the billionaire.
"'We'?" Tony chuckles slightly, scoffing at the idea. "Boy, it must be hard to shake the whole double agent thing, huh? It sticks in the DNA."
"Are you incapable of letting go of your ego for one goddamn second?" Natasha retorts, looking at him with stern eyes.
Tony looks at her. "T'Challa told Ross what you did, so…" He looks slightly guilty. "They're coming for you."
Natasha shakes her head slightly. "I'm not the one that needs to watch their back." She warns him before quickly walking away.
Tony activates the hologram on his watch, images popping up. Tony swipes through them, examining each carefully. "What am I looking at, Friday?" He asks his AI.
"Priority upload from Berlin police."
Tony look back through the window. "Fire up the chopper." He orders Friday. He goes to walk away, towards the helicopter when a cold hand takes his upper arm. He looks to the side at Yawa standing there, her grip untethering. "Why did you catch him?" He doesn't sound accusatory, just confused, she didn't have to help, he knew that she was in a dodgy boat.
"I've already watched one person fall to their near-death, that's one to many. I couldn't help him, so I thought… maybe increase his chances. I'm sorry about his back I…"
Tony cuts her off, not wanting her to speak. He quickly turns away to head over to the helipad when Yawa stops him again. He looks confused, speaking in a harder tone. "You need to stay." He argues. "If Ross finds you then…"
"No." Yawa argues, stopping him from continuing to talk. "Me and Bucky… The Winter Soldiers', we're next to unstoppable. Natasha is right, you need someone watching you back. Stop…" She says when she notices that he's trying to argue with her. "I'm not doubting your ability, I'm just saying that you need someone on your six."
— — — — —
The storm underneath the helicopter is stormy and rash. Inside, Tony flips open the surveillance images on his tablet, taking great care in examining each one of the images. In the pilot's seat, Yawa glances at the images, her eyes darkening before looking back over the sea. She looks at the image of the other man - the man that she was due to meet, and the man that they ended up meeting - it wasn't hard to tell they were not the same person.
"The Task Force called for a psychiatrist as soon as Barnes and Johnson were captured. The UN dispatched Dr. Theo Broussard from Geneva within the hour. He was met by this man."
"Did you run facial recognition yet?" Tony asks Friday.
"What do I look like?"
"Uh, I don't know. I've been picturing a red head." Tony admits and the smallest of smiles appear on Yawa's face.
"You must be thinking of someone else."
"Must be." He answers, shrugging it off.
"The fake doctor is actually Colonel Helmut Zemo, Sokovian Intelligence. Zemo ran Echo Skorpion, a Sokovian covert kill squad."
Tony looks at the image of Zemo with the kill squad on the hologram, the man's face expressionless and dark. "So, what happened to the real Broussard?" Tony questions.
"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 grits his teeth. "Get this to Ross."
"Yes, Boss."