The Raft
Steve felt a headache forming as he and Bucky flew towards Siberia. He hated leaving things that way with Kara, but he had to stop these soldiers, or he would never forgive himself. He thought of Layna and what Kara would tell her when she got home and what she would see on the news.
He wished he could tell her in person that it would all be okay, but he wasn’t sure that was true anymore.
He was broken out of his thoughts by Bucky, who sat behind him. “What’s gonna happen to your friends?”
Steve sighed and shook his head in regret. “Whatever it is…I’ll deal with it.”
“And what about Supergirl?” He asked carefully. “I read about your engagement.”
“That one will be harder to deal with.” Steve told his friend honestly.
“Steve…”
“I don’t know how we’re going to get through this, this time. I already lied to her once and kept things from her…”
Knowing he was hurting, Bucky let him continue, figuring he needed to vent.
“We just got back onto good terms. After the whole Music Meister thing I really thought we were going to be okay…now that’s probably shot to hell. I’ll have to find a way to talk to Layna, that’s our daughter.”
“You have a daughter?” Bucky asked, shock clear in his voice.
“Yeah.” Steve chuckled. “I’ve been around since she was about eight. God, she’s fifteen now, in her first year of high school. Old enough to understand what’s going on.”
“I don’t know if I’m worth all this, Steve.” Bucky told him suddenly. “I mean, is it really worth risking your family?”
“You are my family.” He glanced back at his oldest friend. “What you did all those years…it wasn’t you. You didn’t have a choice.”
“I know.” Bucky told him. “But I did it.”
Watching as Rhodey underwent an MRI, Kara stood next to Vision as Tony paced around them. “How did this happen?”
Vision paused. “I became distracted.”
“I didn’t think that could happen.” Kara commented.
Vision looked at her. “Neither did I.”
Then Tony stepped out of the room and found Natasha waiting for him. When they finally found a quiet place to talk, Tony gave her the information he’d been given.
“The doctors say he shattered L4 through S1. Extreme laceration to the spinal cord.” He sighed. “Probably looking at some form of paralysis. If Kara hadn’t placed herself under him…they say he could’ve…you know.”
Natasha shook her head. “Steve’s not gonna stop. If you don’t either, Rhodey’s gonna be the best case scenario.”
“You let them go, Nat.”
“We played this wrong.” She told him and he scoffed.
“’We’? Boy it must be hard to shake the whole double agent thing, huh? It sticks in the DNA.”
She frowned at him. “Are you incapable of letting go of your ego for one goddamn second?”
Looking out over the grounds of compound, Tony continued. “T’Challa told Ross what you did, so…they’re coming for you.”
“I’m not the one that needs to watch their back.” She said carefully before turning and walking away.
His watch beeped as she did, and he tapped on it, revealing a projection of pictures of a dead man. “What am I looking at, FRIDAY?”
“Priority upload from Berlin police.”
Realizing what Natasha and Steve had been saying might be right, he walked away, adding “fire up the chopper” to FRIDAY’s to-do list.
On his way over the stormy seas, Tony listened to the information FRIDAY was giving him and none of it made him feel better.
“The Task Force called for a psychiatrist as soon as Barnes was captured. The UN dispatched Doctor Theo Broussard from Geneva within the hour. He was met by this man.”
Seeing the image on his screen, Tony couldn’t believe he’d missed all the signs. “Did you run facial recognition?”
“What do I look like?”
“Uh…I don’t know. I’ve been picturing a redhead.”
“You must be thinking of someone else.” The AI told him, easily keeping up with his wit. “The fake doctor is actually Colonel Helmut Zemo. Sokovian Intelligence. Zemo ran Echo Scorpion…a Sokovian covert kill squad.”
“So, what happened to the real Broussard?”
“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 couldn’t believe it. “Get this to Ross.”
“Yes, boss.”
Arriving at the Raft, Tony hopped out of his chopper and came face to face with Ross. “So? You get the files? Let’s reroute the satellites, start facial scanning for this Zemo guy.”
“You seriously think I’m gonna listen to you after that fiasco in Leipzig?” Ross asked him. “You’re lucky you’re not in one of these cells.”
Walking through the building, Tony noticed the security cameras and felt his heart drop at the image of Wanda in a straitjacket.
When he finally got into the room where their cells were, he was met with the hostility he expected to receive. But this time he had a different mission that only they could help him with.
Clapping, Clint stood. “The Futurist, gentlemen! The Futurist is here! He sees all! He knows what’s best for you, whether you like it or not.”
Walking over to Clint’s cell, Tony sighed. “Give me a break, Barton. I had no idea they’d put you here. Come on.”
Clint spit at his feet. “Yeah, well, you knew they’d put us somewhere, Tony.”
“Yeah, but not some super-max floating ocean pokey.” Tony told him. “This is a place for maniacs. This is a place for…”
“Criminals?” Clint walked to the cell door. “Criminals, Tony. I think that’s the word you’re looking for. Right? That didn’t used to mean me…or Sam or Wanda. But here we are.”
“Because you broke the law.”
“Yeah.” Clint said.
“I didn’t make you. You read it, you broke it. You’re all grown up, you got a wife and kids. I don’t understand, why didn’t you think about them before you chose the wrong side?”
Then Tony walked away as Clint yelled out to the others. “You gotta watch your back with this guy. There’s a chance he’s gonna break it.”
Walking past Scott’s cell, Tony ignored the man as he found his destination in front of the cell holding Sam.
“How’s Rhodes?”
“They’re flying him to Columbia Medical tomorrow…so fingers crossed.” Tony told him. “What do you need? They feed you yet?”
Sam turned and had a look of surprise on his face. “You’re the good cop, now?”
Tony shook his head. “I’m just the guy who needs to know where Steve 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.”
Messing with his watch, Tony tapped a button and raised a brow. “Well, I just knocked the A out of their AV. We’ve got about thirty seconds before they realize it’s not their equipment. Just look…” He showed Sam the projection of the dead body. “Because that is the fellow who was supposed to interrogate Barnes. Clearly, I made a mistake. Sam, I was wrong.”
“That’s a first.”
“Cap is definitely off the reservation…but he’s about to need all the help he can get.” Tony begged him. “We don’t know each other very well. You don’t have to…”
“Hey, it’s alright.” Sam told him. “Look, I’ll tell you…but you have to go alone and as a friend.”
“Easy.”
Walking back to his chopper, Tony turned at the sound of Ross’ voice. “Stark? Did he give you anything on Rogers?”
“Nothing.” Tony told him. “Told me to go to hell. I’m going back to the compound instead, but you can call me anytime. I’ll put you on hold. I like to watch the line blink.”
Then he nodded to the man as the door shut between them.
Up in the air, Tony waited until he had put a little distance in between himself and the Raft before taking off his sling and pressing a button. This made his suit form around him, and a hatch opened that let him fall out into the rain before taking off in the opposite direction.
What he didn’t notice was T’Challa’s jet following him.
Kara sat next to Rhodey’s bed as the man in question slept. He had been worked up about his paralysis, so they’d had to sedate him, and Kara hated to leave him alone in case he woke again. Sighing, she sat back in her chair and wondered where her brother was.
He’d left suddenly without telling her where he was headed hours ago, and she’d had no communication since. She knew Ross was searching for Natasha now and hated how their family had gotten so torn up in such a short amount of time.
She was just pulling out her phone to text Tony when it rang, and she saw his name pop up on her screen. “Thank Rao, I’ve been worried sick. Where are you?”
“I need you to meet me in Siberia.”
She shook her head as she stood and walked to the far corner of the room. “What? Siberia? What are you talking about?”
“Steve was right, Kara. We were wrong. I was wrong.” He told her. “The psychiatrist wasn’t a real doctor at all, and he framed Barnes. Steve’s off the reservation but he’s going to need help.”
“I’m on my way.”