Chapter 1
The sound of his shield hitting against the metal armor still resonated inside his head. Flashes of the fight, of the other man’s horrified wide eyes playing on a loop in his mind.
Steve Rogers stumbled through the snow, carrying an injured Bucky Barnes through the thick white mounds towards the quinjet they’d used to reach the abandoned Hydra base. An almost frantic desperation shone in his eyes, the cacophony of thoughts and anxiety nearly paralyzing him, but the sight of the aircraft brought renewed force to his jerky movements.
With struggling hands, he fumbled with the door until he managed to open it, dragging himself and his companion into the shelter of the jet. Closing the door of the small cockpit felt like bliss, almost like putting a physical barrier between his demons and himself. The adrenaline that had fueled his scape was quickly dissipating, leaving him feeling shaky and nauseous. Helping Bucky settle into the quinjet, he let himself collapse onto the pilot’s seat. His heavy breathing finally subsiding into a steadier rhythm.
“Are you ok?”
Bucky’s voice brought his scattered mind to the present. They needed to leave this place, and fast.
“Yeah Buck, I’m fine, are you ok?” He said, fixing his gaze at the man’s missing metal arm.
Bucky ignored him, his piercing gaze seeing right through him.
“Why didn’t you tell him? When you found out I killed Howard and his wife?”
Bucky’s words were like a punch to the gut, it left him reeling.
“That wasn’t your fault, that wasn’t you” he said a bit too quickly, a bit too loudly, his words echoing inside the cockpit. They both knew that was not what he had asked, but he let it go; Steve must have had his reasons to lie to his teammate, and he wasn’t about to start judging others over morally dubious decisions at that point.
“Buckle up, we have a long journey ahead of us” Steve said averting his eyes.
He felt Bucky’s gaze drilling holes on the back of his head, but thankfully the other man said nothing, opting to settle in his seat. It only later occurred to Steve that during their escape, not once had he turned to look back at what he was leaving behind. He was sure the action had some sort of symbolism related to his current situation, but he was too occupied to dwell on it for now.
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“What the hell happened?” Natasha’s stern voice carried easily through the abandoned warehouse they were using as a hiding place.
Steve let out an exhausted sigh, they had just made it through the door when Natasha Romanov, aka the Black Widow had come barreling down towards them.
“We were set up. Zemo never planned on reviving the other winter soldiers, he was only looking to destroy the Avengers” he answered with a tired voice, his aching body screaming to get some rest.
Natasha had that particular glint in her eyes that reminded Steve he was in the presence of a seasoned killer.
“Set up? How?”
Steve stayed silent for a moment averting his gaze at the uncomfortable question, unable to come up with an honest answer that didn’t involve condemning himself or Bucky. After a heavy silence, he finally found his voice.
“He managed to turn Tony against us... we had a fight and we had to leave” he said forcibly.
She stood there in silence for a moment, processing what Steve had said and what he had left out. She only had to look at Steve’s guilty face and at the man currently slumped in one corner of the building (trying his best to conceal the obvious pain his missing metal arm was causing him), to decipher what had really happened.
“The Stark’s video” Not a question, but a statement.
Steve clenched his jaw but said nothing. Natasha needed no other confirmation; she had known all along that that damn video would cause them nothing but trouble. She still regretted not having told Stark about it sooner, but she had trusted Steve to do the right thing. She guessed he was more flawed than she had originally thought, a mere human like the rest of them after all.
“What about Stark? Is he going to come after us?” She asked, her mind going overdrive trying to foresee all the different scenarios this could lead to.
“I... I don’t know, I don’t think so”
“Are you sure? How can you be certain he won’t try to find him, get some revenge?” she asked, watching Bucky’s sorry state with a side glance.
“Tony wouldn’t...”
“Steve, he killed his parents” Nat interrupted him, for the first time letting some emotion color her voice.
“It wasn’t Bucky Nat, they made him do it” Even he could recognize the plea in his voice, the desperate need for someone to understand it wasn’t Bucky’s fault.
“I know, let’s just hope Stark understands it too” she said with a heavy sight, turning away from both men. Natasha and Steve both knew they could have potentially made a very powerful enemy. If Anthony Stark decided to chase after them, they could be in some very real danger.
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The next three days went by in a blur. The rogue Avengers had successfully rescued their companions from the maximum-security prison known as ‘the Raft’ without any major incidents. Steve had feared Iron Man would be sent after them. He was dreading a new confrontation with the man, but it had fortunately not come to that.
This had given him a glimmer of hope. He´d reasoned that if Tony had refused to go after them, it could only mean that there was still a chance to mend the broken bridge between the two of them.
The runaway group consisting of Steve, Natasha, and Bucky, alongside the recently rescued Clint Barton, Wanda Maximoff, Scott Lang, and Sam Wilson were currently hiding in one of the secure locations the Black Widow had been able to procure them. A small and grimy two-bedroom apartment that seemed smaller by the sheer quantity of people currently residing in it.
“Steve, was Tony alive when you left Siberia?” came Natasha’s question as she walked into the living room, Clint hot on her heels.
Steve froze at her words. It took him a moment to comprehend what she was asking him. Wanda, Sam, Scott and he were sitting in the small dingy living room, playing some cards.
“What are you talking about?” Steve’s senses immediately went on alert.
“It’s an easy enough question Steve, you heard her” Clint asked him, sharing the same somber expression Natasha had “Was Stark alive when you left?”
A moment of panic invaded him, had something happened to Tony? He turned to look at Bucky, who was currently occupying one of the lounging chairs on the other side of the room, but the man’s eyes where fixed on the two newcomers.
“Yes! He was alive when we left... what happened? Is Tony ok?”
Natasha and Clint shared a dark look but said nothing otherwise.
“What is it? Did something happen?” Dread filled him, but he tried to remain calm.
“Tell us again what happened in Siberia Steve” Natasha was changing her tactics Steve noted, subtly taking the role of an interrogator.
“Why? What’s going on? Is Tony ok?!” He knew he was raising his voice, but he didn’t care, he needed to know what was going on.
Natasha stayed silent for a moment, studying Steve’s reaction intently. It was Clint who took pity on him, stepping forward to answer “We intercepted a message. They’re sending a brigade to retrieve Stark’s corpse from the Siberian base”
“What?!” Steve said with a whisper, feeling his blood drop to his feet; how could that be? It had to be a mistake “It can’t be-he can’t be dead!” he heard his own voice as if from far away.
“Steve, did you see anybody else in the base? Was there someone else besides Zemo or king T ́Challa there?” Natasha kept pushing with her interrogation, trying to make head or tails of their current situation.
“What? N-no, we... we were the only one’s there. Nat is it true? Is Tony really dead?”
Natasha stayed silent for a moment, weighting her answer.
“We don’t know yet, but the message we intercepted seemed legit. We´re not dismissing the idea of a trap designed to lure us out of hiding; but so far there has been no sign of Tony, no one has seen nor heard from him ever since leaving for Siberia”
Steve was stunned, he remembered the fight, breaking the reactor and disabling Iron Man’s suit, Tony’s last words to him. Had Tony been dying while Bucky and him where fleeing the scene? It had been over a week since they had left that Hydra base, seven whole days. He knew a mere few minutes were more than enough time to kill someone exposed to the merciless Siberian cold. Had Tony been unable to escape the base on his own? Had he not been able to contact someone for help?
He felt sick, nausea threatening to make him lose his breakfast. With a steadying breath, he closed his eyes and concentrated on his surroundings, the sound of the others around him, of the faint noise coming from the old radio in the kitchen. He tried his best to ground himself in the present, until Bucky’s voice sounded from across the room.
“Stark was pretty beaten up when we left, but nothing life threatening I believe”
“How can you tell?” came Clint’s sceptic voice. “Tony doesn’t have superhuman endurance like the both of you. From what Steve said, he smashed the reactor with enough force to break it. Don’t you think that could have broken a couple of ribs? Punctured a lung?”
He circled the room while looking at the super soldier in the eye “You know Barnes, Stark has diminished lung capacity, not to mention a ton of heart-related problems. Perhaps neither of you noticed the man was dying while you were both busy beating the shit out of each other”
Bucky said nothing, glaring daggers at Clint from behind the curtain of hair covering most of his face.
“What about Pepper, or Rhodes? Has anyone heard from Tony?” Steve asked desperately. Surely someone must have contacted the man by now.
“We’ve checked. He hasn’t communicated with Pepper. She has been getting in touch with whoever she can to ask about him” Natasha said with a frown “And Rhodes is still in intensive care. Tony hasn’t been anywhere near the hospital to visit him”
Sam averted his eyes at the mention of this. He still felt incredibly guilty for what had happened to the other man. He knew it hadn’t been him firing that blast, but he was still coping with the fact that he was somewhat responsible for almost killing a teammate. He could understand Steve’s need to know if he had indeed been responsible for Tony Stark’s death.
Natasha exhaled deeply, the only telltale that she was preoccupied by the situation. “Steve, Tony would never stay away from either of them purposefully, not unless he was physically unable to reach them”
They all knew Pepper and Rhodey were Tony’s family. If neither of them had heard from him by now, something bad must have happened to him.
“What about Vision?” At the mention of the android’s name, Wanda flinched slightly. She had been trying to get in contact with him ever since leaving Germany, to no avail, and the situation was driving her mad.
“We have a couple of reports locating him inside the Avengers compound until two days ago. The place has remained mostly empty since Wanda’s escape”
“Why are you all so worried about Stark? Him dying wouldn’t be the worst that could happen to us” came Wanda’s offhand remark, she had a sulky expression on her face, like she really couldn’t comprehend why the situation was so grave.
A low hiss escaped Steve’s mouth, but Natasha was the one to reply.
“It actually is the worst that could happen to us Wanda, because even if you don’t agree, Tony IS someone important to this team, and second, IF he really is dead, it could mean lots of trouble for all of us. Ross could use this to his advantage, advocating his death as another reason for enhanced humans to be on a leash. Like it or not, Tony was well loved by most of the public out there, and Ross will most likely turn him into a martyr for his cause”
Natasha hadn’t meant to come in Tony’s defense, but she felt incredibly frustrated that Wanda didn’t seem to comprehend the enormity of the problem they were all in.
“Ok, so what are our options? What can we do?” said Sam with an apprehensive glance at the others. He could feel the tension rising in the room, but they needed to look for ways out of this mess, and fast.
“We have to keep digging into this, find out whether Stark is really dead or not” Clint said after some thought. He didn’t like their odds; they were all in some very real danger of becoming public enemy number one, more so than they already were. “And we have to prepare for the possible backlash this could have on us. Like Nat said, this could mean a shit ton of trouble for us”
“I have to go to Siberia, I need to make sure...” said Steve with a low voice, eyes closed.
“It could be a trap Steve, there’s no doubt they’ll be on the lookout for us to show up”
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take Nat, I can’t... we can’t let the government have Tony or his suit, he always fought to keep his tech away from them, it’s what he would have wanted” Steve’s resolve grew by the minute, if Tony really was dead, he couldn’t let the military steal his inventions. If he really was somehow responsible for the man’s death, it was the least he could do.
“You’re saying it like you really believe he’s dead, but what if he’s not? What if he’s just hiding or something?” Scott, who had been silent so far, seemed really concerned with the possibility.
“Then we’ll have nothing to worry about”.