Chapter 2
“I’ve got Vision on my radar”
They had almost reached the Siberian Hydra base aboard a quinjet. Steve, Natasha, Clint and Sam had decided to venture into the frozen desert to investigate the fate of the missing Anthony Stark, intent on either finding the man’s remains there, or finding some clues as to his whereabouts, while Bucky, Scott and Wanda had stayed behind in hiding.
“Where is he? What is he doing?” asked Steve from the back of the aircraft, making his way to the cockpit.
“The sensors indicate he’s at the entrance of the facility. He’s… just standing there” came Clint’s puzzled response.
“You want me to approach him?”
“No, we are not certain how he’ll react to our presence”
‘He might kill us on sight for killing Tony’ was left unsaid,but they all knew it was a possibility, however improbable.
“He hasn’t moved from that place in over an hour”
“What do you think he’s doing?”
“I have no idea. Maybe he’s mourning? Or maybe he’s waiting for something to happen? I don’t know”
Sam and Clint were currently surveying the scene before them from the relative warmth the quinjet offered. The Android’s lonely form hovering at the entrance of the base cut a striking contrast with the white and barren scenery around him.
Both Sam and Clint had volunteered to keep watch over the Android, while Steve and Natasha made a perimeter check to determine it wasn’t a trap they were blindly falling into.
“Steve’s taken this pretty badly, hasn’t he?”
Clint stayed silent for a moment. Sam hadn’t known Steve for as long as he had, ‘pretty badly’ didn’t come even close to the way Steve had taken all this. He didn’t show it, but Clint knew the man was bottling down all his feelings, and he knew sooner or later he would crack.
“Yeah, I don’t blame him though, Steve’s always had a soft spot for Tony”
“Really? to me, Stark never seemed close to anybody”
“Well, you really had to look for it, but… we all cared for the guy”
“What about you? How are you feeling?”
Clint hated when Sam used his counselor persona on him, but the truth was he felt… conflicted. He was still mad as hell with Stark for taking the side of the government. He was sure the man had known it was not the right thing to do, but at the same time, he hadn’t really wanted for anything like this to happen to him, he had been a good teammate and friend after all. He thought back on Steve, and how the remorse was consuming him. Not knowing if he was responsible for a man’s death could drive anyone mad.
“I… I didn’t hate the guy you know, not really. I was just mad at him for betraying us”
Sam didn’t know what to think. From his perspective, Tony had been in a complicated situation, playing the devil’s advocate supporting the Accords. Even if Sam himself hadn’t agreed with them, he was aware that some sort of accountability was needed. He didn’t dare say it out loud, but Tony must have felt a greater betrayal falling figuratively and literally at the hands of his friends.
They were alerted to the imminent arrival of some company a couple of minutes later. A couple of black spots could be seen over the horizon. As they got closer, they could make out a convoy of vehicles approaching the area. At least a dozen of heavily armed Humvees stopped in a semi-circle around the base, enclosing Vision right in the middle of them.
None other than general Ross himself climbed down from one of the vehicles, walking in a straight line for the android. The two of them where enwrapped in conversation, with Vision still hovering a couple of centimeters above the ground, forcing the general to strain his neck to look up at him.
“Nat, can we get a read on what they’re saying?” Steve sat up straighter in his seat inside the quinjet.
“No, there’s too much interference, and I can’t make out Vision’s face clearly”
Suddenly the General turned and stalked towards the entrance of the base, followed by a group of soldiers. Vision simply stood hovering in place, with the rest of the soldiers standing guard around him outside the building.
Steve and Natasha exchanged looks “What do you want to do?” time was running out, if they wanted to make their move, it had to be now.
“Nothing, we’ll wait. IF Tony is really inside, I doubt the military will try to do anything funny with Vision present. We’ll just have to wait and see”
In the end they hadn’t had to wait all that long. Ross had stormed out of the facility about thirty minutes later, brushing past Vision without sparing the android a second glance. By the older man’s body language, they could infer he had not found whatever it was he had been hoping to find.
“They’re leaving, but I don’t think they’re taking anything with them” Clint noted “At least nothing body-shaped or armor shaped”
“Are you sure?” Sam asked from his seat on the back of the quinjet, feeling the tension leave his body at the prospect of Ross leaving and them being able to get out of that hell hole.
“Ross didn’t seem pleased” Steve said pensively.
“I’m beginning to doubt Ross came all this way for Stark” said Clint to the others at large.
“I agree, it seems highly unlikely he came out here to check if Tony’s remains were there. I think he used this as an excuse to visit this base, and what it might still contain…”
“You think he’s trying to get a hold of the other Winter Soldier’s remains in there” said Sam with a worried expression, he didn’t want to think what would happen if the man got his hands on a sample of the super serum from the Winter soldiers.
“If that’s the case, why isn’t he taking them? why is he leaving empty handed?” asked Steve while checking the quinjet sensors. There didn’t seem to be anyone left on the base, except for the android still hovering at its entrance.
“Vision” said Natasha with conviction.
“You think he took care of the remaining Winter soldiers?” Steve looked up from the console panel.
“I think it’s the most likely explanation” she said with a nod.
“That still leaves us with the mystery of what happened to Tony” said Clint with an annoyed expression.
“Currently, there’s only one person who might know the answer to that”
The four of them looked towards the main monitor, where they could make out Vision amidst the blizzard that had started to fall around them. After a moment they saw the android floating away into the sky, taking with him the only clue as to what might have happened to Tony Stark.