Chapter 3
Steve, Natasha and Clint had ventured into the abandoned hydra base once they made sure Ross and Vision were gone, leaving Sam behind inside the quinjet, keeping a lookout in case they had any more unexpected visitors.
The inside of the base had a more sinister feel to it compared to the last time Steve had set foot in there. This time, there was no electricity in place, so they had had to restore to their emergency flashlights. Great parts of the building were damaged or destroyed. They could clearly see the signs were the fight had taken place, the violence and destruction of it more than evident in the ruins of the place. It left Steve feeling appalled, he couldn’t believe he had let things escalate in such a harrowing way.
He could almost hear the echoes of the fight filling the place, the memories plaguing him with a force that made him take a step back and just… breath.
“Are you ok?” Natasha was looking at him with that sharp expression of hers, like she could see right through him.
“Yeah, fine, let’s go” without waiting for an answer Steve led the way through the narrow passages of the base, going straight for the place where he had last seen Tony Stark alive.
After some careful examination, they could find no evidence of the other Winter Soldiers remains anywhere, nor could they find the cryochambers they had been stored in. Steve could now see that, beside the massive destruction their fight had caused, there were also some clear signs of someone tampering with the place.
He now understood what Vision had been doing. The android had taken it on himself to destroy all evidence of the Hydra experiments done in that place, and he had done a very thorough job.
Walking down another dark corridor they could make out some natural light filtering through the other end. Steve’s trepidation grew by the minute, his adrenaline spiking as he almost ran into that dreaded room where he had left a beaten teammate behind. A part of him knew Tony wouldn’t be there waiting for him, wouldn’t receive him with a goading remark, as he so often had done, but still, he couldn’t suppress the disappointment of finding the room completely empty.
The echo of their footsteps resonated through the place. The three of them contemplated the sight before them, the evident raw emotion of the fight that had taken place in there still resonated in the atmosphere, the ghost of a heart wrenching emotion filling the place.
“You two put up a really good fight eh? I’m surprised Tony didn’t simply evaporate the two of you” said Clint with his usual tactless manner while he examined the distorted and charred remains of what must have once been Bucky’s metallic arm, letting out a low whistle. The evident intensity of the fight could be seen everywhere, from the holes and scorch marks on the walls and ceiling, to the blood stains still visible all over the floor of the place.
“Clint” Natasha said with a low admonishing voice. She could tell Steve was torn inside by the harrowing scene. But Steve didn’t seem to hear them though, as he was currently looking transfixed at a depression on the floor, splashed with an alarmingly large amount of dried blood.
“Steve…” Natasha knew that must have been where Tony had fallen, his armor taking the damage from Steve’s blows. Blows thrown with enough force to leave a small crater on the floor.
“I killed him…”
“You don’t know that”
“How could anyone survive this?”
Natasha put a gentle hand over Steve’s arm, trying to get his attention away from the bloodied scene “We’re talking about Tony, if anyone could figure out a way to escape this, it was him”
Steve’s glassy eyes met hers “What if he didn’t manage this time?”
The utterly raw emotion on his voice made her avert her gaze. There was simply no way to know what had happened to Tony, no way to comfort the bleeding heart of the guilty man falling apart in front of her.
“We ought to go, we still have to search the rest of this place” Clint broke the heavy silence, feeling awkward in the face of Steve’s distress. But, he thought, they still had a job to do after all.
They went through every nook and cranny of the base, trying to gather as much information as they could. Vision had done a pretty exhaustive job of destroying all evidence of the winter soldier program. This represented both a relief and a challenge for them. On one hand, it meant Vision had made sure none of this technology, nor the super soldier serum, would fall into the wrong hands, general Ross’s included. On the other, it would be near impossible to obtain information that could help them with Bucky’s current mental state. The man was suffering from severe flashbacks from his previous assassin’s life, the brainwashing firmly present in the man. They were all at a very real risk of the Winter Soldier being reactivated sooner or later.
A sudden loud crash made the three of them jump. A section of a far wall had collapsed under its own weight, leaving a thick cloud of dust hovering over the room. The three of them dispersed over the room, looking for whatever useful thing they could find.
“Steve, Clint, come here, I think I found something” Natasha called them from atop a small mountain of rubble, inspecting the wall that had collapsed.
“What did you find?” Came Clint’s response. So far, they had not found a single clue that could clarify what had been of Tony.
“You see these exposed cables here? These are the type used for security cameras, but these seem relatively new, compared to the other wiring I’ve seen around”
“You mean someone installed these recently?”
“You think Zemo rigged this place with cameras?” Both Steve and Clint said almost at the same time.
“Yes to both, that seems to be the most likely explanation”
“If there were cameras installed, maybe one of the videos could tell us what happened to Tony” Steve said hopefully, maybe they could finally solve this mystery.
“There’s only one way to find out”
They spent the better part of an hour tracing the cables to their source, navigating through collapsed walls and empty hallways.
“No luck guys, the videos where not physically stored here. The system has a remote recording function connected via satellite. Whoever placed the cameras has the videos stored somewhere else”
Steve gave Natasha a disheartened look. He had been so sure they could find a clue that would lead them to Tony.
“Can you trace the videos Nat?” asked Clint while helping her hop down from the control panel mounted over the wall she had escalated.
“Not with what I have at hand, but I can give it a try somewhere with more resources”
“That sounds like a plan” Steve said with a bit more conviction, perhaps not everything was lost.