Target Stark
Johann hadn't met The Lizard before (Nobody had for a while, not after the creature had escaped containment), and he had to say he was impressed. When it noticed them, it let out a roar and ran into bushes, sometimes stopping to make sure they were still following.
The Lizard took them to the entrance of a regular-looking cave.
"Sschild..." The creature hissed, "In. out. Rarely. Not same people. All don't come. Some sstay."
That meant there had to be another exit. That could also mean they'd have smaller risk of running into somebody. But the enemy had better weapons. He has a handgun without a silencer (He lost it and doesn't really think he can use the gun without it) and couple of knives, Brock has a sniper rifle and blades in his armor, and Helmut has a goddam medieval sword.
Johann gestures them to follow and slips in. They have walked about ten meters when an explosion shakes the entire cave. Gunshots follow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
He has done something wrong, all the alarms go off. At the exactly same time. Why does everything always go wrong?! Darren Cross shrinks down and tries to hide behind the wall components, but there are ants there. Lots of ants. Really big ants.
“……”
One of the ants roars to Darren’s face, prompting him to grow in size quickly. He has a bad day, some of the ants somehow grow with him and others swarm all over him, some even getting inside his suit (!). Ants in the pants, ants in the crevices, ants in the cracks, ants in the crannies, and ants on the sack.
And just when he thinks things couldn’t get any worse, two S.C.H.I.L.D Agents appear from around the corner. What was supposed to be a solo spy/sabotage mission quickly turns into a fully-fledged fight.
He really shouldn't've come there without training more. Or alone, for that matter.
A bullet comes from five o'clock and shatters the right side of his visor, somehow just sratching his face instead of kiling him. But it distracts him and the agent gets another shot, which fortunately hits his mechanical leg instead of something more important. He shrinks down again and shoots the other agent through the eye.
He won’t die before getting his revenge, on Scott Lang and Iron Grip.
Suddendly someone shoots the first agent's brains to the wall. 'Somebody' looks like Crossbones. Then there's a dumb-looking blonde guy he doesn't recognize, and a tall man with red hair and eyes, who's probably Scarlet. And The goddam Lizard, who looks at Darren hungrily, licking it's snout. Rumlow aims a gun between Darren's eyes, but Scarlet stops him. Thank god for that, he isn't bulletproof. Scarlet wants to know who he is and why is he there.
"I'm . . . . .Yellowjacket." Darren improvises, because he'd like to keep his secrets. All of them.
"I'd think he meant the real name, dumkopf."
"Ssstark!!" The newcomers turn in Lizard's direction and sees a pile of boxes with Stark's logo on them in the corner, damaged by explosion, and full of hi-tech weapons. Darren could use the second to slip away, but decides not to. It'll be better idea to stick with them, they are there for the same reason. He told them that the original Ant-man was his friend and he was there to avenge his death.
They are noticed when they advance deeper into the cave and have to run, their weapons are no match for Stark's, and Darren's suit is damaged. They have a plan for infiltrating Stark tower, Scarlet and Helmut will go distract Stark and Potts while Scarlet's friend Starr, a hacker, will snoop around. Lizard and Rumlow will be close by to communicate with Starr and be ready in case things go south. The original plan included Darren with Starr, but Cross couldn't fix the suit, so he was out. The idea had been that there would be two people in every place in case something happened and they would need help / to make an alert.
Starr would be on his own, Lizard was too unstable and un-sneaky and couldn't be left alone, Darren was of no use currently, and Rumlow was more of a sniper than a spy / close-combatant.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Stark." Stark turns to look at Johann and Helmut, grinning while shaking their hands.
"Oh, if it isn't the tall, red, and gruesome."
Johann's other hand clenches into fist in anger, but he keeps a good poker face.
"What brings you and your Dumb Blonde friend there?" Helmut doesn't even try to keep the poker face, and gives Stark a death glare. That isn't even a good enough reason to get offended, you moron.
"You stopped weapons manufacturing, am i right?"
"I did?"
"Don't you even try!", Helmut roars before Johann is able to shut him up, "We have proof, Stark. You work with S.C.H.I.L.D."
Silence. Stark's expression is blank but the look in his eyes is unmistakable.
"Does that moronic maniac realize the gravity of his accusation?"
"Don't you play --" Johann graps Helmut by collar and yanks him back.
"Schnauze!" He growls into Zemo's ear, scaring him a bit. Good, that's what he needs. Johann looks back at Stark, waiting for him to react.
"What's he talking about, Eisenhardt?" There was no crying after the spilled milk, so Johann decided to answer.
"We spied on S.C.H.I.L.D, and found several boxes of weapons with your logo on them."
"Probably stolen years ago." That's what he says...
"That's what i thought too, Herr Stark" Johann lies, "I came there in hopes you'd help us find out when and where were they stolen."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Starr tells Brock the tower's firewall is very good and he might not have time to get through it. As long as Stark isn't watching the security system, there is time, but Johann and Helmut can't keep him occupied forever, and Helmut seems to have fucked the mission up already. Brock is snapped out of his throughts when the line suddendly silences, and Starr doesn't answer.
Dammit.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"But, blondie said you spied on what you think was S.C.H.I.L.D. It doesn't exist any more, but, i know everything and didn't know that. Is it an unauthorized mission i'm smelling?"
Helmut went quiet and Johann refused to answer.
"What will your boss think?"
No answer from Johann. Helmy started to look distressed. Stark probably aimed the question specifically at him because he knew Helmut was the more mentally fragile.
"Oh, we can ask. Because Osborn's there too."
Verdammte...
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
He should've known. Helmut is a traitor too, he has reported to Osborn about everything they've done. Osborn is a traitor, has to be, he works with Stark. When Osborn tells Helmut to attack Johann, he obeys (thought seems to have a second of doubt). Johann should've known Helmut was evil. Zemo's were born evil. Johann dodges the sword and graps Helmut's wrist to get him drop it, he has to get close to stab him or use a taser. He looks Osborn in the eyes, and gets a bit startled because his irises have grown to the cover whole eyeball and turned yellow. Helmut, for some reason, doesn't take advantage of his startlement and looks a bit scared himself.
Johann has to do something, so he kicks Helmut with his knee, first on the balls, then the guts, chest, and jaw, making him stumble back a few steps.
"You goddam traitor!"
"No! They don't work for S.C.H.I.L.D! Neither do i! I'm not a nazi!!" Helmut screams, sounding a bit panicked. And unsure. Good, maybe Johann can beat some sense into him.
"You believe everything he tells you?!" Johann gets distracted, and Helmut strucks him with his sword. Johann pushes throught the pain and manages to bring Helmut down and stabs him to the shoulder, obviously having to defend himself but somehow reluctant to kill him despite him being a traitor. Helmut kicks him off, against the table. Both Johann and the table crash through the window behind, the window of about 100th floor. He sees only a glimpse of Helmut, but he doesn't look like he meant to do that. He looks shaken.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Oh god.
Oh god...
Helmut hadn't meant to kill him. He hadn't. It was an accident. He didn't know the table was so light...
He should've done something, try to grap Johann. But his legs had refused to move.
It hadn't been Johann's fault, he had just been his stubborn self, too proud and stubborn to run away or surrender. To believe Helmut and Osborn... The fault was Helmut's. He had killed Johann. He hasn't killed people before, he doesn't want to, and he doesn't like it. He isn't a killer!
What about Johann's friends? His family? Susan and the baby? His brother, the goddam Magneto? What if he gets angry at Helmut?
Osborn stands in place, silent, but Stark approaches Helmut, and puts a 'comforting' hand on his shoulder, preventing him from walking to the other side of the room where the remains of the window stand.
"Don't cry about him, blondie. He fucking stabbed you. He would've stabbed Osborn too if you hadn't attacked first." Helmut slowly turns his head.
"S.C.H.I.L.D has no part in this, Eisenhardt was delusional. There's no conspiracy, never has been. You did the right thing, Zemo. If you hadn't killed him, he would've became a threat. You saved us, Helmut. You were a hero."
Is that so?
"What's going on, then?"
"Osborn and i have a deal. Don't worry about it, your work is done, blondie. You can go home now."
Helmut says nothing in response.
Next: Winter is coming