Angel and the Civil War

FIFTEEN

I spend another hour crying and mourning Angel before getting back on the quinjet and returning to Berlin. I land on the helipad, not bothering to care when workers tell me I can't leave it there. I march down the stairs and through different halls until I see Natasha, in the same room I left her in earlier. I walk over cautiously.

Nat is sitting against the wall, her head in her hands. When she hears me coming, her head whips up and I can see just how puffy her eyes are.

"Was it her?" Natasha asks, her voice cracking.

"Yes." More tears fall from Nat's face. I would cry if I could, but I have no tears left to give.

"How?" I feel bile coming back up my throat but I force it down.

"No one is sure but... they think she," I pause composing myself, "they think she died from choking on her own blood." Natasha lets out a strangled sob. "Have you told Steve and Sam?" Nat shakes her head, still sobbing. Slowly I walk out of the room and head to where they are waiting in the conference room. Sam sees me first and his face drops.

"She's gone?" Sam asks. Steve turns to look at me and I can already see the tears forming. I nod. Sam wipes away a few tears before speaking again. "Did she have a chance?" I know what he means. He wants to know if we could have saved her.

"We don't know anything for sure but the doctor on site believes she died shortly after the building collapsed," I say, my voice lacking emotion.

"She shouldn't have been there," Steve says quietly. I glare at him.

"Angel was a part of this team. She sacrificed herself so everyone else could survive. We can't go blaming each other," I say forcefully. Steve just rolls his eyes.

"You never wanted Angel!" He yells. "You wanted to send her away! She was only there so you could bribe her to keep her on your side!"

"I sent her to show her I value her! I sent her because she was sad and I wanted to cheer her up!" I yell back, taking a step forward. Sam quickly steps between Steve and I.

"Guys, calm down. This isn't want Angel would have wanted," he tries. I push him out of the way.

"Angel is gone!" Steve yells, getting in my face. "She is gone, Tony! I accepted that hours ago!"

"So your going to move on and forget her! She has been apart of our lives for almost two years!" Sam tries to separate the two of us again, but I shove him out of the way, again. This time he fights back, shoving me into the glass wall. I push of the wall and face Steve again.

"She was apart of my life, Tony! Not yours!" Steve steps forward and shoves me back into the wall.

"She touched all of our lives!" I step forward and push him back.

"That's enough!" Nat yells from the doorway. We all stop. "Angel is gone. This is not how she would want us to react. Angel is gone," Nat sniffles as more tears fall from her face. "She chose to save everyone. She chose to save me and now she's gone..." Steve, Sam and I stay still. Natasha walks away hugging herself. No one says anything until Steve speaks up.

"How did she die?"

"She had a lot of injuries," I say softly. "She was impaled by a block of concrete but, uh, she died from chocking on her own blood."

"No..." Sam whispers. Steve says nothing, his head hung. "Poor, Angel." Steve looks up at me, grief present in his eyes but so is determination.

"Bucky didn't do this, Tony." I scowl at him, and Sam looks at him in shock.

"That's what your concerned about! Angel is dead and all you care about is Bucky! He will get what he deserves, I can promise you that." Angry, I leave the room in a huff. Steve only cares about Bucky. Barnes will pay. I will make sure of it. I start heading towards where I'm guessing Secretary Ross will be, the main meeting rooms. It takes me a minute but I find him. He's talking with a few commanders.

"Stark, I'm sorry about the girl," he says as he sees me coming. With a wave of his hand, he dismisses the commanders.

"Her name was Angel," I say angrily.

"Yes, yes. Have you gotten the chance to talk to our vigilantes? I'll have you know some of my subordinates aren't too happy we're letting them go."

"Lock them up and throw away the key for all I care now. I want Barnes." Ross nods.

"We have psychiatrist coming to evaluate him. We'll go from there," Ross informs me.

"I want him dead!" I snap.

"He's killed many more people than the girl. Everyone will ge justice, Stark. I can promise that." Secretary Ross walks past me, leaving me standing there like an idiot. I want Barnes dead.

Steve's POV

There's something wrong with me. Angel is gone and my response was to defend Bucky. I know in my heart that Bucky didn't so this but... I handled this so wrong. The last time I saw her, she chose Tony. Her last words to me were 'I'm sorry.' I shouldn't have not spoken to her after that. The last time she saw me, she saw how disappointed I was. I wish I could go back in time and tell her everything would be ok. She died thinking I hated her. I could never hate Angel.

I gave up hope before I needed to. I focused all of my hope on Bucky. Sam was right. I chose a side too soon. I chose a side when there was none to pick. It was never Angel vs Bucky. Never did I have to pick between the two but I did. I chose Bucky. Now I am going to fight for him.

Bucky did not kill Angel. I know it.