I step up to the side of the building and stare at the door which looks like it's been pried open. Steve and Bucky walk up to me, standing on either side and they glance at each other. All of a sudden I hear incoherent thoughts in my head, but they're not mine. I cringe and put my hands to my head.
"Ruby, what's wrong?" Bucky asks
"He's here, I can hear him."
"How?" Steve mumbles
"I don't know but Vision is messing with my powers." I feel Bucky's hand touch my shoulder and he looks over at Steve.
"He can't have been here more than a few hours," Steve says, walking forward
"Long enough to wake them up." Bucky mumbles. We follow Steve into the bunker and step into a caged elevator. The two men look at me and I give them a reassuring nod as the elevator clanks against the floor and the doors slide open. They quickly glance outside the cage and Steve lifts it open for Bucky and me to step out, guns up and ready. We start to make our way through the halls. Then, the elevator starts moving again and we watch the gate open in front of the doors.
"You ready?" Steve asks
"Yeah," I mumble, holding my breath. The doors scream and part in the middle, revealing Tony in his suit.
"You seem a little defensive." He says sarcastically. Steve lowers his shield and I look over at Bucky who still has the gun aimed. Tony retracts the helmet and Steve takes a step forward.
"It's been a long day." Tony looks up at Bucky whose gun is still aimed.
"At ease soldier, I'm not currently after you." He glances at me and gives me a judgemental look, so I lower my gun and continue to watch their conversation.
"Then why are you here?"
"Could be your story's not so crazy. Maybe. Ross has no idea I'm here. I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself."
"Well, that sounds like a lot of paperwork," Steve lowers his shield all the way and grins at Tony, "It's good to see you, Tony."
"You too, Cap." He looks back up at Bucky who still hasn't lowered the gun, "Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me. There's a truce here. You can drop..." Steve turns around and motions for Bucky to lower the gun and they both look at me, a little confused. We walk ahead, now guided by Tony and I hear the doctor's thoughts get louder, echoing in my own mind. And when I focus on the thoughts, I'm interrupted by yet another stream.
"I got heat signatures," Tony says, bringing me back to the present situation.
"How many?" Steve asks
"Uh, one."
"That's him," I mumble. some lights turn on in the room next to us and I ignore the people I'm hearing. As soon as we turn the corner, the temperature drops probably 20 degrees and we look around to see several ice capsules, leaking freezing air. All four of us just walk through and look at all the bodies in them. Each soldier has a bullet hole in their foreheads and it explains the hole in the glass.
"If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep." A voice echoes over a speaker, "Did you really think I wanted more of you?" I look over to Bucky to try and gauge his reaction to what was just said but he just stares up at a soldier who used to oppose him and watches the icy steam flow out of the chamber.
"What the hell," I whisper, walking forward and gripping my gun tighter.
"I am grateful to them, though. They brought you here." The doctor continues. His face appears in the window of a control room and I can better read his mind. Steve hurls the shield in his direction and it bounces off the window and back to him.
"Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets." Zemo, the doctor, says
"I'm betting we could beat that," Tony says, pointing to me
"Oh, I'm sure you could, Mr.Stark, Ms... West. Given time. But then you'd never know why you came." Steve looks back at me and I shrug my shoulders and better aim my gun at the window. Steve turns back and starts to walk up to Zemo.
"You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?"
"I've thought about nothing else for over a year. I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here, I just realized... There's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw."
"You're Sokovian. Is that what this is about?"
"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell. No. I'm here because I made a promise." I look into Steve's mind, He's worried about what Zemo might do if he gets too much power over us. He focuses on everything Zemo is saying and doing and judges his words very carefully.
"You lost someone?"
"I lost everyone. And so will you." He leans back and clicks a button that starts to play surveillance footage on a screen by us. "An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within? That's dead... forever." He says as we all make our way to the screen. I notice a road and the side of the building and for some reason, I recognize it. It's a memory but not one of my own.
"I know that road," Tony says, pointing to the screen, and my stomach drops to the floor. I know why it's so familiar to me now. "What is this?" he yells to Zemo, who just backs up and disappears into the shadows.
YOU ARE READING
Girl Erased
FanfictionDisclaimer: Some scenes from this story were taken directly from Disney's Marvel movies, and Sony's Spider-Man series.
