The Winter Warrior // Captain America

«Chapter 37»

After a short, ominous elevator ride into the depths of the HYDRA facility, the doors opened and we discovered the ceiling lights were burning brightly. Considering this facility had been abandoned after I had escaped HYDRA, the doctor must've been here for a while.

We stealthily snuck up a flight of stairs and as I walked in front of Steve, I held my gun out with my finger on the trigger the whole time. 

A sudden sound behind us startled us and I whipped around, aiming at the steel door behind me while Steve protected us with his shield. "Ready?" Steve asked. 

"Yeah," I answered, even though I was far from ready.

The doors slowly opened to reveal the Iron Man suit. My muscles tightened and I felt how my hand started to shake. Tony Stark's mask fell down and Steve lowered his shield, approaching his old friend while I stayed on the stairs, never lowering my gun.

"You seem a little defensive," Tony commented and I narrowed my eyes at him. 

"It's been a long day," said Steve in return.

"At ease, Warrior, I'm not currently after you," Tony called to me but I just gripped my gun more tightly. 

"Then why are you here?" Steve asked the question I wanted to but didn't.

"Could be your story's not so crazy," Tony said. "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 mocked and I detected the defensive tone in his voice.

Tony scoffed lightly.

Steve lowered his shield fully. "It's good to see you, Tony," he said. 

"You too, Cap," said Tony. "Hey, Tomb Raider, you're killing me! There's a truce here, can you drop the gun?" he then called at me.

I glanced at Steve and he held up his hand, letting me know it was safe. I slowly lowered the gun and walked over to them, keeping a safe distance from Tony. He might claim he came in peace, but that did not mean in the slightest that I trusted him.

"Let's go," Steve muttered and led us through the facility. Every hallway we walked through was dead-silent and chilly. A few times, a drop of water fell to the ground, startling us all.

As we turned a corner, Tony said, "I got heat signatures." 

"How many?" Steve asked.

"Uh," Tony hesitated. "One." 

We entered a large room and my heart dropped. I knew this room. As we stepped inside, the cryo freezers surrounding us turned on. Steve was the first to step forward, and I mumbled, "Steve..." 

He turned to me but a new voice appeared, "If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep." 

I looked around to find the source of the voice as we walked past the cryo freezers. I felt my stomach churn at the sight before me. One of the other Warriors had a bullet wound in his forehead, his blood trickling down his face. He was dead, I realised.

"Did you really think I wanted more of you?" the voice continued, and I recognised it as the man who had interrogated me in Berlin.

"What the hell..." I whispered to myself, hardening my grip on the gun in my hands. The more cryo freezers we passed, the more dead Warriors we found. All of them had found their end with a bullet through their brain.

"I'm grateful, though." A light turned on ahead of us and Tony shot a blast at it, followed by Steve's shield, but the compartment in which the man was sitting wouldn't budge. "Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets." 

"I'm betting I could beat that!" shouted Tony.

"Oh, I'm sure you could, Mr Stark," said the man. "Given time. But then you'd never know why you came." 

"You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?" Steve asked him, slowly walking up to him.

"I've thought about nothing else for over a year," the man continued. "I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here, I just realised, there's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes." He chuckled to himself. "How nice to find a flaw." 

"You're Sokovian," Steve stated. "Is that was this is about?" 

"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell," he said. "No, I'm here because I made a promise." 

Steve shortly nodded his head. "You lost someone," he concluded.

"I lost everyone." The man spoke in a hushed voice but I could hear him loud and clear. And I had to admit, I did not like where this was going. "And so will you." 

The man turned his head and pressed a button. The screen next to Steve turned on and read three words that made my stomach twist into knots. 

16 December 1991.

"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again, but one which crumbles from within? That's dead. Forever," he told us.

Tony walked over to stand beside Steve while I stayed at a short distance. I didn't have to watch the video to know what it was. I remembered exactly how it happened.

"I know that road," said Tony, anxiety in his voice. "What is this?!"

On the screen, a car crashed into a tree and seconds later, I arrived on my motorbike. My face wasn't visible yet, but that wouldn't take too long. 

I held my eyes trained on the ground as my heartbeat picked up. I felt Steve's eyes on me.

Howard Stark's voice sounded, "Help my wife. Help." And seconds later, "Agent Rogers?" 

"Howard!" Maria Stark wailed.

Tony looked up and I closed my eyes, scared to death of what was going to happen.

The videotape came to an as the version of me on the video shot the security camera. 

At first, Tony didn't react, but when he thrust forward toward me, Steve held him back, "No, Tony, don't," he said.

Tony turned to his friend, tears in his eyes. "Did you know?" he whispered.

"I didn't know it was her," Steve said.

"Don't bullshit me, Rogers, did you know?!" Tony growled. 

Steve hesitated, letting out a breath. "Yes." 

Tony ripped away from Steve and glared dangerously. He nodded to himself before he unexpectedly lashed out and threw Steve off his feet. I quickly raised up my gun but before my finger could even come close to the trigger, Tony shot me down with a blast from his repulsors.

I launched my fist at him, but he easily caught it and held it away from him. He wrapped a hand around my throat and took off, dragging me through the air. He slammed me to the floor and I let out a groan. His armoured foot trapped my arm to the ground. 

Steve's shield hit the side of Tony's head and Tony's foot left my arm. I rolled aside while he was occupied by fighting Steve. Tony shot a device at Steve's feet and trapped his ankles together. 

I jumped to my feet and landed a punch, but Tony just took my throat again and flew off with me and slammed me into a wall. But he hadn't expected me to break free my metal arm and crush his right hand in my own, destroying the repulsor he had there.

He aimed a tiny missile at me but I averted his hand and he shot it away from us. It hit a wall and exploded. Multiple metal constructions came thundering down. My eyes widened and I ripped away from Tony's grasp, falling down several feet and hitting the ground with a clash.