Civil War

4

"Is he good now?" Sam asked cautiously.
"Time to find out." Steve replied reluctantly.
"What happened?" Bucky asked when they stepped into the room.
"You don't remember?" Sam asked dubiously
"I was afraid of this. It's all still there. Everything Hydra put in my head, all he had to do was say the damn words!" Bucky said frustratedly. "Did I kill anyone?"
"No." Steve answered.
"Steve." Sam protested.
"The Winter Soldier did. Bucky didn't kill anybody. There's a difference." Steve stated.
"What did he want?" Sam pivoted.
"He wanted to know about Siberia, where I was held. Specifics, he wanted to know exactly where." Bucky answered.
"Why would he want to know that?" Steve asked.
"Because I'm not the only one. There are more Winter Soldiers." Bucky answered ominously.
"How many?" Steve pressed.
"Five." Bucky answered.
"They all turn out like you?" Sam asked.
Bucky shook his head. "Worse. They speak 30 languages, can hide in plain sight. Infiltrate, assassinate, destablilize. Take down an entire country in one night and no one would ever see them coming. They were Hydra's most elite kill squad, more kills than anyone else in Hydra history before they even got the serum."
"Can they be controlled?" Steve asked.
"Well enough." Bucky confirmed.
"This would have been so much easier to deal with a week ago." Sam stated.
"We can't take on five of them by ourselves." Steve agreed.
"We could call Nat." Sam suggested half-heartedly.
"No. Even Tony and Nat believed us - they can't help. The Accords won't let them." Steve paused. "We're on our own."
"Maybe not. I know a guy." Sam countered.
*****
"Alright now that Ross is gone, we need to talk." Natasha closed the office door.
"No, we need to start looking for them or we're gonna get locked up in the Raft and they're gonna be dead." Tony pointed out.
"Sit down Tony." Natasha blocked him from leaving.
"Fine. What do you need to tell me?" Tony huffed.
"Zemo didn't kill the security cameras. I watched the feed from when he was in there with Barnes." Natasha stated.
"You figure out what his master plan is?" Tony asked.
"Zemo wanted to know other Winter Soldiers were. Activated Barnes trigger words so he would tell him." Natasha answered.
"They're gonna walk into a trap." Tony deduced.
"Not in the way you think. I don't think Zemo actually wants to use the Winter Soldiers. So I did some digging in the files I dumped onto the internet. There's five but you can do more damaged with six so why leave Barnes behind? He's the easiest to control, more mentally stable than the others. I think the others a lure, a distraction to get us all to go after him." Natasha shook her head.
"Okay so then his actual plan?" Tony asked.
"To kill an empire. Our empire." Natasha stated.
"How the hell is he supposed to do that? One guy against the Avengers? Even fractured as we might be right now; half of us can beat one guy." Tony asked dubiously.
"Exploiting the fracture." Natasha sighed. "He also asked for a mission report for December 16, 1999."
"The night my parents died." Tony said. "They didn't die in a car crash did they."
"The Winter Soldier killed them." Natasha confirmed.
"Steve know about this? Did you?" Tony accused, anger flashing in his eyes.
"Not officially. Arnim Zola implied Hydra had orchestrated your parents death but we never had confirmation on who did it or how they did it. Now I know for certain. While Barnes was under, he confirmed it." Natasha stated. "Zemo knows how attached Steve is to Bucky. Pretty sure everyone on the face of the planet does. I'm guessing his master plan was to get the three of you same room and reveal the secret knowing it would lead to a bloodbath. I'm telling you this now so you can either handle this with a cool head or I will remove you from the entire situation."
"I can handle myself for 36 hours because we have a bigger problem but once those 36 hours are up; the four of us are gonna have a talk." Tony said coldly.
"Thank you." Natasha acknowledged.
"So then what's our plan? There's no way Rogers even knows half of what is actually going on. How we gonna stop him from being an idiot, meet Ross' demands and stop Zemo all in 36 hours?" Tony listed.
"Follow Sharon Carter. She'll lead me to Steve and I'll talk some common sense into him." Natasha shrugged. "Kills two birds with one stone and we let the Task Force deal with Zemo."
"You just said he's not gonna listen to common sense when Barnes is involved; so how's that gonna work?" Tony refuted.
"What would you have me do since there's no way I'm letting you talk to him." Natasha countered.
"I don't know. You two have a secret thing going on. Are you just sleeping together or you actually dating?" Tony asked bluntly.
"Neither. We've not together and we never have been." Natasha shot him a glare.
"What planet have you been living on? You flew all the way to London for the funeral of a woman you never knew for him. And he flew from London to Vienna just to call you." Tony remarked.
"And you people think I have commitment issues." Tony scoffed. "You two have some complicated feelings for each other; use it. It might be the only thing that will get him to see that he's blinded by his rose colored nostalgia glasses."
"If that's a thinly veiled attempt to suggest I should seduce him, I will break you good arm." Natasha threatened.
"That's wasn't what I was suggesting but fine, we'll do it your way. What are you gonna do when common sense fails?" Tony challenged.
"Hopefully it doesn't come to this but a good old fashioned show of force." Natasha answered.
"Guess we'd better start recruiting. As scary as you can be; three or more against one is not good odds." Tony said. "You don't happen to know where Bruce is?"
"Even if I did, he wouldn't be on our side." Natasha stated. "I'll call Rhodey, bring him in from Bucharest. See if I can talk some sense into the new King of Wakanda. We should get Vision here too."
"We can't leave Maximoff by herself." Tony shook his head.
"If you think Steve isn't sending someone to help break her out; you're crazy. She's capable of handing Vision his ass when she wants to. Besides it was a dumb idea to put her under forcible house arrest in the first place." Natasha countered. "And don't bother trying to use the Accords to defend yourself."
"He stays until that happens." Tony stated. "You got anything else?"
"There's a SHIELD team I could call. I trust them and they would be Accords approved." Natasha suggested.
"That's a bonus given our current situation. I gotta another idea I'm gonna work." Tony mused.
"Try not to do something you'll regret later." Natasha cautioned.
"We're all gonna have regrets when this is over." Tony pointed out. "You think they're recruiting too?"
"I don't doubt it. I'm sure they managed to figure out enough to think the plan is the Winter Soldiers and they're not dumb enough to go three against five so they're gonna be calling for reinforcements." Natasha nodded.