DIVIDED- MARVEL

• ELEVEN •

2016

Let's hope they're not.

The words echoed through Cassandra's head as she walked carefully down the dark metal stairs. Steve was guiding them- Cassandra was squished in between him and James- and suddenly he stopped. Using Steve's shoulder as a rest for her arm, she pointed a gun towards the door he was staring at.

Her breath quickened as she waited for someone to attack them. The door finally opened, and on the other side was none other than her nephew, who had signed a document that would give almost every country in the world permission to kill her and her friends. Relaxing the finger she around the trigger slightly, she took her arm off Steve's shoulder.

"Tony," she said, venom in her tone.
"Cass. Steve, You seem a little defensive."

James and Cassandra kept their guns up, while Steve walked forward, covering his body with his shield.

"It's been a long day."
"At ease, soldiers. I'm not currently after you." Tony said to James and Cassandra. Neither of the siblings relaxed.
"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," he lowered his shield. "It's good to see you, Tony.
"You too, Cap," he turned to Cassandra and James. "Hey, Manchurian Candidates, you're killing me. There's a truce here."
"Well maybe if you hadn't tried arresting us, and signing us over to the government, we wouldn't be so tense." Cassandra said without once showing emotion.

Steve sighed, and the two put their weapons down, following Steve down the stairs. The three of them walked cautiously down the dark hallway. After walking through a hall full of pipes and wires, they reached a large door. Tony, now fully covered in his suit, opened it for them and lead them through.

"I got heat signatures." Tony warned.
"How many?" Steve asked.
"Uh, one."

As they entered, lights came on. Hazy yellow mist floated from one of the capsules. The one closest to them had a man inside. The others had people in them too. Cassandra walked around to find a better view of them, and she noticed something.

"James," her looked at her. "Look."

Bullet holes, going straight through every single soldier's head. She ran around the room, checking each one to make sure that they were all dead. She ran back around to Steve and James, when a light clicked on. She spun around and pointed her gun at the window. Zemo was sitting peacfully behind it. Out of anger, she shot the window, hoping it would break and he would die.

Nothing happened, the stupid man didn't even flinch. James softly grabbed her shoulder, to keep her from throwing herself at the wall that could withstand a UR-100 rocket. His sister, his five feet and five inches sister, no matter how many serums were piping through her veins, couldn't make a dent in that wall. And neither could any of them.

"Please, Agent. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets."

Cassandra snarled at him, James tightening her hold on his sister's shoulder.

"I'm betting I could beat that." Tony guessed.
"Oh, I'm sure you could, Mr. Stark. Given time. But then you'd never know why you came."
"You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?" Steve asked, using his "where is your righteousness voice" that he used commonly with Natasha and Cassandra.

"I 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."
"Psycho." Cassandra said, loud enough for him to hear. Steve ignored her.

"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."

Steve looked a Zemo, though "studying" may have been a better word, before asking,

"You lost someone?"

Zemo's face darkened, for once flashing a weakness. He clicked his tongue and spoke.

"I lost everyone. And so will you."

An older looking TV flashed on, and surveillance footage from a moment that lived clearly in her mind played. Steve stepped over to the screen, as did Tony. Cassandra stayed with her brother, who knew all to well what was about to happen.

"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumples from within? That's dead. Forever." Zemo said.

Tony looked anxiously at the frozen screen, displaying the date in the corner. December 16th, 1991. The day Howard and Maria Stark were said to have died in a car crash. But Cassandra knew that it was more than that, and so did Steve.

"What is this?"

dear god ma heart.
one time i was eating a box of crackers, cheese-itz i think, and i looked at the expiration date, and it was december 16th, and i screamed a little and cried a bit.
love you all more than deke loves spraying orange scented disinfectant in his mouth❤-