Chapter 56

By the time Tony and I reached our destination, we made it look like a walk in the park.

He carried me across the ocean in his Iron Man suit, sending it to full power.

He didn't have to worry about me because I put up a defensive shield that wrapped around my body as he did this.

It took a little effort but at this rate, a little meant a lot.

"I told you it was cold." I grumbled, shivering into my coat Tony had given me before we left the Chopper.

It was thick and woolly but that didn't stop the fact that I was freezing my ass off.

Tony shuffles beside me, his suit making heavy thuds on the snow as we crunched our way forward.

I could almost feel a blizzard heading our way and squinted through the wind and haze.

The Quinjet was here but so was another slough truck.

Steve and Bucky probably just arrived.

"What do you see?" I asked Tony, looking forward.

He scanned the area around him for a moment using his tech. "There's a basement under this rock. Pavement, right there."

He pointed towards a lumbering shadow up ahead.

The mist seemed to clear and a bunker peek through the snow, embedded in a mountain of rocks.

"We're here," I tell him gravely, my voice small. I begin to walk ahead of Tony, not waiting for him to catch up.

"How do you know?" I heard him ask as he followed.

My footsteps faltered for a moment before I allowed the memories to run rampant.

"Because I remembered how those doors closed as I screamed for them to let me go."

He doesn't speak after that and I know my words have truly gotten him.

Even now as I stand in front of it, I still felt that familiar fear that slithered down my spine at the mere thought of this place.

They broke me down here and turned me into a monster.

"Blues?"

We were now standing on the threshold of the opened Bunker door and I blinked rapidly to get myself to focus.

It was like my entire body was shutting down and all I could recall where the memories I wanted to forget.

"I'm fine," I looked at him and nodded before glancing back at the long darkened hallway that led to a stairwell.

Are you ready to see what happened here?

I took a step in and hesitated before ignoring the dark voice and continuing on towards the stairs.

Are you ready to become what you truly are?

I heard Tony closing the Bunker with a loud metallic bang, caging us in.

"I appreciate the confidence but get behind me. One of us is made of metal."

Tony sidesteps me and begins to lead, not pausing to wait for my protests.

He doesn't seem to notice how affected I am and I'm silently grateful he doesn't.

This will make it all easier, won't it?

I swallowed hard and raced after Tony, keeping my head low as we slowly descended down the stairwell and deeper into my real nightmare.

He's silently scanning the walls of this place and the large metal pipes surrounding us.

It looked to be abandoned for quite some time and Tony was looking around like he couldn't decide if he was amazed or disgusted.

"You know if Steve's right we're gonna have to face down 5 super soldiers right?" I tell him as we slowly edge along the winding hallway.

He looks around cautiously, keeping his guard up. "That's why you're here. You're gonna do your Witchy thing and I won't even have to break a sweat."

I glared at the back of his head but thought nothing as we finally made it to the end of the level, revealing an old caged elevator.

"Oh hell no." I shook my head, not trusting the old rust bucket in front of us.

"How far does it go?" Tony says this suspiciously, obviously feeling the same.

I gave him a side glare. "I haven't been here for 10 years jackass and I wasn't as conscious as I was now."

Tony merely pouts before pushing the elevators apart with his iron hands and looking at me expectantly

"I don't think we're suppose to go in there," I shook my head, adamant.

There must be another way down right? I wasn't healing and if that thing breaks, breaking a bone would be the least of my worries.

He lets out an exasperated breath. "What happened to being reckless?"

Oh, so he's going to pull that card?

"That was before it was clear I wasn't going to die!"

To Tony, I was being dramatic but in all honesty that's what I was worried about.

Tony clambers in the elevator and jump several times, making the elevator grind, noisily against the heavy weight.

"You see? Its fine. Now down the rabbit hole, Alice."

I swear if I couldn't use my powers, I would've decimated his ass.

I reluctantly stepped in the elevator and pressed myself against the wall.

Nonetheless the rusty elevator brought us lower underground.

I was growing increasingly nervous as each second ticked by. I wasn't keen on looking at Steve.

Not after what he did.

Fresh memories of what happened in the airport hit me and I had to release a loud sigh, tarnishing them out of my mind.

But how could I when I could feel the pain so clearly as he broke my heart?

Or when the veins reappeared full force, leaving me empty and no chance for more time?

He didn't trust you. They never did.

"Hey," Tony waved his Iron hand at my face. "Stop looking like Alice and start looking like Blues."

He knows I'm distracted but he wants me to get back to focus.

I swatted his hand away and huffed in annoyance as the elevator slows to a thud.

Like before, he places both hands in between the cracks and pushed them aside, scrapping the rusted metal.

There was a moment of silence before I felt both Steve and Bucky's energy waves hit me.

You couldn't feel them when you arrived could you?

My fists tightened.

You're losing the fight.

Tony walks forward, slowly. He sensed the tight tension surrounding us and his mask unclasps itself.

"You seem a little defensive." My brother says lightly, looking around for threats.

Steve has his shield in front of him while my Protector raised a large rifle, pointing it at Tony.

"Its been a long day." Steve's emotions tells me he was surprise but also extremely suspicious.

"God, make out already." I grumbled, walking out with my hands on my hips.

Tony rolls his eyes and the Super Soldier in front of me, falters, his shield loosening.

Bucky's dark eyes swept over me and I nod, telling him I was okay. (By now standards)

"Riley?" Steve looks at me carefully.

"Hey, Ice Pick." I waved, smiling sadly.

The two of us just stands there staring at each other and because I am unable to get a read on my powers properly, I am unable to detect what he felt.

One thing I do know was that once this is all over.

We were going to have a long talk.

Tony doesn't miss a beat. He raises a hand and gestures at me to the people in front of us.

"Peace offering?"

I gave him a harsh glare and huffed loudly, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I'm not a tribute." I glowered at my Brother's classic smirk as he turns to face Bucky who has not dropped his gun.

"At ease soldier, I'm not currently after you,"

Steve narrowed his expression. "Then why are you here?"

The two of us walked forward and Tony shrugged flippantly. "Could be your story's not so crazy."

I sensed Steve's shock of Tony admitting-but-not-admitting apology.

"Maybe." He added hastily, his ego not wanting him to lose.

I rolled my eyes and faced the two defensive people in front of us.

"He's not lying." I tell them reassuringly that my brother was being genuine.

Reading emotions came with its ups and downs.

Steve was conflicted but I sense that won't last long. Not when I was telling him the truth.

"Ross doesn't know I'm here. I like to keep it that way," Tony leans over the wall and keeps a straight face. "Otherwise, I gotta arrest myself."

The corner of Steve's lips tugged up. "Well that sounds like a lot of paperwork."

Tony lets out a light scoff, smiling softly.

Steve lowers his shield and I release a sigh of relief at the temporary truce established between the two people that mattered the most to me.

"Its good to see you, Tony, Lorelie." He acknowledges us both, blue eyes crest fallen.

"You too, Cap." Tony says back but I simply nod in return.

I let my eyes wander up to my Protector who's still as a statue and gave him a small smirk.

"Chuvstvo schast'ya?"

Feeling trigger-happy?

Bucky smiled through the scope at me as my brother and Steve took notice of our interaction.

"YA rad, chto ty v poryadke."

I'm glad you're okay.

"Hey, Manchurian Candidate," Tony calls out to him, annoyed that Bucky still had his finger on the trigger. "You're killing me. There's a truce here. You can drop..." He motions to the weapon.

Steve signals Bucky to lower his guard and he reluctantly obeys.

The four of us stood around awkwardly before I sighed.

"Come on," I tell them. "Its time to fix our mistakes."

;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;

Tony agreed to lead the way in front, followed by Steve, Bucky and then me.

I'm pretty sure they decided to put me last because in their eyes I was the one that needed to be protected.

We ended up walking along a longer corridor, each step growing more familiar then the last.

The bunker was starting to become more familiar as time passed and I know that Bucky senses it too.

"I never wanted to remember this place again." I spoke out loud, watching the large spiderweb shaped cracked glass on a barred cage we passed.

Bucky made eye contact with me and he sorrowfully nods in reply, understand what I meant.

"It never gets easier." I sighed, wrapping my arms around myself as I face the floor in complete desolation.

The walls felt like they were closing in on me and I had to brace myself each time a dizzy spell hit me.

"I got heat signatures." Tony called out as we landed ourselves through a larger opening space.

The circle-like entrance was huge and it allowed more sight for us to see what was on the other side.

"How many?" Steve stopped by the threshold, holding one arm out to both Bucky and me, signalling us to a stop.

"Uh... one."

The larger space starts lighting up, one by one, revealing 5 lit up hissing cradles that surrounded the room and a lone metal chair at the center.

I released a sharp breath and looked away when the painful memories bounced back at me.

My abilities weaved for a moment on its own accord and dusted the area, searching for a threat.

It found none.

"If it's any comfort, they died in their sleep."

An accented voice spoke out over speaker and the four of us glance at each other before parting sides, slowly walking deeper in the room.

I had a bad feeling about this and my abilities seemed to sensed it too because they were crackling in between my fingers.

Inside the yellow cradle, the supposed other Winter Soldiers all slept peacefully on their spots.

Motionless and unmoving.

Accept for the gunshot wound dripping blood down their foreheads.

"Did you really think I wanted more of you?"

Bucky looks at the now dead soldiers and murmurs his confusion.

"What the hell?"

None of us knew what was happening or how its going to go down.

"I'm grateful to them, though. They brought you here."

From in front of us, a window size glass panel lights up, revealing the man that was behind it all.

Tony lifts his gauntlet but Steve was quicker, throwing the death Frisbee towards him.

However, the shield doesn't hit the fake doctor and flies back to Steve with a loud clang.

From behind the protective shield, Zemo smirks.

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

Tony steps in beside me and scoffs. "I'm betting I could beat that."

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

"Why don't you just cut to the chase, Creepy," I spoke to him, glaring at him with venom.

He was the one that framed my Protector.

Killed innocents.

All so he could what?

Bring us here?

"You killed innocent people in Vienna just to bring us here?" Steve caught on to what he meant and even he was confused as the four of us began to gather in front of the window.

"I thought about nothing else for over a year." He announces, something dark in those words.

"I studied you. I followed you. But now that you're standing here, I just realized..."

Steve doesn't budge when Zemo leans closer, dark eyes narrowing in thought.

"There's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes. How nice to find a flaw."

"I should sue you for harassment." I hummed, smiling sarcastically. "You know so much about us, that's called stalking."

Zemo is not amused. His eyes flicker back to me and his hatred only intensifies.

"You're Sokovian," Steve stands in front of me, shielding Zemo's view of me. "Is that what this is about?"

Steve struck a nerve.

I watch as Zemo's emotions crumbled.

He was angry. Enraged. Sad. Revengeful. Regretful.

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

Steve's blue eyes filled with pained and its clear the Super Soldier understands what this man is going true.

"You lost someone?"

Zemo pauses. Features grave.

He gives me a chilling look. One I did not miss as I read his careful painful thoughts.

;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;

"Amina... Amina..."

He murmurs over and over again, desperate and in pain as he shifts through the rubble and rock that encased the ground.

"Papa?!"

His gun is hanging by loosely on his shoulders and black soot covered his face, smearing everywhere.

There's a crazed look in his eyes as his bloody hands continued to shift through the cracking debris.

"Carl! Amina!" He's calling for them.

His heart is in pain.

His life is falling apart.

He needs to find them.

He needs to find them.

Find them...

Rock and rock, cut after cut.

He finally finds them.

But they are no longer moving.

They're dead.

And he could only fall to his knees.

His heart filling with revenge.

Revenge to those that killed them.

;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;

I stumbled away from the glass and placed a hand to my heart, crying out in pain at the intense force that sends me reeling.

My eyes found Zemo's and my guilt stricken eyes is enough for him to feel satisfied.

Amina.

The girl I couldn't save.

Carl, her son.

And the old man, Zemo's father.

"Blues? Blues, are you okay?" Tony's hand grips my forearm but I ripped myself away from him, choosing instead to wrap my arms around myself.

"No..." I shook my head and cradled my temple, letting the guilt ride my heart and the veins to crawl further up me.

This was my fault.

All of it.

Zemo wouldn't have done all this if I could've saved his family.

But I didn't.

I left his Son and Dad, to die.

"I lost everyone." Zemo quietly announced from his spot, dark eyes burning with no sense of remorse.

"And so will you."

The old computer beside Steve starts playing.

Showcasing large letters across the footage.

December 16th 1991.

The day our parents died.

"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again."

Steve makes his way over to the computer, features blank.

Tony left my side and I followed after. My heart choking on itself as the image began to come forward.

"But one which crumples from within? That's dead... forever."

Bitter cold began to rise up my neck.

A dangerous, curling emotion began to penetrate the air. Choking the already dead area with tension.

The footage shows an empty secluded road and I know where this is because Tony showed it to me when I first came to California.

The two of us spent hours, revising it, just trying to figure out if something went wrong.

But it was a freak accident.

A freak accident.

"I know that road," Tony's mask had unclasps itself, and his pointing at the computer with fear and nervousness.

Steve backed away as the two of us gathered in front of the video tape, hearts in our mouths.

"What is this?!" He asks Zemo, yelling loudly. Zemo only slinks away, washing off his sins and leaving us to ourselves.

The shinning camera date, tells no lie.

PM 7.01

DEC. 16 1991

CAM 3

My heart is beating rapidly. My lungs felt like they can no longer work on their own.

There's a shift in the footage and a car hits the large tree, fire clawing the front and making the people inside unconscious.

"T-That's..." I can't finish my sentence because the two of us already know what this was.

The footage of our parents accident.

Accept it doesn't stop there like it always does.

It continues.

And like a moth to a flame, we grew attracted.

Something pulled up towards the car.

No. Not something.

Someone.

My knees buckled. I couldn't hold them up on my own and I fell forward, clutching the table desperately for some sort of support.

No. Oh god, please no.

A man driving a motorcycle stops the bike and gets off.

He's not there to help them.

He's not there to see what happened.

No. This was his mission.

And he always obeyed.

How many times had I seen his figure?

How many times had I seen his missions?

How many times had I watched him kill?

This was the Winter Soldier.

Tony's change in energy, spikes. Anger and rage began to fill him, burning with so much passion that it nearly suffocates me.

"Help my wife. Please. Help."

Howard crawls out the side of the car...

Dad, crawls out the side of the car, his face bleeding and his body weakened from what just happened.

The Winter Soldier walks over to him and grips him by the hair, hoisting him up.

My Dad and him stared at each other closely and I watch the panic grew on Howard's face and the shock that tore him apart.

"Sergeant Barnes?"

I can't look. I can't see what's about to happen, I can't believe what my eyes force me to believe.

"Howard!"

I hear my Mom.

Shouting. Calling.

Desperate. In pain.

I don't know what to do and my gaze finds Steve, blue orbs falling into deeper anguish then I've ever seen before.

This is going to break us.

This is going to kill us.

The Winter Soldier starts pummeling into my Dad's face. His metal fist, crunching bone against bone until Howard finally slumps.

Dead.

Tony looks away, forcing a sharp exhale but I can't keep my eyes away from the scene because I wished it not to be true.

"Howard!"

My Mom's agony filled cries springs a new found pain that makes it harder to breath.

My Protector stands there, motionless. Unable to say or do anything to save the situation from becoming worse.

The Winter Soldier drags Howard by his collar like a rag doll and lifts him up to the driver's seat, placing his head on the wheel.

My mother screams, tears rolling down her face.

Please. Make it stop. Make it stop.

My powers are going out of control. Black is beginning to filtrate the area and curl around me with no means of stopping.

The Winter Soldier goes to my mother's side and in one swift move, had his hand around her throat, choking her to death.

It isn't long before I can no longer hear them.

Hear their wails and cries of distress.

The Winter Soldier walks right at the camera and pulls out a gun, killing the camera off instantly.

After that, it was just silence.

Horrible.

Creasing.

Heartbreaking, silence.

My brother is the first to move, lunging at Bucky but immediately stopped by Steve who placed a firm hand on his forearm.

"Tony, Tony." The Super Soldier calls out to him, trying to get him to see sense.

But my Brother can't see.

He's blinded with uncontrollable rage and I can feel it.

I can feel the crawling of revenge and it shatters my once healed heart and icing the deadly veins.

Tony slowly looks at Steve, betrayal filling those brown orbs.

"Did you know?"

Its a quiet whisper and I shakily clutched my mouth, shaking my head side to side at whats about to happen.

There's tears glistening in Tony's eyes and he can't help but glance at me momentarily.

I didn't have the heart to look at him.

"I didn't know it was him,"

Lie.

"Don't bullshit me Rogers, did, you, know?"

Its the lie that strains my soul and allowed it to be torn apart.

I face the man I loved with heartbreaking tears and refused to acknowledged the painful truth that's about to go down.

"Please..." I begged, unable to take the amount of pain that is exploding everywhere within me.

Tony makes a move to lunge but I wrap my arms around his waist from behind, voice muffled as I sank myself deeper onto my brother.

"Tony please..." I'm pleading with him. Tears are falling down my face and I want it to stop. "Don't."

I want this all to stop.

I can't look at my Protector.

I can't look at Steve.

My only lifeline is Tony and I'm losing him all over again.

"You're not the only one hurting, okay?" I breathe shakily, hoping he'd see what I was trying to say. "You're not the only one hurting."

He rips himself of, of me and faces me with a harsh glare that makes me flinch.

"When are you going to choose a side, Lorelie?"

Its the tone and the fact that he used my real name that makes me fall apart.

"Now you tell me the truth and you tell me the truth now!" Tony shouts, his anger directed at Steve.

My fingers shook uncontrollably and I can't help but look at the two most important people in my life with desperation.

"Did. You. Know?"

Steve's blue eyes flickered. From Tony to me before eventually landing on me.

I shook my head. Telling him; "No. Don't. Please, don't."

Because I already knew the answer.

Because I already accepted the betrayal.

Because I already know that I can't stop them.

If I could go back in time and get rid of these empathic abilities I would.

The Super Soldier looks at Tony directly before my ears began to ring and my world tore itself apart.

"Yes,"