34. C.A. Civil War (4)

        The 'Spider-man' then swung through the glass, knocking Uncle Sam down, causing me to stop in my tracks before he moved to Bucky. Bucky threw a punch, but the Spider-Man caught his fist while commenting on it,

"You have a metal arm? That is awesome, dude!"

I then took the chance to attack, tackling Spider-man and causing us to roll on the ground. Spider-man landed on top of me, and we stayed there for a moment, in shock, before he introduced himself, "Hi... hi, I'm Peter... I mean Spider-Man! I'm Spider-Man!"

I awkwardly smiled at Spider-Man on top of me, who was clearly flustered.

"Katie," I replied with a nervous chuckle.

"I know, you're awesome."

"Thanks. Look, you seem like a nice guy, so I apologize in advance for this." After I finished my sentence, I used a force field to get him off me. Spider-Man quickly recovered, and we fought hand-to-hand. "Not bad, 'Spider-Boy,'" I smirked and kicked him before he webbed me to the wall. As he backed away, he politely mocked my previous comment,

"Look, you seem like a great girl, so I apologize for this."

Out of nowhere, Uncle Sam flew in, grabbing Spider-Man in the process. "You have the right to remain silent!" I heard Spider-Man yell, then I proceeded to struggle out of the webs while Uncle Sam and Bucky fought Spider-Man. After struggling for a few minutes, I tried expanding a force field ball around me. It worked, and I ran to where my uncle, Bucky, and Spider-Man had gone. When I was only a few paces away, I saw that Redwing dragged Spider-Man through the glass wall.

"You couldn't have done that earlier?" I heard Bucky ask.

"I hate you," Uncle Sam answered, and I looked down at them with an amused smile,

"You two need some help?" I jumped down as Uncle Sam sternly retorted,

"You flirting with the enemy?"

I undid the webbing and hesitated before saying,

"No." After I helped Bucky up, I turned to Uncle Sam again, knowing he didn't believe me, "Please don't tell Dad?"

"Leave her alone," Bucky lightly chuckled, and we followed him out of the terminal. We met up with the rest of the team, running toward the Quinjet.

"Come on!" Dad called to us, and the three of us caught up. Before we could reach the Quinjet, a stream of energy sliced across the runway in front of us. We stopped and saw Vision hovering overhead.

"Captain Rogers," Vision boomed, "I know you believe what you're doing is right. But for the collective good, you must surrender now."

The rest of Uncle Tony's team arrived, blocking our path.

"What do we do, Cap?" Uncle Sam asked, and I feared the answer.

"We fight," Dad replied. I gulped, not wanting to fight my family, but I knew this wasn't the biggest problem. Both teams marched toward each other, and then we started jogging and then running. I fought Aunt Nat with Uncle Clint until Spider-Man pulled me up with his web, and I let out a small scream. Wanda helped me get him off, and I continued to fight him while she went to help everyone else. While I was fighting, I saw Dad running to my aid right before Spider-Man webbed me to one of the planes.

"Oh, come on!"

"Sorry!" Spider-Man apologized while swinging toward Dad. He had made sure to web my hands, so I couldn't open them to create a force field. I watched as Dad and Spider-Man fought while trying to get out. Eventually, Dad caused part of the tunnel to fall on Spider-Man. He held it up but couldn't stop Dad from running to help me. Dad cut me loose with his shield and then spoke,

"Looks like you've met your match with that kid."

I rolled my eyes,

"I just need to work on anticipating him more. Let's go."

Dad chuckled but didn't say anything else. We ran over to Bucky, hiding behind stairs. We took a minute to catch our breath, and Dad asked me,

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah," I responded, "I could do this all day." I hadn't even realized what I said before Bucky laughed and added,

"She is definitely your daughter."

I smiled at him, and he looked at the others fighting. "We gotta go. That guy's probably in Siberia by now."

"We gotta draw out the flyers. I'll take Vision. You and Katie get to the jet," Dad instructed.

"No," Uncle Sam said over coms, "You get to the jet! The three of you! The rest of us aren't getting out of here."

I looked at Dad with a worried expression when we heard Uncle Clint over the coms as well,

"As much as I hate to admit it, if we're going to win this one, some of us might have to lose it."

"This isn't the real fight, Steve," Uncle Sam assured. Dad looked at Bucky and me before nodding,

"Alright, Sam, what's the play?"

"We need a diversion, something big."

"I got something kind of big," Scott informed us, "But I can't hold it very long. On my signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half... don't come back for me."

"What?" I asked, feeling very confused.

"He's going to tear himself in half?" Bucky questioned, and Dad checked with Scott,

"You're sure about this, Scott?"

"I do it all the time. I mean once... in a lab. Then I passed out."

After a moment, we saw Scott grow into a giant with Uncle Rhodey in his hand.

"Way to go, Tic Tac!" Uncle Sam yelled.

"I guess that's the signal," I stated, shocked. The three of us started running toward the Quinjet. When we were close, Vision fired a beam of energy from his mind stone, causing the control tower to collapse towards the entrance of the hangar. I prepared myself to hold it up with a force field, but Wanda held it with her powers first. Uncle Rhodey must have done something to Wanda because the tower began to fall again. As we ran faster, I put a force field around us to protect us from the debris. We made it into the hangar just in time, but Aunt Natasha was waiting for us.

"You're not going to stop," she knowingly stated, and Dad replied,

"You know I can't."

"I'm going to regret this." Aunt Nat started to raise her hand, and I prepared to hit her with a force field, even though I didn't want to hurt her. But, to our surprise, she stunned T'Challa, who had been behind us. I turned to her as she whispered, "Go."

We ran to the jet, but as I passed her, I grabbed her hand for a moment before letting go and getting on the jet. We took off and got away.

When we were flying over mountains, Bucky spoke up from beside me,

"'What's going to happen to your friends?" I hadn't wanted to think about it, and I hated Dad's answer,

"Whatever it is... I'll deal with it."

I let out a shaky breath, trying not to cry while thinking about my broken family.

"I don't know if I'm worth all this, Steve."

Looking up, I turned to Bucky with a soft expression. He didn't deserve everything that had happened to him.

"What you did all those years... it wasn't you. You didn't have a choice," Dad reassured. Bucky glanced at me and then looked down, probably not wanting to look me in the eyes as he remembered what he'd done.

"I know. But I did it."

I couldn't argue with him, and neither could Dad, and we stayed silent until we landed.

On the remote icy mountaintop, Dad brought the Quinjet to land beside a caterpillar truck. I got up and pulled out a rack of guns labelled 'Romanoff' for Aunt Nat. Bucky came over and took a light machine gun while I went over to grab a smaller handgun for emergencies. Bucky and Dad stood on either side of me as we waited for the exit ramp to descend.

"You remember that time we had to ride back from Rockaway Beach in the back of that freezer truck?" Dad asked Bucky. I laughed and turned to him,

"You did what?"

"Was that the time we used our train money to buy hot dogs?" Bucky confirmed, making me laugh even more while the two playfully argued.

"You blew three bucks trying to win that stuffed bear for a redhead."

"What was her name again?"

"Dolores. You called her Dot."

"She's gotta be a hundred years old right now."

"So are you two, Pal," I joked, and Dad put his arm around me to clamp his hand on Bucky's shoulder. I was glad that Dad had his best friend back, and I was excited to get to know him better. Dad put on his helmet, and then the three of us walked up to the entrance set in the rock of the mountain. The door already open.

"He can't have been here more than a few hours," Dad stated, and Bucky added,

"Long enough to wake them up."

I took a deep breath as Dad led us into the cast bunker. We travelled down into the depths inside a caged elevator, and it stopped in the bowls of the bunker. Dad nodded at me, then Bucky, before pulling up the cage door. Bucky readied his heavy-duty machine gun as we walked along a corridor, keeping close to the wall. I stood behind Bucky and in front of Dad as we walked up some stairs. Suddenly, we heard a loud thud and spun around. Bucky aimed his gun at the corridor, Dad put his shield up, and I made force-field balls in my hands.

"You ready?" Dad asked us as more sounds were heard, and Bucky and I both answered,

"Yeah."

The double doors parted, and we saw Uncle Tony forcing them open. Uncle Tony retracted his suit helmet as he walked up to us. Dad and I cautiously walked forward, and Dad made sure I stayed behind him when Uncle Tony spoke up,

"You seem a little defensive."

"It's been a long day," Dad replied. Uncle Tony looked up at Bucky, who was still on the stairs with his gun pointed at him.

"At ease, Soldier. I'm not currently after you."

"Then why are you here?" I asked gently but sternly.

"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," Dad sarcastically said and lowered his shield. "It's good to see you, Tony."

"You too, Cap. Munchkin."

I smiled at my uncle before he looked at Bucky again, "Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me. There's a truce here. You can drop..."

Dad indicated for Bucky to stand down, and he listened, lowering his gun. The four of us then continued cautiously through hallways together, and we came upon an enormous chamber. Uncle Tony led us toward the chamber and informed us of what he scanned,

"I got heat signatures."

"How many?" I asked.

'Uh, one."

I saw that the capsules' lights turned on when we heard a voice,

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

We continued walking and saw that every single enhanced soldier had been shot in the head. "Did you really think I wanted more of you?"

"What the hell?" Bucky said, clearly confused and highly stressed.

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

We then saw a man appear in the control room. Dad threw his shield at the glass, but it flew back instantly. "Please, Captain. The Soviets built this chamber to withstand the launch blast of UR-100 rockets."

"I'm betting I could beat that," Uncle Tony challenged, and I kept my force fields in my hands.

"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?" I sternly questioned as Dad and I walked up to the glass.

"I thought about nothing else for over a year. I studied you. I followed you." The man focused on Dad as he continued, "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?" Dad inquired.

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

"You lost someone?" Dad stated knowingly.

"I lost everyone. And so will you." The man moved his gaze back to me as he said the last part of his sentence.