The Soldier and the Wolf

Chapter 33

My eyelids bursted open when I heard the heavy metal door begin to slowly slide open again, creating a low rumbling noise. Instead of going to see who it was, I decided to stay in where I was, which was in the center of my cell sitting criss-crossed and my hands folded in my lap. I kept my gaze straight ahead, waiting to see who was gonna appear in the middle of the room. After the low clicking of shoes against the hard ground, a short, black-haired man in a leather jacket came into view. I watched silently as he made his way into the middle of the room, staring up at the low ceiling. I noticed that on the right side of his face, I could faintly see the deep shades of blue and purple from a bruise underneath his eye. And finally, that damn goatee. Tony Stark.

"Come to gloat?" I took him by surprise and he rotated his body towards my cell. When he did, I saw that his left arm was in a black sling that blended in with the leather jacket. He must've been expecting me to be standing because he was looked above me before dropping his gaze on the ground.

"Saw Wilson and the others on a higher floor, so I thought I'd pay the rest of the gang a visit as well." Tony trotted up to my cell door and his eyes glued down at me. "I'll admit the chains are a bit much. Along with the collar." I lifted my arms out of my lap, causing the chains to rattle.

"Well, according to Ross, I'm not exactly human now, am I?"

"Look, I'm sorry you had to end up in this place, both of you. They shouldn't be keeping you locked up like..."

"Animals." I finished Tony's simile for him. He massaged his jaw with his uninjured hand and slapped it back down to his side.

"Look, Peters. I'm sorry....I'm sorry for bringing up your father earlier. I had no right to say those things when I know what it's like to lose family but..."

"But you had to let your big ego let alone your big mouth get in the way of respecting my past and my privacy." Tony looked taken aback at my harshness.

"Yeah, I'm trying to apologize to you right now, Teen Wolf, but it's kind of hard when you keep... interrupting me. The point is, you were right, I was wrong. Barnes is innocent, Zemo is guilty. And..."

       "Wait, who's Zemo?" He said a new name which caught my attention.

       "I gotta catch you up. Zemo...that's the name of that fake therapist or psychiatrist Cap tried to warn me about. I did some research and turns out he was the man behind the bombing at the UN Meeting and he disguised as your little buddy to frame him. Barnes was...is innocent."

         "That's what we've been trying to tell you all along. Bucky had nothing to do with it. And it's  nice to know that guy has a name so I don't have to keep calling Zemo 'fake therapist' in my head. Now what else do you want, or is this just a way to clear your conscience because you giving me clarity will hopefully smooth things out."

       "Like I said, I've come to apologize. Forgive-sies?" He said in a little high-pitched voice. I glared at him before taking in a deep breath.

        "Alright, I don't like holding grudges and I'm a nice person, so I'll forgive you. But I feel like there is something else than you coming to apologize so you can feel better than yourself."

       "Wow, considering you said you are a nice person, you have sass." Tony took off his iconic glasses to reveal a black eye. He shoved them into his pocket. "Alright, I told Wilson this already, but I want to help Cap and Barnes stop...the...super soldiers." I snorted and raised an eyebrow, not fully convinced. "I know...the world is full of surprises. Anyways, how do you think I should go about this?

"Yeah, first off...you could've avoided this whole mistake if you didn't create a whole scene at the airport." I got up from my seated position slowly, wincing a bit from my side. I trudged up to the door of the cell, the heavy chains rattled on the ground and pulling me down, until I was face to face with Stark. "Second, won't Ross hear me giving you advice?"

"First off, you really gotta drop the whole airport fiasco. I admit, it was a mistake and I already got enough crap from Wilson. Second, Ross can't hear anything for about another minute since I cut out the audio, so we really gotta speed up this conversation."

"Well, what did Sam tell you to do?"

        "He told me they went to Siberia to stop the pretend doctor, Zemo, from releasing more Super Soldiers. He told me to go alone and as a friend. Anything else?"  He held his hands in the air, waiting for me to respond. I pondered if I should give him advice or not. What advice do I even have to give?

        "You, really do want to help, do you?"

         "We have maybe thirty seconds left, so yes, yes I do." I looked up at the corner of my cell to see the tiny camera. They were probably watching me still. Trying to figure out what the hell was going on. I looked back at Stark.

"My advice...don't take charge. Steve's gotta plan and you have to trust him when he says it's all for the best. And with Bucky....just understand that Siberia was a hard time for him. Just please don't...be nice with him, okay. He's been through a lot." I heavily dropped my arms to my side and walked to the back of the cell. I picked at my lip nervously.

         "Be nice, got it. That was a lot easier to get out of you than it was for Wilson. Well, I better get going then. Capsicle is gonna be in dire need of help. You two have fifteen seconds left until the audio comes back on. Thanks, kid." I looked back at him and nodded.

       "Yeah...uhhh. Good luck." I kept my body facing the back of the cell as I listened to Stark's footsteps get farther away from my cell. The low rumbling sound do the heavy metal door opening and closing drowned out my thoughts and soon enough, it was just as quiet as it was before. Hopefully everything goes okay. If they have Stark, then just maybe they'll have a better chance with those super soldiers. But I hope I wasn't too trusting.

"You forgave him rather quickly." Wanda spoke for the first time since our little conversation. It was like she read my mind. I looked back at her and saw her sitting there, in the exact same spot, the exact same position.

"Yeah. Like I said, I don't like holding grudges on people." I picked at my lip, debating if so did the right thing.

        "Well, do you trust, Stark? Do you think he actually is going to help?" Wanda spoke in her low Sokovian accent. I looked back at the camera. They were probably getting the audio back on now. If Stark really came all this way, meddled with government technology, and sounded desperate enough to come to a newbie like me...then maybe...

       "I don't have the best experience with trust, but I feel like I have to trust Stark on this on. I just hope it doesn't stab me in the back. I hope it wasn't too soon."

Author's note: I know...this is a very short chapter. I felt like I should have added this in, but I don't think it would've fit in the previous or the next chapter, so it is a tiny little scene.