Redemption's Lifeline

11

Steve flew the Quinjet toward mountains. Bucky and Mirna sat behind him.

"What's gonna happen to your friends?" Bucky asked.

Steve stared ahead, heavyhearted. He sighed and shook his head before saying, "Whatever it is... I'll deal with it."

Bucky looked thoughtful before saying, "I don't know if I'm worth all this, Steve."

Mirna took Bucky's hand. "James, we've talked about this. You are worth all this and so much more."

"Doll, I'm not. I don't deserve you, Mir."

She placed a hand to his cheek and rested her forehead to his. "Yes you are. You do deserve me. And I'll spend every day of my life helping you believe that."

Steve glanced around at Bucky. "Mirna's right. What you did all those years... it wasn't you. You didn't have a choice."

"But I did it."

HOSPITAL

Rhodey laid inside an CT-scanner. He was in a blue gown covering his body. Tony paced up to Vision who watched Rhodey grave-faced.

"How did this happen?" Tony asked.

"I became distracted," Vision replied.

"I didn't think that was possible."

"Neither did I. "

Tony left Vision looking in on Rhodey. Along the corridor, Tony spotted an equally concerned Natasha.

Tony and Natasha stood on a balcony looking towards a row of trees.

"The doctors say he shattered L4 through S1," Tony said. "Extreme laceration in the spinal cord. Probably looking at some form of paralysis."

"Steve isn't gonna stop," Natasha told him. "If you don't either, Rhodey's gonna be the best case scenario."

"You let them go, Nat."

"We played this wrong."

"'We'? Boy, it must be hard to shake the whole double agent thing, huh? It sticks in the DNA."

"Are you incapable of letting go of your ego for one goddamn second?"

"T'Challa told Ross what you did, so... they're coming for you."

"I'm not the one that needs to watch their back." She walked away.

Tony activated holographic images appearing on his wrist device and asked, "What am I looking at, F.R.I.D.A.Y.?"

"Priority upload from Berlin police," F.R.I.D.A.Y. replied.

"Fire up the chopper." Tony flew over a stormy sea in the chopper. He looked surveillance images on a tablet computer.

"The Task Force called for a psychiatrist as soon as Barnes was captured. The UN dispatched Dr. Theo Broussard from Geneva within the hour. He was met by this man."

"Did you run facial recognition yet?"

"What do I look like?"

"Uh, I don't know. I've been picturing a redhead."

"You must be thinking of someone else."

"Must be."

"The fake doctor is actually Colonel Helmut Zemo, Sokovian Intelligence." Tony projected the image. "Zemo ran Echo Skorpion, a Sokovian covert kill squad."

"So, what happened to the real Broussard?"

"He was found dead in a Berlin hotel room. Where police also found a wig and facial prosthesis approximating the appearance of one James Buchanan Barnes."

"Son of a bitch. Get this to Ross."

"Yes, Boss."

---

Tony flew the chopper low over the broiling sea. He operated the chopper with a touch screen computer in a wall panel.

A guard said over the radio, "This is the Raft Prison Control. You're clear for landing, Mr. Stark."

The sea swelled and surged as Raft Prison rose up from beneath. A huge, fortified, circular structure with small lights around the sides. Two semi-circular doors opened up in the flat circular top. The chopper landed on a helipad and the doors closed above it. Tony, who's left arm was in a sling, walked up to Secretary Ross.

"So? You got the files?" Tony asked. "Let's reroute the satellites, start facial scanning for this Zemo guy."

"You seriously think I'm gonna listen to you after that fiasco in Leipzig?" Secretary Ross shot back. "You're lucky you're not in one of these cells."

Secretary Ross looked at Tony sternly and led on through a thick, steel security door. Soldiers stood guard in an operations room. Tony looked at a surveillance screen. It showed Wanda, sitting hunched and bedraggled in a cramped prison cell.

Another security door opened. Tony walked into a chamber surrounded by large, bared windows. Beyond the windows were a number of prison cells. Tony took in his surroundings.

Clint clapped and said, "The Futurist, gentlemen! The Futurist is here! He sees all! He knows what's best for you, whether your like it or not."

"Give me a break, Barton," Tony retorted. "I had no idea they'd put you here. Come on."

Clint spit. "Yeah, well, you knew they'd put us somewhere, Tony."

"Yeah, but not some super-max floating ocean pokey. You know, this place is for maniacs. This is a place for..."

"Criminals?" He stood. "Criminals, Tony. Think that's the word you're looking for." He eyed Tony through the bars. "Right? That didn't used to mean me. Or Sam, or Gianna, or Wanda. But here we are."

"Because you broke the law."

"Yeah."

"I didn't make you."

"La, la, la, la, la..."

"You read it, you broke it."

"La, la, la, la la..."

"All right, you're all grown up, you got a wife and kids. I don't understand, why didn't you think about them before you chose the wrong side?" He walked away.

"You gotta watch your back with this guy. There's a chance he's gonna break it."

"Hank Pym always said, you never can trust a Stark," Scott said.

"Who are you?" Tony asked.

"Come on, man."

"How's Rhodes?" Sam questioned.

"They're flying him to Columbia Medical tomorrow. So... fingers crossed." Sam shook his head. "What do you need? They feed you yet?"

Sam turned and raised his eyebrows. "You're the good cop now?"

"I'm just the guy who needs to know where Steve went."

"Well, you better go get a bad cop, because you're gonna have to go Mark Fuhrman on my ass to get information out of me or Gia."

Tony held up a device he'd pressed. "Oh, I just knocked the 'A' out of their 'AV'. We got about 30 seconds before they realize it's not their equipment."

Secretary Ross, in the operations room, asked, "What did you do? Get it back up!"