Stairway to the Stars

11

Steve flew the Quinjet toward mountains. Bucky, Bea and Phillip sat behind him.

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

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

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

Bucky looked at his brother. "Phillip, if you weren't worth it, we wouldn't have broken the law to save your wanted ass."

"Thanks for that."

"Anytime. But it's the truth. We saved you, and you are worth it."

Bea nodded. "He's right. Phillip, I'd save you again and again. I love you, and I will always be there for you."

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

"But I did it," Phillip said.

Bea took Phillip's hand and squeezed it gently. Bucky patted his brother's shoulder in a comforting manner.

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."