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CHAPTER ELEVEN — fallen empire
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TONY STEPPED BACK, his chin jutting upwards twitchy. Tony reengages the Iron Man helmet. He punches Steve to the floor and deflects gunfire from Bucky, disarming him. He grabs Bucky and flies across the chamber. He slams him onto the floor, then jumps on his arms. Steve's shield hits Tony, distracting him. Steve barges him backward, Tony shoulders him to the floor and shackles his ankles. Bucky punches Tony who just lifts him and slams him against a machine. Tony raises a fist but Bucky twists it. A rocket shoots out of Tony's arm, and a fireball explodes. Talia ran over and pulled the shackles off of Steve with her powers. Tony and Bucky are thrown down a level as twisted metal falls around them, showering sparks. Steve looked at Bucky, "Get out of here!" he yelled. Tony looks over at Talia, "Leave, Talia!" he shouted. Talia shook her head, "I'm not leaving you," she said. As Bucky bolts Tony fires but misses. Steve lands in front of him. Bucky hits a control panel and the silo-styled door overhead starts to open, "It wasn't him, Tony. Hydra had control of his mind!" Steve said. Tony engages his thrusters, "Move!" he said. He tried to fly over to where Bucky was, "It wasn't him!" Steve yelled. Steve grabs Tony's ankle in mid-air and smashes it. Tony blocks Steve by shooting down the rubble, then falteringly flies up the tower. Talia ran over to Steve, "He won't stop and you know it," she said. Steve looked between her and the rubble, "You shouldn't be here," he said with concern. Talia shook her head, "Oh, please. You'd be lost without me," she said putting her hand up. Using her powers, Talia moves the rubble out of Steve's way. Steve runs in and sees Tony about to blast Bucky. Steve makes his way up there just in time, the energy rebounds off Steve's shield onto Tony. He drops like a stone and lands on a lower platform. Steve pulled Bucky up to his feet, "He's not going to stop. Go," he said. Bucky runs off trying to escape. As Tony soars upwards, Steve leaps and shoots a wire that wraps around Tony's neck and drags him back down. From a lower platform, Steve throws his shield at Tony which he deflects, then tries to target Bucky, "Targeting system's knackered, boss," FRIDAY says. Tony disengages his helmet, "I'm eyeballing it," he said. He fires and hits the giant hinge which explodes, cutting off Bucky's escape route. Talia puts both of her hands up. The orange wisps surround the top of the building, all she needs is a small opening to get Bucky through. The struggle is on her face as she is close to completing her goal. All three of the men look down at the girl. Tony shakes his head, "Sorry Talia, this is going to hurt," he whispers.
Tony energizes his blasters and blasts Talia in her face. Steve watches in horror as she's knocked from the platform she stood on. She falls all the way down on her back against the hard concrete. The sound of her skull cracking is enough to make Steve livid. Meanwhile, Bucky falls onto a platform. Tony flies up, blocks two swings from an iron pipe from Bucky, and then grabs him around the neck from behind, "Do you even remember them?" he asked. Bucky in his struggle can't help but feel sorry, "I remember all of them," he said. Bucky pushes them both from the walkway, Steve jumps into them to deflect their fall. Bucky lands on a platform while Tony and Steve land on the concrete floor beside the opening in the wall where snow drifts in from outside. Bucky falls onto a platform above where Talia is lying, unresponsive. Tony stands up and looks over at what he has done to Talia. This sixteen-year-old girl lying on cold concrete. His heart ached when he realized she wasn't breathing, she was dead and he had killed her. Steve stands up and looks at Tony who is looking down on him, "This isn't gonna change what happened," he said. Tony looked over at him as he shook his head, "I don't care. He killed my mom," he said. Tony flew over to him. Bucky's eyes are glued on Talia. His heart started to race as he saw the blood pooling around her head, so much blood. He didn't know her as well as Steve did, but he had some sort of connection with her. Which is why seeing her like that, pissed him off. Steve and Tony trade punches and Tony ends up pinning Steve down. Bucky picks up Captain America's shield and yells as he leaps down to help. The two super soldiers were enraged at what Tony had done to Talia. As the two fist fight with Tony the shield changes hands between them until Tony manages to zap Steve who is thrown back into the wall. Bucky struggles to hold Tony at bay as he unleashes an energy beam, then he forces Tony against the opposite wall and grips the glowing core in the chest of the Iron Man Suit. A blast of energy knocks Bucky down, metal arm completely blown away. Tony zaps him again. Steve rushes him with his shield up and Tony fires right at it.
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THE TWO MEN WOULDN'T GIVE UP, Steve wasn't fighting for Bucky or even himself at this point. He was fighting for the sixteen-year-old girl who Tony had just killed in front of his eyes, "You can't beat him hand to hand," FRIDAY said. Tony struggled, he could feel the rage, "Analyse his fight pattern," he said. Tony looked up, "Scanning!" FRIDAY said. Tony's HUD flashes red as Steve lands blow after blow, "Countermeasures ready," FRIDAY said. Tony grabs Steve's shield, "Let's kick his ass," he said. He flings the shield away then zaps Steve backwards, head over heels. Steve rises and Tony blocks his punches then zaps him to his knees, right in front of Bucky who's lying on his back, "He's my friend," Steve said out of breath. Tony looked down at him, "So was I," he said. They had been fighting for so long that none of them had realized that the blood that pooled around Talia, that came from her skull had flowed back into the same crack it had left. Just a few seconds later, Talia was breathing, her eyes opened and they were glowing orange, brighter than they had ever glowed. He punched Steve then threw him back toward the gaps in the wall, "Stay down. Final warning," he said. Steve struggles to stand on his feet, his face bloody and his gate weary. He raises his fists and stares Tony down, "I can do this all day," he said. Tony raised his left palm getting ready to fire but got blasted against the wall adjacent to him, which knocked him out. Steve looked up to see Talia come down the stairs, eyes full of anger, "That's enough," she said. Steve exhaled in relief as he saw her alive. Her eyes stopped glowing as she ran over to Steve and hugged him. Steve started to tear up, "I thought I lost you," he whispered. Talia looked up at him, "Not that easily," she said with a smirk. Steve walked over to Bucky and pulled him up. Both of the men stared at the girl across from them, "Thank you, Hope," Steve said. Talia smiled at the nickname he used for her, "You should probably leave the shield," she said. Steve exhaled as he dropped it on the ground. Steve took Bucky and left Talia behind. She turned her head toward the unconscious body of Tony Stark and walked over to him. She bent down next to him, she understood his pain and why he wanted to end Bucky's life, but that wasn't an excuse for killing her. If she wasn't the host of the Phoenix, she would still be dead. She held her hand out as power emerged, "Every time you try and send someone to do your dirty work. Every time you make someone else risk their life for you. You'll think of me. Dead, on the concrete as the blood stains it," she whispered. She pressed her finger against his temple as an orange wisp seeped into his skin, "You will always be plagued by that guilt," she whispered. Her voice laced with poison, too bad Tony wasn't conscious to hear it. He wouldn't even remember what she had just done to him.
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