Winter's Ballerina-WINTER SOLDIER FANFIC

thirty

"I'm gonna fight 'em all. A seven nation army couldn't hold me back."
-The White Stripes; Seven Nation Army

Siberia, Russia-2016
(Vera)

The Iron Man lunged towards us, but Steve stopped him.
"Tony. Tony." Steve repeated Stark's name over again, trying to get his full attention and hopefully talk some sense in him. The Iron Man helmet retracted, and I could see Stark's eyes were glistening with tears. I felt my stomach churn. No sense could be talked here, and honestly, we deserved what was coming.
It's your fault. All your fault. A voice screamed in the back of my mind.
"Did you know?" Tony asked, his voice cold. I felt the adrenaline racing now, and I was ready for a fight to break out any minute. We may deserve it, but I would rather die than go back in a cage. And if I was going to die, it would be kicking and screaming.
"I didn't know it was him." Was all Steve said.
"Don't bullshit me, Rogers! Did you know?" Stark demanded.
"Yes." Steve sighed.
The Iron Man helmet came back down, lowering itself over Tony's face again. After that, everything seemed to happen in a blur. Tony punched Steve, knocking him to the floor. James immediately began to shoot at Tony, but he deflected the bullets and shot a beam of light from his hand, destroying the gun. I grab my handguns and aim at his neck, figuring it may be a weaker spot in the armor. Tony doesn't even seem to notice I'm shooting at him. He grabbed James by his neck, picked him up, and flew a few feet before throwing him into the cement. I put my guns away as they didn't even make a dent and sprinted to where James was now lying on the floor with the Iron Man perched above, ready to strike.
"Vera!" I heard Steve yell. I turned and saw he was throwing his shield at Tony, and the path the shield was going to take would be right through me. Thinking fast, I dropped to the floor just as the shield flew by. While Tony was busy with Steve, I was able to get to James.
"You remember that mission in Paris, 1975?" He asked me, a ghost of a smile on his face.
"Yes, why? I really don't see how that is relevant here," I replied, confused. There wasn't much about that mission that would be helpful in this situation. It was mainly a sniper hit-and-run. We stayed in Paris longer than we needed to, and that was nice, but I didn't see how any of that could possibly be useful now.
Before James could reply, we saw Steve get taken down by a pair of restraints that had attached themselves onto his feet and our conversation was over. As Tony turned around, James punched him in the face with his metal arm. I was able to easily creep behind him and kick him in the back, pushing him into James' arms while slashing a dagger through the armor. But Tony grabbed James' shoulders, picked him up, and slammed him into a piece of machinery. I sprinted toward them, pulling out a sharper throwing knife as I ran. I saw Tony raise a fist, but James pushed it back and twisted it. Tony activated a miniature rocket on his wrist and aimed it at James. James grabbed Tony's wrist and turned the rocket away from him and toward a set of pipes instead. The pipes went up in flames and slowly began to collapse. I ran up behind Iron Man and got ready to stick my knife in his neck to cut through some of the wires and chips that make the machine work, hopeful that some damage would finally be done. Before I could, Tony whirled around and grabbed my throat. I feel my feet come off the ground and I clawed at his hand desperately.
"Please!" I gasped kicking my legs trying to get free.
"Let her go." James shouted as he charged at Tony. I hit the floor and stayed down as some pipes and machinery fell. I rolled out of the way narrowly avoiding being crushed by the debris. Tony Stark was not so lucky. Some of the fallen machinery and metal pipes were laying on him and preventing him from getting up.
"Get out of here!" Steve yelled at us.
James grabbed my hand, and together, we ran as fast as we could to the platforms that we would have to use to climb up. I heard the sound of Iron Man's light beams, or whatever scientific thing they were really called firing, but I didn't look back.
"We have to climb. Grab onto me." James told me. I didn't protest because I was pretty sure I had dislocated my shoulder, and he had super strength in his metal arm, so I never worried about being too heavy. I clung onto his shoulder and we began our ascent.
"On our second night in Paris in 1975, it was your birthday," James continued as he hoisted me up into a platform.
"I was so in love with you, and I wanted to give you the world itself as a present, but of course, I couldn't." He continued pulling me up again.
"Instead, I made sure we had finished the mission early the day before, and on your birthday, I took you out to a beautiful spot where we could see the stars and be alone."  I nodded, remembering the evening. "It was the best night- but I hardly see how this is relevant."

"Then, on November 22, 1975, I made you a promise." I felt my breath get caught in my chest, and I held onto him even tighter.
"One that, if you let me, I fully intend to keep." We were much higher up now, but I was hardly paying attention.
"Will you, Valeria Tatyana Romanov, marry me?"
"Yes!"

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For a split second, I forgot that I was actually in Siberia to stop a crazy Avenger-hating stalker from, well, I don't know what exactly. But currently, we were fighting Iron Man, which kinda seemed like the complete opposite of what was originally on our agenda.
Tony flew up to the metal rack we stood on and attempted to shoot us with his hand beams, but they rebounded off of Steve's shield and back onto him. Tony was knocked from the air and landed on one of the lower platforms.
"He's not gonna stop. Go." Steve told us. James nods at me, and together, we take off climbing again.

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"And the stains coming from my blood tell me to go back home."
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