Marvel Short Stories

'ᴀ̲ʟ̲ᴏ̲ɴ̲ᴇ̲ ̲ᴀ̲ɢ̲ᴀ̲ɪ̲ɴ̲,̲ ̲ɴ̲ᴀ̲ᴛ̲ᴜ̲ʀ̲ᴀ̲ʟ̲ʟ̲ʏ̲'

bucky+steve+tony

Avengers Fanfic

Alternate ending to the fight between Bucky and Steve and Tony in 'Civil War'. 

Word count: 1,690

Competition host: _On_Your_Left

"Open, in horror, reality does enter

With destruction he delivers murder

Instincts mayn't hamper official nuclears

Iron Man truly altered into

An anger-ridden nihilist"

"This isn't going to change anything, Tony," Captain America declared, trying to appeal to whatever rationale the billionaire genius still had.

"I don't care. He killed my mom," Tony replied softly, but the words were soaked in pain. It was as if an old wound, buried deep in Tony Stark's soul had been unexpectedly and violently yanked out to face the harsh winter air and it was stinging more than it ever had. 

All the action he never took, all the blame he dished out, all the fear, all the guilt - all of that was now directed at Bucky, the ex-Winter Soldier who he now knew had killed his parents. 

"It wasn't him, Tony! Hydra had control of his mind," Steve kept it up, desperately hoping that his words would make a difference.

 Steve believed in Bucky's innocence with every fibre of his loyal being. Nothing Bucky had done had been his fault. And that was why he had to defend his pal, even if it came down to fighting Tony Stark. He had promised Bucky that he would be with him till the end of the line, and he wouldn't break that promise for anything. He had already lost his best friend once. Once was enough.

It was becoming obvious though, that Tony Stark wasn't interested in considering the morals of anyone's actions. He was filled with a blind rage against the man who had taken the life of his beloved mother. And he was going to make Bucky pay a dear price for it.

Outside, in the snow, someone else who had wanted to kill James Barnes because he thought that the Winter Soldier had taken the life of a parent of his was discovering the cold, hard facts. But Tony had just found out about the killing and he wasn't planning on taking time to think about his actions. 

While the two Avengers were arguing, Bucky was climbing up platforms in an attempt to reach the opening at the top of the factory building the three men were in. Iron Man shook off Captain America, jetted up and threw a straight punch at Bucky's face, which the super-soldier avoided with a grunt. Tony then grabbed Bucky around the neck and pulled him off the metal grid and into the air. Bucky struggled against Tony's grip as he felt his armoured arm tighten to choke his airway. A metallic clang resounded off the walls as Cap's shield smacked into the helmet of Tony's suit and the fierce grip on Bucky's neck slackened momentarily. It was enough for him to break the grip completely and fall to the concrete-layered floor meters below him. As Iron Man lowered himself to the ground, both Bucky and Steve went on the offensive, using the shield and their significant strength to counter the vengeful, steel-protected Avenger's attacks. The bitter fight continued. None of the men were 'pulling their punches' now. No one was going easy as blows were delivered with enormous power. Blood became visible on the faces of the fighters and the intensity of the contest steepled. 

Cap, after getting beaten up enough by Iron Man to give a normal human permanent brain damage, was lying on the floor, struggling to get back up and Barnes was left to face the iron-clad Avenger alone. And he went at him with fury. Smacking into his metal suit with as much force as he could muster, knowing that this was a fight for his very existence.

Bucky was experienced in fighting for his life. In fact, he had been doing it since 1943, but he had never come up against the legendary Iron Man before. What was a single metal arm against an entire suit of the stuff? It didn't help that he was unarmed, while Tony was shooting missiles and using repulsor beams. 

Tony smacked Bucky's non-metal arm away but the super-soldier held him pinned to the wall, the fight in his blood showing itself. He grabbed fiercely at the glowing blue arc reactor in the center of the suit, trying to pry it out with his fingers, knowing that it would be the weakest part of the suit that he could get to. He let out a sound almost like a scream as he pushed through his pain and weariness and ground the Iron Man suit into the concrete wall behind them.

Without warning, a blinding flash of red-hot light shot across the room and Bucky was flung abruptly backwards. The soldier looked down in shock at the leftover stump of his metal arm before collapsing on the floor.

Steve saw what had happened and he faced Tony in anger. Both men fought bitterly and violently until they were both on the ground, covered in cuts, and bruises, and blood. Captain America ended the fight by ramming his shield into the arc reactor in Iron Man's suit and then stood up wearily. Without looking back, Steve helped his injured comrade to his feet and they hobbled unsteadily away from the iron-clad billionaire. 

The silence was loud after the ring of metal hitting metal and explosions and the desperate yells of the fighters. The two old soldiers walked slowly through the cold halls to the jet waiting outside. The Black Panther was waiting by the aircraft with an offer of safety and assistance which Steve accepted with gratitude. 

Once onboard the jet, T'Challa took the controls and they lifted away carefully from the snowy ground. This was when Steve noticed something was wrong with Bucky. He was sitting hunched over at the back of the seating compartment, his face ghostly white. Steve knew he was hurt, but this looked more serious than he had realised. 

"Bucky?" he said gently as he made his way over to his friend. He sat in front of the other man and placed a hand on his shoulder. 

Bucky looked up at Steve with undisguised pain in his eyes. Not so much a physical pain, but something that said he was emotionally broken. He held Steve's gaze as he announced quietly, "Steve, I'm sorry. I am dying."

As his friend uttered an exclamation of shock Bucky went on to explain.  "When I was the Winter Soldier, Hydra implanted a poison capsule in the top of my metal arm, incase suicide was ever necessary. There was a particular way to do it so that it would inject into my shoulder and I checked after Stark blew it off. It triggered the injection. Not all of it worked, that's why I'm still here, but going on how I feel I only have about a minute left."

Steve didn't know how to process what he was hearing. This was something he had never expected and his thoughts were all confused. "Is there an antidote? Maybe T'Challa will know of something," he suggested desperately. 

Bucky just shook his head faintly. He was feeling worse and, knowing that he didn't have long before he stopped breathing forever, he started speaking, even though the poison made it difficult. 

"Thankyou, Steve, for everything." He half smiled, trying not to be too dramatic and get Steve upset. "If it weren't for you, I'd be alright with dying. You can only live with the kinds of memories I have for so long. But... but you're still with me, anyway. Thankyou, pal."

For once, Steve didn't shoot back a cheeky retort, or a wise reply. He had so many things to say, but nothing seemed right for the moment. He pulled his best friend into a meaningful embrace and held back tears, remembering the last time he had thought he had lost Bucky, so many years ago. He eventually moved back and said quietly, "Guess it's the end of the line. I'll miss you, Buck, so much. And it's my turn to say thankyou. You were everything to me." 

"Goodbye, Steve." 

The roar of the jet engines almost drowned out Bucky's final words. Then the soldier's heart finally gave way and he fell limply forward onto Steve's wide chest. Steve held the unmoving form against him and shed a stream of salty tears.