The Break of Winter ▸B. Barnes

Chapter 13

Liv's POV

"What is this?" Tony asks angrily. The film shows black and white footage of a car crashing into a pole. Shortly after, a motorcycle pulled up. I was on that motorcycle. I killed Howard and Maria I thought to myself. I loved them, how could I have let myself kill them? Wait... Stark. Oh my god Howard was Tony's dad. I killed his parents. He's about to hate me more than he already does.

       The film showed Howard climbing out of the car, but Maria stayed in her seat. I didn't need the sound on the video to remember every word he said. "Please, help my wife," he begged. I walked over and lifted his head by his hair. "Sergeant Quinn?" He asked in shock, making Tony turn to look at me. Maria was crying out for Howard as I started to beat him to death using my metal arm. Once he was dead, I moved onto Maria. I used my real arm to strangle her. Once they were both dead, I positioned their bodies to make it appear as if they had been killed by the accident. I seemed to finally notice the camera, so I shot it before driving off. Tony moved to attack me, and I didn't try to stop him. Bucky stepped in front of me and Steve put his arm out in front of Tony.

"Tony!" Steve scolded.

"Did you know?" Tony asks in a broken voice.

"I didn't know it was her," Steve replied.

"Don't bullshit me, Rogers. Did you know?" Tony asked again, anger building.

"Yes," Steve replied, causing Tony to push Steve away from him. He paused for a minute, before punching Steve and throwing Bucky out the way. He stopped and looked at me for a moment.

"If you're looking for a fight, you're not going to get one from me," I sighed, dropping my bow. Tony punched me in my jaw and slammed me into the ground, stepping on my metal arm to hold it in place. He sent another punch to my nose, causing blood to drip from it. As I said, I didn't fight him. However, Steve threw his shield at his head knocking him off of me. Tony flew at Steve, which knocked him down again, and shot some kind of device at his ankles that held them together. Then, Bucky came up behind Tony but Tony flew Bucky into a wall and uppercutted his jaw. Then, Tony tried to shoot Bucky but Bucky moved his hand just in time to avoid the blow. However, because his aim was moved towards a beam, it came tumbling down and nearly crushed both Tony and Bucky. Steve tried to run at Tony again. "Steve, stop!" I shouted. He paused and looked at me. "This is my fight," I state.

"Liv, he's going to kill you, we can't let that happen. Not again," Steve replies. "Get out of here."

"No, not without you!" I respond, the words feeling familiar. Bucky hit a button that opened a section in the roof and pulls me to get me to climb up the platforms with him.

"It wasn't her, Tony!" Steve tries to calm him. "HYDRA had control of her mind."

"Move." Tony orders before he starts to fly towards me.

"It wasn't her!" Steve yells again, grabbing Tony's leg.

        We didn't get very far before Tony came flying up. He picked me off the edge of the platform. "Liv!" Bucky yelled. Tony raised his arm to shoot at me, but Steve jumped in front of me and blocked the blast with his shield.

"He's not gonna stop, go," Steve commanded. I sighed and continued following Bucky.

"You better not die," I say to Steve.

        We were nearly to the exit when an explosion went off and closed the ceiling off again, forcing Bucky and I to jump down. Bucky tried to use a pole to fight off Tony, but Tony just grabbed him and threw him down to the level Steve was on. Tony pulls me into a choke hold. "Do you even remember them?" He whispers.

"I remember all of them," I answer honestly. Tony's jets start to fail and we start falling. Midway, Steve tackles us, causing me to land on my side on one of the lowest platforms. Steve and Tony landed at the very bottom.

"This isn't going to change what happened," Steve says to Tony, out of breath.

"I don't care," Tony says. "She killed my mom." Tony attacked Steve again, but Bucky grabbed Steve's shield and used it to get him off of Steve. I jumped down between the three.

"Steve, Bucky, this is my fight. Let me fight my own battles. I deserve whatever he does." I yell. Tony attacks me once again. Bucky and Steve both tried attacking him again, but Tony shot at them, sending the boys flying backwards. Tony landed several blows on my face. Eventually, I went numb. "Please, kill me," I whispered. Tony paused, looking concerned, but then continued hitting my face. He eventually stopped and picked me up by my throat, but Bucky tackled him and forced him to drop me. "No!" I screamed. Tears started to stream down my face as images of each person I had killed flashed through my mind, and I finally broke. I felt every emotion that I had been suppressing hitting me at once. Bucky and Steve didn't notice and they continued to fight Tony. Bucky was now on the ground, unconscious because Tony had blasted him. Steve was using his shield to block another hit. I sank to my knees and broke down. Steve was losing his fight against Tony, but I couldn't move.

"Stay down, final warning," Tony warned. Steve stood up.

"I could do this all day." Tony raises his arm to shoot Steve and finally finish him off, but Bucky, who was finally coming back around, grabs his leg. Tony kicks Bucky in the head causing him to, once again, become unconscious. Steve takes the opportunity to pick up Tony and slam him back on the ground. Steve climbs on top of Tony and used his shield to repeatedly hit him in the face until eventually Tony's mask breaks off. Once it does, Steve lifts the shield one last time and uses it to deactivate Tony's suit. Steve takes his shield out of the suit and stands up. He lifts the semi-conscious Bucky up to help him walk before making his way towards me.

"That shield doesn't belong to you," Tony says. "You don't deserve it. My father made that shield!" Steve pauses and drops the shield before moving to me.

"Liv, we have to go. Can you walk?" He asks me.

"No," I mumble. "No! He was supposed to kill me! I can't do this anymore just let him kill me!" I cry out, tears returning to my eyes. I can't live with the guilt anymore. Steve tries to grab my arm but I pull away and use my legs to push myself across the floor away from him. "Please just kill me," I say one last time, burying my face in my knees.

Steve's POV

        It broke my heart to see my best friend so broken. She had acted so strong through all of this, I didn't even stop to think about how hard all this must be for her. I lean Bucky up against the wall, knowing that Stark was no longer a threat, and sat down next to Liv. She moved her hand up to push me away, but I grabbed it and stopped her. Her cheeks were stained with tears and her eyes were red. Her golden brown eyes were empty and glossy.

"You know, Liv," I started. "What started all of this, our little civil war, was because we've killed innocent people. You were being controlled by HYDRA, you had no other choice. We, as the Avengers, were in our right minds this whole time and we've killed hundreds of innocent people that just happened to get caught in the crossfire. You didn't have a choice, but we did. Although I'm sure you gave HYDRA hell for a while there." She smiled weakly, but it didn't even reach her eyes. I stood up and reached for her hand, and she took it. I helped her and Bucky to the quinjet. To my surprise, the Black Panther was waiting there for us.

A/N
Hey guys! Just wanted to let y'all know that I finished writing the rest of the book so I'll be updating daily until it's all posted :) I'm also going to go back and edit old chapters, but the nothing about the story is going to change so you don't have to reread what you've already read