Stolen - Tony Stark

15.

New York City, 2016

"Man, that invisi-tech always gets me," Tony said, jumping when Kass appeared on the balcony of Stark Tower, seemingly from nowhere. She had her gun pointed at him. He held up his hands in surrender and removed his mask.  "You can put that away."

"Can I?"

"Of course you can, Kass."

"Just wanted to be sure that your government friends wouldn't pop out and arrest me."

"It's just me."

"Good." Finally, she lowered and put away her gun. "That was a total shit show back there."

"Yeah, it was."

"How's Rhodey?"

Tony sighed.  "He's alive, that's what's important. But he won't walk again."

"I'm so sorry. I felt so bad ducking out of there, but-"

"Honestly, I'm glad you did. I wouldn't want to see you locked up in one of those cells."

"That bad huh?"

"Yeah. Can I hug you, would that be weird?" He extended his arms. 

"Just come here." She wrapped him up in a tight hug. "I'm so sorry."

"Me too." They pulled away but still stood close. "So what's this urgent message?"

"I'm sending it to you." Kass tapped the little screen on her gauntlet, and an image flashed up on his gauntlet. "This is a priority upload from Berlin Police. 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-" Kass pointed to the image. "-Turns out, the fake doctor is actually Colonel Helmut Zemo, Sokovian intelligence. He ran EKO Scorpion, a Sokovian covert kill squad."

Tony sighed. "So what happened to the real Broussard?"

"He was found dead in a Berlin hotel room. Where police also found a wig and facial prosthesis approximating the appearance of one James Buchanan Barnes."

"Son of a bitch."

"Yeah, Cap was right, Barnes was framed."

"Where were he and Barnes headed?"

"Siberia."

"Then we've got to get there too, and fast. F.R.I.D.A.Y., fire up the jet."

-----------------------------------

Siberia 

December 16th, 1991

The video clip was fuzzy security camera footage, but the picture was clear - clear enough anyways to do the damage. The intended damage.

Kass winced as the car slammed into the tree, one of the passengers dragged out.

"S-sergeant Barnes..." said the man. "It's me, Howard-"

But Barnes didn't answer.

"Howard!"

"Not my wife-"

"Howard!" came Maria's cries from the front seat. She wasn't able to see her husband's death, which was a good thing, as it was pretty brutal. "Howard!" But Barnes quickly silenced her as well by strangling her.

The video clip ended by Barnes shooting out the camera.

Kass placed a hand on Tony's arm. Even through the armour she could tell how tense he was.