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Tony’s arm aches. Wearing his suit with a broken arm (even if the break was minor) still was painful. At least the suit supported his arm.
But the bad feeling in his gut was increase as he realizes that this is some sort of trap. And then the video starts.
A mixture of emotions run through Tony as he watches the video. He was pretty much glad when Howard died, but his mother…she didn’t deserve this.
He looks up to see Barnes face. The face of the man who murdered his parents in cold blood. Who didn’t stop when they begged for their lives. He lunges, halfheartedly, towards Barnes and Steve stops him saying his name.
He turns towards Steve, not wanting to look into his eyes.
Did he know?
After a few seconds he looks up into Steve’s eyes. He doesn’t see a hint of shock or surprise and not even any concern or sadness after seeing his friend being murdered.
He knew.
But he has to confirm. He knows his suit’s camera is on.
“Did you know?” he asks out loud.
“I didn’t know it was him,” Steve replies.
Tony freezes.
“What?” he asks, in surprise.
“I didn’t know it was him,” Steve repeats.
“But you knew they were murdered?” Tony shouts.
He has Steve exactly where he wants him. But Steve doesn’t know that of course.
“I…um-”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Tony asks, not even having to fake the pain in his voice, half from his emotions and half from his throbbing arm, “You knew they were murdered by someone in HYDRA? Why did you hide it then? Why did you protect HYDRA?”
“I didn’t protect HYDRA!” Steve shouts, standing up taller.
“Then why didn’t you tell me?” Tony shouts back.
Steve doesn’t answer.
“You knew Barnes killed them. You were protecting him,” Tony says.
“It wasn’t him!” Steve yells.
“Then who was it?” Tony says, “If Barnes didn’t kill them, who did?”
“HYDRA killed them!” Steve yells.
“So you admit it then. You were protecting HYDRA by not telling me,” Tony yells.
“No-”
“What is it then? Barnes killed them and you were protecting him, or HYDRA killed them, and you were protecting HYDRA?”
Steve splutters for a few seconds and then his eyes harden, and he raises his shield. But before he can do anything, a voice interrupts them.
“I surrender,” Barnes says.
Tony turns to see that Barnes has tossed aside his gun and raised his hands.
“No Bucky! You didn’t do anything wrong!” Steve yells.
“If I did nothing wrong, then the courts will prove that,” Barnes says, “Stand down now before you get us in more trouble than we already are.”
Tony can’t believe it. Barnes is on his side?
Unfortunately, his distraction causes him to miss Steve raising his shield and hitting him across the back. Tony quickly puts his helmet down and blast Steve with a (low) repulsor blast.
His HUD is already flashing red at him by all the damage Steve caused just by that hit. Unfortunately, his suit was not built to hold against Vibranium.
He fights back out of instinct, despite his arm protesting all the movement.
The doc is NOT going to be happy.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Barnes start moving from where he was standing.
Oh shit.
“Stand down Barnes,” he yells.
If Barnes joins the fight, he’s going to have to do some things he would rather not do. He would rather not have to explain to Pepper why he almost killed Captain America.
Though if she got the full story, she would likely finish the job herself with her heels.
“I can help,” Barnes yells.
Tony doesn’t know if Barnes is talking to him or Steve, but it doesn’t really matter.
“Stand down!” he yells again.
Tony risks a glance at Barnes who is thankfully once again standing with his hands raised.
And of course this just causes Steve to get angrier.
“What did you do to him?” he yells while hitting him across the face with the shield.
Tony’s head spun as he stumbled backwards. The HUD is now beeping loudly with red lights flashing in his eyes.
“Boss, you can’t beat him in hand to hand,” FRIDAY yells in his ear.
He winces.
Definitely have a concussion.
He raises the level of his repulsors slightly and blasts Steve who falls over from the force. Before he can recover, Tony deploys two pairs of reinforced cuffs to bind Steve’s feet and hands.
Steve falls to the ground, uselessly flopping around, trying to get to his shield. Tony kicks it away before he can reach it and then practically collapses himself.
His head is spinning and his whole body is in pain, throbbing on the points where Steve hit him with the shield, and his arm screaming in pain.
“FRI? Can you contact the Accords Council?” Tony murmurs.
“Already done,” she says, “Boss, I’m detecting multiple injuries. You need medical attention.”
“Can’t exactly leave them here,” he says gesturing to Steve still flopping around on the ground, yelling things that he’s ignoring.
Barnes takes a step towards him and Tony raises his arm to aim a repulsor at him from where he’s slumped over on the ground.
Barnes freezes, “I just want to help.”
Tony doesn’t lower the repulsor, “Stay there, I’m fine.”
Barnes doesn’t look too happy about that, but he listens, taking a seat on the ground and leaving his hands where Tony can see them.
Tony lowers his hand, but he has FRIDAY keeping an eye on him. Just in case.
He doesn’t know how long it takes before a team from the Accords shows up. He’s still slumped against the wall when one of them walks over to him and kneels down in front of him.
“Dr. Stark?” he asks.
Tony opens his helmet.
“Barnes surrendered peacefully. Steve attacked me,” he says.
The man nods at him and turns to say something to the rest of the team. Two of them haul Steve to his feet and read his rights to him before practically dragging him outside. Steve’s struggles barely phase them.
They must be enhanced.
Another agent reads Barnes his rights and simply puts a pair of handcuffs on him. She leads him outside.
“Dr. Stark, do you need medical attention?” the agent in front of him asks.
“Yes,” he gasps, “Nothing life threatening.”
“Can you walk?” he asks.
“Probably not,” he admits.
The agent stands up and says something. A few minutes later a medical team rushes in.
“Dr. Stark?” a man asks him, “Can you remove the suit?”
Right, they can’t transport him with the suit on. He lets the suit open up, leaving his arm piece on.
“It’s broken,” he says before they say anything, “I broke it during the airport battle.”
“And you used the arm during this fight?” he asks looking a bit horrified.
“It was a minor break. Not that big of a deal.”
And it’s not like he had and other choice. Besides this was nothing compared to the arc reactor surgery.
His pain perception after that was very skewed and things didn’t feel as painful to him as they would to someone else. He felt the same level of pain, but after that surgery, it didn’t register the same way.
The medic looks very surprised, but he helps him stand up and slowly make his way outside.
“FRIDAY send Pepper all this footage,” he says to his earpiece.
She’ll know what to do.
Pepper ends up pressing charges against Steve on his behalf, the videos (that are mysteriously leaked) being the main evidence against him.
The public quickly turn against Steve and the rest of the Rogues when they see all the evidence of the destruction they caused and the lives they took. They are more sympathetic towards Barnes who is most likely going to be sent to a facility to get treatment for the brainwashing.
And Tony’s reputation is at a all time high. People are rallying behind him and sending him well wishes.
Him being in the hospital caused a lot of panic until Pepper released a statement that he was doing okay and would be released from the hospital soon.
A week later, Tony is released from the hospital. He goes straight to the hospital Rhodey is at. He hasn’t seen Rhodey since he left his side to go to Siberia. He knows Rhodey is physically doing better, but he can’t imagine how Rhodey feels about his injury.
His arm is in a sling again with strict instructions not to use it. And he’s bruised pretty much everywhere, but he doesn’t let that show on his face.
Rhodey is lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to way too many machines and sleeping seemingly deeply.
He sits there for a few hours until Rhodey slowly wakes away and visibly brightens at seeing him. Tony holds a cup of water in front of him and lets him take a few sips.
“How are you doing?” Tony asks.
Rhodey shrugs, “The doctors are optimistic that I’ll be able to walk again, but only with some sort of support.”
A wave of guilt runs through him, but he doesn’t let it show.
“That’s good news,” he says, “I mean not great that you won’t be able to-”
“I know what you mean,” Rhodey says cutting off his rambling.
“I’ll talk to the doctors. Stark industries should expand our prosthetic’s line to include leg braces.”
Rhodey smiles a bit, “I’m surprised you haven’t already drawn up a design,” he teases.
“I would have but I was trapped against my will,” Tony says.
“Only you would call being hospitalized trapped against your will. Speaking of that how’s the arm?”
Tony does a one arm shrug, “It’ll heal.”
“I saw the videos,” Rhodey says, “I’m sorry you had to see what happened to your parents. And that asshole Rogers should be glad I’m lying here right now.”
“I don’t think he’s that wise,” Tony says, “Besides the public is demanding his head on a platter. After what happened to you and Siberia, it’s not looking good for him.”
When news had gotten out the Rhodey was likely permanently injured, it had caused a frenzy. People had already been angry about Siberia, but that was the last straw.
Tony spends a couple of more hours with Rhodey before he sadly has to leave. He has too many things pilled up already and dozens of people waiting to talk to him. He knows Rhodey’s family will be around to see him later as well.
Tony stops to check with Happy that all the security in the hospital is tight. He put Happy in charge of security as soon as Rhodey reached the hospital.
When Tony reaches the tower, there’s a crowd gathered there. He puts on his signature sunglasses before stepping out of the car, not stopping to talk to anyone, but giving a peace sign to the crowd before going inside.
When he reaches the penthouse he pulls off his tie and suit jacket and practically collapses on the couch.
He’s been holding himself together for everyone and now he’s finally alone he breaks down. He sobs for his parents, for Rhodey, for the lost friendships, for everything that happened in this “civil war.”
He doesn’t know how long he spends, shaking uncontrollably and sobbing on the couch. After a little while, he hears a beep and feels cool metal touch his face.
“He was worried,” FRIDAY says.
He knows it’s more likely that FRIDAY let him out of the lab and told him to come to the penthouse, but he doesn’t say anything about it.
DUM-E hands him a ripped tissue with his claw and then pats his uninjured shoulder awkwardly.
“Thanks, bud,” Tony says patting him back.
DUM-E beeps in joy and then rubs his claw on his face (probably trying to wipe his tears away). It doesn’t really help but Tony smiles at the antics of his eldest. He may have lost the people he considered family, but he knows some will never leave him.
Tony pats DUM-E again and stands up. He has a lot of work to do and he needs to get ready for the next alien invasion.
Tony goes down to the lab and pulls up all the data he has on Rhodey’s injury.
“FRIDAY, play my music.”