บท 43: Chapter 43
Tony's eyes went wide, and he stared at Maggie for what felt like an eternity. There was grief, so much grief in his dark eyes. But then he took in the way she was standing, placing herself between him and their parents' murderer, her own kidnapper, and the sharp edges of betrayal flickered into his eyes. Maggie's eyes welled with tears again but she didn't back down, keeping her palms spread and her body shielding Bucky's. She opened her mouth to speak, but the words didn't come.
As if he couldn't stand to look at her, Tony turned away, eyes tracking to Steve's hand on his arm and then, after a long pause, up to his friend's face.
"Did you know?" he whispered.
Maggie's chest was heaving, her skin prickling. She felt Bucky shift behind her.
Steve met Tony's eyes. "I didn't know it was him."
"Don't bullshit me Rogers, did you know," Tony hissed, stepping into Steve's space. Maggie didn't recognize him like this; the rage that had taken over his features and his voice was alien. But then she felt a flicker of recognition – that anger, it reminded her of herself. It reminded her of the child who had whispered you're my mission now, the weapon who had pressed her claws into the Winter Soldier's throat, the woman who had held her heel spur over Vincent Silva's chest and been tempted.
There was a beat of silence, and Steve met Tony's furious gaze.
"Yes."
Maggie glanced over her shoulder at Bucky. He looked just as surprised as she felt, but that quickly slipped away into more self-hatred and remorse.
Tony shuddered and pushed away from Steve, his eyes bright. He looked away, clenching his jaw. Maggie could see the turmoil, the rage eating him up from within. She didn't blame him - for Steve to keep such a secret, for who knew how long... and for Tony to find out just after seeing that video. She knew they were close. She didn't understand why Steve would keep that from him, but she'd only known the man for a few days. All she knew was that that kind of betrayal had to burn.
As she watched Tony's face, Maggie realized that she knew that feeling; the scorching, all-consuming fire that licks up your bones and makes your vision blaze red. She could see it in his eyes. She didn't feel it now, though. She felt cold.
She saw the second Tony came to his decision. His eyes fluttered closed for a moment. He gritted his teeth.
And then, quicker than Maggie thought he could move, Tony's helmet snapped over his face and he threw his fist at Steve, knocking him across the ground. Maggie gasped and started to move – to help Steve, to help Tony, to protect Bucky, she wasn't sure – but then the mask of the protective suit she wore came up against her will and the suit shot her out of the way, zooming across the chamber toward the exit.
"No!" Maggie shouted, suddenly trapped in a polymer escape pod. Acting on instinct she extended her heel spurs, feeling them take out the repulsors on the suit's heels. She dropped to the ground, scraping across the metal grate, but the suit kept trying to pull her out of the way, maneuvering her arms and legs toward the door against her will. Her injured body blossomed with pain.
She heard a blast of repulsors, Bucky's pained cry, a clang of metal. Heart pounding, Maggie started tearing out of the protective suit from the inside, ripping her heel spurs through the polymer and pitting her super-serum strength against the A.I. controlling the suit. It only took her a few seconds – the suit was meant to protect unlucky civilians, not to imprison super-soldiers – and she left the suit in a pile of shreds as she sprang to her feet and looked around wildly for Bucky and Tony.
She spotted them on a raised platform a few feet away: Tony was fighting Steve, titanium clashing against Vibranium, and Bucky was on the ground. Maggie vaulted onto the platform and skidded across the concrete to him.
"Bucky!" she gasped, seizing his metal arm and helping him to his feet. Bucky glanced up.
"Meg-" his eyes went wide as he looked over her shoulder, and Maggie spun around to catch the fist meant for his face. The force behind Tony's armored punch jarred Maggie's bones but she held on, gripping the metal and looking right into his glowing eyeslots. Steve lay a few feet away, his ankles trapped in some kind of magnetic metal cuff.
"How could you?" Tony hissed.
Maggie's heart shattered, but she didn't let him go. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "But please don't do this."
Tony started firing up his repulsor, the gauntlet growing warm under her fingers, but then Bucky leaped forward and landed an uppercut to Tony's helmet, knocking him away from Maggie.
Tony seized Bucky and lifted, rocketing them both across the room and slamming Bucky into the wall a few floors up.
"Stop!" Maggie shouted, as her brother tried to fire a repulsor blast into Bucky's face. She followed them to the other side of the room, wishing she had her wings, or something, but then a rocket was fired and connected with one of the huge pylons. The support crumbled and the pylon came down in an avalanche of metal and smoke. Maggie dove into a side room, narrowly escaping a vast metal strut that slammed into the ground where she had been standing. She felt the rush of displaced air wash over her.
When Maggie glanced up, the chamber had been turned into a tangle of smoking metal parts and bursting sparks.
"Get out of here!" she heard Steve call, and she clambered onto an unstable-looking pile of wreckage to make sure everyone had made it. She cleared the last groaning strut just in time to see Bucky dashing in her direction, head ducked as he leaped over blocks of concrete. He spotted her, crouched on the heap of metal, and hesitated.
"Go!" she shouted, and he dashed into the missile chute with a grim look on his face. A repulsor blast followed in his wake.
Steve had dropped down between Tony and the missile chute and was trying to talk him down. Maggie scrambled toward them, not at all sure what she was planning to do, but she only made it halfway before Tony aimed his gauntlet at her and fired – not a repulsor blast, but some kind of concussive wave that propelled her off the pile of wreckage and sent her flying head over heels across the room. The far wall knocked the breath out of her when she hit it, and she slumped to the floor gasping.
By the time she got her feet under her and scrambled back to where she'd last seen them, Tony had collapsed the entryway to the missile chute. She could hear repulsor blasts, muffled shouts, and the Vibranium shield clanging. Maggie's heart sank and she glanced around wildly, until she spotted a Steve Rogers-shaped hole in the pile of debris. Gritting her teeth, she climbed through it.
Halfway up the missile chute, Steve helped Bucky to his feet and they both glanced down to where Iron Man had fallen. Several floors below that, they spotted a barefoot Maggie crawling through a hole in the wall, her blue prison scrubs covered in ash and scorch marks.
"He's not going to stop," Steve panted. "Go."
Bucky hesitated. "Meg-"
"He's just trying to get her out of the way," Steve urged, and pushed his friend. Bucky nodded once and leaped up to the next platform, casting a glance down at Maggie as she turned her pale face towards him.
Tony fired up his repulsors and started rising through the levels again, his slitted eye slots fixed on Bucky. Before he got close, however, Steve leaped, snagged a cable around the armor's neck and used his own body weight to yank Tony back down the chute. Tony fell with a strangled cry.
Tony and Steve slammed into platforms near the bottom of the chute, as Bucky got closer and closer to clear sky.
Maggie was close enough to act now. She sprang from platform to platform, her Adamantium heels clanging on each metal grate. She was a few platforms above Steve, and his shield whirred past her head when he threw it at Tony. Tony blasted the shield away and knelt, aiming a missile up at Bucky.
A second later Maggie hurdled onto his level and swung her leg out, kicking his arm away. She didn't give him a chance to react this time. She whirled into action, aiming kicks and punches at the weak points in his armor even though her feet were bare. "Stop this, Tony!" she shouted, as he reeled back from a kick to his chin.
She knew exactly why Tony was fighting, and it broke her heart – it was one thing to know the truth, another to see it, another for Steve to have kept it from him and yet another thing for Maggie to protect Bucky from him. But how could she explain the years of hatred and reconciliation and guilt, when Tony was so uninterested in words? She just needed to give Bucky enough time to get away, then maybe they could talk.
She only got in two more blows before Tony ducked under another kick and fired a repulsor blast into her chest.
It was a low-charge blast but it slammed her across the chute, making her choke on her own breath, and she collapsed on the platform below. Her chest stung. Ears ringing, Maggie looked up in time to see Tony flick his helmet back, squint up at Bucky, and fire the missile.
"No!"
Maggie's heart pounded as the missile soared over Bucky's head and impacted the massive hatch's hinge. The hatch came down with a resounding thud, and Bucky dropped to the platform below.
Maggie let out the breath she'd been holding, and her eyes flicked back to Tony. He'd put his helmet back down and fired up his repulsors again, gaze trained on Bucky.
Ignoring the ache in her chest, Maggie scrambled to her feet and leaped. She just caught Tony as he rose, wrapping her arms around his armored legs and halting his ascension. Her feet dangled in mid-air, and she gritted her teeth as his repulsors fired against her bare skin.
"Meg!" came Bucky's shout, and she looked up. She was met with Tony's helmet instead, his glowing eye slots glaring down at her.
"Please," she begged, grimacing against the repulsors burning her arms.
"Stay. Down." Tony gritted out, and before she could raise her arm to protect her face he aimed his gauntlet at her and fired.
But it wasn't a repulsor blast this time around. He fired two blue metal disks, which flicked past her face and formed into bands mid-air. With a magnetic click the bands locked around Maggie's ankles, and she realized he'd used these on Steve only minutes before.
The bands yanked Maggie free from Tony's legs and she fell, tumbling past levels and levels of platforms, too startled to scream.
She slammed into the second-to-last metal platform with a crunch. Maggie broke her fall with her arms and felt one of her wrists break in a white-hot burst of pain. She cried out and tried to curl into a ball, but the bands around her ankles had magnetically sealed to the metal grate, locking her in place.
Above her there was a whine of repulsors and a metallic clank, and suddenly there were bodies falling. She saw the red-and-blue blurs of Tony and Steve fall past her, and managed to roll over enough to see Bucky collide with a platform below her.
There were a few brief, blessed moments of silence.
Bucky met Maggie's eyes through the metal grates, and for a few moments they absorbed the horror and fear in each other's eyes. But then Maggie's attention flicked toward the figure of Steve, face down on the concrete below, and Bucky rolled to follow her gaze.
Tony got to his feet; a red and gold Avenger.
Steve rose to face him. "This isn't going to change what happened," he said breathlessly.
"I don't care," Tony replied. His voice was utterly hopeless. "He killed my mom. He took my sister from me."
Maggie didn't have time to think about the way those words felt like someone had ripped out her heart, because at that Tony leaped forward again, landing a metal punch on Steve's face.
They duked it out, metal versus flesh, and Maggie flinched at the force behind their blows. Cursing, she sat up and started pulling at the blue glowing bands around her ankles. They didn't budge an inch.
"Come on, come on!" she hissed, flexing her legs and gritting her teeth against the sharp bite of the metal bands.
She sensed Bucky moving, and glanced over the edge of the platform to see him stagger to his feet, gripping Steve's shield. He looked up at her. Steve's pained shout echoed up the chute.
Maggie met Bucky's eyes and nodded, just once. He needed to protect Steve.
Bucky leaped from the platform, shield raised, and knocked Tony away from his friend.
Maggie went back to the metal bands, her heart beating desperately against her ribcage. She kicked and pulled at the unforgiving metal, groaning through her teeth as she moved her broken wrist. She could use her wings right about now, or even Steve's shield – that's how he got out of these bonds so quickly.
Maggie caught glimpses of the fight below as she struggled; Bucky and Steve working side-by-side to knock her brother to his knees, followed by the high whine of a laser as Tony tried to blast Bucky.
"Stop!" Maggie screamed down, for all the good it would do.
Seconds later there was a flash of light and she saw Bucky go rag-doll flying, slumping to the concrete. His left arm was gone.
Maggie screamed. Her vision blurred with panic and she pulled at the bonds around her ankles with both hands, feeling the metal beginning to crumple. Bucky looked lifeless on the ground, his face bloody. Maggie sobbed as the tearing metal bands started shredding her palms, but she didn't stop.
After a brutal brawl, Steve took a repulsor blast to the gut and collapsed to his knees. The sight of Tony, all hard metal and slitted eyes, standing over Bucky with nothing but a half-beaten Steve Rogers between them made Maggie's heart skip a beat. She dug her fingers in to the bands, feeling the metal groan and rend under her grip. The pain pulsing from her broken wrist was like a lightning bolt arcing up her arm and into her spine.
"He's my friend," Steve panted.
"So was I." Tony knocked Steve to the ground and threw him aside. "Stay down, final warning."
Steve was getting to his feet again, but Maggie wasn't paying attention any more. She clenched her fingers and heaved backwards, finally pulling free of the bands with a metallic shriek. She felt more of her ribs crack with the strain. She ignored that and her broken wrist and threw herself off the platform, freefalling for a second before she hit the ground and tumbled down the concrete slope.
She bounced down to the lower level just as Tony aimed his repulsor at Steve, only to be distracted as Bucky grabbed his boot. Tony turned and kicked Bucky in the face.
"No!" Maggie cried, but then Steve grabbed Tony and threw him to the ground. The crack of Tony's suit against the hard concrete made Maggie sob. She scrambled to Bucky, pressing her palm to his bloody cheek as her other hand fumbled along his neck, searching for a heartbeat. Steve started ragging on Tony, kneeling on the armor as he rained down blows. There was blood all over Bucky's face and his eyes were closed, but his pulse beat against Maggie's fingers and she gasped in relief.
Satisfied Bucky wasn't dead, Maggie looked up just in time to see Steve tear Tony's helmet off and hoist his shield over his head, ready for a final swing.
Maggie threw out her arm and shouted in a broken voice: "Please don't!"
Steve swung anyway, slamming his shield down – into Tony's arc reactor.
There were several moments of stillness.
The only sounds were heavy breathing and the dying whine of the arc reactor. Steve fell off Tony. Maggie had one hand pressed against Bucky's chest, and the other still raised toward Tony, reaching.
He's alive. He's alive. He's alive. She stared at her brother's blood-streaked face as he lay beaten on the concrete.
Steve, with more strength than Maggie ever knew he had possessed, got once more to his feet. He pulled the shield out of Tony's chest, and the arc reactor sputtered. Maggie watched the light flicker.
Steve limped toward Maggie and Bucky, his head downcast. Maggie couldn't bear to look him in the eyes, so she glanced down at Bucky instead. His eyes were open now, dazed as he looked into Maggie's face.
Maggie didn't have room for thought. She wished she didn't have room for emotion, but her heart was ablaze with love and grief, too much for her to carry.
So she didn't think. As they had on the riverbank, Steve and Maggie pulled Bucky to his feet. Bucky slung his flesh arm over Steve's shoulder, groaning, and Maggie supported his injured side. His dark hair hung over his bloody face.
Tony had rolled onto his side, watching the three of them stand. "That shield doesn't belong to you," he spat at Steve. Maggie's heart wrenched at his voice. "You don't deserve it. My father made that shield!"
Steve paused, and Maggie shifted to stop Bucky slumping further. Tears were welling in her eyes again, as the pain from her injuries and her breaking heart clashed in her chest. She knew what she had to do.
Steve dropped his shield. Maggie flinched at the metallic clang, and glanced at Steve's face. His eyes were on the cold landscape ahead of them, and his jaw was set.
They kept moving.
They were a few steps out into the snow, leaving ash and blood in their wake, when Tony called out.
"Maggie!" It was more like a groan, as if he could hardly bear to acknowledge that she belonged to the name. Maggie's breath hitched in her throat. "You can't leave!"
I know. She kept walking. Bucky's head lolled onto his shoulder, his hair brushing her bare skin.
When they hit the three hundred yard mark the metal bracelet on Maggie's wrist blinked red. The electric current was instantaneous – Maggie's muscles locked up and she toppled to the ground like a felled tree, her face crunching into the snow.
"Meg," Bucky croaked. Steve stumbled, taking Bucky's whole weight onto his shoulders, and twisted to look at her.
Maggie tried to fight the electric current paralysing her, but she only managed to slump to the side, casting her gaze up at the sky. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She could taste them on her lips.
Steve and Bucky's bloody faces appeared in her vision.
Steve's eyes flicked to the red blinking bracelet on her wrist. "What-"
"This is-" Maggie grunted, trying to speak through the currents locking her muscles in place. "This is where I get off."
"Meg-" Bucky slipped out of Steve's grip and fell to his knees beside her. He barely managed to stay upright. His fingers fumbled at the bracelet and then he jerked back, hissing through his teeth. Tamper-resistant technology, Maggie distantly realized.
"Meg," Bucky repeated, his voice choked now. "Meg, you're my mission."
Maggie let out a wet laugh that sounded more like a sob, and she drank in the sight of him. His grey-blue eyes were bright in his bloody face, and she could see how desperately he didn't want to leave her. Steve hovered worriedly over them.
"I know, I know," she sighed. There were snowflakes drifting into Bucky's hair. "You're my mission too. It's okay."
Bucky gritted his teeth and suddenly his hand was gripping the shoulder of her prison scrubs, pulling. She couldn't help the pained groan that tore up her throat as Bucky dragged her back in the direction they came, wrenching her injuries. Steve hustled to her other shoulder and helped Bucky move her inside the three hundred yard mark. Tony was out of sight, hidden behind the concrete bunker walls.
Once the bracelet flashed green again, Maggie let out a shuddering breath and heaved herself to her knees. Bucky was panting beside her, bleeding into the snow, his eyes glimmering as he looked at her. He listed to the side, unbalanced by the loss of his arm.
They met each other's eyes, and Maggie watched Bucky's face crumple as he realized what she'd decided to do.
They leaned together, and Maggie threw her arms around Bucky's chest. His one arm wrapped across her back, pulling her into him. She didn't protest as her ribs ached.
"It's okay," Maggie was mumbling. "It's okay, it's okay. I need to stay."
"I'm so sorry, Meg," Bucky murmured, his head tucked beside hers. "This might be… might be the end of the mission. You…" his voice cracked, and his head dropped to the crook of her neck. "You're better off with your family." She felt his tears on her skin.
Maggie tightened her hold on him. "If you think for one second you aren't my family, you're a goddamn idiot." He laughed; a low, broken thing. Into his ear, Maggie breathed "I love you."
His shoulders shook. "I love you too."
They kissed, bloody and quick, but just the simple touch of his lips against hers made Maggie start crying in earnest, sobs wracking her chest.
She let him go.
His warm bulk slid away, and Steve helped him clamber back to his feet. Maggie knelt in the snow, dashing her hand across her eyes so the tears stopped clouding her vision.
The first thing she saw was Steve's blue eyes, looking down at her.
"I know you'll look after him," she whispered. It wasn't a threat or a plea, she just knew it to be true.
Steve nodded, jerky and distraught, and then he turned away.
Maggie had lain on this frozen rock once before, watching an evil man in a helicopter disappear into a storm. She'd been confused then, without a mission.
She almost wished she was back in that moment.
Nothing could have prepared her for the howling emptiness she felt as she knelt bleeding in the snow, watching the man she loved stumble into a Quinjet and fly away.
The frozen rock bit into her knees, and the wind tore at her bare skin. Tony groaned on the concrete three hundred yards away.
Maggie looked up at the white, empty sky.
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