Everyone’s eyes were filled reverence as they heard Tony’s voice. They all quickly lifted up their heads towards the large mechanical gate which raised up while producing metallic sounds to reveal an indifferent Tony.
“Tony…” Said Steve as he tried to look towards the gate but couldn’t see clearly as his eyesight was going weak with his worsening medical condition.
Everyone was looking towards Tony with different emotions. Wanda with anger, Steve and Bucky with guilt, Sam with hatred and Clint with helplessness.
As Tony heard Steve murmur his name, he turned to his direction and started walking.
“You know Steve, I still don’t understand why you felt that you needed to go rogue? You first said that you can’t place your powers in the hands of UN to help save the world and then you go around breaking mass murderers out of prison.”
Steve gave a helpless smile to Tony’s question as he saw a lingering sadness in his eyes.
“You go out of your way to protect someone you care about, Tony….Bucky…He’s my friend”
“So was I” replied Tony in a sad voice as it felt like he was choking while saying it. These words struck a chord in Steve as he remembered all his time he spent with Tony. Others also felt Tony’s sadness but soon raised their guard when a murderous intent raised in Tony’s eyes.
“SO WAS I, STEVE! But you STILL hid the fact about my parent’s death! You HID the most precious and important truth about my life from me!” Screamed Tony as a tear left his left eye and everyone seemed astonished at Tony’s words!
‘What was it? What secret?’ Everyone was thinking about it when suddenly they saw panic in Steve’s eyes while Bucky just closed his.
Tony suddenly flipped out his Transparent Stark Card which projected a video of Bucky killing someone in a car and retrieving something from the trunk of their car.
“It was not him Tony! Bucky as being controlled by Hydra! He was brainwashed! He didn’t kill your parents, Hydra did.” Shouted Steve as to protect his best friend.
Steve’s words suddenly sent a shock through everyone as it was now clear that Bucky had killed Stark’s parents! A sense of sympathy rose in the chest of Clint and Wanda as they realized that the man who Tony considered as his friend hid the fact from him that his parents were actually assassinated by his own best friend. Steve also snatched Tony’s best friend Rhodes from him in his pursuit to break out Bucky!
Tony was now alone, friendless, and deep in guilt for killing Natasha, well at least that’s what they thought when they saw Tony’s pained expression.
Tony was just staring daggers at Steve while Steve was staring straight at Tony to try and convince him not to blame Bucky.
Sam, who was still the ass kissing fan of Steve was about to say something when Tony started to walk towards their cell and the glass of their cell which was separating them lifted up to grant Tony a way.
All of them were in the same cell and as the glass raised, Sam tried to stop Tony but before he could do that, Tony flew past him and caught Steve’s neck while slamming him to the wall.
“You know what I am most hurt about, Steve? I am not hurt about the fact that your best friend killed my parents, I am hurt about the fact that you never tried to tell me this. You never tried to explain why your best friend killed them, you never tried to ease my pain about their deaths when you knew from the start that it was your best friend that had killed them!”
Tony then released Steve as he slumped down on the ground, still conscious and tried to hold Tony from going towards Bucky. Tony was walking towards Bucky at a normal speed and came to a halt just few a inches away from him.
“Do you even remember them?”
“I remember all of them” Was the only response of Bucky as he just sat their, avoiding eye contact from Tony.
“Director S.H.I.E.L.D. General Ross is on the line.” came a sudden voice, following which came Agent Hill holding a cellphone and giving the cell phone to Tony.
Everyone was again stunned! What!? Tony was The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D Now?
Their minds were chaotic with thousands of questions when they heard Tony speak with General Ross.
“Yes General. No I am here to get Wanda. She is still useful, I think due to her past experience and hatred for me, she chose Steve’s side but with right training and care, She can become an invaluable member of Avengers. Yes. No no It’ll be okay. Yeah.”
Wanda had a complicated expression on her face as she listened to Tony talk to General Ross about her. She was quite emotional to say the least as she thought that Tony thought about her even after going through so much emotional stress himself, about finding out his parents killer and losing his friends.
After Tony disconnected the call, he closed his eyes and tried to seethe his mood by deeply inhaling and exhaling, after which he opened his eyes and looked at Wanda with helplessness.
“Wanda, Can I talk to you in private?”
Wanda looked at his face and then nodded and as soon as she did, four walls rose from the floor and surrounded them, giving them privacy from all the other curious people present.
“Wanda, Look….I know that I am responsible for your parent’s death. The weapons I created destroyed family. You only had your brother left and I even snatched him from you by creating Ultron. I know how terrible I am, I know that I am the scum of the earth but believe me, Believe me Wanda I regret every death that is stabbing my conscience. If I could turn back time and fix all of it then believe me I would do it at the price of my life! I so wish that I was not present in this world, that this world would be a better place without me but….heh, How laughable that I can’t even kill myself. Millions of lives are dependent upon me. All those people who work for me, all those people who are sleeping peacefully thinking that Iron Man is keeping them safe…..What I am asking of you Wanda is……A..a. Ch..ch..chance! I promise that I will help you every step of the way. That I will not let you down. That I will try to repent for my crimes against your family with every breath I take. So Wanda, will you come with me and help me keep this world safe? I have even developed a device which will help you control and enhance your power better. It’s like my suit but I thought that you wouldn’t like to wear a suit so It’s in the shape of a bracelet. Look this is it. Will you wear it? Please…”
Tony’s heartfelt apology, when he himself was dying inside shattered all of Wanda’s misgivings towards him and she immediately hugged him! She was indeed broken inside as her life was filled with tragedies. First her parents died tragically, then she and her brothers were taken in and were experimented on to give them mutant like abilities, then she had to work with the man whose weapons were responsible for her parent’s death, then even her brother died due to the abomination that Tony had created, and then finally to save the life of Steve, she dropped a building on hundreds of people with kids included. She was also feeling guilty about Rhodes’s and Natasha’s death and now she was crying away all her agony in Tony’s arms. Tony patted her back and cried a little himself after which he steeled himself and wiped his tears off, smiling, he said to Wanda, “Will you come with me?”
“Wanda looked at his smiling expression while his eyes were filled with incomparable sadness. She wanted to ease his guilt and wanted him to cry, so his agony could be released but she knew that Tony would never share his pain with anyone, even if he is dying inside.
She gave him another meaningful look before wearing the bracelet he gave and nodding with a smile and sad eyes.
“Yes Tony, Yes, I will come with you.”
Tony completely wiped his tears off and wore a poker face void of any expression while he also wiped her tears and snapped his fingers, making all the walls around them fall back down.
Everyone was looking curiously towards Wanda. What did Tony say? What will she say? Will she go with him?
Wanda on the other hand, just stood there motionless, staring at a beautiful bracelet of black and red.
“Let’s go” Said Tony in a neutral tone and started walking towards the exit. Wanda and Maria also started walking behind him, following him out of the Raft prison before it was sealed again.
“You forgave Bucky?” Asked Maria with a raised eyebrow as they were walking towards a jet.
“There are already too many deaths on my consciences” Was the only response from Tony as he made his way inside the jet with a smirk which was hidden from everyone’s eyes.
‘Jarvis, Start it’
[Project Maximoff, Initiated]
