Chapter Text
Tony didn’t resist when he was put into handcuffs and taken away. He didn’t say anything at all, except to tell the medical team wrapping up Steve’s and Bucky’s bodies that Bucky wanted to be buried in Brooklyn beside his mother.
The woman who had been bent over Bucky’s form looked up at him sharply, and something like anger and hurt all wrapped into one flashed in her eyes.
Tony swallowed hard and looked down as the officer beside him read him his rights. Then he was led onto a plane and put in a holding cell, and there was Rhodey sitting outside of it, waiting for him.
Any other time, Rhodey would’ve asked Tony if he was okay, if he needed anything, and don’t worry, we’ll figure this out together.
But Tony hadn’t just crossed the line, he’d shot himself over it clear to the other side. Not even his best friend could look him in the eyes, and it was clear he’d been crying.
Crying for what Tony had done.
“Sam, Clint, Wanda, and Scott have been released from the Raft. It was a lawsuit waiting to happen anyway, and with…”
Rhodey clenched his jaw and stared intently at the space just above Tony’s forehead.
“…with Steve and Bucky gone, it didn’t even matter anymore, not really. Natasha was notified of the warrant for her arrest being taken down and has since returned to the Compound. The others are making their way there. Spider-Man has been put into Happy’s care.”
Tony perked up. In all the…the mess of the last couple of hours, he’d forgotten about Peter, the teenager he’d brought to a fight too big for him.
God, how many times could someone mess up in the span of a day?
“Is he alright?” Tony asked meekly, not wanting to arouse Rhodey’s anger any more than he already had.
If he got yelled at by his best friend after everything that had happened, he might just break.
Though I certainly deserve to be yelled at, Tony thought bitterly. He deserved much more for what he’d done.
He’d murdered someone he knew, someone he’d considered a friend. And he’d done the same thing to someone who had never deserved to die.
“Tony…” Rhodey sighed, “He never should’ve been there in the first place. Happy told me later that the guy’s only fourteen. Which means now we’ve got another lawsuit on our hands because taking a minor outside state lines without their legal guardian’s consent is technically kidnapping, and Germany’s way outside state lines. But, of course, that’s not the least of our worries…”
Rhodey laughed darkly and rubbed the side of his face, finally looking Tony in the eyes. Even with a coat on and the heater blaring, Tony felt a shiver go down his spine.
“I always knew you were reckless, Tony. I knew you did stupid things whenever you got drunk or got too mad. But this? You’ve…you’ve ruined everything: your life, Pepper’s life, my life! Your company’s going down the drain. The world has already caught wind that Iron Man murdered Captain America and his best friend, so they’re not looking to buy from Stark Industries anytime soon.”
Tony squeezed his eyes shut, just barely stopping himself from toppling right out of his seat. He hadn’t even thought about how Pepper and Rhodey would be affected, or the thousands of people he employed at Stark Industries. He could see it now, how everyone even mildly associated with the name “Tony Stark” would be shunned.
Because Captain America was the hero, the living legend that stood for everything good, true, and beautiful in the world. And Bucky Barnes had been brainwashed for 70 years by Hydra. There was nothing but sympathy for them, for both of them.
Meanwhile, the world was just barely hanging onto Iron Man after finding out about this thing he did or that thing he said that messed things up.
He always messed things up, but his intentions were good. He could always say his intentions were good, in the end.
Except this time. He’d wanted to kill Bucky, had wanted him to feel exactly how his parents had felt. And Steve had been nothing more than collateral damage, and really, wouldn’t it have been nice to finally get rid of the man who had become his conscience?
Oh, God…
“Tony, I think you know what you’ve done. You certainly don’t know the full scope of it, but you know enough to understand that I’m not going to try to get you out of this. This isn’t like our days at MIT, where I would make excuses for you after you broke a table or something from being drunk. No, this is murder, Tony. And even superheroes can’t steal people’s lives away from them like that.”
Tony understood; he understood so well that he was anticipating his prison sentence because then he could start making up for it.
But did you ever make up for murder? Did you ever make up for dealing irreversible damage just because, in the moment, you had wanted to?
“I’m going to go now. I’ve instructed all personnel to treat you as they would any prisoner, and they seem…up to the challenge.”
Rhodey stood up and fixed Tony with one more agonizing stare, a look that told Tony that he had failed in a way unbeknownst to even his best friend.
When the plane landed…somewhere (Tony hadn’t cared enough to try to make out where they were), he was loaded off and escorted to a jail cell meant to hold a superhero.
It seemed that it hadn’t clicked that Tony was only powerful when he had access to money and tech.
The days (weeks? Months?) after that were a blur. His trial came up fast, where he was declared guilty on two counts of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
He hadn’t pleaded innocent and had refused any lawyer or attorney of any sort. He could at least do that much.
The trial hadn’t been public, but Tony could’ve sworn that all eyes – the eyes of the entire world – were watching him. He could feel the glares, the anguished looks, the tears.
So many tears. There was wailing in the streets. He could’ve sworn there was wailing.
The funerals for Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes happened a second time, though these felt more final.
These had bodies. And Tony was not invited.
Not like he would’ve gone. He would’ve felt like he was desecrating the cemetery and disrespecting the deceased with every step.
After the trial, Tony was moved to a more permanent prison and told that that was where he’d be spending the rest of his days.
Tony couldn’t find it in himself to care.
Pepper visited once, only once.
She hadn’t cried. She never would’ve cried. Not for him. Not after what he’d done.
She told him that Stark Industries had had to be completely rebranded and turned over.
She was no longer the CEO. She wasn’t allowed to be. After all, she had been the girlfriend of Tony Stark.
She now worked with the Avengers full-time, living off the money she had saved up until that point.
The world was struggling with the idea of the Avengers, she told him. They didn’t know what to think about the superheroes splitting up, or about the leader killing the other leader and his best friend.
Everyone was back together now, of course. The Sokovia Accords had been scrapped, and new documents had been written up, documents Steve would’ve been proud of.
Avengers Compound was always silent, always still, Pepper said. The air was thick with grief and tension and was fit to explode, but nobody dared, not after the last “explosion” (that being when Tony “exploded” in Siberia).
FRIDAY and any other AI’s Tony had been working on were permanently deleted. Tony did cry at that. But a small part of him understood. If their creator was capable of murder, what about them?
And then Pepper left, and Tony knew she’d only seen him for closure, so that she felt like she could move on.
He would never see her again, that he was sure of.
And Rhodey…he still had trouble looking Tony in the eyes. Their last visit had been three months ago, about two weeks after the funerals.
Even then, Tony knew it would probably be his last. He said his final goodbyes to his best friend in his head as the man turned to leave.
Saying it out loud would’ve only made the anger and the hurt more palpable.
And now he was alone.
The world hated Tony, and it was going to make an example out of him, a worst-case-scenario told to children to keep them from acting out. A tall tale told at lunch meant to show what happened when you couldn’t control yourself. When you were reckless. When you were stupid.
When you were like Tony.
And Tony laughed. He had always wanted to be remembered. His legacy…it had kept him up at night.
Well, he certainly had his legacy now.
Tony Stark, forever immortalized as the man who murdered Captain America and Bucky Barnes.