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Tony reread the paragraph on his tablet.
His blood rushed to his ears, blocking out Steve’s worried mumbles and Natasha and Sam’s reassurances. It hadn’t been an easy retrieval mission, physically or emotionally, and they were still dealing with the consequences of Hydra’s actions.
He felt Rhodey shift beside him and saw Rhodey’s mouth move, but there was no sound. Rhodey smiled encouragingly at Tony.
Tony looked down at the tablet.
He had to be reading that wrong. This was some sort of trick by Hydra. There was no way-
A hand clamped on his shoulder. Rhodey was frowning at him and asking him questions.
One moment Tony was standing and the next his knees hit the ground. He didn’t have the strength to stand.
He distantly heard the surprised cries of his friends—saw Rhodey kneel in front of him. Rhodey touched his face then startled and looked at something behind Tony.
Rhodey scowled and tried to yank Tony behind him, but suddenly a metal arm was wrapped protectively around Tony while a flesh arm aimed a gun at Rhodey’s head.
Rhodey raised his hands in a sign of surrender. The fire in his gaze told Tony that Rhodey hadn’t fully given up yet; he was just waiting for an opportune moment to rescue Tony from the arms of the Winter Soldier.
“So now the Maglock doesn’t work on Super Soldiers?” Sam said incredulously, his voice still muffled to Tony’s ears.
“Bucky,” Steve’s voice was tender. Steve purposefully arced out from behind the Winter Soldier so he could approach from the side instead of from behind. “Please, let Tony go. No one is going to hurt him. You know that.”
“No,” Natasha stated. “He doesn’t, and that isn’t Bucky.”
The Winter Soldier stiffened as Natasha got closer. He shifted his position, his weight going to the balls of his feet while the arm holding Tony constricted tighter around him.
“They used it,” Tony croaked.
His friends paused in their attempts to surround the Winter Soldier.
“They used my tech to bring out the Winter Soldier.” The words burned Tony’s throat as he spoke them. “…and to erase Bucky.”
Tony trembled in the Soldier’s embrace. “I killed Bucky.”
He’d killed his fiancé.