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Tony had entered the Siberian Hydra base with a broken hand, he had not expected to back with a broken heart.
With tears yet to fall he looks at his mother's demise, and he asks his childhood hero and teenage villain if he knew...... "yes".
The first punch is reaction to the sorrow of betrayal , the following strikes are the reaction of anger pure red anger. When Tony goes on to strike at Bucky, Steve remembers the key to the suit.
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"Hey cap, can i talk to you for a minute" Tony asks, months after the whole Battle of New York fiasco, they had come to terms with each other, had become rather good friends, were growing to become something more.
"Yeah Tony what is it?" Steve asks. Tony answers "you know Loki tried to control me, and tho he failed it taught me something" he pauses and continues "what if he had succeeded, I'm bettering the suit day by day and i don't want to hurt anyone, but i can't stop upgrading it because peoples' life depends on it too....."
"I've decided to make a code to open the suit and lock it, i would have locked it with me but then that puts me in danger too if it falls from a height, the code will make the suit drop me to the ground and lock itself for 20 minutes, so no one else can use it".
Steve was simply listening to him till now, and he asks "well that is a good idea, but what if the code goes out? What if someone uses it to hurt you?", "That is why only you, Pepper and Rhodey will know the code, as team captain I'm trusting you with my life" Tony says with a smile, "only as team captain?" Steve asks with a smirk. "what a way to ask me out" Tony laughs with a little flush on his cheeks, amd Steve notices its his favorite thing now. "I won't let you down Tony, i won't", "I know you won't, Steve"
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"471918" Steve shouts and Tony stumbles out of the suit, he lookes back in utter horror, but was too blind with rage to do anything else, the pang of betrayal was bad enough before but now, it felt like a punch to the gut, his trust gone.
Steve's voice echoes in his mind "i won't let you down", he had forgotten how bad love hurts after his heart was mended again by Steve. The shared moments seemed like a dream which will haunt him like nightmares.
He charged unarmed at Bucky and all Bucky did was dodge. Tony did know martial art, mind you, but assassin's training of 20 years is still hard to match. Tony did got a few blows to the jaw but the weakened heart soon got affected by the cold winds, and the ice inside of it. After 5-7 minutes he started to get slower and Steve pulled him back.
"LET ME GO YOU LIAR, YOU LOST YOUR RIGHT TO TOUCH ME", Tony yells with a little energy left in him, "Tony please stop, you'll hurt yourself" Steve says while keeping Tony tucked to his chest, while Tony flailed like anything to get away from the grip.
When all his energy gave out, Tony slumped in his grip, "I trusted you with my heart and my life, i gave you my soul without a hint of hesitation, why did you do this to me?", Steve didn't have an answer. Bucky was his only link to his past, how could he not protect him, he was with him till the end of the line. His grip goes slack and Tony pushes him back,"ANSWER ME!" Tony demands. "Why did you have to remind me why i stopped trusting, why did you have to bring back all the reasons i couldn't love for so long? WHY!?", Tony asks sobbing.
The suit comes back online and surrounds Tony, "sir, for obvious reasons i am removing the shut down code from the system" FRIDAY says, her tone angry. One repulser blast at steve puts him to the ground and another towards Bucky takes the metal hand out. Steve stands infront of Bucky, sheild in hand "he is my friend","so was i" Tony says.
Steve charges and distracts Tony by throwing the shield upwards and tackling him to the ground, he catches the shield as it falls and slams it into the arc reactor, disabling the suit. Tony simply stares at the face of his lover, former lover, thinking how did he allow this to happen again? "
Steve goes to help Bucky up and starts leaving. "that shield doesn't belong to you Rogers, it belonged to Captain America, it belonged to my Steve, it doesn't belong to you", that shield was his responsibility, that shield was his past, that shield was his life, and the clang of it on the floor was enough to tell Tony, it hadn't meant anything to Ste- Rogers.
As Tony's eyes shut down, he thinks, even the cave felt warmer than he does right now.