Ch 69 The Raft

Everyone was tense, horrified by their actions in the recording.

"Based on your reactions, I feel you are all feeling guilt for your mistakes." Benjamin said, "In that case, I hope you all learn from it. You too Vision."

Vision nodded, still reeling from the revelation. Clearly, he needed to be better.

In a bar in Russia, Zemo was on the phone, talking to the maid from his hotel in Berlin. He requested his breakfast be brought up to his room.

"Planning on me finding out." Tony said.

"Ah!" Steve said.

The maid knocked on the door to his room before opening it. She walked in, carrying his tray, confused upon finding no one there. She put it down and, to her horror, found a body in the shower.

"Shit!" Sam and Rhodes said.

Peter was horrified by Zemo's brutality as Aunt May patted his head.

"Poor psychiatrist." Wanda muttered.

"No kidding." Clint agreed.

"And poor maid." Natasha said and nods followed.

In a Quinjet, Bucky asked Steve what would happen to the others. Steve sighed, worried about them but promised he'll deal with whatever happens. Bucky expressed doubt that he's worth 'all this'.

"You are." Steve said.

"It's not about me anymore." Bucky said, "It's about Zemo."

Steve pointed out Bucky didn't have a choice when he was The Winter Soldier but Bucky pointed out that, lack of choice or not, he still did all those things.

Clint watched Bucky in sympathy, feeling kinship with him in the moment.

At a hospital, Rhodes was getting an X-Ray as Tony and Vision watched.

Rhodes, Sam and Tony winced as Vision's guilt increased.

Tony demanded to know what happened and Vision admitted he became distracted.

"So, distracted enough to use a kill shot?" Natasha asked and Vision winced.

"Let's not talk about it right now." Steve said, "But we have to discuss this later."

"I realize now the entire plan to hit you was stupid, Sam." Rhodes said, "Really stupid. So a bit of it is my fault too."

Sam shook his head, telling him not to blame himself. He had lost his legs after all and could only walk due to the leg braces Tony had made for his friend.

Tony walked down the hall and saw Natasha.

Tony and Natasha winced, remembering their unpleasant conversation after that.

Later, at the Compound, Tony gave Natasha Rhodes' status, saying its likely he would suffer from some sort of paralysis.

Everyone looked at Rhodes in sympathy.

"138. I38 combat missions. That's how many I've flown. Every one of them could have been my last, but I flew them. Because the fight needed to be fought. It's the job; it's the risk we all take. And this hasn't changed my mind about being an Avenger." Rhodes told them and it was silent in the room.

"Very admirable Colonel." T'Challa acknowledged, causing Rhodes to smile weakly.

"Thank you you're highness." Rhodes said humbly.

"You're a brave man, my friend." Thor said and he nodded again in appreciation.

Natasha pointed out Steve isn't going to stop, telling Tony he needed to in order to prevent another Rhodes. Tony angrily said that she let them go and Natasha said they 'played this wrong'. Feeling betrayed; Tony said, ""We"? Boy, it must be hard to shake the whole double agent thing, huh? It sticks in the DNA."

Tony winced in guilt as Natasha, for one brief moment, allowed the hurt she felt to show before her face hardened and her eyes showed no emotion. Tony squirmed as Clint and Bucky shot Tony a look.

Natasha incredulously asked if Tony was incapable of seeing beyond his ego for one second.

"You're the one who said I was 'textbook narcissism'." Tony tried for a joke but it just fell flat.

Tony warned her T'Challa told Ross she let Steve go, so they'll be coming for her now.

"I am sorry Ms. Romanoff." T'Challa apologized remorsefully but she waved him off.

"If it hadn't been you, Ross would have found out another way. Don't blame yourself your highness." Natasha assured him.

Natasha warns Tony he'll need to watch his back before walking off. After Natasha was gone, Tony's watch beeped and he activated it, a holographic photo of a corpse appearing. Tony asked about it and FRIDAY explained it's from Berlin police.

"So he wanted you to know." Scott realized and Tony nodded.

"Part of the plan." Loki muttered.

"Yeah bub." Logan said.

Later, Tony was flying in a chopper as FRIDAY explained to him that the psychiatrist who was supposed to examine Bucky, Theo Broussard, was met at the airport by Zemo. Tony asked if she ran facial recognition, which caused FRIDAY to make a sarcastic comment and Tony admits he's thinking of a red head when he talks to her.

"You really give your AIs personality." Hope said, impressed.

"The same thing gets boring." Tony said.

"Who was the redhead?" Pepper asked and Tony simply smiled at her, making her realize who it was and she smiled too.

FRIDAY identified Zemo as Helmut Zemo, former leader of Echo Scorpion, a Sokovian covert kill squad.

"Now his name is out at least." Odinson said.

FRIDAY also revealed the real Theo Broussard was found dead in a Berlin hotel, along with a wig and facial prosthesis that would give someone the appearance of James Buchanan Barnes. Dismayed, Tony ordered FRIDAY to send all of it to Ross as he realized Steve was right.

"And now he is playing his game." Tony sighed.

In Siberia, Zemo arrived at the Hydra facility in a snow plower. Getting out, he walked up to the front door, where he used a tool to cut away the ice on the panel and opened it. Punching in the code, he opened the door and entered as he turns on a flashlight.

Everyone paled.

Entering a filing room, Zemo found a drawer for December 1991 and opened it before walking up to a higher level, where he found the five Winter Soldiers in cryo sleep.

"Oh no!" Peter said.

Tony is in his chopper, got clearance to land as The Raft rose out of the ocean.

"What the hell is that?" Thor asked as he stared at the screen.

"That is The Raft, Ross' prison for enhanced/powered individuals or really anyone who breaks The Accords." Tony said grimly.

"The guy has his own prison for people who break The Accords? This can't be legal." Bruce said horrified.

Clint clenched his fists as Wanda was pale, remembering how the sadistic guards shocked her for even breathing wrong.

Tony landed the chopper and met Ross as he got out. Tony wanted to use the satellites to find Zemo but Ross was no longer listening to him and had half a mind to put him in one of the cells in The Raft.

"And of course Secretary Jackass doesn't care about Zemo. Why would he when he's got all the power?" Bruce sneered as he glared at the screen.

Tony gulped, realizing his own messy situation.

As Tony was led by Ross into the prison, they entered the security room. Tony paused as he saw footage of Wanda in a cell, in a strait jacket, a collar around her neck with a look in her eye that said she was far from alright.

Wanda paled as Vision put an arm around her.

Tony moved on, entering a room with cells, Clint, Sam, and Scott each occupying one. Seeing him enter, Clint sarcastically clapped, calling Tony 'the Futurist', deciding he knew best for everyone else.

Tony flinched.

Tony walked up to Clint's cell, claiming he didn't know they'd be put here but Clint angrily pointed out he knew they'd be put somewhere.

Tony avoided looking at anyone, feeling guilt.

Tony argues he didn't know they'd be put here, saying it was a place for maniacs but trailed off before he could finish. Clint finished for him, knowing he was about to say criminals. Clint pointed out that 'criminals' didn't used to mean him, Sam, or Wanda but that was where they were now.

It was silent in the room, the atmosphere suffocating for them all. The situation was hitting them all hard, what Zemo and Ross and The UN had done to them, what they had done to each other.

Tony got defensive, saying that Clint broke the law. Clint, done with the conversation, turned around, saying 'la la la' to block out Tony's voice as Tony accused Clint of not thinking of his wife and kids before choosing 'the wrong side'.

The atmosphere dropped even more as Tony felt glares at him, Clint's being the hardest. While he had been forgiven for this, seeing it still angered the others for good reason.

"Should never have done that." Tony said as the glares turned back to the screen. He would make sure Ross got what he deserved to repent for working with him.

Clint angrily got to his feet as Tony walks off, slamming his hands against the cell as he warned the guards on the raft to watch their backs with Tony because there was 'a chance he's gonna break it'.

Everyone winced again, realizing how bad this was.

Tony walked past Scott's cell and Scott remembered Hank telling him to never trust a Stark. Tony didn't even know who he is, to Scott's dismay.

"I feel the love." Scott joked and everyone chuckled as he had lightened the mood a bit.

As he reached Sam's cell, Sam asked about Rhodey.

"Thanks man." Rhodes said as he looked over at Sam, who smiled weakly.

"Don't mention it. Us military guys gotta stick together, right?" Sam joked.

"Oh we do." Logan said.

Tony said Rhodey is being transferred to Columbia Medical before inquiring about Sam's treatment. Sam incredulously asked if Tony was playing bad cop. Tony claimed he just wanted to find out where Steve was. Sam angrily stated he'll never give them anything as Tony knocked out the audio on the security cameras. Tony warned him they had thirty seconds before they realized it's him as Ross barked at his men to fix it.

"So now you cut the audio." Fury said and Tony sighed.

Tony showed Sam the picture of Theo Brossard and admitted he made a mistake.

"At least now I see reason." Tony said.

Tony pointed out Steve was going to need all the help he could get and Sam told Tony he needs to go alone and as a friend if he told him, which Tony agreed to. Later, Tony was heading towards his chopper as Ross questioned him about what Sam told him. Tony lied, claiming Sam told him to go to Hell. Tony claimed he's going back to the Compound as he boarded his chopper, giving Ross a cheeky remark about putting him on hold before closing the door.

"Now that's Tony there! The one we all know!" Bruce said.

"Yeah. First time here I look 100% reasonable." Tony said.

Ross watched angrily as Tony's chopper lifted off. Once in the air, Tony took his arm out of the sling and activated his suit, exiting the remote piloted chopper fully decked in his suit, on his way to Siberia.

"Wow! Nice suit!" Hill said and everyone clapped a bit because that did look cool.

"Thanks." Tony said.

Unseen to Tony, T'Challa, in a Wakanda ship, was following closely behind.

"Oh!" Aunt May said, realizing what was going to happen.

"Yes. Vengeance was still consuming me." T'Challa said.

"Now it's about to end." Logan said and everyone sighed, though only partially in relief because they knew what would happen before the end.