"I know." Barnes had told him that too. And then the word's in the air, the Snap, and all Tony could see or hear was Peter apologizing as he crumbled away. Nevermind that the kid was here and solid- having that ash and dust on his hands, his face, under his nails-
There was a reason he was always a little sooty, lately. Like if he tried he could reprogram his brain to associate it with something else. It hasn't taken just yet.
"We get there and- there's a bunker. Door's open, Rogers and Barnes are inside- Ross doesn't know I'm there but I can't let them face it on their own. But we get in and I'm only picking up one heat signature. There are five cryo tubes with corpses in them. Zemo shot them all in the head. Which, weird, but okay. He wanted all three of us in that Bunker to...see an empire fall. Zemo is Sokovian. He lost someone in the fight with Ultron. Everyone. And he promised Rogers would too which- that's a laugh." Seeing as he was the one that walked away with most of the team but, whatever. Zemo couldn't see the future. "An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumples from within? That's dead… forever. That's what he said. And...then he pulled up footage of an old dirt road dated December Sixteenth, Nineteen ninety one."
A road Tony had studied and obsessed over in the aftermath, trying to find the fault in the road, in the car, anything that might prove his father hadn't gotten drunk with his mother in the car and lost control. It wasn't an accident so it had to have been Howard balls deep in bourbon, being frustrated and reckless and that- that didn't fit. He'd been more careful with Maria in the car, always, but that had to have been it and-
Tony shook himself out of the fugue, scrubbing at his jawline. "...Apparently there was a camera close to where my parents crashed and had their 'accident'."
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There was a reason he was always a little sooty, lately. Like if he tried he could reprogram his brain to associate it with something else. It hasn't taken just yet.
"We get there and- there's a bunker. Door's open, Rogers and Barnes are inside- Ross doesn't know I'm there but I can't let them face it on their own. But we get in and I'm only picking up one heat signature. There are five cryo tubes with corpses in them. Zemo shot them all in the head. Which, weird, but okay. He wanted all three of us in that Bunker to...see an empire fall. Zemo is Sokovian. He lost someone in the fight with Ultron. Everyone. And he promised Rogers would too which- that's a laugh." Seeing as he was the one that walked away with most of the team but, whatever. Zemo couldn't see the future. "An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumples from within? That's dead… forever. That's what he said. And...then he pulled up footage of an old dirt road dated December Sixteenth, Nineteen ninety one."
A road Tony had studied and obsessed over in the aftermath, trying to find the fault in the road, in the car, anything that might prove his father hadn't gotten drunk with his mother in the car and lost control. It wasn't an accident so it had to have been Howard balls deep in bourbon, being frustrated and reckless and that- that didn't fit. He'd been more careful with Maria in the car, always, but that had to have been it and-
Tony shook himself out of the fugue, scrubbing at his jawline. "...Apparently there was a camera close to where my parents crashed and had their 'accident'."