⏳ 2016

I heaved in breaths into my winded lungs as my eyes flickered open, the concrete freezing cold under me. I limped to my feet to face Tony, as he clawed himself up from the ridge before me.

"This isn't gonna change what happened," I wheezed through breaths.

I couldn't see his expression from behind his metal helmet. But I knew he was scowling at me. "I don't care. He killed my mom."

Before he could make his move, I eyed the battleground for my shield, and couldn't find it. My gaze rolled up back to Tony. Hand to hand we go, then.

He made the first move. He flew at me with a downward punch. I took it and threw my own, my fist pelting against the metal of his helmet. We traded blows again and again, every so few blocked by a leg or an elbow, only to be delivered another fist to the face.

I punched him and, as the forced sent him sideways, I wrapped my arms around his neck in a headlock. Tony blasted a repulsor pulse to the ground and sent us flying up. I flipped and slammed hard to the ground. He landed in a crouch on top of me, and sent his fist to the ground where my head had been a second before. I ducked again, but suffered the next blow.

Bucky's war cry caught Stark's attention as he struck his metal back with my shield. He raised it high in time for Stark's repulsor blast to bounce off the Vibranium and into the ceiling.

And so, it was two against one, Bucky and I tag-teaming it against a man whose rage made him stand as three. Bucky threw me the shield and ducked a punch from Stark. Tony spun on his heel from the missed strike and turned to receive a punch and kick from Bucky. I slammed the shield across his metal face as he blocked a fist from Bucky and traded one with him. He deflected another blow from my shield, but couldn't make the block for Bucky's kick to the hip that sent him to one knee. I threw my shield to Bucky and ducked the repulsor blast that skimmed the ridge over my head to hit the concrete pillar behind me. Stark swapped knees to deliver a blow at Bucky that was met with the shield. I punched Stark across his metal cheek before catching the shield, the familiar Vibranium hum like a sad song.

I barely had time to block the repulsor blast to my chest that sent me arcing into the air, and I collided with the concrete wall behind me. The wind was ripped from my lungs as I lay there, trying to stagger to my feet. Bucky and Stark continued to trade blows, and I felt the repulsor beam just skim the floor and wall next to me, dust showering from the ceiling.

Bucky's roars were so loud, bouncing off the cold walls. I rolled my head up to see his metal hand claw around Stark's arc reactor. Sparks flew and metal groaned. And then a beaming streak of power blasted out from it, sending Bucky staggering away to his knees.

Dread contorted my face at the sight of his now metal arm seared away into a sparking, ember-tinged stump of what his weaponised limb used to be. A repulsor hit to the back from Stark toppled him, sending him flying, and rolling to a stop next to me.

A new kind of scream bombarded my hearing, and I looked up to see Andi flinging herself onto Stark. She moved like a berserker, looked like a raging beast, and sounded like a banshee. Over the past few days, I was seeing new levels of anger and rage I'd never seen before in this centuries old soul. But now? This battle? It truly was in contention for the angriest I'd ever seen the Lady of Time.

Andi threw attack after attack, trading blow after blow with Stark to the point that I wasn't sure if the thin streaks of red weaving through the gold energy was my swimming vision or not. It was the same for her speed; she seemed to be gaining it, becoming a golden blur. Stark struggled to keep up with the blows, Andi's golden energy slithering through his suit and sending it into sparks.

She forced him to his knees with an energy ball, and a swift kick to his face sent him sprawling. Andi danced away to stand in front of Bucky and I, her stance like a fierce lioness protecting her cubs, resting on her haunches.

Tony growled as he heaved himself to his feet, scorch marks and silver scratches across his helmet.

"Move," he seethed.

"No," she snarled.

"Move!"

"No!" The angrier she got, the more the loose strands of her hair began to float and the golden aura around her intensified. "You have to stop."

"He murdered my parents! He killed my mom!" He jutted a metal finger at me. "And he knew! He knew and said nothing!"

My eyes rolled up to Andi before me, and I saw her form tense. Stark had seen it too. He acknowledged it with the clenching of fists.

"Did you know?" He went rigid. "Were you there?"

Andi sent me a sideward glance, a green iris looking at me out of the corner of her eye. That was enough indication for me. She'd known. And she'd said nothing as well.

Tony caught on too. He didn't waste any time taking in the situation a second time. He lunged at her. She whipped about and was too slow to dodge or deflect the metal hand wrapped around her throat. He hurled her into the floor so hard that the concrete split enough for cracks to spiderweb out. She didn't rise. She didn't move.

Rage bubbled and boiled inside me. It erupted into a volcano of fury. Adrenaline rocketed through my veins, and I shot to my feet. I charged at Stark. He hovered away, firing bursts of repulsor blasts at my aloft shield. As he touched down, I stood right before him when he fired a beam of energy at the rounded guard. The Vibranium absorbed it all.

I advanced as the beam continued to blast into the shield, pushing Stark further and further to the wall until his back was to the concrete. I pushed up, the beam firing into the ceiling, and crushed Stark's hand enough with my own for the repulsor to spark and cease. I slammed the Vibranium guard into him again and again, my rage and fury that he hurt my friends—my brother and my girl—pouring into every punch and slam of the shield into his metal shell.

He hurt her. How dare he hurt her like that. How dare he break her and shatter her. How dare he sign those papers of destruction. We were helping people. We were doing our job; a job that had consequences that weighed us down every day. How could he sign away our rights like that? It infuriated me. It enraged me now. And now he hurt my best friend and the woman I loved, all for vengeance. Everything I did, everything I'd done, everything I was doing...he would've done the same if someone he was close to suffered as Bucky had. I did what I had to to save my friend, and I would do it again one-hundred-fold.

I slammed my shield into his face again and again. And then he caught the edge of it. There was a haunting pause as I felt the tables turn and my eyes widened. He battered my shield out of my hands with a repulsor flare, leaving me defenceless. I swung and he blocked. He shoved my arm down, spinning to one knee in the process, and shot a blast into my chest. My feet came out from under me as I soared across the room. I back-rolled onto my feet to block one of his blows, only for him to land one to my side, to my chest, and to my face. I was too slow on the upkeep to keep up, and he fired a blast at my chest that sent me to my knees.

I heaved, exhaustion taking hold as blood leaked from cuts on my cheeks, and crimson red with a metallic taste from the corner of my lower lip. I rolled my gaze up to him, and he glared back menacingly. I heard shuffling next to me to see Andi push herself to her feet and sway on shaky legs, just as beaten, battered, and bloody as I was, yet green eyes shone with determination as she raised skinned fists.

I looked back to Stark. "He's my friend."

Stark rolled his head. "So was I."

I did nothing but stay on my knees as he punched me once, punched me twice. I braced myself on unstable hands, coughing blood. I felt the world turn as he gripped the braces on my back and hurled me to the pillars. I impacted one and slammed to the snow, the wind completely gone from my lungs.

More brawling reached my hearing as Andi tried to keep Stark off my back. And I winched at the sound of a body hitting concrete again.

"Stay down," Stark said. "Final warning."

Breathing heavily, I braced myself against the sloped pillar and I swayed to my feet. Andi sat on the ground, her back propped against the wall. The look she offered me was a defeated one now, green eyes sad and sombre. Lonely, green eyes, drained of everything she had left. I noticed Bucky regaining consciousness, rolling over towards me.

I stared Stark down as I raised bruised, gloved fists. "I could do this all day."

He powered up a repulsor, aiming his palm at me, and I was ready for him. I was going to fight until the last breath left my body. I wasn't going to run. I wasn't going to stand down. I was going to plant myself like a tree by the river of truth. And I was going to tell him—to tell the whole world...No. You move.

The sound of a hand clutching metal reached my hearing, and I looked down to see Bucky grabbing Stark's leg. Stark swivelled about and kicked the downed soldier in the face. I didn't waste the opportunity. I charged at Stark and swept him up, holding him high over my head. He struggled, firing up his propulsion boots. I dropped him, slamming him to the cold ground, the force greater with the boots sending him into a swan dive. His head hit the edge of the slope of the pillar.

I pounced on him. I punched him again and again and again. I punched him until my knuckles bled. I punched him until I had nothing left, pouring everything I had into every single blow. My shield rolled into my field of vision, and I snatched it up, replacing knuckles and blood with metal and Vibranium, striking him again and again with the edge of the shield. I struck him again and again until his mask became devoid of hinges, and I ripped it off to reveal a rabid, bloodied Tony Stark.

He glared up at me with furious eyes. I saw fear in them as I raised my shield high. I roared, the battle cry of everything laced into every note. I struck the arc reactor in his chest. I struck his heart. I struck what kept the pitiful man below me Tony Stark.

And then everything fell away. All the rage and fury and hot, red anger melted. I looked at him, looked deep into his eyes. And I saw a man. I saw a battle-hardened soldier. I saw a human being. I saw someone who'd lost everything. Who'd lost everything as I had. As Bucky had. As Andi had. I saw a man who was as human as the red blood splattered on his face, dark eyes peering back at me like a hunted deer. I saw a human being who was no different than me.

This was over. I couldn't do it. I...I couldn't...

I slipped off of Tony Stark, gulping in desperate breaths of air. The adrenaline rush drained away, and everything truly started to hurt, inside and out. I used the shield as leverage to get to my feet, and pulled it from Stark's chest, the reactor sparking. I looked at him one more time—it wasn't a look from a man to a man, nor a friend to a friend or a friend to a foe. It was a look from a human being to another.

I know, it said. I understand. And I'm sorry.

I staggered over to Andi and held out a hand. Even after everything we'd been through—even though she'd sided against me—I needed her. I had always needed her. I would always need her.

She took it. She winced as I pulled her to her feet.

"That shield doesn't belong to you."

We both helped Bucky to his own.

"You don't deserve it."

Bucky draped his only arm around my shoulders and Andi braced her body on his other side. We limped away. All of us.

"My father made that shield!" Tony called.

I closed my eyes as I inhaled and exhaled. He was wrong that I didn't deserve it. I'd earned it. Or, perhaps he was right.

I dropped the shield. I dropped the one thing that made me who I was. No. I dropped the one thing that made me Captain America—the World's First Superhero; the Super Soldier; the Sentinel of Liberty; God's Righteous Man. An Avenger.

Captain America died here today. But not me. Not me. Not me.

I didn't look at Tony Stark again. I glanced at Andi once, who looked on with dark eyes. And we limped away.

❈Author's Note: Hey, there! Well, this was a wordy chapter. Let me know what you think below! If you liked this chapter, please consider giving it a quick vote! Thanks for reading!