"He's my friend."

Tony stared at a battered looking Steve as he stood over his kneeling body. Bucky lay off to the side, still incapacitated after his metal arm had been blasted off, but as far as Tony was concerned, the Winter Soldier didn't really exist in this moment.

"So was I," Tony replied, his heart having sunk too low to be picked up any time soon.

And now Tony was left with nothing. His helmet lay across the floor, nearly shattered from when Steve pulled it off. The suit was almost completely powered down, every part of Tony's body felt like it was on fire, and a few feet away lay Captain America's shield. The one that Tony told Steve he didn't deserve. The one Steve seemed happy to leave behind if it meant getting his best friend to safety.

Tony kept repeating the last moments in his head, knowing that there may be no coming back from this. Things were a mess before but now.... Now they were worse. And he didn't know if they could be fixed.

Hell, part of him wasn't even sure if he wanted to fix it. In the moment he sure as hell hadn't wanted to. All he felt was rage. Betrayal.

Sadness.

Picking himself up off the ground, Tony knew it was time to get back to reality. Despite all that happened here, he needed to head back. He had half a mind to leave the shield there since he had no hope that it'd be ever wielded by the same person again, but in a split second decision, Tony bent down to pick it up.

Tony staggered through the hallways of the base till he reached the outside. The white light was almost blinding, or maybe it just felt like that because he was likely severely concussed.

There was a quinjet off to the side, which surprised him. He knew Steve and Bucky had come in one, but wouldn't they have left? Before he had much of a chance to think about it, he recognised a familiar face emerging from inside.

"They are gone," T'Challa announced to Tony as he neared the jet.

"And you let them go," Tony stated, pointing it out as merely an observation rather than a question. T'Challa had been on a warpath to kill Bucky. He wondered what changed his mind since Tony was the one who discovered that Zemo had been framing Bucky the entire time.

"I did," T'Challa nodded. "Because the fight isn't with them. It's with him," he nodded into the jet and Tony followed his gaze to see a subdued Zemo. So that was what happened. T'Challa got the truth.

Well Tony got the truth too, and he hadn't been nearly as forgiving. He couldn't bring himself to be that way. Not when it concerned arguably one of the worst moments in his life.

Tony looked down at the shield in his hand. It was still in perfect condition, aside from some large scratches down one side and quite a bit of discolouring. At the moment, Tony couldn't stand to look at it though, so he tossed it into the jet before climbing in himself.

"Well then let's take him back so he can get what he deserves." At least it was one victory. And despite this all being over now, Tony wasn't feeling any better. This wasn't the ending he had in mind.

As he entered the jet, he realised someone was missing, and he spun around to face T'Challa. "Where's Andi?" Realising he probably didn't recognise the name, Tony quickly clarified. "The girl, where is she?" Tony may have fought tooth and nail to try and incapacitate Bucky, and Steve as well for getting in the way, but he knew neither of them would hurt Andi... so where was she?

T'Challa turned and stepped into the jet as well, pressing a button to close the doors behind him. "I'm afraid she left too."

Tony studied him for a moment, wondering if he heard him correctly. A lot of things ran through his mind — most of which drew on some of his insecurities at the moment. Had she not felt safe after she witnessed? Was she afraid about what could happen next? Thinking about all of it was only going to put him down again, and that was the last thing he needed right now.

Instead of saying anything to acknowledge what T'Challa said to him, Tony just turned around silently and took his place at the controls to get the jet in the air for them to get back home.

And even though Tony should have at least felt a little better to be going back home, he knew there was nobody to go back to, and he couldn't help but feel like he'd lost every good thing in his life right now.

"Meals at eight and five. Toilet privileges twice a day." Everett Ross set his coffee mug down on the metal table beside him before approaching the large glass structure at the centre of the room. A structure that was meant to be impenetrable, and yet an activated Bucky Barnes had been able to break through.

But Helmut Zemo was no super soldier, and he had nothing that could help him get out of there. For now, he was trapped in there, cuffed at the wrists and ankles to keep him from moving too much.

"You raise your voice, zap," Ross spoke up, folding his arms over his chest as he looked at Zemo, who refused to meet his gaze. "You touch the glass, zap." Ross neared the glass with a smug smile. "You step out of line, you deal with me," he clasped his hands together like he was praying. "Please, step out of line, hmm?"

Zemo's reaction remained the same. He didn't flinch. He barely blinked.

"So how does it feel?" Ross continued. "To spend all that time, all that effort... to see it fail so spectacularly?"

At that, Zemo lifted his head. He seemed to be smiling just a little. "Did it?"