Upstate New York

Tony slams down his glass.  "What do you mean, they got him?"

T'Challa lifts an arm in surrender.  "I was unable to defend him against HYDRA."

"HYDRA?"

The Wakandan King nods.  "I am afraid that I was too late."

"Damn, they just don't die, do they?"  His face is flushed with alcohol.  T'Challa isn't sure how much the man has had that day, but it's too much even for the Iron Man's tolerance.

"Tony," Rhodey warns.

"No, no, I'm good."  He stands and walks around the table.  "It's just...Damn!"  Tony accentuates his annoyance with a kick to the wall that leaves him cursing.

Natasha speaks up.  "Did you track where they took him?"

T'Challa shakes his head.  "I was unfortunately lying on the ground paralyzed."

"How long did this paralysis last?" Rhodey asks.

"Thirty minutes or so.  Long enough to escape the base and get too far for our technology to track."

Tony cusses.

"So what do we do?" Vision asks.

"I suppose we wait for him to pop up somewhere and then request that the UN let us fight," Tony says.

"Or go rogue once we find him," Natasha suggests.

"We can't do that."

"Why not?"  She leans forward.  "Even the national park service did."

"That's a little different."

"Yes.  I know.  We're a lot stronger than they are.  We have a billionaire philanthropist playboy, if I'm right."  Natasha raises an eyebrow.

Tony throws his hands up.  "Well damn this whole thing."

"We could find Steve and Sam," Rhodey suggests.

"No."  He points a finger at his friend's chest.

"I think that's a good idea," Natasha says.  "It's been six months.  Sam is due to be released next week anyway.  So are Wanda and what ever his name is.  TicTac."

"Scott Lang, alias 'Ant Man'," Vision volunteers.

"Yes.  Him.  And Clint could be useful."

"He's retired," Tony says.

"He keeps coming back," she points out.

He sighs.  "Alright.  We'll wait for a while to see where Barnes pops up.  Then Rhodey and I will fight him.  The two of us against him."

Natasha and T'Challa glance at each other.

"Tony, that isn't a good idea," she says hesitantly.

"Why not?" he asks fiercely.  "I ripped off his arm last time.  I could have avenged my father and mother if Steve hadn't stepped in."

"There are more important things in the world than vengeance," T'Challa says.  "One of which is forgiveness.  The other is acceptance."

"The power those words have on Barnes is incomparable," Natasha says.  "He has no control under them."

"He fought equally as hard when he wasn't under their influence," Tony defends.

"He was fighting for his life."

"And you don't think I was fighting for mine?"

"You weren't."

"Yes I was."

"You said it yourself, Tony.  You were fighting for revenge."

He pours himself another glass of whiskey and downs it. "Whatever the case, Barnes is a liability. A disaster waiting to happen. He must be...exterminated."

"Good luck with that," Natasha scoffs.

"Thank you." Tony drops his glass on the desk and strides out of the room. It chips.

"Where are you going?" Rhodey asks.

"To find my protege."

Vision sighs. "I fear he will do something he will regret."

"When doesn't he?" Natasha says angrily, leaving up the stairs.

T'Challa looks to Rhodey. The man shrugs. "It's still the same as before, just we're disagreeing between the four of us now, instead of more."

"I see. Does not one of your former presidents have a saying? 'United we stand—' "

"—divided we fall. How fitting."

Rhodey sighs and heaves to his feet, the gears and metal pumps churning to support his paralyzed legs. "I'm going for a walk. Come with me?"

T'Challa nods and follows him outside.

"Tony's always been a little—"

"—rash?"

Rhodey nods.  "He wasn't too close with his father, but his mother was his world before she died.  He also depends on that blue circle in his chest."

"Does it have anything to do with the Stones?"

"No.  That's an electromagnet powered by a tiny generator.  It's keeping shrapnel from hitting his heart."

"Why did he not die when Rogers destroyed the suit?"

"He has one implanted in his chest."

T'Challa nods, even though he doesn't fully understand.  Rhodey doesn't notice.

Natasha strides across the lawn, skirting the brown areas where Thor ruined the grass years before.  "Rhodes, your Majesty, I have an idea."

"What is it?" the King asks.

"We need to find our own protege."

"I apologize, I do not recognize the word."

"Someone who is guided by a mentor figure.  Like Tony's Peter Parker."

"The spider boy."

"He prefers Spider-Man," Rhodey laughs.

T'Challa nods once.  "I will make note of that."

"Nat, where are we going to find a protege?  It isn't often that someone gets bit by a radioactive spider, or trained by Russian spies, or has a rich friend."

"The same way Tony found Peter.  YouTube."