AlienWarlord
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C259 Spider-Man
🕑 Added 2023-02-23 06:42:53 +0000 UTCA/N: Enjoy a bonus chapter because I felt like writing :)
“Wait!” Bucky held his hands up, hoping to calm the situation somehow.
“No.” Tony stalks forward and grabs Bucky by the neck.
Lifting him off of the ground with a single hand, Tony chokes Bucky who was still in a state of confusion and refused to fight back.
“S-Stop...” Bucky struggles to speak as he grasped Tony’s arm.
“Did you stop when my mother begged you to?” Tony asks as his grip on Bucky’s neck tightened. “Could my father even speak as you beat his head in?”
Copying the actions he saw in the video of his parents' deaths, Tony made use of his free hand and started raining super-powered punches down on Bucky’s face.
Blow after blow, Bucky’s face started to contort and bleed, though it was soon covered in a golden light, which healed any wounds he incurred in a matter of seconds.
Seeing Extremis do its work, Tony took it as a challenge and quickened his pace, hoping to out-damage Bucky’s healing ability.
After almost a minute of gasping for air and being berated by heavy punches, Bucky had enough and pulled his leg up, sending a powerful kick to his attacker's stomach.
Instantly, Tony was forced to drop Bucky as he tumbled backward, holding his stomach in pain.
“...Wait ...” Bucky gasps as fell to the floor, breathing heavily to fill his oxygen-deprived lungs. “... You’re... Tony Stark?”
‘Did you stop when my mother begged you to?’ Tony’s words echoed in his mind. ‘Could my father even speak as you beat his head in?’
Realization dawned on him as the chilling memory of murdering Howard and Maria Stark surfaced in Bucky’s mind.
“I killed your parents...” Bucky muttered in shame and disgust with himself and his actions.
“Just figured it out, huh?” Tony scoffs as he picks himself off the ground. “Get up.”
Bucky remained seated on the floor, staring up at Tony in both sympathy and shame.
“Get up!” Tony yelled angrily, though Bucky didn’t budge. “I said, GET UP!”
“Just kill me.” Bucky said as he waited patiently on the ground. “That’s what you’re here for, right? Just get it over with. I deserve it.”
After seeing all of his horrible actions throughout the years, Bucky was already feeling suicidal, so having Tony here to do the dirty work for him was a win-win for both sides.
One wanted revenge while the other wanted to repent.
Glaring down at Bucky, Tony’s hands gripped into tight fists.
“...” Letting out a frustrated sigh, Tony turned away from Bucky and called out. “Open the cell. I’m done.”
Bucky looked up at Tony in shock as the cell door swung open.
“Wait! Kill me, I won’t resist.” Bucky practically begs as Tony ignored him and continued his way out of the cell.
“No.” Tony said as he turned to look Bucky straight in the eyes. “You want to die.”
The look on Bucky’s face was more than enough to confirm Tony’s statement.
“Killing you would be mercy.” Tony says as the cell seals itself shut. “You don’t deserve my mercy. No, you deserve to live every day of your long life, hating everything about yourself.”
Bucky just sat in his cage with a dumb look on his face.
He didn’t want to be alive anymore. The screams of his victims seemed to always fill his mind, throwing him into a crippling depression.
Without another word, Tony turned away and marched down the hall, leaving Bucky to stew in his cell.
“Wait! Come back!” Bucky scrambled to the sealed door of his cell and started banging on it. “Kill me! Kill me! Kill me!... please kill me.”
Peter stayed behind long enough to see Bucky breakdown into tears, hoping for someone to end his suffering.
‘It’s a good thing that every cell is made to be suicide-proof...’ Peter thought sadly as he rushed to catch up with Tony.
...
“You knew I was there.” Peter says as he followed Tony into the elevator and removed his invisibility.
“You were too worried that I’d kill him.” Tony solemnly stared forward.
“Can you blame me?” Peter looked at Tony worriedly. “Are you okay?”
“No, but I will be.”
—————————————
After dropping Tony off with Pepper, who is far better equipped to handle Tony’s emotions, Peter stood outside Steve’s apartment door.
‘I feel like a kid who’s about to get an earful from his parents...’ Peter thought as he hesitated for a moment before knocking on the door.
“Yeah?” Peggy asked as the door swung open, finding Peter on the other side. “Did Charles agree to help?”
“Yeah...” Peter says as he peeks inside the door. “Is Steve awake?”
“Yes, I am!” Steve eagerly rushes to the door. “Is Charles here already?”
“About that...” Peter sighs heavily as he explains what happened as well as his deception.
...
As he finished speaking, the piercing glares of two super soldiers weighed down on him.
Peter's heart might have been in the right place, as his actions settled the mounting tension between Tony and Bucky, but it was hard for them to see it that way.
*pow!*
Suddenly, Steve wound his fist back and socked Peter across the face.
Of course, Peter could have easily dodged it but chose to remain still and take the hit.
He deserved it for deceiving them, after all.
“Where’s Bucky?” Peggy asks flatly as Steve seemed to realize what he just did and froze.
“In his cell.” Peter says as Peggy grabs Steve's hand and pulls him down the hall without another word. “Wait!”
Stopping in their tracks, Steve and Peggy turn to look over their shoulders.
“He’s suicidal.” Peter reveals with a frown. “If you want him to live past the night, don’t let him out. He won’t be able to do anything to himself in the cell, especially with his new regeneration.”
Nodding her head, Peggy pulls Steve away in a rush to check on Bucky.
‘That went about as well as it could have.’ Peter sighed as he opened a portal to his house. ‘I still have a couple of hours to kill before the Guardians arrive on Xanov...’
—————————————
When Steve and Peggy arrived at Bucky’s cell, they found him sitting in the corner by the door, staring off into the distance.
“Bucky?” Steve tapped the glass.
“!?” Bucky instantly recognized who it was.
Turning to look, he saw both Steve and Peggy looking at him with hopeful eyes.
“Do you remember me?” Steve asks.
“Yeah...” Bucky sounded devoid of all happiness.
“Where did we meet?” Steve asks just to make sure.
A small, almost unnoticeable smile formed on Bucky’s lips as he recalled one of his fonder memories, which managed to drown out all of the bad for just a single moment.
“You were getting your scrawny a*s handed to you by a few neighborhood bullies.” Bucky's voice held a fond touch to it this time around. “I stepped in and gave them a dose of their own medicine.”
“You’re back!” Steve exclaims as he rushes to open the cell.
As the cell door swung open, Steve practically ran inside and pulled Bucky into his arms.
(A/N: Truly, a bromance for the ages 😭)
“I missed you, buddy.” Steve says as Bucky stiffened for a moment before reluctantly returning the hug.
“...” Bucky eyed the open cell door as they separated. “Can I leave?”
“Uhh...” Steve hesitated as he looked toward Peggy.
“No.” Peggy answered resolutely as she stood in the doorway, blocking the path out. “It’ll be safer for you in here.”
“If this is about Stark, then we already settled it.” Bucky argues.
“No, Bucky.” Steve says with a shake of his head. “It’s about you.”
“We know you’re suicidal.” Peggy states bluntly.
Turning over his shoulder, Steve looked at her as if to say ‘really?’
“What? Tiptoeing around the subject won’t solve anything.” Peggy rolls her eyes and turns to Bucky, who was currently looking down in shame. “It’s okay, Bucky. You’ve been through a lot. We’ll find you a good psychologist and maybe get you some anti-depressants as well.”
“And once your feeling better, we’ll go out on the town and visit all of our spots.” Steve says in support. “Did you know Joe's pizza is still open? They closed Freddie’s about 20 years ago though.”
“Sure, sounds good...” Bucky hesitantly agreed as he did all he could to hold himself back from rushing out of the door.
He knew that he wouldn’t get far anyway.
“Good.” Steve smiled happily as he walked over to close the door, locking all three of them inside. “No one said you have to be alone in here.”
“Thanks, Steve...”
———————————————
While Steve and Peggy were spending the night with Bucky, hoping to help him through what’s probably the worst point in his entire life, it was finally time for Peter to return to space.
After tucking Lily into bed and saying goodbye to his loved ones, Peter donned his suit and opened a portal.
...
Stepping back into Quill's ship, Peter found all of the Guardians sitting around the room, glaring at one another.
Groot was missing some of his bark.
Gamora looked a lot more p*ssed than usual.
Drax had all sorts of doodles drawn on his face, though he didn’t seem to notice.
Quill's face and arms were littered with small animal scratches.
And lastly, Rocket was missing clumps of his fur, as if someone pulled them out by the fist full.
“What the hell happened while I was gone?”
A/N: 1589 words :)
