Chapter 293: Three People Mission
INT. STARK OFFICE – MOMENTS LATER
The doors remained sealed, the room dim but alive with faint pulses of red and gold from the HUDs lining the walls. Stark tech hummed like a waiting heart.
Tony stood with his back to the door, staring at a holographic projection of his parents—Howard and Maria Stark—frozen in a candid moment from decades ago. Laughing. Alive.
His hands were clenched into fists.
"Bucky," he muttered. "No... the Winter Soldier."
He walked to his workstation and pulled up files. Surveillance. Decrypted HYDRA records. Medical overlays of Bucky’s brain scans. Lines of code that made him feel sick.
"They made him into a ghost. A weapon. Stripped him down until there was nothing left but the trigger..."
The AI spoke softly.
Jarvis: "Sir... your heart rate is elevated. Should I prepare a neural stabilizer?"
"No," Tony said, sharp but controlled. "I’m not unstable. Just... angry. Angry at a world where this keeps happening. Angry at Steve for hiding it. Angry that I let myself care about someone who killed the two people who meant the world to me."
He paused, shoulders rising and falling.
"But mostly..." he swallowed, "...I’m angry that I understand why he did it."