Chapter 58: Chapter 57: Failure
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Avengers Compound
Night
"There you go," Tony said as he hooked Rhodey's leg up with another brace.
"Thanks Tony, not that it will do me much good," Rhodey said.
"You sure you're not gonna come?" Tony asked and Rhodey smiled ruefully.
"Look at me Tony. I'm not gonna be any help. And someone needs to keep Ross off your back while you guys are out there, saving Vision. But Tony…you need to make things right with them," Rhodey said and Tony sighed.
"It's not that simple," Tony said as he stood up, looking away from Rhodey.
"Why not?" Rhodey asked and Tony was silent for several moments.
"Barnes killed my parents…and Cap knew," Tony said as he turned around to face the stunned Rhodey.
"You're sure?" Rhodey said after managing to regain his voice.
"Zemo showed us a video of it in Siberia and Cap all but admitted it," Tony said gruffly.
"God…I'm sorry Tony. Look, I'm not gonna pretend to know what exactly went down in Siberia. But you guys need to have each other's backs out there, especially since I'm not gonna be there to watch yours. You need to make things right with them," Rhodey told Tony.
Tony opened his mouth to respond but another voice cut him off.
"Hey," the pair looked up to see Barry poke his head in the doorway. "We know where they're holding Vision and Cisco. Meet us in the docking bay in fifteen minutes."
Tony simply nods before Barry walks out.
In his old room, Clint was grabbing his spare bow and quiver when Natasha walked in.
"Good thing you left those here when you retired," Natasha noted and Clint nodded. "Things got pretty intense with you and Tony earlier."
"Don't tell me I'm wrong for being angry," Clint strapped his quiver to his back before turning to face her. "I trusted him with the one thing I had only trusted you with before and he used it against me."
"I know. I can't defend him; I won't, because you're right. He did betray you, you more than any of us. But you need to put that aside. We have to work together now, can you do that?" Natasha asked bluntly.
"You know I can. It's Stark you should be worried about. You saw the way he reacted to Barnes. Stark's a loose cannon with Barnes around. And you know I'm right," Clint said and Natasha looked away, knowing every word he said was true.
Barry made his way into the hanger bay, where Steve was talking to T'Challa and Bucky.
"You sure that you have the location?" Barry asked as he reached them.
"Ms. Romanoff can be very...persuasive," T'Challa said simply as Steve grimaced at what Natasha had done to make Alexei's guards talk.
Barry eyed them wearily but decided he didn't want to know as Clint and Natasha walked in.
"You guys ready to go or not?" Clint inquired.
"We're just waiting on Tony now," Steve said.
"I'm here," Tony said as he walked in, dressed in one of his suits with the face plate down. "Where are we headed?"
"Your friends are being held at an abandoned military base one hour from here," T'Challa explained.
"We don't have an hour, so we're taking the Quinjet," Steve explained and Tony nodded.
"I'll follow behind you," Tony said, his face plate closing and concealing his face.
Understanding that Tony did not wish to ride with Bucky, no one questioned it as the boarded the Quinjet.
Alexei's hideout
Later
"Here, it's done," Cisco said, sneering as he handed Alexei the device.
"Excellent Mr. Ramon," Alexei said as he examined it. "You continue to impress. Which is why I must apologize for what happens next."
Alexei then slugged Cisco, hard. Cisco fell to the ground, out cold, as Alexei knelt down in front of him.
"I am sorry Mr. Ramon, but we still need you. You are coming with us," Alexei said, his voice lacking any remorse as one of his guards walked in.
"Sir, Stark and a Quinjet are en route," the guard said and Alexei got to his feet.
"Of course they are. What is their ETA?" Alexei asked as he turned around to face the guard.
"Two minutes, at most sir," the guard said and Alexei nodded.
"Send Maximoff in here. And make sure that none of them can get to this room," Alexei ordered.
Less than a minute later, Tony landed outside the building, seeing various men with weapons pointed at him.
"Guys, it looks like Alexei left us a welcoming committee," Tony told them over the comms as the guards aimed their weapons at them.
"Copy. Help is on the way Tony," Steve said as he looked back at Barry, who was strapping on a parachute.
Barry nodded at him before pulling up his cowl. Vibrating his body, Barry phased through the side of the Quinjet and fell below. He fell to the ground pulling the parachute to slow his fall. Once he had slowed and was close enough to the ground, Barry shrugged off the parachute and sped to the ground, beginning to assist Tony in taking down the guards.
"Get inside; you need to stop Alexei from escaping! I have a feeling he'll want to head to Earth-1 to get the stone!" Tony shouted as he blasted a guard. "We can't let Savitar get out. I'll cover you, go!"
Barry nodded at Tony before speeding towards the entrance. Tony sent a few blasts at the guards in Barry's way while also distracting the guards who would have fired at Barry by blasting at them.
Barry sped into the building and three guards aimed their guns at him. Using his speed, Barry sped over, knocked one on his back and grabbed the gun out of his hand and, at super speed, struck the other two with the end of the gun, hard enough to knock them out. As the other two went down, Barry grabbed the last one by his shirt and slammed him up against the wall.
"Where is Alexei?!" Barry growled, trying to sound like Oliver when he has interrogated that man in Star City three years earlier.
"I won't tell you," the man said confidently.
"Tell me or I'll…" Barry trailed off, not sure what to say.
"Alexei said you would hesitate," the man said and Barry stiffened. "Lord Savitar knows all. He will be unleashed and everyone and everything you love will come to an end. And you will know you couldn't stop it because you lacked the will to do what is necessary. You will know that you failed to save her. You failed to save Wanda."
In a roar of rage, Barry plunged his vibrating hand through the man's shoulder and he cried out in pain.
"Where is he?!" Barry roared.
Pietro watched as Alexei pushed a button on a remote and, to Pietro's shock, the machine holding Vision shrunk down into a box, the size of a rubric cube. There was no sign of Vision.
"Don't worry, he's still alive," Alexei assured him as he picked up the box. "This is simply to make it less difficult to move him."
"How did you do that?" Pietro asked in wonder.
"Technology from Hank Pym. A brilliant man, but ruled by principals," Alexei said as he looked over at the unconscious Cisco. "We have to be going now Pietro."
"You're not going anywhere!" Barry shouted as he sped into the room.
Tony was still going up against the guards but every time he took down one, two more seemed to pop up. Then, when they seemed to surround him, an arrow flew out, hitting the ground where some of them stood. They looked down at it before it exploded. Several of them went flying as T'Challa jumped in, slashing at several of them with his claws. Bucky and Natasha rushed in, firing their gun of choice, Bucky an automated machine gun and Natasha two pistols. Steve rushed in, yanked a rifle out of the hand of one the guards, struck him with the end of it, and then opened fire on the other guards.
"Where's Barry?!" Steve shouted to Tony over the gunfire.
"He's inside!" Tony shouted back as he shot off a blast.
"Mr. Allen, so glad you could join us. But I'm afraid we will be leaving here today," Alexei said confidently.
"Not gonna happen," Barry said as he looked over at Pietro. "Pietro, out of respect for your sister, I'm not kicking your ass right now. But if you try to take my best friend and side with this jerk, then that's it, we will be enemies. So think long and hard about what you're going to do next."
"We became enemies the moment you and The Avengers sold Wanda out," Pietro said coolly and Barry was confused.
"What are you talking about?"
"You know damn well what I'm talking about!" Pietro exploded.
"Don't let him play mind games with you Pietro," Alexei said as, to Barry's shock, he pulled out an inter-dimensional extrapolator. "It's been fun Mr. Allen, but we really must be going."
Alexei pulled what looked like a disk off his belt and threw it at Barry. Barry ducked; leaning back to avoid the disk, but it seemed to give off a bright flash. Barry cried out in pain as the flash momentarily blinded him. The disk flew back to Alexei and he put it back on his belt as he nodded at Pietro. Pietro, at super speed, picked up Cisco and threw him over his shoulder as Alexei activated the extrapolator. A breach opened up behind them and Pietro sped through it as Alexei stepped towards it. As Alexei began walking through it, Barry's eye sight returned.
"No!" Barry cried out as Alexei disappeared into the breach.
Barry began speeding towards it as fast as he could as the breach started to close. But, in a tragic twist of irony, he wasn't fast enough. He reached it just as the breach closed. He sped passed it, looking back at where it had been once he pulled to a stop.
"No, no no no!" Barry said as he sunk to his knees, realizing what this meant. "NOOOOOOO!"
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If you enjoy please support me on my patreon Future 80+ chapters at patreon.com/Darkphoenix11
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