Stark Tower.
Tony's battle against the Rhino, Crimson Dynamo, and Titanium Man had ended with the destruction of his Veronica suit and a painful, hard-won victory. At this moment, he was lying inside the fully automated operating room he had built for himself within Stark Tower, undergoing treatment.
He was wearing a pair of glasses, the lenses flickering with data that had finally brought the truth to light.
The true identity of the murderer who killed Howard Stark—Tony's mother and father—had been confirmed. It was Captain America's former sidekick, Bucky.
It was also the same guy who had ambushed Black Widow on the streets of Manhattan, knocking her unconscious and attempting to abduct her before being stopped by Batman.
Precisely because he had uncovered Bucky's identity, Tony Stark hadn't even visited Avengers Manor or contacted a single person since returning.
He just lay there alone on the operating table, without even his assistant, Pepper Potts, by his side.
"Sir, based on our current intelligence, Bucky fell off a train into a ravine during World War II. I have reason to believe that, much like Captain America, he was frozen in ice for decades until he was discovered and cybernetically modified by the Soviets."
As JARVIS operated the automated surgical suite to inspect Tony Stark's wounds, he spoke based on the intelligence files displayed in Tony's view:
"It was likely not just his physical body, either—he was almost certainly subjected to brainwashing and mental control."
"I know," Tony Stark said, his face expressionless.
"Sir, do you want to kill Bucky?" JARVIS asked.
Tony Stark remained silent, but his silence was an answer in itself.
JARVIS seemed to sigh, his advanced intelligence allowing him to express human emotion with precision:
"Sir, I am merely an artificial intelligence, named after your former butler."
"However, I would like to point out that during World War II, both Mr. Howard and Mr. Jarvis knew Steve and Bucky."
"If Bucky is currently under brainwashing or mind control, even Mr. Howard would have wanted to save him from that state rather than kill him."
JARVIS had always played the role of a dutiful artificial intelligence. Even after his upgrades made him an AI far surpassing the current era, he had never spoken this much to Tony.
Having said those words, JARVIS lapsed back into silence, precisely controlling the surgical instruments to extract metal shrapnel from inside Tony's body one piece at a time.
Most of these fragments had lodged in him after the base was hit by missile strikes, which shattered Tony's armor and wrecked its internal structure.
"Oh, the internal security network at Avengers Manor just transmitted a log... regarding what occurred when Captain America's group traveled to Washington."
JARVIS spoke up again suddenly.
"Log contents?" Tony's eyes flickered, and he asked immediately.
"The Captain's group traveled to the S.H.I.E.L.D. building to gather intelligence, but the facility had been completely compromised as a Hydra stronghold," JARVIS summarized. "They were ambushed by Hydra soldiers led by Bucky, and they managed to retreat only at the cost of Jack Monroe's life."
"Who? Jack Monroe? The guy following Steve around who called himself the second Bucky?" Tony blurted out instinctively.
"Correct, sir."
Tony's chest rose and fell as his breathing turned rapid.
He stayed silent for a long time before smoothing his breath, his voice laced with a low, Batman-like cadence:
"Draft an itinerary. Destination: Washington."
This time, it was JARVIS who fell silent for a long moment. He did not speak until the surgery on Tony's body was fully complete:
"Have you still decided to kill Bucky, sir?"
"I'm going to put an end to all of this," Tony said.
Two days later, Washington, in a suburb far removed from the city center.
Captain America returned alone to the vicinity of that S.H.I.E.L.D. building.
He had changed his attire; instead of his iconic blue-and-white combat suit, he now wore a stealth suit dominated by deep navy blue.
It was daytime, so Captain America took no action. He remained lying in wait among the bushes until the sun set and the last lingering glow of twilight vanished beyond the horizon.
Whoosh!
Moving as nimbly and silently as a wildcat, Captain America bounded out of the bushes, advancing rapidly along the insertion route he had mentally simulated countless times during the day.
His speed was blindingly fast, yet he didn't push himself to his absolute maximum, keeping his pace strictly below the threshold of making significant noise.
Under the cover of night, Captain America crossed several thousand meters like a wisp of smoke. Upon reaching the base of the building, he didn't pause for even a second.
Using the momentum of his running start, he leaped high into the air, reaching a height of three stories. His hands shot out like lightning, precisely gripping a ledge protrusion to hang suspended in midair.
Relying on his immense finger strength, Captain America moved swiftly along the wall, keeping a constant eye on the Hydra soldiers patrolling below and adjusting his position accordingly.
Unless someone stared intently into the shadows for a long time, no one would ever notice Captain America darting upward like a giant gecko.
In under ten seconds, Captain America had scaled the wall up to the twentieth floor. In the blink of an eye, he gripped the edge of the rooftop with both hands, flipped his body over with a powerful surge of force, and vanished onto the roof.
Prior to the operation, Captain America had investigated thoroughly: Bucky was currently on the top floor.
This place featured thick walls built of concrete and reinforced with alloy on the outside, rendering it an impenetrable fortress.
The moment Captain America stepped onto the top floor, the first thing he saw was Bucky locked into an electric chair, his hands, feet, and neck secured by heavy metal shackles, eyes closed inside a transparent cage.
Bucky's upper body was bare, and the freezing temperatures inside the transparent cage had coated his skin in a layer of frost.
The cage sat squarely in the middle of the top floor. Aside from a faint trace of eerie blue light inside the cage, everything else was shrouded in pitch-black darkness.
Captain America strode over to the cage holding Bucky, raising his shield and smashing it downward with force.
Thud!
The material of the transparent cage was unknown, but Captain America's full-power strike failed to leave even a single crack.
Just as Captain America prepared to look for the switch to control the cage, a foot launched silently out of the darkness, kicking straight toward Captain America's lower back.
"Who's there!" Captain America alerted instantly. Positioning his back to Bucky, he held his shield defensively before his chest, glaring fiercely into the darkness ahead.
From out of the shadows, a tall figure also carrying a circular shield stepped forth slowly. The figure held its shield up in front of its chest in the exact same stance as Captain America.
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