-Broadcast-
Tony Stark walked alone through the stark corridors of the Raft, his footsteps echoing against the metal walls. The prison was cold, sterile, designed to strip away any sense of humanity from its occupants. Each cell door he passed felt like another accusation, another reminder of how badly things had gone wrong.
He stopped at the first cell, looking through the reinforced glass at the people inside. His friends. His teammates. Now prisoners.
Scott Lang noticed him first, standing up from where he'd been sitting on the edge of his narrow bunk. His expression was wary, uncertain. Others glanced up briefly before looking away, refusing to acknowledge Tony's presence.
Then came the slow, deliberate sound of clapping.
"The Futurist, gentlemen!" Clint Barton's voice dripped with bitter sarcasm as he applauded mockingly. "The Futurist is here! He sees all! He knows what's best for you, whether you like it or not!"
Tony turned his head toward Clint's cell, his expression carefully neutral, and began walking in that direction.
"Give me a break, Barton," Tony said, his voice tired. "I had no idea they'd put you here."
Clint stood up, moving to the front of his cell. "Yeah, well, you knew they'd put us somewhere, Tony."
"Yeah, but not some super-max floating ocean poultry farm," Tony countered, gesturing at their surroundings. "I thought they'd—"
"What?" Clint interrupted. His voice rose. "Criminals, Tony? That's what you and Ross were thinking when you drafted that right? Criminals. Think we like being here?"
Clint moved closer to the transparent barrier between them, his face hardening. "I mean, it's a good way to think about this, I suppose. Criminal! That didn't use to mean me or Sam or Wanda, but here we are."
"Because you broke the law," Tony said flatly.
Clint let out a harsh laugh. "Yeah."
"I didn't make you," Tony continued, his own frustration bleeding through. "You read it, you broke it."
"La la la la la," Clint sang mockingly, turning his back on Tony and sitting down.
Tony stared at him, anger flickering in his eyes. "You're all grown up, you got a wife and kids. I don't understand. Why didn't you think about them before you chose the wrong side?"
Clint shot to his feet, whirling around. "You gotta watch your back with this guy!" he shouted to the other prisoners. "There's a chance he's gonna break it!"
He slammed his hand against the cell door with a resounding CLANG.
Tony flinched slightly, the words cutting deeper than he wanted to admit. The betrayal he felt was mirrored in Clint's eyes—but from the opposite perspective. To Clint, Tony was the traitor. To Tony, Clint had abandoned everything they'd built together.
He moved past Clint's cell, trying to maintain his composure.
As he passed Scott Lang's cell, the younger man leaned against the door, his eyes following Tony.
"Hank Pym always said you can't trust a Stark," Scott said, his voice carrying a note of vindication.
Tony paused, turning to look at him. He genuinely had no idea who this person was. "Who are you?"
Scott's mouth dropped open slightly. "Come on, man."
He turned away, returning to sit on his bunk, muttering under his breath about being forgotten.
Tony continued down the corridor until he reached Sam Wilson's cell. Sam stood facing the wall, his back to the door, his posture rigid.
"How's Rhodes?" Sam asked without turning around, his voice carefully neutral.
Tony stopped, considering his answer. "They're flying him to Columbia Medical tomorrow. So... fingers crossed." He paused. "What do you need? They feed you yet?"
Sam turned around slowly, and Tony could see the bruising on his face—dark purple marks from his fight with the kid in the red and blue suit.
"You're the good cop now?" Sam asked skeptically.
Tony shook his head. "I'm just the guy who needs to know where Steve went."
Sam scoffed. "Well, you better go get a bad cop, because you're gonna have to go Mark Fuhrman on my ass to get information out of me."
Tony looked at him for a long moment, then at the others in their cells—all of them loyal to Steve, all of them willing to suffer for him. They wouldn't break. They wouldn't betray their captain.
He made a decision.
Tony tapped his watch several times, subtle movements that looked casual.
"Oh, I've just turned off the surveillance audio for thirty seconds," he said quietly. "They'll realize it's not a technical issue soon enough."
Sam's eyes immediately flicked up toward the security camera mounted in the corner.
In the control room, Secretary Ross leaned forward, frowning at the monitors. "What happened to the audio?"
A technician adjusted controls frantically. "I don't know, sir. It just cut out."
"Well, fix it!" Ross barked.
Back in the corridor, Tony held up his watch, projecting a holographic image into the air between him and Sam—the photo of the dead psychiatrist found in the Berlin hotel.
"That is the guy who was supposed to interrogate Barnes," Tony said, his voice low and urgent. "Clearly, I made a mistake. Sam, I was wrong."
Sam's eyebrows rose. "That's a first."
"Cap is definitely off the reservation, but he's about to need all the help he can get," Tony continued. "We don't know each other very well. You don't owe me anything, but—"
"Hey," Sam interrupted. "It's all right."
Tony met his eyes, waiting.
Sam took a breath, clearly wrestling with the decision. Finally, he sighed. "Look, I'll tell you... but you have to go alone and as a friend."
Tony nodded without hesitation. "Easy."
-Real World-
"You actually admitted your mistake! That's rare, Tony!" Strange looked at Tony with a teasing look on his face. The two of them actually had quite similar personalities. They both had a special kind of arrogance in their most outstanding fields, and they would hardly think they were wrong even if something went wrong.
Tony rolled his eyes. "Come on! Like I said, everything changes! Isn't it normal for me to admit my mistakes?"
"Yeah! Indeed!" Natasha nodded. Since the appearance of the sky, Tony had really changed a lot. Even his personality had become more restrained. He was no longer so arrogant!
"Didn't Tony go to help Captain? Why did they still have a falling out afterwards?" Scott frowned.
"Wait! Wait! Scott! Why did Hank Pym say that Stark can't be trusted?" Tony looked at Scott, not understanding what Dr. Pym meant. Why was he always unhappy with him?
From the past to the present, even after the appearance of the Sky, Pym still had prejudice against him, and Pym Industries had almost no dealings with Stark Industries, which made Tony very puzzled.
Scott looked uncomfortable. "He said your father, Howard Stark, stole his Pym particles!"
"What?!" Tony's eyes widened. What nonsense! How could he not know about this?
"I don't know either! Anyway, that's what he thinks!" Scott shrugged.
"Yeah! He quit S.H.I.E.L.D. because of this incident! And he completely fell out with the Stark family!" Maria Hill confirmed Scott's statement.
"Okay!" Tony turned his head away helplessly. He didn't want to talk about this matter anymore. It would be bad if he brought up some dirty things his father had done. He shouldn't have asked this question!
"Captain went to Siberia, something must have happened there! Don't forget that Colonel Zemo also went there! And he got the videotape from 1991!"
"Yeah! Tell me! Does Tony in the sky know that Bucky killed the Howards?" Star-Lord raised his doubts incisively.
"Well! That's a good question! Quill!" Natasha gave Star-Lord a thumbs up. This question was very crucial!
In reality, Bucky had told Tony the truth directly after waking up, but Bucky in the sky seemed to have no chance to say it!
So it was not difficult for Zemo to use this to make Tony and Captain America turn against each other!