Chapter 48 - Topple an Empire
Siberia
Just outside HYDRA Siberian Facility
9:29 a.m.
He deleted the message and waited in the snow.
His heavy, black coat could barely conceal his warmth, the coolness of the Siberian air blowing across him, chilling him to the bone. But he didn’t care. He could allow the coldest winter to wash over him and bury him frozen solid. He would wish for a firestorm to consume every inch of his skin, and he wouldn’t feel it. He would be beaten senseless, ribs shattered, skull cracked, and left for dead, and he wouldn’t care.
It was over. He knew that. When he deleted his wife’s message from his phone, that was all he really had left. Now there was nothing. He would let the world fall right around him, and he would allow to happen, because he didn’t need to do anything anymore. His mission, his journey, after so long, after so many sleepless nights, had finally come to an end.
And so, as he gripped his pistol ready for the final moments, he was finally ready. Until he heard a familiar voice arise from behind him.
“I almost killed the wrong man,” T’Challa said, placing his helmet into the snow and slowly approaching the false doctor. “It was you all along.”
Helmut Zemo looked back. Just barely. “It would seem that way, yes,” he said, placing his phone into his pocket. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, palm gripping the pistol. T’Challa saw the gun, his body tensing up for a short moment as he readied himself for any outcome.
“Why?” the king asked, shaking his head. He stopped a few feet behind Zemo, his claws still unsheathed, still at the ready for anything.
Zemo stared out into the nearly endless white. A soft breeze blew across his greasy, flat hair. And he looked down. “… For them,” he finally muttered, causing T’Challa to pause.
The king said nothing for a moment, the quiet wind brushing across his hair and skin. Like a soft whistle. Finally, he asked, “You lost your family?”
Zemo didn’t make any sudden movements, nor did he utter a single response. He didn’t even nod. And for the longest time, T’Challa thought he wouldn’t reply. After nearly twenty seconds of silence, twenty long seconds of T’Challa having to wait for the man who murdered his father, Zemo had finally began to breathe again.
And he said, “It was last year. When Ultron came to my home and slaughtered my people, everyone looked to the sky to see the Avengers arrive to save the day. I was operating outside of the city when it… began to rise. I could do nothing but watch… as the city that held my family… fell… and erupted into nothing but light and dust. My wife… my child… they were the victims.”
T’Challa looked down, a soft exhale leaving him. Zemo stared into the foggy white, thinking and breathing his next words. “When I saw the Avengers’ response to this massacre weeks later… I had learned that the Iron Man, Tony Stark, was responsible for the creation of Ultron. My family’s blood was on his hands, as well as the rest of the Avengers who thought the only way to save the world… would be to take away mine.”
He paused, causing T’Challa to look back to him. “They cannot be killed so easily,” Zemo stated weakly, nodding slightly. “I knew that. But when you turn gods against each other… the world they crafted would crumble beneath them.”
Looking back, Zemo stared at the young king. He watched him with eyes that held uncertainty, pain, and small flame of fury. He sighed, returning forward. “Your father… was a good man. I’m sorry for what I had to do, but it had to be done.”
It had to be done. T’Challa looked away at that, biting his lip, clenching his fists. The fact that his father had died as just a stepping stone for one man was belittling enough. He turned back to Zemo, relaxing his palms, letting the claws hang out. His first instinct was to slit his throat, let the man squirm as he tried desperately to hold his neck and the precious life that leaked out of him. But he stopped when he heard the screaming from afar. The sounds of repulsor fire, metal against metal, bone against bone beat down on T’Challa, the king, the man, finally stopping.
Finally taking in a much-needed breath and shutting his eyes. “What kind of man are you… who kills innocents that get in his way?” he asked, his eyes opening to glare at the back of Zemo’s head. “You let this…evil… this madness consume everything that you are. The Avengers… these ponies… you have turned them against each other for your own lusts.”
Zemo sneered, loosening the grip on his pistol. “You must do the right thing, Your Highness.”
T’Challa finally sheathed his claws, letting out one of the biggest breaths of relief he ever held. Zemo heard it, his smile fading. T’Challa said, “But you will not turn me away from what I am. I am not you… I do not murder out of my own gain. So… I will not kill you.”
Zemo smiled again, gripping his pistol. “I don’t need you to finish my mission.”
He suddenly jolted the gun to himself, the barrel jammed into the bottom of his jaw. Just before he pulled the trigger, T’Challa shot out his leg, striking Zemo across the forehead and knocking him on his back. The shot went off in the air, out of harm’s way, to nowhere. T’Challa let loose of a breath of frozen relief, staring at the limp figure of Helmut Zemo lying in front of him.
“Bring them to justice,” he muttered.
9:31 a.m.
The fight between the two had been going on for minutes, but it felt like hours. Both Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle were flying around the snowstorm, slamming into each other, Twilight firing spell after spell that would miss every time, and Rainbow would always fly faster, striking Twilight when she couldn’t keep up. By the time she fired off her next spell, the Alicorn yelped when Rainbow zipped around it, flying forward and tackling her.
With every painful second that past, Twilight had to continue to remind herself who she was fighting, and why she had to hold back. Despite rolling together wrapped in each other’s hooves, despite pushing each other off, despite the punch sent across her cheek, it was still Rainbow. It was still her friend. And she tried to remind herself that.
Through those eyes filled with blood, sweat, adrenaline, and determination, there was something else that Twilight saw. Pain. Just like Twilight, Rainbow was reminding herself that her best friend was at the end of her hooves, and the ideologies, the trust separated them. Rainbow may have not been showing it, but she was holding back.
Holding back didn’t mean not fighting like hell.
After the last punch across her cheek, Twilight growled and lit up her horn. She created a magical wave and shot it out all around her, the magic blasting out and hitting Rainbow. The Pegasus screamed, hitting a nearby stone with a solid crack. Twilight didn’t know if it came from the stone or Rainbow’s spine. Dash didn’t know either, but when she kicked off the stone and flew straight towards Twilight, she knew she was fine.
The snow tried to blind Twilight, but the Alicorn was ready. Rainbow wasn’t. She fired a paralysis spell that Dash still managed to dodge. Just barely. The spell struck her hoof, causing a chilling cry to escape the Pegasus. She flew over Twilight, the Alicorn ducking and spinning about to see Rainbow crash and tumble in the snow.
Her wings stood on end, the tips bent. Groaning, Rainbow pushed her hooves into the ground, feeling the coolness of the snow in her left but not in her right. Bringing up her foreleg, Rainbow gasped to see her hoof as stiff as solid stone, unable to move despite her strongest efforts. Grunting, Rainbow faced the princess and pushed both hooves into the snow, holding her hardened stare with the mare feet from her and slowly approaching.
Twilight breathed, feeling the ache in her lungs when her bruised rib cage expanded. Grunting, Twilight held a strong expression on her face, her horn lighting up a bright blue. The look on Rainbow’s face said it all, the Pegasus readying herself to take to the skies once more. Breathing heavily, blood dripping down her lips, Twilight said, “Let me end this.”
Rainbow just shook her head, wiping her face and smearing fresh blood from her cuts across her eyes. Blinking, Rainbow spit in the ground, muttering, “It can’t end the way you want, Twilight.”
“Why can’t it?”
“Because you’re wrong!” Rainbow screamed, flying up into the air. “Bucky’s not to blame!”
Twilight’s expression turned furious, her horn shooting off sparks from her contained spell. “He murdered Tony’s parents!” she screamed back, stepping forward with her horn raised to heavens. “Celestia knows how many other innocent people he killed!”
Then she fired. She fired a paralysis spell every second, sometimes holding an extended beam of magic, sometimes firing multiple beams, but they were always to the sky, always to Rainbow. Dodging her paralysis spells, Rainbow shouted, “That wasn’t him, Twilight! I know it’s hard,” a beam of blue came dangerously close to nose, the Pegasus halting in mid-air, “but you have to trust me on this! You have to be able to trust him!”
“Why?!” Twilight bellowed, hooves planted deep in the snow, fresh tears and blood raining down her face. She charged up an especially powerful spell, her fuming gaze centered on the pony hovering above her. “Why should I trust him after everything he’s done?!”
Flapping to keep herself airborne, Rainbow stared into the growing light on Twilight’s horn. For a moment, she didn’t know if she was going to fly away or take the shot. She felt so tired. Her forelegs, her wings, her muscles, her bones, her heart and her mind all ached. Both from the physical and the emotional stress.
That much could be felt when Rainbow spoke. And when she did, her voice was completely broken, fresh tears flowing from her eyes and mixing with the blood on her face. The red rivers fell down her cheeks, Rainbow Dash declaring, “Because he’s Steve’s friend… and mine, too.”
Twilight’s expression shattered, her horn’s light dimming to nothing.
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Is Twilight dumb? How many times do they have to tell her that Bucky was mind controlled only for her to just shrug it off?
Does Twilight finally decide to change her mind?
Hopefully yes, because, Bucky being hurt, Cap might not be able to neutralise Iron Man on his own... and time's running short at that point.
"Vengeance has consumed you. It is consuming all of them.... I am done letting it consume me."
It was a noble choice T'Challa made, like a wise King. Rather than take the life of the true man responsible for his father's death, he chose not to give in to vengeance after seeing how much of a broken monster Zemo had become and realising that he himself as well as the others had been a pawn in Zemo's own twisted vengeance and that he would've become no better than Zemo. Choosing instead to spare Zemo, deprive him of a suicide death and let the hands of justice decide his fate.
And in that moment, Twilight realised she had forgotten how much friendship was worth fighting for and that she had f*cked up big time.....
or not.
What would you have had them do, Zemo? Let the meteor hit the Earth and kill everything on the planet, or blow it up, losing lives in the process, and saving the planet?
Twilight: So was I!
Rainbow: Steve was your friend. So was Fluttershy. She looked into Bucky's eyes, and saw pain. Agony. Can you deny that?
Twilight: I...I...
Holy throne....
8336178
You're welcome. ^-^
Little disappointed that the Zemo and Tchall went differently I personally liked how the two men had their dialogue in the movie, but oh well. Still interesting chapter.
The Twilight/Rainbow conflict is my most favorite part about this chapter.
8336846
She's Naive and Stubborn, its a trait with egg heads like her
If you really want to point a finger. Point it at Wanda. Not only did she mind rape Tony to have him tamper with the sceptre but she served Ultron and helped him get everything he needed to destroy Novi Grad.
Ok Twilight, Rainbow. You're both friends, you're both intelligent mares (one significantly more than the other) and you both have valid points so I'll settle this nonsense once and for all. Bucky has diminished responsibility for all the crimes the Winter Soldier committed. It was him for all those years killing god knows how many innocents with untold collateral damage in the process but he wasn't exactly firing on all mental cylinders. Therefore, while no one can, or should, in good conscience turn a blind eye to his crimes no one can honestly say he hunted down all his targets of his own volition to satisfy a bloodlust. He'll likely be kept in protective custody until he has full control of his faculties.
Hmm... This is complex on on hand yes Bucky is the captain's friend and he was brainwashed but he is still the killer of Tony's parents even if was beyond his control as well as likely killing who knows how many other innocent people for whom there has been no justice.
He shouldn't be killed by Tony but on the same token it doesn't seem right if Bucky simply walks free likely nobody was ever killed.
8337274
Well, the movie is here. The point of a fanfic isn't to rewrite an identical script.
8338328
I know
Only slightly disappointed it's still good and I don't mean no ill will or anything just stating my thoughts
I probably should stop that it seems to get me trouble more than it's worth
And people say Zemo was a bad villain just because he wasn't a God, an alien, a monster, a robot or a big-ass superpowered being with an army or something.
8338349
I mean, if we want to see the same thing we can simply rewatch the film.
Equus and Earth will never fully trust each other ever again.
Oh... Hopefully Twilight changes her mood now that she knows where Rainbow's loyalty lies. Dash can trust Steve and Bucky over Twilight... ouch.
8336846 Twilight has a lot of valid points to mistrust him. I'll explain more of it next chapter.
8336858 She had better make a decision soon.
8336938 Can Twilight realize the error of her ways before time runs out? We'll find out soon enough.
8336956 There's the hypocrisy in Zemo.
8337284 Mine too.
8337577 If we're being technical here, then it was first and foremost Stark's technology that killed the Maximoff's family and caused the twins to despise Stark. Everything else followed from that moment.
8338374 I thought he was a really cool villain! He was the first one to actually beat the Avengers!
8339816 Not after this fiasco.
8340707 Yeah... ouch.
See Twilight T'Challa knows about true justice.
Man I hope RD slapped some sense into Twilight.
8838290
8341089
The living are not done with you yet...
You know, if a psychopath comes into your house and shots your wife and children, do you blame the gun? Or the man who used a tool to carry out his own evil acts?
That, without a doubt, is what Bucky is. A glorified tool.
Least someone realized that it was Zemo's own fault and Black Panther was the one to do it. Regardless of the fact Zemo lost his family due to the inadvertent actions of The Avengers, he was no better for killing innocent people and pitting Gods against each other to destroy the world thinking it would prove a point. And he thought killing himself would finally be the end of it? But no... No, as much as I hate to admit it, death is far too merciful even for Zemo's standards. Growing up, I've slowly absorbed the fact that to 'live' is the worst punishment for every murderer like Zemo, to finally be placed behind bars and forced to relive their actions over and over forcing them to question, 'Was it all worth it?' As much as I'd like to see people like him punished by the hands of Death... I know not everyone will agree that's the way to go, so it's understandable that Black Panther would rather put Zemo to justice instead of killing him even for the loss of his own father.
As for Rainbow and Twilight... Those final words 'really' struck a nerve towards Twilight. Despite what Barnes did, despite killing a family in cold blood, Rainbow Dash will still fight for him not because of Loyalty (Though that's partially it)... But he's her friend and she'll fight for him. A mirror image that Twilight would fight for the safety of her friends just the same as Dash, proving that while the ponies have severely contrasting viewpoints they are no different from each other. And when we think about it, that's how humans should think when they go to war. Are we truly different? Or are we deep down fighting for a deeper cause? I can't say this logic applies to 'everyone', but then when we think on the earlier wars on Christmas nights when they took a break from fighting and for a moment there was peace... In some way it's not completely different when it has the same feeling as neighbors (Even if the peace is only brief).
But just as it finally dawns that they've truly made a mistake... Has Zemo truly won after all? Just as the movie made it seem to?
Black Panther lets go of revenge and takes Zemo in alive to face justice for his crimes. He has his priorities straight. Wish I could say the same about Twilight.