Only a few hours later, the heavy doors of the Avengers base opened.
Peggy Carter walked in, pushing a bound man ahead of her.
It was Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier.
Peggy had always been a brilliant and deadly spy when she was young.
But now, she had decades of tactical experience combined with the super-strong, perfect body of a Cultivator.
She was Hydra's absolute worst nightmare.
She had tracked Bucky down, outmatched him in combat, and captured him easily without causing him any permanent harm.
"He put up a good fight,"
Peggy said, breathing easily.
"But I brought him in alive."
Steve rushed forward, his eyes full of pain seeing his oldest friend tied up and looking so lost.
Sam stepped past Steve. He held out his hand.
Resting on his palm was a glowing Cleansing Mind Pill.
"Make him swallow this,"
Sam told Steve gently.
"It will wash away the Hydra programming."
Steve carefully helped his friend take the medicine.
Almost instantly, the cold, blank look in Bucky's eyes melted away.
The dark, heavy fog of seventy years of brainwashing vanished from his mind completely.
Bucky blinked. He looked at Steve, recognizing him for the first time in decades.
"Steve?"
Bucky whispered, his voice dry and broken.
"I'm here, Buck,"
Steve said, grabbing his shoulder.
"You are safe."
But the peace did not last. As the brainwashing faded, all the memories of what he had done rushed back into Bucky's mind.
He remembered every single assassination.
He remembered every innocent face. He remembered the dark road in 1991.
Bucky looked down at his metal hand, trembling violently.
Tears poured from his eyes. The immense guilt hit him like a crushing weight.
"No..."
Bucky cried, pulling away from Steve.
"The things I did... The blood on my hands. I killed them. I killed so many good people."
He looked wildly around the room.
He spotted a heavy pistol resting on a nearby table.
Before anyone could move, Bucky lunged for it.
He didn't aim it at the team. He raised the barrel toward his own head, completely ready to end his own life.
"I don't deserve to live!"
Bucky shouted, closing his eyes tight.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed his wrist with incredible strength, forcing the gun down.
Bucky opened his eyes and gasped. Standing right in front of him was Tony Stark.
Bucky knew exactly who Tony was.
He recognized Howard's face in Tony's eyes.
Bucky froze, completely expecting the furious son to pull the trigger for him.
But Tony just gently took the gun out of Bucky's hand and placed it back on the table.
"Tony..."
Bucky whispered, his voice full of pure shame.
"I killed your parents. Why are you stopping me? Let me pay for what I did."
Tony looked at him with sad, deeply understanding eyes.
"Because choosing death right now is way too easy,"
Tony said quietly, but his voice was completely firm.
"If you pull that trigger, you are just running away from your responsibility. You don't get to take the easy way out."
Bucky stared at him, completely surprised.
He didn't understand how Tony could look at him with such absolute forgiveness.
"Hydra used you like a gun,"
Tony explained, resting a hand on Bucky's trembling shoulder.
"But you are not a machine anymore. You are a man. You have your mind back."
Tony looked around the room at Steve, Peggy, and Sam, and then back to Bucky.
"If you really want to atone for your sins,"
Tony told him, his voice full of true heroic purpose,
"You don't do it by dying in this room. You do it by living. You join the Avengers. You use that metal arm to save as many innocent people as you possibly can. You spend the rest of your life making things right."
Bucky fell to his knees, completely overwhelmed by Tony's incredible mercy.
He buried his face in his hands and wept bitterly, finally letting out seventy years of pain.
Steve knelt beside his brother, hugging him tightly.
Tony stood over them, feeling a deep, quiet peace in his own heart.
He had chosen to heal, rather than to destroy.
The heavy emotion in the room slowly settled.
Steve helped Bucky stand up, supporting his old friend's weight.
But the silence did not last long.
Peggy crossed her arms. She looked at Tony with a very serious expression and let out a long, heavy sigh.
"There is one more problem,"
Peggy said quietly, breaking the peace.
"Tony, you need to be very careful from now on. Watch your back."
Tony frowned. He looked at Peggy, completely confused.
"Careful?"
Tony asked.
"Why? You just wiped out the rest of Hydra. The world is safer today than it was yesterday."
"Not for you,"
Peggy warned him, her voice tight.
"While I was hunting down the Hydra bases, I found some hidden data files. Secret experiments they were running in Eastern Europe. Two young siblings survived the experiments. Their names are Wanda and Pietro Maximoff."
Peggy took a step closer to Tony.
"They have incredible powers now,"
Peggy explained.
"And they are out for blood. Specifically, they want your blood, Tony."
Tony blinked in pure shock.
"My blood?"
Tony asked, shaking his head.
"I don't even know them. I have never met them. Why do they want to kill me?"
Peggy looked down at the floor for a second, feeling terrible for having to say it.
"Because of your past, Tony,"
Peggy told him honestly.
"Years ago, their apartment building was bombed. Their parents were killed instantly. The twins were trapped under the rubble for days, staring at an unexploded bomb. It had your name painted on the side. Stark Industries."
Tony froze.
The shock on his face slowly melted away.
He didn't argue. He didn't make a joke to defend himself. He just looked down at his own hands.
"A Stark bomb,"
Tony whispered.
"Yes,"
Peggy nodded.
"Hydra used their anger and their grief to control them. They hate you, Tony. They blame you for everything they lost."
The room was quiet again. Steve looked at Tony with deep sympathy.
He knew Tony was a good man now, but his past was very dark.
Tony let out a tired sigh. He rubbed his face, completely accepting the ugly truth.
"I understand,"
Tony said softly, his voice full of heavy regret.
"I can't even blame them. I would hate me, too."
"Tony, you didn't drop that bomb,"
Steve tried to comfort him.
"But I built it, Steve,"
Tony answered firmly, looking up.
"I sold it. For a long time, I was the one causing massive destruction in the world. I made a lot of terrible mistakes."
Tony looked at Bucky, who was still wiping tears from his face. They both understood what it felt like to be haunted by the past.
"Just because I stopped manufacturing weapons,"
Tony said, his voice quiet but incredibly strong,
"It doesn't mean the sins of my past are suddenly washed away. The pain I caused is still out there. If these kids come for me... I will not run. I will face them."
Sam stood quietly, listening to Tony's brave words.
He thought about the original timeline.
He remembered the dark events of the *Age of Ultron*.
In that old story, Tony's fear and the Mind Stone had created a murderous robot that almost destroyed the world.
But Ultron did not exist in this timeline.
Sam had safely absorbed the Mind Stone. Tony's mind was clear, and he was making choices out of love, not fear.
Still, Sam was very curious. How would Wanda and Pietro actually take their revenge now?
The Tony Stark standing in this room was completely different from the original.
He was not just a normal human hiding inside a metal suit anymore.
Thanks to Sam's teaching, Tony had already reached the Middle level of the Foundation Establishment Stage.
"You will face them, Tony,"
Sam finally spoke up, his voice breaking the silence.
"But you don't have to worry too much about your safety."
Tony looked at Sam, raising an eyebrow.
"Peggy just said they have incredible powers, Sam,"
Tony pointed out.
"A fast kid and a witch sound pretty dangerous to me."
"They are dangerous to normal people,"
Sam smiled calmly.
"But you are a Cultivator now, Tony. Your body is filled with pure Qi. Even if you cannot keep up with Pietro's absolute speed, it doesn't matter. If he tries to punch you, your natural energy barrier will break his hands. He cannot harm you."
Steve looked curious.
"And the girl? Wanda?"
"Wanda's magic is very strong,"
Sam explained, looking at the team.
"She uses red energy to move things and mess with people's minds. But Tony is at the Foundation Establishment Stage. His soul is anchored and strong. Her mind magic will not be very effective against him. It will just bounce off."
Tony let out a small breath, feeling a little bit of relief.
He didn't want to hurt the kids, but he also didn't want to die before his baby was born.
"That is good to know,"
Tony nodded.
"But we still can't just let two angry, super-powered kids run wild. They are hurting, and Hydra twisted their minds. We have to stop them before they do something they will regret forever."
"I agree,"
Sam said smoothly.
"I will personally keep an eye on them. If they try to make a move, I will step in. We will handle them peacefully."
Peggy walked over to the large digital table in the center of the room.
She tapped a few buttons, and a glowing blue map of the world appeared.
"If we want to find them, we don't have to wait for them to attack,"
Peggy told everyone, pointing to a small, mountainous region on the map.
"My spies tracked their last movements after the Hydra base fell."
Steve walked up to the table, his eyes focused on the map.
"Where is their current location, Peggy?"
Steve asked, getting ready for the mission.
"Eastern Europe,"
Peggy answered firmly, tapping the glowing red dot on the screen.
"They are hiding in a small country called Sokovia. If we want to talk to the Maximoff twins, that is exactly where we need to go."
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