Chapter Text
Col. James Rhodes knew that things would escalate after Tony withdrew his support from the Avengers, but well, things were better this way.
Tony Stark was his best friend ever since he had met this 14-year-old kid wearing a suit with a bow tie in his dorm room. He had introduced himself as Anthony Stark and had even gelled his hair.
Jim had heard about Stark kid of course. Jim was supposed to be the youngest at MIT, but this kid had surpassed him.
After that Tony had stuck with him and had followed him in MIT like a lost duckling. Even after college, this guy hadn’t left his side.
When Tony had joined Avengers, he had mixed feelings. In a way, he was glad that Tony had someone watching his back, but that was supposed to be his job. Jim was the one to watch out for his brother, but over the years he had failed.
Tony was kidnapped in Afghanistan when Jim was supposed to watch him and then he had gone and stolen Tony’s suit. Tony had forgiven him for it, but he still felt guilty about it.
His friend was dying and he hadn’t realized. Tony had always given him things without asking for them, but still, Jim had stolen his suit. He had received a lecture from Mama Rhodes for that and Tony had denied feeling bad but he knew his brother.
Since then, Jim had promised that he would have Tony’s back and never let him get to the point where he would question whether or not he had his friendship.
Now, Tony distanced himself from the Avengers and he would try his hardest to keep it that way. If he has to be the one dealing with this investigation and keeping Ross at bay then so be it.
The Avengers were worse than Sunset Bain. They used Tony as a bank account and their punching bag. They taunted Tony for his past all the while giving known assassins a chance. It was more of Roger’s group and less of a team.
Hence, Jim was really glad when Tony had washed his hands off them.
For the past day and a half, he was meeting many more enhanced who had come out the woodwork, for signing the accords. Some of them had weird powers, but Jim wasn’t complaining. As long as the Earth was saved, he didn’t care.
Currently, Jim was watching the news of Rogers and Wilson’s arrest. Everhart had done a segment explaining what was the reality of Captain America. She had managed to get someone who had fought in the war with Rogers and had him talk about Rogers’s behaviour during the War.
Wanda Maximoff’s visa was rejected, and she was shipped back to Sokovia. Nigeria wanted her head after she killed their people and left without apologizing.
Rogers and Wilson were arrested and will be charged with terrorism at worst and negligent homicide at best. So yeah, their chances were not looking good.
Jim was disappointed at Wilson. He had vouched for Wilson after he had met him and Riley a few times during some missions. Both were good people and had genuinely wanted to help people. Jim liked such morale in soldiers.
Jim had nothing to say about Rogers. That guy had other people cleaning up messes for him and had a superiority complex. Tony had dealt with the SHIEDRA fallout which had saved Rogers, but he hadn’t even said a simple thanks to Tony.
Rogers always compared Tony to Howard and treated him like shit. He viewed Tony as a bank account and only focused on what he could get from Tony instead of treating him as a human.
Jim was better at reading people than Tony was. Rogers didn’t like Tony and only tolerated him for the sake of money. When people look at Captain America, they forget that Rogers used to be an actor, selling war bonds and performing on stage before he rescued the 107th unit. He wasn’t even a real soldier for crying out loud!
Jim didn’t believe for a second that Rogers was as innocent as he makes people believe he is. Rogers knows to intimidate someone and wasn’t shy of using those tactics. Jim saw this kind of behaviour more than he would have liked in his life, so he had not fallen for that.
Jim had started recognizing the people and their motivations in college when he started overserving the company that Tony kept. He knew that Rogers one hundred per cent didn’t care about Tony.
When the Accords were announced, he knew that it will the perfect opportunity for Tony to move on. He was proved right as Tony washed his hands of them and the avengers were left fumbling without their punching bag.
Widow and Braddock had joined him to provide help if Barnes had tried to escape, but before they could intervene, T’Challa had killed Barnes.
Barnes was brought to Berlin, where a post-mortem will be conducted and from there, he will be taken back to the US to be buried there. Barnes had a sister whose family will be contacted and his body will be handed over to them.
Widow had tried talking to T’Challa but he had not responded to her. Jim didn’t know what her angle is but as long as it doesn’t involve Tony or himself, he doesn’t care.
Prince T’Challa had not escaped the consequences. Jim knew about grief and anger, but T’Challa had straight up killed Barnes, 21 members of JTTF and 4 German police officers in broad daylight. Plus, the bridge collapse had also killed innocent civilians. Prince or not, T’Challa was in deep shit.
Barnes was an assassin, yes, but the feds were building a case on him for the past two years. They had signalled out his location 2 weeks ago and wanted him in the prison. Now the information that he knew and many assassinations that he carried out were gone with him. They were pissed as well.
Diplomatic Immunity would probably save Prince T’challa from being arrested but he was banned from entering Romania. Wakanda was being seen in a negative light and many were interested in that country now.
Jim knew that there was something fishy going on in that country and that they were not truly isolated as they were let people believe, but he didn’t know the exact situation of Wakanda.
They paraded around as if they were a poor country, but the suit that T’Challa wore was raising many eyebrows.
Just as Jim thought that it could not get any worse for T’Challa they found out that Barnes was innocent of the Vienna bombing.
The video was found to be doctored, and the person was seen to be wearing a prosthetic with Barnes’s face. Some of his neighbours had seen Barnes in Romania during the bombing.
So, it turns out that T’Challa had fucked up bad. Jim is only glad that Rogers and co were not there.
The case had become all the more complicated now. No one had any idea who this person could be. He had worn the prosthetic until the next street and had blended in the crowd after that. There was no trace of this guy.
Jim has been scheduled to fly back the next day. He had nothing else to do here. The Winter Soldier was dead, and other European Superheroes could provide help if T’Challa tries to escape. He was in his hotel room when he was called as they got a lead.
The doctor called to examine Barnes was supposedly the culprit, and the real physiatrist was murdered in his hotel room. The imposter was missing.
They were able to track that guy and turns out he was Baron Helmut Zemo, a commander of EKO Scorpion, an elite Sokovian Paramilitarily tactical unit. His family had died in the Ultron attack. So, all this was an elaborate plan for revenge against the Avengers.
His picture was being telecasted in the news and alerts were sent out when Pepper messaged him to check out CNN news.
***
Zemo had spent eight months collecting the dirt on the Avengers. He may have bombed the UN to attract the attention of Rogers and Stark, but that was not his only plan.
He had wanted to see the Avengers killing each other up close, but he will satisfy himself with revealing their true colours and making sure that they have nowhere to hide.
Zemo started recording and wanted to give the world a message.
My name is Baron Helmut Zemo and today I want to share the true colours of the Avengers with the rest of the world.
Avengers, the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’. Known for defending and protecting humanity form the aliens and unimaginable foes.
8 months ago, during their fight with the being known as Ultron and the Witch, I lost my family. My father, my wife and my son were killed in the battle against Ultron and their bodies were found two days later.
I asked my father and my wife to hide outside Sokovia in a safe house and my son he even said that he could see Iron Man through the window. They were supposed to be safe, but in the Avengers fight, they died and were written off as collateral damage.
Their bodies were found two days later. My father trying to shield my son and my wife. And the Avengers nowhere to be found. Avengers whose self-proclaimed duty is to protect the humanity could not protect my family and many others who died that day.
The Avengers are still lauded as heroes despite killing millions of people. The Avengers not only don’t deserve our faith and respect but are the most despicable people parading around as Heroes.
Today I want to shed light upon their true nature and make sure that the Avengers have nowhere to hide.
My only goal is to make people see the reality behind these so-called heroes.
Thank You and Enjoy.
Breaking News
A video was uploaded by a Sokovian called Baron Helmut Zemo, who is now identified as a commander of EKO Scorpion, an elite Sokovian Paramilitarily tactical unit and the man behind UN bombing.
In this video, the person, Zemo confesses to bombing the UN accords meet and the framing of the Winter Soldier. He also confesses to the killing of Dr Theo Broussard, whose body had been found by hotel staff in Berlin.
The video was verified by our experts for its authenticity, and they have confirmed it to be true. The following video contains things that will be distressing to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.
Zemo also provided some files and videos about the Avengers, which has yet to be confirmed.
The data was accessible to people around the globe, and Twitter and other social media sites had a field day with it.