2068 Worried About the Tycoon
At the same time, after a simple handover following the battle at the airport, Tony received a message from Knight.
The information was on a Sokovian Intelligence colonel called Helmut Zemo.
He killed a psychiatrist and assumed the dead man’s identity to approach Bucky, who had been detained at the time.
The information also detailed the entire process from the moment he set off to putting on a fake mask of Bucky’s face and planting the explosives outside the United Nations conference hall.
Finally, there were coordinates for a Hydra’s base in the North Pole which had been used to make Winter Soldiers.
Seeing that, Tony immediately took off for the North Pole.
As he flew, he sent a communication request to Knight.
A moment later, the call connected, and Tony said, “You knew. Why didn’t you tell me before?”
Luke said calmly, “Would it have prevented you from fighting?”
Tony opened his mouth, only to find that he had nothing to say.
The conflict among the Avengers this time was rooted in their different ways of thinking. The pressure from the outside world had just been a catalyst.
The same thing didn’t happen to the Bat Squad, because nobody in the team had ever wanted to deal with the government.
Looking at the tycoon’s aggrieved expression, Luke sighed. “If I had to take sides, everyone on my side would be on Steve’s side, so I didn’t appear.”
Tony was even more speechless.
The Sokovia Accords required superheroes to accept government supervision, which was completely contrary to Knight’s basic principles.
As the chief ‘anti-government’ superhero, Knight not helping Steve was already him going easy on Tony as much as possible.
If that happened, Tony would become part of the superhero ‘minority.’
Most of the time, the minority became equivalent to traitors.
The government and the public weren’t the only ones paying attention to the rift in the Avengers.
The PDD, the Justice League, New SHIELD and Afterlife, which had a large number of extraordinary combatants, were the silent majority.
The Dark Knight had already made it clear to these parties not to get involved, and anyone else who wanted to fish in troubled waters wouldn’t get the chance.
The leaders of these various organizations privately reached an agreement with Knight to prevent their people from getting involved.
At the same time, they paid close attention to their own situations.
Those who jumped out even after their leader gave the order might not be bad people, but they would definitely be unstable elements.
Arrangements would definitely have to be made for these people later, whether they were transferred or demoted. In short, they wouldn’t be given a chance to assume a leadership position and cause internal conflict.
Even if Tony lost this time, he would at most be branded as having failed as the leader of the Avengers, and not a ‘sinner’ who caused a divide between the superhumans.
It could be said that in order to help his ‘skills manufacturing machine,’ Luke had already done his best to curb the extent of the conflict.
But he had no idea what the outcome would be. He just hoped that the arrogant tycoon would be able to come out of things on his own.
Looking at Tony’s depressed expression, Luke sighed inwardly. “You should hurry. It’s best to clear the air between you and Steve.”
Tony didn’t hear the implied meaning in Luke’s words. He simply made a sound of acknowledgment and then hung up.
Am I really in the wrong? That was what he thought. Otherwise, why didn’t even Bruce support him?
For a moment, the thought of retirement that he had been suppressing for the past two years resurfaced.
He was now close to 50 years old, had a wife and daughter, and could study all sorts of alien technology when he was free.
The Justice League and New SHIELD were gradually growing stronger, and the Avengers didn’t have to shoulder all the pressure.
It seemed that he really had to calmly talk things out with Steve. If that didn’t work, the Avengers could only learn from the Justice League and go into partial hiding.
With mixed feelings, Tony landed at the entrance of the base.
Looking at the Quinjet parked not far from the doors, he knew that he had found the right place.
Entering the open metal doors of the base, he saw Steve and Bucky moving stealthily up ahead.
Tony tapped lightly on his armor.
Steve and Bucky both turned around and were surprised to see him.
Tony flipped open his mask and slowly walked over. “Knight sent me some information. I know that Barnes was set up by Helmut Zemo.”
Steve and Bucky were relieved.
To be honest, fighting Tony was really troublesome.
It was very hard to break through his defenses, and he couldn’t be killed directly. It couldn’t be any better if they could resolve the misunderstanding.
Tony didn’t pay much attention to Bucky. He didn’t have a good impression of this guy. He simply looked at Steve. “After we catch Zemo, I want to talk to you in private.”
Steve nodded. “Okay.”
After a few simple words, Tony and Steve, these old comrades, fell back into old habits and quickly snuck into the base.
Behind them, Luke looked to the south as a Wakandan fighter plane descended swiftly. He couldn’t help but shake his head before he walked into the base.
T’Challa had also arrived.
The father of this Wakandan prince, T’Chaka, had specially gone to the United Nations to give a speech.
Caught up in the explosion caused by Zemo to frame Bucky, T’Chaka suffered a severe head injury and almost died on the spot.
It was Natasha who knew about Tony’s private dealings with Wakanda, and who had immediately used a small dose of Life 1 to save T’Chaka’s life.
However, the old king suffered some irreversible damage to his brain. It wasn’t to the point of being paralyzed, but he had to retire early.
Naturally, T’Challa didn’t want to let off the criminal who had almost blown up his father, so he chased and fought Bucky, who had been framed, before he joined Tony’s team and fought at the airport in Berlin.
Luke had naturally sent him the truth under Knight’s name.
Leaving Zemo to T’Challa was the right choice.
Natasha had saved the old king of Wakanda this time, and Luke left the would-be murderer to T’Challa in exchange for removing the Mind Stone in Vision’s head.
Wakanda was currently a secluded nation. Without these two favors, it would definitely take a year or two to get the Stone removed.
Luke didn’t want to waste time. It was better to use favors to get things done.
As Luke was thinking this, Tony and the other two had already run into Zemo.
Contrary to their expectations, Zemo had no intention of activating the dormant soldiers at all. Instead, he blew up the dormant soldiers.
He stood behind the observation window and openly revealed why he had framed Bucky.
Zemo’s family had been unlucky.
In the Sokovian incident, his house outside the city center hadn’t collapsed, but toward the end, when Ultron’s robots tried to escape, Zemo’s father, wife, and daughter were caught up in it, and died.
Zemo wasn’t a schemer. He was just someone who had nothing else to live for except revenge.
He had looked for Bucky because Bucky had a secret that could tear the Avengers apart.
Tony’s expression gradually changed as Zemo played a video from 7pm on 16 December 1991.
Looking at the blurry image of a car hitting the side of the road, he felt a sense of familiarity.
When he saw a white-haired old man struggling to get out of the car, Tony suddenly understood — this was a video of his parents dying in a car crash.