"This is getting troublesome. We don't know the trigger words, so how are we supposed to undo the brainwashing?"
Rhodey sighed. They had finally gotten a lead, only for it to hit another dead end.
"What mission did Zemo give you?"
Natasha asked. Even if the Winter Soldier had been brainwashed, the mission itself would remain intact in his memory.
Fake Bucky pursed his lips.
At first, he didn't want to say anything, but then he remembered the secret tied to the 1991 mission.
Now was the perfect time to reveal it.
"My mission was to divide the Avengers. To make Captain America and Iron Man completely turn against each other—even force them to kill one another—and destroy the team from within."
He did not hide anything. That truly had been Zemo's assignment.
"And?"
Natasha knew missions were never that simple. A single Bucky Barnes wasn't enough to make Steve and Tony completely fall apart.
"There's more… I was supposed to tell you something. A piece of information that must reach Tony Stark. Only once he learns it will he truly break with Captain America and go to war with him."
The moment those words left his mouth, Karl's brows furrowed sharply.
He already knew what the "information" was.
The truth behind Tony's parents' deaths.
"What information?"
Now everyone was curious. They all wanted to know what could possibly drive Tony and Steve to become enemies.
Karl hesitated.
He truly wondered whether Tony should hear this at all.
The reason he had killed the real Bucky in the first place was precisely to keep Tony from learning the truth.
…Forget it. If Tony finds out, then he finds out. The real Bucky is already dead anyway. Tony isn't going to fight Steve to the death over a dead man.
That was Karl's conclusion.
If the real Bucky were standing here, Steve would never sit by and let Tony kill him.
But this was a fake.
If Tony killed him, then so be it.
Call it venting his anger.
"It was a mission in 1991. Bucky Barnes, acting as the Winter Soldier, was ordered to retrieve something… and kill the people transporting it."
Fake Bucky spoke clearly.
Those memories had been implanted into him, so he remembered them perfectly.
"1991?!"
Tony froze.
Then a certain thought immediately surfaced in his mind.
"What is it, Tony? What happened in 1991?"
Natasha asked as everyone turned to look at him—except Karl.
"My parents died that year."
Tony stared fixedly at Fake Bucky.
His suspicions grew stronger and stronger.
The only thing capable of making him and Steve completely break apart had to be something deeply personal to him.
And nothing was more important than his parents.
"Was that mission related to them?"
"…Yes."
Fake Bucky nodded.
"Bucky's mission was to kill Howard and Maria Stark… and take the Super Soldier Serum from their car."
"H-How could this…"
Steve went completely blank.
Howard Stark had once been his comrade, one of the key figures of the Strategic Scientific Reserve.
Steve's shield had been created by Howard himself.
Howard, Peggy, and Steve had been the closest of friends.
And now he was learning that Bucky had been the one who murdered him.
"That really would've torn Tony and Steve apart. Zemo's plan was vicious."
Rhodey couldn't help sighing.
As Tony's oldest friend, he knew better than anyone how obsessed Tony had always been with his parents' deaths.
Tony acted like he didn't care, but secretly he had investigated the incident countless times.
"Once Tony learned the truth, he would definitely try to kill Bucky to avenge his parents," Natasha analyzed calmly. "And Steve would do everything in his power to protect Bucky."
"For Steve, Bucky is too important. He already watched him fall to his death once. Now that Bucky's back, there's no way he'd let anything happen to him again."
"But for Tony, someone who murdered his parents is an unforgivable enemy. He would never let Bucky live."
"And that creates the conflict."
"Tony would attack Steve if Steve protected Bucky. Steve would fight Tony to save Bucky."
"In the end, both sides would destroy each other."
Tony said nothing.
He simply stood up and walked out of the conference room.
Natasha instinctively tried to stop him, but Karl raised a hand.
"Gwen, call Pepper. Tell her everything and have her come here."
"Right now, she's the only one who can pull Tony out of this."
Just like Superman needed Lois Lane, Pepper was Tony's Lois Lane.
Gwen nodded and immediately called Pepper.
The moment Pepper learned the truth, she boarded her private jet and rushed over.
Fake Bucky watched Tony leave and immediately realized the plan had failed.
Everything depended on nobody discovering he was an impostor.
Originally, Zemo believed Tony Stark would direct all his hatred toward Steve Rogers.
But things had turned out completely differently.
"Where's Zemo?"
Nick Fury finally spoke.
At this point, Fake Bucky had already revealed nearly everything.
All that remained was the whereabouts of the mastermind himself.
"I don't know."
Fake Bucky shook his head.
He was only the one carrying out orders—a disposable tool.
Who reports their movements to a tool?
"Think carefully. Did he ever mention any location? Anything at all."
Fury pressed further.
He knew this Fake Bucky probably had nothing useful left to give, but he still refused to give up.
Fake Bucky simply shook his head silently.
"Send him to the Raft."
Fury turned to Natasha.
She nodded.
The Raft was a prison built specifically for super-criminals—packed with advanced technology and hidden deep within the Pacific Ocean.
Even if someone escaped their cell, they'd still have to survive the crushing ocean pressure and cross an endless sea.
"So what now? We still have no clue where Zemo is."
Everyone looked toward Fury.
Now it was his turn to deliver results.
"We wait for news. It won't take long."
Fury maintained his usual mysterious demeanor, as though everything remained under his control.
Everyone eventually dispersed to rest.
Karl and the others didn't return to the Devil May Cry Office either. Instead, they stayed at the base.
At this point, the highest-ranking person in the facility besides Tony was Sharon.
Tony was emotionally wrecked, and Sharon worked for Fury.
Which basically meant Fury had just freeloaded himself an ultra-advanced Avengers base.
In the end, he was the one profiting the most from all this.
An hour later, Pepper arrived at the facility in a hurry.
After asking where Tony was, she immediately entered his room.
It wasn't until the next day that the two finally came out.
Tony wore massive dark circles under his eyes—clearly he hadn't slept all night.
His mood was still terrible, though better than before.
Now Tony felt a crushing frustration.
He finally knew who had murdered his parents…
…but the real culprit was already dead.
That feeling alone nearly drove him insane.
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