Winter Soldier 2

"Battle Sage must be right, Steve. The Bucky you told me about was someone good and trustworthy, not the Winter Soldier who was a cold-blooded assassin," said Sam.

"It's all my fault. If I hadn't let him fall that time, he wouldn't have had to go through these things," said Steve.

"It's best to forget what can't be changed. Fortunately for you, I saved him and Hydra can no longer erase his memory. If you leave him here, he'll soon recover and remember everything," said Jack.

"Leave him here? In this prison? No, I want to take my friend with me. I'll make sure he recovers his memory," said Steve.

"Steve, you must be mistaking me for the soldiers you give orders to. I'm the one who arrested him. I did you a favor bringing you here to see him. Bucky is uncontrollable and he's still the Winter Soldier. Until he recovers his memory, he'll stay in prison," said Jack.

The atmosphere became tense and Jack and Steve faced each other without fear, but Steve knew that Jack was right and he couldn't demand that he release a criminal when he wanted to just because they were friends in the past.

"If you want, you can stay here to keep him company and help him recover his memory. There's food and water for him, his healing factor is very good, and he's recovered from most of the injuries he's had. He'll be fine in a few days," said Jack.

"Steve, Battle Sage is right. Currently, Bucky still has no memory and is under brainwashing. It's not safe to leave him loose until he recovers his memories," said Sam.

The truth was that Sam would help Steve do whatever he wanted, but it was impossible for the two of them to defeat Jack in a fight, and Jack was the owner of the prison and could find a way to lock them all up if they tried to attack him.

Steve couldn't do anything but agree. At least Bucky was locked up this time and wouldn't cause any more problems for them as he did in the movies where he almost unraveled the Avengers. Jack would wait for Bucky to almost recover his memory before using the reality and mind stones to remove his brainwashing.

But before that happened, Jack intended to tell Tony everything he knew. After all, this time Tony didn't reveal that he was Iron Man, and it wouldn't make sense for there to be a fight between him and Steve or him and the Winter Soldier. So Jack planned to tell the truth beforehand and explain that Bucky had been brainwashed by Hydra.

Tony certainly wouldn't forgive Bucky easily, but at least he wouldn't fight with Steve since they weren't as close friends this time.

And that's what Jack did. He called Tony and said he had to talk to him in person. Tony agreed and asked him to meet him at his house in Malibu since Pepper would be at the company.

"Tony, it's been a while since I've been to your house. How are things at the company?" asked Jack.

"Things are going great at the company, as you know. I took a break from making new armor for a while and had nothing to do, so Pepper had me develop improvements for the electric cars and planes we sell. It was a success," said Tony.

"Yeah, I heard about that. If it weren't for the fact that I don't drive much, I'd buy one of your company's cars. The idea of creating a smaller-sized arc reactor device to make it impossible for other scientists to study and keep the car running for days was genius," said Jack.

"I've been thinking about that ever since you told me that my father was thinking about creating clean energy for this world. I can't compete with the power companies, and the government won't allow it. And I can't just give them a giant arc reactor," said Tony.

"So I thought that if I created electric cars and planes with this technology, I would help the world become cleaner without all the pollution that cars cause and make my company richer," said Tony.

"Pepper must be happy about this too, I heard that their image as a weapons company is being replaced by a technology and automobile/aerospace company," said Jack.

"Yes, Pepper is happy. The advice you gave me about taking a break from creating armor worked, Pepper is happier, and I am busy designing cars and planes," said Tony.

"Now all that's left is getting married to make her even happier. I told you to do it soon, you're not getting any younger, and it's not like you don't already know she's the right woman for you, especially since you've been with so many," said Jack.

"You keep saying that, did Pepper send you here to talk about this? And did you hear that you ended things with your new girlfriend?" asked Tony.

"That wasn't cool, Tony. You know I liked Anna, yes, we ended things. She said she didn't like me, I don't know if that's a good or bad thing," said Jack.

"Believe me, it's a good thing. I've had many breakups much worse than that, even though I was usually the one ending things," said Tony, laughing.

"Okay, Tony, sometimes I forget how much of an idiot you can be when it comes to women. I came here to talk to you about something else today," said Jack.

"Finally, you're getting to the main topic. It must be serious if you've been stalling for so long," said Tony.

"It is serious, Tony, the most serious thing I've talked to you about since the possibility of your death. It's just hard to start talking about it, so I'll begin with a short story about Captain America," said Jack.

"Why a story about Steve? What does a story about me have to do with him?" asked Tony, curious.

"Listen to the story and you'll understand. Before Steve became Captain America, he had a best friend. His best friend's name was James Buchanan Barnes, and his nickname was Bucky. Unlike Steve, who was skinny and weak, Bucky was more like a soldier," said Jack.

"Just like Steve, Bucky always wanted to be a soldier. Since he had the body of a soldier, he was easily approved while Steve tried over 20 times and failed every time," said Jack.