culprit

Vasily Karpov

Vasily wasn't a stupid man. One didn't rise through the ranks of the Russian Military and HYDRA without being somewhat intelligent. Even now, living in Cleveland, he still maintained a level of vigilance, knowing that he had to be careful.

He never left his house for anything but shopping for the absolute essentials. He avoided any social media. No friends, no guests. Not even a TV in the living room. He disappeared in that small neighborhood in Cleveland. And because he was smart and careful, no one ever found him. Even when HYDRA fell, he found himself feeling slightly smug when he managed to avoid the fallout.

It was that same intelligence that was leading him to believe someone was watching him. More than that. Someone was intruding on his life.

First, his landlord had apparently hit a windfall, because he suddenly left for the Bahamas, bragging about selling his business for a massive amount of money. Vasily had been a bit worried about that since he didn't want to suddenly get evicted or something. But nothing happened.

Then, someone had done some work on the cable and power of the building. He'd done a sweep of his house for bugs or cameras out of habit. But even when he found nothing, he knew someone was watching him.

But nothing happened. He lived his life normally, no one attacked. But the tension continued to rise… with nothing. Nothing for a long time.

Eventually, he began to relax. He'd been wrong. No one was coming for him and he was safe.

He continued his life as normal. He only left home to shop, stayed away from contacting anyone, and managed to at last relax.

He came into his house after grabbing some milk, bread, and meat from the story on May the fifteenth, feeling at last relaxed. He entered his kitchen, placed the food away, then entered his living room.

Tony Stark was sitting on his couch.

The former HYDRA commander stared at him. Tony Stark was leaned back with his arms out and one leg crossed over the other, looking for all the world like a king on his throne. He had a neutral expression on his face that was very different from the smug look he often had on camera. It reminded the commander of a judge to pronounce a sentence.

Vasily's eyes looked over at the stack of newspapers near the door where he had left his gun. Nothing. Stark whistled, drawing his attention.

Stark reached into his suit jacket and pulled out Vasily's missing pistol, resting it on the table. "You know, if you're gonna have a gun ready for intruders. Maybe not leave it out in the open," before Vasily could move, Stark reached into his jacket again. One, two, three times. Three pistols of various makes and models soon rested beside the first. "These ones were better hidden though, so kudos there."

Vasily raised a hand. Behind Tony Stark, something stepped forward from the shadows as though unfolding. An android of some sort. Wearing a simple butler suit.

The appearance of such an outlandish thing kept Vasily still long enough for the butler robot to walk around the couch and hand Stark a glass of something green. "Thanks, Jarvis," Stark said, as though a robot in a butler suit handing him a drink was a part of everyday life. It may have been.

"Now, Vasily Karpov," Stark sipped his drink before looking Vasily in the eyes. "You killed my parents."

Vasily didn't deny it. The robot's eyes glowed an eerie blue. Vasily tried to figure a way out. Maybe he could crash through the window, land in his front yard. Disappear in the streets-

"Stop," Stark swirled his drink while still eyeing Vasily. "You aren't going to escape. I have suits surrounding the house, BRIDGE officers on standby, and Jarvis ready to blow your legs off. So stop."

Vasily stilled.

"Oh good! You're not running. Then let me break this down for you," Stark uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, placing his drink on the table. "I knew who you were for weeks. A good friend of mine told me about you before we attacked the Triskelion."

For that long!?

"W-Why-?"

"Did I leave you till now?" Stark asked. Stark chuckled. "Because you aren't important."

He couldn't have said anything more shocking if he'd tried.

Stark smirked, though the expression was somehow vicious. "I admit, having the chance to be able to take your skin off you and add it to my next armor is giving me all sorts of tingles. But you're… well, pathetic. Didn't really need to come in guns blazing… You killed my mom. My dad."

"It was not personal," Vasily said.

"Bullshit," Stark said harshly, finally losing his composure. "It's all personal to someone. So don't try and pull that with me."

Vasily shook his head. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because you're done," Stark chugged his drink. "I have the evidence of your work before you left HYDRA, including the shady crap while you were pretending to be a loyal Russian soldier. I also have a formerly amnesiac super-soldier who is very pissed off and willing to testify. And then there's that box in your wall that I found."

Vasily stared at Stark, feeling the world fall out from under him. He felt like throwing up. It was over. After years of dedicated loneliness, of living in near poverty for the express purpose of avoiding being caught-

"I know, right?" Stark was grinning cruelly. "You've been living in the crapper for all this time. And your ass is still going to jail! How great is that? I even have my friend Mikhail ready to take you to Russia."

Vasily felt the sweat drip down his brow.

"Oh yeah, Russian prison. Sounds fun," Stark said with a grin.

Too much. Vasily was ready to die for HYDRA. And that was better than being a Russian traitor in a military prison.

Vasily leaped for the pistols on the table in front of Stark, trying to be as far away from Jarvis as he could. This brought him closer to Stark, but that was no problem. Stark had no armor and thus was not a threat. He could grab the pistol, kill Stark, then let the robot kill him, keeping from having to endure the horrors of prison!

"Hail, HYDR-!" Vasily began to cry.

Stark stood from his seat in a smooth and fast move. Vasily's hand came nowhere near the pistol before knuckles hit him in the jaw. An explosion of pain blinded Vasily as he flew back. Experience told him the blow had landed at just the right point and with enough force to dislocate his jaw. He hit the wall behind him and tried to rush Stark again with a straight cross.

Stark swayed back to avoid the blow, then uppercut Vasily in the armpit in a cheap boxing move, following with another punch to the jaw that Vasily felt shatter a tooth. Only his discipline kept him from screeching instinctively at the splintering pain.

Vasily, desperate and in pain, tried to reach out for the pistol again. Stark scoffed. "Pathetic."

Metal entered his hand. Vasily raised the pistol in a shaking grip. Hope filled him when he realized that nothing was stopping him. Stark didn't move an inch when Vasily pointed at the billionaire's chest and pulled the trigger.

'Click!'

The hope in his breast was crushed to ash. Vasily stared at the son of Howard and Maria Stark with despair in his eyes.

"That is just wonderful to see," Stark smirked. "Mikhail, he's all yours."

The roof split open in a shower of wood shattering into splinters. Hundreds of pounds of fur landed in front of Vasily. The HYDRA operative looked up into dozens of white flashing teeth within the mouth of some combination of grizzly bear and man.

"Vasily," the massive bear growled. "The Russian government wishes to speak with you."

Vasily shook his head. "Just take me in already, please!"

Stark smirked. "Ah, submission. A second favorite of futile resistance," he raised a pair of handcuffs. "Get ready for the gulag buddy."

"We don't have those anymore," Mikhail growled.

Stark placed the handcuffs on Vasily, raising him up. "That's disappointing."

"Do not worry. We will simply be creative."

Vasily whimpered quietly to himself. He was beginning to regret having the Stark's assassinated. He had a feeling he'd regret a lot more very soon.