Marvel: The Villain Chapter 375 Authorization

Tony and Steve sat on a bench outside the heavy lab doors, the silence between them thick with anxiety. Bucky’s electroconvulsive therapy had entered its sixth cycle. According to the scientists, this was the threshold; if successful, the Hydra conditioning would be purged, and the real Bucky Barnes would claw his way back to the surface.

Steve had been sitting there for eight grueling hours. Tony, unable to watch his friend wither away in suspense any longer, had walked over with a bag of burgers to keep him company.

Another thirty minutes ticked by. Finally, the warning light above the door flickered from a harsh red to a steady green.

The doors hissed open, and a team of doctors stepped out, peeling off their masks. Steve lunged forward, his eyes wide and pleading.

The lead surgeon managed a tired smile. "Captain, the procedure was a success. Your friend is... himself again."

Relief washed over Steve like a tidal wave. He burst into the lab, desperate to see the man he had lost seventy years ago.

The room smelled of ozone and antiseptic. Bucky sat on the surgical chair, stripped to the waist and drenched in sweat as if he’d been pulled from a river. His shallow, ragged breathing betrayed his utter exhaustion. He lifted his head slowly, locking eyes with Steve.

"Steve?" He rasped.

Steve forced himself to stay grounded. He didn’t let out a joyous shout; instead, he asked with cautious precision, "Which Bucky am I talking to?"

Bucky looked at him, a smile touching his lips. "Your mother’s name was Sarah. You used to put newspapers in your shoes to look taller. You were always getting picked on in Brooklyn, and I was always the one who had to bail you out."

Steve beamed. "Welcome back, Buck."

"Whoa, whoa, hold on," Tony interrupted, stepping into the room. "That’s it? That’s the grand test? You don’t want to ask him anything else? Like, maybe his social security number?"

Steve shook his head. "That’s enough for me."

He turned back to Bucky, his expression darkening with the weight of current events. "Buck... was it you? Did you kill Nick Fury?"

Bucky nodded slowly. "Yeah. Outside your beach house. I took the shot from the ridge in the woods."

Tony leaned in. "There was a hidden camera in the trees. Did Hydra put it there?"

"Yeah," Bucky confirmed. "Standard protocol for high-profile hits. Everything had to be recorded for the mission archives."

Tony caught Steve’s eye and gave a grim, knowing nod. Norman’s connection to Hydra was now an absolute certainty. But the victory felt hollow; they were the only ones who knew the truth, and the word of a mass-murdering Hydra assassin wouldn’t hold up in any court of law.

Suddenly, Jarvis’s voice chimed in. "Sir, there is an incoming encrypted call on a secure frequency."

"An encrypted call? Now?" Tony frowned. "Patch it through and trace the source."

"Certainly, sir."

Tony raised his wrist, and a holographic interface projected from his smart-band. Since the call was masked, the contact icon was a flickering question mark.

"Tony Stark."

"Speaking. Who the hell is this?"

"The name is Norman. I assume you’ve heard of me."

Steve and Tony exchanged a sharp look of disbelief. Neither of them had expected Norman to reach out so boldly. Was he ready to drop the mask?

Tony regained his composure instantly. "Who? Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that. Can you spell it out? I don’t recall any ’Normans’ in my social circle."

"Heh, drop the act, Stark. I know Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes are with you."

"I’m sorry, but you’re talking about two of the most wanted fugitives in the country. Why would they be here?"

"Say whatever helps you sleep at night," Norman’s voice was cool and dangerous. "I’m calling to tell you to hand them over. Do it now, or things are going to get very ugly for you. I don’t have Fury’s ’soft’ touch when it comes to business."

Bucky tensed up, his metal hand clenching. As an elite Hydra operative, he knew exactly who Norman was and the terrifying reach of the Joker Organization. He looked at Steve, then at Tony, wondering if the billionaire would fold under the pressure.

Tony didn’t skip a beat. He scoffed, his voice dripping with contempt. "That sounds a lot like a threat. I’ve recorded this, by the way. Expect a subpoena."

"So, you’re really going to throw your life away for them?"

"I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve got another call coming in. If you don’t have anything interesting to say, I’m hanging up."

"Heh... very well, Stark. You didn’t disappoint me."

Tony blinked. "What?"

"As a friend, you’ve done more than enough. I actually admire that kind of loyalty. In fact, I admire it so much that I’ve prepared a special gift for you."

"A gift? I don’t do cheap knock-offs."

"Don’t worry. This one is priceless. You’re going to love it. Check the news in thirty minutes."

The line went dead.

"Check the news? He didn’t even tell me which channel," Tony muttered, shaking his head. But despite the snark, a knot of unease formed in his stomach.

Norman had confirmed he knew they were together. If he used the full resources of SHIELD to scrub Stark’s holdings, it was only a matter of time before the base was compromised. Tony was a titan of industry, but he couldn’t hold off the entire government forever—especially not with a new President who seemed to have a personal vendetta against him.

"Tony," Steve said quietly. "Just get us to the border. That’s all we need."

Steve knew the stakes. Harboring fugitives was a death sentence for Tony’s reputation and company. It was time to sever the tie.

Tony looked at him, his expression unreadable. Finally, he sighed. "Fine. But don’t rush. It’ll take them days to find this place. We’ll plan a route and get your friend one last check-up."

They fell into a quiet conversation, momentarily forgetting Norman’s gift. It was Jarvis who broke the peace.

"Sir, ABC News has just interrupted their broadcast with a high-priority report."

The two men looked up as a holographic screen flared to life. An anchorwoman spoke with a grave expression. "We have just received a shocking intelligence leak from SHIELD headquarters."

"The following footage was recovered from a roadside surveillance unit. It concerns the Hydra assassin Bucky Barnes and the deaths of the renowned scientists, Howard and Maria Stark."

Tony’s heart stopped.

Bucky’s face went deathly pale.

The screen went black, save for a single white line of text: December 16, 1991.

The footage was grainy, black-and-white, and carried only the faintest ambient sound. It showed a winding country road flanked by dense forest. Tony stared at the screen, a sense of sickening familiarity washing over him.

"I... I know this road," He whispered.

Five seconds of agonizing silence followed. Then, a car streaked into the frame, losing control and slamming violently into a tree. The hood crumpled, and white smoke began to pour from the engine, followed by the first flickers of fire.

A figure on a motorcycle pulled up alongside the wreckage.

The car door groaned open, and a white-haired man crawled out, gasping for air. He lay on the asphalt, reaching out a trembling hand toward the motorcyclist. "Help... please... save my wife..."

The man approached, but he didn’t reach out to help. He grabbed the old man by the hair, dragging him up until his back was slammed against the car.

Howard opened his eyes, recognizing the man standing over him. "Sargent Barnes?" He gasped in horror.

Tony spun around, his eyes wide and wild, staring at Bucky. Bucky couldn’t meet his gaze; he lowered his head in shame.

In the video, Bucky was unmoved by Howard’s pleas. He raised his silver arm and slammed his metal fist into Howard’s face.

Bucky kept swinging until Howard’s face was an unrecognizable mass of gore. Each sickening wet sound of metal hitting bone felt like a sledgehammer to Tony’s heart. He felt like he was suffocating.

After finishing with Howard, Bucky placed the body back in the driver’s seat. He walked to the passenger side, reached through the window, and wrapped his metal hand around Maria Stark’s throat. He squeezed until the struggling stopped.

He then walked to the surveillance camera, drew a pistol, and blew the lens out. But in that final fraction of a second, the camera caught a clear, high-definition shot of his cold, merciless face.

The video ended. The lab was silent, save for the sound of three men breathing in the dark.

Tony turned slowly toward Bucky, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, head bowed, silent as a grave. Tony’s entire world was crumbling into ash. As a young man, he thought his parents died in an accident. When Hydra surfaced, he suspected foul play. But he never, in his wildest nightmares, imagined the killer was the man he had been protecting for the last two weeks.

Steve was reeling too. He knew Bucky had blood on his hands from the Hydra years, but he never imagined the Starks were among the victims. Howard Stark had been Steve’s friend, his benefactor—the man who built the shield he carried.

And more importantly, Bucky had strangled Tony’s mother. Steve knew from their many talks that Tony’s love and respect for his mother far outweighed his complicated feelings for his father.

"Tony..." Steve stepped forward, positioning himself between Tony and Bucky. "That wasn’t him. He was brainwashed. Hydra was pulling the strings."

Tony was hyperventilating, his eyes bloodshot with rage. "I don’t care," He rasped. "He killed my mom."

Without another word, Tony shoved Steve aside. His nano-armor swarmed over his body in a flash of red and gold. Bucky reacted with the instincts of a soldier, rolling off the bed and punching through the lab wall to escape.

As the suit finished forming, Tony prepared to give chase. But Steve stood in his way, his shield raised.

"Move!" Tony commanded, his voice a metallic growl.

"Tony, listen to me! This is exactly what he wants!" Steve shouted. "He’s trying to tear us apart!"

Tony knew it was a trap. He knew it was a manipulation. But some wounds are too deep for logic to heal. "I don’t give a damn! He killed them! I’m an orphan because of him!"

Tony didn’t waste any more breath. A micro-missile streaked from his shoulder. Steve braced behind the shield.

BOOM!

The explosion leveled the lab equipment and blasted Steve through the doorway. By the time he scrambled up, Bucky was gone.

"Jarvis! Tracking!"

In the HUD, a red dot appeared. Bucky had cleared the base and was sprinting into the dense forest. Tony gunned his thrusters, smashing through the glass and taking flight.

He locked onto Bucky’s heat signature and raised his arm to fire.

"ROAR!"

A massive red shape leaped from the ground, catching Tony mid-air and slamming him into the dirt. Steve, in his Hulk form, loomed over him.

Tony’s HUD flashed red warnings of structural damage. He rolled to his feet, the nanites already shifting to repair the suit.

"Step aside! This is your final warning!"

The Red Hulk didn’t move. He shook his massive head. "Tony, he’s my friend!"

Tony’s rage reached a boiling point. "I was too!"

Tony’s voice turned cold as ice. "Jarvis. Activate the Hulkbuster."

High above the base, a massive containment pod detached from a satellite and plummeted toward earth, shedding its heat shield as it neared the forest. It deployed mid-air, a five-meter-tall behemoth of iron and repulsor tech.

"This was for Banner," Tony said, his voice echoing through the woods. "But you’ll do just fine. I’m taking Bucky’s head today, Steve. Not even God is going to stop me."

Tony took off toward Bucky. Steve tried to engage his own nano-suit to follow, but Jarvis’s voice was like a bucket of ice water.

"I am sorry, Captain. Your user authorization has been revoked."

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