"That's how it starts. The fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness that turns good men... cruel."

Alfred Pennyworth in "Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice"

             "It wasn't him!" Steve's voice rang through the commotion; in the building behind them the crashing had slowed down, the rubble had settled for now. It was Steve without his shield facing Tony Stark, with multiple mechanical problems to his suit. But it was still not a fair fight, and it was a fight that should never have been fought. But this fight was beyond Zemo now, it was beyond all previous prejudice. It was about Tony Stark being unable to see the truth that was right in front of him, unable to process the events, just as he was unable to process the guilt he gained when the news of his parents found dead in a car accident was brought to his attention. He had never dealt with it, and now it was his guilt too that was feeding this fight.

           And Ophelia had made that stronger.

          "I don't care," Tony said with something so defeated to his tone. "He killed my mom."

           Bucky watched for only a few more seconds as Tony began fighting Steve once more, and he could no longer stand there and watch. With Steve's shield in his strong hands, he jumped down from the upper level that they were on, and bashed the shield down against Tony. With all the weight and force from the jump, he brought Tony down, and the unequal fight began. Steve and Bucky worked flawlessly as a team, as if they had been waiting their whole lives to do this. Perhaps they had, but neither of them would have assumed it would be against Tony Stark. This was a fight that they would remember for the rest of their lives, even if they didn't want to remember it at all.

             If they survived. 

             Passing the shield back and forth, they were able to bring Tony down to his knees. Every time Tony tried to shoot a blast at them, it was powered half way up and one of them would knock his hand away, or hit him with the shield. 

             Ophelia was still up on the concrete; she could feel the uncomfortable thoughts running through her mind. There was a part of the Huntress still inside of her that wanted to stop Tony, for good. She knew getting close to the fight would not benefit her, and she would only get in the way. She was unsure of what she might do to Tony Stark. In truth, she was unsure of that spiteful part of her was leftover from what Zemo had done to her, or if it was an honest hatred inside of her towards Tony. Over the course of the last few days, she couldn't say she was entirely fond of him.

             But she needed this fight to stop, and to play her part she had to utilize her powers for good. Instead of bringing back pain from old memories, she could bring back so much more. Powerful memories were often the worst ones, but some of the best ones were just as powerful, if not more. Ophelia found that accessing Tony's mind was harder now, because she was distracted by watching these three men fight with such force. The look on Bucky's face suggested he hated Tony, but Ophelia knew that Bucky was not a man filled with hatred. After everything he had done in the past, hate was not something he could allow to consume him. But there it was, plain as day upon his face as they fought each other.

             Getting into Tony's head, Ophelia fought the urge to access memories that would break him. Instead, she sought out the ones that would remind him of the humanity in this world. Preferably memories of him with Steve, so that he could see the man he was fighting, see that they were friends, and to step up into the role of the bigger man in order to stop it. Though she did not expect Tony to step up and be that bigger person, she had to try. Scrounging for his best memories, she found ones of Pepper, but decided against those given that their recent split was still too fresh and an open wound for Tony. Going back to further memories, she found one among the chaos and disaster of Sokovia, when Ultron was wreaking havoc not only on the city, but on the world itself.

            Their teamwork to bring down Ultron was cohesive, it showed a great deal of strength on everyone's part. Everyone worked together to protect civilians and get them away from the fight; the most important memory that Ophelia was able to access was the fact all of them were willing to give their lives for not only the people of Sokovia, but for each other. They would remain on the city as it fell to the Earth if they couldn't get everyone off of it; they would fight back to back to ward off Ultron's army and stop him from releasing the city from the only thing that held it in the air.

          Ophelia brought back memories of Wanda stepping up and flipping sides because she knew that she had made a mistake, and she hoped that Tony would see his mistake here too. Perhaps he had not been wrong in regards to the accords, Ophelia knew little about it and did not have much of an opinion. But he was wrong in trying to kill Bucky, he was wrong in fighting Steve. But in his head, he showed no sign of letting up. The rage the consumed him was too much, and not even Ophelia could get through with even the best of memories.

            She watched helplessly as she disconnected from Tony's head. Bucky had pinned Tony against the wall, and was releasing his strength and rage upon him. She shook her head knowing that it was wrong; she didn't want to see Bucky do this. He yelled as he punched, again and again; Tony had nothing. Bucky's metal hand caught hold of the power source of Tony's suit, and he gripped onto it, trying to rip it from the suit so that Tony would then be useless. Neither Steve nor Bucky wanted this fight to end in the death of anyone, but enough damage had already been done. Friendships were strained, torn apart, left in pieces. There was no way anyone was getting out of this without feeling as though they had lost, without breaking.

           She began to climb down the small rungs attached to the concrete wall, not to join the fight but to be closer. She was only halfway down it when she glanced over her shoulder and saw it happen right before her eyes. A feeling of powerlessness filled her and her hands went numb. 

        While Bucky had been pulling on the power source, he had not considered the blast that would come out of it; it hit him with such force that it sent him flying back and landing hard on the snow-dusted concrete. But he had not just been pushed away, his arm had been ripped off in the process, the metal appendage taking the bulk of the blast and being obliterated from his body. Tony sent one more blast and it hit Bucky in the ribs, the man she loved went limp in the snow and there was nothing she could have done to stop it, nothing she could do to fix it. The man she loved was lying broken, possibly dead in the snow, and she had only been able to stand there and watch it happen.

           Despite wanting to kill Tony, she had to see if Bucky was alive. Steve turned his attention back onto Tony, his anger fueled by the same thing he had just witnessed. While Steve battled hard against Tony, Ophelia jumped down the rest of the ladder and landed in the snow. Her boots skidded slightly as she scrambled towards Bucky. Her heart beat in her chest at an alarming rate, her stomach twisted and she felt as though there was no air in her lungs. As much as she hated to admit it, Bucky was her lifeline. A life without him would not be a life worth living; he had given her so much in the time that they had known each. They had kept each other alive for so many years, so many battles, the found each other despite what HYDRA had done to them, and they had found a sense of humanity within each other.

           "Please, Bucky," she begged as she fell to her hands and knees beside him, crawling over his body to feel for a pulse. "Please, please..."

           She pulled hard against his arm to flip him over, the dead weight terrifying her. Managing to get him onto his back, she placed her fingers upon his neck to feel for his pulse. In her panic, there was too much running through her to focus, and she couldn't feel that faint pulse. She threw herself over him and gripped either side of his head, pressing her forehead to his. Tears fell from her eyes as she held onto him, the pleading beginning again. "Please..."

          She created a mental bridge with him, knowing that she could only do that with the living. When she entered his mind, she found he was there, he was still alive. Everything within Ophelia relaxed for a split second, but Bucky could no longer defend himself. A dark part of her bubbled to the surface, and she released Bucky's head carefully. Glaring over at Tony, who had his back against the wall again, she knew what she had to do.