Possibility of Tomorrow - 31

 

Cont...

"She's gone now, Darling." Tony picked some feathers out of his hair as he tried not to laugh. Darling's room was a mess, and she was fake sleeping under a layer of feathers. Cho was furious, and Tony was pretty sure his ears were still ringing from her lecture. 

Darling sat up now that it was just them and began trying to shake the feathers out of her blankets with just her feet, "Well, that was fun." 

"Understatement." Bucky grabbed her blanket and shook it out for her. 

"Of all the things I expected to happen, that was not it," Tony said, pulling the last of the feathers out from his curls. 

"Why were you up here at this hour anyway?" Darling asked, shaking the feathers out of her pillow. 

"I was here to see you, actually." Tony turned to Bucky. 

Bucky raised an eyebrow as he gave Darling her blanket, "Really?"

 "Yeah, I finally figured out why that guy you blew up seemed familiar." Tony pulls his phone out of his pocket. 

Darling's mood plummeted at the mention of her former mentor, "What about it?" 

"I found an interesting connection to someone we all know." Tony opened a projection on the wall of the room. It wasn't her old mentor. It was Secretary Ross. 

"Before Ross was a big shot, he and his brother joined the Army." "They made it through Basic, but before they shipped out, his brother, Randle, got into a car accident. By the time they found the wreckage, well, there wasn't a lot to find." Tony pulled up some old photographs of a charred mound with no visible indication that it was once a car. "They couldn't even pull dental on what looked like the corpse." Ross's picture regressed to a young man, and his military paperwork forms popped up next to him. 

"Okay, so he has a dead brother. What does that mean?" Bucky asked, looking at Tony expectingly. 

"Here's Ross about that time." Tony pulled up a high school photo of a much younger Secretary Ross, "And here's Randle." A picture of a man with the same features as Ross popped up. "Now, put these forward fifty years and," Tony aged the photos forward. 

Darling gasp, "It's him!" 

"Bingo." Tony turned to them, "The man you blew up, the guy who's been running illegal middle man deals with everything from Hydra to Killmonger. I think he's Randle Ross, back from the dead." 

"But why? And how would he be able to maintain that for this many years?" Darling asked, "He'd need money to pull that off. Money high school students fresh out and straight into Basic don't have." 

"That's just it. While Randle was off base, a cache of weapons was stolen from the armory at that same time. They were never recovered." Tony explained, closing the hologram, "At that time, it would have made enough money for someone to disappear." 

"But if Randle wasn't on base, then someone else had to have done it." Darling pointed out.

 "Did Ross happen to be on Base at that time?" Bucky asked, connecting the dots. 

"He was. He alibied out as on the base the whole time. But they only questioned him for his brother's crash." Tony nodded. 

"Okay, so allegedly, the Ross brothers stole a cache of weapons, faked Randle's death, and then sold the weapons to make Randle disappear. What was the endgame? Why were they so desperate to make Randle disappear?" Bucky asked, frowning at the story. 

"I'm not sure, but soon after, a criminal player came on the scene called the Undertaker as a fixer, middle man, and occasional information distributor. The story was that he knew where and when raids and stings would happen before they did. This talent made him very popular, ticketing him to business with Hydra and other affiliates. He's the one you blew up." Tony brought up the new file of the Undertaker's laundry list of sins. 

"So Randle disappears, and the Undertaker pops up. But why?" Darling frowned. 

"What if they were in league? The brothers, they help each other from each side of the spectrum. Randle gives Ross criminals to take down, which helps him climb ranks, while Ross gives Randle a heads up before stings happen. That way, they both profit." Bucky gestured as though physically connecting the two men.

 "Normally, that kind of partnership is only seen in couples, but that is a possibility. It would explain Ross's ruthless and quick rise in the ranks. It always seemed like his competition or superiors he wanted to replace would fall to rumors or allegations or worse at the most opportune times for him to sweep in and take over." Tony agreed.

 "How do we prove it, though? We can't take out Ross diplomatically, not fast enough. We need to prove they were in league for permanent action to be taken." Darling pressed. 

"If they were in league, they would have had to communicate regularly. If we can find those communications, we can prove it." 

"That's assuming they didn't use old-world spycraft. Then there'd be no communications to find." Bucky shook his head.

 "Don't be a downer yet. Let's try Darling's way. Hopefully, we get something." Tony started typing on his phone, "I'll let you know if I find anything." He left the two alone in the dim room. 

"Do you think he'll be able to prove it?" Darling asked.

 "He's pulled crazier rabbits out of crazier hats." Bucky shrugged, "Maybe." 

"I just feel like this nightmare never ends. It's just a never-ending loop." Darling sighed.

 "Well, it's close to being over. Once they get the Accords rejected and rewritten and throw Ross out of office, things will change." Bucky sat on the end of Darling's bed.

 "I hope so." Darling nodded. 

"Why don't you get some sleep? You have physical therapy tomorrow and a few more scans to continue working on your skin." Bucky suggested tucking in her blanket at her feet.

 "Don't you mean today?" Darling countered, settling into her bed. 

"Go to bed, you smarty pants." Bucky shook his head, getting up. 

"Night, dad. Thanks for the burger." 

"Welcome, night." 

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