Outside Sokovia's snowy forest.
The military arrived sooner than Yang Ming had expected.
More than a dozen armored vehicles stopped on the mountain road, their roof-mounted machine guns all raised. Six helicopter gunships hovered overhead, their searchlights trained on the people in the snow.
Tony held Wanda in his arms.
Steve carried Pietro on his back.
Yang Ming stood in front of them, still holding the Mind Scepter.
Strucker lay in the snow, his legs already unable to move. Two Hydra soldiers lay bound beside him, tied up by Frank with cloth stuffed into their mouths.
Frank was not there.
He had gone after the vehicles that had fled through the Southern Escape Tunnel.
"Drop your weapons!"
In front of the armored vehicles, a man in a military overcoat held a megaphone.
He was no longer young, and his epaulets bore three stars.
"I am General Alexei of the Sokovia National Defense Force. You illegally entered our airspace, destroyed military facilities, caused massive explosions, and killed our soldiers."
Tony glanced down at Wanda in his arms.
"She's still alive."
"I said you killed our soldiers."
"Your soldiers were standing inside a Hydra Base, pointing guns at two minors," Tony said. "Are you sure you want to pin this on us?"
The general ignored him.
"Hand over the Scepter, Strucker, and those two test subjects. You will submit to an investigation by the Sokovian military."
Steve set Pietro on the ground and raised his shield in front of him and Wanda.
"They aren't test subjects. They're wounded."
"They belong to a scientific research project within our borders."
"A scientific research project?" Tony looked at him. "Locking children in glass pods, sticking things into their brains, training them to kill-that counts as scientific research?"
The general raised his hand.
The safeties on