#hydra goes: 'great. kill him. take iron man out now'

[the-darklings]

okay but what if V was her assassin self in the Marvel Universe??? i lowkey ship her w/ bucky...👀

So this concept is fascinating because I can actually see it?

Because imagine if V’s life went exactly the same but instead of the mob picking her up because her parents messed up it was Hydra instead? She not quite so useful as a ballerina but she is smart so the whole symbolism of them being Hydra and her being the Vipress works quite nicely here? (the fist & the head??) She transforms and betters herself over the years before she’s challenged with researching and helping with the super-soldier serum. That’s how she runs into Bucky because he’s their most successful weapon and she has to analyse his blood. 

So she’s faced with this empty shell of a man she’s told she can do whatever to in order to get results but she’s gentle. She’s considerate. She asks permission to touch him even if he doesn’t react/respond. She doesn’t hurt him. She takes a bit of blood maybe and lets him to just sit with her. Sometimes she blabbers about how he’s amazing and his abilities to heal and fight are extraordinary. She knows what he is but she’s killed, too. There is no disgust there. No judgment. She knows they’re both tools only alive to be useful to Hydra. Something starts scratching back to life little by little. He finds himself hoping that he can go to her for med checks instead. She asks his name and tells him her own—the real one, not the one Hydra gave her—but he can’t remember. She tells him that one day when he does, she hopes he’ll tell her. He wants to. It’s an odd thing. To want something. She starts mattering. He clings to brief moments of her. She makes things clearer. She smells like earth and plants she works with. Not cold and chemical like others. His eyes follow her when she’s in the room. He stalks her steps, hovering, hoping, clinging to clarity she brings. There are little pieces with her. She jokes with him, calling him a “handsome brood” and it reminds him of a skinny boy from Brooklyn who used to tease him like this, too. He thinks that he misses that boy. He thinks that the boy would like her as well. She has that fire in her—a good heart he could follow to the ends of the earth.

He gets wiped. The boy disappears. So does her voice and laugh and touch and the gleam in her eyes and—

He thinks he can hear her screaming somewhere far away to stop hurting him—a painful symphony of JAMES, JAMES, JAMES—before it fades as well. He tries to cling onto for her. 

He disappears, too. 

Her smile is the last thing to go.   

[randomshyperson]

Wanda Maximoff x Reader - Dating is still only about love

Summary: Based on the prompt received in AO3 "Reader is a lot like Bucky. Bucky saves Reader, and recruits him to the Avengers team. Reader and Wanda begin to develop a relationship, but it is shy and awkward because Reader is from 1940."  ///////////// Read on AO3 too

Words:  3.914k (one) //  

Warnings: 13+ Fluff and a bit of language, mentions of torture.

Notes: I think this turned out to be more about the 1940 reader in love than anything else, but I hope you enjoy it.

Part II (Special Smut request)

////////////

You are dancing to Glenn Miller in a bar in Brooklyn. Your parents would kill you if they saw you now, spinning in the arms of a stranger. But you laugh, and move your body to the music. 

And then you see Bucky and Steve, entering the place, and you let go of your partner and run to hug them.

- Hi, boys! - You greet them with a smile that they respond to.

- Someone is cheerful. - Bucky jokes looking at your slightly alcoholic state. 

You fake a serious expression. 

- Are you implying that your superior is drunk, Sergeant Barnes?

Bucky laughs at your imitation of an authoritative voice, and you turn to Steve, who looks mildly annoyed. 

- Hey, Rogers. Why the long face? - you ask, and he shrugs. You can tell by Bucky's expression. He had been rejected from the army again, and you let out a sigh and decide to cheer him up. - Come on, Steve! Let's dance!

You pull him by the hand before he can refuse. And eventually, he laughs. Bucky joins you next, and the three of you spin around the room, your steps out of sync as you laugh.

/-/

You try to move but there is something holding you to the surface where you are lying. And then you try to scream for help, but there is something in your mouth that prevents you from doing so. 

You widen your eyes with surprise when a man dressed in white appears in your field of vision, and he fits something cold to your head.

You grumble against the tightness in your mouth, but he just gives you a mocking smile.

- Vital signs? - He speaks in German. You close your eyes tightly when a light goes on in front of you.

- Stable. - Says a second voice in the room that you don't know where it comes from.

- Good. You can apply now.

And then you feel your veins burn, and you scream, but your scream is muffled by the object in your mouth. The pain chokes you until you can't see anything anymore.

/-/

Someone is pulling you. You blink to regain consciousness, but it takes a long time. You are tired, but there is a feeling that is in your body that you don't know.

- Hey, Y/N. - You hear someone calling, and then you take a breath trying to remember. - Can you hear me? Can you walk?

- Bucky... - You grumble and accept the arm he offers you to get up. - Where the...?

- We don't have time, we need to get out of here.

And then you are running out of the compound where you were being held prisoner. Bucky is wearing the same clothes as you. And then you see Steve, but he looks nothing like the Steve you knew. This Steve is tall, and muscular, but still has the same gentle look as your friend. But you don't have time to ask.

-/-/ 

You haven't rested for a long time. But that's okay, you want to help your country win the war. You want to help Steve, and you believe in him. And so you and Bucky jump on a train for him.

- Watch out! - You warn your friends, and they just shrug as they smile.

And things go well for about five minutes, and then one of the Hydra soldiers has a gun pointed at Bucky, and the next second you are jumping on the man. 

When Bucky goes to help you, a second man appears. A grenade explodes ripping out half the compartment and you hear a whistle in your ear. You manage to knock out the man who pinned you down, but then someone kicks you in the back out of the train. You grab the metal bar, and when Bucky is thrown out, you hold him fast. 

You see Steve run up to you two, his hand outstretched in the air to reach you. And then the iron breaks and you both fall.

-/-/

You wake up in a jolt, in a cold sweat. And there are chains on your wrists. You let out an angry grunt.

No one tells you who these men who test you are. And every time you scream or try to free yourself, they inject something that makes you lethargic, and vulnerable. And then they electrocute your mind, and you forget any flash of memory that might appear.

As long as you don't remember who you are, you accept every command they give you.

-/-/

You use a pillar of the building next to you to protect yourself from gunfire. You are starting to get annoyed. 

Your mission is to eliminate the Winter Soldier, or divergent soldier, as your leader has begun to call him.

But he is being particularly difficult to eliminate, especially since there is a man with a shield and a woman with a machine gun protecting him. 

And then you use bombs, and disarm them. The men who came with you keep them busy while you run towards your target, and throw him to the ground with a blow to his ribs.

You arm your knife, but he gets up quickly, fending off every attack as skillfully as you do.

And then he hits you in the face, and your mask falls off. You have a gun pointed at his face next, but the completely shocked look on his face makes you hesitate.

- Y/N? 

- I don't... - You find yourself talking, but then there is a second explosion that distracts you, and then the man disarms you.

You strike back, knocking him to the ground. But you run away, and on your way back to the Hydra establishments, you say that you have lost sight of him.

-/-/

You are being punished. Again. You've been failing a lot in your tests, and you've been unstable for weeks. You don't want to obey any of those people, you want to go back to the man on the road who knew you and ask him about your life.

And then there are shocks in your head, but you don't forget. And then they throw you into a cell, saying that the madness from hunger will take away any memory from you.

But then there are loud noises that you think are coming from bombs. And then the man in the road is in front of your cell, and he rips the door off with a metal arm, and reaches out to help you up.

-/-/

It takes time to get your memories back. But it happens. And you cry a lot when you remember everything.

You remember your hometown, your parents, your pet dog. You remember jogging down the street from your house, and playing ball with the kids. You remember punching a boy in the face because he pushed Steve Rogers off a swing. You remember delivering a frog you found on the sidewalk into Bucky Barnes' hand. You remember finding Bucky and Steve kissing in the alley behind your house and remember promising to keep it a secret when they cry. 

You remember entering the US Army before Bucky. You remember the training, and the battles, and most of all the war. And then you feel your heart fill with warmth and longing when you remember the dances. So many parties where you went jazz dancing, most of them with Bucky and Steve.

You lose your breath when you remember Hydra. When you remember the experiments, and the murders. But Bucky holds your hand, and assures you that you are the same girl who danced with your two best friends at the prom even when the most handsome young man in high school asked for a dance, and assures you that you are not what Hydra wanted you to become. You repeat the same words to him, and you hold each other for a while.

-/-/

Bucky wants you to join the Avengers. He has been a member for a few months, and then he rescued you, and he doesn't want you to just hang around like him. He wants to help you, and he wants you to have a home.

When you nod in agreement, he hugs you.

-/-/

- Here is your room. - Said Bucky as he led you down a long hallway in the Avengers compound. He held your bag, even though you said there was no need for it.

You entered the space, and you let out an impressed hiss. It was definitely better than the motels and well, any place you had actually been sleeping in all these years.

- When you're ready, come meet the rest of the team. - He said as he left his suitcase on the bed. He flashes you a smile before leaving.

You look around, still impressed. It would be strange to call this place a home, but you were willing to give it a try. Besides this, your best friends were here. There was nothing to be scared of.

-/-/

You were wrong. 

Everything was perfectly under control, you smiled and waved politely to all the Avengers, and even laughed at Tony Stark's jokes. And then you met Wanda Maximoff, leaving training and arriving late for your introduction to the team and looking absolutely stunning.

- Hi, sorry I'm late everybody. - She said as she entered the room. And then her gaze fell on you, and she gave an embarrassed smile as she held out her hand. - I'm Wanda, I think we're going to be door-mates.

Unable to form a coherent sentence, you just smiled awkwardly, shaking Wanda's hand, and hoping that she didn't think you were a complete idiot. 

And then Bucky and Steve finished introducing you to the team, and everyone went back to their activities.

You let your gaze linger on Wanda, before quickly turning away, blushing. It was amazing how unlucky you were. You had barely arrived, and already you had a crush.

-/-/

Things are going well, you think. You got along with everyone on the team, you did well in practice, and you had a secret crush on Wanda. Maybe the last part wasn't so good, but you are optimistic.

You eventually realized that Wanda was quite anti-social, and didn't talk much with the other team members.

That might have made things difficult, because if she had a close friend, you could ask this friend to speak well of you.

You grumbled to yourself as you cooked your dinner. You were used to preparing your meals, and almost always the other avengers joined you. When the food started to smell, they appeared. 

- Great! Y/N food. - Tony said as soon as he entered the room, and you giggled. You were stirring the sauce when Wanda came into the kitchen. She smiled at you as she walked towards you and you tried to hide your nervousness.

- Wow, this looks tasty. - She said, looking at the contents of the pot. You smiled, handing her the spoon in your hand. She then tasted some of the sauce, and let out a satisfied groan. You tried not to stare so hard at her lips. - This is delicious.

You just nodded with flushed cheeks, and Wanda gave you a curious look before turning toward the table.

You decided that you had better do something soon or she would think you were completely crazy. 

And then that night, after dinner, you called Bucky up to your room.

- You have to help me with something! - you told him as you walked in. You slumped in your chair, tapping your feet on the floor in nervousness, and he sat down across from you.

- What was it? Did something happen? - he asked worriedly.

- I need to ask a girl out!

You look surprised. And then you laugh.

- I thought it was something bad. - He grumbles, leaning back in his chair.

- It's not bad, it's terrible! - You replied, running your hands through your hair. - I have no idea how to ask a girl out! In fact, I never knew how to ask anyone out. The boys did it in '36s.

Bucky laughs at your desperation, and you bury your face in your hands.

- Hey, calm down. - He says, straightening his posture and looking at you tenderly. - I swear dating is still as hard as it was in the 40s. 

- Was that supposed to make me feel better? - You grumble as you take your face out of his hands and look at him. Bucky laughs.

- I was going to say that, regardless of the era, dating is still about liking someone. - He replies. - It's scary, but you can do it. Why don't you try inviting her over as a friend?

You stand thoughtfully for a moment.

- I don't understand. - You say. - How does the date work between friends?

Bucky laughed again.

- It's not a date, Y/N. - he says. - It's just a hangout among friends.

You frown.

- But I like her. 

- Wow, you're difficult. - Bucky scoffs lightly. - People in this century go on unromantic walks together all the time.

- That sounds like a lie. - You retort with a smile, Bucky laughs. - And how will she know that I like her?

- You tell her. 

You let out a nervous laugh.

- Worst possible idea. - You grumble as you throw your back into your chair. - Besides, I haven't seen you date anyone since '35. I think I'll ask someone else for advice. - You mock lightly, and Bucky rolls his eyes humorously.

- I've been busy. - he says. - By the way, have you ever seen what they call dating apps? It's creepy.

You laugh and nod, and Bucky moves to reach for his cell phone. He spends the rest of the day showing you how dating works in this century, and you laugh a lot.

-/-/

You made too much hot chocolate. Maybe it was on purpose.

What is relevant is that you are walking toward Wanda's room, carrying a mug for her. 

Bucky was in the kitchen with you, and when he got some of the drink, he said that the opportunity for you to make conversation with Wanda was right in front of you.

So here you were, trying not to look so anxious as you knocked on the door.

When Wanda opened the door, she was wearing a sweatshirt and looked comfortable and very pretty. You thought you were staring, so you hurried to say:

- H-hi. I brought you some chocolate. - You say and Wanda looks surprised, but smiles.

- That's very sweet, thank you. - She says to you as she accepts the drink. You feel your cheeks heat up as your hands rub together for a brief moment.

And then a noise you knew well can be heard, and you let out a surprised exclamation.

- Wow, you like Sweet American Family? - you asked excitedly when you noticed the old sitcom you used to watch playing on the in-room television. 

Wanda raised her eyebrow slightly in surprise, and then gave you space to enter the room, and your body just followed the cue automatically, too excited about the show, without really thinking that you were walking into Wanda's room.

- Do you know it? - She replies with surprise and you laugh as you approach the television.

- Of course I do! - you reply excitedly. - I used to watch it with my parents.

Wanda takes a sip of her drink while you stare at the television.

- Watch it with me, then.

It takes a second for you to register the invitation, and your heart races, but you nod with a smile, and watch Wanda sit on her own bed, and pat the duvet for you to join her. Trying not to look like a complete mess, you follow her.

You watch in silence for a few minutes, and a joke later you are used to Wanda's presence.

- So how accurate is this show? - She asks with a smile, leaving her mug on the small table. You sigh thoughtfully.

- Well, we didn't used to eat in our rooms. - You comment, watching the scene on television, and Wanda nods looking interested. - But they got the bad food right, and the tight clothes and weird social rules.

Wanda giggles and goes back to watching. And then the episode switches to a romantic scene, two teenagers talking at school.

- Wow, that was scary. - You comment watching the boy try to invite the girl for a walk.

Wanda looks at you curiously, wanting to know more. You smile.

- The kids used to wait for us in between classes. - You tell her. - And they were very obvious about it. Usually the whole school knew that you were going on a date with someone. 

- Have you been on many dates?

You giggle.

- I didn't like the boys at my high school very much. - You confess. - But I liked to dance. And so they called me to dances, and I said yes. And then I was enlisted, and I started hanging out with the soldiers. It was fun.

- Sounds like great. - She comments with a smile. - In a way, it seems like it was easier.

You let out a surprised exclamation, laughing lightly.

- Wanda, no way! - You respond with humor. - It was horrible! Scary! And all the dates were ultra official, and people expected you to be engaged! Bucky told me that nowadays people go out as friends? That is impressive.

Wanda laughs, and leans on the bed crossing her legs and turning completely toward you.

- But people aren't as romantic as they used to be! - she smiles back. You imitate her position, while you ignore the TV show to talk. - No one seems anxious or shy about going out anymore. There are no flowers, or requests to hold your hand. People just text you to get laid.

You feel your cheeks heat up a little, but laugh at the comment. And then you have an idea.

- I would like to invite you to something. - You say, surprising Wanda suddenly. You swallow your nervousness. - A proper evening out, like the one you saw on TV.

-W-what?

- A date, Wanda. - You clarify with a blush. - But it's okay if you don't want to...

- I do. - She interrupts with a shy smile. - I'd love to go for on a date with you.

You smile, looking away. And the credits music for the episode begins to rise.

- When do you want to go? - you ask her, twiddling your fingers nervously.

- As soon as possible, I'm excited. - She says with a smile, and you let out a giggle. Then you get out of bed.

- Okay, then, Miss Maximoff. - you say with a smile. - I need time to organize this, so I'll pick you up here in your room tomorrow at seven?

- Sounds great. - Wanda agrees with a smile. 

You nod slightly before leaving the room. When you are walking down the hallway, you can't stop smiling.

-/-/

Wanda was wearing a simple, blue dress in the same 40s style when you picked her up. You choked in surprise, thinking she looked absolutely stunning. And she blushed and thanked you when you told her so.

Tony lent you one of his classic cars, and you drove to the sounds of old jazz toward the carnival that was set up in town that week. You didn't notice Wanda looking at you as you hummed the song.

The park was very busy, and they had many entertainment options, but you made sure to ask what Wanda wanted to do.

You competed in the bumper cars and laughed every time your cars hit each other. Wanda threw her head back laughing, and everything seemed to go in slow motion with the image.

And then you went on several other attractions, and then she pointed to the Ferris wheel. 

You both let out excited sighs as the cabin began to rise.

- Wow, this is amazing! - She commented excitedly, you agreed as you looked down, seeing the ground getting farther and farther away.

- The Ferris wheels were smaller. - You say, and Wanda lets out a giggle.

- Are you going to tell me you are afraid of heights now?

You laugh lightly and look at Wanda.

- If I had, and I had accepted your invitation, would I look braver? - You retort sheepishly. Wanda bites her lip thoughtfully, but still smiles.

- Why does it matter, are you trying to impress me?

You look away in surprise, and feel your cheeks heat up. Well, Bucky had told you to be honest after all.

- Only if it's working. - You retort with a slight insecurity in your voice. Wanda smiles though.

- Oh, believe me. It's working very well. - She answers finally, and then you two are on the top.

You try not to blush so much at Wanda's affirmation, and you bite back the smile on your lips. And then she asks you about the dances of your day, and you almost forget to be nervous.

And then you walked side by side off the Ferris wheel, and you took her to see the shooting games, and when you hit all the targets, she whispered that being a trained sniper should be considered cheating. You won many tickets, and you carried the big teddy bear you won for Wanda.

You take her to eat cotton candy, and you laugh as you share the flavors. And then you think you have seen all the toys and are walking back to the car, smiling.

Wanda keeps the teddy inside the back seat, but doesn't get into the vehicle. From your position, the distant light of the Ferris wheel partially illuminates the parking lot, and Wanda's green orbs catch your eye.

- Did you enjoy the evening, Wanda? - you ask her as you approach. She is leaning on the car door, and smiles at you tenderly.

- I loved it. - She confesses. - I didn't want to leave.

You chuckle shyly, looking down at your shoes.

- We can do it again. - You say. - I could take you dancing.

Wanda lets out an excited exclamation.

- Please, I'd love to. - She says, smiling. You think your heart will explode with happiness.

You are silent for a moment, and then Wanda straightens her posture, slightly shy.

- I think we missed something on our walk.

- What? - You look at her anxiously, but Wanda smiles tenderly.

- You didn't ask to hold my hand.

You let out a shy little laugh, coming closer. You stop a step away from Wanda, and hold out your hands. Wanda smiles, and raises her hands to yours. You let your hands fall together at the front of your bodies, waving them lightly as you kept they together.

- How did these walks used to end? - Wanda asks softly, you think that the closeness is preventing you from thinking correctly.

- I would lead you to your front door. - You say. - And you would decide if I deserve a kiss on the cheek.

Wanda smiles, blushing. She looks away quickly, and sighs lightly. You were going to ask if everything was okay, but her sentence makes your mind shut down.

- I want to kiss you now. - she confesses. And then she brings your faces together until your foreheads rest against each other. - Is that okay?

- Yes.

And then the distance is broken. Wanda kisses you on the mouth gently, and you sigh at the sensation. You think that maybe you shouldn't kiss like that on a first date, but your tongue asks for passage and Wanda accepts. And then you have her pressed against the car.

It feels good, and it makes your heart race, and it's the best you've felt since 1940.

[just-dreaming-marvel]

Out Of Time ~ 103

MASTERLIST

< previous chapter

Word Count: 3,320ish

Summary: The team goes to Sokovia to fight Ultron.

“I can’t enter your head anymore,” Wanda stated, standing in front of Y/N.

Y/N had placed herself so that she wasn’t seated near anyone on the quinjet. Her head snapped up at Wanda’s sudden appearance.

“It’s like… something wanted me in there just that once and now I’m not allowed anymore,” Wanda continued. “How is that possible?”

“You show what I’m capable of,” Y/N responded, quietly. “I can’t freeze a whole room of super heroes. Get them to do my bidding…”

“Yes, but how? Does it have anything to do with what Thor was saying?”

“Leave her alone,” Tony ordered, coming up in his Iron Man suit, helmet down.

“I’m just trying to—“

“I don’t care what you’re trying to do. Y/N needs a break and time to prepare for what we’re walking into.” Wanda nodded, walking away, and Tony knelt down in front of Y/N. She looked away as he took her hands. “You going to be okay?” He asked quietly. 

“Maybe if everyone would let me be for a second, I would be,” she responded, quietly as well. 

“Can you look at me, honey? Please?”

She closed her eyes. “I don’t want to look at any of you until after this is over… even then, I don’t know if I really want to…”

“Steve’s just upset cause he feels everyone’s been keeping secrets.”

“And you didn’t do anything to stop him.” Y/N looked at him, eyes full of tears. “You didn’t try to understand or stand up for me…. Why?” Tony immediately felt guilty as Y/N’s voice cracked. “I thought— I don’t know why I even thought that a future would be possible…” She shook her head, looking up at the ceiling of the quinjet. “I’ve seen what is to come….”

“Y/N, you can’t be serious—“

“Stark,” Steve called. “We’re here.”

“One second, Cap, we’re kind of—“ But Y/N disappeared though a portal. “Damn it.”

Y/N had needed a second to herself, so she disappeared into the Sokovia woods. Where they had fought HYDRA before retrieving the scepter. She let out a loud, frustrating scream. 

“I don’t want this!” Y/N screamed, falling to her knees. “Take this.” She clenched her eyes shut. “I don’t want to know what I know, have what I have… please, somebody, help me…”

“I have,” the Ancient One’s voice came out of no where. Y/N’s eyes snapped open, she looked around to see that she was standing in the Mirror Dimension. “I will continue to help you.”

“Can you take this away? Give this burden to someone else? It’s tearing me apart—tearing my relationships apart! I can’t do this.”

“Yes, you can. That’s why you’ve been saved. Y/N, you are stronger than you give yourself credit for.”

“That was the cheesiest, most unhelpful thing you’ve ever said.”

The Ancient One chuckled. “Yes, but that doesn’t make it any less true… Y/N.” The woman stepped forward. “You can do this. But for todays battle, you need to put the future aside, focus on the task at hand. Or there will be no future, for anyone.”

~~~

The team had begun an evacuation of the city. Tony and Vision were headed for Ultron, who was waiting in the church. And Bruce went to rescue Natasha.

“Has anyone seen, Y/N?” Steve called through the comms.

“Not since she disappeared,” Tony replied. “FRIDAY, try accessing Y/N’s comms.”

“On it, boss,” the new AI responded. “It seems that she is in the woods, just outside the city.”

“The woods?” Steve and Tony repeated.

“You’ve pushed her too far,” Thor said, with a shake of his head. “You two shouldn’t have—“

“I’m fine, guys,” Y/N interrupted, making her way out of the woods. “Thanks for the concern but can we focus on the task at hand?”

“Are you sure you’re okay, Y/N?” Steve asked.

“Are you asking cause you really care, or out of familial obligation?”

“Y/N—“

“Not now guys,” Clint scolded. “Stop Ultron now, family problems later.”

“Agreed,” Y/N said. “I’m just exiting the woods. Where do you want me?”

“Help with the evacuation,” Steve ordered. “If you could, um… if you could persuade them to leave—“

“You mean use my mind powers to get them to go?”

Steve sighed. “Yes. It would be helpful.”

“Don’t drain yourself too much,” Tony added. 

“Channel the Stone,” the Vision offered. 

Y/N hurried further into the city. Closing her eyes, she focused on the Mind Stone and the people in the buildings surrounding her.

“Leave,” she commanded them, in their thoughts. “Leave and don’t look back.”

She had moved to her third block with the attacks started. Her eyes were closed, so she didn’t notice an Ultron bot coming at her. The bot kicked her back, throwing her tumbling forward. 

“Uh, guys,” Y/N called over the comms, “anyone else getting attacked by mini Ultrons?”

“Keep the fight away from the people!” Steve ordered.

The Ultron bot began blasting at Y/N. Using the portals, she sent the blasts back at it. Successfully hitting it. But then two more showed up. As she fought them, the ground began shaking. Y/N could hear Tony asked FRIDAY what’s going on.

“Sokovia’s going for a ride,” the AI responded.

“Do you see? The beauty of it, the inevitability,” Ultron said, through his bots. “You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, you are my meteor. My swift and terrible sword and the earth will crack with the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal.”

The ground continued to shake as Sokovia was being lifted into the air. Y/N took out the bots near her, trying to help the citizens at the same time.

“The Vibranium core has got a magnetic field, that's what's keeping the rock together,” FRIDAY explained, to the whole team.

“If it drops?” Tony asked.

“Right now the impact would kill thousands. Once it gets high enough: Global extinction.”

A child began screaming as an Ultron bot came up to it. Quickly, she portaled herself over the shielding the child as the bot started firing. Opening another portal, she rushed through with the child in her arms. Y/N wasn’t quick enough though. With a scream, Y/N fell forward, still trying to shield the child from the fall. The bot had fired at them, successfully hitting Y/N’s leg as her and the child went through the portal. The child scrambled away as Y/N looked at her leg. It was bleeding and burned, but she still had a job to do.

“Cap, you got incoming,” Tony warned.

“Incoming already came in,” Steve grunted. 

“Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely. The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt 'em back. You get killed… walk it off.”

“You wouldn’t be saying that if you saw my leg right now, Captain,” Y/N tried to joke, wincing as she stood up.

“What?!” Tony panicked. “Y/N, are you alright?”

“I’ve been worse, I’ve been better. It’s bleeding and burned. But a child is saved, so—“

“Don’t move. I’ll be there soon.”

“No, Tony, I—“

“Stark, we need her help,” Steve interrupted. “Y/N, do you think you can survive?”

“Yeah.” She nodded, breathing heavily. “I think I’ll manage.”

Using all the strength she could gather, Y/N fought off all of the bots near her. Breathing more heavily than she had been before, which she didn’t think was possible, she leaned against a building.

“Alright, we’re all clear here,” Clint told everyone.

“We are not clear!” Steve rushed to respond. “We are very not clear!”

“Alright, coming to you.”

“On my way too,” Y/N replied.

Taking a deep breath, Y/N created a portal to the bridge, or what used to be a bridge. She stumbled into a car, trying to keep herself up. Natasha and Steve were just finishing up the bots near them.

“The next wave's gonna hit any minute,” Steve stated. “What have you got, Stark?”

“Well, nothing great,” Tony answered. “Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear.”

“I asked for a solution, not an escape plan.”

“Impact radius is getting bigger every second… We're going to have to make a choice.”

“Cap, these pool are going nowhere,” Natasha said. “If Stark finds a way to blow this rock—“

“Not ’til everyone’s safe,” Steve demanded.

“Everyone up here versus everyone down there?” Y/N asked, making her presence known. She limped toward them. “There’s no math there.”

“I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it.”

“I didn’t say we should leave.”

“There's worse ways to go,” Nat added with a shrug. “Where else am I gonna get a view like this?”

“Glad you like the view, Romanoff,” Fury teased over the comms. “It’s about to get better.” A helicarrier rose from above.

“Thank you, Coulson,” Y/N whispered with relief.

“Nice, right? I pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do.”

“Fury, you son of a bitch,” Steve smiled.

“Oooh! You kiss your sister with that mouth?”

“This is SHIELD?” Pietro asked as the lifeboats flew towards the city.

“This is what SHIELD's supposed to be,” Steve answered.

“This is not so bad.”

“Let’s load ‘em up.”

The group split up, hurrying civilians to the lifeboats. The second wave of bots hit as they were doing so. 

“Thor, I got a plan!” Tony shouted.

“We’re out of time,” Thor stated. “They’re coming for the core.”

“Rhodey, get the rest of the people on board that carrier.”

“On it,” Rhodey replied.

“Avengers, time to work for a living.”

Y/N portaled her self to the church, immediately grabbing onto the wall to support herself. Her energy was basically drained. She didn’t know how much more she could take.

“Y/N?” The Vision rushed to her. “Take my hand.”

“I’m good, I’m good,” she swatted his outreached hand away. “I just need a second.”

“The Stone will give you some strength.”

“I’ll be—“

“Do it,” Thor demanded. “You need all the strength you can get.”

Slowly, Y/N placed her hand into the Vision’s. Also instantly, she felt better.

“Thanks,” she said, removing her hand. 

The Vision nodded, moving away as Iron Man landed. He made is way to Y/N.

“You okay?” Tony asked.

“I’m fine,” Y/N nodded.

“FRIDAY, give me a reading on her stats.”

“Tony.”

“Agent Rogers is currently running on good energy levels,” FRIDAY began. “The injury to her left leg is still bleeding. If not treated soon, an infection may form from it.”

“You should get on the helicarrier,” Tony said.

“Not a chance.”

Tony sighed, knowing it wasn’t worth the fight. “Romanoff? You and Banner better not be playing hide the zucchini.”

“Relax, Shell-head,” Nat responded in everyone’s ear. “Not all of us can fly.” She drove up in a tractor, jumping out to join the rest of the team. “What’s the drill?”

“This is the drill,” Tony pointed to the Vibranium core. “This is the drill. If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose.” 

Ultron showed up, slowly hovering down to them.

“Is that the best you can do?” Thor shouted.

Lifting his metal hand, Ultron summoned his army to join him.

“You had to ask,” Steve sighed.

Ultron held his arms out. “This is the best I can do,” he stated. “This is exactly what I wanted. All of you, against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?”

“Well, like the old man said,” Tony paused, him and Steve looking at each other. “Together.”

The Hulk roared and the next fight began. Everyone was surrounding the core, fighting off every bot that dared to try and reach it. Thor, the Vision, and Tony had the main Ultron bot cornered outside.

“You know,” Ultron began, “with the benefit of hindsight—“ 

He didn’t get to finish because the Hulk knocked him far away. Ultron’s army began to retreat.

“They’ll try to leave the city,” Thor said.

“We can’t let ‘em, not even one,” Tony stated. “Rhodey!”

“I’m on it,” Rhodey responsed.

“We gotta move out,” Steve ordered. “Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you.”

“What about the core?” Clint asked.

“I’ll protect it,” Wanda offered. “It’s my job.”

Steve ran out one way while Natasha and Clint ran another. Y/N followed her brother.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He asked.

“Right now, protecting your ass,” she responded. 

“You need to get to the lifeboats.”

“And you should have learned by now that I don’t follow your orders well. I’m staying, Steve. We’re in this together.”

The swept the streets, looking for the last of the civilians and guiding them to the lifeboats. They met up with Thor as they headed towards the lifeboats.

“Thor, I’m gonna need you back in the church,” Tony said.

“Is this the last of them?” Thor asked the twins.

“Yeah,” Steve replied. “Everyone else is on the carrier.”

“You know, if this works, we maybe don’t walk way,” Tony stated.

“Maybe not,” Thor replied.

“What? No. Wait,” Y/N rushed. “No, Tony. You’re getting out of this we all are getting out of this.”

“Honey, you know our job isn’t that simple,” Tony said. 

“I’m coming to you then. Where are you? You’ll do what you need to do and I’ll portal us onto the helicarrier.”

Suddenly, a quinjet began flying over, shooting down at everyone. Thor, Steve, and Y/N were thrown onto the ground. Y/N looked up to see Pietro standing in front of Clint and a little boy. He had red marks all over him. He quickly collapsed onto the ground. Thor flew off to the church while the twins rushed over to Pietro and Clint. Clint set the little boy down and checked Pietro’s pulse. The look he gave the twins gave them all they needed to know.

“No,” Y/N gasped, tears filling her eyes. She shook her head. “No.”

Clint grabbed the little boy and Steve grabbed Pietro. They hurried to the nearest lifeboat. Y/N stood off the lifeboat, looking around for anyone else as Clint gave the little boy to his mother and Steve set Pietro’s body down. Steve joined his twin.

“Tony,” Y/N called. “Tony, I’m not leaving you.”

“Y/N, I love you—“

The ground suddenly began dropping. Steve grabbed Y/N, who was kicking and screaming, and jumped onto the lifeboat.

“No!” She screamed, looking down at the city that was falling from the sky.

“Thor, on my mark,” Tony instructed. “Now!”

The city blew to pieces. 

“Tony! Tony!” Y/N cried into the comms. “Tony—“

“I’m here, honey,” he replied. “I’m here…” A sob cracked through her mouth. “It’s okay. Stay with Steve. I’m on my way.”

Steve guided Y/N into the helicarrier. He quickly noted how bad her limp was.

“Let’s get you to the med-bay,” he said.

All she did in response was nod, which made her brother sigh. Steve led her to the med-bay and got her settled into a bed as a nurse began to check her out. He sat down in a chair beside her. Leaning forward with his hands clasped in front of him, Steve watched Y/N. She kept her eyes closed, trying to get some rest without completely falling asleep just yet.

“Say what you need to say, Stevie,” Y/N said. “Your thoughts are giving me a headache.”

“That’s the thing… when were you going to tell any of us about the sudden mind powers?” Steve asked.

Y/N sighed. “When the time was right.”

“And the Infinity Stones.”

“When the time was right.”

Steve scoffed. “So never.”

“I didn’t keep my portals a secret. I wouldn’t have the mind powers either.”

“But the Infinity Stones? You would keep your knowledge of those a secret.”

“For everyone else’s safety yes.”

“How much do you know about them?”

“I—“

“There you are,” Tony came rushing up to the twins. “How are you? Have they seen you yet? How’s your leg?”

“I’m fine, Tony.” She smiled softly at his worries. “Just come here.” Her hands were on his neck, forcing him down into a kiss. “Don’t ever do that again.”

“Can’t make any promises.”

“Agent Rogers,” Fury called, coming into the room. “May I have a word?”

“She’s a little busy at the moment,” Tony replied. “Whatever you need to do can wait.”

“No, it can’t.” Fury stared at Y/N.

“It’s okay,” Y/N said, squeezing Tony’s hand. “Why don’t you and Steve make sure everyone else is okay and find me some food?”

“I think I’d rather stay,” Tony responded.

“Please, Tony. I’ll be right here, waiting for you to return.” 

Tony met Y/N’s gaze. He looked long and hard before giving in with a sigh and a nod. He leaned forward and gave her another kiss.

“We’ll be right back,” he promised. “Come on, Cap.”

The two men left, leaving Y/N alone with Fury.

“You needed something?” Y/N wondered, raising a brow at Fury.

“You’re needed, requested immediately,” Fury stated.

“By?”

“You know I can’t say.”

Y/N nodded, knowingly. “Immediately?”

“They need help explaining the helicarrier and Sokovia.”

“Where?”

“Gonzalez has a ship in the middle of the Atlantic. Hill’s preparing a quinjet for a fly over so you can portal yourself onto the deck.”

“You know the team won’t be happy about this.”

“I don’t care. You have an hour.”

~~~

“What?!” Tony exclaimed. “You just got finished saving the world, you have injured leg and they’re expecting you to leave?! Na-uh, no way. You’re not leaving my sight for a month.”

“I have to go help clear some things up,” Y/N sighed. “This wasn’t my call.”

“You’re not going.”

“I have to.”

“No you don’t!”

“I need to make sure Skye’s okay. We haven’t been able to check in because of all this Ultron stuff. I need to make sure Gonzalez isn’t going to try anything.” She grabbed Tony’s hand. “Plus… I need a break from Steve’s glares and questions. I won’t be long.”

“The minute you get home, we’re leaving. Taking a break, you got it?”

“I got it. I love you.”

Tony leaned down and kissed Y/N. “I love you too.”

~~~

“Rogers,” Maria called, piloting the quinjet, “we’re over the ship. I’m opening the hatch now.” The quinjet ramp began to lower. “Good luck.”

“Thanks, Maria!” Y/N shouted over the wind. “You too.”

Looking down at the deck, Y/N opened a portal onto it. Coulson was there at the door, waiting for her.

“Nice to see you in one piece,” Coulson smiled, eyes checking Y/N over.

“It’s good to see you too, Phil,” she smiled back at him. She followed him through the door and into the ship. “Tony’s not really happy about this.”

“Not surprised.”

“He might be calling you.”

“He already has.”

“Of course,” Y/N chuckled. “Where’s the rest of the welcome party?”

“Waiting in the conference room. You ready to explain everything?”

“I’ll explain what I have to, not everything.” 

Coulson studied Y/N as they walked. “Something happened, didn’t it?”

“Phil—“

“I know, I know. Not now. But later. We’re definitely going to talk about it later.” Y/N nodded as Coulson stopped at a door, hand going to the handle. “You ready?”

“They’re the ones that need to be ready.”

next chapter >

NOTES: from now on the taglist when be added by a reblog. I will reblog it using my second account, @just-dreaming-marvel-2​. Just so that my main page doesn’t get too cluttered.

If you want to be added to the tag list, please dm me or send in an ask. 

[athenasbloodyspear]

The Viper: Chapter One

What happens when an agent of the Red Room falls into  the hands of Hydra? What happens when Hydra puts out a hit on their  favorite assassin? Who is the mysterious woman with a twisted history  and an even more twisted mind?

The team wants to know. They want to know what you know. Nat and Bucky want to know if there’s any light left in you.

They want to know you.

Bucky x Female Reader

The Viper Master List | My Writing Master List

The sounds of car horns are loud around you. The blaring, beeping and  bustle of pedestrians creating layers and layers of sound. You’re  trained well enough to sift through the sounds, listening to pieces of  conversation and various sounds of your environment to orient yourself.

You can feel the smallest shift of every person who’s moving in the  space around you. Your senses are so focused you can practically hear  the blood rushing through the people closest to you. Your prey is about a  block up, completely oblivious to where you followed.

The streets around you were loud and the sounds were strong, but nothing could keep your focus off your mission.

Underneath your hood and the rim of your baseball hat, your face was  hidden in shadow. If anyone would have seen or marked it, they would  have seen the wicked gleam of a grin.

--

“What’s got you all in a tizzy, Tony?” Nat asks from Bucky’s right.  The whole team was gathered around a conference table in Avengers tower  looking kinda bored. Tony had called everyone here this morning, much to  everyone’s chagrin because he had promised a week off and then  apparently changed his mind a mere three days later.

Bucky sighed and rolled his shoulders, leaning back in the office  chair he currently sat in, lifting the two front feet off the floor. All  he really wanted was to go back downstairs and into the city with Nat  and finish looking for a birthday gift for Steve. That’s what they were  doing this morning before they were quickly called back to the tower.  He’d procrastinated too long and really had zero idea of what to get the  man.

“I’m confused about something and I don’t like being confused.” Tony retorted.

“Oooo” Sam piped up from across the table. “The great Tony Stark  admits to not knowing something. I’m surprised there isn’t steam coming  out of those ears.”

Bucky smirks at his friend. God he loved Sam and his remarks. He  would say something similar, but his relationship with Tony still wasn’t  perfect and he didn’t want to push his luck at the moment.

“What is so confusing, Iron Man? Don’t know what to get Pepper for  your anniversary? Or did you say something stupid again and your giant  brain can’t figure out exactly which asshole statement pushed her over  the edge this time?” Nat chimed in with a mocking smirk.

Tony pointed a single finger at Nat. “I have had our anniversary  present for two months already and I’m actually getting better at  figuring out which one of my snarky comments goes too far, just so you  know.” He sighs and presses a few buttons on the large screen under the  glass conference table, whipping up a bundle of information to appear on  the screen behind him. “What I’m confused about is why Hydra put out a  public hit on one of their top agents.”

At that, Bucky’s chair drops back to all four legs abruptly. The  confusing piece of information startled him into finally giving his full  attention to the conversation. His heart rate picked up a bit.

“They did  what ?” Steve asks from the end of the conference table opposite Tony, voicing the question on all their minds.

“This morning Hydra posted a bounty on a known dark web forum. It’s  not unheard of for them to post some of their lower enemies on this  anonymously for unaffiliated assassins and bounty hunters to take down.  What’s different this time is they made it very clear that  Hydra  was posting.” He whipped up what looked eerily similar to a reddit post up on the screen. “And what makes even  less sense is I know for a fact that the person they called a hit on has been their little secret weapon for over ten years.”

Bucky scanned the post up on the screen. Sure enough, it said that  Hydra had a hit out on a well known assassin and was offering 50 million  along with diplomatic immunity in a country of their choosing for the  head of the operative.

“Who’s the target?” Nat murmured.

“So, this is the fun part. Especially for you two.” Tony continued, pointing at Nat and Bucky.

“What?” Bucky grumbled. Fun for him? What the hell? What could  possibly be in Tony’s twisted brain to think anything to do with Hydra  would be  fun for him?

“Here’s the mark.” Tony pulled up a blurry photo of a figure wrapped  in muted colors clearly captured on some sort of security camera  somewhere on a bustling street. If Bucky was tracking the cobblestones  and architecture of the buildings correctly he’d guess it was taken  somewhere in Cairo.

“Is that the best fucking picture you can get us, Stark? You can  barely see their face.” Sam quipped, leaning forward in his seat to  squint at the screen.

“This is the clearest photo of her face, yes.”

“Her?” Nat snapped, popping her eyes to Tony.

“Yes. Her.  The Viper .” He smirked back at Nat. Bucky heard a quick intake of breath from his right. Nat.

“No…” She whispered, and trailed off.

“Oh yes, Natasha. Oh yes.” Tony flicked his fingers across the table  again and all the known stats on the Viper pulled up on the screen.  “This is where the fun begins for us. This is what we know about the  Viper. She was “found” at a young age somewhere in middle America. It’s a  little unclear where, but from where I tracked it must have been  somewhere in the Midwest.”

“They stole a kid from Wisconsin? Why would Hydra bother when they  had their fingers in so many other countries?” This was from Steve.

“It wasn’t Hydra…” Nat murmured.

“ What? ” Bucky piped up again. He felt like his brain was  spinning. A top Hydra assassin? Did he know her? He would have to spiral  into his memory to find out if he ever met this Viper…

“It was the Red Room.” Nat whispered then. Her eyes staring directly at the table.

“Yes indeed!” Tony quipped. “Remind me Nat, were you still there when  they dragged in the little girl kicking and screaming or not?”

“Tony!” Steve seethed from his end of the table.

“I wasn’t living there anymore, no. I had just graduated. She was a  couple years younger than me. They said she caused quite a nuisance  during the assassination of a target. Instead of killing her they decided  to bring her back. I saw her maybe twice. They had always referred to  her as the snake. She was less refined than the other girls, she started  her training a little too old, but she was… desperate to make up the  difference.” Nat shuddered a bit then and Bucky felt compelled to reach  out and place a hand on her shoulder. “She reminded me of… me.”

There was a small moment of pause before Tony started again. “So our  little snake graduated from The Red Room and spent a few years as an  agent for them before falling in with our buddies at Hydra.” Tony looked  at Bucky then, “Where she was trained and conditioned to fill a missing  position in their ranks after they unfortunately lost control of a very  important  asset. ”

“You’re a prick Tony.” Steve muttered, his eyes falling on Bucky.  Bucky waved him off. He was fine, really. He’d started making peace with  his history when he was on Wakanda and though he still had a long way  to go, he wasn’t going to fall to pieces at the mere mention of the  Winter Soldier.

“You’re telling me that they…” He trailed off, his mind spinning in  circles. This poor woman he didn’t even know subjected to what he went  through, simply because he had left. He knew it wasn’t his fault, but he  still felt responsible that someone else had to fill a hole he had  created.

“Yes they trained this little spitfire to be their top assassin and  she has been in their top ranks since about 2010, only stepping into the  role of top assassin after the events in 2016 finally severed you  completely from the organization. She’s been racking up kills ever  since. Much like you my dear metal armed friend, she’s nearly impossible  to catch on camera, let alone see with your own eyes.”

From the corner of the room, where he sat in a chair separate from  the table, Bruce finally spoke. “I always thought The Viper was a  myth.”

“Yeah and you thought the Winter Soldier was a myth. Hell I always  thought Thor and Loki were just some folklore.” Sam remarked. “I believe  almost everything nowadays.”

“Wait so, this woman was a trained Red Room assassin, then a top  Hydra operative and now they’re asking the internet to kill her? Why  didn’t they just take care of her themselves? Surely they had her locked  up or brainwashed somehow.” Bruce said.

“You guys are seriously just assholes sometimes.” Steve murmurs.

“I’m fine, Steve.” Bucky says. “It’s a valid question. Even when they  wanted me eliminated, they only worked with people inside.”

“Exactly.” Tony said. “My theory is, they want us to know that they  want her dead. In fact, my more specific theory is that this is bait in  order to get us to hunt and eliminate her. I want to know why.”

“She must have slipped away from them.” Nat said then. “Even if no  average internet bounty hunter could ever touch her, surely they’d at  least keep her a little busy. Busy enough that we might be able to get a  jump on her. She must know something.”

“Exactly. What does she know? And why don’t they want her to utilize whatever information she knows?”

“So we’re going to find her then.” Steve said. “What if this is a  trap? Specifically set up to intrigue us into bringing their very own  top operative into our facilities.”

“It could be.” Nat responded. “But it seems a little weird to send a  bunch of people they don’t control after her unless they genuinely  didn’t care about what happened to her. It seems unlikely she’s still an  asset to them if they’re willing to risk her actually being caught off  guard, no matter how unlikely that is.”  

“See, this is what I meant by being confused.” Tony quips then,  heading for the door. “I’ve sent everything I know about the woman to  each of you. Study it. See what conclusions you come to on your own.  We’ll reconvene here tonight to discuss an action plan.”

--

You sat in a corner booth at a tiny cafe, facing the door. There was a  swinging door into the kitchen to your left, which led to three back  exits. Directly in front of you was the only door facing a main street.  The whole front of the coffee shop was glass, giving you a clear view of  the two targets you’d been tracking all morning, who had stopped to  grab breakfast at a restaurant across the street.

You were twirling a long since lukewarm cup of coffee in your hands,  your eyes flicking back and forth between your marks and the swinging  kitchen door at your shoulder.

You watched as your marks both stretched and stood up. The woman hailed a cab. They seemed disgruntled.

 Interesting.  

While the woman tried to snag the attention of a cabbie, you threw a  few crumpled bills on the counter of your table and slipped through the  swinging kitchen door. There were a few shouts of alarm as a stranger  wandered into the bustling diner kitchen, but you quickly weaved through  the crowded kitchen and out a back door. You jumped on the sleek black  Kawasaki bike you’d stashed behind a dumpster in an alley.

You pushed the bike out and around the corner before turning it on,  waiting to confirm that they had both piled into a cab. You revved the  engine and punched the accelerator, weaving quickly   between the piled  up traffic, causing lots of horn honking and a few near rear-end  accidents.

Your heart was hammering in your chest, the adrenaline coursing through your veins as you tore after that cab.

The grin still plastered on your face.

--

Bucky’s head was reeling as he read through the intel, albeit a small amount, that Tony had managed to dig up.

There were a total of 3 videos captured on a security camera of the Viper on a job. He watched them all multiple times.

The Viper was ruthless and unnervingly calm. It reminded him of  himself, what he saw in the footage of the Winter Soldier. It made the  bile in his stomach churn. He knew that feeling of uncontrollable calm  very well and it made him break out in a cold sweat.

The first video showed her walking calmly up to a high security  warehouse, putting bullets between the brows of every operative in  sight, barely even looking in their direction before pulling the  trigger. She walked directly with purpose toward the door that was  clearly her mission. Once every operative in view of the camera had  fallen she reached for the door handle. Before she slipped inside, she  lifted her pistol without looking and fired one round into the camera,  cutting the feed. With the hood on her jacket, there was no clear  footage of her face. Bucky wondered how they were even sure it was her.  Her murderous calm must have been enough evidence.

The second was a terribly grainy video taken in some basement  somewhere. There was someone strapped to a chair and he watched as the  Vipers fists slammed into the man repeatedly. A choppy, distorted, and  heavily accented voice spoke about 40 seconds in. “Good, Viper. You may  play now. Make sure there’s something left of him to interview  tomorrow.” Bucky flinched as he saw the woman stride toward a table,  likely filled with instruments of torture. The man strapped to the chair  began to scream, pleading in Russian that he’d say anything they wanted  him to. He heard a low woman’s voice come through the video, murmuring  “Too late.”

The third was a more recent video according to the time stamp. It was  less than six months ago off a security cam in Maracaibo. It was about a  9 second video, just watching the woman cross a bustling street in  Venezuela. Bucky remembered that some hot shot Hydra agent had been  found dead in Venezuela this year. Could it have been the Viper taking  down one of their own? Is that why they were mad?

There were about 5 other attachments of images. The only photographs  that Friday could find of this enigma apparently. 4 were blurry security  camera footage from various places. The one Tony had shown this morning  was truly the only one that even sort of showed the woman’s face. Well,  except the 5th.

The 5th made Bucky even more sick than the footage of brutal  violence. It was a Polaroid image of what appeared to be a 16 or 17 year  old girl in ballet clothes, standing in the middle of what he assumed  was a dance studio. It would have been normal, a young woman after a  dance class, if it wasn’t for the red blood splattered up her pink  tights, dripping off her knuckles and smeared on her jaw. The subject  wasn’t looking at the camera, but rather seemed to be standing at  attention with her focus to the right of the photographer. Written in  sloppy Russian at the bottom corner of the Polaroid was “Option 4.”

What does that mean?  Bucky thought to himself.  Option for what?  

It made him sick staring at that photo. If the blood wasn’t there, it  would just look like a young woman preparing for a ballet class, or  perhaps being photographed so a costume designer could see her figure  while they created dazzling outfits for a production. It was so wrong  for someone so young, whose face was filled with innocence, to be  covered in blood. He felt so protective over her, this young woman he  didn’t even know. This young woman who he knew grew up to be a murderer  with a kill list almost as long as his.

He knew, looking at that photo, that this woman had never wanted  this. He didn’t know how he got such a gut reaction to the image, but he  saw himself in it. A young person who was given the worst hand of cards  to ever be dealt, and was simply trying to stay alive. He stared at her  thin frame, the hollow look in her eyes and nearly wept.

He needed to find her. He needed it more than he’d needed anything in  a long time. He needed to find out how far she had fallen from this  image, and if he could pull her back.

He needed to do it, because he’d always be grateful that someone did it for him.

--

Your marks had gone into the tall skyscraper a few hours ago. You  were too antsy to sit around and wait to see if they’d venture back out  into the city.

You prowled the sidewalk like a caged animal. Tracing patterns through the busiest blocks. Keeping track of nearby cameras.

Everything smelled like garbage and piss. You hated it. You loved it. It was such an easy city to get lost in.

An even easier city to be found in.

--

When Bucky finally dragged himself back to the conference room that  evening, he felt like a wreck. He had worked himself up considerably  throughout the afternoon. He was antsy and apprehensive.

He really didn’t know what was wrong with him. It was just some random assassin, why was he so worked up?

Steve noticed his touchy mood as soon as he walked in and raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m fine.” Bucky grumbled. “Just want to figure this out. It’s bothering me for some reason.”

“Maybe because it’s a little too personal, Buck.” Steve said quietly.

“Yeah maybe.” Bucky coughed out. His chest felt tight with someone who knew him so well staring at him like this.

Before Steve could rib Bucky more, Tony sauntered into the room with  Nat behind him. “So what’s everyone’s thoughts on our little snake in  the grass?”

“I think the woman is damn fucking scary.” Sam piped up from the same  chair he’d been in this morning. “And really good at her job. Reminds  me of robocop over there a little too much if you know what I mean.”

“That’s what I find so interesting.” Steve says. “Because obviously  we know that Bucky wanted out, and was not the person that the camera  showed. I wanna know what’s really going on in her brain.”

“Banner, question for you, if we managed to set a little trap for our  snake and actually got her in here, would you be able to scan her brain  and see how much of it was under her actual control?” Tony said as he  dropped into a chair at the head of the table.

Banner responded from where he sat in his normal chair in the corner.  “I could compare a brain scan to early scans of Barnes’s brain. See how  similar they look. Then compare to his post-Wakanda scans. In a sense,  yes. But the brain is complicated as you know.”

“Can’t we just talk to her?” Bucky pipes up. “I mean, if it makes you  feel more comfortable to hook her up to a lie detector whatever, but I  just… I know what they do to people there and let me tell you there’s no  way she’s in control.”

“What makes you so sure?” Tony questions. “I mean, I was wrong about  you. I’ll admit that. I’m a bigger man now. But not everyone is Cap's  former BFF brought back from the dead with a heart of gold trapped in a  twisted hydra web. She could have gone willingly. In fact, I have a hard  time believing that a Red Room agent was accidentally captured by  Hydra. What if she went to them willingly?”  

“But then why did she leave?” Natasha counters. “Who’s to say that  she ended up in all this willingly. I don’t know the whole story of how  the Red Room got her, but it’s rare that people join without coercion.  There’s more to this story, I can feel it.”

“Me too.” Bucky whispered. There had to be so much more to that 17 year old girl than a brutal murderer.

“Nat, can you explain this image to me?” Tony says, pulling up the  very polaroid that was going to haunt Bucky for weeks. “This looks like a  pretty willing agent to me.”

Bucky cringed at Tony’s short sighted assessment. Sure, the subject looked relaxed but that didn’t mean willing. Nat sneered.

“Well Tony, when every week your instructors challenge two students  to spar and the loser is killed however the classmate prefers, you too  would willingly fight back, to the death if necessary.”

Steve flinched, and looked at Nat with eyes full of grief. “They made you kill each other?”

“Kept us from attaching to each other.” Nat said simply.

Steve just shook his head, placing his face in his palms. This was  one of the reasons Bucky and Nat had gotten along pretty quickly. They’d  come to terms with their trauma, and the others sometimes had a hard  time brushing past the torture that the two of them had simply moved on  from.

“Touche.” Tony shrugged. “So why does this image say option 4?”

“That I don’t know.” Nat sighs. “No photos were ever allowed to be  taken of us, but the fact that this was clearly taken by an instructor  confuses me.”

“So we have no answers.” Sam quips. “Do I need to go stand on the  street with a sign that says “Viper take a crack at me” so we can maybe  get a glimpse of her? I’m only doing it if I can wear the suit Tony.”

“That’s the thing, there have been no sightings of the woman for  years, and the one tiny glimpse in that surveillance shot from Venezuela  6 months ago was a blip. There was no record of anyone matching that  description entering or leaving that country or any near it. We have no  idea where she is.” Tony muttered. “I have Friday combing every single  camera we can get access to, and hacking into those we don’t. The tip  line on that forum is blank. No one seems to have seen her.”

There was silence for a moment, as everyone sunk into their own minds. Letting the gears turn.

“Mr. Stark.” Friday’s voice came lilting out of the ceiling. “I have a hit.”

Everyone jumped a bit, leaning forward in their seats.

“Put it on the screen.” Tony snapped. Suddenly the whole blank wall  of the room was filled with various camera angles showing crowds of  people wandering on the sidewalk. In the middle of a cluster of  pedestrians was a figure draped in black, a baseball hat on their head  and a hood pulled up over it. As the person moves, the different  security camera’s flip past on the screen, keeping up with their  movement.

Instantly, Bucky’s blood ran cold.

“Where is this?” Sam whispers.

“Queens.” Bucky, Steve and Tony answer in unison.

“Very close to Parker’s apartment…” Tony whispers.

“It’s empty.” Steve mentions. “Happy and May are on vacation and Peter is staying with his friend. That Ned kid.”

“I know.” Tony says. “Doesn’t mean I like her being around the corner from his place regardless.”

The room goes quiet for a few moments as they all watch the Vipers  progress through the streets of Queens. She never picks up her head,  seeming to be watching the sidewalk in front of her. She slips easily  between groups of people, never bumping into anyone even though she  doesn’t seem to be looking at anyone.

“What are we doing?” Sam says then. “We know exactly where she is. She’s so close. Let’s go suit up.”

“There’s no way she’s here by accident.” Nat says quietly. “It’s like she wants us to find her…”

“Another layer of intrigue.” Tony snarks.

“She wouldn’t be stupid enough to show up in this city unless she  actually wants us to find her.” Nat continues. “Either they sent her  here as a trap and finally had her look into a security camera long  enough for us to track her, or she’s doing this on her own. Either way, I  don’t understand the motive.”

There’s another moment of silence as they all watch the cameras track the target.

Abruptly, the Viper stops in the middle of the sidewalk. The  pedestrians continue to flow around her, many seem to be grumbling and  some throw rude gestures in her direction.

There’s now only a single security camera in the area able to capture her image, she stands right in the center of the frame.

“What is she doing?” Steve whispers.

Through the grainy camera footage, the whole team watches as it looks  almost like her shoulders shake slightly. She seems to be looking at  her feet.

No one breathes as the woman in the center of the video lifts her  head slowly. Her eyes land directly on the lens, as if she’s peering  straight through the shitty security camera and into Avengers tower.

There’s a huge grin on her face.

Then, from the pocket of her hoodie, she pulls a pistol and calmly points the barrel at the camera.

The last thing the camera sees in her head dropping back as she begins to cackle. Then she pulls the trigger, ending the feed.

“Holy shit.” Sam whispers.

Bucky is speechless. His heart is pounding in his chest. He felt like  her eyes seared through the camera and right into his chest. He can  barely breathe.

“Friday, show us the other cameras in the area.” Tony barks.

Friday pulls up tons of camera angles of the street the Viper was  just standing on. The crowds are screaming, attempting to run away from  the spot that the Viper had clearly just been standing. However, there  are no further gun shots and no one looks injured.

“What the  hell? ” Bucky says under his breath. She just shot out a camera in the middle of a busy street in Queens? For what?

“Are there any figures matching her description on any of these feeds?” Tony snaps again.

“No sir.” Friday replies. “I’ve scanned every camera in the borough and I can’t see her on any of them.”

Everyone sits in shocked silence as the security footage continues to  roll. The NYPD show up, helping to calm the pedestrians. They watch  quietly as they start to tape off the area. Everyone knows however that  if no one was hurt, it’s unlikely that the cops will pursue the incident  further. They have much bigger fish to fry in this town.

“Well goddamn.” Sam finally breaks the silence. “That was quite a little performance.”

“She really wants us to find her then.” Nat mutters.

Around the room everyone mutters their agreement.

Bucky finds his voice finally.

“So let’s find her.”

--

There’s unending adrenaline in you now. It was reckless you knew  that. It was also so obvious what game you were playing with them at  this point, but you didn’t care.

They clearly weren’t going to make a move, so you had to play your hand first.

For better or worse, it was their move now.

[portraitoftheoddity]

So like I really like Steve and all and he's definitely got the right heart and that's what fandom likes about him, how he stood up to bullies and injustice with his fist raised. But recently I've rewatched avatar and Aang got me thinking, is going against the world fist ready really the right thing. Like Aang was no coward he still stopped Ozai but in most of his battles he tries for peace first. In fact Avatar as a whole talks about change in people.

Like Sokka turned from misogynistic to respecting women, and Iroh's love and patience redeemed Zuko. As much as I love Steve Rogers, fist fighting bullies and getting your ass handed to you or successfully beating them to a pulp isn't going to change them, and it sends a wrong message of fighting fire with fire and bullies don't learn when you punch them usually they get pettier. I agree Steve is right at not letting injustice go be it canon or fandom but Iove that scene in avatar when Aang got into a fire nation school and when a guy tried to fight him he was just like nooope but still managed to be on top as opposed to Steve (maybe just fan fic ver) who would try a punch. I mean I can see Steve screaming at the lies of the fire nation school instead of calmly informing the truth and throwing a dance party. Like Aang might be too pacific sometimes but is charging against people really a good lesson. Stand for what's right, but like in a chill way. And I'm not sure if this is just the fandom version of Steve but in TFS we did kinda see him in an alley fight against a just a ride guy. Sorry about the long rant but what do you think about Steve's fight me attitude being completely glorified in his fandom.

I apologize that I’m gonna gonna get a little long-winded here!

I agree with you that peaceful solutions are great to try first, but when it comes to this punch-happy version of Steve you reference, I think you’re kinda looking at a strawman version of the character, anon --  maybe from poorly-written fic or memes, but not exactly the Steve of film or comics.

Now, the respective approaches of both Aang and Steve are in part a product of the media they originated in. A show aimed at kids with a single overall plotline and arc is often going to aim for a peaceful solution and allow for linear character growth -- while comics, movies and shows developed around a character specifically designed to punch Hitler as a statement during WWII are less likely to have a core message of pacifism, and their structure and circular timelines make growth arcs more difficult to sustain. This doesn’t mean one character’s approach or the other is superior, just that they come from different contexts, narratively and in terms of medium. Plus, there are different kinds of fights, and not all are going to offer us the same options as solutions. Looking for ideological purity -- only ever opting for the ‘right’ solution -- can often lead to doing nothing when no ‘right’ solution presents itself, which can result in more harm than taking a less-than-perfect action.

Let us not forget that when an authoritarian army showed up to kill everyone and wipe out the North Pole, Aang does go all Koizilla with the ocean spirit and wipes out the Fire Nation fleet. Aang has fought people. Aang, albeit with the alibi of “a spirit was in charge”, indirectly kills people (Zhao ends up pretty dead as a direct result of Aang’s spirit rampage). This isn’t particularly glorified, but at the time there isn’t a better outcome presented. Doing nothing would have led to the massacre of the Northern Water Tribe.

That said, I LOVE ATLA and its messages of growth and compassion and I think it’s great to have a protagonist who opts to give people a way out.

...Which is what Steve does. 

We see Steve do this more than once. In CA:TWS, Steve recognizes Bucky and tried to get through to him, to avoid a fight. One ensues, but Steve then refuses to fight him anymore once he’s disabled the helicarrier and saved everyone else, willingly putting his own life on the line to gamble on some part of Bucky’s inner self being in there and worth saving. He isn’t willing to put the lives of other innocents and noncombatants on the line -- protecting them is a priority, even if it means fighting Bucky -- but once that factor is out of the equation, he drops his shield and tries to reach him.

In the same movie, a few scenes earlier, Steve appeals to the personnel of SHIELD -- an organization that has labeled him a terrorist and been hunting him -- and paints out the reality of the situation, giving the good people within the opportunity to react and rebel against the element of HYDRA that has infiltrated -- which they do! But there isn’t a magical lionturtle showing up to tell him how to stop the helicarriers from taking off and murdering millions of people without any casualties, so, yanno. He does what he can. 

Heck, Steve is occasionally teased by other characters for his speechifying -- not just to give pep talks, but to try to get through to people. He does this in the comics a lot. You’ve probably seen this page going around:

It doesn’t always work out. But he tries.

You suggest Steve would punch someone who was wrong in Aang’s Fire Nation School, but I don’t agree with that reading on the character based on what we see Steve do. Steve very rarely is the one to completely initiate a fight. Usually he is reactive. He sees a situation where someone is being a jerk, points out the injustice, and if the person is insisting on hurting someone, Steve inserts himself to make sure it’s him instead of anyone else. Whether the jerk in question is a single bully or an entire army.

You bring this scene up, but when Steve confronts the guy heckling in the movie theater (who is making a woman cry, I’ll add), it’s clear from the man’s posture when he stands up and Steve’s look of dread that while Steve has spoken up, the escalation to violence is not his choice. When we see him a moment later in the alley, he’s fighting defensively -- drawing the man’s ire, keeping him distracted. Steve is reactive in this entire scenario -- not the instigator. (and I think if Steve had Aang’s airbending, he’d love to dodge more punches instead of getting his ass kicked!)

The fact that Steve’s primary weapon is a shield -- a symbol of defense, not offense -- speaks to the fact his entire MO is protection. Violence not for violence’s sake, but to intervene in existing violence when there is no other recourse.

But Steve also admittedly has a stronger sense of responsibility than Aang does at the series’ start. Aang dodges, but he also gets called out by other characters for running away from a lot of his problems instead of confronting them. Steve, if he were a bender, I think would likely be an Earthbender like Toph; solid, stubborn, listening and reacting (though ironically, he would lose his shit over the willful obliviousness and apathy of Ba Sing Se’s leadership). Steve feels a deep personal duty to always be in the thick of it where things are already at their worst. 

If there had been no deus ex machina energybending option presented at the eleventh hour, would it have been better for Aang to die and doom the world than to compromise his morals and kill the Fire Lord? It’s a question of hypothetical principles vs reality of harm in that instance. Aang as a character is allowed by the story to adhere to his principles and get a happy ending. Steve as a character does his best, but ultimately has to compromise with reality when he has to, when it’s not just his life at stake, but many others should he fail to act in time. In those high-stakes scenarios, his cards are often limited.

Steve as a character doesn’t arbitrarily start fights. But he goes to where the status quo is untenable, or where a fight is already raging, and he takes a stand. If he can convince someone to step down peacefully? That’s ideal! But usually by the time Captain America has shown up, there are megaweapons primed and loaded and fascists already hurting people or robots trying to destroy the planet or a Titan about to wipe everyone out, so the ideal option is rarely still on the table. No dance party is gonna be enough to change Red Skull’s crazy nazi mind about killing everyone (which is too bad, because I’d love to watch Steve do the lindy hop). There is no ‘chill way’ to stand for what’s right at that point. 

And ultimately, I think we need both kinds of characters! I think it’s important to encourage diplomacy and compassion, to urge people to find common ground and to find nonviolent ways of diffusing and deescalating situations. To look at things from other perspectives, and to give people the option to learn and grow and be better than they were. I love a good rehabilitation arc, and think ATLA does this beautifully and has incredibly important messaging and philosophies.

But I also think we need stories that say, hey, when those options aren’t on the table? When no one is listening no matter what you try to say, when you’ve looked for a way around it and no lionturtles have showed up to save your ass? Sometimes, you have to put yourself in front of the guy swinging punches and raise you shield and stop him. Sometimes you don’t get the nice options that make you feel good; sometimes the world is messy and ugly; but sometimes, even if we can’t do the ideal thing, we can still do the right thing. Take action and put an end to the perpetuation of violence in the moment to protect the helpless. (Then work on rehabilitation and communication.)

[stardust-walker]

Undying Fidelity

(Loki X Sigyn!OC)

Summary: Sigyn is feeling v stressy and depressy after Loki dies. She volunteers to return to 2012 New York with Tony, Steve, Scott, and Bruce. Her reasons weren’t selfish, she promises. Chaos ensues. Big dorks. 

My first time writing for any fandom besides TWD but this idea has been in my head since the Loki trailer came out and I couldn’t shake it so here it is lmao.

Sigyn had felt like the world moved in slow motion from the moment the life had left Loki’s body. The snap had only made things worse. It had been 5 years since she had seen pretty much anyone other than Thor and sometimes the residents of New Asgard. She kept to herself more often than not. 

It was almost ironic how Loki had spoken of undying fidelity shortly before his life had been snuffed out. Meanwhile her own undying fidelity had seemed to leave her cursed with never-ending grief.

The talk of time travel had gained her interest almost as soon as the idea was pitched to the team. Asgard was an option but she knew that wouldn’t be the best option for her. Odds were that in the time they would send them back to, the residents would still think that she was dead.

Her heart had done a funny sort of flip-flop as they talked about heading back to New York. Her stomach sank even lower as an image of Loki was pulled up on the screen.

“So Sigyn will come to Asgard with myself and the rabbit,” Thor began to announce.

Her brown eyes drifted over to where Rocket had, once again, slapped himself on the forehead in frustration. “As much as I would love to go back to Asgard, I believe my skills are needed in New York.”

“You sure that’s such a good idea there, Frosty?” Tony quirked an eyebrow. 

“Are you sure it’s such a good idea to have two Hulks in one place? No offense, Bruce.”

“She’s right.” Steve spoke up, “I know what you’re thinking, Tony, and it won’t happen.”

Sigyn locked eyes with Tony for a moment before the older man relented. “Fine. But any funny business and I’m leaving your ass back in 2012.”

~

She hated travel. Whether it was through space or time, it all sucked to her. All the hair on her arms seemed to stand up inside of the suit as she shared one last worried look with Thor before they were off. Something was different about hurtling through space when you were a lot smaller.

“We all have our assignments,” Steve began as Sigyn stood up straighter and began to glance around. She knew he was around but more importantly she could feel him again.

A loud roar jolted her from her thoughts as she took a step closer to the men she had traveled with. There was the Hulk. Or the old Hulk. However time travel worked, there was the previous Hulk from that time smashing up a car like his life depended on it. 

A small smirk crept onto her face as she caught the embarrassed look that Banner had on his face. That was the champion she had seen back on Sakaar. A total wild animal. 

This Bruce, however, didn’t seem to have any of that in him anymore. Sigyn’s head tilted slightly as the rest of them watched the green man try to get back into how he was before. “Well, he’s a little confused..” She muttered.

“But he’s sure got the spirit.” Tony joked. “Let’s roll.”

Sigyn didn’t even have to ask where they were going. Sure, they had talked about it in the plans but she felt like she was almost in a trance as she scurried after Tony and Scott as Steve split off from them with a flash of a reassuring smile.

~

After not using her magic for what was probably years, she was surprised that she didn’t stumble as she landed inside the Stark tower right after Tony. As she slipped behind the stone wall to hide from their old selves, she couldn’t help but sneak a peek. Did her hair really look like that from behind? Ew.

“If it’s all the same to you,” her heart leapt into her throat, “I’ll have that drink now.” Tony gripped her arm a little too hard. Her eyes narrowed as she shot him a look.

The 2012 version of her let out a quiet snort of laughter. She remembered the look that Natasha had shot her. “What?” She heard herself say. 

“All right, get him on his feet.” The younger Tony Stark ordered. “Uh-uh. Not you, princess. Come on, Point Break. Get him up. We can all stand around posing up a storm later. By the way, feel free to clean up.”

“Wow I almost forgot how much of an ass you were, Stark,” Sigyn hissed through gritted teeth.

“At least I had style. Speaking of! Mr. Rogers, I almost forgot. That suit did nothing for your ass.” Tony shook his head in mock sympathy. 

Steve practically sounded like he was rolling his eyes. “No one asked you to look, Tony.”

Sigyn raised an eyebrow and shrugged in agreement as she caught sight of Captain America. That suit really was terrible. 

“I think you look great, Cap. As far as I’m concerned, that’s America’s ass,” Scott called out over the line.

“C’mon.” Sigyn whispered, “No one likes a...kiss ass.” She smirked as Tony shot her an appreciative look.

“Who gets the magic wand?” Nat asked.

Thank god that Tony knew his way around Stark tower more than anyone even after years of not living there. Sigyn’s eyes narrowed as she watched the Hydra agents in disguise begin to file into the apartment from their new hiding place.

A laugh nearly slipped out as she watched Loki transform into Steve from across the room. “I mean honestly,” he joked as he turned back into himself, “how do you keep your food down?” 

“Shut up,” Thor snapped as he placed a lock over Loki’s mouth. 

“I wish I could tell you dearest,” she heard herself say as she watched the scene unfolding in front of her. In spite of Loki being in chains. A prisoner. She watched herself grab him gently by the arm to lead him into the elevator with Thor almost like when they used to walk through the gardens together. “But then I would have to kill you.”

Tony’s grasp on her shoulder pulled her out of the moment as he pulled her back towards the window. The plan flooded back into her mind as she began to plummet backwards towards the ground. She let out a grunt as she was finally able to regain her own balance to drift back towards the ground without Stark’s help.

“What’s-a matter, Frosty? No knight in shining metal armor today,” Stark joked. 

“You burn my hair with those flaming feet of yours and you won’t make it back to the future,” she hissed through gritted teeth as the small green embers flickered from her own fingers as she continued on a quick course back to the ground. 

~

“Looking fresh, Stark,” Sigyn mumbled as she walked up beside Tony in her own security outfit. The only difference was her long blonde hair hung out from under the helmet. “Almost didn’t recognize you without the extra few inches of metal.”

“That really hurts me, you know. I would think for someone so old you would want to be a little nicer to the younger gen-ow!” Tony rubbed his arm as he received a hard pinch. 

“Shut up. Here we come,” she swallowed hard as she spotted herself again out of the corner of her eye. She walked side by side with Loki with her head held high. It was amazing how she could walk like that when she remembered how she’d felt. She had known that Loki had pretty much signed his own death sentence and yet still she walked beside him with pride. He was her husband and she was loyal to him. It was her gift and her biggest curse. 

“Thumbelina, do you copy? I’ve got eyes on the prize,” Tony chirped into the ear piece. 

“I’m going inside you,” Scott whispered back after a moment. Sigyn’s eyebrows shot up as she shot an amused glance at Tony. 

Sigyn flashed him a delicate smile. “I didn’t realize I would learn so much about your personal life today, Mr. Stark.”

“Quiet down, Glinda. We don’t want Elphaba to hear you.”

“May I ask you where you’re going?” Pierce’s voice made her skin crawl as she watched him approach the group. 

“A bit of lunch and then Asgard,” Thor answered cheerfully.

“Perhaps a stop for gas. I hear mileage on the Bifrost is killer these days,” past Sigyn cooed as she shot a look back at Loki over her shoulder. 

Pierce stood up a little straighter. “I’m going to have to ask you to turn the prisoner over to me.”

Sigyn could almost feel her throat close up all over again as she watched herself take a defensive step back towards Loki. Her hand came to rest a mere inch away from the handle of her knife.

Tony whispered beside her, “Easy, Sig. We know how this goes, right?” He paused. “I see what you mean by the whole fidelity thing though but the victory thing?”

“Hush!” She hissed back as she watched Loki turn slightly with an annoyed look in his eye. The woman turned to face the other way quickly as chaos seemed to be breaking out behind them again. Pierce had always been an asshole that much was sure. She wished she could’ve said she were surprised when she found out he was Hydra all along. Her stomach churned as more thoughts raced through her head of what they would have done to her husband if they’d gotten a hold of him in the first place.

Sigyn squeezed her eyes shut tight as she heard the crackle through the ear piece and a different sort of chaos broke out. “Oh my gods! Stark,” she heard her own panicked voice and the two of them turned to see herself abandon Loki and reach a hand out to steady Tony.

“Aw, you do care.” 

Sigyn resisted the urge to punch Tony in the chest for good measure. Her heart leapt as the suitcase with the tesseract spun towards them. Her pulse quickened as Tony leaned down to pick up the case and her gaze wandered for just a moment. Loki had noticed. 

“Good job, meet me in the alley,” Tony mumbled as he began to quickly exit the building. She was just about to take a few steps to follow when another explosion happened. Except it wasn’t so much of an explosion as it was a rampaging green monster busting down a door.

“Oh shit,” she hissed through her teeth as she skittered back. Stark landed at her feet with a groan but a softer noise drew her attention. A soft tinkling noise and her gaze flickered to the case. The tesseract. 

Time seemed to stand still again as Loki glanced over his shoulder and locked eyes with her. A confused look crossed the upper portion of his face for a moment before he glanced back towards the chaos ensuing over past Tony. He had noticed.

With one last look back at her, he knelt down to pick up the tesseract. She thought she heard Tony grunt something but her feet carried her quicker than she could ever remember running before. 

Just as Loki stood again, Sigyn came within one step of him. The sudden noise behind him made him turn once more. She gritted her teeth into a grimace as she placed both her hands on the tesseract. Sigyn fully intended to yank the damned thing right out of his fingers but before she could, she felt a strange sensation. A wall of blue and black smoke engulfed the pair of them.

She hated space travel.

~

Loki landed in the sand with a loud grunt despite the muzzle still over his mouth. The tesseract was still in his grasp. Had he even really seen what he thought he had?

A loud scream echoed through the air around him. His eyebrows raised as another portal seemed to open in the sky right above him. A figure all in black fell through it; arms flailed and legs kicked as the ground seemed to raise to meet them.

Another loud grunt left Loki, this time a more pained one as the smaller figure landed right on top of him. 

Quickly, the woman rolled to the other side and let out a quiet groan as she pulled the helmet from her head. With a fluid movement, the black object was tossed aside into the sand before she flopped back onto the sand. A grunt beside her alerted her to the presence of the man. Without even a glance to the side, she reached over and pressed a hand to his mouth to deactivate the muzzle. 

“Lovely of you to drop in, Sigyn,” Loki coughed as he took a deep breath.

Sigyn let out an annoyed grunt. “A pleasure, as always.”

Loki caught her gaze out of the corner of his eye as he rose to a sitting position. “You should have just let me take it,” he hissed through his teeth.

Sigyn let out a heavy sigh as she sat up and shrugged off the heavy black bulletproof vest and jacket she wore. “And let you cause more chaos and destroy more cities?”

Loki glanced over at her. A nearly imperceptible look of nervousness crossed his face before he smirked at her. “Who says that’s what I was going to do with it.”

Sigyn rolled her eyes as her gaze flickered forward to a small group of people that were moving slowly towards them. “I would like to think I know you better than you know yourself. Whatever you do, we’re in this together now.” She wasn’t about to lose him again. Not so soon.

“I’m positively touched,” he cooed.

“Til death do us part, darling.” And even after.

[iam93percentstardust]

Spirit Bright and Beautiful

Written for @starkbucksbingo and this means a bingo for me! See below the cut for bingo details

Also on ao3 here

~

He has a safe house.

Of sorts.

Not really a safe house. It’s an office space under construction, abandoned when the project ran out of money. Still, it’s safe and the important part is that it has a view of the tower and so James can see the Avengers when they’re coming and going. He can watch what they’re doing—not when they’re in the tower itself because the windows are tinted—but he can see when they leave and where they’re going. He never follows them, not with the Black Widow and the SHIELD agent on the team. But they don’t usually go far unless it’s a special event or a mission and if it’s a mission, James wouldn’t want to follow them anyway and if it’s a special event, he can usually watch it on the shitty TV he stole out of someone’s garbage.

James prides himself on being impossible to sneak up on. HYDRA’s training was good for that at least. So he hears the light steps coming up the stairs. He hears and he tenses because he doesn’t recognize those footsteps. He doubts it’s HYDRA—they’re usually heavier—and he doesn’t think it’s the Black Widow because he thinks he could count himself lucky if he actually heard her coming and she’s out on a mission right now anyway so that means it’s someone else.

Someone, who is apparently huffing and complaining about damn super soldiers who could do this without even breathing hard and—

A face with fluffy brown hair, big and warm eyes, and the most ridiculous beard James thinks he’s ever seen pokes its head around the corner.

“Freezer Pop?” the face asks and James suddenly recognizes it as belonging to Tony Stark, Iron Man, one of HYDRA’s do-not-engages long before he became a superhero. “Bucky Bear, you in here?”

He shouldn’t give away his position so easily. Then again, Stark is a friend of Steve’s and he remembers Steve. He’s not sure if he’s ready to see Steve again but he at least knows he’s a friend.

“What’s a freezer pop?” he asks, voice rusty from disuse. He emerges from behind one of the plastic sheets, flicking the switchblade he’d been holding closed. He doesn’t use guns anymore, can’t stand the sight of the things, and it’s not like he can’t defend himself with just a knife anyway.

Stark’s eyes dart to the knife, skitter away to take in the sight of the construction. “It’s a snack,” he begins and then stops, biting his lip to stop himself from saying anything else. James can’t help but wonder what he’d been planning on saying. “Is this where you’ve been staying? Cause I’ll be honest with you, this is…not great.”

James huffs out a laugh. “Better than the street,” he says and doesn’t say that he’s been on the street before.

Stark seems to hear it anyway though if the way his mouth twists is any indication. “It’s not like you’ve only got two options here,” he points out. “You could—”

“I don’t want to,” James interrupts, already feeling the panic creeping up on him. “I don’t—I could hurt—and Steve—”

He almost doesn’t see Stark move and his hand twitches for his knife before Stark stops only a few feet away from. The panic comes on fast and heavy then, overwhelming him. When did he sit down? When did he scramble backward from Stark sitting as well? When did—he tucks his head between his knees, screaming to drown out the static in his head.

He doesn’t know how long it takes him to become James again but when he raises his head again, he thinks the light has shifted. Stark is still sitting there though, still a few feet away, silently tapping on a tablet. He looks up when James uncurls from his ball, putting the tablet down beside him.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” Stark says quietly. “I know I can be an asshole but I really didn’t mean to upset you.”

“I didn’t think you did,” he rasps.

“I know you’re not ready. And I don’t really blame you. But Steve and the Murder Twins are out on a mission for the next two months and Sam is still in D.C. and Bruce and Thor are at their love nest in Greece that they think I don’t know about.” He rolls his eyes and the corner of James’ mouth twitches in a smile. “I’m just worried about you.”

And that—that’s just—“No one asked you to worry about me,” he points out.

Stark nods. “I know. But you can’t stop me from doing it anyway so here, I wanted to give you this.” He slides the tablet across the floor, stopping only when it taps against James’ foot.

He picks it up slowly, reminding himself that Stark wouldn’t kill him, not with a tablet leastways. “What is it?”

“Videos, mostly,” Stark says with a deceptively casual shrug.

“Of what?”

“The team. J says you’ve been watching us for a while and he’s pretty sure that you’re looking to see if it’s safe to come in, which I doubt you can figure out from watching the outside so I brought you this so you can watch the inside too.” He frowns. “That came out wrong. Look, I’m scared of Natasha too so I don’t blame you so I just thought maybe you’d like video of her throwing cereal at Clint because he drank all the milk.”

He unfolds his legs and stands up. “I’ll leave you to it. Just to warn you though, I’m coming back tomorrow with dinner. Gotta do something while I’m benched.” He taps his side like James is supposed to know what that means and then disappears before James can ask him either about his ribs or about the mysterious J.

~

True to his word, Stark is back the next day with something in a large paper bag that smells so good it makes James’ mouth water. He’s been eating mostly day-old sandwiches from the sandwich shop next to the office building he’s staying in and frankly, he’s tired of it but he’s not willing to go any further than right next door.

“You watched any of it?” Stark asks him, tossing the bag into his lap.

James fishes out two containers of what looks like spaghetti and a smaller bag of breadsticks. He sticks one of the breadsticks in his mouth so that he can avoid saying something when he nods.

Stark gives him an amused looks and then waits for him to finish swallowing before saying, “What did you think?”

…He doesn’t know what to say to that.

He’s been watching and he’s seen what Stark had talked about with the Black Widow throwing cereal at Barton. And he’s seen Dr. Banner trip over the god’s hammer and not even turn a shade before yelling at him about leaving his things in the halls. And he’s even seen Stark and Steve cheerfully bickering with each other—and that’s barely even a fraction of the videos on the tablet he’d been given.

He sees all of this but it doesn’t really make sense in his mind at the moment. Where are the fights? The arguments? The full-on hatred that expresses itself in sneers and glares?

“It’s fine,” he mutters. “Looks nice.”

Stark frowns but he doesn’t press the issue. For that, James is grateful. He still doesn’t have all of his memories back but he’s pretty sure that if it were Steve standing here in front of him, he’d be a lot pushier about this. Stark, though, Stark just sits down next to him and chatters about how much it sucks that he cracked two ribs and so he can’t be on the mission with everyone else. He doesn’t mind that James doesn’t do anything but sit next to him and eat his spaghetti. He talks enough to fill the entire room on his own.

It’s kind of nice.

~

The thing is, the Avengers are apparently nothing like HYDRA. They actively seem to like and trust each other. Their playful ribbing is nothing more than silly banter. Their light touches are warm hugs and not backstabbing embraces. They have movie nights and game nights and morning yoga sessions and in between it all, they hang out together and laugh and talk and love.

The thing is, Tony is warm and cheerful and lovely. James can’t remember the last time he thought that about anything, let alone a person. But as Tony comes over every single evening with delicious food—never homecooked because he says he can’t be trusted around a kitchen—and talks about everything and nothing all at once, James finds himself relaxing more and more around him.

The thing is, Tony clearly loves the team, treats them like they’re his family. He buys them extravagant gifts and goes shopping with Natasha and helps Bruce with dinner preparations. He spends hours in front of the TV with Clint, throwing popcorn at the screen during trashy soap operas. He poses for Steve’s art and he never complains when Thor hugs him just a little too hard.

The things is—if Tony can just choose who his family is, then maybe James can too.

~

“The team comes back next week,” Tony tells him one night.

James nods slowly. He knows. He’s been keeping track of the days ever since that first night when Tony had told him they would be gone for two months. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, they should be back in five days.

“What do you think?” Tony asks. “You’ve seen the footage. You know what we’re like. You ready to come out of the cold yet?”

It’s quiet for a long time. James’ stomach growls, reminding him that even though he’d polished off the serving Tony had brought for him, he’s still hungry. He had been eyeing Tony’s food up until this question (truthfully, he’s still debating tugging it closer to him; Tony never minds) but he wants to think about this first.

Tony waits for him patiently, still doesn’t push. He loves that about him honestly. He’s thought before that he liked it but he thinks now that it might go deeper than that. His…feelings for Tony as a whole might go deeper than that. And if that’s really how he feels, then he thinks there’s not a whole lot he wouldn’t do for Tony.

“Maybe,” he says eventually, still turning the idea over in his mind. “’m still a little scared.”

Tony nods and stands, dusting his hands off on his jeans. The movement startles James, who was expecting that Tony would be there a little longer yet. Did he say something wrong? Did he make the wrong choice? Did he push Tony away finally.

But then Tony reaches out a hand, holding it out for James to take. “Come on, James darling,” Tony urges. “Come home with me.”

James doesn’t really know where home is anymore but, as he grabs Tony’s hand and lets him pull him up and guide him out of the room, he thinks it might be with Tony.

Title: Spirit Bright and Beautiful Collaborator Name: iam93percentstardust Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26044267 Square Filled: G1 - Chosen Family Ship/Main Pairing: Winteriron Rating: G Major Tags & Triggers: Panic attacks Word Count: 2k

[vagrantblvrd]

That AU where Tony initially goes after the weapons Stane sold under the table and is like well, that figures when everyone immediately thinks Iron Man is a baddie because Hilarious Misunderstandings.

(And also Hydra being quick to make him a scapegoat while they operate in the shadows and so on.)

Pepper and Rhodey like Tony, no, while Tony gets this look on his face watching a news broadcast about the new supervillain Iron Man and recent escapades and Tony is like Tony, yes as he gleefully embraces the life of supervillainy.

Or, you know.

Makes a production out of it, and has JARVIS make a note for Tony to practice his Evil Monologues(TM) because every good supervillain needs to be at the top of their game for that and all.

And then SHIELD finds Steve and Tony’s in one of his Lairs(TM) when he finds out.

(The one located inside a volcano that he and JARVIS spent forever looking for it because you just can’t beat the classics, you know?)

Sitting in an Evil Overloard-style chair with his hands steepled in front of his face and like HMMMMM because this can only end badly for his Plots and Schemes(TM), but damn is the man good looking.

JARVIS is like *SIGH* because Tony.

Meanwhile, Steve is told Iron Man is Evil(TM), although Fury seems kind of amused about something as he gives Steve the briefing on Iron Man’s shenanigans the past few years.

Coulson is like *SIGH* when Steve asks about Iron Man afterward and tells Steve to be careful if he ever runs into the guy - he probably will, what with him being who he is and all -because the man is tricky ,dangerous.

(Coulson’s not Steve’s handler or anything, but he’s a face Steve trusts inside SHIELD and anyway yes.)

Also, also, shortly afterwards Steve meets Natasha and Clint and things aren’t so lonely for him at SHIELD.

(Because the STRIKE team and Rumlow, and anyway, something’s...not right, you know? But then Natasha and Clint and Steve feels like he has people he can trust his back when Coulson isn’t around.)

Then Shenanigans in which Iron Man does crimes and Steve and his STRIKE team attempt to thwart him but really. It’s a lot of taunting and mockery and flirting.

So much flirting?

Like, Steve should be more appalled, but really. Iron Man isn’t anything like he expected because for one, his Evil Monologues(TM) devolve into rambling about who knows what half the time and okay, yes, Steve could do with less flirting because bad guy Steve’s supposed to bring in and all?

But you know.

Tony is forever oh, this is going to end so badly whenever he runs into Steve while gallivanting about as Iron Man? Because the man is even more good looking in person, and radiates good in a way Tony wishes he could laugh about?

But can’t because it’s just who Steve is and oh - oh no, Tony has gone and caught Feelings for the man, which is ridiculous as Steve literally just punched Tony (in the armor) so hard he left a dent, and never mind they were all-out brawling because supervillain vs Captain America and yes.

ANYWAY.

Fury calls Tony in - consultant/constant pain in Fury’s ass - and then Tony is flirting with Steve on two fronts and perhaps laughing hysterically at himself because it’s going to be so bad when everything falls apart, you know?

(So bad.)

Because Steve flirts back.

Tony’s at SHIELD for whatever reason andthey happen to run across one another in the cafeteria/commissary.

Steve is like “Tony, hey,” all awkward and such and so, so  confused when Tony zeroes in on Natasha who’s eating lunch next to him.

“Ms. Rushman,” he says, this smile on his face because it’s clearly an inside joke with the two of them.

And Natasha, okay.

Smiles back and greets Tony with a “Mr. Stark,” and Steve is like :(((((((((( thinking there’s something between them because Tony steals something off Natasha’s plate and she lets him do it.

But the next moment Tony’s stealing off Steve’s plate and talking a mile a minute about some new gadget he’s working on or whatever and Steve is *__________*

After a bit Tony gets up to leave, gives Steve this smile, one that leaves Steve tongue-tied and a little breathless.

Tony grins before he turns and points at Natasha telling her he’ll have Clint’s new arrows next time he’s at SHIELD and leaves.

Steve tries very hard not to blush - the serum only does so much, you know? - because Natasha is watching him and clearly enjoying Steve’s squirming because she’s kind of evil like that?

But anyway.

More shenanigans, trying to catch Iron Man and such, and they get news that the bastard basically kidnapped someone named Bruce Banner - Steven being all shit when Fury shows him footage of the Hulk on a rampage in New York and now Iron Man has him???

(He’s honestly a little concerned about how unconcerned Fury and Coulson are about it, but you know.)

But then he’s got more concerns because Clint’s compromised and Coulson is worried and all that fun stuff.

The invasion and forced to work with Iron Man to stop it - Steve tries real hard not to think about what a good team they make, and also the Hulk is there fighting with them?

Literally catches Iron Man when he falls back out of the portal and Steve is like please, please, please because Iron Man saved them all from that damned nuke.

But Hulk takes him and runs and Steve and the others are left with the aftermath.

A week later and he sees Tony again, guy looking tired and run down and also like something ran him over -

“Well, you’re not wrong,” Tony says, crooked smile on his face.

Which is how Steve finds out Tony was in New York when the invasion happened and he has so many Feelings about that because what if he’d died???

Anyway.

Clean-up and the whatnot, and no sign of Iron Man for the longest time, Steve worried and a heartsick because he’s an idiot who likes the guy, even if he doesn’t like his methods.

And then!

The whole...Winter Soldier nonsense and Hydra and Steve not knowing who to trust, so he goes to talk to Tony when it’s all over.

Okay, maybe a few weeks/months afterwards because Steve is dealing (not great, admittedly) with the realization Buck’s not dead. That he’s the Winter Soldier people like Natasha talk about like he’s the bogeyman and out searching for Bucky and anyway.

It’s a while before he goes to see Tony, but when he does -

“This isn’t what it looks like,” because there’s Tony, an Iron Man gauntlet on his hand -

“Okay, maybe a little.”

Also.

Bucky.

“You’re a dick,” Tony says, working at getting the gauntlet off because someone with enhanced strength may or may not have squeezed the thing to the point it can’t be removed normally -

“I need my hands, asshole,” and Tony says they were sparring???

Meanwhile, Bucky is giving Tony a deeply unimpressed look and “I tried to kill you.”

Because Tony tracked Bucky down and wanted to talk, but Bucky thought maybe it was less talking Tony was interested in and more like killing him - Because Reasons - and anyway.

Tony isn’t looking at Steve, body language screaming guilt and fuck and :(((((((( seeing as how he’s clearly Iron Man and while SHIELD is in tatters he’s still an Evil Villain(TM) and also, Reasons.

Which.

Steve doesn’t even know where to begin, but Bucky’s there, and while he doesn’t look great he’s not the Winter Soldier right now, and yes.

Later, though.

Later Steve gets Tony’s story out of him, how he’s been fighting the real bad guys this whole time, found out about Hydra infiltrating SHIELD and other such things and just.

A lot of stuff and Steve is so conflicted?

But then Coulson and the spy twins show up with food and coffee -

“Oh, thanks God, gimme,” from Tony who is perfectly comfortable with Coulson’s spy twins in his worksho.

Who, by the way, don’t seem particularly surprised at Tony clearly being Iron Man - the gauntlet Tony eventually pried off on a work table and the many, many suits along the walls, and everything.

“We knew,” Clint says, like that much isn’t obvious.

Which is when Steve finds out Fury and Coulson knew the whole time and Tony was working with them on the Evil Iron Man(TM) front and just.

It’s A Lot and Steve’s conflicted again, because he’s been kept out of the loop - Fury’s idea, one that has Tony and the others sharing a look over because it wasn’t one of his best ones, but whatever.

Any then, you know.

Avenge-ing happens?

Also, Steve deciding since they’re on the same side now - SHIELD is pretty much gone, but Hydra isn’t, and until they can expose the bastards being Evil(TM) is actually not as bad as expected? - he ought to return the favor when it comes to Tony and inappropriate times for flirting.

“Cap, we’re in the middle of a fight?”

Because some mad scientist on Hydra’s payroll and robots and Central Park?

But also Tony, and Steve’s seen him - seen Iron Man - fight before. Fought him, in fact, but he didn’t know it was Tony at the time, and really.

Just.

It’s incredible (and also Tony padding into the kitchen at the Tower all sleepy and adorable and giving Steve the sweetest smile because he hadn’t had coffee yet and did’t have his usual walls up and Clint and Natasha giving Steve shit for the sappy look he must have had on his face, and anyway, yes) and he’s got so much payback in mind when it comes to Tony, and this is a good start, you know?

ALSO.

Coulson totally wins the betting pool on the whole when Steve and Tony finally get their heads out of their asses, and Bucky and Clint bitch for forever afterwards that he had to have inside information or something, but Steve can’t be bothered to care about that because reasons???

[marvelship-oneshots]

BIONIC (WINTERIRON)

AU where Tony doesn't die after the snap and finds out he's much more similar to Bucky than he has ever thought. *Pepper and Tony are not married and therefore there is no Morgan. Steve still goes back in time (even tho i could not disagree more with this decision)* [1.9k words]

"I am inevitable" A click sound echoed on the battlefield as Thanos snapped. Everyone stopped, ready to die, but nothing happened. Tony fell on his knees as the gamma radiations of the stones penetrated his body. It hurt, it hurt an awful lot, but he was better than Thanos. "And I...am...Iron Man" As Tony snapped, Thanos and his army turned into dust. They won and Tony didn't mind sacrificing his life for it. It started with FRIDAY turning herself off, then the suit cut the power. Peter ran to him, followed by Pepper and Rhodey and in that moment Tony saw his life running in front of him. He lived a good life after all. Tony closed his eyes as Peter was pulled away from him. The light from the Arc Reactor started fading away when Pepper and Rhodey took his hands. Bucky wanted to be there, he never really apologized for killing his parents. It was like the whole word was falling on him, but he knew that his pain was nothing compared to Pepper's or Rhodey's, or even Peter's. Rhodey placed his mask on Tony's face, unable to look at his lifeless face. "Mr. Rhodes, sir. I found an heartbeat" The AI spoke from War Machine's suit on the comms and everyone in the battlefield looked at Tony's corpse. There was an heartbeat, Tony was most likely not dead then. Dr. Strange opened a portal with his sling ring, following Rhodey, who was carrying Tony's body. They placed him on a stretcher while Stephen was looking for Christine. He left Tony with her in a surgery room and went to change in more surgery-appropriate clothes.

Tony's body was resting in a private room, connected to various machinery that were keeping him alive for now. The surgery went well, Strange and Christine were positive that Tony would recover. It was going to be a long process, but eventually he would. They did everything in their power to save him and luckily it was more than enough. Unfortunately there was nothing they could do for Tony's right arm, the armor had fused with his flash. His body needed to regenerate and adjust to the operation they performed. He was in a coma but he was most likely to wake up. Tony was resting on the candid bed, he looked peaceful and that was probably the best sleep he had since they started the whole time heist thing.

Strange had returned the stones to the Avengers and Steve was the one in charge of returning them in the place they belong. He had greeted Bucky and Sam before going back in time again and never coming back. Well, he did came back, as an old man married to someone, most likely Peggy. He had nothing to lose, he complained, everything that meant something to him was gone. Bucky didn't know what to think of his decision. He was still there, Sam too and Tony was alive. But apparently they were not enough for Steve, once again Bucky was not enough.

Bucky couldn't hide that he was relieved when he was told that Tony would make it, but still couldn't force himself to visit him. He was sure Tony wouldn't want him there after all he caused to him. But one day Bucky decided that if he were to live in that century, he might as well try to fix as much as he could his relations with what was left of the Avengers. Bucky was well aware that it was him the cause of the Civil War and the reason behind Tony and Steve's rivalry over the past years. And that was probably the reason why they could not defeat Thanos the first time. 'Butterfly effect' thought Bucky entering the elevator of the hospital 'A butterfly flaps its wings in Tokyo and in New York there is a hurricane. Steve wants to protect me and Tony ends up in a coma'

In the room with Tony there was Rhodey, reading a book while sitting on the armchair next to the bed. Bucky was standing in the corridor, behind the big window, looking at Tony and at his empty shoulder. He couldn't help but blaming himself for... everything. When Rhodey saw him, he smiled, walking towards the door. "You can come in, y'know" said the Colonel opening the door. Bucky shyly walked in the room, sitting in the plastic chair in the corner. Rhodey looked at the time. "I really have to run, Pepper is running late for a meeting at SI, you wouldn't mind staying with him 'til she arrives, would'ya?" asked and Bucky nodded. About an hour later Pepper arrived. Bucky was sleeping on the armchair when she put a hand on his shoulder. Pepper knew what he had been thinking, she was good at reading people. "It's not your fault."

The compound was destructed during the attack and it was in Tony's plans to build it again, but 'til then the Avengers, or what was left of them, was back at the Avengers Tower. Since the day he came back, Tony was locked in his workshop. Everything was new for him. Life seemed to be back to normal again, but in reality it wasn't. Steve was and old, wrinkly man, wedded to God-knows-who, Natasha was still dead, Banner was still in Hulk's body, Thor was somewhere with Quill and the other Guardians and Clint retired. Sometimes he felt like he was the only Avenger left, only to remember that he still had a missing arm, and without it where was a little he could do. Tony had spent a week in his lab trying to figure out what was next, trying to create a new arm with the help of FRIDAY and Dum-E, but he had always written and done everything with his right arm and trying to create an arm, or anything actually, without his right arm was incredibly difficult. Most of the time he spent in the lab, he was walking up and down the room with a glass of scotch in his hand at first, then the whole bottle and then with his beloved coffee.

Tony was sitting at the working table, looking at the holographic blueprints open in front of him. The only thing written on them was "Arm prototype n1".  Bucky was standing in front of the glass door of the lab, with a hand on the handle, not really sure whether he should open it or not. "Sergeant Barnes is requesting access to the lab sir" FRIDAY spoke up. "Let him in Fri" Bucky walked to the working table, looking in awe to the holographic blueprints. He lived in Wakanda for a while but he was still amazed by every technological evolution. "James" Tony greeted him with a small smile, keeping a look on the blueprint. They sat there in silence for a while, until Bucky spoke up. "Tony...I'm..I'm sorry for..." Tony looked at him softly "It's ok, it wasn't you" Tony knew that just like that he was not going to make everything fine, he knew that Bucky would still blame himself. Tony was aware that Bucky was not the Winter Soldier, and he had always been interested in Bucky, somehow. "I...I would make it light if I were you" babbled Bucky. Tony looked at him with a questioning look. "The arm, I would make it light" Tony smiled. "Wanna help me out here?"

Tony and Bucky spent much more than the needed time in the lab, designing and building Tony's arm and when it was finally ready, Bucky would teach Tony every secret he had learned over the years and Tony would teach him how technology works. They liked spending time with one another, they both felt like no one else could understand them. They actually liked each other and for once in ages, Bucky felt like someone really cared about him. Bucky had told Tony things he never told anybody, not even Steve. He told him about HYDRA, about the war, about the 40s and how was being a gay man in the close-minded society of the time. If Tony thought that the 2000s weren't the best time for being gay, he had to rethink his position. Together they had designed Tony's arm, another arm for Bucky in case he got tired of the Wakandian one, designed the new compound, build new suits for the two of them and a new one for Peter and Rhodey as well. Bucky now knew how to use the holographic table in Tony's lab and was not scared of FRIDAY anymore, he even helped create a new AI just for himself and Tony was incredibly proud of Bucky. Tony really really liked Bucky, he thought he was handsome and extremely hot, but most of all, had always a great time with him. On the other hand, Bucky really liked Tony too, maybe he loved him even, but never had the balls to tell him. Way too many times they found themself close enough to breathe each other breaths, but with an excuse or the other, that had always pulled away.

Tony couldn't take that situation anymore. He wanted Bucky to himself and himself only. They had an appointment in the lab that day, like any other day. They were about to develop some updates to Peter's sidey suit. Bucky came in the lab without any fuss, he didn't need a code, a badge or any announcement from the AI, he just lightly kicked the door. And by lightly I mean that he almost broke the glass, but managed to stop it soon enough not to cause damage. Tony looked at the entrance, where Bucky was standing in his gray sweatpants and black tank top. "It's a glass door Backaroo, there's no need to change it for the third time, is there?" asked Tony looking back at the blueprints of the new web shooters for Peter. Bucky walked over to his usual position next to the shorter brunette. They were working kinda peacefully when Bucky heard a metallic clicky sound. Tony had a guilty smirk on his face. Bucky looked over his left shoulder: Tony had just sticked a fridge magnet on his metal arm. It was a little thing between the two of them. A few weeks before Tony had bought more magnets than a normal person would ever need in their whole life and they just started sticking them on each other's arms. As soon as Tony realized that Bucky noticed, he started slowly walking away, but Bucky was faster and trapped Tony with his arms between his body and the table. Tony felt Bucky's breath on his neck and turned to face him. Their noses were touching. That was the occasion Tony had been waiting for. He stand in his tip toes while pressing his lips on Bucky's. Bucky's eyes widened but surprisingly enough he kissed him back, pulling him closer. The two walked towards the couch Tony had placed there for Bucky and they sat down. Bucky pulled him closer, making him sit on his lap, kissing his little innocent smile. Bucky placed both of his hands on Tony's waist, under his t-shirt. Tony leaped back for the cold touch of Bucky's vibranium hand. Bucky pulled back, taking his hand away from Tony's waist. His smile faded away and Tony understood. "It's just cold" said caressing Bucky's cheek "You better put that hand back and start kissing me again, old man" Bucky did what Tony told him to do with a smile. "Yes sir"

[theexistentiallyqueer]

It’s been a while, what with me being being more active on Twitter these days, but I had some thoughts churning around in my brain and this felt like a better place to post them rather than threading them over there.

This is a post about Persona 5 and restorative justice. Before I go any further, though, a note: this is meta about restorative justice and prison abolition as ethical philosophies only, how it can be expressed/structured in works of fiction, i.e., Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal, and what the importance of doing so is.

I should also note that I am not a philosopher, a legal scholar, or an activist, I just like to read, and I strongly encourage you to look into the topics I’m discussing in this essay. If you want specific recommendations you can DM me; again, this being meta about a video game, I think linking those titles here would diminish their importance regarding what they’re actually about.

Ready? Okay. Let’s get started.

what is restorative justice?

‘Restorative justice’ is a concept in ethical and legal philosophy that holds itself in contrast to two other kinds of justice: punitive and carceral. Punitive justice is justice as punishment, i.e., an eye for an eye, while carceral justice involves justice as the confinement of criminal offenders. While both have heavy overlaps with one another, they’re distinct in the generality vs the specificity of their outcome: punitive justice can involve the death penalty, property seizure, permanent loss of rights, etc., carceral justice refers strictly just to the incarceration of criminal offenders in institutional facilities (jails, prisons, etc.).

Restorative justice, in contrast, roots itself in the understanding of closing a circle: the best and most holistic way to heal harm one person inflicts on another is to have the person who inflicted the harm make reparations to the person they hurt in a tangible and meaningful way. This can take many forms, and if you’re passingly familiar with restorative justice already, you may have heard about it involving the offender and the victim meeting face-to-face. This does happen sometimes. Personal acknowledgement of the harm you’ve inflicted on someone is important, and direct apologies are important, but these need to also be coupled with actions. The person behind a drunk hit-and-run of a parent could help put their orphaned child through school, or a domestic abuser could be made to take counseling and go on to help deter domestic violence in other households, and so on. 

The vast majority of states across the world use punitive/carceral models, though small-scale community trials of restorative justice have been attempted, to varying degrees of success. No one is going to argue that it would be easy to implement, but it is important. Restorative justice is about recognizing that crime, specifically crimes against other people, are fundamentally still about two people: the perpetrator and the victim. And we have to look beyond the words perpetrator and victim to recognize that they are both human beings and challenge ourselves to build a society where our concept of justice means healing hurts instead of retaliation.

It’s not easy, but it is possible. It requires changing your own perceptions of justice and humanity and society and the big wide entire world to have the kind of mindset that allows it to be possible. But it is possible, and I know that from personal experience, because it’s my own mindset and I’ve been through trauma too.

prison abolition and the god of control

Persona 5 has an authority problem. By which I mean, Persona 5 has a problem challenging authority in any way that functionally matters.

The game is drenched in heavy-handed prison imagery, from jail cells to wardens to striped jumpsuits to cuffs and chains to an electric chair. Throughout the long build-up of the main storyline we’re treated to a confectionery delight of punitive justice, stick-it-to-the-man justice: the Thieves find a bad guy who coincidentally has personally hurt or is actively hurting one of their members, and they take it upon themselves to make the bad guy miserable and then send him off to jail. By the end of the arc you’re meant to feel like you accomplished something heroic, that by locking someone up you’re balancing the scales of justice. In the Kamoshida arc Ann even frames this in restorative justice terms, telling him he doesn’t deserve the easy way out of ending his own life and needs to live with his mistakes and repent, but he’s still sent off to jail regardless and Ann and Shiho are left to struggle through the trauma he put them through without anyone to really support them. This repeats itself, over and over: Madarame, Kaneshiro, Okumura, Shido--expose the bad guy, bring him low, publicly shame him, and then send him away (or, in Okumura’s case, watch him die on live TV to riotous cheers from the public).

And what does this all accomplish, in the end? You get to the Depths of Mementos on Christmas Eve to find the souls of humanity locked away in apathy, surrendered willingly to the control of the state, and your targets right there with them, thanking you for helping them return to a place where they don’t have to think of other people as people any more than they did before. In prison, they can forget that they are human beings and that all of the rest of the people in the world are too. The Phantom Thieves march upstairs and defeat the Gnostic manifestation of social control, that being that masquerades itself with lies as the true Biblical god. And then you go back home and the adults tell you that everything is okay now, the system itself isn’t rotten, and you just have to sit back, stop actively participating in the world, and let them take the reins.

It’s one of Persona 5′s most ironic conceits. “Prison abolition....good?” the player asks, and Atlus swats you on the hand and says, “Silly kids, prison abolition completely unnecessary because you can trust the state to not fuck up anyone’s lives anymore ever.” All while using prison imagery to present prisons as institutions inherently divorced from what might constitute actual justice.

Prisons exist because hierarchies exist, and so long as hierarchies exist, inequality will exist and people will commit harm who otherwise likely would not. But you can’t have your cake and eat it too, Atlus. You can’t frame prisons as an inherently unjust institution used to control people because you didn’t do anything to get rid of the hierarchy. You just gave the hydra a few new heads.

restorative justice and rehabilitation

Rehabilitation is Persona 5′s favorite buzz word, and for all that it’s used the game never really clearly defines what it’s supposed to mean. Yaldabaoth uses it as a euphemism to describe the process by which he creates his ideal puppet, but Yaldabaoth bad, and by the end of the game, Yaldabaoth dead. We get barely any time with Igor after that for Igor to define rehabilitation properly on his terms, which is notable in that Igor is the one who’s supposed to be the spiritual mentor of the wild card within the Persona universe. 

We can only infer from that that it’s the player who’s meant to define what rehabilitation is by the end of the game, but because the game fails to take any concrete stance on its themes that could in any way undermine the idea that society isn’t functionally broken, it’s hard to figure out what conclusion we’re supposed to draw. As I stated above, the game immediately walks back any insinuations that it’s the institutions themselves that are rotten by having Sae and Sojiro step in and assume responsibility for making the world just by continuing to operate within the rules society itself has created. If you can’t beat them....join them?

If anything the closest we can get to coming up with a definitive understanding of what the game wants us to understand rehabilitation as is when the protagonist is in juvie. During those months we’re treated to an extended cutscene of all of your maxed out confidants taking action to get you out of jail, but because you can trigger this scene even if you haven’t maxed out all of your confidants, and because the outcome (getting out of juvie) is the same even if you haven’t maxed out any besides Sae, then we’re right back where we started.

But that cutscene still has a sliver of meaning to it despite it being largely window-dressing, because the game does push, over and over, the argument that it’s through your bonds with others, through building a community, that you’ll rehabilitate yourself and find true justice.

And that’s what restorative justice is about: community.

the truth: uncovering it vs deciding it

I can’t find enough words to convey how infuriating it is that Atlus comes so close to telling a restorative justice narrative and then completely drops the ball on displaying it at all in Goro’s character arc.

Goro’s concept of justice is fundamentally punitive, the textbook “you hurt me so I’m going to hurt you back.” In doing so he goes on to hurt a whole bunch of other people: orphaning Futaba, orphaning Haru, triggering a mental shutdown in Ohya’s partner Kayo, and also killing countless millions other instances of mental shutdowns, psychotic breakdowns, bribery, and scandal that caused people material harm and, in a handful of cases, killed them.

Yes, Shido gave him the gun, but Goro pulled the trigger. And in a restorative justice framework, you don’t bypass that fact: you actively interrogate it.

There’s been a lot of really great meta about what the circumstances of Goro’s life were like, including the Japanese foster care system, the social stigma of bastardy in Japan and the impact it has on an illegitimate child’s outcomes, and the ways in which Shido groomed and manipulated Goro into being the tool of violence he made him into. These things aren’t excuses for what Goro does, however: they’re explanations for it. They are the complex social issues that create a situation where a child feels his best choice, indeed maybe his only choice, is to take the gun being offered to him and use it on other people. If you want to prevent more kids from slipping through cracks into those kinds of situations, you need to understand the social ills that made those cracks appear in the first place and you need to fix them. Otherwise there will always be another kid, and another recruiter, and another bad choice, and another gun. Systemic problems require systemic solutions.

Even so, none of that bypasses the fact that it was Goro’s hand on that gun, that it was Goro who performed the physical action of killing Wakaba’s and Okumura’s shadows, and that, as a result of Goro’s direct actions, Wakaba and Okumura died. You can say Okumura deserved it all you like, but Haru doesn’t deserve to be an orphan. Haru deserved to repair her relationship with her father. Okumura deserved the chance to learn and make direct, material amends to the employees he hurt and the families of those who died on his watch, and they deserved to have him give them a better way to heal.

But this isn’t about the loss of Okumura making amends to his family or his victims: this is about Goro Akechi, and the fact that even in Royal his fraught relationship with Haru and Futaba is never explored, barely even addressed. There’s not even any personal, direct acknowledgement from him of the pain he put them through.

You can say he doesn’t care, and that’s fine that he doesn’t care. And it is. He’s a fictional character, this is a video game, they are anime characters.

But Persona 5 flirts with the idea of restorative justice and never fully explores it, and it’s a weaker game for that.

the thin place, the veil between worlds, the line in the sand

This is the last part, I promise, and I’ll be short and brief here, because the truth is that none of this matters, at least not in the way that you think. Persona 5 is a story. It’s a lie that we buy. It’s all zeroes and ones and electrical signals and optical images on a blank black screen.

But art can be powerful. Art is like magic, the deepest magic, the oldest kind. We human beings are creatures of art and poetry, of images and patterns, of music and words. Good art, really good art, can allow us to explore new ideas and critique our internal assumptions about how the world works.

No, fiction doesn’t affect reality, not the way that you think it does.

But if you’ve gotten this far, I just got you to read an essay on restorative justice and prison abolition in regards to a Japanese role-playing game, and that is something to think about.

How do you define rehabilitation? What kind of justice do you believe in? Is the way you conceive those things really the best way?

And how much more interesting could a story that challenges those concepts be?

[iwillbeinmynest]

Rats - Bucky x Enhanced!Reader (f)

Authors notes: Since I got more votes for this to be a one-shot, here goes nothing. I hope y'all like this as I’ve been in a bit of a block recently. Not sure if I’m all the way out of it yet but, hey, at least I finished something.

Word Count: 5.6K

Notes/Warnings: Anxiety, panic attack, past trauma, death, mentions of blood and violence, use of guns, stress and extreme pressure, some fluff that may or may not make up for the rest and a hidden trope if you look hard enough.

Masterlist

 “I don’t like this, Buck.” You said from the corner of the tiny, damp, room. “I don’t like this.”

Your anxiety was about to pique. You rocked on the floor with your knees pulled tight to your chest.

Bucky sighed as he finally walked away from the iron cell door. “Yeah,” When he got a good look at you, at just how much you were unravelling, he crouched down beside you. He reached his hands out but didn’t touch you, unsure if that would help or make it worse. “Hey, Y/N, hey. It’s- it’s gonna be fine.”

Before you had time to process the thought, you crawled into his arms, trying the whole time not to sob out loud. There was no stopping the tears but you could at least stop yourself from wailing. “I can’t be back here. They’ll make me do it again.”

Bucky squeezed you and wrapped himself around you. “I need you to do something for me. It’s important.”

You looked up at him.

“Close your eyes.”

You did.

“Take five slow breaths. In for five, out for five.”

In. Out.

In. Out.

“Good,” He could hear you struggling to stick to the five second breaths. He could hear you wanting to hyperventilate.  “You’re doing great.”

In. Out.

In. Out.

In. Out.

He rubbed you back. “Better?”

Your face was tingling. “I guess. But, Bucky, you don’t understand. These people-”

“Shh. We can talk about that later. I just need you to keep breathing.”

So you did. You breathed in through your nose and out through your mouth. You repeated until you no longer wanted to puke. Until feeling came back to your fingers and the tears had stopped.

It wasn’t your fault. Just one of those unpredicted moments where you did your best but it wasn’t enough. You got cornered by a small group and isolated from the team. There were too many for you to take out on your own so Bucky came to assist. They tranquilized both of you. But knowing that didn’t alleviate any of the crushing guilt.

The mission was complicated. Everyone knew that going in.

Steve asked if you wanted to stay back, be the eyes from the compound, but you told him you’d rather be with the team. Steve was one of the few that knew a little about where you came from, He’d read your file, well, the parts that weren’t blacked out. Coming back to Brazil was going to be hard but you had been away for so long you thought you’d be able to handle it.

You were technically twenty-two when they took you. Hydra locked you in a dark, cold, damp cell and experimented on you for years. They wanted you because of what you could do. Part of your mutation slowed down your body’s ability to age. So, while you were 22 you looked like you were only a child.

They tested, took samples of skin, blood, hair, even bone marrow, anything to try and replicate what you were.

And, now, you were back. In this hole of a room, with nothing but the smell of rot and Bucky to ground you.

You looked nearly thirty, now, but your true age topped both Bucky and Steve combined. And you were getting tired. Hydra had been around long before Bucky and Steve had been born and you were tired of seeing them spring up like weeds all over the world. You were tired of running from them.

“He’ll kill me this time. He won’t let me leave.” Your voice came out flat and void of the panic you’d felt only minutes ago.

“Who is he? I need to know what it is you think he’ll make you do again.” Bucky was back to needing the facts, like the soldier he knew how to be.

You nodded. He needed to know for more than one reason. “I can do more than you think. Fury asked me to keep it secret. He kept it out of my files. Wiped it from my documentation so that it’s only me and him who knows.”

Bucky’s jaw tightened and he took a slow breath through his nose but he let you finish.

“I don’t even know how to explain it….” You dropped your head to your arms which were folded on your knees. You still hadn’t moved from the nearly fetal position you’d slumped into during your panic attack. You were still on the floor but Bucky had moved from being wrapped around you to sitting in front of you, meeting your eyes.

“I guess,” You started again. “I guess the simplest way to say it is that I can…” You wanted to make Bucky swear to never tell anyone but what was the point, you were dead anyway. “I can take life from...people, animals, plants….until they have no more left for me to take.”

Bucky’s brows pulled together as he processed and tried to imagine what that looked like.

A rat squeaked as it tried to run from the cell doors to a hole in the wall beside you.

You extended a hand and the rat could no longer move. It’s eyes darted around and it’s little fingers twitched. Then, it began to vibrate.

On a creature this small, it didn’t take much concentration and so you studied Bucky as he watched, in horrible fascination, as the rat shriveled and faded to just skin and bones. It’s fur, which was once brown and black was now a decomposed grey. It’s tail was like thread and it’s eyes evaporated.

He turned to you and you saw his mind working. He wanted to ask questions but he kept quiet for a few minutes. He sat back and ran his hands over his face.

“So you can…” He snapped his fingers, “Just like that and it’s gone?”

You swallowed, “It was just a rat, Buck.”

He looked back at the shriveled remains. “Just a rat…” His voice was distant and soft. Then he inhaled and looked at you. “Where does that life go?”

You shrugged your shoulders but you knew the answer. “In me, I guess.”

Bucky sat there on the floor, against the wall now, and just looked at you. “They made you kill for them.”

You nodded. “The second I take a life, they rush me into a lab for testing. Part of their quest for eternal life, I suppose. They want the energy I take but they never could figure out a way to get it. ”

“Is there a way to get it?” He asked.

You looked at him with a fear in your eyes that you knew you couldn’t hide.

And it was then that he knew, there was. He nodded.

Three guards came to the door. One of them pointed a gun at you, one opened the cell and the last one stepped in the door frame.

Bucky jerked up and stood in front of you. You stood behind him but flush against the wall. As scared as you were, there was no way you’d let them see that so, you glared at them.

“Both of you.” He stepped back out of the doorway. “Come with us, please.” He gestured out into the hall.

Neither of you moved for a moment then, the second guard raised his weapon at Bucky.

“I said please to be nice but, you don’t get a choice.” The man said with a roll of his eyes.

Bucky turned to you and nodded.

You stepped forward and he placed a hand at your lower back. He patted it twice before he followed you closely.

The two of you were led down the hall and you began to have flashes of memories you’d thought you’d repressed. After one or two turns, you knew where you were being taken. Your pace stuttered and Bucky had to steady you and push you forward to keep the guards from noticing.

“Easy,” He whispered in your ear. “This ain’t nothin’ we can’t handle.”

He patted your back again then let go before the guard to his right could intervene.

They lead you through the final set of double doors and, even though you knew it was coming, your stomach lurched as you entered the empty, circular, room.

You grabbed your stomach and you felt Bucky wrap an arm around you to keep you upright.

The white tiled floor was stained pink from blood that was only half cleaned up. There was a smell to the room. It was a mix of ‘clean hospital’ and ‘sewer’, like something was rotting and whoever was supposed to clean just tossed bleach in that general direction.

There were grates in the floor in five places. One in the dead center and the other four spread out near the walls.

You looked down when your foot hit something, a tooth rolled a few inches before stopping over a missed patch of blood. You were so hyper fixated on it that you could see the cavity that had formed in the roots.

You rushed to the nearest grating and vomited.

Bucky was at your back again and you wondered at what point would he finally see you for the monster you are and leave. You wouldn’t blame him whenever that time does come.

“Why are we here?” Bucky asked, clearly furious.

You wiped your mouth and looked up to see...Him.

The white lab coat, the gold wire glasses and the scar that runs up his face starting at his neck and went all the way to the center of his forehead.

He smiled at you. You wanted to kill him then and there, just get it over with and let the guards take you out but you wouldn’t risk getting Bucky killed.

“Hello, child.” He was so old, now. He was in a wheelchair and being pushed around by a woman who was clearly as trapped as you were. His skin was wrinkled and he had liver spots all over. His hair was nearly gone save for a few strands that he combed over his pale scalp.

“You look like death, old man.” You managed to get out. “You should invest in an anti-aging cream.” You began to chuckle, not exactly the time to laugh but you couldn’t help it given the irony, “I hear Aveeno has some wonderful products.”

The man tilted his head and grinned back. It made your smile vanish.

“Don’t worry. I have everything I need now.”

“Dr. Wasikov,” A guard took his attention. “We’re ready.”

You took Bucky’s hand, stepping close and infront to protect him.

The guard waited for Wasikov’s nod then opened the door. In fell a frightened man. He was no older than forty but looked as helpless as a child.

“Whenever you’re ready, child.” The doctor said, “I doubt you’ve forgotten how this all works.”

You looked over your shoulder to see three guns pointed at Bucky.

���It’s this man or your friend.” He threatened. “You choose. I’ll see you in the lab.” He waved a hand and he was escorted out.

Your heart rate quickened. You didn’t know what other options you had. Both you and Bucky were surrounded and out gunned.

“I don’t have much time to choose, do I?” You asked shakely to a guard. He simply shook his head and regripped his rifle.

Bucky stepped close again. “You don’t have to do this. We can take them.”

You shook your head. “No, we can’t.” You backed away from him much to his dismay. He almost looked betrayed. Maybe he was realizing how horrendous you were. Maybe he was disgusted that you’d given up so quickly. Either way, you had a job to do.

You walked over to the man and took a shaky breath. No sense in dragging it out.

You couldn’t look him in the eyes and you did your best to ignore his plea for mercy.

“I’m so sorry.” You whispered.

He begged louder and a tear ran down your face. You extended your hand and took his life.

You hated how good it made you feel. How his life made you feel refreshed and rested. How you could feel your skin glow and your hair grow half an inch. You hated that you liked feeling this way. Like some alien vampire. A monster.

The corpse collapsed into a heap and you hung your head in shame. You fought back the sob and grimaced in disgust at yourself.

There was no way you’d look back at Bucky.

You didn’t know how many guards escorted you out of the room and towards the labs. Although, two of them had grabbed you by the arms and practically dragged you. But no matter how much they shoved you or poked you with the barrel of their rifles, nothing hurt as bad as not hearing Bucky call for you or ask where you were being taken.

Your time in the labs went by quicker than you remembered. They took blood, scraped off samples of skin and watched as it healed up in seconds. They did a CAT scan and an X-Ray, too. Then, you were sent to a new room.

Bucky was already there. He was sitting on the queen sized bed with his head in his hands. He jumped up when the door opened and you couldn’t read the look on his face when it was you who walked in. He didn’t say anything for a while.

You didn’t blame him.

You took your shoes and belt off then crawled under the covers turning your back to him.

“Why are we in here?” He finally asked quietly.

It was a fair question. This room resembled that of a four star hotel. A stark contrast to where you’d been only hours ago.

“Wasikov, works on a reward system. I do what he wants, he treats me nicer.” You didn’t turn to face him.

You felt the bed dip as Bucky sat down again. “I’m sorry.” He spoke softly.

That wasn’t right.

“What?” You rolled over under the plush comforter.

“I’m sorry this is happening to you.” He clarified. “I hate seeing you like that.”

 Well, that made sense.

 “I hate seeing you so...” He turned to you and you almost started crying in fear of what he was about to call you. But what he said next surprised you. “You’re usually so strong but this place, I know what it feels like to just walk into a building or see someone’s face and then suddenly feel weak and defenseless. I wish I could fix it for you.”

You realized that he genuinely felt responsible and you sat up. “None of this is your fault.” It hadn’t even occurred to you that he might understand what you were going through.

“Maybe not directly but-”

“No, not at all. This isn’t your fault, Bucky.” You didn’t even know how he could think he was to blame.

“You’d managed to stay away from these guys for nearly three hundred years and then you sign up with us and two years later you’re back here.” He rubbed his face. “I’m just sorry.”

You nodded. “I appreciate that but I don’t want you to apologize for it. I had the option of staying home and I passed on it. I wanted to be with the team.”

He sighed and unlaced his boots. He kicked them to the floor then dropped his head onto a pillow. “So...one bed. This is a bad romance novel if I ever read one.”

The corner of your lips pulled up as you relaxed back, too. “Have you?”

He turned with a confused expression.

“Read one? Are you a five dollar romance reader, Barnes.”

He let out a breathy laugh. “Don’t tell anyone. It’ll ruin my stoic reputation.”

That made you laugh.

There was a comfortable silence for the first time since you’d been here.

“You okay?” He finally asked.

Your eyebrows raised as you tried to figure a way to explain your answer. “Yeah, unfortunately it feels…” You picked at your nails. “Not bad.”

“I was talking about the lab.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. It only hurts for a few seconds.”

Bucky reached over and took your hand in his metal one. “Is it hard to do?”

It wasn’t hard to figure out he wasn’t talking about regeneration. “Sometimes, It depends on if I absorb the energy or not.”

He turned his head to you. “You have that option? Where does it go if you don’t?”

“I don’t know exactly but the best way I can describe it is kinda like a stomach. I can hold so much until I get full.”

Bucky suddenly tensed, realizing something.

You looked over and he pointed to his ear and then to the ceiling.

You shook your head. “No, it’s not bugged. He’s only interested in one thing. He doesn’t care what I have to say. I could shout Tony’s bank account number and he wouldn’t care.”

“Why eternal life?” He asked.

“Because people who don’t have it don’t consider the burden it comes with.”

You were both quiet for a moment. Bucky’s thumb rubbed over the back of your hand. You rolled towards him and he did the same.

“How is Wasikov still alive?”

“Some kind of formula to help slow his ageing. That and Cryo.” You hated talking about him, but Bucky wanted answers.

He nodded. “You sure you’re, okay?”

“No,” You shook your head. “But you being here helps.” It was selfish but true.

You and Bucky had been subtly flirting since you came on the team. The two of you had shared a private kiss this past New Year’s but nothing happened after that.

He smirked. “I mean, if you forget about everything outside the room, it’s kinda nice.”

You paused and tried to see if he was lying. “Even after what you saw?”

“You’re gonna have to be specific, sweetheart. I’ve seen a lot of things. I saw Steve get taller, red faced nazis fighting over glowing cubes, alien monsters in Wakanda, I’ve even died and came back, so which is it?”

You wanted to pull your hand away. You shook your head. “I don’t get it.”

He took both of your hands, now, and brought them to his lips. He looked like he wanted to say something but he didn’t know how to articulate it. He began laughing at himself. “Oh man, it’s been a while since I’ve done this.”

You stayed quiet.

“I-” He looked at you. “You’re beautiful.”

You blushed and felt your cheeks grow warm.

“I guess what it comes down to - if you’re okay with it - is that I’m not lettin’ you go like I did back in January.”

“Are you sure?” You asked. “I am a bit older than you and I come with quite the trunk full of baggage.”

“I can handle it.” He smiled.

He leaned over and kissed you carefully. He kissed you over and over until you exhaled a light chuckle. His lips smiled on top of yours.

“What?” He chuckled.

You pulled back a little. “As first dates go, this is one for the books.”

He let his head drop to your neck and you hugged him.

“Yeah, not the smoothest move for me.” He wrapped his arms around you and you settled into him.

“Listen, you should know,” You started after a few minutes. “I’ll do what I have to to protect you, okay. Wasikov has this place locked down. We can’t escape from inside and we’re probably a few stories underground anyway.”

Bucky nodded and kissed your head. He squeezed you a little tighter. “It should be me protecting you but, I guess, we’ll just deal with that if it happens.”

You knew it would and soon, but you decided to let this moment sink in and not ruin it.

Before you knew it, the two of you drifted to sleep.

  The next morning you were allowed to sleep in and around noon you were fed lunch. Not long after that you were both brought back to the circle room. Only this time Steve was on his knees.

“Steve-” You moved to run to him But Bucky grabbed your arm, his eyes locked on something else.

You followed his gaze to see Wasikov up in the box.

The box was where he watched when he knew things would get ugly or messy. A safe place that you didn’t know how to get to.

Your stomach sank as you also noticed all the guns pointed at you, Bucky, Steve and the two other captives. There were at least twenty guards this time. It was never like this.

You looked to Steve. You were going to ask why or how or anything that would get him to tell you what he was doing here but he answered before you could speak.

“Sorry, I had to try. Guess I’m just never gonna measure up.” He nodded at you. A guard hit him in the jaw with the stock of his rifle and Steve hissed at the pain.

That was a code and both you and Bucky knew it.

A few months ago you struggled when a mission went south on your watch. The mistake had been yours and it landed Nat in the hospital for three weeks. You’d told him how you didn’t think you could ever measure up and both he and Bucky had been there to reassure you. They told you that when you couldn’t measure up the team would always be there to pick up the slack and help you through it. And from then on when any one struggled someone would say “measure up”. It meant help was there or on the way.

 “You gonna pick up the slack?” Bucky asked him from behind you.

Steve nodded.

So, Steve wasn’t alone.

“My child,” Wasikov started in his raspy, dilapidated, voice, “The time has come. I am indeed too old. My formula has reached its end and I need what you have. Take his live and give it to me.”

“I’ve told you, I can’t-”

Wasikov laughed a wheezing laugh. “Don’t try and fool me. Your room was indeed bugged. It always has been.”

Your knees almost gave out but Bucky was there to steady you. “It’s okay the team is here, we can do this.” He whispered in your ear.

“They’ll make me kill him, Bucky, and if I say no they’ll kill you instead. He has me trapped.” Your voice broke at the thought of losing one of them.

“It’s- We can...I’ll think of something. Just give me a minute.”

A guard stepped up and put his gun on the back of Bucky’s head. “Now, Princess.” The man sneered.

Tears filled your eyes. “Okay, okay! Stop, just leave him alone. I’m going.”

You hated it but you walked away from Bucky, forced to trust that the guard wouldn’t kill him if you complied.

You turned on Steve and froze.

“I can’t do this.” You looked to Wasikov. “Please, don’t make me do this.” You begged.

“You said it yourself,” He grinned from the safety of his box. “I work on a reward system. But I also work on a punishment system, too. You broke the rules when you escaped all those years ago. This is your punishment. Choose between your boyfriend and your friend. You have fifteen seconds.” He grinned for the box.

The air rushed out of you and you began to panic. Your fingers tingled again and you struggled to take a full breath. You had to make the call. Do you trust Steve or cave in fear and obey Wasikov?

“What do I do, Steve?”

“Measure up, Y/N.” He looked worried but not scared.

You turned to Bucky, the desperation very clear in your eyes.

He nodded and tried to look as reassuring as he could from twenty feet away. “You feelin’ hungry, Doll? I’m famished.” You got a sick feeling from the look in his eyes. You followed his gaze as his eyes darted from guard to guard. “Just rats, Y/N.”

Your throat tightened as the pressure built.

“Ten seconds, child.” Wasikov’s voice seemed to boom in your ears and the room felt like it was spinning.

“I can’t do it without him!” You shouted as you looked up to the box. “You want eternity? Let me hold his hand!”

Wasikov clenched his jaw but waved his hand in acceptance.

Bucky rushed to you. “I can take it and when I can’t, give it to Steve. Whatever is left, get rid of it.” He whispered as he hugged you and pretended to kiss your cheek.

The tears streamed down your face and your knees threatened to give out again.

“Five.” Wasikov scolded over the intercom.

You were terrified. You doubted yourself. There was no time to think.

“Four.”

“Okay! Just stop!” You sobbed.

Bucky held your hands tight.

“I need my hands, hold my wrists!” You instructed quickly. It was now or never.

Bucky took your wrists and lifted them to stretch out on either side of his shoulders. “You can do this. I love you.”

“One!” Wasikov shouted.

You screamed as you began to take the life from the room. Twenty men at once began to vibrate, their guns dropping to the floor.

It was hard and it hurt. You felt yourself reaching the brink of what you could handle and you screamed again as you tried to both take the energy of the guards and send it to Bucky. You couldn’t think about anything else but the taking and the giving. Take. Give. Take. Give.

The way it felt came rushing like a flood. This much life actually felt heavy like water but in the same manner made you feel weightless. The sound of it flooded your ears so strongly that everything around you was muted.

In your need to focus, time had slowed down but you could tell that you were getting full again.

You opened your eyes to see Steve standing in front of you, now. He held your wrists with wide eyes. He was heaving breaths and struggling to stay standing. You don’t know when they had switched but you could feel that Steve was reaching his max.

You jerked your hands from him and he collapsed.

Finally, you looked up to the box.

Wasikov was pressed to the window watching in awe. He was smiling, laughing even, like a spoiled child on Christmas morning. “Yes! Yes, my child! Take them all!”

You reached a hand out towards him and in his greed he misread the look on your face.

“Yes!” Suddenly the glass he was behind slid open and he was exposed. “Give it to me! Send it to me and I will grant you anything you want!”

A calm covered you. “Anything?”

“Yes, child!” He reached his hands out and leaned over the windowsill. “Anything!”

You caught a glimpse of the woman who had been pushing his wheelchair. She was crying, her make-up running down her face. But her tears were not tears of fear or sadness, but of rage.

“Just ask and you can have it!” He strained and reached out further towards you.

“I want your life.”

Wasikov’s joy vanished but before he had time to pull back, the woman shoved him out the window and he screamed as he fell two stories onto the hard floor.

The sound of his body hitting the tile would have made you vomit were it not for the white hot hatred you felt for this monster.

He struggled to breathe and blood dripped from his mouth and ears. He inhaled to speak-

The swift sound of an arrow took the voice from him as it implailed Wasikov’s throat followed by another to the temple.

You turned to see Clint standing at the double doors with a clenched jaw. He took a quick breath and said, “I figured it was best to let you have the last word.”

Then Nat and Tony, Thor, Sam, Rhodey. One by one they came rushing into the room.

You were relieved to see them but only for a second. You watched them take in the sight of the room, littered with decomposed bodies. Now, they would see you for what you are.

Surprisingly, Thor was the one to step up to you. “You need to take it from them.” He said encouragingly.

It was then that you remembered Bucky and Steve. You cursed out loud and ran to where they lay unconscious on the ground. Tony was knelt by Steve and Nat was checking Bucky’s pulse.

Your hands hovered over Bucky. You didn’t think of how transfering that amount of life would affect them.

You looked at Thor, who towered over you from where you sat on your knees, “I’ve never just let it go before, I don’t know what will happen.” You were scared again.

He gripped your shoulder with a nearly crushing weight. “We have faith in you, Lady Y/N.”

You looked at your friends. Tony winked at you but you could tell he was nervous. Rhodey nodded, so did Sam and Clint.

Nat smirked and added, “You think you can gimme some of it first, I’ve got a few scars I’d love to see vanish.”

You huffed out a grin as a tear fell from your eye.

You turned back to Bucky and Steve and took one of their hands in yours. You let out a shaky breath.

“You got this.” Clint said with confidence and another nod.

You tried to slow your breathing. Again, you were nervous. You had no idea what to expect, but you had to help Steve and Bucky. They probably couldn’t sustain all that energy much longer.

You squeezed their hands and exhaled. You focused all your energy on saving them and expelling all the life you had taken only minutes ago.

The room began to shake. The floor cracked and rumbled.

Then, light. Light coming from you. It radiated from you and stretched outward in a rush. As the life left you and touched your friends they felt the same weightless feeling you did. They felt the calm and the refreshing water that lapped at their core.

It only lasted a few minutes and you could feel Bucky and Steve returning to normal, their bodies no longer under the duress of life that wasn’t theirs.

Soon, it was all gone and when you opened your eyes your jaw fell slack.

The room that was once metal and tile was now completely green and covered with grass and trees, flowers and vines.

Bucky’s hand twitched in yours and your attention snapped to him. His eyes widened when he found you and he sat up quickly and pulled you into a tight hug.

He swore into your neck before pulling back and examining you, “You scared me to death.” He pulled you into another hug and you gladly returned it.

“I’m so sorry!” You said against him.

He pushed back to say something but then noticed the forest around him. “Where are we?”

Tony helped Steve to his feet and said, “Your girlfriend pulled a Persephone and made a garden outta nothin’.”

Thor helped both you and Bucky up and you followed the team as they headed for the way out.

“Wait,” You said and Nat and Sam, who had taken the lead stopped before opening the doors. “What about the other guards, this place is crawling with them.”

 Clint looked at Tony, who cleared his throat, and shook his head, “Who wants to tell her?”

Sam stepped up. “Yeah, no. There’s nobody else here anymore.”

You looked at them confused.

Nat shifted her weight and spelled it out for you. “They’re dead, Y/N. You killed them all. We practically walked in here.”

Bucky slipped his arm around you as your chest all but caved in from the shock. That’s why it had taken so long. That’s why you felt as flooded as you did. You hadn’t just taken the room, you’d taken the whole facility.

No, but-

“The nurse.” You muttered.

“What?” Bucky asked.

You turned back to where Wasikov has been shoved from the box and saw her still standing there with tear stained cheeks. When she realized she’d been discovered she bolted.

“I got her.” Rhodey called as his helmet fell back down over his face.

“She’s innocent!” You called. You looked to Bucky, “I can feel it.”

He kissed your forehead and led you to the doors. “I believe you. James will take care of her.”

 Tony turned to you and smirked, “So you wanna fill the rest of us in and tell us what the actual-”

“Easy,” Bucky warned.

Tony raised his brows in innocence, “I’m just saying, that was insane!” He jerked a thumb back towards the forest covered room.

The team walked and continued to follow Nat and Sam out at an exhausted pace.

“I mean, I wouldn’t mind knowing what you are.” Sam confessed.

“The explanation is simple,” Thor started. “She is clearly not of this world. Perhaps of a realm I’ve visited.”

Nat scoffed, “She’s a mutant. Easy.” She turned to you and gave you a sharp look. “And there’s nothin’ wrong with that either.”

You managed a smile at her and she winked back.

Bucky pulled you close as the rest of the team threw out their theories on your true origin.

“How ya doin’?” He kissed your temple.

You nodded and took a deep breath. “I’m...good. I think I’m really going to be okay. This place is destroyed, Wasikov is dead and I’m finally secret free with the people I care about most.”

Bucky smirked and nodded, too. “Good. Now what do you say to takin’ some time off so I can take my best girl out for a real date sometime.”

You looked at him and a tear filled your eye. “I’d really like that, Bucky.”

Buck stopped right there in the middle of the hallway, you could see the door that would lead out of the building just ahead, and he kissed you. You wrapped your arms around his neck and let yourself relax into him.

Eventually, you heard some hoots and hollers from the team and you both broke away embarrassed and grinning.

“Shut up!” Bucky shouted at them as he pulled you along. He turned back to you with a smile. “Let’s go home.”

* * * * * * * 

Forever Tags:

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[aliceaddellheidde]

Fatum

A/N: This is for @the-ss-horniest-book-club Lucky in love. March 22 – Recognition.

WORDS: 2403 (without translation)

WARNINGS: swearing, sex innuendos, death, fighting

PAIRING: Bucky Barnes x reader (eventually) {Soulmates AU}

DISCLAIMERS: Endgame happened, but only Thanos and his peasants died. English isn´t my first language so sorry for mistakes.

Moi, Rai and Parca are genderless & are using they/their pronouns.

This is soulmates au. When you get tattoo, your soulmate gets it as well on same spot. It glows when you touch.

This is multi-chapter story. 13/19

Today would be my grandpa´s birthday. I hope he's celebrating wherever he is.

Gif from here

Divider by @rainbowkisses31

„All right, gather up.” said Steve when you walked into conference room at 3 a.m.. You sat down next to Bucky and opened green binder in front of you. „Your next mission is in Florence, Italy.” „Yes!” you screamed happily. Men in room looked at you like you were a bad kid. „What? I never been in Italy.” Steve sighted and shook his head with smirk. „Back to mission. In Florence will be big ball for all wealthy people from around the world. We got echo that Hydra´s clients will be there too. You have to infiltrate in and get more info. Names, pictures, audio. For that, you will have those special contact lenses. As we know, they want to, or already started, with experiments on humans. Tony and Bruce made tests and analysis. It´s a gas that makes people obedient and comply every order they get. Tony made you new masks. It can look like nose piercing or birthmark. You put it on your face or behind your ear. When you touch it, it will transform into full head mask.” Just now you realised Steve had small silver gem on right side of his nose. He tapped it lightly and in mere seconds he was hidden behind similar mask like Iron mans´. „Cool.” Bucky was amazed. „It´s also bullet proofed. Same as your new suits.” Steve's face appeared again. „We don’t want to risk anything.”

Then wall opened and there were two mannequins on small stage dressed as woman and man. „These are your costumes.” Steve looked at you both. „You will go as spokeswoman for some rich billionaire. Buck will be your translator.” „You speak Italian?” you asked him. „Yes. There are many things you don’t know about me yet, doll.” he smiled at you and you blushed. He still couldn’t touch you, but since that incident at the gym he changed. He did small pranks on you and you to him but it was harmless. He wasn't as annoying as before. There was more teasing and fun between you two. Even your friends saw changes in your behaviour and were mocking you about it. You both said nothing to that. Steve cleared his throat. „Ok, back to work. Y/N, you're going to wear corset underneath your dress. It transforms into your suit once activated. There are more missiles and bullets. Bucky, you gonna have watch for it. Tap twice and you have your suit. Don’t forget to tighten up you tailcoat by pulling string inside of it. That's for your clothes. Now weapons.”

Steve picked up a bracelet with oval-cut blue gemstones. „Those are small grenades. You throw it and it explode in five seconds. Earrings are as trackers.” He put little oval gem on himself and it camouflaged at his shirt and become invisible. „It can change colours?” you asked. „Yes. For now it´s blue to match your dress. Bucky has grenades as cufflinks and trackers in waistcoat buttons. Bow-tie can be used as handcuffs.” And me? I don’t have them?” „You have! There is this reverse necklace. You put it around someone's wrists and if they wanna get out of it, it gets tighter.” „Great. And what I´ll do with dress?” „Rip it off.” „What?! It´s for sure expensive!” „I'm sorry. Tony couldn’t make ones that turns into trousers and your suit will be on them. It´s only solution.” You sighed. „Ok. But it´s not fair. Bucky will be dressed underneath his suit and I´ll be naked!” „There are clothes hidden in your car. So you can change. I´m sorry Y/N.” „Yeah, yeah. I´ll have talk about woman clothing with Tony after mission.” Both men laughed. „If mission goes south, your car will be ready to take you to safe house and we will pick when it will be safe. Clint and Natasha goes as your backup. Any more questions?” You and Bucky shook your heads. „Great. You are leaving in an hour. Everything you have in those binders F.R.I.D.A.Y. has too. If you will forget something. See you later.” He left and mannequins disappeared behind the wall. You sat in silence while you were studying and memorizing informations from papers in front of you. Bucky stood up at same time as you. „I'm gonna pack my things doll. Catch you in quinjet.” You nodded and walked to your room, quickly putting some necessities in bag.

You were ready to step inside Quinjet when Steve came to you. „Y/N! Wait.” „What is it?” „We got new info. There should be one of Hydra´s main men. We need to capture him. Are you ok to do it?” „Like seduce him and then knock him off?” Steve blushed. „Yeah.” „I´ll see what I can do.” He nodded and let go of your hand.

„Y/N, you have to see that! Come here!” screamed Bucky when you walked inside the Quinjet. You went down the stairs and found him staring at white car. „It´s Rolls-Royce ghost! Can you believe it?” He was happy like small child. „It´s just a car Borky.” You rolled your eyes and went back to main floor. „I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me up when we will be over France, thanks.” You said to Natasha. You were happy Tony listened to his friends and put beds into one part of jet for long flights. Bucky walked in minutes later, but you were already sleeping and he could watch you as he was falling asleep too.

„Ok, your make-up and hair is perfect.” Natasha was satisfied with her work. „Thank you. How long is it?” „Around ten minutes.” You quickly put your attire on and went to the car.

Bucky was there, waiting for you. „Ready Miss Holland?” he asked. „Yes Mr. Tom Walton.” „Great. I have to say our fake IDs look amazing.” „I agree. You remember our story?” „Yes.” He looked at his watch. „Five minutes. You look stunning by the way.” „Thank you. You are not bad yourself.” You smirked at each other.

Back door of jet opened and car moved forward and touched road with no problem. „Good luck you two.” you heard Clint´s voice in your comm. „You hear how quiet this beast is? It´s amazing.” Bucky started talking about the car, but all you could say was that it was white inside and outside and it had stars on the inside´s roof.

After thirty minutes ride and Bucky´s talking you stopped in front of huge building. He quickly walked around the car and opened the door for you. „Thank you Tom. I´ll wait inside.” He nodded and went to park the car. You walked into ivory-gold hallway. Two huge men stood next to glass door and glared at you. You smiled at them lightly and almost jumped when someone touched your arm. „It´s only me doll.” Bucky whispered into your ear. „Thanks God.” Together you walked up to guards, showed them invitations and they let you in. „Now lets mix in and find those douchebags.”

You followed some couple into ball room. There was so many people already. „I need a drink” you said to Bucky. You ordered Manhattan and Bucky had Martini. „You shouldn’t drink when you drive.” „First of all doll, I can´t get drunk. Second of all, our car has auto-drive.” „I forgot about F.R.I.D.A.Y.. You can´t be drunk?” „Nope.” he laughed at your face. „Lucky you.” He wanted to tell you something, but was interrupted.

„Mi scusi signorina. Posso avere questo ballo?” {Excuse me Miss. Can I have this dance?} asked handsome young man. You looked at Bucky. „He wants to dance with you.” You nodded and man softly took your hand and kissed its back. „My name is Fabio.” he said with thick accent. „Vivienne.” You gave your drink and bag to Bucky and nervously walked to dance floor. You were in this house five minutes and you were already dancing. Fabio started small talk and you played along. Every time you looked at Bucky, he was staring right at you. He looked angry or maybe jealous? But you couldn’t forget at your work. After three dances you had to have a break and also look for Hydra´s scams.

„I found five agents on second floor. Nobody interesting. I guess big fishes will come later.” said Bucky to you when you sat down to bar. „Having fun with your new friend?” „Nah. He's kinda funny, but his cologne is killing my nose.” He laughed and finished his drink.

You ended up dancing with three other men before you saw group of man with proud faces walk in. They had women next to them and you swore they were dressed too risky. One in white dress, next one with whole leg revealed and last one had some see-through parts. Lady-less men were probably bodyguards. You looked at Bucky. He was looking at women with wide eyes. Suddenly you felt too boring in your navy blue, backless dress with high thigh slit. „I need another drink.” you told him, but you weren't sure he heard you. He was too busy drooling over those women. Fabio found you at the bar and asked for more dances. And you accepted.

While ordering a third drink some man walked up to you. „Ciao tesoro. Sei solo qui?” {Hi honey. Are you alone here?} he asked. „I'm sorry, but I don’t speak Italian.” You looked at him and were shocked when you realised he's your target tonight. „It´s ok Love. I asked if you are here alone.” You smiled at him sweetly. „Yes. No man in my life. Except for my driver.” you laughed and he chuckled. „Dance?” „Of course!”

You felt uncomfortable with his hand on your ass, but you were hiding it perfectly. He told you straight away he's working for world organization and they will make world better. You told him your fake story about your boss and his desire to help them with weapons. „Beautiful, young woman and she knows her guns.” „Oh, believe me. I know how to use my other guns as well.” you flirted and pressed your breasts into his chest. He looked down on them and back to you. „Can´t wait to find out.” He pushed you more to him and his hand slipped underneath your dress on your naked arse. „So firm. I bet it will bounce so beautifully as I imagine.” You almost threw up. „How about small appetizer before main course?” he asked slyly and squeezed your hip. „Can we dance little bit more? I love holding on your muscles.” „Baby, they are even better without that tailcoat.” he whispered into your ear. „Hmmm, but you can be a gentleman and wait, right?” You batted your eyes at him and smirked when you felt his bulge against your thigh. „Merda.” {Shit} You laughed, turned your back to him and pressed your ass to his crotch. His hand was on your hip, the other one was ghosting around your breast.

You survived another dance and then he was dragging you upstairs. „Where are we going?” „I can´t wait any more.” „Can we eat now? I´m bit hungry.” „No.” he growled. „You had your chance pretty face. Now it´s time for real fun.” He harshly took your face into hand and kissed you. „Those lips will be amazing around my cock.” He pressed you into wall but you pushed him back. His face turned angry. „I don’t wanna be seen by others and ruin this painting. What is it?” „Number 5 by Jackson Pollock.” You repeated it aloud. „I bet it´s expensive. But we have something better, right? Lead the way.” He roughly took your hand and walked you into big room. His bodyguards behind you. „I thought it will be only us.” You innocently touched his tailcoat´s lapel. His hand circled around your neck and he threw you on chaise. „You really thought I´ll not share slut like you.” He smiled wickedly and undid his belt. His bodyguards as well.

„Get ready doll.” you heard Bucky´s voice in your comm. Seconds later he kicked out the door. Bodyguards turned to him and he smacked them with his left arm. Man next to you took out a gun and aimed it on you. „What are you?” „Avengers, mother fucker.” You changed into your suit and jerked gun of idiot´s hand before he knew what's going on. „General Jacopo Abruzzo, you're under arrest.” „Not so quick.” He pushed some button from his pocket and you heard people screaming downstairs. „Shit! What did you do?” „What was our plan. You all will listen to Hydra now!” You angrily knocked him out and searched his clothes. Bucky was warning Natasha and Clint. To your surprise they already had ten Hydra agents. „He´s clean.” „We have to take him. Get down!” Bucky screamed when more men came upstairs in masks. „Nat, we have to get people out of here! They can´t breath that gas.” „Working on it.” There was big explosion and building shook. „Done.” She said proudly. „We have it under control here. Police coming. You two get out of here!” „Ok.” Bucky was fighting last man and you shot him. „Thanks Doll.” There were more coming from foyer. „I´ll take him. Cover me.” With that he jumped out of the window with General over his shoulder. You shot one more man and jumped out too. „F.R.I.D.A.Y. car!” you screamed. „Ready Miss Y/N.”

You had time to put handcuffs on General before Hydra´s agents were shooting at you. You quickly put him on back seat and Bucky started the car. „Safe house F.R.I.D.A.Y. and get them off from us.” „Yes Sergeant Barnes.”

There were cars exploding and some city property damaged, but you managed to escape and come to safe house. Bucky took General inside, you took your bags and F.R.I.D.A.Y. turned car invisible. There was small cellar under the house where you tied Jacopo to a chair only in his underwear, blindfolded and mute.

Tired, you didn't even realised you still have your dress and suit on. You walked into single bedroom and found Bucky standing in the middle of it. „There is only one bed.” he said plainly. „I'm taking left side.” you said fast and hurried into bathroom before he could see your red face. What you didn't know was that Bucky had same problem and his suit was too tight for him now when he realized he´ll sleep with you in same bed.

[wildflowerwattpad0217]

Avenging Riverdale: Riverdale x Avengers/ Sweet Pea x OC!Tony Stark’s Daughter. My Reaction After Completing it and A Year Of Working On It.

This will include spoilers to my fanfic her is the link if you want to read it:

Avenging Riverdale

Masterlist

One paragraph is one chapter.

(not a chapter) Im going to be honest, in my mind their are two sections of Avenging Riverdale. Before my Brain Surgery and after because if you have read my fanfic all the way though, Author Notes and all, you know that I had to stop writing Avenging Riverdale for awhile so that I could focus on healing from that.

A trigger warning, good. Two part cast. Prologue. Tally is in deep shit. Steve picked her up and took her hungover ass to the living room. To Riverdale she goes. The horrible fake screenshots. I stopped doing that though because I couldn't find one for a group chat. Her and Tony's fights are rough. She snuck out to a soup kitchen. I feel bad for abandoning that. Cap found out. Tony put a tracker on her. Wtf but they are getting along. Now the Avengers are worried tho. They are shook they are getting along. After her dad became Iron Man things went downhill in her life.

Welcome to Riverdale. 'Murcia is Cap's group chat name. Short Stark is Tally's and Deadpool just got in it. His is World's Biggest Cry Baby. Peter's explanation of how he knows Deadpool is the most Gen Z thing ever. MJ is Tally's Slut. Tally is MJ's Bitch. Hello Cheryl Blossom.

Bucky has been eating Tally's cereal. She's acting betrayed. Veronica is surprised she didn't kill him. She heard someone mispronounce her name. She corrected them. Betty Copper. Kevin Keller. Kevin is fan-girling. She has blueberries. Jade Keller. Jade is trying to hate on her and her family. Cat Andrews. Jade is dragging her by the wrist while Cat is acting like this is a completely normal thing. Andre Clayton. Jade and Tally would've made a great couple. God damn my crush on Malachi and Sweet Pea. Andre is questioning why Jade just kidnapped Thalia Stark amd why she's at Riverdale High. Tally is questioning why there are so many redheads.

Betty warning Tally about Jade. Song writing with her new friends, Jade, Cat and Andre. She's allergic to roses. She doesn't want to talk about her family problems. The Welcome Back Dance. Archie Andrews. Jade and Tally are dancing together. I swear to god my gay-dar is broken. She rejected Reggie Mantle.

MJ being possessive on insta. Thalia punched Reggie Mantle. It's so weird looking back and seeing Tally not know what's going on her mom. Bucky trying to be a supportive boo. The first mention of Nick St. Clair. Her telling Jade what happened. Jason Blossom's body being found.

Omg, I published chapter 5 for 100 reads. That seems so long ago now that the book is almost at 45k reads. Tony and Pepper are getting married.... I didn't get them married until Endgame. Tony and Tally are going to Pop's. She is not at liberty to answer the question of whether or not she jacker War Machine's suit just so he would do the macarena without a lawyer. Bucky, it's her job to make you feel old.

Hydra nightmare. She's talking to her dad about the nightmare. Then she was like now that we had a hard time going down to the basement to tinker. Whether she wants to admit her or not I wrote her a lot like her dad. Malachi. Malachi obviously cares about Tally. Malachi knows that Nick St Clair hurt Tally. They had sex. I'll be honest with you, I wasn't sure if in the end she was going to end up with Malachi or sweet pea at this point I was still debating it. Malachi kept her hair brush.

Tony just apologized to her for pushing. Jade just stole her for a minute. Malachi left hickeys. I love Tally and Bucky's relationship. Tally is Pepper's maid of Honor. Tony's cooking?

Jade now knows about Malachi. Veronica brought roses in his school and Tally starred sneezing. Tally telling Reggie I don't need the Avengers to kick your ass.

Kevin knows about Malachi now. Nat as chasing Bucky. I love how tally is a moderator for these little fights. Tony is going to spar with Tally, he's going to get his ass kicked so hard. Bucky that $50 on tally. Cap betted $50 on Tony saying that her emotions would get the best of her. Tally won. But Tony is blowing it off like oh I let you win. Thalia Stark got a pep rally who would ever see the day. Tally thinks her dad's hiding something from her. Jughead expected her to have a stick at her ass. I love tally I really miss writing her. It's because of lines like Tony Stark is my dad, iron Man's just suit that just really make me miss her.

That was really sweet and it almost made me cry I forgot I wrote that part. Cheryl just got arrested for lying. Tally proving her genius. Reggie asked her on a date.

The Avengers just found out she's going on a date, they're not exactly happy well, the male Avengers aren't especially since she punched the guy in the face. Pepper is getting emotional. Cap answered the door. Mantle is shook. After the date, he dropped her at home and closed the door before he had a chance to kiss her.

Reggie mantle trying to slut shame tally. She is pissed, she ran into that boy's locker room. She's threatening to expose his dick pics. Which he thinks that it matters that she's not in New York anymore when she's the one with all the security clearance and she's Thalia fucking Stark. The extra points she got just because Reggie met The Avengers. Everyone keeps reminding her murder is illegal. Tally wants to destroy his car, Nat is like go for it and everyone's like Nat, no do not influence her to do this. Rhodey it doesn't think Tony should be supporting her in this. She got her revenge. Mantle is pissed, just actually wanted it. Her dad had a screaming match with the principal.

Malachi is starting to miss her. Toni Topaz. Sweet Pea. Fangs Forgarty. FP Jones. Beck Oliver. And Sweet Pea's nickname is born, Sunflower. Toni loves her. Mantle tried to apologize, but it was a shit apology so she blew him off.

The drive-in is being bought. Malachi wants me to come over after school. Malachi asked her out. He's giving her time to think about it. Family dinner.

Really bad nightmare. Then she had a panic attack because of the nightmare. Tony got pops burgers for breakfast.

Malachi and tally are officially in a relationship. The meeting of the New York friends and the Riverdale friends. Her dad's wearing an iron Man onesie. Steve is wearing Captain America pajamas. Clint is wearing a big bird onesie. Her dad is leaving from New York tomorrow to present an invention and wants her to go.

She is staying in Riverdale. Her dad asked her to stay away from The lodges. Tally you telling off Cheryl. Steve you fucking snitch. Talking about Tally's pranks. Peter is worried about her.

The accords. Tony wants her opinion on it. She thinks it's the most stupid idea ever. The governor wants her to sign it but she's refusing to. He doesn't want her to sign it either. She knows more about her mother than he's talking about. Honestly it is so weird looking back at this and having her mom not being revealed like this.

The accords meeting. Tally just walked out of school to be there. Tony knows he fucked up.

Rest in peace Peggy Carter my queen. Yes Nick, help her stop the fight in a Target parking lot. Tally is such a mom. When tally even bosses the King around, threatening to reveal his internet browser history. She just compared them all the toddlers. She just met Ant-man. Ruby Lodge is her mother.

Ruby Lodge also happens to be Hiram Lodge's little sister. Tally was born in Riverdale. I really abandoned the UN plot line.

Her and Jade are going to sing at the variety show. Take A Hint for the audition tho with Mantle in the crowd. Josie wants to talk to her alone. Veronica is pissed she didn't her they were cousins. Dinner party at the Pembroke.

Deadpool. After the variety show her and Deadpool are on the roof eating chimichangas. She's helping Betty look for her sister. She's going to go clubbing with Veronica, Kevin, Jade, and mantle. Cap is really easy lie to. Malachi is there and he's cheating on her.

She called Malachi a dirty mouthed whore. She just got a package from the Ten Rings. PROJECT INTERMISSION. right now she's thinking Hydra in the 10 rings are working together. She can't go to Polly's baby shower because she's doing some investigating of her own.

Soup kitchen talking to the serpents. Tony just asked what's the tea. Tony has so much faith in his daughter taking over Stark industries it's so sweet. Her and Cheryl are starting over because tally gave her some really good advice about being a female daughter getting ready to become a CEO.

Another letter from the 10 rings. Chuck is back. Jugheads surprise party. I forgot I put Cat's bibble addiction in here. The ones that watched Victorious will know what I'm talking about. I think Tally's birthday present is the best one he is received for a while. Cheryl wanted to know about the scars on her back during the game of secrets and she even it was like exposed herself basically she really didn't care though. To the Southside with Sweet Pea.

They really want to challenge Tally at call of duty. They're playing never have I ever. Toni knows about what happened.

Her mom was a serpent, and she went to the serpent's for help. Everyone is surprised that tally is a serpent by blood.

Her father told the truth. Jade scares Joaquin. That's cute, Sweet Pea thinks he can be tally in a game of pool.

She won. And sweet pea is confused why she is open about almost everything but her ex. They had sex. Tally is saying that they can't date because of everything that's going on and she doesn't want to put him in danger. Tally is in deep shit.

Tony and Tally had a big fight. Tony's kind of suspicious of tally right now because she's been acting off. Steve heard something about project intermission. Tally is terrified that Hydra is going to kidnap her.

They're still asking about project intermission. FP was just arrested for the murder of Jason blossom. They're holding an intervention for tally because they're worried about her. Malachi what are you doing there I don't remember this.

He regrets cheating on her. Malachi can read her like an open book. The blackmailed him into cheating. Tally just save Fred's life I forgot that's how she gets kidnapped. Alice Cooper is Thalia's godmother. She's dead. I wrote this and I'm about to cry. Someone stole the body. Project intermission.

Tony freaked out at the mention of the 10 rings. She's alive. The Avengers are finding out what happened with Nick St Clair.

Jade really just spilled everything to them I mean I would too if meant getting my best friend back but still. Tony went to go see Malachi. Malachi said he was more afraid of tally than he is of Tony. But he's still told him a lot.

Tally has powers. Thalia is so sarcastic I love her. Tally was able to send a message to them. By the time they got there the Hydra base was in flames and she was walking out of it. They forced her to go to the hospital where everyone was waiting. Tony tried to keep her in her in the hospital room but she was like no❤️.

The sexual tension between her and Sweet Pea tho. Interview by Sheriff Keller. Welcome home party. The Whyte Wyrm. Sweet Pea wants a slurpee. Toni accidentally ate a weed brownie.

Fangs has skittles in his jacket? FRIDAY you sassy AI. Movie night code red. Tangled vs The Conjuring. Nat has Thor in a choke hold. I always forget that Rapunzel's name translates to Lettuce. They all suggest movies and fight it out. First one is Sweet Pea vs Tally. I FORGOT I BROKE THE FOURTH WALL. Tally won. Tony is having a talk with Sweet Pea. Tally doesn't think Hydra is done. Imma be honest I don't remember most of this because the close it get to when I had my surgery the more fucked my memory became.

Reggie is calling her the walking dead. Swalia date. This is going to be adorable.

The memes tho. They ended up watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Things got heated then Tony texted tally. Her and her dad ended up working on the Impala when she got home. Tally told Reggie to fuck off. Her adoption papers came in so that she will legally be Pepper's kid. Archie's an idiot.

I love Pepper. Sweet Pea and Tally are officially dating. Jade and Kevin are freaking out. Her dad is freaking out not like Jade and Kevin. Cat is pissed at her brother. Bulldogs and Serpents showed up. Jade, Cat, Veronica and Tally stopped the fight. She headed to Sweet Pea's.

My fake insta posts were the best. Beck, Fangs and Sweet Pea just got arrested. Nick St Clair is coming to town. Mantle vandalized her locker. Apparently the same thing happened to her mom. She's not going to talk about Nick St Clair.

Tally telling Archie to keep an eye out for Nick St. Clair. Date night with Sweet Pea. He took he took her their hideout. She's contemplating filing a police report on Nick St Clair. They had sex in a treehouse.

Nick St. Clair is back. Veronica doesn't know shit. She finally told her dad. She going to report him. She told Veronica. Veronica confronted him at the party and now everyone at the party knows. She went to SVU. Then she went to MJ's.

They are going to arrest him at the open house. He has been arrested.

No more secrets? Holy shit. She now knows Alice Cooper is her God Mother. Really Tony? Why did you call her out in front of everyone? You could've just talked to her. He wants her to see a therapist. St Clair had a bail hearing. No bail. Southside High was raided. When he only like Sweet Pea because he's taller than Cap. Tally didn't realize it. Drag Race. Malachi vs Tally. Bucky is so chill about it.

(So Chapter 47. Is the where you guys find out that I am having surgery) Sweet Pea finds out about Malachi. Sweet Pea feels betrayed, angered. They're having a fight. Sweet Pea is afraid that because she kept this one secret EX from him the next thing you know she'll be cheating on him. Tally just told him I don't want anyone else. They said I love you. The drag race. Tally won fair and square but Malachi still thinks she cheated. Tony scheduled the appointment.

Apparently you can't teach Thor how to cook. Tally isn't allowed in Asgard. Tally just called Vision a toaster. And in response Tony said don't call your little brother a toaster.

Family dinner. Everyone is there. Sweet Pea just got there. Thalia is the moderator. Nick Fury scares him. They are grilling him. Mario Kart tournament. Cap won.

Sweet Pea sending her bad pick up lines. MJ approves. Jughead asked for a favor. FP is getting out of prison.  Sweet Pea and Tally are talking about their future. (This is the last chapter I published before my surgery)

FP's retirement party. Tally inviting Sweet Pea to the Avenger's Christmas party and New Years Eve party and everyone else.

Her first appointment. Afterwards she went to the Wyrm. FP wants to talk to her. Tally has a spare key.

Social media special.

Trial of Nick St Clair. He lost.  Southside High has been shut down. Jade's period is late. Jade is pregnant. Welcome to Riverdale High Southside Serpents. Mantle being a dick.

The uniforms. Message from Hydra, her mom is alive.

She's known. (Srry, this is when my short term memory was hell so I don't remember it.) Her mother is a hydra agent and was using Tony. She even talked to her when she was kidnapped. FP isn't happy that Ruby lied to them all.

Sweet pea trying to stand up for tally when Jughead was trying to use her Fame for peaceful protest now that's awesome but Tally's okay with this because it's a peaceful protest and something she agrees with and told him it's okay. They bugged his trailer. They have the tesseract from Odin's Vault testing against Tally's blood panel. It keeps calling her name.

Even though they told her not to tell sweet pea she did. Peaceful protest. The statue had no head the next day and tally woke up with a fever, despite the super soldier serum. And she has a fever. Bruce thinks it's because of the tesseract because they have similar energy they're fighting dominance. Next day she's feeling better, and is being questioned by the sheriff.

Foreshadowing much. She's realizing that she was born to her mother just become hydras soldier. Tally's idea is that well her mom's playing chess they have to play poker. Sunnyside is getting evicted.

Her mother is at the Wyrm. Hello Ruby Lodge. That was intense. Tally just thanked Pepper for being her mom. FP trust her.

Veronica's confirmation. Jughead and Betty found the head. Back at the Wyrm. Tall boy was the one who did it. Going to Lodge Lodge.

I think that's an accurate description of Cheryl. Jughead had to reassure them that everything was fine. The Jughead Veronica kiss. They get to stay in Sunnyside trailer park.

Hiram Lodge bought the Riverdale register. The break-in. They decide to go after tally instead of Veronica because you know she's a Stark. That was a mistake because they isolated her and her room and she was able to overpower one of them and take their shotgun away. She also paged her dad. Hiram Lodge owns pops. Ethel dumped a whole strawberry milkshake on Veronica. Reggie being a dick. Ruby Lodge broke into sweet peas trailer talk to him.

Ruby wants to make a deal. Basically what happened with Malachi where he cheated to protect his sister. Ruby said she wants to make sure her daughter is dead inside. Cheryl's missing. Sweet pea has been distant. Sweet Pea is drinking away sorrows. And he cheated to protect his little sister and his mom.

Jade slapped him. Tony is there. Fangs sent her a photo of Sweet Pea cheating. She's questioning everything. The Avengers want to kick his ass. She went to his trailer. Swalia is over until they get their shit together. Carrie The Musical.

She went to Malachi. She went there for help but they ended up sleeping together. They agreed to be one time thing. The plan started, Malachi would pick her up from the musical the opening night. Ruby stopped them, saying she would kill Malachi if she didn't go with her. into which Malachi admits that he still loves her. But she loves sweet pea. The tranqed her and she woke up in a chair. 5 months later she was in Sweden by herself safe and sound. What you saw an article about Archie Andrews being questioned for a murder. And she thought she might have evidence for it or could get it so she's going back to Riverdale. Then flashback 5 months ago Tony's point of view, Malachi showed up to the school after Midge was murdered. Tally is prime suspect right now. She killed a hydra agent. Then 5 months later. Tony is a pops when he sees his daughter walk in with blonde hair.

She got lectured from Steve about running off for 5 months. She wants to tent city. Her and Sweet Pea had a good to talk. Ruby Lodge.

She just wants to talk. Ancient Norse prophecy. Tony asked Thor and he gulped. There is a prophecy and Thor and Loki believe it to be about Tally. Odin agrees. In the final battle she dies. Thornhill.

Ghoulies. Malachi questioning Penny Peabody's motives and then putting the fear of Tally. Jughead wondering what that was about. The iCarly reference though. "If you ever do that again you're grounded for... Till college." "For till college?" "For till college!"

(So the reason I kind of stopped doing the Instagram post was because after my surgery I kind of just lost all creative initiative to do it.) The video tally turned in was ruled of questionable origin. Thalia Stark is under arrest. I don't remember this plot line. They don't have a very solid case. Matt Murdock, Tally's lawyer, wants to push the case to New York. Charges were dropped thanks to Nicholas fury. Archie pleaded guilty, Malachi is leaving. He wants to see her before he leaves. Tally told him he would hold a special place in her heart. Riverdale high, next day.  They want to get Hiram Lodge arrested.

Sweet Pea and Tally are talking about what happened and Tally finally said what's been running through her head. Thalia is Jade's child's godmother. She told Jade about the prophecy.

Tony is acting weird at The mention of a game that hit Riverdale. Ghoulie hideout with Penny and Ruby. She scared the shit out of Penny Peabody. Veronica's grand opening. Tally is willing to let Sweet Pea try to earn her trust back. They kissed... No, they had sex. The manual.

Flashback episode. Secrets and sins. tally roasting her father. Ruby and Hiram arguing. The Ascension party. Tony basically explained everything to his daughter.

Sweet peas playing the game that Tony told her not to and she asked him not to. She said if you can please playing the game the deal is off so he said well done the deal is off and walked out. She's heartbroken. Archie prison fight club. Since tally is the closest thing they have to a trained doctor she is the one that's going to be at the bunker ready to patch Archie up. sweet peas apologizing. Starting Hiram lodges case.

Swedish Mafia. Sheriff Minetta grilling Tally. Casino night. Sweet pea and her hooked up again. Sweet Pea asked her on a date. After good advice my father she accepted it. When he came to pick her up Tony threatened him saying you already cheat on my daughter again I'm going to kill you which I think is Fair. After a good date he asked tally to be his girlfriend again. She said yes.

Cap wanting her to join RROTC. Not tally paying for Fangs mom's hospital bills. According to Pepper Starks are caffeine dependent insomniacs. Tally had cancer. Thor smashing a toaster. Cheryl the bitch.

Tally helping Sweet Pea study for SATs. Hiram got shot. Fangs is back in the Serpents. FP is Sheriff. Ruby Lodge. Half-sister Alicia von Strucker.

Sweet Pea is worried. Alicia meeting Sweet Pea. Jade's water broke. Thalia regrets not being there for Jade. She gabe her sister a nickname. Captain America Fitness Challenge. To the hospital to see her god child. Violet Thalia Oliver.

Alicia is 100 percent Ruby's daughter. Josie tried to ask sweet pea to go to her mom's wedding with her, Sweet Pea denied. Thalia defending her sister to the Avengers. The Pretty Poisons beat up Sweet Pea and Fangs. Tally rushed over to the Jones trailer where she had a run kn with Jughead's mom. She doesn't like Starks. Jughead now knows about her prophecy. Tally meet Jellybean and calls her an adorable human being. Jellybean fangirling. Jughead trusting Thalia with his life.

Jughead's mom being skeptical af. Tally didn't trust her. Chemistry Lab break in. Jughead asked her to help deal with it, as a favor. Kurtz just called her Malachi's ex-bitch. Sweet Pea is pissed but Tally's got it. After a little violence. She's going to go call Malachi. He gave some food advice. She made Jughead promise something. She caught Kurtz trying to kill Fangs. Jughead made her let him go. Sister bonding time.

Alicia's life story. The Gargoyle King sent her a message. Tally is keeping it a secret from Sweet Pea. FPs 50th.

HEATHERS PART 1. Call from Detective Benson, telling her Nick St. Clair is getting released because of 'overcrowding'. The Avengers are pissed, so is Sweet Pea. Tally is playing Veronica Sawyer. Alicia came to see her sister at rehearsal and brought her a red bull. Party. Okay, I'll admit that was a bad pun. Big Fun. She was tipsy for a second because of Asgardian beer. She steps outside, Ruby is there. She threw up on her biological mother's shoes. Tbh I tried to put more references to the musical in here. Dead girl walking. Practice next day. Everyone finding Nick St. Clair got released and them being pissed. Cheryl wants to castrate him, Reggie agrees. Que Nick St. Douchebag's entrance.

HEATHERS PART 2. When I published part 2, Chadwick Boseman passed away. Rest in Power. Sweet Pea and Archie holding her back but everyone who know exactly what happened was ready to beat his face in. Nick called Tally a ticking time bomb. He mentioned the prophecy. Tally threatening him. Tally has some explaining to do. Her going to Sheriff Jones to get a restraining order. Tally shading Steve. Seventeen. Dr Stephen Strange saved her life. Alicia texted her to meet her. She gonna blow up the school. Alicia cuffed her in vibranium cuffs, she called Shuri. Dead Girl Walking Reprise (What a bop tho) Kevin met her at the door she told him to evacuate the building as silently as possible. Boiler room. The fight for the gun. Alicia was dead. She was able to deactivate the bomb. She went outside where everyone was waiting and trying to calm Sweet Pea and Tony down. Then she saw Ruby and saw red. FRIDAY record the convo. Tally just said it's over amd told her mom to fuck off. Ruby is pissed because it's not her ending. Tally just walked away and kept walking. I'mma be honest these are my favorite chapters.

Since the funeral, tally isolated herself in a depression. Now she has a text from an unknown person to meet her at Sweetwater River. Chic. Malachi came to see her. They had a good talk, he made her realize some things.

Cheryl preaching the farm agenda to tally who's just trying to grieve her sister. So she gives Cheryl a verbal SmackDown. Toni being pissed about it. Tally doesn't want to go to prom, so instead she wants to take sweet pea on a date in New York. Betty's dad's prison bus exploding. Veronica being confused on why they would miss prom. I'm telling explains it she's like well I know when that used to be your preferred choice of setting. He's asking him to move on after the prophecy is complete and she's dead.

Veronica's Pop deed is fake. Veronica wants Tally to fight her father. Tally is unsure about it, she could kill her dad with a single punch. Toby agrees the best bet us Tally. Archie taking the ring with Hiram, could possibly get Archie killed. Fight night. He broke her nose. Tally did more damage to him of course. Hiram Lodge has been arrested. When her family and sweet pea find out that she was the reason Hiram Lodge got arrested in the first place. They were starting to get ready to go into business together and tell you didn't want Lodge industries to fuck over Stark industries. When she figured out moves from Avatar to last Airbender and legend of Korra. Her mom escaped from prison.

Avengers discussing protection for tally. Package for tally. Thalia Stank. It was from the gargoyle King but she played it off in front of the Avengers and just left. To go to the hunting cabin of the blossoms. Her mom is there. Time for the final quest. The first one is for Archie the grizzled beast. I love tally. Because when Archie says oh crap, she says I think you're allowed to say fuck in this situation. Archie wins though. Tally had to play Russian roulette to get her in with the swedish Mafia. The next task is for Veronica. All the chalices were poisoned so Betty and Veronica are both poisoned.

Tally's turn. The assassin card. Battle of Blood. Biological mother vs daughter. Thalia killed her biological mother. Jughead's turn. He had won. And finally Betty's turn. She shut off her dad's fingers. After Penelope give the order to kill them all Thalia made a giant barrier with her powers. The farm ascended, leaving Kevin behind. The Avengers were shocked about what happened.

Filler chapter. Therapist appointment. Pop's with her dad. Tally remembering. Sweet Pea checking on her. Sweet Pea wants to run away with her, maybe run away from all of it but tally knows she can't. Then the next week tally knew the prophecy would be complete.

The beginning of infinity war. Dr strange. Wong knows about the prophecy while doctor strange doesn't. Tony just trying to protect his daughter. Tally got knocked unconscious. Bruce woke her up, Tony and Peter Parker are in space trying to save Doctor strange and keep the time Stone out of thanos's hands. At the compound talking about what to do. Tally knows someone.

Tally dreaming of the infinity Stones and seeing Thanos. Shuri. Things have entered the atmosphere. Tally's iron daughter suit. The fight has begun. Cap saying fuck. Thanos is coming for vision. Telling us what's happening to the stones right now. She bloodbended Thanos but the Avengers couldn't get to Thanos quick enough to get the glove off so he snapped. They lost. Tally is gone and so is half of the universe.

Nat is regretting not getting to Thanos quick enough to get to the glove off of him while tally bloodbended him. Tony found out that she's able to bloodbend. Tony passing out. Going to go kill Thanos. Nat and Thor explaining Thalia to Rocket. Thor went for the head.

5 YEARS LATER. Natasha's point of view. Meeting, Barton murdering people, Steve stopping by. She's remembering tally, reminiscing with Steve. Scott Lang. Quantum realm. Tony's point of view. Morgan Stark. Them telling the plan to Tony. Him thinking it's risky. Tony is salty about the fact that if they were close enough when tally bloodbended than Thanos they could have been done they could have won but they lost. Scott's trying to play with his heartstrings, mentioning tally, his first born daughter.

Bruce banner/hulk talking about the time travel thing . Tony's POV. While washing dishes he looks at a photo thinking of his daughter, tally. He decided he has to do it to see her again. He figured out time travel. Pepper finding out you figured out time travel. He's going to do it. Natasha's POV next morning. Scott time traveling going wrong. Steve POV. Walking outside seeing car pull up. Cap getting his shield back. But there's something Tony has to do before he gets to work.

He went to go see Malachi. He want to let Malachi know that there was hope. Malachi gave him a flash drive of Tally's research guy she entrusted him with five years ago. Clint testing the time travel machine worked. When Tony opened the flash drive he realized that a lot of it was mapped out for him already. Tally made a video titled if we lost. Time travel time. New York 2012. Time Stone.

Tony's POV, then Steve's POV. Not Steve saying hail Hydra. Tony's POV. Scott giving 2012 Tony a heart attack. Tesseract sliding to Loki. Steve POV. "That is America's ass" I think that's all I have to say for that part. Bruce's POV. Him telling her that Strange gave it away. She gave him the time stone. Tony POV. Deciding to go to New Jersey.

1970. Tony's point of view. Tony seeing his dad and getting the tesseract. Steve's point of view. Getting Hank Pym to run down the hallway. Tony's POV. Talking to his dad. Avengers compound. Natasha was gone. Grieving Natasha. Making the gauntlet, Thor going to stop his fingers then stop him Bruce snapping his fingers. It worked. Then disaster struck a missiles blew away the Avengers compound. Thanos sat waiting for the Avengers. Thanos vs Steve, Thor and Tony. Tony getting knocked out. Steve POV. Picks up Thor's hammer. Everyone is back. Tally is back.

Tally POV. Tally and Tony reuniting. Female team up without Nat. Tally took the stones before he could snap."You are so fucked." She turned to dust. Tony's POV. She started glowing. He grieved. Sweet Pea is at Stark Tower. He found out she sacrificed herself. The funeral. Tally is alive.

The scene with death. When Tally woke up she didn't remember anything. Everyone is shocked. Wanda jogged her memory. She explained everything. She met Morgan.

Graduation. Tally's POV. She was the valedictorian. She's going to MIT. Sweet Pea proposed. When she graduated, taking on Stark industries, she made sure it was clear the weapons will never be apart of Stark Industries again. When Sweet Pea and Tally got married she found out she was pregnant. Sweet Pea's name is this is Nathan Mantle. In the end they had 3 kids. Nick St. Clair got killed by the Swedish Mafia. She is the Iron Daughter.

Overall, I'm going to admit I don't remember writing half of this story because of my brain surgery and I was working on it during this. I love this story, it is my first time reading it all at once but I am partial to it because I worked on it for almost a full year and is the first Riverdale x Avengers crossover fic on wattpad. There is somethings I was contemplating, like who she was going to end up with, if she was going to die in the first snap or not. I was also going to do a part where she goes into hiding with Harley from Iron Man 3 and works as a waitress in a little diner as a cover, saying she's Harley's cousin, wearing a wig and contacts but I felt that'd make the story too long. But there are a few things I'm iffy about so 9/10.

[lovelyirony]

Lyric prompt! "With no-one wearing their real face It's a whiteout of emotion And I've only got my brittle bones to break the fall"

Tony Stark was in the nearly-brand-new luxury car that his father Howard was driving. His mother had put in a tape of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker and Tony was nowhere to be found. 

They think he died in the woods due to a substantial amount of blood found soaked into snow, and the fact that it was on a twisty road with no help coming until the following day, and the temperature was well and truly freezing.

It was snowing. Snow covered tracks. 

They technically never found Tony Stark. He was the cause of multiple conspiracy theories, such as: 

1.) He had died earlier and the Starks had been replacing him until it was impossible to. His double’s name was Arno, which was a name that was very unfortunate and also quite ugly.  

2.) Tony Stark, unable to deal with the pressures of his life, had run away and was currently running a coffee shop in Portland. This was substantiated with a picture of a barista with remarkable similarities, and the article got substantial clout on the internet until the barista, named Robert, had said “please take this down all I’m doing is loving my wife and making coffee I can’t handle much more than that.” 

3.) Tony Stark had run away from his life and the strained relationship with his parents (complete with picture analysis), and wanted to live his life in peace and quiet by himself and maybe have a regular existence while also lying low in the shadows and taking care of corporate criminals. 

The last one didn’t gain much traction. But it was the only one that was correct. 

(The last theory is credited to WARMACHINEROX, all caps and no spaces.) 

Tony Stark became Tony Jarvis, and while people say he looks similar to the late Howard Stark, he laughs it off and says that he was raised in upstate New York with cozy sweaters and a loving aunt and uncle who made the best damn hot chocolate in the state. 

People do not question this because outside of New York City, there really is nothing to learn about unless you’re into that sort of thing. And most people who ask are not. 

Tony Jarvis owns his own coffee shop that also doubles as a record/bookshop, because he is nothing if not resourceful. He always seems to have just the record you were looking for, or the right book to gift to a friend in times of trouble. (Whether or not you have known about it.) 

Kids walk down every Friday to treat themselves to a cookie and a book, sitting quietly and smiling as Tony asks them about class and helps out with math homework. He wears nice cardigans and talks to their parents when they’ve arrived. He likes dogs. And he wears scarves when it gets really cold. 

Of course Tony also tracks down corporate criminals and tends to make a right mess of things in a roundabout way, but he will take the occasional Saturday off to go to the farmers’ market and get a fresh bouquet of flowers, fresh-baked bread, and a nice blend of coffees from the shop down the street. 

It’s fun, really. Amusing at its most dangerous. 

They call him Iron Man. Might be because he’s designed a flying suit that he flies around in and his ability to get through systems is amazing, but more amazing is the fact that no one can get through his. 

Well, the only person who could--Colonel Rhodes--says the system is too complicated and it would take years to understand. 

Rhodes goes by Rhodey and is a great friend of Tony Jarvis. He reads to the children who want it on Friday and likes coffee. He also likes beating Tony at his game and ruining his strategies online. 

But he won’t crack the codes needed, and Tony likes that. 

-

Why did Tony become someone else? The answer is simple: he didn’t trust anyone that was in his life save for Edwin and Ana, and perhaps his mother. (But his mother would never leave someone like Howard. Tony’s not sure she even could.) 

There was underground dealings. Hydra agents that were supposed to be dead landing in profitable positions. And the pesky little fact that Tony didn’t like the way that Obadiah Stane handled things and was evasive and weird and he had a strange look about him. 

This doesn’t necessarily make him a villain. 

At least, until Tony found the files that were ordering an assassination hit on his family. 

And then he faked his death. Or his disappearance. Whatever. 

Now he’s wanted by the US government and SHIELD, the former of which is not important because they have the skillset of a toddler. SHIELD is much more important as they tend to hire people who are skilled, which is unfortunate for Tony. 

They hire people like Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow and the woman who gets front row tickets to see Rihanna. She has that type of energy, which Tony knows and is scared of. 

They have Bruce Banner on retainer, the scientist who is so blisteringly smart that Tony thinks if he ever sees him in real life, he’s gonna have to wear sunglasses. 

They also have Falcon. Enough said. 

Steve Rogers isn’t so much a threat because Tony is pretty sure that he could see “look at that!” and his head would turn in that direction, allowing a clean getaway. But Rogers can have the occasional good strategy. (More than occasional.) 

And Winter Soldier. Bucky Barnes. Oh, he’s cute. And dangerous. Mostly cute though. 

-

“He’s gonna kill you,” Rhodey reminds Tony, pushing a new shipment of books onto the shelves. “He’s gonna kill you and you’re gonna let him because when you like someone you think everything about them is cute and good.” 

“If he finds me,” Tony sniffs. “Of all the bookshops in New York, you think he’s gonna walk into this one?” 

As a matter of fact, yes he is. Bucky Barnes is not really the type of guy to have his life together. He knows how to fix a sink and make the pipes work better, and so he gets a discount on his apartment’s rent. 

But he thinks that he’s all-together while conveniently forgetting that he was trained for combat and not to be a human being and it’s not all that smooth, going from being a machine to being human. 

He forgets he has to buy coffee. 

This culminates in him realizing he has no hobbies outside SHIELD and Steve recommends finding a bookshop. 

So he does. 

The man who is running it is nice. He has glasses, a kind smile, and jams his hands into his cardigan. 

(His brain whispers that he’s doing it to not give himself away. 

Bucky ignores this because regular humans do a lot of things that aren’t like his targets. 

He should not have ignored this. Or maybe he still should. Either way.) 

Tony Jarvis is Tony Jarvis. No one else knows that up until about eight years ago, Tony Jarvis did not exist. 

And he’s looking at Bucky Barnes, who has quite the record for successful targets and also has a nice smile, apparently. 

(He’s wondering when the dental work was done. Honestly, he is.) 

“I’m...new to the area,” Bucky says. “And my friend suggested that I find a bookshop and sit down to read. Any recommendations?” 

“What’s your favorite genre?” Tony asks, as if he doesn’t know that it’s science-fiction and also mysteries. (Peggy liked to talk.) 

“I like mysteries. And science-fiction,” Bucky says. 

“Well then, I have some recs for you,” Tony answers, turning. “Let me get them to you. Also, do you like chocolate chip or oatmeal for cookies? They’re complementary for first visits.” 

“You can tell when someone first visits?” Bucky asks. 

“I have a good memory, and I would’ve remembered someone like you,” Tony says. 

(he’s so glad he’s faced away. his face is firetruck red and it’s not because he’s been blasting the heat ever since the temperatures dropped) 

The shop itself is cozy. Bucky gets sucked into a book about a space criminal. He’s never read anything like it, and he loves the way it’s written. 

He buys it and tucks it under his arm as he hears a soft chime from his phone. 

Meeting about the problem. be there asap

Bucky sighs, chewing the oatmeal cookie that he was given. 

He nearly drops it from his mouth. 

“Where do you get these?” he asks Tony. “These are the best things I’ve ever tasted, and oatmeal is my favorite!” 

“I, um, I made them?” Tony says. “I can forward you the recipe next time you stop by, if you’d like.” 

“Nah, that’s okay,” Bucky says. “They’re always better when someone else makes them, in my opinion. If that’s okay.” 

“Makes sense,” Tony says. “Have a good day!” 

Bucky smiles to himself. (Tony Jarvis has a rather nice smile. It’s kind.) 

- 

Meanwhile, Tony is sagged up against the wall. Bucky Barnes is now close. He will come back because Tony cannot make himself be mean to someone like him. 

But he can’t be caught. Not yet. 

Not when he’s planning on a total take-down. 

[just-dreaming-marvel]

SIXTY SEVEN - THE FERRY BOAT

LEGACY: A Tony Stark Daughter Story

MASTERLIST

< previous

Word Count: 1,700ish

Summary: Bailey goes with Peter to try to stop some bad guys.

I went in my sweaty gym clothes and iron suit. I took off the suit before getting on the ferry, wanting it close by but didn’t want the attention draw to me. Peter snuck aboard the ferry in his suit. I sat down as a passenger with headphones in, allowing me to communicate with Peter.

“Okay, KAREN,” Peter whispered, “activate Enhanced Reconnaissance Mode. And make sure that Bailey can hear it too.”

“Sure thing,” KAREN responded.

“He’s up front, main deck,” One man said as KAREN successfully connected my headphones to Peter’s suit.

“I hate this guy,” the another man said.

“It’s the guy from the bridge, right? Who’s that other guy?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered. “You were there not me.”

“Just keep me posted,” the first man said as the other stood up and walked away.

“There’s no record of him in my criminal database,” KAREN stated. “Incoming call from May Parker. Should I reroute to your heads-up display?”

“Why would she be calling?” I quickly asked.

“I can’t talk right now. I’ll call her back,” Peter responded. “Hey, dronie—“

“Dronie?” I tried to hide my laugh.

“Don’t make fun!” Peter said. “I didn’t have any other good ideas. Dronie, keep an eye on that guy. We can’t let anybody get away this time.” Peter moved up to the front of the ferry. “Who’s the guy on the left?”

“Mac Gargan,” KAREN answered. “Extensive criminal record, including homicide and HYDRA.”

“HYDRA?” I questioned. “How do they get everywhere?”

“Would you like me to activate Instant Kill?” KAREN asked.

“What the heck, Peter?” I exclaimed. “What kind of AI did Tony give you?”

“No,” Peter said, “KAREN, stop it with the Instant Kill already.” Peter paused. “Dronie, scan the ship for a white pickup truck.”

“Is that where they said the meeting is?” I asked. I moved to the seats towards the front of the ferry to get a better vantage point.

“We’ll see,” Peter answered. “Oh, this is too perfect.”

“What is it?”

“We got the weapons, buyers, and sellers all in one place.”

“Incoming call from Tony Stark,” KAREN interrupted.

“What?” I whisper shouted, confused. “You can’t answer it, Peter. Not now.”

“Don’t answer.” Peter commanded. But it was too late.

“Mr. Parker,” Tony greeted. “Got a sec?”

“Uhh..” Peter didn’t know what to say. “I’m actually at school.”

“No, you’re not,” KAREN stated, fortunately Tony was unable to hear that.

“Nice work in DC,” Tony continued. 

“Okay,” Peter nervously said.

“My dad never really gave me a lot of support and I’m just trying to break the cycle of shame,” Tony said. 

“Really?” I muttered, “Break the cycle of shame? You’re not really doing so hot with your actual kid.”

“Um,” Peter said, “I’m kind of in the middle of something right now.” 

“Don’t cut me off when I’m complimenting you,” Tony quickly said. “Anyway, great things are about to hap—“ The ferry horn sounded. “What is that?” 

“Um.. I’m at band practice,” Peter answered nervously.

“Thats odd…” Tony said, “Happy told me you quit band six weeks ago. What’s up?” 

“I gotta go,” Peter quickly said. “End call.”

“Hey,” Tony was angry. But the call was over.

“Peter,” I said, “What’s going on?”

“I’ll take those!” I heard Peter yell. I hurried over to the very front and watched as Peter used his webs to grab the truck keys. Peter jumped down. “Hey, guys. The illegal weapons-deal ferry was at 3. You missed it.” 

I watched him take down those men. I hadn’t seen him use his webs like that before. It was very entertaining. A guy came at him with an alien weapon connected to his hand. Guys were reaching for their guns.

“Woah, woah, woah,” Peter said, “Not so fast.” Peter flew the guys into the wall. “Are you guys okay? My bad. That was a little hard.”

“Do you need my help?” I asked.

“No, I think I got this… I got to say, the other guy was way better with that thing.” Peter refilled his web shooters. “I’m honestly. I’m— I’m shocked.” Peter was about to take down a few more men when,

“Freeze! FBI. Don’t move!” A few FBI officers popped out of no where. “Get on the ground! FBI!” They were aiming their guns at Peter.

“Wait,” Peter said, “What do you mean FBI?”

“The FBI, is the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” KAREN said.

“I know what the FBI means,” Peter answered, “but what are they doing here?”

“Tony must have called them,” I whispered to myself. All of a sudden, there were loud cutting sounds from the car area. The FBI turned towards the sounds. The vulture guy was there. 

“Get out of the way! Get out of the way!” Peter started yelling. I jumped down to him. The vulture guy started shooting. “Bailey, you need to go back upstairs.”

“No!” I grabbed onto him. The vulture shot again. This time hitting someone. Me. I grabbed my side. “Ah!”

“Bailey!” Peter shouted as he reached for me.

“I’ll be fine, remember,” I slowly said. “I’ll heal. Just stop him.” The vulture grabbed a car.

“Look out, look out, look out!” Peter yelled. “Move, move, move!” 

Peter tossed some FBI guys aside as he shouted, before he was slammed against a pole. I had to stop myself from yelling his name. I glanced down at my hand to see there was blood all over it. I looked to my side to see that it was still bleeding. It looked like it had no intention of healing. Why wasn’t I healing? I looked at Peter. He had grabbed onto the vulture by the foot with his webs. The FBI started shooting at the vulture. The vulture started shooting into the ferry. Peter tried to web him up, but the guy kept cutting the webs off of him. Peter got the gun loose from the vulture but it started to work by itself. The vulture flew away as the gun tore the ferry in half. I started to get weak. So as the ferry moved, I was easily thrown to the side. I hit against the railing and couldn’t get up. 

“Bailey!” I heard Peter yell. I couldn’t talk. The blood was coming out too fast. “KAREN give me an x-ray of the boat and target all the strongest points.” People were screaming. “Web grenade. Web grenade.” Peter kept saying. He jumped from each of the strongest points, trying to hold the ferry together with his webs. 

“Yeah, Spider-Man!” I heard a man yell. 

But them the ferry starting falling apart again. Water was gushing over. I gripped onto the rail and tried to pull myself up, slowly making my way to the stairs. I wasn’t fast enough though or strong enough. Something was wrong. I hadn’t felt like this since HYDRA had me. I tried to hold on as tight as I could as the ferry slowly tipped to the side before I felt the ferry slowly start being pushed together.

“What the hell?” Peter wondered, very confused.

“Hi, Spider-Man,” Tony angrily greeted. “Band practice, was it?” Tony was in the Iron Man suit pushing the ferry back together with his other gadgets on each side. The ferry came back together as I let go and slipped down the stairs. 

“Yeah, Iron Man!” I heard the same man as before yell. 

Tony then went the the bottom level and started quickly melting the ferry back together. A part of me was relieved that he was here, but the other was scared and still didn’t want to see him. I was scared of how he’d react finding out that I was here. 

“Mr. Stark,” Peter said, following him. “Mr. Stark!” But Tony ignored him. “Bailey’s injured.”

Tony paused. “What? Who?”

“Bailey,” Peter carefully said. “She should be at the front of the ferry. She got shot, she’s not healing.” Tony quickly flew to me. My vision was getting blurry.

“Bailey!” I heard Tony yell. My eyes were struggling to stay open. “Look at me kid! Keep your eyes open.” 

“I’m—I’m sorry,” I quietly said. “There’s… something… wrong.”

“It’s okay,” Tony whispered, “I have you.” He gently lifted me into his arms.

“Mr. Stark, can I do anything?” Peter asked. “What do you want me to do?”

“I think you’ve done enough,” Tony stated as we flew off. He held me close. I couldn’t figure out where we were headed. I was unable to keep my eyes open anymore. “FRIDAY, tell me how she’s doing. Call Helen Cho. Will she make it back to the facility?”

“Helen Cho is in the City and is on her way to the Tower,” FRIDAY answered. “She won’t make it to the facility, Boss. She’s not healing, she’s lost a lot of blood and is still continuing to lose some.” 

Tony went faster. Landing on the landing pad of the Tower, he rushed in and carried me straight to the Med-Bay. Pepper was already in there, FRIDAY having told her that something had happened.

“Oh my gosh!” She yelled. “Tony, what happened?” Tony ignored the question and set me down on the bed. “Tony, she’s bleeding out. Why isn’t she healing?” 

“I’m running some tests on that, Ms. Potts,” FRIDAY answered. I heard Tony’s suit open up. A hand touched my side.

I cried out in pain. “Ah!” It was getting harder to breathe. Quickly, a hand was on my face, gently rubbing my cheek, trying to calm me down. 

“I’m right here, kid,” Tony whispered. “I’m right here.” I heard the lab doors open and some foot steps. 

“Mr. Stark,” a lady said. “We’re going to need you and Ms. Potts to wait outside. We’ll take it from here.” I felt a gentle kiss on my forehead.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” Tony whispered. “Everything is going to be okay.” I heard him climb back into his suit and it shut around him.

“Where are you going?” Pepper asked.

“I’m going to talk to Mr. Parker,” Tony answered. “I’ll be back soon.” And he flew off and I passed out.

next >

[mobius-prime]

297. Free Comic Book Day Special - 2010

Hide and Seek and Destroy

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: James Fry Colors: Matt Herms

Unlike the last Free Comic Book Day special, which was mostly just a fun tie-in to the current plot of the comics, this one appears to be a "hook" of sorts. It spends an inordinate amount of time explaining to the reader not only what has just happened with the Iron Dominion, but basically everything that's happened since the first Robotnik died. It definitely has the vibe of like, hoping curious comic-book-shop-goers will pick it up and leaf through it and ultimately decide that this is a series they want to get into.

Ever since the Iron Dominion was defeated, Sonic has been taking a trip to the Eggdome every day, certain that this is where Eggman must have escaped to and wanting to find out what he might be up to. Eggman, for his part, has decided that for now it's best to lie low and pretend like he's not home, though he of course watches Sonic traverse his seemingly-empty base over a series of hidden cameras. He takes great pleasure in watching Sonic and cackling evilly to himself about how he'll never find where Eggman is hiding, and soon enough he'll strike back at the Freedom Fighters and Republic of Acorn.

That's a genuine goddamn "I didn't see you playing with your dolls again" moment and I am here for it. As Sonic slips inside the Eggdome and begins wandering its empty halls, a strange, plantlike being watches him from the shadows and… slobbers horrifically, talking to itself about how it can't believe Sonic is here after all this time. Eugh. Sure enough, right in the middle of his very detailed and specific thoughts about the finer points of the recent Iron Dominion invasion, Sonic finds his path blocked by the disgusting plant creature, which introduces itself as the Krudzu Hybrid Hydra. No, seriously, I mean it introduces itself.

So, show of hands. Who here remembers the Krudzu? This guy first appeared allllll the way back in the very first issue of this entire comic! Mind you, it wasn't the first first issue, given that the Sonic Miniseries came out before StH#1, but still, we're going back quite a ways for this one. Also, it turns out that Eggman isn't behind this one, as he's well and truly freaked out by the appearance of this thing. Snively explains to him that his predecessor created it from the seeds of the original Krudzu and designed it to combine itself with any robots it could find to strengthen itself, but he'd thought it dead when the bombs hit Robotropolis some time back. Eggman, at this, becomes very enthusiastic, certain that this thing is the key to his victory, and gets even more pumped when the Krudzu Hybrid Hydra explains to Sonic how it survived the explosions by burrowing a single tiny root into the ground, growing for some time, and then using any broken badniks it could find after the fact to make itself stronger. It thinks that Sonic should be utterly terrified by this news, but much to its chagrin, Sonic is actually pleased, thinking that Eggman's most recent forces have been boring and "not his style" and he appreciates the retro vibe of the old badniks.

And to think that Ian called the Classic Sonic purist ideology before it was cool. Sonic quickly rips the Krudzu Hybrid Hydra to pieces and walks away satisfied, but a moment later it rearranges itself and begins to beat Sonic in earnest, claiming that since it was hardy enough to survive a barrage of literal nukes there's no way Sonic's attacks could beat it. By this point, Snively has gotten in on the fun and is cheering the monster on, only to be surprised when Eggman walks away without a word.

…you know, as much as I've criticized various villains for doing exactly this many times before, in a way, I can almost empathize with Eggman here. Recently I've been stuck in a loop of starting new save files in No Man's Sky over and over because my second ship wasn't big enough, or my first base kind of sucked, or I didn't like the appearance of the overseer I ended up with. I straight up beat the game and then went "nah, I don't like this save file anymore" and started another new one. The point of bringing up my inability to actually stick with any project in particular is, feeling that to do something you're so passionate about, you have to do it right and have it go perfectly so you can savor it forevermore, is actually painfully relatable, I know not just for me, but for a lot of people out there. It's kind of played for laughs here, with Snively actually going to the back of the room to bang his head against the wall in frustration, but even here, even now, after having his revelation about the sheer unpredictability of Sonic, Eggman is still eager to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory just to ensure that everything goes exactly his way in the super duper final actual finale, sanity be damned. And that's exactly what happens - right as the Krudzu Hybrid Hydra is about to kill Sonic, the tiny golden bird that Eggman constructed flies down and gently taps it on the head.

The *light tap* *humongous mega-explosion* trope will never not be funny to me, honestly. Sonic is incredibly suspicious given that there's no way its sudden, unexplained self-destruct could be a coincidence, so as he leaves to rest and recuperate, he calls out to Eggman wherever he might be hiding and watching that he's going to keep coming back to find out where he is and what he's planning. Eggman merely cackles as Sonic legs it back home, ready for their next face to face encounter.