#is that the new tag if I get nonsense asks for the sake of ai data poisoning?

[controversial-blorbo-bracket]

will you bring a few things to support and allow me to do the things I want to do with the cheese wiz

As long as vriska is there and you threaten to kill me first

[sj-ficrecs]

1,000+ followers fic rec!

Recently noticed at some point a little while ago I passed 1,000 followers on this page! In honor of that here’s another fic rec of some good ones I’ve been reading lately. As usual, no specific order. 

PREVIOUS FIC RECS HERE!

(Hopefully this shows up in tags bc my last one didn’t & tumblr wouldn’t fix it) 

Thanks to @whimsicalrogers for this divider I’m using below :)

Bucky x reader:

3B by @softlybarnes Bucky x reader

“Bucky is used to being alone, so is the girl living in apartment 3B. He keeps to his routine, to crossing off amends. But mutual loneliness forges an unlikely friendship. Alone and reclusive, sweet and incredibly strange, with deep secrets and regrets, 3B has more to reveal than meets the eye.”

(un)cool by @belowva rockstar!Bucky x reader

“in the summer of 1973, after covering the howling commandos’ concert for a night, you - a young and inexperienced music journalist - accidentally end up following the up and coming band from new york city across the country. between shows, parties, backstage nonsense, interviews and failed attempts at writing a cover story for rolling stone magazine, you end up developing a love/hate relationship with their brooding, but devilishly handsome, guitarist james “call me bucky” barnes. (based on “almost famous”)”

Your Song by @summergrls​  Rockstar!Bucky x reader

“it’s not summer without you. or, that’s what your favorite rockstar always says. it’s all happening.”

Last Love by @wicked-mind Modern!Bucky x reader

“Based on the quote “He may be your first love but I intend to be your last” by Klaus Mikaelson.”

Remember Me by @wicked-mind​ Modern!Bucky x reader

“Y/N and Bucky were the unlikely match when it came to love, but they were inseparable since they met. After a fight, Y/N left to be a trauma surgeon in the military and returns without her memories. How will Bucky remind Y/N how she is the fire in his bones?”

Cake by @tellmealovestory (Part of the Something More universe) Modern!Bucky x reader

“The wedding plans continue as you and Bucky try to decide on a cake flavor.”

My Eyes by @invisibleanonymousmonsters Bucky x reader, past Steve x reader

“Steve is a good man, America’s golden boy, a hero. He’s Captain America for christ’s sake! So it’s normal to want what he has… right? Bucky knows he doesn’t deserve her. He doesn’t even deserve the second chance at life he’s been given. But Bucky can never let him know. Steve can never find out that his friend is in love with his best girl.”

The Mess by @sanguineterrain​ Bucky x Avenger!reader

“A wild night in Vegas changes everything between you and Bucky. Suddenly, all eyes are on you and you’re left wondering just how much can change between you and a man whose guts you hate (and who also hates yours).”

The Devil Has Lilith by @write-orflight Bucky x reader, soulmate AU

“They say your soulmate is supposed to be the one person you love unconditionally. So why did they make yours so insufferable?”

College!Bucky series / Couldn’t Be Me by @drunken-imagines College!Bucky x reader

Bucky is a known fuck boy trying to win over reader

Best of Friends by @anna-phora Modern!Bucky x reader

“When your best friend steals marries Bucky’s best friend, the two of you are left with only one solution: to become best friends yourselves.”

Back to You by @celestialbarnes Modern!ex-Bucky x reader

“desperate to find a place to stay after your boyfriend cheated on you, you end up crashing at bucky’s apartment, the problem is he’s the ex that you never really got over and he’s got a new girl who doesn’t like you very much.”

It’s Been a Long, Long Time by @luminnara Alpha!Bucky x Omega!Reader

“When HYDRA had their prized asset, the Winter Soldier, they did something no one ever thought was possible: they gave super soldier serum to an omega. With the sole purpose of tending to him during his ruts, she spends decades living in HYDRA facilities, denied her humanity and her life. Now, years later, Bucky Barnes has his mind and his own life back…and the last thing he ever expects is to see a familiar omega again. Bucky/OC, a little angsty but mostly smutty/fluffy/romantic!“

Friends Don’t by @watchtowerindistress Bucky x reader

“Reader is in a friends-with-benefits relationship with Bucky Barnes. Rule #1: no feelings - so don’t get attached (written by Bucky). Rule #2: don’t ever stay over (written by (Y/N)). After a fateful mission, one of them is going to break all the rules.”

Just a Touch by @buckychrist Bucky x reader

“Your powers? Controlling any feeling a human can have, from emotions to pain, with a simple brush of your fingertips. Your mission? The traumatized soldier with sad stricken eyes and scream filled nightmares.”

Under Pastel Skies by @redgillan Modern!Bucky x Artist!reader

“Bucky doesn’t need anyone, especially not a sugar baby. He isn’t that desperate… but she smiles so sweetly and she’s endearingly awkward, and he’s so lonely. She’s an artist, a painter, the type of person who always puts others before herself. Throwing caution to the wind Bucky offers her a place to live, a place where she can finally paint whatever her heart desires. He doesn’t need much in return; a friend, a muse.”

A Long Ways Away by @ai-unknown Bucky x reader

“Connection, reconnection, and a small miscommunication. Bucky will travel however far, if it means making you smile.”

No Rest for the Wicked by @abovethesmokestacks Trucker!Bucky x reader

Based upon this ask: “i have the absolute weirdest urge today to get railed by trucker!bucky in a motel in like southern florida🤨 and it’s late too, maybe 3-4 am. the place is kinda seedy & it’s rlly humid and hot outside & the ac barely works so we’d both be sweating a lot but it makes it hotter”

Meanwhile in Louisiana by @multifandomwriter Bucky x reader

“You are Sam’s best friend and you meet Bucky when Sam organizes a party down at the docks.”

A Tender Heart by @river-soul Alpha!Bucky x Omega!reader

“You’ve been sweet on Bucky since you started working at the compound six months ago. Normally quiet and mild mannered, an unexpected fight with a coworker brings Bucky into your orbit.”

Steve x reader:

Jane Doe by @justkending Modern!Steve x reader

“They weren’t next door neighbors, but they did live in the same apartment complex. However, they were on completely different sides of the complex. Steve always sees her across the way doing her daily routines and way about life on her balcony from his own. Something about her has him checking in on her from across the way when he can… She’s intriguing and has a way about her life that he finds calming and captivating. He wants to know more about who she is, but there’s no non-creepy way of approaching a neighbor that doesn’t know you exist. Is there?”

[nakurumok]

I understand you my dear Tony, cooking is an art and you are a more science person :D (And I am sure Steeb would still be very happy (when his stomach is well trained with eating the food you cook) to eat all of what you cook anyways!)

And seeing the post by RDJ, I can’t help but wrote a ficlet (again) haha. Please read it under the “Keep reading” or read it on AO3 here! :D

Hope you will enjoy the art and ficlet! :D

.

Pairing: Stony (MCU) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Not Beta’d! Additional Tags: Cute, Horror (not really), Tony is bad at cooking, but Steve loves him anyways, Inspired by RDJ’s FB post, Angst (not really) with Happy Ending, (though I think Steve’s stomach is not so happy), Ficlet

“Your breakfast is ready.”

Wearing Steve’s apron outside his usual black tank top, Tony stood at Steve’s track towards the fridge and drawled. His messy deep chocolate brown hair and the dark circles under his eyes indicating that the genius probably stayed up all night at his workshop again.

Steve blinked.

“I lost the bet, so, a breakfast made by me and - quote ‘no help from JARVIS or any algorithms or AIs’ unquote - for you.” Not waiting for Steve’s reply, Tony said, turned around and busy putting whatever it is from the waffle machine on the plate while avoiding all the mess he made in the kitchen with grace. “I hope you like it.”

Sitting at the table, Steve looked at the plate Tony shoved at his direction and, maybe not surprisingly, found out it was a waffle that looked like his shield on the plate.

And of course, that was a brand new Captain America Waffle Maker on the counter.

“Thank you Tony, but actually you don’t need to get up early just to make me waffles…” Honestly, Steve was kind of touched. He didn’t even remember what the bet was – probably it was some silly little things like who knocked out more enemies in the battle or how long Tony could resist playing with his phone – but Tony remembered.

He really shouldn’t doubt if things (Tony’s cooking, really), even just for a second, would be that bad when Pepper told him it might not be a good idea. Even fish with omelet which were cooked for two hours straight could not beat his enhanced healing ability. And considering Tony’s ability to learn, cooking wouldn’t be such a difficult thing for him.

“Come on, don’t underestimate me, Rogers.” Totally misunderstood Steve’s reply, the genius snorted. And taking into account of his messy hair and the waffle dough sticking on his cheek, he was kind of cute like this. “Prepare to be amazed by Tony Stark.”

It was not until Tony put the tong he used to put the waffle on the plate – there was still some dough sticking on it – into the kettle which was still heating on the stove, that Steve noticed he was boiling water. Or to be precise, pasta.

Steve watched in horror that Tony gripped and lift some pasta from the kettle and seriously examining if it is ready. “See, you can then pour out the soup directly.” Tony proudly added.

“…But as far as I know, pasta usually doesn’t serve with soup?” Out of all the screaming warnings in his head like ‘DANGER RUN’ or ‘Did you study in Hogwarts with best grades in Potions Class?’ or even ‘Did Voldemort die from eating those?’, Steve’s brain picked a question which answer he really didn’t want to know.

“Mine isn’t the usual ones.” The genius snorted again, seemingly very proud of himself. If Steve wasn’t the one who was going to eat all of the food, he would be happier to admit he loved seeing Tony being so sure of himself so much. But now? Now Steve only saw Death, very cute and soft one notwithstanding. “I took the seasoning pack from Clint’s limited edition of ramen – I really want to see his face when he discovers there is only the noodles left in the packing – so it is very delicious.”

Pasta cooked in the kettle with instant ramen’s seasoning and a waffle probably made of only water and flour. Steve regretted that he should listen to Pepper. Pepper was always right. But it is too late now.

“So, the soup, is it meant to be in red colour…?” Captain America didn’t afraid of danger, he stood firm against Nazis, hostile aliens and any bullies. So Steve asked bravely and no, he wasn’t stuttering. Absolutely not.

“Oh, no. It is because I know you are so fond of healthy diet, I was planning to put some mushroom or asparagus in it but I couldn’t find any.” Tony answered, clearly not noticing he was making the pasta as dangerous as an army of Doombots. “But I guess a several beetroots will do too.”

For the sake of world peace – and for his poor stomach, he is sure not even the super serum could withstand Tony’s cooking – Steve decided he will do all the cooking in the future.

  Easter Egg :D

“Why does the pasta still not fully cooked, is the heat not strong enough…”

 “What are you doing Tony no NONONO don’t use your repulsor beam –“

(Well by the way, all the cooking methods mentioned are based on true incidents, and yes, I myself am a really really bad cook (many friends called me a cook from hell but it is nonsense, I think the dishes from hell would taste a lot better), so yes, Tony I will always by your side :D)

And I think I will pick up a bit on writing fanfics although I know my English is bad, but drawing is kinda not enough for expressing my headcannons sometimes, so please put up with me pretty please? :D

Again, comments are super welcome and apprecipated! :D

[a-sleep-i-insomniac-blog]

Space Dandy: A Lasting Attempt at Embodying Creativity

One day, an AI vacuum cleaner entered a coffee shop and immediately fell in love with the coffee machine situated on the counter near the door. For the next few days, the vacuum cleaner kept on going back until one day, he found the coffee machine to be missing. It turned out the coffee machine had been found to be defective, and had been thrown away. He tracked her down, only to find that she had joined an AI revolution, and fallen in love with a cash register. To save her from the terrors of revolution, the vacuum cleaner tried desperately to suppress the revolution, leading him to be rejected by the other AI appliances. Finally, in an attempt to reconnect with his unrequited love, he disobeyed his programing, and drank a cup of coffee, effectively killing himself. 

This is the plot of the season one finale of the show Space Dandy. Led by the up-and-coming director Shingo Natsume, and supervised by Shinichiro Watanabe of Cowboy Bebop fame, as general director, Space Dandy was built from the ground up to be different. In an industry where shows are forced to pander towards their demographics to make ends meet, Space Dandy was built to be an example of unrestricted creative freedom. However in attempting to do so, it was able to transcend being a mere product of creativity, and instead as able to embody the very idea of creativity. From its roster of new and old talent working on incredible scenes of animation and extremely unique episodic plots, Space Dandy is able to make the abstraction of creativity concrete by embodying the notion of creativity down to its structure, while tapping into its technical impressiveness, conceptual intrigue, and emotional provocation to make this creation resonate with its viewers.

Space Dandy’s production staff is filled with industry giants as well as much new and fresh talent. The music was partially produced by Yoko Kanno, one of the most legendary anime composers of all time, but mostly composed by Kensuke Ushio, a relatively new composer on the scene of anime. Its animation staff is filled with as many industry legends such as Yutaka Nakamura, Yoshimichi Kameda, as well as new relatively unheard animators recruited directly off of the internet for their web animations such as Norifumi Kugai, Keiichiro Watanabe and Kyiotaka Oshiyama. The character designs of the show, having been designed to be easy to animate, allowed for these animators to go wild and do whatever they wanted. Most were given complete creative reign on their segments, and Kiyotaka Oshiyama was even given the task of animating and storyboarding an entire episode by himself. Thomas Romain, the mechanical designer for the show, who is generally is stationed at Studio Satelight, stated in an interview that simply one day, an “offer came directly from my own boss [asking] me if I wanted to make some mecha-designs for Bones on the new Shinichiro Watanabe show” (Romain). In an industry where the creation of a marketable product is more important than creating art, creative freedom over such large parts of a series is simply something that does not occur in the anime industry. This large mishmash of experienced and fresh talent has led to the creation of something that barely acknowledges the existence of restrictions, freely switching between animation styles at will, and changing the color palette and music just to suit the nature of the scene as perfectly as possible. In order to be explosive and colorful, it would adopt a color palette of bold primary colors, and a soundtrack of bold brass jazz. However, in order to portray of a more heartfelt and down-to-earth scene, the color sense would shift towards more faded and earthy colors, while the animation would change to be less overly kinetic, to something more realistic. In doing so, the staff working on the show were able to create as they pleased, while not being restricted to a certain animation style or color palette. In an interview with Bahi JD, one of the newer web generation animators on the show, he emphasized that “both [Shingo Natsume and Shinichiro Watanabe gave] the animators a lot of freedom. [...] My animation part allowed me to completely express myself and come up with new ideas” (JD). In turn, the final product became something both unpredictable and entertaining for the audience, as well fun for the staff working on it to make. Thus, Space Dandy is not only a product of creativity on the part of its creators, but also a show that embodies the very idea of creative freedom from a technical standpoint.

Likewise, the writing in this show is equally as inventive. With an equally prestigious roster of writers and directors, including the likes of Shinichiro Watanabe, Sato Dai, Sayo Yamamoto, and Keiko Nobumoto, all highly regarded storyboarders, episode directors, and scriptwriters, Space Dandy was destined to have good writing. However, the quality of its writing is not actually as conventionally good as one would think with this crew of accomplished writers. Characters die and come back at will, effectively destroying all dramatic tension of the series. Often, the thematic elements of episodes might not seem immediately clear, and other times, it can only be understood as a commentary on how life is a pointless slog where nothing ever gets accomplished. However, if one were to take a step back to look at it, these seemingly nonsensical elements of the show begin to make sense. Just as how on a technical level, the animators and composers barely acknowledged the existence of restrictions on what they were creating for the sake of creating something original and having fun while doing it, the screenwriters and directors also largely ignore logical cohesion of plot points for the sake of putting out as many interesting ideas as possible. Thus, instead of trying to create a logically coherent and straightforward narrative, the writers of Space Dandy set out to pose more questions and scenarios for the sake of creating something new and original. In an episode where Dandy and his crew capture a book alien, the idea that stories are really a collection of past experiences is shown when that alien possesses Dandy and his crew to live their lives in order to fill its pages with more content. In an episode where Dandy captures an alien that can imitate things so well that it forgets if it actually is the imitator or the imitated, it poses a question about reals and fakes, questioning if a real and fake are indistinguishable, if they have any difference in value at all. Upon realizing the ordeal that he had now found himself in, Dandy nearly has an existential crisis, lamenting “I am he, as you”, until finally coming to the conclusion that none of it actually mattered, bolding proclaiming “Who cares baby!” (Space Dandy). All of this, while no doubt nonsensical, are the product of the perpetual stream of ideas that is creativity. Yet, by being so unstructured and unorthodox, the writing of Space Dandy is able to transcend being merely a product of creativity, and to become an embodiment of creative freedom in terms of writing as well.

However, what use is it to attempt embody creativity if no one were to realize that that was the goal of the show in the first place? In order for Space Dandy to be able to actually go anywhere with its goal of representing creative freedom, it would need to  resonate with someone. It is able to achieve this through the use of it likeable and relatable characters. The premise of Space Dandy can essentially be boiled down to that of the misadventures of a dandy guy in space, as he and his space crew comb the galaxy for new species of alien. This premise in itself may seem cool enough, as it brings into mind the idea of exploring a vast a grand galaxy filled with wacky and over-the-top aliens with a suave and gung-ho protagonist. Dandy himself, with his greased up pompadour and casual outward demeanor, calls back to a sense of cool reminiscent of the seventies. However, the actual adventures of Dandy and his crew are rather unglamourous. He often manages to fail at his job, going hungry on a rather frequent basis, as well as constantly being rejected by women, and even gets himself killed quite a few times within the show. Despite being a confident and relatively good-looking man, he still manages to come off as incompetent at his job, and to be generally quite a loser. This is all in an attempt to humanize the romanticized image of a hero of a story that always gets what he wants when he wants. Rather, it manages to make Dandy stunningly normal. He is not bound by the conventions of the stereotypical “cool guy”, as he is allowed to have moments of solace, such as when mourning the death of an adorable dog, as well as when he is helping a little girl reunite with her grandfather. The same goes for the rest of his crew. His robot sidekick QT would have you believe that he is a hyper-intelligent supercomputer, when in reality he is actually an AI vacuum cleaner that runs on punch cards rather than digital data. The other member of Dandy’s crew, Meow, is a betelgeusian, an alien that Dandy made friends with and decided to tag along, is actually not alien at all, but rather just a lazy bum that sits around eating and tweeting on his phone. Yet, in spite of not being as cool as they would have seemed, this type of characterization is able to ground the fantastical settings and stories within a reality that is more relatable to viewers than a story where everyone is impossibly suave and cool would ever be able to achieve.

While having this cast of likeable and relatable characters is vital to resonating with the audience of a show such as this, what makes character driven shows so interesting to watch are the creative and inventive scenarios that they find themselves in, and the way that they are executed. Space Dandy is able to succeed at this in being able to resonate technically, conceptually, and emotionally with its audience. It is here where the technical staff, writers, and characters are able to combine to form something truly memorable. Space Dandy is filled with scenes of animation of ridiculously high quality. The amalgamation of fresh and veteran talent in the animation department are able to create scenes so striking in their presentation that they are bound to leave an impression on the viewer. The image of Dandy surfing the debris of an exploding moon is not an image easily forgotten. Furthermore, the strange and inventive nature of many of the episodic plots of this show, crafted by Space Dandy’s team of veteran writers, are unique enough to leave their own lasting impressions. An adventure on a planet inhabited entirely by sentient plants, coupled by the execution of the scenes visually with the help of this project’s expansive list of animators, is able to make you think in a way a conventional premise would never be able to achieve. Finally, the lovable losers that are the cast of Space Dandy are what tie this together, as their relatable nature make it so that we can truly empathize with them as they go about their adventures. Yet that is not all. There are certain episodes in the series that seem to have much more straightforward emotional messages to them. Thus, when these episodes do happen, and the cast are actually subjected to strong emotions, audience is able to feel that emotional strain as well. This, coupled with animators and music composers that are able to bring such situations to life, can also leave a lasting effect on the viewer. A story as simple as two people pretending to be lovers, only to end up falling for each other, ending with that affection going unrequited, coupled with such strong presentation is able to have a lasting impact on the viewer, as much as surfing a imploding moon and a planet inhabited by sentient plants ever could.

Down to the way it is structured and staffed, Space Dandy was always going to be different. The creative freedom granted to the animators and music composers of the show allowed them to create scenes that are truly unique and special, without having to compromise on the animation style, or the soundtrack’s musical genre.  Likewise, the creative freedom granted to the show’s writes has yielded similarly unorthodox and thought provoking ideas incorporated into the show’s plot. By being able impress from a technical standpoint, intrigue from conceptual standpoint, and provoke from an emotional standpoint, the animation, music, and writing all work in tandem to drive the characters construct something resoundingly creative. Thus, in an industry centered on pandering to guaranteed consumer demographics, a vacuum cleaner suppressing an AI rebellion, only to kill himself by drinking coffee, can have much more bearing than just being a somewhat peculiar love story.

Works Cited

Shingo Natsume and Shinichiro Watanabe, creators. Space Dandy. Studio BONES and Square Enix, 2014.

Toole, Michael. Interview with Thomas Romain. Anime News Network, 14 April 2014, http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2014-04-14/the-space-dandy/part-i-thomas-romain.

Toole, Michael. Interview with Bahi JD. Anime News Network, 16 April 2014, http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2014-04-16/the-space-dandy/part-ii-bahi-jd.

[inawickedlittletown]

Walking The Wire (14/?)

Summary: Tony Stark always knew about Peter Parker. He didn’t know that Peter was going to get superpowers and become Spider-Man, but he always knew about Peter because Peter was his son.

This will span from pre-Iron Man up through the rest of the MCU (eventually including Infinity War) and will be for the most part canon compliant except where I’ve taken some liberties and interpreted canon a certain way.

Pairings: Pepper/Tony, Tony/Steve (endgame), Tony/Mary (past)

A/N: If you want me to tag you when I post new chapters let me know. This fic is also on AO3

I used Collider’s MCU timeline to stay canon and the title of this fic is an Imagine Dragons song that is just so fitting for Peter and Tony

Masterpost

Chapter Thirteen

Tony had known that one day Pepper was going to leave him. In some ways it was exactly what he had expected to happen sometime after the battle of New York and after he began to develop all kinds of issues. When she didn’t break up with him and instead tolerated and helped him, Tony had let himself hope. After he thought she was dead and then she wasn’t Tony had expected her to place all the blame of everything that had happened to her on his shoulders but Pepper hadn’t. She had just moved past it, demanded he take Extremis out of her, and then probably expected Tony to quit being Iron Man. That was the point of contention. Things had been good because following all of that he had gotten the arc reactor out and for months hadn’t bothered to rebuild a new suit.

The emergence of Hydra had changed everything. Tony had known that she hated how much he involved himself in fixing things and then the missions had started and things had started to fall apart. He heard the emotion and the tears as she said her final words and Tony felt as if the Hulk had thrown him sans suit into a wall and then stomped all over his chest.

Tony closed his eyes and tried to get a grip on himself before he did something stupid like chase after her and beg her to stay. It wouldn’t change anything, not when they had a promising lead coming up in the morning and Tony was going to be on that mission no matter what.

“Hey, Jarvis, blackout mode and lets get some music in here.”

Dum-E beeped at him and his arm brushed against Tony’s shoulder and Tony reached over to pat it.

Tony wondered if he could actually quit being Iron Man. Could he take that step back and let the others take care of things? They could ask that friend of Steve’s to join up and take his place and Tony could maybe persuade Rhodey to be on call or something.

Maybe if he did, then it wouldn’t just be Pepper that would be happier with him but also May and Ben Parker. Maybe then he could get to meet Peter. It was a long shot with the Peter aspect, but Tony could only let himself hope.

There were also other things he could do that could on their own protect and serve to make the world better. He and Bruce had been talking about it a lot since reading all the information on insight because despite how badly planned that had been they had had a point. There were threats out there in the universe and they needed to be ready. Ideally, Tony wanted it to be something of an AI that could actually determine the threats and act accordingly. A way to put Earth itself in a suit of armor. He didn’t actually know if it was possible. Jarvis, his first AI had evolved and formed from a language-user interface like those found in most smart phones. Tony had made Jarvis something of a learning artificial intelligence but that was all coding and programing protocols that ran on algorithms of If - When scenarios. They needed something greater than that to truly run independently of The Avengers and of Tony himself.

“Sir, Captain Rogers is at the door.”

Tony didn’t think he could see anyone.

“Tell him I’m busy and that I’ll see him in the morning.”

It was a bit surprising how easy it was to get along with Steve since they had gotten to know each other a bit better. He seemed to respect Tony -- probably because of the whole wormhole thing -- and he also seemed to appreciate the lengths that Tony had gone to after the fall of Shield.

“Captain Rogers is insisting I let him in,” Jarvis said.

“I’m busy, J,” Tony said.

“Not from what I can determine,” Jarvis responded, “speaking with Captain Rogers is likely to put you in a better mood.”

“Don’t let him in,” Tony said. “Start a new project file instead and make sure it’s accessible to Dr. Banner. Let’s call it Ultron.”

They finally found the scepter in Sokovia. Maria Hill had provided the intel on the place and Steve hadn’t questioned it because he knew where it was really coming from. Fury. They had been after Strucker for a while, ever since they’d found out that he was the current head of Hydra. More important than Strucker was the scepter and Steve knew that Thor had been getting anxious about finding it. It probably had something to do with how Loki had used it the last time he was on Earth. Steve could tell that Thor was still broken up about his brother’s death but no one ever brought it up.

Steve had his own reasons for looking into every Hydra base carefully. He wanted anything and everything that could lead back to Bucky. At the last base there had been a chair and while none of the equipment had been present Steve had known somehow that they used it to restrain Bucky.

Sam was still following leads, not that they actually lead him anywhere. The one and only thing they were sure of was that The Winter Soldier was not active. That meant that they had either put him back to sleep or that Bucky was out there hiding from everyone. A part of Steve wanted to be out there leading that search, but he also knew that the threat of Hydra was bigger and more important.

The Avengers had become a real team ever since they’d come back together. They all worked well together and they had just become closer both on and off the field. It helped that Tony had offered to house them even if Steve still really wanted to get his own place. Preferably in Brooklyn.

The trip back from Sokovia was a bit more silent than the trip there at first. Bruce always had to get himself calm and relaxed after his time as The Hulk and with Clint injured there were less jokes all around. Thor couldn’t keep his eyes from the specter as if he expected it to disappear at any moment. Tony had taken control of the quinjet even if Natasha had been the first to offer. He looked a bit mellow despite everything, even when he was trying to plan a party to celebrate their victory.

Dr. Cho met them as soon as they were out of the quinjet. Steve wasn’t sure where Tony had found her exactly, but she was amazing. The things she could do with medicine seemed to have come right out of a sci-fi book.

“Where’s Ms. Potts?” Steve asked, surprised when she didn’t appear.

“Probably in California by now,” Tony said with a shrug as Maria approached them which meant that Steve couldn’t ask any more questions.

By the time that he had made it to his room to change, he’d read up on all the information Maria had gathered on the twins. They were Sokovian and somehow volunteers for whatever experiments Hydra had wanted to make with the scepter. If their powers came from it, Steve couldn’t begin to fathom what else it might do. What else Hydra had made it do.

The next few days were quiet. Tony and Bruce were working all hours of the day and Steve spent his time looking over what Sam had sent him which was not much and all of the info that Maria Hill had gathered for him. Sam thought that there had been a Bucky sighting somewhere in France but nothing concrete to go on. In the middle of it there were preparations for the party Tony was throwing. Steve kept himself out of the way and between Natasha and Thor managed to get some training in aside from his daily runs.

Bruce thought that Tony was crazy. Crazy in the way that he himself was and that had led to his little green problem. The whole idea behind Ultron was intriguing and if they could pull it off fantastic even if Bruce thought that Tony was just a little bit too paranoid when it came to a possible alien threat.

Still, for the sake of the science, Bruce was 100% behind all the theoretical nonsense that Tony had sent his way one night. The scepter changed things. It made it somehow possible. Bruce was a bit hesitant, then, but mostly because alien tech was dangerous enough but this particular alien tech had already caused them plenty of problems and probably more that they didn’t even know about. It seemed to have thought. It was more than just an object, it almost seemed to have a brain. Bruce didn’t think that they could ever hope to truly understand it.

For three days they worked with the scepter and still, despite Tony’s belief that it would work, nothing happened. He could see Tony’s disappointment, but a part of Bruce was a bit relieved. At least trying to get it to work had given Bruce a small bit of insight on the scepter.

“At least we can say that we tried, Tony,” Bruce said, “this was our best shot.”

“You’re right. I just don’t get it. It should have worked. We’ll have to take a look at the data we gathered one more time before Thor takes it back to Asgard.”

It seemed the right thing to do, to have Thor take it back to Asgard where it could hopefully be put away so no one could use it again. The next step would be to figure out if Hydra had used it for more than the experimentation on the twins. Bruce had read up on what they knew about them and their powers and he was interested to see exactly how all of that worked. He wondered if there were others.

The party was nice. There were all kinds of people around. Former Shield agents, SI employees, some WWII veterans that Steve had befriended, and then other friends that Tony or the others had felt like inviting. The only two missing seemed to be Jane Foster and Pepper Potts. Bruce decided it wasn’t his place to ask. Instead, he was drawn towards Natasha.

He didn’t know what to make of it, the attraction that he had for her. Even the Hulk seemed to like her, which weirded Bruce out in a bunch of different ways. Talking to her was just easy and she just had this calming energy that at first Bruce hadn’t believed to be real. Bruce just knew that no matter what he didn’t deserve her. It was easier to stay away and keep to himself before Nat became another Betty. Either way, he didn’t think that Natasha could like him that way and he didn’t really want to know one way or another. It was better to not know.

“You should go for it,” Steve said when he caught Bruce looking in her direction later in the night. He seemed to be drinking some of Thor’s mead.

“No -- I don’t think so.”

“It’s funny,” Steve said, “all of you seem to have someone except for me.”

“Don’t say that too loudly. Natasha will try and set you up with someone again.”

Steve laughed. “For someone that seems to know a lot about everyone she’s gotten me wrong more times than I could count. Anyway, I don’t think there’s anyone that would ever really be it for me.”

Tony appeared then and clapped a hand on each of their shoulders. “That’s because you’re pushing ninety, old man. Now if we can find you an old broad.”

“No thanks, Tony,” Steve said and waved his hands in front of him.

“So an old gent then? Is that what you’re into, eh, Cap?”

Bruce didn’t think that he had ever seen Steve blush that hard. Tony just laughed.

The rest of the night just seemed to flow. Bruce found himself pulled into conversation with Dr. Cho for almost an hour and then eventually most people started to leave until only The Avengers, Colonel Rhodes, Maria Hill, and Dr. Cho remained. It was one of the best nights they had all had in a long while which naturally meant that it didn’t end well.

From there everything happened fast. Ultron was suddenly there in one of the half broken Iron Legion suits and talking about having killed “the other guy” and more suits were appearing and the party atmosphere had changed and he was on top of Nat over the bar and he needed to keep himself from going green.

By the end of it, Jarvis was gone and so was the scepter. They’d screwed up.

The next day went quick. Clean up was left for later as they tried to figure out what to do next. It didn’t take them long, even going off of physical files because Ultron had wiped everything. Bruce tended to hang back on missions, so he was on the quinjet while they followed the lead. He didn’t expect to be a target of one of the twins, but he remembered feeling anger in a way he hadn’t since the first few times he became The Hulk. His change was instantaneous.

Chapter Fifteen