Chapter Three

"So, what's the plan?" Darcy asked over breakfast the next morning, just barely concealing a yawn as she took a muffin off of Loki's plate. Loki glared at her, but seemed to decide against commenting on his stolen muffin.

"We went over it last night, Darcy." Rhodey reminded her, rolling his eyes.

"I'll tell you." Sam declared loudly from across the table, "Banner and Rhodey figured out that the aliens are most likely to attack in Japan. That's where the most people are or whatever. Once we get to Japan, you, me, Rhodey, Nat, Peggy, and Loki will be in charge of keeping civilians safe and out of the way of any combat that could happen. Pepper, Maria, and Jane are in charge of logistics, like yelling at anyone that's about to get attacked or something. The rest of those guys are going to beat the shit out of any aliens that set foot on Earth."

"Wait, I thought that I was helping out with logistics." Bruce remarked, looking around the table expectantly.

Rhodey, Peggy, and Natasha exchanged guilty expressions. Everybody else watched them nervously.

"We just thought that maybe…" Peggy started softly.

"We don't know what we're up against. They might be too much for us to fight off. We might need a Hulk on our side." Natasha interjected bluntly.

"A Hulk? Nat, the other guy hasn't come out since high school," Bruce glanced in Loki's direction. Loki stared straight down at his plate. "What makes you think that an alien invasion is going to change that?"

"I don't know." Natasha replied with a small shrug. "I guess we're just going to have to wait and see what happens."

Bruce looked concerned by her response. Tony looked concerned by Bruce's concern. Rhodey looked like he wanted to be anywhere else in the universe. Peggy looked like she just wanted to answer her phone, which she had silenced about three times since they had sat down to breakfast. Natasha just looked bored.

Steve cleared his throat nervously. "So, Japan, huh?"

"Yeah," Maria said, relieved at the change in subject, "Tokyo is the most populated city in the world. It only makes sense that the aliens would try to target it. We're going to run the plan past Fury tonight and hopefully get to Japan by Thursday."

"How are we going to get there?" Darcy inquired.

"My plane," Tony chimed in, "It's big enough that it should fit all of us and it runs on my schedule."

"And are we staying in your hotel as well?" Steve taunted with a smirk.

Tony snorted and shook his head. "You're about as business savvy as you are funny, Rogers. I'd never invest in a hotel. Too risky. No, that part is up to Fury. He'll probably book a crappy four-star hotel."

Steve and Bucky exchanged amused looks.

"Yeah, I hate when living conditions are below five stars." Bucky jibbed.

"Oh, shut up," Tony sighed, rolling his eyes, "You lived in the woods for two years; boo-hoo. We can't all be bioengineered boy scouts."

"Bioengineered? What do you think we are, superhuman?" Steve asked with an amused smile.

Bruce, Rhodey, Pepper and Maria glared in Tony's direction. Steve quirked an eyebrow, wondering why they were reacting so strongly at Tony's joke. Tony always made stupid jokes.

"Don't flatter yourself." Tony bit back, his words much less venomous than usual, "If I could make a person, I'd make him ten times better than you."

"Of course you would, Stark." Steve chuckled, affording Tony a quick smirk before returning his attention to his breakfast.

Steve didn't notice Rhodey elbowing Tony in the ribs, nor did he notice Bruce making wild gestures towards Steve and the lab. He was much too occupied with the massive pile of French Toast on his plate. Luckily, Bucky was not.

"So, we decided to have a few training sessions for everyone before we get to Japan; we don't know how the fight is going to turn out, and everyone needs to be prepared for the worst. Um, so if everybody could pair themselves up: if you know how to fight, find somebody that doesn't. Rhodey, do you mind helping me?" Pepper remarked hastily, shooting Tony a dark look as she spoke. Bucky continued to watch her suspiciously.

"Wait, why are you asking him? I could train you." Tony reminded Pepper irritably.

"You could train me to use the suit, but you don't know anything about fighting, Tony." Pepper replied, her face reddening a bit.

"I run an entire company that produces weapons. Do you really think that I couldn't teach you how to use each and every one of them?" Tony demanded angrily.

"Uh, hey, let's not worry about who's training who. Let's just get it done. Peg, do you want me to train you?" Steve questioned, clearly trying to divert the attention away from Tony and Pepper's fight.

Peggy and Natasha both looked at Steve like he was out of his mind. Steve and Bucky exchanged mystified looks.

"Steve, I already know how to fight. My father taught me, remember?" Peggy reminded him, an amused smile playing on her lips.

"Yeah, but that isn't the same as fighting against an -"

"Peggy is one of our best agents," Natasha interrupted, "As a matter of fact, I thought that she could train you, Steve. You've been out of the game longer than she has."

Steve's eyes widened in surprise. "Agent?"

"Well, I had to do something after college, didn't I?" Peggy responded with a small smirk.

"I didn't know that you were an agent. I thought you worked at Verizon!" Steve said.

"Oh, darling. You are entirely too gullible and I am entirely too good at my job. Now, if you don't have anything else to say, I think we should begin soon. I can see from the way that you carry yourself that you are going to have trouble getting back into 'the zone,' as Bucky often put it." Peggy reminded him, grabbing the crook of his arm and dragging him off in the direction of the training room.

"Alright, but you've got to take it easy on me at first. The only thing that I fought in Russia was a few wildcats. I'm pretty sure you're a hundred times more dangerous than any wildcat." Steve remarked in an amused yet distinctively concerned tone. Bucky's mouth twitched into a small smile. That smile disappeared when he noticed the curious looks on Tony, Rhodey, and Bruce's faces. Pepper was staring down at her files uncomfortably.

"I want to train with Tony." Bucky announced abruptly.

Everyone turned and looked at him in surprise. Bucky had been too busy analyzing everybody's facial expressions to realize that everyone had talked over the pairings and had thought nothing of placing Bucky with Sam.

"Uh...sure? I guess I could swap with Sam. You heard him, Banner."

"If Stark gets Barnes, I want Darcy." Sam complained.

"No. She is much more acclimated with my fighting style. It will not take her nearly as long to learn to fight under my instruction." Loki objected promptly.

"You just don't want to share." Sam sulked.

"That is correct." Loki responded with a slight smirk.

"Idiots." Darcy huffed, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, we all know who's paired with whom. Now that we've got that figured out, let's get moving." Rhodey declared, clearly realizing that no one would begin training unless prompted.

Sure enough, everybody grumbled but began to move towards their assigned partner. Bucky all but jumped out of his chair and quickly pushed past those who were simply milling around, making a beeline for Tony. Tony seemed surprised at how quickly Bucky materialized by his side but didn't appear to think much of it beyond his initial surprise. Instead, he grinned and led Bucky out to the balcony.

"It's going to get crowded and overheated in the training area," Tony explained with a carefree smile, "Besides, this way I get to throw you off the balcony if I think I might lose."

Bucky forced himself to smile while Tony moved to close the balcony door. The moment that he heard the door click shut, Bucky's smile disappeared altogether. He spun around to face Tony.

"Why did you say that Steve was bioengineered?" He demanded.

"What?"

"Inside. You said something about him being a bioengineered boy scout. Steve thought it was a joke, but I saw the looks that you guys gave each other. They looked like they were ready to tear you limb from limb. Why?" Bucky persisted, taking a few menacing steps towards Tony.

Bucky didn't really like Tony. He never had. Tony was vain, selfish, arrogant, and picked on Steve as a way of compensating for his own unhappiness. Steve was willing to look past it, but Bucky was not. Now that there was a secret that Tony was keeping from Steve, Bucky was gladly pouncing on him.

"Are you new here? They always want to tear me limb from limb. Anyway, we're not out here to talk about your boyfriend. We're here to train. What would you do if someone attacked you with a knife?" To aid in the 'training,' Tony ripped a branch off a nearby tree and lunged at Bucky.

Bucky ripped the branch from Tony's hands and jabbed at him with it. Tony yelped and leapt backwards, stumbling as he did so. Unfortunately, the billionaire's retreat was only temporary. A smirk crossed his face as he ripped off yet another branch and advanced towards Bucky.

"I want to know what you're keeping from Steve." Bucky reminded Tony breathlessly as he struggled to dodge the tree branch that Tony was flailing aimlessly in his direction.

"That's a long list, Buck-o. For one thing, I'm not telling him how terrible his boyfriend is at fighting," Tony let out a loud grunt as Bucky successfully thwacked him upside the head with his tree branch, "I'm not telling him how hot Peggy got in the past two years," Tony managed to catch Bucky's calf with his tree branch, temporarily throwing Bucky off-balance, "and I'm definitely not telling him about how everyone else feels about your little relationship."

Bucky was usually the calm one when it came to him and Steve. Steve would get up-in-arms about the most trivial things and would wind up in the middle of a fist fight with twenty guys at one time. Bucky, meanwhile, would be trying to figure out a way to get Steve out of the mess he had gotten himself into. This, however, was much different. Tony was pushing him; the billionaire seemed to know exactly which button to press. He had picked on Bucky's insecurities and would now pay the price.

Bucky would later claim that he had lost all semblance of control when he threw Tony off of his own balcony, but the truth was, he had never had a clearer mind. Tony was keeping something from Steve and was picking on Bucky as a distraction. Destroying him seemed like the only reasonable thing to do.

Of course, Tony Stark was never quite as fallible as he seemed. He had created some type of mechanic suit that could be summoned at any time or place; this suit wound up being the only reason that he survived Bucky's rage.

"You're going to regret that, Barnes." Tony proclaimed, now hovering a few feet above Bucky in his super suit. Bucky glared up at him challengingly.

Tony launched himself forward, tackling Bucky to the ground. Bucky struggled against the metal grip holding him down against the hard concrete. Tony didn't let up. A swift kick to Tony's right foot changed that. The billionaire's balance was thrown off-kilter, causing Tony to collapse on top of Bucky with a loud 'clang'.

"Tell me what you know about Steve." Bucky demanded, rolling them both over, leaping to his feet and putting his foot across Tony's neck. Tony wriggled and struggled to get his suit operational again.

"No." He snarled as he struggled. Bucky pressed down on his foot even harder. Tony let out a panicked cough and redoubled his efforts.

"Tell me!" Bucky insisted.

"No." Tony spluttered.

"Stark, I'm gonna -"

"Bucky!" Steve's voice tore Bucky's attention away from Tony, "What are you doing?"

Tony took advantage of Bucky's distraction and flung Bucky off of him. Bucky landed at Steve's feet and stared up at his boyfriend stupidly. He noticed a bit of blood trickling down from Steve's left nostril, but was distracted by the throbbing pain in his arm.

"Hey, Steve." He murmured.

Steve laughed. "Hey, Buck. Tony, is there any reason that you brought out the suit for training? Were you trying to kill him?"

"He tried to kill me first!" Tony hollered, gesturing towards Bucky. He flipped up his face mask and stared at Steve indignantly.

"Why is your nose bleeding?" Bucky asked as he stood up and righted himself once more.

"Did Carter do that to you?" Tony chimed in with a lopsided grin.

"She did," Steve replied, wiping the blood from his nose with a sheepish smile, "She's a lot better than I am. You should try training with her, Stark. You might learn something."

"I think I learned enough from your boytoy."

"And I didn't learn nearly enough from you." Bucky countered, eying Tony suspiciously.

Tony quickly averted his eyes and shrugged. It was clear that he was hiding something from Bucky and Steve, but it was also perfectly clear that Bucky was not going to get him to divulge whatever it was that he was hiding. Tony was willing to fall from a balcony before he revealed whatever it was that he was keeping a secret. Bucky scowled.

"I'm going to go get a drink. I'd offer you guys one, but it looks like you're already drunk on love. Just don't break any of my furniture." Tony muttered, clapping his hand on Steve's shoulder before entering his house and darting towards the bar.

"What's the matter with him?" Steve asked.

"I'm not sure yet," Bucky replied, his eyes narrowing as they both watched Tony down an entire glass of bourbon in a startlingly short amount of time, "But I'm going to find out."