Chapter 4

Bucky sat patiently in a leather chair behind a desk, feet propped up while Thor rummaged the bookcases to entertain himself as they waited for Ms. Danvers to respond to their ping. That was about 45 minutes ago. Thor thumbed through a copy of 'The Elegant Universe'.

The God laughed to himself, "This 'string theory' is amusing, maybe even a farce if anything."

"I think the book was written by someone believing they understand the universe."

Thor put the book back in its place, "Clearly they don't."

"How much longer do you think we'll have to wait?"

"Honestly? I'm not sure but if we don't hear back in next 30 minutes or so we may have to just try again-"

Thor was interrupted by a ring tone of some kind. It reminded Bucky of the cheesy ringtones on his cell phone. He hurried over to the key panel and accepted the call.

Before them a holographic image of a young woman appeared. She wore a fantastic suit of red, blue, and gold with cropped hair that framed her small face.

"Hey Thor," Carol said smiling, hands on her hips, "What do I owe the pleasure?"

Thor smiled, "Good afternoon, or maybe night, where ever you may be. I wanted to you meet someone," he motioned Bucky to rise and stand next to him, "This my good friend James Barnes."

Bucky smiled lightly waving hello. This technology was far beyond his comprehension, even if he was living in the 21st century.

She diverted her attention to him, "Hi James Barnes."

Bucky shoved his hands in his pockets, "Hello Ms. Danvers."

"Carol," Thor asserted, "I'm afraid this not a call to get reacquainted. We would like to ask for your assistance with a current… project."

"Project?" Bucky asked. Is this what this was? A high school science experiment?

Thor only smiled and gestured for Bucky to explain the situation.

Bucky turned his attention back to Carol, "Ms. Danvers, I was told that you travel around the cosmos quite frequently."

"Sure," she agreed.

"Would there be any way to gather more information on the infinity stones?"

Her brows creased with seriousness now, "You mean the ones Thanos used to decimate half the universe? What in the world for?"

Bucky shrugged, "I think there may be a way to bring those we've lost back using them. The problem is that we are severely lacking information on exactly how they work. Information here on Earth is extremely limited, we thought maybe there would be more, may be even, sources out there."

Carol folded her arms under chest and sighed heavily in contemplation. "Tony Stark didn't deserve to go…" she said to no one in particular. After another silent moment she dropped her arms looking into Bucky's eyes, "Ok, I'll help. I'll try and scour around and see what I can find. But the stones now are somewhat taboo so I may come up empty handed."

"That's all we could possibly ask for. If it helps, the stone we're most interested in the soul stone."

She smiled, "I'll see what I can dig up and get back to you guys," she saluted them, "'til next time fella's!"

They waved goodbye as the line was cut and her holo vanished.

"Well," Thor said, "That was easy enough."

"Yeah... Thank you, Thor. I appreciate it."

Thor smiled with genuine gratitude as another rather large presence made itself known.

Banner stepped further into the room, "Are you guys serious?"

Bucky took a step back unsure of the how the situation would waver. He had been training and practically frolicking with the likes of these people for over six months now but still was getting used to some of them, Banner included. Bucky tended to stick with one or two compatriots and leave it at that.

Thor de-escalated the moment quickly, "Banner, do not worry. We are not trying to collect all the stones again. That was would be irresponsible."

Bucky spoke up, "I just wanna' help."

Bruce looked sympathetic toward him suddenly, "You don't need to keep trying to prove yourself. Not like this at least. You're dealing with forces unknown. Tony wouldn't want that."

Bucky felt sarcastic at that, "If Tony wanted anyone to risk their lives I'm pretty sure it would be me."

"I don't think it's possible either way."

"We have to try," Bucky stepped closer, "Is there nobody lost you'd want to bring back?"

Bruce looked away as if looking deep into a memory. His head fell slightly as he returned his gaze forward, "Vision. He may have only been an AI but he was becoming human and was experiencing human like emotions. And I guess I can admit this to you guys but… I have been fiddling with some concepts to rebuild him."

"See?" Bucky said.

"Yea but every which way I go my results don't end where I need them. It wouldn't be Vision, it was be a lacking version of him. I would need that girl's help, the one from Wakanda but I have no idea how to get in contact with her and I don't have the mind stone."

Bucky smiled finally feeling helpful. "Well, I can contact Shuri and help get the ball rolling. I'm sure she saved whatever she could of Vision from when he was there. We'll have to see about the mind stone though…"

"I don't actually think we need the mind stone. Shuri was transfiguring Vision to work collectively before they were interrupted. So in theory, we would have most of what made Vision himself, just lacking the powers and abilities from before. Do you think she can supply the vibranium too?"

Bucky was wide eyed, it was all Greek to him. "I'll ask," he assured him.

Thor clapped his hands, "Well done! We'll help you Banner and you don't tell anyone what we're doing and everything will be fine!"

Bruce pointed behind them, "Except for him."

They turned around to see Sam Wilson leaning against the doorway.

Bucky rolled his eyes, "Son of a bitch."

Sam pointed him like a mother scolding her child, "Hey now! Watch it."

Bucky cleared his throat, "Sam, look-"

"Unt-uh, you look, you all look. I don't know what you guys are up to but keep me out. If it involves the possibility of getting into deep shit I want no parts."

Thor laughed, "Well that's a relief."

"Just don't let Rhodes or 'Veech' known what y'all are up to." He seemed oddly sympathetic towards their efforts.

Sam pulled out a faded envelope from his pants pocket and handed it to Bucky, "Steve told me to give this to you. I was just over there helping him clean out his attic. He said you would want this." Sam's demeanor had changed drastically once the letter was produced.

Bucky opened the envelope and pulled out the dated piece of paper. It was a letter addressed to Steve from Bucky's sister Rebecca.

Sam saw the sadness in his eyes reading the paper and decided now was a good of time as any to leave him be. On his way out he nudged Bruce, "Come on man…"

Banner immediately took the hint and left Thor and Bucky be.

Bucky reread the letter once more memorizing her neat cursive handwriting. She would write to Steve and himself when they both went off to war. In this letter she spoke of college, a new dance hall that opened up on Broad, and how her and her boyfriend were as tight as ever. She had signed the letter lovingly, the 'R' underlining the rest of her name.

Bucky could feel the burn in his sinus's and the page becoming blurry. He dropped his metal hand holding the letter as the other pinched the bridge of his nose to seize the tears that threatened to fall. He had never truly said goodbye to her.

Thor didn't speak but understood completely. He knew all too well of those long lost. He pulled Bucky into a hug and said, "I'm sorry for your loss."

Whether Bucky was temporarily insane or maybe even touch starved he hugged back, "Thanks…"

Bucky returned home throwing his keys on the coffee table and reread her letter. He made himself a small dinner with a glass of water and sat at the kitchen table rereading her letter. He must have read the letter a hundred times but couldn't pull his eyes away from it. It was the only memento he had of his sister. It was the only memento he had of anyone from his past life.

He lay the letter down and obliged his eyes for something other than yellowed paper and faded ink. He stayed staring at the wall before laying his fork down as well. He lost his appetite.

With hunger long vanished he decided he rather just go to bed.

He cleaned his plate and utensils then wandered into his bedroom, letter in hand. He read it one more time in the dark. He decided he couldn't just lay it in a drawer and close it off to the rest of the world. Placing the paper on the bed he opened up his closet rooting through it. In a cardboard box at the bottom held picture frames he had been meaning to hang. That was until he realized he had no pictures.

He plucked an oversized frame from the bunch and returned to his bed. Carefully he placed the letter within the boarder of the frame evenly spaced and replaced the backing. He turned it over to admire it. It may have been worth nothing to anyone else but it was priceless to him.

He settled the frame atop his dresser fixed on an angle to the rest of the room. Satisfied with its position he moved to undress and go to bed. He already knew his rest would be restless and he would be up and about in four hours.