A/N: Soooo, who has their Avengers tickets? I do! Anyway, aren't you glad this one didn't take so long? Enjoy!
Thor marched into the room where Loki's cell was situated. "I would speak with my brother."
The technician gulped and looked across the room at the stern form of Maria Hill. "Since we don't have rules anymore, go right ahead," she replied before turning back to her screens.
The technician then hit a few buttons and Loki appeared on the large screen before them. Loki seemed disappointed at the sight of Thor.
"Oh, it's only you. I was hoping for one of your newfound friends. They're far more entertaining."
Thor ignored his brother's words and said, "Are the Skrull helping you find the Staff of Buri?"
"The Staff of Buri?" Loki laughed. "Didn't our grandfather destroy that? That's what Father told us. You don't think he would have lied, do you?"
Thor felt Loki's hate and hurt dripping from every word. "This has nothing to do with our father, Loki." "Everything has to do with our father, you blockheaded simpleton," Loki bit back. "Do you even remember what he told us about the staff; because he did tell us?"
Thor shored himself up under Loki's insults and consciously unclenched his fists. "The staff gained its power through fear and whoever wielded harness that power to control whole-whole worlds," Thor finished reluctantly.
Loki smiled smugly. "I don't know why you're so concerned about me. I recall being told only an Asgardian could wield the staff. I don't know if Father has bothered to tell you this, but I am not actually your brother. I'm a Jotunn. I couldn't wield the Staff."
Thor slowly shook his head. "You, brother, have always been blessed with the ability to be exactly what you wanted to be. If you chose to wield the Staff of Buri, I have no doubt that you could."
"Your confidence in me is touching."
"Loki, why are you so determined to take your vengeance out on this planet?"
"Why are you so determined to protect this planet? It couldn't possibly be just because of your little whore."
Thor, refusing to give Loki the satisfaction of a fight, turned toward the door.
"Did she believe you?"
Thor turned back to see his brother with a face that was less smug and more curious. "What?" he asked.
"Did she believe you when you assured her I was full of lies and deceit and that you would always come back to this pathetic hole?"
Thor wanted to bite back with a cutting reply. He wanted to lie. But the man on the screen looked so much like his lost brother, Thor simply said, "No, not in her heart."
"She still shares your bed, though, doesn't she?" Loki asked.
"That is none of your business."
"That means yes," Loki replied, smiling. "That also means I can still use her against you at my leisure."
"Whatever your plan, Brother, we will stop you."
"I've heard that threat before. It's not even as frightening from you as it was from your friend, Captain Rogers," Loki told him. "Go home, Thor. Go home and grow old and dishonest like your dear father."
Thor slowly shook his head. "No."
"Then you will suffer the consequences...Brother."
"Any progress?"
"The data is encrypted and in a different language, an alien language, in fact. Rome didn't burn in a day," Tony told Coulson.
"It wasn't built in a day."
"What?"
"The expression is: 'Rome wasn't built in a day.'"
"It didn't burn in a day, either."
Coulson rolled his eyes and crossed the room. "What about you, Dr. Banner?"
Bruce sighed deeply. "Look, I have plenty of experience in cellular biology, even mutant biology, but this-this is a little beyond me. These ... guys-I think they're guys-are very dead, but these fluid samples keep shifting at the cellular level. I just don't possess the expertise to analyze and understand this."
"You could call a cellular biologist," Jane said, having walked in the room near the end of Bruce's explanation.
"Feeling better, Foster?" Tony asked with a smirk. "You know, I never pegged you as the weak stomach type."
"Those bodies were disgusting," she retorted, taking a seat in front of her star charts. "But you threw up twice."
"Shut up, Stark."
Tony turned his attention back to Bruce and said, "You know, calling a cellular biologist isn't a bad idea. You do know the best in the business, don't you, Banner?"
Bruce glared back at Tony's smug face. "Are you trying to make me angry?" "Maybe a little."
"This must be what kindergarten teachers feel like," Coulson muttered.
"Yeah, well, it's not going to work," Bruce told him. "I know you slept with Betty at your parents' funeral. Hello, Pepper, your timing is impeccable as always."
Tony gulped as Bruce took on a smug expression. Pepper looked between them with an amused grin. "You slept with Betty Ross at your parents' funeral?" she asked her fiance.
"Um ... yeah," Tony replied uncertainly. "I was sixteen and upset because my parents had just been killed in a terrible car crash, and we'd grown up together. She felt sorry for me."
"Of course, pity is the reason most women sleep with you," Pepper said sarcastically. "Although, it does explain why you slept with her at that conference in Las Vegas two years ago."
Bruce's smug expression instantly faded. Tony looked at him out of the corner of his eyes and said, "Does that make you angry?"
"No," Bruce answered tightly. "I figure the number of women in the universe you haven't slept with is far smaller than the number you have."
"That's certainly true," Pepper agreed.
"Do you have a record of all the women I've slept with?" Tony asked with a little trepidation as he looked up at Pepper.
"Only for legal purposes, dear," she replied slyly.
Jane snorted and covered her smiling mouth as Bruce shared her mirth and Tony glared at her.
Pepper, quite satisfied with herself, handed Tony the tablet in her hands, "This is the food order for that children's charity in the Sudan."
"When is it due for delivery?" Tony asked, suddenly all business.
"Tomorrow at noon, local time. Stark security personnel in the area have been maxed out for the delivery."
Tony shook his head. "That's not good enough. I'll go in myself."
"Alright," Pepper said in a business-like manner. Tony flicked his eyes across her face and could easily tell that she was not entirely happy with his decision. No one else in the room, however, knew her well enough to tell.
His phone went off and he raised an eyebrow a the message he found on it. "Hmm. I gotta go. Do you want Greek tonight? I'm feeling like Greek tonight."
Pepper blinked at the sudden change in subject, but easily replied, "That's fine with me. Would you like me to call-"
"No, I can pick it up myself. Love you," he said before giving her a quick peck on the cheek and heading for the door.
"Where are you going?" Coulson asked.
"Eastern Europe," Tony replied. "Oh, and, JARVIS, call Betty Ross."
Tony was gone by the time the phone started ringing over the room's speaker system. Bruce's eyes became shockingly wide when, on the second ring, a female voice said, "Hello?"
No one spoke and Coulson pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Hello?" Betty's voice asked again. "What's that beeping?"
Bruce covered his wristwatch as Pepper comfortingly squeezed his shoulder. "Hello, Betty, this is Pepper Potts."
"Oh, hi!" Betty replied brightly. "I should've called a long time ago. Congratulations, by the way."
"Thank you very much," Pepper replied genuinely. "Tony decided to call you before running out of the room to go to Belarus. That was the reason for the awkward silence when you picked up."
"Oh, okay. That sounds like Tony. Did he need something?"
"Actually, yes. He's working on a project for SHIELD that apparently requires your particular expertise. If you're available, he'd really like a consult," Pepper explained.
"Alright, are you guys in Malibu or New York?"
"We're at the Stark Tower in Manhattan."
"I have a lecture in the morning, but I can be there by tomorrow afternoon."
"That would be great. We'll see you tomorrow. I'll make sure security is expecting you."
"Thank you very much, Pepper."
"You're welcome, Betty. See you tomorrow."
The line disconnected and a silence filled the room. Bruce broke it with a deep breath as he said, "I have to...not be here."
Coulson opened his mouth to protest as Bruce escaped to the hall, but Pepper held up a hand and said, "I'll handle it."
She followed him out of the door and called after him, "Bruce, hold on."
"You know what, I don't get you, any of you," he said, turning around to face her. "She slept with your fiance and you were genuinely nice to her, and not the kind of nice with thinly veiled contempt...which I've heard about, but never actually experienced."
Pepper smiled kindly and said, "What's the point of being angry with her? It was the past, and Tony was a different person...both times. And, I've gotten to know her socially for the last couple of years, and she's an extremely smart and pleasant person, unlike most of the women Tony has slept with. Are you angry with her?"
"I ... no," Bruce replied, looking at the floor. "It's jusLI've spent most of my adult life completely in love with her, and ... I've spent most of my adult life completely disappointing her. I can't-I can't face her like that."
"Why? Because you're not cured? Because you haven't been perfect? Because she thinks you're dead?"
"Yeah, that pretty much covers it."
"Bruce, she's going to be overjoyed you're not dead."
"How could you possibly know that?"
"I told you, I've gotten to know her, especially since you made your sudden reappearance last year," she explained. "Bruce, people disappoint one another. It's just what we do. Someone like Betty is worldly enough to know that, and she can forgive it. You can hide from her tomorrow if you want, but you won't be able to hide forever."
The quartet stood in a tight circle with their backs to one another as security forces surrounded them in the foyer of the building.
"Was this part of the plan?" Bucky asked.
"Not really," Hawkeye replied.
All the security forces seemed to freeze, but kept their weapons trained on the would-be escapees.
"Ah. Captain America. So the rumors are true."
They looked up at the man speaking down to them from the balcony. Bucky's eyes widened involuntarily.
"Shit. Did he get taller?"
"It's his son," Steve muttered in reply.
Yvgeny Zolanoff made his way down the creaking stairs as he said, "Are these the people that the great Captain America chooses to surround him? A simpleton with a bow and arrow, a traitor to her own people, and a man so weak he could not even protect his own mind?"
Steve heard the high-pitched hum of an approaching engine and smiled. "You left someone out."
A look of confusion crossed Zolanoff's face for only a second before Steve's shield smashed into it. "Get down!" Steve yelled as an armored transport vehicle barreled through the front door, taking a good portion of the wall and the security forces with it.
"Let's go!" Steve shouted to his small team as confusion rained down around them and they made for a side door.
Natasha's usual coordination left her and she tripped over a piece of fallen debris, winding herself. She managed to face upward just in time to see an angry man coming toward her with a rock. She then watched as three bullets landed squarely in his chest and he fell uselessly by her side. She looked back to see Bucky lowering his pistol as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her to her feet. And then they were running together, and, to Natasha, it was startlingly familiar.
The came out onto a grass covered path that was devoid of other life.
"Um..."
"Where is she?" Steve asked gruffly.
No sooner had he said it than the van came skidding around the corner followed by an improvised cavalry of motorcyclists and machine guns. Steve's shield took out a couple and Hawkeye took out another, but bullets started flying the moments preceding Darcy's pause to open the doors. Natasha grabbed a machine gun and threw it to Bucky, who opened fire, covering Hawkeye and Natasha's retreat into the van. He stepped one foot inside and grabbed Steve by the shirt collar as the van sped off. Steve stumbled inside and his shield clattered to the floor of the van. Bucky covered their escape until he cried out and fell back into the van.
"Bucky!"
"It's okay. It's just a scratch," Bucky groaned as Hawkeye slammed the door.
"That's bleeding a hell of a lot more than a scratch."
"We have incoming!"
"Thanks, Tash, we already knew that!"
"Not from the ground, from the air!"
Steve looked at the crate on which his hand was resting. It was indeed humming and making him extremely angry.
"Is this thing worth it?" he shouted at her.
"Shut up! I'm trying to drive!" she shouted as bullet zoomed through the van and struck Steve on the shoulder.
Just then, the road exploded in front of them from a blast from above. Darcy swerved and missed it, throwing everyone against one side of the van. Then there was another blast, and another, and another. Darcy narrowly missed each one until a quick succession of blasts directly in front of them caused her to slam on the brakes.
"I don't know what's worse, puking or bleeding to death," Bucky said in a strained voice, blood seeping out from between his fingers.
They were all crouched down as the sound of bullets came closer. Then another sound filled the air; the sound of repulsor thrusters. The sound of firing bullets continued, but it was quickly followed by the sound of bullets clinking off the Iron Man armor.
"What the hell?" Bucky asked.
"This is what you get for not inviting me to the party," Tony's voice reverberated through the van.
"Thank God he reads his text messages," Darcy sighed in relief.
"You called Stark?" Hawkeye asked with a hint of insult in his harried voice.
"I'm sorry I didn't think cut the brake lines and then shoot at them until they drive away at top speed was the most cogent plan in the world!"
The noise outside suddenly stopped and Tony's voice ordered, "Punch it, Li'l D."
Darcy slammed her foot down on the gas and the van jumped forward. She still had to swerve to miss all the recently made potholes. She was suddenly grateful her uncle Max had given her all those lessons on how to be a 'professional stunt driver.'
"Tony, there are still air assets after us," Natasha told him, her attention divided between the readouts on the screen and Bucky, who had turned shockingly pale.
"Thought of that. Rhodey, you ready?"
"Waiting on you, Tony," Colonel Rhodes' voice replied.
"Do it already!"
Four loud, metallic thuds reverberated off the roof of the van. "What the-"
"Darcy, let go of the wheel."
She complied with Tony's command and the van swerved to the side for a moment before it lifted off the ground. Bucky looked around in slight confusion and said, "Hey, this is like that movie we saw when we were kids."
"Yeah, yeah, it is," Steve said, pressing down on Bucky's wound with a gloved hand. "Tony, we're gonna need medical attention."
"Got you covered."
A large, starkly white airplane compartment replaced the night sky. They floated in place in until the doors beneath them banged shut and they dropped the few inches to the floor with a jolt.
"Sorry. Haven't worked out all the bugs yet," Tony said, opening the door of the van.
"You said we had medical help?" Steve said, not leaving Bucky's side.
"Yeah," Tony said as a team of military doctors appeared with a gurney.
"This a military transport?" Hawkeye asked as he helped move Bucky out of the van.
"Sort of," Rhodey replied, appearing in his Air Force uniform. "It's a military C-47 outfitted by Stark Industries as a medical rescue vehicle."
"How are we not being shot down for violating Belarus' airspace?" Natasha asked, climbing out of the van.
"Called in a favor," Rhodey explained as Tony's helmet deconstructed and disappeared from his face. Bucky gasped suddenly as panic swept across his face.
Steve quickly grabbed his left arm and firmly pushed him down to the bed. "It's okay, it's okay. It's his son. He's Howard's son," Steve assured him, momentarily assuaging Bucky's look of terror.
Confusion settled on Tony's features as he looked between the man on the gurney, the awkward expression on Steve's face, Natasha's stone-cold stare, and Darcy's sheepishly bitten lip. "What the hell?" he asked as the doctors wheeled Bucky toward the aft of the plane.
"He knew your father; like I did," Steve replied, trying not to look at Natasha.
"That's probably true, but you, my friend, are the world's worst liar," Tony said before turning to Natasha. "You are probably the world's best liar, so I'll ask you, Li'l D. What the hell was that?"
Darcy was halfway out of the van and she stopped in the doorway at Tony's stern tone. "I, um, well ... it's kind of complicated."
"Come on, D, you know that's not a real excuse," Tony told her, his face still completely serious.
"I-I-" she stammered.
"He was a Soviet experiment for over thirty years," Natasha said, drawing Tony's attention away from Darcy. "They brainwashed him into becoming an assassin known as the Winter Soldier."
"Okay..."
"Thirty years ago, he was sent on a mission to kill Maria Stark." She paused as shock and anguish passed across Tony's face. "He couldn't do it. He couldn't kill the wife of an old friend from his real life."
Tony's mouth twisted angrily. "My parents died thirty years ago," he told her through clenched teeth.
"There was another agent with him and there was a struggle over the gun and it went off, blowing the tire off of a semi, which lost control and crashed into Howard and Maria Stark's vehicle."
Tony gave her a long and hard look. "This isn't just something all ex-Russian spies know, is it?"
Natasha held her chin up and looked him in the eyes. "I was the other agent with him the day your parents died," she told him solemnly.
Tony looked over at Darcy and said, "You knew about this, didn't you?"
Darcy silently nodded.
"And you thought you'd just tell Steve, and not me?"
"She didn't tell me about Natasha," Steve interrupted. "I just had the rest of pieces, and I...figured it out."
Tony nodded slowly. "Alright. I'm going to Greece."
"Wait, Tony, what are you doing?" Rhodey said, following his friend toward a compartment on the hull.
"Leaving," Tony said, stepping into the compartment. The interior door closed, the exterior door open, Tony's helmet encapsulated his face, and he was gone.
Rhodey sighed deeply and said, "That's not good."