"Then I guess it's a good thing we're leaving as soon as my Bucky is ready." Ricochet grinned like a cat anticipating the sweetest cream. Loki took another quick look at Steve. The super-soldier looked on the verge of jumping the woman.
"We should have pulled out the second we heard about Grant." Barton dropped the rest of the kisra on the ground and pulled his bow. The weapon popped open with a flex of his arm.
"Buck wasn't done cooking yet." Ricochet put a hand on his arm. "Hawk, chill. Grant won't break that fast. He might have been dumb enough to get caught but he's John's loyal dog."
"He'd just started. We could have stopped and moved. We should have." Barton started for the door; Natasha yanked her picks and pressed herself back against Loki. He took a half step backward, slipping his hand around her waist and drawing her with him until he brushed Phil. No one else had Natasha's skill at moving in perfect silence and didn't dare a twitch. Loki had moved only to make room for her to clear the doorway and he was almost as quiet as her.
Regardless, Barton had caught something and he froze again. "Oh, good grief." Ricochet pushed past him and walked to the door. She was close enough for Loki to smell the perfume she'd applied that morning. "If you want to stand out here being paranoid, have fun. I'm going inside."
"I'm coming with you." Barton took another tense look around the area and followed her. Dethlok stayed one step behind Barton, his eyes on the back of the HYDRA agent's head. The door closed and this time, Loki heard the sharp sound of a deadbolt being thrown. Natasha rolled her eyes at the sound, annoyed.
Loki turned to Steve and signaled the issue. He finished with a single question: Up? Loki was sure they could get on the roof and from there inside, easily. They'd been trying to avoid that for the ease of access, because many people slept and hung out on their roofs.
Steve nodded sharply and Loki shouldered his rifle. Cupping his hands, he helped the other members of his team scale the wall by giving them a boost. When May was over the edge, Loki took a final glance around and jumped. He caught the edge and then Phil and May grabbed his wrists, bracing him so that he could kick up higher and scramble over.
Training dropped him into a low hunch that minimized his profile, just like everyone else but Steve. He mirrored them a second later, quick to absorb their knowledge. The roof held one central entrance built into a covered stairwell. The guards on the corners continued their watch, blind thanks to Loki.
Natasha slid one way and May the other, soon swallowed by darkness. Steve looked at the other two men but Phil signaled that they should wait. Loki watched the guard in the direction that Natasha had gone and was able to see her rise behind him. The takedown itself was fast and lethal: a knife across the throat. Natasha made sure he was dead before rejoining them and May showed up shortly after her.
The door wasn't even locked, which concerned Loki. He summoned an illusion that left the door unaltered and nodded at Natasha to proceed. She slipped inside and all was silent for a second. Four thumps filled the air, all of the something-hitting-flesh variety. Loki peeked in to see Natasha straightening up over two prone guards. It took thirty seconds to zip tie them; despite the guards's deaths on the roof, they weren't here to kill indiscriminately. By the time these guards were found, they should be downstairs and securing Bucky.
The stairs led them to another floor but Natasha bypassed the door to keep going down. They'd all agreed that the chair was probably in the lowest level, where it wouldn't be seen by Garang's visitors or family. Another landing put them back on the ground but on the level below, they could see guards. Unlike the ones above, they wore HYDRA uniforms, not the dark green that Garang put on his men.
Loki counted ten and signaled for everyone to stay put. Slipped past Natasha, he split the illusion, guarding his team from the rear and hiding himself from the men he approached. It actually strained him to create that kind of sustained focus over two different large areas and his vision swam for a second. Thankfully, another step put him where he needed to be.
A sharp whine filled the air and the men all grabbed at their comms. Momentarily distracted trying to get the painful buds out of their ears, Loki had the advantage. He didn't really need it but he did need their comms down for a moment.
Using his rifle as a club, he hit the man on his right and then the one to his left. Both went down immediately and he slammed the butt in another's face before whipping the muzzle across the other's throat.
Four down in four seconds.
"I am out of practice," he muttered as he ducked a horrible punch and used the attacker's momentum to drive him violently into a sixth. He could hear the others coming and he dropped all illusions so that he could make two more: one hiding him as he went to the left while another of him went to the right. The remaining four soldiers followed the illusion and put their back to him.
Too easy. A one-two hit to the back of two separate skulls left the numbers two to one. The remaining fighters turned, panicking a bit now. One of them actually hit him, which mostly annoyed him but left that guy with a broken hand. Steve jumped in and punched him, taking him out, while the last went down after getting stunned by Natasha's Widow's Bite.
"That was impressive." May sounded less impressed and more concerned.
Loki couldn't help the wicked smile he shot her direction; he loved to needle those who deserved it. "Thank you." He stepped behind Natasha as she opened the door. The time for secrecy was falling behind them and he didn't bother with an illusion as she entered the hallway and looked left and right.
"Which way?" she asked softly.
"Right," Steve whispered.
"Left." Loki stepped that direction; they weren't suggesting directions as much as splitting the group to maximize the search.
"Left," May called, leaving Phil and Natasha with the rough choice of leaving their lover with a woman who didn't like him, or leaving Steve alone.
"Right," Phil called, annoyed. Loki felt uneasy that Phil wasn't going with him. Steve would watch out for him but it wasn't the same.
"Left," Natasha finished, giving Phil a hint of a smile.
May looked like she wanted to argue but her professionalism prohibited anything that crass so she slipped into position behind Loki as Natasha started left. They'd checked most of the rooms this way when Phil's voice said in their comms, "Right it was. We need backup."
"Gotcha." Natasha looked at Loki. "Go. We'll catch up."
He hesitated for a moment, only a second at the thought that she was alone with someone he did not trust. He did trust Natasha and flashed her a hand sign that didn't come from the SHIELD or HYDRA handbook.
As he turned and dashed down the hall to join Phil and Steve, he heard May say, "You taught him to say 'I love you' in American Sign Language?"
"Yeah, it's his safe gesture when he's gagged."
Loki choked back a laugh and resisted looking over his shoulder to see May's face. While amusing, Natasha's statement had been false. He'd not been gagged by either of his lovers yet. The thought bore some consideration.
He shook off those thoughts and concentrated on the fight ahead.
Phil checked each door before slipping past it, aware of Steve right behind him. They'd only gone halfway before his quick peek into the room spotted a technician talking with a soldier. The soldier was named Charles Guerra; he'd been in SHIELD. Phil resisted the urge to shoot him immediately. Another look verified that the room behind this one held the Chair. He could see someone in it; not too far away, he heard a sound like a mad scientist's machine.
Phil pressed himself to the wall so that he whisper into the comm, "Right it was. We need backup."
Tasha's voice replied, "Gotcha."
"Ready?" he asked Steve but the super soldier had waited long enough. He launched himself through the door, his shield flying out to bounce off Guerra's head. Phil was right behind him, just in time to see the other four men in this room reacting to Captain America. The tech was no danger; the woman had thrown herself to the floor and huddled there, eyes wide and scared.
Steve had engaged the four men, stepping into the mass of them without hesitation or fear. Phil took a step to join him but he saw a motion in the next room. Someone was in there, and that's where Barnes - the hostage - probably was.
Phil hurried through the door and froze. John Garrett stood next to the Chair, gun in hand. The muzzle was pressed against Barnes's chest in clear intent. The buzzing sound had come from the Chair; Barnes lay limply in it, his eyes staring at nothing, a bite guard in his mouth.
Phil popped open the mic channel, letting the team know what was going on. "Give it up, Garrett." Phil circled to the right so that Steve wouldn't have to dodge around him.
"Don't think so." Garrett smiled that hateful, arrogant smile. "In fact, I have the one thing in the world that'll let me walk out of here." The hollow thump that Steve's shield made when it bounced off a person came from the next room. "His BFF."
"Captain America isn't letting you leave with him." Phil kept the gun on him, wondering if he could shoot Garrett before he killed Barnes. Loki probably could have but he wasn't here, yet.
"Actually, it's not just him I've leaving with. I want Rogers to come with!" Garrett's smile widened. "He wants his buddy back and I'm all for that."
Phil scoffed. "You're out of your mind if you think you can hold Captain America."
"You're the one out of your mind, Phil." Garrett's voice was a maniacal as his smile. "Have the dreams started yet?"
"Crazy babble does not help your case." Phil tried to let the words wash over him.
"Phil. You and I, we're brothers. We are cosmic beams of light and soon we're going to rule this place." Garrett stared at him as if trying to will him into being on his side. "You'll understand, when the dreams start. Then you'll find me and we'll talk."
"You're not taking Bucky." Steve stood in the doorway. "But I'll go with you."
"No! No way!" Phil felt a spike of panic; this was exactly the kind of noble thing Steve Rogers would do.
"I agree." Loki slipping in past Steve, lowering his rifle to train it on Garrett.
"Logan!" Garrett waved at him. "Hey, how's SHIELD?"
"They don't try to kill me or rewrite me, so better than you." Loki stared at him. "Let Barnes go."
"Uhh, no." Garrett laughed, looking a little sheepish. "See, I'm in a bit of a bind, here, and so I need a hostage. Fortunately, I have a volunteer."
"You know that we won't let that happen," Phil said, trying to think of the best way to handle the situation.
"Phil, it's okay, if its for Bucky." Steve stepped forward, just as the building shook with the sound of Stark's missiles. The combat team was coming. Phil saw the shift in Garrett's eyes, the one that said he knew he wasn't leaving this place alive and free. He saw Garrett choose free but not without requiring a price.
The gun was loud in the small room; Steve screamed a denial. May and Tasha rushed in and there was more gunfire; Phil found himself pulling his own trigger. When the smoke cleared, it wasn't the former Winter Soldier who was bleeding, it was Garrett. He leaned against the wall heavily. His chest was hamburger from all the shots fired at him but he looked at Loki, his eyes betrayed. "Logan?" he asked, as if he didn't really expect the jotun to kill him.
Loki stepped around the Chair while Steve began to try to get Bucky out. "My name is Loki."
Phil went around the other side, covering the dying Garrett as he slid to the floor. "Phil," Garrett rasped, "can you believe this guy? Fails to take over the world and then makes sure someone else gets it." He coughed raggedly as Phil kicked his pistol away from him. No one was in any hurry to administer aid to this man. "Phil. Phil. Tell Dad hi when he comes. I'm sure you'll piss him off . . ." Garrett stared into the distance and then whispered, "I wanted to be there for you, Phil, when you realized the truth. I wanted . . ." Again his voice trailed off but this time there were no more whispers.
After a moment, Phil leaned forward and touched Garrett's neck. "He's dead."
"Room secure," Loki reported over the comms to the strike team.
"Steve." Natasha touched his arm. "The technician in the next room should be able to help."
"Right." Steve went to get her and the rest of the covert team settled in to wait for their friends to clear the premises.
"Am I so far off base?" Tony walked into his quarters in the tower, pieces of suit flying off of him. Pepper glanced up at him, took in his state of mind, and dropped her eyes to her work again. Tony ignored her hint, staring hard at the one person who could make sense of this shit. "I mean, even Steve seems to like him!" Tony knew he was understating things; the look on Steve's face when he shook Loki's hand after Bucky was out of the Chair was pure gratitude. Sam had been the same, all smiles and pats on the back, like Loki was some fucking hero.
"Of course Steve likes him," Pepper said without looking up from her tablet. "He helped him rescue Bucky. I think Hitler would get a kudo from Steve after doing that."
"That's just it! He's Hitler, and I'm the only one that seems to remember!" Tony marched around the room in circles - okay, he was pacing. He could admit that.
"You're not the only one who remembers." Pepper flicked her finger to another screen. "You're just the only one who doesn't think he can change."
Tony nearly pulled out hair. Not from his head of course - he wouldn't fuck up this $500 haircut. It was perfection. He had staff who would let him pull out hair if he really needed to do it. "He can't! This is Loki! He's just tricking them all!"
"Probably." Pepper finally looked up at him. "But that's not the problem here."
Tony tilted his head as he tried to get her meaning. "It's not?"
"It's that they're not listening to you." Her expression wasn't mean or judgmental.
"Yes, exactly!" Tony pointed at her. "See, you agree with me! They should be!"
"No, I mean, the problem isn't Loki." Pepper rose and put her hands on his chest, smiling at him as only she could. "The problem is that your ego won't consider the possibility that you're wrong."
"But . . ." Tony paused to pick his next words with care. "I'm not wrong."
"Which is a problem." Pepper sighed and said, "Tony, how often do people ignore perfectly good advice to do what they want anyway?"
"All the time."
"Right. No one's going to change their minds about Loki because you tell them they should." Pepper smoothed his shirt, her hands coming to rest on his belt. "You're going to have to wait for him to prove you right."
"He's going to hurt them." Tony felt his chest constrict. "I have to stop him."
"No, you don't." Pepper looked sad. "Tony, all you can do is be here for them when he does."
Helplessness flooded him and the billionaire bowed his head. Pepper was the only person who could ever see him like this: defeated. "I don't know how."
"Well, first, you have to open your mind to the possibility that he's sincere." The CEO of Stark Industries lifted her boyfriend's head so she could met his gaze.
Her words put some spirit back into the man. "Actually, no, I'm sure I don't."
Pepper snorted softly. "Yes, because the possibility will allow you to look them in the eyes and tell them you don't agree with them but you love them anyway."
Tony winced. "Love might be a bit much. I'm pretty sure I only liked Romanov, even before this all started. And Steve- Man, Steve is hard to take on a good day-"
Pepper laughed and pressed her hand over his mouth. It was juvenile but she'd long ago learned it was the only way to shut him up sometimes. "Whatever words you use, just tell them. Tell them that you care so that they'll keep you around so when he drops them-" She moved her hand to mimic catching something. "You'll be there. Sometimes, you can't save people from themselves, only from the fall off the cliff."
Tony sighed. She was right. "I'll talk to them tomorrow. Thor wants to talk to me about moving Loki out of the Tower anyway. I can start working on keeping my enemy close tomorrow."
Bucky was resting in Stark's clinic under Bruce's care. He was in a vegetable state following his release from the HYRDA device. No one was sure how much of his personality would survive being in the Chair, even for a partial session.
Garang's compound had been cleared out. May had moved the warlord's family to a secure SHIELD location until they could figure out what to do with the innocents. They first had to figure out which of his adult relatives were innocent but the kids would likely all end up relocated to boarding schools with new identities.
Hawkeye, Ricochet and Dethlok slipped away in the confusion.
The Chair had been destroyed by a really pissed off Steve, aided by Loki. The two men had torn the device apart with their bare hands.
There was much speculation about what Garrett had been talking about. Phil had set his team to going through any and all records they'd found. So far, it seemed as though Garrett had been babbling nonsense as he slipped away.
Grant was incarcerated in a SHIELD facility, where he refused to give any more aid to SHIELD.
Natasha, Phil and Loki went back to their suite in the Tower, curled up in bed together, and celebrated victory as only lovers will.
That night, Phil started to dream.