Hey ya'll. Omg, I am so sorry it's taken so long for me to update. So much stuff has been happening. And of course, I went to see the Avengers a few times. Speaking of, I'll be moving this story over to the Avengers board soon and I'm thinking of changing it's name just to something easier for me (lord knows, I've been wanting to change the name forever but it was good to wait for the new board to open). Anyway, I hope you enjoy and as always, I only own Charlotte.
Hearing them walk in made me move. I started storming out of the kitchen, keeping my gaze on the floor. But no matter what, I couldn't not notice my left leg's enormous progress. It was kind of obnoxious how fast it was healing. My fast walking only increased when I caught a slight glimpse of the others. "How about we just talk about this tomorrow? Or never? Either is better than right now," I said, moving to grab the stairwell.
I didn't have the chance because in under a second, Natasha had thrown me against the opposite wall, pressing her forearm into my collarbone. As the back of my head slammed into the wall, I yelped and she demanded, "What the hell was that?" I coughed and strained to push against her but it was futile. I knew her skill set probably more than she did. "You're a traitor!" I made a noise in response.
As my hands clawed at her forearm, I noticed that Bruce and Thor were the only ones slightly concerned for me. "Let me go!" I said, tearing at her brown leather jacket without any success. "Dammit, Natasha, let me go! I'm on your side." She briefly loosened on me before throwing me back again, my shoulder blades getting bruised. "Son of a bitch," I breathed. "I did what I had to! What was I supposed to say when he said he'd stop this shit? Tell him flat out that he's insane for doing it in the first place! Let me go! Damn." She finally moved her arm and I moved my hand to my throat, coughing again. "What the hell? I did what ya'll asked."
"What we asked," started Clint, "was for you to get him stop everything, not for you to take a stroll down memory lane and promise him dances."
"Seriously? What the hell is your problem? I didn't start any of that and you all know it. I was nice to him. That's the beginning and the end to what happened. It's the entire reason he even likes me at all; because I'm nice to him." Steve appeared to want to be elsewhere, Thor looked proud of me for whatever reason, Natasha still looked pissed, and I think Bruce was mildly confused. "You know what, just give me the night, like I asked, so that I can develop a freaking plan for Tony's party and then we can talk about everything else."
"Yeah, right," said Tony. "I don't think you're getting away with a night to gather your thoughts here, Aphrodite. Let's get down to business now." I pursed my lips together and crossed my arms.
"Fine," I said, not bothering to address Tony's sickening nickname for me. I walked past the others and leaned against the back of one of the couches. Steve was staring agape at my leg and even Bruce seemed hard-pressed to look away from it. I looked down at it again and almost started laughing. There were going to be no scars from it, that's for sure. "I just don't get what I did wrong. Everything weird was really due to Loki." Clint made a face. "Don't give me that, Clint. I did exactly what you yourself told me to do this morning. In fact, maybe half of this is your fault for talking to me this morning."
"God, I wish I had just stayed in here and killed him while his guard was down," said Tony. "Then everything would've been taken care of and we wouldn't be having this conversation. I'm sorry I doubted you, Charlotte. You were right. He can't be helped."
"Yes, he can. At least by my talking to him (which was your idea, might I remind you), we got all sorts of information. We know what those alien things are technically called and we know the name of the guy he's working with. I don't think he'd be shelling that information out while you were trying to blast him with a beam."
"Well, the only reason Loki told you anything is because he plans on you teaming up with him," said Natasha. "That's what I'm mad about." Clint nodded from behind her.
"Again, what the hell was I supposed to say to him? I thought he was gonna vaporize me with his damn spear! He acted more than insane half the time. I thought the point was to play to him and be honest. He would know a lie if I told one."
"The point was to talk him down which obviously isn't gonna happen," said Clint. "There's no way in hell you're going with him." I shook my head at him. "You're actually considering it? What the hell, Charlotte? You'd abandon us for that psychopath?"
"Clint, calm down! I'm saying there might be another way. Ya'll watched the entire thing, right?" I asked. All of them slowly nodded, wondering where my plan was going. "His staff, did you notice that every time he was holding his staff that was when he sounded off his rocker? And it's light pulsed every time I mentioned the cube. At one point, he leaned it against the counter beside me and I felt like it wanted me to touch it. He's got part of the cube at the end of that spear. His buddy, Thanos, has to have the other or Loki's got it somewhere incredibly secure."
"How do you know that for sure?" asked Steve. I shrugged.
"I don't. I just sort of had a feeling about it. And you know, at one point, the cube seemed to be what he wanted to talk about. He wanted to make out like I didn't really know what was going on with it. That reminds me, I need to get into the file rooms badly."
"And why should we let you?" asked Clint.
"Are you being serious right now? They're my files, Clint. Are you worried I'm gonna tell Loki that you grew up in a circus and that Natasha used to be a ballerina? Stuff like that doesn't matter. I need to get down in the file rooms first of all, to check my own and then to find out how to handle the tesseract. If we can separate them, we can bring that thing here and finally deal with it. My problem with that happens to be that I don't exactly know how to handle it."
"I thought you knew everything on it," said Tony. I shook my head.
"I mean, I've read Steve's file at least ten times and the one person who could've given insight into the power of the cube got shot off into another realm or something. Sure, I know more than your average person but I'm no expert and I'll bet money that Loki isn't either."
"You read his file ten times?" I shrugged and nodded.
"I thought Red Skull was dead," said Steve.
"I just wouldn't be so sure now that I know about Jotunheim and everything. One of the legends about the tesseract was that it was something Odin left here after taking down the Frost Giants more than a thousand years ago. Now we know that's true. But ya'll have got to trust me. We can get at least that part of it if Loki's distracted."
"That's a longshot though," said Bruce. "There's never a time where he doesn't have the spear close at hand. He's never not holding it."
"He wasn't holding it a whole lot when he was here earlier," said Steve.
"One person was here, someone he really trusts, it's probably the only opportunity we had at getting it. His guard was completely down."
"I really don't care about trying to get the sliver he has inside his staff, if it's even actually in there," said Clint. "There's a much bigger part of it out there, probably with some hideous alien that we're never going to see. Apparently, this Thanos dude just plans on waiting in the shadows." I shook my head.
"What if he doesn't have it? I don't think Loki trusts him. He even said he thinks his partner has an eye on the cube. It's probably why Loki split it in the first place," I said. "I actually don't think he's got it."
"I don't trust a damn thing that's coming out of his mouth," said Tony. "I think this party idea is just a ploy to get us there all together without weapons and take us out and kidnap Charlotte, regardless of what she wants."
"He's not gonna try anything there, as long as we play to him."
"You don't know that for sure," said Natasha.
"I'm not trying to say we shouldn't be prepared but I don't think we should give off a vibe that says we're ready to take him on. For all we know, he plans on it being a pleasant evening and wants to have peace talks with Fury." Natasha crossed her arms in response, clearly not caring about what I had to say. "If you think I'm a traitor, that's fine. I'm used to it. If you don't believe me when I say there's hope for this then believe what you saw. You're all talking like there's nothing we can do now when there obviously is. Did you even look at Loki during that conversation?"
"Charlotte is right," said Thor, finally speaking. "Loki is broken and that is why he has done these things. We have the time to complete a plan. She accomplished what was asked of her brilliantly." You know, Clint and Tony made a huge joke of how endearingly dumb Thor was but whenever he was talking about me, he sounded like a genius.
"Thanks, Thor. I'm glad to have someone on my side," I said. "But seriously, his emotions were the reason I even got onto the idea of Loki having some part of the cube in his spear. When he wasn't holding that thing, it looked like he was about to have a breakdown."
"Under normal circumstances, I would say the guy just needs a hug but obviously, these aren't normal circumstances," said Clint.
"I think he needs to get laid," muttered Tony. Clint laughed.
"Maybe Charlotte's right," said Bruce. "We all saw the way he acted. Maybe she's cracking him. If we bring in Thor as her backup, we may have him."
"He'll have to see Thor anyway," I said. "At the gala."
"But he may not react to that the way we'd want him to," said Steve. "I think Thor is going to be shaky ground for him. It could be one of two extremes; the one we're hoping for or a massacre." I shrugged. Steve made a good point. Deep down, Loki still cared for Thor but that didn't exactly mean a confrontation was a good idea. But a public place would be better than on a battlefield in Manhattan.
"Well, Loki at the gala has nothing to do with Thor," said Tony, turning to me.
"Loki's the one who suggested I go. I didn't realize all of us were invited in the first place," I said. "It's got nothing to do with me either. I think all of us being there at the same time is pretty much by chance."
Tony shook his head. "There's something up with that. Why would he even want to be there in the first place? To kidnap Pepper and threaten us? She won't even be there. Nobody he would care about besides the seven of us will be there. There's no point." I clasped my hands together again.
"Well, what if this is something to do with the cube?" asked Clint. "Think about it. You said he wants some place for it to be secure."
"Why would he put it in Stark's building?" asked Steve.
"It's a distraction," said Natasha. "He's putting it somewhere else in the city but wants us all in a completely different place. Or he's just stalling and it's already somewhere else." I turned to stare at her. She might just be right.
"Well, how will we know where it is?" asked Bruce. "Who could we send to get it?" I shook my head and I noticed Steve was staring over at me.
"Charlotte's right," said Steve. "I don't think we should do anything that night. He's expecting all of us to be there now and we can't send some regular agent to find it. They don't know anything about the cube."
"Neither do I," said Tony. "And I would appreciate more than a base knowledge. I barely know a thing."
"Then I suggest you actually let me into the file rooms and let me do some digging," I said. "I'm the only person that really knows my way around down there. I don't care if you think I'm a traitor but I am completely on your side. You have to believe me on this. I did what I had to. I'm not gonna drop ya'll for him." Natasha shrugged, obviously still not wanting to do anything with me. But Steve and Thor nodded. I felt like doing a fist pump. I needed the two of them on my side. I really needed their approval. Tony and Clint looked at each other before nodding. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Clint and I will take you down there," said Bruce. Bruce and Clint had taken turns running and fetching files for Fury and Phil. Clint was the one who had basically taken up my job of taking sporadic notes on every person S.H.I.E.L.D. came into contact with. "It's better if we do it while it's still dark." I nodded.
"I'm down, let's go." I walked past Tony and got in line with Clint and Bruce, as Clint pushed the elevator button. My leg felt like there was nothing wrong with it, even though there was still an obvious flesh injury.
When the doors opened and the three of us stepped on, I heard Natasha mutter, "I don't trust her." As the door closed behind us, I pressed my fingers to my temple and sighed. I can't say that I wasn't used to my coworkers not trusting me but I couldn't deal with it now, especially when I was extra-confused about my life.
"She'll apologize for throwing you around a bit," said Clint. "It's all in time. She's probably just frustrated."
"I don't blame her at all," I said. "I kinda deserve it." I crossed my arms, shifting weight to my right leg even though there was no need to. "Was hers the general opinion of the rest of the group?"
"I think we were all a little bit in shock when you decided to think on the idea of going with him," said Bruce. "But you did say to take the things you said with a grain of salt." I nodded.
"If it's the only way, though… I have to consider it. But I think we need to get that spear away from him. Were ya'll able to analyze it the last time he was here?" Bruce shook his head.
"He was able to keep it hidden pretty nicely."
"And he was barely here for more than 12 hours," said Clint. "We wouldn't have had the time."
"Well, where does it go when it's not with him?" Bruce asked.
"Back to that other alien?" suggested Clint.
"I don't know," I said, as I felt the elevator come to a halt. "But he can summon his armor and the rest of that leather outfit magically. Where does that stuff go? Maybe he's got a different system that we don't know about that sort of keeps stuff with him. That's got to be how he got out of that holding room because in the end, he did have the scepter."
Bruce and Clint led me off of the elevator and we quietly moved to the file rooms. "I'll keep watch while the two of you do your research," said Clint. "We'll talk about this later." We nodded and walked into the darkened file room after Clint handed us flashlights. He had been more than prepared for this.
Bruce and I split up, with him looking for information on the tesseract and with me trying to find my own file. After rummaging through several drawers I saw my name emblazoned on the flap of a manila folder. I pulled it out after memorizing where it had been placed and then started going through the pages. Something told me Loki hadn't been lying when he'd said that about S.H.I.E.L.D. not swiping my record. I didn't know what I'd do when I knew for certain but deep down, I honestly knew that I would have to officially leave S.H.I.E.L.D. I didn't originally want to but this would be the straw that broke the camel's back. I'd put up with their mess for far too long. Now that my identity had been revealed to the public, I was freshly pissed at Director Fury and the other higher-ups.
My file would've been an interesting read if I'd had the time to really look through it. I saw pictures of me throughout my life, paper-clipped to random pages that described my habits. I was overwhelmingly clumsy, I couldn't cook, I had a weak tolerance for alcohol, and I had a sometimes abrasive personality that was overpowered by moments of motherly intuition regarding two members of the Avengers Initiative and one of the company's many enemies. They seemed to think that I was protective of Steve and Thor but most of all, protective of Loki. I couldn't necessarily say that it wasn't true. One could argue that Clint and Tony were my real friend group, given how much we teased each other and the fact that they'd saved my life not a week ago, but having to teach Steve and Thor things about the 21st century had endeared them to me in a way that Tony and Clint would never be. On the battlefield, all six of the Avengers were up to par and could take care of themselves but off, Steve and Thor were lost most of the time.
My file included a chronicling of the miniscule facts they had of my relationship with Loki. Mostly, those papers seemed to focus on the body language we had around each other because that's what they had to go on. Loki seemed to relax around me, like he trusted me enough to let his heavy guard down, while I tensed up and constantly had to reassure myself that he was there. Given, what they had to go on with my body language was after he'd hurt me. Beforehand, I'm sure they would've had a very different picture of me.
"Bruce, Charlotte," we heard Clint say. "Just grab the files and come on. We can't stay down here." I closed mine and shoved it underneath my arm, wishing I'd brought my massive purse. Before I closed the drawer my file had been in, my flashlight shown on a number of things I'd never seen before. My mouth dropped open a bit as I began pulling folders out that I'd never read. They were on weapons that I thought vaguely looked like things from Hydra. I stuffed them under my arm too, my anger increasing. Then my eyes focused on a name on a flap in the back of the drawer. It obviously wasn't meant to be found and it was called, "The Winter Soldier." My eyes widened. What the hell was that? "Charlotte! We need to go!" I shoved the drawer shut without grabbing that file and jumped up, heading to go to the elevator.
We made it to the elevator without any interruption and all three of us breathed a sigh of relief when the doors closed. "Guys," I said, "there's something that they're not telling us." Clint raised his eyebrows and I flipped open one of the weapon files. Bruce took it from my hand immediately and began flipping through.
"Where did you find this?" he asked.
"They were behind my file in a bottom drawer of one of the cabinets. Something's up because to begin with, my file wasn't in the employees' area like it should've been. Secondly, I've never seen these files before and I have worked here for years. Even if I didn't write them, I should've had access to them. I guarantee you that I should've seen everything in that room before. All of these files I grabbed are on weapons and something called Phase 2. Have you ever heard of that?" Bruce shook his head but Clint looked conflicted.
"It sounds familiar," said Clint, "but I can't be sure."
"Then lemme ask you something else, have you ever heard of something called the 'Winter Soldier?' I didn't have the chance to pick up the file." Clint shook his head.
"I've never heard of anything like that and I've been in the file rooms plenty of times. But it sounds like a person." I nodded and clutched the file when Bruce gave it back to me. For whatever reason, the idea of this "Winter Soldier" gave me the creeps. Then again, the idea of stepping off the elevator and seeing Steve was making me feel like puking so I couldn't decide what the worse of two evils was. "Group meeting!" Clint called as he stepped off the elevator.
I immediately strode into the kitchen, scattering the weapons files over the counter of the island and tried to forget that less than an hour ago, Loki had been where I was standing. I then proceeded to open my own file up, my hands shaking as they flew through the pictures. I noticed Thor had moved to stand beside me and I felt warmth on my other side, recognizing that it was Steve reaching across me to grab a weapon file. "What the hell is this?" Steve asked as he pulled out a picture. I glanced up only because Steve had to be extremely angry to cuss. Tony was poring over a file with Bruce, the two geniuses putting their minds together. "It looks like stuff from Hydra."
"They want to use the cube to make weapons," said Tony.
"Why?" asked Thor.
"It says it's because of knowledge of Asgard in this file," said Clint. "Your technology is far beyond ours." I shook my head. S.H.I.E.L.D. was overplaying their hand.
"Our two realms are not at all different," said Thor. But they were. Asgard had magic, something that Earth would probably never dream of possessing. It made sense for S.H.I.E.L.D. to want to make weapons but it simply wasn't okay to want the cube for that. The cosmic cube needed to be far away from humans. It had unlimited power. I was sorry to think it but I thought that Thor ought to take it back to Asgard and Odin could deal with it.
I shook my head and went back to fumbling through my file again. I felt Steve move closer to me and I understood that he wanted to know nearly as badly as I did. I flipped through pages that detailed my relationship with each of the Avengers and other people, including Loki. With my hands shaking, I pulled out the papers that showed my relationship with Steve. It showed what I would've expected it to show, including elements of body language that reminded me of what I'd read about Loki downstairs. I relaxed around Steve and clearly favored him over the others. Had they been adding body language profiles to everyone's folders? I put that page back where I'd found it when I realized that both Steve and Thor were reading it over my shoulders.
I vaguely heard the others talking about the folders I'd found but I would worry about those later. I breathed out when I finally found transcripts, including that terrible thing called a criminal record. I groaned when I began reading over it; guilty of housing an international fugitive, guilty of breaking and entering, guilty of hacking into a government agency's security system (with all due respect, Steve is the one who did that). "Dammit," I said, closing the file and scooting it away from me. "He wasn't lying."
"That's a first," said Steve. I heard a noise from Thor that echoed my own feelings.
"It's been a long enough night for everyone and we've got a press conference in the morning," said Clint. "We should go to bed and worry about this tomorrow."
"Well, we're confronting them about making weapons," said Tony. Steve nodded in response, finally agreeing with something Tony said. I watched Bruce gather all of the files together and I quickly told him the cabinet and drawer they'd been in. Putting them back before sunrise was a good plan of action. After Bruce left, the rest of us scattered into our various rooms. Clint was still mildly complaining about not switching rooms with Thor and Thor himself looked as conflicted as I felt.
I stood in the threshold between my room and Steve's before approaching him to apologize. "I'm sorry," I said from the doorway when he turned and noticed that I was there. "I wasn't thinking when I was talking to Loki." I'd had an outline of a plan in my head but that didn't really matter. Since Loki had been willing to really talk to me, I thought it was only fair that I return that favor.
Steve crossed his arms, which only served to make them appear bigger. He didn't look irritated or even surprised like the rest of them had been. Maybe he realized I did what I had to or maybe he just knew me well enough to know that I wasn't lying. "I feel sorry for him too," was Steve's only response.
"So it's true what Loki told me. You really did let him see me." That really made me feel like being sick. If the tables had been turned and I had been in Steve's position, I would've killed Loki. Well, maybe not. Not if I knew how much they cared for each other. Gosh, this was making my head hurt.
"It was the right thing to do. He wasn't going to hurt anyone right then. You're the only person he has. I sympathize with him." Of course, Steve sympathized with Loki. That's the kind of person he is.
"I won't go with him," I said, sort of making a promise not only to myself but to the rest of the Avengers. "I'm sorry ya'll thought I would." Steve shook his head at me. He trusted me but then again, he had to. He had to trust the six other people in this penthouse. We were his team. Maybe I wasn't explicitly a part of that but it did matter.
"Well, it wouldn't be smart if you didn't consider all of the options. I wasn't angry about it, certainly not as angry as Natasha got." I shrugged. Natasha would come around but she was very plan-oriented and professional. I ran on impulse. We would butt heads sooner or later. Besides, she had been right in getting mad at me.
"I think it's a bad idea to go after him at Tony's gala. I'll do my best with him but if ya'll are sincerely thinking about investigating the tesseract while we're there, I suggest you play it very safe. I doubt Tony would take kindly to us tearing apart his newly remodeled building." Steve nodded.
"I'd already thought of that. We'll probably have an Avengers meeting after the press conference where we talk about strategy. My only concern is what we tell Fury and what we don't."
"That's something for the rest of you to figure out," I responded, "but if you have to tell them about Loki and everything else, I think holding those weapons over their heads might be a good start."
"Speaking of that," said Steve, "why don't you and I do some… what did you call it?"
"Snooping?" I supplied. Steve nodded.
"Yeah, snooping down in their rooms. I know Tony's got Jarvis working through their security but that goes a little slow for me. If we could find a prototype, that would be better than anything else." I ran my fingers through my short hair. It was a good idea and it wasn't too late in the night. Now that my leg had mostly healed, I figured it was worth a shot.
"I'm down for it." Loki had been a friend to us when he knocked out those cameras. Maybe I should've thanked him.
Steve and I went down the stairs quietly, which made me feel like we were breaking some sort of rules of the penthouse; forget breaking rules of the company. When we reached the elevator, it's doors opened, revealing Bruce. He'd been downstairs, putting the files away before anyone noticed that they'd gone missing. Unfortunately, he hadn't found out anything valuable on handling the tesseract, not that I really we would.
Steve nodded at him as Bruce walked off but I knew there was something up with him. As Steve stepped on the elevator, Bruce gripped my arm before I could move past him. "I don't know what you're doing but we need to talk," he said to me hastily. I felt a bit of panic rise in me when his grip tightened. "It's about the 'Winter Soldier.' I looked at the file." My eyes widened and Bruce let me go. I got on the elevator without a word.
Steve had a look of surprise on his face but he didn't ask which I was grateful for. Steve was probably the only one who was regularly conscientious of the fact that Bruce could turn into the Hulk at any second. He was constantly reprimanding Tony for antagonizing Bruce but deep down, I trusted Bruce's abilities to keep it contained as I'm sure Tony did. After my speech to him on the helicarrier where I told him to treat the Hulk like a muscle and like they were one person instead of two, I think the change had been a lot easier for Bruce. If he relaxed, he wasn't so concerned that he would kill one of us. And Tony had been more than encouraging which was unusual for him. I think Tony was just glad to have someone on his intellectual level on the team.
I stood closer to Steve on the elevator than was actually necessary. I was worried about what Bruce had seen down in the file rooms. The idea of the "Winter Soldier" had already given me the creeps but now that Bruce had skimmed the guy's file, there was no telling what he found out. He clearly thought it was something that only the two of us should know (maybe he was including Clint too but I wasn't sure about that) and if we couldn't talk about it with the others, I was going to be cautious. Obviously, he'd found out something fairly dangerous. Like we needed something else besides Loki and his army to worry about.
My head began pounding like I was having a migraine and I wondered whether that was from being tired or being utterly overwhelmed. "I know you love Loki," Steve said from beside me. God, now I truly was going to be sick. These situations never went well with me. "And I know that he cares for you. I'm truly sorry for everything you've been put through." I shook my head and stared at the elevator clicking down numbers. Steve had obviously had this on his mind and I wasn't about to interrupt him. What would I have said anyway? "I hope he stops this, for your sake and for Thor's." Oh no, he'd been speaking with Thor about it.
Thor and Steve had been making use of their free time by hanging out with each other and learning the ways of the 21st century together. No matter what I'd taught either of them, there was always something I'd left out. Apparently, when I'd been knocked out, the two of them managed to break the S.H.I.E.L.D. medical facility's microwave because what they'd put in there didn't even remotely resemble food. And of course, when Steve had discovered webcams last week, the two of them took incredibly unflattering pictures of each other (which I had thought was impossible) by getting too close to the screen. They were adorably naïve. But not once did I think they'd been heart-to-hearting over Loki.
"Have you talked to Thor about Loki?" I asked. Steve nodded in response. "He loves him a lot. I wish Loki could realize that."
"But he knows how badly Loki is hurting and he knows it's all to do with him. Maybe the three of you need to talk."
"Yeah, in an insane asylum," I retorted. Nowhere in the universe would Thor, Loki, and I sit down and be able to talk civilly. Thor and Loki would tear each other apart, unintentionally on Thor's part. "Maybe when we capture Loki we can give him court ordered therapy sessions. He desperately needs those."
The elevator doors opened and Steve and I walked toward a storage room that held things waiting to be moved to the helicarrier. As Steve strained to open the locked door, I stood back at his bequest with my mind on other things. Sure, it was important to find prototypes of practical Hydra weapons that S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to make from the power of the cosmic cube but that wasn't my business and I knew that. My business was with Steve and Loki. Steve had been incredibly nice about Loki from the get-go aside from a few slanted comments, that I didn't blame him for. Thor and I were the only ones who probably even cared about Loki's wellbeing. At least, Steve and Clint admitted that they felt bad for him.
I hadn't been trying to make them pity Loki. I could only imagine how livid Loki would be if he knew that people like Steve and Clint pitied him. But I had wanted the others to understand what had happened to him and why he became the way he is. Hell, if I'd known him and Thor before Loki sent the Destroyer, I likely would've rooted for Loki. Maybe Loki nor Steve wanted to admit it but they came from very similar backgrounds; they just went the opposite way from each other on the moral map.
I heard the door creak and I realized that Steve had broken it off it's hinges. "Good job," I said. I knew Steve's strengths and how he fought but very rarely did I see them in real life and not from old footage or on paper.
Steve gave me a smile and told me that we needed to split up. As I looked at my side of the incredibly large storage room, I noticed there weren't stairs that led up to the balcony of crates. The crates were, of course, the things containing supplies and where I would've assumed the weapons would be. As I hastily found a ladder, that was no doubt going to be shaky, I saw Steve jump and propel himself over the railing of the balcony. He immediately set to work opening crates and I set to climbing the ladder. Getting back down it would be the problem.
As I opened one of the boxes, I heard a noise from Steve and I knew he'd found something. I dropped the lid on my crate, careful to make sure it looked like it hadn't been disturbed, and ran to the other side. Steve pulled out what looked exactly like the drawings from the folders. I sighed out. Steve was clearly angry and I didn't blame him. They'd been lying to all of us about one thing or another. It was mainly why we'd begun acting without them.
The two of us exchanged a look and he took the odd looking gun and jumped over the railing to get back down on the ground. I hesitantly put my legs over the railing and gripped the top pole before Steve put the gun on the ground beside him and prepared to help me get down. I let go of the railing only when I was absolutely positive he was ready and Steve made sure I didn't fall flat on the concrete floor. That would've wasted the magic Loki had used to heal my leg. "Thanks," I said and we headed out, no longer caring if they knew we'd been in there. Steve was going to throw the gun in their faces tomorrow after the press conference. There was no doubt.
When we got back on the elevator, both of us set to looking over the gun he'd found. "There were lots of others like it," said Steve.
"What is it supposed to do?" I asked.
"That's what I'd like to know." With power from the cube, I could only guess that it would be able to vaporize someone. Just like Hydra. I did not like the similarities that were happening here. Not at all.
Even though it had been a weird trip, I enjoyed doing stuff one-on-one with Steve. We rarely got to do that anymore; at least, not since we'd been forcibly living together out in New Mexico and back then, the stuff we did one-on-one was talk about things that were uncomfortable for both of us. There was the one time I bawled my eyes out and we ended up sleeping on top of each other on that ratty couch. But probably one of the weirdest things we'd done was when Steve had to pull the arrow out of me in that office building. Maybe they weren't the best memories to fall back on. Maybe I should try to remember the first time I tried explaining a computer to Steve. That was probably the most hilarious moment.
When we got off the elevator I noticed that Bruce was waiting up, pacing the living room. Steve bumped me and I knew it wasn't by accident. He suspected something was up with Bruce. I shrugged. "Lemme talk to him and I'll come to bed soon," I said quietly. Steve nodded, carrying the abnormal gun with him. "Bruce," I hissed as I walked towards him. Bruce stopped in his pacing to look over at me and immediately seemed happier.
"You are not going to believe this," he said. He was looking around him constantly, as though he was worried Steve was going to pop back out at any minute. "The Winter Soldier is a person. It's a codename just like everyone else has." I can't believe I hadn't come to that conclusion yet. But codenames were usually reserved for heroes and Bruce was clearly uncomfortable with this. "I saw the guy's real name but it's escaped me."
"Would we know him?" I asked.
"Steve would," he responded, obviously waiting for something to click with me. When I gave him a confused look, he continued. "He apparently knew him in the war and they were close." My headache only got worse.
"I don't understand. Most everyone he knew from the forties is dead, especially anyone he was close to. If they are alive, they can't do much damage." Bruce shook his head.
"This man fell off a train in Germany. He was Steve's best friend." Again my mind started clouding over but this time I was searching for a name.
"Bucky," I breathed. "How did he survive a fall like that? He was presumed dead. Wait, how come I don't know about this guy? How come none of us do?" Bruce shrugged.
"He lost his arm in the fall, that I remember reading and this Russian organization found him. They gave him a bionic arm and apparently, he had pretty bad amnesia. S.H.I.E.L.D. wants him but I have no idea whether they've been in contact with him. I think he's recently come back into some of his memories and that's why S.H.I.E.L.D. wants him." This wasn't making any sense to me whatsoever. Bucky should be dead, otherwise why hadn't they told Steve about any of this? Why didn't regular agents of this company know about him? Clint and I had long ago earned their trust. We should've known about something like this years ago. Before they found Steve, there should've been no reason at all for not telling us.
"I still don't understand it," I said.
"This is not something I would mention to anyone. Obviously, they did not want that file to be found and evidently, the Winter Soldier is an efficient spy. The years between now and then have seen him doing some pretty weird things."
"Is he still young? I can't imagine they'd be trying to recruit him now if he wasn't."
"He is still young. By all accounts, he's maybe aged five years in all this time. Some sort of chemical helps him stay that way. That's all I read."
"Is he dangerous?" Bruce nodded.
"He definitely can be."
"God, why haven't they told Steve about this? When I was first working with him, they said from the get-go that literally no one he knew back then was still alive, let alone Bucky. I don't care if he's an assassin now, I think Steve deserved to know."
"I wouldn't tell him. I don't know what it was about the file but I don't think telling Steve is a brilliant idea. In fact, I don't think this guy is a threat to us at all. The file obviously hadn't been touched in a while. For all we know, they haven't looked into him since Russia was still the U.S.S.R." Bruce was right and I knew that. I should be hesitant on anything I found down in those rooms and no matter what I saw down there, I was sworn to keep it to myself unless there was something incredibly off. I think the weapons files I'd found counted in that category.
"Okay, I understand. We won't mention it." Bruce nodded. Clearly, he just thought telling me would be the right thing to do since I'd been curious. I appreciated it.
After the weird train of events that was my night, I got in bed and tried to forget everything. No Winter Soldier, no weapons, no unresolved feelings for Loki. I needed to focus on what I was going to say to a panel of journalists and TV hosts in the morning. Maybe they would avoid asking so many questions of me and Thor. Maybe Thor and I could just stand in the background, like pretty chess pieces.
No, that would never work.
Clint jumped on my bed the next morning in a wild attempt to wake me up. He and Steve began laughing when I groggily pushed myself up and noticed that my hair was sticking in all sorts of directions. I made a face and scrambled out of bed, noticing my leg was completely healed. The press conference was at 11am and it was now 9:30. I barely had seven hours of sleep. Although, as my past could tell you, I work extremely well when I'm tired.
Steve was already dressed in one of his button up shirts tucked into khaki pants and his blonde hair parted on the side. It was a usual look for him and one that worked really well. I had noticed since I'd woken up from being unconscious for a couple of days that Steve had begun to really get along with everyone. I didn't know what had done it, since he'd never exactly been hated before that, but the entire team had begun looking up to him. Steve had been the right call to make as leader.
I straightened my hair in the bathroom, while reading over the guidelines S.H.I.E.L.D. had sent us on how to act, and Natasha's haircut for me was well suited thanks to my new bangs and the angle it was cut at. I dressed in an emerald green blouse with a deep blue blazer over it. I was lucky to own so many office clothes.
When I walked down the stairs into our living room, I remembered that these people were going to know my name. I did not want to do this. At least it was an excuse to dress well and go out on the town with the group. Thor was wearing a shirt I'd bought him tucked into black pants. Steve had obviously helped him get dressed. Natasha was wearing all black with red accents. She clearly wasn't excited about this either. Clint was standing beside her, looking prim for once. Bruce looked muddled in his clothes but he was always wearing a button up with khakis. And then, of course, there was Tony wearing an immaculate suit and making the rest of us look like goons.
"Your outfit is completely outdated! Why did they ever let you go shopping with Charlotte? You are never gonna get laid if you keep dressing like this!" Tony was always down on Steve's clothing choices. When I had been helping him get accustomed to the new world, I bought him clothes that were comfortable for him and not too wild. Besides, no one took the time to look very nice anymore. At least Steve wanted to. Tony looked like a playboy. "And now look at what you've done to Thor!" Thor looked down at himself, wondering what was wrong with his outfit. Other than the fact that he was obviously uncomfortable in Midgardian clothes, Thor thought he looked fine.
"Well, you take them shopping when this is over," I said.
"I have never seen your hair straight before," Tony said to me before turning back. "But Steve, seriously, untuck your shirt. You look ridiculous." Steve looked down, confused. He didn't see anything wrong with what he was wearing.
Natasha rolled her eyes and hit the elevator button. "Let's get this over with," she said. I nodded in agreement.
"How is your leg?" Thor asked, as I stood beside him behind the other Avengers. I looked down at it, as if I could see damage through my black office pants.
"It was totally healed when I got up," I responded. "He used more magic than he did the first time." Thor nodded and gave me a goofy grin that I couldn't help smiling back at.
All seven of us rode in a S.H.I.E.L.D. van to the area where the reporters were assembled. It looked like we would be sitting on a stage inside Tony's building with the journalists in front of us. This was my first experience with a press conference and I certainly hoped it would be my last. I had other things to worry about than my public image or what my mom was going to think when she saw me wielding a vibranium shield on television.
People were waiting outside of his building to catch a glimpse of us in regular clothes. I swear, this was the closest thing to celebrity I would ever achieve and I was being unnatural and praying they didn't take any notice of me whatsoever. People would kill to be in my position and I needed to remember to stay positive anyway.
I followed Thor out of the car and people were screaming. Tony walked down the sidewalk toward his building as though they'd laid out the red carpet. In a way, I suppose they had. They had roped it off enough that the seven of us would be able to walk into the building. My mind went into overdrive, trying to remember all sorts of rules. Don't mention S.H.I.E.L.D. or the helicarrier or any of their real names, aside from Tony's. Don't act suspicious. Just act normal, pretend I'm talking to someone one-on-one.
I was breaking into a sweat on the otherwise crisp morning as my eyes scanned the crowd lined up on either side of the walkway. I was going to be sick. Tony was signing autographs and Clint looked like he was going to start working the crowd. I felt Steve nudge me and I started walking with him in a daze. I saw lights flashing and people taking pictures of us. Were we required to stop and take press photos? Why couldn't I remember the memo they'd sent to us? I felt like I was literally losing my mind.
Before I'd noticed it, Thor had wrapped his arm around me and pulled Steve towards my other side. Thor was grinning and looking at someone so I did it too, realizing Thor wanted a photo of the three of us. I didn't know how it turned out but at least, there was one picture out there where I didn't look like a deer in the headlights. Steve placed his hand around my upper arm and helped guide me up to the stairs in front of Stark Towers. I noticed Phil following us down the walkway and I breathed a sigh of relief. I needed him here. Clint moved to my other side.
"You look scared to death," he whispered while we waited for the others. Natasha was coyly making her way up now. Thor was standing beside Steve, looking jolly.
"Oh, believe me, I am," I said back. I had genuinely thought I might faint if Steve hadn't grabbed my arm. He had a weird way of making me feel steady. "Steve, I'm gonna sit beside you," I said over at him. Steve nodded like he figured that had been the plan all along. I would need the moral support of having him next to me when they began asking questions.
"Kent," I heard Phil say as he arrived in front of us. I turned to look at him, noticing Steve still had a grip on my arm. "How are you walking so well?" I choked. Steve's grip on my arm tightened, Clint made an undistinguishable noise, and I pulled it together fast.
"They had some of that ointment at the facility," I responded. "You know that kind from New Mexico that was such a great help? They just gave me a bigger dosage this time." I gave a sweet smile that I hoped conveyed innocence and the fact that I knew everything that was going on all at once. Phil made a face in response.
"Oh, of course," he said back. Steve's grip relaxed, much to my relief, and I felt Clint calm down beside me.
"You're such a trickster," whispered Clint. That caused me to give a real smile. For whatever reason, that was the greatest compliment anyone could have given me right then.
Once all of us had arrived at the top of the steps, our picture was taken together and then we were led inside. Just as I had suspected, we were sitting on a makeshift stage on stools with the reporters sitting in the audience. I took a stool beside Steve on the end and when I crossed my legs, I noticed Phil looking at them suspiciously. He didn't like what had happened at all. Well, just wait until Steve shows him what he found last night.
My mind drifted as preliminary introductions were given, giving everyone's codename except mine. They wanted to go through us one by one and since I was at the end, I had plenty of time to think. I prayed Phil was going to manage to cut down the amount of questions Thor got. The way he spoke alone would tell everyone that he wasn't from around here.
Tony went first, flirting a little with the female reporters and telling sarcastic jokes to the others. Everyone knew so much about Iron Man already, they just wanted to know why he'd decided on a team. Bruce was next and he seemed to be the audience favorite. But Bruce barely gave a straight answer to any of their questions. Natasha got a few questions about her abilities and where she was from as well as date offers. Clint joked a bit but for the most part, played it like he was the silent type. Thor didn't really understand most of his questions. Yes, he hit stuff with a giant hammer and resembled a god. What of it? (Thor must've gotten a different set of rules than the rest of us) But when he was the first person asked about the villain himself, Thor froze. I wanted to prompt him in my head but it was no use.
"He is… He is difficult," Thor began. "He is strong but he will be stopped." After a pause that had seemed to last at least five minutes (and in press conference time, that was too long), Thor had given a fairly good answer.
Steve was next and he didn't appear nervous at all. He was rivaling Tony for being the coolest about this. Of course, Steve used to have to do shows and small films back in the forties. He was used to this sort of thing and better than that, he was good at it. His answers were polite and precise. He knew what they wanted to hear and he played to it. I envied Steve in situations like this one and in fighting. He was in control so much of the time that I found it odd he was the most awkward of us at home.
He clearly came off as the leader of the group and the reporters loved it. In fact, they seemed to forget to ask him whether he just took up the shield or was actually the guy. Whatever, that was an incredibly great question to dodge for Steve's sake. As he finished his last question, he gave me a reassuring smile and I nodded at him. Of course, I doubted this small interaction went unnoticed by the press.
"Ms. Kent," one of the reporters asked, "what made you decide to fight with the Avengers?" I breathed out slowly. I could do this. Thor was grinning at me over Steve's shoulder and Steve nodded at me.
"I, uh, I was just doing my job," I responded. That clearly wasn't the answer they were looking for so I decided to make up for it. "The threat is a large one, as I'm sure everyone knows by now, and they needed the help. I'd be more than happy to do it again."
"Ms. Kent," another man said, "why were you disguised as Captain America? Why not any of the other members of the team?" I smiled at that question. I hadn't had a choice but they didn't know that.
"He's my closest friend of the Avengers. I could mimic him the best out of the others." As I had guessed, our small moment of him reassuring me hadn't gone unnoticed. Some of the reporters were smiling slyly at this point. What was better than a group of superheroes? A group of superheroes that were dating each other.
"Were you injured terribly? Iron Man flew you out, correct?" asked someone else, this time a woman. Tony was smiling triumphantly at saving my life and I shook my head.
"Indeed, he did but no, I was not injured as badly as I'm sure it looked on TV. I definitely need some motorcycle lessons." It hadn't been meant to be a joke but the press took it as one and laughed. "But no, not really." What an absolute lie. I had been knocked out for days and my leg was shredded.
"What kind of training have you had that prepared you?" asked a man.
"I've had no real training. At least, not the kind my colleagues have had. Captain America here had given me gun lessons prior though so I wasn't completely unready." This was going much better than expected. But they hadn't asked the questions I was dreading answering yet.
And then the first one came. "Are you dating anyone?" asked a woman coyly. She'd asked every single one of the Avengers the same question and I had known it was coming but I choked on that one as well. A new piece of information would be added to my file after today and it would say, does not do well under pressure.
"No, I am… I am not," I responded hesitantly. Obviously, I was single. Why couldn't I say it? Well, maybe I wasn't single. Maybe I was emotionally compromised.
The woman who'd asked me stared between Steve and I like we were hiding the biggest story of her career. Well, honey, what if you knew I'd been with guy tearing New York to the ground? That might surpass asking the Avengers who they were dating.
"Have you encountered the man behind these attacks?" said the same reporter who'd asked Thor. I froze and looked to my right. All six of the Avengers were staring at me. Steve gave me a pleading look and I turned back.
"Yes," I said, honestly. Conversation broke out among the journalists. This was the juiciest piece of news yet. They were hoping I'd give them insight and that wasn't my plan at all. Once they'd quieted down, they stared at me expectantly and I gulped. "He will be stopped, I'll assure you of that."
"No more questions," called Phil and the press broke out into chatter as the seven of us stood up to take our leave.