"She's a wild one," the dealer warns, crossing his arms.
"That ain't a deal-breaker,"
The man grins, running his tongue along his teeth "Don't underestimate her," he says, pulling up his shirt "She gave me these the day I got her,"
Angry red ropes of scar tissue wrap around the man's midsection, raised up and irritated-looking.
Bucky hid his grimace. Those looked real nasty.
'Keep him on the line,' the voice in his ear encourages.
He smiles, "Sounds like my kind of gal,"
The dealer shrugs, "Don't say I didn't warn you," he takes out a note pad "She's seven large, eight if you want my boys to re-cage her,"
Bucky nods, tossing over the bag "Should be enough in there, I'm fine with the cage,"
The dealer inclines his head as his goons tell him that it's all there, "She's all yours, man,"
Bucky grins, slow and cold.
The dealer frowns at him.
The door blows down, and widow bites rain from the ceiling, magnetic cuffs latching onto the dealer's wrists. In less than ten seconds all of the criminals are restrained and/or incapacitated. Depending on how lucky they were.
"What the hell-"
Bucky de-activates his facial hologram, stepping over the dealer with a disapproving frown, "You know it's illegal to sell enhanced animals without a permit, right?"
The dealer gapes at him "Why else would we be doin' it in an abandoned warehouse?"
Bucky inclines his head "good point," he allows, looking up as the New SHIELD agents enter the room, "Take them away," he orders calmly "get them processed, get them detained, you know the drill"
The agents begin hulling the restrained criminals into the armoured trucks, trying to get their information while they're still in shock.
Natasha saunters up to him, a grin on her face, "How does it feel being a hero?" She asks.
Bucky huffs a laugh, "I ain't no hero just because I stoped some street-level dealers from selling glowing puppies," he says with a roll of his eyes.
Nat smacks his arm, "Hey, this was your idea," she reminds, "You've saved a lot of animals today, be proud,"
Bucky nods, looking to the cargo truck that held said animals, contemplating.
They're all set to send to the rehabilitation facility upstate that had been personally assessed by Bucky himself and endorsed by The Avengers. It was a state of the art facility with well-trained and monitored staff and humane housing. After they were rehabilitated, they would be adopted by caring families that had undergone background checks and psych evals, or sent to an animal sanctuary, depending on if they're a flying dog or a laser-eyed bear, of course.
He'd put a lot of thought into this, had fought tooth and nail with Fury and the counsel of The Avengers about the rescue and protection of enhanced animals. He'd done good today, and a lot of bad men were going to jail, not to mention all of the animals they'd saved from said bad men.
The question is, why does it make him feel so... empty?
"Hey," Nat says, hand on his shoulder "what's wrong?"
Bucky takes a deep breath, calming himself, "I'm not sure... just, something feels off about this,"
Nat hums, squeezing his shoulder supportively.
Suddenly, Bucky is moving, hopping into the cargo truck with a single-minded determination.
"What are you doing?" Nat calls, rushing after him.
"I want to see what I was buying," he says mildly, crouching down next to the cage that held the animal he'd 'purchased'.
Tenderly, he lifts the cover, blinking in surprise at what he finds inside.
The raven is perched on a bar that'd been haphazardly welded in place, the floor of her cage was covered in filthy newspaper, and reeked of decay. Her eyes were full of intelligence and gazed at him with a strange mix of mistrust and tentative hope.
Nat frowns at the ragged-looking bird, her nose scrunching up at the smell, "I was thinking of something more along the lines of a lion," she comments, cocking her head "or a wolf..."
Bucky releases a breath he didn't know he was holding "She's beautiful," he murmurs, looking up at Nat with absolute devotion in his eyes.
Nat grimaces, "You're not leaving without that thing, are you?"
"No chance,"
###
Despite how adamant Bucky was that he kept the raven, they did have to be careful with her. If what the dealer said was true, she was a lot more dangerous then she looked.
Bucky had the agents carry her cage into his old apartment, now filled to the brim with ivy and owl finches.
Bucky loved animals, always had, always would. But, he'd always had a soft spot for birds.
After his conditioning was broken, the first thing he'd done was beg Steve to let him get a bird, even though the man wasn't the biggest fan. Eventually, Steve had caved, and taken him to the pet store to get all of the essentials for Bucky's new pet.
He'd done a lot of research beforehand and knew he wanted a budgie as his first ever bird. He'd gotten Lucy a week later, a bit nervous that, despite all of his research, she'd get sick, or suffer malnutrition, or not have enough toys...
But Lucy settled in just fine, and three years later, she was still happily chirping away in her cage in the living room.
After Lucy had come the finches, and after the finches Clint had gotten Lucky. Steve finally drew the line when Bucky began talking about getting a dove.
Speaking of that dove, Steve was currently using it to bribe him out of his new raven, which, yeah, not happening.
"She's staying, Steve," Bucky says calmly was he waters his Ivy.
Steve scoffs, "Buck, where are you going to keep her? You can't just leave her in that cage!" He rants, waving his hands franticly, "It smells awful, and it's tiny. You don't have any empty cages for her, so where's she staying? Do you even have food for her?!"
Bucky glowers at him, "Do I look like an idiot, Rogers?" He growls, bringing his watering can close to his chest, "I had Jarvis order a cage with overnight shipping, I looked up what to feed her, and I already have all of her perches and toys in transit," he looks Steve directly in the eyes, "She's staying,"
Steve deflates, realizing there would be no arguing with him, "Fine. She stays," he hisses, working his jaw and striding out of the room. Bucky's just glad he didn't slam the door. That always upset Lucy.
An inquisitive caw has him turning to the Tower's newest resident. Bucky smiles, "Don't worry about Steve, once you're settled, he'll warm up to you,"
The raven ruffles her feathers, looking uncertain. She didn't look dangerous, more... sad, he'd say. Sad and tired.
Bucky stepped off of the stepladder, putting down his watering can, "No, really, he's a sweetheart. He just needs to get to know you," he insists, walking over to the cage and squatting down, "Hell, the first thing he and Tony did was fight, and now they're married." he shrugs in a 'what can you do' sort of way, grinning.
"Now," he says, scratching the back of his neck, "How do you feel about a bath?"
The raven cocks her head, cawing and ruffling her grimy feathers.
Bucky hums, "I'll take that as a yes,"
Once he had the mesh over the sink, and the shower attachment on the tap, he went back over to the raven.
"You've gotta promise me you're not going to freak out, okay? I don't want to hurt you, and I don't want you to hurt me, so... truce?" He says awkwardly, hoping the bird was as smart as she looked.
She proved him right when she nods, cawing softly.
Bucky nods back, unlatching the cage door and stepping back.
The raven tentatively hops off of her bar and onto the hardwood floor of the apartment.
She looks up to him, cocking her head.
"Uh, do want a lift?" Bucky tries, holding out his flesh arm -since his metal one wouldn't have enough grip without his nanite watch.
She flutters over, settling herself on Bucky's arm as though she were born to perch on it.
Bucky walked her over to the sink, turning the water on, warm enough to be comfortable, and allowed her to 'go ham', so to speak.
She cawed happily, flinging water every which way, rustling her feathers.
Bucky smiled at the sight. She was a very pretty bird underneath all that grime, with sleek black feathers, a brilliant white stripe across her shoulders, and her captivating brown eyes that held far more intelligence then they rightly should.
He shook his head, getting to work on preparing her dinner.
An hour later, Bucky sat on the island counter as the damp bird picked her way through a bowl of berries and tenderized mice.
"You need a name," he says, resting his chin on the palm of his hand.
The raven looks up at him, cocking her head.
Bucky frowns, pulling out his phone. He began scrolling through his messages, thinking. "How about... Emily?" He tries, looking up at her. Oh shit, tonight was movie night...
The raven cawed angrily, beating her wings.
Bucky hums, "Yeah, I don't like it either," he says, sending a quick text to Thor, letting him know that he wouldn't be up for movie night. "How do you feel about Brenna?"
The raven gives him a flat look, then goes back to eating her meal.
"Damn, must be bad if you won't even look at me," he muses, taking the feedback for what it was. "How about... Mabel?"
The raven continued ignoring him.
"No dice, eh? Hmm," He checked his phone, and paused. Thor was trying to convince him to come up, since they were meant to be watching Frozen 2 tonight, and Bucky had enjoyed the first one.
Bucky blinked, looking up at the raven, a sudden idea forming, "What about Sven?" He tried.
The raven froze, looking up from her food to look at him. She puffed up, clicking her beak delightedly.
Bucky nods, "Sven?"
The raven nods enthusiastically, cawing loudly, and flying over to him so she could bump her head against his cheek.
Bucky chuckles, "Sven it is."
###
The next day Sven's stuff arrives, and after much trial and error, Bucky has the cage constructed and decorated, up to and including the nameplate he'd had Jarvis order just because he could.
"What do you think?" He asks the bird on his shoulder, standing back.
The cage was about seven feet tall and four feet wide, and it fits nicely into the corner of the room. It was painted black and had the bronze nameplate on the top of the cage.
Sven grumbles contemplatively, cocking her head.
Bucky shifts, frowning "We can get you more stuff, of course, and we'll set up a way for you to get in and out on your own," he says, walking closer to it to make sure the sawdust at the bottom was evenly dispersed.
Sven bumps her head against his cheek, thrilling.
Bucky relaxes. She liked it. "Thank god, because I spent a lot of money on this, which," he laughs, offering his forearm for Sven to perch on, "Don't tell my husbands, because they will not be impressed."
She nods resolutely, her tail twitching.
It's weird, Bucky's never bonded with a bird this quickly, or had one bond with him after only a day. It could be the fact that Sven was enhanced, and she had shown above-average intelligence for a bird (raven or not, understanding human speech is just not normal).
For now, Bucky was content to just leave it at that, his new bird was enhanced, and therefore very smart.
Bucky smiles, bringing his arm level with his face, "Are you feeling up to eating breakfast with my friends? I'll let you eat my strawberries~"
Sven nods, ruffling her feathers excitedly.
Bucky felt like this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
And after a very hectic breakfast where Sven had eaten his strawberries, then stolen Clint's, Bruce's, and even Natasha's (the bird had balls, that's for sure), Bucky could tell that Steve was already warming up to her. The softie.