Chapter 6
"You look like you got trampled by a legion of Dark Elves," A voice said suddenly from the living room Tony had been sure he had been alone in.
"Don't do that!" Tony near screamed in shock as he clutched the place his arc reactor used to be housed. He glared at Loki who had materialised once again in his living room before chucking one of the empty alcohol bottles at him. As expected the bottle went right through the trickster and shattered into pieces on the floor.
"Is that your way of saying I look like hell, Reindeer Games? Because let me tell you I can look whatever way I please." Tony got defensive as he glared at Loki's apparition. "Why are you even here? Don't you have some other poor sod to scare the living daylights out of?"
"Regrettably no." Loki sighed. "Thor's drunk with Valkyrie and moaning about missing his Lady Jane. I am kind of sad she dumped him. I liked her."
Tony while being drunk still had excellent reasoning skills so the engineer raised a brow at Loki's comment while he lay plastered against the couch with several empty bottles around him. "Let me get this straight. You approved of your brother's girlfriend?!" He thought the brothers were at odds about everything, well most things, so this was a surprise.
"She challenged Odin when he called her a goat and she had the courage to slap me," Loki too raised a brow. "I'm guessing it is what you Midgardians call having balls."
"Right," Tony sighed. "Look, I really had a shitty day Loki. I really like to be alone right now."
Loki however looked around Tony at the empty alcohol bottles and actually frowned before quickly plastering on a neutral face. Tony said nothing but he noticed it still. "Was your team not there to help you?" The trickster asked but evidently it was the wrong thing to say as Tony rounded on him.
"You know you are the fourth person to bring up those goddamn Rogues today and I've had it!" Tony bellowed as he snapped. "Look, I've had to deal with the Accords council today just because you guys are returning then they and Ross just had to bring up the subject and ask about my stance on the Rogues!" Tony let out a near frustrated whine. "For the record I couldn't care less about my former teammates but apparently they are a packaged deal when you want to get legislation in place for former Nazi brainwashed super soldiers!"
Tony was heaving now as he uttered "And now there is talk about possible pardons as the Asgardians who have superior abilities are coming to Earth. The government wants to consolidate their power base in case anything goes wrong. They are even sceptical about Thanos' defeat."
Loki noted that something was clearly distressing when the man uttered former teammates though he said nothing, letting the shorter man continue his rant. At this point Tony had no filter anymore and babbled mostly. "I just spent hours watching Hydra files and they were….. Ugh…. I wanted to barf. Wait… I did barf. And Oh my God. What will your brother do once he hears the band isn't together anymore?!"
"Stark!" Loki shouted to get the man out of it but Tony was already breathing hard.
"STARK!" Loki shouted again and this time it got the man's attention.
"I have absolutely no clue what you were babbling about most of the rant but I can tell you two things right now." The trickster stated once he had the other man's attention again. "One, if you give Thor all the facts he will make the right decision and this is me saying that. Heavens above, and if you repeat this to anyone I will stab you myself, he isn't as much of an oaf anymore." Loki muttered, though apparently he didn't want to admit it. "Second, if your team is unworthy of you then just make a new team. There are plenty of super powered individuals flitting about."
"I don't think so Loki," Tony started but the trickster held up a hand to silence him.
"177A Bleecker Street," Loki deadpanned. "There is a two-bit hack magician there that got on my nerves but he is a start. And I'm pretty sure the woman and Flerken that helped us are connected to your Director Fury. She talks fondly of him once inebriated."
"Huh?" For once Tony was speechless. "Wait…. What the hell is a Flerken?!"
"Space cat with tentacles," Loki deadpanned. "I'm not a fan,"
"Wait!" Tony shouted as he saw that Loki was going to make the same hand motion that disconnected the last call. "Thor has a room in the Tower here. You want one too?"
"Stark, I've been thrown like a ragdoll in your tower. The last thing I want is to be near my brother and your green friend after a month long cohabitation. Especially not after that green friend tried to use me as a teddy bear on multiple occasions!" Loki exclaimed. "When we land I am getting a place by myself FAR away from them!"
With that said Loki disappeared again leaving Tony with much to think about. "A new team huh?" Tony thought. "Fri baby, make a note of that address Loki said." he ordered. "A new team, huh?"
"Boss, there is something else you should know." Friday said tentatively. Tony raised a brow because usually she was more blunt, but was learning some sarcasm as well.
"What's this about Friday?" He asked.
"I know you've said to leave them be but, I've been tracking the Rogues," She admitted and watched through cameras as her creator's eyes widened. "And I may have made contact with one of them,"
"Friday, No No No!" Tony was starting to panic again. "You shouldn't have followed them!"
"They hurt you boss!" Friday exclaimed. "They hurt you!"
"Friday I don't care! I don't care anymore!" Tony exclaimed. "I can't handle this right now!"
Friday felt bad about this. She really did but her programming was prioritizing the welfare of children before that of her creator so she pressed on. "Sergeant Barnes was adamant that-MUTE," Tony's command came mid-sentence and the AI watched her boss try to calm down. She couldn't have helped it. Her programming allowed for the safety of minors to be prioritized above all else, even her creator's mental wellbeing. That's just how the boss had programmed her. She was muted now though and couldn't explain anything else. She really wanted to explain and felt like she was chastised for reaching out. In a split second Friday made the decision to dial a familiar number. It rang twice before a female voice answered.
"Miss Potts, there is something you should know," Friday said with determination.
Meanwhile, back at the cabin, James entered the house and was met with an empty living room. There was silence all around so he headed upstairs thinking that the others might have turned in for the night. When he got to his room he had the urge to check on the kid. Natasha probably had the baby with her as she had been quite taken with the cuteness.
"Yo man, everything alright?" Sam greeted as he was apparently just changing into his sleep pants.
"Fine," James said and went to his bed, which was the lower bunk. He reached under his pillow and pulled out his handgun which he checked over again to see if the safety was on before stuffing it in his waistband.
"You gonna watch over the kid?" Sam asked as he was entirely too perceptive.
"I don't trust the witch," James confessed. He hadn't trusted her before and he didn't trust her now even if Steve vouched for her. Something in the back of his mind was shaking the alarm bells too much though he couldn't put a finger on it.
Sam seemed to want to say something but he didn't. James had noted that after Siberia Sam seemed to be taking what Steve said in stride. It might have been that news report that they caught about Stark being hospitalized that had the man questioning Steve. He didn't know how much Steve told the group about Siberia as he had still been quite out of it but he suspected that it wasn't much. Sam for his part seemed to not take everything with a grain of salt anymore. They had become fugitives. They had been on the wrong side of the law. Steve had said that they were in the right. Things didn't add up and Steve deflected whenever Sam brought up the subject. It was also why the Soldier called Sam Sam and not Wilson like he called Lang. Sam questioned stuff and even though the Soldier was still afraid of being hurt for voicing his opinions he could respect a man that didn't blindly follow. Lang had been too starstruck by Captain America to think straight and afterwards it was too late.
James exited their shared room and entered the one next door where he had arranged for the kid to sleep only to find the child in the midst of a nightmare. James cursed softly as he really should have expected this. You didn't get to be free of Hydra without nightmares. He was all too accustomed to them so he slowly approached the boy who was trashing on the bed.
"Hey kid," James tried to sooth, not exactly touching the child but having his hands just hovering. Nightmares like these could either be soothed by a touch or made worse and James didn't know which one it was so he opted for talking. He also realized he really needed a name for the children as he just couldn't keep calling them 'kid'. The child wiggled, causing the blankets to tangle around his legs which made the whole situation worse. James quickly got rid of the blankets causing blue eyes to snap open and look at him with fear.
"Hey," James tried to calm the child as he watched him clutch the blue bear to his chest. Wide eyes were watching him though they looked a bit unfocussed. "Hey," James tried again. The child's pupils seemed to focus a bit more now and the kid was slowly coaxed out of his nightmare. "I'm right here," James said as he now placed a soft touch on the kid's blond hair. He didn't know what else to do but to think of how he wanted to have his night terrors stopped. James was spectacularly out of his depth here as he tried to calm the child. "No one is going to hurt you," He said, which caused the child to let out a whimper but to also lean into the touch. Next thing James knew he once again had a lap full of child. The kid had crawled out of bed and buried himself against James who had been seated on the floor. There was the awkward hugging and James didn't know what to do. He hadn't received a hug in so many years. Not even Steve had hugged him yet.
James was preoccupied with the kid so he almost didn't hear the door handle shake or the door creak open. But he thankfully did and he leveled the gun at the door. He expected the Witch, out for some irrational scheme of vengeance. However, the person at the door surprised him.