"I was found by some Soviets after I fell from the train. When I had been captured by Zola, he had experimented on..." Bucky paused, looking to Clint. Steve stiffened at the mention of the train and he couldn't stop himself from stepping away a bit. He remembered that day all too clearly and now, standing here with the two men he had thought he had lost, Steve wasn't sure how to react. Clint glanced between Bucky and Steve before turning to the others, understanding what Bucky was hesitating about.
"We'll get back into this a bit later but Zola experimented on Bucky and myself," Clint added Bucky rolled his eyes even as it was clear that Phil, Fury, Hill and Natasha seriously wanted an explanation at that moment. In fact, Fury was glaring harshly at Clint. Hill had crossed her arms over her chest. Phil was stiff, not doing much but glaring. Natasha was blanked out and completely still, hiding whatever she was feeling.
"It was during this experimentation that Zola had been able to create a bastardized version of the super soldier serum," Bucky stated. Everyone looked to Clint. He rubbed a hand to the back of his head once again.
"It's why my hands are already healed," Clint answered, looking right at Natasha. Her eyes narrowed but she didn't say anything.
"Anyways. After I was found, the Soviets gave me over to Zola and Hydra as a side project. They replaced my shattered left arm with a metal arm," Bucky continued, waving to the image. His current arm was from Shuri so it wouldn't have made any sense to show that one. That was also another far in the future story. "After giving me the arm and making sure the serum was working, they created the Chair. It was designed to basically shock my brain into losing connections to my memories."
"How are you sane?" Tony wondered, a copy of the information on the table in front of him. No one had seen him draw up a holo image of the information originally, but it was clearly there now. Clint sighed.
"The serum heals our minds so we don't stay affected," Clint answered. Tony looked up, shocked. And he wasn't the only one who caught the term he had used.
"We?" the genius echoed. Clint winced, his gaze flicking over the S.H.I.E.L.D members who had focused on him with a glare. They hadn't gotten that far ahead and it would be distracting to do so now. It took a moment before Tony realized that and he waved a hand. Knowing it was difficult enough as it was for Bucky to talk about it, he figured he'd give Clint the chance to prepare. "Continue."
"Now... You have to remember, I was basically a shell that knew how to fight and was given a mission. I knew nothing other than that," Bucky started, glancing to Clint. The archer frowned before understanding what Bucky was talking about. He made a face but Bucky just nodded his head again. They both knew they were risking a lot with showing this. But they also saw what happened when Tony wasn't informed right away. Best to do it now and get it all over with. Honesty was the best policy. The archer sighed and pulled up the video. There was absolute silence as the deaths of Howard and Maria Stark played out on the TV. When it ended, everyone looked to Tony. The genius was pale. "If I had any memory, at all, I swear. I would never have done that."
Tony said nothing. Just stared at the TV which JARVIS had helpfully changed to a different bit of information so that the genius wouldn't see anything to remind him of that. His fists suddenly tightened but before anyone could do a thing, the TV changed to another video. Everyone looked to it surprised. Clint frowned, looking down at the phone before realizing JARVIS must have found other information that would help. But when he saw what it was, Clint wasn't sure how much that would help. He frowned at it before looking to the TV like everyone else.
The video was of an underground area. Video Bucky was distractedly sitting on the edge of the Chair, looking distant. Around him was Brock Rumlow's S.T.R.I.K.E team, all slightly aiming guns at the man. Fury cussed at the image and Hill tensed, ready to call it in but they hesitated when Loki waved a hand out to stop them. They were glad he did so when a new person entered the area.
"Mission report," Alexander Pierce demanded, slowly walking into view. Video Bucky didn't respond. "Mission report, now."
"That son of a bitch," Fury growled, focusing on everyone in the room to figure out who he needed to get his hands on. On screen, Bucky still said nothing, Pierce walked forward and leaned down to stare at Bucky's face. Then the man slapped Bucky harshly across the face. Video Bucky, having not expecting it, flinched to the side, nearly falling out of the chair. Steve growled at the sight, tightening his hands into fists. Video Bucky seemed to come back to himself and he slowly looked to Pierce.
"That man on the bridge," Bucky called, looking up to a man. "Who was he?"
"You met him earlier this week on another assignment," Pierce informed.
"I knew him," Bucky countered. Pierce shifted to sit down. Bucky clearly focused on the man.
"You work has been a gift to mankind. You shaped the century," Pierce praised. Video Bucky looked away, clearly unsure how to respond to that. Real Bucky pursed his lips at the words. "And I need you to do it, one more time. Society is at a tipping point between order and chaos. Tomorrow morning, we're going to give it a push. But, you don't do your part, I can't do mine. And Hydra can't give the world the freedom it deserves."
"Sounds familiar," Clint whispered, with a quick glance toward Loki. The trickster gave him a look that basically told him to shut up. Bucky smirked. Steve frowned, glancing between the three. Even Thor seemed confused. Thankfully no one else heard.
"But I knew him," Video Bucky pressed. Pierce made a disgusted face before getting up and turning his back on Bucky.
"Prep him."
"He's been out of cryo freeze too long," a scientist muttered. Pierce hardly glanced at him, instead he looked back to Bucky.
"Then wipe him and start over." The scientist and a buddy moved forward and started preparing. They pushed Bucky back into the seat and he willingly went back. Even willingly accepted the bite guard. Everyone stepped away from Bucky but a scientist typed something in a computer near the chair. Suddenly Bucky tensed, getting pulled backwards as locks wrapped around his arms. Pieces from above him slowly began to lower onto either side of his face. Before even touching him, spikes of electricity flashed across them. Then they got close enough for the connection to start. Bucky immediately began crying out in pain. A loud crash had the video shut off and everyone turned to see Steve had punched a hole into the wall near him.
"Stevie," Bucky whispered, heading over to soothe his friend. Clint glanced to Tony, surprised that the genius said nothing about the damage to his tower. But Tony was, hardly possible but, paler than before. Hardly looked like he could stand without the counter he was leaning against. Pepper stepped close, placing a hand gently on the genius's back. "Hey, I'm good now Steve. You got me out of there."
"But you... Seventy years?" Steve just about sobbed. Bucky nodded. "Jesus..."
Then he looked to Clint and frowned. Clint winced before slowly nodding himself. Phil looked between the trio, unsure what was going to happen next. Natasha and Loki both tensed, sensing things were going to go wrong, quickly. Thor's grip on Mjolnir tightened. He had not expected any of this information. Nor had he expected it to bother him as much as it was. Fury's eye narrowed, knowing he was missing a bit. Hill's arms shifted away from herself, readying to attack. If Bucky and Clint had seriously thought about it, they would have made Bucky say something rather than Clint.
"Yeah. I knew," Clint softly said, knowing what was going to happen next. No one could move fast enough to stop Steve from lunging forward and slamming a fist into Clint's face. The force sent Clint over the back of the couch that he had been standing by and onto the floor on the other side, just barely skimming the coffee table. Bucky was quickly on Steve, holding him back from chasing the archer.
"STEVE!"
"YOU SON OF A BITCH! YOU KNEW!" Steve screamed at the archer as the room dissolved a bit into chaos. Phil and Natasha were quick to flank Clint in surprise at Steve's action. Clint winced, slowly looking up at everyone. He felt like such an ass. "YOU KNEW AND SAID NOTHING!"
Thor flipped Mjolnir into his hand, readying for a fight but held back when Loki waved a hand at him, telling him to wait. Fury and Hill drew their guns, ready to fire at whoever seemed more threatening. While Tony, who had gotten an Iron Man gauntlet out on his hand once again, blocked Pepper from the action.
"STEVE, STOP!" Bucky cried, working harder to hold the Captain back. Clint got to his feet, waving off Phil and Natasha. It took the S.H.I.E.L.D agents a moment before they realized that Clint didn't seem all that bothered by getting the full force of Steve's fist to his face.
"I'm sorry, Steve. It had to happen that way. If it didn't things like Loki happens," Clint mentioned. Everyone looked to Loki who simply stood a bit straighter. The trickster had been hoping that more would have been explained before this was pointed out. "He's from an alternate timeline. He's been using his magic to go through various dimensions and times in an attempt to stop what is going to be coming."
"Why do we have to stop this? What makes this more impor-"
"Stevie, it's half the universe," Bucky informed. Steve paused before sagging a bit in Bucky's arms. The Sergeant loosened his grip but made sure he was ready to stop Steve if needed. "If Thanos gets a hold of the stones, he snaps away half the universe. I'm one of them."
"If you were one of the ones snapped away, how are you here?" Pepper hesitantly inquired, the only one noting the words Bucky used.
"After Thanos made the SNAP... A few of us went after Thanos himself but we were too late. He had SNAPed the stones into atoms," Clint sighed out. No one spoke as Clint slowly got lost into memories. Out of the three of the future men, Clint was the only one who had actually spent the entire five years with no hope. He had spent those five years looking for the secondary Power stone and taking revenge on the evils that survived. "For five years the rest of us... We... Most people didn't understand this but there are currently two different sets of Infinity Stones. While Thanos destroyed one, we could not complete the second set. A lot of us looked and we couldn't find it. So, basically... With Hank Pym's Pym particles and some type of very complicated quantum physics thing, ten of us went back in time to collect the stones."
"Time travel? Ten? Who? What?" Tony cried. Clint huffed but said nothing. It was hard enough remembering it all, never mind having to answer questions. Phil and Natasha traded looks. There was something deeper going on that Clint wasn't mentioning at all. Something that was really important.
"What happened?" Phil asked, moving to stand closer to Clint. Clint shook his head. He didn't want to get into the shit that happened. The same shit they were trying to prevent.
"It was through the time travel that the ten of them did, that I was able to snatch the Tesseract of that timeline. It created a new timeline in which I succeeded in bringing the stone to Thanos. When he was able to collect everything then, well... That is what cause me to start trying to fix things. When Thanos snaps away half the universe, he razes Asgard and Midgard to nothing out of some sort of petty revenge. It is in the SNAP of my timeline that I end up losing Thor," Loki interrupted, giving Clint time to settle himself. The archer didn't even have the energy to give him a thankful look.
"Brother," Thor mumbled but Loki ignored him and instead continued. Bucky released Steve, moving closer to Clint, knowing the archer was having a hard time. It really didn't help that Natasha was right at his side.
"It was his disappearance that allowed me to be able to get out from under Thanos's control and work to fix things. In a few timelines, I followed events all the way up to the events that these two come from. It is after those events that I fear. Thanos's SNAP angers some very powerful races and creatures. Once such races come to Midgard, well, without the amount of heroes needed to stop them, they took over," Loki told the group. He sighed, looking around at everyone. "I will admit, I did the cowardly action in running from my own dimension and timeline. But, no matter where I went I found that if Thanos is allowed to win at any point, these powerful creatures threaten..." Loki cut himself off before sighing. "I have visited Seers and those that can see the future and they have all said the same thing. If those creatures take their revenge out on Midgard like they plan, they won't stop there. They will continue on."
"Wait, if people lose in one dimension, what makes it so important we win here?" Natasha questioned. "Do you plan on making us go around and save all of those as well?"
"Those dimension we cannot save. They had already been destroyed to the point that even stronger mages than I cannot fix it. If we tried, we'd break the fabric of that dimension entirely and even more. We get one shot at this. One attempt. If it fails, I use another spell and travel to a new dimension to try and fix it there. And here, you would all die."
"There must be something we can do for those other dimensions, brother," Thor softly pleaded. Loki shook his head.
"I did not personally witness it but there were some mages that tried to redo a dimension after I left. Curious, I tried to return. The spell did not work." A lot of confused faces stared back at him. "If the spell did not work, it meant the dimension was gone."
"Uh. How many times have you done this?" Tony inquired.
"I am uncertain the amount. Many of the events in the various dimensions tend to be so similar I can not tell if it was one timeline or two. The only things I can truly count on is the knowledge of the danger, who I have tried this with, and the spell. Nothing like knowing what words to say or even if a certain battle had to go one way or another," Loki answered, repeating his answer to Clint from before the spell. If any of the three of them had thought about it, they'd realize that while Loki had gotten the same point across, it wasn't word for word as he had said to them before the spell.
"So, if we need to beat this, Thanos. Where are we going to get him?" Steve wondered, done with all this pretense. Clint looked to him but when Steve noticed, the Captain narrowed his eyes slightly. The archer sighed.
"We can't beat him as just the Avengers. There need to be a few more of us before we have even the slightest chance," Clint answered before Loki could even mention it. The trickster had told him that before.
"I fear to ask, but how many more of there are you?" Fury muttered. Clint and Bucky exchanged looks before looking back to Fury.
"Too many to count right now," Bucky stated. Fury twitched an eyebrow. "Many of them haven't gotten their abilities yet, so we may have to wait."
"Till when?" Hill hissed. Clint frowned, biting his lower lip as he tried to think a bit about it. He didn't really know everyone but supposedly, the last one who really got into their abilities was Strange. Or at least, he thinks Strange is the last one.
"I think until 2016 or 2017," Clint answered.
"This may be bringing us off track once again, but if ten people went back in time before and one event changed to create an entirely new dimension... Aren't we creating a new one now?" Phil reminded.
"No," Loki replied. "Getting into technicalities of this. The spell I did that 'brought' the three of us back here is more..." Loki hesitated, trying to figure out exactly how to say this. He sighed, starting his explanation over again. "Normal thought of time travel is one gets lifted from say today, Saturday, May 4th and dropped back off in Tuesday, May 1st. The spell that I used is more Clint, Bucky and myself are fixed in place at the date Saturday, while Tuesday moves forward to us. So, it is still Saturday according to time but people outside of us remember it only as Tuesday."
"That sounds like such a better explanation then you gave before," Clint petulantly told the trickster. Loki shrugged. He had thought a bit about it more and that had been the best way he thought he could explain it. Bucky snorted lightly.
"Would that not mean that Thanos has still already happened?" Thor questioned. Clint and Bucky frowned deeply. That would mean this whole thing was pointless. Loki sighed deeply.
"I am unsure exactly how to explain the full ramifications of the spell. As I have always understood it, Bucky Clint and I are from 2025 and 2012 is brought to us. But, the events five years prior with Thanos, did not fully happen," Loki stated.
"Could it possibly be that the spell collects the three of you from 2025, bring you back to 2020 and then 2012 is brought forward?" Phil suggested. Loki frowned, thinking on it. It made sort of sense. Honestly, he had never questioned the full specifics of the entire spell and how it worked. All he understood was that the timeline of 2012 was brought forward so that the events Loki had lived through already happened. Things like Clint traveling back in time to 1940 even though in 2012 he had not done so. It also made it that in this future 2018 when Clint was supposed to have been sent back, he didn't actually have to.
"I will look into it," Loki whispered, mostly to himself. Seconds later, Clint felt magic lay over him. Judging by Thor twitching a bit as well, he felt it. When the magic disappeared, it didn't seem like anything had changed. Looking about, Clint noticed the clock seemed to be off by a few minutes. He lost time? Wha-
"Okay. Getting a bit into the nitty gritty, who are the ten that went back?" Tony wondered, crossing his arms over his chest. Clint turned a soft glare on him as he was snapped out of his thoughts. What the hell did that matter? Why would Tony think that was the most important response to Loki's rather simplified version of explaining the spell?
"Seriously? We are trying to prevent that from happening, so what does it matter?" Bucky hissed. Tony huffed as Clint looked away. Something was wrong. There had been more. Someone had said something after he joked about Loki's different explanation. What was it?
"It has been a trying day. Many of us have not rested for a while," Loki interrupted before anyone could add much more. He could see that if they continued in their line of questioning, a fight would break out. But more importantly, Loki needed to secretly investigate things. And that meant separating himself for a moment, putting a shade here in his place. "Our information will still be here tomorrow. For now, is there a place for all of us to rest?"
"There are a few guest rooms on the floor below us," Pepper answered before anyone could speak. Tony looked to her surprised. She glanced to him briefly. "I'm not going to kick them out over something like this."
"Uh... Okay," Tony muttered, unsure how else to respond. But he recovered quickly and simply nodded his head. Pepper smiled.
"I'll show whoever needs it they way."
This chapter was not only seriously hard to write but also seriously hard to edit. I hope it all makes sense in some way and flows well for everyone. Trying to edit it while tired and suffering a headache was not fun at all. I kept confusing myself every time I looked away for a second. Had to re-read it a few times to make sure it all seemed to work and I seriously feel like it doesn't. Time travel stories are hard...
Darius is doing good. Currently outside with the hubby enjoying the first snow. He was so excited to see it this morning. Even asked if Santa was gonna come because of it now. Nope, sorry. Gotta wait, lol. Anyways, as I said, he's good. Giving us minor issues that we've been resolving with taking naps now. Seems to be working. Other than all that, nothing else is going on here.