Chapter 1
It was never a good sign when the sky turned yellow. Usually that meant a storm was coming. But, well, Bucky wasn't sure what it meant when the yellow turned to crimson red and then burst apart into a million shimmery embers that dissipated into nothing.
Whatever it was, it was ruining an excellent lunch.
He shared a look with Sam, who sighed and took another bite of his burger before setting it down in the cardboard basket.
Sam grabbed a napkin and wiped the grease off his hands even as he stood up. "Can I just finish a burger without the world ending…"
"Your luck's not that good," Bucky teased, abandoning his burger, snatching a few final fries to jam them into his mouth.
Sam rolled his eyes. "Like yours is any better."
Around them, half of the other customers in the hole-in-the-wall diner were pressing their faces up against glass while the others continued their meals. Years of near-apocalyptic events had desensitized a good portion of Earth's population, and New Yorkers were more used to it than most.
Sam and Bucky had just finished up a mission on the West Coast, where they had been chasing down an engineer who had been making massive fifteen-foot mech suits and selling them to the highest bidder. The next step would be to hunt down the rest of the mech suits she had made to disable them, but then then the Spider-Man situation had happened.
While they had been dealing with the engineer and huge robotic suits, the kid had been getting into serious trouble. Neither Sam nor Bucky believed that the spider kid was the monster the media was trying to make him out to be, and they had decided to find Peter Parker before someone else could. However, with the sky catching on fire like that, Bucky had a feeling something else was going to take precedence.
As they headed out into the street from the diner, it seemed like most of everyone outside was on pause, waiting to see what was going to happen next. Bucky couldn't blame them. It could be anything from another alien invasion to some kind of atmosphere breaking weapon, for all they knew. Then again, there were a few people already walking around, shrugging off the impending potential disaster because, hey, it's another day in New York.
After all, how many times could one city be destroyed.
Bucky craned his head back to look at the sky. It was bright blue again with a bit of a haze due to the summer heat. No alien spaceships, no robotic overlords, no galactic armies. Whatever had happened, it seemed to be temporarily over. Still, he wasn't naïve enough to think they were in the clear.
One of the people on the street, a girl with purple and yellow streaked hair, walked up to Sam, her gaze alternating between the sky and him. The recognition in her eyes as she approached said she knew exactly who he was. "Do you know what's going on? What was that?"
"We're working on figuring that out," Sam said with a reassuring confidence that Bucky didn't feel.
Where did they even start? The sky looked normal again after all, so maybe they weren't being invaded. And if they were, S.H. .D. or S.W.O.R.D. would contact them, wouldn't they? It was getting ridiculous, keeping up with all the different groups that were trying to protect the planet and maybe even the universe. Right, because they couldn't forget the Guardians of the Galaxy and their prosthetic-obsessed raccoon.
"Hey, Buck, let's go—"
Whatever Sam was about to say was cut off as a glowing, sparking golden-orange portal ripped open the sky in front of them. They both instantly knew what it was, but Bucky instinctively leaned back as it suddenly came rushing at them. It hadn't done that before, back in Wakanda when Dr. Strange had used them to transport everyone to the battlefield at the Avengers Headquarters. He frowned when the portal swept by him, neatly collecting and disappearing Sam while leaving him behind. That—that wasn't great.
He didn't have long to feel annoyed or anxious because a moment later a new portal opened, though this one gaped open right below him. With a shout, he fell straight through and landed hard on the rooftop of some random skyscraper, barely keeping his balance.
Looking around, he expected Dr. Strange or Sam to be there, but instead he found himself staring at one of the weirder creatures he had come across over the years. It wasn't as outstandingly horrifying as the monster aliens that Thanos had sent at them in Wakanda, but it was still unsettling in how it was recognizable but completely wrong at the same time.
There was a huge bull standing on the rooftop, past a quartet of water tanks. Odd enough to see a cow of any kind on the roof, but this one seemed to be made of red stone, like a living scarlet marble statue. Veins of metal ran through its stoneskin, glinting scarlet in the afternoon sun as it moved around, its weight probably threatening to break through the rooftop. Behind it, there seemed to be a rip in the sky that showed an emerald green field dotted with ruby red mounds.
The bull had its head buried amongst a pile of old, partially rusted metal, and it was chewing on an ancient air conditioning unit.
"Okay…"
He glanced around again, wondering what he was supposed to be doing and if this had something to do with the way the sky had lit up. Also, where was Dr. Strange? And was this just going to be a part of his life now, flashing portals opening up to usher him into battle?
The idea made him tired.
Another portal swept by a few feet away from him, and someone he didn't recognize stumbled through as the portal left her behind. She was barefoot and wearing yoga pants and a tank-top, her hands wrapped around a thick cerulean mug that tea sloshed out of.
"Stephen, I swear—" She cut herself off and switched the mug to one hand before she turned back toward him. There was a light brown tea stain on her pale yellow shirt that she seemed really put out over.
Bucky looked from the bull to the woman, worried that she hadn't noticed it yet. He snapped his fingers to get her attention.
Her bright green eyes finally lifted from inspecting the stain, and she met his gaze with a mix of surprise, hesitancy, and uncertainty. With high cheek bones, a heart-shaped face, and those eyes, she was a real looker. A bit of recognition joined the other emotions in her expression when she saw his left hand, gloveless. She pushed her thick black braid of hair back over one shoulder. "I'm sorry, I don't know what's going on, but I don't want any part of this…"
Bucky closed the gap between them, gesturing toward the bull as he stepped toward her. "Shh."
As she looked where he was motioning, her eyes grew wider. She set the mug down on a piece of machinery and met him as he approached her, her gaze not leaving the bull. She came up to about his shoulder height-wise, so he could look clean over her head and also keep an eye on the bull. "Why's there a Geryon bull on the roof?" she whispered.
"A what bull?"
Before she could answer, a third portal opened and Dr. Strange stepped out of it. Blood trickled from a scratch on his forehead, and the smell of burning popcorn followed him out of the portal. There was a roar of yelling and laser noises before the portal closed. On the other side of the roof, the bull lifted its head and snorted, its dark red eyes beginning to glow.
Dr. Strange gave a single firm nod. "Right. So. Sergeant Barnes, meet Elizabeth Sullivan. Eliza, meet Sergeant Barnes."
The two of them looked at each other, then over at the bull, and back to Stephen.
The dark-haired woman, Eliza, frowned. "Stephen, I'm retired—"
"I haven't read that letter yet, so I counted you as active duty," he said.
"I didn't send a letter, I told you. To your face."
"Then I need it in writing."
A loud snort came from the bull, and the roof crunched a bit as it stamped one massive hoof.
"Hey, can someone tell me what's going on?" Bucky hissed, "Before we get skewered by that thing."
"Short explanation for now, long explanation later, when the world isn't falling to pieces," Dr. Strange said, tossing a two-finger ring to Eliza. "You can retire later, Eliza." He was already lifting his hands to do the swirly portal opener movement. "The bull needs to go back to its universe. I need you two to work together to get it there, and then Eliza needs to seal the rip while you make sure she doesn't die doing it, Sergeant Barnes."
"Oh, that's it?" Bucky said sarcastically. "Makes complete sense."
"Look, I have to go find someone to throw some gremlins back into the Dreamscape," Dr. Strange said, "You're both completely qualified for this." A new portal opened, and chunks of city street were hurled through it, followed by maniacal laughter. Bucky held up his left arm and stepped in front of Eliza to keep her from getting hit, but warm golden shields glowed from her hands. Oh.
"Good, have fun." With a flash of his unfortunately red cloak, Dr. Strange stepped through the portal, the bellow of the bull following him as it stamped both hooves and came charging at them.