"I've heard of you, you were working with Hydra." Evie brought her gun back up, now aiming at the man's head. "What are you doing here?"
Barnes snarled and blood dripped from his mouth. "Why should I answer to you?"
"Uh, because I'm the one with a gun trained on your forehead right now, and whatever I say, these guys-" She nodded at the three Ironman suits. "-will do. I'm holding all the power in this exchange."
Bucky made a sudden movement towards his dropped gun and Evie fired in the same direction, knocking the abandoned weapon well out of reach before re-training her own gun back on his head.
"The other thing I should probably mention is that I'm still new to this whole fire-arms thing. Who knows, I might accidently shoot your other arm off." The girl heard Pepper coming up behind her and glanced to the side to see the woman with a pistol out and aiming steady. "On the other hand, she's pretty good. Between us you aren't likely to come out of this with all body parts still attached. So, for the final time, why are you here?"
There weren't really many ways Barnes could have got out of that situation. Even if he'd taken his chances with the two women – assuming that they would hesitate – he knew there was no way he would get past the suits. Finally he spat a mouthful of blood on the floor.
"I need to see Rogers."
"He's not here. Why do you need to see him?"
"Because I need his help and there is nowhere else for me to go!" There was so much anger in his voice that it shook Evie's resolve a little. However, she didn't need to respond to that when Bucky's expression went from furious to shocked and she felt a hand materialise on her shoulder.
"Then there is no need to storm in here fully armed. If you need aid, ask, do not assume and threaten." Loki sounded slightly mocking. "Rogers will return in the next hour or so, if you can wait that long. Or are you going to drop dead where you stand? You certainly look like you are going to."
It was obvious that Loki's sudden materialisation had taken Bucky by surprise, but it was also clear the soldier had seen enough weird shit recently that he didn't even bother to comment. That may also have had something to do with the blood loss he was suffering from, though. From the way he was standing Loki had enough battle-field experience to diagnose a seriously cut up leg, puncture wounds to the chest and some shrapnel marks. It was possible there were some broken ribs as well, but that was harder to tell.
"I am not about to drop dead." The words were an almost inarticulate snarl and Loki raised an eyebrow.
"Is that so?" He glanced down at Evie. "And you, madam, what did you think you were doing in this situation?"
"He had a gun! What was I meant to do?!" The girl gestured with her weapon. "And I landed two solid rounds in his shoulder!" She looked at Bucky who scowled at her. "What? You came through the fucking ceiling with a gun, of course I'm going to shoot you! And it was your metal arm anyway, it's not like it hurt you anymore than you already are!"
"Enough, Evelyn. Jarvis, how far away are the others?"
"Approximately thirty five minutes, sir."
"So we have thirty five minutes to work out what to do with you then."
WMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW
The Avengers had been back in the quinjet and on their way home when Loki suddenly jumped to his feet and teleported out of there with no warning. Jarvis quickly answered Tony's bemused question, and the reply didn't go down well.
"What do you mean an intruder?! Why the hell didn't he take me with him?!"
"I'm sorry, sir, perhaps he was acting on reflex."
"Well, sure, but-"
"The intruder has just identified himself as one James Barnes."
That silenced the whole jet, with most heads turning towards Steve.
"Was he armed?"
"Yes, but injured and Miss Evelyn most effectively disarmed him. Her fire-arms training is certainly paying off."
Tony groaned. "Oh Jesus Christ, she didn't! Tell me she didn't shoot a Hydra super-soldier!"
"I would, but then I would be lying, sir." Jarvis replied, almost at the same time as Steve insisted;
"I don't think he's Hydra anymore."
"Capsical; he tried to kill you! How is he not Hydra?"
Jarvis butted in again before Steve could reply. "Actually sir, his appearance and injuries match the description given to us by the scientists of the person who sorted out the Hydra attack. He was the one who saved them."
"Oh. Huh." Tony tried to work that thought into the mental image he had been holding of Bucky. "Any way of knowing if he's playing us, Jarv?" He glanced at Steve. "Sorry, but you gotta admit, Hydra know you want to talk to him, it would be a smart play to send him in as a plant."
"Yeah, don't think I haven't already considered that." The Captain sounded put out, but accepting of the hard truth. Just because Bucky had once been his best friend didn't mean the man wasn't still trying to kill him. It had been a close enough call at the Triskelion.
Up at the front of the quinjet Sam slipped into the co-pilot's seat next to Natasha.
"Hey soldier." She flicked her gaze at him and smiled.
"Hey. Is it just me or is this just fucking typical?"
"How so?"
"Well, we spent all summer looking for that guy, and the moment we start worrying about something else he literally strolls in through the front door."
Natasha laughed. "Sod's law, I think."
There was little any of them could do about the situation until they returned to the tower, and the only thing stopping Tony from fretting so much was the knowledge that Loki was there too. He didn't even want to contemplate Evie being alone with the Winter Soldier.
The rest of the flight was terse and silent. Acknowledging that they were going into an unknown situation was hard. There was no way to determine if Bucky was friend or foe, they didn't know what, if anything, he remembered or where his loyalties lay. It was also really difficult to know what to say to Steve. The super soldier had slumped down in one of the seats against the wall, his shield by his feet and staring fixedly at the floor.
They had had worse flights home, but this one was pretty bad.
When the quinjet finally did settle down on it's landing pad, Tony checked in with Jarvis about whether he needed to go in with the suit or not.
"I do not think so, sir, although I believe it would be foolish not to be armed."
"Sure I shouldn't just wear the suit?"
"No, I don't think that will be necessary."
"Where are they all?"
"Medbay, sir. Mr Barnes is stable, although I have had to operate."
It would have been a really bad idea to all storm down there as a huge group, so most of the team had to wait in the main living area watching the live video feed whilst Steve, Tony and Bruce went down. Steve for obvious reasons, Tony because it was his tower and his daughter, and Bruce because as much as they all trusted Jarvis' medical skills it was always good to let a human look over his work.
Whatever they had expected to see, it wasn't what greeted them when they got to the large medical bay and found the infamous ex-Hydra operative. Steve, Nat and Sam had told them so many stories of what had happened that the living legend didn't quite live up to his own legend. He was shorter than everyone expected, for a start – maybe only a few inches taller than Tony – and was propped up against the pillows in one of the bunks. Jarvis had had to cut the man's shirt off to sort out the chest wounds and check the broken ribs, and there were various IV lines and such running to his arm.
The really surprising part of the whole scene, though, was Evie.
She was sat next to Bucky on the bunk, a box of tools next to her and casually working on his mechanical arm. The sight drew the three newcomers up short so that their entrance went unnoticed long enough to realise the girl and soldier were talking quietly. Nothing that they could hear but a quiet and seemingly civil conversation.
However, Bucky must have had ears like a hawk because he suddenly looked up, glaring in the direction of the doorway.
"Uh, hey." It was lame, as opening statements went. "So, you're Bucky Barnes, huh?" Tony stepped a little way into the room, but not so much as to appear threatening. The last thing he wanted was to startle a temperamental super soldier when his daughter was sat next to the guy.
"So I have been told." The snarl had gone from the man's voice now, but he still didn't sound brilliant.
"You aren't sure?"
"I have no memories of who or what I am. I have been told that James Barnes is my name, but I was usually known as Bucky."
Steve stepped up beside Tony, noting that his former friend's expression barely changed when looking at him. "What do you recall?"
"You. We fought in the helicarrier and then I dragged your sorry ass out of the river. There was…something before that? You seemed to think we'd already fought but I don't remember anything before that time."
"You don't remember the fight under the bridge? When Hydra captured me and the other two?"
"No. But that's not surprising. Every time they didn't like my attitude or thought I was remembering something about my old life they'd wipe my memory."
Steve didn't show what he thought of that revelation, although it must have filled in the blanks for him as to why Bucky had been so hostile towards him.
"Why are you here?" He asked coolly.
Barnes glanced down at his mechanical arm. "I was injured, my arm was badly damaged and I had nowhere else to go." He looked back up, his gaze piercing. "You seemed so certain that we were once friends and that that meant a lot to you. I took a chance."
"How bad is the damage?" Steve addressed the question to Evie, who had started tinkering again. "And why are you the one working on it?"
"I'm good at fixing stuff, Dad gets too distracted with trying to improve things and I was the one here at the time." The girl had a screw driver wedged in the elbow joint and gave it a twist. There was a horrible grinding noise, but she smiled brightly. "There we go! Try that!"
Bucky frowned at her, but then gingerly moved his arm. The joint moved smoothly and when he tried to close his fist all of his fingers worked properly.
"You did it."
"Well don't sound so surprised, I told you I was good!"
"You're a kid; I can't say I was expecting much." As much as Bucky had been snapping at the other Avengers he spoke civilly to the girl. Maybe they'd had a little longer to get to know each other or it simply was because he saw her as a child, but the other Avengers rather appreciated it given how over-protective they were of her.
"So now what do we do?" Tony asked. "We don't trust you, we don't know what you know, you could be faking this whole amnesia thing. So what the hell do we do with you?"
"I can't prove I'm here with good intentions, but I can prove I'm not with Hydra."
"Yeah?"
"I've been systematically destroying their bases since I left the organisation. After the battle at the Triskelion I went back to where they did their work on me and took every piece of paper I could find in the place. One of those was a map of their major bases."
"Son of a bitch, that was you?!" Tony threw his hands up in the air. "We thought it was some organisation, and it was you on the rampage! Do you still have that map or any of the other paperwork?"
"No. I'm a soldier, I memorised and burnt it all."
"You have amnesia! How can you memorise stuff?!"
If he didn't still have Evie tinkering with his shoulder Bucky would probably have been a lot less calm when faced with the confrontational tone. "Medically induced amnesia that is no longer a problem now that they are no longer wiping my memory every other day."
"Um, can we discuss how they achieved that at some point?" Bruce finally spoke up, still standing behind Steve and Tony. "Some of that might be reversible."
Barnes shook his head. "No chance with that; your magic boy already gave it a go. The memories are a mess, he said. Maybe they'll come back on their own, but chances are I'm stuck like this." He nodded his head towards the back of the room and it was only then that they realised Loki had been standing back there the whole time.
"He is correct. Whatever Hydra did to him, it was not pretty. I daren't go in and try to piece things back together; the risks of long term brain damage are too high" The trickster saw Steve's expression drop. "I am sorry Captain, I know that isn't what you would like to hear."
"What, exactly were you hoping was going to happen if we saw each other again?" Bucky asked caustically.
"I wanted my friend back."
"I don't know you." Bucky's gaze moved to the shield Steve was holding. "But I know of you. I read up on all I could. I know who I used to be and what we did together, but I don't remember it. It's like memorising someone else's life." He winced when Evie hit something within the shoulder joint and looked back to see what she was doing. The girl noticed his sudden attention.
"Sorry. You've got something jammed in here real good. How far does your actual arm go down into this construct?"
"I've lost it from about halfway down my humerus."
"Okay, sorry, this might hurt then." Evie was wielding a pair of very thin pliers and started pulling at something deep within the joint. It was obviously extremely painful for Barnes, but the girl was concentrating too much to really notice and finally pulled free a jagged piece of metal. "Aha! That's the problem; shrapnel! That's what was jamming the mechanism."
Tony leant in to Steve, his voice low enough not to be overheard. "So on a level of one to batshit, just how surreal is this scenario for you right now?"
"I'm gonna have to go with batshit."
WMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWM
Other than Steve and Evie, no one was particularly happy that Bucky had turned up, and even Steve had his reservations. After everything that had happened when Shield fell there was no way they could trust the man. Was he a mole? Did he still hold loyalty to Hydra? Or was he genuine when he said he was trying to take the Hydra bases out? There were plenty of reasons – revenge not withstanding – why he could have been going out and ransacking the places. It just made for a very convenient excuse to try and get the Avengers on his side.
On the plus side – if it could be called that – Bucky didn't want to hang around. Jarvis had insisted that he stay down in the med-bay until he was certain the soldier was going to be okay medically, but Bucky didn't like it. He had already made it clear that he had plans, most of which included kicking the crap out of any Hydra bases he could get to.
Steve went and spent some time with him though. Even if his old friend didn't remember any of their shared history in theory his personality should still be the same, making a new friendship a hopeful possibility at some point. For now though they just discussed tactics. Rogers didn't trust the Winter Soldier enough to take everything he said at face value, but it was useful to know everything Bucky had come across in the bases he had taken out.
More importantly he also needed to explain how he knew Stark Industries was going to be attacked, and which building. So far that was the weakest point in his story. It was feasible that he had tracked the hit squad from a known base, but it was equally feasible that he had worked with them and the plan had been to make him look the hero to gain the Avengers trust.
"What do you think?"
The live-feed from the medical bay was on the TV in the living room, Natasha, Loki and Tony sat around it. Both trickster and assassin were studying the whole exchange between Barnes and Rogers intensely
"He's coming across as genuine." Natasha said. "It's very difficult to say – he's obviously got a trained poker face."
"The way he says Hydra's name, there is a lot of anger there. His hatred of them is certainly real." Loki added.
Tony had thought he was good at telling when someone was lying, but Bucky was giving absolutely nothing away in any direction. He was certainly beginning to appreciate some of the more diverse talents of his team members.
"There." Loki suddenly sat up straighter.
"Yes, that was definitely a sore spot." Whatever he'd seen Natasha had spotted too. Steve had asked about which base he had taken out first and the reply had evidently given the two lie-experts some sort of tell.
"There was some real emotion there."
Bucky had spoken about something that sounded similar to the lab they had found in New York, but a working one. Hydra had still been experimenting on the Hulk and Super Soldier serums; trying to recreate the powers and increase them if possible. However, they hadn't managed to create anything useful to them, and the failed attempts of the experiments had been horrific, according to Barnes.
"He was genuinely affected by that." Loki had his chin resting on his steepled fingers. "That was real emotion."
"I agree. Well, that puts his moral compass on the right side then."
The trickster glanced at Natasha. "We can't assume that based on one act of empathy."
"Don't forget he saved those scientists earlier."
"Don't forget there's no way of knowing his motives for that."
Natasha sighed irritably. She was sat on the floor with her back to the sofa, and drew her knees up to her chest to rest her chin on them.
"I don't know. He seems to be telling the truth, but there are moments that tell me he's been trained to lie. I just can't tell if he's genuine or one of the best liars I've seen in a long time."
"He came across much clearer when he first arrived; he was in pain and there was enough fear there to heighten everything else. He was telling the truth then, and he has not changed any of that original story since, just added to it." Loki shook his head. "I think the only thing we can do in this situation is wait and see."
"We don't exactly have that long. He wants to get out of here as soon as he's cleared medically." Tony added.
"Well, we shall have to do what we can in the time we have."
Natasha glanced slyly at the two men. "You know Evie's going to be quite gutted when he goes."
"Why? She doesn't know him."
The woman laughed at the blank stares she received. "Look, you two are great parents, don't get me wrong, but there are a few things you don't seem to get about teenage girls."
"Meaning…?"
"Meaning she's got a crush on him! You really didn't notice?!"
Tony dropped his head into his hands. "Oh my God no! She does not have a crush on someone about twenty years older than her!"
"It's harmless, Stark. Teens get stupid crushes on unobtainable people; I wouldn't worry about it. And besides," Natasha nodded her head towards Loki. "You hardly set the gold standard in romance. Evie's grown up thinking that it's perfectly normal to fall for genocidal megalomaniacs."
"I am right here, you know." The trickster said stiffly. "And whilst I agree with you that she seems quite taken with Barnes, it is, as you say, a silly teenage crush and nothing to worry about."
"Yeah, she'll be back to mooning over the reception boy in no time."
"The…who? Arnie? That punk-ass kid with bad acne?! She's heir to a multi-billion dollar industry!"
Loki and Natasha exchanged amused glances. "You know, I had the worst crush on this ballet dancer when I was a kid." The woman said cheerfully. "There were posters for one of his shows all over the city and I nicked one and stuck it under my pillow for months."
"I was rather taken by one of mothers handmaidens when I was still young." Loki admitted. "She was a good few thousand years older than me, and I grew so tongue tied around her I don't believe we ever exchanged more than a word or two."
Tony was still shaking his head. "No. I don't want my baby girl having anything to do with romance! She's my baby girl!"
"She's a fifteen year old who threw herself off the top of the tower only a few weeks ago trusting only in her own handiwork not to die in a very messy way. She's old enough to have a crush. And besides, it is no more ridiculous than that actor she keeps going on about. The one with the funny name."
"Benedict Cumberbatch? Give him a break, he's wonderful! And he's also happily living on the other side of the Atlantic, whereas Bucky is only a few floors down!"
"You are making too much of this, Tony." Loki said soothingly. "This is hardly what we should be worrying about right now. Evie hasn't even spoken to Barnes since she fixed his arm."
"Yeah, I guess."
"I still remember the day you gave her The Talk." Natasha said with a grin. "We're still all in awe you managed that so sensibly."
"I can be sensible when I need to be." Tony subconsciously rubbed his chest just under the arc reactor. "That was the same day as that bloody drone mission."
"Oh yes. That day sucked."
Loki kept silent. He knew what they were talking about since Tony had told him the story but it was still very strange to hear them speaking so calmly about the day his husband had nearly died.
"Hey." Tony noticed the sudden sullen silence and nudged the trickster. "I'm fine now, magic water and all that."
"I know."
On the screen infront of them Steve had just left the medical bay, and Natasha shushed the two men beside her. With Captain America gone it was interesting to see how Barnes would now react.
The soldier settled back down on the bunk, visibly relaxing now that he felt he wasn't under scrutiny.
"That's interesting; he was obviously putting up an act of some sort with Steve, it's like he's just dropped a mask." Natasha tilted her head to one side, watching the little character on screen.
"What sort of act?" Tony couldn't see what they were obviously seeing. "Was he lying to Steve?"
"No." Loki got there before the woman this time. "He was hiding how much pain he is in."
"Does that change how genuine we think he was?"
Natasha nodded. "He was putting up a hell of a front – look at him now, he's beat! To hide all of that and lie so consistently? No way. He might have pulled off a small lie, but to keep going with the exact same story over and over; I really don't think he could have pulled that off."
"I don't know – if he has been trained to withstand torture he would be perfectly capable of that." Loki argued.
"He's been on ice for seventy years! When would they have had time for that sort of training?! Hydra only unpacked him recently."
"How long does it take to train a human against pain? It's been a while since I last tortured someone."
Tony groaned. "See, when you say something like that we know you aren't joking. Who the hell did you torture, and why?"
"It was back in the middle ages, I forget the details." Loki waved a hand flippantly. "But I found they broke very easily. Humans cave under pain very quickly."
"Well, yeah, because we're fragile little mortals. But does this mean we think Bucky-boy was lying? I'm getting really confused!"
In the end they decided that they just couldn't be certain. It seemed more likely that Bucky had been telling the truth, but only time would tell. Most of his story made sense too. Having dragged Steve's unconscious butt out of the river he had limped off to sort his own injuries out after the battle. Not knowing where the hell else to go he had returned to the place that Hydra had been keeping him and killed everyone in the facility. He had stayed there for about a week to heal up and try to get his head together, then destroyed the place and moved on. The museum had been one of his first stops to satisfy his curiosity about Steve, and had shed surprising light on his own story which he hadn't expected.
Seeing who he had been and who he could have been had given Bucky some purpose. Going from wandering and aimless he now had something fuelling him and a motive. Revenge. The facility he had wrecked had yielded enough by way of paperwork that he knew where the other Hydra bases lay. The organisation had been smart enough not to digitalise everything, but that had actually helped him given that now he had a list of bases down on paper.
The thought that there were other groups out there who also wanted to take out Hydra hadn't really occurred to him. However, when he found an active base that seemed to be prepping for a mission he held back and followed them to their target. The fact that that had been the Stark Industries warehouse had been a happy coincidence.
However, he hadn't expected there to be a working group of scientists inside the place, and if nothing else he wasn't going to let Hydra kill any more innocents. The decision to get the people out of there had resulted in him being as badly injured as he was.
Going to a hospital was out of the question, Bucky had known that from the start, but that left him with very limited options. In the end he had decided on the only person on the planet he knew still gave a damn about him, and got himself to New York.
"Was he fatally wounded?" Tony directed the question at Jarvis. "Would he have died if he hadn't come to us?"
"I believe without medical aid he would have died, sir, although it would have taken time. The puncture wounds to his chest had caused his lung to start collapsing – which in itself would have killed him, but he was also suffering severe bloodloss from his leg." Jarvis reeled off the list emotionlessly. "His chest cavity was also slowly filling with blood and could have drowned him if the other injuries didn't cause death first."
"Not nice. And that was all from bullet wounds?"
"The chest wounds were, sir. He sustained some impact fractures to his ribs and there were a considerable number of shrapnel wounds. However, he said his leg injuries were caused by a grenade. I didn't ask how his mechanical arm was damaged."
"So he came here with genuine intentions at least. I can't imagine someone like him would let themselves be injured that badly as part of an infiltration mission."
"No?" Loki looked at his husband curiously. "How do you suppose that?"
"Look, if he wanted to infiltrate us for Hydra he could have just come crawling in begging Steve's forgiveness. Cap would have scooped him up in a heartbeat. Coming here like this, as an antagonist and fully armed to boot; he must have known we would be on our guards. It was a stupid-ass way to infiltrate if that was the plan."
"Unless he knew we'd think about that so is playing the long game." Loki said immediately.
"…That's getting stupidly convoluted when he wouldn't need to. How about we just act cautiously and see where it goes from here." Tony waved a hand at the TV screen. "As Jarvis said, he's got a busted leg, some fucked up ribs and some nasty chest wounds – I think it's safe to say he won't be getting up to much any time soon as it is."
WMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWM
Tony was sat on the edge of the bed when Loki came out of the bathroom, drying his hair out with a few passes of his hands. He took one look at his husband and rolled his eyes, which Tony noticed.
"What?"
"You have that look again."
"What look?"
"Don't play cute, Tony, it doesn't suit you. The look you get when something is preying on your mind and you have to either talk about it or explode."
"Oh yeah, that look."
Loki sat down on the covers next to the man. "So what part of earlier is eating away at you then?"
"Am I really that transparent?"
"I am an expert in reading people, remember. So, what's wrong?"
Tony shrugged slightly. "Do you think I'm being over-protective of Birdy?"
"What? Because you're concerned about her growing up too fast? Hardly. You must remember I have been through this a few times before, which is probably why I am so much calmer about this."
"Did you feel like they grew up too fast?"
"Of course. Narfi and Vali seemed to go from toddling across the room to chasing after maidens in the blink of an eye. And Merlin couldn't wait to get rid of me."
"Sleipnir?"
"We were too close in age really for me to worry about him growing up too fast. By the time he was in his teens we were practically growing up alongside each other."
Tony flopped back against the mattress. "Do you remember when we were on Asgard and we had to tell Evie you couldn't have any more kids? She seemed quite set on giving us grandchildren to make up for it."
"Does that bother you?"
"I don't think I could handle the idea of being a grandfather!"
Loki laughed, lying down on his side so that they were both eye-level again. "It isn't so bad. Sleipnir has fathered a few over the years."
That caught Tony's attention and he rolled his head to look at his husband. "What? Really? How come we didn't meet them?"
"They didn't have our longevity, and to be honest they were clever but at the end of the day they were horses. They didn't have Sleipnir's Aesir-like mind." Loki's smile was slightly bitter-sweet. "And Merlin has had many children over the centuries, although like-wise, they were not immortal."
"That…He lost his kids?" Stark genuinely couldn't think of anything worse. Even the mere thought of losing Evie was a painful little scream at the back of his mind.
"His children grew up, grew old and in the true passage of time passed away. That is why he usually ages himself and allows himself to slip away from his family when he feels his time with them has been too long."
"That really fucking sucks. I am so glad we're all immortal now – losing Birdy…"
"Don't even think about that, Tony. It's not going to happen." Loki reached out and ran his fingers through his husband's hair. "We have enough on our plates without fretting over things which shouldn't even be on our radar."
"This parenting lark is so much trickier when you have the whole save-the-world aspect added to it." Tony mirrored Loki's gesture, brushing the wayward black hair away from his partner's face. "Sometimes I do wish we could just chuck in the whole superhero bullcrap and just be parents."
"We'll always be parents, whether we have to save the world or not." Loki shifted over so that he could draw his husband into a kiss.
"I still want to meet Merlin at some point."
"I know, I'll try and talk him round."
"Even if he doesn't want to meet me, could you at least ask him to make contact with Evie? She'd like to know him and there's no reason for there to be bad blood between them."
"There's no reason for there to be bad blood between you and him either."
Tony laughed. "Are you kidding? I knocked his Mom up! He may pretend that he can't stand you but a kid will fight to the death for their Mom. I defiled you, as Thor puts it."
"I really don't think he cares for my honour."
"Yeah right. Even at your absolute angriest you would have still done anything in the world for your Mom!"
Loki ducked his head with a surprised chuckle. "Alright, yes of course I would."
"There we go then. Merlin's probably going to punch me if I ever do meet him."
"Mmm, I may defend your honour."
"No you wouldn't; you'd watch and most likely laugh."
The trickster's green eyes sparkled with mirth. "I fear you know me too well."
"Yeah, unfortunately I do." Tony hooked his arm over the taller man's waist. "But I guess you've come to know me pretty well by now too so fair's fair." He pressed a kiss on Loki's chin. "I know it's barely gone lunch time and we're supposed to be responsible adults but can we spend the rest of the day in bed?"
"I assume you don't mean sleeping."
Tony grinned. "Hell no!"
Loki sat up again, dislodging his husband. "I thought that would be the case."
"Hey, it was only a question."
"I know." He looked down at the man and his expression was that curious mix of mischief and lust that usually meant he had something interesting planned. "I have some conditions though."
"Oh?" This was beginning to look promising, and Tony propped himself up on his elbows. "That's new."
"Just trust me."
"Always do, my dear homicidal maniac."
Loki grinned and glanced up at the ceiling. "Jarvis, please inform the others that we are going out, and shall not be back until late. We will not be requiring dinner."
"Of course, sir."
"Now I'm intrigued." Tony made to sit up, only to be pushed back down again by Loki's hand on his chest. "We're going out somewhere?"
"I think it has got to the point that we thoroughly deserve it."
"Want me to call my private jet?"
The trickster laughed and splayed his hand out across the arc reactor. "Not at all; I am quite capable of getting us both there."
"Where?" Tony was looking straight up at his husband, so was taken by surprise when the room around them suddenly vanished into darkness. "You could at least tell me where we're going!" He felt his back hit a different mattress – softer than his own. "Or…where we now are. Should I have brought my passport?"
"Oh, probably." Loki moved off the man to let Stark sit up and take stock of the new room.
It was not what he was expecting, although he couldn't have said what he was expecting. Wherever they were, it was apparently the middle of the night, and there was a fire burning in the grate. There were thick rugs covering the wooden walls like tapestries, and furs on the floor which again was wooden.
"Where are we?" Tony looked one of the wall rugs up and down, trying to determine a culture.
"We were here a few months ago taking out a Hydra base but I thought we didn't get a chance to really appreciate this place."
"Huh." The man hadn't been wearing shoes when Loki teleported him so stepped straight onto the fur rugs without a thought. The curtains in the small room were drawn but Tony pulled one aside to peer out the window. "Holy shit!"
There was a flawless blanket of snow as far as the eye could see. In the distance mountains were rising up against the night sky, and everything was bathed in a gentle green glow.
"The Northern Lights?! Where are…Are we in Iceland? Is this Iceland?!"
"Isafjordur, to be precise. North west coast."
Tony laughed in disbelief. "Holy shit! We're in Iceland! Is this romance finally raising its ugly head?"
"It's been near enough twenty years, it's about time one of us tried something is it not?"
"Are you accusing me of not being romantic?"
"Perish the thought."
Tony was still gazing out at the faint swirl of green that flowed across the sky, so started when he suddenly felt his husbands arms come to clasp around his waist from behind. "How long have you been planning this?"
"Since you grew quite irate that I was more concerned with the situation in Alfheim than our love life."
"Why here?"
"Iceland is one of the very few places left on this planet that still recalls the Old Norse stories in their everyday lives. I like it here."
"Is that because they blatantly still address prayers to you lot here?"
Loki smiled, settling his chin on his husbands shoulder so that he could also look out of the window. "I thought I made that clear; no one prays to me. I am the one they fear."
"Good job they never found out you aren't half as frightening as they thought then." Tony pulled the curtain back and turned to face the trickster. He knew damn well that Loki was one of the most frightening people he'd ever met, but feeding the prince's ego never did any good. "So, you've evidently got plans – care to share?"
"We have fur rugs, a roaring fire and it is snowing outside, I'll leave you to work out the fine details shall I?"
"You missed out red wine – this sort of scenario needs red wine."
Loki laughed and waved a hand towards the fireplace. A fine crystal decanter and two matching glasses appeared. "You don't like red wine; I presume port is an acceptable substitute?"
"Always."
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With Tony and Loki gone, Natasha and Sam out for dinner together, Steve eating with Bucky and the others scattered about doing their own thing Evie was left on her own for the evening. This meant that she could take over the living room and stick a video game up on the huge TV screen.
"Jarvis, I'm hungry!"
"Indeed? That is most interesting Miss Evelyn."
She glared up at the ceiling. "Well, what's there to eat?"
"Food is usually a good bet."
"Ha ha, smart ass. Are there any left overs in the fridge?"
"You could go and look, you know. But yes, there's some pizza."
"Excellent." The girl threw her controller down on the bean bag and slouched off towards the kitchen. "Umm, since everyone's out could you put on my alternative play list?" She grinned when the music came on.
The pizza was in the fridge and Evie grabbed a handful of slices to shove in the microwave. It only took a few minutes to reheat, which she used to dance around the kitchen to the song that had come on. It wasn't often she was left alone, and had a playlist of songs she otherwise wouldn't let Tony know she liked.
She was half way through Shake it off, the hot plate of pizza in one hand when there was a stifled chuckle from the doorway.
"Uncle Clint!"
The master archer was leaning against the doorframe, smirking at the girl. "Totally judging you right now."
"What? Jarvis chose the music!"
"Judging. You."
"It's a good song!"
"I'm officially holding this over your head as blackmail. You're gonna have to be extra nice to me or else I'm telling your Dad you listen to Taylor Swift when he's not home."
Evie scowled. "Tell Dad and I'm sicking Möðhy on you."
"Been there, done that, I won. Did you eat all the pizza?"
"No, there's about five slices left."
The girl went and sat down at the table and a few moments later Clint joined her with his own dinner. "So, any idea where your parents are?"
She shrugged. "Out for the evening was all Jarvis told me. I think they're probably out of the country – I know Möðhy wanted to do something special for Dad since they've both been so wound up recently."
"That's disgustingly sweet."
"I know, right! But they spent so long apart I kinda think I can't complain if they're going to be all cute and mushy every now and then; as long as they don't do it infront of the rest of us." Evie took a huge bite of pizza, then started talking again with her mouth full. "How are you getting on with Möðhy anyway? I know you didn't like him to begin with."
"We have an interesting history, but he's alright I guess." Clint left his chair to go and shove some fries in the microwave – deciding that a few slices of pizza weren't going to cut it. "We don't exactly spend all that much time together but I think the fact that we haven't killed each other yet says a lot."
"I guess. Hey, are you doing anything tonight? Only there's a showing of Back to the Future in town and I can't go on my own."
"Eh, sure. How long we got?"
"Two hours."
"Good, because if it was a choice between a film or fries, my fries would win."
"Should we ask the others to come along?"
"Think Bruce would let them?"
Bucky was still in the medical bay, but not very willingly and it was clear that if Bruce didn't give him the go ahead to leave any time soon he was just going to make a break for it. On the plus side, he and Steve seemed to have found some common ground and a tentative friendship was being reborn. Being allowed out of the unit, even if under what was technically an armed guard might help to make him feel less like he was imprisoned. It would likely also help to be around some other people than just Bruce and Steve.
Jarvis was not exactly keen about letting Barnes out, but more from a medical standpoint than through not trusting him. Bruce was far happier than the AI, but mostly because he appreciated the social benefits the little outing would have. In the end he and Jarvis agreed that Bucky was medically stable enough to be allowed out, and it was left to Clint to go down and propose the cinema trip to the two super soldiers.
Steve was well acquainted with the Back to the Future films and had seen them all quite a few times, but Bucky had not only never heard of them but had also not been to a cinema since the 1940's. He was both surprised and extremely suspicious to be asked to go along with the others on a trip out. He was also not exactly given all that much choice with Steve so keen.
Since the serum Hydra had stuck him full of allowed him to heal a lot quicker than a person normally would Bucky was in better shape than would have been otherwise expected. His leg was still quite messed up, but the bones had reknitted and he could walk a short distance on it. Probably shouldn't, but since when would that stop someone like him? The puncture wounds to his chest had also healed enough to get him out of the danger-zone. This didn't mean he particularly wanted to have to socialise with a group of people he barely knew though.
The group were surprisingly inconspicuous out on the streets. Bruce wasn't so well known when not mean and green, Clint was barely recognisable out of his suit and Evie was just another teenager when not with someone obviously famous. A low-pulled baseball cap served to hide Steve's identity and it wasn't like anyone knew who Bucky was anyway.
The screen was pretty full but they went for the VIP seats so were a little apart from the rest of the crowds. They dumped Bucky between Bruce and Steve, since they were the two people he actually knew, and Evie was on Steve's other side so that she was sandwiched between the super soldier and Clint – the Avengers still made the girl's safety their priority. And given the appetites of everyone involved there was a lot of popcorn around.
"Can someone explain what we are about to see." Bucky said quietly.
"What was the last film you saw?" Bruce asked.
"I don't know. I don't remember ever seeing any."
"It was Gone With the Wind, but if you don't remember it that won't help." Steve helped himself to a handful of popcorn. "We went twice because you had a thing for Scarlett O'Hara."
"No, you had a thing for Scarlett. I liked Bette Davis."
Steve shot Barnes a surprised glance. "I thought you couldn't remember."
Bucky looked somewhat taken aback himself. "It's…not a real memory; it's like remembering a film reel. There are moments; instances that are triggered occasionally."
"I thought Loki said it was a complete and utter mess."
Bucky shrugged sullenly. "I don't know. I just said it's not like they're real memories. You know when you suddenly remember a fragment of a dream that makes no sense because it's out of context? It's like that. I don't know what's up with your magic boy."
"He prefers the term 'psycho megalomaniac', by the way." Evie chipped in happily, leaning over Steve to give her two cents worth. "And here, that's the synopsis of the franchise, and some background on all the retro '80's stuff." She passed her phone over.
"Do you know how to use that?" Steve asked quietly, only to receive a death glare in return.
"I can use a phone, Rogers."
That made sense; how else would Hydra have kept contact when they unleashed the Winter Soldier? Not to mention that his arm was some serious tech and he must have been able to maintain it whilst off on his own vendetta. He certainly navigated around the articles Evie had found for him with little difficulty.
The film itself was the classic the rest of the group knew it always would be and was over all too soon. Evie insisted on mixing all the dregs of the various popcorn flavours into one big roulette of flavours at the end, which meant the chances of getting toffee with salt were quite high.
"Do you guys think I look old enough to get a drink?" The girl asked hopefully once the credits started rolling.
"Don't even think about it young lady." Steve said sternly.
"Mom would let me."
"Your Möðhy is an irresponsible city-wrecker. I don't think we can let him call the shots on whether or not you are allowed to drink."
"What does Mothdy mean?" Barnes messed up the pronunciation, but that was fair enough given that the word was invented from a dead language. And given that he had barely spoken a word all evening, and anything he had said had been directed to Steve no one wanted to correct him.
"It's a derivation of Móðir, that's Norse for mother. I guess it means Mom, although as a word it's kinda nonsense." Evie said cheerfully. "I guess it sounds a little weird but I grew up with it so it's normal for me."
"So Loki and Thor speak Norse? Asgard doesn't have its own language?"
Evie waved her hand flippantly. "Eh, they have Allspeak. It means they can speak and understand all spoken languages. We've all got it too now; which is cool. Doesn't work on anything written down, but you hear everything in your own language no matter what someone's saying to you."
"And he is male, but is also your…mother? Biologically?"
"He's not human. And he's not quite as male as he likes to make out – it all gets a bit complicated since Frost Giant reproduction is a bit different to human."
Steve jumped in before the girl could go into any graphic details. "But none of that is really our business and besides, we've had a while to get used to all this. Though you should have seen how starstruck Sam was when he first met everyone."
"Sam. I met Sam, didn't I?"
"You tried to kill him actually, but close enough."
Bucky smirked ever so slightly. "That's becoming a very familiar phrase to hear."
"Well if you go around with a bad attitude that's what happens."
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"Do you think the others are wondering where we are?" Tony asked lazily.
"I really don't care."
"Hmm." The man walked his fingers along his husband's collar bone. "Do we have to go back yet?"
"Not if you don't want to."
"I really don't want to."
Loki hummed and rolled onto his stomach to pillow his head on his arms. "Then we have an accord."
"Yup." Tony moved over to flop on top of the trickster, pressing kisses along the sharp planes of his shoulder blades. "Y'know, for a Frost Giant I'm always amazed how warm you are."
"Temperature charms are a wonderful thing." Loki looked over his shoulder and smirked at his husband. "Of course, you felt what it was like when I don't put the charm up."
The memory of his frost-bitten hand made Tony grimace. "Yeah, not fun." He nipped at the base of his husband's neck. "Any chance you can go blue?"
"Why?" The question was quite sharp.
"Because we're in Iceland, on fur rugs infront of a pine-wood fire and I want me some Frost Giant." Tony had his face pressed right into Loki's hair and when there wasn't a verbal reply he raised his head to see that the skin infront of him was now a deep cobalt. Even by this point in their relationship he still hadn't explored every little ridge and whorl in Loki's Jötunn skin and the thin lines that curled up the back of the trickster's neck were something he hadn't seen before.
"Have you found something new again?" Loki felt the man kissing an irregular path back down his shoulders and could only assume that he was following a ridge.
"New enough. I haven't memorised all of this yet." Tony nosed along one of the thicker raised lines that trailed into the centre of Loki's back. "And there are probably an infinite number of patterns I can think up." Along the Jötunn's back the ridges were thick just enough for Tony to catch one between his teeth and nip at it. He hadn't actually done that before – he really only ever saw Loki from the front when blue and all of the other lines and circles were too flat to do that to. As it was, the trickster definitely jumped with a breathy little sound of surprise. "Sorry, did that hurt?"
"…It was rather ticklish actually."
"Oh. Well that's good to know; you aren't ticklish normally." The man grinned, although his husband couldn't see the wicked expression. "Told you we should play around with your Frost Giant form more often."
"Well it is not something I like to…Norns!"
Stark chuckled and raised his head. "I think I'm going to make you go blue more often. Ticklish spots make awesome erogenous zones you know." He nipped one of the lines and felt Loki twitch again.
"Yes…I think I have just come to realise that…" The trickster jumped once more and tried to move away from Tony's overly enthusiastic ministrations.
"Ah ah ah!" The man landed a firm slap on his husband's thigh. "After near twenty years I have found a ticklish spot and I am not going to let this opportunity be passed up. Stay still!"
That made his husband laugh. "Ordering me around now, are we?" He raised himself onto his elbows to look back over his shoulder. "What are you actually doing?" He still wasn't used to seeing his Jötunn skin, even if it wasn't the problem it used to be, and could count on one hand the number of times he had tried to see the patterns on his back.
"It's these lines here." Tony pointed out the six ridges – three coming from each side - that snaked round from Loki's front. They came in almost flat and by the time they met his spine they had converged and become one thicker ridge halfway down his back that followed down to the base of his spine. "This point here where they all become one ridge seems to be a magic spot." He pinched the slightly raised area and Loki flinched away with a surprised moan. "See?! How have we gone this long without finding this out?!"
"Because I never let this skin out usually."
"That needs to change." Tony wriggled down and grazed his teeth over the sensitive area, making Loki yelp. "What do you think? Can I make use of this discovery?"
"I suppose so. I can always decorate the ceiling with your innards if I don't like it."
"There we go then." The man tapped his partner's hip. "Come on, up on your knees." He gave Loki a moment to obey, admiring the play of muscles under the blue skin and the way the movement caused the delicate patterns flow and shift like waves. "Y'know, I think these things could be camouflage."
"Right now I don't really care." The trickster glanced over his shoulder at his husband. "Either do something, or I will."
The new sensation wasn't extreme, but so unexpected that he still couldn't help but twitch and move around when Tony attacked the area along his spine again. It definitely still had undertones of being ticklish – which was something he hadn't really felt since childhood – but was just the right side of intense to be arousing instead. He had his forearms flat against the furs and allowed his head to fall forwards to rest on them, relaxing into what his husband was doing.
Tony was immensely enjoying the fact that he had discovered something new about the trickster, despite it not exactly being the most erotic spot on the body. The deep blue expanse of Loki's back was a rare enough sight on its own – in fact he was pretty certain he had never seen his husband's back for this length of time when he let his Jötunn skin out; he had always been so taken by Loki's red eyes he insisted everything was face-to-face.
The man traced along all of the lines in reach, testing each and every spot for any other little tells. As it was, the raised ridge along Loki's spine seemed to be the only point that had the response Tony was looking for so he stuck to it in the end, nipping and scraping his teeth along the skin. However, as much as he was having fun he knew Loki's reactions well enough to know that the trickster was enjoying it, but little more than that.
Loki felt his husband's hands roaming and shifted slightly, guessing what Tony was up to. He was still quite loose and slick from earlier, but jumped when questing fingers came with a little soreness.
"You okay?" Tony had evidently noticed his slight discomfort.
"Fine."
"Liar. Want me to stop?"
"No, just…." He waved a hand, conjuring more oil which eased everything. "There." He glanced over his shoulder and smirked.
"Alright, smartass." Tony nipped at his new favourite spot, this time hard enough to bruise and draw a darker blue to the area. It shut Loki up though. The man was less cautious now that he knew it was no longer causing his husband any discomfort, moving and twisting his fingers. "Better?"
Loki had completely relaxed under him, but managed to nod into his arms. "Mhmm. Better."
"You do feel slightly different when you're blue."
"Mm?"
"Nothing weird, just…different." Tony gently added a third finger, meeting little resistance but going slow anyway. He was still marvelling at the patterns snaking across Loki's back, admiring and memorising each and every one given that he so rarely got to see them. Every movement the trickster made caused the ridges to ripple and roll with his body. He didn't sweat as easily in this form, but there was a very faint gleam across his skin that might have been attributed to it that highlighted the rich blue.
Loki knew his husband was observing every move he made – he knew Tony far too well to assume otherwise – but found that he couldn't mind; after all it was because the man was enthralled with how he looked, and how could that be anything other than one hell of a compliment? And it helped that Stark was expertly catching his prostate with each twist of his fingers, making him gasp and clench his hands in the furs.
"Enough…"
"Loki?"
"Enough of the fingers, Stark." Loki glanced over his shoulder at the man before pulling away. "I want to see your face."
Tony nodded, quite happy to let the trickster take the lead. He allowed his husband to push him back so he was sat on the furs, leaning back on his hands.
"What's your plan?"
"Just sit still." Loki didn't mind not being the dominant partner in sex, but having allowed Tony to dictate everything earlier he now had his own ideas.
"I'm still." The man grinned when his husband crawled up to straddle him. "And I like where this is going."
"You like where everything is going." Loki kissed the man's nose, kneeling up so he was taller – not that he wouldn't have been anyway.
"Yeah, that's true-" Tony broke off with a gasp as his husband's hand suddenly wrapped around his cock, slick and oiled. "Oh!"
"That shut you up."
"Jackass!" Tony's hands found their way to Loki's hips automatically, helping to keep the taller man steady as he lowered himself down. The trickster was relaxed and loose so sank down without issue, pressing open mouthed kisses along Tony's jawline. He could feel the reactor casing pressing against his chest and Tony's nails digging welts into his shoulders.
"Shall I tell you something?" He purred into the man's ear.
"What?"
"You feel different too, when I am in this skin."
"Oh?" Tony stared up at his husband's red eyes. "How's that, then?"
Loki rolled his hips, chuckling when that made the man gasp. "You feel…warmer inside me. The feeling is more intense like this and –" He was cut off when Tony bucked up and caught him by surprise. "Ah! Sensitive! More sensitive!" He nipped Stark's chin with teeth that were much sharper than usual.
"You've never mentioned this before."
"We've only done this once or twice before. Although I'm beginning to think we should do it more often." Loki moved again, slow but firm, rolling his hips before lifting himself just enough on his knees to start a rhythm.
"This was such a good idea; coming here."
"All my…ideas are…good ones."
"Debatable." Tony laughed breathlessly. He didn't get chance to say anything else when Loki's mouth crashed onto his own, effectively silencing him.
They didn't move in tandem – that sort of thing only happens in romance novels – but it was messy and intense and they weren't the sort of people to want all that much romance anyway. The firelight was casting a purple glow over Loki's skin and the patterns across his body rippled with each movement. Tony had found that point on the trickster's spine where the ridges became that little raised area that he'd discovered earlier and dug his nails in, making Loki keen and buck into him.
The trickster hadn't been exaggerating that it felt different in this form. The few times they had had sex whilst he was in his Jötunn skin they had been rough and fast enough that he hadn't noticed any significant differences, and actually there were some differences. He suddenly slowed his movements, leaning back enough to make eye contact.
"What? What's wrong?" Tony's was immediately concerned, which was endearing as much as it could be irritating.
"Nothing, nothing's wrong, I have simply realised what feels so different." Loki smirked, which looked considerably more mischievous with bright red eyes.
"Care to share?"
"Do you recall that one time I took the glamour off to let you see my true gender?"
Tony brushed the dark hair back from his husband's face. "Yeah, I remember." He matched Loki's grin with extra mischief. "You let me do quite a bit of exploring."
"Indeed. Well, it reminds me of that. Different pressure points perhaps? Or maybe more."
"More than just your prostate? Wow, lucky you!" The man suddenly bucked up, making his husband cry out in surprise. "How about I take it from here?"
"How do you mean-?" Loki barely finished the question before Stark suddenly rolled, without even pulling out, and landed the prince flat on his back. "Oh." He laughed and shifted to make the position more comfortable. "Well, I suppose I can allow that."
"Glad to know I have your royal approval." Tony leant down and kissed him as he began thrusting slowly again.
They took it slower than usual, Loki's sharp nails digging welts into Stark's shoulders whilst the man bite and nipped along the Jötunn's collar bones and jaw line.
Tony came first, hips jerking as he breathed his husband's name into the trickster's shoulder. The sudden flood of heat was very different from what Loki was expecting – the differences apparently affecting temperature as well. The intensity was such that it drew his own orgasm from him, taking him completely by surprise.
For a few moments they lay still, trying to get their breath back and pulses back down to a normal rate. Tony rolled off of his husband to spoon up behind him, draping a leg over the trickster's hip. Loki lazily waved a hand to banish the mess and turned onto his side so that he was facing the fire, Tony plastered to his back.
"This was such a perfect idea to come here." Stark pressed a kiss to his husband's ear. "Thank you."
"I thought we needed it."
"How long have we been here?"
"Oh, about five hours or so."
"…We should probably go back."
Loki laughed softly. "They won't miss us for a while yet."
"So can we go back to exploring anything else I've missed over the years with your super sexy smurf form?"
"I suppose I can allow that."
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