Happy Second Saturday!
I missed you all soooo much. It was so tough to not just put out a chapter last week anyway. It's only knowing that would shoot me in the foot later when I ran out of chapters to post and had all that pressure when trying to write that stopped me.
You were all so wonderfully understanding about the news of slower updates last time, and I'm so grateful to you. The fact you're still on this journey with me is amazing, and now knowing you're all absolute sweethearts is the icing on the cake.
I've not stopped working on this story totally. I come back to it every day and every day the story is pushing back at me. I can't write like that, so I am committing myself to two other projects—one of which is another Post-Endgame AU that I'm excited about. I promise, though, this series will be completed, it just won't happen as fast as I planned.
Chapter Forty-Five
Bucky and Steve were playing Crazy Eights, one of the games they used to play before either of them had gone to war. They were evenly matched, and the game was turning into a good time.
Bucky was content. This was the first full week of his life as a legally classified innocent man. He'd gone jogging with Steve in Central Park, which they'd followed with breakfast at Sal's in Brooklyn, which was one of the few remaining pieces of their life pre-war together.
It was run now by the granddaughter of the man that had run it when Bucky and Steve had frequented it before, and she'd been a bit giddy when Captain America and Sergeant Barnes had walked through her door. She had congratulated Bucky on his freedom and said her grandfather used to talk about him and Steve, how he'd known them before they were famous with the Howling Commandos.
Luckily for Bucky, he had died in the nineties so had never seen Bucky outed as The Winter Soldier and his reputation trashed. Instead, she had told him fond stories and memories her grandfather had shared about Bucky's huge breakfasts and Steve's liking for pancakes with extra butter.
They'd settled at a table—the old booths they remembered having been replaced over the years they'd been gone—and enjoyed a breakfast which was as good it had been in the old days.
Steve had paid, leaving a generous tip, which made Bucky think of money. He wasn't sure what he could do to earn it, but he wasn't going to rely on Tony for cash. He was his own man and needed to stand on his own two feet now. One thing he was not going to do was sell his story to the newspapers as he had been invited to do from four different outlets already, according to Pepper.
They drove back to the Tower and headed down to the gym to work out a while before coming up to begin their game.
Though everyone else had moved back to the compound, Bucky was pleased to be out of it for a while. He'd missed his chance to see Peter the night before when he and May came for dinner with Tony and Pepper, but he understood that it was important for Tony to face May alone. He'd been a nervous wreck when they'd left him pulling ingredients for dinner out of the refrigerator, and Bucky hadn't seen him since to ask how it had gone.
He had heard from Peter, though. He'd texted him that morning before school, just a cheerful good morning with—as always—too many emojis. Bucky had replied in kind, a warm feeling in his chest at the contact.
They heard the elevator door open, and a moment later, Tony strode into the room.
"Poker?" he asked. "Great. Deal me in."
"It's Crazy Eights," Steve said. "Do you still want to play?"
Tony made a face. "Um, no, because I've no idea what the game is. Let me guess, it's some kind of centenarian game that only the defrosted know."
Steve scowled, but Bucky laughed.
"Yeah, it's a game that showed up back in the day," he said. "But the rules are simple enough."
"I'll pass," Tony said, waving a hand.
Steve laid his cards down and asked, "How did dinner with May and Peter go?"
Tony's face transformed with a smile. "It was great. Yeah, I know May still has her reservations about me, but she said something about co-parenting with me, which I think is good."
"It's great, Tony!" Steve said, smiling widely. "She's accepting your place in his life."
Tony nodded. "It seems like it. She said co-parenting a superhero, so it might just be a mentor thing. Either way. I'm calling it a win."
"How was Peter?" Bucky asked.
"Nervous as hell when they arrived. I think he was worried about what May would say. But he relaxed over time, showed her around his room, and showed her the stuff we'd bought for it. I think that was part of what swung it for me with May. She sees he's happy here, that he has another home whenever he needs it."
"That's exactly what he has here, a home," Steve said.
Tony smiled again, his eyes distant, perhaps thinking of his son. "He does. Whenever he wants it." His eyes focused again, and his smile grew. "You should have seen Peter and Pepper last night. She loves him. She never had that chance before, because she was always protecting Morgan, but now…" He spread his arms. "She's free to love him."
Steve nodded. Though Pepper was an amazing woman, and she did love Peter in 2023, that was not wholly because of who he was but also because of his place with the rest of her family. Loving Peter came with pain sometimes, pain Tony and Morgan felt, and Pepper wanted to defend her daughter from that, which meant she was more reserved with Peter.
Now, though, she could get to know him and love him for who he was without needing to defend anyone else that she loved.
"Who wants coffee?" Tony asked, turning towards the kitchen, then turning back with eyes wide as a phone rang. "That's the Zemo phone, right?"
Bucky nodded, taking a breath. He'd not heard from Zemo since the trial started, when he'd called for an update, and Bucky had sold the trial as reinforcement of his connection with the Avengers. Zemo had been pleased, and Bucky had relaxed a little from his fear that the trial was going to destroy it all.
"Friday, track it," Tony said, though there was no hope in his tone that they would find the real source.
Bucky answered with a careful greeting, and Zemo's voice came loud and calm. "Soldier, comply."
"Ready to comply," Bucky said.
"Congratulations on your newly acquired freedom."
Bucky caught Steve's eye and nodded. Steve could hear both sides of this call, and he seemed pleased by what he was hearing. "Thank you. I am now better able to serve."
"That is what The Commander thought," Zemo said. "They are pleased. They feel you are finally ready to meet them."
Steve's eyes bugged, and he mouthed, "You've got it, Bucky."
"I would like that," Bucky said. "What do I need to do?"
"I am going to text you an address. Now you have your freedom, you can tell The Avengers you want to explore it. Be prepared to stay two days at least."
Bucky's heart skipped. If he was staying two days, he was getting more than just a meeting. Were they about to give him actual valuable information on their plan? This could be it—their way to save Peter.
"I can stay as long as The Commander requires," Bucky said, his tone neutral despite his racing heart.
"Come tonight. Nine o'clock. They will be ready for you."
"I will come. I will comply."
"Very good, Soldier."
Bucky lowered the phone as the call cut, and his wide eyes snapped between Steve and Tony. "I'm going to meet them," he said. "Zemo used the plural for the 'commander.' That's got to be Nemesis."
He ran a shaking hand through his hair as his phone beeped with a text. He checked it and saw it was an address in New Jersey.
He handed the phone to Tony, who read it out and said, "What's here, Friday?"
"It's a warehouse in the former port district of Ashton, New Jersey," she replied. "I can see no surveillance of the area as all cameras within a three-mile radius have been disabled."
"Broken?" Tony asked.
"No, their feed has been replaced with stock footage of a cornfield. I think you can assume that whoever has the technical know-how to source a phone call to your cell also has the technology to divert surveillance feeds to themselves only."
"Can you break it?"
"I am not sure," she said. "They have shown to be difficult opponents before. I still cannot find the real source of the calls. I will try, though."
"Good girl," Tony said with a nod. "Okay, Bucky, if they're tracking within three miles, we can't get too close to back you up, so—"
Bucky held up a hand. "I don't need backup."
Steve's eyebrows contracted. "If you're going against Nemesis, you do."
"I'm not at risk," Bucky said. "I will be alive in 2023. Yeah, I've got a year left now before the Snap, but I will be okay. Besides, Nemesis isn't going to attack me when they can use me."
"I'd still feel safer if we were close," Steve said.
"Three miles," Tony said. "We won't be openly suited up. I'll have the nanite suit on standby, though, since that's due a test drive. I think Bucky is right, though. He's safe."
"Even if I'm not," Bucky said with a shrug. "None of us can fight Nemesis."
Steve scowled and shook his head. "I don't like the idea of you going in alone."
"This is what we've been waiting for, Steve. I'm meeting Nemesis. We'll have final proof it's Ross, and I might hear what they're planning. We've been here almost a year, and we still don't know what they're going to do to Peter. This is my chance to find out!"
Steve sighed. "Yeah, I know. Damn. I don't like it, though, sending you in alone."
"Me either," Tony said. "Not really. But this is what we need."
Bucky rolled his eyes. "Sure, I'm helpless against Nemesis, but I'm a match for whatever else they throw at me. And I will be alive in 2023!"
"Yeah, true, but I've got a bad feeling," Steve said, brow furrowed.
Bucky understood his worry, as he'd feel the same if it was Steve going alone, but for himself, he was excited. He might get real information soon, things that could help them, protect Peter.
If they knew enough, they could protect him from whatever Nemesis was going to do.
He might be able to save Peter from it all.
Bucky was ready. He rode Steve's motorbike to the location alone, leaving the Tower an hour after Steve, Tony, Natasha, and Sam, who had positioned themselves outside a three-mile vicinity of the warehouse.
He knew he didn't need them there. He was more than a match for anyone apart from Nemesis, and whatever they did, he'd be alive when it mattered, which meant he would live through this.
He was sure Zemo didn't suspect him, which had been his worst fear of the trial. If they had suspected him, he would have been taken down long ago. They wouldn't have allowed him to leave the courthouse after the verdict. With Nemesis' power, equal to Peter's in some ways, he would have been taken out and punished for what he did.
He was safe, and he was finally going to find out what they were planning.
When he arrived in the former port district, he parked the bike two blocks from where he was supposed to go and set out on foot. He didn't want any sign to an outsider that he was there.
The place he was looking for was among a group of very rundown buildings with graffitied walls and padlocked doors. The door he needed wasn't padlocked, though, and he formed his face into the Winter Soldier mask, knocked, and entered.
The room he entered was vast, with a high ceiling and bolts still in the floor which would have held down machinery before.
He scanned the room, seeing strange shapes against the walls, what he thought were cameras, and he wondered what their use was; perhaps Nemesis' tech genius was recording the whole thing, though why they would Bucky had no idea.
He moved to the center of the room and said, "Ready to comply."
"Wrong," a voice replied.
It was Zemo, but it seemed to come from all sides. Bucky's eyes roved and found small speakers set into the ceiling.
"You are not ready to comply," Zemo went on. "You are not under our control. You are a truly free man—or you were. Now!"
Knowing he was screwed, that his cover was blown, and that he was going to learn nothing, Bucky tapped his finger to the panic button on the watch Tony had equipped him with and ran for the door, but the door disappeared.
Green light rippled over the room, and Bucky was transported into a nightmare he'd had many times before.
He was surrounded by chaos on all sides. Chitauri, Outriders, The Black Order, fought Avengers, Allies, and T'Challa's people. Leviathans flew overhead.
Bucky went unnoticed by them all for a moment, and then he felt something collide with his back and teeth snapped at his right ear. He rolled forward, knocking the attacker off, and jumped to his feet. He grabbed a spear from the ground, which had been dropped by one of the Dora Milaje who lay dead with her hand extended, and he stabbed the Outrider in the head. It screamed and dropped, writhing and then stilling—dead.
Bucky's mind was reeling, trying to make sense of what had happened, though he had a fear he knew.
The green light had hit before he arrived here, and green light from Peter meant the Time Stone. Peter would never have dropped him back in the battle, never, but Nemesis would. Perhaps this was their punishment for him deceiving them.
As he stabbed at a Chitauri which was racing towards him, a horrifying thought occurred to him.
What if they had all been dragged back to 2023?
Was Peter defenseless in 2017?
Was he Worthy?
"Peter!" he bellowed. "Peter, where are you?"
Stabbing indiscriminately at the monsters around him, he raced around, shouting for Peter. He could not let him snap. He might not be ready. Bucky was going to refuse what the Stones said was fate and protect the kid he loved.
"Peter!" he screamed, something tearing in his throat. "Peter!"
He saw him. Peter was in a trench on the battlefield, the gauntlet clutched to his chest, and then someone came—Carol Danvers appeared in front of him.
"No, Peter!" Bucky bellowed. "Don't!"
He was too far away, and Peter showed no signs that he could hear him over the chaos of the battle. He sprinted toward him, shoving past allies and enemies alike, screaming for Peter to stop.
He was finally heard, Peter turned to him, and Bucky held out his hands. "Give it to me!"
Peter frowned, pale and bloody face filled with confusion.
"Please!" Bucky said. "I'm the only one that can!"
Peter hesitated, pulling the gauntlet closer to his chest, and then, with tears in his eyes, he held it out.
Bucky snatched it from him, the sounds and movements of battle now a blur around him. He looked Peter in the eye, said, "Thank you, Bud," and then slid the gauntlet onto his metal arm.
He took a breath, fixed his eyes on the kid he loved, and snapped.
Nothing happened.
"No!" he whispered, and then screamed, "No!"
Peter's wet eyes fixed on Bucky, and he said, "I'm sorry," as he reached for the gauntlet.
Bucky pulled it back against his chest, but Peter was stronger. He pulled it off Bucky's arm and slid it onto his own.
"No, Peter," he shouted, heart racing and pain flooding him. "You'll die! We didn't do enough!"
Without another word but a steely look of determination on his face, Peter raised his hand and snapped.
Bucky was frozen, watching in horror as the light spread up Peter's arm, across his chest, the suit fracturing and burning. He came back to life as Peter's legs buckled, catching him and holding him against his chest.
"Worthy," he whispered. "You're worthy, Peter. You have to be worthy. Mind! Power! All of you! He's worthy! You hear me?"
Peter's head lolled back over Bucky's arm, a whimper of pain leaving him, and then he stilled, his eyes, brown and unseeing, open.
Bucky shook him, pleading with him to talk, to move, to live, as the enemies around them drifted into dust.
"No," he whispered. "You can't be. Please."
But it was no good. He was gone.
Bucky pulled Peter's body against his chest, buried his face in Peter's tangled hair, and howled his pain to the air.
So… This is me fixing my own mistake ;-) I didn't think of the trigger words being used in court until I'd already written it, and then I'm realized I'd gotten myself into a corner I needed to get out of. Luckily for me—not for Bucky—this idea presented, and I ran with it.
Now, you may be sharpening needles for your Jadey voodoo dolls because you've got to wait for the next chapter, but remember I need working hands and mind to finish the series, so go easy on me ;-)
Until next time…
Jadey xxx